Hong Kong: Film industry to be bolstered The Government today welcomed the Central authorities five relaxation measures to further facilitate the entry of Hong Kong films and film practitioners into the Mainland market. The measures include removing the restriction on the number of Hong Kong people participating in Mainland film productions, and lifting the limit on the percentage of Hong Kong artistes and requirement of Mainland-related plots in films jointly produced by the two places. Fees for establishing co-production projects will be waived, and Hong Kong films and film practitioners will also be allowed to participate in Mainland film festivals. Moreover, Hong Kong film companies will be allowed to apply for incentives for distributing and promoting outstanding Mainland motion pictures and Mainland-Hong Kong co-productions in Hong Kong, Macau and overseas. Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau said the measures would further enhance the flexibility of producing Mainland-Hong Kong co-productions and reduce production costs. "With a wealth of talent who are flexible and of global vision, there is huge potential for the Hong Kong film industry to further develop in the Mainland market. I hope that the film industry will tap the new measures, while continuing to leverage existing advantages, to expand Mainland and overseas markets and further promote the brand of Hong Kong Films. The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau will follow up with relevant Central authorities on the details for early implementation of the new measures, he added. The Hong Kong Film Development Council welcomed the five measures. Its Chairman Wilfred Wong said the council will follow up with the Government and the industry on the implementation details. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Uninformed, overwhelmed clients; unrealistic agency expectations More than 1.2 million children in the United States receive services because they are mistreated and about 400,000 of them are placed in foster care annually. Prior studies have shown that only 23 percent of children in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems receive services, even though about 67 percent of them have mental health needs that warrant treatment. Contracted private agencies provide approximately 33 percent of foster care placement services and 59 percent of family preservation services. State child welfare agencies are increasingly turning to them for a range of services. Therapeutic service providers (therapists) provide most of the services contracted by these private agencies. While turnover and burnout among child welfare case managers is well-understood, little is known about the challenges private agency therapists experience working in child welfare systems. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University collaborated with a private, community-based agency located in a metropolitan county in the southeastern U.S. to conduct a study to identify the primary challenges therapists face and determine strategies to improve service delivery for children and families. Results of the study, published in the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, are organized across system, agency, and client levels. For the study, researchers focused their questions on how prepared therapists felt in their current role as well as their experiences in that role, particularly working with child welfare clients. Emphasis was placed on challenges encountered and if they required additional knowledge or skill development. Study participants had a range of professional degrees from master to doctoral degrees in social work, psychology, mental health counseling, and marriage and family therapy. Researchers identified 11 primary challenges such as difficulty navigating numerous involved parties, an overwhelmed work environment, legal intersections common to child welfare cases, unrealistic agency expectations, and heightened case complexity. At the agency level, therapists felt they had inadequate support, supervision and preparedness. At the system level, they expressed concern for the significant amount of instability present with families in the child welfare system. At the client level, study participants said that their child welfare clients are often overwhelmed, uninformed and confused, all of which pose challenges in their therapeutic work. As a result, therapists have the emergent need to serve as an educator and liaison to buffer their clients' experiences with the child welfare system. Because of the complexities of their cases, study participants also were concerned about the heightened competence and skills needed as therapists. Many of them felt unprepared at times and often find themselves in a "learn as you go" environment. "Based on the feedback we received from our study participants, there is a critical need to provide targeted trainings to reduce the challenges therapeutic service providers encounter in their practice with vulnerable children and families," said Marianna L. Colvin, Ph.D., an assistant professor who co-authored the study with Heather M. Thompson, Ph.D., coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Work, both in the Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work within FAU's College for Design and Social Inquiry. "Data from our study suggest that trainings should not be isolated within single agencies or single provider sectors, but include an inter-professional orientation to promote multiple perspectives." Among the strategies study participants recommended include targeted caseload reduction, accounting for case complexity when assigning cases, and streamlining required documentation. Study findings also suggest the need for training and ongoing professional development within designated work hours. A particularly pertinent finding from the study illuminates the need for therapists to be prepared to act in a liaison role between clients and the child welfare and court systems. "Using shared databases also could be effective within the parameters of confidentiality that allow access by multiple providers, which will promote sharing information and reducing barriers to communicating critical components of child welfare cases," said Colvin. ### About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www. fau. edu . This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Egyptian investigative journalist Maggie Michael, Egyptian photojournalist Nariman El-Mofty, and Yemeni video journalist Maad Al-Zikry, all of whom work for the Associated Press (AP), have won a Pulitzer in international reporting for their coverage of abuses in Yemens civil war. According to AP, Michael, El-Mofty and Al-Zikry spent a year uncovering atrocities and suffering in Yemen, shining a light on a conflict largely ignored by the American public. The series of reports including documented civilian casualties of a US drone campaign drew attention to the presence of child soldiers on the front lines and showed evidence of torture by both Houthi rebels and US-backed forces. Michael, who is based in Cairo, joined the AP in 2002. She covered political and religious conflict in the Middle East and, as part of AP's investigations team, has written about civilian casualties in Iraq and Yemen. El-Mofty is a Canadian-Egyptian photographer. She worked first as a photo editor, then since 2016 as a photographer covering Egypt, Yemen and other parts of the Middle East. Al-Zikry is a video journalist who has spent years chronicling the war and its horrors. His photograph of an emaciated infant dying at a hospital in 2016 helped bring world attention to starvation in Yemen. Michael and El-Mofty are the first Egyptians to win the prize. In April 2018, Michael won the Overseas Press Club (OPC) of America in the contest honouring the best international reporting for her work in Yemen. Search Keywords: Short link: 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. The Swedish prime minister is a known pro-migration politician who is now trying to force illegal migrants on Hungary and punish Hungarians for saying no to mandatory resettlement quotas, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said, commenting on Stefan Lofvens remarks in a Swedish daily slamming Hungarys migration policy. In a statement published on the internet site of the Dagens Nyheter, Lofven said those refusing to shoulder responsibility in the EU should pay a price. Those states cannot receive the same EU funding they receive today. Hungary is one of the member states getting the most. A country that is given one of the largest funding in the bloc cannot shun responsibility when it comes to migration, Lofven said. Szijjarto said Hungary has shouldered real responsibility regarding illegal migration, with its fences protecting western and northern Europe as well. EU funds are not handouts, he said, but compensation laid down in EU treaties, allocated for opening our markets to western European players, he said. At stake at the upcoming elections in May is whether the European Parliament will have politicians promoting security in Europe rather than resettlement quotas, no-go zones, gang wars and terror threats, he insisted. Lorinc Nacsa, an MP of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, told a separate press conference that it was unacceptable that pro-migration politicians should openly threaten those who stand against migration. The pro-migration politicians seek to force their own will on all European nations, he said. Hungarians have made it clear several times that they do not want Hungary to become a migrant destination, Nacsa said, adding that a focal point of the ruling parties programme is that no country should be obliged to take in migrants against its own will. MTI Photo: Mitko Sztojcsev Joint candidate of the opposition Socialists and Parbeszed parties for Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony (pictured on top) promised a free, green and liveable city if he wins the municipal elections in autumn. Karacsony said he would work for a city where residents have a better quality of life and can therefore live longer. Instead of being a strong-handed leader, the candidate said he wanted to lead a strong city. He added that he insisted on the pre-selection of opposition candidates because he believed in the power of the community and wanted to develop his programmes priorities in cooperation with Budapest residents. Karacsony cited the example of Vienna which he said had been run by progressive mayors for a hundred years. He called for a strong community-based home rental scheme and said that people who buy an annual card should not pay more than one hundred forints (30 euro cents) a day for using public transport. He promised establishing a green corridor in Budapest from Margaret Island through Hajogyari Island to Romai embankment in the north and pledged to prevent unnecessary developments such as a sneaking Olympics project. Karacsony called for a clean, well-ordered and safe city and promised to pay metropolitan bonuses to police. Commenting on the financial resources needed for developments, he said at least a thousand billion forints could be gained from stopping projects that are not supported by the majority of Budapest residents, only by the ruling Fidesz party. MTI Photo: Koszticsak Szilard Photo credit: Getty Images From Esquire It's been a while since we checked in with our old friend, the F-35 strike-fighter, aka The Flying Swiss Army Knife, aka The Money Pit In The Sky. The United States has been selling them to countries around the world. In the past two years, we've sold 310 of them to various air forces. Japan was one of our prime customers. At the beginning of the month, a squadron of F-35s went active there. Annnnnnnnnd, scene! From CNN: 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. 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." There's just this one problem. Well, more than one. 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 might mean that something had been missed in the production process, said Carl Schuster, a former US Navy officer and professor at Hawaii Pacific University... 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. As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here. ('You Might Also Like',) Girl, 6, Is Killed Along with Mom and Grandmother Before Suspect Allegedly Confessed on Facebook Girl, Mother and Grandmother Killed Before Alleged Facebook Confession A Florida man wanted by police after the deaths of a 6-year-old girl, her mother and her grandmother turned himself in to police after allegedly confessing to the crimes on Facebook. Ernest Cherizard, 38, is accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Eli Junia Normil and her mother, Nicole Guillume, inside an apartment Friday, Haines City Police Chief Jim Elensky said at a press conference later that day. Elenksy said Cherizard allegedly shot Normil, 23, before her mother arrived to check on her. When Guillume and Cherizard, 48, began to argue, he allegedly then shot her. Before fleeing the scene in Normils Nissan Altima, Cherizard also allegedly shot Normils 6-year-old daughter, Elizabelle Bella Frenel, three times, once in the head. Hes a male, [but] not much of a man to shoot a child and two females. Not much of a man there, Elensky said Friday. Hours after the shooting and while police were looking for him, Cherizard allegedly apologized on Facebook, the Miami Herald reports. Daddy is so sorry with all my heart cuz I cant believe this happened, he wrote, according to the paper. Bella was not Cherizards daughter, but Cherizard and Normil shared two children, reports the Herald. The following day, Cherizard turned himself in to police. He has been charged with three counts of first degree murder, the Haines City Police Department announced on Twitter. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Ernest Cherizard | Haines City Police Department What has happened is beyond comprehension and we are all still in shock, a relative wrote on a GoFundMe page. Elensky called Cherizard a monster for the alleged murders. Despite his indicated remorse, make no mistake about it this man is a monster, he said in a news release, the Herald reports. To consciously shoot three innocent, unarmed females is nothing less than being a coward. To shoot a truly innocent 6-year-old child is disgusting and beyond comprehension. Moreover, he shot the child at least three times, once being in the head. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and the first responders who did everything they could at the scene. They also must live with this tragedy. Cherizard appeared in court on Monday. He has not entered a plea and attorney information for him was not immediately available Tuesday. He remains behind bars and will be arraigned next month, CBS Miami reports. The Criterion Collection has announced its July titles, with Rainer Werner Fassbinders BRD Trilogy The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, and Lola leading the new additions. Also joining the Collection are Agniezka Hollands Europa Europa, Alan J. Pakulas Klute, Marcel Pagnols The Bakers Wife, and Michael Radfords adaptation of 1984, with Spike Lees Do the Right Thing getting upgraded from DVD to Blu-ray. The news comes just a week after Criterions streaming service, the aptly named Criterion Channel, went live in the wake of FilmStrucks closure late last year. These audiences do need hubs, the companys president, Peter Becker, told IndieWire last week. Related stories Criterion Channel Lives! Company President Explains Going Solo After FilmStruck's Death Criterion Channel Announces First Month of Programming -- Stream 10 David Lynch Movies and More 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' 'War and Peace' Joining the Criterion Collection If youre lucky enough to live in a city like New York, which has hubs like the Film Forum and the Metrograph and Lincoln Center, then you actually have living, breathing, every-night film culture with great programming to go to and all that stuff. But if you dont, then this idea of an online cinematheque, being a hub for that community in the digital space, means a lot. More information on the July titles including, as always, the cover art below. The BRD Trilogy In 1977, German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was thirty-two years old and had already directed more than twenty-five feature films. That summer, he embarked on a project to trace the postwar history of West Germany in a series of films told from the perspectives of three remarkable women. Fassbinders The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, and Lola The BRD Trilogy would garner him his greatest commercial success, both at home and abroad, and cement his position as one of the foremost figures of the New German Cinema. Story continues Europa Europa As World War II splits Europe, sixteen-year-old German Jew Salomon (Marco Hofschneider) is separated from his family after fleeing with them to Poland, and finds himself reluctantly assuming various ideological identities in order to hide the deadly secret of his Jewishness. He is bounced from a Soviet orphanage, where he plays a dutiful Stalinist, to the Russian front, where he hides in plain sight as an interpreter for the German army, and back to his home country, where he takes on his most dangerous role: a member of the Hitler Youth. Based on the real-life experiences of Salomon Perel, Agnieszka Hollands wartime tour de force Europa Europa is a breathless survival story told with the verve of a comic adventure, an ironic refutation of the Nazi idea of racial purity, and a complex portrait of a young man caught up in shifting historical calamities and struggling to stay alive. Klute With her Oscar-winning turn in Klute, Jane Fonda arrived full-fledged as a new kind of movie star. Bringing nervy audacity and counterculture style to the role of Bree Daniels a call girl and aspiring actor who becomes the focal point of a missing-person investigation when detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) turns up at her door Fonda made the film her own, putting an independent woman and escort on-screen with a frankness that had not yet been attempted in Hollywood. Suffused with paranoia by the conspiracy-thriller specialist Alan J. Pakula, and lensed by master cinematographer Gordon Willis, Klute is a character study thick with dread, capturing the mood of early-1970s New York and the predicament of a woman trying to find her own way on the fringes of society. The Bakers Wife The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned cinema auteur Marcel Pagnol shine in this enchanting slice-of-life comedy. Returning to the Provencal countryside he knew intimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, praised by no less than Orson Welles as the greatest actor who ever lived) snowball into a scandal that engulfs the entire town. Marrying the directors abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, The Bakers Wife is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its depiction of the complexities of human relationships. 1984 This masterly adaptation of George Orwells chilling parable about totalitarian oppression gives harrowing cinematic expression to the books bleak prophetic vision. In a rubble-strewn surveillance state where an endless overseas war props up the repressive regime of the all-seeing Big Brother, and all dissent is promptly squashed, a profoundly alienated citizen, Winston Smith (thrillingly played by John Hurt), risks everything for an illicit affair with the rebellious Julia (Suzanna Hamilton) in a defiant assertion of humanity in the face of soul-crushing conformity. Through vividly grim production design and expressionistically desaturated cinematography by Roger Deakins, Michael Radfords 1984 conjures a dystopian vision of postwar Britain as fascistic nightmare-a world all too recognizable as our own. Do the Right Thing Set on one block of Brooklyns Bed-Stuy Do or Die neighborhood, at the height of summer, this 1989 masterpiece by Spike Lee confirmed him as a writer and filmmaker of peerless vision and passionate social engagement. Over the course of a single day, the easygoing interactions of a cast of unforgettable characters Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Mister Senor Love Daddy, Tina, Sweet Dick Willie, Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, Sal, Pino, Vito, and Lees Mookie among them give way to heated confrontations as tensions rise along racial fault lines, ultimately exploding into violence. Punctuated by the anthemic refrain of Public Enemys Fight the Power, Do the Right Thing is a landmark in American cinema, as politically and emotionally charged and as relevant now as when it first hit the big screen. Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. An Arizona man is accused of killing his wife and two of his three children, allegedly telling police he only spared his youngest child because she takes after him and not her mother. Austin Smith, 30, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, two kids and a family friend during a shooting spree that spanned two scenes Thursday night, Phoenix police said at a press conference. According to police, Smith confessed to the shootings. He allegedly said he was drinking at a bar last Thursday night before coming home and accusing his wife, 29-year-old Dasia Patterson, of cheating on him with his brother. She denied cheating on him, but Smith allegedly fatally shot her before turning the gun on his 5-year-old daughter, Nasha Smith. He allegedly told police God told him to kill his wife. Smith is also accused of killing his oldest daughter, Mayan Smith, 7, who died of blunt force trauma. According to police, Smith allegedly admitted he spared youngest daughter because she reminded him of himself. Nasha and Mayan, he said, reminded him of his wife. Pattersons mother spoke Saturday to ABC15, calling her daughter one of the most humble [people] in the world, and adding that she was sweet, honest and wouldnt harm anyone. The two girls were the most beautiful, sweetest children in the world, their grandmother said. Pattersons family issued a statement on the killings. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. We are in anguish over the senseless loss of our beloved Dasia and her young children, it reads. As we try to process our profound grief, our focus is on the welfare of her sole surviving three-year-old daughter. She just lost her mother and sisters, and we want nothing more than for her to be with her family right now. Story continues According to police, Smith fled after the killings and went looking for his brother. When he reached his siblings home, he was met by a family friend, who tried to convince him his wife hadnt cheated on him. Smith allegedly then fatally shot that man, Ron Freeman, who died at the scene. Smith eventually left in a car but police caught up with him, taking him into custody. Smith has yet to plead to the four murder counts he faces. It was unclear if he has an attorney. A South Carolina man is being accused of leaving his baby daughter to die in a burning car during a wild police chase in South Carolina. At around 10:20 p.m. on Friday, officers attempted to perform a traffic stop on Highway 14 in Greenville, Fox Carolina reports. Shortly after, a chase ensued as the driver, who has been identified as Imhotep Osiris Norman, allegedly refused to stop, according to the outlet. Officers trailed behind Norman, 26, for quite some time eventually leading them onto I-85, Capt. Kelly Hughes told The Greenville News. During the pursuit, Norman allegedly threw a large bag out of the window, which was later revealed to be filled with illegal drugs, police allege. As police followed the car they noticed smoke coming from the undercarriage of the car before it burst into flames, The Greenville News reports. Norman then allegedly fled the vehicle on foot, according to WYFF 4. After firefighters extinguished the fire, they found a body of a small child in the back seat, WYFF 4 reports. The child was later identified by the Coroners Office as 1-year-old Xena RahLah Norman. The family has been notified and I ask that the community pray for the mother and family of this baby, Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a statement obtained by The Greenville News. Xena Rah'Lah Norman | Thaisha Young/ Go Fund Me Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Early Saturday morning, Norman was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center, according to Greenville News. He has been charged with homicide by child abuse. Hes also been charged with a failure to stop for a blue light resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute amphetamine, according to Fox Carolina. Story continues During his court hearing, Norman claimed he had no idea the car was on fire when he jumped out. I just know that the car wasnt on fire when I got out the car, Norman said according to Fox Carolina. I would have stayed in that car with my daughter. I would have never got out the car while the car was on fire. I seen sparks coming from under the tires when I tried to stop and I couldnt stop at that point, Norman said. RELATED: 3-Year-Old Dies After Allegedly Being Left in Hot Bus After Daycare Field Trip A lawyer for Norman could not immediately be found. Family members of little Xena have since spoken out about her tragic death. I just cant believe shes gone so soon, Xenas grandmother Linda Glenn told Greenville News. That was my little angel. We know shes gone to heaven. Thats the one thing we know is that little angels gone to heaven, Glenn said. Glenn also spoke about how Xenas mother, her daughter Thaisha Young, is doing. Shes doing the best she can, Glenn told Greenville News. Young has also created a GoFundMe page. I am going through a rough time. I need help, anything is appreciated. Thank you! Young wrote. If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to http://www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. Pete Buttigieg Mayor Pete Buttigieg from Indiana is the hottest candidate to throw his hat in the ring for President of the United States, but now hes gotta worry about people knowing how the heck to pronounce his name properly. According to documents obtained by The Blast, Buttigiegs political action committee, Pete for America, filed documents to trademark the phonetical pronunciation of his name, Boot Edge Edge. TheBlast.com The filing lists that Petes PAC wants to put Boot Edge Edge on all sorts of promotional swag; including bumper stickers, rally signs, blankets, t-shirts and tote bags that will promote the public awareness of Pete Buttigieg as a candidate for public office. Along with Boot Edge Edge, there were trademark filings for stylized forms of Pete, which his committee also plans on branding. Interestingly enough, the documents were filed on April 10, 4 days before he officially declared his intention to run for office. Instagram Photo The post Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Files Papers to Explain How Name is Pronounced appeared first on The Blast. Things are going south for the crew in season 4 of Below Deck Mediterranean. Captain Sandy Yawn and her sturdy staff of seafarers will be heading to the South of France for their next adventure though the French Mediterraneans picturesque beaches, quality cuisine and wealthy clientele wont necessarily mean smooth yachting ahead. PEOPLE has the exclusive premiere of the trailer for the new season of the hit Bravo show, which kicks off this June. Were taking on water. Bring the guests back immediately, Yawn screams at her crew in the trailer, as the interior floods and waves crash over the mega yacht in one scary scene. RELATED: Below Deck Mediterraneans Captain Sandy Reflects on How a Motorcycle Crash Saved Her Life Captain Sandy Yawn | Bravo Returning again to the fold are former cast members Joao Franco (formerly a deckhand, now a bosun), as well as deckhand Colin Macy-OToole and chief stew Hannah Ferrier. Ferrier was in hot water for much of last season, as her volatile romance with one of her coworkers caused her to make repeated mistakes in her role as chief stew. This time around, shes trying to right her wrongs with Yawn. I feel like this charter season, my job is my number one priority, she declares in the trailer. That doesnt last long, it seems. Im not happy with interior and it starts with you, Yawn scolds Ferrier in one scene. Do your job., Colin Macy-OToole and Hannah Ferrier | Greg Endries/Bravo Yawn isnt the only one Ferrier is clashing with. In one scene, she battles against chef Mila Kolomeitseva the first female chef in franchise history, who, despite being Le Cordon Bleu-trained, may not be up to date on basic cooking skills. You dont know how to make pancake batter, thats a bit of a fing problem. Ferrier tells Kolomeitseva. Your food is s! How about maybe you cook? Kolomeitseva challenges Ferrier, seemingly unbothered. RELATED: Captain Lee Talks the Deckhand That Fell Overboard in Season 6 of Below Deck Elsewhere on the high seas, new yachties include: Aesha Scott (second stew), Anastasia Surmava (third stew), Travis Michalzik (deckhand) and Jack Stirrup (deckhand). Story continues Franco seems to be really struggling with his deckhands as he takes on his new leadership role. Its not up to you to decide whether you fing finish or not. Its not up to you, he yells at one deckhand, explaining to another at one point that something they did was a fireable offense. That could be a hint at things to come, as Yawn fires at least one staffer. Your positions now redundant, she says. I have to let you go. Of course, with all that tension, the crew has to find a way to cool off. So it should come as no surprise to see that theres a hookup or two going on down below. Rough waters, indeed. Below Deck Mediterranean premieres June 3 (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo. Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo sat down with TheWrap at the recent press junket in downtown Los Angeles, where they discussed the film and the delicate balancing act of including the remaining characters in the movie that survived that horrible finger-snap at the end of Infinity War. Lets use Infinity War as an example, said Joe Russo. Its a very disciplined process that we go through with (screenwriters) Markus and McFeely, who are our main collaborators on all the movies. We sit in the room for months on end talking and nosing through every possible, every story possible. How we decide to put characters together is purely based on storytelling, added Joe Russo. Its not an exact science. There have been many iterations of all the movies weve done where there were other characters in the stories that were then removed because they couldnt get them to make sense or be motivated by the events of the story. Everything youve seen where we end up in is the final draft. Also Read: Does DC Comics' 'Shazam' Have a Post-Credits Scene? Anthony Russo added, We talk about so many different scenarios that we might chase down. It takes a long, a very long time to arrive at a shape. And a single road that were gonna follow with the story. Early projections for Avengers: Endgame predict a $220-260 million opening, with the upper end topping the record $257.6 million domestic opening weekend total set by Infinity War. But with presales breaking every record imaginable, all bets are off for this film. The possibility of the first-ever $300 million domestic debut is now on the table, though analysts who spoke to TheWrap say they expect a lower, but still record-breaking, $270-280 million opening. Endgame is also expected to break the record $640 million global opening of Infinity War, as unlike that film, China will open day and date with all other global markets this month. Read original story The Russo Brothers on Balancing All the Characters in Avengers: Endgame': Its Not an Exact Science At TheWrap If anyone could look like a block of hunk after 400 years, its Michael B. Jordan, and hell have a chance to prove it with Methusaleh. As Deadline reports, the blockbuster star is attached to the project at Warner Bros., who is currently trying to court Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts to helm. Jordan would also produce the potential franchise-starter with his own Outlier Society moniker. The story, which follows a man whos survived centuries without aging, has been sitting around the studio for years. At one point, Tom Cruise was even attached to star, and given that narrative, its surprising the Church of Scientology didnt fund the thing itself. All joking aside, Warner Bros is currently looking to find a writer to rewrite the screenplay, which was most recently worked on by Rogue Ones Tony Gilroy. Watts, however, is months out from Spider-Man: Far From Home, due out July 5th via Sony. Khalid Announces Free Spirit Summer The Come Up: The Music Quentin Tarantino's 5 Best Kills Surprise! Barbara Pierce Bush Had a Second Wedding in Texas 6 Months After Secretly Marrying Husband Craig Six months after saying I do in front of her closest family, including her late grandfather George H. W. Bush, Barbara Pierce Bush had a second, bigger wedding for family and friends this past weekend in Texas, PEOPLE confirms. Barbara and [husband] Craig did have another wedding, a source tells PEOPLE. They wanted to make sure her grandfather got to be there so they kept their first wedding small and intimate. This party was a chance for them to celebrate with all their friends and family as well, the source says. According to social media posts from some of the guests, the big day appears to have been held at the familys ranch in Crawford. Among the 100-plus guests, according to Page Six, were actress Megan Ferguson, T Magazine editor Isabel Wilkinson and fashion executive Alyssa Zachary plus Barbaras dad, President George W. Bush. This time it was definitely bigger, and they had all their friends there, the source adds. (A Bush family spokesman declined to comment.) My dearest friend, the gorgeous BB got married this weekend and we danced the nights away, designer Prabal Gurung wrote on Instagram along with a photo of him and Barbara. Love you B, congratulations to you and Craig. RELATED: See First Lady Barbara Bush in the Something Borrowed Granddaughter Barbara Wore on Wedding Day Barbara Pierce Bush (left) and Megan Ferguson at Bush's second wedding in Texas last weekend | Megan Ferguson/Instagram Barbara, 37, the eldest twin daughter of the younger President Bush, told PEOPLE last fall she wed screenwriter Craig Coyne in October in a very short, sweet ceremony at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Story continues It was, fittingly, an only-family affair with some 20 total attendees: Barbaras aunt, Dorothy Doro Bush Koch, married her and Coyne and her father walked her down the aisle as her grandfather, mother and other relatives watched. Twin sister Jenna Bush Hager was the matron of honor and the couples nieces were the flower girls. From left: Craig Coyne and Barbara Pierce Bush at their October wedding in Maine | Allison V. Smith From PEOPLEs Original Report on Their Secret Wedding: Barbara wore a custom Vera Wang gown of ivory silk crepe. Her something borrowed was a bracelet that former President H. W. Bush gave to former First Lady Barbara Bush, the younger Barbaras namesake, on their 70th anniversary. And though her grandmother had passed away six months before her wedding, Mrs. Bush was not absent from the special occasion. The second that it was announced that we were husband and wife, it started to rain, Barbara later recalled on the Today show. I thought, Thats my grandmother. Shes with us, too. Less than two months after Barbaras wedding, H. W. Bush passed away as well. RELATED: They Jumped Into the Ocean! All the Not-Yet-Seen Special Photos in Barbara Bushs Wedding Album Coyne an Atlanta native who has previous acting credits in Jarhead, Look at Me and The Snowtown Murders tied the knot with Barbara after a whirlwind, five-week engagement and in the same week when he relocated from Los Angeles to make his new home with Barbara in New York City. The couple, who kept their romance under wraps until the wedding, were set up by friends on a blind date in November 2017 and committed as a couple by that New Years Eve despite living on opposite sides of the country, with Coyne in L.A. and Barbara in Manhattan. It was during a family gathering at Kennebunkport last summer, Barbara told PEOPLE, that she and Coyne were walking along the oceanside rocks when he suddenly dropped to his knee in the same spot where Barbaras grandparents got engaged almost exactly 75 years earlier, in August 1943. Seven years ago, rapper Jamal Knox was arrested by a pair of Pittsburgh police officers on gun and drug charges. Knox, who goes by the stage name Mayhem Mal, later penned a song called F*ck the Police, which mentioned those same two officers by name and featured lines like Lets kill these cops cuz they dont do us no good. The tracks controversial lyrics resulted in Knox, as well as a fellow co-writer, being convicted and sentenced to two to six years behind bars on charges of terroristic threats and witness intimidation. Knox has repeatedly appealed the 2014 conviction, arguing that F*ck the Police counts as free speech protected by the First Amendment. However, last year saw Pennsylvania Supreme Court uphold the original conviction. And now today, the US Supreme Court has followed suit, declining to review the case, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (Read: The Top 20 Solo Hip-Hop Albums) In their 2018 ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to overturn Knoxs conviction because, unlike other songs that excoriate the police, F*ck the Police supported violence against the two explicitly named officers, Daniel Zeltner and Michael Kosko. In the minds of judges, while rap music is to be taken as an art form, F*ck the Police went beyond generalized animosity toward officers and was made as an actual real threat. Despite Knox insisting that that was not his intention, at the end of the day all that mattered was how the song was perceived by its so-called targets. As proof, judges and the prosecution pointed to Officer Kosko, who said he left the police force because he feared for his life due to Knoxs track lyrics. Since the initial Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, Knox has gained support from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and some of the hip-hop scenes biggest names. Ahead of todays decision, Chance the Rapper, Killer Mike, Meek Mill, 21 Savage, and others came together to defend Knox and free speech rights by offering the US Supreme Court a primer on rap music and hip-hop. Story continues (Read: How N.W.As Straight Outta Compton Made Gangsta Rap the New Reality) In a legal brief titled Friend of the Court filed in March, these rappers explained why F*ck the Police, which was partly inspired by N.W.A.s own similarly titled protest song, should be considered art (via the New York Times): A person unfamiliar with what today is the nations most dominant musical genre or one who hears music through the auditory lens of older genres such as jazz, country or symphony, they wrote, may mistakenly interpret a rap song as a true threat of violence. This is a work of poetry, the rappers wrote. It is not intended to be taken literally, something that a reasonable listener with even a casual knowledge of rap would understand. To further bolster their argument, they turned to a quote from Ice-T. In his memoir, the veteran rapper wrote that the character he takes on in his songs isnt always reflective of his true self. If you believe that Im a cop killer, he wrote, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut. (Read: The 10 Most Anticipated Hip-Hop Albums of 2019) Killer Mike argued that racism might have also played a part in how Knoxs F*ck the Police was being treated. In a separate interview, he offered up a comparison of outlaw country and gangster rap to illustrate the double standard: Outlaw country music is given much more poetic license than gangster rap, and I listen to both, he said. And I can tell you that the lyrics are dark and brutal when Johnny Cash describes shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die and when Ice Cube rapped about a drive-by shooting early in his career. Its no different from stop and frisk, he said. Its another form of racial profiling. Revisit the now-infamous F*ck the Police. The 5-year-old boy in critical condition after being thrown over a third-floor railing at Minnesotas Mall of America has shown very little change since the Friday incident left him with massive head trauma and multiple broken bones in his arms and legs, a family friend reports. During my most recent visit with Landen, holding his hand revealed a calm and warm aura in his room, one that likely is contributed from all of the immense outpouring of prayer and support from everyone across the globe, Noah Hanneman wrote Monday night on a GoFundMe page collecting donations to help with the familys expenses. His condition has very little change at this point, Hanneman wrote, but we are hoping to get some good news back from some upcoming tests in the next few days. Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda | Bloomington Police Department On Monday, authorities alleged that Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, the 24-year-old suspect charged in the incident, was intentionally looking for someone to kill at the mall. Aranda felt driven to aggression after being rejected by women hed tried to speak with there, according to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE. RELATED: Mall of America Suspect Was Allegedly Looking to Kill Because Women Rejected Him Aranda is currently jailed on suspicion of attempted premeditated first-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years to life in prison. He is due in court Tuesday. It could not be determined if hed obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf. This crime has shocked the community, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Monday in a statement announcing the charge. That a child, with his mother, at a safe public place like a mall, could be violently attacked for no reason is chilling to everyone. Freeman said prosecutors will seek a $2 million bond to hold Aranda in jail for now, and would pursue a longer sentence based on the aggravating factors of particular cruelty, the vulnerability of the boy and committing the violent act in front of other children and the boys mother, according to a statement from his office. Story continues Alamy Aranda allegedly told police he had first considered choosing to kill an adult at the mall on Thursday because they usually stand near the balcony, but that did not work out, according to the criminal complaint. RELATED: Man Throws Boy, 5, From 3rd Floor Balcony at Mall of America, Critically Injuring Him About 10:15 a.m. Friday, Aranda was back at the mall, where he allegedly approached the victim and the victims mother as they stood outside the Rainforest Cafe on the third floor with another parent and child. When the victims mother saw Aranda, whom she had never seen before, approaching, she reportedly asked if they should move out of his way. Then, the complaint alleges, Aranda without warning picked up the boy and threw him over the railing to the first floor, which Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts earlier estimated to be about 40 feet. Raymond Boyd/Getty Images Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. The suspect then took off running, pushing another witness who tried to stop him against a wall. He continued to run until police caught him on the light-rail train outside of the mall. Aranda told police he had been coming to the mall for several years and had made efforts to talk to women in the mall, but had been rejected, and the rejection caused him to lash out and be aggressive, states the criminal complaint. He acknowledged repeatedly in his interview that he had planned and intended to kill someone at the mall that day and that he was aware that what he was doing was wrong, it adds. At a news conference on Saturday, Potts declined to speculate on the suspects mental health history but noted that in the suspects prior brushes with law enforcement, it looks like some of those cases were handled through the mental health court. RELATED: Man Charged with Throwing Boy, 5, From Mall of America Balcony Had Previously Been Banned for a Year In July 2015, Aranda was taken into custody after police responded to a call about a man throwing things off of the upper level of the mall to the lower level, according to local TV station WCCO, which cited a 2015 complaint stating Aranda initially resisted arrest and refused to give his name to police. Court records obtained by PEOPLE show that Aranda was convicted of fifth-degree assault and interfering with an officer of the peace, and was ordered not to return to the property for one year. The injured boys family cannot express how grateful they are for all of the prayers, love and support that they are receiving, according to the GoFundMe page. There truly arent enough words! Hanneman wrote: Please continue to keep Landen in your thoughts and prayers, together we can all come together to help heal Landen! A comprehensive new United Nations report outlines humanity's devastating effects on biodiversity and what that means for the future of all life on Earth One of the four last known Yangtze giant softshell turtles has died. According to CBS News, the turtle, the last known living female of the critically endangered species, died at a zoo in Suzhou, China. She left behind three other turtles: one male at the same zoo and two wild Yangtze giant softshell turtles, sex unknown, living in Vietnam. Shortly before her death, the female turtle, believed to be over 90 years old, underwent her fifth artificial insemination attempt. The procedure went smoothly and the turtle was in good health before and after the procedure, so it is unclear if the procedure contributed to the turtles death. Experts are reportedly planning a necropsy to determine the cause of death, reports CNN. RELATED: The Worlds Last Male Northern White Rhino Is Sick, Leaving Its Species Nearly Extinct In an effort to preserve the species, the zoo collected ovarian tissue samples from the female turtle. Yangtze giant softshell turtles are native to China. According to the BBC, the species numbers dwindled due to habitat loss, overfishing, and hunting. The Wildlife Conservations Society (WCS) has referred to the Yangtze giant softshell turtle as the most critically endangered turtle species and the turtle is also listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN). 19-year-old woman meets 22-year-old stranger who donated his liver to her originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com An emotional reunion more than three months in the making took place live on Good Morning America when a 19-year-old girl met the complete stranger who gave her his liver. Madison Ricci, 19, and Jaelin Highsmith, 22, underwent a liver transplant surgery in December that took a total of more than 20 hours. Riccis medical complications after the surgery delayed their meeting until Tuesday, when she was well enough to meet Highsmith in person. Highsmith surprised her live on "GMA" at her family's home in Hamden, Connecticut. PHOTO: Madison Ricci, 19, and Jaelin Highsmith, 22, meet for the first time on 'GMA.' (ABC) "Im speechless," said Ricci, who just had two words for Highsmith: "Thank you." (MORE: Parents of boy with cancer who needs a mixed-race bone marrow match to save his life are pleading for people to register to be a donor) "Unreal. Thats the best way to describe it," Highsmith said of their first meeting. "Its been a long time in the making." The journey to Ricci and Highsmiths first meeting began seven years ago when Ricci was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, at age 12. PHOTO: Madison Ricci, 19, was diagnosed with lupus at age 12. (Courtesy Kristine Ricci) While on spring break last year as a student at the University of Tampa, Riccis health deteriorated. Doctors told her family that the best hope for survival for Ricci, already on the liver transplant list, was to find a living donor who would give her a piece of their liver. (MORE: Mom has Disney World reunion with 4-year-old girl who received her son's heart) After months of waiting and bumps in the road like a potential donor who fell through Ricci learned she had a match. PHOTO: Madison Ricci underwent a liver transplant surgery in December. (Courtesy Kristine Ricci) Highsmith volunteered to be Riccis donor after one of his best friends a family friend of Riccis sent out a text asking for help in finding her a donor. He had only a five to 10% chance of being a match for Ricci, according to her family. Yet after over four months of testing, Highsmith was determined by doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital to be a match. Story continues "The bottom line was the opportunity as there and theres no way I could pass it up," he said. "I knew from day one if I was able to do this, I would do it." PHOTO: Jaelin Highsmith volunteered to be a liver donor for a 19-year-old college student he had never met. (Courtesy Jaelin Highsmith) Highsmith and Ricci began to communicate by text message after the surgery and have stayed in touch via texts and social media before they were able to meet in person. "Maddie and Jae have so many similarities, its just amazing to us," said Ricci's mom, Kristine Ricci. "We are forever grateful for Jaelin and his entire family as they are all now part of ours." PHOTO: Madison Ricci, 19, and Jaelin Highsmith, 22, meet for the first time live on 'Good Morning America.' (ABC) Highsmith has also stood by Ricci's family as they continue to support her recovery, including helping them raise money for her ongoing medical treatment. "The connection and the love that we share between us all is just amazing," Kristine Ricci said. For more information on living organ donations visit the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a private, non-profit organization that manages the nations organ transplant system. 5-year-old victim in Mall of America incident 'showing real signs of recovery,' family says originally appeared on abcnews.go.com The family of a 5-year-old boy who was thrown from the third-floor balcony at the Mall of America released a hopeful update on Friday, saying that despite "a long road ahead," the boy is "showing real signs of recovery." "We have good news to share with you on this Good Friday," the family said in a statement. "Our miracle child is showing real signs of recovery. New test results have been positive, though he remains in intensive care with a long road ahead. Our faith in God and our savior Jesus is strong, and we are gaining more reason for optimism day by day. We continue to appeal for privacy as we focus on our son, and thank you for respecting our wishes. Just know that we absolutely feel your overwhelming love, prayers and support, for they seem to be working. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts." The incident occurred on Friday, April 12, when Emmanuel Aranda, 24, grabbed the child and tossed him down nearly 40 feet, leaving the boy with life-threatening injuries, including multiple broken bones and severe head trauma, according to charging documents. Aranda ran away from the scene, but police apprehended him at a nearby light rail station in Bloomington, about 10 miles south of Minneapolis. Officers said he appeared "calm" as he was arrested and never questioned why he was taken into custody. PHOTO: A 5-year-old was hospitalized after an incident at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., April 12, 2019. (KSTP) Aranda told investigators he was "looking for someone to kill, but it did not 'work out,'" according to a probable cause document released Monday. He said he came up with a plan to "kill someone at the mall" on Thursday and indicated that he was angry because women at the mall had rejected him. (MORE: 5-year-old may have been thrown off 3rd floor of Mall of America: Police) "He said he planned to kill an adult, because they usually stand near the balcony, but he chose the victim instead," the document said. "[He] indicated he had been coming to the mall for several years and had made efforts to talk to women in the mall, but had been rejected, and the rejection caused him to lash out and be aggressive." Story continues This undated photo provided by the Bloomington, Minn., Police Department, shows Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, who was arrested in connection with an incident at the Mall of America where a 5-year-old boy plummeted three floors Friday, April 12, 2019, afte (The Associated Press) Investigators said he repeatedly acknowledged he'd come to the mall with intentions to kill and signaled that he was "aware that what he was doing was wrong," according to the charging documents. Aranda was previously banned from the mall for throwing water in a woman's face and destroying property. Police said he also had a warrant for his arrest in Illinois on assault charges. Police said surveillance video from the scene showed Aranda entering the third floor of the mall and looking over the balcony several times before he approached the 5-year-old victim and his mother. The victim's mother said she noticed the suspect getting "very close to them" and asked if she and her son should move, the documents said. Aranda remained silent as he lifted the boy up over the balcony, "without warning," and threw him down to the first floor, according to the charging documents. Aranda didn't appear to know the victim, said police. PHOTO: A 5-year-old was hospitalized after an incident at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., April 12, 2019. (KSTP) (MORE: 5-year-old allegedly thrown off balcony at Mall of America being treated for life-threatening injuries: Police) Aranda was being held on felony charges of premeditated murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Aranda made a brief court appearance on Tuesday where bail was set at $2 million. His next court appearance was set for May 14. The 5-year-old was described on a crowdfunding page as a "full of energy" child who enjoys playing hockey with his brother and sister. A statement from the Mall of America last week said, "This was a senseless act and words cannot truly express our profound shock and sadness. Our immediate and only concern is for the well being of the family and the child, as well as for any individuals who may have witnessed the incident." ABC News' Emily Shapiro and Janel Klein contributed to this report. Courtesy Shepherd When David Hysong got a diagnosis of terminal cancer, he'd accomplished more than most people can in several lifetimes. In 2012, Hysong was in his mid-20s and volunteering in Cambodia as an investigator of sexual enslavement of children when he got clipped by a tour bus. While most people might take time to recover from such an accident, on a dare Hysong applied to Harvard and got in, earning a masters in Divinity. Then, inspired by his father's experience, he joined the military and began training to become an officer in a U.S. Military Special Operations Community. But then things went wronghe was diagnosed with a rare cancer that he was told would take his life. During the demanding training"If you come out of that, they know you're ready to leadnot just survive," Hysong tells Reader's Digesthe was diagnosed with swimmer-induced pulmonary edema. "I noticed I didn't quite feel like myself, and a friend noticed a lump in my neck. The ENT that I saw thought it was a swollen lymph node from my illness, but he sent it to pathology for testing after removing it to be sure." He was smart to follow up: A lump in your neck is one of the 30 cancer symptoms you should never ignore. The lump was adenoid cystic carcinomaa rare head and neck cancer that spreads to the brain and lungs. Typical treatment is surgery and radiation; the bad news is that there is no chemotherapy known to work for this type of cancer. Hysong, only 27 at the time, took the diagnosis in stride, even though the prognosis was grim. "The doctor did another surgery to remove my salivary gland and surrounding lymph nodes. The cancer hasn't metastasized yetbut the doctor said they know that it will come back in my brain or lungs, and at that point, there's nothing they can do. Everyone with this cancer dies." Courtesy Shepherd This news led him to research his disease with a laser-like focus. "I wanted to know my enemywhat drugs were on the market. What I found is that the only cancer drugs that get made are the ones that make the most money for companies." He points out that rare cancers are actually pretty commonas a group: "Of the 400 distinct types of cancer, 375 of them are considered rare, and over 80 percent don't have a targeted therapy." Hysong says he felt directionless after his diagnosisuntil one day: "The thought suddenly came to me, 'What if I created a foundation that makes the medicines no one else will make?'" That was the day he started Shepherd Therapeutics. It's a crowd-funded pharmaceutical company, says Hysong, that is created by patients for patients. Shepherd is comprised of researchers and biotechnical experts who share one goal: To never leave anyone out who could benefit from their drugs. "I gathered incredible people who left high-profile jobs and took major pay-cuts. We don't believe corporate greed should decide who lives and dies. No one should be left to die because there isn't a treatment for their type of cancer." Today, Hysong, 31, says he's living in "the middle"that's what people with adenoid cystic carcinoma call the time during which they're waiting for the inevitable return of their cancer. "I feel great, and I go back to Boston every six months to be scanned. The cancer comes back for everyone, but I'm still trying to save my life." Shepherd Therapeutics relies on donationsthe foundation has seven medications currently in development, all to treat rare cancers. "I don't know of another group that's doing this on the scale we are. I'm not interested in making a billion dollarsI want to save a billion people." Hysong aims to be at the forefront of cancer therapy researchlike these 23 amazing cancer breakthroughs. On Sunday, the University of Notre Dame announced that former House speaker and lifelong bootstraps enthusiast Paul Ryan will join its faculty as a guest lecturer for the 2019-20 academic year. Ryan, who elected to retire from his old post almost exactly one year ago, is best known for his dogged efforts to pass a widely reviled tax cut on behalf of his millionaire supporters and billionaire benefactors, and for leading his Republican then-majority to its devastating, historic defeat in the 2018 midterm elections. Among the subjects he will teach are political science, economics, and "the fundamentals of American government." For the sake of tuition-paying students who hope to glean something of value from enrolling in one of his courses, I hope the syllabus does not draw heavily from his personal experience. The driving force behind Ryan's political careerbesides a bank vault of conservative-donor money and a treasure trove of Heritage Foundation white paperswas his staunch, quixotic belief in a fantastical economic worldview whose adherents believe the key to alleviating poverty and inequality, somehow, is cutting corporate tax rates and making rich people richer. You can see the echoes of so-called trickle-down economics in the tax-reform bill that Ryan championed some four decades after Ronald Reagan first began preaching his unique brand of prosperity gospel from the Oval Office. When asked on the eve of the act's passage about its unpopularity among voters, Ryan confidently predicted they'd come around on it in short order. "When we get this donewhen people see their withholding improving, when they see the jobs occurring, when they see bigger paychecks, a fair tax system, a simpler tax codethats whats going to produce results," he declared in December 2017. Six months later, economists found, real wages had dropped precipitously, and publicly traded companies had spent some $700 billion on stock buybacks. Corporate executives were eagerly dissecting the law's provisions for clever ways to save money by offshoring the jobs Ryan had preemptively celebrated. Alleviating the tax burden on businesses was supposed to prompt the private sector to invest in the American economy; instead, it transferred those savings directly into shareholders' investment accounts. Ryan, meanwhile, had to backpedal from tweeted boasts that his brainchild, which transferred an estimated $1.5 trillion to the very wealthiest Americans, allowed a Pennsylvania school employee to take home an extra $1.50 per week. Unless Notre Dame offers a course entitled, say, "The Death of Trickle-Down: Debunking Insane 20th-Century Economic Myths Perpetuated by Right-Wing Kleptocrats," I am not sure there is any class in that department that Paul Ryan is qualified to teach. Story continues Political science is not an arena in which his legacy fares much better. Before the tax bill's enactment salvaged the 115th Congress from being a total loss for the Republican Party, Ryan was the primary architect of his party's many doomed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Taking health care away from poor people had long been a dream of Ryan's, as evidenced by his oft-repeated origin story in which he fondly recalls standing around a keg with college pals, pining for the opportunity to one day cap Medicaid's growth rate, just like all normal, well-adjusted young men do. It turns out, however, that people like having access to affordable medical care, and do not like politicians who would eliminate that access in order to pay foryou guessed itgreater tax savings for the rich. Even though each repeal initiative ultimately failed in the Senate, the stupendously cruel bill Ryan managed to jam through the House in 2017 provided every Democratic congressional candidate with the attack-ad fodder they needed in 2018. After triumphantly pledging to center the GOP's midterm elections pitch on health care and tax reform, his colleagues spent last fall warning voters about murderous "migrant caravans" and quietly hoped no one would notice. Again, unless Paul Ryan intends to offer a somber retrospective on his pivotal role in squandering two full years of unified Republican government, his strategic insights on the machinations of partisan politics are not things from which fresh-faced undergraduates would derive any significant benefit. To the extent that Ryan's resume bullet points are "accomplishments," there is great irony in the fact that he realized them only because of his willingness to abandon his carefully curated wonky-professor image, swallow his distaste for Donald Trump, and embrace the role of servile MAGA drone. Many controversial politicians use the periods after their retirements to engage in some savvy image rehabilitation, distancing themselves from troublesome episodes in which they were involved, in their telling, only as a matter of political expedience. Becoming a college faculty member, as White House press secretary turned Harvard lecturer Sean Spicer demonstrated not long ago, is a common component of these redemption tours. Yet even now, unbound by any of the practical constraints associated with being the GOP's most recognizable face on Capitol Hill, Ryan is still out here stubbornly lauding Trump as the unquestioned leader of the conservative movement. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson Paul Ryan can impart to a new generation of aspiring politicians: Should your agenda prove unpopular, unworkable, or both, there is always the option to mortgage your integrity in order to pass a few of its constituent elements. And no matter how ignominiously your time in Washington comes to an end, sooner or later, a prestigious university will come along and offer a plum teaching gig in which you can rewrite your career's narrative arc exactly as you see fit. Photo credit: Rosenburg Police Department From Bicycling A 9-year-old Texas boy caught a thief stealing his bike from his own front yard and pleaded with the man not to take it. Jonathan DeLaCerda had stopped home during a ride on his BMX bike. When he went back outside, he saw the thief leaving. The incident was caught on the familys video doorbell. Its hard the first time you realize a thief has stolen your bike. Its even harder to see it happen to a young child witnessing the theft in real time. Earlier this month, 9-year-old Jonathan DeLaCerda watched from the front porch of his home in Rosenberg, Texas, as a stranger made off with his Christmas gift: a black and orange Kent Chaos FS BMX-style bike. The whole thing was caught on his familys Ring doorbell security camera, and Rosenberg police shared the footage for help identifying the thief. Jonathan had been riding with friends after school like he does almost every day, according to his father Anthony DeLaCerda. The group took a quick break to use the restroom and get a drink. But while Jonathan was inside, one of the other boys noticed someone picking up his bike. He then went outside to confront the thief, who told him, Im gonna ride your bike. Im gonna ride it. Jonathan pleaded with the man, saying, No, no, dont do it... Please dont steal my bike. But the thief rode off anyway. Jonathan began to chase after him, returned to the front door, ran out again, and then called his mom. The two called Anthony, who rushed over as quickly as he could, but it was too late. Jonathan was devastated and heartbroken, Anthony said. I cant imagine the devastation, helplessness, and violation he must have been feeling to see his bike stolen before his eyes and not be able to do anything about it. My first reaction was for my sons safety and well being, Anthony continued. He knows better than to give chase, and as Ive always told him, Things and stuff can be replaced. You cant. But as the video spread online, it brought a huge outpouring of public support for Jonathan. People from all over the country messaged the family with offers to buy him a replacement bike. Story continues We just put [the video] out there to try to get information or any leads on the case, Rosenberg assistant police chief Jarret Nethery said. The post ended up getting quite a lot of attention. Despite the offers, the Kent was indeed swiftly replaced. The day after the theft, Anthony and his girlfriend took Jonathan to Walmart and let him choose a new bike-a black and gold Mongoose Brawler. According to Nethery, the case has a few leads. He said any updates will be posted to the Rosenberg Police Departments Facebook page. We appreciate all the love and support we have received from the community and from places as far away as New York and Missouri, Anthony said. I think and hope that, if nothing else, my boys have learned that things can be replaced and that people still care and are inherently good. ('You Might Also Like',) A female student at an Alaska high school was recently punished for fighting back against boys who had entered the girls' restroom as an anti-trans "protest." Although it has zero factual basis, one of the most common arguments against trans people using their bathroom of choice is that it will enable cis men to gain access to womens restrooms. This line of thinking has even led to bills and high-profile court cases. Now, a high school girl in Alaska was punished after fighting back against a group of cis boys who staged an anti-trans protest in the girls bathroom. According to The Washington Post, on the morning of April 4th, a trans boy attending North Pole High School in North Pole, Alaska, posted a selfie from the boys bathroom to Snapchat. Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Superintendent Karen Gaborik told the Post that a group of seven cis boys, angered by the picture, decided to protest by entering the girls bathroom. But their anti-trans demonstration ended quickly after a cis girl kneed one of the boys in the crotch as he came through the bathroom doors. In a statement provided to Webcenter 11, a local NBC affiliate, Gaborik wrote that discipline was issued to both the female student and to seven boys related to the incident. However, the girls family told The Post that she had been expelled (although the district did not confirm this). In an interview with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, state Representative Tammie Wilson said that the girl had been suspended, but the girls sister tweeted that she had, in fact, been expelled. **expelled** my sister was expelled for kneeing a guy in the dick after he was blocking her in the WOMENS bathroom. https://t.co/h5fbyuX49d Sav (@savannahmoisan) April 12, 2019 In her interview with the Daily News-Miner, Wilson argued that the girl had been defending herself and that her punishment was unjust. Story continues undefined Gaboriks statement to Webcenter 11 said that trans students determine which bathroom to use on a case-by-case basis. undefined UPDATE: FNSB School District Superintendent, Dr. Karen Gaborik, has issued a more detailed statement about the events that took place at North Pole High School. https://t.co/zcW0slAjlU Newscenter 11 (@KTVF11) April 15, 2019 While we cant know exactly what happened in that bathroom, its safe to say that the female student likely found herself surrounded by a group of hostile and prejudiced boys (who were, without a doubt, there to spread hate)which we can only imagine was a stressful situation. Were hoping to get more details as the story develops. Reporter Alex Wilson was shoved by an angry mob while covering the Little Rock Nine at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. in 1957. A Phoenix teacher used the turmoil over the school's desegregation as inspiration for a controversial lesson. (Photo: AP Photo) A Phoenix mom is speaking out after another parent alerted her about a lesson on civil rights and school desegregation which took place in their childrens humanities class last Friday. Claudia Rodriguez went on Facebook to post a note sent by the fellow mom, who was upset and disgusted over a re-enactment of school segregation for the third-graders. Phil Handler, a spokesman for the boys school BASIS Phoenix Central told the Arizona Republic that the class was learning about the Little Rock Nine. In 1957 the black students were taunted by angry white mobs when they started attending a newly desegregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Handler told the newspaper that Rodriguezs 9-year-old son volunteered to take part in the exercise, which, according to the other mom, had the boy walking through while other students yelled and screamed at him that he was not wanted. "The characterization that Ive heard is that the boy was fine, he was not upset and the whole class thought it was a pretty good lesson," Handler said of the exercise. But both moms suspect that Rodriguezs son was singled out because he is black. His humanities teacher found it wise that in order for the kids to understand what black kids during those times experienced that she would have my child, who is black, walk through the classroom as she, another teacher, and the remaining 27 classmates yell, humiliate and berate him, Rodriguez posted on Facebook. The head of school had the nerve to tell me that there was some educational value in this incident because it started conversations in the homes of the other kids, AT THE EXPENSE OF MY CHILD'S EMOTIONAL WELLBEING. I felt the need to speak up so that no other child ever has to feel what my son felt. This woman should not be teaching kids, she has no business in a classroom if she thinks it's OK to do this to a child. The other mom, meanwhile, speculated that the boy was chosen for realistic sake. The mom also objected to her own son being forced to play racist or hate-monger. Story continues School officials dispute any discriminatory motivations, noting that children of other races participated in the same exercise during other periods. Handler told the Republic that the teacher forbade racist or derogatory terms during the lesson, while another mother said her daughter, who is Indian, found nothing wrong with the exercise. She came home and told me how important it is to treat other people with kindness and not to discriminate," Vinita Bhatnagar told the paper. "She had absolutely nothing negative to say about it. I do not believe that it was out of line in any way." Rodriguez has threatened to file a complaint with the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, though it is unclear if she has already done so. Rosalind Thompson, the head of BASIS Phoenix Central, issued a statement to parents about the incident, and reportedly plans to meet with Rodriguez and NAACP representatives on Tuesday. "I am sorry that ... (the) lesson was offensive to some of you we won't repeat it," Thompson, who is black, said in a letter to parents. "But in today's environment, I think it helped the children to 'live' that history for a brief moment and hopefully assure that they never have to live it in real life as I did." The school also posted a statement on Facebook addressing the matter. The exercise in our humanities class was to have students volunteer to play the roles of several different people present on the day the Little Rock Nine walked into school, Thompson wrote in the Facebook statement. While those volunteers playing the roles of the Little Rock Nine and their military escorts walked from the classroom door to the front of the classroom, other students yelled loudly to recreate the chaotic scene the Little Rock Nine faced. The students tasked with yelling were specifically instructed not to use words, but only to make noise. After the brief exercise, the class came together as a group and discussed what that felt like, how it likely made those heroic students in Little Rock feel, and how it compares to the loving and nurturing experience our students feel each day. While the teacher communicated to parents prior to beginning the civil rights movement lessons that sensitive topics were going to be covered, this particular exercise was not discussed with parents in advance. The teacher also asked parents in her initial communication to have discussions with their students at home given the sensitivity of the information that would be presented in class. BASIS Phoenix Central students are a diverse group of children coming from all walks of life, and the children who participated in this exercise are similarly diverse. The stark differences in how certain families feel about this exercise has only further underscored the importance of teaching children about the civil rights movement, and of having discussions with our children and in our school community as a whole on issues such as racial discrimination that continue to plague our society. Rodriguezs post has elicited some strong reactions. Many commenters called the incident unacceptable and cruel. But one parent, who has a child in the same class, defended it, commenting that children were not picked by the color of their skin and they were not berating one another. I understand this is a sensitive situation, but with all the outrage I feel the need to share a little more insight. Yahoo has contacted Rodriguez for comment. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Unlike her character on the newest Netflix series, No Good Nick, Siena Agudong does not enjoying playing tricks on others. Sure, she may have once tied a piece of string around her older sister's doorknob and connected it to her own door, preventing an exit for her sibling, but when it comes to elaborate cons and unexpected surprises, Siena prefers to leave those up to the schemers. However, for her role as Nicole aka Nick on the newest Netflix original series, the actor had to fully embrace being a little sneaky. Well, more than just a little. For the show, Siena portrays the role of Nick, a 13-year-old student who convinces a family that she is their long-lost second cousin. Little does the family know, Nick is plotting her revenge, as she plans to get back at the family for once ruining her life. Teen Vogue won't spill all of the details on whether the character succeeds, but as you'll find in the first episode, not everything is as it seems even when it comes to Nick. Speaking with Teen Vogue, Siena explained that she's never taken on the role of a character that has so many layers. As she pointed out, Nick is initially presented as a young con artist eager to exact payback on an unassuming family for something yet unknown to the viewers, but as time goes on, you'll begin to see a softer side to the character. "It's very fun being Nick, and I'm actively growing as an actor because there are so many things I get to play around with that I haven't been able to before," she told Teen Vogue. "There's both drama and comedy on the series, and it touches on a lot of different situations that I've never experienced before." Born and raised in Hawaii, Siena has starred in plenty of roles prior to No Good Nick. She played Natlee for three years on the Nickelodeon series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn and later the matchmaking Sophia in Star Falls. On top of that, she has popped up in a couple of episodes of the TV Land comedy Teachers. When it came to learning about the role of Nick, Siena instantly had a connection. Story continues "When I first got the breakdown, I remember realizing that her name was Nicole, and my middle name is Nicole, so I already told my mom, its perfect," she said. "I just remember thinking thats she such a complex character. She uses so many tactics, so initially, when I first read the script, I was like here, shes trying to appeal to their emotions, or here, shes trying to act innocent and that was something that was really intriguing to me." Netflix In order to really bring her role to life, Siena worked closely with some of her cast members. As she explained, her pretend television parents, Melissa Joan Hart and Sean Astin, provided her with IRL acting inspiration and tips. And while she might not be able to exactly relate to her character's mission of succeeding in pulling off the ultimate con, she has found some ways to identify with her character. "Nick and I react to certain situations similarly, especially when it comes to heartfelt moments," Siena said. "Sometimes she lets her guard down and becomes a real teenager, and I think in that way we are similar." Although No Good Nick might revolve around Nicole's no good intentions, Siena advises viewers to keep an open mind, especially when it comes to her role. "It's important to notice that not everything is as it seems, and people can do the wrong things, even if it's for the right reasons," she said. "Don't judge someone based on your first impressions because there's someone different there when you actually get to know them." As for who Nick really is? That's one mystery you'll have to figure out for yourself when you watch the show. Let us slide into your DMs. Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email. Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Sierra Capri Was Dared to Smell the On My Block Cast's Armpits, and Sure, OK By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - The co-founder of Indonesia's Lion Air, one of two airlines that lost passengers and crew in recent crashes involving the 737 MAX, has lashed out at Boeing's handling of the accidents as the potential business fallout from the jet's grounding intensifies. Rusdi Kirana said a recent apology by Boeing over the 346 lives lost in the two disasters, firstly at Lion Air in October and then at Ethiopian Airlines last month, stood in contrast to what he viewed as hasty earlier criticism of Lion Air's pilots. In a telephone interview, Kirana also accused Boeing of treating him as a "piggy bank". Lion Air has spent tens of billions of dollars on plane orders with Boeing to become one of Asia's largest budget carriers. The Indonesian entrepreneur is the figurehead for what is now one of the planemaker's largest customers with 187 jets on order and 200 already delivered. Lion Air threatened in December to axe those orders, but has given no further update. Boeing has embarked on a campaign following the two crashes to restore faith in its best-selling jet and pledged to remove any risk that anti-stall software, suspected of pushing the two planes downwards, could be activated by erroneous data. In November, following an interim report on the Lion Air crash, it voiced questions over whether pilots had used correct procedures. Kirana said the contrasting reactions demonstrated that Boeing was taking fast-growing carriers such as his for granted. "They look down on my airline and my country even though relations are always handled in a proper way. They treat us as Third World," Kirana told Reuters. "They also look down on me. They look at me as their piggy bank," he said in his first interview since the Ethiopian crash. Kirana's comments - by far the strongest since the crash off Indonesia on Oct 29 - underscore the depth of a recent rift between Boeing and Lion Air, which has been balking at taking delivery of Boeing jets worth $21 billion at list prices. Story continues His voice also carries weight in Indonesia where he serves as the country's ambassador to Malaysia, handling relations between two Muslim-majority states with important ties. In a statement to Reuters regarding the comments, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said: "We remain heartbroken over the tragic loss of Lion Air Flight 610. We're sorry for the lives lost and deeply regret the devastating impact on the families, friends and colleagues of the passengers and crew." "Rusdi Kirana has been a leader and a pioneer in Asian aviation," he said, adding that Kirana and his team "remain highly valued partners to Boeing". 'INCONSISTENCIES' Although safety experts have raised some questions over crew performance in both crashes, the regulatory fallout has been dominated so far by questions over MCAS anti-stall software, which Boeing has acknowledged provided a common link in the separate chains of events leading to both crashes. Following the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a statement listing three questions relating to pilot and maintenance actions that had not been addressed in a preliminary report. After a similar report on the Ethiopian crash, Boeing issued a sparser statement focusing on its ongoing software review. It has adopted an increasingly contrite tone as pressure grows over design decisions and its relations with U.S. regulators. Kirana said Boeing had shown inconsistencies in its responses to the two disasters. "(They) cast blame for the first one and apologize after the second," he said. Indonesia has 236 Boeing commercial passenger planes on order and operates the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Flag carrier Garuda joined Lion Air last month in threatening to cancel 49 MAX orders. Analysts have questioned how easily either airline can fund deliveries as competition grows and have cautioned that both face lengthy negotiations. (Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Jan Harvey) European citizens elect new lawmakers to the European Parliament every five years. Following the U.K.'s request to exit the union in 2017, the European chamber has prepared for the fact that 73 British members of the European Parliament would not be taking their seats. However, with the possibility that the U.K. will remain a member until October 31st, the European Parliament is yet to agree what to do with the seat allocation. Britain's departure from the European Union (EU) could paralyse law-making in Brussels for at least 5 years. Brexit may now not happen before October 31 st , after European leaders agreed last week to allow more time for Prime Minister Theresa May and the U.K.'s parliament to sort out the country's exit from the EU. But if current divergences in London over Brexit are not solved by May 22, then Britain will have to take part in European Parliamentary elections opening unprecedented legal and political challenges to the EU. Holding EU elections in the U.K. is set to fatally affect the good functioning of the next European Parliament (the EU's legislative arm) as well as the entire Union for the five years to come, two European law experts told CNBC in emailed remarks. Not only the British participation in the elections is set to distort the new political balance emerging within the new Parliament, but also to irremediably tarnish the validity of the Parliament's future decisions, Alberto Alemanno, Professor of EU law at HEC Paris, and Benjamin Bodson, researcher in EU law at UCLouvain said. European citizens elect new lawmakers to the European Parliament every five years. Following the U.K.'s request to exit the union in 2017, the European chamber has prepared for the fact that 73 British members of the European Parliament would not be taking their seats. The EU decided to allocate further seats to certain countries and keep some of the other seats empty for when new countries join the Union. This decision stated that the upcoming parliament would be formed by 705 members, from the 751 today; and it would award 27 extra-seats to 14 member states. Story continues However, with the possibility that the U.K. will remain a member until October 31 st , the European Parliament is yet to agree what to do with the seat allocation. If it follows the old rules and 751 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected, it will break the principle of "degressive proportionally" meaning that countries such as Sweden, Austria and Spain will be less represented than other countries with similar population sizes, Alemanno pointed out, saying this would breach European law. But if the new rules remain and 14 European countries are allowed to get 27 out of the 73 U.K. seats, the question then becomes when these extra MEPs would be able to start their jobs. "These soon-to-be MEPs could argue that the treaties ensure them a term of five years, not less, and require to start their position as soon as July 2, when the new European Parliament will be sitting for the first time (and not whenever the U.K. leaves)," Alemanno said. "On the other hand, 'temporarily' elected British MEPs could invoke the same provision to stay after the UK's withdrawal. This would lead the new European Parliament to have a record number of 778 MEPs," the law professor also said, pointing to another breach of European rules. Political Difficulties Legal implications aside, there are also political consequences of delaying the U.K.'s departure beyond the month of May. U.K. voters could have a strong say on who is the biggest political force at the European Parliament ultimately influencing the direction of futures decisions. "It's not easy to explain to the French, to the Polish, to the Austrian citizens that again the country who is leaving the EU will have a major say in the future decision-making process of the EU. That is a political challenge ahead," Manfred Weber, the head of the conservative party at the European Parliament, told CNBC last week in an exclusive interview. A poll for the British think tank Open Europe showed last Wednesday that the Labour Party could get as much as 38 percent of U.K. votes which could be a big support for the Socialist family at the European Parliament, potentially making it the biggest force in the chamber. This would mark a significant shift, given that the European Parliament has been mostly led by conservative lawmakers. At the same time, the socialist political family would also have an important say in who takes the highest ranking jobs in the EU. Peter Ceretti, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, also made the point that "U.K.'s participation in the elections will be a significant distraction from more substantive EU policy issues during the campaign, providing Eurosceptic parties across the bloc with ammunition for anti-European rhetoric." Turnout in the U.K. is generally low for European Parliament elections, data from The Institute for Government showed. This has never surpassed 40%. Christoph Schon, executive director of Axioma, a risk management solutions provider, told CNBC that the majority of moderate candidates will struggle to convince their constituents to vote for them or to even put a list of candidates together given that the elected lawmakers could be out of the job a few months later. "If, however, we somehow end up in a situation where Britain remains in the EU still a distinct possibility in my view then we will be stuck with a skewed sample of MEPs, who are in no way representative of the majority of British voters and who are bound to cause a lot of trouble alongside their populist allies from other member states," Schon added. More From CNBC President Donald Trump encourages France to use "flying water tankers" to put out a raging fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as firefighters rushed to save one of the country's most visited landmarks. "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris," the president tweets. "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" "If you hit that with tons of water from above, that's going to collapse the entire structure and make the situation worse," said Wayne McPartland, a retired New York City Fire Department battalion chief. "If you miss, you might hit civilians in the street." President Donald Trump on Monday encouraged France to use "flying water tankers" to put out a raging fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as firefighters rushed to save one of the country's most visited landmarks and local officials called for those nearby to evacuate the scene. Read: Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral is on fire "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris," the president wrote. "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" Trump tweet In a pair of tweets, France's civil defense agency appeared to dismiss Trump's suggestion. "The drop of water by air on this type of building could indeed result in the collapse of the entire structure," the agency said in French. "Alongside those ... who are currently doing the maximum to save #NotreDame." "Helicopter or airplane, the weight of the water and the intensity of the drop at low altitude could indeed weaken the structure of Notre-Dame and result in collateral damage to the buildings in the vicinity," the agency added. France civil defense TWEET France civil defense TWEET 2 It was not immediately clear what caused the fire at the 12th century building that attracts more than 13 million visitors each year and is home to a number of the country's artistic masterpieces. The cathedral was being renovated at the time it caught fire. Parts of the church's historic spire are reported to have collapsed. Story continues Experts said that the president's proposal would likely make the situation more dangerous. "If you hit that with tons of water from above, that's going to collapse the entire structure and make the situation worse," said Wayne McPartland, a retired New York City Fire Department battalion chief. "If you miss, you might hit civilians in the street." France made plans to convert six aircraft into air tankers last year, according to the industry website Fire Aviation . Each of the planes can carry 2,600 gallons of water. By Monday evening local time, France's Ministry of the Interior reported that 400 firefighters were responding to the Notre Dame fire. At a tax roundtable event later Monday in Minnesota, the president said that the cathedral was "burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn." "It might be greater than almost any museum in the world, and it's burning very badly. It looks like it's burning to the ground. So, that puts a damper on what we are about to say, to be honest," Trump said. The president said that French authorities believed the cause of the fire was the renovation that was underway. "I hope that's the reason. Renovation, what's that all about? But it's a terrible sight to behold," Trump said. France's junior interior minister said later Monday that the cause of the fire was not yet known. More From CNBC EU Trade Chief Cecilia Malmstrom EU Trade Chief Cecilia Malmstrom. Photo: Shutterstock The European Union has agreed to start negotiations with the United States to head off a trade dispute threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump. EU ministers on Monday authorised the European Commission to work with the U.S. on two deals to eliminate tariffs on industrial goods and to recognise each other's conformity assessments. The decision to launch negotiations comes after Trump threatened last year to hit the EU with punitive tariffs, especially on the export of cars mainly from Germany, because of the country's trade surplus with the U.S. Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 20 percent on imports of German cars unless the EU struck a trade deal. This is a welcome decision that will help ease trade tensions," said Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU's trade commissioner. "We are now ready to start formal talks for these two targeted agreements that will bring tangible benefits for people and economies on both sides of the Atlantic. I am convinced that breaking down barriers to trade between us can be win-win." The deals cover only tariffs on industrial goods. Agricultural products are excluded the two governments announced last July that they had reached an agreement to negotiate a trade deal on certain goods, but that these did not include farm products. Congress is now insisting that the deal should cover farm products. Tariffs on industrial products are generally quite low, about 3 percent on average, while farm goods benefit from tariffs of about 23 percent. Agriculture will certainly not be part of these negotiations, this is a red line for Europe, Malmstrom said during a news conference Monday. France voted against the decision to give the commission authority to negotiate, while Belgium abstained. Getting a deal on conformity assessment would reduce the costs for businesses of getting new products tested and certified safe for sale and use in the EU and the U.S. At the moment, the two sides have different rules and procedures for electrical, mechanical and engineering goods, including automotive parts and medical devices. A Brussels-based trade lawyer said there was a lot of concern among EU clients because of the uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. Clients wanted to see how they might be affected by tariffs imposed on their exports to the U.S. and on any diversion of trade flows because of tariffs applied to Chinese products. The lawyer said clients were expected to keep a close eye on these talks as well. We anticipate there will be questions, the lawyer said. In a separate development, the EU will on Wednesday publish for consultation a list of U.S. exports to be targeted for tariffs in retaliation for illegal U.S. subsidies to U.S. aerospace company Boeing. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled last week that the U.S. had failed to remove tax breaks it had ruled illegal. The EU estimates that the damage to its industry from the tax breaks is 20 billion ($22.6 billion). The WTO will rule later this year on its assessment of the damage. Washington (AFP) - A large, flightless and highly dangerous bird called a cassowary killed its owner in Florida, news reports said. The man was raising it and other exotic animals on his property in Alachua county in the north central part of the state, the local TV station WCLB said. The breeder, 75-year-old Marvin Hajos, fell to the ground by accident Friday and the bird attacked him, the report said. Cassowaries have a four-inch dagger-like claw on each foot, and are the world's most dangerous bird, according to the San Diego Zoo website. "The cassowary can slice open any predator or potential threat with a single swift kick," the website says. Hajos was rushed to the hospital but died. These birds are similar to emus, can be nearly six feet tall (1.8 m) and weigh up to 170 pounds (75 kilos) in the case of females and somewhat less for males, according to the website. With powerful legs, they can jump seven feet straight up in the air. Only ostriches are heavier in the world of birds. Cassowaries can run up to 31 miles per hour. The birds are native to Australia and New Guinea. Caracas (AFP) - The first shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrived in crisis-wracked Venezuela on Tuesday following approval from President Nicolas Maduro's government, the organization confirmed. "This is a great step forward to support vulnerable people in the country!" tweeted Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The shipment included 24 tons of medical supplies and 14 power units to be distributed amongst eight hospitals and 30 outpatient clinics -- half of them public -- said Health Minister Carlos Alvarado. Some 30 trucks moved the supplies from the Maiquetia airport to a Venezuelan Red Cross collection center in Caracas, AFP journalists said. Some 3,100 volunteers will take part in the distribution of the supplies that arrived from Panama. Venezuela has suffered more than four years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. The United Nations says a quarter of its 30 million population is in urgent need of aid. - 'Recognition of regime failure' - Last week, Maduro and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came to an agreement to allow in the humanitarian aid. Supplies destined for Venezuela's long-suffering population formed the basis of a stand-off between Maduro and the speaker of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, who launched a direct challenge to the president's authority in January. Guaido has since been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as Venezuela's interim president. But despite a highly publicized campaign, he failed to force humanitarian aid stockpiled over the border in Colombia into the country after the military -- which remains loyal to Maduro -- blockaded a bridge crossing. Maduro claimed the aid was nothing more than a smokescreen to cover a US-led invasion. Guaido said the entry of aid was "recognition of the failure of the regime that until a few weeks ago was denying the existence of a humanitarian emergency." Story continues He said this shipment was merely "a sedative to contain the emergency." Francisco Valencia, president of the Coalition of Organizations for the Right to Health and Life, voiced concerns over whether or not the aid would help the "more than 300,000 people in Venezuela with a high risk condition." Public hospitals have struggled to treat patients due to shortages of antibiotics, bandages and respiratory equipment. The government has been unable to import what the country needs due to a lack of liquidity, in part due to a sharp drop in its oil production -- around a third of its level from 10 years ago -- which accounts for 96 percent of its revenue, as well as US sanctions. New US sanctions against state oil company PDVSA are due to kick in on April 28 while Venezuelan imports, worth $66 billion in 2012, are expected to reach just $7.8 billion this year, according to Ecoanalitica. Maduro has repeatedly denied that Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis and blames the United States for the oil-rich South American country's economic woes. But last week he said on national TV and radio that his government and the Red Cross had agreed "to work together with UN agencies to bring into Venezuela all the humanitarian aid that can be brought." Guaido blames government incompetence and corruption for his country's crisis. - 'Great achievement' - In a tweet, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza praised Maduro in the face of "Washington's cruel blockade" for taking actions to "protect all the people." Last month, the ICRC announced it would begin in early April a first phase of aid distribution to help 650,000 people. Rocca had said the operation would be "similar" to a previous one that delivered aid to Syria. Mario Villarroel, president of Red Cross Venezuela, urged both sides to avoid "politicizing this great achievement." Guaido ally Hasler Iglesias told AFP that "everything will be distributed by the Red Cross. Neither us nor them (the government) are involved." In a tweet, US Senator Marco Rubio, an outspoken critic of the Maduro regime, praised Guaido and the National Assembly for the entry of aid. The United Nations estimates that 3.7 million Venezuelans are malnourished and 22 percent of children younger than age five suffer from chronic malnourishment. It also estimates that more than 2.7 million citizens have fled Venezuela since 2015. Houses Of Parliament, London When: 1834 Why: A fire started after two wooden tally sticks used as part of the accounting process were set alight and tossed in a furnace underneath the House of Lords. This caused a chimney fire which spread through the building. What happened after: Work to rebuild the Houses of Parliament, then known as the Palace of Westminster, started in 1839 and was completed in 1879, at the cost of 2.5 million. [Photo: Getty] The world watched as a massive fire broke out at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France last night. It took some 500 firefighters more than 12 hours to put out the blaze, which toppled the 850-year-old churchs spire and destroyed two thirds of its roof. French President Emmanuel Macron declared the event emotion for the whole nation in a tweet, later resolving to launch an international campaign to rebuild the historic site. READ MORE: Haunting pictures reveal Notre Dame fire The Notre-Dame isnt the first historic landmark to be ravaged by fire. Some of the most famous buildings worldwide have gone up in flames. Some, like the White House, were completely destroyed by a blaze. Heres how the famous fires started and what happened afterwards. Berlin (AFP) - A leader of Germany's far-right AfD party on Tuesday tried to link the devastating fire at Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral to rising "intolerance" against Christians in Europe, although French investigators believe the inferno was an accident. In a tweet, Alice Weidel, the parliamentary group leader of the Alternative for Germany, the country's largest opposition party, implied a connection between Monday's blaze and previous anti-Christian "attacks" in France. "During Holy Week #NotreDame burns. March: second largest church Saint-Sulpice burns. February: 47 attacks in France," Weidel wrote. "The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe speaks of a significant increase," she added, including a link to a March article in a German Catholic magazine headlined "Catholic churches desecrated across France". Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said Tuesday that "nothing indicates" the Notre-Dame blaze, which brought the iconic building's towering spire and roof crashing down, "was a voluntary act". The cathedral had been undergoing intensive restoration work which firefighters said could be linked to the inferno, investigators said. The brief fire on March 17 at Saint-Sulpice, a Roman Catholic church in Paris, left no one hurt and little damage. Investigators have opened an inquiry into the blaze. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe cited by Weidel is a non-governmental organisation based in Austria. It told AFP by email that while a partner organisation had found an increase in attacks on French churches this year, it had no indication that Notre-Dame had been targeted. We "will wait with the rest of the public for an official announcement after an investigation into the cause of the fire," it added. The AfD, which holds more than 90 seats in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, rails against Islam and Muslim immigrants as a threat to Christian culture in Germany and Europe. MOSCOW (AP) The Kremlin spokesman says it is not clear yet when and where the Russian president and the North Korea leader will meet for a rare summit. Dmitry Peskov said Monday details are still being worked out on the rare talks between Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Peskov has confirmed reports that the preparations for the meeting are underway. Kim's previous major negotiations, with U.S. President Donald Trump in February, collapsed after the two sides failed to bridge their differences over U.S. sanctions and the North Korean nuclear program. Putin has publicly supported the talks between Trump and Kim but said that North Korea needs to be given solid security guarantees if it were to give up its nuclear arsenal. Tripoli (AFP) - At least 174 people have been killed and 758 wounded in the battle for control over the Libyan capital Tripoli, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Fighting broke out on April 4 when military strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take Tripoli, the seat of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). At least 14 civilians are among those killed and 36 have been wounded, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told journalists citing local health facilities. "WHO has deployed additional surgical staff to support hospitals receiving trauma cases," the United Nations agency wrote on Twitter. Both pro-government forces and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) accuse each other of targeting civilians, with each launching daily air raids in addition to clashes on the ground. Fighting in the southern outskirts of the capital has displaced more than 18,000 people, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs reported Monday. Urgent medical supplies were being delivered to Libya's health ministry to support those in the worst-hit areas, the UN's refugee agency said. "Health facilities are in critical need of assistance as the situation on the ground continues deteriorating and number of casualties soaring," UNHCR tweeted. gallery ids="53174,53173,53172,53171,53170,53169,53168" At least one type of retail tenant is in expansion mode in Florida yet it's facing hurdles setting up shop. Medical marijuana dispensaries are pushing to open across South Florida but are limited in their options for new locations by local regulations and an almost-blanket inability to open in mortgaged buildings, attorneys and brokers working with dispensaries and landlords said. This has left the 14 licensed medical marijuana operations in Florida which under state law are required to do everything from grow to package and sell tussling over the available sites. "There's definitely a great deal of competition," said Joshua Leavitt, Florida market president for Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, which has a Deerfield Beach dispensary and plans another four in the region. "That's why we spend a lot of time finding the right spots. There's 13 other license holders that are all vying for similar locations." GTI has its dispensary at 2305 W. Hillsboro Blvd. and is opening a second at 308 N. Federal Highway in Hallandale Beach after getting city approval. Others in Delray Beach, suburban Kendall and West Palm Beach are on tap this year. For their part, public agencies say they have good reasons to ban or regulate the unwanted-by-some dispensaries. Miami city attorney Victoria Mendez. Miami city attorney Victoria Mendez. Miami has no rules on the books but denied the first application. City Attorney Victoria Mendez noted marijuana use still is illegal under federal law. Homestead, where dispensaries are prohibited under an ordinance passed last September, called the cash businesses "inherently attractive targets for criminals." Dispensaries generally can't use standard bank accounts. In Miami Beach, where the regulation in February set a 1,200-foot boundary between dispensaries, Commissioner Joy Malakoff cautioned the city needs to prepare for the possibility of legalized recreational use, the Miami Herald has reported. Story continues Keith Poliakoff Keith Poliakoff is partner at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in Fort Lauderdale. Dispensaries are keeping that in mind as well, said attorney Keith Poliakoff, who represented GTI in Hallandale Beach. "The medical community is a finite number of potential users so that may not lend itself to numerous retail locations. However, most of the dispensaries believe that Florida at some point will potentially legalize the use recreationally," said Poliakoff, a partner at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in Fort Lauderdale. This session House Bill 1117, whose companion is Senate Bill 1780, sought to allow recreational use by adults, but it died without a hearing. Still, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his first bill in March to lift a ban on smoking medical marijuana. "A lot of dispensaries are not open yet. They are just simply getting in there and doing the ground work and cornering the market on areas to be," Poliakoff said. Location, Location, Lawsuit Jaime Sturgis Native Realty Co. founder and CEO Jaime Sturgis in Fort Lauderdale. Broker Jaime Sturgis has been touring locations with Trulieve and two undisclosed providers seeking densely populated and growing locations. Boca Raton is one choice, along with Fort Lauderdale's emerging areas along Northeast 13th Street and in the once neglected but now thriving Flagler Village. "More recently, because of the position Gov. DeSantis just took, I think that's emboldened people and they feel more confident in the political stability of this sector moving forward under his tenure," Sturgis said. "That's given people the vote of confidence that they need to continue expanding in the industry." But finding urban core locations is tricky, said Alexander Brown, executive director of office services at Colliers International South Florida. Under state law, counties and municipalities can't limit the number of dispensaries. They can either ban them or regulate them in the same way they regulate pharmacies. The state also bans dispensaries within 500 feet of schools. But some cities have expanded the distance restrictions. In Fort Lauderdale, dispensaries must be no less than a mile from each other and no closer than 1,500 feet to a school, park, library and day care. Brown said distance rules can be hard to handle. "In a downtown area, you might not see a day care. However, a building two buildings over, on the third floor might have a day care center that's not even known. If that occurs, you are typically blown out of the water," he said. Sturgis, founder and CEO of Native Realty Co. in Fort Lauderdale, has pinpointed several possible locations in the city. Boca Raton imposed a ban but night reconsider it, directing staff members to draft a new ordinance, according to city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson. The move came after a February workshop attended by providers, doctors, patients and other stakeholders. Miami Beach and others opted for regulations, then made them apply to pharmacies but grandfathered existing pharmacies. MedMen Enterprises Inc. in a March 14 lawsuit filed by Akerman partner Lawrence Silverman against the city says it signed a 10-year lease for 1428 Alton Road and previously received city approval for the site. But the new distance requirement means it's too close to an existing dispensary opened by Surterra Wellness at 1523 Alton Road. Jonathan S. Robbins, Jonathan S. Robbins, chairman of Akermans Cannabis Practice, in Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale attorney Jonathan Robbins, who oversees the cannabis practice at Akerman, said the new Miami Beach rule "applies to pharmacies as well. But the target wasn't Walgreens. The target was MedMen." The city said it stands by its distance requirement, called the lawsuit "devoid of any legal validity" and "meritless." Chief deputy city attorney Aleksandr Boksner said by email, "The lawsuit improperly seeks to challenge a lawfully enacted ordinance, based solely upon the plaintiffs evident misinterpretation of the law." The four Fort Lauderdale buildings Sturgis has been showing have no mortgages. "These dispensaries have to find properties that are owned outright with cash, don't have any debt on them, and the concern from a landlord's perspective is if and when you try to sell the property from a finance perspective you are going to have an issue," Sturgis said. "You are pigeonholed only selling to another cash buyer. It's an interesting caveat to the market that's another layer of complexity." Industrial Space The 14 license holders aren't pushing for grow houses in industrial space, the attorneys and brokers said. But expect that to change if recreational use is approved. If states with legalized marijuana offer an example, the industry could breathe new life into industrial real estate. In Colorado, old warehouses that were functionally obsolete were resuscitated by the industry, said Patrick Willis, vice president at CRESA in Miami. Providers don't need modern facilities with dock-high loading and high ceilings. "They just need four walls and enough power and that they can seal up enough to control the environment. Their target is usually very old buildings, stuff built in the '80s or before if they'd like to get something cheaper," Willis said. Safe cash storage is another need. "There's an entire asset class of industrial that's being built specific for this industry that is just designed to safeguard their money," Sturgis said. "People are developing these buildings just as massive safes, just to store cash. When it goes recreational in South Florida, that would be a big part of the business." For now, though, the focus remains retail space. "It's definitely an uphill battle in some senses," Sturgis said. SOUTH FLORIDA DISPENSARY REGULATIONS Unincorporated Miami-Dade County Prohibited within 500 feet of schools, allowed in industrial zoning and cultivation sites in agricultural areas. Unincorporated Broward County Allowed in three business districts where pharmacies are permitted. Unincorporated Palm Beach County Prohibited within 500 feet of schools. Miami Denied the first application. Fort Lauderdale Allows one in each of four City Commission districts in business and industrial zoning at least a mile from each other and 1,500 feet from a library, park, day care and school. West Palm Beach Allowed in nonresidential areas at least 500 feet from schools. Miami Beach Limited to four areas and not within 1,200 feet of each other. Homestead Prohibited. Boca Raton Prohibited with possible reconsideration. Doral Prohibited. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles just confirmed their next royal outing, and it appears Prince Harry and Meghan Markles first child is arriving sooner rather than later. It all started yesterday when the Duke of Cornwall, 70, announced that he and his wife, 71, will embark on a royal tour of Germany next month. The three-day trip will begin on May 7 in Berlin and take the couple to Leipzig and Munich. While there, they will attend a series of events and chat with officials in an attempt to strengthen the relationship between the U.K. and Germany. So, why is it such a big deal? Both Charles and Camilla are expected to be present for the childs birth, which leads us to believe that Baby Sussex is arriving any day now (aka before their trip). Back in January, the Duchess of Sussex, 37, told fans that her due date was in late April/early May. Although the royal family has yet to announce any further details, we cant help but wonder if Prince Charless travel plans were delayed due to the babys impending arrival. Unlike Kate Middleton, who welcomed all three of her childrenPrince George (5), Princess Charlotte (3) and Prince Louis (11 months)at the Lindo Wing at St. Marys Hospital in London, Markle is expected to give birth at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey county. The medical center is a 30-minute drive away from the couples new home at Frogmore Cottage in Berkshire, England. In the meantime, well be taking final baby name predictions. RELATED: Listen to Royally Obsessed, the Podcast for People Who Love the Royal Family JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Indonesia's Election Supervision Agency said Tuesday about 320,000 overseas voters in neighboring Malaysia's biggest city should vote again in presidential and legislative elections after finding evidence that postal ballots had been tampered with. Election officials rushed to Malaysia last week to investigate claims of vote fraud after videos circulated online showed thousands of ballots for Wednesday's elections scattered throughout a shophouse. Opposition party representatives said the ballots for Indonesians living in Kuala Lumpur were marked in favor of President Joko Widodo, who is campaigning for re-election, and a legislative candidate who is the son of Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia. The agency "found legal ballot papers that allegedly were marked by non-legitimate voters at two locations in Selangor, Malaysia," said Rahmat Bagja, one of the agency's commissioners. He said that requirements for the elections to be free, fair and honest were violated and recommended that Indonesia's Election Commission dismiss two members of the election organizing committee in Kuala Lumpur to avoid conflicts of interest. One of them is Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Krishna Hannan. The Election Commission is responsible for organizing elections and the Election Supervision Agency is responsible for overseeing them. About 193 million Indonesians are eligible to vote in the elections for president, the Senate and national, provincial and district legislatures. Opinion polls show Widodo has a large lead over his challenger, former special forces general Prabowo Subianto, whose campaign has repeatedly alleged major irregularities with voter rolls. Bagja said the overseas vote in Sydney should be reopened because many expatriate Indonesians in the Australian city were unable to cast ballots in time. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the organization is the Election Supervision Agency, not Election Commission. A devastating fire that engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday blazed through the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, causing the spire to collapse in the hours it took to bring the flames under control. But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, firefighters won the battle against the blaze, saving the main structure of iconic French monument and its two towers. Many Singaporeans woke up this morning to news of the fire, and even though French president Emmanuel Macron said the worst was avoided, he warned that the flames could continue to burn for days. People across the globe expressed sorrow over the damage done to the historic landmark, which was especially poignant and tragic as Catholics grieved the destruction of Notre-Dame during Holy Week, in the days leading up to Easter. Leaders around the world offered words of commiseration and support in response, with Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sharing a Facebook post on how he was deeply saddened to see the flames blaze their way through Notre-Dame. I share the sense of loss of the French people over the damage to their national monument and the treasures it contained, he said. The Notre-Dame has stood witness to events in Paris and Europe for more than 850 years. It is part of the heritage of mankind, an expression of the religious faith and human spirit of generations of people who conceived it, built it, and worshipped in it. I hope in time, a rebuilt Notre-Dame will fill the Paris skyline, he added. This article, PM Lee expresses sadness over Notre-Dame Cathedral fire; laments loss of history and heritage, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! Washington (AFP) - Turkey voiced hope Tuesday that the United States will extend an exemption in sanctions to allow it to keep buying oil from Iran, despite tensions between the allies on multiple fronts. Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak met President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday and discussed the range of disagreements including Ankara's major weapons purchase from Russia, said Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "It was a positive meeting overall," Kalin told reporters in Washington. Kalin said Turkey was hopeful that the Trump administration would issue another waiver for Turkey after last year demanding that all nations stop buying oil from Iran. "Certainly we are expecting an extension for Turkey," Kalin said, adding that Ankara has not received a formal notice. The United States has given six-month exemptions to eight countries -- China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey -- that run out on May 2. Kalin said Turkey had reduced its imports from Iran despite disagreeing with the US sanctions, which Trump imposed unilaterally after pulling out of an international accord under which Tehran drastically scaled back its nuclear program. "People should not expect Turkey to turn its back on Iran just like that," he said, pointing to the countries' shared border and historic relationship. "We want to maintain good relations with Iran and we believe that the way to deal with Iran is more engagement rather than more sanctions." Relations between the United States and Turkey deteriorated after the NATO ally said it would buy the S-400 missile defense system from the alliance's main nemesis Russia. The United States has responded by suspending Turkey's participation in the key F-35 fighter-jet project. Kalin renewed Turkey's offer to form a joint committee to examine US concerns that Russia would gain data in Turkey to help the S-400 system shoot down the Western planes. Story continues He said that Russian air defenses are already operating in war-torn Syria, where Israeli F-35s frequently enter the airspace. "When you consider the airspace in the region, it should be very easy for Russians to gain access to that sensitive data already," Kalin said. "If they are waiting for Turkey to install these S-400s in Turkey to get that information, that wouldn't make sense." Kalin was in Washington to participate in a conference of the American-Turkish Council, a business group, at the Trump International Hotel. (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday ordered makers of transvaginal surgical mesh implants to immediately stop their sale and distribution in the United States, the latest action by the agency to tackle safety issues related to the devices. The FDA said Boston Scientific Corp and Coloplast A/S did not demonstrate a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of these devices in their premarket applications. The companies will have 10 days to submit their plan to withdraw these products from the market, the FDA said in a statement https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm636114.htm. In 2016, the agency reclassified the mesh as class III or high risk, requiring its makers to obtain approval from the FDA's most stringent device review pathway in order to continue selling the products. The devices, made of synthetic or biological material, are commonly implanted in women to repair weakened or damaged tissue and provide support in cases of pelvic organ prolapse. The prolapse occurs when the muscles and tissues supporting the pelvic organs - the uterus, bladder, or rectum - become weak or loose, resulting in one or more of the organs to drop or press into or out of the vagina. Boston Scientific and Coloplast are the only companies that still sell and distribute meshes for this use, the FDA told Reuters. Boston Scientific said it was "deeply disappointed" by the FDA's decision and will work with the agency to determine the next steps. "The inaccessibility of these products will severely limit treatment options for the 50 percent of women in the U.S. who will suffer from pelvic organ prolapse during their lives," the company said in an emailed statement. Coloplast said the order involved only one of its products, accounting for around 0.2 percent of total revenue. The Danish company declined to comment further. Tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed in recent years against medical device manufacturers claiming their transvaginal mesh implants caused pain, perforations, urinary problems, bleeding and other injuries. The lawsuits were filed against Boston Scientific, Coloplast, Johnson & Johnson and C.R. Bard, now a unit in Becton Dickinson and Co. J&J said it has not sold its mesh product since 2012. Other companies had to remove their products from the market last year because they did not submit required premarket approval applications, the FDA said. A large portion of the $929 million in Boston Scientific's legal reserves at the end of 2018 was related to the company's surgical mesh, Needham and Co analyst Mike Matson said, adding that products account for around 1 percent of company revenue. Boston Scientific shares were down 4 percent at $36.24 in late afternoon trading. (Reporting by Saumya Sibi Joseph and Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill Berkrot) By Christopher Bing and Jack Stubbs WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The United States will push its allies at a meeting in Prague next month to adopt shared security and policy measures that will make it more difficult for China's Huawei to dominate 5G telecommunications networks, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters. The event and broader U.S. campaign to limit the role of Chinese telecommunications firms in the build out of 5G networks comes as Western governments grapple with the national security implications of moving to 5G, which promises to be at least 100 times faster than the current 4G networks. The issue is crucial because of 5G's leading role in internet-connected products ranging from self-driving cars and smart cities to augmented reality and artificial intelligence. If the underlying technology for 5G connectivity is vulnerable then it could allow hackers to exploit such products to spy or disrupt them. The United States has been meeting with allies in recent months to warn them Washington believes Huawei's equipment could be used by the Chinese state to spy. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has repeatedly denied the allegations. Officials from more than 30 countries will meet May 2-3 to agree on security principles for next-generation telecoms networks, said Robert Kahofer, chief of cabinet at Czech cybersecurity agency NUKIB. A U.S. official familiar with the plan said the Prague meeting marks a strategic shift in how the U.S. government plans to urge allies to drop Huawei and other 5G vendors in the future, which Washington believes pose a risk to national security. The official described the approach as "softer." A Huawei spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. proposals for the Prague meeting urge governments and operators to consider the legal environment in a vendor's country, how much state support a company receives, transparency of corporate structure, and trustworthiness of equipment. It also calls on partners to prioritise security and work together on investigations into cyberattacks aimed at 5G architecture. Story continues The documents do not mention Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker, by name, but U.S. officials said they hoped it would provide the "intellectual framework" needed for other countries to effectively bar Chinese vendors. In August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill that barred the U.S. government itself from using Huawei and ZTE Corp equipment. "The goal is to agree upon a set of shared principles that would ensure the security of next-generation telecommunications networks," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The Prague conference has been organised by the Czech foreign ministry with support from NUKIB, said Kahofer. The foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Delegations from all of the European Union's 28 member states, as well as the European Commission, NATO and around eight other countries including the United States and Australia are expected to attend, Kahofer said. China and Russia have not been invited, he added, but stressed that the event was not "an anti-Huawei or anti-China conference." Europe has emerged as a key battleground for the future of 5G, with the United States pushing allies and partners to bar Chinese vendors but European governments wary of the trade and economic consequences of angering Beijing. Internet service providers have also warned that banning Huawei would incur huge costs and delay the rollout of 5G by years. A senior U.S. cybersecurity official said last week Washington wanted European governments to adopt "risk-based security frameworks", citing recent moves in Germany to implement stricter security standards for all 5G vendors, and that doing so would effectively rule out using Huawei and ZTE. The United States welcomes engagement from partners and allies to discuss ways that we can work together ensuring that our 5G networks are reliable and secure," said White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis. Officials in Britain, which last month exposed new security flaws in Huawei equipment but says it has found no evidence of Chinese state interference, have also spoken of "raising security across the board" for 5G. The European Commission said in March that EU nations would be required to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of the year. (Reporting by Christopher Bing in WASHINGTON and Jack Stubbs in LONDON) LONDON (Reuters) - British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt will on Monday seek to reassure Japanese carmaker Toyota that the government is focused on avoiding a no-deal exit from the European Union and ensuring tariff-tree trade between Britain and the EU. Hunt will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Toyota representatives during a visit to Japan that his office said would give him chance to explain the latest Brexit developments. "The UK has always been an outward-looking, global power. That cannot change after Brexit. I look forward to our relationship with Japan getting even closer in the years after we leave the EU," Hunt said in a statement before the meetings. The statement said he would discuss Toyota's recently announced plans to build a new car with Suzuki in Britain and "reassure them that UK Government is focussed on avoiding a no-deal Brexit and on agreeing a deal which that will ensure tariff-free frictionless trade between the EU and the UK". Hunt will also meet telecommunications firm NTT DoCoMo. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Jan Harvey) Geneva (AFP) - US calls for Venezuela to allow more aid into the country are just a smokescreen to cover a "foreign invasion", Caracas's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said Tuesday. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to open the border to allow humanitarian aid into the crisis-hit country -- and also to step down. "We of course can never accept attempts to use humanitarian support to promote a foreign invasion in my country," Ambassador Jorge Valero told AFP in an interview. "For that reason we reject strongly the attempt of the US to use this so-called humanitarian aid as a mechanism for an intervention," he added. Maduro closed four border bridges connecting Venezuela and Cucuta, Colombia on February 22, after the US and some 50 other countries branded him illegitimate and recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president. Meanwhile, Venezuela is suffering an economic collapse and is struggling with shortages of food and medicine and the exodus of millions of people. Humanitarian aid has been a defining issue in the power struggle between Guaido and Maduro. Valero insisted that his country was open to humanitarian support from "friend countries", and pointed to an agreement announced by Maduro last week to allow the Red Cross to work with UN agencies to bring in aid. A first shipment, including medication and medical supplies, arrived on Tuesday, an official told AFP in Caracas. But Valero charged that Washington's insistence on the need to send more aid was disingenuous. - 'Sanctions produce death' - "We consider that (this is) a pretext for a foreign intervention in Venezuela," he said. Like Maduro, Valero denies that Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis, instead blaming large-scale US sanctions for the country's economic woes. "The sanctions produce death," he insisted. Story continues More than 2.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015, according to the UN. But Valero maintained that the exodus corresponded with a more aggressive US policy. "This recent movement of people from Venezuela beyond the borders is a direct consequence of the economic war and sanctions against Venezuela," he said. The ambassador said he hoped that UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who has also voiced concern about the impact of the US sanctions on regular Venezuelans, would soon visit the country. He said a team of UN rights officials who travelled to Venezuela to assess the feasibility of such a visit had told him they would recommend that she make the trip. Bachelet's office confirmed that "the team has been briefing the High Commissioner and discussions are ongoing about a potential visit." Valero also slammed US efforts to snub Maduro's representatives at the UN, especially before a Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva. Washington has repeatedly called for Guaido's envoys to replace Maduro's officials at international bodies, including the CD, where Venezuela is to take over the rotating presidency next month. "The position of the US diplomacy in the CD is ridiculous," Valero said, suggesting that the US instead could allow Guaido to be its representative at the CD. "I invite the United States government to put the puppet in (its) seat," he said. 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. A French court sentenced far-right essayist Alain Soral to a year in prison on Monday for Holocaust denial in relation to images and remarks posted on a website. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Soral, 60, was convicted for publishing on his website a litigious text written by his lawyer in regards to another case. Alain Soral, left, with French comedian Dieudonne (Photo: Reuters) He was not present for the decision. The judge in the case issued a warrant for his arrest. Soral, an associate of French comedian Dieudonne, has previous convictions, notably for incitement of racial hatred, and the court went beyond prosecutors requests for six months in prison. His lawyer, Damien Viguier, received a 5,000-euro fine for complicity, due to the content of his conclusions. Prosecutors had asked for a 15,000-euro fine. Both Soral and Viguier were also ordered to pay a symbolic one-euro fine reflecting damages as well as 1,500 euros in legal fees to four anti-racist groups. After 10 years of convictions for racist and anti-Semitic offenses, the justice system is finally taking the right measures against the Soral phenomenon, said Stephane Lilti, lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, the French Union of Jewish Students. The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) hailed the firmness of this decision and called on web servers to close all of Sorals websites. Viguiers own lawyer, Gerard Guillot, denounced a scandal in which a French lawyer is convicted for defending a case. Multiple convictions over a contested image The conviction concerns an image published on Sorals website Egalite et Reconciliation (Equality and Reconciliation) in 2016 in which a fictional newspaper called Chutzpah Hebdo bears a caption reading disoriented historians. Before a Star of David, a likeness of Charlie Chaplin surrounded by a shoe, a wig, a bar of soap and a lampshade asks Holocaust, where are you? Chutzpah Hebdo cover The image was a reference to a controversial cover of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting a young man asking Daddy, where are you? surrounded by dismembered body parts, published in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Brussels of 22 March 2016. A court ruled the image on Sorals site to be an instance of Holocaust denial and fined Soral 10,000 euros with the possibility of imprisonment in case of non-payment. Mondays conviction and sentence concerned a text by Viguier that Soral published on the same site in November 2017 In the text, Viguier says the shoes and wig were a reference to memorial sites and sites of pilgrimage that were brought together to stir readers imaginations. Concerning the wig, Viguier wrote haircuts occur in all places of concentration for reasons of hygiene, and said claims that Nazis made soap from human fat and lampshades from human skin were war propaganda. Viguier posted a message on Sorals website saying they would both appeal the courts decision. US Coordinator for counterterrorism, Nathan Sales visiting Israel said the key to security in the region lies in Tehran. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Following President Donald Trump's designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as an international terror organization, they have become "'radioactive", Sales said. He added, 'anyone doing business with them will be suspected of funding terror', thereby dealing the organization a massive blow. Nathan Sales (: Kevin Tierney) 'We know what the Iranians are capable of", Sales said, expressing the hope that countries considering conducting business with the Islamic republic, will decide against it. Nathan Sales visits Gaza border area (Photo: Kevin Tierney) On a visit to Israel's south, Sales was briefed on the current threats Israel is facing from the Gaza Strip. "I was amazed at the resources Hamas is investing in terror activity against Israel," Sales said, noting these are at the expense of investments in health, education and housing all needed to improve civilian lives. Israeli officials also briefed the US envoy on the presence of ISIS in the Sinai which is a source of concern for the US as well as Israel. "ISIS in the Sinai is a threat to Egypt the region and beyond" Sales said and warned of a danger to Israel if violence spills over. Regarding the "deal of the century" expected to be presented by President Trump to both Israel and the Palestinians, Sales said the US is taking protective measures in case of active opposition by the Palestinian Authority. During the Israeli election season, some political parties called for victory over Hamas and overconfidently touted their ability to achieve that goal. Even if election slogans ought to be forgotten, it is worthwhile examining this demand for victory methodically. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter There are five explicit principles that govern Israel's relationship with Hamas: the massive difference in military power; the internecine Palestinian dispute and strife; Hamas's determination to harass Israel and not allow Israelis to enjoy periods of calm; the methods of power deployment whose effectiveness is questionable (Hamas is also frustrated); and the fact that a deployment of force often leaves to escalation. Therefore, without a policy change, a security deterioration is inevitable. Hamas in Gaza (Photo: Reuters) It is not in Israel's interest to destroy Hamas but rather to bring about regional calm and decrease the potential threat from the Gaza Strip in the future. Success is dependent on Israel's interactions with the enemy, that is, the very low probability of good voluntary cooperation and sincere friendship. Therefore, Israel shod adopt a generous policy, as is fitting for the powerful, and if this policy does not pan out and Hamas reacts offensively, then security policy should be especially forceful. In addition, we ought to examine what steps are dependent on ourselves, as well as actors other than Hamas, that can advance Israeli interests. A generous policy toward Hamas means improving Gaza's infrastructure and its economic ability. A port is not necessarily vital but rather expanding Gaza's electricity production capacity or its conveyance from Israel or Egypt and urgent treatment of water and sewer infrastructure. Simultaneously, Israel can expand Gaza residents' employment options even if it means opening the Israeli job market to Gazans. Several thousand Gazan laborers crossing via the Erez Crossing daily can help ensure calm on the security front. Erez Crossing Likewise, we ought to continue the security cooperation with Egypt and improve it so that they prevent weapons, dangerous substances and terrorists into the Gaza strip via the Sinai. We should also continue fortifying the Gaza border, above and below ground, so that even if our good intentions are met with terror and violence, the defensive response will be effective. Do not expect the Palestinian Authority to be part of the solution. If there is anything of certainty in our region it is the scale of the inter-Palestinian discord. And what will be if Hamas does not react cooperatively and continues to embitter the lives of residents of southern Israel? In that case, Israel should immediately cease its humanitarian efforts and engage in decisively destroying Hamas' military capabilities. The harm to civilians will not interest Hamas, only hitting its military capability will lead the group to internalize its failure and nudge it into a change of tactics. Such an operation will require a significant level of urban warfare, above and below ground, in Gaza. In recent decades, there has been a tendency to overstate the enemies' abilities and understate our own. With such a phenomenon, it is understandable why the populace is so hesitant to permit the IDF to enter Palestinian cities, such as during the Second Intifada, and the great concern regarding a war in south Lebanon. In both of the above instances, the enemies' abilities turned out to be highly overstated, and the same is true with Hamas in Gaza, to my understanding. Moreover, only a ground invasion can reduce the threat posed by the terrorist group on Israeli civilians, as is expected of a defensive military. Israeli leadership must prepare the nation and the international community for a new policy consisting of a fat, juicy carrot alongside a heavy stick. It is our duty toward residents of the Gaza vicinity to implement a policy of hope for an improved military and civil state of affairs; a readiness to fight and sacrifice exists and will continue to be necessary. Yair Golan is the outgoing IDF deputy chief of staff and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. (JISS) Israeli authorities extensively interrogated a Jewish American activist leaving the country about her work with a non-profit organization, the group said Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Israel has come under scrutiny in the past for detaining and interrogating pro-Palestinian activists and prominent critics at its borders, but the Abraham Initiatives called this the first time an advocate of "shared society" between Arabs and Jews inside Israel had been targeted. The Abraham Initiatives activist Laura Mandel was flying home to San Francisco after attending a conference for the group when security officers at Ben Gurion Airport pulled her aside for questioning about her involvement with the organization, which aims to advance the rights of Israel's Arab citizens. An undated portrait of Laura Mandel, a U.S. member of the International Board of The Abraham Initiat The group is widely considered mainstream, working closely with state agencies and government ministries. Mandel was, by her account, asked about her activities and contacts in Israel, as well as why an American Jew would be interested in Arab-Jewish relations. She said that after authorities questioned and inspected her for nearly two hours, they confiscated her laptop, medication and other personal belongings, to be returned at the end of the flight. Israel's Airport Authority said it was "sorry for having caused offense," but that it was following security procedures mandated by law. The Abraham Initiatives, which has headquarters in Lod, near Tel Aviv, New York City and London, linked Mandel's interrogation to an increasingly hostile political climate, in which "anyone in contact with Arabs, whether citizen or non-citizen, is labelled a potential threat." The incident reflects a "deterioration in the state's relations with its Arab citizens," the organization said of Israel. Ben Gurion Airport (: ) Also, the incident follows Israel's turbulent election season, marked by divisive campaigning that many Arab citizens call racist incitement. On election day, Arab factions filed a complaint that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party dispatched over 1,000 activists equipped with concealed cameras into polling places in Arab towns. Netanyahu defended the move as helping to secure a "legitimate vote." Arab lawmakers, who represent over 20 percent of Israel's citizens, called the cameras voter intimidation, meant to suppress Arab turnout. The Abraham Initiatives co-director Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu said he fears Israel's hard-line atmosphere, exacerbated by the recent passage of laws that Arabs view as discriminatory, have emboldened security forces to "harass not only peace activists," such as Jewish-American commentator Peter Beinart, who was interrogated about his politics by airport authorities last year, "but also those who promote a shared society among citizens of the state." The group pledged to take legal action against the state. A little over a year has passed since the start of the weekly March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank and the rest of the Palestinian territories, relative quiet prevails. On the face of it, the spread of the protests - which broke out on the Arab Land Day - seemed inevitable due to its symbolic importance, yet so far it hasnt happened. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter The land is at the heart of the conflict between the Zionist movement and the Palestinian people. This issue has become more important than ever in light of the colonial government effort to Judaize the country: the plan to increase the number of settlers in the West Bank up to a million in the next few years; the dangerous calls by Israeli leaders to annex Area C, which makes up some 60% of the West Bank; and more recently, US President Donald Trump's recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The only reason the West Bank hasnt been annexed so far is the Palestinian majority living there. This means in case of annexation the government would be forced to either grant Israeli citizenship to all the West Bank residents or resort to mass expulsion of Palestinians from the area (which would result in an actual apartheid state). March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip (Photo: EPA) In my opinion, the main reason for a lack of appetite for mass protests in the West Bank is the years-long intra-Palestinian split between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions. This ongoing conflict - which is only getting worse - is also the reason why the Land Day is being celebrated in lavish ceremonies in towns like Sakhnin (Arab city in Israel's Northern District), while Palestinian diaspora elsewhere has completely abandoned its political involvement in the region since the Oslo Accords. In the past, the Palestinian people were united in their call for freedom and the realization of the Right of Return. Over the years, however, the end goal has changed, and since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the discourse has switched to forming a Palestinian state based on a "mutually agreed solution" to the refugee problem. The establishment of the PA greatly undermined the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which in the past acted as a central and unifying political body, representing not only the residents of the West Bank but Gaza - which is ruled by Hamas - and the Palestinian refugees as well. Furthermore, when the Palestinian National Council - the legislative body of the PLO - convened last year, there were no representatives from the general public. The new low in the intra-Palestinian conflict is a result of the absence of a political strategy which could be implemented by a joint Palestinian leadership. In addition, unlike the times of the first intifada - when the leadership was also divided - there is no unity among the masses, who back then united around the idea of resisting the occupation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: Reuters) This eventually leads to a fundamental change when it comes to the general publics priorities, which now seems to be preoccupied with its owns interests rather than the national ones, which is why the March of Return protests only take place in the Gaza Strip. Although these protests come at a price, nowadays they are the most effective and realistic tool the Palestinian people have to fight the occupation. The alternative is either a military struggle - which neither side actually wants for their own reasons - or complete submission to the Israeli demands, which includes the recognition of Israel, demilitarization and fulfilment of the Oslo Accords obligations. There is, however, another option - formulating a political strategy for a joint campaign under a united Palestinian leadership in line with democratic values. Although currently theres no leadership among the divided Palestinian public that promotes such a plan, a united political front is inevitable. Another factor to consider is the fact that the PA does not believe in the importance of popular resistance, which is reinforced by the general publics dissatisfaction with the leaderships performance, its constant political failures and corruption among the regimes officials. A clear expression of the general publics distrust of the government came on the Land Day, when officials from various Palestinian factions - the PLO, Hamas and Islamic Jihad - called on the people to take to the streets of Ramallah and other West Bank cities. Only around 20 people actually answered the call and came out to protest. This not the first time the public ignored the leaderships requests and the elected officials must ask themselves why the masses failed to answer their call on such an important day. The leadership might say the public is tired and discouraged," but its not entirely true. When it comes to the issues relating to the Temple Mount, for instance, the Palestinians come out en masse to express the displeasure with Israels policies. The Palestinian leadership's refusal to do some soul-searching reflects its inability to lead a popular resistance or even its willingness to initiate it in the first place. There is a need for substantial changes, and if the existing leadership is unable to provide them, another political player will eventually step in and fill the vacuum. We can only hope that whoever it might be, will bring new ideas and the Palestinian agenda will not be left behind. The president of the University of Notre Dame said the school will donate $100,000 toward the renovation of Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire. The Rev. John Jenkins announced the donation Tuesday, a day after the fire destroyed the cathedral's spire and roof. Jenkins says the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the university's campus in Indiana will toll 50 times Tuesday evening, to represent the 50 Hail Marys of the rosary and mark the start of the Paris cathedral's rebuilding. The New Right Chairman Naftali Bennett, admitted the defeat of his party in the elections on Tuesday after claiming earlier there were irregularities in the process of tallying the votes. "I did the best that I could for the people of Israel, my beloved people. This time it was not enough. I am not blaming anyone, I am the only one responsible for the outcome," he said. The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers, and a frantic rescue effort saved the monument's "most precious treasures," including the Crown of Thorns purportedly worn by Jesus, officials said Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter Also surviving was the Roman Catholic cathedral's famous 18th century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes, after a plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action after the fire broke out Monday. Statues removed from the roof for restoration just days ago also were saved. But the cathedral's high altar was damaged by falling debris when the spire collapsed, one official said. Debris are seen inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into what caused the fire would be "long and complex." Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20pm Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43pm, and the blaze was discovered on the roof. Inferno engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral (Photo: AFP) "Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works," said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there were still some risks to the structure. The cathedral is "under permanent surveillance because it can still budge," Castaner told reporters after a brief visit inside. Debris are seen inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame's most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly transported from the Roman Catholic cathedral after the fire broke out, said Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ's head during the crucifixion. Also saved was the tunic of St. Louis, a long, shirt-like garment from the 13th century, said Culture Minister Franck Riester. "The works of art, the most precious treasures were secured last night," Riester told reporters, thanking teams from city hall, the culture ministry, firefighters and the bishopric who worked to save the items. Other works were being transferred from City Hall to the Louvre. There they will be dehumidified, protected and eventually restored. The minister said the cathedral's greatest paintings would be removed starting Friday. "We assume they have not been damaged by the fire but there will eventually be damage from the smoke," he added. The 3-meter-tall copper statues that looked over the city from Notre Dame's 96-meter peak had already been sent to southwestern France for work that is part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. Notre Dame: Before and after Much was saved in the interior too. The cathedral's high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, was the only major work damaged inside the building, hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. "We have been able to salvage all the rest," said Prades, who watched the recovery overnight. "All the 18th century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels and the big organ are fine." The three large stained-glass rose windows, among the most famous elements inside the cathedral, have not been destroyed, Prades said, but added they might have been damaged by the heat and will be assessed by an expert. "The task is -- now the risk of fire has been put aside -- about the building, how the structure will resist," said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure. The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain "extremely fragile," notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO heritage site and UNESCO has offered its expertise. A man walks nside the damaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral he called "a part of us" and appealed for help to do so. Offers of assistance began flowing in from around the world to help restore the 12th century tourist attraction to its former glory. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects, while major French businesses pledged financial assistance. Repairing the cathedral, including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof, presents challenges. The roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because "we don't, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century," said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technology. Also of concern, Feydeau said, is the organ, "a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes." "It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored," he told AP. Statues rescued from the blaze (Photo: AFP) Peter Fuessenich, who oversees reconstruction for the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, said it could take decades to repair Notre Dame. Cologne Cathedral was heavily damaged during World War II and work to repair it is still ongoing more than 70 years later. "It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired," he told broadcaster RTL. "When the last stone was set in Notre Dame, the first one was laid here in Cologne, and in this respect it affects us all very much." France's richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction. Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Salma Hayek, said they were giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, the holding company owning auction house Christie's and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. French companies Total and L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros. Notre Dame Cathedral damaged by the blaze (Photo: Getty Images) Pope Francis offered his prayers that Notre Dame, the "architectural gem of a collective memory," will once again be a shrine to the Catholic faith, a symbol of the French nation and a spiritual and architectural gift to humanity. In a condolence note to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, Francis said the fire was particularly devastating given that it came during the somber days leading up to Easter during which Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. A court has ordered the deportation of Human Rights Watch's local director and ordered him to leave the country within two weeks. The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Omar Shakir to remain in the country, citing his ongoing support of boycotts of Israel during his time in the country. Israel's interior minister ordered Shakir's deportation last year, calling him a "boycott activist," a claim Human Rights Watch and Shakir denied. The new Palestinian prime minister on Tuesday accused the United States of declaring "financial war" on his people and said an American peace plan purported to be in the works will be "born dead." In his first interview with the international media since taking office over the weekend, Mohammad Shtayyeh laid out plans to get through the financial crisis he has inherited and predicted that the international community, including US allies in the Arab world, would join the Palestinians in rejecting President Donald Trump's expected peace plan. "There are no partners in Palestine for Trump. There are no Arab partners for Trump and there are no European partners for Trump," Shtayyeh said. The Adelaide market is becoming top of mind for buyers as Sydney experiences a property downturn, according to realestate.com.aus data. South Australias capital is defying the overall downward trend and cashing in on interstate investors who are after value. Of the top 10 most in-demand suburbs in Australia, five are within Adelaide. Most of these areas are concentrated in the hills region to the citys south such as Crafers West, Stirling, Aldgate, and Belair. Millswood, meanwhile, is more centrally located. Adelaide started to enter the list last year, and thats continuing. Thats partly been driven by property investors coming out of Melbourne and Sydney, because we know that there is a lot of search activity coming out of those locations. Also, the economys doing pretty well in Adelaide, and that seems to be underpinning higher levels of demand than weve seen previously, realestate.com.au Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee said. Data also showed that Melbourne and Sydney property markets continue to drop, with both of the cities median price losing 0.8% in the previous quarter. Perth and Darwin lost 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively, for the quarter. Both of the markets also recorded 3% decreases year-over-year. Adelaide and Canberra were steady for the quarter, while Hobart was the only capital city to record a gain over the same period. The list of most in-demand suburbs also includes Killarney Heights, Allambie Heights, Collaroy Plateau, and Birchgrove, which are all located in Sydney. The premium suburbs of Sydney are really attracting a lot of interest primarily because pricing has come back, and I think people feel theyre more accessible now, Conisbee told news.com.au. Melbournes Middle Park completed the roster. News Washington, DC - Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, will lead the U.S. interagency delegation to Jerusalem April 16 for the annual meeting of the U.S.-Israel Joint Counterterrorism Group, the State Departments longest running strategic counterterrorism dialogue. The United States and Israel will discuss the shared terrorist threats facing our two countries, including from Iran and Lebanese Hizballah, and develop strategies for bolstering collaboration and cooperation in these critical areas. Egypt has expressed sorrow at a fire late on Monday that ravaged the medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, one of France's most famous landmarks. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said he felt "deep sorrow" at the collapse of the giant spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral and described it as "a great loss for all mankind." "I declare my solidarity and the Egyptian people's solidarity with friends inFrance and [I] wish the effects of this momentous human moment be contained as soon as possible," El-Sisi said in a brief statement published on his Facebook page. El-Sisi was among a number of world leaders who rushed to react to the devastation of the Parisian landmark, including US President Donald Trump, German chancellor Angela Merkel, UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis. Also on Monday, Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, expressed solidarity with the French people following the roaring blaze. "I feel so sorry for the massive fire at the historical architectural masterpiece "Notre Dame Cathedral" in Paris, our hearts go out to our brothers in France, they deserve our full support," Al-Azhar quoted Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb as saying in a statement published on Twitter in Arabic, French and English. Egypt's parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal also expressed "complete solidarity" with the French people on Tuesday, describing the the blaze as "very tragic" and a "big loss for humanity not just France." Search Keywords: Short link: Today Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 67F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. 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. 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. Mumbai: Debt ridden Jet Airways is likely to cancel all flights temporarily, sources told Zee Media. The carrier, which has more than Rs 8,000 crore debt, is currently operating less than 10 aircraft. Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, who along with his wife Anita Goyal, had stepped down from the airline last month, is staying away from bidding for acquiring stake in the airline. The cash-strapped airline is awaiting fresh fund infusion under a debt resolution plan. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways' sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier. Meanwhile, Punjab National Bank (PNB) Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta told news Agency ANI that the lenders are committed to Jet Airways revival plan. SBI, SBI caps have started working on the plan. Revival plan has not been finalised yet, discussion is still on, he said. The airline has suspended all its international flights till April 18 and its board is trying to chalk out future course of action after the airline failed to get emergency funding from lenders. Following Jet Airways grounding its planes, many passengers, who were left stranded at the airports, took to social media to express their anguish. The company also does not have sufficient funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. (With Inputs from Brajesh Kumar) NEW DELHI: Union Minister Suresh Prabhu Tuesday directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation to review matters related to debt-ridden Jet Airways including issues around increased fares, flight cancellations and passenger rights and safety. Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc. Asked him to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety; and to work with all stakeholders for their well being, tweeted Prabhu. Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc. Asked him to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety; and to work with all stakeholders for their well being. Chowkidar Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) April 16, 2019 Prabhu's fresh orders came a day after the cash-strapped airlines suspended all its international flights till April 18. The airlines will hold a board meeting on Tuesday to chalk out future course of action after the airline failed to get emergency funding from lenders. Meanwhile, merchant banker SBI Caps, acting on behalf of the group of lenders, has started the process for sale of the financially troubled carrier for lenders. "The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far, and as a result of this, we have extended cancellation of international operations through Thursday, April 18," Jet Airways Chairman Vinay Dubey said in a statement on Monday. Jet Airways has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. Last week, it folded up several operations after 80 per cent of its fleet was grounded due to non-payment of outstanding dues to lessors. Industry insiders claim fuel supply is expected to run out by Tuesday afternoon as fresh payments would be required for vendors. Following Jet Airways grounding its planes, many passengers were left stranded at the airports, who took to social media to complain. Hyderabad: A 24-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide here after a man kept on pestering her to marry him, police said Tuesday. The woman, a private employee, allegedly mixed the pesticide in a cool drink and consumed it at a park in KPHB area Monday night, police said. She was rushed to a hospital where she died Tuesday, they said. Police said the accused, Rakesh Reddy, had been harassing her and asking her to marry him, but she had rejected his proposal. Police said the accused and the woman met at a park Monday evening and they apparently had a heated argument over the issue. Following a complaint from the woman's father, a case under various IPC sections, including 354D (stalking), was registered and a hunt has been launched to nab him, police said. New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA will continue to monitor airfare movements on a daily basis and also engage with airline for appropriate action, a senior official said Tuesday amid concerns over rising ticket prices. With crisis-hit Jet Airways drastically curtailing its operations, there has been an adverse impact on the number of flights being operated on various routes. As concerns persist on higher air ticket prices, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of airlines, the official said. Airlines were advised to continue to monitor at their level and provide information to the DGCA to keep fares low as far as possible, he noted. "Airlines representative also intimated DGCA that they have removed the few higher buckets from sale and offering tickets to passengers in lower fare buckets. "DGCA will continue to monitor fare movement on daily basis and engage with airline for appropriate action," the official added. According to him, the regulator monitors domestic airfares on a daily basis, particularly on high density routes and routes where alternate mode of transport is not available or is difficult. Based on the monitoring process, the DGCA engages with airlines when the spurt in airfares is observed in any sector for appropriate action, he added. Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations. "Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc," Prabhu said in a tweet. Besides asking Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety, Prabhu also called for working with all stakeholders for their well being. A man from Hyderabad has requested help from the government after his son, who had gone to Italy for studies, was allegedly arrested by the authorities, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday. Mohd Raheem Uddin told ANI that his son Mohd Ghouse Uddin went to Italy in 2016 to attain a master's degree. Ghouse Uddin has been working and studying on scholarship. In an incident in a hotel, a brawl took place between Ghouse Uddin and several other people, following which, the police arrested him. "My son Mohd Ghouse Uddin went to Italy in 2016 for study and he came back to India last year. He again left for Rome six months ago to complete his course. As we are poor, my son was working there and studying on scholarship. Later in a hotel, an issue erupted between my son and some other people, following which, the police arrested him and sent him to the court," said Raheem Uddin. Ghouse Uddin who is currently in jail is also getting treated as he is suffering from psychiatric disorder. Raheem Uddin further said, "In the court, magistrate noticed that my son was mentally ill and referred him to treatment. He is in jail now since March 14 and getting the treatment. My son earlier also faced mental illness problem in Hyderabad but it was cured completely." Italian officials have asked him to take his son back. However, according to Raheem Uddin he cannot afford the travelling expenses. He has sought help from the state and central governments to get his son back from Italy. "I received a phone call from officials asking me to come to Italy and take my son. But I am very poor and cannot afford the travelling expenses. I request the state and central government to help me get back my son from Italy," he added. The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted a plea filed by a Muslim couple, seeking a direction to allow entry of women in mosques. The apex court cited the landmark verdict of Constitution Bench in Sabarimala temple case while accepting the petition filed by the Pune-based couple. An SC bench headed by Justice SA Bobde said that since the top court had already passed a judgment in Sabarimala case, it will now examine this petition as well. During the hearing, the SC bench also asked the lawyer of petitioners whether fundamental rights can be asserted against individuals and non-State subjects as well. Is a mosque or a temple or a church State? Can you seek your fundamental right against individuals? When entity concerned is not a State, can we issue directions? Can we ask police to help you if you want to enter somebody's house? questioned the bench. The SC also issued notices to the Centre, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Central Wakf Council etc and directed them to file their replies in four weeks. "The act of prohibition of females from entering mosque is void and unconstitutional as such practices are not only repugnant to the basic dignity of a woman as an individual but also violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution," petitioners Yasmeen and Zuber Ahmad Peerzade said in their joint plea. The couple submitted before the court that no records are available in favour of the argument that the entry of women in mosques to offer prayers is prohibited by either Holy Quran or Prophet Muhammad. They argued that just like men women also have the constitutional rights to enter inside mosques and offer their prayers. It is interesting to note that women are Jamaat-e-Islami and Mujahid denominations of Islam allow women to offer prayers at mosques but the Sunni faction does not allow the entry of women inside mosques. The petitioners also alleged that in some mosques where women are allowed, there are separate entrances for them, which is a clear cut case of discrimination. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday forecasted widespread rains and thundershowers in several states across the length and breadth of the nation, citing western disturbances. Thundersquall, with wind speed reaching 60-70 kmph, accompanied with hail and lightning is likely to take place at isolated places in northern and north-western regions--Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Heavy rain and snow at isolated places is very likely over Jammu and Kashmir. A thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 60-70 kmph) and lightning at isolated places is likely over Odisha. In Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha, thunderstorm accompanied with hail (wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph) and lightning is likely at isolated places. A thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds (wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph) and lightning at isolated places is likely over the eastern part of the nation--Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, In the western and southern part--Maharashtra, Marathawada, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana--a thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds (wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph) and lightning at isolated places is likely. Duststorm, thunderstorms accompanied with light rain would occur at many places in the national capital along with hailstorm and squall with a wind speed of 60-70 kmph at isolated places. BENGALURU: Income Tax (I-T) department conducted several raids on premises of close aids of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in Mandya on Tuesday morning. Raids were also being carried out in Hassan and Bengaluru. The searches were conducted at the properties of Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Mandya Zilla Panchayat President Nagarathna Swamy, and Zilla Parishad member Timme Swamy. Both Nagarathna and Timme are said to be close aides of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. "Searches being conducted today are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets," I-T department said in a statement. "The taxpayers covered in today's search operations are engaged in the business of real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing Government contracts, operating petrol bunks, saw mill and managing cooperative Banks. These are sectors which are prone to generation of black money.," it said. Five residences in Hassan, one in Bangalore and one in Mandya along with their business premises are covered as part of the search operations, added the department. I-T department and the Election Commission squads have been conducting a series pre-poll raids on several top leaders in Karnataka. On Sunday, rooms of Revenue Minister RB Udhaya Kumar and others were searched by the Election Flying Squad and the I-T department at the MLA hostel here. Earlier this month, the EC had stopped Kumaraswamy's vehicle and his convoy for checking. The Chief Minister later accused the poll panel of harassing his family and party men, and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi "worse than Hitler". Last month, officials raided the residence of Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister CS Puttaraju and at multiple locations in Bengaluru, Hassan, Musuru and Mandya. Properties of 17 contractors and seven officers from the Public Works Department (PWD) and Irrigation Department were also raided. "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. Meanwhile, Karnataka`s ruling Congress-Janata Dal-Secular alliance on Monday urged the poll panel to transfer the state`s Director General, Income Tax, BR Balakrishnan for "selectively" carrying tax raids on their leaders and contractors and traders close to them. "In view of the partisan tax raids on our political leaders, their relatives, contractors and traders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the state on April 18, Balakrishnan has to be transferred outside the state," the allies said in a joint letter to Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar. Balakrishnan had sought action against Kumaraswamy and others for allegedly intimidating I-T officers and obstructing them from discharging their duties during the raids. He also demanded 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), reported news agency PTI. Kolkata: Bangladesh has asked actor Ferdous Ahmed to return to his country after a controversy erupted in West Bengal over him campaigning for the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). The Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh has asked him not to take part in the election campaign in India and return back, news agency IANS reports. He has also been asked to resume his shooting in Bangladesh after the election season gets over, an official at the Bangladeshi mission said. Over the weekend, Ahmed was seen campaigning for TMC candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, who is fighting the election from Raigunj constituency. He also participated in a roadshow, accompanied by other Tollywood actors and later, he addressed an election campaign and said, "All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for didi." "Based on media reports, he was asked whether he participated in the campaign or not. Ahmed told us that he was there for the purpose of shooting and had participated in the (ongoing Lok Sabha election) campaign. It was not a right thing to take part in the election as a foreign national. He was asked to go back," IANS quoted a Bangladeshi mission official as saying. "We have also suggested to him that he should resume his shooting activities after the election season gets over," the official added. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly opposed Ahmed's participation in the TMC election campaign and moved Election Commission to file a complaint against the party. They claimed that the participation of a foreign national in an election campaign flouts the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). However, EC said that the MCC doesn`t specifically state anything about a foreign national canvassing for any political party. On Tuesday, State BJP leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria met Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab in Kolkata over the campaign row and demanded his arrest. "We understand that foreign nationals can't participate in electioneering process in India. When TMC is using Bangladeshi nationals (actor Ferdous) for campaigning, they are breaking the rules. He should be arrested for breach of visa rules," Majumdar said. BJP's JP Majumdar in Kol after meeting EC:We understand that foreign nationals can't participate in electioneering process in India.When TMC is using Bangladeshi nationals (actor Ferdous) for campaigning, they are breaking the rules. He should be arrested for breach of visa rules pic.twitter.com/ggepOcoiru ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 On the other hand, TMC maintained that there is "no violation of the model code" if Ahmed participated in the campaign. "I don't know whether the actor participated in the rally or was invited by the candidate. But I don't think there is any violation of the model code. The code says a foreigner cannot be a candidate but I think there is no harm if anybody participates in campaigning. I don't see any violation of the MCC," TMC leader Madan Mitra said. (With agencies inputs) New Delhi: Almost a day after Samajwadi Party senior leader Azam Khan was slapped with a campaign ban by the Election Commission and an FIR by the Uttar Pradesh Police against his derogatory speech on BJP leader Jaya Prada, his son and SP leader Abdullah Azam Khan played the Muslim card and asked if he was banned by the poll panel because of his religion. Abdullah Azam Khan claimed that the poll panel did not follow a rightful procedure before banning his father from campaigning in the run-up to polls in the region. He further alleged that no notice was given to his father before barring him from campaigning for 3 days, starting on Tuesday. "Did you ban him from election campaigning because he is a Muslim?" he asked, adding that the Opposition parties cannot stifle their voice. "The more you attack us, the harder we will work for our state," he added. SP leader Abdullah Azam Khan (son of SP leader Azam Khan): You banned him from election campaigning only because he is a Muslim? No notice was given before imposition of ban, rightful procedure was not followed. pic.twitter.com/drpu1zr3SV ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2019 On April 15, while addressing a rally in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, Azam, without naming actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada in his speech, took a controversial sexist jibe at her. His controversial remarks kicked up a political storm with National Commission for Women serving a show cause notice to him. The NCW said that Azam's remarks were 'extremely derogatory, offensive, unethical and show disrespect towards the dignity of women'. During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the EC had imposed a ban on Khan from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh for his provocative speeches and had also lodged an FIR against him. Kolkata: After a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stalled by the Election Commission, a Bengali film - 'Baghini - Bengal Tigress', inspired by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is slated for a May 3 release. The producer and director claim that the film is inspired by the Chief Minister and is not a biopic. "We want to tell everyone that it is not a biopic. It is a film inspired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Hence the name of our character is Indira Banerjee. This film goes back into the history and depicts her struggle before she became the Chief Minister," said scriptwriter and producer Pinky Pal. Pal adds that she was inspired by the Trinamool Congress and this is what led her to write and produce a film based on Banerjee's struggle. "We have seen some really inspiring politicians like Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee. Their contribution to Indian politics has been immense. But we rarely make a film based on their lives." Putting all rumors to rest, the producer said neither the film was financed by the Trinamool Congress nor was it linked to any of the party leaders. She also claimed that the release date, which falls in the election period, has no ulterior motives. "We began shooting for the film back in 2016. But some edits and graphics had to be redone which took time, hence the release was delayed and finally we are releasing it on May 3," added Pal. Director Nehal Dutta, however, called the film a tribute to the struggles of Mamata. "It is a film inspired by Mamata Banerjee. We observed her and we tried to depict her struggle before she became the Chief Minister. How she fought a tough battle and all odds, eventually she came to power. This is a tribute to her struggle," said Dutta. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday claimed that the BJP may relaunch its "Operation Kamala" after the Lok Sabha poll to topple the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah, who is also the chairman of Coalition Coordination Committee, however, stressed that the BJP will fail in its attempt to topple the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka because the government is 'very stable' and there are no differences between the Congress and JD(S). He added that the BJP will not win the Lok Sabha poll because the party will lose significant number of seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. "The BJP cannot come to power at the Centre as it will not win a good number of seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the 2014 (Lok Sabha) election, it had won 102 of the 120 seats in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Is it possible to win the same number of seats again? How can you say the BJP will come to power?," he was quoted as saying by PTI. "Operation Kamala" (Operation Lotus) refers to the attempt made by the BJP in 2008 in which the saffron party had succeeded in engineering the defection of opposition legislators to save the government of Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. Speculations are rife that the BJP is attempting "Operation Kamala 2.0" with an aim to lure some MLAs from JD(S) in their fold and topple the coalition government. It may be recalled that attempts were made by the BJP to engineer defections after the Assembly polls in 2018 when the party failed to come to power despite finishing as the single largest party with 104 seats. The Congress-JD(S) coalition currently has 117 MLAs and the BJP needs to lure at least 13 MLAs from the coalition to resign in order to topple the government by bringing down the strength of state Assembly. The Karnataka Assembly has a total strength of 225 MLAs. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday visited Thiruvananthapuram MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who was admitted in a hospital on Monday after sustaining head injury while performing thulabharam ritual at a temple. Touched by the gesture of Nirmala Sitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics great to see her practice it by example!, Tharoor tweeted. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 Tharoor got injured when the hook of a weighing scale snapped and its iron panel hit him in the head. He was rushed to the government general hospital for first aid and from there he was taken to the Trivandrum Medical College for detailed examination. Tharoor, 63, got eight stitches in his head and has also suffered a minor leg injury. Shortly after receiving treatment, Tharoor posted a tweet saying that a heavy iron hook fell on his head but he is out of danger. "A heavy iron hook fell on my head when a temple Thulabharam scale gave way. Lots of blood but no apparent other damage. Thank God it didnt hurt anyone around me could have caused a very serious injury," said the Congress leader. Tharoor also thanked his LDF rival C Divakaran who called him on Tuesday morning to know about his health condition. "Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being. Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok. Dont be demoralised, he added. Im not: Im more determined than ever to see this through," tweeted Tharoor. Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being. Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok. Dont be demoralised, he added. Im not: Im more determined than ever to see this through! Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 Thulabharam is an ancient Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity like gold, grain, fruits or other objects, and then the equivalent weight of that commodity is offered as donation by the person or his/her family members. New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday named Acharya Pramod Krishnam as its candidate for Lucknow parliamentary constituency. He will face off against Home Minister Rajnath Singh of the BJP and Poonam Sinha who joined the Samajwadi Party earlier in the day. Krishnam is likely to pay third fiddle to a battle that could mostly be fought between Rajnath and Poonam, wife of former BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha. Poonam had joined SP in the presence of Dimple Yadav, wife of party chief Akhilesh. She was almost immediately named as the SP candidate from Lucknow, prompting Rajnath to say he is looking forward to the electoral contest at hand. "Yes, somebody must contest. That is the beauty of democracy. We will fight elections with full dignity," he told news agency ANI. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Rajnath had defeated Rita Bahuguna Joshi - who was with Congress at the time - in this constituency by almost three lakh votes. Bahujan Samaj Party and SP had finished third and fourth, respectively. While BSP is not contesting from Lucknow this year as per its seat-sharing pact with SP, Congress is mostly playing catch up in the state of UP. On Tuesday, Congress also named Vinay Kumar Pandey as its candidate from Kaiserganj (UP) and Pankaj Sanghvi from Indore (MP). VADODARA: Commenting on the ongoing speculations over an alliance between the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi ahead of the Lok Sabha poll, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said on Monday that a final decision in this regard should be taken by AAP. "We have earlier said that our state units of Punjab and Haryana are not ready to forge an alliance. In Delhi, Congress president convinced our Delhi unit that the alliance is important. They (AAP) were asking for four seats in Haryana. One for AAP while three for Dushyant Chautala ji`s party. In Punjab, they were asking for four seats then later one seat," Patel told reporters. He added that Congress president Rahul Gandhi held talks over this matter with party leaders but state units were not in favour of forging an alliance with AAP. "Congress president talked with them but state units were not ready to forge alliance so there is no question on the alliance. We are openly giving 3-3 formula and one seat for a common candidate. Then they said that they will take four. But they put a condition that they will forge alliance only if the alliance takes place for Haryana as well. What is his intention to link Delhi with Haryana? I don`t understand," Patel remarked. Patel made the remarks hours after Rahul Gandhi posted a tweet expressing Congress' willingness to forge an alliance in Delhi with Arvind Kejriwal-led party. In his tweet, the Congress chief said that his party is still open to giving up four seats to the AAP in order to finalise the seat-sharing agreement in Delhi and ensure that BJP loses all seven seats in the national capital. Commenting on Rahul's tweet, Patel, who is considered very close to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said that the AAP cannot raise question over the intention of the Congress. He stressed that the ball is in their court as Congress is still ready to hold talks over this issue. Earlier, Rahul had tweeted that the Congress' doors are still open but the "clock was running out". "An alliance between the Congress and AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out," the Congress chief tweeted. AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took no time in responding to Rahul's jibe and he hit back at the Congress leader by saying that his party was helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP by dividing the anti-BJP votes in Uttar Pradesh and other states. In 2014, BJP had won all seven seats from Delhi with AAP and Congress failing to open their account. Experts maintain that if the AAP and Congress decide to contest the Lok Sabha poll alone then it will be a huge advantage for the BJP and the party may win all seven seats this time too. However, of the two parties decide to join hands then it will become very tough for the BJP to retain all its seat in Delhi. It is to be noted that both AAP and Congress have a common vote bank of poor and Muslims and the division of this had helped BJP in the last Lok Sabha poll. The voting for all seven seats in Delhi is scheduled to take place on May 12. Jaipur: Dausa Lok Sabha constituency neighbouring Jaipur is gearing to an interesting woman vs woman fight with both the BJP and Congress having fielded women candidates from here. With the BJP belatedly announcing former Union minister Jaskaur Meena's candidature from here, Dausa has emerged as the sole parliamentary constituency in the state to have two women contenders to take on each other. The Congress has fielded its sitting MLA Murari Meena's wife Savita Meena from this reserved parliamentary seat. The BJP took time to finalise its candidate for Dausa as the constituency had several contenders backed by different factions within the party. The ticket seekers among BJP leaders reportedly included Rajya Sabha member Kirodi Singh Meena and independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla. While Kirodi Meena wanted a ticket for his wife Golma Devi, Hudla was backed by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, say poll watchers. With Jaskaur Meena able to secure the BJP ticket amid the multilateral contest for it within the party, the Congress is hoping to capitalise on a perceived dissension within the saffron party. "There is a massive tussle going on within the BJP. The Congress will get the benefit due to tussle between the local political leaders dominance. The Congress will definitely get the edge," said party's Dausa district president Ramji Lal Odh. In the 2018 assembly elections, the political rivalry of local Meena community leaders had played a spoilsport for the BJP where the party could not win any of the seven assembly seats in Dausa parliamentary constituency. The BJP leaders, however, deny any dissension within the party over grant of ticket to Jaskaur Meena, saying her name was finalised after Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar met all three contenders. He had also met Raje. The BJP leaders also deny that the delay in announcement of candidate would impact the party's poll prospects. "The Congress will not be able to take any edge over us. Don't worry everything will get right soon. We have started campaigning in right earnest and holding meetings in support of Jaskaur Meena," BJP Dausa district president Ghanshyam Balahedi said. Political commentators, however, say the tussle within the BJP for Dausa seat is not new. In 2008, the BJP had given ticket to Jaskaur Meena from Sawai Madhopur seat after denying it to Kirodi Meena who had then left the BJP. In 2014, Dr Meena contested election on National People's Party ticket unsuccessfully. Ahead of the 2018 assembly election, he joined the BJP again and became Rajya Sabha MP from the party. Dausa parliamentary seat comprises seven assembly seats. The Congress had won Lalsot, Dausa, Sikrai and Chaksu assembly seats while BJP dissident Om Prakash Hudla was elected as an independent from Mahuwa seat. Two other independent candidates from Bassi and Thanagazi seats have supported the Congress government in the state. Dausa is slated to go to polls on May 6 along with a total of 51 constituencies in seven states in the 5th phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Katihar (Bihar): Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday criticised the Congress and said that the country witnessed the highest number of terrorist attacks and corruption cases during its dispensation at the Centre. Addressing an election rally at Haflaganj in favour of Dulal Chand Goswami -- the JD(U) candidate contesting from the Katihar Lok Sabha seat -- Das said the general elections of 2019 will set the course and direction of the country. It is up to the people whether they would elect a dynasty or give another opportunity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The corrupt Congress party broke the morale of the Army," Das claimed. He also alleged that the Congress government did not dare to retaliate in the face of repeated terrorist attacks on key installations. Chennai: Just two days before the Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu, the Income Tax Department, along with Election Commission's static surveillance team, carried out a joint search at the Thoothukudi residence of DMK leader K Kanimozhi on Tuesday. However, I-T sources said that nothing suspicious was found at Kanimozhi's residence during the raid. "On the information shared by a local administration, I-T Department searched premises related to Kanimozhi. Verification is on. Kanimozhi was there and she cooperated with the team. I-T Department found nothing. Search is over," ANI quoted I-T sources as saying. Tamil Nadu: IT Dept conducts raids at house where DMK candidate Kanimozhi is staying, in Thoothukudi pic.twitter.com/DDuELwxEfX ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 Kanimozhi is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Thoothukudi against the BJP`s state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan. #Visuals Tamil Nadu: IT Dept conducts raids at house where DMK candidate Kanimozhi is staying, in Thoothukudi pic.twitter.com/NkKnuCF999 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 On the raids conducted as his sister's residence, DMK president MK Stalin hit out at the Narendra Modi government and alleged: "Crores and crores of rupees are kept in Tamilisai Soundararajan's residence, why no raids there? Modi is using IT, CBI, judiciary and now EC to interfere in elections. They are doing this as they fear losing." MK Stalin on IT raids on Kanimozhi: Crores and crores of rupees are kept in Tamilisai Soundararajan's(BJP TN Chief) residence, why no raids there? Modi is using IT,CBI,Judiciary and now EC to interfere in elections.They are doing this as they fear losing pic.twitter.com/31Q7Lalf5M ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 Meanwhile, a large number of DMK workers also queued up outside Kanimozhi's residence to protest against the raids. Tamil Nadu: DMK workers protest as IT Dept conducts raids at house where DMK candidate Kanimozhi is staying, in Thoothukudi pic.twitter.com/Ybhyb20Wjh ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 Polling to all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu is slated for April 18 in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election. Voting for the 18 assembly seats will also be held simultaneously. On Tuesday, the President rescinded the election in Vellore parliamentary constituency on the recommendation of the Election Commission after a huge haul of cash was found there. New Delhi: Three of 11 parliamentary seats in the state of Chhattisgarh will participate in the second phase of Lok Sabha election 2019 this Thursday (April 18). The election here would see over 49 lakh voters eligible to exercise their franchise in the constituencies of Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon and Kanker. While Mahasamund and Rajnandgaon constituencies are for the general category, Kanker is reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Tribes. As many as 6,484 polling booths will welcome voters in these three constituencies. And among the 49,07,489 voters in all, 24,38,320 are males while 24,69,110 are women. It is important to note here that it was from Mahasamund in the 2014 Lok Sabha election that Ajit Jogi of Janta Congress Chhattisgarh had suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of BJP's Chandulal Sahu. There were at least ten other Chandulal Sahus who had contested from this very constituency as independents, leading BJP to accuse Jogi of propping the independent candidates to confuse voters who were keen on the 'real' Sahu. New Delhi: The Lok Sabha polls in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu is likely to be cancelled over excess use of money power, sources aware of the development said Monday. The Election Commission is learnt to have prepared a recommendation in this regard to be sent to the president. "It would be sent today itself," an official said on Monday. Since the president signs the notification for Lok Sabha elections, it is he who rescinds it. The decision came after a large sum of cash was allegedly seized from the DMK candidate's office a few days ago. The district police had filed a complaint against DMK candidate Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. NEW DELHI: Rejecting opposition's claim that he was using armed forces for winning the Lok Sabha poll, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that nationalism and martyrdom of soldiers are as much an election issue as the death of farmers. The prime minister made the remarks in an interview to Doordarshan and Rajya Sabha TV. PM Modi said that terrorism has been affecting Indians for the last 40 years and it is high time that people should be told about this. "If we don't tell them what our views are on this, then what is the logic in that? ...Can any country move ahead without the feeling of nationalism," he said. "In a country where thousands of its soldiers have been martyred, shouldn't that be an election issue? If farmers die, then it is an election issue, but when soldiers die then it is not an election issue? How can that be?" the prime minister added. Referring to Balakot airstrikes, PM Modi said that India has now made a name for itself at the international level. He added that earlier India was an audience but we are player now. Modi remarked that earlier the world was bipolar but it is now interconnected and India cannot remain isolated. Talking about BJP's 'Sankalp Patra', PM Modi said that it is for the first time in Indian history that a party has decided to allow the people to judge it performance mid-way during its tenure. He added that the BJP has also prepared its targets for 2022 and 2024. PM Modi noted that the party has pledged to achieve 75 targets by 2022. During the interview the prime minister also talked about the threats issued by PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and said the two leaders have always exploited the people of Jammu and Kashmir emotionally. He noted that Mehbooba and Farooq had appealed to the Kashmiris to boycott the Lok Sabha poll but the people in the state are not willing to listen to their call. Modi added that 70% voting was recorded when both parties had given a call to boycott the poll. Taking a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Modi said in his interview that the Congress chief was raking up the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. "He has made the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. For the past six months, he has been making it an issue without any proof," he said. PM Modi stressed that he was against dynasty politics and his fight against the Gandhi family was not personal and is based purely on issues. "Dynastic politics is the most dangerous thing for a democracy," he said. The prime minister also took a dig at Congress's 'NYAY' or minimum income promise, saying by announcing this scheme the grand old party has finally accepted that they have not done justice with the people of the country during their regime. "Will they give nyay (justice)?," he asked, referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. When asked that there is a feeling among people that BJP has weakened in Gujarat, PM Modi said that the BJP fought on just 12 seats in the state in 1987-88 and had won on all these seats. He added that BJP will win all 26 seats at stake in Gujarat because the people in the state like development. Talking about the chances of his party winning the Lok Sabha poll, PM Modi said that there is an "unprecedented wave of support" for the BJP. PM Modi added that he had not seen such wave in favour of BJP even in 2014. Chennai: The polls to Tamil Nadu`s 39 Lok Sabha seats and the by-elections for 18 assembly seats, both slated for April 18, are not driven by a single narrative but by a combination of several national and state-specific issues, say experts and stake-holders. About 5.99 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 845 candidates in the Lok Sabha battle in Tamil Nadu. "There is no single major narrative in the polls. It is a combination of several issues - some prevalent statewide and others in some pockets only," political strategist Jhon Arokiasamy said. Concurring with him, DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan told IANS: "The major issues are unemployment, price rise, rise in fuel prices, and the failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep up his 2014 poll promises." That apart, water crisis - both for drinking and irrigation, the anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant agitation and the killing of 13 protestors in police firing last May, infrastructure (road and hydrocarbon extraction) projects affecting the livelihood of people are some other issues that are before the people to take into account before casting their vote. While one view is that the fight seems to be between the DMK and the Bharatiya Janata Party with the ruling AIADMK relegated to the background, the second view is that the AIADMK is deliberately keeping the BJP in the forefront as a strategy. "The Lok Sabha poll core issue has turned out to be the DMK versus the BJP. The BJP wants to make an entry into Tamil Nadu," Ramu Manivannan, a Professor of Political Science at University of Madras said. He said the DMK is mobilising all its forces against the BJP and DMK President M.K. Stalin has been strongly criticising Prime Minister Modi as "facist" in his rallies. "Earlier BJP used to say the two Dravidian parties - the AIADMK and the DMK - had stalled Tamil Nadu`s progress. But now, the BJP cannot say that anymore as it has aligned with the AIADMK," Manivannan remarked. Former AIADMK MP K.C. Palanisamy maintained that all these years, the election fight in Tamil Nadu had always been between the AIADMK and the DMK. But "this time around, the AIADMK leadership has failed to maintain that line, giving prominence to the BJP", he said. Arokiasamy did not agree, noting Chief Minister K. Palaniswami has been attacking Stalin in all his rallies while speaking about the need for a strong leadership like Modi`s for the nation. Another AIADMK leader, however, held that if the DMK is targeting BJP, "it is good for the AIADMK". "The BJP is not a major force in Tamil Nadu now. There is no point in targeting that party to gain politically," the AIADMK leader, who did not want to be named said. Arokiasamy also argued that the BJP is spoiling not only its chances but also that of its alliance partners by its views on the eight-lane expressway between Chennai-Salem and the NEET exam. "Overall it boils down to centre-state relations and the rights of the states," he said. Recently the Madras High Court struck down the land acquisition for the expressway project between Chennai-Salem. The project was opposed by farmers in five districts and barring the ruling AIADMK and the BJP, all other parties were opposing the project. Recently, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, in an election rally in the state, said the project will be completed following the procedures. Similarly, when all the parties including AIADMK were opposed to NEET, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said there is no need to scrap the entrance exam for medical colleges. Mathura: Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said opposition parties are questioning the reliability of electronic voting machines as they are apprehending defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing an election meeting at Chaumuha town here in favour of BJP candidate Hema Malini, he said, "The way after the polling of 91 seats, opposition parties are questioning the reliability of EVMs, it is clear that they have virtually accepted their defeat." Persisting with their doubts over the credibility of EVMs, several opposition parties have said they will move the Supreme Court to seek verification of at least 50 per cent of the polled votes against VVAPT slips. Opposition parties, including the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M), also jointly addressed a press conference to highlight the issue of transparency in the election process and protection of voter rights and gave a call to "save democracy". Exuding confidence that the Narendra Modi government will come back to power, the Union home minister said the NDA will make the National Security Act (NSA) more robust and check its misuse if voted to power again. He also mentioned the Pulwama terror attack and the Centre's befitting reply to the same. "I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for eliminating terror centres through surgical strike," Singh said. The senior BJP leader also hit out at the Congress over its response to the IAF air strikes in Balakot. "Atal Bihari Vajpayee had congratulated then PM Indira Gandhi after the 1971 India-Pakistan war for her bold step, but the Congress today is acting otherwise," he said. Singh also took a dig at the BSP-SP opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, saying the parties entered into a 'Mahagathabandhan' as they are afraid of the 'Modi wave'. Underlining the 'progress' made by the country under Modi, he said, in 2014, India was placed at ninth position among the world's 10 developing countries. The leadership of Modi catapulted the country to sixth position, he said. The home minister added, "Indira Gandhi se lekar, Rajiv Gandhi aur ab Rahul Gandhi ne garibi ko mudda banaya hai. Jis din Bharat Congress mukt ho jayega, garibi swayam hat jayegi." The statement can be loosely translated to "From Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi to now Rahul Gandhi, they have all made poverty a poll slogan. The day India will get rid of Congress, poverty will be automatically eliminated from the country". He said farmers will be provided interest-free loans for five years if BJP comes to power again. Tripura: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday announced that polling in East Tripura constituency has been deferred from April 18 to April 23 (third phase) due to adverse report on law and order situation. Citing reports of state chief electoral officer and special police observer, the poll panel said, "The law and order situation prevailing is not conducive to the holding of free and fair poll." The returning officer had feared that "miscreant elements" may thwart the polling process in the constituency. Based on the ground and intelligence reports, he had requested for additional central police force. Polling will now be held on April 23 by which time the law and order situation in the constituency would improve and become "conducive to the holding of free and fair election", the EC said. The poll body, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, had reviewed preparations in specific constituencies of West Bengal and Tripura on Monday. Tripura has only two Lok Sabha constituencies for which 23 candidates are in the fray. Election in Tripura West was held in the first phase of polling on April 11. Meanwhile, election in Tamil Nadu's Vellore was cancelled by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday after accepting a recommendation by the EC in the wake of seizures of large amounts of unaccounted cash from the state. "Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission of India dated April 14 2019, the honourable President is pleased to rescind election to Vellore parliamentary constituency, Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha," the EC in a statement today. New Delhi: The Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday evening that its recommendations dated April 14 have been accepted by President Ram Nath Kovind who has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu. Vellore was to vote in the second phase of Lok Sabha election 2019 this Thursday (April 18). News agency ANI, quoting the EC, reported that the election in Vellore constituency has been cancelled by the President based on EC's recommendations after it was found that excess use of money power had been seen here. A huge sum of cash was seized just from a DMK candidate's office in Vellore a few weeks ago. News agency PTI had reported that the district police had filed a complaint against DMK candidate Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is contesting from Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, on Monday filed his nomination papers for the seat. Rajnath, who is seeking a second term from Lucknow, will be contesting against actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha, who joined the Samajwadi Party today. Poonam Sinha joined SP almost a week after Shatrughan joined the Congress after quitting the BJP, with whom he had an almost three-decade-long association. Poonam was inducted into the party in the presence of SP leader and party chief Akhilesh Yadav`s wife Dimple Yadav. Reacting to Poonam contesting from Lucknow on Samajwadi Party ticket, Rajnath told news agency ANI, "Yes, somebody must contest. That is the beauty of democracy. We will fight elections with full dignity. Lucknow is known for its warmth and etiquettes and we will maintain that." Poonam is expected to file her nomination from Lucknow on April 18. In the meantime, Congress has not fielded any candidate from Lucknow which has paved a one-on-one face off between Rajnatha and Poonam. It is to be noted that Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal are contesting the Lok Sabha election in alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The SP will contest on 37 seats, BSP on 38 and RLD on three. The alliance left two out of 80 seats - Rae Bareli and Amethi for Congress. The Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in all seven phases. The second phase of elections is on April 18 and counting of votes will take place on May 23. LUCKNOW: On the day when Home Minister Rajnath Singh filed his nomination from Lucknow for the Lok Sabha election, the Samajwadi Party has decided to nominate Poonam Sinha, wife of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, from the all-important seat. Poonam was inducted into the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday in the presence of party MP Dimple Yadav. She also met Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav after she joined the party. She will be filing her nomination papers on 18 April. Confirming the development, SP leader Ravidas Mehrotra said: "Poonam Sinha ji will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow. She will file nomination on April 18. We appeal to the Congress that do not field your candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated." The Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency in Lucknow has been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991 when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee won the seat for the party. He held that seat for five consecutive terms from 1991-2009 before he stepped out of the electoral race for the 2009 election. Though Vajpayee was no longer the candidate there, the BJP has retained the seat by Lalji Tandon winning in 2009 and Rajnath Singh winning in the 2014 election. In the 2014 election, Rajnath had won the seat with a massive margin of 2,72,749 votes defeating Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who is now a BJP minister in Uttar Pradesh government. On Tuesday, Rajnath filed his nomination in Lucknow in the presence of several party leaders and scores of supporters and held a 6-km long roadshow. He also held offered prayers at the Hanuman Setu temple and addressed party workers at the BJP state headquarters. Commenting on the Poonam in the fight, Rajnath said: "Somebody must contest, that is the beauty of democracy. We will fight elections with full dignity." Lucknow is going to polls on May 6 along with a total of 51 constituencies across seven states in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election. Lucknow: Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha joined the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday. The development was confirmed on Twitter by the Samajwadi Party. Poonam met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav at their residence in Lucknow. Poonam will be SP-BSP-RLD alliance candidate from Lucknow against BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. SP leader Ravidas Mehrotra confirmed her candidature from Luckow and said she will file her nomination on April 18, the last day of nomination for the fifth phase of polling. "We appeal to the Congress that do not field your candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated," he said. Ravidas Mehrotra, SP: Poonam Sinha ji (wife of Shatrughan Sinha) will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow. She will file nomination on April 18. We appeal to the Congress that do not field your candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/Xp2y3M6Wz1 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2019 In Lucknow, there are four lakh Kayastha voters, 3.5 lakh Muslims voters and 1.3 lakh Sindhi voters. Since Poonam is a Sindhi and Shatrughan Sinha is a Kayastha, it is quite possible that these communities may extend their support to her. The voting is scheduled to take place on May 6. Lucknow seat is regarded by many as a citadel of the BJP as the party has not lost from this seat since the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2014, Singh had won from this seat after defeating Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Earlier this month, Shatrughan Sinha also joined Congress. Lashing out at Congress chief over his comment all thieves have Modi in their surnames, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi Tuesday announced that he'll file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court. Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname? said Sushil Modi while speaking to reporters. He has referred to crores of people as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments,' he added. Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'All thieves have Modi in their surnames': I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court. Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname? He has referred to crores of people as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments. pic.twitter.com/ijc7io38MK ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 Rahul on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of corruption at a rally in Maharashtra's Nanded Lok Sabha. "But tell me one thing...Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...How come they all have Modi as common name. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common name?" he asked. Several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders disapproved Rahul's comment. Rajasthan BJP chief Madan Lal Saini claimed that it was an insult to a particular section of the society. He accused Modi of being a "chowkidar (watchman) of rich people like Ambani". Terrorists on Tuesday hurled a grenade at the residence of National Conference (NC) leader Mohd Ashraf Bhat in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. They fired the Underbarrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) grenade which exploded outside the residence. The incident took place when NC's Anantnag parliamentary seat candidate Hasnain Masoodi was addressing workers there. There have been no reports of loss of lives or damage to properties. The identification of the terrorists is yet to be ascertained. This is a developing story. More details are awaited. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday filed his nomination papers from Lucknow parliamentary constituency for the Lok Sabha election. The senior BJP leader held a road show and also offered prayers at Lucknow's Hanuman Setu temple ahead of filing his nomination. He was accompanied by BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and UP Minister Brajesh Pathak. Several key leaders of state BJP and Uttar Pradesh government were present during the roadshow. Singh had contested from the parliamentary constituency for the first time in 2014 and registered an easy victory over the Congress candidate. In 2014, the candidate contesting against him was Rita Bahuguna Joshi who is now in BJP and a minister in UP government. Lucknow remains a prestigious constituency for BJP as it was once held by party patriarch and former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The election in Lucknow will be held in the fifth phase on May 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. BENGALURU: Union Social Justice Minister and Republican Party of India (A) president Ramdas Athawale Monday said the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka will not last long and asked Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to join hands with BJP for the state's welfare. Terming the Congress as "casteist", the Dalit leader said that party president Rahul Gandhi should not dream about becoming Prime Minister. "...Kumaraswamy is upset, I request him-why are you behind Congress when the BJP-JD(S) coalition government can be formed?"Athawale told reporters here. Stating that there was such a proposal earlier, he said "Congress was clever, they supported Kumaraswamy and made him CM, but Kumaraswamy is crying, he is not happy with Congress people. So I feel that this government will not last long." "Kumaraswamy has to come back to the BJP and if Karnataka's development has to happen...Kumaraswamy has to leave Congress and come back. Staying with BJP will benefit as Modi ji government is coming (to power) with NDA securing over 350 seats" he added. In 2006, Kumaraswamy had joined hands with BJP to form the coalition government, overthrowing the Dharm Singh led Congress-JD(S) government, that lasted about 20 months. Asking Kumaraswamy to join hands with BJP for the benefit of the state, Athawale said "you will become the Deputy Chief Minister... He (Kumaraswamy) is not happy with the Congress... As Deputy Chief Minister he will be happier than now (as Chief Minister)." "Asked if he would mediate between BJP and JD(S) leaders, he said after the Lok Sabha elections, "we can try, because if Modi government comes, then I doubt that Kumaraswamy will be safe (as Chief Minister)." Athawale said eradication of poverty was something only Modi could do and not Rahul Gandhi and the Congress president should not dream about becoming Prime Minister. "Eradication of poverty is Narendra Modi's work, not Rahul Gandhi's- it is not something he can do. Rahul Gandhi should not dream about becoming Prime Minister," he said. "As long as there is a Narendra Modi wave in the country, how can Rahul Gandhi become the prime minister?" he added. Stating that Rahul Gandhi does not have the support of Mahagatbandhan leaders, Athawale said the leaders were posingfor photographs only to oppose Modi. He said the Congress calls BJP "jaatiwadi" (casteist), but it is the most casteist party. Daisy Edgar Jones has walked out of RRR due to some personal reasons and she is no more a part of the film. She was roped in by the makers to star opposite Jr NTR. Recently, the official Twitter handle of RRR took to the page to announce the news, and as per the latest report, Nithya Menen might replace Daisy in the film. Nithya has been approached by SS Rajamouli for RRR. Apparently, she was also invited to take part in a photo shoot in Hyderabad for a test look for her role. The news started doing rounds when the makers flew down to Bengaluru to meet the actress. The narration of the script and her role were perfectly done and the makers are waiting for a nod from her. If things work out as expected, the actor will sign the film and will be collaborating with Rajamouli for the first time ever. She will be acting next to Jr NTR and RRR will be their second film together as they have worked together for Janatha Garage already. Well, the films shooting is kept on hold for a couple of weeks as actor Ram Charan Tej was injured on the sets while shooting in Ahmedabad. He confronted a minor ankle injury and is advised three weeks rest by the doctors. Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn are also part of the film which also has Samuthirakhani key role. Alia will be seen as Sita and paired up with Ram Charan Tej. Washington: NASA's latest planet-hunting probe has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away. The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warm sub-Neptune-sized world in the same system, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "It's so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business," said Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution for Science in the US. "The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-up community to flag potentially interesting targets for additional observations using ground-based telescopes and instruments," Teske said in a statement. On a mission to find new planets, our @NASA_TESS spacecraft discovered its 1st Earth-size world. Located outside of our solar system, the new world is likely rocky and circles very close to its star, completing one orbit in just under eight days. More: https://t.co/QECVLQzCZf pic.twitter.com/sV8OdD3De6 NASA (@NASA) April 16, 2019 One such tool, the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope in Chile, was a crucial component of this effort. It helped confirm the planetary nature of the TESS signal, and to measure the mass of the newly discovered sub-Neptune. The PFS works using a technique called the radial velocity method, which is currently the only way for astronomers to measure the masses of individual planets. Without known masses, it is very challenging to determine a planet's density or its general chemical composition. This method takes advantage of that fact that not only does a star's gravity influence the planet orbiting it, but the planet's gravity also affects the star in turn. The PFS enables astronomers to detect these tiny wobbles that the planet's gravity induces in the star's orbit. "PFS is one of the only instruments in the Southern Hemisphere that can do these types of measurements. So, it will be a very important part of further characterising the planets found by the TESS mission," Teske added. With an orbit that takes about 36 days to complete, the sub-Neptune, HD 21749b, has the longest period of any of the TESS discoveries published so far, researchers said. Its host star has about 80 per cent of the mass of our Sun and is found about 53 light-years distant from Earth. HD 21749b has about 23 times Earth's mass and a radius of about 2.7 times Earth's. Its density indicates the planet has substantial atmosphere but is not rocky, so it could potentially help astronomers understand the composition and evolution of cooler sub-Neptune planet atmospheres. The longer period sub-Neptune planet in this system is not alone. It has a sibling planet, HD 21749c, which takes about eight days to orbit the host star and is much smaller -- similar in size to Earth. Thanks to TESS, astronomers will be able to measure the masses, atmospheric compositions, and other properties of many smaller exoplanets for the first time. Although small exoplanets are common in our galaxy, there is still much to learn about their diversity and about how they compare to the planets in our own Solar System. New Delhi: The government has asked tech giants Google and Apple to comply with the Madras High Court's order that had banned popular mobile app TikTok, according to sources. Sources said instructions in this regard were sent to the two American companies on Monday after the Supreme Court refused to stay the April 3 order of Madras High Cout that had directed the Centre to ban Tiktok app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it. E-mails sent to Apple and Google did not elicit a response. On Monday, the Supreme Court said the ban directive was just an interim order and that the high court is scheduled to hear the matter on April 16. In its April 3 order, the Madras HC said it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile applications. It had also directed the media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, allows users to create short videos and then share them. In a statement on Tuesday, TikTok said it has faith in the Indian judicial system. "We are optimistic about an outcome that would allow over 120 million monthly active users in India to continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives," it said. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.: A Chinese woman charged with bluffing her way into US President Donald Trump`s Florida resort last month was denied bail on Monday by a federal judge who said he believed she was "up to something nefarious." Yujing Zhang, who was carrying multiple electronic devices when arrested, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment and detention hearing on Monday in West Palm Beach, Florida. Zhang, 33, was indicted on Friday on charges of making false statements to a federal officer and entering or remaining in a restricted area at Trump`s Mar-a-Lago resort, an incident that raised concerns about security at the Palm Beach club. During the hearing, a federal prosecutor said Zhang could face more charges and U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman ordered her continued detention. Matthewman said he was concerned Zhang told U.S. Secret Service agents she was at Mar-a-Lago to attend a charity event that prosecutors allege she knew was cancelled. He also was troubled she was carrying four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive when arrested. It does appear to the court that Ms. Zhang was up to something nefarious when she unlawfully attempted to gain access to Mar-a-Lago," Matthewman said. Zhang has not been indicted on espionage charges. The FBI is examining whether she has links to Chinese intelligence agencies or political influence operations, U.S. government sources said. Prosecutors previously said Zhang`s thumb drive contained malware. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia told the court a second analysis found no such software and the first could have been a "false positive." Zhang, a Shanghai-based financial investor and consultant, was arrested on March 30 after giving conflicting reasons for being at the club during one of Trump`s weekend visits. Trump was not on the premises at the time. Zhang`s lawyers said she paid $20,000 to attend a charity gala at Mar-a-Lago advertised on Chinese social media. Garcia said an analysis of Zhang`s social media communications found she was told on March 26 the event was cancelled. Zhang`s public defender, Kristy Militello, blamed the incident on a series of "genuine misunderstandings." "The sad fact of this case is that if a Mandarin interpreter was provided at that first checkpoint, we very well might not be here today," Militello said of Zhang`s initial entry into the resort. WASHINGTON/CHICAGO: US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Boeing Co to "rebrand" its 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes, but the planemaker said it was focussed on fixing the problem and brainstorming over next steps to win back public trust. Airline officials said they have held lengthy meetings with Boeing over the past weeks about how to regain the public`s support once the grounded planes are returned to service. A full rebranding of the MAX was not likely, according to a person familiar with Boeing`s thinking, who noted that renaming an aircraft is a significant undertaking. Asked about Trump`s advice, delivered in a Twitter post, a Boeing spokesman said rebuilding public trust was their focus, with pilots playing a pivotal role. "Pilots` confidence in the aircraft will lead passengers and crew to have greater confidence in the aircraft," Gordon Johndroe, vice president for communications, told Reuters. For now Boeing is concentrating on submitting a software update and finalising pilot training for regulatory approval. Regulators worldwide are preparing to review Boeing`s proposals. Trump, who owned the Trump Shuttle airline from 1989 to 1992 and is an aviation enthusiast, weighed in with his thoughts early on Monday. "What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?" he tweeted. The 737 MAX is Chicago-based Boeing`s fastest-selling jet and its main source of profits and cash, having won some 5,000 orders or around seven years of production for the aircraft. Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg has apologised on behalf of the planemaker for the 346 lives lost in accidents in October and March, and promised to eliminate the risk that flight software meant to prevent the plane stalling could be activated by wrong data. "Passengers will be thinking about the pilot that`s flying the plane. We are the real final call," said Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the U.S. Allied Pilots Association. BRANDING STRATEGY Trump`s tweet marks the first time the MAX brand underpinning Boeing profits in coming years has publicly been thrown into question by a senior government official. How Boeing recovers from this blow to the fuel-efficient, single-aisle MAX will be key to its duopoly with European planemaker Airbus SE, since Boeing is years away from being able to deliver a new narrowbody model, experts said. The plane`s grounding has also threatened the US summer travel season, with some airlines removing the 737 from their schedules through August. Brand Finance, a UK-based consultancy that tracks the value of global brands, said on Monday it sees a $12 billion dent to the value of the Boeing brand, which it had called the most valuable in the aerospace industry worth $32 billion in 2018. Brand Finance Chief Executive David Haigh rejected the idea that Boeing should rebrand, noting that Toyota and others recovered from high-profile crises without a drastic rebranding exercise. Boeing`s 787 Dreamliner got off to a rocky start after a battery issue that led to a temporary grounding, but the plane has gone on to become a popular aircraft in the widebody market. "This is a temporary blip in the long run for Boeing," Haigh said by email when asked about Trump`s comments. Other marketing experts said talk of rebranding was inappropriate when the issue of safety was paramount. "To rebrand without making sure the product is safe and undergoing another crash with the same airplane under a new name and image could destroy Boeing," said Paul Caiozzo, founder and Chief Creative Officer of brand design agency Interesting Development. Thomas Ordahl, chief strategy officer at brand consulting firm Landor, which works for airlines and other sectors, said: "You cant just rebrand, you have to deal with the problem." PARIS: The fire that tore through Notre Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins overnight. More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to bring the fire under control some 14 hours after it began. "We are favouring the theory of an accident," Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said, adding that 50 people were working on what was expected to be a long and complex investigation. One firefighter was injured; no one else was reported hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening. From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls, with their vast flying buttresses, still stood firm, but the insides and the upper structure were eviscerated by the blaze. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral`s blackened nave until experts are satisfied its stone walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. Television images showed firefighters atop the towers. "The fire is fully extinguished," fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters. "Our job today is to monitor the structure and its movements." The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral`s timbered roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to collapsed balustrades and crumbling gargoyles, as well as the spire`s wooden frame. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into "involuntary destruction by fire". Police on Tuesday began questioning the workers involved in the restoration, the prosecutor`s office said. Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the Seine river late into the night as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmony as they stood in vigil. "It`s a symbol of our country that risked being destroyed," Culture Minister Franck Riester said. Firefighters who entered the burning building saved many of its treasures, Riester said, although some paintings remained inside and risked smoke and water damage. MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DONATIONS President Emmanuel Macron promised France would rebuild Notre Dame, considered among the finest examples of French and European Gothic architecture and visited by more than 13 million people annually. Notre-Dame is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should bear the brunt of costs for badly needed restoration work. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said Bertrand de Feydeau of the Fondation du Patrimoine, a charity which works to protect French heritage, but it is likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two of France`s wealthiest men, Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the Kering group which owns brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and Bernard Arnault, the main shareholder of luxury group LVMH, said they would donate 100 million euros ($113 million) and 200 million euros respectively. The city of Paris pledged 50 million euros. Other campaigns were launched in the United States as well-wishers around the world pledged contributions via social media. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace at which the fire spread through the cathedral had been stunning. "We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said. A centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France, were saved, Notre-Dame`s top administrative cleric, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, said. Copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed by crane last week as part of the restoration work. American tourist Susan Hargrove said she`d been left breathless by the scale of devastation. "We are talking of world history, of our Western culture but also of something that is truly universal," Hargrove said. "Notre-Dame means something to everybody." OTTAWA: Four people were shot dead in Penticton, British Colombia, on Monday and a suspect is in custody, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement. "Police have determined four people are deceased at three locations within a 5 km (3.1 mile) radius," the statement said. "A man matching the suspect`s description turned himself into the Penticton RCMP detachment. The man remains in custody while the investigation progresses. Preliminary indications are this was a targeted incident," the statement said. The initial shooting incident was reported at 10:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT). As police were en route to the scene, a second shooting was reported. The suspect in both shootings turned himself in about an hour after the first report, police said. A motive for the shootings was still unknown. "Determining why this occurred is part of our ongoing investigation," said RCMP regional commander Ted De Jager. "I understand that this is a deeply troubling incident that has taken place in our community. Our hearts and thoughts are with all those impacted by this terribly tragic incident," he added. NEW YORK: Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a row that Reuters has won two Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in American journalism. Overall Reuters has won seven since 2008. Two of this year`s honourees have been jailed for 490 days in Myanmar for their role in uncovering the killings. "While it`s gratifying to be recognised for the work, public attention should be focussed more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said. In other categories, coverage of mass shootings in the United States and investigations into U.S. President Donald Trump featured prominently. The New York Times and the Washington Post also took two Pulitzers each. Reuters and the Associated Press were both awarded prizes for international reporting, with the AP winning for its coverage of war atrocities in Yemen. The Reuters award was for an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya at the village of Inn Din, in the heart of the conflict zone of Rakhine State in Myanmar. Two young Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both Myanmar citizens, found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of victims. They obtained three devastating photographs from villagers: two showed the 10 Rohingya men bound and kneeling; the third showed the mutilated and bullet-ridden bodies of the same 10 men in the same shallow grave. In December 2017, before Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo could complete their story, they were arrested in what international observers have criticized as an effort by authorities to block the report. The article, "Massacre in Myanmar," was completed by colleagues Simon Lewis and Antoni Slodkowski and published in February of last year. In September, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for violating the country`s Official Secrets Act. "I'm thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognised for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles," Adler said. "I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars." BORDER IMAGES In the breaking news photography category, 11 Reuters photographers contributed pictures to "On the Migrant Trail to America," a package of images showing asylum-seekers and others from Central America at the U.S. border. One photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon showed migrants fleeing tear gas launched by US authorities into Mexico at the San Diego-Tijuana border. In the image a mother grabs her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister emits its fumes. In another image, an aerial photo, Mike Blake was the first to photograph the detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where children walked in single file, like prisoners. Goran Tomasevic captured an image in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world, of a rooster scratching in the dirt next to the slain body of a Barrio 18 gang member. Tomasevic was a previous finalist for his pictures of the war in Syria. SHOOTING COVERAGE HONORED The New York Times won a prize for explanatory reporting of Trump`s finances and tax avoidance and another for editorial writing by Brent Staples. The Washington Post`s Lorenzo Tugnoli won the feature photography prize for images of the famine in Yemen and the newspaper`s Carlos Lozado also won for criticism. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for uncovering Trump`s secret payoffs to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him. Coverage of mass shootings in the United States was also recognised three times. The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the public service award for "exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," the Pulitzer board said. Seventeen people died in the massacre at the Parkland, Florida, high school on February 14, 2018. The staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the breaking news prize for its coverage of "immersive, compassionate" coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh`s Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 people on Oct. 27, 2018. Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy, upon announcing the winners, also offered admiration for a non-winner: the staff of the Eagle Eye student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for its coverage of the killings. The overnight operation against terrorists in Peshawar, Pakistan, came to an end on Tuesday after the Pakistan Army and the police jointly killed at least five terrorists. The Army and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police conducted a joint intelligence-based operation in Hayatabad Phase VII, Peshawar, against a terrorist hideout. During the exchange of fire, an officer, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Qamar Alam, too was killed and a soldier got injured. Security forces are in the process of clearing the compound and a search in the adjacent areas are in progress. The bodies of the terrorists have been recovered and their identification is in process. Earlier, at least four explosions were heard from the site with heavy firing as the terrorists were using hand grenades. The army had reached the area and fired three rockets at the building. Though there was silence but when the police tried to enter there was more firing. The bomb disposal unit was also called in and the authorities had also feared a hostage situation. Pakistan minister Shaukat Yusufzai had said that atleast six or seven terrorists were inside the building. The terrorists were believed to have been involved in multiple attacks in Pakistan. TAIPEI: Taiwan is not intimidated by China`s military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, after the latest Chinese military manoeuvres were denounced by a senior U.S. official as "coercion" and a threat to stability in the region. China`s People`s Liberation Army said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft had conducted "necessary drills" around Taiwan on Monday, though it described them as routine. "We will not make any compromise on our territory for even one inch. We always hold on tight to our democracy and freedom," Tsai told reporters at an event to mark Taiwan-U.S. ties in Taipei, adding U.S. arm sales to Taiwan would help reinforce the capability of Taiwan`s Air Force. Tsai was speaking at a forum co-hosted by Taiwan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th anniversary of Taiwan-U.S. ties, following Washington`s decision to ditch formal recognition of Taiwan in favour of China in 1979. Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces on Monday, its defence ministry said, accusing Beijing of "trying to change the status quo of the Taiwan Strait". China has repeatedly carried out what it calls "island encirclement patrols" in the past few years. A delegation led by former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, is in Taipei to mark 40 years since the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act, which governs U.S.-Taiwan relations, and to reaffirm Washington`s commitment. Ryan said the United States considers any military threat to Taiwan a concern and urged China to stop, saying the moves were counterproductive. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan. Beijing suspects Taiwan`s president is pushing for the island`s formal independence, a red line for China which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo with China but will defend Taiwan`s security and democracy. The visit by U.S. officials comes just weeks after Tsai said the United States was responding positively to Taipei`s requests for new arms sales to bolster its defences in the face of growing pressure from China. Last month, Washington sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the narrow strait separating the island from the mainland, part of an increase in the frequency of U.S. movement through the strategic waterway to show support for Taipei. LONDON: Thousands of environmental activists paralysed parts of central London on Monday by blocking Marble Arch, Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge in a bid to force the government to do more to tackle climate change. Under sunny skies, activists sang songs or held signs that read "There is no Planet B" and "Extinction is Forever" at some of the capital`s most iconic locations. Roadblocks were due to continue night and day at each site and the demonstrators said the protests could last at least a week. The protests are being led by the British climate group Extinction Rebellion and are to involve demonstrations in 33 countries around the world over the coming days. "I realised that signing petitions and writing letters was not going to be enough. Real action is needed," said Diana McCann, 66, a retired wine trader from south London, holding a banner in the middle of a traffic-free road. "It`s like a world war. We have to go on to a war footing." Extinction Rebellion, which generated headlines with a semi-nude protest in Britain`s parliament earlier this month, has warned its members that some of them could be arrested for taking part in non-violent civil disobedience. The group is demanding the government declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 and create a citizen`s assembly of members of the public to lead on decisions to address climate change. At the Shell building near the River Thames, two protesters scaled up scaffolding writing `Shell Knows!` in red paint on the front of the building and three protesters glued their hands to the revolving doors at the entrance. Activists said they smashed the glass of a revolving door and caused more than 6,000 pounds ($7,900) worth of damage. The organisers said five people had been arrested for criminal damage. "EXTINCTION REBELLION" At Oxford Circus, protesters unveiled a pink boat that says "TELL THE TRUTH" and on Waterloo Bridge demonstrators brought trees, hanging baskets and skate ramps. The protest had a festive atmosphere, with many families in attendance, and a low police presence. Police later said that, from 1755 GMT for 24 hours, protesters would only be allowed to gather at Marble Arch to prevent "ongoing serious disruption". A Reuters photographer said police had begun arresting protesters on Waterloo Bridge. Extinction Rebellion wrote to Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday outlining their demands and asking for face-to-face talks, warning that they will escalate their disruptive actions over the coming weeks unless the government acts. "Make no mistake, people are already dying," the letter states. "In the majority world, indigenous communities are now on the brink of extinction. This crisis is only going to get worse ... Prime minister, you cannot ignore this crisis any longer. We must act now." Organisers of the protests circulated legal advice to anyone planning to attend, requesting they refrain from using drugs and alcohol, and asking them to treat the public with respect. The disruption follows similar action last November when thousands of protesters occupied five central London bridges. Police arrested 85 people that day. Rowan McLaughlin, 47, a teacher, said this week`s protests were more important that the huge pro and anti-Brexit protests in London recently. "In Europe, out of Europe, it makes no difference if we have no liveable habitat," he said. "We`re just going to get bigger and more annoying until the government speaks to us." 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. Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inspected on Tuesday the combat efficiency and preparedness of the forces at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base west of Alexandria. Accompanied by army officials and groups of students from different Egyptian universities, colleges and military institutes, the president inspected the forces to ensure their readiness and ability to carry out various tasks. El-Sisi also inspected the latest combat and technical systems along with a number of officers representing the main branches of the Armed Forces. The inspection procedures were attended Egypts Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki, and the Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces Mohamed Farid. The tour was also attended by Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, a number of ministers and governors, media and public figures and military attaches of some friendly countries. Mohamed Naguib Military Base is located in Al-Hammam area, west of Alexandria city. The base, which was inaugurated in July 2017, is reportedly the largest in the Middle East, consisting of 1,155 buildings and facilities. The military base serves as a headquarters for some forces with the Northern Military Unit, which aims to increase efficiency in protecting the west of Alexandria, the North Coast, the currently under-construction Dabaa nuclear power plant, oil fields, New El-Alamein City, and other sites. The base is named after Mohamed Naguib, the primary leader of the Egyptian revolution in 1952 and the first president of the Republic of Egypt after its establishment on 18 June 1953. Search Keywords: Short link: A Cairo criminal court sentenced on Tuesday two defendants to death over a 2017 terrorist attack against the Saint Menas and Pope Cyril IV church in Helwan, which killed nine Christian civilians and one policeman. The court has referred the sentence to the countrys grand mufti for his non-binding opinion, as required by Egyptian law, pending a final verdict. The court has set 12 May to issue sentences on all 11 defendants in the case. The defendants in the case were referred to court on charges of forming, operating, joining and financing a takfiri group, murder, attempted murder, and forceful resistance of policemen. The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to hardline Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims and followers of other religions of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them. Search Keywords: Short link: [April 16, 2019] The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Announces 2019 Graduate Fellows The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing groundbreaking applied science with real-world benefits for all humanity, has announced the 2019 recipients of the prestigious Hertz Fellowship. Drawing from nine of the country's most prestigious research universities, 11 young researchers were selected from a pool of more than 840 applicants to receive up to five years of academic support valued at up to $250,000. Along with the funding, Fellows will also be free of many constraints typical of other fellowships, providing them the freedom to pursue innovative research wherever it may lead. "It is increasingly challenging to get funding for truly creative scientific research, but it is even more so for young researchers to pursue their own ideas," said David Galas, Chairman of the Hertz Foundation's Board of Directors and a senior investigator at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute. "I am very gratified that these terrific new Hertz Fellows will now be able to focus on the research questions they find most compelling in their fields." This year's Fellows will pursue research at the core of discovery and impact, with interests ranging from finding better ways for matching drugs to new diseases, to developing better therapies for cancer, to manipulating the quantum world for technological advancement. As noted by Robbee Baker Kosak, President of the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, "By combining approaches from mathematics and computer science, machine learning and biology, and so much more, this year's class reflects the dynamic nature of science and engineering today. It also reflects the type of bold, risk-taking research that the Hertz Foundation has supported for almost six decades. I eagerly look forward to watching them fuel the innovation essential to our lives and the world." The 2019 class joins a community of Fellows that includes leading scientists and engineers who have been honored with the Nobel Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Turing Award, the Breakthrough Prize, and the MacArthur Fellowship ("Genius (News - Alert) Grant"). They are also leaders in business and industry whose accomplishments include developing groundbreaking diagnostics and treatments for disease, new innovations for energy creation and storage, novel tools for exploring earth and space, and creating new supercomputer designs. Read below to learn more about the 2019 Hertz Fellows. Introducing the 2019 Hertz Fellows Alex Atanasov (Harvard University; Physics) - Alex Atanasov is fascinated by phenomena existing at vastly different scales while also adhering to common scientific principles. For example, the branches of certain plants exhibit the same splitting angles as running rivers that carve across a continent. A PhD student in theoretical physics at Harvard University, Atanasov studies the interrelationship of these fractal-like patterns and the underlying physical property that characterizes them. He is especially interested in how this property affects strongly interacting systems, such as when an ordinary metal becomes a superconductor. He studies these systems using techniques and concepts from quantum field theory, the framework for understanding the interactions of fundamental particles. Dolev Bluvstein (UC Santa Barbara; Physics) - Dolev Bluvstein approaches nanoscale technology with the ambition to revolutionize the capacity of humans to understand the universe and master its behavior. He has joined the growing wave of research in quantum information science that could potentially transform modern computing, communications, and biological and environmental sensing. His interests involve technologically harnessing the unique rules of quantum mechanics, which dictate the laws of physics at atomic and subatomic scales. A senior physics major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Bluvstein's work includes exploiting an atomic-sized defect in diamond to reshape nuclear magnetic resonance technology - an advancement that could have far-reaching implications in biology and medicine. Dylan Cable (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Computer Science) - Cable's exploration of neuroscience and biology as a Stanford University undergraduate convinced him that life science problems are the most important to solve. His goal: to uncover the inner workings of vital biological processes by forging new linkages between mathematics, machine learning (teaching computers to learn by experience) and computational biology. A first-year PhD student in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he specializes in improving physical methods for biological data collection and creating mathematical methods for biologicaldata analysis. Cable regards data collection and data analysis as inseparable and must be woven into deep knowledge of the biological problems he seeks to solve. Jordan Edmunds (UC Berkeley; Electrical Engineering) - A PhD student in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Edmunds specializes in the fabrication of neural interfaces - tools for studying and interacting with the brain. As an undergraduate at UC Irvine, where Edmunds earned dual degrees in electrical engineering and biological sciences, he created devices that connect with the human nervous system. The work included developing an electrical stimulator to elicit muscle contractions and restore movement to paraplegics. Work on the full system continues at the UCI Brain-Computer Interface Lab. He now works closely with Michel Maharbiz, the co-inventor of tiny, wireless sensors called neural dust for use as biomedical implants. Benjamin Eysenbach (Carnegie Mellon University; Machine Learning) - Eysenbach is a first-year PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University who teaches computers to make smart decisions that help humans. His research uses statistics and machine learning to make robots safer and enabling them to learn autonomously, with less human engineering effort. Before his PhD, Eysenbach spent a year conducting robotics research at Google (News - Alert) Brain, teaching simulated robots to do backflips and learning how to avoid breaking themselves. He studied mathematics as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an undergraduate researcher, he taught computers to understand images and videos using machine learning and computer vision. Bailey Flanigan (University of Wisconsin-Madison; Biomedical Engineering) - Flanigan combines approaches from computer science, economics, and the physical sciences to address disparities and complex problems in society. Her interest in complex systems originally drew her primarily to medical questions as an undergraduate in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She conducted undergraduate research in cancer genetics, heart disease, and functional magnetic resonance imaging, and then broadened her focus to include social and economic systems. As an undergraduate, she managed a team of engineers that designed and implemented a potable water system in rural Ecuador. She will travel to South Africa this summer to research maternal health and build software for a rural hospital. Next fall she will begin graduate work in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, having completed a research fellowship in economics last academic year at Yale University. Noah Golowich (Harvard University; Mathematics and Computer Science) - Golowich's research interests include developing greater understanding of the theoretical reasons behind the success of today's deep learning methods, which use neural networks to perform tasks that could revolutionize technologies as seemingly unrelated as language translation, game theory, and self-driving cars. A senior at Harvard University, Golowich is completing a joint degree in mathematics and computer science. He also has contributed to the theory of communication complexity, which involves structuring communication between computers in the most efficient way to solve a given problem. Some of his work in communication complexity is motivated by cryptography - generating efficient algorithms for two parties to communicate securely and efficiently. Melissa Mai (Johns Hopkins University; Biophysics and Mathematics) - Currently a senior biophysics and mathematics major at the Johns Hopkins University, Mai has pursued different experimental and computational projects studying vaginal health, blood cell development, protein evolution, and cell motility. Through her diverse research experiences, she has become interested in the cooperation and competition among individuals in a population and, more generally, in the application of quantitative, physics-based approaches to biological problems. This fall, Mai will begin her PhD in biophysics at Harvard University, where she hopes to integrate both experiment and theory to delve further into cellular biophysics on a population scale. Nitya Mani (Stanford University; Mathematics and Computer Science) - Mani explores the underlying properties of networks, called graphs, which characterize transportation systems, social media, biological systems, and other aspects of modern life. She is particularly interested in how nodes in a graph can be grouped to have many internal connections or to influence the rest of the network. She also uses machine learning on networks with applications that include finding new diseases that an existing drug can treat. A senior in mathematics and computer science at Stanford University, Mani also grapples with challenging optimization problems that reside at the intersection of those fields. Many everyday questions, including finding optimal pharmaceutical treatments and processing images, are optimization problems that are difficult to solve using current techniques. Jacqueline Turner (University of Colorado Denver; Medical Science) - Driven by a desire to improve cancer patient care, Turner is training to become a clinician scientist at the CU Denver School of Medicine and aspires to translate laboratory research results directly into clinical practice. As an undergraduate at the International Biorepository and Research Laboratory at the University of Colorado Denver, her work on gene rearrangements in tumor cells already has helped introduce basic scientific research into the clinical setting, starting with the successful treatment of a stage IV melanoma patient. Turner then identified novel therapies for three other stage IV melanoma patients. Her goal is to develop methods that will impact the treatment and prevention of tumor formation. Nina Zubrilina (Stanford University, Mathematics) - From squeezing spheres into ever-shrinking volumes of space to analyzing the structure of the tree-like diagrams that help scientists understand the evolutionary relationship of plant and animal species, Zubrilina's research ferrets out the relationship between classes of objects and phenomena that might otherwise remain opaque. Zubrilina uses mathematics to deepen our biological understanding of the tree of life - science's depiction of how life on Earth grows, branches, and blossoms. Last summer she made novel contributions to sphere packing while interning at Microsoft (News - Alert) Research. This geometrical problem has intrigued mathematicians for centuries and is closely connected with error-correcting codes and signal transmission, from cellphones to deep space communication. ABOUT THE FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION The Hertz Foundation is dedicated to advancing groundbreaking applied science with real-world benefits for all humanity. Celebrating 60 years in 2017, the Hertz Fellowship is one of the most exclusive fellowship programs in the world. The 1,200 Hertz Fellows are the leaders, shapers and disruptors of American science, engineering and mathematics. The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is the legacy of John Hertz, a Hungarian immigrant who made his fortune by capitalizing on the entrepreneurship prospects in the budding automotive industry. He believed that innovative and entrepreneurial solutions were vital to the strength, security and prosperity of our nation, and began the Foundation to support exceptionally talented students expected to have the greatest impact on the world's problems. For more information on the Hertz Foundation and the innovations led by our Hertz Fellows please visit www.hertzfoundation.org. Special Announcement Features: "The Impact And Importance Of Early Career Research: A Roundtable With Hertz Fellow Interviewers W. Neil Mccasland, Jessica Seeliger And Philip Welkhoff" "Looking Ahead: A Discussion With Three Of The 2019 Hertz Fellows" View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005133/en/ [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\broadband-stimulus's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] iSchemaView's RAPID Approved for Use in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia iSchemaView, the worldwide leader in advanced imaging for stroke, has received approval from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH), for the use of the RAPID imaging platform across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RAPID is designed to provide physicians with fast, fully automated, and easy-to-interpret imaging that facilitates clinical decision-making around stroke. Hospitals and clinics that treat ischemic stroke in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will now have access to RAPID's automated CTP, MR, CTA and ASPECTS solutions, as well as their unique mobile app that accelerates the provision of information to support treatment decision making. RAPID's expansion into Saudi Arabia represents continued market growth across the Middle East and is further confirmation that RAPID has become the de facto standard for stoke imaging around the world. "With RAPID's AI framework and advanced imaging technology we aim to help increase the number of patients that can be successfully treated for stroke within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Simon Canham, iSchemaView Vice President & General Manager EMEA. "Moving forward the country's physicians will be able to aide performance by making life-saving decisions faster and more easily, improving patient outcomes and lives." Developed by leading stroke experts, RAPID technology has been selected for use in several ground-breaking trials that have changed treatment guidelines issued by both the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. The RAPID Artificial Intelligence framework combines deep learning, machine learning and expert feature extraction. Together these provide unparalleled sensitivity and specificity across stroke modules (CT perfusion, MR diffusion and perfusion, CTA and CT ASPECT scoring). Results are then delivered by the RAPID Intelligence Services Platform via PACS, email, SMS/MMS, the RAPID app or corporate partner workflow systems. Unique in the comprehensive depth and range of its clinical validation, RAPID is now also the imaging standard in stroke researh. iSchemaView's imaging solution now has a research footprint across more than 300 stroke centers and more than 10 large-scale international clinical trials. RAPID has been shown to aid in the selection of patients in early and late-window stroke trials, including SWIFT PRIME, EXTEND IA, DAWN, DEFUSE 3 and EXTEND, and has been granted FDA clearance for selection of patients for both early and late window thrombectomy. The Complete RAPID Platform includes: RAPID MRI , which provides fully automated, easy to interpret diffusion and perfusion maps that identify brain areas with low ADC (News - Alert) values, as well as delayed contrast arrival. RAPID MRI perfusion automatically quantifies regions of reduced cerebral blood flow, volume and transit time that exceed pre-specified thresholds. , which provides fully automated, easy to interpret diffusion and perfusion maps that identify brain areas with low ADC (News - Alert) values, as well as delayed contrast arrival. RAPID MRI perfusion automatically quantifies regions of reduced cerebral blood flow, volume and transit time that exceed pre-specified thresholds. RAPID CTP , which automatically quantifies regions of reduced cerebral blood flow, volume and transit time that exceed pre-specified thresholds. Regions are color coded and the volumes of interest are automatically measured. Maps (including mismatch maps) of the severity of Tmax delays are provided using a four-color-coded scale. , which automatically quantifies regions of reduced cerebral blood flow, volume and transit time that exceed pre-specified thresholds. Regions are color coded and the volumes of interest are automatically measured. Maps (including mismatch maps) of the severity of Tmax delays are provided using a four-color-coded scale. RAPID CTA , which automatically provides clear, easy-to-interpret CTA maps that include a colored overlay to identify brain regions with reduced blood vessel density. The severity of reduction can be readily visualized by a simple, four-color-coded scale. Additionally, a 3D reconstruction of the vasculature allows physicians to rotate the image for optimal viewing of the vessels from multiple angles. , which automatically provides clear, easy-to-interpret CTA maps that include a colored overlay to identify brain regions with reduced blood vessel density. The severity of reduction can be readily visualized by a simple, four-color-coded scale. Additionally, a 3D reconstruction of the vasculature allows physicians to rotate the image for optimal viewing of the vessels from multiple angles. RAPID ASPECTS, which automatically generates a standardized score - based on clinically validated machine learning algorithms - that enables physicians to easily communicate about the extent of a patient's ischemic changes and to determine eligibility for thrombectomy (clot removal). In addition, RAPID ASPECTS provides clear visualization of the brain so that clinicians can better scrutinize each region and confirm the automated score. "Our commitment to transforming stroke care across the globe continues as we provide more and more healthcare professionals with the most comprehensive and intuitive suite of brain imaging solutions available today," said Don Listwin, CEO of iSchemaView. "With the approval of RAPID in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we are greatly expanding the number of facilities in the Middle East that are able to address stroke patients with the only clinically validated, next-generation imaging technology." For more information about working with RAPID in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, contact saikali@rapid.ai. About iSchemaView iSchemaView is the worldwide leader in advanced imaging for stroke. Installed in over 1,000 hospitals, iSchemaView's RAPID (automated CTP, MRI, CTA and ASPECTS), with enhanced AI framework, is the most advanced stroke imaging platform. In clinical trials, RAPID has been shown to aid in the selection of patients in early and late-window stroke trials, including SWIFT PRIME, EXTEND IA, DAWN, DEFUSE 3 and EXTEND. In addition to achieving the best clinical outcomes and largest treatment effects ever obtained, these landmark studies led to new American Heart Association and American Stroke Association guidelines and have dramatically altered the management of acute stroke around the world. For more information, visit www.RAPID.ai View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005220/en/ [ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com\LTE's Homepage ] First Sergeant James Mills of the Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association (BSHA) believes in the power of keeping history alive. "We represent the past," he says, sitting in the wood-paneled office of a century-old Detroit barn that serves as the BSHA headquarters. "History has shorted us as African Americans." Together with other members of his organization, Sgt. Mills works to reclaim the stories of a group of African-American soldiers, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, who began their service with the U.S. military on the country's western frontier in the years following the Civil War. James Mills clears a puddle from the BHSA barn. In 1866, responding to an act of Congress, the U.S. Army formed six regiments composed entirely of black soldiers: the 9th and 10th Cavalry; and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Divisions. Many of the original servicemen in these units had formerly been enslaved or had fought in the U.S. Civil War. Buffalo Soldiers regiments served for eight decades, patrolling the border, protecting settlers and working on infrastructure projects, as well as fighting in the Philippine-American and Spanish-American Wars and World Wars I and II. During their early years, the 10th Cavalry frequently clashed with Native Americans of the Great Plains, including the Cheyenne who gave them the nickname Buffalo Soldiers. Later the term was used to refer to all African-American units. Many of these servicemen were highly decorated; during their early years on the western frontier, 18 of them won Medals of Honor and 12 received Certificates of Merit. Ultimately, though, all active Buffalo Soldier divisions disbanded during the Korean War era, as a result of President Truman desegregating the U.S. Armed Forces. "The Buffalo Soldiers had a significant impact on our country without the recognition [of the public]," says Sgt. Mills. "Getting the job done without the recognition, racism thrown on you, but you still achieve at high levels, that's what I learned [of their experiences]." In 2006 an informal group of horse enthusiasts from around Metro Detroit took over an abandoned stable at Rouge Park and adopted the Buffalo Soldiers mantel, resurrecting these servicemen's overlooked history. Today the Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Center serves as a place where visitors can learn about the story of these military men through lectures and reenactments, tour the stables, and groom and ride horses. Like a Buffalo Soldier The idea for what became the Buffalo Soldier Heritage Center actually got kicked off at a horse ranch in Windsor, Canada called the Broken Wheel. "Everybody used to go over there to ride," says Sgt. Mills. One day in 2005, the ranchs owner exclaimed to future founding BSHA member Bob Jarber, "You look like a Buffalo Soldier!" He was covered in dust after a long day of riding. "It escalated from there," says Mills. "They asked, Whats a Buffalo Soldier? No one knew the history." With his interest piqued, Mr. Jarber started researching the group. Soon an informal group of friends started gathering period-specific weapons, commissioning uniforms, and approaching the city of Detroit about taking over the stables. Through this initiative, The Buffalo Soldier Heritage Association was born. The late 19th-century barn that houses the association is nestled in a quiet corner of Rouge Park. The facility had housed the Detroit Police Departments Mounted Unit until its disbanding in 2005. Now it holds eight horses that live there year-round. Two barn cats, the affectionate Ceasar and skittish Bob, are tenants there too. And hawks and blue jays are also regular attractions, as is a family of coyotes frequently visit from the nearby hills. Inside the barn, photos of the BSHA line the walls. There are pictures with former Mayor Dennis Archer, news clippings of the group, statuaries of the 9th and 10th Cavalry soldiers, and posters celebrating Buffalo Soldiers throughout history. These are just some of the many mementos that cover every inch of the center. During the group's heyday in the late 2000s, BSHA members were staples of local parades and events. Some traveled to Atlanta, Washington DC, and even accompanied former four-star general Colin Powell during a Buffalo Soldier monument dedication ceremony in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. These days they tend to stick closer to home. As the original members of the group began to pass away, Sgt. Mills and the others enthusiasm for the chilly 5 a.m. show-up time for Detroits annual Thanksgiving parade became less appealing. But today three core members and nine regular volunteers are still keeping the organization active at Rouge Park. The center continues to stand as a monument to the men who served as Buffalo Soldiers and regularly educates children from Detroit and its suburbs, as well as those from as far away as Canada. Running with horses The story of how Sgt. Mills got involved with the Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association actually goes back a while. He's a person who found a bond with horses early in life. Growing up in Detroits North End in the 1950s didnt allow a lot of access to equestrian experiences. But a neighbor of his, a man named Sam Cobb, kept palomino show horses in a garage he'd converted into stables. Impressed by the animals intelligence and unpredictableness, nine-year-old Mills worked his way into a job cleaning the stables. But even as the US military began to desegregate, ending the all-black Buffalo Soldiers units, Cobb couldnt display his own horses in competitions. Sgt. James Mills interacts with a horse."He couldnt show them. So he hired two white girls to show the horses for him," Sgt. Mills says, noting that, despite winning numerous awards, Cobb's ownership remained a closely guarded secret. "He was a black man in a white mans world." As a teenager, Sgt. Mills got a job as a hired hand on a ranch in Warren, still largely farmland back then. During the summers, he'd ride a bike there from the North End and spend weekends saddling horses and retrieving animals lost by inexperienced tourists. At age 25, after a six-year stint in the Army, he returned to Detroit and bought his first horse, a stallion. That ended up being a little too much to handle; after a year, he gave it up, choosing to concentrate on raising his two children and focus on his job as a biomedical engineer. It was two decades before he bought another one, a quarter-horse named Eros. "You couldnt ask for a better animal," he says of Eros, who recently passed away at 35, a ripe old age for a horse. Today Sgt. Mills owns two horses. He's usually at the BSHA center seven days a week, which includes stopping by for 5 a.m. feedings on his way to his airport shuttle driver job. And that's just the way he likes it. "If there was an eighth day in the week, Id be here," says Sgt. Mills. The call of service For Elroy Reese, the center is a piece of home. As a native Mississippian, spending time around horses takes him back to his Elroy Reese cuts an apple.youth. "My dad had horses, and my neighbors had horses I grew up around horses," he says. In 1971 he came to Detroit looking for work at an auto factory. Although Reese soon got a job at the Chrysler Stamping Plant in Warren, he quickly realized he hated that line of work. In 1977 after six years at the plant, he decided to join the Detroit Police Department. Now he sees working with the BSHA as another chance to serve the community. "Im here to help," he says. "When the kids come here, they open up to asking questions You gotta give them the best and most honest answers." Mr. Reese sees his group as an informal park patrol. People walking aggressive dogs without leashes a violation of park rules are a big concern of his, and he's spoken to the Friends of Rouge Park about making BHSA volunteers official park rangers. This is in keeping with legacy the Buffalo Soldiers, who served as some of the original enforcement officers in the National Parks. Reese envisions the BSHA being a regular patrol that calls the DPD when they encounter wrongdoing. "If you see something, say something," he says of this philosophy. Essential to the park The Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association has put in thousands of dollars of work into the barn, installing new office floors, expanding the stable's stalls, landscaping, and repairing fences. Elroy Reese cuts an apple.Sally Petrella, President of the Friends of Rouge Park, sees the group as indispensable to the success of the park. "Their work there has even led to the state funding the much-needed repair of the barn roof," Petrella said in a written statement. "We assisted the Buffalo Soldiers in coming to Rouge Park and continue to partner on many cleanups and events. We see them and their horses as an essential component of Detroits largest park." The Buffalo Soldiers served the U.S. military for eight decades. Today the BSHA keeps their heritage alive through a different kind of service, educating and working with the public on Detroits west side. The Buffalo Solidiers Heritage Center at Rouge Park in Detroit is open seven days a week from noon to 4 p.m. as weather permits. This article is part of "Detroit Innovation," a series highlighting community-led projects that are improving the vitality of neighborhoods in Detroit, while recognizing the potential of residents to work with partners to solve the most pressing challenges facing their communities. The series is supported by the New Economy Initiative, a project of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan that's working to create an inclusive, innovative regional culture. All photos by Anthony Lanzilote. The Islamist Nour, the liberal Conservatives, and the Socialist Democratic parties have declared their rejection of the amendments for different reasons Three Egyptian political parties the Nour Party, the Conservatives Party, and the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party have declared their rejection of proposed amendments to Egypt's 2014 constitution. The parliamentary spokespersons of the three political parties said in a plenary session on Tuesday that they will vote against the amendments. Ahmed Khalil, the parliamentary spokesperson of the ultraconservative Salafist Nour, said that his party will vote against the amendments because over Egypt being described as "a civilian state" in the newly amended constitution. "As long as the meaning of this word is still unclear, we declare that we will vote 'no' to these amendments," said Khalil, adding that "our party stands against the secular state, the theocratic state, and the police and military state." "If the word 'civilian' means a non-theocratic state or a non-police or military state, we will vote 'yes', but if it means a secular state, we will vote 'no'," said Khalil. In response, parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said "the word civilian does not mean a secular state, and it means that Egypt is not a military or a police state and that it is governed by a constitution and civilian authorities." "I hope when we come to vote on this article, your party will change its opinion and opt to vote 'yes' for the amendments," said Abdel-Aal. Emad Gad, an independent MP and an Ahram political analyst, said "the world secularism is not bad, but it is a necessity for a democratic state." Businessman Akmal Qortam, head and parliamentary spokesperson of the liberal Conservatives Party, said his party "is firmly against the constitutional amendments and will surely vote 'no'." "We believe that parliament does not have the authority to amend the constitution, and that a constituent assembly should be formed to take charge of this job," said Qortam. "We also reject the amendments because they represent an aggression on the basic principles of the constitution, primarily the principle of rotation of power, and we believe that a president should not stay in power more than 10 years, because this means that he can stay forever and that he is not here for a temporary job," he added. In response, speaker Abdel-Aal said "all constitutions should include an article that shows how they can be changed." "In the current constitution, we have Article 226, which allows MPs and the president to propose amending one or more of the constitution's articles," said Abdel-Aal. Abdel-Aal told Qortam that "the problem is that you are a businessman and everything for you is measured by gains and losses." "Besides, the second chapter of the constitution, dealing with the basic pillars of society and the state, will not be changed at all," said Abdel-Aal. Ihab Mansour, the parliamentary spokesperson of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, also said his party is against the amendments. "We think it would be better to change the constitution as a whole, but what we see now are some amendments which serve personal interests," said Mansour. Parliament began Tuesday its final meeting on proposed amendments to Egypt's 2014 constitution. Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa, head of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, reviewed a report prepared by the committee on the amendments. Following this, speaker Abdel-Aal decided to give the floor to the spokespersons of political parties. He said he will also give the floor to 10 MPs affiliated with the majority and 10 MPs affiliated with the opposition. "At the end of this, I will take the final vote on the amendments," said Abdel-Aal. Most political parties, including the long-standing Wafd and the Free Egyptians parties, have declared their support for the amendments. The leftist Tagamoa party has changed its earlier position and said it now supports the changes. Search Keywords: Short link: 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, Care and Share donates to Shop with a Cop State gives grant for Farmstead Park restoration in Upper Moreland Township By By: Dr. Francis R. Souder, 85, formerly of Telford, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in the skilled nursing unit of Peter Becker Community, Franconia Township. He and his wife Marion R. (Parker) Souder celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in July. Born in Souderton, he was a son of the late Elvin B. and Mary (Rittenhouse) Souder. A 1938 graduate of Souderton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in 1941 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Souder went on to receive his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1944 and completed his internship at Hahnemann Hospital from Oct. 1944 July, 1945. He served with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 30 months in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif. during WW II and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant prior to his discharge. He entered his second tour of duty during the Korean War where he served in Panama City, Fla. as the medical officer for the Panama City Naval Air Station and the Tyndal Air Force Base. Dr. Souder owned and operated his family practice on Main Street in Telford from 1947-1989. He served on the staff of Grand View Hospital, and as its president, and taught at the Grand View Hospital Nursing School. He was a member of the Pa. Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical Society, Diplomat American Academy of Family Practices, and served on the board of trustees at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville. He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Telford, where he sang in the church choir. He was also a member of the MacCalla Lodge #596 in Souderton, the Raja Shrine, and Lehigh Consistory. In addition to his widow, he is survived by a son, Dr. Ronald L. Souder, and his wife Susan L. of Green Lane; a daughter, Susan J. Souder, and her husband Stephan Russo of New York, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Jennifer A. Souder of Philadelphia; Emily E. Souder of Philadelphia; Kathryn A. Souder of Washington, D.C.; Noah Russo of New York, N.Y., and Rebekah Russo of New York, N.Y., and two brothers: Attorney Elvin B. Souder of Souderton and Dr. Lawrence Souder of Souderton. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. in Trinity United Church of Christ, 101 S. Main St., Telford, with calling hours following the service. Interment will be private in Trinity UCC Cemetery Telford. Memorial contributions may be made to Grand View Hospital, 700 Lawn Ave., Sellersville, Pa. 18960. Arrangements are by Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, Telford. The Egyptian House of Representative passed on Tuesday proposed amendments to Egypt's 2014 constitution, including an amendment that possibly extends Presidents Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi time in office until 2030. According to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal a vast majority of MPs has agreed on the newly introduced amendments. A number of 531 members voted in favor of the new amendments while 22 members rejected and only one member abstained from voting out of a total of 554 eligible members. The 54-page-long amendments were all passed in a general session late on Tuesday. Three sessions were held in parliament on Tuesday to discuss and vote on the amendments. The first session saw a general debate on the amendments, the second involved a discussion on the articles, and the vote was held during the third session. Among the most important of the amended articles are those increasing the presidential term from four to six years, allocating 25 percent of parliamentary seats to female candidates, introducing the upper chamber of the parliament (the Senate) and reinstating the post of vice president. The amendments will be put to a public referendum. Egyptians abroad will go to the polls on 19, 20 and 21 April, while some 55 million eligible voters within the country will be able to vote on 22, 23 and 24 April. If approved the amendments will take effect immediately. ------ Ahram Online highlights some of the approved articles: President of the republic Article 140: The president of the republic shall be elected for six (instead of four) years, beginning on the day after the end of his predecessor's term, and he/she cannot remain in office for more than two consecutive terms. Transitional Article 240: The term of the current sitting president (Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi) is to end after six years following the date of his election as president in 2018, and he can be re-elected for another six-year term. Vice president Article 150:The president of the republic may appoint one or more deputies and shall determine their duties. The president may delegate his deputies to perform some of his duties and he has the authority to relieve them from their posts and accept their resignation. The vice president of the republic shall take the oath as stipulated in Article 144 of the constitution before the president of the republic. The provisions of the constitution shall apply to the vice president of the republic in articles 141, 145 and 173. Article 160 (first paragraph): If a temporary obstacle makes the elected president unable to perform his duties, he will be replaced by a vice president or prime minister if there is no vice president. (last paragraph): If a caretaker president takes office, he shall not be entitled to amend the constitution, dissolve the House of Representatives or Senate, or dismiss the government. The caretaker president will also not be allowed to run for president. House of Representatives Article 102 (first paragraph): The change aims to reduce the number of elected MPs in the House of Representatives (Egypts lower house of parliament) from 596 to 450 MPs, with at least 25 percent of the seats (112 seats) to be reserved for women representatives. Judiciary Article 185: Each individual judicial authority shall take charge of running its own affairs, and it will be consulted on laws regulating its own business. The president of the republic shall appoint the heads of judicial authorities from among five who will be nominated by its higher councils, and their term of office will be four years. A higher council for judicial authorities will be created and the president of the republic will be its head. The council will take charge of discussing the affairs of judicial authorities. In case of the president's absence, a head of a judicial authority will be delegated by the president to consider the conditions of appointing members of judicial authorities and their promotion, and he will be consulted on laws regulating their business. Judicial authorities will also have their own independent budget. A law to be issued to regulate the roles of the Higher Council for Judicial Authorities and its decisions are to be taken by consensus of its members. Armed Forces Article 200: The Armed Forces is the people's arm, and its job is to protect the country, safeguard its security and the integrity of its land, preserve the constitution and democracy, maintain the basic pillars of the state and its civilian nature, and uphold the gains of the people, and the rights and freedoms of individuals. The state will be exclusively authorised to create such forces, and any other individuals, authorities, or groups will be banned from forming military or semi-military organisations and militias. Article 204 (second paragraph): Civilians can face trial before military courts only in cases of assaulting military establishments, military camps, military zones and borders, military equipment, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, documents, secrets, funds, or army factories. Trials can also cover crimes related to recruitment and drafting, and assaulting officers and personnel affiliated with the Armed Forces while they are performing their duties. The Senate Article (248):The Senate has the authority to study and propose what it deems to be the basis of democracy, the promotion of social peace, the basic elements of society and its supreme values, rights, freedoms and public duties, and the deepening and expansion of the democratic system. Article (249): The opinion of the Senate shall be taken for the following: - Proposals for the amendment of one or more articles of the constitution. - Drafting general plans for social and economic development. - Treaties of reconciliation and alliance and all treaties relating to the rights of sovereignty. - Drafting laws supplementing the constitution referred to the Senate by the president of the republic or the House of Representatives. - Matters referred to the Senate by the president regarding the general policy of the state or its policy in Arab or foreign affairs. Article (250): The Senate shall be elected within the 60 days preceding the expiry of its term. The Senate shall comprise 180 members at least, and its term will be five years. Two thirds of the Senate's members shall be elected in a secret ballot, and a third will be appointed by the president. Article (251): A Senate member should be Egyptian, not less than 35 years old, have a university degree and legally allowed to exercise his/her civilian and political rights. The law shall specify the conditions of the other candidates, the electoral system, and the division of the constituencies to take into consideration the equitable representation of the population and the governorates. The individual or existing electoral system may be introduced or combined in any proportion between them. Article (252): A Senate member cannot be a member of the House of Representatives at the same time. Article (253): The prime minister, his deputies, ministers and other members of the government shall not be held accountable to the Senate. Search Keywords: Short link: Over the past several years, those who service loans in the State of Washington (1) have seen a dramatic rise in the number of lawsuits in which delinquent borrowers seek to quiet title to their homes on the grounds that lenders are barred from foreclosing based on Washingtons six year statute of limitations. Historically, these lawsuits allege that the foreclosure is time-barred because Notice of Acceleration letters have been issued more than six years prior to the initiation of the foreclosure process. However, based on recent case law, we foresee a very real danger of an increase in the amount of lawsuits brought by borrowers who have had their debts discharged in bankruptcy and either continued to make their monthly payments following their discharge, or engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse with the servicer, as result of which the servicer did not commence foreclosure within the six-year period following the discharge. Indeed, in at least one instance, the borrowers who obtained a bankruptcy discharge order successfully quieted title to their home against Fannie Mae based on Fannie Maes failure to foreclose with the six-year period. The potential of these lawsuits and given the result discussed above creates a significant risk to the mortgage industry, which should be addressed, assessed, and mitigated by lenders and servicers. Washington RCW 7.28.300 permits title owners not necessarily borrowers to commence quiet title actions against secured lenders to eliminate liens secured by the property based on the lenders failure to timely foreclose: The record owner of real estate may maintain an action to quiet title against the lien of deed of trust on the real estate where an action to foreclose such deed of trust would be barred by the statute of limitations, and, upon proof sufficient to satisfy the court, may have judgment quieting title against such a lien. The applicable statute of limitations within which a lender can foreclose for purposes of RCW 7.28.300 is six years from the date of acceleration of the debt. Recently, in Edmundson v. Bank of Am., NA, 194 Wn.App. 920, 931 (2016) (Edmundson), Silvers v. U.S. Bank Nat. Assn, 2015 WL 5024173 (W.D. Wash. Aug. 25, 2015) ) (Silvers), and Jarvis v. Fed. Natl Mortg. Assn, 2017 WL 1438040 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 24, 2017 (Jarvis), Washingtons State and Federal Courts addressed the impact of a bankruptcy discharge on the lenders ability to foreclose within the purview of RCW 7.28.300. In Edmundson, the Court of Appeals held that the borrowers bankruptcy discharge, which terminated their personal liability under the promissory note, triggered the statute of limitations within which the lender was entitled to foreclose. The Court reasoned that since the borrowers owed no future payments after the discharge of their personal liability, the date of their last-owed payment kick-started the deed of trusts final limitations period. Id. at 931. The same outcomes were reached by the Federal Courts in Silvers and Jarvis. In Silvers, the Court reasoned that because the bankruptcy discharge relieved the borrowers personal liability on the note, no future payments were owed and no installments capable of triggering the limitations period remained. Id. at *4. Accordingly, the Court held that the six-year limitations period accrued at the time of the borrowers last missed payment preceding their discharge of personal liability. Id. In Jarvis, the Court actually granted the borrowers motion for summary judgment and quieted title pursuant to RCW 7.28.300 in borrowers favor and against Fannie Mae , finding that the borrowers bankruptcy discharge order triggered Washingtons statute of limitations for foreclosure. The Court noted that [t]he [bankruptcy] discharge alert[s] the lender that the limitations period to foreclose on a property held as security has commenced and that [t]he last payment owed commences the final six-year period to enforce a deed of trust securing a loan. This situation occurs at the payment owed immediately prior to the discharge of a borrowers personal liability in bankruptcy, because after discharge, a borrower no longer has forthcoming installments that he must pay. Id. at 2. The Court rejected Fannie Maes public policy argument that tying the discharge of a borrowers personal liability to a lenders right to enforce a deed of trust would automatically accelerate future installments secured by the deed of trust without the lenders consent and to the borrowers detriment . Instead, the Court found that Washington law supported the termination of Fannie Maes secured interest under RCW 7.28.300: The discharge of a borrowers personal liability on his loanthe cessation of his installment obligationsis the analog to a notes maturation. In both cases, no more payments could become due that could trigger RCW 4.16.040s limitations period. The last-owed payment before the discharge of a borrowers personal liability on a loan is the date from which a secured creditor has six years to enforce a deed of trust securing the loan. The Jarvises stopped repaying their loan, Fannie Mae did not accelerate their obligation, and the Bankruptcy Court discharged their debts on February 23, 2009. They did not reaffirm. Their last installment payment owed, therefore, was the one immediately prior to their discharge. Over six years passed between that date and the date they filed for quiet title, February 11, 2016. RCW 4.16.040 forecloses Fannie Maes right to enforce the deed of trust against them. Jarvis at**3-4. This result clearly demonstrates the potential danger to secured lenders in situations involving accounts discharged in bankruptcy and makes it imperative that lenders and servicers remain vigilant in tracking all of such discharged accounts to ensure that their security interests remain protected. This is especially important in situations where the borrowers, having obtained orders discharging their debts, continue to make monthly payments on their loans, thus precluding foreclosure. While the Jarvis court noted that, following bankruptcy, a borrower and a lender may agree to reaffirm or renegotiate the borrowers dischargeable debt, clearly more effort is needed, as the borrowers are not required to agree to reaffirm their debt and/or to re-negotiate. Accordingly, in situations where the borrowers continue making their monthly payments (or at least a portion of them), we recommend tracking the file and discussing the lenders options with an attorney before the statute of limitations expires rendering the security unenforceable. On the other hand, in situations where the borrowers remain delinquent on their payments, we recommend that lenders ensure that the foreclosure proceedings are initiated before the expiration of the six-year statute of limitation period. (1) While the purpose of this article is to discuss Washington State law, the analysis herein could be equally applicable to any State which has laws governing statute of limitations on foreclosure. While the purpose of this article is to discuss Washington State law, the analysis herein could be equally applicable to any State which has laws governing statute of limitations on foreclosure. If you have any questions regarding the statute of limitations in Washington or in any of the states Wright, Finlay & Zak, LLP covers (including Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California), please feel free to contact Luke Wozniak at [email protected] or Robert Finlay @ [email protected] While the purpose of this article is to discuss Washington State law, the analysis herein could be equally applicable to any State which has laws governing statute of limitations on foreclosure. Disclaimer: The above information is intended for information purposes alone and is not intended as legal advice. The Oregon District Business Association is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 20th to benefit Daytons Life Enrichment Center. The Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by Toxic Brew Company, Luckys Taproom and Eatery, Blind Bobs Bar, and Premium Beverage Supply, is for adults ages 21 and up. The hunt will take place on the Saturday before Easter. The event begins at 11:00 AM with day-of registration and a pre-hunt beer at Luckys Taproom. Hunting will begin sharply at noon and participants that wear a costume will get a head start. One-thousand eggs will be stuffed with redeemable prizes like gift cards, apparel, swag, and candy. Over $1,000 in gift card donations were provided by Oregon District and Greater Dayton businesses. After the hunt, participants can redeem their winnings at Blind Bobs Bar. All proceeds will be donated to the Dayton Life Enrichment Center, a non-profit that provides basic needs services like meals, showers, and life programs to the less fortunate. Participants can preregister now at Toxic Brew Company, Luckys Taproom and Eatery, or Blind Bobs Bar. The $20 registration includes a pre- and post-hunt beer. Participants can also register the morning of in Trolley Plaza. Prizes Provided By: Premium Beverage Supply Heart Mercantile Toxic Brew Company Luckys Taproom and Eatery Wheat Penny Lilys Bistro Troll Pub Tanks Bar Canal Street Arcade and Deli Blind Bobs Bar Trolly Stop Thai 9 Basils Lock 27 Clash Gallery and Boutique Corner Kitchen Barrel House Fresh Thyme National Kartarpur Corridor: India, Pakistan discuss concerns Chandigarh, Apr 16 (IANS) | Publish Date: 4/16/2019 12:17:15 PM IST Officials from India and Pakistan met at the Zero Line along the international border between the two countries in Dera Baba Nanak sector on Tuesday and discussed the technical and security aspects of the upcoming Kartarpur Corridor. Official sources said that officers from the two sides discussed the alignment of the Corridor which will be around 5-km long. Out of this, nearly 4.5 km will fall in Pakistans territory. The officials also discussed security arrangements for the Corridor which is expected to cater to hundreds of pilgrims from India who will be visiting the Sikh shrine inside Pakistan under a visa-free arrangement. The Corridor is expected to be completed before November this year to enable pilgrims to travel to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November this year. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been demanding visa-free khule darshan at the gurdwara for Indians of all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week. The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistans Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjabs Gurdaspur district, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place. The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara -- a demand made by the Sikhs for over 70 years. Dera Baba Nanak town is around 260 km from here. According to Seoul's state arms procurement agency, on April 12, South Korea signed a contract worth US$ 1 billion to sell three submarines to Indonesia. The deal between the South Korean defence firm Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and the Indonesian government set the building and procurement of three Type 209/1400 Nagapasa-class diesel-electric submarines. According to Seoul's state arms procurement agency, on April 12, South Korea signed a contract worth US$ 1 billion to sell three submarines to Indonesia. The deal between the South Korean defence firm Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and the Indonesian government set the building and procurement of three Type 209/1400 Nagapasa-class diesel-electric submarines. Daewoo and Indonesian officials posing during the launching ceremony of the second Nagapasa-class SSK (Picture Source: Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) The vessels will be a follow-on to the countrys Nagapasa class. It is indeed the second such submarine export deal between the two countries, following a 2011 contract worth US$1.08 billion to export three 1,400-ton submarines to the Southeast Asian country. The submarine will accommodate 40 crewmembers and include eight launchers capable of shooting torpedoes, mines and missiles. For the first vessel under the new contract, which will be the fourth-in-class overall, two of the SSKs six modules will be constructed by PT PAL in Surabaya, while DSME will build the remaining four in South Korea. The Indonesian-built modules will be shipped to Okpo for assembly. For the second submarine, PT PAL will construct four of the six modules in Surabaya, with DSME constructing the remaining two in Okpo. As with the first vessel, modules that have been constructed in Surabaya by PT PAL will be shipped to South Korea for final assembly. For the third vessel in the contract, PT PAL initially proposed to build the entire submarine. This announcement comes as Indonesia recently launched the third Nagapasa-class submarine of the first contract. On April 11, Indonesia actually launched its third Type 209/1400 Nagapasa-class (Chang Bogo-class) diesel-electric attack submarine (SSK) for its Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia). The KRI Alugoro (405) SSK had its launching ceremony held at the Indonesian state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL shipyard in Surabaya. It is the first SSK that has been locally assembled at the PT PAL shipyards. Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said in a statement that "Not every country can produce submarines". "In the ASEAN region, only Indonesia has been able to do so. We can already make them" he added. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Ever since Jet Airways suspended its flights, its competitors seem to have cashed in on the opportunity to hike fares, thereby adding to consumers woes. The current trend, experts say, is likely to see Jet operating a bare minimum fleet, thus continuing to bump up airfares in future. On Monday, for instance, flights from Mumbai to New Delhi were selling for as much as Rs 32,000 for a single trip, with the minimum one-way price clocking at around Rs 9,000 for any flight on the route over the next seven days. Prices were almost the same from New Delhi to Mumbai. The days of cheap fares are over and will remain so till other airlines manage to ramp up their fleet or Jet manages to get more aircraft in the air, said Debasish Chatterjee, co-founder of Delhi-based Business Travels. I booked a group in May on Delhi-Bengaluru and the fares remained stubbornly above Rs 6,500 one way, per person. Flights from Kochi to New Delhi were as high as Rs 12,000, hovering at around Rs 8,000 for a weeks time. According to Kinjal Shah, vice president, corporate ratings, ICRA, frequent flight cancellations have resulted in a 30-40 per cent increase in airfares between September 2018 and March 2019. The grounding of aircraft due to liquidity issues with Jet Airways and a regulatory directive which grounded Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft have resulted in a 15 per cent impact on the industry capacity, Shah said. The increased airfares are likely to boost airlines profitability but hit passenger growth. 98 aircraft grounded Around 98 of the 670 aircraft in the industry have been grounded. About 86 aircraft of Jet Airways were grounded due to non-payment of lease rentals, while 12 aircraft of SpiceJet were grounded as required by the Boeing grounding order. ENS Economic Bureau By Express News Service NEW DELHI: As airfares soared and flights were cancelled, aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday asked airlines to reduce fares on ten high-density domestic routes to reasonable levels. A senior official at DGCA said that ticket prices on high-density routes have risen up to 30 per cent in last one month. Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that aviation ministry will also convene a meeting of airlines, airport representatives over capacity expansion and airfare issues on April 18. Kharola also said that 90 per cent of Jets slots which are not being used were being temporarily distributed to other airlines. He added that around 21 planes are expected to be added to the fleet of domestic carriers by the end of May. Together, there would be a good number of additional planes to meet the peak season demand, the regulatory officer said. Some of the airlines are also in discussions with lessors to take deregistered aircraft of Jet Airways. SpiceJet recently had announced inducting 16 Boeing planes, which were used by Jet Airways earlier. ALSO READ | Jet Airways asks for Rs 400 crore; fleet down to five aircraft Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations. "Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc," Prabhu said in a tweet. Reeling under a debt of over Rs 8,000 crore, Jet Airways has grounded almost its entire fleet and is currently operating only 5 planes, according to civil aviation officials. The management of the airline has sought funds from the lenders to remain operational, but lenders are yet to finalize any plan on this. Unconfirmed reports said that Jet Airways which held a board meeting on Monday requested the release of at least Rs 400 crore from lenders. Jet CEO Vinay Dube is believed to have written a letter to chief lender SBI in this regard. The management also reportedly has warned lenders that it has board's approval to halt all operations if lenders don't agree to finance. ALSO READ | While Jet Airways suffers, IndiGo, SpiceJet start new flights In a filing to BSE, Jet Airways reacted to queries from the stock exchanges on a media report that said Jet Airways likely to temporarily shut down its operations stating it is awaiting emergency liquidity support from the consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India. It said that the operations have been severely impacted due to the liquidity conditions and added The companys leadership, in consultation with its Board of Directors, is engaged with lenders in connection with the said emergency funding request to arrest further deterioration of its services and minimize inconvenience to its guests. By PTI NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea, which is in the midst of Rs 25,000 crore mega fund-raising, has said the Indian telecom market with three private players is an "ideal scenario" in terms of healthy competition, dismissing any possibility of cartelisation or duopoly. "It is three private players plus one (BSNL and MTNL) and that is the ideal scenario to be. There are four players here. It is an ideal level of competition," Balesh Sharma, CEO of Vodafone Idea told PTI. Worldwide, markets with three private players are known to be markets where constantly there is an ongoing war but a healthy level of competition exists, he added. Sharma said a market with three strong players almost equal to each other 'is an ideal place to be' as 'they all want to become bigger and are fighting with each other'. "There is absolutely no concern for duopoly also because I believe in a democracy all policy makers, politicians, and everyone understands that for consumers' rights there needs to be at least three strong private players and hoping that the government player also continues to be in that such a scenario will keep the competition level at an 'optimal'," Sharma said. The telecom sector has witnessed a spate of consolidation aimed at finding economies of scale after Reliance Jio stormed into the market ploughing in billions of dollars into a pan-India national 4G data service, offering free voice call and tariffs well below prevailing rates. This triggered a massive consolidation in the industry. Bharti Airtel, then number one operator, fired the starting gun with the acquisition of the Indian business of Norway-based Telenor. It also subsequently announced takeover of consumer mobile businesses of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharastra Ltd (TTML). Last year, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Plc announced completion of the USD 23.2 billion (approximately Rs 1.6 lakh crore) merger of their India operations to create the country's largest telecom operator -Vodafone Idea -- to take on competition from Reliance Jio. The chairman of Algeria's Constitutional Council Tayib Belaiz resigned on Tuesday, state news agency APS said. Belaiz submitted his resignation to interim president Abdelkader Bensalah, APS said, citing a statement from the council. Search Keywords: Short link: By PTI NEW DELHI: The government has asked tech giants Google and Apple to comply with the Madras High Court's order that had banned popular mobile app TikTok, according to sources. Sources said instructions in this regard were sent to the two American companies on Monday after the Supreme Court refused to stay the April 3 order of Madras High Cout that had directed the Centre to ban Tiktok app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it. E-mails sent to Apple and Google did not elicit a response. ALSO READ: The curious case of TikTok's rise in India On Monday, the Supreme Court said the ban directive was just an interim order and that the high court is scheduled to hear the matter on April 16. In its April 3 order, the Madras HC said it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile applications. It had also directed the media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, allows users to create short videos and then share them. In a statement on Tuesday, TikTok said it has faith in the Indian judicial system. "We are optimistic about an outcome that would allow over 120 million monthly active users in India to continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives," it said. C Shivakumar By Express News Service CHENNAI : The bid to smuggle gold through the Chennai International Airport has gone up by 46.35 per cent compared to the previous financial years as passengers have been trying every trick up their sleeves to smuggle the yellow metal, according to Customs officials. According to information available with Express, this year, the Customs foiled bids to smuggle 270.597 kg of gold worth Rs 86.55 crore from the airport during 2018-19 financial year. A total of 461 cases were booked. That is an increase of 109 kg and experts blame it on being the election year. Last year, Customs officials at the Chennai airport foiled bid to smuggle 161.924 kg of gold worth Rs 47.41 crore while booking 315 cases. This year the customs department booked 461 cases and the major seizure included 40 kg of gold worth Rs 12.53 crore on May 8, 2018 wherein two foreign nationals were arrested, said sources. A Customs official told Express that the rise in gold smuggling was due to a complex mix of the difference in domestic and international prices of gold as well as the exchange rate variations. The London Metal Exchange price currently is about Rs 2,880 per gm whereas domestic purchase price is around `3,270 per gm. From this when the smuggler deducts his expenses, he gets about Rs 2 lakh per kg of smuggled gold from Dubai, he said. This difference is attributed to the import duty on gold which is 10 per cent apart from the GST at the rate of 3 per cent. Manoj Jain of R L Jewels said that the rise in smuggling was blamed on the rise in import duty and the GST which comes to 13 per cent besides other duties like education cess, and exchange rate. He says the government gets Rs 1 lakh crore from the gold and jewellery sector as taxes. Of this, Rs 36,000 crore approximately is collected through direct taxes. On an average, India imports 800 tonnes of gold, he says. Traders say that seizures may have gone up but it is just a drop in the ocean. More than 30 per cent of gold smuggled inside India goes undetected, they said. Gold is considered to be the best bet in hawala transaction, a trader claims. What lures the carrier is the returns. On an average, the gold is 15 per cent cheaper and the trafficker doesnt mind spending up-and-down fare from Dubai. For 300 gm, he makes Rs 1.5 lakh.Interestingly, traders want the government to reduce import duties which would bring down smuggling. Jain says, This is affecting our artisans and trade. We are seeking reduction in duties which will result in more import and will curb smuggling, he says. T MURGANANDHAM By Express News Service SALEM: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami looks tired but cheerful while sitting down for an half-hour interview with The New Indian Express. He has been campaigning for 13 hours a day for the last three weeks. His house, situated in a small lane in Nedundsalai Nagar, starts buzzing with activity as early as 8 am in the morning. Party functionaries from across constituencies troop in and out while a huddle of reporters wait for a few minutes of the Chief Ministers time. Palaniswami hosts party workers in a small room in the house. It is a day before campaigning for the do-or-die electoral battle comes to close. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE The AIADMK is hoping that the results of the elections to the 39 Lok Sabha seats and bypolls to 22 Assembly constituencies will settle questions over the partys future. Victory in the by-elections is particularly crucial for the stability of Palaniswamis government. Palaniswami is confident that his party will sweep the State and the mandate would strengthen his two-year-old government. Excerpts of the interaction You have charged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning in Karnataka, had promised to build a dam at Mekedatu across Cauvery river and that the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) constituted recently would be dissolved... (Congress has denied that Rahul Gandhi made such statements) Indeed, it is a serious issue. I have been saying that the Congress and DMK are out to betray the people of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil race as a whole. Rahul Gandhis recent remarks on Mekedatu dam and Cauvery Authority further prove this. If the dam at Mekedatu is built, Tamil Nadu would become a desert. The people here wont get drinking water. I demand Stalins response on this. I am sure the people of Tamil Nadu will teach a befitting lesson to the Congress and DMK in the elections. The AIADMK government will never allow the construction of a dam at Mekedatu and the dissolution of the Cauvery River Authority. Further, the State government has already filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a full-time chairman for the CRA. As such, the AIADMK government would not allow the snatching away of any rights of the State in inter-state water disputes. A few days ago, Rahul Gandhi said Tamil Nadu would be ruled from Tamil Nadu and MK Stalin would become the Chief Minister of the State and that they would not allow the State to be ruled from Nagpur... Right now, only a Tamil, who is also a farmer, is leading the State as chief minister. The government machinery is being run efficiently. Law and order is maintained perfectly and, as a result, Tamil Nadu is hailed as a haven of peace. From the time the Lok Sabha elections were notified the DMK has been flooding the Election Commission with petitions demanding the transfer of district collectors, police officials... The DMK is doing so out of nervousness over its defeat in the elections. Government employees are neutral to all. They function under governments headed by many parties. For the sake of levelling a false allegation against the ruling party, the DMK has been unleashing charges against the government officials. You have been campaigning for more than three weeks. How do you feel about the prospects of your alliance? I have contested in elections, both Parliamentary and Assembly, since 1989 i.e. for close to three decades and have won many of them. The AIADMK government has many achievements to its credit. During my campaign, I could feel the emotions of our people in the way they greeted us. We will certainly register a massive win in this election and I am very confident about it. What do you think about leaders making below-the-belt remarks about other leaders? In a democracy, one has the liberty to criticise policies, style of functioning, etc. But, hurling indecent, unparliamentary remarks at others does not strengthen democracy. What does one gain by mudslinging? As leaders in our own right we should set an example to our cadre and our people. We must be cautious in everything we do that would have a direct or indirect impact on society. I feel sad when leaders make below-the-belt remarks. Really, it is not a healthy trend. How do you view the Madras High Court order quashing land acquisition notifications for the Chennai-Salem eight-lane road? The court has delivered its judgment and we will uphold it as the law of our land is supreme. One of the charges being levelled against the AIADMK government is that it has given room for a burgeoning debt burden. How do you explain this to the voters? It has been projected as if Tamil Nadu is the most indebted State in the country, which is totally false. We are way below several States such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, among others. The reasons for the increase in revenue/fiscal deficit in the recent past is due to the State government taking over the debt of TANGEDCO to the extent of `22,815 crore under the UDAY Scheme, implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission and the unfair devolution formula recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. Nevertheless, the State has maintained a fiscal deficit within three per cent of GSDP. The State government would also borrow less than the net borrowing ceiling, thereby the outstanding debt will be only 23.02 per cent of GSDP in 2019-2020. Tamil Nadu will always remain a fiscally disciplined State. The BJP government at the Centre had failed to accede to many of the demands of the Tamil Nadu government over the past two years. How do you justify forging an alliance with that party? The main reason why the AIADMK allied with the BJP is that we believe that the BJP can build a strong and developed nation. Most importantly, we are confident that the BJP would ensure our countrys security. The DMK was in power at the Centre through many alliances, including one with the BJP in 1999-2004 and with the Congress-led UPA from 2004-2014, enjoying several cabinet positions. But unfortunately DMK mostly used that opportunity to strengthen the business activities of its (members) families and friends. They could have achieved a lot for the welfare of Tamil Nadu but never did so. On the contrary, we have never associated with the Centre to enrich ourselves. What do you think as the significant achievements of the AIADMK government on which you are seeking votes from the people now? We have done many extraordinary things for the people of Tamil Nadu. Remember the days when power cuts for almost 10 hours were so common under the DMK? Now, Tamil Nadu is a surplus power State. Dont forget the terrible law and order situation during the DMKs rule! How can people ever forget the tyranny and hooliganism of DMK men? Can anyone forget the land-grabbing activities which were so rampant during the DMKs rule? All those things are of the past now.There is social harmony in the state, people are living peacefully, secularism is at its best, regular recruitment in thousands in a transparent and upright way is happening in government departments, excellent welfare schemes for the needy continue uninterrupted, several dozens of MOUs are signed with prospective international investors, in spite of the state suffering terrible cyclones year after year and monsoon failure, our agricultural output is the best in the country. I can go on and on. Our voters are very mature and informed citizens. So, based on the development plank, we are facing the electorate boldly. How confident are you of winning adequate seats in the bypolls to maintain a majority in the House? We will win in all constituencies. We have the blessings of our leaders MG Ramachandran and Amma (J Jayalalithaa). The good work we did in the past years, the efficiency of the AIADMK cadre's field work, people of my State and the grand alliance we have forged will ensure the win. There is a perceived anti-incumbency wave against the AIADMK government as well as against the NDA government at the Centre due to various issues. How do you hope to win over that? I strongly deny that there is an anti-incumbency wave against us in the State because, in the first place, we have given a very stable government. When there was scepticism that my government would fall within six weeks, we have provided a very stable government. We have not only continued all social welfare measures of our Amma (Jayalalithaa), we have also stepped up our efforts to support our people, particularly the weak and socially marginalised. Enormous good work has been done in the past two years, which include reclaiming our rights in the Cauvery issue, improving agricultural productivity, maintaining the States status as power surplus, ensuring investments from new industries, contributing towards environment by enforcing a total ban on one time use and throw plastics, maintenance of law and order, supporting the weaker sections of society through welfare schemes, for which we have received many awards, and so on. I am sure the people will support the AIADMK as they have been doing so far. DMK president MK Stalin and leaders of DMKs alliance parties have been claiming that the AIADMK government would fall once the results of the election are out on May 23..They have kept saying this ever since our Amma left us. They are so desperate that day-in and day out, they talk only about capturing power. Many a time they had set deadlines for our government. But nothing came true. We can only pity them! I am confident that people of my State will surely strengthen my government and teach a lesson to the DMK. Stalin has been saying his first three duties after coming to power in the State would be to investigate the Kodanad robbery, bring to book those who were responsible for the death of Jayalalithaa and those behind the Pollachi sexual assault case... The Kodanad case was blown out of proportion with the only objective of defaming me. But people know what happened after that. Since the matter is sub judice, I would not like to comment further on that issue. The Pollachi sexual abuse case has to be condemned in the strongest terms. The government will take stringent action against the suspects no matter who they are. Some officials have been shifted out following the incident. As far as our beloved Ammas death is concerned, we have formed an inquiry commission and are waiting for its findings. The Election Commission squads have, so far, seized unaccounted money as well as materials worth around Rs 450 crore. What would you like to say about this? The Election Commission is doing its duty. I have nothing to say about it. 'Security priority' On the reasons behind AIADMK choosing to join hands with BJP, the CM said: "The main reason why the AIADMK allied with the BJP is that we believe that the BJP can build a strong and developed nation. Most importantly, we are confident that the BJP would ensure our countrys security" By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Heritage activists have started raising the issue of the restoration of the century-old Osmania General Hospital again. In the coming few months, the clamour is expected to grow louder. It is to be seen how the State government would react. Many urged that the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Authority (MAUD), which is responsible for the repair works on Moazzam Jahi Market and Mahbub Chowk, should take up the work. However, when contacted, a senior MAUD official informed that it cannot take up the restoration of OGH, as it comes under the administration of Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department. However, the official pointed out that MAUD is interested in taking up the project, but only if the health department hands it over to them. Buoyed by the success MAUD has achieved and the experience it has garnered by handling the repair works at Moazzam Jahi Market and Mahbub Chowk, heritage activists say that it would be in everybodys best interests if MAUD is indeed given the charge. But how would MAUD go about the works, if and when things fall into place? According to sources, the roof would first require repairs, to ensure that no further leakages take place and nothing chips off the ceiling endangering both patients and doctors. This will be followed by works on the outer facades, which have worn out at several places. Then would begin the restoration works in the areas which have been vacated, to ensure that it doesnt meddle with the daily working of the hospital. As of now, the entire second floor that previously housed the orthopaedic section has been vacated as layers of the ceiling were crumbling down. Moreover, these works, if taken up, will be conducted in a phase-wise manner, negating the need to shift patients. Call for new building falls on deaf ears? While the ornate but crumbling domes of Osmania General Hospital building require immediate attention, over 500 patients in the heritage building will require relocation during the much-awaited restoration. However, the need for a second new building in the premises of OGH seems to have fallen on deaf ears. We have over 7 acres of space for another new hospital building and idea was pitched back in 2010. There have been multiple reasons why the government has not been able to pick up the issue, the back-to-back elections being one of the most recent ones, rationalizes OGH superintendent Dr Nagendar. Dr Pandu Naik, a senior doctor who is on the Joint Action Committee regarding the construction of new building added, The JAC was formed with 11 associations comprising of senior and junior doctors, clerks, attendants and all the employees of OGH. When we agitated and protested for three months last year, the government met and assured us that the budget would soon be allocated. By Express News Service The world is waiting for the release of Avengers: Endgame on April 26. As a curtain raiser, a press conference was held at Seoul, South Korea, which saw the films makers joining the cast of the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, directors Anthony and Joe Russo, were in attendance along with actors Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner, and Brie Larson. With excitement around the film reaching the skies, Feige said, Bring tissues. Bring enthusiasm, and your love for these characters. The actors have worked so passionately. We have worked on it for two years. Its all for the people. The makers earlier revealed that there will be no interval in this film, which has a runtime of over three hours. Anthony said, Endgame is a culmination of everything before it. Lots of stories are being wrapped up. Dont drink anything a couple of hours before screening. Theres no good spot in which to get out for a break. Larson, Downey Jr, and Renner took the stage to answer a few questions, ranging from their equations with Josh Brolin aka Thanos to the various fan theories. The Iron Man star started off by praising Larson, and said, Im glad Im witnessing this cultural moment. Honoured to be sitting next to a woman whos broken through a double-paned glass window. He added that its impossible to not love Brolin, and said, I think he feels bad about playing such an evil character. Larsons Captain Marvel is expected to play an integral part in Avengers: Endgame, and the Oscar-winning actor said, Since I actually shot Endgame before Captain Marvel. I wasnt fully aware of the scope of my character. Carol Danvers taught me so much. Shes a symbol of representation; its about equality. While Renner spoke about how the various fan theories were a representation of their anticipation and creativity, Downey Jr, as always, had the last word. My favourite theory is Ant-Man goes up Thanos backside and becomes big. Thats exactly what happens in the film. By PTI LONDON: Actor Emma Thompson has blasted Hollywood studios for miserable treatment of writers, saying they are considered "the lowest of the low". The veteran star said the studios do not give the respect and creative space the writers deserve, adding they are often fired without proper explanation. "One of the reasons is that they need stars - big stars - who work all the time and have to be fitted into timescales. What happens is there will be an idea for a story. It will be in development, and then suddenly two of the big stars come free, and everyone says, 'right, let's shoot it, we'll work it out as we shoot'. "One thing I know, after 30 years of doing this, is you can't work it out while you shoot. It always ends up just making things so much more difficult in post-production," Thompson told the Guardian. The 60-year-old star, who won an Oscar for best screenplay for her work on 1995 film "Sense and Sensibility", said she can will no longer follow the infamous trend of working with incomplete scripts. "This is a tradition and yet, when there is a good screenplay, and everyone recognises that it's a good screenplay, there's a lot of fuss and a tremendous amount of what can only be described as lip service to the value of good writing. "And then everything continues as before.That's what happens, and I don't know how to change that. But I know that I don't want to make films with unfinished scripts," she added. Thompson is currently working on "Last Christmas", which she co-wrote with Bryony Kimmings. Gopinath Rajendran By Express News Service What strikes you first about Sai Priyanka Ruth is her unwavering confidence and sense of achievement. It almost seems to be an extension of her character, Rasiya Sultana from last Fridays Gangs of Madras in which she plays a wife avenging the death of her husband. Im tomboyish in nature, so it was actually easier to do the action sequences than the romance portions. People say Ive done well in the love sequences, but only I know how much effort I put into them, she smiles. About the feedback shes been receiving, the young actor says, Everyones appreciating my performance in the film. Some said they were under the impression that such a film can only be done by A-list actors, and were surprised I could pull it off. Priyanka, who has previously done smaller roles in several films, adds, Ive auditioned for many films and thats how Gangs of Madras happened too. There were about 120 people who auditioned alongside me and I wasnt selected instantly. I got the call for a screen test after a month. Did she later ask the makers how they zeroed in on her? No, I didnt. I was just glad to get the break; Id been looking for recognition for so long. And to be honest, Im not Nayanthara to bring the audience to the theatre on my own. So Im glad CV Kumar sir (the films producer and director), who had not seen me before the auditions, trusted in me. It was a huge opportunity and the only thing on my mind was to make the best of it. The actor is glad that she knew it was a female-centric film and about the revenge knot during the audition phase itself. Once I got to know about the script, I knew that I was fated to play Raziya. My attitude and the way I carry myself felt perfect for the role. About her preparation for the role, she adds, Right after the audition, the full script was narrated to me. Everyone in the film knew only their portions; I was the only one who knew the entire story. I read just the script over and over again for a week. It had details about how the character walks and talks too, and that really made my job easier and helped me get into the skin of the character. On how she feels about her character being written by a man, she says, I dont think a woman couldve written such a massy role, but thats what you want in a character that swings bottles at others. None of the scenes written for me had anything feminine in them. Be it the fighting scenes or the ones where I get hit, you can imagine a man in the same role. Priyanka also didnt mind about the grittiness of the film or the resulting A certification. Irrespective of the content, Ive given my best. Its up to the audience to decide whether they want to see it or not. Pudicha paarunge, pudikalena pakatheenge. If a character demands something, as an actor, Im supposed to do it. Given the films gruesomeness, its rather surprising that she didnt get any training for the action sequences. We were keen on making the scenes look natural and did not want to resort to artificial sounds or unrealistic shots. We didnt use any beds or ropes for the action shots. Though I didnt get special training, I followed the action choreographers instructions to the T. Despite turning a lead actor with this film, Priyanka says shes open to experimenting with different roles. I know that I dont want to do the generic heroine roles and be someone who appears in unnecessary songs. I prefer performance-oriented roles and now that Ive proved what I can do, I hope I get more such challenging projects. I feel that playing a menacing villain would be a good idea. Rinku Gupta By Express News Service Shooting for Vellai Pookkal was an unforgettable experience for Vivekh. The actor, who plays a former DIG, had to shoot inside a defunct nuclear power plant near Seattle, USA. The team got permission to shoot there with great difficulty. It was a gigantic, abandoned structure, and quite eerie, he recalls. The shot required him and Charlie to follow a man who starts walking into the reactor premises. Everything was fine, till the man they were following began climbing steep metal stairs on the walls of the reactor. Vivekh began the climb, concentrating on his shot, and only noticed after a while how high up they had come. Looking down from the dizzying heights was quite frightening, he says. Special drone cameras were being used to follow the actors as they climbed higher. We were told that mobile signals wouldnt work inside the structure. And once we climbed up, there was no way of reaching the unit below. However, special security guards had been hired to follow the actors, for their safety. Suddenly, disaster struck. After 500 ft, the drone camera lost the feeble signal it had been working on so far. As a result, it wavered and came crashing down near Vivekh. It happened in in the blink of an eye! Luckily, I happened to step aside, a move which saved me. The very next second, the drone came crashing down on a security guard who was just behind me. He was hit on the head and so badly injured that he had to be hospitalised. I shudder to think it could have been me! By PTI NEW DELHI: Chatbots may have become ubiquitous in recent times, assisting businesses in everything from bill payments to customer services, but these automated algorithms still struggle to grasp the nuances of human language and context of conversations. In order to improve user-experience, researchers at IBM India are using artificial intelligence (AI) to make chatbots more emphatic and personalised so that they can meet a client's specific needs and provide business value at a much higher scale. According to an estimate, chatbots are predicted to tackle a massive 85 per cent of customer service interactions by 2020. India is a key player in the chatbot market today where such services have been introduced by many banking and insurance companies, said Gargi B Dasgupta, Director, IBM Research-India and CTO, IBM India/South Asia. Banks and insurance providers, she explained, were the early adopters of chatbots in the country, helping customers for bill payments, mobile recharges, booking travel, so on and so forth. However, when it comes to making people feel comfortable, AI has a lot to learn, Dasgupta noted. A lot of available systems make building the first chatbot easy, but do not scale-up when you increase the scope of the chatbot or need to build several hundred more, she said. This, she said, is because of two main factors: overt dependence on the manual effort for creating chatbots which makes them both time consuming and brittle, and lack of an end-to-end fall-back plan with continuous learning and improvement. "We at IBM Research are working towards training these applications with data by infusing AI and related technologies to help organisations get business value at a much higher scale," Dasgupta told PTI. The tech giant's IBM Watson Assistant can be trained to represent a company's specific brand voice and values using that firm's customer and business data. "Conversational agents are going to be a primary way people communicate and the AI that powers it needs to be very strong," Dasgupta said. "We work with several enterprise customers to enable their conversation agents to be more usable and affordable," she said. "There are a couple of AI projects we at IBM Research India are doing on conversational AI," Dasgupta said. The technology, she noted, empowers more realistic conversational AI which is able to handle nuances of the user language and that can handle domain and context understanding. The enterprise chatbot evolution in India started with everyone being impressed by the fact that they can have a 24/7 channel of communication with their customers. In addition, they can delight their customers with an instantaneous response to their queries. Further, many are looking at offering more services like register a claim, get a quote and help customers understand their various policies better. "Conversation is the most natural way for humans to interact with an AI system and the predictions are by 2024 this will be double-digit billion markets," said Sachindra Joshi, Manager - Conversational Platforms, IBM Research-India. "Since human conversation is complex, contains forth and back references, is contextual, it poses a very interesting research problem to solve," Joshi told PTI. "We have built chatbots using the research technologies for multiple external and internal clients. They have been running successfully now for 1-2 years," he said. The researchers use deep learning techniques on conversations between end-users and human agents that provide support in traditional call centres. Their analysis helps identify dominant problems or reasons for which end-users contact call centres as well gives insights on how experts agents handle those problems. "These inputs are extremely valuable to build a chatbot. They reduce the manual effort and the initial build time as well as provide concrete ways to continuously improve the chatbot as it is being used," Dasgupta said. "We have focused on continuous learning of conversation agents, scalable bootstrapping from documents and logs and innovative and expressive ways of dialogue design," she said. "As these technologies mature, users of chatbots will see an improved experience with the bot being able to learn from past conversations and get more effective. "This should increase the proportion of successful conversations. Also bot designers will be able to use our tools to create conversation agents faster and make them more effective," she said. Joshi noted that one big challenge for chatbots in India is the support for local languages. Ninety per cent of the new internet users are expected to be non-English speakers in the next few years. Researchers, he said, are trying to work with linguists alongside technologists developing verticalised vernacular models for handling local languages. "We have also developed deep learning techniques that help in creating chatbots in a data-driven manner and have brought down the initial build time of chatbots from several weeks to only a few days," noted Joshi. Researchers said while designing chatbots, it is crucial to keep in mind the affordability of creating chatbots and their usability. Chatbots are only useful when they help a particular business function to improve, they said. By PTI LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court Monday issued a notice to former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in connection with reportedly issuing threats to IPS officer Amitabh Thakur about four years ago. It also fixed May 4 for next hearing on the matter. A bench of Justice Shashikant passed the order on a petition moved by Thakur. Yadav has been accused of threatening the senior police official over phone on July 10, 2015. The police investigated the case and gave the SP patriarch a clean chit. Thakur, however, opposed the final report in the court. Later, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Lucknow rejected the final report by the police and directed to register the case as a complaint. The IPS officer challenged the CJM order, pleading that the matter should be registered as a police case as he argued that all the evidence was pointing towards a prima facie case against the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader. An FIR was registered on July 11, 2015 following a complaint by Thakur that Yadav threatened him over phone and released the audio of the phone call. The officer alleged that Yadav was unhappy over a complaint lodged by the former's wife Nutan against then state minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati. The U.N. Security Council is considering a British-drafted resolution that would demand a ceasefire in Libya and call on all countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance. Diplomats from the 15-member council are due to meet later on Tuesday to discuss the text that also calls for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya, which has been gripped by anarchy and conflict since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. The latest flare-up began almost two weeks ago - during a visit to the country by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - when eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) advanced to the outskirts of the capital Tripoli. Haftar's forces predicted victory within days, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj's internationally-recognized government has managed to bog them down in southern suburbs with help from armed groups from various western Libyan factions. The Security Council informally expressed concern on April 5, calling on all forces to de-escalate and halt military activity and specifically calling out the LNA. However, in the following days the council was unable to issue a more formal statement, diplomats said, as Russia objected to a reference to the LNA, while the United States said it could not agree a text that did not mention Haftar's forces. The draft U.N. Security Council resolution, seen by Reuters, expresses "grave concern at military activity in Libya near Tripoli, which began following the launching of a military offensive by the LNA ... and threatens the stability of Libya." It also demands that all parties in Libya immediately de-escalate the situation, commit to a ceasefire, and engage with the United Nations to end hostilities. Diplomats said the draft text could be put to a vote as early as this week. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass. The draft U.N. text "calls upon all member states to use their influence to ensure compliance with this resolution." Search Keywords: Short link: By IANS KOLKATA: Hitting back at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for trying to link two of its candidates to the RSS, the Congress on Monday accused her of trying to sow the seed of suspicion among the minorities about the Congress, and reminded her of her past relations with the BJP. "The West Bengal Chief Minister knows very well that there is no existence of the RSS in West Bengal. And people in Murshidabad also know this," said Congress' Baharampur candidate and sitting MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Addressing election meetings at Beldanga and Domkal of Murshidabad district, Banerjee had accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of helping and providing funds to Chowdhury and Congress' Jangipur candidate and incumbent MP Abhijit Mukherjee, son of former President Pranab Mukherjee. Chowdhury took a dig at Banerjee for having called the RSS leaders "true patriots" at a programme organised by the organisation in Delhi years back. "The Chief Minister regards the RSS as 'patriotic', because he had given this certificate to RSS in at a meeting in Delhi. She was an invitee in the RSS programme. So it was actually you who had praised the RSS, not we," said Chowdhury, also a former state Congress president. The meeting Chowdhury referred to had taken place in September 2003. Banerjee had attended a book release programme organised by the RSS in Delhi where its top brass was present. There Banerjee had reportedly called the RSS leaders "true patriots" and said: "I know you love the country, you care for even small, remote areas of the country". She had also sought RSS support to fight the Communists, who were in power then in West Bengal. "By saying in Murshidabad that Adhir Chowdhury and Abhijit are involved with the RSS, she is trying to create some suspicion and confusion about the Congress in the mind of the minorities and the religious-minded Muslims," said Chowdhury. Abhijit Mukherjee also joined the issue with Banerjee. "Congress has never joined the RSS. But who was a member of (former Prime Minister) Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet? Not us." Banerjee had served as Railway and Coal Minister in Vajpayee's cabinet. Ejaz Kaiser By Express News Service RAIPUR: Amidst high electoral pitch during the hot summer month, even animals are pushed for drumming up the candidates' support. In Kawardha, the home district of the former chief minister Raman Singh, a buffalo has been used in the ongoing election campaign with the slogan written on the animal's body seeking the votes in favour of the Congress party. Listen to us (we dumb creature). Elect Congress this time. Vote for Congress, written in Hindi on the buffalo body along with the symbol of the party. The buffalo is gaining the attention of the people wherever it goes or roams about with many were seen taking the images of the animal and sharing on the social media. Kawardha district comes under the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency where the second phase of polling is going to be held on April 18. Congress party with the support of local village youths embarked upon a unique campaign, which doesnt need any investment. And such cheap means of communication is attracting the voters. The Election Commission has fixed the expense limit for a candidate contesting the polls. But this practice doesnt entail any expenditure and the campaigning gets conveniently done, said a youth in the video standing with the buffalo that has gone viral. FOLLOW OUR ELECTIONS COVERAGE HERE The youth whose identity couldnt be ascertained claimed to be engaged in the poll campaign using the buffalo. However, the practice is contrary to the manual issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking the political parties and the candidates to abide by the model code of conduct by refraining to use any animal during the election canvassing. When contacted the Congress chief spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said that the party doesnt support such style of campaign. We will find out who is the person engaging the buffalo in the poll campaign. Let there be a complaint against him, Trivedi said. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India while welcoming the ECI decision on new Manual code on not using any animal in the election campaign has also appealed the people to report any violation of the poll code particularly on using animals during the campaign. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRI NAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday summoned hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelanis son Naeem Geelani asking him to appear for questioning at the investigation agencys headquarters at the national capital on April 22. The summons is in connection with militancy and a separatist funding case. Naeem has been asked to appear before NIA headquarters at New Delhi at 10.30 am on April 22 for questioning, said an NIA officer refusing to be named. It is the second summons by the NIA to Naeem. Earlier, in the first summons, the premier investigating agency had asked him to appear for questioning at its headquarters in Delhi on April 9. However, Naeem had not travelled to New Delhi on the day. Naeem, a doctor by profession, is presently posted at the JLNM hospital in Srinagar. He along with his wife and two children returned to the state from Pakistan in November 2010 after living there for about a decade. Geelanis younger son, Naseem has already been questioned by the NIA in relation with the case. Naseem works at an agricultural university in Srinagar. Last week, senior separatist leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was questioned by NIA at its headquarters in the national capital. Mirwaiz had earlier defied two summons of NIA and refused to travel to Delhi citing security concerns. However, after NIA assured him of security, he travelled to New Delhi last week and was questioned by NIA officials for three days. The Centre has been cracking down on separatist leaders in the aftermath of the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama, carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: With BSP chief Mayawati facing a poll campaign ban of 48 hours by the Election Commission of India, her nephew Akash addressed party supporters at the joint alliance rally at Kothi Meena Bazaar in Taj city of Agra on Tuesday. After being included in the partys star campaigners list recently, Akash never knew that he will have to hold her aunts fort so early. Sharing the stage with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, RLD chief Chaudhury Ajit Singh and his own partys national general secretary SC Mishra, Akash was entrusted with the inaugural address of the rally. Akash held the mike and commenced his speech with the rant of Jai Bheem to the cheering alliance supporters in a style quintessential to Mayawati who uses the same slogan while starting and ending her speech. ALSO READ | Minus Mayawati, alliance leaders take on 'chowkidar' Making a strong appeal to get the deposits of opponents forfeited, Akash, who followed his aunt in reading out a written speech, thanked supporters for having turned up in huge number due to the appeal of Mayawati. Exhorting the alliance supporters to respond to the Election Commission for gagging Mayawati through their votes in favour of alliance candidate, Akash said: I hope you all will listen to what I say and vote in huge numbers that security deposits of opponents gets forfeited. This will be the real answer to the Election Commission, he said concluding his speech with Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat. Apart from Akhilesh Yadav and Ajit Singh, BSPs national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra was also present on stage. Akash has been accompanying the BSP chief in all the major rallies and public gatherings. Meanwhile, Mayawati, through a letter, called the poll panel anti-Dalit and alliance leaders accused it of dancing to BJP tunes. The BSP chief, who could not attend the rally owing ECs 48-hour ban on her, had sent a letter to her supporters in the rally claiming that the ban was nothing but a conspiracy of the EC hatched in collusion with the BJP to stop her from poll campaign. The BJP got so jittery after the first phase of voting that it was using EC to stop my campaign, wrote Mayawati. She also attributed the EC action to its anti-Dalit mindset. Meanwhile, addressing the Agra rally, all the alliance leaders including Akhilesh Yadav and Ajit Singh, condemned ECI for banning Mayawati saying her Deoband speech did not fall in the category of communal discourse. The charged the poll panel with acting at BJPs behest. They sought votes to ensure PM Modis ouster for failing to deliver on all counts including jobs, farmers distress, development. By PTI MUMBAI: Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, is giving tacit support to his son Sujay, who is the BJP contestant from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, sources have said. The Vikhe Patil senior is working behind the curtains, they said, adding that the Congress leader is in touch with the supporters of his father late Balasaheb Vikhe Patil in Rahuri, Parnerand other areas in Ahmednagar district, and exhorting them to support Sujay. ALSO READ | Maharashtra Congress leader whose son is BJP nominee skips Modi rally "He is supporting Sujay in his role as a father," they said. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has been a traditional opponent of the Vikhe Patils, has made the Ahmednagar contest a prestige battle. Pawar had refused to vacate the constituency, which is with the NCP as per the seat-sharing deal with the Congress, for Sujay who eventually joined the BJP. The constituency is divided into pro and anti-Sujay camps. According to sources, some Congress workers who are close to Sujay consider him as a political strategist for working to ensure that his father won the assembly elections in 2014. Sujay also played an important role in Zilla Parishad elections held in 2017. By Bloomberg Indias vast and chaotic election is being fought in the skies with private jets and helicopters. Ask Amit Shah. The president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, arguably the most important politician after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flew the length and breadth of the country on April 6 to give interviews and attend about half a dozen election rallies. For the BJP and rival Congress Party, getting senior figures out to as many of the nations 900 million voters as possible is key to swaying the electorate. And Modis cash-rich BJP booked most of the nations available private air fleet as early as three months back, limiting Congresss mobility, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. India doesnt have enough choppers and planes to cater to the surging demand, catalyzed by polls every five years. The BJP has booked as many as 20 private jets and 30 helicopters, while the Congress could manage to book just about a fifth of that, the people said, asking not to be identified as the transactions are confidential. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Indian elections are famous for using almost any means to disrupt opponents campaigns. But this kind of rivalry has never extended to the sky before, said Mark Martin, founder of Martin Consulting, who advises the Business Aircraft Operators Association, the main lobby group for the industry. Its whole different guerrilla warfare. Its one party booking the fleet to deny the other party any flying mobility. Aircraft are typically booked for 45 days, with rent for a jet costing as much as $5,700 (around Rs 40,000) an hour, and up to $7,200 (about Rs 50,000) an hour for the more agile choppers. The operators look at it as a business on a first-come, first served basis, they dont get aligned with any party, said R.K. Bali, managing director of the Business Aircraft Operators Association, whose members include firms of billionaires Savitri Devi Jindal and Cyrus Poonawalla. This is the time when charter companies cover their losses. ALSO READ: PM Modi must stop Pakistan rhetorics; jobs, farm distress key poll issues, says Scindia Charter brokers, who work on behalf of political parties, play a crucial role, according to Bali. The brokers book aircraft hours from operators, and then sell them in the market to political parties, adding an extra layer of secrecy, he said. Gulab Singh Panwar, a BJP worker for 22 years who has arranged five aircraft for the ruling partys campaign, denies that his party has been given an unfair advantage. BJP requirement is a bit on a higher side because the party is in power, Panwar said. The system of chartering planes is absolutely balanced. Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said in January his party is struggling to book private helicopters and charter planes. Sharma and BJP spokesman Anil Baluni didnt respond to requests for comment for this story. ALSO READ: Dare PM Modi to hold a rally in Kashmir, says Farooq Abdullah Frequent Flyers The size and complexity of Indias election give politicians with a helicopter or small jet a big advantage. The country isnt just large geographically - north to south its about the distance from New York to Guatemala and almost the same again from east to west - but the shortage of good road or rail links and the huge numbers of people who live in villages and remote areas make nationwide campaigning a logistical nightmare. Polls opened in some states on April 11, but while the start of the election gives a chance for candidates in the U.S. or Europe to rest and watch the results come in, in India it means even more frantic campaigning because voting takes place over six weeks in seven phases. Few politicians are covering more ground than Shah, the BJP president. In a single day, he took off from New Delhi to fly to the southern Indian city of Vijayawada in the morning, hopped over to Dibrugarh in the far east of the country near the Chinese border in the afternoon, and flew back to his hometown in Ahmedabad in the westernmost state of Gujarat in the evening, a total distance of almost 4,500 miles. ALSO READ: Five years on, Modi government's Smart Cities project stuck in doldrums Its not the first time political transport has been an issue in India. The Congress party had previously attacked Modi for not disclosing who funded his 2014 campaign travel and also for using planes owned by a prominent businessman, billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani later said that his conglomerate hires out the planes and no one uses them for free. One significant change this year for aircraft leasing has been almost-zero use of cash payments, the people familiar said. Thats partly thanks to a crackdown by Modi on unaccounted payments in the economy, which included abolishing high-denomination banknotes in November 2016. While the move is designed to ensure a more transparent process, the practice has led to under-invoicing, one of the people said, so that the full cost isnt declared. Some private jet operators have yet to be paid for their services in the 2014 elections, but havent written off the dues for fear of being investigated for graft, the person said. ALSO READ: Modi biopic producers challenge EC ban order in SC, hearing on April 15 For those politicians who do manage to secure a ride, the advantage goes beyond ease of travel. The very sight of private jets and helicopters have a significant impact on rural voters, said Arati R Jerath, a New Delhi-based independent political commentator. In Saharanpur, a tiny town in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state, an otherwise disciplined crowd excitedly took off at an election rally earlier this month to catch a glimpse of the aircraft carrying opposing leaders, she said. When the villagers see these big burly birds landing, the whole crowd erupts in cheers, Jerath said. Thats the kind of impact these planes and helicopters have in some places. By PTI BHATAPARA: Amid claims of "misusing" the armed forces for electoral gain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said the strength of "one vote" had enabled the surgical strike and air strike in Pakistan. Addressing a poll rally here in Chhattisgarh, Modi said the India of today carries out surgical and air strikes across the border and shoots down a satellite in space due to the strength of "one vote" of the people. The Election Commission last week sought a report from poll officials in Maharashtra after Modi's remarks at a rally in Latur, where he asked first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the Balakot air strike. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE The report was 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. Modi also stepped up attack on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying it was the mindset of the "sultanate" of the 'Naamdar' to abuse the deprived and treat them as slaves. Modi's barb came a day after Gandhi made the "how come all Modis are thieves" remark. Modi attributed Gandhi's comment to frustration among the Congress and its "Mahamilvati" allies caused by the "BJP wave" being witnessed across the country. "These people are crossing limits daily. According to them, anyone whose name is Modi is a thief. What kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your 'chowkidar'," Modi said. "I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out," Gandhi had said, addressing a rally in Maharashtra Monday. ALSO READ: Rahul's 'why all Modi's are thief' remark insult to a section of society, says Rajasthan BJP chief "The Congress and its Mahamilavati allies are unable to sleep during the night. Now they are abusing me in frustration, are insulting me. The voters of India are seeing this," Modi said. "It is naamdar's sultanate mindset which sneers at the exploited, deprived and treats them as slaves," he said. The Congress labelled honest tax-payers as selfish, Modi said. The naamdars are faced with cases of income tax theft of crores of rupees, he added. "They are having fun after committing scam following land allotment to bring out a newspaper they are out on bail," Modi said, without naming the National Herald case. "They seek a commission in deals relating to national security," Modi said, in a veiled reference to the Bofors scam, in which late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's name was dragged by the opposition. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine the petition by a Pune-based Muslim couple, seeking a direction to allow women to enter mosques without any restriction to offer prayers. A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde observed that since there is a judgment in the Sabarimala case, the court will have to examine this fresh petition as well. On September 28 last year, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had ruled that women of all ages must be allowed into Sabarimala temple. The court also questioned the petitioners lawyer on whether fundamental rights can be asserted against individuals and non-state subjects as well and said, Is a mosque or a temple or a church state? Can you seek your fundamental right against individuals? When entity concerned is not a state, can we issue directions? Can we ask police to help you if you want to enter somebodys house? The bench then issued notices to the Centre, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Central Wakf Council, among others and sought their replies in four weeks time. Yasmeen and Zuber Ahmad Peerzade, in their plea said, The act of prohibition of females from entering mosque is void and unconstitutional as such practices are not only repugnant to the basic dignity of a woman as an individual but also violate the fundamental rights... Presently, women are allowed to offer prayers at mosques under Jamaat-e-Islami and Mujahid denominations, while they are barred from mosques under the predominant Sunni faction. Express News Service NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw nothing wrong in the NDA government taking credit for the manner in which Pakistan was given a befitting answer for exporting terror, but refuted the charge that his party was using the armed forces for political benefits. In a wide-ranging interview with this publication at his residence after a day-long poll campaign, the Prime Minister questioned if his critics would have kept quiet had there been no response from the government after the Pulwama attack. If Wing Commander Abhinandan hadnt come back, would the Opposition have kept mum? Shouldnt the country be proud of the bravery displayed by the armed forces against sources of terrorism in Pakistan? Ghar mein ghus kar maara hai aur hisab chukta kiya hai (We went into their home and settled scores). The Congress, too, can take credit for the achievements of the armed forces, who is stopping them? the PM said. Responding to a range of questions on electioneering relating to the post-Pulwama developments, Modi disagreed with the view that the defence forces were being used in poll meetings. If a dam is constructed, will the ruling party not list it as an achievement? In the same way, if Pakistan has been given an effective answer for exporting terror, the ruling party will mention it as an achievement. I am pained at the double standards, he said. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE Buttressing his argument, the Prime Minister pointed out that elections happened in the country even around the time of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. If some people had criticised the government then, the neutral ones would have said India should speak in one voice since its war. Now, there is a different stance. Why is there a shift? Is it because India registered a victory? he asked. Forcefully countering the charge that unemployment was at a record high, Modi alleged the same group of people who spread this false narrative against (Atal Bihari) Vajpayees government are trying to spread a fake narrative around jobs today. The PM also did not agree with the view that having come to power in 2014 on the development plank, the BJP this time had made nationalism its main poll theme. According to him, while the government had a string of achievements to boast about, it was also a fact that there was anger among the people against terrorism and the manner in which it had cost the country thousands of lives and billions of rupees in security measures. For the first time they have a sense of assurance that the government was willing to act against terror and pay back those perpetrating it in the same coin, he said. Modi, who addresses three rallies on an average every day, said he was overwhelmed by the huge crowds thronging his meetings and their response to the issues raised by him. He claimed that a pro-incumbency wave was blowing across the country and was confident that the BJP would perform much better in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where it lost power in the recent Assembly elections, as the Congress governments had failed to deliver any of their promises. Asked if the 2019 elections could be described as the BJP vs the Congress and the rest, or Modi vs the Congress and the rest, the PM preferred to frame his response differently. He said the reason why the people wanted him back was because his government had scores of achievements to talk about. But, they (Opposition) have nothing to talk except harping on Modi hatao. The people of this country and their aspirations are at the centre of the elections. There is the NDA, the Congress and various other alliances in the fray. According to him, South India was set to give a huge surprise to political pundits as the BJP had succeeded in countering the misinformation that the party represented only a particular region of the country. Explaining the reason behind the party fielding all its ministers, including a few from the Rajya Sabha, Modi said for the past five years they had been working as Team India, now we together are going to the people. IAU embarks on collaboration with the Shaw Prize Foundation The International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the astronomical branch of the Shaw Prize have initiated collaborative projects to promote both professional astronomy and astronomy in education. Representatives from the IAU and the Shaw Prize today signed an agreement to work together towards their shared goal of promoting astronomy, and utilising its potential as a valuable tool for education. The details of the agreement involve both recognising excellence in professional astronomy and the enhancement of astronomy in education. The Shaw Prize was established in 2002 to recognise active researchers who have recently achieved excellence in, or made outstanding contributions to, their scientific fields. The Prize is awarded in three categories of sciences, one of which is astronomy, the branch the IAU will be collaborating with. The agreement states that the IAU will issue a yearly press release announcing the winner of the Shaw Prize in astronomy to the media, its members and the public. In addition, the winner will be invited to give a plenary lecture at an IAU event within a year of receiving the prize, either at the IAU General Assembly, one of the regional IAU meetings, or one of the IAU Symposia, depending on which meeting the topic is most appropriate for. Furthermore, the Shaw Prize Foundation will provide funding for an annual Shaw-IAU workshop on "Astronomy for Education", a key activity of the IAU's new Office of Astronomy for Education which is part of the IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030. "I am delighted with this partnership, which not only celebrates top science but also highlights the importance of science education for society," said Ewine van Dishoeck, President of the IAU. "It comes at a very good time when the IAU is just starting to implement its new Strategic Plan." "I am very pleased that we have this opportunity to collaborate with IAU, in giving recognition to the best achievements, and in promoting science as part of education", said Kenneth Young, Chairman of the Shaw Prize Council. Teresa Lago, General Secretary of the IAU, said: "The signature of this Agreement between the Shaw Foundation and IAU and the financial support for the organisation of the annual Shaw-IAU Workshop 'Astronomy for Education' could not come at a better time. IAU is deeply engaged in setting up the new Office of Astronomy for Education and in arranging the 1st Workshop". The agreement will come into effect with the announcement of the 2019 Shaw Prize winner and the organisation of the 1st Shaw-IAU Workshop in December 2019 in Paris. It will continue for an initial period of five years, with the possibility of renewal after that time. ### More information The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 13 500 professional astronomers from more than 100 countries worldwide. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers. Established under the auspices of Mr Run Run Shaw in November 2002, the Shaw Prize honours individuals, regardless of race, nationality, gender and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications and whose works have resulted in positive and profound impacts on mankind. The Shaw Prize consists of three annual prizes: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences, each bearing a monetary award of US$1.2 million. Links * Shaw Prize - http://www. shawprize. org/ en/ Contacts Peggy Ng Shaw Prize Email: peggy@shawprize.org Lars Lindberg Christensen IAU Press Officer Garching bei Munchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 320 06 761 Cell: +49 173 38 72 621 Email: lars@eso.org Maria Teresa Lago IAU General Secretary Paris, France Tel: +33 1 43 25 83 58 Email: IAU_GS_2018@iap.fr This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday that France would rebuild the fire-devastated Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, saying he hoped the work would be done in five years and the French people would pull together to repair their national symbol. Macron devoted a brief prime-time televised address to Monday's catastrophic blaze in the heart of the capital, again postponing planned remarks on his response to months of anti-government protests. "We will rebuild Notre-Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it," Macron said. "It is up to us to convert this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project." "This is not a time for politics," added Macron, who had cancelled a speech planned on Monday evening on the response to the "yellow vest" protests. He visited the site of the fire late on Monday and promised then to rebuild the cathedral, parts of which date to the 12th century. The cathedral spire was destroyed and its roof gutted but the bell towers were still standing and many valuable art works were saved after more than 400 firemen worked to contain the blaze, finally quelling it 14 hours after it began. As the city and the country grieved for a potent national symbol, billionaires, companies and local authorities were quick to offer donations. Some 24 hours after the fire started, more than 750 million euros ($845 million) had been pledged, including 500 million from the three billionaire families that own France's giant luxury goods empires: Kering, LVMH and L'Oreal. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation, officials said. The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's oak roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire's timber-framed supports. Police began questioning the workers involved, the prosecutor's office said. One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt, with the fire starting at around 6:30 p.m. after the building was closed to the public for the evening. Firefighters examined the facade, with its spectacular 10-metre filigreed stained-glass rose window still intact. They could be seen walking atop the belfries as police kept the area in lockdown. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. "Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything," said Sister Marie Aimee, a nun who had hurried to a nearby church to pray as the flames spread. "CATHEDRAL OF THE PEOPLE" Messages of condolence flooded in from around the world. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was praying for those affected, the Vatican said, adding: "Notre-Dame will always remain - and we have seen this in these hours - a place where believers and non-believers can come together in the most dramatic moments of French history." Britain's Queen Elizabeth expressed deep sadness while her son and heir Prince Charles said he was "utterly heartbroken". Chancellor Angela Merkel offered German help to rebuild a part of "our common European heritage". Considered among the finest examples of European Gothic architecture, Notre-Dame is visited by more than 13 million people a year. It sits on an island in the Seine, overlooking the Left Bank hangouts of Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. "Notre-Dame de Paris is the cathedral of the people, of the people of Paris, of the French people, of the people of the world. It is part of those references of our history, of what we have in common, of what we share," said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. It was at Notre-Dame that Henry VI of England was crowned "King of France" in 1431, that Napoleon was made emperor in 1804, and Pope Pius X beatified Joan of Arc in 1909. Presidents Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand were mourned there. HUMAN CHAIN The cathedral is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a dispute between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should finance restoration work to collapsed balustrades, crumbling gargoyles and cracked facades. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said the heritage charity Fondation du Patrimoine. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace of the fire's spread had been stunning. "We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said. The company carrying out the renovation works when the blaze broke out said it would cooperate fully with the investigation. "All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures," Julien Le Bras, a representative of family firm Le Bras Freres. Many relics and artworks were saved. At one point, firefighters, policemen and municipal workers formed a human chain to remove the treasures, including a centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France. Gold, silver and gem-inlaid chalices, candelabras and many other artefacts survived the blaze. ($1 = 0.8859 euros) Search Keywords: Short link: By PTI NAGINA: Hitting out at the BJP for repeatedly bringing up Pakistan in its campaign, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia says Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party must stop looking outwards and gaze inwards as jobs and agrarian distress are the key issues facing the country. Scindia, the Congress' general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (West), said he is very confident the party's strategy, the candidates fielded and the campaign in the state will result in it winning the trust of the people. The Congress is fighting the elections in UP on its own strength to rebuild the party, the senior leader told PTI in an interview. Asked about BJP leaders repeatedly talking about Pakistan in their election campaign, he said, "The key issue in India is jobs, jobs and jobs. The key issue in India is about (the distress faced by) the kisan, the key issue in India is the maan (respect), samman (honour) and pehchaan (identity) of every citizen. Stop looking outwards Mr Modi and and the BJP, look inwards and resolve the issues of the country," he said. As far as terrorism and Pakistan are concerned, everyone stands together, there is no Congress and no BJP, only India and the tricolour, he said. "Whether you are a Congressman or from any other party, the country always comes first," Scindia said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress' general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh (East), has also slammed the BJP over its repeated Pakistan references. Instead of speaking about India and what it had done for its youth, the ruling party was talking about Pakistan, she has said. Describing the party's minimum income scheme 'NYAY' as a 'game changer', Scindia said the party will raise funds to ensure that 'NYAY' is provided to the poorest in the country. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE "Rs 72,000 in the bank account of specifically the woman member of every family that's below the poverty line is certainly a game changer not for UP alone but for the whole of India," Scindia said. "It will cost Rs 3,60,000 crore. We will raise the funds to ensure that we provide that NYAY. This is a fight about samman (honour), this is a fight about maan (respect), this is a fight about pehchan (identity) of every single citizen. That is the statement that we are taking to the people of the country," he said. On whether the scheme will have an impact electorally, Scindia asserted that it is not the Congress strategy to do things for electoral impact. The Congress, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, has said 'NYAY' or Nyuntam Aay Yojana will assure up to Rs 72,000 a year or Rs 6,000 a month income to 20 per cent of India's poorest families. Questioned on the possibility of a post poll tie-up between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD grand alliance, he said the Congress is fighting on its own might and the results will be there for all parties to see. "Let's see where the chips fall on the 23rd of May," he added. He also dismissed suggestions that a divided opposition had handed the BJP the advantage, saying "we will speak on May 23 when the results will be out and the UPA forms the government at the Centre." By PTI NEW DELHI: Former Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Monday told the Supreme Court that he has been targetted by the CBI as part of the larger conspiracy between two BJP leaders in the Saradha chit fund case. Kumar in his affidavit named BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijyawargiya behind the larger conspiracy and told the apex court that an audio clip is available in public domain where they clearly heard of speaking "to target" few "senior police officers". "The sudden inexplicable turn by the petitioner/CBI in pointing out problems with the investigation and targeting the alleged contemnor seems to be borne out of a larger conspiracy between two senior leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijaywargiya of the BJP, the ruling party at the centre," the affidavit said. ALSO READ | SC asks former Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar to reply to CBI plea for arrest Kumar claimed that he has been targetted due to political vendetta and "this apprehension is corroborated by the contents of an audio clip that was reported widely by the press and electronic media at the time where the said leaders clearly speak of 'targeting' a few 'senior police officers' of the state". Earlier in the day, Kumar told the apex court that he could not file his response on Saturday to the CBI's plea seeking his arrest in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam and sought an adjournment of the hearing. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submission of senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Kumar, and postponed the hearing on the plea of the probe agency till April 22. "Indira Jaising, senior counsel, submits that the counter affidavit of the respondent No 3 (Kumar) was required to be filed on Saturday (April 13) but Saturday being a holiday for the Registry, she may be allowed to file the same today. The said affidavit may be brought on record during the course of the day. Rejoinder affidavit, if any, be filed on or before April 20. The matter will be listed on April 22," the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said. The apex court had sought Kumar's response on April 8 on CBI's plea seeking his arrest in the chit fund scam. The apex court, on February 5, had granted protection from arrest to Kumar while directing him to appear before the CBI and "faithfully" cooperating into the investigation of cases arising out of the scam. The central probe agency has sought vacation of the order so that it can arrest and interrogate Kumar. "This is the interim application (IA) of the CBI seeking custodial interrogation of Rajeev Kumar. Issue notice. Let the matter be listed for hearing on April 15," the bench had said. The bench had also allowed CBI to file a fresh affidavit regarding its allegations that telecom operators -- Vodafone and Airtel -- were not cooperating with it in the probe. In its plea to the apex court, the agency has said the recall of the order granting Kumar interim protection from the arrest was necessary "to unravel the entire gamut of the larger conspiracy in the ponzi scam cases". The CBI also sought the court's directions to West Bengal authorities to comply with the court's earlier orders "in letter and spirit" and not to create any hurdle in the CBI probe or try to "intimidate, harass and scare the agency officials" probing the cases. "Recall the interim protection granted to Rajeev Kumar for no coercive steps, including arrest, granted by this court by order dated February 5, 2019 to enable the CBI to subject him to interrogation in accordance with the law to unravel the entire gamut of larger conspiracy in these ponzi scam cases and its subsequent investigation," the CBI's application said. The agency said it needs to examine Kumar and other police officials to recover the material evidence and to investigate into the acts of omission and commission on the part of Bidhan Nagar Police commissioner and SIT officials in causing concealment of the evidence collected by them during the investigation. Earlier, the apex court had termed as "very very serious" the revelations made by the CBI in its status report relating to the interrogation of Rajeev Kumar. By IANS AMRAVATI: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday hit out at the Congress for not mentioning the Ram temple at Ayodhya in its 2019 election manifesto. Addressing an election rally here, he reiterated that while the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine is committed to constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Congress manifesto makes no reference to this. "Ram mandir must be built at all costs. It figures in our (BJP-Sena) alliance document, but there's not a word of it from the Congress," Thackeray, who had visited Ayodhya for two days last November and demanded that the BJP should announce the date when the temple construction would begin, said. The Sena chief also demanded to know whether the Congress President Rahul Gandhi was planning to strike down sedition laws for the benefit of the "red monkeys" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University. ALSO READ: Modi blames Congress for creation of Pakistan, praises Shiv Sena Thackeray said he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "teach" such a lesson to Pakistan that it dare not cast an evil eye on the country. Dwelling on farmers' issues, he claimed that the BJP-Sena combine had implemented the some of the best policies for the farmers in the country, which never happened during the decades of Congress rules. "All the problems the farmers face in the loan waiver schemes will be resolved... we are committed to that. We shall strengthen the machinery and even approach the banks to ensure this," he assured. ALSO READ: PM Modi shares dais with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray after 28 months Noting that many farmers' daughters had committed suicide as they did not want to burden their debt-ridden parents for their marriage expenses, he said that his party stepped forward and arranged mass marriage ceremonies for them to spare their parents the expenses. "Did Rahul Gandhi ever organise such functions?" he asked. Appealing to the voters, he said: "You have blessed my father, Bal Thackeray in the past, now I seek your blessings. Ensure that we win all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. "The next time I greet you, it will be in the company of all the 48 BJP-Sena victorious candidates." By PTI NEW DELHI: Technology was on India's side in the Balakot air strikes, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said on Monday, asserting that the results would have been further tilted in the country's favour if Rafale jets were inducted in time. In his address to a gathering at a seminar here on aerospace power of the future and impact of technology, the IAF chief also asserted that the strike on a "non-military target with precision at night, deep inside Pakistan demonstrates our ability to hit the perpetrators of violence in our country, wherever they may be". "In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy. In the subsequent engagements, we came out better because we upgraded our MiG-21 Bisons and Mirage-2000 aircraft," he said. "The results would have been further skewed in our favour had we inducted the Rafale aircraft in time," Dhanoa said. The Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot area on February 26, in response to the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The Pakistan Air Force retaliated the next day by unsuccessfully targeting various military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. The IAF chief asserted that it was a "critical demonstration of our national will and capability which is the major lesson coming out of the present crisis". Dhanoa said in his speech, "In the proposed induction of the Rafale and S-400 surface-to-air missile system, in the next two-four years, once again the technological balance will shift in our favour like it was in 2002 during Operation Parakaram during the last stand-off." India inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets -- capable of carrying a range of potent weapons and missiles -- is scheduled to begin from September. In October last year, India and Russia signed a multibillion-dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. The seminar on 'Aerospace power in the 2040s: Impact of Technology' was held at Subroto Park here to mark the birth centenary of the late Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh. The event was hosted by the IAF along with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), an autonomous defence research and analysis body. In his speech, Dhanoa also made a reference to the 1971 Indo-Pak War to emphasis that number of aircraft loss do not necessarily signify victory for any side. "You win or lose on how much of your politico-military objectives were achieved. Similarly, post our strike on a terrorist training camp, to thwart an impending strike on our soil, Pakistan Air Force had launched a riposte on February 27 against Indian military targets." "Did they succeed in their objective, the answer is a clear 'no', as the attack was thwarted while we achieved our objective in Balakot. This is the main argument. Yes we lost an aircraft, a MiG-21 Bison, and one of our pilot was held captive," Dhanoa said. "But, India got an aircraft too, which electronic signatures suggest was "an F-16". But to shift the narrative to this air combat from not being able to achieve one's military objective is obfuscating the issue, like the statements given by the other side post-1965 and 1971," he said. "Among all arms of the military, technology affects us the most. Land forces mainly comprise men, naval and air force officers operate machines and in the Air Force this technology has to be packed in smaller machines and subject to extreme temperature and pressure and 'G' forces," the IAF chief said. And, air power is more sensitive to technological change, he said. "Some critical technological inductions such as AWACS, fourth-generation fighter aircraft, ISR platforms and critical force enablers have to be fast-tracked to maintain the edge in such short skirmishes where we cannot bring our numbers to bear for a decisive outcome," he said. In the long term, IAF's modernisation programme is to progressively absorb technology through indigenisation, Dhanoa said. "Here, the 'Make in India' fighter programme under a strategic partnership and our indigenous technology would give us the capability of designing, developing and manufacturing 5th generation fighter aircraft by the 2040s," he said. "Similarly, in the field of missile defence systems, I am optimistic that by 2040s having developed the MRSAMs with a strategic partnership, we would manufacture design and develop an LRSAM along with a secure anti-cruise missile and anti-ballistic missile defence system," the IAF chief added. "In space, we intend to enhance our communication, navigation and ISR capabilities and the newly formed tri-service Space Command would further our capability in this dimension by 2040," Dhanoa said. He said the kind of numbers India can bring to bear in case of a full-scale conflict was amply demonstrated in Exercise 'Gagan Shakti- 2018' wherein IAF flew "5,000 fighter sorties within a period of three days in the western sector". "During Exercise Vayushakti in February, we demonstrated our capability to strike with precision both during day and night. All this works towards our conventional deterrence," he said. By Express News Service BHOPAL: Three young tribal doctors could soon be out to spoil the prospects of ruling Congress and opposition BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh. The three medicos, including gynaecologist Dr Raksha Bamania Mujalde (Khargone-Barwani seat), general physician Dr Abhay Ohri (Ratlam-Jhabua seat) and orthopaedic Dr Rupesh Padmakar (Betul seat) are tipped to be the candidates of tribal outfit Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) on four schedule tribes reserved Lok Sabha seats. The JAYS is an outfit founded by a group of young tribals led by former-AIIMS-New Delhi doctor Dr Hiralal Alawa, who had won the 2018 assembly polls on Congress ticket from Manawar seat of Dhar district, defeating powerful BJP politician and ex-MP minister Ranjana Baghel. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE According to Chandrabhan Singh Bhadauria, a senior political analyst from tribal-dominated Jhabua district, by flocking behind the Congress in the 2018 assembly polls, the JAYS had ensured the Congress win on eight to ten seats in Dhar, Ratlam, Barwani, Khargone, Jhabua and Alirajpur districts. Such seats which were won by Congress owing to strong backing by JAYS, included BJP stronghold Petlawad in Jhabua district, besides Thandla, Alirajpur and Jobat in Jhabua and Alirajpur district and Sailana in Ratlam district. However, with JAYS founder and first time MLA Dr Hiralal Alawa not being inducted into the Kamal Nath government and the Congress also paying deaf ear to JAYS sustained demand for leaving Betul, Ratlam-Jhabua, Dhar and Khargone (four out of the six seats reserved for tribal candidates) for JAYS candidates, the JAYS has now decided to field its own candidates either as independents or even under the banner of some regional party. Our screening committee will decide the final candidates on April 21. These candidates will be fielded from the four tribal dominated seats to win and not cut into anyones votes, JAYS state chief Antim Mujalda told The New Indian Express on Tuesday. Among the three medicos, who are possible candidates of JAYS from Khargone, Ratlam and Betul seats, gynaecologist Dr Raksha Bamnia Mujalde was among the Congress probable from Khargone seat, but the Congress decided to field radiologist Dr Govind Mujalde, who is believed to be close to home minister Bala Bachchan. With JAYS now set to field candidates on its own, even the breakaway faction of the outfit led by leaders like Vikram Achchaliya is said to be considering backing the candidates fielded from the four seats. Besides, a-JAYS leader on terms of anonymity said that close aides of three-times former Congress MP from Dhar seat Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi (who has been denied ticket by Congress from Dhar seat) too are in talks with JAYS leadership. All four seats, which the JAYS is set to contest in West and Central MP, were won by BJP in 2014 polls, but the Congress wrested one of them, the Ratlam-Jhabua seat in the 2015 by-election. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Was the looted data of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh voters utilised for collecting information about their political preferences? Did it influence the recently held Assembly and Lok Sabha polls? The special investigation team (SIT) probing the IT Grids case is awaiting a reply from Google and Amazon on whether they stored the stolen data in their servers. They are also looking into the information that several people had received suspicious phone calls during Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The SIT is now inspecting the report submitted by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to the police on the data theft case, after it was out in the open that several Andhra Pradesh government key persons leaked the Aadhaar data of people to IT Grids India Pvt Ltd. FOLLOW OUR ELECTIONS COVERAGE HERE According to information, several voters of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana received phone calls from different call centres, known to be operating from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Vijayawada, enquiring about their political preferences. Even now, the people are getting calls from 08634503001 and 08667124557 asking for whom they voted, officials said. They added that the investigation has been expedited and that they are trying to get to the bottom of it by contacting the voters as well as the call centres. By Express News Service NELLORE/VIJAYAWADA: Four days after the April 11 polling, a bunch of slips of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were found on the premises of a government school in Atmakur segment in Nellore district on Monday. Students, who were playing on the school premises, found the slips and informed it to their teachers. Staff of the government school informed, in turn, informed the media. After the media reports, the issue went viral on social media. Later, revenue officials visited the school and inspected the slips. The officials, later, clarified that they are dummy slips recovered from VVPATS while randomising the EVMs and VVPATS before the polling. They are not voter slips. Normally, officials randomise the EVMs just before commencement of actual polling process and discard them, said Returning Officer S Chinna Ramudu. As per the protocol, they should be destroyed immediately, but due to negligence of the staff, some slips were left in the school, he said. FOLLOW OUR ELECTIONS COVERAGE HERE e added that the slips were only part of machine testing and not connected to the polls. Officials alleged that some persons have misinterpreted the whole issue. Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi clarified that the VVPAT slips found on the premises of ZP High School in Atmakur are not related proceedings on the polling day. However, he ordered an inquiry into the incident on Monday. On the presence of VVPAT slips, he said the ZP High School in Atmakur was only a commissioning centre of EVMs. Engineers of Bharat Electrical Limited (BEL), the supplier of EVMs, polled some votes before the polling and sent the EVMs to the polling stations after verifying the proper functioning of the machines, he said. When asked about the issue, CEO told TNIE that the Collector of Nellore district was directed to conduct an inquiry into the issue. He felt that negligence on the part of employees might have led to such a situation. District Collector R Mutyala Raju visited the school and sought details from returning officer and other officials. The District Collector directed Joint Collector Madhusudan Rao to conduct an inquiry into the incident. By Express News Service HASSAN: Income Tax officials on Tuesday launched raids at the houses of Papanni, the nephew of JDS Supremo HD Devegowda in Haradanahalli as well as party's senior leader HD Revanna's followers, Contractor Karle Indresh, former MLC Patel Shivaram and former HDCC bank president Honnavalli Satish in Hassan. Tax sleuths are also searching the house of Ananth, a close associate of Revanna in Hassan. Raids were also conducted in state capital Bangalore and Mandya and the department said the action is aimed against tax evaders and black money generators. Official sources, however, indicated that links of these persons with respect to ongoing polls will also be a part of the investigative operation. "The searches are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets. FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE "Taxpayers covered in the search operations are engaged in the business of real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing government contracts, operating petrol bunks, sawmill and managing cooperative banks," the department said in a statement. These are sectors, it added, which are "prone" to the generation of black money. Sources in the I-T department said the searches were conducted by four teams, each comprising 15 officials at the offices, residences and factory premises of people allegedly associated with the JDS leadership. The officials were accompanied by CRPF personnel. About a dozen premises are being searched, sources added. JDS and its ally Congress have been alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre has been "misusing" central agencies to pursue its "politics of vendetta." On March 28, leaders of both the parties led by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara had staged a demonstration outside the income tax office when the raids began. The Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Karnataka-Goa region) B R Balakrishnan had even written to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka seeking action against those who staged demonstrations, threatened the officials and interrupted them from discharging their duties under various sections of the IPC. 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls in two phases on April 18 and 23. (With PTI Imputs) By Express News Service BENGALURU: This Lok Sabha election may not be a referendum on the performance of the JDS-Congress coalition government, but the outcome in the polls may have an impact on its stability. Coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah acknowledges that the coalition partners have to do well to ensure the governments stability. BJP leaders have on many occasions stated that the government will not last beyond May 23. If the BJP does well in the state, it would have its implication on the governments stability. BJP will claim that the mood is against the coalition government and start poaching JDS-Congress MLAs, Siddaramaiah, who is busy campaigning for Congress and JDS candidates in Old Mysore region, told TNIE. It will be a herculean task to keep our flock together, he added. Even during his rallies, Siddaramaiah is talking about the importance of voting for the coalition to ensure stability. FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE In 2018 assembly polls, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 MLAs and formed the government, but Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had to resign after failing to prove the majority on the floor of the house. After that, the party is accused of making attempts to poach Congress-JDS MLAs to topple the Kumaraswamy government. Though the BJP has denied the charges, the coalition is wary of its attempts. In the 223-member house, BJP has 104, Congress 78 (including the Speaker), JDS 37 and four others are BSP, KPJP, Independent and nominated. The house strength was reduced to 223 after minister CS Shivallais demise and Dr Umesh Jadhavs resignation. Jadhav is contesting as BJP candidate against Mallikarjuna Kharge in Kalaburagi. Going by the numbers, the government seems to be safe. However, poor show in the LS elections may trigger a fresh bout of fireworks between the coalition partners. A lot is at stake for top leaders from Congress and JDS. Three members from JDS are contesting the polls, while Siddaramaiah is working hard to retain his hold in Mysuru. If the Congress-JDS combine do well, it may strengthen the coalition, while any setback for top leaders will increase animosity between them. It may also embolden fence-sitters in the Congress. Three Congress MLAs - Ramesh Jarkiholi, Nagendra and Mahesh Kumathalli - are facing disqualification for staying away from crucial Congress Legislature Party meeting when Congress was trying to protect its MLAs from BJPs alleged poaching attempts. If they are disqualified or resign, Congress numbers will further come down. Sahaya Novinston Lobo By Express News Service CHENNAI: A 35-year-old man is suspected to have murdered his mother over a property dispute. The 60-year-old woman was on phone with her daughter when she was attacked. Hearing her screams, the daughter alerted a relative who rushed to the spot to find her dead. The deceased, Rathinam, was a resident of Besant Nagar. She was married to Kulandaivelu, a former Member of Parliament from Tiruchengode. Her son Praveen, who is suspected to have murdered her, left for London 13 years ago. He studied there and was working there till recently. Praveen arrived last month. He was staying at their familys beach view house in Besant Nagar sixth avenue, a police officer said. Rathinam was staying in her daughters house in Tirupur. She arrived in city on Sunday morning, allegedly after a heated argument with her son over the phone the previous day. The house was locked when she arrived. She used her keys to open and was cleaning when the incident happened. Her daughter Sudha had called. They were talking over the phone when the doorbell rang. When Rathinam opened the door, Praveen, who was waiting outside, attacked her, the officer said. He had tied her up using packing tape and had stabbed her in the chest, several times, with a sharp object. There was an electric wire around her neck. We are trying to ascertain if he tried to strangulate her using it, the officer added. Son wanted mom to sell off ancestral property "There is a popular restaurant near the house and people park bikes just in front of the house. But, as she was attacked inside the house, nobody knew of the crime. The deceased, Rathinam, was a resident of Besant Nagar. She was married to Kulandaivelu, a former Member of Parliament from Tiruchengode. Her son Praveen, who is suspected to have murdered her, left for London 13 years ago. He studied there and was working there till recently, although none of his relatives know what he was actually doing in London. "In the last 13 years, I have seen him just thrice," says one relative. "He came when his sister got married, then when his father passed away. However, a few months back, he told his mother that he would be coming to India." The family suspects he returned for his share in the family property. Including his sister, none seem to know what Praveen was doing in London after studies. Some thought he was a professor. Others say they heard he ran a business. Praveen, police say, wanted his mother to sell off their ancestral property at Uthupalayam, in Salem, and their house in Chennai to meet his financial needs. It was amidst this ongoing property dispute that Praveen came to Chennai. It is claimed that Praveen was married to a Lithuanian woman, but none from his family attended the marriage. The police have launched a manhunt for Praveen. Mystery over suspect None in the family, not even Praveens sister, know what he was doing in London. Some thought he was a professor, while others heard he was running a business there Nations expressed solidarity with France after the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral and offered their support for the recovery. Monday's fire collapsed the spire and burned through the roof of the 12th-century building, sparking an outpouring of grief and reminiscing of visits to the Parisian landmark. President Donald Trump called the cathedral "one of the great treasures of the world.'' Pope Francis, Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen all expressed their sadness. Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed sadness over the fire he described as a "heritage and humanitarian disaster.'' Hariri added in a tweet late Monday that Lebanon expresses strong solidarity with the ``friendly French people.'' The Obamas were among people sharing memories of past visits to the cathedral. Former President Barack Obama posted an old photo of himself, his wife Michelle and their two daughters lighting candles there and expressed his grief. Michelle Obama was in Paris on Monday on a book tour. ``The majesty of Notre Dame - the history, artistry, and spirituality - took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be,'' she tweeted. The French president has said he would seek help from the ``greatest talents'' in the world to rebuild Notre Dame, and many governments said they were considering contributions to what would be a significant architectural undertaking. Austrian President Van der Bellen raised the French flag over his office in Vienna in a sign of solidarity with France. Van der Bellen wrote on Twitter that Notre Dame is ``an important symbol of our common European culture'' and posted a picture of the French flag and the European Union flag flying in Vienna. Japan's government said it would consider sending support. "Its damage is a loss to the world and our hearts ache,'' said Yoshihide Suga, the chief Cabinet secretary. South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for the world to come together to rebuild the Paris landmark. ``Our love for humanity will be illustrated in a more mature way in the process of reconstruction,'' he said. Russian President Putin said in a message published on the Kremlin's website that the tragedy "struck a chord in the hearts of Russians.'' He called Notre Dame a ``priceless treasure of Christian and world culture'' and said Russia is ready to send the "best specialists'' to help rebuild it. The Polish prime minister recalled how his nation's capital, Warsaw, was rebuilt after being destroyed by the Germans in World War II. Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter that "Poland knows what it means to have a cultural heritage lost in fire. We rebuilt Warsaw from the ruins ourselves. We will rebuild the Cathedral of Notre-Dame together as Europeans.'' Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York archbishop, said New Yorkers were united in sorrow with Parisians, who can ``count on our love, prayers, support and solidarity. This Holy Week teaches us that, like Jesus, death brings life. Today's dying, we trust, will bring rising,'' Dolan said outside St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Search Keywords: Short link: By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Expecting a landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections in the State, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao asked his party functionaries to do an encore in the ensuing elections to the Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads. Just as the way we are going to win all the 16 Lok Sabha seats in the State (Hyderabad is left to TRS ally AIMIM), we should win all the 32 Zilla Parishads, Chandrasekhar Rao said at a meeting of the party leaders at Telangana Bhavan on Monday. During the meeting, Rao announced the name of the candidate for Asifabad Zilla Parishad seat. Kova Lakshmi will be TRS candidate, the TRS chief declared. He said that the names of candidates for the remaining 31 ZPs would be announced soon. Rao also hinted that the former MLAs or those who were defeated in the last December Assembly elections too would be given an opportunity to contest for posts of ZP chairpersons. He dropped a hint that former MLA Putta Madhu would be candidate for the post of Peddapalli ZP chairperson. Chandrasekhar Rao also set the target for the party leaders. The TRS should win in all the 32 Zilla Parishad and should win not less than 530 Mandal Paraja Parishads (MPPs) out of total 535 MPPs. No dearth of posts The TRS president assured the party leaders that there is no dearth of posts in the State. He said that 535 MPPs, 535 ZPTCs and more than 5,000 MPTCs are up for grabs. The Assembly segments would also be reorganised soon and the party could accommodate more leaders as MLAs in future, Rao said. He averred that the people at the grassroots level are with the TRS. The results of Assembly polls would be repeated in Lok Sabha and ZP elections too, Rao said. He said that the MLAs should take the responsibility for ZP and MPP elections. Ministers, MLAs and MLCs would be made in-charges for two districts each. One senior leader will be made in-charge for each district for ZP elections. New Revenue Act Chandrasekhar Rao also informed the party leaders about his plans to bring in a new Revenue Act. He wanted to know from them whether to scrap the Revenue department or continue it with a new set of rules. According to sources, majority of the leaders wanted the Chief Minister to continue the Revenue department after making suitable changes to the existing Revenue Act. He said that he was determined to root out the corruption in Revenue and Municipal departments. He said that a new Municipal Act and Urban Policy too would be brought for the planned development of cities and towns, Rao told the party leaders. By PTI DUBAI: A 33-year-old Indian IT programmer has been sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation for hacking 15 client websites after his employer deducted USD 1,080 from his salary, according to a media report. The Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday charged the man with hacking websites and issuing threats, Gulf News reported. The man, who was not identified, was also handed a three-month suspended jail term and will be deported immediately, the report said. According to official records, the defendant, who worked as a computer programmer with the media company, resigned and threatened to hack its client websites after 4,000 dirhams (USD 1,080) was deducted from his salary. "He sent WhatsApp messages to another programmer at the company saying that he will hack the websites if the company did not repay him the 4,000 dirhams deducted from his salary. He was informed that the deduction would be made if he resigned before the end of the probation period," said the company owner. After investigation, the police said that the data found on the defendant's personal laptop confirmed that he had accessed the websites. By PTI ISLAMABAD: Pakistani spy agency ISI's ex-chief Lt Gen (Retd.) Asad Durrani and two former head of the military's media wing have been denied permission by the army to appear on media as defence analysts. In a notification issued on Monday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of the military - has allowed 26 retired officers of the armed forces to appear on media as defence analysts. "The prominent omissions are Brig (retd.) Mahmood Shah, Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani, Lt Gen (retd.) Talat Masood, Maj Amir (retd.) and DG ISPR Maj Gen (retd.) Athar Abbas and Maj Gen (retd.) Rashid Quershi," the Dawn reported, citing the notification. Seven retired Lt Generals are among those allowed to appear on media as defence analysts. "Their views/comments/opinions on media shall remain personal/independent expression and not attributable to the institution," the notification said. It also said that any other retired officer desirous of appearing as defence analyst can contact the ISPR to obtain a no-objection certificate. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority recently instructed all TV channels to seek prior clearance from the ISPR before inviting retired military officers on news and current affairs programmes "to solicit their views on matters of national security". In a notification dated April 4, the media regulator said that "concerned quarters" have observed that retired military officers, when invited on TV programmes, "are usually not fully conversant with the latest defence and security developments due to their service background and post-retirement time". Lt Gen (Retd.) Durrani and Lt Gen (Retd.) Masood frequently appeared on the Indian media. In February, the Pakistan Army held Durrani guilty of violating military code of conduct by co-authoring a controversial book with India's former intelligence head and punished him by stopping his pension and other benefits. Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from August 1990 till March 1992, along with former R&AW chief AS Dulat published the book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' in India. The powerful army had ordered a Court of Inquiry against Durrani over the book in which the two former spy chiefs touched upon some thorny issues including terrorism, particularly Mumbai attack, Kashmir and the influence of intelligence agencies. Durrani is also not allowed to leave the country due to his name being on no-fly list. By PTI WASHINGTON: The US has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and asked them not to travel to restive Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), identified as the most dangerous areas due to terror attacks. While Pakistan, in general, has been placed in "Level Three" category in the latest travel advisory issued by the US on Monday, several parts of the country, including Balochistan, KPK province, PoK and India-Pakistan border, have been placed in the most dangerous "Level Four" category, in which US citizens are asked not to travel due to high-risk areas. "Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and/or a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR), the State Department said in the travel advisory. Asserting that terror groups continue plotting possible attacks in Pakistan, the State Department said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities. "Terrorists have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past, and information suggests they continue to do so, it said. Terrorist attacks continue to happen across Pakistan, with most occurring in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Large-scale terrorist attacks have resulted in hundreds of casualties, it said. Do not travel to Balochistan province, the State Department said, adding that active terrorist groups, an active separatist movement, sectarian conflicts and deadly terrorist attacks against civilians, government offices and security forces destabilise the province. Similarly, in the PoK, it warned that militant groups are known to operate in the area and the threat of armed conflict between India and Pakistan remains. "Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchange gun and artillery fire across the Line of Control (LoC), it said. Noting that India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on both sides of the border, the travel advisory said the only official Pakistan-India border crossing point for persons who are not citizens of India or Pakistan is in the province of Punjab between Wagah and Attari. Do not travel to KPK province, which includes the former FATA, the advisory said. Active terrorist and insurgent groups routinely conduct attacks against civilians, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government offices, and security forces. These groups historically have not discriminated between government officials and civilians. Assassination and kidnapping attempts are common, including the targeting of polio eradication teams, it said. By PTI PARIS: Rebuilding the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris could take decades after it was gutted by a fire, experts warned onTuesday, even as its most senior cleric expressed hope he could celebrate mass there within years. Parisians and people around the world watched in horror on Monday evening as a huge fire ripped through the 850-year-old gothic cathedral, causing its spire and part of the vaulted roof to collapse and triggering a scramble to save its precious relics and artworks. Declaring that the "worst has been avoided", President Emmanuel Macron immediately vowed; "We will rebuild Notre-Dame together." And pledges of immense donations together already worth hundreds of millions within hours flooded in from the business world in France. ALSO READ| Investigators probe Notre-Dame fire as donations pour in But asked how long the restoration could take, Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral, which recently underwent a three-year facelift, said: "I'd say decades. The damage will be significant.But we are lucky in France to still have a network of excellent heritage restoration companies, whether small-time artisans or bigger groups," he told AFP. Fischer said the ability to rebuild the colossal cathedral in a manner that respects its original form and character would depend on the plans, diagrams and other materials available to the architects. They would need "a maximum of historical data or more recent data gathered with modern technology such as 3D scans" of the kind used in the restoration of the Strasbourg cathedral, he said. Stephane Bern, a TV presenter famous for his programmes on mediaeval France who was recently appointed the government's representative on heritage, estimated the rebuilding would take "10 to 20 years minimum". Noting the restoration of Reims cathedral which was bombarded by German forces during World War I took decades, an emotional Bern, 55, told French radio: "You know what hurts me the most? It's the idea that I will not see it again in my lifetime. It will be rebuilt for future generations," he said. But Jack Lang, who served as a hugely prominent culture minister under the presidency of Francois Mitterrand, called for a much quicker turnaround. "Since yesterday I've been hearing that it will take a decade. That's a joke," an indignant Lang told AFP outside the cathedral on Tuesday. Pointing to the renovations in Strasbourg, he said: "We have to do the same thing here, not in 10-15 years but three years." The rector of Notre-Dame, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, also attempted to strike a hopeful note. "I hope I will see that cathedral again in my lifetime and that I will celebrate a mass there. I'm 67 now and if all goes well, even if it takes 10 years, I will be 77 and still able to do it," he told France Inter radio. As pledges of donations flooded in from around the world, the city of Paris and private individuals, Italy, Russia and Germany offered to send expert help. President Vladimir Putin of Russia offered to send "the best Russian specialists with rich experience in the restoration of national heritage monuments" while Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini promised "all the help we can give." In a sign of the scale of the challenge, France's top producer of oak said it was worried about the stock of oak available to rebuild the gutted wooden interior of the nave's roof. Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group estimated that 1,300 oak trees had been used in the construction of the roof. "To constitute a big enough stock of oak logs of that quality will take several years," said Charlois, who has pledged to donate wood. By AFP SINGAPORE: A YouTube fact-check feature which is meant to tackle misinformation accidentally tagged live broadcasts of a fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with details about the 9/11 terror attacks. The blaze erupted in the UNESCO world heritage landmark in the French capital Monday, sending its spire and roof crashing to the ground as flames and clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. ALSO READ | Around world, 'our hearts ache' at Notre Dame Cathedral fire The fire, which at one point threatened the entire edifice, was brought under control early Tuesday about nine hours after it broke out. News outlets began live-streaming broadcasts of the fire on YouTube, but below some of the clips an unusual text box popped up -- an entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica about the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. In those attacks, Al-Qaeda militants hijacked two passenger planes and flew them into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing them to collapse, while a third hijacked jet smashed into the Pentagon. Some 3,000 people were killed. A spokesman for YouTube, which is owned by Google, said the text box feature had been disabled for live streams related to the fire. "These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call," the spokesman told AFP. "We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral." The feature, which also links to other outside sources such as Wikipedia, was introduced last year after YouTube faced intense criticism over videos containing misleading and extreme content. READ | Notre Dame hailed as monument to the 'best of civilization' The panels are supposed to combat misleading videos about well-known events -- such as the first successful manned landing on the moon -- by presenting the true facts, in a bid to stop the spread of conspiracy theories. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter came under fire last month after a horrific video of a gunman's deadly rampage at two New Zealand mosques was circulated on the sites. The Christchurch massacre, in which 50 people were killed, was live-streamed on Facebook, which moved to block the footage. But it was then shared repeatedly on the other two sites. By PTI MADRID: Spain will review security arrangements and electrical fittings at historic monuments following the devastating fire at Notre-Dame, Culture Minister Jose Guirao said on Tuesday. A special meeting will be called in Madrid on Friday next week to discuss "plans to protect cultural goods in case of an emergency," his ministry said in a statement. "Obviously (the Notre-Dame fire) was an alarm bell and we will review all the installations", he told RNE public radio. "The danger is with old electric installations which have to be surveyed," he said, adding however that "in general, the installations in our big monuments are safe." Spain's historical and architectural treasures include the Burgos and Saint James of Compostela cathedrals, the Basilica of the Sagrada family in Barcelona and the Alhambra Palace in Granada. Guirao also said he would hold talks with French counterpart Frank Riester to offer help. A skyscraper in Madrid that houses the British, Dutch, Australian and Canadian embassies was being evacuated on Tuesday over a bomb threat, police said. "A bomb threat was received.... Evacuation has started, we have to work and do checks," a police spokesman told AFP. With a height of 235 metres (770 feet), the 57-story Torrespacio building is one of four skyscrapers that makes up a business park in northern Madrid. The Australian embassy said on Twitter that it would "remain closed for the rest of today, Tuesday 16 April, until further notice." Search Keywords: Short link: Chief Executive Carrie Lam My Government believes in the promise of innovation and technology (I&T). Last year, at this forum, I outlined our major innovation and technology policies and programmes. This is an opportune time for me to update you on some of our initiatives. Over the past year, we have introduced a super tax deduction of up to 300% for R&D (research and development) expenditure incurred by private enterprises starting from the 2018-19 fiscal year. We have also set up an Innovation & Technology Venture Fund to co-invest in local startups. We have committed $10 billion to establish two research clusters that focus respectively on healthcare technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics technologies. We have also injected $20 billion into the Research Endowment Fund of the Research Grants Council to provide sufficient funding for R&D at universities. Taken together, these initiatives would considerably strengthen our innovation and technology ecosystem and provide a big boost towards our goal to double Hong Kong's R&D expenditure as a ratio to GDP to 1.5% by the year 2022. For the two research clusters on health technologies and AI (artificial intelligence) and robotics that I mentioned last year, we have been sounding out notable international companies, universities and research institutions. The response, I am pleased to say, has been cheering. To date, we have received some 50 proposals, many of which are supported by an MOU signed with Hong Kong universities for undertaking joint R&D projects. We expect that the first research institutions will be setting up their laboratories at the Hong Kong Science Park before the end of this year. Dynamic startup scene Our startup scene, I am pleased to say, is also flourishing. The number of startups in major public and private co-work spaces and incubators here in Hong Kong has grown 18% to more than 2,600 at the end of 2018. Of the founders, some 35% were from outside Hong Kong, showing that Hong Kong is an attractive place for talent and entrepreneurs from around the world. With the number of startups increasing, we are also sighting more unicorns here, with several of those begun at our flagship innovation and technology institutions - Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport. Speaking of which, Cyberport is now home to more than 1,200 companies and startups, but we want more. That is why we have announced in this year's Budget an allocation of $5.5 billion for the development of Cyberport 5. The expansion, expected to open in 2024, will add about 66,000 sq m of floor space to Cyberport. Our ability to attract institutions, startups, talent and investment from other countries is in no small part due to Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" framework. That gives us a clear and compelling advantage in the region. This is underlined in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development. The far-reaching development emphasises co-operative development, focusing on the distinct strengths of each of the Greater Bay Area's 11 cities, that is Hong Kong, Macau and nine prosperous Guangdong municipalities. One of our distinct strengths will definitely be our international network, established over the years under "one country, two systems". Beyond our international connectivity, Hong Kong offers top universities and scientists, a pro-business environment, the rule of law underpinned by an independent judiciary, and reassuring intellectual property protection. It helps, too, that our logistics and communications infrastructure is world-class. Add it up, and you know why the world looks to Hong Kong to connect and excel. An Outline Development Plan for the Greater Bay Area development was promulgated by the Central Government in February this year. It identifies Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as the four core cities, as well as the key engines for driving the regional development. Among others, the plan expects Hong Kong to play a key role in the Greater Bay Area's emergence as an international innovation and technology centre. This is in line with the steer and support given by President Xi Jinping who, noting our solid science and technology foundation and a large pool of technological talent, considers Hong Kong an important force in implementing the nation's innovation-driven development strategy. Considerable advances Hong Kong is already at work in building an impressive foundation for our strategic role in the Greater Bay Area. The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park, some four times the size of the current Science Park, is now under construction in Hong Kong, strategically close to Shenzhen. We are also enhancing R&D collaboration with other cities and research institutes in the Mainland, thanks to the relaxation of cross-boundary remittance for science and technology project funding. Financial technology is another important area, a growth sector we are committed to running with, for the Greater Bay Area and the Asian region as a whole. I know the Financial Secretary will be speaking tomorrow at the summit's FinTech Forum, so I will leave it to him to detail the considerable advances we are making, from our Faster Payment System to virtual banking, insurtech and a good deal more. But let me just say that, with innovation and technology being the focus of the Greater Bay Area development, and given Hong Kong's status as a global financial centre, the Greater Bay Area has all the potential to be both the Silicon Valley and the Wall Street of the East. Ladies and gentlemen, the theme of this year's Internet Economy Summit is Digital Economy - Redefines our Future. With the encouraging developments that I have outlined just now, I would say that Hong Kong's innovation and technology is developing in the best of times. In particular, with a population of over 70 million and a combined GDP of some US$1.6 trillion, the Greater Bay Area opens up a new development horizon for the region and provides Hong Kong with a huge opportunity to grow our economy and uplift the well-being of our people. It is up to us all to seize this opportunity. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Today's summit is the first of the many events Hong Kong is organising to honour this significant milestone. There will be more to come, and I look forward to having you in our celebration events. Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave these remarks at the Internet Economy Summit 2019 on April 15. Mrs Lam views an interactive feature at the summit. More than 70 renowned experts, industry leaders and government officials from overseas, the Mainland and Hong Kong gathered to share their insights on global technology trends at the Internet Economy Summit 2019 . They are also discussing business adoption in spurring the growth of the internet economy at the two-day summit. With the theme Digital Economy Redefines Our Future, the event has six thematic forums on how data will fuel innovations in sectors including fintech, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, cyber security, as well as in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave opening remarks at the summits opening day today which featured two forums. At the Visionary Forum, speakers enlightened the audience on ways businesses and the community can stay resilient amid technology disruptions. Speakers included Amazon Web Services General Counsel Bob Kimball, Alibaba Global Business Group President Angel Zhao and Twitter Asia Pacific Vice President Maya Hari. The summit comes as the Government is taking forward various initiatives to build Hong Kong into a smarter city. Estonia is well known for deploying technology innovations to transform the nation into a digitally integrated and seamlessly connected country. The countrys Global Affairs Director of Government Chief Information Officer Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Communications, Sandra Sarav, spoke about Estonias experience in leveraging new and emerging technologies to maximise value in government processes. The Chambers Forum included keynote speeches by representatives from Microsoft and Sino Group, with four panel discussion sessions. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend the summit organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company. US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Moscow this week to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearization, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Tuesday. Biegun will meet with Russian officials in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday, the department said. Search Keywords: Short link: Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said the Government is responsive to the aspirations of the Hong Kong film industry. Ahead of an Executive Council meeting today, Mrs Lam said she conveyed to relevant Mainland authorities the request of the local film industry to relax requirements on Mainland-Hong Kong co-productions and the access of locally made movies to the Mainland market. About the film industry, the five measures that I have announced with the support of the Central Authorities are outstanding aspirations of the local film industry. So we are responding to their aspirations and now managed to get the support of the Central Authorities. The five relaxation measures include removing the restriction on the number of Hong Kong people participating in Mainland film productions. The limit on the percentage of Hong Kong artistes and the requirement of Mainland-related plots in films jointly produced by the two places will also be lifted. The Chief Executive added Hong Kong is proud of its freedom of expression and welcomed filmmakers to make use of this freedom to produce a diverse range of movies. But if these movies have to be screened or made in another jurisdiction, then of course they have to follow the rules and regulations of that jurisdiction. Mrs Lam noted a film industry delegation, accompanied by representatives of the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau, will visit Beijing on April 17 to meet relevant authorities. Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng (right) meets Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law Prof Jean-Marc Thouvenin (left) in The Hague. Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng started her visit to The Hague by meeting judges from the International Court of Justice, government officials and representatives from different international organisations. At the court, Ms Cheng first called on Judge Peter Tomka. She introduced the legal system in Hong Kong and the work of the Department of Justice, adding that the "one country, two systems" principle has been fully and successfully implemented and the rule of law has been upheld since Hong Kong's return to the Motherland. Judge Tomka was glad to learn about the judicial independence and sound legal system in Hong Kong as well as the development of Hong Kong as an international arbitration centre. Ms Cheng then proceeded to The Hague Academy of International Law and met Secretary-General Prof Jean-Marc Thouvenin to exchange views on capacity building in international law and explore collaboration opportunities. She also visited The Hague Conference on Private International Law and met Secretary General Christophe Bernasconi to exchange views on international legal co-operation and explore further opportunities of collaboration on the legal side through its Asia Pacific Regional Office in Hong Kong. Ms Cheng will later stop by the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. She will also call on Charge d'Affaires a.i. of the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands Chen Ribiao. THE ongoing provincial congress in the MDC Alliance led by Mr Nelson Chamisa has torched another storm after former legislator, Mr Tongai Matutu, was disqualified ostensibly because he had not yet reached the five-year threshold before he rejoined the opposition party. There were chaotic scenes yesterday in Masvingo as party supporters protested over the disqualification of Mr Matutu who was the front runner for the provincial chairperson post after the organising department led by Mr Amos Chibaya barred him on the pretext that he was still to reach five years since he returned to the party. Mr Matutu is perceived to be a loyalist of the party secretary general, Mr Douglas Mwonzora, and there were fears that he would not nominate Mr Chamisa should he land the post to head the province. Party supporters alleged an uneven playing field, arguing that the same template had not been applied on people like Mr Tendai Biti, Professor Welshman Ncube and a host of others who barely had one year since they rejoined the party. Mr Matutu was set to contest against Mr James Gumbi for the post of provincial chairperson. The decision by the organising department to disqualify Mr Matutu gave credence to complaints raised by Mr Mwonzora that the Independent Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, was not in charge of the congress. Mr Matutu clearly had the upper hand over his rival Mr Gumbi, said a source who attended the meeting. Several districts had nominated him and everything was going on well until the eleventh hour when the organising department intervened to disqualify him. We suspect that they had realised that he was headed for a victory. Others questioned why the organising department intervened ahead of the ZCTU which was charged with running the congress. That is our worry, said another source. Who is really in charge? Is it the ZCTU or the organising department led by Mr Chibaya who happens to be equally in the race for election into the national standing committee. When contacted, party spokesperson, Mr Jacob Mafume said Mr Matutu did not meet the template set out by the party. He should have applied for a waiver, but unfortunately he did not exercise that right for one reason or the other, he said. Those who applied for a waiver were granted, but he failed to do so. On Monday, Mr Mwonzora said he withdrew from the ongoing congress because he had raised a lot of irregularities with the ZCTU and the party, but they were not addressed. A high-powered delegation from the December 12 Movement yesterday paid a courtesy call on the ruling party to discuss investment opportunities in Zimbabwe. Led by its chairperson, Mrs Viola Plummer, the delegation met ZANU-PF Secretary for Administration Cde Obert Mpofu and other senior party officials and expressed interest in investing in the tourism and energy sectors. Mrs Plummer said they are in solidarity with President Mnangagwas mantra Zimbabwe is Open for Business and are committed to play a role in rebuilding the economy of Zimbabwe which she said had been negatively affected by the illegal sanctions imposed by the West. We have been friends with the Zimbabwean Government for a long time. This time around, we want to take our relations to another level. We want to partner with the Government and invest in the tourism and energy sectors, she said. We know illegal sanctions are killing Zimbabwes economy since they are affecting investment, so we are here to partner with the Government in the tourism and energy sectors. There is need for Africa to be economically free. It is important for Africa to be economically independent because the freedom of Africa is the freedom of all Africans around the world. Cde Mpofu described the meeting with the December 12 Movement delegation as fruitful and cordial. The December 12 Movement has always been our friends. They have been mobilising support in USA for the unconditional removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe, he said. However, their visit and call today is more of an investment dialogue than political. We are excited about this because this shows that the mantra by the new dispensation that Zimbabwe is Open for Business is bearing fruit. Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral went up in flames on Monday evening, a blaze that devastated the landmark, destroying its wooden-beamed roof and collapsing the iconic spire in a searing loss for Paris and France. President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the Gothic masterpiece, and within the first 24 hours after the fire began, tycoons, companies and local authorities stepped forward with large donations. Here are the main pledges made so far: LVMH French billionaire businessman Bernard Arnault's family and his LVMH luxury goods group said they would donate 200 million euros to help repair the cathedral. Kering Francois Henri Pinault, who heads the Kering luxury goods company, pledged 100 million euros through his Artemis holding. L'Oreal French luxury and cosmetics group L'Oreal, along with the Bettencourt Meyer family and the Bettencourt Schueller foundation, will donate 200 million euros in total. Air France-KLM Air France offered free transportation for all official participants in Notre-Dame reconstruction. Total French oil company Total said it will donate 100 million euros. AXA French insurer Axa pledged 10 million euros. BNP French bank BNP pledged 20 million euros. Fimalac Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, head of the group that runs ratings agency Fitch, pledged 10 million euros. Vinci Construction group Vinci called on all building companies in France to join forces to repair the cathedral in an "industry-wide skills sponsorship drive". Bouygues Martin Bouygues and his brother Olivier, who oversee a telecoms to construction conglomerate, pledged to donate 10 million euros. Bouygues group separately said it was ready to join the "skills sponsorship" drive. Saint-Gobain French construction materials group Saint-Gobain said it is ready to provide its expertise for the renovation, notably of the stained-glass windows. Caisse Des Depots CEO Eric Lombard said the state-controlled bank will offer oak trees to rebuild the wood framework of the cathedral. JCDecaux French outdoor advertising group pledged 20 million euros. Societe Generale Societe Generate bank pledged 10 million euros. Casino The French retailer said its Franprix and Monoprix stores would implement price-rounding operations to support foundations helping with repairs. Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Twitter Apple would donate an unspecified sum to rebuilding efforts. City Of Paris Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city would donate 50 million euros. Ile-De-France Authority Valerie Pecresse, head of the Ile de France regional authority that includes Paris, pledged 10 million euros. Auvergne-Rhone Alpes Region Local government said it would donate 2 million euros. European Central Bank The bank said it would donate 9 million euros. Cap Gemini IT services group said it would donate 1 million euros. Search Keywords: Short link: AFTER practicing law for 34 years, a senior Harare lawyer, Mr Moses Shingiriro Chinyenze, was last week removed from the legal practitioners register for abuse of trust funds. Mr Chinyenze was convicted by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal chaired by High Court judge, Justice Felistus Chatukuta. His law firm, MS Chinyenze & Associates, was placed under curatorship for the administration of its trust and business accounts. It is accordingly ordered that: The respondents name be and is hereby deleted from the Register of Legal Practitioners, Notaries Public and Conveyancers, ruled Justice Chatukuta. The respondents law firm be and is hereby placed under curatorship for the administration of its trust accounts and/or business accounts. The respondent be and is hereby ordered to pay all the expenses incurred by the applicant (Law Society of Zimbabwe) in connection with these proceedings. The Tribunal held that Mr Chinyenze was no longer fit and proper to practise as a lawyer in Zimbabwe. It is our view that the applicant has succeeded to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent abused clients monies and acted in an unprofessional manner as alleged by the applicant, said Justice Chatukuta. This renders the respondent not fit and proper person to remain on the register of legal Practitioners, Notaries Public and Conveyancers. During mitigation, the tribunal heard that Mr Chinyenze had an unblemished legal career spanning from 1985. In 1986, Mr Chinyenze formed the countrys third indigenous law firm called Gambe & Chinyenze where he groomed a number of lawyers including others who later became judges. He imparted legal knowledge to law students as a tutorial assistant at the University of Zimbabwe and as a lecturer at the Judicial College in Domboshawa. Traditional leader Robert Ticharwa Maruta, who is popularly known as Sekuru Samba urges the government to equip traditional leaders with smart phones, television sets and solar power for them to perform their duties diligently. He said the people they lead depend on them for communication and they have to depend on outdated and unofficial information because they have no access to news sources. I urge the government to equip all village heads and kraal leaders with three leadership assets like a smart phone for easy and cheaper communication through WhatsApp, television sets and solar power, he said. Remember, we are number six from President Mnangagwa, there is a presidium, Senator, Provincial Administrator, District Administrator, Chief, Village Head and us the kraal heads, so we are important in the running of Zimbabwe. What the President says is finally handed over to the wide rural masses by us. But today we rely on second hand information from our traditional beer gatherings, meetings and funerals. Sekuru Samba added that the people he leads as deputy headman. Imagine our rural people are still donating towards the Chimanimani IDAI Cyclone disaster victims because they are still getting these footages through social media. So I need a phone and television to help me stay in touch with the latest goings on. h metro French Ambassador to Egypt Stephane Romatet bestowed upon independent Egyptian playwright Ahmed El-Attar the Order of Arts and Letters award in a ceremony on 14 April at the French embassy in Cairo. Romatet described El-Attar as "the man of the theatre." The order, which is bestowed by the French Ministry of Culture, was given to El-Attar for his significant contributions to the field of theatre as well as his significant role in fostering a bicultural bridge between the Egyptian/Arab and French arts and theatre. Originally known as Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the prestigious distinction was established by the French Minister of Culture in 1957. Its purpose is to recognise outstanding francophone personalities for their contributions to the arts and literature or for promoting these fields. During his acceptance speech, El-Attar expressed his gratitude, saying, "theatre has been my home since I entered the field in the American University in Cairo (AUC) when I was eight years old. Theatre has saved me from the most critical moments in my life and helped me define my identity when I was lost. I have given my life to the theatre, and in return it has allowed me to be recorded in the history of arts." El-Attar is an independent Egyptian theatre director, translator, playwright and cultural manager. He is the founder and general manager of Studio Emad Eddin, which is a unique project that offers rehearsals and training spaces to independent artists in the field of performing arts in Egypt. He is also the founder and artistic director of Orient Productions, the Temple Independent Theatre Company, and the founder of D- CAF (Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival). The activities of D-CAF's eight edition started on 29 March and are ongoing until 21 April. El-Attar was born in 1969 and studied at the French Catholic School Les Freres. He then went on to study theatre at the AUC. He obtained an MA in Cultural Management from the Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle University in 2001. In 2009, El-Attar was selected as a Chevening scholar as well as a Clore Leadership programme alumnus in the UK. He also participated in the National Strategies Programme in 2014-2015 in the United States. Search Keywords: Short link: Police in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, said Monday they have arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of stabbing his 53-year-old father to death at their home. According to police, Mitsuyoshi Shiozaki, a company employee, stabbed his father Kodai several times in the back with a survival knife with a 20-cm-long blade, in the livingroom of their home at around 8 p.m. Sunday, Sankei Shimbun reported. After stabbing his father, Shiozaki called police. His father was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police said Shiozaki has admitted to the charge and quoted him as saying he intended to kill his father, but he has so far given no motive. You Come from Far Away was screened during the 21st edition of the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, receiving praise from the fellow directors and the audience The 84-minute documentary You Come from Far Away by Egyptian-born director Amal Ramses garnered remarkable praise on Thursday during a screening at the 21st edition of the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, taking place between 10 and 16 April in the Suez Canal city. The film, which was a favourite in its category, tells the story of three Palestinian sisters from a Jewish mother who were separated to different countries, each speaking a different language, during the time of the Spanish Civil War (19361939) under dictator Francisco Franco. For me its not a film about history, but a film about the present time through an intimate portrait of some people who paid big prices trying to make the world a better place to live in, Ramses, who studied cinema in Madrid, says about her film, which was produced by Necati Sonmez. Many critics and film experts who attended the screening at the Ismailia Cultural Palace praised the film. Finally, we introduce Amal Ramses as a director. A very well-made film. I am glad you didnt fall in many traps while making it including promoting the characters as the daughters of a Jewish mother. This could have been an option that would boost your marketing campaign for the film abroad, but you chose not to even reveal this information until near the end of the film, commented Egyptian director Magdi Ahmed Ali during a symposium held after the screening. Many critics and filmmakers expressed their emotional reaction to the film, including DOP Said El-Shimi, who is being honoured during the festival. Ramses, who founded the Cairo International Womens Film Festival and the Between the Women Filmmakers Caravan, is leading an international womens workshop series entitled 'Correspondence Between Women' in addition to recent workshops for filmmaking. You Come from Far Away is also competing in the ongoing Gabes Cinema Festival in Tunisia Under the helm of critic Essam Zakariya, many different activities are being held at the 21st edition of the festival, attended by dozens of filmmakers and critics from across the globe, with dozens of film competing in the various categories while many others are being screened through parallel programmes celebrating African, French and Polish cinemas, in addition to the honouring of seven filmmakers and screenings of their work. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: An Akwa Ibom State High Court Uyo presided by Justice Joy Unwana (extended jurisdiction) has handed down the death sentence to 7 persons... An Akwa Ibom State High Court Uyo presided by Justice Joy Unwana (extended jurisdiction) has handed down the death sentence to 7 persons, including 3 policemen for kidnapping. The other 4 convicts include a woman hired by the gang for N50, 000 to cook for the victim, Deaconess Ime Anietie Ekanem, while they negotiated for her ransom. The state instituted suit No HU/13c/2012 against 8 members of the gang in 2012. They are Cpl Emmanuel Charlie, Ekaette Edet Moses, Fidelis Emmanson Jeremiah, Cpl Bassey Sunday (377812), PC Mfon Bassey (478463), Ndu Okon Johnny, Unyime Edem Etukakpan, and Itohowo Godwin Akpakwa. They were convicted on all 3 count charges of Conspiracy to commit felony, kidnapping, and Counseling, aiding and sponsoring kidnapping. According to the confessional statement of the 8th accused, Mrs Itohowo Akpakwa, which was admitted as an exhibit, she confessed to visiting her friend in a bar at Idakeyop Aka where she gave the 7th accused, Unyime Edem Etukakpan money to buy medicine for his ill health. Though Akpakwa denied knowledge of the plot to kidnap her friend and neighbour, no fewer than 3 other members of the gang told the court that they did not know her name at the time she visited the final meeting at Aka. They insisted that she was the one who identified her friend and gave direction to her house in Obio Etoi village, Uyo. It was learnt that the victim was dragged out of the Toyota Sienna Car driven by the husband, in front of the family house at about 6.30 PM and whisked away in a Volvo Wagon Car to Afaha Udoeyop in Ibesikpo Asutan council area where she was kept, under armed guards, in an isolated building pending agreement and payment of Ransom. The anti-kidnapping unit of the state CID swung into action as telephone negotiations between the kidnappers and the victims husband brought down the initial demand from more than N20m to about N1.8 million to be paid on 2 instalments. Plain clothed operatives of the State CID were shocked to discover that the first two persons who approached the Afaha Ibesikpo Marketsquare venue for the ransom delivery were their colleagues at the state CID. Shortly after the encounter, the change in venue for the delivery of the ransom was relayed to the husband of the victim by phone. The police investigation report, it was gathered, indicated that after thrice changing venue, the first instalment of N800,000 was delivered at Itam in another local government area. From the totality of the evidence before the Court, it was observed that the gang might have gotten away with the crime had the proceed been equitably shared. It was also revealed that serious disagreement in the sharing formula led to friction. A member of the gang, who at the time of sharing, was in the Uyo Prison on a different criminal matter, returned home to discover that he was short-changed. He then gave details of the plot and how it was carried out to the police, and later became the star witness for the State. The 8th and only accused who escaped the capital punishment, Mrs Itohowo Akpakwa- a staff of the University of Uyo, was earlier granted bail. Samuel Ikpo Esq of counsel to Mrs Akpakwa had insisted that there was no reason his client should languish in prison when there is no direct evidence linking her to the commission of the alleged crime. Her bail was secured when Ikpo successfully argued that in the absence of a prima facie evidence against his client, it became baseless and punitive to curtail her freedom. In spite of persistent argument to the contrary by Eyo Asuquo Esq for the state, insisting Mrs Akpakwa is the woman mentioned by other suspects, the court was not persuaded, and therefore had no grounds to deny her bail. Reviewing arguments on both sides, the court noted that evidence of most suspects was that the woman who attended their meeting at Aka before the kidnap operation was the one who identified the victim and also supplied information about her residence and movement. It noted that 2 state witnesses (policemen) also confirmed to the court that they heard from suspects the 8th accused supplied information and also identified the victim. Justice (Mrs) Joy Unwana echoed the position of Samuel Ikpo who pointed out that hearsay evidence by state witnesses must not only be discountenanced but that of other suspects who did not mention the name of his client. Furthermore, the court was convinced by his position that in the failure of police to conduct Identification Parade to give other suspects the opportunity to identify the woman they allegedly saw, his client cannot be declared as the woman in question. The court was of the view that there was no grounds to convict Mrs Akpakwa, and accordingly discharged and acquited her. The Coalition of Minority Tribes in Nigeria has called on the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last e... The Coalition of Minority Tribes in Nigeria has called on the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to apologise to Nigerians and return to his country Cameroon or seek naturalization. The group was reacting to the recent claim by the All Progressives Congress that Atiku is a nationality of Cameroon and not a Nigerian. The APC had since filed a motion at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, faulting the candidacy of Atiku in the election, adding that the former Vice President is a Cameroonian and not a Nigerian citizen. According to the group, what Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has done by allegedly concealing his identity is tantamount to crimes against humanity and must tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians. Addressing a news conference on Monday, Abdulmuminu Hassan, Secretary-General to the group said former head of state, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida must have realized the true nationality of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, hence, the reason he refused to appoint him as the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service. It, therefore, gave him a 21-day ultimatum to Cameroon to reunite with his family members. Full text of his speech below. This same scenario could also be the reason why former President Olusegun Obasanjo refused to allow him to succeed him as President of Nigeria in 2007. This much was stated by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in his autobiography My Watch where he stated in unequivocal terms that the paternity of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was shadowy. We are, therefore, constrained to state that it is such a shame that the Nigerian authorities have allowed such a sham fester for decades without detecting, and thereby causing Nigeria and Nigerians the opportunity to develop her country the way Nigerians would do. The Conference of Minority Tribes in Nigeria is indeed alarmed that the paternity of Alhaji Atiku was unlet undetected and he aspired and held the number two position of Vice President in Nigeria. His relationship with Simon Ateba, a Nigerian based Cameroonian journalist that was arrested in Cameroon for being a spy is also suspect and leaves more to be imagined. Consequently, the Conference of Minority Tribes in Nigeria wishes to use this medium to issue a 21-day ultimatum to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar return to Cameroon to reunite with his family members. This is important to save Nigerians the trauma of having to deal with his nationality. The Conference of Minority also wishes to advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to in an alternative solution seek naturalization as a Nigerian by applying to the Federal Ministry of Interior in Nigeria. This way Nigerians would forgive him for his sins and show him understanding since he has lived the better part of his life in Nigeria. Though at great disservice to Nigeria. The Imo House of Assembly has lifted the suspension placed on five of its members, who were suspended in November 2018, for alleged unpa... The Imo House of Assembly has lifted the suspension placed on five of its members, who were suspended in November 2018, for alleged unparliamentary conduct. The Speaker, Mr Iheanacho Ihim announced their recall during Tuesdays plenary in Owerri. Ihim said the matter was resolved after an interface at an executive session, saying that the members have been fully readmitted. It was gathered that the Speaker had on April 11 invited the suspended members to an interface at the executive session of April 16 to discuss their possible readmission. He issued the invitation following a motion by Mr Chika Madumere (AGAP-Nkwerre) at plenary. A state High Court had on Nov. 5, 2018, quashed the suspension of four of the five members, describing it as unconstitutional. The court also jointly awarded the applicants, Dr Uche Oguwuike (Ikeduru-APC), Mr Chiji Collins (Isiala Mbano- APGA), Mr Israel Nnataraonye (Mbaitoli-APC) and Mr Nkenna Nzeruo (Oru East-APC) N8 million in damages and 100,000 in legal fees. The judge, Justice Goddy Anunihu in his ruling also directed the Speaker and the house who were the first and second respondents to pay the applicants their salaries, allowances and emoluments for the period they were suspended. However, the judgment was ignored by the house leadership which appealed against it. The Canadian embassy in Nigeria has tackled Dele Momodu, a prominent publisher, over an information he shared concerning allowing Nigeri... The Canadian embassy in Nigeria has tackled Dele Momodu, a prominent publisher, over an information he shared concerning allowing Nigerian immigrants into the country. The embassy denied reports that Justin Trudeau, the countrys prime minister, pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to allow one million Nigerians enter Canada under a new employment and migration programme. The information which Momodu shared on this is currently trending on social media. He had quoted a spokesman of the Canadian labour department as saying: The programmes website will be launched next week and all available jobs will be listed. Currently there are over 6 million vacancies and we are hoping that Buhari allows at least one million people from Nigeria. But the embassy, while replying to Momodus tweet, said the development as claimed by the publisher is false. It also said: Nigerians are welcome to apply to immigrate to Canada. For the real information on how to apply, go to https://t.co/nvOkvSQzt4 Also, while writing via its Twitter handle, the embassy also asked Nigerians to shine their eyes regarding any story on the issue. It wrote: If you see a story online about moving to Canada that seems too good to be true shine your eyes well-well o!!! Over 4,200 Nigerians were approved for permanent residency in Canada in 2017, which is almost double the number from the year prior. Nigerians in Canada make important contributions to both countries. If youve seen this link on your social media timeline, dont fall for it. This story is not true. pic.twitter.com/ct2CIqaj05 If you've seen this link on your social media timeline, don't fall for it. This story is not true. For REAL information about travelling to Canada, go to https://t.co/nvOkvSQzt4 April 16, 2019 An Iyaganku Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ibadan, on Monday, ordered that a driver, Wale Oladeji, be remanded in Agodi Prison for al... An Iyaganku Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ibadan, on Monday, ordered that a driver, Wale Oladeji, be remanded in Agodi Prison for allegedly defiling a 13-year-old Junior Secondary School II, student. The police charged Oladeji, 30, of No 27, Itamaya Oke-Ado, Ibadan, with defilement. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Olabisi Ogunkanmi, did not take the plea of the defendant. Ogunkanmi gave the order, pending legal advice from the Oyo State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP). She adjourned the case until May 17, for mention. The prosecutor, Insp Sikiru Opaleye, told the court that Oladeji on March 28, at about 4pm raped the victim in the toilet of her mothers shop. He said the victims mother reported the matter at the State CIID, Iyaganku, Ibadan. The executive panel set up to investigate the crisis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has recommended the dismissal of U... The executive panel set up to investigate the crisis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has recommended the dismissal of Usman Yusuf, the executive execretary of the agency. The newspaper said the panel also recommended the dissolution of the NHIS governing board over the crisis. The board had suspended Yusuf for alleged fraud, and for rendering the scheme dysfunctional. But Yusuf defied the board, insisting that it had no power to suspend him. He also denied all he was accused of and said he was suspended for refusing to release N975 million to the ministry of health. The federal government, however, asked the NHIS ES to proceed on compulsory leave and subsequently set up the panel to probe the matter. The panel reportedly accused Yusuf of breaching the public procurement act as well as the public service rules. It was quoted as saying the NHIS ES had an unhealthy relationship with the staff of the agency, local union and some other key agencies in the health sector, which it said would negatively impact on the sector. It said another reason Yusuf should be dismissed is for failing to explore internal administrative remedies before he sued Isaac Adewole, minister of health, and the governing board over the crisis. The panels report read: Relieve the executive secretary of his appointment. Justification: Inability to work in harmony with all the relevant stakeholders in the scheme for the attainment of the schemes mandate. Established cases of infractions of the Public Service Rules i.e. insubordination and refusal to carry out lawful instructions from superior authorities (governing council and the Federal Ministry of Health) contrary to PSR Rule 030301 (0), unauthorised public utterances contrary to Rule 030421 (id), and relevant service-wide circulars. Established cases of infraction of the following provisions of the Public Procurement Act: Sections 16(6) and 32(7). Chief Egbendu Mgbewelu, the Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Elders Committee in Imo State, has warned the outgoing Go... Chief Egbendu Mgbewelu, the Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Elders Committee in Imo State, has warned the outgoing Governor, Rochas Okorocha and his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu on the dangers of bringing the presidency and the judiciary into the electoral disrepute in the state. Chief Mgbewelu addressed reporters in Owerri on what he called the rash claims being made by Okorocha and Nwosus camps. According to the PDP chieftain, The Okorocha and Nwosus camp are spreading the vile claims that they are working in cohorts with the presidency. And that the presidency has intervened on their behalf, by directing the judiciary to award Okorocha the Imo West Senatorial ticket, whatever the circumstances. The party chieftain warned that the claims and actions were bringing the judiciary and, indeed, the presidency into public odium. The fear of a rigged judiciary is overheating the Imo polity, he added. Worried by the incessant killing of Nigerians by the men of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), the Nigeria Senate on Tuesday said, Pol... Worried by the incessant killing of Nigerians by the men of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), the Nigeria Senate on Tuesday said, Police reform bill would be amended. The development followed a motion by Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West Senatorial District, stating that there was incessant killing of innocent Nigerians by members of the Nigeria Police. Mr. President, distinguished members, I move a motion on Order 42, to explain that in the last one week, about three innocent Nigerians have been killed by SARS. There have been incessant killings by the happily triggered members of the Nigeria Police especially SARS. I want to say that Nigeria is not in a war situation, Mr President. We shall be having a report on Nigeria Police reform bill tomorrow (Wednesday) and I like the Senate to use the opportunity to reform the Police so that they shall not kill all of us. In his remarks, Saraki acknowledged that there was a spate of killings across the nation by members of the Nigeria Police. He said, the Senate shall reform the bill in a manner that would stop killings, adding that the police must not take arms against those they are paid to protect. Directed by Amr Bayoumi, the film is competing in the Long Documentary competition at the 21st Ismailia International Film Festival, which closes today One day before the closing ceremony of the 21st edition of the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, Egyptian director Amr Bayoumi celebrated the world premiere of his latest documentary Where Did Ramses Go? Its not an attempt to answer the question. Its an impressionist approach to the history of Egypt since the 1950s from a personal perspective, Bayoumi who directed the last feature of late actor Mahmoud Morsi; Al-Gesr (1997) told Ahram Online before the screening of his film at the Ismailia Cultural Palace on Monday. In his film, Bayoumi skilfully uses precious footage he recorded himself during the 2006 relocation of a statue of Ramses II from a Cairo square of the same name, where the statue had stood since 1955. While cleverly taking glimpses of Egypts history since the 1950s, tackling successive political changes up until the uprising of 2011 through archive photos and newspaper headlines, the director of almost 10 documentaries uses his life story as an approach to show the statue's relocation. 1 I shot almost three hours of the relocation operation and it took me many years to decide the approach. Originally, I considered telling the story from the statues perspective before I settled on the idea of telling it from my own. That really made me work through many artistic issues that led to the final script we saw today, Bayoumi explained during a symposium held after the screening. Many critics showed appreciation for the film, while a few had some reservations about the display and the approach despite their agreement on the films quality and importance. I congratulate you on your good film, Amr. It really needs further viewing and analysis, commented veteran Egyptian critic Magda Mourice during the symposium. Egyptian DOP Said El-Shimi, who is being honoured during the 21st edition of the festival, strongly praised Bayoumi; I am proud of you. The film proved entertaining to the audience, who laughed at the light humour of the directors narration, and enthusiastic applauded the many cartoons displayed. 2 The music of the film, however, seemed unfitting for some, but others felt it was an important element of the entertaining show wisely designed by Bayoumi. Where Did Ramses Go? is competing in the Long Documentary contest against many important films. The jury, headed by director Yousri Nasrallah, is revealing its final decision Tuesday. Under the helm of critic Essam Zakaria, the current edition of the festival is gaining praise from audiences and critics for being well-organised and for its rich programme. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: A Nigerian architect identified as Bolu, reportedly lost a N3.5m job for being a Buhari supporter as confirmed in tweets he shared. A Nigerian architect identified as Bolu, reportedly lost a N3.5m job for being a Buhari supporter as confirmed in tweets he shared. The Nigerian architect in his tweet, disclosed that the N3.5m job was not lost because he was not competent, but because he is a Buhari supporter. Read his tweet below; This is coming months after it was reported that another man was fired for supporting the All Progressive Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari in the just concluded elections. Sharing his grief on Twitter, the Nigerian man with the username @fatailekanolaji who was sacked stated that he is a Buharist and nothing can change that, adding that, he will continue to stay optimistic for a new job. He tweeted, I just lost my driving job. My boss sacked me because of my support for buhari. I was congratulating a colleague for D re-election of pmb and I got sacked.I never believed anyone can go this extreme. I know my God will not abandon me and my family. I pray another door opens..Amin The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has denied the allegation of shortage of passport booklets in the country. There have been ... The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has denied the allegation of shortage of passport booklets in the country. There have been complaints by some Nigerians over their inability to get the passport booklets from the NIS. An investigation carried out by our correspondent at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, revealed that applicants were seen waiting to collect their booklets. Meanwhile, the NIS Public Relations Officer, Mr Sunday James, while denying the allegation on Tuesday said that a large number of applicants at the headquarters was the reason why the process became cumbersome. The pressure at the headquarters is what people are amplifying and not that there is any reality. The pressure is so enormous. Everybody wants to come to his friend for passport and the Comptroller-General had insisted that there shouldnt be friendship in this passport business. Some Nigerians want it immediately and so they seek the services of touts, James said. James told newsmen that the passport was a document of the Federal Government which was to be issued to qualified Nigerians, and as such there was no reason why citizens should not get the booklet. If you know you are qualified why should you look for somebody. This is what is causing this problem and they end up entering into the wrong hands. We are discouraging this, he said. He noted that the Comptroller-General had directed that every passport office in the country should be supplied with adequate booklets. When we have people thronging to the headquarters even with the workforce, you are going to overstretch them talk-less of the transitional period where we are talking of migrating to the new passport, he said. The spokesman explained that a lot of machines were being installed and a lot of systems being put in place to ensure that migrating to the new passport was feasible and without stress. The service had said that it would begin issuance of the new 10-year enhanced e-passport from April 29. The new passport will be integrated with the National Identity Number (NIN). President Muhammadu Buhari had on Jan. 16, officially launched the new e-passport. The cost of the 32-page five-year standard passport stands at N25, 000, 64-page five-year standard passport, N35,000, while the 64-page 10-year standard passport costs N70,000 and the 32-page five-year official passport is N15,000. The United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DfID) is supporting the Not For Sale campaign launched to curb traffick... The United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DfID) is supporting the Not For Sale campaign launched to curb trafficking of girls and women from Nigeria. The campaign which started in March is targeted at young women who are desperate to leave Nigeria. They were warned to stay off the UK or risk ending up as modern slaves. Some women shared their experiences on how they were tempted to travel to Europe but eventually got something doing in Nigeria. With the UKs backing, posters are to be placed in schools, churches and marketplaces in an attempt to reduce trafficking, sexual exploitation and forced labour. In a report by the UK Independent, DFID said the campaign focuses on aspirational stories of women who have established successful careers in Nigeria. The newspaper quoted Penny Mordaunt, a member of UK parliament, to have described modern slavery as one of the greatest human rights abuses. UK aid is working in partnership with the National Crime Agency and Nigerian law enforcement to stop it at its source, she said. Together we are tackling the root causes of dangerous migration to prevent vulnerable women and girls from becoming targeted by traffickers. The benefits of this will be far-reaching preventing regional instability and helping us tackle modern slavery here in the UK. Gift Jonathan, one of the victims featured in the adverts, explained how she was raped and tortured when she tried to move to Europe. Things were so hard that when my friend told me about travelling to Germany, guy I moved! We only made it to Libya. I was sold, raped and tortured. I saw many Nigerians die including my friend Iniobong, she had said. The single mother of two has returned to Nigeria and started her baking business which she said brings her enough money to take care of her family. Operating in about 12 countries since 2007, the Not For Sale has supported nearly 35,000 survivors and at-risk individuals, providing them long-term care, housing, education, vocational training, and healthcare. An Upper Area Court I sitting in Kasuwan Nama, Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced a student, Hamisu Abubakar to two years in prison for stealin... An Upper Area Court I sitting in Kasuwan Nama, Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced a student, Hamisu Abubakar to two years in prison for stealing a wireless microphone from a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church. The Judge, Lawal Suleiman, who sentenced Abubakar, 20, gave him an option to a pay a fine of N20,000 for stealing and one-year imprisonment for trespass with an option of N10,000 fine. He said that the judgment would serve as a deterrent to those who would want to indulge in such act. Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Daniel Longwal, told the court that the case was reported on April 9, at the Anglo-Jos Police station by one Pastor Nathan Abiodun of Mountain of Fire and Miracles, Sparkling Junction, who is the complainant. The prosecutor said that while the pastors were having their prayer meeting in the afternoon, the accused went to the altar and disconnected the wireless microphone worth N35,000. The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 334 and 273 of Plateau State penal code law. The convict pleaded guilty to the offence. Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says the Buhari administration has sent corruption under the carpet. Speaking in an inter... Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says the Buhari administration has sent corruption under the carpet. Speaking in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), Mohammed said in the second term, this government will be more determined in the fight against corruption. He said the president will not compromise his anti-corruption programmes and policies. Mohammed granted the interview in Washington, where he is said to be engaging international media and think tank, promote and reiterate the successes of Buharis government. The minister said that the anti-corruption fight would be frontal in the agenda of the government because corruption is one of the major causes of poverty and underdevelopment in the country. He spoke on how under the past administration, 55 Nigerians shared a whopping sum of N1.3 billion equivalent to what the present administration had spent on infrastructure development in four years. The president is committed to the fight against corruption and the administration will continue with it, he said. For example, the treasury single account has instituted accountability in governments earnings and spending and the whistle blower policy has led to the recovery of billions of naira. It takes more than four years to clean a country endemic in corruption. However, it is on record that this administration has driven corruption under the carpet in four years. In the next four years, therefore, the government will consolidate on the achievements recorded particularly in the fight against corruption. Speaking on insecurity, the minister said the administration would apply multi dimensional approach besides deployment of forces. He said the government was not unaware of other remote causes of the crises in the affected areas including economic and social reasons, non-inclusiveness, lack of infrastructure and job opportunities. The minister noted that, by and large, the administration had performed well in addressing insecurity and the country is safer than it was in 2015. Specifically, he said the government had successfully secured the entire territory of the country from the Boko Haram while the farmers/herdsmen clash in Benue had been curtailed. Mohammed said that the fight against banditry, killings and banditry in Zamfara and Kaduna has been put under control in the last two weeks because of the synergy among the security forces. The minister also said that the administration has made progress in economy recovery with deliberate programmers of diversifying the economy through agriculture and other sectors as well as developing infrastructure. Yakubu Gowon, a former military head of state, says Nigeria would not be dependent on fuel imports if plans by his administration to ... Yakubu Gowon, a former military head of state, says Nigeria would not be dependent on fuel imports if plans by his administration to build five refineries had succeeded. to build five refineries had succeeded. Nigeria currently imports most of the refined petroleum products in circulation through crude oil swap deals and falls prey to scarcity of the products from time to time. The government owns four refineries with a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) but have been operating well below capacity, hitting an all-time low in 2017. But speaking at the second annual Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) international conference in Lagos on Monday, Gowon said three refineries designed for local consumption were built during his rule between 1966 and 1975. Gowon said one of the export-oriented refineries would have been dedicated to the local market to meet rising demand. During our time, we planned to build five export-oriented refineries to be able to deal with exporting of crude oil for refined products, he said. But then, we had the three refineriesPort Harcourt, Warri and Kadunafor home consumption. Today our consumption has grown more than the three refineries can do, and what would have happened is that we would transfer one of the export-oriented refineries to feed the local market. That is the way that it would have been. The former head of state hoped that the modular refineries coming on stream will reduce the nations dependence on petrol imports and bring an end to subsidy. With the modular refineries coming up, I hope things will improve and there will be reduction of our dependence on export of our crude oil for refined petroleum products as this has created a lot of problem like subsidy and other challenges, he said. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not engage the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in debate over petitio... The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not engage the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in debate over petitions before the presidential election petition tribunal because they are sub-judice. Festus Okoye, chairman, information and voter education committee of the commission, said this in a statement. Okoye was responding to PDPs allegation that INEC refused to release election materials used for the conduct of the February 23 presidential poll for inspection. Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, had said the continued refusal of INEC to release the electoral materials to the party and its legal team was completely provocative, standing in the way of justice and working against the will of the people. The tribunal had ordered the electoral commission to release the materials to the opposition party after the party and Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, filed petitions before it. However, the national commissioner said INEC is a Iaw-abiding institution and will continue to accord the requisite respect to judicial institutions and obey the orders of courts. The commission is aware that very senior lawyers are representing the petitioners and the respondents in relation to the said petitions, Okoye said. The commission is a law-abiding institution and will not argue or canvass in the media, petitions that are sub-judice, and where the presidential election petitions tribunal is firmly seized of the issues. The Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts has closed its 21st edition on Tuesday at the Ismailia Cultural Palace after a one-week run with a number of performances held. During the festival, several Egyptian films were honoured, as well as films from across the globe, with some having their world premiere, including Amr Bayoumis Where did Ramses Go? which won Best Long Documentary. Switzerlands 'Kids of Michael Frei' won Best Animation while Best Short Narrative went to Mexicos Arcangel by Angeles Cruz. Best Short Documentary went to Kyrgyzstans Faraway by Begim Zholdubai Kyzy. Egyptian-born director Amal Ramses' You Come from Far Away clinched two awards; the Africa Cinematographers Critics Federation Committee Award and the FIPRESCI Award. Many critics, filmmakers and press representatives praised the festival's organising and the programme in the artistic and logistic aspects. We only did what should have been done, National Cinema Centre head Khaled Abdelgelil told Ahram Online in an interview on Tuesday, thanking the Ministry of Culture, the sponsors and all the organising team, which was headed by critic Essam Zakaria, for their effort. Many different activities were held, attended by dozens of filmmakers and critics from across the globe, with dozens of film competing in the various categories and many others screened through parallel programmes celebrating African, French and Polish cinemas. In addition, seven filmmakers were honoured and a few workshops were held. Ismailia Festival has always been the window to the international scene for almost all Egyptian cinema professionals. I, myself, used to sneak into it when I was a student in the Cinema Institute. We only did the normal thing and were looking forward to more in the upcoming editions, Abdelgelil said. He also revealed that the next edition will see Arabic subtitles for all the participating films as well as a YouTube channel for the festival to be launched soon. The festival's opening film was 'We Are Not Princesses' (2018), directed by Bridgette Auger and Ittab Azzam, which tells the story of the "incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut." Ismailia is located 100km east of the capital Cairo, with various modes of transportation available to travel the Suez Canal city. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Your Excellencies, Members of the European Parliament, Honored guests and respected hosts, It seems that it is only now as we are stepping well into the 21 century and possibly into a new and different world, a new epoch in which sovereignty is gaining more and more support of the people against globalizing trends of previous decades that the NATO bombing of the Republic of Srpska which happened over two decades ago is beginning to be objectively discussed and analyzed (let us say - comprehensive studies about the issue are still yet to come). Republic of Srpska was founded on January 9 1992 therefore, two months prior to the beginning of the civil and religious war in Bosnia and it has been created precisely as a response to the violation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina of that time i.e., in order to protect the rights of the Serbs as a people. Civil and religious war in Bosnia began in April 1992. It must be noted that from the very beginning there have been multiple attempts to end the war but the West interfered simultaneously calling itself the international community and this is how NATO become involved supporting exclusively one side in the conflict. Considering the basic facts about NATO aggression against the Republic of Srpska one should keep in mind the following: first of all, this was the largest and the most military organized operation in Europe since the end of the Second World War. In the operation called Deliberate Force which lasted from August 30 until September 14 1995 the biggest military force in the world attacked the Republic of Srpska area of 24, 526 sq km with the population of 1, 479 million. The total number of bombs dropped on Srpska was 1026. NATO targeted almost everything - cities, villages, schools, hospitals, industrial facilities, power facilities. The aggression led to the immediate loss of 152 civilian lives, including children, 46 military victims, and over 300 seriously wounded civilians ( the numbers are most likely higher since the complete and systematized data from the period does not exist). The material damage is measured in multi-million euros and it would take years even for a much larger and economically prosperous country to restore it. Moreover, in a highly relevant aspect, however, the other reason why the number of actual victims is yet to be counted is because in violation to the Geneva Convention and a number of other conventions - bombings have been preformed using the ammunition with depleted uranium which caused permanent significant increase in number of malignancies (in two decades the death rate from these diseases tripled, it is now over 3000 per year) and the consequences will be felt by future generations as well. NATO, therefore, used unauthorized weapons and ammunition which was used never before such as missile warheads with depleted uranium. Serbs have never in their history attacked or otherwise imperiled any NATO member country - nor did the Republic of Srpska present any threat to world peace and safety as it has been presented by Western media and self-proclaimed experts at the time i.e. in decades of satanization of Serbs as a people.The real explanation is that after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Warsaw pact NATO set its new goal i.e., to spread to the East. This is how NATO transformed itself into a political expansionist organization. Unfortunately, the change of the concept of NATO has been first felt by the Serbs in the Republic of Srpska. This transformation of the alliance equally corresponded to a common thought of that time, namely, that NATO needed to find new tasks in order to justify its existence. NATO alliance, therefore, positioned itself as a party involved in the armed conflict - which is contrary to the international conventions as well as to certain rules of NATO alliance that existed at that time. The breakdown of Yugoslavia in the eyes of the allience has been a practically perfect experiment: it served as an introduction for a new concept of local wars which was then applied afterwards. The NATO aggression was not caused by a single event it has been planned much earlier (the force, power as well as the number of participants i.e., 5000 soldiers, 400 aircrafts etc. support the thesis that the whole operation has been planned in advance more details you may find in the first book I am presenting here today NATOs Deliberate Force Against The Republic of Srpska), and as we have seen in many different cases from Iraq to Libya and Syria, reasons to start the agression are basically extremely bizarre and serve the purpose of justifying the aggression before the world public. Apparently, the main reason of - first of all the American administration involvement in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been to ensure the US domination in the Balkans. Therefore, as a political organization, NATO continued to pursue its activities on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia and the Balkans. Until present, NATO has placed a great deal of the Balkan Peninsula under its control: by fast-track acceptance of new countries (even when it is highly questionable from a democratic standpoint that the people in those countries actually wanted to join the alliance), as well as through various kinds of agreements. Needless to say - all of this is not helping long-term stability in the region precisely because it appears as a continuation of NATOs political expansionism. Republic of Srpska and Serbia are the only political subjects resisting further expansion of the alliance. The pressure on the Republic of Srpska is a continuation of the attitude NATO adopted during the years of war. In the contemporary situation, we are faced with the issue weather the Republic of Srpska should become a member of such an alliance, i.e. of a military organization which has undoubtedly written its history in a profoundly negative manner The pressure on the Republic of Srpska is a continuation of the attitude NATO adopted during the years of war. In the contemporary situation, we are faced with the issue weather the Republic of Srpska should become a member of such an alliance, i.e. of a military organization which has undoubtedly written its history in a profoundly negative manner. Memory of this exists today and the crime of NATO aggression will be remembered as such by future generations as well. The people of Srpska remember that they were unlawfully attacked and they also recall the largely excessive use of force by the alliance. The response, therefore, to the question whether the Republic of Srpska will join NATO has already been given - by the people of the Republic of Srpska. The official position of the Republic of Srpska is and will be one of military neutrality i.e. of not joining any military organization neither in present nor in the future. In October 2017 the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska adopted a Resolution proclaiming its military neutrality in relation to military alliances which firmly states its position. Republic of Srpska follows the equally military neutral position of Serbia which is one of the guarantors of the Dayton Agreement. NATOs Deliberate Force operation,in fact, was not the only action of the alliance against Srpska i.e. neither the first nor the last one (there were a number of smaller operations of the alliance that preceded the bombing). After the bombing - and now for over two decades - NATO has consistently been engaged in promoting and strengthening the role of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the High Representative has coherently and systematically been engaged in dissolving the Dayton Peace Accords. Or, more precisely, 460 laws, rules and regulations were imposed by the High Representative imposed meaning they are contrary to the Dayton Agreement. Therefore, through numerous direct violations of the Dayton Agreement the High Representative has been weakening the political and legal status of the Republic of Srpska. (More details may be found in the other book I am presenting here Subversion of the Dayton Agreement and one should keep in mind here, first and foremost, that the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Annex 4 of the Dayton Accords i.e., that, therefore, all subversion of Dayton have far-reaching consequences). This way, NATO once again proved itself as a political organization par excellence, and one that pursues a continuing task of deconstructing Srpska - so the fact that there is no trust in the alliance appears as the only reasonable attitude. ( And even if one was to observe this matter from a purely cost-benefit pragmatistic point of view, it is clear there would not be any benefits for Srpska from NATO membership on contrary, only the expenses would be much higher such that, for instance, the defense budget would, would need to increase 100%). Another and a most recent example of just to what extent NATO is still explicitly interfering into political life in Bosnia (and once more against the Republic of Srpska) is this: after Bosnias recent elections six months ago NATO offered Bosnia and Herzegovina to activate Membership Action Plan (MAP). Furthermore, the events that immediately followed retroactively proved the timing here was also not a matter of coincidence because right after this offer Bosniak representatives declared that they will not elect the Chairman of the Council of Ministers until the NATO MAP offer is accepted. (Bosnia does not have a government it has a body called Council of Ministers composed of representatives both from the Republic of Srpska and from the Federation). This way NATO MAP plan placed itself as the direct condition for what is suppose to be normal practical implementation of the results of democratic elections and this is called extreme political interventionism. The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia (the Presidency of Bosnia functions according to the rotating principle so the current Chairman is from the Republic of Srpska) has declared that NATOs accession process is blocking Bosnias EU path and has traveled to Brussels twice regarding this matter. In spite the fact that EU officials confirmed on several occasions that the process of the EU integration and NATO membership are two separate issues and that therefore the EU path is not conditioned by questions such as Membership Action Plan - it remains a fact that the Council of Ministers in Bosnia has not been formed up to this day. This example illustrates several things: 1) firstly, the strong division between the stance of the Republic of Srpska and the Federation regarding NATO; 2) secondly, NATOs contemporary political involvement in Bosnia as a part of its broader plan to control the Balkans 3) thirdly, that is it unclear to what extent EU and NATO paths are in reality separated and this is happening in a moment in which there is a loss of enthusiasm in the Balkans for the EU en generale and 4) finally, that, in practice, it is the Federation and not the Republic of Srpska that is the cause not only of Bosnias current political standoff but equally of its continual process of progressive dissolving i.e. of turning out to be an impossible state. The same can be seen in and through the history of violation of the Dayton Peace Accords by the High Representative or, more precisely, between the correlation of such violations and the consistent political actions of the Bosniaks in the Federation to centralize Bosnia and, therefore, negate its political and legal structure of a state composed of two entities and three people. (And this negation of Bosnias structure by the Bosniaks can nowadays be seen in attempts of majorization of Croats as well as Serbs). Republic of Srpska is the only self-sustainable one in Bosnia, both in political and economic terms and the same does not hold for either the Federation or Bosnia as a whole. Republic of Srpska is stable, institutionally consolidated and is on the path of growth and development Republic of Srpska is the only self-sustainable one in Bosnia, both in political and economic terms and the same does not hold for either the Federation or Bosnia as a whole. Republic of Srpska is stable, institutionally consolidated and is on the path of growth and development. Its policy is cooperation with all political actors worldwide which respect its internationally recognized political and legal status according to the Dayton Agreement. Its policy is equally one of military neutrality - above and beyond all - because there are all reasons to believe that NATO membership would mean the political end of the Republic of Srpska. (Along the same lines the Republic of Srpska will purse the EU path inasmuch as this path not conditioned by acceleration into the alliance and inasmuch as there is respect for the status of Srpska. Also, the Republic of Srpska is keeping its eyes wide open when it comes to the issue of all turbulences happening in contemporary Europe and is proactively observing its undergoing transformations because it is prepared and willing to further strengthen relations with all its political allies ). Moreover, the stance of the Republic of Srpska is that military neutrality relevantly contributes to the stability of the entire Balkan region precisely because it affirms sovereignty and autonomy and simultaneously corresponds to the democratic principle i.e. to the will of the people. Consequently, therefore, the concept of a larger militarily neutral territory in the Balkans is one which would potentially lead to reduction of international tensions and, furthermore, as such, it could become a strategic course in future European doctrines, that is - it could possibly be incorporated into a new continental security architecture. Considering the current problems of the Balkans and its open questions as well as issues of European security overall it seems that the emphases on seeking common non-aligned solutions theoretically and practically could be the best fit. Indisputably, these issues equally relate to the question of Europes future and to the way one thinks about its politics and security. The vision of Europes future which the Republic of Srpska perceives as the one that best serves the long term interests of different European people is one that affirms sovereignty, patriotism and neutrality a Europe of its people that is truly democratic. The 21 century requires of all of us to creatively engage in the process of rebuilding politics, economy, society and culture in the epoch after globalism and neoliberalism as well as to emphasize the potentials of Europe when we remember that Europe, in fact, stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals. It is in such a way we can begin to see the Europe of tomorrow. Thank you for your attention. ( 26. 2019. . ) Hong Kong: HK scoops gold at exhibition The Hong Kong delegation was awarded with 57 gold medals, 51 silver medals, nine bronze medals and nine special awards at the 47th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in Switzerland. Hong Kong once again won the top Grand Prize at the exhibition. The delegation of more than 100 participants exhibited more than 100 projects this year. The Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Berlin (HKETO Berlin) together with the Hong Kong Federation of Invention & Innovation hosted a reception for the exhibition on April 12. Speaking at the reception, Director of HKETO Berlin Bill Li emphasised the city's strength as an innovation and technology hub. He also highlighted the most recent government policies to further transform Hong Kong into a knowledge-based economy. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. When I look at maps from centuries ago, I wonder how they could have been of any use. Not only were they filled with mythological monsters and mythological places, but the perspectives mostly served an aesthetic design rather than a practical one. Of course, accuracy was hard to come by without the many mapping tools we take for grantedsome of them just in their infancy during the Renaissance, and many more that would have seemed like outlandish magic to nearly everyone in 15th century Europe. Everyone, it sometimes seems, but Leonardo da Vinci, who anticipated and sometimes steered the direction of futuristic public works technology. None of his flying machines worked, and he could hardly have seen images taken from outer space. But he clearly saw the problem with contemporary maps. The necessity of fixing them led to a 1502 aerial image of Imola, Italy, drawn almost as accurately as if he had been peering at the city through a Google satellite camera. Leonardo, says the narrator of the Vox video above, needed to show Imola as an ichnographic map, a term coined by ancient Roman engineer Vitruvius to describe ground plan-style cartography. No streets or buildings are obscured, as they are in the maps drawn from the oblique perspective of a hilltop or mountain. Leonardo undertook the project while employed as Cesare Borgias military engineer. He was charged with helping Borgia become more aware of the towns layout. For this visual aid turned cartographic marvel, he drew from the same source that inspired the elegant Vitruvian Man. While the visionary Roman builder could imagine a gods eye view, it took someone with Leonardos extraordinary perspicacity and skill to actually draw one, in a startlingly accurate way. Did he do it with grit and moxie? Did he astral project thousands of miles above the city? Was he in contact with ancient aliens? No, he used geometry, and a compass, the same means and instruments that allowed ancient scientists like Eratosthenes to calculate the circumference of the earth, to within 200 miles, over 2000 years ago. Leonardo probably also used an instrument called a bussola, a device that measures degrees inside a circlelike the one that surrounds his city map. Painstakingly recording the angles of each turn and intersection in the town and measuring their distance from each other would have given him the data he needed to recreate the city as seen from above, using the bussola to maintain proper scale. Other methods would have been involved, all of them commonly available to surveyors, builders, city planners, and cartographers at the time. Leonardo trusted the math, even though he could never verify it, but like the best mapmakers, he also wanted to make something beautiful. It may be difficult for historians to determine which inaccuracies are due to miscalculation and which to deliberate distortion for some artistic purpose. But license or mistakes aside, Leonardos map remains an astonishing feat, marking a seismic shift from the geography of myth and perception to one of information, drawn plainly. Theres no telling if the archetypal Renaissance man would have liked where this path led, but if he lived in the 21st century, hed already have his mind trained on ideas that anticipate technology hundreds of years in our future. Related Content: Carl Sagan Explains How the Ancient Greeks, Using Reason and Math, Figured Out the Earth Isnt Flat, Over 2,000 Years Ago The Elegant Mathematics of Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vincis Most Famous Drawing: An Animated Introduction Leonardo da Vinci Saw the World Differently Thanks to an Eye Disorder, Says a New Scientific Study Leonardo da Vincis Earliest Notebooks Now Digitized and Made Free Online: Explore His Ingenious Drawings, Diagrams, Mirror Writing & More Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness Our simplest model of an economy is: supply and demand. This model has many simple implications for policy. Now we know of many much more complicated economic models, which often have quite different policy implications. But often we are not sure which more complex models actually apply well to any given situation. So we have to worry that people favor more complex models mainly to justify their preferred policies. Knowing this pushes me toward weakly recommending the policies implied by supply and demand, unless I see unusually clear evidence to support a different economic model. (FYI, the evidence that fixed costs exists seems plenty clear, so I really mean supply & demand with fixed costs.) In our simplest modes of information, people are better off when they have more information, and also when information is distributed more symmetrically. There is a vast world of much more complicated models, but it is often hard to tell which more complex models apply well to given situations, and many probably favor particular models to justify preferred policies. So as with supply and demand, this uncertainty pushes me to weakly favor the simplest info models, and their policy recommendations favoring more info and more symmetric info. Now we do have some relatively clear exceptions where privacy seems a better policy. For example, it is better to not let extortionists know that you know that theyd actually carry out threats. Private keys and passwords are powerful tools for protecting property from theft. Many place large values on privacy re their naked bodies, and such info typically has much less value to others. And to create incentives to discover info, we often need to let people keep that info secret, at least until they make key sales or trades. Most other cases, however, are much less clear. Which usually pushes me toward favoring openness, transparency, and symmetry of info, as these are the implications of our simplest info models. Which brings us to recent proposals to make all tax returns public, such is now done in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Wisconsin, and such as we now do with US property taxes. The US tried this for income taxes for the first ten years after they were imposed in 1861, and also in 1924: In October 1924, the federal government threw open for public inspection the files that recorded the incomes of American taxpayers, and the amounts they had paid in taxes. Journalists soon began to note the curious absence of some conspicuously wealthy people from the lists of top taxpayers. Congress had ordered the disclosure as a weapon against tax fraud. There is every reason to think that sunlight served the desired purpose. One important piece of evidence is that wealthy Americans absolutely hated the disclosure law, and soon persuaded Congress to execute a U-turn. (more) Reducing tax evasion seems a substantial benefit to this policy; in 2010 US Federal tax revenue was cut by 14% due to tax evasion. Offering bounties to anyone who showed a tax fraud would increase this gain. In addition, a Twitter survey I just started suggests that over 80% of people would not be willing to pay 1% of their income to keep their taxes private. This suggests the policy can pay for itself in in tax terms alone. Other purported benefits: Disclosure also could help to reduce disparities in income Inequality is easier to ignore in the absence of evidence. Public corporations are required to report the compensation of top executives who check disclosures of rival companies to ensure they are not underpaid. Another benefit would be identifying patterns of illegal discrimination against women or minorities. People who know how much their co-workers are paid and how much people are paid at other companies, and in other industries can make better career decisions. Tax data also is a rich source of information about American life. (more) Tyler Cowen, however, disagrees: The world can figure out a lot about the rest of your life [from your taxes] Lets say, for instance, that you just got out of prison should that be commonly available public information? Lets say you havent yet had a high-paying job. With tax-record publication, it will be harder to pitch yourself as a quality hire with upside potential. [In] the dating market, tax transparency would give high-earning men and women a bigger advantage and hurt their lower-earning competitors. Is it better if your parents and all your friends can see how well your new job is going or how much in royalties your last book earned? As it stands, your close associates assume the best or at least give you the benefit of the doubt. [Norway] tax-record publication negatively affected the well-being of poorer Norwegians while at the same time boosting the self-esteem of the rich. Residents in poor zip codes pay higher premiums, even after adjusting for their level of risk. If insurers had data on everyones exact level of income, these kinds of discrimination might become worse yet. Lets say you have medical expenses high enough that they are deductible against taxable income. All of a sudden, the whole world will know that you were sick, and how much you were spending to get better. Presumably your tax-deductible charitable contributions would become public information as well, including which religious institutions you gave to. Many people give away large sums of money to charities, but do so anonymously to avoid being deluged with requests for money and fawning sycophants. Making it harder to donate anonymously probably would result in fewer charitable contributions. (more) Anonymous donations are a tiny fraction of charity overall, and protecting rich folks from being bothered by charity requests seems a pretty small consideration. Insurance market usually get more efficient when insurers know more about customers, as do labor markets when workers know more about wages. Re Norway happiness, no net harm was shown, just some doing better and some doing worse. Re showing off to mates etc., more visible income would make people try harder to gain higher income, and try less hard to display income via clothes, cars, etc.; that seems a win to me. And the rest of Cowens objections are about the privately perceived value of privacy, which must be small if people arent willing to pay much for it, as suggested by my survey. Im open to seeing stronger effects, but so far my usual presumption for symmetric info plus apparently large corruption-detection advantages here lean me to tentatively favor publishing tax returns. GD Star Rating loading... The fashion world has a special relationship to Paris, one of its major cultural, historic and industry hubs. As such, since news spread that the Notre Dame cathedral was devastated yesterday in a fire, designers and fashion houses have been sharing support for their favorite city. On top of offering condolences, the fashion industry is shaping up to be one of the biggest contributors to repair efforts. Executives from two of the biggest fashion companies in the world have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to the reconstruction of the historic site. Francois-Henri Pinault, executive director of Kering (Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen) and Bernard Arnault, CEO of LMVH (Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Celine, Dior, Kenzo) have both made pledges. Pinault has promised over $100 million, according to BBC to rebuild the UNESCO world heritage site. Meanwhile, the Arnault family and LMVH will donate over $200 million to the site, which they consider a "core part of the french history," and also offer their "relevant" services. L'Oreal's founding company, the Bettencourts will also donate $200 million. It's not clear yet how expensive the fire's damage was (the cathedral's principal structure was saved, though it's still unstable). However, given the outpouring of support from companies like aforementioned as well as the Russian, American and British governments, and plenty of celebrities and individual donors, there'll be no shortage of funds. According to High Snobiety, Virgil Abloh posted a screenshot on Instagram of him googling "how to donate to rebuild Notre Dame." Other fashion folks who have expressed concern include Simon Porte Jacquemus, Ricardo Tisci, Helmut Lang and Givenchy's Claire Waight Keller. NPPs first Vice Chairman of Asokwa constituency, Edmund Kyei has hinted that a whopping three thousand Ghanaians are likely to be sacked from the Tema port. According to him, an alleged contract signed by the then Mahama-led government with Meridian Port Service will cost the country if not terminated by the incumbent. In 2015, Ghana Government led by Elder Ofosu-Ampofo now NDC National Chairman and the then Chairman of the Ghana Ports and Habors Authority board signed an agreement with the Meridian Port Service (MPS) which was established in 2002, he said. The ultimate purpose of the deal was to expand the port to a higher status, but investigations into this said contract bring to light very disturbing terms which will definitely bring Ghana to its knees, Edmund Kyei alleged during a political discourse in Amsterdam, April 14, 2019. He also made it clear how MPs will monopolize the port activities in few years to come if this contract is not reviewed. The commencement of this project would automatically result in over three thousand (3,000) innocent Ghanaians losing their jobs at the Tema port and over 2 billion dollars loss in revenue to our beloved country over the 35 years period this project will span, aside the huge additional tax waiver approved under this contract hence making this agreement reckless and insensitive, he said. He reiterates the unbearable economic and social consequences this agreement would bring to Ghanaians. According to him, the contract is expected to kick start this year, June 2019 and span over the next 35 years. The NPP man however called on President Akufo- Addo to review the shoddy contract and relief the good people from the shackles of bad governance and mismanagement before the project commence. According to him, Former President Mahama and the NDC have over the years shown by their actions how poor they managed our country's resources and economy. Never Again Ex President Mahama, you are not an option for Ghanaians. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007 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 Ghanas economy has been largely supported by the agriculture sector, but this has not been exploited to the maximum. Commodities, such as avocado, pineapple, coconut, sweet potato, cashew among other have huge value on the international market but has not been exploited due to lack of funds to support the sector. The Alliance for Development and Industrialization, (ADI), a think tank group, is proposing a US$2 billion Transformational Commodity Fund, (TCF) for the agriculture sector. The US$2 billion fund is expected to support the complete value chain and adjourning structures such as roads infrastructure at community levels, farmer support and contracting, storage, processing, packaging and marketing. The US$2 billion which can be raised through the issuance of bonds on the international market could be used to support the countrys five key commodities such as avocado, pineapple, coconut, sweet potato, and sweet potato, which have huge potentials offshore. In a press statement issued in Accra, the ADI is optimistic that this should not be the burden of the government but rather the responsibility of the private sector which should be based on monitoring and structural system that could pay back the debt. It would also support the grass root development and expansion of the agricultural industry making sure that the value chain establishment for these industries are well establish to pay for the facility. According to the statement, this is just a replica of the Syno Hydro batter deal with the Ghanas bauxitewhat we need is the government guarantee to raise the money, since the cultivation of these crops would automatically pay for itself. The export of these commodities would bring in the much needed green back to slow down the speed depreciation of the Ghana Cedi, support the countrys balance of payment and also improve on the reserves. According to the ADI, the bonds should have a 15 year tenor, which would be paid back to potential investors through the export of these commodities. The cultivations of these five commodities on a large scale would also serves as an import substitution and also feed the factories that the government is creating through the 1D1F program. According to ADI arithmetics, the cultivation of coconut for export over 130 thousand acres is expected to generate US$250 million per annum over a 10 year period with expected 61000 jobs, the cultivation of avocado on a 120 thousand acres over a six year period is expected to generate US$700 million per annum with expected 24000 jobs, and sweet potato on a 35 thousand acres could generate US$200million annually with expected 14000 jobs. Citrus can generate US$180 million annually on a 95 thousand acres of land with expected 36000, cashew could generate US$40million annually in the next six years, mangoes could generate US$160million annually with expected 3100 jobs, pineapple could generate US$150 million per annum and also essential oils could generate US135 million per annum with over 25000 jobs. The ADI has called on the Finance Minister to work assiduously to raise this bonds for the agriculture sector, since it is consider as the backbone of the countrys economy. 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 Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee of Mines and Energy have lauded the successful indigenisation of Ghana National Gas Company. They pointed out that the indigenisation saved the country more $5,000 monthly being spent on expatriate staff. The members led by the Vice Chairperson, Mr George Mireku Duker MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem, expressed their joy after a day's working visit to the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant to assess the activities of the company and the way forward. Mr Duker expressed satisfaction about the performance of the processing plant, describing it as a valuable national asset which was solely managed by Ghanaian engineers. He was equally happy that the company was implementing the local content policy and was up to the task concerning its corporate social responsibility towards the communities in which they operated by providing them with social amenities such as good roads, potable water and schools. Mr Duker in this regard suggested that part of the revenue accrued from the mining sector should be invested in the CSR activities in the mining communities."I think the good work Ghana gas is doing should be replicated in the mining sector too." He pointed out that considering what they saw at the plant, there was no way the committee would not assist Ghana gas if they should present any need to the house for support."We believe whatever assistance given to the company would be put to good use". Mr Duker praised Ghana gas for the successful tie-in and reverse flow of gas which had gone along to reduce the occurrence of power outages in the country. Mr Adams Mutawakilu ranking member, also commended the company for putting in place a world-class health safety and environment as well as security measures, which had helped the company to record zero accident since its inception. He said what was happening at Atuabo gas processing plant currently was an indication that Ghanaians, when given a little push could work wonders and commended the management and staff for their hard work. He also lauded the company for the successes chalked so far and asked that the company be given the needed support to expand it production. 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 Bavarian Motor Works (BMW), owners and lovers club of Ghana has embarked on a humanitarian mission to support Sogakope DA Basic C School as it marks its one-year anniversary. BMW Club Ghana, donated a modern canteen edifice and other ancillary to the school with the aim of helping to ensure that students have a hygienic environment to eat and learn. One Child, One Book (1C1B) Project, the main Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the club, also donated about 500 branded exercise books, text books, mathematical sets and dictionaries to the school. Other items donated to the school include; hand washing bowls and buckets, shoes, dresses and foodstuffs as well as bags of sachet water. The donation event was held concurrently with Drive Tours (DTs), a quarterly activity of the club during which they embark on a long distance drive as a form of exercise and for fun. The President, BMW Club Ghana, Benjamin Kwadwo Oppong, indicated that the club was officially accepted and certified by the African BMW Club about a year ago and as part of its one year anniversary celebration activities, decided to support the school with that project. as a car club, driving forms part of our major activities which is dubbed Drive Toursso, we drive on long distance journey and tour the country which is also a form of tourism. We have previously been to Kumasi, Akosombo and Takoradi. Usually on our drive tours, we add some humanitarian activity to it so that we can be able to benefit others in the communities we visit. We have previous done a donation to Kumasi Children Home, branded vest and reflectors to Ghana Police Service, and also paid tolls for about 3000 drivers at the Tema Motorway. "This time around we decided to drive to Sogakope so we adopted the Sogakope DA C School and we realised that their canteen was very deplorable so we actually built a new canteen for them and provided them with white boards in their classrooms, he said. The Headmistress, Sogakope DA Basic C, Justine Dorglo, expressed her profound gratitude to the Club for the assistance but also made an appeal to corporate Ghana and government to come to their aid as the school also lacks library and computer laboratory. BMW Club Ghana came to us some few weeks ago that they want to help us and at the time our deplorable canteen was a major problem to us, so they promised to provide us with a new one and thankfully, today they have fulfilled their promise. The books, 10 white boards among other items provided, will go a long way to enhance academic works and the modern canteen facility will also protect our students from contracting diseases like cholera and diarrhea, he said. BMW Club Ghana is basically for owners of BMW automobile. However, membership is opened to anybody who is a lover of the brand. The General Secretary of the Club, Wellington Kwadwo Oppong, indicated that the club apart from the social activities also provides technical assistance to members who are facing challenges or have issues with their vehicle. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Government will soon deploy a new network backbone, known as the Gov Net and Last Mile Connectivity, to connect government offices at the local assemblies and their counterparts in the national headquarters. This is aimed at ensuring that government offices at all levels have access to cross-government information and systems for efficient public service delivery. The project is funded through the World Banks e-Transform and Public Financial Management programme, intended to ensure the assemblies secure access to the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System, Public Service Commissions Human Resource Management Information System and the Ghana Audit Service Annual Audit reports on a secured network. The first phase would involve the connection of 69 assemblies in four regions, with the second phase expected to connect all the remaining metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) once funding is secured. The third phase would witness the connection of other government entities, including police stations, hospitals, schools and post offices across the country. Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Communications Minister, announced this at the launch of the stakeholders forum for the ICT industry, organised by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) in Accra, on Monday. The meeting brought together heads of the various government institutions, academia, the private sector, development partners and civil society organisations, to deliberate on matters of common interest that related to the electronic industry. The Minister said government had negotiated software and hardware enterprise agreements with Microsoft for standardised desktops and reduction of fake and pirated software in the system. She announced that the system would ensure all students and teachers have access to the Microsofts office suite, which is the most widely used software and aid in reducing the overall ICT budget of government and improve network security in the country. Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stated that Cabinet had approved the agreement, while the Finance Ministry was working on the funding of the project and assured that government would do same for Oracle and other software for regular usage across all MDAs. Technology is the growth pole in our economic transformation and its totally indispensable now. Lets make a useful effort in our quest to improve our output and deliver better services to all we interact with while enhancing our efficiency and reducing corruption, duplication and waste. Ghana deserves much better and we are poised to deliver, for it is indeed digitime, the Minister emphasised. Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful charged all public servants to use the software tools for official purposes only and not for downloading movies, private enterprise and visit to social media platforms. She said government would deploy a common messaging and collaboration system known as the Smart Workplace for all government agencies to help in improving staff productivity. Consequently, she said government would introduce paperless operations at the MDAs to enable government officials to use official and secured emails for government business. So far, she said NITA has been working with E-Solutions, a service provider, to ensure effective knowledge transfer and building of the capacity of staff of NITA, to increase their competencies. The Ministry, she said, was working closely with the Ghana Health Service to pilot e-health platform to facilitate the delivery of health services from some health facilities, National Health Insurance Scheme and pharmacies. 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 An Accra High Court hearing the case of Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has adjourned it to May 16, 2019. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo appeared in Court on Tuesday over a leaked tape involving him in the company of his lawyers: Abraham Amaliba, Tony Lithur, Dominic Ayine and Edudzi Tamakloe, as well as some kingpins of the NDC including former President and Presidential Candidate of the NDC, John Mahama. The Chairman has been charged with conspiracy to cause harm and assault against a Public Officer. He is being charged alongside a Deputy National Communication officer of the party, Kwaku Boahen. The two were previously charged by the Police for conspiracy to commit crime to wit, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit crime to wit, threat of harm. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, a member of the legal team for Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe explained that the charges against them have however been amended whilst charges against Sammy Gyamfi, National Communication Officer of the party have been dropped. The Attorney General's Department have revealed that four fresh charges have been preferred against the National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and Deputy National Communications Officer, Kwaku Boahen. The two are facing four charges, three for the National Chairman and one for Kweku Boahen. Background A leaked audio purported to be the voice of Mr Ofosu-Ampofo in a meeting with NDC communicators had him saying: Were going to take her [Chairperson of the Electoral Commission] to the cleaners. As for the EC Chair, we must wage a relentless war on this EC Chair. Me, she doesnt want to see my face, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo is alleged to have said. In the audio, he also gave his blessing to the party communicators to insult the Most Rev. Professor Emmanuel Asante, the Chairman of the National Peace Council. For the first time, Ill endorse insulting the National Peace Council Chair, he said. The alleged meeting between Mr Ofosu-Ampofo and NDC communicators was aimed at planning strategies ahead of the 2020 general election. When the issue of the leaked tape went viral, the NDC described it as concocted and false. 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 Government has denied diverting GHc 17.5m from the NHIA fund meant for payment of claims to service providers. According to them, government has settled claims of service providers and is still settling claims of providers who have not been paid yet. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide explained that government has over the years since assuming power settled debts left by the erstwhile Mahama government. "So it is very bemusing to hear the NDC saying that government has diverted funds supposedly meant for the payment of claims to service providers," he said. The National Democratic Congress [NDC] says the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is currently "gasping for liquidity breath" and on the verge of collapse under the Nana Addo-led government. The party alleged that the collapse is due to debt government owes service providers across the country. Speaking at the third edition of the partys 'Moment of Truth Series', the National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi said Even the President knows this. According to the opposition party, the NHIS currently owes service providers in all sixteen regions claims covering a period of twelve months, a situation which has landed most health care facilities in distress. Akufo-Addo peddled blatant untruth when he claimed that the NHIS is buoyant and has come back to life, the truth of the matter is that, then NHIS, very known to the President, is in deplorable state and gasping for liquidity breath. Currently, the NHIS owes service providers in all the sixteen regions of Ghana claims covering a period of almost twelve months. This has landed most health care facilities in distress. Our health facilities are being crippled as a result of the huge indebtedness of the NHIS to service providers, Sammy Gyamfi said. The NDC also accused government of illegally transferring over GHc17.5 million of the scheme's funds into a private fund management company, All Time Capital Investment; a transaction that was done without due diligence and risk assessment. Watch Video Below Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Africas richest man and owner of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has showered praise on the presidents of Ghana, Rwanda and Ivory Coast. Speaking at the forum organized by Africa Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), the businessman referred to them as visionary leaders and are the kind of persons African countries need. He also mentioned that all Africa needs is about 20 presidents out of a total of 54 who possess these qualities and are capable of moving Africa to the next level. We do not need to have all 54 countries to have visionary leaders. What we need is a maximum of 20 of the likes of the presidents of #Ghana, #Rwanda and Cote dIvoire. @AlikoDangote ACET (@AcetforAfrica) 15 April 2019 ACET is an African think tank that provides research, policy advice and institutional strengthening for African countries. Source: JiveNaija.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 There is no doubt that Dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale is one of the biggest musicians in Ghana and with a huge fanbase that is completely loyal and will do almost anything he says. However, Highlife musician Anthony Akablay, says Shatta Wale is having a negative impact on the youth. With his large fan base I dont expect Shatta Wale to use certain words and engage in indecent acts. I know he has the largest fan base in Ghana at the moment but what impact is he making on them? The youth are engaged in all sorts of bad activities because they see him as their role model and blindly copy what he does, he told Showbiz in an interview on Saturday, April 13. To Akablay, because Shatta Wale has a lot of influence on the youth, he can push them to using their energies and time positively. I expect a lot from him as the leader he claims to be because the youths are going wayward and I will blame it largely on him, he said. Will he ever do a collaboration with Shatta Wale? Akablay said he does not think so because their because they have different brands. Away from Shatta Wale, Akablay is not happy with the new crop of musicians because in his opinion they are indisciplined when it comes to the music business. Most of these young musicians are so indisciplined which gets me upset. You give them time for a meeting and they come at their own time. Others do not even regard their managers because they believe they are more famous than their managers. I have been talking to some of them and I pray they change, he said. Talking about profanity in music, Akablay, who is known for songs like Genesis of Life, Edoke, Taking Away, Life in The Pot just to mention a few, said he cannot understand why there so many swear words are being used in our music lately. I dont allow my children to listen to particular songs when I am around. The other time my son asked me the meaning of Kwabena Kwabenas Tokro Abodwese and I didnt know what to tell him. I called Kwabena Kwabena on the phone and asked him what he meant by that because my son wanted to know and he could not explain, he said. According to him, musicians have a powerful tool which they can use to make an impact and its about time GH artistes took into consideration their choice of words. Akablay has travelled around the world and played in different countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, France, Sweden and Italy. For his exploits on the guitar, he was adjudged the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Best Instrumentalist in 2009. He won the Best Guitar Player trophy at the 2014 Best Instrumentalists of Africa Festival in Cotonou. Source: Daily Graphic 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're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form BAMAKO, Mali The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) grants 10 million over five years to WANECAM 2 a unique collaboration between antimalarial drug researchers in Africa and Europe from ten academic institutions, a pharmaceutical company, Novartis, and a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP), Medicines for Malaria Venture. The grant will support African trials of a novel antimalarial combination comprising KAF156 (ganaplacide) and lumefantrine in a new once-daily formulation. KAF156 has demonstrated the potential to treat resistant malaria and to be administered as a single dose; the grant will also help to build and strengthen research capabilities in the four participating African countries: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Niger. The EDCTP has granted new funding of 10m over five years to support late-stage clinical trials of a next-generation antimalarial combination including KAF156 (ganaplacide). The trials will be conducted in four countries in West and Central Africa: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali and Niger. Led by the WANECAM consortium (West African Network for Clinical Trials of Antimalarial Drugs), ten academic organisations [1] based in Africa and Europe will collaborate with the not-for-profit organization Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop its compound KAF156 in combination with a new formulation of lumefantrine. The aim is to advance the development of a much-needed new antimalarial therapy while strengthening clinical trial development capabilities in Africa. Global partnerships have made significant strides in malaria control over the past 20 years, yet the rate of progress has recently diminished [2]. A recent survey of African malaria leader [3] showed high levels of concern around resistance to some of the current gold-standard treatments, artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), in Asia, and the likelihood that it could spread to Africa, emphasizing the urgent need for novel, easy-to-administer antimalarial medicines. The Principal Investigator, Professor Abdoulaye Djimde of the LUniversite des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako and coordinator of the WANECAM group, said: We welcome the generous support from EDCTP and are grateful for their long-term commitment to clinical development in Africa and specifically supporting clinical research in critical diseases such as malaria. This backing is vital to accelerate the development of this much-needed new compound. African collaboration with a group of international experts on this programme can help ensure the trials are completed rapidly and to the highest quality standards. With reports about parasite resistance to artemisinins and ACTs, it is essential that we have new antimalarials ready and waiting. KAF156 [4], the new antimalarial compound that will be studied, holds the potential to be the first new chemical class of compound for the treatment of acute malaria in 20 years which in combination with the new formulation of lumefantrine could be administered as a single-dose treatment. The combination is currently in late-stage clinical trials across 17 centres in nine countries in Africa and Asia. It is being developed by Novartis with scientific and financial support from MMV (in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and is one of seven late-stage antimalarials being developed by MMV partnerships. The EDCTP grant will fund two clinical trials for KAF156 in combination with a new formulation of lumefantrine which will include studying its effectiveness in children, the group most at risk of dying from malaria. If successful, data from these trials will support future submissions to register the medicine with regulatory authorities. The EDCTP funding will also support efforts to strengthen clinical research infrastructure in Niger, as well as existing clinical research capacities at all other trial sites involved. These efforts will involve exchanging experiences and best practices between the sites and the European academic centres, as well as with Novartis and MMV. Dr. Michael Makanga, EDCTP Executive Director, said: We are delighted to broaden the coalition of organisations that EDCTP funds and partners to deliver our malaria strategy. By involving the private sector and a not-for-profit PDP, we have broadened our network of expertise. With all sectors working together, we can build stronger partnerships to defeat malaria. By 2017, malaria mortality had more than halved in sub-Saharan Africa compared to the turn of the century, due to better prevention, mainly via bednets, and improved treatment with ACTs. However, over 400,000 people died due to malaria-related causes that year, most of them young children under the age of five. The most recent 2018 World Malaria Report stated that progress in the fight against the disease is flattening for the second year in a row. Related 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 RTHK: 20,000 people flee Tripoli fighting, UN warns Clashes between rival Libyan militias fighting for control of the capital Tripoli have displaced nearly 20,000 people, the UN says, and have prompted the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to warn she could investigate new offences. The self-styled Libyan National Army, aligned with a self-declared government in the east, launched a military offensive on April 5 to take Tripoli, igniting clashes with rival militias allied with the UN-supported government. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who is already investigating crimes in Libya, said she is deeply concerned about the escalation of violence and called on military commanders to prevent war crimes. She said she "will not hesitate to expand my investigations and potential prosecutions to cover any new instances of crimes falling within the Court's jurisdiction". UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the number of people displaced due to hostilities in the Tripoli area has increased to near 20,000. He said 50 civilian casualties were confirmed so far, including 14 deaths, but these individually verified cases must be considered "a minimum". (AP) This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Chinese peacekeeping engineers set up new tents. By Zhang Biao, Liu Xiaoshuai and Zeng Linsong MALI, Apr. 16 (ChinaMil) -- On April 14, local time, fifty-eight officers and soldiers from the 6th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Mali completed the urgent construction mission of the Mecanisme Operationnel de Coordination (MOC) camp in Gao, Mali with high standards after working over the weekend. Relevant departments, including the civil affairs department and the Sector East engineering office of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), have sent thank-you letters to the Chinese peacekeeping engineers for their excellent qualities of dedication, responsibility, and professionalism. It is reported that the construction mission, ranked Level 1 in priority, was to level the accommodations area for the MOC camp and set up nine new tents. According to the MINUSMA work assignment, the Chinese engineer contingent was responsible for the construction, the Bangladesh Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion for guarding the perimeter of the construction area,and the Cambodian explosive disposal company for explosive searching and de-mining. Gao is in summer right now with the highest temperature reaching up to 43 degrees Celsius, scorchingly hot and dazzling. In order to keep up the pace as scheduled, in the past two days, the Chinese peacekeeping engineers had to get up at 4:30 a.m., and rush to the construction site to start work before dawn. Even then, they still worked for up to seven hours during the highest temperature, with their stamina and willpower being tested to the limit. The supreme civilian officer of the Sector East of MINUSMA highly praised the performance of the Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent. The Chinese engineers are brave enough to work hard and professional in taking their duties, and we feel relieved to have them undertake the mission due to the urgency of the construction, he said. We are grateful to the Chinese peacekeeping engineers for making outstanding contributions to promoting the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in Gao, Mali. It is reported that in the past 11 months since its deployment to the mission area, the 6th Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to Mali has completed 59 construction missions with high standards, and more than 10 of them have been listed as the China model by MINUSMA, including the construction of the west gate of the Menaka camp and the construction of the sentry squad in Super Camp of the MINUSMA in Gao. In addition, they have been highly praised by local authorities and the civilian population. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East The question of whether the Downeast Correctional Facility (DCF) in Bucks Harbor will be reopened or whether it will be replaced by a new pre-release center in the Machias area was the focus of discussion during a well-attended public hearing by the legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on March 27 for two bills that seek to reopen the minimum-security prison. The sponsors of the bills, Rep. Will Tuell of East Machias and Senator Marianne Moore of Calais, were joined by Rep. Robert Alley of Beals, former Senator Joyce Maker of Calais, representatives from the state employees unions, prison workers and their families in testifying in support of the measures. Two spoke against the bills, most importantly Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty, and one spoke neither for nor against. Liberty outlined his opposition, explaining that his fiscal responsibility to the state is the primary reason for supporting a prerelease center at a new location rather than any option at the DCF site. He also noted that 10year projections show a decline in prison populations and the need for fewer beds. "As everyone in this room knows, the department has looked carefully at the possibility of reopening the existing DCF," he said. A DOC study completed in February 2019 had an initial estimate of $17.3 million to bring DCF buildings up to standard. Lowering the bed count to the use of one dorm and other costcutting measures brought the costs down to $10.7 million. To build new on DCF land would cost about $9.4 million, not including demolition costs of the old buildings. Cost estimates to purchase an existing and retrofitted property in the county for a 50bed and 15 fulltime DOC staff prerelease center had estimates of between $2.1 and $3.1 million. Such a center would operate under the supervision of the Mountain View Correctional Facility, located northwest of Bangor. Liberty did not mention any costs or plans associated with having the defunct DCF property readied for sale or otherwise disposed of. Rep. Tuell's bill, LD 128, "would be a straightup reopening" of the DCF facility with the same staffing and inmate levels, Tuell explained. "I'm upset that a halfway house is being proposed instead" by the DOC in its budget. Senator Moore's bill, LD 608, would use $10 million from a $147 million bond passed in 2016 to repair the Maine Correctional Center in Windham that had a provision to use some of the bond funds for a facility located in Washington County. "In 2016, the Washington County community was promised $10 million to improve and update the existing DCF campus," said Moore. "My bill would simply use the money that was promised then to bring at least part of the former facility back into operation, putting up to 50 inmates back to work in area businesses that rely on the labor force that was once generated by the facility, and bringing back a handful of goodpaying jobs with benefits to our area." DOC Commissioner Liberty asked the committee if the $10 million amount was in statute, because he found no mention of it. A number of testimonies pointed out the firsthand knowledge of the negotiation process that took place a few years back. One of the committee chairs even noted during the proceedings that, after Liberty's statement, she and her cochair had been receiving emails from legislators past and present who had been present for the $10 million bond agreement negotiations and were well aware of the promise. While the bond language states that funds need to be used for a facility in Washington County, it does not specify an amount or a location. "Several of the legislators directly involved in securing $10 million in bond funds for our prison are starting to come forward," Tuell said. "It was promised. We need to hold the state to that promise and use that money to renovate and reopen the prison we have. That's our goal." Jeff McCabe, director of politics and legislation for the Maine State Employees Association, Service Employees International Union Local 1989, said, "I was around in those days for that agreement, and promises were made but clarification is needed." He suggested that Moore's bill be used "as a vehicle to clarify the $10 million designated by the legislature for a DOC facility in Washington County." Sarah Bigney, representing Maine AFLCIO, said, "I was here when that bill was amended, and the agreement was made that DCF would not close but rather was to be invested in. Ten million dollars was to be spent on a DOC facility in Washington County. That was the promise made." Prerelease center met with objections The Machiasbased nonprofit Sunrise County Economic Council had been tasked by the DOC at the request of Rep. Tuell and others to find potential prerelease locations. Tuell says, "The DOC is looking at the former SuprTek call center in East Machias. They are looking at the old Blueberry Ford garage in Machias." Tuell stressed his support of using the DCF site rather than one located elsewhere. Maker stated, "I support both bills because DCF was a model correctional facility operated on a shoestring." She said of the prerelease concept, "To put it in downtown [Machias] is ridiculous." Maker added, "The Bucks Harbor site is the best location. The state owns the land. It is not next to a medical marijuana store. It is not across the street from a gun shop or a hotel. It is not 1520 miles down a bumpy pothole-infested Route 1. The state does not have to walk away from the current site and buy another piece of property. We have one -- one that has facilities that can be overhauled or, if need be, rebuilt." Melissa Hinerman of Machiasport noted during her testimony that the closure of a prerelease center does not need legislative action, as the closure of a prison would need. Her point was a reference to the action taken by former Governor LePage when he abruptly and illegally closed DCF with no warning in early February 2018, disrupting inmate educational and work programs, longtime DOC staff and county businesses who were utilizing workrelease inmates. The Kennebec County Superior Court ruled in March 2018 that the closure was illegal, given that the legislature had funded the prison through the fiscal year. Maker said, "Simply put, 15 workers and 50 inmates -- to be located at a halfway house somewhere in Washington County that the Department of Corrections has yet to publicly commit to -- is a far cry from a full-fledged prison, with 50 workers and 150 inmates at peak, located in Bucks Harbor. It is a slap in the face to everyone who made that facility what it was, who fought for it over the years, and who was promised that it would reopen in the new year." A work session by the committee on the two bills has not yet been scheduled. The committee will then make a recommendation to the legislature. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018. Trump said the Golan Heights were of critical strategic and security importance to the state of Israel and regional stability. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images By Ke Yongxin US President Donald Trump signed a decree saying that the US recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, fanning the flames in the already complicated Middle East. The 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) issued a presidential statement on April 10 that condemns the recent US recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel. According to the statement, the IPU stands for the inadmissibility of the acquisition of other countries territory by war. The US recognition of the Golan Heights runs counter to UN Security Council resolution and moves the world further away from achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Similar to the impact of withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Trumps latest statement has no practical effect on the legal level. UN Security Council resolution 497 passing in 1981 strongly discourages any attempt by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and considers such attempts as null and void and without international legal effect. So, what is Trumps intention behind moves to ditch the UN resolution in favor of Israel? Attracting political allies to support the US policy in the Middle East is one of the US goals Amid opposition from the rest of the world, especially Arab countries, recognizing Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights means that the US has completely abandoned the political position that it remains apparently at least neutral in the Arab-Israeli conflict. For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it is undoubtedly a big gift. Domestic national elections will take place in Israel in April. Its centrist candidates advocate a moderate foreign policy, which is contrary to the US strategy of requiring Israel to contain Iran. Therefore, Trumps statement is timely help for Netanyahu, who is seeking right-wing support. It is also part of the US anti-Iran strategy. Disrupting the situation in the Middle East and reaping profits from it is a typical US move As the clout of Islamic State and other extreme organizations fades away, the Middle East is likely to usher in a relatively stable period. For the Middle East, the big gift created by the US to Israel at this time is more like an explosive package that will disrupt the situation in the region. The Golan Heights is in an extremely important strategic position, and its water resources are abundant. It is already under the actual control of Israel. From a military perspective, the US does not have to make this statement. However, Israel has problems with surrounding Arab countries that are difficult to reconcile. The US previously announced that it recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and officially moved its embassy to Jerusalem, and this time, the US recognized Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The series of moves has intensified contradictions between Arab countries and Israel. Recognizing Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights will help Israel gain a strategic advantage over the Arab world. With containment by Israel, the US has also been able to obtain more bargaining chips with Arab countries in the oil markets. Saudi Arabia is a major member of OPEC and has partial pricing power over the oil trade. As a result of Saudi Aramcos delayed IPO last year, Saudi Arabia gradually drifted away rather than moving closer to the US. The US cannot continue to suppress oil prices and resort to pressuring Saudi Arabia through geopolitics. Whether it is the statement on the Golan Heights, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or the listing of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, measures taken by the Trump administration are all based on considerations of the America First. The administrations unilateralist policy not only undermines its international credibility, but also hurts the interests of all parties in the Arab world. It has been proven that taking the UN Charter and international law as the norm, following relevant international resolutions and promoting dispute settlement by political parties through political negotiations are the responsible measures of maintaining regional peace and stability. (This article was originally published on the PLA Daily on April 16,2019.) Tulsa, OK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/16/2019 --In real life, it is a dangerous, life-threatening activity. Indeed, people who think they can "outrun" the cops often find themselves seriously injured or killed in the pursuit. On March 19, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected a lawsuit brought by two men who were seriously injured in a November 2015 chase with a Webber Falls, Oklahoma, police officer. The men, Kyle Lindsey and Zayne Mann, were riding in a small utility task vehicle (UTV) designed strictly for off-road use. DESPITE THIS, LINDSEY WAS DRIVING THE VEHICLE ON A PUBLIC ROADWAY. The officer, Brandon Hyler, saw the UTV "roll through a stop sign," according to court records. He then tried to initiate a traffic stop. Lindsey refused to stop and proceeded towards a nearby highway overpass. Hyler later discovered the UTV rolled over on the side of the road. Lindsey and Mann later sued Hyler and several other parties, including the City of Webber Falls. Alleging the officer used "excessive force" in the chase. More precisely, the two men alleged Hyler's police vehicle made "intentional contact" with their UTV, which in turn caused it to roll over. A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT, AND LATER THE TENTH CIRCUIT, REJECTED THIS CLAIM. Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, noted that Lindsey and Mann failed to present any evidence of "actual physical contact" between their UTV and Hyler's police vehicle. "Let alone any intentional contact." Additionally, Judge Tymkovich said there was nothing inherently outrageous about Hyler's conduct. The officer "confronted a not-unfamiliar scenario" in Lindsey's "unexplained flight from a traffic stop." He acted =reasonably under the circumstances. This was not a scenario were the officer "acted with deliberate indifference" to public safety. TULSA, OK CAR ACCIDENT ATTORNEY CHARLES BRYAN ALRED NOTED THAT POLICE OFFICERS AND MUNICIPALITIES ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW WHEN IT COMES TO CAUSING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. "If a police officer runs a red light and plows into a minivan, the city is liable just like any other employer for its employee's negligence. But when you allege, as the plaintiffs in the Webber Falls case did, that a police officer used 'excessive force' in pursuing a suspect, you need to present the court with more than just your word the officer acted unreasonably." ALRED ADDED THAT TRYING TO AVOID A TRAFFIC TICKET BY SPEEDING AWAY IS NEVER THE RIGHT THING TO DO. "If you think you have been unfairly cited for a traffic violation, your best option is to call a lawyer and fight it in court. Getting into a police chase is not only illegal, it also puts other drivers and pedestrians at risk. And if you end up seriously injuring someone else, you will almost certainly face a personal injury lawsuit from the victims or their families." "I will now get in contact with our American partners with a view to organizing a date for the first round as soon as possible," Malmstrom told a press conference in Brussels. "If we agree to start, I think it can go quite quickly," the Swedish commissioner added. Malmstrom underlined the determination of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to finish the talks before its five-year term ends on Oct. 31. The ministers said the mandate would exclude agriculture products, which EU trade minister Cecilia Malmstrom said amounted to a "red line" for Europe. U.S. officials have pushed for farm products to be included. The EU's 28 member states had struggled for months to agree on a mandate to open the talks, with some fearing the delay would restart a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. But EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved a mandate to negotiate "an agreement limited to the elimination of tariffs for industrial goods only" and another accord designed to remove non-tariff barriers. European Union countries on Monday overruled France and gave the green light for Brussels to open trade talks with Washington as soon as possible and defuse trans-Atlantic tensions. 'Climate Chaos' EU sources said France voted against the mandate and Belgium abstained during the Luxembourg meeting. Pursuing a limited trade deal is a key element of a truce negotiated in July that came close earlier this month to imploding after the U.S. threatened $11 billion in fresh trade tariffs against Europe. Paris voted against the mandate over worries about domestic blowback just months ahead of European elections, set for May 23 to 26. French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted the U.S. first sign back up to the Paris climate accord after Trump dumped the pact in 2017, infuriating Macron. But only a qualified majority of EU members was needed to support the talks, meaning France's "non" remained largely symbolic. Greenpeace has called on the Commission and national governments not to enter into trade negotiations with any country that rejects the Paris climate pact. "EU-Trump trade talks would seriously call into question the EU's resolve on climate change," Greenpeace's Naomi Ages said, warning time was running out to prevent "climate chaos." In a bid to win France over, its EU partners agreed to insist on environmental guarantees during the talks with Washington. In another sop, they also made a specific mention that TTIP, a far more ambitious transatlantic trade plan that never materialized, be officially called "obsolete". The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Paratnership talks stalled following widespread protests in Germany, France and Austria over fears it would undermine EU standards on food and health. At France's demand, agricultural products are also off the table. 'Ease Trade Tensions' Berlin wants the limited deal in order to placate Trump and avoid U.S. auto tariffs that would punish Germany's cherished exports. The mandate from the EU stipulates that the talks would end if the U.S. pursued more levies against Europe, including on cars. It also says the EU cannot conclude the negotiations as long as the metal tariffs remain. The limited deal concerns only industrial goods, excluding the automotive sector. Fishing is also included, but not agriculture, services or public procurement. The U.S. however insists its wants to discuss agriculture, while Europeans would like to include cars. Both sides will have to bridge the gaps before the start of talks. At a meeting last July at the White House, Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged no new tariffs following those on steel and aluminium. That peace was in danger earlier this month after the U.S. threatened to impose tariff counter-measures of up to $11.2 billion on a host of European products in response to subsidies received by aircraft maker Airbus. But Malmstrom said, "This is a welcome decision that will help ease trade tensions." Aggression raids kill, injure 12 civilians in Hodeida, Taiz PROVINCES, Dec. 16 (Saba) - 12 civilians were killed or injured, most of them children, in raids by the US-Saudi aggression warplanes on Hodeida and Taiz provinces during the past 24 hours. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step with great fanfare last week, opening a one-week consultation period with Congress during which members could have raised objections. The move adds a layer of sanctions to the elite military unit and makes it a crime for anyone in or subject to U.S. jurisdiction to provide it with material support. Depending on how broadly "material support" is interpreted, the designation may complicate U.S. diplomatic and military cooperation with certain third-country officials, notably in Iraq and Lebanon, who deal with the Guard. The Guard's formal designation as a "foreign terrorist organization" -- the first-ever for an entire division of another government -- kicked in with a notice published in the Federal Register. The U.S. terrorism label for Iran's Revolutionary Guard formally took effect on Monday, amid a battle between the Trump administration and some in Congress over waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions that are due to expire or be extended early next month. Lawmakers were broadly supportive, but congressional Iran hawks are now expressing concern that the administration may extend waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions. Those sanctions, which are unrelated to the Guard designation, were imposed last November following Trump's withdrawal of the U.S. from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal that May. They target major elements of Iran's economy, notably its energy sector, by hitting foreign companies and governments with so-called "secondary sanctions" if they continue to do business with targeted Iranian entities. A main goal has been to dry up revenue from Iran's oil exports, which the U.S. says is the main driver of the country's funding of destabilizing activities throughout the Middle East and beyond. In order not to shock oil markets with the sudden loss of Iranian crude, the administration granted several waivers that allowed some nations and Taiwan to continue their imports as long as they moved to reduce them to zero. Those waivers are due to expire in early May, and Iran hawks in Congress and elsewhere are urging the administration not to renew any of them. They say extending even some of the eight waivers would run counter to Trump and Pompeo's stated goal of keeping "maximum pressure" on Iran. U.S. officials have been coy when asked about the waivers, leading to concern among hawks that some or all of them may be extended. The administration's point man for Iran, Brian Hook, has said that three of the waivers won't need to be extended as those countries have eliminated all Iranian oil imports. But he has remained silent on the other five. Pompeo has similarly refused to comment on the possibility of extensions. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Pompeo was pressed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about whether the oil sanctions waivers, as well as waivers related to technical cooperation at Iranian nuclear facilities, would be extended. He suggested that some at the State Department were pushing for extensions. "Let me urge you and urge the department unequivocally not to grant the nuclear waivers and not to grant the oil waivers," Cruz said, "I think maximum pressure should mean maximum pressure." Pompeo demurred, but during a trip to South America over the weekend he bristled when asked if the Iran hawks had reason to be concerned. "It's ludicrous," he told reporters accompanying him. "It's ludicrous. Look, people want to tell stories, people want to sell newspapers. I've got it. Congressmen will grandstand, I've got that too. The State Department's going to get it right. We understand our mission." Cruz was not impressed. "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee needs to understand why some in the State Department think it's a good idea to keep enriching the Ayatollah with oil billions and to let Iran keep spinning centrifuges in a bunker that they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons," he said in a statement released by his office. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday defended invoking martyrs in his poll campaigns, saying there was nothing wrong in highlighting the sacrifices made by security personnel, adding some parties have made the deaths of farmers a political issue. "Thousands of soldiers have died in the past 40 years due to terrorism. Is it not an issue as to what should be done for them? If farmers die, it is an issue, then why not soldiers who die defending the counrty?" he said in an interview to DD News. "We want to strengthen our forces. We have been fighting terrorism for the past 40 years. If we do not take this to public, what is the logic?" Opposition parties have lodged complaints to the Election Commission over "politicisation" of the death of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama and subsequent retaliatory airstrike in Balakot in Pakistan. Modi said the country cannot be run without nationalism. "Can any country run without nationalism? If we want to bring Olympic medals, the chances increase if the youth is filled with nationalism," he said. The Prime Minister said a section of "hyper-secular" people in the country were targeting his government. Nothing had happened since Nehru's time to resolve Jammu & Kashmir conflict, he said. "We toed one line for 70 years. There has been no outcome. We prepared roadmaps in regards to Articles 370 and 35 A (of Constitution). Should not we take people into confidence and inform them about it?" he said. Over the charges of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti that "Kashmir will be separated", Modi said "They have always used such language. They have resorted to emotional blackmailing and emotional exploitation". Calling them outdated, Modi said panchayat elections in the state saw 70-75 per cent polling despite a boycot call by these leaders. Modi also took a dig at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for raising Rafale fighter jet deal issue even when there were "no proof showing any irregularities" in it. "He raised wrong issues about Rafale to wash away his father's sins in Bofors case by attributing it to nationalism," said Modi. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday visited the Hanuman Setu temple here to offer prayers after he was barred from campaigning for 72 hours by the Election Commission on Monday for making objectionable statements in his speeches. His ban came into effect on Tuesday morning. The Chief Minister reached the Hanuman Setu temple and recited the Hanuman Chalisa. He did not respond to questions by the media. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also reached the temple around the same time to offer prayers before filing his nomination. Rajnath Singh later went to the party office from where he will proceed to file nominations in the District Collectorate. Adityanath is facing the ban by the EC for saying that if 'Ali' belonged to the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance as claimed by BSP supremo Mayawati, then the BJP enjoyed the blessings of Bajrangbali'. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Global Access Cards Market Insights, Forecast to 2025 is latest research study released by HTF MI evaluating the market, highlighting opportunities, risk side analysis, and leveraged with strategic and tactical decision-making support. The study provides information on market trends and development, drivers, capacities, technologies, and on the changing capital structure of the Global Access Cards Market. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Eastman Chemical Company, SK Chemicals, PetroChina Company Limited, Solvay, Axiall Corporation, KEM One, SABIC Innovative Plastics, 3A Composites GmbH, Teijin, LG Chemicals, Formosa Plastics Group & BASF SE. Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1750312-global-access-cards-market-1 The Access Cards market was valued at xx Million US$ in 2018 and is projected to reach xx Million US$ by 2025, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Access Cards. This report presents the worldwide Access Cards market size (value, production and consumption), splits the breakdown (data status 2014-2019 and forecast to 2025), by manufacturers, region, type and application. This study also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Access Cards Market Overview: If you are involved in the Access Cards 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 Hotel Building, Office Building, Government Building & Others, , Proximity Cards, Smart Cards & Others and major players. 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. Access Cards Market: Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2023 Research study is to define market sizes of various segments & countries in previous years and to forecast the values to the next 5-8 years. The report is designed to comprise each qualitative and quantitative elements of the industry facts including: market share, market size (value and volume 2012-17, and forecast to 2023) with admire to each of the areas and countries concerned inside the examination. Furthermore, the report additionally caters the detailed statistics about the vital elements which includes drivers & restraining factors which will define the future growth of the market. You can get free access to samples from the report here: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1750312-global-access-cards-market-1 Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows: Historical year 2013-2017 Base year 2018 Forecast period** 2018 to 2023 [** unless otherwise stated] **Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players. The designated segments and sub-section of the market are explained below: The Study is segmented by following Product Type: , Proximity Cards, Smart Cards & Others Major applications/end-users industry are as follows: Hotel Building, Office Building, Government Building & Others Some of the key Manufacturers Involved in the Market are Eastman Chemical Company, SK Chemicals, PetroChina Company Limited, Solvay, Axiall Corporation, KEM One, SABIC Innovative Plastics, 3A Composites GmbH, Teijin, LG Chemicals, Formosa Plastics Group & BASF SE For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies. If opting for the Global version of Access Cards Market analysis is provided for major regions as follows: - North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) - South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.) - Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Buy this research report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1750312 Key Answers Captured in Study are Which geography would have better demand for product/services? What are the strategies adopted by big players in the regional market? Which country would see the steep rise in CAGR & year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth? What is the current & expected market size in next five years? What is the market feasibility for long term investment? What opportunity the country would offer for existing and new players in the Access Cards market? What is risk involved for suppliers in the geography? What factors would drive the demand for the product/service in near future? What is the impact analysis of various factors in the Global Access Cards market growth? What are the recent trends in the regional market and how successful they are? Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1750312-global-access-cards-market-1 There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Access Cards market. Chapter 1, About Executive Summary to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Access Cards market, Applications [Hotel Building, Office Building, Government Building & Others], Market Segment by Regions United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea & Other Regions; Chapter 2, objective of the study. Chapter 3, to display Research methodology and techniques. Chapter 4 and 5, to show the Overall Market Analysis, segmentation analysis, characteristics; Chapter 6 and 7, to show the Market size, share and forecast; Five forces analysis (bargaining Power of buyers/suppliers), Threats to new entrants and market condition; Chapter 8 and 9, to show analysis by regional segmentation[United States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea & Other Regions ], comparison, leading countries and opportunities; Regional Marketing Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis Chapter 10, focus on identifying the key industry influencer's, overview of decision framework accumulated through Industry experts and strategic decision makers; Chapter 11 and 12, Market Trend Analysis, Drivers, Challenges by consumer behaviour, Marketing Channels and demand & supply. Chapter 13 and 14, describe about the vendor landscape (classification and Market Positioning) Chapter 15, deals with Global Access Cards Market sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source. Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia or Oceania [Australia and New Zealand]. Kensington, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Advice on Lice Inc., the best head lice salon in MD, provides head lice treatment services including both in-office appointments as well as house calls. They provide safe and non-toxic treatment services to patients in Maryland, Washington DC, and Northern Va. Their services are designed to help clients completely eradicate lice & nits and prevent recurring infestations. They educate schools, parents, and pediatricians on head lice and nits, further encouraging them to prevent lice infestations in long run. The center has grown to become a full-service head lice treatment center offering safe and non-toxic lice removal and control services at the most competitive prices. Call our team at 240-242-4267 to schedule an appointment. Talking about their head lice treatment services, one of the representatives from the company stated, "Our Head Lice Treatment Center in MD offers a comprehensive head lice removal procedure. Our procedure may begin with the application of either an over the counter lice killing shampoo, or Lice MD non-pesticide lice eliminating treatment, followed by a complete rinse out and thorough comb out to remove the nits (eggs). This anti-louse treatment oil is in great demand. Check out our website, http://www.adviceonlicemd.com for more information" About Advice on Lice Inc. Advice on Lice, Inc. was officially established in November 2007, but the work of the company began at least ten years before. Started as a personal mission for Karen Franco who volunteered in programs attended by children to help screen for head lice in order to prevent outbreaks, Advice on Lice is where visitors receive comprehensive information on the condition. Through the years, Advice on Lice has acquired a great deal of knowledge on the subject and how best to treat it to accomplish eradication. For more information, please visit: www.adviceonlicemd.com Contact Details: 10400 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 507 Kensington, MD 20895-3910 Office: 240-242-4267 1073 West Broad Street, Suite 210, Falls Church Virginia 22046 Office: 240-242-4267 New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Air travel has taken off in APEJ like never before, spurred on by rising affluence and a greater disposable income amongst consumers in this dynamic region. This is anticipated to require additional ground support equipment ensuring that the aircraft ground support equipment market grows at a healthy rate for the foreseeable future. Future Market Insights in its upcoming report titled 'Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012 - 2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017 - 2027)' predicts that the aircraft ground support equipment market could record a robust CAGR of 6.5%. Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2854 Equipment Aircraft Service Segment Key in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market The aircraft service segment had a market share of more than half by equipment type in the aircraft ground support equipment market at the end of 2017 and is projected to grow this share by 30 BPS going forward. This is largely at the expense of cargo loading and passenger service. Aircraft service segment is greatly benefited by the high cost of different products such as aircraft tractors, de-icing, and fire fighting vehicles that explains its dominance in the aircraft ground support equipment market. Power Electric Power Provides Spark in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market The electric segment is the most popular in the aircraft ground support equipment market and has seen rapid adoption in airport buses, de-icing vehicles, and aircraft tractors because of its reliability, support, and battery performance. Furthermore, advanced infrastructure in a number of airports in Europe and the US has led to electric chargers becoming commonplace fuelling the growth of the electric power segment in the aircraft ground support equipment market. The electric power segment is expected to cross a value of more than US$ 7.5 billion by end 2027, larger than the non-electric and hybrid segments combined. Region APEJ to Double Market Share in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market In terms of value, APEJ is predicted to double its market share during the course of the decadal study. Explosive growth in passenger traffic in China and India is largely responsible for this with the former contributing to the bulk of it. In addition to this, open sky agreements such as that recently signed between India and Japan should further the prospects of the APEJ aircraft ground support equipment market. Ownership Rental Gaining Popularity in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market The rental/lease segment is gaining greater acceptance in the aircraft ground support equipment market because of the high cost associated with it. There is a definite shift in focus of airline companies and airport management towards rental ownership as this saves capital, resources, and time. The rental/ lease segment is estimated to witness a CAGR of 7% for the forecast period. Application Defence Unlikely to Topple Commercial Segment in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market The commercial segment holds a lion's share in the aircraft ground support equipment market by application and is on track to lose 70 BPS till 2027. However, it has a two-third share of the market in 2017 on account of substantial movement of commercial aircraft, requiring evermore aircraft ground support equipment units. An incremental dollar opportunity of approx. US$ 4.8 billion from 2017 to 2027 makes the commercial segment large enough for all stakeholders in the aircraft ground support equipment market. Competition Dashboard in Aircraft Ground Support Equipment Market The companies profiled in the report are JBT Corporation, ALVEST Group, Air T, Alberth Aviation Ltd., Cavotec SA, Clyde Machines Inc., Textron, Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co., China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Kalmar Motor AB, HYDRO Systems KG, Nepean Engineering & Innovation Pty Ltd., Tronair, Lektro, Charlatte Of America Inc., Schopf Maschinenbau GmbH, Mulag Fahrzeugwerk Heinz Wossner GmbH, Mallaghan Engineering Limited, SEMMCO, and DENGE Airport Equipment. Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-2854 Important Takeaways APEJ has immense potential in the long-term because of skyrocketing passenger traffic and companies would do well to focus their attention on this continent. Western companies should shift their production bases there to take advantage of lower cost coupled with manufacturing expertise. Companies must develop efficient products that have minimal maintenance and innovations in power technologies could provide the necessary breakthroughs. Miami, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Ashanse is a Miami based American company that creates a wide range of bold, colorful and comfortable socks. The company was founded by Dr. Sheryl Walters-Malcolm, a US based professor, serial entrepreneur and a successful business executive. Moreover, Ashanse has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds and support for its new line of socks, which are inspired by the African culture in their aesthetics and are very comfortable to wear. "We are socks enthusiasts and believe they are a way to express ourselves as unique individuals and to stand out from the crowd." Said Dr. Sheryl Walters-Malcom, while introducing the Ashanse Socks to the Kickstarter community. The founder of Ashanse also believes that these amazing new socks will play a major role in the market as a trend-setter and will inspire the next generation of stylish people from around the world. Therefore, the company makes no compromise on the quality of its socks and it is offering these socks as a reward for the backers in this recently launched Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter Campaign is located on the web at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ashanse/ashanse-socks-comfortable-bold-colors-african-insp and backers from around the world can become a part of this project by making generous pledges and donations. The project offers pairs of these exciting socks as a reward for the supporters with nationwide shipping across the United States and more details are available on the Kickstarter campaign page of the project. About Ashanse Ashanse is a Miami, Florida based American company that specializes in manufacturing high-quality socks that are comfortable, colorful and lively. Inspired by the exciting culture and vibrant colors of Africa, these trend-setting socks are currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter where backers can contribute with their generous pledges. Contact: Contact Person: Sheryl Malcolm Company: Ashanse City: Miami State: Florida Country: United States Phone: (954)394-7750 Email: omniintlgroup@gmail.com Website: www.kickstarter.com/projects/ashanse/ashanse-socks-comfortable-bold-colors-african-insp Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Cobalt-chrome (CoCr) is a metal alloy that has outstanding strength, as well as wear and corrosion resistance. Because of these features and it's biocompatibility, Cobalt-chrome is often used for making dental/orthopedic implants. CoCr alloys are widely used for medical prosthetic implant devices. The alloys are especially used where high stiffness or a highly polished and extremely wear-resistant material is required. CoCr alloys are the materials of choice for applications such as knee implants, metal-to-metal hip joints and dental prosthetics. Although there are substitutes of cobalt-chrome alloys, it can't be replaced easily and has been widely used in downstream industry. Backed with increasing demand from water industry, it is estimated that global cobalt-chrome alloys industry will be worthy of 15.00 million USD in 2024, with the CAGR of 1.16% during the period of 2017 to 2024. The global Cobalt-Chrome Alloys market was 14 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 15 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 1.2% between 2019 and 2025. This report studies the Cobalt-Chrome Alloys 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 Version of this Report at https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1091171/global-cobalt-chrome-alloys-market Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Cobalt-Chrome Alloys 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 Arcam CarTech VDM Metals Kulzer EOS SLM Dentaurum 3DMT AMC Powders ACME By the product type, the market is primarily split into CoCrMo Alloys CoNiCrMo Alloys CoCrWNi Alloys By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Dental Implants Medical Implants Gas Turbines Benefits of Purchasing QY Research Report Analyst Support: Get you query resolved from our expert analysts before and after purchasing the report Customer's Satisfaction: Our expert team will assist with all your research needs and customize the report Inimitable Expertise: Analysts will provide deep insights about the reports Assured Quality: We focus on the quality and accuracy of the report Get Full Report Now At https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/44e5174230dd57a408dbee192b7ff13c,0,1,Global%20Cobalt-Chrome%20Alloys%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) -- 04/16/2019 -- The latest market study, Combat Support Vehicles market blends in qualitative and quantitative research techniques to present vital data on the competitive landscape for the period of 2019 - 2026.This research allows the business owners/individuals/ stakeholders to collect decisive information about market segmentation based on product category, usage and sale volume across the various geographical regions. Business stakeholders can prepare effective expansion plan by using the statistics on market share, size and the growth rate discussed in the report, for the forecast period of 2019 - 2026.Unmatched information on past, present and upcoming market trends covered in the study offer lucidity on the future projection of the industry. The major manufacturers covered in this report: Tata Motors, General Dynamics Land Systems, Paramount Group, BAE Systems, Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles, China North Industries Researchers eyeing the business landscape aim at uncovering vital statistics about the actual composition of the target market and where the new opportunities lie. Data on the ever-changing trends and gaps in the market forms an important part of the study. The environment research further covers facts associated with government regulations, demographics, market trends and size as well as different marketing channels. To get Free Sample Report Copy click here @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/35401 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.) The Combat Support Vehicles market research is carried out at the different stages of the business lifecycle from the production of a product, cost, launch, application, consumption volume and sale. The research offers valuable insights into the marketplace from the beginning including some sound business plans chalked out by prominent market leaders to establish a strong foothold and expand their products into one that's better than others. Most widely used downstream fields of Combat Support Vehicles market covered in this report are: - Armored Combat Support Vehicles - Unarmored Combat Support Vehicles Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into - Surveillance and Reconnaissance - Logistics Service - Firefighting - Communication To Purchase this Report click here @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/35401 Key Stakeholders Combat Support Vehicles Industry Manufacturers Combat Support Vehicles Industry Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Combat Support Vehicles Industry Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream Vendors Available Customizations For those who want to learn how certain drivers are influencing the overall objectives of business owners will have plenty of data to scan through in the Combat Support Vehicles market report. A quick run over the external factor influencing the business worldwide will help product owners to know their customers better. The research not only monitors the effectiveness of the product sales but also talks about the quality of services offered by the competitors. Besides, there is a section on the distribution channels and growth strategies adopted by the prominent leaders operating in the Combat Support Vehicles market. In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Combat Support Vehicles are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year: 2019 to 2026 The study objectives of this report are: - To analyse and study the global Combat Support Vehicles capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2019-2026); - Focuses on the key Combat Support Vehicles manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. - Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyse the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. - To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. - To analyse the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. - To analyse the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. - To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyse their growth strategies. There are 15 Chapters to thoroughly display the Combat Support Vehicles market. This report included the analysis of market overview, market characteristics, industry chain, competition landscape, historical and future data by types, applications and regions. Chapter 1: Combat Support Vehicles Market Overview, Product Overview, Market Segmentation, Market Overview of Regions, Market Dynamics, Limitations, Opportunities and Industry News and Policies. Chapter 2: Combat Support Vehicles Industry Chain Analysis, Upstream Raw Material Suppliers, Major Players, Production Process Analysis, Cost Analysis, Market Channels and Major Downstream Buyers. Chapter 3: Value Analysis, Production, Growth Rate and Price Analysis by Type of Combat Support Vehicles. Chapter 4: Downstream Characteristics, Consumption and Market Share by Application of Combat Support Vehicles. Chapter 5: Production Volume, Price, Gross Margin, and Revenue ($) of Combat Support Vehicles by Regions. Chapter 6: Combat Support Vehicles Production, Consumption, Export and Import by Regions. Chapter 7: Combat Support Vehicles Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions. Continue Read more @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/combat-support-vehicles-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Rising use of helicopters in transportation, touring, and VIP movement has fuelled the demand for helicopters over the past few years. Helicopters can be employed in emergency situations as well, since they offer enormous manoeuvrability especially in small space and can reach to any affected area avoiding all the traffic on road as well as any natural calamity such as earthquake and flood. Moreover, these helicopters are equipped with passenger seats, better sound proofing capabilities, and air conditioning. Manufacturers are trying to make more visually appealing, carpeted interior and glossy finished commercial helicopters. The commercial helicopters can be used in the tourism industry, oil & gas transport, and VIP or corporate shuttle. In tourism industry, tour companies hire or purchase the fleet of helicopters for the transportation of the tourists offering aerial viewpoints of the tourist places. Secondly, corporate shuttle and VIP are preferred by leasing companies, VIP service or corporates. These helicopters are featured with advanced cabin comfort features. Thirdly, oil & gas support duties include pipeline patrols and light lift cargo flights. Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3655 Commercial Helicopter Market: Dynamics The increasing per capita income coupled with aging fleet is expected to fuel the demand for global commercial helicopter market. Moreover, growing tourism industry is further expected to upsurge the demand for commercial helicopter market during the forecast period. However, stringent emission norms and high cost associated with helicopters can act as challenges for the growth of commercial helicopter market. Most of the countries impose tax on commercial helicopters, thereby hampering the growth to an extent. Helicopters produce sound level up to 110 decibels that is slightly less than the noise produced by a large chainsaw. The pressure on helicopter manufacturers to make more eco-friendly helicopters is likely to rise in the near future owing to the increasing number of rotorcrafts entering service. The developing countries such as Brazil, India and China are experiencing increase in demand for commercial helicopters owing to the growing tourism industry. Moreover, manufacturers expect that attractive financing schemes will encourage market sales, as consumers are getting favourable terms on purchase of new helicopters. Commercial Helicopter Market: Outlook Commercial helicopters cause pollution in two ways: gas emission from engine and noise pollution through its blades. Airframe and engine manufacturers are under immense pressure from environmental activists and governments to reduce the impact of rotorcrafts. Asia Pacific and Europe are estimated to be the promising markets for the delivery of helicopters in the upcoming decade. In Europe, the Clean Sky initiative by private/public partnership involving EU is developing technologies, which can be implemented in the production of new aircrafts. Similarly, Green Rotorcraft project is also taking initiatives to reduce emissions from commercial helicopters. Moreover, FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) imposed new rules on helicopter air ambulance services. Commercial helicopters are often the transportation option available to reach remote locations and hence play an important role by supporting lifesaving missions such as medical emergencies and rescue & search operations. The commercial helicopter fleet is also used for commerce and businesses such as in filmmaking, mineral, oil & gas, tourism, and mining. Commercial Helicopter Market: Segmentation On the basis of size, the commercial helicopter market can be segmented into: Light Helicopter (< 4.5 T) Medium Helicopter ( 4.5 to 8.5 T) Heavy Helicopter (> 8.5 T) On the basis of engine type, the commercial helicopter market can be segmented into: Single Engine Multi Engine Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3655 Commercial Helicopter Market: Market Participants Examples of some of the market participants in the global commercial helicopter market identified across the value chain include- Airbus Helicopter (Airbus Group) Lockheed Martin Corporation (Sikorsky) Leonardo S.p.A. Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. MD Helicopters Inc. Russian Helicopters, JSC Robinson Helicopter Company The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said Monday that the U.S. wants the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan -- praise that will likely anger Beijing, which has long been sensitive to cooperation between the U.S. and the democratically governed island that China claims as its own. "Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner and a force for good in the world," Ryan said at a celebration for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, which guides U.S. policy toward Taiwan. While the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, the act requires Washington to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- The latest market evaluation report on the Conductive Fluted Sheets market explores how the Conductive Fluted Sheets 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/35424 Major Players in Conductive Fluted Sheets market are: - Corlite Packaging Industries - Desco Industries - Shreeram Polymers - Protech - Shish Industries - GWP Group - Coroplast 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/35424 Conductive Fluted Sheets 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 Conductive Fluted Sheets 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 Conductive Fluted Sheets market Market by Type - Polypropylene - High Density Polyethylene Market by Application - Electronic Equipment Packaging - Automotive Packaging - Food and Beverages Packaging - Defense Arms Packaging - Others 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 Conductive Fluted Sheets report through this link and get 15% free customization on the report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/35424 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 Conductive Fluted Sheets market. The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What will be the market size and growth rate of the Conductive Fluted Sheets market for the forecast period 2019 -2026 across different regions? - What are the key driving forces expected to shape the future of the industry worldwide? - What strategies are the prominent vendors adapting to stay ahead of their competitors? - Which major trends are impacting the development of the Conductive Fluted Sheets market worldwide? - Which factors can hinder, challenge or even restrict the expansion of the Conductive Fluted Sheets market worldwide? - What are the opportunities or future prospect for the business owners operating in the market for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026? Browse the report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/conductive-fluted-sheets-market The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters: Chapter 1, to describe Conductive Fluted Sheets product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks. Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Conductive Fluted Sheets, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Conductive Fluted Sheets in 2017 and 2018. Chapter 3, the Conductive Fluted Sheets competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast. Chapter 4, the Conductive Fluted Sheets breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019. Continue About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Conductive polymers have a wide variety of applications in various industries, ranging from production of medicine, healthcare, renewable energy devices, such as photovoltaic cells, to manufacturing of display materials, chip packaging, sensors, plastic transistors, and ultra-capacitors. Conductive polymers are used in a wide range of electrical appliances such as energy devices, electronics, and actuators, and as an alternate to inorganic semiconductor counterpart. The growth of the global conducting polymers market is mainly driven by the increasing demand for advancements in miniaturization of electronic components. Compact electronic devices are comparatively faster than larger devices as the signals in compact devices do not have to travel as far as in the larger devices. Lower costs, greater density, and higher speed are the additional benefits of miniaturization. At present, there are a mass of manufacturers in the market. Major manufacturers in the market are 3M, RTP Company, Parker Hannifin, Sumitomo Chemical, etc. Major manufacturers are mainly concentrated in North America, Europe. Access PDF version of this report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1092187/global-conductive-polymers-market The North America region is the largest market for conducting polymers, which accounting for 42.26 % global volume market share in 2017. The North America conducting polymers market is largely driven by the increasing construction activities along with higher real disposable income of consumers. This is primarily due to the increased demand for electrostatic coatings on door panels and window panes, along with the sensors required in the building & construction industry. In addition, the high adoption rate of electroactive polymers in electronics, solar energy, healthcare and automotive industries in light of the immense potential of R&D infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada is expected to have a positive impact. The global Conductive Polymers market was 3900 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 5290 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 3.9% between 2019 and 2025. This report studies the Conductive Polymers 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 Conductive Polymers 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 3M RTP Company Parker Hannifin Sumitomo Chemical Premix OY Heraeus Group The Lubrizol Corporation Covestro Polyone Corporation Celanese Rieke Metals Inc. Merck Kgaa Sabic DOW & Dupont Kenner Material & System Westlake Plastics Co. By the product type, the market is primarily split into Electrically Conducting Polymers Thermally Conducting Polymers By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments ESD & EMI Protection Antistatic Packaging & Electrostatic Coating Actuators & Sensors Batteries Capacitors Organic Solar Cells Others Get this report now at USD 3,350 : https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/94e6d8e76f66d86c9700596fc4a99d44,0,1,Global%20Conductive%20Polymers%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. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Conformal coating is a special type of coating applied to electronic devices in order to protect them from external factors such as heat and rain. These form a protective layer shielding electronic circuits from moisture and chemical contaminants and help prolong the life of electronic devices. Various coating methods are used to protect electronic components from external conditions and contaminants. The most popular methods include spray application, brush coatings, and conformal coating dipping. Regionally, the global conformal coatings market has been segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. The opportunities for expansion exhibited by these regions are examined extensively in the report. The report on conformal coatings presents a quantitative and qualitative assessment of various factors and government policies influencing the global market. It is compiled with the intent of updating the stakeholders about the prevailing market dynamics and its outlook. The report also includes details pertaining to the investment feasibility in the market and opportunities for new entrants. Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/conformal-coatings-market.html Global Conformal Coatings Market: Key Opportunities and Threats The global conformal coatings market has reported significant growth in the past couple of years. Growth trends exhibited by the market are expected to continue in the next few years. The expansion of the electronics industry, especially in emerging economies, is likely to boost the conformal coatings market. Conformal coatings ensure better moisture and dielectric resistance; these are key factors increasing usage in the electronics industry. Based on material type, the acrylic conformal coating segment is expected to dominate the market in the near future. Acrylic conformal coatings are easy to apply and the easiest to rework. Additionally, these provide high resistance from abrasion, chemicals, and moisture; take less time to cure, and are available at low cost. These are the key factors encouraging the use of acrylic conformal coatings across industries. Apart from the electronics industry, demand for conformal coatings is increasing in the automotive electronics segment. Electronics installed in vehicles are exposed to chemical contaminants, harsh working conditions, moisture, dust, and vibration. These factors necessitate the use of conformal coatings on automotive electronics to ensure their better performance and longevity. Automotive manufacturers strive to offer high quality and reliable smart vehicles at competitive prices. This prevalent trend in the automotive industry in turn is bolstering demand for conformal coatings in the industry. Request Report Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11243 Global Conformal Coatings Market: Regional Outlook Regionally, North America dominates the global conformal coatings market. The market in the region is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. High demand for conformal coatings in industries located in countries such as Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. contributes to the growth of the conformal coatings market in North America. The U.S. holds the largest market share in North America. Enterprises operating in the global conformal coatings market witness lucrative opportunities in Asia Pacific. The strategic initiatives adopted by companies to gain customers have proven beneficial for the expansion of the conformal coatings market in the region. The rapid expansion of the electronics industry in the region has also contributed to the growth of the conformal coatings market in Asia Pacific. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- The Top key vendors in Cryogenic Equipment Market include are Air Liquide, Linde Group AG, Chart Industries, Cryofab, Cryoquip, Herose Gmbh, Inox India, Taylor-Wharton International, VRV S.P.A., Wessington Cryogenics, Beijing Tianhai Industry. Get Free PDF Sample Copy of Cryogenic Equipment Market at @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/sample/25912 Apart from this, the valuable document weighs upon the performance of the industry on the basis of a product service, end-use, geography and end customer. Based on the types, the Cryogenic Equipment market has been further classified based on geography, application and consumption capability. On the basis of the product application, the industry is bifurcated taking into consideration those in demand and are an outcome of technology advancement. Region-wise, the performance of the industry along with the prominent vendors operating in the geography also illuminates stakeholders, business owners, and field marketing, executives. A high focus is maintained on factors such as demand and supply, production capacity, supply chain management, distribution channel, product application and performance across different countries. The report not only offers hard to find facts about the trends and innovation driving the current and future of Cryogenic Equipment business, but also provides insights into competitive development such as acquisition and mergers, joint ventures, product launches and technology advancements. A quick look at the industry trends and opportunities: To offer more clarity on the current business environment researchers probe into the import and export status, supply chain management, demand and supply, consumption capability and manufacturing capacity. When assessing the size of the industry special consideration is given to the value and volume of the products and services offered on a year on year basis. #If You Want to Buy This Report Now Click here @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/checkout/25912 On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into - Tanks - Pumps - Vaporizers - Other Equipment 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 - Medical - Food - Energy & Power - Chemical - Electronics - Others Region wise performance of the Cryogenic Equipment industry: This report studies the global Cryogenic Equipment market status and forecast, categorizes the global Cryogenic Equipment market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America). Key points from TOC: 7 Company Profiles and Key Figures in Cryogenic Equipment Business: 7.1 Air Liquide 7.1.1 Air Liquide Cryogenic Equipment Production Sites and Area Served 7.1.2 Cryogenic Equipment Product Introduction, Application and Specification 7.1.3 Air Liquide Cryogenic Equipment Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019) 7.1.4 Main Business and Markets Served 7.2 Linde Group AG 7.2.1 Linde Group AG Cryogenic Equipment Production Sites and Area Served 7.2.2 Cryogenic Equipment Product Introduction, Application and Specification 7.2.3 Linde Group AG Cryogenic Equipment Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019) 7.2.4 Main Business and Markets Served 7.3 Chart Industries 7.3.1 Chart Industries Cryogenic Equipment Production Sites and Area Served 7.3.2 Cryogenic Equipment Product Introduction, Application and Specification 7.3.3 Chart Industries Cryogenic Equipment Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2014-2019) 7.3.4 Main Business and Markets Served Continue... Browse Full RD with TOC of This Report @ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/25912/cryogenic-equipment-market This Cryogenic Equipment market report holds answers to some important questions like: - What is the expected growth rate of the Cryogenic Equipment market? What will be the market size for the forecast period, 2019 2025? - What are the major driving forces responsible for transforming the trajectory of the industry? - Who are major vendors dominating the Cryogenic Equipment industry across different regions? What are their winning strategies to stay ahead in the competition? - What are the market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years? - What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry across different countries? - What are the key opportunities that business owners can bank on for the forecast period, 2019 - 2025? People Also Viewed:- Cryogenic Equipment for LNG Market Insights - Global Trends, Opportunities, Analysis and Forecast by 2025 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 Follow Us :- LinkedIn | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- The latest report Data Projectors discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Data Projectors market for the forecast period, 2019 to 2026. The document offers an insight into what the target customer's needs and wants. Industry experts have extracted data from various sources on size, share, growth rate, production volume, production capacity, import and export status, distribution channels and more and have analysed it thoroughly. By properly assessing the competitors and their offerings the study aims at empowering business owners to step ahead. Request for sample report in PDF format available @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/35432 Major Players in Data Projectors market are: Epson, ViewSonic, Optoma, LG, Asus, BenQ, JVC, Acer, NEC, Vivitek, Sharp, Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi, Philips Major Regions that plays a vital role in Data Projectors market are: - North America - Europe - China - Japan - Middle East & Africa - India - South America - Others Ask for discount @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/discount-enquiry-form/35432 Understanding the market size Researcher's visibility engagement approach when evaluating data such as key driving forces, threats, challenges, opportunities empowers product owners to meet their strategic goals through accelerated returns. The intelligent market survey that blends in both new and old study techniques brings to light more information pertaining to various product types, applications, end-use and important industry definition. The research on the Data Projectors market further validates other prime factors including investment feasibility, production capability, product pricing, production volume, demand and supply, import and export status to help business evangelists make the multi-dimensional marketing strategy more robust. Comprehensive data on the current and future business environment is showcased through self-explanatory infographics, charts, and tables and can be integrated with any business presentation. Market by Type - LCD Projectors - DLP Projectors Market by Application - Business - Education - Home - Cinema - Others 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. Buy Complete Report on Data Projectors (customization available) @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/35432 The study objectives of this report are: - To analyze and study the global Data Projectors capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2019) and forecast (2019-2026); - Focuses on the key Data Projectors manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future. - Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. - To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. - To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. - To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. - To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. - To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market - To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market - To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies. Key elements from table of content: Part 1 Market Overview 1.1 Market Definition 1.2 Market Development 1.3 By Type 1.4 By Application 1.5 By Region Part 2 Global Market Status and Future Forecast 2.1 Global Market by Region 2.2 Global Market by Company 2.3 Global Market by Type 2.4 Global Market by Application 2.5 Global Market by Forecast Continued Browse the report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/data-projectors-market About MarketExpertz Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges. Contact Us: John Watson Head of Business Development Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052 E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Daylight fluorescent pigments are luminescent materials that require no artificially generated energy to reflect colored light and to give off fluorescent light. Fluorescent pigments are composed of dyed organic polymers that are formulated to be solvents for the fluorescence dyestuff. In contrast to ordinary colors, light emitted from a fluorescent color adds to the light returned by simple reflection to give the glow characteristic of daylight-fluorescent materials. Access PDF version of this report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1091364/global-daylight-fluorescent-pigments-market The migration of the Daylight Fluorescent Pigments business to Asia, particularly China and India, continues. Since the mid-1990s, production in China and India has rapidly increased; China is now the world's largest consumer of Daylight Fluorescent Pigments. Additional medium-tier to higher-value Daylight Fluorescent Pigments also migrates to China from North America, Europe and Japan. Production in Europe, USA and Japan continues on a downward trend as the market has become globalized and gross margins have been squeezed. To Daylight Fluorescent Pigments global application, in 2016, paints & coatings industry account for 25% of demand, printing inks industry about 52%, plastics industry about 19% and other industries such as cosmetics for the remainder. The printing market for publication of newsprint and periodicals has fallen as a result of competition from the internet, but demand for printing inks for packaging remains strong. Stricter environmental mandates are impacting the availability of some key ingredients. In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, suppliers are cautious about adding capacity, and they continue to closely manage their inventory, which leaves customers vulnerable to potential stock outs in the event of supply problems or a spike in demand. Although Daylight Fluorescent Pigments brings a lot of opportunities, the study group recommends the new entrants just having money but without technical advantage and upstream and downstream support do not to enter into this field. The global Daylight Fluorescent Pigments market was 220 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 440 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 10.0% between 2019 and 2025. This report studies the Daylight Fluorescent Pigments 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 Daylight Fluorescent Pigments 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 Day-Glo Color Corp (RPM International) Dane Color (RPM International) Radiant Color N.V (RPM International) UKSEUNG SINLOIHI (DAI NIPPON TORYO) Huangshan Jiajia Science and Technology China wanlong chemical Lynwon Group J Color Technologies Vicome Corp Ming Hui Group (Spectra Colours Ltd) Aron Universal Ltd Nanochemitek (Yangzhou) Corp LuminoChem By the product type, the market is primarily split into Thermoset Type Thermoplastic Type Other (Aqueous Dispersions, etc) By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Paints & Coatings Industry Printing Inks Industry Plastics Industry Other Get this report now at USD 3,350: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/40648e040a2fbe89c54a51ee45dc88e9,0,1,Global%20Daylight%20Fluorescent%20Pigments%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) -- 04/16/2019 -- The latest market research report titled Diisostearyl Fumarate market offers a detailed evaluation of the market situation within a specific geographic region. This Diisostearyl Fumarate 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 Diisostearyl Fumarate Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/35360 Scope of the Report: The research methodologies used for evaluating the Diisostearyl Fumarate 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 Diisostearyl Fumarate market are: - Lubrizol - DowDuPont - Alzo International Most important types of Diisostearyl Fumarate products covered in this report are: - Below 95% - 95%-98% - Above 98% Most widely used downstream fields of Diisostearyl Fumarate market covered in this report are: - Colour Cosmetics/Makeup - Skin Care - Hair Care - Others Major Regions play vital role in Diisostearyl Fumarate market are: - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) - South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.) - Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Buy Diisostearyl Fumarate Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/35360 The market intelligence study for the Diisostearyl Fumarate 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. Understanding the market size: The size of the Diisostearyl Fumarate 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 Diisostearyl Fumarate 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 Diisostearyl Fumarate 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 Diisostearyl Fumarate market The research provides answers to the following key questions: - What is the estimated size of the Diisostearyl Fumarate market for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026? What will be the growth rate of the industry during the estimated period? - What are the prominent driving forces likely to impact the progress of the industry across different regions? - Who are the major market players occupying a strong foothold in the Diisostearyl Fumarate market? What are the winning strategies adopted by them to stay ahead in the competition? - What are the potential opportunities for the Diisostearyl Fumarate market for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026? Read More @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/diisostearyl-fumarate-market Key Points from TOC: 2 Manufacturers Profiles 2.1 Lubrizol 2.1.1 Business Overview 2.1.2 Diisostearyl Fumarate Type and Applications 2.1.2.1 Product A 2.1.2.2 Product B 2.1.3 Lubrizol Diisostearyl Fumarate Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018) 2.2 DowDuPont 2.2.1 Business Overview 2.2.2 Diisostearyl Fumarate Type and Applications 2.2.2.1 Product A 2.2.2.2 Product B 2.2.3 DowDuPont Diisostearyl Fumarate Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018) 2.3 Alzo International 2.3.1 Business Overview 2.3.2 Diisostearyl Fumarate Type and Applications 2.3.2.1 Product A 2.3.2.2 Product B 2.3.3 Alzo International Diisostearyl Fumarate Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018) 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) -- 04/16/2019 -- The global polypropylene catalyst market was valued at around US$ 1 Bn in 2017 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of more than 4% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Polypropylene Catalyst Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026.' Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polypropylene-catalyst-market.html Rise in Requirement for Specialty Grades of Polypropylene Polypropylene catalyst has the ability to help in obtaining different configurations of polypropylene. Various important parameters controlled by polypropylene catalyst include c-monomer distribution, stereo-specificity, degree of linearity, etc. Leading companies operating in end-user industries of the polypropylene catalyst market value chain depend on specialty grades which are sometimes further enhanced to suit their requirements. High-grade polypropylene is required in polypropylene thermoplastic composites which are used in automotive interior parts including trim, main, and auxiliary instrument panels and door panels and columns. The requirement for high-grade polypropylene provides immense opportunities to manufacturers of polypropylene catalysts to supply a product that provides polypropylene with improved toughness, thickness, and other essential characteristics. Difficulties faced by Polypropylene Producers in adopting the New Catalyst anticipated to hinder Market Polypropylene catalyst plays a key role in defining properties of produced polypropylene. The requirement for polypropylene properties changes in accordance with the end-use. The series of developments observed in the polypropylene catalyst market is very interesting from the research perspective; however, from the cost perspective, these developments have made it difficult for commercial producers of polypropylene to change their catalyst. Though polypropylene producers are not required to make changes in their automation, machines need to be cleaned and reconfigured every time when a new type of catalyst comes in picture. This may take several days. The downtime may cause loss of productivity and increase in the cost of reconfiguration. The new catalyst has to be tested by the polypropylene producer for cost calculation and needs to be checked for properties defined by the consumer for the specific polypropylene required. ZieglerNatta catalyst is the most widely used polypropylene catalyst, which polymerizes propylene into polypropylene in a fluidized bed reactor. The demand for ZieglerNatta catalyst is expected to increase during the forecast period, due to its lower cost compared to metallocene catalyst. Manufacturers such as Clariant have developed ZieglerNatta catalysts that demonstrate improved technical and commercial features. Dominance of the gas phase process segment in the global polypropylene catalyst market can be ascribed to effectiveness of the gas phase process in terms of supply of monomers and removal of reaction heat. Also, the gas phase process eliminates the need to remove or replace the catalyst after every reaction. However, use of the bulk phase process yields the catalyst in high amounts. Request to view Sample Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=38747 Injection-molded Products held a Major Share of the Global Polypropylene Catalyst Market Among applications, the injection-molded products segment dominated the global polypropylene catalyst market and is expected to continue its dominance in the next few years. The rising consumption of injection-molded products is attributable to high demand from automotive and transportation industries. Also, the rising demand for composites, which significantly use polypropylene as a base material, is projected to boost the polypropylene catalyst market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific held a Major Share in 2017 Asia Pacific dominated the global polypropylene catalyst market in 2017, owing to high demand for polypropylene catalyst in the region. This is because Asia Pacific is a major manufacturer of polypropylene across the globe. Major manufacturers of polypropylene catalyst such as LyondellBasell Industries Holdings B.V. and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. operate their polypropylene catalyst manufacturing facilities in Asia Pacific. In countries such as South Korea, manufacturers of polypropylene catalyst are expanding their manufacturing facilities, due to increased demand for polypropylene from automobile and home appliance applications. The volatility in prices of crude oil has reflected in the production of polypropylene and polypropylene catalyst in the last few years. Furthermore, consumption of polypropylene catalyst in GCC is likely to increase in the near future, due to increase in the polypropylene production by three major companies in Middle East & Africa: Borouge, Sadara Chemical Company, and Oman Oil Refineries & Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC). Request for TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/38747 Consolidated Nature of Polypropylene Catalyst Market with Top Two Players accounting for more than 60% Share The global polypropylene catalyst market is consolidated, as the top two manufacturers accounted for more than 70% share of the global market in 2017. Key manufacturers operating in the global polypropylene catalyst market are W. R. Grace & Co.-Conn, INEOS, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Sinopec Corp., and Reliance Industries Limited. Acquisition of regional manufacturers, expansion of existing production sites, exploring new regional markets, and addition of sales and distribution channels are a few major strategies adopted by manufacturers operating in the market. Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Cross bottom bags are cost effective than its alternatives such as block bottom bags and pinch bottom bags, which is the prime factor expected to drive the growth of the market. Increasing urbanization and awareness regarding better packaging are the other factors expected to drive the growth of the Cross Bottom Bags Market Globally. Cross bottom bags are generally made from paper and plastic, which makes them recyclable. Cross bottom bags used for packaging not only protects the material but also prevents from leakage as they are in standing position during transportation across the supply chain. Cross bottom bags are recyclable and biodegradable in case of paper which makes it more popular than its alternatives. Properties such as high strength, stability and cost efficiency are escalating the growth of the market for cross bottom bags. Request TOC of this Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2849 Cross bottom bags have hexagonal base without side folds. Cross bottom bag is an attractive type of packaging. In the food sector, bags are ideal for carrying tea, spices and confectionery items such as chocolates, nuts, cookies and sweets or finely ground spices. Cross bottom bags are extensively used in the retail sector. Cross bottom bags have a good holding capacity and are extraordinary stable along with easy storage when the bag is empty. If cross bottom bags are filled evenly and carefully, it will stay upright without any support. The bottom of the cross bottom bag is sealed rather than glued. Cross bottom bags offer various advantages such as rip proof, highly transparent and ensure the safety of food items. Cross bottom bags can be modified to suit individual product preferences and brand so that it has high resistance to pressure that decreases the chances of package rupture. Cross bottom bags are used to carry different kinds of agricultural products, agrochemical products, fertilizers, etc. In the recent years, consumers are seeking sustainable packaging to the extent that it affects the choices, which plays an important role in the growth of the cross bottom bags market. With the technological developments, the design of cross bottom bags is more sturdy and effective. Most of the manufacturing companies focus on recyclability and sustainability of the cross bottom bags, which is also expected to accelerate the growth of the market. However, stringent government regulations towards plastic usage below 50 microns is expected to hamper the growth of the cross bottom bags market. To know more about the Cross Bottom Bags Market Visit the link- https://www.factmr.com/report/2849/cross-bottom-bags-market Global Cross Bottom Bags Market: Regional Outlook Geographically, the global cross bottom bags market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, MEA, APEJ & Japan. APEJ is expected to account lion's share in the global cross bottom bags market due to increasing export activities in emerging economies. Countries in this region such as India China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia & Thailand are witnessing momentous increase in the use of cross bottom bags in food & beverage industry. The growth is in this region mainly due to the increasing population & rapid economic growth that is escalating the demand for cross bottom bags for various end-use industries in Asia-Pacific. The U.S., Europe & MEA are projected to witness moderate CAGR growth over the forecast period owing to growing industrialization. Global Cross Bottom Bags Market: Key Players Examples of some of the key players in the cross bottom bags market are: Polymer-Synthese-Werk GmbH, Charlotte Express Packaging Ltd., Elke Plastic GmbH, SIEGFRIED POHL VERPACKUNGEN GMBH, HELMUT SCHMIDT VERPACKUNGSFOLIEN GMBH, BK International, Westflex Ltd., Dijkstra Packaging Inc. Many local and unrecognized players are expected to contribute to the global cross bottom bags market during the forecast period. The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Request Brochure of this Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=B&rep_id=2849 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/ Blog: https://factmrblog.com/ Read Industry News at - https://www.industrynewsanalysis.com/ Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- There are multiple steps in the manufacturing of a lithium-ion battery, which require different types of equipment. The report mainly includes electrode manufacturing equipment, cell & battery assembly equipment and testing & formation equipment, etc. In the coming years there is an increasing demand for lithium battery in the regions of China and Europe that is expected to drive the market for more advanced lithium battery. Growth in government budgets in the electric vehicles, increasing of consumer electronics industry fields expenditures, more-intense competition, launches in introducing new products, retrofitting and renovation of old technology, increasing adoption of lithium battery will drive growth in global lithium battery manufacturing equipment market. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at: https://www.qyresearch.com/index/detail/918182/global-lithium-battery-manufacturing-equipment-market Globally, the lithium battery manufacturing equipment industry market is low concentrated as the manufacturing technology of lithium battery manufacturing equipment is relatively mature. And some enterprises, like Wuxi Lead, Yinghe Technology, Hirano Tecseed and Shenzhen Haoneng Technology, etc. are well-known for the wonderful performance of their lithium battery manufacturing equipment and related services. At the same time, China, occupied 56% revenue market share in 2017, is remarkable in the global lithium battery manufacturing equipment industry because of their market share and technology status of lithium battery manufacturing equipment. The global Lithium Battery Manufacturing Equipment market was 3700 million US$ in 2018 and is expected to 9250 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 14.0% between 2019 and 2025. Get PDF sample copy of this report: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/918182/global-lithium-battery-manufacturing-equipment-market This report studies the Lithium Battery Manufacturing Equipment 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 Lithium Battery Manufacturing Equipment 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 Wuxi Lead Yinghe Technology CHR Shenzhen Haoneng Technology Blue Key Hirano Tecseed Manz Putailai Hitachi High-Technologies CKD Toray Golden Milky Sovema PNT KUBT Buhler Shenzhen Geesun Kataoka Koem Kaido Naura Technology Fuji Guangzhou Kinte Nishimura Mfg CIS Techland Asada Breyer Nagano Automation Ingecal By the product type, the market is primarily split into Pretreatment Cell Assembly Post Processing By the end users/application, this report covers the following segments Consumer Electronics Power Industry Others Buy Full Lithium Battery Manufacturing Equipment Market Report Now, Report delivery time within 24 hours @ https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/af7b4719114da4dd29cafc1bbc5fdf48,0,1,Global%20Lithium%20Battery%20Manufacturing%20Equipment%20Market%20Report,%20History%20and%20Forecast%202014-2025,%20Breakdown%20Data%20by%20Manufacturers,%20Key%20Regions,%20Types%20and%20Application About QYResearch QYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, data base and seminar services. The company owned a large basic data base (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), expert's resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc. President Moon Jae-in was undaunted Monday by a swipe from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and said he will keep pushing for another summit with Kim. "It is now time to pursue a summit with North Korea and make preparations," Moon told top officials in a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. "If conditions permit, I hope that South and North can sit face to face without being restrained by the venue or format and discuss ways to achieve results that go beyond the two previous summits with the U.S." Kim last September agreed to visit South Korea but later lost interest as sanctions remained in place, and last week he called on Moon to stop acting like "an officious 'mediator' and 'booster' that adopts a vacillating stand depending on the trend." Moon claimed U.S. President Donald Trump had expressed his support for an inter-Korean summit when the two met in Washington last week and "even voiced the possibility of a trilateral summit if Kim makes the decision." But there was no mention of that in official briefings by either Moon or Trump after their brief discussions. Moon made no mention of Kim's attack on him but claimed Kim "repeatedly voiced his will to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and achieve peace." In last week's session of the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly Kim made no mention of denuclearization, but he said he is "open" to meeting with Trump "one more time" if the U.S. changes its attitude. Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- "Wine Market by Colour (Red Wine, Rose Wine, White Wine and Others), By Product Type and By Distribution Channel: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2017 - 2023". According to the report, global wine market was valued at approximately USD 302.02 billion in 2017 and is expected to generate revenue of around USD, 423.59 billion by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of around 5.8% between 2017 and 2023. Wine is an alcoholic beverage in which alcohol is generated by the natural process of fermentation. The fermentation process is primarily carried out by the bacteria which are present on the skin of grapes. Further, a particular strain of yeast is added to the primary fermented product so as to obtain the desired wine. In wine, the bacteria or yeast converts the sugar, which is present in grapes, to ethanol and carbon dioxide. According to the sugar fermented, the taste of wines differs. For instance, if there is a high amount of sugar in wine it is a dessert wine. There are six basic processes involved in the production of wine, namely destemming and crushing, alcoholic fermentation, drawing the wine off the lees, malolactic fermentation, stabilization and ageing and refinement in bottle. The quality of wine increases with the time of ageing. Request Free Sample Research Report @ http://bit.ly/2VJJjdP The wine market is segmented on the basis of colour into red wine, rose wine, white wine and others. The red wine segment is expected to dominate the global wine market. Based on product type, the market is divided into still wines, sparkling wines, dessert wines and fortified wines. The still wines segment is anticipated to dominate the market but sparkling wines segment is expected to grow fast due to its increasing demand as a celebration wine. On the basis of the distribution channel, the market is divided into supermarket and hypermarket, specialty stores, convenience stores, online channel, and others. Supermarket and hypermarket segment is expected to dominate the global wine market in the forecast period. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa are the regional segments of the global wine market. North America is anticipated to remain the leading region over the forecast period due to increase in production of wine. The growth in Europe is expected to be steady as there are already a number of wine producer and wineries in this region. The Asia Pacific is expected to show highest growth rate in forecast period because of the increase in demand for wine and growth of the production of wine in developing countries. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are also expected to show a steady increase in demand for wine market in the forecast period. Request Free Brochure of This Report: http://bit.ly/2ImRMjZ Some of the key players in the global wine market include Constellations Brand, E & J Gallo Winery, Torres, Treasury Wine Estates, Vina Conch y Toro, Distell Group, Global Drinks Finland, International Beverage Holdings, John Distilleries, Soyuz Victan and SPI Group, Accolade Wines, and The Wine Group. Major players are frequently engaged in developing different wines so that they can provide new quality of wine. This report segments the global wine market as follows: Global Wine Market: Colour Segment Analysis Red Wine Rose Wine White Wine Others Browse Full Report TOC (Table of Contents) here http://bit.ly/2v4jSbh Global Wine Market: Product Type Segment Analysis Still Wine Sparkling Wine Dessert Wine Fortified Wine Global Wine Market: Distribution Channel Segment Analysis Supermarket and Hypermarket Specialty Stores Convenience Stores Online Channels Others Global Wine Market: Regional Segment Analysis North America The U.S. Europe UK France Germany Asia Pacific China Japan India Latin America Brazil The Middle East and Africa Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Global Plastic Additives Market is accounted for $39.25 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $68.86 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2017 to 2026. The market is majorly driven by factors such as growing consumption of plastics driven by the rising applications and increasing disposable earnings of the people from emerging economies. The affluent packaging application in emerging countries and increasing usage of additives in medical and agricultural applications are some of the factors fueling the market growth. However, factors such as unpredictable prices of raw materials and stringent governmental regulations are hindering the market growth. Plastic additives are chemicals added in a polymer to modify its properties. The polymers used in plastics are combined with monomeric units and are not in their pure form, but are harmless. The objective is to improve the processing characteristics and properties of plastics and to enhance performance. These monomers are known as plastic additives and can be classified as reinforcing fibres, coupling agents, stabilizers, colorants, fillers, processing aids, flame retardants, peroxides and antistatic agents. Plastic additives enable safe handling of the plastic during the manufacture of finished products. The stabilizing plastic additives are halogen stabilizers, ultraviolet absorbers, antioxidants and biological preservatives. Also, there are processing aids such as lubricants and flow controls. Amongst Type, Plasticizers segment accounted for significant market share during the forecast period. The plastic additive market as it is extensively used to process polymers and is less expensive than other additives. They are usually combined with PVC or other polymers to impart unique physical and technological properties for use in various applications such as cable jacketing, floor & wall coverings, and coating fabrics. Asia-Pacific is the largest market for plastic additives. The growing packaging industry coupled with the increased demand from the retail industry drives the market of plastic additives in the region. Polymer industries are witnessing high growth in developing nations such as India and Brazil due to their growing economies. Some of the key players in Plastic Additives Market include Adeka Corporation, Akzonobel N.V., Albemarle Corporation, Baerlocher Group, BASF SE, Bayer AG, Chemtura Corporation, Clariant AG, Emerald Performance Materials, Evonik Industries AG, Grafe Advanced Polymers GmbH, Kaneka Corporation, Lanxess AG, Milliken & Company, Plastics United Group, Polymers Compounding Co. Ltd., Polyone, Sabo S.P.A., Sakai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Songwon Industrial Co. Ltd and The DOW Chemical Company. Plastics Covered: - Engineering Plastic - High Performance Plastics - Commodity Plastics Types Covered: - Flame Retardants - Impact Modifiers - UV Stabilizers - Plasticizers - Antifog Additives - Flow Improvers - Lubricants - Pigment Wetting Agents - Processing Aids - Slip Additives - Stabilizers - Other Types Functions Covered: - Processing Aids - Property Extenders - Property Modifiers Applications Covered: - Automotive - Construction - Consumer Goods - Packaging - Other Applications Regions Covered: - North America US Canada Mexico - Europe Germany UK Italy France Spain Rest of Europe - Asia Pacific Japan China India Australia New Zealand South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific - South America Argentina Brazil Chile Rest of South America - Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia UAE Qatar South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa What our report offers: - Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments - Market share analysis of the top industry players - Strategic recommendations for the new entrants - Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets - Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) - Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations - Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends - Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments - Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Spanning over 187 pages "Plastic Additives - Global Market Outlook (2017-2026)" report covers Executive Summary, Preface, Market Trend Analysis, Porters Five Force Analysis, Global Plastic Additives Market, By Plastic, Global Plastic Additives Market, By Type, Global Plastic Additives Market, By Function, Global Plastic Additives Market, By Application, Global Plastic Additives Market, By Geography, Key Developments, Company Profiling. This report Covered Companies few are - Adeka Corporation, Akzonobel N.V., Albemarle Corporation, Baerlocher Group, BASF SE, Bayer AG, Chemtura Corporation, Clariant AG, Emerald Performance Materials, Evonik Industries AG, Grafe Advanced Polymers GmbH, Kaneka Corporation. Please visit this link for more details: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/stratistics-mrc/plastic-additives-global-market-outlook-2017-2026 Find all Chemicals Reports at: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/chemicals For related reports please visit: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/search/site/Plastic%2520Additive Read our Interactive Market Research Blog About MarketResearchReports.com MarketResearchReports.com is world's largest store offering quality market research, SWOT analysis, competitive intelligence and industry reports. We help Fortune 500 to Start-Ups with the latest market research reports on global & regional markets which comprise key industries, leading market players, new products and latest industry analysis & trends. Contact us for your market research requirements: https://www.marketresearchreports.com/contact Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Development of Targeted Therapeutic Drugs Drives Global HPAPI Market The booming oncology research and rising cases of cancer, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases have created a sizeable demand for dedicated treatments, thereby driving the high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient (HPAPI) market. The HPAPI market stood at a valuation of US$2.64 bn in 2014. The cost containment strategies adopted by companies through outsourcing are favoring market growth. This has brought down the cost of drugs drastically, making them affordable to a larger audience. The positive result of this trend is seen on the increased focus of companies on drug development and commercialization. As a result of these favorable trends, the HPAPI market is projected to be worth US$25.11 bn by 2023. Between 2015 and 2023, the market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.3%. Obtain Report Details @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/high-potency-active-pharmaceutical-Ingredients-market.html A promising pipeline of targeted therapeutic drugs will also help the market progress in the coming years. These drugs have minimal side effects and impact targeted areas, thereby helping the patient to recover faster with no lingering after effects. These positive perceptions surrounding HPAPIs combined with the near-expiration dates of blockbuster drugs, which will offer several generic drug manufacturers a chance to offer affordable drugs, will further the market's growth. Consistent research and development to mimic branded drugs will create alternative and cost-effective treatments for patients across the globe, thereby augmenting the growth rate of the market. Emerging Nations in Asia Pacific Becoming Hubs of Generic Drug Manufacturing, to Aid HPAPI Market Growth Asia Pacific is the expected to be the most lucrative market for high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients due to the soaring contract manufacturing activities in the region. Analysts predict that China will surpass Japan's current share of 40% in the Asia Pacific market by the end of 2025. This change will be a result of low labor costs in China, well-equipped manufacturing plants, and supportive foreign exchange policies. Request for Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=748 India will also be an upcoming high potency active pharmaceutical ingredients market due to the growing concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing activities in the country. In the forecast period, the country is expected to be the hub for generic drug manufacturing. The growing investments by key players in India are also anticipated to boost this market in the near future. During the forecast period of 2015 to 2023, the Asia Pacific HPAPI market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 10.1%. Oncology Drugs Show Maximum Demand The oncology drugs segment has been the leading segment of the global high potency active pharmaceutical ingredient market. This segment is expected to expand at CAGR of 8.3% during the forecast period. The introduction of innovative drugs is the primary growth driver for the oncology segment. Analysts predict that the patent expiry of blockbuster drugs such as Herceptin, Rituxan, and Humira will pave the way for generic drug manufacturers, thereby making these drugs affordable to a wide number of patients. Request Report Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=748 About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companyas exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRas 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. Contact Us Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: www.transparencymarketresearch.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Global Mobile Health Care Devices Market: Overview Health care quality, access, and affordability are problems throughout the globe. There are well-established differences in health care based on geography and income. High costs of health care are present challenges for millions of individuals. A large number of people do not receive the quality of health care that they need. Mobile health care technology provides ways to help with these issues by providing various health care applications such as sensors, remote patient monitoring products, medical devices, and mobile health applications. There are opportunities through which health care distribution can be enriched. Mobile health care technologies can help lower costs by simplifying the delivery of care and connecting people to their health care suppliers. Applications allow both providers and patients to access lab tests, reference materials, and medical histories using mobile health care devices. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/mobile-health-care-devices-market.html Global Mobile Health Care Devices Market: Key Trends Moreover, an increase in the use of mobile health care devices by health care authorities, rise in investments for research and development, and increased demand for advanced health care facilities have transformed many features of medical practice. Mobile health care devices have become usual in health care facilities, leading to rapid growth in the development of the global mobile health care devices market. The demand for self-monitoring and user-friendly devices has increased in the past few years, due to increase in the prevalence of chronic disorders such as respiratory diseases, diabetes, heart problems, and hypertension and associated mortality and morbidity rates. Health care applications based on personal health care records (PHR), lifestyle, nutrition, well-being, and personal management systems provide health records and medicine reminders via a single text or through online treatments. Mobile health care devices have generated a positive influence on health care devices such as ECG monitors, multiparamete trackers, blood pressure & cardiac monitors, glucose trackers, pulse oximeters, neurological monitoring devices, sleep apnea devices, and other health care mobile devices. Global Mobile Health Care Devices Market: Segmentation The global mobile health care devices market can be segmented based on product, application, end-user, and region. Based on product, the global mobile health care devices market can be segmented into blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, neurological monitors, ECG monitors, sleep apnea meters, blood glucose meters, cardiac monitors, heart rate meters, peak flow meters, and others. In terms of application, the global mobile health care devices market can be categorized into chronic care management, fitness, nutrition, general health, women's health, medical management, and others. The chronic care management segment can be categorized into blood pressure monitoring, mental health & behavioral disorders management, cancer management, diabetes management, and others. Based on end-user, the global mobile health care devices market can be categorized into home health care, hospitals, specialty clinics, diagnostic laboratories, academic & research institutions, ambulatory surgical centers, and others Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=63120 Global Mobile Health Care Devices Market: Regional Analysis In terms of region, the mobile health care devices market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. The mobile health care devices market in North America is segmented into the U.S. and Canada. The mobile health care devices market in Europe is segmented into the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Rest of Europe. The mobile health care devices treatment market in Asia Pacific is further segmented into China, Japan, India, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The mobile health care devices market in Latin America is classified into Mexico, Brazil, and Rest of Latin America. The mobile health care devices market in Middle East & Africa is segmented into South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the global mobile health care devices market, owing to the presence of a large number of manufacturers and increase in awareness about the upcoming mobile health care devices. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period, due to an increase in disposable income of individuals, rise in demand for better health care infrastructure, increase in investment, and initiatives by governments to provide better health care facilities in the region. Global Mobile Health Care Devices Market: Competitive Landscape Key players operating in the global mobile health care devices market are Medtronic, AirStrip Technologies, AliveCor, Inc., LifeWatch, Koninklijke Philips N.V., BioTelemetry, Inc., AgaMatrix, iHealth Labs Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Mobisante, and OMRON Corporation. Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=63120 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 Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Non-Woven Fabrics Market Reseach Report (2019-2024) MRV has published a report based on the Non-Woven Fabrics industry. The key objective of this report is to highlight various trends and dynamics, new and innovative technology and mergers and acquisitions that are expected to make a positive impact on the overall industry. Then, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Non-Woven Fabrics industry and has shared complete information about its various features. While studying the worldwide markets for Non-Woven Fabrics industry, The report also provides details analysis of the market drivers, trends and restraints to showcase the current and future market scenario. MRV has ensured to provide a full- proof report that consists of the market strategies based on advanced technologies, applications, and different regions in the globe. The markets are expected to show significant growth during the forecasted period due to an increasing demand for the Non-Woven Fabrics. Get Access to Report Sample: http://marketresearchvision.com/request-sample/104662 Non-woven Fabrics is a thermoplastic material with excellent comprehensive performance; moreover, it is small in density, easy to produce and has low production costs. It can be widely used in many applications, such as medical and health industry, family decorates, agricultural, automotive industry, etc. China is the dominate producer of non-woven fabrics, the production was 2728.6 in 2015, accounting for about 29.40% of the total amount, followed by Europe, with the production market share of 23.51%. Asia has the highest production growth rate from 2011 to 2015, and is expected to remain the regions with the largest growth potential in the forecast period. Even though a huge space for growth in the Chinese market exists, the quality and technology should be further improved. The industrial concentration of non-woven fabric is relatively low. Leading players in non-woven fabrics industry are AVINTIV, Freudenberg, DuPont, Ahlstrom. AVINTIV is the largest manufacturer, with the production market share of 5.60% in 2015. The top four companies occupied about 18.72% production share of the market in 2015. Hygiene accounted for the largest market with about 56.86% consumption share of non-woven fabrics market in 2015. Moreover, it is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.46% from 2017 to 2021. With over 12.58% share in the non-woven fabrics market, construction was the second largest application market in 2015. This report includes the profiles of key vendors in the Non-Woven Fabrics market and the strategies adopted by them to sustain in the competition. recent developments and limitations of the market are expected to help new players to design their strategies in an effective manner. The study is expected to help key players to formulate and develop new strategies. These market estimates have been examined by considering the impact of various political, social, financial, innovative, and legal factors alongside the present market dynamics influencing market development. Elements including the market status, contributions, and R&D initiatives are ascribed to the organization's capabilities. This segment likewise identifies and includes the different ongoing developments undertaken by the key participants. The geographical analysis of the Global Market segments the worldwide market into key areas that include the continents as well as specific nations that are as of now growing in terms of their demand, volume or overall growth. Users of the report can center around these areas on the off chance that they are looking to expand their business outskirts. Go For Interesting Discount Here: http://marketresearchvision.com/check-discount/104662 Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: AVINTIV, Freudenberg, DuPont, Ahlstrom, Kimberly-Clark, Fitesa, Glatfelter, Johns Manville, Low & Bonar, Georgia-Pacific, Lydall, Avgol, Hollingsworth & Vose, Toray, First Quality, Fibertex, PEGAS, Asahi Kasei, Mitsui, Kingsafe Group, Dalian Ruiguang Group, Huifeng Nonwoven, Beautiful Nonwoven, Jinsheng Huihuang Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Market Segment by Type, covers:: Meltblown, Spunbonded, Spunlace, Needle Punch, Others Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:: Hygiene, Construction, Filtration, Automotive, Others The content of the study subjects includes a total of 15 chapters: Chapter 1, to describe Non-Woven Fabrics product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force, and market risks. Chapter 2, to profile the top key players, with price, sales, revenue and global market shares in 2017 and 2018. Chapter 3, the Non-Woven Fabrics competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast. Chapter 4, the Non-Woven Fabrics 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, Non-Woven Fabrics market forecast, by regions, type, and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024. Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Non-Woven Fabrics sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source. In the end, The stages of development of the global 10 markets in terms of their geographical presence have likewise been displayed thoroughly. This data enables the emerging players to gain up-to-date information which can enable them to take exceptional business decisions. Read Complete Report With TOC: http://marketresearchvision.com/reports/104662/Non-Woven-Fabrics-Market The Non-Woven Fabrics market report could be customized according to the client's specific research requirements. Tulsa, OK -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa is one of the leading locking and key service companies. As the name indicates, the company is based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma and is quite popular for offering reliable, efficient, secure, and instant locksmith services 24/7 at prices that simply remain unmatchable as compared to its competitors. Owing to these reasons, OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa remains the first choice of property owners and those locked out of their cars. The company answers the customers' queries right away and reaches the location instantly. With the intent to put some light on the lock and key services on offer, the spokesperson of OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa stated, "We understand how cumbersome and awkward it feels like being locked out of homes, offices, or for that matter cars, at the odd hours. We aim to provide safe, reliable, expert, and value for money lock and key services to individuals who have forgotten their lock code or lost the keys or locked the keys inside the car. We answer customers' calls instantly and try to solve their queries straight away." After answering the call, one of OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa professionals reaches the location instantly. The professional offers a no obligation quote and helps customers to come out of the unlikely situation of being stranded out of their properties and vehicles instantly. The lock and key service company remains at service 24/7 and ensures that customers get instant support at any point in time. To book the locksmith services, all that a customer has to do is to call on the telephone number provided on the official website. Elaborating on the lock and key services, the spokesperson further commented, "Our lock and key professional reaches the location ASAP and tries to lock or unlock the home or car lock. Since we have been offering lock and key services for a considerable time now, we have considerable expertise, knowledge, and necessary wherewithal at our disposal to lock or unlock any modern and traditional locking device used in properties and vehicles. This puts us in a better position to lock or unlock any device with relative ease." What enables OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa to stand tall as a locksmith company is that it offers locksmith solutions keeping the security concerns of property or vehicle owners in mind. The company is committed to keeping all the locking device-related information safe, secure, and intact from unauthorized access. By doing so, it provides property and vehicle owners with a reason to take a sigh of relief about their properties, prized possessions, family members, and valuable cars being safe. Hence, those looking for the best automotive locksmith in Tulsa, or even a highly expert car locksmith in Tulsa, can reach out to OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa. About OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa As the name indicates, OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based lock and key services providing company. It is known for offering reliable, efficient, safe, and secured lock and key services to domestic and commercial property owners, as well as to those who have locked themselves out of cars. Not surprisingly, OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa deserves to be one of the best Tulsa locksmiths companies. Contact Details: Company : OKC Locksmith JB Tulsa Address: Tulsa, OK, 74133 Phone: (918) 319-9998. Contact: https://okclocksmith.com/tulsa/contact-us/ Web: https://okclocksmith.com/ Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Operating room lights, popularly known as surgical lights or surgical light heads, are used by surgeons to illuminate a local area or cavity of the patient during an operation. The correct set of operating room lights is crucial for achieving procedural accuracy, patient care, and positive results. Combination of several surgical lights and other technologies such as cameras has evolved into advanced operating room light systems. The global operating room lights market is expected to expand at a sluggish pace during the forecast period. Growth in few markets like the U.S. was attributed to the shifting of many facilities from halogen lights to LED lights. LED lights offer various advantages over traditional halogen lights such as higher light intensity, larger adjustable spot, and a wide range of settings and adjustment options. These LED lights do not heat up as compared to halogen lights, and thus help maintain a cool and comfortable operating room environment for surgeons. Some of the leading brands in the operating lights market are Stellar Series from Skytron; ALM and Hanau Med from Getinge Group; and Phililux from Philips. Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/operating-room-lights-market.html Rise in the number of cardiovascular, neurological, urological, orthopedic, and dermatology surgical procedures is likely to drive the global operating room lights market. Increase in the geriatric population undergoing major cardiac surgeries has propelled the global market. Moreover, product innovations driven by advancement in technology is anticipated to propel the operating room lights market. Rising demand for sophisticated operation theaters has boosted the global operating room lights market. However, high cost of these lights is likely to restrain the market. Request Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=37220 The global operating room lights market can be segmented based on type of lamp, mounting configuration, applications, and region. In terms of type of lamp, the global operating room lights market can be categorized into conventional incandescent lamps, gas discharge, and LED. Technological advancements has led to shift from halogen lamps to LEDs. Different types of LED lamps with required specifications for a particular medical procedure are available in the market. Based on mounting configuration, the global operating room lights market includes ceiling-mounted, wall-mounted, and on floor stand. Currently, various portable operating room light are in high demand in the market. In terms of application, the market can be categorized into major surgeries and minor surgeries. In terms of geography, the operating room lights market has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Most hospitals in these regions are increasingly adopting modern day OR equipment and hybrid ORs. Additionally, rising number of surgical procedures is contributing to the expansion of market in North America and Europe. The market in countries such as Japan, China, India, Malaysia and Australia are projected to create growth opportunities for equipment manufacturers. The operating room lights market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a significant pace. Emerging economies such as India and China are expected to propel the operating room lights market in Asia Pacific due to the rise in health care expenditure. Request for TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=37220 Key players operating in the room lights market include Getinge Group, TRUMPF GmbH +Co. KG, Steris Corporation, Berchtold Corporation, and Skytron, LLC. According to Healthcare Purchasing News (a business news magazine for purchasing decision-makers at hospitals and other health care facilities), Skytron LLC dominates the market in the U.S. with the largest share followed by Steris Corporation, Getinge Group, and Berchtold Corporation. 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 Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Global Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: Overview The human eye is an exceptionally gentle organ. Hence, performing ophthalmic examinations and surgeries requires the facility to monitor development on a micro-level. Ophthalmic optical microscopes are designed to provide detailed imaging and high contrast of all areas of the human eye. While choosing an ophthalmic microscope, it is essential to consider the type of optics used. An apochromatic lens will deliver high light transmission, allowing high quality imaging at lower light intensities. Certain types of ophthalmic microscopes offer multiple illumination options such as the ability to switch between xenon and halogen. An ophthalmic microscope can either be adjustable or fixed, and some types provide a second observer set of eyeglasses, which can autonomously modify the focusing mechanism. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-microscopes-market.html Global Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: Key Trends The global ophthalmic microscopes market has witnessed significant growth in the past few years due to continuous product modifications, changing lifestyles, and introduction of technologically advanced diagnostic platforms. Additionally, rise in implementation of minimally invasive surgeries and increase in the geriatric population which is highly susceptible to eye disorders fuel the growth of the global ophthalmic microscopes market. Diagnostics facilitate timely diagnosis of eye disorders and ensure effective treatment methodologies with the support of surgeries. However, cost of ophthalmic microscopes and minimal health care spending by governments toward addressing ophthalmic issues are the major challenges likely to hamper the growth of the global ophthalmic microscopes market. Global Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: Segmentation The global ophthalmic microscopes market can be segmented based on product, application, end-user, and region. In terms of product, the global market can be classified into basic microscope models, standard microscope models, and advanced microscope models. Based on application, the global ophthalmic microscopes market can be divided into diagnosis, surgery, and vision care. Diagnosis of several ophthalmic ailments is one of the prime requisites in the ophthalmology field. Timely diagnosis of vision impairment ensures effective treatment measures taken to correct the problem. Evolution of novel technologies and treatment modalities available for major eye disorders including visual acuity has revolutionized the field of ophthalmology. Increase in adoption of minimally invasive surgeries especially with reference to cataract, glaucoma, and vitreoretinal surgeries is a major factor driving the surgery segment. Vision care deals with the examination of eye with respect to vision impairments such as astigmatism, bullous keratopathy, dry eye syndrome, corneal ectasia, and others. In terms of end-user, the global ophthalmic microscopes market can be categorized into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and ophthalmic clinics. Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=63114 Global Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: Regional Analysis Based on region, the global ophthalmic microscopes market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America comprises Canada and the U.S. The region accounted for the largest share of the global ophthalmic microscopes market in 2018. The U.S. accounted for major share of the market in North America in 2018. The region presents significant opportunities in the ophthalmic microscopes market due to advanced technological implementations and rapid acceptance of novel technological platforms. Additionally, increase in incidence of several eye disorders and rise in the geriatric population are likely to drive the need and demand for effective diagnostic platforms and surgical methodologies in North America. The U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy are the major markets in Europe. Presence of technologically advanced diagnostic platforms and effective treatment methodologies drive the market in the region. According to data collected by OECD iLibrary, the number of ophthalmological surgical procedures performed in Europe have significantly reduced hospital stay. Additionally, rise in baby boomer population and increase in incidence of eye disorders are expected to boost growth and development of eye care technologies. Global Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: Competitive Landscape Key players in the global ophthalmic microscopes market are ZEISS International, Leica Microsystems, Seiler Instrument, Inc., Takagi Ophthalmic Instruments Europe Ltd., Karl Kaps GmbH & Co. KG, Alcon (a Novartis Division), HAAG-STREIT GROUP, Orion Medic, and Rexxam Co., Ltd. Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=63114 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 Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Global Ozone Therapy Units Market : Overview Ozone is a triatomic molecule with the representation O3. It is unceasingly formed in the upper atmosphere as long as sunlight is present. As it is heavier than air, it comes down and removes impurities and cleans the atmosphere. Ozone has extensive use in the medical industry. However, ozone therapy is still a contentious form of alternative therapy. Adults and young children with lung problems are told to stay indoors because ozone can exaggerate bronchitis, allergies, asthma, and other health problems. On the other hand, many believe ozone helps heal problems related to heart disease, cancer, candida, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and a host of other diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and low back pain. Ozone therapy has proven its effectiveness in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal, pulmonary, cardiovascular, and endocrinological diseases. View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ozone-therapy-units-market.html Global Ozone Therapy Units Market: Key Trends Increasing incidence of cancer and various chronic diseases such as asthma, arthritis, cystitis, Parkinson's disease, corneal ulcers, rheumatoid arthritis, sepsis, senile dementia, gastroduodenal ulcers, glaucoma, hepatitis, wound healing, spondylitis and AIDS is expected to be the major factor driving the growth of ozone therapy units market throughout the world. Growing demand of ozone therapy units in emerging countries to treat critical disease conditions including diabetesauto-immune disease, cancer, SARS and AID, liver disease, macular degeneration, and Lyme disease in hospitals and required use of ozone therapy units pre and post-surgery in place of antibiotics are some additional factors that further drive the global ozone therapy units market. Global Ozone Therapy Units Market: Segmentation The global ozone therapy units market can be segmented based on product, route of administration, application, end-user, and geography. Based on product, the global ozone therapy units market can be classified into standalone ozone therapy units, table top ozone therapy units, and portable ozone therapy units. In terms of route of administration, the ozone therapy units market can be categorized into subcutaneous and intravenous. Based on application, the global market for ozone therapy units market can be divided into dermatology, gastroenterology, dental treatment, gynecology, oncology, and others. Ozone therapy is used in dermatology for the treatment of allergodermia, acne, and herpes. Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=63111 Moreover, ozone therapy is used to treat varicose veins. Intravenous infusions of ozonized saline solution are used in the treatment of angiitis. Ozone therapy is used as monotherapy in patients with chronic gastritis and in combination with other medications in handling patients with ulcer. The treatment for gynecological disorders with ozone therapy consists of intravenous infusions with ozonized saline or rectal insufflations with an ozone/oxygen mixture. In terms of end-user, the global ozone therapy units market can be categorized into hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. The hospitals segment is expected to hold a major share of the global ozone therapy units market. High quality services provided by hospitals for patient care is a major factor contributing toward the high share of the segment in the global market. The ambulatory surgical centers segment is estimated to expand at a high growth rate in the coming years. An increase in the number of ambulatory surgical centers and advanced quality of treatment provided by ambulatory surgical centers are expected to propel the growth of segment over the forecast period. Global Ozone Therapy Units Market: Regional Analysis Based on geography, the ozone therapy units market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The ozone therapy units market in North America is classified into the U.S. and Canada. The ozone therapy units market in Europe is divided into the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Rest of Europe. The ozone therapy units treatment market in Asia Pacific is further segmented into China, Japan, India, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The ozone therapy units market in Latin America is classified into Mexico, Brazil, and the Rest of Latin America. The ozone therapy units market in Middle East & Africa is split into South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Rest of Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the global ozone therapy units market. Asia Pacific is a rapidly expanding region of the the ozone therapy units market. Factors such as economic developments and increase in medical tourism in emerging markets such as China and India, rise in health care expenditures, and the presence of unmet medical needs and untouched market opportunities are driving the ozone therapy units market in the region. Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=63111 Global Ozone Therapy Units Market: Competitive Landscape Some of the major players in the global ozone therapy units market are Sedecal, Herrmann Apparatebau GmbH, Humares Gmbh, Aquolab, and MIO International Ozonytron GmbH. 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 Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers the key insights on the global pneumococcal vaccines market in its upcoming report titled "Pneumococcal Vaccines Market: Global Industry Analysis 20132017 and Opportunity Assessment 2018 2028". In terms of revenue, the global pneumococcal vaccines market is projected to register a CAGR of 9.1% over the forecast period. North America is expected to contribute a high revenue share in the global pneumococcal vaccines market over the forecast period due to increasing healthcare expenditure, favourable reimbursement policies for pneumococcal vaccination and development of new multivalent pneumococcal vaccines. Besides, the out-of-pocket costs of pneumococcal vaccines for patients with Medicare coverage is $0 in North America. The global pneumococcal vaccines market is segmented based on product type, distribution channel, and regions. Based on the product type the market is segmented into pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccines product type segment is expected to represent high revenue share in the global pneumococcal vaccines market due to growing number of research and development activities to develop new conjugate vaccines for expanding indications. Based on the distribution channel, the market is segmented into pharmacies, public health agencies, community clinics and other distribution channels. Among all the distribution channels, the public health agencies segment is expected to be the leading segment in the pneumococcal vaccines market. The revenue share of community clinics is expected to increase over the forecast period due to the growing number of community clinics. To Get Sample Copy of Report Visit at: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7078 Increasing number of the clinical trials for development of the pneumococcal vaccine is expected to provide enormous opportunities for the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market and fulfil the demand for vaccines for multiple serotypes. Increasing government initiatives to reduce the burden of pneumococcal diseases and publicprivate partnerships are factors expected to fuel the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market. Partnerships and collaborations among manufacturers for research and development and vaccine distribution is expected to boost the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market. Increasing pharmacy-based immunization services for pneumococcal vaccination and the catch up campaigns by the SAGE organization to reduce the prevalence of invasive pneumococcal disease are the major factors expected to impel the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market. Increasing demand for pneumococcal vaccines due to immunization programs is expected to provide immense opportunities for the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market. The manufacturers of pneumococcal vaccine have reduced the pricing of the vaccines for Gavi-supported countries, which is expected to boost the demand for pneumococcal vaccines. For instance, in January 2018, Pfizer reduced the price of its PCV-13 4 dose vial vaccine for Gavi-supported countries from US$ 3.05 to US$ 2.95 per dose. Increasing addition of pneumococcal vaccine in national immunization programs is favoring the growth of pneumococcal vaccines market. According to the WHO till 2017, total 138 countries are introduced with pneumococcal vaccines in their national immunization program. However, low awareness among general population regarding pneumococcal immunization, difference in coverage of established and new vaccine, slower introduction of new pneumococcal vaccines are factors expected to hamper the growth of the pneumococcal vaccines market. Methodology With Latest Advancements and Application @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-7078 The market for pneumococcal vaccines is consolidated with very few players. Examples of some of the key players identified in the global pneumococcal vaccines market are Pfizer Inc., Sanofi S.A., GlaxoSmithKline Plc., and Merck & Co., Inc., among others. Manufacturers are focusing on the partnerships and collaborations for expansion of their geographical presence and development of new pneumococcal vaccines. For example, in 2014 Sanofi SA completed the collaboration with SK Chemical Co. of South Korea to co-develop pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Actress Song Hye-kyo has signed a contract with renowned Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's film studio. Song attended the Hong Kong Film Awards as a presenter on Sunday and told local media that she joined Jet Tone Films, which Wong established in 1992. "Wong and Jet Tone Films are good friends," Song said. "Signing the contract will allow me to work with many great Chinese directors and actors." The production company welcomed Song, who starred in Wong's 2013 film "The Grandmaster," in a notice posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The company manages many famous Chinese actors including Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Global QR Code Labels Market: Overview QR code labels are a part of security labels and are now being widely used for all kinds of applications across the globe. QR code labels manufactures are now engaging in manufacturing a variety of waterproof labels, specially designed for harsh environments. They are robust and high-density barcodes that are capable of carrying abundant data as compared to conventional barcodes. DOWNLOAD FREE PDF BROCHURE @ http://bit.ly/2PeuA8f Global QR Code Labels Market: Growth Factors Escalating use of QR code labels in inventory management, marketing & advertisement, security, mobile payments, and personal use will drive the QR code labels market trends over the foreseeable future. QR code labels are useful in storing information such as webpages, URLs, text, and contact information and this will facilitate as well as embellish the growth of QR code labels market. Furthermore, the market for QR code labels is likely to witness positive growth, owing to its high-storing capacity. Unlike the conventional barcode labels, QR code labels are scan able from any angle. QR code labels are used as anti-counterfeiting labels to protect myriad products from getting damaged. The effects of counterfeiting have been witnessed in many industries including food & beverage, automotive, pharmaceutical, etc. Counterfeiting actions have led manufacturers to embed QR code labels to their products. Anti-counterfeit solutions involve QR code-based identification that helps the consumer and the company salesmen to scan and identify the authenticity of the product by using smartphones. These labels are helpful in loyalty programs and redeeming points as well as trade, cash, and sales discounts. Global QR Code Labels Market: Segmentation The global QR code labels market can be classified based on label type, printing technology, and end use. On the basis of label type, the QR code labels market can be sectored into sleeve labels, glue applied labels, and pressure sensitive labels. On the basis of printing technology, the market can be classified into flexographic printing, digital printing, offset lithography, and gravure printing. By end use, the market is classified into food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care & cosmetics, automotive, homecare & toiletries, chemicals, and industrials sectors. Global QR Code Labels Market: Regional Analysis Based on regions, the global QR code labels market can be divided into five main regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. North America is projected to demonstrate a lucrative growth over the estimated period, owing to large manufacture and use of QR code labels. Furthermore, thriving food & beverages industry in countries such as the U.S. and Canada will inflate the scope of the market in the region. In addition, QR code labels business in China is anticipated to contribute majorly towards the Asia Pacific QR code labels market over the estimated timespan. With cost-effective labor and availability of massive resources as well as entrepreneur-friendly government policies, manufacturers are looking towards APAC for expanding their business by establishing their manufacturing bases in the countries such as Japan, Singapore, India, China, and Malaysia. This will further magnify the size of QR code labels market in the APAC region. Get FREE Sample Research Report @ http://bit.ly/2KErFXZ Europe, Latin America, and MEA are the markets having a huge and untapped market growth potential. Global QR Code Labels Market: Competitive Players Some of the key players in QR code labels market are Lintec Corporation, CCL Industries, Packtica SDN Bhd, Label Logic, Inc., Hibiscus PLC, Data Label Co. UK., Advanced Labels NW, Coast Label Company, Label Impressions Inc., and Consolidated Label & Co. Global QR Code Labels Market: Regional Segment Analysis North America The U.S. Europe The UK France Germany The Asia Pacific China Japan India Latin America Brazil The Middle East and Africa GET FREE PDF BROCHURE @ http://bit.ly/2PeuA8f What Reports Provides Full in-depth analysis of the parent market Important changes in market dynamics Segmentation details of the market Former, on-going, and projected market analysis in terms of volume and value Assessment of niche industry developments Market share analysis Key strategies of major players Emerging segments and regional markets Testimonials to companies in order to fortify their foothold in the market. Springfield, VA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration prides itself on customer service and satisfaction.To support these two goals, Dragan Krstic is pleased to announce the launch of a new redesigned website. The website features all the services the company offers, but there is also a greater focus on commercial floor care and water damage restoration. Additionally, the site will feature a blog with monthly updates on how to help maintain your carpet between carpet cleanings. "Customers who read the blogs will find handy information on how to keep carpets looking pristine at all times. There will be something to learn about carpet care each month.I want my customers and potential customers to come back each month to read, learn and use the tips to keep carpet looking its best," said Dragan Krstic, owner of DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration. The updated website provides a faster and easier navigation for customers looking for the best in carpet care and maintenance. Customers will be able to schedule appointments and find special deals under a tab at the top of the website. Now in its second decade of service to people in and around northern Virginia, Maryland and the metro D.C. areas, DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration prides itself on being a family-owned carpet cleaning and water damage restoration company with a focus on using non-toxic, green cleaning products for the best and safest cleaned carpets. One of the other reasons for the updated website is the addition of water damage restoration.Living in the northern Virginia, Maryland and D.C. areas, snow is an annual possibility, and with snow, there comes the potential for water damage. "Water damage can come at any time. This is why we started offering the service to our customers. Water damage is not only disheartening, it can be very dangerous if not dealt with swiftly and professionally," said Krstic. DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration offers a free, no obligation quote to new customers. Schedule an appointment through the website or use the contact information below. Media Contact DNA Pro Cleaning & Restoration Dragan Krstic, Owner 7702 Backlick Rd Springfield, Va., 22150 703-520-5060 www.dnaproclean.com info@dnaproclean.com New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2019 -- Step Up and Step Down Transformer Market: Introduction After the commercialization of the smart grid technology and the deployment of such grids all over the world, there has been an upsurge in demand for the step up and step down transformer. Step up and step down transformer being one of the fundamental part of the electrification systems has found its new role in the globally popular grid network which is increasing its demand and bringing new growth opportunity for step up and step down transformer. Step up and step down transformers are used at different places for different functionality. Step-up transformers are used at power stations where they are used to produce very high voltages needed for the transmission of electricity through the national grid power lines. As there high voltages are dangerous to be used in the home, so the step-down transformers are used locally to reduce the voltage to safe levels. These plays a very important part in the electrification process as without step-up transformers, it would be very difficult and complex to provide electricity to every area due to losses and without step-down transformer, it would be too dangerous to use the electrical products due to high voltage circuits which can lead to electric shocks. A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/27820 Step Up and Step Down Transformer Market: Drivers and Challenges Some of the drivers for the step up and step down transformer market is recent focus on power and industrial markets and continuous investment in the same. The other factors which are fueling the market growth is the deployment of the smart grids globally, which needs these step up and step down transformer for the distribution process and the renewable capacity addition and replacements. The other factors which are driving the growth for step up and step down transformer are blanket agreements which spans multiple years, increased partnerships between EPCs and utilities, huge potential in HVDC market and introduction of transformer oil alternatives which absorbs the heat produced by the alternating current. One of the restraint for step up and step down transformer market is the complex and time consuming process for the selection and deployment of these transformers due to the quality checks and regulation involved. Step Up and Step Down Transformer Market: Segmentation The step up and step down transformer market can be segmented into rating, output, cooling type, pricing, application and region. On the basis of rating the step up and step down transformer market can be divided into; Small Medium Large On the basis of output the step up and step down transformer market can be segmented into; Step-down Step-up On the basis of cooling type the step up and step down transformer market can be segmented into; Oil Cooled Air Cooled On the basis of pricing the step up and step down transformer market can be segmented into; High Priced Medium Priced Low Priced On the basis of application the step up and step down transformer market can be segmented into; Power Transformers Distribution transformers To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/27820 Step Up and Step Down Transformer Market: Key Players Some of the key players of the step up and step down transformer market are: ABB, Siemens, General Electric, Schneider Electric, CG Power and Industrial Solution Limited, Hammond Power Solutions Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc., SPX Transformer Solutions Inc., Eaton, WEG, Fuji Electric, Hyosung Power & Industrial Systems Performance Group, Kirloskar Electric, MGM Transformer Company, Prima Transformers, Synergy Transformers, Virginia Transformer, and Others. Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/16/2019 -- Cancer is a one of the leading cause of death in America and across the globe. The only successful treatment available is chemotherapy. However, chemotherapy drugs available in the market are unable to differentiate between cancerous and noncancerous cells such as intestinal epithelium. However, extensive research has given rise to a new approach to treating the disease, known as targeted cancer therapy. Targeted cancer therapy uses pharmacological agents that inhibit growth, increase cell death, and restrict the spread of cancer; however, it targets specific type of proteins that helps in tumorigenesis. Targeted cancer drugs are therapeutically useful for breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and lymphoma. Moreover, new technological development and recent medical advancements have made it possible to analyze the type of cancer and provide customized treatments to the patient. The global Targeted Cancer Drug Market can be segmented based on drug type, distribution channel, and region. In terms of drug type, the market can be divided into monoclonal antibodies, small-molecules, and immunotoxins. Monoclonal antibodies include drugs such as Bevacizumab (humanized monoclonal antibody with a circulatory system target (VEGF-A), Cetuximab (chimeric monoclonal antibody with a tumor target (EGFR)) and Ipilimumab (fully human antibody with an immune system target (CTLA-4)). Small molecules include Bortezomib (small molecule proteasome inhibitor), Imatinib (small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor) and Seliciclib (small molecule cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor). In terms of the distribution channel, market is divided into drug stores, retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacy, and online sales. Rise in the number of newly diagnosed patients, rigorous research & development activities, adverse side effects of conventional chemotherapy, and a rise in public awareness toward chronic illness are major factor driving the growth of targeted cancer drug market. Additionally, favorable reimbursement policies available in developed countries can boost the market growth. However, high cost of the treatment, little to no reimbursement in developing economies, unavailability of the treatment in Asian countries such as India, and a shortage of skilled professionals are some factors restraining the growth of the market. Request to View Brochure of Report https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=32447 Opportunities available in order to make the treatment more convenient for the patients and to dominate market includes the introduction of robotics and automation for surgeries, more emphasis towards painless treatment and increasing population of smokers and drug addicts. In 2015, the National Cancer Institute stated that nearly 221,200 Americans were diagnosed with lung cancer, and around 158,040 succumbed to the disease. Metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer, which occur due to a mutation in EFGR gene. Recent FDA approval of the Pfizer's CD22-targeted cancer drug Besponsa (inotuzumab ozogamicin) in August, 2017, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and for considering targeted therapy as a first-line treatment for patients with a type of metastatic lung cancer in July 2015, can strengthen the growth of the targeted cancer drug market. Geographically, the global targeted cancer drug market is divided into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global market accounting for the largest market share due to increasing incidence of cancer. Increased demand of targeted therapies has been observed in developed countries in Europe such as Germany and France. Recent approvals for Afinitor and Jevtana drugs in Japan and increasing demand for targeted cancer drugs from countries such as China, are expected to boost the Asia Pacific market. Middle East is expected to show moderate growth for this market over the coming years. However, affordability and lack of technology can restrain the growth of market in the underdeveloped regions of Africa and Latin America. Despite these reasons the market in these regions is expected to witness slow growth owing to the contribution from developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa. Request to View ToC of the report https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=32447 F.Hoffmann-La Roche, Novartis, and Pfizer are the top three players in the targeted cancer drugs market. Other players include Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Amgen, Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Speculation is rife that Kim is trying to find a way out of international sanctions through Russia and China after he warned Seoul and Washington last week that they must change their approach. It would be Kim's first overseas trip after his failed summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, according to a diplomatic source in Russia. The source said Putin will visit Siberia around April 24, and it is likely that he will meet Kim there. Kim's head of protocol, Kim Chang-son, visited Russia on March 19-25. Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Neverov told TASS news agency on Sunday that Pyongyang has taken an interest in purchasing a Russian civilian aircraft. He is currently on a visit to Pyongyang for the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He added that considering the North's suspension of intercontinental ballistic missile tests, dialogue can start on easing the sanctions, at least from a humanitarian viewpoint. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, in a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow the same day, expressed concerns about Russia's push to ease sanctions. The North Korean propaganda machine is increasingly stressing founder Kim Il-sung's "juche" or self-reliance doctrine as no immediate easing of sanctions seems in sight. The official Rodong Sinmun on Monday said the North must "further accelerate the revolutionary process under the banner of self-reliance and self-help and with the might of science and technology." Online food found to be substandard From:Shine | 2019-04-15 22:29 Seven batches of food products sold on major Chinese e-commerce platforms including yhd.com and Taobao have been found to be substandard, district market watchdogs said on Monday. A batch of peanut crunchy candies sold on Taobao and produced by Shanghai Xilaiyuan Food Co Ltd failed tests for excessive coliform bacteria, the Baoshan District Market Supervision and Management Bureau said. All 201 kilograms of the candies have been sold. The bureau has ordered the company to issue a recall and make rectification. Three batches of dried pork meat slices sold on Taobao and made by Shanghai Fengmaniu Co Ltd had excessive Ponceau 4R, or carmine, a food coloring.An investigation is underway. Two batches of donkey meat sold on Shanghai-based yhd.com and made by a food producer in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, contained toxic cadmium, a known carcinogen. The Jiading District Market Supervision and Management Bureau has ordered the shopping site to stop sales of the substandard foods and issue a recall. A batch of 1,000 packs of biscuits manufactured and sold by Shanghai Kangyun Food Co Ltd had excessive peroxide, an indication they were stale. TheFengxian District Market Supervision and Management Bureau has ordered the company to issue a recall.An investigation is underway. Counterfeit shoe polish operation loses shine From:Shanghai Daily | 2019-04-16 07:29 A man who made and sold counterfeit Kiwi shoe polish products has been ordered to pay compensation of 3 million yuan (US$447,300) to American manufacturer S. C. Johnson & Son, the Pudong New Area Peoples Court ruled yesterday. The man, surnamed Wang, was earlier sentenced by the Ningdu County Peoples Court in Jiangxi Province to three years in jail, with a four-year reprieve, and fined 50,000 yuan for counterfeiting a registered trademark in December 2017. According to the Pudong court, S. C. Johnson & Son said Wang began producing and selling fake Kiwi shoe polish in August 2014. Wang was arrested by police in October 2016 after a complaint from the company. Storage registration records showed that the value of products he sold in nine months was more than 7 million yuan. The company later took Wang to the Pudong court, demanding 300 million yuan in compensation. It believed, based on the records, that Wangs annual sales reached 10 million yuan. However, Wang said the records were for attracting customers and not accurate. He said the true figure was 1.1 million yuan. But the court still took them into consideration as they had Wangs signatures, and could be correlated with other evidence. Press Release April 15, 2019 Probe Duterte family, Chinese allies linked with illegal drugs - De Lima Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has renewed her call to probe prominent personalities linked to illegal drug trade in the country amid serious accusations against presidential son Paolo Duterte and former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang into narcotics. De Lima, the first prominent political prisoner under the current regime, said the President's family and allies should not be spared from investigation and prosecution, especially if they are influential public figures. "Michael Yang should have been blacklisted and his operations monitored. Paolo Duterte should be investigated, as to his and his alleged dummy's bank accounts, and even his tattoo, examined to see whether the allegations are true or not," she said in her recent Dispatch from Crame No. 503. "Both Michael Yang and Paolo Duterte are indubitably public figures with considerable influence. And the public interest for the investigation into their culpability and accountability far outweighs their right to privacy," she added. Yang was named by dismissed police officer Eduardo Acierto to the illegal drug trade, along with his business partners Allan Lim (aka Huen Li Gen or Ayong) and Johnson Chua (aka Chung Nga Way or Greg Sia) who is based in Macau. According to Acierto, he submitted a confidential written report detailing the supposed links of Yang and Lim into the illegal drug trade to his superiors in the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and to Sen. Richard Gordon and other officials from Malacanang in 2017, but no actions were done. Polong, on his part, was tagged as among the syndicate leaders who purportedly got kickbacks from the illegal drug trade in a seven-minute video entitled "Ang Totoong Narcolist - 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. De Lima, a former justice secretary, berated the Duterte administration for freely using tax-paid resources to protect the President's family instead of protecting the country from the drug syndicates. "Duterte called at the AFP and PNP to murder Acierto. Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa were quick to exonerate Michael Yang even before any bona fide investigation on the allegations were made. Duterte's men in the Senate, as if on clock work, immediately called for the arrest of Acierto and discouraged any Senate investigation on the matter," she recalled. The lady Senator from Bicol said that Mr. Duterte is the one responsible for the surge of the illegal drug trade in the country, making his government's all-out war on drugs a complete "failure." "The simple explanation for the monumental failure of Duterte's 'War on Drugs' is that those responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs in our country could very well be his own family, cronies and Chinese allies," she said. "This is also probably the reason why China is able to keep Duterte on a leash like their loyal dog. They know that he is the real coddler of druglords and protector of the drug trade in the Philippines," she added. President Duterte recently raised his estimate of Filipino drug users to 7 to 8 million, which the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police defended as the former's way of allegedly "challenging" law enforcers to up their fight against illegal drugs. 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. Villar urges agricultural towns to open farm schools Re-electionist Senator Cynthia Villar urged local leaders of agricultural towns all over the country to help their farmers to become more competitive with the opening of farm schools. In her recent visit to Carranglan, Nueva Ecija for the 10th Gintong Butil Festival, Villar urged Mayor Mary Abad to encourage farm owners in their locality to convert their farms into learning sites. "These farm schools will help farmers to learn for free modern ways of farming that will enable them to increase productivity and incomes and reducing their production cost," Villar said. Villar also presented Abad with a book compiling the 1,855 tourist farm schools all over the country, which she reprints yearly as more farm schools are created. As an accredited TESDA learning site, Villar said farm owners could earn up to P100,000 a month for training 25 students. The Nacionalista Party Senator is credited for the growth of farm schools in the country having authored Republic Act 10816 or the Farm Tourism law, which encourages small farmers to convert their farms into tourist farms and learning sites for agriculture and tourism courses. Villar believes that farm tourist schools will be a major contributor in bringing back the glory days of agriculture in the country, given the potential to increase the income of people involved in agriculture and in creating a pool of farmers educated on the modern technologies of farming. Press Release April 16, 2019 ANGARA URGES MORE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said the agriculture sector should look for creative ways to engage the youth in farming to ensure that there would be enough farmers to feed the country's ever-growing population. "Youth engagement in agriculture is vital to ensuring that the Philippines will not have a scarcity of future food producers," said Angara, who is scheduled today to campaign in Cagayan, one of the country's top rice and corn producing provinces. The Department of Agriculture in Cagayan has been actively engaging young people to venture into farming through its "Young Hands in Agriculture" initiative, which aims to encourage the youth to get involved in food production amid the decreasing and ageing population of farmers in the province. Angara said the government and other industry stakeholders should work harder to convince the young generation to choose farming as a profession given the waning interest in agriculture among the youth. "Making agriculture attractive and an easy sell to the youth should be among the top priorities for the government in order to help the country achieve inclusive growth and food security," said the lawmaker from Aurora who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara." According to Angara, who is one of the leading senatorial candidates based on various pre-election surveys, there is still room for improvement in terms of support services to change the state of agriculture and make farming appealing as a career. "The seeming lack of government support to the agriculture sector is one of the most compelling reasons why we find it so hard to encourage young people to consider farming as a career, and why farmers and farm workers are leaving the field for better paying jobs," Angara pointed out. Angara noted that the waning interest in agriculture among the youth was evident in the sharp decline of enrollees in agriculture courses from 2015 to 2018, which dropped by almost 30 percent. The Commission on Higher Education reported that 142,182 students enrolled in various institutions offering agricultural courses all over the country for school year 2015-2016. The enrollment fell to 127,287 for school year 2016-217 and further went down to 100,922 for 2017-2018. Angara said that many young farmers are leaving the field to work elsewhere as indicated in the January 2019 Labor Force Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The survey results showed that the agriculture sector suffered 1.7 million job losses, which overshadowed the combined 1.3 million additional jobs in industry and services sectors. The country's labor force is comprised of those 15 years old and above, whether employed or unemployed. The agriculture sector, the PSA said, currently employs 9.158 million individuals. The average daily wage of agriculture workers is P265, according to a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies or PIDS. To boost the agriculture sector, Angara said the government should strengthen support services for farmers by providing better irrigation facilities, institutional credit, proper marketing facilities, and other farm subsidies needed to increase their productivity. Angara has filed with the Senate a bill seeking to develop and strengthen the agriculture education and training in the country, through the institutionalization of manpower development for agriculture entrepreneurship, also known as "agripreneur," in vocational schools. Aside from infrastructure development, Angara said, the nation needs nothing short of an "agriculture revolution," which the Duterte administration can spearhead alongside its "Build, Build, Build" program. An agricultural revolution is necessary to help revive the agriculture sector and improve the lives of impoverished farmers, who belong to 60 percent of the country's poorest, he said. Citing government records, Angara said the agriculture's relative contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) had been declining over the years. From 1998 to 2009, the sector accounted for 13 to 14 percent of the total GDP. This steadily declined to 10 percent in 2017. Press Release April 16, 2019 ANGARA TELLS YOUTH: EDUCATION CAN EMPOWER YOU TO EFFECT CHANGE IN PHL Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said education is a powerful tool to make the youth enablers of transformation and turn the country into an economic powerhouse where jobs abound and social services are accessible to all. Data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as of 2018 showed that the Philippines has the third youngest people among the 700 million youth in the Asia Pacific region, of which about 30 percent are below 15 years old. The median age in the country is 26. "By sheer number, the youth sector is a potent force to effect change in the Philippines," said Angara, who was first elected into office in 2004 as representative of the lone district of Aurora province at the age of 32, the youngest lawmaker during the 13th Congress. "And with education, the Filipino youth can deliver this country to progress and bring an end to the cycle of poverty," said the lawmaker, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara." Angara has been pushing students to take their studies seriously and work toward becoming productive citizens. "As students, your responsibility is to study hard because that's your passport to employment and good life," Angara said. "Education is a great socioeconomic equalizer and a stepping stone to something higher and brighter." Free education-from kindergarten to college-is one of Angara's advocacies, as he co-authored the Free College Education Law and the Free Kindergarten Law. His father, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara, was the author of the Free High School Act that ensured secondary education even for the poorest. "Panahon na para ipaunawa sa ating mga estudyante na kung mag-aaral sila ng mabuti at seseryosohin nila ang pag-aaral ay maaari silang makapagtapos at may naghihintay sa kanilang magandang kinabukasan," Angara said. He added: "Walang pong minimum age ang tagumpay. Kahit bata pa kayo, malaki ang papel na maaari n'yong gampanan para isulong ang pagbabago at reporma sa bayan." Proof that the Angaras put premium on education, the senator studied at the London School of Economics, where he finished his undergraduate degree in International Relations with honors. After completing his law degree at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Angara went to the Harvard Law School in the United States to earn his Master of Laws degree. "Everyone who has the desire and the ability should be able to get a college education regardless of their background and family income," Angara said. Under Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which Angara co-authored, tuition and miscellaneous fees in 112 SUCs, 78 LUCs, and all government-run technical-vocational schools nationwide are now free for all students. Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and vice chair of the Committee on Finance, earlier disclosed that the government is spending a whopping P46 billion to implement RA 10931 this year, making it the biggest budget for free college education in Philippine history. Aside from the free tuition to more than 800,000 students in public higher education institutions (HEIs), Angara said that allowance and other financial assistance will be provided to poor students to enable them to finish their studies. He also revealed that each of the 300,000 poor students from both public and private HEIs can get an allowance of up to P60,000 under the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) program. The TES prioritizes students whose families are beneficiaries of the government's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps and those studying in private schools in 214 cities and municipalities with no existing SUC or LUC. On top of the budget for RA 10931, Angara said the Senate also allocated P1 billion for the scholarship of poor but deserving students in private universities and colleges all over the country. Based on the May 2018 data from the Planning Service of the Department of Education, the projected enrolment for school year 2017-2018 was 23.6 million for K to 12 and state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) nationwide. Congressional investigators on Monday intensified their pursuit of [Donald] Trump's personal and business financial records by issuing a subpoena to his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank. The two committees that issued the subpoena, the House's Intelligence and Financial Services committees, also demanded documents from numerous other financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, related to possible money-laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe, according to three people with knowledge of the investigation. "The potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern," Representative Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, said in a statement. She added that the panel was "exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible pursuant to its oversight authority, and will follow the facts wherever they may lead us." ...At a public hearing last week, Ms. Waters grilled the chief executives of several banks about their business dealings in Russia. "Much has been reported about how Deutsche Bank has been a pathway for criminals, kleptocrats, and allies of Mr. Putin to move illicit funds out of Russia," she said at the beginning of the hearing. "But recent information shows that some of your institutions have also been providing services for Russian individuals or entities that may be engaging in questionable transactions." Some of the more than one dozen current and former White House officials who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller are worried that the version of his report expected to be made public on Thursday will expose them as the source of damaging information about [Donald] Trump, according to multiple witnesses in the investigation. Some of the officials and their lawyers have sought clarity from the Justice Department on whether the names of those who cooperated with Mueller's team will be redacted or if the public report will be written in a way that makes it obvious who shared certain details of Trump's actions that were part of the obstruction of justice probe, people familiar with the discussions said. But, they said, the Justice Department has refused to elaborate. Of particular concern is how Trump and his allies will react if it appears to be clear precisely who shared information with Mueller, these people said. "They got asked questions and told the truth, and now they're worried the wrath will follow," one former White House official said. ...One person close to the White House said there is "breakdown-level anxiety" among some current and former staffers who cooperated with the investigation at the direction of Trump's legal team at the time. REPORTER: Congresswoman Omar says your video led to direct threats on her life. Any second thoughts? TRUMP: "No, not at all." pic.twitter.com/wiSNptg0F3 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 16, 2019 Reporter: Congresswoman Omar sent out a release last night saying that your tweet from a couple of days ago has led to direct threats on her life. Any second thoughts about that tweet and the way it was produced and put together? Trump: No, not at all. Look, she's been very disrespectful to this country. She's been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She is somebody that, ah, doesn't really understand, I think, life. Real life. What it's all about. It's unfortunate. She's got a, uh, a way about her that's very, very bad, I think for our country. I think she's extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country. [The reporter then asks about the release of the Mueller report, and Trump babbles some horseshit about no collusion.] A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters believe evangelical Christians face more discrimination in society than women, Muslims, and black, Latinx, and LGBTQ people, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, published Monday. Only 34% of Republican or Republican-leaning voters believed Muslims experience "a lot" of discrimination in society, compared with 75% of Democrat or Democratic-leaning voters. Sixty-nine percent of Republican or Republican-leaning voters believed Muslims faced "some discrimination," compared with 92% among Democrat or Democratic-leaning voters. Only 19% of Republican and Republican-leaning respondents said they believe black Americans faced "a lot" of discrimination. Sixty-six percent said black Americans faced "some" discrimination. Approximately 22% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters said "gays and lesbians" faced "a lot" of discrimination, while 60% said they faced "some" form of discrimination. Ten percent and 52% said women faced "a lot" or some discrimination, respectively, and 16% and 59% said the same of Latinx people. Asked about evangelical Christians, Republicans and Republican-leaning voters said the group faced the most discrimination of any in the United States, with 70% saying they faced at least "some" discrimination and 30% saying they faced "a lot." One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.* * *Late yesterday and earlier today by me: The Notre Dame Cathedral Is on Fire and Notre Dame Fire: The Latest and Primarily Speaking Here are some more things in the news today...Emily Flitter and David Enrich at the New York Times: Deutsche Bank Is Subpoenaed for Trump Records by House Democrats Don't fuck with Rep. Maxine Waters.Cristina Maza at Newsweek: Should William Barr Recuse Himself from Mueller Report? Legal Experts Say Attorney General's Ties to Russia Are Troubling. "A few of Barr's previous employers are connected to key subjects in the probe. ...This much is known: On Barr's public financial disclosure report, he admits to working for a law firm that represented Russia's Alfa Bank and for a company whose co-founders allegedly have long-standing business ties to Russia. What's more, he received dividends from Vector Group, a holding company with deep financial ties to Russia." Fucking hell!Carol E. Lee, Hallie Jackson, and Kristen Welker at NBC News: White House Officials Concerned About Being Exposed by Mueller Report This is just a really curious item to me, because I'm not sure I understand what the leakers of this "breakdown-level anxiety" are hoping to accomplish with it.Nor can I even parse the underlying reasoning for their anxiety. I can't believe that anyone working at a high enough level in the Trump White House to have been useful to the investigation could have been under the impression that: 1. The Mueller investigation would culminate in Trump's removal from office; and 2: That Trump wouldn't get access to information about who cooperated; and 3. That Trump wouldn't use that information to justify an authoritarian purge of everyone he regards as disloyal.This was always the way it was going to go. They're upset that working for a lawless president who treats loyalty as a one-way street has left them at the mercy of that president's contempt for the law and zero loyalty to them? Oh.I am angry as fuck that Donald Trump will (continue to) purge his administration of anyone who isn't a slavering sycophant to the extent that they will break federal law to protect him. But I just can't feel sorry for the people who will be targeted by his wrath. They never should have abetted him in the first place. Oh well.* * *[Content Note: Islamophobia; stochastic terrorism]So, asked whether he regrets his incendiary tweet about Omar, Trump says no and thenby dogwhistling that she is a dangerous, traitorous, anti-Semitic, uppity Muslim Black woman.He is imperiling her life. He knows it. That's the entire point.* * *[CN: Bigotry] Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Majority of Republicans Think Evangelical Christians Are More Discriminated Against Than Minorities Yeah. That sounds about right. Always aggrieved. Bunch of self-pitying fucks who use the fantasy of being oppressed to be deplorable shits to marginalized people.What have you been reading that we need to resist today? The government has reinstated Fuji Xerox as a supplier despite an ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation into accounting irregularities that led to losses of more than $300 million. Late yesterday, Fuji Xeroxs New Zealand managing director Peter Thomas announced that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is lifting his companys suspension from its All of Government Print Technology and Associated Services agreement from May 1 on a probationary basis. Fuji Xerox was suspended from the PTAS agreement on Sept. 29, 2017 after an inappropriate accounting practice came to light, Thomas said in a statement. The reinstatement reflects the companys work to remedying past issues, and new processes put in place to ensure they dont happen again, Thomas said. We have made significant changes to the business including implementing a new governance structure, a new leadership team and stronger management practices, he said. Weve learnt some difficult lessons and are grateful for the opportunity to return as a supplier to government. Fuji Xerox looks forward to offering all customers the high quality services and products we are known for. In April 2017, Fuji Xeroxs Tokyo-based parent company revealed that its internal controls had been thwarted by collusion between related parties, that fabricated audit evidence had been submitted and that false explanations at odds with facts were given to the auditor. The parent company said it had found significant accounting irregularities which were estimated to give rise to a loss in excess of $300 million in the New Zealand subsidiary in accordance with US generally accepted accounting principles. Fuji Xerox had been a major government supplier before its accounting irregularities were exposed by an investigation by National Business Reviews Karyn Scherer beginning in September 2016, after which the SFO began its investigation. Before joining Fuji Xerox in 2016, Thomas had been MBIEs deputy chief executive of corporate services. (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: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 The government is eyeing the power to veto major foreign investments it deems not in the public interest. That could include sectors as broad as media and finance. Associate Finance Minister David Parker today launched a consultation on proposed changes to the Overseas Investment Act, focused on giving policymakers greater discretion in rejecting potential foreign investments while also stripping out unnecessary complexity that's deterred would-be investors. "This has two aims, cutting some of the unnecessary red tape, while also giving decision-makers the ability to consider the broader impact on potential investments," Parker told a briefing in Wellington. "This discretion could be broad but rarely used, which is the method that other countries that we compare ourselves with use in respect of this sort of discretion." Parker pointed to the 2008 rejection of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's proposed takeover offer for Auckland International Airport and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings' acquisition of Wellington Electricity's network the same year as two transactions that could have triggered consideration under a national interest test. The proposed reforms are the second tranche under the Labour-led coalition government, which rushed through earlier changes to effectively ban the sale of existing residential property to foreigners and free up investment in forestry to support its 'Billion Trees' programme. The government also tightened up what constituted sensitive land. Treasury is leading the consultation, which closes on May 24. Parker plans to have legislation passed next year. At a high level, the reform seeks to balance the competing tensions between supporting high-quality investment, while giving ministers the flexibility to manage risks associated with foreign investment. The consultation paper said current legislation isn't working efficiently or effectively. The law is much too complex and may be a turn-off for the types of investors New Zealand wants, while the screening regime may capture too many low-risk investments. The country has struggled to attract the most valuable forms of foreign direct investment, although the paper noted that newer technology sectors targeting global markets had attracted overseas investors and tended to fall below the screening threshold. At the same time, the government is limited in its ability to veto a major investment, and can't consider such impacts on national security, dual-use technology with civilian and military applications, or protecting critical infrastructure assets. Parker said the veto power wasn't needed urgently, and cited Australia as an example where policymakers have shown restraint in how they use a broad discretion. "They effectively protect their reputation for being open to foreign direct investment by being careful they don't overuse the discretion rather than surrounding it with rules." Adopting a similar national interest regime as Australia was one of five options in the consultation paper. Treasury officials expected such a power would be a strong positive for managing risk by letting policymakers weigh up all the pros and cons in an application but would be moderately negative in supporting investment and could lift compliance costs. It would also be moderately negative to the level of certainty for investors. Parker used the example of national infrastructure as a potential transaction that could warrant consideration, but said such a power wouldn't necessarily be that narrow. "If a monopoly asset is owned by an overseas owner and that overseas owner gets into financial trouble, then they may be disinclined to invest in their New Zealand asset, which can be to the detriment of the wider New Zealand economy," he said. The paper identifies strategically important industries that could require a national interest test as media, telecommunications, transport, defence and military, encryption and securities technologies, finance, and critical infrastructure. Officials also flagged any asset where the investor was a foreign government or associate. Among proposals to make it easier for foreign investors would be lifting the threshold of a locally listed entity, which currently deems those entities as overseas buyers if 25 percent or more of their stock is owned offshore. A similar loosening is on offer for portfolio investors, such as certain KiwiSaver schemes. While those are seen as strongly positive for supporting investment, Treasury officials note the countervailing impact on the government's ability to manage overseas investment risk. The Overseas Investment Office last week told Parliament's finance and expenditure select committee that new pre-application vetting and triage processes had helped weed out applications for doubtful transactions, with would-be investors withdrawing rather than pressing on with a costly and potentially fruitless application. The office is processing major business transactions at a faster rate, but was taking longer on sensitive land applications since the ministerial directive last year meant it had to consider smaller blocks of land. (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: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 New Zealands lack of a suitable framework to support social enterprises - companies that create impact as well as profit - is stymying a burgeoning sector. Thats the conclusion of a new report supported by the Law Foundation and commissioned by social enterprise development organisation Akina and the New Zealand government. The report, Structuring for Impact: Evolving Legal Structures for Businesses in New Zealand, is intended to provide ammunition for ministers to change the 1993 Companies Act to recognise social enterprises as a legal category. It was launched this morning in Wellington, the same week the government signed off its Wellbeing Budget 2019: The new budget, will "broaden the Budget's focus beyond economic and fiscal policy by using the Treasury's Living Standards Framework to inform the Government's investment priorities and funding decisions", the government says. The change to the traditional scope of the budget will see government "reporting against a broader set of indicators to show a more rounded measure of success". Akina Foundation CEO Louise Aitken has similar ideas about reform of the Companies Act to allow it to reflect the social enterprise sector. Our legal structures are built around very traditional ideas that youre either a business like a limited liability company, or youre a charity, Aitken says. Social enterprises are telling us that theyre caught in the middle. They exist to create maximum positive social or environmental impact, but our current business structures make it challenging for them to do this. Eat My Lunch, Whale Watch Kaikoura and Trade Aid are well-known social enterprises, but Akina estimates there are 3,500 others in New Zealand contributing $1 billion to the New Zealand economy. Aitken says the report was commissioned after Economic Development Minister David Parker asked for evidence that social enterprises were being disadvantaged by the existing Companies Act provisions. The Structuring for Impact report highlights 10 case studies of social enterprises saying just that. For example, there is Ruatoria-based Hikurangi Enterprise, which is working to develop value-added businesses on their land, including breeding cannabis strains. It sounds commercial, but the mandate behind the business is to provide employment, community development and wellbeing to people living in the disadvantaged East Cape. Hikurangi has had to create a very complex legal structure to attract investment and operate as a competitive group of companies, the report says. The cost of set-up and maintenance of all the legal entities including the charities is a real burden and takes time and expertise away from innovation and impact. Similar story for QR code payments startup Choice, which allows people to pay for goods using their mobile and gives half the transaction fee to charity. The available legal structures were not capable of giving primacy to mission whilst receiving investment and generating profit, the report says. They needed to create a bespoke legal structure at considerable cost in order to protect their mission and be a tech company that must attract equity to compete and scale. Aitken hopes the report will encourage the government to set up a working group to look at law change. She doesn't believe New Zealand needs a whole new piece of law; changes to the Companies Act could be enough. Id say a refresh; its a 25-year-old act, but its a highly flexible piece of legislation. But even a few tweaks probably arent going to happen soon. First, social enterprises need to get onto the governments priority legislative radar. Then all the parties (business, not-for-profits, government and advisors) need to get together to come to agreement and later to flesh out the details. It would be wonderful if it could be in place within five years, Aitken says. (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: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 Passenger arrivals from China into Auckland International Airport dropped 29 percent in February more than offsetting a gain in January from the earlier start of the Lunar New Year holiday. Arrivals from China dropped to 41,080 in February, from 57,903 a year earlier when Chinese tourist arrivals in New Zealand had been a record. The airport, the countrys largest, cited the change in holiday date when explaining the change. Arrivals from China were 9 percent higher in January at 36,137, but that was an increase of only about 3,000 from the year before. Across the two months, volumes were down 15 percent. China is the second-largest source of international visitors to New Zealand, having overtaken the UK and the US in 2012. Australia remains the biggest by a wide margin, accounting for about 1.5 million visitors in the year ended February more than three-times the Chinese figure, according to Stats NZ. In February, Auckland Airport chief executive Adrian Littlewood attributed the weaker growth from China in the second-half of 2018 to a slowing economy there. He downplayed suggestions cooler government relations had contributed. The companys shares fell 0.5 percent to $7.95 today, trimming their gain the past year to 24 percent. Last week, Stats NZ reported that total overseas arrivals in February totalled 417,900, about 5,500 fewer than a year earlier. Arrivals from China were down 18,100 but the number of New Zealanders returning from China was 5,300 higher. The government statistician also noted the impact of the earlier start to the New Year holiday. International passenger movements through Auckland Airport in February were barely changed from a year earlier. Growth from India, Korea and Germany helped offset the drop in numbers from China, but also fewer arrivals from Japan, the UK and Australia. Increased domestic movements lifted the total passenger count that month to 1.75 million, 2 percent more than a year earlier. Movements for the eight months through February were 14.3 million 3.5 percent more than a year earlier, while the 12-month rolling tally stood at 21.02 million - a 3.9 percent increase. Chinese arrivals in the eight months ended February were down 6.3 percent on the year before; on a 12-month basis they were down 1.8 percent. Auckland Airports passenger movements in the June 2018 financial year had increased 5.7 percent to 20.53 million reflecting a 7.7 percent increase in domestic numbers and a 4.7 percent increase in international travel. Chinese arrivals were almost 11 percent higher that year, those from the US were up almost 2 percent, while Korea and India posted double-digit gains. For the 12 months through February, international passenger movements were 3.6 percent higher and domestic movements were 5.1 percent higher. Australian arrivals have been marginally weaker during the past 12 months, those from China were down almost 2 percent and visitors from the UK were down almost 8 percent. Arrivals from the US, Canada and India all increased. Aircraft movements through Auckland in February totalled 14,640, 5.3 percent more than a year earlier. Domestic movements were 7.4 percent higher at 10,132, while international traffic was 1.1 percent higher 4,508. Total movements in the eight-month period were 3.6 percent higher at 121,240; on a 12-month rolling basis they were 2.8 percent higher at 178,439. (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: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 Vector has at last found replacements for three of its directors ousted last year amid turmoil within its 75.1 percent shareholder, Entrust. Alison Paterson, who replaced long-serving chair Michael Stiassney last November after Entrust withdrew its support for him, announced that Tony Carter, Paula Rebstock and Bruce Turner are joining the board with the blessing of Entrust. They replace James Carmichael, who lost his position as an Entrust trustee in an election in November, and David Bartholomew and Sibylle Krieger who both also left the board in November after Entrust said it wouldnt support their re-election. Paterson says in a statement that Vector is privileged to have three business leaders of this calibre and that they are outstanding appointments who bring with them wide-ranging commercial and governance experience to complement the capability already in place around the Vector board table. We look forward to their contribution as we continue towards our goal of creating a new energy future, she says. Rebstock and Turner are joining the board immediately; Carters appointment takes effect on May 1. Rebstock chairs ACC, Kiwi Group Holdings, Ngati Whatua Whai Maia and the NZ Defence Force Board and is also a director of Auckland Transport. She formerly chaired the Commerce Commission. Turner is director of central portfolio management at dairy giant Fonterra and has previously held leadership roles in the energy industry both in New Zealand and overseas, including at Vector. He is currently a member of the electricity industry's security and reliability council. Carter, a former managing director of Foodstuffs, currently chairs Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Air New Zealand and sits on the boards of Fletcher Building and ANZ New Zealand. (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: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory announces exclusive license with plant breeding startup Inari Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) announced today an exclusive licensing agreement with partner Inari, a company that is advancing plant breeding by tapping nature's genetic diversity. The technology developed by CSHL Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Zachary Lippman allows Inari to tailor plant architecture and other traits in crops, improving productivity and quality to fit local environmental conditions. Today, commercial production of major crops, such as soybeans, corn, wheat and tomato, relies on a handful of standard seed varieties--with limited options for farmers. Inari is applying the Lippman technology to its product development process, which aims to address challenges to our current food system, increasing plant yields as well as water--and nitrogen-use efficiency. "CSHL identified Inari as an exclusive partner because of its potential to disrupt the market," said CSHL President and CEO Bruce Stillman. "Dr. Lippman's team has already demonstrated the power of basic research in understanding crop yield and this collaboration with Inari applies his research to help farmers deal with changing environmental conditions, water shortages, and threats to arable land." Lippman first came to CSHL as a Ph.D. student, studying how gene regulation can impact diversity. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he studied how tweaks in gene regulation cause wide variation in traits. In Israel, Lippman and colleagues identified two genes--both of which encode regulators of other genes--that help control the branching of flower-bearing shoots in tomato plants. Recruited back to CSHL as a faculty member, he has studied the architecture and flowering of tomatoes, developing new approaches, including the Promoter Fine Tuning technology, to tailor the genes that control these traits. Two years in the making, the licensing of Promoter Fine Tuning technology is consistent with CSHL's strategy to pursue innovation in the focus areas of crop improvement, clinical diagnostics, cancer therapeutics and orphan diseases. Standard academic technology transfer strategy considers commercialization when basic research sparks an idea for a marketable technology. "CSHL's approach is more forward-looking, aligned with its historic high-risk/high-reward approach to accelerating innovative research," explained Andrew Whiteley, CSHL Vice President for Business Development and Technology Transfer. "We want to initiate relationships with industry partners while the technology is being shaped and developed at CSHL." ### About Inari Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2016, Inari seeks a winning food system with its industry-disrupting Seed Foundry, a process which taps the natural genetic diversity of plants in the context of climate change and respect for our environment. Inari works with seed companies to co-develop high-performance seeds, with innovations directly benefiting farmers. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with development sites in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Ghent, Belgium, Inari has a growing team of over 90-100 employees. To learn more, visit Inari.com or follow on Twitter @inari_Ag About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,100 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory's education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle and high school students and teachers. For more information, visit http://www. cshl. edu This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Zookeeper plea is food for thought From:Shanghai Daily | 2019-04-16 07:29 Shanghai Zoo is urging visitors to stop feeding animals, saying that swans, wild geese, bears and tortoises are suffering health problems as a result. Visitor numbers have been rising with the spring weather, along with an increase in the number of animals with intestinal obstruction and digestion problems, the zoo said. The zoo is taking a number of measures including enhanced patrols, more signs and more leaflets. It is also organizing activities to drive home the message that unnecessary feeding is not welcome. Swans, wild geese and ducks are particularly vulnerable, said keeper Zhang Zhihao. Many tourists bring bread and biscuits to attract swans, wild geese and ducks at the water platform, he said. However, swans, wild geese and ducks never eat these foods in the wild. They eat leaves, seeds, sprouts and stems, and sometimes molluscs and aquatic insects. Bread and biscuits are high-calorie carbohydrates, which will lead to indigestion in birds. Geng Guangyao, another keeper, said: Herbivorous animals never resist any food, and they even eat plastic bags, which seriously damages their health. They cannot discharge these items, and suffer from intestinal obstruction as a result. Yang Huiqiang, a keeper at the bear enclosure, said: Feeding food will trigger food begging, which in turn leads to more feeding as a result, causing a vicious circle. Keeper Li Qing said amphibians and reptiles face less of a threat from feeding, but a sulcata tortoise at the zoo had suffered damage to its digestive system after eating the plastic label of a water bottle. Plastic paper and plastic pieces were found in its excrement after animal keepers fed the tortoise grass to stimulate its digestive system. Feeding from tourists will also lead to nutritional imbalance in the animals, who will not eat food from animal keepers after taking tourists food, thus affecting their healthy growth and reproduction, said Zhu Yingdi, another keeper at the zoo. Obesity and diabetes are some other health problems as most foods from tourists contain high amounts of sugar or starch, she said. Animals may also suffer from diseases such as diarrhea, colds or hepatitis. They will also fight for food, which causes injuries. The government's auditor will increase its scrutiny of the $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund, citing risks of unappropriated spending occurring because its activities span several agencies and because it wants to examine the fund's systems of governance, management, monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. A prize wrangled by New Zealand First for going into coalition government with the Labour Party in 2017, the PGF has become a lightning rod for controversy because of the conduct of its lead minister, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, and question-marks over how some funding has been allocated. PGF funding has been announced for a large number of projects in the economically depressed Far North, where Jones hails from, prompting accusations by National Party MPs of pork-barreling. Other deals, such as a loan for nearly $10 million to the Westland Milk dairy cooperative, have courted controversy because they appeared to be assisting commercial activities that a bank or shareholders might normally have expected to fund. The loan offer was subsequently withdrawn when a foreign buyer emerged for the commercially challenged West Coast firm. More recently, Jones was criticised for attending a meeting at which funding of $4.6 million was allocated to a Northland cultural centre that Jones had identified as representing a conflict of interest for him. He did not participate in the decision, but gave assurances to other ministers about the plan's bona fides. "The speed with which the fund was established and continues to be developed, the nature of the many funding proposals, and the high level of public interest have meant that the processes and types of funding provided might be different from traditional public sector arrangements," said the controller and auditor-general, John Ryan, in a statement. "The fund also requires appropriations to be managed by multiple government departments and organisations, which increases the risk of unappropriated expenditure." Allocation of government funds is known as appropriation. Ryan said his office had already made preliminary recommendations to improve overall management of the fund last year and it would "continue to be a focus for my office in 2018/19 and beyond". Two separate, related projects would examine how projects were being treated for accounting purposes, risk management, control systems, contract management and "the outcomes achieved". "Auditors of public organisations receiving money from the fund will also be alert to any matters that might arise from the use of that funding." There would also be "a more specific in-depth review" into how the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Provincial Development Unit manages, monitors and evaluates the fund's projects across the three departments most involved in handling PGF projects: MBIE, the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Transport. Some $3 billion has been allocated for commitment by the PGF over the three years of the current parliamentary term. However, the expectation that it would assist NZ First's political standing has proven mistaken to date. In this week's TVNZ Colmar-Brunton poll, NZ First was at 4 percent, below the level of national support necessary to be assured of a return to Parliament at the next general election. While the fund has been flooded with applications, ministers have been finding that small-scale provincial projects can be difficult to make judgements about and often carry political as well as commercial risk. They are being increasingly tempted to use the PGF to fund substantial infrastructure projects, such as rejuvenation and expansion of the national rail system. A ministerial committee has the capacity to sign off projects valued at less than $20 million, with larger projects escalating to Cabinet committees or the full Cabinet. 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Related News: Stride Property Ltd & Stride Investment Management Ltd (NZX: SPG) $600m Bank Refinancing Completed Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) Vital expects ~$140m property revaluation gain for 1H FY22 16th December 2021 Morning Report Sky Network Television Limited (NZX: SKT) Confirms Sale of Mt Wellington Properties for $56m 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 "That would be overwhelming," Brown told IANS when asked about the idea of a film based on her life. Global make-up icon Bobbi Brown, who found global fame by following her passion to make women look beautiful in a natural way, finds the idea of her life story finding a way to the silver screen overwhelming. Whom would you like to bring your life alive on the big screen? "Maybe Meryl Streep from Hollywood or Madhuri Dixit from Bollywood," she added. At the moment, Brown is happy to dive into the myriad hues of Indian culture. She is excited about her maiden trip to the country for the debut edition of the India Makeup Show. Curated by Brothers Incorporated, founded by Rahul Tuljapurkar and Ninad Shah, the two-day show, which began in Mumbai on Friday, will come to Delhi on April 20. She looks at India as a "land of magic". "I wanted to visit India for such a long time. I love the rich history and the culture and can't wait to soak it all up. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the sights, eating delicious food and meeting new people," Brown told IANS in an email interview. "I'm really looking forward to eating at Bombay Canteen. My friend Floyd Cardoz owns the restaurant. And of course the Taj Mahal," she added. The make-up artiste has expressed her desire to work with star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and feels "Indian beauty is confident, modern and diverse". Elaborating her view, the 61-year-old said: "The make-up looks in the country range from the over the top to traditional to a cleaner, more modern look. I love the diverse mix of looks and trends. Most importantly, everyone in India always looks so beautiful. Anything can look and feel beautiful on Indian skin." It was a humble beginning for Brown who launched her career at department store Bergdorf Goodman with just 10 lip shades in 1991, and went on to build a billion-dollar empire. Big names like Michelle Obama, Katie Holmes and Duchess of Cambridge Catherine have adored her make-up. After 25 years, she left her namesake brand Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, owned by The Estee Lauder Companies, in 2016. Were there moments when you were scared and clueless about where to go next? "Leaving the company that I founded came with a mix of sadness and excitement. It gave me time to reflect on my experiences being an entrepreneur, creative, beauty expert, health and fitness advocate, author and editor-in-chief. "In doing that, I saw an opportunity to create all of these new ventures. This transition has opened a new chapter of my life and so far, it's been an exciting ride." Brown, whose affair with make-up started by watching her mother's beauty rituals, launched a beauty and wellness company Evolution_18, through which she comes out with collections which are all about beauty from the inside out. What about creating an India specific range? "I would love to and I hope to meet like minded partners on my outing at the India Makeup Show." Its official, Puratchi Thalapathy Vishal has confirmed that he will soon begin shooting for the sequel of his critically acclaimed detective thriller Thupparivaalan with director Mysskin. To be produced by his own production house Vishal Film Factory, the film is expected to go on floors later this year. Mysskin visited Vishal in Turkey and narrated him the script of Thupparivaalan 2. Impressed with the script, Vishal has readily given his nod. Vishal is currently busy shooting for his action-adventure film with Sundar C. The yet-untitled film also has Tamannaah Bhatia and Aishwarya Lekshmi in pivotal characters. New Delhi: The Centre removed on Tuesday Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Vineet Agarwal from the post of special director at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after he landed himself in the middle of a controversy a fortnight ago for transferring the officer leading the probe against fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. According to sources, Agarwal was transferred back to his original cadre. On March 29, Satyabrata Kumar, an ED joint director, was in London for a hearing in the Nirav Modi case, when Agarwal issued the controversial transfer orders. However, within few hours ED Director Sanjay Mishra had revoked Kumar's transfer, asserting that Agarwal was not authorised to take the decision against the joint director on his own. The finance ministry issued an order on Tuesday after getting sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and subsequently the ED headquarters in Delhi issued the orders relieving Agarwal from the post of special director of the agency in Mumbai. As Mumbai special director, Agarwal headed ED's probes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Agarwal is a 1994-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre and was appointed as special director in ED in January 2017 for five years. The fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi is wanted for his alleged involvement in Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) loan default case. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also refused to consider the plea of Mayawati challenging the EC's 48-hr ban on the leader and asked her counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over Election Commission's action against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and others for allegedly making hate speeches during poll campaign. Taking note of the EC action, the court said it seems the EC has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. Following the SC rap for EC, the poll panel on Monday afternoon took action against Adityanath, Mayawati, Azam Khan and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI Yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, seeking a direction to the EC to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the media in the run up to general elections. In an interview to national broadcaster Doordarshan, Modi said the country is suffering because of terrorism for the last 40 years and there is no reason for people not being told about this. New Delhi : Nationalism and martyrdom of soldiers are as much an election issue as the death of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, rejecting allegations that he was using the defence forces in his campaign speeches for winning the polls. "If we don't tell them what our views are on this, then what is the logic in that? Can any country move ahead without the feeling of nationalism," he said. "In a country where thousands of its soldiers have been martyred, shouldn't that be an election issue? If farmers die, then it is an election issue, but when soldiers die then it is not an election issue? How can that be?" the prime minister added. Last week, Modi asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to those who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. He also urged to dedicate their first votes to the security personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack. The comments created political furore with opposition parties accusing the prime minister of using the defence forces for winning the polls. The poll panel took notice and the remarks are currently under examination. The poll authorities in Maharashtra's Latur, where he made the speech, have told the Election Commission that prima facie the comments are violative of its orders, asking parties against using the armed forces in their campaigns. Modi in his interview also took a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleging that he was raking up the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. "He has made the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. For the past six months, he has been making it an issue without any proof," he said. Modi further said that in the past five years his government has addressed the basic requirements of the people that should have been fulfilled within the first ten to twenty years of Independence. He said that his comments against the Gandhi family were against dynastic politics and his opposition was issue-based and not personal. "Dynastic politics is the most dangerous thing for a democracy," he said. Commenting on the Congress's 'NYAY' or minimum income promise, Modi said with the announcement of the scheme, the Congress has accepted that they have done 'great injustice' to the people for the past 60 years. "Will they give nyay (justice)?" he asked, referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Talking about BJP's chances in the ongoing elections, Modi said there is an 'unprecedented wave of support' for his party. "I have not seen this even in 2014," he said. In his address to a gathering at a seminar in New Delhi on aerospace power of the future and impact of technology, the IAF chief also asserted that the strike on a 'non-military target with precision at night, deep inside Pakistan demonstrates our ability to hit the perpetrators of violence in our country, wherever they may be'. New Delhi : Technology was on India's side in the Balakot air strikes, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said on Monday, asserting that the results would have been further tilted in the country's favour if Rafale jets were inducted in time. "In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy. "In the subsequent engagements, we came out better because we upgraded our MiG-21 Bisons, and Mirage-2000 aircraft," he said. "The results would have been further skewed in our favour had we inducted the Rafale aircraft in time," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said. The Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot area on February 26, in response to the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed. The Pakistan Air Force retaliated the next day by unsuccessfully targeting various military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. The IAF chief asserted that it was a 'critical demonstration of our national will and capability which is the major lesson coming out of the present crisis'. Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said in his speech, "In the proposed induction of the Rafale and S-400 surface-to-air missile system, in the next two-four years, once again the technological balance will shift in our favour, like it was in 2002 during Operation Parakaram during the last stand-off." India inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. The delivery of the jets -- capable of carrying a range of potent weapons and missiles -- is scheduled to begin from September. In October last year, India and Russia signed a multibillion dollar deal for S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defence missile systems. It has the capability to destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. The seminar on 'Aerospace power in the 2040s: Impact of Technology' was held at Subroto Park in New Delhi to mark the birth centenary of the late Marshal of the IAF Arjan Singh. The event was hosted by the IAF along with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), an autonomous defence research and analysis body. In his speech, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa also made a reference to the 1971 Indo-Pak War to emphasis that number of aircraft loss do not necessarily signify victory for any side. "You win or lose on how much of your politicomilitary objectives were achieved... Similarly, post our strike on a terrorist training camp, to thwart an impending strike on our soil, Pakistan Air Force had launched a riposte on February 27 against Indian military targets. "Did they succeed in their objective, the answer is a clear 'no', as the attack was thwarted while we achieved our objective in Balakot. This is the main argument. Yes we lost an aircraft, a MiG-21 Bison, and one of our pilot was held captive," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said. But, India got an aircraft too, which electronic signatures suggest was 'an F-16'. But to shift the narrative to this air combat from not being able to achieve one's military objective is obfuscating the issue, like the statements given by the other side post 1965 and 1971, he said. "Among all arms of the military, technology affects us the most.. land forces mainly comprise men, naval and air force officers operate machines and in the Air Force this technology has to be packed in smaller machines and subject to extreme temperature and pressure and 'G' forces," the IAF chief said. And, air power is more sensitive to technological change, he said. "Some critical technological inductions such as AWACS, fourth-generation fighter aircraft, ISR platforms and critical force enablers have to be fast tracked to maintain the edge in such short skirmishes where we cannot bring our numbers to bear for decisive outcome," he said. In the long term, IAF's modernisation programme is to progressively absorb technology through indigenisation, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said. "Here, the 'Make in India' fighter programme under a strategic partnership and our indigenous technology would give us the capability of designing, developing and manufacturing 5th generation fighter aircraft by the 2040s," he said. "Similarly, in the field of missile defence systems, I am optimistic that by 2040s having developed the MRSAMs with a strategic partnership, we would manufacture design and develop a LRSAM along with a secure anti-cruise missile and anti-ballistic missile defence system," the IAF chief added. "In space, we intend to enhance our communication, navigation and ISR capabilities and the newly formed tri-service Space Command would further our capability in this dimension by 2040," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said. He said the kind of numbers India can bring to bear in case of a full-scale conflict was amply demonstrated in Exercise 'Gagan Shakti- 2018' wherein IAF flew '5,000 fighter sorties within a period of three days in the western sector'. "During Exercise Vayushakti in February, we demonstrated our capability to strike with precision both during day and night. All this works towards our conventional deterrence," he said. System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe9803f78)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9804248)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe9803f78)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9804248)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe980b588)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9804248)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9804248)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe92a9900)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe9803fa8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe9803fa8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe97802f8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9c6a3a0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe97802f8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9c6a3a0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe97d0528)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9c6a3a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9c6a3a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe92a9480)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fea16d230)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fea16d230)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951 /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe9780398)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9cc71b0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe9780398)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9cc71b0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7f3fe97d0368)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9cc71b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe9cc71b0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe92a9390)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe9cc7a20)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe9cc7a20)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 Matt (L) and Mark at the front desk of the Christopher Marcus salon at the Madison. Connie Springer Forty-five-year old identical twins, Matt and Mark Neff, have experienced two divergent approaches to boomeranging. Mark, the Hyde Park luxury salon owner, made one five-year move from Cincinnati to San Francisco but returned home for good in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Matt, the itinerant sales and marketing guru, has boomeranged time and again: relocating from Cincinnati to San Francisco, then back to Cincinnati, on to New York, then to Florida, back to Cincinnati, and now once again in Florida. Yet firmly rooted in Cincinnati (the twins family has lived in the area as far back as four generations), Matt visits this city at least once a month. Matt and Mark grew up in Liberty Township in a loving family with parents, Curt and Beverly, and a younger brother, Eric. Their parents embraced entrepreneurship and encouraged their sons to explore and take risks. Both brothers attended Miami University and majored in marketing. After graduating in 1996, Mark moved to San Francisco for a marketing/advertising position, while Matt first worked in hotel hospitality in Cincinnati but then joined Mark in San Francisco for a short-term job. In 1999 Matt was recruited to return to Cincinnati for a hotel sales and marketing position. Mark stayed in San Francisco until the tragedy of 9/11 made him rethink his priorities. Hyper-attuned to the fragility of life, he decided to veer away from marketing to follow his passion and start a new career: hair styling. Mark wanted to be closer to his family and enjoy the slower pace and affordability of Cincinnati so he moved back to town and trained at the Aveda Fredrics Institute. Matt was already living here after being recruited by TravelClick in 2000 for a sales role in hospitality. Mark and Matt first lived with each other in Clifton and then bought condos together at the Madison House. Matt, admitting he has a love of shaking things up, moved back to San Francisco in early 2006 to run the Northern California territory for TravelClick. Meanwhile, Mark set his sights on the long-term investment of owning a salon and, in May of 2007, opened the luxury Christopher Marcus Salon (a play on Marks first and middle names, Mark Christopher) in Hyde Park Square. In 2008, Matt returned to Cincinnati to oversee the Central United States territory for TravelClick. Matt and Mark bought a house together in North Avondale, where they lived for two years until selling it when Matt again was transferred in 2011, this time to New York to oversee the New Jersey/New York territory for the travel company. In 2014, Matt again transferred, this time to Hollywood, Florida to oversee TravelClicks Southeastern United States territory. Three years later, Matt made the bold move of leaving his 17-year position with TravelClick to return to Cincinnati. He was home to work on a joint venture with Mark: opening up a second salon location, Christopher Marcus Salon at the Madison House in Hyde Park. The two lived in nearby condos on the penthouse floor. They joke that their commute consisted of pushing an elevator button to descend to the first floor and then taking a 30-second walk to work. The second location of Christopher Marcus was designed as a new talent salon, with Matt working as chief revenue officer over all operations, and Mark overseeing new personnel and training stylists and aestheticians to professionalize their skills. By July of 2018, the brothers had sold the original Christopher Marcus Salon on the Square to focus solely on the Madison House location. The salon quickly turned into a well-oiled machine. The brothers were proud of meeting their goal for the Christopher Marcus Salon to be the friendliest luxury salon and spa in the area. The twins had streamlined procedures and protocols in the operation of the salon so well that Matt was beginning to feel restless for his next challenge. In January of 2018, Matt was hired as a consultant in growing East Coast business for Conversion Logix, a Seattle-based digital ad agency. He now happily works out of his home office in Florida. Along with their current careers and being the high-energy entrepreneurs that they are Matt and Mark have now embarked on their next venture, joining a brand new online startup, RoamingTails, founded by Matts Hollywood neighbor, Jaime Bowerman. Matt works in the role of president and Mark as Cincinnatis ambassador of RoamingTails, which offers smart pet tags that help reunite missing pets with their owners more easily, and reducing the animal population in shelters. Its fun to do something outside of the hair salon arena, says Mark. Both hope that working on the new venture will propel them into their retirements and beyond. Matt and Mark see their situation as the ideal mix. Matt works on his various jobs out of his Florida home office. Being able to work at home actually gives me the flexibility to boomerang, says Matt. And his prime Florida location and all its amenities are at his familys disposal whenever they want a vacation. In September of 2018, the Neffs suffered a tragic loss, the death of younger brother Eric after a car accident. Matt comes back to Cincinnati often to be close to his family. Mark says he is super content with the steadiness of his salon work in Cincinnati while being delighted that each of Matts moves has given him the opportunity to travel to fun places. And the brothers are never far out of reach. They begin every day with a wake up call, a friendly morning phone conversation over coffee that keeps them perpetually in tune with each others lives. This is the fourth story in an ongoing series about Cincinnatis boomerang residents people who grew up here, left, and then came back for various personal, professional, and sentimental reasons. If you or someone you know qualifies and would like to be featured in Soapbox, email [email protected]. Greg Hahn (L) and David Esrati from The Next Wave ad agency in Dayton at The Care & Feeding of Creativity luncheon. Provided Greg Hahn had no plans to be in advertising when he left Indian Hill to go to The Ohio State University. If hed had his way, hed have been the next Eddie Van Halen. He found his way into advertising almost accidentally: By working his way up through the ranks, and scoring advertising hits along the way, Hahn became the chief creative officer of BBDO NY, one of the hottest agencies, if you keep score by the number of creative awards won, says Cincinnati advertising expert Judy Jennings Thompson. Hahn returned to his hometown to speak about The Care & Feeding of Creativity at the American Advertising Federations Cincinnati luncheon meeting April 10 at the Radisson in Covington. Groundbreaking ideas begin by defying expectation, says Hahn, who has been involved in some of the most awarded work in advertising over the last 30 years. He was named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company magazine and listed as a Top 10 Creative Director by Adweek. Finding his way into advertising was almost accidental, first interning at Franklin Stoorza in San Diego, and then spending about a decade at Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis. His first big success was resurrecting Buddy Lee, a 50-year-old doll in a very strange six-minute mockumentary, The Buddy Lee Story. It got teens talking about Lee jeans for the first time in decades. Hahn then helped a relatively obscure business-to-business company called EDS break through the clutter with the now-famous herding cats Super Bowl ad in 2000. It was an Emmy-nominated spot that may have been the forerunner to todays rampant cat memes. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, he wrote the copy for a full-page ad from United Airlines, one of the airlines whose planes were hijacked. What started out as a rather formal letter from the CEO eventually became, in Hahns hands, a spare yet moving reflection on what became important after 9/11. It was published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. It ended with the words, On Tuesday, September 11, America was knocked to its knees. On Tuesday, September 11, America got back up again. It was at Fallon that Greg first created an ongoing working relationship with David Lubars, who now serves as the global creative director of BBDO. Lubars and Hahn now oversee one of the countrys most prolific award-winning shops. Hes helped create work for FedEx, AT&T, Snickers, Lowes, and Sandy Hook Promise. My philosophy in one word is yes, Hahn says. Say yes a lot and take on the things that scare you. Taking assignments that no one wants and staying optimistic about them keeps possibilities open, he continues. Dont be your own worst client. More than 100 arrested at London climate protests London, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 More than 100 people have been arrested in ongoing climate change protests in London that brought parts of the British capital to a standstill, police said Tuesday. Demonstrators started blocking off a bridge and major central road junctions on Monday at the start of a civil disobedience campaign that also saw action in other parts of Europe. The protests were organised by the campaign group Extinction Rebellion, which was established last year in Britain by academics and has become one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements. London's Metropolitan Police said that by early Tuesday 113 adults had been arrested. The figure includes three men and two women who were arrested at the UK offices of energy giant Royal Dutch Shell on suspicion of criminal damage. Campaigners daubed graffiti and smashed a window at the Shell Centre building. The majority arrested were seized for breaching public order laws and obstructing a highway. The protest saw more than a thousand people block off central London's Waterloo Bridge and lay trees in pots along its length. Later, people set up camps in Hyde Park in preparation for further demonstrations throughout the week. - Police restrictions - The police have ordered the protesters to confine themselves to a zone within Marble Arch, a space at the junction of Hyde Park, the Oxford Street main shopping thoroughfare and the Park Lane street of plush hotels. "The information and intelligence available at this time means that that Met (police) feels this action is necessary in order to prevent the demonstrations from causing ongoing serious disruption," the police said. The group wants to governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and be led by new "citizens' assemblies on climate and ecological justice". Spokesman James Fox said the group had attempted to maintain a blockade overnight at four sites in central London before the police came to impose the new restriction. People were arrested "mostly at Waterloo Bridge where the police came to try to stop everyone, but there were too many of us", he told AFP. Fox said the protesters attached themselves to vehicles and to each other using bicycle locks. "We have no intention of leaving until the government listens to us," he said. "Many of us are willing to sacrifice our liberty for the cause." European voters urged to mobilise behind child climate activists Strasbourg, France, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 Sweden's teenage activist Greta Thunberg choked backed tears on Tuesday as she warned of climate disaster and urged Europeans to vote in next month's elections to press for decisive action on cutting greenhouse gases. In a speech to a packed committee of the European Parliament, Thunberg, 16, warned time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming. "I want you to panic, I want you to act as if the house was on fire," Thunberg told the environment committee of the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. Citing scientific reports endorsed by the United Nations and holding back her tears, she warned of accelerating disasters like mass species extinction, erosion of top soil, deforestation, air pollution, loss of insects and the acidification of oceans. She received a warm round of applause before composing herself and continuing her speech. "You need to listen to us, we who cannot vote," Thunberg said, referring to the tens of thousands of students taking to the streets worldwide to fight climate change. "You need to vote for us, for your children and grandchildren," she said. "In this election, you vote for the future living conditions for human kind." Voters in EU countries will elect on May 23-26 a new European Parliament, which will also play a role in chosing the head of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. - 'Hijacked for political ends' - During a visit to Brussels in February, Thunberg urged the European Union to double its ambition for greenhouse gas cuts, upping its target from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2030. Under the 2015 Paris climate deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the 28-nation EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990. EU officials are now talking of increasing the figure to 45 percent. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has said warming is on track toward an unliveable 3C or 4C rise, and avoiding global chaos will require a major transformation. Thunberg has inspired tens of thousands of children worldwide to boycott classes to draw attention to climate change. Around 100 young people marched Tuesday through the streets of Strasbourg to the parliament building to press for urgent action against climate change. Francoise Grossetete, a French member of the European Parliament, said she would skip the committee hearing because she strongly objected to Thunberg's alarmist stand that in her view is anti-economic growth. Thunberg has become "the symbol of this just environmental cause that is hijacked for political ends" by environmental lobbies, said Grosssete, a member of the centre-right European People's Party. The Swede hit global headlines with her speech in December at a UN climate meeting in Poland and has received support from climate activists. More than 200 arrested at London climate protests London, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 More than 200 people have been arrested in ongoing climate change protests in London that brought parts of the British capital to a standstill, police said Tuesday. Demonstrators began blocking off a bridge and major central road junctions on Monday at the start of a civil disobedience campaign that also saw action in other parts of Europe. The protests were organised by the campaign group Extinction Rebellion, which was established last year in Britain by academics and has become one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements. London's Metropolitan Police said that by Tuesday evening, 209 arrests had been made. "We expect demonstrations to continue throughout the coming weeks," the police statement said. The arrest figure includes three men and two women who were detained at the UK offices of energy giant Royal Dutch Shell on suspicion of criminal damage. Campaigners daubed graffiti and smashed a window at the Shell Centre building. The majority arrested were seized for breaching public order laws and obstructing a highway. The protest saw more than a thousand people block off central London's Waterloo Bridge and lay trees in pots along its length. Later, people set up camps in Hyde Park in preparation for further demonstrations throughout the week. - Police restrictions - The police have ordered the protesters to confine themselves to a zone within Marble Arch, a space at the junction of Hyde Park, the Oxford Street main shopping thoroughfare and the Park Lane street of plush hotels. "We so far have 55 bus routes closed and 500,000 people affected as a result," the police said. Campaigners want governments to declare a climate and ecological emergency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and be led by new "citizens' assemblies on climate and ecological justice". Extinction Rebellion spokesman James Fox said the group had attempted to maintain a blockade overnight at four sites in central London before the police came to impose the new restriction. Protesters attached themselves to vehicles and to each other using bicycle locks, said the spokesman. "We have no intention of leaving until the government listens to us," he said. "Many of us are willing to sacrifice our liberty for the cause." clw-rjm/zak/ach Apple and Qualcomm bury the hatchet in royalties battle royal San Francisco, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 Apple and American microchip manufacturer Qualcomm said Tuesday they have agreed to "dismiss all litigation" against each other worldwide in what had been a sprawling battle over royalty payments. The last-minute settlement cut short a courtroom clash between the tech giants just as it was getting underway in California. For two-years the companies had fought a multi-front brawl that could have required Qualcomm to pay billions. The news sent Qualcomm's stock price soaring more than 23 percent on Wall Street, its best one-day performance in nearly 20 years. The deal includes a six-year license agreement with the option to extend for two years, and a payment to Qualcomm from Apple, the companies said. At the heart of the battle were the royalties Qualcomm charges for its patented chips, which enable smartphones to connect to mobile networks. Apple accused Qualcomm, which holds the most patents for chips, of taking advantage of its dominant position to charge exorbitant amounts for its chips or access to its patents. Qualcomm denied the allegations and accused Apple of abusing its position and of taking legal action to negotiate prices down. "I believe both Apple and Qualcomm got deeper into this than they wanted to," analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said in a statement. "This settlement should be good for the wireless industry as companies should feel free to invest in research, get paid a fair price for those inventions, and consumers take advantage of those innovations at a very rapid pace." - Recent defeats for Qualcomm- The stakes had been especially high for Qualcomm given that it earns a significant chunk of its revenue from royalties paid by manufacturers for its patented technology. Apple had argued that Qualcomm's royalty demands meant it was effectively insisting on payment for innovations by Apple -- such as touch ID or Apple Pay -- that Qualcomm "had nothing to do with." Apple said it had been overcharged by billions as a result and, following its initial US lawsuit, the iPhone maker filed two more suits in China on the same basis. Qualcomm counter-sued. Also in early 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for alleged antitrust law violations in the sale of certain components and licenses to smartphone makers, including Apple. In April 2017, it was forced to pay $815 million to Canada's Blackberry in a royalties dispute. And since 2015, through both convictions and settlements, it has paid high antitrust fines in China, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Union. This has led to contradictory legal rulings. In March, a US court ruled in Apple's favor, a few hours after a judge of the same court ordered a partial ban of iPhone imports. Meanwhile, by the end of 2018, Qualcomm had secured a ban on the sale of certain iPhones in China and Germany -- again for patent violations. jc-dg/ch APPLE INC. QUALCOMM Kentucky hills ring with machine gun fire at Knob Creek Gun Shoot West Point, United States, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 Paul Winters has been coming to the Knob Creek Gun Shoot since 1992 to blast away at targets with machine gun rounds. "This is Disneyland with guns," Winters said of the two-day event held twice a year in the hills of Kentucky near the hamlet of West Point. "This is a place to come compete and have fun with your buddies," he said. The Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show was started in 1965 by Biff Sumner and a few friends who were having a cookout and firing off weapons for fun. It has evolved into the biggest private machine gun shoot in the world, attracting thousands of automatic weapons enthusiasts from around the United States and abroad. General admission is $15 a day for adults and $5 for children under 12. Hearing and eye protection is strongly recommended. The rapid fire thumping of automatic gunfire is never far away as machine guns riddle abandoned cars, old appliances and other targets with bullet holes at the Knob Creek Gun Range. Machine gun owners can reserve spots on the main firing line, but there is a waiting list of up to 10 years. Visitors who don't own a weapon can rent a machine gun -- cash only -- if they sign a waiver and are over 18 years old. "You can shoot anything that goes bang if you got enough money for rental," said Winters. There are shooting competitions featuring sub-machine guns, shotguns and pistols. - 'Night shoot' - At the Military Gun Show that accompanies the shoot, vendors sell everything from guns to ammunition. An extensive amount of German World War II memorabilia is also on offer. Each day ends with a "night shoot" with thousands of tracers bouncing off their targets into the night sky and setting off fireworks attached to barrels of fuel. Kenny Sumner is the current owner and manager of the Knob Creek Gun Range. "It is in the United States because we have that luxury of being able to own guns, especially machine guns," Sumner said. "There is a little paperwork that you have to go through -- background checks on the full auto stuff," he added. "But Title 1 guns, you just fill out your paperwork, they do a background check, if you pass the background check you can have a gun." Title 1 weapons are ordinary firearms such as rifles, pistols and shotguns. Winters said gun enthusiasts from other countries come to Knob Creek "just to play." "Because they don't have those abilities," he said. "They don't have those rights." The next machine gun shoot takes place in October. Mogherini urges EU to redeploy warships in Mediterranean Strasbourg, France, April 16 (AFP) Apr 16, 2019 EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday urged European countries to change course and send warships back to the Mediterranean to tackle migrant trafficking and the arms and oil smuggling fuelling Libya's conflict. The European Union last month suspended naval patrols that had rescued tens of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean and brought them to Italy, where a populist government now fights the practice. The EU decision came before Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, based in eastern Libya, launched a military offensive two weeks ago on the UN- and EU-backed government in Tripoli. "I have always argued for the naval assets to remain in the international waters because they have proven to be a very effective deterrent for the (migrant) smugglers and traffickers," Mogherini told the European Parliament. The naval assets were part of Operation Sophia, which Mogherini said has helped slash migrant arrivals to Europe by more than 80 percent. "I still hope they (EU countries) can reconsider their decision and decide to redeploy naval assets in the international waters," the former Italian foreign minister said. Mogherini said it makes sense to send warships to deter not only the migrant smugglers but alsofulfil the "responsibilities we have taken of implementing the UN Security resolutions when it comes to the arms and oil embargo." Mogherini warned the Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that Haftar's military offensive on Tripoli could become a long-running conflict fuelled by illegal weapons. EU diplomats last month decided to extend Operation Sophia by six months beyond its March 31 expiry date, but without new ship deployments. Instead, the operation will rely on air missions and close coordination with Libya. Since its launch in 2015, after a series of tragic shipwrecks, the mission has claimed the arrest of some 150 traffickers, and rescued 45,000 people. But the election of a far right-populist government in Italy last year changed the fate of the mission, with authorities taking a much harsher stance towards rescued migrants heading for Italian shores. Italy's anger effectively put an end to rescue operations through Sophia a year ago. Sources told AFP the decision split the EU's 28 member states, with several countries wondering whether Sophia -- now a naval mission without a navy -- should be halted. Under the stewardship of far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Rome has insisted it should not have to carry the burden of dealing with migrants rescued at sea. 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 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. English15/04/2019 UNITE AREAS POPULATED BY MAJORITY DOMINANT NATIONS BELGRADE, April 15 /SRNA/ - BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik states that permanent peace in the Balkans is not possible as long as the issue of borders and "seizing of the territory" exists, thus re-defining, i.e. uniting the areas populated by majority dominant nations, is required. "We, here, are an experiment not allowing peoples to set the borders in a historical manner in order to build their own states and then try to cooperate and build friendship, but we remained in a smoldering conflict concerning many issues. As long as the issue of borders and seized territory exists, the lasting peace cannot be provided," Dodik told "Vecernje Novosti", commenting on the idea of demarcation with the Albanians. He stressed that Republika Srpska openly follows Belgrade's policy and accepts everything that Serbia chooses as a definitive solution. Dodik stressed that he abides by his position that Republika Srpska will declare independence if self-declared Kosovo is granted a seat in the UN. "We are already separated, but it has not yet been declared. BiH is an entirely divided society. The state does not function, but it is a kind of imagination. The Dayton Agreement put together that country that has nothing in common, while we now should try to create some joint policy. This does not work," Dodik said. He says that there is no dilemma that a geopolitical and regional movement will create a moment to make the unification of Serbia and Republika Srpska possible. "I have no doubt this will happen, I am just afraid that either I or someone else will miss the moment," Dodik noted. He said that, if he could, he would speed up the process of unification, but that he was not an adventurer and would not bring the people into starvation or refugee. "Uniting the Serbs in one prosperous state of Serbia would be the most stable. We have never attacked anyone during the history, so neither would we now. That space belongs to us. How one from Sarajevo could say that Banjaluka belongs to him? It does not belong to the one, but to us, the Serbs. It feels it belongs to Serbia. Everybody believes so, and 99 percent of Serbs believe it is Serbia, while the rest may fight against it as long as they want," Dodik said. Answering the question of whether the protests in Belgrade could experience "Euromaidan" and whether it is the Western powers interest, Dodik said that the primary interest of the West is to have unstable states in the region in order to intervene. "No one wants strong leaders in the region. As soon as someone becomes one, he is destabilized as he is bothering them. Serbia now resolves the Kosovo issue and needs a strong negotiating position, but if you are internally unstable, you are not strong enough. Those protesting in the streets are not aware of misuse and abuse in this regard," Dodik said. He stressed that he did not care about the objections due to his support to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, stating that he supports what Vucic is doing. "If not democratic, the authorities /in Serbia/ would order the police and the army to disperse protesters," Dodik said. Stating that economic growth is evident in Serbia, under the conditions in which the economies in the region are stagnating or decreasing, Dodik said that Vucic is aware of the problems and reacts accordingly. Commenting on the BiH authorities formation issue, Dodik said that the authorities are always paralysed and pointed out that BiH is an impossible structure, whose concept is its paralysis. He said that this also affects Republika Srpska, but Srpska has demonstrated ability to exist in impossible conditions. "BiH would not last two days without internationals. Let us leave and we will be a state," Dodik said. Replying to a question whether Serbs will withdraw from the BiH Parliament and the Presidency, if the blockade continues, Dodik replied that "he will make it tactically as the best as possible". "I like to irritate them there," Dodik said. Asked if his adviser, filmdirector Emir Kusturica, gave him as present an umbrella with Srpska flags colours to take it with himself in the Presidency of BiH, Dodik said that he had given "him something and some books too" but that he did not wear it because there was no any rain. "When he /Kusturica/ wakes up in the morning, he immediately phones and tells me about what we can expect in 10 15 years. He is persistent; he does not give up certain things. He is my friend, politically like-minded person, a man of undoubted authority, who can help us all," Dodik said. /end/vos English15/04/2019 VISKOVIC: NO RECONCILIATION WITHOUT JUSTICE BANJALUKA, April 15 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic says that he expects the demands of justice to be satisfied in the case of the war commander of the 5th Corps of the BiH Army, Atif Dudakovic, because all those who committed war crimes must be held responsible, otherwise there is no reconciliation and coexistence in BiH. "As a legalist, I expect justice to be satisfied, but being aware of the experience so far, I fear to certain extent that there will be different insinuations and that justice will be circumvented. I hope that it is high time, for the sake of reconciliation and the future of all peoples in BiH, to hold the criminals on all sides responsible for what they did," Viskovic told reporters. He pointed out that he did not want to amnesty anyone, because all three sides in BiH committed the crimes, but those who committed them must be held responsible. Today, the trial of General Atif Dudakovic and another 16 members and commanders of the 5th Corps of the so-called Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina for crimes committed against Serbs in the Krajina area in 1995 begins before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. /end/vos English15/04/2019 NEED TO REACH AGREEMENT ABOUT COUNCIL OF MINISTERS BANJALUKA, April 15 /SRNA/ - The Democratic Union /Demos/ expects all political entities that will take part in an upcoming meeting on the formation of BiH state-level authorities to reach a final agreement about the formation Council of Ministers on the basis of the democratic will of citizens expressed in the general elections. "It is inadmissible to ignore the peoples election will, blackmail and maximalist demands preventing the enforcement of election results in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Demos reports. The party urges SDA /Party of Democratic Action/ leader Bakir Izetbegovic to drop his unrealistic and maximalist demands and overcome the impasse in the Council formation. "It is the goal of many an actor in this process to prevent the formation of a strong Serb bloc in joint BiH institutions which is why the Council election has been blocked after all, Demos believes. The party believes an agreement will soon be reached for institutions to start operating at full capacity in the interest of the people of Republika Srpska and BiH. A meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday in Sarajevo where the leaders of the SNSD Milorad Dodik, SDA Bakir Izetbegovic and HDZ Dragan Covic are expected to try and reach an agreement about the formation of state-level authorities. /end/ds English15/04/2019 SELECTIVE APPROACH AND POLITICAL JUDGMENTS DO NOT INSTILL HOPE IN JUSTICE SAMAC, April 15 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Zeljka Cvijanovic said on Monday that she had enormous mistrust in [the way of] meting out justice in BiH and the implementation of the Strategy for War Crimes Processing because there were many examples of selective justice and politically motivated judgments. I am sorry for having to say this. We had situations where there was evidence and there were witnesses and everything that is needed to arrive at a punishment, but it did not happen, Cvijanovic told reporters in Samac commenting on the beginning of a trial of the former commander of the 5th Corps of the so-called Army of the Republic of BiH, Atif Dudakovic. Cvijanovic said that everything that had been planned to be in the service of quicker reconciliation and greater cohesion, partnership, and understanding in society and among the constituent peoples had turned against all these efforts like a boomerang. A trail of Gen. Atif Dudakovic and another 16 members and commanders of the 5th Corps of the so-called Army of BiH on charges of crimes against Serbs in the area of the Krajina in 1995 started on Monday before the BiH Court. The Prosecutors Office of BiH charges the accused with crimes against humanity, which include the killing of more than 300 Serbs, the persecution and torture of civilians and prisoners of war, and the destruction of 38 Orthodox churches and religious buildings. /end/sg TO VIEW MORE NEWS STORY, PLEASE CLICK ON NEWS TAB ON MAIN MENU BAR 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. . , . , . 65 . . , . , ... Climate change to blame for Hurricane Maria's extreme rainfall WASHINGTON--Hurricane Maria dropped more rain on Puerto Rico than any storm to hit the island since 1956, a feat due mostly to the effects of human-caused climate warming, new research finds. A new study analyzing Puerto Rico's hurricane history finds 2017's Maria had the highest average rainfall of the 129 storms to have struck the island in the past 60 years. A storm of Maria's magnitude is nearly five times more likely to form now than during the 1950s, an increase due largely to the effects of human-induced warming, according to the study's authors. "What we found was that Maria's magnitude of peak precipitation is much more likely in the climate of 2017 when it happened versus the beginning of the record in 1950," said David Keellings, a geographer at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and lead author of the new study in AGU's journal Geophysical Research Letters. Previous studies have attributed Hurricane Harvey's record rainfall to climate change, but no one had yet looked in depth at rainfall from Maria, which struck Puerto Rico less than a month after Harvey devastated Houston and the Gulf Coast. Extreme rainfall during both storms caused unprecedented flooding that placed them among the top three costliest hurricanes on record (the other being Hurricane Katrina in 2005). The new study adds to the growing body of evidence that human-caused warming is making extreme weather events like these more common, according to the authors. "Some things that are changing over the long-term are associated with climate change - like the atmosphere getting warmer, sea surface temperatures increasing, and more moisture being available in the atmosphere - together they make something like Maria more likely in terms of its magnitude of precipitation," Keellings said. Constructing a history of rain Jose Javier Hernandez Ayala, a climate researcher at Sonoma State University in California and co- author of the new study, is originally from Puerto Rico and his family was directly impacted by Hurricane Maria. After the storm, Hernandez Ayala decided to team up with Keellings to see how unusual Maria was compared to previous storms that have struck the island. The researchers analyzed rainfall from the 129 hurricanes that have struck Puerto Rico since 1956, the earliest year with records they could rely on. They found Hurricane Maria produced the largest maximum daily rainfall of those 129 storms: a whopping 1,029 millimeters (41 inches) of rain. That places Maria among the top 10 wettest hurricanes to ever have hit United States territory. "Maria is more extreme in its precipitation than anything else that the island has ever seen," Keellings said. "I just didn't expect that it was going to be so much more than anything else that's happened in the last 60 years." Keellings and Hernandez Ayala also wanted to know whether Maria's extreme rain was a result of natural climate variability or longer-term trends like human-induced warming. To do so, they analyzed the likelihood of an event like Maria happening in the 1950s versus today. They found an extreme event like Maria was 4.85 times more likely to happen in the climate of 2017 than in 1956, and that change in probability can't be explained by natural climate cycles. At the beginning of the observational record in the 1950s, a storm like Maria was likely to drop that much rain once every 300 years. But in 2017, that likelihood dropped to about once every 100 years, according to the study. "Due to anthropogenic climate change it is now much more likely that we get these hurricanes that drop huge amounts of precipitation," Keellings said. The findings show human influence on hurricane precipitation has already started to become evident, according to Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, who was not connected to the new study. Because so much of Maria's damage was due to flooding from the extreme amount of rain, it is safe to say that part of those damages were exacerbated by climate change, Wehner said. "Extreme precipitation during tropical cyclones has been increased by climate change," he said. "Not all storms have a large amount of inland flooding, of freshwater flooding. But of those that do, the floods are increased to some extent by climate change." ### Founded in 1919, AGU is a not-for-profit scientific society dedicated to advancing Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. We support 60,000 members, who reside in 135 countries, as well as our broader community, through high-quality scholarly publications, dynamic meetings, our dedication to science policy and science communications, and our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce, as well as many other innovative programs. AGU is home to the award-winning news publication Eos, the Thriving Earth Exchange, where scientists and community leaders work together to tackle local issues, and a headquarters building that represents Washington, D.C.'s first net zero energy commercial renovation. We are celebrating our Centennial in 2019. #AGU100 Notes for Journalists This paper is freely available through May 15. Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) can download a PDF copy of the article by clicking on this link: https:/ / agupubs. onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ pdf/ 10. 1029/ 2019GL082077 Journalists and PIOs may also request a copy of the final paper by emailing Lauren Lipuma at llipuma@agu.org. Please provide your name, the name of your publication, and your phone number. Neither the paper nor this press release is under embargo. Paper Title "Extreme rainfall associated with Hurricane Maria over Puerto Rico and its connections to climate variability and change" Authors David Keellings: Department of Geography, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.A.; Jose J. Hernandez Ayala: Department of Geography, Environment, and Planning, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California, U.S.A. AGU press contact: Lauren Lipuma +1 (202) 777-7396 llipuma@agu.org Contact information for the researchers: David Keellings, University of Alabama +1 (205) 348-4910 djkeellings@ua.edu This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Australian-first Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) will bring together the best of Victorias aerospace research, design and manufacturing leaders to work with industry on the next generation of air mobility. Swinburne Law School students have excelled at the 17th annual Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Mooting Competition, placing third in the world for their written submissions. For the second year in a row, Swinburne Law School students qualified for the prestigious competition held at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, which attracts applications from law schools around the world. Swinburne was one of 28 teams globally to qualify for the oral rounds, which is based on teams response to a legal problem in a written submission. For those unfamiliar with mooting, its a competition where students are presented with an issue relating to the law and are required to deliver their argument against other teams in a mock court environment. This year, the moot focused on issues in trade mark law , in a case involving skateboards and racing bicycles. Madeline Connolly and Joshua Firmin represented Swinburne and were the only Victorian law school students to make the cut, going up against students from Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, National University of Singapore and the University of Ottawa. The students were accepted to the competition in January, and spent the following months building and finessing their arguments. They were put through their paces in a series of practice moots in front of academics, lawyers and trade mark lawyers, who volunteered their time in the lead up to the big event. Joshua was also a member of the 2018 moot competition team and was pleased to have another chance to compete on an international stage. The Oxford Competition was a great experience. The fact we were able to come home with an award this year was even sweeter. Mooting really has been the highlight of my law studies, he says. The trip was a first for Madeline, who says she was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel and participate in the competition. I feel really lucky to have experienced the Oxford Moot. It is a very impressive achievement , and something that I would encourage all Swinburne Law students to aim for, she says. While the team narrowly missed out on the finals of the oral rounds, the judges commented on the high standard of their performance and awarded them third place for their written submissions. Stay on the top of all the latest markets movements! Subscribe to The Bull free weekly newsletter to receive our best tips, offers and promotion... SUBSCRIBE label How to defend the Earth from asteroids WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2019 -- A mere 17-20 meters across, the Chelyabinsk meteor caused extensive ground damage and numerous injuries when it exploded on impact with Earth's atmosphere in February 2013. To prevent another such impact, Amy Mainzer and colleagues use a simple yet ingenious way to spot these tiny near-Earth objects (NEOs) as they hurtle toward the planet. She is the principal investigator of NASA's asteroid hunting mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and will outline the work of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office this week at the American Physical Society April Meeting in Denver -- including her team's NEO recognition method and how it will aid the efforts to prevent future Earth impacts. "If we find an object only a few days from impact, it greatly limits our choices, so in our search efforts we've focused on finding NEOs when they are further away from Earth, providing the maximum amount of time and opening up a wider range of mitigation possibilities," Mainzer said. But it's a difficult task -- like spotting a lump of coal in the night's sky, Mainzer explained. "NEOs are intrinsically faint because they are mostly really small and far away from us in space," she said. "Add to this the fact that some of them are as dark as printer toner, and trying to spot them against the black of space is very hard." Instead of using visible light to spot incoming objects, Mainzer's team at JPL/Caltech has leveraged a characteristic signature of NEOs -- their heat. Asteroids and comets are warmed by the sun and so glow brightly at thermal wavelengths (infrared), making them easier to spot with the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope. "With the NEOWISE mission we can spot objects regardless of their surface color, and use it to measure their sizes and other surface properties," Mainzer said. Discovering NEO surface properties provides Mainzer and her colleagues an insight into how big the objects are and what they are made of, both critical details in mounting a defensive strategy against an Earth-threatening NEO. For instance, one defensive strategy is to physically "nudge" an NEO away from an Earth impact trajectory. But to calculate the energy required for that nudge, details of NEO mass, and therefore size and composition, are necessary. Astronomers also think that examining the composition of asteroids will help to understand how the solar system was formed. "These objects are intrinsically interesting because some are thought to be as old as the original material that made up the solar system," Mainzer said. "One of the things that we have been finding is that NEOs are pretty diverse in composition." Mainzer is now keen to leverage advances in camera technology to aid in the search for NEOs. "We are proposing to NASA a new telescope, the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), to do a much more comprehensive job of mapping asteroid locations and measuring their sizes," Mainzer said. NASA is not the only space agency trying to understand NEOs. For instance, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) Hayabusa 2's mission plans to collect samples from an asteroid. And in her presentation Mainzer will explain how NASA works with the global space community in an international effort to defend the planet from NEO impact. ### The presentation, "NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA HQ," will take place at 10:45 a.m. MT, Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 14 of the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. ABSTRACT: http://meetings. aps. org/ Meeting/ APR19/ Session/ X05. 1 MORE MEETING INFORMATION USEFUL LINKS Register as Press: https:/ / goo. gl/ forms/ 7l15SaH0GOAbhBgR2 Main Press Page: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ april/ press. cfm Main Meeting Page: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ april/ Hotel Information: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ april/ hotel-travel. cfm PRESS REGISTRATION APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. Press credentials are approved at the sole discretion of APS. For press related questions about the APS April Meeting, email media@aps.org>. PRESS CONFERENCES A series of press conferences will be held during the meeting at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The press conferences will be live webcast, and members of the media who are unable to attend the meeting in person may register to view the live webcasts at https:/ / www. apswebcasting. com . ABOUT APS The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. https:/ / www. aps. org/ This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Cloudy this morning with showers during the afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High 11C. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Windy. Showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 3C. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 60%. MBABANE - International runways are calling for Eswatini beauty! Two emaSwati models, Titi Manyatsi and Dominic Tembe, have been shortlisted to participate in this years Mr and Miss Runway Model Universe 2019/2020. The campaign will be held in the Philippines from August 9 to 18 and the finale will be held on August 19. The two are not new to the runway as they are models under the Top Model Eswatini banner. Experience Also, they have experience in pageants as Manyatsi is a Miss Eswatini 2018/2019 finalist while Tembe is the current Mr Intervarsity for BOLESWA universities. The two models were selected after they submitted their portfolios to the committee. Just like the other contestants, they will be judged throughout the campaign and during the finals. The former Miss Eswatini finalist said she was happy to have been chosen. Confident Im confident that I will do my best and fly the Eswatini flag sky-high. With that being said, I will need all the support I can get from emaSwati, and any form of support from individuals, companies and organisations would be greatly appreciated, said Manyatsi. Tembe also expressed his excitement. Getting to this stage is a win on its own, he said. The Mr and Miss Runway Model Universe is a pageant whose aim is to discover and develop a new breed of potential millennial models by providing them with opportunities in the international runway venues to showcase their gorgeous looks and innate talent in ramp modelling. MBABANE The arrival of a bus trading under the style-name Ding Dong caused commotion at the Mbabane Bus Rank yet again! The disorder ensued when livid bus conductors blocked the road with four dustbins and stones when the brown and white Ding Dong bus made its way into the rank. Police officers arrived at the scene as the behaviour was a clear defiance of an interim court order that was issued by the High Court. One conductor was caught by the police but a marshal stepped in to mediate as the mayhem could not be accredited to one person. He was able to evade arrest and walked away with a minor foot injury. On March 25, 2019, the High Court ruled in favour of bus owner, Jabulani Mbuso Gulwako, by way of issuing an interim order interdicting the marshals and the Mbabane Branch Swaziland Local Kombi Association from interfering with the smooth operations of his buses. The reason Gulwako submitted the urgent application was because the bus rank marshals and conductors were questioning how his two buses had obtained a permit to operate at the Mbabane Bus Rank. One of the conductors, who spoke to this publication said; A number of us here applied for permits. The Mbabane municipality denied us permits because they said the bus rank was full. But now the buses have permits. Does that not point to corruption? Another vehicle owner showed this reporter all the paperwork he had filed for a permit in 2012 and said he too had been told the same thing about the bus rank being at full capacity. A bus rank marshal said; We had to go to court yesterday in order to rebuke any unruly behaviour from the conductors. The conductors do not seem to understand why the court never issued an order to stop the bus from operating with the case pending. He went on to express how the marshals were at their wits end because the case kept being postponed and buses kept operating. He said; We were told to come back tomorrow. This must be the tenth time this case has been postponed. No one understands why. Letter He explained that the Mbabane Municipality had written a letter that stated that the bus rank was indeed at full capacity and that was why no new permits were being issued. This is why we are asking how the buses got their permits. The permit that these buses use was issued for the Manzini-Ludzeludze route. That permit was amended and it now services the Mbabane-Manzini via Mahlanya route. According to town council, an amendment requires a fresh permit, the marshal further alleged. When he filed his application in court, Gulwako asserted that he had gone through all the necessary procedures for the buses to service the Mbabane-Manzini route, and that the buses had a timetable. He said when one bus left the Manzini terminal, the other one also left the Mbabane bus terminal. One conductor, during an interview yesterday, alleged that the buses had one permit they share which he said was what they called twinning. Explained He explained that twinning buses were supposed to be based at the same terminal, as they had the same permit and thus their paths were never to cross. However, he alleged that these buses did not follow that requirement. The Mbabane Municipal Council Information and Public Relations Officer, Lucky Tsabedze, confirmed that the bus rank was at full capacity and that no new permits were being issued. When this reporter tried to reach the Ministry of Public Works and Transport Principal Secretary, Makhosini Mndawe, to get his comment on the matter pertaining to the permit of the buses, his phone was not answered. MATSAPHA On ice Matsapha Town Council Sandlane Zwane wants the commission of inquiry report that sends them packing dismissed. Zwane, who was the Mayor of the Matsapha Town Council, has written a letter to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prince Simelane, stating why the report should be dismissed. In his letter, dated April 13, 2019, Zwane informed the minister that only His Majesty King Mswati III had the powers to appoint commissions. He said the only cognizable commission constitutionally was the human rights commission. Zwane said it was this commission that should have undertaken the exercise of investigating the Matsapha Town Council. He said the completed exercise by commission wherein after completion; Prince Simelane sent them (councillors) letters stating why they should not be dismissed from office. The present exercise of showing cause why the recommendations of the enquiry should not be adopted is a quasi judicial function falling outside of a ministerial function in terms of constitutional definition and expertise to undertake that function, Zwane said. He said if the recommendations of the commission could be implemented, the culmination of the exercise was a job loss consequence. Zwane said it was in this spirit that the exercise ought to be handled judiciously and given the due process of industrial law which needed to be followed. Exercise Furthermore, he said: It is common cause that this exercise has been chaired by the Attorney Generals agent and the document has been authored by that office or under its strict supervision. Your office takes legal advice from the Attorney General. It shows that your office will invariably implement the recommendations as they were done by your agent and legal advisor. It would take a miracle for the honourable minister to be persuaded against the findings of his agent. Zwane further stated that the commissions report highlighted the status of the council. He said there doubt was cast on the standing of the council as whether it was an urban government, a town council, a municipality or any other entity. This, he said, meant that the instrument that they allegedly violated was unclear. Zwane said given these developments, there was no basis tenable at law which would make the councillors performance found wanting. If there is no benchmark, there can never be a violation of a benchmark. He further said the minister could rely on pre-constitution piece of legislation only after it had been attuned and modified to match the spirit and letter of the constitution. Modification Zwane said at the time of the commission, the modification of the law had not been done; hence, the unconstitutionality of relying on structures created by pre-constitution legislation. Meanwhile, leading to this letter, which he gave to Prince Simelane after their meeting on where he had to explain why the minister should not implement the recommendations of the commission, Zwane had written a number of letters to different government departments. Some of the government departments which he copied the letter to included the Prime Ministers office, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Clerk to Parliaments office among others. At the initial stages of the inquiry, Zwane had stated that the commission of enquiry into the affairs of Matsapha Town Council need to be stopped with immediate effect. In the letter, which was dated February 18, 2019, he said it was common course that the government ought to transmit its matters according to the procedures of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini at all times. He said any deviation from the ethics would inevitably be rejected. He said in handling of such matters, the course should be in line with the Constitution. He alleged that the Constitution demarcated the beginning of a new era and if there was anything to import from the old era, the statute specifically assigned for that was in Sections 252, 268 and 270. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is outright in breach of the supreme law of the land and should discontinue the violation of the constitution right away, the mayor claimed in the letter. He claimed that this was because the ministry did not have the authority to conduct the work, specifically outlined in the Constitution as it was supposed to be done by the Human Rights Commission. On that note, the mayor claimed that the illegal commission was coursing people to slander each other including the witnesses such that the interpersonal animosities in Matsapha Town Council had reached an all time high, leaving the general public open to a mountain of lawsuits. Issues Zwane had alleged that some of the issues touched on by the commission were still pending in court but the commissioners continue to ask questions on same. Furthermore, he claimed that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had allegedly failed the State and the nation at large for its failure to implement the Tinkhundla system of governance in all towns and cities in the Kingdom. Section 218 of the Local Government Act clearly states that the ministry shall have turned all the towns and cities to the Ministry of Local Government within five years from the commencement of the Constitution, that is about 15 years ago, he claimed. I kindly request for your urgent intervention to stop forthwith the continuation of the illegal process and illegal investigation called a commission of enquiry into the affairs of Matsapha Town Council, he said. The mayor added that as councillors they were democratically elected into office and had the ability to sort out their own affairs as per the constitutional spirit of decentralisation. He further claimed that government stands to be liable to mountains of lawsuit should the process continue unabated. LOBAMBA The late Prime Minister, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, was yesterday cited as having had a hand in the non-staggering of the salary of former EBIS journalist Thandiswa Ginindza. EBIS is an acronym for the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services. This was revealed yesterday during the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where the committee has ruled that E757 848.27 be recovered from Ginindza. Ginindza is now the Information Assistant at the United States of America (USA) Embassy in Eswatini. Controlling Officer in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology Maxwell Masuku revealed that Ginindza had resigned from the civil service without being authorised. Calling He stated that although they had tried calling her and talked to her, she did not respond to their calls and frequently changed her cellphone numbers. The PAC was told that Ginindza had breached the Bonding Agreement between herself and government which she signed on February 17, 2015 and as per the agreement, she was required to serve the public service for five years after completion of her training. Masuku told the PAC that Ginindza was now employed by the American Embassy. Her resignation was denied authority by the Ministry of Public Service because she was still serving the Bonding Agreement, but she left the radio station despite being denied permission to resign. Masuku reported that Ginindza had an outstanding debt of E39 145 which occurred from September 2017 to February 2018 at a rate of 50 per cent of basic salary while she was away on long-term study leave pursuing a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Strategic Communication. The PS said, however, Ginindza went to the Ministry of Public Service and asked that her salary should not be staggered. When she was told that it was the law that a salary should be staggered, she told those responsible that they had no idea who they were dealing with, said Masuku. He said they had since roped in the services of the attorney general to issue summons and try and recover the money. It was at this point that the PAC Chairperson, MP Phila Buthelezi, asked who had instructed them to stop staggering her salary. An officer from the Public Service, Tenele Mamba, who was present yesterday, first stammered to the extent that MP Buthelezi demanded Ginindzas file from her. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Over 2,000 financial and business leaders are expected to attend the upcoming first Financial Sector Conference (FSC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference will be held under the patronage of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on April 24 and 25 at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. Organisers the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA), have confirmed the completion of all logistical and technical preparations. This was announced at a press conference organized at the MoF headquarters in Riyadh on April 15 by the FSC Executive Committee to highlight the coordinated efforts for the event. Khalid Al Homoud, member of the CMA Board of Directors and member of the FSC supervision Committee noted: The conference aims to attract about2,000 participants among which local, regional and international finance and business sector leaders from the public and private sectors, including international corporations, international rating agencies, experts and specialists in finance, investment, banking and insurance. Al Homoud went on to note that the FSC is among the most prominent financial conferences in the world, as it features the competitive position of the Saudi financial sector on both regional and global levels. The event will not only raise awareness about the FSDP initiatives and how they fit within Vision 2030s objectives, but also facilitate the exchange of experiences and information, discuss challenges and best financial sector development practices, showcase investment opportunities, stimulate competition, uplift the attractiveness of the Saudi financial sector, and enhance the Kingdom's position as the Middle Easts largest financial market. On the FSCs main themes and sessions, Fahad Al Saif, head of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Advisor to the Minister of Finance and chairman of the FSC technical committee stated that the conference will host a two-day agenda with sessions featuring a high level group of international, regional and local speakers, who will discuss various themes, including: raising the bar for the financial sector in Saudi, Islamic finance and FinTech, as well as the challenges and opportunities within the insurance sector. They gather to exchange experiences and information between lenders and beneficiaries, discuss key challenges, highlight regulations and legislation and showcase best financial sector development practices, Al-Saif continued. We envision the FSC being the largest platform for financial dialogue in the Middle East and among the top financial sector events in the world, serving as a key catalyst for innovation, forging partnerships and building relationships between financial institutions and investors, Al-Saif concluded. Yarob Thenayan, Deputy Minister of Communication and Media, Ministry of Finance, Chairman of FSC Executive Committee, said: The FSC will include a special pavilion dedicated to the Financial Sector Development Program that highlights the program's initiatives and what it has achieved so far, as well as pavilions for the participating organizations that will highlight their future plans and activities. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel will also host a Shark Tank-style competition in which aspiring entrepreneurs will pitch their business projects to potential Saudi start-up investors, as well as workshops during which entrepreneurs will present their business ideas and projects to businessmen, virtual trading walkthroughs, and financial literacy sessions to raise awareness on the importance of saving and financial planning, Al-Thenayan added. TradeArabia News Service Arabian Centres Company, a leading owner, developer and operator of lifestyle shopping centres in Saudi Arabia, said it plans to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The offering is expected to comprise a combination of existing and newly issued shares and is expected to result in a free float of 20 per cent post-IPO (prior to any exercise of the over-allotment option). The Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the Companys application for the initial public offering of 95,000,000 ordinary shares (representing 20 per cent of the Companys share capital post-Offering) on April 15. The net proceeds due to the Company will be used to reduce debt and (if there is any surplus) for general corporate purposes. Subsequently, the Company believes it will be in a prime position to achieve its growth plans as set out in the Prospectus to be published in due course in connection with the Offering, a statement said. Fawaz Alhokair, chairman of Arabian Centres, said: Today marks a major milestone for Arabian Centres, as we enter the next phase in our journey as a business. What began nearly two decades ago as a company with a bold retail vision has rapidly grown to become the undisputed market leader in lifestyle shopping centres in Saudi Arabia. By pursuing an initial public offering, we are laying the groundwork for the next chapter of our growth story and are offering investors both domestic and international the opportunity to invest in a dynamic company and industry well-positioned to benefit from the longer-term structural growth path within the retail sector in the Kingdom. Olivier Nougarou, CEO of Arabian Centres, said: An initial public offering will enable Arabian Centres to deliver on our ambitious growth strategy. As we already have a portfolio of 19 assets with another four malls and one extension due to open in the coming 12 months, and another four sites for future development along with one extension in the medium-term pipeline we are in an excellent position to capitalize on future opportunities. We have a clear plan for our business to unlock further value from our current portfolio, enhance our lifestyle and brand offering, and maintain our leadership through developing a focused and superior pipeline. We are excited for what the future holds for Arabian Centres and the Kingdom as a whole. TradeArabia News Service Citi, a leading global bank, has announced the opening of its new offices at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabis international financial centre. Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, ADGM chairman, attended the inauguration ceremony, joining Citi executives David Livingstone, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa; Atiq Rehman, CEO for Middle East and Africa; and Elissar Farah Antonios, cluster head for UAE, Iraq and Levant. Citi continues to support the UAEs growth and progress by investing in the countrys robust financial sector, said Livingstone. We are delighted to deploy our best-in-class global capabilities out of ADGM, which strengthens our presence in Abu Dhabi, for the benefit of our clients and partners. Citis ADGM branch, located in ADGM Square Al Sila Tower, will provide cutting-edge liquidity management services to clients establishing regional treasury centres in the UAE, and will offer the full range of Citis institutional banking capabilities. Abu Dhabi is an important market with tremendous potential, said Antonios. The ADGM platform complements our existing footprint in the region and enables us to engage in a wide spectrum of wholesale banking businesses. In October, Citi obtained a licence from ADGMs Financial Services Regulatory Authority to set up a branch of Citibank NA at ADGM. Citi is present in 25 markets in the Middle East and Africa region, and offers services including Corporate & Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Sales & Trading, Transactions Services, Private Banking and Islamic Banking. Citi also offers Consumer Banking in two markets, the UAE and Bahrain. TradeArabia News Service Egypt's Ministry of Housing has embarked upon an aggressive programme to build more than 1.1 million residential units over the next five years as part of its efforts to cater to the surging demand for affordable housing in the country, reported Daily News Egypt. Establishing new urban communities became one of the engines of economic growth in Egypt and building sustainably is a priority in the countrys 2030 Vision, stated the report citing Khaled Abbas, deputy minister of housing. Abbas was speaking at a recent forum hosted by Swiss-based LafargeHolcim Group, a world leader in the building materials industry, at the American University in Cairo (AUC). The LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction was also attended by Swiss ambassador in Cairo Paul Garnier; Lafarge Egypt CEO Hussein Mansi besides the global icon of architecture Norman Foster and more than 1,500 guests from Egypt and 52 countries, including experts, researchers, academics, engineers, architects, and representatives of companies working in the field of architecture. "We will be waiting for the recommendations of the LafargeHolcim Forum in order to learn from the output," said the deputy minster. Abbas said the organisation of such international forums reflect the appreciation of the international community towards the Egyptian government efforts in establishing mega construction projects. Roland Kohler, chairperson of LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, said: "The challenges we are facing today are global issues. Topics like climate change, population growth, and migration became a shared concern which impact our lives." "Our group has been present in Egypt since 1864 when we provided more than 200,000 tonnes of building materials for the construction of the Suez Canal. Today, Lafarge Egypt participates in many mega national projects," he added. The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regions commercial and package printing sector is being reshaped by innovations by some of the worlds leading technology companies currently participating at the Gulf Print & Pack 2019 exhibition in Dubai, UAE. The four-day event which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, will conclude on April 18. The show was inaugurated by Sheikh Hasher Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, director general of Dubai Department of Information, featuring top tech companies such as Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Phoenix Technologies, Ricoh and Xerox. Lisa Milburn, managing director, Gulf Print & Pack 2019, said: In todays digital era, business leaders can manage, customise, automate and connect various steps of their printing processes in ways they couldnt imagine a few years ago. The introduction of the innovation trail of live demonstrations at this years show was aimed at making the visitors of the event see just whats possible and experience the latest technologies and trends in the market live in action, she said. Whether it was textiles, publishing or graphic design, traditional printing methods invariably involved multiple steps, companies and individuals in getting a single job done. This made the whole process not only time-consuming but costly as well. Today, however, with advances in digitally-connected printing technology, its possible to produce just about any size job, and customise, complete and deliver it in hours rather than weeks or months, Milburn added, referring to the latest products being displayed at the four-day event. While Canon showcased its central reprographic department designed to present an entire printing solution in one place, HP displayed its hardware solutions HP Latex R Series and HP Pagewide XL. Besides Iridesse Production Press, Xerox demonstrated its workflow and colour management software. Konica Minoltas digital printing solutions, meanwhile, included MGI JetVarnish 3DS machine and AccurioLabel 190 label printer. Shadi Bakhour, B2B business unit director, Canon Middle East, said: The objective of displaying the products functionalities was to educate customers about the value of having a complete printing solution at an organization. We hope that by walking through the process, customers will be encouraged to take strides towards unlocking their full printing potential, he added. Gulf Print & Pack 2019 also introduced a new Print Decor Lounge area, where visitors are able to experience the diverse possibilities of printing. Everything is being printed -- from textiles, furniture and wallpaper to non-slip flooring using technology such as web-to-print, the organisers said. Among other things, the latest technology and trends in multi-substrate presses, wide and narrow format digital presses, laser die-cutting, smart labels/packaging, and software are being displayed at the event, which is aimed at printers, service providers, brand owners and designers. Xerox Chris Lynch, head of MEA Production at Xerox, said: We are showcasing new and unique printing technologies as well as some new workflow and colour management software which helps our customers really add value to print or remove costly, labour intensive or time-consuming steps in the process of generating the print. On the first day, Dr George Simonian, Professor of Print Media Helwan University, Cairo, talked about innovations in digital printing technology and the changing business of print. On the second, Chris Lynch, head of production technology at Xerox will discuss printing solutions beyond CMYK. HP Inc Mark Ward, large format manager for the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, HP Inc, talked about the innovations they are demonstrating at the exhibition. Ward said: Its an opportunity for us to engage with customers and partners throughout the region and prove the capabilities of HP solutions in meeting our customers needs. With the HP Latex R series, HP is showcasing application versatility the ability to print on just about any substrate and get scratch-resistant, durable prints with HP Latex Inks. He explained: With our high-efficiency curing system, prints come out dry and ready-to-use with the colour, quality, and consistency you expect with HP Latex printheads and the spectrophotometer. Customers will be able to embrace a more sustainable approach with water-based inks and energy-efficient printers. Odourless prints allow tapping into new indoor spaces, previously untapped by solvent and UV inks, he added. Konica Minolta Nayyar Ansari, business development manager production print at Konica Minolta, said: The printers today require new ideas and business tools to help them capture the new markets that are emerging, they need to grasp every opportunity to grow their business and profitability. Ansari added: Our company has always been known as an innovator who continuously looks for new ways to help customers evolve and add value through creative solutions. On the booth, we are demonstrating our latest technology and future ideas. Its very important to have an open dialog with customers at every level, and we believe that by taking part in the Innovation Trail it will expand our communication channels even further and stimulate interesting conversation and debate. Phoenix Afsal M Kottal, managing director from Phoenix Technologies, said: We at our company strongly believe that Actions speak louder than words. Moreover, we want to demonstrate practical presentations to our clients than just telling them in theory about how our solutions will benefit them. We will mainly have demonstrations of GMG Open Color, X-Rite Ink Formulation Software, Global Vision, Hybrid Packz and DMI, he added. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain Polystyrene Factory (BPF), a leading industrial group in the kingdom, will be launching its pioneer thermal insulation products at the upcoming Gulf Construction Expo in Manama, Bahrain. The largest showcase for building and construction sector, the Gulf Construction Expo is being held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, from April 23 to 25 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre, said the event organiser Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE). Located at the Bahrain International Investment Park, the BPF is a first-of-its-kind plant that produces expanded (EPS) and extruded (XPS) polystyrene using the state-of-art technology. The new thermal insulation product will be one of the finest being manufactured in the GCC with the latest technology delivering a fire-retardant composition for both residential and commercial buildings, said a top official. "Bahrain Polystyrene Factory aims to meet the growing demand for thermal insulation products in Bahrain. Our extruded polystyrene plant looks to support this for thermal insulation of roof and walls to provide savings on energy costs and protect from climate change," remarked Mohammed Jassim Zayani, the managing director. "Insulation of buildings is essential for consumers. Extruded polystyrene for roof and wall insulation are vital when considering higher thermal conductivity," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Export Bahrain, a national development initiative, has signed an exclusive partnership with Gulf Airs Falcon Cargo to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bahrain, exporting their goods to the tune of 100 kg or above, with special discount of up to 40 per cent on their cargo exports. The partnership agreement was signed during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) Bahrain 2019, which is being hosted in Bahrain from the period of April 15 to 18, said a statement. Attended the signing ceremony Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and chairman of Gulf Air, while the agreement was signed by Export Bahrain chief executive Dr Nasser Qaedi and Gulf Airs chief executive officer Kresimir Kucko. Export Bahrains chief executive Dr Nasser Qaedi praised the opportunity of announcing this partnership that coincided with the 2019 GEC. He stressed the importance of this event which bringing together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and economic policymakers from more than 170 countries. Highlighting the importance of this initiative, Qaedi said: Export Bahrain is looking to build a repertoire of different types of solutions and offerings like this one to enable exporters to make that journey into the area of exporting their products and services much easier. We are pleased to have the national carrier support us in this direction and we are sure that SMEs will benefit from not just the fast connections from its Bahrain hub but also to actively participate in promoting the national objectives of economic development with this promising opportunity, he added. Gulf Airs chief executive officer Kresimir Kucko said: Our most important strategy pillar is to contribute to the economy of Bahrain and today, as we signed the partnership with Export Bahrain, we are facilitating export services for SMEs in Bahrain at preferential rates. We want to support the small and medium-sized enterprises to export their goods to the outer world and show pride in the kingdoms manufactured products. This is the start of a good potential for Gulf Air, Export Bahrain and SMEs in Bahrain, he added. SMEs can have their application registered and processed through Export Bahrain office located in Bait Al Tijjar building, to avail the discount and process their exports, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Preparations have begun for the Bahrain International Defence Exhibition & Conference (BIDEC) 2019, one of the regions major international defence exhibitions with key partners confirming participation. Following the outstanding success of the first BIDEC in 2017, the next edition is scheduled to be held from October 28 to 30 with major international defence and security organisations joining forces to support what has been hailed as one of the most strategic events of its kind in the region. Over 200 exhibiting companies are expected to attend in the 2019 show and over 10,000 guests are expected to visit over the course of the three-day event. Held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, HH Brigadier Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Commander of Bahrain Royal Guard and Chairman of BIDEC 2019 has been the force behind the success of the event. Fully supported by Bahrain Defence Force, BIDEC 2019 will have continued government support from all functions, including specially selected committees within the BDF, Naval Force, Air Force, Royal Guard, National Guard and other government divisions. Lockheed Martin, the well-known global aerospace, defence, security and advanced technologies company, has confirmed its participation as Gold Sponsor for the show. Shaikh Nasser expressed his support and enthusiasm saying: "We are proud to host one of the most comprehensive defence exhibitions in the region. We are especially proud that Lockheed Martin has continued to demonstrate its support to the Kingdom of Bahrain by becoming a main sponsor of the event. A global event of this stature is not easy to pull together but we look forward to not just replicating the success of 2017 but taking it several steps further to make it an un-missable event. We also look forward to initiating important partnerships and the transfer of ideas, technology and developments in this vital area at BIDEC 2019." Lockheed Martin is very proud of more than 40 years of partnership with the Kingdom of Bahrain, which began with the delivery of the L-1011 TriStar commercial airliner, said Robert S Harward, Chief Executive for Lockheed Martin in the Middle East. BIDEC provides the perfect platform for us to engage with both our Bahraini and regional partners to discuss ways we can strengthen regional security and build a stronger relationship for decades to come, he added. BIDEC 2019 will once again be organised by Clarion Events, the largest organiser of defence and security events in the world, and Faalyat, a Bahrain-based events agency. BIDEC 2019 offers exhibiting companies the opportunity to demonstrate hardware and equipment, and to be seen on a high profile, international stage. The high level conference on the sidelines of BIDEC has proven to be a powerful platform to hear key decision makers from the government, military and defence sectors, giving unprecedented opportunities to discuss innovations, solutions and areas of collaboration. Thomas Gaunt of Clarion Defence & Security said: We are extremely happy to be organising this important exhibition in the Kingdom of Bahrain once again. The last experience we had with BIDEC 2017 was a fabulous one, and we are confident that we will be building on that experience to bring an even better show this time. We have in place some great partners who have displayed understanding of what is required. Visitors can look forward to many new exhibiting companies and watch some spectacular displays in the off-site activities throughout Bahrain. Off-Site activities are planned across Bahrain, including shooting displays, military vehicle demonstrations, parachute demonstrations and warship displays. All will be available to attend via shuttle buses from the exhibition centre. TradeArabia News Service An international audience of 450 participants from the trucks industry recently participated in the Renault Trucks Xperience Days 2019, a unique experience which was split into four key adventures, held in Bahrain. The first section involved a truly test drive experience in the latest models in Renault Trucks long-haul range, including the T series, as well as the construction ranges - the K and C series, said a statement. The second and third sections consisted of workshops about Renault Trucks transport solutions, addressing the topics of safety, fuel efficiency, after sales and financial services. Interactive discussions with Renault Trucks team of experts and guests examined smart transportation solutions - increasing profitability for customers by optimising total cost of ownership - allowing Renault Trucks and customers to share opinions and expertise simultaneously, it said. The fourth and final section saw participants enjoy a fun-filled driving adventure experience. Alongside a professional driver, guests braved a challenging Land Rover Experience and took on the role of co-pilot on the race circuit in a Renault Clio Sport. Speaking after the event, the president of Renault Trucks, Bruno Blin remarked: In 2018, we marked our fourth consecutive year of sales growth with a 10 per cent year on year increase. Among many factors that led to this success, our close relationship with our customers, and our continuous efforts to always be by their side played a vital role. Its for this reason that we think its essential we come together with our customers at events like our Xperience Days in Bahrain - we test together, we listen together, we work together, he added. Customers who attended the event commented: Its my first time attending a Renault Trucks event, we have a large fleet of trucks, and driving the trucks today totally changed my view of this brand; the trucks are robust, great quality, the comfort is beyond our expectations, it is really impressive. Renault Trucks is clearly a strong brand in the market; not only their trucks are robust, efficient but also the relationship and customer intimacy we have with Renault Trucks are also the reasons that we believe they are the right partner, customer added. TradeArabia News Service Iraq has announced plans to build a new refinery in the Kirkuk region of the country that will boast a capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, reported Reuters. The oil ministry has put the final touches on project as per the latest global standards, stated the report citing the Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban. Several Iraqi ministers visited Kirkuk this weekend to meet the governor of the province and discuss new projects and plans that have stalled, some of which were in the oil and electricity sectors. Ghadhban stressed the importance of Kirkuk to the Iraqi federal government, reported OilPrice.com. Last November, Iraq resumed oil exports from the Kirkuk province, a year after it had stopped oil flows from the area due to a dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, it stated. Weeks before the resumption of the Iraqi oil exports from the Kirkuk province, the Kurdistan region said that it had upgraded its oil export pipeline, boosting its capacity to 1 million bpd from 700,000 bpd, to accommodate future production growth from the region, it added. An exhibition of works submitted for the art contest on the best artistic image of the Akhal-Teke horse opened in Ashgabat. Established by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in celebration of Day of Turkmen Horse, this contest is held in Turkmenistan for the ninth time in a row. The exhibition displays the works by carpet makers, jewelers, painters and sculptors, depicting the famous Akhal-Teke horses. In their works, horses are presented against the backdrop of picturesque landscapes, in the exciting moments of horseracing, in the scenes of rural life, episodes of folk rituals and festive etudes. TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021 Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / Claire Denis stupefyingly smart film High Life, the first she has directed in English, starts ahead of its main events, without any set-piece exposition, in and around a barren spacecraft inhabited by a father, his baby daughter, and zippered corpses that used to compose the rest of the crew. Robert Pattinson, who plays the father and reportedly sought out the role, has become one edgy actor. His character Monte repairs a panel, feeds the kid, Willow, and coos at her plangently, then grimly sits down at a console and dictates a false message to mission control indicating that everything is fine, which earns them another day of life support. The ship is converging on a black hole to which the crew has been morbidly dispatched on the pretext of providing research that might benefit mankind as opposed, more probably, to getting sucked into a vortex of other-worldly terror never to be heard from again. (The screenplays science and engineering are lax and eccentric, but, like perspective to a cubist painter, that is of pedantic rather than substantive concern.) The great French director parcels out back-story casually and incidentally. The entire crew consisted of prison inmates convicted of crimes that carried life sentences, including infanticide and rape, who were offered relative freedom as interstellar guinea pigs. Monte murdered a friend over a dog, which in comparison to his colleagues makes him something close to noble as implicitly reflected in his singular coolness and poise and ethically superior to everyone else in it except the child, who has no moral baggage. That is not to say that others are feckless. Tcherny (a soothing Andre Benjamin) is wistful and idealistic. The admirably vanity-free Juliet Binoches Dr. Dibs keeps her charges alive as long as she can, seeking consolation only in the Fuckbox a gnarly version of Woody Allens Orgasmatron. More importantly, she bucks the presumption of expendability shrouding the crew in her determination, unalloyed if earthily vulgar, to perpetuate their little clan. As Denis Beau Travail (1999) defrocked soldiering and her White Material (2009) stripped bare colonialism, High Life deromanticizes the jaunty space travel of The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and Gravity its tonal progenitors are the calamitous Alien movies and the tragic Europa Report by unmooring her characters from social constraint. Here, circumstances compel them to try to reconstitute it, but their criminal foibles and the very direness of the situation hobble the effort. Thus, the film marries Lord of the Flies gloomy specificity about the ruthlessness of humans instincts for self-preservation with 2001s profound uncertainty about their cosmic significance. In Monte, a relentless survivor who keeps moving forward as decently as he can muster, damn the depression and the temptations of fatalism, Denis has created an anti-hero whose mastery of dystopia inspires not merely individual respect but at least a grudging love of species. There are no aliens in this movie as such: his adversary is human nature, and he fights it to a draw. High Life, Directed by Claire Denis, written by Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau, and Geoff Cox. Related posts: Art and Film: The lives of artists Art and Film: Cheapening the art world one toxic bite at a time Art and Film: Van Goghs sanity This May, Becky Huang will embark on a new project to support young bilingual/dual language learners in San Antonio. (April 16, 2019) -- UTSA associate professor Becky Huang researches the development of language and literacy among school-age bilingual/dual language learners (DLLs) and how it affects their reading skills and success in the classroom. To expand on her work, Huang was awarded a three-year, $376,000 grant for a new project examining bilingual/DLLs in San Antonio. The project is being supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Support of Competitive Research (SCORE) Program, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The researcher, based in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies in the UTSA College of Education and Human Development (COEHD), will begin working with Spanish-English bilingual/DLLs in first and third grade this May. She will assess the students oral language proficiencies in English and Spanish and how their oral language predicts their English reading outcomes. The number of school-age bilingual/DLLs has increased exponentially in recent years. According to data from the Migration Policy Institute, bilingual/DLLs make up 49 percent of the young child population (ages 0 to 8) in Texas. Since 2000, Texas has experience a 31 percent growth in its young bilingual/DLL population, as compared to a 24 percent increase nationally. Huang has studied bilingual/DLLs for years and is eager to work with students in the San Antonio region. In the past, Huang has studied Mandarin-English bilingual/DLLs in California and Massachusetts as well as in her hometown of Taipei, Taiwan. Bilingual/Dual language learners are a large population in San Antonio. As a professor at UTSA, an urban serving university, Im hoping this research will help us understand the predictors of bilingual/DLLs language and reading outcomes, and the results can inform instruction and assessment for bilingual/DLL students, explained Huang, the grants principal investigator (PI). During individualized sessions in her laboratory on campus, Huang and her research team will work with each child on language and reading tasks. She intends to make the sessions fun for the children. Each child participant will also receive a certificate of completion and a gift card at the end of the session. To complete this project, Huang plans to see 100 students per year, for a total of 300 students, over the course of three years. In addition to the local participants she will be working with on UTSA campus, the UTSA researcher will visit elementary schools in local school districts to work with dual language elementary students on their school campus. Im focusing on reading outcomes because reading is very important for success in school. If a child cant read well, it can negatively impact their success in other subjects, explained Huang. Huangs mentors on this project include Nicole Wicha, an associate professor of biology in the UTSA College of Sciences who studies the neurobiology of bilingualism, and Lisa Bedore, chair and a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Temple University, who studies bilingual language development and assessment. A doctoral student in the UTSA Culture, Literacy and Language Ph.D. program and research assistants will help Huang with the project. The project will also be supported by the UTSA Center for the Inquiry of Transformative Literacies. In 2017, Huang completed a pilot study with support from a seed grant from the UTSA Achieving Literacy Initiative, a one-time targeted seed funding program sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise, the College of Education and Human Development, and the Office of the President. The data collected from the pilot study helped secure the NIH award. In that study, she learned that English language proficiency was a significant predictor of bilingual/DLLs English reading development. What remains unknown is the role of their native language proficiency, in this case Spanish language skills, in their English reading outcomes. This NIH-funded project will address this question and examine the contributions of both of their languages to reading. Huang leads an interdisciplinary research program that spans across applied linguistics, psychology, and education. She examines the factors that influence language and literacy development among bilingual/DLLs as well as the validity and fairness of assessments for this population. Huang is a former middle school teacher, and has taught English as a Second/Foreign Language to various bilingual/DLL age groups. (April 16, 2019) UTSA is a designated early voting site for the May 4 Joint, General and Special Election. Any registered Bexar County voter can skip the lines and cast a ballot at UTSA from Monday, April 22 to Tuesday, April 30 in the H-E-B Student Union (HSU 1.002) on the UTSA Main Campus. Voters at the Downtown Campus can vote early at the nearby Bexar County Elections Department at 1103 S. Frio St. Polls will be closed on Friday, April 26 and Sunday, April 28. This election will decide the next San Antonio mayor, district representatives to city council and trustees for Alamo Heights Independent School District, Harlandale Independent School District, Judson Independent School District, Northside Independent School District, San Antonio Independent School District and Southside Independent School District. Check voter registration status and see sample ballots for additional information. In the 2017 municipal race, 13.2 percent of Bexar County voters went to the polls, up from 12 percent in 2015. A goal for the City of San Antonio, as outline by SA2020, is to increase voter turnout by 2 percent point each election by 2020. The UTSA Center for Civic Engagement encourages students, staff, faculty and community to stop by and make their voices heard by casting their vote at UTSA during early voting period. Area residents and employees at Valero, NuStar, and other local businesses are invited to use this convenient early voting location. Marked reserved parking will be available for voters on the south side of the H-E-B Student Union. Early voting times at UTSA: Monday, April 22 - Thursday, April 25 8 a.m. to 8 p.m Saturday, April 27 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, April 29 Tuesday, April 30 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters will be asked to present an approved form of photo or secondary identification to vote. On Election Day, May 4, voters must vote at their designated precinct locations. Additional cities in the county are also holding elections. See the Bexar County website for more information. Visit the UTSA Center for Civic Engagements social media for an updated list on fun and engaging voter activities on campus. Share photos on social media with the hashtag #RowdyVOTES. Art Exhibitions Part of Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploration Expedition Project UW Associate Lecturer Patrick Kikut, lead artist for the Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploration Expedition art project, works on his piece for the exhibition. (Priscilla Wigington Photo) Art exhibitions that are part of the Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploration Expedition (SCREE) are set to open this month and run through the winter. Titled Contemporary Views of the Arid West: People, Places and Spaces, the expanded exhibition will be distributed in communities along the Green and Colorado rivers as SCREE retraces the route of John Wesley Powells 1869 expedition. Powells three-month trip is known as the first investigation of long segments of the rivers and the first recorded passage of white men through the entirety of the Grand Canyon. The SCREE project, led by University of Wyoming geography Associate Professor Tom Minckley, is a collective group of artists, authors, conservationists and scholars who will engage with citizens along the Colorado River corridor to consider visions for the future of the region. Four museums along the route will feature a variety of work from numerous artists working with SCREE in an attempt to engage with the many issues concerning the greater Colorado River Basin. The concept of an expanded exhibition requires one to travel the length of the basin to experience the totality of the featured work. The exhibition at the John Wesley Powell Museum in Page, Ariz., opened this week and will be followed by the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River, Utah, April 25. The exhibition at the Sweetwater County Museum in Green River, Wyo., begins May 14, while the Uintah County Heritage Museum in Vernal, Utah, hosts an exhibition beginning May 30. Work from eight artists will be on display, including four associated with UWs Department of Visual and Literary Arts. SCREEs lead artist is Patrick Kikut, who is an associate lecturer in painting. Other UW faculty are Brandon Gellis, assistant professor of graphic design; David Jones, art instructional technician; and Bailey Russel, academic professional in photography. Kikut, Jones and Russel also will create art while on the SCREE expedition. Their work on display at the museums includes oil and watercolor painting, woodcut relief prints, cast and laser-cut sculpture, and digital and wet-plate photography. Besides the exciting idea of making a road trip of close to 1,000 miles, the venues we have lined up are compelling, Kikut says. Most of the spaces dont often feature contemporary art and focus their attention on historical exhibitions. I believe that placing our work in the context of historical items will bring in new understandings, as well as questions, to the current dialogue assessing John Wesley Powell and the role of artists in the exploration and, ultimately, the exploitation of the West. On May 24, the 150th anniversary of Powells trip, SCREE will embark on a 90-day rafting expedition that will provide a platform to engage local communities, stakeholders and tribes extending 1,000 miles from Green River, Wyo., to Lake Mead, Ariz. During the journey, SCREE will host five in-person outreach events -- including in Green River May 21-24 -- with keynote speakers and art exhibitions to provide a platform for local communities to engage in a discussion about the current and future state of the river. Minckley will be joined by UW faculty members from the Department of Visual and Literary Arts, Department of Geography and College of Law, as well as UW alumni. For more details on the art exhibits or the SCREE project, visit www.powell150.org/, or email Kikut at pkikut@uwyo.edu or call (307) 399-5665. SCREE artists: Kate Aitchison -- https://kateaitchisonart.weebly.com/ Brandon Gellis -- www.brandongellis.com/ David Jones -- https://davidlawrencejones.com/home.html Patrick Kikut (lead artist) -- www.patrickkikut.com/ Erika Osborne -- www.erikaosborne.com/index.html Bailey Russel -- https://baileyrussel.wordpress.com/ Chip Thomas -- www.chipthomasphotography.com/ William Wilson -- https://willwilson.photoshelter.com/index UW Inaugurates Native American Scholarship and Awards Banquet The University of Wyoming will host the inaugural Native American Scholarship and Awards Banquet Thursday, April 18. This is the first event of what organizers hope will be an annual tradition recognizing the accomplishments of Native American students. The banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. at the UW Conference Center. The events keynote speaker is Gary Litefoot Davis (Cherokee), executive director of the Native American Financial Services Association and publisher of Native Business magazine. Davis also is an accomplished performer, with roles in Indian in the Cupboard, Mortal Kombat and House of Cards. Davis will be in Laramie as part of the WY-Wind River: Economic Development and Entrepreneurship Symposium at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday April 17, at the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. The symposium is open to the public. This banquet will allow us the opportunity to express our appreciation to the scholarship donors who provide these awards for our students and, even more importantly, celebrate our students accomplishments in receiving these scholarships, says James Trosper, chair of the Chief Washakie Foundation. The Native American Scholarship and Awards Banquet will provide tribes and donors the time to get to know the students who are recipients of their generosity, and also give students the opportunity to express their gratitude personally. Organizers plan to announce three new scholarships and four new awards at the banquet. Through formal recognition of donors and engaging them with student recipients, banquet organizers hope to create opportunities to further grow endowments to support American Indian students. The celebration will include participation by leaders from both Wind River tribes. Aldora White Eagle will lead presentations by the Northern Arapaho tribe, and Harmony Spoonhunter will lead presentations by the Eastern Shoshone tribe. The evening will open with a prayer offered by tribal elder Crawford White. We are honored to partner with the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, along with other donors who are creating incredible opportunities for Native Americans to further their education, UW President Laurie Nichols says. It is through these partnerships that we can open doors of opportunity and, ultimately, create future Native American leaders for the Wind River Indian Reservation and beyond. Organizers scheduled the awards banquet in April to celebrate the accomplishments of current and returning students in a venue separate from the UW graduation in May. We have found most UW students are anxious to embark on summer break after completing their finals, and most are not on campus during graduation, Trosper says. UW Lab School Conducts Educational Outreach Remotely Aboard Research Vessel Theresa Williams, a UW Lab School middle school teacher and the designated Teacher at Sea aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson, and Jurgen Koepke, co-chief scientist, reach out to elementary school students in Germany via a ship-to-shore broadcast. Williams and Michael Cheadle, a UW associate professor of geology and geophysics, headed educational outreach efforts aboard the vessel during a five-week research cruise that explored the Marion Rise in the Indian Ocean. (Michael Cheadle Photo) This winter, Theresa Williams has provided educational outreach to Wyoming schools and beyond -- from a ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Williams, a middle school teacher at the University of Wyoming Lab School, gained her teaching sea legs and was known as the Teacher at Sea aboard the University of Washingtons research vessel, the Thomas G. Thompson. Michael Cheadle, a University of Wyoming associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, was asked to head outreach aboard the vessel, which is exploring the geology of the Marion Rise, a major but poorly understood rise -- hundreds of miles wide -- in the sea floor topography. Researchers studied and compared it to the better-known Icelandic Rise on the Atlantic Ridge. The science team was multinational, with researchers from the United States, China, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, South Africa and the United Kingdom. A second German-led cruise will follow next year. During the voyage, which ran from Feb. 21-March 28, Williams sent periodic updates through ship-to-shore research broadcasts. During the first week of the research cruise, outreach broadcasts were shared with five groups of students, including 23 college students from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom; 54 fifth-graders from New York; and 99 Wyoming students in grades 1-8. When we broadcast to colleges, Dr. Cheadle begins with a talk about the science. After questions and answers, we do a tour of the ship, Williams explains. I start the school broadcasts with a tour of the ship, followed by questions and answers about the ship and life onboard. Next, I give a slide show about the scientific equipment were using and the basics of the science. This is followed by more questions and answers. We always include information about our location on Earth and why this place was chosen for exploration. Each presentation is different depending on the needs of the students, she says. We have four weeks of broadcasts to go and expect to speak with students from UW, Laramie elementary schools, Green River, Converse County rural schools, Powell and the virtual school in Wyoming, Williams relayed from sea during the early stages of the journey. Outside Wyoming, we expect to speak with students from Wisconsin, Florida, California, Missouri and Minnesota in the U.S., as well as students from Germany, China and Indonesia. During the third week of the cruise, Williams says the outreach team talked to 12 college students and faculty in Florida; 160 middle school students in Indonesia; and 73 middle school and 42 elementary school students in Wyoming. In addition to the broadcasts, Cheadle maintained a cruise website at www.marionrise.org, where followers were kept up to date on what was happening aboard the ship. Williams, acting as the ships mascot, dubbed Slackjaw Sally, wrote a daily blog to explain some of the science in a student-friendly way. Sacred Heart Star of the Sea, a small vessel built by students at Sacred Heart School in Kingston, Mass., is launched from the research vessel, the Thomas G. Thompson, during March. (Michael Cheadle Photo) Once the ship reached its research site, the educational outreach team submerged some Styrofoam cups -- decorated by students from the UW Lab School -- in water to see what would happen to the cups. Due to water pressure, the cups shrank. The before and after cups were shown as part of one of the broadcasts. The educational outreach group also launched the drifter Sacred Heart Star of the Sea, built by students at Sacred Heart School in Kingston, Mass. But not without some weather difficulty. The plan was to initially launch the small craft March 18, but the seas proved too rough. We almost launched the little boat, but the weather turned bad, Williams says. However, the weather eventually cleared, and the Sacred Heart Star of the Sea was launched under calm seas and sunny skies March 22. Then, it was back to putting out more educational broadcasts. During the fourth week of the cruise, the educational outreach team spoke to 43 college students and faculty in Germany, Mississippi and Florida; 20 high school seniors in Wyoming; 61 middle school students in Indonesia; 16 fifth-grade students in Texas; and 138 kindergarten students in California. That brings our total to 955 people so far, Williams said as the trip was drawing to a close. We have three broadcast days left. Theresa was amazing. She found all the schools we broadcast to; ran the technology involved; wrote the Slackjaw Sally blog; and even put up with me, Cheadle jokes. Her goal was to share what its like to live on a ship; provide information about different jobs; and help people understand the basics of the science. To follow the progress of the Sacred Heart Star of the Sea, go to www.educationalpassages.org/boats/starofthesea/. UW in the News State, national and international media frequently feature the University of Wyoming and members of its community in stories. Here is a summary of some of the recent coverage: UW President Laurie Nichols, in an Inside Higher Ed article about states allowing two-year colleges to offer four-year bachelors degrees, said Wyoming can learn from surrounding states that have created too many four-year colleges -- also on spare populations -- that struggle to support them. UW also is mentioned in another Inside Higher Ed piece, titled Who Owns the Bachelors Degree? The Casper Star-Tribune (CS-T) interviewed UW economist Rob Godby, who agrees with Moodys Investor Service, a credit rating agency, that Wyomings Powder River Basin coal production faces a bleak future. Coal Zoom also quoted Godby on the impending bankruptcy of Cloud Peak Energy. Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and former Wyoming state superintendent Judy Catchpole will be awarded honorary UW doctoral degrees next month, reported The CS-T. Huff Post interviewed UW Associate Professor Susan Dewey, who commented on a Florida bill on human trafficking that would require anyone guilty of soliciting sex from sex workers to be added to a public registry. UW researchers are a step closer to knowing what potential there is for commercial carbon dioxide storage under the Powder River Basin with drilling of a 10,200-foot-deep test well near the Dry Fork Station power plant about 10 miles north of Gillette, noted The Gillette News Record. Smart Water Magazine published UWs release on Professor Bryan Shumans research that indicates arctic warming contributes to drought conditions. UW professor and state Rep. Cathy Connolly was profiled in The Sheridan Press series Year of Wyoming Women, noting the states 150th anniversary of granting women the right to vote. The Laramie Boomerang featured Good Medicine, a documentary set on the Wind River Indian Reservation. James Trosper, director of UWs High Plains American Indian Research Institute, is among those featured in the short film. UWs release announcing the College of Laws annual mock trial was published on Market Screeners website. The site posts world market updates. SweetwaterNOW also published UWs release. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies noted that Jane Zelikova, a UW botany research scientist, delivered a closing keynote address, titled Living at the Intersection of Climate Science and Action, at the schools research conference last weekend. An area that has been a focal point for UW researchers searching for answers about a large migratory mule deer herd that has struggled to recover from drought and severe winters is among migratory routes in the path of energy development, according to The Jackson Hole News and Guide. The Boomerang reported that UWs calendar committee has proposed a longer break during Thanksgiving week, and the winter break cut back one week. If approved, the calendar would go into effect next fall. UW first-generation students will be part of a panel discussion this week in Jackson to discuss with local residents their experiences on campus, reported The Jackson Hole News and Guide. The Boomerang reported that UW administrators are working on a plan to, beginning in the 2020-21 academic year, increase need-based aid for Wyoming students while reducing discounts provided to out-of-state students. UW computer scientists will be among trainers for school district personnel, thanks to a $95,000 coding science grant from Microsoft, reported The CS-T. The Denver Broncos fan website, Predominantly Orange, featured former UW standout Andrew Wingard, who attended the teams Pro Day last week. Episode 464 of Ill Drink to That! was released recently, and it features Russell Hone, who lives and works in Burgundy, France with his wife Becky Wasserman. Russell Hone has had enough lives for multiple people, with, for instance, his childhood adventures out at night hunting deer in Germany contrasted with the post-war rationing back home in England that meant even simple foods were rare for him. Or his plying of the college circuit, selling wine to Oxford and Cambridge dons while chatting with them about their subjects, versus his time roaming the aisles of city markets, giving out samples of Bulls Blood to anyone who would take them. It has been an up and down life for Russell, and this interview charts both the lows (multiple firings from jobs that just didnt suit) and the highs (multiple vertical tastings of wines from Leroy and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, among others). And then there was the chance meeting with Becky Wasserman that changed the rest of his life. Or maybe I should say it was destined, because having heard Beckys own interview on Ill Drink to That! (episode 430) it does seem like these two, with their willing embrace of an unknown adventure, healthy disregard of authority, sharp wits, and protective natures, were meant for each other. This episode goes into all sorts of side routes along Russells path, but one of the big themes is Russells decades having lived with Becky, and all the encounters in the various cellars of Burgundy that he found along the way. Russell paints on stories from a vivid palette of details and descriptions, and if that seems like an appealing listen to you, go for it. Listen to this episode: Ill Drink to That is the worlds most listened-to wine podcast, hosted by Levi Dalton. Levi has had a long career working as a sommelier in some of the most distinguished and acclaimed dining rooms in America. He has served wine to guests of Restaurant Daniel, Masa, and Alto, all in Manhattan. Levi has also contributed articles on wine themes to publications such as The Art of Eating, Wine & Spirits magazine, Bon Appetit online, and Eater NY. Check out his pictures on Instagram and follow him on Twitter: @leviopenswine 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. Research suggests future fusion reactors could be powered by helium-3 from the Moon. And now, nations are on a race to dig it up. However, compared to the past, when only a couple of nations like the U.S. and Russia had the technology to explore the Moon, the race to extract helium-3 is seeing increasing competition from developing countries like China and India. Helium-3 and fusion reactor: The perfect combination Scientists have for long been searching for a clean and sustainable energy source. Today, this relentless pursuit is becoming more vital for the survival of mankind. For one, many scientists believe that fossil fuel is inflicting damage to Earths environment. Whats worse is that it is limited. According to some reports, it is projected that most of the economically recoverable fuel sources will be gone by the middle of the 21st century. To avoid a potential fuel crunch in the future, fusion reactors could be the answer. Natalie Lovegren of the LaRouche PAC Science Research Team stated that no other energy resource compares to the energy density of fusion. The Sun and stars generate energy via fusion. If humans can replicate the same process in a controlled manner on Earth, there will be limitless energy for humans to harness. The current process basically combines two light atomic nuclei of hydrogen isotopes, tritium, and deuterium to convert a small amount of mass into a large amount of energy. It sounds promising. However, the neutrons created from the fusion are hard to contain. Furthermore, there are detrimental effects to producing fusion energy. For instance, neutron radiation damage and radioactive waste. A potential solution is using helium-3 and deuterium, which is easy to contain and produces less waste. Helium-3 fuels are the most energy dense out of any currently in use or under experimentation, and have the highest electrical conversion efficiency of any form of electricity, making them unparalleled as an energy source, Natalie said in a report. Imagine the energy of a billion tons of coal concentrated in just eight tons of helium-3; this can drastically solve transportation costs and environmental degradation. The problem, however, is that helium-3 is extremely rare on Earth. This is because the helium-3, which is emitted by the Sun through its solar winds, is prevented entry by our atmosphere. But the Moon doesnt have an atmosphere, which means helium-3 comes into contact with the lunar soil and is absorbed. The race for lunar resources Many countries and companies aim to bring helium-3 to Earth. It is not only is a source to power the world for decades. Nations that control the mining, transportation, and distribution of helium-3 will be in a very influential position. Since 2016, India has set its eyes on the moon for helium-3. The Indian Space Research Organization plans to launch Chandrayaan-2, Indias moon mission, to scout for water resources and helium-3 on the Moons crust. However, the mission has been delayed three times first during December 2016, the second in October 2018, and the third in 2019. China is also keen on digging the sought-after lunar resource. Change 5 is a Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) lunar sample return mission scheduled for launch in 2019. Aside from collecting the rare helium isotope, the mission also aims to collect other rock and soil samples. Joining the conquest for this rare fuel is Russia. The country announced in March 2019 that it will join force with Luxembourg in the space mining sector investment. In January, we offered Luxembourg a framework agreement on cooperation in the use of (mining) exploration in space. We expect an answer from Luxembourg, Golikova, a member of the Russian delegation, said in a statement (Warrior Trading News). Other countries such as the United States, Japan, Russia, and European nations are on the quest to establish authority on space mining. According to a Markets report, the value of the space mining industry is expected to be approximately US$2.8 billion by 2025. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly email Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country located in Southeastern Europe that saw massive internal conflicts in the nineties. Over the past decade, citizens of the country have found a common source for national pride a series of peaks shaped like pyramids. Some say that the pyramids are actually older than those in Egypt. Bosnian pyramids The famed Bosnian pyramids are located near the town of Visoko, about 20 miles away from Sarajevo. The peaks have always been an object of fascination among the locals, since some of them had precise sides that meet at the summit as if created by intelligent beings. In 2005, an amateur archaeologist named Semir Osmanagich announced that he had discovered a pyramidal complex beneath the hills. Over time, he discovered three more pyramids and proposed that they were built by the same people who created the pyramids of Egypt and Mesoamerica. The northern orientation of the Bosnian pyramids was actually more precise than the alignment of the pyramids of Giza. The Pyramid of the Sun is the biggest of the four at 1,180 feet high. Underneath this pyramid, investigators found blocks made from some type of concrete. Physicists also measured an electromagnetic energy emanating from atop the pyramid. The energy was measured at 28 kHz, which is not commonly seen in nature. In 2006, Osmanagich suggested that the pyramids could have been constructed by the Illyrian civilization and might actually be 12,000 years old, making them far more ancient than those in Egypt. A decade later in 2017, Osmanagich revised his timeline and claimed the pyramids to be 34,000 years old. In 2008, a conference of 50 scientists from countries like Russia, Egypt, the UK, Poland, etc. was conducted. The experts supported the claim that the peaks were actually pyramids. Subsequent annual conferences between 2012 and 2015 concluded that the Bosnian pyramid complex is the oldest in the world. However, there has been staunch opposition against calling the peaks pyramids. Fake claims Strong opposition against the Bosnian pyramid claim started in 2006 when the Bosnian government decided to fund Osmanagichs excavation at the site. The European Association of Archaeologists wrote a manifesto demanding the government avoid funding the project as it was a hoax. This scheme is a cruel hoax on an unsuspecting public and has no place in the world of genuine science. It is a waste of scarce resources that would be much better used in protecting the genuine archaeological heritage and is diverting attention from the pressing problems that are affecting professional archaeologists in Bosnia-Herzegovina on a daily basis, the manifesto stated (Ancient-Code). Critics claim that the peaks triangular appearance is the result of natural forces and not any intelligent creation. They point to the example of the Russian Twin Pyramids to support their case. Some archaeologists say that genuine medieval artifacts are present in the region surrounding the peaks and that allowing Osmanagichs team to excavate further could put these structures at risk. Since 2006, Osmanagichs excavation team has apparently altered the structure of the peaks, making some of them look like stepped pyramids. This has raised suspicions about his claims. By 2016, an archaeological park was set up in the hills. The government also encouraged school trips where children were taken to the peaks. The kids were told that they were pyramids and part of Bosnian heritage. Tourism in the region has increased since the pyramid claims were made and the town is said to have gotten an economic boost from it. With stronger-than-normal electromagnetic energy, artifacts, and the unique structuring, it is strange that scientists are refusing to study the structures and inhibiting other investigations from doing so. But perhaps it should come as no surprise, since many scientists nowadays have a tendency to close their eyes and minds to anything deemed to be out of the ordinary. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly email Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By Ro Morse, WestKyStar Staff Apr. 15, 2019 | 09:46 AM | PADUCAH Following a cold and a rainy weekend, Paducah's 55th annual Dogwood Trail is brilliantly fresh and beautiful by day and night. Dogwood Trail co-chair Dabney Haugh reminds us, "There is still time to light your trees, plants, flags and front doors for judging TONIGHT-Tuesday evening and the trolley ride on Thursday. Also, the quilters will start coming in this weekend, so please keep your lights up as long as you can. The quilters love to be welcomed by the dogwoods." The trail has some new twists and turns this spring leading drivers, walkers and bicyclists through a few new neighborhoods. Jackie Smith, Dogwood co-chair says, "We like to add new neighborhoods each year to show off more of the city's dogwoods. Paducah seems to be more beautiful than ever this year. Please light your blooming trees, flags and homes. Let's remind everyone why we are known for our hospitality." Paducah's CBB, in conjunction with the City of Paducah, sponsors the annual Dogwood Trail. Even the azaleas are opening just in time to add more of spring's beauty to the city. Signs along the 16-mile trail have been up for weeks - the path is marked. Now citizens are urged to LIGHT UP! Listed below are dates to mark for festivities planned around spring in Paducah and the blooming trees: Tuesday, April 16th - On and off trail judging of lighted lawns will begin at dusk. Wednesday, April 17th - Signs will be placed in yards and winners will be announced. Thursday, April 18th - Trollies will drive the Dogwood Trail and citizens are invited to board at the Paducah Area Transit System's offices at 9th and Harrison Street beginning at 6:30 pm. $1 donation is requested to take the tour which includes selected portions of the trail. Monday-Wednesday, April 22, 23 & 24 - The Paducah School of Art will be accepting Dogwood Art & Photography Contest entries. Link to the site below and scroll down to Dogwood Art & Photo Contest for details. Wednesday - Saturday, April 24, 25, 26 & 27 - American Quilters Society 35th Annual Spring Quilt Show and Contest at the Schroeder Expo Center, Convention Center and festivities all around town. Spring Quilt Week Paducah. Friday, April 26th - Hang a Quilt Day! It's just what is says, hang a quilt anywhere at your home, business, on your front porch, door or really anywhere. The idea is to visibly show our support for the art of quilting in "Quilt City USA". Tuesday, April 30th - Dogwood Art and Photography Contest winners will be announced and displayed at the Paducah School of Art and City Hall through May 10th. Thursday, May 2nd - There will be a reception and awards presented for the Dogwood Trail Art & Photography Contest and winners on and off the Dogwood Trail during the City Hall Unveiling Ceremony at 4 pm at Paducah City Hall. South Side and Lone Oak Hank Brothers will have lots of dogwood lighting supplies and now stock beautiful dogwood pottery, banners, etc. for those interested in participating in the Dogwood celebration. On the Net: Worker said she risked discipline if she left job amid storm Chinese artist Gulistan shows one of her paintings to Irish Ambassador Eoin OLeary at the opening of the Odyssey: The Return exhibition at the Dong Yue Art Museum, April 13, 2019. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn] Works by a quintet of Chinese and Irish artists on display in Beijing celebrate cultural collaboration and the 40 years of diplomatic relations between the Middle Kingdom and the Emerald Isle. Odyssey: The Return, on show until April 22 at the Dong Yue Art Museum, is inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses, one of the greatest novels in world literature. Ulysses is a complex book that takes place in the course of a day in June 1904. It's set in Dublin and based on Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, a classic masterpiece of ancient Greek literature that chronicles the 10-year journey home of the legendary Odysseus, king of Ithaca, following the fall of Troy. The Odyssey's major theme is that of a journey, and the works in Odyssey: The Return reflect that. "Our journey as artists is in this exhibition," said Fion Gunn, an Irish artist whose works are featured in the show with fellow Irish artist Niamh Cunningham and Chinese artists Gulistan, Li Xinmo and Chen Qingqing. Gulistan, who teaches at Capital Normal University in Beijing, said travel and journeys are important in art and in life. "I want to let my students know that art isn't just for the studio. You've got to experience it, to meet people in real life," she said. The exhibition's opening ceremony drew about 80 art enthusiasts on Saturday. Among them was Eoin O'Leary, Ireland's ambassador to China. "We're delighted that the exhibition is here," O'Leary said, noting the longstanding friendship between the two countries. Among the fruits of that relationship in Dublin are the annual two-week Spring Festival celebration and the Confucius Institute. Another outcome of the bilateral relationship is that Beijing and Dublin, Ireland's capital, are sister cities in the Beijing-Dublin twinning program. "We are both cities that value and nurture culture. Culture is central to human development, central to our quality of life and our relationship with each other," said Nial Ring, lord mayor of Dublin, in a welcome penned for the exhibition's program. Among those at the Odyssey: The Return art exhibition at the Dong Yue Art Museum are, from left, Yuan Qiu Lai, Dong Yue Art Museum director; Jin Tong from Chaoyang Districts Cultural Department; Zi Jia Wang; Irish Ambassador Eoin OLeary; Irish artists Fion Gunn and Niamh Cunningham; and Chinese artists Gulistan, Li Xinmo and Chen Qingqing, April 13, 2019. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn] Wandering Rocks by Irish artist Niamh Cunningham is among the works on display at the Odyssey: The Return exhibition at the Dong Yue Art Museum, April 13, 2019. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn] The Immigrants no 3, by Irish artist Fion Gunn is among the works on display at the Odyssey: The Return exhibition at the Dong Yue Art Museum, April 13, 2019. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn] The Age of Exploration #5 is one of several works by Fion Gunn in the Odyssey: The Return exhibition at the Dong Yue Art Museum in Beijing. [Photo by Anne Ruisi/chinadaily.com.cn] (Source: China Daily) Students attend a lesson about national security. [Tuchong] Schools across China launched programs to raise awareness of national security among young people on the country's 4th National Security Education Day, which falls Monday. The programs included exhibitions, lectures and community visits. "I used to think national security was too serious to be relevant to me," said Jin Zhilei, a freshman student of Shanxi Medical University. "Now I am aware it is relevant to everyone, and we should be alert." This year's campaign for the first time included students of continuing education programs. The Open University of China, a government-sponsored online education institution, launched online courses on national security covering about 3 million students. "Youth who live in a peaceful, stable environment for long are prone to think that national security is far away from them," said Wu Yujun, professor at Beijing Normal University. Wu called for the expansion of national security education for the youth, as well as persistence and routinization of the education. (Source: Xinhua) China's education and defense authorities are to embark on a campaign to improve university students' military knowledge and skills, according to the Ministry of Education. The ministry said in a statement Friday that it has worked with the Central Military Commission's National Defense Mobilization Department on a set of guidelines for military courses for university students. The guidelines have been sent to education departments, universities and military authorities, and will take effect starting August to replace policies first published in 2006, according to the statement. The statement quoted an unnamed official from the military's Department of Physical, Health and Arts Education explaining that although the Communist Party of China Central Committee, State Council, and Central Military Commission have paid great attention to students' military courses, current guidelines are outdated. The new guidelines stress that military courses in universities must be based on President Xi Jinping's thoughts on building a strong military and his instructions on education, and must include the Communist Party of China's latest military strategies, as well as its national security perspective. Such courses will focus on the fundamentals of military knowledge and basic military skills, and will help to foster students' awareness of national defense and national security, as well as promote patriotism and communism. These guidelines will make military courses more important in students' curricula, and will allow for the courses to be included in universities' overall educational plans for credits, which will encourage students to attach greater significance to them. In addition the new guidelines will adjust lessons on international strategic situations, advanced military technologies, information-based warfare, as well as military topography, and also add new skills including fistfighting, battlefield medical actions, and protective measures against weapons of mass destruction. (Source: China Daily) An article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on strengthening cultural confidence will be published Tuesday in the eighth issue of the Qiushi Journal this year. The article was titled "A Country, or A Nation, Cannot Be Devoid of Soul." Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed in the article that writers, artists and theorists should consolidate cultural confidence, stay in step with the times, take a people-centered approach, serve the people with fine works and guide the public with high moral standards. "All practitioners in culture, literature, art, philosophy and social sciences shoulder the important tasks of enlightening thoughts, nurturing sentiments and warming hearts," the article wrote. As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the article called on them to reflect the struggle of the Party and the people over the past 70 years. (Source: Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with villagers to learn about the progress of poverty alleviation and in solving prominent problems including meeting the basic need of food and clothing and guaranteeing compulsory education, basic medical care and safe housing, in Huaxi Village of Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County, southwest China's Chongqing, April 15, 2019. Xi went on an inspection tour in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Monday. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi] A police officer shows students how to use anti-assault equipment at an elementary school in Handan, Hebei province, as National Security Education Day fell on Monday. [For China Daily/Hao Qunying] Schools across China launched programs to raise awareness of national security issues on the country's fourth National Security Education Day on Monday. The programs included exhibitions, demonstrations and lectures. "I used to think national security was too serious to be relevant to me," said Jin Zhilei, a freshman at Shanxi Medical University. "Now I am aware it is relevant to everyone, and we should be alert." This year's campaign for the first time included students of continuing education programs. The Open University of China, a government-sponsored online educational institution, launched online courses on national security covering about 3 million students. Yang Zhijian, president of the university, said it has developed a free mobile app for students to learn more about national security. National security education should be carried out with concerted efforts from schools, families and society, and students should be able to learn about national security on a regular basis, not just once a year, Yang said. April 15 was declared National Security Education Day in 2015 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body. In an instruction issued ahead of the first National Security Education Day at the time, President Xi Jinping said all of society should be mobilized to safeguard national security, consolidate the social basis for national security and prevent and defuse security risks. Wang Zheng, a master's candidate at the School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering of Beijing Jiaotong University, said university students have the responsibility and obligation to safeguard national security. The university provided instructions to students regarding security laws on anti-espionage and anti-terror as well as information on homeland security, military security science and technology security. The rapid development of internet technology has made information security an important part of national security, and university students should pay extra attention to internet security, he said. Wu Yujun, a professor at Beijing Normal University, said, "Young people who live in a peaceful, stable environment for a long time are prone to think that national security is far away from them. Some lack knowledge about the complicated environment and the serious security challenges our nation faces." (Source: China Daily) A photo of an artwork on show at Beijing's 798 Art Zone, GFP Bunny, a transgenic artwork featuring a green fluorescent rabbit. [Photo provided to China Daily] Glowing bunny rabbits, meat-based meals grown in petri dishes and swarms of insects are all featured in an ongoing exhibition of "bio art" being held at Beijing's 798 Art Zone. The exhibition, Quasi-Nature: Bio Art, Borderline and Laboratory, curated by Wei Ying from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, looks at the complex relationship between humans and nature, and examines how far technology can be pushed before it raises moral and ethical challenges for society. Wei spent six years studying biological art and developing relationships with 11 artists in the field around the world. She then spent three months assembling the collection, where many of the works are making their debut in China. For example, the photo of the GFP Bunny, a transgenic artwork featuring a green fluorescent rabbit created in 2000, is on show. The artist, who cooperated with a scientist, combined jellyfish and rabbit DNA to produce a bunny that glows bright green under blue light. GFP stands for green fluorescent protein. In the image taken from the artwork Nature?, the artist Marta de Menezes created live butterflies with their wing patterns modified for artistic purposes in 1999. In the 2000s, works like these sparked fierce controversy in the West because they raised the question of whether humankind had replaced God as the role of the creator in life, says Wei. Eduardo Kac, the artist behind the glowing bunny, said he was depressed by criticism he faced at that time. "Kac told me this GFP technology is commonly used in biological experiments and doesn't do harm to the rabbits. He said it would take time for the public to understand and accept it." Although GFP technology was used in the laboratory many times previously, this was the first time that the public had seen this kind of art. It presents the results of gene-editing in a concrete and visual way, which forces people to discuss the pros and cons of the technology. Wei says a similar discussion about scientific ethics went viral in China when the world's first gene-edited twins were born last year. In the photo based on the installation Disembodied Cuisine, the artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr created a semi-live frog "steak" grown from cells of the biopsy of a live animal and proliferated in vitro in a show in 2000. The skeletal frog muscle was grown over biopolymer alongside live, healthy frogs in the installation. On the last day of the show, the meat was cooked and eaten, and the live frogs were released back into the wild. This concept of "victimless cooking" aims to highlight societal resistance to eating different animals and mocks the rise of artificial foods. The work All the Insects in the House by Zhao Renhui displays 108 insects gathered from the artists' home. "These creatures coexist with people, but they largely go unnoticed," Wei says. "I aim to discuss the relationship between humans and nature, and overturn the arrogant assumption that man is the only master of the planet." In the artwork Yuansu II, a queen bee was put in the middle of a box, while the other bees started building honeycomb around her. Every seven days, the artist Ren Ri would randomly change the position of the box by rolling a dice, which in turn altered the shape of the sculpture. "The final shape was created by humans, bees and the laws of probability," she says. "It conveys the idea that each species should be respected and not treated as workers for mankind." Wei is one of two winners of the Hyundai Blue Prize 2018, a global award for leading young curators, organized by the auto giant. Wei says her exhibition, which takes place at the Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing art space and runs through June 16, examines the future of human and nonhuman society and nature from a global perspective. All the works on display employ laboratory material, technology or organisms in their artistic creations. "The point is not to show off technology, or to judge what is right or wrong, but to touch the audience and make them think," says Wei. Qiu Zhijie, a professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and a jury member, says the show will appeal to newcomers and industry insiders alike, thanks to its blend of cutting-edge artworks. "The concept of biological art is new to the public, so we want to try and popularize it," he says. Established in 2017, the Hyundai Blue Prize offers a global platform to young Chinese curators. This year's competition will focus on the topic of "social intelligence", where six jury members will choose six finalists by reviewing their articles, plans and exhibition proposals. All six finalists will get the chance to join a three-month mentorship program with one of the jury members, while the final two winners will each receive 600,000 yuan ($89,438) to stage their own award exhibitions in Beijing. Another work, Yuansu II, shows a honeycomb built using human intervention. [Photo provided to China Daily] Wei Ying (center), curator of the exhibition Quasi-Nature: Bio Art, Borderline and Laboratory, introduces the exhibits to visitors at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing on March 22. [Photo provided to China Daily] (Source: China Daily) San Francisco Mayor London Breed, wearing a bright-red classical Chinese cheongsam dress, joined the Chinese community here on Sunday to kick off the annual Fourth San Francisco Cheongsam Culture Month. Breed said the traditional Chinese cheongsam dress, or cheongsam, which was once part of many Chinese women's daily wardrobes, highlights the beauty, elegance and empowerment of women in the city of San Francisco that stands for equality and diversity. "Tonight is about feeling beautiful ... about celebrating not only fashion but the history of fashion, because we know that cheongsam originally started as men's attire and transformed into what we see today," she told hundreds of people, including women who were wearing various styles of cheongsam, a fashionable and elegant traditional Chinese form-fitting dress. "Women took over. We took over the power of fashion, and we elevated and created something absolutely beautiful," Breed said about the evolution of the cheongsam. The San Francisco Cheongsam Culture Month, which was established by Sunny Shen, founder of Qifengtang, a San Francisco-based organization advocating Chinese cheongsam culture in the United States, has been held for the fourth year in a row since 2016. The late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee proclaimed April 14 the San Francisco Chinese Cheongsam Day in 2017. Shen said Breed is the first African-American female mayor of San Francisco who wore cheongsam to showcase the elegant beauty of the traditional Chinese dress, as well as the inclusiveness of San Francisco as an international metropolitan city advocating harmony among communities of diversified cultures. "We as Chinese Americans want to share the soft power of the Chinese heritage with the unique Chinese dress as a language of communication," she said. Chinese Deputy Consul General in San Francisco Ren Faqiang said the centuries-long history of the cheongsam demonstrated the openness, inclusiveness and mutual respect among various ethnic groups in the "big family" of the Chinese nation. "We hope all other countries in the world, including the United States, would show their respect for the Chinese nation and the diversified forms of their culture such as dress and cuisine, as well as China's political system and its path of development," Ren said. This year's cheongsam culture month aligned its celebration with the theme of promoting Chinese state banquet-style food and cuisine culture among the American public. David Smith, mayor emeritus of Newark City in Alameda County, Northern California, said he has been involved with Chinese restaurant undertakings for many years. He said the combination of celebrating the Cheongsam Culture Month with Chinese food works. "It can be a theme of many banquets and gatherings in the future ... I think that would be a very healthy link, and a very good positive link actually going forward," Smith said. The Cheongsam Culture Month will also launch a week-long campaign to shoot the Global Chinese Cheongsam Images Scroll (Long Scroll) for 2019, a long banner featuring stylized calligraphy-like images of women around the world wearing the elegant Cheongsam dress. In 2019, over 48,000 women from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand participated in the Long Scroll program and the scroll's length has now grown to more than 20,000 meters, said Liu Bing, founder and chief producer of the Long Scroll program. (Source: Xinhua) The international conference "Belt and Road Initiative: Six Years After" is held in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 15, 2019. China's global cooperation project has emerged as a major factor in the infrastructural and economic development of Serbia and the Western Balkans, fostering regional partnership and mutual benefits, said keynote speakers of an international scientific conference dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) here on Monday. [Xinhua/Nemanja Cabric] China's global cooperation project has emerged as a major factor in the infrastructural and economic development of Serbia and the Western Balkans, fostering regional partnership and mutual benefits, said keynote speakers of an international scientific conference dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) here on Monday. The international conference "Belt and Road Initiative: Six Years After" opened on Monday with the participation of academics from both Serbia and China. Branislav Djordjevic, the director of the Institute of International Politics and Economics, said that Serbia has long been facing economic hardship due to its geopolitical position, and China's initiative is welcomed here in a hope for accelerated development after most of Central and East European (CEE) countries, which are also members of the European Union, were badly struck by the global economic crisis. He pointed out that the BRI turned the perspective of these countries into an encouraging one, and the relations between the countries in the region turned from competition into partnership. Gao Peiyong, vice president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that in future Serbia and China should further expand cooperation on infrastructure in areas such as electricity, internet, communications and agriculture, and also open new financing channels. On behalf of the Serbian government, Vladimir Popovic, state secretary in the ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, stressed the importance of Serbia's cooperation with China, in scientific ties developing in parallel with the economic ones. Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo pointed out that the BRI in the past six years promoted Serbia's economic and social development, at the same time creating a wide platform for Chinese companies to tap into European market, giving examples several successful Chinese investments in Serbia, such as the Smederevo Steel mill (HBIS), the Mining and Smelting Combine Bor (Zijin) and the greenfield investment of Linglong in the industrial zone of the city of Zrenjanin. "In past six years the scale of trade exchange between China and Serbia marked fast growth, measured at 55.7 percent, while the number of Chinese tourists increased more than 16 times to the number of 100,000 tourists in past 2018," the ambassador concluded. Participants of the international conference "Belt and Road Initiative: Six Years After" pose for a photo in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 15, 2019. China's global cooperation project has emerged as a major factor in the infrastructural and economic development of Serbia and the Western Balkans, fostering regional partnership and mutual benefits, said keynote speakers of an international scientific conference dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) here on Monday. [Xinhua/Nemanja Cabric] (Source: Xinhua) A college student plays video games at an e-sports bar during his summer vacation in Qingdao, Shandong province. [China Daily] About 60 percent of Chinese university students spend over 1 hour each day on online computer games, while more than 40 percent think online games have impacted their health, according to a recent survey published by China Youth Daily. Of the 682 respondents surveyed, about 45 percent said they spend 1 to 3 hours each day on online games, and nearly 13 percent indulge in games for over 3 hours a day. "My roommates and almost everyone else are playing online games. If I didn't, I would feel isolated," said Wang Lu, a student from Chang'an University based in the northwest city of Xi'an. About 28 percent said they occasionally stay up late playing online games, and late night gaming was a regular habit for 3.5 percent. "Sometimes students in the same dormitory rooms would stay up gaming till 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. It's rather common," said Sui Zhiwei, a student from Wuhan University of Technology. But gaming habits take a physical and psychological toll. Over 40 percent said online games had undermined their health, citing impaired eyesight, declining memory or unstable moods. For about 40 percent, gaming is a good way to relax and reduce stress, and about 23 percent said their reflexes and concentration have improved since they started gaming. "It's a matter of self-control. If you have the ability to regulate yourself, online games could be a good way to have a break from study," said one surveyed student. College faculty members have taken notice of the phenomenon and called for a balance between gaming and study, according to the survey. "Online games could be a good way to relax if the students don't play them excessively," said Zhang Junxian from Sichuan Agricultural University. She called on faculty members to work together to help students foster a richer and more balanced extracurricular life. (Source: China Daily) Accept This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Read More Free sanitary products to be provided in Welsh schools in bid to tackle period poverty This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Apr 16th, 2019 Over 141,000 school girls across Wales will soon be given access to free-of-charge sanitary products as part of a new Welsh Government initiative. The Period Dignity Grant for Schools will also see schools encouraged to support reusable, environmentally sustainable products to allow maximum choice for learners. It features as part of 2.3 million Welsh Government funding to providing free sanitary products in primary and secondary schools, as well as making them as accessible as possible. Research from Plan International shows 15% of girls struggle to afford sanitary products, 14% have had to borrow from their friend and almost 20% have had to use a less suitable product because cost was an issue. The Welsh Government say that the money will be made available immediately via local authorities, who fund schools in Wales. The Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams, said it is unthinkable that young women could be forced to miss days of their education simply because they cant access or afford period products. She added: Were committed to tackling this inequality in Wales and this funding will help make period products available to learners in all schools, free of charge and in the most dignified way possible. The First Minister, Mark Drakeford, said: We are committed to supporting period dignity and maintaining our investment in schools to help bring period poverty to an end. In March, we declared free sanitary products would be available to all women in Wales hospitals it is only just that the same happens across our schools. It is essential ample sanitary products, as well as good facilities, are available to all female learners so they can manage their periods with confidence and remove what is an unnecessary barrier to their education. In May 2018 Wrexham.com reported that the local authority was to receive a share of 440,000 over the next two years to tackle period poverty in their communities where levels of deprivation are highest. 700,000 of capital funding will also be used to improve facilities and equipment in schools ensuring that all girls and young women can access good sanitary facilities when they need them. Locally work has been ongoing for several months to tackle period poverty in schools, with councillors voting last year to press ahead with plans to put the shelves with sanitary towels in all secondary schools and some primary schools. Almost 500 students from Wrexham secondary schools took part in a survey about the current provision of sanitary equipment and feminine hygiene products. The survey found that more than a quarter of pupil respondents have had to take time off secondary school in the last year because of lack of access to sanitary products and more than a third of respondents in primary school. A report on the progress with the sanitary dispensing scheme will be provided councillors in 18 months. (Click for large) Wrexham quietly gears up for European Parliamentary elections This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Apr 16th, 2019 Residents across Wrexham could be off to the polls next month to cast their votes in the European Parliamentary Election. Yesterday we could not spot any mention of the European Parliamentary elections in Wrexham, so walked to the Guildhall where notices are traditionally bluetacked in the window and spotted the above/below. The notice has subsequently been published on the Wrexham Council website. Although there is still uncertainty as to whether the United Kingdom will take part in the elections and vote for their new MEPs legally local authorities across the UK have been required to publish the notices and get preparations underway. Unlike the General and Welsh Assembly Elections which sees the likes of Wrexham vote for representatives just for the local area, the European Parliamentary Election is a Wales-wide vote for four MEPs. There are 73 MEPs voted for across the UK, however the four elected by voters in Wales back in 2014 are household names: Derek Vaughan Nathan Gill Dr Kay Swinburne Jill Evans The last European Parliamentary Election back in 2014 saw a very low turnout of just 29,626 of registered voters in Wrexham going to the polls. It was a similar situation across Wales, which had an overall turnout of 32 per cent. We have contacted Wrexham Council to find out what preparations it has made for the elections and the number of people registered to vote in Wrexham. Although we have yet to receive a reply, we are aware that messages have gone out to some locations (eg playgroups, community centres etc) advising them that the space will be required next month for use as a polling station and bookings have been made. If you are a European Union citizen from a country other than the UK, Republic of Ireland, Malta or Cyprus you will need to register separately to vote at a European Parliamentary election in the UK. Key dates: Deadline to register to vote: Tuesday, 7 May 2019 http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote Deadline to apply for a postal vote: 5pm Wednesday, 8 May 2019 https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-by-post Deadline to apply for a proxy vote: 5pm Wednesday, 15 May 2019 https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-by-proxy Election day Thursday, 23 May 2019 ! (Click for large) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-15 10:52:42|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government plans to launch its latest tourism campaign, called "Knocking at the Door," to attract more Chinese tourists, the Tourism Ministry said on Sunday. The idea is to target countries with large tourism markets, such as China, and improve Mexico's standing among global tourist destinations, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco said in a press release. "There are 15 countries that outrank us in terms of generating foreign revenue (from tourism), whose governments and private sectors have been more creative in boosting their product so it impacts consumers," said Torruco. Mexico aims to attract more of China's 124 million travelers this year, including 22 million with high purchasing power, said Torruco. The Mexican tourism officials have been consulting Chinese high-end tour operators to find out what their clients want in Mexico. Chinese tourists are interested in tourist attractions such as the jungle, archaeological sites and colonial towns, like those found in the states of Yucatan, Campeche, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, all of which are in the southeast of the country, he said. "We are going to invite them to the different states that respond to their expectations," said Torruco. The latest figures from the Mexican government show 135,000 Chinese tourists visited Mexico in 2018, up by 35 percent from 2017. Mexico hopes to welcome a record 44.8 million tourists in 2019, an increase of 5.6 percent year-on-year. Dr. Kellie Flood named AGS geriatrics clinician of the year The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today named Kellie Flood, MD, one of Alabama's premier geriatrics health professionals, its 2019 Clinician of the Year. An Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as well as Associate Chief Medical and Quality Officer for Geriatrics and Care Transitions at UAB Hospital, Dr. Flood will be honored at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19) May 2-4 in Portland, Ore. "Dr. Flood represents everything we've come to expect from a geriatrics health professional," noted Laurie G. Jacobs. MD, AGSF, AGS President. "She's a skilled researcher, educator, and health system leader--all this because she remains so connected to the older people under her care." A board-certified physician in internal medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care, Dr. Flood wears dual caps as a leading clinician and an influential educator in a state where both are in high demand. Dr. Flood launched and continues to serve on the inpatient geriatric consult service that currently performs more than 1,400 consultations annually. And while coordinating that volume of care is impressive in its own right, Dr. Flood is perhaps best known for "going above and beyond" for each of her patients as individuals. "A frequent comment from the patients and families Dr. Flood sees is: 'I've never had someone care like that before,'" notes Katina Booth, MD, Assistant Professor and a colleague of Dr. Flood at UAB. "Dr. Flood has been recognized locally as a 'Hospital Hero' by the Birmingham Regional Hospital Council, and it's certainly no surprise to see that same recognition nationally from a community of Dr. Flood's colleagues." In addition to providing direct care to older adults at two UAB Hospital campuses, Dr. Flood also has worked tirelessly to expand the impact of geriatrics expertise and geriatrics leadership for thousands of older adults in Alabama and beyond. She launched and continues to co-lead with colleagues from nursing the UAB Geriatric Scholar Program, for example, which has trained more than 250 nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, and other health professionals in core geriatrics principles. Projects orchestrated by these scholars helped UAB Hospital standardize assessments of cognition and function for older patients throughout the hospital. And as health systems across the country move toward using electronic health records more effectively, Dr. Flood and the entire geriatric interprofessional leadership team ensured UAB Hospital would be at the front of the pack with the incorporation of the ACE Tracker tool developed by one of her mentors and fellow AGS member, Michael Malone, MD. An AGS member since 2000, Dr. Flood graduated from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School and completed her residency and geriatric fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine, where she rose to the role of Assistant Professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care before transitioning to UAB. The AGS Clinician of the Year Award recognizes exceptional health professionals who deliver outstanding care to older adults and who model the importance of geriatrics for our country. It is one of several honors conferred by the AGS at its Annual Scientific Meeting. The 2019 award recipients include more than 20 health leaders representing the depth and breadth of disciplines championing care for older adults. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. ### About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for more than 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. About the AGS Clinician of the Year Award The AGS Clinician of the Year Award was established to recognize the contributions of practitioners to quality health care for older people and the importance of the geriatrics clinician in our healthcare delivery system. Through awardees' efforts, scientific advances are integrated into the practice of geriatrics, resulting in improved well-being and quality of life for older adults. About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,500 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene May 2-4, 2019 (pre-conference program on May 1), at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-15 22:05:37|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Photo taken with mobile phone shows a damaged classroom after a dust storm in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on April 15, 2019. At least five people were killed and dozens others injured as a dust storm lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi from Sunday to Monday, local reports said. (Xinhua/Stringer) ISLAMABAD, April 15 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and dozens others injured as a dust storm lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi from Sunday to Monday, local reports said. The dust storm, which hit the city on Sunday night and continued till Monday, damaged several houses, uprooted trees and signboards besides collapsing walls of schools and houses, Dawn News said. In one such incident, seven kids were injured when their school wall collapsed due to gusty winds. The children were shifted to a hospital where three of them are said to be in critical condition. Seemi Jamali, medical superintendent of Jinnah hospital Karachi, told media that they received 37 people suffering injuries of different natures at their hospital since Sunday night. She said that one of the injured was dead at the hospital whose body was handed over to his relatives. Four people were killed in roof collapse incidents and road accidents when vehicles or motorbikes were flipped over due to dust storms that reduced visibility to 2 meters in various areas. According to local media reports, six vehicles including a police van and five passenger vans had accidents due to the dust storm. Samaa News said that a fishing boat carrying 10 local fishermen went missing in the Arabian Sea due to strong winds. Pakistan Navy boats initiated a search operation in the sea to rescue the missing people. Local media reports said flight operation at Karachi airport was also disrupted. Electricity supply was suspended in various areas, as power transmission cables got damaged due to windstorm. Officials from Pakistan Meteorological Department said earlier last week that dust storms and torrential rains are common phenomenon in April as winds coming from low temperature western areas cause weather disturbance in the form of hailstorm or dust storm in Pakistan when they get mixed with high temperatures here. The weather officials said the current west wave will recede on Monday evening, and the weather condition will go back to normal. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 00:07:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LUSAKA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government has called on the World Bank to approve the implementation of a project aimed at increasing ecosystem resilience and land productivity within vulnerable landscapes in the northern part of the country, an official said on Monday. Alexander Chiteme, Minister of National Development Planning, said the World Bank should approve the implementation of the Transforming Landscapes for Resilient Development in three provinces situated in the northern part of the country. He said the development of the project will increase the ecosystem resilience and land productivity within vulnerable landscapes in the areas and provide immediate and effective response in the event of a crisis or emergency. He said the government was highly expectant that the project would uplift the lives of people in the catchment areas. "I want to assure you that Members of Parliament, community leaders and the government have worked tirelessly to bring this project on board and it currently stands as one of the most eagerly anticipated projects in the country building on the success of the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience," he said. He made the remarks when he held a meeting with World Bank Senior Director for Environment and Global Practices Karin Erika Kemper and Benoit Bosquet, World Bank Country Coordinator for the Southern African region and other directors on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, according to a statement from his office. He further urged the bank to expand its support to the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscaping Project currently being implemented in the eastern part of the country. On their part, the World Bank officials assured the bank's commitment to work with the Zambian government to address its climate and environmental issues. The World Bank officials also further agreed with the proposal to implement and scale up the two projects. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 00:12:20|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close The international conference "Belt and Road Initiative: Six Years After" is held in Belgrade, Serbia, on April 15, 2019. China's global cooperation project has emerged as a major factor in the infrastructural and economic development of Serbia and the Western Balkans, fostering regional partnership and mutual benefits, said keynote speakers of an international scientific conference dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) here on Monday. (Xinhua/Nemanja Cabric) BELGRADE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's global cooperation project has emerged as a major factor in the infrastructural and economic development of Serbia and the Western Balkans, fostering regional partnership and mutual benefits, said keynote speakers of an international scientific conference dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) here on Monday. The international conference "Belt and Road Initiative: Six Years After" opened on Monday with the participation of academics from both Serbia and China. Branislav Djordjevic, the director of the Institute of International Politics and Economics, said that Serbia has long been facing economic hardship due to its geopolitical position, and China's initiative is welcomed here in a hope for accelerated development after most of Central and East European (CEE) countries, which are also members of the European Union, were badly struck by the global economic crisis. He pointed out that the BRI turned the perspective of these countries into an encouraging one, and the relations between the countries in the region turned from competition into partnership. Gao Peiyong, vice president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that in future Serbia and China should further expand cooperation on infrastructure in areas such as electricity, internet, communications and agriculture, and also open new financing channels. On behalf of the Serbian government, Vladimir Popovic, state secretary in the ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, stressed the importance of Serbia's cooperation with China, in scientific ties developing in parallel with the economic ones. Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo pointed out that the BRI in the past six years promoted Serbia's economic and social development, at the same time creating a wide platform for Chinese companies to tap into European market, giving examples several successful Chinese investments in Serbia, such as the Smederevo Steel mill (HBIS), the Mining and Smelting Combine Bor (Zijin) and the greenfield investment of Linglong in the industrial zone of the city of Zrenjanin. "In past six years the scale of trade exchange between China and Serbia marked fast growth, measured at 55.7 percent, while the number of Chinese tourists increased more than 16 times to the number of 100,000 tourists in past 2018," the ambassador concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 00:37:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, April 15 (Xinhua) -- At least 75 children showed symptoms of poisoning after being exposed to an unknown substance in their school in Ukraine's central Cherkassy region, the country's Health Ministry said on Monday. According to a statement posted on the ministry's website, 38 of those who fell ill were sent for medical treatment to the hospital, with 15 of them being in moderately grave condition. The other affected children received outpatient medical care, the ministry said. Meanwhile, the State Service for Emergencies said that an unknown gas was sprayed in the school and that the efforts to eliminate the consequences of the incident were underway. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 00:48:03|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close BERLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Former Volkswagen chief executive officer (CEO) Martin Winterkorn and four other VW executives have been accused of serious fraud, among other things, in the proceedings of the Volkswagen diesel scandal, the public prosecutor's office in the German city of Brunswick announced on Monday. The Brunswick prosecuting authority accused the five executives of having committed "a majority of criminal offences in a single criminal act." Winterkorn "is accused of a particularly serious case of fraud, a violation of the law against unfair competition as well as breach of trust". Even though he knew about the manipulations on diesel engines, Winterkorn had failed to disclose the manipulations either to authorities in Europe and the U.S. or to its customers, according to the public prosecutor. The prosecuting authority accused Winterkorn of a breach of trust because he did not immediately disclose the illegal manipulations of diesel engines after becoming aware of them. The former CEO "had failed to stop the further installation of the cheating devices" or to prohibit the sale of the vehicles with these devices, the public prosecutor stated. In addition, with Winterkorn's knowledge and approval, a "useless" Volkswagen software update had been carried out in November 2014 at a cost of 23 million euros (26 million U.S. dollars) that "was intended to further conceal the true reason for the increased pollutant levels in normal vehicle operation," said the prosecuting authority. Following the court's decision, Winterkorn's lawyer responded that the charges had been brought without giving the former Volkswagen boss the opportunity to "take note of all files of the proceedings" and to comment on them. The authority in Brunswick is investigating 36 Volkswagen employees in the proceedings on software manipulations of nitrogen dioxide emissions of diesel cars. The "diesel emissions scandal" began in 2015 when it became known that Volkswagen had installed an illegal shutdown device in the engine control of its diesel vehicles. The device was intended to circumvent the statutory limit values for car exhaust gases. According to Volkswagen, the software is installed in around eleven million vehicles worldwide. As a result of the scandal, Winterkorn resigned as Volkswagen CEO in 2015 and the company has already paid fines of 29 billion euros. (one euro currently equals to 1.13 U.S. dollars) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 01:03:12|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-one years after her birth via external fertilization and embryo transplantation, Zheng Mengzhu, who was China's first test-tube baby, gave birth on Monday in a Beijing hospital. At 8:34 a.m., Zheng gave birth to a boy through Caesarean section, said Zhao Yangyu, head of obstetrics at Peking University Third Hospital, who performed the surgery. The boy weighs 3.85 kg, which is similar to his mother's birth-weight. The baby was in a horizontal position when he was in the womb, a situation that demanded a C-section, Zhao explained. "The surgery went rather well. Both the mother and the baby are in stable condition," she said. Zheng was born on March 10, 1988, in the same hospital, as the first-ever test tube-baby on the Chinese mainland, 10 years after the first such baby was born in Britain. Qiao Jie, director of the hospital, said the successful birth of Zheng's child marked another milestone in the history of assisted reproductive technology in China. "China's test-tube baby technology has reached leading levels in the world," she said. Qiao said people were worried about whether a person born via test-tube technology could naturally reproduce. Though many test-tube babies became adults and had their own children, the figure is not large. "The birth today is further proof of the safety of assisted reproductive technology." Zheng Mengzhu's mother was a primary school teacher in northwest China's Gansu Province. Unable to conceive a baby for 20 years after her marriage, the mother, then 39 years old, received external fertilization and embryo transplantation in the Beijing hospital. Zheng grew up in Gansu. After graduation from university, she became a medical archivist in the hospital's Reproductive Medicine Center. "To work here is like a homecoming for me. So many people helped my parents and worked for my birth. I am very happy that I can help more families like my parents," she said. When Chinese researchers started experimenting with test-tube technologies, they mainly used to help women with blocked fallopian tubes, doctors said. Now, about one to two babies in every 100 newborns are born with assisted reproductive technology, according to Qiao, also an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "Besides addressing infertility, assisted reproductive technology has been used in China to screen for genetic diseases," Qiao said. "There are more than 7,000 single-gene disorders already known to science. Hundreds of them can currently be identified by pre-implantation genetic diagnosis," she said. "It will help more families reproduce healthy children." She added that test-tube technologies can also help cancer patients reproduce. "A cancer patient's reproductive system may be affected during radiotherapy or chemotherapy," she said. "With assisted reproductive technology, they can freeze ovary cells, testicular tissues or embryos before cancer treatment and reproduce children after they are healed." The Peking University Third Hospital's Reproductive Medicine Center is one of the country's largest such centers, receiving about 600,000 outpatients every year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 01:18:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Hummam Sheikh Ali MAALOULA, Syria, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian community speaking the ancient Aramaic language is struggling to keep the language of Jesus Christ alive as the Syrian war has had a toll on that ancient Semitic language. Aramaic, a Semitic language spoken by the ancient Middle Eastern people known as Aramaeans, was most closely related to Hebrew, Syriac, and Phoenician and was written in a script derived from the Phoenician alphabet. In the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, the language gradually supplanted the Akkadian language as the lingua franca of the Middle East. This ancient language was also believed to have been spoken by Jesus Christ and it continued in wide use until about 650 CE, when it was supplanted by Arabic. In some Christian communities in Syria, people are still speaking Aramaic and hold their prayers in this language. However, when the war erupted in Syria, many of the people who were speaking the language left their areas and traveled outside the country. In Maaloula, one of the three towns speaking the language in Syria, people are now making big efforts to revive the language and teaching it to the young generation as their area is being rehabilitated after its liberation from the rebels. While construction work was still being carried out at the main square in that predominantly Christian town, whose residents are still holding on to their original language, two classrooms in a monastery were receiving children to teach them Aramaic. Antoinette Mokh, one of the residents teaching Aramaic to children, told Xinhua that she inherited the language from her parents and she would like to pass it on to the children. "I took the language from my parents and passed it on to my kids and now I am teaching it to other children," Mokh told Xinhua. She noted that the process of teaching the Aramaic language is only verbal not written as they would write the Aramaic words in Arabic letters. "We are teaching the children the language verbally not in a written form because our main goal is to keep preserving this language because if it wasn't passed on from father to son, there would be no way this language could survive," she said. "There are efforts exerted to save the language, one of which was the establishment of the Aramaic Language Institute to preserve the language and I think we need more efforts to save the language and keep it alive," she said. But despite the efforts to pass on the language, the people in Maaloula didn't hide their fears of the extinction of the language as it has become only a language of religion whose speakers are drifting further in other countries. Rita Wahbeh is a woman from Maaloula who can recite prayers in Aramaic. Her beautiful voice penetrates the silence of a hall in a church while reciting prayers in the Aramaic language, giving the listener a sensation of traveling back in time to take a glimpse of what people used to speak and pray in the ancient times. The woman hoped the government could do something to keep the language alive. "I hope the government could do more to preserve the language, either through teaching it in the Damascus University or in the Aramaic institute here," she said. For Hanan Shamseh, another woman selling souvenirs near the Mar Taqla monastery in Maaloula, the recent fear about the language comes as the people are more interested in the Arabic language. "The interest in the Aramaic language has increased because people here are becoming more prone to speak Arabic because it's the main language in Syria," she told Xinhua. George Zarour, a historian and Aramaic speaker, told Xinhua that the language is truly in danger. "The Aramaic language is in a grave situation for many reasons, mainly the war in Syria and the battles in Maaloula that led to the migration of families because they were the storage of the language in this geographic point," he said. He added that language must be taught in all schools in Maaloula not only on a low scale or at homes as it's the case nowadays. The lovers of this heritage and history, however, are doing their best to keep Aramaic alive through several activists, such as reviving old Aramaic songs, not only prayers in churches. Hussam Eddin Brimo, a Syrian musician and the founder of LUNA Choirs, has recently held his first festival of Aramaic singing in Damascus. He told Xinhua that despite the dangers, Aramaic is still alive. The man said that they found out that many of the local dialects in Syria use some of the old Aramaic words without knowing it's Aramaic. Aramaic resembles the Syrians as many words spoken in the local dialect nowadays are originally Aramaic, not Arabic, he added. "We believe that the festival ended with songs that are recorded on CDs, which entered the homes of people to listen to them and get to know the language so that they feel how this language resembles them," he said. He hoped that similar projects could see light and "we will try to do more and we hope that this project could resonate with people and be conducive in preserving the language." It took his choir three years to learn how to sing in Aramaic, which is a big effort by people who are willing to preserve the language. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 01:48:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BELGRADE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and her Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban held a joint session on Monday in Serbia's northern city of Subotica where the two governments signed numerous documents on future cooperation, and agreed to start working on establishing comprehensive strategic partnership. According to a press release from the Serbian government after the session, the two countries had signed 11 documents on future cooperation in areas ranging from infrastructure and transport to environment, European integrations and many others. At a press conference after the meeting, Brnabic said that the conclusion from the joint government session is that the time is ripe for the two countries to start working on an agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership. Orban said the two sides mostly discussed about opening new border crossings and ways to strengthen economic cooperation. Orban and Brnabic expressed satisfaction with the fact that in 2018 bilateral trade reached 1.7 billion euros (about 1.92 billion U.S. dollars), represents a 15 percent growth compared with the year before. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 01:58:40|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global Ratings has affirmed its 'B-/B' long-term and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Ukraine with a stable outlook, local media reported Monday, citing the agency's report. In its report, S&P Global Ratings said that its outlook reflects the expectation that Ukraine will continue cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the stand-by arrangement (SBA) and will retain access to both domestic and international capital markets. The rating agency noted that in 2019 Ukraine faces sizable external debt repayments against the backdrop of presidential and parliamentary elections. At the same time, S&P Global Ratings said it could consider a positive rating action if Ukraine demonstrates improvements in growth, reduces fiscal and external imbalances, and the situation in the non-government-controlled areas in the East of the country normalizes. The Ukrainian government projected that the country's gross domestic product will increase by 3 percent this year. The IMF approved the SBA of 2.8 billion in Special Drawing Rights, which is equivalent to about 4 billion U.S. dollars, for Ukraine in December last year. The East European country has already received the first tranche of some 1.4 billion dollars from the program. Ukraine targets to get 2.6 billion dollars in two tranches from the IMF by the end of 2019. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 02:34:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VALLETTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Three teenagers, thought to be the ringleaders of the hijacking of an oil tanker off the Libyan coast, are set to be indicted for their part in the incident. A Maltese court of Magistrates ruled on Monday that there are sufficient grounds to indict the three unnamed teenagers who hijacked a tanker which had rescued them at sea. The three teenagers -- aged 15, 16 and 19 -- are currently facing charges of having unlawfully seized control of the ship, a crime which under Maltese law is punishable by a jail term between 7 and 30 years. After being rescued at sea together with around 100 others, the migrants are alleged to have threatened the crew and forced it to change course for Malta, once they realized they were going to be returned to Libya. The migrants are thought to have used tools and heavy metal objects as makeshift weapons to make the crew of the vessel do their bidding. The hijack came to a close when the ship was stormed by Maltese special forces soldiers as it entered Maltese waters. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 03:04:15|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (R) and his visiting Kazakhstan's counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev exchange documents in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on April 15, 2019. The presidents of the two central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have agreed in Tashkent on Monday to boost trade and economic cooperation, avoid double taxation, cooperate in air defense, and develop cultural ties. (Xinhua/Cai Guodong) TASHKENT, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of the two central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have agreed in Tashkent on Monday to boost trade and economic cooperation, avoid double taxation, cooperate in air defense, and develop cultural ties. Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his visiting Kazakhstan's counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told reporters following their talks that two neighboring countries plan to raise trade turnover from the current 3 billion U.S. dollars to 5 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2020. The heads of state noted in a joint statement that the talks were held in the spirit of openness and the entire agenda of cooperation was thoroughly discussed, and mutually beneficial agreements were reached. The documents signed as the result of talks also included fighting illegal migration, protection of the rights of migrant workers in both countries. An air defense cooperation agreement between the two countries included accepting each other's military aircraft at Uzbek and Kazakh airports, providing technical support and safeguarding. Both presidents also attended the opening of the Year of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan aimed to develop cultural ties. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 03:09:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BUDAPEST, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Monday reacted to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's criticism over Hungary's migration policy, saying Lofven wants to force illegal immigrants onto Hungary. "The Swedish Prime Minister is a pro-immigration politician who wants to force illegal immigrants onto Hungary, and wants to punish the Hungarians for saying no to the mandatory resettlement quota," Szijjarto said, quoted by the official website of the Hungarian government. In a statement published on the online version of Swedish left-wing daily Dagens Nyheter, Lofven said: "Countries will not be able to receive EU (European Union) funding in the same way they do today. Hungary is one of the countries that receives the most funding from the EU, and it is saying no: we will not take responsibility with relation to migration." According to Szijjarto, Hungary is taking true responsibility with relation to illegal immigration in view of the fact that "the Hungarian fences are also defending the western and northern parts of Europe." "And as far as EU funding goes, it is not a charitable donation, but is due to Hungary in accordance with the EU treaties in exchange for us having opened our markets to Western European enterprises, which are realizing significant profits in Hungary," he added. The dispute took place as campaigns are heating up for the upcoming European Parliament elections at the end of May. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 03:09:23|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda (C) poses for a group photo with Chairman of BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik (L) and member of BiH Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on April 15, 2019. Visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday expressed his country's support to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its European Union (EU) path, BiH's Presidency office said in a statement. (Xinhua/Nedim Grabovica) SARAJEVO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday expressed his country's support to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its European Union (EU) path, BiH's Presidency office said in a statement. "Poland strongly supports the European path of BiH and will continue to provide support at the next stages of EU membership," Duda said during a meeting with Chairman of BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik and member of BiH Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic. Poland, with its initiatives in Visegrad group, a cultural and political alliance of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, offered strong support to BiH in its EU path, said the statement. BiH Presidency members informed Duda on the country's commitment to continue the reform process in order to create favorable conditions for accelerated economic development. They expressed hope that the European Commission's opinion would be positive, and that the EU member states would assign BiH candidate status as soon as possible. On Feb. 28, 2018, BiH handed the answered EU accession questionnaire with a total of 3,242 questions to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, after which the Commission sent additional 655 questions, which country had also answered. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 04:30:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close RIYADH, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held on Monday a coordination meeting and discussed the activation of a joint market, Saudi Press Agency reported. The meeting of the Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council held in Riyadh highlighted that the two countries will launch an open market project, to help achieve economic diversity and maintain their market performance. The two countries are also developing a joint vision related to tourism and national heritage, through a partnership between concerned authorities of both countries. The council was established through an agreement between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in May 2016, to achieve their joint vision in the areas of economy, social development, politics and military integration, as well as to ensure the welfare of their communities. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 04:45:26|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close Chinese ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong (L) awards a certificate to Felix O'Mahoney, the First Prize winner in the 18th Chinese Bridge, a Chinese proficiency competition, for Irish college students in Dublin, Ireland, April 14, 2019. The comeptition ended here on Sunday. (Xinhua) DUBLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A national Chinese language proficiency competition for Irish college students ended here on Sunday evening with the first prize award going to Felix O'Mahoney, a language student in her fourth year from University College Cork. O'Mahoney will represent Ireland in the final competition of the 18th Chinese Bridge Competition of Chinese Proficiency for Foreign College Students to be held in Beijing this summer. The competition, which is open to all college students with Irish citizenship, aged between 18 and 30, is organized by the Beijing-based Confucius Institute Headquarters, or called Hanban in Chinese, in collaboration with the Chinese embassy in Ireland, University College Dublin (UCD) Confucius Institute and the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies at UCD. Chinese ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong, UCD President Andrew Deeks and nearly 100 people watched the final competition which was held at the auditorium of the newly constructed teaching building of UCD Confucius Institute. The competition consisted of two parts, the preliminary competition and the final competition. After the preliminary competition held in the morning of Sunday, eight students from five universities in Ireland entered the afternoon's final competition which included a two-minute speech contest under the given topic "One World One Family" and a five-minute contest of Chinese arts performances such as Chinese songs, dances, musical instrument playing, dramas, martial arts, calligraphy and paintings. With her excellent command of Chinese both demonstrated in speech contest and song performance, O'Mahoney conquered all the judges as well as the audience and won the title of the competition. The competition also had two second prize awards and three third prize awards as well as two encouraging awards for the finalists. Speaking after the prize awarding ceremony, Yue Xiaoyong said that the excellent performance and great enthusiasm of the contestants are really impressive and their interpretation of the speech theme "One World One Family" are very heartwarming and inspiring. Andres Deeks said that "I hope the participants will continue to develop their skills so that they may contribute to the enhancement of a shared understanding between the peoples of Ireland and China." Professor Liming Wang, Director of UCD Confucius Institute, who represents the foreign side of the institute co-run with Renmin University of China, said that recent years have witnessed an increasing demand for Chinese language learning in Ireland. According to Wang, there are two Confucius institutes already in place in Ireland with the third one to be soon established in the country's west city of Galway. The other Confucius institute is located in the southern city of Cork. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 05:56:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan King Mohammed VI sent Monday a message of support to French President Emmanuel Macron, following a fire that broke out in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The king expressed to the French president, on behalf of himself and the Moroccan people, his full support and solidarity. He also expressed the same to all French people, as the cathedral is a historical symbol. He noted that "this disaster affects not only one of the most emblematic historical monuments of the city of Paris, but also a site of prayers for millions of worshipers around the world." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 05:56:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHICAGO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures closed higher on Monday, as the oil seeds were boosted by optimism over trade talks between the United States and China, and worries about U.S. planting delays. The most active soybean contract for May delivery went up 3.5 cents, or 0.39 percent to close at 8.9875 U.S. dollars per bushel. July corn delivery added 2 cents, or 0.54 percent to close at 3.715 dollars per bushel. May wheat delivery was down 5 cents, or 1.08 percent to close at 4.595 dollars per bushel. Soybean futures went up on technical buying and optimism about progress in U.S. trade talks with top global soy buyer China. Fresh export business lends support. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday reported private exporters sold 140,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2018/19 marketing year. Delays of farmers' spring plantings is a worry for soybean and corn, as floods already hit parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri this year, and yields can decline if crops are planted too late. CBOT wheat futures edged down on technical selling against a backdrop of ample U.S. and global supplies. As for weather forecast for agricultural crop, a freeze advisory is in effect for parts of eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana, according to the National Weather Service. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 06:11:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VANCOUVER, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed in a string of shootings at three locations within a five-kilometer radius in Penticton of western Canada on Monday, according to Penticton police. Police, who have arrested a male suspect around 11 a.m. Monday local time, asked people in the city to stay inside their homes and workplaces and avoid the downtown area where police had cordoned off because of "a serious, unfolding situation." Police have been searching for the shooting suspects. With a population of about 30,000, Penticton is a city in British Columbia in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 06:56:53|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close YAOUNDE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon customs seized tonnes of smuggled drugs and fuel in the economic capital, Douala, late Sunday in its latest move to curb the inflow of "overseas dangerous and illicit" drugs and goods into the country, customs officials said in a statement Monday. According to the customs, the drugs including 100,051 tramadol pills, 100,072 combiart tablets and 7,000 liters of fuel were seized in an operation that involved Cameroon Marine and Cameroon customs brigade in charge of combating illicit trade. The illicit goods were smuggled from a neighboring country through Cameroon's seaport in Tiko locality and then transported to Douala in a "heavy duty truck", the officials, said adding that the suspects have been remanded in custody. According to Cameroon police, tramadol is one of the most abused substances in the country and is making its way into schoolyards. "There is growing addition to the pills which are readily available on black market. The opioid is also known to be used by terrorists in the country to boost courage and commit atrocities. It is also widely used by students. So we are doing all we can to put an end to this malaise," a police officer, Emmanuel Watat, told Xinhua. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 07:37:01|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Mike Coffman, a decorated U.S. Marine and Army war veteran who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, looks at a picture of John Yee at the memorial service in west Denver, Colorado, the United States, April 14, 2019. Yee, who passed away at a Denver hospital on March 26, was considered one of the last members of the legendary World War II Flying Tigers who stopped Japan's relentless bombings of Kunming in southwest China. (Xinhua) DENVER, the United States, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Far beyond the fields surrounding Kunming in southwestern China, where pieces of Japanese bombers remain imbedded in the earth today, John Yee's impact on world history will be long remembered. WAR HERO, DISTINGUISHED TEACHER Yee, who passed away at a Denver hospital on March 26, was considered one of the last members of the legendary World War II Flying Tigers who stopped Japan's relentless bombings of Kunming. War veterans, educators and political leaders honored Yee's life on Sunday at a small chapel in west Denver, where he was remembered as a hero and an inspirational, brilliant educator, who not just helped save thousands of lives in China, but inspired thousands more as a distinguished history teacher in Denver after the war. "He turned history from a black-and-white experience into color," Mike Coffman said to an overflowing crowd who attended Yee's memorial service. Coffman, 64, a decorated U.S. Marine and Army war veteran, who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, told Xinhua how his former high school history teacher had influenced thousands of lives - not just as a war hero, but as an educator. "I just hope my grandchildren find a teacher who inspires them to learn as much as Mr. Yee did for me," said Coffman, choking back tears. Coffman showed the audience a video of him honoring Yee on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in 2014, where he stated - for the Congressional record - that "America needs more teachers like John Yee." Coffman drew chuckles from the packed funeral hall when he admitted he was a "terrible student who skipped most of his classes" in high school. "But not Mr. Yee's classes," Coffman said. "I never missed one of his classes. He changed my life." Born in Zhaotong of China in 1921, Yee joined the Tigers as a translator at the age of 19, before Japan's Dec. 7, 1941 "Day of Infamy" attack on Pearl Harbor. For this heroism, in 2015, Yee was awarded the Jubilee Medal by the Chinese government at the 70-year anniversary of the victory of Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Yee was the first public school teacher between the two U.S. coasts to teach Chinese language and history in the 1950s. He received Denver's distinguished citizen award in 1961, after a Master's Degree at the universities of Denver and Colorado. During his lifetime he received dozens of awards as a war hero and teacher. In 2012, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a 2020 presidential candidate, reserved July 17 as "John H. Yee Day." Before his death, Yee jokingly told Xinhua that he was one of the last of the Tigers, "simply because I have outlived the rest." Yee lived through one of the most pivotal times in world history, and explained the intricate themes and dynamics of world politics to his students, Coffman told the audience. LIVING HISTORY Yee was adopted as a toddler in 1923, at a time when China had slipped into a dangerous, feudalistic state controlled by powerful warlords. His British Methodist missionary parents came to China in 1902 and gave their only son an advanced Western education that landed him a translation job with the Tigers, and later vaulted his career as a Denver teacher and college professor from 1955 to 1980. "We mourn the loss of John Yee today not just because he was a was a man of integrity, valor and courage, but because we have lost a piece of living history," said Yee's biographer, journalist Peter Mertz. Mertz, whose grandfather was a U.S. Army engineer serving under General Joe "Vinegar" Stilwell to rebuild the Ledo Road into China, told the audience that Yee, who served under Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, changed world history. "The Japanese war plan was to cut off and take Kunming, then Chongqing, then Chengdu," Mertz told those assembled. "Then checkmate - China would have fallen - and the world would look much different than it does today." "But that did not happen - thanks to men like Chennault and Yee," Mertz added. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) formed the American Volunteer Group (AVG) by a secret order in 1941 as a way to stop Japan's attempt to conquer China. "If your neighbor's house is on fire, then you lend him a water hose to put it out," Yee explained in an interview last year, of FDR's move. FDR told Chennault to find 100 good, mercenary pilots to fly American P-40 planes against Japan in southwest Asia. The fighting force of 300 included mechanics, doctors, nurses, and other personnel, and used fake passports to sneak into Myanmar as tourists in early 1941. Chennault commanded his pilots to use a radical strategy of air combat - diving, shooting and avoiding dog fights - against the more maneuverable Japanese Zeros. Less than two weeks after waves of Japanese bombers decimated America's Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Chennault's small fighting force came to Kunming. The next day, Japan's horrific bombings of Kunming would end forever. Dec. 20, 1941. Together, the United States and China were ready for this wave of bombers. On that day, 13 Japanese planes fell from the sky to only one American fighter. A reporter for the Kunming paper said the Americans looked like tigers, flying in the sky. And the legend was born. For the next six months, Yee helped the Flying Tigers record the most lopsided victories in aviation warfare history - 296-14, according to historynet.com. Yee worked day and night translating critical intelligence on Japanese positions to Chennault. On July 4, 1942, the AVG was absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force, with Chennault in command, considered one of the most brilliant military minds in U.S. history. TIME AND CHANCE Yee led a unique life, coming to the United States in 1944 to watch the country dominate the 20th century, and his native China rise from the ashes of feudalism to one of the strongest countries in the 21st century. As part of FDR's Lend Lease, Yee came to America for advanced training, but he contracted tuberculosis, was hospitalized, and on a lark, he wrote a letter to U.S. President Harry Truman requesting to stay in the United States. Months later, Yee was sitting in Northern California waiting for a ship back for Shanghai. The night before his departure, the reply came from Washington. Truman told Yee he could stay. "East-and-West, Yin and Yang," Richard Yee, 59, told the audience, how his father had been raised, and educated by British missionaries, and thereby had gleaned a deep understanding of world philosophy, religion, and history. "'Time and chance,' was John's favorite quote," said Jeanie Johnson, who currently heads the Denver-Kunming Sister Cities committee that Yee founded in 1985. Johnson detailed Yee's devotion to diplomacy and building bridges between the United States and China that dominated the last decades of his life. After he retired, Yee took groups of students and teachers to China on a frequent basis with his wife of 45 years Nai-Li. Into his nineties, joined the chorus demanding Japan to apologize for the atrocities committed in WWII. In 2016, Yee published an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requesting that Japan acknowledge and formally apologize for the millions of Chinese people murdered during Japan's brutal occupation of China from 1931-1945. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 08:52:15|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- As Notre Dame Cathedral burned on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "horror" at the images of the fire, shown live around the world. "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral -- a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France," the UN chief said on Twitter. Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO -- the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture -- also expressed her "deep emotion" on social media. Azoulay wrote that UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by the French people's side to "safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage." The UN elevated Notre Dame, widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French gothic architecture, to world heritage status in 1991. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 09:57:48|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Cao Jianming (L), vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, holds talks with President of Burundian National Assembly Pascal Nyabenda in Bujumbura, Burundi, on April 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Lyu Tianran) BUJUMBURA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China and Burundi agreed to enhance bilateral ties during a senior Chinese legislator's visit to the central African country. China and Burundi enjoy profound traditional friendship and bilateral relations have entered the best period in history under the leadership of the two heads of state, Cao Jianming, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said while visiting Burundi. At the invitation of the National Assembly of Burundi, Cao led a delegation to Burundi from Sunday to Tuesday, during which he met with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza and acting Senate Speaker Spes-Caritas Njebarikanuye respectively, and held talks with President of Burundian National Assembly Pascal Nyabenda. China is willing to adhere to the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and uphold the values of friendship, justice and shared interests in working together with the Burundian side to implement the consensuses reached by the two leaders and the outcome of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Cao said. He stressed that China will synergize the eight major initiatives proposed at the Beijing summit with Burundi's national development agenda for 2018-2027, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all areas including legislature, so as to build a stronger community with a shared future between China and Burundi, China and Africa. The Burundian side spoke highly of the bilateral ties and the friendly cooperation between the two countries and sincerely thanked China for its long-term assistance and support for Burundi's efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty and developing its economies. Burundi is willing to further improve political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation and strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs with China, thus lifting the bilateral relations to a new high, the hosts said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 10:53:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Monday condemned the terrorist attacks in Pakistan last week that left over 20 dead and many injured. "In expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, the people and the government of Pakistan, Brazil reiterates its firm rejection of any act of terrorism, whatever its motivation," the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. At least 20 people were killed and over 40 others injured in a blast that hit a fruit and vegetable market in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta last Friday. Later in the day, a blast in Chaman, a city in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, killed two civilians, including a child, and injured eight others. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 11:28:50|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Scientists for the first time have clearly seen the molecular structure where a hormone related to osteoporosis attaches to the body, providing valuable insight into potential therapies, according to the China Daily Tuesday. The study, published on the website of U.S.-based journal Science, was conducted by Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica in collaboration with researchers from Zhejiang University School of Basic Medical Sciences and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the United States. The successful viewing at near-atomic level resolution enabled them to see the exact position of the hormone as it attaches to the receptor, as well as the corresponding reactions, the newspaper cited Zhao Lihua, one of the leading researchers on the team from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica as saying. She said it will allow scientists to screen small-molecule compounds that fit this exact position, which could help researchers develop oral drugs. Currently, such medicines can only be injected. The institute has started screening such small-molecule compounds. Diseases related to the receptor involved in the research affect tens of millions of families in the country, the newspaper cited Wang Mingwei, a researcher at the institute as saying. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 11:33:52|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close PARIS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The world is in grief over the 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is devastated by ferocious blaze on Monday afternoon. The fire, now "under control and partially extinguished" according to firefighters, has destroyed the spire and the roof of the centuries-old cathedral, which attracts millions of foreign visitors every year. "Notre Dame de Paris in flames. Emotion of a whole nation ... Like all our compatriots, I am sad tonight to see this part of us burning," French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. World leaders on Monday expressed shock and solidarity with the French people, lamenting the loss. British Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted that "my thoughts are with the people of France." She also mentioned the emergency services there, who "are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral." German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was deeply saddened by the fire. "It hurts to see these horrible pictures of the burning Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a symbol of France and of our European culture. Our thoughts are with French friends," Germany's Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted on behalf of Merkel. In a message to Macron, Italian President Sergio Mattarella wrote that the whole of Italy "stands in sincere friendship with the people of France." Speaking to Italy's national public broadcasting company RAI, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he will contact the French government to express the solidarity over the tragic incident. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa respectively sent their heartfelt condolences to Macron. "It is a tragedy for the French people, for the Europeans and even for all the world," Rebelo de Sousa said, while Antonio Costa said on Twitter that a part of "our European history disappears under the flames." Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the country lamented the fire that devastated the Notre Dame Cathedral, adding that not only Paris and France are mourning, but the entire world. U.S. President Donald Trump called the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris "horrible." "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" Trump tweeted. London Breed, mayor of U.S. city of San Francisco, the sister city of Paris, also voiced solidarity with the people of Paris. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro expressed his regrets over the massive fire "on behalf of all Brazilians." "In this gloomy moment, our prayers are with the French people," he tweeted. Moroccan King Mohammed VI also sent a message to Macron, expressing on behalf of himself and the Moroccan people full support for and solidarity with the French people. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "horror" at the images of the fire, shown live around the world. The UN chief tweeted that the cathedral is "a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century," saying his "thoughts are with the people and government of France." Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO -- the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture -- also expressed her "deep emotion" on social media. Azoulay wrote that UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by the French people's side to "safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage." The fire was thought to be linked to renovation works being carried out at the medieval cathedral, and an investigation has been launched by Paris prosecutor office to determine the cause. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 11:49:00|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. anti-tariff farm group on Monday sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, requesting that the U.S. government reimburse the American people for their losses related to tariffs the country imposed on products from its trading partners. The Farmers for Free Trade group said that its nationwide "Tariffs Hurt the Heartland" campaign teamed up with a non-profit organization The Taxpayers Protection Alliance in "reminding the administration that tariffs are taxes paid by Americans." "In light of the overwhelming evidence that Americans are paying the cost of these tariffs, our request is straightforward. Tariffs are taxes that American families and businesses pay," read the letter to Mnuchin. Over the course of last year, the United States has levied punitive duties on steel and aluminum imports worldwide, and has threatened tariffs on imported vehicles and vehicle parts as well, citing "national security" concerns in justifying both measures. Meanwhile, Washington has imposed additional tariffs on billions of Chinese imports, triggering similar moves from the Chinese side. The world's two largest economies are now in the process of finding a way out of their trade disputes. "The notion that China, or any other country, has been footing the bill for these tariffs has been refuted by nearly every expert on trade, tariffs and economic policy," the letter said. "Tariffs Hurt the Heartland" said in a statement that American families and businesses have paid an estimated 69 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs since 2018, which equates to more than 500 dollars for every U.S. household. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 12:14:06|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close SYDNEY, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Australia's beloved creature, the koala, is under threat from land clearing, disease and dog attacks, a seven-year long study has found. By examining droppings from nearly 300 koalas in the states of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland between 2012 to 2018, the Western Sydney University study found koalas living near areas where land clearing was taking place had significantly high levels of stress hormones in their samples. "Koalas are facing chronic stress and this can be a significant problem for their survival," author of the study Dr. Edward Narayan told the Australian Associated Press on Tuesday. "The demonstrated long-term stress caused by environmental trauma can lead to significant physical and psychological changes in koalas." According to Narayan, with such high stress levels the risk of infection and suppressed reproduction is dramatically increased. As well as habitat destruction, human encroachment on areas populated with koalas also means that domesticated animals such as dogs, are becoming an increasing threat for the species. "Humans have become a bit too greedy and we need to think about the ways we can make animals our priority because if our native species show problems that means our ecosystem is not holding up," Narayan said. Calling on the Australian government to prioritize the welfare of native animals when planning infrastructure and developments, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, who funded the study, said koalas need to be given more space to live. "This research proves the true impact of a development on local koala populations remains well after the bulldozers and construction teams have moved on," regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Rebecca Keeble said. "Koalas must be given more space to live and thrive in if we are going to successfully overcome the challenges posed by urbanization, human-wildlife conflict and other issues created by human interference." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 12:24:16|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for the country to establish a fund to help pay for the restoration of Frances Notre Dame Cathedral. The world is in grief over the 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is devastated by ferocious blaze on Monday afternoon. Responding to the fire on social media on Tuesday morning Australian time, Turnbull, who was deposed as the prime minister by his own party in August 2018, called on his successor Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten, leader of the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP), to agree to the fund. Our heartfelt sympathies are with the people of Paris as their ancient Notre Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flame, he wrote. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten should today agree to establish an Australian fund to support the restoration of Notre Dame so that Australians can show their solidarity once again with the people of France. Addressing Turnbulls proposal, Shorten offered his support. I would like to echo something Malcolm Turnbull has just said, I think Australia should contribute to a restoration fund, he told reporters on the campaign trail for the general election, according to The Australian. Notre Dame doesnt just belong to Paris or France it belongs to the world. I think all of us who have enjoyed that architecture, that history, should perhaps rally around and help Paris and Notre Dame. Morrison recalled visiting Notre Dame with his wife Jenny nearly 30 years ago. "It's a pretty special place and to see it in flames today was just really sad," he told Adelaide's 5AA radio on Tuesday. "Paris is an eternal city and it will rebuild and it will restore." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 12:29:18|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who's making his second bid for the U.S. presidency, released 10 years of tax returns on Monday. Sanders, 77, had an adjusted gross income of 561,293 U.S. dollars in 2018, 1,131,925 dollars in 2017 and 1,062,626 dollars in 2016, the returns showed. The Vermont senator earned significant income from his books in 2016 and 2017 when he made more than 800,000 dollars each year in royalties. Since his first White House run, Sanders has published three books, including bestsellers "Our Revolution" and "Where We Go From Here." In 2014, the year before the launch of his first presidential campaign, Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, had an adjusted gross income of 205,271 dollars. "These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity," Sanders said in a statement. Campaign manager Faiz Shakir said Sanders, as "a strong proponent of transparency," hopes President Donald Trump and all Democratic primary candidates will disclose their tax returns. Beto O'Rourke, another Democratic presidential candidate, also released 10 years of his tax returns on Monday, with the most recent filing showing that he and his wife earned more than 360,000 dollars in income. Tax transparency has been in the spotlight over Trump's rejection of a decades-old tradition that presidents and White House hopefuls would make their tax returns public. House Democrats are seeking to force the president to turn his tax returns over. Besides Sanders and O'Rourke, a number of Democratic presidential candidates -- including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota -- have released tax records to varying degrees. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 12:39:22|Editor: Yurou Video Player Close HANOI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese armed police have raided a house in Vietnams central Nghe An province, detaining four suspects and seizing 600 kg of crystal methamphetamine, local media reported on Tuesday. The four detainees include three men aged 53, 45 and 29, all from Nghe An, and a 39-year-old man from the capital city of Hanoi, daily newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) on Tuesday quoted the countrys Drug Crime Investigation Police Department as reporting. The police on Monday found the drug in 30 acoustic speakers on a truck registered in the central province, Vietnam News Agency reported. According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 13:14:36|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close KAMPALA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese technical and financial support is critical to accelerating Uganda's Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) development, Ugandan experts and officials said. "The core infrastructure of ICT is where the Chinese play a critical role, the backbone upon which everything else is built," said Kwame Rugunda, chairman of the Blockchain Association of Uganda, in a recent interview with Xinhua. "We continue as a nation to look forward to that type of support and collaboration," he added. In 2006, Uganda acquired a 106-million-U.S.-dollar loan from the Export-Import Bank of China to build the country's National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and Electronic Government Infrastructure (EGI). The project, implemented by China's Huawei Technologies, involves laying fiber optic cable across the country. It is part of an East Africa-wide terrestrial fiber optic cable, which will, when completed, cover 15,600 km. Frank Tumwebaze, Ugandan minister of ICT, said recently over 8,000km of fiber optic cables had been laid across the country. John Nasasira, head of a national task force charged with advising government on emerging technologies, said connectivity across the country is critical to using the ICT as an enabler for economic development. He said Uganda should continue to count on technical expertise from countries like China as it strives to develop the ICT infrastructure. According to the National Information Technology Authority, a state-owned agency, Uganda has already started reaping benefits from the NBI/EGI project. Most state and local government entities, as well as government service centers like hospitals, universities, have been connected online, and the cost of the internet bandwidth continues to fall. Official data also show that ICT has become one of the fastest growing sectors, advancing at an average of 19.3 percent per year. Meanwhile, Chinese telecommunications companies, such as ZTE, continue to play a critical role in developing Uganda's private sectors. ZTE entered the Ugandan market in 2006. It was one of the companies which first supplied smart phones in the country. Beyond this, the company started installing and providing data and network servers for several telecommunication companies in the country. In an interview with Xinhua, Robin Bai, Chief Technical Officer ZTE Uganda, said Uganda already has 3G and 4G, and the next plan will be to launch 5G technology trials. According to Ugandan Ministry of Finance, as a result of these ICT advances, the number of internet users increased by 45 percent to 18.8 million in 2017 from 13 million in 2015. Active telephone subscribers now total 22.4 million and the number of mobile money subscribers jumped to 23 million in 2017 from 2.8 million in 2011. Official data show that mobile money is now the main driver of formal financial inclusion in Uganda, with about 23 million registered accounts compared with just 5 million registered accounts in traditional banks. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 13:54:51|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close CANBERRA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Prime Minister (PM) Scott Morrison has confirmed that he is working "behind the scenes" on having the orphaned children of Australian terrorists returned to their native country. Morrison on Tuesday said that while he was not willing to jeopardize Australian lives to rescue the children stuck in refugee camps and warzones in the Middle East he would work on returning them to Australia safely. "Of course we are not putting any Australians at risk in terms of going into these conflict zones. I don't think anyone would expect us to do that," he told Adelaide radio station 5AA. "But we have been working quietly behind the scenes with International Red Cross, we are taking each and every case on its merits. "Australia's national security always comes first but I am very mindful we are dealing with children here." His comments came after Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television on Monday night broadcast the plight of Karen Nettleton, the grandmother of deceased Islamic State (IS) fighter Khaled Sharrouf's children, who is trying to bring her grandchildren back to Australia. Khaled Sharrouf left the country in 2013 to fight for IS in Syria. He was joined by his wife, Tara Nettleton, and his five children later. According to the ABC, Nettleton died of medical complications in 2015. Of their children, only three have survived. Sharrouf was killed by an airstrike in 2017. Bill Shorten, leader of the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP), told reporters on Monday that there was no reason that they should not be allowed back into Australia, according to The Canberra Times. "They have suffered," he said. "Their parents took them to a war zone, incredibly irresponsibly. These children shouldn't be held responsible for what their parents did." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 14:04:54|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close KHARTOUM, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Sudan is willing to lift Sudan-China relations to a new high through joint efforts, Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Military Council Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan said here Monday. Sudan values the strategic partnership with China and hopes to promote the bilateral ties which are built on the friendship between the two peoples, said Al-Burhan when meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Ma Xinmin. Al-Burhan spoke highly of the friendly relations between the two countries and sincerely thanked China for its long-term support and selfless help for Sudan. He said Sudan will make every effort to ensure the security and interests of Chinese citizens and institutions in Sudan. Ma said China pays great attention to the current situation in Sudan and hopes the country will maintain peace and stability. China and Sudan have maintained a traditional friendship, mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation, deep political mutual trust and people-to-people exchanges, on the basis of respecting each other's core interests and major concerns, Ma said, adding that China and Sudan are good brothers, true friends and strategic partners and China is willing to continue its friendly ties with Sudan. China firmly believes that every country and international organization should respect Sudan's sovereignty and political independence and not interfere with its internal affairs. China believe that Sudan has the ability and wisdom to handle well its internal affairs and safeguard its national security and stability, Ma said. Ma also met with Omer Zainal-Abdin, chairman of the Political Committee in Sudan's Transitional Military Council, on the same day. Zainal-Abdin said Sudan and China are strategic partners, enjoy deep-rooted relations and the two peoples have deep feelings toward each other. He hoped the two sides will continue to make greater achievements in bilateral ties and make new progress through cooperation and coordination in all fields. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 14:20:02|Editor: Li Xia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The debt-to-asset ratio at China's central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued to head downwards in the first quarter of 2019 as regulators took measures to contain debt in the sector, official data showed Tuesday. By the end of March, central SOEs' average debt-to-assets ratio stood at 65.7 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) . Their average ratio of interest-bearing liability to assets stood at 40.2 percent, decreasing 0.3 percentage points from a year ago. As central authorities have made curbing financial risks an economic priority, SASAC has put the capital structure, financing leverage, investment and risk of central SOEs under greater scrutiny in recent years. China has set a timetable for SOEs deleveraging as part of its efforts to defuse financial risks. The average debt-to-asset ratio of SOEs should be reduced by 2 percentage points by the end of 2020, as compared with that at the end of 2017, according to guidelines released by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in September 2018. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 14:35:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has launched a national campaign to promote awareness about and prevention against fraud crimes, local media reported Tuesday, citing the country's National Police Agency. "Fraud crimes have been increasing year by year, causing direct loss to citizens and organizations," the NPA said in a statement, adding that online fraud, contract fraud and illegal pyramid schemes are the most common types of fraud in the country. During the two-week campaign starting Monday, the NPA is planning to organize many activities focusing at informing the public on common types of fraud and raising their awareness of pyramid schemes. A total of 9,900 criminal cases were recorded across the country in the first quarter of this year, and fraud crimes accounted for around 15 percent of the total registered crimes, according to the NPA. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:35:40|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close FARAH, Afghanistan, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Anti-government militants have attacked and bombed another girls' school in the second attack against education facilities in Afghanistan's western province of Farah within a day, a local official said on Tuesday. "Armed men blew up Amir Shir Ali Khan High School by explosives in Nawda locality on the outskirts of Farah city, capital of western Farah province Monday night," Mohammad Azim, head of the provincial education department, told Xinhua. The school building was destroyed but no one has been injured as the school, accommodating over 1,000 students, was closed during the overnight attack, he noted. An investigation was underway, the official said. On Sunday night, a girls' school was bombed and destroyed in a similar attack in Tosaak locality of the city, 695 km west of the country's capital, Kabul. No group has claimed responsibility for the incidents so far. The Taliban militants had in the past been blamed for such incidents as they were opposing girls' education. More than 9.5 million Afghan children with around 40 percent of them girls attend 15,000 schools across the country while over 3.7 million school-age children have no access to education due to poverty, conflicts and insurgency, according to education officials. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:40:45|Editor: ZX Video Player Close NEW YORK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- It is important that overseas Chinese, especially overseas Chinese students, play a part in introducing the China story to the rest of the world, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has said here. China has been experiencing great changes, which fascinates people from the rest of the world including the United States, said Chao in a joint interview with her father James S. C. Chao by several media organizations on the sidelines of a book-sharing event over the weekend in New York City. It's important that Chinese students serve as ambassadors to share the China story including Chinese culture and history with others while studying abroad, thus contributing to mutual understanding, she added. Incidentally, Chao was also the first Chinese-American woman to serve in a U.S. president's cabinet. Drawing on her own experiences, Chao noted that differences do exist between Chinese and Western cultures, citing filial piety as one of the distinctive examples. Many Americans have a hard time understanding filial piety, a time-honored Chinese custom, she said. She suggested overseas Chinese learn the best from the East and the West. The book-sharing event, which featured her mother Ruth Mulan Chu Chao's biography, "Calm Amidst the Storm," was one of many events she had accompanied her father to, and was also a way to show her "filial piety," according to Chao. Referring to the book "Calm Amidst the Storm," Chao said she hoped her family story could offer a source of inspiration and encouragement for other Chinese Americans who are trying to build their lives. She emphasized the unique role of Chinese Americans in diversifying American culture and the international world. "More cultures help America understand the world and help the world understand America," Chao told the audience. "As we live in America, it is also important to retain our cultural roots," she added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:40:50|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have taken concrete measures to help veterans with resettlement and employment, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday. Since the ministry was founded in March 2018, it has helped more than 80,000 ex-officers in the military find civilian jobs and over 400,000 retired soldiers resettle, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Last year, local veteran affairs authorities held over 300 recruitment fairs, which created over 600,000 jobs for veterans, it said. A total of 123 centrally-administered state-owned enterprises have offered more than 15,000 jobs for veterans, it added. A battery of laws and regulations have been formulated, including those on resettlement, pension and preferential treatment for veterans, to ensure better protection of their legitimate rights and interests, according to the ministry. The pension and subsidies for some ex-servicemen have been raised by 10 percent since August 2018, it said. The ministry said it had signed an agreement with 10 banks on introducing preferential financial services for military personnel and veterans. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:40:51|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- India's Supreme Court Tuesday turned down a plea by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati challenging a ban on her from campaigning for 48 hours by the country's election commission, officials said. "It seems the Election Commission has woken up by our orders and barred various politicians from campaigning for varying timing. This makes it clear no further orders are required now," an official quoted bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as having said. The court's decision came in a petition seeking directions to Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against political leaders making appeals for votes on the basis of religion and caste. The court declined to give a hearing to Mayawati and asked her lawyer to file a separate petition if Mayawati seeks to challenge the order. On Monday, ECI acted against India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan over inappropriate comments and barred them from campaigning for a specified time. The commission barred the leaders for violating the model code of conduct during elections by appealing to caste or communal feelings. On Monday, the top court pulled up the ECI for not doing enough to curb hate speeches during campaigning of ongoing elections. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:45:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close QUITO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian state agencies have suffered more than 40 million hacking attacks since the government stripped WikiLeak's founder Julian Assange of political asylum last week, an Ecuadorian official said on Monday. Most cyber attacks started Thursday and came from Britain, France, Romania, the United States, Brazil and Ecuador, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications Patricio Real told a press conference. State-run websites that have come under attack include the President's Office, the ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior, and the Central Bank. "There were a couple of (online) pages belonging to Decentralized Autonomous Governments that were hacked, but have been reestablished. The problem didn't spread further because the situation was resolved in a few hours," said Real. The international hacking campaign was aimed at disabling government websites, he said. Ecuador ranked No.31, up from No.51, on the list of countries suffering the most cyber attacks in just four days, the deputy minister said. Assange was arrested on Thursday by British police in London after the government of Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno stripped him of political asylum granted to him by the previous government in 2012. Assange, who at the time was being pursued by Swedish authorities for sexual misconduct, argued he was being politically persecuted for his role in revealing U.S. war crimes. Ecuador on Monday said it received assurances from the British authorities that Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty. Since Assange's arrest, the global hacktivist group "Anonymous" has issued a threat saying "Free Assange or you will pay," said Real. Ecuador has accepted Israel's help in fending off cyber attacks, officials said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:51:07|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Nobody should underestimate China's firm resolve and strong ability to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, a mainland spokesperson said Tuesday. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration's slander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) regarding its patrol around China's island of Taiwan during joint exercises. The PLA's recent training exercises are routine arrangements in the annual plan aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and safeguarding the common interests of people on both sides, Ma said. The DPP administration's attempts to deceive and mislead residents of Taiwan, provoke and escalate cross-Strait confrontation, and undermine cross-Strait relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait will not succeed, Ma said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 15:51:08|Editor: ZX Video Player Close CHENGDU, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Customs of Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, said that high-tech equipment has significantly helped stop wildlife smuggling. In the first quarter of this year, Chengdu customs investigated more than 400 smuggling cases of endangered plant and animal species, including 246 cases involving ivory products weighing more than 20 kg. Chengdu customs said Monday that technologies including intelligent CT scans and big data have played an important role in searching for illicit items. In March, customs police at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport found suspected ivory products in a passenger's luggage through an intelligent CT scanner. Officers later ferreted out 18 ivory objects weighing over 1.7 kg from the passenger, who had hidden the objects underneath his clothing. "Intelligent CT scans are more precise than X-ray scans as CT scan can not only detect the shape of a suspected object but also calculate what the substance is," said Yang Long, an official with Chengdu customs, adding that CT scanners are able to detect lightweight ivory items. The new technology was co-developed by the General Administration of Customs and Tsinghua University. Chengdu's customs is one of the areas across the country piloting the new technology. In February, Chengdu customs discovered three tins of albumen powder when checking an African flight, which later was identified as pangolin scale powder. Customs officers also found 20 ivory items in the powder. The pangolin scale powder and ivory items weighed over 1.9 kg and 1.1 kg, respectively. China banned all domestic ivory trade at the end of 2017 as part of its commitment to protecting wild animals. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 16:11:20|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close An Afghan man rides his motorcycle in flood in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, April 16, 2019. One person has been reported dead after the Kabul river flooded in the country's capital, where the government issued a warning asking people to leave flood-prone areas and houses located at the two banks of the river, as the rising overflow was uncontrollable. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah) HERAT, Afghanistan, April 16 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and 17 others went missing after heavy rains and floods hit Afghanistan's western province of Herat, a local official said Tuesday. "Five people were killed and 17 others went missing when flash floods engulfed vast areas in Adraskan, Zawol and Obe districts of Herat province over the last 24 hours," Jailani Farhad, a provincial government spokesman, told Xinhua. The floods also swept away tens of residential houses, lands and orchards in the districts and demolished a large part of Herat-Kandahar highways in Shindand district, resulting in closure of the roads to traffic, the spokesman added. The rescue team began operation in the affected districts, where nearly 100 households have so far been shifted to safe areas, said the spokesman. One person has also been reported dead after the Kabul river flooded in the country's capital, where the government issued a warning asking people to leave flood-prone areas and houses located at the two banks of the river, as the rising overflow was uncontrollable. Since March 28 this year, as many as 130 people were killed and 200 others sustained injuries due to torrential rains and heavy floods across the country. The floods have also destroyed up to 4,000 houses completely and 5,000 others partially and demolished over 27 km of roads, mostly in northern Badakhshan, Kunduz and western Farah provinces. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 16:21:33|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Attorney General Bob Ferguson of the U.S. State of Washington on Monday announced a victory against the federal government over the restriction of gillnet use to protect endangered marine species. Ferguson's office said the U.S. federal government has dropped an appeal of a District Court ruling that found it "unlawfully" tried to block gillnet regulations drafted to protect threatened marine life such as whales, dolphins and sea turtles. The dispute arose after the Pacific Fishery Management Council based in Oregon State worked out rules in 2016 to restrict the "bycatch" of endangered species in gillnets. The new rules, which were initially approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2016, were regarded by Ferguson as designed to "protect threatened and endangered species, including humpback whales and sea turtles." However, the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Trump administration reversed the rules in 2017 and refused to publish the final regulation. But the reversal was later challenged by Oceana, an international environmental advocacy organization, which brought a lawsuit against the federal government at a district court. Washington State joined the legal battle in support of Oceana. The federal government had appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but has decided to give up 15 days later. Court documents showed that dozens of whales including humpback and sperm whales, 32 sea turtles and more than six bottlenose dolphins were caught in drift gillnets in California between 2001 and 2015. The Trump administration's dismissal of the appeal on Monday represents the 19th legal victory of Ferguson against the federal government. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 16:31:48|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close Photo taken on March 26, 2019 shows the Golden Gate Bridge and the city of San Francisco in the United States. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) by Xinhua writers Xia Lin, Wu Xiaoling, Gao Lu, Zhang Mocheng SAN FRANCISCO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- High-tech giants on the U.S. West Coast have been eyeing central and eastern states for new headquarters and branches, which experts believe will eventually transform the country's social-economic structure, adding more chances of cooperation with China. EASTWARD EXPANSION "Talent, money and market," Del Christensen, chief of Global Business Development for the Bay Area Council (BAC), told Xinhua while explaining the phenomenon dubbed "eastward expansion" by U.S. media. BAC represents San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley in public affairs and strategy management. Among the first group to move eastward, Seattle-based e-commerce multinational Amazon had sought to split second headquarters between Long Island City in New York City and Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. Silicon Valley giant Google is expanding its NYC office by doubling the number of its staff, while Apple has announced plans to build a second campus in Austin, Texas. With an investment of about 1 billion U.S. dollars, Apple's expansion will hopefully bring the city 15,000 jobs. Its first campus in Austin has already grown almost as big as the 5-billion-dollar Apple Park in Cupertino, California. "I think the biggest one (reason), the most important one, is a quest for human capital," said James DeNicco, director of the Principles of Economics Program at Rice University. Going for talent is the No. 1 consideration for Seattle and Bay Area's high-tech giants. They map out Austin, because top schools like University of Texas can be relied upon for sustainable high-level human resource, DeNicco told Xinhua. Since late 1980s, the concentration of tech companies in Austin has brought the city a new nickname "Silicon Hills." The hilly city, with its growing academic and high-tech sectors, has since lived up to expectations. Other big names in technology industry, including Uber, Facebook and LinkedIn, have also embarked on eastward expansions, driven by a common goal: hunting for talent. They mostly favor New York, Washington D.C., Boston and other already developed eastern cities. On the other hand, Silicon Valley, where Google and Facebook were born and have been growing a lot, can't accommodate all their growth. So they have to find some other places, Jim Wunderman, BAC's president and CEO, told Xinhua. "The Bay Area can only support so many people. The housing is already ridiculously expensive. Silicon Valley in the Bay Area will always have a special place in that world, and that's what makes it so expensive to live here," he said. San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Seattle, bearing the blunt of the impact of those giants' growth, are the four most expensive major cities in America based on home values, according to The New York Times. The Washington Post reported that Amazon's "explosive growth" has made it "Seattle's largest private employer and taxpayer in less than a decade," offering 45,000 jobs in a city of 725,000 people. DeNicco took innovation and business-friendly environment as other factors contributing to the eastward expansion. "Innovation is key for all companies, but especially for those tech companies. They need that innovation to stay on top," he said, adding that hiring younger talents is one way to innovate. Another consideration is political capital, which is conventionally concentrated on the U.S. East Coast, including Washington D.C. and Boston. "They might be able to get the ear of the policy makers. If you get the ear of the policy makers, you can help make it more business friendly for you. They want collaborative relationships with policy makers as well," said DeNicco. "Move to grow" -- this has become the mainstream decision among the large corporations on the West Coast. "If you don't move, if you don't change and adapt, you get left behind. This is why and how it happens," added DeNicco. SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION Outgrowing the booming cities on the U.S. West Coast, the region's high-tech giant corporations have begun to march eastward to seek more opportunities, dealing with challenges old and new. In doing so, they are widely expected to help improve America's high-tech layout as well as offset the urban-rural divide brought by the digitalization of the U.S. economy. In 2018, more than 44 percent of all digital-service jobs in the United States were located in just 10 metro areas, including Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose, as well as New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Boston, the New York Times recently reported citing a research project by Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brooklyn Institute. The industry's geographical concentration or imbalance has made the high-tech juggernauts' eastward expansion a choice of must, but behind the phenomena is a return to its origin. "Just as tech companies have moved to the center of the U.S. and global economy, so have the large West Coast-based tech companies expanded their offices beyond California and Seattle. In some respects, this is going back to where tech started," said Margaret O'Mara, associate professor of History at the University of Washington, Seattle. In mid-20th century, the electronics industry was centered on the East Coast, with market leaders like IBM (International Business Machines) Corporation having headquarters in New York state, and Boston being the original academic center of computer research and companies like minicomputer giant Digital and word processor maker Wang, she said. By entering the industry's historical bastion, the corporations are making a whole new bet. "They're spreading the culture of Silicon Valley to other parts of the United States," said Christensen, "You start to become part of that culture and that economic system, and I think that's good for California-based companies ultimately that they have a closer relationship with the people that are working (for example) in Washington, D.C.," he said. O'Mara stressed through a historical perspective that the expansion helps balance the country's economy and opens up opportunities for all the concerned sides. "There has been very uneven growth of the U.S. economy generally, and tech in particular, with most of GDP coming from very large coastal metropolitan areas on the East and West Coasts, with the smaller cities and the heartland being left behind," she said. The current eastward expansion may address geographical dynamics and help remedy the U.S. tech imbalance, added O'Mara, also author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and Search for the Next Silicon Valley. MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA As the U.S. high tech map is evolving with some behemoths on the West Coast expanding eastward, top local business representatives think it is a good time for Chinese to come and do business. The time is good for Chinese counterparts to expand cooperation either with the traditional West Coast or the emerging East Coast and some central states, according to Wunderman and Christensen. "We think one of the advantages of the Bay Area of physical location is its proximity to China, even though it's very far away. It's the next place you go to after you cross over the Pacific Ocean. And there's a lot of relationship between here and China," said Wunderman. For example, San Francisco is a longtime sister city of Shanghai -- "a good existing strong relationship" that BAC could build on, and from Beijing, it's a shorter air trip than to New York City, he said. "I would imagine that the California-based CEO would stay more connected to China just because we're closer and there's also the overlap of time. So you can take calls here in the afternoon and talk to your team in China in their morning. That's a significant advantage for the West Coast of the United States as far as doing business with China and communicating" are concerned, Christensen said. Regarding the East Coast, Christensen said, "I know that China does a lot of business in New York." This will help China become part of the ongoing U.S. high-tech "eastward expansion", which also targets other cities like Washington D.C., Boston, Austin and Pittsburgh, he said. While welcoming Chinese counterparts to both coasts to tap new and more potential for doing business, BAC itself keeps reaching out to China to forge closer ties. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of their targets, with a new office mulled to be opened there. BAC currently has four offices in China -- in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing -- to help U.S. tech companies handle public affairs, catch opportunities and expand business. "I think China is a terrific, exciting country for the speed of technological changes and infrastructure. We're pretty amazed by the high-speed rail system, the buildings, architecture and the excitement of people. You can really feel it from the people," said Wunderman. A lot of BAC's member companies are operating in China today. "I think the most important thing is to understand the culture of how you're doing business in another country, and understand how decisions are made," said Christensen. He recalled participation in the first China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November. "California is open for business...This year, we're gonna go again, but much bigger. A much bigger delegation, because we want to sell products. We want to erase the trade deficit by having California sell a lot of products to China," he said. (Video reporters: Xia Lin, Zhang Mocheng, Wu Xiaoling, Gao Lu; Video editor: Liu Ruoshi) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 16:41:59|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Salesforce, a global leading company in customer relationship management (CRM) based in downtown San Francisco, Monday announced acquisition of its philanthropic arm, Salesforce.org, in a one-time cash deal of 300 million U.S. dollars. Salesforce said the deal will convert Salesforce.org from a California public benefit corporation into a business corporation, and the 300-million-dollar funds will go to the independent Salesforce.com Foundation, a California nonprofit public benefit company. After the merger, Salesforce will create a new nonprofit and education vertical led by Salesforce.org CEO Rob Acker to focus on the sales, marketing and customer success of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. The new company will also develop Salesforce.org's Nonprofit Cloud, Education Cloud and Philanthropy Cloud vertical applications. Salesforce said the acquisition will scale its philanthropic efforts and create strategic synergies in driving greater success for its nonprofit, education and philanthropy customers. Salesforce was founded in 1999 along with Salesforce.org, it said, the company has provided technology for free or at a discounted rate to more than 40,000 nonprofits and education institutions and donated more than 260 million dollars in grants. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 17:47:49|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close TOKYO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Tuesday expressed his strong hope that Britain's planned departure from the European Union (EU) would be a smooth one and that a "no-deal" Brexit would be avoided. Kono told British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at a meeting in Tokyo that he welcomed the fact that Britain leaving the EU without a deal has been avoided for the time being, after the deadline for Britain to leave the EU was postponed from April 12 to Oct. 31. Britain and the other 27 EU members agreed last week to postpone the Brexit deadline due to an impasse at the British parliament on the deal British Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated with the EU. In their second round of talks in a month, Kono, however, made it clear that Japan hopes the negative impact of Brexit could minimum and that Japanese firms and the broader global economy will not be overly affected. His remarks echoed that of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a day earlier, who also expressed his strong hope that disruption to financial markets, Japanese firms and the global economy caused by Brexit would be as minimal as possible. Hunt, for his part, said Tuesday that Britain was intent on leaving the EU with a deal and not crashing out, which would severely impact businesses and financial markets. Major Japanese manufactures including Toyota Motor Corp. Nissan Motor Co., and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. all have factories in Britain. Honda's plant in Swindon in the southwest of England has already announced the planned closure of its plant, threatening jobs of 3,500 workers there, while Toyota has warned that its Burnaston plant in central England may suspend operations if Britain leaves the EU without a deal. Nissan, meanwhile, has already canceled plans to manufacture the new model of the X-Trail sport utility vehicle at its Sunderland plant in England's northeast. Due to the prolonged Brexit impasse in the British parliament, the Foreign Ministry said that Kono and Hunt agreed that the postponed "two-plus-two" bilateral ministerial security talks that were supposed to be held this month, would be rescheduled. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:08:05|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese law enforcement agencies were told to improve their ability to detect threats to social stability at a meeting held here Monday, according to a statement published Tuesday. Law enforcement agencies should build their capacity and try every effort to prevent minor incidents from deteriorating, said the statement from the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The country will also improve its assessing of risks and threats concerning social stability and the ability to quickly respond to major emergencies, the statement said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:13:07|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Li Zhanshu (R), chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, meets with Vice President of the German Bundestag (Parliament) Hans-Peter Friedrich at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), on Tuesday met with Vice President of the German Bundestag (Parliament) Hans-Peter Friedrich. Hailing China and Germany as major powers, Li said enhancing win-win cooperation between the two countries was of great significance to building an open world economy and promoting world peace and stability. Li said China was ready to implement the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries and deepen pragmatic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road. The NPC is willing to step up friendly exchanges with the German Bundestag in various areas, to enhance experience sharing on state governance and legislative supervision, it said. For his part, Friedrich said the German Bundestag was willing to do more for the development of friendly relations between Germany and China. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:28:16|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Liu Qibao (R), vice chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), participates in a tree-planting event in Xishan National Forest Park in Haidian District in Beijing, capital of China, April 16, 2019. Vice chairpersons of the CPPCC National Committee, Liu Qibao, Lu Zhangong, Xia Baolong, Yang Chuantang, Zheng Jianbang, Gu Shengzu, He Wei, Shao Hong and Gao Yunlong, on Tuesday participated in the tree-planting event in Beijing. They were joined by nearly 300 staff members of the working organs of the CPPCC National Committee at the event, during which more than 1,050 saplings of different types of trees were planted. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan) BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Liu Qibao, Lu Zhangong, Xia Baolong, Yang Chuantang, Zheng Jianbang, Gu Shengzu, He Wei, Shao Hong and Gao Yunlong, on Tuesday participated in a tree-planting event in Beijing. They were joined by nearly 300 staff members of the working organs of the CPPCC National Committee at the event held at the Xishan National Forest Park in Haidian District, during which more than 1,050 saplings of different types of trees were planted. Over the years, the CPPCC National Committee working organs have consistently organized voluntary tree-planting activities as part of their efforts to boost ecological development. Political advisors have also been mobilized to investigate ecological and environmental protection issues and put forward proposals in such areas. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:43:26|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close The Notre Dame Cathedral is on fire in central Paris, capital of France, on April 15, 2019. A blaze broke out on Monday afternoon at the Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris where firefighters were still fighting to put the fire under control, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said. (Xinhua/Gao Jing) PARIS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris has been put out after burning for 15 hours, local media reported on Tuesday. "The whole fire is extinguished," Paris firefighters' spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Plus told local media. Local firefighters worked through the night to monitor the cathedral's structure and extinguish residual pockets of fire inside the building, Plus said. "During the night, the 1000-square-meter roof went up in smoke. Until this morning the mission was to preserve the two bell towers ... to ensure that they will not collapse," he said. Thorough checks on the cathedral's structural soundness would be needed, he added. In early Monday evening, a fire broke out in the famed cathedral. Online footage showed thick smoke billowing from the top of the cathedral and huge flames between its two bell towers engulfing the spire and the entire roof which both collapsed later. According to the official Paris fire service Twitter account, nearly 400 firefighters attended the scene, while "2 police officers and a firefighter were slightly injured." "The cathedral's structure is saved and the main works of art are safe," it said. According to local media, the fire, which broke out at around 1645 GMT, may be linked to renovation works. Paris prosecutors said police will conduct an investigation into "involuntary destruction by fire." Criminal motives have been ruled out. Notre Dame is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture which receives about 12 million visitors every year. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:48:32|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu Tuesday called for a review of issues related to beleaguered Jet Airways. Issues of increasing fares and flight cancellations were highlighted in the statement issued by the minister. He has also issued instructions for safety and protection of passenger rights. Jet Airways, an Indian domestic airline, is currently grappling with acute financial crisis. The airline is operating less than 10 planes besides temporarily suspending international operations. The board of directors of the debt-ridden airline met on Tuesday to discuss the future course of action after a promised 216 million U.S. dollars fund infusion to keep the airline afloat was not released by the lenders. Employees of the airline have staged protests demanding the payment of their salaries. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:48:34|Editor: ZX Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with the Secretary General of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry Muhammad Shahrul who is in Beijing for strategic talks between the two countries, in Beijing, capital of China, April 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China welcomes the participation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which is to be held in Beijing in late April. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks here Tuesday while meeting with Muhammad Shahrul, the secretary general of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, who is in Beijing for strategic talks between the two countries. China appreciates Mahathir's promotion of Asian values and Malaysia's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, Wang said, adding that he is fully confident in the future of bilateral ties. Mahathir looks forward to participating in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, said Shahrul, adding that this shows the Malaysian side attaches importance to and supports the Belt and Road Initiative. He also expressed the Malaysian side's hope for stepping up high-level exchanges and deepening cooperation in various fields with China. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:58:47|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close People gather near a militant hideout during an operation against insurgents in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, April 16, 2019. At least six people including a policeman and five militants were killed when police and army forces launched a joint operation against insurgents in the capital city Peshawar of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a military statement said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Umar Qayyum) ISLAMABAD, April 16 (Xinhua) -- At least six people including a policeman and five militants were killed when police and army forces launched a joint operation against insurgents in the capital city Peshawar of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a military statement said Tuesday. An officer and a soldier also got injured in the clash between security forces and the militants, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani army's media wing said in the statement. The operation that lasted for about 17 hours, started on Monday night after security forces acted on an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of the militants in Hayatabad area of the city. The militants sprayed bullets at the police when they tried to enter the compound, triggering out an exchange of fire in which a policeman and a militant were killed. More contingents of police and army joined the police party battling the militants on Tuesday and cleared the three-storey hideout after successfully concluding the operation on Tuesday afternoon. Police said that the operation took a long time as the militants' compound was in a densely populated area and they did not want to put lives of security forces and local residents in danger by some extensive operation in the area, according to local media. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Qazi Jamil said that militants used sophisticated weapons to confront the police and army personnel. Senior police and army officials from the city also visited the operation site to check the attack strategy of the personnel taking part in the joint operation. The identities or affiliations of the terrorists were not revealed, but some local media reports said that the militants were associated with some proscribed organization and were planning to attack a senior official in Peshawar. They were also involved in attacking a senior judge in the same area in 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 18:58:48|Editor: ZX Video Player Close GUANGZHOU, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists have identified a tomb within which a young woman has been squatting for 13,500 years. The tomb, part of the Qingtang ruins in southern China's Guangdong Province, hosts a female aged between 13 and 18, who was placed in a squatting posture with her head missing for unknown reasons. It has been confirmed as the oldest tomb found in China whose owner's body was deliberately placed in a specific posture, said Liu Suoqiang, who heads the Qingtang ruins excavation project. Apart from the squatting posture, the discovery of burial items, including a bone pin, inside the tomb suggests burial practices at that time already followed a set of procedures and rituals, said Liu, a senior researcher with the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology. "It (laying the dead in a certain posture) points to the emergence of the concepts of life and death and of primitive religious beliefs," Liu said. The practice of burying the dead in a squatting posture has been found in prehistoric tombs in southern China and southeast Asia, a major difference from northern China where early tomb owners were usually found lying on their backs with stretched limbs. Archaeologists are still debating on the symbolism of the squatting posture, with some suggesting it was a simulation of a baby in the womb. Liu said they were also studying whether the women's head was missing due to natural causes or was removed before the burial rite for some reason, an assumption that needs proof from more discoveries of similar tombs. The Qingtang ruins, whose excavation finished earlier this year, has been listed as one of the top 10 Chinese archaeological discoveries in 2018. Archaeologists have found pottery fragments dating back about 17,000 years ago at the site, providing more proof that southern China might be the first region where pottery was ever produced. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 19:08:53|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BEIRUT, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese officials expressed deep sorrow over the major fire that has engulfed the medieval cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of France's most famous landmarks. "This is a humanitarian and cultural disaster that cannot be described," Prime Minister Saad Hariri was quoted as saying by the National News Agency on Tuesday, expressing Lebanon's solidarity with the French people. Walid Jumblatt, leader of Progressive Socialist Party Leader, tweeted that fire cannot burn Notre Dame which represents life. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said he cannot imagine Paris without Notre Dame Cathedral. "It will rise again. I am sure," he said. Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said "it saddens us to watch the burning of a historic and civilizational landmark that is fundamental to France and the world." Meanwhile, French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher expressed gratefulness for the Lebanese support, saying there is no masterpiece in the cathedral that cannot be repaired. A major fire on Monday engulfed the 850-year-old Gothic building Notre Dame Cathedral, resulting in the collapse of its spire and roof, but the main structure, including the two bell towers, has been saved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 19:13:59|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is significant and the Iraqi government should try to benefit from the project, an Iraqi researcher has said. Hayder Qasim al-Tameemi, a professor at the research department of the Iraqi House of Wisdom think tank, told Xinhua in a recent interview that "the Silk Road with its historical significance was a corridor to pass ideas of peoples between the West and the East." In al-Tameemi's opinion, the BRI creates social harmony among the nations, and it has a greater significance than just economic benefits. Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Iraq plays an important historical role in the Silk Road considering its brilliant civilization and economic weight, according to al-Tameemi. If Iraq wants to seize the opportunity, "it could be a chance for Iraq and its economic policy to give up nearly complete reliance on the revenues of oil exports," al-Tameemi added. Iraq's active participation in the BRI could be a start to expand and diversify the country's economy, said al-Tameemi, adding that this project is not only about the transport of goods, but also about cultural exchanges and promoting the tourism industry in Iraq. He believed that Iraq "can exploit its strong point" to attract major Chinese joint ventures in various fields. "Iraq needs the Chinese experience, and through the project of the BRI, our communication and cooperation with China will be closer," the researcher added. He called on Chinese companies to invest in Iraq, adding that "the Iraqi market is promising and needs Chinese expertise." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 19:14:01|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The State Council General Office has released a regulation to improve elderly care services and meet the multilevel and diverse needs of the aged. The regulation, with six sections and 28 measures, stressed the need to establish a supervision system on elderly care services, deepen reform of public-funded elderly care organs, and improve precise investment by the government. The regulation requires the extending of channels for investing and financing, and achieving expanding employment and entrepreneurship. A system will be formed to recognize the skill of caregivers and provide them with more education and training opportunities, it said. It also demanded the protection of the elderly rights and interests, while dealing with illegal fund-raising in the elderly care sector. Efforts should be made to advance high-quality elderly care and improve elderly care facilities, it added. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 19:34:15|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A grenade explosion took place Tuesday outside the residential house of a National Conference (NC) leader in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. No loss of life or injury to anyone was caused in the explosion. The grenade explosion took place in Tral town of Pulwama district, about 46 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Unknown persons suspected to be militants today threw a grenade towards the house of NC leader Mohammed Ashraf Bhat here," a police official posted in the Tral told Xinhua. "The grenade missed the intended target and exploded outside without causing any damage." According to locals, the grenade attack was carried out at a time when party workers had assembled inside Bhat's house to conduct an election meeting. Following the attack, contingents of police and paramilitary rushed to the spot to carry out searches to nab attackers. So far no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 19:34:17|Editor: ZX Video Player Close CHANGCHUN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- An explosion-proof light rail train that will be exported to Israel rolled off the assembly line in the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun on Tuesday. The train, manufactured by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd., will be used for the red line of the light rail system in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The 23-km line is schedule to be put into operation in 2021. As required by the Israeli side, the train was designed with explosion-proof features of the highest security standards, according to the Chinese train maker. The train's underframe structure is made of non-ferromagnetic material, which can prevent magnetic bombs from being attached to it. The windows are equipped with explosion-proof glass that can withstand the impact of stones and burning bottles. Inside the train, the door of the driver's room is designed in accordance with Israel's anti-intrusion safety standards. In terms of fire resistance, the underframe structure will remain intact within 15 minutes of combustion, giving passengers enough time to evacuate. In 2015, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles signed an agreement with Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. in Tel Aviv to provide trains for the city's light rail system. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:09:42|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is planning to offer tax incentives for low-cost airlines to fly into the country to attract more international tourists, officials said. Kenya has set a target to raise the number of international travelers from 2 million in 2018 to 3 million by the end of 2022, Najib Balala, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, told journalists in Nairobi on Monday evening. "We are planning to roll out tax incentives for low-cost airlines that will bring visitors into Kenya beginning the next financial year," Balala told an event celebrating his winning the World Travel and Tourism Council's Global Champion Award at the 2019 Global Summit in Seville, Spain, for Kenya's work on promoting the social impact in the tourism sector. Government data indicates that international tourists spent over 157 billion shillings (1.57 billion U.S. dollars) in Kenya last year. Balala said the incentives will not impact the role of Kenya Airways, the national flag carrier, in attracting more inbound tourists. No country in the world has developed a vibrant tourist sector without leveraging on low-cost airlines to bring in tourists, he said. Kenya is keen to embrace an open sky policy to ensure that more international airlines operate in the country, Balala said. The availability of affordable flights into Kenya from major global cities in the United States, Europe and Asia will boost the number of tourists in Kenya, he said, noting that the number of international visitors coming into Kenya is very low compared to its unique beach and wildlife products. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:09:43|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a condolence message to his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, after a fire ravaged the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Chinese president said that Notre Dame is a significant symbol of the French civilization and a great treasure of the human civilization. Like the French people, the Chinese people were also deeply saddened by the devastating fire, Xi said. China firmly believes that restoration will be carried out smoothly and Notre Dame will regain her splendor under the efforts of the French people and with support from the international community, Xi said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:25:00|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's National Health Commission (NHC) will improve its mediation among different sectors to ensure sufficient supply of essential medicines, said a senior health official Tuesday. The NHC will try to monitor the market more closely, increase the supply of bulk drug substance and regulate the pricing, said Zeng Yixin, vice minister of the NHC, at a press conference. "Last year we saw the shortage of some medicines but only temporarily or regionally," Zeng said. "The shortage was mostly caused by the structural imbalance between the supply and demand, the monopoly of certain bulk drug substance or inefficient distribution." The health department will play a better part in coordinating among pharmaceutical firms, drug stores, hospitals and other regulatory agencies, he said. The government adopted a number of policies to ensure the supply of essential medicines in 2018. Pharmaceutical firms were required to report the medicines they no longer produced, while a state catalog for medicines in short supply was established. Government regulators also stepped up the crackdown on malpractice in the pharmaceutical market. In January, two pharmaceutical firms were fined 12.43 million yuan (1.85 million U.S. dollars) for monopolizing the supply of a bulk substance widely used in flu medicines. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:25:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspects Wuxiang forest farm in Hanzhong City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April, 15, 2019. Han made a three-day inspection tour to Shaanxi from Sunday to Tuesday. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) XI'AN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Han Zheng has called on officials in northwest China's Shaanxi Province to break new ground in reform and development. Han, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a three-day inspection tour to Shaanxi from Sunday to Tuesday. Han visited local companies, where he asked questions about tax cuts, industry development and tech innovation. At a local tax bureau in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, Han stressed the implementation of tax and fee cuts to reduce the corporate burden. "Authorities should listen to the suggestions and demand by companies to tackle the issues in reforms, and gauge the effectiveness of the reforms based on the evaluation by these market entities," Han said. While inspecting the local forestry industry, Han stressed that forestry management should be strengthened while law enforcement should be enhanced. Han also stressed that Shaanxi Province should continue to push forward construction under the Belt and Road Initiative. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:40:14|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chen Peiyu, a 27-year-old office worker in Beijing, deeply regrets that she may not have the chance to visit the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this May due to the fire that engulfed the gothic church Monday. A huge fire broke out at the historic cathedral, located in the heart of Paris, destroying the spire of the building on Monday afternoon. Online footage showed flames pouring from the roof, sending thick smoke into the sky. "Such a pity! I didn't even have the chance to see it," Chen said. The blaze simultaneously ignited concern across China, with many Chinese netizens expressing their sadness on social media. The catastrophe soon became the hottest topic on China's social media platform Sina Weibo, with more than 1.2 billion reads. Broken hearts are everywhere. "It is the landmark of Paris, as well as the cultural heritage of all humankind, the accident should ring the alarm," said Ma Weidu, a celebrated Chinese antique collector, on his microblog. "The destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral will be the loss of all humankind, it is heartbreaking," read a comment by a Weibo user named Qiandaixi Rebecca. The iconic cathedral is one of the city's most recognizable symbols, and listed as one of the top three tourist sites in Paris on Chinese travel services platform Mafengwo. Built in medieval times, the world heritage attracts 13 million visitors from all over the world every year, according to its official website. "Fires have always been a threat for historic relics," said Dai Jian, professor of Beijing University of Technology, who specializes in historic architecture protection. The accident of Notre Dame is not an individual case. Before the world mourned for Paris, disasters have also caused devastation on a number of priceless cultural treasures, including the National Museum of Brazil and the Iraqi national museum. Though different in identity and location, every loss of a human treasure saddens people in China and evokes more attention for the protection of human civilizations. Dai said that it was important to record cultural heritage for restoration, and that advanced monitoring system and pre-warning techniques were also necessary to conduct better protection of old buildings. "Exchange of ideas, technology and experience on protecting cultural relics between countries and regions should be strengthened to further protect the cultural heritage of all humankind," said Hou Weidong, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage. "These cultural relics only live once, those that have gone won't come back again," Ma said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 20:50:22|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close BAGHDAD, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 17 Iraqi soldiers were wounded on Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion in Iraq's central city of Fallujah, a military and a medical source said. A roadside bomb was detonated near an Iraqi army convoy in al-Nuaimiya area in southern Fallujah, some 50 km west of the capital Baghdad, injuring 17 soldiers and damaging their vehicle, an Iraqi army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The source did not confirm whether the bomb was recently planted or left by the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants who were previously dislodged from Fallujah during the major offensives by the Iraqi forces. A medical source from the Fallujah Hospital told Xinhua that 17 soldiers with different injuries were admitted to the hospital for treatment on Tuesday. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the IS militant group, in most cases, is responsible for such attacks targeting security forces and areas where crowds of civilians gather, including markets, cafes and mosques. The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved since security forces fully defeated the IS across the country late in 2017. 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| 2019-04-16 21:00:27|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KABUL, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The government of Afghanistan has prepared the list of 250 people, including some women, political figures and government officials to attend the upcoming peace talks with the Taliban representatives in Doha, the capital of Qatar, expected to open on Friday, said a statement of Presidential Media Relations office on Tuesday. The delegation, according to the statement, includes representatives from political parties, Jihadi leaders, religious scholars, families of martyrs, government-owned peace council, legislators, civil society, women, youths, journalists, government officials and tribal elders. President Ashraf Ghani's aide Amrullah Saleh, head of Administrative Office of the President Abdul Waheed Qatali, government's key critic Ata Mohammad Noor, independent presidential runner Haneef Atmar and his vice-president nominee Younus Qanooni as well as some cabinet ministers are also in the list, the statement added. Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Mohaqqeq, two aides of the National Unity Government's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, are also members of the delegation. President Ghani's spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri has told a news briefing that the list introduced a delegation with members of all segments of the Afghan society. The intra-Afghan dialogue has been slated for April 19-21 in Doha to find a negotiated settlement to Afghanistan's protracted war and civil strife. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 21:15:40|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Tuesday they were holding an Egyptian national in connection with an attempt to smuggle 47 live tortoises out of the country. The authorities said the Egyptian was arrested on Sunday at the Zanzibar International Airport where he was in transit abroad. Mulhat Yusuf, the Zanzibar Aviation Authority public relations officer, told a news conference that security officers at the airport discovered that a luggage belonging to the Egyptian had live tortoises. "He was arrested and taken to the airport police station for further questioning and legal action," she said. In Dec. 2018, Tanzanian police announced the seizure of 114 tortoises that were about to be smuggled to European countries and the United States through South Africa. Singida Regional Police Commander Sweetbert Njewike said that a suspect was found with the 114 tortoises, packed in different bags, while travelling to Tanzania's southern highland region of Mbeya from the lake zone region of Mwanza. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 21:30:46|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- When the Ethiopian Parliament ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) last March, the decades-old dream of integrating the continent economically moved one big step forward. On April 2, the small West African nation of Gambia became the 22nd nation to ratify the free trade pact, the minimum threshold needed to approve the deal among the 55 members of the African Union (AU). The ratifying members will then need to deposit their instruments of ratification with the AU. So far, 15 members have already done so, and the AfCFTA will enter into force, 30 days after the required number of ratifications have been deposited with the AU. Speaking to Xinhua, Costantinos Bt. Costantinos, who served as an economic advisor to the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), said Ethiopia's industrialization ambition will likely get a boost from the country's ratification of AfCFTA. "With Ethiopia engaging in an ambitious industrialization drive, to make the country a light manufacturing hub in Africa by 2020, AfCFTA can make Ethiopian goods easily accessible to fellow African countries," said Costantinos. Costantinos said with Ethiopia's industrial ambitions and that of other African nations constrained by lack of significant regional economic integration, AfCFTA can be one way to promote regional economic integration. "African nations including Ethiopia can import goods from neighboring countries that are not readily available within their borders, creating strong intra-African trade linkages," Costantinos told Xinhua. Already, Ethiopia is undertaking road, rail, energy and air travel infrastructure projects to boost economic integration efforts with neighboring countries. These include the construction and commissioning of the 756km electrified rail line connecting landlocked Ethiopia to ports in Djibouti, an ongoing road construction project to connect Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to Kenyan capital Nairobi and a 6,450 MW hydro dam Ethiopia is building just 40 kilometers from the Sudanese border. With Ethiopia being Africa's second most populous country at nearly 105 million people, only surpassed by Nigeria, as well as being the seat of the African Union (AU), Ethiopia's AfCFTA ratification was seen as key to persuade reluctant African countries to join the agreement. While Ethiopia is looking to the immediate future of using AfCFTA to deepen regional economic integration, the AU is aiming for AfCFTA to become a catalyst for larger economic integration in the whole of Africa. AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga recently said the AfCFTA operations will bring continental economic integration dreams into reality. "With AfCFTA expected to be operational soon, the AU expects member states to start to liberalize trade relations with each other, reduce trade tariff among African countries and come up with mechanism to monitor the application of non-tariff barriers by some member states," said Muchanga. With African countries including Ethiopia, Lesotho, Egypt and Nigeria aiming to use the textile and apparel sectors to boost their economies, the AU has already identified priority sectors that will help AfCFTA's overall goals. "The textile and apparel sector has the potential to create mass employment opportunities for the continent's youth and women, promote intra-African trade and integrate Africa into the global economic value chain," said Muchanga. He added that private African textile and apparel sector manufacturers should also look to develop joint ventures to increase the capacity of their production lines, thereby boosting economies of scale. In March 2018, African countries signed an agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area in Kigali, Rwanda. The AfCFTA, being one of the biggest trade agreements in recent years in the world, aims to create a single market among the countries in the African continent. According to the AU, the AfCFTA will bring together African countries with a combined population of more than 1 billion people and a combined GDP of more than 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 21:48:43|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A soldier from the Jordan Armed Forces competes in the 11th Annual Warrior Competition at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC) in Amman, Jordan, on April 16, 2019. The international Annual Warrior Competition, created and hosted by Jordan, started on Sunday, state-run Petra news agency reported. The competition, which features 39 teams from 27 countries, played a key role in bringing the best teams from across the world to compete and learn from each other and exchange expertise, said KASOTC Director General Omar Shugeirat. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh) Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 21:40:54|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A conservation organization in Tanzania's Serengeti ecosystem has rescued more than 1,000 wild animals from snares mounted by poachers, a report by the organization said on Tuesday. Grumeti Fund, a conservation organization in the Serengeti ecosystem, successfully removed 1,392 snares used by poachers in trapping and ultimately killing wild animals in the area, said the report. The report said Grumeti Fund was carrying out the de-snaring program in collaboration with Tanzanian government agencies carrying out wildlife conservation and community development work along the western corridor. The Grumeti Fund's Impact Report 2018 said the animals were mostly trapped and poached either for bush-meat and ivory, particularly from elephants. "Snaring is a serious problem affecting wild animals in the Serengeti ecosystem," said the report. Apart from removing the snares from the wild animals, the Grumeti Fund also managed to seize 187 traditional weapons used by suspected poachers traversing the area as well as achieving a 50 percent success rate in arrests using covert cameras. The Grumeti Fund says its mission is to contribute to the conservation of the Serengeti ecosystem, its natural landscape, and its wildlife. Its operations combine cutting-edge technology with well trained boots on the ground to combat the poaching menace. The Fund partners with local communities and other stakeholders to build capacity and thereby help them to realize their conservation and development aspirations. In November 2018, it was announced that more than 17,000 snares used by poachers to kill wildlife in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park were seized during a de-snaring program that started in April 2017. The program was supported by a handful of tour operators and stakeholders with a vested interest in protecting the Serengeti's spectacular wildlife, working together with Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). Erik Winberg, FZS Project Manager, Serengeti Conservation Program, said the de-snaring teams consisted of eight former poachers who were recruited from the villages in the Serengeti ecosystem for their expertise in snaring and TANAPA game rangers who works closely with the Serengeti National Park authorities to collect snares before they do harm. Winberg had told Xinhua in an interview that the impact of the de-snaring program was impressive. "We have so far seized 17,536 snares, 32 poachers have been arrested, 125 poacher camps were found, 530 animals were found dead and 175 animals were released alive," added Winberg. Winberg said the arrested poachers were handed over to TANAPA's law enforcement unit for prosecution according to the Tanzania law. He said most of the trapped and killed animals were the wildebeest, adding that the poachers were mainly locals who put the snares for bush meat. In 2017, several local tour operators and other tourism stakeholders joined forces with a single goal of protecting Serengeti's spectacular wildlife by donating money from their businesses. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 21:56:10|Editor: ZX Video Player Close by Naim-Ul-Karim DHAKA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Being selected for Huawei's global flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) program "Seeds for the Future" in Bangladesh was a dream come true for Tasfia Seuti. A couple of months before being selected, Seuti's life was full of stress and tension as with hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi students who had no idea what to do after graduating. In a country like Bangladesh, the pursuit of a career is often compared with "chasing a golden deer," but Seuti, a final year student at Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, is no longer worried about her future. This is because the Huawei program has planted positive, visionary seeds in her mind. "As an undergraduate student, I know how difficult the corporate world can be. I'm in my final year and I had no idea what to do after my graduation," Seuti said. "When Huawei gives us this opportunity, we came to understand a lot more about the corporate world," said Seuti, who was made representative of the 10 students selected for the Seeds for the Future-2019 program. She went on to explain that Seeds for the Future is one of Huawei's global programs that invites capable students from different countries to their headquarters in China's Shenzen and provides them with training about the corporate world. For students this program is extremely beneficial because Huawei is a company that is very advanced in areas of research. I am very much looking forward to putting this experience to good use, said Seuti. "I think my experience with Huawei will be a huge help in my future career," said Seuti, who passed a series of selection rounds to qualify for the program last month. Seuti and her peers made a video presentation in front of an audience of hundreds including senior officials and a Bangladeshi minister in a gala round recently. Her team's confident performance earned them a big round of applause, and Huawei, the organizer, was lauded by the guests for providing the opportunity for Bangladesh people to use high-end products at reasonable prices, which is greatly benefiting the nation. "People here are benefiting so much because such products usually come with a price tag that most people cannot afford," said Seuti. "We are very grateful to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for that," she added. When we talk about China we obviously talk about technology and how it has improved over the years, and while I have never been to China before, I am very excited, said Seuti. "I have been looking forward to this program since I was selected and I am now planning for the future," said the girl, who along with her peers are set to visit China later this month. Zhang Zhengjun, chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd., said they selected 10 students from five top Bangladesh engineering and technological universities. "We arrange for them to visit China where they will learn about Huawei's cutting-edge technologies at our headquarters in Shenzhen. They will also visit Beijing, will have a chance to learn about Chinese culture," he said. Our CSR program is not only for Bangladesh but is being applied all over the world. As a leading company we undertake this kind of responsibility, explained Zhang. Bangladesh has a huge population of more than 160 million people and the key to advancing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is talent, he said. "In Bangladesh we are committed to helping young people develop their individual talents, so they can, in turn, help their country to grow as a whole. This is our intention," Zhang said. He went on to say that this is the fifth time this year that Huawei has carried out the Seeds for the Future program in Bangladesh. "Huawei is a leading telecommunications provider all over the world. We are also a leading telecom partner in Bangladesh as an ICT provider," said Zhang. Bangladeshi Post, Telecommunications and ICT Minister, Mustafa Jabbar, said this is an age of bringing young people into the mainstream. "Huawei's Seeds for the Future program is so beneficial to encouraging and supporting young people from all over the world. They have supported around 350 universities so far, and making such an investment in young people is commendable," the minister said. "I am really happy about China's rapid developments in innovation and emerging technologies for the future," he added. Everybody knows that we are at the precipice of a digital revolution and new technologies being spearheaded by China, including 5G networks, artificial intelligence, robotics and the general Internet of Things, will not only benefit China, but the rest of the world, said Mustafa. "We receive total support from China and I'm so grateful that the Chinese companies that are working in Bangladesh are committed to helping us grow digitally and generally," the minister added. The fifth edition of Huawei's Seeds for the Future program was launched in Bangladesh on Feb. 18. Huawei officials said the program has been designed to cultivate more ICT talent in Bangladesh and provide an opportunity for students to expand their technological skills sets and knowledge base during their training at Huawei's headquarters. "Young people here make a significant contribution to the country's ICT development. So, we are keen to take responsibility for and to nurture their talent," the minister said. "We always feel proud when our young people do something good or make a positive contribution to society," he said, with reference to Bangladesh's moves towards its "Vision 2021" concept of utilizing modern technology and innovation to help myriad aspects in society. He said for the last few years Huawei has been doing a noble job in igniting the digital imagination of young minds across Bangladesh and the world. Huawei believes young people are the main engine of development as well as digital advancement, according to Zhang, who added that this ICT talent hunt Seeds for the Future program will help students develop new ideas and help their society become fully connected and intelligent. "With this project, we aim to plant a visionary seed in the minds of young people so that in the coming years they can actualize their own ideas to make society a better place to live," said Zhang. Launched globally in 2008, Seeds for the Future has been implemented in 108 countries and international organizations worldwide, benefiting over 30,000 students from 350 universities. Among them, more than 3,600 university students have been invited to study and learn at Huawei's headquarters in China. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:01:12|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close TOKYO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A Japanese high court on Tuesday ordered the central government to pay damages to 3,400 residents living near a U.S. base in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa over military aircraft noise. While upholding the Okinawa branch of the Naha District Court's ruling to pay compensation made in 2016, the upper court cut the compensation amount from 2.46 billion yen (22 million U.S. dollars) to 2.12 billion yen (19 million U.S. dollars). The plaintiffs' demand that flights from the controversial U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, central to a relocation-linked spat between the Okinawa prefectural and central government, be suspended was also rejected by the upper court. The prefectural government and the plaintiffs both appealed the court's decision not to suspend flights from the Futenma base. Presiding Judge Masamichi Okubo, in handing down the court's ruling Tuesday, said that many of the residents are being subjected to a level of noise as a result of U.S. military aircraft, that are above acceptable levels and that this is in violation of their rights. In dismissing the plaintiffs' demands for flights to be suspended, the court said that the Japanese (central) government "is not in a position to regulate the operation of U.S. military aircraft." The plaintiffs' had maintained that the government should "directly face the reality of damage caused to people's lives and provide relief to them." Noise complaints, as well as those related to U.S. military-linked pollution and crime have long been the bane of residents in Okinawa. The tiny subtropical island accounts for just a fraction off Japan's total land mass, yet hosts the bulk of U.S. military bases in Japan. Tuesday's ruling comes as the central government, based on a pact made with the United States, is forging ahead with construction work in the coastal region of Henoko for a replacement facility for the Futenma base currently located in Nago, both in Okinawa. Amid rising instances of mishaps and accidents involving U.S. military aircraft and criminal cases involving base-linked personnel, calls from Okinawans for their U.S. base-hosting burdens to be lifted have intensified of late. In February, the majority of voters in a prefecture-wide referendum in Okinawa, rejected the government's plans to move the U.S. base to Henoko, calling for the Futenma base to be relocated off the island and out of Japan altogether against a backdrop of rising anti-U.S. sentiment on the island. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:01:18|Editor: ZX Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department touted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent visit to Latin America as an opportunity to "deepen U.S. partnerships in the Western Hemisphere." Instead, it was an attempt to drive a wedge between China and Latin America through groundless accusations. Washington's agenda to turn several Latin American countries against China came as no surprise, and Pompeo's "utterly irresponsible and unreasonable" remarks -- in the words of Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang -- would not be the last. While China's detractors never sleep, the diatribes won't stand the test of reason and reality in a global era of win-win cooperation and common development. Pompeo calls Chinese investments "corrosive" while "eroding good governance" in Latin American countries. But experts and officials in the region disagree. They have long spoken positively of the Asian country's investments in the region. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Chile-based United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, praised China for showing its willingness to support growth in the region and elsewhere beyond the Asian continent. During last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in Papua New Guinea, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera stressed deepening cooperation with China regarding investment, trade and infrastructure. The list of countries -- both in Latin America and beyond -- that welcome Chinese investment continues to grow. Nothing could better exemplify the widespread acceptance of Chinese investment than the significant traction enjoyed by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Among the 125 countries and 29 international organizations taking part in BRI projects are those from the developing world aspiring to improve their dilapidated infrastructure. While the BRI well meets such needs for development, false claims have emerged of a so-called "debt trap." No participating country so far has complained of falling into a so-called "debt trap" of Chinese loans. In fact, if there is any trap, blame the one set up by self-serving western countries who wish to keep the developing world in poverty and backwardness. On various occasions, officials and scholars from the developing world have refuted bizarre western claims by citing facts and underscoring how China's investments help to advance local development. In February, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, said China and the pan-African bloc have enjoyed an "unprecedentedly dynamic" partnership in various areas. Dushni Weerakoon, a Sri Lankan scholar, and Sisira Jayasuriya, professor of Economics at Australia's Monash University, wrote that Sri Lanka's debt repayment problems had very little to do with Chinese loans, which comprise roughly 10 percent of Sri Lanka's total foreign debt. In the case of Pakistan's participation in the BRI, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Pakistan's parliamentary secretary for commerce, said earlier this month at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has created tens of thousands of jobs and revived the economy of an entire region. "You will not find China an unfair partner," he said. It is not just in the realm of investment and infrastructure that China is pursuing fair, win-win and sustainable development with its partners. In recent years, many countries have been cooperating with China on 5G technology, another thorn in Washington's side. However, the U.S. campaign to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei on the pretext of national security isn't gaining much traction beyond its own borders, with an increasing number of nations now welcoming China's development in 5G technology. With protectionism and unilateralism rearing its ugly head, humanity is standing at a crossroads. Wisdom and courage are needed for the world to grow together. Washington's barrel of lies against China is failing to sway global public opinion. A growing China is good for the world, a truth that even the U.S. cannot change. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:06:21|Editor: ZX Video Player Close KUNMING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province seized 9,000 cartons of smuggled counterfeit cigarettes worth nearly 1 million yuan (149,002 U.S. dollars). On April 9, police officers in the city of Lincang were informed by the local tobacco monopoly bureau that a batch of problematic cigarettes would go through Zhenkang county. On April 10, the police officers captured a truck carrying the smuggled cigarettes. A total of six suspects were caught. The case is under further investigation. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:16:31|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close LONDON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Politicians in London expressed fears for Britain's most famous building, the Houses of Parliament, in the wake of the devastating Notre Dame Cathedral fire. The Palace of Westminster as the home of British politics is known to be in line for a multi-billion-dollar facelift and refurbishment, on fears that the building, which dates back 1,000 years, is a potential fire risk. Proposed works are not due to start until the mid-2020s when the House of Commons and the House of Lords both move to temporary homes in London. Labour politician Chris Bryant, a member of a joint committee of parliamentarians from both the Commons and the Lords which examined the state of the building, said: "We have taken far too long already putting our fire safety measures in place." "Parts of the Palace are as old as Notre Dame and we must make sure that every fire precaution is taken as the major work goes ahead. God knows we've had enough warnings," Bryant added. A joint committee report in 2016 cited a substantial and growing risk of either a single, catastrophic event, such as a major fire, or a succession of incremental failures in essential systems which would lead to Parliament no longer being able to occupy the Palace of Westminster. Main opposition leader, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said the Paris fire was a warning for MPs about the state of the Palace of Westminster. He said: "The state of the building is very poor in Westminster and a fire risk is obviously huge with a building that has so much wood within it." Labour MP Anna Turley said she was shocked by the state of the building when she was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015. "On my induction an engineer showed me the electrics (in the Houses of Parliament). It looked a health and safety disaster and fire waiting to happen," she said. Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, who is regarded as Prime Minister Theresa May's deputy, said a water leak in the Commons earlier this month was a stark reminder of the need to deal with the building's problems. "With each year that passes, the risk of a catastrophic fire grows," Lidington said earlier this week about the Houses of Parliament. A UK Parliament spokesperson said: "Fire safety is a key priority for Parliament and protections are constantly reviewed and updated including at our active construction sites. "Last year, we completed a major program of works to enhance fire safety measures in the Palace of Westminster, and while this work continues we stand ready to learn any lessons that emerge from the fire at Notre Dame to ensure we do everything possible to protect our people and buildings on the Parliamentary Estate. Health, safety and well-being, including fire safety, will remain the highest priority," said the spokesperson. The Palace of Westminster was built in the mid-1800s after a fire in 1834 destroyed large parts of the old building. The oldest part of the building, the 1,000 year old medieval Westminster Hall survived and remains a busy part of the parliament estate. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:26:46|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close NDOLA, Zambia, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese investments in Zambia's agricultural sector will enhance technology adoption in the country's farming industry, which will result in higher food productivity, a senior government official has said. Minister of Agriculture Michael Katambo said in an interview with Xinhua early this week that Zambia is partnering with foreign investors, especially the Chinese in the farming industry to improve national food production. "Our partnering with Chinese in agriculture sector will scale up investment in the farming industry in our country," he said, adding the Chinese have shown an interest in investing in the country's aquaculture sector. Katambo said Zambia should be turned into a regional food basket in the next few years because of the anticipated increase in investment. Agriculture sector is one of the major revenue generation contributors towards Zambia's economic growth, he added. The government, he said, has set aside 100,000 hectares of land across provinces to open up farming activities on a commercial basis. "We are encouraging all our private partners to help develop the undeveloped farming blocks across the country. We want to be a food basket in the southern region," he said. This, he said, can only be achieved when the agriculture sector engages in modern agriculture technology to enhance farming activities. According to him, the construction of multi-purpose dams such as Muwomboshi dam in Central province and Kafulafuta dam on the Copperbelt province will help harness water for improved irrigation activities. "Farmers will benefit a lot to grow food all year round through enhanced irrigation system," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:31:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's central authorities have issued a document asking for improvements to the country's arbitration system to strengthen its credibility. The document, jointly issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, notes that arbitration is an internationally-received means for convenient and efficient dispute resolution. It requires the strict implementation of arbitration-related laws and rules to ensure that arbitral institutions work independently in accordance with the law, the principle for the parties' autonomy is implemented, and acts that disturb the order for arbitration development are rectified. The internal governance and management of arbitration commissions should be streamlined with the selection and management of arbitrators be improved, the document says. Also, it requires reforms and innovations with the arbitration system, calling for efforts to support the introduction of the Internet in arbitration. The development of arbitration system should serve the country's opening up and development strategies, according to the document, which also stresses deepening the cooperation among arbitral institutions in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It also underlines the CPC leadership over relevant work, self-discipline in the sector and better support and supervision from judicial agencies. It asks local governmental authorities to comprehensively handle violations of relevant laws and rules. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:36:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MAPUTO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The government of Mozambique announced on Tuesday in Maputo that it will organize a donors' conference in the city of Beira on May 30 to discuss reconstruction after the Idai disaster. The devastating cyclone Idai hit the central region on the night of March 14, bringing fierce winds and flooding, leaving more than 600 people dead, 1.5 million affected and most of the city's infrastructure damaged. In addition to discussing about resources in need for the reconstruction process, the conference will collect from international participants the experience in the construction of resilient infrastructure. "We have to incorporate resilient components based on the country's history in the past years and the experience that our partners bring from other countries, which is fundamental to adapt our country to the phenomenon caused by climate change," said Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Joao Machatine. The minister was speaking during the training of technicians for assessment of damages and losses caused by cyclone Idai, which will help identify multi-sectoral and crosscutting needs and propose a recovery strategy. The results of the evaluation will be presented during the donors' conference to inform participants for a much more efficient intervention. The minister said the priority will be the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and transmission lines, which were important to guarantee that economic and social activities can revive as fast as possible. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:47:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel and Finland agreed on collaboration in the field of digital health, as reported by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) on Tuesday. The key collaboration between the two countries was launched by the IIA, the Helsinki Business Hub and the Israel-Europe R&D Directorate (ISERD) at an event held at the Finnish Embassy in Israel, located in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. The event was marked by a call for proposals for joint projects between Israeli and Finnish companies in the field. In the cooperation statement it was noted that Israel and Finland are both leading innovation economies with technology and entrepreneurship at their core. Finland is one of the strongest markets in healthcare technology, and one of the first countries to set up a national digital patient data repository covering both the public and private healthcare sectors. Israel is home to over 350 R&D (research and development) centers of multinational corporations and Fortune 500 annual list companies, such as Google, IBM, Intel, Facebook, and Nokia. Israel is also the world leader in R&D spending as a percentage of GDP and is home to hundreds of startups and companies driving innovations in the medical fields. Ambassador-designate of Finland to Israel, Kirsikka Lehto-Asikainen, said "it is an important and exciting leap forward for the cooperation between Finland and Israel as leading innovative countries." Aharon Aharon, CEO of the IIA, added "the collaboration will help Finnish start-ups access groundbreaking technologies that support the Finland's progressive health policies. This is also an extraordinary opportunity for Israeli companies to connect with Finnish leaders in the digital health ecosystem and gain exposure to cutting-edge technologies." Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:57:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RIGA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Egils Levits, a judge at the European Court of Justice, has accepted his nomination for Latvia's next president, the presidential candidate has confirmed on public TV. Earlier on Monday, Latvia's center-right government coalition announced their decision to nominate Levits for the Latvian presidency. Lawmakers are due to elect the next president of Latvia at the end of May or early June. To get elected, Levits has to secure at least 51 lawmakers' votes in the presidential elections. So far, at least 53 MPs have pledged their support for him as the presidential candidate. "It is highly important and significant that all parties in the government coalition, which represent the majority and diversity of Latvia's voting population, have managed to agree on this important matter and come to this decision. Of course, I would be grateful for the opportunity to serve Latvia," Levits said on Monday night. Levits said previously that he would not want and could not be a presidential candidate backed by just one party. He said he would run for the presidency if he has the support of the entire government coalition and a guaranteed majority in the parliament. However, some lawmakers from the KPV LV faction, a newcomer in Latvia's government coalition, might still refuse to support Levits, and the KPV LV faction has said it will let its members vote according to their conscience. Meanwhile, opposition parties might also nominate some rival candidates. Incumbent President Raimonds Vejonis has not yet said whether he would seek a second term in office. The opposition Green Party of Latvia said previously it was ready to back Vejonis but after the coalition's latest announcement the incumbent president's reelection prospects have diminished. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 22:57:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Signs of an imminent breakthrough to the current crisis in Sudan emerged Tuesday as a civilian government is expected to be formed soon following the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir. After a round of consultations among major political forces in Sudan, it seemed a consensus was reached on beginning the formation of the required mechanisms to run the transitional period, set for two years. To this end, a prominent leader in the Sudanese opposition expected that a civilian government would be announced within hours. "We are currently embarking on preparing the final list and putting the final touches for declaring the civilian government and the supreme council of state," said Sati' Al-Haj, spokesman of the National Consensus Forces, part of the Freedom and Change Alliance, on Tuesday. "I expect the civilian government and the supreme council of state to be declared within hours," he said. Al-Haj explained that the civilian government would include representatives of the alliance that ousted the previous government, and will have nothing to do with the other political parties, the majority of which are part of the previous regime. In the meantime, the military council reiterated its willingness to communicate with the different political forces to overcome the current crisis and agree on the important steps to begin the transitional period. Jalal-Eddin Al-Sheikh, member of the Transitional Military Council, said in a statement that "we are exerting efforts with the political forces to agree on a consensual national personality for the post of Prime Minister." Meanwhile, Abdul-Rahim Al-Sunni, a political analyst, highlighted the importance of continuing the dialogue between the military council and the opposition to draw up a vision for the coming phase. Speaking to Xinhua on Tuesday, Al-Sunni said it is important for the military to remain at the top of the transitional council to perform the role of protector of social stability. "Presence of the army at the top of the government institutions during the transitional period is a guarantee for stabilizing the pillars of the state and preventing any security disturbances," he said, adding that the opposition can govern the civilian government during the transitional period, so the other political parties could prepare for the elections after the transitional period ends. Sudan's Transitional Military Council is tasked with running the country's affairs following the al-Bashir's ouster by the military on April 11 in response to massive protests. Since becoming the leader of the council, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan has adopted a number of measures in response to the demands of the protesters. The council has formed a committee entrusted with taking over the headquarters and assets of the National Congress Party, led by al-Bashir. It further pledged to continue arresting all the people involved in corruption cases, while reviewing the country's diplomatic missions abroad. The council also reiterated that it will not use force to disperse the sit-in of thousands of protesters in front of the army's general headquarters in Khartoum, while urging Sudanese citizens to help it to bring life back to normal. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:02:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close FRANKFORT, United States, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Kentucky is happy to observe a surge of Chinese investment in the southwestern U.S. state, which brings much-needed jobs, Lieutenant Governor Jenean Hampton told Xinhua in an interview here on Monday. "Kentucky is easy to work with, we need jobs here, so we welcome jobs," Hampton said. Also on Monday, she met with a delegation of Chinese investors touring the bluegrass state for more opportunities after signing contracts Friday to become members in a new industrial park devoted to Asian carp processing in Wickliffe City, Ballard County. The International Fisheries Industrial Park will add another 150 full-time jobs, according to Angie Yu, president of the Two Rivers Fisheries, whose success is the main reason that convinced seven more Chinese investors to join her in the otherwise little-known U.S. Heartland outpost and jointly form a zero-waste fish processing cluster. Hampton praised the investors for seeing "opportunity" when everyone else only sees "problem," referring to the notoriety Asian carp have gained over the years after crowding out indigenous fish species in the Mississippi River and surrounding waters following their introduction to the United States in the 1970s. The newly formed industrial park includes makers of fish ball, smoked fish, dry fish, fish sauce and a manufacturer who turns fish guts into organic fertilizers. Two Rivers Fisheries, the No. 1 exporter of Asian carp in Kentucky, has harvested 10 million pounds (4.5 million kg) of Asian carp from the Mississippi River since it began operation in 2012. The company's goal for this year is 5 million pounds and it aims to reach an annual production level of 20 million pounds by 2024. By 2018, there were only eight Chinese companies operating in Kentucky, statistics showed. Hampton said she hopes Kentucky will be on the top of Chinese investors' list as they are looking to expand into the United States. "KFC is clearly a global brand and we want Kentucky, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to be an equally well-known global brand," the lieutenant governor said, after being told by Xinhua that Kentucky is perhaps best known in China for being the hometown of the popular fast-food chain. She said Kentucky government officials are working to streamline business rules to make the state more investor-friendly. Hampton, who has 19 years of work experience in the corrugated packaging industry, is especially enthusiastic about the reopening next month of an idled paper mill in Wickliffe, which gets a new lease on life after being acquired by Chinese company Shanying International. "I know the impact of a paper mill on the local economy, especially when a company closes one. So for a paper mill to open, it's incredible -- that's another few hundred jobs there," she said. Speaking of the trip Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin made to Shanghai for China International Import Expo in November 2018, Hampton said that Bevin was "very surprised" to see that he was the only U.S. governor there because "there is so much opportunity." "He said that (being the only U.S. governor there) just increases the odds of some of those companies coming to Kentucky," she recalled. "We are thrilled (that) investors are here (in Kentucky). I'm thrilled to hear about the industrial park," she said. Mike Coffman, a decorated U.S. Marine and Army war veteran who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, looks at a picture of John Yee at the memorial service in west Denver, Colorado, the United States, April 14, 2019. Yee, who passed away at a Denver hospital on March 26, was considered one of the last members of the legendary World War II Flying Tigers who stopped Japan's relentless bombings of Kunming in southwest China. (Xinhua Photo) DENVER, the United States, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Far beyond the fields surrounding Kunming in southwestern China, where pieces of Japanese bombers remain imbedded in the earth today, John Yee's impact on world history will be long remembered. WAR HERO, DISTINGUISHED TEACHER Yee, who passed away at a Denver hospital on March 26, was considered one of the last members of the legendary World War II Flying Tigers who stopped Japan's relentless bombings of Kunming. War veterans, educators and political leaders honored Yee's life on Sunday at a small chapel in west Denver, where he was remembered as a hero and an inspirational, brilliant educator, who not just helped save thousands of lives in China, but inspired thousands more as a distinguished history teacher in Denver after the war. "He turned history from a black-and-white experience into color," Mike Coffman said to an overflowing crowd who attended Yee's memorial service. Coffman, 64, a decorated U.S. Marine and Army war veteran, who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, told Xinhua how his former high school history teacher had influenced thousands of lives - not just as a war hero, but as an educator. "I just hope my grandchildren find a teacher who inspires them to learn as much as Mr. Yee did for me," said Coffman, choking back tears. Coffman showed the audience a video of him honoring Yee on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in 2014, where he stated - for the Congressional record - that "America needs more teachers like John Yee." Coffman drew chuckles from the packed funeral hall when he admitted he was a "terrible student who skipped most of his classes" in high school. "But not Mr. Yee's classes," Coffman said. "I never missed one of his classes. He changed my life." Born in Zhaotong of China in 1921, Yee joined the Tigers as a translator at the age of 19, before Japan's Dec. 7, 1941 "Day of Infamy" attack on Pearl Harbor. For this heroism, in 2015, Yee was awarded the Jubilee Medal by the Chinese government at the 70-year anniversary of the victory of Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Yee was the first public school teacher between the two U.S. coasts to teach Chinese language and history in the 1950s. He received Denver's distinguished citizen award in 1961, after a Master's Degree at the universities of Denver and Colorado. During his lifetime he received dozens of awards as a war hero and teacher. In 2012, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a 2020 presidential candidate, reserved July 17 as "John H. Yee Day." Before his death, Yee jokingly told Xinhua that he was one of the last of the Tigers, "simply because I have outlived the rest." Yee lived through one of the most pivotal times in world history, and explained the intricate themes and dynamics of world politics to his students, Coffman told the audience. LIVING HISTORY Yee was adopted as a toddler in 1923, at a time when China had slipped into a dangerous, feudalistic state controlled by powerful warlords. His British Methodist missionary parents came to China in 1902 and gave their only son an advanced Western education that landed him a translation job with the Tigers, and later vaulted his career as a Denver teacher and college professor from 1955 to 1980. "We mourn the loss of John Yee today not just because he was a was a man of integrity, valor and courage, but because we have lost a piece of living history," said Yee's biographer, journalist Peter Mertz. Mertz, whose grandfather was a U.S. Army engineer serving under General Joe "Vinegar" Stilwell to rebuild the Ledo Road into China, told the audience that Yee, who served under Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, changed world history. "The Japanese war plan was to cut off and take Kunming, then Chongqing, then Chengdu," Mertz told those assembled. "Then checkmate - China would have fallen - and the world would look much different than it does today." "But that did not happen - thanks to men like Chennault and Yee," Mertz added. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) formed the American Volunteer Group (AVG) by a secret order in 1941 as a way to stop Japan's attempt to conquer China. "If your neighbor's house is on fire, then you lend him a water hose to put it out," Yee explained in an interview last year, of FDR's move. FDR told Chennault to find 100 good, mercenary pilots to fly American P-40 planes against Japan in southwest Asia. The fighting force of 300 included mechanics, doctors, nurses, and other personnel, and used fake passports to sneak into Myanmar as tourists in early 1941. Chennault commanded his pilots to use a radical strategy of air combat - diving, shooting and avoiding dog fights - against the more maneuverable Japanese Zeros. Less than two weeks after waves of Japanese bombers decimated America's Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Chennault's small fighting force came to Kunming. The next day, Japan's horrific bombings of Kunming would end forever. Dec. 20, 1941. Together, the United States and China were ready for this wave of bombers. On that day, 13 Japanese planes fell from the sky to only one American fighter. A reporter for the Kunming paper said the Americans looked like tigers, flying in the sky. And the legend was born. For the next six months, Yee helped the Flying Tigers record the most lopsided victories in aviation warfare history - 296-14, according to historynet.com. Yee worked day and night translating critical intelligence on Japanese positions to Chennault. On July 4, 1942, the AVG was absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force, with Chennault in command, considered one of the most brilliant military minds in U.S. history. TIME AND CHANCE Yee led a unique life, coming to the United States in 1944 to watch the country dominate the 20th century, and his native China rise from the ashes of feudalism to one of the strongest countries in the 21st century. As part of FDR's Lend Lease, Yee came to America for advanced training, but he contracted tuberculosis, was hospitalized, and on a lark, he wrote a letter to U.S. President Harry Truman requesting to stay in the United States. Months later, Yee was sitting in Northern California waiting for a ship back for Shanghai. The night before his departure, the reply came from Washington. Truman told Yee he could stay. "East-and-West, Yin and Yang," Richard Yee, 59, told the audience, how his father had been raised, and educated by British missionaries, and thereby had gleaned a deep understanding of world philosophy, religion, and history. "'Time and chance,' was John's favorite quote," said Jeanie Johnson, who currently heads the Denver-Kunming Sister Cities committee that Yee founded in 1985. Johnson detailed Yee's devotion to diplomacy and building bridges between the United States and China that dominated the last decades of his life. After he retired, Yee took groups of students and teachers to China on a frequent basis with his wife of 45 years Nai-Li. Into his nineties, joined the chorus demanding Japan to apologize for the atrocities committed in WWII. In 2016, Yee published an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requesting that Japan acknowledge and formally apologize for the millions of Chinese people murdered during Japan's brutal occupation of China from 1931-1945. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:12:45|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi holds talks with Bangladeshi Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan in Beijing, capital of China, April 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi met with Bangladeshi Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan in Beijing Tuesday. Zhao said the two countries should improve the cooperation mechanism in security affairs concerning the Belt and Road Initiative, and effectively protect the safety of each other's people, projects and institutions. He also called on the two countries to advance cooperation in combating transborder crimes, drug control and anti-terrorism, to benefit mutual development and the two peoples. Asaduzzaman Khan expressed willingness to strengthen law enforcement cooperation with China and promote the continuous development of bilateral relations. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:17:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close KIEV, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian court has decided that lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko, who is accused of plotting a coup, could be released from custody, local media reported on Tuesday. In its ruling, the court in the city of Brovary in Kiev region said the decision was taken as Savchenko's pre-trial detention has expired overnight Tuesday, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko wrote on Facebook that the release does not mean the automatic withdrawal of charges against Savchenko. Savchenko was detained in March 2018 as a pre-trial restriction measure after being accused of planning a large-scale terrorist attack in central Kiev and the seizure of state power in Ukraine. Earlier, a state prosecutor said that Savchenko may face a jail term of 10 to 15 years or a whole-life sentence if found guilty. Savchenko, who was held at a temporary detention facility in Kiev by Ukraine's security service, called the accusations against her "politically motivated." She said on Facebook that she won't flee the country and would prove her innocence in court. Savchenko, also a military pilot, has formerly participated in the conflict in eastern Ukraine along with government forces. She spent almost two years in prison in Russia after a court there found her guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists in June 2014 during the conflict. The pilot has denied her role in the murder and said she had been kidnapped in Ukraine and then handed over to Russian authorities. Savchenko was elected as a member of the Ukrainian parliament in November 2014 while serving her jail term in Russia. She returned to Ukraine in May 2016 in a prisoner swap. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:23:03|Editor: mingmei Video Player Close Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (C) attends the ceremony celebrating the breakthrough of the 12.2 km tunnel of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) in Surkhet district of Karnali Province in western Nepal, on April 16, 2019. Celebrating the breakthrough of a national project constructed by China, Nepali leaders and officials said here Tuesday that the project has supported the country's determination to realize its national dream "Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali." As the first of its kind of inter-basin water transfer project, the main part of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) has been completed almost one year earlier than its original duration. (Xinhua/Zhou Shengping) SURKHET, Nepal, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Celebrating the breakthrough of a national project constructed by China, Nepali leaders and officials said here Tuesday that the project has supported the country's determination to realize its national dream "Prosperous Nepal and Happy Nepali." As the first of its kind of inter-basin water transfer project, the main part of Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project (BBDMP) has been completed almost one year earlier than its original duration. The 12.2 km tunnel on the bank of Bheri River, which is famous for its resourceful water, is located in Surkhet district of Karnali Province in western Nepal. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said at a ceremony attended by Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi and U.S. ambassador Randy Berry that "Nepal is now ready to walk and work together with the international community towards the new direction of development." Expressing gratitude to the Chinese contractor for the successful completion of the project despite of geographical challenges, Oli shared that Nepal welcomes the use of new technology in other multipurpose projects as well. According to the Chinese ambassador, the success of the project is a result of international cooperation, characterized by the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) manufactured by America and the design and construction completed by Chinese contractor, China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Ltd. Through a 12.2 Km long tunnel constructed by TBM technology, the first practice in one of the least developed countries, this 107 million U.S. dollar project will provide irrigation facility to 51,000 hectares of land in Banke and Bardiya districts. Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun termed the use of this globally advanced technology as a historical revolution for the tunnel construction. "The project has boosted the confidence of our government to expand this technology in other multipurpose projects for the speedy completion," Pun told around 2,000 participants, requesting the development partners to provide technical and financial assistance. The irrigation-cum-hydroelectric project is one of the strategic projects of the country that is in dire need to ease the food crisis in the region by increasing agricultural yield. Mahnedra Bahadur Shahi, Chief Minister of Karnali Province expressed that this province enriched with many natural resources, is hopeful to resolve both the food insecurity and poverty, alarming issues with the full completion of the multipurpose project which includes a 48 MW hydro power plant that is supposed to be built in the second phase. Speakers of the program highly praised the Chinese contractor as the project, which was inaugurated in 2015, has been able to be done one year before the deadline. Sanjeeb Baral, project director from Nepal side, said that the early success has opened a new dimension for other development projects despite of fragile geography. According to the project's supervision contractor based in Italy, the dedication of the Chinese contractor, besides the TBM technology, is the major reason behind the successful story. "It is the good attitude and willingness of the Chinese company, which made the project complete early," Arun Sharma, a Nepali engineering consultant serving the Italian company, told Xinhua on the spot. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:28:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SHANGHAI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- NIO Inc., a pioneer in China's premium electric vehicle market, announced that it would offer charging pickup services to ease the "charging anxiety" of car owners in China. By opening a mini-program named "NIO Charging" on WeChat and typing in a location, a person's car will be picked up for charging, and the fully-charged car will be returned to the same location within a few hours, William Li, founder and CEO of NIO said on Tuesday during the ongoing Auto Shanghai 2019. The service will be offered by the company to all electric vehicle owners in China, costing 280 yuan (41.7 U.S. dollars) per service. "The service personnel will go to the nearest power station or NIO Power Swap station to charge the cars depending on whichever is the most convenient," Li said. "The trend of new energy vehicles may be faster and stronger than expected, and I think more and more people recognize Chinese carmaker's advanced technology and ambition to lead," Li said. According to Li, the company has attained more than 3,000 patents so far and was one of the first to get a license to test unmanned driving on an open road in Shanghai. At Auto Shanghai 2019, NIO offered the first glimpse of its all-new Sedan product line with the ET Preview and exhibited pioneering technologies including a 220 kW permanent magnet synchronous motor electric drivetrain, and a carbon fiber battery pack. Founded in November 2014, NIO is headquartered in Shanghai. The company also operates R&D centers in cities including Beijing, San Jose, Munich and London. NIO completed its initial public offering on the NYSE last September. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:33:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The German government will likely fail to meet its target of securing five percent of Germany's forest area for natural development by 2020, the Federal Environment Ministry noted in its answer to an enquiry from the Green Party on Tuesday. According to the government, 2.8 percent of the country's forest area is natural forest, which corresponds to about 3,240 square kilometers. For the post-2020 period, the government predicted that around four percent of forests would be "secured for natural forest development". "Although the enormous importance of forests for biodiversity and climate protection is well known, forests today face major challenges," Steffi Lemke, spokesperson for nature conservation policy for the Green Party, told Xinhua on Tuesday. Germany therefore "needs more space where nature can still be nature," including extensive wilderness areas and forests that are "left to their own devices without management," added Lemke. In 2007, the federal government adopted the National Strategy on Biological Diversity. One of the goals was that the proportion of Germany's natural forests should reach five percent by 2020. Forests and forestry make an important contribution to climate protection by storing carbon in forests and wood products. A Forest Climate Fund had been set up to "protect and preserve the carbon dioxide reduction potential from forests and woods as well as the adaptation of forests to climate change," the Ministry stated in the response. Forests in Germany "are diverse habitats and huge carbon reservoirs that must be used sustainably," stressed Lemke. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:33:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ALGIERS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- President of the Algerian Constitutional Council Tayeb Belaiz resigned on Tuesday amid mass protests in the country demanding for his departure. "Belaiz notified the members of the Constitutional Council, during a meeting held Tuesday, that he presented his resignation to the interim president Abdelkader Bensalah," the council said in a statement. The main mission of the council is ensuring that the process of polls, including referendum, election of the president, as well as local and parliamentary elections, is in line with the law. Algeria has been experiencing for two months a political crisis caused by mass protests, which led to the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2. Last Tuesday, Algeria's parliament named Bensalah, chairman of its upper house, as interim president following Bouteflika's resignation. On April 10, Bensalah announced that the presidential election was scheduled to be held on July 4. But the protesters continued their demonstration in the capital Algiers, demanding for the ousting of Bensalah's government. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:38:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TAIPEI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 106 cases of imported dengue fever have been reported in Taiwan this year, including 34 cases from Indonesia, 26 from Vietnam, and 12 each from the Philippines and Malaysia, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday. The number of imported dengue fever reached the highest level for the same period in nearly 10 years, according to the CDC data. The latest infection cases included three tourists who just returned to Taiwan after participating in a 110-person group tour to the Maldives archipelago from late March to early April. Two of the travelers developed a fever, headaches and muscle aches in the Maldives, while the other patient showed the same symptoms two days after returning to Taiwan, according to CDC. Tests results confirmed that the three persons were infected with dengue fever and all three patients have recovered, the CDC said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:43:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Murad Abdo ADEN, Yemen, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The chances to implement a much-delayed pullback of Yemeni warring forces from the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah are dwindling away gradually as internal fighting continues in escalation. On Monday, the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said that the warring parties in Yemen had finally accepted the terms for a redeployment of forces in Hodeidah. "Both parties have now accepted the detailed redeployment plan for phase one," Griffiths told the UN Security Council via video link from Amman, adding that "it has taken longer than we hoped, but we are grateful that it has happened at all." The redeployment of forces was agreed in December last year under a cease-fire deal reached in Stockholm of Sweden that offered the best hope in years of moving toward an end to the war. However, hours after the UN envoy's announcement, intense fighting between the Yemeni government forces and the Houthi rebels resumed heavily amid explosions that rocked the city early on Tuesday. The two-warring sides exchanged heavy artillery shelling during the armed confrontations that flared up near the Red Sea Mills, the 50th Street and in other north-eastern parts of Hodeidah. One resident based in Hodeidah confirmed to Xinhua that "fighting is continuing to escalate particularly during these days and the exchange of artillery bombardment is occurring sporadically every day." "The exchange of random artillery shells and mortars forced many families in Hodeidah to flee their homes during the past days because they were besieged in a dangerous situation," he said on condition of anonymity. The Houthi-affiliated Masirah television network reported that heavy artillery shelling was launched by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces against the airport of Hodeidah amid warplanes hovering over the city's airspace. On the other side, sources of the pro-government Giants Brigades blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of targeting their military positions with an artillery bombardment. Pro-government military sites in various areas of Hodeidah and particularly in Durayhmi district south of the city were subjected to randomly-fired Houthi shells in the early hours of Tuesday, causing no casualties, according to the sources. In response to the UN envoy announcement, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government stated that "no progress has been made so far in implementing Stockholm Agreement though more than four months have passed because of Houthi militia's intransigence and foot-dragging approach." Abdullah Assa'di, Yemen's permanent representative to the UN, has made this clear on Monday as he was delivering his speech during a session held by the UN Security Council about Yemen, according to the state-run Saba news agency. Yemen's representative said that his government spared no effort to reach peace through many cycles of dialogue, but the armed Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, rejected what was agreed in Stockholm more than four months ago. Griffiths said he had received assurances from Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al Houthi when they met in Sanaa last week that his forces would support the Hodeidah agreement, but Griffiths expressed a sense of caution as many delays had occurred. "It is not an easy decision for the parties to take and I don't take their commitment lightly. Of course, it is taking longer than we had hoped but that it should happen at all is extremely welcome," Griffiths said. Yemeni observers said that "hopes of the UN envoy exposed during the UNSC session may can't be achieved and may be crushed with the unstable situation on the ground." For Ali Hadi, a military expert based in Aden, "many previous attempts to implement the provisions of the Stockholm Agreement failed and no withdrawal will occur as fighting is still taking place in the city." "Withdrawal of warring troops remains as unachievable dreams because the situation on-ground is escalating day by day in complete negligence to the UN efforts aimed at achieving peace," he said. The Iran-allied Houthi rebels control the Hodeidah city while the Saudi-backed government troops have advanced to the southeastern outskirts. Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry point for the country's most food imports and humanitarian aid. The ongoing internal military conflict grinding into its fifth year has pushed over 20 million people to the verge of starvation. Yemeni warring parties reached a peace deal on Hodeidah in December last year as a first step toward brokering a comprehensive political solution. Sporadic breaches are daily recorded in Hodeidah as the two belligerent sides failed to withdraw their forces in accordance with an agreement reached in the Swedish capital Stockholm. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-16 23:48:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The office of the education supervision commission of the State Council on Tuesday issued a warning, asking education administrations and schools nationwide to prevent students from drowning. The warning was released due to a number of student drownings across the country, as the temperature has been rising and students have been engaging in more outdoor activities. The office asked educational administrations and schools to remind students of the extreme danger of going into water without permission, and telling them to stay away from dangerous bodies of water. Schools should carry out various forms of safety education based on their local conditions to improve students' awareness of danger and self-protection, as well as their families' and guardians' sense of responsibility. Moreover, education administrations should work with departments on public security, water resources, meteorology and others to eliminate hidden danger in rivers, lakes and ponds, and carry out more patrols, according to the warning. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 00:03:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close DAMASCUS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday denounced the recent U.S. move to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as a "terrorist organization." Assad made the remarks at a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, reported the state news agency SANA. The Syrian leader said that such move was "a continuation of the wrong U.S. policies" that could be regarded as one of the major factors of instability in the region. For his part, Zarif condemned the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Israel's sovereignty over Syria's Golan Heights. Both sides agreed that the policies of the U.S. and some Western countries will not dissuade Iran and Syria from continuing to defend their own interests. At the meeting, they also discussed the upcoming Astana talks on Syria and underlined the need for continuing coordination between both countries to achieve the Syrian national interest, the SANA report said. They also discussed the agreements signed by both countries and the ways to overcome the obstacles. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 00:23:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close by Naim-Ul-Karim DHAKA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- With made-in-China devices, a leading Bangladeshi internet service provider (ISP) has launched a new service branded as "Broadband360" aimed at keeping customers secure in the online world. By offering self-content filtering integrated into the broadband service, BDCOM ONLINE LIMITED, said its "Broadband360" package, first of its kind in Bangladesh, encompassed Ultrafast Safe Broadband Internet, Eco Friendly Phone, IPTV, VOD and many other services. "We've tools for parents to control unwanted content and provide a safe Internet," said SM Golam Faruk Alamgir Arman, managing director BDCOM ONLINE LIMITED, during a meeting with the members of Telecom Reporters' Network of Bangladesh (TRNB) in Dhaka on Tuesday. He said their cutting-edge made-in-China devices help filter contents and create a safe environment for children to surf the web. Based on the current endeavors of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government to realize "Digital Bangladesh" and with its efforts of years together, the ISP said it is now possible to spark the nation with the service of "Broadband360". "Any guardian can manage the Internet in a safe manner from his or her home or office using Broadband360," said the BDCOM managing director. The new service also help corporate customers improve workplace productivity and reduce the consumption of unwanted content, he added. Officials said Broadband360 will be available in all digital screen types like Laptop, Desktop, Smartphone, Tablet, Smart TV, etc. BDCOM said a Wi-Fi Router will be the main frontier to enable the Safe Internet of Broadband360, where more or less 57 categories of content filtering are now available. For example, Pornography, Violence, offensive ads, Hate talks, Drugs, Gambling, Piracy, Weapons, Phishing, Extremism, even social media can be filtered when required. "We've designed Broadband360 in accordance with our social responsibility, ethical business practice and for the greater protection of our next generation from the vicious effects of violence & pornography in digital media," said BDCOM managing director Arman. Gazi Zahedul Kabir, BDCOM'S head of system Integration, said parental controls not merely keep kids safe online but also helps service providers meet industry regulated compliance requirements. Kabir said last month they launched the state of the IPTV (Internet Protocol television) service in the country as the first company. With the existing internet and voice-based internet telephony services and all these packages together will be called "Triple Play Service," said Kabir, also a general manager of BDCOM. The ISP officials, however, showcased the made-in-China devices including the Wi-Fi Router which they are using for its "Broadband360" service. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 01:04:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LONDON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- A multi-million dollar scheme to house homeless people in Britain's capital in temporary modular homes was announced Tuesday by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Khan is investing 14.4 million U.S. dollars in the scheme with London boroughs to manufacture "modular" homes, which are constructed off-site and then placed temporarily on land that is unused as it awaits permanent development. City Hall said there are currently more than 54,000 homeless households living in temporary accommodation in London, more than four-fifths of them families with children. The mayor's funding will deliver up to 200 affordable homes to rent on sites across London. The modular buildings can be moved from site to site. The new initiative is to be run by the Pan-London Accommodation Collaborative Enterprise (PLACE), a not-for-profit company hosted by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Khan, said: "The rise in homelessness in recent years is a national disgrace. Government cuts mean that, too often, London councils are left with little choice other than to offer homeless families expensive housing a long way from their local area. I'm pleased to support this new initiative that makes use of modular construction and temporarily vacant sites to help ease some of that pressure and make a real difference to the families involved." Councilor Darren Rodwell, housing spokesman for London, said: "London faces the most severe housing crisis in the country, and London boroughs are determined to work together to secure better accommodation for homeless Londoners." "PLACE will deliver new family-sized housing for homeless Londoners in their borough -- close to their schools, jobs and support networks -- and provide a high-quality alternative to other forms of temporary accommodation. It represents an innovative new approach," added Rodwell. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 01:24:49|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BERLIN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- In a case of organized document forgery, police in Germany have searched apartments and offices in six federal states, the public prosecutor's office in Kaiserslautern and the police headquarter Westpfalz announced on Tuesday. Sixteen people, aged between 24 and 62 years, are suspected of selling illegally obtained European Language Certificates (TELC) and driving tests for which they used fake identities, according to the public prosecutor's office. "Most of the suspects are people who are believed to have taken theoretical driving tests and language tests instead of the actual test candidates, deceiving their identity," the police statement read. TELC are internationally standardized and serve as proof of language skills in a foreign language. The certificates are often used to prove sufficient language skills for the German labor market. During the searches, evidence was seized and now investigations will be initiated against those people who unlawfully obtained their driving licenses through the forgery, "in order to revoke such driving licenses," the German prosecuting authority said. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 01:34:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ALGIERS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Defense Minister Ahmed Gaid Salah on Tuesday called for seeking a "quick and safe way" to deal with the political crisis hitting the country amid mass protests. Gaid Salah made the pledge when addressing troops and officials at the end of his visit to the Fourth Military Region in Ouargla province, 800 km southeast of Algiers, where he monitored military maneuvers near Libyan border. Gaid Salah said that "all possible prospects remain open in order to overcome the dangers and find a solution to the crisis as soon as possible, as time is running out." He noted that "achieving these goals requires patience, understanding and rejection of all forms of violence as not to disrupt the functioning of State's institutions." Algeria has been experiencing for two months a political crisis caused by mass protests, which led to the resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2. Last Tuesday, Algeria's parliament named Bensalah, chairman of its upper house, as interim president following Bouteflika's resignation. On April 10, Bensalah announced that the presidential election was scheduled to be held on July 4. But the protesters continued their demonstration in the capital Algiers, demanding for the ousting of Bensalah's government. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 02:00:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TRIPOLI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj on Tuesday said that the commander of the eastern-based army General Khalifa Haftar has "brought violence into the country and frustrated all hopes of the Libyans." The army has been leading a military campaign since early April to take over western Libya, particularly the capital Tripoli where Serraj's government is based. Serraj made his remarks during a meeting in Tripoli with tribal elders and mediators of western Libya, according to the prime minister's information office. During the meeting, Serraj accused Haftar of "seeking to seize power," stressing the need for "dialogue between the Libyans rather than fighting." "Haftar moved his forces to frustrate the Libyans and bring a new cycle of violence and destructive war into the country, a war that claimed many lives and destroyed public and private property," Serraj said. The prime minister also accused "some countries of fueling the conflict, seeking to achieve their own narrow interests." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the fighting between the two parties so far killed 174 people and injured 756 others. Also, thousands of civilians had to flee their homes due to the violence. The army is allied with the eastern-based government, as the country is politically divided between western and eastern governments. Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid insecurity and chaos ever since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011. grejak/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Time is ticking to meet Monday's tax-filing deadline. If youre still scrambling to finish filing your returns, youre not alone. As of last Friday, the Internal Revenue Service, said in a news release that about 50 million people had yet to file. As of April 5, the IRS had received more than 103 million tax returns, and issued more than 77 million refunds totaling $220.762 billion -- a nearly $6 billion decrease from that time last year. The average refund was $2,833, down 1.1 percent, with more than a million fewer taxpayers receiving them compared to that time last year. Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts have until April 17 to file because of local holidays, and there are some other ways taxpayers can get extra time without asking, including if they were affected by a natural disaster, are serving in a combat zone or are living abroad. The IRS estimates that more than 14.6 million taxpayers will file for and receive an automatic extension. Taxpayers can request an extension to file for Oct. 15, 2019, through Free File on IRS.gov. And if they were affected by certain federally declared disasters, such as the tornadoes and storms in Alabama or the California wildfires, there are various extensions to file and pay by. If their address of record is located within a disaster area, the IRS said in a news release theres no need to contact the agency to receive the relief. This tax season provided new challenges for both taxpayers and the IRS to navigate, with the longest-running government shutdown in U.S. history combined with the implementation of the new federal tax law. Visits to the IRS.gov website were up by about 10 percent as of April 5 compared to that time last year, with over 376 million visits, according to data released by the IRS. According to the National Taxpayer Advocates 2018 Annual Report to Congress, the shutdown had devastating effects. The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS that advocates for taxpayers rights. The five weeks could not have come at a worse time for the IRS facing its first filing season implementing a massive new tax law, with a completely restructured tax form, Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, wrote in the reports preface. In the first week of the 2018 filing season, the IRS answered 86 percent of calls routed to an Accounts Management telephone assistor with an average wait time of about four minutes, according to a news release. During the first week of this years filing season, the number of calls answered dropped to 48 percent with an average wait time of 17 minutes. On some other IRS telephone lines, the wait time jumped to an average of 81 minutes to receive assistance. On top of that, the new tax law also required the IRS to update forms and notices. Because of the revamp of the tax forms, the electronic filing requirements were not issued to private tax software vendors and electronic return originators until September 2018, much later than in previous years, according to the report. In a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that asked how much in taxes respondents anticipated paying under the new law, 28 percent of people surveyed said they expected to pay more, 17 percent said they are paying less and the remainder said they were paying about the same or that they didnt know enough to say one way or another. The tax preparation company H&R Block analyzed clients data through March 31, and found that tax refunds are up 1.4 percent under the new law, while overall tax liability is down 24.9 percent, according to an April 11 news release. Tax liability was down nearly $1,200 on average and refunds were up $43, leaving an average of $1,156 that went into paychecks during the year, according to H&R Blocks analysis. The taxpayers who experienced the biggest discrepancy between their paychecks and refunds: those who itemized in 2017 and 2018, according to H&R Block. Meanwhile the group with the largest refund increase -- about 6 percent on average -- were those who took the standard deduction in 2017 and 2018. Its reasonable to assume that a tax cut would mean your refund will increase, but thats not necessarily the case, Kathy Pickering, executive director of The Tax Institute and vice president of regulatory affairs at H&R Block, said in a news release. The IRS updated how employers calculate how much tax to withhold from paychecks, which means you could have been getting all your tax cut and then some in your paychecks. Either surprise getting a larger or smaller refund than expected can be a problem when youve been planning for and expecting something different, Pickering said. If youre not happy with your refund, the important thing is to update your withholding so the same thing doesnt happen to you again next year. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 02:00:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VILNIUS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- In the upcoming six years, the number of residents in Lithuania may decrease to 2.5 million people, while by 2030 the country's population may shrink to 2.4 million, a new survey showed on Tuesday. The demographic projections were presented at a conference on Lithuania's demographic policy held by Lithuania's Employment Service (UZT) and Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (LPK). "In fact, we observe the two main trends: total population decline and aging. This is a projections' baseline," Boguslavas Gruzevskis, director of Lithuania's Labour Market Research Institute (LDTI), was quoted as saying by local media at the conference. According to the demographic report conducted by LDTI, Lithuania's population may decrease to 2.52 million by 2025 (pessimistic scenario) or 2.71 million (optimistic scenario). By 2030, the number of Lithuanian residents may shrink to 2.4 million or 2.58 million people, according to respectively pessimistic and optimistic scenarios. Lithuania's population currently amounts to 2.79 million people, official statistics show. "What is the most worrying, it is the decreasing number of people of reproductive age. At present, the most populous population is aged 53-57 in Lithuania," Gruzevskis said. In his words, demographic changes in Lithuania in the upcoming years will mainly depend on the economic situation and the attractiveness of the labor market. As regards migration policy, first of all, emigration should be reduced and the immigration policy should be focused on promoting re-emigration to Lithuania, Gruzevskis noted. "It is obvious that we are facing the loss of jobs and taxpayers which poses threat to the public finances and the sustainability of the social security system. As the number of employees, who are also consumers, slows down, number of taxpayers fall, thus the state budget will decrease," Robertas Dargis, president of LPK, was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office. Lithuania has been facing demographic issues for more than a decade, with emigration challenges particularly pronounced in the country. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to which a member Lithuania became in July 2018, urged Lithuania to tackle emigration challenges as the Baltic country is losing many working-age people. According to official statistics, since 1990 the number of residents living in Lithuania has dropped by 24 percent of the entire population. The largest share of residents' loss is due to emigration. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 02:10:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MADRID, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The celebration of the only televised debate between the leaders of the five largest parties contesting the Spanish general election on April 28 is now in doubt after the Spanish Electoral Board (Junta Electoral Central) on Tuesday vetoed the presence of the extreme right-wing party Vox. The debate between party leaders, Pedro Sanchez (Spanish Socialist Party - PSOE), Pablo Casado, (People's Party - PP), Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos), Pablo Iglesias (Unidos-Podemos) and Santi Abascal (Vox) was due to be broadcast live on April 23 by the Spanish medial group 'Artesmedia' on its networks, Antena 3 and LaSexta, just five days before Spaniards go to the polls. It would have been the only televised debate between the five leaders in the campaign, however, on Tuesday the Electoral Board, which has the task of ensuring neutrality is maintained during election campaigns, said Vox should not take part. Although opinion polls predict the party will win around 10-12 percent of the vote on April 28, the Electoral Board decided Abascal's party cannot participate in the debate because it has no representation in Congress. The Board took the decision after appeals by other Spanish parties (Basque Nationalist Party, Esquerra Republicana, Junts per Catalunya and Coalition Canaria) that they had not been invited to the debate despite having seats in Congress. Spanish electoral law states that: "during the electoral period, broadcasts from private networks have to respect the principals of pluralism and equality," and that "private television networks also have to respect the principals of proportionality and neutrality in electoral debates and interviews." Abascal reacted to the decision with a 'tweet' in which he complained "some people do not know what to do to exclude Vox," while Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias also expressed his opposition to the decision. "It is absurd to veto candidates on a private TV network," commented Iglesias, adding that the Electoral Board should "oblige all candidates to hold at least two debates on public television." It is now uncertain what will happen, especially as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez previously rejected a head-to-head debate with PP leader Casado and a four-way debate with Casado, Rivera and Iglesias, but without Absacal on state TV network, RTVE. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 03:05:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close UNTIED NATIONS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN food, agriculture and children agencies joined hand in aiding the victims of cyclone Idai that battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi of southeastern Africa last month, a UN spokesperson said Tuesday. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has reached 1 million people in Mozambique with food assistance since Idai made landfall in mid-March, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said at a press briefing. The WFP intends to assist a total of 1.7 million people requiring urgent food and nutrition support in the country's most affected provinces, he said, but the agency still requires 130 million U.S. dollars to be able to fully implement its response through June. For its part, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has also begun the distribution of maize, bean and vegetable seeds and tools for up to 14,700 farmers in Mozambique, Dujarric said. In Zimbabwe, the UN International Children's Emergency Fund has announced that an oral cholera vaccine campaign targeting nearly 488,000 people began Tuesday in the two districts worst-affected by Idai, according to the spokesperson. More than 1,000 people have been reported killed by the storm, flooding and rains Idai caused. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in need of aid in the aftermath of the cyclone. The World Bank has estimated the affected countries will need over 2 billion dollars to recover. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 03:20:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MAPUTO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The main opposition party in Mozambique, Renamo, announced on Tuesday that it had submitted to the presidential office a list of ten officers to be placed to the positions of General Command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM). The delivery of the list represents another step in the process of integrating the former rebel movement's residual members into the defense and security forces. "We inform the entire Mozambican people, the diplomatic corps accredited in Mozambique and the contact group that we have already submitted to the Office of the President of the Republic the list of ten Renamo officials," said Renamo's leader Ossufo Momade in a teleconference for Maputo from Gorongosa, central Sofala province. Momade added that "the act represents our unequivocal desire to continue with the dialogue, and above all, our desire to see the return to the normal life of our people, and it is therefore up to the government to take in these general officers as fast as possible." The list was delivered under the agreements made in August 2018 between the government and Renamo, which provides for the reintegration of Renamo's top officers in the senior positions of PRM, the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces (FADM), and the State Information and Security Services. Fourteen Renamo general officers have been integrated in the positions of command of the FADM within the scope of these agreements. At the last meeting held in late February in Maputo, both the Renamo leader and the president of the republic reaffirmed their commitment to the understandings reached for effective peace. With the present step of the Renamo party, it is expected that relations with the government will be better and the peace process more efficient. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 04:06:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) casts his ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem, April 9, 2019. Israel on Tuesday morning started day-long general elections across the country to choose its next parliament and decide the premiership. (Xinhua/JINI/Emil Salman) JERUSALEM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Israel's president said on Tuesday that a majority of lawmakers had advised him to task incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the government following the recent elections. President Reuven Rivlin said in a broadcast that 65 members of the newly-elected parliament, or Knesset, had recommended him to task Netanyahu with forming the government. A coalition needs at least 61 members to secure a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Netanyahu "now has the support of a majority of Knesset members," Rivlin said. The president was expected to formally announce Netanyahu's candidacy on Wednesday. The Central Elections Committee on Tuesday announced the final results of the April 9 elections. A spokesperson for the committee said that further calculation showed that Netanyahu's Likud lost one seat and the ultra-Orthodox party of United Torah Judaism gained a seat. It means that United Torah will have eight seats in the Knesset and the Likud will have 35 seats, similar to its largest opposition challenger, Blue and White. Despite the tie between Netanyahu and Blue and White's leader Benny Gantz, Netanyahu will form the next government because he secured a majority bloc of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties that will support him and sit in his governing coalition. The results mean that Netanyahu is heading for a record fifth term in office. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 04:26:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election campaign announced Tuesday that the president will hold a rally in state of Wisconsin for April 27. That means Trump would skip this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, the third time since he took office in early 2017. The rally will be held in Green Bay, an industrial city of the Midwestern state, according to Trump's campaign. U.S. presidents traditionally attend the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner, but Trump signaled earlier this month that he would not attend the event. "The dinner is so boring and so negative that we're going to hold a very positive rally instead," Trump said. The rally will be the eighteenth that Trump has held in Wisconsin and the third in Green Bay since he first began his presidential race in June, 2015. Trump beat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in Wisconsin by under 23,000 votes. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 06:01:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close YAOUNDE, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Festicoffee, Cameroon's coffee festival in its seventh edition, kicked off Tuesday in the capital of Yaounde amidst dwindling local production. "For many years production has been declining. We are asking Cameroonians to valorize and consume local coffee which is very delicious and natural," according to Yves Abissi, communication officer of National Coffee and Cocoa Interprofessional Council that is organising the festival in partnership with Cameroon's Ministry of Trade. According to the council, local production stands at 25,000 tonnes annually, far from the 120,000 target and a drop from 100,000 tonnes in 2010. Officials stressed that transformation of coffee production was necessary to boost production. "It is important to produce and to process in order to be able to consume and sell. We have the potential, means and well. Cameroon is the future of coffee. We need to produce more," Cameroon's Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana told reporters. Exporters from other African countries and Europe are taking part in the two-day event that seeks to bolster the interest of Cameroonians in coffee through the exhibition and consumption of local coffee. On this first day of the festival, locals and tourists were treated to a rich blend of coffee roasts and a lingering aroma of Cameroon coffee. Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-17 06:37:08|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close DUBLIN, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Another Irish beef plant has been approved for export to China, bringing to seven the total number of such Irish exporters to the Chinese market, announced Irish Agriculture Minister Michael Creed on Tuesday. Creed made the announcement in a press release one year after he announced the opening of the Chinese beef market to Ireland in April 2018. China imposed a long-time ban on the beef imports from Ireland and some of the other European countries due to the mad cow disease found there years back. Ireland is the first that has been allowed to export its beef products to China among the European countries where the epidemic was detected. According to the press release, Ireland exported an estimated 1,400 tonnes of beef to China in 2018. The minister believed that the Chinese market potential for the Irish beef exports as well as for other Irish agri-food exports is far from being fully tapped taking into account the rapidly growing demand by the Chinese for quality food. He said in the press release that he will lead a trade mission to China next month during which he will "try to progress sheepmeat access to China" as part of the trade mission there. Currently Ireland has gained a comfortable pigmeat access to the Chinese market. Five Irish pigmeat producers have been approved for export to China. China is now the second largest market for the Irish pigmeat exports, said the minister. Rezultalele Loto 6/49 din 16 decembrie 2021. Numerele castigatoare extrase joi Joi, 16 decembrie, au avut loc noi trageri Loto 6/49, Noroc, Joker, Noroc Plus, Loto 5/40 si Super Noroc, dupa ce la tragerile loto de duminica, 12 decembrie, Loteria Romana a acordat 25.272 de castiguri in valoare totala de peste 7,42 milioane [citeste mai departe] Measles cases frequency rate rose 300 percent worldwide through the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period last year Last year, the flu claimed 80,000 lives in the US AFP Measles cases rose 300 percent worldwide through the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period last year, the World Health Organization said Monday. While this data is provisional and not yet complete, it indicates a clear trend. Many countries are in the midst of sizeable measles outbreaks, with all regions of the world experiencing sustained rises in cases, the U.N. health agency said in a statement citing the preliminary data. WHO noted that actual cases always surpass the reported cases, meaning the early trends for 2019 likely underestimate the severity of the outbreaks. According to a February WHO report, measles cases in Europe more than tripled because of one country, Ukraine. In 2018, nearly 83,000 cases of measles were reported in the European region, compared with some 25,500 instances in 2017. Ukraine had more than 54,000 cases in 2018. United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has warned that measles is highly contagious, more so than Ebola, tuberculosis or influenza. The virus can be contracted by someone up to two hours after an infected person has left a room. It spreads through air and infects the respiratory tract, potentially killing malnourished children or babies too young to be vaccinated, UNICEF said. Once infected, there is no specific treatment for measles, so vaccination is a life-saving tool for children who are usually vaccinated around their first birthday and again before starting school, but not everywhere. Preliminary global data on #measles shows that reported cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This follows consecutive increases over the past two years. https://t.co/fY27Rlzlqw #VaccinesWork pic.twitter.com/oImdYl4L9G World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) 15 2019 . Deadly Outbreak Last year, 16 Ukrainians died of measles, and this year, eleven people have died and more than 21,000 have been infected. Among those, 17,000 children who have not been vaccinated. According to UNICEF, just 42 percent of one-year-olds had got shots as of end-2016. It is hard to believe that children are dying of measles in Europe in 2019, said Simon Missiri, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Europe Regional Director. This disease is almost completely preventable. UNICEF Ukraine said starting in August 2017, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health has been taking measures to stop the spread of the disease, which included efforts to ensure vaccination of children aged 1 to 9 who missed their first or second dose of MMR vaccine in addition to ongoing routine vaccination. Later, the age span of children targeted by these measures was extended to 18, and with a special MoH order, vaccination was allowed for adults in professional risk groups, such as healthcare workers, teachers, military, police, as well as students. In Ukraine, UNICEF has provided ongoing support to accelerate routine immunization across the country & address vaccine hesitancy. In February, @MoH_Ukraine, with support from UNICEF & @USAIDUkraine, launched an immunization drive in the worst-hit Lviv region in western Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/98oil9Uld6 UNICEF Ukraine (@UNICEF_UA) 2 2019 . UNICEF has been assisting the Ukrainian M in situation monitoring, data collection and analysis in relation to the measles outbreak. It has also provided technical assistance to the campaign. In framework of UNICEFs support to strengthen immunisation programme in Ukraine, special focus is dedicated to the catch up campaign that started on 18 February and lasts for a month in the Lviv region in order to increase MMR coverage among school aged children in the region, UNICEF Ukraine told The Globe Post. According to MoH, as of February 1, there were up to 50,000 children not vaccinated against measles in the region. In some schools, vaccinations are being carried out by mobile brigades of doctors, and where it is more convenient, children are vaccinated in the nearest health facilities. Reasons Behind the Spread IFRC said poor immunization coverage has contributed to the measles outbreak in Ukraine.According to the organization, the measles vaccination rate for newborn babies was only 54 percent last year, which is amongst the lowest in the world. Pavel Boychenko, mayor of Kiliya, a small city in Odessa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine, told The Globe Post that misinformation played an important and negative role in the measles outbreak. I cannot talk for the entire country, but in Kiliya South West Ukraine an epidemic spread also because of the parents who refused to vaccinate their child[ren], Boychenko said. Ukrainian legislation allows parents to choose whether to vaccinate their children or not, and authorities, as well as doctors, can only inform them about the importance of vaccination. By the end of February, 100 measles cases have been registered in Kiliya, and five of those were serious. But after the vaccination campaign and the quarantine period finished, only vaccinated children were allowed to go back to schools and kindergartens. And it gave a positive result; we stopped the rise of the number of cases, Boychenko noted. Whats Next According to UNICEF, over 93 percent of one-year-olds were vaccinated with first dose of MMR in 2017, compared to only 42 percent in 2016. At the same time, 90.7 percent of six-year-olds received their second dose of MMR vaccine in line with the vaccination calendar. In 2018, 91 percent of one-year-olds were vaccinated with their first dose of MMR vaccine, and 89,5 percent of six-year-olds got the second dose of MMR vaccine in a timely manner. The challenge remains with achieving and sustaining coverage of MMR1 and MMR2 at the level of above 95percent, while continuing to identify and vaccinate all children aged 1 to 17 years old inclusive, who have missed either first or second doses of MMR, UNICEF Ukraine said. Read the original text at The Globe Post. Moment of silence in Ukraine's Parliament censor.net.ua Volodymyr Zelensky, who, according to the latest social surveys, has higher chances than his opponent Petro Poroshenko to head the Presidential Administration, would be forced to get along with the Verkhovna Rada. At least until the fall, he would not have his own faction in the parliament. But Ukrainian current MPs can side with the winner very quickly. 112.ua has found out whether the Verkhovna Rada is ready to be reformatted under president Zelensky. After the first round of elections, the Verkhovna Rada has created an interfactional association For the next president of Ukraine, V. Zelensky. But officially, so far only one person has entered into its composition Vitaliy Kupriy. According to him, it is planned to attract up to 10 people to the union, probably from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko (BPP) and the National Front factions. Zelenskys headquarters are counting on the support of more than 226 parliamentarians from the majority and the opposition. The BPP faction does not share the competitors optimism. One of the MPs from the BPP predicts that if Zelensky wins, he will receive an absolutely uncontrollable parliament and government. According to his calculations, with the most favorable scenario, the newly-elected head of the state will be able to collect about 160 votes for his bills. Petro Poroshenko, in turn, is not idle. On April 15, he met with almost all the deputies of his faction and tried to persuade them that he still has some chances for the victory. And after the results of a devastating poll (according to the internal social surveys, Zelenskys superiority over the incumbent head of state reaches 20%, and the Rating group assures that the gap among them is 40%) the pro-presidential faction can become an active donor to the new majority. Our sources in the BPP faction predict that from 30% to 50% of their members would side Zelensky. Our interlocutors in Zelenskys headquarters expect 60% of the pro-presidential faction to support them. Another coalition faction, National Front, also bets on Zelensky. According to 112.ua sources in the faction, the group is oriented on Ukraines Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. This minister is already drifting towards Zelensky. The Samopomich faction carefully avoids the issue of cooperation with the team of Volodymyr Zelensky. Recently, leader of the Samopomich party Andriy Sadovyi announced the possible withdrawal of some MPs. Yulia Tymoshenkos Batkivshchyna party does not exclude the possibility of cooperation with Zelensky. If Zelenskys ideas comply with the partys programmatic principles, we are ready to support him, MP from Batkivshchyna Serhiy Vlasenko stated. Out interlocutors expect that the antagonism between president-reformer vs. bad parliament will add points to Zelenskys Servant of the People party, which is the leader in sociological polls for parliamentary elections. By the way, as Zelenskys headquarters assured, some MPs have already addressed them with suitcases of money for a place in the top thirty of the list. Another version of the domestication of the parliament, which is discussed on the sidelines, is the threat of early parliamentary elections after the dissolvement of the coalition. At the same time, there is practically no time to implement this plan in a legal way. According to the law, the parliament elected in early elections cannot be dissolved in the last six months of office. Thus, the decree on the dissolution of parliament should be issued no later than May 27. In addition, even in the case of coalition dissolution, parliamentarians have a month to form a new coalition, and the next plenary week will begin on April 23, but the official election results should be established at the end of the month. That is, until May 27, the new president will not have grounds for parliaments resignation yet, and after May 27, he will not have such an opportunity. Plan for Petro Poroshenko is simple: by the autumn the euphoria of the showman as a president will be tempered under the pressure of economic and political challenges. Read the original text at 112.ua. Five attacks occurred in the combat area on April 16 Since the beginning of April 16, illegal armed formations attacked Ukrainian outposts in Donbas five times. On four occasions, the enemy used Minsk-banned weapons. The press center of Joint Forces Operation HQ reported this on Facebook. In Donetsk region, the enemy opened fire on Ukrainian positions in the areas of Hnutove, Talakivka and Mariinka. In Luhansk region, the occupants used small arms to attack Zaitseve. The illegal armed gangs of Russian mercenaries used mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machineguns and small arms over the day. No casualties among Ukrainian forces were observed. The enemy casualties are being specified. A Normandy-format meeting could take place in France in late May or early June. Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko said this during The Pulse talk show at 112 Ukraine TV channel. 'In May or early June, we will sign the Normandy-format documents, which will be foreseeing the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory [of the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions], the withdrawal of heavy weaponry and artillery, disarmament of the illegal armed gangs and making the decision on the implementation of the UN blue helmets', he said. No casualties of the Ukrainian servicemen have been spotted today Russia-backed militants violated the ceasefire regime seven times in the Donbas combat zone today on April 15. They used three times the Minsk-banned weaponry. The Joint Forces Operation (JFO) HQ reported this on Facebook. According to the report, all todays shells happened in Donbas region. Thus, the enemy opened fire at the positions of the Joint Forces operation near Avdiivka, Novoselivka-2, Opytne and Lebedynske settlements. The occupants fired at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the grenade launchers of the various systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms. No casualties of the Ukrainian army have been spotted. The enemys casualties have been checking, the report said. Earlier, on April 14, Russian armed mercenaries landed 10 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas. In one case, they used Minsk-banned weaponry. The enemy attacked Ukrainian defenders, using anti-tank missile launchers, grenade launchers of various systems, large-caliber machineguns and small arms. One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in combat on April 14. Open source Kyiv occupies the 34th place in the startup rating, rising from the 63rd place as StartupBlink reported. According to the service, Kyiv occupied the 34th place among over a thousand cities, while Ukraine gets the 31st place among over one hundred countries. Besides Kyiv, there are other Ukrainian cities on the list: Odesa (235th place), Lviv (299th), Kharkiv (435th) and Dnipro (561st). 321 startups were spotted in Kyiv. Earlier, the Ukrainian capital occupied the 63rd place and overcame 29 positions. Ukraine got over 4 positions and it is situated on the 31st place. According to the rating, the TOP-3 cities are San-Francisco, New York and London, while TOP3 countries are the U.S. , the UK and Canada. The position of the state in the rating depends on the number of the projects, their quality and business environment of the startup-ecosystem. The position of the state depends on the strength of the ecosystem and it is based on own algorithm of the authors of the report. It is possible to add the startups and organization to the system for free but all of them have to be verified. Ukraine was ranked 40th in Henley Passport Index rating published on March 26, 2019. Besides, Ukraine took the 84th place in the Democracy Index 2018 out of 167 countries of the world and the 17th place in Europe. Open source Populists keep promise In 2018, the new government in Italy introduced the UBI - 500 euros paid to the poor and unemployed, but a family without income and with three children will be able to receive 1,050 euros. Payments apply only to Italian citizens or legally residing in the country for more than 10 years, limited to 18 months with the possibility of extension, with the requirement to seek work, but have a number of criteria. Basic income does not apply to those who receive more than 9,360 euros per year or whose family income is more than 6,000 euros. The introduction of basic income will cost the state budget of Italy 7-22 billion euros for various estimates. And Italian populists "promised" to give 100 billion euros. This will be a significant blow to the country's state budget, and even now many economists consider Italy to be the weakest link in the EU economy. Italy's national debt is 132% of GDP, which is the second highest figure in Europe after Greece (181%). Finnish experiment The most significant experiment on the UBI introduction was conducted in Finland in 2017-2018. The first probe was 2 000 poor and unemployed, who were paid 560 euros per month. As the first results showed, the recipients felt happier and more confident, but the basic income did not push them to look for work, although they were more often ready to work full time instead of short-term earnings and part-time work. In addition, the size of the UBI is comparable to unemployment benefits, but below the subsistence minimum in Finland, that is, people did not get richer. According to Olexiy Doroshenko, a two-year experiment in Finland is a short enough period for long-term conclusions about the advantages or disadvantages of basic income. The main reason for the ambiguous results of implementation is: instead of an incentive for further development and improvement, it leads to dependency and consumerism. Some working people fear that they will be paid for by social workers. And the budget deficit will increase, adds Grygory Pererva, CEO of the Euro-Rating agency. Rich are against It should be noted that the population of Western countries with a high standard of living and incomes is not thrilled to pay for nothing. In 2016, the question of introducing the UBI in the amount of about 2,250 euros was submitted to a national referendum in Switzerland, and about 80% of Swiss people voted against. Approximately the same situation takes place in the Scandinavian countries. According to surveys, 34-38% of respondents support this idea in Norway and in Sweden. "Initially, basic income can be entered at an official level only in the EU or in Scandinavian countries, where there are high social standards, and states have budgetary opportunities to make such payments. But I think this is a prospect for 10-15 years. Now the global economy is slowing down its development. So to make such crucial steps as the introduction of basic income, you need to understand that in the future the world economy will grow at least 3-5 years. What country will actually introduce the UBI first is difficult to say, but even Switzerland and Norway do not consider such problems. It is is a very important step regarding the burdens on the state budget, and the EU countries are very wary of measures that lead to an increase in budget expenditures ", emphasizes Doroshenko. Ukrainian perspectives So far, the introduction of UBI is not an actual question for Ukraine, but we hear talks on this issue in the West, and Italy has already taken the idea. In Ukraine, UBI can theoretically replace various social benefits, including unemployment ones, and reduce bureaucracy in this matter. But much will depend on whether it is replacing some payments or is it potentially a new payment on a regular basis. It can be assumed that in the case of Ukraine only a name change can occur. According to the IBI-Rating agency market research department director, Viktor Shulyk, to some extent there is a similarity to the UBI in our country - unemployment benefit. There are also various types of subsidies as an element of support for the least protected segments of the population. Such payments needs a decent amount from the state budget. Only for the housing subsidy program in the state budget-2019 is provided 55,1 billion UAH (2 billion USD), whereas in 2018, 71 billion UAH (2,5 billion USD) was allocated for this purpose. From my point of view, the only option when it is desirable to apply additional guaranteed financial security is during the period of retraining / study for citizens, until they find a new job, says Viktor Shulyk. New reality It is noteworthy that the presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky promises to introduce an innovation when all Ukrainian children will have a bank account, which will receive a percentage of the states realization of natural benefits. This is somehow similar to UBI. Prospects for this can be considered just theoretically, because there are few natural resources other than land in Ukraine and you will not save enough. Something similar works in Alaska rich in oil, where the population receives from the local fund, where are 25% of the states profits from the sale of black gold - approximately $ 1,500 $ 2,000 per year. For the northern conditions of Alaska, where life is expensive, it is very little ampunt, maybe like 2-4 000 UAH for a Ukrainian. But Ukraine has almost no oil and too many people. On the other hand, we have enough political populists who promise a star from the sky, and the next parliamentary elections will took place in the autumn ... All Ukrainian power regimes failed to reach success in reforms or foreign policy, and therefore they chose issues that could quickly divide the country - history issues, language, foreign policy, ideology, sexual orientation Ukraines presidential elections 2019 have already broken several bad records. The desire to stay in power, or the aspiration to come to power, have encouraged Ukrainian politicians to use tools that are impressive in their perfidy and cynicism. Danger # 1: Separating society and deepening the crisis of confidence Ukrainian politicians have been always trying to divide the country for their own political purposes. Nearly all the presidential campaigns have been using the things that separate us; for example, remember the team of fugitive Viktor Yanukovych, who divided Ukrainians into sorts in 2004. All Ukrainian power regimes failed to reach success in reforms or foreign policy, and therefore they chose issues that could quickly divide the country. The political technologists used history issues, language, foreign policy, ideology, sexual orientation, and so on. The lack of political determination to introduce the necessary reforms, structural modernization of the economy force the politicians to focus on emotions and populism instead of rationality and responsibility, on constant cleavages instead of unity. Such politicians did not behave like statesmen. In this presidential campaign, we have faced a new wave of artificially stirring up hostility and division of society. It was provoked by the so-called bot farms, which institutionalized insults, contempt, and threats as a certain norm and rule. These bots, together with the propaganda from the oligarch-controlled TV channels, brought us closer to the worst Russian practices, where black is always spoken in white and vice versa. Unfortunately, the majority of Ukrainians have bought into these technologies. Crumby holywars between uninformed citizens who repeat the propaganda-like information, instead of knowing the arguments. Social violence and the social mutual rivalry became acceptable. This means that chances for new political leaders, for new projects are falling. People who do not trust each other are not capable of creating something in common. Danger # 2: Self-discredit of the authorities Having lost their own detachment and declared support for a particular candidate, the authorities have actually ceased to be authorities! I mean church institutions, expert, and state institutions. Taking part in an administrative resource for them means undermining their reputation and trust. An anti-corruption activist who supports corrupt officials is like an environmental activist who supports an oil company. On the one hand, the fall of some authorities opens the way to the formation of the new ones, and on the other hand, society is doomed to focus on itself for the time of their search. Danger # 3: Emotions instead of thinking Presidential campaign 2019 can be called quite an intuitive one. The key arguments for voting for this or that candidate are I like/dislike him, I trust/do not trust him, I know less / more about compromising information about him. In order to make a conscious choice, voters have to read the election program, the main statements, evaluate candidates promises and his real deeds, learn his electronic declarations and financial reports of his party, etc. Many criticize one of the candidates for incompetence, although they themselves are very incompetent in assessing state and political processes. Others criticize one of the candidates for dishonesty, although they themselves cannot be called an example of a virtuous life. Many people have become more tolerant of corruption in the army, sabotage of reforms, lies, violation of the law, and aggression of the others. Danger # 4: Irresponsible manipulation of threats On the eve of the elections, it was clear that several campaign agendas are possible. The authorities wanted to focus on some abstract foreign policy issues, and the opposition emphasized the specific failures in reforms or the fight against corruption. Obviously, Donbas war, corruption, and poverty were the three key problems and threats to the state. This was especially clear after the introduction of martial law and the scandal with Ukroboronprom State Concern, which supervises defense industry production facilities. And instead of discussing the recipes for countering threats to the state, the electoral agenda has slipped into the manipulation of these threats. Instead of proposing plans to counter the Russian aggression, some candidates began to label their opponents as Kremlins agents. Danger # 5: Direct calls for the physical elimination of the opponents Disrespect and rejection of the choice of the majority of the Ukrainians entailed not only personal deep insults, but also some appeals in the face of Ayder Muzhdabayev (pro-Poroshenko journalist, who called to execute Zelenskys electorate by shooting, - ed.). Is it normal to voice calls, hang billboards (Poroshenko used billboards, standing face-to-face with Putin, meaning that Ukrainians should not vote for Zelensky because Zelensky aequalis Putin, - ed.) or share video (Poroshenkos team created video, where candidate Zelensky is killed by a truck, - ed.) with elements of violence. And this is after the deaths of Heavens Hundred Heroes and death of thousands of Ukrainians in Donbas. To unleash a civil war or any other scenario of forceful combat following the results of the presidential elections is the biggest dream and the greatest gift to the Russian aggressor. Chaos and destabilization are not beneficial for Ukraine. Only fair elections and respect for their results will be another step towards Ukraines European aspirations. Read the original text on Facebook. The vehicles will be handed over to combat units in Donbas A group of Hummer IFVs from the U.S. reached the seaport of Odesa, southern Ukraine. Stepan Poltorak, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine has announced this during his working trip to the 58th Separate Infantry Brigade in Konotop, Sumy region. 'Recently the level of military technical assistance has increased significantly. This applies to all our partners, first of all, the United States of America. Nowadays, 35 Hummer combat vehicles are being unloaded in Odessa. Of these, 20 armored personnel vehicles will be deployed in combat units and 15 to medical support units, said the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, adding that all assistance immediately goes directly to the combat units that are in the frontline', the minister said as quoted by the press office of the ministry. According to Poltorak, last time, the United States has provided assistance to Ukraine for more than $ 400 million. 'These are Javelin anti-tank missile systems, modern communications means, artillery intelligence systems, electronic warfare and anti-sniper complexes, UAVs', he said. At the same time, Stepan Poltorak emphasized that Ukraine can not build a strong army only at the expense of its partners and it is necessary to develop its own defense industry. The issue was discussed at the recent meeting between Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel Poroshenko at Pulse talk show on 112 Ukraine TV channel 112 Agency On April 18, Ukraine's government plans to announce the Easter ceasefire in Donbas. Petro Poroshenko said that on air of The Pulse talk show at 112 Ukraine TV channel. 'On April 18, a ceasefire will be announced, an Easter ceasefire. We hope it will finally start working', the President said. The issue was discussed at the recent meeting between Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They both supported the introduction of ceasefire in Donbas on April 18. Yes, we all are fighting for bringing peace to Ukrainian territories. Yes, we have to count casualties today. That is why I am very grateful to the Chancellor that during our discussion we supported the Easter ceasefire regime, which will come into force on April 18, provided Russia abides by these conditions, the President said. Earlier, Wikileaks founder was accused of the use pf Embassy in London as espionage center Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technologies of Ecuador Patricio Real stated that the websites of the state departments suffered from 40 million cyber attacks after the decision to deprive WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of the political asylum as AFP reported. The attacks, which began on Thursday had principally come from the United States, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Romania, France, Austria and the United Kingdom as well as from the South American country itself, he said. Earlier Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno stated that Assange tried to use embassy in London as espionage center. Julian Assange was detained by the British police officers after seven years of hiding at the Embassy of Ecuador in the UK. He was arrested at the central police unit of London. The next session is appointed for May 2. Julian Assange lived in Ecuadors Embassy since 2012. He could not leave its territory as he would be immediately arrested for refusal to be present in the court in 2012. Besides, Washington is trying to get him. The U.S. opened a probe against him on disclosure of secret data of the Setae Department. In March, Assange was deprived of all the communication means due to the violation of a written commitment as of 2017 not to spread statements which would suppose the involvement in the relations with other states. He spread information about Russias guiltlessness in Skripals case. Petro Poroshenko's priority will be the debates at Suspilne TV; however, he'll do everything for the society to watch the debates of two candidates on the stadium The teams of presidential candidates Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky signed the agreement with the NSC Olimpiysky stadium. The deal foresees that the presidential debates would take place on the arena on April 19. Oleg Medvedev, the speaker of Poroshenko's HQ said this as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda news agency. According to him, the teams' representatives will discuss the order of these debates. 'So far, the views are different: while one side aims for a show, we are set for full-fledged discussion', Medvedev said. Speaking of the location where the President will head to on April 19, Medvedev said that he would first of all visit Suspilne TV channel. 'Unless there's a decision that sets the President free of the necessity to be at Suspilne, he will at first got to Suspilne. This is the most important thing, it's what the law requires. The rest is optional, and law is law. It's most important that going to the stadium (...). We'll work hard so that the President can live up to the request of Suspilne, being where the law requires him to be, and at the same time to do whatever he can so that the society can watch the full-fledged debates of two candidates. The way we see it, Poroshenko will be on his own at Suspilne's studio', Medvedev concluded. On April 14, the incumbent president came to NSC Olimpiysky for debates with his opponent Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter did not show up. The debates are foreseen by the Ukrainian law; they are foreseen by the electoral law. The debates are supposed to occur on the last Friday before the election. Suspline TV is responsible for hosting the debates. It's common practice these days, as the funeral feasts approach in Ukraine Plastic flowers on a grave Open source As the Easter and funeral feasts approach in Ukraine, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources urges people not to bring the plastic flowers to graveyards. The respective message appeared on Facebook. 'We urge not to buy plastic flowers and wreaths. This practice is common in all regions of Ukraine before Easter', reads the message. The environmental experts mark that burning plastic items will result in a lot of cancer-causing chemicals emitting into the atmosphere. Besides, it takes a lot of time to dissolve plastic. The alternative of plastic flowers could be wreaths of live flowers and fir-needles, lawn grass and candles. The Easter-time funeral feasts are observed on Tuesday of the second week after Easter. Respecting the tradition, people come to graveyards and pray by the graves of their relatives. This year's Easter falls on April 21 (for the Catholics) and April 28 (for the Orthodox). The book will also be translated into English and Polish Collection of Sentsov's stories published in German twitter.com The collection of stories of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov Life was published in German (entitled Leben), as Der Standard reported. Eight stories published by Voland & Quist under a strong title Life tell about the freedom and self-identification, intimacy, family and friendship, loss and love. It is about a life which fulfills our veins with the juice of the sun and the noise of the universe, the message reads. It was noted that if Russias authorities did not attack Ukraine, Sentsov would be a famous film director now. His short films and first feature-length film Gamer proved that he has everything he needs. He would walk on the red carpets of the film festivals, receive prizes, give interviews, improve his skills. As we reported earlier, the information that the European Court of Human Rights had restored the priority status given to the case of Ukrainian political prisoners Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko were premature. Oleg Sentsov stopped the hunger strike on the 144th day (on October 5, 2019). The Russian side officially announced the statement by Sentsov but did not name the reason. According to Sentsov's lawyer, the decision to end the hunger strike was made after Russian doctors and penitentiary facility workers issued an ultimatum to Sentsov, suggesting that he either voluntarily stop the hunger strike or agree to be force-fed. Related: Creators of 'Mr.Jones' film urge Russia to release Sentsov He announced a hunger strike in May 2018, demanding to release him and the rest of Ukrainian political prisoners illegally kept by the Kremlin. During the time of his hunger strike, Sentsov has survived four health crises. The native of Crimea, film director, and political activist, Sentsov was illegally detained in Crimea in 2014, then taken to Russia. The Russian side has judged him and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment at a high-security penal colony. The prosecutors charged Sentsov with preparing terrorist acts in occupied Crimea. Sentsov denies his guilt. Ukraine's government, its citizens, and the international society - politicians, artists, public figures - urge the Kremlin to release him. The Presidents Ombudsman on the Crimean Tatars Affairs Mustafa Dzhemilev commented on the answers of ZeTeam to his questions about Crimea The Presidents Ombudsman on the Crimean Tatars' Affairs Mustafa Dzhemilev wants the presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky to answer the questions about Crimea personally, as 5 TV channel reported. This is not Zelenskys answer, its his team and tomorrow he might say: I dont know, I dont have a team, I expelled it. Therefore, I would like to hear Zelensky, Dzhemilev said. He reiterated that there were five questions, which concerned not just Crimea. You say you want to establish peaceful relationships with Russia. But as we have not attacked Russia, we have not occupied the part of Russia, we have not told Russia how to live and what path to follow, so what concessions are you going to make to appease Putin? Doesnt it provide recognition of Crimeas annexation and occupation of the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions? Dzhemilev said. Earlier, Mustafa Dzhemilev asked Zelensky five questions. In particular, he asked whether Crimeas annexation was the result of popular will. Zelensky was also asked whether concessions in a form of recognition of legitimacy of Crimeas annexation to set peace with Russia are possible. Dzhemilev is also curious if Zelensky would agree on a meeting with Putin on the territory of annexed peninsula and is his team planning to lift blockade of Crimea. On April 15, ZeTeam answered the questions of Mustafa Dzhemilev saying that Crimea belongs to Ukraine, it is unacceptable to sacrifice the peninsula for peace in Donbas. Earlier the Finance Ministry asked to leave the lawsuit without the consideration; however, the court dismissed the application Kyiv Economic Court postponed the consideration of the lawsuit of Ihor Kolomoysky for May 7. He asks to recognize the contract on the sale of PrivatBank as null and void, according to Interfax-Ukraine. In late February 2019, the court took up the lawsuit of Kolomoysky and Triantal, the owners of 41,6572% and 16,5748% of the shares of PrivatBank, on the recognition of the contract on the sale of this bank dated December 21, 2016, null and void. The court also granted the application of the claimants and demanded from the defendants, Finance Ministry, Fund Deposit Guarantee and State Ukrgazbank to provide the mentioned contract on sale until March 26. On April 15, the Administrative Court of Appeal postponed the case of the basis for the nationalization of PrivatBank until April 22. Earlier, Kolomoysky, the Ukrainian oligarch and former owner of Privatbank, demanded to give him back two billion U.S. dollars of the bank's assets. He might, in turn, give up this financial institution. The decision to nationalize Privatbank was made in December 2017. 100 percent of its shares were handed over to the state. The IMF supported that decision, stating that it's an important step to secure Ukraine's financial stability. The Spokesperson of Ukraines Parliament is suspected of misuse of public funds, incur expenditures of the budget Andriy Parubiy, the Spokesperson of the Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada Kyiv Solomiansky District Court obliged National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to begin criminal proceeding against Andriy Parubiy, the Spokesperson of Ukraines Parliament. The relevant order was revealed in the Unified Registry of the Pre-trial Investigations. As it was reported, on February 22, the claimant passed to NABU a statement on the violation committed by Parubiy misuse of public funds, incur expenditures of the budget or provision of credit from the budget without established budgetary allocations or with their excess. NABU received all the information, but it was not included in the Unified Registry of the Pre-trial Investigations. The claimant applied to the court with a complaint against NABU workers demanding to oblige them to open an investigation. Having heard the explanations of the participants of the case, having examined the complaint, the investigating judge believes that the complaint should be satisfied, the court order as of April 2, 2019 reads. To oblige the civil servant of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, who is responsible for the inclusion of data into the Unified Registry of Pre-trial Investigations, to include the information about the criminal proceedings into the Unified Registry of Pre-trial Investigations not later than 24 hours, the document reads. Open source Nadia Savchenko and her party plan to run for the parliament during the election in autumn 2019 as 112 Ukraine reported citing Deputy Head of Party Tatiana Protorchenko. Yesterday, Nadia Viktorivna told the journalists that she will begin working at the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada at the nearest plenary week as the current MP. Last year, this work was quite hampered, especially during the last few months, when she was taken to Chernihiv remand center, then to Lukyanivska remand center. We often called for the recusal due to these court sessions; we had no possibility to visit her as well as her assistants. In other words, she will have such a possibility now. Concerning the political activity, if there is a political force, which declared particular things two years ago, provided the program to the society, if Nadia Viktorivna was chosen as the candidate for the presidency by this force, unfortunately, we could not register her due to all these obstacles imposed by the current system. If all these steps were made, it means that we will participate in the parliamentary elections in autumn. And we expect for the good result, she stated. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament. December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision. On April 16, 2019, Brovarsky District Court ruled to release Volodymyr Ruban and Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko. Savchenko will return to work on April 23 as the plenary session begins at the Verkhovna Rada. Ukraines member of parliament Nadiya Savchenko and the former leader of Officer Corps Centre Volodymyr Ruban Radio Liberty Brovarsky District Court of Kyiv ruled to release Volodymyr Ruban and Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko, as nv.ua reported. The court made this decision as the period of the pre-trial detention has expired and the new one was not set, the message reads. Savchenko stated that she would not violate the regulations and she would not escape from the country, as the prosecutors guaranteed. Earlier, Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv satisfied the recusal of the panel on April 10 and now the case of Nadia Savchenko and Volodymyr Ruban would be sent to Kyiv Appeal Court. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament. December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision. Open source The member of Ukraines Verkhovna Rada Nadiya Savchenko intends to return to work in the Parliament on April 23, as the Chairman of Public political platform of Nadiya Savchenko political party Tetyana Protochenko, as Ukrainian News reported. Speaking of her health, Nadiya is unbroken. She will return to work right away, the message says. Earlier, Brovarsky District Court of Kyiv ruled to release Volodymyr Ruban and Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko. Earlier, Darnytsia District Court of Kyiv satisfied the recusal of the panel on April 10 and now the case of Nadia Savchenko and Volodymyr Ruban will be sent to Kyiv Appeal Court. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament. December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision. Ukraines member of parliament Nadiya Savchenko and the former leader of Officer Corps Centre Volodymyr Ruban Radio Liberty The Prosecutors Office of Ukraine will not drop the charges against Nadia Savchenko and Volodymyr Ruban as Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko reported on Facebook. The release from detention at the preparatory court session does not mean the dismissal of the charges. The Prosecutor Generals Office insists on the sufficiency of the evidence that Savchenko and Ruban committed the crimes. I am sure that the delivery of the weapons from the so-called DPR (Donetsk Peoples Republic, - 112.international) for the shelling of the Ukrainian capital will not be left unpunished, he stated. The Prosecutor General noted that the choice of the restrictive measure or its absence is the exclusive competence of the course; however, the fact that the suspects in the terrorism avoid the arrest is the sign of the structural problems of the judicial system of Ukraine. The number of the recent resonant courts decision, when the suspects in the murder and terrorism avoid the arrest forces to recognize the judicial system as seriously ill. The first reason is that the manipulations with the endless change of the lawyers are allowed by law. Savchenko had eight paid and one free lawyer from the state. The draft law for the elimination of such abuses is at the Verkhovna Rada for a long time, the prosecutor said. The 40% lack of judges in Ukraine was called the second reason. Due to this, the recusal of the judge causes the necessity to change the jurisdiction of the case. The number of changes of the courts on Savchenko-Ruban case with the roller coaster of the recusals at each stage impresses: the Supreme Court Chernihiv regional court Chernihiv Appeal Court Supreme Court Solomenksy district court Kyiv Appeal Court Supreme Court Kyiv Appeal Court Darnytsky district court Kyiv Appeal Court Brovary district court, Lutsenko reminded. Reason number three is reluctance of some judges to carry out their work. It is hard to call recusal than the retrenchment as someone of the relatives of the judge lives at the occupied territory, he emphasized. Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament. December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision. On April 16, 2019, Brovarsky District Court ruled to release Volodymyr Ruban and Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko. Savchenko will return to work on April 23 as the plenary session begins at the Verkhovna Rada. Thank's for the fish. -- Douglas Adams Come back again sometime. Thank you for visiting. 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Rockstart has raised a 15 million ($16.94 million) fund for its new Copenhagen-based agrifood tech program. The cornerstone investors are government-backed Danish growth fund Vaekstfonden and family-owned Dutch private equity firm De Hoge Dennen Capital from the Netherlands. The group expects to announce the funds other LPs in the coming weeks. Access to capital and market are two focuses of the program, with Rockstart AgriFood offering initial capital and the opportunity for particularly promising startups to raise additional capital from the newly-opened fund. Rockstarts agrifood director Mark Durno dubbed the program as an accelerator 2.0 and said the strategy to support startups through later stages was a necessary step considering the sector in question. This is particularly relevant in the agrifood sector where weve seen there is a need for patient capital to give startups time to prove out their business models, he told AgFunderNews adding that not all startups in the cohort will be funded to Series B, but probably around 10%. This is Rockstarts first internal agrifood program after it helped global logistics giant Maersk create its own internal accelerator FoodTrack by Maersk last year. Rockstart is currently seeking applications for its first agrifood cohort, which will launch in September 2019. Interested startups should apply by the end of May. Rockstart has identified three core challenge areas and is searching for startups innovating solutions to address them: optimization of processes and practices, stopping food waste, and driving transparency and sustainability. It plans to invest in more than 200 startups within these domains over the next five years and to foster partnerships with major players in each domain to help accelerated companies find their first customers. We are looking for exceptional entrepreneurial teams with agritech and foodtech startups that are using emerging tech and new business models to positively change or transform our food supply system, Durno said in the press release. The agrifood industry should be considered holistically, so we are looking at solutions from soil to gut. The chosen startups will go to Copenhagen for the accelerators self-described pressure-cooker program offering over 100 mentors and industry partners to help them hone their innovations. Since launching in 2011, Rockstart has invested in some 152 startups across the energy and health sectors that have gone on to raise more than 87 million ($98.23 million). There is a huge potential for agrifood technology in Denmark and the Netherlands as these countries have historically had very strong agricultural and food sectors. We are extremely excited about the partnership with Rockstart who now launches their accelerator program in Copenhagen. Adding to the local competencies that we already have, I am convinced that Rockstart will deliver both an international network and mindset that help the startups deliver on their business potential, wrote Rolf Kjrgaard, chief investment officer at Vkstfonden, in a press release. In addition to agrifood, Rockstart runs programs for startups working in Health, Energy, and Emerging Tech, offering startups access to capital, market, community and knowledge. AgFunders Michael Dean is on the advisory board. PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) ABC News(HAMDEN, Conn.) -- An emotional reunion more than three months in the making took place live on Good Morning America when a 19-year-old girl met the complete stranger who gave her his liver. Madison Ricci, 19, and Jaelin Highsmith, 22, underwent a liver transplant surgery in December that took a total of more than 20 hours. Riccis medical complications after the surgery delayed their meeting until Tuesday, when she was well enough to meet Highsmith in person. Highsmith surprised her live on GMA at her family's home in Hamden, Conn. "Im speechless," said Ricci, who just had two words for Highsmith: "Thank you." "Unreal. Thats the best way to describe it," Highsmith said of their first meeting. "Its been a long time in the making." The journey to Ricci and Highsmiths first meeting began seven years ago when Ricci was diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, at age 12. While on spring break last year as a student at the University of Tampa, Riccis health deteriorated. Doctors told her family that the best hope for survival for Ricci, already on the liver transplant list, was to find a living donor who would give her a piece of their liver. After months of waiting and bumps in the road like a potential donor who fell through Ricci learned she had a match. Highsmith volunteered to be Riccis donor after one of his best friends a family friend of Riccis sent out a text asking for help in finding her a donor. He had only a five to 10 percent chance of being a match for Ricci, according to her family. Yet after over four months of testing, Highsmith was determined by doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital to be a match. "The bottom line was the opportunity as there and theres no way I could pass it up," he said. "I knew from day one if I was able to do this, I would do it." Highsmith and Ricci began to communicate by text message after the surgery and have stayed in touch via texts and social media before they were able to meet in person. "Maddie and Jae have so many similarities, its just amazing to us," said Ricci's mom, Kristine Ricci. "We are forever grateful for Jaelin and his entire family as they are all now part of ours." Highsmith has also stood by Ricci's family as they continue to support her recovery, including helping them raise money for her ongoing medical treatment. "The connection and the love that we share between us all is just amazing," Kristine Ricci said. For more information on living organ donations visit the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a private, non-profit organization that manages the nations organ transplant system. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. First, signs went up around Williamsburg in synagogues and grocery stores and on street corners, advertising an international conference call with seven dial-in numbers on four different continents. Then came robo calls in Yiddish, urging people to talk to their rabbis about children they know who've supposedly been injured by vaccines. The group launched a crowdfunding campaign that aimed to educate the thousands of parents and children [who] are the victims of vaccinations, and dont even know it, before GoFundMe pulled it from the site following an inquiry from WNYC. A screengrab of the GoFundMe before it was removed. (Gothamist) As local governments in Rockland County and New York City have taken increasingly restrictive measures to stop the spread of measles, the small fraction of the ultra-Orthodox community that opposes vaccines have ramped up efforts too, with support from the national anti-vaccination movement. The man at the center of it all is TV-producer-turned-YouTube host Del Bigtree. My God made me perfect. I am not born into an original sin that needs 72 vaccines, Bigtree shouted at a recent rally in Austin, Texas, to a cheering crowd. For those Hasidic Jews in New York right now, who never thought this moment would come, I am saying, I stand with you. Bigtree then took out a Star of David like the one used to mark Jews in Nazi Germany and pinned it to his chest, to make a point about Rockland County. How are we going to know if youre not vaccinated, how are we going to arrest you? Maybe well do it the same way we did the last time, he said. Bigtrees statements were condemned by the Anti-Defamation League. The Auschwitz Memorial in Poland wrote on Twitter that instrumentalizing the fate of Jews who were persecuted by hateful anti-Semitic ideology and murdered in extermination camps like #Auschwitz with poisonous gas in order to argue against vaccination that saves human lives is a symptom of intellectual and moral degeneration. Listen to Gwynne Hogan's report on WNYC: But Bigtree has been embraced by the small portion of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community who oppose vaccines. A movie Bigtree made about vaccines with the infamous British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who insinuated that the measles vaccine had caused 12 children to become autistic was referenced in an early piece of propaganda circulated throughout ultra-Orthodox communities in the metro area. Audio versions of Bigtrees YouTube series on vaccines have been archived on the groups long-standing hotline. Most recently he was invited in by an ultra-Orthodox group to host one of their latest conference calls at the end of March. Bigtrees message at the Austin rally about God creating him perfectly is echoed by seemingly disparate groups of people who oppose vaccines, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents to liberal-leaning parents at private schools. Its the same refrain used in an affidavit from parents of an unvaccinated child in Rockland County whod been barred from attending Green Meadow Waldorf School, a secular private school: We believe that R. was created perfectly, the affidavit reads, and the injection of foreign substances is against our religious beliefs. This belief came up again last week in South Williamsburg, where a small group of women who opposed vaccines spoke to reporters after the city announced a mandatory vaccination rule in certain zip codes where the measles outbreak was ongoing. God has designed a perfect design, said Gitty, a young mother. He has designed my child hes amazing he has designed my child as perfect as can be. Nevertheless, most major rabbinical authorities have come out to support vaccination. It is downright dishonest to officially attest that Jewish law forbids vaccination, wrote Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt from the Rabbinical Alliance of America in a recent open letter. Bigtree is not the only figure on the national anti-vaccination circuit to take interest in New Yorks ultra-Orthodox community. Barbara Loe Fisher, who runs the National Vaccine Information Center, is listed as a contributing researcher in a manual about the dangers of vaccines targeted to the ultra-Orthodox community. And on Monday, attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the Kennedy political dynasty sued New York City on behalf of parents of five unvaccinated children. Kennedy has been a critic of vaccines for years and recently rallied with Bigtree in California against a bill that would add further restrictions to doctors who write medical exemptions to vaccines in an effort to clamp down on fraudulent exemptions. Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, has closely tracked the anti-vaccination movement. Hotez points to a 2017 measles outbreak within a Somali community in Minnesota, where Wakefield was invited to talk to concerned parents multiple times by anti-vaccination activists who feared the measles vaccine caused autism, according to a report from the Washington Post. During that outbreak, 65 people caught measles. Hotez sees whats happening in New York as a progression of those efforts. This is predatory behavior specifically targeted at Jews and at Jewish children, Hotez said. The anti-vaccine movement is now very opportunistic. Theyll identify groups where they think they can make progress in stopping vaccinations; and then are very predatory and unfortunately...they've chosen now to target the Orthodox Jewish community. Bigtree, however, denied his work with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was predatory. He acknowledged he made a film with Wakefield, but said they dont work together day to day. How is truth predatory? Bigtree said. I think its my duty as an American, as a journalist to tell people the truth, instead of the cover-up. There have been 465 measles cases across the country so far this year. An estimated 84 percent of those were in the ultra-Orthodox communities of New York City and Rockland County, where at least 21 have been hospitalized and 9 needed intensive care. Of those who caught the measles, the vast majority had not been vaccinated. Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Dr. Peter Hoetz is a vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine, not Baylor College, and that "most major rabbinical authorities have come out to support vaccination," not "all major rabbinical authorities." Gwynne Hogan is an associate producer at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @GwynneFitz. From subway squirrels to bodega cats to bag dogs, there is a wide-range of wonderful NYC wildlife for locals to fall in love with. But when it comes to the absolute worst creatures living in NYC, there is only one candidate: bedbugs. And their latest alleged appearance? The big Apple store on 5th Avenue. The Post reports today that the store has been dealing with an infestation all weekend, and that workers told them bedbugs may have been there as long as a month. A bedbug was reportedly spotted in the managers office on Friday, prompting employees to get the heck out of there. "It was just mayhem," an employee told The Post. "There was a mass exodusemployees were freaking out they felt really unsafe and management kept giving them the runaround." Staff were ordered to double bag their belongings in plastic while a "bed bug sniffing beagle" (ROSCOE??) was hired to take on the case. The store, which is open 24/7, 365 days a year and rarely shuts its doors, closed for six hours during the overnight hours on a weekday last week for a "water leak." One worker told the tabloid, "People came to work and didnt even know the store was closed, there was no notice." Last week, a warning tweet sounded the alarm but did not attract much attention: It is my understanding that the #Apple @Apple store on fifth avenue in New York (the one that is renovating the cube) has bed bugs! I would hope a warning would be let out for customers who do business there David Estes (@Corps_De_Blah) April 12, 2019 Other employees said the problems started several weeks ago, when a table on the second floor was "cordoned off" because a bed bug was found there. "No one could go to that table but it was still on the floor, if a customer leaned on it and they didnt know" a bug couldve crawled on them, the employee noted. Management reportedly told employees it was under control, until a week and a half later, when an overnight employee found a bed bug crawling on their sweater and took a video of it. We've reached out to Apple for comment about the situation and will update when we hear back. HBO's Barry, the comedy/drama about a reluctant hit man who wants to be an actor but can't escape his true calling, is anchored by star Bill Hader's exhausted, elastic performance as the titular character. But its supporting actors have been just as essential, including Henry Winkler's egotistical drama teacher and, especially, Anthony Carrigan as the lovable Chechen mobster NoHo Hank. NoHo Hank is a people-pleaser who got bumped up to the head of the Chechen mob after the events of season one. By episode three of the new season, he's convinced Barry, who he considers one of his best friends, to train his gang in order to get rid of Hank's nemesis Esther, leader of the Burmese syndicate (Esther has been getting in the way of Hank's friendship and alliance with Bolivian mobster Cristobal). And his line readings on the show are just priceless, like when Barry quietly asks him whether he thinks he's an evil person, and Hank responds: "Oh my God. I mean, absolutely! Do I not tell you that enough? Youre like the most evil guy I know, man!" Carrigan is as delighted with the attention the breakout role has brought him as NoHo Hank might be. The actor, who lived in NYC for several years before Barry, has been very open about his struggles with having a career in Hollywood while having alopecia, and he wrote in an Instagram post last year that during his lowest moments, he'd write his goals for the future down in a notebook: "I opened a notebook and detailed the series that I would be a regular on. The show would be special, well written and compelling. The character I would play would be fun and unique and would be an outlet for everything I had to offer. I even wrote HBO HBO HBO dozens of times in the same page. After years of hustling, tonight its happening. This character, on HBO, in this remarkable series. Fully manifested." We spoke to Carrigan about the origins of the character, the unexpected movie star who inspired his take, and how he met his wife on the subway, of all places. What first got you interested in Barry? Was it because of Bill Hader, or the script, or was it the genre? Well, it was pretty much all of those things! The script was just incredible. It didn't really feel like you were reading a script, it felt like you were watching something that was really compelling. And then add into it that it was Bill Hader at the helm, and this just kind of incredible project at HBO, and it's kind of the perfect scenario. So off the bat I was incredibly drawn to itand also just to play an incredible character like NoHo Hank is a once in a lifetime thing. NoHo Hank is one of the standout side characters, the "secret weapon" of the show. What does it mean to you when you hear people talk about your work like that? I think it's awesome, I mean I'm really happy that people are getting a kick out of this character. I certainly have so much fun playing him, so I'm happy that it kind of is giving people at least some decent memes to throw down with their friends, that's nice. Like which memes? From season one, the "hang in there baby" was going around, and also the Bitmoji Hank "gulp." That one was a good one. My understanding is that NoHo Hank was maybe supposed to be killed in the pilot originally? Yeah, that's right. I don't know at what point they exactly changed it, because there are certain kinda things that you don't know what's gonna happen [when you pick a project]. We shot the pilot, and then we shot the series about a year later, so there's a lot of time, but how it was pitched to me was that there was this role, which "don't be scared" because it may end up being different. So I thought it was shot and I was like, "Oh okay, well let's make him not die." I talked to Bill and Alec as much as I could. I had such a good time and we really built up such a wonderful rapport, the whole cast and crew. We felt pretty close-knit from the get-go, so maybe that had something to do with it. How much of NoHo Hank was on the page initially, and how much of him developed because of your performance and your interpretation of him? Well, it's an interesting thing, because when I looked at the page, I was like, "oh, I know who this guy is." Although he was just described as a very polite gangster, I kind of saw many more aspects of Hank that I immediately picked up on. I actually met other people who had gone in for that role, and they were like, "whoa, you did it completely differently from what I did," and I was like, "oh, wow, that's interesting," cause I always saw it as this specifically. It was a good amount was on the page, but I had a good time bringing what I could to it. Was there anyone you were drawing from for inspiration, like a character in another movie or anything? A lot of Jean-Claude Van Damm in his action movies. Just trying to be a really cool guy. And yeah, I would say probably Jean-Claude at the height of his career in the '80s, probably. I described him to a friend recently as a "sociopathic mensch."[Laughs] Right! Yeah, totally. That's a very apt description. How has his role in the show changed going into season two? The power dynamics of the Chechen mob have changed pretty drastically. So leaving season one, Hank is kind of in charge now. He no longer is second in command to Goran. He now has a lot more responsibility, and part of that responsibility is delegating and delegating is kind of a difficult thing to do for Hank. So, even though he works well with Cristobal, I think he feels a lot of pressure as this new leader, and has to exemplify what it means to be a Chechen mobster. So, it certainly sets things up for difficult times ahead because I don't think leading is Hank's strong suit. Yeah, I think we get an impression of that pretty quickly. A lot of the themes of the show are about the dichotomy in people's personalitythe way they view themselves versus the way other people view them and their actions. That is reflected in the split between comedy and drama in the show. I was wondering what your thoughts are on that in general with Hank. Like Barry, it seems he views himself very differently than the world views him. Yeah, for sure. I think there's a kind of common motif there of working against one's true nature, and having your true nature kind of win out in the end. That's a common theme that is exemplified through many of the characters and through Hank. He's trying so hard to be this thing that he's not, and so that makes things extremely difficult for him and it gets him in some hot water. A lot of critics and fans loved season one so much that they weren't sure there could or should be a season two. Did you or did anybody in the cast have any trepidations about that? I honestly do trust Bill and Alec inherently. Sure, there are a lot of people who believe that things shouldn't be stretched on and on, and I understand that, because we live in an age of prequels and sequels, and sequels of prequels, where everything is being milked for all its worth, up until the point where it just loses the magic of what made it work in the first place. But what's cool about this season and about Bill and Alec is they have a fresh approach this season. And I imagine they're gonna have just as fresh approach to the third season as well. Do you have an idea of where the story is going already, have you all discussed that? No, I have no idea. I better call Bill. Better call him. (HBO) I usually ask people if they have a particularly memorable or weird subway experience to share, and I understand you have a particularly memorable one. I sure do, that's right. Yeah, I met my now-wife on the subway. It was the summer solstice [in 2015], and the hottest day of the year, and I come down to the subway platform, and I see her standing there, and I was thinking to myself, "That's cool, don't ogle her too much." Then we both get on the train. What station was it? Broadway-Lafayette, a great station. Very roomy, absolutely. Very metropolitan. So, we both get on the train, and then when I got off [a few stops later], I wasn't really paying attention, and I realized that I got off a stop too soon. I definitely did not want to walk in the New York heat that day, so I was like, "whatever, I'll just get back on the platform and get on the next train." And I can see that she's standing there too, so I go up and talk to her. It turned out she had gotten on the wrong train. And yeah, the rest is history. Generally, it's pretty rare for New Yorkers to talk to strangers on the train is that something you've done before with strangers, have you ever hit on someone before in the subway? No, no, that was the first time on the subway. It was really cool, you know? And I'm just really, really happy that I did and that I made a move. Did you have any other weird subway experiences? Perhaps not as romantic? Yeah, not as romantic? Um, I chased a purse snatcher in Brooklyn. This guy had grabbed this woman's purse, and was running up the stairs, and she was just like, "He's got my purse!" And I was like, "Okay!" So I started running after him, and running after him, and running after him not really knowing what I was gonna do if I caught him. He's way bigger than me, but I was just like, "Drop it!" And thank God he did, he just dropped it and kept running. So, I got the purse, gave it back to her, and all was right with the world. Were you living in New York at that point, or were you just visiting? I was living here, I lived in New York for three years. I lived in Williamsburg, very hip of me. Then like in Clinton Hill. Is there anything in particular you miss about living in the city? Oh sure, I really miss the changing seasons, because in Los Angeles you don't really get thatand I feel like New Yorkers, and really all East Coasters, they really earn their good seasons. They earn when the weather's hot, they earn when the leaves start to change. It's not the easiest times during the dead of winter or the height of summer to kind of get through it, but they do, and they're well deserved, you know? In that sense, it's a meteorologically well-balanced city. Do you have any Utopian ideas on how to improve life in New York City? Ah, yeah, make the subway free. That would be a good one. And then also, there's this really cool idea that was making it like a musical, like taking the subway turnstiles and making it musical, I thought that was a really, really cool idea. And, what else Utopian...you know, New York is such a huge city and I think that if anything can maybe really make a dent in climate change, it's New York. So it would be really cool to see New York do something massive to really offset carbon footprints. To lead the charge, like with banning cigarettes indoors? Yes, exactly, to lead the charge. New York is such a super power, New York can do anything, you know what I mean? They could do anything! When New Yorkers band together, they can really change the world. Since you haven't been living here for a little while, are there any places you'd be devastated to learn had closed forever while you were gone? Yes, gosh, let's see. I would be pretty devastated to lose the Cloisters, cause that place is just so gorgeous, I'd be devastated to lose this place called Miss Lily's Caribbean food, it's so good. I'd be devastated if that place went under. The Russian and Turkish Baths, the 10th Street Bath House, that place is just such a staple. And McSorley's, I love that bar. It would be really weird if McSorley's weren't here. For much of the last two years, Brooklyn's cyclist community has worked alongside the Department of Transportation on strategies to encourage bike commuting during the L train shutdown. That planningwhich coincided with a $100 million investment from new Citi Bike owner Lyft in Novemberwas set to bring about the mass deployment of pedal-assist e-bikes and valet stations within the L train corridor, creating a Manhattan-bound "shuttle service" while expanding bike-share in Williamsburg and points east. Now there are no L train shutdown plans, and no pedal-assist e-bikes for the foreseeable future. But there is still a commitment to expand Citi Bike to Bushwick, with a DOT assurance last month that it will get done in time for the start of the new L train project on April 27th. And two of these new stations are already active and shown on the map -- Stagg & Morgan and White & Moore. pic.twitter.com/Pnyiq0HZpl Chris O'Leary (@ohhleary) April 15, 2019 Beginning this week, those long-awaited stations are finally becoming a reality. Yesterday, a sharp-eyed Brooklynite spotted two brand new stations in East Williamsburg and one on Wilson Avenue in Bushwick. On Tuesday morning, a second Bushwick station materialized at Jefferson and Irving Avenues (it's not yet live, as of 11 a.m.). Several more stations are coming, possibly as soon as today. A DOT draft plan prepared last week shows the location of a dozen more sidewalk and roadbed stations soon-to-land in Bushwick, along with nine other new stations in East Williamsburg. A DOT spokesperson confirmed those installations will continue into Maysuggesting that April 27 may no longer be a hard deadlinethough a spokesperson for Lyft tells Gothamist they're aiming to get it done by the end of the month. In total, the 25 new stations will have 579 docking points. The draft plan as of April 11th. Find a high-resolution map here (DOT) Given the mandate to expand the system ahead of the L train shutdown, the siting seems to make sense. Those most impacted by the slowdown have access to four stations on Wyckoff Avenue, and there are docking options at both the Central and Knickerbocker Avenue M stops. Asked about bringing valet stations at the subway transfer point, the Lyft spokesperson said they were still finalizing those plans. There's also a roadbed station just outside Maria Hernandez Park, in line with a City Council directive to increase bike-share access in parks. Theoretically, this could be the start of that "dramatic expansion" promised as part of Lyft's commitment to doubling Citi Bike's service area and more than tripling its fleet in the next five years. Frustratingly, however, the number of available working bikes hasn't budged since that November announcement. In fact, the total number of bikes on the ground remains consistently below the 12,000 bike mark that the company is supposed to maintain to keep its monopoly. Meanwhile, Lyft has declined to share details about its future expansion plans. For the moment, at least, watching Citi Bike finally pierce the iron curtain that is Flushing Avenue is pretty damn satisfying. There's no reason other boundary areasCrown Heights, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, every neighborhood adjacent to Prospect Park's lower half, etc.shouldn't get that same satisfaction, and soon. The New Jersey woman who helped engineer the GoFundMe grift pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception on Monday, admitting to having helped weave a lucrative web of lies for her own financial gain. Per her plea, 28-year-old Katelyn McClure could serve four years in state prison, according to NPR. In November 2017, McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, created a GoFundMe page for a homeless veteran who had, according to McClure, been kind enough to gift her his last $20 when she ran out of gas on a New Jersey highway. Out of alleged gratitude for this random act of charity, McClure sought to crowdfund the basic resources needed to get our Good Samaritan, Johnny Bobbitt, back on his feet. She just wanted to "pay it forward," she said, and thus a scam was born. The couple far exceeded their fundraising goal, amassing $400,000 that should have been earmarked for Bobbitt. But after McClure and D'Amico availed themselves of the national attention of their viral campaign, it didn't take long for reports to surface that they maybe hadn't handed over all of Bobbitt's cash. Months later, the vet was still homeless, whereas McClure and D'Amico seemed suddenly to be living a life of conspicuous luxury. They argued that they needed to dole out Bobbitt's money in small portions, lest he blow the whole fortune on drugs. That assertion prompted Bobbitt to sue, and put the altercation on law enforcement's radar. Police executed a search warrant on McClure and D'Amico's Florence Township home in September 2018, confiscating expensive purchases like a BMW, even as GoFundMe pledged to return Bobbitt the sum owed to him. It certainly looked like Bobbitt had been scammed along with all the campaign's contributors, but quickly appearances began to shift, and the scammed was revealed to be the scammer: A year after the crowdfunding campaign went live, investigators uncovered evidence that Bobbitt had been in on the whole thing. Police subsequently arrested him in Philadelphia, while D'Amico and McClure turned themselves in. Adding intrigue to intrigue, ABC's Good Morning America then published audio in which a woman (alleged to be McClure) could be heard screaming at a man (alleged to be D'Amico) that he "started the whole f*cking thing," that he made her lie about it on TV, and that she was now "the one f*cking taking the fall" for the man's scheming. According to NPR, McClure has kept up that defense: She and Bobbittwho pleaded guilty to the state's conspiracy to commit theft by deception charge in Marchwill reportedly testify against D'Amico when his case goes to trial next month. In March, McClure and Bobbitt pleaded guilty to federal scamming charges: McClure copped to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison, while Bobbitt's admission to conspiracy to commit money laundering carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. McClure will be sentenced on state charges on June 3rd, and on federal charges on June 19. Bobbitt is currently in a drug treatment program, and should avoid prison time if he sticks to "the tightly-structured regimen of treatment and recovery services," according to NPR. As for everyone who paid into the GoFundMe grift, the site has promised to reimburse defrauded contributions. RTHK: Indonesia prepares for a jumbo election process From sending ballot boxes by elephant in Sumatra to keeping voters safe in Papua's rebel territory, Indonesia is pulling out all the stops for one of the world's biggest one-day polls across a vast archipelago of 260 million. On Wednesday, over 190 million registered voters in the Muslim-majority country will cast their votes in just eight hours of polling, with the election commission battling torrential downpours, voter fraud and damaging cyber attacks. And if that wasn't hard enough, the world's third-largest democracy behind India and the United States is staging a first for its two-decade-old system: holding presidential, parliamentary and local polls all in one day. "This is a very big country so we'll do our best," Arief Budiman, the commission's chief, told a recent gathering of journalists and diplomats. Calling on four-legged transport, motorbikes, speedboats and planes, officials have been distributing cardboard ballot boxes guarded by armed security staff to every corner of the 4,800 kilometre long archipelago, which is home to hundreds of ethnic groups and languages. While elephants carried ballot boxes through Sumatra's Aceh province, horses were used to reach to remote communities in the southeast corner of Java island. A record 245,000 candidates are vying for public office, with current president Joko Widodo facing off against ex-general Prabowo Subianto for the top job. The polls kick off early on Wednesday at over 800,000 plus ballot stations staffed by millions of election officials, starting in easternmost Papua where a separatist insurgency has simmered for decades. Security will be tight in parts of the mountainous region after rebels massacred more than a dozen employees at a state-backed contractor in December. But armed rebels aren't the only election challenge in Papua, which shares an island border with independent Papua New Guinea. Meanwhile, police on the tourist hotspot of Bali this week scuffled with a small group of Papuans who staged a rally calling for people not to cast a ballot. Training millions of electoral officers many working an election for the first time has been another challenge. To that end, a mobile phone app was created by the election commission to give Indonesians including technology friendly millennials details about every candidate and their policies. The agency, which has discounted opposition claims of millions of voter-list irregularities, is also battling repeated cyber attacks that threaten to disrupt the vote. Some were purportedly launched by hackers in Russia and China, though it declined to confirm those claims. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Courtesy Alicia Erchul(ORLANDO, Fla.) -- Among the thousands of Disney World visitors last month were two families there for a very special reason. Alicia Erchul, 43, of Jacksonville, Florida, met Morgan Price, the 4-year-old girl who received the heart of her late son, Gabriel Crystalus. "I've felt this weight on my chest [since his death], like I can't take a full breath," Erchul told ABC News' Good Morning America. "[Meeting Morgan] felt like for the first time in a long time I could take a breath." Gabriel was four months old when he died in 2014 from traumatic head injuries. He had been under the care of Erchul's then-husband, who was sentenced for his death. At the time of Gabriel's death, Morgan, also four months old at the time, was hospitalized near her home in Alabama while awaiting a heart transplant. She had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition, at two weeks old. "When we were waiting for the heart, it seemed like an eternity to us," said Morgan's grandmother, Dorothy Johnson. "Every day you're hoping this is the day. By the same token, there's this bittersweet guilt because somebody had to lose a child." On Nov. 2, 2014, after weeks of hospitalization, Morgan received Gabriel's heart. "When she was admitted [to the hospital] she was in advanced congestive heart failure," Johnson said. "You couldn't imagine how bad that was, but you knew somebody had to lose a child for your child just to have a chance at life." For Erchul, there was no doubt she would donate Gabriel's organs -- another child received his liver -- but the grief was too much to get in touch with Morgan's family. "I didn't want to impact their joy with our sorrow," she said. "This year, I felt like I'd healed enough, and Aidan [Erchul's 6-year-old son] had started to process what happened enough that it would be OK to reach out to them." Erchul and Aidan had used Disney World as a place to find joy after Gabriel's death, visiting the theme park on his birthday, his "angel-versary" and Christmas. Gabriel's nickname was Tigger, and some of the last photos taken of him show him dressed as the Pooh character for Halloween. When Erchul reached out to Morgan's family, she discovered they were planning a family trip to Disney World in March. Erchul and Aidan drove the two hours from their home in Jacksonville to meet Morgan and her family and spend three days together at Disney. "It was like we met a long-lost friend or family member," Erchul recalled. "Hugging Morgan and being able to be with her and feel her heartbeat, it just felt like a part of me that had gone came back." Erchul met Morgan and her sister and mother, in addition to Johnson and other family members. "She was nervous. We were nervous, but it was amazing meeting them," Johnson said. "They're family." Erchul and Johnson are sharing their families' story, first reported by The Orlando Sentinel, in hopes of raising awareness around organ donations. April is National Donate Life Month, when activities are held across the U.S. to encourage people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. More than 110,000 people are currently on the transplant waiting list and every 10 minutes another person is added to the list, according to U.S. government statistics. Each day, 20 people die while waiting for a transplant. Morgan and her family gave Erchul and Aidan a pink unicorn that plays a recording of Morgan's heartbeat from her most recent sonogram. Erchul and Aidan gave Morgan a Tigger stuffed animal. "She offered for me to feel her heart in her chest and she showed me her scar from the heart surgery," Erchul said about Morgan. "It was very touching and amazing that she's alive and doing so well. It's just a miracle." What Johnson saw as a miracle, too, was that her granddaughter bonded so quickly with Erchul after meeting her for the first time. "For 10 minutes after they left [Disney World], Morgan had tears rolling down her face and was holding onto the Tigger [stuffed animal]," Johnson said. "There is a definite connection between them. This is Alicia's baby's heart." In the weeks since their first meeting, the families have stayed in touch via texts, emails and FaceTime. Both Johnson and Erchul said there is "no doubt" they will meet again in person. Erchul said she has felt a "sense of calm" since meeting Morgan and is focused now on her mission of continuing to spread Gabriel's legacy. "We ask our family, friends and colleagues to purposely do random acts that spread joy, experience wonder, create magic and share love," she said. "Either by doing an activity with their own children, donating time or toys or experiencing the wonder of a child, themselves." The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Our latest installment of Quick Bites bring us to Bushwick for some impressive African cuisine. THE VIBE A quick tour this past weekend of the area around Bushwick's Jefferson L station confirmed that Jefftown (is that still a thing?) has completed its transformation into a destination party zone. But on warm evenings like the ones New Yorkers recently enjoyed, it's also apparent that Maria Hernandez Park remains the true heart of the community. Which is why I am rooting heavily for the decidedly un-"lit" Hills Kitchenwhich opened last month directly across Knickerbocker Avenue from the parkto succeed. Hills Kitchen serves an impressively deep and varied menu of African Cuisine, and is run by Promise Eduro, who recently moved to Brooklyn from Nigeria and seems to do absolutely everything here. Like she is the only person on staff: your (talented) chef, your (helpful) manager, your (amiable) server. This can make for some awkward pauses in your Hills Kitchen experience, because if Eduro is in the kitchen cooking a big delivery order, for example, she can't also be out front telling you to "please sit wherever you want," or bringing you your check when you're ready to leave. So try to relax. The space itself is narrow and rather dimly lit, with seating for about twelve, not including an overstuffed lounger near the register for those waiting for take-out. A few photographs and paintings hang on the red and yellow walls, and there are two TVs playing cable news. It's all very no-fuss, which is great, though it might be nice to have some music and tune out the world for a little bit. Okro Soup, $5. (Scott Lynch / Gothamist) THE BITES West African restaurants remain a relative rarity in this part of town, so don't worry if you don't recognize the names of some of the dishes on the largely explication-free menu. One version of the menu includes photos, which helps a little, and Eduro will do her best to guide you through it, but my strategy in situations like this is to just order away and trust the kitchen. Which, when you have a cook as good as Eduro, works out very well indeed. There are three main rice dishes, but since you're in a mostly Nigerian restaurant you really should get the Jollof, which arrives all bright red and fiery. I had mine with goat (chicken, fish, and beef are also options) and the hacked up, bone-in meat was perfectly tender and covered in a thick, lively sauce. This is a great meal. If you want to add a side dish, try the Moi Moi, a creamy, steamed bean pudding that hides an entire egg inside. Ordering the soups as side dishes is a good way to sample a range of flavors. The Okro, which comes with bits of shrimp and meat, is visibly slimy, intensely rich, and absolutely delicious. The Egusi, made from ground seeds and punctuated with bitterleaf and chewy dried fish, was also a deeply flavorful, satisfying dish, especially when eaten with a sticky ball of Pounded Yam. And if you want a bowl of something broth-ier, the Fish Pepper Soup is crazy spicy and overflowing with fat chunks of croaker fish. THE VERDICT Over two meals I barely made a dent in the Hills Kitchen menu, and am looking forward to getting back there as soon as possible to try more of Eduro's home cooking. And the bonus: the place provides a welcome respite from some of the neighborhood's more frantic eating scenes. Hills Kitchen is located at 252 Knickerbocker Avenue, between Starr Street and Willoughby Avenue, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (929-480-8775; hillskitchenonline.com) Not one to be constrained by the Opinions of others, New Jersey dentist Wayne Gangi has rebuilt his now-world-famous* lawn displaywith even more sexy mannequins this time because screw you, neighbors. Last week, enraged Clifton, NJ resident Desiree Shepstone hacked apart Gangi's risque Easter tableau. At the time of the crimeand I do mean crime; Shepstone has been charged with criminal mischief for her rampagethe display included five busty mannequins, stationed outside Gangi's dental office and outfitted in negligees, rabbit ears, and fishnet stockings. Gangi and his staff scattered enormous eggs at their feet and strapped baskets to their wrists, ostensibly a hat tip to a certain Christian holiday. In reality, Gangi said, he wanted to honor the late Hugh Hefner on what would've been his 93rd birthday (April 9th), but that didn't explain the heavy-handed Easter accents. Whether Jesus or a deceased Playboy publisher inspired this festive scene, Shepstone believed it posed a threat to her 16-year-old son, "a good boy," and his propriety. Some of Shepstone's community supporters also pointed out that the whole shebang was a weird choice for Easter. Reasonable, but consider this: All these plastic bodiesonce dismembered and heaped in a sad pilehave been resurrected and stand miraculously healed after a brief stint in the tomb (Gangi's garage). As I understand it, that is the story of Easter, which may actually make this a pretty fitting tribute. Sorry! After Shepstone's attack, Gangi vowed to put his display back up. Before its destruction, it polarized locals, some of whom saw it as sexist and demeaningI think you will be able to see why that is, if you squintwhereas others maintained that Gangi has the right to decorate his property however he sees fit. And indeed, Gangi engineers elaborate displays for most holidays: He reportedly used the same mannequins for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, and covers his whole house in cobwebs and ghoul parts for Halloween. Gangi viewed this as a treat for children, but the city reportedly viewed it as a public safety hazard, and made the dentist take down his Halloween gear in 2013. Anyway, Gangi is no stranger to controversy, and the offensive Shepstone launched on his Easter army only strengthened his resolve. He had repaired and replaced the core five mannequins by Friday, and now, has added three more mannequins into the mix. New additions include two man mannequinsa heavily mustachioed dude who stands confidently at the front of the display, drawn-on nips blazing, and a bunny-eared guy with a ponytail who lurks in the rear with his back to the audience, what is he doing?plus a sort of Dorothy-slash-Alice-in-Wonderland figure. Gangi previously told NorthJersey.com that he planned to dress one of the mannequins as Joe Biden, if he could "find the right outfit." Personally, I am thankful that he didn't do that, and also that he made the following improvements (per NorthJersey.com): Speakers pumping out dance hits such as Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," "masks for the 'shy' bunnies," a disco ball, and surveillance cameras, "so he can keep an eye on the display." Plus caution tape, to keep out the vandals. Gangi was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday morning, but please cross your fingers that he agrees to share some insight into his creative process. Until then, for those of you who celebrate, happy Easter from all your friends: *There's a lot of coverage coming out of Canada, so. A Brooklyn public school teacher was arrested on Monday, and authorities say he was sexually abusing a student. Daniel Santiago, a teacher at PS 244 in East Flatbush, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse and acting in a manner to injure a child under 17. Police say that Santiago groped an 11-year-old female student's genitals, chest, and buttocks on school grounds. The abuse allegedly began in February. Santiago, 29, had been sending the girl "inappropriate text messages" and "someone spotted him touching the girl inappropriately," according to police sources. PIX 11 reports, "Word spread among the students, who then told another teacher at the school. The teacher told the principal, who then called police and made them aware of what was going on." "This teacher was immediately reassigned away from the classroom when we were made aware of this disturbing allegation. We'll seek to remove him from payroll as quickly as possible while the investigation is pending," the Department of Education said in a statement. The Sunday night fire that engulfed Tatiana, the beloved Russian eatery and nightclub located on the Brighton Beach boardwalk, was started by a lit cigarette under the boardwalk, the Fire Department said Monday. The two-alarm fire started while the restaurant was still open, as Bklyner reports, around 9:45 p.m. The fire department responded quickly, dispatching a total of 106 firefighters and EMS responders to put out the blaze. One firefighter sustained minor injuries, but didn't go to the hospital. (Brighton Beach, Brooklyn) Large Fire Under Boardwalk Firefighters quickly extinguished the growing flames. An investigation is underway. Following here: https://t.co/qRGe1XuJ85 #CitizenAppNYC pic.twitter.com/nhEs2AjvUO Citizen NYC (@CitizenApp_NYC) April 15, 2019 An FDNY spokesperson told Gothamist that the cigarette ignited a mattress under the boardwalk, which then spread to the six-story building above it, which houses the restaurant as well as apartments. While the fire ripped through the patio and charred much of the restaurant, it was relatively contained. The spokesperson said the fire did not spread to the apartments atop the restaurant. While Tatiana is closed for now, owner Lenny Bender told Pix 11 News that it was "nothing difficult to fix" and that he hoped to open shop again in several weeks. The circumstances of the recent fire has residents urging the city to provide more resources and services to homeless people who set up camp under the boardwalk. A 1997 fire that seared underneath the boardwalk, steps away from Tatiana, left three homeless people dead. Tatiana was previously damaged in a 2003 fire, which started from unknown causes. El ministro de Relaciones Exteriores @NestorPopolizio copreside la reunion del Grupo de Lima que se viene desarrollando en Santiago de Chile. Lo acompana el vicecanciller Hugo de Zela. ??@Minrel_Chile pic.twitter.com/6pYHZH8909 Presidente @MartinVizcarraC: Con el bono que otorga el Estado, las familias pueden acceder a un credito hipotecario y cumplir el sueno de la casa propia. Este es uno de los objetivos de nuestro Gobierno: mejorar el nivel de vida de todas las personas. pic.twitter.com/GfBkUfodaH I don't know how many young women come to this blog or how many are parents of teenage or young adult women, but here are some safety tips from Kelsey's Army: T I P S 1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed.5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.Remember the acronym TIPS:ake Chargenform others of your whereaboutsrepare for any situationurvival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen)For more information, go to Kelsey's Army YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. The history of Armenian music, Armenian musical instruments is already taught as a separate subject in the Music Education Professional College of the Argentine city of Cordoba. This initiative belongs to Argentina-based Armenian musician, duduk player Gagik Gasparyan, who told ARMENPRESS that this is thanks to his consistent actions which lasted 22 years. The Armenian culture has been officially adopted as a separate subject in the Argentine college. I am very happy and proud that I managed to do this. This step enables foreign young people to get acquainted with the Armenian music, folk instruments. I think culture is the key to recognizing Armenia, he said. The musician tells that his proposal to teach the Armenian culture as a separate subject was welcomed. And this was not a coincidence because he has carried out consistent works with the music specialists of Argentina, educational institutions for many years and presented them the Armenian music. When I presented my proposal to the college executives, it was accepted with a great pleasure. The first lecture took place in early April, and the audience was excited. They were interested in our history and culture. The experience shows that if we are able to introduce our culture with a right emphasis, it sounds interesting to foreigners. Armenians live in Argentina for already 100 years. If initially we were closed, now a different trend is noticed. We are seeking to introduce our culture to the broader circle by cooperating with the Argentine musicians. Today I have reached the point that the proposals to present the Armenian culture are already being made to me, Gagik Gasparyan said. He informed that there is also a comprehensive cooperation with other educational facilities of Argentina. They hold concerts and lectures with the musicians invited from Armenia during the year. In 2015 the Culture ministry of Chile made a decision to dedicate the whole year to the Armenian culture. During this period 15 lectures were delivered about the Armenian music, instruments and history. The musician said he is going to invite different Armenian musicians this year so that they will deliver lectures at the college. I launched the program alone, but also want to include other musicians who will have their contribution. Introducing the Armenian culture to the broad circle in foreign states is a great task, he said, adding that his program to present the Armenian culture also has a tourism significance. Many people do not only show interest towards the history of the Armenian culture, but also want to visit Armenia to get acquainted with the country. And there is already an agreement on visiting Armenia with 37 people from Argentina. For many years Gagik Gasparyan has worked on introducing the Armenian music, the Armenian musical instruments, in particular duduk (ancient double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood), to the broad circles of Argentina, South America. Currently he has launched a new initiative called Music Without Borders. He stated that within the frames of this program famous songs will be performed with duduk. The musician is working on this project for already two years. He informed that he also launched the shooting of a documentary about the Armenian culture in partnership with one of the local filmmaking companies. The Armenian dance, architecture, cuisine and history will be presented in the film. The film crew is expected to visit Armenia to work on the spot. Interview by Anna Gziryan Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Landmine clearing personnel of the Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise are resuming operations in Syria after few days of training and technical terrain explorations. Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise spokesperson Nazeli Elbakyan told ARMENPRESS they are maintaining daily contact with the groups commander Ara Martirosyan. According to him, they come across both anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines, IEDs arent few either. Landmine clearing works are carried out in compliance with international standards, Elbakyan said. She said the Armenian group has cleared more than 10,000 square meters of territory. The humanitarian de-miners and medics arrived in Aleppo in early February. Ara Martirosyan, chief inspector of the Armenian Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise, has been appointed as the missions new commander in early April after the previous chief sustained injuries when a landmine exploded. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Members of Parliament from the ruling alliance and the opposition clashed during todays debates in parliament after the majority rejected to include the oppositions bills in the agenda. MP from the ruling My Step faction Hamazasp Danielyan said the opposition is introducing bills with controversial content and chooses sabotage as its practice. But opposition MP Naira Zohrabyan from Prosperous Armenia Party was quick to react and called on Danielyan to be restrained. MP Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the other opposition party Lusavor Hayastan (Luminous Armenia) also reacted to Danielyan. The parliament eventually did not include the bills of the two opposition parties that were earlier rejected by respective committees. MPs engaged in heated debates mostly around Prosperous Armenias bill that suggested that servicemen should be sent to active duty on combat shifts after 12 months of service and training. You mention populism whenever you dont wanna adopt a bill, Prosperous Armenia MP Gevorg Petrosyan said. The committee is a political body, but it is very bad that committees include people who often dont understand the essence of the issue, who vote against and the bill enters the plenary sittings agenda in another perception, he said. My Steps Hamazasp Danielyan said it is already becoming a tradition when opposition factions are bringing bills with controversial content, to say the least. And the word populism is indeed worthy. Its become a tradition to speak on behalf of the people. Lets stop the practice as to who is closer to the people. We are hearing speeches about reasoning from Gevorg PetrosyanTheyve chosen a strategy of sabotage, pleasant to the ears of various layers of the society, perhaps for bringing useful decision, and they themselves do not realize how it will be implemented, he said. Naira Zohrabyan from Prosperous Armenia responded: I think you should have elemental decency to not raise such issue. Hamazasp Danielyan, be a bit restrained. Perhaps your small political biography doesnt allow you to appreciate what Prosperous Armenia Party has done, she said. Edmon Marukyan from Luminous Armenia also slammed Danielyans remarks on sabotage. Can you bring at least one example when the government has wanted to do something good and we have sabotaged? The revolution happened, it is over, you are the political majority, do your job, who is sabotaging you? We stand with you and the prime minister for every good thing done, he said. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan has addressed a letter to Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo on the fire that severely damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in the French capital. Mrs. Mayor, dear colleague, it is with deep regret and sadness that I learnt about the incident in Paris yesterday. The Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, a masterpiece of global art, the witness of French history, the symbol of Paris. Yesterday evening and night, following the news from France, I was also following the reaction of the Armenian segment online. Together with words of regret and support the people of Yerevan are expressing certainty that through joint efforts it will be possible to restore this wonderful cathedral, one of the wonders of the Middle Ages, and it will continue to amaze and host millions of people from all across the world. Our thoughts and prayers are with Paris, the Mayor of Yerevan said, in part, in the letter. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Artak Davtyan on April 15 toured the military units located in the north-eastern border of the Republic, the defense ministry of Armenia told Armenpress. Lieutenant-General Artak Davtyan was accompanied by top military officials. He was reported on the operative situation, physical and combat readiness of the personnel, and the military tasks set before the divisions. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces gave instructions to the responsible officials on the issues which require urgent solutions. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Officials of the Armenian Ministry of Defense are participating at the April 16-19 session of the military-technical cooperation working group under the CSTO military-technical cooperation inter-governmental commissions chairperson, the defense ministry said in a news release. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Britains Queen Elizabeth II thanked the emergency services of France for extinguishing the fire that broke out in the cathedral of Notre Dame on April 15, Reuters reports. Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral, Elizabeths message sent to French President Emmanuel Macron said. I extend my sincere admiration to the emergency services who have risked their lives to try to save this important national monument. My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the Cathedral and all of France at this difficult time. A major fire broke out in the cathedral of Notre-Dame on April 15. Firefighters managed to save the 850-year-old Gothic buildings main stone structure, including its two towers, but the spire and roof collapsed. The fire was declared under control almost nine hours after it started. The cause is not yet clear but officials say it could be linked to extensive renovation works under way. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 15 on the exchange of information about the customs value of goods and vehicles transported via the customs borders of the two countries within the framework of the visit of Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia Davit Ananyan to Iran, the SRC told Armenpress. The Armenian SRC and Irans Customs Service have established cooperation and mutual assistance on the exchange of data relating to the customs value of goods, as well as created an opportunity to effectively organize the customs control of goods passing through the border. The MoU also created more favorable conditions for boosting the bilateral trade turnover aimed at fighting tax evasion. During the visit a meeting was also held with the Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance during which issues of mutual interest were discussed. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Former Director of the Compulsory Enforcement Service Mihran Poghosyans office has released a statement after authorities charged Poghosyan and declared him wanted. According to the statement, Poghosyan has provided details of his whereabouts to authorities since the first day of being under investigation. We once again reiterate Moscow city, Mosfilmovskaya 70, 1st section, apartment 139. Moreover, the Special Investigative Service investigators has also been provided with Mihran Poghosyans mobile phone number, the statement says. Poghosyan denies wrongdoing. Poghosyan resigned as Director of the Compulsory Enforcement Service in 2016 when his name appeared in revelations in the Panama Papers. He is charged with embezzlement and abuse of power. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. The Council of the Parliament of Armenia has convened an extraordinary session chaired by Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, the Parliament told Armenpress. By the decision of the Council amendments were made to the draft laws on making amendments to the agenda of the second session of the seventh convocation of the Parliament and the draft laws of the agenda of the regular sittings to be convened on April 16, as well as in the sequence of the debate of the agenda items of the regular sittings. The item of appointing Chairman of the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition was included in the draft laws of the agendas. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Congressional delegation will visit Armenia from April 17-19, the Parliament of Armenia told Armenpress. The delegation includes Congressman David Price (D-North Carolina), Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-Florida), Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-Nevada), Congressman Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), Congressman Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California), and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-Alabama). The delegation will meet with a variety of interlocutors in the executive branch and members of the Parliament, as well as with members of media and civil society and NGO representatives. Other events will include a session with students at the American University of Armenia (AUA), and visits to Etchmiadzin and the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial. The members of Congress are all members of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP); Congressman Price serves as the HDP Chairman, and Congressman Buchanan is the Co-Chair. The purpose of the delegations visit is to identify potential opportunities for impactful engagement by HDP with the Armenian Parliament. The House Democracy Partnership (HDP) is a bipartisan commission of the United States House of Representatives that is dedicated to promoting responsive, effective government and strengthening democratic institutions by assisting legislatures in emerging democracies through peer-to-peer cooperation. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, 16 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 16 aApril, USD exchange rate down by 0.42 drams to 484.33 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.54 drams to 546.86 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 7.54 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.47 drams to 633.60 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price down by 152.17 drams to 20019.59 drams. Silver price down by 2.23 drams to 232.56 drams. Platinum price down by 261.28 drams to 13749.7 drams. YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Gor Hovhannisyan has failed to be installed as Constitutional Court Judge after lawmakers rejected his candidacy at a confirmation vote today. 101 lawmakers took part in the vote. Two ballots were declared invalid, 24 voted in favor, while 75 voted against. Hovhannisyans candidacy was proposed by President Armen Sarkissian. After debates around the candidate, Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said there are irregularities in the documents presented for Hovhannisyan. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan STEPANAKERT, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Official Stepanakert positively assesses the discussion of issues relating to the humanitarian field by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Artsakh Presidents spokesperson Davit Babayan told Armenpress, stating that official Stepanakert has presented humanitarian proposals long ago. Its another matter that they have been ignored by Azerbaijan. They would allow to strengthen the ceasefire regime and reduce the number of violations. In particular, the withdrawal of snipers from the border, the exclusion of ceasefire violations during national, international and religious holidays. Azerbaijan hasnt reacted to this in any way, moreover, it further aggravated the violations, Davit Babayan said. He added that they have made a proposal to maintain the ceasefire regime during the harvest. Whereas, Azerbaijan was firing shots especially during the harvest, firing the fields, although there have been many cases when these fires spread to the Azerbaijani territory due to wind. We have raised this issue many times both to the co-chairs and other international organizations in order to give solution to this issue, but no result was achieved because Baku hasnt taken any step forward. But now if there is any chance to implement any program on this direction, thats positive, but knowing Azerbaijan quite well, we are a little skeptical. However, this doesnt mean that one should not try, Davit Babayan said. Regardless of everything, the Artsakh presidential spokesperson is confident that the only way for maintaining peace and stability is to have strong Armenian army and united society. On 15 April, the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia Sergey Lavrov, Elmar Mammadyarov, and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held a working meeting in Moscow at the initiative of the Russian side. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, and Stephane Visconti of France), as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, joined the meeting. A joint statement was adopted following the meeting. The Foreign Ministers emphasized their interest in the further stabilization of the situation in the conflict zone, in particular during agricultural activities. They also agreed to take measures, on a mutual basis, to allow families to have access to their relatives held in custody in the respective detention centers of the parties. The Ministers expressed their willingness to start concrete work on establishing contacts between people, including through mutual visits of media representatives. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a condolence letter to President of France Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, the letter runs as follows, Honorable Mr. President, we are shocked by the tragedy that took place in Paris. Notre-Dame de Paris is one of the most significant and beloved symbols of the European civilization and the entire Christian world. For Armenians it is a unique embodiment of the French culture and spiritual heritage which we have identified with Paris and its centuries-old history. Armenia expresses its solidarity with the French people and shares their feelings. At the same time, we hope that all of us will take the necessary steps to restore the former look of the temple. " Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan If it achieves independence, this small archipelago just over 1,000 kilometres from Cairns will have as its legacy a still festering internal debate about the future of its fabulous mining wealth that was at the heart of the conflict that claimed around 20,000 lives. This referendum is a celebrated element of the 2001 peace agreement that finally brought the bloodshed to a close and could result in Bougainville becoming another independent but under-developed, economically struggling small island state in the Pacific, with a population of 350,000 people. Does this matter beyond PNG? One would think so. But because funding and arrangements for the plebiscite were well behind schedule, the voting date has now been postponed to October. SYDNEY Bougainville, the autonomous region of Papua New Guinea which suffered a brutal 10-year civil conflict in the 1990s, was due to have a referendum in June to decide if it would separate from PNG. As John Momis and Peter O'Neill unsetadily edge Bougainville towards its referendum on independence, the ABC goes missing - but not Radio New Zealand And whether independent or not, Bougainville remains an area of intense geo-political interest for Australia particularly as other nations, including China, seek to access that fabulous wealth. Yet judging by Australias recent media coverage of this volatile rich island, it is just about invisible aside from some reporting in the business media about Australian mining interests in Bougainville. All this is doubly strange, given its not as though nothing has been happening. In a year not yet four months old, there has been a flurry of discombobulating developments already in 2019 in what was already set to be an important year for Bougainville. These threaten to impact on Bougainvilles ability to weather the political and massive economic challenges ahead. The year began with the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and a landowners group in Panguna, the site of the copper and gold mine which was at the heart of the conflict, publicly opposing each others preferences for the mining companies they would like to see re-opening the mine. Separately, concerns were raised in January about the delays in funding to prepare for the forthcoming referendum, at that stage still scheduled for June. Then the ABG announced that it would change its mining laws to accommodate a West Australian mining investor. A subsequent and surprising announcement from the ABG revealed its intention to establish its own company to re-open Panguna mine in the hope of solving its financial problems. That plan was met by outrage among landowners living around the mine and more widely. By February, the Bougainville Referendum Commission, chaired by former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, concluded that the commission and Bougainville wouldnt be ready to hold the vote in June and sought a deferral. That delay was confirmed by the ABG and PNGs national government on 1 March. Four days later, New Zealand was asked to lead a regional support mission to assist with security during the referendum, now scheduled to start on 12 October. The mining issue continued to simmer into March and April with the WA-based mining developer making assurances that it would work with the ABG to find a solution for the closed mine. Around this time, an important reconciliation ceremony took place bringing together Bougainville President, John Momis, representing the ABG, and Mekamui separatists. This coming together with the once militant faction is a vital step in cementing Bougainville-wide unity in the lead up to the referendum for independence. And as part of the preparations for the October vote, the United Nations initiated a roadshow with Bougainville president, the UN resident coordinator in PNG and the national parliaments Minister of Bougainville travelling around the archipelago to explain what the referendum was all about. In short, its been a newsworthy few months. Given the parochialism of Australias domestic mainstream media, the lack of attention is probably not surprising although it is disappointing. But that shouldnt be the case for the ABC and in particular Radio Australias service to the Pacific. Perhaps its their search engines fault in not capturing all their own stories, but a search of ABCs coverage of Bougainville shows no news stories since January 2018. Radio Australia, as should be expected, has so far this year had 25 stories. But this pales when compared to RNZ Pacific which since the beginning of the year had almost three times that number of stories. So comprehensive is RNZ Pacifics coverage that reading the entries on their search engine provides a readily accessible, reliable and up-to-date narrative of Bougainville. This paucity of coverage by the ABC of one of the most important running stories in the Pacific is despite the fact that according to the ABC itself, PNG and the Pacific comprise a target audience group for its international broadcasting services. Answering the question of why there is so little coverage compared to its Tasman cousin could be a matter of budget. The ABC only makes available $11 million a year for its international services out of its total budget of $865.5 million. Yet RNZs total budget is around NZ$42 million and that includes funding for both its domestic and international services. So if money isnt the answer, what is? AskMen Style Defined: Cool Style for the Warm Weather Warm-Weather Style Defined The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. Here at AskMen, we strive to bring you new and interesting content to help answer any questions you may have from sex and dating to health and fitness and food and booze. And this latest installment of our new weekly series AskMen Style Defined is all about taking the tropics or at least tropical style with you wherever you go. RELATED: AskMen Style Defined Last Week: Tech Fabrics Make for a More Comfortable Spring Born and raised in Brooklyn, Eric Wertz now resides in upstate New York, about an hour north of the city he once called home. As an electrician, avid traveler, and mens lifestyle blogger, there is no shortage of inspiration for his site Blue Collar Prep. Focusing on fashion, food, and family, Wertz has a distinct style and bold visual presence on his blog as well as his Instagram page by the same name. Behind the fashionable IG posts, Im a true family man who loves exploring and enduring any new adventure with my family, Wertz says of his life we see in his photoshoots. We are all avid skiers and love the Caribbean. From local road trips to aspirations of seeing as much of this world as we can together, any new experience I have I honestly always want it to me with my wife and son. To see Wertzs stylish feed is to see someone who has a clear vision about who he is: Im a blue collar guy who happens to love fashion. Its this passion that triggered my wife [Sarina] and I to start our own brand, BLUE #NotTheColorBlue. He and Sarina, a photographer in her own right started the brand with a simple, staple accessory of his the beanie. We started out with the one accessory I use in a lot of my looks and are currently working on some shirt designs, he explains. With such a full schedule its hard to devote 100 percent to anything right now, but I honestly love the balance of my life from being a homeowner, a dad, a devoted hubby, a lifestyle blogger, a brand owner, Im definitely never bored and love the versatility of everything we have going on right now. His wife isnt just his partner in life and business, she, along with his late father, serve as constant inspiration every day. My wife has just an effortlessly cool style and my father was able to pull off just about anything in terms of outfit selections, he tells us. I feel like a lot of the pieces I choose today, I could easily have seen him rocking back in the day! But like many of the creatives we speak with for our weekly series, Wertz doesnt just draw inspiration from a single source. My inspiration also comes from just about anywhere from the many stylish guys on the gram, to pieces my wife rocks, to someone on the street, to even the casually cool pieces my son [Nate] wears. I get my inspo from everything around me! For this look featured I was actually on my way to a derby party for J. Peterman and chose these specific pieces from them to rock at the event, he says about sophisticatedly styled spring ensemble. I love this outfit and cant wait to take that blue cargo jacket and re-work it into an entirely different look. Its fitting that Wertz is a fan of travel to island destinations such as the Caribbean, since this outfit from the Panama hat to the cropped summer-weight trousers evokes feelings of tropical life even in an urban setting of New York City. He continues on explaining that he likes blending different styles. Im definitely not just married to one. I like versatile pieces that can be used in any look, whether its street style, grunge, or more dapper vibes. Judging from the variety of outfits in his feed, we can guess he will be bringing a lot more stylish ideas as the weather continues to warm up. Items to shop inspired by Wertzs look: Budget: Jack & Jones Premium Field Jacket, $116 at Asos.com Topman Stripe T-Shirt, $20 at Topman.com Alex Mill Standard Pleated Chino, $115 at AlexMill.com Ultrafino Barrington Panama Hat, from $47.99 at Amazon.com Vans OG Classic LX Brushed-Nubuck Slip-On Sneakers, $60 at MrPorter.com Baller: Tods Suede Safari Jacket, $5,625 at Tods.com Sunspel Classic Cotton Breton Stripe T-Shirt, $90 at Sunspel.com The Workers Club Tapered Pleated Cotton-Twill Chinos, $250 at MrPorter.com Frescobol Carioca Grosgrain-Trimmed Straw Panama Hat, $260 at MrPorter.com Brunello Cucinelli Slip-On Sneakers, $695 at BrunelloCucinelli.com Were big fans of this cool style as the weather warms up, but what do you think? What do you want to see? Do you have a look you like? Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and friend us on Facebook to share your best looks or tell us about someone we should check out. Tag us and use the hashtag #AskMenStyleDefined to get our attention. Or email us directly at [email protected] with AskMen Style Defined in the subject line. Maybe next week, well pick you! You Might Also Dig: AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use. An Australian grandmother to children of a notorious Islamic State group fighter has tracked down the orphans in a Syrian refugee camp in an emotional reunion she hopes will lead to their return home. The three surviving children of jihadist Khaled Sharrouf and his wife Tara Nettleton are in the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria and want to return to Australia after being taken to the Middle East by their parents in 2013. After two failed attempts to find the children over five years, Karen Nettleton was finally able to locate them after a phone call in March from 16-year-old granddaughter Hoda Sharrouf, national broadcaster ABC reported. Nettleton then searched for the orphans in the muddy alleyways of the camp, which is home to up to 100,000 people displaced from the fight against IS, before finding them in a reunion broadcast late Monday. "I've missed you. I've missed you," Hoda Sharrouf told Nettleton as she emerged from a tent, her hands trembling. "Please don't leave." The pair embraced, and Nettleton told her granddaughter, "Hoda I'm here ... I missed you so much too." Nettleton has long fought for the children to be brought home but had previously been rebuffed by authorities, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying he did not want to put Australian lives at risk. She is still uncertain about how she will get the children -- 17-year-old heavily pregnant Zaynab, Hoda, their eight-year-old brother Hamzeh, and Zaynab's two young children Ayesha, three, and Fatima, two -- out of the camp, saying she was frustrated by negotiations with Canberra. "We don't get a yes or no answer... all they've said is that once we get to Turkey, they'll give us all the help that they can," Nettleton told the ABC. Zaynab Sharrouf said they had wanted to return home "for a very long time" but had been fearful of rumours in the camp of those attempting to leave being caught, raped and tortured. "We weren't the ones that chose to come here in the first place... And now that our parents are gone, we want to... live a normal life," she said. Khaled Sharrouf -- the first Australian to have his citizenship stripped under anti-terrorism laws -- made international headlines in 2014 when he posted an image on Twitter of one of his sons holding a severed head. He is believed to have died in a 2017 American air strike alongside two sons, while Tara Nettleton reportedly died in 2015. Morrison said Tuesday his government was "working quietly behind the scenes with the International Red Cross" over the fate of the children. A foreign affairs department spokeswoman told AFP it was in "close contact" with Karen Nettleton but would not comment further due to the "complex and fluid situation", and for security reasons. The fate of foreign fighters and their families has become a significant problem for governments as the conflict against IS draws to a close. The al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is home to up to 100,000 people displaced from the fight against IS The Gulf state of Bahrain Tuesday jailed 138 people and revoked their citizenship for plotting to form a "terror" group with links to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the public prosecutor said. The verdict was swiftly condemned by the Bahraini opposition, while human rights group Amnesty International decried the "mockery of justice" and "mass arbitrary denaturalisation". The court, whose rulings can be appealed, handed the men prison terms of three years to life for having tried to build a Bahrain Hezbollah, similar to the Shiite militia active in Lebanon, said prosecutor Ahmad al-Hammadi. Some members had received military training in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, he said in a statement. Another man was also jailed but his citizenship was not revoked, while 30 others were acquitted, said the statement posted on the prosecution Instagram account. A judicial source said all the convicts are members of the Shiite community in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. The source also said that 111 were already in custody while 58 were sentenced in absentia. Amnesty International described the sentences as "outrageous" and a sign of Bahrain's authorities' disregard for international judicial standards. The trial "demonstrates how Bahrain's authorities are increasingly relying on revocation of nationality as a tool for repression," said Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director at Amnesty. - Bouts of unrest - Ruled for more than two centuries by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain has a majority Shiite Muslim population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government. The small Gulf state, a key US ally located between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, has been gripped by bouts of unrest since 2011, when authorities cracked down on Shiite-led protests demanding political reform. Since then, hundreds of protesters have been jailed or stripped of their nationality, with Bahrain claiming Iran trained and backed demonstrators in order to topple the Manama government -- an accusation Tehran denies. All opposition groups have been banned and disbanded. The king last year signed off on a decree granting military courts the right to try civilians accused of "terrorism". In June, Bahrain amended its law on political rights, prohibiting leaders and members of dissolved political associations from running in legislative elections. - 'Terrorism' trials - In Tuesday's court ruling, the prosecutor said 69 defendants were sentenced to life in jail, 39 to 10 years, 23 to seven years and the rest to between three and five years imprisonment. Ninety-six of the defendants were also fined 100,000 Bahraini dinars ($265,000) each. The opposition Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said the mass sentencing was "the largest single incident" since the Bahraini government began revoking nationalities of opponents in 2012. Since then, Manama had stripped the nationalities of 990 people, including 180 this year, the institute said. "BIRD condemns the outcome of this deeply unfair trial in the strongest possible terms and urges the authorities to quash the sentences and restore the citizenships," the group said in a statement. "This is not the first incident where the Bahrain judiciary has held a mass trial to convict individuals on terrorism-related offences," it said. In May 2018, 115 individuals were sentenced to prison and their citizenships were revoked, it said. In other recent high-profile trials, Bahrain's prominent rights defender Nabeel Rajab in December lost his final appeal against a five-year jail term for writing tweets deemed offensive to the state. In January, Bahrain's supreme court upheld a life term against Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq, for allegedly spying for rival Qatar. In Tuesday's court ruling, the prosecutor said that 69 defendants were sentenced to life in jail, 39 to 10 years, 23 to seven years and the rest to between three and five years imprisonment. The small Gulf state, a key US ally located between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, has been gripped by bouts of unrest since 2011, when authorities cracked down on Shiite-led protests demanding political reform. Sweden's teenage activist Greta Thunberg choked backed tears on Tuesday as she warned of climate disaster and urged Europeans to vote in next month's elections to press for decisive action on cutting greenhouse gases. In a speech to a packed committee of the European Parliament, Thunberg, 16, warned time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming. "I want you to panic, I want you to act as if the house was on fire," Thunberg told the environment committee of the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. Citing scientific reports endorsed by the United Nations and holding back her tears, she warned of accelerating disasters like mass species extinction, erosion of top soil, deforestation, air pollution, loss of insects and the acidification of oceans. She received a warm round of applause before composing herself and continuing her speech. "You need to listen to us, we who cannot vote," Thunberg said, referring to the tens of thousands of students taking to the streets worldwide to fight climate change. "You need to vote for us, for your children and grandchildren," she said. "In this election, you vote for the future living conditions for human kind." Voters in EU countries will elect on May 23-26 a new European Parliament, which will also play a role in chosing the head of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. - 'Hijacked for political ends' - During a visit to Brussels in February, Thunberg urged the European Union to double its ambition for greenhouse gas cuts, upping its target from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2030. Under the 2015 Paris climate deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the 28-nation EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990. EU officials are now talking of increasing the figure to 45 percent. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has said warming is on track toward an unliveable 3C or 4C rise, and avoiding global chaos will require a major transformation. Thunberg has inspired tens of thousands of children worldwide to boycott classes to draw attention to climate change. Around 100 young people marched Tuesday through the streets of Strasbourg to the parliament building to press for urgent action against climate change. Francoise Grossetete, a French member of the European Parliament, said she would skip the committee hearing because she strongly objected to Thunberg's alarmist stand that in her view is anti-economic growth. Thunberg has become "the symbol of this just environmental cause that is hijacked for political ends" by environmental lobbies, said Grosssete, a member of the centre-right European People's Party. The Swede hit global headlines with her speech in December at a UN climate meeting in Poland and has received support from climate activists. Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg holds back tears at a European Parliament committee where she warned that time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming Disgruntled customers have vented online over a shortage of Farmers Union Iced Coffee. The iced coffees Facebook page has been hit with comments from people angered by a lack of its two-litre bottles in supermarkets. Many have also criticised Farmers Union for not addressing the shortage with a public statement. An Adelaide resident wrote she visited seven different stores including Aldi, Woolworths, Coles and IGA but couldnt find two-litre cartons. Customers have complained about a shortage of Farmers Union Iced Coffee. Source: Facebook/ Farmers Union Iced Coffee Some don't even have the smaller cartons, she wrote. Do we need to declare a national emergency? There will be riots! Another woman added shes dying due to the shortage. Hey Farmers Union Iced Coffee. Have to say I love you, probably more than my husband, but whats going on? Im dying over here with the FUIC shortage! she wrote. In a response to one of the comments, Farmers Union confirmed theres been a supply shortage of the two-litre iced coffee bottles in South Australia We're sorry for any inconvenience caused. But the good news is it's coming back on shelves from today (Monday) with all other Farmers Union Iced Coffee pack sizes remaining readily available, it wrote. Farmers Union confirmed there was a shortage of some of its products. Facebook/ Farmers Union Iced Coffee A spokeswoman for Lion Dairy & Drinks, which owns Farmers Union, told Yahoo News the shortage is due to extreme weather conditions including drought. She added the shortage is affecting two-litre bottles in South Australia. Lion Dairy & Drinks is a demand-driven business and this is reflected in the way we procure the right amount of milk to meet our customers needs. Extreme weather conditions including drought, together with significant cost increases across water, feed and energy have contributed to the challenges facing dairy production in Australia which has resulted in lower milk supply and increased milk price, she said. At this time we are also experiencing an increase in demand for our dairy products and we were unable to source the additional milk to fulfil this volume. The spokeswoman added there have been some intermittent supply shortfalls on some products as a result but the two-litre bottles should be back from Monday. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here. A raging fire that tore through Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris was under control early Tuesday after the blaze brought its towering spire and roof crashing to the ground, wiping out centuries of priceless heritage central to French culture and history. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the cathedral described as the soul of the nation and expressed relief that "the worst had been avoided" in a blaze that had at one point threatened the entire edifice. Thousands of Parisians and tourists watched in horror from nearby streets cordoned off by the police as flames engulfed the building and officials tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's countless treasures, built up over centuries. The inferno destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the early evening sky. Around 400 firefighters battled into the night to control the flames, declaring in the early hours of Tuesday that it was partially extinguished but completely under control, around nine hours after it broke out. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said "we can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved" as well as the two bell towers. But "the whole of the roof has been devastated... a part of the vault has collapsed, the spire is no more", fire brigade spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Plus said. Laurent Nunez, state secretary at the interior ministry, told reporters early Tuesday that with the immediate "danger of the fire over," the focus would be on assessing the damage to the building's structure. Nunez said officials would meet shortly to see if the building was stable enough to allow fire services to go inside. - 'France is Notre Dame' - "Notre-Dame survived all the wars, all the bombardments. We never thought it could burn. I feel incredibly sad and empty," Stephane Seigneurie, a consultant who joined other shocked onlookers in a solemn rendition of "Ave Maria" as they watched the fire from a nearby bridge. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted around an hour after the fire first broke out when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down. "We have been dealt a knockout blow," a stricken-looking Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit told reporters. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, but the cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. French prosecutors said it was being currently being treated as an accident. Historians expressed dismay at the collapse of a building that has been a symbol of France for almost a millennium. "If Paris is the Eiffel Tower then France is Notre Dame. It's the entire culture, entire history of France incarnated in this monument," Bernard Lecomte, a writer and specialist in religious history told BFM TV. Deputy Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told the channel that workers were scrambling "to save all the artworks that can be saved." Officials later said teams had managed to salvage an unknown quantity of the cultural treasures. - 'Emotion of a nation' - Macron cancelled a planned national policy speech on recent "Yellow Vest" protests and instead headed to the scene, where he vowed the cathedral would be reborn. "We will rebuild Notre-Dame because it is what the French expect," he said, describing Notre Dame as "the epicentre of our life" and the cathedral of "all the French", whether religious or not. France's billionaire Pinault dynasty immediately pledged 100 million euros for the reconstruction effort. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Notre-Dame cathedral a "symbol of European culture" as the blaze raged. The Vatican on Monday expressed its "incredulity" and "sadness" over the fire. - 'Water bombers not used' - One firefighter was injured in the blaze, the fire brigade said, revising an earlier assessment that the individual was in a serious condition. US President Donald Trump in a tweet said it was "horrible" to watch the fire but caused controversy by offering advice on how to put it out. "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" he said. But France's civil security service, which oversees crisis management in the country, tweeted back at Trump that the use of water-bombing aircraft was not being considered. "If used, (this) could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral," it said. - 'Will never be the same' - The cathedral is located at the very centre of the French capital and its construction was completed in the mid-12th century after some 200 years of work. During the French Revolution in the 18th century, the cathedral was vandalised in widespread anti-clerical violence: its spire was dismantled, its treasures plundered and its large statues at the grand entrance doors destroyed. It would go on to feature as a central character in a Victor Hugo novel published in 1831, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" and shortly afterwards a restoration project lasting two decades got under way, led by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The building survived the devastation of two global conflicts in the 20th century and famously rang its bells on August 24, 1944, the day of the Liberation of Paris from German occupation at the end of the World War II. "Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before," said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s. Jacky Lafortune, a 72-year-old artist and self-described atheist stood forlornly on the banks of the River Seine staring at the burning cathedral. Comparing the mood in the French capital to the aftermath of a terror attack he said: "But this stirs much deeper emotions because Notre-Dame is linked to the very foundations of our culture." A colossal fire tore through Notre-Dame Cathedral, sending the spire crashing to the ground and wiping out centuries of heritage in central Paris Plan, factfile and history of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris An image taken from a television screen shows Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames Smoke rises in front of the altar cross as Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris burns Crowds watch the fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral from the banks of the Seine river Flames and smoke billow around the gargoyles decorating the roof and sides of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris The spire of Notre-Dame de Paris is engulfed in flames and collapses The first shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrived in crisis-wracked Venezuela on Tuesday following approval from President Nicolas Maduro's government, an official told AFP. The shipment, wich arrived at the airport serving Caracas, includes desperately needed "medication and medical supplies," the official confirmed on condition of anonymity. Venezuela has suffered more than four years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. The United Nations says a quarter of its 30 million population is in urgent need of aid. Last week, Maduro and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came to an agreement to allow in the humanitarian aid. Supplies destined for Venezuela's long-suffering population formed the basis of a stand-off between Maduro and parliament speaker Juan Guaido, who launched a direct challenge to the president's authority in January. Guaido has since been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as Venezuela's interim president. But despite a highly publicized campaign, he failed to force humanitarian aid stockpiled over the border in Colombia into the country as the military -- which remains loyal to Maduro -- blockaded a bridge crossing. Maduro claimed the aid was nothing more than a smokescreen to cover a US-led invasion. Cardboard boxes bearing the symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement were loaded by forklift onto trucks at the Maiquetia international airport, according to images shared on social media. Maduro has repeatedly denied Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis and blames the US for the oil-rich South American country's economic woes. But last week he said on national TV and radio that his government and the Red Cross had agreed "to work together with UN agencies to bring into Venezuela all the humanitarian aid that can be brought." Guaido blames government incompetence and corruption for his country's crisis. Last month, the ICRC announced it would begin in early April a first phase of aid distribution to help 650,000 people. The UN estimates that 3.7 million Venezuelans are malnourished and 22 percent of children younger than age five suffer from chronic malnourishment. It also claims that more than 2.7 million citizens have fled Venezuela since 2015. People carry goods along the "trochas" -illegal trails on the border between Cucuta in Colombia and San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela, on April 13, 2019 A killer is still at large after a skin cancer doctor was gunned down in the garage of his Brisbane home. Luping Zeng, 56, was shot in the chest about 11.40pm on Monday while packing his car at his familys MacGregor home. He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition where he later died. A killer is still at large after a skin cancer doctor was gunned down in the garage of his Brisbane home. Source: AAP Dr Zengs wife and two adult children were at home when the shooting occurred. It is believed the doctor and the shooter did not know each other. Search for light-coloured car Police suspect only one person was involved in the shooting but say it could be more. Detectives are searching for a man in a light-coloured sedan or hatchback. Detectives are searching for a man in a light-coloured sedan or hatchback, seen in a neighbours CCTV footage. Source: Nine News Queensland Police have asked for anyone in the MacGregor area, particularly on Delfin Street bounded by Mains Road and Granadilla Street, to come forward with any CCTV or dashboard camera footage. They are unable to say what type of gun was used or at what range the shooter fired from. Chinese community rally around doctors family Dr Zeng spoke three languages, and worked at the Waterford 7 Day Medical Centre and Skin Cancer Clinic. A Brisbane doctor, who knew him but asked not to be named, described Dr Zeng as a calm and gentle man, and said the Chinese community was rallying around his family. Luping Zeng, 56, was shot in the chest on Monday night while packing his car at his familys MacGregor home. Source: Facebook Dr Zeng had decades of experience, including 11 years in plastic and reconstructive surgery. He moved to Australia in 2000 and worked in a number of hospitals, going on to work in general practice and skin cancer medicine after studying at The University of Queensland. His wife is an overseas-trained doctor and their two adult children are also studying to become doctors. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. Barefoot and cloaked in swinging bamboo ropes, two masked performers dressed as Laos' legendary "ancestors" walk the streets of Luang Prabang on an annual outing for raucous new year celebrations drawing hundreds of worshippers to the normally sleepy city. Revellers splash water on the pair and their gold-studded masked lion cub during the annual procession at the height of the city's days-long holiday celebrating the Buddhist new year. Some revellers wait all year to catch a glimpse of the procession, which stems from Laos folklore. As legend goes, Laos' heavenly king put out a call for earthly volunteers to cut a massive vine which was blocking farmers from growing rice and vegetables. No one offered until an elderly couple -- Pou Nyer (grandfather) and Nyar Nyer (grandmother) -- said they would do it, despite knowing such a difficult task would end in their deaths. After they were killed by the giant vine, the king called on Laotians to forever worship the couple and their lion cub, and they are now believed to be the country's ancestral protectors. Today two male performers represent the sacred duo and two more their lion cub, with the costumes and masks coming out just once a year for a parade that ends with a dance at the glimmering golden Wat Xien Thong temple, one of the country's oldest and most scared, on the banks of the Mekong River. When the festivities are over, the costumes are carefully returned to a special chest in a temple across town dubbed the "sanctuary of the divinities", where they will rest for the next 12 months. The procession is the culmination of days of merrymaking in the UNESCO-listed city, a tourist hub that drew more than 755,000 visitors last year, according to Laos official data. Elsewhere in town, elephants are dressed up and paraded through the streets and alms are offered at sunrise to orange-robed monks in the city's ornate temples. And on the sandy banks of the river, worshippers carve knee-high sand stupas decorated with images of beloved monks and holy flowers. For some, the annual celebrations are reason enough to book a trip. "I planned my trip to see the Laos new year ... it's my first time," French tourist Couelle Guillaume told AFP. "It was unique to see ... different culture and ethnicities." Performers dressed as sacred Lao ancestors and their lion cub dancing at the Wat Xiengthong Buddhist temple to mark the Laos New Year celebrations in Luang Prabang The guardian lion "Singkheo Singkham" leaves to take part in the Laos New Year procession in Luang Prabang Revellers traditionally splash water on the legendary ancestors "Pou Nyer" and "Nyar Nyer" during their annual procession Luang Prabang The jury has long been out on whether men look better with or without beards, but a new study has found one thing regarding facial hair to be true beards harbour more germs than dog fur. Not just any germs either potentially deadly germs. Swiss scientists made the alarming discovery after taking swabs from the beards of 18 men and found every single sample was crawling with bacteria. Nearly half of the beards tested in the study carried germs that posed serious risk to human health. The study conducted by Switzerlands Hirslanden Clinic was looking into whether there was a risk of humans with facial hair picking-up dog-borne diseases. By contrast, the number of dogs tested had lower levels of microbes. Seven men had bacteria levels so high they posed a genuine threat to human health. Source: Getty The bearded men, aged from 18 to 76, showed high microbial counts, but only 23 out of the 30 dogs tested had high counts. On the basis of these findings, dogs can be considered as clean compared with bearded men, Professor Andreas Gutzeit from the Hirslanden Clinic told the Mail on Sunday. But some beard enthusiasts have hit back at the studys findings. Beard Liberation Front founder Keith Flett said beards were being unnecessarily targeted, suggesting pogonophobia was to blame the fear or extreme dislike of beards. I think its possible to find all sorts of unpleasant things if you took swabs from peoples hair and hands and then tested them, Mr Flett told the Mail. I dont believe that beards in themselves are unhygienic. There seems to be a constant stream of negative stories about beards that suggest its more about pogonophobia than anything else. 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. A Moscow court on Tuesday convicted a retired Norwegian border guard on spying charges and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Frode Berg, 63, was detained in Moscow in 2017 following a sting operation by Russia's FSB security service. Prosecutors accused him of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. Judge Andrei Suvorov of the Moscow City Court found Berg guilty of espionage and jailed him for 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony. A dejected, tired-looking Berg, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, stood inside a glass cage as the judge read out the verdict in front of journalists. It was the only time the trial was open to the media and many details of the case remain unclear. Russian prosecutors accused Berg of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. The FSB declined to comment on Tuesday. In December, a former Russian police officer was accused of handing Berg files on the Russian navy and given a 13-year prison term. Berg has admitted to acting several times as a courier for the Norwegian intelligence but said he thought he was only carrying money. The defence team said they hoped diplomatic efforts could persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a presidential pardon so Berg could be released and go home. Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov said his client calmly accepted the sentencing. "He expects his government to undertake diplomatic efforts," Novikov said, adding Berg was not planning to appeal. "We see no practical use in appealing." - 'Basically a life sentence' - Both Novikov and Berg's Norwegian lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said an effort by Norway had probably been made to gather intelligence. "There are indications that the Norwegian intelligence has been involved in the case," Risnes told AFP. "That makes it both a professional scandal and potentially also a political scandal in Norway. As soon as he gets back to Norway, another phase of the scandal will start: finding out what really happened." Novikov insists Berg "had been used without his knowledge". He also warned that Berg might not survive a lengthy prison sentence in Russia. "He's 63 and given the conditions of Russian prisons that's basically a life sentence." Berg's case was raised during a meeting between Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg last week. Asked by a journalist about the possibility of Berg being pardoned, Putin said: "A person can only be pardoned if he has been convicted. He has not been convicted yet." Novikov said that the fact that Putin spoke publicly about the case was "probably a good sign." Russian lawyer and human rights activist Ivan Pavlov, who often defends people accused of espionage and treason, suggested Berg might indeed be granted a pardon. "There were such precedents," Pavlov told AFP. Risnes said that governments typically exchange their nationals convicted of spying but added that "there is no such case in Norway". "We don't really know what they have to give," he added. NATO member Norway normally enjoys good ties with neighbouring Russia, with which it shares a land border. But relations have grown more tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine. In recent years, Russia has broadened its definition of treason and espionage, alarming rights groups. Espionage is punishable in Russia by up to 20 years in prison. In another high-profile case, former US Marine Paul Whelan was detained in late December and charged with espionage. Norwegian Frode Berg, 63, was detained in 2017 The verdict was read out in front of journalists in the Moscow court room, the only time the case was open to the media Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini signed a new directive Tuesday against charity vessels rescuing migrants off Libya, targeting the Italian ship Mare Jonio in particular. Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party, warned that the Mare Jonio and others must obey the orders of authorities in foreign search and rescue regions -- a reference to the Libyan coastguard. The minister had issued a first directive on the laws regarding rescue operations in March, saying there would be "sanctions" for those who explicitly violate international, European and national rescue regulations. Charity ships have drawn fire from Rome by attempting on occasion to stop migrants being taken back to crisis-hit Libya, which human rights organisations say is not safe for repatriations. The left-wing collective Mediterranea, which charters the Mare Jonio, slammed the directive as "mere propaganda". The Italian ship set off on its latest mission on Sunday and was headed to patrol the area off Libya on Tuesday. Mediterranea said an order to hand rescued migrants over to the Libyans would be "an incitement to commit a crime". "If it was already an offence to return those rescued to Libya, today with the war in progress, it is simply criminal," it said. The Mare Jonio rescued 49 migrants off the North African country in March after refusing to wait for a Libyan coastguard boat that was in the vicinity. It took them to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the ship was temporarily seized by the authorities as part of a probe into illegal immigration, before being given the all clear. There is concern in Italy that recent violence in Libya will spark an exodus of people determined to seek safety in Europe. Salvini has repeatedly said Italian ports are closed to all those attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing. Charity ships have drawn fire from Rome by attempting on occasion to stop migrants being taken back to crisis-hit Libya After decades of intense divisions, Sudan's political opposition united recently to form a powerful three-pronged bloc that became part of the protest wave which ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir last week. During Bashir's politically repressive three-decade rule, Sudan had around 100 political parties. They ranged from Islamists to leftists and ran the gamut from ardent critics to regime loyalists. A military transitional council is now set to rule the country for the next two years. Veteran journalist Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh, 91, mapped out the political trajectories of the burgeoning opposition movement for AFP. - Who is the Sudanese opposition? - "The opposition in Sudan now is made up of the (Paris-based) Nidaa Sudan, the National Consensus Forces and the Sudanese Professionals Association," said Saleh, who was imprisoned several times during Bashir's reign. Collectively, the tripartite bloc is known as the Alliance for Freedom and Change. Nidaa Sudan includes the Umma Party, the Sudanese Congress Party as well as armed movements such as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The Umma Party is led by Oxford-educated Sadiq al-Mahdi, who was prime minister twice during the 1960s and 1980s and was ousted by Bashir's 1989 coup. He returned to Sudan this year after a year of self-imposed exile in Cairo. Meanwhile, the "more radical" Sudanese Communist Party and the Baath Party alongside other leftist gatherings form the National Consensus Forces. Lastly, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) is comprised of small political cadres mostly staffed by young, urban people counting academics, doctors and engineers among their ranks. They have been the driving force behind mobilising thousands of demonstrators through their savvy and active social media usage to protest against Bashir since December 18. The SPA has called on the transitional military council to immediately "hand over power" to a civilian administration and urged demonstrators to continue with their sit-ins. - How strong is the opposition now? - Protesters have been camped for several weeks in front of important government buildings throughout the country. Saleh says the opposition bloc has been the most consistent and well-organised in agitating for tangible political change. "For four months, these people were not afraid to put their bodies on the line," he said. Over 30 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces since the uprising erupted. The bloc has urged the forthcoming transitional government to arrest Bashir and a coterie of political elite figures who have been in power since the 1989 coup. These include the powerful security and intelligence chiefs and leaders of Bashir's National Congress Party. "All the various parties that make up the opposition are now going to unite, sort out their differences and learn from their previous mistakes at this crucial time," he added. "But when things return to their natural state, political squabbles and factional in-fighting will ultimately emerge." - What about the Islamists and the diaspora? - "Islamists will not disappear from the scene but will not be as influential, especially with the end of the National Congress Party," the renowned journalist noted. He told AFP that other Islamist alternatives opposing NCP policies have been a mainstay of Sudanese politics and that they will continue to survive in some form or another. The most prominent Islamist movement which still has a massive following is the Popular Congress Party, headed by hardline ideological figure Hassan al-Turabi. With the opposition in the diaspora -- particularly in London and Paris where exiles have been politically active -- Saleh sees them as playing a pivotal role in the future. Around five million Sudanese live overseas, mostly across the Middle East, Europe and North America. "All of these opposition movements have their followers overseas ... They represent a mass of human resources that can be drawn upon when it comes to forming a civilian government," Saleh said. Protesters have been camped for several weeks in front of important government buildings throughout Sudan UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed an envoy to Sudan to work with the African Union on mediating an end to the crisis sparked by a military takeover. Nicholas Haysom, a South African lawyer who has served as UN envoy in Somalia, Afghanistan as well as for Sudan and South Sudan, will support AU-led mediation efforts between the military and civil society, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The African Union has called on Sudan's military to hand over power to a civilian government within 15 days and strongly condemned the army takeover as a coup d'etat. The AU peace and security council has threatened to suspend Sudan from the 55-nation organization if it does not move to establish civilian rule. "The African Union put out a very clear statement," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Haysom will "do whatever he can to support their efforts." Guterres discussed the appointment of the envoy by phone on Tuesday with Moussa Faki, the head of the African Union Commission. Sudan's military rulers who removed president Omar al-Bashir from office on April 11 have offered dialogue with all political groups on forming a civilian government after protesters kept up demands for change. Following Bashir's ouster, Guterres has called for a transition that meets the "democratic aspiration" of the Sudanese people. The UN Security Council is due to meet on the Sudan crisis on Wednesday. UN envoy Nicholas Haysom will work with the African Union to mediate an end to the crisis in Sudan The US military confirmed Monday that it had killed the second-ranking Islamic State leader in Somalia in an air strike. US Africa Command said that Abdulhakim Dhuqub was killed Sunday in the strike vicinity of Xiriiro in the Bari region. In the current assessment, the US military said the strike killed only Dhuqub and destroyed one vehicle. "Dhuqub was responsible for the daily operations of the extremist group, attack planning and resource procurement," AFRICOM said in a statement. The Islamic State group has a relatively small presence in Somalia, where Al-Shabaab fighters are more powerful and aligned with Al-Qaeda. "We continue to work with our Somali partners to keep pressure on the Al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia terror networks," said AFRICOM director of operations Marine Corps Major General Gregg Olson. "When it supports the strategy, we use precision air strikes to target those who plan and carry out the violent extremist activities that put Somalis at risk." In late 2018, the US military estimated that there were between 75 and 250 Islamic State fighters in Somalia, compared to 3,000 to 7,000 Shabaab fighters. A victim is removed from the Maka Al-Mukarama hotel in Mogadishu on March 1, 2019 following a 24-hour seige by Al-Shabaab jihadists A university student has died after falling off a cliff at a famous hiking spot while taking photos with classmates. Andrea Norton, a 20-year-old university student from South Dakota, died on Saturday after falling 30 metres off a cliff in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas. She had been re-adjusting herself for a picture with friends from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, when she fell. Andrea Norton, a 20-year-old university student from South Dakota, died on Saturday after falling 30 metres off a cliff in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Arkansas. Source: Briar Cliff University Ms Norton was at Hawksbill Crag, also known as Whitaker Point, when she fell a popular spot often frequented by couples to taking photos together. A five-kilometre trail dotted with wildflowers and a waterfall leads to the rock formation, which is shaped like a birds beak. The Buffalo Outdoor Center warns on its website of the dangers of the area. Caution: Please be careful in this area. A bluff line can be a pretty thing, but also a dangerous one, their website reads. Whitaker Point is a popular spot for photos. Source: Getty We cannot stress enough the importance of remaining cautious and staying back from sheer drop-offs, as well as keeping a vigilant eye on children, even teenagers. A Briar Cliff spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle the student, a popular member in the universitys volleyball team, would be sorely missed. It is with very heavy hearts that we confirm the sudden passing of Briar Cliff Universitys Andrea Norton, the spokesperson said. Andrea embodied BCUs values in everything she did including her compassion for all, a love for the environment and an openness to everyone she met. Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to Andreas family and friends during this very difficult time. Counsellors are currently assisting Briar Cliff students, faculty, staff and all who knew Andrea. The school posted a photo of Ms Nortons memorial, writing on Facebook Ms Norton was a passionate environmental science major, exemplary student, and dedicated athlete. Ms Nortons death comes just days after a student in New York was critically injured when falling from a bell tower to take photos. She has since died from her injuries. Story continues Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoos daily newsletter. Sign up here. ABC News(NEW YORK) -- The woman who conspired with her boyfriend and a homeless veteran to receive thousands in a GoFundMe scheme has pleaded guilty to state charges. Kate McClure, 28, appeared in court Monday where she pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception. She faces up to four years in prison at her June sentencing. McClure, along with her then-boyfriend Mark D'Amico and homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt, was accused of fabricating a feel-good story about Bobbitt coming to McClures aid when she ran out of gas along the highway and gave her his last $20. In November 2017, McClure and D'Amico allegedly created a page on GoFundMe's website detailing how Bobbitt acted as a "good Samaritan" and rescued McClure. The website said that any donated funds would be used to get Bobbitt off the street and provide him with living expenses. The New Jersey couple set a goal of $10,000. But in truth, McClure's entire story was bogus and Bobbitt never spent "his last $20" helping McClure, prosecutors said. Instead, McClure and D'Amico allegedly conspired to create the false story, authorities said. After the story went viral, approximately $400,000 was donated from more than 14,000 donors in just a matter of weeks, officials said. Bobbitt was informed of the scheme in mid-November 2017, when the donations had reached approximately $1,500, officials said. The following month, McClure and D'Amico deposited $25,000 of the proceeds into Bobbitt's account, authorities said. While all of the money was supposedly going to help Bobbitt, prosecutors said the majority of the donated funds was quickly spent by D'Amico and McClure on personal expenses including purchasing a BMW, expensive handbags, vacations and other personal items. Their tale inspired thousands, but things began to unravel when Bobbitt accused McClure and DAmico of stiffing him out of the money, causing an investigation to be launched. All three were later arrested for the scheme. Bobbitt, 36, pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in March. He faces up to 10 years in prison on that charge. Bobbitt also received five years' probation as part of a plea deal for state charges related to this incident. McClure has already pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison on that charge. She will be sentenced in the federal case on June 19. D'Amico, who was not charged with any federal crimes, has pleaded not guilty to state charges of theft and conspiracy. He has denied the allegations. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Francis Conole will not accept donations from corporate political action committees to support his campaign for the 24th Congressional District seat. Conole, D-Syracuse, made the pledge in an email to campaign supporters Tuesday. In the email, he wrote that it was an "easy decision" to reject corporate PAC money. "Corporate interests have been buying elected officials for too long," he said. "It has led to more and more policies which gut the middle class and leave working families struggling." Conole added in an interview with The Citizen that he believes it's important to get "big corporate money" out of politics. He thinks large campaign contributors have prevented action on several issues, including investments in education and addressing climate change. He is the first candidate in the 2020 race to reject corporate PAC donations. Dana Balter didn't accept corporate PAC funds when she ran for Congress last year. Conole's pledge is in line with his positions on campaign finance reform. He supports a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. The court's ruling, critics contend, led to an influx of corporate campaign contributions and corporations having greater influence in the political process. With Democrats controlling the House and a chance the party may win the Senate majority in 2020, Conole believes it should be a top priority. "I think most Americans would agree that big money and special interests in our politics is a bad thing," he said. Conole supports H.R. 1, a bill proposed by Democrats that included several campaign finance and ethics reforms. He endorsed public financing of elections and providing matching funds for small dollar donations. In his email blast, he requested donations of $10, $25, $50 and $100. He also gave supporters the option of donating an amount of their choice. "The more people you can connect with and the more voters you can talk to, the more you prioritize their vote an then your campaign is based on smaller contributions," he said. "That's what I need to do." Conole is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko, a Republican. He is one of three Democratic candidates in the race. Balter and Roger Misso, a Red Creek native who now lives in Syracuse, are also in the race. Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Francis Conole is home. The Iraq War veteran has spent much of his adult life away from central New York. He visited the Syracuse area when he was on leave or for holidays, but most of his time was spent at sea, at the Pentagon or in the Middle East. Conole, 40, returned home this year with a new mission: Defeating U.S. Rep. John Katko and representing central New York in Congress. He launched his campaign Monday. He will seek the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District, which is comprised of the western towns in Oswego County and all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties. Conole, who lives in Syracuse, is the second Democrat in the race. Another Navy veteran, Roger Misso, announced his candidacy nearly two weeks ago. "I see this as an extension of my service," Conole said in an interview with The Citizen. A Westhill High School graduate, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated three months before the Sept. 11 attacks. He served a tour aboard the USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, where he led nearly 50 sailors and maintained the ship's propulsion. He also served a tour at sea on the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer. In 2010, Conole was deployed to the Middle East. Working with Army Special Forces, he assisted with the development of a plan to withdraw U.S. special forces from Iraq. His military career included stints with the Office of Naval Intelligence and President Barack Obama's armed forces inaugural committee. Before returning to central New York, he was a policy adviser to Defense Secretary James Mattis. His focus was the Middle East, specifically Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. He received the Defense Meritorious Achievement Medal for his work. He completed his assignment in mid-March. While he's no longer active duty, he continues to serve as a commander with the Navy Reserve. He commands a unit based in New York City. Conole believes his military service will be an asset during the campaign and if he's elected to Congress. "I've been leading my entire career, confronting big problems, working with people from all different backgrounds and creeds," he said. "This is something we do in the military. We don't ask if somebody is a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn't matter where they're from. We work together to confront big problems and accomplish the mission." Conole's family is another reason he's running for Congress. His grandfather, Patrick Corbett, remains the only Democrat elected Onondaga County sheriff. The Onondaga County jail is named in Corbett's honor. His grandmother was a Syracuse schoolteacher. His father was a health care administrator who served in the U.S. Army Reserve. His mother wrote for the Post-Standard. Conole is a fourth-generation central New Yorker. He descended from Irish immigrants who came to the U.S. in the late 1800s and settled in Syracuse. "My heart has always been here. This has always been home to me," he said. It's early in his campaign, but he has identified several issues he will highlight as he seeks the Democratic nomination. With his campaign announcement coming on tax day, he criticized the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by President Donald Trump in 2017. Katko was one of four New York Republicans who supported the tax law. Conole believes the tax law largely benefits the wealthy and will cause the national debt to rise. He also blasted the measure because of its impact on the Affordable Care Act, a 2010 health care law. The Affordable Care Act required individuals to buy health insurance coverage. If they didn't, they would pay fine. The tax law contained a provision eliminating the individual mandate penalty. The tax law, he argued, also left less funding for other priorities, such as education, housing and infrastructure. He thinks that's reflected in Trump's budget proposal which calls for cuts to many programs, including Medicaid and Medicare. "These are key things that upstate New York communities rely on," he said. A theme mentioned by Conole in his campaign announcement and on his website is rebuilding central New York. He acknowledged the region's economic challenges and highlighted ideas he has to boost businesses and the workforce. He endorsed efforts in Auburn and Syracuse to revitalize the two largest cities in the region. He supports more funding for education and job training. Green energy, he said, would help address climate change and create new jobs. "I think there's more we can do in our communities to prepare us for the economy of the future," Conole added. On health care, he fell short of endorsing Medicare for all. The leading Medicare for all proposal sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, would expand the existing program and effectively eliminate private insurance. Conole agrees with a growing number of Democrats who say that health care should be a right, not a privilege. "I also think we need to be thinking big as a party," he said. "I support a public option. Medicare for all is certainly something I think we need to look at and we should talk about in the context of this discussion of solving this health care crisis." If Conole secures the Democratic nomination, he will face Katko in the 2020 election. Katko, who reported raising more than $284,000 in the first fundraising quarter of the election cycle, intends to seek a fourth term in Congress. Katko was elected in 2014. He won his first election and his re-election bid in 2016 by at least 20 points. His 2018 re-election campaign was the toughest race yet. He defeated Democratic challenger Dana Balter by five percentage points. "I think it's time for new leadership and for new ideas," Conole said. He added, "I really want to talk to upstate New Yorkers about the vision that I have." Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 AUBURN To cap off the inaugural Cultural Speaker Series at Cayuga Community College, owners and staff from four local wineries held a tasting class in a discussion of what makes wine from the Finger Lakes region unique. "We thought there's no better way to end our season than with the winery round table," said Emily Cameron, the college's assistant director of community education and workforce development who has organized the speaker series. Incoming Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance Carmela Barbagallo, who also teaches a class on wine tasting at the college, started the discussion by asking the winemakers how they made their way into the business. "I lied to my wife and said 'How much work could it possibly be?'" John Izzo, who co-owns Izzo's White Barn Winery with his wife in the village of Cayuga, joked. Susan Higgins, who co-owns Heart & Hands Wine Company in Union Springs with her husband, a Finger Lakes native, said they left behind hectic careers in New York City to pursue a love of wine. "It was about a passion for wine," Higgins said, sharing a sentiment all the presenters echoed. The discussion touched on topics including the types of grapes the vintners preferred, how to cultivate crops in the climate of the Finger Lakes, trends in consumer preferences, how well the state supports the industry, and more. One key factor behind the success of the presenters was cooperation, according to Izzo, who said he'll frequently refer customers to all the other winemakers at the table based on their specialties and customer preferences. Similarly, Nate Pieper, tasting and marketing associate with Long Point Winery in Aurora, said, especially for wineries on Cayuga Lake's eastern side that tend to be smaller than the west, shared traffic from big events in the region are crucial. As the crowd in attendance included several members from Barbagallo's class, the winemakers also offered tips for hobbyists looking to move from just tasting wine to making their own. The most important factor in winemaking, according to Chris Scholomiti, of CJS Vineyards in Aurelius? "Patience," he said, advising the audience to especially take their time in waiting to taste their wine after bottling it. When it comes to actually drinking the wine, however, Higgins recommended favoring what's enjoyable rather than what traditional rules suggest. "I think some of them are quite antiquated and I think you should experiment and find out what you enjoy," Higgins said. With the first season of the Cultural Speaker Series completed, Cameron said the college is already at work planning for the next round, hopefully to begin in September. Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis and the Citizens' Climate Lobby will take part in a discussion about "Business-Friendly Solutions to Climate Change" at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 30, in the first-floor conference room of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, 2 State St., Auburn. Inglis has said he represented "the reddest district in the reddest state" of South Carolina from 1993 to 1998 and 2004 to 2010. However, after a visit to Antarctica, he launched republicEn, a free enterprise effort to raise awareness of climate change and take action. The Auburn talk will focus on the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which is projected to create 2.1 million new jobs over the next 10 years by using private capital and American innovation to advance clean energy technology. As a result, U.S. carbon emissions would be reduced by at least 40 percent in 12 years, according to a news release. In the absence of such action, the release continues, the global economy will pay a "carbon tax" due to the effects of climate change. The 2018 National Climate Assessment projected annual losses of hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, more than the current gross domestic product of many U.S. states. Coffee and bagels will be provided at the talk, which is free and open to the public. For more information, visit citizensclimatelobby.org. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A 40-year-old man who had to move back in with his parents after getting a divorce is now suing them because, when he finally moved out again after 10 months, they trashed his entire porn collection, the Detroit Free Press reports. And quite a collection it was. The manwhose name is being withheld by the courtlisted items that he says were valued at $29,000. According to the Free Press report, his collection included, over 400 VHS tapes, more than 1,600 DVDs (including multiple copies of some titles), 160-plus CDs, and 70 sex toys. Among the videos, according to a report by The Guardian, were such titles as Frisky Business and Big Bad Grannys. The man, who moved to Muncie, Indiana, from his parents home in Grand Haven, Michigan, says that he had his possessions delivered to Muncie, but when they showed up, his 12 boxes filled with his porn and sex toy collection were missing. When he confronted his parents about it, in an email exchange reproduced in the lawsuit, his father told him that he destroyed the porn for his sons own good, comparing porn to crack cocaine. Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health, the dad wrote. I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand. But the 40-year-old son did not understand. In fact, he is suing his parentswhose names are also redacted from the lawsuitfor treble damages, that is, $87,000. The son said he simply wished that his parents had told him that they had a problem with his porn stash, rather than taking it upon themselves to destroy the collection without telling him. But the dad replied that he had previously warned his son, if I ever found pornography in my house again, I would destroy it, noting that as a teen, the son wasaccording to the dadexpelled from both his high school and college for peddling porn to his fellow students. Whether the father's allegation is correct remains unclear. The dad also said that it took quite a while to trash the massive collection of porn. The man had previously attempted to press criminal charges against his parents for trashing his porn, but the Ottawa County prosecutors Michigan refused to pursue the case. Photo by German Federal Archive / Wikimedia Commons HOUSTON, TXAneros, a leading sexual health and wellness company, is kicking off spring by giving fans a chance to win its new VIVI Kegel Exerciser Starter Kit, featuring an innovative stimulator that's hands-free. To participate in the promotion, entrants must be 18 years or older and fill out a brief online survey about sex toys and their shopping habits. Surveys must be completed on or before April 30. One winner will be chosen at random the following week. To enter, click here. As a way to say 'thank you' to the survey participants, we are giving away VIVI, one of our most advanced and best-selling products for women, said Christina Betancourt, project manager for Aneros. The marketing survey will help us tailor the AnerosFemme website to the specifications and desires of our customers. VIVI is a rechargeable, hands-free Kegel exerciser and stimulator that is designed for a womans unique needs, providing simultaneous clitoral and G-spot stimulation with the utmost responsiveness. Able to run for five hours on a single charge, VIVI features app-enabled vibration control when using an iPhone or Android. The VIVI Kegel Exerciser Starter Kit features the alreeady popular VIVI along with a bottle of Sessions lube, for a prize package valued at $129. Known for its bestselling line of prostate massagers and popular Kegel exercisers, Aneros was nominated for Best Pleasure Product Manufacturer Medium at the 2019 AVN Awards and Outstanding Product For Men at the 2019 O Awards. Aneros website, Aneros.com, features the Aneros Forum, which hosts a sex-positive, safe atmosphere for consumers to learn about improving their health and discovering new forms of pleasure. For the latest selection of Kegel exercisers and G-Spot stimulators available now, visit Aneros sister website, AnerosFemme.com. LOS ANGELESThe TEA Show Transgender Erotica Awards is held annually in Hollywood to highlight the year's best trans adult performances and to bring the adult trans community together. As a cornerstone supporter of this community, ManyVids says it could not be more proud to be the presenting sponsor for this year's show. MVs vocal in our commitment to supporting their MV Trans Stars and giving them the freedom to showcase their talent. MV congratulates all the winners and nominees. This year, ManyVids asked MV Producer Holly Randall to get front and center on the red carpet to meet with an array of MV Stars who came dressed to impress. Click here to watch the video on YouTube. Training provider and consultancy AIB International UK has become an associate member of the Federation of Bakers. Founded in the US in 1919, and originally known as the American Institute of Baking, AIB International UK provides training, consultation and support, including a range of bakery and food safety services. Its original mission was to put science to work for the baker, a theme it says it has expanded while remaining central to its programmes, products and services. Our global mission is to empower the food industry to produce high-quality, safe food for consumers, said AIB International UK bakery professional Lee Taylor. Our inspectors, scientists, bakers and technical experts partner with our clients to navigate the complex industry in which we work. We are looking forward to continuing our important work in partnership with the Federation of Bakers. Federation of Bakers chief executive Gordon Polson welcomed AIB International UK to the federation and said he hoped to support it as it continued to expand its business. The Federation of Bakers has nine member companies running 34 bakeries in the UK and supplying the majority of the bread consumed here. Current associate members are: AAK (UK), AB Mauri UK and Ireland, ADM Milling, AIB International UK, American Pan UK, Baker Perkins, Bakers Basco, British Bakels, Buhler, Campden BRI, CSM (UK), Energy Management LLP, GB Ingredients, FlexLink Systems, Kaak Group, Kwik Lok, Lesaffre Group, NFU Mutual, Puratos, Spooner Industries, TasteTech, The Ice Co, United Bakery Equipment Co, Zeelandia and Zeppelin Systems. Have Sheriff Offices in North Carolina, possibly even Beaufort County's Sheriff Office, become too political in the discharging of their sworn constitutional duties? No, the sheriff is a constitutional officer. Yes, the Sheriff Office, on strong occasion, often reverts back to political patronage in the dispensation of their sworn constitutional duties. Tom Campbell These words, loosely translated, were probably first uttered by Manteo and Wanchese when Walter Raleigh's settlers first landed on our Outer Banks. What once might have been a conversation starter has now switched to abject hatred toward immigrants.We've got a history of hating people different from us, beginning with the unwilling immigration of Africans enslaved to plant and harvest crops. We bought and sold them like a plow or a mule. In 1798, President John Adams, concerned about treason and treachery from foreigners, convinced Congress to give him the power to deport thoseof the county with the Alien and Sedition Acts.At one time or another we have thoughtthe Chinese, Italians, Irish, Jews and now those of Hispanic origin. During World War II, North Carolina played a large role in detaining thousands of Germans at Fort Bragg, Camp Butner and 16 other concentration camps across the state.But the anti-immigrant hatred has ramped up to levels unexperienced in our lifetimes, sometimes largely for political gain. If I repeat claims loud enough and often enough, I can convince you that these immigrants are the boogeyman, while detracting attention from other, larger problems.The hate-ism flames are fanned with charges that immigrants are criminals, rapists and terrorists. The facts refute these assertions, but the charges are repeated and repeated. George Wallace was a demagogue who parlayed these tactics into presidential campaigns, thankfully unsuccessfully.The anti-immigrant hatred is reinforced by claims immigrants are taking jobs that should go to native born citizens. Employers will tell you they can't find natives to hire. Our citizens won't work for the wages offered, which would be comical were it not so oxymoronic. Who among us wants to pay more for a car, a TV or groceries than we must? We talk out of both sides of our mouths.Anti-immigrant haters say 51 percent of immigrants receive one or more government services, compared to only 30 percent of native households, running up government costs. These claims are not supported by facts. Kevin Johnson, immigration expert and dean of UCal's Davis Law School says immigrants cannot be over consuming public benefits because most aren't eligible to receive them in the first place. Those who do qualify are more likely to receive free-and-reduced school lunches, food stamps and Medicaid, along with the benefit of a public education.It is time for honest conversation about immigration. The crisis, and it does appear to be rising to the level of a crisis, is caused by three factors. The first is horrible conditions in other countries causing large numbers of people to seek a better life in our country. The real crisis is a congress that can't or won't establish realistic, clearly understandable and enforceable immigration policies. Place the blame squarely on Congress, not the immigrants. But all the overheated hyperbole stands in the way of commonsense, workable solutions.Secondly, North Carolina is getting browner by the day. The UNC Carolina Population Center reports that in 1970 whites were 76 percent of our population, with blacks consisting of 22 percent. In 2017, whites had declined to 63 percent, blacks were 21 percent and Hispanics had increased from less than 1 percent to 9.4 percent. Deaths now outnumber births among white people in our state and the Census Bureau predicts that by 2045 whites could drop below 50 percent nationwide.Here's the most important reality. Hate is a destructive emotion. It doesn't feel good on the inside and doesn't do any good on the outside. It is based on fear - the fear we might lose power, control or wealth. Hate never has and never will win. It hurts the hater more than the hated.If we must hate, let's hate hatred. I have not been updating this blog for years, but Im keeping it around because it has many of my posts from a decade ago! For the moment, heres why you c... 9 months ago Julian Castro is running for the Democratic nomination for president. Castro was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under president Barack Obama, and before that he was mayor of San Antonio, TX. He is currently polling at a little over 1%, and he reported raising $1.1 million in campaign funds in the first quarter of the year. As a Mexican-American, Castro is currently the only Latino candidate. As such, it is not surprising that he has put immigration at the center of his campaign. Castro aims to provide an alternative answer to the problem of illegal immigration compared to president Trumps hard-line immigration policies, such as separating migrant children from their parents and thus-far unsuccessfully campaigning to build a wall along the Mexican border. So what would Castro do differently? Unlike fellow-candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has a detailed plan for every conceivable policy issue outlined on her Medium account, the wonky details of Castros plan are still in development. The short version, as reported by The Guardian last month, involves, rapid immigration reform to carve out a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million people living without permission in the country; a radical restructuring of the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make it more humane; and the beefing up of security at border entry points using new technologies. In brief, Castros plan is not uber-libertarian. He favors a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (which has had bipartisan support in the past), restructuring ICE, and increasing border security. I state this at the outset simply to note that the issue is complex and multifaceted, and clear thinking requires that we dont just group people into big, catch-all categories of for or against immigrants or open borders or whatnot. Christians should care both about the laws of their own nations as well as the well-being of their neighbors in need. And clear thinking helps us do that better. In particular, Id like to focus on just one aspect of Castros immigration position, which he breaks into three broad categories on his website. The categories include (1) Reforming our Immigration System; (2) Creating a Humane Border Policy; and (3) Establishing a 21st Century Marshall Plan for Central America. It is the last of these three, his new Marshall Plan, that I want to examine. On the face of it, there is some decent justification for Castros proposed Marshall Plan (so-named for the post-WWII US aid to Western Europe). No one wants to leave their country-of-origin. (I dont even want leave my city-of-origin.) But when conditions become unbearable for the well-being of ones family, people seek refuge abroad. It would be ideal if everyone entered the country legally, but that isnt always the case. Actually, most illegal immigration in the last decade comes from people who enter legally but overstay their visas. That said, desperate circumstances bring desperate economic calculations. Some people still do cross the border illegally. That people risk the hardship of being undocumented immigrants in the United States indicates that their countries-of-origin have gravely failed them. The difficulty of the trip and the near-certainty of poverty awaiting them are weighed to be worthwhile costs of fleeing suffering in their homelands. So I will begin by saying that Castros general idea that improved conditions in Central American countries would decrease the number of people fleeing them is, indeed, both reasonable and humane. But is a new Marshall Plan the way to achieve that? While Castro includes several bolded subheadings under his Marshall Plan category, much, unfortunately, is left to the imagination. The most charitable reading would be that Castro wants to increase aid to Central American countries, but at the same time that he wants to increase transparency and efficiency in the use of that aid. Again, I think hes right to emphasize the need for increased rule of law, anti-corruption efforts, and so on. But he isnt clear how that will be accomplished. Furthermore, as he noted in his interview with The Guardian, oftentimes strongmen leaders have used the US as a foil to prop themselves up. How would increasing US involvement, including, according to his website, [t]arget[ing] illicit networks and transnational criminal organizations, improve our relations with Central Americans and reduce the anti-American rhetoric of strongmen leaders? Worst-case scenario, Castro is simply presuming that the post-WWII economic recovery of Western Europe, and West Germany especially, was caused by the Marshall Plan. While Im unsure whether the Marshall plan was, on-the-whole, good or bad, it can be plainly stated that it did not cause what has been called the German economic miracle. As economist David R. Henderson noted for the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, The reason is simple: Marshall Plan aid to West Germany was not that large. Cumulative aid from the Marshall Plan and other aid programs totaled only $2 billion through October 1954. Even in 1948 and 1949, when aid was at its peak, Marshall Plan aid was less than 5 percent of German national income. Other countries that received substantial Marshall Plan aid exhibited lower growth than Germany. Moreover, while West Germany was receiving aid, it was also making reparations and restitution payments well in excess of $1 billion. Finally, and most important, the Allies charged the Germans DM7.2 billion annually ($2.4 billion) for their costs of occupying Germany. (Of course, these occupation costs also meant that Germany did not need to pay for its own defense.) Moreover, as economist Tyler Cowen notes, Belgium recovered the fastest from the war and placed a greater reliance on free markets than the other war-torn European countries did, and Belgiums recovery predated the Marshall Plan. Samuel J. Abrams article Think Professors Are Liberal? Try School Administrators published by the New York Times last October was a turning point in his life. Abrams, a political science professor at Sarah Lawrence College, has been living through a hellish backlash that involved a national media storm in which I was slandered and defamed, my familys safety was threatened, and my personal property was destroyed on campus. His sin? He called our attention to the fact that administrators of higher education institutions tend to be overwhelmingly liberal. More than 90% of the surveyed identify themselves as liberal or very liberal. Abrams observations mean that collegial administrations are politically more radical than the average professor. There is no doubt that the leading force shaping the college environment through both the selection of the academic body and new students is the managerial bureaucracy. Abrams ended up explaining a lot about not only universities themselves but about the dynamic of power in our society. To begin with, Abrams is not an exotic figure in Americas academic life. Holding a Ph.D. from Harvard and a fellowship from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), he is the archetype of an anti-Trump neoconservative which is pointed out in an article about him at The Economist. Nothing about Abrams hints at any sympathies for being an anti-establishment conservative. On the contrary, he is a perfectly unobjectionable figure. Abrams is ideal for universities that seek to deceive the public by saying they are open to debate when in fact they are mental concentration camps. Then the professor went off the Sarah Lawrence script by criticizing left-wing administrators. After the publication of his article by the Times, Abrams became a bete noire of the cultural left. Ironically, a college professor associated with the AEI an organization that has spent much of the last three decades chasing dissident conservatives not aligned with the neoconservative establishment has become a kind of Donald Trump with a Ph.D. We, therefore, must ask: What made a pet conservative to become one of the most hated figures in modern-day academia? Well, he revealed accidentally, I believe how the gears of power turn inexorably within universities. These gears pulverize critics. And there is nothing more feared by those who exercise control than to be uncovered. There is a widespread notion in conservative circles that universities are islands of totalitarianism amid the ocean of freedom of American society. The most famous propagandist of this idea was the Straussian philosopher Allan Bloom in his book, The Closing of The American Mind. According to him, modern universities are anathema to the American experience. He asserted that, while the United States was created based on the rationalist ideas of the Lockean Enlightenment, the universities were taken over by German ideologues and their disciples. In Blooms authoritarian view, all creeds that do not conform to the Straussian ideal of liberal democracy must be excommunicated. Such an idea is a misconception. Yes, the university environment is authoritarian. However strange it may be, this is not an exception in the general social context but a trend that can be observed in virtually every aspect of modern society. The managerial despotism exercised by the collegial bureaucracy exposed in its ideological lines by Abrams it is familiar to the power structure that directly or indirectly governs the United States. What we can see in universities is only the worst side of a political reality that is almost omnipresent nowadays. The more complex a society is, writes the Italian political theorist Gaetano Mosca, the more subtle and efficient will be the control exercised by the ruling class. Bureaucratic control precedes the ideological dimension. Collegial administrators are liberals because liberalism is the doctrine that best helps maintain their power. They are not authoritarians because they are first liberals, but liberals because they are first authoritarians. The more diverse are the social and multifaceted classes in a political culture, the higher will be the incentives for the creation of a managerial group that can impose control without being questioned. The classical typology of political regimes which tries to answer who rules according to the number of rulers fails before the social restructuration caused by the Industrial Revolution on the one hand and secularization on the other. With the collapse of all traditional institutions and the state now occupying the center of social life, the managerial class gains full power. As noted by the feminist thinker Camille Paglia, the managerial leap forward in collegial life began during the rapid growth phase following World War II and it has been increasing ever since. The universities, according to Paglia, lost the role of gatekeepers of high universal culture and became centers of professional training. Since education is no longer the priority, the role of the professor was diminished. Actually, the only thing growing steadily for the last 74 years has been the staff and not the faculty. To the extent that being liberal means automatic alignment to the cultural left, the politically correct ideology which gives a mental framework of control superior to anything thought by Hitler or Stalin is the perfect expression of the exercise of despotic power through the control of ideas. The only one who came close to describing something similar was Aldus Huxley in Brave New World. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is not restricted to universities. Egalitarianism as a social organizations primary goal has become a mantra practically unquestioned in the political debate. Fetishism for equality has motivated every significant decision of the Supreme Court since Brown v. Board. And for no other reason, heterodox interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment by courts have been the primary means of social revolution in the United States. The bureaucracy that governs the United States has embraced the politically correct ideology to establish managerial control that does not spare even the private thoughts of individuals. In recent decades, we have seen the managerial state push the United States into two failed wars in distant countries, turn over Libya to terrorists, provoke a civil war in Syria, spy on American citizens, chase after a man who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple and compel Catholic nuns to provide abortion services. And those are just a few examples. Although unlikely, Abrams career hopefully will survive. But let no one deceive you, his fate is a warning to others who dont toe the ideological line. All who choose to oppose even if involuntarily the power of the ruling class must be silenced or destroyed. Or do you think that Donald Trump, the first president to break with the neoconservative / liberal establishment, to be almost taken down in a palace coup attempt by the special prosecutor is mere coincidence? Homepage credit: FREERANGE STOCK. In the midst of celebrating LGBTQ Pride the U.S. Supreme Court rained on our virtual parade by ruling in favor of the Catholic Social Serv... By Guy Courtin, Vice President, Industry & Solution Strategy, Retail and Fashion, Infor The past few years have had their fair share of global disruptions and unexpected events for example, the US presidential elections in 2016, the gilets jaune protests in France, and of course the vote by the British people to leave the European Union. Three years ago, the people of England voted to leave the European Union, setting a deadline of March 29, 2019. However, after three years of non-stop failed negotiations, Britain still does not have a plan and faces the danger of a hard Brexit. The current administration of Theresa May has gone to great lengths to try to establish an agreement on what Brexit will look like, even offering her resignation once an agreement is finalized. However, not even this desperate move has yielded the results wanted. This has led to uncertainty among many British and European citizens and raised questions as to how this changing relationship between world powers will affect the lives of all involved. And for the supply chain a great connector of businesses and trade across global boundaries the various Brexit scenarios have already begun to paint a picture of a difficult path ahead. The European Union was started post World War II, in large part to secure peace on a continent that suffered two global wars. By creating a unified market, the belief was peace and prosperity via a common market would trump any temptations of military aggression. To a large degree, the European Union achieved these goals. However, the openness of the union also created some misplaced fears and misgivings. A growing fear related to the free movement of people across borders and a swing back to nationalism as individual countries felt they gave up greater fiscal and monetary freedoms by being in the union. These points can be debated at length, but for many the benefits outweighed the negatives. But the perceived fear of a wave of refugees pouring over open borders, the belief that Brussels was exerting too much influence in domestic policies within the UK, and a political gamble by then Prime Minister David Cameron, led to the infamous referendum on June 23rd, 2016. The slim margin for Brexit 51.9 percent voting in favor versus 48.1 percent against led to announcement the UK would leave the EU by March 2019. What has transpired since that vote has sent shock waves throughout the global community. While the ultimate outcome remains a mystery, Brexit is already having a major impact on supply chains. What Happens to the Flow of Inventory? One of the primary benefits of being part of the EU was the removal of borders from the map. Goods could flow freely between member states. While there were still delays at places such as Calais, they were due in large part to the physical constraints of those ports. Much of the red tape associated with tariffs, customs and border inspections had been removed. But, what will happen post-Brexit? Goods entering and exiting the UK will most likely be subject to greater controls and inspections. They will have to ensure they meet EU rules and therefore must be under more scrutiny than before. A simple detail such as the pallets needed to move the inventory is in question. However, the UK does not even have enough of the right types of pallets to move goods into the EU. Therefore, this lack of logistical material could create major disruptions in such areas as the food supply chain, where 3 million pallets move between the UK and the EU per month. This ultimately has the potential of creating food shortages post-Brexit. This issue goes well beyond simply having enough French camembert cheese, Italian olive oil or German sauerkraut for the weeks that come post Brexit. Rather, firms will have to ensure they have enough inventory on hand to keep the store shelves replenished, medicine cabinets stocked, spare parts available for infrastructure the list goes on and on. Supply chains will need to plan for worst case scenarios. Ensure enough safety stock to support their UK operations, while also ensuring enough inventory from the UK destined to the EU is in the right locations on the continent. These same supply chains need to also plan for what happens if Brexit goes smoothly and the flow of inventory is not disrupted, but now there is a glut of inventory in different locations. Do you discount? Write off inventory? This has the potential to be planning headache for those responsible for the flow of inventory. Can Manufacturers Adapt? Without a doubt, manufacturing will have to undergo changes and adjustments. With open borders and one unified market, companies ranging from Nissan to Airbus have established manufacturing facilities in the UK. With open borders, these firms could look to use the distribution hubs in the UK to get anywhere in Europe, allowing for timeliness in delivery and manufacturing. However, now these firms are forced to rethink these plans. A study found that the investment in UK automotive manufacturing dropped 46.5 percent in 2018 as compare dto the year prior. Nissan has now decided to pull out of Sunderland, due to the referendum, while Airbus has expressed concerns about its desire to stay in the UK if there is a bad Brexit. Manufacturing in the UK has been thrust under a cloud of uncertainty, and until the final decision is made, they will have to hedge on how much they continue to invest in the UK. They also need to consider the increased safety stock in vital raw materials no one is certain there will not be weeks of delay with the flow of raw materials post Brexit. Additionally, these manufacturers must consider their long-term strategy with regards to servicing the EU and the UK markets. Do they need to consider moving more manufacturing to mainland Europe? And if so, how do they manage their manufacturing needs to serve two distinct markets? What Does This Mean for the Future Workforce? While there will likely be some new rules with regards to the movement of finished goods and raw materials, there is also the question of movement of people. One of the benefits of the open borders in the EU was the lack of working papers and visas needed to work in member nations. By some estimations there are 3 million European nationals working in the UK, while there are 1.3 million UK citizens working in the EU. What will happen to this labor when Brexit takes place? Industries such as healthcare are already seeing the effects of Brexit 10,000 nurses quit the year after the referendum while the number of nurses from Europe registered in Britain has dropped by 90 percent. It remains to be seen how this impacts supply chains. As the labor numbers across the board continue to drop, the impact will be felt across all industries and through supply chains. The question for companies and their supply chains how will they make up for this shortage? One area of supply chains that are already feeling the impact of labor shortage is with the trucking industry in the UK there is currently a 35,000-driver shortage. Couple this with a more challenging labor market as well as other EU nations competing for available talent, and you can imagine a serious labor issue in the future for UK based trucking. Final Thoughts Brexit has proven to be a major headache for businesses and their supply chains. The fact that the UK wants to leave the EU is not necessarily the most troublesome factor, but rather it is all the unknowns that come along with it. Will it be a soft or a hard Brexit? What will the relationship look like between the UK and the EU? Will Scotland look to leave the UK? Any student of politics and history will realize that eventually the system will find a new normal. Businesses and supply chains will figure out how to function in this norm some will even take advantage of it and reap the benefits. But the main dilemma today is the lack of clarity coming from London. It is the unknowns that will drive supply chains crazy. Until this fog of uncertainty is removed, see supply chain professionals will continue to struggle to determine the best course of action for their businesses. Guy Courtin is Vice President of Industry & Solution Strategy for Infor Retail and Fashion, a role in which he also drives thought leadership for the team. Guy has more than 15 years of experience in the high-tech industry, with expertise in the supply chain arena. Prior to Infor, he was a vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research, covering how digital disruption was impacting supply chains. Previously, Guy was vice president of research for SCM World, where he spearheaded coverage of supply chain service providers. Some 4,000 pages of internal Facebook documents from 2011 to 2015 leaked to reporters at NBC News illuminate the company's shady approach to sharing and selling your personal user data, and how Facebook gives greater access to companies it considers friendly and aligned with its profit interests. Read the entire report: 'Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show: Facebook's leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data and privacy was an afterthought.' Here are tweeted observations from Olivia Solon and Cyrus Farivar, the report's co-authors, as well as other journalists who've been covering this same beat, commenting on the NBC News blockbuster just published today. "NBC has obtained thousands of pages of leaked internal documents show that Facebook wasn't just spitballing about selling access to user data the plans had buy-in among Zuck, Sandberg and were pitched to the board of directors," tweeted report co-author Olivia Solon. She continues, "While FB has always maintained it never sold your data & that the service is free, these docs show over and over again explicit monetary value ascribed to user data. This could, as @jason_kint says, help regulators build an antitrust complaint." Since I began at @NBCNews about 2 mo ago, a substantial portion of my time has been taken up working on this story, with @oliviasolon. The result: "Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show"https://t.co/cvubNfL7Db Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 "It's sort of unethical": The complete #Six4Three docs obtained by @dcampbell_iptv were analyzed by @oliviasolon and @cfarivar expanding our view of Facebook as a ruthless monopolist that leveraged personal data to pick winners and losers in the market. https://t.co/hSYQa9J8i4 David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) April 16, 2019 About 10% of these docs have already been made public by @DCMS, but the latest leaks provide a far fuller picture of how advanced plans were & the way that the selective trading of user data was used to control competition and consolidate Facebook's power https://t.co/NUb6kKt46e Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 Since Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has tried to position the platform changes made in 2015 as being driven by privacy concerns, but we find very little discussion of privacy in these documents except as a PR strategy https://t.co/NUb6kKt46e Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 Not all employees were happy about it. Some employees described Facebook's behavior with third-parties as "unethical" while others described the company as being like "Casterly Rock" (the home of the most evil #GOT family) https://t.co/NUb6kKt46e Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 Here's that Game of Thrones reference pic.twitter.com/5HKubhH0Cl Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 Another employee refers to Zuck as a "master of leverage" Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 I had reported some on Six4Three, Pikinis, and Ted Kramer before, back at @arstechnica.https://t.co/tBNn4m22aWhttps://t.co/xywCT3Fjrphttps://t.co/8pMaANLkID And my mini-scoop, about the only other lawsuit like Six4Three v. Facebook:https://t.co/bF8GvlgK4e Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 That left me with a basic question: why doesn't Ted Kramer have any allies? After @oliviasolon and I began digging around, we eventually were connected to the legendary @dcampbell_iptv, who shared with us thousands of never-before-seen pages from that lawsuit. Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 Some of these documents were given by Kramer to MP @DamianCollins, who published hundreds of pages here:https://t.co/G8ORIhYi3l The new, fuller cache of docs is very much like this, but more so. It includes the phrase "master of leverage," which we could not have invented. Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 TIPS WELCOME. @oliviasolon and I are happy to meet in person, anywhere in Bay Area. Coffee/beer on us. https://t.co/JxcmJrHUhT Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 These latest leaks build on some of the great reporting already done by @ObserverUK @ComputerWeekly @WSJ and @nytimes on some of the documents that have already come to light Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 This story would never have been possible without @carolecadwalla's work before us https://t.co/ZFmU6xFglw Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) April 16, 2019 Judge Swope, the San Mateo Co. judge presiding over Six4Three v. Facebook, was not happy when Kramer gave docs to @DamianCollins. In a rare move, he granted the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. Translation: judge is not happy. https://t.co/V6NSYSIV3F Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 "The evidence reflects that Six4Three, through its principal Mr. Kramer, utilized the services of counsel to aid in committing a crime or fraud," Judge Swope wrote in his order, which he read from the bench during a March 2019 hearing. Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 "Prior to traveling to the United Kingdom with documents containing Facebook's confidential information, Mr. Kramer communicated with Mr. Collins on finding an 'appropriate mechanism' to disclose to DCMS similar to the communications of 643's counsel to target third parties." Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 Since we told Facebook about the fact that we have this cache of docs, just last week, its attorneys went back to court to convince Judge Swope to grant an expedited deposition of Kramer and his business partner, Tom Scaramellino, or bring them to court.https://t.co/iRBNM73YsN Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 Judge Swope has yet to rule on this motion. Meanwhile, yesterday, Kramer swore under penalty of perjury he was not the source of the leaks.https://t.co/Sf2EGxSGGi Scaramellino did too.https://t.co/CpcvoNBNOR Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 It's also worth noting that nearly a year ago, AFTER Zuck testified before two Senate committees, Facebook submittted ~500 pages of written responses. I might be the only person who read them. Facebook did not answer many of the senators' questions.https://t.co/W5DDlJI1j5 Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) April 16, 2019 'Scandals. Backstabbing. Resignations. Record profits. Time Bombs. In early 2018, Mark Zuckerberg set out to fix Facebook.' Welp. That didn't work. The May issue cover story of WIRED Magazine is a 12,000-word rip-snorting takedown of Facebook. Never would have predicted this more than a decade ago, when I first wrote about Facebook it was still a college networking website and I was a contributor to Wired. The future is weird. For the past year, the biggest story in tech has been the meltdown and mayhem at Facebook. So @fvogelstein and I dug in, spoke with 65 current + former employees there, and learned some rather interesting things. https://t.co/3UuFVtMdZz Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson) April 16, 2019 The magazine hits newsstands April 23, and I'll be wanting a paper copy of this one. WIRED's editor in chief Nicholas Thompson and editor at large Fred Vogelstein spoke to 65 current and former Facebook employees for this story about life and work there over the past year. Plenty of new information, including previously unreported dirt on the split between Facebook and Instagram. Sheryl Sandberg comments here on Cambridge Analytica, which is noteworthy. "It's ultimately a story about the biggest shifts ever to take place inside the world's biggest social network," Thompson and Vogelstein say in a statement sent around to media today, touting WIRED's big story. "But it's also about a company trapped by its own pathologies and, perversely, by the inexorable logic of its own recipe for success." Excerpt: TRUSTWORTHINESS Why would a company beset by fake news stick a knife into real news? And what would Facebook's algorithm deem trustworthy? Would the media executives even get to see their own scores? Facebook didn't have ready answers to all of these questions; certainly not ones it wanted to give. The last one in particularabout trustworthiness scoresquickly inspired a heated debate among the company's executives at Davos and their colleagues in Menlo Park. Some leaders, including [VP of Global Communications, Elliot] Schrage, wanted to tell publishers their scores. It was only fair. Also in agreement was Campbell Brown, the company's chief liaison with news publishers, whose job description includes absorbing some of the impact when Facebook and the news industry crash into one another. But the engineers and product managers back at home in California said it was folly. Adam Mosseri, then head of News Feed, argued in emails that publishers would game the system if they knew their scores. Plus, they were too unsophisticated to understand the methodology, and the scores would constantly change anyway. To make matters worse, the company didn't yet have a reliable measure of trustworthiness at hand. Heated emails flew back and forth between [Davos,] Switzerland and Menlo Park. Solutions were proposed and shot down. It was a classic Facebook dilemma. The company's algorithms embraid choices so complex and interdependent that it's hard for any human to get a handle on it all. If you explain some of what is happening, people get confused. They also tend to obsess over tiny factors in huge equations. So in this case, as in so many others over the years, Facebook chose opacity. Nothing would be revealed in Davos, and nothing would be revealed afterward. The media execs would walk away unsatisfied. ** If you want to promote trustworthy news for billions of people, you first have to specify what is trustworthy and what is news. Facebook was having a hard time with both. To define trustworthiness, the company was testing how people responded to surveys about their impressions of different publishers. To define news, the engineers pulled a classification system left over from a previous projectone that pegged the category as stories involving "politics, crime, or tragedy." That particular choice, which meant the algorithm would be less kind to all kinds of other newsfrom health and science to technology and sportswasn't something Facebook execs discussed with media leaders in Davos. And though it went through reviews with senior managers, not everyone at the company knew about it either. When one Facebook executive learned about it recently in a briefing with a lower-level engineer, they say they "nearly fell on the fucking floor." CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA some people at Facebook worried that the story of their company's relationship with Cambridge Analytica was not over. One former Facebook communications official remembers being warned by a manager in the summer of 2017 that unresolved elements of the Cambridge Analytica story remained a grave vulnerability. No one at Facebook, however, knew exactly when or where the unexploded ordnance would go off. "The company doesn't know yet what it doesn't know yet," the manager said. (The manager now denies saying so.) ** And so it was that a confused and fractious communications team huddled with management to debate how to respond to the Times and Guardian reporters. The standard approach would have been to correct misinformation or errors and spin the company's side of the story. Facebook ultimately chose another tack. It would front-run the press: dump a bunch of information out in public on the eve of the stories' publication, hoping to upstage them. It's a tactic with a short-term benefit but a long-term cost. Investigative journalists are like pit bulls. Kick them once and they'll never trust you again. Facebook's decision to take that risk, according to multiple people involved, was a close call. But on the night of Friday, March 16, the company announced it was suspending Cambridge Analytica from its platform. This was a fateful choice. "It's why the Times hates us," one senior executive says. Another communications official says, "For the last year, I've had to talk to reporters worried that we were going to front-run them. It's the worst. Whatever the calculus, it wasn't worth it." ** "Those five days were very, very long," says Sandberg, who now acknowledges the delay was a mistake. The company became paralyzed, she says, because it didn't know all the facts; it thought Cambridge Analytica had deleted the data. And it didn't have a specific problem to fix. The loose privacy policies that allowed [researcher Aleksandr] Kogan to collect so much data had been tightened years before. "We didn't know how to respond in a system of imperfect information," [Sandberg] says. Facebook's other problem was that it didn't understand the wealth of antipathy that had built up against it over the previous two years. Its prime decisionmakers had run the same playbook successfully for a decade and a half: Do what they thought was best for the platform's growth (often at the expense of user privacy), apologize if someone complained, and keep pushing forward. Or, as the old slogan went: Move fast and break things. Now the public thought Facebook had broken Western democracy. This privacy violationunlike the many others before itwasn't one that people would simply get over. Finally, on Wednesday, the company decided Zuckerberg should give a television interview. After snubbing CBS and PBS, the company summoned a CNN reporter who the communications staff trusted to be reasonably kind. READ ONLINE: "15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook." Disappointing that Cambridge Analytica's unlawful conduct still gets papered over in these various recapitulations. The findings of ICO to Parliament rarely ever get mentioned in the press. THEY BROKE UK LAW IN THE US ELECTIONS. https://t.co/DF7Vlf75Ts https://t.co/OBgsVAB6nh pic.twitter.com/6IdILXlWCl David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) April 16, 2019 Speculation over whether Cambridge Analytica was effective is a fool's errand. There are no data nor control groups to prove anything either way. Why do folks take that bait when the real debate is whether it was lawful or not? The real story is how they may get away with it. David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) April 16, 2019 Here's a rare article from March 2018 that actually characterized Cambridge Analytica accurately as a military-grade PSYOPs shop for plutocrats that got into Big Data and Facebook targeting while flouting the law. https://t.co/cjd4YE2J9j pic.twitter.com/fevX84hKFT David Carroll ? (@profcarroll) April 16, 2019 "It would front-run the press: dump a bunch of information out in public on the eve of the stories' publication, hoping to upstage them. Investigative journalists are like pit bulls. Kick them once and they'll never trust you again." Google's PR shop did this to workers before. https://t.co/zxuu7ZD18r Liz Fong-Jones () (@lizthegrey) April 16, 2019 This is an incredible deep dive into the last 15 months of hell at Facebook. Anyone who runs social knows what's been happening to our feeds this is what was happening inside Facebook during that time. https://t.co/8eZI9aAQRu Meghann Farnsworth (@mtfarnsworth) April 16, 2019 My favorite part of this is the name of Sheryl Sandberg's private conference room: "Only Good News" https://t.co/83nnH763Q2 John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) April 16, 2019 Star Wars Celebration 2019 in Chicago has come to close. One of the best things about this massive convention is the cosplay. From camera-ready, professional-looking costumes by veteran cosplayers to creative DIY outfits and makeup from newbies, this year's Celebration cosplay did not disappoint. This gallery of Star Wars Celebration cosplayers only represents a fraction of the costumes and the creative magic that fans put into celebrating the characters of the Star Wars Universe in Chicago. Back in 2017, the Norwegian Consumer Council published a damning report on the privacy leaks from kids' "smart watches," a parade of horrors that included allowing unauthorized third parties to trace your kid's location, and also to covertly eavesdrop through the watches' microphones and bark creepy orders at them through their speakers. A year later, Pen Test Partners audited the security of the popular Misafe kid smart-watch and guess what? It was a fucking dumpster-fire, too. Six months later, Pen Test Partners checked kids "smart watches" like those from Gator and they were still fucking dumpster-fires. The accumulated evidence was finally enough to prompt a recall of Safe-Kid One, one of the terrible watches. You'd think that this would be a wake-up call for the kids' "smart watch" sector. You'd be wrong. This week, nearly two years after the first of these reports were published, Pen Test Partners has audited Tictoctrack, a kids' "smart watch" retailed in Australia, and you will: never. guess. what. they. found. Tictoctrack is a rebadged Gator watch the ones that had to fix a glaring API flaw that Pen Test Partners published on in January but because it has its own back-end, one that keeps all kid-data onshore in Australia, it has its own grotesque security defects. Ticktoctrack paid a Sri Lankan company called Nibaya to develop a new mobile front-end, and hosts the servers with an Australian firm called 6YS. The backend's API allows for wideranging access to all users' data with no meaningful authentication (you need a valid user/pass combo, but you can generate one of these by buying a watch and intitializing it, and thereafter you can access all of the users' accounts). The API exposes all family data associated with the account: "including childrens' location, parents' full names, parents' phone numbers and other PII." You can also access kids' realtime location data, and erase that data so that after you've used it to kidnap someone's kids, you can erase all record of where the kid was before you snatched them. Oh, and you can also tun the watch's mic into a covert listening device, and you can also use it as a PA that lets you say creepy things to kids in the middle of the night. To Tictoctrack's credit, they took swift action on Pen Test Partners' report and immediately notified all their customers about the risks of using their products albeit while downplaying the seriousness of the vulnerabilities, claiming that they had never been exploited, even though such exploitation would be virtually impossible for the company to detect. The company has taken the service down and says they'll relaunch it after they fix these defects. The smartwatch's API can be attacked by changing the FamilyIdentifier number (which identifies the family that the user belongs to), which then could give a bad actor complete access to the user's data including the children's location, parent's full names, phone numbers and other personal identifiable information. "Anyone could discover the location of children using the watch," Stykas said. "Anyone could tamper with that position data, making you think your children were safe whilst they were actually elsewhere. Anyone could cause false alarms by moving the reported position of your child." Researchers with Pen Test Partners teamed up with security researcher Troy Hunt, who lives in Australia, to test the attack. With Hunt's daughter wearing the device, Pen Test Partners researchers found that they were able to successfully both track and spoof her location as well as contact her via a phone call, which purported to be from "dad" on the watch. Tic Toc Pwned [Vangelis Stykas/Pen Test Partners] TicTocTrack Smartwatch Flaws Can Be Abused to Track Kids [Lindsey O'Donnell/Threatpost] News / National by Staff reporter Political players should be given adequate time to inspect the voters' roll to avoid disruption of the electoral calendar in case of litigation, Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana has said.He proposed that political parties should be provided with a lead time of at least three months to inspect the voters' roll before its closure to allow interested players to challenge the process should they feel that there were some breaches.Mangwana was speaking last week while addressing delegates attending a Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)-organised national multi-stakeholder post-election review conference for the July 30, 2018 harmonised elections. He said some political parties were taking advantage of ZEC's relaxation of requirements for one to register to vote.ZEC allowed those that could not provide proof of residence to bring affidavits to be allowed to register. He said some political parties abused the reprieve, resulting in more than 70 people being registered as residing at one house after merely made to sign completed affidavits that were presented to them."When ZEC insisted on proof of residence some people, especially those who were renting complained, that they did not have title deeds and lease agreements and the rules were relaxed," said Mangwana."I am going to disclose the name of the political party, but some political parties want to win at all costs. My proposal is that ample time should be provided for voter inspection. That process should be given more than three months."Mangwana said while ZEC ran the election professionally, the process had some gaps that required improvements."I cannot stand here and before God to say the electoral process was perfect, but it was good for it to present a credible outcome," he said."There are areas which do require improvement starting with the Biometric Voter Registration process." Mangwana said as Zanu-PF they noted some grey areas in the electoral system which required an improvement."In my capacity as Zanu-PF's Secretary for Legal Affairs, I had some of our candidates, who had not succeeded in the last election, coming to me and saying we want to challenge the results of the election because we feel that ZEC did not do its work very well," he said."If you were in my position what would you do? Your party has won the election and has vigorously defended the victory at the Constitutional Court, but your candidates are coming to say I think if ZEC had done its work well I would have won the election."Speaking at the same occasion, Chiefs Council president, Chief Fortune Charumbira, rapped some non-governmental organisations and political players for attacking the institution of traditional leaders without first engaging them.He said most of the organisations accused traditional leaders of failing to uphold the Constitution when they equally were in breach of the supreme law by not being respectful."If you are genuine, why not engage us, why not write to us with your complaints and if possible convene a workshop with us that you will fund?" said Chief Charumbira. News / National by Staff reporter The Registrar-General's Office is co-operating with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission in its inquiries into allegations of delays in the issuance of passports and national identification documents.The investigations come after members of the public complained that the department was taking time to process passports and identity documents.In an interview, Registrar-General Mr Clement Masango said he was aware of the inquiries that were being conducted and assured the people that their offices were ready to serve."I am aware the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission is carrying out an inquiry following complaints by some members of the public or sections of community that they were getting challenges in accessing our services, especially getting IDs and birth registration for various reasons," he said."However, I want to make it clear that as a department we are available in the manner that we are decentralised and available to serve everyone who calls at our offices. We don't discriminate, our offices are open because they are public offices."Mr Masango said they were taking their services to the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and also exhibiting at all annual agricultural shows countrywide."And when we exhibit we issue birth certificates on the spot and any other services that we can dispense outside the normal office, but obviously we can't process passports," he said. "What we can do is we issue passport forms."But, however, in the circumstances I wouldn't want to comment on what the commission is investigating, but those concerns have been brought to our attention."I would rather wait and allow the commission to carry on with its work and hear what they are going to come up with. What we have done is to collaborate with the commission on its inquiry. They visited us and we gave them audience to explain various processes done by the department."Mr Masango said the department will continue to discharge its mandate which is primarily to issue national ID documents, register birth and deaths, marriages and processing and issuance of travelling documents, passports and temporary travel documents."The department is represented in all provinces, the 10 administrative provinces," he said."We also have offices in 62 administrative districts and we have over 200 sub-offices countrywide. So, in terms of decentralisation I think we are fairly decentralised because we are almost everywhere."Of course, we are aware of the need to further decentralise even though we have sub-offices in districts, there are still areas were our people have to travel for more than 30 kilometres to get to the nearest office of the Registrar-General in the district. Government is attending to that." News / National by Staff reporter Former Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa's application for review was last week dismissed by a Harare magistrate.Parirenyatwa is facing criminal abuse of office charges after he replaced National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) managing director Florence Nancy Sifeku with Newman Madzikwa.Parirenyatwa appeared before magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo seeking leave to approach the High Court for review of the audio recordings because of irregularities in the transcript served by the State.Parirenyatwa's lawyers described the audio as inaudible and the transcript was not consistent with the handwritten notes of the court proceedings.Harare magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo dismissed the application and said it was made for purposes of delaying proceedings."What makes the application before this court more tenuous and frivolous is that a full record is available as maintained by the court," he said."The only argument is the differences in the use of words or choice of words between the court and the defence."It is only guess work at this particular point as to what those differences are."Mr Makomo said mere differences in what transpired cannot be a ground for seeking a review.The matter was rolled over to today. News / National by Staff reporter Beitbridge residents have called on Government to decentralise the issuance of passports to district level to ease the challenges that people are encountering when applying for the travel documents.Residents who contributed during the recent public inquiries by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence, Security and Home Affairs held in Beitbridge last week, expressed concern that they have to travel long distances to get IDs and passports."It is our plea that Government decentralise the Registrar-General's Office to district level, especially where the application, capturing of data and issuance of passports is concerned," said Mr Jabulani Makhado."This office will then submit the applications to the provincial or the national office where production of the passports will be done. We are now living in the Internet age where computers are networked."Why should someone sell their livestock to travel for long distances just to access a basic document? This can be done at the district offices or alternatively satellite or mobile offices can be opened whereby people are advised as and when the application processes will be open."Mr Makhado said it was also important for the Registrar-General's Office to consider deploying people conversant with local languages to avoid the recurrence of primary data capturing mistakes.Beitbridge Deputy Mayor Councillor Munyaradzi Chitsunge said Government should open a passport referral centre in Beitbridge to cater for local people and the transient population, considering its geographical location as the SADC's busiest port of entry."It's sad that people have to travel for over 400 kilometres to access passports," he said.A representative of the Legal Resources Foundation Mrs Regina Ndlovu said there was a need for Government to relax requirements for women, mostly divorcees or widows, who were facing challenges in renewing their passports. News / National by Staff reporter PRESIDENT Mnangagwa, who is seen as one of the major role players in the Zimbabwe genocide, says debate on the Gukurahundi issue should have started a long time ago and resolution of some of the issues finalised back then.Mnangagwa challenged the nation to open up discussions on the subject - which was taboo in the previous era. He said his recent engagement with the Matabeleland Collective, an umbrella body of civil society organisations from the region, was eye-opening regarding issues of neglect that the people in the south and south-western region felt so strongly about.And the meeting, the first of its kind between the people and the Republican President, was instructive as it resulted in the creation of a matrix of implementation of issues raised by the people of Matabeleland.President Mnangagwa made these remarks in an interview with the national broadcaster ZBC on Saturday ahead of this year's 39th Independence Day celebrations. The interview will be aired on April 17."The question of Gukurahundi, personally I don't see anything wrong in debating it on television and in newspapers," he said."Let us debate it. It was so open a debate and at the end of the day, we feared nothing. There was nothing to fear about that debate. Actually, it's critical that we have that debate and as a result of that conversation we have created a matrix of implementation of ideas to deal with issues that were raised. Some of the issues could have been resolved a long time back. In my view, there is not a single issue that cannot be discussed and a way forward crafted."The President continued: "What I am happy about is that the Matabeleland Collective approached me and said they want to discuss with me the issue of Gukurahundi, the issues of lack of development and I agreed. "These are citizens of this country. I went there and I discovered that it was unfortunate that in the past we did not entertain such dialogue. It's very useful. We learnt a lot from that dialogue and in fact, the differences are not critical, there are issues we can discuss and together craft a way of looking forward. We discovered that in fact they are not saying we don't want the Government of the day. They are saying the Government of the day is failing us in this area and that area. This is a platform. Government can explain itself and be able to appreciate the needs and priorities of the areas."Turning to the issue of devolution, President Mnangagwa said the concept was going to encourage competition for development among provinces. He said he supported the idea of devolution adding that its implementation was in line with constitutional provisions."I personally believe it (devolution) is good," the President said."It allows the devolution of power from the centre going to the provinces and also directing the various provinces to look at themselves, interrogate the resources which they have, their strengths and weakness and on the basis of that modernise, grow their economy on those basis, see the level of their GDP as a province or as a region. That way, there will be competition for development rather than a system where everybody says Harare, Harare and do nothing about the resources they have at the local level. I am happy that the fact that I support devolution, the constitution also bids us to obey the constitution and implement devolution. We have put some money."I can't remember the figure but it translates to a huge sum that we have given to each province to deal with priority areas in which they themselves as a province, as a locality as local communities think are priorities for their area. Yes, the Government looks globally over the entire country and say we think this is a priority in Matabeleland North, but the people there, given a budget, may have priorities different from those crafted by central Government."President Mnangagwa said the issue of devolution became one of the top issues discussed during the constitution making process although other parties were not agreeing to the concept. News / National by Staff reporter A BULAWAYO man has lost a $40 000 lawsuit against the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) which he was suing after sustaining injuries when a kombi he was travelling in was involved in a head on collision with the company's vehicle.The incident occurred on December 31 in 2016 in Bulawayo but the exact location was not mentioned in court papers.Mr Afesi Mkhweli was a passenger in a kombi which was involved in a head on collision with a Potraz Land Cruiser, which was being driven by Mr Shingirai Marufu, a telecommunications engineer.Mr Mkhweli, through his lawyer Mr Vonani Majoko of Majoko and Majoko Legal Practitioners, filed an application at the Bulawayo High Court, citing Potraz and Mr Marufu as defendants. He sought an order directing the defendants to pay him $42 448, 78 being damages for shock, pain and suffering, medical expenses, permanent disability and loss of amenities and future earnings.Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo dismissed the application and absolved the two defendants, saying Mr Mkhweli conceded to Mr Marufu's account, which exonerated him from any wrongdoing."I accordingly hold that the plaintiff (Mr Mkhweli) has failed to establish an essential element of his claim, and that is the defendants' wrongful conduct on the day in question," she said.The judge said there was no prima facie evidence linking Marufu as having been the cause of the accident.Justice Moyo ordered Mr Mkhweli to pay the legal costs incurred by the defendants."I hold that there is no case established by the plaintiff upon which a burden has been cast on the defendants to respond. I accordingly grant defendants' application for absolution from the instance, with plaintiff ordered to pay the costs," ruled the judge.In papers before the court, Mr Mkhweli accused Mr Marufu of negligence and reckless driving. He alleged that Mr Marufu encroached onto the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in the collision with the kombi. He also accused Mr Marufu of speeding.Mr Mkhweli said he sustained a fracture on his right leg and had to be admitted to hospital for four months. He said he was now physically incapacitated due to the injuries and had to be forced to leave his job on medical grounds.The defendants, through their lawyers, Mr Godfrey Nyoni of Moyo and Nyoni Legal Practitioners and Advocate Lucas Nkomo who was instructed by C Kuhuni Attorneys, opposed the application and applied for absolution from the instance.Both lawyers argued that Mr Marufu's liability had been negated by Mr Mkhweli's concessions. They also argued that during trial there was no evidence which was led to verify the amounts claimed by Mr Mkhweli including the aspect of loss of employment. News / National by APA The Zimbabwean government has opened discussions with British authorities over the compensation of former commercial farmers dispossessed of their farms during Harare's land reform programme in the early 2000s, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Sunday.Mnangagwa told the state-run Sunday Mail that his administration has approached the British government as it seeks to raise over US$3 billion required to compensate the over 4,000 white former commercial farmers who lost their farms.He said his government would only compensate for developments on expropriated land as stipulated under the country's constitution."We are having discussions; the commercial farmers and government on one side, (and) we are now having discussions with the British side also for them to contribute to this compensation," Mnangagwa said.He said the British government has an obligation to pay for the compensation of the farmers since it had agreed to do so under the Lancaster House agreement, a 1979 pact that led to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.Under the agreement, the British government pledged technical and financial assistance for land redistribution, an obligation that was later reneged on by subsequent London administrations. News / National by Staff reporter THE surprise eviction of popular Ntabazinduna farmers, Brain and Carol Davies, who operate Tabas Induna Farm, has attracted the wrath of local chief, Nhlanhla Ndiweni.The couple was served with an eviction notice by one Floyd Ambrose on Tuesday last week, according to Tabas Induna spokesperson Buz Davies. "We lodged an appeal late Friday afternoon so we hope it (the eviction) does not happen," said Buz, who however, could not be drawn into revealing more details on the matter.Efforts to get a comment from Ambrose on his plans to move into Tabas Induna Farm which was purchased in 1953 by Carol's grandfather, Jack Parsons, were unsuccessful. Tabas Induna was at one time the largest pig producer in the country with over 12 000 pigs. It was also home to a large cattle herd, a commercial crocodile farm and a well-established and very successful photographic safari operation.With the permission of the late Paramount Chief Khayisa Ndiweni, the Davies/Parsons family built Chiefs Lodge in 1992 on the top of Ntabazinduna Hill, a famous historical site that is revered by the Ndebeles.Despite the historical and cultural significance, Chief Ndiweni trusted the Tabas Induna Farm owners so much that he made the Davies/Parsons family custodians of Ntabazinduna Hill.Yesterday, Chief Ndiweni told this publication that he was going to do everything in his power to block the eviction."The attempted eviction of the Parsons/Davies family from Ntabazinduna Mountain has touched our sense of justice in a most profound manner and every part of our being is screaming out that this is unjust. "When something is unjust, no amount of politics, propaganda, public relations or silence will make it just. This assault upon the Parsons/ Davis family is unjust irrespective of what anyone may say."Should it be effected, then the current administration will pay a very heavy price indeed, from within the country, in the region and from the international world. Traditional leaders will be at the forefront of this campaign," Ndiweni fumed.Prominent human rights lawyer and former Cabinet minister David Coltart has described the eviction as senseless. "This is just ludicrous - the so-called new dispensation says that land invasions have stopped and yet this family are being forced off their home and business."This is a tourist facility, located near Bulawayo's airport, not a farm - it is only 15 hectares and was a lodge until it was trashed by the same person trying to take it over again. Buz and Carol Davies have been renovating the lodge over the last few years with a view to opening it again, but now out of sheer greed a Zanu-PF-connected person wants it," said Coltart.The prominent lawyer added that the eviction was another proof that Zimbabwe is not open for business as claimed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. "Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube is presently in Washington trying to persuade the IMF and World Bank that the regime he represents has turned over a new leaf and deserves support.How can a government claim to be open for business when it is allowing businesses like this, which have the potential to earn foreign currency and boost our tourism industry, to be stolen in broad daylight?" asked Coltart. Tabas Induna Farm was identified and listed for resettlement by the government in 2000.The Davies family spent many years trying to get it delisted but despite these efforts it was subdivided into many plots.According to the family, the ministry of Lands assured them verbally that they could remain in their homestead, but due to hindrances to farming operations by the new settlers, production on a commercial scale was no longer possible or viable.In a similar case, in 2015 people from Matabeleland united and resisted government efforts to evict another popular white farmer Peter Cunningham from his Maleme Farm in Matobo District.Demonstrations were staged at the farm against Gwanda Central Intelligence Organisation operative Rodney Mashingaidze who had intended to take over the farm. FILE PHOTO: Flags fly outside HMP Birmingham after the British government took over its running from G4S, in Birmingham, Britain August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Darren Staples (Reuters) - Britain's G4S Plc, which has been subject to takeover interest from Canada's Garda World Security, said on Tuesday it had made good progress in a review to separate its cash business and reported higher first-quarter revenue. The world's largest listed security company has been working to rebuild its reputation after a series of scandals, most notably a failure in 2012 to provide enough guards for the Olympic Games in London. Revenue for the first quarter rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier, driven by a more than 4 percent growth in both its secure solutions and cash solutions businesses. The company had said in December it was looking to split off its cash business to focus on its security operations and said last month it received interest from potential bidders for the unit, which includes Cash 360 machines operated by retailers and a cash transport business. "The board believes that a separation has the clear potential to unlock substantial shareholder value," Chief Executive Officer Ashley Almanza said. The G4S update comes in the light of Garda World Security's announcement last week that it was considering a cash offer for some or all of the British company. (Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Shounak Dasgupta) TELECOM TOWERS Over the past year, Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B)(NYSE:RCI) has done something incredible: the company has broken the stereotypical view of the Big Three telecoms and has begun to seriously invest in growth across a number of different areas. Heres a look at what has changed at Rogers and why current and prospective investors should take note. Print is out Last month, Rogers announced it was selling both its print and digital publications, which includes popular brands such as Chatelaine, Hello! Canada as well as Macleans and Canadian Business to a privately owned publishing company, St. Joseph Communications. As part of the deal, all Rogers Media Publishing employees will be offered positions at St. Joseph. The move to jettison the print and digital media segment are not entirely unexpected; telecoms are doubling down on their wireless networks, which are still seeing incredible growth, despite what is arguably an increasingly saturated market. Wireless is (even more) in To address that insatiable demand in wireless, Rogers is investing heavily into acquiring licences for additional spectrums. This year, that auction was for the 600 MHz band, which is known for its capacity to both cover wide areas and penetrate buildings with ease. As one of the Big Three, Rogers was entitled to bid on 64 of the 104 licences that were up for grabs. The remaining licences were reserved for the smaller market players to bid on to ramp up their own coverage and provide competition to the Big Three. Rogers walked away from the auction with 52 of those new licences, which carried a combined cost of $1.72 billion and will be used to greatly enhance coverage in Atlantic Canada, Manitoba, northern and southern Ontario, northern Quebec, and the three territories. Dividend hikes are back Rogerss quest to slice its debt and improve its service has finally paid dividends literally. Following several years of no dividend growth, the company announced a dividend hike last quarter, which brought its yield up to 2.78%. While the payout is still significantly lower than its peers, Rogers can boast the ability to more easily cover that payout while continuing to chew away at its debt. Story continues Management stated that further hikes could follow, but the focus will be on slashing debt and improving the business. Subscribers are growing and thats a good thing The investment into wireless is finally paying off in terms of subscribers. In the most recent quarter, Rogers announced a whopping 112,000 new postpaid subscribers, culminating in some of the best numbers seen in a decade, handily beating the 72,000 reported in the same quarter last year. That stellar growth has another notable side effect for investors: 5G. That latest standard is set to begin rolling out over the course of this year en mass, and with that rollout, consumers can expect a flurry of new devices and data allowances to match that new standard, which, for investors, translates into a welcome boost to revenues. In my opinion, Rogers remains a stellar long-term option for growth- and income-seeking investors. Buy it and forget about it for a decade or more. More reading Fool contributor Demetris Afxentiou has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019 Svitlana Protsenko's new job represents a new start for her family and an important new hope for the industry that sustains the New Brunswick town the Protsenkos now call home. Protsenko, her husband and their three children came to Saint-Quentin from Kharkiv, Ukraine, 32 kilometres from the border with Russia. They are just one of the families who've make the trip from Ukraine this year to work in the forestry sector, which is suddenly facing a labour crisis. Monday was Protsenko's first day of work. After a few days of orientation and safety training, she and her husband will begin work for Groupe Savoie, a manufacturer of hardwood products. "We came here to work and to live," said Protsenko. "And the job is always the most important thing when it comes to where we are living." Shane Fowler/CBC Nicole Somers, mayor of Saint-Quentin, said 48 immigrants have settled in Saint Quentin this year, to the delight and relief of the town of about 2,200 in northwestern New Brunswick. "Saint-Quentin is a small place in the middle of nowhere," Somers said. "We're far from all big centres. But just the same they chose to be here." Immigration necessary In a province where forestry is a staple of the economy, immigration is the inevitable answer to a labour shortage, according to industry representatives. "Immigration will certainly be one of the paths we take to try and solve this problem," said Mike Legere, executive director of Forest NB. Forest NB represents 15 forestry companies across the province, although not the forestry giant J.D. Irving Ltd. Shane Fowler/CBC Legere said his members are starting to focus recruiting efforts in other countries because of a lack of prospective young employees at home and an aging workforce. "About 42, 43 per cent is in that 55-plus age bracket and we're looking at massive retirements here," said Legere. "In the next 10 years, we're going to lose about two-thirds of our workforce though retirement. We can't replace that." Story continues Recruiting immigrants to work in the woods has been the strategy for J.D. Irving as well in recent months. The small rural community of Chipman has begun bringing in workers from Ukraine, Latvia, Finland and Brazil. Legere said Irving's labour shortage didn't come as a surprise. "It's very much an industry-wide and multi-sectorial problem," he said. Hiring abroad Groupe Savoie says it started going abroad for workers because finding them in New Brunswick has become nearly impossible. "We're a small town and it's getting harder," said Nathalie Savoie, the chair of the board of directors of Groupe Savoie and the vice-president of human resources. The company, which employs about 550 in harvesting and manufacturing, has to battle a shrinking population and the departure of younger people for urban centres for school and work, she said. "And slowly we started exploring other possibilities of finding people within the province, and within the country," Savoie said. "And then we tried to find people from other countries." Shane Fowler/CBC Savoie said the company first tried to recruit in France, but only one family took up the offer of a move to Saint-Quentin and eventual Canadian citizenship. Recruitment in Ukraine proved more successful. "We recruited about 16 families," she said. "They haven't all arrived yet because it's a really long process." Savoie said that in addition to recruitment efforts, her company was also able to hire 12 people from the Philippines who had been working as temporary foreign workers in southern New Brunswick but were displaced when the lobster plant they were working at burned down. "They wanted to become permanent residents," she said. "So we've started that process with them." Small-town problems According to Savoie, the biggest challenges with bringing in immigrants are housing and language. The town said it is working with industry, volunteers and local schools to supply French-language training. "For the French immigrants, it's a breeze and they can communicate very well," said Somers. "But even though the community speaks good enough English, we really want them to learn French, so we have volunteers because [the New Brunswick community college] cannot take all of them right now." So far, Saint-Quentin has been able to supply enough homes for the newcomers, but Somers admitted the town is running out of housing and could face a shortage soon. "Up until now, we've managed," she said. "We're doing good. And we just learned last week that there is an investor that's going to build apartments." Shane Fowler/CBC Somers said community members are working together to welcome the newcomers, although there is a wariness among a few people who don't like change or believe the newcomers are taking jobs. Most people realize that getting new workers in the area can mean only good things, including keeping shrinking schools open and local services available. Savoie said there is often a "ridiculous" misconception that immigrant workers are willing to work for less and are paid less than local people. Shane Fowler/CBC Legere said the jobs being offered to immigrants are the same as those New Brunswickers have been turning their noses up at for some time. "People say, 'They're taking away jobs from native New Brunswickers who were here already,'" said Legere. "That wouldn't be a problem if we had people come in and take those roles. Maybe they're just not qualified, maybe they just don't have the aptitude, or maybe they're just not applying. Probably a combination of all those reasons." A fresh start For Protsenko, the new job means a new start for her family, and she said she's eager to get to work. The location in northern New Brunswick is a bonus. "And we love the weather here," Protsenko said. "We're skiers and we've tried snowshoeing and climbed Mount Carleton." By Daniel Trotta NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a row that Reuters has won two Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in American journalism. Reuters has won seven since 2008. Two of this year's honorees have been jailed for 490 days in Myanmar for their role in uncovering the killings. "While it's gratifying to be recognized for the work, public attention should be focused more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said. In other categories, coverage of mass shootings in the United States and investigations into U.S. President Donald Trump featured prominently. The New York Times and the Washington Post also took two Pulitzers each. Reuters and the Associated Press were both awarded prizes for international reporting, with the AP winning for its coverage of war atrocities in Yemen. The Reuters award was for an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Rohingya at the village of Inn Din, in the heart of the conflict zone of Rakhine state in Myanmar. (For their story, see: https://reut.rs/2KFTSgQ) Two young Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both Myanmar citizens, found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of victims. They obtained three devastating photographs from villagers: two showed the 10 Rohingya men bound and kneeling; the third showed the mutilated and bullet-ridden bodies of the same 10 men in the same shallow grave. In December 2017, before Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo could complete their story, they were arrested in what international observers have criticized as an effort by authorities to block the report. The report, "Massacre in Myanmar," was completed by colleagues Simon Lewis and Antoni Slodkowski and published in February of last year. In September, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for violating the country's Official Secrets Act. "I'm thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognized for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles," Adler said. "I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars." BORDER IMAGES In the breaking news photography category, 11 Reuters photographers contributed pictures to "On the Migrant Trail to America," a package of images showing asylum-seekers and other migrants from Central America at the U.S. border. (For the package, see: https://reut.rs/2Ullbge) One photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon showed migrants fleeing tear gas launched by U.S. authorities into Mexico at the San Diego-Tijuana border. In the image a mother grabs her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister emits its fumes. In another image, an aerial photo, Mike Blake was the first to photograph the detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where children walked in single file, like prisoners. Goran Tomasevic captured an image in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world, of a rooster scratching in the dirt next to the slain body of a Barrio 18 gang member. Tomasevic was a previous finalist for his pictures of the war in Syria. MASS SHOOTING COVERAGE HONORED The New York Times won a prize for explanatory reporting of Trump's finances and tax avoidance and another for editorial writing by Brent Staples. The Washington Post's Lorenzo Tugnoli won the feature photography prize for images of the famine in Yemen and the newspaper's Carlos Lozada also won for criticism. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for uncovering Trump's secret payoffs to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him. Coverage of mass shootings in the United States was also recognized four times. The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the public service award for "exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," the Pulitzer board said. Seventeen people died in the massacre at the Parkland, Florida, high school on Feb. 14, 2018. The staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the breaking news prize for its coverage of "immersive, compassionate" coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 people on Oct. 27, 2018. Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy, upon announcing the winners, also offered admiration for a non-winner: the staff of the Eagle Eye student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for its coverage of the killings. The Pulitzer board also awarded a special citation to the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Maryland, for "their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their newsroom." A gunman shot and killed five people there on June 28, 2018. (This story corrects spelling of Lozada in paragraph 18.) (Reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York; editing by Bill Rigby and G Crosse) Princess Sofia of Sweden is switching things up! After rocking dark brunette locks, the royal mom of two has recently stepped out with a much lighter hair color. Sofia, 34, is experimenting with blonder-than-ever highlights, adding a springtime glow to her look. The new do was on full display when Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip headed to the 100th anniversary celebration for the Sweden-America Foundation in Stockholm last week. Paired with a black dress with white polka dots, Sofias color change was accentuated by a wavy style with pieces pulled back and twisted together. Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! Princess Sofia | IBL/REX/Shutterstock Princess Sofia | IBL/REX/Shutterstock Princess Sofia | IBL/REX/Shutterstock The Swedish royal, who joined the royal family after her 2015 wedding to Prince Carl Philip, was still sporting a dark hair color in a stunning portrait released in December in honor of her 34th birthday. In the solo shot by photographer Erika Gerdemark, Princess Sofia beams in a simple cream-colored top and black slacks, casually resting her hand on her knee. Sofia wears her layered hair straight and loose with a center part as she smiles for the camera while posing on what appears to be a windowsill. Today Princess Sofia fills 34 years. Happy Birthday! read the caption on the Swedish royal familys Instagram page. Princess Sofia's birthday portrait | Erika Gerdemark Kungl. Hovstaterna/The Royal Court of Sweden Sofia has gone back and forth between her brunette hair and highlighted locks, seeming to prefer lighter colors in the warm weather months. In a family portrait released last summer, the royals hair is brightened by natural-looking caramel-colored pieces as she poses with Prince Alexander, 2, adorably sitting on her lap. Prince Gabriel, who inherited his mothers blue eyes, looks straight at the camera while being held by his smiling father. Prince Carl-Philip, Prince Alexander, Princess Sofia and Prince Gabriel in summer 2018 | Anna-Lena Ahlstrom/Kungahuset.se Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip | Claudio Bresciani - Pool /Getty Princess Sofia, a former model and a reality TV contestant, stuck to a dark brunette color for her June 2015 wedding. She wore her hair in an elegant updo topped with a diamond and emerald tiara, a gift from the King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. . ..MiDA..15 April '19..While President Donald Trump was among the first to congratulate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on winning the Israeli elections, as did Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, among others, the large and most powerful countries of the European Union, France, UK and Germany held back.Perhaps they were waiting for the next Israeli government to be formed first. Perhaps it was just hard for them to congratulate someone with whom they so intensely disagree on Middle East policy. These three countries, after all, dictate policy in the EU, an organization whose foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, recently participated in the meeting of the Arab league, where she declared, The first point, the first top issue on our respective agenda: Israel and Palestine. We need to continue to work together very closely, because we share the same sense of priority, the same sense of urgency, the same concerns and the same objectives: to get back to meaningful negotiations towards the two-state solution, which is the only viable, realistic solution. She also strongly reassured the Arab League, And you know that you can count on the European Union on the Palestinian issue. We share exactly the same views and it is vital in this moment that we work together on this. "The five biggest money mistakes" - I found this in my archive from a Sydney Morning Herald article. With Easter upon us, l realised this could so easily be converted into an article for church growth and church facilities construction as to how best to handle such debt and investments. The article was highlighted by a first sentence which read: "One wrong decision can put your financial future at severe disadvantage" and so too a church building debt decision. The five money mistakes are (1) not understanding transaction costs, (2) savings and mortgage issues, (3) insurance, (4) off-the-cuff comments and finally, (5) frightened by a little 'immediate' pain. In my view the fourth point has a home truth that is so very applicable Christian truth especially with Easter week upon us. The fourth point: "Succumbing to barbecue risk. That hot tip confided while someone flips sausages. It probably poses the greatest single danger to your prosperity. You never know how accurate the information is and even what's motivating it." Why it's so dangerous I am unaware of whether Nicole Pederson-McKinnon who wrote that article has had any personal experience in this matter, I would be surprised if she had not, for everyone talks over the barbeque, at the coffee shop, with acquaintances and friends over a work desk, at Mother's Club, at the sporting event, after church, wherever. Sadly, as Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon has noted so eloquently, this is where the latest hot-tip is given on any number of issues, let alone major financial ones that could very easily send someone 'down the chute' alarmingly quickly. This is the place where people are off guard, relaxed, with people who are known and quiet often trusted, and out pops this latest hot-tip and one's usual careful circumstance of considerations are somehow put aside and thus begins a troubling journey that leads no-where good! Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Great Crowd of Witnesses Translating this to the Christian religion Sadly, this is precisely what occurs regarding the Christian religion, that those most ill-informed and moreover without any true understanding of theology and a puerile grasp of Bible knowledge becomes the "great authority". I've been a witness to this time and again. The soft conversational tones around the barbeque (or anywhere social) within a friendly and non-threatening environment creates situations whereby the misguided sprouts forth "golden mouth ideas" and "simplified philosophies for life" These are damaging and very difficult to redress. Moreover, one does not know the motivation of such comments as they might be 'speak that passes time' or 'a world view that is diligently opposed to Christianity'. It becomes the classic diversionary tactic to create distance from the truth of Easter the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus died on Calvary for the sin of the world. Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Bureaucracy often troubled by truth A Way Forward In such circumstances, the last thing one needs is a theological dispute in such friendly surroundings, where quoting Bible verses becomes counter-productive. Australia is in the midst of such name calling within Rugby as we speak. It seems to me that functioning on the same level in language, tone, friendly manner is crucial, and moreover a personal-testimony of answered prayer is a great way to turn the conversation to real life. Paul's instruction to Timothy that he might be prepared to give a defence of the Gospel is incumbent upon every Christian, but Paul did not specify as to how that might be done, as every situation and conversation is different. One way forward is offering encouragement to consider following Jesus Christ and in such a friendly and engaging manner that the 'conversation' becomes your champion vehicle. This Easter, over a barbecue or some other situation with friends, try it out! Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Cracked Mould Christchurch has had its fair share of tragedies with several severe and devastating earthquakes, the effects of which are still visible years later when I spent some time there half a year ago. It doesn't seem fair that now such a horrific terrorist attack would happen there too. As we are aware, this devastating attack on a couple of mosques has made its impact not just on Christchurch but the whole world. This is because this event is salt in the wound of the already tense cultural conflict we see in the West today. An event like this begs the question how do we adequately respond? The response has been predictable Much of what has happened since the attack has been entirely predictable. There has been an increased polarization of the left and right sides of politics. Both sides are doubling down on their convictions about what is going on in the world and what needs to be done about it with fresh determination. The tired gun debate has resurfaced, there have been expressions of solidarity with Muslims, fear of creeping 'white supremacy' and most significantly a new wave of suppression of conservative viewpoints. All of this is predictable if one understands the cultural war of the last few years. By now most of us who are paying attention recognize that the West is engaged in a bitter conflict over which direction our culture should be going in. It is so volatile at the moment that retaliation cycles could have massive effects. Some of us are realizing how fragile civilization really is and that we are potentially approaching the point where things could rapidly escalate out of control and go very bad, very quickly. The shooter himself understood this well and according to his manifesto, stoking division was the purpose for the massacre. He wanted the liberal establishment to come down hard on the political right in the hope that it would be radicalized to violence. Although he is wicked he is also clever and knew how to play the conflict happening in the West like a fiddle. As Christians we are called by Christ to be peacemakers and love all people regardless of what our political views are. All people are worthy of dignity whether they are Muslims, refugees, leftists, conservatives or white nationalists. So how can we avoid violence and promote peace in the current climate? I want to suggest that there are two related things that we can do. Free speech Firstly, we need to recognize that suppressing free speech is a really bad idea. Many have linked the attack with hate speech and reasoned that shutting down hate speech will stop incidents like this from happening again. Hence there is growing pressure to censor the internet and particularly conservative voices. We have even seen someone as centrist as Jordan Peterson banned from a New Zealand bookstore after the shooting. The most prominent example is the response to the infamous Fraser Anning statement released after the shooting. The immediate response from the establishment and many leftists has been to censor Anning and attempt to have him thrown out of parliament. Whatever you think about Anning's statement you only need to look at how much support he actually has in the public to realize that the sentiment that he is voicing can't be suppressed. You don't have to like or support Anning to understand that he is tapping into something among many Australians. Trying to suppress the deeply felt concerns of large segments of the population is irresponsible and dangerous. Those viewpoints don't go away, they just go underground leading to an increased likelihood that desperate people who believe they have no other option will resort to violence. What we need right now is open dialogue and conversation in trying to find solutions. We need to have a conversation about multiculturalism and mass immigration Secondly, it is time to listen to the criticisms of multiculturalism and mass immigration with an open mind. Are the people who warn us of danger peddling hate and conflict or are they the peacemakers trying to avoid it? Look past your prejudice and you will find that more often than not they are the latter. As easy as it is to simply dismiss these people with labels like 'far-right', 'racist' and 'white supremacist', complex questions about culture, nationhood, immigration and identity can't be reduced to simplistic categories like this. Many people are understandably concerned about increasing political and religious violence in their countries. Or they are aware that white people are on a path to becoming a minority in almost every western nation on earth in a culture that routinely demonizes them and their history. To say that there is something inherently dangerous about recognizing these things and being concerned about where this is all leading is ridiculous. To the contrary it is dangerously irrational to shut down anyone who simply wants to have an open and honest discussion about these kinds of issues in the hope that we can find some reasonable and workable solutions to some of the problems we face in the West. Suppressing the free speech of anyone who sounds the alarm to these issues is burying our heads in the sand and will almost certainly lead to more bloodshed and violence. Conor is from Adelaide South Australia. He is a gardener and is involved in ministry. He loves God, music, reading and thinking deeply about philosophy and current events in the world. Conor Ryans previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/conor-ryan.html Kim and Shelley welcome Elizabeth Waite, member of the Board of Directors of Ancoura, Ottawa Supportive Housing Network. Ancoura is a not-for-profit, volunteer-based organization and a registered charity in Ottawa. Ancouras mission is to provide a nurturing and fulfilling environment for adults living with a mental illness, through stable, affordable housing and a supportive community. Ancoura residents live in three-bedroom townhouses. They are supported by a paid professional counselor or social worker who offers problem-solving assistance and meets with them on a weekly basis. Each home has a team of visiting volunteers that provides a circle of friends for the residents. Residents and volunteers often go out for social activities and community events together and develop long-term and rich relationships. How you can helpWebsite: www.ancoura.ca E-mail: admin@ancoura.ca Address: 30 Cleary Ave., Ottawa ON K2A 4A1 Telephone: 613-233-8140 Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram New York, April 16, 2019 The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the expulsion of Aymeric Vincenot, the Agence France-Presse bureau chief in Algiers, and called on the Algerian government to facilitate press accreditation for foreign journalists. Vincenot left Algeria for Paris on April 9, a final deadline given by police after authorities failed to renew his press accreditation and residency permit, according to a statement by AFP. Vincenot, a French citizen, had been in Algeria without a press accreditation since December 31, 2018, after his application to renew it received no response from authorities; his residency permit expired on February 28 and police gave him until April 9 to leave the country, according to his employer, news reports, and an AFP employee who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. According to the AFP statement, Algerian authorities never formally informed the agency of the reason for not renewing Vincenots accreditation. Algeria is in a state of turmoil, with anti-government protests taking place throughout the country and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigning from office on April 2, according to news reports. It is imperative for foreign and local journalists alike to have the ability to report on the ongoing protests and political changes in Algeria, said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour from Washington, D.C. We call on authorities to grant accreditation to Aymeric Vincenot, and to ensure a transparent accreditation process that facilitates coverage by international reporters. Algerias Ministry of Interior did not immediately respond to CPJs emailed request for comment. Foreigners living in Algeria are required to have authorized working papers in order to maintain their residency, according to the official website of the Algerian Ministry of Interior. For journalists, that means having a valid press accreditation, according to AFP. AFP Chairman Fabrice Fries said in a statement issued by the agency that the decision, which was taken under the presidency of Mr. Bouteflika, was unacceptable. While Vincenot left the country after Bouteflikas resignation, the decision not to renew his press accreditation took place during Bouteflikas rule. On March 21, local news outlets reported that the Algerian government had issued several press accreditations to foreign journalists covering the protests after previously rejecting many applications. However, also in March, one foreign journalist was expelled and another denied entry into the country, as CPJ reported at the time. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Sao Paulo, April 16, 2019Brazils Supreme Court should revoke a decision to censure and fine an online magazine and refrain from censoring media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the online magazine Crusoe to take down a report yesterday after it mentioned the president of Brazils Supreme Court, Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli, according to news reports. According to court documents sent to Crusoe, Moraes was responding to a request from Dias Toffoli. He said the report struck the honor and security of the court and told Crusoe to take it down or face a daily fine of 100,000 reals ($25,667). In addition, Moraes asked the federal police to question the reports authors within 72 hours, the magazine said. That request was rejected today by the attorney general, who said a judge does not have the authority to open an investigation, according to a statement by the attorney generals office. The Brazilian Supreme Courts aggressive actions against Crusoe after the magazine reported on one of the courts judges are extremely troubling, said CPJ South and Central America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick from New York. Rather than scrubbing critical articles from the internet and harassing reporters, Brazilian judicial officials should be committed to upholding constitutional values such as freedom of the press. A press officer at the Supreme Court told CPJ that yesterdays move was, like many judicial decisions in Brazil, secret and therefore no information on the case would be made public. However, Crusoe published some details online about Moraes decision, which came after the magazine published a story about the Car Wash corruption scandal that has dominated Brazilian politics and business over the last few years. Crusoe complied with the order and took down the report. According to the reports about the case, the Crusoe article alleged that Marcelo Odebrecht, the chief executive of the Odebrecht construction empirewho pled guilty to paying close to $1 billion in bribes to politicians in return for building contractswas referring to Dias Toffoli in a coded message that came to light as part of his plea bargain. Dias Toffoli was the head of the Office of the General Counsel for the Federal Government at the time of the message, with the power to influence multi-million dollar construction projects. Although the Crusoe report did not accuse Dias Toffoli of wrongdoing, the magazine said he asked Moraes to open a formal investigation into what he called lies that were designed to strike at Brazilian institutions. One of the storys authors, Rodrigo Rangel, said in a statement emailed to CPJ that the magazine sent Dias Toffoli questions before publishing but that he did not respond. Publisher Mario Sabino said the magazine was appealing the decision. In our view this is an act of judicial intimidation, Sabino wrote in a separate statement sent to CPJ. Freedom of the press is only weakened when we do not use it. We will continue to fight for it. The decision comes as Brazilian journalists try to adapt to a reporting environment that has become more hostile since the far-right Jair Bolsonaro won a hard-fought presidential election in October. Bolsonaro has repeatedly railed at what he calls fake news and his sonswho are also politicianshave rallied online critics with frequent attacks on the press. Bolsonaro himself expressed support for freedom of expression today, without specifically mentioning the Supreme Court case. My position will always be in favor of freedom of expression, a right that is legitimate and inviolate, he wrote on Twitter. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Manila, April 16, 2019A Committee to Protect Journalists mission to the Philippines, led by Board Chair Kathleen Carroll, found increasing levels of intimidation and a shrinking space for the free press in the country. The missionjoined by Peter Greste, director of the Australia-based Alliance for Journalists Freedom (AJF), and CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butleris in Manila this week, meeting with a wide range of journalists and government officials. Based on these meetings, CPJ is extremely concerned about the various types of formal and informal pressure that journalists face. A series of 11 legal cases against the news website Rappler that appear to be politically motivated have created a sense of fear throughout the media industry, leading to self-censorship. Government officials have repeatedly attacked the press, and are threatening to withhold the license of the TV network ABS-CBN. The oppressive working environment for journalists in the Philippines is alarming, said Carroll. The Duterte government files case after case against Rappler while the president himself lobs sustained, often personal attacks against individual journalists. Online harassment of journalists is highly organized and vicious. During their conversations with CPJ, journalists also cited the practice of red taggingaccusing reporters, and even the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, of communist affiliationas putting them in jeopardy of attack or arrest. Smaller news websites covering controversial human rights topics have suffered huge distributed denial of service attacks originating from the Philippines, according to site managers. The AJF recognizes the importance of supporting press freedom across the region, and we share CPJs concern about whats happening here, Greste said. Government forces are finding new and increasingly sophisticated ways to shut down press freedom so the attacks on Rappler and others have a chilling effect across all journalists. That is profoundly damaging the countrys democracy. The Philippines ranks fifth on CPJs Impunity Index, which measures the extent to which the killers of journalists escape punishment. The 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 32 of those killed were journalists, remains the worst single incident of journalist killing in CPJ records. Not a single conviction has yet been obtained for these murders. ### CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. Press contact: Bebe Santa-Wood press@cpj.org Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram On April 9, 2019, at around 7:00 a.m., authorities raided the Havana home of Augusto Cesar San Martin, a reporter for the independent news website CubaNet and a member of the Association for Press Freedom, an organization that promotes press freedom in Cuba, according to CubaNet, news reports, and San Martin, who spoke with CPJ. After the raid, authorities took San Martin to the Zanja police station, where he was interrogated about his work and fined for allegedly possessing illegal communications equipment and for unspecified economic crimes, he told CPJ. He was released that afternoon, according to CubaNet. Authorities seized cameras, microphones, a computer, and a router from San Martins home, as well as copies of his published articles, certificates of attendance to seminars, and his journalism diplomas, which the agents referred to as subversive materials, the journalist said. San Martin told CPJ that he requested to see a warrant permitting the seizures and a list of the material authorities confiscated, but was not provided with either. At the police station, authorities served San Martin with a fine of 250 pesos ($9.43) from the Ministry of Communications on the grounds that the router confiscated during the raid constituted illegal communications equipment, and a fine of 2,000 pesos ($75) for alleged unauthorized economic activity, he told CPJ. San Martin told CPJ that the authorities did not provide additional information regarding the economic activity fine. San Martins interrogation was focused on his journalism, with agents asking him what he reported on, how he established contacts with other journalists, and whether he was remunerated for his work, he told CPJ. During the interrogation, agents took San Martin to a local hospital to treat his elevated blood pressure caused by the stress of the incident, he said. He was released from custody at 4 p.m., as reported by CubaNet. During the raid, agents told San Martin that they would come back in the future and that he and his wife were banned from leaving the country, he said. The raid was carried out by agents from State Security, the Revolutionary National Police, the Ministry of Communications, Immigration Services, and the Interior Ministry, according to local media. CPJs calls to the Cuban Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Interior went unanswered. The Ministry of Justice answered CPJs call but could not provide answers to CPJs questions regarding San Martins case. San Martin had previously been summoned by authorities and warned against continuing his reporting, and he was blocked from leaving the country to attend a conference in Panama in 2017, according to media reports. Cuba remains one of the most hostile environments for the press in the world, and ranks among CPJs 10 Most Censored Countries. The far left New Zealand government has banned many semi-automatic firearms in the media frenzy following the mass murder at the Christchurch (ironic name!) mosques. A small number of New Zealanders called for calm and rational deliberation in the rush to pass new legislation. They were ignored in the frenzy to pass restrictions on gun ownership. The New Zealand censor ruled it illegal for New Zealand citizens to read the manifesto of the political terrorist who did the killing. Any discussion of immigration and Islamic terrorism, which were used to justify the killings, were ignored. Instead, the New Zealand government did precisely what the political terrorist predicted it would do: severely restrict firearms ownership. Consider: major changes in the law, impacting 3-4 percent of New Zealand's population, were enacted because of one major criminal act of political terrorism in over 100 years of New Zealand history. ..... A 23-year-old paramedic who suffered from stroke after cracking her neck has warned others against the dangers of neck cracking.Natalie Kunicki, who moved from Canberra, Australia, to work for the London Ambulance Service, was watching movies in bed with her friend in March when she stretched her neck and heard a loud crackKunicki thought nothing of the sound and went to sleep. She said she is used to cracking her joints. However, after 15 minutes, Kunicki woke up and was unable to move her left leg and fell to the floor when she attempted to walk.The Story Of Natalie KunickiThe following day after the incident, Kunicki was rushed to the University College London Hospital and underwent CT scan.It was confirmed that she had suffered a stroke, which was caused by the rupturing of a major artery in her spine. In fact, as Kunicki's neck cracked, her vertebral artery had burst, which then caused a blood clot to form in her brain and trigger a strokeThe left side of the young paramedic's body was completely paralyzed, and Kunicki admitted that she felt "emotionless" for days. She said that thanks to her friends, she was able to snap out of her "pity party" and focused all her energy into recovery.The doctors then transferred Kunicki to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where she underwent three hours of surgery. This is where the doctors discovered her burst artery.Although the doctors were able to repair Kunicki's artery with a stent, they were unable to clear the blood clot in her brain. However, the doctors believe the blood clot will dissolve in time.Kunicki also admitted that depression struck her while she was going through the treatment."I think I scared my consultant because after I woke up she came in to ask how I was going but I told her 'you should have killed me'," saidKunicki.Depression is common after a stroke, said Kunicki, because she said being paralyzed made her "lose so much independence and dignity."As of writing, doctors cannot provide an exact timeframe for a full recovery, but Kunicki hopes she can return to work for light duty within six to 12 months.Since her discharge, Kunicki has been living with her parents, Anne and Peter Kunicki, and they will move back to Australia in July.Kunicki's brother has set up a GoFundMe pagefor people who want to help her recover from her condition.Why Neck Cracking Is Bad For The HealthKunicki said most people who experience stroke are at their 70s or 80s and that young people suffering from it are quite rare.Although what happened to Kunicki had a one in a million possibility, ruptured vertebral artery is still a common cause of strokes in young people.There are more reasons why neck cracking is bad for the health. A study in 2011 revealedthat a 42-year-old woman who cracked her neck experienced "the worst headache of her life," and then experienced pain in her left neck. She also reported vomiting, nausea, and blurred vision.Meanwhile, a study in 2003 revealedthat neck cracking increased the risk for stroke by 6.62-fold.However, Bustle reportedthat the rupturing of vertebral artery could also be caused by other things, such as genetic predispositions to artery weakness, hypermobility, neck accidents, and injuries, among other things. It is "tricky" to pin the blame solely on neck cracking.It's also possible that underreporting plays a role in the fact that statistics that correlate neck cracking to stroke are low. Still, it is still worth noting that anyone who cracks their neck must be careful in doing so. A Canadian tourist has died after falling from a popular zipline tourist attraction in Thailand.Spencer Charles was visiting the Flight of the Gibbon attraction in Chiang Mai with his partner and a group of friends on Saturday when the tragedy occurred.Local authorities said the 25-year-old was clipped to a zipline more than 100 metres above the ground when the cable supporting him snapped and he fell to his death.The popular attraction is visited by many tourists including Australians every year.It has now been shut down while local police investigate the incident.Authorities are looking at several issues including whether the equipment was faulty, whether the 125 kilogram weight limit was exceeded, if there was an issue with the safety clips or if the company were negligent in any way.The Flight of the Gibbon zipline course is about five kilometres long and has 33 platforms throughout the jungle canopy.In 2016 the same venue closed temporarily when three Israeli students collided with each other while traveling on the zipline. They were hospitalised as a result.In 2015 two women, a Chinese and an American tourist, collided with each other while traveling on the zipline. Political prisoner, activist, journalist, hymn-writer, emerging think tanker, aspiring novelist, hanger on of academia, parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, Shadow Leader of the Opposition, Speedboat, proudly banned from Twitter so officially more dangerous than the Taliban, eagerly awaiting the second (or possibly third) attempt to murder me. More on The New Zealand Knee-Jerk Gun Bans By Dean Weingarten. April 13th, 2019 Original Source The far left New Zealand government has banned many semi-automatic firearms in the media frenzy following the mass murder at the Christchurch (ironic name!) mosques. A small number of New Zealanders called for calm and rational deliberation in the rush to pass new legislation. They were ignored in the frenzy to pass restrictions on gun ownership. The New Zealand censor ruled it illegal for New Zealand citizens to read the manifesto of the political terrorist who did the killing. Any discussion of immigration and Islamic terrorism, which were used to justify the killings, were ignored. Instead, the New Zealand government did precisely what the political terrorist predicted it would do: severely restrict firearms ownership. Consider: major changes in the law, impacting 3-4 percent of New Zealand's population, were enacted because of one major criminal act of political terrorism in over 100 years of New Zealand history. It has been difficult to find the details of the new legislation. Forensic Magazine has done a good job of boiling down the legalese. These appear to be the prohibited firearms and parts. From forensicmag.com: The specific items prohibited under the new law are: Weapons classified as a military-style semi-automatic firearms (MSSAs); Semi-automatic firearms, excepting those that only fire 0.22 caliber or less rimfire cartridges and having a maximum magazine capacity of 10 cartridges, and also excepting semi-automatic shotguns with non-detachable magazines with a capacity of five or less cartridges; Pump-action shotguns with detachable magazines, or non-detachable magazines with a capacity of greater than five cartridges; and Parts that can convert non-prohibited weapons into prohibited weapons Semi-automatic and high-capacity pistols are not prohibited under the bill. Semi-automatic and high-capacity airsoft and paintball guns that resemble prohibited weapons are not also not affected, as they are not included under the legal definition of "firearm"existing law requires a permit to own such airguns. Here is the relevant, actual, statutory language. You can see that it requires quite a bit of careful study. From legislation.govt.nz: 2A Meaning of prohibited firearm In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, prohibited firearm (a) means the following firearms: (i) a semi-automatic firearm (except a pistol), other than (A) a semi-automatic firearm that is capable of firing only 0.22 calibre or less rimfire cartridges and that has a magazine, whether or not detachable or otherwise externally fed, that is capable of holding no more than 10 cartridges commensurate with that firearm's chamber size: (B) a semi-automatic shotgun with a non-detachable tubular magazine or magazines that are capable of holding no more than 5 cartridges commensurate with that firearm's chamber size: (ii) a pump-action shotgun that is capable of being used with a detachable magazine: (iii) a pump-action shotgun that has a non-detachable tubular magazine or magazines that are capable of holding more than 5 cartridges commensurate with that firearm's chamber size; and (b) includes any other firearm declared by Order in Council made under section 74A to be a prohibited firearm for the purposes of this Act. 2B Meaning of prohibited magazine In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, prohibited magazine, (a) in relation to a shotgun, means a magazine, whether or not detachable, that is capable of holding more than 5 cartridges commensurate with that shotgun's chamber size: (b) in relation to any other firearm (except a pistol), (i) means any detachable magazine (A) that is capable of holding 0.22 calibre or less rimfire cartridges and that is capable of holding more than 10 of those cartridges: (B) that is capable of holding more than 10 cartridges and being used with a semi-automatic or fully automatic firearm: (ii) means any other magazine, whether or not detachable, that is capable of holding more than 10 cartridges; and (c) includes any other magazine declared by Order in Council made under section 74A to be a prohibited magazine for the purposes of this Act. 2C Meaning of prohibited part In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, prohibited part means (a) a part of a prohibited firearm: (b) a component that can be applied to enable, or take significant steps towards enabling a firearm to be fired with, or near to, a semi-automatic or automatic action. 2D Meaning of prohibited ammunition In this Act, prohibited ammunition means any ammunition declared by the Governor-Governor by Order in Council to be prohibited ammunition. New Zealand has about twice as many gun owners per capita as Australia does. Thus, while the firearms ban was passed in a media frenzy, as happened in Australia following a mass killing, it is not quite as draconian. The New Zealand legislation shares many common characteristics with severe firearms restrictions that have been passed in democratic countries around the world: 1. A government is in power that fears and detests firearms in the hands of the common man. This was the case in England in 1920, the United States in 1968, Canada in 1991, Australia in 1996, and New Zealand in 2019. 2. Criminal acts were used as a crises to pass law that would not passage in ordinary circumstance with reasoned debate. 3. The laws were passed with little consideration or knowledge of firearms technology. 4. The major media of the time were complicit in calling for passage of the law, without critical consideration or analysis, with no time or space allowed to opponents of the restrictions. 5. The legislative acts were rushed through the legislative body, before time was allowed for reasoned reflection. One of the most troubling aspects of the New Zealand situation is the definition of "prohibited ammunition". It appears the executive branch of New Zealand government can simply declare any ammunition they desire to be "prohibited" on little or no notice, without any additional act of parliament. Such sweeping power is not consistent with a democratic government. 2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch Back to Top Tamil Nadu: Chennai South is held by son of fisheries minister, but fisherfolk here are not happy April 16,2019 | Source: The Indian Express Look at our hamlet. Behind us, there are tall buildings, and in front of us a rising ocean, Palayam says, as he gestures to how fisherfolk in Chennais Urur Olcott hamlet are boxed in. Where will we go from here where will our children go? Chennais shoreline is dotted with small-scale fishing hamlets facing an uncertain future due to rapid urbanisation and consequent climate change. Urur Olcott, which falls in the Chennai South constituency, is home to nearly 500 families. A hereditary profession, the small-scale fishery is a low-technology, low-capital and labour-intensive occupation carried out near shore as opposed to trawlers and mechanised boats in the deep sea. I hear water levels are rising because snow-capped mountains are melting. We would probably have to relocate soon. And if we do, wed be lost. Aside from the fish trade, I dont know what else to do, says Palayam, 55. Unlike during my fathers time, theres so much pollution now. The rivers running through the city that drain into the sea are polluted, and the fish that come from the rivers are dead, he adds. Their daily catch has also decreased over the years. Since the tsunami in 2004 and more recently, Cyclone Okhi in 2017 and Cyclone Gaja in 2018, Palayam says fishermen can no longer predict the currents or tell what fish they will get. Today, there are no rains and strong heat. While we used to be able to say when it would rain, no one can tell anymore, he says while claiming that from a 100 varieties of fish in the near sea, there is now only a handful available near shore. Dr Raghu Prakash R, the principal scientist at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR CIFT) under the Ministry of Agriculture, says climate change is likely to have an impact on marine life. Due to warming of oceans, there is a chance that fish will shift to cooler, deeper areas. The first impact will be on the small-scale fishermen, he tells IndianExpress.com. While there are reports to indicate that species are declining in coastal waters due to climate change, Prakash says there is no evidence of this. Natural calamities, however, he says have definitely had a physical impact on the marine ecosystem. Regulation of small-scale fishing With small-scale fishing being an artisanal profession, there is little data available on these communities. According to 2017 data published by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), nearly 90 per cent of Tamil Nadus total fishing output was contributed by large-scale fisheries. Pooja Kumar, a researcher at the Coastal Resource Centre, says, Government data on fish catch is primarily from the harbours, where trawlers/mechanised boats fish at a large-scale in the deep sea. Small-scale fisheries are difficult to monitor as they are beach-based occupations. Not only does the data show a big gap in terms of contribution of small-scale fisherfolk to the economy, but also leaves fisherfolk with a lack of government support. Many of the fishermen from Urur Olcott, for instance, are forced to travel to Kasimedu fishing harbournearly 10 kilometres awayto inquire and learn new fishing techniques from their counterparts. Echoing this, Raghu says most technology that has reached the industry has been limited to mechanised fisheries. Opposition to Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules The Centres amended Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules, introduced last year to govern the countrys 7,500-kilometre shoreline, have not made it easier for small-scale fisherfolk as it proposes enhanced activities in the coastal regions thereby promoting economic growth. There is no documentation or mapping so far by the government that recognises small-scale fisheries. This creates a loophole that allows for development along the coast, as it is viewed as open and unused space instead of a place of livelihood for fisherfolk, Kumar explains. According to a report by the Centre for Policy Research, there were 1,965 public responses to the draft CRZ notification that was released by the Central government last year. Of this, 1,388 or 68 per cent raised serious objections and asked for it to be scrapped. There was no dialogue with fishermen before enacting this law. These are arbitrary conditions imposed on us, Palayam says. Despite representatives from the fishing community approaching the government to take a stance against the CRZ rules at the Centre. Incidentally, the Congress is the only party that has mentioned the CRZ notification in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections. Promising to protest coastal zones, it has said the Centres steps to dilute regulations will be reversed. For small-scale fisherwomen, increasing economic activity on Chennais beaches hardly provides opportunities. We cant sell our fish on the beach as it requires registration it will also mean having to pay taxes, explains T Kala, a 43-year-old fisherwoman. Its different from our time. Now, the most important thing for our children is education, her friend Sarla adds. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, fisherfolk in Urur Olcott have one more grouse: garbage. Several allege the sitting MP of the constituency, Jayavardhan Jayakumar, has taken credit for solving the problem despite not doing a single thing. The Chennai South constituency seat is held by Jayakumar, the son of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister and AIADMK MLA from Royapuram D Jayakumar. Bangladesh: Dry fish fair held in Nasirnagar April 16,2019 | Source: Dhaka Tribune Customers at a dry fish fair held in celebration of Pohela Boishakh at Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria yesterday bought dry fish from the traders in exchange for other commodities. Held at the Kulikunda village, the main attraction at the fair was the barter trade offer, applicable during specific times at the fair. Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Kulikunda resident Almas Ali said that fair was celebrated as a local tradition for over 300 years. "Farmers at the fair buy dry fish from the traders in exchange for potato, lentil, mustard seeds, onion, wheat, mango, garlic, etc. However, this offer was only applicable from sunrise to 9am," he explained. First time visitor, Khadeja Akhtar, said: "I am very excited to be present at this fair, since I heard about this before but did not realize how interesting it was until today." Jahangir Alam, another visitor at the fair, informed that many types of dry fishes including Puti, Boal, Shol, and Tengra were being sold. "I bought dried Shols for Tk12 per kg, and am looking around to see if I can buy more." Traders said that local fishes were very popular among customers at the fair which was set up on five acres of land. Additionally, fish eggs were on high demand at the fair. Speaking about the fair, newly elected Upazila Vice-Chairman Foyez Chishti said that in the past, most of the people depended on barter trading. This tradition inspired the idea of holding the fair, where commodities were exchanged for dry fish fair. "In order to hold on to this tradition, we will try to arrange a bigger fair next time," Chishti added. Local artisans also participated in this year's fair, selling clay products such as dolls, pots, bowls, plates, and other goods. 2 prisoners were executed on charges related to murder and drug offenses at Adel-Abad, the main prison of the Iranian city of Shiraz. The 2 were sentenced to death, both for murder and drug offenses. However, it seems the executions were related to the qisas (retribution in kind) for murder cases. According to the IHR sources, prisoners Taha Shirdookht and Kazem Minaei, were executed on the morning of Thursday, April 11, at Adel-Abad prison. Both men were from the northern city of Rasht. A well-informed source had previously told IHR about the case of prisoners, they were sentenced to death at the Revolutionary Courts for having 11 kilograms of Methamphetamine and Heroin. But they were also charged with a murder case. Taha Shirdookht and Kazem Minaei were arrested in the Iranian city of Mashhad around 5 years ago. They were held at Isfahan Central prison but for some reason, they had been transferred to Adel-Abad Prison along with 4 other prisoners last Sunday. The fate of the other 4 is not known. The aforementioned executions have not been reported by Iranian media so far. According to the Iran Human Rights statistic department, the majority of executions in 2017 and 2018 in Iran was for murder charges. At least 188 prisoners were executed for murder charges in 2018. Only 33% of executions were announced by Iranian authorities in 2018. There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 15, 2019 Iraq has begun trial proceedings for nearly 900 Iraqi suspected members of the Islamic State group caught fleeing jihadist territory in neighbouring Syria, a judicial source told AFP on Sunday. They were handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which ousted IS from swathes of eastern Syria including territory bordering Iraq. "We received the interrogation files of nearly 900 Iraqi Daesh (IS) members coming from Syria," the court official said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to talk to the media. "The specialised terrorism court has begun setting dates for their trial in batches," the source added. The nearly 900 suspected jihadists were transferred by the SDF to Iraqi custody in recent months as the remnants of IS' once sprawling self-declared "caliphate" collapsed in neighbouring Syria. Additional Iraqi suspects are in SDF custody and awaiting transferral, a security source told AFP Sun day. "They will be handed over in batches on the Syrian-Iraqi border. They include very influential leaders, but IS had sought to keep them hidden," the security source said. One of those destined to be handed over was deeply involved in IS' efforts to develop chemical weapons, he said. Iraq has already tried thousands of its own nationals arrested on home soil for joining IS -- including women -- and has sentenced hundreds to death. The country remains in the top five "executioner" nations in the world, according to an Amnesty International report released last week. The number of death sentences issued by Iraqi courts more than quadrupled from 65 in 2017 to at least 271 in 2018. But fewer were actually carried out, according to Amnesty, with 52 executions in 2018 compared to 125 in 2017. In addition to locals, Iraq has also tried hundreds of foreigners, condemning many to life in prison and others to death, although no foreign IS members have yet been executed. Among those awaiting trial in Baghdad are 12 accused French IS members, who were caught in Syria and transferred to Iraqi custody in February. Baghdad has offered to try all foreign fighters in SDF custody -- estimated at around 1,000 -- in exchange for millions of dollars, Iraqi government sources have told AFP. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised these trials, which they say often rely on circumstantial evidence or confessions obtained under torture. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! "One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde al-monitor.com, Staff, April 15, 2019 FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue... 1 month ago In addition to the fact that limousine travel is very glamorous, it is also the most comfortable trip you can... 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 New York Times this morning said it all: touching the economic fundamentals of the status quo, their status quo. "How, some Democrats are beginning to ask," reported Martin, "do they thwart a 70-something candidate from outside the party structure who is immune to intimidation or incentive and wields support from an unwavering base, without simply reinforcing his 'the establishment is out to get me' message-- the same grievance Mr. Trump used to great effect?" Jonathan Martin's headline in thethis morning said it all: 'Stop Sanders' Democrats Are Agonizing Over His Momentum . He starts with "a closed door gathering of about 100 wealthy liberal donors in San Francisco last month" freaking out about Bernie winning the nomination. These are people who have been served well by the status quo. They all want women to be allowed to have abortions and they support gays marrying each other. But beyond that, they're not liberals at all; they do not want anyonethe economic fundamentals of the status quo, their status quo. "How, some Democrats are beginning to ask," reported Martin, "do they thwart a 70-something candidate from outside the party structure who is immune to intimidation or incentive and wields support from an unwavering base, without simply reinforcing his 'the establishment is out to get me' message-- the same grievance Mr. Trump used to great effect?" Martin gets the crux of the story wrong though. He wrote that "From canape-filled fund-raisers on the coasts to the cloakrooms of Washington, mainstream Democrats are increasingly worried that their effort to defeat President Trump in 2020 could be complicated by Mr. Sanders, in a political scenario all too reminiscent of how Mr. Trump himself seized the Republican nomination in 2016." He thinks it's about Trump. It isn't. To many of these wealthy establishment Democrats, Bernie is more of a threat than Trump is. After all, Trump may be an embarrassment... but he lowered their taxes. Bernie would raise them. For sure. Hired political assassin-- once for the right, now for the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- David Brock, a vicious leader of the anti-progressive movement and a Bernie-hater, weighs in: "Theres a growing realization that Sanders could end up winning this thing, or certainly that he stays in so long that he damages the actual winner. He is chomping at the bit to organize the establishment into an overt anti-Bernie campaign immediately. Brock hissed that "the Bernie question comes up in every fund-raising meeting I do." Fellow plotters include rich party donors like Steven Rattner, Susan Swecker ( ) and former Clintonite operative.current Bloomberg factotum Howard Wolfson. This "discussion about Mr. Sanders," wrote Martin, "has to date been largely confined to private settings because-- like establishment Republicans in 2016-- Democrats are uneasy about elevating him or alienating his supporters." Martin points out though that "to some veterans of the still-raw 2016 primary, a heavy-handed intervention may only embolden him and his fervent supporters. R.T. Rybak, the former Minneapolis mayor who was vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2016, complained bitterly about the partys tilt toward Mrs. Clinton back then, and warned that it would backfire if his fellow mainstream Democrats 'start with the idea that youre trying to stop somebody.' If the party fractures again, 'or if we even have anybody raising an eyebrow of Im not happy about this, were going to lose and theyll have this loss on their hands,' Mr. Rybak said of the anti-Sanders forces, pleading with them to not make him 'a martyr.'" The matter of What To Do About Bernie and the larger imperative of party unity has, for example, hovered over a series of previously undisclosed Democratic dinners in New York and Washington organized by the longtime party financier Bernard Schwartz. The gatherings have included scores from the moderate or center-left wing of the party, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader; former Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., himself a presidential candidate; and the president of the Center for American Progress, Neera Tanden He did us a disservice in the last election, said Mr. Schwartz, a longtime Clinton supporter who said he will support former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in this primary. ...If he is consistently raising $6 million more than his next closest opponent, hes going to have a massive financial advantage, said Rufus Gifford, former President Barack Obamas 2012 finance director, noting that Mr. Sanders will be able to blanket expensive and delegate-rich Super Tuesday states like California and Texas with ads during early voting there. Mr. Gifford, who has gone public in recent days with his dismay over major Democratic fund-raisers remaining on the sidelines, said of Mr. Sanders, I feel like everything we are doing is playing into his hands. But the peril of rallying the partys elite donor class against a candidate whose entire public life has been organized around confronting concentrated wealth is self-evident: Mr. Sanders would gleefully seize on any Stop Bernie effort. You can see him reading the headlines now, Mr. Brock mused: Rich people dont like me. Politico, Even his CAP-centered enemies-- already reeling from his polling success and the 10 years of taxes he had just released-- couldn't come up with anything negative to say. DC-based journalist Skip Kaltenheuser observed that "about half-way through, the FOX moderators started looking like deer caught in the headlights. I imagine the Democratic Party Grand Poobahs who watched had a similar look on their faces." By this morning, they were all weeping bitter tears over the Holly Otterbein piece at Sanders takes on Fox-- and emerges triumphant . "Bernie Sanders entered the Fox's den on Monday night," wrote Otterbein, "and he not only survived the hour-long encounter, but often dominated. Appearing at a Fox News-hosted town hall smack dab in the middle of Trump Country, the Democratic presidential front-runner played the part, swatting down tough questions from the hosts about health care, defense spending, and his newfound wealth. At one point, the Vermont senator even led the networks audience in a call-and-response that found them cheering loudly for his policies." Part 1 of the town hall is up top and part 2 is below. You should watch them both. And if you like them, you can contribute to Bernie's campaign by clicking on the thermometer on the right. Someone's frightened In the days preceding the event, Sanders faced backlash from liberals who said he shouldnt participate given the network's nativist bent and cheerleading for President Donald Trump. But when it was over, Sanders had received an hour of positive exposure on the highest-rated cable channel-- something none of his primary rivals have yet risked. The town hall took place in a cultural center in the shadows of a former steel mill here, in a county in Pennsylvania that voted for Trump after twice supporting Barack Obama. But the room was packed with Sanders supporters, and the Vermont senator fed off the energy of the crowd. Still, the image of an audience on Fox News rallying behind the democratic socialist and his left-wing platform gave Sanders the appearance of strong support in an area that was key to the presidents victory in 2016. For the Sanders campaign, it was an ideal end to a four-day swing through the industrial Midwest that was meant to show that he's the presidential candidate best positioned to beat Trump. Significant numbers of Democratic primary voters are more concerned with a candidate's ability to win than his or her ideology, according to recent polls. Some of the difficult questions asked by the hosts, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, were about Sanders Medicare for All plan. When asked how he would fund the program, Sanders didn't shy away from the fact that many Americans would pay more in taxes. But he insisted the overwhelming majority would end up spending less money overall because they would not pay for deductibles or other out-of-pocket costs. He also downplayed concerns that people would be kicked off their insurance, arguing that millions already lose their health insurance when they get fired from or quit their jobs. His health care plan, he said, gives you freedom of choice. One of the most surprising moments of the town hall occurred when Baier asked the members of the audience to raise their hands if they received health insurance through their employer. Most indicated they did. Then he asked how many would be willing to switch to Sanders plan, and most people appeared to raise their hands again ...When MacCallum said some would argue Sanders that supported felons having the right to vote because it benefited him politically, she was booed by the crowd. Oh, come on, he said. Asked about those who say that he is too old to be president, he shot back, Well, follow me around the campaign trail. Sanders was also asked by an audience member how he would challenge the idea that socialism is bad. He replied with familiar talking points: Democratic socialism to me is creating a government and an economy and a society which works for all, rather than just the top 1 percent. It means ending the absurd inequalities that exist today. On the hot-button topic of abortion, Sanders responses prompted an immediate rebuke from conservatives on social media. MacCallum asked him whether a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment of birth. He replied: I think that that happens very, very rarely, and I think this is being made into a political issue. So I think its rare, its being made into a political issue. But at the end of the day, I believe that the decision over abortion belongs to a woman and her physician, not the federal government. ...As Sanders traveled to Rust Belt states that were essential to Trumps victory this weekend, he called on the president to keep his vow to working-class Americans and ditch the new NAFTA agreement. If elected, Sanders also said he would deny government contracts to companies that outsource jobs to other countries, such as General Motors. Sanders had a similar message throughout the Fox News town hall. He attacked Trump, arguing that he didnt keep his campaign promise to be a different kind of Republican and avoid cutting programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Feisty and confident, Sanders ended the engagement by gently ribbing the hosts of the network liberals despise. Thank you very much," he told Baier and MacCallum, "and I hope I wasnt too hard on you. I ran this poll yesterday before Bernie did the Fox News town hall. 65% thought going on Fox and bringing their viewers the truth was a good idea. 35% thought it wasn't. The media and social media buzzthe event was about 99% favorable. Bernie knocked it out of the park. This morning, Emerson released new national polling of registered voters. Two headlines: Bernie is beating Biden and Mayor Pete is beating everyone else . It finally looks like Status Quo Joe's long ugly record in the public sphere is beginning to catch up with him-- the corporatism, the sexism, the virulently anti-progressive posture, the racism... everything that made Biden a nightmare until Obama came along and rehabilitated his image. The new poll shows Bernie ahead of him with Democrats 29-24%. Ohio Democratic activist and attorney, Tim Russo, was all over it within minutes of the poll's release, his intent likely to make Neera Tanden, John Podesta and others from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party cry. "[T]he leftward swing toward Bernie is among likely Democratic primary voters and caucus goers-- those usually polled for such things. That is all gravy. By Iowa in 2020, those likely Democrats will be joined by a flood of new voters, nonvoters returning to voting, and infrequent voters overwhelming whatever rump of establishment Democrats will bother to turn up and split their votes among 2 dozen pointless centrists auctioning themselves off to MSNBCs advertisers. As of this writing, it is my view the 2020 primary is over, Bernie Sanders is the nominee, and its about time yall start callin him Daddy or be run over... Joe Bidens still-birthed 2020 'frontrunner' attempt is already a #MeToo corpse, before anyone even takes the first gander at his ghoulish blood-covered billionaire-bloated neoliberal policy record. A parade of posers constantly hurl themselves onto MSNBC-- Tune In! A Very Special Maddow With Buttigieg-- the desperation of 'Anybody But Bernie' now inescapable. Meanwhile, daily, hourly, movement grows around Bernie, the futility in opposing it becoming ever more pathetic." Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson Polling, noted that "Biden has seen his support drop. In February, he led Sanders 27% to 17%, and in March the two were tied at 26%. Now, Sanders has a 5 point lead, 29% to 24%." Emerson also asked participants for their second choice and it looks likely that if If Biden decides not to run or drops out as quickly as he did all the other times he ran and voters saw what he is, Bernie will be the early beneficiary, picking up 31% of Bidens voters. Mayor Pete Buttigieg gets 17%, followed by Beto with 13%. Buttigieg, more the product of a successful p.r. effort than any other 2020 candidate, officially got into the race over the weekend-- dropping his "exploratory" status on Friday and making a big hometown speech on Sunday-- but he's been campaigning full time since January. Within 4 hours of his announcement, another million dollars flooded into his campaign coffers. From what I've seen so far, Buttigieg, seems like-- at best-- a mediocre candidate who is likely to fade quickly. As part of his announcement roll-out, the p.r.-directed campaign made Mayor Pete available for one-on-one interviews all last week. John Harwood of CNBC asked Buttigieg, a former consultant for McKinsey, "what is right about American capitalism." Mayor Pete by Nancy Ohanian "American capitalism," he replied, "is one of the most productive forces ever known to man, and theres so much that this country has been able to unlock, especially in the last century, in terms of technology, in terms of prosperity. Now where it goes wrong is when its only being experienced in certain parts of the country or by certain kinds of people, and I think it goes to show just how important it is for capitalism to work that it be backed by all of the other pieces that business alone cant solve. But when its working right, theres nothing like it. Its extraordinary. You think about the changes that have happened, the advancements in health, in communications in every field that had been led by our country. What frightens me is its no longer obvious that our country will be the most important driver of advancements of humankind in the 21st century. Not unless we do some things differently." Harwood: Is that because you think the system is in some way rigged? Mayor Pete: Yeah. Its pretty typical human behavior for people to try to make sure the rules work to their benefit. Thats why the U.S. is based on the idea of a robust legal system and constraints on the excesses of anybody, especially concentrated wealth. And yet were at this moment where concentrated wealth has begun to turn into concentrated power. More than begun. Its well underway. The thing that makes capitalism capitalism is competition. But as you have more and more corporate agglomerations of power, youre going to see less and less competition. Harwood: "Is that the reason why you think we have expanding income inequality?" Mayor Pete: I think its a vicious cycle. This didnt just happen. The economy is not some creature that just lumbers along on its own. Its an interaction between private sector and public sector. And public sector policies, for basically as long as Ive been alive, have been skewed in a direction thats increasing inequality. And a lot of this is the consequence of what you might call the Reagan consensus. There was a period where even Democrats seemed to operate in this framework that assumes that the only thing youd ever do with a tax is cut it. That those tax cuts were assumed to pay for themselves. The empirical collapse of that supply side consensus, I think, is one of the defining moments of this period that were living through. ...Harwood: Jamie Dimon recently put out a letter to J.P. Morgan that said, The social needs of too many citizens have not been met. But he also says that tax cut that was enacted late 2017 was the irreducible minimum of what we needed to turn our economy around. What would you say to him? Mayor Pete: The big problem in this country was not that it was too difficult to be wealthy. It just isnt the big problem in our country right now. Its not what led to the political instability were seeing. Its not whats leading to diminished life expectancy, or the prospect of my generation is going to be the first in history to be worse off economically than our parents. What we couldve done, especially if we were going to create a trillion-dollar deficit, is make the kinds of investments in infrastructure and education and health that would have made this whole country better off. I also think that, no matter how educated or intelligent some of the people working in these industries are, they can quickly get out of touch with the reality on the ground. If you dont understand just how much anger there is in, for example, my part of the industrial Midwest-- where it can be used in a very cynical political way to direct it against immigrants, or trade writ large, or against your fellow American, or even against Democrats, just because folks are mad and its got to go somewhere-- youre going to continue to see these destabilizing political outcomes like what were living through right now. Harwood: Others say that the kinds of things youre talking about would be destructive of capitalism, that its a war on the wealthy, that it would bring socialism to the United States. How how do you respond to arguments like that? Mayor Pete: The crazy thing about arguments like that is how uncoupled they are from evidence. We dont have to speculate on what happens in a Western society that delivers health care to everybody, or that has more social mobility or that invests at a higher rate in infrastructure or education. We know exactly what happens. What happens is youre better off. The American dream is slipping away. Youre much more likely to experience that if youre a kid in Denmark right now than if youre in America. And while people can think up all kinds of excuses why something that worked in other societies hasnt worked here, the reality is, when weve tried it here in our history, its also served us pretty well. Back to that Emerson poll for a moment. Head-to-head matchups show Trump narrowly beating Mayor Pete and Elizabeth Warren but losing to Biden, Bernie and Beto. Among these participants, Kamala Harris has a 50-50 shot of beating him. And one more question worth keeping in mind-- with Trump ginning up a military intervention against Venezuela, Emerson decided to poll voters on the topic. 43% do not support intervention to overthrow the Maduro government, 27% do support it and 31% were unsure. Thousands of vehicles were stuck on Hanoi streets Tuesday as offices and educational institutions reopened after the Hung Kings commemoration holiday. Many roads were gridlocked in the capital as people returned to work after the longish holiday. Cars and motorbikes piled into Nguyen Trai street to the west of downtown from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Vietnamese celebrate the commemoration day of the Hung Kings (2879-258 BCE), the nation's mythical founders, on the 10th of the third lunar month every year. As the commemoration day falls on April 14 this year, the three-day festival started on April 13. The early morning rain also impeded traffic. "My child needs to reach school around 7, then I need to go to work, but both of us will probably be late due to the traffic jam," a woman taking her child to school on her scooter Nguyen Trai said. Some people climbed on to the pavement but had to come back down as piles of construction materials blocked their way. The same situation could be seen on Giai Phong street, which passes through two major bus stations, Giap Bat and Nuoc Ngam. Vehicles waited in long lines to enter the downtown area. At the intersection of Nguyen Trai Street, Nguyen Xien Street and the elevated Beltway 3, long lines of vehicle wait. At the Pham Hung and Duong Dinh Nghe street intersection, some vehicles ran the red lights or drove in the opposite lane at rush hour, causing chaos and complete gridlock. In just a few minutes thousands of vehicles got stuck on both sides of the road. Many were too impatient to wait and lifted their bicycles across the median strip to escape the crowd. The police arrived at around 10 a.m. to regulate traffic and clear the jam. Truong Chinh Street is currently under construction. Many manhole covers are broken and/or subsided, posing a threat to drivers. Traffic police officers must wriggle their way into the middle of the street to regulate the traffic. Hanoi streets jam-packed as people return after holidays uong pho Ha Noi un tac The traffic crawls a few centimeters at a time in the morning drizzle on Hanoi's streets on Tuesday. Five people were arrested in central Vietnam on Monday as police made one of the largest drug busts in the country in recent years. Police guard outside a house in Nghe An Province during a drug bust on April 15, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Hai Police searched the house in Vinh, the capital town of Nghe An Province, at around 3 p.m. and found 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of meth after more than three hours of search. Locals said the house belongs to an elderly couple who has a son living in Hanoi. Vo Trong Hai, the chief police officer of the neighboring Ha Tinh Province, who joined the mission, confirmed that police have arrested five suspects and are investigating further. The bust follows a weekend seizure of 30 kilograms of drugs in southern An Giang Province, including about 19 kilograms of meth, which were believed to be shipped from Cambodia and destined for Ho Chi Minh City. It comes after two massive seizures last month in HCMC, one involving a 300 kilogram haul of heroin and 300 kilogram haul of meth. The cases have prompted top police officers to warn that HCMC is growing into a transit point for drugs thanks to its logistics infrastructure. Vietnam has some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine could face the death penalty. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death. Vietnam has surpassed the U.S. to take sole possession of fifth place among countries sending students to Canada. The number of Vietnamese studying at all levels in Canada surged 46 percent from a year ago to 20,330 in 2018. This means that it has overtaken the U.S. to exclusively occupy the fifth spot as a source market for international education in Canada. In reporting this information, the Canadian Bureau for International Education cited figures released last month by Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a government agency. Vietnam and the U.S. had shared the fifth spot in the list of countries and territories sending students for overseas study in Canada in 2017, but the latter slipped one place to sixth globally last year, with just 14,620 student enrolments. According to the report, the number of Vietnamese students in Canada rose fastest among foreign peers and now accounts for 3.55 percent of total international students in the country. The top five is led by India (30.16 percent), followed by China (24.98 percent), South Korea (4.23 percent) and France (3.97 percent). The other countries making the top 10 list are the U.S., Brazil, Nigeria, Iran and Japan. At the end of 2018, Canada reported more than 572,000 international students holding study permits, up 16 percent from a year ago, putting it the worlds third-leading host of Vietnamese students after Japan and the U.S. In recent years, Canada, which is often viewed as a safe haven compared to the U.S., has emerged as the hot overseas study destination for many foreign students, including those from Vietnam thanks to a "comparatively open" immigration policy, experts said. "The Canadian government is doing everything right. It recognizes the pressing need for well-educated and highly trained immigrants and its immigration policy reflects that priority," said Mark Ashwill, an American educator who runs Capstone Vietnam, a full-service educational consulting company with offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ashwill told VnExpress International that "this visionary policy, including promoting study in Canada and post-study employment opportunities, seems to be paying off in spades." He also highlighted the possibility that Canada will soon surpass the U.S. in terms of the number of Vietnamese students within its borders in the next few years, as Canada now has 68 percent of the number of Vietnamese students in the U.S. According to a report published last year by the U.S.-based Institute of International Education, there were 24,325 Vietnamese students attending American colleges and universities in the 2017-2018 academic year. Ashwill backed his prediction by noting that the number of Vietnamese students in the U.S. is declining, as indicated by the number of visas issued by the U.S. government in the first three months of 2019. "Whats clear is that Canada is no longer a second-choice destination for those who were unable to obtain a U.S. student visa. It is quickly coming of age as one of the most desired places to study for over hundreds of thousands of international students, with Vietnam leading the way, at least in terms of recent percentage increases," Ashwill said. The application process to obtain Canadian study permit is much more straightforward, predictable and fairer than that of the American student visa, he added. Vietnamese parents place great importance on their childs education with spending on education accounting for nearly a half (47 percent) of the total household expenditure, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training. In their efforts to improve the quality of education for their child, more and more parents are considering sending them abroad to study. Vietnamese families are spending as much as $3-4 billion each year on sending their children abroad to study, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha told the National Assembly session in Hanoi last year. President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Lean Daval Jr Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday signed a 3.7 trillion peso ($71.5 billion) budget for this year, its largest ever. The decision ended months of impasse that forced the Southeast Asian country to cuts its growth target. The Philippines last month cut its 2019 growth target to 6-7 percent from 7-8 percent, reflecting the absence of a new budget and the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute. In signing the budget, the president vetoed $1.8 billion worth of appropriations, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea told reporters. Vetoed items include non-priority public works, he said. Months of squabbling between the upper and lower chambers of the house delayed the transmission of this year's national budget to the president. For next year, economic managers will propose a 4.1 trillion peso ($79.35 billion) national budget. The Philippines, among the fastest growing economies in Asia, is aiming for growth of 6.5-7.5 percent in 2020, and 7-8 percent in 2021 and 2022, mainly through an extensive infrastructure overhaul. The Philippine economy grew 6.2 percent in 2018, the slowest in three years, because of weak exports, manufacturing and farm output. 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. Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today (4/15) announced a modernization project with Fort Benning, a U.S. Army post located on the border of Alabama and Georgia. Fort Benning is host to more than 100,000 U.S. Army members, trainees, dependents, retirees and federal civilian employees. The $19 million project involves facility upgrades, including installation of a utility monitoring and control system (UMCS), advanced lighting controls and occupancy sensors, as well as building envelope modifications to help reduce overall energy use while aiming to improve energy resilience. The Department of Defense defines energy resilience as the ability to prepare for and recover from energy disruptions that impact mission assurance on military installations. These improvements are expected to reduce energy usage by about 23% and generate approximately $1.3 million in annual savings for the buildings included in this project. The project will be funded by a 25-year fence-to-fence energy services performance contact (ESPC) awarded to Honeywell by Fort Benning, with the added intention that the project will assist Fort Benning with their Installation of the Future (IOTF) roadmap for potential adoption by other U.S. Army installations. The goal of this initiative is to create installations that better support readiness, are more resilient to disruptions and are increasingly sustainable. The contract enables the funding of the upgrades with annual energy and operational savings resulting from the project work. Honeywell guarantees the savings, eliminating the need for upfront capital investment and making it a self-funding project over the contract term. "We are excited about this ESPC and the energy savings that it will enable through various facility upgrades, while laying the foundation for our Installations of the Future initiative," said former Deputy Garrison Commander George W. Steuber, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Benning. "As a result of project upgrades, staff will be able to improve operations by better predicting and anticipating expenditures related to maintenance and equipment. This is a big milestone for Fort Benning and the U.S. Army in our journey to achieving greater operational efficiency." The first phase of the project includes 228 buildings, nearly 6 million square feet of Fort Benning's total of 26 million square feet of floorage. The modernization aims to connect as many of the post's facilities together as possible to reduce energy intensity. The work includes LED lighting and lighting control installation as well as building envelope improvements, such as windows and insulation. Also as part of the contract, Honeywell will upgrade the current Niagara AX UMCS platform to the Niagara N4 - a platform offered by Tridium. This system will allow Fort Benning to more effectively and efficiently collect data to make faster, better-informed decisions based on real and timely information, a critical step toward building a more secure and resilient group of facilities. "The upgrades and improvements we're implementing at Fort Benning will not only help reduce operational costs and energy consumption, but also will help improve the operational reliability and overall quality of life for Fort Benning's brave service men and women," said Wayne Kent, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Building Solutions, Americas. "The upgraded solutions and controls aim to help the post better manage utility systems by providing real-time or near real-time information for conserving resources, enabling staff to better identify additional cost-saving opportunities." The project is expected to reduce Fort Benning's total annual electric and natural gas energy consumption by approximately 6%. Honeywell and Fort Benning expect to complete the first phase of the project in September 2020. Honeywell has successfully executed similar projects at a variety of Department of Defense sites, including Kunsan Air Base, Tinker Air Force Base, Letterkenny Army Depot, Tobyhanna Army Depot and Rock Island Arsenal, among other sites. About Honeywell Building Technologies Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT) is a global business with more than 23,000 employees. HBT creates products, software and technologies found in more than 10 million buildings worldwide. Commercial building owners and occupants use our technologies to ensure their facilities are safe, energy efficient, sustainable and productive. For more news and information on Honeywell Building Technologies, visit http://www.honeywell.com/newsroom. Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 technology company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help everything from aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. Contact: Media Jessie Timmerman Honeywell (763) 954-6071 Jessie.Timmerman@honeywell.com In line with the national strategy to empower young national cadres and prepare them for leadership positions in various areas of life, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), launched the Master's programme in Future Energy Systems and Technology in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley. The programme was launched at the DEWA Campus for Occupational and Academic Development in Al Hudaiba, Dubai during a ceremony attended by HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, and a high-level delegation representing UC Berkeley, including Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu, Professor Wayne Lee Delker, Professor Gabriel Clemente Gomes, and Mr. Paul Lawrence Mason. "We work to achieve the vision and directives of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who laid the foundations and important principles to consolidate Dubai's position as a global model for futuristic cities, raise its quality of life, and achieve the happiness of its citizens and residents," said Al Tayer during his opening speech. "We set out to achieve these directives and include them in our mission, corporate values, motto, strategy, and strategic key performance indicators, in line with our vision to be a globally leading, sustainable, innovative corporation. We seek to achieve government strategies like the UAE Centennial 2071 that aims to prepare future generations for a better tomorrow by equipping them with the highest scientific and professional standards, moral values, and positivity, while ensuring a happy future and a better life, thereby raising the UAE's status to become the best country in the world." "HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in the Eight Principles of Governance, Dubai has always relied on talented tradesmen, administrators, engineers, creatives, and dreamers for its success.' DEWA prioritises the building of national capacities as we are no longer a conventional utility. National capacity building is one of our focal points in the promotion of sustainability and the implementation of clean energy strategies. DEWA signed several agreements with prestigious international centres and universities for research and development including ENEL, The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and National Centre for Renewable Energy in Spain (CENER) among others. "We welcome our partnership with UC Berkeley, whose engineering departments have consistently ranked first in Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering, as we seek to benefit from the experience of this prestigious institution in developing technical talent. Through this partnership, DEWA will utilise the best faculty from UC Berkeley to offer Emirati youth the opportunity to study modern scientific subjects that will help in building the future, including Advanced Power System Analysis, Power Electronics, Methods of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Renewable Generation Systems & Integration, and IT-OT Interface & Cybersecurity System Control with Protection among others. When we designed the programme, we requested UC Berkeley that the programme be unique and futuristic. The first batch of registrants comprises 35 from DEWA emplyees who will take part in this programme." "I would like to congratulate the students for enrolling in this unique opportunity and encourage them to take advantage of the courses to gain skills that will help them become exceptional employees who abide by the highest scientific and professional standards, moral values, and positivity. We encourage the youth to love their country, be loyal to its wise leadership, respect people, and adhere to the good moral values they were raised on." Today, DEWA employs more than 11,000 employees. We generate 11,100 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 470 million gallons of water. DEWA also achieved competitive results in global benchmarking, and its extensive efforts resulted in the UAE maintaining its global premier ranking for the second consecutive year with scores of 100% in all Getting Electricity indicators in the World Bank's Doing Business 2019 report. "We strive to promote the transition to renewable energy sources, maintain the sustainability of resources, reduce the carbon footprint, and rationalise the consumption of energy and water. Through our clean and renewable energy projects, we plan to meet the goals of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 that aims to provide 75% of Dubai's energy from clean energy sources by 2050." "For DEWA to achieve this, we launched many initiatives and projects, including the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world that will have a generating capacity of 5,000MW by 2030. Through Digital DEWA, our digital arm, we are redefining the concept of utilities to create a new digital future for Dubai. DEWA will disrupt the entire business of public utilities by becoming the world's first digital utility to use autonomous systems for renewable energy and storage while expanding the use of the new technologies from the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Dubai Future Accelerators projects by contributing to achieving the objectives of the Dubai 10X initiative launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to propel Dubai into the future, putting it 10 years ahead of other global cities through disruptive and innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, drones, energy storage, blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things among others." "We need technically competent and technology-savvy future leaders who can drive DEWA's current and future initiatives and Dubai as a whole. This is a unique opportunity for the current batch of 35 selected from DEWA emplyees who, we expect, will accomplish their targets with dedication and professionalism with foresight in their work area and transform their challenges into opportunities. "DEWA's efforts in preparing the youth to keep abreast of rapid developments are done, by creating the necessary resources and appropriate environment, preparing a new generation who effectively contribute to economic, social, and environmental development. DEWA has signed several agreements with prestigious international centres and universities for provides Emirati youth with programmes and grants in post-graduate master and doctorate degrees at the best international universities," said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA. "Modern societies are dependent on critical infrastructures such as electricity and water supply systems. Sophisticated modeling, simulation, and control of such systems is necessary to ensure that they are reliable, secure, and efficient. Accordingly, engineering professors at the University of California, Berkeley have developed for the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) a custom set of eight courses to train technical professionals how to use cutting-edge technology towards fulfillment of DEWA's Masters programme in Future Energy Systems and Technology. The curriculum focuses on modeling and simulation methods relevant to modern energy and water systems, and infrastructure in general, that the DEWA learners are likely to work with during the course of their careers. This educational program will help participants develop intuition for how complex systems work, and skill in applying the methods of simulation, machine learning algorithms, optimization, statistical modeling, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification, etc. While the specific applications were selected because of their direct relevance to DEWA, the participants will be able to apply their learning in other industrial settings. We are honored to have been selected to deliver this innovative educational program, and look forward to developing a long-lasting partnership with DEWA," said Dean Tsu-Jae King Liu. WPP Energy GmbH, a private Swiss Company ("WPP") announced today (4/15) that its Board of Directors has approved, and that the Company has entered into a Binding Memorandum Of Understanding with BioPower Operations Corporation, a Nevada corporation, to acquire a 90% interest in the BioPower, OTCMKTS Symbol "BOPO". Pursuant to the MOU the parties agreed to negotiate and enter into a definitive agreement to set the terms of the Transaction in accordance with the MOU. WPP is interested in licensing to BioPower its technologies, for the purpose of BioPower becoming the manufacturer of the technology units, distributor and providing the necessary Operations and Maintenance as required. WPP is also interested in licensing its Blockchain technology and deploying WPP TOKEN to restart the Entrade Exchanges, first introduced at Exelon in 1997 by Robert Kohn, President of WPP's Green Energy Rebate Program. WPP's Blockchain technology will significantly enhance the capabilities of each exchange as it comes online. The new Exchange(s) will use business know-how of on-line and off-line commercial trade desks and strategies that were developed at Entrade. The exchanges will license to governments and government agencies and major corporations to sell products and services to business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets across the globe. WPP intends for WPP Token to be accepted by these exchanges in the form of credit against purchases. WPP also intends for the BioPower subsidiary to launch World Small Business for businesses with less than 100 employees across the Globe and Professionals. WPP Token will be accepted by this exchange for products and services used every day in small businesses such as office supplies, computer supplies, shipping, etc. ABOUT WPP Headquartered in Geneva Switzerland, WPP is seeking to be a repository for disruptive green energy technologies, aiming to make electricity available at lower costs and to reduce landfill waste by up to 97%. WPP intends to build, own, license, operate and maintain these advanced technologies and enters into strategic joint venture partnerships for the purpose of accelerating the deployment of important environmentally friendly technologies for the benefit of the entire world. WPP intends to transmit its energy and biofuel production, and that of its partners, into WPP's upcoming Global Green Energy Futures Contract Trading Platform using Blockchain Technology. For more information on WPP Energy visit https://wppenergy.com For more information about WPP TOKEN visit: https://wppenergy.io For more information on BioPower please visit https://biopowercorp.com Forward-looking Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements," which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," expects" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those anticipated by the Company. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. CONTACT: WPP Energy GmbH TEL: +41 91 756 6945 info@wppenergy.com Natural Power is delighted to have acted as technical advisor to a consortium of Japanese investors led by Sojitz Corporation ("Sojitz") for the agreement of a significant equity position with international wind farm developer WPD on the Yunlin Offshore Wind Park. The transaction will see Sojitz and its consortium participate as a co-owner in the project right through construction and into operations for the 640MW offshore wind farm in Taiwan. The project will sell power to Taiwan Power Company over a 20-year term with a feed-in tariff scheme under Taiwan's Renewable Energy Development Act. Kotaro Kato, Project Coordinator, Sojitz Corporation, said: "This represents Sojitz's first entry into offshore wind and we believe that offshore wind power has the greatest potential for growth in Japan in years to come. This investment represents the first expansion of the company's renewable energy business into offshore. "Through participation in this project, Sojitz not only achieves immediate investment objectives but also acquires the expertise to contribute to the expansion of offshore wind industry domestically in years to come." Kotaro continues: "Given this was our first investment in offshore, we were heavily reliant on our technical advisor, Natural Power, and were delighted with the expertise, knowledge and support throughout the acquisition - ultimately leading to a successful transaction for Sojitz and WPD." Paul Concannon, Senior Project Manager in Natural Power's Dublin office, acted as Lead Technical Advisor to Sojitz and its consortium for the transaction. He said: "We were delighted to support Sojitz on this exciting investment and to be active in the Taiwanese offshore market since mid-2018. This is a burgeoning market and to be working to support the first-mover projects in what is a new industry for Taiwan, is really exciting and has led to an increasing presence for Natural Power in the market." Natural Power's global due diligence team provides services throughout all stages of the transaction cycle across renewable energy technologies, from initial risk assessment and reporting in early transaction stages through to comprehensive reporting for credit-committee or data room presentation at final bid stage or financial close. Find out more here https://www.naturalpower.com/our-services/due-diligence/ About Sojitz Sojitz Corporation is a sogo shosha (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. It is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and planning and coordinating projects, in Japan and overseas. Today the word guiri is commonly used in Spain to describe a foreign tourist who struggles to understand the local culture. But the word has many meanings. This particular definition of guiri came about thanks to a man named Gary Bedell. Bedell was born in Canada in 1954 and learned Spanish at a young age. He joined Canadas diplomatic service in 1988, and in 1992, he oversaw the Canadian pavilion at the Universal Exposition of Seville (Expo '92) in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. The word was first used in the 19th century in the context of the Carlist Wars During the six months the Expo was on at the Isla de la Cartuja, an island in the Guadalquivir River Seville, the Canadian diplomat got to know the city. He discovered Andalusian beers and took long strolls across the regional capital. Bedell has now lived in Spain for more than 20 years. In an interview, he claimed Andalusians have everything. While Gary is his birth name, he became known as Guiri in Seville. Bedell took on the nickname and used it in his favor for a while it was even part of the name of his travel website on Spain, El rincon del guiri (or The guiris corner.) A guiri is not just a foreigner, because foreigners can also be immigrants and we do not called them that. A guiri is a foreign tourist who stands out because of the way they visit a city. It can also apply to a foreigner who has lived in the country for years, for example as a retiree. Whether or not this use of the word is derogatory was the subject of a recent Twitter debate, with the user Alex Rawlings arguing it perpetuates unfair stereotypes. According to Rawlings, the Spanish use the word guiri to describe tourists who travel across Spain eating fluorescent paella and going to bars no local would ever enter. In other words, he argued, the word is used to describe someone who is not one of us, and will never will be. Carlist Wars But the roots of the word go much further back than Gary Bedell. Guiri was first used in the 19th century in the context of the Carlist Wars, a series of civil wars fought between the Carlists, the followers of the Infante Carlos, and the Cristinos, the supporters of Queen Maria Cristina de Borbon. The Basque Carlists called their adversaries the Liberals guiris. Although some argue the word is related to the Turkish gauri (meaning infidel, foreigner), it is more commonly believed to be derived from the Basque word grisitino, meaning Cristina, in other words, a supporter of Maria Cristina. This definition of a guiri as a soldier on the opposing side appeared in literature at the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, it was slang to describe the Civil Guard. By the mid 20th century it changed to describe a foreign tourist Emilia Pardo Bazan was one of the first people to use the word in a book. In her novel, Un viaje de novios (or A Honeymoon), published in 1881, a Basque man uses the word guiri to contemptuously describe a Liberal. Benito Perez Galdos, another 19th century novelist, also included the world in his 1898 novel called Zumalacarregui. This meaning of guiri, which has unquestionable political significance, entered the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1925. The word was defined as: A name which, during the civil wars of the 19th century, the Carlists gave to the supporters of Queen Cristina, and later to all of the Liberals, and especially the soldiers of the government. Other meanings In the 20th century, guiri became a colloquial word to describe a member of the Civil Guard. By the mid-20th century the word guiri had changed to mean a foreign tourist, a definition that was included in Spanish dictionaries at the end of the century. The word guiri is also used to describe a type of shrub found in the southern Spanish city of Almeria, which in other parts of Spain is called retamo or espinillo. This definition, which is rarely used, is a reminder of the cowboy movies shot in Almeria in the 1960s, in which, incidentally, a number of guiris performed. While it is true that everyone uses the word guiri in their own way and with their own connotation, it is difficult to give it an entirely positive meaning. The Twitter users who responded to Rawlings message, however, argued that guiri is not an insult. We say guiri with love. We don't go to guiri bars because theyre expensive and bad quality but central as fuck. We also dont go to guiri bars when we visit other countries because theyre tourist traps. Guiris: They destroy our landscapes, push out locals from their neighborhoods, act uncivilly, increase housing prices, it is partly their fault that we are exploited in precarious jobs related to tourism etc. Also guiris: Spanish Word "guiri" is a problem :( The word tourist is not insulting, but if we say that a restaurant or a show is for tourists we are saying that the experience lacks authenticity and is overpriced. Indeed the recent touristphobia phenomena means many tourists prefer to be called travelers. Given Spains dependence on the tourism industry, we would be foolish not to open a spot in our hearts for guiris. English version by Asia London Palomba. A Basque fishing vessel converted into a migrant rescue boat called the Aita Mari is having problems going to the Greek island of Lesbos, where it aims to deliver humanitarian aid to the thousands of refugees concentrated there. The restrictions for rescue missions cannot affect the ships other humanitarian tasks Humanitarian Maritime Rescue On its way through the Strait of Gibraltar this past Saturday, the Spanish Maritime Authority warned the crew, first over the radio and then by email, that it had to return to a Spanish port: You do not have permission to cross the Mediterranean. Before leaving Spanish territorial waters you must request a dispatch indicating the port and destination area, and detailing the activity you plan to carry out. Since January, the Spanish Maritime Authority, which answers to the the Public Works Ministry, has been stopping this vessel from going into Libyan waters to rescue migrants and refugees in distress. The non-profit organization which owns the Aita Mari, Humanitarian Maritime Rescue, accepted the order, and instead of rescuing migrants, decided to head toward the Greek island of Lesbos to deliver more than 40 crates of medical supplies, diapers and infant formula. The boat got authorization for this mission at a port in Lisbon, Portugal. However, the Spanish maritime authority has demanded that the boat return to a Spanish port to obtain new authorization. A ministry spokesperson said that the permission granted in Portugal is not valid. As an NGO vessel dedicated to rescue missions it needs to apply for a dispatch at a Spanish port specifying its exact destination and the activity it plans to carry out. Spains position on Spanish migrant rescue vessels did a U-turn at the beginning of last year The organization fears the permission will not be granted. With this message, Spain is going against the decision of the Portuguese Maritime Authority, they explain. The restrictions on rescue missions cannot affect the ships other humanitarian tasks. The Humanitarian Maritime Rescue is registered as a humanitarian organization in Greece and has been collaborating with the countrys authorities in assisting migrants and refugees since 2015. Spains position on Spanish migrant rescue vessels did a U-turn at the beginning of last year. The decision to block the Aita Mari in January followed the same rationale that had immobilized the NGO vessel Open Arms in Barcelona 10 days before. The Spanish government halted humanitarian missions in the Central Mediterranean after Italy and Malta closed their ports, which forced Spain to accept an influx of migrants. After first opening its ports to around 450 migrants assisted by the Open Arms in the second half of 2018, maritime authorities decided to block the Aita Maris mission on the grounds that the vessels do not meet the security requirements needed to undertake long journeys with large numbers of people on board. English version by Asia London Palomba. A gargoyle on Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. Frederic Soltan (Getty) During the Paris Commune, in 1871, when the revolutionaries knew themselves to be defeated, they began torching all the public buildings in their path, with a special preference for churches. Yet Notre-Dame, the cathedral that occupies the geographical center of the French capital, was spared from the popular fury (a few pews burned down, but the fire went out without doing much damage), just like it had managed to survive the iconoclasm of the French Revolution a century earlier. Construction on the building began in the 12th century, with the Gothic style in full swing, and ended in the 1800s, and the cathedral became one of the most powerful symbols not just of France, but of Europe itself. It is a symbol of Paris, it is much more than a cathedral Jose Enrique Ruiz-Domenech, UAB professor The facade with its twin towers, the spire that was built in the 19th century by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the gargoyles and the porticoes...over the course of the centuries, all of these elements have made Notre-Dame much more than a monument of stone and wood: there is an imaginary structure that is as real as the physical one. That is why the Monday fire has caused a collective commotion: all the roads of France pass under its arches all the memories, the dreams and the fractures of a nation. It is no coincidence that the monuments current look was designed during the 19th century, under the great reform led by Viollet-le-Duc. This reform was highly controversial at the time, even if, just like the Eiffel Tower, the resulting building has become an integral part of the Parisian landscape. It was the century that gave birth to the collective myths that European nations grew on, and Gothic Revival architecture was a part of that. It was here that a Mass was held after the liberation of Paris It was also the century when Victor Hugo wrote the novel that would have a lasting effect on the cathedral: Notre-Dame de Paris, known as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in English and in its multiple Hollywood versions. The story of Quasimodo and Esmeralda reconstructed 15th-century Paris, although the writer took many liberties in doing so, again underscoring the imaginary space over the real one. When one contemplates the cathedrals gargoyles, many of which were built during that time, it is impossible not to think about Hugos characters. It is a symbol of Paris, it is much more than a cathedral, explains Jose Enrique Ruiz-Domenech, a professor of medieval history at Barcelonas Autonoma University (UAB) and a leading European scholar of medieval times. While he talks, he keeps receiving photographs on his cellphone, sent by his friends in Paris who cannot believe that something like this could be happening. Ruiz-Domenech, who taught in Paris for many years, also expresses disbelief. Gothic art is the only art that managed to occupy the entire European space, he says. It is an emblem of European construction, an emblem of reason. It would be impossible to keep track of how many movies it has appeared in This place of worship played a key role in the history of music because of its role in the adoption of polyphony. It is also where Napoleon was crowned emperor of the French, and where state funerals were held for the presidents De Gaulle, Pompidou and Mitterrand, and for the victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015. It was here that a Mass was held after the liberation of Paris, on August 26, 1944, in what may be the single most important moment in French contemporary history. Naturally, the cathedral is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Paris itself was born on an island whose center is occupied by Notre-Dame, and it grew out from there. It doesnt matter how much the city has expanded since then: Notre-Dame never gave up its central role, and not just for visitors. It would be impossible to keep track of how many movies it has appeared in so much so that it has almost become a cliche. Notre-Dame has resisted the Commune, the Disney films, the effects of 19th-century kitsch, the impact of nearly 13 million visitors, and it will also overcome the damage wrought by a fire on Holy Week before the shocked and incredulous stares of everyone who ever strolled along its parvis and under its vaults. English version by Susana Urra. Passengers at the Madrid airport. Chema Moya (EFE) Air Nostrum pilots have called off a strike after reaching a deal with their employer on Tuesday, company sources said. The agreement between the Spanish regional airline and the Sepla union brings relief to travelers who had booked Easter flights. Forty-nine flights were cancelled on Monday, and 47 more on Tuesday due to the technical difficulties of reprogramming them on such short notice. Company sources said they are working to reschedule most of the Wednesday flights that had been cancelled ahead of expected walkouts. Air Nostrum said that flights on April 22, 23 and 24 will operate normally after the pilots called off the strikes planned for those days. The pilots were protesting a growing transfer of flights to other airlines within the Iberia group. Sepla said that this trend jeopardizes the future of the company and the working conditions of the company pilots. Travelers in Spain during the Easter holidays are dealing with several simultaneous strikes. Renfe train drivers, Madrid airport security personnel and ground handling staff are all planning industrial action on key dates with high passenger volumes. English version by Susana Urra. Is Paris burning? screamed Hitler hysterically into the telephone in August 1944, addressing General Von Choltitz, the German commander of the occupied French capital. The general disobeyed orders to destroy the city in a move that could have cost him his neck, since Hitler did not take kindly to disobedience. Unfortunately, the sight of European cathedrals in flames is not new Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins turned this sentence into the title of one of their most famous books. Today, Hitler would be dancing for joy, as he did when he conquered France, at the sight of Notre-Dame, the heart of Paris, going up in flames all these years later. It was the Nazi leaders dream of revenge come true on a terrifying afternoon. And in these times of fascist resurgence. Many of us shivered to think that Paris was indeed burning, adding to a long series of tragedies in the French capital with the power of imagery worthy of 9/11. The terrible sight of Notre-Dame in flames took us back to the time, over 70 years ago now, when other religious temples burned across Europe during World War II, including the 14th-century Coventry cathedral, destroyed in a savage attack by the Luftwaffe on November 14, 1940 during the Battle of Britain and left in ruins (a modern cathedral was built nearby). And there was also the cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Dresden (a city considered the Florence of the Baroque period, a fact that did not save it from destruction), which was razed to the ground in the fiery hell unleashed by Allied air bombings in 1945, and later rebuilt. And the cathedral in Cologne, which was badly damaged but did not collapse. And the ones in Warsaw and Rotterdam...there was even the highly symbolic Saint Pauls cathedral in London, which had its dome perforated by a bomb during the Blitz, but showed off its wounds as a symbol of Londoners resistance. Many of us shivered to think that Paris was indeed burning, adding to a long series of tragedies in the French capital And that is without forgetting the architectural victims of WWI, when the equally symbolic cathedral of Reims was described as a martyr after being bombed in premeditated fashion by the Germans. Bombs aside, some parallels can be drawn between the story of this cathedral (which was damaged again during WWII) and what happened to Notre-Dame: scaffolding on the north tower caught fire, propagating the flames throughout the timber frame structure. The lead on the roofing melted and spilled out of the gargoyles in a scene straight out of hell. In a show of piety and patriotism, local residents picked up the lead pieces, which were later used to rebuild the place of worship. Unfortunately, the sight of European cathedrals in flames is not new. While we may feel overwhelmed by images of Notre-Dame on fire, this has been a regular occurrence throughout contemporary history. English version by Susana Urra. Ukraine and Slovakia could boost mutual goods turnover to $1.5 billion a year from current almost $1.4 billion. The issue was discussed at a meeting of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and his Slovakian counterpart Peter Pellegrini. "It is pleasant to note the growth of bilateral trade in the past year by almost 18%. But this is not enough: let's define the task to reach $1.5 billion in 2019," the website of the Ukrainian government quoted Groysman. The prime minister also said that Slovakia is among the top 20 trade partners of Ukraine among the EU countries. According to the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Slovakia shares the arguments of Ukrainian colleagues and is ready to fully promote further integration of Ukraine into the European Union and NATO. Separately, the heads of government discussed the development of the Ukrainian diaspora living in Slovakia. The meeting of Groysman and Pellegrini was held in Bratislava on Tuesday, April 16, during the visit of the prime minister of Ukraine to Slovakia. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has invited his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini to work on the creation of multimodal logistics centers (parks) in Ukraine and Slovakia. This issue was raised at a meeting of the two prime ministers in Bratislava, according to the website of the Ukrainian government. The report says the expediency of creating such centers is due to the active development of railway traffic along the Asia-Europe route. "The operation of the centers (tentatively in Ukraine's Chop and Slovakia's Kosice) could become a bilateral strategic project. Its implementation will be facilitated by strengthening cross-border cooperation between the two countries, including the development of border infrastructure, the functioning of joint checkpoints and the organization of joint border and customs control," the report reads. Poroshenko not satisfied with quality of investigation into deaths of Heavenly Hundred Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he is not satisfied with the investigation of crimes against protesters in 2013 and 2014. "I am not satisfied with the investigation of the deaths or murders of the Heavenly Hundred. I say this publicly. I know who is in charge of the investigation and I declare the surname of this chief prosecutor is Horbatiuk," Poroshenko said during the Freedom of Speech program aired on ICTV on Monday evening. Poroshenko said Serhiy Horbatiuk is personally responsible for the quality of the investigation. "He has worked actively with the families of the Heavenly Hundred and civil activists, but I need a result, in order that those responsible are in jail," Poroshenko said. The president said there are no time limits for pressing charges. "We must do everything so justice is restored and evil is punished," Poroshenko said. As reported, head of the department of special investigations of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Horbatiuk has declared that the investigation of crimes against protesters in 2013 and 2014 has not been completed because of lack of support from Ukrainian top officials. Member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (unaligned) Nadiia Savchenko and ex-chief of the Officer Corps center for freeing prisoners Volodymyr Ruban have been released from custody in the chambers of Kyiv region's Brovary town court inasmuch as at midnight from April 15 to April 16 the term of their pretrial confinement was not extended. The correspondent ruling was made by the court after midnight on Tuesday. Savchenko is suspected of committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional system or seizing state power), Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional system or at seizing state power), Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 28, Article 112 (encroachment on the life of a state or public figure), Part 1 of Article 14, Part 3 of Article 258 (terrorist act), Part 1 of Article 258-3 (the creation of a terrorist group or a terrorist organization) and Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons, military supplies or explosives) of Ukraine's Criminal Code. Savchenko has been in pretrial custody since March 23, 2018. Ruban was detained on March 8, 2018 at a checkpoint in Donbas with an arsenal of weapons, which was being transported from Russia-occupied territory to Ukraine-controlled territory. On March 9, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court arrested him. Ruban is suspected of committing criminal offenses under Part 1 of Article 14, Part 3 of Article 258 (terrorist act), Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons, military supplies or explosives) of Ukraine's Criminal Code. On February 25, Ukraine's Supreme Court ruled that the Savchenko-Ruban case was to be considered in Kyiv's Solomiansky district court. On March 26, the panel of judges of the Solomiansky district court granted the petition of lawyers for Savchenko and Ruban to disqualify the judge panel, after which the case was transferred to the Kyiv appeals court to determine the jurisdiction of the case. On March 29, Kyiv's appeals court sent an indictment to the Supreme Court in the Savchenko-Ruban case to determine jurisdiction. But on April 3, the Supreme Court returned the indictment in this case to the Kyiv appeals court. The Kyiv appeals court referred the case to Kyiv's Darnytsky district court. But on April 11, the latter granted the petition of Ruban's lawyer Valentyn Rybin to disqualify the panel of judges, and the case was again sent to Kyiv's appeals court. On April 12, Kyiv's appeals court referred the Savchenko-Ruban case to Kyiv region's Brovary town court. French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont has said she is upset by the joke of Ukrainian political expert and Pryamiy TV channel talk show host Taras Berezovets, who made a joke about the fire at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral after the recent visit of showman and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky to Paris. Berezovets, who openly supported incumbent President Petro Poroshenko during the presidential election campaign, said on Facebook, "Macron was very lucky, because after Zelensky's visit only the Notre Dame Cathedral burned down. The Elysee Palace could have gone up in flames." The post upset the French ambassador. "You should be ashamed of yourself. Shame," Dumont said on Twitter in response to Berezovets' post. Berezovets later deleted his post. "I did not mean to offend anyone. The joke about the cathedral in my post was merely an inept metaphor, and therefore I deleted the joke from my previous post," he said. Berezovets apologized, saying, "The joke went too far." "Was the joke too crass? Yes, it was. But, honestly, how is it different than 90% of the jokes delivered by Kvartal 95 [a Ukrainian film studio where Zelensky is a screenwriter, actor and director]?" the journalist and political expert said. Berezovets also mentioned the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, which publishes various kinds of cartoons, reports and discussions. "The notorious French publishing house Charlie Hebdo a few years ago was the target of a terrorist attack because of its controversial publications. However, no one questioned the right of journalists to express their opinion. How does my right as a Ukrainian journalist differ from the rights of my French counterparts?" Berezovets wondered. The fire in Paris that devastated large parts of the 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral took hours to extinguish. One firefighter was seriously injured battling the blaze. Ukraine has determined that its future lies in the family of European countries and in recent years it has been at the forefront of the struggle for democracy and the protection of internationally-recognized values, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said in an interview with Slovak media. The conversation with Slovak journalists took place on the eve of Groysman's working visit to Slovakia, the Ukrainian Cabinet's press service said. Groysman will visit Bratislava on Tuesday, April 16. "We are grateful for the cooperation that is already taking place and for the support. Today we are at the forefront of the struggle for democracy. It is important for us to regain control over our borders. And our task to do everything if the key to peace in Ukraine was used," Groysman said, adding that the subjects of his talks with Slovak officials would be political dialogue, deepening economic and border cooperation. Groysman said over 10 months of last year, trade between Ukraine and Slovakia exceeded $1 billion with a surplus for Ukraine. Of great interest to both countries are projects in the energy sector, cooperation in logistics and transit of goods, in the development of the mining industry, energy efficiency, support for small and medium-sized businesses, and the development of regional cooperation. Ukraine's Joint Forces on Monday evening repelled an attack by an enemy special forces group in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, the enemy's casualties were two killed and two wounded. "At 20:39 Kyiv time [on April 25], soldiers on duty at a watch post spotted a moving enemy special forces group consisting of 12 people. The enemy was stopped by fire from small arms. The fight began ... The enemy started to retreat, having lost two members killed and two wounded," the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook on Tuesday morning. Ukrainian troops on the watch post seized the weapons of the enemy troops and a map with highlighted facilities in Ukrainiancontrolled territory that are probable targets of the enemy group, who planned to destroy the observation posts and later to go to the Joint Forces' rear area. The JFO headquarters reported that the enemy special forces group began the advancement under the cover of fire at 20:00 Kyiv time on April 15, when Russialed forces began massive shelling of the JFO's positions in the Mariupol sector. Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court has remanded to pretrial custody without bail three persons suspected in the murder of a jeweler. The press service of Kyiv's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) on Tuesday said last week during a special operation police detained three suspects involved in the murder of a jeweler in Kyiv. Two of the suspects are former employees of Ukraine's SBU State Security Service and National Police of Ukraine. The third has been convicted of other crimes. The suspects were served notice of suspicion for premeditated murder and planning a murder, Paragraphs 6, 12 of Part 2 of Article 115 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, Part 1 of Article 14, Paragraphs 1, 5, 12, 13 of Part 2 of Article 115 of Ukraine's Criminal Code. As reported, on March 5 on Florentsia Street in Kyiv's Dniprovsky district, an unknown assailant shot dead a man born in 1960 who parked near a high-rise residential building. The shooter disappeared from the scene of the crime. Serhiy Kyseliov, the former owner of the jewelry factory, was the victim of the shooting. According to ex-Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarelidze, Kyseliov was a witness in the so-called "diamond prosecutors case" and "told how his factory was searched and his diamonds disappeared during a search ordered by Oleksandr Korniyets. Kyseliov also claimed several million dollars and a dozen kilograms of gold went missing. In his testimony, he mentioned the names of the former Deputy Prosecutor General and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. He also said that in return for "forgetting" about the gold and valuables stolen during the raid, the case would be closed. It was closed," Sakvarelidze said. Member of Parliament Anton Gerashchenko (the People's Front Party faction) also said Kyseliov was the "main witness in the diamond prosecutors case." He added, however, that the murder cannot be connected with the case, saying Kyseliov could have been murdered because of debts or personal conflict. Korniyets, meanwhile, said Kyseliov was not a witness in the case against him, but did seek the return of semiprecious and precious stones taken from him in 2010. He said the stones weighed a few hundred kilograms. "It was his appeal that the PGO turned down, and then Kyiv's Pechersky district court ordered the case to be entered into the unified register of pretrial investigations, which was done," he said. On Thursday, April 18, at 12.30, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "Elections and Manipulations: How will Election HQ's Technology Affect the Results of the Second Round?" Participants include political analyst, head of political and legal programs of Ukrainian Center for Social Development Ihor Reiterovych; expert of Ukrainian Center for Social Development on information and image-building technologies Tetiana Illyuk; psychologist, PhD. in psychology Larysa Lytvynova; political scientist, Director of the Institute of World Policy Yevhen Mahda. Organizer - NGO Ukrainian Center for Social Development (8/5a Reitarska Street). Press accreditation by phone: (068) 166 8659. On Thursday and Friday, April 11 and 12, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine hosted an international educational conference entitled "Academic integrity: practical dimension." More than 250 participants, not taking into account Internet viewers who joined the online stream on Youtube, took part in the event. The list of speakers included Deputy Education and Science Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Rashkevych, CEO Unicheck Serhii Tkachenko, Head of Unicheck Ukraine Andriy Sydliarenko, Board Member of the International Center for Academic Integrity Tricia Bertram Gallant, university rectors, associate professors and teachers. The conference was organized by Strengthening Academic Integrity in Ukraine Project (SAIUP) jointly with plagiarism detection company Unicheck Ukraine, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. It is the teacher who should always think about how to get students interested. There is a lot of research that confirms that if students are interested in the subject, they really work independently. The percentage of cheating in such cases is very low, Tricia Bertram Gallant, Board Member of the International Center for Academic Integrity. During two days participants summarized successful practices of Ukrainian educational community in terms of academic integrity and quality of education and analyzed what strategic and practical changes should be made in order to build a qualitatively new system of education in Ukraine. Panel discussions and work in sections allowed to discuss work materials and their implementation in detail, as well as to communicate with Ukrainian and foreign colleagues to exchange the experience. Software specifically designed to find borrowed text parts was recognized as one of the best solutions for testing student and research work. Using a tool to detect potential plagiarism, like Unicheck, is a guarantee of academic integrity in higher education and as a consequence, improving the quality of education in Ukraine as a whole. "Academic integrity isn't just about stopping plagiarism, it's about changing the culture around ethics in education", Serhii Tkachenko, CEO of Unicheck. Unicheck is a Ukrainian innovative cloud-based engine able to detect plagiarism in any text serving more than 110 Ukrainian and 500 foreign K-12 and higher educational institutions worldwide. Today, the number of users of the service is about 1.5 million. Unicheck strives to raise academic integrity standards and create universally integrated and cost-efficient learning solutions for everyone who prioritizes creating over copying. By constantly improving our product and working hand-in-hand with educational community, Unicheck is setting new standards of integrity of intellectual property and raise the value of creative work. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 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 16, Trend reports. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: The second meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea issues has kicked off in Nur-Sultan city, Trend reports with reference to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. As part of the meeting, it is planned to continue adjusting a draft agreement on the establishment of direct baselines in the Caspian Sea, as well as discussing issues related to the implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and the implementation of the agreements and instructions of the heads of state following the Fifth Caspian Summit August 12 last year in Aktau city. Representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan are taking part in the event. The first meeting of the working group will be held Feb. 19-20 in Baku. The parties adopted the Rules of Procedure of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea issues, exchanged views on the implementation of the agreements reached following the Fifth Caspian Summit, reviewed various aspects of cooperation in the Caspian Sea, and also reported on the progress of the implementation of the internal procedures on signed agreements, in particular, the process of ratifying the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed hope that Notre-Dame Cathedral will soon be restored and returned to the mankind, Trend reports on April 16. I was deeply saddened by the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral one of the gems of the cultural heritage of France and the world, President Aliyev tweeted. I hope the monument will soon be restored and returned to the mankind. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: Despite the fact that some leading countries and international organizations put pressure on the conflicting sides in some cases, double standards are applied to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov says. Hasanov made the comments during the meeting with newly appointed US Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Earle Litzenberger in Baku, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. Having congratulated the ambassador on the new appointment, the defense minister expressed confidence in the further expansion of Azerbaijan-US relations during the period of his diplomatic activity in Azerbaijan. Stressing that relations between Azerbaijan and the US are built within the NATO programs and on a bilateral basis, the defense minister brought the Ambassadors attention to the importance of developing cooperation in the military, military-technical and military-educational fields. Touching upon the military-political situation in the region and stressing the continuation of Armenias aggression policy, Hasanov noted that despite the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Groups co-chairs in the settlement the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, peaceful negotiations are deliberately delayed by Yerevan. While expressing gratification with the appointment as the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Litzenberger said that during his activity he would make every effort to develop relations between the two countries. Stressing that the US recognizes Azerbaijans territorial integrity and treats it with respect, the US diplomat noted that his country supports a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, adding that this is also important in terms of the development and security of the South Caucasus. Noting the strategic importance of cooperation between the US and Azerbaijan, the Ambassador emphasized that he was following the reforms implemented in Azerbaijan Army and appreciated the success achieved in this area. Then the parties discussed issues related to regional and bilateral cooperation, the security of the Caspian Sea and important strategic infrastructures, the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the organization of mutual visits of specialists in military education and a number of other issues of mutual interest. Touching upon military cooperation between the two countries, Litzenberger expressed his satisfaction with the participation of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in the mission carried out in Afghanistan. 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 16 Trend: On 17 April 2019, the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, in accordance with its mandate, plans to conduct the next ceasefire monitoring exercise on the Azerbaijan and Armenia state border in the direction of Kazakh region, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense. The Personal Representative`s field assistants Ghenadie Petrica and Martin Schuster will carry out the monitoring exercise from the territory of Azerbaijan. The Personal Representative`s field assistants Mihail Olaru and Ognjen Jovic will carry out the monitoring from the other side of the border. 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 16 Trend: On the sidelines of his official visit to the Republic of Poland, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov held a meeting with the Marshal (Speaker) of the Sejm Marek Kuchcinski, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry told Trend April 16. According to the ministry, Marshal of the Sejm sincerely greeted the Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and remembering the official visit of the Azerbaijani foreign minister to Poland in April of 2017 he stressed that these visits give an impetus to further development of mutually beneficial cooperation between Poland and Azerbaijan. Speaking about the importance of the parliamentary dimension of the cooperation between the two states, the Marshal of the Sejm noted the activity of the parliamentary friendship groups in both of the states and underlined the necessity of holding regular meetings of these groups for furthering the existing relations. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov thanked the Polish official for his warm reception and expressed his satisfaction with the existing cooperation between the two countries, including the current state of inter-parliamentary relations. The Minister conveyed the sincere greetings of the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament to Marek Kuchcinski. Elmar Mammadyarov briefed his interlocutor on energy and infrastructure projects initiated by and realized with participation of Azerbaijan, including the Southern Gas Corridor, as well as the South-West transport corridor. The sides exchanged views on participation of the EUs Eastern Partnership program. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that Poland is one of the key partner countries of the Azerbaijan among the EU member states. Referring to the importance of the EaP Marshal of the Sejm stressed the significance of expanding cooperation in various fields within the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov informed the Marshal of the Sejm about the current state of the negotiation process on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a serious threat to peace and security in the region. It was stressed that the soonest settlement of the conflict is important in terms of ensuring peace, sustainable development and prosperity in the region. Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov invited the Polish Sejm Marshal to visit Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: An award ceremony of several employees of Trend news agency in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani security agencies was held at the press-centre of the agency, Trend reports. Shamil Suleymanov, Chairman of Alliance Public Union of Veterans of Security Bodies presented Mehdi Huseynzade medals to Deputy Director General of the Trend news agency Arzu Naghiyev and Head of Expert Council of the Baku Network Elkhan Alasgarov, while staff members of Trend news agency Vugar Imanov and Samir Gulaliyev were awarded honorary diplomas. Speaking at the ceremony, Shamil Suleymanov emphasized that Trend news agency laid a solid foundation for advocacy of the Public Union activities. Sharing his memories about national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, Shamil Suleymanov said that he was one of those who began to work in the national Azerbaijani security agencies under direct supervision of Heydar Aliyev. "Heydar Aliyev did his best to nationalize the Azerbaijani security bodies and educate Azerbaijani personnel, said Suleymanov. After 1960, the work of the Azerbaijani security bodies changed significantly as a result of efforts taken by great leader Heydar Aliyev. After the national leader was appointed the Head of the Security Bodies, the number of national personnel in this system rapidly increased," he added. The great leader took efforts for training the personnel working not only in the security services, but also in other law enforcement bodies, said Shamil Suleymanov. "He was interested in all spheres and did everything possible for the development of the Azerbaijani people," he added. In his words, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev also extends special attention and care for the employees of national security services. "Veterans of the security bodies support social-economic reforms carried out by President Aliyev," said Suleymanov. Having expressed his gratitude to Head of Azerbaijani State Security Service Madat Guliyev for his attention to the veterans needs, Suleymanov pointed out that protection of Azerbaijan state security is a sacred duty for every security officer. In his words, Madat Guliyev also pays close attention to the Alliance Public Union. Suleymanov said, Today, the Union exists, develops and expands its activities thanks to Guliyevs help and efforts. As Suleymanov informed, 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani security agencies was solemnly celebrated. "The leaders of veteran organizations from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan arrived in Azerbaijan to take part in the final celebration by the Alliance Public Union, which was held at Buta Palace under direct supervision of Head of the State Security Service Madat Guliyev." He said that activities related to 100th anniversary of Azerbaijani security agencies were carried out in many cities and districts of the country. "The main purpose was to inform the young generation about the work of national leader Heydar Aliyev in the security bodies. The meetings were very interesting because we had a lot to speak about, he said. Then Suleymanov spoke about the books he has written, which also highlight several operations carried out with the direct participation of Heydar Aliyev. Some of the books disclose certain aspects of the operational activity of the security agencies. When my book entitled "Devotees are needed" was prepared for printing in Moscow in 2005, I was told that such a book must not be published, because it reveals our operational work," said Suleymanov. The publishing house refused to publish the book until the permission was obtained and printed it only after the permission was granted, he added. Then he presented his books to the event participants. Speaking at the event, Deputy Chairman of Alliance Public Union Azer Garayev said that a Plan of Action to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the security agencies from January to March 2019 was prepared jointly with Trend news agency. "The general public positively perceived these activities. We provided interesting information about national leader Heydar Aliyevs role in the creation of security agencies and the formation of national personnel. As everyone knows, there were many representatives of other nations working in the security agencies at the time. After Heydar Aliyev came to power, a big breakthrough occurred in this system. The great leader took efforts to increase the number of national personnel in the Azerbaijani security agencies, as it was one of the major issues of the existing system. This process was consistently carried out after 1953," Azer Garayev said. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: On the sidelines of his official visit to Poland, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the President of the Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNIG) Piotr Wozniak, Trend reports April 16 referring to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov gave brief information on the important energy and infrastructure projects implemented with the initiative and participation of Azerbaijan. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that the Azerbaijani side supports energy cooperation between the two states. In his turn, Piotr Wozniak highlighted their interest in cooperation with Azerbaijan in the energy sphere and desire to benefit from the experience of SOCAR. The sides also exchanged their views on the issues of mutual interest. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend: The cost of the EU4Climate regional project on combating climate change, which covers Azerbaijan, is 8.8 million euros, Michael Rupp, head of the sector for connectivity in the Eastern Partnership countries of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, told Trend. Rupp noted that the project covers all sectors, including energy, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), transport and others. The main goal of the project is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the activities of all sectors, he said. He noted that the experts of the UN Development Program together with the Azerbaijani experts will discuss the current situation in Azerbaijan and decide what is best to do and from where to start. Azerbaijan has set a goal to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions, he noted. This is not an easy task, so all structures and ministries should work together, he added. On April 15, Baku hosted the presentation of the EU4Climate project being implemented by the UN and the EU. The EU4Climate project is being implemented to help the Eastern Partnership countries to combat climate change, prepare a strategy for the development of preventive measures in this area, as well as to help integrate climate change issues into the main policy of states. The project will be implemented until 2022 in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: An international trade and economic center will be created on the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Trend reports via Sputnik Uzbekistan. "The parties agreed to establish an international trade and economic center on the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan," President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev said after talks with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev in expanded format. The president of Kazakhstan noted that the center will help improve the logistics of cross-border economic relations and the living conditions of the population in the border areas of the two countries. Earlier it was reported that following the talks of the presidents of the two countries, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum on the creation of an international center for trade and economic cooperation "Central Asia". --- Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: Hajigabul Gushchulug, a poultry factory in Azerbaijan's Hajigabul district, has started exporting eggs to Qatar, a source at the company told Trend. The source noted the volume of deliveries amounted to 1,000 packages or 36,000 eggs. "We expect to increase the number of eggs exported to Qatar to 40,000-45,000. The factory produces about 30-35 million eggs per year," the source said. The source added that the factorys eggs are shipped to Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Previously, the factory also produced chicken meat, broiler chickens. Manufactured products have a certificate of conformity issued by the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan. The factory uses equipment from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Elnur Baghishov - Trend: Officials of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) have announced that the country is ready to export onions to Iran for about $0.35 per kilogram, Trend reports with reference to Fars News Agency. As the FPCCI officials reported, the cultivation of onions in Pakistan is at a good level. In his turn, Chairman of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Gholamhossein Shafei said that Iranian economic condition is very fragile and that decisions are to be made for the benefit of the people. Economic problems alongside heavy rains in Iran since mid-March have led to an increase in the prices for onion crop, which rose to 150,000 rials (about $3.57) per kilogram. In the meantime, the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade has banned the export of onions and potatoes since April 4, 2019. However, this prohibition has not seriously impacted the onion prices. In the cities of Iran, onions are sold at around 120-150,000 rials (about $2.85-$3.57) per kilogram. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend: GM Uzbekistan will launch the production of the Chevrolet Equinox crossover and the Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV this year, Trend reports with reference to Uzavtosanoat. In 2019, the Chevrolet Captiva crossover will be replaced with: Chevrolet Equinox crossover and Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV. The production of cars will be implemented on GM Uzbekistans plants, Uzavtosanoat noted. Earlier GM Uzbekistan announced two new models - SUVs in the SUV segment, which were planned to be presented at the end of the third quarter of this year. In the coming years, we will be mastering a new global platform. Moreover, this year, we are working on the start of a large-assembly of two cars in the SUV segment - off-road vehicles. We removed the Captiva production last year and presented 2 new cars instead, Deputy Chairman of Uzavtosanoat Aziz Shukurov said. Chevrolet Equinox is a mid-size crossover, the prototype of which was first introduced by the Americans in 2003 at the Detroit Auto Show. In 2008, a new version of the Chevrolet Equinox called Sport was introduced. The technical equipment of the crossover was thoroughly revised. Chevrolet Trailblazer began to produce in September 2001 in Ohio. In 2013, General Motors introduced a completely new generation of this SUV. Trailblazer 2013 is equipped with a 3.6-liter gasoline engine (239 horsepower). The engine comes in a pair with a 5-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed Hydramax automatic transmission. Up to 100 km / h, the Trailblazer with a gasoline engine accelerates in 9.7 seconds (in diesel with an automatic transmission - 11.8 seconds). --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend: Ministry of Taxes of Azerbaijan will launch a website in the near future for online registration of individual taxpayers, said Alakbar Mammadov, Director General of the Department of State Registration and Control over Record-keeping of the Ministry of Taxes, Trend reports. He also provided details at the press conference held on April 16 in Baku and dedicated to the procedures for state registration of legal entities. According to Mammadov, as of April 1, 2019, the number of registered taxpayers in the country reached 993,038 people. Out of them, 128,261 taxpayers are legal entities, and the rest are individuals, he said. In his words, last year, 68.9 percent of all taxpayer registrations accounted for online registration. In the first quarter of 2019, this indicator reached 81.3 percent, Mammadov added. As many as 4,880 taxpayers were registered during March in Azerbaijan. The new website for state registration of legal entities was also presented at the press conference on April 16. Thanks to the website, registration of legal entities, registration over record-keeping in tax authorities and opening of a bank account are now carried out as part of one procedure, which takes about 20 minutes to complete. The registration procedure is possible without using an e-signature, as it is sufficient to use the personal identification number (PIN) code. By the virtue of ongoing reforms, Azerbaijan ranks the ninth among 190 countries in terms of the Starting a Business indicator in the Doing Business 2019. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Fakhri Vakilov Trend: The growth of the economy of Kazakhstan for the 1st quarter of 2019 stood at 3.8 percent, thanks to the construction, trade, mining and transport industries, Trend reports via Kazakh media. In January-March, GDP growth accelerated to 3.8 percent. In January-February, it was 3.5 percent. Acceleration of growth is provided by the output of the manufacturing industry in the plus zone, as well as by accelerating growth in the construction and investment sector, the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan, Ruslan Dalenov said at a government meeting. He stated that the inflation rate is in the planned corridor. Since the beginning of the year, it amounted to 1.3 percent, in annual terms - 4.8 percent. Investment has almost doubled. The two-month pace was 4.2 percent, but now, by the end of the quarter, it has increased to 7 percent. As of April 1, 2019, international reserves amounted to $86 billion, Dalenov noted. He added that the volume of construction work increased by 8.9 percent. "This is largely due to the increase in the volume of work on the construction of industrial facilities, roads, gas pipelines, residential buildings and engineering and communications infrastructure," Dalenov stressed. Industrial production increased by 3.2 percent in the 1 quarter. In January-February, growth was 2.7 percent. This is due to the fact that the manufacturing industry has returned to the growth trajectory of 1.6 percent. The growth was 4.8 percent compared to 6.3 percent in two months, head of the Ministry underlined. Agriculture maintains a stable growth rate: production increased by 3.6 percent. The increase is due to an increase in livestock by 3.8 percent. --- Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The Textile Producers and Exporters Association of Azerbaijan is working to improve the design quality of textile goods, and in this regard plans to make the issue of creating design studios topical, Head of the company Gilan Textile Park Mehriban Akhundova told Trend. She said that the creation of design studios will significantly increase the marketing level of textile goods, as well as enhance competitiveness both in Azerbaijan and abroad. If we plan to enter foreign markets with our products, then we are obliged to improve the quality of our product design, she noted. To do this, we need to attract specialists in this field who could provide a high-level marketing work in order to promote Azerbaijani textile goods in European and post-Soviet markets. The Textile Producers and Exporters Association of Azerbaijan was established to support the development of this sector in Azerbaijan. The initiative to create this organization was launched by entrepreneurs involved in the textile sector. In general, such industry associations serve to improve relations and ties between the state and the private sector. Domestic-made textile products are represented in Azerbaijans trading houses in Latvia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus. These houses feature goods produced at the Baku Textile Factory and Gilan Textile Park. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 16 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmenistan and France signed an intergovernmental agreement on granting work permits to family members of staff of diplomatic missions and consular offices, Trendreports referring to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. The document was signed in Ashgabat following a political consultation. From the Turkmen side, the talks were headed by Rashit Meredow, Turkmen deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. The French delegation was headed by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. Special attention was paid to the development of trade and economic relations, including the evaluation of promising areas of their development. The parties also discussed regional issues during the talks, including the situation in Afghanistan. The positive cooperation of Turkmenistan and France within the framework of international organizations, in particular the UN, the EU and the OSCE, was noted. The sides also noted the importance of the Turkmen-French Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, a meeting of which was held the day before in Ashgabat. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend: In the 1Q2019, Azerbaijan's State Oil Company SOCAR exported 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 27 percent more compared to the 1Q2018, Trend reports referring to the company. The growth in gas exports is associated with the start of transportation through the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). So far, 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas has been exported to Turkey. Oil exports in the 1Q2019 amounted to about 5.8 million tons of oil. Also, in January-March 2019, exports of the oil refining and petrochemical industries amounted to 456,400 tons, which is 10.5 percent more compared to the same period of 2018. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: The international rating agency Moody's has raised the ranking of the International Bank of Azerbaijan by 2 positions, Trend reports referring to the bank's statement. As such, the banks base credit ranking was raised from caa2 to b3, while the long-term deposit ranking was raised from B3 to B1 with a positive outlook. The banks long-term counterparty risk ranking was raised from B2 to Ba3. According to agency experts, these changes were influenced by such factors as the improvement of the quality of assets and capitalization indicators of the bank, which in turn led to a high profitability of the financial institution. Thanks to its effective operation, the net profit of the International Bank of Azerbaijan amounted to 426 million manats in 2018. The capital adequacy ratio increased and the return on average assets (ROAA) on an annualized basis made up 3.5 percent. According to experts, the macroeconomic stability achieved in Azerbaijan and the favorable operating environment created for local banks also play an important role in raising the ranking of the bank. In accordance with the agency's expectations for the next 12-18 months, the current structure of the banks balance sheet will positively affect the net income of the financial institution and allow it to maintain this trend. Abbas Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, said: The decision of the international rating agency with regards to elevating the ranking reflects the current development processes taking place in the International Bank of Azerbaijan. Positive trends in the bank are carefully monitored and evaluated by international rating agencies. Improving the financial stability of the bank creates great opportunities for implementing strategic projects" The information on products and services of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, a modern state bank of the country, can be obtained on the official website www.ibar.az, in all 36 affiliates and 38 branches of the bank, by calling the Information Center on the short number 937, as well as on the banks official page on Facebook. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Sara Israfilbayova Trend: The international rating agency Moody's expects the expansion of the loan portfolio of Azerbaijans Bank Respublika in 2019-2020, Trendreports referring to the agency. Furthermore, the base credit rating of the bank was raised from caa1 to b3. According to agency experts, the increase is due to an improvement in bank profitability and asset quality. The net profit of the bank amounted to 2.2 million manats in 2018. The bank had a net loss of $10.5 million in 2017. Moody's expects significant net profit within the next 12-18 months. The agency raised the long-term deposit ratings of Bank Respublika in national and foreign currencies, and also improved the outlook on the bank's long-term deposit ratings, by changing it from stable to positive. According to Moodys experts, the improvement in asset quality is due to both the depreciation of the old portfolio and the increase in the share of new loans provided in accordance with more stringent underwriting standards in 2019-2020. The stabilized economic conditions in Azerbaijan should benefit the creditworthiness of households and small and medium-sized enterprises, constituting the bulk of the consumers of Bank Respublikas services. Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 Trend: Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and the Fastest Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan announced that Mr. Rainer Rathgeber will be appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of the company. He will assume the office after all the relevant procedures are completed during the next month. With 20 years of extensive experience in the area of telecommunications, Mr. Rathgeber has held various senior management positions in European and Asian countries. Thus he held leading roles in Deutsche Telekom AG, as senior vice president in T-Mobile International AG, CEO of T-Mobile Croatia and COO Mobile of Croatian Telekom, and as a member of the Board of Directors of OTE Group Greece and Romtelecom Romania. He was also Chief Commercial Officer at Etisalat Group in Abu Dhabi, member of the board of directors of EMTS in Nigeria and PTCL and Ufone in Pakistan, CEO of Ufone, Pakistan and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ubank, Pakistan (part of PTCL group). Bakcell holds a strong position on the telecommunications market of Azerbaijan and gained significant achievements during the last several years. Especially, I would like to point out such awards as the fastest mobile network and best in test, which are very important in the global telecommunications industry. Moreover, the company demonstrated a rapid expansion of its 4G network and application of innovation solutions in the area of customer care. I will use the best of my professional experience and skills to continue the successful development of Bakcell. Im confident that together with the companys professional team we will drive further strong development in the future said Mr. Rathgeber. Mr. Nikolai Beckers, who led Bakcell as its CEO in the period from May 2016 to April 2019, contributed to the companys successful operations. During these years, Bakcell reinforced its position in the telecommunications market of Azerbaijan. *** About Bakcell Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, offers a wide range of products and Services to users of modern mobile communications Services. The company provides its customers with the best-in-class 4G mobile internet. The 4G services of Bakcell are already available in Baku and Absheron peninsula, as well as central parts of more than 40 regions of Azerbaijan. With more than 7000 base stations, Bakcell network covers 99% of the population and 93% of the land area of the country (except for the occupied territories). In 2017, Bakcell network has been recognized as the Best in Test in Azerbaijan by P3 Communications, being one of the most trusted independent authorities in mobile benchmarking. Bakcell has been recognized as the Fastest Mobile Network in Azerbaijan. This award, presented by world-famous Ookla company, recognizes Bakcells commitment to delivering fastest speeds to customers all across Azerbaijan. For more information about Bakcell products and services, please visit www.bakcell.com or call 555. If you are not a Bakcell subscriber, but wish to find out about Bakcell and its products and services, please call 012 498 89 89 Kazakhstan will provide military aid to Tajikistan to help bolster border defenses in the face of mounting security concerns in neighboring Afghanistan, reports Trend with reference to news.tj According to Tengri News website, Kazakhstans upper house (Senate) of parliament on April 11 approved the transfer of military equipment and ammunition to Tajikistan. The transfer is subject to final approval by the president. Presenting the agreement to lawmakers, Deputy Defense Minister Talgat Mukhtarov reportedly assured them that the reallocation of military materiel would not degrade Kazakhstans Dushanbe He also said Kazakhstan would bear the cost of delivering military equipment by rail to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Tajikistan will be responsible for customs clearance and has offered guarantees that none of the equipment will be reassigned to a third party, Mukhtarov added. Members of the Kazakh Senate said that the military aid comes at a particularly sensitive moment. The situation on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan is deteriorating every day terrorists are trying to smuggle large quantities of drugs, said Kazakh MP Talgat Musabayev. An agreement on one-time military assistance to Tajikistan was reportedly signed between the countries in December last year. Tajikistan and Kazakhstan share membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, and in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a multilateral organization, which also includes China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan among its members. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 16 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: A meeting of the Turkmen-French Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was held in Ashgabat, Trend reports referring to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Political consultations were also held between the foreign ministries of Turkmenistan and France, and Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, minister of state attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, arrived in Ashgabat on a working visit to take part in these consultations. Following the consultations, a number of bilateral documents were signed, the report said. The French businessmen operate in the Turkmen market in such areas as construction, transport, tourism and energy. Two countries are interested in the implementation of the project of transporting Turkmen gas to Europe. The option of laying a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan and connecting it to the transnational projects in the European direction is being considered. Tehran, Iran, April 16 Trend: Iran was not receiving any financial aid from foreign countries during the difficult period in March 2019, when the country's provinces got hit with massive floods. The head of Relief and Rescue Organization of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Morteza Salimi believes that to better prevent floods, education on these issues should be boosted, and resilence should be increased. "Our most important actions in recent floods, that did not attract attention, were house evacuation, camp building, and the transfer of families to these camps," he told Trend. He said that if the flood-effected families in Poldokhtar county in Lorestan Province listened to the warnings and moved the camps, there would've been less damage. "Resilence should be raised," he said. "Houses shouldn't be built on the riverside. Everyone responsible should know that building permits in these areas should not be given in the first place." We certainly have to change the approach with regards to the predictions about the beginning of the wet-year period," he added. "The Red Crescent also has a duty to raise its capacities. He went on to add that the items that the Red Crescent received were used to strengthen the infrastructure in flood-affected areas. He went on to add that Iran received such items as rescue boats and other equipment, including food items. "Iran is among the world's leading countries regarding training of rescue dogs, and we even sent our trainers abroad," Salimi said. "We negotiated with Kuwait on deployment of our dog trainers there." he said. Some neighboring countries have asked us to help them in case of probable floods, he said. He said the countries including Russia, Azerbaijan, Oman, Kuwait, Turkey, Germany, Japan and France have provided help to Iran during the floods. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Azer Ahmadbayli Trend: Some Armenians begin to feel uncomfortable when Europe, trying to stop the influence of Turkey, or the United States, trying to punish Ankara for its independent policy, once again pulls out greasy card of the "Armenian genocide". I mean a very small number of Armenian intellectuals, who are able to separate falsehood from sincere intentions, and who understand that it is just Turkey, which can actually be their reliable neighbor and ally. Last week, several members of the US House of representatives presented a new resolution on the recognition of the "Armenian genocide". The resolution was supported by more than 70 congressmen. The theme of genocide emerged at the right time when the well-known American-Turkish differences are at their peak. However, the congressmen apparently are not familiar with some intricacies. During the Cold war, at the military departments of some higher Soviet educational establishments, students studied a special training course titled "National and psychological characteristics of the potential adversary." Turkey, among others, was in the list due to its membership in NATO. As proven many times before in history, jawboning or blackmail towards Turkey has never led to the desired results and backfired as a rule. However, apart from the Congress, the United States has a number of political institutions and think tanks that are able to objectively assess Washington's relations with its allies, taking into account American interests. Relations between Turkey and the United States have deep roots allowing us to overcome existing differences, Turkish Presidents spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said yesterday, at the opening of the 37th annual conference in Washington, dedicated to the US-Turkey relations. Also yesterday, NATO's response followed Turkey's purchase of the Russian weaponry. Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems is a sovereign right of Ankara, Madeleine Moon, NATO PA President, said, Anadolu Agency reported. She added that Turkey is a strong and reliable ally of NATO. A couple of days after the recommendation of the US congressmen, French President Emmanuel Macron signed a decree declaring April 24 the official Memorial Day of the "Armenian genocide. Before making such a decision, the president of France should have turned to the dark pages in the history of his own country, Turkish foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, referring to the time of the French colonial rule in Algeria from 1830 to 1962. Despite the fact that President Macron has a very low approval rating in his homeland and calls some of his compatriots "jerks in yellow vests", some say that, despite his young age, he is a very experienced politician and an educated person. He probably read remarks of a French writer and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir: Since 1954, we, the French, have become complicit in genocide. Under the pretext of peace, we killed more than a million Algerians. We burned entire villages with their inhabitants, slaughtered the population, removing unborn children from the wombs of mothers, tortured to death. Whole tribes suffered from cold and hunger, died from epidemics in concentration camps. About half a million Algerians died in those camps. Feeding the theme of the Armenian genocide into the public from year to year, or threatening Turkey with its recognition, the so-called "friends" of Armenia repeatedly emasculate this painful issue. Instead of beating the old drum of genocide, Armenia wouldve been better off trying to normalize relations with its closest neighbors. Huawei Technologies, one of the worlds biggest smartphone makers, has not had talks with Apple Inc about supplying it with 5G chipsets, Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said on Tuesday, reports Trend referring to Reuters Hu made the remark at the companys annual global analyst summit at its headquarters in Shenzhen in southern China. His comment come after founder Ren Zhengfei told CNBC that Huawei was open to selling its fifth generation (5G) chips to Apple. We have not had discussions with Apple on this issue, Hu said, reiterating that Huawei does not plan to become a chipset vendor at this time. He also said he looked forward to Apples competition in the 5G phone market. Hu said Huawei had secured 40 commercial contracts to build 5G telecommunications infrastructure as at the end of March, up from a previously disclosed tally of more than 30. Huaweis outlook has come under a cloud over the past year with the United States voicing concerns that its equipment could be used by the Chinese government for espionage. Washington has also urged allies to ban Huawei from building 5G mobile networks. Huawei has dismissed the security concerns as unfounded. Huawei is also the worlds largest telecommunications equipment maker. Its inhouse semiconductor arm, HiSilicon, also designs chipsets that are used in its products. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with CNBC this week that the company is open to selling its 5G modem chips to Apple, without elaborating. His comments came after repeated denials from Huawei that it had any intention of becoming a chip vendor to compete against the likes of Qualcomm and Intel. Huawei in January launched its 5G modem Balong 5000, which it said is the industrys most powerful, as well as a 5G base station chipset dubbed Tiangang. The company last month reported a 25 percent rise in net profit in 2018 to 59.3 billion yuan ($9 billion), even as revenue from its network equipment business fell 1.3 percent to 294 billion yuan due to telecommunications industry investment cycles. Kuwait's government said that it hopes measures taken in Sudan would pave way for security and stability in the country, Trend reported citing Xinhua. The government, in a meeting chaired by Acting Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, said in a statement that it hopes the measures would honor "legitimate" aspirations of the Sudanese people. It urged the Sudanese people to observe the country's interest in a drive to maintain Sudan's unity, sovereignty and independence, the statement said. The Sudanese army ousted and detained former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on April 11 in response to four months of nationwide protests against his three-decade rule. Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan announced in a televised speech on Saturday that a civilian government will soon be formed based on national consensus. He also assured that the TMC is committed to a two-year transitional period after which the rule will be handed over to the civilian government formed by the people. The European Union is ready to start talks on a trade agreement with the United States and aims to conclude a deal before year-end, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said, Trend reported citing Reuters. The EU approved two areas for negotiation, opposed by France with an abstention from Belgium. But agriculture was not included, leaving the 28-country bloc at odds with Washington, which has insisted on including farm products in the talks. The EU vote allows the Commission to start two sets of negotiations - one to cut tariffs on industrial goods, the other to make it easier for companies to show products meet EU or U.S. standards. Malmstrom said she would now reach out to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to see when talks could begin. We are ready as soon as they are, Malmstrom told a news conference. A spokeswoman for Lighthizer declined to comment. But U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the tax and trade-focused Senate Finance Committee, said a U.S.-EU trade deal that excluded agriculture would be unlikely to win approval in the U.S. Congress because so many lawmakers want farm access to Europe. Elimination of industrial tariffs and non-tariff barriers only get us part of the way there, especially when we face major barriers to agricultural trade in the EU, Grassley, himself an Iowa farmer, said in a statement. Agriculture is a significant piece of the global economy and it simply doesnt make sense to leave it out. The European Commission has said it is willing to discuss cars as part of the industrial goods talks, but not agriculture. Agriculture will certainly not be part of these negotiations. This is a red line for Europe, Malmstrom said. She added Brussels would strive to agree what amounted to a limited deal before the Commissions term ends on Oct. 31. If we agree to start, I think it can go quite quickly. Malmstrom stressed that the potential tariffs deal was far less ambitious than the previous TTIP negotiations, which stalled after three years and have now been rendered obsolete. The two sides are each others largest trading partners. Flows between the two represent 30 percent of global trade. A Commission survey estimates an agreement on industrial tariffs would increase EU exports to the United States by 8 percent and U.S. products bound for Europe by 9 percent. Hanging over the talks is U.S. President Donald Trumps threat to impose tariffs on cars and auto parts of around 25 percent on national security grounds. Trump last July agreed with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker not to impose tariffs on EU-produced cars and parts as long as the two sides negotiated on trade, including removal of tariffs on non-auto industrial goods. But Lighthizer has voiced frustration with a complete stalemate with Europe on agriculture, telling a congressional committee in March there would be no U.S.-EU free trade agreement without agricultural access. EU governments agreed the bloc would not conclude negotiations until Washington removed tariffs it has applied to EU steel and aluminum and would suspend negotiations if the Trump administration imposed new tariffs, such as on cars. Germany, whose exports of cars and parts to the United States are more than half the EU total, has been among those most keen to press ahead with talks. France, with very few U.S. car exports, wants climate change provisions in any deal - a difficult demand given Trumps withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. A total of 304.7 million tons of seaborne goods was handled in German sea ports in 2018, marking an increase of 1.7 percent compared to the previous year, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced, Trend reported citing Xinhua. The volume of goods which German seaports received from other ports increased by 2.0 percent. The shipping of goods from German seaports over the world's oceans increased slightly less strong but still grew by 1.8 percent. According to Destatis, the number of containers handled at German seaports remained unchanged at around 15.1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2018. China remained the most important trade partner for maritime freight transport with 3.0 million standard units, followed by the United States with 1.4 million TEUs and Russia with 0.7 million TEUs. "Trade with China contributed the most, with an increase of 5.3 percent to a total of 22.9 million tons," Daniel Hosseus, managing director of the central association of German seaport companies (ZDS), told Xinhua on Monday. These "positive numbers" would underline the importance of trade between China and Germany, added Hosseus. "The increase in imports and exports via German seaports is an encouraging sign and shows how important shipping is for the economy," Ralf Nagel, chief executive officer (CEO) of the German Shipowners' Association (VDR), told Xinhua on Monday. Especially in "times of protectionism and isolation", shipping would need to be a "particularly strong advocate of globalization", emphasized VDR CEO Nagel. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has threatened to suspend Sudan in the wake of last week's coup, calling on the military to hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority, Trend reported citing Sputnik. The council demanded that the Sudanese military "step aside and hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority, in accordance with the will of the people and constitutional order, within a maximum period of fifteen days from the date of the adoption of the present communique [Monday]," according to the text. The council warned that the failure to fulfill this request would lead to the automatic application of the Article 7 of its protocol, "in particular the suspension of the participation of Sudan in all AUs activities until the restoration of constitutional order." Last December, protests over a hike in bread prices erupted in Sudan and later escalated into nationwide demonstrations calling on President Omar Bashir to resign and end his 30-year rule. On April 11, Sudanese Defence Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf announced that Bashir had been detained and a transitional military council had been established to govern the country for the next two years. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The whole world recognizes the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Trend reports via Turkish media. However, despite this, Armenia does not withdraw from the occupied territories, the Turkish minister said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: During a special operation in Istanbul, 152 drug dealers were detained, Trend reports via Turkish media. The special operation was carried out at 100 addresses, and firearms were also seized during its conduct. The Turkish police previously conducted a special operation against drug dealers in Ankara, during which 241 people were arrested. A total of 5 tons of heroin have been seized in Turkey since early 2019. On February 5, 615 kilograms of seized were confiscated in Turkeys Mersin Province, while 850 kilograms of heroin were seized in Istanbul on January 31. As reported earlier by the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs, 3,722 tons of heroin were seized in January-February 2018, with 16,802 tons of psychotropic substances and 202 kilograms of the so-called bonsai narcotic substance. Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu stated earlier that the country faces a serious threat and should toughen up the fight against drug addiction and drug trafficking. "The number of deaths from drug overdoses is increasing every year," said the minister. The minimum age for Turkish citizens starting to use drugs is 13 years, with 36 years being the average, and 65 being the maximum. Addicts in Turkey aged 15-24 years old make up 2.9 percent of the country's population, with those 25-44 years old making up 2.8 percent and those 45-64 years old making up 2.3 percent of the population. There are 22 rehabilitation centers for drug addicts in Turkey. (1 USD = 5.7956 TRY on April 16) --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey sent military equipment to Hakkari province on the border with Iraq, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media on April 16. Reportedly, this measure was taken as part of the fight against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Artillery installations were also transported to the province. 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 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The new building of the General Staff of Turkey, which is constructed in Ankara, will compete with the one of Pentagon, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, Trend reports via Turkish media. He underlined that the new building of the General Staff of Turkey was built on the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish media had earlier reported that after the completion of the new building of the country's General Staff, the old building will function as a military museum. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Azerbaijan and Turkey are two states and one nation, and Armenia should know this, said Turkish MP from Justice and Development Party (AKP) Metin Gundogdu, during the 52nd Meeting of the PABSEC Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Committee in Yerevan, Trendreports referring to the Turkish media. According to Gundogdu, Turkeys position on Azerbaijan and the fraternal relations between the two countries will remain unchanged. He noted that Armenia should withdraw from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and fulfill the conditions necessary for the resolution of the conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, April 16 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party has officially appealed to the country's CEC to hold the repeat elections in Istanbul, deputy chairman of the ruling party Ali Ihsan Yavuz said. The ruling party provided all the facts about the rigging of the election results in a number of Turkish cities, including Istanbul, Yavuz added, Trendreports referring to the Turkish media on April 16. This step of the ruling party does not contradict the countrys laws, he added. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the results of the municipal elections in Istanbul may be annulled. Meanwhile, Yavuz said that the ruling party demands to hold the repeat municipal elections in Istanbul. He added that the ruling party has all the evidence of falsification of the election results. The ruling party will present all the facts of falsification of the election results in Istanbul soon, he said. The municipal election results in Istanbul were almost completely rigged, President 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. 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). Imamoglu gained 4.159 million votes, while candidate from the ruling party Binali 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. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu US State Secretary Michael Pompeo does not rule out the possibility of the third summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year, the US State Department said, Trend reported citing TASS. Asked about whether there would soon be a third summit between the two leaders, Pompeo said that "President Trump is determined to move forward diplomatically." "This is the outcome we're looking for: Chairman Kim made a promise in June of last year in Singapore. He made a commitment to denuclearize. He's made that same commitment to me now a handful of times in person. We collectively need to see that outcome move forward," Pompeo added. "We're working, our teams are working with the North Koreans to chart a path forward so that we can get there. He said he wanted it done by the end of the year. I'd love to see that done sooner," he noted. Trump and Kim last met in Hanoi on February 27-28 but the meeting did not result in any comprehensive agreements. KYODO NEWS - Apr 16, 2019 - 19:10 | Japan, All The Japanese government indicated Tuesday it is ready to support France in repairing Notre Dame Cathedral, as officials and celebrities expressed their sadness at the fire that has badly damaged the iconic Catholic church in Paris. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a message to French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that he was "greatly shocked" to see the famous cathedral engulfed in flames. "Our hearts are with France at this time of huge loss," Abe was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as telling Macron. The Japanese government will consider providing support if requested by the French government, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference after the fire at the World Heritage site on Monday that burned through its roof and caused the building's 90-meter spire to collapse. Japanese celebrities conveyed their sadness at the tragedy. Award-winning actress Keiko Kishi, a Paris resident noted for her role in the 1983 film "The Makioka Sisters" (Sasameyuki), said, "Notre Dame is a symbol of Paris. I often took walks by the banks of the River Seine and passed by the cathedral." Actor Kanji Ishimaru, the Japanese voice of protagonist Quasimodo in Disney's animation "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," said "The cathedral has been an important presence in my life as an actor, and I've visited it a number of times." "Watching clips of the blaze saddened me deeply. I hope reconstruction begins as quickly as possible," he added. [Getty/Kyodo] Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa sent his best wishes to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, saying he hopes the cathedral can be rebuilt to its former glory. Kyoto and Paris have been sister cities since 1958. Yuta Naiki, who regularly hosts French language and cultural exchange events at a Tokyo cafe he manages, said "Notre Dame is a symbolic presence, even among the many churches in the city." Miki Kato, daughter of renowned shogi player Hifumi Kato and the head of the Catholic research center at Sendai Shirayuri Women's College, also expressed her sadness, having visited Notre Dame just last month. "Its magnificence is unlike any other church, and the many visitors and locals praying there left an impression on me," she said. Noting that Notre Dame held a service for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Sendai and other areas of northeastern Japan, Kato said "It is now our turn to support France. I pray for (the cathedral's) recovery." The church is among the most famous landmarks in Paris. Located on a small island in the River Seine, the church was completed in 1345 and has been the site of numerous historical events, including the French Revolution of 1789 when it suffered vandalism and the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. Srinagar: On Monday, a police release said that a blast occurred at Ganai Mohalla inside a joint compound of residential premises in Anchar area of Soura in Srinagar district. The release stated "In Anchar area of Soura in Srinagar district, a blast occurred at Ganai Mohalla inside a joint compound of residential premises belonging to Farooq Ahmad Mir and Abdul Rashid Mir when few children were playing inside the compound,". It further read "In the incident, three children and two elder family members sustained minor injuries. They were evacuated to the hospital where they are being treated for their injuries. All injured are stated to be stable,". According to the police, officers from the local police station visited the spot and are ascertaining the facts pertaining to the blast. also read Nirmala Sitaraman rubbished the allegation on Black box on PM Modis chopper However, it is to be noted that earlier Pakistan violated ceasefire in Sawjian sector of Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district on Friday. The ceasefire violation took place at about 8:30 am. Pakistan resorted to shelling with mortars along the Line of Control (LoC). The neighbouring country also used small arms to violate ceasefire. The Indian Army is retaliating strongly. No casualties have been reported yet. on April 1 also, Pakistani Rangers resorted unprovoked firing in Mankote and Krishna Ghati sectors of Poonch. One BSF (Border Security Force) officer was martyred in the cross-border firing. A six-year-old minor was killed in the shelling. Five defence personnel and nine civilians were also wounded in the ceasefire violation. In the retaliatory firing by the Indian forces, several Pakistani posts across the Line of Control (LoC) were destroyed. also read Azam Khan get banned for 72 hours over his derogatory 'khaki underwear' comment A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications finds that some sparrow species will go extinct within the century due to climate change. Seaside (Ammospiza maritima) and saltmarsh (A. caudacuta) sparrows are closely related species and among only five bird species that are almost completely restricted to coastal salt marshes for their entire life. These sparrows' nests are predominantly destroyed by predators or flooding. Salt marshes are globally limited to about 30,000 square miles (45,000 square km), with one-third of the total on North American coasts. Of the 25 species or subspecies limited to tidal wetlands worldwide, 15 are restricted to the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Given rapid climate changes and other threats to salt marsh ecosystems, many of these species are in serious danger. The global breeding range of the saltmarsh sparrow extends from Virginia to Maine, with a population estimate of 60,000 birds. Sea-level rise can negatively impact breeding seaside and saltmarsh sparrows by reducing the amount of available habitat, and by increasing nest flooding rates. Furthermore, the high human population densities of Mid-Atlantic states also make it difficult for sparrows to thrive in the region. This study aimed to estimate population trajectories for seaside and saltmarsh sparrows within Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, identify the primary drivers of those trajectories, and explore potential management strategies to prevent declines. The researchers found that seaside sparrows persisted under a 1 ft (0.35 m) rise in sea level scenario and also under a sea level rise of almost 2.5 ft (0.75 m). Saltmarsh sparrows survived in neither scenario. With a 1 ft rise in sea level, the seaside sparrow population experienced a compound decline of .35% a year. Under the 2.5 ft sea level rise scenario, this decline increased to .56% a year. The saltmarsh sparrow median time to quasi-extinction was 20 years under both scenarios. The results indicated that seaside sparrows are likely to persist, while saltmarsh sparrows are likely to become locally extinct in the next 30 years. "Given the projected increases in sea level over the next few decades and threats from predators, we will need to implement timely and creative actions to avoid extinction of saltmarsh sparrows," said the paper's lead author, Samuel Griffith Roberts. ### The paper, "Preventing local extinctions to tidal marsh endemic sparrows in Eastern North America," is available (at midnight on April 16) at: https://academic.oup.com/condor/article/121/1/duy024/5393601 Direct correspondence to: Samuel Griffith Roberts Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology University of Delaware 250 Townsend Hall Newark, DE 19716 samuelgroberts@gmail.com To request a copy of the study, please contact: Daniel Luzer daniel.luzer@oup.com Sharing on social media? Find Oxford Journals online at @OxfordJournal Numerous studies have reported on the association between long work shifts and an increased risk of getting injured on the job. Fatigue, fewer breaks and psychomotor impairments resulting from long hours are believed to play a major role in the increased risk of injury for people who work shifts longer than 9 hours. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago examined how and why long work shifts increase the risk for injury among miners of all kinds. They found that injured miners who worked shifts longer than 9 hours tended to have irregular schedules or less than two years on the job. They also found that miners were more likely to be killed or involved in incidents affecting two or more workers when working 9 hours or more on a shift. They report their findings in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "While the mining industry has seen some improvements in injury rates among workers in recent decades, its workers tend to work longer hours than the average worker. Because studies on how longer shifts impact mining injuries are inconclusive, we thought it was important to take a closer look at this," said Lee Friedman, associate professor in the UIC School of Public Health and lead author on the paper. Friedman said that miners often work 47 or 48 hours per week, clocking multiple 10- to 12-hour shifts, which is above the national average for workers, which is about 38 hours per week. Friedman and his colleagues examined data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration "Part 50" reports, from 1983 through 2015. These are reports that are required to be filed with the government when a miner is injured on the job. Of the 545,537 Part 50 injury reports filed, 52,206 or 9.6% occurred among workers who were working shifts of 9 hours or more. The researchers found that injuries occurring among long-shift miners increased three-fold in this period. "This is somewhat in-line with there being more and more 9-hour and longer shifts among miners over this same time period, but that alone isn't enough to account for the increase in injuries we saw," Friedman said. The factors associated with injuries occurring during longer shifts included irregular scheduling, starting shifts at different times each week, being a temporary or contract worker and being on the job for less than two years. The researchers also found that working a shift longer than 9 hours was associated with a 32% increased risk of an injury resulting in death and a 73% increased risk that an incident would cause injuries in two or more workers. "Our findings are alarming given the shift towards hiring more contract workers and the adoption of more extended-hour workdays in the mining industry," Friedman said. "Our study should serve policy makers and industry leaders who need to consider the effects of longer shifts on things like fatigue and nutrition, and the potential of fixed schedules to alleviate some of the risks with longer shifts." ### Dr. Robert Cohen and Kirsten Almberg of the UIC School of Public Health are co-authors on the study. This research was supported in part by funding from The Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mining Safety and Health, Inc. and a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health State Surveillance grant. In this April 11, 2019, photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON (AP) With release of the special counsel's fuller report looming, President Donald Trump and his campaign are twisting the words of his attorney general and the facts of the Russia investigation. His 2020 campaign is telling supporters in fundraising pitches that Attorney General William Barr had revealed illegal spying against Trump during the 2016 presidential race. But it's not true. While Barr told lawmakers that he believed spying took place, he never concluded it was illegal and made clear several times he was not suggesting a crime had occurred. Meanwhile, Trump kept up his refrain that special counsel Robert Mueller had totally exonerated him despite Mueller's exact quotes in Barr's summary that he did not. A redacted version of Mueller's full report is expected in the coming days. The misstatements were among a number of factual faux pas and flips in rhetoric this past week. With his government seeking to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Trump seemed to draw a blank on a hacking organization he praised to the rafters during the 2016 campaign because of the discomfort it caused his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. And speaking before Monday's tax filing deadline, Trump seemed to change the grounds upon which he is refusing to release his taxes: It's not because he can't, but because he doesn't want to. A look at the claims: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION TRUMP CAMPAIGN: "Just this week, Attorney General William Barr said what the President has thought all along, he believes 'unlawful spying did occur' against Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign." fundraising email sent Saturday to Trump supporters. TRUMP CAMPAIGN: "AG Barr believes the Obama Admin illegally spied on Pres Trump." text sent Friday to Trump supporters. THE FACTS: The email puts words in Barr's mouth and seeks to raise money in doing so. Barr never said there was illegal spying. Story continues During a Senate hearing Wednesday, the attorney general actually made clear he had no specific evidence to cite that any surveillance was illegal or improper. "I think spying did occur," Barr told lawmakers. "But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I'm not suggesting it wasn't adequately predicated, but I need to explore that." He later added: "I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I am saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it." ___ TRUMP: "I've been totally exonerated. No collusion. No obstruction." remarks Wednesday at the White House. TRUMP: "I'm not concerned about anything, because frankly there was no collusion and there was no obstruction." remarks Thursday with South Korea's president. THE FACTS: Barr's four-page summary of Mueller's nearly 400-page report did not "totally" exonerate Trump. Mueller specifically states in the report, as quoted by Barr: "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." The summary of principal conclusions by Barr, released in late March, notes Mueller did not "draw a conclusion one way or the other as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction," but rather set out evidence for both sides, leaving the question unanswered of whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said ultimately he decided as attorney general that the evidence developed by Mueller was "not sufficient" to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Trump committed obstruction. In Senate testimony Wednesday, Barr acknowledged that Mueller did not ask him to draw a conclusion on the obstruction question, nor did he know whether Mueller agreed with him. Barr said he would be able to explain more fully after releasing a public version of Mueller's report. ___ WIKILEAKS TRUMP, asked if he still "loves" WikiLeaks: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing." remarks Thursday with South Korea's president. THE FACTS: WikiLeaks was very much Trump's thing in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, when candidate Trump showered praise on the anti-secrecy organization night after night. On the same October day that the "Access Hollywood" tape emerged, revealing that Trump had bragged in 2005 about groping women, WikiLeaks began releasing damaging emails from Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta. Trump and his allies seized on the dumps and weaponized them. "WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks," Trump said in Pennsylvania. "This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove," Trump said in Michigan. "Boy, I love reading WikiLeaks," Trump said in Ohio. All told, Trump extolled WikiLeaks more than 100 times, and a poster of Assange hung backstage at the Republican's debate war room. At no point from a rally stage did Trump express any misgivings about how WikiLeaks obtained the emails from the Clinton campaign or about the accusations of stealing sensitive U.S. government information, which led to the charges against Assange on Thursday. The U.S. is seeking Assange's extradition from Britain. Asked Sunday about Trump's claim he knew nothing about Wikileaks, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News the president "was making a joke during the campaign and was talking about the specifics of the case at that moment." ___ TAX RETURNS TRUMP: "As you know, I got elected last time with this same issue. ... I would love to give them, but I'm not going to do it while I'm under audit." remarks Wednesday to reporters at the White House. THE FACTS: Nothing's preventing Trump from releasing his tax returns. Being under audit is no legal bar to anyone releasing his or her returns. Asked repeatedly at a House hearing Tuesday whether any regulation prohibited a taxpayer from disclosing returns when under audit, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig responded "no." Trump declined to provide his tax information as a candidate in 2016 and as president, something party nominees have traditionally done in the name of the transparency. By withholding his tax returns, Trump has not followed the standard followed by presidents since Richard Nixon started the practice in 1969. During the campaign, Trump said he wanted to release his returns but because he was under a routine audit, "I can't." After the November midterm elections, Trump claimed at a news conference that the filings are too complex for people to understand. ___ JOB APPROVAL TRUMP, tweeting a Fox Business Network graphic showing his "soaring approval" at 55% overall: "Great news! #MAGA" tweet Thursday. THE FACTS: The graphic on the Georgetown University poll was incorrect: The poll found 55% had an "unfavorable" rating of Trump, not his job approval, from a different poll question. Fox Business issued an on-air correction but Trump's tweet remains. ___ CLIMATE CHANGE TRUMP: "We withdrew the United States from the one-sided Paris climate accord, where you don't do any more drilling for oil and gas. That was going to cost us a lot of money. No more oil and gas with the Paris accord. That's good for Paris, but that's not good for us. Right?" remarks Wednesday at a ceremony for the signing of executive orders meant to accelerate pipeline construction. THE FACTS: Wrong. The Paris accord does not ban any form of energy development. It does not impose emission caps on signatory countries. The accord is a set of voluntary targets determined by individual nations. ___ IMMIGRATION TRUMP: "Mexico must apprehend all illegals and not let them make the long march up to the United States, or we will have no other choice than to Close the Border and/or institute Tariffs. Our Country is FULL!" tweet April 7. THE FACTS: Despite the overwhelmed southern border, there's plenty of room in the United States. Dozens of countries have greater population density. It's only full in terms of the people Trump doesn't want. His claim of a U.S. with no vacancies for more immigrants is at odds with his own statement two months ago that encouraged "the largest" influx of legal immigrants ever. It also belies a U.S. reality of aging baby boomers and falling birth rates, which make immigrants increasingly important to sustain a level of population growth for the U.S. economy to keep expanding. The nation's population growth is at its lowest since 1937, with the 18-and-under population declining both nationally and in 29 states, according to William H. Frey of the Brookings Institution. Economists say that restricting immigration would probably weaken economic growth. A shrinking labor force could also harm the health and stability of safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Trump himself seemed to acknowledge the realities during his State of the Union address in February, declaring, "I want people to come into our country, in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally." He's now describing a U.S. bursting at the seams, unable to take any immigrants, including those seeking legal asylum. Immigrants as a whole make up a greater percentage of the total U.S. population than they did back in 1970, having grown from less than 5 percent of the population to more than 13 percent now. In 2030, it's projected that immigrants will become the primary driver for U.S. population growth, overtaking U.S. births. ___ TRUMP on separating migrant children from their parents when caught crossing into the U.S. illegally: "I'm the one that stopped it. President Obama had child separation." remarks to reporters Tuesday. THE FACTS: No, he's the one who started it on a broad scale. He instituted a "zero tolerance" policy aimed at criminally prosecuting all adults caught crossing into the U.S. illegally. That meant detention for adults and the removal of their children while their parents were in custody. During the Obama administration and the early Trump administration, such family separations were the exception. They became the rule under his policy. He suspended the practice in June because of a public uproar. ___ TRUMP on the family separations: "President Obama had the law. We changed the law, and I think the press should accurately report it but of course they won't." remarks to reporters Tuesday. THE FACTS: This is false. Trump did not achieve any change in the law. Trump's zero-tolerance policy was of his own making. His administration is operating under the same immigration laws as Obama's. During the Obama administration and before Trump's zero-tolerance policy was introduced, migrant families caught illegally entering the U.S. were usually referred for civil deportation proceedings, not requiring separation, unless they were known to have a criminal record. Then and now, immigration officials may take a child from a parent in certain cases, such as serious criminal charges against a parent, concerns over the health and welfare of a child or medical concerns. ___ ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT TRUMP: "We have the cleanest air and water, they say, in the world. We are the best." remarks Wednesday at the signing of orders on pipelines. THE FACTS: Not true about air. U.S. drinking water is among the best by one leading measure. Trump's own Environmental Protection Agency data show that in 2017, among 35 major U.S. cities, there were 729 cases of "unhealthy days for ozone and fine particle pollution." That's up 22 percent from 2014 and the worst year since 2012. Findings for 2018 are incomplete. The State of Global Air 2019 report by the Health Effects Institute rated the U.S. as having the eighth cleanest air for particle pollution which kills 85,000 Americans each year behind Canada, Scandinavian countries and others. The U.S. ranks poorly on smog pollution, which kills 24,000 Americans per year. On a scale from the cleanest to the dirtiest, the U.S. is at 123 out of 195 countries measured. On water, Yale University's global Environmental Performance Index finds 10 countries tied for the cleanest drinking water, the U.S. among them. On environmental quality overall, the U.S. was 27th, behind a variety of European countries, Canada, Japan, Australia and more. Switzerland was No. 1. ___ TRUMP: "With the help of the incredible workers in this room, the United States is now the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, anywhere on the planet. Not even close. Made a lot of progress in the last two and a half years, haven't we? Huh? Took down a lot of barriers." signing ceremony. THE FACTS: As he's done many times before, Trump is crediting himself with things that happened under Obama. Here's what the government's U.S. Energy Information Administration says: "The United States has been the world's top producer of natural gas since 2009, when U.S. natural gas production surpassed that of Russia, and the world's top producer of petroleum hydrocarbons since 2013, when U.S. production exceeded Saudi Arabia's." As for crude oil specifically, the information agency says the U.S. became the world's top crude oil producer last year. That is largely attributed to the shale oil boom that began during the Obama administration, which has sent production from the Permian Basin in the southwest surging. ___ TRUMP: "Under this administration, we have ended the war on American energy like never before." signing ceremony. THE FACTS: It wasn't much of a war. U.S. petroleum and natural gas production has increased by nearly 60% since 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration, achieving pre-eminence during the Obama administration. That said, the Trump administration is more closely aligned with fossil fuel interests as it works to restrain environmental obstacles and the power of states to stand in the way of pipelines and other energy development. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire, Mary Clare Jalonick, Ellen Knickmeyer and Seth Borenstein in Washington and Nomaan Merchant in Houston contributed to this report. ___ Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. agreed to end a two-year legal battle over billions of dollars of technology licensing fees that threatened the chipmakers most profitable line of business. Apple will make a one-time payment to Qualcomm, and the two reached a multiyear agreement whereby Qualcomm will supply chips and license its technology to the iPhone maker in exchange for royalty payments, the companies said Tuesday in a statement. Litigation between the two around the world will be dismissed, but no details were disclosed about the payments or fees. Qualcomms stock gained the most in a single day since 1999. A victory for Apple would have hampered Qualcomms ability to collect fees on the technology that powers mobile phones. But Apple had an incentive to settle, too. The arrangement helps keep the company from falling behind in fifth generation, or 5G, technologies designed to provide blanket wireless coverage and propel faster and more versatile mobile services. Apples current modem supplier, Intel Corp., wont have its 5G chip in phones until next year -- about the time Qualcomm expects to have an updated 5G modem available. Apples biggest rival, Samsung Electronics Co., already has a phone in the market that will support that new technology based on a Qualcomm chip. There were worries that this was going to be a nasty court battle, and I think that Apple realized, despite wanting to make a statement, that it was in their best interest, based on 5G and licensing issues, to settle, said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Apple and Qualcomm both had more to lose in trial than if they just settled. Qualcomm said it anticipates the agreement will add $2 per share to its earnings when it begins chip shipments to Apple. While its not clear how much Qualcomm gave up in concessions in terms of payments and rates, the settlement lets it continue one of the most profitable businesses in the $400 billion semiconductor industry. Apple was the remaining holdout from a licensing practice that allows the San Diego-based chipmaker to charge patent royalties on its technology. Story continues Based on that $2-dollar-per share forecast and a rough estimate of how many iPhones might be sold with Qualcomms modems, it doesnt appear that the chipmaker made any major concessions to Apple in terms of the licensing rate per phone, said Kevin Cassidy, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. It seems like they played chicken and won, Cassidy said. The companies began a jury trial Monday in San Diego that was to decide whether Apple owed unpaid royalties or the iPhone maker was right to argue that it was the victim of unfairly inflated charges. Underlining how bitter the fight had been, the two sides were still taking shots at each other in court as the settlement was announced. Qualcomm lawyer Evan Chesler was wrapping up his opening statement, telling jurors that Apple had been planning the legal assault of the chipmakers business model for years. It was all planned in advance, every bit of it, Chesler said. He cited an internal Apple document indicating it would be beneficial for the iPhone maker to wait to provoke a patent fight with Qualcomm until after 2016, when the companies previous deal would expire. Apples lawyer Ruffin Cordell told the jury that Qualcomm had broken a commitment to license technology to competing chipmakers, driving them out of the market for modems and using the resulting market dominance to dictate licensing terms to phone manufacturers who had no choice but to agree. Qualcomms stock, which had underperformed this year, jumped 23 percent to $70.45 at the close in New York. Apple was little changed at $199.25. Representatives for Apple and Qualcomm declined to comment beyond the statement. Qualcomm is scheduled to report earnings May 1, when it will probably give more financial details. The companys licensing business generated $5.16 billion in the 2018 fiscal year, a decline of 35 percent from before Apple began withholding its payments. The unit produced 23 percent of Qualcomms total revenue and 54 percent of its profit in the fiscal year. Qualcomm is still waiting for a federal judges ruling on claims by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that the companys licensing practices are anti-competitive. The regulator accused Qualcomm in a 2017 lawsuit of using its dominance in the market to thwart competitors growth and force companies including Apple and Huawei Technologies Co. to pay inflated patent royalties. A nonjury trial in San Jose, California, was held in January. Separately, Qualcomm faces a class action on behalf of as many as 250 million consumers seeking as much as $5 billion in damages over claims they suffered from inflated retail prices. The company has said its probably the largest class action in history and is asking an appeals court to block the consumers from proceeding as a group. (Updates with comments by lawyers during jury trial beginning in the ninth paragraph.) --With assistance from Peter Blumberg, Mark Gurman and Edvard Pettersson. To contact the reporters on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net;Mark Gurman in San Francisco at mgurman1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Dan Reichl For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Apple and Qualcomm have settled a royalty and patent dispute that went to trial this week in San Diego, California. As part of the settlement, all legal action worldwide between the two companies will be dropped, and Apple will buy Qualcomm chips again. Qualcomm said it expected a $2 increase in earnings per share and its stock rose over 15%. Apple AAPL and Qualcomm QCOM have settled their royalty dispute, the companies announced in a press release. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm as well as a chipset supply agreement, suggesting that Apple will buy Qualcomm chips for future iPhones. The companies did not say how much the payment will be. Qualcomm stock rose over 17% after the news broke, boosting its market cap by about $14 billion to to more than $83 billion. Apple was up less than 1%. Intel, a Qualcomm competitor, sharply dipped on the news before recovering. Qualcomm expects incremental earnings per share of $2 as product shipments ramp, Qualcomm said. The two companies started proceedings in a trial in federal court in San Diego on Monday, which was expected to last until May. Both sides were asking for billions in damages. The complicated legal battle centered around modem chips and related disputes been raging in courts around the world since 2016. For years, Apple bought modem chips from Qualcomm, but chafed under Qualcomm's prices and requirement that any company using its chips would also pay licensing fees for its patents. Apple argued that Qualcomm was abusing its position as one of the only suppliers for cellular technology, and Qualcomm contended that Apple was withholding payments that the two companies had hammered out as part of a royalty agreement. According to Qualcomm, the license between it an Apple as part of this agreement is six years, with a two-year option to extend. It includes a one-time payment from Apple to Qualcomm. In November, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that he believed that the two companies were on the "doorstep" to settling. Apple CEO Tim Cook contradicted him shortly after, saying that Apple hasn't been in settlement discussions since the third calendar quarter of 2018. Story continues New iPhone models released in 2018 used Intel modem chips, instead of Qualcomm's technology. Analysts had also worried that the dispute between Qualcomm and Apple could slow down Apple's plans to support next-generation 5G networks. Qualcomm is one of the top suppliers of chips that can connect to 5G networks. Here is the full press release: Qualcomm and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. This story is developing. Please check back for updates. More From CNBC Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: AI) is pleased to announce that the underwriters of its offering of 5.60% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures due March 31, 2025 exercised, in full, their previously announced over-allotment option, resulting in the issue of an additional $3,750,000 aggregate principal amount of debentures. The exercise of the over-allotment option brings the total aggregate principal amount of such debentures issued by Atrium to $28,750,000. The debentures are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "AI.DB.E". The underwriting syndicate for the offering of debentures was bookrun by TD Securities Inc. and RBC Capital Markets and co-led by CIBC Capital Markets, and included BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Scotiabank, Canaccord Genuity Corp., Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. Atrium will use the net proceeds from the exercise of the over-allotment option to repay existing indebtedness under its revolving operating credit facility, which will then be available to be drawn, as required, for general corporate purposes, particularly funding future mortgage loan opportunities. The details of the debentures are described in Atrium's press release issued on March 29, 2019 in connection with the closing of the offering of the debentures. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities being offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless an exemption from registration is available. This news release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Atrium in any jurisdiction. Story continues About Atrium Canada's Premier Non-Bank Lender Atrium is a non-bank provider of residential and commercial mortgages that lends in major urban centres in Canada where the stability and liquidity of real estate are high. Atrium's objectives are to provide its shareholders with stable and secure dividends and preserve shareholders' equity by lending within conservative risk parameters. Atrium is a Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC) as defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada), so is not taxed on income provided that its taxable income is paid to its shareholders in the form of dividends within 90 days after December 31 each year. Such dividends are generally treated by shareholders as interest income, so that each shareholder is in the same position as if the mortgage investments made by the company had been made directly by the shareholder. For further information, please refer to regulatory filings available at www.sedar.com or Atrium's website at www.atriummic.com. For further information, please contact Robert G. Goodall President and Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Scoffield Chief Financial Officer (416) 867-1053 info@atriummic.com www.atriummic.com THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Corporate Logo To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44087 Bank of Hawaii (BOH) is expected to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended March 2019. This widely-known consensus outlook gives a good sense of the company's earnings picture, but how the actual results compare to these estimates is a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price. The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on April 22. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower. While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise. Zacks Consensus Estimate This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.36 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.3%. Revenues are expected to be $166.51 million, up 2.2% from the year-ago quarter. Estimate Revisions Trend The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.12% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period. Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Earnings Whisper Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Story continues Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only. A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP. Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell). How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Bank of Hawaii? For Bank of Hawaii, the Most Accurate Estimate is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that there are no recent analyst views which differ from what have been considered to derive the consensus estimate. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of 0%. On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4. So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Bank of Hawaii will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue? While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Bank of Hawaii would post earnings of $1.36 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.30, delivering a surprise of -4.41%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times. Bottom Line An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss. That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Bank of Hawaii doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Bank of Hawaii Corporation (BOH) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Jeffrey Wertkin enters U.S District Court for the Northern District of California for sentencing. Federal prosecutors on Friday announced a $545,000 False Claims Act settlement with Silicon Valley network security company Fortinet Inc. The terms of the settlement are relatively routine: The Sunnyvale-based company agreed to pay $400,000 and to provide the U.S. Marine Corps with $145,000 in equipment to resolve False Claims Act allegations. The case's route to settlement, however, appears to have been anything but normal thanks to former DOJ lawyer and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Jeffrey Wertkin. Wertkin was sentenced to 30 months in prison last year after federal agents arrested him for reaching out to an in-house lawyer at a Silicon Valley company offering to sell a copy of an underseal qui tam complaint. Federal agents nabbed Wertkin in a Cupertino hotel lobby in January 2017 wearing a wig and sunglasses and posing as someone named "Dan" as he waited with a copy of the complaint. Wertkin had been expecting a $310,000 consulting fee from the company, which was cooperating with authorities. The details of the qui tam suit against Fortinet line up with the complaint that Wertkin was hawking. The target company described in the criminal complaint against Wertkin is one that "provides technology security and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California," a description that fits Fortinet. According to court filings in Wertkin's case, the complaint he was attempting to sell was filed in January 2016 and was pending before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. The suit that Fortinet settled, likewise, was originally filed in January 2016 and was pending before Corley. Neither federal prosecutors, nor Fortinet, nor Wertkin's former criminal defense attorney would confirm that the case that Fortinet settled with the government was the one wrapped up in the Wertkin arrest. But lawyers at Sanford Heisler Sharp who represent the whistleblower in the case, former Fortinet employee Yuxin Jay Fang, say that it is. On the one hand, Fortinet engaged in a brazen and fraudulent scheme that included creating phony labels, but on the other hand, the company did the right thing when Wertkin offered to sell it sealed government documents, said Vincent McKnight, Washington, D.C., managing partner in a prepared statement. I am certain its cooperation influenced the amount of the final settlement agreement on the mislabeling charges. The press release from federal authorities announcing the deal Friday said that the settlement "reflects Fortinets cooperation with the government in this and other matters." A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, which handled both the Wertkin and Fortinet case, said that he could not say specifically on what matters Fortinet cooperated. Fortinet's settlement stems from allegations that an employee inappropriately altered labels to obscure the fact that products made in China were ending up in government handsan alleged violation of the Trade Agreements Act, which prohibits some government contractors from buying goods that aren't from or substantially transformed in the U.S. or other designated countries. A spokesperson for Fortinet said that settlement was the result of an isolated incident involving a "rogue former employee." "When we were made aware of the incident, we took immediate action, including thoroughly investigating the matter, terminating the employee and implementing additional safeguards to prevent an issue like this from happening again," said Fortinet's Sandra Wheatley in an email statement. "The nominal settlement amount of $545,000 reflects in part our cooperation to promptly and thoroughly address this matter. Wheatley did not respond to a follow-up question asking whether the company cooperated in Wertkin's case. Wertkin pleaded guilty in late 2017 to two charges of obstruction of justice and one count of transporting stolen goods across state lines related to stealing and trying to sell sealed whistleblower complaints acquired while he was still a lawyer at the Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney sentenced Wertkin to 30 months of prison time in March 2018. According to the Federal Bureau of Prison inmate locator, Wertkin is currently housed at the federal correctional institute in Talladega, Alabama, and is set for release Jan. 24, 2020. HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / April 15, 2019 / Chevron Corp.'s $33 billion deal with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. lifted stocks of shale-oil producers on Friday and led some to predict a new wave of mergers and acquisitions in energy. Leading CFRA analyst Stewart Glickman said "megamergers have returned" to the oil & gas market. The acquisition would be the eighth largest oil and gas M&A deal in two decades, according to Dealogic. It also puts 2019 well ahead of last year in terms of deal value - so far this year, 169 deals world-wide have totaled $94 billion, compared with 235 deals globally totaling $62 billion in the same 2018-time frame. With this environment in mind, we are highlighting oil & gas stocks to start your researching. One oil & gas play looking to close a major acquisition in about 3-4 weeks that we are highlighting, Camber Energy (CEI) has worked very hard recently to improve their standing with the NYSE American and spent a lot of 2018 cleaning up the company's balance sheet and improving its efficiency. Their hard work is starting to receive recognition as CEI received a letter from the NYSE American about regaining several of their continued listing standards. Start your research now. Today we're highlighting: Camber Energy, Inc. (CEI), Chevron (CVX), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), PBF Energy Inc. (PBF), and Sunoco LP (SUN). Camber Energy, Inc. (CEI) (Market Cap: $7.353M; Share Price: $0.3679) turned a nearly $30 million shareholder deficit into a $2.3 million of positive shareholder's equity, increasing liquidity, extinguishing debt and fast tracking the company for regaining NYSE American compliance. Investors are starting to show support to management's progress and as more investors learn the story, the trend could continue. Oil & Gas investors seeking competent fiscal management and efficient operations should research CEI. The company also 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. Story continues 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." ________ Chevron (CVX) (Market Cap: $227.551B; Share Price: $119.76) jolted the oil market this week by agreeing to buy rival Anadarko Petroleum (APC) (Market Cap: $31.01B; Share Price: $61.78). The oil giant is paying a whopping $50 billion for Anadarko in a combination of stock, cash, and the assumption of debt. The transaction will significantly bolster Chevron's operations in U.S. shale, the Gulf of Mexico, and liquefied natural gas. Chevron has agreed to acquire all Anadarko's outstanding shares for $33 billion, or $65 per share. The combined company will produce an estimated 3.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, trailing only Exxon Mobil Corp among publicly traded companies, up from fourth. It expands Chevron's reach in two areas where U.S. energy output is breaking records: shale from the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico, and liquefied natural gas (LNG). These have helped make the United States one of the world's largest energy exporters. It is expected that this deal will deliver $2 billion in anticipated annual operating cost and capital synergies. Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in integrated energy, chemicals, and petroleum operations worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment is involved in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as operates a gas-to-liquids plant. 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. _________ PBF Energy Inc. (PBF) (Market Cap: $4.04B; Share Price: $33.37) announced in March that it will release its earnings results for the first quarter 2019 on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The company will host a conference call and webcast regarding first quarter results and other business matters on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. ET. The call is being webcast and can be accessed at PBF Energy's website, http://www.pbfenergy.com. The call can also be accessed by dialing (800) 894-5910 or (785) 424-1052, conference ID: PBFQ119. PBF Energy Inc. is one of the largest independent refiners in North America, operating, through its subsidiaries, oil refineries and related facilities in California, Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey and Ohio. Their mission is to operate their facilities in a safe, reliable and environmentally responsible manner, provide employees with a safe and rewarding workplace, become a positive influence in the communities where we do business, and provide superior returns to our investors. PBF Energy Inc. also currently indirectly owns the general partner and approximately 54% of the limited partnership interest of PBF Logistics LP. _________ Sunoco LP (SUN) (Market Cap: $2.557B; Share Price: $30.91) announced in March a private offering of senior notes due 2027 in an aggregate principal amount of $500 million. Sunoco Finance Corp., a wholly owned direct subsidiary of Sunoco, will serve as co-issuer of the notes. Sunoco intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay a portion of the outstanding borrowings under its existing $1.5 billion revolving credit facility. Sunoco LP, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the distribution and retailing of motor fuels in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Fuel Distribution and Marketing, and All Other. The Fuel Distribution and Marketing segment purchases motor fuel from independent refiners and major oil companies and supplies it to independently operated dealer stations, distributors and other consumer of motor fuel, and partnership operated stations, as well as to commission agent locations. It is a master limited partnership that distributes motor fuel to approximately 10,000 convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors located in more than 30 states. Sunoco's general partner is owned by Energy Transfer Operating, L.P., a subsidiary of Energy Transfer LP. _________ Signed by Priyanka Goel, CFA Legal Disclaimer: This article was written by Regal Consulting, LLC (Regal Consulting). Regal Consulting has agreed to a six-month term consulting agreement with CEI dated 11/15/18. The agreement calls for $28,000 in cash, and 200,000 restricted 144 shares of CEI per month. Regal Consulting and CEI have agreed to amend the current agreement and extend it until October 2019, the amendment calls for $50,000 in cash, and 50,000 restricted 144 shares of CEI. All payments were made directly by Camber Energy, Inc. to Regal Consulting, LLC. to provide investor relations services, of which this article is a part of. Regal Consulting also paid one thousand dollars cash to microcapspeculators.com to distribute this article. Regal Consulting may have a position in the securities mentioned in this article at the time of publication, and may increase or decrease its position without notice. This article is based on public information and the opinions of Regal Consulting. CEI was given an opportunity to edit this article. This article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any results predicted herein. Regal Consulting is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide or claim to provide investment advice. http://www.regalconsultingllc.com/full legal disclaimer/ Full Legal Disclaimer Click Here. Contact Information: Company Name: ACR Communication LLC. Contact Person: Media Manager Email: info@microcapspeculators.com Phone: 1-702-720-6310 Country: United States SOURCE: ACR Communication LLC View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/541978/Chevron-Deal-Excites-Energy-Sector Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Willow Biosciences (CSE: WLLW) is one of the latest new listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange, having previously traded as Makena Resources, prior to a fundamental change of business. By combining with BioCan Technologies and Epimeron, Willow brings together world-leading discovery biologists and business experts in Canada and the United States to advance BioCan's current biosynthesis platform. For more information, please view the InvestmentPitch Media "video" which provides additional information on the company. If this link is not enabled, please visit www.InvestmentPitch.com and enter "Willow" in the search box. Cannot view this video? Visit: http://www.investmentpitch.com/video/0_1ex2fzdw/New-Listing-Willow-Biosciences-CSEWLLW BioCan researches and identifies novel genetic factors required for efficient cannabinoid biosynthesis. The company leverages its expertise in molecular genetics to support cultivar development for Cannabis Sativa, including both cannabis and hemp, and Hop plants, both of which are sources of valuable essential oils. Much of BioCan's research efforts over the past years has been devoted to the biosynthesis of phytocannabinoids to better understand how they can be produced more efficiently for the pharmaceutical or fine chemical market. Epimeron, founded in 2014 by a team of researchers from the University of Calgary in Alberta, was spun out to Innovate Calgary, the university's knowledge transfer and business incubator. The company discovers, deploys, and optimizes genes that underlie key plant biochemical functions needed for maximum product yield. For example, Epimeron utilizes yeast fermentation to develop new biosynthetic methods to replace extraction methods of production. These improved processes can replace older extraction manufacturing methods that relied on isolation of raw materials from harvested crops. Story continues Trevor Peters, President and CEO, stated: "We are very excited to be entering our next phase of development. The capital we have raised will augment and accelerate the work we have already started in developing a biosynthesis platform for producing cannabinoids and will fund us to full scale production". The company is well financed, having raised gross proceeds of $29 million from the placement of approximately 828.5 million units priced at $0.035 per unit. For more information, please visit the company's websites www.BioCanTechnologies.com and www.epimeron.com, or contact Trevor Peters, President & CEO at 403-669-4848 or email t.peters@BioCanTechnologies.com or Dr. Joseph Tucker, Executive Chairman at 508-627-0485 or email jtucker@epimeron.com. About InvestmentPitch Media InvestmentPitch Media leverages the power of video, which together with its extensive distribution, positions a company's story ahead of the 1,000's of companies seeking awareness and funding from the financial community. The company specializes in producing short videos based on significant news releases, research reports and other content of interest to investors. CONTACT: InvestmentPitch Media Barry Morgan, CFO bmorgan@investmentpitch.com Corporate Logo To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44111 ATHENS, Greece, April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that it has signed, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to sell to an unaffiliated third party, the 2004-built vessel Erato, with delivery to the buyer latest by June 10, 2019, for a sale price of US$7.0 million before commissions. Upon completion of the aforementioned sale and the previously announced sale of a Panamax dry bulk vessel, the m/v Dione, Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet will consist of 45 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 14 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax and 17 Panamax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, including the m/v Erato and m/v Dione, is approximately 5.6 million dwt with a weighted average age of 9.30 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release. About the Company Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on medium to long-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. Story continues The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Corporate Contact: Ioannis Zafirakis Director, Chief Strategy Officer and Secretary Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100 Email: izafirakis@dianashippinginc.com Website: www.dianashippinginc.com Investor and Media Relations: Edward Nebb Comm-Counsellors, LLC Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350 Email: enebb@optonline.net April 15 (Reuters) - Brazil's real and shares rose on Monday, recovering after declines last week, while the currencies of oil exporters such as the Mexican and Colombian pesos weakened as crude prices dipped. The real firmed 0.5 percent in early trading before surrendering the gain to trade flat against a weaker dollar, while the Bovespa stock index rose for the first time in four days with a gain of 0.3 percent. A rebound in shares of state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA , which fell more than 7 percent on Friday, provided the biggest boost for the Bovespa index. Petrobras, as the company is commonly know, slumped after it canceled a diesel price hike in the wake of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's call for "fair" prices out of concern for truckers, spooking investors wary of political interference at the state-run oil firm. Shares of iron ore miner Vale, however, dragged heavily on the index after a report that its decision to halt production at 10 sites in Minas Gerais state following a deadly dam disaster has affected deliveries of iron ore pellets to clients. Ecorodovias fell almost 3 percent after the federal police on Friday carried out search-and-seizure warrants at its indirect subsidiary Eco 101. Pension reforms were also a focus in Brazil, with investors monitoring a congressional committee which may begin discussing the changes on Monday. Meanwhile, currencies in Mexico and Colombia slipped as oil prices fell on signals that Russia may exit production cuts. Analysts at Metanalysis also pointed to some profit-taking in the Mexican peso, which has gained for six of the past eight sessions. Shares in Mexico City slumped 0.7 percent, tracking a dip in world stocks as Wall Street fell on Goldman Sachs' disappointing results. Stock indices in Chile and Colombia made small gains. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1435 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1086.47 -0.24 MSCI LatAm 2751.90 -0.32 Brazil Bovespa 93151.09 0.3 Mexico IPC 44513.85 -0.39 Chile IPSA 5240.58 0.02 Argentina MerVal 31517.64 0.51 Colombia IGBC 13130.80 0.01 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 3.8781 0.24 Mexico peso 18.8372 -0.46 Chile peso 662.5 -0.26 Colombia peso 3128.25 -0.49 Peru sol 3.298 -0.03 Argentina peso 41.3500 2.06 (interbank) (Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru Additional reporting by Noe Torres in Mexico City Editing by Paul Simao) * FTSE dragged down by miners and oil majors * Vivendi at 11-yr high on higher Q1 results * Nestle, ex-div, weighs on Food and Beverage index * Nokia downgraded by Goldman Sachs to "sell" (Updates to close) By Agamoni Ghosh April 15 (Reuters) - European shares ended higher on Monday with telecom and retail stocks leading gains as Sino-U.S. trade optimism and strong Chinese economic data eased some worries over global growth - though lacklustre earnings from big U.S. banks weighed. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose for the fourth straight session, hovering near eight-month highs with most indices in the region gaining, apart from Britain's FTSE 100 which lost ground as miners and oil majors fell. Markets cheered the progress in trade talks after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday he hoped that the United States and China were close to the final round of negotiations. Reuters reported that U.S. negotiators had tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a deal after strong resistance from Beijing. "Growth worries will continue to be shrugged off as long as trade talks go well and central banks continue to support monetary policy," said David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets, London. Investors are bracing for earnings to come later in the week and will also be scrutinizing data - including Germanys ZEW survey and Chinese gross domestic product due on Wednesday. Bank stocks, which led gains earlier in the day on last week's earnings beat from JP Morgan, slipped after lacklustre results from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup . "We do see a bit of pressure on Eurozone banks because of those earnings," said Madden. Shares in Danish healthcare company Ambu rose more than 7 percent, making it the biggest gainer on the STOXX 600, after the U.S. FDA said products produced by some of its rivals had higher than expected levels of contamination. French media conglomerate Vivendi closed at a more than 11-year high after it posted higher first-quarter revenue and said it was forging ahead with the planned sale of up to 50 percent of its UMG music arm. Story continues Shares of Norwegian metals maker Norsk Hydro rose to more than two-month highs after the company won further support for its bid to resume full output from its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil. Italian media group Mediaset and its German rival ProSiebenSat.1 Media rose on merger speculation, even though both companies denied they were in talks. The biggest drag on the STOXX were basic resources stocks with London-listed shares of Rio Tinto falling more than 1 percent. The mining company is due to release its production data for the March quarter later in the week. Finland's Nokia weighed on the Helsinki and the euro zone blue chips index after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to "sell". Nestle, trading without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out, dragged down the food & beverages index. Compass Group was among the biggest weights on London's blue-chip index after Barclays downgraded shares of the world's largest caterer to "equal-weight". (Reporting by Medha Singh,Susan Mathew and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Heavens) By Julie Zhu HONG KONG, April 16 (Reuters) - DCP Capital, co-founded by former KKR & Co Greater China head David Liu, said it has raised about $2.5 billion in its debut U.S. dollar and yuan funds, giving the private equity firm adequate firepower to invest in Greater China. The funds add to a massive pool of money for Chinese investment and underscore investor confidence in the ability to cut deals in the world's second-largest economy in the face of economic slowdown and trade tension with the United States. DCP in a statement on Tuesday said it raised over $2 billion for its DCP Capital Partner I dollar fund from investors, known as limited partners. The fund was "significantly" oversubscribed due to strong demand from investors such as pension funds, funds-of-funds and sovereign wealth funds, it said. Along with a concurrently raised yuan-denominated fund, committed capital reached about $2.5 billion, putting DCP among several China-focused investment managers that have funds in both U.S. and Chinese currencies. China-focused private equity and venture capital managers raised $37 billion last year in dollar-denominated funds, versus $40 billion in 2017, according to data provider Preqin. Asia-focused dry powder - money committed but not yet invested - was a record $291 billion at the end of 2018. DCP's investors include Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd and state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd , as well as Canadian public pension fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. DCP declined to comment on the investors. The Beijing-based private equity firm said it will primarily seek buyout and significant minority investment opportunities in sectors that benefit from consumption upgrade and industry consolidation in Greater China, such as consumer, industrial technology and healthcare. DCP was set up in 2017 by Liu who was also a co-head of KKR's Asia private equity business, and Julian Wolhardt, a former senior KKR executive in the region after both worked with the U.S. buyout firm for 11 years. Prior to KKR, Liu and Wolhardt led Morgan Stanley's private equity business in Asia. Both had led investments for KKR including in raw milk producer China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd, home appliance maker Haier Electronics Group Co Ltd and leasing firm Far East Horizon Ltd. (Reporting by Julie Zhu; Editing by Christopher Cushing) University of the Sciences University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Photo: Google A former student at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia is suing the school, claiming he was unfairly investigated by the college and its law firm, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, and wrongly expelled as a result. The plaintiff, referred to in court documents by the pseudonym John Doe, filed an amended complaint against the school Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The first complaint was filed in late January. Schnader is not named as a defendant in the case. However, the complaint describes the firm's role in investigating the allegations against the plaintiff, specifically noting that the school hired Anne Kane, co-chair of Schnader's litigation department, to handle the investigation. The case involves two female students' allegations against the plaintiff, who are also referred to by pseudonyms in court documents. According to the complaint, both women alleged that John Doe had sex with them without their consent. The plaintiff has alleged in his complaint that the sexual encounters with both women were consensual. His encounter with the first woman took place in 2017, the complaint said, and the encounter with the second woman was in 2018. The two women were sorority sisters, the complaint said. John Doe alleged that the university, through Kane's investigation, violated its own policies by failing to interview witnesses who would have been helpful to his defense, and by not questioning inconsistencies in witness statements that were favorable to the women accusing him of sexual misconduct. The complaint also alleged that the university encouraged the first accuser to tell others about her complaint "in an effort to find other women willing to make a complaint against John." "Unfortunately for John, Ms. Kane and the university not only misused the witnesses, but the analysis of the evidence collected in each claim against John was intentionally skewed to ensure that John would be found to have sexually assaulted the two women," the complaint said. The complaint said Kane concluded her investigation in November 2018, and John Doe was informed in December that he was expelled, based on her findings. The plaintiff appealed the expulsion, but his appeal was denied, the complaint said. "Expulsion from the university will cause John to be denied the benefits of education at his chosen school, damaged his academic and professional reputations, and will affect his ability to enroll at other institutions of higher education and to pursue a career," the complaint said. The plaintiff is alleging Title IX violations and breach of contract by the university, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligence. He alleges damages of more than $75,000. The complaint noted the national conversation around sexual misconduct on college campuses. "There has been substantial criticism of universities, both in the student body and in the public media, accusing schools of not taking seriously complaints of female students alleging sexual assault by male students," it said. "As a result, the university's decision-makers and its investigators were motivated to favor the accusing female over the accused male, so as to protect themselves and the university from accusations that they had failed to protect female students from sexual assault." Riley Ross III of Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross is representing the John Doe plaintiff. "Schools owe the students a duty to treat them fairly," Ross said. Joe Tucker Jr. of Tucker Law Group is representing the university. He did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A spokesman for Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Kane. - Fibrocell to receive up to $135 million, including up to $30 million in upfront, near-term and development payments and a 30% gross profit share - - Fibrocell retains rights to the eligible Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher - - Phase 3 clinical trial (DEFI-RDEB) initiation expected in second quarter of 2019 - - Fibrocell to host conference call at 8:30 AM EDT Today - EXTON, Pa., April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fibrocell Science, Inc. (FCSC), a cell and gene therapy company focused on transformational autologous cell-based therapies for skin and connective tissue diseases, today announced the completion of a collaboration agreement with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize Fibrocells lead gene therapy candidate, FCX-007, for the treatment of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a rare, life-threatening genetic disorder diagnosed at infancy with no cure or treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We are proud to partner with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals, a company recognized for its innovation in drug development for rare skin diseases and its commitment to the epidermolysis bullosa community. This agreement provides resources and non-dilutive capital to continue the development and, if approved, commercialize FCX-007, a potentially transformative treatment for RDEB patients, said John Maslowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fibrocell. With Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals providing funding for the development of FCX-007, Fibrocell can allocate additional resources to advance clinical development of FCX-013 for the treatment of moderate to severe localized scleroderma. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals will receive an exclusive license to commercialize FCX-007 in the United States. Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for all development and manufacturing expenses up to $20 million prior to the initial Biologics License Application (BLA) filing with the FDA. If development spending exceeds $20 million, Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for 70% of the excess costs and Fibrocell will cover 30% of these additional expenses. Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals will also be responsible for all commercialization activities for FCX-007. Fibrocell will maintain responsibility for clinical development, regulatory interactions, and manufacturing of the product under a future supply agreement with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals. Fibrocell will receive an upfront payment of $7.5 million, $2.5 million for the first patient enrolled in the Phase 3 clinical trial and $30 million upon BLA approval and commercial readiness. Fibrocell is also eligible to receive up to $75 million in sales milestones, consisting of $25 million when FCX-007 achieves $250 million in cumulative net sales and an additional $50 million upon attaining $750 million in cumulative net sales. In addition, Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals will pay Fibrocell a 30% share of the gross profits from FCX-007 sales. Story continues Fibrocell will retain sole ownership of the Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV), which may be granted upon market approval of FCX-007. The PRV can be used to obtain priority review for a subsequent New Drug Application or BLA, and can be sold to another entity. We believe our collaboration with Fibrocell is synergistic and serves both of our long-term objectives well. It increases the breadth of Castle Creeks potential epidermolysis bullosa therapies by combining our clinical trial evaluating our investigational topical therapy (CCP-020) for epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) with Fibrocells gene therapy to potentially treat RDEB, said Greg Wujek, Chief Executive Officer of Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals. Castle Creek values the contributions of the Fibrocell team in progressing development of FCX-007, and we are excited to work with them to continue advancing this novel EB therapy that offers the potential to bring relief to patients suffering from this chronic, painful and debilitating disease. FCX-007 is a genetically-modified autologous fibroblast that encodes the gene for type VII collagen (COL7). In a recent Type B meeting, the FDA provided guidance on various design aspects of Fibrocells proposed Phase 3 clinical trial, named DEFI-RDEB. The trial is designed as an open label, multi-centered, intra-patient controlled study expected to enroll 15-20 patients. The trial is expected to initiate in the second quarter of 2019. FCX-007 is being developed in collaboration with Intrexon Corporation (XON). As part of our existing Exclusive Channel Collaboration (ECC), Fibrocell will pay Intrexon 50% of all upfront, milestone, and profit share payments from Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals. Payments to Intrexon do not include funds received by Fibrocell from Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals in connection with the development and manufacturing costs or payments for supply of FCX007. FCX007s development continues subject to the 2012 ECC. Based on Fibrocells receipt of the upfront payment from Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals and reduction of expenses associated with the development of FCX-007, the Company believes its existing cash will be sufficient to fund operations into the third quarter of 2020. In connection with the successful completion of the agreement with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals, Fibrocell also concluded the strategic alternative review process announced last year. Canaccord Genuity Group, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Fibrocell. Conference Call and Webcast To participate on the live call, please dial 888-221-3881 (domestic) or +1-786-789-4776 (international), and provide the conference code 7350159 five to ten minutes before the start of the call. The conference call will also be webcast live under the investor relations section of Fibrocell's website at www.fibrocell.com/investors/events and will be archived there for 30 days following the call. About FCX-007 FCX-007 is Fibrocell's clinical stage, gene therapy product candidate for the treatment of RDEB, a congenital and progressive orphan skin disease caused by the deficiency of COL7. FCX-007 is a genetically-modified autologous fibroblast that encodes the gene for COL7. By genetically modifying autologous fibroblasts ex vivo to produce COL7, culturing them and then treating wounds locally via injection, FCX-007 offers the potential to address the underlying cause of the disease by providing high levels of COL7 directly to the affected areas while avoiding systemic distribution. About FCX-013 FCX-013 is Fibrocells clinical stage, gene therapy candidate for the treatment of moderate to severe localized scleroderma. FCX-013 is an autologous fibroblast genetically modified using lentivirus and encoded for matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1), a protein responsible for breaking down collagen. FCX-013 incorporates Intrexons proprietary RheoSwitch Therapeutic System, a biologic switch activated by Veledimexan orally administered compoundto control protein expression at the site of the localized scleroderma lesions. FCX013 is designed to be injected under the skin at the location of the fibrotic lesions where the genetically-modified fibroblast cells will produce MMP-1 to break down excess collagen accumulation. About Fibrocell Fibrocell is an autologous cell and gene therapy company translating personalized biologics into medical breakthroughs for diseases affecting the skin and connective tissue. Fibrocell's most advanced product candidate, FCX-007, is the subject of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of RDEB. Fibrocell is also developing FCX-013 for the treatment of moderate to severe localized scleroderma and is currently enrolling the Phase 1 portion of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. For more information, visit www.fibrocell.com or follow Fibrocell on Twitter at @Fibrocell. About Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals (CCP) is a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for patients with rare, serious or debilitating dermatologic conditions. The company, with offices in Parsippany, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois, is dedicated to developing and bringing novel therapies to those living with epidermolysis bullosa. For more information, visit: www.castlecreekpharma.com. Trademarks Fibrocell, the Fibrocell logo, and Fibrocell Science are trademarks of Fibrocell Science, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains, and our officers and representatives may from time to time make, statements that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements that are not historical facts are hereby identified as forward-looking statements for this purpose and include, among others, statements relating to: Fibrocell's expectations regarding the timing and clinical development of FCX-007, including the Companys plans to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial for FCX-007 in the second quarter of 2019; the potential benefits of the collaboration between Fibrocell and Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals; Fibrocells potential to earn future milestone and profit share payments under the agreement with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals; the expected trial design of DEFI-RDEB, and expectation to enroll 15-20 patients therein; the timing of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial of FCX-013, including our expectation to complete enrollment of Phase 1 adult patients in the third quarter of 2019; the potential advantages of FCX-007 and Fibrocells other product candidates; the potential benefits of Fast Track Designation, Orphan Drug Designation and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation; the Companys belief that its cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund operations into the third quarter of 2020 and other statements regarding Fibrocells future operations, financial performance and financial position, prospects, strategies, objectives and other future events. Forward-looking statements are based upon managements current expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results and events to differ materially and adversely from those indicated herein including, among others: Fibrocell has not yet received the FDAs official meeting minutes, and they may differ materially from the Companys understanding of the results of the Type B meeting with the FDA; the ability of Fibrocell and Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals to meet objectives tied to milestones and profit share payments; uncertainties and delays in the FDA review and approval of the clinical trial protocol for FCX-007; uncertainties and delays relating to the initiation, enrollment and completion of clinical trials; whether clinical trial results will validate and support the safety and efficacy of Fibrocells product candidates; unanticipated or excess costs relating to the development of Fibrocells gene therapy product candidates; Fibrocells ability to obtain additional capital to continue to fund operations; uncertainties associated with being able to identify, evaluate and complete any strategic transaction or alternative; the impact of the announcement of the collaboration with Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals on the Company's business, including its financial and operating results; Fibrocells ability to maintain its collaborations with Intrexon and Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals; Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals ability to successfully commercialize FCX-007, if approved; and the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the caption Item 1A. Risk Factors in Fibrocells most recent Form 10-K filing and Form 10-Q filings. As a result, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. While Fibrocell may update certain forward-looking statements from time to time, Fibrocell specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Fibrocell Investor Relations Contact: Karen Casey 484-713-6133 kcasey@fibrocell.com Fibrocell Media Contact: Sam Brown Inc. Mike Beyer 312-961-2502 mikebeyer@sambrown.com Castle Creek Pharmaceuticals Media Contact: Berry & Company Public Relations Adam Daley 212-253-8881 adaley@berrypr.com FIFG:First Foods Group, Inc. Reports Year End Revenue Net Revenue Grew by 1,498% to $251,083 for the Year Ended December 31, 2018. Assets Grew by 106% to $680,179 as of December 31, 2018. The Company has No Convertible Debt. Results Were Positively Impacted by Syndicated Participation in Merchant Cash Advances, which Grew by 279% to $562,488 as of December 31, 2018. Results are supporting the expansion of the Companys Holy Cacao subsidiary, including a new manufacturing consulting agreement and a Facility Access and Wholesale Production Purchase and Sale Agreement. New York, NY, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- First Foods Group, Inc. (FIFG) (the Company), a fully reporting entity with growing interests in the food and food service industry, reported net GAAP revenue of $251,083 for the year ended December 31, 2018, representing an increase of 1,498% over the net GAAP revenue of $15,708 reported for the year ended December 31, 2017. Total assets as of December 31, 2018 were $680,179, representing an increase of 106% over total assets of $329,790 as of December 31, 2017. The Company has no convertible debt. The Company has deployed its available funds by increasing its syndicated participation in merchant cash advances by 279% to $562,488 as of December 31, 2018 from $148,253 as of December 31, 2017. The Companys financial results are supporting the expansion of its Holy Cacao subsidiary, which is primarily focused on developing its specialty chocolate line and related intellectual property. The Company has developed twenty-three (23) proprietary recipes that have been tested in a fully staffed and fully equipped state of the art manufacturing facility. The Company has also obtained a trademark from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for The Edibles Cult brand and has submitted multiple applications to the USPTO for additional brand names, including mystere among others. These efforts have culminated in two Holy Cacao agreements, including a Consulting Agreement with a consultant to assist in the manufacturing, packaging and distribution of the Companys specialty chocolate product line and a Facility Access and Wholesale Production Purchase and Sale Agreement that allows the Company to begin commercial production of its specialty chocolate product line and allows its first commercial buyer to begin submitting purchase orders to the Company. The Company is currently pursuing licensing agreements for its intellectual property, including its brand and packaging. Story continues About First Foods Group, Inc.: First Foods Group, Inc. (the "Company" or First Foods) is a smaller reporting company focused on developing its specialty chocolate line and participating in merchant cash advances through its 1st Foods Funding Division (the Division). First Foods continues to pursue new foodservice brands and menu concepts. Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press 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, that are based on the current beliefs of the Companys management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain assumptions, including those described in this release. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes", "belief", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "will", should, could, might, potentially or "plans" to be uncertain and forward looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the company's reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. First Foods Group 201-471-0988 info@firstfoodgrp.com Attachment Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Photo: Hunter Crenian/Shutterstock.com The Florida Supreme Court Tuesday ruled Gov. Ron DeSantis did not abuse his gubernatorial powers by removing former Okaloosa County School Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson from office. The high court entered an order denying Jackson's petition for writ of quo warranto. Jackson, who was dismissed from her elected position by executive order on Jan. 11, had argued that DeSantis' suspension was an overreach of powers granted to him by the Florida Constitution. The decision comes as another ousted official, former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, is suing DeSantis over his removal from public office via executive order. DeSantis had justified Jackson's removal by citing conduct that allegedly occurred under her watch during her first term in office, including charges of "child abuse/neglect by instructional personnel" and "numerous criminal charges of failing to report suspected child abuse by instructional personnel and administrators," according to the governor's order. But Jackson had argued she could only be removed from office for alleged failures that occurred during her current term, not for alleged infractions before her re-election in November 2016. George Levesque, a shareholder with GrayRobinson's Tallahassee office, represented Jackson. He argued in the petition that the Florida Supreme Court "has long held that the governors authority to suspend an officer under the Florida Constitution is limited to acts occurring during the current term of office of the suspended officer." The attorney characterized DeSantis' order as "an invalid exercise of authority" and contended "Jackson is entitled to reinstatement as superintendent of schools of Okaloosa County." But the high court found that Jackson's appeal was "based on a faulty premise." "Read fairly and in its entirety, the suspension order alleges acts and omissions occurring during Jacksons current term, and bases Jacksons suspension on her alleged ongoing mismanagement of the school district," the order said. The high court also cited DeSantis' mention in the executive order of two Okaloosa County grand jury reports, in February and June 2018, on Jackson's conduct. "The text of the suspension order leaves no doubt that, in the governors view, those failures continued up to the time of Jacksons suspension in January 2019," the court found. Because DeSantis' suspension order concerned purported failures by Jackson during her most recent term, the high court found "there is no need for us to address the constitutional validity of a hypothetical suspension order alleging facts that relate exclusively to a suspended officials earlier term in office." A concurring opinion by Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Lagoa held Article IV, Section 7 of the Florida Constitution, which grants the governor suspension power, "doesn't outline a temporal limitation on the executives suspension power such that the constitutionally enumerated grounds resulting in suspension must occur during the suspended officers current term of office." Story continues Read the Florida Supreme Court's order: The governor celebrated the high court's decision. "I am pleased that @FLCourts rejected Mary Beth Jacksons challenge to my authority to suspend her as Okaloosa County Superintendent for failing to protect students," his official account tweeted. "My administration will not tolerate negligence nor incompetence from any government official, especially those charged with the sacred duty of protecting our children." Levesque did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Jackson's petition is not the only litigation to reach the Florida Supreme Court concerning DeSantis' suspensions. A lawsuit by Broward's former sheriff, Israel, against the governor is also currently before the high court. In a statement, Israel's attorney, Benedict "Ben" Kuehne, said the court's findings do not impact his client's claims against DeSantis. "Sheriff Israel interprets the Supreme Courts ruling today as requiring strict adherence to the constitutional provision," Kuehne said. "Unlike Superintendent Jacksons appeal, Sheriff Israel has identified the failure on the part of the governors suspension order to identify a single mandatory duty that Sheriff Israel neglected or incompetently administered. Without a showing of a violation of a mandatory duty, the strict text of the Florida Constitution does not validate the sheriffs suspension." Related stories: Florida Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Scott Israel's Lawsuit Against Gov. DeSantis Ex-Broward Sheriff Israel Appeals Dismissal of Suit Against Gov. DeSantis Over Parkland School Shooting France has set the bar high for its EU member peers on crypto regulation. | Source: Shutterstock By CCN: France is pushing the boundaries with its new crypto regulatory framework, which it unveiled a week ago. Now the government plans to pressure other EU states to take the right approach to crypto regulation. French officials are acutely aware that the blockchain is an emerging field with proven risks, and they have employed a heavy screening burden for projects seeking to sell crypto assets. Frances Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has been setting the tone for this weeks Paris Blockchain Conference and didnt mince words: I will propose to my European partners that we set up a single regulatory framework on crypto-assets inspired by the French experience. Our model is the right one. La France a tous les moyens pour devenir un pays leader en Europe sur les technologies #blockchain : des start-ups qui reussissent dans ce domaine, des centres de recherches et de formation, des grands groupes qui l'experimentent. #ParisBlockchainConference pic.twitter.com/hdHwaw7t3I Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) April 15, 2019 Inside Frances Crypto Bill Last week, Frances parliament gave the green light to a finance law that addresses the treatment of cryptocurrencies. The policy includes specific screening and documentation requirements for crypto projects housed locally. Businesses from around the world may apply for regulation within France to take advantage of the new regulations put in place by the bill. Upon being thoroughly vetted, businesses can receive a certificate from the French government. Some information required for certification under the new crypto regulation framework includes: Story continues Personal background checks for project founders and/or advisors Business plan verification Project AML compliance information Other EU Countries Feel the Heat Other EU countries must rise to the occasion. Otherwise, if they fail to meet or exceed the standard offered by France, they risk losing tech innovation to other jurisdictions. If they shoot too high, investors might get burned. Read the full story on CCN.com. Lloyd Bell (Photo: John Disney/ALM) Lloyd Bell (Photo: John Disney/ALM) The Georgia Supreme Court has turned aside an appeal from Agnes Scott College seeking to end a long-running false imprisonment lawsuit that began when a student accused a woman of sexual assault and had her arrested. The convoluted case has already been dismissed once, only to be revived by the justices, and a 2016 trial ended in a mistrial over juror misbehavior. The college had asked the trial judge to issue a verdict in its favor despite the mistrial, which DeKalb County State Court Judge Johnny Panos declined to do. That decision was upheld by the state Court of Appeals last year; the justices refused to grant certiorari to the college on Monday. We were real pleased to see the Supreme Court deny cert; now well be heading back to DeKalb County for another trial, said Bell Law Firm principal Lloyd Bell, who represents plaintiff Amanda Hartley. The issues that are now back in front of the jury are the responsibilities of a private school such as Agnes Scott for the campus officers they hire, said Bell. This entire last appeal has involved Agnes Scotts efforts to convince first the trial court, then the Court of Appeals, that they should not be responsible. The Supreme Court has just told them they are wrong. David Ladner, Bendin, Sumrall & Ladner, Atlanta Ga. Photo by John Disney/ ALM David Ladner Agnes Scotts defense team includes B. David Ladner of Bendin, Sumrall & Ladner, along with partner Brian Trulock and associate Alan Payne. Ladner was unavailable on Tuesday. The case began in 2009 when an Agnes Scott student named Hayley Maxwell claimed that Hartley, then a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, had violently assaulted Maxwell in her dorm room. An Agnes Scott police officer took Maxwell for an exam, but there was no evidence of bruising or trauma, according to court filings. College police Lt. Gaetano Antinozzi obtained a warrant charging Hartley with aggravated sexual battery and other charges. Hartley was arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee, and brought to the DeKalb County Jail, where she was locked up for more than three weeks. During that time, according to her filings, she was beaten by other inmates, placed in solitary confinement and subjected to cavity searches by female officers while male officers looked on. Hartley was able to prove she was in Tennessee at the time of the alleged attack, and her charges were dismissed. But by the time she was released, she had missedand subsequently failedher final exams at the University of Tennessee, been expelled from the premed program and lost her scholarship and grant funding, according to her filings. In 2011, Hartley sued Agnes Scott, Antinozzi and two other officers for false arrest, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Agnes Scott filed a motion to dismiss arguing that, under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, the officers were shielded under sovereign immunity, even though they were privately employed at a private college. Panos denied the motion, but, in a 4-to-3 opinion, the Georgia Court of Appeals panel reversed him in 2013, with the majority ruling that the officers were acting in service to the state and were thus immune and that Agnes Scott could not be liable, because the school did not direct the officers to seek Harleys arrest. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed that opinion in 2014, ruling unanimously that, because the officers were not acting for any state entity or agency, they were not immune from suit. By the time the case went to trial in 2016, the individual officers had been dismissed from the case, and only Agnes Scott remained as a defendant. The trial took more than a week, and jurors had twice sent out notes saying they were deadlocked when another note came forth indicating that one juror had been researching the case and communicating with a policeman friend and trying to influence the panel. Panos declared a mistrial, and Agnes Scott filed the motion for judgment notwithstanding the mistrial, arguing there was no evidence that it was vicariously responsible for any improper actions by its campus policemen. Panos refused, and last May the Georgia Court Appeals agreed that he had properly denied the motion. Although Agnes Scott argues that there is no evidence that it specifically directed Antinozzis investigation of and other actions pertaining to Hartley, there is no dispute that Agnes Scott generally authorized Antinozzi to exercise law enforcement powers in his work as its campus policeman, wrote Judge Christopher McFadden with the concurrence of Judges Brian Rickman and William Ray II (now a federal judge). Because there is a basis for finding that Antinozzi was working as Agnes Scotts servant when he committed the allegedly tortious acts, it said, Agnes Scott may be vicariously liable for those acts if Antinozzi committed them while acting within the general scope of his duties for Agnes Scott. Bell said he hasn't been contacted by opposing counsel regarding any settlement discussions since the latest development but noted that the college appointed a new president last year, attorney Leocadia Lee Zak. "There has been a change of leadership at Agnes Scott, so theres a possibility that that might impact the decision," said Bell. "The value of the case and the harm Agnes Scott caused my client has not diminished." By Nick Carey and Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co has spent five years re-writing its playbook for making money in Latin America and the interior of China. Now, it's show time for the first results of a project code-named GEM, for Global Emerging Market. At events this week ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show, the No. 1 U.S. automaker plans to unveil two small SUVs that will be part of a new family of sedans and SUVs the automaker forecasts will make up one in five of its global vehicle sales by 2023. This is just the opening salvo in a nearly $5-billion bet by GM to sell up to 2 million technology-laden, modern-looking vehicles annually to consumers who today cannot afford GM vehicles designed for the United States, but may someday as their incomes rise. GM has struggled for years to crack the code for growing profitably outside rich markets, in part because vehicles designed for the U.S. or China's wealthy coastal cities cost too much for developing world consumers. The company has abandoned some Southeast Asian countries and pulled back from Africa because it could not compete. This time around, GM says, through disciplined cost-control it has finally found a way to make affordable vehicles in bulk for emerging markets, loaded with the technology that consumers want and still make a profit. The Chevrolet Tracker and the Buick Encore - not be confused with its American cousin of the same name - are the first tests of a new strategy for engineering vehicles to appeal to buyers in around 40 nations of the world's middle class such as Brazil and Mexico, and the huge developing market that exists within China's heartland. The GEM project involved an unprecedented level of cooperation with GM's Chinese joint venture partner SAIC Motor Corp Ltd. GM and SAIC shared engineering costs and collaborated on purchasing, GM executives said. What potential customers will see are vehicles that include amenities such as touchscreens, mobile phone connectivity, rear-view cameras, and safety features like automatic emergency braking and airbags. Story continues What GM is counting on them not to notice is that the number of options is limited, to reduce complexity in purchasing and manufacturing, or that touches such as fully-carpeted trunks are absent. "We may not be the absolute lowest price point in China," GM president Mark Reuss told Reuters at the automaker's downtown Detroit headquarters. "But we're going to be right in that segment where this is a pretty good-sized car... (with) a huge value for what you pay for it." FEWER PARTS, LESS COST The team that set out to build GM's new vehicle family included engineers and designers from 14 different countries, meeting at the automaker's technical center in the Detroit suburb of Warren to hammer out details that were then executed in China and elsewhere, GM executives said. As the basic design of the GEM vehicles took shape, the strategy for where they would be sold changed. GM pulled out of some markets like India and Vietnam that were originally slated to be among the target markets. The challenge GEM project chief engineer Doug Houlihan faced was how to deliver low-cost vehicles that did not look cheap or lack key safety features. Sometimes, that meant spending more. Houlihan gave the green light to spend extra on machines that could weld on the tops of car doors rather than stamping the door in one piece. The extra investment delivered a door that fit smoothly into the roof of the car for a sleeker look. "This gives the customer more than they would expect," Houlihan said. To offset that cost, Houlihan and his colleagues dug into logistics and the supply chain. Shipping some vehicles by sea between Brazilian ports saved money in a market where moving goods by road can be a logistics nightmare. Houlihan said that Brazilian logistics savings more than paid for the extra $2 per vehicle GM invested for a rear axle five times stronger than its predecessor in South America.One GM plant in Brazil took over some work on engines and bumpers that had previously been outsourced, saving $120 per vehicle - a significant figure for a low-cost vehicle. Integrating the head-rest on the front seat for some models saved $7 per vehicle. Chinese suppliers are key to the new GM vehicle line, but the automaker is shifting away from relying on Chinese production. GM has tried to localize costs for these vehicles as much as possible which can help offset currency fluctuations that hit markets like Brazil. That can also mitigate the impact of tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated trade tensions with China and has threatened a broad tariff on U.S. autos and parts. "You try and tariff-proof yourself and get it as local as you can," GM's Reuss said. GM's new emerging market lineup will face plenty of competition. Chinese automakers are pushing into some of the same countries GM has targeted. Jeff Schuster, a senior executive at auto forecaster LMC Automotive, said GM's advantage could last just a few years if rivals follow with their own low-cost models that offer modern amenities to match those in new Chevrolets and Buicks. Internally, a key test will be how GM applies the cost-saving strategies used in the global emerging market project to other vehicle programs. Houlihan has been named to lead efforts to apply the cost lessons learned from this project to GM's global lineup of crossovers for the Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and GMC brands. (Reporting By Nick Carey; Additional reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Nick Zieminski) The empire springs back A resurgence in Nepals west can give a considerable boost to the regional and national economies. (Bloomberg) -- Google and Apple Inc. complied with an Indian court order to block downloads of the popular app TikTok over government concerns with illicit content, according to people familiar with the decision. The move could handicap the apps owner, Chinas Bytedance Ltd., the worlds most highly valued startup, in one of its most promising markets. An Indian state court had earlier asked the federal government to ban TikTok, citing concerns the video-sharing mobile app exposed children to troubling content, including pornography. Bytedance fought the proposal, but was overruled by Indias Supreme Court. Regulators then asked Alphabet Inc.s Google and Apple Inc. to remove TikTok from their app stores. Representatives for Google and Apple declined to comment. The court ruling restricts future downloads of the app in India, not existing users, said one of the people familiar with the decision, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. A Bytedance spokeswoman declined to comment on the app store decisions, but provided a statement on the India situation: The case is still ongoing to date, the company said. We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India. India is one of several nations across Asia adopting more draconian oversight of internet companies, similar to the way China regulates the web. Bytedance, which creates social and news-reading apps, has most of its users and sales in China. But TikTok has exploded in popularity elsewhere, giving Bytedance more global reach than any other Chinese tech company. Investors have valued the closely held company at $75 billion. The startup has made a considerable push in India, where a vast majority of consumers use phones running Googles Android software. Reuters reported earlier on TikToks removal from Googles app store in India. --With assistance from Mark Gurman and David Ramli. Story continues To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Bergen in San Francisco at mbergen10@bloomberg.net;Saritha Rai in Bangalore at srai33@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, ;Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Today we're going to take a look at the well-established China Communications Construction Company Limited (HKG:1800). The company's stock received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the SEHK over the last few months, increasing to HK$8.72 at one point, and dropping to the lows of HK$7.44. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether China Communications Construction's current trading price of HK$8.15 reflective of the actual value of the large-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at China Communications Constructions outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. See our latest analysis for China Communications Construction Is China Communications Construction still cheap? Good news, investors! China Communications Construction is still a bargain right now. In this instance, Ive used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stocks cash flows. I find that China Communications Constructions ratio of 6.04x is below its peer average of 12.29x, which suggests the stock is undervalued compared to the Construction industry. Although, there may be another chance to buy again in the future. This is because China Communications Constructions beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the companys shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity. What kind of growth will China Communications Construction generate? SEHK:1800 Past and Future Earnings, April 15th 2019 Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that its the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. China Communications Constructions earnings over the next few years are expected to increase by 49%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? Since 1800 is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to accumulate more of your holdings in the stock. With an optimistic outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation. Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on 1800 for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its prosperous future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy 1800. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to make a well-informed investment decision. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on China Communications Construction. You can find everything you need to know about China Communications Construction in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in China Communications Construction, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential. 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. TORONTO, April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay or the company) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) announced today that it is hosting a site visit by analysts and investors to its Lalor mine in Manitoba on April 15-16, 2019. A copy of the site visit presentation, which contains operational, exploration and other updates, is available on Hudbays website at www.hudbay.com . Hudbay also today released its first quarter 2019 Manitoba production results and provided an update on exploration drilling results at its Snow Lake properties. Summary The Lalor mine completed ramp up to a nominal throughput rate of 4,500 tonnes per day in February 2019, resulting in record quarterly production The Stall concentrator achieved record quarterly production as a result of operating and maintenance improvements Production results in the first quarter are on track to achieve full year production guidance Follow-up drilling on the recently discovered 1901 Zone between Lalor and Chisel North continues to intersect significant mineralization o 100 metre step-out drill hole intersected 6 metres of 12.68% Zn, 0.18% Cu, 0.79g/t Au and 89.9g/t Ag o Other holes confirm extension along strike to the northwest with 31.2 metres of 6.17% Zn, 0.11% Cu, 0.38g/t Au and 19.1g/t Ag, and 7.2 metres of 8.84% Zn, 0.45% Cu, 1.16g/t Au and 50.4g/t Ag Evaluating plans to develop an underground exploration platform from the existing Chisel-Lalor ramp in order to drill the 1901 Zone; if this zone is confirmed to be economic, the exploration infrastructure could allow for a quick ramp up to production Initial mineral reserve estimates on WIM, Pen II and New Britannia deposits expected with the 2019 annual year-end reserve and resource update Our Manitoba business unit delivered strong production performance in the first quarter of 2019, as a direct result of the ongoing efforts of our operations team to drive continued improvements and efficiencies, said Alan Hair, Hudbays president and chief executive officer. We are also very pleased with the recent results from our exploration activities, including further drilling in our newly discovered 1901 Zone, which demonstrates the substantial value creation potential of our Manitoba business. Story continues Manitoba Mine Production Three months ended Mar. 31, 2019 Mar. 31, 2018 777 Ore tonnes 278,522 258,386 Copper % 1.65 1.22 Zinc % 3.18 4.86 Gold g/tonne 1.70 2.08 Silver g/tonne 21.75 30.11 Lalor Ore tonnes 388,483 322,554 Copper % 0.76 0.67 Zinc % 6.70 5.67 Gold g/tonne 1.68 2.06 Silver g/tonne 25.96 27.24 Reed1 Ore tonnes - 122,309 Copper % - 3.54 Zinc % - 0.93 Gold g/tonne - 0.70 Silver g/tonne - 9.43 Total Mines Ore tonnes 667,005 703,249 Copper % 1.13 1.37 Zinc % 5.23 4.55 Gold g/tonne 1.69 1.83 Silver g/tonne 24.21 25.20 1 Mining activities at Reed were completed in August 2018. Comparable 2018 numbers include 100% of Reed mine production. Hudbay purchased 30% of the Reed ore production from its joint venture partner on market-based terms. Hudbay increased ore mined at 777 in the first quarter of 2019 by 8% compared to the same period last year. The higher production was due to improved availability of the scoop and truck fleet, and a focus on improving the key performance indicators in the drilling, blasting and backfilling processes. Ore mined at Lalor in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. The Lalor production ramp up to a nominal 4,500 tonnes per day was achieved in February 2019. Higher production volumes in the quarter were due to having more mining fronts available and improvements to the stope cycle time. Manitoba Processing Facilities Three months ended Mar. 31, 2019 Mar. 31, 2018 Flin Flon Concentrator Ore tonnes 289,244 391,627 Copper % 1.55 1.73 Zinc % 3.49 4.16 Gold g/tonne 1.66 1.76 Silver g/tonne 21.78 24.55 Copper concentrate tonnes 16,744 27,176 Concentrate grade % Cu 23.54 22.91 Zinc concentrate tonnes 16,910 27,808 Concentrate grade % Zn 49.41 49.57 Copper recovery % 88.1 91.9 Zinc recovery % 82.9 84.7 Gold recovery % 61.8 64.8 Silver recovery % 52.3 58.8 Contained metal in concentrate produced Copper tonnes 3,941 6,226 Zinc tonnes 8,354 13,784 Precious metals1 ounces 11,033 16,938 Stall Concentrator Ore tonnes 321,523 276,742 Copper % 0.78 0.61 Zinc % 6.75 5.85 Gold g/tonne 1.75 2.07 Silver g/tonne 26.89 27.72 Copper concentrate tonnes 11,112 7,709 Concentrate grade % Cu 19.69 18.53 Zinc concentrate tonnes 38,493 29,403 Concentrate grade % Zn 51.13 51.01 Copper recovery % 87.2 85.1 Zinc recovery % 90.7 92.7 Gold recovery % 59.1 61.4 Silver recovery % 64.2 60.6 Contained metal in concentrate produced Copper tonnes 2,188 1,429 Zinc tonnes 19,683 14,998 Precious metals1 ounces 13,233 13,469 1 Precious metals production includes gold and silver production on a gold-equivalent basis. Silver is converted to gold at a 70:1 ratio. Ore processed in Flin Flon in the first quarter of 2019 was 26% lower than the same period in 2018. The lower processing volumes were a result of the Reed mine closure, and sustained improvements at the Stall concentrator resulting in less ore transported to Flin Flon for processing, partially offset by increased ore production from the 777 mine. Ore processed at the Stall concentrator was 16% higher in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018, as a result of ongoing operational and maintenance improvements. Manitoba contained metal in concentrate produced1,2 Three months ended Guidance Mar. 31, 2019 Mar. 31, 2018 Annual 2019 Copper tonnes 6,129 7,655 22,000 25,000 Gold ounces 20,205 25,675 - Silver ounces 284,265 331,252 - Zinc tonnes 28,037 28,782 100,000 115,000 Precious metals3 ounces 24,266 30,407 105,000 125,000 1 2018 figures include 100% of Reed mine production. Hudbay has a 70% interest in the Reed mine and purchased 30% of the Reed ore production from its joint venture partner on market terms. 2 Metal reported in concentrate is prior to deductions associated with smelter terms. 3 Precious metals production includes gold and silver production on a gold-equivalent basis. Silver is converted to gold at a 70:1 ratio. In the first quarter of 2019, copper, gold, and silver production was 20%, 21% and 14% lower, respectively, compared to the same period in 2018 due to the closure of Reed mine, partially offset by increased production at 777 and Lalor. Zinc production was 3% lower compared to the same period in 2018 due to lower 777 zinc grade, partially offset by higher grades at Lalor. Precious metals production in the first quarter of 2019 was also affected by the stope sequencing of Lalor gold zone ores and the timing of processing as this material is currently transported to the Flin Flon mill and blended to achieve optimal recoveries. Full year production for all metals is expected to be within the guidance ranges. Snow Lake Exploration Update Hudbay continues to intersect high-grade zinc mineralization at the newly discovered 1901 Zone, located between the former producing Chisel North mine and Lalor mine. The discovery is situated less than 1,000 metres from the existing active underground ramp at a depth ranging from 520 to 620 metres and within 15 kilometres of the Stall concentrator in Snow Lake, Manitoba (please refer to Figure 1). The mineralization was first discovered in drill hole CH1901 completed in February 2019 and is interpreted as a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit fed by a system of discrete copper-gold rich feeder zones intersected from drilling completed in 2011 and 2012 by Hudbay (please refer to Figure 2). Hudbay has now completed ten drill holes in the area with five holes intersecting significant thicknesses of high-grade zinc with locally high-grade gold and silver content. The mineralization occurs along the hanging wall contact of the stratigraphic horizon hosting the Chisel North deposit (please refer to Figure 3 and Figure 4). The Chisel North deposit was mined from 2000 to 2012 and produced a total of 3.3 million tonnes at 9.0% zinc. Hudbay continues the drill program from surface to both define the lateral extent of this new discovery and to establish the spatial continuity of the high-grade lenses located within the mineralized zone. Based on drilling success, an underground exploration platform may be developed later this year from the Chisel-Lalor ramp in order to access and further define the deposit, including a 1,200 metre drift and a 600 metre ventilation raise. If this zone is confirmed to be economic, the exploration infrastructure could allow a quick ramp up to production. As announced on February 26, 2019, the initial discovery hole CH1901 assayed 5.21% Zn, 0.33% Cu, 1.37g/t Au and 15.7g/t Ag over 35.6 metres from 540.7 to 576.3 metres. Since the discovery announcement, the company received assays on drill hole CH1902, also completed in February 2019, which intersected 6 metres of massive sulfide with assays confirming 12.68% Zn, 0.18% Cu, 0.79g/t Au and 89.9g/t Ag from 601.7 to 607.6 metres. This second drill hole intersection is located approximately 100 metres from the CH1901 intersection in the general interpreted up-dip plane of the mineralization but in a lower position (please refer to Figure 3). Drill holes CH1903 and CH1904, completed in March 2019, have confirmed that the zone extends along strike to the northwest with significant intersections of 31.2 metres assaying 6.17% Zn, 0.11% Cu, 0.38g/t Au and 19.1g/t Ag from 524.7 to 555.9 metres in CH1903, and 7.2 metres assaying 8.84% Zn, 0.45% Cu, 1.16g/t Au and 50.4g/t Ag from 585.0 to 592.2 metres in CH1904 (please see Figure 4). Mineralization was also intersected over nine metres in hole CH1907, completed in April 2019, from 569 to 578 metres and assays are pending. This intersection in CH1907 is located approximately 70 metres southeast of the intersection in hole CH1901. Overall, the zinc-rich mineralization is currently interpreted as a shallow dipping zone extending approximately 250 metres along strike and 350 metres down dip. Hole ID From To Intercept Estimated true width1 Zn2 Cu2 Au2 Ag2 (m) (m) (m) (m) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) CH03053 736.5 743.7 7.2 7.0 0.03 0.40 0.04 1.76 CH07013 728.5 729.5 1.0 1.0 0.56 9.93 13.44 80.57 CH07023 764.5 767.0 2.5 2.4 0.02 1.69 3.22 5.02 CH07033 744.0 746.1 2.1 2.0 0.01 0.06 3.40 3.38 CH11013 736.0 742.4 6.4 6.0 0.18 4.80 0.92 19.86 CH1101W013 738.0 738.6 0.6 0.6 0.04 0.97 1.54 6.17 CH12013 657.0 661.0 4.0 3.8 0.04 1.22 1.47 7.63 CH12033 693.5 695.0 1.5 1.5 0.06 5.08 6.10 21.76 CH18013 761.9 762.6 0.7 0.6 0.24 1.86 1.84 14.54 CH19014 540.7 576.3 35.6 35.3 5.21 0.33 1.37 15.65 CH19024 601.6 607.5 5.9 5.5 12.68 0.18 0.79 89.89 CH19034 524.7 555.9 31.2 30.8 5.75 0.11 0.39 19.42 CH19044 585.0 592.2 7.2 7.2 8.84 0.45 1.16 50.47 CH1907 569.0 578.0 9.0 8.6 assays pending 1 True widths are estimated based on drill angle and intercept geometry of mineralization. 2 All gold, silver, copper and zinc values are uncut. 3 No density data so assay results are length weighted. 4 Assay results are density and length weighted. Hole ID From (m) To (m) Azimuth at Intercept Dip at Intercept Easting Northing Elevation Easting Northing Elevation CH0305 427622 6079055 -419 427621 6079054 -426 229 -76 CH0701 427540 6079130 -403 427535 6079122 -443 214 -77 CH0702 427451 6079221 -444 427451 6079220 -447 227 -76 CH0703 427467 6079110 -400 427460 6079102 -431 220 -70 CH1101 427467 6078914 -375 427469 6078900 -415 170 -70 CH1101W01 427466 6078942 -414 427466 6078942 -415 184 -81 CH1201 427267 6078924 -297 427257 6078912 -342 270 -70 CH1203 427200 6079087 -366 427200 6079087 -367 254 -72 CH1801 427766 6079097 -468 427766 6079097 -469 249 -78 CH1901 427237 6078710 -239 427233 6078707 -274 229 -82 CH1902 427126 6078616 -266 427123 6078615 -276 241 -69 CH1903 427150 6078843 -222 427147 6078839 -253 218 -82 CH1904 427104 6078710 -282 427103 6078709 -289 241 -82 CH1907 427252 6078640 -259 427251 6078639 -264 229 -74 During the first quarter of 2019, Hudbay reported mineral resource estimates for other 100%-owned deposits in the Snow Lake area, including the WIM, PEN II and New Britannia mine properties. For additional information, please refer to the National Instrument (NI) 43-101 technical report filed by Hudbay on SEDAR on March 28, 2019. Drilling activities for metallurgical testing, geotechnical investigations and engineering studies are underway at all three of these Snow Lake deposits with the expectation to upgrade the mineral resources estimates to mineral reserves with the 2019 annual year-end reserve and resource update. Hudbay continues to advance exploration activities at Lalor where drilling has confirmed the extension of known high-grade lenses. Lalor in-mine exploration drilling will continue throughout the year and is expected to be incorporated in the annual mineral reserve and resource estimate for the year ended 2019. First Quarter 2019 Financial Results Hudbay plans to issue a news release containing the first quarter 2019 results on Monday, May 6, 2019. Senior management will host a conference call on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. ET to discuss the companys first quarter 2019 results. First Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call and Webcast Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 Time: 8:00 a.m. ET Webcast: www.hudbay.com Dial in: 647-794-1827 or 1-800-347-6311 An archived audio webcast of the call also will be available on Hudbays website. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Exploration core drilling was NQ size. The core was logged and mineralized intersections were marked for sampling and assaying by geologists and geotechnicians employed by Hudbay. The marked intersections or intervals were sawn in half by a diamond saw and one half of the core was placed in plastic bags and tagged with unique sample numbers, while the second half was returned to the core box and stored. Each bagged core sample was transported to ACME Bureau Veritas assay laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia where it was dried, crushed and pulverized and a 250-gram sample was prepared for assaying. From each 250-gram sample 0.25 grams was removed and leached in aqua regia and analyzed by ICP-AES for Ag, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Ni and Fe. Also, from the 250-gram sample, 30 grams was removed for gold determination by fire assaying with an Atomic Absorption or gravimetric finish. Assaying integrity is monitored internally with a quality control program, which includes the use of assay sample standards, blanks, duplicates and repeats and externally through national and international programs. In addition, within each group of 20 core samples, one core sample has a second 250-gram split collected that will be check assayed at SGS Analytical Laboratories Ltd., an independent company in Vancouver, British Columbia. This news release provides core lengths and estimates of vertical thickness only. True widths are not provided. Where metal assays are provided for intersections, they are either a single assay of a sample of the entire intersection length or a composite of assays calculated from interval weighted assays over the intersection length. Qualified Person The technical and scientific information contained in this news release has been approved by Olivier Tavchandjian, P. Geo, Hudbays Vice President, Exploration and Geology. Mr. Tavchandjian is a qualified person pursuant to NI 43-101. Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. All information contained in this news release, other than statements of current and historical fact, is forward-looking information. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, budget, guidance, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, strategy, target, intends, objective, goal, understands, anticipates and believes (and variations of these or similar words) and statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, should, might occur or be achieved or will be taken (and variations of these or similar expressions). All of the forward-looking information in this news release is qualified by this cautionary note. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, production, cost and capital and exploration expenditure guidance, anticipated production at the companys Manitoba mines and processing facilities, expectations regarding the Snow Lake gold strategy, including the refurbishment of the New Britannia mill, the low costs of the operation and the possibility of optimizing the value of the company's gold resources at Lalor and elsewhere in Manitoba, the possibility of converting inferred mineral resource estimates to higher confidence categories and discovering additional mineralized zones at Lalor, the potential and the companys anticipated plans for advancing its mining properties in the Snow Lake region anticipated mine plans, anticipated metals prices and the anticipated sensitivity of the companys financial performance to metals prices, events that may affect its operations and development projects, anticipated cash flows from operations and related liquidity requirements, the anticipated effect of external factors on revenue, such as commodity prices, estimation of mineral reserves and resources, mine life projections, reclamation costs, economic outlook, government regulation of mining operations, and business and acquisition strategies. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by the company at the date the forward-looking information is provided, inherently are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. The material factors or assumptions that Hudbay identified and were applied by the company in drawing conclusions or making forecasts or projections set out in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: the schedule for the refurbishment of the New Britannia mill and for carrying out additional technical studies and exploration work; the success of the companys Snow Lake gold strategy; the success of mining, processing, exploration and development activities in Manitoba and Hudbays ability to grow the business in Snow Lake; the scheduled maintenance and availability of the processing facilities; the accuracy of geological, mining and metallurgical estimates; anticipated metals prices and the costs of production; the supply and demand for metals the company produces; the supply and availability of all forms of energy and fuels at reasonable prices; no significant unanticipated operational or technical difficulties; the execution of Hudbays business and growth strategies, including the success of its strategic investments and initiatives; the availability of additional financing, if needed; the ability to complete project targets on time and on budget and other events that may affect the companys ability to develop its projects; the timing and receipt of various regulatory approvals; the availability of personnel for the exploration, development and operational projects and ongoing employee relations; maintaining good relations with the communities in which the company operates, including First Nations communities surrounding the Lalor mine; no significant unanticipated challenges with stakeholders at the companys various projects; no significant unanticipated events or changes relating to regulatory, environmental, health and safety matters; no contests over title to the companys properties, including as a result of rights or claimed rights of aboriginal peoples; and no significant unanticipated litigation and no significant and continuing adverse changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets (including commodity prices and foreign exchange rates). The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to, risks generally associated with the mining industry, such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, currency fluctuations, energy prices and general cost escalation), uncertainties related to the development and operation of the companys projects (including risks related legal challenges, risks related to the new Lalor mine plan and the schedule for the refurbishment of the New Britannia mill and the ability to convert inferred mineral resource estimates to higher confidence categories), risks related to the maturing nature of the 777 mine and its impact on the related Flin Flon metallurgical complex, dependence on key personnel and employee and union relations, risks in respect of aboriginal and community relations, rights and title claims, operational risks and hazards, including unanticipated environmental, industrial and geological events and developments and the inability to insure against all risks, failure of plant, equipment, processes, transportation and other infrastructure to operate as anticipated, compliance with government and environmental regulations, including permitting requirements and anti-bribery legislation, depletion of the companys reserves, volatile financial markets that may affect the companys ability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, the failure to obtain required approvals or clearances from government authorities on a timely basis, uncertainties related to the geology, continuity, grade and estimates of mineral reserves and resources, and the potential for variations in grade and recovery rates, uncertain costs of reclamation activities, the companys ability to comply with its pension and other post-retirement obligations, the companys ability to abide by the covenants in its debt instruments and other material contracts, tax refunds, hedging transactions, as well as the risks discussed under the heading Risk Factors in Hudbays most recent Annual Information Form. Should one or more risk, uncertainty, contingency or other factor materialize or should any factor or assumption prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Hudbay does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law. Note to United States Investors This news release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which may differ materially from the requirements of United States securities laws applicable to U.S. issuers. About Hudbay Hudbay (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is an integrated mining company primarily producing copper concentrate (containing copper, gold and silver), molybdenum concentrate and zinc metal. With assets in North and South America, the company is focused on the discovery, production and marketing of base and precious metals. Directly and through its subsidiaries, Hudbay owns three polymetallic mines, four ore concentrators and a zinc production facility in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan (Canada) and Cusco (Peru), and copper projects in Arizona and Nevada (United States). The companys growth strategy is focused on the exploration and development of properties it already controls, as well as other mineral assets it may acquire that fit its strategic criteria. Hudbays vision is to be a responsible, top-tier operator of long-life, low-cost mines in the Americas. Hudbays mission is to create sustainable value through the acquisition, development and operation of high-quality, long-life deposits with exploration potential in jurisdictions that support responsible mining, and to see the regions and communities in which the company operates benefit from its presence. The company is governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act and its shares are listed under the symbol "HBM" on the Toronto Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and Bolsa de Valores de Lima. Further information about Hudbay can be found on www.hudbay.com . For further information, please contact: Candace Brule Director, Investor Relations (416) 814-4387 candace.brule@hudbay.com Figures accompanying this announcement are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b278c940-1c58-4a69-930b-356f832038c5 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8f22618-f1bf-4ff3-b94a-567dbba8331a http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fc4f7385-5bb8-42da-ac4d-7354882f7f7b http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/79bc177c-5c69-4212-a940-5c11ae986fc5 Entrance of the UniCredit tower at the Porta Nuova business district in Milan. AP Photo: Luca Bruno Three European banks that are part of Italy's UniCredit group have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to resolve charges by federal and state finance regulators and prosecutors to end an investigation that found they had routed hundreds of millions of dollars involving sanctioned entities in Iran and elsewhere. Authorities announced Monday that UniCredit SpA, its German subsidiary UniCredit Bank AG and UniCredit Bank Austria have agreed to pay $405 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services, $316 million to the Manhattan District Attorney, $158 million to the Federal Reserve and hundreds of millions more to federal prosecutors and regulators. The banks also agreed to improve their monitoring and compliance efforts. The sanctions resolve allegations dating back to the early 2000s that they helped entities in Iran and other sanctioned countries, like Cuba and Libya, conduct commerce in U.S. dollars even though they were supposed to be denied access to the U.S. financial system. Senior managers at the banks actively schemed to flout the sanctions, authorities found, with one team leader warning of "unpleasant consequences" if his colleagues slipped up. "The integrity of our financial system requires financial institutions to comply with our laws, and UCB AG willfully failed to do so," assistant attorney general Brian Benczkowski of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a statement. "Todays guilty plea and $1.3 billion penalty are just punishments for undermining U.S. sanctions and putting our financial system at risk. UniCredit SpA, the parent company, was represented by Shearman & Sterling. UCB AG, as the German unit is called, was represented by Clifford Chance. The Austrian unit is represented by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The Manhattan District Attorney's office said its investigation of UniCredit's compliance with U.S. sanctions began with its investigation of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, an entity sanctioned for its alleged role in the country's nuclear program that the DA's office indicted in 2011. "We never stopped following the money," district attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement. UniCredit said in a statement that it cooperated with the investigations and said its subsidiary banks "remain committed to continued cooperation with regulators globally." Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC Pink: MXROF) (FSE: M1D1) ("MAX" or the "Company") is pleased to report surface assay results from its ongoing exploration on the Company's 1,757 sq. km "Choco Gold and Platinum Project", located 100km SW of Medellin, Colombia. The concentrates of sample 001 graded 340.84 g/t gold and 111.03 g/t platinum and sample 002 graded 222.06 g/t gold and 113.83 g/t platinum, both samples were located within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone (refer to location map). Sampling detail can be found in the accompanying table. Further analytical results will be reported as received. Cannot view this image? Visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/220c2f3ec022df1d8f935bd981ffe6bc Production figures the 8 districts: Upper San Juan, Condoto Flats, Condoto Big Flat, Bebedo, Liorento, Cajon, El Tamana & Bajo Tamana a resourced from R.J. Fletcher & Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration & production in Choco Province, Colombia. Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/44108_e6cb661bc4ae487e_002full.jpg "The assay results from Samples 001 and 002 are impressive and confirm the presence of noteworthy amounts of gold and platinum on our Choco project," said Brett Matich, President and Chief Executive Officer, MAX. "We continue to enhance our analytical procedures to ensure optimal recovery of fine gold samples, and we look forward to continuing our exploration program within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone and will now expand to the north." Sample 001 and 002 were taken from surface within the same area as the hard rock conglomerate. The gold and platinum are of a coarser nature than the finer gold in the conglomerate. Test work is on-going on the conglomerate samples, with analytical procedure focused on optimal recovery of the fine gold. MAX's on-going exploration will continue to target enrichment zones within and outside the current 1,000 sq. km exploration area. Sampling of conglomerates and overlying surface deposits will continue to locate zones of gold enrichment within the conglomerates. The Company also continues to review and explore additional areas with the 1,757 sq. km Choco Gold and Platinum Project. Story continues Sample Concentrate Tailings Partial Grade * Number Weight (g) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) 001 26,800 57.99 340.84 111.03 26,742 No assay No assay 0.74 0.24 002 22,800 39.39 222.06 113.83 22,760.61 No assay No assay 0.38 0.20 * Sample grade is partial as the gold and platinum content of the tailings has not been determined. Assay Methodology MAX continues to work with the CIMEX Mineral Institute at the Medellin Mines Faculty of the National University of Colombia (CIMEX) in Medellin. CIMEX is independent of MAX and carries out all of the processing and testing of the samples. The surface samples are delivered to the CIMEX. Each sample is panned to concentrate by MAX's Colombian specialist panner under the direct supervision of CIMEX personnel. The entire sample is first weighed, then panned. The resulting concentrate is photographed, dried, weighed and then analyzed at CIMEX. The entire concentrate is leached in aqua regia for 48 hours to dissolve the gold and platinum. The leachate is then analyzed on an atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The tailings of the concentrate from the leaching process are fire assayed in their entirety with the resulting button dissolved by aqua regia and analyzed on the atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The final gold and platinum values for the concentrates are calculated utilizing the leachate and fire assay values. CIMEX is currently in the audit process to receive its ISO certification. About Max Resource Corp. MAX is a mineral exploration company focused on the development and acquisition of prospective projects in the rich mineral belts of Colombia. The Company has established significant exploration infrastructure and local community support for the Choco Gold and Platinum Project, located 100 km south of Medellin, which covers or is adjacent to historic production of 1.5Mozs gold and 1.0Mozs platinum. The Company's Gachala Copper Project, is 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. Source: R.J. Fletcher and Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration and Production in Choco Province Colombia Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd.) MAX cautions investors it has yet to verify the historic information. For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com/ For additional information contact: Max Resource Corp. Tim McNulty E: info@maxresource.com T: (604) 290-8100 For Max Resource's French inquiries: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom Inc. E: rs@maricom.ca T: (888) 585-MARI Tim Henneberry, PGeo (British Columbia), a member of the Max Resource advisory board, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release on behalf of the company. 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/44108 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. is joining a climate advocacy group backed by big energy corporations and high-profile Republicans, an effort by the software giant to find middle ground on environmental issues that have polarized U.S. politics. The Redmond, Washington-based company said it will back the Climate Leadership Council to push for a carbon tax, while accelerating a pledge to use more green energy in its data centers. The groups founding members include many of the largest oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc. Former Republican Secretary of State James Baker; Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush; Rob Walton, former chairman of the board of Walmart Inc.; billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio; and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs are also involved. The Climate Leadership Council has pitched a tax on carbon emissions to the White House, selling the plan as an economic win that could drive job growth while yielding environmental benefits. The blueprint would also eliminate regulations aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions -- and much of the Environmental Protection Agencys authority to regulate them. Companies that emit greenhouse gases also could win liability protection insulating them from litigation over the costs of climate change -- a potentially enticing sweetener as lawsuits mount. Microsoft feels an inclusive solution is needed to make progress, given the divided political climate in the country, said Chief Environmental Officer Lucas Joppa. The move comes as 2020 presidential hopefuls, including Microsofts home-state governor Jay Inslee, focus on the issue and Democrats push the idea of a Green New Deal. Tech companies, particularly those that sell cloud-computing services, are significant energy consumers because of the power, heating and cooling needing to run massive data centers full of servers. Last week, more than 6,000 Amazon employees signed an open letter asking the company to develop a comprehensive plan to address its carbon footprint. One specific concern raised by Amazon workers also applies to Microsoft: Both have large oil and gas companies as customers and partners. Story continues Microsoft President Brad Smith said his company will still work with customers such as Exxon. Access to information technology is not going to determine how much oil is consumed on the planet, he said. We respect the fact that energy companies do need to provide the world with energy and that they are trying to improve efficiency, safety and and even environmental impact. Microsoft previously backed a Washington state initiative to implement a carbon tax, but that was rejected by voters in November. The company, which previously pledged to power data centers with 60 percent renewable energy by early in the 2020s, said it will now reach that goal this year and will surpass 70 percent by 2023. A national carbon tax is unlikely to pass this year, but its important to raise awareness of the issue for the 2020 elections, Smith said. To contact the author of this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alistair Barr at abarr18@bloomberg.net For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. 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 April 15 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Monday. To inform us of other job changes, email moves@thomsonreuters.com. STONE HARBOR INVESTMENT PARTNERS LP The investment manager named Seamus Smyth Chief Developed Market Economist to boost its outlook on advanced economies. EQUIFAX INC The credit reporting company said it has appointed Tony Banks as vice-president of operations for the UK and Ireland. STATE STREET CORP The custodian bank named former Citigroup Inc Asia head Francisco Aristeguieta as chief executive officer for its international business. (Compiled by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru) It was a week where oil prices settled at their highest since October, while natural gas futures remained steady. On the news front, oil major Chevron Corporation CVX agreed to buy Texas-based upstream company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation APC for roughly$50 billion. Meanwhile, another supermajor Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A agreed to sell 22.45% interest in Caesar Tonga oil field in the Gulf of Mexico for $965 million. Overall, it was a mixed week for the sector. While West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1.3% to close at $63.89 per barrel, natural gas prices held almost unchanged for the week to finish at $2.66 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: Concho Midstream Monetization, Noble Energy Project Approval) The U.S. crude benchmark rallied to a fresh five-month high, underpinned mainly by production cuts from the OPEC-led group of exporters, and drop in supply from Venezuela and Iran. The so-called OPEC+ deal (an alliance of OPEC, Russia and other non-member countries) is withholding output by around 1.2 million barrels per day until the end of June. U.S. sanctions against Venezuela and Iran also continue to tighten the commoditys fundamentals. Further to this, signs of stable demand (contrary to previous expectations of slowing consumption) and escalating geopolitical risk in Libya a major supplier of oil to Europe boosted bullish sentiment in the energy market. Meanwhile, natural gas prices were little changed after the weekly inventory release showed a smaller-than-expected increase in supplies. However, the injection was higher than the five-year average. Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Americas No. 2 energy producer, Chevron, placed a huge bet on the future of shale oil and liquefied natural gas ('LNG') today by striking a roughly $50 billion deal to buy a Texas-based upstream company, Anadarko Petroleum. The acquisition will give it access to potentially lucrative Permian Basin acreage, LNG operations in Mozambique, as well as attractive deepwater areas in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The agreement is subject to Anadarko stockholder approval and regulatory clearance and is expected to close in the second half of 2019. Story continues Under the terms of the agreement, Anadarko shareholders will receive $16.25 in cash and 0.3869 shares of Chevron for each Anadarko share they own. This combination of cash and stock values Anadarko shares at $65 apiece, a 37% premium to the pre-announcement closing price. The cash component of the deal is worth about $8 billion, while the equity contribution will be obtained through the issuance of approximately 200 million in Chevron shares. The headline price of $50 billion includes the assumption of $15 billion of Anadarkos debt. Apart from greater economies of scale, there are expected to be approximately $2 billion in annual synergies as a result of this deal. Taking advantage of the significant value unlocked by the Anadarko buyout, Chevron intends to increase its annual share buyback program to $5 billion from $4 billion. Importantly, the acquisition is expected to catapult Chevron to the big league consisting of ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell as far as cash flow is concerned. (Read more Chevron Set to Snap Up Anadarko in $50 Billion Deal) 2. Royal Dutch Shell recently agreed to divest its 22.45% non-operated stake in the Gulf of Mexicos (GoM) Caesar Tonga field to a subsidiary of Delek Group Ltd., an Israeli conglomerate. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) Anglo-Dutch energy major will receive $965-million cash in return. The deal calls for Delek to sign a sales and purchase agreement spanning 30 years with Shells trading arm in the United States for the oil produced in the field. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The transaction has an effective date of Jan 1, 2019 and is expected to be over by the end of the third quarter. Delek intends to finance the transaction with non-recourse loans from international banks and own funds. The field is located 300 kilometers south of Louisiana, at a water depth of 1,500 meters. Currently, gross average output from the field is 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD) (comprising 90% oil). The deal is in line with Shells ongoing $10-billion divestment program, which is treading on the heels of the $30-billion divestment program in the 2016-2018-time frame. The proceeds from the Caesar Tonga divestment is expected to be directed toward more long-term value-generating assets. In a similar manner, the energy giant divested its Danish upstream unit for $1.9 billion in 2018. (Read more Shell to Divest Non-Op Stake in a GoM Field for $965M) 3. National Oilwell Varco, Inc.s NOV shares dipped more than 8% to close at $26.87 on Apr 12, after the companys Chairman Clay Williams stated that the energy equipment suppliers first-quarter 2019 results are likely to be impacted by certain headwinds. The firm expects revenues to come in below prior expectation of $2.08-$2.1 billion. National Oilwell now anticipates first-quarter 2019 sales to come in at $1.94 billion, reflecting a sequential fall of 26%. Further, it expects to post a GAAP operating loss of around $48 million. Adjusted EBITDA is likely to total $140 million, down from $160 million and $279 million recorded in first-quarter 2018 and the last reported quarter, respectively. Notably, during NOVs fourth-quarter call, management had already notified investors that the oil crash during the final months of 2018 would likely take a toll on the firms near-term results. In fact, the company did predict a sequential fall in revenues from all the three segmentsRig Technologies, Wellbore Technologies and Completion & Productionin first-quarter 2019. However, the impact of weak oil prices has been much greater than expected. Contraction of orders, fewer deliveries of drill pipes and other equipment, and slowdown of activities in both the offshore and North American markets will impact the companys first-quarter results. As such, the firm will likely come up with lower-than-expected results from each of its three segments amid tough operating environment. (Read more National Oilwell Shares Decline 8% on Drab Q1 Outlook) 4. Williams Companies WMB recently announced the divestment of a 50% stake in Jackalope Gas Gathering Services in the Powder River Basin region to Crestwood Equity Partners LP CEQP for 485 million. Crestwood, which already owned 50% interest in Jackalope system, now attains full control over the assets for a reasonable price. Notably, prior to the deal, Williams was the operator of Jackalope assets, while Crestwood was responsible for commercial services. Williams had been contemplating to offload Jackalope assets since last November and has finally sold the business to its joint-venture partner. The company plans to use the proceeds from the deal to trim its heavy debt load, which was $22 billion at the end of 2018, representing a debt-to-capital ratio of 60.5%. Further, by jettisoning these assets, the company will save around $90 million that it has planned to invest in this business. As Jackalope was not a significant asset in Williams portfolio, the divestment of these assets will not just help in strengthening its balance sheet, but also aid in portfolio optimization and investment in high-return expansion projects. The deal follows another smart move by the company last month to form a joint venture with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in a bid to optimize midstream operations in Marcellus and Utica regions. Williams will also utilize the cash proceeds from CPPIB for debt reduction. (Read more Is Williams' Jackalope Deal With Crestwood a Win-Win?) 5. Petrobras PBR shares declined 9.29% on Friday, marking the biggest drop in 10 months, closing the session at a four-month low of $14.94. The decline came after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro interfered with Petrobras diesel pricing policy. The state-owned company announced its decision to raise diesel prices by 5.7% on Apr 11, only to back off a day later on the behest of Bolsonaro. The Brazilian government halted the diesel price hike out of concern for truckers, who had spurred a nation-wide strike in Brazil last year to protest against rising fuel prices. The latest move has frightened investors that the government may continue to deflect from its commitment to free markets and intervene in the companys affairs. The governments hasty decision to suspend the fuel price rise has sent shockwaves in Brazilian markets, reviving fears of government meddling, as was the case with the past administration, thereby hurting the nations economy and the companys prospects. (Read more Petrobras' Shares Dip 9% on Fears of Interventionism) Price Performance The following table shows the price movement of some the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months. Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM -1.9% -0.7% CVX -5.3% +2.2% COP +1.9% -10.1% OXY -4% -13.3% SLB +1.4% -22.5% RIG -3.5% -33.2% VLO +2% -17.2% MPC -3% -24.4% The Energy Select Sector SPDR a popular way to track energy companies remained essentially flat last week. But longer-term, over six months, the sector tracker is down 8%. Offshore driller Transocean Ltd. was the major loser during this period, experiencing a 33.2% price decline. Whats Next in the Energy World? As usual, market participants will be closely tracking the regular releases i.e. the U.S. government statistics on oil and natural gas -- one of the few solid indicators that comes out regularly. Energy traders will also be focusing on the Baker Hughes data on rig count. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Crestwood Equity Partners LP (CEQP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NOV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) : Free Stock Analysis Report Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (WMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Dublin late on Monday. Photo: Reuters Following her stark warning on the terms of a USUK trade deal, US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi will on Tuesday begin a two-day visit to Dublin as part of a Brexit-related mission to Europe. Pelosi is leading a congressional delegation that is seeking to understand the future of the relationship between Ireland and the UK in light of Brexit. The future of the Northern Ireland border will be a particular focus, with Pelosi seeking to express Americas commitment to a peaceful and prosperous future for all those who live in the two countries. On Monday, Pelosi warned at the London School of Economics that there would be no USUK trade deal if the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ushered in 20 years of relative peace and stability in Northern Ireland, was weakened. She said that she had made it clear both to prime minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that any harm to the Good Friday accords would mean no trade treaty. In the 30 years before the signing of the agreement, clashes known simply as the Troubles took the lives of more than 3,600 people. The high-ranking group of US politicians will meet Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar on Tuesday afternoon, while Pelosi will speak to Irish parliament and meet the Irish president on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Pelosi and the delegation which includes members of the Friends of Ireland caucus will be honoured at a dinner in Dublin Castle, the former seat of British power in the country. Irish-American congressman Richard Neal, the chairman of the US House Ways and Means Committee which will play a key role in any potential trade deal with the US, has previously warned that a hard border on the island of Ireland would hamper such a deal with the UK. Neal is part of the delegation visiting Ireland. FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Securities Fraud Attorney Mark A. Tepper announced today that an 80-year-old retired secretary who alleged her broker took advantage of her vulnerability by repeatedly violating FINRA rules and state law, has been awarded all investment losses plus interest, attorneys fees and arbitration filing fees by a FINRA Arbitrator. Were very pleased with this award," Mr. Tepper said. "This was a small case that wouldn't interest a lot of lawyers, but for the client to get 100% of the recovery without having to pay fees is gold for her and very satisfying for our law firm which fights to recover losses for the individual investor who is often retired and dependent on their savings. The Mark Tepper law firm which represented the retiree, had filed the Claim against RBC Capital Markets, the U.S. broker-dealer arm of Royal Bank of Canada [NYSE: RY]. The Claim alleged that RBC Capital Markets broker, James M. Earl, told the retiree that her irreplaceable funds were in good investments, when, in fact, he placed her in harms way by recommending high-risk unsecured Senior Notes from two oil and gas companies Linn Energy and BreitBurn Energy Partners. If you have information related to the Claim against RBC Capital Markets or James M. Earl, or your broker made unsuitable recommendations, contact attorney Mark Tepper at askmark@marktepper.com or call (954) 961-0096 for a free case evaluation from the Mark A. Tepper law firm. Investors who believe theyve been defrauded should always investigate their legal rights to determine the merits of potential claims, Mr. Tepper said. About Mark A. Tepper, P.A. ( MarkTepper.com ) Attorney Mark A. Tepper is the former Chief Trial Counsel at the New York Attorney Generals Bureau of Investor Protection and Securities. He has earned the reputation of Investor Advocate while practicing law for over 40 years representing individual investors. FINRA arbitrators have upheld stockbroker fraud claims filed by Mr. Tepper against many brokerage firms. A member of the Florida, New York and California Bars, Mr. Tepper is peer-reviewed for 18 consecutive years, AV PREEMINENT for ethical standards and legal ability, the highest rating of lawyers in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Wealthy Bitcoin trader Chad Elwartowski took his crypto stockpile and built a home on the sea. For this crime, he risks the death penalty. | Source: Shutterstock By CCN: Thai officials are royally enraged at a man named Chad Elwartowski, reportedly a wealthy Bitcoin trader, for deciding to build a platform house off the coast of Phuket. Building Your Own Country At Sea Can Cost Your Life in Thailand A formal complaint has been filed, the charge being the violation of Thailands criminal code, section 119. That section of Thai law reads: Whoever, does any act with intent to cause the Country or any part thereof to descend under the sovereignty of any foreign State, or to deteriorate the independence of the State, shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life. Authorities believe that by building a seastead or homestead on the sea, Elwartowski and his wife, Supranee Thepdet, are attempting to create an independent state and threaten the sovereignty of Thailand. bitcoin thailand A wealthy Bitcoin trader now faces the death penalty after trying to build a seastead in Thailand. | Source: Shutterstock The charge is dangerous, and a police official told the Bangkok Post that the structure would be torn down before long. Additionally, the company which built the structure is now under investigation. Officials argue that the structure is a barrier to oil ships bound for Phuket. It seems self-evident, given the reporting and handling of the situation, that Elwartowski took no efforts to obtain permission to build the platform. Read the full story on CCN.com. Presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders addresses a crowd during a campaign rally, Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh stop was part of a weekend tour of Midwest battleground states, including Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of betraying the working people who put him in office and challenged him to deny federal contracts to General Motors until the company reopens shuttered plants. "The biggest lie was that he was going to stand up for working families and take on the establishment," the Democratic presidential contender told a Pittsburgh rally in his first visit of 2019 to the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania. "That was a monstrous lie." Earlier in Lordstown, Ohio, and again in Pittsburgh, Sanders pressed Trump to put action behind his words on GM plant closings. Trump has assailed the company for shutting its small-car factory in Lordstown, in a politically important state, complaining about the company's leadership and a local union leader while seldom mentioning the other U.S. factories that GM plans to close. That's not enough, Sanders said. His message to GM and other multinationals: "If you want a federal contract paid for by taxpayers, treat your workers with respect and dignity. No more paying your workers inadequate wages while you provide CEO's with multimillion-dollar parachutes, no more taking away health care benefits, no more denying workers the right to form a union. "And if you are not a good and responsible corporate citizen, do not think that you will get federal contracts." Several union organizers spoke before Sanders at the Pittsburgh rally, part of Sanders' four-day, five-state swing through states that are part of the Democratic strategy to rebuild the "blue wall" in 2020. Sanders attracted an estimated 4,500 on the warm, breezy late afternoon to a grassy plaza near the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Democrats are putting a heavy emphasis on winning back three states Trump narrowly captured in 2016: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Dubbed the "blue wall" before they unexpectedly tipped to Trump, they may have supplanted Florida and Ohio as the nation's premier presidential battlegrounds. Story continues Sanders had a good showing in the industrial belt in 2016's Democratic primary, winning Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. But Hillary Clinton pounded him in Pennsylvania, 56% to 44%. Some of Sanders' supporters from 2016 are still with him, and some are new. Stephanie Hosbach, a day-care worker who voted for Clinton in 2016's primary, drove an hour to see Sanders on Sunday and said her mind is made up to vote for him. "I work two jobs," Hosbach, 34, said. "I feel like the minimum wage needs to be higher. We all struggle and you know Bernie's for those type of people." Some of Sanders' supporters from 2016 have a taken a step back to study the big Democratic primary crowd. One rallygoer, Fred Johnston, 45, said he backed Sanders in 2016's primary, but isn't certain who he will support in the 2020 primary. "The election isn't until next year and there's a lot of choices," Johnston said. "I want to keep an open mind and hear them out. Right now Bernie's my first choice. ... I don't want to calcify my vote this early." Trump's victory in Pennsylvania made him the first Republican to win it since 1988. Trump also knows the Midwest is vital to his re-election bid and is looking to repeat in states he won in 2016 and expand his territory. The Sanders campaign said in a memo prepared in advance of the trip that the pathway to victory runs through the Midwest. The memo said that Sanders has received donations from more than 8,000 people in Wisconsin, 14,000 in Michigan and 18,000 in Pennsylvania. Sanders was leading all Democratic candidates in fundraising. Tai-Heng Cheng, Sidley Austin. Tai-Heng Cheng, Sidley Austin. Less than a week after picking up a private equity team from Cooley on the West Coast, Sidley Austin is bulking up its East Coast operations, adding a pair of high-profile litigators from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in New York. Tai-Heng Cheng, who chaired Quinn Emanuels New York international arbitration practice, is joining Sidley as a partner in the Big Apple. Simon Navarro, who was of counsel at Quinn Emanuel, is making the move with Cheng, taking on an of counsel role at Sidley. I had a very successful career at Quinn Emanuel, but my clients had started to view me as a trusted adviser and not just for their disputes needs, Cheng said of his departure from the litigation shop. Cheng, a former Simpson Thacher & Bartlett associate, focuses his practice on international commercial and investor-state arbitrations. Over the course of his 15-year career, Cheng has achieved nine-figure awards for clients in commercial and investment-treaty arbitrations and has represented clients in litigation, investigations and government enforcement actions worldwide. In 2018, he represented Houston-based Vantage Drilling, which won a $622 million awardplus 15.2 percent compound interestin an arbitration under the International Center for Dispute Resolution. But as he scored victories for his clients, which included the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and emerging market investor Actis Capital, they began asking for his counsel on business-related matters that were outside what he could offer at Quinn, Cheng said. It was actually a mutual client that introduced Sidley to Cheng, he said. I realized that if I was at a global, multi-industry, multi-practice platform like Sidley ... if they came to me with these issues I could say, 'no problem,' and in six hours, I would have a team assembled for them with whatever they needed across practice groups, across officesand really deliver business solutions to them rather than selling discrete litigation or arbitration services, he added. In his new role, Cheng said he's looking forward to helping Sidley expand and deepen its offerings to clients. Cheng, who is fluent in Mandarin, will also help Sidley continue its growth in Asia, specifically in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. "The Sidley platform in arbitration really is a very venerable platform," Cheng said. "It's a tremendous brand and I think being part of that will enable me to grow my business but also Sidley's arbitration business." Chicago-based Sidley has been looking to expand its services in Asia, according to Yvette Ostolaza, global co-leader of Sidleys litigation practice and member of its management and executive committees. "Tai gives us double Scrabble points in that regard," she said. Also making the move with Cheng is former Clifford Chance and White & Case associate Simon Navarro. Navarro, a Spanish national, also specializes in international arbitration and litigation. "He will be, I think, a key player in developing our business in Spain and in Latin America given his abilities not just as a lawyer, but also in having the confidence and trust of corporations in Spain and Latin America," Cheng said. The pair's addition comes amid a weeklong lateral hiring spree for the firm whose gross revenue jumped 9 percent to $2.2 billion last year. On Wednesday, Sidley picked up a private equity group from Cooley headed by longtime partner Mehdi Khodadad in Century City, while in New York the firm added longtime Paul Hastings restructuring partner Leslie Plaskon as partner in its firm's global finance practice. "Ive enjoyed my time at Paul Hastings ... but I reached a point though in my career where I felt like it was time to make a change," said Plaskon, who joined the Los Angeles-founded firm in 1998. "Sidley's collaborative environment and culture and depth of experience drew me to the firm. It has a tremendous global presence, and the way the teams work together across the globe was just an absolute draw," she added. Quinn Emanuel did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning. Story continues Read More Cooley Private Equity Team Heading to Sidley Sidley Austin Sees Revenue, Profits Surge in Standout Year 5th Financial Institution to Enable Deposit Network and First in the Western United States HOUSTON, April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Members of Silver State Schools Credit Union , one of Nevadas five largest credit unions in assets, will soon have more self-service options for making deposits, withdrawals and conducting other basic banking transactions through a new agreement with Cardtronics. Building on an existing ATM branding relationship, the credit union is expanding member convenience by providing access to Allpoint+ deposit-taking ATMs throughout the Las Vegas area while also enabling surcharge-free cash access through Cardtronics Allpoint Network with over 40,000 ATMs across the U.S. and another 15,000 internationally. Silver State Schools Credit Union (SSSCU) began its relationship with Cardtronics in 2015 when the credit union placed its name on 19 Cardtronics-owned ATMs located in well-known retailers in the Las Vegas valley. The branding program made those ATMs fee-free for SSSCU cardholders while expanding the credit unions brand beyond its 11 branches in the area. A new concept in banking, Allpoint+ ATMs provide consumers with a full-service ATM experience similar to a branch ATM, complete with cash and check deposits, in convenient retail locations that consumers visit daily. Enhancing the user experience further, Allpoint+ ATMs can accept up to 200 bills at a time when making bulk cash deposits and also allow the user to select his or her preferred note denominations when making a cash withdrawal. "Our mission at Silver State Schools Credit Union is to provide excellent member service and financial solutions for life, said Mike Randall, SVP and Chief Operating Officer. By joining Allpoint, we are providing our members with fee-free cash virtually anywhere they may find themselves, while adding Allpoint+ ATMs in our home market greatly enhances banking convenience for our members who now have many more locations to complete deposit transactions that used to require a trip to the branch. Our existing partnership and prior experience with Cardtronics made the decision to expand member service with these new offerings a seamless one. Story continues Members of SSSCU can use the credit unions website to find branches, Allpoint+ deposit-taking ATMs and global Allpoint surcharge-free ATM locations. Competing in todays financial services market requires financial institutions to be nimble, enabling always-on banking anywhere and everywhere a consumer demands it, said Brian Bailey, EVP and Managing Director, North America. Through its combination of Cardtronics services, SSSCU has the tools they need to compete: on-demand fee-free cash access for members at more locations nationwide than even the largest banks, and an enhanced local brand presence and deposit capabilities that extend the branch experience well beyond the branch. SSSCU is able to put its focus where it matters most, on its members, while Cardtronics efficiently provides the ubiquitous physical cash infrastructure required to grow and succeed. More financial institutions are enabling the Allpoint suite of solutions, with SSSCU being the fifth to see the value of the Allpoint+ platform. About Silver State Schools Credit Union Silver State Schools Credit Union (SSSCU), founded in 1951, is a state-chartered financial co-operative. The Credit Union serves over 54,000 members of the educational community and their families in Nevada with eight branches throughout the Las Vegas Valley. SSSCU provides Excellent Member Service and Financial Solutions for Life! via a wide range of banking products, discounts, and resources. By members' choice, member shares and deposits are insured by American Share Insurance up to $250,000 per account. This institution is not federally insured. For more information, visit silverstatecu.com About Cardtronics (CATM) Cardtronics is the trusted leader in financial self-service, enabling cash transactions at approximately 227,000 ATMs across 10 countries in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. Leveraging our unmatched scale, expertise and innovation, top-tier merchants and businesses of all sizes use our ATM solutions to drive growth, in-store traffic, and retail transactions. Financial services providers rely on Cardtronics to deliver superior service at their own ATMs, on Cardtronics ATMs where they place their brand, and through Cardtronics' Allpoint Network, the worlds largest surcharge-free ATM network, with over 55,000 locations. As champions of cash, Cardtronics converts digital currency into physical cash, driving payments choice for businesses and consumers alike. Contact Information: Media Relations Investor Relations Susannah Moore Griffin Brad Conrad Corporate Communications Manager EVP Treasurer 832-308-4392 832-308-4975 sgriffin@cardtronics.com ir@cardtronics.com Cardtronics is a registered trademark of Cardtronics plc and its subsidiaries All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. By Aditya Kalra and Sudarshan Varadhan NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Google has blocked access to the hugely popular video app TikTok in India to comply with a state court's directive to prohibit its downloads, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The move comes hours after a court in southern Tamil Nadu state refused a request by China's Bytedance Technology to suspend a ban on its TikTok app, putting its future in one of its key markets in doubt. The state court had on April 3 asked the federal government to ban TikTok, saying it encouraged pornography and made child users vulnerable to sexual predators. Its ruling came after an individual launched a public interest litigation calling for a ban. The federal government had sent a letter to Apple and Google to abide by the state court's order, according to an IT ministry official. The app was still available on Apple's platforms late on Tuesday, but was no longer available on Google's Play store in India. Google said in a statement it does not comment on individual apps but adheres to local laws. Apple did not respond to requests for comment, while TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Google's move. TikTok, which allows users to create and share short videos with special effects, has become hugely popular in India but has been criticised by some politicians who say its content is inappropriate. It had been downloaded more than 240 million times in India, app analytics firm Sensor Tower said in February. More than 30 million users in India installed it in January 2019, 12 times more than in the same month last year. Jokes, clips and footage related to India's thriving movie industry dominate the app's platform, along with memes and videos in which youngsters, some scantily clad, lip-sync and dance to popular music. Bytedance challenged the state court's ban order in India's Supreme Court last week, saying it went against freedom of speech rights in India. Story continues The top court had referred the case back to the state court, where a judge on Tuesday rejected Bytedance's request to put the ban order on hold, K. Neelamegam, a lawyer arguing against Bytedance in the case, said. TikTok earlier said in a statement that it had faith in the Indian judicial system and was "optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by millions" of its users. It did not comment further on the judge's decision. The company however welcomed the decision to appoint a senior lawyer to assist the court in upcoming proceedings. The state court has requested written submissions from Bytedance in the case and has scheduled its next hearing for April 24. Salman Waris, a technology lawyer at TechLegis Advocates & Solicitors, said the legal action against Bytedance could set a precedent of Indian courts intervening to regulate content on social media and other digital platforms. In its Supreme Court filing, Bytedance argued that a "very minuscule" proportion of TikTok content was considered inappropriate or obscene. The company employs more than 250 people in India and had plans for more investment as it expands the business, it said. (Additional reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in Mumbai; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Susan Fenton and Jan Harvey) ASKER, NORWAY (16 April 2019) The 2019 Annual General Meeting of TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA ("TGS" or the "Company") will be held on 8 May 2019 at the offices of Schjdt law firm at Ruselkkveien 16, in Oslo at 17:00 CET. Registration of attendees will begin at 16:30 CET. The notice for the annual general meeting is attached hereto (English and Norwegian), together with relevant appendices. The notice will be sent to all registered shareholders per 16 April 2019. To register your attendance, send proxy or to cast your vote electronically in advance through VPS Investor Services, please use the electronic link here and available on www.tgs.com. The pin code and reference number, which are sent out with the notice, will be needed. Kindly note that shareholders that have received the notice electronically will not receive and do not need a pin code or reference number, but must submit their notice of attendance, proxy or advance votes through their online investor account services (investortjenester). Online registration will open on 16 April 2019 at 14:00 CET. Company summary TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) provides multi-client geoscience data to oil and gas Exploration and Production companies worldwide. In addition to extensive global geophysical and geological data libraries that include multi-client seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, digital well logs, production data and directional surveys, TGS also offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products, and data integration solutions. For more information visit TGS online at www.tgs.com. Forward-looking statements and contact information All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, and are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove accurate. These factors include TGS` reliance on a cyclical industry and principle customers, TGS` ability to continue to expand markets for licensing of data, and TGS` ability to acquire and process data products at costs commensurate with profitability. Actual results may differ materially from those expected or projected in the forward-looking statements. TGS undertakes no responsibility or obligation to update or alter forward-looking statements for any reason. TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (TGS.OL). Story continues TGS sponsored American Depositary Shares trade on the U.S. over-the-counter market under the symbol "TGSGY". For additional information about this press release please contact: Sven Brre Larsen Chief Financial Officer Tel: +47 90 94 36 73 Email: investor@tgs.com This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to 5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act) TGS annual general meeting notice English TGS annual general meeting notice Norwegian 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: TGS via GlobeNewswire HUG#2241767 FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen in St. Moritz, Switzerland, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini By Angelika Gruber ZURICH (Reuters) - UBS shareholders should oppose discharging the board and top management of Switzerland's biggest bank from liability after a guilty verdict in a French tax evasion case, proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said. "A vote against the formal discharge of the board of directors and senior management is warranted on a precautionary basis, as the company was recently found guilty of illegal solicitation and laundering the proceeds of tax evasion by a French court," ISS said in a statement received by Reuters on Monday, ahead of UBS's May 2 annual shareholders meeting. This is the latest opposition from shareholder advisers after a French court in February found UBS guilty of illegally soliciting clients and laundering the proceeds of tax evasion, ordering it to pay 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) in penalties. UBS denies the charges and is appealing against the ruling it has called "incomprehensible". A UBS spokeswoman declined to comment on ISS's recommendations. Ethos Foundation on Friday recommended UBS shareholders reject all of the Swiss bank's executive and board pay proposals at the annual meeting, including binding votes on bonuses and pay packages. Also last week, adviser Glass Lewis voiced its objections to the UBS pay proposal, citing "pay-for-performance concern", and recommended shareholders abstain on the discharge question. Even if ISS does not get its way, a significant showing of shareholder opposition to the board's and management's discharge would be a blow to Chairman Axel Weber and Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti, who last month boosted provisions to cover the case but said they still expect the verdict to be reversed. Ermotti has said he "disappointed" by the court ruling, but highlighted the bank's strong capital and liquidity as reasons UBS could afford to fight the French case. A compliance expert and partner at Swiss law firm Lalive, Daniel Buehr, said a company's board is most accountable, since its members are tasked with making certain that management in important legal cases works in the interest of the company and is not driven by personal motivations. Story continues "It can be damaging when managers commit their reputations and names and then cannot beat a retreat," Buehr said. "In such situations, which happen again and again because it's human nature, it's the board's job to lead, to take control and manage the risks." (Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt and John Revill; Writing by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields/David Evans) By Andrei Makhovsky KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine hopes to raise new sovereign debt backed by a guarantee from the World Bank again this year though the size of the issue has not been decided yet, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova told Reuters on Monday. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other bodies support Ukraine's war-scarred economy with loan agreements conditional on Kiev passing reforms and tackling corruption. The country borrowed 529 million euros under World Bank guarantee in March after securing a new standby loan agreement from the IMF late last year. It expects to receive two IMF loan tranches worth a combined $2.5 billion in May and November. Investors are also watching whether Ukraine will continue to pass reforms while holding a presidential election this April and a parliamentary election in October. "We are working with the World Bank on the next guarantee. We would like to (get the loan) this year. We are working on the maximum possible amount, but it is too early to say specific figures," Markarova said. "About the IMF programme: everything goes well on the implementation of the programme," she told Reuters on the sidelines of a business conference. (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Hugh Lawson) April 15 (Reuters) - United Continental Holdings Inc said on Monday it had pulled Boeing Co's 737 MAX flights out of its schedule through early July, following similar moves by rivals American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co. United, with 14 MAX jets, had largely avoided cancellations by servicing MAX routes with larger 777 or 787 aircraft. But the airline's president, Scott Kirby, warned last week that the strategy was costing it money and could not go on forever. Boeing's 737 MAX planes have been grounded worldwide since March after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed, killing all 157 aboard, just five months after a similar crash of Indonesia's Lion Air flight. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva) Building in Revolution Square in Havana with a famous Che Guevara image / Credit: Kamira/Shutterstock.com The Trump administration will for the first time allow lawsuits to be filed in U.S. courts against companies doing business in Cuba that use properties that were confiscated from Cuban Americans and other U.S. citizens after the Cuban revolution. According to Reuters, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will on Wednesday announce implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. That law was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 but has been waived by every U.S. President for the past 23 years. Implementing the law could expose U.S., European and Canadian companies to legal action worth billions of dollars. The law allows Americans, including Cubans who have since become U.S. citizens, to bring lawsuits against individuals or companies that "traffic" in property confiscated by Cuba after the 1959 Cuban revolution. Full implementation of the law comes as the international community has begun warming up to Cuba, pouring billions in foreign direct investment into the country. Spain, for example, is Cuba's third-largest trading partner. Spanish hotelier Melia alone has 34 properties in Cuba, according to its website. Companies in Canada, Germany, France and the U.S. have also entered into joint ventures with the Cuban Government, in light of the Obama-era policies easing restrictions on investment, putting them at risk. But an onslaught of lawsuits is not a foregone conclusion even with full implementation, according to Akerman attorney Pedro Freyre, who is representing potential defendants. "Helms-Burton is a particularly technical and complicated piece of legislation," Freyre said. "This is not a quick claim, it requires a lot of preparation and upfront research to go forward." Nick Gutierrez, a former attorney and a Cuban American, has worked with hundreds of Cuban exile families since taking part in the bill's original passage organising legal documents proving ownership of confiscated land with the hope that one day a U.S. President would allow the Title III provision to take effect. He acknowledges that there will be "a long road ahead". Mexico, Canada and Spain passed so-called "blocking statutes" shortly after Helms-Burton's passage, barring claims from being brought in their respective countries. And even when a company is exposed to U.S. jurisdiction, there is a high standard to bring a suit. The property must be actively in use for some sort of commercial activity and be worth more than $50,000. Plus, plaintiffs must pay a $6,700 filing fee an obstacle written into the law to discourage frivolous litigation, Gutierrez said. Nevertheless, Gutierrez welcomed news that implementation may be imminent. "This is sort of the long-awaited answer to our prayers. This is the beginning as a powerful disincentive to investing in Cuba," he said. "These Spanish companies will hire big-name firms. But we hope this will spur settlements between traffickers and owners." The Trump administration in early March announced a partial implementation of the Helms-Burton Act, allowing lawsuits against 200 Cuban entities, including hotels, beverage manufacturers and tourism agencies, which were blacklisted by the U.S. because they have ties to Cuba's military and intelligence services. The move, hailed by the Cuban American Bar Association and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, was largely symbolic, because prosecuting Cuban-owned establishments is nearly impossible. Story continues Similar Stories Attorneys Prepare to File Lawsuits on Behalf of Cuban-Americans Whose Property Was Confiscated by Castro While US markets continue to trade with a risk-seeking bias, but Mondays earning inspired momentum faded on the back of Goldman Sachs and Citi Groups lousy earnings, as traders turned fast to book profits. Investors put up a strong defense of the psychologically important S&P 2900 level, and the market bounced higher into the bell. Indeed investors continue to ask their brokers what synchronized global slowdown were you talking about?? If a sustained upturn on global growth kicks in, there are copious amounts of room for global equity markets to push higher this despite the juicy 16% the S&P 500 has returned this year for investors that didnt flinch despite the plenitude of recessionary cheerleading hitting the airwaves. Oil markets Lots of crosscurrents today including a second consecutive weekly increase in the US oil rig count which I think is having a bit of influence on traders positions sizing causing them to pare some risk but not necessarily altering their bullish views. Other than an unlikely about-face in OPEC supply discipline or a surprise on Iran sanction wavier, not quite sure what can or will derail Oil markets. But given the air of unpredictability that engulfs President Trump certainly concerns will creep that the President will knuckle down, and force prices lower by increasing Iran waiver limits. And speaking of wild cards, and likely the primary catalyst for what driving market today that according to Russias Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Russia is prepared to go toe to toe with US shale producers to maintain their share of the oil market. even if it means quitting OPEC. Gold Markets Gold is struggling to find traction after bulls shed some severe weight last week. And not surprisingly prices continued to slide as positive catalyst remain far and few. US yields remain steady; equity markets are trading on an even keel while optimism about a US-China trade deal continues to be very supportive for risk sentiment completely deflating investor appetite for safe-haven plays like gold. And while I dont believe a long liquidation is on the cards, however, I do suspect traders will be a much better seller on rallies over the near term. Story continues Foreign Exchange Markets If you are a China bull, you need to belong both EUR and AUD Australian dollar With the US-China trade deal on track, commodity prices well supported, if we get a positive signal from the China data to dump this week, it will be the icing on the cake for the contrarian Aussie bulls. Not to mention the fact that local traders are pricing way too much RBA easing this year given the stable jobs markets. The Euro Traders are beginning to see value in long Euro on several fronts. The bounce in global economic data that started this month with positive PMIs. Better IP prints out of the EU and robust data in China especially from the export sector all of which suggest global green shoots growth is well underway. If the market regains some degree of optimism about global growth the Euro can easily bridge the valuation gap and move closer to the 1.1700 level. Malaysian Ringgit The Ringgit caught an updraft on China TSF data while banks loans also came in much higher than expected so there could be upside revaluations to Chinas GDP forecasts for 2019. I still think the China stimulus will take a while to filter through to the Malaysia economy and the Ringgit could remain vulnerable to a shift in BNM policy. The bull in the China shop My bullish cross-asset view is ultimately dependant on China data rebounding and towing Europe along for the ride. After last weeks China data bounce, based on yesterdays price action it suggests that cross-asset traders are concerned about running their positions too far ahead of economic realities, preferring to err on the side of caution ahead of arguably the most critical set of financial data to hit the global markets this year. Well, unless we get an incredible US-China trade deal announcement over the next 48 hours. I think traders will take a very neutral track as on Wednesday we see the crucial monthly China data dump so I would expect markets to be slightly sticky between now and then. Granted I should be paying more attention to the earning season, but frankly, they are not that important since its the stream of all future earning that is critical. And therefore global growth prospects, are far more critically significant hence the reason why Im singularly focused on Chinas data dump for no other reason than take measure if the latest PMI reading was an absolute bullish signal or not. But unless Im misreading the strong Chinese credit influence that is not only boosting commodity prices but also helping global risk sentiment recover, it would suggest this credit impulse should also be a positive influence on this week China data. On a positive confirmation, we should see traders run wild- like the proverbial bulls in the china shop. This article was written by Stephen Innes, Head of Trading and Market Strategy at SPI Asset Management This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: In this article: KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Reuters) - The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil markets. FUNDAMENTALS * Malaysian palm oil futures fell to their lowest levels in two weeks, dropping for a third session in four as stockpiles remained high and exports came in weaker than forecast. * U.S. corn and soy futures edged higher on Monday as traders assessed the risk for wet weather to disrupt farmers' spring plantings. * Oil prices halted their rally on Monday, with both benchmarks down nearly 1 percent, after Russia's finance minister said Russia and OPEC may decide to boost production to fight for market share with the United States, where output remains at record highs. MARKET NEWS * Underwhelming quarterly results from U.S. banks limited gains in world stocks on Monday, and oil prices fell after Russia said it and OPEC may decide to boost production. RELATED > US wheat delegation in Brazil to gauge import demand under quota > Hopes for U.S.-China trade deal lift CBOT soy futures > Dryness dents grain yields in Spain, southeast EU - crop monitor > POLL-U.S. corn planting seen 5 pct complete; wheat ratings steady DATA/EVENTS > Cargo surveyor AmSpec releases Malaysia's Apr 1-20 palm oil export data on Apr 20. > Cargo surveyor SGS releases Malaysia's Apr 1-20 palm oil export data on Apr 20. > Cargo surveyor ITS releases Malaysia's Apr 1-20 palm oil export data on Apr 20. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0026 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL APR9 0 +0.00 0 0 0 MY PALM OIL MAY9 0 +0.00 0 0 0 MY PALM OIL JUN9 0 +0.00 0 0 0 CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY9 4430 -34.00 4422 4452 18448 CHINA SOYOIL MAY9 5402 -36.00 5396 5422 24070 CBOT SOY OIL MAY9 28.78 -0.03 28.73 28.78 465 INDIA PALM OIL APR9 534.40 +0.10 533.10 536.4 299 INDIA SOYOIL APR9 738.6 -0.45 737.5 740.1 4430 NYMEX CRUDE MAY9 63.51 +0.11 63.47 63.60 3720 Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne Story continues India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel * For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type. * To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in and press enter, or double click between the brackets. * Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11. Vegetable oils -- Malaysian palm oil exports -- CBOT soyoil futures -- CBOT soybean futures -- Indian solvent -- Weekly Indian vegetable oils -- Dalian Commodity Exchange -- Dalian soyoil futures -- Dalian refined palm oil futures -- Zhengzhou rapeseed oil -- European edible oil prices/trades -- (Reporting by Kuala Lumpur newsroom) By Ben Jumbe. Ambassador of Japan to Uganda Kazuaki Kameda has strongly requested Uganda to put in place effective preventive measures to check embezzlement of humanitarian assistance. The ambassador made the appeal while announcing a contribution of 7.5 million USD to five UN agencies, in Uganda including UNHCR, WFP, IOM, UNICEF and UNOPS. Ambassador Kameda said that accountability and transparency of the contributions to be provided for refugee and host community assistance was key, noting that such contributions should not be misused in any way . He however said introduction of the biometric registration across the country, is an encouraging sign to restore donor confidence expressing Japans determination to continue supporting Ugandas solidarity with refugees. BY FRANKLIN DRAKU. fdraku@ug.nationmedia.com The speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has been discharged from the hospital and is back in the country after close to a month, admitted at the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi. Kadaga was rushed to Nakasero Hospital on March 21st 2019 after what her Principal Press Secretary, Sam Obbo said was jetlag and fatigue. However, her condition worsened and she was transferred to Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi where she has spent the last two weeks. Yes, thats correct, she is back from the hospital, Mr Obbo said when asked if Kadaga had returned from Aga Khan Hospital. Mr Obbo said Kadaga came back on Saturday last week and is now resting at her home. All I can say is she is back and at an appropriate time we shall issue a statement on her condition, he said. When asked after how long Kadaga would resume work, Mr Obbo said he wasnt certain, but added that it would be too soon for her to resume work immediately. She is still having a bed rest and it would too much for her to start work soon. For someone who has been admitted for close to four weeks, she will need time to rest and at an appropriate time, she will resume work when she feels she has fully recovered, he added. Prior to her discharge from the hospital, Kadaga has released a statement saying she was better and would soon be discharged. On 7th on her twitter handle, the speaker said she was looking forward to resuming her official duties after discharge from the hospital. Kadaga had on Tuesday 5th April, made a phone call to her mother, assuring her that she was well, calming down tension that had been rising over her deteriorating health. Related Stories Kadaga had breakfast, Lunch and is improving MOTHER Kadaga transferred to The Aga Khan Hospital (AP) Pakistan's minority Hazaras, a small Shiite Muslim community, have ended their days-long sit-in after successful talks with the government, which promised more steps to protect them in the southwestern city of Quetta. Members of the Hazara community ended their protest before dawn On April 16. Their protest began after a suicide bombing in Quettas fruit market targeted Hazaras last week. Hundreds of Shiites began their protest Friday after the suicide bombing at an open-air market killed 20 people, including Shiites. The bombing was claimed by Islamic State group, which views Shiites as apostates deserving of death. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan province, which also is the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region's natural resources such as gas and oil. The sole finalist who was to be sworn in Thursday as the next superintendent of Academy School District 20 has withdrawn her application, the Pikes Peak regions second-largest public school district announced Monday. Kimberly Hough, an assistant superintendent in the Loudoun County School District in Ashburn, Va., near Washington, D.C., informed the five-member board Sunday that she respectfully removed herself as the recommended candidate, according to a statement the district released. No reason was given for Houghs decision. While this is a surprising turn of events, we remain confident we will find an outstanding educator to successfully lead our organization as superintendent, Tracey Johnson, D-20s board president, said in the statement. Theres no hard feelings, said D-20 spokeswoman Allison Cortez. Were not discouraged, she said. Nobody feels defeated right now. Board members and Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates the firm D-20 hired to assist with conducting the search will meet Thursday in a closed executive session to discuss next steps, Cortez said. The search firm didnt know how frequently this happens, Cortez said. However, an HYA representative told the board, Superintendent candidates do certainly withdraw during the time of public notice, which varies by state, from searches for a variety of reasons. Hough was one of 26 viable candidates the board interviewed. As part of the selection process, D-20 board members visited the district where Hough works and spoke with more than 30 of her colleagues, including superintendents, school board members, principals and the district leadership team. The D-20 board was to have officially voted Thursday to approve Hough as the replacement for the retiring Superintendent Mark Hatchell, following a state-mandated two-week waiting period between the time of naming a sole finalist and offering the person the job. Hough was scheduled to meet the community on Friday. Hough stood out because shes collaborative, dedicated, a relationship-builder and forward-thinking, D-20 board members said at the April 4 meeting, when Hough became the sole finalist. Last spring, Hough had been one of four finalists for superintendent of Thompson School District R2-J in Loveland. She did not get the job. Contact the writer: 719-476-1656. The Legislature is sending the governor a bill to force drivers to watch their tread or be prepared to chain up on Interstate 70 in the mountains in the winter. House Bill 1207 is seen as a vehicle to untangle winter traffic jams caused on I-70 and curb accidents by ill-prepared passenger vehicles sliding into accidents. The House on Tuesday voted to accept a Senate amendment to the bill. The Senate added an instruction for the state Department of Transportation to study ways to inform the public about the proposed new law this summer. The bill would require passenger vehicles the rule already applies to professional trucks and buses to mind their traction from Morrison 126 miles west to Dotsero from Sept. 1 to May 31. The measure would require chains or alternate traction devices; four-wheel or all-wheel drive with tires that have at least three-sixteenths inch in depth; or snow tires. Violators would face a Class B traffic infraction and a fine of $100 with a $32 surcharge. Six years after the wildfire that closed Waldo Canyons popular trail, people want access, and they want it now. That much was clear from feedback summarized in a report by Tapis Associates, the contractor hired by local nonprofit Rocky Mountain Field Institute, which this fall launched planning efforts aimed at reimagining recreation in the area. A first public meeting is set for 6 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Westside Community Center. Also prevailing in the report were calls to reopen the former trailhead and parking lot beside U.S. 24. Planners and highway officials, though, continue to insist its too dangerous to reopen the barricaded lot near a blind curve. Yet, data from before the lot and trail were closed might dispute the claim. In the five years leading up to the parking lots closure, from 2007 through 2011, one collision occurred at or near the site, according to records obtained by The Gazette from the Colorado Department of Transportation. We expanded the search a little to make sure we caught any that were associated with the driveway, but did not find any more, reported CDOT Traffic and Safety. The number surprised Sgt. Steven Krebs, who has represented Colorado State Patrol at roundtable meetings between stakeholders and advocates convened by Rocky Mountain Field Institute and Tapis. Two closed-door sessions have been held since September. One crash does not sound right at all, Krebs said. From his observation, he recalled quite a few directly across from the former parking lot, around the median used by drivers returning east to Colorado Springs. A set of givens are expected to be presented at the public meeting next month, and thats a given, thats going to be closed, said Jennifer Peterson, Rocky Mountain Field Institutes executive director. She guessed crashes would be up today. And indeed, traffic in the corridor has increased. CDOTs U.S. 24 counters nearest the former trailhead reported that segment of the highway seeing an average of 28,000 vehicles on a daily basis in 2017, the latest data available. Thats compared with 25,944 in 2011, CDOT records show. Within the last five years of the Waldo Canyon trails use, traffic counts in the corridor did not fluctuate much records show a high of 26,200 in 2007 and low of 25,300 in 2009. Again, the data surprised Krebs. The recent growth would seem to account for more than 28,000, he said. Were the trailhead open today, officials have predicted it would boost traffic. Population will only grow, they have said, making the location riskier. Peterson envisioned an often-described loved-to-death trailhead off Interstate 70 near Glenwood Springs. I would say, if we were to open (the former parking lot), I think we would experience the Hanging Lake phenomenon, where people are parked up and down the road, trying to cross Highway 24. The lot was dangerous at times, recognized one commenter in the Tapis-led survey, with another calling it nerve-wracking at times. But more expressed a desire to return to the spot. Others offered the idea of a shuttle running to and from the trailhead an admirable idea, Krebs said, and preferable to it being open for general public parking. But still, he said, slow-moving shuttles entering the highway would pose a safety threat. I understand (the former parking lot) is not a discussion point at this time, said Trails and Open Space Coalition Executive Director Susan Davies, who has had a seat at the roundtable meetings. The data made her wonder, though. Could there be a way to get across the road? Why do people have to go 60 through there? Would it be possible to put some kind of signaling on both sides of the road, slower speed or something? Those roundtables have included representatives with the U.S. Forest Service, surrounding municipalities and neighborhoods as well as members of various outdoor user groups. Theyll converge at the upcoming open house, where detailed maps will show the scope of the potential project area. That could involve neighboring Williams Canyon, with interest raised for connecting paths there. Another thought is to create access off Rampart Range Road. Peterson said specific options could be heard at the next public meeting, set for April. The goal is to give recommendations to the Forest Service by June 2020. A bill that would fund full-day kindergarten in Colorado is headed to the state Senate. The House voted 53-11 on Tuesday to send the bill on to its next destination. It cleared the House Appropriations Committee on Friday. HB 1262 has garnered more support during the 2019 session than any previous effort, as Republican Rep. Jim Wilson of Salida can attest. Wilson is the co-prime sponsor of this years legislation, which is backed by Gov. Jared Polis. It would provide about $175 million to cover the other half of all-day kindergarten costs currently borne either by school districts or by parents. Wilson has sponsored bills to provide funding for full-day kindergarten since the 2014 session. None of those bills ever made it past House Appropriations Committee. The state now funds 58% of a full day of kindergarten. Not all districts offer kindergarten, but the fiscal analysis for HB 1262 notes that about 81% of Colorado kindergartners already attend a partial or full-day kindergarten program. Some school districts that provide full day use their operating budgets to cover the rest of the cost; others tap into special property tax assessments, known as mill levies, which are approved by voters. In some districts parents pay tuition, as much as $500 per month. The fiscal analysis estimates the bill will boost participation to 90% by fiscal 2020-21. Denver voters will head into uncharted territory when they decide whether to decriminalize possession of small amounts of psilocybin, better known as magic mushrooms. Initiated Ordinance 301 on the ballot mailed to city voters this week would make use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms the citys lowest law-enforcement priority. And while the mushroom referendum is the first ever in the nation, as issues go it feels a bit like a throwback to the 1960s, when experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs was part of the counter culture of that era. But this is not your aging hippie grandfathers psychedelic trip. Its a serious debate between advocates who claim that mushrooms are medicine for people dealing with chronic anxiety and depression and opponents who view the measure as a Pandoras box of bad trips and public harm. And it raises questions about what law enforcement priorities should be toward policing those who use the drug. Theres no reason for individuals to be facing felonies for something that has a demonstrated medical value, said Kevin Matthews, campaign manager for the main pro-301 group, Decriminalize Denver, and a stay-at-home dad who said he has used mushrooms to treat his own depression. For something that is safe and non-addictive, its the safest of all non-recreational drugs, Matthews added. Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on criminalizing individuals, ripping their families apart and putting them behind bars or face really extreme circumstances for possessing a mushroom? But for Peter Droege, a drug addiction policy fellow at the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, the arguments for mushrooms sound a lot like the case made when Colorado legalized marijuana, a decision he considers a mistake. Droege said he opposed the psilocybin initiative for the public safety consequences it poses. The [Drug Enforcement Administration] points out that some of the consequences of using psilocybin are hallucinations ... but also panic attacks and psychosis and lack of coordination, he said. This is the classic Pandoras box. You open this box to a drug that has very (few) differences to LSD, he said. It is just going to be a nightmare. Both sides of the debate can find some support for their position within the scientific community. For example, a group of researchers from Johns Hopkins University in a November 2016 study cited promising findings in the use of a single high dose of psilocybin to treat depression and anxiety in cancer patients. We conducted the largest trial with psilocybin with 51 cancer patients and saw dramatic and immediate reductions in depression and anxiety that lasted at least six months, said Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study. The drug was administered under scientific supervision, not by unsupervised users. Johnson noted that the findings still needs to be replicated and that there is no Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment. But he added, If they hold up in replication, they really are the type of findings that change the field. However, Johnson added that there are real risks associated with psilocybin, especially for the 1 to 2 percent of the population that have psychotic disorders or are predisposed to them. Those people can be harmed, he said. As for the general population, he said, people can engage in dangerous behavior while on psilocybin. Most people who do these things dont have a problem, Johnson said. But he keeps a file folder of cases where something went wrong. The folder grows every year, he said. In terms of frequency, they [bad trips] are at the very lowest end of the scale, he added. But thats very real when your son wanders into traffic because hes on mushrooms. Thats your loved one. Heres the question Denvers psilocybin initiative will put to city voters in the election that ends May 7: Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt an ordinance to the Denver Revised Municipal Code that would make the personal use and personal possession of psilocybin mushrooms by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older the citys lowest law-enforcement priority, prohibit the city from spending resources to impose criminal penalties for the personal use and personal possession of psilocybin mushrooms by persons twenty-one (21) years of age and older, and establish the psilocybin mushroom policy review panel to assess and report on the effects of the ordinance? If adopted, the measure would not make possession legal, and the drug would remain illegal under federal law, but it would force local law enforcement to make it a lower priority. To that end, it would require the mayor to appoint a panel by Dec. 31 that would study the effects of the initiative. The panel would include one representative each from the Denver Police and Sheriffs departments, two City Council members and two citizens from among the people who petitioned to put the measure on the ballot. The panel also would include a criminal defense attorney, a certified addiction counselor, a harm reduction advocate and one representative each from the city attorneys office and the district attorneys office. Denvers psilocybin initiative does not seek to make the drug available through a medical regulatory framework. In fact, while possession and use would be decriminalized, sale of the drug would still be subject to prosecution. Were not increasing access at all, Matthews said. Nobody should be able to walk into a store right now and, like cannabis, buy ... mushrooms. But initiative opponent Droege said the arguments put forward by the other side sound a lot like the case that was made for medical marijuana. I would say fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, Droege said. When the organizers of Initiative 301 achieved their goal of having it placed on the ballot in February submitting 8,524 signatures, with city officials deeming more than 5,500 signatures valid backers of the measure held a rally and invited a man at the event to speak. That invitation came as a surprise to Jerry (not his real name), who said he wasnt expecting to make any remarks. But he did. A 58-year-old man who says he is terminally ill, Jerry (who spoke to Colorado Politics on the condition that his real name not be used, saying he wanted his privacy protected) said the drug has eased his depression and anxiety. Jerry said he has tumors on his spine that are inoperable and that have metastasized to his brain. All they (his doctors) are doing is keeping me comfortable to die, he said. My plan is to die at home. I want to die right here in my chair. Jerry said he began using small doses of psilocybin mushrooms about 15 months ago, adding that they have given him some relief that other drugs failed to provide. He said he grew his own mushroom, ground them up and put them into capsules, which he takes once each morning in a dose of 300 milligrams. Its much more like a cup of coffee. I dont trip, he said. Matthews, the pro-301 campaign manager, said Jerry is a textbook example of a person who should not be subject to arrest for using a drug that is easing his depression and anxiety. Droege, however, is not convinced by the argument that mushrooms are needed as medicine. Any medical doctor will tell you that there are plenty of very powerful therapies that they can proscribe to relieve pain at the end of life, Droege said. Im not unsympathetic to people that are in great pain, and my point would always be after we approve this, and if a doctor prescribes it, and a pharmacist administers it, Ive got no problem. The mushroom initiative is one of two first-of-a-kind referendums in the nation that Denver voters will decide. The other is Initiative 300, which seeks to repeal the citys ban on urban camping and asserts the right of the homeless to live on the streets. The outcome on both measures likely will be noticed in cities elsewhere in the country. So, is Denver on the cutting edge for these kinds of initiatives? Not quite, said Tony Robinson, chairman of the political science department at the University of Colorado Denver. Two unusual ballot issues do not constitute a trend, Robinson said. I dont believe we have evidence to believe that this is a sign of something deeper, that Denver as a whole is going to be moving forward with strange, innovative ballot issues from election to election, Robinson said. I dont think we should take this one election cycle to mean that. So, these two initiatives are in fact interesting and unique. They are the products of a unique moment in time and a unique constellation of political forces that happen to be present in Denver right now, he added. I dont know that we should take from that a prediction that Denvers going to have all these wild and innovative ballot initiatives, going forward, Robinson said. The fact that we have these two pretty wild initiatives is unusual. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told Colorado Politics he opposes the magic mushroom ballot question. I think most of these conversations need to be on the federal level, Hancock said. What Denver does not want to do and should not do is to be the primary city for all these things, he added. Im very concerned that we are continuing to have these different groups its magic mushrooms now, (but) whats next that they are going to ask Denver to de-prioritize or legalize in the community? Denver District Attorney Beth McCann also is opposed to the measure. I think part of my objection is that we dont really know that much about psilocybin and the response that people might have to it, McCann said, adding she is not opposed to studying the issue. But the other thing that I worry about is that if Denver says ... were not going to enforce this law, that we will see people coming to Denver because they can take their mushrooms here. The extent to which law enforcement is making arrests and prosecuting psilocybin cases appears to be minor compared to other kinds of drug enforcement. Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said city officers have arrested 158 individuals on psilocybin allegations over the last three years. McCanns office said that out of the 9,267 drug cases filed by Denver prosecutors between 2016 and 2018, only 11 involved psilocybin. And of those cases, three involved charges of manufacturing or possession with intent to distribute. Regardless of what Denver decides, the drug will remain illegal under federal law, said U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jeff Dunn. Our position is that its a Schedule 1 illegal controlled substance, he said, and we would enforce federal law. While 301 has garnered press attention as far away as England, it has not generated as much in campaign spending compared to the homeless camping initiative sharing the city ballot. Advocates of the measure have raised $11,858 as of March 17, according to campaign finance reports. There does not appear to be any major fund-raising underway by groups opposed to the initiative. If the measure fails to pass, Matthews said he will consider it a victory to have placed the issue on the ballot. The fact that Denver residents even get to vote on something like this is gigantic, Matthews said. By Juliet Nalwooga. The Kyandodo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi has asked government to respect human rights now more than ever to avoid a replica of what is happening in Sudan. Addressingjournalists at his office in Kamwokya, Bobi WIne who is also the leader of the people power movement said that leaders who have over stayed in power should start respecting their citizens and not despise them. He meanwhile expressed concern over polices failure to respond to his letter about the upcoming Kyarenga Easter concerts. Bobi Wine who was also flanked by events promoters claimed that they wrote to police a month ago but up to know have not gotten a response. He insists failure by police to give him a go ahead, he will continue with concerts as already planned. Police has since last year blocked many of the musician turned politician music concerts. After allegedly stabbing his girlfriend to death, Ryker Scott walked to his neighbors house, covered in blood, and told his friend: I killed her, I killed her. I just killed Alex, according to the El Paso County Sheriffs Office. About 2 a.m. Sunday, sheriffs deputies responded to a 911 call stating that Scott, 24, had just killed his 21-year-old girlfriend, Alexandria Morris, an arrest affidavit said. Deputies found Scott at his neighbors house in Security-Widefield. Morris body was found in his home at 1905 Hallam Avenue. Upon entering the house that Scott lives in with his father, deputies saw multiple blood stains around the kitchen, in the hallway and outside a bedroom door. Deputies had to force the bedroom door open, where they found Morris body propped up against the door, the affidavit said. Scotts father was asleep in another bedroom of the house until deputies arrived. Scott reportedly told one neighbor after the killing, She was going to kill me if I didnt kill her first. Morris suffered multiple stab wounds to her neck and chest and was pronounced dead by medical personnel. Another neighbor told deputies that the couple had been at his house earlier in the night, according to the affidavit. The neighbor said Scott and Morris were picking at each other, but he was unsure what the argument was about. According to friends and neighbors, Scott and Morris had been in a relationship for a little over three months and had been in a physical altercation before. Neighbors told deputies Scott had a history of drug use. Scott was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and remains in the El Paso County jail without bond. Morris death was the second homicide this year in unincorporated El Paso County. 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 Richard Skorman was re-elected president of the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday, and Councilman Tom Strand will replace Jill Gaebler as president pro tem. Skorman was elected over Councilman Don Knight in a 6-3 vote, while Strand was chosen in an 8-1 vote, with Councilwoman Yolanda Avila voting for Councilman Andy Pico, whom she nominated. Council leaders help set the groups agendas and moderate discussions. The council also doubles as the Colorado Springs Utilities board of directors. The group will reconvene in that role Wednesday and select the chairman and vice chairman of the Utilities board. Strand has been chairman and Pico vice chairman. conrad.swanson@gazette.com By Juliet Nalwooga. Ugandan artists have been urged to not to betray their fans with selfish political strides. Addressing a press briefing in Kamwokya, Kyadondo East Legislator aka bobi wine has appealed to Uganda artists to unite and genuinely represent the ideas of their fans if they are to effect any positive change. Kyagulanyi maintained that as artists they are not government employees and as such should put aside their differences and stand in unity for the good of the Ugandans who pay their bills. He said that often Ugandans have been betrayed by artists who look for short turn cash from government. Kyagulanyi was speaking ahead of his Kyalenga Easter tour that he says he is not certain will carry on as planned because police has often foiled his concerts on ground that the force was not notified in time Washington was quick to respond to Contes remarks. The day after his announcement, the U.S. National Security Council took to Twitter to express its displeasure, warning that Italys participation in BRI would bring no benefits to the Italian people. The Italian government is also facing backlash from its own foreign policy establishment, at least some of which is aghast at the potential sale of the cornerstone of Italian strategy since 1945 strong relations with the U.S. for the low price of unspecified amounts of Chinese capital to build infrastructure . MOUs are nonbinding and generally full of unrealistic aspirations rather than concrete plans. Still, the deeper problem is that Italy is counting on the U.S. to buy significant amounts of Italian debt in 2019. This is especially crucial for Italy since the European Central Bank concluded its bond-buying program in December. If the U.S. decided to voice its displeasure by, say, encouraging investors to eschew buying Italian debt, it could increase Italian borrowing costs at a time when the country is already in recession and its debt-to-gross domestic product ratio is at 133 percent. At least on the surface, Italy appears to be risking an awful lot for an awful little. Why, then, would it be willing to make such a move? Thus far, U.S. warnings against cooperating with China have been more bark than bite. Stalwart U.S. allies such as Poland, New Zealand and Israel have also signed MOUs on BRI with little consequence. Even France and the European Commission have appeared open to cooperation with China on BRI projects in various joint declarations. Italy is debt-ridden and cash-starved, and if China is willing to throw some money its way, Italy has every reason to accept it. Its taking a calculated risk, but considering U.S. reactions to other MOUs, its not an especially dangerous one. For China, Italys participation in BRI is an insignificant though welcome step toward its much broader strategic ambitions. Chinas success in this long-term endeavor will not be determined by the endorsement of a single country, even one as important as Italy. The broader project is to connect the entire Eurasian landmass via ports, roads and rail. Even if successful and thats a big if it will be many decades before such infrastructure can be built let alone pay dividends. It will also take a lot more than MOUs for such a plan to work. Many have described BRI as a Chinese version of the Marshall Plan. But its a faulty comparison because it misunderstands the scope and goals of both projects. The Marshall Plans aim was to rebuild Western Europe so it could hold the line against the Soviet Union. In trying to reorient Eurasia away from the Western Hemisphere and toward the Middle Kingdom, BRI is entirely different in scope. The United States would never have contemplated a Eurasian-wide Marshall Plan because it would have laid the groundwork for precisely the type of power the U.S. has been obsessed with thwarting for over two centuries. As overly ambitious as Chinas larger strategic goal may be, it is precisely that strategic aim that so irks the United States. While it doesnt particularly care if China builds a port in Italy or high-speed rail in Poland, it does care about the potential emergence of a dominant power in Eurasia. Whether its China or some other power bridging the Eurasian landmass, the threat to the United States is the same. Being able to seamlessly connect markets from Shanghai to Lisbon would hamper the United States ability to prevent the rise of a Eurasian hegemon or a Eurasia less dependent on Washingtons support and approval. Theres just one small problem with Chinas plan: It would be nearly impossible to execute. China doesnt possess the levels of financial and political capital needed to complete such a project. Even if it did, it would face tremendous political challenges in implementation. Many great powers have dreamed of ruling Eurasia. They have all been thwarted by Eurasias tremendous diversity. Chinas vision of two continents stitched together by shared economic interests is wildly idealistic because not everything is about shared economic interests. Consider the European Union, and the level of discord in that multilateral organization despite its immense wealth. China has promoted the idea that Eurasian countries should cooperate to build a more prosperous and stable Eurasia. Its a noble idea, but the promise of infrastructure spending will not be enough to encourage countries as varied as Italy, Iran and Uzbekistan to work together to build a Chinese-led Eurasian order. Even if Chinas ultimate aim to link Eurasia is more dream than reality, BRI is still potentially problematic because Chinas ability to convince countries to sign MOUs undermines U.S. relationships throughout the world. The United States' insistence that its allies reject BRI funds or Huawei 5G equipment falls on deaf ears because the United States hasnt offered any compelling alternatives . The U.S. built and sustained a global world order based on maximum freedom and independence for all actors. Countries that agreed to play by U.S. rules gained unfettered access to trade and protection from potential adversaries. At its best, the system is largely non-coercive and works in the interests of its stakeholders. But it wasnt envisioned as a kind of American empire, in which an American emperor could direct countries not to buy the best technology available because the U.S. didnt like who was making it. Indeed, in 1945, the U.S. was interested in destroying empires, not building one of its own. When the U.S. takes such a heavy-handed approach on issues like BRI and 5G, it plays directly into Chinas hands because such is the behavior of an empire. The aspect of U.S. policy that is most attractive to most countries is precisely how hands-off U.S. foreign policy is. The U.S. has no desire to dominate Eurasia it simply wants to make sure no one else does. China, with its authoritarian system and historical preference for social stability over the protection of individual rights, does have an interest in dominating Eurasia, not to mention a history of conquering vast swaths of it. Thats why, at a political level, even a country as distant as Italy cant seriously contemplate an alliance with China. Accepting investment is one thing, but Italy isnt about to seek to replace a system that has sustained it through the most united and profitable period in Italian history since the Roman Empire. The only thing that could really push countries like Italy and Poland into Chinas waiting arms is if the U.S. breaches the rules of its own system and, in doing so, harms the national interests of those who participate in it. The U.S. is insisting other countries ban Huawei technology or not sign BRI MOUs, without providing better, or at least comparable, alternatives. If the best the U.S. can do in these situations is threaten to impose tariffs or other economic penalties, it is indicative of the kind of sclerotic self-righteousness that often appears when global superpowers either take power for granted or fail to maintain their relative advantages. Six years after China announced the Belt and Road Initiative, the U.S. response is to send angry tweets. That is far more of a boon to Chinese strategy than any MOU could ever be. Grand Old Partisan salutes John Wilson, born near Cincinnati this day of 1811. His general store was a station along the Underground Railroad. Outbreak of civil war, the abolitionist businessman invested all his funds in government bonds to support the Union cause. Age fifty, Wilson recruited a company of soldiers for the 70th Ohio Infantry and enlisted as their captain. His regiment battled at Shiloh. Mustered out due to illness, the Republican won election to the state senate. In 1866, he was elected to the first of three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He chaired the agriculture committee. His son died while serving in the 33rd Ohio Infantry. Peace restored, Wilson prospered in finance. He left his fortune to various charities. Among his bequests was Serpent Mound, to the Peabody Museum. Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dZRzjidIsaM 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" Blog Archive December (2) November (2) October (2) September (2) August (3) July (3) June (3) May (2) April (2) March (3) February (2) January (2) December (2) November (2) October (2) September (3) August (3) July (4) June (4) May (5) April (4) March (4) February (4) January (4) December (4) November (6) October (2) September (3) August (2) July (10) June (3) May (2) April (8) March (5) February (3) January (4) December (4) November (5) October (5) September (4) August (7) June (4) May (4) April (2) March (5) February (2) January (4) December (3) November (4) October (4) September (3) August (4) July (4) June (5) May (3) April (3) March (4) February (5) January (5) December (2) November (3) October (4) September (4) August (4) July (4) June (5) May (4) April (4) March (5) February (4) January (4) December (5) November (4) October (4) September (4) August (4) July (4) June (4) May (3) April (4) March (3) February (4) January (2) December (5) November (5) October (8) September (7) August (7) July (8) June (8) May (5) April (7) March (6) February (2) January (4) December (3) November (7) October (3) September (3) August (4) July (5) June (8) May (7) April (7) March (5) February (6) January (8) December (6) November (5) October (7) September (4) August (7) July (7) June (6) May (8) April (10) March (12) February (3) January (8) December (9) November (7) October (7) September (8) August (9) July (5) June (7) May (4) April (4) March (5) February (8) January (6) December (5) November (5) October (5) September (2) August (2) July (3) June (2) May (5) April (1) March (3) February (4) January (1) December (3) November (3) October (3) September (2) August (2) July (2) June (4) May (4) April (4) March (4) February (4) January (3) December (5) November (5) October (4) " " A small study examined whether a specific type of meditation can ease the trauma of female inmates. Lulabelle Brightly/Getty Images Women's prisons are filling up fast in the United States. With the rate of growth for the female population in U.S. prisons nearly double that of males, researchers are trying to get a handle on why this is, what can be done about it, and what to do with these new prisoners. The answer at least to that third component of the equation might just be Transcendental Meditation (TM), according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed Permanente Journal. This specific meditation method was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Indian guru enjoyed the 1960s and '70s notoriety of being known as the Guru to the Stars: The Beatles, the Beach Boys, actress Mia Farrow, and surrealist filmmaker David Lynch all spent time learning this technique. TM presents itself as easy to practice: It generally focuses on a mantra, but unlike some other meditation styles, it doesn't require concentration or consciously editing one's thoughts; the technique involves sitting quietly for 20 minutes twice a day and simply allowing the mind to settle. In 2003, Lynch whose foundation, it should be noted, funded the study wrote in the New Statesman that, "Transcendental Meditation leads to a beautiful, peaceful revolution. A change from suffering and negativity to happiness and a life more and more free of any problems." Advertisement And if anybody has problems, it's prisoners. The incarcerated population in the U.S. has endured some of the most traumatic experiences of any group in the country, and female prisoners bear the burden of even more emotional trauma and sexual abuse than men. Traumatic stress exposure leads people to make poor choices in their lives, and it causes psychological and physical illness past research has even shown a connection between trauma and cancer, especially in women. In addition, prisoners who have experienced especially high levels of trauma often end up back in jail after having served prior sentences. The Transcendental Meditation technique has been found to improve psychological, behavioral, and physical health in male inmates, as well as to increase psychological well-being and decrease recidivism rates in that population. In women, meditation techniques have been shown to help reductions in symptoms of trauma, burnout, perceived stress and depression outside a correctional environment, but to date, this is the first study to look specifically at the benefits of the TM technique in treating trauma symptoms in female inmates. The relatively small, limited study conducted with 22 female prisoners in a medium-security prison in Oregon found that after being taught and practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique, the 11 women in the meditation group experienced significant reductions in their trauma symptoms after four months of meditating twice daily, individually and together, compared to the 11 in the control group. From the group of inmates who practiced TM, some reported having less stress, more mental clarity, enhanced problem-solving abilities and better physical health (lower blood pressure and deeper, more restful sleep). A woman suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder reported that she no longer has night terrors and flashbacks, and her sleep has improved. "This study is a valuable addition to the research literature in women's mental health, showing a natural and effortless alternative approach to reducing trauma symptoms," said lead author Dr. Sanford Nidich, director of the Center for Social and Emotional Health at Maharishi University of Management, in a press release. "It further replicates an earlier randomized controlled trial with Transcendental Meditation (TM) in male prison inmates suffering from high levels of trauma symptoms. Previous studies have shown reduced trauma in other populations, including veterans and African refugees with the TM program." Now That's Interesting David Lynch set up his foundation in 2005 to fund teaching TM in schools. By Moses Kyeyune. A section of lawmakers from the Leading Opposition Party Forum for Democratic change have lashed out at the police for foiling their party rallies. This after police arrested an FDC activist in Jinja over the weekend during a standoff between police and the former FDC president Dr Kiiza Besigye after he was blocked from being hosted on a live radio talk show. Addressing a press conference at Parliament this afternoon, the MPs including Rujumbura Countys Fred Turyamuheza, Francis Mwijukye of Buhweju County and Roland Kaginda of Rukungiri Municipality accused the police of abusing the police uniform in partisan politics. The lawmakers have vowed to take on the police and human rights organs within the country for sleeping on the job while Democratic space in the country is shrinking. Police has always dismissed reports of being partisan asked those preparing public rallies to get permission and clearance from them. " " Notre Dame, arguably the most beloved cathedral in the world, burns in Paris on April 15, 2019. Philippe Wang/Getty Images On the evening of April 15, 2019, the world watched in stunned silence as the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Our Lady of Paris, burned. The medieval edifice was the site of countless historical events, from the coronations of Napoleon Bonaparte and Henry VI of England, to the beatification of Joan of Arc. French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the structure, which retained its crowned double towers but lost its famous spire and two-thirds of its original wooden roof, made from 5,000 oak trees. Before the fire was completely extinguished, one European billionaire pledged $113 million euros to reconstruct the 800-year-old gothic cathedral. But what went into building it in the first place? The cornerstone of Notre Dame Cathedral was laid in 1163 C.E., by order of King Louis VII, whose only other claim to fame was that he was the first husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine (which was basically like marrying 12th-century Beyonce). Built on Ile de la Cite, a natural island in the middle of the river Seine and the site of the first settlement that developed into what is now Paris, Notre Dame was plopped down on top of the rubble of two older churches (that had earlier replaced an ancient pagan temple) and a small medieval neighborhood. Maurice de Sully, then bishop of Paris, convinced the crown to invest an astronomical amount of money in the project the cathedral ended up costing almost $1 billion in today's figures. Advertisement In the Middle Ages, the Church began granting forgiveness of sins to people who either went to fight in the Crusades or went to work building one of the lavish cathedrals that were popping up around Europe. The Notre Dame cathedral as we know it today took nearly two centuries to build it was completed in 1345 C.E. and more than 1,000 carpenters, masons, metalsmiths and other laborers worked on its construction. Of course, many of these people never saw it completed, although Bishop Sully celebrated the first Mass at Notre Dame's altar in 1182 C.E. Notre Dame was built during a time when architects were pushing technology to its limits in the quest to make a taller building with thinner walls and more windows. The original plans for Notre Dame called for much thicker walls to hold up a heavy roof. Several lead architects worked on Notre Dame in the two centuries of construction, and over time they figured out that the way to support Notre Dame's enormous, spectacular stained glass windows and 115-foot (35-meter) ceiling was to add flying buttresses to keep the walls from flopping outward. In recent centuries, Notre Dame Cathedral has taken a bit of a beating due to a cocktail of pollution, natural weathering from rain and cold, and some hard-core neglect and mistreatment during the French Revolution. Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" made much of the cathedral's decay, which resulted in some restoration in the mid-19th century. But now, still more restoration is needed for the building that Hugo called "a symphony in stone," which has watched over Paris for the better part of a millenia. "Every face, every stone, of this venerable monument," wrote Hugo of Notre Dame, "is a page not only of the history, of the country, but of the history of science and art." Now That's Interesting Notre Dame's spire was not original it was added on during a major restoration in the 1840s. The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoards Dairyman. Full-time undergraduate students enrolled in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences with a focus in dairy science or an interest in the dairy industry at Delaware Valley University or the food marketing program at Saint Josephs University, are encouraged to apply for two $1,500 scholarships offered by the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. Application deadline is May 31, 2019. Scholarship criteria include academic achievement, experience in the dairy industry, and/or preference to marketing dairy foods as part of the students undergraduate work. Applicants must be entering sophomore through senior years in the 2019 fall semester at either university. We are pleased to offer these scholarships to help support students interested in pursuing dairy-related or food science careers that support the dairy industry, said Jeff Raney, Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program Chair and dairy farmer from Adamsville, Crawford County. This worthwhile investment will help prepare future leaders in the the dairy and food industries. Interested students can download applications at: Food marketing scholarship: https://www.americandairy.com/for-farmers/food-marketing-scholarship.stml or Dairy scholarship: https://www.americandairy.com/for-farmers/dairy-science-scholarship.stml. Completed applications and all required documentation must be submitted via email to aleslie@milk4u.org with subject line 2019 PDPP Scholarship, or a hard copy by mail to Amy Leslie (address on application), by May 31, 2019. Questions can be directed to Amy Yeiser Leslie at 267-623-3127 or aleslie@milk4u.org. About American Dairy Association North East American Dairy Association North East (ADA North East) is the dairy farmer-funded organization funded by participating dairy farmers checkoff investment to build demand and sales for milk and dairy foods throughout the local region. Representing nearly 11,000 dairy farm families in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and northern Virginia, ADA North East develops and implements local programs to drive milk and dairy sales at retail outlets and in schools. The organization also conducts consumer education about dairy through events, traditional and social media, and in collaboration with health professionals through National Dairy Council. ADA North East works closely with Dairy Management Inc., the national dairy checkoff organization, to support nutrition research, national partnerships and developing export markets for dairy to bring a fully integrated promotion program to the region. For more information, visit www.AmericanDairy.com Hope College students Hunter Gieswein, Alexander Osterbaan, Kyra Ross and Alyssa VanZanten have been awarded internships through the SCI Scholars Internship Program, representing nearly 20 percent of the 2019 awardees in this national competition. The SCI Scholars Summer Internship Program was created by The Society of Chemical Industry, American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society to introduce chemistry and chemical engineering students to careers in the chemical industry. Only 22 of the internships were awarded for 2019. The awards include support for a 10- to 12-week internship, a certificate and an additional $1,000. All of the students anticipate graduating in 2020. Gieswein, of Grand Rapids, will spend the summer working with Trinseo LLC in Midland. He is majoring in engineering with a chemical engineering concentration. Osterbaan, of Ada, will also work with Trinseo LLC in Midland. He is majoring in engineering with a chemical engineering concentration and in chemistry. Ross, of Saline, will spend the summer working with Carus Corporation in LaSalle, Illinois. She is majoring in engineering with a chemical engineering concentration, and is minoring in mathematics. VanZanten, of Rockford, will spend the summer working with Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies in a location to be determined. She is majoring in engineering with a chemical engineering concentration and in chemistry, and is minoring in mathematics. The SCI Scholars Internship Program began in 2010. Hope has had a total of seven recipients since 2015. Only one other institution, the University of Maryland at College Park, has had as many recipients in a single year as the four Hope students honored this year. The University of California at Berkeley had two 2019 recipients, and it was the only institution other than Hope to have more than one 2019 recipient. SCI America International Group promotes the application of science for the benefit of society. SCI is dedicated to promoting fellowship, celebrating achievement, promoting public awareness of the contributions of industrial chemistry and inspiring students to enter technical careers. Founded in 1908, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers is a nonprofit organization providing leadership to the chemical engineering profession. The institute has more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries in industry, academia, and government. Founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress, the American Chemical Society is the worlds largest scientific society, and has more than 150,000 members in more than 140 countries. The societys mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. Choose your country to get an overview of the legal status and resources on homeschooling with a list of local contacts that can help you find out about mandatory homeschool requirements. Select a country or click on the map below. Did we really just do this? Dr Katie Bouman reacts to world-first image of black hole. Photo: Facebook The first ever image produced of a black hole is just the beginning, according to the 29-year-old female scientist who played a prominent role in producing it. Last week the Event Horizon Telescope team unveiled the first ever image of a black hole, using a network of eight ground-based telescopes all around the world over 10 days in early 2017, and then implementing an algorithm to stitch the huge amounts of data into a single image over the last two years. The image of a black centre surrounded by a fiery ring was seen around the world, along with a photo of a smiling Dr Kate Bouman, reacting with glee and disbelief to the image. Dr Bouman is a postdoctoral fellow with the Event Horizon Telescope and an assistant professor in the computing and mathematical sciences department at Caltech. The 29-year-old developed the algorithm that was used to combine the data into the single image of the black hole. Her photo, posted to Facebook last week, went viral around the world, but Dr Bouman was quick to clarify that the image was a team effort of the 200-plus scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope. The image of the black hole. Photo: Supplied No one algorithm or person made this image, it required the amazing talent of a team of scientists from around the globe and years of hard work to develop the instruments, data processing, imaging methods and analysis techniques that were necessary to pull off this seemingly impossible feat, Dr Bouman posted on Facebook. The 29-year-old completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a masters and doctorate. It was during these studies that Dr Bouman developed the algorithm to produce an image of a black hole. Dr Bouman even delivered a Ted Talk in 2017 on how its possible to take a photo of a black hole. Soon after the photo of Dr Boumans celebration went viral, faceless online trolls targeted her with a series of misogynistic attacks, with some comparing how many lines of code were written by each scientist in the team. Andrew Chael, another member of the Event Horizon Telescope team quickly hit back at these awful and sexist attacks. Together, we all make each others work better; the number of commits doesnt tell the fully story of who was indispensable, Chael tweeted. So while I appreciate the congratulations on a result that I worked hard on for years, if you are congratulating me because you have a sexist vendetta against Katie, please go away and reconsider your priorities in life. The image is of a black hole in the Messier 87 galaxy that is about 100 billion kilometres wide, and 6.5 billion times the mass of our sun. 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 Moses Kyeyune. Officials from the Uganda Revenue Authority have this afternoon been kicked out of a committee sitting, chaired by Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa, after they turned up without the commissioner general, Doris Akol. The House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises, was today slated to receive responses from the Commissioner General on anomalies highlighted in the auditor generals report of 2014. The report raises a number of red flags ranging from under declaration of taxes, uncollected debt and mismanagement of goods impounded by URA officials. However, when they turned up, the delegation from URA led by Henry Saka, the Commissioner domestic taxes, informed the Committee that Akol had traveled to South Africa on a two weeks trip. Munyagwa says that, only the accounting officer, should give answers and that they have nothing to proceed with, unless Akol shows up. Hot on the heels of last months 2019 edition of the Retromark conference, reviewed here , comes the fifth (how times flies) edition of Darren Meale of Simmons & Simmons Retromark rundown of notable trade mark cases over the past six months. Links to the four previous editions are at the end of this post. Enjoy! Retromark Volume V: the last six months in trade marks 1. Easyjet crash lands as shrimp shipper shakedown shut off You only need compare the two marks below to see what this one is about. Thats not quite right. This was really about whether Bangladeshi airline EasyFly was actually doing anything in the jurisdiction. If so, and if easyJet had real prospects of success on the merits, easyJet would be granted permission to serve out of the jurisdiction. EasyFly would win if easyJet could not show it was targeting the UK or elsewhere in the EU. Mr Justice Arnold reviewed the principles: accessibility from the UK is not enough; the test is objective but actual evidence of UK targeting may be relevant; all the circumstances must be evaluated; is it possible to buy goods from it and have them shipped to the UK; is GBP used as a currency; is there a UK telephone number; how many UK consumers visit the website; and so on. Assessing the evidence, Arnold J concluded that there was no targeting of the UK by Easyfly. 98% of its flights were domestic. It had never flown to the EU and had no plans to do so. It has never had an EU customer. The website was in English but this was a global language and widely spoken in Bangladesh. Easyflys website reference to having global reach for customers in Europe was taken to be advertising puff (in reality Easyfly flew live shrimp between Dhaka and places like Jessore). Only two out of 514 likes of its Facebook page were from the UK. Permission to serve out of the jurisdiction denied. Now repeat after me 15 times, at speed: She sells shrimp shipping from the seashore. 2. Byzantine complexity in making sense of the relevance of class numbers Easygroups second appearance this volume is Pathway. As Mr Justice Carr began, Unless familiar with the law of registered trade marks, you might think that it is relatively straightforward. Regrettably, you would be wrong. Easygroup knocked out a couple of EASYOFFICE-formative registrations owned by Pathway. It won before the UKIPO and after a long delay (in part because of IP Translator ), the High Court heard Pathways appeal. There were two issues. The first was whether Pathway could put in late evidence of the prosecution history of its marks the discussions it had with the UKIPO. Henry Carr J concluded that reference to prosecution history in trade mark cases is the exception, and not the rule, even more so than in patent cases. This was not a case in which that history was relevant. He also concluded that there had been ample opportunity for Pathway to adduce the evidence at first instance. Appeal denied on the first issue. The second issue related to the Nice class system, something the judge described as technical and arcane (fair point, judge, but its all weve got). The UKIPO Hearing Officer construed certain services of the marks in suit in Class 35 provision of office facilities and rental of office space by reference to the Nice Classification lists in Class 35, which led it to adopt a narrower interpretation of the specification than he would have had he merely relied on the natural and ordinary reading of the words used. Henry Carr Js provisional view was that it is appropriate to use [the] class number as an aid to interpretation of the specification where the words used in the specification lack clarity and precision, but that there was no need otherwise. In the present case, the terms used were clear and precise, so the fact they were classified in the registration in Class 35 was not relevant. That meant that the Hearing Officer had been wrong to adopt the narrower meaning. But alas this did not win the day for Pathway, because the judge went on to conclude that even on the correct interpretation of the services (this being why the view expressed was provisional, as it was not determinative), Pathway had not provided sufficient evidence to prove use. Appeal dismissed. Not an easy judgment to work through, notwithstanding the judges valiant efforts to make this arcane topic readable. IPKats take is here 3. Purple colour options not a series of marks, as Court of Appeal sinks Cadburys novel chocolate argument Cadbury v The Comptroller General v Nestle [2018] EWCA Civ 2715 (December 2018) (December 2018) Mentioned briefly back in Volume I , the Court of Appeal has now brought an end to Cadburys hopes of keeping its UK registration for its colour purple going. In 2013, Cadburys registration for Pantone 2685C applied to the whole visible surface, or being the predominant colour applied to the whole visible surface, of the packaging of the goods for chocolate was held invalid because it was not a sign. The use of predominant meant that it was void for lack of certainty and precision as it comprised multiple signs. Cadbury was unfortunate to find itself in this position it had adopted this description at the invitation of the UKIPO when it applied for the mark in 1997. Cadburys ingenious solution to this otherwise registration-ending problem was to claim that the registration was, in fact, a series of marks under the UKs almost unique system of permitting multiple marks to be registered under one registration number. As it was possible to delete a mark in the series, Cadbury thought it could deem the predominant wording one mark and delete it, getting rid of the problem. But, alas, the argument was rejected at all levels, culminating in Lord Justice Floyd concluding that that it would be a potentially far-reaching step to allow Cadburys request and one which would give rise to grave difficulties for the examination of trade marks. IPKat here The long-running nature of this case combined with Cadbury and Nestles equally endless battle over the 3D KitKat mark led me to award this case Epic Saga of the Year at the inaugural Retromark Awards at our recent event 4. Poor evidence costs McDonalds its BIG MAC in Supermac attack Supermacs and McDonalds are locked in a variety of MAC burger battles. Supermacs applied to cancel McDonalds EUTM for BIG MAC which has long passed its initial five-year use grace period. It fell to McDonalds to prove it had put the mark to genuine use in the EU for a variety of goods in Classes 29, 30 and 42 including for meat sandwiches (ie, burger in a bun). Easy peasy right? McDonalds failed, even for sandwiches, which Supermacs had conceded had been dealt with sufficiently on the evidence. A look at the evidence does suggest a degree of complacency on McDonalds (or its lawyers) part it was rather flimsy. McDonalds have appealed, but the loss of protection for one of the most renowned names in fast food should serve as a stark reminder that, without proof, no one is famous in the eyes of the EUIPO. IPKat here and look out for my article in JIPLP 5. Use of a mark in a company name results in a finding of instrument of fraud, just like for domain names Bayerische Motoren Werke v BMW Telecommunications Limited, Benjamin Michael Whitehouse [2019] EWHC 411 (IPEC) (February 2019) Benjamin Michael Whitehouse has the initials BMW. BMW is one of the worlds most well-known car manufacturers. Mr Whitehouse formed a company in 2011, BMWAssociates, for his little one-man band telecom railway company. After an exchange of letters, the parties signed a coexistence agreement by which BMWAssociates (not Mr Whitehouse) agreed to limit his use of BMW. In 2017, Mr Whitehouse formed BMW Telecommunications Limited (not a breach because Mr Whitehouse was not a party to the coexistence agreement). BWM sued for trade mark infringement and passing-off. HHJ Hacon in the IPEC upheld the claim following BMWs application for summary judgment. BWM sought successfully to apply by analogy the instrument of fraud principle from the classic domain name case, BT v One in a Million. A simple enough case but one that may not have been needed had Mr Whitehouse been a party to the original coexistence agreement little one-man band companies are precisely the type of infringer where one should seek personal undertakings from the controlling mind. 6. The red sole is valid and infringed, says the Court of The Hague Christian Louboutin v Van Haren Schoenen BV C/09/450182 / HA ZA 13-999, Court of The Hague (February 2019) For the first time Retromark strays beyond its UK/EU-level remit, in order to see the legendary red sole saga through to its conclusion in the Dutch courts. As reported by the IPKat here , this followed the CJEUs decision last June that Louboutins registration did not consist exclusively of a shape (which would likely have led to it falling foul of the prohibition on registration of shapes which give substantial value to goods). The Court of The Hague applied this decision and upheld the registration meaning that Van Haren infringed it (this conclusion followed from its earlier findings in 2015). Van Haren sought to resist this conclusion by raising, amongst other points, the issue in Textilis, which we cover below. The point was that EU trade mark law has changed such that the prohibition relating to shapes now extends to the shape, or another characteristic. If that new law applied to Louboutins mark, Van Haren argued the case should be stayed pending the CJEUs resolution of Textilis, in which it is expected to rule on whether or not the changes to EU trade mark law have retrospective effect. The Dutch court refused a stay not because the argument did not have merit but because The Netherlands has yet to implement the new law, despite the deadline for doing so having passed. Naughty Netherlands! 7. No retrospectivity for new EU trade mark law So do the changes in EU trade mark law introduced by the 2017 Regulation and 2015 Directive have retrospective effect? No, says the CJEU. The new law is not applicable to marks registered prior to it entering into force. This case concerned an EU trade mark for a figurative mark for a variety of goods (including fabric and paper) which depicted maps of New York along with places in New York including MANHATTAN (see the small version below). The owner, Svenskt Tenn, sought to assert the mark against an alleged infringer, Textilis, in Sweden while also alleging copyright infringement. Textilis sought to declare the mark invalid on the basis that it is made up of a shape which gives substantial value to the goods, contrary to the old version of Article 7(1)(e)(iii) of the EUTM Regulation. Having confirmed that the old law applied, the CJEU went on to conclude that a mark such as this consisting of two-dimensional decorative motifs does not consist exclusively of a shape. The fact that the mark was also protected by copyright had no impact on this conclusion. Another one of those CJEU anti-climaxes, to which many may respond I could have told you that. Perhaps these cases will be more interesting when the new (and broader?) law applies. IPKat here 8. Gleissner trumped as UKIPO keen to Make our TM system Great Again It is hard to know who to root for in a bad faith trade mark battle between orange-faced MAGA-moron and president Donald Trump and trade mark and domain hoarder and possible confused robot Michael Gleissner. Gleissner (by his company Trump International Ltd) sought to register TRUMP TV and DTTM, now owner and manager of Trumps trade mark portfolio (amongst other things), opposed. Gleissner was found in bad faith by the UKIPO and the matter was appealed to the High Court (there is a statutory right to do so and no prospect of success filter applies). After a thorough analysis of Gleissners fairly flimsy grounds of appeal, Mr Justice Henry Carr dismissed them, upholding the finding of bad faith and refusing Gleissners request to adduce new evidence (described at least in part as not credible). The Comptroller of the UKIPO intervened to express concern that behaviour like that of Gleissner could bring the trade mark system into disrepute. Evidence was provided of the extent of Gleissners activities, including 49 unpaid UKIPO costs orders (one third of the entirety of unpaid costs orders). Guidance was sought from the court as to how these matters should be dealt with in the future, which the judge did at paragraph 85 of his judgment this is worth a read in full if you come up against Gleissner. 9. Virgin on the Virginic indirectly confusing on the second attempt JW Spear v Zynga when the legendary Mr Justice Peter Smith decided that the marks SCRABBLE and SCRAMBLE were not similar, only to be overturned by the Court of Appeal. Many more surprising decisions have been made since, the latest being the UKIPOs conclusion in an opposition that there was no likelihood of confusion between the marks VIRGINIC and VIRGIN for identical goods in Class 3. It was 2015 inwhen the legendary Mr Justice Peter Smith decided that the marks SCRABBLE and SCRAMBLE were not similar, only to be overturned by the Court of Appeal. Many more surprising decisions have been made since, the latest being the UKIPOs conclusion in an opposition that there was no likelihood of confusion between the marks VIRGINIC and VIRGIN for identical goods in Class 3. Reviewing the UKIPOs decision, Mr Justice Arnold in the High Court bumped up the Hearing Officers findings: VIRGIN had a fairly high degree of inherent distinctive character, rather than an average one, and the conceptual similarity between the marks was fairly high, not medium owing to the suffix-like nature of the -IC part of VIRGINIC. Interestingly, as arguably a proponent of a wider interpretation of the Thomson Life principle (see the judges conclusions in Aveda ), Arnold J held that it did not apply here. VIRGINIC is not a composite mark consisting of two signs, one of which has a distinctive significance independent of the significance of the whole, he held. Where Thomson Life does apply, in my view it is typically easier to establish a likelihood of confusion. It would follow from Arnold Js comments that had the mark been VIRGIN ICE (for example), the principle would have applied, notwithstanding that this mark is further away from VIRGIN than VIRGINIC is. Dont believe anyone who tells you that trade mark law is easy. Virgin contended that this matter turned on a likelihood of indirect confusion (it did not push for a finding of direct confusion). This has been described as this thought process of the consumer the later mark is different from the earlier mark, but also has something in common with it. Taking account of the common element in the context of the later mark as a whole, I conclude that it is another brand of the owner of the earlier mark. The judgment contains a good summary of the types of indirect confusion which I dare say every trade mark lawyer should read. Having raised the similarities between the marks above, Arnold J was satisfied that he should re-assess the Hearing Officers finding on indirect confusion and conclude that, in fact, indirect confusion was likely. For a 23-paragraph judgment, this is an extremely useful case study for how confusion between similar marks is assessed in practice. Go read it! 10. A difficult jurisdictional jumble: targeting is key, says Advocate General Volumes I and The background to this case is inand III . The question before the Court of Justice is this: can an alleged EU trade mark infringer offering goods for sale on a website be sued in the courts of the Member State on whose territory the traders and consumers targeted by the website are situated? The answer, says Advocate General Szpunar, is yes. Wintersteiger (April 2012) which consider similar but different provisions of EU law on jurisdiction should be followed. The AG said no. Following Nintendo, for example, would set a limit on jurisdiction to the place where the process of putting the offer for sale online by the defendant on its website was activated. Adopting such an approach would lead to scenarios in which no EU territory had jurisdiction. The answer lies in the interpretation of Article 97(5) of the old EUTM Regulation (now found at Article 125(5) of the new EUTMR), which provides for jurisdiction in the Member State in which the act of infringement has been committed. The defendants argued that the CJEU judgments in Nintendo (September 2017) and(April 2012) which consider similar but different provisions of EU law on jurisdiction should be followed. The AG said no. Following Nintendo, for example, would set a limit on jurisdiction to the place where the process of putting the offer for sale online by the defendant on its website was activated. Adopting such an approach would lead to scenarios in which no EU territory had jurisdiction. Instead a tailor-made solution was required. This was to ask whether the public of a Member State was being targeted. It would not be enough merely that the website was accessible from that place. The AG listed some relevant factors which we have seen discussed in this context before (including in EasyFly, above) is the particular Member State referred to, does the website use a country-specific top-level domain, are the prices in the national currency, is there a national telephone number. To understand the full complexities of the judgment one must make it through 99 pretty hard-going paragraphs, so this summary is necessarily an oversimplification. The Court of Justice has the next say as ever, it is free to follow or ignore the AGs opinion. After that the case will go back to the IPEC to make the final factual decision. By then the AGs opinion may be mere background, but the AG did offer his own view on the facts: he indicated he did not think the defendant, Heritage, was targeting the UK owing to the absence of the above factors from its website. The only UK-specific factor the AG could spot was that a third-party UK distributor was included on the website in a list of distributors. That was not enough, he opined. *** Thanks go to Amy Palmer for helping to compile this Volumes featured cases. Go retro on your Retromark: The thing is that the Regime has a viable alternative in the form of the oldest, largest, and most popular resistance organization in Iran, which has fought two separate regimes since it was founded in 1965. That is the Peoples Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK). In order to help you earn more about the MEK, we have created an in-depth series. In this part, we will give you a brief overview of the MEKs history. The MEK was founded by three Iranian engineers in September 1965, who believed that Islam is a modern, tolerant, and democratic religion that had been hijacked by the Shah to abuse the people. The MEK hoped to replace the Pahlavi monarchy, which refused any democratic reforms and had a sickening human rights record, with a democratic government. After the 1979 Revolution, the Shah fled Iran after being deposed, but sadly, the MEKs fight was not over. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile to subvert the peoples revolution for himself to create a theocracy with himself as the unchallenged ruler. A king in all but name. So the MEK was forced to switch gears and oppose the Ayatollah in favour of a democratic government. In 1980, the MEK held a demonstration in Tehran against Khomeinis growing despotism and over 200,000 people turned up. Khomeini, fearing that the MEK could be his downfall, sent in his Hezbollah thugs to attack the MEK supporters. MEK leader Massoud Rajavi shouted over machine-gun fire, explosions, and ambulances sirens that the MEK was not communist, but rather fighting for a free and independent Iran. Still, Hezbollah attacked the MEK supporters, killing five and injuring hundreds. Despite this, the MEK grew stronger and by July of that year, Khomeini was openly speculating about his possible defeat, declaring the MEK to be enemies of the state. Thus, he ordered his Revolutionary Guards to escalate their attacks on the MEK. On June 20, 1981, the MEK organised protests across Iran against the mullahs rule, with over 500,000 Iranians turning up to the Tehran demonstration alone. Khomeini ordered Hezbollah to block the streets and fire into the crowds, which killed hundreds and injured thousands. Immediately afterwards, thousands of MEK supporters were arrested. The next day, Khomeini ordered that hundreds of arrested MEK supporters be executed, even teenagers. Over the next 37 years, over 120,000 MEK members would be killed by the mullahs and this bloodbath removed any legitimacy that the Regime may have once had with the Iranian people. In 2019, the MEK is still fighting to bring democracy to Iran, whatever the cost to themselves, and for that, they have the support of the Iranian people. In our next part, we will learn about the Regimes attempts to destroy the MEK. It is now illegal for anyone subject to US jurisdiction to provide material support to the IRGC, but this raises questions about the sanctions waivers that the US provided to eight buyers of Iranian oil in November last year, after reimposing sanctions following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal of 2015. The idea was to place maximum pressure on Iran and limit its malign behaviour, without making the oil market unstable. These sanctions waivers, due to expire next month, are officially separate from the IRGC designation, but the IRGC actually controls the vast majority of the Iranian economy, including the oil industry. If continued, this could mean that the US is allowing foreign countries to fund a US-designated terror group and, as many Congress members have said, would not be in line with the USs stated goal of keeping maximum pressure on Iran. Therefore, many in Congress are urging the White House not to renew any of the waivers. US Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, has indicated that three waivers will not be renewed, but he and Pompeo have remained tight-lipped on the other five countries, which is causing concern. Last week, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas pressed Pompeo at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the oil sanctions waivers, as well as waivers related to technical cooperation at Iranian nuclear facilities, and argued against extensions. He said: Let me urge you and urge the department unequivocally not to grant the nuclear waivers and not to grant the oil waivers. I think maximum pressure should mean maximum pressure. Pompeo did not give a full answer, but over the weekend, he accused Cruz of grandstanding. Cruz released a statement, which read: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee needs to understand why some in the State Department thinks its a good idea to keep enriching the Ayatollah with oil billions and to let Iran keep spinning centrifuges in a bunker that they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons. 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 Moses Kyeyune. The government of Uganda is willing to open her doors for asylum to deposed Sudan leader Gen Omar all Bashir, the minister of state for Foreign Affairs Okello Oryem has said. Okello has been speaking to the media at parliament shortly after presenting the sectors budget to the committee of Foreign Affairs. According to the minister Bashir is a comrade and guarantor of the LRA-Uganda peace deal. He says that if Bashir applies for asylum here, that is something that the govt of Uganda can consider because. The former Sudans ruler was overthrown on Thursday last week following several months of a civil strife that was occasioned by deplorable economic conditions, ending his 30 year reign.. The minister has also reiterated that what is important is for a peaceful transition of power in respect to the popular aspiration of the civilian struggle. Related Stories. Sudans President Omar al-Bashir ousted and arrested by the military 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. Koaci.com - mardi 16 avril 2019 - 15:15 Mohamed Ibn Chambas et Marcel Amon Tanoh koaci.com Mardi 16 Avril 2019 -- Mohamed Ibn Chambas , Representant special du Secretaire-general et Chef du Bureau des Nations Unies pour l'Afrique de l'Ouest et le Sahel (UNOWAS), a eu une rencontre aujourdhui avec le ministre des Affaires etrangeres accompagne de certains de ses collaborateurs les plus proches. Plusieurs sujets ont ete debattus au cours de cette rencontre au sortir de laquelle, Mohamed Ibn Chambas a confie a KOACI quil a evoque le cas des elections de 2020 en Cote dIvoire. Nous encourageons toujours, tous les partis politiques, la societe civile, les institutions chargees des elections a des consultations pour arriver a un consensus large pour quau finish, nous ayons des elections credibles, apaisees et acceptees de tous, a declare, le Representant special du Secretaire-general et Chef du Bureau des Nations Unies pour l'Afrique de l'Ouest et le Sahel (UNOWAS). En plus de la Cote dIvoire, Ibn Chambas et Marcel Amon Tanoh ont discute de la situation de lorganisation des elections dans lespace Ouest africain en 2020. Son souhait est que ces elections se deroulent bien, comme ca ete le cas cette annee au Senegal, au Nigeria, et en Guinee Bissau. Nous avons deja eu trois elections cette annee, au Senegal, au Nigeria et en Guinee Bissau qui se sont bien deroulees, a-t-il precise. - A Canadian died after falling from the famous zipline in Thailand - The victim was enjoying his vacation with his girlfriend before the accident happened - The authorities are still investigating the incident PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed The authorities confirmed the death of a 25-year-old Canadian after falling from a zipline ride at the Flight of the Gibbon, a popular tourist attraction in Chiang Mai, Thailand. KAMI learned from the ABS-CBN News that the tourist fell from the wire for about 12 meters or 39 feet. He was on vacation with his girlfriend whenn the incident happened. Police major Sakarin Wiratsaken told Agence France-Presse that the incident happened when the lock on the tourists body harness and the main line broke. 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! According to the report by The Thaiger, the Flight of the Gibbon has temporarily stopped their operations right after the incident. The management said that they will take full responsibility and provide financial assistance to the victims family. In a report by the BBC News, the authorities are still conducting their investigation, and they are looking into whether the weight limit was exceeded or if there was negligence on the part of the management. Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Now imagine: you are a young aspiring actress and you are going to appear on a great show and then you tell all of your friends and relatives about it. They gather in the specified time in front of the TV but then... The Incredible Bea Alonzo shares embarrassing moments she experienced throughout her career. on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: Kami.com.ph - Matteo Guidicelli is now an official member of Philippine Army as reservist - This was announced in a long social media post made by Army Reserve Command - The actor also expressed his thought through his Instagram account PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Kapamilya actor Matteo Guidicelli added a new title to his name after he was officially hailed as the newest reservist of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. KAMI learned about this information through the recent social media post of the Army Reserve Command. The long post commended Matteo and the two other reservists for their courage and dedication to serve the country and their fellow Filipinos. It also expressed that the new reservists will undergo trainings to further prepare them in times when there is a national emergency. "Matteo Guidicelli, Ivan Carapeit and Luis Ruiz were enlisted as Private whose rank were donned by Major General Bernie Langub, ARESCOM Commander during the flagraising ceremony. "The new reservists will soon be taking trainings in order to prepare them in the event of natural disasters and national emergencies. "Also attending the activity were the family members of Guidicelli and Carapeit who are all supportive of their sons chosen career to serve the country, the post announced. 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! Meanwhile, in the actors Instagram post, he revealed that the main reason why he decided to join the Philippine Army is his love for his country. Matteo also stated that he is really excited for the next things that he will do and that he is grateful to the people who helped him along the way. I officially joined the Philippine ARMY today because I love my country. I would like to thank the people that have been very supportive. Exciting times ahead, he said. In a previous article by , Matteo and his long-time girlfriend Sarah Geronimo spread kilig vibes with their duet. Matteo Guidicelli is an award-winning Filipino actor who has an Italian blood. He was acclaimed for his role in several drama series including Dolce Amore and Bagani. POPULAR: Read more news about Matteo Guidicelli! Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Which food delivery app is the best? We tested three famous food delivery apps: Panda, GrabFood and Honestbee - to check which of them is the coolest. What is your experience with ordering food using these apps? on HumanMeter! Source: Kami.com.ph Firewalls and firefights Cybersecurity needs to be integrated into every aspect of policy and planning Guest Columnist: Pablo Miguel Martinez. Op-ed piece: AWP 2020 Conference in San Antonio Every year, approximately 12,000 poets, writers, publishers, and literary scholars gather in major cities in the U.S. and Canada to talk shop at the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). During breaks from a schedule brimming with panels and readingsbut often lacking in meaningful diversityconference attendees stroll through a bookfair that draws 800 U.S. and international presses. Its a giddy week if youre an author, published or hoping to be, for it affords attendees an unparalleled opportunity to network with peers and meet publishers. Like most professional conferences, AWP is by turns exhilarating and exhausting. It is also expensive, especially for under-resourced authors. The 2020 conference will be held in San Antonio next March. Over the past 20 years, during which Ive attended the conference semi-regularly, its been held in cities like Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Washington, DC, all of which boast vibrant literary ecosystems. This year it was held in Portland, Oregon, home to Powells Books, which bills itself as the worlds largest independent bookstore. San Antonio last played host to the gathering in 1980. Much has changed since then. There have been important demographic shifts: Today San Antonio is the countrys largest minority-majority city (there are bigger cities, such as Los Angeles, with large Hispanic populations, but those populations are not the majority, as we are here in San Antonio). However, that growth has not yielded the kind of powereconomic, political, and otherwisethat generally accompanies majority status. Latinas and Latinos, who comprise about 64 percent of San Antonios population, bear a disproportionate part of the burden that comes with one of the countrys worst income inequality and economic segregation. Arguably, one of the more dispiriting local statistics, and the one perhaps most relevant to a gathering of writers, is San Antonios persistent illiteracy: Nearly one-quarter of the local population is illiterate; of that number, about one-half is classified as functionally literate. This explains much: abysmally low voter participation, poor public-school performance, and the pressing need for a larger skilled workforce to meet growing demands, which leads to importing labor from elsewhere, domestical and internationally. Little of this matters to most AWP Conference attendees who, if previous gatherings are any indication, will go from the airport to conference hotels to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and back. (When he won a 1961 election, Gonzalez, a San Antonio native, became the first Hispanic American to represent Texas in the U.S. Congress.) Those who venture beyond the narrowly circumscribed conference precincts will see traces of sites inhabited by indigenous people for millennia. Theyll see how Spanish missions, built by descendants of those earliest people, set in motion a colonization that still casts a long shadow here. (Or, as a famous African American writer, during a tour of the near-West Side, said plainly: This is apartheid.) A local friend who traveled to Portland for this years conference s aid a few people asked her if theyd be safe here in San Antonio. How pervasive the effects of the inflammatory, racistand inaccuraterhetoric that defines too much of this juncture in U.S. history. Recently, my excitement over sharing my city with thousands was tempered by several threads in which only one aspect of our citys diverse realitiesbased on an outdated misperceptionhas so far made an impression among online observers and commentators who express an interest in coming to San Antonio next March: affordability. Ive been utterly dismayed by comments on social media, many similar to these: Its so much cheaper than the coasts and Its far more affordable [than other conference sites] and An interesting, delicious, and cheap city. While this may true to some extent, the comments skim over deeper dismissive and derisive waters. (Because most writers are socially-engaged and curious thinkers, connecting the dots wont be a challenge: If things here are more affordable than in other conference cities, its likely because of low wages earned by hospitality-industry workers, a majority of whom are brown.) I associate the comments with others Ive often heard about anything made in Mexico, comments to which Im acutely sensitive and which drive me to defensiveness. Made in Mexico is synonymous with inferior quality, some suggest. Tell them about Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan and los tres grandes, my father, indignant, would say. Many years ago, during a family trip to Mexico City, my father took us to Bellas Artes to see an art exhibition. I overheard a British tourist whisper to another member of his tour group about the opera house: You wouldnt call anything that comes out of there grand. The easy, often unchallenged denigration. These days I fume at the way Mexicans are vilified and dehumanized in political discourse. (The historical precedent for the reviling of Mexicans stretches far back: Walter Prescott Webb, described as one of Texass most influential scholars, said that Mexicans, who he deemed inherently violent, have impure blood.) It angers me because I see many young people of Mexican descent internalize shame. How else to explain the toxic less-than mentality that manifests itself in ways that are sometimes predictable, sometimes surprising, and always painful? For example, San Antonio is home to one of the countrys largest MLK marches (the largest, by some estimates). This is a beautiful, inspiring fact. However, this raza-majority citys annual observance of civil-rights icon Cesar Chavez is, by comparison, a far smaller event. The self-silencing, together with a willful neglect that is systemic, makes stories, essays, and poems about the lives of Chicanas and Chicanos all the more important, now more than ever. A few weeks ago, walking along Dolorosa Street (listen to the poetic sorrow in that name!), I saw a young man wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the Hecho en Mexico logo. We smiled knowingly at each other. The shirt speaks to a historically-informed ethnic pride that counters the bigoted narrative about all things and people Mexican. It also tells the world that the affordable and more brutal label, cheap, slapped on Mexicos exports, be they produce, culture, or, most concerningly, human labor, belie the strength, diversity, and beauty of Mexico and its people, including those of Mexican descent here in San Antonio, once part of Mexico. At the 2018 AWP Conference, 847or 53 percentof a total of 1,591 presenters were white, compared to 143 Latina and Latino presenters, or about nine percent of all presenters. If next years statistics are comparable, it will be more disturbing, given the backdrop of San Antonios demographics. Clearly, AWP must heighten its outreach efforts if its annual gathering is to accurately represent the diverse and ever broadening communities of authors. How can any organization credibly claim to serve its constituents needs and interests if segments of that constituency are routinely underrepresented in its programming? Conference planning must be a big tent, a big tablea bigness that welcomes and inspires the sort of insightful dialogue AWP notes as a hallmark of its annual meeting. Given its location, the 2020 conference affords AWP a remarkable opportunity to develop ties to communities of raza writers. For its part, gente can ensure better representation by submitting compelling panel proposals in unprecedented numbers. That means that in the coming weeks, prior to the May 1 submission deadline, those of us who have experience with the submission process should identify ourselves and be generous sources of information to authors for whom this is unfamiliar territory. And all attendees should lend their support by attending a Chicanx-focused panel. We should make a concerted effort to buy books by Chicana authors. And to every out-of-town participant: Please consider this a personal invitation to attend an off-site event that features gente. My father, who was as fiercely proud of his Mexican roots as he was clear-eyed about his American reality, often used the worn adage familiar to many people of color: You have to be twice as good to get half as much. San Antonios Chicana and Chicano poets and writers are more than twice as good; great is an apt description. AWPs 2020 Conference will be an important platform on which to showcase work that is at once rich and undervalued. Pablo Miguel Martinezs literary work, which appears in many publications, has received support from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. Martinez' collection of poems, Brazos, Carry Me, received the 2013 PEN Southwest Book Award for Poetry. He is a Co-Founder of CantoMundo, a national retreat-workshop for Latinx poets. 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 There's a brand new $32.5 billion plan to run L.A. County -- officials released the latest fiscal budget proposal on Monday. One key takeaway: homelessness remains a central fiscal focus. The budget designates $424 million for homelessness -- affordable housing development will get $35 million. Measure H -- which accounts for about 90 percent of the proposed homelessness budget -- is funded by a cent sales tax increase that voters approved in 2017. The program is heading into its third year, and higher than anticipated sales tax revenue means there's $14.8 million more than last year's homelessness budget. How exactly those tax dollars will be spent will be determined by the County's Office of Homeless Initiative, which budgets a litany of different programs, addressing homelessness. That homeless-specific budget breakdown will be presented to the Board of Supervisors in May. It will focus largely on how the county addresses homeless prevention. "As I think everybody recognizes, there is so much more that this county needs to do," said Sachi Hamai, the county's CEO. "We all see it. I think there's just a greater need to get more resources out onto the street. We need to also ensure that we are also trying to prevent individuals from falling into homelessness." Hamai expressed a similar theme at last year's budget unveil. THERE'S ALSO MORE MONEY FOR THIS (compared to last year's budget): An additional $27 million for the county's fledgling jail re-entry program, to make sure people don't become homeless after being released. Additional $35 million to develop and preserve affordable housing across the county. Additional $2 million and 12 positions added to the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs for rent stabilization programs, key for homelessness prevention in the unincorporated parts of L.A. County. The Los Angeles County Arts Commission will transition to the Department of Arts and Culture effective July 1. The expansion will include 32 new positions. Juvenile facilities such as Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar and Dorothy Kirby Center in Commerce are set to get CCTV cameras. The new budget allocates $14.3 million for the purchase and installation of the new surveillance equipment. The statewide gas tax is bringing in a $52.8 million increase. The funds are allocated for road repairs, maintenance and safety projects. The Los Angeles County Registrar's office will hire several hundred contract and temp workers as it moves toward rolling out a new system of voting that will eliminate many neighborhood polling places. Pilot programs will begin in November 2019. The full roll-out is set to be in place by California's presidential primary election in March of 2020. Mental health spending also increased in this budget. Last year, the county recommended spending $2.56 billion. This year, they asked for $2.86 billion-- an increase of about $293 million. The increase includes: $15.2 million across 33 mental health clinics countywide, which includes 77 new jobs. $4 milion to increase the School Threat Assessment Program, a 2009 county initiative designed to prevent school violence. $7.4 million to the Women's Re-entry Program (WRC) and a development of a new Women's Well-being Center. The WRC is a county rehabilitation program that gives a second chance to female parolees or probationers who may get in trouble again, when new felony offenses occur. $3.1 million to fully fund 33 mental evaluation teams (co-responder teams staffed with a Department of Mental Health clinician and a sheriff's department deputy, who respond to situations involving people with mental health issues) $1 million to expand the district attorney's new mental health division that would divert mentally ill inmates out of jail and into programs. $1 million so that the district attorney's new mental health division can expand to divert mentally ill inmates out of jail and into treatment. The County's proposed general fund decreased just slightly compared to last year: $25.6 billion for the upcoming 2019-2020 fiscal year vs. $25.7 billion for the final adopted budget in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. In her recommendation to the board, Hamai wrote that she was "cautiously optimistic" that economic growth will continue for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020, but noted that growth rates have slowed in recent years. Monday was the first step in the annual budget process. The Board of Supervisors will review the proposed budget at their meeting on Tuesday. Public hearings will take place on May 15 and the final budget is set to be approved by the end of June. READ THE CEO'S BUDGET OVERVIEW: Matt Tinoco, Alyssa Jeong Perry and Mary Plummer contributed reporting to this story. 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 A 14-year-old girl takes her first shot at writing a script. The next thing she knows, she's watching an A-list actor standing on a stage, giving voice to her words. Sound like something out of a Hollywood fantasy? Well you won't see it on movie screens, but it's no fantasy. It really did happen. At a theater. In Hollywood. With a famous performer: Seth Rogen. The 14-year-old girl's name is Victoria, and she's a participant in WriteGirl, a free program for aspiring writers ages 13 to 18 (and because they're teenagers, WriteGirl asked that we use first names only to protect their privacy). The organization pairs hundreds of teen girls with women writers, who volunteer to share their expertise during one-on-one mentoring sessions and monthly workshops. There are currently more than 300 mentors, including actor and New York Times bestseller Lauren Graham who recently hosted the Hollywood theater event. Graham said that the spirit of WriteGirl is about "being creative, being playful, having fun, finding your voice... I wish I'd had that at a younger age." Victoria attended a WriteGirl workshop last month that focused on character and dialogue writing. That's where she met her mentor, Isabelle Carasso. Carasso said after discussing the initial idea, Victoria turned to her favorite notebook and started writing. ONE HOUR LATER, Carasso said Victoria had a script. And Victoria didn't know this would happen until the event, but actors Seth Rogen and Wendi McLendon-Covey from the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs" brought it to life. "I heard the title, and I heard the names Alex and Diane, which are the characters in the story, and I freaked out and turned to [my mom] and I was like, 'Oh my God, mom. This is Seth Rogen and Wendi!'" Victoria said. In the scene, Alex (Rogen) and Diane (McLendon-Covey) are getting ready for a party, but Alex is struggling to leave their apartment. One of the young writers featured in my story is 14-year-old (!!!) and first time @WriteGirlLA participant Victoria. Here's a scene she wrote, performed by @SethRogen and @wendimclendonco. (Footage courtesy of @TheAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) pic.twitter.com/oxlK1rCsk6 Carla Javier (@carlamjavier) April 15, 2019 "Instead of the typical girl nervous about her body and her clothing, she thought it would be interesting for a man to [deal with body dysmorphia]," Victoria's mentor Carasso explained. "I thought that was so brilliant and just years ahead of her time." A panel of women screenwriters also gave feedback after the performances. Lauren Miller Rogen applauded Victoria's depiction of emotion. "The bravery that a writer can have in putting some of those really raw emotions in a scene can be so rewarding to the people who are enjoying your material," Miller Rogen said. Victoria said she was floored by the feedback. "Oh my goodness," she exclaimed. "If you're telling me that this is good, maybe I can actually make something out of this." That's the point, said WriteGirl founder and executive director Keren Taylor. Despite efforts to improve representation in Hollywood, women writers made up just 15% of all writers in the top 100 films of last year, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. Taylor said that's one of the reasons why WriteGirl does this work, and why the organization works with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to host the read-through at its Linwood Dunn Theater, with its hallways lined with photos from the history of filmmaking, guarded by giant Oscar statuettes. "These girls have a lot of potential if you work with them when they're young, before they get that idea that it's not attainable, or they get doors closed on them," Taylor explained. Some of the 14 scenes performed by the actors at the April 6 event were funny - like a man, played by Rogen, who takes cues from his cereal to make big life decisions.Others were serious, like a monologue from the point of view of a memorial wall, performed by Wayne Brady. You can watch some of the scenes - all written by young women, with help from their mentors below. Here's a very timely scene written by 17-year-old @WriteGirlLA participant Rachel. It was brought from the page to the stage by @WayneBrady and @KeikoAgena. pic.twitter.com/1qtye5fhWS Carla Javier (@carlamjavier) April 15, 2019 That scene was written by 17-year-old Rachel. Josann McGibbon (Runaway Bride, Desperate Housewives): I thought it was fabulous. I think everyone did. Not only was it crazily timely, but we had at the workshop done both monologues and scenes, and Rachel incorporated both and really used them brilliantly. One thing that's so hard to do that you did is really take us on such a journey, from the initial reactions to the letters, to where both of them got to. And that's so hard and sophisticated, and you really did it beautifully. Kirby Howell-Baptiste performs a monologue written by 18-year-old @WriteGirlLA participant Sam. Sam described this to me as a story about a woman whose boss doesn't pay her enough... pic.twitter.com/w864lid2jI Carla Javier (@carlamjavier) April 15, 2019 That monologue was written by 18-year-old Sam. Sam (WriteGirl): The premise was it was a dragonslayer that was fed up about her boss not paying her enough, so she plots to kill him and go on vacation, forever ... It was really interesting. It was a lot better than I ever could have ever pictured it ... My goal with writing is to always make the audience laugh, so I was happy to achieve that. In her script, @WriteGirlLA participant Zoe, 16, writes, "My original body has blonde hair, glasses, and a wheelchair and it's this last thing I switched bodies to talk to you about. This is a monologue. I am this monologue."@KeikoAgena interpreted her words for the stage. pic.twitter.com/LxArtHDu8V Carla Javier (@carlamjavier) April 15, 2019 That monologue was written by 16-year-old Zoe. Liz Kruger ("Salvation," "Extant," "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce"): Bill Cosbys Says Insurer Settles LA Accusers Suit Before Deposition Without His Permission PHILADELPHIA (AP) Bill Cosby says his insurance company is settling another accusers lawsuit without his permission, a week before his scheduled deposition. Cosby in a statement accuses American International Group Inc. of egregious behavior. He says he could have proven he was in New York during the alleged 2008 encounter with 18-year-old Chloe Goins at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Goins says Cosby drugged and molested her. Cosby was set to give a deposition in the case in prison next week. ADVERTISEMENT Lawyer Craig Goldenfarb says Goins is pleased with the confidential settlement. An AIG spokesman says the insurer has no comment. The 81-year-old Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year prison term near Philadelphia for sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. AIG this month has also settled defamation lawsuits filed in Massachusetts by seven other Cosby accusers. This is Whats Trending Today. A dog found swimming more than 220 kilometers off the coast of Thailand has been returned safely to land. Late last week, workers on an oil rig noticed the animal, all alone, in the water. It began swimming toward the side of the structure. The dog was able to get itself onto a solid area. He appeared cold, tired and fearful. The workers lowered a rope and secured it around the dog. Then, they worked together to pull the animal up to safety. The crew that found the dog quickly gave their new friend a name: Boonrod. The name means something similar to survivor in the Thai language. One of those workers was Vitisak Payalaw. He has been providing updates on Boonrod on his Facebook page. He said it was lucky that the crew noticed the dog in the water. If there had been waves, he said, the animal likely would not have been seen. No one knows how Boonrod ended up all alone at sea, or how long he had been out there. But Vitisak and others have suggested the animal might have fallen off a fishing boat. On Monday, Boonrod arrived on dry land. A team of animal doctors was waiting for him in the southern Thai province of Songkhla. Workers at the Songkhla port also welcomed the dog with neck rubs and a special welcome necklace made of yellow flowers. Many people took pictures with Boonrod. Vitisak wrote on Facebook, Today (April 15), a vessel transporting the dog arrived onshore at around 10am. His overall condition has improved. He is getting stronger and can smile. The dog is now in the care of an animal doctor in Songkhla. The animal protection group Watchdog Thailand said he is in good condition and getting stronger. On Tuesday, the group published pictures of Boonrod getting washed -- and getting plenty of love and attention. Vitisak says that if no one claims Boonrod as their pet, he will take him with him to his home in northeast Thailand. And thats Whats Trending Today. Im Jonathan Evans. Ashley Thompson wrote this story based on reports by the Associated Press and the Bangkok Post. Caty Weaver was the editor _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story rig - n. equipment or machinery that is used for a particular purpose vessel - n. a ship or large boat necklace - n. a piece of jewelry that is worn around your neck Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Any traveler to Vietnam knows a trip to the country is not complete until the traveler tries to cross a road. The streets are crowded with motorbikes moving at all different speeds, in both directions. It seems a major challenge for a walker. But one quickly learns that motorbike drivers will weave expertly around walkers. There is, in fact, some order to the seeming chaos of the streets. Vietnam is the land of the motorbike. Last year, Google Maps even created a feature for two-wheel commuters in the country. It provides trip times and road costs just for motorbikes. So can Vietnam's two biggest cities really ban the transport that its 100 million people depend on every day? City officials have proposed a motorbike ban in parts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It is not the first time such an idea has been suggested. Similar proposals have come up over the years. The idea has led to a debate about pollution, traffic problems, city planning, and the fairest way to get people where they need to go. Supporters of motorbike restrictions argue that they are needed to cut pollution and traffic. But opponents say the public has no alternative. Cars, they say, are too costly and public transportation is limited. Nguyen Ngoc Dong leads the countrys Ministry of Transport. Vietnams official newspaper reports he said, "Hanoi is just now in the process of developing the idea. There are still a lot of issues that need to be researched, assessed, and analyzed before making a final plan." Traffic and pollution The idea is to ban motorbikes during the busiest parts of the day, or in the busiest parts of the city. Ho Chi Minh Citys population has now grown to 13 million. Its air quality is worsening. Pollution levels sometimes go beyond those in China and India. Supporters of a ban say if other countries can do it, so can Vietnam. Crowded cities from Beijing to Mexico City have in place restrictions on car use. Some cities, like Stockholm, have barred vehicles from pedestrian zones. Unlike those places, however, Vietnamese cities do not have enough public transportation to replace motorbikes. Projects to build subway systems have been delayed repeatedly. Commuters do not want to take buses when motorbikes are faster and more convenient, and still low cost. Vespa maker Piaggio Vietnam said a motorbike ban could push people to use cars, which would not help solve the pollution and traffic problems. "We believe that to meet those objectives, simply banning motorbikes is a radical and not effective solution," Enrico Bruni, the company's head of finance for Asia, said at a business conference last month. He suggested it would be better to try to educate the public about traffic problems. He said the government should also place controls on vehicle pollution. Others suggest that Vietnamese officials should try to experiment with ways to redirect traffic, including the use of sensors to measure traffic to permit the rerouting of drivers. Restrictions would affect some more than others Some Vietnamese are old enough to remember a time when they would have been lucky to own a bicycle. But today almost everyone has enough money for a motorbike, which costs as little as a few hundred dollars. Vietnam is the fourth biggest market for motorbikes in the world. The top three, China, India, and Indonesia, each have populations at least double that of Vietnam. An outright ban of motorbikes seems unlikely if not impossible. The vehicle is deeply embedded in Vietnamese urban life. It is hard to find a picture of a Vietnamese city that does not include a motorbike or two. It is common to see a family of five riding together on the two-wheeled vehicles. People transport everything from giant pigs to dining tables on their motorbikes. War veterans turn their motorbikes into taxis. And visitors jump on the back of motorbikes for guided food tours of the cities. Critics say a motorbike ban would hurt the poor, who depend on motorbikes, more than the wealthy, who favor cars. That is not to say some restrictions do not work. Ho Chi Minh City started limiting motorbikes on the downtown street of Nguyen Hue several years ago. Its residents have since enjoyed walking the street, turning it into a popular public space. Im Caty Weaver. And I'm Bryan Lynn. Ha Nguyen reported this story for VOA News. Caty Weaver adapted the story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story weave - v. to move from side to side while going forward especially in order to avoid the people or things that are in front of you chaos - n. complete confusion and disorder : a state in which behavior and events are not controlled by anything commuter - n. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work alternative - n.something that can be chosen instead of something else : a choice or option convenient - adj. allowing you to do something easily or without trouble assess - v. to make a judgment about (something) analyze - v. to study (something) closely and carefully : to learn the nature and relationship of the parts of (something) by a close and careful examination pedestrian zone - n.an area in which people can walk safely and easily because cars are not permitted disclaimer I have received the books on this blog for review from the publisher or author or I have bought them. I have no financial interest in any book featured on this blog. Kiwi Browser is an Android web browser that launched about a year ago. Its based on Googles open source Chromium project, but includes a built-in ad blocker, a notification blocker, a night mode option, and support for background playback for YouTube and other websites, among other things. And the latest version of Kiwi brings support for Google Chrome extensions. Thats something even Googles official Chrome app for android lacks. Note that not every Chrome extension will work any that use x86 code probably wont load. But many extensions that change the behavior of the browser (or of websites you visit) should work. According to xda-developers, the easiest way to install Chrome extensions is to: Enable developer mode by typing chrome://extensions in the address bar and then flipping the toggle. Switch to desktop mode. Visit the Chrome Web Store. Find the extension you want and then install it. If, for some reason, you dont want to enable desktop mode, you can also download extensions in the .CRX format, change the name to .ZIP, unpack the archive to a folder, and then use Kiwis load unpacked extension option, but that seems like a pain in the behind and youll need to install a few extra apps to do it. The updated version of the Kiwi Browser should be available in the Google Play Store soon, but its available exclusively from the xda-developers XDA Labs for the first 24 hours. Kiwi isnt the first mobile browser to support extensions. Mozillas Firefox browser for Android has long supported many of the extensions that work with the desktop version of that browser. And Russian search engine Yandex has a browser already supports Chrome extensions. We listen to local police and fire departments scanner traffic, but sometimes miss crimes, wrecks, fires or other incidents, especially if they happen overnight. If you know of something were not covering yet, please let Managing Editor Jeff Pownall know by emailing him at jpownall@lufkindailynews.com, or submit a news tip online by visiting lufkindailynews.com/tips. The Liaison Office in Hong Kong has apologized after some of its staff members hoisted the Chinese national flag upside down, according to Hong Kong reports. The Liaison Office in Hong Kong said that the mistake was corrected immediately. The Liaison Office in Hong Kong claimed that the office has already reprimanded the relevant people. The office also thanked the public for its concern and issued a deep apology. Back in the year of 2017, the Macao Customs Service twice hoisted the Chinese national flag upside down. The Macau department even claimed that pictures of the incident had been photoshopped. However, the Judiciary Police (PJ), following an investigation, refuted the Customs Services claim. Eight civil servants complaints recorded in 2018 The annual report of the citys civil servants report system has disclosed a total of eight complaints were received through the civil servants reporting mechanism in 2018. Although there were 10 complaints issued, two were not registered. Four cases were received by the committee that oversees the matter and by public government departments. As of December 31, 2018, the committee had communicated with the individuals and the relevant government departments 157 times, including face-to-face interviews and phone calls. 300 SMEs join cross-border e-commerce platform A total of 300 local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have joined Macaus local cross-border e-commerce kiosk. On Friday, the Sino-Portuguese E-Commerce Chamber signed a cooperation agreement with Auto, a logistics and e-payment company, to open a cross-border e-commerce platform for local SMEs. In the future, local residents and tourists will be able to purchase Macau products on kiosks run by cross-border e-commerce operators. In total, 3,000 products will be available. Some of the kiosks are planned to be installed in hotels as well as at tourist attractions. Zhou Wugang, political commissar of the Macau garrison of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, has been promoted to a position at Chinas Eastern Theater Command. Before leaving Macau, Wu paid a special visit to Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On and former CE Edmund Ho. Chui commended Zhous efforts in adhering to the policy of one country, two systems. Chui said that the garrison had played an important role in assisting in rescue operations following typhoon disasters, and through its extensive participation in the public welfare activities. The position of commissar is temporarily vacant after Zhous leave. Jaywalking cases rise rapidly A total of 619 jaywalkers were ticketed in the first quarter of 2019, according to the Public Security Police (PSP). This figure already exceeds the total number of cases recorded in the first half of 2018, during which time the police ticketed 580 jaywalkers. Between January and March, the police authority also prosecuted 418 drivers who failed to give priority to pedestrians to pass first. According to Macaus law, jaywalkers may be subjected to a total fine of MOP300. IC lends art and cultural spaces under new scheme In response to the communitys demand for arts and cultural spaces, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has launched a scheme to open up more arts and cultural spaces to the public for local clubs and individuals to rent upon application. There are 10 arts and cultural spaces in the first phase, which can cover functions including rehearsals and exhibitions. These spaces are located in the Macau Conservatory, Macao Contemporary Art Center, Macau Museum of Art, Macau Museum, Handover Gifts Museum of Macau, Macau Fort Corridor, underground exhibition hall at Kun Iam Statue, and Yao Tsung-I Academy. All facilities are currently open to applications. A swathe of the world is adopting Chinas vision for a tightly controlled internet over the unfettered American approach, a stunning ideological coup for Beijing that would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago. Vietnam and Thailand are among the Southeast Asian nations warming to a governance model that twins sweeping content curbs with uncompromising data controls because it helps preserve the regime in power. A growing number of the regions increasingly autocratic governments watched enviously the emergence of Chinese corporate titans from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in spite of draconian online curbs. And now they want the same. The more free-wheeling Silicon Valley model once seemed unquestionably the best approach, with stars from Google to Facebook to vouch for its superiority. Now, a re-molding of the internet into a tightly controlled and scrubbed sphere in Chinas image is taking place from Russia to India. Yet its Southeast Asia thats the economic and geopolitical linchpin to Chinese ambitions and where U.S.-Chinese tensions will come to a head: a region home to more than half a billion people whose internet economy is expected to triple to USD240 billion by 2025. For authoritarian countries in general, the idea of the state being able to wall off to some extent its internet is deeply appealing, said Howard French, author of Everything Under the Heavens: How the Past Helps Shape Chinas Push for Global Power. This is about the regimes survival in an authoritarian situation. So thats why they like to do this. They want to be able to insulate themselves against shocks. The Chinese model is gaining traction just as the American one comes under fire. Facebook and Twitter were used to manipulate the 2016 U.S. election, YouTube was criticized for failing to detect child porn, and American social media allowed a gunman to live-stream the worst mass shooting in New Zealands history for 10 minutes or more before severing it. Against the backdrop of wider fears about U.S. social media failings, Beijings approach now seems a reasonable alternative, or reasonable enough that self-serving governments can justify its adoption. Vietnams controversial version went into effect Jan. 1 a law BSA/The Software Alliance, which counts Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. among its members called chilling and ineffectual. Indonesia, the regions largest economy, already requires data be stored locally. The Philippines has stepped up what critics call a media crackdown, arrested the head of media outlet Rappler Inc. after it grew critical of President Rodrigo Duterte. And last year, the government of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak introduced a fake news law used to probe his chief opponent, though the current government may yet repeal it. One of the latest to buy into the rationale is Thailand, which on Feb. 28 passed a cyber security bill modeled on Chinas that grants the government the right to seize data and electronic equipment without a court order in the interests of national security. Introduced just weeks ahead of Thailands first democratic election since a 2014 military coup, it stoked concerns it could be used to stifle dissent, though the government says it shouldnt affect companies with good conduct. The Asia Internet Coalition, an organization that groups the likes of Alphabet Inc.s Google, Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., condemned a bill Amnesty International warns could be used to cage the internet. The crux of a Chinese internet model is data sovereignty: information of citizens must be stored in-country and accessible on demand to the authorities, a concept enshrined in Chinese law since 2017. Thats raising hackles in Washington, which aims to counter Beijings sway a longer-term struggle that may be the single most important episode in world affairs since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Escalating tensions between the two richest economies will impact just about every country across the planet economically and socially. The U.S., for its part, worries that the spread of Chinese technology and ideology in Southeast Asia means Beijing will increasingly push a strategically vital region toward authoritarianism, even as individual countries grow wary of becoming beholden to China. The spread of a Chinese- style internet is a problem for U.S. internet giants from Facebook to Google wrestling with increasingly draconian regulations over what they carry on their platforms, and how they store and handle the information pivotal to their dominance. Fragmented laws governing data are anathema to giant corporations used to harnessing the cloud for everything from search to video. If authorities in the region can convince Silicon Valley to play by their repressive rules, were going to see a drop in standards of privacy, surveillance, and freedom of expression on those platforms, said Tanya OCarroll, head of technology and human rights at Amnesty International. How Silicon Valley chooses to engage with the likes of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia could set major precedents. They must not treat those countries as testbeds to tinker with peoples rights online. For now, U.S. social media is popular enough that in countries like Thailand theyre able to publicly resist attempts to rein in content. But in the longer term, theres a real risk American companies could get supplanted by the likes of WeChat, TikTok and Alipay Chinese powerhouses thatre venturing aggressively abroad, into music and social media or e-commerce. Tencent, Alibaba and Bytedance Ltd. are also seeding the regions startups, courting a younger mobile-savvy consumer a generation that politicians need to maintain their grip on power. This issue was not on my radar and not on other peoples radar a year ago, said Brian Harding, deputy director with the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Washington for now is more focused on the political impact of Chinese investments in infrastructure from ports to refineries, he added. But in terms of the Digital Silk Road, interest is rising very quickly, he said. Data localization is a real challenge for U.S. companies localization policies make it difficult to have economies of scale in doing business across the region. Chinese cadres have long proselytized the concept of a rigidly policed web that can still be a wellspring of innovation. Tencents billionaire-founder, Pony Ma, joined government officials in declaring in December its their countrys destiny to become an internet power. Southeast Asia has thus become a testbed for Beijings political objectives, a jumping-off point in a long-term campaign to extend its influence around the globe. The U.S. fears the Communist Partys vision of a web where governments pull the strings could wind up the model for the next billion users. Lulu Yilun Chen & Yoolim Lee, Bloomberg After starting to build its network in the Asia-Pacific region with its aircraft management services, U.K.-based Gama Aviation is eyeing the possibilities brought about by the creation of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), the companys Asia branch managing director, Sergio Oliveira e Silva, told aviation media company AIN Publications. The Chinese government is doing very good things that in the mid- to long-term will be very good for China, Oliveira e Silva said referring to the GBA initiative, as well as growth opportunities for companies based in Hong Kong, where the Asia branch of Gama Aviation is headquartered. For Oliveira e Silva, the initiative brings space that is in short supply at Hong Kong International Airport. Three years ago, there were no parking slots; and then there was parking, but no landing slots! Its easier for us now, but its still not like a normal airport operations. There are still lots of restrictions, he said about the airport in Hong Kong. In the interview, the Gama Aviation Asia director also noted the difficulties in the operations with other local airports, such as Macau, although its role in the GBA remains promising, he said. Macau as one of the core engines for regional development, aims to develop a world-class airport cluster [including] the expansion of Macau International Airport (MIA) [] to strengthen the function of MIA and Zhuhai Airport and pursue differential development and positive interaction of airports in the Greater Bay Area. Nevertheless, Oliveira e Silva mentioned, developments [in Macau] will take five or 10 years Macau is very [bureaucratic]. The silver lining is that the GBA plan provides at least some answers to the long-awaited question over which airport, between Macau and Zhuhai, would be destined to take the leading role in private jets operations. In January, TAG Aviation, a private aviation services firm, opened a fixed base operation in Macau, becoming the second provider to do so in the business aviation sector. Airline executives told the Times that they had been attracted to the Macau International Airport because of its proximity to Hong Kong, space available for business aviation jets and friendly government policies for the sector. Now we know it is Macau [that will take the leading role], said Oliveira e Silva. Its a nice airport with lots of opportunities [in the longer term], he noted, mentioning its expansion plans. There are two bridges to the runway and the plan is to fill the gap to create a large apron for 20 parking slots this wont be for some time, but it is the first step in Macaus expansion. Again, noting the slowness of Macau processes, he recalled: Such proposal comes already from 1994 Master Plan for the airport, but still hasnt happened. At present, aircraft are still not permitted to park for more than three days [in] Macau due to parking limitations. In Oliveira e Silvas opinion, it is all now subject to the Chinese government. If the Chinese government decides it really wants Macau to become the GBA business aviation airport, it could change in two-to-three years and business aviation will have a new home. The 125th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, opened yesterday in Guangzhou, capital of south Chinas Guangdong Province, with over half of companies attending its import fair hailing from Belt and Road countries and regions. The spring session of the biannual fair holds import exhibitions in its first and third phases, with 1,000 booths booked by 650 enterprises from 38 countries and regions. These include 383 companies from 21 countries and regions taking part in the Belt and Road initiative, including Russia, Poland, the Philippines and Israel, said Xu Bing, spokesperson for the fair. Large buyers such as Vip shop, a Chinese online discount retailer, and global retail giants Carrefour and Wal-Mart will attend the import exhibition. The fair, which will be held from April 15 to May 5, is widely seen as a barometer of Chinas foreign trade. The fair covers 1.18 million square meters, with 60,651 booths booked by 25,496 domestic and foreign enterprises. Its export section has 59,651 booths booked by 24,846 domestic enterprises. The fair features three phases. The first, falling on April 15-19, will mainly showcase home appliances, electronic products, mechanical equipment, hardware, and building materials. The second, from April 23 to 27, will showcase consumer goods, decorations and gifts. The third, from May 1 to 5, will display textiles and clothing, food and medical products. The fair has signed partnership agreements with industrial and commercial institutions from 33 countries and regions taking part in the BRI. It plans to establish cooperative partnership with all BRI countries and regions within two or three years. Xinhua Two new cases of rubella were found in the region, totaling 19 cases since the start of the year, the Health Bureau (SSM) confirmed. The SSM said in a statement that the new cases were diagnosed in two locals who are employees of the City of Dreams hotel. Recently there have been six cases of Rubella at the property, including these new cases. One of the patients is a 33-year-old female, who started having headaches and muscle pain on April 12, and later developed a fever and rashes. The other patient is a 35-year-old male, who presented himself to medical practitioners with a fever and runny nose on April 12. The following day rashes appeared on his body. Both turned to the Emergency Department of the Conde de Sao Januario Hospital and were later tested positive for rubella. The SSM said that these two patients still have symptoms of fever and rashes, but do not require hospitalization and that their clinical status is now considered normal. Both were born in mainland China and their history of vaccination against measles remains unknown. Besides traveling to Gongbei, both people deny any other travel history. The SSM said that it is monitoring the health status of people who have had contact with the patients during the onset of the disease, and that it is giving the hotel guidelines for the improvement of its disinfection measures. Relatives living with the patients did not present similar symptoms. LV Zhuhai is likely to continue carrying out 24-hour construction in order to prepare several projects in time for the 20th anniversary of the Macau handover. According to the mainlands plan, the first phase of the majority of Hengqins construction projects should be finished by 2020, including seven commercial center projects. One of the biggest projects, which has been planned to start operation in 2019, likely before the 20th anniversary of the handover, is the Hengqin port. Occupying 1.31 million square meters, the port is expected to become the biggest border checkpoint between the mainland and Macau, and as such, it has been designed to cater for a maximum of 80 million crossings annually. In October 2018, a report by Macao Daily News said that more than 1,200 construction workers and over 150 heavy machines had been working day and night in order to make the port ready for operation before the 20th anniversary of the Macau handover. According to mainlands plan, the first phase of many of Hengqins construction projects should be finished by 2020. For a long period, China Speed in construction has been admired by the world and by the country itself. Given the recent ambition to turn Hengqin into another Shenzhen, Zhuhai Speed may also be worth an endorsement from both its people and Macau people. However, as Hengqin spends all its efforts on celebrating the 20th anniversary of Macau, building itself into the new high-technology center, the new Chinese medicine zone, the new birthplace of entrepreneurship, and the new transportation hub for the Greater Bay Area, some of its citizens and some Macau residents are suffering from the side effects of the Hengqin Speed. Noise pollution is right at the top of the list. A complaint concerning Hengqin construction was made to the Hengqin government on its official website. As can be seen under the complaints tab, the latest complaint regarding Hengqin construction noise was posted on March 20. The Zhuhai resident complained about noise from a housing project on the island. The road project between Hua Fa Shou Fu and Yue Fu Jian has been carried out for nearly two years, and, since 2018, the construction is basically conducted day and night. It severely disturbs the people. It is now 1:46 a.m., there have been many nights like today, when I cant fall asleep, the complainer wrote. Which department issued the approval? Why do they not care about the residents? As of September 2017, there was a total of 117 municipal and housing projects in progress in Hengqin, according to official statistics. Another complaint submitted by a Zhuhai resident in April 2018 criticized the continuous construction operations in Hengqin: We have been tolerating it for two weeks; we cant tolerate anymore. We request the relevant party to stop the construction [at night] and return to the people a quiet rest time. Zhuhais environmental protection bureau replied to the second complaint, saying that the night constructions were not approved by the bureau, and the bureau had already requested the relevant companies to make changes. However, the level of noise pollution created by some of those projects is still being noticed by residents in both Hengqin and Macau because of the non-stop operations across the Av. dos Jogos da Asia Oriental. Last week, the Times contacted the Macau Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) and the Office of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works to ask whether the bureau had received any complaint from Macau residents regarding these non-stop constructions, and if the bureau had communicated with Zhuhais relevant authorities over concerns that the 24-hour construction operations in Hengqin might cause noise pollution. As of press time, no reply has been provided to the Times. China Speed Currently, one of the biggest projects under construction in Hengqin is the new port. The Macau government previously announced the relocation of Macaus Cotai frontier to Hengqin. The China MCC20 Group Corp. Ltd Hengqin Port Building, which is the landmark of Hengqin Port and is just on the other side of the river to Av. dos Jogos da Asia Oriental, is currently under construction 24 hours per day in the hope that the project will be completed according to its schedule. But its construction has been reported as a nuisance for residents of both Macau and Hengqin, who are forced to tolerate incessant noises at any time of the day or night. JZ Billionaire Jack Ma again encouraged tech workers to embrace the industrys extreme-overtime culture, defying a growing social media backlash just days after he made the first controversial comment. The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder once more endorsed the sectors infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a- week routine as de rigueur for passionate young workers. In a lengthy Sunday blog post, Chinas richest man expanded on comments from last week, in which he dismissed people who expect a typical eight- hour office lifestyle. As I expected, my comments internally a few days ago about the 996 schedule caused a debate and non-stop criticism, Ma wrote. I understand these people, and I could have said something that was correct. But we dont lack people saying correct things in the world today, what we lack is truthful words that make people think. Mas earlier comments stoked a fierce ongoing debate over tales of programmers and founders dying from unrelenting stress. Ma told an internal meeting that Alibaba doesnt need people who look forward to a typical eight-hour office lifestyle, according to a post on Alibabas official Weibo account. Instead, he endorsed the industrys notorious 996 work culture that is, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss, Chinas richest man said. If you want to join Alibaba, you need to be prepared to work 12 hours a day, otherwise why even bother joining. Chinas tech industry is littered with tales of programmers and startup founders dying unexpectedly due to long hours and grueling stress. The comments from Ma elicited some intense reaction. A load of nonsense, and didnt even mention whether the company provides overtime compensation for a 996 schedule, wrote one commenter on the Weibo post. I hope people can stick more to the law, and not to their own reasoning. The bosses do 996 because theyre working for themselves and their wealth is growing, another comment read. We work 996 because were exploited without overtime compensation. Mas comments come amid a fierce debate. Programmers in China protested their labor conditions on the online code-sharing community Github in March under the banner 996.ICU, a topic that quickly became the sites most popular, with more than 211,000 stars. By following the 996 work schedule, you are risking yourself getting into the ICU [Intensive Care Unit], according to a description posted on the 996.ICU project page. The creator, whose identity is unknown, called on tech workers to come forward with examples of companies abusing staff by demanding uncompensated overtime. Alibaba and its financial affiliate Ant Financial were both named. Beyond Ma, several of Chinas most prominent industry figures have also weighed in on the controversy. Richard Liu, chief executive of Alibaba arch-foe JD.com Inc., said in a recent post on his WeChat moments that, while he would never force staff to work a 996 schedule, people who slacked off were not considered his brothers. MDT/Bloomberg Malaysias prime minister said yesterday a Chinese company building a rail link across the Southeast Asian nation will jointly help to manage and operate the network, part of revised deal that will get the stalled project off the ground at a lower cost and ease strained relations. The East Coast Rail Link across peninsular Malaysia was suspended after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamads alliance swept into power last May and said it would review large-scale infrastructure projects to rein in surging national debt that it blamed mostly on corruption in the previous government. Canceling the project risked alienating China, Malaysias largest trading partner, which considered the railway connecting Malaysias west coast to eastern rural states a key part of its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The project was revived last week after the contractor, state- owned China Communications Construction Company Ltd., agreed to cut the cost by one- third. Mahathir said the government chose to renegotiate the deal rather than pay compensation of $5.3 billion. He said the fact that the project cost can be reduced sharply by $5.2 billion showed that the cost had been inflated when former Prime Minister Najib Razaks government awarded the main contract to CCCC in 2016. The rail project will now cost $16.7 million per kilometer, down from $23.2 million previously, he said. Under the new deal, Mahathir said CCCC will form a 50:50 joint venture company with Malaysia Rail Link to provide technical support and share the operational risk. He said CCCCs involvement as rail operator will help attract Chinese investment along the rail link corridor. CCCC has also agreed to refund part of a $753.4 million advance payment, with 1 billion ringgit $243 million to be paid over the next two months, he said. Although the rail project will be shortened by 40 kilometers to 648 kilometers. he said the double-track line will have 20 stations and cut through five states, instead of four previously. He said the new alignment will also mean avoiding having to tunnel through a mountain range in central Selangor state, which is the longest pure quartz dyke in the world. The project, which is now slated for completion by the end of 2026 instead of 2024, is largely financed by China. Mahathir said the government is still negotiating the loan amount with Chinas EXIM Bank but that it will be reduced substantially and this will result in paying less in interest on the loan. He said the government is also taking advantage of the agreement to work out the purchase of palm oil by China, but didnt give further details. Officials said work on the rail link could resume by next month. Apart from the rail link, Mahathirs government last year also cancelled two China-backed pipelines costing $2.3 billion after discovering that 90 percent of the projects costs had been paid but only 13 percent of work had been completed. The government has said it is investigating whether any money in the rail project had been channeled by Najibs government to repay debts at the 1MDB state investment fund. A massive financial scandal at 1MDB led to the election loss of Najibs coalition last May and Najib is currently on trial for multiple corruption charges linked to 1MDB. Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AP Macaus Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, said yesterday that the local government was committed to expediting work on laws and regulations that will lead to the implementation of the national security legal framework. Wong made the comments on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Exhibition, being held in the Macau SAR for the second consecutive year. According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, national security promotion involves co- opting the civilian population to fulfill their patriotic duty and be on the lookout for anything that could undermine the countrys stability. The president previously outlined that national security is of paramount importance for the people to live and work in peace and for realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. At the local level, the Macau government has been introducing news laws and regulations to support the implementation of the national security legal framework. These include new restrictions on immigration controls and permits to stay and reside in Macau, as well as a legal framework for the interception of communications. The government completed last year individual rounds of public consultation on both of these matters and is now expected to move forward with the legislative process. Work on other pieces of legislation covering topics related to respectively counterterrorism, procedural law, and state secret protection was progressing as scheduled, under the supervision of the Office of the Secretary for Administration and Justice and the Office of the Secretary for Security, according to the government. Secretary Wong said he hoped all necessary legislative procedures regarding the cybersecurity law could be completed in the first half of this year, including approval from the Legislative Assembly. The government expects to submit the new legal framework on immigration controls and permits to stay and reside in Macau to the Legislative Assembly for discussion this year, Wong added. Wong also said that Macaus security authorities were making every effort to ensure that all major events taking place in the city this year would be carried out in a safe and peaceful manner. The high- profile events include the Chief Executive election and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region. Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, incumbent Chief Executive Chui Sai On yesterday called on the local community to contribute to maintaining national security. In his address, Chui called on the community to make further effort to discharge its duties and obligations in safeguarding national security and be more vigilant for challenges in times of peace. Specifically, he said, there is an obligation to recognize that the concept of one country on national security issues, was not at odds with the two systems principle. The National Security Education Exhibition is co-organized by the Macau Government and the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government in the Macau SAR, and marks what was designated yesterday as the countrys fourth National Security Education Day. The four main themes of the exhibition are: the road to national rejuvenation, staying alert to the challenges ahead, safety and development, and our responsibilities. Approximately 150 guests attended the opening ceremony and toured the exhibition yesterday. DB The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said yesterday that the U.S. wants the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan praise that will likely anger Beijing, which has long been sensitive to cooperation between the U.S. and the democratically governed island that China claims as its own. Taiwan is a democratic success story, a reliable partner and a force for good in the world, Ryan said at a celebration for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, which guides U.S. policy toward Taiwan. While the U.S. does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, the act requires Washington to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself. We want the rest of the world to be more like Taiwan, said Ryan, who led an American delegation to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy. He said both parties care deeply about the critically important relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who also spoke at the event, praised the two parties enduring partnership as one that has withstood the test of time. Taiwan split from mainland China during a civil war in 1949, and only 17 mainly small, developing nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Over the past year, Beijing has employed increasingly strident rhetoric around re-unifying the island with Communist Party-ruled mainland China, declaring that it has not ruled out the use of force. Ryan said the U.S. commitment to Taiwans security remains rock-solid. Last month, Taiwan asked to purchase new fighter jets and tanks from the U.S., its main supplier of military weapons. American arms sales to Taiwan have long been a thorn in U.S. relations with China. AP New Zealands foreign minister confirmed yesterday that a New Zealand nurse has been held captive by the Islamic State group in Syria for almost six years, information long kept secret for fear her life might be at risk. The status of nurse and midwife Louisa Akavi, now 62, is unknown, but her employer, the International Committee of the Red Cross, says it has received recent eyewitness reports suggesting she might be alive. The New York Times on Sunday became the first media organization to name Akavi, ending a more than 5 -year news blackout imposed by New Zealands government and the Red Cross with the cooperation of international media. The collapse of the Islamic State group has raised hopes that Akavi and the two Syrian drivers kidnapped with her might now be discovered. In a statement, the ICRC said that as recently as December, Akavi may have been seen by at lest two people at a clinic in Sousa, one of the Islamic State groups last outposts. There were also reported sightings in 2016 and 2017, Red Cross officials said. We continue to work together [with the Red Cross] to locate and recover her, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. This has been a uniquely complex and difficult case. Louisa went to Syria with the ICRC to deliver humanitarian relief to people suffering as a result of a brutal civil war and ISIS occupation. Where a New Zealander is held by a terrorist organization, the government takes all appropriate action to recover them. That is exactly what we have done here, Peters said. Peters said New Zealand had sent a small multi-agency team, including special forces, to Iraq to gather information on Akavi. This has involved members of the New Zealand Defense Force, drawn from the Special Operations Force, and personnel have visited Syria from time to time as required, he said. This noncombat team was specifically focused on locating Louisa and identifying opportunities to recover her. Akavi was taken captive in 2013 in the city of Idlib in northwest Syria. It is believed she was offered for ransom and may have been used as a human shield. New Zealands government believed at one point that she may have died. But there are hopes her medical skills might have caused her captors to spare her. Akavis family said they miss her and are proud of the work to which shes dedicated her life. We think about her every day and hope she feels that and finds strength in that, said a video statement issued by family spokesman Tuaine Robati. We know she is thinking of us and that she will be worried about us too. New Zealands government is reported to have opposed the ICRCs decision to allow The New York Times to report Akavis name and nationality. At a news conference yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern refused to answer questions about Akavi but indicated she was disappointed the ICRC had gone public before her fate had been learned. Youll forgive me, I hope, for not commenting on that case, Ardern said. It remains the governments view that it would be preferable if the case was not in the public domain. Dominik Stillhart, director of operations for the ICRC, said the organization had decided to permit publication in the hope it would elicit new information on her whereabouts. We have not spoken publicly before today because from the moment Louisa and the others were kidnapped, every decision we made was to maximize the chances of winning their freedom, Stillhart said in a statement. With Islamic State group having lost the last of its territory, we felt it was now time to speak out. He said the collapse of the Islamic State group in Syria may mean new opportunities to learn more about Akavis situation and the ICRC also feared it risked losing track of her in the aftermath of ISs collapse. Akavi is of Cook Islands descent and lives in Otaki, a small town north of Wellington. She is the longest-held captive in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Stillhart called her a true and compassionate humanitarian. He said strenuous efforts had been made to secure her release. Negotiations in 2013 and 2014 were not successful. In 2014, she was among a group of hostages moved by IS only hours before a raid by U.S. special forces that aimed to free them. We call on anyone with information to please come forward, Stillhart said. If our colleagues are still being held, we call for their immediate and unconditional release. Stillhart later defended the ICRCs decision to publicize Akavis case after years of silence. Every decision was to maximize the chance of Louisas freedom [] and every decision was coordinated with the New Zealand government, Stillhart said at a news conference in Geneva. That included the difficult decision to go public. We think with new information from the public, we can redirect the investigation for Louisa. AP The Sudanese military attempted to break up an anti-government sit-in yesterday outside its headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, but backed off, organizers behind the protests said. There were no clashes and no one was hurt but the incident set off concerns that the military, which last week ousted Sudans longtime President Omar al-Bashir after four months of street protests against his rule, could renege on its promises not to use force against the peaceful demonstrators. Videos circulated online showing hundreds of troops outside the military compound in Khartoum. In the footage, an officer is heard saying they came to open roads, clean the area and remove the barricades set up by the protesters to protect their gathering. Some protesters are then seen in the footage sitting down on the ground in front of the soldiers who subsequently back off. Revolution, protesters also chant in some of the videos, as well as slogans against al-Bashirs Islamist supporters. The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is behind the protests, urged people to head to the sit-in yesterday and defend it from any new attempts by the military to disperse the demonstrators. There is an attempt to break up the sit-in, the group said. We appeal everyone to head to the area to protect your revolution and gains. Previous attempts to break up the sit-in before al-Bashirs ouster last Thursday had killed dozens of people. Also, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the transitional military council, announced an overhaul the military leadership and appointed a new chief of staff, according to a statement from the military. The statement said Gen. Hashem Babakr was appointed the joint chief of staff, replacing Gen. Kamal Abdel-Marouf al-Mahi who was ousted along with Defense Minister Awad Mohammed Ibn Ouf a day after al-Bashirs overthrow. Little is known internationally about Babakr. Since his ouster, al-Bashir a president of nearly 30 years has been under house arrest in Khartoum. After his ouster, which the military said was in response to the demands of the people, the army appointed a military council to rule for two years or less while elections are organized. Protesters, who are in talks with the military council, fear that the army, dominated by al-Bashir appointees, will cling to power or select one of its own to succeed him. Protest organizers have urged the military to immediately and unconditionally hand power to a transitional civilian government that would rule for four years. The political parties and movements behind the four months of protests said in a joint statement late Saturday that they would remain in the streets until their demands are met. They said a handover to civilian rule would be the first step toward the fall of the regime. The military on Sunday urged opposition parties and movements to name a civilian prime minister and Cabinet but not a president to help govern the country. The U.S., Britain and Norway urged the military authorities in a statement late Sunday to listen to the calls from the Sudanese people. Most pressingly, the continuing peaceful protests must not be met with violence from any quarter, the statement said. Samy Magdy, Cairo, AP 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. 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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/ BLAME TRUMP lop guest User ID: 453356 04-16-2019 06:57 PM Post: #1 Bernie Sanders Releases Tax Returns, Is Immediately Called Out For Stinginess Advertisement In fact, in 2016, he made over $1,062, 626 and gave slightly more than $10,600, which just so happens to amount to 1%. He got called out: That's not even ONE PERCENT of his income! He wants to jack up your taxes for welfare, but didn't kick in anything to help the folks he allegedly cares SO much for. Andrew Kerr @AndrewKerrNC J. Shanker @Neoavatara Couple points: 1. He is under no obligation to give away his money. 2. That said, why didn't he give it away...if he thinks its not really his money...but community property? 3. It does show he is more charitable with other people's money than he is with his own. Considering how stingy Sanders is when it comes to charity, lets review what he has said about people who make a lot of money and greedily hold on to it: Writing in the Burlington Free Press in May, 2011, Sanders stated, "As Vermont's senator and a member of the Budget Committee, I will not support a plan to reduce the deficit that does not call for shared sacrifice At a time when the top one percent earns more income than the bottom 50 percent, we must ask the wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share of taxes Every segment of our society, including those who have money and power, must contribute and must sacrifice." The New York Times reported in 1981 that Sanders was hostile to charities: But Sanders stinginess predates the last ten years; as the independent newspaper Seven Days reported in 1996: For Sanders, apparently, charity begins at home. Vanity Fair reported in 2016, referencing a story in The Washington Free Beacon about Sanders wife Jane OMeara Sanders and her daughter Carina Driscoll: https://www.dailywire.com/news/46012/ber...nk-berrien THIS IS W HAT THEY WANT TO DO TO TRUMP! WITH HIS TAX RETURNS. Bernie Sanders, who incessantly preaches about the greediness of the upper class, has an interesting history; in the last ten years, as his income has risen, he has only once (barely) given more than 4% of his income to charity, twice given a little more than 3%, twice given roughly 2.5 %, and five times given less than 2% of his income to charity.In fact, in 2016, he made over $1,062, 626 and gave slightly more than $10,600, which just so happens to amount to 1%. He got called out:That's not even ONE PERCENT of his income!He wants to jack up your taxes for welfare, but didn't kick in anything to help the folks he allegedly cares SO much for.Andrew Kerr@AndrewKerrNC [email protected] donated only $10,600 to charity in 2016 after earning $1,062,626.J. Shanker @NeoavataraCouple points:1. He is under no obligation to give away his money.2. That said, why didn't he give it away...if he thinks its not really his money...but community property?3. It does show he is more charitable with other people's money than he is with his own.Considering how stingy Sanders is when it comes to charity, lets review what he has said about people who make a lot of money and greedily hold on to it: Writing in the Burlington Free Press in May, 2011, Sanders stated, "As Vermont's senator and a member of the Budget Committee, I will not support a plan to reduce the deficit that does not call for shared sacrifice At a time when the top one percent earns more income than the bottom 50 percent, we must ask the wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share of taxes Every segment of our society, including those who have money and power, must contribute and must sacrifice."The New York Times reported in 1981 that Sanders was hostile to charities:But Sanders stinginess predates the last ten years; as the independent newspaper Seven Days reported in 1996:For Sanders, apparently, charity begins at home. Vanity Fair reported in 2016, referencing a story in The Washington Free Beacon about Sanders wife Jane OMeara Sanders and her daughter Carina Driscoll:WITH HIS TAX RETURNS. Introducing The Main Index There are now over 43,000 individual posts here on A Light In The Darkness. They have all been individually added into Main Index categories. To get the full experience out of A Light In The Darkness and its very extensive library of items, covering virtually all things paranormal, supernatural etc ... we recommend that you flick down the Main Index, which runs down the right hand side of the blog page ... to find the indexed category in which the subject matter you seek is located. Alternatively, why not use long search bar you will find towards the top of the blog page ... ENJOY That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is an excerpt: This idea has been suggested recently by Binyamin Appelbaum of The New York Times and also Matt Yglesias of Vox. In Norway it has been policy since 1814 and Finland does something similar. And: Or think about the dating market. Tax transparency would give high-earning men and women a bigger advantage and hurt their lower-earning competitors. Do we really wish to do that in an age of growing income inequality and diminished upward mobility? Is it better if your parents and all your friends can see how well your new job is going or how much in royalties your last book earned? As it stands, we exist in a slightly more comfortable social equilibrium where your close associates assume the best or at least give you the benefit of the doubt. Transparency of earnings would increase stress and make failure and disappointment all too publicly evident. Or entrepreneurs with long-term projects which are going to make it but not right away might face too many social or family pressures to quit. Snooping through the tax system would definitely happen. Evidence from Norway indicates that in 2007, 40 percent of Norwegian adults checked somebodys tax information online, higher than the penetration of Facebook in Norway. Anonymity of the snooper was removed in 2014, and visits fell dramatically (88 percent by one measure), but still you can imagine paying others to snoop for you or the information eventually getting out over time. The result of tax-record publication was that this game of income comparisons negatively affected the well-being of poorer Norwegians while at the same time boosting the self-esteem of the rich, according to Ricardo Perez-Truglia, a UCLA economics professor writing last week in VoxEU. Theres even a smartphone app that creates income leaderboards from the data on your Facebook friends. A wounded deputy in Mississippi faked being dead after a car chase led to an exchange of gunfire with an armed suspect. While lying on the ground, the gunman approached and shot the deputy a couple more times in the chest. Marshall County Sheriff Kenney Dickerson said the deputys bulletproof vest saved his life. Thats what, without any question saved his life, Dickerson said during a press conference on Saturday, April 13. One or two projectiles were visible on the inner layer of the vest. LIVE: Marshall County Sheriff's Office press conference about suspect in barricade and officer-involved shooting incident WATCH LIVE: The Marshall County Sheriff's Office is hosting a press conference about Friday's officer-involved shooting and barricade situation. Officials identified the deceased suspect on Saturday as Randy Vaught.MORE: http://via.wreg.com/xCSQt Posted by WREG News Channel 3 on Saturday, April 13, 2019 On Friday, Deputy Daniel Tatum confronted Randy Vaught, 33, during a narcotics investigation. When Deputy Tatum asked Vaught for his license and registration, Vaught didnt have either and instead took off on a high-speed chase to his mothers house, reported WREG. When he arrived at the house, Vaughts two companions took off, and Vaught entered his mothers house through a back door, Dickerson said. When Deputy Tatum tried to follow Vaught through the back door, Vaught shot him multiple times, Dickerson said, including in the leg and arm. As Deputy Tatum lay bleeding on the wooden porch, he played dead, hoping he wouldnt be shot in the head, Dickerson said. But as it turned out, the suspect did in fact approach himand him lying there helplessand shot him several more times in the chest area, Dickerson said. NEXT at 10: Details about what happened leading up to and during last nights standoff in Marshall County. Randy Vaught shot a Deputy before taking his own life. Coming up @FOX13Memphis: Hear why the sheriff says the deputys quick thinking may have saved his life. pic.twitter.com/4bViDwt87P Kirstin Garriss (@ReporterGarriss) April 14, 2019 After shooting Deputy Tatum, Vaught returned inside the house, where he barricaded himself, Dickerson said. For the next two and a half hours of the standoff, deputies tried to convince Vaught to come out over a loudspeaker. Dickerson said he personally knew the suspect, and Vaughts mother asked him to help convince her son to surrender peacefully. From probably six years old on up through his teens I saw him almost two or three times a week, Dickerson said. During that time, Vaught kept darting in and out of the house. Deputies cut power to the house and tear gas was used in an attempt to get Vaught outside. Marshall County Sheriff speaks out after deputy-involved shooting suspect commits suicide #wmc5 >>https://t.co/FKYmjuuFry WMC Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) April 14, 2019 About four hours after the standoff began, a little after 10 p.m., Vaught emerged from the house and began walking towards him, Dickerson said. Vaught mumbled something about asking God for forgiveness. Suddenly, he just stopped and he knelt to his knees and pulled a handgun from the waistband there with the shorts he was wearing, put it to the side of his head and pulled the trigger, Dickerson said. He left a suicide note directed to his mother about what he was going to do and apologizing for it and so forth, Dickerson added. Vaught was already out of jail on a $100,000 bond for statutory rape, Dickerson said. Sheriff says Randy Vaught was out on $100k bond for statutory rape when he shot Deputy Daniel Tatum. @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/6fhp68Wf1V Luke Jones (@LukeJonesTV) April 13, 2019 He said witnesses saw Vaught take crystal meth earlier that day, which likely contributed to his behavior. These drugs, particularly now crystal meth and heroin, theyre taking a toll on our young people and on a lot of families, Dickerson said. I hate that he shot himself. Death is tragic under any circumstances, He said. In my honest opinion, had he not been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, I could have talked him out immediately, Dickerson added. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the case, reported WMC. Heres what we learned: Started as traffic stop which turned to high speed chase Deputy Daniel Tatum played dead after being shot several times Bulletproof vest likely saved deputys life @FOX13Memphis FULL STORY: https://t.co/j8ZJxamBJJ Kirstin Garriss (@ReporterGarriss) April 13, 2019 As for Deputy Tatum, when other deputies arrived on the scene, they rescued the wounded officer. He was transported by helicopter to Regional One in Memphis where he underwent surgery, according to WREG. Despite being shot three to eight times in total, Deputy Tatum was alert Saturday morning after getting surgery on his leg. Dickerson said Deputy Tatum still faces more surgeries. He was very, very lucky, Dickerson said of Tatum. But you know that type of incident happens in law enforcement and everyday life and you know you have to deal with them and you have to deal with them in a fair way and not violate anyones rights. The American College of Physicians (ACP) published a paper today in the Annals of Internal Medicine that examines ways to improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Improving the Affordable Care Act's Insurance Coverage Provisions provides a set of recommendations to strengthen the ACA and lay the foundation for health care reforms that will lead to universal coverage for all Americans. ACP is committed to supporting policies that work to achieve universal health care coverage, and supported the passage of the ACA in 2010. However, while the ACA has made health care more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans, especially patients with pre-existing conditions, many still remain uninsured or face significant gaps in coverage. ACP's policy paper explores common-sense approaches to improve the ACA as internists continue to advocate for universal health care for all patients and consumers. "Exploring ways to improve the ACA can help us better understand and address the unique needs of patients," said Robert McLean, MD, FACP, president, ACP. "It's important that physicians and other medical professionals account for how the ACA has made major progress in reducing the number of people who are uninsured, but also recognize that major challenges remain in providing access to care. I believe there's a lot more that can be done to reduce coverage gaps and ensure that every American has affordable health insurance coverage for vital care." Promoting policies to achieve universal health care for all Americans is a longstanding goal of ACP. To protect patients and consumers and ensure they have access to quality care, ACP's paper calls for efforts to bolster the ACA, including stabilizing the health insurance market, expanding Medicaid, increasing competition in the marketplace, and amplifying awareness about how the ACA works to help patients and how to enroll in coverage plans. Additionally, ACP recommends that Congress enact legislation to develop a public insurance plan to ensure consumers have access to a variety of coverage options in their areas. The College also supports federal and state-led auto-enrollment programs to help make sure all individuals can successfully enroll in health care plans. "We encourage congressional leaders and the administration, as well as governments at the state level, to embrace patient-centered health care reform and take concrete action to ensure that the ACA continues to protect patients and make the necessary changes that would improve coverage for all Americans," said Dr. McLean. ACP's evidence-based public policy positions are based on reviewed literature and input from the ACP's Board of Governors, Board of Regents, Council of Early Career Physicians, Council of Resident/Fellow Members, Council of Student Members, and Council of Subspecialty Societies and nonmember experts in the relevant field. This paper was developed by ACP's Health and Public Policy Committee, which is charged with addressing issues that affect the health care of the American public and the practice of internal medicine and its subspecialties. Explore further ACP calls for policies that better support women and their families and improve health outcomes More information: Ryan A. Crowley et al, Improving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Insurance Coverage Provisions: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians, Annals of Internal Medicine (2019). Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine Ryan A. Crowley et al, Improving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Insurance Coverage Provisions: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians,(2019). DOI: 10.7326/M18-3401 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Offering universal late pregnancy ultrasounds at 36 weeks would benefit mothers and babies and could be cost savingaccording to research from the University of Cambridge and the University of East Anglia. A new study shows that an additional routine ultrasound could eliminate undiagnosed breech presentation of babies, lower the rate of emergency caesarean sections, and improve the health of mothers and babies. The study, led by the University of Cambridge in collaboration with UEA, is published today in the journal PLOS Medicine. Undiagnosed breech presentationwhen a baby's buttocks or feet emerge first at birthincreases risks for the mother and baby during childbirth. In current practice, midwives and doctors feel the pregnant mother's bump to assess the position of the baby. But the sensitivity of this approach varies by practitioner. By routinely using ultrasound scanning, undiagnosed breech presentations in labour could be avoided, lowering the risk of complications, including death, for both mother and baby. The research team performed screening ultrasounds at 36 weeks gestation in 3,879 women having first pregnancies in England. A total of 179 women (4.6 per cent) were diagnosed with breech presentation by the scan. However, in over half of these cases (55 per cent) there was no prior suspicion that the baby was in the breech position. Making the diagnosis at 36 weeks allowed women to opt for an attempt at turning the baby, called external cephalic version. For the women who declined this procedure, or where it was unsuccessful, a planned caesarean section was arranged. None of the women opted to attempt a vaginal breech birth, which is known to be associated with an increased risk of complications, particularly in first pregnancies. Dr. Ed Wilson, from UEA's Health Economics Group in the Norwich Medical School, said: "We estimate that UK-wide routine scanning could prevent around 15,000 undiagnosed breech presentations, more than 4,000 emergency caesarean sections and between seven and eight baby deaths per year. "We also looked into the costs of additional scans and found that if scans could be done for less than 12.90 each, it could be cost-saving to the NHS. "If ultrasound screening could be provided at such a low cost, for example by making it a part of a standard midwife appointment, routinely offering ultrasound scans could well represent a good use of NHS resources." Gordon Smith, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Cambridge and Chief Investigator of the study said: "We believe the study highlights an opportunity to identify women at increased risk of a complicated birth. It seems likely that screening for breech presentation near term could be introduced in a cost-effective manner and this should be considered by the NHS and other health systems." More information: Wastlund D, Moraitis AA, Dacey A, Sovio U, Wilson ECF, Smith GCS (2019) Screening for breech presentation using universal late-pregnancy ultrasonography: A prospective cohort study and cost effectiveness analysis. PLoS Med 16(4): e1002778. Journal information: PLoS Medicine Wastlund D, Moraitis AA, Dacey A, Sovio U, Wilson ECF, Smith GCS (2019) Screening for breech presentation using universal late-pregnancy ultrasonography: A prospective cohort study and cost effectiveness analysis.16(4): e1002778. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002778 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Australians born through assisted reproduction are as healthy as people conceived naturally, according to a new study led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. The research, published in the latest Fertility and Sterility journal, is the largest ever population-based study comparing the health of adults conceived through assisted reproduction technology (IVF and GIFT) with the health of the general population. Lead author Professor Jane Halliday of Australia's largest child health institute said researchers looked at 193 people aged between 22 to 35 years born using assisted reproduction technology. "The study showed there is no evidence of increased vascular or cardiometabolic risk such as heart disease and diabetes, growth or respiratory or well-being problems in this assisted reproduction technology group, compared with a non-assisted reproduction technology group recruited from the same Victorian population," she said. But Prof Halliday said the adults born through one type of assisted reproduction technology, in vitro-fertilisation, did better than the control group on many quality of life indicators. They felt better about their finances, safety, environment and housing than the control group. "This suggests that they are relatively socio-economically advantaged," Prof Halliday said. "Also their psychosocial adjustment may be positively influence by being born to parents who seek IVF to achieve parenthood." The researchers used a series of physical assessments and questionnaires on the 193 adults conceived through assisted reproduction technology and 86 controls of the same age conceived naturally. (The participants had an average age of 27 years.) The participants were among the first Australians to be born through assisted reproduction technology and some of the first assisted reproduction babies in the world. Assessments included measuring carotid artery thickness, blood pressure, overall body dimensions, respiratory function, lipid profiles, free fatty acids, blood glucose and insulin levels. Quality of life, demographics and self-reported health status were assessed by questionnaire. There were no major differences in these clinical assessments even when taking into account factors such as birth weight differences and a quality of life measure which was higher in the assisted reproduction technology group. One minor difference was in diastolic blood pressure which was slightly lower in assisted reproduction technology males than in non-assisted reproduction technology males. While the assisted reproduction technology group had a higher self-reported prevalence of ever having asthma or breathing problems, the physical respiratory assessments found no significant differences between the two groups. Prof Halliday said since the first Australian IVF baby was born in 1980, more than 200,000 babies have been born with the help of assisted reproduction technology. "One in every 25 Australian babies are now born via assisted reproduction technology, that means there is one in every classroom," Prof Halliday said. "Given the strong uptake of assisted reproduction technology, studies into the technology's potential long-term health outcomes are vital." Co-author Associate Professor John McBain, from Melbourne IVF and The Royal Women's Hospital, said having worked in the field since before an IVF baby was born, it is enormously satisfying that our hard work and our patients' trusting participation in these early days have been rewarded by the positive findings. Monash IVF Group Professor and co-author Rob McLachlan said Australia has a pioneering role in IVF and we have a compelling need and responsibility to understand the health of people born through assisted reproductive technologies throughout their lives. While the largest of its type in the world, Prof Halliday said the study was limited by the lower than expected participation rate but was confident the sample was representative of all the potential participants. Explore further Children conceived through assisted reproduction face no greater risks of emotional or behavioural problems More information: Health of adults aged 22 to 35 years conceived by assisted reproductive technology, Fertility and Sterility. DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2019.03.001 Journal information: Fertility and Sterility Health of adults aged 22 to 35 years conceived by assisted reproductive technology, Credit: vinnstock Over 6 million adults are supervised by the United States correctional system on any given day. Approximately 3.7 million of those adults are on probation and serve their sentences while living in the community. People involved in the correctional system are more likely to have a chronic condition, substance use disorders, or mental illness and are at higher risk of being uninsured when compared with the general population. In the first year after implementation of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) key provisions, health insurance coverage increased for individuals with involvement in the criminal justice system. Whether the ACA continued to improve coverage beyond its first year of implementation among this population was unknown. Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health recently assessed the impact of the ACA among U.S. adults on probation by estimating insurance coverage for individuals on and not on probation. The findings were recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed data from the 20082016 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey that measures the prevalence of mental health and substance use in the U.S. The study sample included non-elderly adults aged 18 to 64 who were on probation in the past year specifically focusing on details about their health insurance status. The study found: following implementation of the ACA's key provisions in 2014, insurance coverage increased significantlyby 17.5 percentfor individuals on probation; although insurance coverage remained lower for individuals on probation compared with that for individuals not on probation, coverage disparities decreased by 17.4 percent between 2013 and 2016; health insurance gains among individuals on probation in the past year were primarily due to an increase in Medicaid coverage. Explore further Uninsured rate at 8.8 percent in first quarter of 2018 More information: Christopher D. Knapp et al. Health Insurance Gains After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act Among Individuals Recently on Probation: USA, 20082016, Journal of General Internal Medicine (2019). Journal information: Journal of General Internal Medicine Christopher D. Knapp et al. Health Insurance Gains After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act Among Individuals Recently on Probation: USA, 20082016,(2019). DOI: 10.1007/s11606-019-04900-3 New York has mandated measles vaccinations following an outbreak of the disease among the Orthodox Jewish community The origins of the measles outbreak in the United States are not a mystery. Persons infected with the virus brought it to the United States from Israel and Ukraine and passed it on to members of their communities, many of whom had not been vaccinated. The challenge for US health authorities is stopping the outbreak from spreading further. A total of 555 cases of measles have been recorded in the United States since January 1, most of them in New York and Clark County in Washington state. In New York, an Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn has been hardest hit. They were infected by visitors from Israel, where a measles outbreak began a year ago. Last year, the disease spread through Brooklyn schools and synagogues among children who had never been vaccinated or had not had the recommended followup shot between the ages of four and six years old. In addition to Brooklyn, another Orthodox Jewish community in upstate New York's Rockland County, has also been affected. About 200 cases have been reported there. An outbreak in the state of Michiganwhere 39 cases have been reportedhas been traced to a single person, according to The Washington Post. The Orthodox Jewish man arrived in the United States from Israel, spent time in Brooklyn and then drove to Detroit, where he spread the disease through visits to synagogues and markets. Child from Ukraine In Clark County, Washington, the measles outbreak is concentrated among a Russian-speaking community. A child brought the virus back from Ukraine in December and it spread to 74 other people, mostly children, through schools, supermarkets and a bowling alley. "This kid was in a pocket of kids that weren't immunized by choice," said Scott Lindquist, epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health. "And that's how it started out. "What we know about this cluster is they all match each other," Lindquist said. "We did DNA fingerprinting, or genetic sequencing, essentially. "And they all match each other identically. And they all match the Ukraine strain," he said. A boy is vaccinated for measles in the village of Lapaivka near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv One theory links the outbreaks in Israel and Ukraine to an annual pilgrimage to the Ukrainian city of Uman by tens of thousands of Orthodox Jewish men to visit the grave of a revered rabbi. Patrick O'Connor of the World Health Organization told The New York Times the major Ukraine outbreak may have supercharged a modest one in Israel. Nancy Messonnier, acting director of the Center for Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said all the US measles cases have come from other countries. The number of cases in the United States are relatively few compared to other places but the second most since the turn of the century, when the disease was declared eliminated. "We certainly are concerned that it will be the largest number of cases since elimination in 2000," Messonnier said Tens of thousands of cases of measles have been reported in Africa and Europe. Ukraine alone has more than 30,000 cases and 11 deaths since January. In the United States, the outbreaks have mostly been confined to tight-knit communities where vaccination rates are lower than the national average of more than 90 percent. There have been outbreaks previously, for example, among the Amish community in Ohio in 2014 and Somali immigrants in Minnesota in 2017. Health authorities have moved aggressively to prevent the disease from spreading. In Clark County, 849 non-vaccinated students were barred from 15 schools where children had come down with measles. "We were very aggressive about isolating any cases, quarantining anybody who was exposed to those cases, and excluding kids from school if they were unimmunized," said Lindquist, the Washington state health official. "And that is what's slowed this outbreak down," he said. "Currently, we have not had a case in almost 42 days." In New York, the mayor has ordered the vaccination of all residents of Williamsburg, a Brooklyn neighborhood, and threatened to impose fines of $1,000 for those who don't follow the order. Rockland County, meanwhile, announced new measures to combat the disease, including fines of up to $2,000 a day. "It is unacceptable to sit back and do nothing as more of our residents fall ill," county executive Ed Day said. Anyone with measles or exposed to someone with measles was banned from public places. Schools were ordered to keep out children who could not show proof of immunization or a valid medical or religious exemption. 2019 AFP Electron microscopy of West Nile virus. Credit: PhD Dre, Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0 The end of California's drought, announced last month amid one of the rainiest winters in memory, could offer a surprising benefit: reduced transmission of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. Longer term, however, more severe droughts associated with climate change could contribute to an increase in the number of infections in the state and nationally. Drought is the most important weather-related factor that affects the rate of West Nile infection, researchers say. Even though mosquito eggs need water to hatch, dry conditions tend to spur greater transmission of the virus. "Ironically, when we have drought conditions, that does seem to amplify the West Nile virus transmission cycle," said Vicki Kramer, chief of the Vector-Borne Disease Section at the California Department of Public Health. West Nile is transmitted between mosquitoes and birds, and people can become infected if bitten by an infected mosquito. The illness is rarely transmitted from one person to another. According to one theory, when drought forces mosquitoes and birds into closer proximity around the few remaining sources of water, it increases the chance of infection. Some researchers think another explanation for the link between drought and West Nile transmission could be that dry conditions tax birds' immune systems, leaving them more vulnerable to infection. In 2015, amid California's worst drought in over 500 years, the number of severe West Nile infectionsknown as "neuroinvasive" caseshit their highest level since the state began tracking the virus. Then, as the dry conditions eased, the number declined by 75% over the next three years, despite an uptick in 2017. Researchers say neuroinvasive West Nile viruscases accompanied by meningitis, encephalitis or a type of acute paralysisis the best measure for comparing the prevalence of the virus from year to year. The total number of cases is a less reliable indicator, because people with only mild symptomsthe vast majorityare more likely to get tested in years when public concern about the disease is running high. Less than 1% of those infected suffer severe symptoms. Scientists and public health officials say that while drought plays a significant role in increasing the rate of infection, other factorsespecially the extent of human immunityare also important and can cut the other way, making it hard to predict infection rates from year to year. More people have immunity following years with high infection rates, and that can help reduce the number of new infections. Last year, 10 people died in California from complications of West Nile virus, down from 44 in 2017. Numerous states have higher rates of West Nile infection than California, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The states with the highest rates of West Nile virus last year were Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Mississippi. Nationally, the number of severe West Nile cases in the U.S. increased slightly last year to 1,594, with 137 deaths. Scientists fear that, in the long term, drought driven by climate change could generate much higher rates of West Nile infection around the country. "Predictions suggest that on average there will be quite a bit more cases of West Nile virus nationally, and in high drought years it could be about three times as high as the current average," said Marm Kilpatrick, a disease ecologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz and co-author of a 2017 research paper published by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Jeremy Wittie, president of the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California, noted that changes in the number of West Nile virus cases vary by region. Despite an overall drop in West Nile last year, a few places, including Sacramento, saw a higher number of cases. State health officials and vector-control agencies monitor West Nile activity closely, with periodic testing of "sentinel chickens," dead birds and mosquito samples, which are tracked and published on the state's West Nile virus portal at westnile.ca.gov. California residents can report dead birds to the state's West Nile monitoring program via the same site. Testing them provides a key indicator for public health officials tracking West Nile activity. Explore further Louisiana, Mississippi top nation in illness from West Nile 2019 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: CC0 Public Domain 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 town's 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. "I'd say, look elsewhere," said Susan Scovel, a Seattle transplant who arrived with her husband in 2015. Scovel's 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 coastwith 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 Parkinson's, 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 they're able to do the IVs to get it down," Scovel said. "This is an anxiety thing since my husband died. So nowI don't know." She can't in good conscience advise a senior with health problems to come join her in Celina, she said. Celina's 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 yearsmore 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 we're not a hospital," said Natalie Boone, Clay County's 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, it's committed to that call. Adding an hour to the turnaround time means someone else could likely call with an emergency and be toldessentiallyto wait in line. "What happens when you have that patient that doesn't 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 hasn't retired yet, but she's 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? "That's a big problem," Bailey said. "The doctors aren't 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 employerssecond 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. That's why it was attractive to retirees. "It reminded me of a time long ago that has seemingly passed. I can't say that it will ever come back," he said. "I have hopes that there's still some hope for small hospitals in that type of community. But I think the chances are becoming less of those community hospitals surviving." Explore further ACA Medicaid expansion resulted in fewer hospital closures, especially in rural areas 2019 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Co-led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study estimated that continuing the vaccine beyond 2022 would preventin the first ten yearsmore than 100,000 children and adults from contracting pneumococcal disease and save the lives of 14,000 children and adults who would otherwise have died. The cost per year of healthy life saved (US $153) was considerably less than Kenya's annual gross domestic product (GDP) per person (US $1,790 in 2018), which meetsand far exceedsthe World Health Organization (WHO) GDP-related threshold for 'very cost-effective' health interventions. The researchers say this study offers important evidence for policymakers at what is a crucial time for countries that have to decide whether to continue vaccine programmes that have benefited from Gavi's subsidy of the cost of vaccines once their economies grow and Gavi support diminishes. Lead author Dr. John Ojal, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, said: "If the Kenyan government decides not to continue the vaccine beyond January 2022, and children born after this time are no longer vaccinated with PCV, the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease will rebound to that experienced before the vaccine was introduced. This is because there will be a growing pool of children who are not directly protected by vaccination and also not indirectly protected by vaccination of individuals around them." PCV was introduced in Kenya in 2011 in order to protect children from pneumoniaone of the leading causes of death in children under five. Recent research has shown that PCV has reduced hospital admissions due to pneumonia by over a quarter. At present, Kenya contributes just US $0.21 to the full cost of the vaccine, thanks to support from Gavi. By 2022, Kenya will enter an 'accelerated transition' phase, which will see the Gavi subsidy reduce rapidly until 2027, at which point Kenya will pay the full Gavi-negotiated price the country is eligible for. At US $3.05 per dose, this is a fraction of the per-dose cost of US $180 in the USA, but 15 times more than what Kenya is paying now. To estimate the cost-effectiveness of continuing PCV after 2022, researchers combined data from ongoing detailed health surveillance in Kilifi, Kenya with mathematical modelling and health economics in order to determine the cost-effectiveness of continuing the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine programme beyond 2022. Anthony Scott, Professor of Vaccine Studies at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Principal Investigator of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study said: "Many low-income countries that receive Gavi supportincluding Kenyawill soon have to make vital decisions about whether to continue PCV use at full costs as they transition away from Gavi support. Studies like these are crucial so that policy makers can make evidence-based decisions that will impact on the health of their populations." Researchers estimated that continuing PCV beyond 2022 will cost Kenya US $15.8 million per yearmore than double the current total vaccine budget. After transition away from Gavi support, Kenya's financial contribution to other Gavi-supported childhood vaccines, such the pentavalent vaccine and those for yellow fever and rotavirus, will also have to increase. John Ojal said: "This puts further stress on Kenya's health budget, so while our findings support an expansion of the vaccine budget, affordability may be a concern." Work is ongoing to reduce the cost and improve the cost-effectiveness of the PCV programme: development of a cheaper vaccine, trials to reduce the number of required doses, and research by the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to assess the effectiveness of smaller vaccine doses. The authors acknowledge the limitations of the study, including that no local information was available about the proportion of children among non-hospitalised pneumonia patients who were treated as outpatients, and that the cost-effectiveness analysis is largely based on the assumption that reduction in disease will translate to reduction in mortality. Explore further Vaccine against world's top child killer launched Credit: CC0 Public Domain Every year, nearly 2 million people on Medicaremost of them older adultsgo to a skilled nursing facility to recover after a hospitalization. But choosing the facility can be daunting, according to an emerging body of research. Typically, a nurse or a social worker hands out a list of facilities a day or twosometimes hoursbefore a patient is due to leave. The list generally lacks such essential information as the services offered or how the facilities perform on various measures of care quality. Families scramble to make calls and, if they can find the time, visit a few places. Usually they're not sure what the plan of care is (what will recovery entail? how long will that take?) or what to expect (will nurses and doctors be readily available? how much therapy will there be?). If asked for a recommendation, hospital staffers typically refuse, citing government regulations that prohibit hospitals from steering patients to particular facilities and that guarantee patients free choice of medical providers. (This is true only for older adults with traditional Medicare; private Medicare Advantage plans can direct members to providers in their networks.) "The reality is that we leave patients and families without good guidance at a really vulnerable point in their care trajectory," said Dr. Robert Burke, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. Amid stress and confusion, older adults and their families frequently make less than optimal choices. According to a 2018 report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare, nearly 84 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who go to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) after a hospital stay could have selected a higher-rated provider within a 15-mile radius. On average, MedPAC noted, hospitals refer patients needing short-term rehabilitation to 34 facilities. (Fewer options are available in rural areas.) Where older adults go is important "because the quality of care varies widely among providers," MedPAC's report notes, and this affects how fully people recover from surgeries or illnesses, whether they experience complications such as infections or medication mix-ups, and whether they end up going home or to a nursing home for long-term care, among other factors. A recently completed series of reports from the United Hospital Fund in New York City highlights how poorly older adults are served during this decision-making process. In focus groups, families described feeling excluded from decisions about post-hospital care and reported that websites such as Medicare's Nursing Home Compare, which rates facilities by quality of care and other performance criteria, weren't recommended, easy to use or especially helpful. What do older adults and family members need to know before selecting a rehab facility after a hospital stay? Recent academic research, policy reports and interviews with experts elucidate several themes. The Basics Who needs post-hospital care in a rehabilitation center? Surprisingly, there are no definitive guidelines for physicians or discharge planners. But older adults who have difficulty walking or taking care of themselves, have complex medical conditions and complicated medication regimens, need close monitoring or don't have caregiver support are often considered candidates for this kind of care, according to Kathryn Bowles, professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Medicare will pay for short-term rehabilitation at SNFs under two conditions: (1) if an older adult has had an inpatient hospital stay of at least three days; and (2) if an older adult needs physical, occupational or speech/language therapy at least five days a week or skilled nursing care seven days a week. Be sure to check your status, because not all the time you spend in a hospital counts as an inpatient stay; sometimes, patients are classified as being in "observation care," which doesn't count toward this three-day requirement. Traditional Medicare pays the full cost of a semiprivate room and therapy at a skilled nursing facility for up to 20 days. Between 21 and 100 days, patients pay a coinsurance rate of $170.50 per day. After 100 days, a patient becomes responsible for the full daily chargean average $400 a day. Private Medicare Advantage plans may have different cost-sharing requirements. Nationally, the average stay for rehabilitation is about 25 days, according to a recent editorial on choosing post-hospital care in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Quality Varies Widely In its 2018 report, MedPAC documented large variations in the quality of care provided by SNFs. Notably, facilities with the worst performance were twice as likely to readmit patients to the hospital as those with the best performance. (Readmissions put patients at risk of a host of complications. This measure applied only to readmissions deemed potentially avoidable.) Patients at the best-performing facilities were much more likely to be discharged back home and to regain the ability to move around than those at the worst-performing facilities. In April, for the first time, Medicare's Nursing Home Compare website is separating out performance measures for short-term stays in SNFs, for people who are recovering after a hospitalization, and long-term stays, for people with severe, chronic, debilitating conditions. Seven measures for short-term stays will be included: the portion of patients who experience an improvement in their functioning (such as the ability to walk), return home to the community, are readmitted to the hospital, visit the emergency room, get new prescriptions for antipsychotic medications, have pain well controlled, and are adequately treated for bedsores, according to Dr. David Gifford, senior vice president for quality and regulatory affairs at the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes and assisted living centers. There will also be a separate "star rating" for short-term staysan overall indicator of quality. Questions To Ask Before making a decision on post-hospital care, older adults and family members should address the following issues: Your post-hospital needs. Bowles, who has studied what kind of information patients and families find valuable, suggests people ask: What are my needs going to be during the post-hospital period? What kind of help will be needed, and for approximately how long? Dr. Lena Chen, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan who has published research examining wide variations in spending on post-acute care after a hospitalization, suggests asking: What is my anticipated recovery, and what do you think the most difficult parts of it might be? What the SNF provides. Bowles also suggests people ask why the SNF is being recommended instead of home health care. How will the SNF meet my needs, specifically? What kind of medical care and therapy will I get there? From whom and how often? Carol Levine, who directs the United Hospital Fund's Families and Health Care Project, suggests that patients and families seek out details about facilities. Is a doctor readily available? (New research suggests 10 percent of patients in skilled nursing facilities are never seen by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant.) What kind of equipment and specialized services are on-site? Can the facility accommodate people with cognitive issues or who need dialysis, for instance? Getting information early. Dr. Vincent Mor, professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University's School of Public Health, said patients and families should insist on seeing a discharge planner soon after entering the hospital and start the planning process early. When a planner comes by, "say, 'I don't care about choices: Tell me, what do you think will be best for me?' Be insistent," he advised. Burke warns that doctors don't typically know which SNF is likely to be the best fit for a particular patienta topic he has written about. He suggests that older adults or their families insist they be given time to contact facilities if they feel rushed. While there's considerable pressure to discharge patients quickly, there's also a requirement that hospital discharges be safe, Burke noted. "If we're waiting for a family to tell us which facility they want a patient to go to, we can't make a referral or discharge the patient," he said. We're eager to hear from readers about questions you'd like answered, problems you've been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit khn.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips. Explore further Patients discharged to home care vs. nursing facilities have higher rates of hospital readmissions 2019 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Vaccine-preventable diseases have not just returned, but surged in crisis hit Venezuela, according to new research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, Netherlands (13-16 April). The study is by Dr. Adriana Tami (University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands and University of Carabobo, Venezuela) and Dr. Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi (IDB Biomedical Research Institute, Barquisimeto, Venezuela), and colleagues. Venezuela has plunged into a humanitarian, economic and health crisis of extraordinary proportions. This complex situation has progressed into a general collapse of Venezuela's health system, the dismantling of structures at the institutional, social and economic level affecting the life and wellbeing of the entire population. Some two thirds of the Venezuelan population currently live in extreme poverty, amid escalating violence. The country's crumbling healthcare infrastructure is now more typical of conflict zones or war-torn nations. More than 280,000 children are now perceived to be at risk of death from severe malnutrition. In response, an ongoing exodus towards neighbouring countries has ensued. Emigrating individuals with infectious diseases may be unwillingly causing a spill-over of diseases beyond Venezuela's boundaries. This study provides new data on the resurgence and ongoing epidemics of measles and diphtheria and their disproportionate impact on indigenous populations. The authors note that, since October 2014, there is a dire shortage of official epidemiological information in Venezuela; thus they did an active search of published and unpublished data. Data from the Americas were sourced from PAHO and from Venezuelan Health Observatory. Brazilian and Colombian data were accessed via their respective Ministries of Health. In Venezuela, circulation of wild measles and diphtheria had not been reported since 2007 and 1992, respectively. Both diseases have recently re-emerged after a progressive interruption of the national immunisation program. Transmission is now present in most of the country. However, vulnerable indigenous populations such as the Yanomami inhabiting the Amazon region at the Venezuelan-Brazilian border, are mostly affected. There have been at least 100 cases and several deaths in this small population of 15.000 people, reported by a non-governmental agency that works with this vulnerable group. "High morbidity and mortality rates are expected because these populations are immunologically naive to measles," explains Dr. Tami who has worked with these indigenous people in the Amazon forest. "Measles is presumed to have entered the Yanomami communities from Brazil after imported cases from Venezuela brought the disease to border populations of Brazil, before spreading back to Yanomami communities in Venezuela. Further spread of this epidemic wave could devastate the Yanomami people living in the Orinoco highlands of the Amazon, given that humanitarian aid to affected sites is limited or hard to deliver because of the seminomadic characteristics of these indigenous populations and the remoteness of the Yanomami territory." The report provides data taken over a 16-month period (June 2017-October 2018) during which time a total of 7,524 suspected measles cases have been reported in Venezuela. Of these, 5,525 were confirmed representing 68% (5,525/8,091) of measles cases in the Americas reported, and also the most deaths from measles (73/85). The national coverage rate for the second dose of the measles vaccine was estimated at 52% according to the last reports from the Venezuela Ministry of Health. This estimate ranks Venezuela toward the bottom of vaccination coverage in the region, and estimates show measles vaccination is falling in all parts of the country. Measles cases from Venezuela have been reported in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Genetic analysis has confirmed that these cases have spread to these countries from Venezuela. Of all cases reported by Brazil's Ministry of Health in the state of Roraima (which borders Venezuela) through May 2018, a total of 68% corresponded to refugees from Venezuela, and 52.7% were in Warao Amerindians. The Colombia Ministry of Health has also reported 25 measles cases imported from Venezuela. Most cases were reported from bordering states that received a considerable migratory influx in 2018 and that also had received most of the 600,000 immigrants from Venezuela in 2017. From January 2016 to October 2018, a total of 2,170 diphtheria cases have been reported to date with a lethality rate of 22%. In 2018, 96% (806/838) of diphtheria cases in the Americas region originate from Venezuela. Coverage of the minimum recommend 3 doses (although 4 is preferred) of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine has fallen from 84% in 2016 to 60% in 2017, and may not have reached 50% in 2018. Estimates suggest this could mean 3 million vulnerable Venezuelan children are now-exposed to this disease that should long have been consigned to the past. Diptheria cases have also been reported in states of other countries that border Venezuela, and have been assumed to be transmitted from the many cases now occurring in Venezuela, though hard data to confirm this is not available at this time. Although polio has not yet been reported in Venezuela, it is estimated that vaccination rates are now well below 80% and the authors believe it is only a matter of time before this disease, eliminated from the Americas in 1971, will make a comeback. The authors say: "The current reality in Venezuela is a conflux of plummeting vaccination coverages and ongoing outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases. Combined with the weakening of surveillance programs, forced migrations, and a prolonged political, economic, and food crisis without foreseeable resolution, these factors have set the stage for potential re-emergence of poliomyelitis." They conclude: "Action to halt the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases within Venezuela is a matter of urgency for the country and region. Global and regional health authorities should urge the Venezuelan government to allow establishing a humanitarian channel to bring relief efforts and adequate supplies for mass vaccination. Failure of timely action may bring a tsunami of new cases, not only in Venezuela but also other countries in the Americas." Explore further Measles cases surge amid Venezuela's crisis Provided by European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks with reporters in Tallahassee about her 2020 presidential campaign. SGROSS@MIAMIHERALD.COM U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar talked climate change, hurricanes and what it will take to win Florida with Democratic lawmakers in Tallahassee on Tuesday in her first visit to gather support in the sunshine state for her 2020 presidential campaign "A lot of the issues I'm focused on are issues that matter a lot in Florida," the Minnesota Democrat said after a closed meeting with the House Democratic Caucus. Klobuchar said she was concerned with the effects of climate change, and pointed out that eight of 10 of the metropolitan areas destined to have the most climate change-induced flooding are in Florida. "My idea here is to get an international climate change agreement on day one and to bring back the clean power rules and to do more when it comes to infrastructure ... certainly, you have needs here," she said. She also answered questions regarding funding for those who were affected by Hurricane Michael in October. Klobuchar voted down on a disaster relief bill that would have awarded tens of millions of dollars to victims still waiting on funding. The bill is stalling as the Senate fights over substantial new assistance for Puerto Rico assistance Democrats are demanding. She is a bigger fan of the House bill, she said, and that she hopes the chambers will "work that out." "There is no reason we can't work this out, given that the House bill had the kind of funding we'd like to see," she said. "They don't seem to want to help Puerto Rico and there's no reason we can't do all of this together. We have to get this done and we will. This is a matter of negotiations. " Klobuchar talked about other hot topics in Florida, and commended Florida on the way student activists in Parkland have engaged more young people politically, and how voters approved Amendment 4 to restore voting rights to former felons. She said she'd never seen students from high schools in Minnesota ask such engaging questions, and that people back home have taken a new interest in restoring felon's rights. Klobuchar added that she feels confident about winning Florida in the primaries in 2020 "despite the fact that I'm coming from a state that has a lot of snow." She said walking around Florida today she sees "a lot of people feeling left behind," and that they want a candidate who will address affordable housing and expanded access to better healthcare. "We have to be governing from opportunity, not chaos," she said. "I don't see the other presidential candidate, which will likely be Donald Trump, addressing climate change." Discovery Bank, Bank Zero, and TymeBank South Africas newest banks are set to disrupt the local banking scene in 2019. Disrupt an almost meaningless word which is akin to millennial in terms of its flagrant use by anyone who wants to show they understand trends and marketing is not enough, however. The new banks must destroy everything in their path, particularly the banking fees South Africans pay today. We recently showed that compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, and their respective blockchains, local banks are slow and cumbersome. Where it took Bitcoin and Ethereum under 10 minutes to send tokens from one account to another, a local bank transfer from Standard Bank to Absa took almost 12 hours. The cryptocurrency transfers did accrue a small transfer fee while the bank-to-bank transaction was free, but there are no monthly fees for most cryptocurrency wallets unlike a bank account. The potential of cryptocurrency transactions is not truly realised with local payments, however, and where they truly shine is in international payments. While maintaining fast transfer times regardless of where in the world you send tokens, the fees you pay do not change. If you send Ethereum to Durban or Dubai, it will take the same amount of time and you will be charged the same fee. The same cannot be said for bank transactions. International fees are charged when you make a payment across a border. A practical example of this is when you pay your Netflix subscription fee, you pay extra as the money goes to the companys operation in Amsterdam. A Netflix Premium subscription costs R169, with a transfer fee of R4.65 added on top of this. International fees These bank fees extend to currency conversion charges, too, which means that if you make a payment in an international currency with your card, you will have to pay for the pleasure. Nedbank, Absa, FNB, and Standard Bank all charge this fee, which ranges from 2% to 2.75% depending on which bank you are with. Capitec told MyBroadband that it does not charge a currency conversion fee. While 2% does not sound like much, this accumulates rather quickly when making multiple transactions. I discovered this on a recent work trip to the US, where I used my South African credit card to pay for items in US dollars. After checking my online banking a couple days into my trip, I immediately switched to drawing cash for the day and sucking up the once-off withdrawal fee as opposed to making all payments with my card. And yes, there is an international fee when withdrawing cash from an ATM in a foreign country. Before switching to cash, these are the international fees which I accrued on my card: R5.47 R6.99 R16.03 R13.56 R4.60 R0.79 R8.01 R3.37 R5.48 R313.72 The total: R378.02. Whether these fees are implemented by the local bank, international banks, or a combination of the two is irrelevant as the consumer this is what you pay. Admittedly, the example of international transactions is an extreme one but it nonetheless serves as a reminder of the culture of fees worshipped by local banks. These fees extend far beyond international payments and see users being charged to send an email payment confirmation to a recipient. Before you fill in the text box at the bottom of your online payment confirmation window, entering the beneficiarys email address so the bank will send them a mail confirming your payment was made, first check how much it will cost. For me it was R1.10. My bank charged me R1.10 to send an automated email confirming a payment another discovery made during the fee investigation. Discovery Bank, Bank Zero, and TymeBank have all talked a big game about disrupting the local banking scene when they launch. Let us hope they can deliver on their promises and that they will do more than merely disrupt they must destroy and replace. Now read: How South Africans will make payments in 10 years The Federated Hospitality Association of SA (Fedhasa) has called on the government to crack down on Airbnb a call which has been echoed by smaller hospitality organisations. Airbnb has seen impressive growth in South Africa, and a lot of this growth came at the expense of established bed-and-breakfasts and hotels. These establishments argue that unregistered accommodation establishments marketed through Airbnb, should face the same regulation as the official tourism sector. According to the registered establishments, Airbnb hosts are not regulated and can therefore undercut them because they have lower overheads. Tourism Amendment Bill The government has now acted on these industry calls through the Tourism Amendment Bill which was gazetted on Friday 12 April. Through this bill, short-term home rentals will now be legislated under the Tourism Act in South Africa. Under the amendments, the minister of tourism will have the power to specify certain thresholds when it comes to Airbnbs in South Africa. These thresholds can include limits on the number of nights that a guest can stay or even how much income an Airbnb host earns. According to the department, this would ensure that everyone gets their fair share and that both private users of Airbnb and hotel groups get to enjoy a shared economy. The department also plans to give more oversight to local government when it comes to zoning and where an Airbnb may be located. Tourism bodies have welcomed the move, saying that the regulations will level the playing field. Airbnb responds Airbnb said it supports clear and progressive rules that support the sustainable growth of home sharing. We are having productive discussions with the government, based on our experience working with more than 500 governments around the world, an Airbnb spokesperson said. These discussions include measures to help Airbnb hosts to share their homes, follow the rules and pay their fair share of tax. Airbnb said it is growing because it reflects the way people live, work, and travel today. While travel on our platform accounts for less than 1 in 8 visitors to South Africa, those guests boosted the economy by R8.7 billion and helped create 22,000 jobs last year alone, Airbnb said. This healthy and sustainable tourism model with hosts also keeping up to 97% of the price they charge to rent the space is transforming local economies. Power outlets in South Africa with integrated USB ports must include a switch that allows the USB socket to be turned off. Thats the word from Gianfranco Campetti, chair of the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) SC23B mirror committee. The latest SANS 1640 standard provides some requirements in the approval of these products, which are usually combined with a SANS 1641 and one or more 1642 socket outlets on the same faceplate, Campetti told MyBroadband. The SANS 1641 socket Campetti is referring to is the large three-pronged standard that is used all over South Africa. SANS 1642, or ZA Plug, is South Africas new socket standard. It has the same diamond-shaped profile as the Europlug standard. Campetti said that there are several specifications for power outlet sets with built-in 5V USB sockets, but the specific requirement that should be of interest to consumers is that it must be possible to switch the socket off. As these products fall under the NRCS Compulsory Safety Specification VC8008, all products sold into the SA market must comply with this specification, Campetti said. He explained that there are a few ways products may be designed to achieve compliance. They can have a: Euphoria has changed the way telephone companies engage with customers and has set a new standard in delivering exceptional service. In an industry that has become renowned for lackluster service delivery, Euphoria has proven to do things differently and always strives to make each and every customer feel valued and important. The customer is our CEO, says Euphoria National Production and Support Manager Garth Siebers. Our growth has largely been the result of our staff being enthusiastic about serving customers. We make an effort to create an amazing experience for them. One of the many tools that Euphoria uses to achieve its service goals is Freshworks, a global customer engagement software tool which has been an essential part of the companys continuing success. Freshworks enables better and faster service and makes it easy for support, sales and marketing professionals to communicate more effectively with customers. It delivers genuine wow moments where queries and requests are dealt with efficiently. Siebers believes that excellent service creates loyal customers for life. We chose Freshworks because it helps us offer the best possible service and support, every single day. Euphoria was established to find a solution for high call costs while eliminating cumbersome and costly long term contracts and most of all, eradicate poor customer service. It was all about bringing an international class business phone system to the SME in South Africa. We are proud that our very first customer, Altech Isis, is still with us since we first launched the company in 2010. We think that is great testament to the kind of service we offer. They joined us on a month-to-month contract and nearly a decade later they are still here and that speaks volumes, he explains. He believes that promoting a positive culture internally is of paramount importance. Being surrounded by happy staff automatically improves the way we interact with our customers. We love what we do and our customers pick up on that energy and obvious enthusiasm. Our approach is totally customer-centric. Euphoria Telecom is geared towards making customers lives easier. Whether its for three users or a company with 1,000+ phone extensions, the system remains simple to operate and scalable. We wanted to give control to the business owner so that they could make changes themselves without waiting in queues or sending a ticket to get something done. Similar to Internet banking where clients logon and make payments, they no longer have to go to the bank or speak to anyone or stand in long queues, he explains. Our clients just log on and make the changes themselves the system empowers them. More importantly, we have an efficient customer services team to handle support. Our relationships and the way we engage with our customers enables them to trust our system and gives them the confidence in what it can do for them, he concludes. Euphoria has over 4,000 happy customers across South Africa including well-known brands like Debonairs Pizza, Vumatel, Just Property, Mr. Delivery, Dark Fibre Africa and Yuppiechef. Covid-19: This is not the right ... Sitting on a highly visible location in the Oakland Hills, the Oakland Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated for use in November 1964. The Temple site location was purchased by the church in 1943 and satisfied a prophecy in 1847 of Church President Brigham Young, who said, that Temples of the Church would one day overlook the shores of the Pacific. The Temple was closed for major renovations in January 2018. Those renovations are now complete and the Temple is scheduled to reopen after rededication services on June 16. Prior to the formal rededication services, the Temple will be open to the public for tours, beginning May 11 through June 1. Tickets for tours which will be conducted throughout the day for these three weeks can be secured at no cost through templeopenhouse.lds.org or through accessing the temple website, oaklandtemple.org. The address of this well-known edifice, 4770 Lincoln Ave., is located in the hills just east of the Oakland International Airport. The Oakland California Temple has served since 1964 as a beacon of light for church members. It is interesting to note that this particular temple also has been an important light for airline pilots navigating into the Oakland Airport for many years. During the period of an energy crisis some 30 years ago, the church turned off the lights at night, only to be strongly encouraged by aviators to please turn them back on. When first dedicated in 1964 by the then President and Prophet of the Church, David O. McKay, the Oakland California Temple was the 13th temple of the Church and the second in California (following the Los Angeles California Temple). There are now seven temples serving members in California in the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, Redlands, Fresno, Newport Beach, Sacramento, and, of course, Oakland. An eighth temple was recently announced for construction in the very near future in Yuba City. There are currently 201 temples operating, announced or under construction through the world. Also featured in the Visitors Center, which is located directly adjacent to the temple, is a large replica of Bertel Thorvaldsens statue Christus, which serves as a profound invitation through the Saviors outstretched arms to Come, Follow Me. The Temple was closed 18 months ago to accommodate a number of structural changes, seismic reinforcements, and other infrastructure improvements. Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints differ from meetinghouses or chapels where regular Sunday worship services are conducted. As stated in an article from the Church Newsroom, Temples are considered houses of the Lord where Christs teachings are reaffirmed through sacred ordinances that unite families for eternity. Inside, members learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and our brothers and sisters who share this earth. Once Church Temples are dedicated, they are not available to the broader public. Therefore, the public tours provided in May provide an excellent opportunity for those who wish to better understand why members of the church so often frequent these sacred structures, which are now in operation on every continent. Dr. David E. Brown is regional Director of Public Affairs but was formerly the President of the Napa Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which includes 10 congregations four in Napa, one in St. Helena, one in Sonoma, two in Vallejo, and two in Benicia. Farm to table. Once upon a time, this was not a familiar phrase. What comes next? Some of the answers to this question may come from the annual Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food and beverage event in North America. A constantly developing industry with provocative and sometimes challenging transformations in food technology includes familiar monster companies as well as small start-ups. Many promising to change the way we produce, partake and purchase food. Is this a good thing? A little food for thought. Is there a cooking oil made from insects? Yes. Is there such a thing as drone-based farming. Yes. Serving as a forerunner for lively trends, this years show was overflowing with plant-based anything and everything. The word vegan seems to have been replaced by plant-based. We are talking beverages, meats, cheeses, chips and more. You name it and it could probably be made from pea protein, beets, kale, chickpeas, seitan (an ancient meat substitute) or even cashews. Plant proteins replacing animal proteins. Another term I picked up was plant-forward. This term might be most familiar to iGens who along with some Generation Xers and millennials make up the largest percentage of shoppers seeking alternatives to animal-based food products. The creepy (just my opinion) pinkish fake hot dogs of early vegan options have mostly disappeared, with new items and descriptor terms easily seen down any aisle of your grocery store. Consumer researchers report that plant-based products have grown almost 300 per cent since 2012 in the U.S. The why of the increasing interest in animal free foods is varied. Some of us have health conditions that require the elimination of certain foods wed otherwise consider part of a typical daily food regimen. For others, its a preventative measure to avoid the risks of heart disease, certain cancers, obesity, diabetes and even degenerative cognition. For many, its a personal or moral philosophy that sets the guidelines for what foods are appropriate for their beliefs or lifestyle. Whatever your reason might be, even if its just a curiosity to experiment with a trend, its good to know that its much easier to find a literal smorgasbord of plant-based options. Taste is another thing. If you expect a plant-based cheese to taste just like your beloved Parmesan, thats not realistic. It could be Parmesan-ish, maybe. Texture is another adjustment for many of the offerings tasted. In most cases the purveyors of these products admitted that in the cooking process the chemistry of the ingredients just cant be expected to be substituted easily into all our favorite recipe. In checking with my Italian counterpart foodies on whats happening with the plant-based trend in Italy, I was told that although vegan and vegetarian offerings are now easy to find in restaurants and markets in recent years, especially in the larger cities, this new trend is something else entirely. The trend of plant-based anything is met with the simple fact in Italy that its not authentic, therefore no DOP certification. Just like the trend of molecular gastronomy that was so popular a few years back, this new trend may not fly. Plant-based may not be outlawed, as molecular gastronomy was in Italy, but the opinion of my Italian associates is that it just wont be as much of a success in Italy as it might be in the U.S. Only time will tell. Tradition and authenticity does not allow for a classic salami to be made of pea proteins. A sampling party After the annual show, my annual tradition of collecting a plethora of samples through the good graces of their purveyors, once again materialized into a sample tasting party, with several of my local foodie friends being willing to lend their palates and share their impressions. We tasted through more than 50 different products, only four of which were plant-based. Members of the tasting panel were not advised about the chemistry of these products in advance. Interestingly enough, none of these items received any positive comments from the panel and are not included in this article. Most negative comments were about texture. There were some products that received a unanimous thumbs up for the entire group, with everyone indicating they would definitely purchase the product and were already asking where they could find these items locally. First on the list were the trio of new flavors of roasted and spiced nuts from Sante Specialty Foods. All of us commented on the perfect crunch and the perfect balance of flavor. Sante uses these descriptors in their promotions, as well they should. The true flavor of the pecans and almonds were not masked in any way by the added flavors. Bourbon Pecans had buttery hints, a subtle bit of vanilla and just the right amount of salt. Just the right combination of cinnamon, allspice and clove created the Pumpkin Spice Pecans. A cocoa powder dusting, as opposed to a thicker coating of chocolate shell, gave a rich chocolate flavor without covering up the sweet and salty notes of the Chocolate Almonds. Sante nuts have made it on the tasting panel favorites list in the past, and they have done it once again and can currently be found at on Amazon or at santenuts.com/buy. These I want more please flavors are so new that they are not yet distributed to local retailers. Please stay tuned. Flathaus Fine Foods has created a unique line of shortbread cookies. Shortbread are at the top of my personal cookie list, so Im a tough cookie (couldnt resist) when it comes to shortbread standards. No disappointment here. The entire panel agreed. The clever packaging, resembling a colorful paint can, held what they offer as their Holiday Assortment, 16 ounces, including key lime, peppermint and plain shortbread along with savory sharp cheddar southern-style cheese straws. Personally not a fan of peppermint, so wasnt as excited about these, until I tasted them. Darn if I didnt think they were just as yummy. Other shortbread cookie flavors are butterscotch, raspberry, cinnamon and lemon. The Spring Assortment can offers raspberry, lemon and key lime along with the cheddar straws. Single-flavor paint cans and 4 oz. bags of all can also be found. We agreed that these cans would be great hostess gifts at any time during the year. These treats can be found at Home Goods, on Amazon and directly from flathausfinefoods.com. Some of the panel enjoyed their first Dirty Martini, thanks to Sonoma Syrup Co. I do enjoy a good Dirty Martini, but all too often there is too much of a briney taste to the cocktail. Not so with the Pure Sonoma olive juice that I used as the mixologist of the day. Created from locally sourced, naturally cured (no lye) and filtered pure olive juice these were perfectly flavor balanced Dirty Martinis. Look for the large assortment of handcrafted non-GMO Sonoma Syrup Co. products at BevMo, Whole Foods, Amazon and sonomasyrups.com. Patagonia Provisions provided us a number of their products to sample. The stand out for the group was the Lemon Pepper Wild Sockeye Salmon. The fillets were lightly smoked and seasoned so that the salmon flavors shone through. Shelf stable packaging makes for easy storage and requires no refrigeration until opened. Serve hot, cold or room temp. Easy to slip into a backpack for a day hike or camping. In a side-by-side comparison to another purveyors, Sockeye and Pink Salmon fillets, the Patagonia was definitely more moist and flaky. This product, along with their Black Pepper Wild Pink Salmon fillets can be found at REI and Good Earth stores or online. The best option for local Napans to purchase the salmon is likely online patagoniaprovisions.com. Im always excited when I find pure ingredients to be used for preparing classic Italian recipes. Since 1899, the Mutti family has taken pride in producing 100 percent Italian tomatoes. The growing conditions in Parma are perfect, and the result is fresh tasting, shelf stable, non-GMO, tomato-based products that contain no additives or preservatives. Its not often one can find canned cherry tomatoes. Their tomato pastes and a variety of purees can be used for any number of dishes. The pizza sauces were a hit, with the Positano version that includes garlic and oregano, Napoli with fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil and the Parma that incorporates aged Parmigiano Reggiono DOP cheese. Its reasonably priced. Mutti products can be found at Cost Plus World Market in Bel Aire Plaza and also Sunshine Market and Cal Mart. Mangia bene! Diane De Filipi lives in the Napa Valley and leads cooking tours to Italy and Burgundy, France. Visit letsgocookitalian.com or letsgocookleboncuisine.com for more information. SACRAMENTO More than 2.7 million Californians live in areas that are at very high risk for wildfires, according to our analysis of census data and state fire maps. They live in more than 1.1 million housing units, or in about one in 12 of the states homes. Thats right: one in 12 homes in California are at high risk of burning in a wildfire . This is a wicked problem with no easy answers. And the more information we can share about where and how were falling short, the quicker we can come together on potential solutions . That was the spirit in which journalists from USA TODAY Network-California, McClatchy, Media News and the Associated Press came together in late 2018 after Novembers Camp Fire in Paradise that took 85 lives. We asked this question: If California is destined to burn, how can we have a sophisticated conversation about how to lessen the impacts on people who live here? Over five months we analyzed state hazard assessments, wind models and the age of our housing stock to identify the 15 places most likely to burn. We evaluated evacuation plans for the 187 cities and towns designated as high risk, as Paradise was. We used demographic and socioeconomic data, road patterns and other materials to determine which of these communities residents would have the most trouble evacuating. What we found is deeply troubling. And yet there are actionable steps we can take today that will help tomorrow and in the years to come. We interviewed residents whose homes survived to learn about what they did and what others can do. We detail how many homes are built to fire-resistant standards and how to tell if yours is not. Our goal with this collaboration is to put a spotlight on policy issues that can and should be raised in the halls of the state Capitol and by local communities that set defensible space standards and evacuation routes. We hope you read and share these powerful, revelatory stories and videos as we look to bend the trajectory of wildfires impact. We begin with todays Sacramento Bee, Chico Enterprise-Record and Paradise Post stories. In two weeks, reporting teams from the Redding Record Searchlight, Reno Gazette-Journal, Ventura County Star, The Desert Sun and Associated Press will publish work about ineffective evacuation routes and what we can learn from those who must leave areas quickly elsewhere in the country. The AP earlier this month shared data with all of its California member news organizations so they could better understand the conditions in their communities. It is also distributing this reporting to all AP member news organizations for publication across the state and beyond. Thanks as always for your support of local journalism. We look forward to continuing a critical conversation with you in the weeks and months to come. Lauren Gustus is Editor of The Sacramento Bee and West Region Editor for McClatchy. (Today is the second day of stories that analyze Californias wildfire risks and what can be done to lessen them. This is a collaboration between USA TODAY Network, California, McClatchy, Media News and The Associated Press. Previous stories can be read online at NapaValleyRegister.com) CHICO With nearly 40 million people living in California and development spreading into once-wild regions, some of the states best tools toward preventing wildfires cant be widely used. Still, there is growing agreement that the state must step up its use of forest management through prescribed burns and vegetation removal in an attempt to lessen the impact of wildfires . In March, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on wildfires, designed to expedite forest-thinning projects and other programs. In May 2018, former Gov. Jerry Brown called for doubling the amount of forest land treated each year in California by 2023. The state significantly increased the money it was spending on those efforts, with the Legislature earmarking $1 billion over five years in funds generated by the states carbon trading program. The Trump administration has also vowed to manage forests more aggressively. Cal Fire and the state Board of Forestry estimate 23 million acres in the states responsibility area could benefit from fuel reduction. And those treatments arent one-time efforts: they must be repeated every few years to be effective. Among the biggest complications in forest management are Californias strict environmental regulations. Forest treatment projects must obtain approvals under the California Environmental Quality Act. Butte County Fire Safe Council Executive Director Calli-Jane DeAnda said the environmental review process typically uses up 10 to 15 percent of grant funds local fire agencies receive for forest management projects. The reviews can take years. The state has been working since 2010 on an EIR that would cover all vegetation treatments in California under one overarching environmental document. It would identify environmentally sound processes for various natural landscapes. Then, if a project were proposed that met the guidelines for its landscape, it could be approved through a checklist scenario, according to Board of Forestry Executive Director Matt Dias. Some projects wouldnt fit the template, he said, and would require more review, but the idea would be to get projects approved and moving forward in a matter of weeks instead of years. A goal has been set to complete the document by the end of the year. Some environmental groups say state officials are pursuing the wrong path altogether. Rick Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute said Cal Fire should place more focus on making communities more fire resistant, not on clearing vegetation. We have a home ignition problem, he said, not a vegetation control problem. He said it makes more sense to spend some of the vegetation control dollars on fireproofing measures like ember-resistant vents and fire resistant rooftops. Weve got to stop looking in different directions than where people are, and frankly Cal Fire is not doing a good job at that, he said. The fundamental problem is that theyre a vegetation management agency ... theyre not into the building thing. They have to look at the whole picture. He said chaparral needs high-intensity but infrequent fires. Vegetation removal wont help that process. About all people can do to help the chaparral is to stop setting it on fire. There are so many people on the landscape causing so many unnatural ignitions, he said. The New Tech Network, the national school support nonprofit organization that includes New Technology High School, in Napa, announced on April 8 that the 2019 Best in Network Award has been awarded to Lisa Gottfried, Digital Design instructor at the Napa campus. Gottfried was recognized for her "Napa Lighted Art Project". It was a semester-long project creating a six-minute lighted art piece for the estimated 20,000 people who visited downtown Napa for the Lighted Art Festival in January. Working with mentors from the United Kingdom on projection art, developers, marketing and education people from Adobe, and leaders from the Napa Parks and Recreation Department, students created original artwork and sound design. The final piece was projected on a 70- foot wall over the course of a week, alongside the work of professional artists. The New Tech Network Best in Network Award recognizes projects across the national network that create learning experiences for students and that can challenge and inspire the practice of project-based learning. Gottfried and two of her students will attend the New Tech Annual Conference in July in Orlando, Florida to present their project at the conference. "This engaging project is a gold standard example of the real world learning we want our NVUSD students to experience in school," said Rosanna Mucetti, superintendent of the Napa Valley Unified School District. "When students see their work impact the world beyond their classrooms, their learning feels relevant. NVUSD is very proud that our staff and students at New Tech High received this distinction." The Digital Design class at New Tech is a Career Technical Education course offered in partnership with the Napa County Office of Education. According to Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools, "Lisa Gottfried is a rock-star teacher. She is talented, creative, and very experienced in the real world of digital media. She motivates her students with exciting projects and teaches them the skills that will get them hired for high-wage, high-skill jobs. She absolutely deserves this honor." 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. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants California to work with communities to identify state-owned properties that could be used for affordable housing. Napa County is willing, with the Veterans Home of California at Yountville among the possibilities. Housing is a basic human right, and in California, we simply dont have enough of it, Newsom said in a Thursday press release. The cost of housing and rising rents are squeezing family budgets. Newsom in January signed an executive order to develop housing on excess state land. He ordered the Department of General Services by April 30 to create a list of state-owned lands in each county that might be used for housing. The state on Thursday released county-by-county maps of state properties. The Department of Housing and Community Development and Department of General Services will work with local governments in coming weeks to determine which properties are best suited for housing, the Newsom press release said. Yountville Mayor John Dunbar said he thinks he has the perfect local candidate, a state-owned site where he says affordable housing can quickly come to fruitionthe Veterans Home. Hes worked with CalVet and the Department of General Services to try to bring affordable housing to the Veterans Home for Veterans Home employees, Dunbar said. Hes talked with officials in the governors office and the office of state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar Curry, D-Winters, is receptive. Theres quite a bit of support for the idea, Dunbar said on Friday. The Veterans Home has more than 900 employees, he said. It plans to build a $300 million nursing facility. When you have the high cost of housing as we do in Napa County, its difficult to compete with other industries to bring the workforce to the Yountville Veterans Home, Dunbar said. He sees an opportunity beyond housing for Veterans Home workers. Transitional housing might be built for homeless veterans who can receive vocational training, Dunbar said. Yountville can provide such needed services as wastewater treatment for affordable housing at the Veterans Home. A project could happen quickly if all parties are willing. Newsoms executive order on housing adds momentum to the effort, Dunbar said. Napa County officials for several years have talked about bringing some type of affordable housing to Californias Napa State Hospital and Veterans Home properties, either for employees there or for families in general. Board of Supervisors Chair Ryan Gregory said the county is ready to work with the state. Absolutely, Gregory said on Friday. Its a logical partnership, because were often faced with mandates from the state. This is the state saying, Were going to be part of the solution and help you (with) your housing goals. Its a good deal. Deputy County Executive Officer Molly Rattigan said the county has communicated its interest to the state. So far, the state has acknowledged the interest but not moved on to having specific conversations. Napa State Hospital and the Veterans Home are far from the only sites on the states recently released map of state-owned properties in Napa County. The map is covered with so many blue dots that they merge into a blur in areas such as the city of Napa. Many state properties dont seem to be excess or suitable for housing. For example, theres the far-flung Gordon Valley fire station, the wetland preserves in the south county and the Imola and Trancas park-and-ride lots and Caltrans maintenance yard in the city of Napa. The state Department of Housing and Community Development and state Department of General Services have developed screening criteria for the properties. These criteria include proximity to jobs center, education, utilities and mass transit and being at least a quarter-acre. Newsom said he wants his administration to partner with cities to release at least three requests for proposals to potential developers within a year for housing on state properties. The first parcel is to be identified and the first request for proposal to be released by Sept. 30. He announced his administration is working with Chico, Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco to identify state-owned properties that could be used for housing in those cities. In his press release, he invited other cities to be partners. 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. In a rerun of 2017, Bhutan looks all set to skip the grand Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) conference in Beijing scheduled for end of this month. Also read: Chinas growing relation with Bhutan poses new challenge to India Bhutanese foreign ministry officials say the kingdoms government has already decided not to attend this conference which is likely to be participated by 100 countries including almost forty heads of state. Also read: Realizing India likely to skip BRI meet, China woos Indian companies They said a formal communication will soon be made to China expressing inability to attend the conference. Two years ago, Bhutan had joined India in skipping the inaugural BRI conference in May 2017. That provoked China to unleash a military incursion into Bhutanese territory at Doklam, compelling the Indian Army to come to Bhutans defence and provoking a 73 day eyeball-to-eyeball military standoff. The situation normalized only after the leadership of India and China intervened at highest level. While India has rejected Chinas invite for Belt and Road Forum meet this time, most of its neighbours including the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh have confirmed participation in the event. In the rundown to this months BRI conference, China intensified its engagement with the new Bhutanese government in an effort to ensure its participation. The Chinese feels that if Bhutan joins the conference to diversify its development funding base and economy, it would be the first effective step to wean the tiny kingdom away from Indias sphere of influence. If that happened, the next step would be to push for establishing formal diplomatic relations with the opening of a Chinese embassy in Thimphu and a Bhutanese embassy in Beijing. At the moment, only India and Bangladesh has embassies in Thimphu. Bhutan boycotted the first Forum meet in 2017 too, aligning itself with India which sees BRI as undermining its sovereignty through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through Pakistan controlled Gilgit-Baltistan region of the state of J&K. China has stridently wooed Bhutan in the recent months with regular visits to Thimphu by Chinese ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui. Chinas vice foreign minister Kong Xuanyou also visited Bhutan last year. Bhutan though has been cagey about bilateral exchanges with China. A press release issued after Kongs visit merely said that issues of mutual interest were discussed. China though had said in a statement that it respected Bhutans independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, alluding to its reservations about a treaty that makes India responsible for conduct of Bhutans defence and foreign affairs. China welcomes Bhutans active participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and sharing Chinas development dividend, the Chinese foreign ministry had said in a recent statement. Ambassador Luo had last visited Bhutan in February this year when he was accompanied by a cultural delegation from China. India closely monitors Bhutans negotiations with Beijing on their border dispute and it is of concern to the government that China has now secured effective control over much of Doklam. Bhutans Doklam is located dangerously close to the Siliguri Corridor, which connects Indias Northeast to the mainland. Armenia government to pay salaries and benefits of employees of Nairit Factory Armenia government to provide assistance to citizens having lost property in Shurnukh and Vorotan for 5 more months Armenia Deputy PM Hambardzum Matevosyan receives Russia Ambassador Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker discusses return of POWs, Artsakh status with Poland Ambassador Armenia citizen tries to approach PM, apprehended Mayoral candidate of Armenia's Vanadzor Mamikon Aslanyan is arrested NEWS.am daily digest: 16.12.21 Armenia PM arrives at Civil Contract Party's headquarters to meet with ruling faction of Yerevan's Council of Elders Armenia President receives Belarus ambassador Armenia representative in ECHR: UN court did not equate Armenia and Azerbaijan Armenia PM congratulates serving, first Kazakhstan presidents Vanadzor residents hold rally in defense of arrested mayor Ameriabank signs $20M loan agreements with responsAbility and Global Climate Partnership Fund Garo Paylan: Armenian-Turkish relations will be normalized more quickly than expected Dollar continues losing value in Armenia Armenia representative: European Court is considering lawsuit against Turkey participation in last year's war Opposition 'Armenia' Faction secretary accuses ruling majority of violating Constitution Armenian army's General Staff deputy chief sacked Armenian NGO head Narek Samsonyan is released Armenia Ombudsman discusses with UNDP Representative return of Armenian POWs, their treatment Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte elected Westbrook City Council president Macron: Armenia, Azerbaijan, together Russia official: Observer status in Eurasian Economic Union will be beneficial for Azerbaijan Wings of Tatev named winner of World Travel Awards in World's Leading Cable Car Ride 2021 category Haberturk: There will be new Armenian-Turkish roadmap, corridor will be key issue Armenia premier receives Artsakh President Azerbaijans Aliyev pleased with absence of criticism from Armenia at Eastern Partnership Summit Armenia PM to meet with members of ruling faction of Yerevan's Council of Elders soon Armenia economy minister: Ruling power has no consensus yet on opening borders with Turkey Armenia official: $1.2bn will be spent on construction of 2 sections of railway with Azerbaijan Overchuk: Active work being done to unblock transport communications in South Caucasus 25 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh Armenia MP released from custody calls on releasing other heads of communities of Syunik Province in parliament Armenia President, China diplomat discuss regional security, stability Deputy of opposition 'Armenia' Faction Mkhitar Zakaryan takes oath after release from custody Russia peacekeepers help deliver 10 tons of humanitarian aid to Artsakh children Armenias Pashinyan: We agreed with Azerbaijans Aliyev to continue contacts Armenia PM: Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadis railway will be built 180 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Macron: We will never abandon Armenians Yerevan mayor signs petitions for purchase of 100 more new public transport buses, 100 elevators Turkey considering airlines bids for Istanbul-Yerevan flights US National Security Adviser expresses concern over tensions between Armenia, Azerbaijan Armen Grigoryan, Jake Sullivan discuss security environment around Armenia Newspaper: Western-funded public sector of Armenia becomes active with new topics Azerbaijans Aliyev calls talks with Armenias Pashinyan in Brussels productive and pragmatic EU to provide 2.3bn to Eastern Partnership countries, including Armenia EU welcomes recent signature of common aviation area agreement with Armenia US embassy in Armenia issues travel update EU remains committed in its support to territorial integrity within their internationally recognised borders EU, Eastern Partnership countries leaders call Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting in Brussels very positive step Armenia PM, Cyprus President exchange views on developments in South Caucasus Pashinyan-Macron-Aliyev trilateral meeting held in Brussels Irakanum.am: Armenia PM to meet with members of ruling faction of Yerevan's Council of Elders tomorrow French Senate to set up group for Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia PM attends 6th Eastern Partnership Summit Turkey's ex-Ambassador to US to be appointed special envoy for normalization of relations with Armenia Aliyev on Armenian POWs: We returned them to Armenia, and they were detained there Aliyev claims that Baku has managed to convince Yerevan about 'inevitability of opening of road to Nakhchivan' Zelensky offers to host summit of leaders of Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Turkey in Kyiv Armenia Security Council Secretary to meet with National Security Advisor to US President Jake Sullivan Democratic Party of Artsakh members meet with representatives of Republican Party of Armenia Armenian army generals submit recommendation letter for release of detachment commander Ashot Minasyan Mitsotakis: Turkey's financial crisis presents danger for stability in the whole region Germany declares two officials of Russian Embassy persona non grata Armenia justice minister discusses sector-specific meetings with Croatian, Irish, Greek counterparts Ruling faction of Yerevan's Council of Elders launches procedure to express lack of confidence in mayor Moldova's special services arrest and conduct search against founder of Wargonzo Semyon Pegov Zakharova: Moscow welcomes direct contacts between Yerevan and Baku Russian MFA: Normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations would contribute to recovery of general situation in region NEWS.am daily digest: 15.12.21 Georgia justice minister accepts Armenian counterpart's invitation to visit Armenia during meeting in Venice Candidate for Mayor of Armenia's Vanadzor is detained, charged under 3 articles Armenia Migration Service: Russia has adopted and has yet to adopt new rules for migrants Armenian, Slovenian premiers confer on Armenia-EU relations Candidate for Vanadzor mayor taken to Investigative Committee in Yerevan Armenia's Ambassador Viktor Yengibaryan presents credentials to Germany President Artsakh President chairs Security Council meeting Armenia deputy PM in Brussels, meets with EU Commissioner Court rules to arrest opposition 'Armenia' Alliance member Narek Mantashyan for two months EU heralds Schengen Area reforms Turkish opposition parties have decided to put an end to 'monstrous' presidential system 5.0-magnitude earthquake hits Iran 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 National Assembly fails to ensure quorum in 4 hours 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 All Diaspora Armenians were ready to return to Armenia after the revolution, but now there is no movement. This is what leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan told journalists at the National Assembly on 16 April. We all know that they were ready to come, but when they saw that there are no jobs and opportunities, they stopped, Tsarukyan said. He also complained about the optimization of ministries. We have to engage 12 million Diaspora Armenians and implement programs together. I have invited the ruling political parties of the EurAzEs countries. The key objective is to come together and work on solving economic issues and easing the political tension. Armenia needs to take advantage of all the opportunities that the Eurasian Economic Union has to offer. We still havent been able to take advantage of those opportunities, the political party leader said. The purpose of the proposed package of bills is to have a functional structure of the government that will allow the government to essentially raise the level of effectiveness of its activities. This is what Minister of Justice of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan said during the discussion on the package of bills in parliament. According to him, it is proposed to reduce the number of deputy ministers. In particular, we are proposing to cut the position of First Deputy Prime Minister, Zeynalyan clarified, adding that the government is also proposing to reduce the number of ministries from 17 to 12. He also stated that several optimized ministries will be joined and Armenia will have a Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. In addition, it is proposed to create a Ministry of High Technologies and Industry, Armenias justice minister emphasized. Moreover, Zeynalyan stated that the government envisages leaving the following ministries: Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Emergency Situations, Justice, Labor and Social Affairs, Ecology, Healthcare, Finance, Economy and Territorial Administration and Infrastructures. According to the minister, it is also envisaged to establish the position of Chief Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, who will be the representative of the head of government in relations with the Diaspora instead of the former Ministry of Diaspora, which will be dissolved. Zeynalyan also stated that the government had taken into consideration the international experience, including the experiences of Japan and Georgia when shaping the structure of the government. A new exhibition that explores the lives of diplomat Diana Agabeg Apcar and artist Berjouhi Kailian will open at the Armenian Museum in Watertown on April 24 in recognition of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. In the Shadow of Branches: Diana Apcar and Berj Kailian exhibition will contain paintings and different objects, including from Diana Apcars life, including her pen that she used to write diplomats, world leaders, and friends around the world. The story of two women Diana Agabeg Apcar and Berjouhi Kailian dates back to 1919 when two women met in Yokohama, Japan. The fascinating story of the two women is published on the website of the Armenian Museum. Diana Apcar was born in Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar) into a prominent Armenian merchant family, she grew up in Calcutta, and later moved to Yokohama with her husband to start a new company. In Japan, she became aware of the plight of her fellow Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and acted as an unofficial diplomat to write letters, newspaper articles, and books to create a network of support for Armenians throughout the world. A survivor of the Armenian Genocide, Berj Kailian fled from her home in Ottoman Turkey, appeared in a refugee camp in Vladivostok, Russia, where Diana Apcar reached out to bring her to Yokohama. The relatives of both women live in the United States - from California to Maine, Executive Director of the Museum Jennifer Liston Munson said in response to an e-mail inquiry by Armenian News-NEWS.am. There is a very interesting connection between Japan and Armenia in this story - and the story of how Armenian refugees came to the U.S. with the help of courageous individuals during and after the genocide, she said. Diana provided food and shelter, helped with visas and travel documents, and fiercely negotiated with the steamship companies to unite Armenian refugees with relatives in the United States. She was named Honorary Consul to Japan by the Armenian Republic, making her one of the first female diplomats in the modern age. Berj Kailian had a long trip before ending in Vladivostok. She and her mother managed to board the Trans-Siberian railroad to a refugee camp. She arranged their passage on the Mexico Maru to sail to Seattle, Washington, where they made their way to join family in Weymouth, MA. Berj became an artist and made paintings and prints, many of which recall her early history as a refugee in a visceral way. Layered surfaces with earthbound colors reveal a buried past that revisited her memory throughout her long life. This significant body of work was donated by her family to the Armenian Museum in 2018. Brought together for the first time, the objects, ephemera, and paintings on display connect these two women to tell this important story of persistence, survival, and witness. On 15 April, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Iraq Hrachya Poladyan had a meeting with Minister of Higher Education and Research of Iraq, Dr. Qusay Al-Suhail, reports the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. During the meeting, the parties discussed several issues of mutual interest in the fields of higher education and science. In particular, Ambassador Poladyan highlighted the need to sign the draft Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between Armenia and Iraq in higher education and science (placed into circulation in 2018) soon. Taking into consideration the fact that Iraqi citizens are very interested in studying at Armenias universities and the rather large number of Iraqis in Armenia, the parties touched upon the issues on recognition of the diplomas of Yerevan State University and Yerevan State Medical University after Mkhitar Heratsi in Iraq. The parties reached an agreement on organizing reciprocal visits to solve the above-mentioned issues. Minister Al-Suhail accepted the ambassadors recommendations for deepening of cooperation with great satisfaction and expressed willingness to enhance the future partnership between the two friendly countries in this field. The Angolan Finance Ministry and the US Treasury Department signed a technical assistance agreement with the Financial Information Unit (FIU) and other bodies involved in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the country. The agreement, signed in Washington over the weekend, provides for the opening of an Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) in Luanda, with the mission of improving the preventive regime and bodies involved in prevention and repression of money laundering and terrorist financing CBC / CFT law enforcement, as well as the technical capacity of UIF, reported the Angolan press agency ANGOP. Under the agreement, the Office of Technical Assistance is open for renewable periods of one year, said ANGOP, adding that funding is already available for 2019. The agreement was signed by Finance Minister Archer Mangueira and US Treasury Department deputy secretary William Larry McDonald. The Angolan official was part of his countrys delegation to the Spring meetings of the World bank and the International monetary Fund held in Washington. Last March, during a visit in Luanda, US Undersecretary of State John Sullivan announced that the United States will grant Angola around two million dollars in continued assistance in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing and for mine clearance, ANGOP recalled. The US official had conditioned the relationship between US and Angolan banks to the restoration of a climate of economic confidence in which the fight against corruption is a priority. Voters in Indonesia head to polling stations Wednesday to cast their ballots in the world's biggest one-day election. Aside from the regular logistical issues of conducting an election across 17,000 islands, Wednesday's vote will be more complex than usual, with parliamentary and presidential elections taking place at the same time. But headed into this monumental vote, Indonesians are even more confident in their electoral process now than they've been in the past. A record three in four Indonesians (75%) polled in 2018 said they are confident in the honesty of their country's elections. Read more Gallup analysis about Indonesia and countries in the Asia-Pacific region. For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details. Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] The Ethiopian Council of Ministers is considering a bill to encourage independent power producers (IPPs) to invest in geothermal power generation in the east African nation. Drafted by the Ethiopian Energy Authority last year, the new legislation comes at a time when the country is just beginning to exploit its geothermal potential. Ethiopia has the longest section of the 7,000 km East African Rift Valley, which boasts an estimated geothermal potential of 10,000 megawatts (MW), but the country has been unable to match the neighboring Kenyas installed geothermal power capacity of about 630 MW. The new bill focuses on simplifying the process of registering and issuing development permits for geothermal projects. In concrete terms, this bill recommends classifying geothermal resources in two categories based on their energy capacity. Grade one is a geothermal resource that is able to generate electric power, while Grade 2 is used for agricultural, industrial, medical and recreational purposes. Three different licenses will be granted corresponding to the different stages of the exploitation process of geothermal energy. Note that Geothermal energy is considered a reliable renewable energy sources although it involves a greater start-up cost. Last month, State utility firm Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) signed an agreement with two Chinese firms and one Kenyan firm for the 70 MW geothermal energy drilling project. McNair Scholars alumna returns to inspire students by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. Krystelle Jean-Michel, an alumna of Southern Illinois University Carbondales McNair Scholars Program, will present the keynote address next week when the program celebrates graduates and new scholars. The ceremony is April 25, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Morris Librarys John C. Guyon Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public. Rhetta Seymour, interim program director, said Jean-Michels visit will inspire present and future scholars. A 2008 graduate from SIU with a bachelors degree in psychology, Jean-Michael is the fourth alumnus to return to campus. We are excited to be in the position to invite former participants back to SIU to share their professional journey with our current students, Seymour said. Its important for students to hear from others who have traveled the road to graduate school and professional life. Extraordinary undergraduate with big dreams Seymour remembers Jean-Michels energy and enthusiasm for research when she was in the program. While at SIU, Jean-Michels activities included being part of the University Honors Program and the Acculturation Research team. She was a resident assistant and psychology teaching assistant. After leaving SIU, Jean-Michel earned a masters degree and doctorate, both in counseling psychology, from Western Michigan University in 2010 and 2014, respectively. She was an extraordinary undergraduate with big dreams, Seymour said. Jean-Michel is an assistant professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where she teaches undergraduate students and mentors students in capstone-related projects. Her experience includes more than three years active duty as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, with clinical experiences with military personnel, veterans and college students. Event will celebrate achievements of 31 students The event will recognize 14 fall 2018 and spring 2019 graduates, along with nine continuing scholars for 2019-2020. Eight new scholars will also be welcomed. Those students, along with their hometowns and majors are: ILLINOIS Carbondale: Amanda Leppert Gomes, anthropology. Champaign: Diamond Palmer, radio, television, and digital media. Collinsville: Margaret Schlotter, psychology. De Soto: Shalane Scott, criminology and criminal justice. Huntley: Jacob Janicki, plant biology. Makanda: Kaitlin Faust, animal science. Charles: Joshua McCray, political science. TENNESSEE Antioch: Jawaun Valentine, history. SIU has received McNair funding since 2003 Named for the late Ronald E. McNair, a physicist and astronaut who died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion, the programs goal is preparing undergraduate students for graduate school through research and scholarly activities. Since receiving its first McNair grant 2003, SIU has provided opportunities to 200 students. Those students have gone on to earn 93 masters degrees and 14 doctoral degrees. SIUs program serves 29 students each year. The program links students to faculty members who provide intensive hands-on, mentored research experiences for eight weeks during the Summer Research Institute. Students begin to see themselves in a different light Through the years Seymour has watched as students in the program accomplish numerous firsts, from attending their first conference, a first published article, to traveling outside of Illinois. Each time there is a level of excitement and gratitude that is contagious, she said. They begin to imagine themselves in a different light. I am honored to continue to be a part of a program that continues to broaden the range of academic and professional opportunity for so many. Scholars receive a $2,800 research award and participate in workshops, classes, graduate school visits, conferences, and personal and professional development activities throughout the school year. The program serves first generation, low- income students regardless of their ethnicity, and students underrepresented in graduate education including women in certain STEM fields. All participants must have a minimum 2.7 GPA, be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and completed at least 56 hours of coursework. More information on the program is available by contacting Seymour at 618/453-4585. Sign up now for SIUs Rocky Ledges Trail Run and the Ledlenser Trail in Motion Film Tour by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. The seventh annual Rocky Ledges Trail Run, a unique event that takes place at Southern Illinois University Carbondales Touch of Nature Environmental Center, is set for May 4. As a special bonus, this years event brings with it an international film showcase the preceding night. The two mesh to create special experience for trail runners and nature enthusiasts alike. Trail and running films featured Ledlenser Trail in Motion Film Tour is a festival-style event highlighting a variety of fine trail and ultra-running films. Hosted by ultra-runners Kelly and Stephanie LeeAnn Hutchins, the evening includes food and drinks from St. Nicholas Brewing Company, which is partnering with Touch of Nature and So Ill Racing to sponsor the event. The movie night begins at 6 p.m. on May 3 at Touch of Natures Little Grassy Lodge. Everyone is welcome. Tickets are available online for $25 plus a $2.68 service fee. For an additional cost, lodging is also available at Touch of Nature for people who are participating in the run the next day. Everyone invited to run The Rocky Ledges Trail Run kicks off at 9 a.m. on May 4 at Camp II. This year, runners may choose to participate in either a 5K or a 10K run. The courses cover a wide variety of terrains and feature beautiful views of Little Grassy Lake. Trophies will go to the top three male and female runners in each age group, as well as to the overall winner. Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the 10k run. Light refreshments will be available as well. Register now to run Sign up now for the run. Registration is online and all who enter by April 24 are guaranteed at T-shirt. Those who pre-register by May 2 pay $30 (or $20 for ages 17 and younger). You can still register the day of the event but the cost is $35 for adults or $25 for ages 17 and younger. Event proceeds to help build trails Proceeds of the film tour and the run will go toward the ongoing construction project to build a multi-use trail system at Touch of Nature. Donations will also be accepted for the project. More details and registration For additional information about the Rocky Ledges Trail Run, including the course map, previous race results and online registration, visit rockyledges5k.siu.edu. (Adds presidential spokesman's comments on Iran sanctions) WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - Turkey expects the United States to extend a waiver granted to Ankara to continue oil purchases from Iran without violating U.S. sanctions, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Tuesday. The U.S. reimposed sanctions in November on exports of Iranian oil after President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers. Washington is pressuring Iran to curtail its nuclear program and stop backing militant proxies across the Middle East. Along with sanctions, Washington has also granted waivers to eight economies that had reduced their purchases of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue buying it without incurring sanctions for six more months. They were China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece. Speaking to reporters in Washington, Kalin said Turkey has already reduced its purchases of Iranian oil, without providing a level. Ankara has conveyed its message that its waiver should be extended, Kalin said. "We made it clear that only we'd like to continue buying oil from Iran but also Iran is a neighboring country ... People should not expect Turkey to turn its back on Iran just like that," he said. Turkey did not support U.S. sanctions policy on Iran and did not think it would yield the desired result, Kalin said. Washington has a campaign of 'maximum economic pressure' on Iran and through sanctions, it eventually aims to halt Iranian oil exports and thereby choke Tehran's main source of revenue. Sources close to the matter told Reuters in March that Washington is likely to renew waivers for at least three buyers of Iranian oil and Turkey was one of them, along with China and India. Kalin said Turkey would not want to violate sanctions if a waiver were not extended. "We will look for alternatives in terms of transactions and other things. We don't want to break or violate the sanctions but at the same time we don't want to be deprived of our right to buy oil and gas from Iran," he said. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Grant McCool) (Adds details, background, report on possible Russia-North Korea summit) WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Moscow this week to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearization, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Tuesday. Biegun will meet with Russian officials in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday "to discuss efforts to advance the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," the department said, but gave no further details. The Trump administration is still seeking to reach a denuclearization deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following two summits between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump that have so far failed to solidify an agreement. Trump administration officials have floated the possibility of a third summit. Meanwhile, RIA news agency last month reported that Kim planned to visit Russia for talks this spring or summer. Earlier on Tuesday, Yonhap news agency reported that plans were underway for a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States in March also imposed a new round of sanctions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, following the collapse of talks between Trump and Kim in February. (Reporting by David Alexander Susan Heavey Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy) * Quick count shows Widodo up to 11.6 percentage points ahead * A win for Widodo, but not a resounding one * Widodo expected to pursue reforms in second term * Opposition has complained of election irregularities (Adds comment, details) By Bernadette Christina Munthe and Cindy Silviana JAKARTA, April 17 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo appeared set for a second term as "quick count" results from Wednesday's election rolled in, but his challenger claimed that he had won the popular vote and urged supporters not to let his victory be snatched away. Data from private pollsters based on counts of vote samples were in line with opinion polls that had predicted a win for Widodo, a former furniture businessman and low-key reformist. They showed him winning the popular vote with about 54 percent, with a lead of between 7.1 and 11.6 percentage points over former general Prabowo Subianto, who was narrowly defeated when he took Widodo on in the last election five years ago. In previous elections, the counts from reputable companies proved to be accurate. But Prabowo, a former son-in-law of military strongman Suharto who was overthrown in 1998, told a news conference that - based on internal exit polls and "quick count" numbers - his campaign believed his share of the vote was in a 52-54 percent range. "We have noted several incidents that have harmed the supporters of this ticket," he said, without giving detail. "The truth will win." In 2014, Prabowo had also claimed victory on election day, before contesting the results at the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Widodo's win. Widodo said the results indicated he had regained the presidency of the world's fourth-most-populous nation, but urged supporters to wait for the election commission to announce official results. Kevin O'Rourke, a political analyst and author of the Indonesia-focused newsletter Reformasi Weekly, said that Widodo's re-election was now clear but his victory over 67-year-old Prabowo was not resounding. Story continues "He failed to attain the psychological 60 percent level that had seemed within reach," O'Rourke said. "Prabowo performed better than expected, which may embolden him to run yet again in 2024, if he is sufficiently fit." Widodo grew up in a riverside slum and was the first national leader to come from outside the political and military elite. Popularly known as Jokowi, his everyman image resonated in 2014 with voters tired of the old guard. 'NO BURNING' The eight-hour vote on Wednesday for both the presidency and legislature seats across a country that stretches more than 5,000 km (3,000 miles) from its western to eastern tips was both a Herculean logistical feat and testimony to the resilience of democracy two decades after authoritarianism was defeated. The poll followed a campaign dominated by economic issues but was also marked by the growing influence of conservative Islam in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation. A senior government official close to the president said before the election that a win for Widodo with 52-55 percent of the vote would be a "sweet spot," and enough of a mandate to press on with, and even accelerate, reforms. The official election results will not be published until May. Any disputes can be taken to the Constitutional Court where a nine-judge panel will have 14 days to rule on them. More than 10,000 volunteers crowd-sourced results posted at polling stations in a real-time bid to thwart attempts at fraud. However, even before the election, the opposition alleged voter-list irregularities that it said could affect millions and vowed legal or "people power" action if its concerns were ignored. Ferdinand Hutahaen, a spokesman for the Prabowo campaign, sought to soothe concerns this could mean a violent response. "Don't consider 'people power' as a form of violence," he told reporters. "There will be no burning, killing. We will see what kind of 'people power' and revolution society wants. We don't want conflict in this country." Prabowo's supporters would march in central Jakarta after midday prayers on Friday, campaign officials said. REFORM AGENDA Analysts are trying to assess whether Widodo will accelerate the cautious reform agenda of his first term and open up more areas to foreign investors, or even try to free up restrictive labor laws. This will partly hinge on his ability to get laws through a newly elected parliament and to take on nationalist forces. Widodo campaigned on his record of deregulation and improving infrastructure, calling it a step to tackling inequality and poverty in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. But religion has also been a factor. Conservative Muslim groups have been increasingly influential. Widodo, a moderate Muslim from Java island, had to burnish his Islamic credentials after smear campaigns and hoax stories accused him of being anti-Islam, a communist or too close to China, all politically damaging in Indonesia. He picked Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin, 76, as his running mate. Prabowo, a former special forces commander who has links to some hardline Muslim groups, and his running mate, business entrepreneur Sandiaga Uno, pledged to boost the economy by slashing taxes and cutting food prices. (Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo da Costa, Maikel Jefriando, Tabita Diela, Kanupriya Kapoor, Jessica Damiana and Cindy Silviana in Jakarta, Tommy Ardiansyah in Bogor, Mas Alina Arifin in Bandar Lampung Writing by John Chalmers and Ed Davies Editing by Robert Birsel) Sure, we know about endangered species, but did you know there are endangered rivers, too? Environmental group American Rivers released its annual list of the USA's top 10 "most endangered" rivers Tuesday, and this year, the top "dishonor" goes to New Mexicos Gila River. The river got the top spot due to the grave threat that climate change and a proposed diversion project pose to New Mexicos last free-flowing river. "New Mexicans cant afford to dry up their last wild river, said Matt Rice, Colorado Basin director for American Rivers. Ruining the Gila River with an expensive diversion project doesnt make sense when there are better, more cost-effective water supply options. These rivers aren't the nation's "worst" or most polluted rivers. According to American Rivers, three factors put rivers on the list: the significance of the river to human and natural communities; the magnitude of the threat to the river and its nearby communities, especially in light of a changing climate; and a major decision that the public can help influence in the coming year. Climate change is striking rivers and water supplies first and hardest, said Bob Irvin, President and CEO of American Rivers, in a statement. Americas Most Endangered Rivers is a call to action. We must speak up and take action, because climate change will profoundly impact every river and community in our country." More: $119 Billion plan to protect NY/NJ from another Sandy raises concerns over impact, cost In addition to the 10 most troubled rivers, American Rivers also named the Cuyahoga River in Ohio as the "River of the Year." The title celebrates the progress Cleveland has made in cleaning up the Cuyahoga, 50 years after the rivers infamous fire that helped spark the USA's environmental movement. American Rivers has been compiling an annual list of the nation's most endangered rivers since 1984. Story continues Here is the list of American Rivers' top 10 most Endangered Rivers. 1. Gila River, New Mexico 2. Hudson River, New York 3. Upper Mississippi River, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri 4. Green-Duwamish River, Washington 5. Willamette River, Oregon 6. Chilkat River, Alaska 7. South Fork Salmon River, Idaho 8. Buffalo National River, Arkansas 9. Big Darby Creek, Ohio 10. Stikine River, Alaska This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: These are the 10 most 'endangered' rivers of 2019. New Mexico's Gila River gets the top 'dishonor' (Adds EU challenge, sanctions being weighed, legal experts) By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will allow lawsuits in U.S. courts for the first time against foreign companies that use properties Communist-ruled Cuba confiscated since Fidel Castro's revolution six decades ago, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. The major policy shift, which will be announced on Wednesday, could expose U.S., European and Canadian companies to legal action and deal a blow to Cuba's efforts to attract more foreign investment. It is also another sign of Washington's efforts to punish Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday will explain the administration's decision in a speech in Miami and will also announce new sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, countries he has branded a "troika of tyranny," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It is unclear, however, whether such property claims will be acceptable in U.S. courts. The European Union has already warned it could lodge a challenge with the World Trade Organization. Trump threatened in January to allow a controversial law that has been suspended since its creation in 1996, permitting Cuban Americans and other U.S. citizens to sue foreign companies doing business in Cuba over property seized in decades past by the Cuban government. Title III of the Helms-Burton Act had been fully waived by every president over the past 23 years due to opposition from the international community and fears it could create chaos in the U.S. court system with a flood of lawsuits. The complete lifting of the ban could allow billions of dollars in legal claims to move forward in U.S. courts and likely antagonize Canada and Europe, whose companies have significant business holdings in Cuba. It could also affect some U.S. companies that began investing in the island, an old Cold War foe, since former President Barack Obama began a process of normalizing relations between the two countries from the end of 2014. Story continues U.S.-Cuban relations have nosedived since Trump became president, partially rolling back the detente initiated by Obama and reverting to Cold War rhetoric. A six-decade U.S. economic embargo on Cuba has also remained officially intact. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the country's National Assembly, meeting over the weekend, declared the Helms-Burton Act "illegitimate, unenforceable and without legal effect." Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a speech on Saturday that the United States "has pushed the precarious relations with our country back to the worst level ... trying to activate the hateful Helms-Burton Law, which aims to return us in principle to ... when we were a slave nation of another empire." "BUMP" IN BUSINESS, OFFICIAL SAYS Trump is going ahead despite protests by European leaders to U.S. counterparts. The U.S. official dismissed the EU's warning of a possible WTO challenge and a cycle of counter-claims in European courts as doomed to fail. Among the foreign companies heavily invested in Cuba are Canadian mining firm Sherritt International Corp and Spains Melia Hotels International SA. U.S. companies, including airlines and cruise companies, have forged business deals in Cuba since the easing of restrictions under Obama. Defending the decision, the U.S. official said allowing lawsuits would cause only a "bump" in the business world but would send a message of U.S. resolve against Havana. In addition to halting any further waivers of Title III, the administration will begin enforcement of Helms-Burton's Title IV, which requires the denial of U.S. visas to those involved in "trafficking" confiscated properties in Cuba. Trump's decision followed threats by his top aides in recent weeks to take actions against Cuba to force it to abandon Maduro, something Havana has insisted it will not do. Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the interim presidency. The United States and most Western countries have backed Guaido as head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet who is seeking to foment a coup and Maduro is backed by Cuba, Russia, China and the Venezuela military. Trumps toughened stance on Cuba as well as Venezuela has gone down well in the large Cuban-American community in south Florida, an important voting bloc in a key political swing state as he looks toward his re-election campaign in 2020. In Bolton's speech on Wednesday, he is expected to announce further measures against Cuba. While the specifics are unclear, the administration is considering a range of options, including sanctions against senior Cuban military and intelligence officials over their role in Venezuela and the tightening of limits on U.S. trade with the island, according to two people familiar with the matter. Experts say it is unclear how activating Title III will affect investors in Cuba given legislation in some countries like Canada blocking enforcement of Helms-Burton against their companies. This is a fringe policy decision that has not been tested legally," said James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, a Washington-based lobbying group working to normalize relations with Cuba. Some 5,913 claims held by U.S. companies and individuals have been have been certified by the U.S. Justice Department and are now estimated to be worth roughly $8 billion. Cuban law ties settlement of any claims to U.S. reparations for damages from Washington's embargo and what it considers other acts of U.S. aggression. Cuban estimates of that damage range from $121 billion to more than $300 billion. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; additional reporting by Susan Heavy and David Alexander in Washington and Sarah Marsh and Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Lisa Shumaker) Photo credit: Kennedy News and Media From Women's Health Natalie Kunicki, a paramedic in London, suffered a stroke after cracking her neck while stretching. Kunicki, 23, put off calling the paramedics because she didn't want her colleagues to think she was "tipsy." Kunicki ended up rupturing her vertebral artery, a major artery in the neck, which led to the stroke. Cracking your neck seems pretty harmless-but for one U.K. woman, it caused a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. Natalie Kunicki, who works as a paramedic for London Ambulance Service, was watching movies in bed with a friend after a night out on March 4, when she stretched her neck and heard a loud cracking sound, according to the Daily Mail. At first, the 23-year-old didnt think much of the noise, but when she got up to use the bathroom 15 minutes later, she collapsed and wasn't able to move her leg. "My friend had to come and pick me up," she said. "He thought I was drunk but I knew something else was wrong, she said. (At first, Kunicki thought she had been drugged.) Kunicki put off calling 999 (Britains version of 911) for 10 minutes because she didnt want her coworkers to show up and find her "tipsy." "I thought it was too unlikely it would be a stroke when I should have known much better," she said. Kunicki tried to fall asleep but eventually decided to call for help. She was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and realized something was seriously wrong en route: her coordination was off and her heart rate and blood pressure were sky high. Doctors eventually discovered that she had burst her vertebral artery, a major artery in her neck. That rupture caused a blood clot to form in her brain, which then triggered a stroke, per the Daily Mail. "The doctors told me later that just that stretching of my neck had caused my vertebral artery to rupture," she said. "It was just spontaneous and there's a one in a million chance of it happening." Story continues Kunicki immediately underwent surgery, which lasted three hours, and while doctors were able to repair her artery, they couldn't clear the clot in her brain (though they say it will dissolve in time). The stroke left Kunicki's left side almost completey paralyzed, per the Daily Mail. "At the start, I couldn't move my thumb and forefinger," she said. "I could kind of move my wrist up and down. I couldn't lift my arm. I could bend my left leg but I couldn't wiggle my toes." Kunicki's slowly getting her mobility back and she can walk, but not for more than five minutes. Her doctors arent sure if and when shell ever make a full recovery. I'm really clumsy. I can't do up buttons, I find it too difficult. I can feel hot and cold now but I still feel a bit numb, she said. People need to know that even if you're young something this simple can cause a stroke. I wasn't even trying to crack my neck. I just moved and it happened. To help Natalie with her medical bills, visit her GoFundMe page made by her family. ('You Might Also Like',) Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump will open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba, enforcing a controversial law that angered European allies and could rattle the island's economy, after more than two decades of delay. Ever since Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, US presidents starting with Bill Clinton have used their power to suspend the key provision every six months, mindful of the international consequences. Those once-routine waivers are now over. A senior administration official said National Security Advisor John Bolton will formally unveil the shift Wednesday in a speech in Miami in which he will also outline actions on Venezuela and Nicaragua, two other countries in Latin America with leftist governments opposed by Trump. Bolton "will announce the enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," the official said. The hawkish adviser will be speaking to veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to depose Fidel Castro's communist regime in 1961. The European Union was swift in condemning the move. "This will create even more confusion for foreign investments that are helping create jobs and prosperity in Cuba," EU envoy to Havana Alberto Navarro told reporters. With the change, Cuban exiles will be allowed to head to US courts to sue both private companies and the Havana government for profiting from properties nationalized after Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution. While US courts cannot directly enforce decisions inside Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act is meant to send a chilling message to foreign investors -- including Americans -- who may increasingly decide to exit or steer clear of the island. When it was initially passed, the law had been strongly opposed by the European Union, which worries about legal repercussions for its businesses in the United States. With some 200,000 potential lawsuits in the making, US officials feared the law would flood the World Trade Organization with complaints. Story continues A related provision restricts entry into the United States of anyone who is connected to an unresolved claim in Cuba over confiscated property. - Rash of lawsuits expected - Republican lawmakers who have long pushed for tough action on Cuba have rejoiced at the Trump administration's signals since January that it was moving to fully enforce the Helms-Burton Act. "Years of consecutive extensions may have lulled some into a false sense of impunity," said Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican of Cuban descent. "Yet now companies which willingly entangle themselves in partnerships with the anti-American, illegitimate and oppressive regime in Cuba are on notice that they will be held responsible for their part in callously benefiting from the extensive losses suffered by victims of the regime," he said in a recent statement. Spanish Economy Minister renewed the European concerns Saturday during a visit to Washington for IMF and World Bank meetings, saying Spain has "clearly expressed its rejection" of Helms-Burton. The implementation "would be clearly detrimental to the smooth running of international business," she told reporters. Among potential targets of the law are the Hotel Habana Libre, the former Hilton which is now run by Spain's Melia chain. The US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that supports commercial ties between the longtime adversaries, said that companies with combined revenues of $678 billion could be targeted in Helms-Burton lawsuits. According to the group, companies that have been mentioned for potential lawsuits include major international airlines, including US-based American, Delta and United, hotels chains such as Marriott and Accor and companies as diverse of French liquor maker Pernod Ricard and Chinese telecom giant Huawei. - Drastic turn in US policy - Trump's move marks a drastic shift from his predecessor Barack Obama, who had normalized relations with Cuba, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. Obama eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Cuba, signaling to many US businesses that the time had come to return to the island. Trump has also been pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy that has sparked a massive exodus. It is the latest time that Trump has moved ahead with a policy long seen as too disruptive. In 2017, he moved the US embassy in Israel to bitterly divided Jerusalem, similarly ending years of waivers of a US law. The Helms-Burton Law is named for far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and congressman Dan Burton. They drafted the law passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by Clinton to try to repair relations. sms-an-sct-mav-ka/oh (Adds comments from U.S. State Department) By Abdul Qadir Sediqi KABUL, April 16 (Reuters) - Women will be included for the first time in the Taliban delegation to peace talks in Qatar this month, the movement's main spokesman said on Monday, ahead of the latest round of meetings aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan. For a group notorious for its strictly conservative attitude to women's rights, the move represents a step towards addressing demands that women be included in the talks, intended to lay the foundations for a future peace settlement. The April 19-21 meeting in Doha will be between the Taliban and a delegation comprising prominent Afghans, including opposition politicians and civil society activists. It follows similar talks between the two sides in Moscow in February. The non-Taliban delegation that was in Moscow could be expanded next week to include some government officials, but acting in their private capacities as the insurgents have refused to hold formal talks with Kabul. "There will be women among Taliban delegation members in the Doha, Qatar meeting," Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesman, said by telephone. He did not name the women, but added, "These women have no family relationship with the senior members of the Taliban, they are normal Afghans, from inside and outside the country, who have been supporters and part of the struggle of the Islamic Emirate." In a tweet, he specified that the women would only join the discussions with Afghan civil society and political representatives, not in the main negotiations with American officials, led by U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Khalilzad has not yet set dates for the next round of talks with the Taliban, a State Department spokesperson said. "We do not have new U.S. talks with the Taliban to announce at this time. Before additional talks, we look forward to knowing the outcome of the intra-Afghan dialog," the spokesperson said in an email. Story continues Khalilzad, a veteran Afghan-born U.S. diplomat, is working to secure an accord with the Taliban on a U.S. troop pullout, measures to prevent al Qaeda and other extremists from using Afghanistan as a springboard for attacks, a ceasefire and inter-Afghan talks that include the government on the country's political future. The Taliban have rejected formal talks with the government, which they dismiss as a "puppet" regime controlled by the United States. While Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative country, especially in rural areas, there have been major advances in women's rights since the U.S-led campaign of 2001 that toppled the Taliban government. Many women fear that if the group regains some power, many of these gains could be erased. The movement gained worldwide notoriety when it came to power in the 1990s by forcing women to wear full facial covering and imposing severe restrictions including banning girls from school and forbidding women from working outside the home. However, Taliban spokesmen say the group has changed and it encourages girls' education and other women's rights within an Islamic Sharia system. Civil society groups, the Western-backed government and Afghanistan's international partners have pressed for women to take part in the talks and news of the Taliban delegation was welcomed. Fawzia Koofi, a former member of parliament who took part in the meetings in Moscow, said the presence of women in the Taliban team was a "good step." "Only women can feel the pain and miseries that Afghan women have suffered. The presence of women among the Taliban negotiators shows that the Taliban's ideology has changed." Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, who has been pressing for women to play a role in the peace talks said the process should be inclusive. Future international support for Afghanistan could be affected by whether women's rights were properly respected in any settlement, she said. "There are certain levers that we have, that the Taliban are interested in," she told reporters in Kabul, where she was visiting as part of a Congressional delegation. "There is going to be an interest in economic support after the conflict ends." "I think if the Taliban has any interest in getting international support ... it would be in their interest to recognize the importance of including women and including human rights as part of any settlement that happens." (Additional reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Frances Kerry, Toby Chopra and Neil Fullick) A murder suspect will spend the next 4 decades in prison after he was found guilty of killing his mother. In his ruling, High Court judge William Musyoka said the prosecution had proven its case against Simon Musambai Naman beyond a shadow of doubt. He observed that a psycho-social report, filed by probation officers, painted the suspect as a violent man, who had poor ties with his family and community thus unsuitable for a non-custodial sentence. The Court was told that Musambai attacked Helen Mboka Naman with an axe on November 1, 2012, at Emariku village in Khwisero, Kakamega. A neighbour who witnessed the cold-blooded murder testified that she was standing a few metres away from Ms Mboka at around 8 am when the attack happened. The accused came out of nowhere and without uttering a word went to the place where his mother was milking a cow and struck her on the head once, said Luciana Nziwa. The neighbour said she ran out of the compound screaming, with Musambai hot on her heels. Luckily, she was able to escape from the bloodthirsty killer. Nziwa was rescued by other neighbours who responded to her distress calls. They would later find Ms Mboyas body lying in a pool of blood. Musambai, realising the neighbours were baying for his blood, surrendered himself to officers at Khwisero Police Station. His brother, Peter Mudogo, told the court that the attack was as a result of a long-standing dispute after their mother declined several requests by Musambai to cut trees planted by their late father. In mitigation, the accused submitted that he has been in custody since 2012 and had learnt his lesson. Musambai urged the court to grant him a non-custodial sentence because his masonry skills would be wasted in prison. He was granted 14 days to lodge an appeal. Paris (AFP) - Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of France's far-right, will bid farewell to the European Parliament on Tuesday after 35 years of using it as a platform to bash European integration and immigration. The 90-year-old, who co-founded and led the far-right National Front for 40 years before handing the reins to his daughter Marine in 2011, is one of the longest-serving members of the assembly, which meets in Strasbourg and Brussels. In an interview with AFP in January Le Pen admitted he would have liked to run for another five-year term in May's European elections, likening himself with customary swagger to French playwright Moliere "who wanted to die on stage." But while the curtain only officially comes down on his European career on July 1, Le Pen -- who has loomed large over French and European politics for nearly half a century -- plans to use the parliament's last plenary session to share some parting thoughts. MEPs could be in for a rough ride. "I hope that I will get at least a minute or two to tell my colleagues what I think of this institution, the way it has evolved and its programmed ruin," Le Pen, a fierce critic of free movement across borders and the euro single currency, wrote on his blog. It is one of the great ironies of Le Pen's career that Strasbourg has set the stage for some of his greatest victories. He was first elected an MEP in 1984, the first of seven straight European election wins, compared with just two years served as a French MP, from 1986 to 1988. The year of his election to Europe was the year the eurosceptic National Front (renamed the National Rally in 2018) first made a big splash, winning over 10 percent of the vote in France to take 10 seats in the EU parliament. In an interview with AFP he remembered it as his "first victory after a long period spent roaming the desert". - Giant echo chamber - The European Parliament acted as a giant echo chamber for Le Pen's ideas and allowed him to build his party's profile internationally. Story continues A master provocateur who has delighted in causing outrage he became a "figurehead of the European far-right and its chief orator" French political analyst Jean-Yves Camus, a specialist on the National Front, told AFP. But Le Pen also regularly crossed swords with the assembly. Fellow MEPs have voted three times to lift his parliamentary immunity, mainly over remarks baiting blacks, Jews, or other minorities but more recently over claims that the National Front defrauded the European Parliament of millions of euros in funds -- charges the Le Pens deny. "I won't have many hands to shake when I leave," the former paratrooper, who has several convictions for anti-Semitism and racism, told AFP. Looking back on Le Pen's contribution to the parliament's work, veteran French Socialist MEP Pervenche Beres, told AFP that apart from "taking up a lot of space with his security details he did nothing." - Bitter family feud - In the end it was his own daughter and political heir who delivered the final blow. Four years of tensions between father and daughter erupted into open feuding in 2015, with the younger Le Pen kicking her father out of the National Front for repeating his shock claim that the Holocaust was but a "detail" of history. Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was runner-up behind Jacques Chirac in France's 2002 presidential election, first sat as a non-attached member of the European Parliament before joining Europe's far-right nationalist Alliance for Peace and Freedom. But with no party back home in France Le Pen has now run out of options. He has however ruled out retiring from politics altogether, announcing plans for a May 1 rally in Paris -- a National Front tradition. And despite still having "disagreements" with his daughter he plans to support her party in the European election. In a sign that relations between the pair may be on the mend Marine Le Pen told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview Saturday: "I have to tip my cap to him for his whole career. The least one can say is that he put up a good fight... He blew on the little flame of nationhood which is now coming into its own." Last week, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) reported strong results for the first quarter of 2019. Revenue for the core airline segment rose 7.5% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share surged 28% to $0.96, cruising past analysts' estimates and management's own guidance. Following the earnings release, several top Delta Air Lines executives spent an hour discussing the company's strategy and recent performance with Wall Street analysts and the media. Here are five key highlights from their remarks. 1. AmEx partnership renewal will drive revenue growth Last week, we were pleased to announce a contract renewal with American Express, extending our agreement through 2029. ... Delta's benefit is expected to grow to $7 billion by 2023, up from $3.4 billion last year, and just $1 billion at the start of this decade. -- Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian Delta Air Lines recently signed a long-term renewal of its important credit card partnership with American Express (NYSE: AXP). The current AmEx deal had been set to expire in 2022, but the two companies extended their agreement to 2029. While the exact terms of the new agreement are confidential, Delta expects approximately $500 million of incremental revenue this year from the renewal. That likely indicates that American Express offered improved terms in order to maintain its valuable relationship with Delta. A Delta Air Lines plane parked on the tarmac Image source: Delta Air Lines. Delta expects steady growth in revenue from the AmEx partnership beyond 2019, as the number of co-branded credit card holders grows and those cardmembers increase their spending. And there will be another big step-up in revenue in 2023, presumably due to Delta getting an even better revenue split from American Express. As a result, management is highly confident that this high-margin revenue stream will more than double to $7 billion between 2018 and 2023. 2. Diversifying the top line During the first quarter, 55% of our revenues came from premium products and non-ticket sources. Premium product revenues were up 8% to more than $3 billion in the March quarter on a 4% increase in premium capacity. Looking forward, premium revenue growth should accelerate through the year. -- Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein Story continues The American Express partnership is just one of several growing revenue streams helping Delta rely less on the pricing of economy fares, which have been more-or-less commoditized. For example, Delta got about 35% of its passenger revenue from business class and extra-legroom seats last quarter. New sales techniques and the rollout of premium economy seats across Delta's widebody fleet are driving strong growth in this premium product revenue. The company also expects revenue from its third-party maintenance business to grow at a double-digit clip this year -- surpassing $800 million -- before reaching $2 billion within five years. 3. Customers value the Delta SkyMiles program Demand for SkyMiles as a currency is stronger than ever. Mileage redemptions grew 12% in the March quarter, as we provided customers more opportunity to use their miles. ... Increasingly, customers are using miles for products and services beyond just award tickets, as we expand miles as a form of payment. -- Hauenstein The SkyMiles loyalty program is another key driver of sticky, high-margin revenue. Delta has invested in giving customers more options for redeeming their miles, with a particular focus on upgrades to premium seats. These upgrades can now be purchased with miles as part of the initial fare or at any point thereafter, including in the Delta app when checking in. These efforts are driving strong growth in loyalty redemptions. That's helping to boost Delta's earnings growth, because the carrier defers revenue when it doles out SkyMiles and only books that revenue when the miles are redeemed. Furthermore, the big uptick in SkyMiles redemptions indicates that customers are finding the program more worthwhile. Over time, that will make the SkyMiles currency even more valuable to business partners like American Express. 4. Another aging aircraft type is on the way out [W]ith the efficiency gains we've made through our fleet transformation, we expect to accelerate the retirement of our MD-90 fleet. --Delta Air Lines CFO Paul Jacobson Delta Air Lines' cost performance was just as impressive as its revenue performance last quarter. Adjusted nonfuel unit costs ticked down slightly in Q1, while fuel efficiency improved 2.1% year over year. An aggressive program to upgrade Delta's fleet has been the primary driver of the company's improving cost trends. Recognizing the success of this effort, Delta recently decided to retire its remaining MD-90s earlier than expected. As of the end of Q1, Delta had 37 MD-90s, with an average age of 22 years. It already has plans to replace its last 79 MD-88s by the end of 2020, but with more than 160 new narrowbody jets set to arrive between now and 2021, Delta should be able to retire its last MD-90s by sometime in mid-to-late 2021, if not earlier. The airline plans to offer more details in the coming months. 5. Free cash flow is accelerating The March quarter result and incremental benefit from AmEx give us increasing confidence in achieving the high end of our full-year free cash flow guidance of $3 billion to $4 billion compared to $2.3 billion last year. -- Jacobson Delta's aggressive fleet renewal plan has driven a substantial increase in capex recently. This caused free cash flow to recede quite a bit from the highs of a few years ago. DAL Capital Expenditures (Annual) Chart Delta Air Lines Annual Capital Expenditures and Free Cash Flow, data by YCharts. However, Delta has been predicting a rebound in free cash flow to between $3 billion and $4 billion this year. Now, management is increasingly confident about hitting the high end of that target range, largely thanks to the $500 million in incremental revenue expected from the American Express partnership renewal. An increase in cash tax payments could cause free cash flow to decline again in 2020. But after Delta finishes funding its pension plan -- and as its profit continues to grow -- free cash flow should be able to march even higher, allowing Delta to reward its shareholders with steady dividend growth and share buybacks. More From The Motley Fool Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes part in a Fox News town-hall style event with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, Monday April 15, 2019 in Bethlehem, Pa. Bernie Sanders turned in a scrappy, energized performance on the Fox News town hall Monday night, using the conservative cable news network's stage to deliver his progressive populist message. Sanders sparred with the moderators, Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, sometimes with humor, on a media platform he has called "right wing propaganda" and winning cheers from the audience. Sanders, the independent senator for Vermont seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, took the Fox News stage 30 minutes after he released 10 years of tax returns. More: Bernie Sanders releases 10 years of long-anticipated taxes Here are five takeaways from the Fox News town hall: 1) Fox audience seems OK with Bernie Sanders the millionaire The top of the town hall was dominated by questions having to do with Sanders' tax returns. That candidate who targets "the top 1 percent" is a member of that class may seem like a contradiction, his supporters in the audience seemed to have no problems with it. The first question of the night came from Joe Baswari, a student from Allentown, Pennsylvania, who pointed out that the tax returns showed Sanders to be a millionaire. Sanders answered, "That money in my case and my wifes case came from a book that I wrote, pretty good book, you might want to read it, its a bestseller, sold all over the world, we made money. So if anyone thinks that I should apologize for writing a best-selling book, Im sorry, Im not going to do it." Sanders's answer was met by cheers and applause from the audience. 2) Bernie Sanders will keep his benefits from the Trump tax cut Baswari also asked, "Will you pay your fair share and how do you plan to apply the policy you have been talking about enforcing on top earners?" Sanders responded with his critique of the "absurd tax system." .@BernieSanders calls out Fox for not asking Trump what his tax rate is #BernieTownHall pic.twitter.com/VF7LRr5XYj People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) April 15, 2019 He went on add a jab at his hosts, "I guess on Fox News you said I benefited from tax bill, well did you tell people I voted against Trumps tax bill?" Story continues When pressed by Baier that he still benefited from the lower tax rate, Sanders replied, "I pay the taxes that I owe. And by the way, why dont you get Donald Trump up here and ask him how much he pays in taxes." MacCallum answered, "We would love to ask him that question and we absolutely will." Sanders declined to pay more than what he owed in taxes. 3) Bernie Sanders warns about focusing too much on Trump, but directly addressed the president, twice Sanders warned Democrats about fixating on the president, but he didn't necessarily follow his own advice. "I think Trump is a dangerous president, but if all we do is focus on him, we lose," he said. "Our job is to develop an agenda that speaks to the needs of workers and if we do that were going to win and win big." Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes part in a Fox News town-hall style event, Monday April 15, 2019 in Bethlehem, Pa. Despite his own warning, Sanders repeated mentioned Trump and his policies in his answers, and he took the opportunity to directly address the president at least two times during the town hall. In wrapping an exchange over how much he paid n taxes, Sanders said, "The president watches your network a little bit, right? he said. "Hey, President Trump, my wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same." He also called on Trump to sign the congressional resolution calling for an end to the U.S. support for the war in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, a strong ally of the president. Sanders faced the camera and said, "Mr. President, tonight you have the opportunity to do something extraordinary. Sign that resolution." 4) Bernie Sanders mixes it up with Fox anchors Sanders turned questions asked by the moderators back on them. Asked why he didn't give the government the difference between what he paid in taxes under Trump 26 percent and his own top marginal tax rate of 52 percent, Sanders shot back to MacCallum, "Martha, why don't you give? You make more money than I do." MacCallum answered, "I didn't suggest a wealth tax." Baier chimed in, "And she's not running for president." Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes part in a Fox News town-hall style event with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, Monday April 15, 2019 in Bethlehem, Pa. Sanders was asked by an audience member, "How can you challenge the idea that socialism is bad in the minds of the public?" His answer: "You might ask them, not me," gesturing to the moderators. That set off the following exchange: Baier: "Is this going to be a thing?" Sanders: "No, it will not. You ask me fair questions, I will give you fair answers." Baier: "Thank you, sir." Sanders ended the exchange with, "Your network does not necessarily have a great deal of respect in my world, but I thought it was important for me to be here and have a serious discussion about serious issues." 5) Bernie Sanders calls for unity and turns Fox stage into his call-response pulpit Sanders used his closing statement to call for unity. "I think sometimes the division in the country gets a little to hot. At the end of the day, we are all Americans who love this country," he said, adding, "we have a lot more in common than most people think we do." Then the senator launched into a series of rhetorical questions that highlighted his platform. On the way, the democratic socialist turned the Fox stage into his campaign pulpit. Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage? Yes! Should we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure? Yes! Should we ensure veterans get health care they earned? Yes! Should we protect Social Security and Medicare? Yes! A majority of the American people agree. #BernieTownHall pic.twitter.com/qZmuBuA6MM Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 16, 2019 "Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage?" he asked. A few people joined him as he answered "Yes." On each question that followed, on infrastructure, veterans' health care, on protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and tax cuts for the wealthy, Sanders let the audience call back the answers. He closed with a call for Americans to be more engaged. "I want to see our country have the highest voter turnout in the industrialized world, not one of the lowest," he said. "So, no matter what your views are, get involved in the political process, stand up and fight to make this a better country." Aki Soga is insights and engagement editor for the Burlington Free Press. Email him at asoga@freepressmedia.com, or chat with him on Twitter: @asoga. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: 5 takeaways from Bernie Sanders' Fox News town hall Investors generally gauge a stocks potential returns by examining earnings growth and valuation multiples. At the same time, its important to measure the performance of such a stock relative to its industry or peers, or the appropriate benchmark. If you see that a stock is underperforming on fundamental factors, then it would be prudent to move on and find a better alternative. However, those outperforming their respective sectors in terms of price should be selected because they stand a better chance to provide considerable returns. Then again, it is imperative that you determine whether or not an investment has relevant upside potential when considering stocks with significant relative price strength. Stocks delivering better than the S&P 500 over a period of 1 to 3 months at the least and having solid fundamentals indicate room for growth and are the best ways to go about this strategy. Finally, it is important to find out whether analysts are optimistic about the upcoming earnings results of these companies. In order to do this, we have added positive estimate revisions for the current quarters (Q1) earnings to our screen. When a stock undergoes an upward revision, it leads to additional price gains. Screening Parameters Relative % Price change 12 weeks greater than 0 Relative % Price change 4 weeks greater than 0 Relative % Price change 1 week greater than 0 (We have considered those stocks that have been outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 12 weeks, four weeks and one week.) % Change (Q1) Est. over 4 Weeks greater than 0: Positive current quarter estimate revisions over the last four weeks. Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that have returned more than 26% annually over the last 26 years and surpassed the S&P 500 in 23 of the last 26 years can get through. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Story continues Current Price greater than or equal to $5 and Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: A minimum price of $5 is a good standard to screen low-priced stocks, while a high trading volume would imply adequate liquidity. VGM Score less than or equal to 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 upside potential. Here are the six stocks that made it through the screen: DMC Global Inc. BOOM: DMC Global, headquartered in Boulder, CO, has a suite of products (including explosion-welded clad metal plates, and oil and gas well perforation products) that serves the energy and industrial markets. The firm has a VGM Score of A and an excellent earnings surprise history. It has a 100% track of outperforming estimates over the last four quarters at an average rate of 48.2%. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. COMM: CommScope Holding Company is a premier provider of infrastructure solutions, including wireless and fiber optic solutions, for the core, access and edge layers of communication networks. The 2019 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Hickory, NC-based company is $2.98, representing some 31.3% earnings per share growth over 2018. Next years average forecast is $3.51 pointing to another 17.8% growth. CommScope Holding Company has a VGM Score of B. Legg Mason, Inc. LM: Legg Mason is a global asset management firm focused on the growth and preservation of its clients' capital through its proprietary mutual funds and separately-managed accounts (SMAs). Sporting a VGM Score of B, this Baltimore, MD-headquartered companys expected EPS growth rate for three to five years currently stands at 16.2%, comparing favorably with the industry's growth rate of 8.8%. EZCORP, Inc. EZPW: Founded in 1974 and headquartered in Austin, TX, EZCORP is a leading provider of pawn loans in the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and Peru. The company has a VGM Score of A and good earnings surprise history having surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters. Manulife Financial Corporation MFC: Manulife Financial is one of the three dominant life insurers within its domestic Canadian market and possesses rapidly growing operations in the U.S. and several Asian countries. The 2019 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Toronto-based company is $2.19, representing some 3.8% earnings per share growth over 2018. Next years average forecast is $2.35 pointing to another 7.1% growth. Manulife Financial has a VGM Score of A. ACI Worldwide ACIW: A leading provider of payment software and services to financial institutions, retailers, billers, and payment processors, ACI Worldwide has a VGM Score of B. Over 30 days, the Naples, FL-based company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 and 2020 increase 4.6% and 17.6%, to $1.14 and $1.40 per share, respectively. You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance. Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (COMM) : Free Stock Analysis Report ACI Worldwide, Inc. (ACIW) : Free Stock Analysis Report EZCORP, Inc. (EZPW) : Free Stock Analysis Report Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report DMC Global Inc. (BOOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research In the past week, Delta Air Lines DAL kick-started the first-quarter 2019 earnings season for the airline space on a solid note. This Atlanta, GA-based airline heavyweight not only delivered better-than-expected earnings and revenues but also issued an upbeat view for the second quarter. On the traffic front, Alaska Air Group ALK, JetBlue Airways JBLU and Copa Holdings CPA disclosed their respective traffic figures for March. While load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) improved at Copa, the metric declined at Alaska Air and JetBlue as capacity expansion outweighed traffic growth. The update is not favorable as woes related to capacity overexpansion had hurt airline stocks previously as well. Apart from releasing traffic numbers, JetBlue and Alaska Air tweaked their projections for the first quarter of 2019. While JetBlue is scheduled to release first-quarter results on Apr 23, Alaska Air will do the same on Apr 25. (Read the last Airline Stock Roundup here). Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Deltas earnings (excluding 13 cents from non-recurring items) of 96 cents per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 90 cents and increased substantially on a year-over-year basis. Higher revenues aided the quarterly results. Operating revenues totaled $10.47 billion, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.38 billion. The metric also compared favorably with the year-ago number. For the second quarter, Delta expects earnings (excluding special items) between $2.05 and $2.35 per share. Moreover, the company projects 2019 revenues to grow 5-7%, up from its prior guidance. (Read more: Delta Air Lines Up on Q1 Earnings Beat, Upbeat View). Delta carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 2. At JetBlue, traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles or RPMs) improved 7.9% year over year to 4.72 billion. On a year-over-year basis, capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) rose 12.6% to 5.53 billion. Moreover, the carrier expects first-quarter revenue per available seat miles (RASM: a key measure of unit revenue) to decline 3.1%, with higher-than-expected completion factor hurting RASM to the tune of approximately 0.75 points. Previously, RASM in the soon-to-be-reported quarter was anticipated to decline 1.5-3.5%. Story continues Additionally, the carrier now expects consolidated operating cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel, to increase at or below the lower end of the 1.5-3.5% range. JetBlue also announced its intention to start operating flights to London from 2021. (Read more: JetBlue March Traffic Increases, Load Factor Down). 3. At Alaska Air Group, consolidated traffic inched up 0.5% to 4.68 billion and capacity expanded 1.3% to 5.56 billion. The carrier now anticipates RASM in the range of 12.08-12.10 cents, reflecting an increase of 2.1% year over year. The previous view was in the band of 11.97-12.07 cents. Alaska Airs non-fuel unit cost guidance for the first quarter has also improved on account of solid cost-control measures among other factors. Cost per ASM, excluding fuel and special items, is now projected between 9.06 cents and 9.08 cents (representing 3% increase year over year) compared with 9.16-9.21 cents expected earlier. (Read more: Alaska Air Group Load Factor Dips in March, Q1 View Upbeat). 4. Copa Holdings reported a 0.2% decrease in March traffic. However, load factor improved 160 basis points to 83.3% in the month as traffic decline was less than the capacity contraction (2%). 5. Updates on Boeing 737 MAX jets have been flooding the aviation space ever since the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash on Mar 10. In fact, this was the second accident involving Boeing 737 MAX jets within a span of five months as the same model went down in Indonesia last October, killing 189 people. Southwest Airlines LUV, which has 34 such jets in its fleet, extended the period of grounding the 737 MAX jets. The carrier, which had previously said that the jets in its fleet will not operate until the end of May 2019, stated on Apr 11 that it will ground the jets through Aug 5. In a similar development, American Airlines AAL extended the grounding period of Boeing 737 Max jets until Aug 19, 2019, from the previously announced date of Jun 5. Currently, the carrier has 24 such jets in its fleet. 6. Spirit Airlines SAVE now expects first-quarter total revenue per available seat miles (TRASM: a key measure of unit revenues) to increase approximately 4% year over year (the earlier view had called for this metric to increase approximately 5%). The view has been trimmed on lower-than-expected yields in March and increased capacity due to higher-than-expected completion factor. In the to-be-reported quarter, the carrier expects capacity to expand 16.9% and non-fuel unit costs (adjusted) to increase approximately 2.5%. Economic fuel cost is now projected to be $2.09 per gallon. Detailed results are expected to be revealed on Apr 25. Performance The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last six months. The table above shows that airline stocks exhibited a mixed trend with respect to price in the past week. The NYSE ARCA Airline Index remained flat at $101.75 over the period. Over the course of six months, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index depreciated 4.7%. What's Next in the Airline Space? Investors will keenly await first-quarter 2019 earnings reports of key airline players like JetBlue and Hawaiian Holdings HA in the coming days. Hawaiian like JetBlue will report on Apr 23. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (HA) : Free Stock Analysis Report JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The province of Alberta has seen an election full of personal attacks. Incumbent Rachel Notley of the Alberta New Democratic Party ran on a platform focused on highlighting her successes as the provinces leader, most notably her track record on economic issues. The other frontrunner, Jason Kenney of the United Conservatives, has sent a message that he is fighting back against those opposing Alberta, such as the federal government and environmentalists. But both parties have also done a fair share of name calling: Kenney has been accusing Notley of being too cozy with Prime Minister Trudeau, while Kenneys anti-abortion stance and track record with LGBT issues has been used to try and turn Albertans away from him. With advance voting three times higher than in the previous election (thanks to a new vote anywhere policy the province put in place), many Albertans have already locked in their choice for who they want to see be premier. However no one really knows who will come out on top until the final votes are tallied. WASHINGTON Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who was an organizer for Bernie Sanderss 2016 campaign, said she will back whoever the Democrats nominate for president in 2020 but she would clearly prefer someone other than former Vice President Joe Biden. The freshman congresswoman, who became a rising star in the party after scoring a shocking victory against a high-ranking Democrat last year, said she hasnt picked a 2020 candidate to support. I truly do not have one yet. I truly do not, Ocasio-Cortez said on the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery. But the prospect of a Biden run doesnt animate her, she said. At least 18 Democrats have entered the presidential race, and others are considering joining their ranks. Ocasio-Cortez demurred when asked if she will back Sanders again, and threw out the name of another presidential candidate who has caught her eye, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Im very supportive of Bernies run. ... I havent endorsed anybody, but Im very supportive of Bernie, Ocasio-Cortez said, adding, I also think what Elizabeth Warren has been bringing to the table is truly remarkable, truly remarkable and transformational. Download or subscribe on iTunes: Skullduggery from Yahoo News While Biden hasnt officially entered the race, he is leading many polls of the primary field. Yahoo News asked Ocasio-Cortez if she would support him. I dont know. I mean I will support whoever the Democratic nominee is, she said. Yet she seemed decidedly unenthusiastic about the prospect of a Biden candidacy. That does not particularly animate me right now, Ocasio-Cortez said. The congresswoman said she has a lot of issues with a potential Biden White House bid. I can understand why people would be excited by that, this idea that we can go back to the good old days with Obama, with Obamas vice president, said Ocasio-Cortez. Theres an emotional element to that, but I dont want to go back. I want to go forward. Story continues Former Vice President Joe Biden n Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Might she run for higher office one day herself? I really dont know, she said. I think about it every once in a while, but this is pretty hard already. She was asked to explain what she thinks about when considering the possibility of running for another position. I just want to be most useful, and Im not trying to kind of impose some personal ambition, Ocasio-Cortez said. I think that, if a window opens and I feel like I can do well, and do better, and offer more to people, then I would consider it. But I dont have like a 10-year plan or a five-year plan or anything. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: Algiers (AFP) - Emotion filled the voice of Mustapha Bouchachi as the Algerian veteran lawyer and human rights activist recalled the peaceful mass protests that swept aside President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The young protesters "are finishing what my generation failed to do", said the man who became a mentor to demonstrators who have mobilised against "the system". Bouchachi, in his mid-60s, has been careful not to try to "seize" the youth-driven movement even as he helped formulate its demands, notably in Facebook video clips that exceeded 200,000 views. Whether speaking in his old-fashioned Algiers office or addressing university students, he has been tireless in explaining the goals of what he calls the "revolution of smiles". "I am proud that many Algerians trust me, but this is the demonstration of young people," he told AFP, refusing the status of spokesman for the activists who ended Bouteflika's two-decade reign on April 2. "We can accompany and give advice, but we must not steal" their movement, he said. - 'I cried with joy' - Bouchachi's eyes filled with tears as he recalled his amazement when crowds of Algerians began to peacefully take to the streets on February 22. "I was so afraid that there would be no-one, that we would just be a few thousand, isolated, like in 2011," he said, referring to the Arab Spring uprisings that started in Tunisia but largely bypassed Algeria. This time around, he admitted, "I cried with joy", his grave face transforming into a deep smile. He pointed to Algeria's 1962 independence from French colonial rule and said: "I told myself that it is these young people who will finish liberating the country, because our fathers liberated the land of Algeria but the people were not free." Bouchachi was seven years old when his father was killed fighting in the independence war. When asked whether he has a political bias, Bouchachi replied without hesitation: "democracy." Story continues "You can't have politics in a totalitarian regime," he said. "All politicians must campaign for the rule of law, this is the priority. Only after that we can have debates between left and right." - 'Our only weapon' - Bouchachi studied law in Britain on a scholarship and graduated at the age of 25. After defending victims of torture and arbitrary arrests during Algeria's civil war of 1992-2002, he found himself labelled a "lawyer of the Islamists". But he stressed that he is "not selective in the fight against human rights violations", adding that "now I am being labelled a secular leftist". From 2007 to 2012, he was president of the Algerian League for Human Rights, at a time when the regime was using a mix of repression and social measures to pre-empt street protests. He was elected to parliament in 2012 for the Front of Socialist Forces, on the promise of having "a forum to question ministers". But when he found his questions remained unanswered, Bouchachi left the legislature in 2014 to go back to his legal practice. In recent weeks he returned to the political scene where, backed by his four student children, he has been hammering home the message of non-violence. "Our only weapon is the peaceful nature of the demonstrations," he told students. Bouchachi has also urged young people to resist the temptation of wanting to sweep away all politicians and officials, including those in the opposition. "You have to aim at the heads of the system," he said. "When they are gone, then we can get organised." He now hopes for "nine months or a year of transition", a process he said must include youth who took the lead in the street protests as well as opposition parties, civil society and political leaders from the pre-Bouteflika era. As for the army, he said, "you have to be pragmatic. It's a strong institution, we need them for the transition. But they must accompany, not interfere in, the people's affairs". Amazon.com Inc. AMZN is again facing a strike called by its German employees in four of its warehouses. The workers alleged that poor pay and unfair working conditions in the company is the primary reason behind the strike. Per reports, German labor union Verdi went on a strike at the companys distribution warehouses located in Rheinberg, Werne, Bad Hersfeld and Koblenz. Reportedly, the workers would continue the strike till Thursday if their demands are not met. Regular Strikes in Germany Workers at Amazons distribution centers in Germany have been calling such strikes since May 2013, demanding the right for collective bargaining, proper working conditions and regard for their efforts. To cater to the increasing demand in Europe, several fulfillment centers have been opened to ensure smooth delivery despite persistent problems. The retailer has 12 fulfillment centers in Germany. Fulfillment centers are giant warehouses that aid the company in storing and shipping products, and handling returns quickly. These are crucial for the company as they help in providing better shopping experience to customers. Notably, Germany remains one of Amazons largest European markets. It is the companys second-biggest market after the United States. Thus, the latest move of the German workers disrupt the companys capacity to some extent, in turn impacting sales. Amazons Response The company reportedly dismissed the accusations, claiming that the workers are availing work conditions that are better that the industry. Further, it declared that their wages are at the higher end of what is paid in similar jobs in the industry. Notably, the stock has gained 28% in the past year compared with its industrys growth of 6%. Amazons strengthening initiatives are focused on providing an enhanced shopping experience with the help of robust product offerings, deep discounts on various items, Prime program, and expanding freight and delivery services. Story continues These endeavors of the company are likely to drive sales further in many countries and aid it in winning the confidence of customers. Despite severe workers strikes in the European region during the recent holiday season, Amazon reported a record-breaking holiday sales that indicate its reliability. Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus Amazon.com, Inc. Price and Consensus | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider Amazon currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other top-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include eBay EBAY, Ctrip.com International, Ltd. CTRP and ASOS plc ASOMY, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Long-term earnings growth for eBay, Ctrip.com and ASOS is currently projected at 9.53%, 23% and 8%, respectively. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. eBay Inc. (EBAY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (CTRP) : Free Stock Analysis Report ASOS PLS ADR (ASOMY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research PARIS Some of the Notre Dame Cathedral's most priceless treasures, including a relic known as the Crown of Thorns many believe was worn by Jesus Christ, have been saved from the massive fire that ripped through the world-famous church, French authorities said early Tuesday. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a tweet that historically significant artifacts and sacred items have been recovered, apparently without damage. French police also confirmed the items are safe. "Thanks to the @PompiersParis, the police and the municipal agents, the Crown of Thorns, the Tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place," Hidalgo tweeted, along with a photo showing many of the artifacts carefully preserved in storage. Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started It's unclear where the Crown of Thorns, considered by some to be the French equivalent of Britain's Crown Jewels, was stored in the heavily damaged church. Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told reporters that several of the church's prized items were stored in a vault that he believed would be safe from the fire's ravages. A priest wipes the Crown of Thorns at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, in April 2017. The relic, venerated by Catholics as once worn by Jesus Christ, was threatened by a devastating fire at the cathedral on April 15, 2019. The Crown of Thorns, presented to believers during Lent and on the first Friday of each month, is originally from Jerusalem and its authenticity has never been proven with certainty. But historians say it has been verified to be at least 1,600 years old. Saint Louis' tunic is a relic made of linen that belonged to King Louis IX, the king of France from 1226 until 1270. He carried the Crown of Thorns into Paris in 1239 while possibly wearing the tunic. The recovery of the artifacts is the latest bit of optimism for French officials and Notre Dame aficionados around the globe, who have been watching intently since Monday's fire laid waste to large swaths of the church's heavy timber construction. More: Cathedral resurrection: A look at famous houses of worship reborn after destruction Story continues Initial reports from French leaders painted a dour picture of the 12th-century Cathedral's chances for survival. More than 400 firefighters battled unusual and grueling conditions that defied modern-day firefighting techniques, experts said. Some of the factors that made Notre Dame a must-see for visitors to Paris its age, sweeping size and French Gothic design featuring masonry walls and tree trunk-sized wooden beams also made it a tinderbox and a difficult place to fight a fire, said U.S. Fire Administrator G. Keith Bryant. Bryant and others say the combination of a structure that's more than eight centuries old, built with thick, bone-dry wood beams amid soaring open spaces, and a lack of fire-protection systems left firefighters with few options. "Very often when you're confronted with something like this, there's not much you can do," said Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College. The blaze collapsed the cathedrals spire and spread to one of its rectangular towers. But Paris Fire Chief Jean-Claude Gallet said the churchs main structure had been saved after firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to the northern belfry. Gallet said the emergency response had evolved into a monitoring and clean-up operation. 'I don't have words for this': Devastated Parisians watch in shock as Notre Dame Cathedral burns The first photos from inside Notre Dame, released Monday night, showed heavy smoke, fire and water damage to the cathedral's venerable altars and other areas. The worst has been avoided, although the battle is not yet totally won, said French President Emmanuel Macron, who had rushed to the scene. Macron pledged to rebuild the church and said a national fundraising campaign would be launched Tuesday. The Paris prosecutors office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives, at least for now. French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire was potentially linked to a $6.8 million renovation project on the churchs spire and its 500 tons of wood and 250 tons of lead. Despite the dramatic image of the flaming cathedral, no one was killed. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages as well as one of the most beloved structures in the world. Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river, its architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses. Some 13 million people visit it every year. Among the most celebrated artworks inside are its three stained-glass rose windows, placed high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral. Its priceless treasures also include a Catholic relic, the crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed, including on Fridays during Lent. Its not one relic, not one piece of glass its the totality, said Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts medieval Cloisters branch in New York, her voice shaking as she tried to put into words what the cathedral meant. Its the very soul of Paris, but its not just for French people. For all humanity, its one of the great monuments to the best of civilization. 'History collapsing right before our eyes': Travelers express shock, horror over Notre Dame fire, share memories of their visits More: Hunchback, bees and relics: As Notre Dame burns, 5 things to know about the cathedral The renovation project was part of an effort to save the deteriorating building. Weather and pollution have taken their toll on the stone structure. Pollution is the biggest culprit, Philippe Villeneuve, architect in chief of historic monuments in France, told Time magazine in 2017. We need to replace the ruined stones. We need to replace the joints with traditional materials. This is going to be extensive. Construction of the cathedral took more than 100 years to complete. The result is that, although it is predominantly French Gothic, there are areas that reflect the Renaissance and the Naturalism era of construction. Still, the cathedral is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. The name Notre Dame means Our Lady in French and is frequently used in the names of Catholic Church buildings around the world. Rosman and Hester reported from Paris. James reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard in London; The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crown of Thorns: These ancient treasures were saved from the Notre Dame inferno A driver assigned to two Cuban doctors who were last week abducted in Mandera is under investigation for possible involvement in the kidnap. Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) told a court that intelligence reports show the suspect Mr Isaack Ibrein Robow was involved in the kidnap of doctors Landy Rodriguez (a surgeon) and Herera Correa (a general physician). He was driving the doctors to Mandera Referral Hospital using a government vehicle, according to police investigations. An affidavit filed by Inspector Abdishakur Adan shows Ibrein was arrested on April 12, 2019, in Mandera by ATPU officers and flown to Nairobi on April 14, 2019, for purposes of carrying out a detailed investigation. At the time of his arrest, one mobile phone, a Nokia TA-1034 was recovered and is currently being forensically examined and the reports are yet to be obtained and analysed, said the inspector. The suspect, a driver attached to Mandera County Government, was allegedly using two mobile phone numbers and the data call records are yet to be retrieved. The information so far gathered shows that the plot involved Ibren and they were in communication with several other individuals. The officer added that Mr Ibrein is being investigated for several terrorism-related offenses which include kidnapping and murder. The prosecution told Milimani Court that based on the issues being raised the suspect is a flight risk and should thus remain in custody. Resident Magistrate Muthoni Nzibe granted the application allowing ATPU to detain the suspect for 15 days pending the completion of investigations. The probe will seek to establish whether the suspect committed an offence of conspiracy to commit terrorism contrary to section 23(2) of the prevention of terrorism law which attracts a sentence of 20 years. The case will be mentioned on April 30, 2019. If you're taking a long trip, how does a lower-lumbar massage from your car sound? Or why not let the car do some of the driving with a semiautonomous system? Both features will be available on Cadillac's new CT5 sedan, which General Motors' luxury brand is unveiling this week at the New York Auto Show. The car goes on sale this fall, but Cadillac has already started an aggressive marketing campaign touting such new amenities as personalized driving modes and enhanced vehicle sounds. Over the past two weeks, Cadillac has been releasing weekly video vignettes about the CT5 on social media one video got more than 300,000 views, said Jason Sledziewski, Cadillac's director of product marketing. "We really want to introduce the next generation of sedans because we are repositioning our entire sedan lineup by 2020" said Sledziewski. Cars in the spotlight: Follow our New York Auto Show coverage Fast-food meatless menus: Vegan and meat-free options are growing. Here's where Younger and female Cadillac plans to introduce a new or updated vehicle every six months through 2021. The CT4 sport sedan, which will be smaller in size and price than the CT5, will be revealed later this year and is expected in Cadillac showrooms in 2020. Cadillac's customer base skews male, but with the CT5, it wants to "go after more females," Sledziewski told the Detroit Free Press. Cadillac also looks to draw in younger and more racially diverse buyers with this car. Cadillac is eyeing buyers ages 35-45 for the CT5 with an annual income of $100,000 to $120,000, said Sledziewski. Very personal treats: Vasectomy cakes are a thing After a mainstream media campaign, Cadillac will then contact current owners with personalized, targeted messaging, he said. Cadillac this summer will target marketing to customers who express interest in the car. The CT5 is available for preorders in late summer, Sledziewski said. Options Cadillac will offer the CT5 in three trim levels luxury, sport and premium luxury. The car is designed to look the way it drives, said Andrew Smith, Cadillac's executive director of global design. Story continues The sport design, for example, has a longer hood than the luxury model. Also, the tail lamps on the luxury model have a rose lens while the sport version tail lamps have clear lenses. Seats and steering wheels are different in the models. The instrument panel on all the trims is designed to be intuitive to use. The driver can choose from touchscreen, rotary controller, steering wheel controls or voice commands to interact with the car, Smith said. Beyond that, expect a smooth ride and responsive handling, said Mike Bride, CT5 chief engineer. "We needed to step up our game in ride space," said Bride. "Sound was also very important, we wanted to hit all the senses. It started with minimizing cabin noise and road noise, then it was driving-in the Cadillac enhanced sounds." Those sounds include piped-in low-frequency acceleration and braking. Research showed Cadillac that consumers "wanted to make sure the vehicle is quiet, but they also wanted to hear what they want to hear," said Ken Kornas, CT5 product manager. So Cadillac created a "curated library" of enhanced engine sounds that is exclusive to only Cadillac within GM, said Kornas. "It's a strategy we'll use and offer it on other vehicles as part of the DNA of Cadillac," said Kornas. Super Cruise Cadillac is not releasing the price or a date for when the CT5 goes on sale. The 2019 CTS sedan, which the CT5 replaces, started at $46,995. The CT5 will offer the semiautonomous driving system, Super Cruise, in the 2020 calendar year. Currently, Super Cruise is only offered on the larger CT6 sedan. It is a $5,000 option on the premium-luxury trim level. Cadillac declined to say how much the Super Cruise option will cost on the CT5, but "wants to make it available to more people," said Kornas. Kornas said about a third of the 9,688 CT6 sedans sold last year had Super Cruise. The standard equipment Cadillac will offer on the CT5 hits the "sweet spot" of what its research showed consumers want, said Kornas. That includes the, My Mode" feature, which allows the driver to personalize steering and brake feel, along with engine sounds. Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here's what Cadillac's new CT5 sedan will offer younger drivers PARIS On the night that Notre Dame burned, some filmed, others cried and a few prayed. And some sang a song, a tribute to the lingering power of a 12th-century cathedral. "Beautiful you'd think the word was invented for her," sang some Parisians standing on the Right Bank in the shadows of the flickering blaze across the river. "Then I feel Hell opening up under my feet." But no one could leave the scene. "I dont have the words for this," said Anastasia Collas, 29, standing at the Hotel de Ville across the river from Notre Dame. "I live nearby. I want to cry. I dont know if were going to lose it entirely but this is devastating. Im going to stay here until it ends. The fire at Notre Dame broke out around 6 p.m. local time Monday. News spread fast. Many were caught nearby as emergency workers and police shut off the area. Others, like Elias Cohen, 21, raced to the site to see what was happening. 'A major loss to humanity': Notre Dame fire: Catholics shocked as blaze ravages iconic cathedral during Holy Week "I just saw on the news and I wanted to be here to look at this because Im a bit surprised and shocked," said Cohen. "Its a symbol of Paris and Im a Parisian so I dont know what to say I think its historic and I wanted to be here and I want to see it and remember it." He added, "Two years ago, I was in front of the cathedral and I remember thinking it was very beautiful.Its very hard for me and every Parisian, I think, and every French person (watching this). I have no words to describe this." People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside while watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. When the spire fell soon after the blaze started, the crowd on the Right Bank and on the Pont Saint-Michel collectively groaned. "No!" and "Oh My God!" could be heard. Scott Stevenson, originally from California, has lived in Paris since 2000, and was there watching. "I got a call from my younger brother in Santa Rosa and he said Notre Dame is on fire, that it is burning to the ground ... So I had to rush down here," he said. "I saw 40- to 50-foot flames shooting out from the top of Notre Dame. The fire got so big so fast, it was a bit shocking. It was too big, there was nothing of the firefighters could do." Story continues About five hours after the blaze broke out, firefighters seemed in control of the situation. The Ministry of Interior said on Twitter that the second tower was saved and the structure was intact. 'Absolutely horrible': Travelers express shock, horror over Notre Dame fire, share memories of their visits More: 850-year-old Notre Dame survived the French Revolution. Here are 4 other things to know But onlookers across the water were tired, dispirited and still in shock. A burning smell lingered in the air and bells from other churches across the city pealed in solidarity with Notre Dame, a normal city sound that turned mournful as night descended. Some standing and watching reminisced how the cathedral marked their lives. Others spoke about tomorrow. "Notre Dame is part of our life, a part of the lives of all Parisians," Florence Berthout, mayor of the 5th arrondissement (district) of which Notre Dame is a part, said on Twitter. "Many events in our common history have occurred at Notre Dame, the beating heart that brings believers and non-believers together. And we will rebuild, together." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I don't have words for this': Devastated Parisians watch in shock as Notre Dame Cathedral burns It has been rumored in the media by people with inside knowledge of the matter that Huawei is open to selling its Balong 5G modems to Apple AAPL. This isnt perhaps too surprising, given that Apple has come out underprepared to meet the 5G market by virtue of its dependence on Intel INTC, which has been notoriously slow to meet its production targets of late. Intel was expected to have its 8160 5G modem ready for Apple to work on this year with the final chip to ship next year. This would allow Apple to launch its 5G phone next year, when most networks would acquire 5G capability as well. It wouldnt have been a moment too soon, as almost everybody else will have a 5G capable smartphone shipping this year based on Qualcomms QCOM technology, or their internally developed chips. But Intel is reportedly seeing even more delays and Apples internal developments arent ready yet. Moreover, of all the companies that could have supplied Apple, Qualcomm would have been the obvious choice because of the long standing partnership between the two. But that relationship soured after Apple took Qualcomm to court. Now, Qualcomm would likely demand a settlement if it is to supply any chips. The second in line would be Samsung, which is a "frenemy" of Apple's, in that it supplies chips to the iPhone maker on the one hand, and competes with it in the smartphone market on the other. Samsung likely doesnt have the volumes that Apple would require anyway, so this source is also ruled out. Mediatek is a company that could perhaps supply the volumes, but its chips are normally used in lower end phones. That leaves Huawei, which has seen growing popularity both in Asia and Europe to the extent that it is now vying with Samsung to become the leading global supplier. Mr. Trump and his security officials see plenty of risk in Huawei selling telecom equipment in the U.S. because of information leaking out to China. Story continues So supplying to Apple would allow the company to make some money in the region. But whether Apple (or Americans, for that matter) will allow this to happen is another story. Some users are already threatening to leave Apple if it engages with Huawei. But Apple does have another option. It could stick with Intel for America and use Huawei technology in other markets, where people dont consider it a security risk. This actually makes a lot of sense because 1) Apple is losing share in China and has next to no share in India, the two biggest smartphone markets 2) with penetration rates going up, smartphone demand has been declining and the higher speeds and lower latency that 5G brings makes it a big reason to upgrade 3) its advantageous for Apple to continue to build its installed base because of its new focus on the services business. Apple shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Intel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Stephen Nellis SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Reuters) - Apple Inc and Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday opened a complex trial with the iPhone maker using a fried chicken analogy to illustrate its claim the chip company is abusing its market power while Qualcomm alleged a years-long plan by Apple to deprive it of billions in revenue, $13 at a time. The fate of Qualcomm's business model, which involves licensing more than 130,000 patents in addition to selling chips, is at stake in the case, which consolidates related lawsuits and countersuits. Apple alleges that Qualcomm's patent practices were an illegal move to maintain a monopoly on the market for premium modem chips that connect smart phones to wireless data networks. Qualcomm in turn says Apple used its heft in the electronics business to wrongly order contract factories such as Hon Hai Precision Co Ltd's Foxconn to withhold royalty payments from Qualcomm that Apple had historically reimbursed to the factories. A jury of three women and six men will hear the case over five weeks in the San Diego federal courtroom of Judge Gonzalo Curiel. On Tuesday, attorneys sought to cut through the technological complexity and frame key elements of the case in terms the jury could understand. Apple has objected to a practice that it calls "no license, no chips" under which Qualcomm will not sell chips to a company that has not signed a patent license agreement. Apple attorney Ruffin Cordell likened Qualcomm's policy to a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant that refuses to sell a bucket of chicken to customers. "You first have to go over to this different counter, KFL - Kentucky Fried Licensing," Cordell said. "You have to go pay that 'eating license' fee before they'll sell you any chicken." For its part, Qualcomm alleged that Apple bullied its contract manufacturers into choking off royalty payments to Qualcomm. Qualcomm had been doing business with those factories long before the iPhone, Qualcomm said. "The idea that Qualcomm can bully Apple is absolutely remarkable," said Evan Chesler, Qualcomm's attorney. Apple "dwarf us in size, but they cut off that money." Qualcomm portrayed the move as part of a years-long Apple plan to weaken Qualcomm's patent licensing business, showing jurors internal slides from Apple presentations where Apple talked of wanting to "hurt Qualcomm financially." "It was all planned in advance, every bit of it," Chesler said. Chesler also used iPhone price increases to $1,000 or more in recent years to frame Qualcomm's technology licensing fees. "Out of a $1,000 for that phone, what they're not paying us is $13," Chesler said. "What would your iPhone be worth to you if you stepped five feet to the right and the call dropped out? That's Qualcomm, not Apple." (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Diego; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had reason to believe that leaking U.S. military reports "would cause injury" to the country, federal prosecutors alleged in a newly unsealed court filing on Monday. In the affidavit submitted to federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors said U.S. military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq included information about the "identity and significance of local supporters of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan." When U.S. forces raided the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding out, for example, they found a letter that showed the Al Qaeda leader was interested in copies of Pentagon documents published on WikiLeaks, the prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, leaked reports on the Afghan war included information on militants' improvised explosive device designs and attacks, including details of U.S. and coalition countermeasures against such home-made explosive devices and their limitations. The prosecution's affidavit is dated Dec. 21, 2017, but was made public on Monday. It follows the unsealing last week of a U.S. indictment charging Assange with conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Assange in Washington, said: "Encouraging sources to provide information, and using methods to protect their identity, are common practices by all journalists. There is no new information in the affidavit that was unavailable to the Department of Justice when it decided in the Obama administration that pursuing criminal charges against Mr. Assange would be contrary to the First Amendment." British police arrested Assange at Washington's request after Ecuador revoked his seven-year asylum on Thursday. He was dragged out of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and is being held in prison while he faces extradition to the United States. The U.S. indictment, originally issued in secret by an Alexandria, Virginia-based grand jury in March 2018, said Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password for a classified U.S. government network. In the unsealed affidavit, prosecutors said Manning also had access to other U.S. government databases, including one relating to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a State Department database containing military cables. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball, editing by G Crosse) Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) just posted its first-quarter report, and at first glance, the numbers look solid. Earnings came in better than expected and growth, profitability, and efficiency appear strong. With that in mind, here's a look at Bank of America's first-quarter earnings, and the most important points for investors to know. Interior of a Bank of America branch. Image source: Bank of America. The headline numbers Bank of America beat expectations on the bottom line, reporting $0.70 a share in earnings, $0.04 above analyst estimates. On the top line, the bank's $23 billion in revenue matched expectations. So just based on the headline numbers, it appears Bank of America had a pretty solid first quarter. Having said that, those figures rarely tell the entire story of how a company performed. Let's dig a little deeper to get a better idea of how Bank of America is doing so far in 2019. Looking beyond the headlines The short version is that Bank of America's numbers look solid all around. There was a bit of weakness in trading revenue, but since the rest of the big banks have already reported their results, this wasn't a big surprise. With that in mind, here are some of the most important numbers for investors to know. The good Bank of America's net interest yield, which can be essentially thought of as the bank's "profit margin" on loans, expanded by 9 basis points year over year to 2.51%. This is among the best margin expansions we've seen in the industry so far this earnings season. The bank's efficiency ratio improved to 57% from 60% a year ago on effective expense management. Return on assets (ROA) of 1.26% is a solid improvement from 1.21% a year ago. The loan and deposit portfolios grew by 4% and 5%, respectively. Bank of America continues to be a technology leader, with 9% more mobile users than a year ago. Digital sales now represent more than one-fourth of all of Bank of America's consumer banking sales. Bank of America bought back $6.3 billion in stock during the first quarter. Based on the current price, this represents 2.2% of the bank's outstanding shares, an aggressive stock buyback rate for a single quarter. The not-so-good Story continues It's rare for a bank to have an excellent quarter all around without any problem areas. Bank of America's first quarter did have its share of disappointing and concerning numbers, and here are the most significant: Bank of America's net charge-off ratio increased by 3 basis points and the bank's provision for credit losses grew by $179 million, indicating that loan quality may be deteriorating slightly, or the bank may be anticipating an economic slowdown. Investment banking fees declined by 7%, thanks to a general lack of IPOs and debt offerings in the first quarter. Trading revenue was a particularly weak spot, as market volatility was rather low in the first quarter, especially compared with the first quarter of 2018. Equity trading revenue plunged 22% from a year ago and fixed-income revenue dropped by 8%. Investor takeaway Bank of America's first quarter was solid all around. While some of the increased charge-offs were caused by the credit card portfolio, the bulk was due to a single commercial loan exposure. Trading revenue was down across the industry, so that shouldn't be too concerning. And while a lack of IPOs caused poor investment banking revenue during the first quarter, there's a wave of high-profile IPOs expected in the third quarter and beyond, so this could easily turn around going forward. Bank of America is growing its business and its profits nicely, is returning tons of capital to its shareholders, and is doing a great job of keeping expenses low and efficiency high. Investors should be pleased with the bank's performance, and at less than 11 times earnings, Bank of America stock could be an excellent value given its impressive growth. More From The Motley Fool Matthew Frankel, CFP owns shares of Bank of America. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. By Jan Wolfe (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress has strong arguments for obtaining President Donald Trump's tax returns, but first faces a long court battle that could extend into the 2020 presidential election, some legal experts said. Democratic Party leaders, who took control of the House in November, have recently stepped up pressure on Trump to release tax records from 2013 to 2018, which legal experts said could shed light on the president's business dealings. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, which oversees tax matters, has given the Internal Revenue Service until April 23 to produce the documents. Trump's personal lawyer, William Consovoy, in a letter to the Treasury Department on Monday, accused Neal's committee of using its "investigatory tools to unlawfully retaliate against a political opponent." Lawmakers can go to court and ask a judge to force disclosure of the tax returns, but such a process could unfold slowly and become an issue in the 2020 election, legal experts said. "I expect Trump will stall at every opportunity," said Steven Rosenthal, a tax lawyer with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, adding that "delay is a victory for Trump." Consovoy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A law from 1924 says that the IRS "shall furnish" any tax return requested by the chair of the Ways and Means committee. "If you look at the plain language of the statute, Neal is on strong footing here," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. But this does not mean that Congress has unlimited power to request tax returns, experts said. If Congress invokes this statute, it must be acting with a legitimate legislative purpose, legal experts said, citing a 1957 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that decision, the Court said that Congress was not a law enforcement agency that can seek information to uncover crimes. Neal said in an April 4 statement that the documents will aid Congress in evaluating whether the IRS has been effective in enforcing tax laws against the president. The IRS has a policy of auditing the tax returns of all sitting presidents and vice presidents, yet little is known about the effectiveness of the law, Neal said. Consovoy in Monday's letter said that "no one actually believes" Neal's "invented" reasons for wanting the tax returns. Ross Garber, a lawyer in Washington focusing on political investigations, called Consovoy's argument "plausible" and said it was possible a court would side with the president. Garber said Congress' authority to request the documents would be stronger if it were conducting impeachment proceedings. Courts have held that Congress' investigative powers are broader in the impeachment context, he said. But Edward Kleinbard, a tax law professor at the University of Southern California, said Neal's stated reason for demanding the tax returns ensuring that tax laws are being enforced against Trump was more than sufficient. "The integrity of tax system depends on peoples' willingness to assess tax against themselves. The president of the U.S. is the taxpayer-in-chief, and he sets the standard," Kleinbard. Kleinbard, who formerly served as chief of staff to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, noted that Trump was the first U.S. president in nearly 40 years who has not voluntarily released his tax returns to the public. Trump has said he cannot make the returns public because they are under audit. Kleinbard called that argument "nonsense," saying nothing prohibits a person under audit from releasing his tax returns. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Lisa Shumaker) Puis il dit au disciple, Voila ta Mere. And then he said to the disciple, Behold thy Mother. Its one of the most gripping scenes in the Gospels of Holy Week. From the cross, Christ says to his mother, Woman, behold thy son. To his disciple, he says, Behold thy mother. This is the moment that Mary becomes, for all Christians, Our Mother. And Our Lady. In French: Notre Dame. When I heard two years ago that Our Lady in Paris was falling apart, the victim of neglect by the French state and the church acting in perverse concert, I said that I felt impelled to make plans to travel to Paris to see it before it was too late. Alas, whenever I do see it, it will be different. My mind had already been in France. On Saturday morning, I met NRs occasional Paris correspondent, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, in New York City, just ahead of his flight back home. And tonight he sent me texts, shell-shocked at the enormity unfolding in his city, relaying the awful smell of smoke that swirled over him with the change of the wind, an awful image of burning incense being offered from what was once the heart of Christendom. It is hard not to see the burning of a sacred structure as a kind of vision of apocalypse itself. I felt stomach-sick in recent years as ISIS exploded ancient temples of Eastern Syria and shrines to the biblical prophet Jonah. The French were also so moved today. Bernard Pivot, a beloved 83-year-old French journalist, a man of letters in the way the term used to be understood, was staggered by the sight of Our Lady burning and collapsing. He wrote: When the burning spire fell, it was as if, all together, faith and history and beauty had given up in the face of barbarism. But not all is lost. No one was killed. Priests report that the process of renovation itself that may have been a proximate cause of the fire meant that many pieces of artwork and holy relics had already been removed from the church before the fire. The Holy Eucharist had been saved from the destruction. And as night settled over Paris, firefighters reported that the facade and two towers had been saved from the utter destruction. President Emmanuel Macron announced, This Cathedral will be rebuilt. Story continues But that rebuilding will be a massive undertaking. The spire fell. The interior is damaged. The 200-million-dollar renovation that had been funded primarily by Americans will look like a drop in the bucket compared with the cost of restoring the cathedral from this fire. VIEW GALLERY: Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral But some things are unrecoverable. Some of the medieval techniques and the late-19th-century techniques used in a previous restoration are poorly understood or lost to history entirely. And of course, what is lost also is some of the venerable warp and woof of the place. The first stone was laid in 1163, and the last in 1345, an amazing testament to the high Middle Ages and the ability of Christians to see through a project over many centuries. Even rebuilt, it will be introduced to new people, people as yet unborn, as destroyed in 2019 and restored later. Ive been tempted in the past to make Notre Dames disrepair into a symbol of the disrepair of the Catholic Church itself, of the decay of Christianity in France specifically and Europe more generally. But the fact is, it is also an operating cathedral that attracts regular worshippers from Paris as well as tourists who make of Notre Dame a one-Mass pilgrimage. It is a symbol of medieval greatness, of French culture, and Parisian splendor. But it also a church in which worshippers still commune with the divine, in which the bell rings and men and women fall to their knees, honoring Notre Dame, and adoring her son, God Incarnate. More from National Review Bernie Sanders will finish a four-day tour of Trump Country on Monday, with a town hall on the presidents favorite network: Fox News. Related: Ilhan Omar has had spike in death threats since Trump attack over 9/11 comment It is an unexpected partnership, between a self-described democratic socialist and a media outlet that dedicates primetime to pundits who rail against a purported creep of socialism. The event will be staged in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a state Trump won by less than 1%, and it will be moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Sanders is the first Democratic presidential candidate to appear on the network for such an event. He says it is a way to speak directly to Trump supporters, to make the case that the president is a pathological liar who has misled the working class. The booking is also important for Fox News, which was banned from hosting a Democratic primary debate. Among Democrats, the booking has drawn criticism. Some progressive groups are urging presidential contenders to boycott the network whose stream of pro-Trump commentary has led critics to liken it to unofficial state TV. Its functionally the same as political propaganda and going on does more harm than good Angelo Carusone, Media Matters Fox News has turned into something, particularly in the last year, that is distinguishable and different from just being a conservative outlet, said Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog. Its functionally the same as political propaganda and going on does more harm than good. Carusone distinguishes between brief appearances on news shows and the staging of events, such as town halls and debates, which require negotiation. Refusing to partner with Fox News could force it to change its behavior, he said. Media Matters has pushed advertisers to drop Fox shows when hosts make offensive or controversial statements. Last month, Media Matters released recordings of controversial statements made by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson on talk radio. At the same time, Fox was forced to distance itself from on-air comments made by host Jeanine Pirro, who asked if congresswoman Ilhan Omars wearing of a hijab was antithetical to the US constitution. Some advertisers withdrew from the shows concerned. Story continues Now is the moment of accountability, Carusone said. Democrats really need to ask themselves if at this moment they really want to be throwing Fox News a lifeline. Marianne Gambelli, Foxs president of ad sales, said the network recently had a very successful upfront presentation where our advertisers walked away feeling extremely positive about our story and the value of our audience. She said the network anticipated no change to its ad sales this year. Successful Democratic presidential candidates must engage directly with our large, diverse audience Bill Sammon, Fox News Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and author of Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics, said the relationship between Fox and Trump was both unprecedented and symbiotic. Shifting directions, she said, could therefore cost Fox an important segment of its viewers. She pointed to a period during the 2016 campaign when Trump was feuding with Fox, and especially with host Megyn Kelly. Then, Breitbart was able to edge out Fox to become the center of the rightwing media ecosystem. Weve seen in the past when Fox goes against the wishes of its base, the base goes elsewhere, said Hemmer, who previously told the New Yorker Fox was the closest weve come to having state TV. The very notion of truth Sanders has defended his town hall appearance, which will air at 6.30pm, ahead of the networks primetime lineup that draws its largest audience. Sanders speaks at a Fox News town hall in Detroit in March 2016. Sanders speaks at a Fox News town hall in Detroit in March 2016.Photograph: Carlos Osorio/AP In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Sanders said: When I go on Fox, what I will say is, Look, many of you voted for Donald Trump, but he lied to you. He told you he was gonna provide healthcare for everybody. Yet his policies are to throw 30m people off of the health insurance they have How do you explain that to people who voted for Trump if you dont talk to people who voted for Trump? Related: 'They call me Mayor Pete': Buttigieg launches 2020 presidential run Asked in the same interview if he believes the network is a propaganda arm of the White House, Sanders replied: In most respects, I think it is. Distinguishing between its journalists and its primetime pundits who bring in most of its viewers, Fox News has aggressively defended its reporting operation. Last month the Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced that it would exclude Fox News from the presidential primary debates, amid concern it would not be fair and neutral. The DNC chair, Tom Perez, attributed the decision to an 11,000-word New Yorker article in which the veteran journalist Jane Mayer described how the 2016 election transformed a conservative-friendly news channel into a mouthpiece for the White House, providing as she did so fresh details on the intimate relationship between Fox and the Trump administration. That was followed by a three-part, six-month investigation by the New York Times on Fox founder Rupert Murdochs media empire, which the Times said had helped elevate marginal demagogues, mainstream ethno-nationalism and politicize the very notion of truth on three continents. Fox hosts such as Carlson and Sean Hannity help to shape and amplify the Trump policy agenda. Hannity even joined the president onstage at a campaign rally, to be praised as someone with us since the beginning. Fox News issued a statement at the time saying it does not condone any talent participating in campaign events. Trumps inner circle is filled with Fox News alumni, including former executive Bill Shine, who oversaw Trumps communications team until moving to the re-election campaign. Sanders talks with moderator Bret Baier during a Fox town hall in Detroit in March 2016. Sanders talks with the moderator, Bret Baier, during a Fox town hall in Detroit in March 2016.Photograph: Rebecca Cook/Reuters Perez is scheduled to appear on Foxs Americas Newsroom on Monday. He has said he does not have a problem with Democrats going on the network. But he draws a distinction between guest appearances and sponsored debates. I go on Fox News with regularity, so do other Democrats, Perez told the San Francisco Chronicles politics podcast. We dont discourage anyone from doing the same. Thats a far cry from hosting debates. Top-notch journalists Last month, Fox hosted a town hall with the former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, who is considering running for president as an independent. In 2016, it hosted town halls with Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Executives at the network said they hope Mondays town hall with Sanders and others in future with other Democratic contenders will push the DNC to reconsider on the debates. Related: Michelle Obama gets rock star reception at London O2 interview In a statement, Bill Sammon, Fox News senior vice-president and managing editor in Washington, said: Were pleased that Senator Bernie Sanders and the DNC agree with Fox News that successful Democratic presidential candidates must engage directly with our large, diverse audience through televised town halls with top-notch journalists Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum and Chris Wallace. The former Maryland congressman John Delaney, the Democratic presidential candidate who appears most frequently on Fox, thinks the network provides a unique opportunity to engage in a contest of ideas with a conservative audience. The premise of my candidacy is that the country is divided and we need to bring the country back together again, he said. Youre not going to bring the country back together again if you refuse to go on Fox News. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist senator from Vermont, released a decade of tax returns on Monday, showing his family made $566,000 in 2018, and piling further pressure on Donald Trump to release his long-awaited tax returns. According to returns provided by his campaign, Sanders reported he paid $137,573 in federal taxes in 2018 and owed $8,267 in taxes for the year. Sanders and his wife, Jane Sanders, reported paying a 26% effective tax rate on his adjusted gross income. The couple reported donating $18,950 to charity, or 3.2%. The returns show his decision to run for president in 2016 had benefited the Sanders familys bottom line which jumped from $240,622 in 2015 to $1,073,333 a year later. Since his first bid, Sanders and his wife from 2016-2018 made a total of more than $2.79m. Related: Kamala Harris: presidential candidate releases 15 years of tax returns Sanders released his tax returns on tax day, the deadline for most Americans to file their tax returns. Fellow Democratic candidate Beto ORourke followed soon after, releasing 10 years worth of tax returns. ORourke disclosed he and his wife paid $81,000 in taxes on $366,000 of income in 2017. His 2018 filing was not yet available. The candidates disclosures come as Democrats continue to demand Donald Trumps tax returns, which the president claims he cant make public because he is under IRS audit. On Monday, Sanders followed up the release with a town hall meeting hosted by Fox News, stressing the discrepancy between the Democrats disclosures and the presidents stance. Sanders explained that the majority of his earnings $382,920 came from writing and royalties, including the bestselling Where We Go from Here. Anyone who thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, Im sorry, Im not going to do it, he said. And he went on to defend his vote against Trumps tax bill, the same legislation from which he, as a high earner, now benefits disproportionately. Story continues All wealthy people and large corporations should pay their fair share of taxes, Sanders said. We have an absurd tax system, he continued. While millions of people are paying more in taxes than they anticipated, Amazon, Netflix and dozens of major corporations as a result of Trumps tax bill pay nothing in corporate taxes, and I think thats a disgrace. Pressed by Fox anchors as to why he did not volunteer to hand over a greater proportion of his income, up to the 52% tax rate he proposes, or give more to charity, Sanders said: I pay the taxes I owe and, by the way, why dont you get Donald Trump up here and ask him how much he pays in taxes? I guess the president watches your network a little bit, Sanders said, turning to the camera. Hey President Trump, my wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same. Let the American people know. Related: Contact the Guardian securely Sanders decision to appear on Fox News on Monday had been contentious, especially after the Democratic National Committee announced last month that it would not hold any of its presidential debates on the network, saying Fox could not hold a fair and neutral event. The debate, hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, was held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a county won by Trump in 2016 after a 9% swing from Democrats. On air, Sanders said he recognized that a Democratic presidential candidate would not win in 2020 merely by complaining about Trump. Not everyone thought I should come on this show, Sanders acknowledged. This network does not necessarily have a great deal of respect in my world but I thought it was important to be here and have a serious discussion about serious issues. Sanders went on to discuss the controversies surrounding the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Related: Bernie in the Fox's den: Sanders takes anti-Trump pitch straight to 'state TV' He allowed that Ilhan could do a better job talking to the Jewish community, but I dont think Ilhan is an antisemite. He also stressed: It is not antisemitic to be critical of a rightwing government in Israel. Ranging through topics from abortion to defense spending, poverty to wealth taxes, Sanders returned to his definition of what it means to be a socialist. Democratic socialism to me means creating a government, an economy and a society that works for all, not just the top 1%. It means ending inequalities that exist today. Youre not going to hear this much on Fox or on the media in general. America has got to include that you have three families owning more wealth than the bottom half of society, he said, to cheers from the audience. A couple was charged in a Meru court for inconveniencing members of the public by way of noisy screams while having sex. The h*rny lovebirds; Chacha Mwita, 24, and Cynthia Mauhokha, 31, were charged alongside Magoola Twaha, a 27-year-old Ugandan. Resident Magistrate Maureen Odhiambo heard that on Sunday at Makutano Imenti North in Meru, the threesome was found in a lodging with the intent to commit a felony. State prosecutor Adams Chelule told the Court that police officers from Meru police station acting on a tip-off from members of the public ambushed the three suspects at Palms Guest House. The officers had received information that a witch doctor was staging a scene to dupe members of the public, reports the Star newspaper. Mwita, who is a businessman, and Cynthia, a casual labourer, were to pretend to be stuck together during coitus, with the witchdoctor (Twaha) coming to their rescue using his black magic. Prosecutor Chelule said when police arrived at the scene, the lovebirds were heard screaming in one of the rooms. They proceeded to the room and found the couple in the act screaming as Twaha watched. Police were forced to shoot in the air to disperse a crowd that was gathering to watch the incident unfold. The witch doctor Magoola Twaha pleaded not guilty to two charges. Mwita and Chacha had pleaded guilty to two counts but after hearing the details pertaining to the charges, the court entered a plea of not guilty. Cynthia testified that she was in her usual business when she and Chacha agreed on Sh1,000 for sex but the businessman gave her only Sh400. She stated that she has known Chacha since December last year and she was shouting as she demanded full payment before having sex with her co-accused. On his part, Chacha told the court they were not stuck as police alleged and that they were surprised to see a crowd gathering. Magistrate Odhiambo said in view of their response the court presumed they had not pleaded guilty. The magistrate slapped the suspects with a cash bail of Sh20, 000 or a bond of Sh50, 0000. The matter will be mentioned on April 29 and heard on May 15, 2019. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Monday evening Fox News town hall event was the most-watched town hall event of the 2020 campaign thus far, according to early Nielsen data. And at least four other Democratic candidates are open to participating in one of their own. According to early Nielsen data, more than 2.5 million viewers tuned in to hear Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, make his case on Fox News during the 6:30pm hour, prior to primetime. That total viewership bested CNNs Bernie Sanders town hall event from back in February; and it doubled MSNBCs during the same time period on Monday evening, and nearly tripled CNNs. The prior town hall ratings record for the 2020 cycle was a CNN-hosted event with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), which drew 1.95 million total viewers. Additionally, per Nielsen, Foxs Sanders event brought in 489,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54a key demographic for cable-news advertiserstrouncing CNNs 281,000 tally and MSNBCs 208,000. The event, which took place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, saw the Vermont senator discuss a wide range of topics and occasionally spar with moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. The Democratic National Committee banned the network from hosting one of its sanctioned debates, citing a New Yorker report on the networks close ties to President Trump. But the success of Sanders town hall eventboth in terms of ratings and the headlines generatedcomes as at least three other presidential campaigns consider being involved in a similar event. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in talks to participate in a Fox News town hall, a campaign aide told The Daily Beast, and he had been prior to the airing of Sanders event. Meanwhile, the campaign for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)the latest entry into the crowded Democratic contestsaid hes willing to do a Fox town hall, and we expect to start discussions with the network soon regarding a time and place. Discussions about doing so have not yet begun, according to the campaign but Swalwell had previously told The Daily Beast that he makes efforts to appear on the network. Story continues Julia Krieger, communications director for Rep. Tim Ryans (D-OH) presidential campaign said that he is also willing to do a town hall with Fox News, adding that the campaign has reached out proactively to the network to express interest in this type of forum. She said that the network had also reached out to them. And Jennifer Fiore, a senior adviser to Julian Castro's campaign, told The Daily Beast that they are in conversations with the network as well. "Hes been a red state mayor and has always campaigned hard for every single vote on both sides of the aisle and will do the same thing in his campaign for president of the United States because everybody counts," she said. The network had previously said they hoped the DNC would reconsider its position on hosting a debate on Fox. We hope the DNC will reconsider its decision to bar Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, all of whom embody the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism, from moderating a Democratic presidential debate, said Bill Sammon, Fox News senior vice president and D.C. managing editor. Theyre the best debate team in the business and they offer candidates an important opportunity to make their case to the largest TV news audience in America, which includes many persuadable voters. Update 6:25 P.M.: This story was updated to reflect an additional statement from Castro's campaign. Andrew Kirell and Scott Bixby contributed reporting. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Senator Bernie Sanders released a decades worth of his tax returns after years of resisting disclosure as he makes a second run at the presidency against Democratic Party rivals who are making financial transparency a litmus test for the campaign. The returns show Sanders and his wife, Jane, earned more than $1 million in total income in 2016 and 2017. They earned $519,529 of taxable income in 2018, paying $145,840 in federal taxes for an effective rate of 28 percent. The Vermont independent, one of 18 declared candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, reported income from his job in the Senate and more than $381,000 in income from book royalties in 2018. His books earned him $875,000 in royalties in 2017. In 2017, when the Sanders earned nearly $1.2 million, the couples highest-income year in the past decade, they paid an effective rate of nearly 32 percent. I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country, Sanders said in a statement issued with the returns. The Sanderss income has increased sharply in recent years as he earned more from book royalties and gained fame as a iconoclastic presidential candidate. From 2009 to 2015 the couples average income was about $281,000. On their 2017 tax return, the Sanders checked the box indicating that they had a financial interest in or signature authority over a financial account located in a foreign country. But in an amended return signed earlier this month, they said that was a mistake and that they never had such an account in 2017. Withholding The Sanders appear to have under-withheld last year a common problem for many taxpayers adjusting to filing returns for the first time under the tax overhaul, which changed the withholding tables. Their 2018 return shows that upon filing, they owe the IRS $8,267, after having withheld $22,573 for federal taxes. They paid the rest of their liability in estimated quarterly payments. Story continues Despite the drop in income last year, the Sanders fell squarely each year into the top 1 percent of wealthiest Americans, as defined by a May 2018 study based upon the 2014 tax year by economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. Taxpayers needed income of at least $458,000 and less than $1,960,000 to be in that group. Their most recent return listed $41,764 in deductions slightly below average for their income level, according to IRS data for 2014, the most recent year available. The new law limited the ability of taxpayers to itemize deductions by nearly doubling the standard deduction, to $12,000 for single taxpayers and $24,000 for married taxpayers who file jointly. Deduction Limit In 2018, the Sanders paid $65,086 in state and local income taxes and property taxes on two homes in Vermont and one in Washington D.C.; that deduction is now capped at $10,000 under the new law. They also paid $12,814 in home mortgage interest. The Sanders gave $18,950 to charity in cash and other gifts in 2018, a little more than half of their $36,300 in giving in 2017. The Sanders gave $10,600 in 2016 but before that, their yearly giving never topped $10,000. Sanderss book royalties were larger than many of his 2020 rivals. Elizabeth Warren reported nearly $325,000 in income from her book. Kirsten Gillibrand reported about $50,000 of book deal profits. Since 2016, Sanders has published three books, including Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, which he used to launch his last presidential bid. If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a best-selling book, Im not going to do it, Sanders said Monday at a town hall event hosted by Fox News. Sanders shouldnt feel ashamed for making money, said Morris Pearl, chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy individuals that advocates for progressive tax policies. The system is rigged in our favor and we should do more to correct that. The senator refused to release his full tax returns when he ran for the nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hes contending again as one of the front-runners, and is attempting to manage the disconnect between his decades of rhetoric about the political power wielded by the wealthy and his own position within that group. When he ran against Clinton, Sanders released a lone return, from the 2014 tax year. Since then, Sanders has gone from a small-state senator with ideas mostly seen outside the mainstream, to one of the most recognizable politicians in the U.S. Sanders now joins several other 2020 Democratic hopefuls who have released at least 10 years worth of tax returns, including Senate colleagues Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand and former Representative Beto ORourke. The release of tax documents has taken on added importance for the Democratic candidates who are drawing a contrast with President Donald Trump, who has refused to release his tax returns despite longstanding practice. Sanders has several tax proposals that could increase his own liability. In 2016, he campaigned on increasing the top individual tax rate to 52 percent. He also has a plan that would apply the estate tax to individuals worth at least $3.5 million. Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday evening released ten years of his tax returns, which show how the self-described democratic socialists 2016 presidential campaign made him a millionaire. Sanders and his wifes adjusted gross income last year was $561,293 with a 26 percent effective tax rate. Of that amount, $382,920 came from his books and other royalties. Over the two years since the Vermont independents unexpectedly successful challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, he and his wife, Jane, have earned more than $2.79 million, his returns show, which were released on the deadline for U.S. citizens to file taxes. Their adjusted gross income in 2017 was $1,131,925 with an effective tax rate of 30.4 percent, and $1,062,626 in 2016 with an effective tax rate of 35 percent. In 2015, the year Sanders announced his first White House run, they made $240,622. However, the Sanders reported they also made $18,950 in charitable donations last year. Proceeds from one of the senators books also go to charity, a contribution they do not claim a deduction for. These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity, Sanders said in a statement. That is why I strive every day to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life, including a livable wage, decent housing, health care and retirement security. I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people, he said. I just released 10 years of taxes. @realDonaldTrump, please do the same. #BernieTownHall Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 15, 2019 Several other Democratic presidential candidates have released their tax returns as well, including Senators Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as Washington Governor Jay Inslee and former Rep. Beto ORourke. Story continues Trumps opponents have made a point about being transparent about their tax returns given the controversy the president caused by refusing to do so, saying he is still under audit by the IRS. He became the first Republican or Democratic nominee in several decades not to release them during campaign season. More from National Review WASHINGTON (AP) Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released 10 years of his long-anticipated tax returns as he campaigns for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The returns provide a more detailed look at Sanders' finances than when he ran for president in 2016. The release also confirms that Sanders' income crossed the $1 million threshold in 2016 and 2017, though he reported less earnings in his most recent return. His 2018 return reveals that he and his wife, Jane, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 in income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in sales of his book, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In." Sanders' campaign said in a news release that he paid 26% effective tax rate in 2018. During his first presidential bid, Sanders released just one year of his tax returns despite primary rival Hillary Clinton pushing him to follow her lead and release multiple years of tax information. He declined to do so, disclosing only his tax return for 2014. Tax transparency has been in the spotlight as Donald Trump bucks decades of presidential tradition by declining to show voters his tax filings and House Democrats seek to force him to turn them over. During a Fox News Channel town hall on Monday, Sanders said that he'd increased his income by publishing a book he's written two with campaign themes and that he wouldn't apologize for that. He also challenged Trump to release his tax returns. "I guess the president watches your network a little bit, right?" Sanders said to the moderators. "Hey, President Trump. My wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same." The filings show that Sanders, who throughout his career has called for an economy and government that works for everyone and not just the 1 percent, is among the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. According to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. families in the U.S. earning $421,926 or more a year are part of this group. Story continues In a statement accompanying the release, Sanders said that the returns show that his family has been "fortunate," something he is grateful for after growing up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. "I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people," Sanders added. Sanders, 77, has also listed Social Security payments for each year of the decade of tax returns he made available Monday. By 2018, his wife, 69, was also taking Social Security, providing the couple with nearly $52,000 for the year. Sanders' status as a millionaire, which he acknowledged last week, was cemented in his 2017 statement. That year, Sanders disclosed $1.31 million income, combined from his Senate salary and $961,000 in book royalties and sales. His higher income in two of the three most recent years could potentially prompt questions from voters about his frequent criticisms of the influence that millionaires and billionaires have over the political process. Sanders and his wife disclosed $36,300 in charitable contributions in 2017, but their return does not detail each individual contribution. That same year, the couple announced publicly that they had donated $25,000 as a grant to launch the Sanders Institute, a nonprofit educational organization aligned with the senator's political and ideological interests. Jane Sanders was a co-founder of the nonprofit, along with her son, David Driscoll, who became the institute's executive director. Sanders and his wife put the institute on hiatus last month amid criticism that the nonprofit blurred lines between family, fundraising and campaigning. Jane Sanders said the nonprofit would cease operations beginning in May "so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety." A number of Sanders' rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have released tax records to varying degrees. Gillibrand was the first candidate to release her 2018 tax returns, and her campaign released a video in which she called on other candidates to join her. Warren, who has also already released her 2018 tax returns, made public 10 years of tax information last year. Harris released 15 years of tax returns over the weekend. Klobuchar released her 2018 tax return on Monday and said in a campaign video that she hoped Trump, who spent the day campaigning in Minnesota, would release his own taxes on his trip to the state. (He didn't.) Again, Bernie Sanders is distinguishing himself from his Democratic colleagues on matters of character, confidence, and imagination. The Democratic party has rejected offers from Fox News to host its primary debates. But on Monday night, Sanders did a town hall from Bethlehem, Pa., which sits in one of those now-famous counties that suffered de-industrialization, voted for Barack Obama in 2012, and then went for Donald Trump in 2016. It was a very savvy move. It demonstrated Sanderss verve, a strong dash of political courage, and a presidential willingness to speak to audiences beyond his partys base. Republicans would be foolish to think hes a pushover. We should dwell on Sanderss decision to appear on Fox in this format. Your network doesnt have a lot of respect in my world, but I thought it was important, he told hosts Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum of the event. And of course hes right. The media environment is entirely transformed from 20 or 30 years ago. Even the most dedicated news consumers often watch one cable network that matches their political disposition, and then consume news and opinion (and opinionated news) through social-media feeds biased first by their actual social milieu and then by algorithms that feed consumers more of what they already like. Sanders is smart to cross the media aisle. He also found ways to speak to his base and a Fox News audience at the same time. When asked by a centrist Democrat about whether the party was drifting too far to the left, Sanders pivoted to giving an answer that would sound good to leftists who want to talk about policy, centrists who want to think of themselves as high-minded and civic, and conservatives as well. If we spend all our time attacking Trump, Democrats are going to lose, he averred. Not profound, but a very politic answer nonetheless. Sanders effectively and charmingly exposed the gap between Donald Trumps political rhetoric and the reality of his administration. The tax cuts wont go to the wealthy, Trump promised. In fact, Sanders pointed out, most of them did go to the wealthiest payers. National Review readers know that this was inevitable because the tax burden falls heaviest on those who earn the most. But Sanders still made an effective rhetorical weapon of it. He brought up Trumps campaign promise not to cut Medicare or Medicaid, and the fact that Trumps budgets would do just that. Story continues Sanders was canny when answering questions on immigration. He emphasized the need for more judges to handle the incredible burst of asylum claims at the border. We need border security, of course. Who argues with that? Sanders said. He was also rather effective on health care. Baier pointed out that 180 million Americans have private insurance that would be canceled by Sanderss plan. Sanders retorted that many Americans see their insurance plans change annually when their employers shop for new plans, or whenever their jobs change. That Republicans have offered nothing to remove the kludgeocracy of administering health insurance through New Deal-era tax loopholes makes the proposed simplicity of Sanderss plan appealing by comparison. Sanders was also able to show off his blessedly ornery and old-school personality, which is a winner, I think. Challenged on his status as a 1 percenter with a net worth in the seven figures, Sanders replied, If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, Im sorry, Im not going to do it. A non-apology that contains an apology. Bernie supporters have a lot to be excited about. Their candidate has not only moved his party on ideas, hes transformed himself from a prophetical voice of the left to presidential material. He has a message that is aimed perfectly at the states that Trump won narrowly in 2016 and that a Democrat needs to win back in 2020. His message discipline springs from the fundamental integrity of his convictions. Hes formidable. And, once again, his appearance on Fox distinguishes him from other Democrats and particularly from Hillary Clinton. Many Republicans who watch Fox News and consume populist media can get the distinct impression that Democrats are just waiting for them to die. That was what was so damaging about Hillary Clintons basket of deplorables comment and her implication that Trump supporters will have no place in defining American life going forward. Sanders believes in his message so much, he wants to pitch it to you just before you settle in for Tucker Carlson Tonight. Thats to his credit. More from National Review Bernie Sanders became a millionaire in 2016, putting him in the top 1 per cent of earners in the US, according to the senators long-anticipated release of 10 years of his tax returns. The release confirms Mr Sanders' income crossed the $1m (764,000) threshold in 2016 and 2017, although he reported less earnings in his most recent return. In the Vermont senators 2018 return, he and his wife, Jane Sanders, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in books sales. The Sanders campaign said he paid 26 per cent effective tax rate in 2018. The release comes as Mr Sanders faces criticism that his newfound wealth contradicts his political message of democratic socialism in his 2020 presidential campaign. During a Fox News town hall meeting on Monday, the senator said his increased income came from the publication of his book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. At the televised meeting, Mr Sanders said he would not apologise for his recent wealth. That money in my case, and my wifes case, came from a book I wrote, a pretty good book, you might want to read it, he said. It was a bestseller, it sold all over the world, and we made money. So if anyone thinks I should apologise for writing a bestselling book, Im sorry Im not going to do it. He also challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns. I guess the president watches your network a little bit, right? Mr Sanders said to moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Hey, President Trump. My wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same. Mr Trump broke from decades of presidential tradition by refusing to show voters his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign. In 2016, Mr Sanders released just one year of his tax returns and faced criticism from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for refusing to release multiple years of tax documents. Story continues Mr Sanders tax returns show he is among the top 1 per cent of earners in the US, which some critics have argued undermines his calls for an economy and government that works for everyone, not just the 1 per cent. According to the Economic Policy Institute, families in the US earning $421,926 or more a year are part of this group. These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate, the senator said in a statement. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people." The release also disclosed $36,300 of charitable contributions by Mr Sanders and his wife in 2017, although the return does not detail their individual contributions. In 2017, the couple announced that they had donated $25,000 as a grant to launch the Sanders Institute, a non-profit educational organisation aligned with the senators political and ideological beliefs. Jane Sanders was a co-founder of the non-profit, along with her son, David Driscoll. However, the institute was put on hiatus last month amid criticism that the organisation blurred lines between family, fundraising and campaigning. Ms Sanders said the nonprofit would cease operations beginning in May "so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety." The release of Mr Sanders returns follows a number of Democratic presidential candidates who have released tax records, including senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar. Fellow candidate Beto ORourke also recently released a decade of tax records, which showed he and his wife paid $81,000 in taxes on an income of $366,000 in 2017. Agencies contributed to this report Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke became the latest presidential candidate to release his tax returns Monday, following other 2020 hopefuls including Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. O'Rourke, and his wife, Amy Sanders O'Rourke, who filed joint returns for 2008 through 2017, reported total income of $370,412 in 2017, the latest year reported. The couple plans to release its 2018 tax return "as soon as possible after they are filed," according to a campaign news release. "This follows his commitment to increasing accountability and transparency," the campaign reported. ORourke and his wifes largest annual income in the 10-year period was $496,280 in 2009, when they reported a $272,775 gain from an investment partnership. More: White House chief of staff vows that Democrats will 'never' see Donald Trump's tax returns More: This Congress not 'smart enough' to understand Trump's tax returns, Sarah Sanders says El Pasoan Beto O'Rourke officially kicked off his presidential campaign March 30 on South El Paso Street in Downtown El Paso. The couples lowest reported income in the 10-year period was $163,539 in 2012, the year after ORourke left the El Paso City Council, and just before he took his seat as a United States congressman in January 2013. In 2017, the ORourkes reported selling Stanton Street Technology, the El Paso Internet web design firm started by Beto ORourke about 20 years ago, for $300,000, making a net gain of $195,627 after costs. However, they ended up losing $3,000 after all capital gains and losses were calculated for that year, according to their income tax return. ORourke earned $162,211 for serving in Congress in 2017, according to his tax return. It also showed $53,364 in income from his wife, who works for the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED, an El Paso business leaders group aimed at improving education levels in the El Paso area. She is the group's Choose to Excel director, according to its website. 2020 fundraising: Celebrities back Kamala Harris in 2020 fundraising, MAGA hats power Trump's haul in FEC reports Story continues Kamala Harris' taxes: Harris releases 15 years of taxes, reveals $2 million income Bernie Sanders' taxes: Sanders releases 10 years of long-anticipated taxes The ORourkes paid $81,019 in federal income tax in 2017. And they paid $88,798 in 2009, when they had their largest reported income. Other Democratic presidential candidates have released their tax returns, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and California Sen. Kamala Harris. Sanders' 2018 return showed he and his wife, Jane, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 in income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in sales of his book, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In," the Associated Press reported. He made more than $1 million in 2017 from his U.S. Senate salary and sales and royalties from his books. Harris' 2018 returns showed she and her husband had an adjusted gross joint income of about $1.9 million last year, The AP reported. Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Beto O'Rourke releases 10 years of tax returns, reveals he and wife made $370K in 2017 San Francisco (AFP) - How much are iPhone chips worth? That more or less is the question to be decided by a US court as Apple seeks billions in damages from former chip supplier Qualcomm. Since Apple originally filed suit in January 2017, the two US firms have been suing each other in multiple countries in a multi-front battle. At the heart of the battle are the royalties Qualcomm charges for its patented chips, which enable smartphones to connect to mobile networks. Apple accuses Qualcomm, which holds the most patents for chips, of taking advantage of its dominant position to charge exorbitant amounts for its chips or access to its patents. The iPhone maker refuses to pay up and is also seeking what could be billions of dollars in compensation. Qualcomm denies the allegations and accuses Apple of abusing its position and of taking legal action to negotiate prices down. After jury selection in the San Diego federal court, arguments are expected to begin Tuesday. Apple chief Tim Cook and Qualcomm's CEO Steve Mollenkopf are both expected to appear during the trial, which is set to last around a month. The stakes are high for Qualcomm, which earns a significant chunk of its revenue from royalties paid by manufacturers for its patented technology. "In order to purchase Qualcomm chips or obtain access to patents pledged to a cellular standard, Qualcomm demands that third parties pay Qualcomm a royalty much greater than the value of Qualcomm's contribution to the standard," Apple argues. "What this means in the case of the iPhone is that when Apple engineers create a revolutionary new security feature such as touch ID, which enables breakthrough technologies like Apple Pay, Qualcomm insists on royalties for these and other innovations it had nothing to do with and royalty payments go up," it said. "Even when Apple sells an iPhone with added memory256GB instead of 128GB -- Qualcomm collects a larger royalty just because of that added memory," according to the company, which claims it has been overcharged by "billions of dollars." Story continues - Contradictory rulings - Following its initial US lawsuit, Apple filed two more suits in China on the same basis. Qualcomm counter-sued. Also in early 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for alleged antitrust law violations in the sale of certain components and licenses to smartphone makers, including Apple. In April 2017, it was forced to pay $815 million to Canada's Blackberry in a royalties dispute. And since 2015, through both convictions and settlements, it has paid high antitrust fines in China, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Union. The Apple-Qualcomm spat has also led to reciprocal patents complaints. While Apple claims some of Qualcomm's patents aren't valid, Qualcomm accuses Apple of violating them -- and has sought to ban iPhone sales or imports in several countries, including the US. This has led to contradictory legal rulings. In March, a US court ruled in Apple's favor, a few hours after a judge of the same court ordered a partial ban of iPhone imports. That decision is awaiting review by a panel of judges and then possibly US President Donald Trump because iPhones don't directly compete with any Qualcomm products. A few days earlier, Qualcomm won a point as Apple was ordered to pay $31 million for patent infringement. Meanwhile, by the end of 2018, Qualcomm had secured a ban on the sale of certain iPhones in China and Germany -- again for patent violations -- but Apple may still appeal. The mother of slain student Ivy Wangechi over the weekend moved the country to tears when she bravely faced the press to defend her daughters honor against false reports about her firstborn child. Speaking on Sunday at their Thika Makongeni Phase 10 home, Winfred Waithera teared up as she appealed to bloggers to stop spreading false misrepresentations about Ivy Wangechi. It is with a lot of regret that I have learnt of an Ivy that only exists in the world of social media. That must be another Ivy, not my daughter. I want to make it clear that the Ivy the bloggers are talking about and trying to portray in a bad light in social media is not the same one we knew. The Ivy we knew was God-fearing, disciplined and one who did not depend on or have sponsors, said the grieving mum. The pain stricken mum further stated that her trainee doctor daughter was not infected with HIV/AIDS and any contrary claim was a rumour. We are still in shock and cannot believe that Ivy is gone forever. It is so hard to imagine that we will never see her again. It is so painful for us as parents and family, added Waithera. Following her address to the press, media personality Ciku Muiruri has related to her pain as a mother and penned an open letter. The author wrote the letter on her socials, drawing hundreds of comments and reactions from other Kenyans. Read the open letter below. ************************************************************* OPEN LETTER TO WINFRED WAITHERA (IVY WANGECHIS MUM). In this Holy Week, your daughter will be laid to rest. You have had to endure her being killed, twice. First, by the seemingly senseless slaying and the second time by bloggers and even radio presenters Specifically Didge on Homeboyz radio Who made jokes about her death and alluded to her deserving what she got. And Jalango who wrote a lengthy post on Instagram about women not accepting gifts from men without being ready to deal with the consequences. You have had to endure lies being spread about the apple of your eye. Everything from infecting this disturbed young man (that she never even dated) with HIV, to her being a money-grabbing slut. Yes, they have killed your angel twice. Today, there are reports of a 24-year-old woman in Nyaribo that has been stabbed and killed by her alleged ex-boyfriend. Another man who stabbed his wife 17 times in Mathira has given himself up to police. Hot on the heels of another stabbing in Pwani University where yet another girl fights for her life. Naomi Chepkembois crime was to send back money to a man whose attention she did not want. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. Mama Wangechi, Im a mum too. I too have a young, beautiful daughter. She is graduating from University in July, her life ahead of her. I can relate to the horror of what you must be going through. So I will try and hold your hand with my words, with the hope that they will give you just a small piece of comfort. This weekend, I saw a post questioning why God killed innocent Egyptian kids over Passover and saved the right kids from death. The meme is sarcastic and alludes to God willing evil by punishing innocent children. Im sure such thoughts may have crossed your mind. Why Ivy? Why a doctor? Why a God fearing girl? Why a girl so beautiful? Why a life so blessed? People die in churches worshipping. They die in floods, they die from crazed gunmen. And yes, from an axe wielding mad man. Gods choice to no longer will a person to live, is not to will evil. We must ALL die. But its never senseless. He gave up His only son to die. We will bury Him this Friday. And look what His death did for the world. Remember when Jesus cured a blind man in the Gospel of John? The disciples wondered whose sin had caused the mans blindness, his own or his parents. Neither, Jesus answered. Rather, he was made blind that the works of God might be revealed in him. Those kids in Egypt were also chosen that the works of God might be revealed in their deaths. We all have a role in this life, whether it is clear to us or not. So did Ivy. Yes, she needed to be a doctor. God fearing. Beautiful. A wonderful soul with a life so blessed. She needed to be all these things so that we can now SEE the girl in Pwani. So we can SEE the woman in Nyeri. These headlines are not new. But Ivy struck a chord in us all so deep, that we now SEE the other women. It may not seem like it now, but be sure your daughter did not die in vain. Because of her, we now SEE that mental health issues are REAL and must be taken more seriously. Because of her violence against women and blaming the victim will NOT be tolerated. Didge is serving a suspension from his job because of it. Jalango saw the error of his ways and deleted his post. Because of Ivy, we know that not everything you read on the Internet is true. Anyone can do it. Even you. Start a blog right now. Write anything you want. It will be on the Internet. That does not make what you write true. Because of your daughter people will begin to question what they read. They will look at the source. They will wait for a credible media house with the proper facts before they murder another person again with their words. Like they did to your daughter. Yes, as you lay your precious Ivy to rest, know that it was not in vain. Hundreds of other girls will live because she died. Thanks mum for your amazing daughter. She was chosen that the works of God might be revealed through her. #RIPIVYWANGECHI Get well soon to the women fighting for their lives. We SEE you. ***To help contribute to Ivys funeral expenses, the family have set up a pay bill number 855050 under Ivy Wangechi send-off. The CEO of Blue Prism Group plc (LON:PRSM) is Alastair Bathgate. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. View our latest analysis for Blue Prism Group How Does Alastair Bathgate's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Blue Prism Group plc has a market capitalization of UK1.2b, and pays its CEO total annual compensation worth UK222k. (This number is for the twelve months until October 2017). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at UK134k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations from UK763m to UK2.4b, and the median CEO total compensation was UK1.3m. A first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Alastair Bathgate is paid less than the average total compensation paid by similar sized companies. Though positive, it's important we delve into the performance of the actual business. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Blue Prism Group, below. AIM:PRSM CEO Compensation, April 16th 2019 Is Blue Prism Group plc Growing? On average over the last three years, Blue Prism Group plc has shrunk earnings per share by 64% each year (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 125% over last year. Investors should note that, over three years, earnings per share are down. But on the other hand, revenue growth is strong, suggesting a brighter future. In conclusion we can't form a strong opinion about business performance yet; but it's one worth watching. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has Blue Prism Group plc Been A Good Investment? Story continues Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Blue Prism Group plc for providing a total return of 1305% over three years. As a result, some may believe the CEO should be paid more than is normal for companies of similar size. In Summary... Blue Prism Group plc is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size. It's well worth noting that while Alastair Bathgate is paid below what is normal at companies of similar size, the returns have been very pleasing, over the last three years. We would like to see EPS growth, but in our view it seems the CEO is modestly remunerated. Whatever your view on compensation, you might want to check if insiders are buying or selling Blue Prism Group shares (free trial). Important note: Blue Prism Group may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE 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. By Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito BRASILIA, April 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's Supreme Court drew fire on Tuesday for silencing its critics with a confidential criminal case targeting the press, pundits on social media and even a retired Army general close to President Jair Bolsonaro. Chief Justice Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli opened the investigation last month into misinformation, slander and threats affecting the "honor and security" of the top court, according to court documents seen by Reuters. On Monday, the court ordered news website O Antagonista and associated magazine Crusoe to withdraw a story published on Friday that alleged a link between Toffoli and players in a long-running graft scandal. Police on Tuesday executed search and seizure warrants issued by the court targeting outspoken critics on social media such as former cavalry officer Paulo Chagas, who campaigned with Bolsonaro last year and called the Supreme Court soft on graft. The case is under seal and the court declined to comment. After five years of corruption investigations that have jailed former presidents and billionaire business leaders, the controversy over the Supreme Court's actions added to skepticism about even Brazil's most prestigious institutions. The court's offensive drew immediate blowback from newspaper editorials, prosecutors and, indirectly, Bolsonaro himself. Newspaper O Globo said in a Tuesday editorial that the order to take down the Antagonista/Crusoe story was "of a seriousness without precedents in democratic times." Brazil's top prosecutor, Raquel Dodge, told the court she was closing the investigation opened by Toffoli on the grounds that the Supreme Court could not both investigate and judge a criminal case. Bolsonaro posted a message to Twitter on Tuesday defending freedom of expression. "I believe in Brazil and its institutions and I respect the autonomy of the (branches of government), as written in our Constitution. They are indispensable principles for a democracy. That said, my position will always be in favor of freedom of expression, a legitimate and inviolable right," he wrote. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito Additional reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo Editing by Brad Haynes and Sonya Hepinstall) UK prime minister Theresa May with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Photo: Xinhua/Sipa USA Brexit may have wiped almost all else off the top of the agenda in the UK for the past three years, but official talks with the EU over Britains future relationship have not even begun. The negotiations with Brussels so far revolve around the terms of Britains divorce, as well as a political declaration that will only guide the far more comprehensive talks ahead on a future agreement. The Institute for Government (IfG) think tank warns the British government it must learn the lessons from failures in its handling of Brexit so far, to avoid repeating them during negotiations in the months and years to come. Here are some of its key recommendations from a damning new report on how Theresa May - or her successor as UK prime minister - should ensure Britain negotiates from a stronger position next time round. Decide clear objectives, and decide fast Britains years of political conflict and paralysis over the terms of the divorce mean the IfG feels compelled to state the seemingly obvious - that the government must choose fast and choose clearly what its objectives are. It points out that even the Chequers agreement, which sparked months of rows and resignations, was a compromise the cabinet only reached a whole six months after the EU had agreed talks could start. It says the government should use the extension of Article 50 until October to agree and publish a mandate for its vision, which must be ambitious but achievable. READ MORE: New EU law stops employers seeking revenge on whistleblowers The report notes: The time available to conclude an agreement by the end of transition in December 2020 is already very short and it is far from clear that the UK is ready. The government will require detailed negotiating positions and a clear strategy for achieving them on everything from financial services to participation in EU military missions. The government will also need to define what it is not prepared to accept. Avoid divisions among key players Story continues Split responsibilities between Downing Street and the department for exiting the EU (DexEU) caused tensions and ultimately proved unsustainable, according to the IfG. Confusion and division, the secretive approach of the prime minister and her advisers and the related loss of two Brexit secretaries put the UK in a poor position to negotiate effectively. The IfG recommends appointing a senior cabinet member as a deputy based in the cabinet office, avoiding the risk they have a separate departmental agenda and ensuring they are capable of knocking departmental heads together. It says the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, currently filled by David Lidington, is the best role for the job, warning DexEU cannot co-ordinate the negotiations. Fully engage parliament and devolved governments Mays administration engaged Parliament late, alienated the devolved governments and did not make use of external expertise, the reports authors suggest. The IfG says the meaningful vote was only granted to parliament after a hard battle, while the governments rift with Scottish authorities was so significant the Scottish Parliament failed to consent to flagship Brexit legislation. Engaging a Scottish government committed to independence was always going to be challenging, but this does not excuse the failure to follow through on the prime ministers early promises, it argues. Parliament should be entitled to debate thoroughly a detailed mandate published by the government on its negotiating ambitions, and to see the key documents underlying government decisions. Listen to outside voices The government has been slow, secretive and defensive taking into account the views of vital voices in the debate, from businesses to unions to civil society. It points out the EU did the polar opposite, making a virtue of its transparency and willingness to engage. READ MORE: Small firms demand vouchers to pay for Brexit planning costs The report says: If the government is serious about negotiating a future relationship that works for the whole UK, that needs to change. Proper structures should be created to ensure a genuine and effective dialogue with external bodies, rather than the one-way flow from the government so far, according to the IfG. Tread cautiously with divide and rule The IfG claims one of the biggest failures of the UK so far has been its divide and rule tactics, saying they cut little ice with European leaders. Tone deaf interventions by senior politicians for domestic audiences also derailed efforts to go over negotiators heads and appeal to individual nation states interests, the IfG says. But the IfG points out EU member states different interests will be more pronounced in future talks in areas like trade, arguing the government must fully understand each countrys interests and concerns by using its network of embassies and mission in Brussels. It says Britain must pay particular attention to states who may veto an agreement, and to friendlier countries that can help secure the EU countries unanimous backing for a deal. The sidelining of the Foreign Office so far, it adds, has been a major error which must not be repeated. BRUSSELS, April 16 (Reuters) - The European Union has warned Washington that any move to allow U.S. citizens to sue foreign firms doing business in Cuba could lead to a World Trade Organization challenge and a cycle of counter-claims in European courts. The EU has serious concerns over the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the practice of suspending on a rotating six-month basis a section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that would allow such suits, principally from Cuban-Americans. The comments came in a letter seen by Reuters from EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and dated April 10. The two EU officials called on Washington to adhere to a 1998 agreement to grant a consistent waiver for EU companies and citizens while the bloc suspends a WTO challenge over the issue. "Failing this, the EU will be obliged to use all means at its disposal, including in cooperation with other international partners, to protect its interests," the letter said. "The EU is considering a possible launch of the WTO case." The letter also said that EU courts were empowered to allow EU companies to recover any losses caused by claims over Cuba. It said that an overwhelming majority of the 50 largest claimants, making up more than 70 percent of the value of claims, had assets in the European Union. "This could trigger a self-defeating cycle of claims that will impair the business climate, without bringing justice to holders of claims, or impacting the situation in Cuba in any positive way," the two EU officials wrote. The Trump administration announced on March 4 it would allow lawsuits by U.S. citizens against dozens of Cuban companies on Washington's blacklist. However, it stopped short of allowing legal action against foreign firms who had used property confiscated by the Cuban government since the 1959 revolution - though it left the door open to doing so in the future. Story continues Pompeo earlier this month extended to May 1 the waiver for foreign firms. Trump's move marked an intensification of U.S. pressure on Cuba and also appeared aimed at punishing Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro. The European Union said it also wanted to further democracy and human rights in Cuba and to find a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) Does the April share price for Inchcape plc (LON:INCH) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. I will be using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Inchcape What's the value? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow are will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK208 UK237 UK238 UK248 UK257 UK263 UK269 UK273 UK278 UK282 Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 2.38% Est @ 2.03% Est @ 1.79% Est @ 1.62% Est @ 1.5% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 10.31% UK189 UK195 UK177 UK167 UK157 UK146 UK135 UK125 UK115 UK106 Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= 1.51b Story continues "Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (1.2%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 10.3%. Terminal Value (TV) = FCF 2029 (1 + g) (r g) = UK282m (1 + 1.2%) (10.3% 1.2%) = UK3.1b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV) = TV / (1 + r)10 = UK3.1b ( 1 + 10.3%)10 = 1.18b The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is 2.69b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. This results in an intrinsic value estimate of 6.49. Compared to the current share price of 6.1, the company appears about fair value at a 6.1% discount to what it is available for right now. DCFs are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. LSE:INCH Intrinsic value, April 16th 2019 Important assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Inchcape as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 10.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.366. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldnt be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Inchcape, I've compiled three further factors you should further examine: Financial Health: Does INCH have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does INCH's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of INCH? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every GB stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. HackerYou graduates have landed jobs at companies including Loblaw Digital, Top Hat, BMO, Achievers, Ecobee and Uberflip For the first time in Canada, a school for coders is letting students start their education now, in exchange for a piece of their paychecks in the future. Torontos HackerYou is asking for only a dollar upfront to enroll in its nine-week Web Development Immersive Bootcamp. Once a graduate is earning $50,000 a year, they pay back 17 per cent of their gross income for two years. In that scenario, the total you pay back is $16,999.92, which is $4,999.92 more than the $12,000 you would have paid upfront instead. If you make more youll pay more but the limit is capped at $30,000, which you would need to make $88,236 to hit. If you earn less than $50,000 within five years, youre off the hook and pay nothing. Heather Payne, CEO of HackerYou, says shes comfortable with the risks. If our students cant land a high-paying job after weve taught them these new skills, then weve failed, Payne told Yahoo Finance Canada. Subscribe today Luckily, our track record shows otherwise. HackerYous Web Development Immersive Bootcamp had a 97 per cent placement rate in 2017, and our most recent cohort to graduate is at an 82 per cent placement rate in just over 90 days. Graduates have landed jobs at companies including Loblaw Digital, Top Hat, BMO, Achievers, Ecobee, and Uberflip. If you lose your job, payments are paused. Regardless of the number of payments made, you are contract free after five years. Payne says the program will bring much-needed talent and diversity to southern Ontarios booming technology sector. HackerYou is also offering over 100 needs-based scholarships worth $250,000 a year. 30 per cent of these scholarships will be set aside for groups currently underrepresented in our HackerYou community, which for 2019, are those who identify as Black or Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nations/Metis/Inuk. said Payne Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. What happened? Pictures showing Notre Dame cathedral have revealed the scale of damage caused by the devastating blaze. The fire has left a nation mourning the destruction of its 850-year-old cultural and historic epicentre and sent shockwaves around the world. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said a national subscription would help pay to rebuild the most-visited monument in his country. The fire broke out shortly before 7pm European time on Monday, and was brought under control at around 3am. It took another six hours to be fully extinguished. What happens next? An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire. French police have confirmed they do not believe it was started deliberately after questioning construction workers. Work on the building will begin as soon as possible, helped by more than 518 million in donations from the public, along with pledges from Frances billionaires. French officials have warned workers will need to wait 48 hours before entering the building due to the risk the damaged structure could collapse. A hundred firefighters remained in place throughout today, ready to put out any remaining spots. Can it be saved? Yes, but it wont be the same. One of the problems in restoring the building to the exact specifications is the lack of materials. Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, said the wooden roof that went up in flames was built with beams more than 800 years ago from primal forests. He said the cathedrals roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was before the fire because we dont, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century. He said the restoration work will have to use new technologies to recreate its former glory. Experts are now examining the remains of the building to see which parts of the structure are safe. Any designs or blueprints would depend entirely on the evaluation. It is too early to say how long restoration will take or how much it will cost. Story continues Read more: Can Notre Dame ever be fully restored? (Yahoo News UK) On our watch we let it burn: Fre leaves hole in heart of Paris (The Guardian) Huge risk of fire like Notre Dame at Westminster (PA Ready News) The bells of Notre Dame will ring again (Sky News) Most UK voters havent changed their minds about Brexit, a poll has found. The study by YouGov revealed that the seemingly interminable debate about Brexit has only served to harden existing opinions. The majority of voters said they stood by the choice they made in the 2016 EU referendum. Do you agree? Read the full story (Yahoo News UK) and have your say below: More than 120 arrests during climate protest Police have revealed more than 100 people have been arrested as the mass climate change protest in London entered its second day. So far, 122 people have been held as part of the ongoing Extinction Rebellion (XR) demonstrations, the majority of which were for breaching a public order offence and obstructing the highway. The XR group yesterday targeted Marble Arch, Oxford Circus, Waterloo Bridge, and Parliament Square in a series of road blockades, which it warned could last for weeks. Read the full story here (Telegraph) Hunt for drug dealer after 13-year-old boy dies in park Police investigating the death of 13-year-old Carson Price who was found unconscious in a park have appealed to youngsters to give up the name of the dealer they believe supplied him with illegal drugs. Carson was found on Friday evening in a park in Ystrad Mynach, near Caerphilly, South Wales, around a mile from his home in Hengoed. Officers believe illegal substances contributed to his death. On Monday, Superintendent Nick McLain from Gwent Police issued an appeal on YouTube asking for help piecing together Carsons final movements. Read the full story (Sky News) This is the spectacular moment a meteor flashed across the sky over Brazil. The event was captured on camera by Prof Carlos Fernando Jung, scientific director at the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network, over the coast of the Rio Grande do Sul. (Storyful) 6,000 Stonehenge was built by the ancestors of immigrants who came to Britain from across the Mediterranean, new research claims. Using DNA evidence, researchers found Neolithic Britons were largely descended from groups of early farmers who travelled west across the Mediterranean from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) reaching the UKs shores around 6,000 years ago. Researchers said the findings match what is known about the spread of megalithic structures along Europes Atlantic coast. Stonehenge was built around 3,000BC. Read the full story here (Associated Press) The conflagration Monday that has consumed huge sections of the 12th-century Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has left people around the world aghast. But is it the end of one of the world's architectural and religious treasures? If history has taught us anything, the answer is no. In fact, the Church of England has already predicted that Notre Dame no matter how much it lies in ruin will stand whole again. "No matter the destruction, the spirit of what it means to be a cathedral can and does survive such catastrophes," said Becky Clark, the Church of England's director of cathedrals and church buildings. "All have been rebuilt, sometimes taking on new forms, to stand as reminders of eternity and resurrection." More: 'Worst has been avoided': Notre Dame Cathedral's structure is saved; French president vows to rebuild Throughout the centuries, famous churches and other holy places have been laid to waste by war, fire, sabotage, earthquakes and just plain old age. And in the case of many, they were rebuilt to their former or more contemporary glory. Flames seen through scaffolding at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral during a fire on April 15, 2019. A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed cathedral sending flames and huge clouds of gray smoke billowing into the sky. Here's a look at some of the more famous examples of resurrected holy buildings: 1. London's Old St. Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314, the legendary structure, sheathed in wooden scaffolding during a renovation, was completely gutted in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The English writer John Evelyn was an eyewitness to the destruction's aftermath and described it succinctly: "Thus lay in ashes that most venerable church, one of the most ancient pieces of early piety in the Christian world." But the cathedral was rebuilt with a new design by the noted Sir Christoper Wren and was completed by 1710. Today, the new St. Paul's stands as one of the most famous and recognizable sights in London. More: 850-year-old Notre Dame survived the French Revolution. Here are 4 other things to know 2. Germany's Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady.) Built in the 18th century, the church was spectacularly destroyed by Allied forces in the bombing of Dresden during World War II. More than 600,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on Dresden and the church at one point reached 1,830 degrees F because of the bombing campaign. Witnesses described the church's pillars glowing bright red and eventually exploding. Story continues Mostly in rubble, the ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial at the wishes of East German leaders. More: 'Today's loss hurts so much': Tour guides heartbroken, shocked by Notre Dame fire But a new age of thinking came after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. A massive effort to rebuild the church began in 1994 with the help of modern technology. The rubble was carted off stone by stone. Builders, using thousands of old photographs and recollections of worshippers, finished the work in 2005. The project inspired other revitalization efforts throughout Europe and millions have visited the church. 3. Italy's Benedictine Abbey at Monte Cassino. The abbey, about 80 miles southeast of Rome, was a noted holy place for monks that had endured for over 1,000 years prior to World War II. But in February 1944, Allied bombers dropped about 1,000 tons of explosives on the town. The abbey and its adjoining church were turned to rubble. Among the treasures lost were the elaborately detailed frescoed walls of the building. The abbey was rebuilt by 1964 and much of its art collection and famous books had fortunately been transferred to the Vatican before the bombings. The cloister was completely redone with classical elements, columns and statues, according to the architectural design web site homesthetics.net. "The monument stands today, and is a symbol of man's enduring will to preserve the heritage of his world," the website wrote. Prince Harry of Great Britain (R) visits Montecassino Abbey with father Antonio (C) on May 18, 2014 in Cassino for the 70th anniversary of a key World War II battle in which tens of thousands died. Army captain Harry, 29, attended a ceremony with veterans to remember Polish and New Zealand war dead and will honour Britain's fallen soldiers on Monday. The prince in dress uniform laid a wreath at the Polish War Cemetery near the Abbey of Monte Cassino in a ceremony with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. 4. New Zealand's Christchurch Cathedral. Once one of the city's top tourist attractions, the building was heavily damaged by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 2011 that killed 185 people and demolished several buildings. The spire of the Gothic revival style cathedral toppled amid the quake. The top of the damaged Cathedral on February 24, 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand. A massive search and rescue mission is underway and least 76 people have died after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck 20km southeast of Christchurch at around 1pm local time on Tuesday. The quake, which was an aftershock of a 7.1 magnitude quake which struck the South Island city on September 4, 2010, has seen damage and fatalities far exceeding those of the original. The Anglican Church of New Zealand, amid some controversy and infighting over a new design, is in the midst of rebuilding the church. It will take several more years before it is completed. 5. Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. This famous church, originally built during the 19th century and the scene of Tchaikovsky's premiere of the 1812 Overture, was razed in 1931 under orders from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The destruction was intended to make way for a giant edifice called the Palace of the Soviets that would have housed the Soviet legislature. But the palace was never built for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. At one point in the 1950s, the hole in the ground where the church stood was transformed into the world's largest open-air swimming pool. A pidgeon flies above Christ the Saviour Cathedral, in Moscow on April 7, 2019. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the cathedral was finally rebuilt on the same site between 1995 and 2000. The new cathedral is a noted landmark on the city skyline along the Moscow River, and contains statues of former Russian tsars Alexander II and Nicholas II, symbolic homages to pre-Soviet times. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cathedral resurrection: A look at famous houses of worship reborn after destruction Today we are going to look at Chengdu Expressway Co., Ltd. (HKG:1785) to see whether it might be an attractive investment prospect. 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, 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? The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) Or for Chengdu Expressway: 0.14 = CN539m (CN5.2b - CN1.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) Therefore, Chengdu Expressway has an ROCE of 14%. Check out our latest analysis for Chengdu Expressway Does Chengdu Expressway Have A Good ROCE? ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. Chengdu Expressway's ROCE appears to be substantially greater than the 7.9% average in the Infrastructure industry. I think that's good to see, since it implies the company is better than other companies at making the most of its capital. Regardless of where Chengdu Expressway sits next to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears satisfactory, and this company could be worth a closer look. As we can see, Chengdu Expressway currently has an ROCE of 14% compared to its ROCE 3 years ago, which was 9.5%. This makes us think the business might be improving. Story continues SEHK:1785 Past Revenue and Net Income, April 15th 2019 When considering ROCE, bear in mind that it reflects the past and does not necessarily 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. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. Future performance is what matters, and you can see analyst predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company. Chengdu Expressway's Current Liabilities And Their Impact On Its ROCE Current liabilities are short term bills and invoices that need to be paid in 12 months or less. Due to the way the ROCE equation works, having large bills due in the near term can make it look as though a company has less capital employed, and thus a higher ROCE than usual. To check the impact of this, we calculate if a company has high current liabilities relative to its total assets. Chengdu Expressway has total liabilities of CN1.3b and total assets of CN5.2b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 26% of its total assets. Low current liabilities are not boosting the ROCE too much. The Bottom Line On Chengdu Expressway's ROCE This is good to see, and with a sound ROCE, Chengdu Expressway could be worth a closer look. Chengdu Expressway shapes up well under this analysis, but it is far from the only business delivering excellent numbers . You might also want to check this free collection of companies delivering excellent earnings growth. 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. April 16 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of the Netherlands dismissed Ecuador's attempts to annul decisions of an international arbitral tribunal that ordered Ecuador to prevent enforcement of a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp anywhere in the world, the U.S. oil major said on Tuesday. Chevron said the Dutch court's decision upholds rulings of two Dutch lower courts which rejected Ecuador's attempts to annul those awards. "The Dutch supreme court found that the challenged arbitral awards are consistent with public policy and justified to prevent irreversible harm to Chevron," the company said. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Canada had dismissed claims attempting to force Chevron's Canadian unit to pay the $9.5 billion judgment handed down in Ecuador against the company over pollution in the Andean country. Residents of Ecuador's Lago Agrio region have been trying to force Chevron to pay for water and soil contamination caused from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001. The villagers obtained a judgment against Chevron in Ecuador in 2011. The latest decision adds to several court victories that Chevron has won against the plaintiffs and its legal team in this case. (Reporting by Philip George and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier) A foreigner holding dual citizenship of UK and Canada was on Monday arraigned in court and charged with trafficking 12 Nepalese girls and using them at his night club in Nyali. Asif Amirali Alibhai faced three additional charges related to human trafficking and promotion of human trafficking. The accused, who is the owner of Rangeela Bar and Amkay Plaza, was also charged with confiscating the Nepalese citizens traveling documents. According to the charge sheet, the offences were committed between March 13 and 24 March during which the accused trafficked and harboured the aliens for the purpose of exploiting them by means of deception. The suspect denied all the charges before Shanzu senior principal magistrate David Odhiambo. State counsel Shakwila Ayekha objected to the release of the suspect on bond saying he was a flight risk. The prosecutor said the suspect was an Indian who held two passports, another from the UK. Ayekha further said Alibhai had declined to surrender the passports and that it was likely he could abscond court proceedings if released on bail. Considering he is not a Kenyan and the nature of the charges, it is likely that the accused would abscond, Ayekha argued. But defence lawyers Jared Magolo and Wycliff Makasembo rejected the claims that their client was Indian, maintaining he is UK/Canadian. Magolo said they were in possession of Alibhais passports but were only willing to deposit them with the court and not the police. The accused person should be granted reasonable bond terms with alternative of bail as he is also ailing. He suffers from spinal cord which needs constant medical attention, Magolo submitted. The Court released Alibhai on Sh200,000 bail with an alternative bond of Sh700,000. In his ruling, Odhiambo said the prosecution did not have facts right on the nationality of the accused and did not give compelling reasons to warrant denial of bail. He set the pre-trial on April 23. Hernani (Spain) (AFP) - A museum devoted to Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida's monumental works re-opens on Wednesday in the northern Basque Country, eight years after the financial crisis forced it to close its doors. And its new Swiss backers have pledged to get his work a wider following around the world. Around 40 of Chillida's steel and stone sculptures are on show in the grounds of the museum in the town of Hernani, with others displayed at a traditional Basque 16th-century farm. Regarded as one of the leading sculptors of his time, Chillida was known for his colossal abstract forms. Before he died in 2002 aged 78 in his hometown of San Sebastian, he and his wife set up "Chillida Leku" (Basque for The Place of Chillida) in nearby Hernani. Today, it is a private museum owned by the family, director Mireia Massague told AFP. To mark the re-opening, the museum is hosting a retrospective charting Chillida's artistic journey from the 1940s to 2000. It brings together 90 of Chillida's iron, granite, alabaster, plaster and paper works for the occasion. Another exhibition will be devoted to "The Comb of the Wind" sculptures that have been braving the elements in San Sebastian's Concha Bay since 1977. Chillida inaugurated his museum in 2000 in the presence of hundreds of guests including then king Juan Carlos and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. But the museum's struggles to make ends meet were exacerbated by the financial crisis, and it closed in 2011. While Chillida enthusiasts were still able to visit, it was only on appointment. The re-opening to the general public was made possible thanks to private funding from the powerful Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth, which reached a deal with the family to manage the estate. "Our decision isn't only philanthropic," Iwan Wirth, co-founder of the gallery, told the El Pais daily. "The work of Chillida is admired in Europe and Japan and has huge potential to be even more admired in the United States and in the rest of Asia," he said. "But compared to that of other big artists, we think it's still under-valued." Massague, meanwhile, said the Chillida Leku museum -- coupled with Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum and the Botin Centre in Santander -- could contribute to making northern Spain an important draw for art-lovers. BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) - China's stimulus measures will shore up economic growth this year and next but may undermine the country's drive to control debt and worsen structural distortions over the medium term, the OECD said in a report on Tuesday. Beijing has stepped up fiscal stimulus to prevent a sharper slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, which is being squeezed by weaker domestic demand and a trade war with the United States. Local governments will be allowed to issue 2.15 trillion yuan ($320.60 billion) worth of special purpose bonds in 2019 to fund infrastructure projects, a jump of 59 percent from last year. S&P Global Ratings estimated last year that local governments were already sitting on hidden debt that could be as high as 40 trillion yuan. "Infrastructure stimulus could lift growth over the projection horizon, but it could lead to a further build-up of imbalances and capital misallocation, and thereby weaker growth in the medium term," the OECD said in its latest survey on China's economy. "The stimulus risks increasing once again corporate sector indebtedness and, more generally, reversing progress in deleveraging," it said. China's corporate debt has fallen to about 160 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) due to a multi-year clampdown on riskier types of financing and debt, but the level was still higher than in other major economies, the OECD said. The government in March announced tax and fee cuts of 2 trillion yuan for companies this year, which will lift its budget deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP this year from 2.6 percent in 2018. China's fiscal stimulus could be as high as 4.25 percent of GDP this year, up from 2.94 percent in 2018, the OECD added. Easier monetary policy should help reduce the risk of liquidity strains which could put further pressure on businesses, said Ludger Schuknecht, deputy secretary-general of the OECD. But he said Beijing should prevent any policy "overshooting." Story continues Fiscal policy should aim to support the economy while avoiding any side-effects, he added. "I'm sure government authorities and the PBOC are monitoring this carefully. It's a matter of implementing it (stimulus) in the right way," he told an event ahead of the release of the report. New bank loans rebounded more than expected in March, capping a record 5.8 trillion yuan quarter, as policymakers push lenders to support struggling smaller, private companies, which are seen as higher credit risks than state-controlled firms. But there are concerns that looser lending standards may fuel a further rise in bad loans as well as inefficient investment and speculation, particularly in the property market. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has already slashed banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further in coming quarters to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs. But top officials have repeatedly vowed not to open the floodgates in an economy already saddled with piles of debt - a legacy of massive stimulus during the global financial crisis in 2008-09 and subsequent downturns. China's economic growth is likely to slow to 6.2 percent this year - the weakest pace in nearly 30 years, and growth is expected to cool further to 6.0 percent in 2020, the OECD said. The economy expanded 6.6 percent in 2018. In March, the OECD cut its 2019 growth forecast from 6.3 percent. The OECD's outlook on China's economy was in line with a Reuters poll published last week. Growth of China's exports of goods and services could slow to 4.5 percent this year from 5.1 percent in 2018, amid trade frictions with the United States, the OECD predicted. China's current account may swing to a deficit of 0.1 percent of GDP this year from a small surplus in 2018, amid its rebalancing towards domestic demand, the OECD added. ($1 = 6.7061 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Kim Coghill) By John Davison KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago. The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town's first evangelical church opened last year. Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune after taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria. After years of fighting, U.S.-backed forces fully ended the group's control over populated territory last month. Though Islamic State's ultra-radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith. Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centres are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity. Christianity is one of the region's minority faiths that was persecuted by Islamic State. Critics view the new converts with suspicion, accusing them of seeking personal gain such as financial help from Christian organisations working in the region, jobs and enhanced prospects of emigration to European countries. The newly-converted Christians of Kobani deny those accusations. They say their conversion was a matter of faith. "After the war with Islamic State people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam," said Omar Firas, the founder of Kobani's evangelical church. "People were scared and felt lost." Firas works for a Christian aid group at a nearby camp for displaced people that helped set up the church. He said around 20 families, or around 80 to 100 people, in Kobani now worship there. They have not changed their names. Story continues "We meet on Tuesdays and hold a service on Fridays. It is open to anyone who wants to join," he said. The church's current pastor, Zani Bakr, 34, arrived last year from Afrin, a town in northern Syria. He converted in 2007. "This was painted by IS as a religious conflict, using religious slogans. Because of this a lot of Kurds lost trust in religion generally, not just Islam," he said. Many became atheist or agnostic. "But many others became Christian. Scores here and more in Afrin." MISSIONARIES AND CRITICS One man, who lost an arm in an explosion in Kobani and fled to Turkey for medical treatment, said he met Kurdish and Turkish converts there and eventually decided to join them. "They seemed happy and all talked about love. That's when I decided to follow Jesus's teachings," Maxim Ahmed, 22, said, adding that several friends and family were now interested in coming to the new church. Some in Kobani reject the growing Christian presence. They say Western Christian aid groups and missionaries have exploited the chaos and trauma of war to convert people and that local newcomers to the religion see an opportunity for personal gain. "Many people think that they are somehow benefitting from this, maybe for material gain or because of the perception that Christians who seek asylum abroad get preferential treatment," said Salih Naasan, a real estate worker and former Arabic teacher. Thousands of Christians have fled the region over decades of sectarian strife. From Syria they have often headed for Lebanon and European countries. U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 banned entry for all Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day ban on travel from several other predominantly Muslim countries. "It might be a reaction to Daesh (Islamic State) but I don't see the positives. It just adds another religious and sectarian dimension which in a community like this will lead to tension," said Naasan, a practicing Muslim. Naasan like the vast majority of Muslims rejects Islamic State's narrow and brutal interpretation of Islam. The group enslaved and killed thousands of people from all faiths, reserving particular brutality for minorities such as the Yazidis of northern Iraq. Most Christians preferred not to give their names or be interviewed, saying they fear reaction from conservative sectors of society. The population of Kobani and its surroundings has neared its original 200,000 after people returned, although only 40,000 live in the town itself, much of which lies in ruins. (Editing by Tom Perry and Alexandra Hudson) By Daniel Trotta NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a row that Reuters has won two Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in American journalism. Reuters has won seven since 2008. Two of this year's honorees have been jailed for 490 days in Myanmar for their role in uncovering the killings. "While it's gratifying to be recognized for the work, public attention should be focused more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said. In other categories, coverage of mass shootings in the United States and investigations into U.S. President Donald Trump featured prominently. The New York Times and the Washington Post also took two Pulitzers each. Reuters and the Associated Press were both awarded prizes for international reporting, with the AP winning for its coverage of war atrocities in Yemen. The Reuters award was for an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Rohingya at the village of Inn Din, in the heart of the conflict zone of Rakhine state in Myanmar. (For their story, see: https://reut.rs/2KFTSgQ) Two young Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both Myanmar citizens, found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of victims. They obtained three devastating photographs from villagers: two showed the 10 Rohingya men bound and kneeling; the third showed the mutilated and bullet-ridden bodies of the same 10 men in the same shallow grave. In December 2017, before Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo could complete their story, they were arrested in what international observers have criticized as an effort by authorities to block the report. The report, "Massacre in Myanmar," was completed by colleagues Simon Lewis and Antoni Slodkowski and published in February of last year. Story continues In September, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for violating the country's Official Secrets Act. "I'm thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognized for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles," Adler said. "I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars." BORDER IMAGES In the breaking news photography category, 11 Reuters photographers contributed pictures to "On the Migrant Trail to America," a package of images showing asylum-seekers and other migrants from Central America at the U.S. border. (For the package, see: https://reut.rs/2Ullbge) One photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon showed migrants fleeing tear gas launched by U.S. authorities into Mexico at the San Diego-Tijuana border. In the image a mother grabs her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister emits its fumes. In another image, an aerial photo, Mike Blake was the first to photograph the detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where children walked in single file, like prisoners. Goran Tomasevic captured an image in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world, of a rooster scratching in the dirt next to the slain body of a Barrio 18 gang member. Tomasevic was a previous finalist for his pictures of the war in Syria. MASS SHOOTING COVERAGE HONORED The New York Times won a prize for explanatory reporting of Trump's finances and tax avoidance and another for editorial writing by Brent Staples. The Washington Post's Lorenzo Tugnoli won the feature photography prize for images of the famine in Yemen and the newspaper's Carlos Lozada also won for criticism. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for uncovering Trump's secret payoffs to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him. Coverage of mass shootings in the United States was also recognized four times. The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the public service award for "exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School," the Pulitzer board said. Seventeen people died in the massacre at the Parkland, Florida, high school on Feb. 14, 2018. The staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won the breaking news prize for its coverage of "immersive, compassionate" coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 people on Oct. 27, 2018. Pulitzer administrator Dana Canedy, upon announcing the winners, also offered admiration for a non-winner: the staff of the Eagle Eye student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for its coverage of the killings. The Pulitzer board also awarded a special citation to the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Maryland, for "their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their newsroom." A gunman shot and killed five people there on June 28, 2018. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York; editing by Bill Rigby and G Crosse) Skyfall star Dame Judi Dench has returned to the world of espionage for her new film Red Joan. The 84-year-old acting titan has teamed up with acclaimed theatre director Trevor Nunn for her first spy film since exiting the James Bond franchise back in 2012, taking on the role of the eponymous Joan Stanley. Based on Jennie Rooneys novel of the same name, Red Joan is inspired by the true story of Melita Norwood, an infamous Cold War double agent, who supplied state secrets to the KGB for around 40 years before she was unmasked in 1999. Read more: Dench takes on gender-flipped role in Artemis Fowl The drama, in cinemas nationwide from 19 April, is set across two time periods with Dench playing the elderly Joan at the age her spy career was unmasked. Kingsman: The Golden Circle star Sophie Cookson plays the young Joan in 1938 when, as a Cambridge physics student, shes recruited by the Russian secret service. Were thrilled to share some of the Oscar-winners performance in the film in an exclusive new clip, which shows Joan revealing her arrest to Ben Miles concerned Nick. Dame Judi Dench in Red Joan (Lionsgate) Heres a synopsis for the film: The year is 2000 and Joan Stanley (Dench) is living in contented retirement in suburbia at the turn of the millennium. Her tranquil life is suddenly disrupted when shes arrested by MI5 and accused of providing intelligence to Communist Russia. Cut to 1938 where Joan is a Cambridge physics student who falls for young communist Leo Galich and through him, begins to see the world in a new light. Working at a top-secret nuclear research facility during WWII, Joan comes to the realisation that the world is on the brink of mutually assured destruction. Confronted with an impossible question what price would you pay for peace? Joan must choose between betraying her country and loved ones or saving them. Red Joan is in cinemas 19 April. Congressional Democrats issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank AG and other banks to obtain long-sought documents indicating whether foreign nations tried to influence U.S. politics, signaling an escalation of their probes into President Donald Trumps finances and business dealings with Russians. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement that his panel made the requests Monday in coordination with the House Financial Services Committee. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were among firms that got subpoenas along with additional lenders, said two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because they werent authorized to speak publicly. Both congressional panels have been seeking Trump-related material from Deutsche Bank since Democrats took over the House majority in January. Schiff said the Frankfurt-based bank has been cooperative with the investigations and Mondays request was a friendly subpoena. Such a subpoena is typically submitted when a firm is willing to hand over documents but wants a formal request first. Deutsche Bank is engaged in a productive dialogue with the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees, Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh said Monday. We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations. If you have questions concerning the investigative activities of the committees, we would refer you to the committees themselves. Eric Trump, the presidents son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said the subpoena set a horrible precedent. This subpoena is an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the president and our family for political gain, he said in a statement Monday evening. Story continues Spokesmen for JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment, while a spokesman for Bank of America didnt immediately return a phone call seeking comment. The House Financial Services Committee has long been in talks with Deutsche Bank about Trump-related records, including any tied to Russia. Maxine Waters, the California Democrat who leads the panel, signaled last week that her interest in Russia extended to other lenders as well. At an April 10 hearing where the chief executive officers of the biggest U.S. banks testified, she asked them about customer accounts linked to that country. Very Serious While a few of the CEOs acknowledged internal reviews, they revealed little about client activity. Morgan Stanleys James Gorman said he didnt know of any suspicious accounts tied to Russians, and Bank of Americas Brian Moynihan said he wasnt aware of any action related to such accounts. Citigroups Michael Corbat was most cryptic, saying he couldnt comment on any ongoing investigation. The potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern, Waters said in a statement Monday. The Financial Services Committee is exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible pursuant to its oversight authority, and will follow the facts wherever they may lead us. The Intelligence Committee is more focused on aspects of financial connections or dealings that could suggest potential leverage by foreign entities over Trump, his family or his business. Trump has some $340 million in loans from Deutsche Bank, according to his most recent financial disclosures. Possible financial leverage wasnt mentioned in Attorney General William Barrs four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Muellers findings from his 22-month probe of Russian election interference. Schiff has frequently noted that Trump was pursuing a Trump Tower project in Moscow during the presidential campaign. Thats a different form of collusion, but it is equally compromising to the country because it means the president of the United States is looking out for his bank account and not for the United States of America, Schiff said in an interview on NBC in February. Schiff and other committee Democrats had sought to pursue Trumps financial connections ever since he became president. But it was only after Democrats won control of the House in 2018 that they gained subpoena power. Deutsche Bank had been Trumps go-to lender for decades, even as other commercial banks stopped doing business with him because of multiple bankruptcies. House Republicans have said that Schiff and other Democrats are hounding the president with their flurry of investigations and subpoena threats. These allegations are coming from the same Democrats who have claimed for more than two years that Trump is a Russian agent, so their conspiracy theories dont have great track records, Jack Langer, a spokesman for Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Monday evening. PHOENIX Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza was less than a block from his home in Apache Junction, Arizona, when he saw the flashing police lights behind him. It was about 5:30 a.m. on April 8 and Gonzalez Carranza was driving to his welding job. Gonzalez Carranza pulled over. The next thing he knew, five or six officers wearing military-style camouflage clothing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement badges had surrounded his vehicle with guns drawn, yelling, "Put your hands up. Open the door." Gonzalez Carranza said the officers then pulled him out and handcuffed him against the side of his vehicle. "Who you guys are? I have rights," Gonzalez Carranza recalled asking. "Nevermind," the officers yelled, Gonzalez Carranza said. The officers then placed him in the back of a van and drove him to the ICE offices near downtown Phoenix. That was the beginning of an ordeal that Gonzalez Carranza described to The Arizona Republic on Monday, a week after he was arrested by ICE officers, deported to Mexico and then allowed to return to the United States. Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza, 30, talks on the phone in downtown Phoenix shortly after being released from custody on April 15, 2019. He said the experience added to the trauma he experienced after his wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed on Sept. 18, 2010, while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan at the age of 22. He said he also was having trouble coming to grips with the fact that the same country his wife died fighting for was trying to kick him out, even though he has a 12-year-old daughter, Evelyn, who also lost her mother and now could lose her father. "I feel bad because President (Donald) Trump says he wants to help" people who fight for the country, "but then why does he want to kick people out when his wife sacrificed," Gonzalez Carranza said. Trump seems to want to deport everyone in the country illegally, without considering the circumstances, he added. "I think the new president, the only thing he wants to do is deport people for no reason," Gonzalez Carranza said. "I know there are bad people in America, good people in America. But he only thinks, if you are illegal, you are going out. He never thinks about what happened with the families ... or if the people contribute to his country to be better." Story continues Gonzalez Carranza says he wasn't aware of a deportation order After being taken to the ICE offices in Phoenix on April 8, Gonzalez Carranza said officers told him an immigration judge had signed a deportation order and he was being sent back to Mexico. Gonzalez Carranza said he told the officers he didn't know anything about the deportation order. April 15: ICE deports spouse of U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan, reverses decision April 14: Iraqi American Christians ask Vice President Mike Pence to block deportation of Iraqis The officers told him the order had been signed because he failed to show up for a deportation hearing in December. His lawyer, Ezequiel Hernandez, said Gonzalez Carranza didn't show up for the hearing because ICE sent the notice to the wrong address. Gonzalez Carranza said he spent three days in ICE custody before he was deported to Mexico early Thursday morning. During those three days, ICE officials transferred him back and forth between detention centers in Florence and Phoenix before finally driving him to the border and dropping him off at the border crossing in Nogales. After being deported, he felt lost in Mexico He said it was about 5 or 6 in the morning when they dropped him off. He said he felt lost when he crossed into Mexico. He hadn't been there since he came to the U.S. illegally from a town in the southern state of Veracruz as a teenager. He and Vieyra married in 2007. "It was horrible," Gonzalez Carranza said of her dying while on duty. "She was killed on my birthday. It was a traumatic experience for me." April 6: Fourth person in six months dies in ICE immigration detention center April 5: Twice-deported man charged in murder, rape; ICE blasts NJ for 'limited cooperation' His daughter was 3 when her mother was killed. "It's been hard for her growing up without her mother," he said. "It's been completely hard." After he was deported, Gonzalez Carranza said he had no idea what he was going to do. "I never been there before," he said. He spent the next four days in Mexico sleeping at a shelter for deported migrants at night and walking to the border crossing during the day so that he could remain in cellphone contact with his lawyer. He said his lawyer told him each day that he was working to bring him back to the U.S. Hernandez said Gonzalez Carranza shouldn't have been deported because on the day he was arrested, he filed a motion to reopen his case, which triggered an automatic stay of removal. Gonzalez Carranza said he had to buy a hooded jacket in Mexico to keep warm because it was cold and raining Friday. On Monday, Gonzalez Carranza received a call from his lawyer informing him that ICE officials had reversed course apparently after Hernandez sent a news release to the media about his deportation. Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza, 30, stands in downtown Phoenix shortly after being released ICE custody on April 15, 2019. Gonzalez Carranza was allowed to return to the U.S., after media attention Gonzalez Carranza was allowed to re-enter the U.S. through the Nogales border crossing late Monday afternoon. After a stop in Tucson, an ICE bus dropped him off at the ICE offices near downtown Phoenix about 7 p.m. Hernandez said Gonzalez Carranza will have to wait until an immigration judge rules on his motion to reopen the case. If the judge reopens the case, Hernandez will ask for his parole in place to be reinstated, allowing Gonzalez Carranza to continue to live and work in the U.S. Gonzalez Carranza said his daughter lives with her grandparents. He said he had not told her he had been deported because he was afraid knowing her father was gone would further traumatize her growing up without her mother. "I didn't tell her nothing," he said. "I don't want to make her feel (worse), her feelings be more frustrated, like I don't have a mom, and now I may never see my dad again." Gonzalez Carranza said he only sees his daughter on weekends. He hoped to see her again this Friday. He said he might tell her then what happened. Follow Daniel Gonzalez on Twitter: @azdangonzalez This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: He was deported after his wife died fighting for US, now he details his ordeal Top-seeded Novak Djokovic avenged a stunning defeat last month to Philipp Kohlschreiber by outlasting the German 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Tuesday in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters at Monaco. Djokovic saved 12 of 16 break points to win the clay-court match in two hours, 36 minutes. Djokovic put forth a stronger effort while improving to 9-2 all-time against Kohlschreiber. Last month at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., Kohlschreiber delivered a stunning 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Djokovic for his first win over a Top 10 player in 12 opportunities. Djokovic again received a strong battle from Kohlschreiber on Court Rainier III but was able to maintain control of the match. "I had a tough opponent, of course," Djokovic said after his match. "Philipp beat me in Indian Wells. It was a match that happened less than a month ago, so of course it was in the back of my mind a bit. "I thought I should have maybe stepped in and played a bit more aggressive in the second set, but credit to him for mixing up the pace and playing well. I'll take this win. Hopefully I can play slightly better in the next round, because if I want to go deep in the tournament, I definitely have to up my game." Djokovic is looking for his third title at Monaco. He previously won in 2013 and 2015. Among other matches, No. 11 seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy recovered from a poor start to beat Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 in one hour, 44 minutes. Wawrinka won the first eight games and was later serving for the match in the second set. But Cecchinato executed the break and went on to win the set and then was the stronger player in the third set. Cecchinato next will face Guido Pella of Argentina. Pella upset seventh-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in two hours, 16 minutes. Pella is 2-0 in his first time playing in Monaco. "This is my best surface, I knew I had chances," Pella said after his win on Court Rainier III. "But I had to play well. Story continues "I was a bit nervous at the start; it was my first time on this court. But playing here is a dream -- it's unreal." Italy's Lorenzo Sonego also pulled off a shocker by posting a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Russia's Karen Khachanov. The qualifier saved seven of eight break points while winning in one hour, 52 minutes. Ninth-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia outlasted Spain's Jaume Munar 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-4 in a three-hour, 28-minute tussle. --Field Level Media This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Shenzhen International Holdings Limited's (HKG:152) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. What is Shenzhen International Holdings's P/E ratio? Well, based on the last twelve months it is 8.74. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 11%. View our latest analysis for Shenzhen International Holdings How Do You Calculate Shenzhen International Holdings's P/E Ratio? The formula for price to earnings is: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Shenzhen International Holdings: P/E of 8.74 = HK$17.74 HK$2.03 (Based on the year to December 2018.) Is A High P/E Ratio Good? A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each HK$1 the company has earned over the last year. All else being equal, it's better to pay a low price -- but as Warren Buffett said, 'It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.' How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. When earnings grow, the 'E' increases, over time. That means even if the current P/E is high, it will reduce over time if the share price stays flat. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers. Shenzhen International Holdings increased earnings per share by 6.0% last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 15% per year over the last five years. How Does Shenzhen International Holdings's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers? The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see Shenzhen International Holdings has a lower P/E than the average (9.6) in the infrastructure industry classification. Story continues SEHK:152 Price Estimation Relative to Market, April 15th 2019 This suggests that market participants think Shenzhen International Holdings will underperform other companies in its industry. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling. A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings. While growth expenditure doesn't always pay off, the point is that it is a good option to have; but one that the P/E ratio ignores. Is Debt Impacting Shenzhen International Holdings's P/E? Net debt is 31% of Shenzhen International Holdings's market cap. You'd want to be aware of this fact, but it doesn't bother us. The Bottom Line On Shenzhen International Holdings's P/E Ratio Shenzhen International Holdings has a P/E of 8.7. That's below the average in the HK market, which is 12.1. EPS grew over the last twelve months, and debt levels are quite reasonable. If you believe growth will continue - or even increase - then the low P/E may signify opportunity. Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is not as bad as the P/E ratio indicates, then the share price should increase as the market realizes this. So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold. You might be able to find a better buy than Shenzhen International Holdings. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings). 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. (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has told T-Mobile US Inc and Sprint Corp it has concerns about their $26 billion merger in its current structure, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, although no final decision has been made. Sprint shares fell about 9 percent after the bell as investors increased bets the deal would not be completed. Shares of T-Mobile fell 4 percent. The deal had been criticized by consumer advocates and some lawmakers because it would reduce the number of national wireless carriers available to consumers to three from four. T-Mobile has defended the proposed merger, saying the combined company would be better and faster at building 5G, the next generation of wireless, to compete with industry leaders AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc. A final decision on the deal is likely near the end of the 180-day Federal Communications Commission review period that expires in June. T-Mobile US Chief Executive John Legere was in Washington on Tuesday and has meetings later this week at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which is also reviewing the deal, two people briefed on the matter said. Sprint declined to comment. Legere said on Twitter it was "simply untrue," as had been reported, that Justice Department staff had told the companies the deal was unlikely to be approved in its current form. The Justice Department declined to comment. A third person familiar with the investigation said the probe was going along as expected, adding there had been no serious discussion of any divestitures of spectrum or other assets and that much of the conversation with regulators had been about proposed efficiencies in the development of 5G. The agreement to combine the carriers, struck in April 2018, was approved by both companies shareholders in October and has received national security clearance, but still needs approval from the Justice Department and FCC. A number of state attorneys general are also reviewing the deal. Story continues LAWMAKERS QUESTION DEAL Executives from both companies faced tough questions from lawmakers in February about how the companies' planned merger would affect prices and jobs, especially in rural America. A group of eight Democratic U.S. senators and independent Senator Bernie Sanders urged the Justice Department and FCC to reject the deal, saying monthly bills could rise as much as 10 percent. To win support for the deal, T-Mobile had said it would not increase prices for three years and has pledged to use some spectrum for wireless broadband in rural areas. Legere has also pledged to build 5G without using networking equipment from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd or ZTE Corp, two Chinese telecommunications firms distrusted by U.S. national security experts. (Reporting by Liana Baker in New York, Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) China, Russia, and NATO allies recently understood the need for increasing their presence in the Arctic region. This comes as global warming, making the ice melting faster and faster, may open new maritime routes in the Arctic, which could be really useful for faster shipping goods. China, Russia, and NATO allies recently understood the need for increasing their presence in the Arctic region. This comes as global warming, making the ice melting faster and faster, may open new maritime routes in the Arctic, which could be really useful for faster shipping goods. An icebreaker ship sailing through the Arctic Ocean (Picture Source: Pixabay/David Mark) Global warming is a fact, and it generates plenty of climate changes that can even be threatening military bases. In the future (the near future), such military bases could be suffering impacts from flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires and thawing permafrost... This new threat is to be taken seriously. But this global warming could also be a game changer for the great powers all around the world, as this climate change is provoking ice melting in the Arctic, inducing the opening of new trading and shipping routes. Russia, China, the U.S.A., but also other major nations such as Canada, the U.K. and Denmark may seek to secure these routes before the others. Along with the new shipping routes will there be new resources to exploit, including oil, natural gas, coal, gold, uranium, manganese, fish and shrimp. Therefore, those countries need to deploy more troops and build more infrastructures in the region. China, as it may appear, is part of the countries that are interested in the Arctic region. Two announcements from Beijing during the course of 2018 implied that the issue was assuming new significance within Chinas overall foreign policy. First, there was the White Paper on Chinas Arctic policy that elevated the approach to the Polar Silk Road strategy. Next, came the official announcement that China intends to build a nuclear icebreaker. It will be 152 meters in length, 30 meters wide, and will displace 30,000 tons. Thus, it will be quite comparable to Russias giant Arktika-class. As for Russia, it is well-known that the country has the world's largest icebreaker fleet in size and operates no fewer than 22 icebreakers. Russia is also planning to launch its thirty-three-thousand-ton Type 22220 class and is constructing three behemoths (Arktika, Sibir, and Ural), with a possible date for completing the first one by 2020. In addition to that, as Navy Recognition reported on March 22, Russian Viktor Chernomyrdin icebreaker is scheduled to undergo performance trials in August 2019. All of this reflects the intentions Russia has to be present in this particular region. Regarding the U.S.A., the country is far behind its opponents, with the U.S. Coast Guard (which is in charge of the U.S. government's polar icebreaking mission since 1965) operating only but one large icebreaker, the Polar Star, along with one medium icebreaker, the Healy. Though, in January 2019, the U.S. Congress finally appropriated $US 655 million for the building of an additional large icebreaker, along with an additional $US 20 million for components for a second one. Other NATO members could be interested in the Arctic region, thanks to their geographical proximity to this part of the world. Canada, the U.K., Denmark (by virtue of its territory Greenland), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland may indeed try to secure paths and seas for their own profit. But a major question then emerges, if all these countries seek to be the first to secure these new paths, would this automatically lead to an armed conflict? Certainly not automatically... as some countries manage to negotiate with others to find middle grounds and avoid futile disputes. For example, the United States and Canada are negotiating over a binational boundary in the Beaufort Sea. As for some other disputed seas, countries agree to assert that these areas constitute international maritime zones and that they, therefore, don't belong to anyone. Donald Trump said he would release his tax returns. Then he said hed do it after an audit. Now he says the public doesnt care. Over the years, the president and members of his Administration have changed tactics several times on the question of whether he would follow a decades-old precedent and release his old tax returns. In a 2014 interview, Trump said he would release the returns, without any qualifications. If I decide to run for office, Ill produce my tax returns, absolutely, he told Ireland AM. And I would love to do that. But once he was actually running, he added some caveats, first saying that he would not to have everything all approved by his accountants, then claiming falsely that he could not release them because he was under audit. Obviously if Im being audited, Im not going to release a return, he told CNN. Still, Trump pledged that he would release the tax returns before Election Day. In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2016 He didnt. And not long after the election, some of his staffers put forward a new argument: He didnt need to release them because the public had showed they did not care about the issue by electing him. We litigated this all through the election, said White House advisor Kellyanne Conway. People didnt care. Thats not true. In fact, polls regularly show that a majority of Americans think he should release his tax returns, with support sometimes as high as 74%, depending on the wording. Recently, Trump shifted tactics again, falsely claiming that there is no law requiring that he release his tax returns to a congressional committee that has requested them. No, there is no law, he said. As you know, I got elected last time with this same issue. And while Im under audit, I wont do it. If Im not under audit, I would do it. I had no problem with it. But while Im under audit, I would not give my taxes. Theres no law whatsoever. The winglet of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 sits grounded at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - AP Donald Trump has suggested Boeing should "rebrand" its grounded 737 Max fleet and give it "a new name" in the wake of two deadly crashes involving the jets. The US president tweeted on Monday: "What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would fix the Boeing 737 Max, add some additional great features...rebrand the plane with a new name." He added: "No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?" American manufacturer Boeing was forced to ground its new 737 Max series worldwide last month after one of its planes crashed minutes after take off in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board. It followed a similar crash involving the model in Indonesia in October in which 189 people were killed. Preliminary reports into the crashes suggests a flaw in the model's automation software was the cause of both tragedies. The reports have rocked the plane maker and prompted questions about how much Boeing knew about the software glitch in its best-selling aircraft. What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 The plane's grounding has also threatened the US summer travel season, with some airlines removing the 737 from their schedules through August. Mr Trump, who is an aviation enthusiast, issued the tweet as Boeing tries to restore trust in its fastest-selling jet, the main source of profits and cash at the Chicago-based aviation giant which has won some 5,000 orders or around seven years of production for the aircraft. Story continues Boeing's chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, has apologised for the fatalities in the two recent crashes and promised to fix any issues in the flight software. The company has held dozens of briefings and simulator sessions for airline executives and pilots as well as meetings with airline branding and communications staff in a bid to relaunch the troubled Max fleet. Pilots are expected to play a major role in regaining public confidence in the aircraft, but Mr Trump's tweet marks the first time the brand underpinning Boeing's profits in coming years has been thrown into question at a high level. The president has previously blamed technological advances in the aftermath Ethiopian Airlines crash, saying pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. He later went on to say he hoped the planes would only be grounded for a short period of time and noting the company is "one of our largest exporters". According to recent estimates, airlines have racked up nearly $2 billion (1.5 million) in extra costs as a result of the worldwide grounding of Boeings 737 Max jets. Each day one the 387 aircraft in service sits on the ground it costs its operator $150,000 (114,000), aerospace consultancy IBA said. Notre Dame was hit by a huge blaze. Photo: USA TODAY Network/SIPA USA/PA Images The public have been urged to donate to help fundraise for Notre Dame, after French president Emmanuel Macron vowed France would rebuild the cathedral after Mondays devastating fire. Dozens of fundraising initiatives have already sprung up as France grapples with the damage to the iconic landmark in the heart of Paris. The most high-profile so far include an existing appeal by The Friends of Notre Dame charity, which was already fundraising for ongoing renovation work before the blaze. A new donation page has also been created by the Fondation du Patrimoine, a leading French organisation which seeks to preserve Frances heritage and architecture. It praised the publics incredible mobilisation, and has raised more than 2m in small donations so far. The foundation tweeted: For Notre-Dame to be reborn from her ashes, we are launching an international appeal. All donations will be paid in full to the restoration site. READ MORE: French billionaires pledge $339m for Notre Dame rebuild The foundation also sounded a warning over the high number of private fundraising efforts launched on French and foreign websites at the same time, urging the public to show prudence in choosing where to donate. It said it had received multiple requests to launch the appeal, and no fees would be charged on the donations. President Macron said after the fire was brought under control that an official fundraising appeal would be launched soon. The page is likely to be shared on Twitter and other social media by the French government and the presidents account in the near-future. Meanwhile in the USA, the French Heritage Society, based in New York, has launched a new fund on its website to receive donations for restoration work after the devastating incident. The hearts of all of us at French Heritage Society go out to the city of Paris and all of France in the wake of the terrible fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the society said on its fundraising page. Story continues Notre-Dame is obviously an architectural marvel and most certainly a monument that should be restored, Jennifer Herlein, executive director of the society, told Reuters. It said donations were tax-deductible under US tax laws, and eligible for tax credit under French tax laws. The French president made an emotional address to the worlds media outside the cathedral just before midnight last night, announcing: We will rebuild it together. It will undoubtedly be part of French destiny and our project for the years to come. Two French billionaires then kickstarted fundraising efforts with major donations. Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the Kering group, owner of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, pledged to give 100m (86.3m, $113m), while Bernard Arnault, the main shareholder of luxury group LVMH, vowed to give 200m. More than 50 unofficial fundraising pages on the Go Fund Me website on Monday alone, according to Reuters, with concerns reported about how genuine the pages were. Some pages were even satirical listings, proposing fundraising drives to help the Hunchback of Notre-Dame. John Coventry, a spokesman for the gofundme.com platform, said: In the coming hours well be working with the authorities to find the best way of making sure funds get to the place where they will do the most good. Lisa Bitel, a professor of religion and history at the University of Southern California, told Reuters: I think the challenge will be whether or not people who give the money agree with those who are doing the rebuilding about how the cathedral should be rebuilt. READ MORE: How the worlds frontpages reacted to the devastating fire QUITO (Reuters) - Hacking attempts on Ecuadorean government institutions have doubled since the country revoked WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's asylum at its London embassy last week, an official said on Monday. Telecommunications Vice Minister Patricio Real told reporters the websites for the country's presidency, central bank and foreign ministry, among others, has received 40 million hacking attempts per day since Assange was dragged out of the embassy on Thursday by London police. Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden in a sexual assault investigation. Real did not attribute the hacking attempts to any group in particular, and said it would be difficult to identify the hackers. But he said the hacking group Anonymous, which has taken credit for cyberattacks on government institutions in the United States and Britain, had made a threat. "During the afternoon of April 11 we jumped from 51st place to 31st place worldwide in terms of the volume of cyberattacks," Real said. After his arrest, U.S. prosecutors announced charges against Assange for allegedly conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Real said the hacking attempts had not led to the theft of any government data, but had made it difficult for employees and citizens to access accounts on the sites. He added that the South American country would receive cybersecurity assistance from Israel. On Saturday, an Ecuadorean judge ordered a Swedish citizen close to Assange jailed pending trial for alleged involvement in hacking government computer systems. Interior minister Maria Paula Romo has said the government has identified two Russian hackers living in Ecuador, though they have not yet been arrested. (Reporting by Alexandria Valencia; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Susan Thomas) By Alexander Cornwell and Hadeel Al Sayegh DUBAI (Reuters) - Etihad Airways Group Chief Financial Officer Mark Powers has stepped down after roughly a year in the job as the Abu Dhabi state-owned carrier overhauls its business after years of heavy losses. Powers, who joined in January 2018, resigned for personal reasons and has decided to return to the United States, Etihad said in a statement confirming an earlier Reuters report. He has been replaced in the interim by senior Etihad finance executive Adam Boukadida, the airline said on Tuesday. Etihad said it was searching for a permanent replacement. Etihad did not say when Powers left the airline. Boukadida has served as interim Group CFO since March, according to his LinkedIn profile. Powers was hired as the airline embarked on a five-year turnaround plan after a strategy of buying stakes in other airlines collapsed, contributing to billions of dollars in losses. Group Chief Executive Tony Douglas said in 2018 Powers would "play a pivotal role in helping to guide Etihad onto the next stage of its development". Etihad reported a $1.28 billion loss for 2018, down from a $1.52 billion loss in 2018. It has lost $4.75 billion since 2016. Powers, a former JetBlue CFO, was hired by Etihad following a major shake-up of management that included the departure of long-serving Group CEO James Hogan and Group CFO James Rigney. The airline, which launched a five-year turnaround strategy in 2017, trimmed its ambitions and started reorganizing as a mid-sized carrier focused on point-to-point traffic in 2018. This year, it canceled dozens of Airbus and Boeing aircraft orders worth tens of billions of dollars. Powers headed the finances of Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) which oversees Etihad Airways, engineering, airport, travel services units, and its investments in other carriers. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Hadeel Al Sayegh; editing by Christian Schmollinger) Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday the European Union can focus unhindered on building its own future now that Britain has a longer delay to work out its troubled exit. Speaking to the European Parliament, Juncker also insisted Britain cooperate with the EU during the delay, which he did not expect to be renewed after October 31, and be treated as a full member. "The future of our union is not Brexit," Juncker, the head of the 28-nation EU's executive arm, told the parliament in its last session before the May 23-26 elections. "Brexit cannot and will not hinder our progress," Juncker said, adding the delay agreed at a summit last week will mean Europe will not be forced to discuss Brexit every week. He referred to key decisions ahead on a new multi-year EU budget, international trade, and the selection of new European leaders, including his replacement. Echoing terms of the delay the EU granted Britain at a summit last week, Juncker also underlined anew Britain's role in the months or weeks ahead. "We are requesting there will be a loyal and responsible cooperation," the former Luxembourg premier said, switching to English from a speech in French and German. But Juncker also said Britain must be treated as a full member as long as it stays in the block. "We dont have member states of second rank." Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, underlined Juncker's points on Britain's role ahead and said the delay allowed Europe to focus on other priorities like trade with the United States. European leaders agreed with Britain last Thursday to delay Brexit by up to October 31, saving the continent from what could have been a chaotic no-deal departure on April 12. The April 12 deadline was a delay from an original deadline of March 29. The EU granted the delays after Prime Minister Theresa May failed three times to get her parliament to adopt the divorce deal she struck in Brussels in November. Story continues The deal also means that, if London remains in the EU after May 22, British voters will have to take part in European elections -- or crash out on June 1. Juncker underlined the options facing Britain. "The United Kingdom can also revoke its request to leave, but it is not my working hypothesis," Juncker said. "Nor is it my working hypothesis that there will be an other extension beyond October 31." Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Parliament on Tuesday rejected a move to strip ExxonMobil lobbyists of their access badges after the US oil giant missed the assembly's first hearing into claims it knowingly misled the public on climate change. The parliament's secretary general Klaus Welle "found no grounds to seek authorisation to withdraw or de-activate ExxonMobil's access badges, given the absence of formal summons to attend the hearing," according to a copy of his decision obtained by AFP. Welle invited parliament administrators known as quaestors not to take any action and they agreed, according to a copy of an email the Greens Party had with the quaestors. After last month's hearing, Greens deputy Molly Scott Cato asked the parliament to deny ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil firm, its handful of registered access badges. "I'm deeply disappointed that ExxonMobil will continue to have the right (to) haunt the corridors of the Parliament, spreading their disinformation about climate change and blocking the action we need to take to protect the planet for future generations," Scott Cato said. Her party lamented that ExxonMobil was saved by a "technicality" because Welle viewed parliament's email to Exxon as "exploratory" to check the firm's availability rather than a formal summons to the hearing. "If we want a real democracy in Europe, the Parliament needs to show that it is serious when it organises public hearings on important issues," Cato said in a statement. "We need to produce a legally watertight official invitation, issue it to Exxon, and let them make a choice being accountable and keeping out of the Parliament." Under parliamentary rules, lobbyists can have their access badges denied when they refuse without good reason to comply with a formal summons to attend a committee hearing. The Greens said ExxonMobil has six access badges, but Welle said it had five badges. Story continues In a letter to parliament before the hearing, ExxonMobil said it was "constrained from participating because of ongoing climate litigation in the United States." The oil firm was concerned that public commentary, including at the Brussels hearing, "could prejudice those pending proceedings." Testifying at the hearing, Harvard University researcher Geoffrey Supran referred to a peer-reviewed study in which he and colleagues contrasted ExxonMobil's public and private stances. The study referred to private company memos where Exxon had acknowledged for decades that global warming was real and caused by humans. Yet, the study said hundreds of paid Exxon editorials in US newspapers cast doubt on the cause. ExxonMobil has repeatedly rejected what it calls the "false allegation that ExxonMobil suppressed scientific research on climate change." Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - Sweden's teenage activist Greta Thunberg choked backed tears on Tuesday as she warned of climate disaster and urged Europeans to vote in next month's elections to press for decisive action on cutting greenhouse gases. In a speech to a packed committee of the European Parliament, Thunberg, 16, warned time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming. "I want you to panic, I want you to act as if the house was on fire," Thunberg told the environment committee of the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. Citing scientific reports endorsed by the United Nations and holding back her tears, she warned of accelerating disasters like mass species extinction, erosion of top soil, deforestation, air pollution, loss of insects and the acidification of oceans. She received a warm round of applause before composing herself and continuing her speech. "You need to listen to us, we who cannot vote," Thunberg said, referring to the tens of thousands of students taking to the streets worldwide to fight climate change. "You need to vote for us, for your children and grandchildren," she said. "In this election, you vote for the future living conditions for human kind." Voters in EU countries will elect on May 23-26 a new European Parliament, which will also play a role in chosing the head of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. - 'Hijacked for political ends' - During a visit to Brussels in February, Thunberg urged the European Union to double its ambition for greenhouse gas cuts, upping its target from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2030. Under the 2015 Paris climate deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the 28-nation EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990. EU officials are now talking of increasing the figure to 45 percent. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has said warming is on track toward an unliveable 3C or 4C rise, and avoiding global chaos will require a major transformation. Story continues Thunberg has inspired tens of thousands of children worldwide to boycott classes to draw attention to climate change. Around 100 young people marched Tuesday through the streets of Strasbourg to the parliament building to press for urgent action against climate change. Francoise Grossetete, a French member of the European Parliament, said she would skip the committee hearing because she strongly objected to Thunberg's alarmist stand that in her view is anti-economic growth. Thunberg has become "the symbol of this just environmental cause that is hijacked for political ends" by environmental lobbies, said Grosssete, a member of the centre-right European People's Party. The Swede hit global headlines with her speech in December at a UN climate meeting in Poland and has received support from climate activists. By Khalid Abdelaziz and Aidan Lewis KHARTOUM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Sudan's Omar al-Bashir has been ousted after three decades in power following months of mass protests. The military has announced a transitional period of up to two years followed by elections, but demonstrators are pushing for a quick handover of power to civilians. HOW DID BASHIR FALL? Bashir, 75, was one of the longest-serving leaders in Africa and the Arab world. He took power in a coup in 1989 and had survived isolation from the West, civil wars, the split between Sudan and South Sudan, indictment by the International Criminal Court, and several previous bouts of protest. But in December, a worsening economic crisis triggered protests that quickly spread across the country of 40 million, calling for Bashir to go. The protests continued for 16 weeks despite a security crackdown in which dozens died and thousands were detained. On April 6, protesters stepped up the pressure with a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. Riot police and intelligence services tried to clear the area, but the army shielded them before announcing Bashir's overthrow on April 11. Despite Bashir's close ties to the military's top leadership, mid- and lower-ranking officers more connected to society sympathised with the protesters' demands, said Hamid Eltigani, a Sudanese professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo. As pressure from the street mounted, factions within the security establishment distanced themselves from Bashir as they sought to protect their positions, he said. One Sudanese military officer said a deal was struck within the military leadership. "The faces had to be changed, and they all decided to change them without any bloodshed." WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? The appointment of defence minister and vice-president Awad Ibn Auf as head of the Transitional Military Council fuelled widespread anger among protesters because of his close association with Bashir. Story continues He survived just 24 hours, stepping down late on Friday. Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, better known as Salah Gosh, resigned as the head of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) the following day. Long considered the second most powerful man in the country after Bashir, Salah Gosh was another key target for the protesters. WHO'S IN CONTROL NOW? Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replaced Ibn Auf as head of the military council. Burhan was the third most senior general in the Sudanese military and is little known publicly. As chief of Sudan's ground forces he oversaw Sudanese troops fighting in the Saudi-led Yemen war and has close ties to senior Gulf military officials. Burhan's deputy is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known by his nickname Hemedti, who heads Sudan's Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is a paramilitary grouping that grew out of the Janjaweed militias that fought in Darfur and has provided troops to fight in Yemen. Other members of the 10-man military council include a NISS representative and the chief of police. A Sudanese source close to Sudan's military leadership said the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt had a role in planning "the removal of Bashir and General Ibn Auf and Salah Gosh" as part of a strategy of "weakening the power of the Islamists in power in Sudan". Bashir came to power in an Islamist-backed coup. He belonged to the Islamic Movement, Sudan's equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood, and imposed Sharia law. WHO SUPPORTS THE NEW LEADERSHIP? The UAE, a leading member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was quick to welcome Burhan's appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhan's nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke by telephone to Burhan, the presidential palace said in a statement, offering Egyptian support for Sudan's stability. Sudan's TMC also reported that a joint UAE-Saudi delegation visited Khartoum and met with Buhan and Hemedti conveying a message of the two countries' willingness to extend support for Sudan "important and historic stage." The UAE and Saudi, which supported the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in Egypt and have worked to counter Islamists linked to the Brotherhood across the region, are following the same goal in Sudan, said the Sudanese source. "They want to use economic aid to encourage some power centres in Sudan to weaken the presence of Islamists and their full control over economic institutions." The influence of their regional rivals Qatar and Turkey, which both had ties to Bashir, will be limited, said the Sudanese military officer. "It was a tug of war, and right now UAE and Saudi won," he said. Hemedti has received of Western diplomatic envoys, several of whom say they have pressed him to ensure a rapid transition to civilian rule. The British ambassador said the meeting was "not to endorse or confer legitimacy". The Dutch envoy said the meeting was held at Hemedti's invitation. HOW MUCH COULD THE MILITARY CONCEDE? Burhan has promised a civilian government after consultations with the opposition, and announced an easing of emergency measures and the release of political detainees. But there has been little word from the military on protesters' demands for a civilian presence in the ruling council, and for members of Bashir's entourage some of whom face international sanctions and charges to be held to account. The military may be wary of ceding ground if it faces opposition from other parts of the security apparatus. Bashir had the strongest links across different, overlapping branches of the security forces, which could start competing with each other now he's gone. While the RSF and the NISS are linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Islamists within Sudan's Popular Defence Forces have connections to Qatar, said Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. Military officers "basically wanted a soft landing for Bashir, and the army to be kept intact as an institution, and they have Egyptian backing in that strategy," said de Waal. "The problem is that the demands of the demonstrators are for democracy and they are the only people who want democracy. Nobody else wants democracy." WHAT FATE FOR BASHIR? When Ibn Auf announced Bashir's overthrow he said the former president had been detained. Sources told Reuters he was being held at the time under heavy guard at his residence. The military council has said it will not extradite him, but may try him in Sudan. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his final years as president he defied the court, visiting friendly nations including several ICC member states. Sudan and Bashir denied war crimes were committed, saying casualties in Darfur were exaggerated. Some have speculated that he could follow the example of Tunisia's former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and seek refuge in Saudi Arabia. (Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Dubai and Yousef Saba in Cairo; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Giles Elgood and Richard Chang) (Adds Saudi-UAE delegation visit, Sisi call) By Khalid Abdelaziz and Aidan Lewis KHARTOUM/CAIRO, April 16 (Reuters) - Sudan's Omar al-Bashir has been ousted after three decades in power following months of mass protests. The military has announced a transitional period of up to two years followed by elections, but demonstrators are pushing for a quick handover of power to civilians. HOW DID BASHIR FALL? Bashir, 75, was one of the longest-serving leaders in Africa and the Arab world. He took power in a coup in 1989 and had survived isolation from the West, civil wars, the split between Sudan and South Sudan, indictment by the International Criminal Court, and several previous bouts of protest. But in December, a worsening economic crisis triggered protests that quickly spread across the country of 40 million, calling for Bashir to go. The protests continued for 16 weeks despite a security crackdown in which dozens died and thousands were detained. On April 6, protesters stepped up the pressure with a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. Riot police and intelligence services tried to clear the area, but the army shielded them before announcing Bashir's overthrow on April 11. Despite Bashir's close ties to the military's top leadership, mid- and lower-ranking officers more connected to society sympathized with the protesters' demands, said Hamid Eltigani, a Sudanese professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo. As pressure from the street mounted, factions within the security establishment distanced themselves from Bashir as they sought to protect their positions, he said. One Sudanese military officer said a deal was struck within the military leadership. "The faces had to be changed, and they all decided to change them without any bloodshed." WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? The appointment of defense minister and vice-president Awad Ibn Auf as head of the Transitional Military Council fueled widespread anger among protesters because of his close association with Bashir. Story continues He survived just 24 hours, stepping down late on Friday. Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, better known as Salah Gosh, resigned as the head of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) the following day. Long considered the second most powerful man in the country after Bashir, Salah Gosh was another key target for the protesters. WHO'S IN CONTROL NOW? Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replaced Ibn Auf as head of the military council. Burhan was the third most senior general in the Sudanese military and is little known publicly. As chief of Sudan's ground forces he oversaw Sudanese troops fighting in the Saudi-led Yemen war and has close ties to senior Gulf military officials. Burhan's deputy is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known by his nickname Hemedti, who heads Sudan's Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is a paramilitary grouping that grew out of the Janjaweed militias that fought in Darfur and has provided troops to fight in Yemen. Other members of the 10-man military council include a NISS representative and the chief of police. A Sudanese source close to Sudan's military leadership said the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt had a role in planning "the removal of Bashir and General Ibn Auf and Salah Gosh" as part of a strategy of "weakening the power of the Islamists in power in Sudan." Bashir came to power in an Islamist-backed coup. He belonged to the Islamic Movement, Sudan's equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood, and imposed Sharia law. WHO SUPPORTS THE NEW LEADERSHIP? The UAE, a leading member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was quick to welcome Burhan's appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhan's nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke by telephone to Burhan, the presidential palace said in a statement, offering Egyptian support for Sudan's stability. Sudan's TMC also reported that a joint UAE-Saudi delegation visited Khartoum and met with Buhan and Hemedti conveying a message of the two countries' willingness to extend support for Sudan "important and historic stage." The UAE and Saudi, which supported the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in Egypt and have worked to counter Islamists linked to the Brotherhood across the region, are following the same goal in Sudan, said the Sudanese source. "They want to use economic aid to encourage some power centers in Sudan to weaken the presence of Islamists and their full control over economic institutions." The influence of their regional rivals Qatar and Turkey, which both had ties to Bashir, will be limited, said the Sudanese military officer. "It was a tug of war, and right now UAE and Saudi won," he said. Hemedti has received of Western diplomatic envoys, several of whom say they have pressed him to ensure a rapid transition to civilian rule. The British ambassador said the meeting was "not to endorse or confer legitimacy." The Dutch envoy said the meeting was held at Hemedti's invitation. HOW MUCH COULD THE MILITARY CONCEDE? Burhan has promised a civilian government after consultations with the opposition, and announced an easing of emergency measures and the release of political detainees. But there has been little word from the military on protesters' demands for a civilian presence in the ruling council, and for members of Bashir's entourage some of whom face international sanctions and charges to be held to account. The military may be wary of ceding ground if it faces opposition from other parts of the security apparatus. Bashir had the strongest links across different, overlapping branches of the security forces, which could start competing with each other now he's gone. While the RSF and the NISS are linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Islamists within Sudan's Popular Defence Forces have connections to Qatar, said Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. Military officers "basically wanted a soft landing for Bashir, and the army to be kept intact as an institution, and they have Egyptian backing in that strategy," said de Waal. "The problem is that the demands of the demonstrators are for democracy and they are the only people who want democracy. Nobody else wants democracy." WHAT FATE FOR BASHIR? When Ibn Auf announced Bashir's overthrow he said the former president had been detained. Sources told Reuters he was being held at the time under heavy guard at his residence. The military council has said it will not extradite him, but may try him in Sudan. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his final years as president he defied the court, visiting friendly nations including several ICC member states. Sudan and Bashir denied war crimes were committed, saying casualties in Darfur were exaggerated. Some have speculated that he could follow the example of Tunisia's former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and seek refuge in Saudi Arabia. (Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Dubai and Yousef Saba in Cairo Writing by Aidan Lewis Editing by Giles Elgood and Richard Chang) Marine Jet Power (MJP) has been awarded a multi-unit, multi-year contract with CSBC Shipyard to provide propulsion for 15, 100-ton class vessels for the Taiwan Coast Guard (TCG). Marine Jet Power (MJP) has been awarded a multi-unit, multi-year contract with CSBC Shipyard to provide propulsion for 15, 100-ton class vessels for the Taiwan Coast Guard (TCG). Taiwan Coast Guard selects MJP to equip their 100-ton class vessels with MTU engines (Picture Source: Marine Jet Power) The 34-meter vessels will be built at CSBCs facility in Keelung, Taiwan. Featuring dual MJP stainless steel 750 DRB waterjets, the vessels are predicted to exceed 30 knots and will be powered by MTU inboard diesel engines. MJP has a long history with the Taiwan Coast Guard and to date, we have been involved in TCG previous builds already operational; 50-ton, 100-ton and 500-ton class projects. We are excited to build TCGs next generation of 100-ton class vessels and the start of our relationship with CSBC, said Nils Moren, Sales Manager for MJP. Selected for its superior quality and durability in the field, MJPs DRB line of waterjets are constructed from duplex stainless-steel and feature all inboard hydraulics. The mixed flow pump design offers high performance and increased operational efficiencies resulting in lower maintenance cost and minimal service intervals. Michael Kuan from UDC Marine, MJPs Taiwanese Representative, commented on the contract win: MJPs all stainless-steel construction was a huge consideration for the shipyard and the end user when selecting a propulsion package. CSBC ultimately selected MJP for durability and ease of maintenance in addition to the other long-term benefits waterjets provide to the operator over the life span of the vessels. Marine Jet Power will begin to deliver waterjets to the shipyard later this year and the 15 vessels will be constructed over the next four years. (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp said on Tuesday its unit and an affiliate of Qatar Petroleum had won three exploration blocks offshore Argentina. The three blocks will add about 2.6 million net acres to Exxon's existing holdings in Argentina, the company said. The blocks are located in the Malvinas basin, about 200 miles (320 kms) offshore Tierra del Fuego. Exxon's existing Argentina holdings include 315,000 net acres spread over seven blocks in the onshore Neuquen Basin of the Vaca Muerta unconventional oilfield and a business support center in Buenos Aires. ExxonMobil will have a 70 percent stake, while Qatar Petroleum's affiliate will hold the rest. The Argentine government issued a statement on Tuesday saying it received offers for the exploration of three offshore oil and gas basins from 13 companies for a total of $995 million. The country's energy secretariat was expected to confirm which companies were awarded which areas next month. Qatar Petroleum signed an agreement with Exxon Mobil in June to buy a 30 percent stake in two of Exxon's affiliates in Argentina, giving Qatar's state-owned entity access to oil and gas shale assets in the Latin American country. Exxon has been investing heavily in its U.S. shale operations and in Guyana. Its development in Argentina has been slow due to several reasons, including the geographic remoteness of the country from U.S. shale operations as well as government controls on natural gas prices. The U.S. oil company also invested in Brazil's prolific offshore oilfields throughout 2018, clinching numerous blocks in partnership with other companies. Exxon and Qatar Petroleum International landed Brazil's Tita area, locking in key real estate in the prized Santos basin. The two companies have also partnered on three of Exxon's offshore exploration blocks in Mozambique's Angoche and Zambezi basins. (Reporting by Shanti S Nair in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires; Editing by James Emmanuel and Dan Grebler) Nation of Islam founder and notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan defended Representative Ilhan Omars glib description of the September 11 attacks Monday by dismissing the attacks as nothing more than a false-flag operation designed to draw the U.S. into Middle Eastern conflicts. In a video posted to YouTube last year and tweeted out Monday by the Nation of Islam account, Farrakhan accuses the Bush administration of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks in order to get the country into war at the expense of young patriotic men and women. 3,133 Scientists Back Ilhan Omar on 9/11 Deep skepticism exists about the govt version of 9/11. Many expertsarchitects & engineerssay the World Trade Center Towers were destroyed in a controlled demolition. Listen to @LouisFarrakhan # IStandWithIlhan, reads the tweet, which includes a link to the video. The tweet expresses Farrakhans support for Omar, who has received an onslaught of criticism from Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits for using the phrase some people did something to describe the World Trade Center attacks, which killed more than 3,000 Americans. Farrakhan has previously blamed a cabal of highly placed Jewish government officials for helping to execute the attacks. There were many Israelis and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attacks, he said in 2015. Omar referred to the attack as something during a speech before the the Council on American-Islamic Relations last week, in which she also falsely claimed that the group was founded to fight the anti-Muslim discrimination that followed the 9/11 attacks. The organization, which has ties to the Hamas terror, was actually founded in 1994. The backlash against Omar escalated after the New York Post printed her words on the front cover along with an image of the twin towers at the moment of impact. President Trump then joined fray, tweeting out a video montage of the attacks accompanied by Omars words. Story continues In a video that surfaced last week, Omar can be seen dismissing the threat posed by al-Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups as a laughing matter and mocking Americans who display discomfort when discussing the groups, who she implies are no different than the American or British governments. A recently discovered video shows @IlhanMN mocking Americans for their anxiety about al-Qaeda, equating US armed forces to al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/VBuKhAHjjE The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) April 11, 2019 Omar, who has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks on numerous occasions since taking office, continued to enjoy the support of fellow freshman representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom have accused her critics of using the 9/11 attacks to further a racist narrative about her. More from National Review Caracas (AFP) - The first shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrived in crisis-wracked Venezuela on Tuesday following approval from President Nicolas Maduro's government, an official told AFP. The shipment, wich arrived at the airport serving Caracas, includes desperately needed "medication and medical supplies," the official confirmed on condition of anonymity. Venezuela has suffered more than four years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. The United Nations says a quarter of its 30 million population is in urgent need of aid. Last week, Maduro and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came to an agreement to allow in the humanitarian aid. Supplies destined for Venezuela's long-suffering population formed the basis of a stand-off between Maduro and parliament speaker Juan Guaido, who launched a direct challenge to the president's authority in January. Guaido has since been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as Venezuela's interim president. But despite a highly publicized campaign, he failed to force humanitarian aid stockpiled over the border in Colombia into the country as the military -- which remains loyal to Maduro -- blockaded a bridge crossing. Maduro claimed the aid was nothing more than a smokescreen to cover a US-led invasion. Cardboard boxes bearing the symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement were loaded by forklift onto trucks at the Maiquetia international airport, according to images shared on social media. Maduro has repeatedly denied Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis and blames the US for the oil-rich South American country's economic woes. But last week he said on national TV and radio that his government and the Red Cross had agreed "to work together with UN agencies to bring into Venezuela all the humanitarian aid that can be brought." Guaido blames government incompetence and corruption for his country's crisis. Story continues Last month, the ICRC announced it would begin in early April a first phase of aid distribution to help 650,000 people. The UN estimates that 3.7 million Venezuelans are malnourished and 22 percent of children younger than age five suffer from chronic malnourishment. It also claims that more than 2.7 million citizens have fled Venezuela since 2015. PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 16 (Reuters) - Police and army commandos killed five Pakistani Taliban militants during an overnight siege at a house in the northwestern city of Peshawar, officials said on Tuesday. One police officer was killed and two wounded during the 16-hour operation. It ended when the house was destroyed by what police believe was an improvised explosive device. "It was an operation based on the information of our intelligence agencies," Peshawar police chief Qazi Jamil told reporters. Jamil said police were still confirming the identity of the occupants. Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban, said in a text message to reporters the five dead men were members of the militant group. The Pakistani Taliban are an umbrella group of several Sunni Islamist militant outfits waging war to overthrow the government. The Taliban want to transform the nuclear-armed nation and govern it along strict Islamic Sharia laws. The insurgents' strength has been sapped in recent years by successive Pakistani military operations, leading to a sharp drop in militant violence in recent years. But the militants continue to pose a risk, including by launching attacks on soft targets, such as last week's suicide bombing which killed 19 people, including many from the minority Hazara Shi'ite in southwestern city of Quetta. Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack. (Reporting by Jibran Ahmad; writing by Asif Shahzad; editing by Darren Schuettler) OTTAWA (Reuters) - Four people were shot dead in Penticton, British Columbia, on Monday and a suspect is in custody, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement. "Police have determined four people are deceased at three locations within a 5 km (3.1 mile) radius," the statement said. "A man matching the suspect's description turned himself into the Penticton RCMP detachment. The man remains in custody while the investigation progresses. Preliminary indications are this was a targeted incident," the statement said. The initial shooting incident was reported at 10:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT). As police were en route to the scene, a second shooting was reported. The suspect in both shootings turned himself in about an hour after the first report, police said. A motive for the shootings was still unknown. "Determining why this occurred is part of our ongoing investigation," said RCMP regional commander Ted De Jager. "I understand that this is a deeply troubling incident that has taken place in our community. Our hearts and thoughts are with all those impacted by this terribly tragic incident," he added. (Corrects spelling of British Columbia) (Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by Leslie Adler) OTTAWA (Reuters) - Four people where shot dead in Penticton, British Colombia, on Monday and a suspect is in custody, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a statement. "Police have determined four people are deceased at three locations within a 5 km (3.1 mile) radius," the statement said. "A man matching the suspect's description turned himself into the Penticton RCMP detachment. The man remains in custody while the investigation progresses. Preliminary indications are this was a targeted incident," the statement said. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Leslie Adler) During two separate occasions on Monday afternoon, Fox News anchors Shepard Smith and Neil Cavuto had to dump out of interviews after their guests wildly speculated and parroted conspiracy theories that the blaze that suddenly destroyed much of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was an intentionally malicious act. While anchoring breaking-news coverage of the fire, Smith interviewed witness Philippe Karsenty, the deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine and a controversial right-wing media figure. Early in the call, Karsenty suggested that the Notre Dame blazewhich is currently being investigated as an accidentwas a terrorist attack. Its like a 9/11, a French 9/11, Karsenty declared. Its a big shock. This church was there for more than 850 years. You need to know that for the past years, weve had churches desecrated each and every week all over France. Of course, you will hear the story of the politicallythe political correctness, which will tell you its probably an accident. Smith interrupted, informing Karsenty, who was once convicted of defamation for accusing a French media outlet of staging a Palestinian boys death, that he would not allow such speculation on air. Smith noted that if his guest had any concrete information, however, we would love to hear it. Karsenty, meanwhile, continued to try to raise the possibilitywithout evidencethat the fire was intentional, prompting Smith to cut off the interview for good. No, sir, were not doing that here, not now, not on my watch, Smith exclaimed. The man on the phone with us has absolutely no information of any kind about the origin of this fire and neither do I. The Fox News anchor concluded: The fire investigators will at some point come to a determination about what caused this and conspiracy theories about anything are worthless and in many cases counterproductive and injurious to society. And those who entertain them are not acting in the best interests of the people of this planet. Story continues Several hours later, Cavuto had a similar experience with Catholic League president Bill Donohue, who immediately raised the notion that this inferno was tied to other church burnings. Well, Neil, if it is an accident, its a monumental tragedy, Donohoe said. But forgive me for being suspicious. He added: Just last month, a 17th-century church was set on fire in Paris. We have seen Tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues have been smashed. Cavuto went on to request that Donohue avoid bringing up his suspicions as no connections have been made by officials. The Catholic League leader, however, was unable to help himself, eventually asserting: Im sorry, when I find out that the Eucharist is being destroyed and excrement is being smeared on crosses, this is whats going on now. The Fox News anchor interjected, letting Donohue that while he appreciates his time, we cannot make conjectures about this. Cavuto then dropped the call. I do want to let people know, and again were not trying to be rude to our guests here, there is so much we do not know about what happened here, Cavuto concluded. We do know four hours ago, something started here. There are incidents that have been raised against the Catholic Church on popular tourist sites in and around Paris, no stranger to attacks, but another leap to take views like that when we dont know. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Good morning. David Meyer here, filling in for Alan from Berlin. Last year was the first in which publicly traded companies in the U.S. were obliged to disclose their CEO pay ratios. The numbers are in and, while quite a few CEOs were shown to be earning hundreds or thousands of times what their companies median employees earnper Equilar, the median CEO pay ratio was 254:1one chief executives ratio stuck out like a sore thumb. Step up, Elon Musk. In 2018, the Tesla chief was paid an astonishing 40,668 times more than the earnings of the median Tesla worker. In theory, at least. The reality is somewhat more complex, as Tesla had to report a comparison of Musks $2.28 billion in stock options with that median workers $56,163 pay for the year. Musk only gets to claim that cash if the company hits high valuation and operational targetsif Tesla misses all the targets, he gets zilch. Musks case is an outlier, but there is a trend of some of the highest ratios being the result of similar factors. For example, as reported by the Financial Times, Oracle co-CEOs Safra Catz and Mark Hurd took home $108 million each in 2018, creating a ratio of 1,205:1. But that includes five years of stock option grants, without which the ratio would have been 282:1. Either way, though, these ratios are high and theyre maybe getting higherin 2017, when only two-thirds of companies whose filings were surveyed by Equilar reported their CEO pay ratio, the median stood at 235:1. Unions and Democratic presidential candidates will no doubt seize on the disparities as evidence of widening inequality. Thats not hard to do when, for example, Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer earns $11.8 million in a year and the median Whirlpool employee gets $20,485. Thats a 578:1 ratio, and remember that the median employee is by definition in the middle of the pack, and not one of the companys lower-paid workers. Story continues Whatever your view of how these figures are calculated and whether their forced disclosure is fair or not, they are politically toxic in this day and age. More news below. David Meyer @superglaze david@dmeyer.eu By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) - Foxconn's Chairman Terry Gou said on Tuesday he is considering whether to run for Taiwan's 2020 presidential election, a day after Reuters reported the tycoon planned to step down from the world's largest contract manufacturer. Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Taipei, Gou declined to say which party he could represent, although any bid could shake up the political playing field at a time of heightened tensions between the self-ruled island and Beijing. If it was the opposition, China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), he would "go" with the standard procedures of the party, Gou said, adding he would make that decision "as soon as possible". "I didn't sleep last night ... 2020 is key for Taiwan. The reason for the tense situation (with China) is because it's a turning point for Taiwan's direction for politics, economy, defense for the next 20 years," Gou said. "So I asked myself the whole night ... I need to ask myself what I can do. What I can do for the youth? ... The next 20 years will decide their fate," he said, his eyes welling up with tears at times. The KMT said in a statement Gou had been a party member for more than 50 years and had given it an interest-free loan of T$45 million ($1.5 million) in 2016 under the name of his mother, a move that signaled his "loyalty" to the party. The KMT did not immediately respond to a media enquiry on whether Gou was eligible to participate in the party's already highly competitive primary election. Gou, Taiwan's richest person with a net worth of $7.6 billion according to Forbes, told Reuters on Monday he planned to step down in the coming months to pave the way for younger talent to move up the company's ranks. The company later said Gou will remain chairman of Foxconn, though he plans to withdraw from daily operations. Taiwan is gearing up for presidential elections in January at a time of heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, with Chinese bombers and warships conducting drills around the island on Monday. Story continues A senior U.S. official denounced the military maneuvers as "coercion" and a threat to stability in the region. Some observers said Washington was likely to greet any presidential bid by Gou with caution. "I don't think the United States would be too happy to see him running because he is close to China and, right now, the U.S. is wary about China," said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung University in Taiwan. "PEACE IS THE BIGGEST WEAPON" China claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to bring the island, which it regards as a sacred territory, under Chinese control, by force if necessary. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. "We need peace. We don't need to buy too many weapons. Peace is the biggest weapon," Gou said, adding that Taiwan only needs adequate self-defence. "If we spend the money for weapons on economic development, on artificial intelligence, on investment in the United States, this would be the biggest assurance on peace." "Whose children are willing to sit in those fighter jets?" A source with direct knowledge of the situation said Gou was likely to announce his decision on the presidential bid later on Tuesday at the earliest and was due to travel to Foxconn's factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Wednesday. Shares of Foxconn, which is formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd and has a market value of around $40 billion, closed 0.7 percent higher on Tuesday. An official at Taiwan's stock exchange told Reuters there were no regulations related to a company executive running for the island's presidency. Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party is expected to announce a presidential candidate in May, with contenders including President Tsai Ing-wen and her former premier, William Lai. FOXCONN MANAGEMENT RESHUFFLE Asked by Reuters on Monday if he would quit as chairman, Gou said, at 69 years old, he was moving in that direction, though any decision needed to be discussed with Foxconn's board. "I don't know where you got the information from. But I have to say, basically, I'm working towards that direction - to walk back to the second line, or retire," Gou said. He also signaled a major management reshuffle. "In the board meeting in April-May we will give the new list of board members to the board," Gou said without elaborating. Founded in 1974, the Foxconn group is the world's biggest contract manufacturer with T$5.2 trillion ($168.52 billion) in annual revenue. It assembles goods for a miscellany of global tech firms but relies on Apple Inc for over half of annual revenue, analysts said. (Reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman) Officials in Paris are still assessing the damage of yesterdays devastating blaze at the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral. But though the cause and full extent of the fire may not yet be known, one thing is already certain: Money is pouring in to repair the 850-year-old structure including massive donations from two major names in the world of French wine. The news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that two French billionaires, Francois Pinault and crosstown rival Bernard Arnault, have pledged to donate 100 million euros ($124 million) and 200 million euros ($248 million) respectively to help rebuild the iconic cathedral. Pinault is the chairman of Kering, the international luxury retail giant behind names like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and his holding company Groupe Artemis owns a half dozen wineries including Bordeuxs Chateau Latour, Napa Valleys Eisele Vineyard, and Burgundys Clos de Tart. For the record, Groupe Artemiss own website boasts that the entitys consolidated assets exceed 30 billion euros, so a few repairs on an old church shouldnt set Pinault and company back too much. Not to be outdone, Arnaults luxury conglomerate LVMH Group those letters stand for Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton took to Instagram to announce theyd be donating twice as much. In the wake of this national tragedy, the Arnault family and the LVMH Group pledge their support for #NotreDame, the post states. They will donate a total of 200 million euros to the fund for reconstruction of this architectural work, which is an integral part of the history of France. LVMHs boozy interests include 27 different producers in the wine and spirits category, which beyond the brands mentioned in its name also features Chateau dYquem, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Ardbeg, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Glenmorangie, Krug, Cloudy Bay, Belvedere, and Terrazas de los Andes just to name a few. Meanwhile, proving theres more to life than money, the Charlois group, which owns a number of cooperages producing barrels for the industry, has pledged to make wood available for any repairs. The work will surely take years, decades even, but it will require thousands of cubic meters of wood, Sylvain Charlois said according to the AFP. We'll have to find the best specimens, with large diameters. Who says alcohol cant solve your problems? Francois-Henri Pinault and his wife Salma Hayek. Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault and his family said on Monday evening that they will donate 100m (86.3m, $113m) to rebuild the historic landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, after it was ravaged by a fire yesterday. Soon after, French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his luxury goods group LVMH (MC.PA) pledged 200m towards the reconstruction. Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, said my father [Francois Pinault] and I have decided to release as of now from the funds of Artemis a sum of 100 million euros to participate in the effort that will be necessary for the complete reconstruction of Notre Dame. "Mon pere (Francois Pinault) et moi meme avons decide de debloquer des a present sur les fonds d'Artemis une somme de 100 millions d'euros pour participer a l'effort qui sera necessaire a la reconstruction complete de Notre Dame", ecrit Francois-Henri Pinault William Plummer (@PlummerWilliam) April 15, 2019 Yesterday, a fire broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral, gutting the landmark which has a 800-year history and has undergone extensive and expensive repairs and restorations. Read more: How to donate to the Notre Dame fundraising appeal to rebuild cathedral after fire Francois-Henri Pinault is one of the richest people in Europe, thanks to his familys fashion empire. He is the chairman and CEO of the international luxury group Kering (KER.PA), which owns the Gucci brand. He is also president of the French holding company Groupe Artemis, which owns the fine arts auction house Christies. Combined with his wifes actress Salma Hayek wealth, they are worth 5.126bn ($6.71bn), according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Smoke rises from the Notre-Dame Cathedral as seen from Pont du Caroussel on April 15, 2019 in Paris, France. Photo: Richard Bord/Getty Images Bernard Arnault is worth over $91.7bn, according to Forbes. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said late Monday in a tweet that Notre Dame of Paris in flames. Emotion for a whole nation. Thoughts for all Catholics and for all French. Like all our countrymen, Im sad tonight to see this part of us burn. Story continues Notre-Dame de Paris en proie aux flammes. Emotion de toute une nation. Pensee pour tous les catholiques et pour tous les Francais. Comme tous nos compatriotes, je suis triste ce soir de voir bruler cette part de nous. Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 15, 2019 He added that he plans to launch a national fundraising campaign to rebuild the cathedral. According to Bloomberg, Total (FP.PA), a major French oil and gas company, on Tuesday pledged a further 100m ($113m) for Notre Dames reconstruction. Tech and consulting firm Capgemini has also promised 1m ($1.1m). Paris (AFP) - The former director of a French meat processing firm was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison over a 2013 scandal which saw millions of meals withdrawn from European supermarkets after they were found to contain horsemeat instead of beef. A Paris court found Jacques Poujol of Spanghero, the company at the heart of the scandal, guilty of fraud and ordered the confiscation of 100,000 euros in cash seized at his home by investigators. He was on trial alongside a fellow executive and two meat traders from the Netherlands. The alleged racket saw cheap horsemeat from Belgium, Romania and Canada imported into France and then labelled incorrectly as beef, with the meat processing company Spanghero and the Dutch middlemen pocketing the profits. The four men were accused of selling more than 500 tons of horsemeat passed off as beef to Comigel, a maker of ready-to-eat meals, between 2012 and 2013. After British inspectors discovered the fraud, supermarkets across Europe pulled millions of suspect food products like frozen lasagne and meatballs from their shelves in 2013, deepening concerns about the meat industry and food safety on the continent. Poujol, who had already spent four months behind bars during the investigation, declined to comment after the ruling was issued. Patrice Monguillon, manager of the Spanghero factory in southern France, was given a suspended one-year sentence. Dutch middleman Johannes Fasen was sentenced to two years in prison, and his former associate Hendricus Windmeijer got a one-year suspended sentence. Both Dutchmen have convictions for a similar fraud in 2012 in their home country. All four accused were cleared of charges of conspiracy, though the two Frenchmen were also found guilty of tampering with evidence. One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand Frencken Group Limited (SGX:E28). Over the last twelve months Frencken Group has recorded a ROE of 11%. That means that for every SGD1 worth of shareholders' equity, it generated SGD0.11 in profit. See our latest analysis for Frencken Group How Do You Calculate ROE? The formula for return on equity is: Return on Equity = Net Profit Shareholders' Equity Or for Frencken Group: 11% = S$30m S$268m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.) It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all earnings retained by the company, plus any capital paid in by shareholders. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets. What Does Return On Equity Mean? ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses. Does Frencken Group Have A Good ROE? One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, Frencken Group has a higher ROE than the average (7.8%) in the Machinery industry. SGX:E28 Past Revenue and Net Income, April 15th 2019 That is a good sign. In my book, a high ROE almost always warrants a closer look. For example you might check if insiders are buying shares. Story continues Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking. Frencken Group's Debt And Its 11% ROE Frencken Group has a debt to equity ratio of 0.26, which is far from excessive. The combination of modest debt and a very respectable ROE suggests this is a business worth watching. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the company's ability to take advantage of future opportunities. But It's Just One Metric Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE. Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company. Of course Frencken Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have high ROE and low debt. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. South Bend (United States) (AFP) - Pete Buttigieg, the gay, liberal mayor of a small American city in the conservative bastion of Indiana, officially launched his presidential bid Sunday, joining a crowded field of Democrats vying for their party's nomination in 2020. The 37-year-old Rhodes scholar and Afghanistan war veteran is the two-term mayor of his hometown of South Bend -- a left-leaning bubble in America's so-called "Rust Belt" region, where the decline of industries such as steel and automobile manufacturing has hurt local economies. Voters in states such as Michigan and Wisconsin helped hand Republican US President Donald Trump his victory in the 2016 election. Buttigieg, who is credited with helping turn South Bend around, has couched himself as a can-do reformer who can speak to voters across the political spectrum. The message has helped catapult him from relative obscurity to becoming one of the leading Democrats in the crowded presidential race. "My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me 'Mayor Pete.' I'm a proud son of South Bend, Indiana, and I am running for president of the United States!" he told a jubilant crowd of supporters at a former assembly plant turned high-tech hub in South Bend. "That's why I am here, to tell a different story than 'Make America Great Again'" he added, referring to Trump's campaign slogan. "This time it's not just about winning an election. It's about winning an era." The official launch -- in which Buttigieg touched upon a number of liberal talking points such as racial justice, voting rights and health care reform, as well as his faith and marriage to Chasten Buttigieg -- is expected to give his surprisingly strong campaign an additional boost. Campaign staffers said they have been caught by surprise by the speed with which the mayor has generated nationwide political support, and are still staffing up the campaign. Buttigieg had no speech writer to help him prepare his remarks. Story continues - 'New generation' - So many people showed up for the launch event that a large crowd was left outside in the rain to watch on a large video screen. Buttigieg braved the elements and thanked the crowd moments before making his official announcement indoors. "He represents a new generation of Democratic leadership. We love his vision," said Jenn Watts, 35, while her three-year-old daughter sat on her shoulders. They were in the cavernous event space in the former plant of defunct automaker Studebaker waiting more than two hours to see Buttigieg speak. "As a young mom with a young daughter, he represents what I want my daughter to see in leadership in this country," Watts added. In the three months since he declared an exploratory committee to test a presidential run, Buttigieg has raised $7 million, more than most other candidates, and jumped to third place in the latest polls of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire -- the earliest states to vote in next year's primary elections. The popular mayor who speaks eight languages and plays classical piano has been the focus of countless news stories and profiles. The fascination has been in no small part due to his background: he would be the youngest, first openly gay, first millennial and first mayor to become president. But Buttigieg must still overcome the perception that his youth and thin resume as mayor of a town of just 100,000 leaves him lacking the experience necessary for the presidency. "I recognize the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor," Buttigieg said. "But the moment we live in compels us to act." Drew Corbin, a 24-year-old college student clutching four campaign T-shirts he had purchased for friends and wearing a campaign cap, said he still had not fully committed to the candidate. "There's a lot of candidates. I don't want to make up my mind so soon, almost a year before the primaries," Corbin said. "But he's definitely my favorite right now." - 'Destined for national politics' - Buttigieg's launch at Studebaker called to mind the plant's closure in 1963 that was still reverberating in the city in 2011 when he was elected mayor. He set out to tear down decaying, abandoned homes and restore the blighted Studebaker complex to make it suitable for new high-tech companies. In an unlikely feat, the city has reversed decades of population decline and attracted new businesses and development, with the mayor's popularity growing in the process. "His appeal, for many people in South Bend, is his ability to look forward and to focus on better days ahead," South Bend-based political science professor Elizabeth Bennion of Indiana University told AFP. "Once people looked at his resume and heard him speak, many started talking about the fact that he was destined for national politics." Big Four professional services firm EY is rolling out free software designed to help corporate clients use the ethereum blockchain and its taken an unusual step to encourage adoption. Announced Tuesday, EYs Nightfall protocol has been developed over the last year by the consulting firms team of over 200 blockchain developers and will be published in May. The protocol was created for such use cases as supply chains, food tracing, transactions between branches of a company and public finance. Like other enterprise blockchain platforms, Nightfall takes advantage of a technology called zero-knowledge proofs to allow private transactions on a shared ledger. But unlike most such endeavors, EYs software is intended to run on top of the public ethereum network, not a private variant. QuadrigaCX Crypto Exchange Could Soon Be Placed in Bankruptcy Further setting the project apart is the unusual approach EY is taking to intellectual property. The firm said it will not merely open-source the code that is, release it with a permissive copyright license but put it in the public domain, with no license at all. We want to maximize adoption and community involvement, we want people to adopt it, and adapt it, and improve it. If we retain ownership, people may not invest that much time and energy in something they might not control, EYs global innovation leader for blockchain, Paul Brody, explained at a press briefing. The cleanest way to make everybody use it is just to give it away with no strings attached. Nevertheless, Brody suggested this was a difficult decision, telling reporters: A year of coding work. This is a million dollars worth of stuff were giving away. A fine distinction ConsenSys Spin-Off BlockApps Inks Deal With Bayers Monsanto Arm Stepping back, open source and public domain are not synonymous. The terms are often used interchangeably. Legally, however, they mean different things, said Preston Byrne, a partner at the law firm of Byrne & Storm. Story continues Open-source, while it allows software to be used without paying royalties, means the author retains copyright and can, in theory, revoke or change the license, although I havent seen this happen in crypto even once, given that the ability to inspect the code and play around with it is a key selling proposition for protocol adoption, Byrne said. Public domain, on the other hand, involves a waiver of copyright. This is rarer in software, Byrne said, since it doesnt provide a clear licensing framework for later contributions to the codebase, creating the potential for disputes if, say, copyrighted code is added to a copyright-waived codebase. But if a company simply wants to give away its work, without more, there isnt a ton of risk in releasing to the public domain, he said. SAP, Microsoft, Carrefour According to Brody, EYs solutions for Nightfall will run in the Microsoft Azure cloud environment and are integrated with enterprise software from SAP, to give clients a comfort that this is not new and scary. This is a mature technology backed by the worlds leading technology companies. One of the solutions already in testing is a system for tracking software license transactions for Microsofts XBox video games platform, EY said. Using the solution, Microsoft can monitor its interactions with multiple game vendors and avoid litigation related to royalty payments. Other important partners include European grocery chain Carrefour, which is using EYs blockchain solution to trace oranges, eggs, and chickens (its also a participant in IBMs Food Trust blockchain); pharmaceutical producer Merck; Italian winery Placido Volpone; and an Italian buffalo mozzarella maker and a big Japanese car maker, Brody said. People are very undisciplined in the supply chain industry, he said, explaining blockchains appeal in this area. The beauty of non-double spending on the blockchain is that if a vaccine from a distribution center goes to a farm, it has to come out of a distribution center. Tokenize this One of the most important principles EY is advocating with Nightfall is that an enterprise blockchain should deal not with hashes of digitized PDF documents, but with tokens bound to physical goods. In pursuing this, EY took advantage of the ERC-721 standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on ethereum, the most famous example of which is the collectibles known as CryptoKitties. (EYs advisers included William Entriken, the main author of the standard, and the cryptography scholar Mary Maller, one of the leading researchers of zero-knowledge proofs.) We have made a big investment in the token technology, Brody said. We built a special kind of token, which is ERC 721-compatible, to separate a physical asset from the legal ownership of that asset. For example, while a car is on a ship on its way to a buyer, the shipping company doesnt own that car. Further down that road, Brody said, it will be possible to distinguish and tokenize different components of traded goods. We can envision a future where a power company owns a battery in your car and you can use it whenever you plug it in. Into the great wide open For more than a year, Brody has been evangelizing the benefits of public blockchains for enterprises, which made EY stand out among an enterprise crowd more favorably disposed to private or permissioned ledgers. Imagine every car maker and any shipment company runs their own private blockchain. A bunch of silos doesnt scale too well, Brody said. While private blockchains are useful, they dont solve the problem of a massive, scalable transformation. Just as enterprises grew comfortable using public cloud storage, they will also come to embrace public blockchains, Brody believes. And the blockchain they choose, in EYs vision, will most likely be ethereum. The reason is the vast majority of the money raised in the space has been for companies that built on ethereum, and the vast majority of blockchain developers code on Solidity, the smart contract language written for ethereum. Thats a kind of developer momentum that makes me believe that, imperfect or not, unless they really screw up, ethereum is the choice, Brody said. Marc Hochstein contributed reporting. Image of Paul Brody by Marc Hochstein for CoinDesk Related Stories April 15, 2019, the evening of Monday in Holy Week Notre-Dame de Paris is burning. The cathedrals spire has fallen. The roof has collapsed. Firefighters have been on the scene for hours. The fire won the fight. There will be nothing left, a spokesman for Notre Dame told the BBC. Its almost that bad: The towers and facade will be spared, but much of the interior, including the famous carved woodwork that was the labor of generations, has gone up in the flames, like Elijah in his chariot, en route to heaven. The eldest daughter of the Church, Frances title of endearment among Europes Catholics, has worn Notre Dame, the Cathedral of Our Lady, as its crown since the High Middle Ages. Over the centuries, its vaults, flying buttresses, gargoyles, and rose windows came to assume the status of ancient icons, symbols of Western Christian civilization. We sometimes forget what a breath of wild fresh air Gothic architecture must have been when it began to spring up here and there in northern Europe in the 12th century. The angular verticality pulled the eyes upward and the mind toward things of heaven, like a grove of towering oaks. Ground for Notre Dame was broken in 1163. Twenty-six years later, the high altar was dedicated. The choir, the nave, and the main, western facade were completed by the middle of the following century. Chapels and various additions were gradually added, one by one. A great cathedral is never completed. After its first hundred, two hundred years, give or take a few, its frame has been established and its general demeanor has been settled, and succeeding generations of artists are afforded the luxury of homing in on delicate, carefully thought-out embellishments, icing on the wedding cake. Notre Dame has been the site of royal weddings and coronations, of papal Masses and of funeral Masses for heads of state. For the tourist, its beauty overshadows its function, which is to provide for the celebration of the Eucharist a house as worthy as mere mortals are capable of building. Immersed in its purpose, the pilgrim feels its magnificence all the more keenly. Theology and sacred history explained themselves through statues of saints and biblical figures: scripture for all who had eyes to see, including the unlettered. Much of that treasure was destroyed in the violence of Christian iconoclasm during the Protestant Reformation and then in the violence of the French Revolution, not to mention the intervening misguided renovations that included the removal of some medieval stained-glass windows. After a few subsequent restoration projects, one of which left the facade cleansed of longstanding grime so that the white stone underneath shone as it did in the cathedrals youth, Notre Dame began to be itself again by the second half of the 20th century. Story continues No one knows what any one craftsman thought and felt as he chiseled, sculpted, laid stones, or otherwise contributed to this monument to God, by way of Mary, the mother of His Son, but from the result of their collective work we glimpse the size of the love that the people of Paris as a whole have had for their faith. Theyve poured a lot of human soul into that structure. Notre Dame echoes emotions etched deep into the marble of Saint Mary Major, that ancient jewel of a Roman basilica likewise dedicated to Our Lady the same poem, sung in a different architectural language. Authorities say they havent determined the cause of the fire that broke out on the Ile de la Cite at 6:30 this evening of Monday in Holy Week. Plots to destroy the cathedral have been foiled by law enforcement the past couple of years. Catholic churches across France have been hit by a spate of vandalism in recent months. In March, fire damaged the Church of Saint-Sulpice in the sixth arrondissement. Firefighters said it was arson; police are still investigating. We dont know enough to say whether the fire at Notre Dame is the latest, most spectacular incident in some ongoing sinister plot against the Church in France, so we look for guidance to Our Lady of Prudence, charting a course between conspiracy-mindedness and naivete. VIEW GALLERY: Fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral The Church of the Holy Sepulchre or of the Resurrection, as its known to the Eastern Orthodox is by some accounts the holiest site for Christians of all persuasions and denominations. Erected on the site in Jerusalem where Jesus is reputed to have been crucified and buried and to have risen from the dead, Holy Sepulchre, almost twice as old as Notre Dame, has been destroyed by fire, rebuilt, destroyed by a caliph, and rebuilt again. Let French Catholics take courage from the precedent. The rest of us can figure out how to contribute to reconstruction efforts if we want to. A few relics that you would think belonged to Holy Sepulchre a piece of the cross to which Jesus was nailed, one of the nails, the crown of thorns with which Roman soldiers tortured and mocked him have been housed at Notre Dame in fact, and they escaped damage, according to reports. If you find hope or symbolic meaning therein, thank God, and apologize to no one for it. Good Friday came a few days early for Notre-Dame de Paris this year. Easter follows: You may be in no mood to accept that statement as a gesture toward consolation. It does, however, remain the truth. More from National Review JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli authorities extensively interrogated a Jewish American activist leaving the country about her work with a non-profit organization, the group said Tuesday. Israel has come under scrutiny in the past for detaining and interrogating pro-Palestinian activists and prominent critics at its borders, but the Abraham Initiatives called this the first time an advocate of "shared society" between Arabs and Jews inside Israel had been targeted. The Abraham Initiatives activist Laura Mandel was flying home to San Francisco after attending a conference for the group when security officers at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport pulled her aside for questioning about her involvement with the organization, which aims to advance the rights of Israel's Arab citizens. The group is widely considered mainstream, working closely with state agencies and government ministries. Mandel was, by her account, asked about her activities and contacts in Israel, as well as why an American Jew would be interested in Arab-Jewish relations. She said that after authorities questioned and inspected her for nearly two hours, they confiscated her laptop, medication and other personal belongings, to be returned at the end of the flight. Israel's Airport Authority said it was "sorry for having caused offense," but that it was following security procedures mandated by law. The Abraham Initiatives, which has headquarters in Lod, near Tel Aviv, New York City and London, linked Mandel's interrogation to an increasingly hostile political climate, in which "anyone in contact with Arabs, whether citizen or non-citizen, is labelled a potential threat." The incident reflects a "deterioration in the state's relations with its Arab citizens," the organization said of Israel. Also, the incident follows Israel's turbulent election season, marked by divisive campaigning that many Arab citizens call racist incitement. On election day, Arab factions filed a complaint that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party dispatched over 1,000 activists equipped with concealed cameras into polling places in Arab towns. Netanyahu defended the move as helping to secure a "legitimate vote." Story continues Arab lawmakers, who represent over 20 percent of Israel's citizens, called the cameras voter intimidation, meant to suppress Arab turnout. The Abraham Initiatives co-director Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu said he fears Israel's hard-line atmosphere, exacerbated by the recent passage of laws that Arabs view as discriminatory, have emboldened security forces to "harass not only peace activists," such as Jewish-American commentator Peter Beinart, who was interrogated about his politics by airport authorities last year, "but also those who promote a shared society among citizens of the state." The group pledged to take legal action against the state. By Hamid Ould Ahmed and Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's army chief said on Tuesday the military was considering all options to resolve the national political crisis and warned "time is running out", after weeks of anti-government protests. Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaed Salah's remarks were the strongest indication yet that the military, which has said it supports a transition period after the April 2 resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, is losing patience. In a speech broadcast on state television, Salah, speaking at a military base in the central town of Ouargla, urged protesters who have been gathering since Feb. 22 to avoid violence. "All options are open in the pursuit of overcoming the different difficulties and finding a solution to the crisis as soon as possible, in a way that serves our nations interests without regard to individual interests," he said. Salah did not specify what measures the army could take. But he said: "We have no ambition but to protect our nation."The army patiently monitored the mostly peaceful protests that sometimes swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. But Salah intervened when Bouteflika sought to extend his fourth term, declaring him unfit for office in a bid to avoid prolonged turmoil. Parliament named an interim president and a July 4 election date was set in a transition the army said it would support. Bouteflika's departure failed to placate many Algerians who want to topple the old guard and its associates. Protesters want a clean break with the ruling elite - veterans of the war of independence against France, the ruling party and oligarchs - and sweeping democratic reforms. Analysts say the army has been acting within the framework of the constitution to avoid giving any impression of a coup. In the early 1990s, the military cancelled an election Islamists were poised to win, triggering a civil war that killed an estimated 200,000 people and ravaged Algeria. Story continues "The army's leadership does not take any decision that does not serve the country and the people," said Salah, adding that some parties were not happy with the "peaceful protests". 'ALGERIA'S GOD' Salah accused a former intelligence chief of trying to undermine the transition, in a clear reference to General Mohamed Mediene, a spy chief dubbed "Algeria's God" because many saw him as the real authority. "I send to this person a final warning," said Salah. "And in case he persists in his actions, firm legal measures will be taken against him." Bouteflika fired Mediene in 2015 in an attempt to weaken the intelligence services, but he is still seen as one of the most powerful figures in Algeria. Bouteflika, rarely seen in public since a stroke in 2013, also worked for years to ease the generals' clout and make the presidency more powerful by sacking dozens of top officers. But the army is still the most powerful institution in Algeria. It has swayed politics from the shadows for decades and is expected to help guide the transition process. Earlier on Tuesday, the chairman of the Constitutional Council, Tayib Belaiz, quit his post, state news agency APS said. That followed calls for his resignation by protesters who say he is part of a ruling elite they want abolished. Belaiz submitted his resignation to interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, APS reported, citing a statement from the council. He was replaced by Kamel Fenich, a little-known judge and member of the council, state TV said. Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Algiers and in cities across the country on Tuesday, calling for radical change in the eighth week of mass protests. Belaiz's departure could herald that of other senior political figures who protesters want removed. These include Bensalah, who was appointed interim president after Salah managed Bouteflika's exit. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry) The CEO of industry giant UnitedHealth Group weighed in on Medicare for All proposals Tuesday, saying that plans being debated by Democrats would harm the nations health care system if enacted. "The wholesale disruption of American health care being discussed in some of these proposals would surely jeopardize the relationship people have with their doctors, destabilize the nations health system, and limit the ability of clinicians to practice medicine at their best," CEO David Wichmann said on an earnings call. "And the inherent cost burden would surely have a severe impact on the economy and jobs all without fundamentally increasing access to care," he added. A major player: UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the U.S., covering almost 50 million people nearly as large as Medicare itself, Bloombergs Drew Armstrong and John Tozzi pointed out. A lot at stake: UnitedHealth recorded revenues of $226 billion last year, and the companys stock has risen sharply over the last 10 years. Shares were down Tuesday, however, despite positive earnings news, with analysts citing investor jitters over Medicare for All. MarketWatchs Tomi Kilgore said that investors were reacting to chatter about changes in the regulatory landscape for health care chatter that Wichmann was trying to address, although his approach may have backfired. Wichmann and his predecessor, Stephen J. Hemsley, have been among the highest paid health care executives in the country. Wichmanns total compensation was $17.4 million in 2017, while Hemsley reportedly earned $279 million between 2010 and 2016. The industry pushes back: Until now, health care executives have remained quiet amid the growing debate over universal health care among Democratic presidential candidates, but a Washington Post story last week said that UnitedHealth has been working to undermine Medicare for All behind the scenes. Steve Nelson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a division of United Health Group, said weve done a lot more than you would think on the issue while seeking to tread lightly to avoid the political spotlight. Story continues Nelson, who earned $7.5 million in 2017, ended up very much in the spotlight in the wake of the Post article, however, with presidential candidate and leading Medicare-for-All proponent Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeting last week, Our message to Steve Nelson and UnitedHealthcare is simple: When we are in the White House your greed is going to end. We will end the disgrace of millions of people being denied health care while a single company earns $226 billion and its CEO makes $7.5 million in compensation. Wichmanns public comments on the issue this week represent an escalation in the political struggle, The Hills Nathaniel Weixel said, in a battle that so far has been fought largely by advocacy groups and lobbyists. A different path? Wichmann said he doesnt oppose the idea of universal health coverage but wants to maintain a role for private insurers. The path forward is to achieve universal coverage, and it can be substantially reached through existing public and private platforms," Wichmann said. Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter. This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll look at Dah Chong Hong Holdings Limited's (HKG:1828) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company's share price. Looking at earnings over the last twelve months, Dah Chong Hong Holdings has a P/E ratio of 6.69. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 15%. Check out our latest analysis for Dah Chong Hong Holdings How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio? The formula for price to earnings is: Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share Earnings per Share (EPS) Or for Dah Chong Hong Holdings: P/E of 6.69 = HK$2.95 HK$0.44 (Based on the year to December 2018.) Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good? The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. That is not a good or a bad thing per se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future. How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. If earnings are growing quickly, then the 'E' in the equation will increase faster than it would otherwise. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up. Dah Chong Hong Holdings maintained roughly steady earnings over the last twelve months. But it has grown its earnings per share by 12% per year over the last three years. And it has shrunk its earnings per share by 2.2% per year over the last five years. So it would be surprising to see a high P/E. Does Dah Chong Hong Holdings Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry? We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. We can see in the image below that the average P/E (11.3) for companies in the retail distributors industry is higher than Dah Chong Hong Holdings's P/E. Story continues SEHK:1828 Price Estimation Relative to Market, April 15th 2019 Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Dah Chong Hong Holdings shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitor director buying and selling. A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash). Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof). Dah Chong Hong Holdings's Balance Sheet Dah Chong Hong Holdings has net debt worth a very significant 109% of its market capitalization. This is a relatively high level of debt, so the stock probably deserves a relatively low P/E ratio. Keep that in mind when comparing it to other companies. The Bottom Line On Dah Chong Hong Holdings's P/E Ratio Dah Chong Hong Holdings's P/E is 6.7 which is below average (12.1) in the HK market. It's good to see EPS growth in the last 12 months, but the debt on the balance sheet might be muting expectations. Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.' So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock. 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. 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. United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Jason Kenney reacts at his provincial election night headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, Canada April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie As most predicted, Albertans woke up Wednesday to a brand new government. Jason Kenneys United Conservative Party defeated soon-to-be-former Premier Rachel Notleys New Democratic Party government in Tuesday nights election a result that surprised just about no one. A recent Global/Ipsos campaign poll showed the UCP with a comfortable 10-point lead over the NDP, with the top issue of what has been a divisive campaign still being jobs and employment. With the expected change in Alberta legislature imminent, many had been asking in the lead-up to the election what a Kenney-led government could mean for the province and, in particular, its crucial energy industry. A CIBC report released this week said the UCP policy that has the potential to have the biggest impact on independent power producers is the carbon tax, which Kenney has promised would be repealed as his governments first order of business. While a potential repeal would have a large impact on consumer electricity bills, we expect the impact to producers would be modest as the carbon tax is mostly a pass through... though some producers may choose to revisit their goal and gas conversion plans as a reduction in the carbon tax may make the economics of high emitter facilities more attractive for longer, the CIBC report said. Yahoo Finance Canada Morning Brief In fact, CIBC said a Kenney win would be a net positive for coal and natural gas fired assets and a slight negative for merchant renewables. At the same time, Tuesdays UCP government is expected to have little impact on utility companies operating in Alberta, CIBC said, but may have a modest positive impact if fiscal stimulus results in an increase in economic activity. Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest issues throughout the election campaign had been pipeline specifically, a lack of them in Alberta. Both Kenney and Notley had pitched their respective parties and policies as the best way to get pipelines to tide water built in the province. Story continues But CIBC analysts say its the upcoming federal election in October, not necessarily the provincial one, that will have greater implications on future pipeline projects. Large scale infrastructure projects (e.g. pipelines) are largely governed at the Federal level and thus will be dependent on what solutions each party proposes to expedite the development of major infrastructure projects, the CIBC report said. As such, we prefer a wait and see approach. Raymond James analysts echoed those sentiments in a note to clients on Wednesday, saying that the big levers are still firmly in the hands of the federal government. The provincial government has precious few levers in its policy arsenal to positively influence producer economics, and the levers it does have arent overly effective at this stage of the game, the note said. Kenny also promised to reduce regulatory red tape in order to reduce costs for producers, but it is unclear at this point what impact those changes will have. We expect these improvements will be appreciated, but it remains uncertain how this initiative will take shape, over what time period, and the ultimate impact it will have, Raymond James said. New York-based Eurasia Group said in a report last week that a Kenney victory could elevate short-term uncertain for the energy sector, especially if Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal government manages to hold onto power in October. A Kenney-Trudeau showdown over energy and climate policy raises a number of significant risks for investors, as further delays, lawsuits and federal-provincial negotiations will make final resolution of key policy issues and project approvals harder to achieve, the Eurasia report said. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Kabul (AFP) - Afghanistan published Tuesday a lengthy list of delegates who will meet with the Taliban in Doha this week, including government officials, in what could become the highest-level dialogue between the sworn enemies in years. A massive roster published by the presidential palace comprises 250 names, including President Ashraf Ghani's chief of staff, Abdul Salam Rahimi, as well as his election running mate, Amrullah Saleh, the former head of Afghan intelligence. Other delegates named on the list come from many walks of Afghan life including youth leaders, tribal elders and -- significantly -- 52 women. The last time the Taliban met with the Afghan government was at secretive talks in Pakistan in 2015, which were quickly derailed by the news that Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died. The three days of talks in Qatar, scheduled to start Friday, come amid a months-long push led by Washington for peace nearly 18 years after the US invasion, and as fresh violence rips across Afghanistan. Any contact between the Kabul government and the Taliban is seen as hugely significant, because the insurgents view Ghani as a US stooge and his government as a puppet regime, and have long refused to speak with them directly. They have insisted that any government officials attending this week's talks will be doing so only in a "personal capacity". The US, which has cited significant progress after holding direct talks with the militants in Doha several times since September, is not expected to attend. The militants have not announced a final list of who is headed to Doha, and distanced themselves from a report that suggested their delegation might also include women. The peace process thus far has been widely criticised for a lack of female representation, and US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has pushed for greater inclusivity. While the Taliban previously met with Afghan representatives and politicians in Moscow in February, those talks did not include members of Ghani's government. Story continues The spokesman for former president Hamid Karzai, who was at the Moscow talks, said Karzai supported the "intra-Afghan" conference in Doha but would not be attending. Kabul has also been left out of the talks with the Khalilzad and the US delegation, prompting concerns the Afghan government is being sidelined in its own peace process and underscoring the importance of this week's meetings in Doha. This month, the United Nations said it had lifted travel bans for 11 Taliban delegates so they could attend talks. That list includes Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Islamist movement and its top political leader, as well as Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's chief negotiator and former deputy minister of foreign affairs. The Taliban last week announced the start of Operation Fath, this year's spring offensive, and violence has continued apace across Afghanistan despite Khalilzad calling for a ceasefire. Investors who want to cash in on Plastiques du Val de Loire's (EPA:PVL) upcoming dividend of 0.20 per share have only 1 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 18 April 2019, in time for dividends payable on the 24 April 2019. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I examine Plastiques du Val de Loire's latest financial data to analyse its dividend characteristics. See our latest analysis for Plastiques du Val de Loire 5 checks you should do on a dividend stock Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics: Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers? Has it paid dividend every year without dramatically reducing payout in the past? Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years? Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings? Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth? ENXTPA:PVL Historical Dividend Yield, April 16th 2019 How does Plastiques du Val de Loire fare? The company currently pays out 11% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect PVL's payout to remain around the same level at 11% of its earnings. Assuming a constant share price, this equates to a dividend yield of 2.3%. In addition to this, EPS is forecasted to fall to 1.71 in the upcoming year. If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. Companies with strong cash flow can sustain a higher payout ratio, while companies with weaker cash flow generally cannot. If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you're eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Although PVL's per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Shareholders would have seen a few years of reduced payments in this time. Story continues In terms of its peers, Plastiques du Val de Loire has a yield of 2.1%, which is on the low-side for Chemicals stocks. Next Steps: With these dividend metrics in mind, I definitely rank Plastiques du Val de Loire as a strong income stock, and is worth further research for anyone who considers dividends an important part of their portfolio strategy. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. Below, I've compiled three pertinent aspects you should look at: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PVLs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PVLs outlook. Valuation: What is PVL worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it's not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether PVL is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. India's banking ban is chocking the life out of the country's cryptocurrency exchanges. | Source: Shutterstock By CCN.com: Indias regulatory uncertainty on cryptocurrencies has taken a toll on Bengaluru-based exchange Unocoin forcing it to lay off employees. According to The Economic Times, the bitcoin exchange has laid off over a dozen employees and now only has 14 employees remaining. The changes are drastic considering that last year in February Unocoin which is in its sixth year of existence boasted of over 100 employees. Per Unocoins CEO, Sathvik Vishwanath, the cryptocurrency exchange the best-funded in the country only has cash reserves to last it just a few months. Unocoin had previously attempted to raise funding but this did not materialize. Reserve Bank of India Quick to ban, Supreme Court Slow to Decide The future of the bitcoin exchange also rests heavily on the kind of ruling Indias Supreme Court will make regarding the banking restrictions imposed by the countrys central bank on cryptocurrency businesses, according to Vishwanath: We did ask people to leave last week, but our operations will continue for the foreseeable future. We have some amount of reserves to push through for the next couple of months and will wait for the Supreme Courts verdict. Initially, the Supreme Court of India was to issue a ruling on the matter on March 29. This has now been postponed to July 23 igniting some street protests by those angered by the delays. Indian crypto enthusiasts take to the streets, amidst Supreme Court delays https://t.co/0BfacWg9r4 pic.twitter.com/i7WV5fedEb LeapRate Industry News (@LeapRate) April 8, 2019 Read the full story on CCN.com. eToro, the global multi-asset trading platform has officially unveiled its fully regulated cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange will offer 37 crypto-to-fiat trading pairs using 8 eToro native stablecoins - pegged to a different fiat currency. It will trade the 6 largest cryptocurrencies but it may increase as the year goes on. eToro's existing trading platform already has 10 million registered users, many of whom the company are hoping will migrate over to the new API-driven exchange. "It will a gradual process," eToro CEO and co-founder, Yoni Assia told The Block. "eToro is catering towards a more professional traders versus the trading platform," which he described as "the easiest way to enter the crypto world." He also said an announcement about a large advertising campaign was pending. eToroX is now hoping to capture new audiences, launching in 80 countries barring the US. "I definitely think there is demand for regulated, secured exchanges. Especially when you look at those wanting to trade fiat currencies against crypto assets," Assia said. "So if you're looking at Mexican peso trading with Litecoin, there's maybe one [existing exchange] that offers that." Assia also hinted at plans to launch an STO platform through a Danish subsidiary, seeking to "tokenise more and more assets" this year. However, he said it would steer clear of the DEX market for now, saying "interest in non-custodial solutions" had been "less than expected" over the last seven years, despite having built a pilot. Assia also clarified the firm had decided not to list BSV based on its volume criteria, but said the firm hadn't taken sides on the dispute with fellow exchange Binance. Fees Trading fees will compete with existing major exchanges, with a tiered approach going to 0.1% for market makers and 0.1% for takers. The firm also said it's looking at supporting margin with leverage at 5x. Last month, eToro also launched a trading platform and wallet service to 32 U.S. states and territories, enabling users to trade 13 cryptocurrencies. It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Genel Energy plc (LON:GENL). What Is Insider Selling? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.' See our latest analysis for Genel Energy The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Genel Energy In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Non-Executive Director Martin Gudgeon bought UK230k worth of shares at a price of UK2.30 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being UK2.20). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Martin Gudgeon. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Story continues LSE:GENL Recent Insider Trading, April 16th 2019 Genel Energy is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Does Genel Energy Boast High Insider Ownership? Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. From our data, it seems that Genel Energy insiders own 0.9% of the company, worth about UK5.3m. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings. So What Does This Data Suggest About Genel Energy Insiders? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Genel Energy shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. The transactions are fine but it'd be more encouraging if Genel Energy 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. Paris (AFP) - President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame cathedral "even more beautifully" within five years, as France reeled with shock from the fire that gutted the great Paris landmark. Macron announced the fast timescale -- for a process some experts said would take decades -- in an address to the nation where he hailed how the disaster had shown the capacity of France to mobilise and unite. Pledges worth around 700 million euros ($790 million) have already been made Tuesday from French billionaires and businesses to restore the Gothic masterpiece. Most of the roof has been destroyed, its steeple has collapsed and an unknown number of artifacts and paintings have been lost. The main organ, which had close to 8,000 pipes, has also suffered damage. But the cathedral's walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows at France's most visited tourist attraction remain intact. - 'Our history never stops' - Macron's defiant comments indicated he wants the reconstruction of the cathedral to be completed by the time Paris hosts the Olympic Games in 2024. PHOTOS: Fire breaks out at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris "We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautifully and I want it to be finished within five years," Macron said from the Elysee Palace. "And we can do it." Macron said that the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country riven with divisions and since November shaken by sometimes violent protests against his rule. "What we saw last night in Paris was our capacity to mobilise and to unite," Macron said, hailing France as a nation of "builders". "Our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome," he said. - 'Saved in half an hour' - Images from inside the cathedral Tuesday showed its immense walls standing proud, with statues still in place and a gleaming golden cross above the altar. Story continues However the floor was covered in charred rubble from the fallen roof and water while parts of the vaulting at the top of the cathedral had collapsed. Junior interior minister Laurent Nunez told reporters at the scene that work to secure the structure would continue into Thursday, allowing firefighters access to remove remaining artifacts and artworks. He said the building had been saved within a critical time window of 15-30 minutes by a team of 400 firefighters who worked flat out throughout the night. Though "some weaknesses" in the 850-year-old structure had been identified, overall it is "holding up OK", he added. President Donald Trump relayed Americans' "condolences" to Macron over the fire, the White House said. French fire chiefs had earlier dismissed as "risible" comments by Trump that the fire should be tackled with water bombers, saying this risked destroying the entire edifice of the cathedral. The Paris fire service said that the last remnants of the blaze were extinguished Tuesday, 15 hours after the fire broke out. Renovation work on the steeple, where workers were replacing its lead covering, is widely suspected to have caused the inferno after the blaze broke out in an area under scaffolding. Investigators interviewed witnesses overnight and began speaking with employees of five different construction companies that were working on the monument, said public prosecutor Remy Heitz. "Nothing indicates this was a deliberate act," Heitz told reporters, adding that 50 investigators had been assigned to what he expected to be a "long and complex" case. - 'For future generations' - A public appeal for funds drew immediate support from French billionaires and other private donors as well as from countries including Germany, Italy and Russia which offered expertise. French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his LVMH luxury conglomerate, rival high-end designer goods group Kering, Total oil company and cosmetics giant L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros or more. Support came from outside France as well, with Apple chief Tim Cook announcing the tech giant would give an unspecified amount to help restore a "precious heritage for future generations." But experts had warned a full restoration will take many years. "I'd say decades," said Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral. - Treasures evacuated - Thousands of Parisians and tourists watched in horror Monday as flames engulfed the building and rescuers tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's treasures. Many more came Tuesday to the banks of the river Seine to gaze at where the roof and steeple once stood. A firefighter suffered injuries during the blaze, which at one point threatened to bring down one of the two monumental towers on the western facade of the cathedral that is visited by 13 million tourists each year. The Holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion, was saved by firefighters, as was a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis IX. Rescuers formed a human chain at the site of the disaster to evacuate as many artifacts as possible, which were then stocked temporarily at the Paris town hall. Charles Taylor plc (LON:CTR) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 23% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been less than pleasing. In fact, the share price is down 13% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return. See our latest analysis for Charles Taylor To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time. Charles Taylor saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Due to the loss, it's not easy to use EPS as a reliable guide to the business. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario. The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). LSE:CTR Past and Future Earnings, April 16th 2019 It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Charles Taylor's earnings, revenue and cash flow. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Charles Taylor's TSR for the last 3 years was -3.7%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! A Different Perspective While the broader market gained around 7.2% in the last year, Charles Taylor shareholders lost 5.4% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 5.2% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling. Story continues Of course Charles Taylor may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GB exchanges. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Damascus (AFP) - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Damascus on Tuesday ahead of a fresh round of talks next week in Kazakhstan towards ending Syria's eight-year civil war. Iran and Russia are key allies of the Damascus regime, and along with rebel backer Turkey have sponsored the so-called Astana negotiations track to end the conflict. Kazakhstan is to host a fresh round of talks on April 25-26 in its capital, last month renamed from Astana to Nur-Sultan. In Damascus, Zarif and President Bashar al-Assad discussed "the next round of Astana talks and the importance of lasting communication between Damascus and Tehran for continued cooperation", the presidency said in a statement. Both countries are facing a flurry of sanctions by Western nations including the United States, with Washington this month designating Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation. Syria is in the grips of a growing fuel crisis that it blames on these sanctions. Zarif and Assad accused Western countries headed by the United States of "launching wars and economic terrorism against anyone who did not agree with them" in regional matters, the presidency said. Earlier on Tuesday, Zarif met his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem. After the meeting, Zarif told journalists Iran, Russia and Turkey would be focusing on the jihadist-held bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria, pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said. The region on the border with Turkey is held by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and is in theory protected from a massive regime offensive by a Russia-Turkey deal. The September accord aimed to set up a buffer zone around Idlib, but was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from it. "The Astana guarantors... need to abide by the commitments linked to the Idlib file," including "disarming terrorists groups and them leaving Idlib", Zarif said, according to Al-Watan. Story continues Regime forces have continued to bombard Idlib despite the deal, increasingly so in recent weeks. Zarif is expected to visit Turkey after Damascus. Endless rounds of UN-backed Syria peace talks have failed to stem the bloodshed, and Iran, Russia and Turkey have sponsored the parallel Astana negotiations track since early 2017. Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad throughout the war, which has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since 2011. The Syrian regime has made a military comeback with Russian military support since 2015, and now holds almost two-thirds of the country. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The director of the Israeli office of Human Rights Watch on Tuesday lost his appeal against deportation, having been accused of promoting pro-Palestinian boycotts of Israel, the Justice Ministry said. Omar Shakir had contested the revocation of his work permit last year. The New York-based watchdog has cast his case as a bid to suppress global criticism of Israels treatment of Palestinians. Israel says that Shakir, a U.S. citizen, supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Israel has criminalized BDS and has lobbied Western powers to follow suit. Human Right Watch called the ruling "a new and dangerous interpretation of the law", and said it would appeal to Israel's Supreme Court and seek an injunction to let Shakir stay in Israel until any appeal was heard. In its ruling on Tuesday, the Jerusalem District Court said that Shakir supported the boycott of Israel and of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. It gave him until May 1 to leave the country. "The appellant continues to call publicly for a boycott of Israel, or parts of it, while at the same time asking (Israel) to open its doors to him," said the ruling distributed by the Justice Ministry. Human Right Watch said that neither it nor Shakir as its representative promoted boycotts of Israel. "The decision sends the chilling message that those who criticize the involvement of businesses in serious abuses in Israeli settlements risk being barred from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank," said Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan welcomed the court's decision. "We will not allow the promotion of boycotts under the disguise of 'human rights activists' as Shakir did," Erdan said on Twitter. The Palestinians and many countries consider settlements to be illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing security needs and biblical, historical and political connections to the land. The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in 1967. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and withdrawn from Gaza. The West Bank remains under Israeli military occupation with limited Palestinian self rule. (Reporting by Stephen Farrell and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Maayan Lubell) The Daily Beast InstagramA 42-year-old Hollywood wannabe has reportedly been arrested on the set of NCIS: Los Angeles in connection with the mysterious deaths of a 24-year-old Instagram model and her friend.Brandt Osborn, who originally hails from Staten Island, was one of three men arrested Wednesday over the November deaths of Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Thursday. David Pearce, 37, and Michael Ansbach, 47, were identified as the other two men ta By Tanvi Mehta and Aditi Shah MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Jet Airways Ltd will be forced to shut down as soon as Wednesday if it does not get emergency funding from its lenders, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Bankers and an Indian government official said lenders are trying to line up funds to keep aloft the once-dominant Indian airline, whose shares earlier on Tuesday slumped to their lowest levels since August 2015. Another source said Jet's board had authorized its chief executive Vinay Dube to go back to its main lender State Bank of India (SBI) one last time to plead for emergency funds. "If we don't get funds today, the airline will have to shut down immediately," a senior company source told Reuters. Jet, which did not respond to requests for comment, saw its shares fall by as much as 18.5 percent on Tuesday after Indian media reported that Jet's management had advised the airline's board to temporarily suspend the company's operations. In a regulatory filing late on Tuesday, Jet said: "In view of the critical liquidity position of the company, its operations have been severely impacted." The carrier said it was awaiting "emergency liquidity support" from its lenders. Dube, in a letter to employees late on Tuesday that was seen by Reuters, said Jet has stressed to its lenders the need for urgent funding, critical to the continuation of its operations. Earlier on Tuesday, Indian business channel BTVI said Jet's board had authorized Dube to seek a minimum of 4 billion rupees ($58 million) in interim funding, and had advised him to ground the airline if no funds materialized. Separately, ET Now reported that the ExportImport Bank of the United States (EXIM) had recalled all loans to Jet and was seeking to repossess all the planes it funded. EXIM did not respond to a request for comment. Jet, which has around $1.2 billion in bank debt, has been teetering for weeks after failing to receive a stop-gap loan of about $217 million as part of a rescue deal in late March. Story continues Jet, which also owes lessors, suppliers, pilots and oil companies, has been haemorrhaging planes in recent weeks as its lessors have scrambled to de-register and take back aircraft even as Jet's lenders have sought expressions of interest from investors interested in turning it around. BANKS SCRAMBLING Jet's creditors, led by SBI, want a new investor to acquire a stake of up to 75 percent and initial expressions of interest were submitted last week. "Lenders are committed to a revival plan for Jet Airways," Punjab National Bank's Managing Director Sunil Mehta said. "SBI is working on the emergency funding, everything is under discussion, nothing is finalised." Mehta's comments come after Jet informed all employees in a letter on Monday it was extending a suspension of international flights until Thursday due to a lack of funds. CNBC-TV18 said Jet's lenders were likely to invite binding bids from four shortlisted suitors. These include private equity firms TPG Capital and Indigo Partners, Indian sovereign wealth fund National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and the UAE's Etihad Airways, which already owns a minority stake in Jet, it said. Separately, an Indian government official said funding was likely to come through and that the banks were not looking to take Jet to bankruptcy court. India's aviation secretary told media late on Tuesday that Jet had only five aircraft flying on the day and that 90 percent of its slots stood vacant. A year ago Jet had more than 120 planes operating, but the full-service airline has been hit by competition from low-cost carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet, along with high oil prices, fuel taxes and a weak rupee. India's civil aviation regulator disclosed on Tuesday that lessors have sought to de-register another seven Jet aircraft. Once de-registered, lessors are free to take a plane out of the country and lease it to other airlines. More than two dozen Jet-operated planes have been de-registered this month, and Jet has been forced to ground dozens more over unpaid dues. As of 1415 GMT on Tuesday, Jet listed on its website roughly three dozen flights that it plans to operate on Wednesday. Jet shares closed 8.1 percent lower at 240.50 rupees. (Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Mumbai and Aditi Shah in Shanghai; Additional reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru and Tim Hepher in Paris and Jamie Freed in Singapore; Writing by Euan Rocha; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Alexander Smith and Jan Harvey) Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently showing strong upwards momentum following a minor dip over the weekend. My medium-term bet is that the entire cryptocurrency market will continue to turn profits, at least until there is some uncertainty in the economic panorama. As some experts point out, a shift in economic conditions could offset the market, even though there is little correlation between altcoins and other financial assets. Lets take a dive into whats going on with Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is currently sitting at around $316. After a major pump where volume spiked to yearly highs during early April, BCH seems to be stabilising above the key $300 support level, just above the 200-day EMA. Just in case BCH continues to rally, its advisable to hold a position at this point, although history shows there are usually corrections after big moves. As we can see from the chart above, the 200-day EMA has now been crossed by BCH and, even more interestingly, the 20-day EMA has already crossed the 50-day EMA, which is a really bullish long-term signal. Even after the recent weekend dip, it has maintained a positive uptrend. If this trend continues and the 20 and 50-day EMAs cross the 200-day EMA, we could definitely see price dancing between $350 and $400 soon. However, by looking at BCHs price action between September and November last year, there are some indications of price resistance around these levels. Volume-wise, it seems most traders are still betting heavily on a downtrend, even though the market seems to be behaving conversely. On Monday there was, yet again, another surge in volumes and new, fresh cash continues to enter the cryptosphere. Fundamentals remain strong I recently spoke with Bitcoin Cashs strongest advocate Roger Ver and discussed the most recent developments on the horizon for BCH. You can find all the details here, but the most juicy news seems to be the recent spike in adoption due to the implementation of smart contracts. Roger, like myself, believes key components for mass adoption are speed and flexibility. What Bitcoin Cash Oracles offers is a way for any user to easily deploy an escrow transaction that can be used to trade globally without the hassle of trusting the other party. Story continues I personally think those trade escrows will be key in terms of adoption, especially for work-related tasks. In a way, they do enable milestone-based funding, which may be the new and better way of conducting ICOs instead of simply creating an extra layer of complexity with STOs that require KYC and accreditation, something that goes against what we should be promoting within the crypto ecosystem. I try not to bet against the momentum, so for now, I would stick with riding the wave upwards. Current live BCH pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest BCH price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar BCHtoUSD British Pound Sterling BCHtoGBP Japanese Yen BCHtoJPY Euro BCHtoEUR Australian Dollar BCHtoAUD Russian Rouble BCHtoRUB Bitcoin BCHtoBTC About Bitcoin Cash Bitcoin Cash was born out of the idea of making Bitcoin more practical for small, day-to-day payments. In May 2017, Bitcoin payments took about four days unless a fee was paid, which was proportionately too large for small transactions. A change to the code was implemented and Bitcoin Cash was born on 1st August 2017. More Bitcoin Cash news and information If you want to find out more information about Bitcoin Cash or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Heres an article to get you started: By Scott Thompson April 16, 2019 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. You may be interested in our range of cryptocurrency guides along with the latest cryptocurrency news. The post Latest Bitcoin Cash price and analysis (BCH to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet. CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) The Latest on the funeral of Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings (all times local): 12:45 p.m. Speaking through tears, U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has remembered his political mentor Fritz Hollings as a strong leader who was capable of transformative change on the issue of race. Clyburn said at Hollings' funeral in Charleston Tuesday that he was moved when Hollings asked that his own name be taken down from a courthouse, replaced by that of a judge whose dissent led to the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling desegregating public schools. Hollings initially campaigned against desegregation when running for governor in the 1950s. But he evolved on the issue, later advocating for integration. As a South Carolina State University student, Clyburn said he met with the then-governor and knew that Hollings' attitude on race was changing, although he hadn't ever shared that thought publicly until now. ____ 12:15 p.m. Former Vice President Joe Biden credits his longtime Senate desk mate Fritz Hollings with making sure he made it to the chamber in the first place. Biden told a crowd of hundreds Tuesday at Hollings' funeral at The Citadel that Hollings both encouraged him to run for the Senate and urged him to take his seat following a car crash that killed Biden's first wife and daughter. Biden told Hollings' children that he knows their grief seems insurmountable now, but it will pass. Gov. Henry McMaster also spoke of the late senator, saying, "the magnificent lion of South Carolina roars no more." ___ 10:30 a.m. Politicians, colleagues, admirers and friends have begun to arrive at funeral services for South Carolina's Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, one of the last larger-than-life Democrats who once dominated the politics of the South. Former Gov. Dick Riley, state Democratic Chairman Trav Robertson and associate Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison were among those gathering Tuesday ahead of 11 a.m. services at Summerall Chapel at The Citadel in Charleston. Story continues Former Vice President Joe Biden will be among the speakers. Hollings died earlier this month at 97. The funeral caps off three days of mourning for the former governor and longtime U.S. senator, whose body lay in repose Monday at the state Capitol. When he retired from the Senate in 2005, Hollings had served 38 years and two months, making him the eighth longest-serving senator in U.S. history. ___ 1 a.m. Mourners are gathering to say goodbye to South Carolina's Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, one of the last larger-than-life Democrats who once dominated the politics of the South. Funeral services are set to begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Summerall Chapel at The Citadel in Charleston. Former Vice President Joe Biden is among the speakers. Hollings died earlier this month at 97. The funeral caps off three days of mourning for the former governor and longtime U.S. senator, whose body lay in repose Monday at the state Capitol. Hollings' long and colorful political career included an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. When he retired from the Senate in 2005, Hollings had served 38 years and two months, making him the eighth longest-serving senator in U.S. history. By Ulf Laessing and Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Shelling could be heard late on Tuesday in several parts of the Libyan capital Tripoli as Europe and the Gulf were divided over a push by eastern forces commander Khalifa Haftar to seize the city. Nearly two weeks into its assault, the veteran general's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) is stuck in the city's southern outskirts battling armed groups loyal to the internationally-recognized Tripoli government. But residents in central districts could hear just before midnight shelling louder than in previous nights. No more information was immediately available. Forces allied to Tripoli have accused the LNA of firing rockets into residential areas, but the LNA said in a statement it had nothing to with the late night shelling, accusing instead a Tripoli-based group. As the rockets fell, the U.N. Security Council was due to consider a British-drafted resolution that would demand a ceasefire in Libya and call on all countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance. Foreign powers are worried but unable to present a united front over the latest flare-up in the cycle of anarchy gripping Libya since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. The conflict has brought a growing humanitarian toll - 174 people killed, 756 injured and almost 20,000 displaced, according to the latest United Nations tallies - and sunk for now an international peace plan. It threatens to disrupt oil flows, foment migration across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, and allow jihadists to exploit the chaos. Qatar said an existing U.N. arms embargo on Libya should be strictly enforced, to prevent Haftar, 75, from receiving arms. Benghazi-based Haftar enjoys the backing of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who view him as an anchor to restore stability and combat Islamist militants. Those three nations cut ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of support for militants and Iran. Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Italian daily La Repubblica a postponed U.N. peace forum should be rescheduled and Haftar's army made to withdraw. The arms embargo must be implemented "to prevent those countries that have been providing ammunitions and state-of-the-art weapons from continuing to do so," he said. Past U.N. reports say the UAE and Egypt have both supplied Haftar with arms and aircraft, giving him air superiority among Libya's multiple factions. East Libyan authorities say Qatar and Turkey back rival, Islamist-leaning factions in western Libya. U.N. MAY DEMAND CEASEFIRE The Gulf diplomatic divisions echo those in Europe, where former colonial ruler Italy and France have sparred over Libya. Paris has given Haftar support in the past, viewing him as the best bet to end the chaos since a NATO-backed rebellion to end Gaddafi's murderous four-decade rule. Italy, with considerable oil interests in the OPEC member, supports the Tripoli government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and was furious with French reluctance to back a recent European Union resolution urging Haftar to halt his advance. Nevertheless, Serraj has managed to hold the LNA at bay, thanks largely to armed groups that have rushed to aid them from other western Libyan factions. "The war ends with the withdrawal of these (LNA) forces and return from where they came," Serraj said in a statement on Tuesday. Though Haftar presents himself as a champion against what he calls terrorism, opponents cast him as a would-be dictator in the mold of Gaddafi. About 70 people protested against him at the central Algiers Square in Tripoli on Tuesday. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Ahmed Elumami in TRIPOLI, Valentina Za in Milian, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michelle Nichols in New York ; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Grant McCool and Bill Berkrot) We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Photo credit: Boeing From Popular Mechanics It's easy to be jaded by new battery news. Scientists tinker with chemical formulas, using all manner of exotic materials, only for that research to fade into the dusty annals of academia. But this breakthrough is something different. Scientists with the company Cuberg have crafted a new battery that comes with a way to scale up in the real world. The startup, with backing from Boeing, venture capitalists, and the U.S. Department of Energy, has demonstrated the world's first vertical drone powered by a lithium metal battery (not to be confused with lithium-ion.) The quadcopter flew 70 percent longer than the one powered by a lithium-ion battery. The key invention is a new, non-flammable electrolyte that erases the safety risks associated with todays ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries. Because it's also chemically very robust and stable, it allows us to use much more energy dense materials inside the battery to cut down a lot of the excess weight in the cell, says Cuberg CEO Richard Wang. The material changes from a typical graphite that you find in lithium-ion to a pure lithium metal foil. Boeing sees the ultralight weight batteries as an essential ingredient for cutting-edge aerospace programs, including electric aircraft, flying taxis, and large military cargo drones. If you look at anything that's flying, lithium-ion batteries are just not good enough, Wang says. When you start looking at more ambitious plans, things like Uber Elevate and more futuristic electric planes or hybrid electric passenger airliners, lithium-ion is not going to cut it. It's just too heavy; the performance and economics don't make sense. Safety is naturally a critical part of any aircraft, especially one carrying people, so replacing flammable material is obviously desirable. Li-ion batteries are notorious for their combustibility, which happens when overheating causes the flammable electrolyte to vent gasses that react to the cathode, which results in a runaway heating, fire, and explosions. Story continues The new electrolyte is thermally stable, so even when all the other materials in there are very energy dense and you have overheating, if your electrolyte is stable it greatly mitigates the extent to which this happens, Wang says. By nipping the thermal runway in the bud, Boeing says these batteries enjoy great power density and are also safer. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that the process wont require big retrofits to bring it to the factory floor, making the tech logistically possible. People in the battery business say that everything has been done before, in some form or another, typically by some government scientist in a national lab in the sixties, Wang says. That's kind of true for our system as well, but historically no one's ever figured out how to use these chemical systems effectively. There's always been challenges of purity, with cost, with basic physical challenges. Photo credit: Boeing The lithium-ion battery boom has created an entire supply chain that now uses some of the same precursor chemicals used in the Boeing battery, making it easier to scale production to industrial levels. When you look at the battery world, there are so many breakthroughs, Wang says. But for things to actually can make an impact, you have to go several steps beyond the fundamental materials breakthrough and figure something that works on so many other levels, economically and business wise. Boeing is calling these new batteries a fundamental leap in battery technology. If they are right, the flight of the quadcopter could be the trailblazer for an oncoming deluge of unmanned aircraft and passenger aircraft, going places where lithium-ion just doesnt work. One logical place to look for this battery to be used is on Boeings military cargo drone, a 15-foot-wide octocopter that first flew last year. After that, the sky wouldnt necessarily be the limit, if the system becomes familiar enough to qualify for use in spacecraft. But one place you wont likely see these batteries used is for grid storage, where extending the batterys cycle life (the time it takes to charge and discharge) is a lot more important than saving weight. But for those who dream of electrified flying taxis of the future, having a better battery than the Li-Ion is a welcome development. ('You Might Also Like',) 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 before you buy or sell Lonking Holdings Limited (HKG:3339), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling. Do Insider Transactions Matter? It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information. We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.' View our latest analysis for Lonking Holdings Lonking Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when VP & Executive Director Jian Luo bought HK$3.1m worth of shares at a price of HK$2.83 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of HK$2.88. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Lonking Holdings share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price. Happily, we note that in the last year insiders bought 2.2m shares for a total of HK$5.5m. In the last twelve months Lonking Holdings insiders were buying shares, but not selling. Their average price was about HK$2.50. It's great to see insiders putting their own cash into the company's stock, albeit at below the recent share price. 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 SEHK:3339 Recent Insider Trading, April 16th 2019 There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Insider Ownership of Lonking Holdings 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. Lonking Holdings insiders own 25% of the company, currently worth about HK$3.1b based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders. So What Does This Data Suggest About Lonking Holdings Insiders? There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Lonking Holdings insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. 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. Alexandra/Welkom (South Africa) (AFP) - "In 1994 we voted for Nelson Mandela, then for Thabo Mbeki, then again for Jacob Zuma. But nothing has changed," sighed Aubrey Kutlawano after attending an election rally by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Aged 42, Kutlawano has no job and lives in a single room with three other people, including his disabled sister. "They are just greedy people working for themselves," he declares of the African National Congress (ANC). After decades fighting apartheid and its entrenched discrimination, the ANC came to power 25 years ago promising "A better life for all" -- housing, services, education and jobs for black people denied equal opportunities under decades of apartheid. "This time I'm just not going to vote," said Kutlawano, disillusioned. Around him, the stadium in Johannesburg's Alexandra township emptied swiftly. Ramaphosa's closing words had barely died down before he was hustled to a limousine by bodyguards. Near the barriers erected between potential voters and the political class, kids jostled to grab a T-shirt in the black, yellow and green colours of the ANC. For weeks, Ramaphosa has attended rallies to persuade an electorate of 27 million to back the ANC once more in May 8 general elections. The party holds 249 or 62 percent of the 400 seats in the national parliament, its poorest showing in five successive elections. At its height in 2004, the ANC got nearly 70 percent of the vote. Polls suggest it will dip to an unprecedented low of 61 percent in parliamentary vote -- still far ahead of its nearest competitor, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) which holds less than a quarter of the seats. The ANC is embroiled in numerous corruption scandals, with high-profile figures accused of lining their pockets even as millions of ordinary citizens battle to make ends meet. The country of 57 million people has seen widespread service delivery protests in recent years. Story continues Official unemployment is over 27 percent. But on the campaign trail, Ramaphosa -- a trade union leader-turned multi-millionaire -- sometimes appeared out of touch with the daily struggle of the masses. Ramaphosa expressed "shock" at the state of electricity provision in a country where people have had to find ways of living around regular power cuts. In Alexandra, people are angry. The DA runs their municipality, part of Johannesburg, but it is the ANC -- which governs the larger Gauteng province -- they blame. Overlooked by the glass and steel towers of the upmarket Sandton business and shopping district -- considered Africa's richest square mile -- the township bears witness to the failings of government. Sewers and waste dumps lie open, roads are potholed, and makeshift homes with corrugated iron walls and roofs are crowded. Most of the 200,000 residents subsist without electricity, running water, or an income. - 'The devil you know' - "Everybody is complaining about Alex being a high-crime place, that's only because people don't have jobs," said resident Kgomotso Mosepidi. "People are forced to steal to make a living," added the father of eight, who has a diploma in information technology but has been unemployed for five years. "The state is doing nothing for us, they are just coming to get our votes and then they disappear for five years," said Nana Zweni, a 44-year-old, unemployed mother of four. But despite their anger, people still plan to vote for the ANC. The DA has battled to carve away at the loyal ANC voting base, and polls show it dipping from about 22 to 18 percent in May. The radical Economic Freedom Fighters, whose leader split from the ANC and promises to seize land from whites, is polled to rise slightly from six to 10 percent of the vote, still far from a power challenge. "It's the liberation movement, they set us free. And Cyril is a face of hope. Better the devil you know...," summarised Zweni. Before Alexandra, Ramaphosa had travelled about 300 kilometres (185 miles) south to Thabong township in the mining town of Welkom, where he promised new houses, laptop computers and "a better life" overall. "We must respond to the pain and the suffering of our people here," he told the rally, punctuating his speech with shouts of "Amandla" ("Power") as in the time of revolutionary struggle. Those present had familiar concerns. "Since we are in a democracy, nothing has really changed. We're still living here in (an) informal settlement, struggling to get basic services," said Tau Mphasa, 54. Yet, hope remains. "I think Cyril is the one. But it's their last chance. If he doesn't deliver, next time I will go elsewhere." Jacob Mpho, 34, also thinks Ramaphosa "is a good guy". "I'm going to vote for ANC again because I trust him. But I'm crying every day." The UKs largest travel management firm Corporate Traveller has teamed up with blockchain payment provider BitPay to allow users to expense their bookings in crypto, the company announced in a press release. We identified an increasing demand from our clients for the option to pay in bitcoin for business travel bookings made by our travel consultants, said Andy Hegley, UK General Manager, Corporate Traveller. We chose BitPay to manage our merchant processing because they make it easy and handle the entire process of getting the bitcoin or bitcoin cash from the customer and depositing cash into our account. The blockchain industry is growing exponentially and we are excited to be able to offer our clients the ability to pay in bitcoin, whilst having the reassurance of our settlement from BitPay being in pounds sterling. BitPay transactions will settle in Corporate Travellers account in pound sterling within up to two business days. Meanwhile, the customer will be required to pay the exact amount in bitcoin or bitcoin Cash, and can do so with immediate effect as of today. BitPay charges 1 per cent fee to approve the transaction. Last year, BitPay processed more than $1 billion from merchants and B2B customers. Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking. The Southeast Asian nation is home to swathes of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare creatures from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but they are frequently targeted by poachers. Two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested Monday by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state, said Xavier Jayakumar, water, land and natural resources minister. The men were in possession of claws and teeth from the Malayan tiger, he said. The species once roamed the jungles of Malaysia in the thousands but is now critically endangered, with just a small number believed left in the wild. They also had teeth and claws from bears, teeth from wild boars, as well as hunting equipment including machetes, axes and wire for setting traps, the minister said. "The two suspects have been arrested and will be remanded for three days to assist in the investigation," he said. Tiger pelts are prized collectors' items and fetch a high price on the black market, while many animals' body parts are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia, including Vietnam and China. Kevin Feige attends the fan event for Marvel Studios Avengers: Endgame South Korea premiere on April 15, 2019 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images for Disney) While everyone else is counting down the days until Avengers: Endgame, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige is busy dropping hints about what fans can expect from the selection of MCU spin-offs set to debut on Disneys new streaming platform. Feige told Variety that these new spin-offs will intersect with the continuing adventures of Earths Mightiest Heroes on the big screen. Read more: Who is dead going into Avengers: Endgame? Disney has already announced three series featuring Marvel characters for Disney+ ahead of the services launch. WandaVision will explore the relationship between Scarlet Witch and Vision, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan will team up for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, while Tom Hiddleston will reprise his most villainous role for Loki. These episodes will intersect with the movies in a very big way, said Feige. Its a totally new form of storytelling that we get to play with and explore. Marvels greatest heroes face their last stand in Avengers: Endgame. (Credit: Marvel Studios) The 45-year-old exec also dished out some admittedly vague details on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the aftermath of Endgame. Some of these films will feature characters that you already know, he said. Some supporting characters will assume leading roles, while some new characters will be introduced. Read more: Feige warns fans not to expect X-Men any time soon The reward for all of these films working is that we get to try to do it again and do it differently and learn from our mistakes and try something we havent tried before. Disney lifted the veil of secrecy over its Disney+ service at a recent Investor Day and revealed it will cost $6.99 (5.36) a month initially, which massively undercuts Netflix its most obvious competitor. The streaming platform is due to launch in the USA on 12 November, with no UK date yet announced. If you own shares in China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding Limited (HKG:3836) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Modern finance theory considers volatility to be a measure of risk, and there are two main types of price volatility. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market. Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk', beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta greater than one is more sensitive to broader market movements than a stock with a beta of less than one. View our latest analysis for China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding What we can learn from 3836's beta value Looking at the last five years, China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding has a beta of 1.84. The fact that this is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. If this beta value holds true in the future, China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding shares are likely to rise more than the market when the market is going up, but fall faster when the market is going down. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall. You can see China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding's revenue and earnings in the image below. Story continues SEHK:3836 Income Statement, April 16th 2019 Could 3836's size cause it to be more volatile? With a market capitalisation of HK$4.6b, China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding is a small cap stock. However, it is big enough to catch the attention of professional investors. It's not particularly surprising that it has a higher beta than the overall market. That's because it takes less money to influence the share price of a smaller company, than a bigger company. What this means for you: Beta only tells us that the China Harmony New Energy Auto Holding share price is sensitive to broader market movements. This could indicate that it is a high growth company, or is heavily influenced by sentiment because it is speculative. Alternatively, it could have operating leverage in its business model. Ultimately, beta is an interesting metric, but there's plenty more to learn. This article aims to educate investors about beta values, but it's well worth looking at important company-specific fundamentals such as China Harmony New Energy Auto Holdings financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for 3836s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for 3836s outlook. Past Track Record: Has 3836 been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of 3836's historicals for more clarity. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how 3836 measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options. 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. (This April 14 story corrects aircraft type, makes clear it was not a Twin Otter, paragraph 2) By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A small plane operated by a private airline in Nepal hit a parked helicopter on Sunday while preparing to take off in a mountainous area near Mount Everest, killing three people including a co-pilot, an airport official said. The Let L-410 aircraft crashed into the helicopter at Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla, known as the gateway to the world's highest mountain, 125 km (78 miles) northeast of the capital, Kathmandu. The plane, operated by Summit Air, was not carrying passengers as it was trying to leave what is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous airports due to the shortness of its runway and its location surrounded by mountains. Officials said the cause of the incident was not immediately known. "Two people died on the spot and the third one died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kathmandu," airport official Pratap Babu Tiwari told Reuters. The dead included two security guards who were near the helicopter. The pilot of the plane was among three people injured, though the lone stewardess escaped unhurt. Air crashes are common in mostly mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest. In February a helicopter carrying seven people, including the country's tourism minister, crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing all seven on board. The Lukla airport was built by New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary - who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) Everest peak in 1953 - as a gift to the people of the remote Solukhumbu region where it is located. In 2008, a Twin Otter plane carrying 16 passengers and three crew crashed shortly before it was due to land at Lukla. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Jan Harvey) * PM's Likud came out on top in April 9 election * Israeli president picks nominee to form government * Majority of legislators tell him they back Netanyahu * By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) - Israel's president said on Tuesday a majority of parliament members had advised him to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form a government after the April 9 election, effectively ensuring his nomination. In office for the past decade, Netanyahu won a fifth term despite an announcement by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's in February that he intends to charge the prime minister in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing. Under law, President Reuven Rivlin chooses a party leader whom he judges has the best prospect of putting together a ruling coalition. He will announce his candidate on Wednesday. In broadcast remarks on Tuesday, the second day of Rivlin's public consultations with political parties on their preferences for prime minister, he said Netanyahu "now has a majority of Knesset members" behind him. "Any room I had for maneuver has effectively been removed at this moment," the president said. Netanyahu's nomination had been a foregone conclusion after his right-wing Likud party captured the largest number of seats in the Knesset in last week's ballot and his closest rival, centrist Benny Gantz, conceded defeat. Netanyahu has said he intends to build a coalition with five far-right, right-wing and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that would give the Likud-led government 65 seats, four more than the outgoing administration he heads. Representatives of all of those parties told Rivlin at the meetings, broadcast live on the Internet, that they recommended Netanyahu get the nod. Gantz, a former military chief of staff whose Blue and White party won 35 parliamentary seats, would likely be next in line to try to assemble a government if Netanyahu fails to do so within 42 days of being chosen by Rivlin. Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign if indicted. He can still argue, at a pre-trial hearing with Mandelblit whose date has not been set, against the formal filing of bribery and fraud charges against him. The Israeli leader, whose supporters hail his tough security policies and international outreach, is set to become the country's longest-serving prime minister in July. (Editing by Mark Heinrich) Netflix Earnings Beat Netflix NFLX just released its earnings today after market close with an EPS of $0.76 beating the $0.57 EPS estimate by 33% and showing 19% growth YoY. Sales were $4.52 billion vs the $4.49 billion estimate. Making this the best quarter that Netflix has seen to date. Share still traded down after-hours falling 0.5%. It appears that the price action associated with earnings for NFLX is strongly correlated with the number of subscriptions added, which has recently been driven primarily by international consumers. They reported 1.7 million new subscriptions domestically vs. expected 1.6 million and 7.9 internationally vs. an expected 7.3 million, totaling 9.6 million new net subscriptions (6.6% above estimates). The actual price action will not be realized until the markets open tomorrow and the real share volume for NFLX starts trading hands. The subscription streaming space is becoming increasingly competitive with Apple AAPL announcing its own streaming service and Disney DIS announcing Disney+. This saturation is concerning investors who have priced in large growth numbers for Netflix. The details of Disney+ were released after-hours on Thursday and when trading opened Friday Netflix sunk 4.5% and Disney trading up over 11%. Competition from Disney Disney+ is leaving Netflix investors quite uneasy. For one, Disney+ is being offered to consumers at $6.99 per month, which is roughly half of Netflixs standard HD package thats priced at $12.99. Disney offers a library of almost 100 years of content that consumers around the world know and love. Disney+ is offering Disney Classics along with all of its new hit Blockbusters like Black Panther, Star Wars, and the Avenger movies. It also has a library of decades of television content from The Disney Channel and Disney Television Studios. Disney is going to continue to come out with box-office hits that will wow consumers worldwide. All of Disneys fantastic content is also getting pulled from Netflixs library leaving them with less to offer consumers but a still continuously inflated subscription rates. Dont get me wrong Netflix is still producing quality original content but is it up to the same prodigious standard that Disney has held itself for decades? Story continues The international markets are driving over 80% of new subscriptions and will be the main growth driver for the future expansion of Netflix. This is where Disney is likely going to take market share. Disney has been a house hold name around the world for years with their internationally film releases and Disney theme parks in Tokyo (opened in 1983), Shanghai, Hong Kong and Paris. Netflix just expanded its services worldwide in the beginning of 2016. Cash strapped international consumers with a choice would likely choose a familiar name like Disney that offers its service for almost half the price of Netflix. This is obviously all going to be contingent on Disneys implementation of Disney+ which is expected to be available this November. Watch NFLXs trade tomorrow as investors weigh positive earnings results and potential future risks in the competitive subscription streaming market. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA, April 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly one year after anti-government protests began in Nicaragua, tens of thousands of people have fled the country in fear for their lives, the United Nations said on Tuesday. About 62,000 Nicaraguans have been forced from their homes in the Central American nation, of which 55,500 have sought safety in Costa Rica, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). "The kinds of reasons that people have been giving for fleeing are the fear of losing their lives, being attacked or kidnapped by paramilitary groups," UNHCR spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told journalists in Geneva. "Some have received direct threats or have been persecuted; others fear for their lives because their communities have been a target of violence ... so we do feel that it is overwhelmingly a refugee flow." Protests in Nicaragua first erupted last April when the leftist government of President Daniel Ortega moved to reduce welfare benefits, but since then have escalated into broader opposition. Ortega, a Cold War-era former Marxist guerilla leader, has been in office since 2007. At least 300 people have been killed, 2,000 injured and several hundred detained in a crackdown on protests in the past year, according to the U.N. human rights office. Since then nearly 30,000 Nicaraguans have applied for asylum in Costa Rica, many of them students, former public officials, opposition figures, journalists, doctors, human rights defenders and farmers, according to government figures. Costa Rica has maintained its open-door policy for migrants and refugees, but services are overstretched with about 26,000 Nicaraguans waiting to have their asylum claims processed, the UNHCR said. "HIDDEN AMONG SACKS" People, including families with young children, are now taking "extreme measures" to avoid being detected as they cross the border into Costa Rica, often walking for hours in the heat and through difficult terrain, the UNHCR said. Story continues "Initially, it was mainly adults crossing the border, but families, including young children, are also now fleeing," Throssell said. "The people who are fleeing are coming from different parts of Nicaragua and they are traveling to the Costa Rican border, trying to avoid contact with the police and paramilitary groups. Some are traveling in trucks, hidden among sacks," she said. Both the U.N. human rights office and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have reported human rights violations against Nicaraguans who have participated in anti-government protests and those who have helped them. Last month, anti-government protesters took to the street again, demanding the release of all opposition prisoners. The government said on March 20 it would release within 90 days all people arrested during months of protests against Ortega, as a step to restarting dialog with opposition groups. But without a political solution to the crisis in Nicaragua, people are likely to continue to flee, the UNHCR warned. With the anniversary of the protests looming this Thursday, the U.N.'s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, called on the government to refrain from using violence against protesters. "I am concerned that the protests planned for later in the week may trigger another violent reaction," she said on Tuesday. (Reporting by Anastasia Moloney @anastasiabogota, Editing by Jason Fields. 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) Danske Bank was investigated by the US Department of Justice in $200bn money laundering case in October. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/AFP/Getty Images Financial regulators in Nordic and Baltic states are mulling an in-depth data sharing agreement as they look to rebuild reputations damaged by a huge money laundering scandal. Marius Jurgilas, a board member at the Bank of Lithuania, told Yahoo Finance UK that regulators from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are in talks about sharing transaction-level banking data as part of anti-money laundering efforts. We have to prove to the general public that we are not only speaking, we are doing things, Jurgilas told Yahoo Finance UK at the Paris Blockchain Week summit on Tuesday. The backdrop for the talks is a huge money laundering scandal that has engulfed the Nordic and Baltic states. Estonia, Lativa, and Lithuania are hugely reliant on Nordic banks, which control up to 80% of the market in the Baltics. However, these Baltic branches proved to be weak spots when it came to money laundering. Last year it emerged that the Estonian branch of Denmarks Danske Bank had processed as much as 200bn of suspicious payments originating from Russia and former Soviet states. Swedens Swedbank has faced similar issues. Its CEO was fired and its chairman resigned in recent weeks amid questions over transactions at its Baltic branches. Lithuanias Ukio is said to be one of the counter-parties being looked at. Does it make us feel uncomfortable? Yes of course it makes us feel uncomfortable, Jurgilas said. But maybe all things happen for a reason and it will be a push for regulators in the region to create something better. Better is something that other jurisdictions dont feel the need to create, which is sharing of data across the regulators, identifying illicit transactions by using transaction-level data across the region, and all of a sudden that region becomes the best ever in terms of risk management. This is exactly what were looking at. Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen was fired last month for her handling of a money laundering crisis at the bank. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/AFP/Getty Images Jurgilas said discussions were happening as we speak, right now between the relevant authorities but declined to give more details. Story continues Theres a very good rapport and exchange of information among the regulators right now but we are thinking about what we can do extra to assure our colleagues across the globe that these guys here are doing a much better job than everyone else in the world, he said. He added that regulators were prioritising a joint investigation into all the banks involved in the scandal. We are helping our Swedish counterparts to investigate the alleged illicit transactions, which by the way happened more than 10 years ago, Jurgilas said. He added that the Lithuanian banks named so far are no longer operational. I believe that all institutions operating in Lithuania and across the region right now are fully abiding with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing guidelines, Jurgilas said. The Notre Dame Cathedral fire is finally out but the impact on tourism to the church, and Paris itself, remains to be seen. The cathedral's iconic twin bell towers are still visibly intact. The 18th century organ that boasts 8,000 pipes also appears to have survived, along with other treasures inside the structure, officials said. Still, the blaze collapsed the cathedrals spire and spread to one of its rectangular towers in a spectacle watched by throngs of spectators Monday. So what happens now, and what do travelers need to know? While we're in a period of wait-and-see, tourists can pay their respects to the cathedral nearby, seek refunds from tour companies on pending trips and still see what else Paris has to offer. Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started Notre Dame most-visited monument in Europe Notre Dame carries the title of most-visited monument in the country and and in Europe, with more than 12 million visitors every year, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city's cultural attractions in total saw 70.2 million visitors in 2017, up 5.9% from 2016. Hotel data for the greater Paris area from January to October 2018 indicates that 2018 was a record year for tourist stays. There was a 16.6 percent increase in U.S. tourist stays during that period. The PCVB announced plans to work with London on a joint marketing campaign aimed at millennial American tourists, acting quickly in respond to trends: Paris recently saw a drop in airline bookings for February to April 2019. After Notre Dame fire, what now? Bishop Patrick Chauvet, Notre Dame's rector, acknowledged that the famed monument would close down for "five to six years" as he spoke with local business owners Wednesday. He added that it was unclear what the churchs 67 employees would be doing in the future. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he wanted the cathedral rebuilt in five years. Story continues But the Notre Dame fire has led to an unprecedented conundrum: The cathedral has never been closed for an extended period of time, Claire Moreau of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau told USA TODAY. "To our knowledge it has never been closed for a long period," Moreau added. "In 2013, when they put the bells up but it was not even closed. They did that during the night. Only the towers were closed." To call the cathedral an iconic, must-see destination is an understatement. Think about Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" and the Disney film adaptation. Important relics in the cathedral include the Crown of Thorns, thought to be placed on Jesus' head before his crucifixion; a fragment of the True Cross, believed to be part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified; and one of the Holy Nails, believed to have been used in the crucifixion. More: Many of Notre Dame Cathedral's irreplaceable artworks may be gone; some moved just in time The cathedral is also No. 1 on the U.S. News & World Report ranking of best things to do in Paris. What are the restrictions around the cathedral? While tourists can't go inside the site itself, the area may still prove popular to those looking to pay their respects. Parisians and visitors are welcome to write messages of support in both the main and local city halls. The island that houses the cathedral has been closed to the public since Mondays fire, and its residents evacuated. Paris merchants whose livelihoods depend on Notre Dame tourism are worried about the cathedrals future as well as their own. Even with all this, , Paris' tourism campaign with London isn't expected to change. "We are currently working on our communication plan following the disaster, but it shouldnt impact our campaign with London," Moreau said. The Paris Tourist Office has posted updates on Twitter since the fire to assist tourists. Following last nights fire at #NotreDame de #Paris, Paris Tourist Office remains available to support and assist visitors. Our welcoming centers and hotline service (+33 1 49 52 42 63) will be open from 10am today for any help, question or assistance. Paris je t'aime (@ParisJeTaime) April 16, 2019 "Following last night's fire at # Our Lady of # Paris , Paris Tourist Office remains available to assist visitors and media," one post read. "Our welcoming centers and hotline service ( +33 1 49 52 42 63) will be open for 10am today for any help, question or assistance." More: 'The fire is out': Paris firefighters succeed after 12-hour battle to extinguish Notre Dame Cathedral blaze Tour companies refund cathedral tours, offer alternatives The visitors bureau staff knows spring is a busy time for tourists in Paris. The agency recommends people visit other sites, "whether they be religious monuments like the Basilique Saint-Denis, the Sacre-Coeur and the Church of Saint-Eustache or cultural sites nearby like the Sainte-Chapelle or the Pantheon," according to a statement. Those looking to observe religious services during Holy Week are advised to go to Saint-Eustache. Visits inside Notre Dame itself right now are impossible, and several tour companies are taking the preemptive step to refund bookings. People should not be discouraged from visiting Paris in the coming weeks or months, says GetYourGuide spokesman Will Gluckin. GetYourGuide is a Berlin-based tourism company. Notre Dame Cathedral is seen on April 16, 2019. "As the building itself is severely damaged, GetYourGuide has canceled and refunded all bookings for tours that bring visitors inside the structure through the end of June," Gluckin told USA TODAY. "Access to the surrounding area on Ile de la Cite is also currently restricted, but our best information suggests that it will soon be possible to safely visit the structure up close on walking tours." Fat Tire Tours additionally "will be refunding all guests that have purchased a tour that includes entrance into the cathedral or towers," Crissa Youngblood, its director of marketing, told USA TODAY. The company is in the process of coming up with a plan to give guests the option to donate to the rebuilding process. Looking ahead to rebuilding It seems the rebuilding process can begin, given firefighters put out the blaze early Tuesday, more than 12 hours after nearly 400 firefighters had battled the flames that altered the city's skyline. Two policemen and one firefighter had been slightly injured, according to the Paris Fire Service. A massive fundraising campaign is already underway to rebuild the cathedral. As of Wednesday, donations neared the $1 billion mark. "Expressions of emotion and comfort from all over the world have eased the pain of the sad images that have been circulating in recent hours," the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau added in a statement. "The people of France, together with Parisians and lovers of the French capital, will in the next few months and years have their heart set on rebuilding this landmark symbol." This is also a reminder of how important it is to not put off your travel plans, says Darshika Jones, regional director for North America at Intrepid Travel: "You never know when things will change or when youll stop having access to visit the places youve dreamed about for so long." More: 850-year-old Notre Dame survived the French Revolution. Here are 4 other things to know Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard, Rebecca Rosman, Ryan W. Miller, Doyle Rice, the Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Notre Dame Cathedral: What you need to know if you're planning to visit Paris Firefighters have salvaged the Notre Dame Cathedral's main structure. What's next? Resurrection. French President Emmanuel Macron promised late Monday to rebuild the monumental 12th-century cathedral, one of the most recognizable buildings in Paris, while religious leaders across the world shared stories of the resilience of places of worship. All was not lost at Notre Dame. The religious statues that sat atop the cathedral were recently removed as part of a $6.8 million renovation of the towering spire that fell to the ground in Monday's blaze. Some of the sacred artifacts housed at the cathedral are safe, too, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Monday night on Twitter. But no matter the destruction, the spirit of what it means to be a cathedral can and does survive such catastrophes," Becky Clark, The Church of Englands director of cathedrals and church buildings, said in a statement. Holidays: Notre Dame fire: Catholics shocked as blaze ravages iconic cathedral during Holy Week 'Heartbreaking': Travelers express shock, horror over Notre Dame fire, share memories of their visits Among English churches that have risen from the ashes are the spire at Lincoln, which collapsed in the 1500s; St. Paul's, which burned in the Great Fire of London; and the Coventry, which was bombed in World War II. "All have been rebuilt, sometimes taking on new forms, to stand as reminders of eternity and resurrection which are the foundation of the Christian faith," Clark said. Paris Fire Chief Jean-Claude Gallet announced late Monday that operations had changed from an emergency response to monitoring and mop-up. Macron said a national fundraiser to restore the capital's iconic landmark will begin Tuesday, and he called on the worlds greatest talents to help. Former U.S. President Barack Obama echoed Macron on Twitter. "Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief," Obama said. "Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can." Story continues Macron credited firefighters' courage and great professionalism in saving Notre Dames facade and two landmark towers. Gallet said two-thirds of the roofing was ravaged, however. The worst has been avoided although the battle is not yet totally won," Macron said. The copper statues that usually set atop the cathedral were removed just last week. Workers sent the 3-meter-tall statues representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists to southwestern France as part of the planned restoration project. Salvage efforts to recover precious artifacts were underway Monday. The "treasure" of the cathedral has not been touched so far, Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told the Le Figaro newspaper. "Thanks to the @PompiersParis, the police and the municipal agents, the Crown of Thorns, the Tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place," Hidalgo tweeted. Monday's blaze is "potentially linked" to renovation work and preliminary accounts said it appeared to be accidental, officials said. Contributing: The Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Notre Dame Cathedral will rise again, French President Emmanuel Macron promises WASHINGTON James Shepherd hopes Notre Dames architects and preservationists will call for advice when theyre ready to start reconstruction of Frances iconic medieval cathedral, which was devastated by fire on Monday. Shepherd is director of preservation at the Washington National Cathedral, where he has spent the past six years overseeing that famous churchs painstaking renovation and fire safety upgrades after it was damaged in a 2011 earthquake. We are, just coincidentally, in the midst of putting in some protections that will prevent us from hopefully ever having to undergo what they are undergoing, Shepherd told reporters Monday as he and other American church officials absorbed the heartbreaking images of Notre Dame engulfed in flames. Shepherd and other experts say there are major differences between Europes cherished historic sites and Americas landmarks that make protecting those in the U.S. much easier. Youre really talking apples and oranges, said Dave Fornell, Detroits deputy fire commissioner who has also worked in New York City, Boston and Chicago. For starters, American churches and other landmarks are centuries newer and most are required to have sophisticated fire prevention systems. Now, a lot of these older churches are grandfathered in (with outdated building codes), Fornell said. You just cant go in there and demand putting sprinkler heads in there. But all of our churches are required to have extinguishers, alarms systems and clear means of egress. Take, for example, the birthplace of American democracy: Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where construction began in 1732. All of our historic buildings have modern fire suppression, said Adam Duncan, a park ranger at that World Heritage Site. Sprinklers, alarms, pretty much anything that you would find in a modern office building, you would find at Independence Hall. He noted that Independence Hall, as part of the National Park Service, is subject to strict federal regulations that dictate building standards and any renovations. Although its not clear yet what started the fire at Notre Dame, it was under renovation and some fear that work, through a spark from equipment or some other incident, may have caused the fire. Story continues Duncan said Independence Hall has a 15-person cultural resource team with architects, designers, and other staff involved in determining what kind of repairs and upgrades should to be done and what cant be done. A slew of other experts are involved in any work that goes forward, he said. Independence Hall has been renovated several times without issue, he said. Its not something that we undertake very lightly. The first phase of restoration to repair earthquake What about the 2.2 million historic artifacts that are part of Independence Halls museum collection, including books, manuscripts and portraits of prominent American revolutionaries? Duncan said they have a protocol for saving those, but he cant discuss it. Its just not something that we would want to expose in case someone gets any grand ideas about pulling the fire alarm and taking this or that, he said. We have a collection thats priceless. At the Smithsonian a vast complex of 19 museums with more than 155 million historic objects and specimens all the buildings have been retrofitted with sprinkler systems, said spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas. We have a special air handling system that sucks oxygen out of a room such as the Star-Spangled banner exhibit that has an artifact that cannot be touched by water, St. Thomas said. More: What's next for Notre Dame? Resurrection. But it could take decades to rebuild More: Day after devastating Notre Dame Cathedral fire, millions in donations pour in Eric Gentry, the Smithsonians director of emergency management, said each building also has special monitoring technologies such as heat and smoke detectors. And they conduct regular walk-throughs with local firefighters in Washington, D.C., so the first responders are familiar with the layout and collections of each building, whether its the American Indian Museum or the Hirshhorn. Smithsonian officials train the firefighters on the various collections and what the best extinguishing methods are for different works of art. And it's not just fires they're worried about. Each hazard has its own set of procedures, Gentry said, whether its fires, floods, earthquakes or theft. All that planning is aimed at preventing disasters from occurring and then containing them when that fails. Does that mean a catastrophe on the scale of the Notre Dame fire could never happen at an American treasure like the Smithsonian? I would never say never, but every precaution that can be taken generally is, Gentry said. At Washingtons National Cathedral, Shepherd has an inkling of what will face Notre Dame officials as they turn toward the arduous task of rebuilding and repairing. We are almost eight years out from the earthquake, and we are only halfway done with our work, he said. That magnitude-5.8 quake hit Mineral, Virginia, on Aug. 23, 2011, and sent tremors 90 miles northeast to nations capital, opening cracks in the Washington Monument and seriously damaging a series of pinnacles on the Washington National Cathedrals tower. As the cathedral repairs that damage, theyre also making fire and life safety upgrades, Shepherd said, including new emergency lighting and augmented fire alarms. But he said the cathedral is already more protected from fire than Notre Dame simply because of its age and its building materials. We are a modern cathedral, unlike Notre Dame that has heavy timber wood structure in their attic that dates to 800 years ago, he said. We are only 111 years old. We used steel, concrete, brick and limestone to build our cathedral. Shepherd said the biggest challenge facing the Notre Dame renovation crew will probably be money. Work on Washington's cathedral is currently at a standstill as church officials struggle to raise the $2-plus million needed to finish the repairs, he said. More immediately, though, Shepherd said Notre Dame needs a team of conservationists on site Paris to prevent more damage as officials sift through the rubble. Youre talking about things that might be 700-800 years old that might have been partially burned, partially damaged by water, he said. If Notre Dames renovation team calls, Shepherd said he will be at the ready. We are a community of cathedrals that have unique problems, he said. And we like to make sure were being as magnanimous as possible with our lessons learned and help each other out with such crises. Notre Dame fire: Paris Fire Brigade chaplain braved the blaze to rescue cathedral treasures More: Trump calls French President Emmanuel Macron to offer condolences for Notre Dame fire This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Notre Dame: Could America's historic landmarks be devastated by such a catastrophic fire? Paris (AFP) - Shards of stained glass from priceless medieval windows. A gaping hole above the choir area where the spire crashed down. Charred debris from the collapsed roof scattered on the ground. After firefighters put out the last remnants of the fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, daylight revealed the extent of the damage caused by the blaze Monday evening. Tourists and Parisians, united in their shock at the damage to one of the great monuments of human heritage, watched from the safety of the opposite bank of the Seine, kept away by a police cordon. But journalists could witness the extent of the damage through one of the great doors which opened to reveal the piles of rubble and charred debris inside. But in a luminous sign of hope, a golden cross was still intact at the back of the cathedral, shining defiantly in the gloom. Intact stained-glass windows and statues could also be seen, though sculpted arches were blackened by smoke and pews destroyed. - 'It was hell' - Cathedral clerics who saw the damage to the interior said they were struggling to believe what they witnessed. Philippe Marsset, the vicar general of Notre-Dame, was among the first to enter the cathedral. "It felt like I was looking at a bombing," Marsset said of the cathedral, where he was ordained a priest 31 years ago. "It was hell," he said, describing the moment when the blaze was discovered on the soaring roof shortly after evening mass ended shortly before 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Monday. Church officials raced to remove as many artefacts, paintings and other cultural treasures as they could before being evacuated by firefighters trying to stop the flames from spreading. But the blaze kept springing up as globs of molten lead fell from the soaring heights of the church. "All night long I saw men going past with tears in their eyes. I described it this way: It was total chaos, but we can't let it knock us down," Marsset said. Story continues "This church was built 850 years ago. It withstood the wars, it withstood the bombings, it resisted everything," he said. - 'History of my life' - Onlookers from France and abroad remained transfixed by the sight of the cathedral, relieved that its main structure had been saved but worried about how it could be rebuilt. "I'm devastated, even if I haven't been a Catholic for a long time," 88-year-old Claire told AFP at the scene on Tuesday morning. "I was baptised here." Her eyes filled with tears as she watched the cathedral from the riverbank. "For me, this place is the centre of the world. It carries the history of France and beyond. And also the history of my own life, and 800 years before." Aurora, 33, an Italian living in Paris for the last half-decade, said she had jumped on her bicycle before dawn "like paying tribute to a sick elderly parent". "Notre-Dame, it's like the Eiffel Tower, it's like my grandmother. It's like the Colosseum in Rome had burned down. I had to go," she said. But onlookers also worried about how the spirit of the building could be kept through a restoration. "Those who built it are no longer with us. Do we know all its details, all its secrets?" asked Christelle, a 27-year-old Congolese student. - 'Miraculous and heroic' - But in the end there was relief that a lot was able to be saved, with much of the stonework as well as the two massive square bell towers largely unscathed. "We're all just dumbfounded. It's more than miraculous, it's heroic," Marsset said, calling the firefighters who toiled throughout the night "heroes." But he appeared lost for words when asked about what would happen now, as Christians worldwide prepared to celebrate Easter next Sunday. "We had things planned for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We don't yet know where to do these. It's as if our mother has been wounded," he said. cbo-mig-js-sjw/nla Two Fox News anchors were forced to abruptly end interviews with guests spouting conspiracy theories about the Notre Dame fire. Shepard Smith and Neil Cavuto each cut off right-wing commenters who suggested without evidence that the inferno at the famous Paris cathedral was started deliberately. Although the cause of Mondays blaze was not yet been established, French officials believe it was an accident possibly linked to restoration work which was being carried out on the 800-year-old architectural masterpiece. That did not stop Philippe Karsenty, a controversial right-wing politician in France, from describing the fire as a French 9/11 during a live phone interview with Fox News. The deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a western suburb of Paris, told Mr Smith: You need to know that for the past years, weve had churches desecrated each and every week in France, all over France. So, of course, you will hear the story of political correctness which will tell you its probably an accident, but... He was quickly shut down by Mr Smith, who said: Sir, were not going to speculate here of the cause of something which we dont know. If you have observations or you know something, we would love to hear it. Mr Karsenty protested he was just telling you something, we need to be ready, prompting the Fox News presenter to end the interview. We are not doing that here, not now, not on my watch, Mr Smith declared. The anchors decisiveness in shutting down the conspiracy theory won him praise from some on social media. But others criticised Fox News for inviting Mr Karsenty to take part in the interview in the first place. In 2006, he was successfully sued for libel by France 2 after falsely accusing the French television channel of faking footage of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy being shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a gun battle in the Gaza Strip. Mr Karsenty was a known conspiracy theorist who has been convicted of defamation related to said conspiracy theories, tweeted Huffington Post journalist Andy Campbell. You dont get kudos for inviting a corn cob as your expert and then saying who let this corn cob in? Story continues Mr Cavuto later cut off another guest who said he was suspicious about the cause of the Notre Dame fire. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a conservative American organisation, told the presenter: Well, Neil, if it is an accident, its a monumental tragedy, but forgive me for being suspicious. Just last month, a 17th-century church was set on fire in Paris. We have seen tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues have been smashed. The anchor responded: We dont know that, we dont know, so if we can avoid whatever your suspicions might be. He added we cannot make conjectures about this. After ending the interview, Mr Cavuto told viewers: Were not trying to be rude to our guests here there is so much we do not know about what happened here. We do know that about four hours ago, something started here. There are incidents that have been raised against the Catholic Church on popular tourist sites in and around Paris, no stranger to attacks, but another leap to start taking views like that when we dont know. Mr Donohue later responded indignantly on social media, writing on the Catholic Leagues Twitter account: Fox News asks me to be available by phone to discuss the Notre Dame fire with Neil Cavuto. I explicitly say it may be an accident and then say it may not be. I try to give examples of recent attacks by thugs destroying churches, and then I am cut off. What has happened to Fox? The interviews came as right-wing provocateurs attempted to seize upon the Note Dame inferno to spread conspiracy theories designed to fuel anti-Muslim hate. Neo-nazi figurehead Richard Spencer said he hoped the fire would spur the White man into action, while French far-right troll Damien Rue and British InfoWars contributor Paul Joseph Watson both claimed without evidence that Muslims were celebrating the ruin of the Catholic cathedral. PARIS Father Jean-Marc Fournier is no stranger to fires or danger. Four years ago the chaplain to the Paris Fire Brigade tended to wounds and helped evacuate victims from an extremist attack at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where 90 people were killed. On Monday night, Fournier, 53, who previously served in Afghanistan as a military chaplain, was at it doing courageous things again. He bravely entered Paris flame-engulfed Notre Dame cathedral to rescue priceless relics and historical treasures from the burning medieval building. Religious artifacts Fournier and other firefighters helped save, according to accounts of witnesses confirmed by his employer and the citys mayors office, were the Blessed Sacrament (used during church services to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ) and the Crown of Thorns (purportedly worn, Catholics believe, by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion). Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started Notre Dame: Why the cathedral burned so quickly, badly Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said Tuesday the cause of the fire that tore through the 850-year-old cathedral, causing its wooden roof and spire to collapse, was not yet known, although investigators are favoring the theory of an accident possibly linked to extensive renovation works, he said. Heitz said it would be a long and complex investigation. As for rebuilding, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a live television address Tuesday that the aim is to have it done within five years. Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain to the Paris Fire Brigade, entered the burning Notre Dame cathedral in Paris to rescue priceless relics. But if Monday night in Paris was defined by the horrific prospect of losing entirely the famous landmark, which draws an estimated 13 million visitors a year and has been the scene of numerous historic events from Napoleon Bonapartes coronation to the beatification of Joan of Arc, then Tuesday was about relief that an outright catastrophe was avoided. Notre Dame: Could America's historic landmarks be devastated by such a fire? Story continues For hundreds of years its been there. Its the story of Paris, and even the story of France, said Michelle Massiani, 74, who has lived around the corner from Notre Dame for 45 years with her husband Claude, 77. The Massianis linked arms as they joined a throng of residents, tourists and police who were shuffling along Pariss packed streets Tuesday in the shadow of the cathedrals charred tower and interior. Many were engaged in conversations about their first encounter with a building whose importance to the French is neatly encapsulated in a plaque that sits outside Notre Dame reading: Point Zero. It marks the capitals official center and also is how all distances to Paris from other parts of France are measured. Every day we say to ourselves it can snow or it can rain, it can be day or night, we just love it. Even our granddaughter, who is 14 and quite the teenager, she is so fond of Notre Dame, Michelle Massiani said. Firefighters worked through the night Monday to save the cathedral. The fire was fully extinguished just after 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET). Michelle and Claude Massiani, who have lived around the corner from the Notre Dame cathedral for 45 years. The cathedrals imposing twin bell towers remain visibly intact, although officials said its too early to ascertain how structurally sound the building remains. Olivier Latry, one of three musicians who plays the churchs 18th century organ each week that boasts 8,000 pipes, told USA TODAY that the instrument also appeared to have survived with minor damage. Its very fragile. We hope its okay, he said. Before we can even consider playing it first they need to restore electricity. None of the organists was in the cathedral at the time of the fire. Officials said other treasures inside the cathedral, such as a dozen large paintings of religious scenes and huge bells made famous by the bell-ringer in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame, were also spared, after a plan to safeguard heritage was quickly put into action. That plan, according to French media, involved firefighters such as Fournier forming a human chain with assistance from church employees to remove as many important items as possible. A photo taken of Fournier by KTO, a French Catholic television channel, shows him in front of the cathedral late Monday, one of among 400 firefighters who tackled the blaze for more than nine hours. The Paris Fire Brigade said that, for the time being, Fournier was not available to be interviewed. A public profile of him on the Paris Fire Brigades website describes him as difficult to miss with his small mustache and outspoken nature. Frances Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said efforts to save the cathedrals stone structure and two towers came down to 10 to 15 minutes. Nunez said fires that started in Notre Dame Cathedral were stopped before they had an opportunity to spread and that it was only this small window and the heroic efforts of firefighters that staved off more damage. Stephane Bern, a popular French television presenter of history programs who French President Emmanuel Macron has put in charge of heritage renovation programs across France, said many of the items rescued from the cathedral, including the Blessed Sacrament and Crown of Thorns, are being stored at the Lourve Museum and Paris City Hall. He said the interior of the cathedral is full of wood from the collapsed roof and water from the firefighting effort. Bern estimated the cost of fully restoring Notre Dame to be somewhere between 1 billion ($1.13 billion) and 2 billions euros and that while some of Frances richest men, including billionaire luxury tycoons Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault, had already pledged several hundred million dollars to that effort more needed to be done. He pledged to present a television show to raise more funds. This will take place on Saturday on France 2, a state-funded television channel. Donations are being pledged from everywhere, including the United States. The University of Notre Dame announced it would donate $100,000. We measure how much we love something once it is lost, Bern said. We need to rebuild and we need do it now. We need to act fast, for our identity. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Notre Dame fire: Paris Fire Brigade chaplain braved the blaze to rescue cathedral treasures PARISAn alarm was raised at Notre Dame at 6:20 p.m. on Monday night23 minutes before the structure was engulfed in flamesbut officials found no sign of a fire. Firefighters who responded to a second alert raced to the scene but were then unable to tame an inferno that ripped through the 12th century cathedral for the next 9 hours. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz announced on Tuesday that a full investigation would uncover how a massive fire was allowed to gut the cathedral. What we know at this stage is that there was an initial alarm at 6:20 p.m., followed by a procedure to verify this but no fire as found, Heitz explained. Then, there was a second alarm at 6:43 p.m. and at that point a fire was detected in the structure. Fallen debris from the burnt out roof structure sits near the altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Christophe Morin/Bloomberg via Getty The investigation is going to be long and complex, he added. We are in the process of interviewing witnesses. Investigators have identified and interviewed some of the construction crew who had been working on the 6 million ($6.8 million), four-year renovation project, which began last April. The restoration of the spire, which crumbled within the first hour of the blaze, was the first phase of a larger, 20-year renovation project on the rest of the cathedral. According to Heitz, some five different construction companies were involved in the ongoing restoration of the cathedrals iconic spire. The work was being overseen by Le Bras Freres, which specializes in the restoration of historic monuments. Prior to the start of the Notre Dame project, the company had already worked on several of Frances historical churches, including those in Amiens, Reims, and Poitiers. Meanwhile, the government has launched a national call for donations to repair the cathedral. French billionaires led the way in pledging hundreds of millions of dollars in the reconstruction effort: Tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault announced that he would donate 100 million. On Tuesday, the family of his arch-rival, Bernard Arnault, who owns the luxury group LVMH, announced a 200 million donation. Others raised the total to nearly $700 million, including $50 million from the City of Paris. Story continues President Emanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the Notre Dame within five years, he said during a national address Tuesday night. Doubts still remain about the integrity of the Gothic stone building. Two-thirds of the timber roof is goneit had been crafted from more than 13,000 oak trees, an entire forest reduced to kindling. Preliminary images of the devastated interior reveal a gaping hole where the 300-foot wooden spire once stood and smoke rising from the ashes of burning pews. Miracle in the cathedral French Culture Minister Franck Riester said that most of the priceless artworks in the building had been saved. The main structure has been saved but there is still a lot of instability, Riester told a local radio station. The situation is still precarious. The two belfries and the works were saved, including the treasure, thanks to the courage of the Paris fire brigade. Some of the artifacts, including the cathedrals medieval Grand Organ, were slightly damaged, but not beyond repair. All night I was crossing my fingers that the cornerstones wouldnt fall on the instrument, Notre Dames organist, Vincent Dubois said. It's a miracle and we are delighted. When the devastating fire broke out, firefighters and employees of French Culture Ministry formed a human chain to rescue as many of the cathedral's priceless artifacts and treasures as possible. When a fire occurs at a cultural site, a plan to save its treasures is immediately put in place, Paris Fire Brigade commander, General Jean-Claude Gallet, told local French television station BFMTV. It's not only necessary to fight the fire, but also to preserve the works of art. Their efforts paid off, and several iconic artifacts, including the Crown of Thorns purported to have been worn by Jesus Christ during the crucifixion along with what is believed to be portion of the cross and an original nailwere safely evacuated from the building. The blessed sacrament, a tunic worn by Louis the 13th, and several paintings, including a 17th-century work by French painter, Lubin Baugin, were rescued. The interior of the Notre-Dame Cathedral is seen through a doorway following a major fire yesterday on April 16, 2019 in Paris, France. Dan Kitwood/Getty These treasures were saved, Notre Dame spokesperson Andre Finot told FranceInfo. The artifacts were first transported to a safe place in the citys nearby Hotel de Ville, then later moved to the Louvre Museum for safe-keeping. The Rose Windows the immense round stained glass windows over Notre Dame's three principal portals also escaped the flames without major damage. The buildings legendary twin bell towers survived as well, as did Nicolas Coutou's 18th-century marble masterpiece La Pieta sculpture behind the churchs main altar. Sixteen bronze statues surrounding the collapsed spire are still intact thanks to miraculous timing rather than divine intervention. The figures, depicting the 12 apostles and four evangelists, were removed from the roof just days before the fire as part of the extensive renovation. Still, not everything escaped the fire. A number of large oil paintings that could not be removed from the high walls sustained damage and will be restored at the Louvre, according to Le Monde. Other religious treasures, including a separate piece of the Crown of Thorns, as well as relics of Saint-Denis and Saint-Genevieve are gone forever. All three were stored inside the copper Gallic rooster that crowned the spire that collapsed about an hour into the inferno. A different kind of attraction On Tuesday, the plaza in front of the cathedral, usually bisected with a long line of tourists waiting for the doors to open, was closed as firefighters continued their work. Fire hoses snaked outside and a cherry picker extended from the back of a red truck to one of the damaged towers. This is a very meaningful spot for me, said Heidi Waterfall, an American living in in Paris. I feel a strong spiritual power when I go inside. I feel peace and joy. The South Dakota native had watched in stunned silence, tears rolling down her face, as the cathedral burned and then she heard a chorus she will never forget, the strains of people singing the Hail Mary. Whenever friends visit, the family takes them to see the cathedral. My middle son always grumbled to go, but last night he said, Id give anything to go back one more time, she said. Tourists snapped photos of the blank space between the towers where the famous spire once stood. Many of them had seen it topple the night before as the fire raged. Along the left and right banks of the Seine, people stopped to take in the scene as charred rose windows towered above the rows of flowering trees that never lost their new pink blossoms. Daylight shines through the fallen roof structure of Notre Dame Cathedral following the fire in Paris, France, on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Christophe Morin/Bloomberg via Getty Images That the tragedy happened during Easter week was particularly painful for Rev. Aidan Troy, who was scheduled to join a holy Mass on Wednesday night at Notre Dame and who stood with the masses and watched the landmark burn. This is the most poignant week of the Christian year, he said. The loss of the citys main cathedral will be a disappointment for some 400 believers set to be inducted into the Catholic church with rites on Easter, many of them before the altar at Notre Dame. Father Troy, the staff priest at St. Josephs Catholic Church of Paris, said he noticed a shift in the mood today. Last night was devastation and shock and this morning, people seem to be rising, he said. He said he hoped he would live to see the next chapter of the cathedral that has endured so many over the ages. Certainly the coming generations will see it, he said. Victor Hugo, who helped propel Notre Dame to international fame through his 1831 book The Hunchback of Notre Dame, famously described the cathedral as a vast symphony in stone. Sigmund Freud said that the building had a majestic presence. It is at once both a symbol of Catholicism and French culture. You can destroy Notre Dame, Monsignor Michel Aupetit said Monday night. But you cant destroy the soul of Paris. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here By Peter Szekely April 16 (Reuters) - The worldwide resolve to restore France's fire-devastated Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral provided an unexpected boost on Tuesday to a more modest campaign to rebuild three predominantly black churches in Louisiana that were torched in recent weeks. With help from some high-profile personalities on social media, including former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the fund-raising drive for the Louisiana churches saw a spike in donations since late Monday. Pledges to a GoFundMe campaign launched by the Seventh District Baptist Association in Louisiana six days ago jumped to more than $470,000 on Tuesday afternoon, quadruple the level less than 24 hours earlier, said Reverend Freddie Jack, the association's president. "Its overwhelming," Jack said by phone. "All I can say is that God is in the plan and hes doing his thing. The plight of the churches received renewed attention since the fire at Notre-Dame broke out on Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron promising to rebuild the historic cathedral as more than 750 million euros ($845 million) was pledged for the effort in the ensuing 24 hours. {nL5N21Y5KP] The three Louisiana churches - St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church - in St. Landry Parish, a county about 60 miles (97 km) west of Baton Rouge, burned down between March 26 and April 4. Holden Matthews, 21, a white resident and son of a sheriff's deputy in St. Landry Parish, was arrested last week and charged with three counts of simple arson on religious buildings. On Monday, three hate crimes charges were added against him in connection with the fires, multiple media outlets reported. While investigators were still exploring motives when they initially charged Matthews, authorities said he had "a relationship with a type of music called black metal," an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. Black metal has an association with church burnings in other parts of the world, they said. Clinton directed her 24.4 million Twitter followers to the GoFundMe campaign. "As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, lets also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana," Clinton posted. The GoFundMe campaign has a goal of $1.8 million. (Reporting by Peter Szekely Editing by Bill Berkrot) Novartis AG NVS announced that the FDA accepted its Biologics License Application (BLA) for ophthalmology candidate, brolucizumab (RTH258). Novartis is seeking FDA approval of the candidate for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), also known as neovascular AMD or nAMD. The filing was based on encouraging phase III data from HAWK and HARRIER trials. We note that Novartis used a priority review voucher to expedite review of brolucizumab in the United States. If approved, the company expects to launch the drug by the end of this year. Per estimates, approximately 0.5 to 1.75 million people in the United States will be suffering from wet AMD by 2020. The disease is a leading cause of blindness, and hence there is a significant market potential for brolucizumab upon approval. However, competition is stiff in the wet AMD space from the likes of Regenerons REGN Eylea and Roches RHHBY Lucentis, among others. Shares of the company have gained 10.4% in the past six months compared with the industry's 1.5% growth. Last year was a transformative one for Novartis, as it restructured business to become a core drug-focused company, powered by data and digital technologies. The company acquired AveXis, Inc., a U.S.-based clinical-stage gene-therapy company, in 2018. Novartis also acquired Endocyte to expand expertise in radiopharmaceuticals. We expect more acquisitions in the coming months, as the company looks to further restructure its business. Approval of new drugs and label expansion of existing drugs bode well for Novartis, as it looks to streamline its business. In September 2018, the company agreed to sell selected portions of its Sandoz U.S. portfolio, specifically the Sandoz U.S. dermatology business and the U.S. oral solids portfolio. The divestiture is in accordance with Sandozs strategy of focusing on complex generics, value-added medicines and biosimilars to achieve sustainable and profitable growth in the United States in the long run. The transaction will be completed this year. Novartis also sold its stake in consumer healthcare joint venture to GlaxoSmithKline GSK for $13 billion. Story continues Zacks Rank Novartis currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Novartis AG (NVS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) : Free Stock Analysis Report GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Information Services Corporation (TSE:ISV), which is in the real estate business, and is based in Canada, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the TSX over the last few months, increasing to CA$18.09 at one point, and dropping to the lows of CA$15.47. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether Information Services's current trading price of CA$16.7 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Information Servicess outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. See our latest analysis for Information Services What is Information Services worth? Good news, investors! Information Services is still a bargain right now. My valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is CA$27.87, which is above what the market is valuing the company at the moment. This indicates a potential opportunity to buy low. Another thing to keep in mind is that Information Servicess share price may be quite stable relative to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. This means that if you believe the current share price should move towards its intrinsic value over time, a low beta could suggest it is not likely to reach that level anytime soon, and once its there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range again. What kind of growth will Information Services generate? TSX:ISV Past and Future Earnings, April 16th 2019 Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that its the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With revenues expected to grow by a double-digit 14% over the next couple of years, the outlook is positive for Information Services. If the level of expenses is able to be maintained, it looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation. Story continues What this means for you: Are you a shareholder? Since ISV is currently undervalued, it may be a great time to accumulate more of your holdings in the stock. With a positive outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current undervaluation. Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on ISV for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its buoyant future outlook isnt fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means its not too late to buy ISV. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the track record of its management team, in order to make a well-informed buy. Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters the fundamentals before you make a decision on Information Services. You can find everything you need to know about Information Services in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Information Services, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential. 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. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The National Rifle Association has sued its longtime advertising agency, accusing the company that has helped shape its Second Amendment advocacy of withholding crucial financial details in its billing documents. The lawsuit filed Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, says Oklahoma City-based Ackerman McQueen is contractually bound to show backing paperwork on its bills to the NRA. But the NRA says the firm has only partly complied or "baldly ignored" requests for more information. "Since July 2018, the NRA has provided more-than-reasonable notice of its desire to view key items," the lawsuit says. "However, the NRA's patience has run out." The lawsuit says that in 2017 the NRA paid Ackerman McQueen and a subsidiary more than $40 million. The filing also says the ad agency refused to give information about a separate contract it had with NRA President and retired Lt. Col. Oliver North , the Marine at the center of the Iran-Contra affair three decades ago. Ackerman McQueen said in a statement Monday that an NRA forensic auditing firm received every piece of information it requested during a three-week review. "This flagrant misrepresentation, along with other false claims, serve as the foundation of malicious intent exemplified by this lawsuit," Ackerman McQueen's statement says. Ackerman McQueen runs NRATV, which livestreams gun rights commentary and advocacy for the NRA. The company has worked with the NRA since the 1980s. The lawsuit points out Ackerman McQueen helped craft some of the NRA's biggest messaging, including former organization president the late Charlton Heston's slogan about having to pry his guns "from my cold, dead hands." In a statement, Ackerman McQueen also says NRA outside attorney William Brewer has a conflict of interest in the lawsuit because he is the son-in-law of and brother-in-law to two of the ad agency's directors. Brewer's law first said in a statement that his familial relationships have "no bearing whatsoever on the NRA's litigation strategy." The NRA is a powerful U.S. lobbying force and spent millions to help elect President Donald Trump, who will speak at the group's annual meeting later this month in Indianapolis. It will be Trump's third consecutive appearance at the meeting. New York (AFP) - New York's Museum of Natural History announced Monday it had canceled a private function booked to take place there that would honor Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The leader, who has been attacked at home and abroad for policies that critics say threaten the environment and indigenous communities, was due to receive an award at the museum from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce. "With mutual respect for the work & goals of our individual organizations, we jointly agreed that the Museum is not the optimal location for the Brazilian-Am. Chamber of Commerce gala dinner," the museum tweeted. "This traditional event will go forward at another location on the original date & time." The statement was also posted on the chamber's website. Bolsonaro was chosen to receive the "Person of the Year" award from the chamber at a May 14 gala dinner attended by more than a thousand people. Every year, the body selects two people -- one Brazilian and one American -- to recognize at the sold-out gala. It did not respond to an AFP request for comment, nor has it announced the gala's new location. Following an avalanche of complaints, the museum last week announced it was considering its options over the event. "The external, private event at which the current President of Brazil is to be honored was booked at the Museum before the honoree was secured," the museum tweeted last Thursday. "We are deeply concerned, and we are exploring our options." In an open letter published in the French newspaper Le Monde, 13 representatives of Brazilian indigenous peoples had denounced Bolsonaro's environmental policies, which they said left them on the verge of "an apocalypse". "The government wants to monopolize the entire Amazon, bleed it even more by building new routes and railroads," it said. Since taking office on January 1, Bolsonaro has rolled back environmental protection laws in favor of miners and farmers. The parents of a Swedish programmer who was an early ally of Julian Assange and Wikileaks and who has now been accused of trying to blackmail Ecuadors president, is facing threats in jail, his parents have claimed. Ola Bini, 36, was arrested last Thursday in Ecuador, hours after Mr Assange was detained by police in London who entered the Ecuadorian embassy. Mr Assange was charged with skipping bail by a London judge, while the US charged him with conspiring with whistleblower Chelsea Manning to hack a US computer. Defenders of Mr Assange say the US is trying to punish the Wikileaks founder for exposing embarrassing and damaging information about Washingtons actions, including the behaviour of its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prosecutors in Ecuador, have said they intend to charge Mr Bini, a longtime Wikileaks defender, with seeking to blackmail Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno, who turned against Mr Assange and invited the British authorities to enter the embassy last week and arrest him. On Tuesday, Mr Binis parents, Dag Gustafsson and Gorel Bini, professed their sons innocence and said they would remain in Ecuador until he was released. We want to say that Ola is not feeling safe, because of some threats inside, Mr Gustafsson told reporters. His wife added: Right now, hes ok. But hes worried. Last week, Ecuadors interior minister Maria Paula Romo, told local media the Swedish coder, who has long worked with social justice groups, had been arrested for investigative purposes. For several years now, one of the key members of this WikiLeaks organisation and a person close to Mr Julian Assange has lived in Ecuador, and we have sufficient evidence that he has been collaborating with the destabilisation attempts against the government, she said. According to the Associated Press, she added: Its up to the justice system to determine if he committed a crime. But we cant allow Ecuador to become a centre for piracy and spying. That period in our history is over. Ms Romo said Bini had travelled at least 12 times to meet with Assange at the London embassy. She said he was also in Venezuela earlier this year at around the same time as a close aide to Mr Morenos former mentor turned arch enemy, Rafael Correa. Mr Correa, a former president who frequently criticised the US, had initially offered asylum to Mr Assange. Yibin (China) (AFP) - As farmer Li Bingcai opened the door to his cockroach farm in southwest China, an insect the size of a dart flew into his face. Picking the critter off his forehead, he tossed it back into the dark room where some 10 million more of its kind scurried around, housed in wooden frames perched on shelves. The six-legged creatures may be a bugbear for most, but Li and other breeders in China are turning them into a niche business. Some sell cockroaches for medicinal purposes, as animal feed or to get rid of food waste. Li breeds them for something else: food for human consumption. A restaurant down the road from his small facility fries them up in famously spicy Sichuan sauce for the gutsier eaters. "People don't believe how good it is until they try some," Li told AFP, putting a live one into his mouth as others crawled all over the place and people visiting. Known colloquially as American cockroaches, the Periplaneta americana is one of the largest species and are consumed for a variety of ailments: stomach ulcers, respiratory tract problems, and even simply as a tonic. "The greatest effect of cockroaches are that they have great immunity, which is why humans will absorb its benefits after eating them," Li said, noting that in China cockroaches are dubbed "Little Strong" because they can live for days even after being cut in half. Tucked at the edge of bamboo-covered mountains in Yibin, Li's facility is a nondescript single-storey former farmhouse surrounded by crop fields and livestock farms. The breeding area is roughly the size of a badminton court, with windows sealed off with netting to prevent any great escapes. Security is paramount: In 2013, some one million cockroaches escaped a farm in eastern Jiangsu province roamed free after their greenhouse was destroyed. - Health benefits? - Li's cockroaches live between the spaces of square wooden frames that are held together by pipes and stored in racks lining two rooms. The place is kept warm and humid, leaving a smell reminiscent of damp clothes. Story continues Feeding time causes a frenzy -- as Li heaps a mix of ground corn, fruit and vegetable peelings on small trays, the insects suddenly swarm the platforms, crawling over each other. "We breed them in a hygienic environment. They eat proper food -- nothing synthetic," he said. Every three months, Li harvests the cockroaches to keep the population under control by dropping some into a vat of boiling water before dehydrating the carcasses. Last year, he sold one tonne of dried cockroaches to a pharmaceutical factory for nearly 90,000 yuan ($13,500). Li ran a mobile phone shop when he went into cockroach farming in 2016 because it was low cost business and the insects are easy to rear. He converted his farmhouse and bought eggs from another breeder. His main source of income is from selling the insects directly to farms or medicine factories, and this is supplemented by an online shop his daughter helped set up. Half-a-kilo (1.1 pounds) of whole dehydrated insects retail for between 100 and 600 yuan ($15-$90). In neighbouring Xichang, the Gooddoctor Pharmaceutical Group runs the world's largest cockroach farm where a whopping six billion insects held in a facility that employs artificial intelligence in monitoring movement and environmental conditions. Cockroaches were added in the late 16th century to the Compendium of Materia Medica, the most comprehensive medical book ever written about traditional Chinese medicine. The bugs have detoxifying properties and can act as a diuretic, said Liu Daoyuan, chief specialist at the Yinchuan City Yongshou Medical Centre. "It is also effective for relieving sore throat, tonsillitis, (liver) cirrhosis and fluid build-up," he added. But other Chinese medicine experts caution that a poorly regulated industry with a low barrier of entry could result in adverse effects. "Anything in excess can be harmful, even ginseng," warned Goh Chye Tee, director of the Chinese Medicine Clinic at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. He noted the insect is not named China's official compendium of drugs covering both Chinese and western medicine. - 'They are gold' - But Li is more interested in turning roaches into a delicacy and is working with a local restaurant. Customers have been clamouring for a taste after hearing about the dish's health benefits, said owner Fu Youqiang, who cooks up to 30 orders a month. Diner Luo Gaoyi, who was trying the insect for first time, described it as being "quite tasty, very fragrant, very crispy". "I think that anything good for health should be eaten, no matter what it is," he said. "These have high nutritional value and are high in protein." Li is also working on expanding his line: cockroach-laced medical cream, cockroach medicated plasters, and insole inserts containing cockroach essence. He said: "There is so much good in this one insect, I want to tell more people about it. A lot of people think it's a pest but to me, they are gold. They are like my children." French economy minister Bruno Le Maire has backed Paris Blockchain Week. Photo: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AP The Paris Blockchain Week summit begins on Tuesday, part of a government-backed push to establish France as a global hub for the technology. Paris Blockchain Week is a message we send to [the world]: the [French are] ready to welcome you, to accompany you, to help you develop, Frances digital minister Cedric O tweeted on Monday. While the summit is a private sector initiative set up in part by French advertising giant Havas it has received significant support from the state. The summit aligns with President Emmanuel Macrons ambitions to establish France as a tech hub and both Cedric O and economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire have come out in support of the event. About 1,500 attendees are expected for the first part of the two-day gathering, where 100 speakers from around the world will discuss everything from how to regulate blockchain to how to invest in it. Blockchain is a broad term for the cryptographic database technology first popularised as the underpinning of bitcoin. The technology enables secure, large-scale open networks, like the bitcoin payment network. Blockchain has sparked huge interest over possible applications elsewhere, from finance to healthcare and even voting. Acolytes believe it can save money by simplifying processes. Everyone from banks to governments to agricultural businesses have invested hundreds of millions of dollar in researching the technology. However, detractors argue blockchain has become a meaningless buzzword. A study last year looked at over 40 blockchain applications in international development and found no evidence the tech made any meaningful difference. Still, Bruno Le Maire, Frances finance minister, told French finance magazine Capital on Monday blockchain is a priority for his government. Over the next five years, the state will invest 4.5bn [3.9bn] in breakthrough innovations, including blockchain technologies, he said. It is an important commitment. The goal is to take a technological lead to be able to fight, French and European, against the Chinese and American technological giants. Story continues Le Maire hosted a special event on Monday at the Ministry of Finance to promote Paris Blockchain Week. Paris has all the means to become a leading country in Europe for blockchain technology, Le Maire tweeted. In his speech at the ministry event he said that the French state would help the construction sector, the energy industry, and agriculture develop blockchain solutions. Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on Monday evening as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. More gasps came a few seconds later when the rest of the spire collapsed, caught on the cameras of thousands of mobile phones. "Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before," said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s, who had biked over after being alerted of the fire by a friend. "I'm a Parisian, my father was a Parisian, my grandfather as well -- this was something we brought our sons to see," he said. "I won't be showing this to my son." "It's a tragedy," he added. "If you pray, now is the time to pray." Police were attempting to clear pedestrians away from the two islands in the river Seine, including the Ile de la Cite which houses the soaring Gothic church, one of Europe's best known landmarks. But throngs of onlookers kept trying to approach, snarling traffic as they massed on the stone bridges leading to the islands. Another woman passed by, tears streaming from behind her glasses, too overwhelmed to speak to reporters. "It's finished, we'll never be able to see it again," said Jerome Fautrey, a 37-year-old who had come to watch. "Now we need to know how this happened -- with everything that's going on in the world, why Notre-Dame? Maybe it's a message from on high," he said. - 'History up in smoke' - "It's incredible, our history is going up in smoke," said Benoit, 42, who arrived on the scene by bike. Sam Ogden, 50, had arrived from London on Monday with her husband, their two teenaged sons, and her mother. They had come to Paris specifically to see Notre-Dame, part of a world tour over years to see historic sites. Story continues "This is really sad -- the saddest thing I've ever stood and watched in my life," Ogden said. She said the fire looked tiny at the beginning, "then within an hour it all came down." Her mother, Mary Huxtable, 73, said: "This (Notre-Dame) was on my bucket list to see. Now I'll never go inside." A short distance away stood another British family, also from London. "It's devastating," said Nathalie Cadwallader, 42, who had come to Paris two days earlier with her husband and two children for a weeklong visit. "This is a really historic skyscape and it's horrible this happened, on top of everything else Paris has gone through recently," she said, referring to the deadly jihadist terror attacks that struck the city in 2015. Her family had initially planned to visit Notre-Dame on Monday but opted instead for the Eiffel Tower, intending to go inside the cathedral on Tuesday. Morocco should prepare to strike a trade deal with Britain in a case of a no deal Brexit to avert losses estimated by the UN at $97 million. Morocco, Ghana and Tunisia are among African nations that would lose the most if the UK doesnt negotiate a deal by the time it has to exit the European Union, according to a study by a United Nations agency. Total export losses from 20 African countries could be as much as $420 million, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The study shows 11 nations on the continent would boost their exports by a total of $3.66 billion, led by South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana. A no-deal Brexit could damage smaller economies trading with the UK, the agency said in a statement. The UKs intention to lower most-favored-nation tariffs could increase the competitiveness of some of its trading partners, UNCTAD said. Many developing nations exports enjoy favorable market access to the UK thanks to bilateral trade agreements and because of EU unilateral preferential schemes. Countries wanting to retain this market access need to negotiate and quickly with the UK, UNCTAD said. Pep Guardiola has urged Manchester City fans to pack out the Etihad and get behind their side in Wednesday nights Champions League quarter-final second leg. City will look to overturn a 1-0 deficit, but their supports have not always appeared enamoured with European competition, failing to sell out home games and booing the anthem prior to kick-off. Guardiola says he is curious to see how the crowd will be and wants them to turn up like they did for the crucial Premier League game with Liverpool at the start of January. Pep Guardiola is hoping for a cauldron of noise at the Etihad when Manchester City take on Tottenham READ MORE: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returns to scene of greatest triumph as Manchester United take on Barcelona READ MORE: De Bruyne: Tottenham still a threat without Kane READ MORE: Kompany: Close title fights inspiring Manchester City If tomorrow night they dont help us do it for the guys, they are so proud, he said. We need them in our bad moments, at this stage we cannot go through. Im really curious to how our fans will be. I want the crowd to be like it was against Liverpool. I want to see if our fans really want to get to a semi-final. I want to see it tomorrow. Guardiola added that he wants the players desire to reach the semi-finals be matched by the fans. How that will go down with City fans remains to be seen. As well as two trips to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final victory over Brighton and final against Brighton next month, City have had away games at Fulham and Crystal Palace recently in an expensive few weeks. Guardiola has called on his sides supporters to turn up and show they want to reach the Champions League semi-final Tomorrow is about desire, Guardiola added. [The atmosphere during Januarys] Liverpool game would be enough for me a little bit better. Ive arrived many times in quarter finals and semi finals, every time away the support is incredible and we need it. I want to see that they want to get to the semi finals, not just the players, the fans too. I want to see that. Featured from our writers: LIMA, April 16 (Reuters) - Susel Paredes often finds herself in dangerous situations, donning a bulletproof vest to lead high-profile police operations and breaking up cartels of street vendors in one of the grittier parts of Peruvian capital Lima. Now the short, curly-haired city official is taking on a more personal battle: legalizing gay marriage in the conservative, majority-Catholic country and getting recognition for the Miami wedding to her wife in 2016. Paredes, 55, a lawyer by training, and her wife, Gracia Aljovin, legally challenged a decision by Peru's national identification registry Reniec, which had rejected their request to validate their marriage for legal purposes. But in a landmark April 4 ruling, a local court said authorities must treat the couple's marriage as any other, and that failing to do so would be discriminatory and unconstitutional. "What we've done with our marriage is launch strategic litigation," Paredes told Reuters in an interview last week. "We want to trigger a legal process that moves us toward obtaining the equal right to marriage in Peru," she added. Peru is one of just a handful of countries in Latin America to not have at least partially recognized same-sex unions. Reniec, which maintains Peru's records of birth, marriage and divorce, argues it cannot recognize gay marriages celebrated abroad because they cannot be performed legally in Peru. It has appealed the ruling, setting the stage for a battle that could ultimately give gay couples the right to wed legally. For years, same-sex couples in Peru have pushed Reniec to recognize their marriages abroad, but none had yet won a ruling in local courts. Paredes' image as a fearless enforcer of the law has drawn more attention to the battle, even as it has prompted a backlash from some prominent figures. "A judge has basically said that God was wrong, that it's not just man and woman (who can marry)," Peru's Catholic Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani said in an interview with local broadcaster RPP after the ruling. Story continues Paredes, who is Catholic, vowed to take the battle to the country's top court, the Constitutional Tribunal, if necessary. If she and Aljovin lose there, they said they will take it to the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which can order Peru, as a member state, to heed its rulings. In the meantime, Paredes, a former teenage telenovela actress, has urged other gay people in Peru to come out. "Christ said the truth will set you free. That's why I call on you to come out of the closet," she said in broadcast comments to local media. "Who can be happy leading two lives?" (Reporting by Reuters TV, Writing by Mitra Taj, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) With every passing day, it seems we see yet another piece about South Bend mayor Pete Buttigiegs progressive Christianity. His faith is going to shake the race. Hes going to challenge the GOP monopoly on God talk. Here, for example, is the opening paragraph of an NBC News analysis posted yesterday afternoon: Religious conservatives who have long been a reliable voting bloc for Republicans are grappling with a new challenge in Pete Buttigieg: how to respond to a Democratic presidential candidate who is leaning into the discussion about faith and its role in political life. Ill agree that there are religious conservatives who are grappling with a challenge from Buttigieg, but that challenge is theological and cultural, not political. Buttigiegs religious arguments have triggered important online debates about the differences between mainline and Evangelical Christianity, about when religious teachings should influence public policy, and about how to interpret the history of the gay-marriage debate. But religious conservatives are not grappling with the key political question whether any meaningful number of Evangelicals or conservative Catholics would cross the aisle to cast a ballot for Mayor Pete. The reason is simple. Buttigieg is a pro-choice extremist, and no pro-choice extremist will ever meaningfully compete for the conservative Christian vote. In fact, in at least one key way, Buttigiegs record on abortion is even worse than that of his Democratic peers. He is of course in lockstep agreement with them on support for late-term abortion, and he made that clear last month on Morning Joe: .@PeteButtigieg explains his support for late-term abortion bills in New York and Virginia: When were talking about some of those situations covered by that law the involvement of a male government official like me is not helpful. pic.twitter.com/6lQrLLhwhW Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) March 31, 2019 But hes done what many of them have not hes actually blocked a crisis-pregnancy center from opening at its chosen location. He not only supports abortion rights, hes taken action against law-abiding Americans who merely wanted to make the case for life. Story continues Last April, Buttigieg vetoed a rezoning plan that would have permitted a crisis-pregnancy center to open next door to a proposed abortion clinic. In his statement justifying the veto, Buttigieg said, I dont think it would be responsible to situate two groups, literally right next to each other, in a neighborhood, that have diametrically opposed views on the most divisive social issue of our time. And so, given the conflict, he chose to privilege the abortion clinics location over the pregnancy center. Thankfully, the center found a new location across the street from the proposed clinic a location that didnt require a rezoning vote. But that does not excuse or justify Buttigiegs veto. He favored abortion rights over pro-life speech, and he likely violated the Constitution in doing so. While Buttigieg, to his credit, did not demonize his opponents in the South Bend dispute ( Many people that I respect and admire and appreciate have very passionate and very opposite views on what is the right thing to do, he said of the dispute), actions speak louder than words. And this action echoes a dangerous Democratic trend in pro-choice governance: the attack against pro-life pregnancy clinics. Across the United States, progressive legislatures have passed laws aimed at crisis-pregnancy centers, including a California law the Supreme Court struck down just last summer. Buttigieg hasnt gone as far as California, which actually required pro-life pregnancy centers to promote state-funded free and low-cost abortions. But he had an opportunity to fully respect the constitutional rights of his pro-life opponents, and he chose not to do so. Many young Evangelicals, including young Evangelical activists, are divided over matters such as same-sex marriage. Some believe Obergefell v. Hodges was wrongly decided, others support legal recognition of same-sex marriage so long as the state doesnt interfere with the churchs ability to define marriage according to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith. Others support same-sex marriage constitutionally and theologically. These same young Christians are often appalled that their older brothers and sisters in the faith have so easily overlooked Donald Trumps multitude of sins. But they will not support politicians who support legal protections for late-term abortions. They wont. The will not support politicians who dont go beyond respecting pro-life Americans to also protecting their rights to free speech with the same vigor that they protect the First Amendment rights of pro-choice Americans. In the summer of 2016, I had hours of conversations with anguished Evangelical activists. They did not like Donald Trump. They could not believe the hypocrisy of some pastors defending a man whom theyd condemn if he had a D by his name. But they also could not believe that the Democrats wouldnt compromise at all on abortion, not even in the third trimester. More than one person told me of this issue, If only theyd moderate a little, Id consider crossing the aisle. But they wont, so I cant. Those words will still be true in 2020, and while Buttigiegs lack of overt hostility to pro-life citizens is welcome and conversations about Americas competing Christian world views are interesting he has zero appeal to religious conservatives so long as he holds to the Democratic party line on the right of a woman to hire a doctor to kill a viable, living unborn baby. There is nothing to grapple with. There is no challenge. There are lines that Christian conservatives must not and will not cross. More from National Review From sending ballot boxes by elephant in Sumatra to keeping voters safe in Papua's rebel territory, Indonesia is pulling out all the stops for one of the world's biggest one-day polls across a vast archipelago of 260 million. On Wednesday, over 190 million registered voters in the Muslim-majority country will cast their votes in just eight hours of polling, with the election commission battling torrential downpours, voter fraud and damaging cyber attacks. And if that wasn't hard enough, the world's third-largest democracy behind India and the United States is staging a first for its two-decade-old system, which rose from the ashes of a military-backed dictatorship: holding presidential, parliamentary and local polls all in one day. "This is a very big country so well do our best," Arief Budiman, the commission's chief, told a recent gathering of journalists and diplomats. "But we're very busy this year." He's not kidding. Calling on four-legged transport, motorbikes, speedboats and planes, officials have been distributing cardboard ballot boxes -- guarded by armed security staff -- to every corner of the 4,800 kilometre (3,000 miles) long archipelago, which is home to hundreds of ethnic groups and languages. While elephants carried ballot boxes through Sumatra's Aceh province, horses were used to reach to remote communities in the southeast corner of Java island. "The path is muddy during the rainy season so we need to use horses to transport election material," said Suhartanto, the police chief in Tempurejo sub-district, who goes by one name. The lightweight ballot boxes -- replacing metal ones used in previous polls -- are up to the job, Budiman insisted, declaring them to be "very strong". "You can sprinkle water on them -- but not a flood," he said. This was confirmed this week near Jakarta when hundreds of spoiled boxes were left in a muddy heap after torrential rain flooded a storage warehouse. Story continues Plastic bags are being inserted into the boxes to protect millions of ballot papers in a tropical country used to pounding rainstorms. - 'Communal voting' - A record 245,000 candidates are vying for public office, with current president Joko Widodo facing off against ex-general Prabowo Subianto for the top job. The polls kick off early Wednesday at over 800,000 plus ballot stations staffed by millions of election officials, starting in easternmost Papua where a separatist insurgency has simmered for decades. Security will be tight in parts of the mountainous region after rebels massacred more than a dozen employees at a state-backed contractor in December. Violence also erupted as election material was delivered before local polls last year, resulting in the deaths of several police and election officials. But armed rebels aren't the only election challenge in Papua, which shares an island border with independent Papua New Guinea. Voters in parts of the mineral-rich region use a communal voting system called "noken", in which a village head collects votes and represents the group at the ballot box. It is a challenge to the concept of direct voting and a headache for local officials who have tried -- and failed -- to change the fraud-prone system in a country where vote buying is already rife. "Usually, voters choose candidates who are from their village or family," said Papua's election commission head Theodorus Kossay. "Also, what often happens is that the number of votes that are actually filed can be different from what was agreed upon by the group, which leads to cheating." Meanwhile, police on the tourist hotspot of Bali this week scuffled with a small group of Papuans who staged a rally calling for people not to cast a ballot. - Hack attacks - Training millions of electoral officers -- many working an election for the first time -- has been another challenge. A few staff at each station were trained, and then expected to teach the rest of their colleagues, as tens of millions of voters work out who to vote for among the sea of candidates. "The biggest challenge is doing voter education," Budiman said. "The first key if you want to have fair elections is by building trust" with voters, he added. To that end, a mobile phone app was created by the commission to give Indonesians -- including technology friendly millenials -- details about every candidate and their policies. The agency, which has discounted opposition claims of millions of voter-list irregularities, is also battling repeated cyber attacks that threaten to disrupt the vote. Some were purportedly launched by hackers in Russia and China, though it declined to confirm those claims. "They could be Indonesian, they could be from overseas or any country," Budiman said. "But we'll handle it all." Police in central Vietnam have seized more than half a tonne of methamphetamine in one of the largest drug busts in recent years in the communist country where synthetic drug use is on the rise. Four people were arrested after police stormed a house in central Nghe An province where they found 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of meth, some of it stuffed in speaker boxes. The meth shipment was "about to be loaded onto trucks... for delivery", according to a report from Cong An Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security, after the bust on Monday. Dozens of police swarmed a house where the drugs were being stored, occupied by an elderly couple believed to be related to one of the dealers, according to state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper. Police said they were investigating the source of the meth and where it was to be shipped to. The bust follows a weekend seizure of 30 kilograms of drugs in southern An Giang province, including about 18 kilograms of meth that was stored in packages for tea and vitamin supplements. Synthetic narcotics manufactured in the lawless "Golden Triangle" region straddling Myanmar, Laos and Thailand often find their way into Vietnam, though homegrown labs have also been reported in recent years. The one-party state is both a hub for drug use and also a popular thoroughfare for shipments of illicit narcotics. Opium and heroin are the drugs of choice among older users, but youngsters are increasingly turning to party drugs such as ecstasy, meth and ketamine which have flooded the market. Last year seven young people died of suspected overdoses at an electronic music festival in Hanoi. Vietnam boasts some of the world's toughest drug laws, and anyone caught with more than 600 grams (21 ounces) of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine can face the death penalty. The latest bust on Monday comes after two massive seizures last month in Ho Chi Minh City -- one a 300 kilogram haul of heroin, another a 300 kilogram haul of meth -- both involving Chinese nationals who were taken into custody. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Child welfare authorities had received abuse reports about a Wichita couple whose 3-year-old son was found dead in a crib at their mobile home where a baby also was found in critical condition, according to police. Capt. Brent Allred provided no details Monday on the Kansas Department for Children and Families' involvement with the family of Zaiden Javonovich, whom investigators believe had been dead for days before his body was found. The welfare agency, which has been under fire after other child deaths, declined to comment while it's investigating the case. Although welfare officials had received reports, police officers hadn't received such reports before finding the child's body Thursday while responding to a domestic disturbance at the home. Police encountered Zaiden's parents 28-year-old Patrick Javonovich and 22-year-old Brandi Marchant as they walked back to the home. Inside, officers found Zaiden's body wrapped in a blanket in a crib. Allred said Zaiden suffered "obvious injuries," but he didn't elaborate. Officers also found an injured 4-month-old boy, who was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Allred said the baby is improving. "It's shocking to see adults treat their kids in the way these two were treated," Allred said. "It's, I say, pathetic, because that's what it is." Zaiden's 22-year-old mother, Brandi Kai Marchant, and 28-year-old father, Patrick Javonovich, made their their first court appearances on Tuesday. They both face five charges, including first-degree murder with alternative underlying felonies of neglect and abuse, The Wichita Eagle reported. They also face two counts of abuse of a child and aggravated endangerment of a child. Their bonds were set at $200,000 each. The home, where the family had lived for a couple months, had food and no signs of drug use, police said. Allred said Marchant has two other children but doesn't have custody of them. Javonovich has one other child who sometimes visits on weekends. The Wichita area has seen several child abuse homicides. The victims include 3-year-old Evan Brewer, whose body was found encased in concrete, and 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez, whose body was found under a rural bridge months after he went missing. The agency had extensive involvement with both children before their deaths. While campaigning last year, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly repeatedly described problems in the child welfare system as among the most pressing the state faces. Lawmakers now are considering increasing funding to add more child welfare workers. President Donald Trump said Monday that Boeing should rebrand its 737 Max airplane, which has been taken out of passenger service worldwide following two high-profile fatal crashes in recent months. What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), Trump tweeted at 6.29 a.m. ET. But if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know? What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 The U.S. decision to ground all 737 Max aircraft came after several other countries around the world made the same move, and followed the crashes of Lion Air flight 610 (which came down off Indonesia last October, killing all 189 people on board) and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (which crashed on March 10 outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 157 on board). Both flights involved American planemaker Boeings new 737 Max model; the crashes appear to involve the models anti-stalling software. The 737 Max was the fastest-selling plane in Boeings history, but the companys stock dropped some 11% after the Ethiopian Airlines crash. With airlines continuing to cancel flights because of the ongoing grounding, its unclear how Boeing, or the air carriers that rely on the 737 Max, will resume normal operations. Father Jean-Marc Fournier, fire brigade chaplain, saved the Crown of Thorns from Notre Dame as it burned. (Twitter) He survived an ambush in Afghanistan, helped tend the wounded in aftermath of the Bataclan attack and now he has saved a priceless relic. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved fragments of the Crown of Thorns and helped salvage the Blessed Sacrament as Notre Dame burned on Monday. Four years earlier Father Fournier helped to nurse the wounded when 89 people were massacred at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan in 2015. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for the French KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament', Mailonline reports. Smoke rises from the burning roof at the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France April 15, 2019. Picture taken April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau The crown of thorns rescued by Father Fournier. File image. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File) This was confirmed by an emergency services source who said: 'Father Fournier is an absolute hero. 'He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the Cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear.' Hundreds of firefighters tackled the blaze through the night, battling to stop it wreaking complete destruction of the treasured facade after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of horrified Parisians. The blaze broke out at around 5.50pm BST on Monday and took until 9am to bring under control. A view shows Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire devastated large parts of the gothic structure in Paris, France, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau The 19th century spire collapsed and was destroyed along with much of the roof. And while hundreds of million euro have been pledged to fund the repair project it is feared there are no trees big enough to replace the timbers in France. Visiting the scene on Monday night, French president Emmanuel Macron said a national subscription would be launched to rebuild the national monument. It was reported that billionaire French fashion mogul Francois-Henri Pinault had pledged 100 million euros (86 million) towards the effort. Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where weve lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives, Mr Macron said. Story continues The aftermath of the Notre Dame fire, from inside the ruins of the cathedral. Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via REUTERS The first harrowing images from within the fire-ravaged cathedral began to emerge as firefighters brought the blaze under control. A smouldering pile of what appeared to be the charred remains of the roof and spire lay smoking in front of the altar, while a cross that had escaped destruction glowed from within the gloom. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Voters havent changed minds over Brexit - poll claims What caused the devastating fire at Notre Dame? The relics inside Notre Dame - and did they survive? Gilded candlesticks, artworks and furnishings were among the treasures seen being rushed from the cathedral by a human chain before being bundled into trucks by police officers. Some of the cathedrals most precious objects, including a relic purported to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, were whisked away to a secure facility. Smoke rises from the burning spire on the roof at the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France April 15, 2019. Picture taken April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau Peter Riddington, a consultant director with Donald Insall Associates, which oversaw the restoration of Windsor Castle following the 1992 fire, said he felt a solution would have to be found. He added: The history of the cathedral is so strong that to rebuild it in a form that isnt what people understand Notre-Dame to be, what it symbolises and what they believe it to be would be a very difficult argument to win. There will be a lot of soul searching I think. While Windsor Castle was a straightforward rebuild due to the cellular structure of the rooms Mr Riddington said Notre Dames status as a place of worship - and a large one at that - presents extra challenges. A graphic which shows how the fire spread through Notre Dame. (PA) Windsor saw some 1,500 workers help rebuild and restore the castle at a cost of around 36m, 27 years ago - though both the cost and the four year project came in ahead of schedule and under budget. He said: I think its a much bigger, more difficult rebuild. One thing I would say though is that it is not the first cathedral fire over the years. The west wing at York was badly damaged in the 1980s but they do get restored. On Tuesday morning, after fire ravaged Pariss Notre Dame cathedral, the EUs top digital affairs civil servant lamented the loss of one of Europes wonders. Preserving with digitization is important for us and for future generations, Roberto Viola tweeted. With Notre Dame weve lost a piece of our history. Violas tweet bore a link to an announcement from a week ago, when 24 European countries including France agreed to cooperate on advancing digitization of cultural heritage. This will include a Europe-wide push to create intricate virtual models of key historical artifacts and sites. But did this initiative come too late for Pariss 12th century Gothic wonder? Maybe not. Tallons timely scan Truth is, Notre Dame has already been digitally scanned in great detail by an American art historian named Andrew Tallon. Several years ago, the Vassar College professor used cutting-edge laser scanners to capture over a billion points of data that, when combined in suitable software, can be used to create a 3-D model of the cathedral. Tallon, who died last year, learned a lot from his scanning exerciseand so did the people running the church. His models revealed that Notre Dame was crumbling to an extent that its administrators had not fully appreciated, and that urgent restoration work was needed to maintain its structural integrity. A restoration project began last year and, although investigations are still underway, there is reportedly a suspicion that Mondays fire was accidentally caused in the course of that rehab. Onlookers gaze at the damage caused to Notre-Dame Cathedral following a major fire on April 16, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to restore Notre Dame, the main structure of which appears to have survived the blaze. Donations are pouring in from billionaires and others, and French construction groups are also eager to pitch in. But could Tallons data help the reconstruction effort? According to Lindsay Cook, visiting assistant professor at Vassars art department, the architects involved in the restoration project that was underway had probably already studied the building carefully. She also noted comments by the chief architect, Benjamin Mouton, that suggested it would be almost impossible to create a perfect copyfor one thing, these days there are no oak forests comparable to those that supplied Notre Dames beams back in the 12th century. Story continues That said, Vassar is committed to preserving the late Prof. Tallons pathbreaking research, including his laser scans, said Cook. If, when the time comes, the [French regional directorate of cultural affairs] or the restoration architect wishes to use Prof. Tallons digital record of the edifice to aid their efforts, Vassar will gladly cooperate. I know this doesn't help, but we have exquisite 3D laser maps of every detail of Notre Dame, thanks to the incredible work of @Vassar art historian Andrew Tallon. Prof Tallon passed away last November, but his work will be absolutely crucial https://t.co/YJl3XXUZTg Hannah Groch-Begley (@grouchybagels) April 15, 2019 Digitizing heritage Assistance might also be available from another sourcea project called Inception that receives funding from the European Commission and was highlighted in last weeks announcement about the digitization of European heritage sites. Inception is run by Roberto Di Giulio of the University of Ferrara in Italy. As Di Giulio explained to Fortune, the project is developing a new way to translate point clouds, such as that compiled by Vassars Tallon, into the type of Building Information Modeling (BIM) file that architects can use in their work, or that can be used to present a building in a virtual-reality context. A big part of the Commissions digitization push is to give citizens new ways to engage with heritage sites. This technique is rather novel, as BIM models are based on standardized building elements that can be arranged in virtual form by an architect, and the elements of monumental old buildings are anything but standardized. Di Giulio said artificial intelligence will ultimately be required to learn about and virtually recreate all the types of objects that went into a gothic building, for example. But Inceptions system could still prove useful in the case of Notre Dame, he said. If we have Notre Dame on our platform, you could go there and get everything you need for reconstruction, said Di Giulio, who said this might be possible if Tallons data included enough points. Of course we would be honored to give help. The Progressive Corporations PGR first-quarter 2019 earnings per share of $1.83 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.38. The bottom line improved 50% from $1.22 earned in the year-ago quarter. Behind the Headlines Net premiums written were $9.2 billion in the quarter under review, up 16% from nearly $8 billion in the year-ago period. Net premiums earned grew 18% year over year to $8.5 billion from $7.2 billion a year ago. Net realized gains on securities were $414.5 million against the year-ago loss of $48.2 million. Operating revenues were $8.9 million, up 19% year over year. The improvement was owing to an 18% increase in premiums, 52% higher investment income, and 25% growth in fees and other revenues as well as service revenues. The top line however marginally missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Total expenses increased 19% year over year to $7.7 billion driven by 18% rise in losses and loss adjustment expenses, 19% increase in policy acquisition costs and 19% higher other underwriting expenses. Combined ratio percentage of premiums paid out as claims and expenses deteriorated 40 basis points (bps) from the prior-year quarters level to 88.8%. The Progressive Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise The Progressive Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | The Progressive Corporation Quote Policies in Force Solid in March In March, policies in force were impressive at the Personal Auto segment, having improved 13% from the year-ago month to 13.9 million. Special Lines improved 3% from the prior-year months figure to 4.4 million. In Progressives Personal Auto segment, Direct Auto grew 12% year over year to 6.6 million while Agency Auto improved 15% year over year to 7.3 million. Progressives Commercial Auto segment rose 8% year over year to 0.7 million. The Property business had about 2 million policies in force in the reported month, up 21% year over year. Financial Update Progressives book value per share was $19.89 as of Mar 31, 2019, up 12.3% from $17.71 as of Dec 31, 2018. Return-on-equity for March 2019 was 30.4%, having expanded 940 bps year over year. Debt-to-total capital ratio improved 220 bps year over year to 26.7% as of Mar 31, 2019. Zacks Rank Progressive currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Upcoming Releases RLI Corp. RLI will release first-quarter 2019 earnings on Apr 17. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same stands at 59 cents per share, indicating a year-over-year decline of 1.7%. The Travelers Companies, Inc. TRV will release first-quarter 2019 earnings on Apr 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same stands at $2.76 per share, up 12.2% year-over-year. Brown and Brown Inc. BRO will release first-quarter 2019 earnings on Apr 22. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at 36 cents per share, indicating a year-over-year rise of 9.1%. Will you retire a millionaire? One out of every six people retires a multimillionaire. Get smart tips you can do today to become one of them in a new Special Report, 7 Things You Can Do Now to Retire a Multimillionaire. Click to get it free >> Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) : Free Stock Analysis Report RLI Corp. (RLI) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Progressive Corporation (PGR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The crisis of the Democrats is becoming more evident each week. Those of us who have been loudly predicting for years that the Russian-collusion argument would be exposed as a defamatory farce, and that the authors of it would eventually pay for it, are bemused at the fallback position of the Trump-haters: that the distinguished attorney general has whitewashed the president in his summary and his decision that there was no obstruction of justice. One of the most entertaining moments of news-watching in many years came last week, when former national intelligence director James Clapper said it was scary and former FBI director Comey said it was bizarre to hear Attorney General William Barr say that the Trump campaign had been spied on. It has been obvious for a long time that both these men and former CIA director John Brennan lied under oath on a number of occasions, and Comeys complaint last week that court-ordered surveillance wasnt spying is going to get a full assessment when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) warrants that were the court authorization in this case, and were obtained on the basis of false campaign smears assembled and paid for by the Clinton campaign, are judicially considered. Given the proportions of the scam that has been perpetrated, the principal actors, including those just named, deserve commendation for the imperishability of their unctuousness. These people seem still to be oblivious to the fact that lying under oath and producing false FISA applications are serious offenses. And some of the congressional Democrats, such as Congressmen Nadler, Swallwill, and Schiff (the new-millennium version of Martin, Barton, and Fish, made infamous by FDR in 1940), seem to think they have a perfect constitutional right to keep the president in the pillory of their spurious investigations indefinitely. The whole edifice of the Trump moral crisis is coming down in shards around the ears of the Clinton and Obama Democrats. Story continues The numberless candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination will presumably go to hilarious extremes to sidestep the whole Trump-impeachment debacle, but the credibility of the Democratic party, given the total immersion the Clinton-Obama era is about to receive in the Trump-collusion perfidy, will not be unscathed. After the brave launches of the candidacies, almost all of them have floundered. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has done and said absolutely nothing to merit consideration as president, has launched and sunk down the slipways and beneath the waves her candidacy has attracted zero support. Most of the other candidates are equally unprepossessing. Cory Booker, perhaps the most compulsively verbose candidate since Hubert Humphrey (who was a good deal more thoughtful and entertaining), is apparently full of goodwill, but very inadequate. Kamala Harris seems to have the makings of a good candidate, but she is already tangled up in the runaway leftward nonsense of open borders, socialized medicine, high taxes, and the Green terror. Beto ORourke, as foreseen, after a brief flurry, has skateboarded off the dock and been abandoned by the media as an arm-flapping airhead. Elizabeth Warren is everyones nightmare of a severe, humorless kindergarten teacher, and she will not recover from her masquerade as a native Indian. Amy Klobuchar is sensible and seems likeable but has no pizzazz and hasnt made inroads so far with radical normalcy, though its time could come. The sensible majority of Democrats note that their party, on the heels of the Russian-collusion disaster, has completely bungled the border-and-migration issue and has gone down in flames with the claim that it is a crisis manufactured by the president. They have watched in silent horror as their party has been stampeded to the left, and the search is already under way for a moderate candidate. This will require breaking the bipartisan tradition of elevating the runner-up from the previous campaign. Bernie Sanders would expect to follow Hillary Clinton, as Mrs. Clinton lost to and succeeded Barack Obama, and Bob Dole did the same with George H. W. Bush, and John McCain with George W. Bush. But Bernie Sanders will be 79 on the next Inauguration Day, and he was too far left for the Democrats four years ago, when they lost to Trump, and he is still moving left. They are starting to put up a Sanders alternative every two weeks, as the Republicans did against Mitt Romney in 2012 Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Romney was a centrist. Each rival arose, mounted a serious challenge, and then imploded for different reasons. The Democrats main Stop Sanders candidate has been Joe Biden, but he has been sandbagged by the now customary, if not obligatory, flood of disrespected women from previous years and decades. That seems to be surmountable, as Biden was only tactile, not intrusive, but the simmering concerns about his financial relations with Ukraine and controversies in his family seem to be delaying his decision. He is not, at the best of times, an exciting candidate, but he might at least prevent a McGovern-level seismic electoral landslide, which is what awaits any Democratic candidate festooned with the cornucopia of this campaigns far-left nostrums. Beto was the first try at a new face, and he bombed. Mayor Pete Buttigieg seems to be the next. He is an interesting candidate and had a good launch. The fact that he is only 37, gay, and the mayor of a rather small city gives him plenty of novelty, and he is the most articulate of the candidates. His approach to the gay issue is also imaginative. He is unapologetic about being gay and asserts that he would much rather be straight, but that God made him as he is, and therefore this should not be held against him: Your complaint is with my creator. It is not belligerent gay-pride-in-your-face self-defense. There are presumably an appreciable number of people, most of them quite tolerant, who would rather not have a gay president, and their problem, in that regard, is with the candidate, not with God, who created tens of millions of people they would not, for many other reasons, wish to be president. Good try, but no sale. Mayor Pete deserves to hang in for a while, but he is a bit of a wolf in sheeps clothing ideologically, and being mayor of South Bend is a training school for Congress or being governor, but not president in one leap. My guess is that Biden can still win the nomination, but it will be a pretty unenthused campaign. If he doesnt make his move fairly soon, Klobuchar may gradually rise as the presentable alternative to sirens of the left. Trump will get an improved trade arrangement with China, the North Korean discussions will at least not have descended back to nuclear saber-rattling, and there may be progress in the Middle East, as the Arabs dont want the Palestinians muddying the waters while the Turks and Iranians are crowding the Arab powers. Trump will have got enough done with the southern border to satisfy the national concern on that subject, will have a full-employment economy, and will conduct an extremely flamboyant campaign flailing the Democrats with all the Trump-collusion nonsense. Incumbent presidents have been defeated only twice since the Great Depression Jimmy Carter was not a very effective president, and George H. W. Bush allowed the political charlatan Ross Perot to split his party and take 20 million votes. Trump will have the strongest first term to run on since Reagan, or even Nixon, and they both carried 49 states. Trump wont do that, but he hasnt made a seriously unfortunate public utterance for months and looks stronger each week. More from National Review Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago. The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town's first evangelical church opened last year. Jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win Pulitzer Prizes Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and another for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The awards marked the second year in a row that Reuters has won two Pulitzers, the most prestigious prize in American journalism. Reuters has won seven since 2008. Brazil police carry out raids linked to probe into Vale's deadly dam collapse: source Federal police are serving five search warrants in connection with a Brazilian investigation into a deadly tailings dam failure at a mining site operated by Vale SA, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. According to the source, all warrants were issued by the ninth federal court in Belo Horizonte, capital of the Minas Gerais state. Russian court jails Norwegian for 14 years for espionage A Russian court convicted a Norwegian man on Tuesday of gathering espionage about nuclear submarines and jailed him for 14 years, a verdict that could strain relations between Moscow and its NATO-member neighbor. Frode Berg, a 63-year-old retired former guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, was detained in Moscow in December 2017 and tried behind closed doors this month. He pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage on behalf of Norway. Story continues Mutual friends and borrowed cars: how Ukraine's would-be leader is linked to tycoon Volodymyr Zelenskiy, front runner to be the next Ukrainian president, has connections to one of the country's wealthiest tycoons that are undermining his image as an insurgent who will sweep aside the powerful moneyed elite. Presenting himself as an anti-establishment outsider backed by spontaneous grass-roots support, Zelenskiy won the first round of voting last month, and opinion polls make him strong favorite in the run-off on April 21 against the incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko. Thwarting fraud: thousands to 'crowd-source' Indonesian election results More than 10,000 people have volunteered to crowd-source election results posted at polling stations across Indonesia on Wednesday in a real-time bid to thwart attempts at fraud during the biggest single-day election in the world. Nearly 193 million people are eligible to vote for the Southeast Asian country's president and thousands of legislative seats, a Herculean logistical feat many fear could be exploited by cheats. Exploding ATMs: Brazil banks wrestle with dynamite heists More than two dozen heavily-armed men stormed into the center of Guararema early on a recent morning, rousing the Brazilian town's residents with the sound of broken glass, explosions - and then gunshots. Brandishing high-powered rifles, wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying several kilos of dynamite, the gang pulled up in front of the town's main police station. It then set upon an adjoining branch of Banco do Brasil, shattering its windows and doors with crowbars. Erdogan's AK Party to submit appeal for rerun of Istanbul elections Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party will "shortly" appeal for the annulment and rerun of Istanbul's municipal elections, the party's deputy chairman said in a tweet on Tuesday. Initial results showed 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 center by the AK Party and its Islamist predecessors. Skyscraper housing Australia, UK embassies in Madrid evacuated after bomb threat A skyscraper housing embassies in Madrid was evacuated on Tuesday after a bomb threat was received by telephone at the Australian embassy there, a police spokeswoman said. The 57-story, 235-meter (770-ft) high Torre Espacio, one of four towers located in the Spanish capital's financial district, also houses the embassies of Britain and Canada. No sign of arson in Notre-Dame blaze as nation grieves for symbol The fire that tore through Notre-Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins overnight and the nation grieved for the destruction of one of its symbols. More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to extinguish the fire some 14 hours after it began. Over the course of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation, Donald Trump and his attorneys have made expansive arguments for executive power. They have claimed that by definition the president cannot commit obstruction of justice; that he cant be subpoenaed or indicted; and that he could end the Mueller investigation at any time, fire Mueller and pardon key players in the investigation, including himself, if he wanted. But when Mueller finished his work in late March, the White House declined to use one of its most basic powers to review the special counsels report and make assertions of executive privilege to keep portions of it from Congress and the public. As he previewed the Mueller report on Thursday morning, Attorney General William Barr confirmed that Trump declined to assert executive privilege after White House lawyers reviewed the redacted version of the report. Following that review, the President confirmed that, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure to the American people, he would not assert privilege over the Special Counsels report, he said. Scholars say that decision was unusual. The waiver of executive privilege would be unprecedented for a modern presidency in its scope and depth, says Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who previously represented Barr. The waiver is enormously significant since Trump could have claimed sweeping privilege and tied up the report in the courts for much of the remaining two years of his term. Waiving executive privilege is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. It could leave Trump exposed to potentially damaging information that could come out when the report is released, without having taken the opportunity to review it first or try to redact it with executive privilege. But it also means all the political heat for the reports redactions will be focused on Barr instead of on the president and his lawyers. Story continues Trump has long maintained that Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election wouldnt find any collusion between his campaign and Russians, and he stated publicly that he thinks the entire report should be made public. Let people see it, Trump said at the end of March. Thats up to the attorney general. Read More: The 270 Arguments Trump Has Made About the Mueller Investigation Days later, Barr sent two letters to Congress, one on March 24 which outlined Muellers principal conclusion that the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. Trump claimed complete and total exoneration after Barrs letter, and on March 29, Barr followed up and said that he wouldnt be handing the report over to the White House for review. Although the President would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report, he has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me and, accordingly, there are no plans to submit the report to the White House for a privilege review, Barr wrote. With the report due to come out on April 18, Barr has not announced any changes to this plan. Trump tweeted on April 6 that he has not read the report. I have not read the Mueller Report yet, even though I have every right to do so. Only know the conclusions, and on the big one, No Collusion. Likewise, recommendations made to our great A.G. who found No Obstruction. 13 Angry Trump hating Dems (later brought to 18) given two..... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2019 Part of the White Houses strategy might be to more forcefully and convincingly support the presidents quick claim of exoneration. President Trump has called this a complete exoneration without seeing the report, says Molly Claflin, chief oversight counsel at American Oversight. And I think it is difficult for [the White House] to make heavy redactions and to assert the executive privilege widespread over the report while saying that this is a complete exoneration and theres nothing to see here. In other words, it would be hard politically for Trump to argue the report exonerates him while also redacting large portions of it. Certain aspects of the report will be redacted anyway. Barr is currently working to redact four categories of information from the text: grand jury material, information that could compromise sensitive intelligence sources or methods, details related to ongoing investigations and information that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties. But there are some types of details or conversations Congress and the public may get to see that could have been redacted by White House lawyers but now may be left in the text. Multiple sources cited former White House counsel Don McGahns reported cooperation with Muellers team as a key signpost of whether any executive privilege assertions are made. Some of the most damaging information is likely to come from those interviews, says Turley. Those also happen to be interviews most easily protected under executive privilege. So, if details about interactions between Trump and McGahn or other similar information remain in the public version of the report, that will be a telling signal that the White House opted for full transparency. While the White House may have relinquished the opportunity to scrub certain details from the report, they have likely gained a political advantage in the immediate aftermath of the reports imminent release. Congressional Democrats have already begun demanding the full, un-redacted report, and will be unsatisfied by any version of the document they receive that contains any blacked out portions. In previous weeks, it looked like this ire could have been directed at the White House. This is a White House that has supported I think highly implausible assertions of executive privilege, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, told TIME before Barrs March 29 letter. Whitehouse said at the time that he was worried about erroneous or exaggerated assertions of executive privilege. Now, if the White House makes no assertions of privilege, questions about redactions will be entirely focused on the attorney general. Congressional Democrats are already putting considerable pressure on Barr over redactions. As a matter of law, Congress is entitled to the full reportwithout redactionsas well as the underlying evidence, top House and Senate Democrats wrote in an April 11 letter to Barr. We have asked reasonable questions and raised legitimate concerns about your handling of this report. So far, we have received no direct response, and you have made no effort to work with us to accommodate our concerns. If the White House really did waive executive privilege, and whether that will turn out to be a politically savvy or costly move, will begin to become clear only after the report is released on Thursday. On April 10 during congressional testimony, when asked about the level of detail he would leave in the report, Barr promised, You will get more than the gist. (Repeats from APRIL 15, no changes to text) * Nordic private equity funds lead way in 2019 fund-raising * Local pension schemes set to invest more in unlisted firms * Looking to back next 'unicorn' after Spotify success By Esha Vaish and Simon Jessop STOCKHOLM/LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - A vibrant start-up scene, which has spawned stars such as Spotify, Skype and Rovio, is inspiring Nordic pension funds to invest more money with local private equity funds. Managers looking to pump up their pension returns hope that this will plug them into the Nordic business world's inner circle and help them to back the best prospects early on. "With Spotify we got a call that maybe there were some shares for sale ... We thought it was a great product so we said let's dig into this and we made an acquisition with our friends at AMF," Bo Selling, Alecta's head of equities, told Reuters. Swedish pension funds Alecta and AMF saw their 2016 investments in Spotify nearly triple in value when it listed in 2018. This success has helped fuel demand from other pension funds and encouraged some to change their investment parameters in order to be able to seek out the region's next big hit. As part of this shift, Sweden said earlier this year it will allow some of its largest state public pension funds, named APs 1, 2, 3 and 4, to allocate up to 40 percent of the about $140 billion they manage to illiquid investments, removing a 5 percent limit for unlisted instruments. "We will most likely do more investments in private equity and venture (capital)," said Jenny Askfelt Rudd, head of alternative investments at AP4, which has about 3 percent of its assets in private equity. Around a quarter of all assets raised in Europe so far in 2019 have gone to funds based in the Nordics, data from industry tracker Preqin showed, part of a global surge in demand that has seen total undeployed capital in the sector pass $2 trillion. Story continues This is driven by institutional investors looking to shore up returns as global economic uncertainty roiled stock markets. But it is not all one-way traffic. Last year, Norway's government recommended against allowing its $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund to expand into private equity. The ball is now in the hands of the country's parliament, with the fund arguing the move could help improve its balance between risk and return, and naming Uber and Airbnb among missed opportunities due to the current restrictions. For interactive versions of the graphics, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Fby9bT and here https://tmsnrt.rs/2O77Fv9. Norway's sovereign fund posted a negative return on investment of 6.1 percent in 2018, while AP4 posted its second negative result since 2008 last year and warned it faced significant challenges in delivering returns at levels achieved in the past decade. A Swedish parliamentary committee that worked on the pension rule changes found that where listed equities generated returns of an average 6.9 percent, alternative investments have delivered a combined 12.3 percent. Denmark's PFA, which runs 75 billion euros ($85 billion) in assets, is already active, growing its alternatives investments from 1 billion euros in late 2015 to 5 billion euros now. "We have an ambition to grow that significantly over the coming years," Peter Tind Larsen, head of alternative investments at PFA, said. Despite concerns that demand is fueling a valuation bubble, Selling said Alecta believes there are still opportunities to grow its private equity portfolio, with just 0.5 percent of its 860 billion Swedish crowns ($93 billion) in assets in unlisted equities. "A good company with a good model and good growth prospects can be deemed interesting even if it is priced at a higher multiple on the earnings," Selling said. GET WITH THE PROGRAMMERS On the flipside, private equity firms are seeking partnerships with pension funds to bump up the valuation of assets without having to seek a market listing, bankers say. Independent Vetcare (IVC), Europe's largest veterinary services firm, was valued at 3 billion euros when Alecta and AP6 - a specialist in unlisted investments - bought 20 percent in February versus the roughly 500 million euros EQT paid to buy it in 2016, sources told Reuters. So far in 2019, five Nordic-based funds have raised a combined 4.2 billion euros in assets, 22 percent of the total for Europe as a whole, Preqin data showed. That compares with 16 percent last year and 6 percent in 2017. For an interactive version of the graphics, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2VMu8jZ and here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Xeeaja. EQT is the local sector leader and has seven of the ten biggest funds raised in the region, including EQT VIII, which last year raised 10.8 billion euros. Others include Nordic Capital, Altor, IK Investment Partners, Creandum and Northzone. Much of their focus is on the region's vibrant digital start-up scene. The European Digital City Index ranks Stockholm second to London in terms of support for digital entrepreneurs. Helsinki and Copenhagen also make the top ten. "Being a programmer is the most common job in Stockholm, so it's everywhere," Ted Persson, operating partner at EQT Ventures, said. Swedish payments company Klarna is seen by bankers as one of the hottest local firms to invest in ahead of a likely IPO, and pension funds seem primed to take a slice in its external fundraising this year. Valued by bankers with knowledge of its recent internal fundraising at around 32 billion Swedish crowns, the firm counts private equity firms Sequoia and Permira, as well as rapper Snoop Dogg, as investors. "A number of the largest pension funds have hired additional people with strong corporate finance expertise, and we ... expect to see these funds taking the lead on larger transactions," Klaus Thune, co-head of Nordic banking at JP Morgan, said. ($1 = 9.2557 Swedish crowns) ($1 = 0.8835 euros) (Editing by Alexander Smith) Moscow (AFP) - A Moscow court on Tuesday convicted a retired Norwegian border guard on spying charges and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Frode Berg, 63, was detained in Moscow in 2017 following a sting operation by Russia's FSB security service. Prosecutors accused him of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. Judge Andrei Suvorov of the Moscow City Court found Berg guilty of espionage and jailed him for 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony. A dejected, tired-looking Berg, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, stood inside a glass cage as the judge read out the verdict in front of journalists. It was the only time the trial was open to the media and many details of the case remain unclear. Russian prosecutors accused Berg of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. The FSB declined to comment on Tuesday. In December, a former Russian police officer was accused of handing Berg files on the Russian navy and given a 13-year prison term. Berg has admitted to acting several times as a courier for the Norwegian intelligence but said he thought he was only carrying money. The defence team said they hoped diplomatic efforts could persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a presidential pardon so Berg could be released and go home. Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov said his client calmly accepted the sentencing. "He expects his government to undertake diplomatic efforts," Novikov said, adding Berg was not planning to appeal. "We see no practical use in appealing." - 'Basically a life sentence' - Both Novikov and Berg's Norwegian lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said an effort by Norway had probably been made to gather intelligence. "There are indications that the Norwegian intelligence has been involved in the case," Risnes told AFP. "That makes it both a professional scandal and potentially also a political scandal in Norway. As soon as he gets back to Norway, another phase of the scandal will start: finding out what really happened." Story continues Novikov insists Berg "had been used without his knowledge". He also warned that Berg might not survive a lengthy prison sentence in Russia. "He's 63 and given the conditions of Russian prisons that's basically a life sentence." Berg's case was raised during a meeting between Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg last week. Asked by a journalist about the possibility of Berg being pardoned, Putin said: "A person can only be pardoned if he has been convicted. He has not been convicted yet." Novikov said that the fact that Putin spoke publicly about the case was "probably a good sign." Russian lawyer and human rights activist Ivan Pavlov, who often defends people accused of espionage and treason, suggested Berg might indeed be granted a pardon. "There were such precedents," Pavlov told AFP. Risnes said that governments typically exchange their nationals convicted of spying but added that "there is no such case in Norway". "We don't really know what they have to give," he added. NATO member Norway normally enjoys good ties with neighbouring Russia, with which it shares a land border. But relations have grown more tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine. In recent years, Russia has broadened its definition of treason and espionage, alarming rights groups. Espionage is punishable in Russia by up to 20 years in prison. In another high-profile case, former US Marine Paul Whelan was detained in late December and charged with espionage. By Tom Balmforth MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court convicted a Norwegian man on Tuesday of gathering espionage about nuclear submarines and jailed him for 14 years, a verdict that could strain relations between Moscow and its NATO-member neighbour. Frode Berg, a 63-year-old retired former guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, was detained in Moscow in December 2017 and tried behind closed doors this month. He pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage on behalf of Norway. Berg will not appeal the verdict and plans to request a presidential pardon from Vladimir Putin that would see him freed, according to his lawyer, Ilya Novikov. Norway's Foreign Ministry said it had "noted" the verdict but did not comment on its substance. It said it was working in multiple ways to bring Berg back to Norway. "Norwegian authorities... wish to see the safe return of Frode Berg to Norway," a ministry spokeswoman said. Berg, who was wearing a suit and was handcuffed as he watched proceedings from a glass cage, acknowledged having been caught handling sensitive material for Norwegian authorities but denied having any idea he was involved in espionage. Details of the case have not been revealed as they are classified. Asked by the judge in Russian if he understood the court's verdict, Berg bowed his head slightly and said "yes" in English. "He had no illusions. He expects his government will take all necessary steps to secure his release through diplomatic measures," defence lawyer Novikov said. Last week, Putin appeared to leave the door open to the possibility that Berg could be pardoned or possibly exchanged as part of a prisoner swap. Asked during talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg about the possibility of a pardoning, Putin said: "We must wait for the court proceedings...We will take a look at what we can do with this depending on the court's decision." Novikov said he was not aware of any talks under way between Oslo and Moscow to secure Berg's release and that it would take a "significant" diplomatic push for it to happen. "A presidential pardon is not something that is granted in the natural course of events, but with diplomatic measures it is quite possible," Novikov said. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth with additional reporting by Victoria Klesty in Oslo; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Moroccan-Italian Yasmine Ouirhrane, 23, has been awarded the 2019 Young European of the Year title in recognition for her commitment to equality for women and equal participation opportunities for migrants in Europe. The 5,000-money prize was handed to Yasmine over the weekend at a European Youth meeting in Brussels. The prize is awarded by the Schwarzkopf Foundation to young people who made outstanding accomplishments and efforts to enhance understanding between peoples or European integration. This year, the title has been granted to Yasmine Ouirhrane who lives in France. She is already an award-winning fellow of the Women Deliver Young Leader program. She helped organize the European Youth Forums Yo!Fest 2018 in Strasbourg and engages in projects with young people in underprivileged neighborhoods of France. The prize money enables winners either to finance an internship with a member of a European Parliament, or at another international institution. The grant can also be used to fund a project which promotes European integration. As the daughter of an Italian mother and a father who immigrated to Italy, Ive struggled all my life to be integrated and accepted. This award symbolizes a milestone and a big step towards the integration of all young European citizens, says Yasmine. The winner of the Young European of the Year title is chosen by a jury consisting of the Schwarzkopf Foundations chairman, a representative of the European Commission Representation in Germany, a representative of the European Youth Forum and two former prize-winners. According to the jury, Yasmine expressed a dream of a European society in which all human beings are equal and treated with dignity. Her courageous engagement against right-wing actors is a great inspiration. The Schwarzkopf Foundation is the international umbrella organization of the European Youth Parliament. It seeks to empower young people from all backgrounds and encourage them to contribute to a pluralistic, democratic society, leading to mutual understanding, solidarity and peaceful collaboration across Europe. By Ginger Gibson, Amanda Becker and Grant Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. Democrats emphasize building their 2020 presidential campaigns on grassroots support, fewer than half amassed at least 50 percent of their early financial backing from small-dollar donations, a Reuters analysis found. Candidates seeking the White House filed their first-quarter fundraising totals on Monday, revealing that many are still dependent on checks exceeding $200. Of the 15 Democrats who launched campaigns before April 1, only six amassed at least half their hauls from small-dollar donations. Many candidates are still leaning on donors in their home states for large checks. Nine Democratic candidates received the bulk of their contributions of $200 or more from their home states, the Reuters analysis found. Early fundraising prowess can signal the strength of a candidate's campaign. Raising small checks from more donors can act as a test of popular support. Building a broad donor base that stretches beyond a candidate's home state can be evidence of gaining traction. Many Democrats have touted their support among so-called "small-dollar" donors, those who give less than $200. But only six -- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders; U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren; former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana; U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard; and Andrew Yang, a former tech executive -- are relying chiefly on those small-dollar donors. (Fundraising graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2InLYHd) The analysis includes fundraising reports covering the first three months of 2019 by the candidates who launched their campaigns prior to April 1. The field of candidates has since swelled, with 18 Democrats vying to win the party's nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in November 2020. (Candidate graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ff62ZC) Sanders, of Vermont, benefited the most from small-dollar donors in the first quarter, with about 84 percent of his $18 million haul coming from individuals who contributed less than $200. Sanders also had the most geographic diversity in his donations, with California donors accounting for 27 percent of his donations of $200 or more. Less than 2 percent of his donations came from his home state. Warren - the only candidate to also swear off attending big ticket fundraisers - reported that about 70 percent of the $6 million she raised in the first quarter was from small-dollar donors. Massachusetts donors accounted for 25 percent of contributions over $200. Small-dollar donations can help catapult a candidate into the spotlight. Buttigieg until recently did not have a national profile, but raised $7 million during the first quarter of 2019 - of which 64 percent came from small donations. In a move to show they are serious about eliminating big money from politics, most Democratic presidential candidates have sworn off donations from corporate political fundraising committees. Some have nixed taking checks from registered lobbyists. The Democratic National Committee announced earlier this year that small-dollar, grassroots support will be one of the metrics it uses to determine who qualifies to participate in a series of nationally televised primary debates that will begin in June. Senator Kamala Harris had the second-largest Democratic fundraising haul, with 37 percent of her $12 million coming from small-dollar donors. O'Rourke reported that 59 percent of his $9.4 million was from donations of $200 or less. More than $2.1 million came from Texans who wrote checks of $200 or more. On the other end of the spectrum, John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, raised only 10 percent of his donations in $200 or smaller contributions. There was also little geographic variation among his contributors, with more than 60 percent of donations over $200 coming from his home state. U.S. Senators Cory Booker, of New Jersey, and Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York, each raised about 16 percent of their cash from small-dollar donors. Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg have sworn off corporate PAC money, but all raised heavily from people working in the technology industry. When looking by employer at their donors who contributed more than $200, all three raised more from Alphabet Inc Google employees than any other company. Sanders and Buttigieg raised more from people who were software developers or engineers than any other occupation. Warren, who has called for breaking up big tech companies, also raised from employees working at Yelp. Donors to five candidates - O'Rourke, Warren, Harris, Gillibrand and Julian Castro, the former Housing chief - were more likely to be lawyers. Three candidates brought significant hauls from donors who listed their occupation as "homemaker" - Booker, Gillibrand and Gabbard. (Reporting by Amanda Becker, Ginger Gibson and Grant Smith; Editing by Susan Thomas and Lisa Shumaker) Washington (AFP) - Self-described Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, the 2020 presidential candidate who has long assailed America's growing income inequality, released 10 years of tax returns Monday that confirm his newfound status as a millionaire. The senator, who routinely rails against "millionaires and billionaires" and the "rigged" economic system that protects their standing, saw his income spike on royalties from sales of his book, "Our Revolution," published shortly after his 2016 race for the Democratic nomination. According to tax returns released by the Sanders campaign, Sanders had an adjusted gross income of $561,293 in 2018, $1,131,925 in 2017 and $1,062,626 in 2016. His 2015 income was substantially less, at $240,622, the returns showed. "These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity," Sanders said in a statement. "I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country." The increased wealth of the liberal candidate who has positioned himself as a champion of the people has raised questions about whether he can still speak for working-class Americans. Sanders said he will still "strive every day to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life, including a livable wage, decent housing, health care and retirement security." The release comes amid continued pressure on billionaire President Donald Trump to show his tax returns. The New York real estate tycoon refused to do so during the 2016 campaign, saying that he was under audit, but the Internal Revenue Service has said this is no impediment to their release. Democrats have seized on the issue of Trump's undisclosed taxes since taking control of the House of Representatives in January, and have cited a little-known law that allows Congress to review anyone's returns to conduct an investigation. On Saturday, Democratic lawmakers gave tax authorities a final deadline of April 23 to hand over Trump's returns, but it remained unclear if his administration will comply. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock It's a sad fact that there's both rampant hunger and rampant food waste in our country. Now a new program is tackling both at once, and we couldn't love it more: An elementary school in Indiana is donating leftover cafeteria food to be packaged and sent home for the weekend with families in need. The new pilot program is a joint effort between Woodland Elementary School in Elkhart, Indiana and Cultivate Culinary, a non-profit group in South Bend that rescues unused food from places like hospitals, catering companies, and universities. Cultivate picks up Woodland's leftover cafeteria food and combines it with food they've rescued elsewhere to build complete, nutritious meals for families. Eight frozen meals are sent home with students each weekend in cooler backpacks. The meals, packaged in recyclable containers, are microwavable. Currently, 20 elementary school families receive the weekend meals, but they're hoping to expand the program and include more, says Natalie Bickel, Supervisor of Student Services at Elkhart Community Schools. It's estimated that about half of U.S. children in the public school system live in poverty, and many kids rely on school food for nutrition during the week. This kind of program helps fill the gaps on the weekend for families who struggle to afford enough food. In the last 18 months, Cultivate has rescued 150,000 pounds of food and served more than 100,000 meals, according to Cultivate's board president and co-founder Jim Conklin. They provide meals to places like food pantries and programs that feed elderly populations or those facing physical and mental disabilities. They also run a second backpack pilot program at Madison STEAM Academy in South Bend that feeds about 100 families. Both Cultivate and Elkhart Community Schools have been flooded with requests from people wanting to start similar programs in their communities. They're currently working on information to share via their websites. In the meantime, here's how to start a Feed A Friend program at your child's school to send groceries home with families in need. Story continues Sally Kuzemchak, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian, educator, and mom of two who blogs at Real Mom Nutrition. She is the author of The 101 Healthiest Foods For Kids . She also collaborated with Cooking Light on Dinnertime Survival Guide , a cookbook for busy families. You can follow her on Facebook , Twitter , Pinterest , and Instagram . In her spare time, she loads and unloads the dishwasher. Then loads it again. Baku (AFP) - Seals waddling along the waterfront were once a common sight in Baku Bay, the Caspian Sea home of Azerbaijan's capital. Not anymore. Of the more than one million seals which inhabited the shores and islands of the Caspian a century ago fewer than 10 percent remain, and the species has been declared endangered. Azer Garayev, the head of the Azerbaijan Society for the Protection of Animals, says the seals have for decades been suffering from over-hunting and the effects of industrial pollution. In 2003, his group found 750 seal carcasses in just one month. "It was not normal," but no one looked into the issue, the 57-year-old activist said. "The seal is a sign of all the major environmental problems (in the Caspian)." Bordered by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the Caspian is the world's largest inland body of water, about the size of Japan. As well as the seals and other endemic species including Caspian turtles and the famed beluga sturgeon, the sea boasts vast energy reserves, estimated at 50 billion barrels of oil and 300,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Pollution from the extraction of that oil and gas, along with declining water levels due to climate change, pose a threat to many species and put the future of the sea itself at risk. - Oil and water - The UN Environment Programme has warned that the Caspian "suffers from an enormous burden of pollution from oil extraction and refining, offshore oil fields, radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants and huge volumes of untreated sewage and industrial waste introduced mainly by the Volga River". A few kilometres (miles) from downtown Baku, fishermen along the seashore watch small drops of oil appearing on the surface of the sea and spreading in varicoloured strains. "Some fish seem to prefer polluted water, so they tend to congregate here," said 26-year-old Rashad. "The water is dirty," he said, displaying a plastic bag that was caught on his fish hook. Story continues Besides fishermen like Rashad, the entire caviar industry is in danger as a result of the pollution. The Caspian Sea used to be home to one of the world's largest population of sturgeons, but it has declined by more than 90 percent over the last three generations, the World Wildlife Fund said in 2016. "I remember when caviar cost 10 (Azerbaijani) manats (per kilogramme, 2.2 pounds)", or about $6, said environmentalist Garayev. "Today, it costs more than 1,500 manats ($960, 850 euros) and there is almost none left. We have practically no viable population of sturgeon today." Aligaidar Mammedov, a former hydro-geologist and fisherman turned environmental activist, said that oil exploration methods either kill or chase away the sturgeon. "They set off seismic explosions in the sea," he said, adding: "The seabed is destroyed as a result, and sturgeons are seabed fish." Mammedov also warned of the potential for oil spills, which would be far more polluting in the inland sea than they are in the ocean. Azerbaijan's state-run oil company, SOCAR, says it is doing its part and has cleared most of the vast areas near Baku that used to be covered with oil sludge. "The environmental challenges came mainly during the Soviet era, when the country didn't take enough care of the environment and the technology was not as sophisticated," SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov said. - The next Aral Sea? - But even if pollution from the oil industry were mitigated, the Caspian could still be inching toward a catastrophe, since global warming is causing it to lose water. A recent study by Azerbaijan's Academy of Sciences estimated that the sea level is dropping by more than six centimetres (2.3 inches) per year. "Climate change along the Caspian Sea basin causes very rapid evaporation," said Elnur Safarov, an Azerbaijani marine scientist and one of the study's authors. "The five countries bordering the Caspian, their economies, their lives, depend on it completely -- fishing, the oil industry, agriculture, communications," he said. "When the sea level changes... the social and economic situation of the entire coastline changes." In 2018, Caspian Sea countries signed an agreement defining the status of the sea, which had lacked an international legal framework since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The agreement mainly regulates military use, oil and gas extraction and caviar production, and activists have so far been disappointed that it has not touched on environmental issues. They worry that the Caspian may share the fate of Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has all but vanished in one of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes. "It would be so stupid to lose it (the Caspian) like the Aral Sea," Garayev said. "I don't want to think about it. It would be a crime." Khartoum (AFP) - Several cows and sheep were slaughtered Tuesday as Sudanese protesters celebrated the ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir outside the army complex where they have been camped for days, witnesses said. "We will distribute this meat among protesters. We are celebrating the dictator's ouster," a demonstrator told AFP. Several cows and sheep were herded to a building near the army complex. "A group of men arrived early in the morning and slaughtered the animals, and later they distributed the meat among the demonstrators at the main protest site," a witness said. They cooked the meat as fresh supplies of bread and water were brought in by vans, an AFP photographer reported from the site. Thousands of protesters have camped outside the army complex since April 6. They first demonstrated to demand the resignation of Bashir and are now insisting on a swift transfer of power from a new ruling military council to a civilian government. "People have been continuously protesting, They didn't have time to celebrate after Bashir was toppled," said Ahmed Najdih, a regular at the sit-in. "We also have a musical evening planned later for the day where some well-known Sudanese musicians will perform." While some groups prepared food, there were others cleaning the entire area of the protest site. Wearing medical masks and carrying brooms, men and women cleaners worked away under a hot afternoon sun, the photographer said. At the centre of the protest site, groups of men and women danced as musicians played African tunes, while others chanted revolutionary slogans. A group of activists also held a book exhibition at the site, witnesses said, after years of such activities being banned by security forces. - 'Excitement in the air' - But protest organisers cautioned that the "revolution" had still not achieved its goal. "Yes, we toppled the dictator, but his laws are still there," the Alliance For Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protests said in a statement. Story continues "Theres no reason for us to celebrate right now because our revolution has still not achieved its goals. We have not achieved our victory." Protest organisers have called on supporters to continue with the sit-in, demanding the military council be dissolved. On Monday, protesters said the army had attempted to disperse the sit-in. On Tuesday, a witness said several vehicles carrying members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force were deployed on a bridge connecting north Khartoum to the protest area. "There could be another attempt by the troops to disperse us, but we will continue," vowed one demonstrator. As dusk set in, a growing number of protesters arrived for what they call the "night shift". In one part of the protest camp, a crowd celebrated with a newly-married soldier who danced with his bride, both wearing traditional clothes. "There is excitement in the air," said Fadia Khalaf, a tour guide who has participated in the sit-in since its start. Near a stage for the late-night concert, Khalaf said: "The music will be revolutionary songs played live. We need to keep this going." Sky News presenter Jayne Seckler has apologised for turning an interview about Britains housing crisis into a rant about her tenants. Seckler, who is a landlord herself, told housing campaigner Kirsty Archer that the high cost of renting in London is not the landlords fault, before sensationally questioning if some young tenants have the necessary skills to rent. Read more: Natasha Kaplinsky gets emotional recalling the accident that left her daughter scarred Seckler said during the interview: Some would say and I am speaking as somebody who has rented flats [and] who also rents flats out that especially with the younger generation in terms of renters you very often find that tenants dont really know how to do a great deal in homes. She continued: I, for example, have had tenants complaining because lights have popped because they dont know how to change light bulbs. Ive had tenants complaining about the heating they havent turned the boiler on. Sky News presenter Jayne Secker questioned if some young tenants have the necessary skills to rent. (Sky) Its just very obvious things. If you lived in a home that you owned nobody would be able to fix these things for you. They are just things that actually often require a bit of common sense. Read more: Richard Madeley angers GMB viewers after disrespecting Sir David Attenborough The presenter then asked Archer: Have you found amongst your friends that you perhaps arent equipped with all the necessary skills to rent? Archer immediately hit back, describing Secklers line of questioning as patronising, and viewers certainly agreed with her on social media. This is unbelievably bad journalism, good on the interviewee for calling her out for being patronising AF Molly R (@Molpol) April 15, 2019 I think she should apologise for her snide, patronising manner, which led to the use of the term 'pissed off'. David Kirkwood #FBSI (@bigd4ddy71) April 15, 2019 An example of how not to conduct an interview and also a conflict of interests. So wrong. Me (@emquietwriter) April 15, 2019 Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has since confirmed that it received 15 complaints about the interview, and now Seckler has issued an apology. Clearly yesterday I got the tone and content of an interview wrong and it has upset many people, she said. I am sure many of us will have made a mistake at work unfortunate for me mine is a lot more public than most. Please be assured I have taken the many comments on board. Mea culpa. MADRID (Reuters) - A skyscraper housing embassies in Madrid was evacuated on Tuesday after a bomb threat was received by telephone at the Australian embassy there, a police spokeswoman said. The 57-storey, 235-metre (770-ft) high Torre Espacio, one of four towers located in the Spanish capital's financial district, also houses the embassies of Britain and Canada. A British embassy spokeswoman said its staff had been evacuated around midday (1000 GMT) and were safely outside the building. The Australian embassy said on Twitter: "The @AusEmbEsp will remain close for the rest of today, Tuesday 16 April, until further notice. Apologies for any inconvenience." TV footage showed a police cordon and fire trucks outside the building. "The usual emergency protocol was activated immediately," the police spokeswoman said. (Reporting by Jose Elias Rodriguez, writing by Isla Binnie, editing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Ingrid Melander) By Hyunjoo Jin GWANGJU, South Korea (Reuters) - Park Byung-kyu once led Kia Motor's union in the city of Gwangju, fighting for labor protections against the powerful, family-run chaebol that dominated the economy during South Korea's rapid industrialization. But about 20 years ago, Park was assaulted by unionized workers wielding steel clubs after he campaigned for the rights of temporary workers at another company, leaving him paralyzed on the right side of his body. The attack also left him disillusioned with the approach of South Korea's forceful and often militant unions, which have faced increasing criticism for protecting their interests at the expense of other workers. Now, Park is working for the city of Gwangju on a proposed joint venture with Hyundai Motor Co to build a new low-wage car factory, Hyundai's first new factory in South Korea in 25 years. The $616 million plant would create 1,000 jobs, but at less than half the wages of Hyundai's unionized workers and without many of the privileges they currently enjoy. "The labor unions with vested interests should change. If not, their interests will be taken away," said the 53-year-old Park. "Unionized labor should face up to the reality." The unions of Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors, which together form the world's fifth-largest automaker by volume, have staged strikes and rallies to protest the plant. They say it will create "bad jobs" and take away production and employment from existing factories. But in a city that has seen a steady exodus of manufacturing jobs move to low-cost countries, many job seekers say they would work for the plant in a heartbeat. Employment is a key focus for President Moon Jae-in's administration as Asia's fourth-largest economy struggles to create jobs in the face of a slowing China economy, U.S. trade protectionism and increased minimum wages. The Moon government plans to provide financial assistance to the Gwangju plant, and also introduce similar government-business ventures in two other cities by June. Story continues Officials hope it will lead to a U-turn of Korean companies which would otherwise build factories overseas. "This is a bold experiment to resolve jobs and labor relations problems," said Park Myung-joon, a senior research fellow at state-funded Korea Labour Institute, who has been involved in the project since its beginning in 2014. The carmaking venture, the first of its kind in South Korea, is the biggest threat to date for legacy unionized auto workers, who have largely maintained high wages and benefits even with youth unemployment near a record high and the economy sluggish, Park said. "The expensive union jobs will gradually disappear." POOR CITY The proposed Hyundai factory will offer annual wages of 35 million won ($31,492) - just over a third of the average 92 million won that existing Hyundai workers earn, but higher than the average 33 million won salaried workers make in Gwangju. Home to Kia Motor's largest domestic production facility, Gwangju is South Korea's No.2 motor city after the southeastern city of Ulsan, generating over 40 percent of its manufacturing output from the auto sector. Like Ulsan, which has declined as Hyundai production has retreated, Gwangju's fortunes have waned as Kia's output fell to its lowest level in eight years last year. Gwangju is now South Korea's second-poorest metropolitan city, with average monthly wages some 13 percent below the nationwide average in 2017, according to labor ministry data. Kim Jae-seung, who studied business management in college, said he is willing to apply for a blue-collar job at the planned plant. "Its wage is still above the average worker's wage. In that sense, it is not a bad job. It is a good job," the 32-year-old Kim said at a recent job fair held at the city hall. Other job seekers in Gwangju interviewed by Reuters said they too were interested given high levels of unemployment among the city's younger workers. "There are not many quality jobs out there. Given the current economic situation, I will be thankful for the 35 million won wage," said Goh Chang-hoon, a 27-year-old law major. DEFUNCT GERMAN MODEL Park, the former union leader, first proposed the low-wage factory in 2014 and later took a leave of absence from Kia to work full-time for the city government. Park said he borrowed the idea from Volkswagen's now-defunct low-cost division Auto 5000, which was created in 2001 to keep jobs from moving out of Germany. The project came to end in 2009, after the automaker won wage concessions from its powerful and highly paid legacy workers. The new factory would have an annual capacity of 100,000 mini, gasoline-powered SUVs starting 2021. Gwangju also hopes to make electric vehicles at the plant in the future, although it has yet to be agreed with Hyundai. James P. Rooney, an international finance professor at Sogang University in Seoul, said to be successful, the plant should make electric cars. The joint venture shouldnt be thought of a place of getting away from union and high labor cost. It should be based on the product of the future, not product of the past." Hyundai said it has decided to participate in the project, because the city, local community and the joint venture pledged to "build collaborative labor relations and maintain proper wage levels". "Under such conditions, we believed that we would be able to secure competitiveness when we outsource mini-vehicle production to the newly created corporation," Hyundai said in a statement to Reuters. Kim Yong-gu, chief executive of Hyundai Hitech, a Gwangju-based parts supplier for Kia, is hoping the new Hyundai factory will help make up for reduced output at Kia. Kia's Gwangju plant produced 455,252 vehicles last year, well short of its production capacity of 620,000. Kia cant make the car with current labor costs," Kim said. In addition to lower wages, the joint venture will break away from the union's tradition of striking almost every year during annual wage talks. South Koreas reputation for militant unions and rigid labor practices has long been cited as contributing to high labor costs and a persistent discount for corporate Korea. To make up for lower pay, Gwangju plans to build 1,100 homes as well as daycare and gym facilities in the factory complex, with the central government's help. WHITE ELEPHANT? The plan is not without its critics, who question the wisdom of adding another plant at a time when automakers are grappling with excess capacity amid sluggish domestic demand, falling exports to the United States and weak sales in China. Auto production in South Korea is expected to fall to 3.65 million vehicles this year, just three quarters of total capacity of 4.66 million vehicles, auto unions say. They also argue the project is politically motivated, with Gwangju long a political stronghold of Moon's liberal government. We have been agonizing over how to create jobs at a time when low growth and low employment have become structural issues," Jung Tae-ho, the presidential job secretary, said at a recent briefing. The project will be key to revitalizing the struggling local economy." Local officials acknowledge the plan is not the panacea to all the problems Korea's manufacturing industry faces, but say it can show one path forward. "This is not just about creating jobs in Gwangju, but about addressing Korean Inc's structural problems of low growth, low employment and high cost," Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-sup told Reuters. "Korea Inc needs a breakthrough. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Edward Taylor in FRANKFURT; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Lincoln Feast.) The Arab League envoy to Libya has accused foreign countries of fanning the military fighting in Libya but stopped short to name these countries, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, France believed backers of Khalifa Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) in its advance to take control of Tripoli. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, al-Jamali griped the foreign interferences that he said have been permanent. There have been daily international interferences in Libya, he said. These countries are encouraging the war, not halting the conflict and laying down arms. Libya is a targeted nation given its strategic location and huge natural resources as oil and gas, Jamali added. Libya further descended into chaos nearly two weeks ago after Haftar, commander of military forces aligned with the east-based government opposed to UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, launched an offensive to take control of the Libyan capital because the city was, according to the renegade army general, in the hands of Muslim Brotherhoods whom he identifies as terrorists. The offensive met strong resistance from GNA-aligned forces and the fighting reportedly caused the death of over 150 people. Though Jamali refrained from naming the countries interfering in the military escalation, reports have cited Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France as providing endorsement to Haftar. The Wall Street Journal this week indicated that Saudi Arabia has bankrolled the military strongman. Mr. Haftar accepted the recent Saudi offer of funds, Saudi advisors told the Journal. We were quite generous, one of the advisers added. France and Italy fighting over influence in Libya have been divided to take a stand as the security situation in Libya worsens. Egypt Sunday officially put its weight behind Haftars offensive despite wide spread condemnations. Jamali in the interview basically pinned the blame on Libyan politicians and called on them to lay down arms and to embrace dialogue. The league seeks to maintain Libyas unity and territorial integrity and seeks to bridge the gap in viewpoints, he said, adding Violence does not solve problems. As fighting erupted near Tripoli, the UN last week had to postpone sine die a reconciliation conference that was planned for mid-April. Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams suggested in an interview on Monday that recent bills placing various restrictions on access to abortion should collectively be referred to as forced-pregnancy bills. There are a number of bills around the country that are limiting womens rights and access to abortion, and I wanted to ask you how can Democrats push back against these bills, asked Root host Terrell Starr in an interview published on Monday. I think Democrats have to first call these bills what they are, which are forced-pregnancy bills. But we also have to acknowledge that access to abortion is part of reproductive health and therefore its part of reproductive justice, she continued. Particularly for African-American women, our lack of access to a full range of reproductive choices limits our ability to not only determine our families but it also harms our ability to engage in the economy. In the U.S., black women are more than five times more likely than white women to have an abortion, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, and though they comprise just 32.2 percent of Georgias population, black women obtain 62.4 percent of the abortions performed in the state. Starr presumably was referring to a collection of recently passed heartbeat bills, which prohibit abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (typically around six weeks into pregnancy). Ohio governor Mike DeWine recently signed a version of such legislation into law and similar bills have been passed by Republican-held state legislatures in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Georgia this year. The bills are not expected to survive the legal challenges immediately filed against them by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. Abrams, who was bested by Republican Brian Kemp last year, has refused to concede the gubernatorial race and has alternated between blaming racism, voter suppression and, most recently, the political medias immaturity and incompetence for her loss. Story continues I would attribute it less to racism and more to a very narrow and immature ability to navigate the story of my campaign, Abrams told Starr when asked whether race played a role in her defeat. I was doing a number of things that were new and different and discomforting to some, she continued. But what was worse was that, for a lot of those folks, they could not comprehend how all of these things could be true at the exact same moment. I wouldnt necessarily ascribe any racial animus as much as I would a lack of there was some incompetence in the coverage that was problematic. Abrams is now considering a potential 2020 Senate run and told Starr she would make her final decision in the coming weeks. More from National Review As a large-cap stock with market capitalization of 2.8t, State Bank of India (NSE:SBIN) is classified as a major bank. As these large financial institutions revert back to health after the Global Financial Crisis, we are seeing an increase in market confidence, and understanding of, these too-big-to-fail banking stocks. The recovery brought about a new set of reforms, Basel III, which was created to improve regulation, supervision and risk management in the financial services industry. The Basel III reforms are aimed at banking regulations to improve financial institutions ability to absorb shocks caused by economic stress which could expose banks to vulnerabilities. SBIN operates predominantly in and is held to stringent regulation around the type and level of risk it can take on, exposing it to higher scrutiny on its risk-taking behaviour. Investors are viewing SBIN with a more cautious lens and analysing these stocks using bank-specific metrics such as liquidity and leverage. Today were going to take a look at these metrics to gain more confidence investing in the stock. See our latest analysis for State Bank of India NSEI:SBIN Historical Debt, April 16th 2019 Is SBIN's Leverage Level Appropriate? Banks with low leverage are exposed to lower risks around their ability to repay debt. A banks leverage can be thought of as the amount of assets it holds compared to its own shareholders funds. Though banks are required to have a certain level of buffer to meet its capital requirements, State Bank of Indias leverage level of 15.75x is significantly below the appropriate ceiling of 20x. This means the bank has a sensibly high level of equity compared to the level of debt it has taken on to maintain operations which places it in a strong position to pay back its debt in unforeseen circumstances. If the bank needs to increase its debt levels to firm up its capital cushion, there is plenty of headroom to do so without deteriorating its financial position. How Should We Measure SBIN's Liquidity? Story continues Handing Money Transparent Since loans are relatively illiquid, we should know how much of the banks total assets are comprised of these loans. Normally, they should not exceed 70% of total assets, consistent with State Bank of Indias case with a ratio of 56%. This means slightly over half of the banks total assets are tied up in the form of illiquid loans, leading to a sensible balance between interest income and liquidity. Does SBIN Have Liquidity Mismatch? SBIN profits by lending out its customers deposits as loans and charge an interest on the principle. Loans are generally fixed term which means they cannot be readily realized, yet customer deposits on the liability side must be paid on-demand and in short notice. The disparity between the immediacy of deposits compared to the illiquid nature of loans puts pressure on the banks financial position if an adverse event requires the bank to repay its depositors. Since State Bank of Indias loan to deposit ratio of 73% is within the sensible margin, below than the appropriate maximum of 90%, this level places the bank in a relatively safe liquidity position given it has not excessively lent out its deposits and has maintained a suitable level for compliance. Next Steps: State Bank of India passes all of our liquidity and leverage checks which shows it is prudent in managing those factors. This gives us confidence in the operational side of the business, an important aspect to consider before investing in the stock. Its high liquidity and low leverage levels mean the bank is well-positioned to meet its financial obligations in the case of any adverse and unpredictable macro events. Today, we've only explored one aspect of State Bank of India. However, as a potential stock investment, there are many more fundamentals you need to consider. Below, I've compiled three relevant aspects you should further research: Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for SBINs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for SBINs outlook. Valuation: What is SBIN worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether SBIN is currently mispriced by the market. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Goldman Sachs is one of the largest and most infamous banks in the world today. Founded in 1869 by Marcus Goldman, the bank has become one of the pin-ups for finance on Wall Street. Like any traditional bank, Goldman Sachs has been sceptical about cryptocurrency from the beginning, with Bitcoin aiming to replace such enterprises. But is the banking giant now becoming more interested in the idea of cryptocurrency? This is the story of Goldman Sachs and its stance on cryptocurrency. Background Goldman Sachs in Q1 of 2019 alone managed to rake in $2.25 billion worth of profit. Amazingly, this was lower than projected, causing a small slump in its share price. Even still, to make such profit in one quarter alone highlights the size of the company. Goldman Sachs is currently run by CEO David Soloman, who replaced Lloyd Blankfein in October 2018. The bank currently employs just over 36,000 people and is a truly global bank. The 2008 financial crisis When discussing the largest US banks, it is impossible not to talk about the 2008 financial crisis, which is still causing reverberations throughout the world. Goldman Sachs was able to make some money off of the subprime mortgage crisis by short selling the securities in 2007. Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum were two Goldman Sachs traders who did this and made a tidy profit of $4 billion in doing so. Compared to many of the other major banks and investment firms in the USA, Goldman Sachs came off relatively lightly following the financial crisis, with many others going bankrupt. It was not, however, immune from criticism from both the government and citizens. As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, many of the major banks in both the UK and USA ended up receiving bailouts from their governments and therefore taxpayers. Although Goldman Sachs has refuted the claim that it kept any bailout funds, this has since been questioned. Goldman Sachs was exposed to the collapse of insurance firm AIG. When Goldman Sachs received money from the US Treasury, it claimed that the money was sent as compensation to clients. However, it has since emerged that the bank kept $2.9 billion, which ended up entering its own private reserves. Story continues Combine this with the fact that even after the crisis many Goldman Sachs employees received huge bonuses, public opinion turned. Many political scientists and economists have since argued that the 2008 financial crisis has had a direct affect on the rise of populism we see throughout the world today. 2008 was also a huge turning point for cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoins release coincided with a direct catalyst for people to search for alternatives. The clique One of the many issues surrounding the larger banks in the world is the clique that has now formed. A list of former Goldman Sachs employees reads like a whos who of influential bankers who have gone on to Central Bank roles. European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi, Bank of Canada Governor and current Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, and United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin are just three former Goldman Sachs employees who have gone on to such roles. Questions therefore arise over their bias in such roles, as they could potentially favour Goldman Sachs in their dealings. Goldman Sachs and cryptocurrency Goldman Sachs and cryptocurrency are not two ideal partners. With Bitcoin attempting to bring down the traditional fiat system, it is directly opposed to such big banks like Goldman Sachs. However, there have been examples of Goldman Sachs coming around to the idea of cryptocurrencies. Firstly, Circle the owner of large cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex is backed by Goldman Sachs. The company has even launched its own stablecoin the USDC. Another Goldman Sachs-backed venture is the blockchain security company BitGo. Both Goldman Sachs and investor Mike Novogratz have contributed $15 million towards the project, which aims to provide $100 million worth of insurance to cryptocurrencies stored in cold wallets. Goldman Sachs CEO David Soloman also stated that although he doesnt see Bitcoin as a viable store of value, it would be arrogant to not think that cryptocurrencies can be successful. Unlike JP Morgan though, which recently announced that it is creating its own kind of cryptocurrency, Goldman Sachs has taken the route of investing in start-ups rather than being directly involved itself. Conclusion There is no doubt that Goldman Sachs is a behemoth and widely respected within the traditional financial circles. Its appetite for cryptocurrencies is limited, but it has made a few investments behind the scenes for companies that are looking to become involved in the industry. Whether it will follow JP Morgans example and dive in with its own form of cryptocurrency is another matter though. Instead, it is more likely that as the industry continues to grow, Goldman Sachs will keep providing capital to cryptocurrency start-ups and investments, earning back its capital return through these methods. The post The story of Goldman Sachs and its stance on cryptocurrency appeared first on Coin Rivet. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program could save student loan borrowers large amounts of money, but theres a lot you should know before you apply. A graduation cap sitting on top of a spread out pile of hundred dollar bills. Image source: Getty Images. Its been a little over a year since the first student loan borrowers became eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and the initial reports havent been great. Many borrowers have had their applications rejected for one reason for another. The biggest problem is that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program isnt well understood by many people, including both borrowers and employees of student loan servicers. With that in mind, heres a thorough, but simple-English guide to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, so youll know if youre eligible and what you need to do in the meantime to make sure you dont get any unpleasant surprises when its time to submit your application. What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness? The short version is that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF program, is designed to forgive any remaining loan balance after a borrower makes 10 years worth of monthly payments. In a nutshell, the program is to incentivize highly-qualified college graduates to pursue public-sector jobs, even though in many cases they can earn higher salaries in private-sector employment. From the Department of Educations website: The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. Youll notice that the word qualifying appears three times in that sentence, so theres definitely more to the story. What is a qualifying monthly payment? What is a qualifying repayment plan? What is a qualifying employer? And finally, what qualifies as a Direct Loan? Lets take a deeper dive into what this description of the PSLF program really means. What is a qualified monthly payment? A qualified monthly payment is made after Oct. 1, 2007, when the program began. It is made under a qualified repayment plan while employed at a qualifying public service employer (more on those in a bit) and is made for the full amount shown on your bill and no later than 15 days after your due date. And it must have been a required monthly payment -- for example, payments made while youre on an in-school deferment dont count. Story continues You can only get credit for one payment at a time. If youre required to pay $400 towards your student loans this month and you pay $1,200, you dont get credit for three payments towards PSLF. (Although theres an exception to this rule for AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteers, who are allowed to pay up to 12 qualifying payments at one time). Its also important to mention that your 120 qualifying monthly payments dont necessarily need to be consecutive. For example, if you work in qualifying public service employment for five years and make 60 qualifying payments, then work in the private sector for three years, and then return to the public sector, the clock doesnt start over -- you can potentially qualify for PSLF after another 60 qualifying payments. What is a qualifying repayment plan? There are a few student loan repayment plans that qualify for PSLF, and any of the following will qualify for the program: The standard (10-year) student loan repayment plan The Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE) Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE) Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR) Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR) In practice, the way to go in virtually all cases is with one of the income-driven repayment options, which includes all of the repayment plans on the list except for the standard plan. Think about it this way -- at a minimum, youll need to make 10 years worth of qualifying payments to get PSLF. On the standard repayment plan, youll pay your loans off after 10 years anyway, so there will be nothing left to forgive. Generally speaking, if you anticipate qualifying for PSLF, theres no sense in paying any more towards your loans than you have to. Another key takeaway is that the extended or graduated repayment plan options offered to Direct Loan borrowers are not qualified repayment plans. However, due to widespread issues with borrower confusion, the Department of Education has temporarily expanded the definition of qualified repayment plans if being on the extended, graduated, or consolidated repayments plans were the only reason for PSLF rejection. This is known as the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) opportunity and has limited funding, and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. What types of employment qualify as public service? There are a few types of employers that are considered to be qualifying employment. It doesnt matter if your specific job serves the public, if the employer falls into one of these categories: Government organizations, including federal, state, and local governments. Non-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Other non-profit organizations if their primary purpose is to provide certain public services. AmeriCorps and Peace Corps both qualify if youre serving as a full-time volunteer. Its also important to mention some types of employers that never qualify. These include (but arent necessarily limited to) any type of political organization, for-profit organizations of any kind, and non-profit organizations not 501(c)(3) tax-exempt that dont provide a public service. Also, qualifying employment must be full-time, defined as meeting your employers definition of full-time or 30 hours per week, whichever is greater. What exactly is a Direct Loan? The fourth major piece of the qualification puzzle is having a so-called Direct Loan. This term refers to a non-defaulted loan that you received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. Other loan programs do not qualify, which, as Ill touch on in a minute, is a big reason borrowers PSLF applications get rejected. Borrowers whose loans were originated before July 1, 2010, for example, may have received loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, and these do not qualify. The same goes for Federal Perkins Loans. Loans from these two programs arent eligible on their own, but qualify for Direct Consolidation Loans, which do qualify for PSLF. However, its important to realize that only the payments you make after consolidating them will count towards PSLF. Its generally a smart idea to leave any existing Direct Loans out of consolidation, especially if youve already started making qualifying payments on them. If youre not sure what type of federal student loans you have, you can log into the Department of Educations My Federal Student Aid website to find out. Once you do this, its simple enough to determine -- you'll see the word direct in the name of any Direct Loan. If you dont see direct in the loans name, its probably not. Just to be 100% clear, private student loans are never eligible for PSLF, regardless of your other qualifications. The application process Public Service Loan Forgiveness requires at least 10 years of payments as a condition of eligibility, so theres no need to apply before youve completed your 120 payments. In other words, if you started making qualifying payments in January 2018, you wont need to apply for PSLF until at least January 2028. Having said that, theres one important thing you should be doing in the meantime -- getting your employment certified. If you are planning to eventually apply for PSLF and are working in public service employment, the DOE advises you to fill out and submit the Employment Certification form annually, or whenever you switch employers. You can fill out the form through the Federal Student Aid website, or you can download the form and send it in. The DOE will assess the information on the form, and will let you know if your employment qualifies for PSLF, eliminating potentially costly surprises down the road. Theyll also let you know if you dont have PSLF-eligible loan types and will review your payment history to determine how many qualifying payments youve made. Additionally, while you dont have to submit these as you go, you will have to submit them with your eventual application for PSLF for every employer you worked for while you made qualifying payments. Do you really want to have to track down your old employers from a decade ago? What if the nonprofit organization youre working for right now no longer exists when youre ready to apply? Once you have made 120 qualifying payments, its time to submit the application for forgiveness. Are people actually getting their loans forgiven? The first PSLF applicants started to apply for forgiveness in fall 2017 (10 years after the program started), and while some borrowers are certainly having their loans forgiven, the initial data regarding approvals has not been good. Early PSLF data shows that an astonishing 99% of applications had been denied. As of Sept. 30, 2018, 44,724 PSLF applications had been processed, and just 423 of those had been approved -- an approval rate of slightly less than 1%. About 72% of processed applications were denied because the borrower didnt meet the programs requirements, and Ill get into specific reasons in the next section. Another 27% of applications were denied because of missing information. The 423 approved applications through Sept. 30, 2018 came from 206 unique borrowers (meaning that some people had multiple applications), with a total of $12.32 million in student loan debt forgiven -- an average of $59,806 per person. While most applicants (as of the latest data) have been rejected, those who are successful in getting their PSLF applications approved have gotten substantial debt relief. Its safe to say that many of these applications arent likely to be permanently denied. In particular, applications with missing information could potentially be corrected and resubmitted. For example, if an application claimed PSLF eligible employment, but information about the employer was missing or incorrect, the borrower could get the required information and resubmit. Furthermore, some of the applicants who didnt meet program requirements could ultimately have their loans forgiven. For instance, if the Department of Education determined that a handful of a borrowers payments didnt qualify, the borrower could apply again once they are over the 120 payment mark. While the rejection rate may sound alarmingly high (and it is), the ultimate acceptance rate is likely to be well over the 1% the data implies. Keep in mind, this is early data based on the first-ever applicants for PSLF, so its not likely to be an accurate representation of the programs long-term trends, one way or the other. Common reasons people dont qualify As weve discussed, there are four things that you need in order to be eligible for PSLF: Qualifying employment A qualifying repayment plan 120 qualifying monthly payments Direct Loans If any of these things arent true, the DOE will reject a PSLF application. One common reason applicants who think they qualify end up getting rejected, at least according to early reports, is because they have the wrong type of student loans. It looks like there has been a real problem with miscommunication between loan servicers and borrowers who intended to apply for PSLF, as many people have reported making it years into the repayment process before finding out they have loans that dont qualify. Many people are also finding out that theyve worked in non-qualifying employment for years when they thought their jobs met the qualifications, or that theyve been paying under the extended or graduated repayment plans (which dont qualify). Finally, another common reason for denial is missing information. Almost 12,000 out of the initial 40,000 PSLF applicants were denied for this reason. For example, if information about their employment was incomplete or missing, the DOE has no way to determine if they qualify. One crucial step to take now if you work in public service The most important thing you should do if you plan to eventually qualify for PSLF is to file your employment certification paperwork every year, or more frequently if you change jobs. This can not only help keep track of your progress, but by doing so the DOE will let you know if you have any major qualification issues. Its fair to say that PSLF qualification issues can be far easier to deal with if you know about them sooner rather than later. For example, if you need to consolidate FFEL and Perkins loans to a Direct Consolidation Loan, youd certainly rather know when youre a year into making your repayment than when youve been paying for seven or eight years. That said, the biggest favor you can do for yourself as a future PSLF applicant is to certify your employment regularly. The Motley Fool owns and recommends MasterCard and Visa, and recommends American Express. Were firm believers in the Golden Rule. If we wouldnt recommend an offer to a close family member, we wouldnt recommend it on The Ascent either. Our number one goal is helping people find the best offers to improve their finances. That is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team. By Abdul Qadir Sediqi KABUL (Reuters) - Women will be included for the first time in the Taliban delegation to peace talks in Qatar this month, the movement's main spokesman said on Monday, ahead of the latest round of meetings aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan. For a group notorious for its strictly conservative attitude to women's rights, the move represents a step towards addressing demands that women be included in the talks, intended to lay the foundations for a future peace settlement. The April 19-21 meeting in Doha will be between the Taliban and a delegation comprising prominent Afghans, including opposition politicians and civil society activists. It follows similar talks between the two sides in Moscow in February. The non-Taliban delegation that was in Moscow could be expanded next week to include some government officials, but acting in their private capacities as the insurgents have refused to hold formal talks with Kabul. "There will be women among Taliban delegation members in the Doha, Qatar meeting," Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's main spokesman, said by telephone. He did not name the women, but added, "These women have no family relationship with the senior members of the Taliban, they are normal Afghans, from inside and outside the country, who have been supporters and part of the struggle of the Islamic Emirate". In a tweet, he specified that the women would only join the discussions with Afghan civil society and political representatives, not in the main negotiations with American officials, led by U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Khalilzad has not yet set dates for the next round of talks with the Taliban, a State Department spokesperson said. "We do not have new U.S. talks with the Taliban to announce at this time. Before additional talks, we look forward to knowing the outcome of the intra-Afghan dialogue," the spokesperson said in an email. Khalilzad, a veteran Afghan-born U.S. diplomat, is working to secure an accord with the Taliban on a U.S. troop pullout, measures to prevent al Qaeda and other extremists from using Afghanistan as a springboard for attacks, a ceasefire and inter-Afghan talks that include the government on the country's political future. The Taliban have rejected formal talks with the government, which they dismiss as a "puppet" regime controlled by the United States. While Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative country, especially in rural areas, there have been major advances in women's rights since the U.S-led campaign of 2001 that toppled the Taliban government. Many women fear that if the group regains some power, many of these gains could be erased. The movement gained worldwide notoriety when it came to power in the 1990s by forcing women to wear full facial covering and imposing severe restrictions including banning girls from school and forbidding women from working outside the home. However, Taliban spokesmen say the group has changed and it encourages girls' education and other women's rights within an Islamic Sharia system. Civil society groups, the Western-backed government and Afghanistan's international partners have pressed for women to take part in the talks and news of the Taliban delegation was welcomed. Fawzia Koofi, a former member of parliament who took part in the meetings in Moscow, said the presence of women in the Taliban team was a "good step". "Only women can feel the pain and miseries that Afghan women have suffered. The presence of women among the Taliban negotiators shows that the Taliban's ideology has changed." Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, who has been pressing for women to play a role in the peace talks said the process should be inclusive. Future international support for Afghanistan could be affected by whether women's rights were properly respected in any settlement, she said. "There are certain levers that we have, that the Taliban are interested in," she told reporters in Kabul, where she was visiting as part of a Congressional delegation. "There is going to be an interest in economic support after the conflict ends." "I think if the Taliban has any interest in getting international support ... it would be in their interest to recognize the importance of including women and including human rights as part of any settlement that happens." (Additional reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Frances Kerry, Toby Chopra and Neil Fullick) (Getty Images) Tax season isnt just the time of year where we pay our fair share to the government. Its also that time when we butt heads with the powers that be when it comes to how much we owe. Tax disputes are evidentiary disputes that require digging to prove a case. They are also legal disputes based on the interpretation of certain tax provisions, and always occur between the government (the Canadian Revenue Agency) and taxpayers. One high profile tax dispute which has received attention as of late can be seen between Amazon.com Inc and the IRSwhere over $2 billion in tax adjustments has been called into question. The IRS believed Amazon undervalued specific assets (i.e. intellectual property) and is arguing against the transferring of such assets to Amazons European headquarters. Amazon argues the IRS tried to regulate the company after the fact, placing a restriction to make the case for its dispute. This is just one example of a tax case, and as tax lawyer Yoni Moussadji explains, a lot of tax disputes are about avoidance and the shuffling of assets, often overseas. Over the past few years, CRA has placed significant focus on international tax avoidance, so weve seen a marked increase in tax disputes relating to Canadians that own assets outside of Canada and to Canadian businesses that operate internationally, says Yoni Moussadji to Yahoo Finance Canada. Moussadji is part of the Toronto-based firm, Counter Tax Lawyers, which operates through a legal lens and also draws on analytics and automation to generate better strategies and win better litigation results, says Moussadji. Tax dispute resolution is the firms focus. Moussadji says most of their clients are fighting reassessments of at least $150,000, and the largest dispute theyve handled is $25 million. We usually get involved when CRA sends a letter threatening a large reassessment or demanding money, says Aprile. And the majority of disputes he handles are made on behalf of families and owner-managed businesses. Story continues Moussadji notes that those who receive a reassessment from CRA, one they have contention with, need to file the objection notice (the Objection Stage) within 90 days of the date of the reassessment. During this stage, which is part of an internal process of information gathering, an appeals officer from CRA will review the dispute and decide whether to change the reassessment or not. It takes typically nine to 12 months to assign an appeals officer to then review an objection, adds Aprile. Most of the exchanges between the client and appeals officer are done so in writing or over the phone. We find that appeals officers want to see new evidence or documents to support that the reassessment was wrong because the burden is on the taxpayer to show that the reassessment is wrong, explains Moussadji. The next step is to bring the case to the Tax Court of Canada. A person has 90 days after the CRAs decision at the objection stage and the process in Tax Court stage roughly takes 18 months, but, it also often takes a long time to secure a court date if you are going to a hearing. Moussadji reminds that frequently Tax Court appeals settle before a hearing. It is normal to see a settlement within a year of filling the notice of appeal, he says. The government is prohibited from settling appeals based on dollars and cents, and most simple tax disputes can be resolved as part of CRAs objection process, which requires written submissions to the government and then working with the government lawyer to negotiate a settlement. CRA and the Tax Court of Canada are heavily backlogged and it can take a long time to resolve a tax dispute, Moussadji says. And taxpayers who wish to correct prior omissions to their financial assessment can do so through the Voluntary Disclosures (VDP). If you know you have made an error, this is the step to take. A taxpayer must come forward before the CRA takes any action to audit or assess the taxpayers for the disclosure to be considered valid, though, explains Moussadji. He also notes a significant changes in the VDP that came into effect in March 2018. Relief aid was reduced, for one. The CRA also now has the power to impose penalties even for valid voluntary disclosures, says Moussadji. Its set up in a two-track program too: the general (for minor omissions) and the limited program (for major or intentional omissions). Under the limited program, CRA will impose late-filing penalties and only cancel the gross-negligence penalties. CRA can determine which program a taxpayer falls into, too, but regardless of which program one falls into, Moussadji says it is important to act quickly. A hot presser dispute seen currently is the contention with the carbon tax, which Ontario Premier Doug Ford is currently challenging in court. In all cases, it comes down to building the case, identifying and filling the gaps, and being persuasive, adds Moussadji. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Headaches in any form can be disruptive to our lives, but not all of them are the same. According to experts, most people dont know the difference between various types of headaches, like sinus headaches and migraines. That can make a painful situation so much worse. Knowing which issue youre dealing with is vital to treating it. So HuffPost reached out to the experts to help walk you through the differences, dispel some myths and help you learn more about what you may be experiencing. Here are the different types and what you can do about each of them: Tension Headaches (Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images) If youre a human being living on this planet, youve likely experienced this kind of head pain. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache by far, with 80% of people experiencing at least one at some point in their life, according to Matthew Robbins, a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. When youre dealing with a tension headache, youll probably feel dull pain on both sides of your head, along with some tension or tightness in your neck or scalp. The main triggers can be having a cold or other illness, changes in caffeine intake and being on the screen for long periods of time, added Huma Sheikh, an assistant professor of neurology at Mount Sinai-Icahn School of Medicine. Emotional and physical stress, hidden depression, alcohol use and jaw clenching can also contribute. As for treatment, most tension headaches go away in time or can be relieved with over-the-counter painkillers, such as ibuprofen. You can also try drinking more water, getting a massage or getting more sleep, which have been shown to help with headache relief. Sinus Headaches (Photo: Moyo Studio via Getty Images) Ever feel pain around your eyes and temple and automatically assume you have a sinus headache? Surprise! Many of these presumed sinus headaches likely arent sinus headaches after all, according to experts. Many supposed sinus headaches are actually migraines in disguise, said Noah Rosen, a neurologist and director of Northwell Healths Headache Center in New York City. Story continues True sinus headaches take place when theres an associated infection in one of the sinuses. The National Headache Foundation says these are rare and usually involve gnawing pain over the nasal area that often gets worse as the day goes on. Typically, an individual suffering from a sinus headache will experience signs of infection, like redness, swelling, fever and post-nasal drip thats discolored. One reason for the misconception is that nerves in the sinus areas are often involved in migraine headaches, Sheikh explained. Therefore, sometimes people who are having a migraine may have pain in areas of the sinuses, including under or over their eyes, that may be painful with their headaches, Sheikh said. A migraine can also involve a runny nose and watery eyes, further leading people to incorrectly assume they have a sinus infection. Many times patients see their [ear, nose and throat] physician first before seeing a headache specialist, Sheikh said, And for many years, people may be diagnosed with sinus headaches incorrectly when they are actually having migraines. A true sinus infection will usually be resolved by treating the underlying infection. If its from a true bacterial infection, then antibiotics are used, Robbins said. For a viral infection, you can wait it out, treat the pain and possibly use decongestants, he added. In some cases, such as when the sinuses are chronically blocked or easily become infected, surgery may be recommended. But remember that true sinus headaches arent common, so if you seem to be getting them frequently, something else may be going on. People who generally are thought to have frequent sinus headaches should really be investigated to see if its migraine, Robbins said. And then migraine should be treated if thats true. Migraines (Photo: laflor via Getty Images) One of the most distinguishing and notable features of a migraine is severe pain thats disabling to the point where you miss out on work and personal commitments. Experts say if youre getting repeat, severe headaches, youre more likely to be experiencing a migraine than a tension or sinus headache. Compared with a tension headache, a migraine is much more likely to be throbbing or one-sided, Rosen explained, and will often get worse with routine physical activity. Other signs include light sensitivity, nausea and sensitivity to sound and smell. Some people also experience sensory disturbances called auras, in which they might see zigzags or bright dots in their vision or experience tingling on one side of their body. So how exactly does this type of headache arise? Migraines are essentially a disease where the pain pathways in the brain and peripheral nervous system are more sensitive than in those who do not have migraines, Sheikh said. Migraines often have family ties. An individual with migraine has an almost 70% chance of having a first-degree relative who also has the condition, Rosen said. The issue can be treated in two main ways: acute treatments that address the attacks themselves and preventative treatments to reduce their frequency and severity. Acute treatments could be over-the-counter medicines like anti-inflammatories and acetaminophen, or a class of drugs called triptans, Robbins said. Other complementary methods of treating headaches involve yoga, mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy, which involve non-medication techniques to decrease the over-sensitivity of the central and peripheral nervous system, Sheikh said. Some physicians may also recommend Botox or a more technological treatment for qualifying patients. When To Seek Treatment (Photo: Westend61 via Getty Images) It can be challenging to tell if your headache is something you should be worrying about. If your attacks are severe, its a good idea to seek medical attention. Theres a long list of scary causes of headaches that most of the time are not what people have, but on occasion they are, Robbins said. Especially if the headache is associated with some other symptoms, like feeling numb or weak or having a disturbance of vision or symptoms like that. Other red flags include new headaches in someone whos age 50 or above, neurological symptoms like weakness or numbness in one of your limbs, fever, weight loss, lack of response to usual treatment or a change in headache frequency or characteristics. Of course, there are other reasons to see a doctor, beyond worrying that your headaches may be a sign of a scary medical condition. One big reason, Robbins pointed out, is that plenty of effective treatments for headaches and migraines are now available that allow people to find relief, be proactive in how they manage their condition and keep it from worsening over time. Living With is a guide to navigating conditions that affect your mind and body. Each month, HuffPost Life will tackle very real issues people live with by offering different stories, advice and ways to connect with others who understand what its like. In April, were covering migraines and headaches. Got an experience youd like to share? Email wellness@huffpost.com. Related Coverage Please Don't Call My Migraine 'Just A Headache' So THAT'S Why You Get Headaches With Your Period 11 Unexpected Ways You Can Relieve Headaches Police have contacted McDonald's Canada seeking assistance with repeated incidents at an Ottawa location. (99 Rideau McDonald's/Facebook) Ottawa police are appealing for change at an infamous downtown McDonalds. A sexual assault in the bathroom of the 99 Rideau restaurant last week was the breaking point for the police chief, who appealed to the president of McDonalds Canada to step up their safety strategy at the location. The fast food outlet is a hotspot for drug deals, brawling and panhandling, which is a reflection of the bustling neighbourhood. It is located close to the Byward Market, a busy tourist destination. This area has drawn on our resources quite heavily over the years, Insp. Ken Bryden with Ottawa Police told Yahoo Canada. Members of the force met with McDonalds reps to work on a plan moving forward. Bryden says the meeting was extremely positive and as a result of the strategizing, the restaurant has hired private security to patrol the property. Were going to put these strategies in place, keep an open mind and be innovative, and then reassess after a period of time, says Bryden. The 99 Rideau McDonalds has had its fair share of exposure. Heres a roundup of some of the more eye-raising moments in recent years. October 2016 - Video of brawl at 99 Rideau that includes a raccoon goes viral i dont know how to describe this .gif of a mcdonalds fight on rideau street except to say that at one point, someone pulls out a raccoon pic.twitter.com/auMdeHBwQK Alison Mah (@alisonmah) October 3, 2016 A GIF of a 2014 video from a massive brawl inside the 99 Rideau location goes viral. The clip shows a large group of people tussling, when suddenly a raccoon is pulled from the chaos. The original video is longer available, but shows more cameos of the raccoon, who appears to be tucked inside a mans sweater. April 2018 - Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper spotted at 99 Rideau A Facebook user posts of photo of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the infamous McDonalds outlet, where hes snapped wearing a baseball cap and looking at his phone. Despite the volatile reputation of this McDonalds outlet, the former leader seemed to keep the peace. The photo is captioned : Ran into Stephen Harper at McDonalds, and everyone ignored him. Story continues December 2018: Former manager of 99 Rideau McDonalds takes to Reddit Someone claiming to be a former manager of the 99 Rideau McDonalds signs on the Reddit to take questions. The anonymous person shared the most memorable stories of their time working there, which includes many lewd and unsanitary acts by customers. The former manager also maintains that Halloween and Canada Day are the worst times to be inside this particular establishment. They admitted that while the job was stressful, it had some beautiful moments. Youre centered in an area with a lot of darkness, and every now again you get to be a light in someones life. Especially with so many people in need in the area. People are people. Sassnitz (Germany) (AFP) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday officially opened a massive wind farm in the Baltic Sea, calling it a project of "national significance" for Germany's "energy transition" towards renewables. Here are three things to know about the Arkona wind park. - Baltic's largest wind park - Arkona's 60 turbines tower out of the Baltic between the German island of Ruegen and the Swedish shoreline to the north. Erected in just three months last year, they are already supplying 385 megawatts of electricity -- enough for around 400,000 family homes. French energy provider Engie has signed a contract to buy electricity for four years from operator OWP Arkona, a joint venture between Germany's Eon and Norway's Equinor. Electricity will be routed through a French-built substation whose 150 kilometres of cables link up the wind generators. Engineers affectionately dubbed the hardware "the multi-socket adaptor" after the familiar household gadget. The project showcased "the German contribution, also the contribution of highly developed industrial nations to developing renewable energy," Merkel said, thanking both France and Norway for their involvement. "If you look at the historical responsibility that we have, since we emitted a lot of carbon dioxide into the air, it's a question of justice and of development cooperation" to nurture climate-friendly technology for others to adopt, she added. - 'Energy transition' on back foot? - Germany had long been seen as a pioneer in the switch to renewable energies, but Merkel's 2011 decision to exit the generation of nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster knocked the country back. Rather than emissions-free fission plugging the gaps left by variable output from wind and sun, Berlin has had to fall back on intensely polluting brown coal and other fossil sources. Today, renewables account for 38 percent of Germany's energy mix, and are slated to hit 65 percent by 2030. Story continues "We must stick to that," Merkel said, recalling that "renewable energy is already the largest pillar of our energy supply, showing how it's shifted from a little niche into the centre". But the federal government has missed its targets in the past, giving up last year a goal to reduce greenhouse emissions 40 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2020. "It will take a lot of effort to achieve our targets for 2030," the chancellor acknowledged. On land, Germany's much-lauded "Energiewende" (energy transition) policy is struggling, with subsidies for wind turbines on the way out and the cost of transmitting electricity to consumers high. One kilowatt-hour (kWh) costs 30 euro cents ($0.34) or twice as much as in neighbouring France, still well supplied with electricity from nuclear plants. - From land to sea - While land-based turbines may be running out of puff, Germany has been building them at sea for 10 years -- despite initial scepticism. Observers at first warned of high costs, and upsets like storms or construction failures plagued the early attempts. But costs have been squeezed and techniques improved in the meantime, with 20 percent of Germany's wind energy now coming from the sea. North Sea and Baltic wind parks boast more than 1,300 windmills with a capacity of around 6.4 gigawatts. Importantly, seaborne wind power is less vulnerable to Nimbyism -- "not in my backyard" -- complaints from locals about spoiled views, noise or dead birds. Environment groups have warned about risks specific to the maritime generators, with birds still falling victim to them and the noise of the rotors tormenting some sea mammals, such as porpoises. By Fanny Potkin JAKARTA (Reuters) - More than 10,000 people have volunteered to crowd-source election results posted at polling stations across Indonesia on Wednesday in a real-time bid to thwart attempts at fraud during the biggest single-day election in the world. Nearly 193 million people are eligible to vote for the Southeast Asian country's president and thousands of legislative seats, a Herculean logistical feat many fear could be exploited by cheats. Tension over alleged election irregularities is already running high between the camps of the two contenders for the presidency, incumbent Joko Widodo and retired general Prabowo Subianto, with charges of suspicious names on electoral rolls and ballot tampering. An organization called Kawal Pemilu, or Guard the Election, has brought together volunteers from across the sprawling archipelago to post on its website photographs of result tabulations that go up at polling stations to ensure they match official vote tallies. The crowd-sourced results on KawalPemilu.org will then be tabulated manually by the organization. "We aim to be the data back-up plan for the election," Kawal Pemilu co-founder Elina Ciptadi told Reuters. "To ensure transparency and stop fraud." She said that more than 10,000 volunteers have been verified and 3,000-5,000 more have registered online to join the "election guardians", who are required to provide their names and Facebook profiles. Another 2,000, many of them Indonesian expatriates, will work as moderators, logging in data. University student and alumni groups have pledged to help, as have the youth wings of prominent religious organizations, including of the Catholic Church, and of the two largest Muslims organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama. Ciptadi and data scientist Ainun Najib, both Indonesian expats who live in Singapore, started the initiative after the last election in 2014 - also a contest between Widodo and Prabowo - when both campaigns declared victory. "Both sides claimed to win ... but neither of them were revealing the data," said Ciptadi. Because the electoral commission (KPU) had posted 2014's polling station results on its website, the group was able to scrape numbers into a database and crowd-source accurate results in six days, while officials took more than two weeks to calculate almost exactly the same result by hand. EIGHT-HOUR ELECTION This time the challenge is even greater. For the first time Indonesia will be holding presidential and parliamentary polls simultaneously, with more than 245,000 candidates running for legislative seats in an exercise that will involve more than 800,000 polling stations and about 6 million election workers. While the world's largest democracy, India, is now spreading its election out over seven phases, Indonesia - with roughly one-fifth of India's population - will get the job done in just eight hours. The General Election Commission is expected to announce an official result in May. Ciptadi stressed that her organization was strictly neutral. "We are not a political movement, we are an open-data initiative," she said. Most opinion polls give Widodo, a former furniture salesman whose political career began as a small-city mayor, a double-digit lead over Prabowo, whom he narrowly defeated in 2014. The opposition has disputed survey findings. It has also said it uncovered data irregularities affecting millions on the electoral rolls and vowed to take legal action or use "people power" if its complaints are not resolved. "We are very worried about the issue because the number is huge, there are 17.5 million problematic names in the voter list," Hashim Djojohadikusumo, deputy director for the Prabowo campaign, told reporters on Sunday. He said that suspiciously large numbers had Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 birth dates, and area codes that did not exist. A spokesman for the election commission refuted the allegations, telling Reuters they had verified the existence of the 17.5 million voters, as based on civil records. Several videos appeared online last week apparently showing thousands of voting papers stuffed in bags at a warehouse in neighboring Malaysia, with many apparently already marked. One showed people holding up ballots, saying they were marked in favor of Widodo, as well as for a member of one of the political parties backing him. The election supervisory board met Malaysian police on Monday to discuss the case, media reported. The supervisory board is also deciding whether to hold a new vote for Indonesians in Sydney, after several hundred registered voters were still standing in line after the polls closed there on Saturday. A rights group has warned that more than 1 million indigenous people, many of whom live in forest areas or conflict zones, won't be able to vote because authorities had not registered them. The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, which represents 15 million indigenous people, told Reuters that several communities had never been registered for electronic identification cards, which provide the right to vote. A home affairs ministry spokesperson disputed those findings and said any indigenous person who wanted to vote could register. "Please live in a legal location," he said. (GRAPHIC: Indonesia election by the numbers - tmsnrt.rs/2V4DCqq) (Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Additional reporting by Yerica Lai, Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Fanny Potkin, and Jessica Damiana; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Robert Birsel) Serge Berdugo, Secretary General of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, has praised the initiative of King Mohammed VI to create a museum of Jewish culture. Speaking to media after the Moroccan Sovereign launched on Monday, in Fez, the restoration works of Al Batha museum and the building works of a Jewish culture museum, Mr. Berdugo described the project as an absolutely extraordinary move with symbolic significance. Creating this place of memory in a city that is the cradle of Moroccan civilization, where the imprint of Moroccan Judaism has been most striking, shows the Sovereigns intention to see that all the currents that have irrigated Moroccan civilization are present, underlined Mr. Berdugo. He said he is upbeat over the future and long-term impact of this museum, noting that people from around the world will come to see how, for hundreds of years, Jews and Muslims lived peacefully in Morocco and created an art of living together. Mr. Berdugo affirmed that together, we will work to show all the jewels of Moroccan civilization so that the whole world can once again realize what Morocco of tomorrow will be like. King Mohammed VI visited, on Monday, several rehabilitation projects of the old medina of Fez and launched the restoration works of Al Batha museum and the building works of the Jewish culture museum. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty On Monday just before 8 p.m. local time, an audible gasp rippled through the streets of Paris as bystanders watched the spire that towered above the Notre Dame Cathedral topple over in a fiery rush. The steeple had served as a symbol of cultural achievement, national pride, and faith for generations in France and the world over, and it was now gone. It wasnt the first time that the spire had been forcibly separated from the cathedral, but it was the most devastating. Since the very first stones were put in place for a grand church that would rise on the banks of the River Seine over 850 years ago, Notre Dame has not just borne witness to history, it has had parts of that history inscribed into its very architectural bones. As the centuries passed, Notre Dame has garnered attention from forces both good and evil. There were the insurgents during the French Revolution who took issue with the churchs symbol of authority and decided to do some painful redecorating, and then their ideological descendants less than 100 years later, whose attempt to burn it down was thwarted. There were prominent cultural figures whose misguided aesthetic judgements resulted in painful losses, and those who came after to right the damage with a little extra editorializing. And then, of course, there were the everyday challenges of a massive cultural monumentmaintenance, upkeep, and extreme weather. The back of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris around 1880. Unidentified Author/Alinari via Getty Each time Notre Dame Cathedral has been imperiled, whether by acts of human or God, it has risen stronger than before and as an even greater beacon for the universal hopes of humanity. But after suffering a devastating fire on Monday that began in the roof and quickly spread, Our Lady in Paris faces its greatest challenge yet. Construction on Notre Dame began in the 1160s and didnt stop until well into the 14th century. One could say destruction was built into its foundationa Romanesque church was torn down to make way for the cathedral, as had been done to a pagan temple before that. But on this patch of the Ile de la Cite that had been selected for worship by prior generations, a magnificent French Gothic cathedral rose from the rubble. Story continues It was a towering achievement and one that continued to evolve for over 100 years as new advancements were made in the field of architecture. By the end of the 14th century, the grand Notre Dame Cathedral was completefor nowand it had taken its place on an island in the Seine in both the heart of the Catholic Church and of the city. Paris in the Middle Ages is a very international, cosmopolitan place, probably much more multicultural than most people today tend to assume, Jacqueline Jung, associate professor of art history at Yale and a specialist in medieval art and architecture, tells The Daily Beast. People are coming from all over to study at the university there and, while they are there, theyre seeing this Cathedral because its visible from all over the place. For over 300 years, the cathedral was largely left alone to be admired. Then, in the 1770s, the first misguided attempts at improvement began. Apparently, clear glass windows were all the rage at the time, and the beautiful, stained glass masterpieces that filled the cathedral were deemed declasse. So the glassmaker Pierre Le Vieil was hired to remove some of the latter and replace them with the former. As he smashed the rejected, very crude panes to bits, he paused for a moment to admire the brilliance of the colors, particularly the blue, according to a 1963 article in Life Magazine. Installation works at the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris around 1900. Imagno/Getty Around this time, it was also decided that the Portal of Judgement on the Western facade of the church, the one that has become the iconic photograph prized by tourists, wasnt sufficiently large enough to stage grand processions. So, the entryway was widened, sacrificing some of the original masonry and at least one major sculpture. But the real trouble for the cathedral began with the 18th century rumbles of revolution. Before the tragic fire of 2019, it was during the French Revolution that the cathedral took its biggest hit. When the commoners rose up against their class overlords, they not only took down the rulers of the country, they also wanted to do away with the symbols of their oppression, including the Catholic church. No king was safe and in 1793, the sights of the new government turned on Notre Dame. Nine months after King Louis XVI was introduced to Madame Guillotine, 28 stone sculptures depicting the Kings of Judah were removed from the facade of the cathedral and beheaded by the fearsome lady. Nearly 200 years later, 21 of these heads were discovered. (Only fragments of their other remains were found.) The revolutionaries renamed the cathedral the Temple of Reason, staging festivals that pilloried its religious roots and promoted the ideals of the Enlightenment. During the course of the merriment, the treasures inside were fair game and much of the interior was looted. While the spire didnt seem to engender any specific ire in the revolutionaries, it had fallen into disrepair and was starting to loll. In the interest of safety, it was removed. Sandbags are stacked up against Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, to try and prevent any war damage, ca. 1916. Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Notre Dame might not have been respected by the leaders of the French Revolution, but its star had not dimmed in the eyes of the world. Almost immediately after Napoleon seized power, he set about the rehabilitation of the church namely by staging his 1804 coronation in the cathedral. But it was the French author Victor Hugo who sealed its fate. In 1831, he published The Hunchback of Notre Dame which was in many ways a love letter to the cathedral and a call to action to right the cultural wrongs of its neglected state. Victor Hugo used it as a kind of rallying cry for people to look at these monuments like Notre Dame that seemed to represent a sort of old order that was really dead, but now to look at it as a historical monument, as a sign of French ingenuity, French pride, French history, European history, human history, Jung says. It worked. A massive renovation was undertaken under the guidance of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in the 1860s. While the architect deserves commendation for the work he did, he went far beyond bringing the building back to its former glory. As Jung explains, the project became a showpiece of the restorers art and he rehabilitated the building and its decorations according to what the then-modern day view dictated a medieval showstopper should be. The gargoyles, for instancethose are a Viollet-le-Duc original. Clearing of sandbag protection from the facade of Notre Dame, German-occupied Paris, 1940. Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Jung says that it is nearly impossible for a casual observer today to distinguish between the original medieval features and the restorers additionsthe original and the restoration have been intertwined and the latter masked to look like the former as was Viollet-le-Ducs intention. The things that he did were imposing much more of the individual 19th-century mans craft onto the building that today we wouldnt really like to see. But on the other hand, you know, its a pretty good job, Jung laughs. In the centuries following Viollet-le-Ducs restoration of the Cathedral to its original glory (and beyond), Notre Dame has become more than just a beacon of the church; it is a global symbol of humanity and our feats of cultural heritage. This high profile has helped to protect the building through the tumultuous waves of history, though there have been a few near misses over the decades. During the Paris Commune in the spring of 1871, left-wing revolutionaries took over the streets of the city and set their sights on important landmarks including Notre Dame. Historian Robert Tombs writes in The Paris Commune 1871 that they began to set buildings on fire partly to block the way of the advancing troops, and also as symbolic acts of defiance. Notre Dame stood as a symbol of the superstition of the state, but when a group of revolutionaries tried to set the cathedral on fire, a fire brigade intervened. The World Wars that ripped apart the global fabric and stitched it back up with new boundaries and new ideologies in the first half of the twentieth century also managed to largely bypass one of the most recognizable landmarks in Paris despite the City of Lights becoming a key battleground. Powerful black and white pictures attest to the vulnerability of the cathedral: sandbags packed tall and dense in its doorways during WWI; machine guns stationed in the Square Jean-XXIII; and armored tanks flanking the building and filled with American soldiers and celebrating locals following the citys liberation at the end of WWII. Liberation of Paris. American soldiers on the Notre Dame of Paris square, Aug. 25, 1944. Pierre Jahan/Roger Viollet/Getty The church didnt survive completely unscathedin October 1914 a German bomb struck the roof of the churchbut the damage was relatively minor. This escape was perhaps miraculous given that, as scholar Ronald C. Rosbottom wrote in 2014, the Germans dropped over 200 bombs on Paris in early 1918 in a desperate attempt to make inroads in the city, and a large portion of these fell on the neighborhoods surrounding the cathedral. It turned out, the Germans were using Notre Dame as a guiding landmark from the air. But the cathedral was not so lucky a century later when a fire that authorities believe started in the roof broke out. While the blaze was eventually extinguished, and some of the art is believed to have been saved, a few aspects of Notre Dames history have been lost forever. Some of the medieval stained glass that escaped Le Vieils hammer is thought to have been lost (though the stunning Rose windows are believed safe). Jung says that the deeply saturated colors of these 800 year old works, the texture and thickness of the glass, the compositions that tell of sacred history, and the medieval artisans hours of labor and unique talent that they represented are irreplaceable. Also, much of the timber work that sat between the stone vaults and the roof was part of the original 13th-century construction, a very rare find in Gothic cathedrals today. All of it is thought to have gone up in flames. But still, there is hope. Pledges are already rolling in from both the French government and wealthy donors committed to helping Notre Dame rise from destruction once again. While there will be features that cannot be saved, the restoration will add a new mark of tragedy and survival onto the bones of the church. As Jung says, the history Notre Dame Cathedral has witnessed has mapped itself onto the building, often in physical ways. In return, Its played a role in all of these [historical events] and, along the way, its become this symbol of Frenchness, of great design, of intelligence, of religious devotion, of politics. Every aspect of human culture is embedded into this building[Notre Dame] has shaped this place and it has shaped peoples thinking and imaginations in a way that few other buildings have. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Trump administration officials, in response to a Friday court ruling, are poised to implement a policy that would require asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are being adjudicated. A federal appeals court in California on Friday lifted an injunction that previously blocked the policys implementation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials responded to the ruling by instructing staff to prepare to return asylum seekers to Mexico under a policy they refer to as Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP, according to internal emails obtained by the Los Angeles Times . This means that implementation of MPP may resume pending the ongoing litigation, the memo reads. In the meantime we have staff on standby for new referrals. Authorities have not yet begun returning migrants to Mexico, according to the Times. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which temporarily lifted the injunction Friday, is expected to issue a permanent ruling on whether the administration can reinstate the so-called Remain in Mexico policy. Then-secretary of homeland security Kierstjen Nielsen first announced the policy in December and used it to successfully return 1,000 migrants to Mexico before it was blocked in court. The statute explicitly authorizing the use of the Migrant Protection Protocols has been on the books for more than two decades, Alexei Woltornist, a Justice Department spokesman, told the Times. And the Department of Justice will robustly defend our ability to use it. President Trump praised the Ninth Circuits ruling in a Friday tweet. Finally, great news at the border, he wrote. In the wake of Nielsens ouster earlier this month, Trump administration officials have reportedly considered a number of executive actions designed to transition away from a family-based immigration system toward one that is more meritocratic. The potential responses include tightening visa restrictions on countries whose nationals tend to overstay their visas as well as making it more difficult for the spouses of H-1B-visa holders to immigrate. More from National Review WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will allow lawsuits in U.S. courts for the first time against all foreign companies doing business in communist-ruled Cuba using properties confiscated from Cuban Americans and other U.S. citizens, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. The move, which will be formally announced on Wednesday, could expose U.S., European and Canadian companies to legal action and deal a blow to Cuba's efforts to attract more foreign investment. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday will also announce new sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick Writing by Susan Heavey) By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will allow lawsuits in U.S. courts for the first time against foreign companies that use properties Communist-ruled Cuba confiscated since Fidel Castro's revolution six decades ago, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. The major policy shift, which will be announced on Wednesday, could expose U.S., European and Canadian companies to legal action and deal a blow to Cuba's efforts to attract more foreign investment. It is also another sign of Washington's efforts to punish Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday will explain the administration's decision in a speech in Miami and will also announce new sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, countries he has branded a "troika of tyranny," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. It is unclear, however, whether such property claims will be acceptable in U.S. courts. The European Union has already warned it could lodge a challenge with the World Trade Organization. Trump threatened in January to allow a controversial law that has been suspended since its creation in 1996, permitting Cuban Americans and other U.S. citizens to sue foreign companies doing business in Cuba over property seized in decades past by the Cuban government. Title III of the Helms-Burton Act had been fully waived by every president over the past 23 years due to opposition from the international community and fears it could create chaos in the U.S. court system with a flood of lawsuits. The complete lifting of the ban could allow billions of dollars in legal claims to move forward in U.S. courts and likely antagonize Canada and Europe, whose companies have significant business holdings in Cuba. It could also affect some U.S. companies that began investing in the island, an old Cold War foe, since former President Barack Obama began a process of normalizing relations between the two countries from the end of 2014. U.S.-Cuban relations have nosedived since Trump became president, partially rolling back the detente initiated by Obama and reverting to Cold War rhetoric. A six-decade U.S. economic embargo on Cuba has also remained officially intact. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the country's National Assembly, meeting over the weekend, declared the Helms-Burton Act "illegitimate, unenforceable and without legal effect". Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a speech on Saturday that the United States "has pushed the precarious relations with our country back to the worst level ... trying to activate the hateful Helms-Burton Law, which aims to return us in principle to ... when we were a slave nation of another empire." "BUMP" IN BUSINESS, OFFICIAL SAYS Trump is going ahead despite protests by European leaders to U.S. counterparts. The U.S. official dismissed the EU's warning of a possible WTO challenge and a cycle of counter-claims in European courts as doomed to fail. Among the foreign companies heavily invested in Cuba are Canadian mining firm Sherritt International Corp and Spains Melia Hotels International SA. U.S. companies, including airlines and cruise companies, have forged business deals in Cuba since the easing of restrictions under Obama. Defending the decision, the U.S. official said allowing lawsuits would cause only a "bump" in the business world but would send a message of U.S. resolve against Havana. In addition to halting any further waivers of Title III, the administration will begin enforcement of Helms-Burton's Title IV, which requires the denial of U.S. visas to those involved in "trafficking" confiscated properties in Cuba. Trump's decision followed threats by his top aides in recent weeks to take actions against Cuba to force it to abandon Maduro, something Havana has insisted it will not do. Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume the interim presidency. The United States and most Western countries have backed Guaido as head of state. Maduro has denounced Guaido as a U.S. puppet who is seeking to foment a coup and Maduro is backed by Cuba, Russia, China and the Venezuela military. Trumps toughened stance on Cuba as well as Venezuela has gone down well in the large Cuban-American community in south Florida, an important voting bloc in a key political swing state as he looks toward his re-election campaign in 2020. In Bolton's speech on Wednesday, he is expected to announce further measures against Cuba. While the specifics are unclear, the administration is considering a range of options, including sanctions against senior Cuban military and intelligence officials over their role in Venezuela and the tightening of limits on U.S. trade with the island, according to two people familiar with the matter. Experts say it is unclear how activating Title III will affect investors in Cuba given legislation in some countries like Canada blocking enforcement of Helms-Burton against their companies. This is a fringe policy decision that has not been tested legally," said James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, a Washington-based lobbying group working to normalize relations with Cuba. Some 5,913 claims held by U.S. companies and individuals have been have been certified by the U.S. Justice Department and are now estimated to be worth roughly $8 billion. Cuban law ties settlement of any claims to U.S. reparations for damages from Washington's embargo and what it considers other acts of U.S. aggression. Cuban estimates of that damage range from $121 billion to more than $300 billion. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; additional reporting by Susan Heavy and David Alexander in Washington and Sarah Marsh and Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Lisa Shumaker) WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has offered his condolences to French President Emmanuel Macron for the devastation caused by the massive fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, the White House said Tuesday. "The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. "The Cathedral has served as a spiritual home for almost a millennium, and we are saddened to witness the damage to this architectural masterpiece." Firefighters extinguished the blaze Tuesday morning, and French officials are assessing the damage and structural integrity of the 800-year-old building. One official predicted it could potentially take decades to repair the cathedral. A fundraising campaign began hours after the fire was put out. "France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dames bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil," Sanders said in her statement. "Those bells will sound again...Vive la France!" Trump, who has had a touch-and-go relationship with Macron, drew criticism from some French authorities on Monday for suggesting while the blaze was still roaring through the structure that "flying water tankers" should be used immediately to contain the fire. "Must act quickly!" Trump implored in a Twitter post. Professional firefighters called Trump's proposal impractical at best. Deploying the kinds of airplanes used to fight forest fires would be dangerous in an urban area, they said, noting that the force of the water could knock the building down and threaten firefighters on the ground. President Donald Trump Contributing: David Jackson This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump calls French president Emmanuel Macron to offer condolences for Notre Dame fire President Donald Trumps personal lawyer on Monday urged the Treasury Department not to hand over Mr Trumps tax returns to House Democrats, warning that releasing the documents to lawmakers he accused of having a radical view of unchecked congressional power would turn the IRS into a political weapon. It was the second such letter written on behalf of Mr Trump since representative Richard Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, formally requested six years of the presidents personal and business tax returns earlier this month. Mr Neal on Saturday gave the IRS until April 23 to provide him with the tax returns after Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said last week that he could not meet an earlier deadline because he needed to study the lawfulness of the request. The fight over Mr Trumps tax returns is expected to turn into a protracted legal battle that will likely make its way to the Supreme Court. Mr Trump, who declined to provide his tax returns while running for president, continues to cite an ongoing audit as the reason he cannot release the documents, despite no rule or law that prevents him from doing so. Mr Neal used an obscure provision of the tax code to request the returns, which he said his committee needs in order to evaluate the policy of automatic audits of presidential tax returns. Mr Trump and his defenders argue that the request is being driven by politics and represents presidential harassment. Mr Neal argued in his letter Saturday that the administration has no authority to question how the committee would handle the information or the validity of its legislative purpose. Mr Trumps lawyer, William Consovoy, said Monday that the legal rationale behind Mr Neals dismissal of the Treasury Departments concerns was wrong. The little known tax code provision employed by the Democrats in demanding Mr Trumps returns says that the IRS shall furnish the information. But Mr Consovoy, echoing an argument that Mr Trump administration officials have made privately, said that in this case the intent of the law is more important than the letter of the law. Story continues Congresss motives do matter under the Constitution, Mr Consovoy wrote, arguing that the request for Mr Trumps tax information does not serve any legislative purpose. The presidents lawyer, whose views have no direct bearing on the case, went on to cite Republican senators who have said Mr Neals request was not made in good faith. He noted that House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee concluded that a request for Mr Trumps tax returns was not a legitimate use of their oversight powers. Chairman Neals request is nothing more than an attempt to exercise constitutional authority that Congress does not possess, Mr Consovoy wrote. Mr Neal has previously said that Mr Consovoys concerns lack merit. Mr Mnuchin, who as Treasury secretary oversees the IRS, is personally supervising the response to the request. While he has said that he will follow the law, he made clear to lawmakers last week that he believes releasing Mr Trumps tax returns would be a violation of privacy and would politicize the tax collection agency. Treasury Department lawyers conferred with White House lawyers before the request and Mr Mnuchin said that his staff is consulting with the Department of Justice. He did not say if he would comply with Mr Neals latest deadline. This isnt an issue just about the presidents tax returns and congressional oversight, Mr Mnuchin said on the Fox Business Network on Monday. This is an issue about protecting Americans. He added: I want to make sure that the IRS is not weaponized like it was in the Nixon administration, and you can imagine how dangerous it would be if the IRS was weaponized. The New York Times The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has officially launched a $170 million power transmission project. The project called the Abuja Feeding Scheme is financed by the French Development Agency (AFD) and provides for building five transmission substations over a 24-month period. The move will help Africas most populous nation to stabilize the quality of power supply to over three million residents of Abuja. According to TCNs Managing Director, Usman Mohammed, the scheme comprises two 330kV substations and three 132kV substations, and will take care of power supply challenges in the city. He said the project will include the construction of substations in Lokogoma, Gwarinpa, Kuje, Apo and Lugbe, and will be complemented by the construction of a new electricity transmission route from Lafia in Nasarawa State to Abuja so as to provide the Federal Capital Territory with added power supply advantage. He explained that the TCN has continued to expand the national grid with new projects as well as the completion of existing projects. Permanent Secretary in Nigerias Ministry of Power, Louis Edozien, urged the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (Disco) to be willing to take up more electricity from the expanded TCN capacity. Earlier this year, residents of Abuja have lamented poor electricity supply in their community due to break down of transformers and absence of meters. By Tracy Rucinski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Normally, U.S. airlines compete to sell tickets and fill seats during the peak summer travel season. But operators of the grounded Boeing 737 MAX are facing a different problem: scarce planes and booming demand. The grounding of Boeing Co's fuel-efficient, single-aisle workhorse after two fatal crashes is biting into U.S. airlines' Northern Hemisphere spring and summer schedules, threatening to disarm them in their seasonal war for profits. "The revenue is right in front of them. They can see it, but they can't meet it," said Mike Trevino, spokesman for Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and an aviation industry veteran. Southwest Airlines Co, the world's largest MAX operator, and American Airlines Group Inc with 34 and 24 MAX jetliners respectively, have removed the aircraft from their flying schedules into August. United Airlines said on Monday it would remove its 14 MAX jets through early July. Southwest's decision will lead to 160 cancellations of some 4,200 daily flights between June 8 and Aug. 5, while American's removal through Aug. 19 means about 115 daily cancellations, or 1.5 percent of its summer flying schedule each day. Low-cost carrier Southwest, which unlike its rivals only flies Boeing 737s, had estimated $150 million in lost revenue between Feb. 20 and March 31 alone due to MAX cancellations and other factors. So far airlines have said it is too soon to estimate the impact of the MAX grounding beyond the first quarter, but the extended cancellations signal that they do not expect a quick return of Boeing's fast-selling jetliner. The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March following a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash just five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. All on board both planes were killed. Boeing is under pressure to deliver an upgrade on software that is under scrutiny in both crashes and convince global regulators that the plane is safe to fly again, a process expected to take at least 90 days. Story continues The timing of a prolonged grounding could not be worse for Northern Hemisphere carriers. Planes run fullest during June, July and August, when airlines earn the most revenue per available seat mile, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In a letter to employees and customers on Sunday, American Airlines' top executives said they believed the MAX would be recertified "soon" but wanted to provide their customers reliability and confidence during "the busiest travel period of the year." American was cancelling about 90 flights per day through early June, but runs more flights and has less fleet flexibility in the peak summer travel months. "We're not denying that it's going to be a challenge for us," American spokesman Ross Feinstein said. "That is why if we have to extend cancellations based on aircraft availability we will do so as far in advance as possible." A decline in seat capacity could mean higher last-minute summer fares, particularly for business class travellers, aviation consultants and analysts said. United has largely avoided cancellations by servicing MAX routes with larger 777 or 787 aircraft, but the airline president, Scott Kirby, warned last week that the strategy was costing it money and could not go on forever. "We've used spare aircraft and other creative solutions to help our customers, who had been scheduled to travel on one of our 14 MAX aircraft, get where they are going. But, it's harder to make those changes at the peak of the busy summer travel season," United said on Monday. Overall the MAX represents just 5 percent of Southwest's total fleet and even less for American and United, but the strain on fleets increases as additional MAX deliveries remain frozen. Southwest has 41 MAX jets pending delivery for 2019, while American has 16 and United 14. They are each working with Boeing and regulators to ensure the aircraft's safety before flying it with customers and employees. Meanwhile, operators have added a flight or two to other aircrafts' daily schedules and deferred some non-essential maintenance work. Some airlines are also weighing extending aircraft leases and bringing back idled planes, but with unclear MAX timing, no option is clear-cut or cheap, consultants said. United is due to publish first-quarter results on April 16, followed by Southwest on April 25 and American on April 26. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Chris Sanders, Susan Thomas and Nick Zieminski) NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) A United States airstrike killed a senior leader of the extremist rebels of the Islamic State in Somalia group involved in attacks in northern Somalia, U.S. military and a Somali official said Monday.The U.S. Africa Command said in statement that it carried out an airstrike near Xiriiro, a village in northern Somalias semi-independent Puntland state on Sunday, killing Abdulhakim Dhuqub, the deputy leader of the Somali extremists linked to the Islamic State group. Dhuqub was responsible for the daily operations of the extremist group, planning attacks and getting resources, said the U.S. military statement. The airstrike targeted the vehicle carrying Dhuqub, said the statement. No civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike, according to the U.S. military. We continue to work with our Somali partners to keep pressure on the al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia terror networks, said Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, U.S. Africa Command director of operations. We use precision airstrikes to target those who plan and carry out the violent extremist activities that put Somalis at risk, he said. Puntlands security minister Abdisamad Mohamed Galan also confirmed the killing of the extremist leader in the U.S. airstrike, which said also killed other members of the group, without giving further details. The airstrike occurred as the extremists were traveling to their base in the remote mountainous villages in the region, said a Somali intelligence official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The Islamic State in Somalia group was formed in late 2015 when extremist fighters in Puntland broke away al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida. The new groups leader, Abdulqadir Mumin pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, perhaps influenced by an IS social media campaign urging them to defect. Since May 2017 the group has launched attacks against security forces in the region and it has also clashed many times with the bigger al-Shabab group. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is considering a British-drafted resolution that would demand a ceasefire in Libya and call on all countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance. Diplomats from the 15-member council are due to meet later on Tuesday to discuss the text that also calls for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya, which has been gripped by anarchy and conflict since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. The latest flare-up began almost two weeks ago - during a visit to the country by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - when eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) advanced to the outskirts of the capital Tripoli. Haftar's forces predicted victory within days, but Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj's internationally-recognized government has managed to bog them down in southern suburbs with help from armed groups from various western Libyan factions. Guterres has been calling for a truce since he left Tripoli, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday. "The Secretary-General would welcome a strong and united response from the Security Council on this very issue," he said. The Security Council informally expressed concern on April 5, calling on all forces to de-escalate and halt military activity and specifically calling out the LNA. However, in the following days the council was unable to issue a more formal statement, diplomats said, as Russia objected to a reference to the LNA, while the United States said it could not agree a text that did not mention Haftar's forces. The draft U.N. Security Council resolution, seen by Reuters, expresses "grave concern at military activity in Libya near Tripoli, which began following the launching of a military offensive by the LNA ... and threatens the stability of Libya." It also demands that all parties in Libya immediately de-escalate the situation, commit to a ceasefire, and engage with the United Nations to end hostilities. Diplomats said the draft text could be put to a vote as early as this week. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China - the so-called permanent five - to pass. Haftar enjoys the backing of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who view him as an anchor to restore stability and combat Islamist militants, while most western powers support Serraj. The draft U.N. text "calls upon all member states to use their influence to ensure compliance with this resolution." (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alistair Bell and Sonya Hepinstall) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - United Nations Security Council diplomats began negotiations Tuesday on a British-drafted resolution that would demand an immediate ceasefire in Libya after forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli. The proposed text seen by AFP warns that the offensive by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) "threatens the stability of Libya and prospects for a United Nations-facilitated political dialogue and a comprehensive political solution to the crisis." The council "demands that all parties in Libya immediately de-escalate the situation, commit to a ceasefire, and engage with the United Nations to ensure a full and comprehensive cessation of hostilities throughout Libya," the draft says. After Britain circulated the text late Monday, a first round of negotiations was held during which Russia raised objections to references criticizing Haftar, diplomats said. "They were very clear. No reference anywhere," a council diplomat said. Britain was hoping to bring the measure to a vote at the council before Friday, but diplomats pointed to Russia's objections as a hurdle. At least 174 people have been killed and more than 18,000 displaced since Haftar ordered his forces to march on Tripoli on April 4, according to UN figures. A rocket attack on the city killed two people and injured four on Tuesday. Last week, Russia blocked a draft council statement that would have called on Haftar's forces to halt their advance on Tripoli. - Influence in Libya - The proposed measure echoed a call for a ceasefire by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was in Libya to personally advance prospects for a political solution when the offensive was launched. Haftar, seen by his allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as a bulwark against Islamists, has declared he wants to seize the capital, now controlled by a UN-recognized government and an array of militias. Story continues Haftar backs a rival administration based in eastern Libya that is refusing to recognize the authority of the Tripoli government. The draft resolution calls on all sides in Libya "immediately to re-commit" to UN peace efforts and urges all member-states "to use their influence over the parties" to see that the resolution is respected. Resolutions adopted by the council are legally binding. Diplomats have long complained that foreign powers backing rival sides in Libya threatened to turn the conflict into a proxy war. Saudi Arabia is also seen as a key Haftar supporter, while Qatar -- which has tense ties with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi -- has called for stronger enforcement of the UN arms embargo to keep weapons out of Haftar's hands. Russia and France, two permanent council members, have praised Haftar's battlefield successes in defeating Libyan armed groups aligned with the Islamic State in the south of the country. Haftar's offensive on the capital forced the United Nations to postpone a national conference that was to draw up a roadmap to elections, meant to turn the page on years of chaos since the 2011 ouster of Moamer Kadhafi. Guterres has said that serious negotiations on Libya's future cannot resume without a ceasefire. Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump will open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba, enforcing a controversial law that had been waived for more than two decades, an official said Tuesday. In allowing a key section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act to take effect, Trump is moving ahead with a provision that had been waived by successive presidents mindful of the international consequences. National security advisor John Bolton will formally unveil the shift on Wednesday when he heads to Miami to address expatriates from Cuba as well as Venezuela and Nicaragua, two other countries in Latin America with leftist governments opposed by Trump. Bolton "will announce the enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," a senior administration official said. Under the 1996 law, Cuban exiles will be allowed to head to US courts to sue both private companies and the Havana government for profiting from properties nationalized after Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution. When it was initially passed, the law had been strongly opposed by the European Union, whose businesses have long-standing interests on the island and worried about the legal repercussions in US courts. But Trump has been shifting sharply back to the former US effort of trying to weaken the Cuban government. His predecessor, Barack Obama, normalized relations with Cuba, eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Havana, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. Trump has also been pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy that has sparked a massive exodus. The 1996 law -- named for far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and congressman Dan Burton -- was approved by Congress after Cuba in 1996 shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by then president Bill Clinton to try to repair relations. Washington (AFP) - Democratic lawmakers investigating President Donald Trump's finances announced Tuesday they have issued subpoenas to several banks, including Deutsche Bank, as part of a probe into "potential foreign influence" in US elections. The subpoenas were announced by the heads of the House intelligence and financial services committees, which are looking into the president's finances as part of a larger probe into election meddling by Russia. Deutsche Bank, a major lender to Trump real estate projects, said in a statement that it is engaged in a "productive dialogue" with both committees. "We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations," it said. The German investment bank was one of the few major western financial institutions to continue to lend to Trump's real estate empire after several of its casinos went bankrupt in the 1990s, resulting in claims by creditors valued at $330 million in today's dollars. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's chairman, said Deutsche Bank has been cooperating with the committees and described the subpoena issued to it as "friendly." "As part of our oversight authority and authorized investigation into allegations of potential foreign influence on the US political process, the House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to multiple financial institutions in coordination with the House Financial Services Committee, including a friendly subpoena to Deutsche Bank, which has been cooperative with the Committees," he said in a statement. "We look forward to their continued cooperation and compliance," he said. Maxine Waters, chair of the Financial Services Committee, said her committee was investigating "the potential use of the US financial system for illicit purposes." The committee, she said, "is exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates." Story continues The announcement of the subpoenas comes just two days before the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on his near two-year investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. Attorney General Bill Barr summarized Mueller's findings in a four-page letter to Congress last month, saying the former FBI director found no evidence of collusion between Trump's campaign and Moscow. Barr also cleared Trump of obstruction of justice even though Mueller, while reaching no conclusion on that score, said his investigation did not exonerate the president. South Bend (United States) (AFP) - When Pete Buttigieg declared his candidacy for US president, he was greeted with a roaring cheer and the drip, drip, drip of a leaky roof in a former auto plant. The 37-year-old -- who has catapulted from relative obscurity to among the leaders of a crowded Democrat pack in the latest polls -- spoke in front of thousands Sunday in the cavernous Studebaker complex in his hometown. The roof was a reminder that the entire plant has been abandoned and decaying for decades. But just steps from where Buttigieg gave his speech was a far different scene -- gone were rusted roofs and broken windows. Instead, that section of the complex had been redeveloped into gleaming new offices for high-tech companies. Studebaker is one of the young mayor's proudest success stories -- and an example of where he wants to take America's Rust Belt. "There is a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back," Buttigieg said in his speech. Fed up blue-collar workers voted for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 largely on his promise to revitalize American manufacturing and return their towns to their former glory. But Buttigieg is now trying to win over those same voters with a competing vision. "That's why I'm here today. To tell a different story than 'Make America Great Again,'" he said, invoking President Trump's campaign slogan. "It's time to walk away from the politics of the past, and toward something totally different." - A growing city - "Mayor Pete," as he's affectionately called, is proposing to do for America what he has done for South Bend. The city managed to reverse decades of decline, and attract new development and investment. Its population has grown slightly every year since 2013, two years after Buttigieg became mayor. The labor force has grown, unemployment has declined, and wages are up, according to a report by Indiana University. Story continues The changes inspired Gillian Shaw, a New Jersey native, to remain in South Bend after she completed her studies at nearby University of Notre Dame. She co-founded a healthcare technology company that is located in the Studebaker building. "I moved here the same year that Pete was elected mayor," she said. "And I have seen just the revitalization of this city, and I love it and I want to be part of it." These are no small achievements for a town Newsweek in 2011 called one of America's 10 dying cities. "The mayor was able to create a sense of optimism," said South Bend-based political science professor Elizabeth Bennion of Indiana University. - Challenges - The question before voters will be whether Buttigieg has shown enough results in his hometown to steer the world's biggest economy. Like the Studebaker plant, South Bend is an unfinished project. Its streets are mixed with new development and buildings that look barely used, if not vacant. Indiana University forecasted that South Bend and surrounding areas will grow in 2019, but at "a fairly modest rate." Bennion said the city "continues to face many of the same challenges of other urban cities," including high poverty and homicide rates. Buttigieg also will have stiff competition for the hearts of Trump voters. Eighteen Democrats have already declared they are running for their party's nomination to face Trump in 2020. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also is claiming the Middle America mantle, saying she can speak to swing voters. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is aiming squarely for the Rust Belt. The democratic socialist polls twice as well as Buttigieg and last week traveled to Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- all states where blue-collar workers narrowly handed Trump the presidency. And then, there is Joe Biden. The former vice president during the Barack Obama administration is widely expected to declare his candidacy soon. "A lot depends on what Biden does," because the former VP appeals to the same voters Buttigieg is courting, said Paul Beck, a political science professor at Ohio State University. "I would think that if Biden enters in, that's going to be somebody who will be a very serious competitor to Buttigieg," Beck said. - 'Does he have longevity?' - So far, Buttigieg has captured voters' imagination with a carefully-crafted narrative: a results-oriented mayor, a married gay man who talks earnestly about his religious faith, a Rhodes scholar and an Afghanistan war veteran. Recent polls in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire show Buttigieg in third place behind Biden and Sanders. His standing in nationwide polls is also steadily rising, with some surveys showing him closing in on high-profile rivals such as Kamala Harris and Beto O'Rourke while one survey by Emerson Polling had him in third place nationwide. New figures show that he has already raised $7 million in donations, well ahead of many of the more established candidates, with the New York Times calling him "the surprise darling of donors, both big and small" on Tuesday. The political rise has been so swift that staffers have struggled to keep up. When Buttigieg delivered his campaign launch speech, he had no speechwriter to assist him. None had been hired yet. WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. terrorism label for Iran's Revolutionary Guard formally took effect on Monday, amid a battle between the Trump administration and some in Congress over waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions that are due to expire or be extended early next month. The Guard's formal designation as a "foreign terrorist organization" the first-ever for an entire division of another government kicked in with a notice published in the Federal Register. The move adds a layer of sanctions to the elite military unit and makes it a crime for anyone in or subject to U.S. jurisdiction to provide it with material support. Depending on how broadly "material support" is interpreted, the designation may complicate U.S. diplomatic and military cooperation with certain third-country officials, notably in Iraq and Lebanon, who deal with the Guard. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step with great fanfare last week, opening a one-week consultation period with Congress during which members could have raised objections. Lawmakers were broadly supportive, but congressional Iran hawks are now expressing concern that the administration may extend waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions. Those sanctions, which are unrelated to the Guard designation, were imposed last November following Trump's withdrawal of the U.S. from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal that May. They target major elements of Iran's economy, notably its energy sector, by hitting foreign companies and governments with so-called "secondary sanctions" if they continue to do business with targeted Iranian entities. A main goal has been to dry up revenue from Iran's oil exports, which the U.S. says is the main driver of the country's funding of destabilizing activities throughout the Middle East and beyond. In order not to shock oil markets with the sudden loss of Iranian crude, the administration granted several waivers that allowed some nations and Taiwan to continue their imports as long as they moved to reduce them to zero. Those waivers are due to expire in early May, and Iran hawks in Congress and elsewhere are urging the administration not to renew any of them. They say extending even some of the eight waivers would run counter to Trump and Pompeo's stated goal of keeping "maximum pressure" on Iran. Story continues U.S. officials have been coy when asked about the waivers, leading to concern among hawks that some or all of them may be extended. The administration's point man for Iran, Brian Hook, has said that three of the waivers won't need to be extended as those countries have eliminated all Iranian oil imports. But he has remained silent on the other five. Pompeo has similarly refused to comment on the possibility of extensions. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Pompeo was pressed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about whether the oil sanctions waivers, as well as waivers related to technical cooperation at Iranian nuclear facilities, would be extended. He suggested that some at the State Department were pushing for extensions. "Let me urge you and urge the department unequivocally not to grant the nuclear waivers and not to grant the oil waivers," Cruz said, "I think maximum pressure should mean maximum pressure." Pompeo demurred, but during a trip to South America over the weekend he bristled when asked if the Iran hawks had reason to be concerned. "It's ludicrous," he told reporters accompanying him. "It's ludicrous. Look, people want to tell stories, people want to sell newspapers. I've got it. Congressmen will grandstand, I've got that too. The State Department's going to get it right. We understand our mission." Cruz was not impressed. "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee needs to understand why some in the State Department think it's a good idea to keep enriching the Ayatollah with oil billions and to let Iran keep spinning centrifuges in a bunker that they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons," he said in a statement released by his office. Haiti is eager to benefit from Moroccos agricultural expertize and is mulling plans to buy fertilizers from the North African country. According to local media Haiti Libre, these cooperation prospects were reviewed at a recent meeting in Rome between Minister of Agriculture Jobert C. Angrand and Moroccos ambassador to Italy Hassan Abouyoub, who is a former Agriculture Minister. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 161st meeting of the Council of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week. Haiti will shortly submit a fertilizers purchase deal to Morocco via its Embassy in Italy, the local media said, adding that Angrand deems Moroccan fertilizers as one of the best in the world. The two countries initiated talks on cooperation in the field of agriculture during a Haitian recent mission in Morocco. Part of this cooperation, 10 Haitian executives will shortly participate in a training program on agricultural credit, as Morocco has acquired expertize in the field through nation-wide strategies to meet the loan demands of farmers. By Luc Cohen and Mayela Armas CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido will seek to annul an $8.7 billion arbitration award to U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips as he moves to preserve foreign assets, Guaido's chief legal representative said on Tuesday. If accepted, the annulment request would halt enforcement of the award over the 2007 loss of Conoco's projects in the South American country. It would follow a March decision by the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to impose the largest arbitration award against Venezuela. Jose Ignacio Hernandez, whom Guaido has tapped as a special prosecutor, told Reuters his team separately has challenged the amount of the ICSID award, claiming "the methodology to determine the compensation was errant." Conoco would see no merit in a request for "annulment or rectification" and would "strongly defend" against such requests, company spokesman Daren Beaudo said. George Kahale, a U.S. attorney who represented the Venezuelan government before the World Bank tribunal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela's information ministry also had no immediate response to a request for comment. An annulment would be a boost to Guaido, who in January invoked a constitutional provision to assume an interim presidency. Backed by the United States and dozens of other countries, Guaido argues President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate. Hernandez has been assigned to protect Venezuela's assets abroad from possible seizure by creditors. Cash-strapped Venezuela has balked at paying in other arbitration cases. Conoco has used legal seizures of Venezuelan oil assets to enforce earlier claims. Other creditors are attempting to seize shares in U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum, Venezuela's prize overseas asset, to collect on debts. It was unclear if Guaido's representatives have standing to challenge the award since the World Bank has not recognized Guaido. An ICSID spokesman said the body was not in a position to provide any further information on the case. Story continues David Malpass, the newly named president of the World Bank, said last week that recognition would be up to its shareholders. Hernandez said Guaido's legal representation "cannot be questioned." Last month, a U.S. judge ruled that Guaido's representatives could present arguments in a court battle with Canadian mining company Crystallex, which is pursuing Citgo to collect on an arbitration award in compensation for Venezuela's expropriation of a gold mining project. Venezuela's nationalization wave, led by late President Hugo Chavez as part of his Socialist project, led to more than 20 international arbitration claims, which remain mostly unpaid. (Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; editing by Gary McWilliams, Tom Brown and Dan Grebler) In life-or-death situations, people across the U.S. rely on their cellphones now more than ever. But in parts of rural America, cellphone lines arent ringing: Limited phone signals and aging landlines far outside city limits represent a growing problem for households. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that more than half of the homes in the U.S had only wireless service during the first half of 2017. This is an increase of 3.2 percentage points since the first half of 2016, according to a report on the statistics in The Washington Post. Omar Smith, a volunteer firefighter who lives in Readsboro, Vermont, spoke to HuffPost about the service issues. Weve been here in rural towns, and we havent had cell coverage or broadband for the most part, Smith said. So, if theres an emergency and youre out somewhere in the woods or on a back road, you have to get somewhere where you can call for help. Smith has been working closely with state Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Vt.) for several years on the signal problems. In 2007, the lawmaker fought to form the Vermont House Committee on Energy and Technology. The group now oversees projects to connect rural areas with large service providers. Energy, technology and IT are really the three areas that we oversee, Sibilia said. So, brand-new committee, got our feet wet on a lot of connectivity projects and a few energy projects the first two years. In 1934, the Federal Communications Act required phone companies to expand landlines into rural areas. Today, no obligation exists for cellphone providers to extend their service into rural areas. Still, failure to establish a wireless signal is not the only reason southern Vermont residents are having problems with cellular communication. In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene caused infrastructure damage in 90% of the towns in Vermont. More than 500 miles of roadways were closed, and downed landlines left communities like Readsboro stranded. Smith told HuffPost that, during the storm, local phone lines were demolished. Story continues The state of Vermont has attempted to develop programs to improve cell service, yet some of those attempts have already failed. In 2018, the state ended a multimillion-dollar project with CoverageCo, a small cell service company, because the business was not able to provide adequate reception in some rural areas. Gov. Phil Scotts office made an agreement with AT&T that lets areas like Townshend, Vermont, get service from temporary cell sites on wheels, according to the Brattleboro Reformer. One of the major beneficiaries was Grace Family Health & Hospital, according to Doug DiVello, CEO of the hospital, who spoke to HuffPost about the support the governor has provided. Census estimates show that since 2010, Vermonts population has been shrinking. As the population in smaller towns gets even smaller, residents worry that businesses will have no interest in spending millions of dollars on cellphone infrastructure. Smith told HuffPost, I think it needs to happen on the federal level, not just the state level, because of the internet connection. I think, somehow, we have to put money into that infrastructure. A Pew Research Survey shows that a growing number of Americans are relying on their cellphones to access the internet. With individuals across the country using their mobile devices now more than ever, Rep. Sibilia told HuffPost, in order to improve the economy in southern Vermont, there needs to be a stronger focus on connectivity. Who wants to buy a house where theres no cell service or Internet? So, whos left? It is elderly, it is people who stayed in their home, it is people in poverty, by and large. People with a means to move will move. BRASILIA (Reuters) - Leaders of Brazil's largest parties have delayed to next week an expected vote to start discussion in parliament on the country's pension reform. Earlier on Monday, House Speaker Rodrigo Maia said he expected the committee to approve the discussion in a vote on Tuesday. But the government leader in the House, deputado Major Vitor Hugo (PSL-GO), said late on Monday that the vote, the first step to start discussing the draft reform, is now expected to take place next week. (Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello and Eduardo Simoes; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sonya Hepinstall) President Trump and press secretary Sarah Sanders head to the South Lawn to speak to reporters in October 2018. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) White House press secretary Sarah Sanders spent Sunday morning in full defense of President Trump on everything from his reluctance to release his taxes to his change of heart on WikiLeaks and tweeted attacks on a Muslim congresswoman. Sanders told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace that she thought members of Congress werent smart enough to understand Trumps tax returns. This is a dangerous, dangerous road, said Sanders. And frankly, Chris, I don't think Congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trumps taxes will be. My guess is most of them dont do their own taxes, she added, and I certainly dont trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything. Democrats, empowered after the 2018 elections gave them control of the House, requested six years of the presidents personal and business tax returns under a provision in the federal tax code that says the IRS shall furnish any filers tax return information to the chairs of three congressional committees upon written request. In response to Sanderss comments, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., tweeted, Dear @PressSec Sarah Sanders: How about sending us the tax returns of @POTUS as required by law. If we are not smart enough to understand them, we will send them back. Pinky promise. I am smart enough to understand @realDonaldTrump is gutting preexisting conditions coverage. House Democrats initially gave the Trump administration a deadline of April 10 but pushed it to April 23 after the administration asked for more time to consider the initial request, which Sanders on Sunday called a disgusting overreach. The presidents been clear from the beginning that as long as his taxes are under audit hes not going to release them, said Sanders. And when asked if Trump will order the IRS not to release his tax returns, Sanders said, We'll have to see what happens on that front. This issues even been litigated we went through it in 2016. Story continues And speaking of 2016, Sanders also on Fox News Sunday attempted to clarify Trumps deal with WikiLeaks after its founder, Julian Assange, was arrested last week. I know nothing about WikiLeaks. Its not my thing, Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office Thursday when asked if he still loves WikiLeaks. And when asked about Assange, he said, I know nothing really about him its not my deal in life. Look, clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign, Sanders said Sunday about Trump, who had repeatedly praised WikiLeaks ahead of the 2016 election. Ill tell you, this WikiLeaks stuff is unbelievable, Trump said at a rally in Lakeland, Fla., on Oct. 12, 2016. It tells you the inner heart you gotta read it. In Wilmington, Ohio, five days later, Trump said that as he was getting off the plane, they were just announcing new WikiLeaks, and I wanted to stay there, but I didnt want to keep you waiting. Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks, he added. Certainly, we take this serious, said Sanders on Sunday as she credited Assanges arrest to the Trump administration. Were the only ones that have taken this whole process seriously and actually did something to solve the problem. The president was making a joke during the campaign about the specifics of the case at that moment. Sanders also asserted on ABC News This Week that Trump, after days of stoking controversy around freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., meant no harm to the Muslim congresswoman. The president is wishing no ill will, certainly not violence towards anyone," said Sanders. "But the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her, not only one-time, but history of anti-Semitic comments. Omar, previously embroiled in controversy because of her criticisms of Israel, had come under new assault over a speech she gave last month at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser during which she said the organization 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. Republicans zeroed in on the line some people did something, which they considered a flippant description of the terrorists and their actions, and on Saturday, Trump tweeted a video splicing together Omars comments and footage of the Sept. 11 attacks. Democrats came to Omars defense and condemned Trumps actions as inciting racism and Islamophobic violence. Omar responded to the attacks on Twitter, writing, I did not run for Congress to be silent. I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy. She continued: No one person no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious can threaten my unwavering love for America. I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a statement Sunday that she had spoken with congressional authorities to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces, said Pelosi, who denounced Trumps involvement in the controversy. The Presidents words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger, she said. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: If you are looking for a stock that has a solid history of beating earnings estimates and is in a good position to maintain the trend in its next quarterly report, you should consider Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH). This company, which is in the Zacks Leisure and Recreation Services industry, shows potential for another earnings beat. This cruise operator has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 5.15%. For the most recent quarter, Norwegian Cruise Line was expected to post earnings of $0.79 per share, but it reported $0.85 per share instead, representing a surprise of 7.59%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $2.21 per share, while it actually produced $2.27 per share, a surprise of 2.71%. Price and EPS Surprise With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Norwegian Cruise Line. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Norwegian Cruise Line has an Earnings ESP of +0.53% at the moment, suggesting that analysts have grown bullish on its near-term earnings potential. When you combine this positive Earnings ESP with the stock's Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner. Story continues When the Earnings ESP comes up negative, investors should note that this will reduce the predictive power of the metric. But, a negative value is not indicative of a stock's earnings miss. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Wintrust Financial (WTFC) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.40 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -0.65%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this bank holding company would post earnings of $1.57 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.35, delivering a surprise of -14.01%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. Wintrust, which belongs to the Zacks Banks - Midwest industry, posted revenues of $343.64 million for the quarter ended March 2019, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.18%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $310.76 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Wintrust shares have added about 13% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 16%. What's Next for Wintrust? While Wintrust has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Wintrust was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.64 on $361.96 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $6.56 on $1.45 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Banks - Midwest is currently in the top 37% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Is your investment advisor fumbling your financial future? See how you can more effectively safeguard your retirement with a new Special Report, 4 Warning Signs Your Investment Advisor Might Be Sabotaging Your Financial Future. Click to get your free report. Wintrust Financial Corporation (WTFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - A Wisconsin man who prosecutors say transported seven young women across state lines and forced them into prostitution using ads on Backpage.com before U.S. authorities shut it down was found guilty on Monday on federal sex trafficking charges. The conviction of Erin Graham, 37, marks the latest criminal case stemming from Backpage, which became the largest sex marketing website before it was seized in April 2018 as part of an investigation that saw the website's founders and CEO charged in a 93-count federal court indictment. They are set to go on trial next year. Graham was found guilty of seven counts of sex trafficking following a five-day trial in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin. During the trial victims testified they had been forced to engage in multiple acts of prostitution and turn over the money to him and his girlfriend, Patience Moore, 28, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a written statement. He was arrested in April 2017 when a young woman ran bleeding into a Madison, Wisconsin hotel lobby and hid behind the front desk, prompting a clerk to call police. The woman told a nurse at a local hospital Graham had strangled her to the point of unconsciousness after telling him she wanted to leave. "Through violence and coercion, Graham exploited vulnerable young women into committing commercial sex acts for his profit. In the process the victims were often degraded and robbed of their human dignity," U.S. Attorney Scott Blader said in the statement. Graham faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on July 1. Moore pleaded guilty last month to a role in the sex trafficking scheme and also faces a possible life prison term. Then-Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer agreed to shutter the website in April 2018 as part of an agreement with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges. A study released to Reuters last week found Backpage's closure dealt a huge blow to the illicit world of online prostitution. Demand for prostitutes dropped 67 percent and search volume plunged 90 percent immediately after the site went offline. Days after the Backpage seizure, President Donald Trump signed into law the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or SESTA-FOSTA. The new laws amended the 'safe harbors' provisions of the Communications Decency Act that had protected websites from criminal liability over third-party or user-generated content. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Bill Tarrant and Rosalba O'Brien) Tripoli (AFP) - Dozens of "yellow vest" protesters rallied Tuesday in the Libyan capital to denounce what they said was France's support for military strongman Khalifa Haftar who has launched an offensive on Tripoli. The demonstrators donned yellow vests in a nod to the jackets worn by anti-government protesters who have been rallying across France since November. "France must stop backing the rebel Haftar," read one sign held up by the demonstrators gathered in central Tripoli's Algiers Square. Another sign read: "France supplies weapons to the rebels (in exchange) for petrol." Fierce fighting between forces loyal to Haftar and those backing the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) has rocked Libya since the offensive on Tripoli was launched earlier this month. At least 174 people have been killed and 758 wounded in the battle for control over the Libyan capital, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Pro-government forces and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) accuse each other of targeting civilians, with each launching daily air raids in addition to clashes on the ground. Haftar is seen by his allies -- Egypt and the United Arab Emirates -- as a bulwark against Islamists who have gained a foothold in Libya after the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi. But many also consider France as a key backer of the military strongman, a charge denied by French authorities. Tuesday's protesters called for diplomatic ties to be severed with countries that "back aggression" on Tripoli. "Supporting Haftar by other governments is a declaration of war" against Libya, read another sign held by protesters. Last week, a French diplomatic source said authorities in Paris have "no hidden plans" concerning Hafter and would not recognise his legitimacy should he overrun Tripoli. But supporters of the UN-backed GNA say France has blocked resolutions at the UN Security Council, the European Union and other international bodies denouncing Haftar's offensive. Story continues A British-drafted resolution obtained Tuesday by AFP at UN headquarters in New York has been presented to the Security Council and demands an immediate ceasefire in Libya. The proposed measure said the offensive by the LNA "threatens the stability of Libya and prospects for a United Nations-facilitated political dialogue and a comprehensive political solution to the crisis". The GNA on Tuesday called for Europe's support against Haftar. King Mohammed VI has expressed heartfelt solidarity with the French people after Notre-Dame Cathedral was badly damaged by a fire caught on Monday. The King sent a message to French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he expressed sympathy with the French people over the incident. The King said he has been deeply moved by the news and expressed his full support and solidarity with the French President, on behalf of himself and on behalf of the Moroccan people. The Sovereign expressed the same feeling of solidarity and support to the entire French people for whom the Paris Cathedral is a historical symbol, noting that this disaster affects not only one of the most emblematic historical monuments of the city of Paris, but also a site of prayers for millions of worshipers around the world. A major fire ravaged Monday the French landmark monument, described by many as an architectural jewel of a collective memory, and the location of many great national and private events. Muslims, Christians, and Jews from all over the world expressed solidarity with France. It took 15 hours to the firefighters to extinguish the fire, whose cause is still unknown. Several French billionaires and ordinary citizens vowed to contribute to rebuild the cathedral, a spiritual symbol for Catholics of France and from across the world. 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 Moroccos Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan chaired, on Tuesday in Meknes, the opening of the 14th edition of the International Agricultural Fair (SIAM 2019), held April 16 through 21 under the theme Agriculture, an employment lever and the future of the rural world. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of several foreign countries, including Switzerland, this editions guest of honor, Benin, Bulgaria, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Cote dIvoire, Gabon, Germany, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, and Niger. At the beginning of the ceremony, Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan handed distinctive signs of origin and quality to four farmers/producers from various regions of the country. Afterwards, the Crown Prince toured the fair pavilions and got informed on the products exhibited. He also stopped by the forum for youth entrepreneurship in rural areas held on the sidelines of the fair. The SIAM is a key annual event to display progress made in the agricultural field and showcase the important role played by agriculture as one of the major levers of economic growth. Some 1,500 exhibitors from 60 countries are taking part in the fair. (Bloomberg) -- Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou said the iPhone will go into mass production in India this year, a shift for the largest assembler of Apple Inc.s handsets that has long concentrated production in China. Gou said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited him to India as his Taiwanese company plans its expansion in the country. Apple has had older phones produced at a plant in Bangalore for several years, but now will expand manufacturing to more recent models. Bloomberg News reported this month that Foxconn is ready to start trial production of the latest iPhones in the country before it starts full-scale assembly at its factory outside the southern city of Chennai. In the future we will play a very important role in Indias smartphone industry, Gou said at an event in Taiwan. We have moved our production lines there. India has become the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, while China stagnates and Apple loses share to local competitors such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. Apple has been a minor player in India, in part because of its high prices, but local manufacturing would help the Cupertino, California-based company avoid import duties of 20 percent. For Foxconn, the China market for iPhones is saturated, and labor costs are three times higher compared with India, said Karn Chauhan, a Gurgaon-based analyst at Counterpoint Research. India is still an emerging smartphone market, it has a lot of potential domestically and could serve as an export hub for the region. Gou also said on Monday that he plans to step back from daily operations to focus on broader strategy. The founder isnt stepping down or relinquishing his chairmanship, said Louis Woo, special assistant to Gou. Its not yet clear how Apples steps into India will affect its China operations. China has been the companys most important manufacturing base for years, home to Foxconns biggest facilities and hundreds of other partners. Story continues Foxconn already has two assembly sites in the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where it makes devices for Xiaomi and Nokia. Locating more production in India would help diversify Apple and Foxconns manufacturing footprint away from China amid ongoing trade tensions with the U.S. The Indian assembly line of Foxconns Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. would serve local and export markets by the time Apple announces its next iPhone models in September, people familiar with the matter have said. The Taiwanese contract manufacturer, the biggest maker of iPhones, will initially invest about $300 million to set up for Apple with investments to ramp up as capacity expands, they said. Gou said that his company is talking with the government about investment terms. He has a dozen software people in India and he plans to increase that to 600, he said. We are the primary assembler after all, Gou said on Monday. If our customer wants to boost its scale, it will need to depend on us to grow the comprehensive supply chain. Producing phones locally would also help Apples retail push in India. The company needs to meet a 30 percent local sourcing rule to be able to open its own stores in the country. Indians bought more than 140 million smartphones last year, with just 1.7 million sold by Apple, as consumers favored cheaper models from China. On Xiaomis Indian website, the Redmi Note 7 has a price of 9,999 rupees ($143), which is about a 10th the price of Apples iPhone Xs in the country. (Updates with analysts comment in the fifth paragraph.) To contact the reporters on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net;Saritha Rai in Bangalore at srai33@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com 2019 Bloomberg L.P. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is said to be sanctioning hackers to target vulnerable crypto exchanges in South-east Asia. | Source:North Korea's Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS Despite the heavy international sanctions it is under, North Korea has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs undeterred thanks to the sanctions-circumvention tactics the hermit kingdom has developed. According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), one of the chief ways North Korea is financing its WMD programs is through cryptocurrencies, which it has obtained mostly illegally. Currently, it estimated that North Korea may have amassed cryptocurrencies worth between $545 million and $735 million. The hermit kingdom has been linked to various cybercrime activities, the most lucrative of which have been hacking cryptocurrency exchanges. North Korea not Keen on Observing Good Neighborliness In what amounts to old news, the RUSI report says North Korea has been mostly targeting South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. These exchanges include YouBit and Bithumb. In some instances, North Korean cybercrime operatives have hacked the same South Korean crypto exchanges more than once. This is the case with Bithumb and YouBit. The report further adds that the number of cybercrime operatives working for North Korea is in the thousands. The most prominent of these state-sponsored North Korean cybercrime organizations is the Lazarus Group: Joyce Prado lost her title as Miss Bolivia Universe 2018 after confirming her pregnancy. Photo: Getty Images A Bolivian beauty queen was stripped of her title for a breach of contract after officials found out that she is pregnant. Joyce Prado, 22, was crowned as Miss Bolivia Universe 2018 in June. But before making it to the end of her reign, she lost her titles as both Miss Bolivia and Miss Santa Cruz just days before she shared some personal news on Sunday. The modeling agency responsible for the pageants, Promociones Gloria, took to its Facebook page on Friday to announce the development and cite reasons that are strictly related to contractual breach. Promociones Gloria comunica a la Opinion Publica que la actual Miss Santa Cruz y Miss Bolivia Universo 2018 , ha sido Posted by Promociones Gloria on Friday, April 12, 2019 The agency went on to say that it had to safeguard the confidentiality clause and didnt include specific details about its decision to cut ties with the titleholder. Two days later, however, Prado confirmed her pregnancy with her boyfriend of four months, Paraguayan model Rodrigo Gimenez on Instagram. Becoming a father or mother may be the most important challenge that we present in life, but as it may be difficult, it can also become the most rewarding thing in the world, Prado wrote in her post on Sunday. I want to share with you that I am the happiest woman in the world because my life is full of love, because next to the man of my dreams we are starting to live the most beautiful stage of our lives. On the same day, Promociones Gloria shared a newspaper clipping on their Instagram with the headline, Joyce Prado is left without a crown because of her pregnancy. Within the article for El Dia Digital, Promociones Glorias executive, Tatiana Limpas, confirmed that Prado was relinquished of her titles because she is eight weeks pregnant. Story continues Still, Limpas shared, We have a 5-year contract with Joyce. She will remain in the ranks of the agency as a model. According to Miss Universe guidelines, contestants may not be married or pregnant. They also cannot have previously been married or parented a child. As for titleholders, they are required to remain unmarried throughout their reign. People took to Promociones Glorias Instagram to share their thoughts, including those who maintained that Prado was aware of the rules that she had to abide by. A son is a blessing, but she had a commitment to the country, one commenter wrote. She knew too well that during the reign she could not get pregnant. Many others, however, praised the young woman for being brave enough to speak out about her pregnancy and acknowledge that her baby is more important than the crown. A pregnant woman does not lose her beauty, in fact, is enriched with feelings of admiration from us men because we all came from a mother, so, with all due respect to its rules and legal conditions, it does not seem right to me to remove the crown, one person wrote. Another said, This queen is an admirable woman who decided to put her son first. Neither Prado nor Promociones Gloria responded to Yahoo Lifestyles requests for comment. Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com Want more lifestyle and celebrity news? Follow Yahoo Lifestyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or sign up to our daily newsletter here. Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) appealed Tuesday for Europe's support against military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is waging an offensive on Tripoli, warning continued violence could see 800,000 people try to flee to the West. "It interests the whole of Europe to see a peaceful and democratic Libya," GNA vice president Ahmad Maitig told the foreign media press association in Rome. He said Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini "shows big support for the peace process" and brushed off reports France favoured Haftar, saying "the position of the French government is to support the national accord government". But he repeated warnings that the offensive by Haftar's forces could spark an exodus of displaced Libyans and migrants. Some "800,000 people can easily reach Europe," he said, adding that Islamic State group fighters currently held as prisoners could be among them. There were "more than 400 (IS) prisoners" in Libya whose whereabouts could not be secured should Haftar push on to take the capital, he said. "These prisoners are terrorists and we were working with the international community to keep them and hold them. At the same time we see some international partners, our international team players, supporting the attack and supporting Haftar. "This is something not understandable for the GNA," he said. - 'No deal' - Maitig also dismissed the idea the government would intervene to prevent Libyans and migrants fleeing for Europe under an EU-approved deal signed between Italy and Libya in 2017. "There is no agreement on keeping the migrants in Libya at all. Zero. The agreement was to prepare the Libyan coastguard... that is it." The accord for Italy to train Libya's coastguard -- signed in a bid to end Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War -- saw a significant drop in the flow of African migrants across the central Mediterranean. Some 265 migrants have landed in Italy so far this year, compared to 7,500 last year in the same period and over 30,000 the year before, according to the interior ministry. Libya has long been a major transit country for migrants desperate to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. International aid groups have warned migrants could be used as human shields or forcibly recruited to fight. Libya has been in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Haftar's offensive began shortly before a conference set for this month to discuss Libya's future -- an event the UN cancelled as the forces closed in on the capital. Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed out from his power base in the country's east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government led by Fayez al-Sarraj. The vice president of the UN-backed government in Libya, Ahmad Maitig, warns 800,000 people could flee towards Europe if violence continues from an offensive on Tripoli by a military strongman, Khalifa Haftar The fight for Tripoli has sparked international alarm over Libya, which has been wracked by unrest since the NATO-backed 2011 overthrow of former dictator Moamer Kadhafi Libya is a major transit point for migrants desperate to reach Europe. A 2017 deal signed by Italy to boost Libya's coastguard has dramatically cut numbers making the risky Mediterranean Sea voyage Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, seen here (left) meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, launched his offensive on Tripoli from his eastern bastion Photo: Susan Walsh/AP/REX/Shutterstock/Susan Walsh/AP/REX/Shutterstock Calls for civility in politics are as likely to elicit ridicule as they are plaudits these days, due in large part to their repeated deployment in the face of escalating state violence. Those who insist that, for example, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has the right to dine at restaurants without being confronted by angry constituents betray a disconnect in how different Americans view accountability for government officials: Some feel that locking children in cages makes Nielsen fair game for a public reckoning, no matter when or where she is; others believe that her job entitles her to a respectful distance between her life as a public figure and as a private citizen. Where one falls on this spectrum in any given instance is often, but not always, a partisan calculation. Representative Andy Barr of Kentucky provides a recent example of how malleable the standards can be. There was nothing civil about Barrs Republican colleague, Dan Crenshaw, implying last week that Ilhan Omar said the 9/11 terrorist attacks were trivial events, setting in motion a right-wing outrage cycle that culminated in an inflammatory video tweeted by the president and death threats against the congresswoman. Yet it was Crenshaw whom Barr saw fit to defend in the name of civility after Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused him of [drumming] resentment toward Omar. Your recent comments about Congressman Crenshaw demonstrate a lack of civility that is becoming far too common in the U.S. House of Representatives, Barr wrote in a letter to the Bronx congresswoman demanding an apology, which he then tweeted to the public. Ocasio-Cortezs incivility, in Barrs view, stemmed from her claim that Crenshaw has done little to support 9/11 victims or curb right-wing domestic terrorism, which of late has killed more Americans than any other kind. A former Navy SEAL, Crenshaw is one of many Republican members of Congress who have not supported renewing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Their reticence has placed its survival on shaky ground, even as the number of incoming claims rises to unprecedented levels. In 2018, right-wing extremists were behind almost all U.S. domestic terror killings, Ocasio-Cortez added. Why dont you go do something about that. Barr addressed this claim by pointing to Crenshaws military service in Afghanistan. Not only has Congressman Crenshaw done something to combat terrorism, he was wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) while serving. Enlisting in the armed forces has little to do with combating white-supremacist extremism domestically which, on the contrary, has found plenty of foot soldiers among both active and former service members. Nor is Barr an ideal ambassador for defending the militarys merits: One of his more famous attack lines in the 2018 midterms against his Democratic opponent Amy McGrath, a former Marine combat aviator entailed equating his service as a politician with hers as a soldier, and then contrasting the two by saying his was a job where ideas matter. In fact, Barr did not engage substantively with any of Ocasio-Cortezs critiques which was the point, really. He seemed interested in scoring political points against her and little else. In doing so, he made clear that there is little merit to a civility that gives a free pass to Dan Crenshaw for drawing on Islamophobic stereotypes to mischaracterize Omars words especially knowing how beset she is already by right-wing threats but cries foul when Ocasio-Cortez speaks honestly about his record on the issues that he claims to care about. Ocasio-Cortez was not taking Crenshaw to task merely because she enjoyed it. She was denouncing a colleague who had warped another colleagues words to cast her as a terrorist sympathizer. Listening to Omars remarks in Los Angeles last month, where she declared that American Muslims like her had been transformed into a perpetual suspect caste because some people did something referencing the handful of Islamists who committed the 9/11 attacks it requires a profound ungenerosity to interpret them as trivializing the attacks themselves. That is, unless one is predisposed to believe what the right seems intent on propagandizing about the Minnesota congresswoman: that she is somehow linked, or at least sympathetic, to the violent ideology that precipitated 2,997 murders. It is difficult to imagine the blade cutting the other way: As Elizabeth Spiers writes for GQ, plenty of Republicans refer to 9/11 in passing all the time without rending their clothes, publicly grieving in demonstrative ways, and going out of their way to emphasize that the terrorists were evil. They are allowed to use oblique descriptions like when the towers fell or the events of 9/11. We all know what theyre talking about, and no one thinks theyre reducing the terrorist attacks to a meaningless abstraction. Crenshaw embraced this Islamophobic line of attack anyway. And there is little doubt that doing so has material implications Omar has said that she receives regular death threats, and the FBI recently arrested a New York man for threatening to put a bullet in her fucking skull. President Trump, following Crenshaws lead, tweeted a video interspersing her remarks with actual footage of the airplanes colliding with the Twin Towers. Through it all, Andy Barr said nothing. As with the rest of his Republican colleagues, the Kentucky congressman allowed a willful misreading of Omars remarks to serve as unchallenged pretext for dubious claims about her loyalty. And he did so knowing the potential dangers and recognizing that plausible deniability namely, that Crenshaw and Trump did not explicitly call for Omar to be threatened would shield them from having to take responsibility for whatever happened next. Barr then invoked the need for civility in navigating the fallout in particular, to ensure that Crenshaws behavior was not cast by Ocasio-Cortez as a referendum on his integrity. But the reality is that it was. If there was any dishonesty or maltreatment from one colleague to another at play here, it was that of the Texas congressman against Ilhan Omar. But good-faith interpretations of a Democratic colleagues remarks do not fit Barrs rubric for civility. It is for this reason that his conception of the term is useless, except as a political cudgel for him to use at will. By this definition, the kind of civility that Barr claims is missing in Congress is not missing at all. Bad-faith outcries about civility aimed at deflecting from Republican misdeeds are the order of the day. A great positive story coming from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), countering much of the negative news these days, is one of energy. Here, in one of the driest and sunniest regions on earth, countries are boldly turning to the sun and wind to power their futures. Global goals The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which is based in Abu Dhabi, wants to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. In a report last year, IRENA said that a more rapid deployment of renewables, combined with greater energy efficiency, could achieve 90% of energy sector emission reductions required by the agreement. What this would look like in 2050, is that renewables would comprise 2/3rds of the worlds energy consumption and 4/5ths of its power generation in that year. Regional efforts Countries across the MENA region are heeding this message by taking initial but firm steps toward a large-scale integration of renewables into their energy mix. Their motives are not just altruistic, since demand for electricity is expected to grow by 7 percent annually in the region. They must find cheap energy sources to support economic development for growing populations. Solar energy has become the cheapest form of new power generation for them. A short list of leading projects, recently completed or underway in five countries across the region, gives a good sense of the scale of whats going on. Egypt Egypt is making strides toward achieving an ambitious national goal for renewables to make up 42% of the countrys electricity mix by 2035, with rapid solar and wind deployment. Its solar PV program, which includes the enormous new Benban complex near Aswan launching later this year, should yield 3-4 GW of solar power coming online during the next 2-3 years. The impressive solar program is complemented by a commitment to wind. Capacity has been added at the Zaafarana wind farm, east of Cairo on the Gulf of Suez, for several years. It is now complemented by the newly inaugurated Gabal El Zeit wind farm, near Gabal El Zeit Port by the confluence of the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea. There, a hundred new wind turbines are adding 200 MW of capacity. The government recently announced that the two wind farms together are producing 1 GW of power. Related: U.S. Energy Consumption Hits All-Time Record Wind energy is being developed through both private investment and international aid. The Netherlands-based Lekela Power, with wind projects in several African countries, is now adding 250 MW of wind power at Gabal El Zeit. The German government's development bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have provided financing. Morocco Morocco plans to meet 42% of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020. The target rises to 52% by 2030. Its moving toward this with an impressive pipeline of solar and wind projects. The Moroccan Solar Energy Programme (aka NOOR or light), is developing five solar complexes with a combined capacity of approximately 2GW by 2020. The most remarkable of these are two hybrid concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) plants, among the largest in the world; both are in central Morocco straddling the Atlas Mountain range. The hybrid CSP-PV approach seeks advantages from combining low-cost PV with CSP storage capability. The 580 MW NOOR Ouarzazate solar project will become fully operational this year. This will be followed by the 800 MW NOOR Midelt project. They are being financed through public-private partnerships and World Bank loans. The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) is overseeing independent power producer (IPP) agreements. Morocco is also serious about wind energy. The Tarfaya wind farm has been built in phases at Tarfaya on the Atlantic coast across from the Canary Islands. It now has aome 130 turbines and an installed capacity of 300 MW. It is one of several new or planned wind farms in the Western Sahara area. Major investors include Engie, Siemens, Moroccos Nareva Holding and the Italian company Enel. Oman Oman is seeking to have 10% clean energy in its energy mix by 2025 (approximately 2.6 GW). Several solar PV projects are in the works to achieve this. A huge concentrated solar thermal power plant, the 1 GW Miraah (mirror) project for solar steam using CSP trough technology, was inaugurated last year. Meant to reduce the countrys dependence on natural gas for oil production, its thermal energy produces steam for thermal enhanced oil recovery at the Amal oilfield. Petroleum Development Oman, a joint venture between the government, Shell, Total and Partex, contracted with GlassPoint Solar to construct the solar thermal plant using its enclosed trough technology. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia issued a plan in 2013 for 54 GW of renewables by 2030. That was eclipsed by a venture with Softbank early last year, which raised the national solar target to a remarkable 200 GW by 2030. This fell through and the Saudi Ministry of Energy then returned almost to the starting point, intending 59 GW by 2030. So after fits and starts, the country is moving forward with the first projects of its National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) to achieve a more diverse energy mix. Its first big solar project, a 300 MW solar PV plant at Sakaka in the northwest of the country, will soon get underway. The renewable energy company ACWA Power, based in Saudi Arabia, was selected to develop it after submitting a record low bid of 2.36 cents per kWh. Related: The Case For $100 Oil The Saudis are intent on developing a domestic solar power components industry and require local sourcing for new solar plants. They have targeted a 10-year production of components sufficient to produce 140 GW of power, in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, which combined with their renewable energy goal would allow them to say they had indeed reached the 200 GW target. The Saudi push is also intent on developing wind power. The development of the Dumat Al Jandal wind farm was recently awarded to a consortium consisting of the French company EDF Renewables and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company). With an installed capacity of 400 MW, it will be Saudi Arabias first wind farm and among the largest in the Middle East. United Arab Emirates The UAE has set a national goal to gain 44% of its energy from renewable sources, mainly solar, by 2050. For its part, Dubai intends that 75% of its total power output will come from clean energy by 2050. Much of Dubais ambition lay in the enormous MBR Solar Park in the desert some 30 miles south of the city. The solar parks Phase 3, a solar PV array generating 800 MW, will be complete by next year. It was this phase, being built by a consortium of Masdar and EDF Energies Nouvelles, that broke records in 2016 for the lowest Levelised Cost of Electricity as a result of auctioning. Phase 4, a 950 MW solar CSP/PV complex, will consist of 700 MW CSP with up to 15 hours storage, and a further 250 MW of solar PV capacity. Called Noor Energy 1, it will be built by a consortium led by Saudi Arabias ACWA Power and the Chinese governments Silk Road Fund. In neighboring Abu Dhabi attention is focused on the 1.2 GW Sweihan solar PV plant. It is the worlds largest single location solar PV plant, currently under construction and expected to come online in 2019. Meanwhile, the Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA) is planning for a 1.5 GW Sweihan II plant. According to ADWEA, Abu Dhabi is looking to develop three or four new solar PV plants in order to reach a target 5.7 GW by 2026. By Alan Mammoser for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The United States nearly doubled its oil exports in 2018, the Energy Information Administration reporting on Monday, from 1.2 million barrels per day in 2017. The 2.0 million barrels of oil per day exported in 2018 was in line with increased oil production, which averaged 10.9 million barrels per day last year, and was made possible by changes to the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) which allowed it to load VLCCs. The changes to LOOP and to the sheer volume of exports were not the only changes for the US crude oil industry. The destination of this oil shifted in 2018 as well, and even shifted within the year as the trade row between China and the United States took hold. Overall, Canada remained the largest buyer of US oil in 2018, at 19% of all oil exports, according to EIA data. During the first half of 2018, the largest buyer of US crude oil was China, averaging 376,000 barrels per day. Due to the trade row, however, US oil exports to China fell to an average of just 83,000 barrels per day in the second half, after seeing zero exports to China in the months of August, September, and October. Overall in 2018, after Canada, the second highest purchaser of US oil was South Korea, followed by third-place China. In March, the IEA said that these rising US exports adds another layer of global supply security to the mix, predicting that US oil exports will reach 4 million barrels per day net export by 2024. This security in the market on the back of not only US oil production but also US oil exports could seek to limit higher oil prices should Russia and OPEC members zealously adhere to their production cut quotas that are set to be reviewed in June. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: In more proof that U.S. oil production is continuing to alter global oil markets, Russias finance minister Anton Siluanov said on Saturday that Russia and OPEC might decide to increase production to fight for market share with the U.S. His remarks were first covered by Russias Tass News Agency. Siluanov said that lower oil prices would then have a negative impact on U.S. oil production, an argument that was also made as far back as late 2014 when the Saudis sought to drive U.S. producers out of business by opening the oil production spigots in spite of an already flooded global oil market. (If the deal is abandoned) the oil prices will go down, then the new investments will shrink, American output will be lower because the production cost for shale oil is higher than for traditional output. He said that prices could drop to $40 per barrel or even less for up to one full year, adding that there had been no decision on the deal yet and he did not know whether OPEC countries would be happy with this scenario. Siluanovs comments arent without precedent. Russia has hinted before that it could start to pump more oil, which would in effect cause the worlds second-largest oil producer to nullify its participation in the OPEC+ oil cut deal put in place at the start of the year to remove 1.2 million b/d of oil from the market for six months, with a review period after this time. The OPEC+ deal, the second of its kind in three years, has been successful in reducing global oil supply, in addition to geopolitical developments, including reduced production from OPEC members Iran, Venezuela, and Libya. In lockstep, global oil prices have spiked to five-month highs, rising 30-40 percent on tightening supplies. Related: U.S. Doubles Oil Exports In 2018 On Friday, London-traded, Brent crude futures rose 72 cents, 1%, to settle at $71.55 per barrel. U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 32 cents for the session, settling at $53.89 per barrel - the sixth straight week of gains for WTI. And despite some bearish news at the beginning of the week, crude prices have held around these levels. Saudi Arabia to stay the course If Russia is waffling over its commitment to remain in the OPEC+ deal, Saudi Arabia is indicating that it will stand fast. Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, said two weeks ago that he was optimistic about the prospect of continued commitment to the OPEC+ production cuts. Earlier he said he expected other oil producers to catch up very soon. However, the fact remains that other producers in the agreement, including Russia, arent as committed to the deal (with lower compliance rates) as the first OPEC+ agreement that was put in place in January 2017, which was successful in bringing OECD oil inventory levels to five year averages and boosting prices that had sunk below $30 per barrel in January 2016. If Russia does decide to increase production, the Saudis will be faced with a no-win situation. If the Kingdom keeps its part of the oil cut deal, it will cede market share to Russia, particularly in China and other parts of Asia. If the Kingdom also forgoes the OPEC+ deal and ramps up production to fight for market share, though, it would put downward pressure on oil prices, especially as U.S. oil production continues to push ahead. However, whether oil prices would plunge to a dismal $40 per barrel as Siluanov predicted remains to be seen. By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Independent Russian oil and gas producer Irkutsk Oil Company (INK), which has Goldman Sachs as a shareholder, stands out in the state firm-dominated sector in Russia and plans to invest billions of U.S. dollars to develop its gas processing business and boost oil production. In 2013, Goldman Sachs International became a shareholder with a 3.75 percent stake in INK. The Irkutsk-based oil firm focuses on the geological study, exploration, and production of crude oil, condensate, and natural gas in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in eastern Siberia. Last September, INKs chairman and COO Nikolay Buynov met with representatives of the senior leadership of Goldman Sachs to discuss partnership opportunities, including the construction of a gas chemical plant, Irkutsk Polymer Plant, with planned production of 650,000 tons of polyethylene, INK said. Unlike most of the large Russian oil companies, INK has boosted its crude oil production in recent years and plans to invest between US$3 billion and US$4 billion in the next three years in building gas processing plants, the company told Reuters reporter Olesya Astakhova. Sure, INKs crude oil production is tiny compared to that of oil giant Rosneft, but the Irkutsk company has been bucking the trend in Russias oil industry in recent years where the sector dominated by large companies have been sluggish to increase output, even before the OPEC/non-OPEC deal capped Russias oil production. The OPEC+ deal has come at a good time for the company, INKs head of oil production Dmitry Zotov told Reuters. The OPEC deal has given us a chance to stop and draw breath, Zotov said. INK benefits from the fact that it is not under Western sanctions like some of the major energy companies in Russia. The downside of operating in eastern Siberia, however, is harsh weather in remote locations and shortage of skilled staff, Reuters notes. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Gazprom has begun buying natural gas from Turkmenistan after a three-year pause, under a 25-year contract signed in 2003 and suspended in 2016. Until 2010, Russias gas giant was the biggest buyer of Turkmen gas, Reuters recalls in its report on the story, adding that this was the year when Turkmenistan began exporting gas to China. This must not have sat well with Gazprom, for whom China is a major target market, so the company began reducing its intake of Turkmen gas. However, the exports to China were not the biggest problem. In 2015, Turkmengaz, Gazproms counterpart in Turkmenistan, accused the Russian company of owing payments for gas deliveries. It even declared Gazprom insolvent, to which the Russian major responded with a lawsuit, in which it insisted that the prices it paid for Turkmen gas be reviewed. It also demanded a compensation of US$5 billion alleging it had overpaid for the gas. A year later, Gazprom completely stopped buying Turkmen gas and switched to Uzbekistan as gas supplier instead. As of 2010, Gazprom imported between 40 and 50 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan. To date, the Central Asian country produces around 70 billion cubic meters, of which 40 billion cubic meters are exported to China. Turkmenistan has natural gas reserves estimated at 265 trillion cu ft, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This makes it the sixth-largest gas reserves holder globally. However, Turkmenistan has yet to reap the full benefits of its oil wealth. The country lacks the transport infrastructure that would make it a player to reckon with on international markets. Still, investments are on the rise and besides the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, which is the largest gas export pipeline in Central Asia, the country is also part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project. The pipeline is scheduled to start operating next year at a rate of 33 billion cubic meters annually. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The police in Anambra State on Monday paraded one Monday Onyikwa from Umuefi Village, Nteje in Oyi Local Council Area for allegedly selling a six-year- old girl for ritual purposes. Rabiu Ladodo, who briefed reporters in Awka, said the suspect was arrested in the bush with the victim, Chisom Egbunu. Mr Ladodo said Mr Onyikwa confessed that he was taking the child to one Nnamdi, a native doctor in Nando Village, Anambra Council Area who was also arrested. He said the man also confessed that he was paid N100,000 for the trafficking business, adding that the matter was still under investigation. The police commissioner also paraded the masterminds of the viral video of a nude woman, Ogochukwu Okafor, who allegedly visited her Facebook friend, Ifeanyi Azotani, and was humiliated by his wife and her friend. Mr Azotani, his wife Toochukwu and her friend Nwankwo posted the nude video on the internet after the victim refused to pay them the sum of N60, 000 they demanded from her to kill the video. The command said it recovered seven cars including one black Toyota Venza, three Toyota Corolla, two Lexus-350 Jeep and a Toyota Rav 4 Jeep from an Asaba based robbery syndicate led by one Paul Chukwuezugo and an accomplice Michael Obinna. The commissioner said the syndicate had earlier robbed one Chinyere Onwuzulike of her Lexus Jeep in Orumba North council area. Items recovered from them include one Barreta pistol, three IPhones and a Samsung phone. He said the suspects have voluntarily confessed to the crime. Mr Ladodo said a total of 113 suspected cultists were arrested with 45 of them already charged to court and 33 under investigation. According to him 35 of the cultists were screened out. (NAN) An image that makes some Democrats nauseous. Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images Intelligencer staffers Benjamin Hart, Ed Kilgore, and Eric Levitz discuss the unease with which some Democrats view Bernie Sanderss primary candidacy, and whether hes actually any less electable than his rivals. Ben: A New York Times piece published today outlined some Democrats fear that Bernie Sanders could pull a Trump 16. That is, he could ride an unshakable die-hard base and abundant cash flow and, in the case of the Democratic primary, a proportional delegate system that allows for candidates to hang around for months all the way to the partys nomination, as a horrified establishment looks on. Taking ideology and preference out of it, are their fears justified? Ed: Sure, Bernie could win, but its just one of a number of plausible scenarios. Comparing him to Trumps more than a little specious. Bernie ran in 2016; he wouldnt be coming out of the blue like Trump, and as Eric pointed out in his latest piece, Bernies policy positions are mostly those shared by his Democratic rivals. Eric: Their belief that it is a possibility is certainly justified. But a lot of the arguments for why Bernie is so formidable applies with more force to Biden (i.e., the fact that 40 percent of delegates will be allocated in the races first months, giving early front-runners the chance to amass a commanding lead early on). Ed: Yep, the calendar could produce an early knockout, or a deadlock. I dont think the deadlock scenario would be good for either Biden or Bernie. Ben: This also assumes that Bernie is uniquely ill-suited to take on Trump in a general election, which would be news to the Bernie would have won brigades that populate social media. Ed: Personally, my only fears about Bernie as a nominee are about his age (which is why I wrote that neither he nor Biden should run) and the stuff thats going to come out about him from the old days when he was hanging out with Sandinistas and serving as an elector for the Trotskyists. Eric: Right. In my view, Bernie is (at least at the moment) running as a labor liberal in socialists clothing. If not for his odd personal branding and advanced age I think itd be hard to make any electability argument against him. Ed: I mostly agree, though I think the hypothesis that he has special appeal to Trump voters because he sometimes dissents from Democratic orthodoxy on economic issues is suspect. That sort of ignores the cultural angle on Trumpism. Eric: I think Democrats are strongest when theyre talking about economic issues and exploiting widespread resentment of the rich. And Sanders is very good at steering any and all conversations toward those themes. Ed: No question that he knows how to stay on message, since hes been making much of his argument for decades. Eric: I do think that it isnt possible to know how his radical past will play in a general election, or whether his nomination would invite a third-party centrist spoiler, or whether he will be as spry in October 2020 as he is today. So there is risk. But its not clear to me that he is vastly more risky, from an electoral perspective, than the others except for maybe Biden, whose head-to-head numbers against Trump are quite strong. Ed: Again, I dont see him or Biden as being likely unity figures, and I dont see Bernie in particular scoring an early knockout, so I wonder what kind of condition a Democratic Party that nominated him would be in. And also whether his Bernie or bust supporters would react well to another narrow defeat. Ben: Right. What about the fear that he, or his supporters, might denigrate a rival in a damaging way, as some accused him of doing in 2016? Will this be a much different ball of wax this time around, given that hell be running against 73 people instead of just Hillary Clinton and Martin OMalley? Ed: I think all the candidates should be lecturing their supporters on unity right now. But I havent heard of too many Harris or bust people. Eric: I think its tricky because part of Sanderss project is to heighten the contradictions in the Democratic coalition and thus far, the Democratic donor class appears to be helplessly affirming his the political revolution versus the Establishment narrative. So hell always have a bit more difficulty herding his supporters. Still, it is worth remembering that fewer Bernie backers defected to Trump than Clinton 08 voters broke for McCain, Ed: I dunno. Most of the whining Ive heard from the Bernie folk involves alleged media efforts on behalf of Beto and Buttigieg, who, whatever else they are, are not exactly campaigning to go easy on Wall Street. Eric: I just mean that the Bernie campaign couldnt have scripted a better print advertisement than that Times article. The billionaire donors are terrified by my strength! Ed: Thats true. Ben: It seems probable that any party effort to kneecap Bernie will backfire by burnishing his insurgent credibility. One problem, not to make too sweeping a generalization, is that beyond the actual institutional bias in 2016, some of his supporters also have a tendency to see conspiracies where none exist. Ed: Well, dont want to go down an old rabbit hole of my own here, but there has always been a tendency in some elements of the serious left to assume that any opposition to its champions must be animated by corruption. That, after all, has been the career-long signature of Sanders speechwriter David Sirota. As applied to rivals like, say, Elizabeth Warren, thats just absurd. But in any event, this is a particularly bad year for anybody or bust claims. Eric: I think one question here is whether the anyone but Bernie sentiment is as common among Sanderss primary rivals as it is among these donors. If it isnt, then it might be harder to persuade the 2020 Democratic analogue to Marco Rubio to drop out and rally behind the 2020 Democratic analogue to Ted Cruz to stop Bernie. Ed: Well, aside from the fact that each of them dislikes the idea of anyone other than their own selves Among their supporters, probably not, outside Team Hickenlooper. Ed: I think its more likely that someone younger than Biden or Bernie emerges fairly early to win some primaries, so its not a matter of stopping anyone. Eric: Sure. A lot of ways the cookie could crumble. Harris still seems to me like the logical nominee, but it does feel like her reception has been somewhat lackluster, after a promising initial rollout. Though her fundraising is more than healthy. Ed: But I agree that a months-long Democrats in Disarray scenario where Bernies in the lead and Politico is scooping up panicked blind quotes would not be good for prospects against Trump. No matter who wins the nomination. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has pleaded with Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari, to allow one million Nigerians enter Canada under a new Employment and Migration Programme designed for immigrants. According to CBTV, Trudeau said that immigrants from Nigeria have been a strong force in Canadas growth in all sectors of its economy. He said: We cant undermine or overlook the contribution of immigrants in Canadas development especially our brothers and sisters from Nigeria. The Prime Minister added that, over the past three years, Canada has granted residency to all Nigerians who were illegally living in Canada and applied to remain. He said: We granted them and urging everyone to apply. Its good we document everyone to know how many people we are to cater for. In a memo sent to the Nigeria High Commission in Canada, the Employment and Migration Programme will allow Nigerians wishing to live in Canada to first obtain job before traveling to the country. The programmes website will be launched next week and all available jobs will be listed. Currently there are over 6 million vacancies and we are hoping that Buhari allows at least one million people from Nigeria, a spokesperson for the Canadian Labour Department, Shadrack Scott said. Earlier this year, the Canadian Parliament announced plans to add more new permanent residents in the next three years. Canada welcomed more than 286,000 permanent residents in 2017 and projects that number could reach 350,000 this year in addition to one million seeking from the West Africa nation. Thanks in great part to the newcomers we have welcomed throughout our history, Canada has developed into the strong and vibrant country we all enjoy, said Ahmed Hussen, Canadas minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC). Hussen, himself an immigrant from Somalia, said the influx will help offset Canadas aging population and declining birth rate while growing its labor force. Canadas friendly stance towards new residents comes as many other Western nations, including the United States, are adopting more restrictive immigration policies. Canada is especially dedicated to offering protection to refugees. The United Nations Refugee Agency reported unprecedented levels of refugees in 2017, with the number of forcibly displaced people reaching 68.5 million. No fewer than 2,074 new intakes into the Sokoto state University on Tuesday matriculated for the 2018/ 2019 academic session. At the ceremony, Vice Chancellor, Professor Sani Muhammed Dangoggo called on the students to shun all unethical conducts and tendencies in violation of the universitys rules and regulations. Dangoggo while administering oath on the newly admitted students noted that examination malpractice, cultism, drug abuse, indecent dressings, reckless driving among others were unacceptable. The Vice Chancellor explained new students were inducted into the three faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Education and Science. According to the Vice Chancellor, the university had always remained resolute and committed to maintaining the tempo on academic excellence and standards in all spheres of pursuits. Students have no excuse not to dedicate themselves to their studies and ensure good moral conducts and behaviors, the VC said. He further said that the university sponsored over 200 academic staff for various postgraduate programmes in and outside the country. Read Also: Sokoto police arrest Nigerien gun fabricator, Alhassan He outlined that the institution was fast committed to providing the required teaching and community services for the development of humanity, while stating that we have developed all necessary facilities for use to support both teaching and learning in the university community. He commended the unprecedented intervention efforts from the Sokoto state Government, Petroleum Technology Fund (PTDF) and TETFund in further strengthening and building the universitys academic staff capacity for excellence. Also speaking, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the university, Barr. Inuwa Abdulkadir who congratulated the matriculating students, emphasized the need for them to exhibit high sense of moral conduct and commitment to their studies. Abdulkadir added; You should know that the oath you took is significant and should be respected by been law abiding to the rules and regulations during the course of your studies. Remember that you went through tough and rigorous process before securing admission, he advised. Weld will be lucky to win a single delegate to the 2020 Republican National Convention. Photo: CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock When former Massachusetts governor William Weld formed a presidential exploratory committee earlier this year to look at a primary challenge to Donald Trump, some observers seemed to take him seriously. I explained in a rebuttal how insanely out of touch Weld was with the party that he abandoned in 2016 to accept the second spot on the Libertarian Party ticket, and how intensely popular the incumbent is with rank-and-file Republicans (albeit not with the shrinking band of #NeverTrump elites overrepresented in opinion journalism). But now that Weld has formally announced his candidacy, its probably a good time to put his bid into the proper historical context by distinguishing it from serious primary challenges to incumbent presidents. There have been four postWorld War II intraparty challenges to incumbent presidents that represented very serious challenges to their renomination: * In 1952 Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver beat Harry Truman in the New Hampshire primary, leading directly to Trumans decision not to seek reelection. * In 1968, Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy held Lyndon Johnson to a surprisingly narrow victory in New Hampshire; with polls showing McCarthy would likely defeat Johnson in the next major primary in Wisconsin, and with LBJ focused on the Vietnam Wars damage to his legacy, he folded his tent. * In 1976, Ronald Reagan came breathtakingly close to denying renomination to Gerald Ford, the appointed vice-president who got the big job when Richard Nixon resigned less than two years earlier. Ford went on to lose narrowly to Jimmy Carter in the general election, and Reagan succeeded Carter four years later. * In 1980, Ted Kennedy launched a much-anticipated challenge to an unpopular Carter, but foundered due to a series of gaffes and Carters skillful use of presidential power. As in the three earlier examples, the incumbent presidents party subsequently lost the general election. There have been two other occasions where primary challenges represented significant ideological threats to the unity of the incumbent presidents party, if not to his renomination: * In 1964 Alabamas segregationist governor, George Wallace, ran against LBJ surrogates in three northern Democratic primaries (Wisconsin, Indiana, and Maryland), losing but doing well enough to shock those who assumed his style of politics wouldnt travel beyond the Deep South. This was an early distant warning of the civil-rights backlash that ultimately unraveled the New Deal coalition for good. * In 1992 conservative pundit Pat Buchanan challenged George H.W. Bush, and never won a primary, but did well enough to expose the incumbents weak support among conservatives upset at his betrayal of a no-new-taxes pledge. Poppy, of course, lost in the general election. Weld has none of the intraparty strengths, and Trump has none of the intraparty weaknesses, displayed in any of these six examples. If there is any precedent his challenge to Trump resembles, its probably the dual 1972 candidacies of two Republican congressmen opposing Richard Nixon in 1972: antiwar Californian Pete McCloskey, and Ohio conservative John Ashbrook. McCloskeys 19 percent in New Hampshire represented the peak of this twin challenge; Ashbrook never broke double digits. At the 1972 Republican National Convention, Nixon won 1,347 delegates, with McCloskey winning one, and Ashbrook getting skunked. Weld will be lucky to match Ashbrook. " " Americans display the nation's flag in many ways, and its many iterations, from decor to clothing, are on display in Independence Day parades around the country. Ariel Skelley/Blend Images/Getty Images As Americans, it might be healthy for us to admit that we, the people, are perhaps unnaturally attached to our country's flag. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. Yeah, we dig our flag. We admit it. We love to see the red, white and blue fluttering against the amber waves of grain and those purple mountains' majesty. We revere everything Old Glory stands for life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, a government by the people and for the people, our men and women in uniform, a good hamburger and see no reason not to let it be known that we're generally proud of the United States of America. Warts and all. Advertisement So we unfurl that Grand Old Flag on our front porches on any day we feel like it. We turn to field-sized versions of the stars and stripes at sporting events when we rise to sing our national anthem (a song that, as we know, is all about the flag). Our kids, still, stand and pledge allegiance to the flag in public school classrooms across the country, despite efforts by many to cool it with the "under God" stuff. The flag is in our churches, too to heck with that separation of church and state thing. We wave flags. We literally wrap ourselves in 'em. We even, in a strangely patriotic, only-in-America way, burn them on occasion in protest (which the Supreme Court in 1989, and later in 1990, ruled is protected speech under the Constitution). Americans can sometimes look at our country through unapologetic rose-colored glasses, and the most patriotic of us do so through flag-festooned contact lenses. " " The American fascination with the flag can veer between reverential and kitschy, often at the same time, visitors to the country have observed. Hisham Ibrahim/Getty Images "Viewed from abroad certainly coming from the UK it is striking when you go to the United States, how prevalent the flag is," Adam Smith, a history professor at University College London who writes about the U.S., tells HowStuffWorks. "It's pretty hard to find places in America where you can't find a flag somewhere. And that isn't true of most places." Americans are flag-waving crazy like maybe no place on Earth. The Flag Manufacturers Association of America estimates that some 150 million American flags of all sizes are sold every year (though, granted, plenty are made in China). That means since, say, January of 2015, there's been a new Old Glory churned out for every man, woman and kid in America. Why? What is it that makes us so bonkers for our star-spangled banner? What is it about those 13 stripes and those 50 stars that has made us elevate the flag to untouchably iconic status? In a country these days so sharply divided along all sorts of fault lines political, social, racial, geographic, the National League vs. the American League why is that millions of us protect and revere the flag so? "Our flag has become a symbol above politics. It is the symbol of that which unites us," says John Hartvigsen, the president of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA). Vexillology is the study of flags, something that Hartvigsen has been doing with NAVA for the past 48 years. "It's very important for us to find what unites us." The desire, the fervent need to find unity in a country that doesn't have a monarch to rally around has been present since the American revolution, Hartvigsen says, and has been reinforced throughout American history. Certainly since the Civil War, Americans have looked to the flag to remind us that we are one nation despite our differences, despite our hardships. So in our darkest times and in our greatest triumphs, the flag has been our symbol. Over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key penned his poem that became our National Anthem. With Teddy Roosevelt on San Juan Hill. At Iwo Jima. In the streets of American cities during the Vietnam War. On the moon in 1969. Above the medals podium after the Miracle on Ice at the Olympics in 1980. Rising above the rubble of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, 2001. " " The 1887 illustration "A Woman in Battle: Michigan Bridget Carrying the Flag," by Felix Octavius Carr Darley, shows how the American flag was used as a rallying symbol during the Civil War. Charles Phelps Cushing/ClassicStock/Getty Images We go a little overboard sometimes, sure, with all the flag-waving nationalism. Certainly compared to places like the U.K., we do. "To fly the flag in front of your house, which is obviously a perfectly normal thing to do in the United States," Smith says from London, "here you would never ... Unless you were the Queen, or ... it would just be slightly embarrassing. That's just something people don't do." In France (another country without a monarch), Smith suggests, the French are into their flag and fly it proudly, too. Other countries, certainly, hold their flag in great regard. But ... "Let me just say that the American veneration of the national flag is not unique, but it is towards the extreme end of the spectrum," says Michael Billig, a professor of social science at Loughborough University in the U.K., via email. Billig examined the everyday use of flags in his 1995 book "Banal Nationalism." " " American flag-decorated clothes are a mainstay of national celebrations for some. Some say they're celebratory, while others may point out that they violate U.S. Flag Code etiquette. Kacey Klonsky/Image Source/Getty Images "I do not know of another nation where schoolchildren are expected to salute the flag in a formal ritual every day," he says. "National flags tend to date back 250 years they are not ancient. Even the oldest national flags were not fetishized when they were introduced as they are today." Now, if you want to say that Americans have a flag fetish, we'd have to plead guilty. On outwardly patriotic days Independence Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day (June 14) that star-spangled banner so proudly waves everywhere. On other days ... yeah, then too. Everywhere, everywhen. That might seem strange, and maybe even uncouth, to people outside our borders, a blatant example of Yanks rubbing all that freedom and might and national pride in the face of the rest of the world. "I personally find it kind of charming. I certainly don't have a problem with it," says Smith. "[But] if you're primed to be over-sensitive to American patriotic chauvinism, then you would see [this] as just well ... you roll your eyes at it: 'What would you expect from these guys?'" America, admittedly, has some image problems when it comes to displaying our flag. We have some real problems, too, that we're reminded of every day. But every Independence Day, we gather in public places with our flags on runners' shorts at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, on blankets and T-shirts along the Charles River as the Boston Pops play, at the Capitol Fourth in our nation's capital, throughout the fireworks display in Larned, Kansas, around the pie eating contest on the north shore of Lake Union in Seattle and know that there's a lot to be proud of in this country. A lot to stand up for and cheer. Once July 5 rolls around, we'll keep our flags flying. Every day after that, too, whenever we want, pasted in apartment windows and hung off trees, high above factory floors and flapping from car antennas. Yeah, we overdo things. We're Americans. But when it comes to the flag, that can be a good thing. "It's the flag that brings us together," says Hartvigsen. Now That's Interesting As much as Americans revere the flag, we revere free speech more, meaning it's not illegal to desecrate it (though the Senate has come close to passing a Constitutional amendment to outlaw desecration of the flag on a few occasions) or to use it in pretty much any fashion desired. Still, the flag is "protected" under the U.S. Flag Code, which outlines general principles, suggested display and proper conduct toward the flag. " " Combining animals like goats with yoga is all the rage across the United States and around the globe. This class was organized by Lavenderwood Farm in Thousand Oaks, California. MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images One day Megan Kibby and Jason Lewis, owners of Decatur, Georgia-based Red Wagon Goats where you can adopt a goat, or rent one to clear property of unwanted brush took a female kid to a friend's house for a backyard get together. "She loved getting held the whole time," says Kibby, via email, of the tiny goat. "And each time a new person held her you could see [that person's] countenance change. We all agreed that night that if you hold a baby goat to your heart, it'll melt the pieces back together." Kibby then had a thought: Why not incorporate goats into the yoga classes she taught? Although she wasn't the first to come up with the idea, her students loved the concept of fleece meeting spandex. Now, during any given class, 10 to 20 goats wander as Kibby's students stretch to upward-facing dog, or contort themselves into pigeon pose, head down on left foot. "Instead of doing a lot of standing poses, we do a lot of seated stretching poses and poses lower to the ground so we're more at eye level with the goats," Kibby says. "Jason goes around during the class and puts a handful of treats (corn and grain) on people's mats, which brings the goats out to play and interact. After class, we invite people to get into table top pose [all fours] and we will put goats on people's backs to pose for photos." Advertisement Cats, Dogs and Horses, Oh My! Goat yoga. Cat yoga. Dog, horse, and alpaca yoga. What in the name of the Bhagavad Gita is going on? Practicing yoga with your favorite animal is all rage these days, whether it's rabbit yoga in British Columbia, or horse yoga in Argentina. And why not? Numerous studies have shown animals are great relievers of human stress (unless, of course, your cat is constantly clawing at the curtains or your dog just got into the garbage); and yoga relaxes the mind, renews the spirit and strengthens the body. "It's such a sweet and silly and healing practice it's impossible not to laugh during it and leave with a smile," Kibby says. "I try to create a very relaxing, stress-busting class, so there's the 'yoga drunk' feeling, coupled with the warmth of these wonderful creatures." Although it's hard to pinpoint where the idea for yoga with animals came from, cat blogger Ingrid King says the combination is a no-brainer. Cats are her spiritual animal of choice. "Yoga is good for physical and mental health, and it's a great stress reliever," she says in an email. "We also know that cats are good for our health." She could be on to something. A University of Minnesota study found that cats could actually reduce your chance of a heart attack by 40 percent. King even puts her favorite felines to work in another healing technique reiki. The ancient Japanese practice is based on the principle that a therapist can activate a patient's natural healing ability by means of touch. "My two current cats, Allegra and Ruby, are a little too high-strung to make good reiki assistants, but my cat, Buckley, was a regular participant in human sessions," King says. "She was what I call a healer kitty. She would intuitively know where a client needed more energy and lay on that part of the client's body for part or most of the session." While healing the mind, invigorating the spirit and exercising the body are just some of the aspects of animal yoga, Kibby and Lewis have seen their business grow since beginning the goat yoga classes. "We've definitely been getting inquiries as a result of the classes, either the students themselves or their referrals," Kibby says. Advertisement Even Shelters Are Doing It Many animal shelters also use yoga with animals as a mechanism to increase adoptions. One such shelter that's capitalized on the idea Good Mews in Marietta, Georgia. The 5,500 square-foot no-kill, cage-free shelter has 40 or so cats participate in yoga classes. "The volunteer marketing committee, which I chair, was brainstorming ideas to draw new potential adopters to the shelter," Nancy Riley, the shelter's volunteer marketing coordinator says in an email." One of the volunteers had heard about a cat yoga class in California. We thought it was a crazy idea, but why not?" Riley says several yoga students adopted cats they met in class. One student kept going to class to interact with a shy feline named Ping Pong. It was love at first lotus position. When she showed up, the always-timid Ping Pong couldn't wait to bounce onto her mat. Eventually, the two adopted each other. Adoptions aside, combining cats and yoga is all about the healing properties each possesses. "Not only do the students experience a relaxing, meditative yoga class, they also benefit from the interaction with the cats," Riley says. "The people seem to take satisfaction in helping to socialize shelter cats, but they also feel the peace and serenity of sharing their space with a purring cat. No one leaves disappointed. Even experienced yoga students come again and again to experience the interaction with the cats as much as the health benefits of the yoga poses." What do the animals think of all this? No felines, billies or mares wanted to comment, but all humans agree the animals benefit even the goats. "Each goat has a unique personality," Kibby says. "Boeing, one of the babies born at our house, is incredibly outgoing and likes to be the star of the show. Sometimes he jumps on people's backs, licks people, especially if they're sweating, or plops down and cuddles. Others are more shy and hang out on the sidelines until we draw them in with treats. All and all the goats love it...[some] that [are] more shy seem to have opened up a good bit as a result of the peaceful exposure to humans." Now That's Interesting Good Mews cat shelter also has a reading program where students in first through eighth grades can read to their feline friends. The program is designed to help students gain more confidence and help the cats become more social. " " What do online review sites have to watch out for in hotel review postings? quavondo/Getty Images More than 80 percent of Americans say they read online reviews before buying a product or service, including 40 percent who "always or almost always" do so. That's what drives traffic to websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, where visitors to hotels and restaurants can post candid reviews ("The sheets smelled like wet dog.") that future travelers can use to plan their next trip. At least that's how it's supposed to work. But the online review industry is under fire for a plague of fake reviews -- both unrealistically good reviews posted by owners and employees, and false or defamatory reviews posted by competitors -- and a lack of transparency about how listings are ranked. Review sites make deals with certain hotels and resorts for a cut of bookings made through the site, but it's unclear if those hotels are promoted over properties with better organic user reviews. Now TripAdvisor, the $1.5 billion travel review site, is responding to allegations from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the website actively deleted posts from more than a dozen women and men who reported incidents of druggings, blackouts and rapes while vacationing at a resort in Mexico. The question is how and why the posts were deleted, and whether it was a way for TripAdvisor to protect its booking partners. Advertisement Section 230 TripAdvisor, like other review sites or online bulletin boards, finds itself in murky legal waters when it comes to editing or removing user reviews. The 1996 Communications Decency Act includes a provision called Section 230 that protects internet publishers against any liability for what third parties post on their sites. It also allows a website to block obscene or otherwise objectionable content without that being seen as an editorial function. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls Section 230 "the most important law protecting internet speech." Isaac Binkovitz is an attorney with the law firm Cozen O'Connor specializing in commercial litigation. He says that Section 230 generally allows publishers like Yelp, Craigslist and TripAdvisor to claim immunity from anything that users post on the sites, but if and only if the website administrators can prove that they play a "passive" role. "If a website is not a passive platform for hosting these things, but instead engages in steering the content, shaping the content, editing the content or promoting certain pieces of the content," says Binkovitz, "at some point it stops being a passive platform, but a generator of the content itself." This might help explain why those Mexican sexual assault posts went away. TripAdvisor told the Journal-Sentinel and The New York Times that some of the reviews, including that of a Texas woman who alleges that she was raped by a hotel security guard in 2010, were removed under an old "family-friendly" language policy. And others were deleted because TripAdvisor said the posts included "hearsay" and "third-party" information. If TripAdvisor takes an active editorial role in packaging and promoting user content, a judge could rule that the website is not protected by Section 230 and is therefore liable for potentially defamatory reviews. For example, if the owners of the Mexican hotel determined that the Texas woman's claims were baseless, they could sue both the woman and TripAdvisor for publishing a false statement that damaged the resort's reputation. That might explain why they've taken a heavy hand in deleting posts alleging criminal activity. In a statement, TripAdvisor apologized to the Texas woman for originally deleting her post (it was recently re-published... 2,600 pages deep into the site's archives) and blamed the removal on its old policies. The travel site claims to have posted "thousands" of first-hand accounts of sexual assaults and robberies in its reviews and travel forums since those policies were lifted. The policy against "third-party" information, however, still stands. Advertisement The Benefit of Badges Additionally, TripAdvisor announced the creation of a new notification "badge" that pops up to alert users to any "health, safety or discrimination issues" regarding a specific business. Although the New York Times originally reported that TripAdvisor would post the warning based on "news reports as well as comments from the TripAdvisor community," a TripAdvisor spokesperson clarified the policy in an email to HowStuffWorks. "Our goal is to notify travelers when there is an issue getting significant media attention elsewhere that is not necessarily apparent in reviews." Tara Lieberman, senior public relations specialist, TripAdvisor The warning badge itself doesn't mention the specifics of any assaults or thefts, but merely says that TripAdvisor "has been made aware of recent media reports or events concerning this property" and that users should "perform additional research" when making their travel plans. Binkovitz thinks that the warning badge is probably a "sensible move," a way of alerting customers to a potential risk without making specific claims. It's not only a protection against TripAdvisor being sued for defamation, but it could potentially satisfy the website's legal "duty to warn." In 2014, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a landmark ruling in Jane Doe v. Internet Brands, Inc. in which the court held the website Model Mayhem liable for failing to warn users that other aspiring models had been lured in by fake modeling agents who then drugged them, sexually assaulted them and posted the footage on porn sites. In that case, Internet Brands, the owner of the modeling website, couldn't hide behind Section 230 protection because the issue wasn't the content of the fake posts, but the fact that the website knew about these assaults and failed to warn its users. "That's a pretty big change in terms of Section 230," says Binkovitz. "Under that kind of theory, you might be able to argue that a website like TripAdvisor has a duty to warn about the danger of a sexual assault occurring at a hotel. It's going to require, I think, that the plaintiff be able to show that the website operator knew of a real risk, not just that something had happened at that location previously. That's really the cutting edge of this law right now." Now That's Interesting TripAdvisor was sued for defamation in 2013 by the owner of the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee which topped the website's list of the "Dirtiest hotels in America" based on user reviews. The judge dismissed the case, saying that "even the most careless reader" wouldn't believe that the hotel in question was "literally the dirtiest hotel in the United States." " " A mining machine in Germany displays a "Made in USA" sticker. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Many shoppers, even the savviest ones, may think the country on a product's label is the be-all and end-all of an items' origination. A label that reads "Made in USA" reveals everything, right? But products may have taken more than their fair share of cross-country journeys. "Made in," "assembled in," "manufactured in," "processed in" how can consumers really know where their products come from? The primary federal label-lingo gatekeepers are the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The FTC regulates product claims of U.S. origin under its general authority to act against deceptive acts and practices, while CBP monitors foreign-origin claims (like "Made in China" labels), thanks to the Tariff Act of 1930. CBP requires a country of origin mark on all imported products. Advertisement "The country in which a product is put together or completed is highly significant to consumers in evaluating where the product is 'made,'" the FTC's 1997 enforcement policy statement says of consumer perception. In fact, in 2016 Nielsen surveyed more than 30,000 online consumers in 61 countries, and found that a brand's country of origin is as important or more important than factors like price or quality to consumers. (However, this is debatable, as studies have shown people's preferences may vary depending on the type of product.) The "Made in USA" label is particularly important to American shoppers. According to a 2015 Consumer Reports survey, nearly 8 in 10 American consumers would rather buy an American-made product than an imported one, and about 60 percent of people surveyed would be willing to pay more for it. So, there's definitely money at stake for manufacturers when it comes to labeling. Scott Paul, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Alliance for American Manufacturing, says in an email, "The standard for products being labelled 'Made in USA' requires that 'all or virtually all' of a product is made in the U.S. That can mean different things depending on the product's manufacturing process." Put simply, it means all the significant parts of the products should be of U.S. origin, with a negligible amount of foreign content, if any. Consider a basic lamp assembly: a base and lampshade. The base may be an import, and the shade made in the U.S., but the entire lamp may be assembled in the U.S. When that happens, Paul says, "products can't use a 'Made in USA' label and may turn to the assembly labelling to show their U.S. footprint." The rules get even more finicky when the manufacturing process gets more complicated. For example, if a TV with an American-made picture tube is assembled in Korea and then shipped to the U.S., the CBP requires that the complete TV set be marked "Made in Korea," because that's where the TV was last "substantially transformed." And clothing and household textile and wool items would get the "Made in USA" stamp of approval if the final product and its fabric are manufactured in the U.S., even if the base materials like yarn or fibers were sourced elsewhere. The list of caveats and exceptions continues. Obviously, the guidelines for origin labeling are often confusing, and a "made in" tag may not tell a product's whole story. Some "Made in USA" labels contain misleading wording or are illegitimate, claiming U.S. origination that has not been verified. Considering the complexity of labeling policies and cases of fraudulent labels in the U.S., consumers and politicians have become wary. Still, some American companies are pledging to reinvest in American-made products, considering the stats on consumers' preferences and criticism about outsourcing. An estimated 80 percent of Wal-Mart's suppliers are in China, but the company pledges to spend approximately $250 billion on U.S. (made, assembled or grown) products by 2023. And GE Appliances promises to dedicate more than $1 billion to making "great American-made appliances." (GE does note, however, that some parts they use aren't made in the U.S. and some must be purchased globally to keep pricing competitive.) So, customers may not be able to get the whole scoop on a product's country of origin from its label. But they can be sure that there are a boatload of rules dedicated to making sure purchasers know where their products were made. Now That's Interesting Here's a little irony: Some U.S. flag kits used for stick flags contain Chinese-made wooden dowels. THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, April 16, offered anew to talk peace with the Communists and Jose Maria Sison on the condition that they give up their arms immediately. Duterte made the pronouncement in a speech delivered in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, as he raised the idea of declaring "immediate" ceasefire with the communist guerillas, on the condition that they would heed his preconditions for peace. The President said he would be willing to announce truce, once the communists' armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), yields their arms, and stops extortion and arson attacks. "Kayong mga NPA, kung talagang gusto niyo ng usapang matino, immediate ceasefire, walang mag-dala ng armas sa kampo ninyo sa labas, walang taxation, walang pag-sunog (To the NPA, if you really want a genuine peace or immediate ceasefire, you should refrain from bringing your arms outside of your camp. You should also stop taxation and arson attacks)," he said. "Iyan ang mahirap diyan. We cannot progress. I-hinto mo muna ang lahat. Umuwi ka dito Sison. Akong bahala sa'yo. Hindi ako traydor na tao. I'll give you my honor, word of honor. Mag-usap tayo," he added. (That's the problem there. We cannot progress. Stop everything first. Sison, return home. I'll take care of you. I'm not a traitor. I'll give you my honor, word of honor. Let's talk.) Duterte's remark came on the heels of his recent announcement that he might create a military-led panel that will negotiate with the communists. On April 14, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison did not buy Duterte's statement, saying the Chief Executive would merely create a "war panel." Earlier Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President approved a national plan that seeks to address communism in the country, in a bid to pursue peace and order in the country. The national plan was approved during Duterte's first meeting with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) held at Malacanan Palace on Monday, April 15. Story continues However, Duterte's plan to create a new peace panel was not raised during his meeting with the NTF-ELCAC. Duterte, in his latest remark, said he is open to possible resumption of talks with the communists, but made it clear that there would be no "coalition" with the communist movement. "Pero (But the possible talks will have) nothing about coalition. You can never have even an iota of sovereign powers of the Republic of the Philippines," he said. "I am not allowed to do that. Itong mga sundalo, mag-kudeta ito. Ako pa ang mamatay. (Soldiers might stage a coup d'etat if I do that. I'll die)," the President added. (SunStar Philippines) CHINA'S reported mass harvesting of giant clams in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal in the disputed South China Sea was an affront to the Philippines' territorial integrity and sovereignty, Malacanang CHINA'S reported mass harvesting of giant clams in Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal in the disputed South China Sea was an affront to the Philippines' territorial integrity and sovereignty, Malacanang said Tuesday, April 16. In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), would take legal action by sending a note verbale or a diplomatic protest to China, questioning its latest activity in the disputed sea. "China, as far it is concerned, it owns the vast South China Sea. Hence, logically, it will be performing acts of ownership or sovereignty over those areas. In other words, they are just being consistent with themselves. We also have to be consistent with ours. As far as were concerned, that is ours, we will be objecting to any intrusion to our own territory," he said. "If its our territory, therefore, it is an affront to our territory and to our sovereignty," he added. Chinese nationals are reportedly extracting giant clams in Scarborough Shoal, a traditional fishing ground located 124 nautical miles from Zambales, according to an exclusive report by news site ABS-CBN. The report revealed that Filipino fishermen have been watching Chinese vessels harvesting giants clams in Scarborough Shoal for years now. Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte's administration would await China's response to the note verbale or diplomatic protest lodged against the extraction of giant clams. "We will wait for their official response, and then act on it. One way or the other," he said. "Were still waiting, Im sure they will respond in time," Panelo added. Quizzed if the Philippines has plan of tapping the United States (US) to address China's continued presence in the Scarborough Shoal, Panelo said: "Well wait for the Presidents decision on that, these are very serious matters and requires serious study." The Philippines and the US conducted joint military exercises on April 1 to 12. As part of the joint military drill by Manila and the Washington, a US Navy warship has been training with Philippine Navy ships in Subic Bay and in international waters off the South China Sea. (SunStar Philippines) Motorists who regularly ply the roads of Manila can now enjoy the newly-renovated Quirino Bridge II along Quirino Highway in Paco, Manila. Also known as Concordia Bridge, the bridge now offers three southbound and three northbound lanes for vehicles passing through Manila. @pia.gov.ph A six-lane Quirino Bridge II can now be used by motorists going in and out of southern part of Manila with the completion of three southbound lanes last October and now the three northbound lanes, explained DPWH Secretary Mark Villar. The 24-linear meter single-span road bridge, which is part of the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Project, started its reconstruction last year. Its southbound lane was reconstructed from June to October 2018. The entire budget for the repairs cost PHP 58 million. Natutuwa naman ako at mabubuksan na itong Concordia Bridge Ang daily foot traffic ng Quirino Bridge is 100,000 vehicles a day so napakalaking bagay (I am happy that the Concordia Bridge is now open.The daily foot traffic of Quirino Bridge is 100,000 vehicles a day, so its a huge thing), Villar told GMA news online. The DPWH Secretary also added that they timed its opening for the Holy Week. Tiniming din namin dahil malapit na po ang Holy Week at magkakaroon na po ng traffic kaya tamang tama lang po ang opening ng Concordia Bridge. Marami po ang makikinabang (We timed it because the Holy Week is coming soon and there will be traffic, so Concordia Bridges opening is just right. Many will benefit from this), Villar said. The Quirino Bridge II is part of Circumferential Road II. It connects the cities of Makati, Pasay, and Manila to the eastern and central side of Metro Manila. It also connects Rizal, San Juan, Marikina, Quezon, and Mandaluyong cities. The post P58-Million Quirino Bridge II is Now Open 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 Duterte government has prepared measures to ensure public safety as the country observes Holy Week, Malacanang guaranteed Tuesday, April 16. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said public safety is the government's "top priority" during this year's observance of Holy Week. "As the Lenten season commences the exodus to various places, concerned government agencies have been placed on a heightened alert status to ensure the safety and security of all," the Palace official said. "Public safety continues to be our top priority. These include additional security deployments in different areas of convergence, such as bus terminals, airports, seaports, vital government and private installations, churches, malls, and other public recreation areas," he added. Panelo noted that the Philippine National Police has already deployed 11,600 police officers in Metro Manila and set up over 4,500 assistance desks all throughout the country. He added that the Department of Transportation has launched "Oplan Biyaheng Ayos: Semana Santa 2019" to provide a "convenient and safe" commuting experience for passengers. Panelo also stressed that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has deployed some 1,500 traffic personnel to assist travelers during the week-long break. The airport officials have also readied security and transport measures, including the deployment of airport police department personnel in key areas around the airport and he manning of 24/7 airport police help desks, Panelo said. Panelo likewise said that the Department of Tourism has already coordinated with the local government units to set up emergency care systems and facilities in tourist destinations ahead of the Holy Week. Panelo urged the public to also cooperate with the government and report to authorities any suspicious activities. "As we observe the Holy Week , we call on the public for their support through cooperation in the conduct of safety checks and security checkpoints, compliance with traffic regulations and continued maintenance of complete situational awareness of their surroundings," he said. Story continues "We also urge the public to immediately report suspicious characters and unattended materials such as packages, bags and other objects that are out of place to proper authorities," he added. Maundy Thursday (April 18), Good Friday (April 19), and Black Saturday (April 20) have been declared holidays to allow the Catholic faithful in the country to observe the Holy Week. Panelo urged the faithful to remember that the annual religious observance is "a time for reflection." He also wished that the country would have a "solemn, peaceful, and renewing break" for this year's Holy Week. "It is a genuine message of solidarity to everyone regardless of the differences in our affiliation or denomination. May the life of sacrifice and humility that Jesus Christ had lived serve as an inspiration to us all so that we may continue to help each other especially in times of need and adversity," he said. "And may each one of us have a divinely cleansing and spiritually fulfilling days of Lent," he added. (SunStar Philippines) Photo: Godong/UIG/REX/Shutterstock Photo: Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images French officials are reporting that the Notre-Dame cathedral will survive the catastrophic fire that broke out on Monday, although its interior and exterior have suffered profound damage. The first major loss occurred a little before 8 p.m. in Paris, when the cathedrals spire a 19th-century re-creation of the 1786 original collapsed in the blaze. Notre Dames spire falls. Heartwrenching to see.https://t.co/qJ4bQKnVSE ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 15, 2019 Notre-Dame cathedral before the fire. Photo: Godong/UIG/REX/Shutterstock The roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in 2017. Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images As the fire continued, it began to consume the roof, which had been built from over 5,000 oak trees and had survived since its construction in the 12th and 13th centuries. According to Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet, two-thirds of the roof was destroyed, and cathedral spokesperson Andrew Finot told reporters the medieval wooden interior had been gutted by the fire. These cathedrals and houses of worship are built to burn, Vincent Dunn, a former New York City fire chief, told the New York Times. If they werent houses of worship, theyd be condemned. Stained glass inside the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: Dave Penman/REX/Shutterstock Thanks to the efforts of 500 members of the Paris Fire Brigade, the iconic 226-foot towers on the cathedrals west facade were saved and preserved as a whole, said Gallet. Built between 1220 and 1250, the bell towers dominate the main entrance for tourists and worshippers. Though Gallet said that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved, he added that there was a risk that some interior structures could still collapse and that firefighters would work through the night to cool them. The interior of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images According to Reuters, within the cathedral, firefighters battled smoke and falling drops of molten lead to salvage priceless artworks and relics. Some items, like the tunic worn by the 13th-century French king Louis IX (St. Louis), were saved. But firefighters were not able to remove some of the larger paintings in time. Remarkably, the cathedrals gorgeous rose windows, stained-glass panels were created between 1225 and 1260, survived the extreme heat. Inside the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images Some of the Notre-Dame cathedrals iconic stained glass. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images By Tuesday morning, officials in Paris also confirmed that the cathedrals 8,000-pipe organ had also survived the fire. The organ is a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes. It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored, Bertrand de Feydeau, of the preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told the Associated Press. The grand organ inside the Notre Dame cathedral, photographed in 2012. Photo: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images Remarkably, pictures emerging from the aftermath of the blaze show much of the cathedrals main vault to be intact, including an astonishing find on the altar: Crazy photo of the altar inside Notre Dame, by Reuters' Philippe Wojazer pic.twitter.com/KjRPSVKJRA Stefan Becket (@becket) April 15, 2019 MALACANANG on Tuesday, April 16, offered prayers to France, after a catastrophic fire swallowed Paris's 850-year-old Notre Dame, destroying the world-famous cathedral's iconic spire and part of MALACANANG on Tuesday, April 16, offered prayers to France, after a catastrophic fire swallowed Paris's 850-year-old Notre Dame, destroying the world-famous cathedral's iconic spire and part of its roof. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Philippine government was "deeply saddened and bothered" by the massive fire that broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral. "The Notre Dame Cathedral is an architectural treasure, symbol of Catholicism which housed several historical artifacts, and beloved icon immortalized by French novelist Victor Hugo through one of his novels," Panelo said. "The Palace is deeply saddened and bothered by the fire that hit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France," he added. A massive fire, which reportedly lasted for eight hours on Monday, April 15, ripped through the structure of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, causing the roof and iconic spire to collapse. According to reports, Notre Dame has already been saved from "total destruction." Panelo acknowledged that thousands of various races "have at one time or another stood either by themselves or with their families or friends in front of this historic cathedral and marvel at its architectural grandeur." "Their sojourn there left beautiful memories engraved in their hearts and recorded in photographs," he said. "Pain and sorrow were felt by the millions upon hearing the catastrophic fire of the Notre Dame place of worship," the Palace official added. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the historic cathedral by launching an international fundraising campaign. Panelo said the Philippines was optimistic that France would be successful in its renovation work to bring back the beauty of Notre Dame. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of France as well as in solidarity with the rest of the world for this heartbreaking incident. We wish the French nation all the best as they undertake efforts to rebuild this great monument in Paris restored to its majestic sight," he said. (SunStar Philippines) A Moscow court on Tuesday convicted a retired Norwegian border guard on spying charges and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. Frode Berg, 63, was detained in Moscow in 2017 following a sting operation by Russia's FSB security service. Prosecutors accused him of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. Judge Andrei Suvorov of the Moscow City Court found Berg guilty of espionage and jailed him for 14 years in a strict-regime penal colony. A dejected, tired-looking Berg, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, stood inside a glass cage as the judge read out the verdict in front of journalists. It was the only time the trial was open to the media and many details of the case remain unclear. Russian prosecutors accused Berg of spying on the country's nuclear submarines. The FSB declined to comment on Tuesday. In December, a former Russian police officer was accused of handing Berg files on the Russian navy and given a 13-year prison term. Berg has admitted to acting several times as a courier for the Norwegian intelligence but said he thought he was only carrying money. The defence team said they hoped diplomatic efforts could persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign a presidential pardon so Berg could be released and go home. Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov said his client calmly accepted the sentencing. "He expects his government to undertake diplomatic efforts," Novikov said, adding Berg was not planning to appeal. "We see no practical use in appealing." - 'Basically a life sentence' - Both Novikov and Berg's Norwegian lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said an effort by Norway had probably been made to gather intelligence. "There are indications that the Norwegian intelligence has been involved in the case," Risnes told AFP. "That makes it both a professional scandal and potentially also a political scandal in Norway. As soon as he gets back to Norway, another phase of the scandal will start: finding out what really happened." Novikov insists Berg "had been used without his knowledge". He also warned that Berg might not survive a lengthy prison sentence in Russia. "He's 63 and given the conditions of Russian prisons that's basically a life sentence." Berg's case was raised during a meeting between Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg last week. Asked by a journalist about the possibility of Berg being pardoned, Putin said: "A person can only be pardoned if he has been convicted. He has not been convicted yet." Novikov said that the fact that Putin spoke publicly about the case was "probably a good sign." Russian lawyer and human rights activist Ivan Pavlov, who often defends people accused of espionage and treason, suggested Berg might indeed be granted a pardon. "There were such precedents," Pavlov told AFP. Risnes said that governments typically exchange their nationals convicted of spying but added that "there is no such case in Norway". "We don't really know what they have to give," he added. NATO member Norway normally enjoys good ties with neighbouring Russia, with which it shares a land border. But relations have grown more tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine. In recent years, Russia has broadened its definition of treason and espionage, alarming rights groups. Espionage is punishable in Russia by up to 20 years in prison. In another high-profile case, former US Marine Paul Whelan was detained in late December and charged with espionage. Mosquiton Isacar | Photoville International MANILA, Philippines The Department of Education (DepEd) maintained that the school opening for the basic education level this School Year (SY) 2019-2020 will remain on June 3. Education Secretary Leonor Briones explained that the school calendar for this coming school year has already been approved and is set to be released next week. Briones expressed the agencys reluctance to move the school calendar because of three major considerations that involve students and learners such as school facilities, health, and other summer activities already scheduled. The Education Secretary emphasized on the matter following a directive from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) which ordered all State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) as well as Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) to shift their respective academic calendars to August starting the Academic Year (AY) 2019-2020. Marje Pelayo The post School opening stays on June 3 DepEd appeared first on UNTV News. Soldier nymphs of Nipponaphis monzeni repairing a gall breach by discharging coagulating body fluid. Credit: Mayako Kutsukake. A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Japan has found that soldier aphids willingly sacrifice their own lives when they attempt to protect their colony from predators. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group outlines their study of the small insects and what they found. Aphids are small insects that survive by sucking the sap from plants. They are notorious for rapid reproduction, and they produce live young. One species, Nipponaphis monzeni, creates what are known as galls on the leaves of witch hazel plants. Galls are dome-shaped constructs that serve as both home and protection, somewhat reminiscent of an igloo. The aphids reside in their gall sucking away at plant sap until predators arrive, typically moth or butterfly larvae, which break the walls of the gall. The researchers with this new effort studied what happens next. They report that soldier aphids exit the gall and set about repelling the predator by stinging it and also repairing the damage done to the gall wall using their own bodily fluids. The researchers refer to them as suicide bombers because their actions typically result in their own deaths. Soldier nymphs of Nipponaphis monzeni repairing the gall. Credit: Mayako Kutsukake. By studying the insects and their body fluids, the researchers found that they have cavities that typically contain certain types of lipids that the aphid can use when injured to promote scarring, which halts the loss of body fluids. They also found other body cavities that store proteins and amino acids, both of which promote clotting. When attempting to repair a gall wall, an aphid expels the fluids from its body and then uses its legs to stir up the mixture, promoting coagulation. The researchers report that some of the soldiers became stuck to the gall wall and others found themselves stranded outside of the gall, both of which result in a slow death. The researchers suggest that aphids that make it back into the gall before the hole is closed are unlikely to survive because of massive loss of body fluid. They note also that over time, the plug made by the soldier aphids grows hard and darkened, once again serving as protection for the colony. Soldier nymphs of Nipponaphis monzeni repairing a gall breach by discharging coagulating body fluid. Credit: Mayako Kutsukake Soldier nymphs of Nipponaphis monzeni repairing a gall breach by discharging coagulating body fluid. Credit: Mayako Kutsukake. More information: Mayako Kutsukake el al., "Exaggeration and cooption of innate immunity for social defense," PNAS (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mayako Kutsukake el al., "Exaggeration and cooption of innate immunity for social defense,"(2019). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1900917116 2019 Science X Network Artistic rendition of the Kepler-47 circumbinary planet system. The three planets with the large middle planet being the newly discovered Kepler47d. Credit: NASA/JPLCaltech/T. Pyle Astronomers have discovered a third planet in the Kepler-47 system, securing the system's title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds. Using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, a team of researchers, led by astronomers at San Diego State University, detected the new Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets. With its three planets orbiting two suns, Kepler-47 is the only known multi-planet circumbinary system. Circumbinary planets are those that orbit two stars. The planets in the Kepler-47 system were detected via the "transit method." If the orbital plane of the planet is aligned edge-on as seen from Earth, the planet can pass in front of the host stars, leading to a measurable decrease in the observed brightness. The new planet, dubbed Kepler-47d, was not detected earlier due to weak transit signals. As is common with circumbinary planets, the alignment of the orbital planes of the planets change with time. In this case, the middle planet's orbit has become more aligned, leading to a stronger transit signal. The transit depth went from undetectable at the beginning of the Kepler Mission to the deepest of the three planets over the span of just four years. The SDSU researchers were surprised by both the size and location of the new planet. Kepler-47d is the largest of the three planets in the Kepler-47 system. "We saw a hint of a third planet back in 2012, but with only one transit we needed more data to be sure," said SDSU astronomer Jerome Orosz, the paper's lead author. "With an additional transit, the planet's orbital period could be determined, and we were then able to uncover more transits that were hidden in the noise in the earlier data." William Welsh, SDSU astronomer and the study's co-author, said he and Orosz expected any additional planets in the Kepler-47 system to be orbiting exterior to the previously known planets. "We certainly didn't expect it to be the largest planet in the system. This was almost shocking," said Welsh. Their research was recently published in the Astronomical Journal. Artistic rendition of the Kepler-47 circumbinary planet system. An overhead view of the orbital configuration. Credit: NASA/JPLCaltech/T. Pyle With the discovery of the new planet, a much better understanding of the system is possible. For example, researchers now know the planets in in this circumbinary system are very low density less than that of Saturn, the Solar System planet with the lowest density. While a low density is not that unusual for the sizzling hot-Jupiter type exoplanets, it is rare for mild-temperature planets. Kepler-47d's equilibrium temperature is roughly 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), while Kepler-47c is 26 degrees F ( -3.33 degrees C). The innermost planet, which is the smallest circumbinary planet known, is a much hotter 336 degrees F (169 degrees C). The inner, middle, and outer planets are 3.1, 7.0, and 4.7 times the size of the Earth, and take 49, 187, and 303 days, respectively, to orbit around their suns. The stars themselves orbit each other in only 7.45 days; one star is similar to the Sun, while the other has a third of the mass of the Sun. The entire system is compact and would fit inside the orbit of the Earth. It is approximately 3340 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Cygnus. "This work builds on one of the Kepler's most interesting discoveries: that systems of closely-packed, low-density planets are extremely common in our galaxy," said University of California, Santa Cruz astronomer Jonathan Fortney, who was not part of the study. "Kepler 47 shows that whatever process forms these planets an outcome that did not happen in our solar system is common to single-star and circumbinary planetary systems." Correction: A prior version of this article contained inaccuracies regarding the orbits of the Kepler-47 planets. This article has been updated to reflect the correct number of days it takes the inner, middle, and outer planets to orbit their suns: 49, 187 and 303 days respectively. Explore further Kepler-1647b: New planet is largest discovered that orbits two suns More information: Jerome A. Orosz et al. Discovery of a Third Transiting Planet in the Kepler-47 Circumbinary System, The Astronomical Journal (2019). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab0ca0 , Journal information: Astronomical Journal Jerome A. Orosz et al. Discovery of a Third Transiting Planet in the Kepler-47 Circumbinary System,(2019). DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab0ca0 , iopscience.iop.org/article/10. 847/1538-3881/ab0ca0 An iPhone 6S: a battle between Apple and chip-maker Qualcomm over royalties and access to patents is playing out in a US court in San Diego How much are iPhone chips worth? That more or less is the question to be decided by a US court as Apple seeks billions in damages from former chip supplier Qualcomm. Since Apple originally filed suit in January 2017, the two US firms have been suing each other in multiple countries in a multi-front battle. At the heart of the battle are the royalties Qualcomm charges for its patented chips, which enable smartphones to connect to mobile networks. Apple accuses Qualcomm, which holds the most patents for chips, of taking advantage of its dominant position to charge exorbitant amounts for its chips or access to its patents. The iPhone maker refuses to pay up and is also seeking what could be billions of dollars in compensation. Qualcomm denies the allegations and accuses Apple of abusing its position and of taking legal action to negotiate prices down. After jury selection in the San Diego federal court, arguments are expected to begin Tuesday. Apple chief Tim Cook and Qualcomm's CEO Steve Mollenkopf are both expected to appear during the trial, which is set to last around a month. The stakes are high for Qualcomm, which earns a significant chunk of its revenue from royalties paid by manufacturers for its patented technology. "In order to purchase Qualcomm chips or obtain access to patents pledged to a cellular standard, Qualcomm demands that third parties pay Qualcomm a royalty much greater than the value of Qualcomm's contribution to the standard," Apple argues. "What this means in the case of the iPhone is that when Apple engineers create a revolutionary new security feature such as touch ID, which enables breakthrough technologies like Apple Pay, Qualcomm insists on royalties for these and other innovations it had nothing to do with and royalty payments go up," it said. "Even when Apple sells an iPhone with added memory256GB instead of 128GBQualcomm collects a larger royalty just because of that added memory," according to the company, which claims it has been overcharged by "billions of dollars." Contradictory rulings Following its initial US lawsuit, Apple filed two more suits in China on the same basis. Qualcomm counter-sued. Also in early 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission sued Qualcomm for alleged antitrust law violations in the sale of certain components and licenses to smartphone makers, including Apple. In April 2017, it was forced to pay $815 million to Canada's Blackberry in a royalties dispute. And since 2015, through both convictions and settlements, it has paid high antitrust fines in China, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Union. The Apple-Qualcomm spat has also led to reciprocal patents complaints. While Apple claims some of Qualcomm's patents aren't valid, Qualcomm accuses Apple of violating themand has sought to ban iPhone sales or imports in several countries, including the US. This has led to contradictory legal rulings. In March, a US court ruled in Apple's favor, a few hours after a judge of the same court ordered a partial ban of iPhone imports. That decision is awaiting review by a panel of judges and then possibly US President Donald Trump because iPhones don't directly compete with any Qualcomm products. A few days earlier, Qualcomm won a point as Apple was ordered to pay $31 million for patent infringement. Meanwhile, by the end of 2018, Qualcomm had secured a ban on the sale of certain iPhones in China and Germanyagain for patent violationsbut Apple may still appeal. Explore further Jury rules Apple owes Qualcomm $31M for patent infringement 2019 AFP Where to land? Credit: DanieleGay/Shutterstock Recent research suggests that flying cars could eventually be a sustainable way to free up roads. The first models are set to hit our skies in 2019 as personal playthings, while industry sees them as taxis and commuter vehicles of the future. But as Harry Potter's encounter with the Whomping Whillow reminds us, flying cars can be dangerous. Before futuristic visions of three-dimensional sprawling city traffic can approach reality, there are some serious safety issues that need addressing. Navigating the skies The aviation industry is risk averse, and understandably so. Accidents in the air tend to have much more severe consequences than those on tarmac. Obtaining a pilot's licence for small aircraft is therefore a rigorous, time consuming, and costly process. For this reason, large-scale flying car operations are likely to be automated and that means relying on GPS. Whilst GPS is usually a reliable technology, it is fallible. Susceptible to signal jamming and easily interrupted by atmospheric conditions, current aviation regulations prohibit it from being used as primary means for navigation. Automated road cars use infrared laser technology (LIDAR) to support GPS data, scanning the environment to calculate the distance to nearby objects. However, such technology currently only reliably functions up to 100 metres away. This isn't a problem on roads, which have many nearby features enabling quick relocalisation when the GPS signal cuts out. But the aerial environment isn't littered with crossroads or traffic lights. Research is underway to develop LIDAR capable of detecting objects further afield, it is by no means certain that this could ever be available at a cost-effective price. Even if static objects could be reliably detected, finding a way to safely weave through the moving ones remains a significant research problem. Automatic dependent surveillancebroadcast (ADS-B) technology allows aircraft to inform each other of their position, but aircraft such as gliders and microlights operate without power and so cannot use such systems. Commercial traffic flies in pre-defined air corridors at high altitudes, avoiding the chaos below. Flying cars, on the other hand, would operate at the same lower altitude band as light aircraft, where route planning is much freer. Malawian government trials of autonomous drones along geofenced air corridors in relatively empty skies have passed without incident, suggesting that in sparsely populated terrains, flying car air corridors may have a future. However, despite only improving emissions efficiency for long-distance travel, many companies are investing in the vision of flying cars as inner-city taxis and commuting vehicles. For example, Opener's BlackFly, set to go on sale in 2019, has a range of just 25 miles. Given that the success of automated air corridors relies on GPS for geofencing, and on powerless aircraft to be aware of and avoid air corridors, flying car trials in busier skies may not have the same outcome. Fail-safe designs In these crowded environments, both accidents and mechanical failure could have catastrophic consequences. Risk of collision aside, operating standards must be exceptional, and safeguards must be built in to prevent loss of control in the event of mechanical problems. How to land a helicopter without power. The most promising and scalable flying car designs are winged, with multiple tiltable electric fans or rotors. These are reasonably safe when cruising as they can glide for substantial distances to safety if trouble hits. However, their vertical take off and landing requires sustained maximum thrust, placing significant strain on the motors at exactly the time when power failure is likely to have the most severe consequences. Top notch health monitoring systems can predict developing issues by measuring irregular vibrations or temperatures, but this only mitigates risk. Genuine safety is only achieved by developing mechanical architecture that allows the vehicle to land safely when key components fail. Helicopters, for example, can land safely even in the event of power loss by angling the vehicle downwards and using the flow of air to keep the rotors spinning. Currently, there is no equivalent solution for flying cars except for the creation of large designated landing areas hardly feasible in already crowded cities. Of course, with companies putting serious money into making flying cars a reality, it is likely only a matter of time before solutions are developed and we see them in our skies in some form. But as the first deaths by driverless cars show, new technology is not always safe. We must be vigilant to ensure that increasing access to the skies does not play too much with our lives. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Seals that were once a common sight on Baku's waterfront have been declared endangered Seals waddling along the waterfront were once a common sight in Baku Bay, the Caspian Sea home of Azerbaijan's capital. Not anymore. Of the more than one million seals which inhabited the shores and islands of the Caspian a century ago fewer than 10 percent remain, and the species has been declared endangered. Azer Garayev, the head of the Azerbaijan Society for the Protection of Animals, says the seals have for decades been suffering from over-hunting and the effects of industrial pollution. In 2003, his group found 750 seal carcasses in just one month. "It was not normal," but no one looked into the issue, the 57-year-old activist said. "The seal is a sign of all the major environmental problems (in the Caspian)." Bordered by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the Caspian is the world's largest inland body of water, about the size of Japan. As well as the seals and other endemic species including Caspian turtles and the famed beluga sturgeon, the sea boasts vast energy reserves, estimated at 50 billion barrels of oil and 300,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas. Pollution from the extraction of that oil and gas, along with declining water levels due to climate change, pose a threat to many species and put the future of the sea itself at risk. Pollution from oil and gas extraction, along with declining water levels due to climate change, pose a threat to many species and put the future of the sea itself at risk Oil and water The UN Environment Programme has warned that the Caspian "suffers from an enormous burden of pollution from oil extraction and refining, offshore oil fields, radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants and huge volumes of untreated sewage and industrial waste introduced mainly by the Volga River". A few kilometres (miles) from downtown Baku, fishermen along the seashore watch small drops of oil appearing on the surface of the sea and spreading in varicoloured strains. "Some fish seem to prefer polluted water, so they tend to congregate here," said 26-year-old Rashad. "The water is dirty," he said, displaying a plastic bag that was caught on his fish hook. Besides fishermen like Rashad, the entire caviar industry is in danger as a result of the pollution. As well as the seals and other endemic species including Caspian turtles and the famed beluga sturgeon, the sea boasts vast energy reserves, estimated at 50 billion barrels of oil and 300,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas The Caspian Sea used to be home to one of the world's largest population of sturgeons, but it has declined by more than 90 percent over the last three generations, the World Wildlife Fund said in 2016. "I remember when caviar cost 10 (Azerbaijani) manats (per kilogramme, 2.2 pounds)", or about $6, said environmentalist Garayev. "Today, it costs more than 1,500 manats ($960, 850 euros) and there is almost none left. We have practically no viable population of sturgeon today." Aligaidar Mammedov, a former hydro-geologist and fisherman turned environmental activist, said that oil exploration methods either kill or chase away the sturgeon. "They set off seismic explosions in the sea," he said, adding: "The seabed is destroyed as a result, and sturgeons are seabed fish." Mammedov also warned of the potential for oil spills, which would be far more polluting in the inland sea than they are in the ocean. Azerbaijan's state-run oil company, SOCAR, says it is doing its part and has cleared most of the vast areas near Baku that used to be covered with oil sludge. Map of the Caspian Sea "The environmental challenges came mainly during the Soviet era, when the country didn't take enough care of the environment and the technology was not as sophisticated," SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov said. The next Aral Sea? But even if pollution from the oil industry were mitigated, the Caspian could still be inching toward a catastrophe, since global warming is causing it to lose water. A recent study by Azerbaijan's Academy of Sciences estimated that the sea level is dropping by more than six centimetres (2.3 inches) per year. "Climate change along the Caspian Sea basin causes very rapid evaporation," said Elnur Safarov, an Azerbaijani marine scientist and one of the study's authors. "The five countries bordering the Caspian, their economies, their lives, depend on it completelyfishing, the oil industry, agriculture, communications," he said. But even if pollution from the oil industry were mitigated, the Caspian could still be inching toward a catastrophe, since global warming is causing it to lose water "When the sea level changes... the social and economic situation of the entire coastline changes." In 2018, Caspian Sea countries signed an agreement defining the status of the sea, which had lacked an international legal framework since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The agreement mainly regulates military use, oil and gas extraction and caviar production, and activists have so far been disappointed that it has not touched on environmental issues. They worry that the Caspian may share the fate of Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has all but vanished in one of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes. "It would be so stupid to lose it (the Caspian) like the Aral Sea," Garayev said. "I don't want to think about it. It would be a crime." Explore further Caspian Sea nations to sign landmark deal 2019 AFP China banned ivory imports in 2015, part of an attempt to rein in what used to be the product's largest market in the world Chinese authorities have seized 7.5 tonnes of ivory2,748 elephant tusksin one of the biggest busts in recent years as the country cracks down on the sale of illegal wildlife products. The country banned ivory sales at the end of 2017 in an attempt to rein in what used to be the product's largest market in the world. Imports were banned in 2015. The smuggled tusks were confiscated last month in an operation by customs officers and police across six provinces, according to the General Administration of Customs. "This case represents the largest amount of elephant tusks seized in a single case investigated independently by the General Administration of Customs' anti-smuggling bureau in recent years," said Sun Zhijie, director of the administration's anti-smuggling bureau. The operation "destroyed an international criminal organisation that for a long time has specialised in smuggling ivory tusks," Sun said. Twenty suspects were detained, he added. The tusks were shipped by sea from African countries. After transiting through various other countries, they were smuggled across the Chinese border hidden among lumber, according to Sun. TRAFFIC, an international NGO monitoring wildlife trade, said in a press release that the seizure was potentially the second biggest ivory seizure worldwide on record. In a report conducted with WWF last year, the organisation found that China's ivory ban has had positive effects, with the number of respondents who said they intended to purchase ivory in the future dropping by almost half compared to 2017 before the ban took place. Ivory is seen as a status symbol in China. Other illegal wildlife products, such as pangolin scales, continue to see demand for their supposed medicinal properties. Explore further Cambodia seizes record 3-tonne haul of African ivory 2019 AFP A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications finds that some sparrow species will go extinct within the century due to climate change. Seaside (Ammospiza maritima) and saltmarsh (A. caudacuta) sparrows are closely related species and among only five bird species that are almost completely restricted to coastal salt marshes for their entire life. These sparrows' nests are predominantly destroyed by predators or flooding. Salt marshes are globally limited to about 30,000 square miles (45,000 square km), with one-third of the total on North American coasts. Of the 25 species or subspecies limited to tidal wetlands worldwide, 15 are restricted to the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Given rapid climate changes and other threats to salt marsh ecosystems, many of these species are in serious danger. The global breeding range of the saltmarsh sparrow extends from Virginia to Maine, with a population estimate of 60,000 birds. Sea-level rise can negatively impact breeding seaside and saltmarsh sparrows by reducing the amount of available habitat, and by increasing nest flooding rates. Furthermore, the high human population densities of Mid-Atlantic states also make it difficult for sparrows to thrive in the region. This study aimed to estimate population trajectories for seaside and saltmarsh sparrows within Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, identify the primary drivers of those trajectories, and explore potential management strategies to prevent declines. The researchers found that seaside sparrows persisted under a 1 ft (0.35 m) rise in sea level scenario and also under a sea level rise of almost 2.5 ft (0.75 m). Saltmarsh sparrows survived in neither scenario. With a 1 ft rise in sea level, the seaside sparrow population experienced a compound decline of .35% a year. Under the 2.5 ft sea level rise scenario, this decline increased to .56% a year. The saltmarsh sparrow median time to quasi-extinction was 20 years under both scenarios. The results indicated that seaside sparrows are likely to persist, while saltmarsh sparrows are likely to become locally extinct in the next 30 years. "Given the projected increases in sea level over the next few decades and threats from predators, we will need to implement timely and creative actions to avoid extinction of saltmarsh sparrows," said the paper's lead author, Samuel Griffith Roberts. Explore further Seaside sparrows caught between predators and rising seas More information: The paper, "Preventing local extinctions to tidal marsh endemic sparrows in Eastern North America," is available at: DOI: 10.1093/condor/duy024 The paper, "Preventing local extinctions to tidal marsh endemic sparrows in Eastern North America," is available at: academic.oup.com/condor/articl 121/1/duy024/5393601 Defence minister Niramala Sitharaman paid a visit to senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who was hospitalised in Thiruvananthapuram after he sustained a head injury while performing a ritual at a temple. The Congress leader was so overwhelmed by the BJP minister's visit that he shared he took to Twitter to share his sentiments. "Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!" he said. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 On April 15, the Congress leader suffered head injuries when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head while performing 'Thulabharam' ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The accident happened when Tharoor, sitting in the weighing scale, was waiting to see the 'Deeparadhana' (aarti) being performed at the sanctum sanctorum," said MLA Sivakumar who also accompanied Tharoor during the ritual. The 63-year-old MP also suffered a minor leg injury in the incident, which occurred at a Devi temple here. Monday was the Malayalam New Year day ('Vishu'). Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his election campaign. Tharoor was given first aid at the government general hospital and was taken to the Trivandrum Medical College for detailed examination. "Due to the flow of visitors, he was shifted to ICU now from the observation ward," the official said adding that the MP has to undergo a repeat scan. Television channels showed yesterday, the former union minister getting into a car with a bandaged head and waving to onlookers wearing a blood-stained kurta. 'Thulabharam' is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as a donation. After the incident, Tharoor's election programmes for the day got cancelled. (With PTI inputs) Also read: Shashi Tharoor injured during temple visit; receives 6 stitches on his head The evolution of the impact of positional issues on vote choice for each party from 2004 to 2011. The solid line represents Conservatives; the dashed line represents Liberals; and the dotted line represents New Democrats. Credit: Elsevier, Heliyon It is well-known that the major Canadian political parties now use political marketing tools to segment the electorate and target specific groups of voters. According to a new study appearing in the journal Heliyon. published by Elsevier, positional issues play a greater role in Canadian electoral politics than previously assumed. Positional issues are divisive political issues for which there are different preferences. In contrast, valence issues are issues about which voters will usually share a common preference. An analysis of positional issues using multi-item issue scales demonstrates that many Canadian voters do indeed have strong opinions on issues, and that their effect on vote choice might even compare with those of conventional vote predictors, such as party identification. This finding provides new insights about how Canadian candidates and political parties can use political marketing tools to segment the electorate and target specific groups of voters. By measuring aggregated responses to multiple statements around national and regional issues, the analysis found that many voters take unambiguous positions along ideological lines. The investigators of this research project are Yannick Dufresne, Ph.D., Leadership Chair in the Teaching of Digital Social Sciences, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Universite Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada, and Catherine Ouellet, Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Toronto, ON, Canada. They explain that "while the effects of positional issues might only explain a small percentage of overall electoral changes, small percentages can be decisive in determining the winner of an election." Canadian electoral politics have traditionally engaged in brokerage style politics, where parties avoid pronouncements on divisive issues that might exacerbate tense social cleavages. As a result, the parties end up competing on non-polarizing valence issues, such as the need for a strong economy and clean environment, and do not address the means by which these ends would be achieved, focusing on the "who" and the "what" rather than the "how." One explanation for this electoral behavior is the heterogeneity of Canada's socio-demographics and values where parties could easily risk alienating segments of the highly fragmented electorate. In contrast, positional issues are at the core of the dialog between citizens who share a perspective and political parties that target these citizens using micro-campaigns. Positional issues are idiosyncratic and difficult to evaluate across cultures and national and regional boundaries. This study differs from previous research because it considers aggregated opinions on related issues, rather than looking at each dimension individually. Using data from the 2004, 2008, and 2011 Canadian Election Study, researchers were able to create eight positional issue scales by grouping the responses to consistently worded statements answered at four-year intervals. The broad positional issue categories included the economy, environment, foreign/US relations, law and order, minority issues, moral issues, social programs, and women's issues. The responses represented a spectrum of positions advocating free market economics and environmentalism versus more regulation, closer ties versus less engagement with the US, stronger social safety net versus program cuts, nationalism versus globalism, and flexible versus traditional values. These issue scales were used to compare the effects of positional issues to rival predictors of vote choice. The results show that conceptualization and measurement of positional issues through multi-items scales demonstrate both stability and significant effect on vote choice. The significance and strength of issues are found to be comparable to more conventional predictors of vote choice like values and party identification. "The more items in a scale, the more opportunities to capture citizens' real attitudes," explained co-investigator Catherine Ouellet. These results support the political marketing perspective that assumes voter preferences and party strategies have an impact on electoral outcomes. And because different positional issues do matter and affect different segments of the population, political parties have good reasons to engage in tactical actions such as direct mailing or wedge politics. Hence, the research shows that the actions parties take to capitalize on positional issues, as described by the political marketing literature, are justified. More information: Yannick Dufresne et al, Conceptualization, measurement and effects of positional issues in the Canadian electoral context, Heliyon (2019). Yannick Dufresne et al, Conceptualization, measurement and effects of positional issues in the Canadian electoral context,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01453 Only a few years ago, the astronomy and heliophysics communities were skeptical about whether CubeSats could reliably obtain scientific data. But these breadloaf-size satellites have proven their ability to return useful data. During the APS April Meeting 2019, Christopher S. Moore will describe how the twin Miniature X-ray Solar Spectometer CubeSats measure soft X-rays from the Sun. These were the first solar science-oriented CubeSat missions flown for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. This image shows an artificial image of the MinXSS CubeSat observing the Sun. Credit: MinXSS Team Only a few years ago, the astronomy and heliophysics communities were skeptical about whether CubeSats could reliably obtain scientific data. But these breadloaf-size satellites have proven their ability to return useful data. During the American Physical Society's April Meeting 2019, being held April 13-16, in Denver, Colorado, Christopher S. Moore, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the Solar and Stellar X-ray Group, will describe how the twin Miniature X-ray Solar Spectometer (MinXSS) CubeSats measure soft X-rays from the Sun. These were the first solar science-oriented CubeSat missions flown for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. As he will describe at the meeting, Moore was one of several dozen graduate students who contributed to MinXSS over its lifetime. He worked on the MinXSS CubeSats as part of his doctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder. "This work demonstrated that these small, relatively cheapranging from $1 million to $2 million for MinXSSCubeSats can collect data that fills a specific niche and is consistent with large satellites, which are much more expensive, and contribute to major science investigations," said Moore. MinXSS-1 was launched in December 2015 on the Atlas-V Cygnus OA-4 Launch, Orbital ATK resupply mission to the International Space Station, where it was deployed for an approximately 12-month orbit around Earth. The second version, MinXXS-2, was launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express in December 2018 and deployed for a four- to five-year orbit and operation. Science-oriented CubeSats are low-cost, short-lifespan satellites built to take specific scientific observations and measurements. MinXSS, for example, features cost-saving components such as an extendable tape measure that serves as a radio antenna. Its science payload consists of a soft X-ray spectrometer that was modified for compatibility with the harsh environment of space. MinXSS is also carrying silicon-based photometers onboard for other soft X-ray and visible light measurements. Only a few years ago, the astronomy and heliophysics communities were skeptical about whether CubeSats could reliably obtain scientific data. But these breadloaf-size satellites have proven their ability to return useful data. During the APS April Meeting 2019, Christopher S. Moore will describe how the twin Miniature X-ray Solar Spectometer CubeSats measure soft X-rays from the Sun. These were the first solar science-oriented CubeSat missions flown for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. This image shows Christopher S. Moore holding the MinXSS CubeSat. Credit: MinXSS Team The NASA-funded MinXSS-1 (the first of the twin satellites) was the initial test of the Blue Canyon Technologies XACT, which is a miniaturized attitude determination and control system. The success of MinXSS-1 and XACT resulted in the SmallSat 2016 Mission of the Year award. "MinXSS measures solar soft X-rays between 0.5 to 12 kiloelectron volts at moderate spectral resolution, which includes the sparsely observed 0.5- to 2-keV bandpass," explained Moore. "This spectral region is highly informative of the solar atmospheric plasma conditions for temperatures greater than 2 million kelvin present in solar flares and during quiescence (dormancy)." The data collected by MinXSS has been consistent with inferences from large satellites. "MinXSS data will help us understand the physics behind solar flares," Moore said. "The soft X-rays carry information about the temperature, density and chemical composition of material in the Sun's atmosphere, which allows scientists to trace how events like flares and other processes during calmer times heat the surrounding material in the corona, the Sun's atmosphere." Variations of the solar X-ray emission strongly correlate with large-scale magnetic features called active regions. "These active regions appear as bright loops in soft X-rays, but appear as dark spots at the solar surface (the photosphere), so they're called 'sunspots.' MinXSS data can help directly constrain the plasma temperature of these relatively quasi-static features," Moore said. CubeSats provide "excellent opportunities to train future leaders in technology and science, as undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs commonly have pivotal roles in design, development, testing, mission operations and science analysis," said Moore. "More than 40 graduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder contributed to MinXSS over the project's lifetime." Due to recent CubeSat successes, NASA and the National Science Foundation now offer new funding opportunities to directly fund science-oriented CubeSats. More information: The presentation, "Using the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) CubeSats to Probe HOT Plasma in the Atmosphere of a COOL Star," will take place on Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 10 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. Abstract: The presentation, "Using the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) CubeSats to Probe HOT Plasma in the Atmosphere of a COOL Star," will take place on Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 10 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. Abstract: meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/X08.2 A collection of images from the WISE spacecraft of the asteroid 2305 King, which is named after Martin Luther King Jr. The asteroid appears as a string of orange dots because this is a set of exposures that have been added together to show its motion across the sky. These infrared pictures have been color-coded so that we can perceive them with the human eye: 3.4 microns is represented as blue; 4.6 microns is green, 12 microns is yellow, and 22 microns is shown as red. From the WISE data, we can compute that the asteroid is about 12.7 kilometers in diameter, with a 22% reflectivity, indicating a likely stony composition. Credit: NASA A mere 17-20 meters across, the Chelyabinsk meteor caused extensive ground damage and numerous injuries when it exploded on impact with Earth's atmosphere in February 2013. To prevent another such impact, Amy Mainzer and colleagues use a simple yet ingenious way to spot these tiny near-Earth objects (NEOs) as they hurtle toward the planet. She is the principal investigator of NASA's asteroid hunting mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and will outline the work of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office this week at the American Physical Society April Meeting in Denverincluding her team's NEO recognition method and how it will aid the efforts to prevent future Earth impacts. "If we find an object only a few days from impact, it greatly limits our choices, so in our search efforts we've focused on finding NEOs when they are further away from Earth, providing the maximum amount of time and opening up a wider range of mitigation possibilities," Mainzer said. But it's a difficult tasklike spotting a lump of coal in the night's sky, Mainzer explained. "NEOs are intrinsically faint because they are mostly really small and far away from us in space," she said. "Add to this the fact that some of them are as dark as printer toner, and trying to spot them against the black of space is very hard." An image of the proposed Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) mission, which is designed to find, track and characterize Earth-approaching asteroids and comets. Using a thermal infrared camera, the mission would measure the heat signatures of NEOs regardless of whether they are light or dark colored. The telescope's housing is painted black to efficiently radiate its own heat into space, and its sun shield allows it to observe close to the Sun where NEOs in the most Earth-like orbits spend much of their time. In the background is a set of images of main belt asteroids collected by the prototype mission NEOWISE; the asteroids appear as red dots against the background stars and galaxies. Credit: NASA Instead of using visible light to spot incoming objects, Mainzer's team at JPL/Caltech has leveraged a characteristic signature of NEOstheir heat. Asteroids and comets are warmed by the sun and so glow brightly at thermal wavelengths (infrared), making them easier to spot with the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope. "With the NEOWISE mission we can spot objects regardless of their surface color, and use it to measure their sizes and other surface properties," Mainzer said. Discovering NEO surface properties provides Mainzer and her colleagues an insight into how big the objects are and what they are made of, both critical details in mounting a defensive strategy against an Earth-threatening NEO. For instance, one defensive strategy is to physically "nudge" an NEO away from an Earth impact trajectory. But to calculate the energy required for that nudge, details of NEO mass, and therefore size and composition, are necessary. The NEOWISE space telescope spotted Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina speeding by Earth on August 28, 2015. This comet swung in from the Oort Cloud, the shell of cold, frozen material that surrounds the Sun in the most distant part of the solar system far beyond the orbit of Neptune. NEOWISE captured the comet as it fizzed with activity caused by the Sun's heat. On November 15, 2015, the comet made its closest approach to the Sun, dipping inside the Earth's orbit; it is possible that this is the first time this ancient comet has ever been this close to the Sun. NEOWISE observed the comet in two heat-sensitive infrared wavelengths, 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which are color-coded as cyan and red in this image. NEOWISE detected this comet a number of times in 2014 and 2015; five of the exposures are shown here in a combined image depicting the comet's motion across the sky. The copious quantities of gas and dust spewed by the comet appear red in this image because they are very cold, much colder than the background stars. Credit: NASA Astronomers also think that examining the composition of asteroids will help to understand how the solar system was formed. "These objects are intrinsically interesting because some are thought to be as old as the original material that made up the solar system," Mainzer said. "One of the things that we have been finding is that NEOs are pretty diverse in composition." Mainzer is now keen to leverage advances in camera technology to aid in the search for NEOs. "We are proposing to NASA a new telescope, the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), to do a much more comprehensive job of mapping asteroid locations and measuring their sizes," Mainzer said. NASA is not the only space agency trying to understand NEOs. For instance, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) Hayabusa 2's mission plans to collect samples from an asteroid. And in her presentation Mainzer will explain how NASA works with the global space community in an international effort to defend the planet from NEO impact. Explore further Asteroid-hunting spacecraft delivers a second year of data More information: The presentation, "NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA HQ," will take place on Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 14 of the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. Abstract: The presentation, "NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA HQ," will take place on Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 14 of the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. Abstract: meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/X05.1 Each arc shows the impact of Trump tariffs on one economic sector in Europe. The blue lines show countries and sectors that gain output from the shock; red lines indicate a decreased output. The darker the lines, the bigger the effects are. Bottom left: The electricity sector shows a decrease in output consistently through all countries due to less energy being required in the EU steel and aluminum manufacturing sector. Bottom right: The manufacturers of automotive vehicles profit from the tariffs. The reduced demand for European steel and aluminum in the US increases the supply of these metals in Europe. This leads to positive effects for sectors that require them. Credit: CSHVienna / Johannes Sorger (Software: Kepler.gl) Modern macroeconomics has failed to produce an understanding of economies in times of crisis. Modern macroeconomics are still based on the assumption of equilibria, but a shock pushes economies out of a state of equilibrium. . This model therefore fails when dealing with economies in times of crisis. Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) are now proposing a novel method borrowed from physics that makes the effects of major events on out-of-equilibrium economies computable for the first time. Their article was published in the current issue of Nature Communications. The new method adds to current economic models in several ways: Calculating resilience "First, we can determine the resilience of an economy," says Peter Klimek, first author of the paper. Each country has different industries, and depends on various imports and exports. "We see all these interdependencies in newly available data sets. From these data, we can calculate how susceptible a country and its production sectors are to disturbances." The scientists see, for instance, which parts of an economy are particularly vulnerable to a shock like a trade war. Modeling outputs "We can further quantify how much a shock in one corner of the world affects the production of a given sector far around the globe," says co-author Stefan Thurner. Modeling responses to shocks answers questions like why it took economies so long to recover from the 2008 recession. "A shock does not evaporate," explains Peter Klimek. Just like a rock that is thrown into a still pond, a shock produces waves. "The shock waves will run through the whole system, following each of its interdependent connections." The researchers found that it typically takes six to 10 years before all sectors of an economy have fully absorbed a shock. Testable predictions Another line of progress resulting from the new method is that it makes testable predictions possible. The authors took the input-output data of 56 industrial sectors in 43 OECD countries from the years 2000 to 2014. With this large dataset they tested the accuracy of different economic projections that were dealing with the aftermaths of 2008. "Our method clearly outperformed all standard econometric forecasting methodsmost of them substantially," the authors state. They also estimated the effects of Donald Trump's new tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, imposed in June 2018. The model finds winners and losers. In Germany, for instance, the output of the automotive industry increases, as do legal activities or wholesale trade. On the other hand, electricity production, warehousing or land transport show a decline. "Interestingly, the production output in most of the EU countries rises so much that it can partly compensate the losses due to the tariffs," says Thurner. As soon as statistics for 2018 and 2019 are available, the team will test its prediction with real-world data. "Our vision is to eventually be able to calculate global effects of all kinds of shock scenarios that can happen anywhere," the complexity scientist adds. A concept from physics The concept for the new model is inspired by classical physics: Linear response theory (LRT) explains such things as how electric or magnetic substances react to strong electrical or magnetic fields. This is known as susceptibility. It can be measured with special devices, but can also be mathematically derived from properties of the material. "We show that LRT applies just as well to input-output economics," says Peter Klimek. "Instead of material properties, we use economic networks; instead of electrical resistance, we determine the susceptibility of economies, their response to shocks." Visualizing economies To make it intuitively understandable how economies work, scientists at the CSH employ an interactive visualization tool. It will be constantly fed with new data until the final version should represent the whole world economy. The tool visualizes the various dependencies of countries and production sectors. "Users can change all kinds of parameters and immediately see the effects across countries and sectors," says Stefan Thurner. A preliminary version, showing Trump tariff effects on Europe, can be seen at https://csh.ac.at/ecores/ More information: Peter Klimek et al, Quantifying economic resilience from inputoutput susceptibility to improve predictions of economic growth and recovery, Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications Peter Klimek et al, Quantifying economic resilience from inputoutput susceptibility to improve predictions of economic growth and recovery,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09357-w Provided by Complexity Science Hub Vienna Wikileaks co-found Julian Assange "violated, repeatedly, clear-cut provisions" of diplomatic asylum conventions, President Lenin Moreno said the day he kicked Assange out of Ecuador's embassy in London Ecuador said on Monday it has suffered 40 million cyber attacks on the webpages of public institutions since stripping Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of political asylum. Patricio Real, Ecuador's deputy minister for information and communication technologies, said the attacks, which began on Thursday, had "principally come from the United States, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Romania, France, Austria and the United Kingdom," as well as from the South American country itself. Assange was arrested and carried out of Ecuador's embassy in London on Thursday after President Lenin Moreno removed his diplomatic protection following seven years of self-imposed exile in the building. Moreno accused Assange of interfering in the "processes of other states" and "spying." As well as overturning Assange's asylum status, Ecuador stripped him of the nationality he was given in 2017 under the government of Moreno's predecessor Rafael Correa. Javier Jara, undersecretary of the electronic government department of the telecommunications ministry, said the country had suffered "volumetric attacks" that blocked access to the internet following "threats from those groups linked to Julian Assange." Hardest-hit were the foreign ministry, the central bank, the president's office, the internal revenue service, and several ministries and universities. However none of those institutions reported either the theft of information or the elimination of data. Explore further Garzon: Assange is neither pirate nor terrorist 2019 AFP Illustration shows location of a chemical reaction on gold nanoparticles mediated by localized surface plasmonsoscillations of group of electrons on the surface of the nanoparticle. The plasmons (green) act as catalysts that allow the reaction, in which pairs of carbon monoxide (white lines) transform into atoms of carbon (red) and oxygen (black) at room temperature. Gold balls represent the gold nanoparticles. Credit: K. Dill/NIST NIST researchers have explored in unprecedented detail a new breed of catalysts that allow some chemical reactions, which normally require high heat, to proceed at room temperature. The energy-saving catalysts use sunlight or another light source to excite localized surface plasmons (LSPs)oscillations of groups of electrons on the surface of certain metal nanoparticles, such as gold, silver and aluminum. The energy derived from the LSP oscillations drives chemical reactions among molecules that adhere to the nanoparticles. Scientists had previously shown that molecular hydrogen can be split into its individual atoms by the energy generated by the LSP oscillations. The NIST team has now discovered a second LSP-mediated reaction that proceeds at room temperature. In this reaction, LSPs excited in gold nanoparticles transform two molecules of carbon monoxide into carbon and carbon dioxide. The reaction, which ordinarily requires a minimum temperature of 400 degrees C., plays an important role in converting carbon monoxide into widely used carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphite. Probing the nanoparticles with an electron beam and combining the data with simulations, the NIST researchers pinpointed the sites on the gold nanoparticles where the reactions occurred. They also measured the intensity of the LSPs and mapped how the energy associated with the oscillations varied from place to place inside the nanoparticles. The measurements are key steps in understanding the role of LSPs for initiating reactions at room temperature, mitigating the need to heat the samples. Wei-Chang Yang of NIST and the University of Maryland NanoCenter, along with Henri Lezec and Renu Sharma and other collaborators, describe their work in the April 15 Nature Materials. The scientists relied on deposits of solid carbon deposits-one of the products of the carbon monoxide reaction they studied-as markers for the exact locations on the gold nanoparticles where the reaction took place. The team found that the reaction concentrated at the intersection where the carbon monoxide gas molecules preferentially adhere to the gold nanoparticles and where the amplitude of the electric field associated with the LSPs was highest. Although many LSPs can be excited with sunlight, the team chose an electron beam to trigger the oscillations and studied the carbon monoxide reaction in a scanning transmission electron microscope that can operate in a room-temperature environment. The findings, says Sharma, lay the foundation for searching for other systems that directly harness sunlight to generate LSPs in nanoparticles to drive room-temperature chemical reactions. By reducing energy consumption, such systems could have an enormous impact on industry and the environment. Explore further Boron nitride and silver nanoparticles to help get rid of carbon monoxide emissions More information: Wei-Chang D. Yang et al. Site-selective CO disproportionation mediated by localized surface plasmon resonance excited by electron beam, Nature Materials (2019). Journal information: Nature Materials Wei-Chang D. Yang et al. Site-selective CO disproportionation mediated by localized surface plasmon resonance excited by electron beam,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0342-3 Sea-based wind parks are Germany's latest answer to its search for more renewable energy Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday officially opened a massive wind farm in the Baltic Sea, calling it a project of "national significance" for Germany's "energy transition" towards renewables. Here are three things to know about the Arkona wind park. Baltic's largest wind park Arkona's 60 turbines tower out of the Baltic between the German island of Ruegen and the Swedish shoreline to the north. Erected in just three months last year, they are already supplying 385 megawatts of electricityenough for around 400,000 family homes. French energy provider Engie has signed a contract to buy electricity for four years from operator OWP Arkona, a joint venture between Germany's Eon and Norway's Equinor. Electricity will be routed through a French-built substation whose 150 kilometres of cables link up the wind generators. Engineers affectionately dubbed the hardware "the multi-socket adaptor" after the familiar household gadget. The project showcased "the German contribution, also the contribution of highly developed industrial nations to developing renewable energy," Merkel said, thanking both France and Norway for their involvement. "If you look at the historical responsibility that we have, since we emitted a lot of carbon dioxide into the air, it's a question of justice and of development cooperation" to nurture climate-friendly technology for others to adopt, she added. 'Energy transition' on back foot? Germany had long been seen as a pioneer in the switch to renewable energies, but Merkel's 2011 decision to exit the generation of nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster knocked the country back. Rather than emissions-free fission plugging the gaps left by variable output from wind and sun, Berlin has had to fall back on intensely polluting brown coal and other fossil sources. Today, renewables account for 38 percent of Germany's energy mix, and are slated to hit 65 percent by 2030. "We must stick to that," Merkel said, recalling that "renewable energy is already the largest pillar of our energy supply, showing how it's shifted from a little niche into the centre". But the federal government has missed its targets in the past, giving up last year a goal to reduce greenhouse emissions 40 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2020. "It will take a lot of effort to achieve our targets for 2030," the chancellor acknowledged. On land, Germany's much-lauded "Energiewende" (energy transition) policy is struggling, with subsidies for wind turbines on the way out and the cost of transmitting electricity to consumers high. One kilowatt-hour (kWh) costs 30 euro cents ($0.34) or twice as much as in neighbouring France, still well supplied with electricity from nuclear plants. From land to sea While land-based turbines may be running out of puff, Germany has been building them at sea for 10 yearsdespite initial scepticism. Observers at first warned of high costs, and upsets like storms or construction failures plagued the early attempts. But costs have been squeezed and techniques improved in the meantime, with 20 percent of Germany's wind energy now coming from the sea. North Sea and Baltic wind parks boast more than 1,300 windmills with a capacity of around 6.4 gigawatts. Importantly, seaborne wind power is less vulnerable to Nimbyism"not in my backyard"complaints from locals about spoiled views, noise or dead birds. Environment groups have warned about risks specific to the maritime generators, with birds still falling victim to them and the noise of the rotors tormenting some sea mammals, such as porpoises. Explore further Germany reports first greenhouse emissions fall in five years 2019 AFP Credit: Ondrej Prosicky/Adobe Stock "Wanted: beautiful, intelligent companion well-versed in the art of conversation." It's a familiar story, but don't expect a fairy-tale ending. In this instance, we're talking about a transaction that condemns one of the protagonists to life imprisonment in a cage or an untimely death in transit at the hands of traffickers. Not exactly a match made in heaven. The visually stunning and vocally versatile yellow-naped amazon is a prime example of the heavy price that parrots pay for their good looks, brain power and loquaciousness. This species is one of the most highly coveted in the Central American pet trade and its population has been devastated by poaching and trafficking. The island of Ometepe a wildlife haven in the middle of Nicaragua's largest freshwater lake harbours an estimated 1,800-2,000 yellow-naped amazons. This represents the largest remaining population not just in Nicaragua but throughout the entire range of this endangered parrot. Poaching pressure is no less severe in this part of the world, but the Ometepe population has remained relatively unscathed by virtue of its inaccessibility. Even here, an estimated 40 percent of nests are thought to have been plundered in recent years to supply the illegal pet trade. Local demand is at least partially responsible for the decline of the yellow-naped amazon a staggering 25 percent of households in Ometepe keep parrots as pets but national and regional demand are just as problematic, and there are disturbing reports of an increase in transcontinental trade, which could spell disaster for this beleaguered bird. Trafficking methods are also becoming more sophisticated for example, portable incubators are increasingly being used to smuggle the parrots abroad before they have hatched. Clutches of eggs are harder to detect and easier to transport, as they don't make noise or require feeding in transit. Two yellow-naped parrot chicks in the nest. Credit: FFI Who's A Naughty Boy, Then? It is illegal to take yellow-naped amazons eggs, nestlings or adult birds from the wild, but the chances of being apprehended are slim. In the absence of any meaningful law enforcement, parrot poachers can transgress with virtual impunity. Anyone caught in possession of a parrot can expect to escape with, at worst, a metaphorical slap on the wrist. There is no denying the global importance of this island stronghold and its treasure trove of yellow-naped amazons which begs the question: why are there relatively few protection measures in place to safeguard the birds? Part of the answer lies in the sheer magnitude of the task. The cost of protecting even a small proportion of nest sites is prohibitive, and more resources are urgently needed. The parrot's predilection for holes in mature trees and its tendency to return to the same nest site year after year mean that breeding sites are easy for would-be poachers to pinpoint and stake out. With the best will in the world, it is all but impossible to guarantee island-wide protection. Yellow-naped parrot chick undergoing a health check. Credit: FFI Communities have a crucial role to play in addressing illegal wildlife trade, and Ometepe is no exception. Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has been working with islanders for many years to encourage the adoption of environmentally friendly and climate-smart farming practices. Those same people hold the key to the survival of the yellow-naped amazon. Community-Led Solutions FFI's outreach activities are building local support for the protection of the parrots, and community-led patrols are already helping to combat poaching at known active nest sites. But there is potential to achieve much more by harnessing local knowledge. By establishing a network of guardians and providing incentive payments for nest protection, we hope to stay one step ahead of the poachers. In this respect, we are aiming to learn from FFI's successful sea turtle conservation efforts in Nicaragua, which have seen local community members make the transition from egg poachers to turtle guardians. But however effective the anti-poaching measures may be, we know that long-term protection of these parrots as with sea turtles will ultimately hinge on demand reduction. With that in mind, FFI has launched an awareness campaign aimed at schools and other influential groups. We are working to understand the drivers behind parrot ownership and poaching, as a first step to changing local mindsets and attitudes. But this is a deeply entrenched cultural norm in Nicaragua, and will require sensitive handling. Before we claim the moral high ground, we need to remind ourselves that it wasn't considered socially unacceptable in western circles to keep a pet parrot in a cage until relatively recently. As for stemming the international demand, that's a whole different story. We're currently on the lookout for the perfect partner to help FFI realise that ambitious goal. "Successful, active centenarian, passionate about parrots, seeks sympathetic funder for long-term relationship." Explore further An island of hope for the yellow-naped parrot More information: Find out more about the yellow-naped amazon and how you can help FFI to safeguard its future here: Find out more about the yellow-naped amazon and how you can help FFI to safeguard its future here: www.fauna-flora.org/species/yellow-naped-parrot (a) Production of relativistic BDM 1 in the Galactic center by the annihilation of heavier dark matter 0. (b) Illustration of multiple-site hits from an inelastic interaction of BDM for the case of two interactions occurring in two different NaI(Tl) and liquid scintillator (LS) detectors. (c) Illustration of bremsstrahlung radiation-induced hits on two NaI(Tl) or LS detectors. Credit: Ha et al. A team of researchers in the Republic of Korea, the U.S., Brazil, Indonesia and the U.K. have recently carried out a direct search for inelastic boosted dark matter (IBDM) using a terrestrial detector. Their study, published in Physical Review Letters (PRL), is the first ever to search experimentally for IBDM using a terrestrial detector. Observations gathered by past astrophysics studies suggest that the universe's dominant matter component is not ordinary matter, but nonbaryonic dark matter. Researchers have made tremendous efforts in to search for dark matter via direct detection, indirect detection and collider experiments, yet so far, their attempts have been unsuccessful. This lack of success encouraged them to search for alternative types of dark matter, such as light-mass models or relativistically boosted dark matter (BDM), which would have substantially different signatures in detectors. Precisely because these new kinds of dark matter would produce unconventional signatures, very few of them have been the focus of traditional dark matter experiments. "Even though scientists have consistently searched for WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle) dark matter over the past few decades, no clear signals have yet been observed," Hyun Su Lee, a researcher at the Institute for Basic Science in Daejeon, Korea, who carried out the recent study, told Phys.org. "This has motivated searchers for other types of dark matter, which may give significantly different signals in the detector. One idea is searching for multi-component dark matter. In this case, each dark matter component is likely WIMP dark matter, but it has a different mass." Inside the COSINE-100 detector. Credit: Ha et al. A few years ago, researchers at the University of Maryland and MIT introduced a new model that describes a relativistic dark matter particle boosted by the annihilation of heavier dark matter participles in the galactic center or the sun. According to their model, this would require at least two species of dark matter particles, comprising a multi-component dark matter. Dark matter candidates with a heavier mass can decay into light dark matter. As mass is equivalent with energy, in the case of multi-component dark matter, mass differences between different components would lead to high speed of light dark matter. The term 'boosted dark matter,' therefore, basically means that incident dark matter has a relatively high velocity. "The expected signal from high velocity dark matter is energetic electron recoil, while typical dark matter brings low energy nuclear recoil," Lee explained. "This theory has been considerably developed over the past few years. After that, theorists started thinking about inelastic scattering, because of the multiple components of dark matter." The COSINE-100 detector from outside. Credit: Ha et al. In chemistry and physics, Inelastic scattering is a fundamental process in which the kinetic energy of an incident particle is not conserved, but is either lost or increased. Researchers at CERN, as well as other institutions in Korea and the U.S. have theorized an inelastic interaction of boosted dark matter. According to their theories, relativistic dark matter interacts with the target material through inelastic scattering with electrons, creating a heavier state that later produces standard model particles, such as electron-positron pairs. "In inelastic scattering, the first energetic electron is produced with an additional dark sector particle," Lee explained. "Such a dark sector particle is decaying into an electron positron pair with some displacement. So far, no experiments have carefully studied these kinds of signals, so we thought that this could be a good alternative scenario to explain the dark matter problem." In their study, Lee and his colleagues carried out the first direct search for IBDM with a terrestrial detector. Essentially, they immersed eight Nal(TI) crystals with a total mass of 106kg into a 2,200L liquid scintillator surrounded by heavy shields to block radioactive backgrounds. Inside the COSINE-100 detector. Credit: Ha et al. Inside the COSINE-100 detector. Credit: Ha et al. (a) Production of relativistic BDM 1 in the Galactic center by the annihilation of heavier dark matter 0. (b) Illustration of multiple-site hits from an inelastic interaction of BDM for the case of two interactions occurring in two different NaI(Tl) and liquid scintillator (LS) detectors. (c) Illustration of bremsstrahlung radiation-induced hits on two NaI(Tl) or LS detectors. Credit: Ha et al. "We used both NaI(Tl), 106kg, and LS, 2ton, as an active detector to search for one energetic electron plus electron positron pair that deposited energies in two different detector components," Lee said. "Because of the large mass of the detector and its many components, it achieves a relatively good sensitivity for these types of signals." Unfortunately, Lee and his colleagues were unable to detect IBDM signals in their data. Nonetheless, theirs is a pioneering study, as nobody had previously used detectors to search for this particular type of dark matter. Their work is part of a greater project, dubbed COSINE-100, which is specifically aimed at testing dark matter annual modulation observed by the DAMA experiment. The researchers think that further searches for IBDM signals using the same detector or other ton-scale dark matter detectors will be more fruitful. "For the boosted dark matter search, we will improve our analysis by using about 10 times larger dataset that we already have on disk," Lee said. "We also plan to search elastic scattering channels and expect that an updated search will explore large parameter spaces that have not yet been searched in any other experiments." Explore further CERN lab on the hunt for dark matter 2019 Science X Network Credit: CC0 Public Domain Male pythons surgically implanted with inch-long radio transmitters that are then tracked by plane every two weeks. The hope is the male will lead to a female. Pythons have been breeding and eating their way through the Everglades for two decades with a haphazard strike force in pursuita multitude tracking by plane, with dogs, on foot, carrying shotguns, laying traps and earning bounties. Yet the invasive snake advances, erasing furry Florida natives from Everglades National Park, challenging the American alligator, and eyeing wading bird rookeries. This month, a group of federal, state and nonprofit officials gathered in Fort Lauderdale to launch an "Interagency Python Management Plan." It's hoped the blueprint for python control, which has been talked about since at least 2016, will increase agency coordination, share successes and expand mitigation to all of South Florida and its myriad landowners. "I wish this had happened a long time ago, but it is finally taking place," said Art Roybal, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service senior biologist, who began his python fight more than a decade ago when a snake ate an endangered Key Largo woodrat. "We knew pythons were going to be an issue. I call them all-terrain eating machines." Led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the python management planning group will meet four times a year with the expectation that a plan will be drafted in a year or two. While invasive lionfish, melaleuca and even a damaging climbing yam called the air potato have management plans, the python has so far escaped the extra scrutiny that outlines the species history, ecological and economic impacts, range, methods of control and how different agencies will work together. Kathy Worley, director of science at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said connecting land ownersprivate and publicis also key in trying to control the python spread. "Pythons don't know boundaries and we can't either," Worley said. "Everyone has their little pieces of the pie. This plan will remove barriers and give us flexibility in management options too." The conservancy surgically implants male pythons with inch-long radio transmitters that are then tracked by plane every two weeks. The hope is the male will lead to a female. When a male is found, researchers mark its position and go in. "We use canoes, boats, we go over land, we hack our way in," Worley said. "We are after the female. We take out the males too, except for our transmitter guy." Burmese pythons were first reported as established in Everglades National Park in 2000, according to research reported by the University of Florida. Native to Asia, the Burmese python is considered one of the largest snakes in the world. FWC's website says it was likely introduced into the Everglades by accident or intentional releases by pet owners. While not venomous, "the giant constrictors have thrived, assuming a top position on the food web." But it wasn't until March 2012 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed them as an injurious species, prohibiting importation and shipment. Between 1996 and 2006 the USFWS estimates 99,000 Burmese python were imported to the U.S. Today, there is no good estimate of how many pythons live wild in South Florida, but estimates are in the tens of thousands. Gov. Ron DeSantis brought the python problem to the attention of the Trump administration when the president spoke March 29 at the Herbert Hoover Dike. DeSantis said during an announcement in West Palm Beach of his new chief science officer that he pulled the acting director of the US Department of Interior aside to stress that a lot of money is being spent to restore the Everglades, yet the snakes are "just wreaking havoc." A 2011 study that looked at small mammal populations in Everglades National Park found declines of between 87 and 99% for raccoon, opossums, white-tailed deer and bobcats. The study, which included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, said no rabbits or foxes were seen in park surveys between 2003 and 2011. "I worked in Everglades National Park in the 1990s and I would see marsh rabbits all the time. I have not seen one here in six years," said Tylan Dean, biological resources branch chief for the Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks. Last year, trained FWC python killers were allowed into the park. It was a move the park fought for years because hunting is prohibited within its boundaries. Before hunters were allowed in, volunteers were used to track the snakes. "We don't think our efforts to control the population are sufficient so we need to do more," Dean said. "It's still worth it. That's the point of the python management plan. It's still worth it to try and do better." While radio tracking works for areas of southwest Florida where conservancy hunters push through tangles of mangroves, other areas benefit from hunters driving canal banks where snakes are known to warm themselves. Mike Kimmel, a paid hunter with the South Florida Water Management District's 2-year-old python control program, caught its 2000th snake in March after finding it on a levee. Worley believes the best python mitigation method has yet to be inventeda chemical that mimics the pheromone produced by a female that can be used as bait to bring the snakes to the hunters. "They just need to get the recipe right," Worley said. "At this point, I do not see us eradicating them, but we can control them if we work together." The python management plan team's next meeting is Aug. 13-15 in Naples. Explore further Team in Florida captures huge python using tracking devices 2019 The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Hectic campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019, scheduled to be held on April 18, will come to an end today. A total of 97 parliamentary constituencies across 13 states will go to polls in the phase 2 of the 2019 General Elections. As part of his polls campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address four public rallies in Odisha and Chhattisgarh today. The Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could also announce their alliance in Delhi where polls are scheduled to be held on May 12. Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details Here are all the latest updates on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 1.05pm: The Supreme Court has expressed satisfaction over Election Commission's action against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and others for allegedly making hate speeches during Lok Sabha election campaign. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also refused to consider the plea of Mayawati challenging the Election Commission's (EC) 48-hr ban on the leader and asked her counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. Taking note of the EC action, the court said it seems the EC has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. (PTI) 12.45pm: "For the last four months, I have been roaming all over the country, and all I am hearing is - Modi, Modi, and Modi," says BJP Chief Amit Shah in Davanagere, Karnataka. 12.37pm: Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore files his nomination from Jaipur parliamentary constituency for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. Rajasthan: Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore files his nomination from Jaipur parliamentary constituency for #LokSabhaElections2019 . Yog guru Ramdev and Rathore's wife Gayatri Rathore are also present. pic.twitter.com/wl1FTjbLMe ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 12.20pm: Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'All thieves have Modi in their surnames': "I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court." Prakash Raj who is contesting from Bengaluru Central LS seat as an independent candidate,says,"I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose" pic.twitter.com/LYA1keGpT2 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 11.52am: Prakash Raj who is contesting from Bengaluru Central LS seat as an independent candidate, tells ANI,"I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose." 11.50am: "In such hot weather, such a huge crowd, such enthusiasm; pictures of these rallies are giving sleepless nights to others. People are supporting us because they want a strong government," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Odisha's Sambalpur. 11.31am: Rahul Gandhi in Kollam, Kerala: "As PM said 'Congress mukt Bharat', meaning we'll erase idea of Congress from India. What Congress says to Narendra Modi is we don't agree with you. We'll fight you to convince you, you're wrong." 10.30am: Two Railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station yesterday. 2 Railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station yesterday. ADM says, "On 13 April, when shift changes, the old roll was mistakenly used. 2 employees suspended, dept probe underway" pic.twitter.com/1fbLFbXq9X ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2019 10.20am: He said India had emerged as a major global power, and that the country believed in "working with everyone for the good of all". Watch my interview to @DDNewsLive & @rajyasabhatv on a wide range of issues. https://t.co/psCu7BlUsr Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 16, 2019 12.15am: Prime Minister also took a dig at the Congress party's proposed NYAY Scheme, saying the party had done 'Anyay'(injustice) for the past 60 long years. Slamming the Opposition, the PM also asked the Congress if the party will also give 'Nyay' to to the 1984 anti-sikh riot victims? 10.10am: In an interview to DD News, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said over 12,000 small and marginal farmers will benefit from the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. 10.02am: PM Narendra Modi assures that government will transfer Rs 7, 50,000 crore through DBT into bank accounts of farmers within 10 years as part of the KISAN scheme. PM @narendramodi assures that government will transfer Rs 7, 50,000 crore through DBT into bank accounts of farmers within 10 years as part of the scheme pic.twitter.com/DMXD30Hp0T Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) April 16, 2019 9.56am: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Dayanidhi Maran campaigns in the constituency. Tamil Nadu: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Dayanidhi Maran campaigns in the constituency. All 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls on 18th April. pic.twitter.com/QUDloBdA9N ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 9.36am: Yogi Adityanath on EC ban: The Uttar Pradesh chief minister tells the poll body he was only responding to the divisive politics of the Opposition. He visited a Hanuman temple amid the EC ban on his campagining. 9.20am: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrabab Naidu, key interlocutor among 21 Opposition parties demanding verification of at least 50 per cent of polled votes against VVAPT slips, alleged the Election Commission was functioning under the 'guidance' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Opposition parties on Sunday had held a meeting to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning and said they will approach the Supreme Court again to demand that at least 50 per cent of paper trails be verified with EVMs. (PTI) 9.13am: "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala," says Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. He reportedly received six stitches on his head after he was injured while offering prayers at a temple in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. Tharoor was performing the ritual of 'thulabharam' when he suffered the injury. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 9.00am: Villagers in this Chhattisgarh village say, "No Road, No Vote." Chhattisgarh: Villagers in Dokada have decided to boycott #LokSabhaElections2019 over no roads in the village. Locals say, No Road, No Vote. We will not go to cast our vote till our demand of road development in the village is fulfilled. pic.twitter.com/TCRa5e1uq5 ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2019 8.45am: The BJP's Karnataka unit: "Congress Exposed Youth Cong Nation Secretary Ibrahim Khaleelulla has been arrested after being caught printing fake Voters ID cards." The Karnataka Congress says the BJP spreading "fake news". Congress Exposed Youth Cong Nation Secretary Ibrahim Khaleelulla has been arrested after being caught printing fake Voters ID cards. 18 people involved in printing fake Voter ID cards have been arrested Bengaluru central candidate @ArshadRizwan is behind this racket. BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 15, 2019 The Election Commission @SpokespersonECI should clarify immediately as to what was found. If there were any fake IDs, I leave it to the wisdom of people as to why BJP is spreading fake news. I am filing a defamation suit against @BJP4Karnataka for trying to malign my image. https://t.co/WxrAYv7aTk Rizwan Arshad (@ArshadRizwan) April 15, 2019 8.30am: BJP chief Amit Shah will address four public rallies in Karnataka and Kerala. 8.15am: Congress candidate from Mumbai North Constituency Urmila Matondkar on Monday alleged that BJP workers created a ruckus and reportedly tried to disrupt her public rally at Borivali railway station. 8.00am: Schedule for PM Modi's rallies on April 16. Edited by Manoj Sharma Tigers are considered critically endangered in Malaysia Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking. The Southeast Asian nation is home to swathes of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare creatures from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but they are frequently targeted by poachers. Two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested Monday by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state, said Xavier Jayakumar, water, land and natural resources minister. The men were in possession of claws and teeth from the Malayan tiger, he said. The species once roamed the jungles of Malaysia in the thousands but is now critically endangered, with just a small number believed left in the wild. They also had teeth and claws from bears, teeth from wild boars, as well as hunting equipment including machetes, axes and wire for setting traps, the minister said. "The two suspects have been arrested and will be remanded for three days to assist in the investigation," he said. Tiger pelts are prized collectors' items and fetch a high price on the black market, while many animals' body parts are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia, including Vietnam and China. Explore further Elephant poachers arrested in Malaysia 2019 AFP Scientists have found microplastic pollution in once pristine spot near the border between France and Spain. Credit: Nathan Danks / shutterstock Microplastics have been discovered in a remote area of the French Pyrenees mountains. The particles travelled through the atmosphere and were blown into the once pristine region by the wind, according to a new study published in Nature Geoscience. This is just the latest example of the "hidden risks" posed by plastics that humans cannot see with the naked eye. For now, governments and activists are focused on avoiding plastic litter in the environment, driven mainly by concern for wildlife and worries over unsightly drinks bottles or abandoned fishing nets on beaches. Plastic bag usage has been cut in many parts of the world, and various projects are exploring how to gather up the floating plastic waste in oceans. But little has yet been done to deal with polluting plastic particles that are usually invisible. There is however growing concern about these micro and nanoplastics, classified as particles smaller than 5mm. These come in part from deliberately manufactured sources, such as scrubbing materials in cleaning and cosmetic products, but also from secondary sources, such as the inevitable breaking up or wearing down of larger items such as tyres or fibre shed from tumble driers and washing machines. We are becoming increasingly aware of their presence but know surprising little about how much is out there, how it behaves in our environment, and what the implications are for human and animal well-being. As more studies publish their findings we are learning that microplastics are more widespread than we imagined, and that they are found in every environmental system investigated. Plastic particles have been found in record-breaking quantities in in river sediments in the UK, for instance, while a study in Paris found plastic fibres in wastewater and the air. This is perhaps to be expected in built up and polluted urban environments, but the new findings from the Bernadouze meteorological station in the Pyrenees are a different matter. This part of the mountain range is normally considered clean and pristine, not somewhere scientists would expect to find contamination. But the researchers looked for airborne plastic by collecting samples of atmospheric "fallout" over a five-month period. And they did indeed find microplastics, lots of them, in the form of tiny fragments, fibres and films. While their exact source is a mystery they were shown to have potentially travelled up to 95km. The Pyrenees separate Spain and France. Credit: Eric Gaba / wiki, CC BY-SA Particles have also been found in deep ocean floor sediments, far from immediate sources of pollution, carried there by ocean currents and settling slowly. Other research has identified some astonishing ways microplastics can move between one environmental sub-system and others. Alongside the obvious route of direct ingestion by animals who become prey for others higher in the food chain, it is now apparent that there are other more innocuous routeways, such as mosquito larvae in water ingesting plastics that are then retained in their bodies as the animals become flying insects. This releases particles into the atmosphere allowing them to float for thousands of miles, or to be inhaled. Should we be worried? The amount of plastic in the environment has increased and we are still making lots more. It stands to reason that microplastics are going be with us for a while yet, since plastic itself has many beneficial uses. If these fragments were unreactive and harmless they would not pose a threat, but unfortunately the risks are not yet fully understood. Alongside the issues associated with inadvertent ingestion of large volumes of material without any nutritional value, there are some hidden risks. Microplastics have a relatively large surface area and so could potentially provide sites for surface reactions and act as rafts for organic pollution. Given that microplastics are turning up in drinking water and food we need to do more work to understand the risks to health and work out ways to manage this risk. A study that found microplastics in a fish liver raised concerns that plastic can cross the gut if it is ingested. The trouble is, these plastics are so small they are not easy to remove from the environment once they get there. The key is preventing their escape into the environment in the first place. Focusing on the bigger plastics we can see may be a distraction from this potentially larger problem in the air we breathe and the food we eat, but tackling the problem at the source could go a long way to helping with damage limitation. Explore further Airborne plastic particles blanket remote mountains: study This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In this Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 file photo, U.S. astronaut Owen Garriott looks a space ship that will carry new crew members, including his son U.S. space tourist Richard Garriott, to the international space station at the launch pad in Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Garriott has died at his home in Huntsville, Ala. A statement released by the space agency says Garriott died Monday, April 15, 2019. He was 88 (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File) Former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott has died at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. A statement released by the space agency says Garriott died Monday. He was 88. Garriott flew aboard the early space station Skylab in 1973, spending about 60 days in space. He also was part of the ninth space shuttle mission aboard Columbia in 1983. That six-person crew was the largest at the time to fly aboard a single spacecraft. Garriott was selected as an astronaut in 1965. He held other positions within NASA, including director of Science and Applications at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Explore further New Crew Blasts Off for International Space Station 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. A self-cleaning device made of wood aims to make small-scale desalination more practical. Credit: John T. Consoli/University of Maryland About a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water. Desalinating salty water into drinkable water can help to fill this dangerous gap. But traditional desalination systems are far too expensive to install and operate in many locations, especially in low-income countries and remote areas. Now researchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering have demonstrated a successful prototype of one critical component for affordable small-scale desalination: an inexpensive solar evaporator, made of wood. The evaporator generates steam with high efficiency and minimal need for maintenance, says Liangbing Hu, associate professor of materials science and engineering and affiliate of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute. The design employs a technique known as interfacial evaporation, "which shows great potential in response to global water scarcity because of its high solar-to-vapor efficiency, low environmental impact, and portable device design with low cost," Hu says. "These features make it suitable for off-grid water generation and purification, especially for low-income countries." Interfacial evaporators are made of thin materials that float on saline water. Absorbing solar heat on top, the evaporators continuously pull up the saline water from below and convert it to steam on their top surface, leaving behind the salt, explains Hu, who is senior author on a paper describing the work in Advanced Materials. However, over time salt can build up on this evaporative surface, gradually degrading performance until it is removed, he says. Hu and his colleagues minimized the need for this maintenance with a device made out of basswood that exploits the wood's natural structure of the micron-wide channels that carry water and nutrients up the tree. The researchers supplement these natural channels by drilling a second array of millimeter-wide channels through a thin cross-section of the wood, says Yudi Kuang, a visiting scholar and lead author on the paper. The investigators then briefly expose the top surface to high heat, which carbonizes the surface for greater solar absorption. In operation, as the device absorbs solar energy, it draws up salty water through the wood's natural micron-wide channels. Salt is spontaneously exchanged from these tiny channels through natural openings along their sides to the vastly wider drilled channels, and then easily dissolves back into the water below. "In the lab, we have successfully demonstrated excellent anti-fouling in a wide range of salt concentrations, with stable steam generation with about 75% efficiency," says Kuang. "Using natural wood as the only starting material, the salt-rejecting solar evaporator is expected to be low-cost," adds research associate Chaoji Chen. The evaporator approach also is effective in other types of wood with similar natural channels. The researchers now are optimizing their system for higher efficiency, lower capital cost, and integration with a steam condenser to complete the desalination cycle. Hu's lab also recently developed another solar-heated prototype device that takes advantage of carbonized wood's ability to absorb and distribute solar energythis one created to help clean up spills of hard-to-collect heavy oils. "Our carbonized wood material demonstrates rapid and efficient crude oil absorption, as well as low cost and scalable manufacturing potential," says Kuang, lead author on a paper about the research in Advanced Functional Materials. "Wood is an intriguing material scaffold, with its unique hierarchically porous structure, and it is a renewable, abundant and cost-effective resource," Hu says. "In our lab, the fundamental understanding of biomaterials (especially wood) leads us to achieve extraordinary performance that is competitive with widely used but non-sustainable materials." Among other projects, his lab has created light and effective "nanowood" insulating materials. It also has engineered "super wood" that is 12 times stronger and 10 times tougher than natural wood, and potentially may replace steel, titanium or carbon fiber in certain applications, he says. Explore further Pine and poplar wood improve sunlight-driven water purification More information: Yudi Kuang et al, A HighPerformance SelfRegenerating Solar Evaporator for Continuous Water Desalination, Advanced Materials (2019). Journal information: Advanced Materials Yudi Kuang et al, A HighPerformance SelfRegenerating Solar Evaporator for Continuous Water Desalination,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/adma.201900498 In a paper recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, an international team of conservationists highlights the importance of tree dens for pandas raising infants in native habitats. The study, conducted in Fengtongzai and Foping Nature Reserves in China, analyzed the difference in microhabitats of cave dens and tree dens used by female pandas. The result of the research suggests that conservation efforts need to take into account key resources, such as large old trees that provide important microhabitats that support rare and endangered wildlife. "Pandas are found in different kinds of forests in China," said the study's lead author, Wei Wei, an associate professor at China West Normal University. "Old growth forests provide large tree cavities for den sites, but pandas living in forests without these large old trees must use cave dens instead. We studied the microclimates inside these den habitats, and found that tree dens were better at buffering against extremes of temperature and humidity than cave densindicating that tree dens provide a more stable microclimate for rearing cubs." The study was conducted with support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, and San Diego Zoo Global. "Current monitoring practices for giant pandas and their habitat do not include systematic surveys of large old trees, but our data points to the possibility that these trees are critical limiting resources used by denning maternal females, possibly facilitating offspring survival," said Zejun Zhang, professor and director of the Science Department at China West Normal University. "Future monitoring and management plans should emphasize this critical resource, so that we can better judge its importance for giant panda conservation." Findings of this study may help guide future giant panda conservation effortsin habitat management and, where needed, in construction of artificial dens. "Management practices that preserve large old trees may increase capacity of reserves to sustain larger giant panda populations," said Ron Swaisgood, director of Recovery Ecology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. "Our data on preferred characteristics of dens also will provide important guidance for construction of artificial dens. Future experiments will evaluate whether building artificial dens that mimic the qualities of preferred natural dens will be a useful tool for improving den habitat while we wait for old growth forests to re-establish." Explore further US zoo to return beloved giant pandas to China More information: Wei Wei et al, The role of den quality in giant panda conservation, Biological Conservation (2019). Journal information: Biological Conservation Wei Wei et al, The role of den quality in giant panda conservation,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.031 Artist's impression of reionisation period. Credit: Amanda Smith, Institute of Astronomy Large differences in the 'fogginess' of the early universe were caused by islands of cold gas left behind when the universe heated up after the big bang, according to an international team of astronomers. The results, reported in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, have enabled astronomers to zero in on the time when reionisation ended and the universe emerged from a cold and dark state to become what it is today: full of hot and ionised hydrogen gas permeating the space between luminous galaxies. Hydrogen gas dims light from distant galaxies much like streetlights are dimmed by fog on a winter morning. By observing this dimming in the spectra of a special type of bright galaxies, called quasars, astronomers can study conditions in the early universe. In the last few years, observations of this specific dimming pattern (called the Lyman-alpha Forest) suggested that the fogginess of the universe varies significantly from one part of the universe to another, but the reason behind these variations was unknown. "We expected the light from quasars to vary from place to place at most by a factor of two at this time, but it is seen to vary by a factor of about 500," said lead author Girish Kulkarni, who completed the research while a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. "Some hypotheses were put forward for why this is so, but none were satisfactory." The new study concludes that these variations result from large regions full of cold hydrogen gas present in the universe when it was just one billion years old, a result which enables researchers to pinpoint when reionisation ended. During reionisation, when the universe transitioned out of the cosmic 'dark ages', the space between galaxies was filled with a plasma of ionised hydrogen with a temperature of about 10,000C. This is puzzling because fifty million years after the big bang, the universe was cold and dark. It contained gas with temperatures only a few degrees above absolute zero, and no luminous stars and galaxies. How is it then that today, about 13.6 billion years later, the universe is bathed in light from stars in a variety of galaxies, and the gas is a thousand times hotter? Answering this question has been an important goal of cosmological research over the last two decades. The conclusions of the new study suggest that reionisation occurred 1.1 billion years after the big bang (or 12.7 billion years ago), quite a bit later than previously thought. The team of researchers from India, the UK, Canada, Germany, and France drew their conclusions with the help of state-of-the-art computer simulations performed on supercomputers based at the Universities of Cambridge, Durham, and Paris, funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). "When the universe was 1.1 billion years old there were still large pockets of the cosmos where the gas between galaxies was still cold and it is these neutral islands of cold gas that explain the puzzling observations," said Martin Haehnelt of the University of Cambridge, who led the group that conducted this research, supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC). "This finally allows us to pinpoint the end of reionisation much more accurately than before," said Laura Keating of the Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics. The new study suggests that the universe was reionised by light from young stars in the first galaxies to form. "Late reionisation is also good news for future experiments that aim to detect the neutral hydrogen from the early universe," said Kulkarni, who is now based at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India. "The later the reionisation, the easier it will be for these experiments to succeed." One such experiment is the ten-nation Square Kilometre Array (SKA) of which Canada, France, India, and the UK are members. Electron micrograph of the fang of Bothrops atrox, the common lancehead, a pit viper. Credit: Micrograph by Stephanie Crofts; specimen (c)Field Museum of Natural History FMNH51658 A team that studies how biological structures such as cactus spines and mantis shrimp appendages puncture living tissue has turned its attention to viper fangs. Specifically, the scientists wanted to know, what physical characteristics contribute to fangs' sharpness and ability to puncture? They report their findings in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Like most venomous snakes, vipers have fangs that function primarily as hypodermic needles, said University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Stephanie Crofts, who conducted the analysis of viper fangs with U. of I. animal biology professor Philip Anderson. But vipersa group that includes rattlesnakes, asps and puff adderstend to have hinged jaws that fold the fangs up into their mouths for storage. Viper fangs are smooth and efficient, Anderson said. "They typically don't have to hold on very long," he said. "They sink their fangs in and out, and they're done." The researchers wanted to know which characteristics of the fangs made them good at puncturing. "The question was: How do we measure sharpness?" Crofts said. "Intuitively, we think we know what is sharp and what isn't, but in biology, we have to measure specific morphological traits." Like other vipers, puff adder skulls have hinged jaws that deploy the fangs when the animal opens its mouth to strike. Credit: L. Brian Stauffer; specimen (c) Field Museum of Natural History FMNH 11006 The Field Museum in Chicago lent the researchers fangs from a variety of species. The team used 28 viper fangs for its tests. For each fang, the researchers measured the angle of the tip (was it wide or narrow?), how rounded the tip is, and its surface area. They mounted each fang to a machine that can apply and measure the force required to puncture somethingin this case, cubes of ballistics gel of uniform size and density. Mechanical engineers on the team also manufactured a series of metal punches with varying tip angles, degrees of bluntness and surface areas, and the team also tested those using the same methods. "With the punches, we could very tightly control the different parameters," Crofts said. "It was a way of isolating those different metrics." University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Stephanie Crofts and animal biology professor Philip Anderson studied the puncture performance of viper fangs. Credit: L. Brian Stauffer; specimens Field Museum of Natural History FMNH 11006 and FMNH238188 The tests revealed that the angle of a fang's tip contributed the most to sharpness. Even a narrow fang with a rounded tip tended to perform better than a wider fang that was intactnot rounded or dulledat its end. "The narrowness of the tip angle is what's really important," Crofts said. "I found that a little surprising, because most measures of sharpness focus on the roundedness of the tip. That does come into play, but it's secondary to that overall angle." "This study tells us what aspect of shape to measure when we want to measure sharpness," Anderson said. "Whether we're looking at biological systems or other systems, the tip angle appears to be the primary factor driving sharpness." Explore further Scientists study puncture performance of cactus spines More information: How do morphological sharpness measures relate to puncture performance in viperid snake fangs? Biology Letters, royalsocietypublishing.org/doi .1098/rsbl.2018.0905 Journal information: Biology Letters How do morphological sharpness measures relate to puncture performance in viperid snake fangs? Jet Airways plans to extend its suspension of international flights until Thursday having not received any interim funding from lenders, the company said in a letter to employees on Monday. The airline, saddled with some $1.2 billion of bank debt, has been struggling after failing to receive a stop-gap loan of about $217 million from its lenders as part of a rescue deal agreed in late March. In the staff letter, seen by Reuters, Chief Executive Vinay Dube said: "The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far, and as a result of this we have extended cancellation of international operations through Thursday, April, 19." Dube said management would update the airline's board on the matter at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday and would seek guidance on the next steps forward. Jet, which also owes vast sums to lessors, suppliers, pilots and oil companies, has been losing planes in recent weeks as lessors scramble to de-register and take back their aircraft, even as Jet's lenders have sought expressions of interest in the carrier from potential investors. Lenders, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), want a new investor to buy a stake of up to 75 percent in Jet and initial expressions of interest were submitted last week. Also read: Jet Airways crisis: Banks meet, no word on funding yet A spokesman for SBI said in a statement late on Monday the bank was running the sale but gave little detail. EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST Local media have reported that as many as six parties have submitted expressions of interest, though it is still far from clear if an acceptable bid will materialize. "SBI is acting on behalf of the group of lenders," the bank said. "Necessary support to facilitate the process is being extended by the banks in the consortium." Also read: How Naresh Goyal is trying to 'reboard' Jet Airways India's civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said on Monday that lessors had applied to de-register a dozen more aircraft being operated by Jet Airways. Once a plane is de-registered, lessors are free to take it out of the country and lease it to other airlines. More than two dozen Jet-operated planes have been deregistered this month and the airline had already been forced to ground over two-thirds of its fleet by lessors due to unpaid dues. On Friday, aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola had said Jet had the money to operate only six or seven planes over the weekend and that lenders would have to decide how many planes it could fly through this week.. Jet now has about 44 flights, and only about seven operational aircraft, a senior pilot with the airline and a member of the pilots' guild told Reuters on Monday. The airline had more than 120 aircraft operating a year ago, but competition from low-cost carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet Ltd, together with high oil prices, hefty fuel taxes and a weak rupee have lately piled on pressure. Jet's employees marched last week to its headquarters in Mumbai to demand clarity on whether they would get paid soon and if their jobs will be secure over coming months. Earlier on Monday, Jet's pilots and engineers also gathered at its office in Mumbai demanding answers. Also read: Jet Airways' pilots urge PM Modi to save 20,000 jobs Also read: Naresh Goyal joins hand with US, UK firms to bid for Jet Airways 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 Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved will open more than 500 stores of company's apparel brand Patanjali Paridhan throughout the country this year, the yoga guru said Tuesday. The company will open over 500 Patanjali Paridhan stores in the country where clothes made of bamboo fibre and khadi will be made available, Ramdev told reporters at the launch of a store here Tuesday. Over 5,000 variety of clothes, including Sanskar for males, Aastha for women and LiveFit for sportswear category will be available at these stores, Ramdev said. The company also plans to soon increase the range of the clothes, he added. Patanjali Ayurved has already started 20 Patanjali Paridhan stores in the country, he said, adding that the quality of clothes will not be compromised as over 100 experts will take care of the quality. Also Read: Netflix announces 10 new original films for Indian audiences Also Read: Hotstar becomes the largest digital video platform of the Walt Disney ecosystem South Africa: Radebe on outreach programme in EC Energy Minister Jeff Radebe is on an outreach programme drive in the Eastern Cape this week. The trail will start this morning in Port Elizabeth where Radebe is leading a School Energy Day programme, where he will handover at least 350 pairs of school shoes to identified impoverished learners in partnership with Central Energy Fund (CEF). The School Energy Day is an initiative of the Department of Energy that aims to contribute towards active participation of learners in energy-related matters and career development as envisioned in the National Development Plan (NDP). The programme targets learners in Grades 10 12 and encourages them to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). On Tuesday Radebe will officially launch the Sea Vista township library, sponsored by the Kouga Wind Farm in Humansdorp. The R4 million project aims to provide a facility that will be resourced to meet the educational needs of the community especially the youth while improving access to information for the local community as well as improving access to conducive studying facilities for local learners. Also on Tuesday, Radebe will handover certificates to local Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan youth who successfully graduated from a programme aimed at uplifting local unemployed young people through skills development. The young people to be recognised, have successfully completed the Solar Water Heater (SWH) Installation Trainee Programme. Radebe will then proceed to Komga - Great Kei Municipality - where he will host socio-economic and enterprise development engagement on EDF Renewables. This programme aims to create awareness about renewables and how the Independent Power Producer Programme contributes to Socio-Economic and Enterprise Development nationally as well within their local areas of operation. Radebe will end his trail by delivering an address at the Church of God and Saints of Christ National Festival in Belhoek Hewu, in Queenstown. The church proceedings will be preceded by a community engagement. - SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. 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. China applauded Pakistan for implementing NAP China on Monday applauded Pakistan for devising guidelines to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) as per United Nations Security Councils resolution and said it shows its resolve to fight terrorism. China has noticed the relevant report. The newly released guidelines are Pakistans latest measures to implement National Action Plan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said during a regular press briefing here. He said the newly released guidelines last week show Pakistans resolve and commitment to firmly implement the UNSC resolutions. I think it shows Pakistans position and resolve to fight terrorism and to firmly implement the UNSCs resolutions. China highly appreciates it, he added. Lu Kang said Pakistan as an important participant of the international counter-terrorism campaign has long been making great efforts and sacrifices to achieve the goal. China supports Pakistan in advancing counter-terrorism efforts based on its own national conditions, he added. The spokesperson hoped that the international community will enhance cooperation with Pakistan and jointly uphold regional peace and stability. Last week, Pakistan launched the guidelines for the implementation of the UNSC 1267 Sanctions to further oversee and guide the federal and provincial governments on implementation of sanctions against individuals and entities designated by the UNSC. The guidelines have been formulated in consultation with the stakeholders and in compliance with the international standards, especially as per requirements of the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Separately, Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Yang Monday said China and Pakistan are good neighbours, friends and partners who have withstood the test of the time and changes in the international landscape. He made these remarks in a meeting with Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwala who is currently on a three-day visit to China along with a three-member delegation comprising senators Sassi Palejo, Liaquat Khan Tarakai and Abdul Qayyum. Wang Yang, also a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, observed that the relationship between the two countries remains solid and enjoying a good momentum of growth. He particularly mentioned the frequent exchanges between the leadership of the two countries and good progress made in bilateral cooperation in various fields. Wang Yang acknowledged the role of Senate deputy chairman in promoting friendship and cooperation between the two countries. He also commended the visiting dignitary over helping establishment of China-Pakistan Friendship Group in the Senate of Pakistan. He hoped that the visit of the deputy chairman will help further boost the China-Pakistan brotherly ties. He recalled his last visit to Pakistan in which he led a delegation to attend 70th Independence Day celebrations and said that he was deeply impressed by achievements and development in Pakistan. He assured to continue strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the two countries in all fields. The deputy chairman said both Pakistan and China enjoy strong and deep-rooted relations and expressed the hope that these relations will grow further in all the fields. He also thanked the Chinese side for extending hospitality and goodwill towards the delegation. " " The T3 Minneapolis building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will be the first tall wooden building in the country; construction's expected to be completed by the end of 2016. Image provided by MGA Back in 1889, Chicago's 10-story Rand McNally Building became the world's first all-steel-framed skyscraper, ushering in an age in which metal, glass and concrete towers would dominate the skylines of major cities. Since then, those sturdy, versatile materials have allowed builders to create scores of spectacular structures. But the use of those materials has come at a cost to the environment, because making and transporting them generates an enormous amount of carbon emissions as much as 30 percent of the pollution that's contributing to rising global temperatures and climate change. And the proliferation of those man-made materials can give urban environments what some see as an unnatural, almost alienating ambiance. Advertisement That's why some unconventional architects are eager to forsake concrete and steel and turn to an abundant, versatile and renewable material that actually stores carbon instead of causing its release. And it's about as natural as you can get. We're talking about good old-fashioned wood. Material of the Past ... and Future? While wood is often used in houses and other smaller-scale structures these days, the idea of building an all-timber skyscraper might seem as outlandish as, well, that episode of "Futurama" in which the robot Bender replaced all his metal parts with wood. But we kid you not. In 2015, construction began on an 18-story residential tower for student housing at the University of British Columbia. The structure, which incorporates a timber superstructure atop a concrete base, is scheduled for completion in 2017. And Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the global design firm that created Chicago's iconic Sears (now Willis) Tower, has developed a plan for building a 42-story apartment tower out of wood. Meanwhile Cambridge University's Department of Architecture designers recently presented London mayor Boris Johnson with a design for an 80-story wooden high-rise. Vancouver-based architect Michael Green, who's joined with French architectural partners DVVD and real estate group REI France to propose building a 35-story wooden skyscraper in Paris, says wood has enormous advantages over manmade materials. "Wood, unlike steel and concrete, sequesters carbon dioxide, storing it away for the life of the building it is in," Green, who gave a 2013 TED talk on wood skyscrapers (watch the full video below), explained via email. "One cubic meter of wood stores a ton of carbon dioxide. Wood is the only major building material we can build with that is grown by the sun. Its strength-to-weight is phenomenal, and man-made energy is only used to handle it and move it to site." Since deforestation is also a serious environmental problem, Green would use sustainably-harvested timber, from young trees that can quickly be regrown. That way, producing the resource actually helps take carbon out of the atmosphere, rather than spewing more CO 2 during the manufacturing process. (Transporting the wood to construction sites will still burn some fossil fuels and create emissions at least until we develop solar-powered big rigs.) Innovations in Lumber And the wood that today's architects would use isn't necessarily the same wood that went into your great-grandparents' barn. Green plans to rely upon "engineered" wood, in which more modest-sized pieces from smaller, younger trees are glued together to form bigger wood panels and beams. Additionally, he's also researching the possibility of processing wood fibers and using 3-D printing to make structural materials. " " The 35-story Baobob skyscraper would be the world's tallest wooden building if built in Paris as proposed by architecture firm Michael Green Architecture. Image provided by MGA "One of the big advantages we see with mass timber is faster construction timelines," Green says. "These large wood panels can be prefabricated off-site and cut with an extremely high level of precision. They can then be quickly assembled and installed on-site. Dry construction also means we don't need to wait for concrete to cure before we continue on with other aspects of the building." You might think that wood would also have some major drawbacks, such as flammability, and that it's not as sturdy as steel and concrete. But according to Green, wood panels can be designed to be fire-resistant. And wood's relative lightness a wooden building would weigh as little as one-sixth the weight of a concrete and steel structure and flexibility actually would make it more resilient against earthquakes. Even so, wooden skyscrapers have a way to go before the idea is widely accepted "One of the biggest challenges of building tall with wood is that building codes around the world still have to change and adapt to these new ways of building," explains Green. "Convincing authorities to adopt new building codes and methods is less of a technical challenge and more of a challenge of perception and political will. We feel we have an important role as architects to help shift misconceptions about building with wood and help other architects, engineers, and private developers recognize the value of mass timber design as an alternative to steel and concrete." Now That's Interesting Austrian architects have calculated that building a 276-foot-tall (86-meters-tall) apartment building mostly out of wood instead of concrete would save nearly 2,800 ton of carbon emissions roughly equivalent of the amount emitted if you drove a car 25 miles a day for 1,300 years. " " The atmospheric phenomenon left behind airplanes are called contrails, and have become fodder for conspiracy theorists. Bert Modderman/Getty Images At some point, you've probably looked up into the sky and noticed those odd line-shaped clouds that are left behind after a jet aircraft has flown over. Those white streaks are condensation trails, or contrails, and they formed when jet engine exhaustwhich contains carbon dioxide and other gases, water vapor, and soot and metal particlescomes into contact with cool moisture in the atmosphere, which forms water droplets that then freeze and turn into ice particles. Sounds fairly innocuous, huh? But in the minds of Internet conspiracy theorists, they're anything but harmless. To them, the streaks are "chemtrails," which they claim that are evidence of some secret government conspiracy to control the weather, the minds of the population, or perhaps to conduct biological warfare. Advertisement "North America is now suffering its seventh year of conspicuous and dangerous aerosol and electromagnetic operations conducted by the U.S. government under the guise of national security," warns a 2013 article on one such website, GeoEngineering Watch. "Concerned citizens watch in fear as military tankers discolor the skies with toxic chemicals that morph into synthetic clouds." It might like a storyline from "The X-Files," but you might be surprised how many people think it could be happening. In a 2013 Public Policy Polling survey, five percent of Americans said they believed that those streaks in the sky are chemicals sprayed by the government "for sinister reasons," while another eight percent weren't completely ruling it out. But don't order that hazmat suit just yet. In a survey just published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, a group of scientists who study the atmosphere and pollutants were asked to evaluate the evidence of a secret spraying program the conspiracy websites offer, such as photos of the streaks left behind by aircraft and analyses of soil, water and snow in remote areas for strontium and other scary-sounding substances The result is not going to make conspiracy buffs happy. Of the 77 scientists surveyed, 76 said they had seen no evidence in their work of a secret large-scale atmospheric program or SLAP, as some call it. They concluded that the conspiracy theorists' supposed proof could be explained in other ways, often by well-understood principles of physics and chemistry. Check out this HowStuffWorks Now video as our host Jonathan Strickland explains the findings: "The chemtrails conspiracy theory maps pretty closely to the origin and growth of the internet, where you can still find a number of websites that promote this particular brand of pseudoscience," study co-author Steven Davis, University of California, Irvine associate professor of Earth system science, said in a UCI press release. "Our survey found little agreement in the scientific community with claims that the government, the military, airlines and others are colluding in a widespread, nefarious program to poison the planet from the skies." But what about the one scientist who claimed to have seen evidence of chemtrails? As the study explains, that lone researcher who wasn't identified had come across high levels of atmospheric barium in a remote area where the soil normally would be low in the element. Study co-author Mick West a computer and software engineer who maintains the conspiracy theory-debunking website Metabunk.org isn't surprised that the lone dissent exists. "If you take any group, there's a small percentage of outliers," he says. "Two or three percent of climate scientists don't believe that humans are causing global warming." Other atmospheric researchers would offer alternative explanations for the barium, he says. But when it comes to the photos, West pointed out, the scientists were 100 percent in agreement that they didn't provide any proof of a spraying program. West thinks it's important for scientists to actively challenge the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which he thinks distracts the public from real environmental problems, such as the need to curb carbon emissions. But he's not confident that the researchers will win over the hardcore believers, who are likely to simply view the study as government-backed propaganda being disseminated to cover up the plot. Skeptic magazine founder and Scientific American columnist Michael Shermer, who has written extensively about pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, agrees with West. He writes vie email that he expects the study will persuade "only those on the fence, who have perhaps heard of chemtrails but don't know much about them, or are vaguely aware of the conspiracy theory but haven't thought much about it. To skeptics it will confirm what we already know it's just contrails but to the true believer, there is no evidence that could ever disconfirm the conspiracy theory. That is the power of belief." Here's a little more background on chemtrails thanks to our Stuff They Don't Want You to Know colleagues: Now That's Interesting While there's no evidence that the effect is intentional, a 2015 study found that trails of ice particles could slightly influence ground temperatures and local climate; the researchers found that contrails could lessen the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures in an area by 5 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit. The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus , who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis. Ecuador suffered 40 million cyber attacks on websites of public institutions since the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Last week, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. after Ecuador withdrew asylum after seven years. In response to the arrest acktivist communities launched several attacks against the Ecuador government. Yesterday Ecuador confirmed that over 40 million cyber attacks hit the webpages of public institutions since stripping the arrest of Julian Assange. Patricio Real, Ecuadors deputy minister for information and communication technologies, revealed that the attacks had principally come from the United States, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Romania, France, Austria and the United Kingdom, as well as from the South American country itself. Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after President Lenin Moreno withdrew asylum after seven years. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London Moreno officially decided to remove the asylum because of Assanges interferences in the processes of other states and spying. Moreno accused Assange of interfering in the processes of other states and spying. reported the AFP agency. As well as overturning Assanges asylum status, Ecuador stripped him of the nationality he was given in 2017 under the government of Morenos predecessor Rafael Correa. Javier Jara, undersecretary of the electronic government department of the telecommunications ministry, confirmed that groups linked to Julian Assange launched volumetric attacks that blocked access to the internet. Government websites were hit by massive DDoS attacks that isolated them from the Internet, most of the attacks targeted websites of the foreign ministry, the central bank, the presidents office, the internal revenue service, and several ministries and universities. At the time of publishing there is no news of data breach. Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs Julian Assange, hacking) Extended letter from criminal justice groups calling for robust implementation of the FIRST STEP Act's prison reforms | Main | "Crimsumerism: Combating Consumer Abuses in the Criminal Legal System" April 16, 2019 Notable account of similar states now having different approaches to parole and sentencing reforms Thanks the the Marshall Project, I just saw this recent local article headlined "As Alabama slowed early paroles, it was slapped for its overcrowded prisons." The piece is notable in the wake of the recent awful Justice Department report, noted here, about the horrible condition of Alabama's prisons. And I found particularly interesting the lengthy article's contrasting account of parole and sentencing reform practices in a neighboring state: Mississippi, according to the Sentencing Project, took several steps highlighted in the Sentencing Project report, some which Alabama has yet to consider: It scaled back sentencing guidelines for nonviolent convictions and applied them retroactively, leading to a substantial increase in paroles and accounting for two-thirds of the population reduction. Alabama, by contrast, did not apply its 2015 prison reform legislation retroactively and the Justice Department, in its scathing review of Alabamas prison system, has taken note: In an effort to decrease the prison population, the law created a new class for felonies for low-level drug and property crimes and reformed parole boards. However, it did not apply retroactively, and the effect on Alabamas prison population has been minimal. Bennett Wright, executive director with the Alabama Sentencing Commission, said there is a lot of discussion in Montgomery toward possible retroactive considerations toward leniency. I havent heard a legislator stand up and definitively say that, but there has been a lot of conversation about it, said Wright. Thats where our immediate future is in evaluating the possible effects and possible reforms on Alabamas existing (prison) population and population moving forward. Mississippi adopted a risk assessment instrument that contributed to doubling of parole approval rate to more than 50 percent. The measures retroactively allowed consideration for parole for more types of crimes where certain aggravating circumstances had previously disqualified inmates from consideration. Also, individuals deemed nonviolent habitual offender were allowed to petition for parole consideration. The changes also allowed parole consideration for people ages 60 and up and who had served at least 10 years and were parolable under other provisions of the law. Alabama, by contrast, does not have detailed risk assessment measurements, although the Board of Pardons and Paroles considers factors like family ties and employment prospects when considering early parole applications. A few decades ago it often seemed states were competing to see who could be tougher on crime. Encouragingly (though still not consistently), modern politics and practical realities make it essential for states to try be ever smarter on crime. April 16, 2019 at 10:14 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment Notable new advocacy against a "soft-on-crime prosecutorial agenda" | Main | Notable account of similar states now having different approaches to parole and sentencing reforms Via email today, I learned of this notable lengthy letter signed by an array of criminal justice groups addressing key issues related to the implementation of the prison reform components of the FIRST STEP Act. Because the full letter runs seven pages, I will provide the summary that appeared in the email that I received: [T]his sign-on letter call[s] for the implementation of the First Step Act in a manner that is consistent with Congressional intent and the text of the statute. The letter, led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU, and Justice Rountable, was addressed to the Department of Justices National Institute of Justice Director David Muhlhausen, and makes the following three arguments: (1) DOJ must appoint an appropriate non-partisan non-profit host organization with expertise in the study and development of risk and needs assessment tools to select and convene the members of the Independent Review Committee as required by the statute; a. NIJ appointed The Hudson Institute a conservative think tank with no visible expertise or experience in the study and development of risk and needs assessment systems to host the IRC. b. The Hudson Institute has selected at least three members for the IRC whom may not meet the stated criteria outlined in the statute. (2) Neither the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) security classification system nor the current version of the Post Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA) should be adopted as a substitute for the Risk and Needs Assessment System required by the statute; a. The BOP security classification and the PCRA were not designed to identify specific criminogenic needs and heavily relies on static factors that classify many people who do not go on to reoffend as high risk. (3) The Bureau of Prisons must immediately begin providing rehabilitative programming. Imran Khan to visit Iran ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay a two-day official visit to Iran from April 21. Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay an official visit to Iran on 21-22 April 2019 on the invitation of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Hassan Rouhani. This will be the first visit of the Prime Minister to Iran, the Foreign Office announced on Monday. Mr Khan was initially scheduled to visit Iran in January, but it was postponed at the eleventh hour because of unexplained reasons. The dates of the upcoming visit had been doing the rounds in the media for several days, but uncertainty continued till the official announcement by the FO. The FO statement said Pak-Iran relations were marked by close historic and cultural linkages and strong people-to-people exchanges. The relations have, however, had a bad patch as well, due to security issues along the border. There was a brief bonhomie in ties after Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwas unprecedented visit to Iran in November 2017. Fascinating map and data highlighting prevalence and intensity of marijuana's criminal enforcement footprint | Main | Extended letter from criminal justice groups calling for robust implementation of the FIRST STEP Act's prison reforms April 15, 2019 Notable new advocacy against a "soft-on-crime prosecutorial agenda" Kimberly Guilfoyle has this notable new Hill commentary under the headline "Avoid the slippery slope of 'soft-on-crime' policies that progressives want." Much of the piece is focused on immigration policy, but other domestic crime and punishment issues are covered, as revealed by these excerpts: The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is adamant on upending decades of sound law enforcement policies in favor of a radical progressive approach. Open borders, weak-on-crime prosecutors, and drug injection sites are on the table. Its time to fight back against these misguided policies and take a stand for the rule of law. By all measures, Americans are enjoying a golden era of safety. Violent and property crime offenses have plummeted in the past 25 years. In a recent Gallup poll, only 30 percent of Americans stated they would be afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of where they live, a historic low for this survey question. As a former prosecutor, I know a thing or two about policies that keep people safe. To be clear: Broken Windows policing works. Locking up criminals works. Strong sentencing guidelines work. And yet, Democrats want to completely throw this time-tested playbook out the window to appease their growing progressive base.... Buoyed by liberal, wealthy donors and other special interest groups, progressive prosecutors are gaining traction across the country. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Philadelphia where District Attorney Larry Krasner has worked diligently to craft a soft-on-crime prosecutorial agenda. Under Krasners guidelines, a grab bag of criminal offenses no longer are prosecuted. Heinous crimes such as homicide even have gotten the kid gloves treatment because Krasner believes that we should not overcharge felons, even those who kill. As a result, a shocking number of defendants have had their sentences reduced from murder to manslaughter. Krasner has become the poster child for other progressive district attorneys across the country seeking to undermine the rule of law. Progressives also have gained steam in their fight to open up so-called safe injection sites across the country, where addicts can use illegal street drugs in a medically sanctioned environment. Undeniably, safe injection sites further normalize the use of extreme drugs. These sites offer no restrictions on who can shoot up and when. Should a minor be allowed to try black tar heroin for the first time uninterrupted? Are law enforcement officers going to be forced to watch while exploitative drug dealers sell dope to vulnerable addicts? How many times can an addict overdose in a single day? Thankfully, the Trump administration has been pushing back against these radical policies and standing strong for the rule of law. This means tougher punishments for criminal aliens and more funds for border security measures, stronger measures against those flooding our communities with opioids, and promises of a stringent crackdown on any city that supports a safe injection site. These policies make our country safer and stronger. Law enforcement should always focus on putting the interests of families and children first. With this in mind, we cant let the radical left undue decades of steady progress. We must stand with President Trump to keep our nation safe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this commentary does not mention that, according to Philadelphia Police Department data, violent crime in Philly reportedly went down by five percent in 2018 (though homicides were up 10%), and violent crime has remained at that lower rate so far in 2019 (though with homicide still moving up). This commentary also, notably, makes no mention of the Trump Administration's support for the FIRST STEP Act. In this context, I know I am happy to "stand with President Trump" when he stressed at the White House this important point earlier this month: "Americans from across the political spectrum can unite around prison reform legislation that will reduce crime while giving our fellow citizens a chance at redemption." Specifics aside, I highlight this commentary because it provide a useful reminder of how readily we might slide back into the tired-old "soft-on-crime" rhetoric that defined domestic discourse on crime and punishment for decades in the United States. Though there are no shortage of wedge issues in our current political discussions, crime and punishment has a dangerously classic character. April 15, 2019 at 05:09 PM | Permalink Comments "The Trump administration is...standing strong for the rule of law." LOL Posted by: Jiffypop | Apr 15, 2019 9:06:16 PM What a bunch of nonsense. Posted by: Fat Bastard | Apr 15, 2019 11:40:41 PM Oh my, I missed this one and I have to comment. The piece from the HILL by Kimberly Guilfoyle couldn't be more intriguing. It's not intriguing because of the content of the message, but because I can't help but speculate about the motive. Ms. Guilfoyle is the ex-wife of the Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsome and is now dating Donald Trump Jr. As the past co-host on Fox News The 5 what can she possibly see in her future? I don't know this because I have ever watched The 5 or read a celebrity bio, I simply compulsively look for authors and commentators bios. It has to be a sickness. Posted by: beth | Apr 17, 2019 6:55:41 PM The authors and her bio was a big reason I noticed this piece, beth. Posted by: Doug B | Apr 17, 2019 11:30:10 PM Post a comment "Crimsumerism: Combating Consumer Abuses in the Criminal Legal System" | Main | Lawyers, guns and vagueness: how will SCOTUS look to get out of this Johnson mess? Alan Greenblatt has this notable lengthy new piece at Governing under the headline "Why the Death Penalty Has Lost Support From Both Parties." I recommend the piece in full and here are excerpts: Twenty years ago, most politicians in both parties supported the death penalty. But today, opposition to it has become increasingly bipartisan. Democrats have always been more wary, but now more conservatives have also become convinced that capital punishment is another failed government program. In part, that's because the legal process for such cases is enormously expensive, even though few executions are ever carried out. When you look at how much money were spending, no one looks at that and thinks the death penalty works fine, says Hannah Cox, national manager for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a pro-abolition group. Were seeing a real escalation as far as the number of Republican legislators who are sponsoring repeal bills.... Lately, the spotlight has shifted to New Hampshire, where last week the legislature sent the governor a bill to repeal the death penalty. Both chambers passed the bill by veto-proof margins, with bipartisan support. Once the legislature overrides GOP Gov. Chris Sununus expected veto, New Hampshire will be the 21st state to outlaw capital punishment. Colorado and Nevada could be next -- both have repeal bills currently pending. For the first time since the death penalty was put back into practice during the 1970s, a majority of Americans now live in states that have abolished the practice or imposed a moratorium on it, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which researches the issue. Still, support for capital punishment has not vanished. Polls show that a majority of Americans continue to back it.... When you talk about death penalty, a lot of people immediately want to have a criminal justice angle on it or a morality angle, Chad McCoy, the Kentucky House Republican whip and sponsor of an abolition bill, told The Hill. Mine is purely economics.... Its not only lawmakers who have grown more skeptical about capital punishment. Prosecutors have, too. In part due to the costs associated with capital cases, the death penalty has essentially disappeared from rural counties, says [Prof Brandon] Garrett, author of End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice. Fewer than 2 percent of the counties in the nation are responsible for half the death row convictions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Not long ago, jurisdictions like Philadelphia County, Los Angeles County and Harris County, which includes Houston, were imposing 10 or more death sentences apiece per year..... But theres been a changing of the guard in many large counties over the past two or three years, including Harris and Philadelphia. Voters are electing reform-minded prosecutors who are less likely -- or completely unwilling -- to seek execution as a punishment. Last year, no county in the United States imposed more than two death sentences. During the mid-1990s, there were more than 300 death sentences imposed annually for three years running. Last year, the total was 42. There hasnt been more than 100 since 2010.... In 2016, the same year Trump was elected, Nebraska voters overturned a death penalty repeal that had been passed by the legislature, while California voters rejected a ballot measure to end capital punishment. But if 2016 seemed to signal a shift back in favor of capital punishment, the momentum hasn't been sustained. Under Trump, just three federal prisoners have been sentenced to die. In last years elections, two governors who imposed moratoriums on the death penalty -- Democrats Kate Brown of Oregon and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania -- both won reelection. Conversely, two governors who vetoed abolition bills -- Republicans Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire -- also won reelection.... If crime rates increase, support for the death penalty could make a comeback. And many politicians and prosecutors want to keep execution available for punishing the worst of the worst. In Florida, for example, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the alleged shooter in last years Parkland high school massacre. Death penalty experts agree that the practice will not be completely abolished anytime in the foreseeable future. But both the use of the death penalty and political support for it has declined markedly since the 1990s, when it was a wedge issue that moved many voters. The list of states abolishing the death penalty continues to grow. I see the death penalty ending with a whimper, not a bang, Garrett says. It may be that the best thing is to allow states and communities to decide whats best for them. SINGAPORE (Apr 15): Hyflux is suing former white knight investor SM Investments (SMI) in the Singapore courts for repudiation of the restructuring agreement agreed upon between the two parties in Oct last year. See: Hyflux gets $530 mil lifeline from Indonesia's Salim and Medco groupsHyflux gets $530 mil lifeline from Indonesia's Salim and Medco groups The water and power company on the brink of bankruptcy is also claiming the $38.9 million deposit placed into escrow shortly after the execution of the restructuring agreement. Hyflux also announced it had appointed nTan Corporate Advisory as an additional advisor in the companys ongoing court supervised reorganisation process. Under the terms of an Oct 2018 rescue agreement, SMI -- a group of Indonesian investors led by Anthoni Salim -- would inject $400 million into Hyflux in exchange for a 60% stake. They will also loan the company an additional $130 million. However, the relationship between the two parties soured after differences between surfaced. New issues were raised, including matters previously undisclosed by Hyflux in connection with the Tuaspring plant, its key operating asset. See: SMI says Hyflux's schemes of arrangement 'do not satisfy' restructuring deal On April 4, Hyflux issued a statement announcing SMI had declined to provide the company with such written confirmation that it will proceed to complete the rescue agreement, adding that it had decided to terminate the agreement as SMI had repudiated the agreement. See: Hyflux rescue bid by SMI falls through amid conflicting statements Within an hour, SMI shot back, saying the it was surprised by the termination by Hyflux of the restructuring agreement and that it will be taking legal advice in relation to the latter's action. In 2011, Hyflux won the contract to build the Tuaspring combined desalination and power plant. To fund the project, Hyflux raised more than $1.4 billion in bank loans, perpetual bonds and an issue of preferred shares. Story continues The Tuaspring project was conceived with the idea that the plant would earn revenue by selling excess power to the nations electricity grid. But with the liberalisation of Singapore's retail electricity market, power prices fell and the plant began to lose money. With the collapse of the deal, Hyflux is currently working with key creditors and stakeholders to find a way to pursue alternatives of saving the company. But with the court protection deadline looming, analysts say the likelihood of liquidation has increased. See also: Backed into a corner, Hyflux remains uncertain over plans to extend debt moratorium MAS, ACRA and SGX RegCo are currently reviewing Hyflux-related disclosure issues, as well as compliance with accounting and auditing standards, to determine if there have been breaches of listing rules and/or the relevant laws and regulations, say MAS, ACRA and SGX RegCo spokespersons in a joint response to media queries. Anyone who knows me can vouch for my obsession with Pokemon Ive played every colour on every console, including the newest Pokemon Lets Go on the Nintendo Switch. So obviously when news broke that theres going to be a Pokemon Center at Jewel Changi Airport Singapore, I was positively peeing my pants. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jewel Changi Airport (@jewelchangiairport) on Apr 10, 2019 at 9:00pm PDT As fate would have it, I had planned to visit Japan and its many Pokemon stores in April. Knowing that the local store was slated to open in the same month, I recorded the prices in Japan for comparison. Youre probably thinking, Singapore confirm more expensive lah! I thought so too, but the prices actually surprised me. Here are my findings. Pokemon Center Singapore vs Pokemon Center Japan I recorded the Japan prices at the store in Osaka. The prices have added in the 8% tax, using the exchange rate at time of writing (1,000 JPY = S$12.09). Pokemon Center Merchandise Price in Singapore Price in Japan Takara Tomy figurines $6.90 $19.58 (1,620 JPY) Pokemon bell strap charms (assorted) $8 $6.39 (529.20 JPY) Pokemon hand towels $8 $8.87 (734.40 JPY) Pokemon handkerchieves $10 $6.52 (540 JPY) Pokemon nanoblock $15.90 to $19.90 $12.39 to $16.96 (1,026 JPY to 1,404 JPY) HelloPika talking Pikachu toy $29.90 $39.03 (3,229.20 JPY) Pokemon caps (assorted) $45 $80.93 (6,696 JPY) Big Pokemon soft toys (assorted) $54 $41.77 (3,456 JPY) Note: There is no tax rebate for Pokemon stores, no matter how much you spend. The calculations are based on the current exchange rate (1,000 JPY = S$12.09), but depending on whether you use cash or credit card, and where you changed your cash, the actual cost may vary slightly. For reference, the best rate at the money changer today was 1,000 JPY = $12.11. Pokemon merchandise that are cheaper in Singapore The Pokemon Center store in Singapore definitely loses in terms of variety, but surprise, surprise! For some strange reason, not everything is cheaper in Japan. Here are some items that are cheaper at the local store. Story continues 1. Takara Tomy Pokemon figurines $6.90 These small figurines cost a lot for their size well, in Japan at least. Theyre an affordable $6.90 in Singapore, but $19.60 (1,620 JPY) in Japan. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport Although its the legendary Zapdos featured in the photo (versus Pichu), all the figurines were the same price. I just chose Zapdos because I like it. Sorry the photo of Pichu is a bit blur, a crazy otaku knocked into me with her basket of plushies. Normally Id be angry, but any Poke fan is a friend of mine. 2. Pokemon hand towels $8 They call them hand towels, but theyre actually small, square towels. Theyre around the same price $8 in Singapore and $8.90 (734.40 JPY) in Japan and the slight difference is probably due to the current exchange rate. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport 3. HelloPika talking Pikachu toy $29.90 This one really surprised me. The talking Pikachu figurine is actually significantly cheaper in Singapore. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport Its $29.90 if you get it locally, but in Japan, its a whopping 3,229.20 JPY after taxes, which comes up to $39. Thats almost $10 more! 4. Pokemon caps $45 Alright, so this isnt really an apple-to-apple comparison, because the designs are different. The local Pokemon store only carries a limited few designs of basic caps, but theyre a lot cheaper. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport The Eevee evolution-themed caps in Singapore cost $45 each, which is expensive enough as it is. I didnt see those designs in Japan, and those that were available were almost twice the price $80.90 each (6,696 JPY)! Pokemon merchandise that are cheaper in Japan Now, obviously most things are still cheaper in Japan. The range is much smaller in Singapore, but I managed to record the prices of some items I also saw in Japan. Pokemon bell strap charms $6.40 These handphone charms had a whole crowd of fans fussing around the rack, probably because its one of the cheaper gift-worthy items. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport Theyre $8 in Singapore, but slightly cheaper in Japan ($6.40 / 529.20 JPY). They seem to have the full range of these trinkets here though. Pokemon handkerchiefs $6.50 Nobody I know actually uses handkerchieves anymore, so I was surprised to find this both at both the Japan and Singapore stores. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport If youre heading to the Pokemon Center in Japan, this would make a great souvenir. Theyre almost half the price in Japan, costing only $6.50 (540 JPY) as opposed to $10 in Singapore. They have nicer and more designs too. Pokemon nanoblocks $12.40 The Pokemon nanoblocks are split into 2 tiers the regular Pokemon are cheaper, and the popular legendary P0kemon are slightly pricier. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport At local stores, youre looking at $15.90 / $19.90. In Japan, its a bit cheaper at $12.40 (1,026 JPY) / $17 (1,404 JPY). Big Pokemon soft toys $41.80 Of all the types of merchandise, there are the most soft toys to choose from. They come in almost every Pokemon and all sizes. The most popular one, however, seems to be the biggest one. pokemon center singapore jewel changi airport Theyre mostly the final evolutions of starter Pokemon, like Feraligatr and Typhlosion. I saw lots of people pick these up at the Changi Airport store too, where it costs a hefty $54. In Japan, its way cheaper ($41.80 / 3,456 JPY). Do you think the Pokemon Center in Singapore is worth a visit? Let us know in the comments below! Related articles JR Pass Singapore The Ultimate Guide to Japan Rail Pass Types & Prices 10 Best Credit Cards for Overseas Spending For Pro Travellers Shopping at Changi Airport Duty-Free (DFS) & Cosmetics, Electronics, Alcohol & More Travel Wifi Router Rental Guide ChangiWiFi vs KLOOK & More The post Pokemon Center Singapore Price Guide - Nope, Not Everything Is Cheaper In Japan! appeared first on the MoneySmart blog. MoneySmart.sg helps you maximize your money. Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with our latest news and articles. Compare and shop for the best deals on Loans, Insurance and Credit Cards on our site now! More From MoneySmart GUANGZHOU, CHINA - Media OutReach - 17 April 2019 - Small businesses in South China generally experienced positive businessconditions in 2018, with small businesses from Guangzhou being the most likelyfrom Mainland China to state that they grew, according to a survey conducted byCPA Australia, one of the world's largest accounting bodies. Mr William Huang, President of CPA Australia South China Committee, introduces the findings of Asia Pacific Small Business Survey 2018 These positiveconditions are expected to continue in 2019 with Guangzhou's small businessesalso being the most likely from Mainland China to expect to grow. This reflectsthe resilience and capability of South China's small business sector in theface of a potentially uncertain and challenging year. Key to this is thevery strong focus on innovation and technology by small businesses from Guangzhou and Shenzhen -- with the surveyresults showing that small businesses in those cities not only leading the restof Mainland China in the use of many technologies, but also leading smallbusinesses from the Asia Pacific. Further, the survey results also show a clearlink between innovation and technology, and strong business growth. The findings from CPAAustralia's 10th annual Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey, follow extensivesurveying of more than 3,600 small business operators in ten markets, includingAustralia, mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. With 77 per cent reportingthat their business grew in 2018 and 46 per cent increasing the size of theirworkforce, Guangzhou's small businesses experienced the most positive conditionsin Mainland China among the surveyed cities. The positive sentiment inGuangzhou is likely to continue, with nearly 80 per cent of small businesses expectingtheir business to grow in 2019 and over half expecting to increase theirheadcount. Mr William Huang,President of CPA Australia South China Committee said that under a challengingenvironment caused by trade tensions and other issues, small businesses inSouth China generally performed strongly last year and show confidence in both thelocal economy and their business growth in 2019. Story continues "I believe thisconfidence is built on their leading position on the utilisation of digitaltechnologies in their business and their innovative culture. "The survey findingsin the Asia-Pacific show that high levels of adoption and utilisation ofdigital technology is one of the most positive influencers to drive businessgrowth. "We are not surprised that the smallbusinesses in this region have strong confidence since the Greater Bay Area isone of the central engines of economic growth in Mainland China, withworld-class innovation and technology at its core. "Both Shenzhen and Guangzhou are the top performers in theAsia Pacific for online sales and are also leaders in the adoption of newdigital or mobile payment methods in transactions. Over 80 per cent ofbusinesses in both cities are earning over 10 per cent of their revenue fromonline sales, and nearly nine in ten businesses generate more than 10 per centof their sales through new payment technologies. "Further, we are delighted to find that small businesses fromSouth China are quite sophisticated in the technologies they are investing inand adopting in their business. The survey findings show that they not onlyhave a strong capability to identify the suitable technologies to invest fortheir short-term returns but also have an eye on the future and theircustomers, with respondents in South China being the most likely to haveinvested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and customer relationship management(CRM) software among all markets surveyed in the Asia-Pacific," Mr Huang says. Increasing cost, especially staff costs, is the factor thatis most likely to have had a negative impact on businesses in South China in2018, with nearly 60 per cent of respondents in Guangzhou stating that staffcosts was the cost most detrimental to their business, ranking top in thesurveyed markets. "On the one hand, small business owners are facing increasingcosts such as staff costs, on the other hand, they are having difficultyrecruiting suitable staff to support their business growth, Mr Huang says. To solve this dilemma, CPA Australia suggests that smallbusinesses revisit their company structure and cost structure and seek toimprove their business strategy and operating model. "The development of the Greater Bay Area should acceleratepeople movement throughout its 11 cities and attract non-local talent to thearea. Taking advantage of this development and new technologies, which arechanging the way people work, provides opportunities for small business ownersto get the staff they need to grow their business. However, this may require achange in how businesses engage talent, for example, offering more flexible andmobile work conditions to attract and retain the right skill sets from anywherein the Greater Bay Area, or collaborating with a distant team orfreelancers. "In addition, through the interconnection of cities in theGreater Bay Area, there are opportunities for financial institutions to worktogether to create a better business environment for small businesses in SouthChina to access to finance and support their further growth. "The slowing global economy and economic uncertainties aremaking 2019 a challenging year for small businesses in South China, however,CPA Australia remains positive. Strong domestic consumption in South Chinasupported by recent tax cuts, the region's leading capabilities in innovationand technology, government policies to improve SME access to finance, andemerging opportunities from the Greater Bay Area plan, make us confident thatSouth China's small businesses will continue to grow and stay vibrant," MrHuang says. CPA Australia has six tipsfor China's small businesses in 2019: Lookfor government incentives that are supportive of innovation Seekadvice on which technologies are best suited for your business before investingin those technologies Usebig data analytics to analyse your customers to further improve customersatisfaction Exploreopportunities in Greater Bay Area, emerging economies on the Belt and Road, andother fast-growing markets in the Asia Pacific region and Africa Investin improving strategic and managerial skills Undertakea strategic review of your cost structure and potential business risks. About CPA Australia CPA Australia is one of the world's largest accountingbodies with more than 164,000 members working in 150 countries and regionsaround the world, and with more than 25,000 members working in seniorleadership positions. It has established a strong membership base of more than18,000 in the Greater China region. About CPA Australia Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey The CPA Australia Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey providesannual insights into the views of small businesses across the region and formspart of a longitudinal study that began in 2009. The 10th CPAAustralia annual survey comprised extensive surveying of 3607 small businessoperators in ten markets, including Hong Kong, Mainland China (Beijing,Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqing), Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam,Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. Market Summary -- China https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/business-management/small-business-survey/small-business-survey-2018-market-summary-mainland-china.pdf?la=en Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/~/media/corporate/allfiles/document/professional-resources/business-management/small-business-survey/small-business-survey-2018.pdf?la=en President Donald Trump will open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba, enforcing a controversial law that angered European allies and could rattle the island's economy, after more than two decades of delay. Ever since Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, US presidents starting with Bill Clinton have used their power to suspend the key provision every six months, mindful of the international consequences. Those once-routine waivers are now over. A senior administration official said National Security Advisor John Bolton will formally unveil the shift Wednesday in a speech in Miami in which he will also outline actions on Venezuela and Nicaragua, two other countries in Latin America with leftist governments opposed by Trump. Bolton "will announce the enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," the official said. The hawkish adviser will be speaking to veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to depose Fidel Castro's communist regime in 1961. The European Union was swift in condemning the move. "This will create even more confusion for foreign investments that are helping create jobs and prosperity in Cuba," EU envoy to Havana Alberto Navarro told reporters. With the change, Cuban exiles will be allowed to head to US courts to sue both private companies and the Havana government for profiting from properties nationalized after Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution. While US courts cannot directly enforce decisions inside Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act is meant to send a chilling message to foreign investors -- including Americans -- who may increasingly decide to exit or steer clear of the island. When it was initially passed, the law had been strongly opposed by the European Union, which worries about legal repercussions for its businesses in the United States. With some 200,000 potential lawsuits in the making, US officials feared the law would flood the World Trade Organization with complaints. A related provision restricts entry into the United States of anyone who is connected to an unresolved claim in Cuba over confiscated property. - Rash of lawsuits expected - Republican lawmakers who have long pushed for tough action on Cuba have rejoiced at the Trump administration's signals since January that it was moving to fully enforce the Helms-Burton Act. "Years of consecutive extensions may have lulled some into a false sense of impunity," said Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican of Cuban descent. "Yet now companies which willingly entangle themselves in partnerships with the anti-American, illegitimate and oppressive regime in Cuba are on notice that they will be held responsible for their part in callously benefiting from the extensive losses suffered by victims of the regime," he said in a recent statement. Spanish Economy Minister renewed the European concerns Saturday during a visit to Washington for IMF and World Bank meetings, saying Spain has "clearly expressed its rejection" of Helms-Burton. The implementation "would be clearly detrimental to the smooth running of international business," she told reporters. Among potential targets of the law are the Hotel Habana Libre, the former Hilton which is now run by Spain's Melia chain. The US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that supports commercial ties between the longtime adversaries, said that companies with combined revenues of $678 billion could be targeted in Helms-Burton lawsuits. According to the group, companies that have been mentioned for potential lawsuits include major international airlines, including US-based American, Delta and United, hotels chains such as Marriott and Accor and companies as diverse of French liquor maker Pernod Ricard and Chinese telecom giant Huawei. - Drastic turn in US policy - Trump's move marks a drastic shift from his predecessor Barack Obama, who had normalized relations with Cuba, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. Obama eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Cuba, signaling to many US businesses that the time had come to return to the island. Trump has also been pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy that has sparked a massive exodus. It is the latest time that Trump has moved ahead with a policy long seen as too disruptive. In 2017, he moved the US embassy in Israel to bitterly divided Jerusalem, similarly ending years of waivers of a US law. The Helms-Burton Law is named for far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and congressman Dan Burton. They drafted the law passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by Clinton to try to repair relations. sms-an-sct-mav-ka/oh The changes US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has proposed in the wake of two deadly accidents of its top-selling 737 MAX aircraft were deemed "operationally suitable," according to a draft report released by US regulators Tuesday. However, Boeing has not yet submitted a planned software fix to the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency said in a statement. Boeing has been working on a software fix for its anti-stall system following crashes in Ethiopia last month and Indonesia in October that killed nearly 350 people, both shortly after takeoff. All 737 MAX aircraft have been banned from the world's skies since days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, and the FAA has said it will not rush to approve the proposed fixes. Crash investigators have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which may have erroneously forced the planes down. Boeing said it has been working on a software upgrade since late last year, and announced additional changes after last month's deadly crash. The FAA said a Flight Standardization Board evaluated "the modified Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)" and said the "system was found to be operationally suitable." - 'Aided instruction' - The report, which notes the differences in the MAX compared to prior 737 models, and any new training requirements, will be open for public comment for 14 days. "After that, the FAA will review those comments before making a final assessment. Boeing Co. is still expected in the coming weeks to submit the final software package for certification," the agency said. Because the 737 MAX is substantially similar to prior versions of the aircraft, pilots are not required to undergo extensive additional training, however the report added the MCAS to the list of items that require "aided instruction," such as videos or computer-based tutorials. The grounding has put Boeing under increasing pressure, forcing it to halt deliveries of the aircraft. And US airlines are facing hundreds of daily flight cancelations through the summer, the peak travel season. The MCAS was developed specifically for the 737 MAX, because its heavier engines created aerodynamic issues. But it apparently was designed to engage when alerted by a single sensor. US pilots complained after the crash in October that they had not been fully briefed on the system. The Ethiopian probe appeared to confirm suspicions about the MCAS, with data echoing that from the crash of the Indonesian Lion Air flight. The full report has not been publicly released but, according to a draft copy seen by AFP, shortly after take-off a sensor recording the level of the plane began transmitting faulty data, prompting the autopilot system to point the nose downward. An exhausted dog found paddling 220 kilometres (135 miles) off the Thai coast is set for a new lease on life after an oil rig worker who rescued him promised to adopt the plucky pooch. The tan-coloured dog, named Boonrod by his rescuers -- Thai for "survivor from karma" -- was fished from the ocean on Friday by rig workers who spotted his head bobbing between the waves in the Gulf of Thailand. There was no indication of how he got there, or how long he had been lost at sea. But local media speculated he may have fallen off a fishing vessel and paddled towards the rig. Boonrod is recovering in Songkhla province under the care of a vet, an animal charity group told AFP Tuesday. "Since he came onto the platform, he didn't cry or bark at all," Chevron worker Vitisak Payalaw said in a Facebook post chronicling the dog's rescue. "He likely lost a lot of body water from the sea water." Vitisak told AFP in a message Tuesday he plans to adopt the now-famous canine once he returns to shore at the end of the month. Boonrod stayed on the rig for two nights before another vessel picked the pooch up on its way back to shore, arriving at a port in Songkhla province on Monday morning. In a video posted by animal rights group Watchdog Thailand, Boonrod was welcomed on the shore with a lei of yellow flowers and lots of neck scratches from port workers. "Thank you for seeing the value of a little life that floats so far," said Facebooker Wanna Wongvorakul. Boonrod was placed in the care of local charity group Smile Dog House. "So far his health is ok... it's only skin problems that he's suffering from now," a Smile Dog House staff told AFP. SCBA called on Imran Khan ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and urged him to make procedure for the appointment of superior court judges more transparent. The SCBA delegation, led by the associations president, Amanullah Kanrani, and comprising its executive members from four provinces called on Mr Khan at Prime Minister Office. According to PMO, the delegation requested the prime minister to appoint judges of superior courts on the basis of competence and transparency so that experienced and capable lawyers got an opportunity to serve on those important posts. The SCBA president lauded the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as his governments reforms agenda. Members of the delegation also lauded the leadership role played by the prime minster during the recent standoff with India. Mr Kanrani apprised Mr Khan of the problems being faced by the lawyers community. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Khan said strong bar associations were not only important for a strong judiciary but also played an important role for democratic institutions and good governance in the country. He said lawyers played an important role in making the countrys justice system effective and ensuring the provision of justice to the common man. On the SCBAs request, the prime minister announced the provision of Sehat Insaf Card for the members of the bar, particularly senior lawyers. Mr Khan said the government would extend all possible help in resolution of the problems faced by the bar association. He said the government would extend every cooperation for the provision of due rights to Balochistans lawyers. Separately, the prime minister received Imam-i-Kaaba Sheikh Dr Abdullah Awad Al Juhany. Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri was also present during the meeting. Chairman of the UK Conservative Party Brandon Lewis also met Prime Minister Khan. Mr Lewis was accompanied by Bestway Groups Chairman Sir Anwar Pervez and its CEO Zameer Choudrey. Welcoming the delegation, the prime minister said Pakistan considered the UK a major development and trade and investment partner in Europe. He emphasised that the two countries should enhance the existing ties into long-term and multifaceted strategic partnership especially post-Brexit. The prime minister highlighted the grave human rights violations committed by the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir. Mr Lewis praised Imran Khans leadership in handling the post-Pulwama situation. Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Foxconn, attends a forum on industrial internet at the fifth World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) - The chairman of Taiwan's Foxconn, an assembler of Apple Inc's iPhones, said on Monday he plans to step down in the coming months to pave the way for younger talent to move up the company's ranks. A change in leadership would come at a delicate time for the world's largest contract manufacturer, which is trying to reinvent itself to cut its reliance on Apple as smartphone sales plateau and as the iPhone maker diversifies its supplier base. It would mark another top-level change at a tech firm in Greater China. Jack Ma, co-founder of China's Alibaba Group, said in September he will step down as chairman in a year to allow for younger management. And Morris Chang, founder and chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), another Apple supplier, retired last year. Terry Gou, speaking on the sidelines of an event in Taipei, said that while he planned to resign as Foxconn chairman, he hoped to remain involved in strategic decisions regarding the company's business. When asked by Reuters if he would quit as chairman, Gou said he was moving in that direction, although any decision needed to be discussed with the company's board. "I don't know where you got the information from. But I have to say, basically, I'm working towards that direction - to walk back to the second line, or retire," Gou said. "I will be involved in the major direction of the company, but not involved in daily operations. "I'm already 69 years old. I can pass down my 45 years of experience. That's the goal I set up - to let young people learn sooner and take over sooner and to replace my position sooner." Gou said his plans would be discussed with the board of Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, in the coming months and shareholders would be told at the AGM in June. A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Lu Sung-Ching, the chairman of Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd, the electronic and optoelectronic connectors unit of Foxconn, was among the possible candidates to take over from Gou. Story continues "It doesn't mean he will just be gone. He will remove himself to the second line and he would not be involved in the daily operations," the source said. SHARES CLIMB Shares of Foxconn, which has a market value of $40 billion, rose after the news and closed 3.2 percent higher on Monday. The news comes as tech companies are seeking to diversify their customer base and move into emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. Foxconn, which celebrated 30 years of doing business in China last year, has far-flung businesses that include autonomous car startups and investments in cancer research. In January, the Nikkei reported that Foxconn had let go around 50,000 contract workers in China since October. Foxconn acquired control of Japans Sharp Corp in 2016 to try to boost the Taiwanese companys advanced screen technology. Founded in 1974, the Foxconn group has grown to become the world's biggest contract manufacturer with T$5.2 trillion ($168.52 billion) in annual revenue, assembling goods for Apple, SoftBank Group Corp and other global tech firms. It relies on Apple for more than half of annual revenue, according to analysts. Gou, who owns 9.4 percent of Foxconn as its top shareholder, is Taiwan's richest person with a net worth of $7.6 billion, according to Forbes. Last month, Foxconn reported a smaller than expected fall in quarterly profit, despite warning signs from key customers including Apple that demand for tech electronics was softening. The news comes three months after Reuters reported Foxconn was reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a $10 billion Wisconsin campus. Foxconn later reiterated it would still build a factory in Wisconsin after Gou spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump. ($1 = 30.8560 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting By Yimou Lee; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) French investigators were to arrive in Chile on Monday to question a man suspected of killing his former Japanese girlfriend, who was last seen at her university residence in France in 2016, a source close to the inquiry told AFP. Nicolas Zepeda is the sole suspect in the disappearance of Narumi Kurosaki, 21, who went missing in the eastern French city of Besancon on the night of December 4, 2016, after having dinner with her ex-boyfriend. Her body has not been found despite extensive searches of a nearby forested area. Authorities in France believe she was suffocated by Zepeda in a jealous rage. He has denied any role in her disappearance. Zepeda returned to Chile before French police issued an arrest warrant but a Chilean judge rejected France's request to have him arrested and extradited, citing insufficient evidence. French authorities later asked if they could visit the country to interview Zepeda, a request that was granted last month. The Besancon prosecutor Etienne Manteaux, along with a judge overseeing the case and two police investigators, are expected to participate in the questioning of Zepeda this week, the source said. But the questions themselves will be posed by a Chilean prosecutor who will then decide whether or not to charge Zepeda and arrest him, in which case France would again request his extradition. Zepeda, a teaching assistant in his mid-twenties, was seen at a restaurant outside Besancon with Kurosaki the night she disappeared. He has admitted going to her room afterwards, where he claims they had consensual sex. Fellow students at her dormitory said they heard terrified cries and banging noises in the residence on that night but no traces of blood were found in her room. Manteaux, the prosecutor, said last November that Zepeda had bought five litres of flammable liquid and matches at a supermarket days before Kurosaki disappeared, and that his hire car was returned covered in mud. Zepeda had also posted videos online threatening his ex-girlfriend after she began a relationship with another man. In their search for her body, police have focused their efforts on the vast Chaux forest area on the outskirts of Besancon, but have been unable to find any trace of the student. Hino Motors Philippines (HMP), the exclusive local distributor of Hino trucks and buses, made its groundbreaking rights for its latest dealership in Mindanao, this time in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. The said addition to Hinos dealership network in Mindanao highlights the companys commitment to deliver total support to Filipinos in different parts of the country through reliable truck and bus solutions. Situated along the national highway connecting the neighboring cities in the island, including Davao and Cagayan de Oro, it is strategically located at the commercial, industrial, and administrative center of the Caraga region in Northern Mindanao. HMP Chair Vicente T. Mills, Jr. expressed pride over the companys latest accomplishment. It always gives us a sense of pride and fulfillment whenever we see a dealership finally ready to service the Filipinos in the area. We continue to seek opportunities to reach more people and businesses as we pursue our vision of a more connected and sustainable community where trucks and buses transport people and goods in the fastest and most reliable way possible, he said. Hino Butuan will be managed by Toyota Cagayan de Oro, Inc. President and Chairman Betty Lu and Executive Vice President and General Manager Peter Lim Lo Suy. Offering commercial vehicle sales, service, and spare parts, Hino Butuan will be the newest one-stop-shop to support the thriving businesses in the region. Hinos principle of Total Support extends to its after-sales program, ensuring every product is maintained properly so it can handle all delivery and logistics tasks efficiently. For his part, HMP President Mitsuharu Tabata is confident with the opening of the new dealership in a thriving city such as Butuan. We believe that Butuan City is one of the most promising cities in the Caraga region. With this optimistic outlook, we are happy to launch Hino Butuan as a full-line 3S dealership center that will cater to the growing transport needs of customers and businesses here in Northern Mindanaos trading hub, he claimed. The post Hino PH Breaks Ground for Premier Butuan Dealership appeared first on Carmudi Philippines. The Indian government on Tuesday ordered tech giants Google and Apple to take down the Chinese-owned Tiktok video app after a court expressed concerns over the spread of pornographic material, sources told AFP. Tiktok has already been banned in neighbouring Bangladesh and hit with an enormous fine in the United States for illegally collecting information from children. The app, which claims to have 500 million users worldwide with more than 120 million in India, has been fighting the effort to shut it down after a high court in Chennai called for the ban on April 3. Industry sources said the information technology ministry had now sent out an order to tech giants Google and Apple to remove the app from their online stores. Neither of the US companies would comment. The app -- which allows users to make and share short videos -- can still be used by those who have already downloaded it on their smartphones. India's Supreme Court, which on Monday rejected a Tiktok appeal to suspend the order, is to hear the case again on April 22. "We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India," Tiktok said in a statement Tuesday. The Chennai case was launched by an activist group which said the app encouraged paedophiles and pornography. With short videos of up to 15 seconds, Tiktok has become a major rival to Facebook, Instagram and other social network sites among teenaged smartphone users in the past year. But facing increased pressure the app, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, said last week it had taken down six million videos in India since last July which had infringed its guidelines. The company said the measures were to "reinforce our ongoing commitment to ensure that our platform remains a safe and positive space for our Indian users." But Tiktok has continued to be drawn into controversy in India. On Sunday, a 19-year-old man was allegedly shot dead by a friend in Delhi as they posed with a pistol to make a video to show on TikTok, police told Indian media. Three friends were driving in Delhi, when one pulled out a homemade pistol and aimed it at the driver. Police said the gun accidentally went off, shooting the man through the head. And the moves in India to ban Tiktok are the latest in a string of woes for the popular app. Bangladesh banned Tiktok in February as part of a clampdown on internet pornography. The same month, the US Federal Trade Commission said a $5.7 million fine ordered against Tiktok was the largest imposed in a child privacy investigation. The social network failed to obtain parental consent from underage users as required by the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, FTC officials said. Apparently, motor vehicles in Singapore zoom around too quickly at least thats what one British public health specialist told The Straits Times yesterday. Calling for these breakneck speed limits on all non-expressways to be reduced to 30km/h, 39-year-old Lucy Saunders and her words garnered a bit of a backlash from netizens, who wondered how it would be possible to get anywhere, even on a tiny island like Singapore, with her proposed speeds. The Road Traffic Act says all vehicles traveling along Singapore roads are limited to 50km/h, while those in tunnels can go up to 80km/h, and those on expressways can reach up to 90km/h. Exceptions to this rule include fire engines, ambulances, or government vehicles from the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. But seeing as how some of the indicators of a street that promotes better health include clean air, shelter areas, things to see and do, and people who walk, cycle, or use public transport instead of drive, perhaps Saunders has a point. Walking hasnt been given the status it deserves, she related to ST, explaining that four in 10 adults in the country do not clock in a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise each week. So she gave us a B grade on her five-day visit here, saying that the heat in the country shouldnt stop people from walking. Yeah, except it turns people in sweaty grumps, something thats easily achievable after mere minutes under the sweltering daily heat we get. Our plus points included public toilets available at MRT stations and constant shade from trees and plants, although she did suggest Singapores streets could focus more on people instead of cars by narrowing the width of traffic lanes from 3.4m and 3.5m to 3.2m. The number of accidents could decrease with this change, she said. To end off, she said that cars are space-inefficient and driving is useless time. We should get to the point where we use vehicles for when we absolutely need to. Story continues Most netizens met her suggestions with sarcasm and disbelief, claiming Singapore wasnt as pleasant to stroll around in as other countries with different seasons. But some commenters agreed with her idea, though not necessarily her actual proposals. This article, Public health specialist says vehicles in Singapore zoom around too quickly, calls for speed limits to drop to 30kmh, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini signed a new directive Tuesday against charity vessels rescuing migrants off Libya, targeting the Italian ship Mare Jonio in particular. Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League party, warned that the Mare Jonio and others must obey the orders of authorities in foreign search and rescue regions -- a reference to the Libyan coastguard. The minister had issued a first directive on the laws regarding rescue operations in March, saying there would be "sanctions" for those who explicitly violate international, European and national rescue regulations. Charity ships have drawn fire from Rome by attempting on occasion to stop migrants being taken back to crisis-hit Libya, which human rights organisations say is not safe for repatriations. The left-wing collective Mediterranea, which charters the Mare Jonio, slammed the directive as "mere propaganda". The Italian ship set off on its latest mission on Sunday and was headed to patrol the area off Libya on Tuesday. Mediterranea said an order to hand rescued migrants over to the Libyans would be "an incitement to commit a crime". "If it was already an offence to return those rescued to Libya, today with the war in progress, it is simply criminal," it said. The Mare Jonio rescued 49 migrants off the North African country in March after refusing to wait for a Libyan coastguard boat that was in the vicinity. It took them to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the ship was temporarily seized by the authorities as part of a probe into illegal immigration, before being given the all clear. There is concern in Italy that recent violence in Libya will spark an exodus of people determined to seek safety in Europe. Salvini has repeatedly said Italian ports are closed to all those attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing. Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday hosted Abu Dhabi's crown prince for talks, state media said, after the Gulf allies threw their support behind Sudan's military rulers who ousted veteran leader Omar al-Bashir. Abu Dhabi's Prince Mohammed bin Zayed discussed "regional developments" with the king and his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency said in a brief report. After weeks of silence on Sudan's political turmoil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Sunday released a brief reaction to Bashir's toppling following months of street protests, calling for "stability" and a "peaceful transition". Saudi Arabia and the UAE both voiced backing for Sudan's Transitional Military Council, with Riyadh promising an aid package to Sudanese people. Sudan plays a key role in the regional interests of Saudi Arabia and its allies, siding with Riyadh against Shiite Iran and providing troops in the Saudi-led coalition fighting in the Yemen war. A senior Sudanese military official on Monday said troops from his country will remain in Yemen until the Arab alliance achieves its goals. Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in the Yemen war in 2015 to fight Iran-aligned Huthi rebels. The Gulf powerhouses are also following events in Libya, where forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli, now controlled by a UN-recognised government and an array of militias. Haftar's close ties to Saudi Arabia and the UAE are critical to his campaign, observers say. Saudi Arabia is said to have recently pledged tens of millions of dollars to the warlord's forces, according to the Wall Street Journal. Professor Ransford Edward Van Gyampo, Department of Political Science, University of Ghana on Thursday said the 1992 Constitution upsets the balance of power between the arms of government, the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The balance of power favours the Executive in a manner that undermines constitutionalism, nevertheless, after over 27 years of operation, Prof Gyampo asserted that the 1992 Constitution was a weak mechanism in bridling the exercise of power. Prof Gyampo stated at inter-college lecture on the 1992 Constitution and Constitutionalism in Ghana, organised by the College of Humanities of the University of Ghana. The event was chaired by Prof Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Provost of the College of Humanities and was attended by over 600 participants comprising faculty and students from the College of Humanities, political party representatives, civil society actors, and media practitioners. Prof Gyampo, who is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana, said the theory of constitutionalism postulated deliberate legal limitations placed on the powers and authority of those who exercised fiduciary trust of the people. He argued that the idea of constitutionalism was all about checking or shackling the exercise of power in order to avoid dictatorship and abuse. Even though Prof Gyampo conceded that one of the mechanisms for promoting constitutionalism was the existence of a constitution, he was quick to point out the fact that the mere existence of a constitution may not necessarily guarantee constitutionalism as some constitutions. He said the 1992 Constitution, lacked the needed countervailing mechanisms to check the exercise of power, stressing that the Constitution is a neo-presidential arrangement that combined some features of both the US Presidential and British Westminster systems of Government. Having modelled three different constitutions along the lines of both systems since 1960, there emerged the preference for constitutional hybridity in 1992. Prof Gyampo, said the President, had the overwhelming power of appointment and patronage and appointed virtually everybody in Ghana. He said the President had a say in the appointment of officers he did not appoint directly. The government of Ghana is his government and from ministers, heads of boards, agencies, commissions, mayors and members of the council of state, he is the appointing authority. In addition to being the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, Fountain of Honour and Mercy, the President, according to Prof Gyampo was also the source of all legislations in Ghana and every law passed by parliament emanated from the presidency. According to Prof Gyampo, article 108 that conferred exclusive right on the President to introduce into parliament bills that had financial implications was not only repugnant to Parliaments constitutional control of the purse, but also made the President the sole Legislator in Ghana given the fact that every bill has financial implications. Prof Gyampo, said this had stifled legislative initiative, conferred the power of lawmaking in the sole hands of the executive and also accounted for the absence of Private Members Bill in Parliament since 1992. He said as per the hybrid arrangement, the President, was required to appoint majority of his ministers from Parliament and this appointing power was exercised to the disadvantage of the Legislature. This arrangement weakens the oversight role of parliament and leaves the executive unfettered in the sense that parliamentarians who are also ministers cannot question colleague ministers on the floor of parliament as required because they serve in the same government. Parliamentarians who are also ministers owe collective responsibility for all government decisions and hence are unable to criticise the government on the floor of parliament, he said. He said few Members of Parliament who were not ministers also joined their colleagues in singing the praises of the government in order to benefit from ministerial appointment. This practice does not only undermine constitutionalism, but also weakens the representative role of MPs and sacrifices the peculiar interest of their constituents for that of the ruling government, he said. According to Prof Gyampo, it is difficult for MPs who are also ministers to find time to attend to parliamentary matters; these MPs are absent from the floor of parliament virtually at all times because of Cabinet meetings, travels as well as ministerial policy formulation and execution. In this regard, they are also unable to attend Committee meetings which are the actual workshops of parliament. He added that the Presidents power to surreptitiously appoint the Speaker of Parliament, Majority Leader, Clerks and members of certain committees of parliament, as well as the creation of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs was disingenuous provisions and practices that made Parliament subservient to the President and undermined the formers checks on the latter. 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 A. Hariprasanth was sentenced on Tuesday to one year of probation. (Yahoo News Singapore file photo) SINGAPORE A father and son who went to Johor Baru in late October last year to buy festive items for Deepavali also brought home a box of fireworks called 25 Shot Cake. On the evening of the public holiday, the pair set up the fireworks near the void deck of Block 194B Bukit Batok West Avenue 6. A. Hariprasanth, 19, then lit a wick that sent 25 rocket fireworks shooting up to a height of about nine to 10 storeys before they exploded in mid-air. The pyrotechnics display lasted about two minutes. No injuries or property damage was incurred in the act. At the State Courts on Tuesday (16 April), Hariprasanth who is waiting to enlist into full-time national service was sentenced to one year of probation. He and his father, 54-year-old Alagappan Singaram, pleaded guilty last month to discharging fireworks under the Dangerous Fireworks Act. Alagappan, a cleaner, was subsequently fined $5,000. Cases involving three suspects pending The pair were among six people who were charged last November for setting off dangerous fireworks to celebrate Deepavali last year. Last week, 29-year-old Jeevan Arjoon was fined $5,000 for discharging fireworks and also jailed three weeks for giving false information to the police. Another count of giving false information to the police was taken into consideration for his sentencing. The chemical surveyor had bought three Single Shot fireworks and one box of 49 Shot Cake fireworks from an unknown peddler at a bazaar in Little India. He lit up the fireworks in the early hours of the morning at an open field in front of Block 513A Yishun Street 51, and also tried to implicate another man during police investigations. Meanwhile, the cases involving the other three suspects are pending. Elvis Xavier Fernandez, 25, allegedly discharged a bundle of six whistling fire sparkles on 6 November at the void deck of Block 18 Joo Seng Road. Meanwhile, 30-year-old Thiagu Selvarajoo stands accused of setting off dangerous fireworks shortly before midnight on 5 November in Gloucester Road, near Little India. Siva Kumar Subramaniam, 48, allegedly abetted Thiagu by placing a box of Happy Boom fireworks on a road divider in Gloucester Road, near Little India. Story continues If convicted, each suspect may be jailed up to two years and may face a fine of between $2,000 and $10,000. Zero tolerance against acts that endanger lives The Singapore Police Force had said in a statement after the men were charged that it is a crime to possess, sell, transport, send, deliver, distribute or import any dangerous fireworks. The police have zero tolerance against acts that endanger the lives or safety of others as well as cause undue alarm to the public, and will not hesitate to take action against those who blatantly disregard the law, it said. In 1968, the use of certain kinds of fireworks were prohibited after they became a public safety issue. A total ban on the use of fireworks was enforced on 1 August 1972, when the Dangerous Fireworks Act came into operation. The move came two years after an incident involving firecrackers killed six people and injured 25 others on Chinese New Year in 1970. The accident also cost up to $560,390 in property damage. More Singapore stories: Malaysian getai singer charged for shouting gang slogans during Yishun show Man who attacked 2 bus drivers while trying to get to Yishun jailed 9 weeks Masseur who molested female customer, then acted as if nothing happened, jailed Girl, 6, drowned after granduncle left her unattended at Sentosa hotel swimming pool: state coroner E-bike rider who caused jogger to suffer brain injuries jailed The UN said Tuesday it had evacuated another 150 refugees from a Tripoli detention centre impacted by clashes, but said it had been unable to relocate others amid a rapid escalation in fighting. The UN refugee agency said it had evacuated the refugees, including women and children, from the Abu Selim detention centre in south Tripoli, to its Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in the centre of the capital. The operation came as fierce fighting continued between forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar and those backing the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). "It is a race against time to move people out of harm's way," UNHCR's Assistant Chief of Mission in Libya, Lucie Gagne, said in a statement. "Conflict and deteriorating security conditions hamper how much we can do," she said. At least 174 people have been killed and 758 wounded in the battle for control over the Libyan capital which has rocked Libya since Haftar launched his offensive on Tripoli earlier this month, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Abu Selim is one of several detention centres that have been impacted by the clashes. UNHCR, which last week evacuated more than 150 refugees and migrants from the Ain Zara detention centre, said it had planned to evacuate more people Tuesday but had been prevented from doing so by a rapid escalation in fighting in the area. The refugees evacuated Tuesday were "petrified and traumatised" by the fighting and feared for their lives, UNHCR said. The agency's staff who organised the evacuation on the ground said the clashes were around 10 kilometres away and were clearly audible, according to the statement. "We urgently need solutions for people trapped in Libya, including humanitarian evacuations to transfer those most vulnerable out of the country," Gagne said. UNHCR said there were now more than 400 people currently being hosted at the GDF, but that more than 2,700 refugees and migrants remained detained and trapped in areas where clashes were ongoing. The UN agency stressed that the current conditions in Libya "underscore the fact that (the country) is a dangerous place for refugees and migrants." "Those rescued and intercepted at sea should not be returned there," UNHCR said, also reiterating its call for an end to the detention for refugees and migrants. Fall is set to bring a contemporary and audacious flavor to H&M, which has joined forces with South African designer, Palesa Mokubung on a ready-to-wear clothing and accessories collection. The creations are due out globally from August 15. Vibrant colors, fabrics and prints -- and designs that are as avant-garde as they are audacious -- comprise the signature style of the Mantsho label, founded by the designer, Palesa Mokubung in 2004. The brand, which has graced runways in India, the US, Senegal and Botswana, has now joined forces with Swedish clothing giant H&M on a collection of women's clothing and accessories. For the time being, H&M isn't giving much away about the designs featuring in this upcoming collection. However, three first images show a top with flared three-quarter sleeves and a contemporary cutout, as well as a second short-sleeved top featuring frills and a bow. Both are finished in an original blue-and-white floral print. "Palesa is such an inspiring talent and personality. We love how she works with color, print and silhouettes enhancing the female shape in a flattering and playful way. At H&M, we value diversity of ideas and designs and draw inspiration from across our geographical footprint and we are so excited to share this collection with our customers across the globe," said Pernilla Wohlfahrt, assortment manager for collaborations and special collections at H&M. The collection will launch globally in selected stores and online at www.hm.com from August 15. Donald and Melania Trump photographed alongside Anna Wintour back in 2005 [Photo: Getty] A spokesperson for Melania Trump has clapped back at Anna Wintour after the US Vogue editor-in-chief seemingly suggested that the First Lady would never grace the magazines cover again. Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement: To be on the cover of Vogue doesnt define Mrs. Trump, shes been there, done that long before she was First Lady. Her role as First Lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than some superficial photo shoot and cover, she added. READ MORE: The most famous magazine covers of all time This just further demonstrates how biased the fashion magazine industry is, and shows how insecure and small-minded Anna Wintour really is. During an interview with CNN last week, Wintour hinted that the magazine is not politically impartial, as she revealed: I believe and I think that those of us that work at Conde Nast believe that you have to stand up for what you believe in and you have to take a point of view. Donald and Melania Trump used to mingle with fashion heavyweights such as Michael Kors and Anna Wintour [Photo: Getty] During her husband Barack Obamas presidency, former First Lady Michelle Obama graced the cover of Vogue a grand total of three times. While the magazine has also featured New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and former First Lady Hillary Clinton (who starred on the cover back in 1998 midway through her husbands term). Obviously these are women that we feel are icons and inspiring to women from a global perspective, Wintour explained. READ MORE: Melania Trumps work wardrobe Although she did not explicitly reference Trump, the 69-year-old added: I also feel even more strongly now that this is a time to try and I think that one has to be fair, one has to look at all sides but I dont think its a moment not to take a stand. I think you cant be everything to everybody. The First Lady has yet to be asked to grace the cover of Vogue since her husband, US President Donald Trump, won the 2016 election. But the former model hasnt always been on bad terms with Wintour, as the former model famously appeared on the February 2005 cover of Vogue wearing a wedding dress shortly after her nuptials. A massive fire broke out at the historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Monday, causing part of the iconic building to collapse. Though the cause of the fire remains unclear, early reports indicate it may have begun at a construction site on the property. Tourists and locals could only stand by as the cathedrals spire went up in flames and later collapsed. According to NBC, the spire contained artifacts sacred to the Catholic faith, including a relic believed to be from Jesus Christ's crown of thorns. Other relics from Saint Genevieve and Saint Denis may also be destroyed. Pierre Suu/Getty Images "Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame," Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told reporters. Beyond housing important holy items, the cathedral has a deep and rich history. Heres what you should know about the Notre Dame cathedral. Notre Dame cathedral is more than 850 years old. Notre Dame, The New York Times explained, was commissioned in 1163, during the reign of King Louis VII. The building was completed in 1345. According to The Guardian, King Louis VII wanted the building to be a symbol of Pariss political, economic, intellectual, and cultural power at home and abroad. The first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III. Getty Images Amelia Long/Print Collector/Getty Images ND/Roger Viollet/Getty Images This isnt the first time Notre Dame has been damaged. As The Times added, the building fell into disrepair during the French Revolution. Its decrepit state was even documented in Victor Hugos 1831 novel, Notre-Dame of Paris, otherwise known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame. But, in 1844, architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc worked to bring the cathedral back to its former glory and revamped both the buildings spire and flying buttresses. Pierre-Jean Chalencon/Photo12/UIG via Getty Images De Agostini via Getty Images Apic/Getty Images Notre Dame hosted many major moments in history. According to The Guardian, in 1431 Henry VI, the then-king of England, was crowned king of France, and in 1537 James V, the then-king of Scotland, married Madeleine of France. And, in 1909, Joan of Arc was declared innocent and was beatified inside the Notre Dame cathedral by Pope Pius X. Story continues ullstein bild via Getty Images Print Collector/Getty Images Universal History Archive/Getty Images The cathedral also houses incredibly rare and important artifacts. Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral is a 17th-century organ that still remains functional today (though its fate post-fire is not yet known). Beyond the organ, drawings, plans, and engravings showing the old and hidden mysteries of several of the church developments and how the city of Paris came into being sit inside, according to the cathedral website. And, according to CBS, the cathedral also houses the woven crown of thorns believed to have been placed on Jesus Christs head during his crucifixion. According to the cathedrals website, the crown now consists of a ring of rushes, bound by gold threads and enclosed in a gold and glass frame. The thorns of the crown, the site noted, have been plucked off and given as gifts to donors and important religious figures throughout history. Getty Images Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images Francois LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Francois LE DIASCORN/Getty Images The cathedral also houses a piece of the wooden cross along with a nail believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. Other historically significant items include stained-glass windows, statues, gargoyles, and more. Its been 800 years that the Cathedral watches over Paris, French historian Camille Pascal told Canadas BFM. Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame. Ayhan Altun/Getty Images Julian Elliott Photography/Getty Images Chesnot/Getty Images Dennis Hallinan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Now, all we can do is sit and wait to see what makes it out of the flames and hope the city of Paris is able to rebuild. Spain will review security arrangements and electrical fittings at historic monuments following the devastating fire at Notre-Dame, Culture Minister Jose Guirao said on Tuesday. A special meeting will be called in Madrid on Friday next week to discuss "plans to protect cultural goods in case of an emergency," his ministry said in a statement. "Obviously (the Notre-Dame fire) was an alarm bell and we will review all the installations", he told RNE public radio. "The danger is with old electric installations which have to be surveyed," he said, adding however that "in general, the installations in our big monuments are safe." Spain's historical and architectural treasures include the Burgos and Saint James of Compostela cathedrals, the Basilica of the Sagrada family in Barcelona and the Alhambra Palace in Granada. Guirao also said he would hold talks with French counterpart Frank Riester to offer help. The Future for Australian Coal Posted on 16 April 2019 by Riduna Problems Australia is the worlds largest exporter of coal, selling thermal coal for electricity generation and coking coal for smelting world-wide. In 2017 its export of this commodity was valued at over $40 billion, most of it produced in Queensland and New South Wales. In addition, coal is mined for domestic use with about 42.3 million tonnes,valued at over $4 billion being consumed in 2017, primarily for generating electricity. Federal and State governments make important financial gains from this through collection of royalties and income tax on coal production and sale. These gains enable governments to provide quality essential services which assist in maintaining a high standard of living for all Australians and sustain rural towns with steady employment provided directly by mining operations and related industries dependent on them. However, a problem with coal is that its mining involves emission of methane and Australia has 21 coal mines currently in operation. The volume of methane emitted by them is not accurately known nor is it known if those emissions are included in official estimates of national emissions. A more serious problem is that when burnt, coal produces carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and is estimated to be responsible for 30% of all CO 2 emissions in Australia and world wide. As such, coal production and combustion are major contributors to global warming and its effects on climate which in recent years have been marked by increases in the frequency and severity of weather events world-wide. These increases have prompted growing public protests, particularly by younger people and calls for governments to be more active in planning and acting to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Fig 1. Dead fish floating on the Darling River at Menindee, 2019. Rivers stopped flowing. Over 1,000,000 fish died from hypoxia. Picture: Robert Gregory/AFP. Fig 2. Livestock losses due to drowning in the 2019 North Queensland floods and subsequent starvation estimated at 500,000 head. Source: The Guardian. In Australia, damage caused by severe weather events in 2019 has included prolonged drought and fires, floods and heatwaves producing record high temperatures and extending summer temperatures by 5-6 weeks. Their effect has seen massive loss of habitat and wildlife, huge losses of property and livestock which will take 3-5 years to replace provided there is no repeat of the destructive events causing them. Recovery from the damage caused by 2018 events is estimated to cost $18 billion. Major users of coal to generate energy, particularly China and India have found that, apart from greenhouse gas emissions, coal combustion results in high levels of particulates which cause visible air pollution (smog) endangering public health and contributing to premature deaths. Another by-product of burning coal in power stations is the generation of massive volumes of ash, often stored in areas where it can leach into waterways making them unpotable and contaminating fish, making their consumption dangerous to health. Fig 3. Renewable energy projects approved to be built and commissioned in Australia over the next 3 years. Over 50 projects are likely to complete in 2019. Note: This Table excludes major proposals such as Snowy 2.0 (energy storage) and the Pilbara Power Hub (9 GW for export) which are not yet shovel ready. Source: Authors research and Clean Energy Council data. Demand for Australian coal for domestic use is declining as the nation transits to renewable energy. As shown above, $37.5 billion is expected to be invested in electricity storage, solar farms and wind turbines over the next 3-5 years. Australia is not the only country moving away from coal to renewable energy sources. Many countries are replacing coal with gas because it is cheaper. It also has lower greenhouse gas emissions when burnt. If undertakings by countries subscribing to the Paris Accord are to be met it is inevitable that global coal-fired electricity generation must decline. This will be accompanied by transition to renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar. China, the worlds largest user and second largest importer of coal, has announced that its import and use of seaborne coal will fall - a trend likely to continue in coming years. Countries, such as The Netherlands, Italy, Germany and others could stop using imported coal by 2030 or sooner, resulting in continuous decline in global demand from 2020 until its use ceases completely by 2050. Given this scenario, it came as no surprise that in 2017/18 Rio Tinto sold all of its coal mining assets in Australia or that more recently, Australias largest coal mine operator, Glencore, should decide to cap its global coal productionat present levels. That decision was taken partly in response to concerns over the effects of burning coal on the environment and achieving Paris Accord targets. What did come as a surprise was the New South Wales Land and Environment Court decision to refuse an application to develop a new coal mine on the grounds that it would contribute to climate change. These developments have thoroughly alarmed right-wing, climate science denying members of Australias Coalition Government, particularly those from the National Party. They have been vocal in calling for a new coal-fired power station to be built in Queensland to ensure supply of cheaper electricity 24/7, to increase domestic use of coal and protect coal mining jobs. The implication being that massive job losses and blackouts will occur damaging the economy unless such action is taken. The Prime Minister and Liberal Party Leader who faces a General Election in May 2019, has ruled out the proposal, correctly noting that the Queensland Labor Government would never give approval for a new coal-fired power station. To placate pro-coal, right wing members of his own Party, government invited expressions of interest in receiving public subsidies for the cost of continuously supplied electricity. The need to offer public subsidies arises from the fact that banks and other lending institutions in Australia will not lend for such ventures or for new coal mining proposals. The commercial risk is deemed too high since energy from renewable sources is now generated and stored more cheaply than it can be from fossil fuels. Subsidising the price at which future generation is sold could overcome this problem for proponents but it raises a moral and political - question: Should Government use public money to subsidise increased emission of greenhouse gasses, particularly at a time when severity of weather events is increasing, making it an important issue for the electorate just prior to a General Election being held? The Coalition Government proposes doing so. Demand What then is the future for Australian coal? At best, bleak. As weather events increase in frequency, severity and destructiveness and they will calls for action to reverse this trend will increase in the form of pressure for governments of major coal burning countries to reduce the use of fossil fuels. If such action is not taken promptly, particularly by major coal producing and using countries, catastrophic weather events will become annual events, likely to force mass movement of people searching for the essentials of life. This will place increasing pressure on major coal-using countries to speed-up their transition, away from coal use to cheaper forms of energy generation which do not emit greenhouse gasses. It will also place pressure on governments of major exporting countries as well as mine owners and operators to plan for retraining of displaced workers and find alternate sources of public revenue. Fig 4. Tables listing the 15 leading countries importing and exporting coal in 2017. Note that some countries (eg. Netherlands) export much of their coal imports. Values in US$. Source for Import data. Source for Export data. As shown above, the top 15 coal importers account for 84% of global coal imports while the top 15 exporters account for 98.6% of all such trade. It is the exporters who will be the hardest hit by any contraction in demand for coal and Australia is at the top of that list. Governments are faced with the task of preparing coal mining communities for contraction of coal mining in Australia with the least cost-efficient mines likely to be the first to close in the 2020's. The task of New South Wales and Queensland Governments, is to ascertain from mine operators the likely operating life of their assets and to approve their plans for environmental rehabilitation. Based on this knowledge, plans to sustain mining communities with other forms of development can be prioritised and developed. Some politicians, particularly from the National Party, would have us believe that growth of coal use in Australia and overseas is a pressing necessity in order to protect mining communities from sudden mass unemployment, ensure continuity of electricity 24/7 and avoid closure of major industries in central Queensland. This as a ploy to differentiate the National Party from its coalition partner, the Liberal Party as a General Election date gets closer. The rate at which Australian coal sales diminish will depend on the rate at which the largest importers are able to transition from using fossil-fuels to generate energy to cheaper renewable sources. It is very much in interest of major coal importing countries that they make this transition as rapidly as possible if the goods they produce are to remain competitive with goods made in countries which are moving rapidly towards using the cheapest electricity, that generated by solar, wind, hydro and other renewable sources. This move also conserves foreign exchange reserves now used to pay for coal imports, enabling their use for other purposes. Major coal importers of Australian coal are moving away from fossil fuels to generate electricity. China and India, two of the larger importers, have indicated their intention of reducing seaborne coal imports over the next decade, while The Netherlands and Germany are likely to phase out use of imported coal by 2030. On the other hand, ambivalent policy and lack of clear data trends from Japan and South Korea suggest continued imports at around present levels. Between them, they purchase 50% of Australian coal exports. However, pressure from the international community and the need to reduce the cost of electricity in order to remain competitive, could result in them shifting from coal to cleaner, cheaper electricity generation. Australia is among a growing number of countries moving away from coal to cheaper renewable electricity. As shown by Fig 3, it expects to increase renewable generating capacity by at least 20 Gigawatts (GW) by 2022 and, at the same time, build energy storage sufficient to ensure continuity of electricity supply 24/7. It is likely that a further 20 GW of new capacity will be commissioned by 2026 to cope with economic growth and uptake of electric vehicles. This could result in closure of all but 5 of the countries remaining 21 coal fired power stations, possibly by 2030, certainly before 2040 with loss of 70% of the domestic market and around $3 billion to Australian coal producers. By 2050, probably sooner, the domestic market for coal will cease to exist. Conclusion Claims by right-wing members of the Coalition Government that Australia is faced with an immediate threat to its coal industry are an exaggeration but there is no doubt that over the next decade, mine closures will occur as a result of declining demand for coal. This could result in the decline of coal mining communities over the next 30 years. This is likely to be compensated for by creation of new industries such as mining of minerals demanded for storage and transmission of electricity, on shore processing of primary products rather than raw exports and innovations in production, storage, processing and transport of food and other goods. Without such measures, the Australian economy could be severely damaged, not by on-going contraction and eventual loss of the coal industry but because of an increase in the severity and incidence of extreme weather events brought about by on-going global warming. The latter will affect all countries and cause greater economic losses which will eventually prove enduring because they are too costly to recover from. Australia alone can not avert global outcomes only effective action by all countries can achieve that but the country should put itself in a position where it can join low-emitting countries in calling for and enforcing action on major emitters (see Imports Table/Fig. 4) to rapidly curb their emissions. If this is not achieved, we will all lose permanently. On this weeks Culture Gabfest, New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins joined the show to talk about the burning of Notre Dame and the churchs place in the citys life. This interview, which took place Tuesday morning, has been condensed and edited for clarity. You can listen to the Culture Gabfest for free every week via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Stephen Metcalf: You were already the person we would have called to ask to come on the show anyway, but by coincidence you were reporting a piece on the renovation of Notre Dame, so you were one of the final people to come in and see the work that was being done. Talk a little bit about how that came about. Advertisement Lauren Collins: I have been reporting just kind of a not a lark of a piece, but just a light curio of a thing, for the Talk of the Town section, about the restoration that was going on on the roof. I was up on the roof on March 27, and I took a construction elevator up, and put on my hard hat and was able to climb up in the scaffolding that was surrounding the roof and the spire, the part that burned. I was there to see the decapitation of the 12 statues of the apostles, that Viollet-le-Duc added to the roof sometime around 1850. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Metcalf: I mean, this is a structure that signifies in so many different ways. Its hard to pick one. Begin just by saying what it means to the city and the life of the city as you live in it. Advertisement Advertisement Collins: First of all its just something that everyone who comes here sees, and so its meaningful to tourists. But its meaningful to locals too, because its kind of a wayfinding point by which you can orient yourself for a lot of things, or just a meeting place. Kind of a friendly and familiarbut maybe until yesterday unappreciatedcompanion and sentry to life in Paris. One thing I was really interested in was Victor Hugos concept of graft. The way that we think of the Constitution, for instance, as a living document, its kind of a living building, that is constantly dying and growing and changing. I found that very comforting somehow, this notion that something could kind of break off and wither and turn to ash, but then we can just place something right back on it. As far as Victor Hugo was concerned, that was fine. So thats something Im drawing a little bit of literary historical comfort from. Advertisement Get Slate Culture in Your Inbox We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Dan Kois: And in Hugos time the cathedral was in a similar state of disrepair. Not as bad as it is this morning, but you know, it was falling apart. It had not been taken care of for centuries. Can you just tell us a little bit about what it was that this reconstruction was meant to be doing, and why? Why, perhaps, the cathedral was underappreciated by the city? Collins: The Hunchback came out in 1831, and as you said, the cathedral was in just abject state at that point. This guy, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, was brought on to renovate it, and he just had this mania for all things kind of Gothic and ornate. Hes the one who plugged the spire on there. I posted something on Instagram, and someone left a comment that I thought was so fascinating. She was a woman who has just finished, or maybe is in the midst of finishing, a thesis on Viollet-le-Duc. Her thesis is that for him architectural restoration and national renewal are inseparable. I just thought that was such an interesting point to make now, in a moment where France is in this kind of social and political crisis. Before Notre Dame even went up in flames yesterday, Emmanuel Macron was in fact scheduled to address the nation last night at 8, and I think it was about 6:30 that everyone started noticing that Notre Dame was on fire. And so, he canceled his speech and I guess will do it when things calm down. I think itll be interesting to see how the notion of rebuilding Notre Dame and Frances patrimony and national pride dovetails with the challenge of fixing the social fracture that the gilets jaunes and other things have brought about in France. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kois: Its particularly heartening to see just how quickly it seems France is sort of circling around this cause now, at a moment of fracture in its social and cultural space. You know, for 10 years theyve been trying to get people to contribute to a fund to get to renovate Notre Dame. Collins: Were also in the midst of this burgeoning debate and crisis in France over extreme wealth and how it should be taxed. I mean thats kind of considered Macrons original sin, that led to a lot of the things that have happened this year, with the gilets jaunes and all that, and so its really interesting because Macron got rid of this tax called the ISF, this wealth tax that really rich people had to pay. It was largely symbolic, but anyway, he got rid of it. Theres this feeling that super-rich people like Pinault and Arnault arent paying as much as they should have to in taxes. So now, theyre voluntarily saying, OK, well give all this money that we were supposed to give anyway until our enormous tax got canceled. And so theres a whole polemic, as they say in France, arising around that too. Advertisement Advertisement Dana Stevens: I dont know about you, or about how people in Paris feel about this, but I feel like I almost started the day with a spring in my step today, knowing that the cathedral had not fallen to the ground and that more had survived than I would have thought. It did make me think about, as you were saying, just what a palimpsest of history it already was, that there were all these Viollet-le-Duc additions that were from the 19th century, and that the windows were replaced, some of them, in the 1960s with nonreligious designs, and that after the French Revolution, the statues were beheaded by revolutionaries. So it already has all of these inscriptions of history on it, and its not as if its this pure piece of patrimony that was preserved and then burned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Collins: Thats whats so crazy. When I went in there and was kind of climbing around in the rafters, and Id had this experience in other French churches and cathedrals, too, you think theyre these kind of corporate, really sanitized national monuments. I mean you think, OK, what is it, 35,000 people a day go to Notre Dame. Youre thinking people who went to business school are running these things, and theyre not. I mean theyre these living monuments. And that was what I was so struck by, when I was up on the roof and looking at these things, I mean, theyre just like weird things lying in corners. There are little parts of statues that have fallen off and somebody just put them somewhere. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You know, you dont have to just like replicate Viollet-le-Duc. Lets have a Pompidou Notre Dame. I remember going up in a part of St. Sulpice, for instance, thats not open to the public, and people were living up there in grace-and-favor apartments until the 1970s and they would have parties, and there were still posters on the walls and things. I mean, you really do get this Hunchback of Notre-Dame sense that there are just strange beings and remnants and spirits and things crawling around up there. So I mean, I felt much the same way you did, Dana. As soon as it became clear that the belfry towers were going to stand, I felt a giant sense of relief. Just kind of knowing that at least from the front, where everybody goes in, Notre Dame as we know it would remain. Advertisement Stevens: I assume the entire building has been documented down to the square inch, and it can be reproduced. Obviously, its not going to be the original materials, but that again is going to be part of a cycle of destruction and renewal that its been going through for 800 years. Advertisement Collins: There is some precedent for this. The cathedral at Reims was bombarded by the Germans in 1914, and I think they had a bunch of hay bales inside, because they were using it as the hospital. Anyway, the spire, hay, lead roof, the whole thing caught fire and bubbled and burned and was totally obliterated, and that was rebuilt, I think with a lot of help from the Rockefellers actually. If you go there today and you dont know what happened, you kind of wouldnt. Advertisement Advertisement Kois: The inside of Notre Dame was laser scanned in the last decade to, like, the nearest micrometer or whatever. Im so curious about whether they will replicate it as it was, whether they will attempt to replicate the agedness of it. This, as you say, this sort of accretion of decades and centuries of bits and bobs here and there is part of what makes it, I think, such an emotional place to go into. The sense that you can see everywhere, not just the big history, right? The huge stained-glass windows, or the things that have been there for hundreds or a thousand years. But you can also see the evidence of the accretion of history on every wall and in every corner, and that seems hard to replicate or renew. Or maybe the rubble from the fire will just become another set of additions to the structure. Advertisement Collins: I went to bed with this sense of just total grief and woke up with this kind of sense of opportunity. Im like, Do something crazy, come on. You know, you dont have to just like replicate Viollet-le-Duc. Lets have a Pompidou Notre Dame. Advertisement Advertisement Metcalf: I have to say, I did not see that coming, Lauren Collins. Advertisement Advertisement Collins: I know, I know. But the more you read about the history of it, you realize that you really could stick absolutely anything up there and in 200 years have people think that it was immemorial. Stevens: You know what would be at once historically accurate and also just a completely insane step to take is that the statues in the front, the sculptures of saints and religious figures all across the front, were originally painted and gilded. Collins: Im all for it. Metcalf: Or, replace images of the Madonna with images of Madonna. Kois: Theres got to be a Pikachu gargoyle up there somewhere. Collins: Gargoyles. We havent even talked about gargoyles! I mean, gargoyle artists, they just take peoples faces they know and stick them on there. I mean, think of what you could do with free rein on some gargoyles. You can buy insurance policies to cover damage from almost anythingdog bites, meteor showers, volcanic eruptions, stampeding cows. But if youve bought insurance against cyberattacks, which are among the most common and costly phenomena of our time, you may find it hard to collect on a claim. A few big corporations recently made this startling discovery, and two of themMondelez International and Merck Pharmaceuticalare suing their insurers. The cases may settle some uncertainties that no one has formally contemplated, much less resolved. If the court rules against the plaintiffs, the entire cyberinsurance industrywhich was created 20 years ago but has only recently started to surgemay be abandoned by clients, and the already dismal state of cybersecurity may diminish still further. Advertisement Heres the background. In 2017, a piece of malware called NotPetya was inserted into a Ukrainian tax-software program, wiping out 10 percent of the countrys computers and shutting down vital infrastructure throughout the country before spreading to networks worldwide, crippling a host of multinational companies, including Mondelez, Merck, Maersk, FedExs European subsidiary, and Russias state oil company, Rosneft. That last one was ironic, as Western intelligence agencies concluded that the malware had been planted by the Russian government, as part of its harassment campaign against Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolates, filed a claim for $100 million in damages with the Zurich Insurance Group. Mondelez hadnt taken out cyberinsurance per se, but its policy with Zurich did cover, among other things, physical loss or damage to electronic data, programs, or software as a result of the malicious introduction of a machine code or instruction. Advertisement Advertisement If the court rules against the plaintiffs, the already dismal state of cybersecurity may diminish still further. However, Zurich denied the claim, citing intelligence agencies verdict that NotPetya was part of a Russian attack on Ukraine, and referring to a clause in the companys policy exempting coverage of damage caused by hostile or warlike actions in time of peace or war. Mondelezs case against Zurich is proceeding in an Illinois court. Merck has filed a similar suit in New Jersey. The trials are likely to drag on for years because several key issues will have to be answered. The first might be: What is cyberwar? In 2006, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, alarmed by the incessant briefings he was receiving on cyberattacks against the U.S. military and defense companies, asked the Pentagons general counsel at what point these attacks could be considered acts of war under international law. It took two years for the counsels office to respond and, even then, only evasively: Yes, the reply read, such attacks might be acts of warbut the precise circumstances were left vague. Advertisement Advertisement Second, to what extent can an intelligence agencys judgmentthe basis of which is probably classifiedbe cited to establish liability in a civil court case? Third, Mondelezs lawyers are arguing that the war exclusion cannot be applied because the company and its transactions took place far from the Russia-Ukraine battlefield. But what are the battlefields boundaries in cyberspace? Is there even such a thing as a battlefield? Advertisement Advertisement Finally, as more (and more damaging) cyberattacks appear to be directed by national governments or their proxies, what is the point of having cyberinsurance if such attacks are excluded from coverage? This is the question that many clients will ask themselves if the insurers win these two cases. In other words, a tactical victory for the insurers could spawn a strategic defeat. Advertisement Advertisement Theres a mad rush for insurance companies to write cyber policies, says Bob Gourley, co-founder and chief technology officer of OODA LLC, a strategic advisory firm. But even when cyberattacks are not offshoots of war, the coverage offered by those companies is thin. According to Richard Clarke, CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management (and the White House cybersecurity chief during Bill Clintons presidency), these policies cover direct costs of a breachthe interruption of business, unauthorized credit card chargesand pay for subsequent credit monitoring and forensic teams. But the policies generally do not cover the much bigger losses of intellectual property, reputational damage, or theft of trade secrets. Advertisement Advertisement One reason is that the cyberinsurance business began 20 years ago, when attacks were seen mainly as nuisances inflicted by malicious hackers rather than a threat to economic infrastructure and national security, much less a new domain of international conflict. As a result of its booming demand and its limited payouts, cyberinsurance is a highly profitable branch of the industry. However, from the standpoint of insurers, the proliferation of attacks and the size of the targets have started to outgrow their ability to reimburse the enormous damage that such attacks can inflict. Advertisement If cyberinsurance is to become a serious piece of both insurance and cybersecurity, a total rethink is required. The model, up till now, has been hazard insurance, but a better model might be health insurance. When you buy hazard insurance, youre insuring yourself against the slim possibility of a fire or a flood; when you buy health insurance, youre insuring yourself against the near certainty of eventual injury or illness. If you run certain sorts of businesses, cyberattacks are a near certaintyand, in some cases, potentially fatal. Advertisement This means that real cyberinsurance, like health insurance, is going to be expensive. But a real insurance market can also provide incentives for improving cybersecurity. Just as medical and life insurance policies offer discounts for people who dont smoke or keep healthy regimens, cyberinsurance policies could do the same for corporations that maintain good hygiene or follow best practices in computer security. Advertisement Advertisement Back in the mid- to late 1990s, when senior U.S. officials became aware that the internet was catastrophically vulnerable, some of them (notably Richard Clarke) advocated mandatory cybersecurity requirements for firms and government agencies involved in critical infrastructurefinance, transportation, electrical grids, water supply, emergency services, and so forth. The companies lobbied feverishly against the proposals. Even some Cabinet secretaries, who didnt yet grasp the full scope of the risks, worried that excess regulation would stifle innovation and competitiveness. The resistance won. Even subsequent presidential orders, which at first glance seem to impose security requirements, lack enforcement clauses; theyre, in effect, nonbinding finger wags and brow furrows. In the absence of regulations, maybe market incentives can take us part of the way toward cybersecurity. But if the insurance companies succeed in claiming war exemptions in the two cases on trial now, the last route toward even a partial solution might be closed off. The story of a transgender woman in Texas who was allegedly attacked Friday by a mob shouting homophobic slurs over a minor traffic accident took another turn when the man arrested for attacking her claimed he was paid $200 to commit the assault, according to Dallas police. In a video that circulated over the weekend, the victim, 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, is hit repeatedly by a man as a large crowd gathers near an apartment complex. After what appear to be multiple blows to her face, she falls to the ground. As people in the crowd scream for them to stop, a few other men begin kicking her and stomping on her. After Booker stumbles away, a group of women lift her up and, according to police, carry her to a car to take her to the hospital. She sustained injuries to her face, as well as a fractured wrist and a concussion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man who punched her, later identified as 29-year-old Edward Dominic Thomas, was arrested Sunday night on aggravated assault charges. Thomas admitted to the assault, police said. Police said on Monday they have also identified a suspect who stomped on Bookers face, but they had not yet arrested him, according to the Dallas Morning News. Police say that just before the attack, Booker had accidentally backed into another car. The driver of that car told police he ran Booker off the road to prevent her from leaving the scene. Booker told police that that man had pointed a gun at her and warned her not to leave without paying for the damage to his car. At that point, police say, Thomas says he was offered $200 by someone in the crowd to beat Booker. At the hospital, Booker told police that some of her assailants had used homophobic slurs during the attack. Advertisement Advertisement Dallas police said on Monday they are investigating whether the assault met the criteria of a hate crime and that they have contacted the FBI. In the meantime, police are looking at recordings from the scene to try to determine who else participated in the assault and who, if anyone, offered Thomas $200. They said they expect to make more arrests soon. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings on Saturday morning condemned the attack as an act of hate. I am extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman, he said in a statement. Those who did this do not represent how Dallasites feel about our thriving LGBTQ community. We will not stand for this kind of behavior. The spouse of an American soldier killed in action in Afghanistan was arrested by ICE on the way to his job and deported last week despite being the father of a 12-year-old daughter who is an American citizen, the Arizona Republic reported Monday. The story is as horrific as it is familiar under the Trump administration, and the reported details are a reminder of the arbitrary and callous administration of the countrys immigration laws. Jose Gonzalez Carranza, now 30, came to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. He later married Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra and had a daughter Evelyn . Vieyra was 22 years old when she was killed in 2010 while serving in the Army in Afghanistan. After her death, Gonzalez was granted whats called parole in place, allowing him to stay in the country. Given his protected status, and lack of a criminal record, a judge later ended deportation proceedings against Gonzalez. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2018, however, the Trump administration reopened the case and ordered a court hearing. But Gonzalez didnt show for the court date because, he says, he never got the notice that ICE sent to the wrong address. The missed court appearance prompted a judge, in December, to order Gonzalez to be deported, but again he didnt receive news of the order to dispute or correct it until ICE showed up at his door last Monday. By then it was too late and two days later Gonzalez was deported to Nogales, Mexico and living in a shelter for deported migrants. I feel so bad, Gonzalez said of being taken away from his daughter. Im thinking about, I might never see her again. Making matters worse, his lawyer said Gonzalez filed a motion to reopen the deportation case after his arrest, which should have meant an automatic stay to his deportation proceeding. But ICE deported him anyway. After speaking to The Arizona Republic, [the lawyer] said he received a call from an ICE officer who told him the agency was making arrangements to allow Gonzalez back into the U.S., the paper reported. Lets travel back to the distant, foggy past to think about what the Russia-Trump story was all about in 2016 and early 2017. Before James Comey got fired, before Robert Mueller was even a twinkle in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteins bewitching hazel-green eyes. Before the obstruction question, before offshoots like the Michael Cohen campaign finance case and Trump Tower Moscow and the inaugural fund. At that point, the public knew two things: one, that Russia had likely orchestrated a hacking and propaganda campaign against Hillary Clinton, and two, that Donald Trumps advisers had made squirrelly efforts, both during the Republican National Convention and the presidential transition period, to advance Russia-friendly positions regarding economic sanctions and the war in Ukraine. Advertisement And, to badly paraphrase David Mamet, if theres a quid and theres a quo, there is probably a pro. Had Trump been trying to do favors for Russias ruling oligarch-gangsters to reward them for sabotaging his opponent? And did they sabotage his opponent because they knew hed in turn make it easier to launder money into the U.S. by eliminating sanctions against them? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That possibility became the central mystery of Muellers investigation into collusion: In Rosensteins words, the special counsel was tasked with investigating links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump. And when Attorney General William Barr released his March letter summarizing Muellers conclusions, he quoted the special counsel as having written that the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. But Barr didnt explain how that conclusion had been arrived at, and given that Muellers report is defined by a law as a summary of prosecution and declination decisions, the most long-gestating question it might be able to resolve when its (partially) released on Thursday is why the special counsel decided that a number of publicly known links between Russia and the Trump campaign did not constitute a chargeable conspiracy. Those include: Advertisement Advertisement The June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower in New York City between Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and several Russian governmentconnected individuals who brought up the subject of Magnitsky Act sanctions. The Trump campaigns elimination of a line in the Republican National Convention platform that called for the U.S. to provide weapons to anti-Russian forces in Ukraine. Advertisement ThenTrump campaign chairman Paul Manaforts Aug. 2, 2016, meeting in New York City with Konstantin Kilimnik, an individual who the special counsels office says is believed to have a relationship with Russian intelligence, at which Manafort gave Kilimnik campaign polling data and discussed a potential resolution to the war in Ukraine. (Russias involvement in the Ukraine conflict was another reason the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia.) Advertisement Incoming national security adviser Michael Flynns Dec. 29, 2016, phone call with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyakwhich Flynn later lied about to federal investigators in an apparent attempt to keep them from finding out that he and Kislyak had discussed sanctions. Advertisement Advertisement On June 14, 2016, just after the Trump Tower meeting, the Washington Post revealed that Russian government hackers were believed to have illegally accessed the Democratic National Committees servers . Which is to say that Trump and his advisers knew from mid-June 2016 onward that Russia was 1) seeking sanctions-related policy changes and 2) possibly attempting to sabotage Hillary Clintons campaign. The Trump crew nonetheless continued to communicate with Russia-connected individuals about sanctions, and you could conceivably argue that those conversations amounted to implicit participation in Russias illegal election-sabotage plan. Thanks to Barrs letter, though, we know that either 1) Mueller decided that no such conspiracy could be proven in court or that 2) Barr used carefully hedged language to make it seem like thats what Mueller concluded. And, to the extent that any single document could possibly resolve our modern information war or allow us even the smallest moment of satisfaction and closure, the (partial) version of Muellers report thats being released Thursday will ideally explain which of those things happened, and what Mueller himself actually thinks about Russiagates original animating question. After it had become apparent that the fire that engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday threatened to bring down the entire buildingas the vast amounts of wood in the centuries-old building ignited rapidly and at a height beyond the reach of typical fire fighting measuresParis Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told French media that first responders had focused some of their attention to saving the priceless art, precious artifacts and other items in the cathedral. Now it seems, based on reporting from French media, that that effort was largely successful. Hours after the fire started, we are only now getting an idea of what has been saved and what hasnt. Things are looking slightly better than initially thought for the cathedral, but the devastation was still profound. First the cathedrals iconic spire fell, then a significant portion of the roof collapsed. (Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame, a Notre Dame spokesman said at one point in the day.) The fire jumped to one of the cathedrals landmark rectangular towers in what seemed to be an ominous sign, but French authorities later announced that both the iconic towers had been saved and that the fire had been mostly managed. Heres what we know is saved and what has been lost from one of the worlds greatest architectural treasures. Whats safe Those looking for hope can take comfort in knowing the damage isnt quite as total as authorities at one point feared. While the true extent of the fires damage cant yet be known (some photos from inside the cathedral appear promising), French officials say it appears the facades and bell towers and flying buttresses and much of the rest of the buildings general structure have been saved. Thats great news for obvious reasons. As Meredith Cohen, an art history professor at the University of California, Los Angeles explains, it is the building, rather than anything inside it, that stands as a singular symbol of Paris history. The cathedral is the artwork, she said. And all the other works of art attached to church are different details of it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Cohen, the building, which was built over nearly three centuries starting in 1160 (there have been later additions and renovations), symbolically transformed the city into the center of European culture during the medieval period through its display of the new and innovative Gothic style of architecture and its singular architectural and artistic ambition. Its the origin of our concept of Paris as a center of art and culture, she said. Statues and paintings We know a set of important copper statues has been saved, as the Associated Press reported that ones representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists that graced the top of the cathedral were removed last week as part of the $6.8 million renovation project (now believed to be in some way linked to the cause of the fire) to the now-destroyed spire. Advertisement Advertisement We also know firefighters saved a number of valuable pieces of art from inside the cathedral, as confirmed by the cathedrals rector, but we dont know yet which of those pieces were saved. But Cohen said she was slightly less nervous about the contents of the church because so many historically significant artistic works had already been destroyed or removed during the French Revolution. They beheaded sculptures, altars were removed, tombstones were removed, she said. She noted that a significant choir screen and baroque sculpture above an altar remained. But compared to what was there, there is little left, she said. Advertisement The bell towers and the bells It seems likely that most of the bells were saved, given that the two main bell towers were preserved, though that hasnt officially been confirmed. The cathedrals main bell, a 15th-century bell called the Emmanuel bell, survived. The Emmanuel bell has marked some of the countrys and the worlds most important moments, such as the end of World War II and the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stained-glass windows French media reported Tuesday that Notre Dames famous and awe-inspiring South Rose window, created in 1260, has survived. The cathedral has two other rose windows, also reported safe, and a large number of stained-glass windows of which their status is unknown. The organ French media also reported Tuesday that the churchs main organ, one of the largest in the world, did not burn but may have suffered some water damage. The Great Organ, replaced and updated many times through the years, is operated by a head organist, a position recognized around the world as highly prestigious. Christian relics For the pious, it is likely the relicsitems the faithful believe to be physical remains or belongings of a saint or other holy figurethat are more significant in the tally of items saved. In particular many religious Catholics will likely be relieved to hear that the Crown of Thorns, Notre Dames most valuable religious item and a relic said to be the braided thorns placed on Jesus head before the crucifixion, is thought to be safe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While NBC News has reported that the Crown of Thorns was housed in the now destroyed spire, a spokesman for the church said the relic had been saved, according to French media. The status of the other prominent relics, which include a fragment of the true cross on which Jesus was crucified and a nail the Romans used in the crucifixion, is unknown. The crown is only brought out for worshipers on Fridays during Lent and on Good Fridaythis upcoming Friday. The cathedrals treasury was also saved, according to the cathedrals rector. Whats lost The spire The dramatic and iconic spire, one of the more modern aspects of the cathedral, was built in the 19th century during a wave of enthusiasm for the cathedrals restoration in the aftermath of Victor Hugos success with The Hunchback of Notre Dame. But Cohen says the public should not take any comfort in that modernity: art historians consider that another extremely valuable window into the techniques and styles of the time, and part of the layered history of the cathedral. You can copy that, but youre faking history, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Joan Holladay, a professor of art history at the University of Texas, added that the many centuries of construction seen in the building are part of what makes it one-of-a-kind. Using all these buildings together, you can put together a big picture of what gothic architecture was, she said. Its not just the individual periods seen in the architecture, but also how they fit together, that make the cathedral so valuable. Advertisement The Forest The wood roof covering the stone vault, known as the forest because of the vast amount of wood needed to build it, was largely destroyed. Part of that roof structure dates to the 13th century, and it primarily was made from trees cut between 1160 and 1170, according to CNNmaking it some of the oldest material in the building. Whats unknown We still dont know how much damage has been done inside the building. There are wooden pews and doorways, and plenty of other art that could be considered flammable. And we dont know how the buildings exterior, with the famous Gothic sculpture work (notably, gargoyles), fared. We can assume that when the spire fell and the ceiling collapsed, it did some damage to the vaults and the floor of the cathedralagain, damage to deeply historic masonry and design. Holladay noted that stone does not burn, but it does suffer in the heat, crack, and lose stability. So she worried about the sculptures on the west facade, with its life-size figures of saints, and older carvings in areas around the left portal. Advertisement Sculptures and paintings Some seem hopeful that much of the artwork inside the cathedral has been spared. There are more than 30 sculptures inside the cathedral, including one statue of Madonna and Child that dates back to the 14th century. Theres a 1648 portrait of St. Thomas Aquinas and a 1716 painting called the Visitationone of six in a series depicting the life of Mary, the remaining of which were moved to the Louvre in the 1860s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whatever is ultimately found as authorities attempt to take account of the damage in the days to come, it is already clearly devastating, as a building that has represented Parisand the center of European art and culturefor 800 years has been hit with a near-fatal blow. But the structure remains. And French President Emmanuel Macron, in an address just before midnight in Paris, has vowed that the cathedral will again be displayed as a symbol of Parisian culture and history. I tell you solemnly tonight, he said. We will rebuild this cathedral. Pete Buttigieg suddenly seems presidential. The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has surged in the polls, zipping ahead to third place in Iowa and New Hampshire. Hes hauling in cashmore than $7 million in the first quarter of 2019and raised another million hours after he formally announced his candidacy for president on Sunday. Buttigieg has been profiled by national outlets over and over and over again, so we know a great deal about his personal life (veteran, polyglot, Rhodes scholar), his husband (a social media star), and even his dogs (Buddy and Truman, rescues, also social media stars). What we do not know much about is how, exactly, Buttigieg would govern the nation if elected. Beyond endorsing a few standard Democratic goalsLGBTQ equality, voting rights, and gun control chief among themButtigieg has been hazy on policy. His beautifully designed technicolor website has no policy section, nor do most of his speeches. Right now, he seems to be running on vision and charisma. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The one concrete policy Buttigieg has proposed that separates him from the Democratic pack: court reform. While hes open to simply adding seats to the Supreme Court, Buttigieg has said hed prefer an appellate rotation plan. This scheme would expand the court to 15 seatsfive filled by Democratic appointee, five by Republican appointees, and five selected from lower courts by the other 10 justices. It sounds sensible, balanced, and durable, and it may be all of those things. Unfortunately for Buttigieg, it is also clearly unconstitutional. How did Buttigieg get to a point where his most distinctive policy position is unworkable? First, court packing has become a hot-button issue in the 2020 Democratic primary. That makes sense, as the Supreme Courts sharp turn to the right was facilitated by Republicans blockade of Merrick Garland and eventual abolition of the judicial filibuster to confirm Neil Gorsuch, followed by the controversial confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand have refused to rule out adding seats to the court, as has former Rep. Beto ORourke. Most candidates are vague about the details: Harris, for instance, has said that everything is on the table, while Gillibrand has described the addition of justices to the bench as one of several interesting ideas that I would have to think more about. Like Buttigieg, ORourke has expressed curiosity about the appellate rotation plan, calling it an idea we should explore. Advertisement Advertisement The entire purpose of liberal court reform is to make the court more liberal. This hand-waving implies that two proposals, court packing and appellate rotation, are both on the table and, perhaps, equally viable and desirable. Thats a problem, because one proposal (court packing) is perfectly legal, while the other (appellate rotation) is plainly unconstitutional. Start with basic court packingthe addition of more justices (typically between two and six) to the Supreme Court. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits this maneuver, since the Constitution does not prescribe the number of seats on the court. Various federal laws have set this number as low as five and as high as 10. It is currently fixed at nine, but Congress can change that through legislation. If it did, then the president could nominate the new justices and they would join the bench upon Senate confirmation, casting full and equal votes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Appellate rotation is a substantially heavier lift. Also called the 5-5-5 plan or the balanced court solution, the 10 partisan justices would pick the remaining five justices from the federal courts of appeals and would need to select them unanimously. If the 10 partisans could not agree, they would lack a quorum to hear any cases. The Supreme Courts work would grind to a halt until they reached a compromise. Advertisement Advertisement This plans appeal is obviousit gives neither party an advantage and thus avoids the judicial arms race that could result from straightforward court packing. Its flaw, however, is fatal. As Pack the Courts has explained in a white paper, the Constitutions Appointments Clause declares that the president shall appoint Supreme Court justices with the Advice and Consent of the Senate. The justices themselves have no power to appoint other justices; that authority is explicitly assigned to the president alone. If Congress forced the president to share appointment power with the justices, it would radically alter a key constitutional procedure. That cannot be done by mere legislation. It requires nothing less than a constitutional amendment. Advertisement Advertisement When Buttigieg (and ORourke) float appellate rotation as an alternative to court packing, they presumably intend to come across as moderate, even nonpartisan. Court packing has the evident goal of neutralizing conservative dominance on the Supreme Court by tilting the bench to the left. Appellate rotation, by contrast, sounds technocratic and centrist. Buttigieg insists that he does not want to make the court more progressive but rather wishes to arrest the decline in the perception of the court toward being viewed as a nakedly political institution. Appellate rotation takes the politics out of it a little bit, making it the most intriguing option to him. If we want to save that institution, Buttigieg asserts, I think we better be ready to tune it up as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That line might poll well, but its the wrong way of looking at court reformand not just because the most intriguing option is also unconstitutional. Buttigieg may not want to cross the Rubicon of altering the makeup of the Supreme Court, but Republicans already blew past that norm. In 2016, Republicans proposed, and partially enacted, their own version of court reform by refusing to even hold hearings for Garland. The GOP effectively shrank the size of the court to eight seats for more than a year, resulting in deadlocks that hobbled the courts work. Then, multiple Republican senatorsincluding John McCain, Ted Cruz, and Richard Burrannounced that they would not confirm any nominee put forward by Hillary Clinton if she won the presidency. Burr said he would do everything I can do to make sure four years from now, we still got an opening on the Supreme Court. Sympathetic commentators like Ilya Shapiro cheered them on, arguing that it would be honorable for the Senate to refuse to confirm Clintons nominees and let the Supreme Court die out, literally. Advertisement The entire purpose of liberal court reform is to make the court more liberal, just as the point of Republicans 2016 blockade was to make the court more conservative. Buttigieg should not hide the ball and pretend to have some higher, impartial goal. Instead, he should heed the lesson of Democrats 1937 debacle, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt lied about the objective of his court-packing bill. Roosevelt claimed that he wanted to expand the Supreme Court not because it kept striking down New Deal legislation but because the justices were too old to do their jobs efficiently. This contention was easily disproved by the fact that the courts oldest member, Justice Louis Brandeis, generally voted to uphold the New Deal. And it stymied honest debate about the courts proper role in American democracy, leading to a crushing legislative defeat of Roosevelts bill, aided by senators who would not feign belief in the presidents pretenses. If progressives are worried about the direction of the Supreme Courtif they think its majority is motivated by a partisan desire to crush Democrats, harm workers, and kneecap democracythey should be candid about their plan to fight back. They should not conceal the aims of liberal court reform or allege that an unconstitutional plan like appellate rotation is actually a viable solution. If Buttigieg is truly alarmed by todays Supreme Court, he should acknowledge that it doesnt need a wonky tuneup. It needs more liberal justices. The rest of the story: Rep. Ilhan Omars speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Greater L.A. late last month has been the subject of much ire lately from Republicans like Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Donald Trump who say she was minimizing the memory of 9/11. Aymann Ismail looks past the sound bite to take in the speech in its entirety, finding a rousing assertion of Muslim American identity thats only been elevated by the attacks. Advertisement The brewing storm: In addition to his vitriolic tweet directed at Ilhan Omar, Trump has purged DHS staff members whom he thinks were too soft on immigration and threatened to flood sanctuary cities with detained migrants. All of this rhetoric is just a precursor to his 2020 campaign, Josh Voorhees predicts: With his elevated platform as president, Trump is likely hoping his xenophobia will register on a mass scale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pete, my guy, do better: Many of the 2020 Democratic candidates have ideas for judicial reform, the most popular being court packing. The increasingly popular Mayor Pete has a different idea: an appellate rotation plan, which would mandate a relatively even partisan split and require judges to also pick fellow members from appeals courts. The problems with this? Well, it wouldnt actually fix the problem the courts are facing right now, as Mark Joseph Stern explains, and also, its unconstitutional! From the ashes: Writer Lauren Collins, coincidentally, was on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral just last month reporting on its renovations. Today, she joined the Culture Gabfest to discuss the monuments place in history, its evolution as a living building over the years, and how Mondays fire will become a part of its vibrant palimpsest. For fun: An explanation of Hollywood writers feud with their agents, featuring a dialogue with a guy who seems to love old cartoons. Whats with all the fussin and a-feudin? Nitish President Donald Trump has a plan to intimidate voters who disagree with him. His plan is to send violent criminals to their neighborhoods. The plan wont work, because the people Trump wants to sendundocumented immigrantsarent actually violent criminals. Every fact-checking organization has found that these immigrants, contrary to Trumps assertions, dont commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans doand may, in fact, commit crimes at a lower rate. But Trump thinks theyre dangerous. And that makes them, in his mind, a useful weapon against his domestic opponents. Advertisement One of Trumps goals in promoting this plan is to smear undocumented immigrants. So its important to distinguish the truththat these people are no more dangerous than anyone else youd meet on the streetfrom the fiction in Trumps head. But the pathology of Trumps intent is still worth examining. He believes that hes using crime and chaos to punish his enemies. So although his plan tells us nothing about immigrants, it tells us a lot about Trump. It exposes the extent of his malice. And it confirms that hes willing to use violence as a political weapon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has long portrayed Hispanics and Latin Americans as thugs. In 2013, he tweeted, Sadly, the overwhelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is committed by blacks and Hispanics. In 2015, he launched his campaign by vilifying immigrants from Mexico: Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. A year ago, he complained that the United States was being forced to take large numbers of people from high crime countries. Advertisement Advertisement Last fall, Trump focused the GOPs midterm election message on criminal aliens. He told voters, falsely, that migrant caravans approaching the United States were full of thugs. Based on misrepresented data, he blamed immigrants for 48,000 assaults, 12,000 sex crimes, and 1,800 homicides. He claimed that Democrats want America to be a giant sanctuary city for drug dealers, predators, and bloodthirsty MS-13 killers. Republicans believe America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens. At every campaign stop, Trump warned the crowd, If you want more caravans and more crime, vote Democrat. The other purpose was political: to punish Democrats for refusing to fund Trumps border agenda. The scare campaign failed. Voters elected Democrats to take over the House. And so, a week after the election, the Trump administration decided to teach them a lesson. In an email to federal agencies, the White House proposed that caravan members be bussed to small- and mid-sized sanctuary cities. Advertisement Advertisement While the White House peddled this idea backstage, Trump continued to tell the public that the migrants were killers. Each year, sanctuary cities release thousands of known criminal aliens from their custody and right back into the community, he declared in a Dec. 7 speech to the Project Safe Neighborhoods National Conference. American politicians should protect American citizens, not criminal aliens, said Trump. Illegal immigration is a threat to the well-being of every American community, threatening innocent families. Advertisement Advertisement In January, Trump doubled the inflated numbers he was using to demonize migrants. He accused illegal aliens of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings. In an exchange at the White House on Feb. 15, he dismissed data that showed undocumented immigrants were less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. The numbers that you gave are wrong, Trump told reporters. Advertisement Advertisement Around that time, in mid-February, the White House renewed its campaign to transfer migrants to the districts of the presidents political adversaries. One version of the plan, as relayed by federal officials and paraphrased by the Washington Post, was to bus migrants apprehended at the border to sanctuary cities, such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Another version was to move migrants who were already in ICE detention to the districts of Democratic opponents. Advertisement Advertisement One purpose of the plan, according to the White House, was to relieve stress on border towns overcrowded by a surge of migrants. But the other purpose was political: to punish Democrats for refusing to fund Trumps border agenda. According to a Department of Homeland Security official quoted by the Post, the White House made clear that the proposal was retaliation, to show [Democrats], Your lack of cooperation has impacts. [T]hey thought it would put pressure on those communities. A congressional investigator gave a similar account: Stephen Miller called people at ICE [and] said if theyre going to cut funding, youve got to make sure youre releasing people in Pelosis district and other congressional districts. New York Times sources confirmed that the White House sent essentially the same message. Advertisement On Thursday, when the Post disclosed the relocation plan, the White House denied it. But on Friday, Trump endorsed the plan. Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities, Trump tweeted. Two hours later, he told reporters why, in his view, these migrants were dangerous: In many cases, theyre rough gang members. In many cases, theyre people with tremendous crime records. As to the relocation plan, the president concluded: So we are looking at the possibility. Strongly looking at it. Advertisement Advertisement Trump framed the proposal as a threat against Democrats. We can give them an unlimited supply of illegal immigrants, he told reporters. Lets see if theyre so happy. On Saturday, Trump warned, Democrats must change the Immigration Laws FAST. If not, Sanctuary Cities must immediately ACT to take care of the Illegal Immigrants - and this includes Gang Members, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Criminals. On Monday, he announced that he would implement the plan. Advertisement Objectively, Trumps statements about undocumented immigrants, like his statements about everything else, are worthless. These people are no more dangerous, statistically, than people born in the United States. But subjectively, as a window into Trumps mind, the presidents statements are damning. He believes that a specific population is prone to violent crime, so he concludes that this population is a weapon he can use. He proposes to dump this population onto the streets of Democratic cities and districts in order to harm and frighten his political opponents. Trump could have chosen any of the populations he has mocked or slanderedMexicans, Muslims, Arabs, Haitians, Africans, black Americans, Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Native Americansas his weapon in this scare campaign. The mockery and the slander are vile enough. But in this case, theres an extra twist. The twist is that Trump, the president who talks so much about rape and murder, is promoting a plan whose purpose, as he sees it, is to inflict criminal violence on Americans he doesnt like. Its not the migrants who want to hurt you. Its the president of the United States. President Trumps plan to release immigrant detainees on the streets of American sanctuary cities as a form of retaliation against his political enemies was reportedly the brainchild of White House adviser Stephen Miller. The logic behind it would also have made complete sense to Muammar Qaddafi. Libya has for years been a departure point for African migrants seeking to reach Europe, a fact that the countrys late strongman leader was more than willing to exploit. During a 2010 visit to Italy, Qaddafi demanded the EU pay Libya $6.3 billion a year to stop African migrants from reaching Europe. Otherwise, he said, he would turn Europe black. In remarks perfectly pitched to capitalize on European anxieties over immigration, he added: We dont know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed, as happened with the barbarian invasions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Qaddafi wasnt the only leader to play this game. Six years later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open the gates and allow the roughly 3 million refugees then living in his country to enter Europe. That came soon after the EU parliament voted to suspend talks on Turkey joining the EU. The EU had agreed to pay Turkeys billions of euros to prevent immigrants from entering the continent, but didnt come through on other aspects of the agreement, including membership talks and visa-free travel for Turks in Europe, prompting Erdogan to accuse the Europeans of breaking their word. Now it is Trump who is trying to use migrant populations as leverage. On Tuesday, he tweeted, Those Illegal Immigrants who can no longer be legally held (Congress must fix the laws and loopholes) will be, subject to Homeland Security, given to Sanctuary Cities and States! White House officials have denied that this is a form of political retribution, but Trump has made it pretty clear that the intention is to trigger the libs, tweeting earlier, The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy so this should make them very happy! The Washington Post has reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosis district in San Francisco was among those the White House wanted to target and that the White House also considered releasing detainees in other Democratic strongholds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even if it was Millers idea, this ploy probably makes sense to Trump, as he seems to believe its already whats being done to the U.S. He famously claimed, early in his presidential run, that When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Whats striking here is not only the assumption that migration can only be a danger or a burden for the receiving country. Its also that migrants and refugees in this view are not individuals, making decisions for the well-being or safety of themselves or their families. Instead, in this view, they are a collective quantity that governments give, send, or release, to each other. (It should be noted that even sympathetic advocates sometimes have a tendency to view global migration as a disembodied force or human flow to take the title of Ai Weiweis recent documentary.) Rather than addressing the political, economic, or environmental causes of migration, or crafting policies that would benefit both migrants and the communities that absorb them, leaders are opting instead to view immigration policy as a spigot to be turned on or off. These leaders sound less like theyre crafting social policy and more like theyre diverting a river to punish a town downstream. The spread of this kind of rhetoric doesnt bode well for how governments will respond to a global population increasingly on the move. In the days of dial-up internet, I identified my online friends in two ways: by their screen names, and by their font. I frequented X-Files chatrooms with regulars whose fonts I still remember more than 20 years later, though I remember little else about them: Jeff from Colorado used a bolded Lucida Sans in army green, and Emily from Fort Myers, Florida, used a hot pink Verdana, which, at the time, I thought was understated and very sophisticated. (We later became pen pals, and she also wrote me letters in that font.) My font of choice during that period was decidedly less sophisticated. I typed in a cerulean blue Comic Sans with a neon green highlight. Advertisement If Im being honest with myself, my taste never really improved, and for better or worse, I was able to plaster whatever I wanted all over my digital spaces. My old AOL website is a mess of colors and Mark Wahlberg photos, and I spent hours tinkering with HTML so that my LiveJournal displayed custom text announcing my comment counts and music selection. It boasted a Hot Topicesque black-and-white checker theme with hot pink accents. Years later, on Tumblr, I still couldnt resist the urge to make things my own. I frequently toggled between themes based on the aesthetic I wanted to convey that month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After an era where customizability was the norm, weve now reached a period where everything we read online looks the same. Blogging is dead, and the current dominant social media platforms have settled on a unified look: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages largely look the same. While Slack offers themes to change its default colors, and there are third-party apps to modify WhatsApp, theres little you can do to change the look of messages you send. Advertisement Advertisement So, too, do the baby pictures, links, crowdfunding campaigns, and rants blend together as you scroll. I frequently mistake NIMBY posts in my neighborhood group for parody posts from a propublic transportation meme group, or an ad for a friends vacation photo. Perhaps thats the point: Its a marketers dream for their ads to blend in with everything elsethats why native advertising came into being. Is this post talking up a meal delivery service from a friend, or is it just the same ad for the 40th time? My brain doesnt really differentiate between those things while just scrolling through. It just absorbs the fact that Ive seen it. To break up that sameness, we could return to the era of custom fonts or colors. Just as marketers embrace fonts to promote brands, perhaps individual users, too, might embrace the opportunity to select a font online that conveys their personality, or even just the tone of what theyre posting. In a 2012 study, researchers polled 102 people on which emotional descriptionsrested, stimulated, concerned, agitated, amused, etc.they associated with each of 36 fonts. Arial was ranked highly for being organized and focused. It also happens to be the most used font on the internet: the default on Google, Facebook, Amazon, Chinas QQ, and Twitter. Its unclear whether its organized, focused appearance drove its popularity or whether its popularity shaped our perception of it, but either way, it conveys officialness, which seems to have become the default mode of so many of our posts now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The authors of the font analysis also discuss our love/hate relationship with one particular font. No discussion of typeface emotion would be complete without some mention of Comic Sans, they write. The typeface sends viewers in all major emotional directions at once: were both agitated and amused, but calmly concerned about it. This is a distasteful feeling for many but other enjoy it, much as some hate riding a roller coaster and enjoy it. Its fellow black sheep, Papyrus, evokes similarly divergent emotions but on a smaller scale. With so few ways to convey tone online, font choice could provide context. Theres no sarcasm font, but posting in Comic Sans or Papyrus could fill that niche. Similarly, being able to control font size or color could add nuance. Advertisement Advertisement Officialness has become the default mode of so many of our posts now. A pair of Japanese researchers apparently had this same pet theory and published a paper last year to test it. They designed a texting app with custom fonts and observed conversations between users. They found that typeface did indeed give context to the emotions of the texters. Whereas Arial, their neutral font, evoked formal and business-like feelings and conveyed positive emotion, use of dramatic fonts felt more intimate. An incongruence in font type and messagesay, a font that looks befitting of a metal band saying I am happy these days!is taken as sarcastic and humorous, leading the authors to conclude that font will expand channels of nonverbal signals. Granted, the participants in this study, all between the ages of 24 and 34, might be more online than the average person given their age and more accustomed to chatting online. Surely, not all users would interpret fonts in the same way as these folks, but the study shows how fonts could allow for additional nuance in our text conversations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whether people would actually use custom fonts is another question. For users, fonts sameness has become the status quo, and people who deviate from the norms of posting are weirdos. MySpace is still the butt of jokes, after all, and I admittedly still feel a bit suspicious when someone emails me using a colorful or serifed font. Even when Facebook introduced the option to add background colors or patterns to text posts, peopletech media, in particularwere quick to declare them ugly. Still, people are finding little ways to bend the constraints of social media platforms. On Twitter, folks tweak their display names to appear upside down or in different fonts, or use ASCII art to stand out from the usual format. (Every Sheriff is a wonderful and silly example of this.) Advertisement And of course, theres Snapchat and Instagram stories, which are an oasis of creativity. There, people seem more playful, a little freer to lean into their own styles, thanks to the ability to choose between texts, colors, GIFs, emoji, and filters allow for novel creations. Theres the sex educator who takes nude selfies but covers them up with stickers, the designer who layers text in two colors to give certain words a pop-out 3D effect, the tech employee that posts one phrase at a time so youre tapping to read the next message. These posts take no more time than one on any other social media site, but they instantly convey a thousand times more personality. Advertisement Advertisement According to a 2017 Mashable post, part of why Facebook added custom backgrounds to text posts was a bid for more personality. It wanted to make the platform more fun as it competed with Snapchat for users. In the end, it seems that emulating the creativity of Snapchat was the best way to compete: TechCrunch reported that as of January, the function had 500 million daily users. If its success is any indication, users could be receptive to ways to break up the sameness on big platforms. Im not saying our Facebook pages and Twitter profiles need to autoplay custom songs and display our Top 8 friends, but a little freedom to make our pages our own could go a long way. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Welcome to Source Notes, a Future Tense column about the internets knowledge ecosystem. Katie Bouman is a 29-year-old postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose Wikipedia article was created last Wednesday, when astronomers released the first-ever direct image of a black hole to the world. Bouman was an influential member of the Event Horizon Telescope team that captured this extraordinary photographic evidence. She was widely covered by the press after MIT tweeted a photo of her excitement upon seeing the image for the first time on her laptop. Advertisement The timing of Boumans Wikipedia page makes sense: Pages are often created after a figure bursts into the news. What is unusual, though, is how much Boumans entry has been modified in this short periodmore than 100 times per day by nearly 160 contributors. The frantic level of editing reflects the rapid mobilization by members of the online encyclopedia community to rescue Boumans page from deletion. The debate also shows how a minority of internet encyclopedists are more concerned with disputing individual merit than creating a reference source that serves the public interest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement British physicist Jess Wade created Boumans Wikipedia page on April 10, coinciding with the black hole photo announcement. Two days later, the page was nominated for deletion. The few editors who argued adamantly that Boumans page should be deleted mostly said she lacked sufficient notability as an academic to have her own article. On the other side were those who said Bouman was clearly notable because of the vast amount of press coverage following the black hole announcement. Biologist Maryam Zaringhalam summarized the pro-article position well by tweeting, Katie Boumansone of the scientists behind the image of the black holeWikipedia article has been flagged as not notable. If shes not notable, then who TF is?! Advertisement Advertisement After discussion and voting, the arguments for retaining Boumans Wikipedia page carried the day. The whole crisis was resolved within about 80 minutes, what Wikipedians refer to as a speedy keep. This happened against the backdrop of a larger discussion about Bouman. After MIT tweeted the famous photo of her looking delighted, the university posted further tweets clarifying that she was part of a global collaboration of more than 200 scientists who made the discovery possible. Bouman likewise posted on Facebook that no one algorithm or person made this image and included a photo of the larger team. It was a similar argument to the one she made in her 2016 TED Talk: Big scientific discoveries are the work of big teams, not lone geniuses. Advertisement Advertisement By this point, though, the internet trolls had descended. The Verges Mary Beth Griggs recounts the online harassment in grim detail. Trolls set up fake Twitter accounts and fake Instagram accounts in Boumans name and had the fake Bouman claim that her colleague Andrew Chael wrote 850,000 of the 900,000 lines of code that were written into the algorithm that found the black hole. Thats when Chael himself chimed in, tweeting, While I wrote much of the code for one of these pipelines, Katie was a huge contributor to the software; it would have never worked without her contributions. Chael added that he hoped the awful and sexist attacks on Bouman would stop. Advertisement Advertisement Back on Wikipedia, a few in the pro-delete tweet camp were nasty and sexist. One editor pointed out that as a young good looking woman she was much more attractive to the media than the low-resolution photo of the black hole, and that the MIT scientist should only be covered as a media phenomenon since sex sells. On Twitter, another user falsely claimed that the only thing Bouman contributed was changing fonts in the code, suggesting that this was secretarial work that a high school student could handle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But theres another type of pro-delete comment thats worth examining and debunking. During the discussion, one editor arguing to delete Boumans page said this: I am in fact a scientist with more publications & citations than Katie (though she is younger, so its not a fair comparison). Was her work that important? This comment is, in fact, highly revealing about how this editor views their role on Wikipedia. Rather than grounding notability in the scientific community, the press, or popular culture, this individual editor is holding to their own standards of comparative merit. But this type of personal vendetta and probable jealousy does not advance Wikipedias goal to be the sum of all human knowledge, which has certainly been advanced for the more than 350,000 people who have now visited and learned from Boumans page. Im not the first to observe that the deletion debates on Wikipedia and other internet knowledge platforms frequently seem unproductive. Perhaps instead of fighting to remove someones encyclopedia entry, people should instead do something useful like, I dont know, help photograph a black hole. Or, since thats been done, maybe make a movie of one. Either way, it is no doubt better to search for dark despair vortexes elsewhere in the universe than to create them with our behavior online. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies , click here. German media is reporting the German federal government has stated that branches of the international charitable franchise Islamic Relief are closely connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist movement whose offshoots include the designated terrorist organization Hamas.Responding to inquiries from parliamentarians from Germany's centrist Free Democratic Party, the government specifically named Islamic Relief Deutschland (Islamic Relief Germany) and the franchise's U.K. parent organization, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and declared that both had "significant ties" to the Muslim Brotherhood.Between 2011 and 2015, Islamic Relief Germany received around 6.13 million euros (almost $7 million) from German taxpayers. As our 2018 report into Islamic Relief uncovered, Islamic Relief has in total received over $80 million from Western governments over the last decade, including at least $700,000 from the U.S. government. These figures are particularly alarming given our discovery that the Islamic Relief franchise has financed front groups for the designated terrorist organization Hamas, maintained close links with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and employed staff all around the world who promote extremist, anti-Semitic and pro-terror rhetoric ( including in the United States ).While this is the first time Germany's federal government has acknowledged it is funding an Islamist charitable franchise, other state legislators have previously made similar statements. In November 2016, Christian Gaebler, a secretary of state in the Berlin Senate, declared : "Islamic Relief Germany has connections to organizations surrounding the Muslim Brotherhood."Gaebler also noted that Islamic Relief shared staff and officials with Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland (IGD), which is described by the German security services as "the central organization for Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Germany." Islamic Relief Germany's officials include Almoutaz Tayara, who is also the spokesperson for IGD. Tayara also served as a trustee of Islamic Relief Worldwide.Another key Islamic Relief Germany official is Ibrahim El-Zayat, whom German security services official Hartwig Moller has described as a "spider in the web of Islamist organizations." Although Zayat denies belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Brotherhood's own website has named him as one of its officials (although this was later claimed to be a mistake). In 2008, an Egyptian court convicted Zayatof financing the Egyptian branch of the Brotherhood while serving as a senior official of Islamic Relief. Zayat is married to Sabiha Erbakan, the niece of notorious anti-Jewish ideologue (and "father of Turkish Islamism") Necmettin Erbakan, who founded the Turkish Islamist movement Milli Gorus.An investigation by, a prominent Egyptian newspaper, concluded that "Brotherhood leaders in the UK control 13 organizations in London alone through three Egyptian leaders, Essam Al-Haddad, Ibrahim Mounir and Ibrahim Al-Zayat." 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. Notre-Dame, Amrita Sher-Gill, courtesy of Google Arts & Culture Not having been there, I have no moving stories to tell you about the Notre-Dame cathedral, its flying buttresses, its beguiling gargoyles, and its majestic bell-tower. Not having been to Paris, I have no stories to tell about what seems like a great city. The nearest I came to visiting Paris was 35 years ago when I accompanied a news photographer from the Paris Match news weekly to report a riot in Bombay in 1984, triggered by a major conflagration in the nearby textile loom town of Bhiwandi. The photographer, whose name escapes me now, generously invited me to visit Paris. At 23 and barely into my third year in journalism I just smiled at the extravagant prospect of a print journalist from Bombay visiting Paris on a whim. In short, I have not been to Paris. I knew, of course, about Notre-Dame in a broad sense, the fact that the great cathedral is the religious and cultural heart and essence of France. If a building or a physical structure were a country, France would be either Notre-Dame or Eiffel Tower. I also had some sense about the cathedral from Victor Hugos Hunchback of Notre-Dame. For close to a millenniumabout 856 years to be preciseit has embodied the essence of France. In many ways, France is Notre-Dame and Notre-Dame is France. Yesterdays devastating fire significantly destroyed the cathedral, particularly the famous spire that was consumed by the flames and seen live around the world. France is in deep shock and grief and rightly so. As for me, not being invested in much in life, it is a process to commemorate it. One best way that I know was to quickly draw it even as it was being consumed. It was a stunning contrast to see a grand building being static while flames around it leaping and dynamic. A fire that does not move is not a fire that lasts long. I couldnt but help think how fire has no consideration for human history and all the complex emotions invested in it. It is both greedy and abrupt. For the Catholics in France and around the world, the destruction of Notre-Dame, particularly in the all-important week of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, must be benumbing. But even for those who looked at the cathedral has an extraordinary achievement of architecture and art, it is equally so. People come to monuments from different standpoints. As is my wont, I searched for compelling paintings of Notre-Dame and found a remarkable one by the great India-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gill (1913-1941). I am sure many others exist but I found this to be the most compelling to commemorate its history. Sher-Gill has painted it from an interesting angle, perhaps standing on one of the two towers behind it. She was said to have done it when while she was a student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. By a delightful coincidence I came across a striking picture by the great Henri Cartier-Bresson, retweeted by friend and fellow journalist Aseem Chhabra courtesy of Daniel Brami. That picture has almost exactly the same vantage point as Sher-Gills painting. I offer them both here in the hope that Cartier-Bressons estate or Magnum Photos do not sue me. Ditto Sher-Gills descendants. Notre-Dame, Henri Cartier-Bresson Here is to Notre-Dame which means Our Lady in French. Notre-Dame--MC 10 candidates are still missing. The MPs will try to choose from 25 people registered in the May vote. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled MPs will be seeking a compromise again in order to find 10 remaining candidates for the empty posts at the Constitutional Court at the parliamentary session, which starts on May 9. The tenure of nine Constitutional Court judges expired in mid-February and the parliament has failed to elect their replacements. There have already been two votes. No candidates were elected in the first one held in February, while eight candidates for the posts were chosen in the second vote held in early April. I believe this endless repetition of voting is not the best choice, said Robert Madej, head of the parliamentary constitutional and legal affairs committee, as quoted by the Sme daily. Even though 25 candidates registered for the vote, there are only three new names on the list. The rest already tried unsuccessfully to get elected in the previous two votes in the parliament, Sme wrote. Who will run? List of 25 nominees for Constitutional Court candidates: Pavol Boron Katarina Cechova Ladislav Dudits Libor Dula Anton Dulak Michal Duris Dagmar Fillova Eva Fulcova Boris Gerbery Martina Janosikova Monika Jurcova Vieroslav Juda Eva Kovacechova Stefan Ksenak Michal Matulnik Peter Melicher Sona Mesiarkinova Patrik Palsa Edita Pfundtner Radoslav Prochazka Zuzana Pitonakova Peter Straka Robert Sorl Marek Tomasovic Martin Vernarsky The new candidates for the post of Constitutional Court judge include two lecturers, Monika Jurcova from Trnava University and Vieroslav Juda from Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica. The third one is lawyer Patrik Palsa from Presov, Sme wrote. On the other hand, State Secretary of the Justice Ministry Edita Pfundtner (Most-Hid) and Smer chair Robert Fico's schoolmate and judge Eva Fulcova will run for the third time already. Also former chair of the Siet party Radoslav Prochazka will try to win the nomination for the third time, although he managed to acquire only 22 votes in the first vote, Sme reported. On the other hand, Radovan Hradek, who now represents the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) in a proceeding over its dismissal, will not run again. Voting will always be political Candidates need to win the absolute majority of votes in the parliament to be officially nominated for the post. The parliament needs to elect twice as many candidates as the number of empty posts, from whom President Andrej Kiska subsequently appoints the new Constitutional Court judge. While Madej hopes MPs will elect the remaining 10 candidates, opposition MP Ondrej Dostal of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) doubts it. He sees overpoliticisation as the main problem in the voting of candidates, Sme wrote. Without political agreements, nothing can get through in the parliament, commented PM Peter Pellegrini (Smer), as quoted by the TASR newswire. Before the vote, the constitutional affairs committee will question all 25 nominees. The hearing is expected to take place on May 2 and 3. The vote should then be held on May 9. Waiting for Kiska Meanwhile, Kiska is expected to appoint four new Constitutional Court judges from the pool of candidates selected in April. However, Kiska has not said yet whether he will actually appoint them. Read also: Read also: UPDATED: President Kiska: Fico wanted to blackmail me Read more The parliament grossly violates the Constitution, claimed Kiska this past weekend, as quoted by Sme. MPs have failed twice to select the required 18 candidates, he underlined. Kiska was expected to announce his final decision on April 15. However, recent reports suggest that he will do so on the afternoon of April 16. In total, 13 judges comprise the Constitutional Court, but there are only four working at present. Kiska should appoint nine new judges. Sprudge.coms favorite new blog is Hodi, Karibu! from Sprudgie Award winner Stephen Vick. He just reported on the first ECX DST Cupping and Auction. For those of us who have been following the evolution of Dr. Elenis ECX direct specialty trade second window system since it was announced last year, Mr. Vicks report makes for an insightful and fascinating read. One of the major protocol changes that came out of that meeting was that the the seller, upon stepping onto the trade floor, is now required to submit a sealed, confidential reserve price to the auctioneer prior to the start of the bidding session for their particular lot. While the premise of this makes total sense, there should have been a follow-up session explaining to the sellers the reality of how reasonable market prices correlate with quality. I think that a number of farmers walked into the auction expecting prices a la Cup of Excellence. The first coffee up for auction in the morning I had scored a 78; the reserve price was set at $3.50. Needless to say, the auction was pretty rough to watch first several rounds. Folks could say (and are saying) a lot about the inaugural DST auction. It wasnt perfect and things could be (and will be) improved for the future. However, considering that this was the first ever bidding session, things went more smoothly than I had anticipated. Simply put, coffee was sold at a fair price that, for perhaps the first time ever, was completely transparent to the farmer as he shook hands with the buyer when that closing bell rang. Contracts were signed and buyers and sellers were happy. If the coffees get successfully consolidated and to Djibouti with the proper paperwork in a timely fashion, then the first DST was a great success, regardless of how many coffees may have been sold. Horseman John Jack VanDreason, 88, of Vernon, N.Y., passed away on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 with his devoted wife Marlyn and family at his side. Born in Rome in Rome, N.Y., to Ray and Madeline VanDreason, Jack was best known as a trainer/driver at Vernon Downs. He also built, owned and managed Jacks Turf Goods in Vernon for many years until his retirement. VanDreason proudly served his country with the U.S. Army in the Korean Conflict. He was a member of the Harness Horse Association of Vernon, the Old Timers Club at Saratoga Raceway, and the American Legion. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three brothers, Barry (Jackie), Donald (Anne) and Ray (Susie); step-daughter Gina (Brian) Relyea; grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Funeral arrangements will be handled by the Malecki Funeral Home. Per VanDreason's request, there will be no calling hours, but there will be a Mass at Holy Family Church in Vernon on Tuesday, April 16, at 11 a.m. Burial will be private for family only. A very special thank you to the nurses and staff and Hospice Care at St. Elizabeths for their exceptional care and compassion at the difficult times. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Jack VanDreason. (Harnessracing.com) Here is a piece of chemotherapy treatment advice. I think that the rule that applies here is probably like most other things in life. If you bring your friends and act silly, you are likely to have a lot more fun. Goodness things can be awful sometimes. But friends help. I gave Carol a ride to one of her chemotherapy treatments. We sat in heated chairs next to each other and laughed a lot. I brought little colored umbrellas to put in the chemo bags and asked the nurse to hook me up with a bag of my own. Carol and I pretended we were in Hawaii, sitting by a pool. When youre together with someone you love, you get to decide where you are, even if its different from where you actually are. -Bob Goff, Everybody Always University of Michigan Students may be interested in the MFA program in studio art offered by the University of Michigan. This program allows students to focus their studies on painting and can be completed in two years during which time students will complete a total of 60 credits. In addition to studio and critique courses, students are required to complete a three- to five-week international experience, for which there are funding options. There are a number of other funding opportunities available to enrolled students in order to make the program affordable. The school offers both teaching and research assistantships that can provide students with up to full tuition waivers. Additionally, there are a number of grants and project funding opportunities available that help students offset the cost of attending the program and conducting research. Rutgers University Rutgers University offers an MFA program in visual arts in which students can focus their studies on painting if they wish, though this program does not require that students select a concentration area. Instead, enrolled students are able to select courses from a variety of different artistic disciplines in order to explore all of their interests and develop their skills in multiple areas. All students who are accepted into this program receive a graduate fellowship that covers the entire tuition cost for both years of the program, which is designed to make the program affordable for all applicants. In this program, students will complete a total of 60 credit hours and are able to work on their projects in their private studios. University of Washington At the University of Washington, students who apply for the MFA program in painting and drawing are automatically considered for a number of different funding options, including fellowships, scholarships, and teaching assistantships. Students who receive fellowships and assistantships often are able to have part of their tuition waived, making the program more affordable. In this program, students are required to complete a total of at least 90 credit hours over two academic years. They complete these credits by taking studio courses, seminars, art history courses, and by fulfilling the requirements necessary to complete the master's thesis. Additionally, the program requires that students complete elective credits which students can choose according to their interests. Ohio State University The MFA program in studio art offered by Ohio State University is affordable in that it offers funding to the majority of accepted students through graduate associate positions. Students work a certain number of hours a week teaching courses or providing assistance to professors in exchange for tuition coverage and a living stipend. The program allows student to select a study area like painting and drawing that will help them focus their studies. In addition to taking studio courses in painting fundamentals, students also may be interested in courses that cover multi-level painting, conceptual approaches in painting, and the topic of abstraction. Temple University Another affordable option for students is the MFA painting program offered by Temple University, with financing available in the form of teaching assistantships and academic internships. This program offers interdisciplinary study through its art history courses, a required seminar and studio electives that cross various disciplines. Additionally, students choose 21 credits from drawing, painting and sculpture, as well as take a required course in professional practices; if they wish, painting students may study abroad in Rome, Italy. A final thesis exhibition is required. A nurse practitioner, or NP, is among a group of nursing professionals referred to as advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Since an APRN requires more education beyond a registered nurse (RN) license, they are allowed more autonomy with patients. States in the U.S. may have their differences, but in most areas, an NP can prescribe medications, perform and request medical tests, and make diagnoses. A missionary NP will typically work outside the United States with churches, non-profit organizations, and humanitarian groups in underdeveloped countries where medical care and resources are scarce. Educational Requirements RN license, master's or doctoral degree, national certification Job Skills Communication, critical-thinking, foreign language, experience with an underdeveloped country, leadership and management skills, resourcefulness Mean Salary (2019)* *$109,820 (for NPs in the U.S.) Job Outlook (2019-2029)* 52% (for NPs in the U.S.) Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Required Education Nurse practitioners must earn a master's of science in nursing (MSN) or doctor of nursing practice (DNP) from an accredited program. Earning a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) is a typical path for those pursuing an NP program, but a bachelor's degree in a related health science field is sufficient, as well, to enter an advanced program where the RN licensure may be earned in addition to the graduate degree. Some schools also offer bridge programs for RN's with an associate's degree or diploma in nursing to obtain an advanced degree. All NP program candidates, however, must have a RN license before advancing to the next level of their education. MSN and DNP programs also have nurse practitioner tracks to focus on certain specialties (pediatric, family, neonatal, women's health, etc.) After the NP program is completed, certification from an accredited nursing board is required. Gaining education or experience in emergency, pediatrics, infectious diseases, tropical diseases, and/or public health could prove to be very helpful for those pursuing a missionary NP position. Required Skills NP's must have superb communication with patients and physicians to guarantee that appropriate care is being met. Speaking a foreign language is not always required, but could be helpful when applying for a missionary position. An NP must have critical-thinking skills and resourcefulness to evaluate symptoms, find a diagnosis and know when to consult with another healthcare professional. Leadership skills are a must, as most missionary NPs will be managing, supervising and training other nurses. Missionary organizations often look for candidates with experience working in an underdeveloped country or relevant experience working in an environment with limited resources. Career Outlook and Salary The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that nurse practitioner roles are projected to grow 52 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations. The BLS also reports that all APRN positions will be sought-after, especially in underprivileged areas. The mean salary for an NP in the US in 2019 is $109,820, said the BLS. A missionary NP will not usually make as much money as an NP in the United States, and some even work on a volunteer basis. Doctors Without Borders, for example, provides housing and a starting monthly salary of $2,039 for fieldworkers, according to the website in 2019. Colorado Christian University | BS in Computer Information Technology Students who want to advance their skills with programming, networks, and computers for a career in IT may want to check out Colorado Christian University's Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Technology program. Learn more about this online bachelor's degree program here. Official Program Name: Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Technology School Offering Program: Colorado Christian University Degree Level: Bachelor's Program Prerequisites: Students who wish to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Technology should have familiarity with computers, networks, and programming. All applicants to Colorado Christian University bachelor's degree programs should have a high school diploma or the equivalent; some programs may have additional requirements. Program Description: From basic networking to software design, CCU tailored the Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Technology to equip students with a fundamental understanding of information systems. Students must choose one of four emphases: Data Engineering, Networking, Database Management, and System Analyst. The core curriculum focuses on business and meeting real-world clients' needs, so things like accounting, organizational behavior, and marketing may be touched upon. Other topics likely to be addressed are programming languages, database installation and upgrades, and information security. Learning Format: Online Program Length: 120 credits Financial Aid: Eligible students could be able to receive financial aid in the forms of grants, loans, and scholarships. Contact Colorado Christian University's financial aid office for more information. Colorado Christian University | BS in Information Systems Management Colorado Christian University's Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management program intends to provide students with expertise that may result in IT career options in various fields. Read more about the requirements and potential outcomes of this undergraduate degree program. Official Program Name: Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management School Offering Program: Colorado Christian University Degree Level: Bachelor's Program Prerequisites: Prospective students who hope to be accepted into a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management program should be interested in combining the study of computer information systems with liberal arts and biblical studies courses. All bachelor's level programs at Colorado Christian University require a high school diploma or equivalent; some programs may have additional admissions requirements. Program Description: The Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management program offered at Colorado Christian University is designed to teach technology and management within a Christian framework. Students have the opportunity to gain the knowledge needed to support the information systems of different types of organizations. Required courses in the program cover such topics as communication techniques, information systems decision making, Internet development, software application and design, knowledge management, enterprise architecture, and information security. The university offers a combination of web-based and in-person learning, small class sizes, and the option of choosing an accelerated format. Learning Format: On-campus, online Program Length: 120 credits. Financial Aid: Eligible students could be able to receive financial aid in the forms of grants, loans, and scholarships. Contact Colorado Christian University's financial aid office for more information. In which a veteran of cultural studies seminars in the 1990's moves into academic administration and finds himself a married suburban father of two. Foucault, plus lawn care. For private comments, I can be reached at deandad at gmail dot com. The opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my employer. The breeder and trading of dogs is a growing business in Syria, with some dogs being sold for as much as 3 million Syrian pounds writes Al-Watan. A recent report published by Al-Iqtissadi, sister publication of Al-Watan, explored dog breeding in Syria and the surrounding trade. The report highlighted the facts of the issue; how dogs are imported and exported, the role of government agencies and the difficulties faced by traders and breeders. Alaa, a breeder, said: In our farm we have about 180 dogs of various breeds and ages, including 15 who have been adopted because their owners have left the country. There are various breeds of dogs, most of them of foreign origin. The price of a dog is between 10,000 and 3 million Syrian pounds. Alaa said that there was no regularly imported food but there was smuggling. He said that the price of a kilogram of imported food could be as high as 2,000 pounds, while normal food was from slaughterhouse remains, where bones are taken, especially the chest and neck of chickens, and the remaining meat was extracted and fed to small dogs, with the other bones going to large dogs. He added: We carry out this work on our farm, because the price of imported dry food is high, while chicken remains are only 100 to 200 Syrian pounds per kilo. For his part, Mohamed al-Masri, a dog trainer and breeder, said: We have local production through breeding farms, and all of them are of foreign origins, with the mothers imported and then bred on local farms. Now local production is exported to neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Iraq. He said that other countries that take imports included Russia and Ukraine and had been importing dogs from Syrian for the past ten years. Masri said the number of dogs in the country couldnt be calculated because there were no statistics for this. But the dogs which were imported annually were around 1,000 and those that are exported could reach up to 5,000. He said: Today all types of food, vaccines and medicine are brought into the country via smuggling routes or privately imported and are monopolized by one person, which raises the prices of food and medicine. Masri said there was work being done to set up a workshop to manufacture food for dogs and cats, saying that he needed raw materials most of which are imported. He said that there were some people buying food in bulk, that this was not produced nationally. Regarding the imported food, he said that the dry food is made of vegetables, eggs, oil, and proteins and is treated together in a technical manner and placed in special containers at various weights. Their prices range from 1,200 to 4,000 Syrian pounds per kilo, and a dog needs about 100 grams a day, and a cat 30 grams. Therefore the approximate costs for the dog reaches about 50,000 pounds with food and medicine. He said that food was smuggled into the country through a company that participated in the Damascus International Exhibition and what was sold at the exhibition is the same as whats sold in the market. Masri said that the prices for dogs start at 50,000 Syrian pounds and go up to 200,000 pounds for local production, while imports can go for as much as 3 million pounds, but only in rare cases. He said that the ones most in demand were 500,000 to 1 million pounds. Police dogs are in the range of 5 million pounds, because they are trained at only two farms in Syria, because they need wide spaces and must undertake a long, complicated training program. Animal health director at the Agricultural Ministry, Hussein Suleiman, said that in 2017, there were 53 dogs and four cats licensed as well as seven training locations and farms. Last year, 25 dogs and five training locations and farms were licensed. This year, three dogs were licensed in Damascus Countryside and one training farm, and in Suweida one cat was licensed. In Aleppo just one farm was licensed. Last year, 11 dogs were brought from the UAE and 100 were exported to Germany and Jordan. 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. Despite being accepted on to a resettlement scheme by the British Home Office, 15 LGBT Syrian refugees are still waiting for permission to travel to the UK writes Al-Araby al-Jadeed. Fifteen LGBT Syrian refugees, living in Turkey, launched a legal claim against the UK Home Office on Monday. The group claim the British government has abandoned them despite assurances they will be brought to the UK. The 15 refugees were accepted by the Home Office onto a resettlement scheme that curtails the lengthy asylum process, the Guardian reported. But many of them have now been waiting more than two years to be brought to the UK, as opposed to the two or three months it takes other European countries to resettle refugees on similar schemes. The resettlement scheme also found in countries such as France, Germany, Norway and Sweden typically accepts small numbers of those fleeing danger or prosecution to seek refuge in the UK. The LGBT refugees say they have been abandoned by the Home Office and have to live in safehouses. I cant live in this country any more. I feel that at any moment my family could find me and kill me, one of them currently in an Istanbul safehouse told the Guardian. One LGBTQ+ Syrian refugee I know has been waiting more than two years for the UK Home Office to bring him to safety. He has been stabbed twice because of his sexuality. Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but those who identify as LGBT are often subject to homophobic attacks and abuse. Hande Kader, a 22-year-old transgender woman, was brutally murdered in August 2016 just weeks after the murder of gay Syrian refugee Wisam Sankara. The groups legal action challenge claims government officials are subjecting them to inhuman and degrading treatment and breaching human rights law and calls for immediate action to be taken by the Home Office. Lawyers Toufique Hossain and Sheroy Zaq, who represent the group, have visited them in Istanbul. Having fled their homes in Syria, their hope was finally for a life where they could be themselves and live freely. Their stories are truly heartbreaking, they told the Guardian. The group has witnessed many of their LGBT refugee friends in similar danger leave Turkey on the resettlement schemes of other European countries, a volunteer supporting LGBT Syrian refugees in Istanbul told The Guardian. Its always the same UK group waving them off at the bus wondering when its their turn. The volunteer attests to the dangers LGBT refugees in Turkey face. As isolated individuals they are vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and physical violence. In Syria we saw a lot and went through a lot. In Turkey we are in danger again. We must hide all the time. We are told: Just wait, your file is with the Home Office. Everyone has his own dream: to love, to study, to marry, to have rights. The most important thing is to be safe and then we can start to think about these things, one refugee told the British daily. The Home Office said it does not normally comment on individual cases and that it takes time to find suitable placements. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. A shortage of oil has caused long lines at gas stations forced the regime to impose measures that limits the amount allocated to each person writes Alsouria Net. On Sunday, the Bashar al-Assad regime took new austerity measures to confront the fuel crisis in the areas it controls, while the Oil Ministry announced that: the crisis is related to oil boats not reaching Syrian ports due to economic sanctions. Months after a severe shortages of gas canisters and fuel oil in particular, the crisis has now expanded to include gasoline, pushing the regime a few days ago to take measures that reduced the daily amount permitted to private cars from 40 liters to just 20 every two days. During Sundays meetings, the cabinet decided to, develop new measures to control the distribution of gas station allocations. It also decided to reduce the volumes of gas allotted to government owned vehicles by 50 percent, and to develop mobile fuel stations, and to put stations that have ceased operating back into operation, under direct supervision of the Oil Ministry. For several days, regime-controlled areas have witnessed traffic at fuel station, which has forced car drivers to wait in lines that extend for hundreds of meters. Officials in the regime have repeatedly blamed the economic sanctions imposed by a number of Arab and European countries as well as the United States, which have prevented oil tankers from reaching Syria. On its Facebook page, the Oil Ministry said on Sunday: No one can deny the severity of the economic sanctions imposed on our country, which target the oil sector in particular, and which are preventing oil tankers from reaching Syria, causing severe bottlenecks of oil derivatives. The Ministry said work was underway to resolve the crisis. The oil sector has suffered heavy losses over the last eight years, with most oil and gas fields still under the control of the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in northern and eastern Syria. The recent American sanctions against Tehranone of Damascuss main backershave intensified the fuel crisis in Syria, which relies primarily on a credit line linking it to Iran to secure oil. During a meeting with a number of local journalists 10 days ago, Prime Minister Imad Khamis said that the Iranian credit line had stopped six months earlier, adding that the Suez Canal had not allowed oil tankers to reach Syria for six months. He pointed to a communications failure with the Egyptians. The lack of fuel has also led to a decrease in the quantity of electricity being produced. 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. While some families are choosing to leave the al-Rukban camp, many other fear what would happen to them if they returned to regime controlled areas reports Hurriya Press. Assad regime forces executed two men returning from the al-Rukban camp in the Deir Baalbah district of Homs city on Friday. The men were executed in one of the schools Assads forces are using to hold all those returning from the camp, as part of the Russian-monitored settlement process. Activist Khalid al-Homsi told Hurriya Press that: Assad regime forces killed two young men from the Aboura family from Palmyra city in one of the Deir Baalbah schools in Homs city near the Petrochemicals College, which has become a center for the forcible detention of camp residents who have recently returned. Homsi added that: the regime executed them on charges of spying for hostile foreign agencies. Its forces also arrested 25 other men and took them to an unknown location. A few days ago dozens of families left the al-Rukban camp, which Assads forces have blockaded on the Jordanian border, and reached the city of Homs, now controlled by Assads forces. The families left the camp in accordance with a Russian settlement, due to the deteriorating health situation and conditions for children. Most residents in the camp, who number around 60,000, have said that they do not want to go back to regime-held areas, no matter the conditions. Homsi said that: their departure from the camp occurred after the names were recorded inside the camp with mediators who have relations with the Assad regime and Russia. Each person who wants to leave is charged 10,000 Syrian pounds, and then when there are 300 to 500 people ready to leave, they are taken to regime-controlled areas outside the camp. Homsi said that: those responsible for the settlement process are Moed Mohamed al-Abid, Mohamed Salih al-Darwish, Shihab Ahmed al-Nijaa, Bassam Suleiman Abdullah, Suwid al-Naghlan, and Faysal al-Hadar. Who all live in the camp. 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. Ad Investing Trends New this week - 107 interested Oxford Mining Titan Swears This 350,000 Acre Canadian Property Could Become One Of The Most Valuable Why? Because it contains one of the world's largest helium pockets. That's important because the world's helium supply is running dangerously low. And prices have already skyrocketed 160% in the past few years I picked up an interesting article from Reuters, about how Asian technology firms are moving into banking in a different way to Europe or America. The article says that Amazon and Alphabet / Google are far more interested in serving banks with cloud and advertising, rather than competing with them, whereas Alibaba and Tencent have inspired many Asian firms to look at grabbing a slice of the financial markets. It quotes Wayne Xu, President of ZhongAn International (a Chinese online insurance company), saying: If you want to open a bank account (in Hong Kong) you need to go to a branch, answer questions for an hour, and you still wont get the account opened without follow up calls. However, all the information needed at the counter can already be collected on a mobile phone. Zhong An is one of four new banks being launched in Hong Kong. The others are by online lender WeLab; Bank of China owned Livi VB; and Standard Chartereds SC Digital Solution. Hardly a big move from non-banks there. Added to which there are 155 licenced financial firms in Hong Kong, so thats a lot of competition. The article then cites Kakao Bank in South Korea, which is a success story backed by Alibaba. Kakao is a chat app in South Korea with 45 million users thats almost the whole population of the country! and competes with another online bank called K Bank, owned by the telecoms firm KT. But that doesnt tell the whole story. From the Korea Herald: Koreas Banking Act stipulates that only financial institutions are eligible to own more than 10 percent of a banking entity. Commercial corporations are allowed a maximum stake of 4 percent (or 10 percent without voting rights) as a result, Kakao Bank and K bank were established with financial firms as majority shareholders Korea Investment Securities and Woori Bank, respectively. This structure had made it difficult for Kakao and KT to make investments or key business decisions. It talks about similar moves in Taiwan and Malaysia, but again the regulations mean that most of these ventures will be bank-backed. Hence, there is not a land grab by technology and telecoms firms in Asia at all. It is more a move, backed by banks, to grab the new digital opportunity. In fact, most countries have forced regulations on any banking activity to be offered only by fully licensed banks or by firms backed by fully licensed banks. Thats why I find China so fascinating as Tencent and Alibaba are truly exceptional. They are pure play BigTech financial firms, and not digital banks backed by big banks, and it goes much further than banking. Tencents WeBank is Chinas first private digital-only bank, launched in early 2015. The internet-only lender made a profit in its first year of operation and, in 2017, made a net profit of 1.4 billion yuan or US$210 million with a Return-on-Equity came of 19.2%. Its total lending in that year was nearly twice that of closest rival, Alibaba backed MyBank, and a recent stake sale of the bank values the company at US$21 billion, making it one of the worlds largest unicorn companies. As those who know me know, Alibabas Ant Financial is even more impressive. In 2018, Ant Financial was valued at $150 billion. Thats not bad for a five-year-old, making them the tenth largest financial firm in the world . Ant Financial has Alipay, the largest mobile wallet in the world; YueBao, the largest money market fund in the world; MYBank, its online lender for small businesses; Ant Fortune, its wealth management service; and its investment marketplace, Zhao Cai Bao (read more here). Six months ago, they launched a new health insurance service that has gained 50 million customers already, and aims for 300 million in its first two years of operations. So I dont see a wave of massive change in digital banking in Asia, but I do see a massive change in banking coming from China. Just for the record. Posted on: April 16, 2019 Kathmandu, Nepal April 16, 2019: The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has announced its Himal Pahad Terai Madhes, Nepali Congress campaign across the country. The Nepali Congress, which is also the only oldest democratic party of the country, announced such a campaign by organizing a press conference at party headquarters, Sanepa on Tuesday. During the press conferenc, spokesperson Biswa Prakash Sharma said that the Nepali Congress decided to conduct the public awareness campaign to aware the people about the wrongdoings committed by the incumbent Nepal Communist Party (NCP) led government. According to him, first phase of program will be run from April 24 to May 24, second phase of the campaign will run from September 10 to September 24 and the third phase of public awareness campaign will run from coming December 23 to Jan 1. Hybrid laser-scan/panorama photographs may be used to help rebuild Notre-Dame: Vassar Professor Andrew Tallon uses laser scanners to make incredibly detailed 3-D maps of ancient structures such as Notre-Dame cathedral, accurate to half a centimeter, originally to try to understand the methods of ancient builders. But his scanning maps (which he merges with panoramic photographs) of Notre-Dame could well become invaluable in the rebuilding and reconstruction process. Because Andrew clambers around on ledges far above the stone floors of cathedrals, he refers to himself as a "tacklehead" rather than a gearhead. But you'll recognize a kindred spirit, albeit one with a honed sense of specific mission in life. Fascinating stuff! Notre-Dame from the air. A photograph from the National Geographic archives taken by the U.S. Army Air Service (cropped). Notre-Dame from the archives of National Geographic: In the same article is a link to a selection of archive photographs of Notre-Dame over the years. Not exhaustive, but nicely inclusive. A portfolio worth seeing. Bad coverage and good: Foraging for information, I happened across an almost absurdly hackneyed "news" clip from CBS News that managed to make even yesterday's epic conflagration seem rote and dull. They interviewed a fire chief from Philly talking about the difficulties of battling church blazes. Original. Forgive the sarcasm; actually it was straight out of the "When You Can't Think of Anything Else to Do" playbook. You almost knew what the chief was going to say before he said it, and the interview could do double duty for any little church fire in any little town anywhere. Really? Can't even work up a little juice when it's looking like we're losing one of the great wonders of the world's heritage? By contrast, Frida Ghitis on CNN, employing the recently outmoded written word, got closer to the core of the event in her article "Watching Notre Dame burn, the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and forebodingreminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sensereal or imaginedthat we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious, so it was good she didn't add to her litany, "...a judgement." Soaring buttresses: I'm not normally a fan of Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist at a liberal paper, but he was inspired to write a beautiful essay this morning (speaking of judgements). He had been in the middle of writing a column about the troubles of the Catholic Church and was forced to incorporate the news of the fire into his thoughts, andwhether out of necessity or out of couragehe let the bones of both influences show through. The result embodied the sense of interruption that public catastrophes impose on us. He was focusing on the schism inherent in Benedict vs. Francis, the conservative and liberal strains within Catholicism, but returned to the idealism of rebirth, apropos Easter: "The church has always depended on synthesis and integration. That has been part of its genius, a reason for all its unexpected resurrections and regenerations. Faith and reason, Athens and Jerusalem, the aesthetic and the ascetic, the mystical and the philosophicaleven the crucifix itself, two infinite lines converging and combining." David Aschkenas: Finally, TOP reader David Aschkenas has put together a small portfolio of his pictures from the interior of Notre-Dame, taken over the years. Mike [CORRECTION: According to The Washington Post, Andrew Tallon died last year, and should have been referred to in the past tense. It brings up another wrinkle, howeverthe Post also references the fact that no one knows exactly where the late Prof. Tallon's laser scans of Notre-Dame are. Thanks to Ken Berke for this. Ed.] P.S. Most of this comes via the New York Times, by the way, my morning read; I'm cribbing from David Leonhardt. (Other still-functioning, not-yet-compromised newspapers are The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and I routinely read The Atlantic and The New Yorker [on paper, which you must admit is quaint] and visit the BBC.) The Times, which I sometimes refer to as "the world's best photography magazine," has plentiful and robust photographic content, although it can sometimes be a challenge to corral it all. I officially recommend a subscription to the Times for the excellent photography articles. You can access ten articles per month for free. But subscribe. It's worth it. Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. (Not) everything must fade away (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.) Featured Comments from: Kenneth Tanaka: "Thanks to David Aschkenas for sharing his Notre-Dame images. Also, you have a delightful collection of very well-seen international street images, David. I plan to take a deeper your of your work later this week." Moose: "Re '"the entire world was in pain." Describes how I felt. "The conflagration brought a feeling of helplessness and forebodingreminiscent of the devastation on 9/11, in some ways, and perhaps that was part of the effect for some people: the sensereal or imaginedthat we were watching a metaphor, a prelude, a warning." The feelings she's describing are essentially religious/superstitious.' "I don't get it. This hyperbole and these feelings are highly personal; she and you are treating them as universal. It's an old church, Catholic, in France. Churches have been burning since the first one was built. Old iconic structures have burned or been otherwise destroyed, intentionally or by accident forever. Yes, I've seen this one. No, I have no emotional attachment to it. "We are in Bhutan at the moment, where the central temple of the iconic symbol of the country was was destroyed by fire in 1998 ". . . leaving the country in mourning for their holiest of spiritual places. But religious leaders and the King . . . Today, the magnificent temple is completely rebuilt to its original glory. Another monastery destroyed by fire has been rebuilt, all but the altar in a new style. It's glorious, literally awe inspiring, at least to us and our travel friends! Every old fortress, temple, monastery, etc. that one visits has a history of fire and rebuilding, it's only a question of how many times. Getting so worked up about this one, seems a bit like getting hysterical when the sun goes down. It's something that happens regularly, and won't stop. The sun will rise again, as will Notre-Dame." Chris Fuller: "I was surprised by my response to the news about this tragic event: I mourned and I wept. I mourned for a building, a collection of stones and glass. But it is a collection of stones and glass arranged in patterns of inestimable and moving beauty. It is one of those special places where history, culture, religion, and personal aspiration intersect with one another in a way that is rare anywhere in the world. It's a place that feels still even as thousands of people traverse through it. It's the place that gave birth to the University of Paris, and, thus, it stands as a monument what is good about the Western tradition (without denying this same tradition's many problems). I'm Catholic, so maybe that's part of it. But my Protestant and atheist friends also mourned and wept. So, maybe there is also more to it." Kathmandu, Nepal, April 16, 2019: The Supreme Court (SC), the apex court of the country, has on Monday issued a stay order asking the government not to issue citizenship by descent. Responding to the writ petition, a single bench of Justice Purushottam Bhandari ordered the government not to execute the decision until the final verdict. With the order of the SC, the governments decision to resume the halted process to distribute the citizenship certificate to the children born to the parents, who had already received the citizenship certificates based on their birth, is stayed for now. However the directive of the government and stay order of the SC have not only distanced the relationship between the judiciary and executive but also revitalized the citizenship controversies in the country. The SC has also summoned the plaintiff and the defendants for the hearing on April 16. Challenging to the directives of the Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal to resume the distribution of the citizenship by descent, advocate Balkrishna Neupane had moved to the SC seeking immediate stay order against of the directive. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) had issued circulars to all 77 District Administration Offices (DAO) on April 4 to issue citizenship by descent to the children of those who had obtained citizenship by birth in the mean time when the bill to amend the Citizenship Act is still under discussion in the federal parliament. The MoHA has a claim that the decision was taken not to hamper the career development and further education of the children of those who were given citizenship by birth through a special one-time decision some 12 years ago. However, the widely raised question is here that why the government hurried to resume the process of distributing the citizenship in the mean time when the proposal to amend the Citizenship Act is still sub-judice at the federal parliament. The government had taken a special decision in 2006 to provide citizenship by birth to those born inside the territory of Nepal and living within the country once they were recommended for such citizenship by any three Nepali citizens. But the provision was stalled on November 2008, thanks to the widespread controversies for rampant distribution of citizenship certificates. Kathmandu, Nepal April 16, 2019: The Supreme Court (SC), the Apex Court of the country, has on Tuesday upheld the decision of Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to issue citizenship by descent. Earlier on April 9, the SC had issued an interim order to suspend the MoHAs circular to the District Administration Office (DAO) of all districts to issue citizenship by descent. Challenging to the MoHAs decision, senior advocate Balkrishna Neupane had moved to the court seeking immediate halt of the government decision to issue citizenship by descent. A division bench of Justice Hari Krishna Karki and Bam Kumar Shrestha made the final verdict in favor of the MoHA to issue citizenship by descent. Following the governments decision to continue the MoHAs circular to issue citizenship by descent, the society had divided over the issue suspecting that many Indian national would get citizenship certificates with the provision. With the SCs decision to uphold the MoHAs decision to issue citizenship by descent, the children of those obtaining citizenship by birth will able to obtain the citizenship. As the bill to amend the Citizenship Act is still under discussion in the federal parliament, the concerned experts have a view that any decisions about the citizenship have to be made only after promulgation of the necessary law. Ramblings of a badly aged Baby Boomer who went from Rebel Without a Cause to Bozo Without a Clue in, seemingly, the same afternoon. Is it legal for Luxembourgish property developers to raise prices in relation to the indexation of salaries? We've got answers. What's indexation again? First of all, "indexation" may be a puzzling concept if you're new to Luxembourg. In the Grand Duchy, "all wages/salaries and pensions are regularly adapted to changes in the selling prices of consumer products," the official government website reads. The goal behind indexation is to preserve purchasing power and social stability. How does indexation of salaries affect property prices? On Friday, a common practice among Luxembourgish property developers triggered a discussion between the Minister for Consumer Protection Paulette Lenert and LSAP MP Ives Cruchten. Cruchten pointed out that there is a clause in Luxembourgish sales agreements that foresees the indexation of property prices in relation to salary indexation. In other words, when salaries go up, so do property prices. In Cruchten's eyes, this practice leads to a rise of housing prices that are already overwhelming for the majority of Luxembourg's residents. "There is a risk of abuse," he concluded. In this scenario, it is also in the property developer's financial interests to prolong buildings works until the next indexation period. The profit that the developers can make this way exceeds the realistic increase of labour costs. Is this practice legal? On 15 March, Cruchten wrote a parliamentary question to Paulette Lenert, who currently serves as Minister for Consumer Protection. He hoped to find out more about the legality of this practice. Last Friday, Lenert replied to Cruchten's question and confirmed that this practice was indeed legal in the Grand Duchy. She underlined that the contracts are legally binding if they contain two elements: they have to mention that the price can be revised and they need to elaborate on "the terms of revision." Regarding potential abuse, the minister explained that, for the time being, not much could be done against this practice "under the current legislation." In other words, property developers are well within their right when they increase property prices in relation to salary indexation. An exception The minister nevertheless stressed that, in some cases, consumers can take legal steps against a contract if the final price far exceeds "the price that the consumer could have expected when the contract was signed." Seguin, TX (78155) Today Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. While an annual traveling festival that concluded on Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City witnessed a drop in the number of visitors this year, participating travel agencies all posted increased sales of outbound packages, even those with hefty price tags. More than 250,000 people visited the Ho Chi Minh City Travel Festival 2019, with 12,700 of them purchasing tours at the April 11 to 14 event, according to the municipal tourism department. The number of customers increased by 41 percent in comparison with last years festival, as many showed interest in packages available for the upcoming holiday, when Vietnam observes Reunification Day and Labor Day on April 30 and May 1. Leading travel agency Saigontourist said it sold tours to around 4,000 customers during the four-day event, exceeding the companys expectations. Even costly packages, such as a VND 100 million (US$4,300) tour to four Scandinavian countries or four Balkan nations, were able to attract buyers during the festival. Travel agencies said they have to offer additional packages to meet rising demand. BenThanh Tourist also said that even though the number of visitors dropped, their revenue surged in comparison with last year. Some of the best-selling tours are those to Russia costing around VND55 million ($2,200) per person, or the ten-day France Switzerland Italy package fetching VND61 million ($2,600) and seven-day tour to the U.S. at VND43 million ($1,850). In the meantime, TransViet added that the number of tours to China doubled the companys expectations, while VietTravel claimed that around 3,500 customers purchased trips from the company, against a target of 3,000. Tours to Japan, South Korea, China, and Thailand drew the most interest, according to the travel agency. Domestic tours to such famous coastal city as Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Nha Trang also sought well thanks to the growing demand for inbound travel during Vietnams major holidays later this month. Many customers were also interested in one-day tour to the Mekong Delta. This year, the festival also aimed at encouraging tourism within Ho Chi Minh City, with the introduction of 700 tours to Can Gio Mangrove Forest located 40 kilometers from the city center, 220 tours to Cu Chi District on the outskirts of the city, and 200 city-tour tickets. Tour organizers reported a combined revenue of around VND120 billion ($5.17 million), some 45 percent higher than last year. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Your browser does not support the audio element. Vietnamese experts and officials are calling on policymakers to limit government incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI) to certain products, sectors and localities instead of a blanket tax reduction that has proved to be both costly and ineffective. These opinions are raised against the backdrop of a plan formulated by the Vietnamese government to review its policies on attracting FDI until 2030. Vietnams over 21,400 FDI businesses reported pre-tax profits of over VND344.6 trillion (US$14.85 billion) in total in 2017, according to Deputy Finance Minister Huynh Quang Hai. That was a year-on-year growth rate of 19.2 percent, Hai said. Revenues and asset growth rates of these businesses also saw significant improvements of 28 percent and 22 percent, respectively, from 2016, he added. However, more than half of FDI enterprises in Vietnam reported losses totaling VND86.18 trillion ($3.71 billion) that same year. Notably, 1,590 of these loss-making enterprises have continued to expand their Vietnam business, Hung said. This indicates a rise in transfer pricing activities, which are pricing transactions within and between enterprises under common ownership for the purpose of lowering their taxable profits, he added. Between 2012 and 2017, the percentage of FDI enterprises in Vietnam reporting losses rose from 48 percent to 52 percent, the deputy minister pointed out. Workers work at a FDI factory in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre In addition, foreign investment into Vietnam has been focused on sectors with a low localization rate that are labor-intensive and generate little added value. These enterprises have been investing heavily in real estate while sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries have not received adequate foreign investment. Areas in southeastern Vietnam and the Red River Delta region are also attracting the majority of FDI into Vietnam while less developed areas struggle to keep up. FDI enterprises enjoy a wide range of incentives when operating in Vietnam, including tax incentives that allow them to pay only 10.7 percent in corporate tax on average, compared to 20 percent for regular businesses, Hung said. There are too many shortcomings in our policies that need serious revision, Hung said. In the upcoming revision of its incentive policies for FDI enterprises, Vietnam will focus on attracting foreign investment into areas of manufacturing with high added value and technological content. Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, proposes following in Thailands footsteps in limiting incentives to seven areas including industry, agriculture, and fisheries. We cant treat the poorest area of Hanoi the same way as we treat the poorest area of A Luoi District in the central province of Thua Thien Hue, Hoang said. Instead of offering blanket incentives to all FDI enterprises, the government should be more proactive in controlling the flow of foreign investment by directing such incentives into high-priority areas through its policies, said Dr. Le Xuan Truong, a tax and customs professor from the Academy of Finance in Hanoi. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! More than 10,000 farming households in the south-central province of Phu Yen are enjoying higher incomes supplying sugarcane to a local biomass power plant than selling the product to agriculture traders. KCP Vietnam Industries Limited Company, a sugar producer that owns a biomass power plant in Phu Yen, is buying sugarcane from local farmers at higher prices than the rates offered by traders, to ensure raw material supply for its electricity production. Biomass power is carbon neutral electricity generated from renewable organic waste that would otherwise be dumped in landfills, such as scrap lumber, forest debris, and crop residues. Besides its main production of sugar and molasses, KCP Vietnam Industries also runs a 30MW biomass power plant just behind its main factory. The facility has been buying bagasse, the dry pulpy fibrous residue that remains after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juice, from local farmers to generate electricity over the last three years. The plant consumes around 300,000 metric tons of bagasse every crop, generating power to the national grid. The company often buys sugarcane from local farmers for VND820,000-860,000 (US$35-37) per metric ton, about VND100,000 ($4) higher than prices asked by dealers. KCP Vietnam Industries signs contracts with farmers, promising to buy all of their crop yields as well as supplying them with fertilizers and seeds in unlimited amounts, according to Dang Van Sam, a sugarcane grower. This is why farmers in Phu Yen still stick with sugarcane, at a time when their peers in neighboring provinces have switched to growing cassava as sugar producers have offered to buy their products at low prices, according to Tran Huu The, deputy chairman of Phu Yen. KCP Vietnam Industries biomass power plant was built in 2016 at a cost of $23 million. It produced 49 million kWh for Vietnams national power system in 2017, and 108 million kWh last year. On average, the facility contributes more than ten percent of the total electricity output of Phu Yen, according to Thai Minh Chau, director of the Phu Yen Power Company. KCP Vietnam Industries general director K.V.S.R. Subbaiah said that the company also shares revenue generated from selling its self-generated power to Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the countrys power utility. Biomass power generation is not new in Vietnam, but not many investors are interested as the selling prices to EVN are unattractive. EVN currently pays the Phu Yen-based company only 5.8 U.S. cents per kWh, much lower than the price of 13 cents per kWh in Thailand. We have repeatedly called on the government to increase the purchasing price of biomass electricity to encourage businesses to invest in biomass power plants, Subbaiah said. This would also help the domestic sugar industry. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! RFM Radio Ecoutez le meilleur de la radio SUD FM Ecoutez le meilleur de la radio A South Korean campaigner of the Global Air Pollution Unit under Greenpeace East Asia has shared his countrys experience in tackling bad air quality with Tuoi Tre News, at a time when airborne fine dust has been posing public health risks to urbanites in Vietnam. Minwoo Son has experience in reducing particulate pollution of PM2.5, the amount of tiny particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic meter of air, in South Korea. PM is reportedly the deadliest form of air pollution due to their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and blood streams unfiltered. Experts warned during a conference in Hanoi in February that the increasing amount of airborne fine dust has been posing public health risks to people in the Vietnamese capital and Ho Chi Minh City in recent times. A number of Hanoi people experienced dust-related breathing difficulty and coughing when a high traffic volume was noticed in January, resulting in a concentration of tiny dust particles that was at some points double Vietnams maximum safety limit and exceeded the WHO ceiling by four times, according to the pundits. They said at the same conference that particulate pollution is also worrisome in Ho Chi Minh City even though it is not as severe as in Hanoi. Greenpeace East Asia is one of the regional chapters of Greenpeace, an independent global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behavior, protect and conserve the environment and promote peace. How South Korean people began to be aware of the issue of PM2.5 pollution? How did Greenpeace bring this awareness to authorities and members of the public? PM2.5 air pollution in South Korea became a major environmental issue in around 2013, driven by rising public concerns about bad air quality. However, there were at that time many misunderstandings around PM2.5 air pollution and existing policy loopholes due to the lack of information. From 2015, the Seoul office of Greenpeace focused on raising public/social awareness to push the South Korean government to take the right measures on PM2.5 pollution in the country. At the same time, Greenpeace conducted a joint study with Harvard University on the public health impacts of PM2.5 in South Korea, to make society aware of the importance of taking action on pollution reduction. In addition, we also asked the governments to follow the following demands for PM2.5 reduction. 1. Maintain active communication with the public on correct information and status of PM2.5 air pollution in South Korea 2. Reduce coal consumption, regulate major PM2.5 sources, particularly those in the power generation and other industrial sectors 3. Strengthen PM2.5 standards based on WHO guidelines 4. Add more PM2.5 real-time monitoring systems in the country What lessons Vietnam should take seriously to tackle PM2.5 pollution? According to the State of Global Air study, exposure to PM2.5 pollution was attributed to 27,500 premature deaths in Vietnam in 2017. Vietnam can save lives by taking action on air pollution. First of all, understanding the situation and identifying PM2.5 sources are urgent and essential. Vietnam has quite few PM2.5 monitoring stations. To determine the status and causes of pollution, it is necessary that PM2.5 monitoring stations be installed nationwide. Next is taking action. Vietnams standards on PM2.5 should be strengthened based on WHO guidelines. Moreover, emission standards for power plants, industries and transportations should also be strengthened. However, the most critical action to improve air quality is to shift to renewable energy by phasing out fossil fuel consumption in Vietnam. Fossil fuel burning is a significant contributor to air pollution in the world. South Korea is also taking action to reduce fossil fuel consumption, and shifting to renewable energy with solar photovoltaics and wind-based power generation. It's not only beneficial to the environment but also helpful to the future economy and industry. Shifting to renewable energy will also mitigate air pollution and climate change. What are the aspects that a comprehensive program or a national strategy to tackle PM2.5 pollution must cover? To reduce PM2.5 pollution, it's essential to reduce other air pollutants at the same time, because the PM2.5 dust particles are not only directly emitted from the stacks of power plants and factories or vehicles, but they can also be formed as a result of the chemical reactions of other pollutants in the air. It means holistic measures are required on various sources of air pollution including power plants, factories, and the transportation and agriculture sectors when it comes to taking action for better air quality. Also, air pollution is not only a domestic but also a global environmental issue, as the (polluted) air can travel thousands of kilometers, across borders of nations, when carried by the winds. Transboundary air pollution is one of the significant contributors to PM2.5 pollution in one certain country. It's critical that one nation cooperate with neighboring countries on policy and information sharing to reduce such contamination. When it comes to tackling bad air quality, some might not want to give up the convenience of driving their personal motorbikes, while the government insists on relying on coal power for economic development. What are the possible solutions to this? People exposed to air pollution have an increased risk of death from lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, respiratory diseases, and other serious illnesses. WHO data shows that nine out of ten people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. Outdoor air pollution alone presents the worlds 4th leading contributing cause of early deaths, and these losses are estimated to burden the global economy with a staggering annual cost of US$225 billion. These figures prove that air pollution affects not only public health but also the country's economy. Also, the impacts of air pollution are fairly harmful to everyone because everyone shares the same air. In this reason, the efforts for reducing air pollution can never be compromised. Some people are concerned that we need to give up convenience and economic development to improve air quality. However, we don't have to, as there are other solutions, including renewable energy which doesn't emit air pollution and greenhouse gas but will support our future society and economic growth. The global renewable energy market is fast growing. Also, technology development is advanced enough to replace conventional energy - fossil fuels. Already, over 170 global companies like Samsung and Apple have announced 100 percent renewable energy targets for their energy supply. Conventional cars fueled by oil and gas are also being replaced by electric vehicles. For clean air, people don't have to give up convenience and development. In South Korea, just like other countries around the world, the fossil fuel industry is going against global efforts to improve air quality. However, the government should keep the right direction for public health while maintaining enough communication with the public, to phase out the culprit of air pollution, which is fossil fuel. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Your browser does not support the audio element. The Central Post Office in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, one of the citys most well-known landmarks, doubles as the workplace of 89-year-old Duong Van Ngo, the last public writer in the southern metropolis. Ngo has occupied a little corner of the building for the past 30 years, arriving promptly at eight o-clock each morning to start his work day. Not surprisingly, visitors to the post office are intrigued by Ngo his profession a relic of a time when letters were carefully etched onto paper and each pen stroke was cherished. Clemence, a French visitor, approached Ngo and asked her tour guide, An, to ask him about his life and career. But before An could speak, Ngo, speaking in French, explained that he was fluent in French, English, and of course Vietnamese. The two chatted for a while about Ngos past and how he began his career. The storied writer shared that he first began dabbling in the post industry in 1946 at age 16 when he began working at the Thi Nghe Post office in Ho Chi Minh City. After two years, he moved to the citys Central Post Office and worked there until he retired in 1990. But even in retirement, Ngo never truly wished to leave the place where he had spent 42 years of his working. Hence he asked for, and was given, a little corner of the post office where he has provided a letter writing service ever since. Duong Van Ngo still makes it to work on a daily basis at age 89. Photo: Tuoi Tre [Being a writer] is my life. Only death can stop me, he explained. Ngo also described the radical changes hes witnessed in peoples mail habit over the decades. When I first started this job, even with seven letter translators here, we werent able to handle the workload. Now, e-mail is so common and people can even video-chat with others in the U.S and Australia, he said. Technology is faster than that big clock [on the front of the post office]. On the morning that TuoiTre (Youth) Newspaper reporters spent with Ngo, most of his time was taken up by groups of foreign visitors approaching him to chat, take photos, or prepare postcards. About a dozen others asked him for letter translation. I think I must have written millions of letters over the last three decades, he said. Lasting stories To Ngo, the most precious thing about his job is the insight its given him into the truest of human emotion. Of course, his customers include people from all walks of life, but it is the emotion letters of love and passion that have stuck in his memories over the years. His letters have helped couples share their love from across oceans, children find their way home, and mothers connect with their offspring. It is a must to forget all that I have written, not only out of respect for my clients but also for my own piece of mind, he elaborated. But there is one particular letter from the 1990s he hasnt been able to erase from memory. There was a French man who wrote that the freezing cold of winter could not stop his heart from remembering a Vietnamese lady who he wished to make his partner, Ngo shared. The writer translated all the letters between the two, up until the day the woman married. It was heart-breaking to translate their final exchanges, he shared. Duong Van Ngo is seen at work. Photo: Tuoi Tre Ngos devotion to the job means his downtime is spent consulting dictionaries to ensure his translations are on point. I brush up on my descriptive language every day, but also need to make sure I am able to translate legal texts, he said. Nowadays, as love letters trickle in slower and slower, Ngo mostly spends his time translating postcards for tourists. The public writer In a news article written by a non-Vietnamese journalist several years ago, Duong Van Ngo was labelled a public writer, a title he is proud to wear. I provide my service for a price, around VND 10,000-15,000 [US$ 0.43-0.65] per letter. Its just for fun though. I dont work for the money, he said. In 2009, this public writer earned the title of Vietnams longest-serving letter writer in Vietnams Record Book. On November 2, 2012, Duong Van Ngo had the opportunity to chat in French with Herman Van Rompuy - President of the European Council - during the latters visit to the post office. Duong Van Ngo shakes hands with the then President of the European Council Herman Van Rompu in 2012. Photo: Tuoi Tre According to Nguyen Thi Thu Van - Director of Saigons Central Post Office - Ngo truly an embodiment of what the post office seeks to do. He spent his whole life dedicated to the job. And he tells tourists such meaningful stories, she added. He even speaks French and English so well. Nearly every tourist to the post office will spare a few moments looking for Ngo, whose old age does worry the rest of the staff. We just hope that hell be healthy enough. That corner, and the whole building, would feel empty without him, Van explained. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Editors note: Arif Nurul Imam, an Indonesian political analyst and director of IndoStrategy Research and Consulting, wrote this piece exclusively for Tuoi Tre News ahead of the April 17 General Election in Indonesia. Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world after India and the United States. As a democratic country, general elections are democratic rituals and obligatory procedures that are routinely held every five years. The General Election scheduled for April 17 is the first time the legislative election and presidential election will be held on the same day in Indonesias history. Approximately 193 million voters will exercise their rights to vote on up to 805,000 voting booths. There are tens of millions of people involved, both as organizers and supervisors from the central level to polling stations. This simultaneous election has been a colossal political party since Indonesia stood. At the same time, voters flocked to the polling stations to channel their political aspirations in the voting booth. On the level of procedural democracy, Indonesia can be referred to as a successful example of the implementation of democratic procedures, especially in carrying out electoral rituals. Most complicated election This event is the first time in the history of Indonesian democracy when citizens have the right to vote the president and vice president, as well as select members of local and national legislative and senatorial members simultaneously on the same day. Therefore, there are five ballots that must be punched by each voter at the polling station. Yellow ballot papers for the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (DPR RI), blue for the Provincial House of Representatives (DPRD), green for the District/Municipality House of Representatives, red for the Regional Representative Council (DPD) as an element of regional representatives is often called a senator. The last gray color ballot paper is for the President and Vice President. As the election is held simultaneously, the number of voters is quite large; it is not strange that there will be a lot of technical difficulties from election socialization, implementation, to its monitoring. That is why it is not wrong to say that the 2019 elections in Indonesia are the most complicated in the world. This simultaneous election will certainly become the attention of all citizens of Indonesia, and will even be seen by the international community. However, this complexity does not necessarily become a serious threat that will disrupt the election. This is because technically, these problems have been anticipated by conducting socialization and simulation of voting procedures carried out by election organizers and civil society organizations that are concerned with issues of democracy. Presidential election outshines legislative election Even though the legislative election and presidential election are to be held at the same time, there is an inequality on the political stage: the focus of both political elites and general society are on the presidential election, making political issues around the legislative election sink. Political discourse that has emerged on the surface or in public discussions highlights more the contestation of the presidential election, where there are two pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates: Joko Widodo-Makruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. The candidate pair of Joko Widodo-Makruf Amin, carrying the tagline Indonesia Maju, is being promoted by an elephant coalition that includes Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Golongan Karya Party (Golkar), National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP),Nasdem Party, Hanura Party, Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), Crescent Star Party (PBB), and two newcomers: Perindo Party and Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI). In the meantime, the other candidate pair, Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno, carrying the tagline Indonesia Adil Makmur, is being promoted by Gerindra Party, Democratic Party, National Mandate Party (PAN), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Working Party. Such political polarization is unavoidable so the political dynamics of the presidential election has become heated and fierce. Moreover this is a "repeat duel" of the 2014 presidential election so, inevitably, the public has highlighted this contest between the pairs. The presidential election drew people's attention so that it became public discussion of both the elite and lower classes. However, it must be admitted that the enthusiasm of the people towards the presidential election was not directly proportional to the enthusiasm highlighting the implementation of legislative elections. Now lets talk about the legislative election to elect candidates for members of the Republic of Indonesia Parliament, Provincial DPRD, Municipal DPR and candidates for the Regional Representative Council (DPD). Twenty political parties, including 16 national political parties and four local political parties in Aceh Province, will contest to win voter support. Also, there are tens of thousands of prospective legislative members at all levels, as well as potential members of the DPD. The legislative election seems to be drowned indeed by the more exciting, fiercer, and more uproarious presidential contest. Themes that should appear on the surface, such as debate about the vision and mission of political parties and legislative candidates regarding how Indonesia should be projected, almost disappear from the stage of public discussion. Indonesia's incumbent presidential candidate addresses to supporters during a campaign rally at Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 13, 2019 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Photo: Reuters Since the reform era, Indonesia has had plenty of experience in holding direct elections. It's just that, for simultaneous elections this is the first experience. However, we are optimistic that this simultaneous election will take place safely and smoothly. Although procedural democracy has been noted as successful and great, it does not mean democracy in Indonesia is perfect. There is some homework that still needs to be refined, both procedurally and substantially. Moreover, based on The Economist Intelligence (EIU) data, Indonesia's 2018 democracy ranks 68th or a 20-rank free fall from the 48th place in 2016. Data Freedom House also mentions the emergence of the threat to civil liberties, pushing Indonesia down from the status of free state" to become partially free in 2018. This issue is still a challenge in the future. Democracy in Indonesia is not only successful in procedural terms but it can be a substantial one, namely the realization of justice and prosperity. Hopefully. Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila expressed her support for the early signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Union during her talks with visiting Vietnamese premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Bucharest on Monday. The meeting was part of Prime Minsiter Phucs official visit to Romania from April 14 to 16 at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the conversation in Bucharest, the two leaders expressed their joy at the positive development of multifaceted cooperation and traditional friendship between Vietnam and Romania over the past decades. The ongoing visit by PM Phuc is an important milestone in the two countries' bilateral relations, the Romanian premier stated. The heads of government discussed measures to further enhance bilateral relations in politics, diplomacy, security and national defense, economic affairs, trade and investment, education and training, labor, culture, tourism, agriculture and food processing. They praised the cooperation between the two countries localities over the recent past, taking this as a direction for the traditional cooperation between the two sides. They consented to increase the exchange of high-level delegations and effectively implement existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, while making preparations for the 70th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations next year. PM Dancila mentioned the Vietnamese community in Romania and their positive contribution to the local socio-economic development. PM Phuc took the occasion to thank his host and the Romanian government for supporting the Vietnamese community. Regarding international and regional issues, the premiers exchanged ideas on the acceleration of bilateral cooperation at international forums and organizations. As the rotary Chair of the European Union (EU), Romania supports the signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the investment protection agreement between the two sides at the earliest possible date, PM Dancila stressed. Both leaders also affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security and stability for cooperation and development, as well as solving differences and disputes via peaceful means in line with international law. Following the talks, they witnessed the signature of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in agriculture, animal health, and food safety. PM Phuc also met with President of Romania Klaus Iohannis on the same day. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Here are todays leading news stories: Politics -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc joined talks with Prime Minister of Romania Viorica Dancila in Bucharest on Monday during his official visit to the European country from April 14 to 16. Society -- The sizzling weather in southern Vietnam is forecast to temporarily stop on Tuesday as rains and thunderstorms will occur in the region in the next few days, said Le Dinh Quyet, an official from the southern hydro-meteorological station. -- An explosion occurred at a substation in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City at around 3:30 pm on Monday, resulting in a blackout at multiple neighborhoods in Binh Thanh District, Phu Nhuan District, Go Vap District, and District 12. -- A total of 66 people died and 60 others were injured in traffic accidents throughout Vietnam during the three festive days marking the Hung Kings Festival (April 13 to 15), according to the traffic police division under the Ministry of Public Security. -- Police in the northern province of Bac Ninh are investigating a case where a local 12th-grade school girl committed suicide by jumping off a bridge on Monday after allegedly being raped. -- Officers in the north-central provinces of Ha Tinh and Nghe An on Monday arrested three men for the illegal trade and transportation of drugs and confiscated dozens of alleged drug packages hidden inside a loudspeaker. -- A 41-year-old men in Hanoi has been apprehended for allegedly luring an 11-year-old girl into a secluded alley before molesting her on April 4, after CCTV footage of the incident recently surfaced on social media. -- Three school boys aged 13 to 16 were killed after they rode a motorcycle and crashed it in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa on Monday morning. Business -- The Peoples Committee in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu on Monday kick-started the construction of a VND2.5 trillion (US$107.5 million) wind power plant which covers an area of 946 hectares. -- The car making complex of Vinfast, the automaking arm of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, is expected to be put into operation in June, about three months ahead of the original schedule, the company confirmed on Monday. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking. The Southeast Asian nation is home to swathes of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare creatures from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but they are frequently targeted by poachers. Two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested Monday by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state, said Xavier Jayakumar, water, land and natural resources minister. The men were in possession of claws and teeth from the Malayan tiger, he said. The species once roamed the jungles of Malaysia in the thousands but is now critically endangered, with just a small number believed left in the wild. They also had teeth and claws from bears, teeth from wild boars, as well as hunting equipment including machetes, axes and wire for setting traps, the minister said. "The two suspects have been arrested and will be remanded for three days to assist in the investigation," he said. Tiger pelts are prized collectors' items and fetch a high price on the black market, while many animals' body parts are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia, including Vietnam and China. Tigers are considered critically endangered in Malaysia Last week Colonel Lang told us of the latest Middle Eastern goofiness of the Trump administration focusing on our declaring the IRGC a terrorist organization and Pompeos truly zany effort to turn the Lebanese government against Hizbullah. If not for the deadly seriousness of the potential consequences, our efforts to reshape the Middle East would be fodder for several Monty Python skits. Why are we doing this? Well, there is the longstanding neocon addiction to treating the entire world as our personal plaything. There is also the unhealthy hold the Israelis and Saudis have on our body politic. Reinforcing this hold is the drive to hasten the rapture among large segments of the American evangelical community. I dont think Im alone in seeing this as a dangerous situation. Pompeos latest buffoonery lead Colonel Lang and myself to wonder if the US and Israel are planning to take out the Hizbullah missile threat. That Hizhullah threat remains a knife in the heart of Israels myth of invulnerability. This threat is discussed in a JINSA opinion piece that appeared last month in The Hill. The JINSA piece called for US sanctions against Hizbullah-controlled Lebanese ministries. Well see if the US tries this approach now that Pompeos effort to convince Michel Aoun to turn his back on Hizbullah ended in abject failure. Im sure the Pentagon has developed plans to attack Hizbullahs missile arsenal. The Pentagon has plans foreverything. Im also pretty damned sure these plans depend on first goading Hizbullah and/or the IRGC into providing a pretense for such an attack. Good luck with that. Not only are Hizbullah and the IRGC extraordinarily disciplined, but they also have non-kinetic ways of reacting to Western goading. Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah slammed the U.S. decision to designate the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, saying that Washingtons audacity and folly went beyond limits. Blacklisting the IRGC is an evidence that it is strong and not weak and this is an expected move by the Great Satan, Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating the day of Resistance Wounded Fighters on April 10. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. has blacklisted the IRGC, citing alleged terrorist activists by the Iranian group as a reason. Irans Supreme National Security Council retaliated to Washingtons decision by labeling the U.S. Army military as terrorist organization. Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah and its allies from the so-called axis of resistance will not continue to deal with the U.S. hostile moves with condemnation, denouncement and patience. The Lebanese leader said the axis has other options on all battlefields. Our choices are open but we will act calmly, with a cool head and at the right time, in all battlefields and arenas, said Nasrallah. The Hezbollah leaders warning confirms the fears of some U.S. officials, who had warned that designating the IRGC as a terrorist group could endanger U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East. Despite this some experts openly state that the administration of US President Donald Trump is moving towards an escalation scenario because it contributes to its current political interests. (South Front) Im sure Nasrallahs mention of all battlefields and arenas goes far beyond a targeting of US troops in the region. That would be unimaginative and exactly what the neocons desire. The old quote is living well is the best revenge. I think thats the plan. South Front says that a strategic cooperation among Iran, Iraq and Syria on various projects is a nightmare for the US and Israel. Baghdad and Damascus will soon open the al Qaim crossing and, along with Tehran, plan on linking their national railways. China is interested in joining this as an extension of their One Belt, One Road initiative. Russia plans to assist Lebanon in the development of her offshore oil and gas fields. Of immediate importance Russia is moving to help resettle the 1.5 million Syrian refugees now living in Lebanon. Thats 1.5 million in a country with a population of six million. Now thats a refugee crisis. This is of critical importance since Aoun has no intention of assimilating those refugees into Lebanese society given recent history and the nature of Lebanons political system. Would Russia extend her defensive umbrella to include Lebanon if we attacked Hizbullah? Perhaps, but only reluctantly. Russia does not want a wider war. Syria, however, may be more ready to assist if needed. She owes Hizbollah. Even if Russia is reluctant to launch missiles against US and Israeli aircraft, she may be far less reluctant to employing her formidable radio-electronic combat capabilities. That alone could blunt the effectiveness of an attack on Hizbullah facilities. In short, I feel an effective US-Israeli attack on Hizbullah missile forces is a pipe dream. Hizbullah wont be goaded and Russian-Syrian aid, even limited aid, could make such an attack ineffective. Unfortunately, I dont have confidence in the Trump administrations ability to grasp this reasoning. TTG https://southfront.org/nasrallah-slams-u-s-blacklisting-of-irgc-says-washington-moves-will-not-remain-without-a-response/ https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/435014-us-should-sanction-hezbollah-controlled-govts-to-counter https://southfront.org/us-and-israel-nightmare-scenario-iraq-syria-iran-restart-their-strategic-cooperation-projects/ Neighbours stars Colette Mann and Geoff Paine have been dishing out their best soapie lessons to audiences at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with their show Mann Up and Take the Paine. Imparting their Mann / Paine method the two cheekily unpack all that is required to be a soapie actor, from sexual tension to close-ups to filling out a scene that is running under time. Unsuspecting audience members will also find themselves as guest stars plus camera and sound operators. Neighbours cast and crew have also been in attendance, some suddenly finding themselves performing on stage. More than once weve had a Neighbours cast member get up to be Eye Candy. And our boom operator got up but he was very nervous about being onstage. You have to make big decisions, make them fast, and if youre working with Colette Mann watch out, Paine warns. You know the lion tamer and the lion? The chair doesnt do anything. Thats what Ive discovered. But I would call it a competitive relationship. But its like elite sportsmen we are friends offstage, but onstage its no holds-barred. No rules. There are just 4 more shows if you want to catch the show at Campari House in Hardware Lane. Mann Up and Take the Paine. Season 31 of The Amazing Race begins next week on 7flix, screening 5 days after the US. The series was originally due to air in the US in late May but after the failure of Million Dollar Mile was brought forward by CBS. This season is a Reality showdown, comprised of eleven teams, three of whom previously competed on Big Brother, three from Survivor, and five of whom previously competed on The Amazing Race. The race gets underway in Hermosa Beach, California and heads to Tokyo, Japan in the first episode. 7:30pm Tuesday April 23 on 7flix. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikulya recently expressed worry about a severe drought next year, as the climate in Thailand is drier than usual this year, due to the impact of El Nino. He warned that the reservoirs could run low when the dry season returns in November, and stressed the need to reconsider water management strategy and revise priorities in water supply allocation for this year, citing low water deposits in irrigation system and greater water demand due to unplanned agricultural expansion. Sarikulya revealed that 23 large reservoirs are now below 50 percent of their total water capacity. The northeast is the hardest hit, as seven major dams in the region now have critically low water deposits. Economics professor Witsanu Attavanich from Kasetsart University cautioned that the dry season is expected to last longer than usual this year. He urged authorities to manage water carefully this year while farmers should be prudent in planning cultivation, and citizens must start conserving their water resources, adding there is still time to prepare and build up resilience for more unpredictable extreme weather in the future. The Thai Meteorological Department and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast that the El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean will remain for the rest of this year. Hence, the Asia-Pacific region, including Thailand, will face a hotter climate and lesser rainfall. This historic search will help scientists to know the status of water on the surface of the Moon. Along with this, information about the past and the days of the moon will also be available. In a NASA study of the American Space Agency, it has been revealed that the water flows during the meteor shower in the moon. This study can prove to be very useful for the future because the presence of water will increase the chances of life on the moon. NASA Robotics mission This historic landmark from the meteorites has been done by the 'Lunar Effective and Dust Environment Explorer' (LADE), which is NASA's campaign. LADE is a NASA Robotics mission that seeks to explore the possibility of life on the Moon's surface from October 2013 to April 2014 for the Moon Orbits. It has been found that the moon is discharged during the meteor shower. The LADEE project is underway at NASA's Ames Research Center in California-based Silicon Valley. Richard Elphic, a scientist associated with this project, said, "The amount of H2O (water) and OH is not found on the Moon most of the time, but steam is detected when the meteorite passes through the Moon. H2O and OH automatically expire as the meteor body passes. This has been said in NASA's press release. This study of water and steam on the Moon has appeared in Nature Geoscience, prepared by Mehdi Bena of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. According to NASA, this historical find will help scientists to know the status of water on the surface of the moon. Along with this, information about the past and the days of the moon will be available. Knowing the water will also inform you whether there is ice in the crater located on the moon or not. However, scientists engaged in this project have rejected the fact that the water on and around the surface of the Earth is the result of meteorites. Scientists certainly believe that some part of the water in the atmosphere came from the moon's meteorites, but it can not be considered entirely accurate. NASA gives awards On the other hand, NASA has given awards to three Indian teams as their Human Exploration Rover Challenge. Under this challenge, high school and college students are called to make and test the flying aircraft for future expeditions on the Moon and Mars. According to NG.com, NASA said in a statement that the team of KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad of Uttar Pradesh won the 'AIA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award' which is given for the best system designed to meet the needs of the Rover Challenge In Mumbai, Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering of Mumbai has won 'Frank Joe Saxton Memorial Pitt Crew Award.' The team of the Lovely Professional University of Phagwara, Punjab gave the 'Stem Engagement Award' given on rocket and other space-related topics. About 100 teams participated in this competition. In the record number of countries including the United States, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco, and Peru participated. Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe. Photo: Reuters Ireland on Tuesday cut its growth forecasts for both 2019 and 2020, in moves that reflect a deterioration in key export markets, the countrys finance ministry said. Irelands economy is forecast to expand by 3.9% this year and 3.3% next year, down from October projections of 4.2% and 3.6%, respectively. The ministry said that the external environment has become more challenging since its previous forecasts. From an Irish perspective, the pace of growth has slowed in key export markets, with a loss of momentum particularly evident in both the euro area and the UK. At the same time, it said, some domestic indicators have moderated in recent months. Even though growth projections have been revised downwards, the ministry said it was more optimistic about the countrys budgetary position. It now predicts that the Irish state will run a surplus of around 0.2% in 2019, thanks to the very strong performance of corporation tax revenues. Despite the less favourable external environment, the Irish economy remains in a strong position and this is paying dividends in the labour market where an additional 50,000 jobs are expected to be added this year, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said in a statement. We cannot be complacent, however, as there are serious risks on the horizon, not least of which is the nature and timing of the UKs exit from the European Union. It is absolutely vital that we continue to build up our fiscal defenses, so that we can continue to support the economy, and provide for society, if, and when, these risks materialise. Norwegian flag in the Sogne harbour, southern Norway. Photo: Getty Norways $1tn (760bn) sovereign wealth fund is continuing to distance itself from mostly investing in oil and gas investments in a bid to shake-off its heavy exposure on oil prices. The worlds largest sovereign wealth fund, known formally as the Government Pension Fund, said in a statement that the oil industry will be an important and major industry in Norway for many years to come, but a permanent reduction in the oil price will have long-term implications for public finances. The fund currently owns $37bn (28.2bn) of shares in oil companies such as BP (BP.L) and Shell (RDSA.L). Norway is also one of Europes largest oil and gas producers and the fund is used to invest the proceeds of the nations oil industry and finance the countrys generous welfare state. While the Norwegian government is still to approve the proposal, the move to diversify away from oil follows on from a report in 2017 that said cutting oil and gas investments would be a positive financial move for the fund. In March this year, it said it would divest from oil and gas investments. In February this year, the fund reported a 485 billion kroner (43.5bn, 50bn, $57bn) loss last year, and blamed the 6.1% drop on volatile stock markets. Oil (BZ=F) has had a wild ride over recent years and has failed to substantially rise above the $100 per barrel mark from over five years ago. Chart: Yahoo Finance Equity investments make up over 50% of Norways sovereign wealth fund and much of these are in oil stocks. For example, it still owns 67% of Equinor, formerly known as Statoil. Thousands of Parisians gathered in the streets around Notre-Dame on Monday evening and held a vigil on the banks of the River Seine after a devastating fire tore through the citys beloved cathedral. Some of the crowd were in tears, some looked on in subdued silence as Notre-Dame continued to burn. Others sang spontaneous Ave Marias and passed rosary beads through their fingers as the smell of woodsmoke hung in the air.Four hours after the fire broke out just before 7pm on Monday evening, hundreds of Parisians were still gathering in the side streets around the Gothic Catholic basilica that sees some 13 million visitors every year.Situated on the Ile de la Cite in the heart of the French capital, the 12th-century church has survived epidemics, wars, liberation, said French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrived at the scene of the blaze.Notre-Dame was immortalised by French novelist Victor Hugo in his 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame', and it was the site of Napoleons coronation as Emperor of France in 1804. It is also celebrated for its rose-coloured stained-glass windows and its many gargoyles and flying buttresses.I couldnt stay home, said Emmanuel, 50, I had to be here. We all know and love Notre-Dame. Its Victor Hugo. Its part of our cultural roots and a huge part of our history.Camille, 25, felt the same. Notre-Dame is the jewel of Paris. Its my favourite place in the city, she said. I went to Mass there just two weeks ago. Its just heartbreaking to see these centuries of history and culture go up in smoke.Shiv Malik, a former Guardian reporter, was hard at work in his room above the Shakespeare and Company bookshop when his wife rang to say Notre-Dame was on fire.'It feels like the end of the world'I looked out of the window and my first reaction was complete bemusement, said Malik.This has been a particularly chaotic couple of years... Theres been a real upheaval in the West. You see something like this and it feels like the end of the world.Maliks third-floor window offers a direct view of Notre-Dame across the river. He watched as the flames first broke out in the cathedrals spire, on the scaffolding where renovations were being carried, and then as the blaze spread first to the roof and then to one of the rectangular bell-towers.A thin black stream of smoke soon turned to belching white acrid plumes that drifted across the river and made the surrounding streets smell like a bonfire. The fire had been blazing for a full half an hour before firefighters were on the scene and began hosing it down with water pumped from the Seine.Malik has a particularly personal connection to Notre-Dame. I first kissed my wife under the shadow of Notre-Dame so for me its meant my marriage basically. Ironically Ive never been inside the cathedral itself. Ive only ever wandered in and around -- either with my child or by myself or by walking romantically with my wife. Now Ill never be able to see the inside as it was, which is a real shame.Poignant week for CatholicsFor the Catholic community, the devastating blaze was all the more poignant for coming as it did in Holy Week, just days before Easter.The church is home to many priceless relics, such as the crown of thorns believed to be worn by Jesus Christ in the days before his crucifixion.Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers. The Vatican released a statement expressing shock and sadness for the terrible fire that has devastated the cathedral of Notre-Dame, symbol of Christianity in France and in the world.Reno, 35, a freelance journalist and practising Catholic, had burst into tears as he photographed the blazing monument. I was so overcome I had to go home and rest. It was very hard to watch the spire fall. But I came back here to pray. Notre-Dame is not just bricks and mortar. Every Frenchman and every Frenchwoman is grieving today.I am heartbroken, said Louisa, 30, as a crowd sang a solemn rendition of Ave Maria.But I am very touched to see so many people praying, imploring notre dame [Our Lady] to protect the cathedral.Notre-Dame may be one of the spiritual homes of practising Catholics in France, but the churchs loss was being mourned throughout French society.I get goosebumps listening to the prayers and hymns here, said Larejj, 29, who was born in Algeria and moved to Paris when he was four.I was there when the spire fell, said Larejj, and a gasp went up from the crowd. Two seconds later, there was total silence. It was unbelievable.He had felt completely powerless as he watched the blaze spread through the cathedral. Religion aside, Notre-Dame is the symbol of Paris. There is nothing so emblematic of Paris as Notre-Dame.Kevin, 21, from Boston, had been on a river boat on the Seine with his family, when his mother first spotted the plumes of smoke billowing from Notre-Dame and drifting across the river.He couldnt believe his eyes when he first saw pictures of the cathedral ablaze on Twitter, I thought it was photoshop, that it was a joke, said the student in international relations.But its such a solemn moment, I wanted to be here and share in the sadness.Applause for the firefightersThere was a pause in the singing. A man in the crowd led a round of applause for the Paris fire brigade. There was widespread relief that none of the 400 firefighters who had battled the fire, some of whom clambered up the left-hand bell tower when it was fully ablaze, had been seriously harmed. Later in the evening one firefighter was reported to have been injured.But there was small comfort in the news, falling just before midnight, that the main structure of the church appeared to have been saved.But there are so many priceless works of art inside, one man cried, and the stained-glass windows would not have been able to withstand the heat.Only at 3:15am did the Paris fire brigade officially declare that the fire was under control.RebirthMalik offered hope that the restoration of the church could bring a form of renewal. Fire in a sense brings rebirth, thats what it tends to symbolise in most religions anyway, he said.There have been some huge tragedies and fires in spiritual buildings and they always seem to come back. Yorkminster is one of them. St Pauls cathedral which is really the equivalent of Notre-Dame, was itself born of the Great Fire of London.Many Parisians seemed to be in shock that such a Parisian monument had gone up in smoke, and felt that the reality of the smouldering ruins of Notre-Dame would only hit them in the days to come.Its a funeral, said Kevin. Paris is a beautiful city, he said, but its a little less beautiful now. Thousands of Parisians gathered in the streets around Notre-Dame on Monday evening and held a vigil on the banks of the River Seine after a devastating fire tore through the citys beloved cathedral. Some of the crowd were in tears, some looked on in subdued silence as Notre-Dame continued to burn. Others sang spontaneous Ave Marias and passed rosary beads through their fingers as the smell of woodsmoke hung in the air. Four hours after the fire broke out just before 7pm on Monday evening, hundreds of Parisians were still gathering in the side streets around the Gothic Catholic basilica that sees some 13 million visitors every year. Situated on the Ile de la Cite in the heart of the French capital, the 12th-century church has survived epidemics, wars, liberation, said French President Emmanuel Macron as he arrived at the scene of the blaze. Notre-Dame was immortalised by French novelist Victor Hugo in his 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame', and it was the site of Napoleons coronation as Emperor of France in 1804. It is also celebrated for its rose-coloured stained-glass windows and its many gargoyles and flying buttresses. I couldnt stay home, said Emmanuel, 50, I had to be here. We all know and love Notre-Dame. Its Victor Hugo. Its part of our cultural roots and a huge part of our history. Camille, 25, felt the same. Notre-Dame is the jewel of Paris. Its my favourite place in the city, she said. I went to Mass there just two weeks ago. Its just heartbreaking to see these centuries of history and culture go up in smoke. Shiv Malik, a former Guardian reporter, was hard at work in his room above the Shakespeare and Company bookshop when his wife rang to say Notre-Dame was on fire. 'It feels like the end of the world' I looked out of the window and my first reaction was complete bemusement, said Malik. This has been a particularly chaotic couple of years... Theres been a real upheaval in the West. You see something like this and it feels like the end of the world. Story continues Maliks third-floor window offers a direct view of Notre-Dame across the river. He watched as the flames first broke out in the cathedrals spire, on the scaffolding where renovations were being carried, and then as the blaze spread first to the roof and then to one of the rectangular bell-towers. A thin black stream of smoke soon turned to belching white acrid plumes that drifted across the river and made the surrounding streets smell like a bonfire. The fire had been blazing for a full half an hour before firefighters were on the scene and began hosing it down with water pumped from the Seine. Malik has a particularly personal connection to Notre-Dame. I first kissed my wife under the shadow of Notre-Dame so for me its meant my marriage basically. Ironically Ive never been inside the cathedral itself. Ive only ever wandered in and around -- either with my child or by myself or by walking romantically with my wife. Now Ill never be able to see the inside as it was, which is a real shame. Poignant week for Catholics For the Catholic community, the devastating blaze was all the more poignant for coming as it did in Holy Week, just days before Easter. The church is home to many priceless relics, such as the crown of thorns believed to be worn by Jesus Christ in the days before his crucifixion. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers. The Vatican released a statement expressing shock and sadness for the terrible fire that has devastated the cathedral of Notre-Dame, symbol of Christianity in France and in the world. Reno, 35, a freelance journalist and practising Catholic, had burst into tears as he photographed the blazing monument. I was so overcome I had to go home and rest. It was very hard to watch the spire fall. But I came back here to pray. Notre-Dame is not just bricks and mortar. Every Frenchman and every Frenchwoman is grieving today. I am heartbroken, said Louisa, 30, as a crowd sang a solemn rendition of Ave Maria. But I am very touched to see so many people praying, imploring notre dame [Our Lady] to protect the cathedral. Notre-Dame may be one of the spiritual homes of practising Catholics in France, but the churchs loss was being mourned throughout French society. I get goosebumps listening to the prayers and hymns here, said Larejj, 29, who was born in Algeria and moved to Paris when he was four. I was there when the spire fell, said Larejj, and a gasp went up from the crowd. Two seconds later, there was total silence. It was unbelievable. He had felt completely powerless as he watched the blaze spread through the cathedral. Religion aside, Notre-Dame is the symbol of Paris. There is nothing so emblematic of Paris as Notre-Dame. Kevin, 21, from Boston, had been on a river boat on the Seine with his family, when his mother first spotted the plumes of smoke billowing from Notre-Dame and drifting across the river. He couldnt believe his eyes when he first saw pictures of the cathedral ablaze on Twitter, I thought it was photoshop, that it was a joke, said the student in international relations. But its such a solemn moment, I wanted to be here and share in the sadness. Applause for the firefighters There was a pause in the singing. A man in the crowd led a round of applause for the Paris fire brigade. There was widespread relief that none of the 400 firefighters who had battled the fire, some of whom clambered up the left-hand bell tower when it was fully ablaze, had been seriously harmed. Later in the evening one firefighter was reported to have been injured. But there was small comfort in the news, falling just before midnight, that the main structure of the church appeared to have been saved. But there are so many priceless works of art inside, one man cried, and the stained-glass windows would not have been able to withstand the heat. Only at 3:15am did the Paris fire brigade officially declare that the fire was under control. Rebirth Malik offered hope that the restoration of the church could bring a form of renewal. Fire in a sense brings rebirth, thats what it tends to symbolise in most religions anyway, he said. There have been some huge tragedies and fires in spiritual buildings and they always seem to come back. Yorkminster is one of them. St Pauls cathedral which is really the equivalent of Notre-Dame, was itself born of the Great Fire of London. Many Parisians seemed to be in shock that such a Parisian monument had gone up in smoke, and felt that the reality of the smouldering ruins of Notre-Dame would only hit them in the days to come. Its a funeral, said Kevin. Paris is a beautiful city, he said, but its a little less beautiful now. Red Cross worker Bakdounes is seen in this undated handout photo released by ICRC Red Cross worker Nabil Bakdounes, a Syrian national, is seen in this undated handout photo released by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Reuters on April 14 2019. ICRC/Handout via REUTERS By Stephanie Nebehay and Charlotte Greenfield GENEVA/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed for information on the fate of three employees abducted in Syria more than five years ago and last known to have been held by Islamic State. Breaking its silence on the case on Sunday, the independent aid agency identified the three as Louisa Akavi, a nurse from New Zealand, and Syrian drivers Alaa Rajab and Nabil Bakdounes. "Our latest credible information indicates that Louisa was alive in late 2018," it said. U.S.-backed forces proclaimed the capture of Islamic State's last territory in Syria last month, eliminating its rule over a caliphate it had proclaimed in Iraq and Syria in 2014. ICRC officials said Akavi might have been swept up among some 70,000 women and children who fled to al-Hol camp after the fall of Islamic State, many of them jihadist sympathisers. ICRC President Peter Maurer raised her case during a visit to the camp, run by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in March, they added. "We call on anyone with information to please come forward. If our colleagues are still being held, we call for their immediate and unconditional release," the ICRC said in a statement providing a Syrian contact number: +963 953 555 745. It said it had not been able to learn more details about the two drivers, and their fate was not known. The three were travelling in a Red Cross convoy in October 2013, delivering supplies to medical facilities in Idlib, northwestern Syria, when it was stopped by armed men. Four other people abducted with them were released the next day. The Swiss-run agency has a policy of never paying ransoms. Akavi, now 62, joined the ICRC in 1988 and has worked in a number of hotspots. She has been held longer than anyone in ICRC's 156-year history, said Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations worldwide. New Zealand's government said it was searching for Akavi. Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the government had deployed a non-combat team based in Iraq that included special operations personnel, "focused on locating ...and identifying opportunities to recover her." Story continues After being moved by IS forces to Raqqa in 2017, Akavi was seen in Al-Bukamal in late 2018, close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, the last concrete information on her whereabouts, Stillhart said. "What we actually know is that Louisa has been working as a nurse during her abduction which shows her dedication and commitment," he said. (Writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan and John Stonestreet) The story of the people who built Stonehenge has been unearthed (Picture: PA) Stonehenge was built by the ancestors of immigrants who came to Britain from across the Mediterranean, scientists have revealed. Researchers compared DNA extracted from Neolithic human remains found in the UK with that of people alive at the same time in Europe to make the discovery. They found the Neolithic inhabitants travelled from Anatolia - what is now Turkey - to Iberia before making their way north to Britain in about 4,000BC. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. The DNA testing showed that Neolithic Britons were largely descended from groups of early farmers who travelled west across the Mediterranean from Anatolia. Read more Dramatic footage shows police taser knife-wielding man on train station platform Man attacked after fall by 'world's deadliest bird' with deadly four-inch claws Mother held in Dubai over Facebook horse posts says she 'wanted to die' They travelled by hugging the coast or going from island to island on boats. When they arrived, Britain was inhabited by groups of western hunter-gatherers, but the tests found the two groups did not really mix. The sun rising over Stonehenge in Wiltshire (Picture: PA) Eventually, the hunter-gatherers were almost totally replaced by the farmers, a change believed to be down to sheer numbers. "We don't find any detectable evidence at all for the local British western hunter-gatherer ancestry in the Neolithic farmers after they arrive," the studys co-author Dr Tom Booth, a specialist in ancient DNA from the Natural History Museum in London, told the BBC. "That doesn't mean they don't mix at all, it just means that maybe their population sizes were too small to have left any kind of genetic legacy." Co-author Professor Mark Thomas, from University College London, said the Neolithic farmers were well-prepared for growing crops when they reached Britain. [April 16, 2019] Antenna Group Unifies Specialized Subsidiaries Into Integrated PR, Marketing, Digital and Content Production Brand NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Antenna, an integrated public relations and digital marketing agency, today announced that it has rebranded and consolidated its parent company's subsidiaries including Beckerman, Eco Branding and Chicago Digital under the Antenna brand. The combined agency provides deep domain expertise to power integrated communications and marketing campaigns for companies in the cleantech, real estate, healthcare, mobility, and B2B technology industries. Antenna CEO Keith Zakheim stated: "Our industry-focused practice areas have evolved to be synergistic and complementary, and our new agency structure provides a platform for integrated account teams to drive additional value to our client partners with increased collaboration and the sharing of domain expertise and marketing savvy." A new logo, name, brand identity, and website have been unveiled to communicate the full breadth of Antenna's integrated service offerings, which include public relations and communications, social media, digital marketing, influencer partnerships, website development, video development and creative services. The firm encompasses a team of over 80 professionals across offices in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and New Jersey. "Antenna is equipped to provide our clients with the full arsenal of public relations and marketing services that brands require in today's disrupted, distracted and fragmented media environment," added Zakheim. "With our help, companies can effectively leverage any media platform -- traditional, digital or social -- to drive their message to their key audiences and influencers." The firm's core services -- including strategy, messaging, media relations, event planning, thought leadership, content development, and crisis comunications -- are now bolstered by digital marketing services including social media, paid digital, web design, search engine optimization, and inbound sales and marketing automation, and creative services including branding, graphic design, and corporate video production. The new Antenna logo is an abstraction of an antenna and four signal bars to represent four companies (Antenna, Beckerman, Eco Branding and Chicago Digital) coming together. The gradient of these bars creates a sense of movement, upwards and to the right, representing positive growth, lift-off, and escape velocity. For more information about Antenna, please visit our website at www.antennagroup.com , or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Antenna is always looking for driven and passionate communications professionals to join our growing team. To apply, please send your resume to careers@antennagroup.com. About Antenna Antenna is an integrated public relations and marketing firm with deep domain expertise to power campaigns in real estate, cleantech, mobility, healthcare, and B2B technology. Our team of senior-level professionals executes both strategy and tactics, applying their experience to a wide range of services, from strategic messaging and traditional media relations, to content development and social media. Antenna bolsters these services by harnessing the power of digital marketing and advertising, web development and creative design, to build compelling brands and achieve sales and lead generation objectives with precision and creativity. We blend data with human brilliance to generate meaningful results and transmit messages that matter. Antenna has offices in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and Hackensack, N.J. For more information, visit www.antennagroup.com or follow us on LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter . View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/antenna-group-unifies-specialized-subsidiaries-into-integrated-pr-marketing-digital-and-content-production-brand-300832746.html SOURCE Antenna [ Back To SIP Trunking Home's Homepage ] Michael Devine was convicted in 1981 of attempted murder, and firearms and terrorism offences. The conviction of a man during the Troubles has been sent to Northern Irelands Court of Appeal for review. Michael Devine was convicted in 1981 of attempted murder, and firearms and terrorism offences. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the case back to a Belfast court over concerns about the absence of modern standards of fairness in the police interview process. A CCRC statement said: Having reviewed the case in detail, the commission has decided to refer Mr Devines case for appeal because it considers that there is a real possibility that the court will quash the conviction. He pleaded not guilty at trial but was convicted and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment which he served at the Maze. Mr Devine said: I am very pleased. I am an optimistic person and have always believed that the truth about the nature of the evidence used to convict me in 1981 would eventually be brought to light. He said returning to court after almost 40 years would be an anxious time but he remained hopeful. At the end of the day all I really wanted was to have a fair hearing of the evidence and the facts, and it is my belief that the information uncovered and discovered by the CCRC will go some way to support that. The referral was based on the cumulative weight of a number of new factors including other Court of Appeal decisions, including one that casts doubt on the credibility of at least two officers connected with Mr Devines case, the CCRC said. It also considered new evidence from a forensic linguist expressing concerns about disputed statements and evidence potentially undermining the credibility of the senior interviewing officer. Mr Devines solicitor Joe Rice said: There was always unease about the nature of the evidence that led to Michaels conviction. This is now the first time our Court of Appeal will have the opportunity to examine the totality of the evidence in Michaels case. The UK has sent five Apache attack helicopters to Estonia as a deterrent to "a very credible threat" from Russia. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson watched the aircraft take off from Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk. Upon arrival in Estonia they will be supported by Wildcat battlefield reconnaissance helicopters and form part of the NATO enhanced forward presence, which was established to ward off potential Kremlin aggression. The Apaches will be stationed in the country, which borders Russia to the east and Latvia to the south, for three months and Mr Williamson said their deployment was "really vital". He said: "It's a very credible threat that we see from Russia and part of the reason that we're deploying five Apache attack helicopters is making sure that we're constantly adapting to a changing situation. "But this is about deterrents. This is about NATO nations standing together in unity as one and you see Great Britain playing the largest role in enhanced forward presence with the largest number of service personnel deployed. "The enhancement of that deployment with the Apache attack helicopters is really vital and very, very important and it's been very warmly welcomed by so many nations." NATO created the enhanced forward presence after a summit in Warsaw in July 2016, amid concerns about Russian activity following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. It has resulted in the deployment of defensive but combat-capable forces in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, with multinational battle groups led by Britain, Canada, Germany and the US. While in Estonia, the Apaches will take part in training exercises across the Baltic states - including Exercise Iron Wolf, involving 14 nations in Lithuania. Major David Lambert, commanding officer of 663 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, said: "Whenever you go somewhere new, there's always things that you learn about how to operate. Story continues "Your fieldcraft needs to change and in the UK we train very much in rolling countryside, it favours us in what we do. "Actually putting ourselves in a really flat area in close proximity to the Russian border brings some new, complex challenges that we need to look at. "I'm really excited by the whole prospect." In addition to the helicopters, the UK is sending 110 extra military personnel to the Baltics as part of Operation CABRIT, taking the total number of British forces there to around 1,000. Stills taken from an inspection of Bregel's home where 64 dead cats were discovered. (Fox) A woman who runs an animal rescue centre where 64 cats were found dead and 40 other animals neglected has been banned from keeping animals. Caycee Lynn Bregel, 26, she pleaded guilty to 13 counts of mistreatment of animals on Friday. Prosecutors had sought jail time for the offenses, but Judge Jerome Abrams reduced the jail time to three days of time served. According to police reports Bregel received 144 cats and one dog from the Animal Humane Society between July 2017 and February 2018. Caycee Lynn Bregel, 26, of St Paul, has been charged with 13 counts of animal mistreatment after a May 2018 search of her rural Dakota County animal-rescue operation uncovered 64 dead cats and more than 40 other neglected animals. (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff's Office) She ran the nonprofit Minnesota Animal Rescue, formerly called Minnesota Foster Cats and Kittens. Dakota County sheriffs deputies were called to the rental property three times on reports of numerous dogs and cats inside the home and a pig running loose. During one call, the owner of the home said he went inside and saw cats that were skin and bone and without food and water. The abuse and mistreatment of animals in the manner that occurred in this instance was unconscionable, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement. Stills taken from an inspection of Bregel's home where 64 dead cats were discovered. (Fox) Read more from Yahoo News UK: Number of teen pregnancies falls for tenth year running Man who set fire to model of Grenfell Tower charged Father of boy, nine, killed by dog pays emotional tribute The Dakota County Public Health Department condemned the house. Another nine cats, seven puppies and a dog were found in poor living conditions at a shelter Bregel had not yet opened at 949 Eighth St. in Farmington, according to the complaint. Bregel was sentenced in Dakota County District Court to two years of probation, 90 days of electronic home monitoring, 200 hours of community work service, restitution to the Humane Society and her former landlord, and a psychological evaluation. She has also been told she cannot own, possess or care for any animals. ---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK--- Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next. For two and one-half years, spoiler alerts and rumors have teased fans of "The Young and the Restless" about Adam Newman's possible return. Chelsea was supposed to run into him when she and Nick went to New Orleans with Billy and Phyllis but it did not happen. Nikki and Victoria were going to find Adam at a homeless shelter but that did not pan out. Victor's second son was expected to return to Genoa City before his wife left town last year, and it never took place. Viewers were told that Michael Munhey and later Justin Hartley would reprise the character that both had portrayed, but they did not. Now, however, it has been confirmed that Mark Grossman has been recast in the role and his first airdate will be the middle of May. Adam returns for May Sweeps Soap Dirt indicates that the Newman family will be busy during the next few weeks with Victoria and Nikki trying to figure out what Victor is up to. In May, however, according to Celeb Dirty Laundry Adam will finally make an appearance. Spoilers suggest that the Newman patriarchs big secret is that he has found his prodigal son and is taking care of him. This may be why Nikki found a bill for a psychiatrist. Its possible that Adam has amnesia or emotional issues because of the explosion that supposedly killed him. There are so many questions that need to be answered starting with where Adam has been since October 2016. How did Victor find him and will Chelsea and Conner come back into the equation? Will Melissa Claire Egan return to Y&R or will her role be recast? Will Adam allow Nick to continue raising Christian, or fight for his son? Greg Rikaart is coming back to Genoa City as Kevin so he probably is part of this storyline as well. It looks lovely like this will be a rating winner for May Sweeps. Discuss this news on Eunomia Adam Newman return will boost ratings The new "Y&R" head writer, Josh Griffith, seems to have tapped into the pulse of loyal fans. He is making choices that will please the viewers, boost ratings and overturn bad decisions made by his predecessor. he is reported to have said he wants to return the show to its. It looks like he is up to a good start. glory daysDina, Tracy, and Ashley have all returned to the Abbott mansion, Jabot is a family run company again and Billy and Victoria seem poised to reunite. Kevin and Adam returning will only add to the intrigue of what happens next. Spoilers have promised to update fans regarding Adam's return to Genoa City, so be on the lookout for them. Continue watching what happens in Genoa City each weekday afternoon, because May Sweeps is going to be filled with can't miss episodes. "The Young and the Restless" airs on CBS at 12:30 PM EST Monday through Friday. Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang Meets with Representatives of Chinese Enterprises in Sierra Leone 2019/04/15 On April 3rd, Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang met with more than 20 representatives of Chinese Enterprises in Sierra Leone. The representatives extended warm welcome to Ambassador Hu for his assumption of duty in Sierra Leone and respectively introduced the development of their businesses in this country. Ambassador Hu shared opinions on the international economic situation and the relationship between China and Sierra Leone. He Pointed out that the two countries attached great importance to the bilateral relations and the prospect for bilateral cooperation was broad. Ambassador Hu encouraged all Chinese enterprises in Sierra Leone to continue to operate in accordance with laws and regulations and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation for a win-win result. Silk has become more favored in the world market, with the value of raw silk market alone estimated at $20 billion. Bao Loc could serve as a jumping board for Vietnam to join the lucrative market. Among Vietnams traditional silk villages, including ones existing for over 10 centuries, such as Van Phuc in Hanoi, Nha Xa in Ha Nam, Tan Chau in An Giang and Duy Xuyen in Quang Nam, Bao Loc inherits an important historical responsibility of bringing made-in-Vietnam silk to all over the world. In 1960s, Japanese experts discovered places which had geographical conditions suited to develop the silk industry, including in Gia Lai, Kon Tum and three sites in Lam Dong provinces. These were Duc Trong, Di Linh and Bao Loc districts. After five decades, Bao Loc has left its imprint on the nations and regions silk industry. Bao Loc is famous not only as the biggest silk production base, but also for its premium quality. With six weaving mills and 40 automatic silk reeling systems, the locality made 1,700 tons of raw silk cord and 6 million square meters of finished silk products in 2017. While Bao Locs silk is exported and ordered by the worlds leading fashion brands, Vietnam is not on the worlds silk map. Silk products made in Vietnam are sold in the international market under foreign brands. Huynh Tan Phuoc, director of Nhat Minh Silk, said previously the reeling capacity was low because it was done manually. Now, with the support of automatic machines, the capacity is higher and the quality is better. We have first-class silk exported to Japan and India, Phuoc said. Vietnams premium-quality silk is now used by many international fashion brands. Some silk products with Italian, Japanese and Thai brands are made in Bao Loc. Silk traders order silk with the mills and Bao Loc exports their brands, according to Minh Hanh, a famous fashion designer. While Bao Locs silk is exported and ordered by the worlds leading fashion brands, Vietnam is not on the worlds silk map. Silk products made in Vietnam are sold in the international market under foreign brands. This is because of the lack of a policy which connects material areas and traditional weaving villages that are thousands of years old. It is difficult to approach premium-quality material sources, even for Van Phuc, a long existing weaving village. According to the Vietnam Mulberry Association, Vietnam has to import 1,000 tons of materials from China and Brazil to make products for export. Kosho Matsunaga from Matsumura, a company that exports silk products, advised Vietnam to expand the silk industry because the global demand for silk has doubled in the last 20 years. RELATED NEWS Hanoi oldest silk village preserves its own style Silk industry revives in silk metropolis Hoang Nam The global investment firm proposed mobilizing capital for the project under the form of sale-and-leaseback, VietnamFinance reported. BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager with US$5.98 trillion in asset management, has proposed to secure funds for the Dung Quat oil refinery expansion project, according to Christian Synetos, vice president of BlackRock. BlackRocks condition is to have guarantee from state-run Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) parent company of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR) the operator of Dung Quat oil refinery. Synetos made the proposal under the form of sale-and-leaseback at the meeting with Ho Sy Hung, deputy chairman of Committee for State Capital Management (CMSC). BlackRocks vice president referred to a type of financial transaction in which one sells an asset and leases it back for the long-term, therefore, one continues to be able to use the asset but no longer owns it. As of present, BlackRock and BSR are still in discussion with regard to the financial arrangement process. At the meeting, Hung highly regarded BlackRocks initiative regarding the oil refinery's expansion project, considering it open and new in Vietnam. Currently, Vietnam has regulations regarding leaseback, said Hung, adding the CMSC would work with PVN and BSR on the proposal. Dung Quat refinery, the first-ever oil refinery in Vietnam, processes about 6.5 million tons of crude oil per year, meeting only 30% of the domestic demand for petroleum products, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. CMSC, dubbed as super committee, is tasked with managing state capital in 19 major state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including PVN, with total assets worth VND2,300 trillion (US$100 billion). Those corporations in subject play an essential role in Vietnam's economy, holding two-thirds of total state capital. Hanoitimes The extent of internet penetration and the percentage of smart phones and social media users in the country is higher than the global average and countries with similar development level, said experts. In the next five years, Vietnam could process nearly 40 million e-payment transactions per year, 40 times higher than the current capacity of the local banking sector, according to Le Hong Minh, chairman of technology company VNG. Vietnams digital technology sector has huge potential for development, especially when the extent of internet penetration and the percentage of smart phones and social media users in the country is higher than the global average and countries with similar development level, Minh said at a conference discussing Vietnams internet ecosystem in Singapore on April 13. However, Minh said Vietnam is facing fundamental challenges to make a leap in developing digital technology, referring to the lack of IT applications in local enterprises and qualified personnel. Vu Minh Khuong, a Vietnamese-origin lecturer at the National University of Singapore, highly regarded Vietnams rapid economic growth, while stressing the necessity of digitalizing and reforming the economy to maintain the growth momentum. Khuong reckoned IT application would have substantial impacts on Vietnams market growth. VNGs Deputy Director in charge of cloud computing Vu Minh Tri said huge investment capital is required for developing infrastructure, averaging 60% of a countrys GDP. In this context, Tri predicted the growing demand for digitalizing the process of infrastructure management, which opens up opportunities for cloud services to develop and access this huge amount of capital. Alex Smith, head of Microsofts Azure Cloud, said cloud computing services would contribute significantly to improving Vietnams business environment in a fair and transparent manner, which could be done through the removal of barriers for small and medium enterprises in accessing markets. This is an important factor to create a competitive environment to attract domestic and foreign investors, Smith concluded. Hanoitimes Household businesses are being encouraged to develop into private enterprises and contribute more to economic development. The Huong Thanh household business in Dong Ky ward, Tu Son town, in northern Bac Ninh province has grown rich over recent years, with annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars, from hand-crafting fine art products and exports. The household business (HHB) and more than 2,000 others in the locality, however, can no longer do business without registering with authorities, as Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a project to put the informal economy into the GDP basket. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Vuong, Chairman of the Dong Ky Fine Arts Product Association, said that HHBs are among five components in the unobserved economy and statistics will be compiled in every craft village. Economic strategies According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the project will improve the quality of statistics to fully and correctly reflect the socioeconomic circumstances, thus better serving planning by sectors and localities. An unobserved economy is an economy that reflects the performance results of all economic entities in society but whose performance has not been quantified. This economic entity is comprised of several elements, such as underground economic activities, illegal economic activities, informal economic activities that have not been observed, self-reliance household economic activities, and missing economic activities. An economy needs data that reflects its full and true picture, according to Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, General Director of the GSO. Authentic statistics would serve as the basis for the government, ministries, branches, and localities to properly assess the situation to adopt solutions and policies to manage the economy and achieve socioeconomic development objectives. Statistical data is also the basis for building a five-year socioeconomic development plan and a ten-year socioeconomic development strategy. Thus, complete and accurate statistical data would help the government set economic development goals for each period, he added. Efforts to obtain statistics on the unobserved economy is a key function and such projects need to be promoted, Dr. Le Duy Binh, economist at Economica Vietnam, told VET. From this measure, we would know the health of an economic sector in a certain period of time and come up with appropriate policies to manage and regulate the national economy, he said. This would improve transparency, sustainability, and productivity in the economy. In developed countries, with better and modern government, unobserved, underground, and informal economic activities often make only a small contribution to growth. Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of the Legal Department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the purpose of the project should not focus on collecting taxes from informal economic activities but instead aim to boost the development of business activities, especially by HHBs. As they are Some local economists argue that the informal economy should not be included in GDP, as it would increase it and be misleading. When GDP increases, it changes many other figures, such as budget overspending, while the ratio of public debt to GDP decreases. The vitality of HHBs lies in flexible production and business operations, with their simple model allowing them to quickly adapt to new circumstances and sudden changes, thus enabling them to grow. Meanwhile, with a bigger operational scale, private enterprises do not possess such flexibility. The number of enterprises that suspended operations or were dissolved in 2018 increased 49.7 per cent and 34.7 per cent, respectively, compared to 2017, despite record-high GDP growth of 7.08 per cent, according to the GSO. The figures show that the HHB sector, which does not receive any incentives at all, can create higher value than the foreign-invested economic sector, which makes up 27 per cent of GDP, and the State-owned economic sector, which makes up 20 per cent. The private sector is characterized by a high level of informality and quasi-formality, with excessive regulations, ineffective enforcement, and high compliance costs being key reasons why, according to a recent report entitled Vietnams Private Sector: Productivity and Prosperity released in 2018 by Dr. Binh at Economica Vietnam. HHBs continued to be the preferred form for starting up a business, especially for those who do it out of necessity just to earn a living. The larger HHBs that benefit from this ambiguity provoke complaints from formally-registered enterprises regarding unfair competition. HHBs are reluctant to graduate into enterprises because of the required changes in the accounting system, proper bookkeeping, compliance with more stringent social security and labor regulations, and higher tax reporting requirements, etc. When registered as a company, an HHB will be subject to more rigorous and transparent regulatory systems, which come with higher compliance costs. Mr. Vuong from the Dong Ky Fine Arts Product Association acknowledged an obstacle seen in the village over recent years. Though Dong Ky is well known as a craft village with many unknown billionaires, many HHBs simply dont want to join the formal economic sector as they cant see the benefits. According to Economica Vietnam, a ten employee HHB, after converting into an enterprise, will immediately incur an increase in regulatory compliance costs of VND181.2 million ($7,800) per year. Regulatory reforms and reductions in compliance costs are needed to promote the formalization of HHB. Mr. Tuan said the GSO has collected information to assess the informal economic sector and self-consumption of households every five years, and only underground and illegal activities remain uncalculated in Vietnams annual GDP reports. HHBs shouldnt be subject to this project, he added, but they have been encouraged to develop into private enterprises so they can make appropriate contributions to the State budget. Improvements to come Ten years ago, evaluation reports prepared by other agencies and organizations measured the amount of cash outside of official circulation. The results showed that the value of this informal sector was about 30 to 35 per cent of GDP. Finding the same result, the Economica Vietnam report found that HHBs accounted for 30.4 per cent of GDP but only contributed 1.56 per cent to the State budget, excluding revenue from oil. Compared to the private sector, the contribution of HHBs to GDP was triple and equivalent to 10 per cent of that from legally-registered businesses. The number of HHBs now stands at about 5 million. Meanwhile, a 2018 study published by Fulbright University Vietnam estimates that the sector involves around 57 per cent of the total workforce. Any improvement in the performance of HHBs will help boost overall productivity in the economy, Dr. Binh wrote in the report. The formalization process will also help accelerate the reallocation of resources from the HHB sector to the formal private sector, where productivity is higher, and the use of resources will be more effective. However, the HHB sector is currently subject to the same regulations while its scale is diverse and varied. This one-size-fit-all regulatory approach has not been particularly effective. Meanwhile, existing databases on HHBs are inadequate, fragmented, and missing much-needed information, according to the report. A national database on HHBs with adequate necessary information would help give a detailed description of HHBs by segment, sector, industry, and geographic location, etc. Only then can policies and support measures from the government be effectively designed and implemented. We need to act carefully considering the key target of the project is HHBs and they are a large part of the informal economy. It would lead to negative opinions and be unfair on HHBs, which are contributing to economic growth and even impact development and the process of formalizing the sector, Dr. Binh said. Back at Dong Ky village, Mr. Vuong expects a project called Village of Startups will soon be launched, with the aim of 200 newly-established HHBs operating their business more professionally and transparently, complying with regulations on business, the environment, and workers, and meeting the requirements of foreign partners from the EU and Japan. But to reach this goal, there needs to be support from appropriate agencies in terms of administrative procedures and business environment, he added. VN Economic Times The European Unions evermore stringent regulations on quality management, food safety as well as traceability have piled tremendous pressure on Vietnams agricultural exports to this bloc. Dragon fruits are among Vietnam's key exports to the EU in addition to coffee, black pepper cashew nuts, rice, and several spicy vegetables The EU has recently announced its revision of appendices II, III, VI in Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005 on pesticide residues such as chlorantraniliprole, clomazone, cyclaniliprole and fenazaquin in vegetables, fruit and foodstuffs. According to Vuong Truong Giang, head of the Division for Food Safety and the Environment under the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, these changes will affect some Vietnams farm exports to the EU, for instance coffee, black pepper, cashew nuts, rice, dragon fruits and spicy vegetables. Statistics from the Department for Processing and Agroproduct Development of the same ministry show that sales of several key farm exports to the EUblack pepper, cashew nuts and coffeedeclined across the board in February. For instance, an estimated 12,000 tons of black pepper worth US$35 million was shipped to the EU, down 20% in value year-on-year. This was one of the products which suffered the deepest dive. The total agricultural-forestry-fisheries product export during the first two months reached US$5.5 billion, 1.6% lower than that of the year-earlier period, of which the value of key agricultural exports attained US$2.71 billion, plunging 10.1%. Being one of the biggest buyers of Vietnams farm produce, the EU has prescribed high standards for food safety, package labeling and environment. Although the changes may not immediately exert tremendous impact on Vietnams key farm exports to the EU, Giang noted that legal regulations on technical barriers have been continuously reviewed and revised by the EU. Up to now, few Vietnamese enterprisesmostly small and micro enterpriseshave paid adequate attention to the EUs changes which are in fact rather frequent. Giang noticed that Vietnams farm produce exports to the EU have significantly improved their positions in the import profile of the EU, possibly making them a subject of scrutiny of the blocs responsible agencies. The dilemma of Vietnamese enterprises is how to get EU regulation changes updated, whereby they can put things under control so as to meet the requirements for agricultural products imported to this bloc, said Giang. The rules of origin woes During a recent forum on agricultural export, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong asserted the grim fact that economies across the worldincluding the EUare strengthening their protection for local farm products by imposing higher standards of quality control, food safety and traceability. From the standpoint of a specialist, Giang warned that Vietnamese enterprises should be thoroughly aware of changes made by the EU which are normally posted on the website of the European commission for food safety. Giang said the website of his Plant Protection Department has also regularly updated revisions in markets to which Vietnamese farm products are exported. Therefore, relevant business associations maintaining trade relations with the EU should monitor them to actively revise their business plans. The pressure will further intensify when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is ratified by the EU, observed industry experts. Although the EVFTA is expected to facilitate Vietnams farm export to the EU with the removal of tariff barriers, Pham Thi Du, an economist from Thuongmai University (Trade University), contended that meeting requirements for EU rules of origin, or overcoming its technical or quarantine barriers is a formidable challenge for quite a few Vietnamese enterprises. Du argued that the main source of materials used to produce Vietnams agricultural exports is from China, ASEAN and countries which have not yet signed an FTA with Vietnam. Take cashew nuts for example. They are primarily imported from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria, which account for 63% of the total demand. Currently, the EU is applying relatively stringent regulations on the origin of cashew nuts as it considers the shelling process of this commodity a simple one. Thus, to optimize the tariff incentives available, the Vietnamese cashew nut industry has to raise the ratio of the nuts provided locally. Meanwhile, the Department for Processing and Agroproduct Development reported that Vietnams cashew nut export during the first two months of this year dropped in both quantity and value, reaching 44,000 tons and US$365 million, a minus growth rate of 3.1% and 22.3%, respectively, against the same period last year. Experts argued that Vietnams cashew nut industry has suffered from an imbalance between its processing capacity and domestic production of cashew nuts. To keep its leading position, the industry should improve productivity and quality from which it would seek opportunities to export more to demanding markets such as the United States and the EU. To cope with nations which have erected more protection barriers, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has taken a host of measures. One of them in 2019 involves the formation of a set of national standards and specifications which concert regional and global regulations. In addition, this ministry has said it will stringently deal with violations affecting farm product quality to uphold the reputation of Vietnams products in both domestic and international markets. Vietnams agricultural products are exported to 180 countries and territories, winning her the second place in Southeast Asia in that regard and 15th in the world with 10 items gaining export value worth more than US$1 billion each, and six earning more than US$3 billionnamely shrimp, woodwork, vegetables, cashew nuts, coffee and rice. SGT Newly-operated Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh is seeking the Ministry of Transports permission for serving stop-over charter flights. For international air routes, initially, the airport plans to focus on charter flights. Since being put into operation by the end of last year, the airport has served only HCM City-Van Don flights. The airport management board has worked with many travel firms about the charter flight co-operation. At the meetings, travel companies expected that stop-over charter flights can be allowed at the airport. For instance, after being transported to Van Don, passengers can stay there for several days, and then continue flying to their second destinations such as Danang, Hue, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Dalat. The airport has proposed the Ministry of Transport to consider licensing this service. At present, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has one HCM City-Van Don flight per day, using an Airbus A350. Flights depart HCM City at 2 pm and land at Van Don at 4:05 pm. The return flight leaves Van Don at 4:45 pm and arrives in HCM City at 6:50 pm. Budget airlines VietJet and Bamboo Airways are also providing flights on the Van Don-HCM City route. Van Don International Airport costs VND7.46 trillion (USD330 million) and has capacity for 2.5 million passengers a year. The airport is intended to provide routes to Northeast Asian destinations like South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan as well as Southeast Asian markets like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia in the coming time. Hanoimoi/Dtinews Solar power could be considered an important instrument for Vietnam to fulfill the sustainable development goals. Vietnam is projected to attract US$12 billion in solar power projects by 2025 and US$42 billion by 2035, according to experts. Overview of the conference. Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that 121 solar power projects have been approved as of August 2018, which are expected to add 6,100 megawatts (MW) of output by 2020 and another 7,200MW by 2030. This would far exceed the estimated output of 4,000MW by 2025, but still accounts for only 6% of total electricity output in Vietnam, said Le Hai Hung, a lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, at a conference discussing the potential of Vietnams solar energy on April 10. Of the total, 25 solar farms have signed power purchase agreements with Vietnams biggest power producer and sole distributor Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), not to mention another 221 projects awaiting approval, with a combined 13,000MW of potential output, Hung informed. He noted that Vietnam has an average solar irradiance of 4 5kwh/sqm/day, which is higher than global average and comparable to developed solar markets in the region such as Thailand, China or the Philippines. According to Hung, Vietnam is in the process of developing a full-fledged regulatory regime for renewable energy with various policy instruments including Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) support at 9.35 US cents per kWh in a 20-year period, which is higher than the average price of VND1,800. In the latest revision of Vietnams power development plan, the country targets to increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix from 7% in 2015 to 21% in 2030 or 27.2GW of installed capacity. These factors have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of solar power projects in Vietnam, Hung stated. Nguyen Thi Mai Dung from GreenID Vietnam said a large number of new solar investment projects that are mainly planned in Central and Southern Vietnam has raised concerns regarding potential land-use conflicts. In addition, the high concentration of planned projects in a few provinces is causing grid integration challenges in these areas. Under this context, GreenID has proposed a dual-use approach that combines food production and solar energy generation on the same land area, aiming to reduce land-use conflicts and generate multiple benefits for the society, Dung added. More importantly, the approach would cause less impact on the power grid due to reduced capacity density, she said. Given its characteristics, solar power could be considered an important instrument for Vietnam to fulfil the sustainable development goals, Emilia Motoasca, lecturer at Belgiums KU Leuven University, told Hanoitimes. Solar power can be produced in places where traditional energy sources have not been able to reach, especially in remote areas, Motoasca stated. Motoasca said the availability of electricity would help improve locals sustainability and reduce their usages from the grid. Solar energy is the future, and Vietnam has a bright future, she said, adding the country has good climate where people can harvest solar energy everywhere and all year long. Hanoitimes Four US energy firms see great chances to invest in the country where energy demand grows 10% annually. A number of US giant energy corporations have expressed their interest in investing in Vietnams energy sector which is projected to double in size in the next two decades. Alexander C. Feldman, president and CEO of the USABC, at the meeting with Vietnamese officials in Washington D.C earlier this week. Photo: VGP At a meeting between the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) held in Washington D.C and Vietnamese government officials, representatives from four US-based energy giants namely ExxonMobil, AES, Cheniere Energy, and Energy Capital Vietnam said that there remain a lot of opportunities to invest in this sector in the context of rising energy consumption required for the fast-growing economy. The energy firms showed their eagerness after Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An said that the ministry will soon develop a power generation map that focuses on using energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) as supplied by US firms. The planning will offer opportunities for US firms which are able to supply LNG at competitive prices, stable supply, and suitable mechanism, An said at the USABCs roundtable meeting. According to the Vietnamese governments portal, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked authorized agencies to support ExxonMobil in petrochemical complex and offshore oil and gas projects, AES in Mong Duong Thermal Power Plant in the northern province of Quang Ninh, Energy Capital Vietnam (ECV) a Vietnam-focused project development and asset management company in 3.2 GW semi-offshore power project in the central province of Quang Nam, and Cheniere Energy in seeking investment opportunities in the Southeast Asian country. Cheniere Enenrgy Inc. said it saw the market potential following the Vietnamese governments plans to boost the use of LNG and renewable energy as Cheniere Enenrgy was the first US firm to export LNG in 2016. So far, it has shipped cargoes to 32 countries and Vietnam would be the next destination. The company can offer products in Vietnam at competitive prices, stable supply, and flexible sales. ExxonMobil and AES said they have witnessed Vietnams improved business environment over the past years as the government has been taking drastics measures to tackle problems and create favorable conditions for the investors. A joint venture between ExxonMobil and Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has advanced plans for the multi-billion dollar gas exploitation project off Vietnams central shore Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale), which is Vietnams largest gas field discovered in 2011. The Ca Voi Xanh project could bring a number of long-term benefits to the country, including cleaner, reliable power to help drive economic growth and improved living standards, foreign media quoted President of ExxonMobil Development Company Liam Mallon as saying. If the project goes forward, it is estimated to generate $20 billion in revenue to the Vietnamese government, thousands of local jobs and improved energy security from domestic gas development, he added. AES Corporation, which holds a 51% stake in the US$1.95-billion 1,240MW Mong Duong 2 Plant in Quang Ninh province, is seeking to expand its operations in Vietnam. President and CEO Andres Gluski told the Power-technology: Beyond Mong Duong 2, we see a number of potential opportunities for AES in Vietnam, to help meet their rapidly growing demand for electricity. David Lewis, CEO of Energy Capital Vietnam, earlier said on the firm's website that they are grateful for the support and assistance from the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on this project which aims to bring LNG power to Vietnam in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Importing US-sourced LNG to Vietnam will bring Texas resources into a vibrant new marketplace and help reduce the trade deficit between the two countries, David Lewis said. David Lewis noted that ECV is able to mobilize private capital for energy projects in Vietnam. In turn, Minister - Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said that Vietnam has prioritized the development of energy and sought for different solutions. That would be a great chance for investors, mainly those from the US, he said. To facilitate the investment, the Vietnamese government has removed hurdles and offered investment incentives in the energy sector, the Vietnamese official said. Alexander C. Feldman, president and CEO of the USABC, said that the Vietnamese government has been making better policies and offering improved business environment to welcome foreign investors, including those from the US. Earlier in March, 2019, the USABC and representatives from more than 50 US firms made a field visit to Vietnam, where they saw the Vietnamese governments willingness to offer a good environment for the investors, Alexander C. Feldman said at the meeting. Vietnam energy profile As of end 2018, Vietnams installed capacity reached 48,560MW. The annual energy growth varied between 10% in 2016-2020 and around 8% in the 2021-2030 period. The country is estimated to need 60,000MW by 2020, 96,500MW by 2025, and 129,500MW by 2030, statistics cited by the Cong Thuong magazine showed at a meeting held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28-29, 2019. Hanoitimes In 2018, only 23% of luxury homes were sold to locals, outpaced by Chinese, while South Koreans and Hong Kong (China) residents followed closely behind. To the Chinese investors, Vietnams market for luxury departments, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, prove irresistible, Bloomberg reported. Ever since Vietnam allowed foreigners to own apartments in July 2015, its luxury housing sector has been on a tear, stated Bloomberg. Luxury home prices soared 17% in 2018, while the rest of the residential market stayed largely flat, Dung Duong, a research analyst at real estate service firm CBRE told Bloomberg. In the same year, only 23% of luxury homes were sold to locals, outpaced by Chinese, CBRE estimated. South Koreans and Hong Kong (China) residents followed closely behind. For Chinese, as early as 2016, marketing brochures touted Ho Chi Minh City as Vietnams Shanghai, and Thu Thiem as a newer Pudong, the glitzy central business district that rose from abandoned farm land. As they see it, Vietnam now is China a decade ago a politically stable country that can reap riches through exports and a friendly relationship with the US. And for Chinese investors used to sky-high prices at home, Vietnam's luxury apartments seem like a good deal. Earlier this year, China Vanke, the third largest developer on the mainland, launched a riverside project in Shanghais Pudong with units priced at more than US$15,000 per square meter, more than double a similar project located near Ho Chi Minh Citys central business district. Hanoitimes Domestic milk producers are seeking new growth opportunities as changes in consumption trends and competitive pressure start to be felt. Declining growth in Vietnams dairy market continues unabated and local enterprises will face greater competitive pressure when seeking new growth in 2019. A number of leading local players recorded slower profit growth last year and now seek opportunities to invest in expanding their high nutrient and healthier categories as well as exports, either via joint ventures or mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Local consumers have become increasingly choosy when purchasing dairy products and as Vietnams middle-class rises, better living standards see demand for high-quality dairy products and beverages head upwards, according to the Rong Viet Securities Company (VDSC). Fiercer competition Growth in total dairy revenue in 2018 increased only slightly compared to 2017. In the first six months of last year, growth in total spending on dairy products was less than 5 per cent, though spending in both urban and rural areas showed signs of growth in the third quarter. The overall decline was primarily due to falling sales in two categories - liquid and powdered milk - which normally contribute nearly three-quarters to growth in total value, according to the Vietnam Dairy Association (VDA). Liquid milk production reached 1.5 million liters in 2018 while powdered milk reached 138,000 tons, both up 2.1 per cent compared to 2017. In particular, some 70 per cent of liquid milk production was reconstituted milk, with much lower nutritional value than fresh milk and partly leading to the shrinking growth. Demand for fresh milk such as UHT (Ultra high temperature) milk and pasteurized milk are increasing, however. Vietnamese consumers are now responding to the latest trends around the world, where a preference is seen for high-quality, organic milk, A2 milk, 100 per-cent natural fresh milk products, and products from walnuts and macadamia nuts, according to Vinamilk, the leading local dairy company. In terms of powdered milk, NutiFood, Friesland Campina, and TH true Milk have all made efforts to acquire more market share from Vinamilk, through launching new products over the last two years. Thanks to such a strategy, NutiFood now has over 15 per cent of total market share in powered milk, up from 10 per cent in 2014, and follows only Vinamilk, which has 40.6 per cent. Other international dairy brands like Abbott, Mead Johnson, and Nestle, which have strengths in terms of marketing and research and development (R&D), are more competitive against Vinamilk. Expanding scales As the high-end product line still accounts for only a small proportion of total milk supply in Vietnam, local dairy companies have rapidly switched product structures in recent years to meet actual demand. Earlier this year, NutiFood cooperated with Japans Asahi Group to set up a joint venture focusing on bringing Japanese-standard products to Vietnamese children. High-end products under the Wakado brand name will be available in the country this year. The product line promises to earn major revenue for the company, Mr. Le Nguyen Hoa, NutiFoods Vice Chairman, told VET. We are also continuing to invest in R&D to create more new product lines to win over local consumers. In order to expand production to meet domestic consumption and export demand, NutiFood has invested some $88 million in a new factory at the Song Than 3 Industrial Park in southern Binh Duong province, and will expand its existing Hung Yen province factory in Vietnams north. In addition to its three existing factories in Binh Duong, Hung Yen, and the central highlands Gia Lai province, another is under construction in northern Ha Nam province. Similarly, the Moc Chau Milk Company plans to introduce products such as cheese, butter, and premium organic milk. GTN Food, which owns Moc Chau Milk, plans to boost the local producers growth through expanding distribution networks and cattle heads. It holds about 30 per cent of the liquid milk market share in northern rural areas and 2.7 per cent of total market share. Preparations are underway to expand into the southern market through developing 23,000 35,000 cows over the next two years. As such, production capacity will reach 125,000 tons per year, up 160 per cent compared to current capacity. Earlier this year, it also launched a series of new products, such as fresh pasteurized milk with banana and sour milk cheese. The company expects revenue to increase about 5 per cent, equal to growth in the market as a whole. Vinamilk has also had a number of investment projects in the US, New Zealand, and Cambodia in recent years, in addition to its 13 factories in Vietnam. These projects have helped increase its capacity to better compete in domestic and international dairy markets. Overseas factories are also helping it compete well in more than 43 export markets and the domestic market, where it also competes with foreign dairy brands. Vinamilk plans to launch a premium organic powdered milk product for children this year, which will compete directly with foreign brands in terms of price. In recent years, its market share in infant formula has increased mainly thanks to its Optimum brands (in cities) and Grow Plus. We constantly observe the latest trends around the world, promoting product R&D and partnering with leading international companies to meet nutritional needs and improve the physical condition of Vietnamese people, said Mr. Phan Minh Tien, Vinamilks Managing Director. Local dairy companies may face obstacles handling demand for plant-based dairy products, as these differ greatly from their regular portfolios. It will take time for them to change product structures and meet market demand, according to Ms. Dang Thi Phuong Thao, an analyst at VDSC. They currently must import high-quality cattle from Europe and North America, leading to higher expenditure. At the same time, Vietnams hot and humid climate is simply not favorable for dairy farming and affects output quality, she added. Companies that fail to meet this trend will be subject to declining growth and market share, she believes. VDSC appreciates the efforts of two dairy companies, Vinamilk and TH true milk, which have caught up with this trend through the launch of high-end dairy products. They are also building a closed production model from farm to finished product, increasing self-control over farming areas to better control production costs and increase output quality, Ms. Thao said. Total dairy revenue & growth in Vietnam, 2014-2018 (Unit: $ billion) Source: Q&Me and VDSC, 2019 Growth by category, 2013-2022f (%) Source: Q&Me and VDSC, 2019 Effect of trade agreements VDSC has forecast that long-term growth trends in the dairy industry will remain positive. Dairy consumption per capita in Vietnam is still at a low 26 liters per person per year, compared to 35 liters in Thailand and 45 liters in Singapore. At the same time, other factors such as Vietnams large, young, quickly-growing population and increasing incomes of the middle class will promote demand for milk in the long term. Market researchers Statista have forecast revenue of $2.4 billion in 2019, with average revenue per capita of $24.63, and annual growth of 7.3 per cent in 2019-2023. Under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), dairy products from Japan, Singapore, and New Zealand are no longer subject to import tariffs, which will translate into lower prices of foreign brands from these countries and increased competition for domestic brands, according to Mr. Tran Quang Trung, Chairman of VDA. VDSC believes that the advantage will belong to companies that have prepared sufficient resources to catch up. According to the development plan for Vietnams dairy processing industry to 2020 and vision to 2025, domestic fresh milk production is expected to reach 1 billion liters, meeting 38 per cent of demand by 2020, and 1.4 billion liters, meeting 40 per cent of demand, by 2025. The stable growth of the economy, followed by income growth and better quality of life, will see demand for dairy products continue to increase in the coming years, said Mr. Tien. This requires companies continuously renew themselves, especially in promoting new product R&D and applying the latest scientific research achievements in nutrition, to create products tailored to the increasingly diverse and demanding needs of consumers. VIR Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang Visits the China-aid Agricultural technical Cooperation Project 2019/04/15 On April 3rd, Chinese Ambassador Hu Zhangliang visited the 13th phase of the China-aid Agricultural technical Cooperation Project and met with the agricultural expert group. Ambassador Hu debriefed the development of this project and fully affirmed the experts' work. Ambassador Hu had an in-depth exchanges of views with the experts on the present situation of agricultural development in Sierra Leone and the prospects for agricultural cooperation between the two countries. Ambassador Hu then paid an on-site visit to Ogoo Farm where the project was mainly conducted. Ambassador Hu pointed out that agriculture is one of the key areas of the bilateral cooperation and encouraged the experts to make more contributions to the agricultural development in Sierra Leone. Vietnams steel industry is facing 47 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations from importing countries, accounting for one-third of the total cases of Vietnamese goods, according to a report from the VN Trade Defence Department. Steel is subjected to the highest number of trade defence investigations in the world because it is produced by many countries and is considered a product related to national security. Photo diendandatdai.com According to Pham Chau Giang, deputy director of the department, steel is subjected to the highest number of trade defence investigations in the world because it is produced by many countries and is considered a product related to national security. After the US, other countries such as Canada, Turkey and EU have also launched investigations to apply safeguard measures to the entire steel industry. That is not to mention the fact that other countries have increased the number of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations of specific steel items and specific countries, Giang said. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD), the global oversupply of steel was nearly 900 million tonnes in 2017, most of which came from China. Giang said the oversupply was caused by the slowdown of the world economy, which resulted in losses for many steel enterprises, and by the return of trade protectionism. Although Viet Nams steel products are being heavily investigated by many countries, Vietnamese steel enterprises still have high growth rates in production and exports in the region, Giang said. "Not every investigation has caused Viet Nams steel products to be subjected to tax and damages. For example, Giang said Indonesia had recently decided to terminate the application of safeguard measures on Vietnamese cold steel sheets after Viet Nam sued the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for those measures, which Viet Nam said violated WTO regulations. In addition, the MoIT has also co-operated with the Vietnam Steel Association and export enterprises to prove that Vietnamese exporters do not dump and do not receive subsidies from the Government. "Many investigation cases have been conducted, but not all are subject to taxes, so they still could export," he said. This result does not only benefit businesses who are facing investigations, but also creates a positive precedent for fighting against similar cases in the future, especially in the context of protectionism, which has increased in the world, Giang added. In the domestic market, Viet Nam has taken action to protect its domestic market, which is facing pressure from Chinas low-quality steel products, which are prevented from export by some countries but can spill over into Viet Nam. Giang said the Trade Defence Department was in the process of finalising the "white book" on trade barriers for steel products, which is expected to be announced at the end of the second quarter this year. Viet Nam tightens trade defence to protect domestic industries MoIT recently unveiled a master programme on trade defence solutions for 2018-20 to protect domestic industries. It focuses on strengthening policies and institutions and improving enforcement of legal provisions on trade defence to support them. According to the ministry, anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures are permitted by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and free trade agreements, and countries are allowed to establish an equal competitive environment by supporting domestic industries. In the context of Viet Nam's deep integration into the regional and global economies, trade defence measures have become an important policy tool contributing to enhancing the efficiency of the economic integration process, it said. It said it would focus on building government management agencies trade defence capacity and strengthening protection of industries. The tasks would be concretised into specific programmes and activities to achieve the main objectives of supporting development and improving the productivity and competitiveness of domestic industry and making use of favourable conditions in free trade agreements, it added. The ministrys Department of Trade Defence will be entrusted with co-ordinating with relevant agencies to carry out the master proramme. VNS Viet Nams aviation industry has seen its strongest growth in the past decades with double-digit growth set in five consecutive years, but it is still faced with sustainable development issues. This was the theme discussed by aviation officials and experts at a conference to seek solutions for sustainable aviation development held by Giao Thong newspaper in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh last week. The network of domestic airlines has expanded rapidly with the participation of national carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget carriers Viejet, Jetstar Pacific, Bamboo Airways and Viet Nam Air Services Company (Vasco). According to deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Pham Van Hao, Vietnam Airlines had been the main carrier, but now the likes of private enterprises such as Vietjet and Bamboo Airways had stepped in. This has changed both quality and quantity. Viet Nam's air route network has also experienced many changes and now has nearly 60 domestic routes and 130 international routes compared to 25 and 54 routes in 2008, Hao said. Hao said in 2008, international flights mainly flew through Noi Bai, Da Nang and Tan Son Nhat airports. They were now connected to many other airports such as Cat Bi, Can Tho, Cam Ranh, Lien Khuong and Phu Quoc. This has created relatively solid and sustainable development, he said. I want to emphasise that aviation must not only comply with domestic regulations but also internationally. With aviation, safety must come first. If you're just running after profit, you won't be able to ensure safety regulations, and you'll run into trouble. The history of aviation development has proven this. Safety not only determines the existence of an airline but also the honour and prestige of the nation, Hao said. He said the aviation picture in Viet Nam was beautiful at present thanks to the participation of the private sector, such as Bamboo Airways, SunGroup and Van Don Airport, bringing many benefits to the community and passengers. Fair competition in aviation would create benefits for both the community and the nation's reputation. Deputy Director of the Ministry of Transports Planning and Investment Department Tran Minh Phuong said the demand for air travel had followed the countrys economic development. Phuong said the ministry had advised the Prime Minister to adjust the aviation development plan. We forecast double-digit growth will continue until 2020 and gradually fall off after that. Of course, this is a predictable number that will be the basis and orientation for infrastructure development so that airlines can plan to invest and exploit synchronously and effectively. Infrastructure behind transportation needs Do Duc Tu, a representative of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the most specific proof of the hot development of aviation was at Tan Son Nhat Airport. The airport had been overloaded due to weak connections among traffic, railway stations and the apron. On one flight to HCM City, we had to circle for about an hour before we landed. The hot development of the sector is positive because this is an opportunity to develop aviation and the air transport business. However, the growth rate is leaving airport infrastructure behind, Tu said. "Another problem is the human factor. Airlines could mobilise capital to establish an airline and sign contracts to buy large aircraft, but human resources are a matter of concern. We have the facilities but there must be skilled operators to ensure absolute safety," he said. Economist Vo Tri Thanh said the most important thing in this area was that the States thinking about the role of the private economy and market economy had changed, and the private sector could now develop to its strengths. He said in the field of infrastructure investment, the private sectors participation had helped implement complicated projects that required high-tech and strict standards such as airports and tunnels. When participating in free trade agreements, private or foreign individuals are equal in the bidding for State investment projects, Thanh said. "We need to encourage the participation of the private sector. All methods such as subsidies and social programmes must be transparent. That is the way to operate smoothly, turning to a healthy and competitive market economy." Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam Lai Xuan Thanh said Viet Nam was one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. The development of aviation was always under the control of the State, so it would be implemented following the aviation transport development strategy approved by the Prime Minister. Under the strategy, about 104 million passengers will use air routes by 2020. The figure will reach 308 million by 2030. This development is entirely in the forecasts, orientation and plans of the State, Thanh said. VNS WB Vice President for Infrustructure Makhtar Diop said the international institution is willing to help Vietnamese education establishments to train human resources for e-government development, particularly AI. Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung (R) and World Bank Vice President for Infrustructure Makhtar Diop in Washington, D.C., on April 13, 2019. Photo: VGP He made the above statement at his meeting with Vietnamese Minister-Chairman of the Government Office in Washington, D.C., on April 13 (local time). Makhtar Diop said the World Bank will help Viet Nam to send e-government staffs to developed countries to learn skills on operating e-government system. Meanwhile, Lesy Goh, Group Chief Technology Officer and Director of Enterprise Architecture and Technology of the World Bank named challenges for Viet Nam to carry out e-government projects, thus the country needs to balance time and set goals. Minister-Chairman Dung said the Government of Viet Nam places high priority on e-government development in 2019, focusing on raising the countrys global e-government index. The Government established a national committee for e-government led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc since August 2018 On March 12, 2019, the Government launched the national e-document exchange platform and planned to inaugurate the national online public service portal in November this year. Dung called on the World Bank to continue assistance for Viet Nams e-government development efforts, including sharing good practices, institutional building, human resource training, and public awareness improvement. E-Government building is one of VNs top priorities Viet Nam has defined e-Government building as one of the top priorities until 2020, according to Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung. Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung (middle) at the GovTech session held on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group Minister Dung stressed the point in his remarks at GovTech session held recently on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group. Viet Nam is working towards a digital Government, digital society and digital economy, Dung added. According to Minister Dung, Viet Nam started e-Government development in 2000 with initial outcomes. Viet Nam ranked 88th out of 193 countries and territories in the United Nations E-Government Survey 2018, and 6th in ASEAN. However, the position remain modest in the region and the world, Dung said. In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, the Vietnamese Government has considered e-government building to create a solid foundation for the total digital transformation in the 2021-2030 period. However, Viet Nam is facing certain barriers, including the lack of important legal regulations for database connectivity and sharing among State agencies, electronic authentication, online administrative procedures, and protection of personnel database. Regarding technical infrastructure, Viet Nams e-government architectural framework has yet matched with international standards and practices. In addition, heads of ministries, agencies and localities in e-government development have not made great endeavors in e-government building, Dung said. In a bid to accelerate e-government development, the Vietnamese Government established a national committee for e-government led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc since August 2018. On March 12, 2019, the Government also launched the national e-document exchange platform and planned to inaugurate the national online public service portal in November this year. VGP The high rate of technology adoption in Vietnam presents vast opportunities for growth, according to Le Hong Minh, co-founder, chairman and CEO of technology company VNG Corporation. The Vietnam Internet Ecosystem Forum in Singapore on April 13 discussed the development of the Vietnamese internet economy. Photo courtesy of the VNG In the field of mobile payments, for example, Minh said that by demand alone, five years from now, Vietnam could have 40 million transactions per year, 40 times the current capacity of the banking system. However, "Vietnam still faces challenges to fully exploit this opportunity," he said at the Vietnam Internet Ecosystem Forum held in Singapore on April 13. Vietnam lacks people who really understand and are fully committed to this tremendous change, Minh said. As a result, businesses still lag behind consumers in technology adoption. Minh said that to bridge this gap in human resources, one of VNGs goals is to excite talented people to work in the technology industry in Vietnam, in whatever capacity they can. Based on his extensive research of Vietnams macro-economic development, Dr. Vu Minh Khuong of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore expressed optimism about Vietnams economic performance, but stressed the importance of strategic reform and digital transformation to sustain that growth, especially in the current global economic climate. Information and communications technology (ICT) adoption will affect all internal and external factors influencing the growth of the market, Khuong said. Vu Minh Tri, vice president of VNG Cloud Services, and managing director of VINADATA, noted that cloud computing had tremendous potential. The current trend is to have inter-connected facilities, opening up huge opportunities for IT companies to tap into the budget for infrastructure development, which normally makes up 60 per cent of a countrys GDP, he said. A panel discussion on the cloud computing sub-sector in Vietnam also pointed out that gaps which exist across multiple verticals, from retail to government, could be filled by cloud computing solutions. Alex Smith, the APAC technical lead for Microsoft Azure, expressed confidence in the ability of the public cloud to remove barriers of entry for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), hence democratising the market. Partnering is also an excellent way to transfer knowledge and expedite progress. The problems (regarding cloud computing services) that they solve in Vietnam are fundamentally simple. Hence, with the right stewards with enough experience, progress will be seen much more quickly, said Wilbur Le, vice president of corporate development at LEAP, an investor in cloud computing companies. VNG, in joint efforts with Hanh Trinh Viet, a community organisation that connects overseas Vietnamese experts with Vietnamese companies to find solutions to challenges of common interest, aims to provide a sustainable channel for communication and collaboration with IT communities abroad, to connect with more Vietnamese talent and to inform them of the opportunities and challenges at home. The forum also highlighted opportunities for overseas professionals to take part in Vietnams exciting market. The forum featured leading organisations in Southeast Asia like the National University of Singapore, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, ST Telemedia, SEA, Kyber Network and VNG Corporation. The event attracted over 120 participants from various industries and backgrounds, generating passionate participation from the audience. VNS Vietnamese technology firms have gained great achievements in AI among the presence of technology giants, especially in the last 1-2 years. In late 2017 and 2018, Zalo organized Zalo AI Summit which gathered many AI (artificial intelligence) experts from Vietnam and foreign countries. After one year of throwing itself into the AI field Zalo set up Zalo AI Lab and two key research projects on Zalo Brain and Zalo Assistant. Ki-Ki chatbot is one of the products created by Zalo AI engineers. The difference between Ki-Ki and chatbots created by foreign technology firms is the recognition of a Vietnamese voice. In Vietnam, as foreign-made ecosystems from Google and Amazon have not touched the life of the majority of people, Zalo plans to integrate Ki-Ki into hardware. It is expected that smart loudspeakers with Ki-Ki will be marketed in the near future. Chatbot is a key product of the worlds tech giants including Apple, Google and Amazon. The firms all want to integrate chatbot into more devices, from smart loudspeakers to smart TVs and smart screens. Chatbot is a key product of the worlds tech giants including Apple, Google and Amazon. The firms all want to integrate chatbot into more devices, from smart loudspeakers to smart TVs and smart screens. Viettel, established as a military telecom, has also jumped into the AI field. It has established Viettel Cyberspace Center (VTCC) with AI being the focus of research. Large retail brands such as FPT Shop and The Gioi Di Dong(Mobile World) are using AI solutions to analyze data about customers to recognize groups of potential clients. Vietnamese AI apps have also become better known in the world market. ELSA, an app for practice of English pronunciation developed by Van Dinh Hong Vu, has been listed among top AI apps globally. Besides integrating AI directly into products, technology firms have also developed platforms and supplied AI solutions suitable to the conditions and requirements of institutions and businesses. FPT, ALT+ and AI Academy are firms doing this. Their engineers understand the requirements of clients to apply existing AI models in the most effective way, said Nguyen Phong, an AI researcher from Hitachi. Phong said that thanks to pioneering firms in AI, the application of AI is better than in many other countries in terms of existing models. If the application of AI at Silicon Valley is given a 10 score, Vietnam would get 6, Phong commented. However, he stressed that the score is given to assess the capability of existing models. In research & development, Vietnam is still at the very beginning. RELATED NEWS Vietnamese technology firms make big leaps in AI research HCM City to use AI to build smart city Thanh Mai The government has decided to lift the standards for automobile emission standards, but motorcycles, which produce 80 percent of total emissions from motor vehicles, are still not under control. In 2010, the-then PM approved a plan on motorcycle emission control submitted by the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Under the plan, 80-90 percent of motorbikes in Hanoi and HCMC, and 60 percent of motorbikes in first- and second-class cities, must meet the required emissions standards by 2015. However, agencies still have not set a roadmap to implement the plan. Meanwhile, large cities like Hanoi and HCMC, impatient about the sharp rise in number of motorbikes in their localities, have urged MOT to issue a legal document on examining motorbike emissions. If the ministry cannot issue such a document soon, it needs to give guidance so that cities can set rules in their localities in a pilot program. Motorbikes are the biggest source of emissions among motor vehicles and the major reason behind traffic jams in HCMC and Hanoi. In October 2017, in a document to the Hanoi Peoples Committee, Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung instructed MOT to continue working on the regulations on applying emissions standards for motorcycles when amending the Road Traffic Law. The study will give necessary information to set up a roadmap for motorcycle emission control to be applied throughout the country. Do Ngoc Hai from the HCMC Transport Department said the department, after consulting with the environment department, has drawn up a plan on controlling motorcycle emissions and collecting pollution fees in the city. If the plan is approved, it would be implemented in 2019. However, with Dungs instruction, the city has had to postpone the plan and wait for the law to be amended. A report found that by March 1, 2018, HCMC had 7.5 million motorcycles. Environmental management agencies in the city reported that circulating motorbikes emit 94 percent of hydrogen carbon, 87 percent of carbon, and 57 percent of nitrous oxide of the total emissions of motor vehicles. With the number of motorbikes increasing by 10-15 percent per annum and the currently applied EURO 2 emission standards, the volume of emissions will be increasing dramatically. Motorbikes are the biggest source of emissions among motor vehicles and the major reason behind traffic jams in HCMC and Hanoi. However, most of the policies related to motorbike emissions control suggested by management agencies in recent years met strong opposition from the public and failed. Pham Xuan Mai from the HCMC University of Science & Technology said low income earners would face a financial burden if strict emission standards are set. RELATED NEWS Motor-vehicle emission inspection plan Vietnam building roadmap on greenhouse gas emissions mitigation Thien Nhien Vietnam is one of the countries having the highest infertility rate in the world. It is estimated that 50% of Vietnamese infertile couples are under the age of 30. Vietnam currently has about more than one million infertile couples, accounting for about 7.7% of the total, VnExpress reported, citing the Ministry of Health. In vitro fertilization and sperm pumping into the uterus are two methods to assist infertile patients. Photo: Primus Hospital Vietnam is one of the countries having the highest infertility rate in the world. It is estimated that 50% of Vietnamese infertile couples are under the age of 30. Tran Nhat Thang, head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology under the University of Medicine and Pharmacy's hospital, said 30% of infertility is caused by husbands, 30% by wives, 30% by both and 10% of unknown causes. Women infertility is due to occlusion of two uterine tubes, polycystic ovary syndrome or endometriosis. Childless men often have no sperm due to testicular failure, retrograde ejaculation or obstruction of the insemination system. Some men have weak sperms because of abnormal genes, consequences of mumps or testicular inflammation. Habits of drinking alcohol and using drugs also affect mens sperm quality. In addition, toxic and polluted environment also increases infertility, especially in young couples. Many people lack information about reproductive health and do not know how to protect themselves. Dr. Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, director of Hung Vuong Hospital, said that infertility treatment in Vietnam is mainly based on handling the causes. There are many childless couples with unknown causes or untreated causes. Therefore, in vitro fertilization and pumping sperm into the uterus are two methods to assist infertile patients. Dr. Ho Manh Tuong, general secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Association for Reproductive Health and Infertility, said that Vietnam's infertility treatment techniques almost catch up with the worlds. After more than 20 years of in vitro fertilization application, Vietnam has 24 in vitro fertilization centers. The success rate varies from 40 to 60%, equal to other countries in the world, Tuong added. He noted cost is a hindrance. Childless patients must pay about VND70 million to VND80 million (US$3,010 to US$3,440). The cost of in vitro fertilization in Vietnam is lower than that in other countries in the region but still high compared to its peoples income. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined infertility as the third most dangerous disease, behind cancer and cardiovascular diseases in the 21st century. Hanoitimes The Vietnam Government Inspectorate announced violations by state officials in various localities during the 2012-2016 period in terms of their foreign travel expenses. Tien Giang People's Committee office building Some 1,020 groups comprised of 2,026 state officials in Tien Giang Province were sent on overseas trips at the cost of over VND40bn (USD1.7m). Most of the trips did not have official approval. The Department of Foreign Affairs reported that there were 18 violations. In one case, Tien Giang University sent Nguyen Thanh Duy Vu to study overseas but Vu never returned. In another incident, 28 people went on a business trip despite having already retired. Even though the Central Committee for External Relations had asked Tien Giang Province to reconsider and not send anyone on a business trip to Taiwan, the chairman of Tien Giang, Nguyen Van Khang, still started the trip. In another case, Khang led the group and stayed overseas for 10 days even though the approved time was 7 days. Also during this period, Thanh Hoa Province authorities sent 627 groups with 2,684 officials overseas at the cost of VND42.5bn (USD1.8m). According to the inspectors, many officials had not received permission to travel. The actual activities were also different from the registered content. From 2012 to 2016, Dak Lak sent 367 groups with 1,791 officials overseas at nearly VND11bn (USD474,000), of which 707 went abroad for private businesses on the state budget. The officials said they had invitation letters from other organisations and agencies but didn't keep the original letters. After returning to Vietnam, the groups failed to provide report backs. Many officials in the groups were members or employees in public security or customs departments but failed to provide written approval from those agencies. Dak Lak Department of Finance was criticised for failing in managing, monitoring and using the foreign travel expenses. Their funding report for foreign trips didn't include many groups and the numbers were not accurate. Dtinews Viet Nams poultry industry needs to promote further development for high demand at home and abroad markets. - Photo nongnghiep.vn HA NOI Viet Nam needed to promote the development of its poultry industry due to rising demand for eggs and meat in the domestic and global markets. Experts made the comments at a meeting organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Ha Noi on April 12. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung uc Tien said it was necessary to focus on production to meet quality standards at home and abroad. This would create favourable conditions for domestic poultry products to meet hygiene and safety standards in export markets such as Japan, Republic of Korea (RoK) and some ASEAN countries, Tien said. It would also help local businesses expand their production scale and export to potential markets including China and the Philippines, he said. However, experts said the industry needed a strategy to increase other processed poultry products including processed chicken and duck and other products processed from eggs. They said this year, localities should draw up support policies for farmers, owners and enterprises to invest in poultry development. Deputy Head of MARD's Animal Husbandry Department Nguyen Van Trong said Viet Nam held huge potential for poultry production because of domestic high demand with a population of nearly 100 million, excluding export demand. According to Trong, output had increased to 1 million tonnes of meat and 11 billion eggs. Current trends in consumption of animal products show that pork accounts for 65 per cent of Vietnamese meals while chicken is just 20 per cent, therefore, the domestic poultry industry needs to enhance chicken farming for domestic consumption and export. Nguyen Quang Hieu, deputy general director of De Heus Co, Ltd, said to boost exports, the industry should build safe areas free from disease and have mechanisms to protect livestock farms, ensuring quality standards of export markets. According to the ministry, joining international organisations as well as bilateral, multilateral and free trade agreements would help domestic poultry production meet domestic consumption and export demands. The average consumption for the average person is 89 eggs per year while the figure is 125-340 eggs in Thailand and Indonesia and 404 in Israel. In addition, the domestic confectionery and processed food industry was also developing an increasing demand for eggs. Global production in 2019 was expected to increase by 3 per cent compared to 2018 to reach 98.4 million tonnes, marking the strongest growth rate over the past five years mainly due to rising demand in China. That was a great opportunity for the nation to promote poultry meat and egg exports, according to the ministry. The poultry production industry was applying scientific and technological advances in production to improve quality of products and competitiveness. However, there was an imbalance between supply and demand because there were small scale farms with high production costs and risk of disease. - VNS Police stop the van containing Vietnamese nationals in the south of the England on Friday. Photo: Devon and Cornwall Police HA NOI Four men were due to appear in court in the United Kingdom on Monday accused of people trafficking. They were arrested after police discovered 29 Vietnamese men, women and children in a van travelling on a motorway in the south of England. Police were called on Friday following reports a group of people were seen getting into the back of a van from a boat in the Newlyn area of Cornwall. The van and another vehicle were stopped by officers on the M5 motorway in Cullompton, Devon and police discovered the Vietnamese nationals. An aerial photograph of the police pulling over a van in Devon. Photo Devon and Cornwall Police Frank Walling, 72, from Colne, Glen Bennett, 55 from Burnley, Jon Ransom, 63, from Kent and Keith Plummer, 62 from Sheerness were all arrested. The four have been charged with human trafficking and assisting unlawful immigration to a member state. They have all been remanded in custody and were due to appear before magistrates in Truro Magistrates Court Monday. A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the foreign national are being cared for at a specially-created centre. VNS Virginia Techs 3.2-Mile Run in Remembrance, an annual event that honors and remembers the 32 individuals who lost their lives on April 16, 2007, was held Saturday, April 13, on the Blacksburg campus. An estimated 14,500 individuals participated in the event. Now in its 11th year, the event started on the Drillfield near War Memorial Gym and finished near the April 16 Memorial across from Burruss Hall. More information about the activities planned for the 2019 Day of Remembrance may be found on the We Remember website. 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(1) A massive fire has engulfed Paris' historic Notre-Dame Cathedral yesterday, causing its spire and roof to be collapsed. The fire explored approximately 7pm local time and hundreds of people spilled out into the streets to pray for the 850-year-old structure. Although the reason of the fire has not yet officially been determined, it is reported by BBC News that the fire may have been exploded due to extensive renovation works currently underway at the cathedral. During the fire, firefighters could save the 850-year-old Gothic building's main stone structure, including its two (North and South) towers, but the spire and roof collapsed. In addition, its stained-glass windows and the wooden interior has seriously been damaged by the fire. The fire was able to be taken under control almost in nine hours after it started. Image Francois Guillot / AFP / Getty The Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of the most beloved Gothic landmarks of Paris, which attracts millions of tourists every year. Known as the finest examples of Gothic architecture because of its pioneering use of rib vaults and flying buttresses and its striking stained-glass rose windows, the construction at the Cathedral started in 1163 and completed in 1345, and took 182 years to build. The cathedral was commissioned by Maurice de Sully shortly after becoming Bishop of Paris in 1160, and built over two centuries, from 1163 to 1345, although much of it was completed before his death in 1196. Image Thibault Camus / AP Significant damage was caused to the cathedral during the radical phase of the French Revolution in 1790s, which was followed in the mid-1840s by an extensive program of renovation, overseen by the restoration specialist Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. In 1991, Notre-Dame Cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally important sites. During the 1250s, the transepts were remodeled in the latest style of Rayonnant Gothic architecture by architects Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil, and the clerestory windows were enlarged. Image Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / Getty "Terrible Tragedy" said Macron The French President Emmanuel Macron visited the scene, having canceled a planned speech to the nation. He said "the "worst had been avoided". "We'll rebuild this cathedral all together and it's undoubtedly part of the French destiny and the project we'll have for the coming years," said Mr Macron. "That's what the French expect [and] because it's what our history deserves," he added, visibly emotional, calling it a "terrible tragedy." Macron said the cathedral was "for all French people", including those who had never been there, and praised the "extreme courage" of the 500 firefighters involved in the operation. Reportedly, there are no reports of deaths but one fireman has been seriously injured. Image Patrick Anidjar / AFP / Getty Moreover, Mr. Macron said he will launch an international fundraising scheme for the reconstruction. According to AFP news agency, Billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the Kering group that owns the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion brands, has already pledged 100m towards rebuilding Notre-Dame Cathedral. The French charity Fondation du Patrimoine also announced over its Twitter account that it is launching an international appeal for funds for the cathedral. BBC News reports that firefighters spent hours to prevent one of the iconic bell towers from collapsing and seearch teams are now assessing the extent of the damage. Some sections of the building were currently under scaffolding as part of the renovations and 16 copper statues had been removed last week. The renovation work began after cracks being appeared in the main stone structure of the cathedral, sparking fears the structure could become unstable. Image courtesy of BBC News Valuable artworks and religious items are in safe During the fire, emergency teams were able to rescue valuable artworks and religious items, "including what is said to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus before his crucifixion, which were stored inside the cathedral built in the 12th and 13th centuries." "A tunic, which King Louis IX is said to have worn when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris, was also saved." Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo explained that "we had a chain of solidarity, especially in saving the works of art... [They] were able to be saved and put in a safe place." "This is a tragedy for the whole world... Notre-Dame is the entire history of Paris." Image Benoit Tessier / Reuters France is crying for its history With the fire exploded, thousands of people gathered in the streets and around the cathedral, they observed the flames in silence. Some were seen openly crying, while others sang hymns or said prayers. "Notre-Dame is burning, France is crying and the whole world, too. It is extremely emotional," Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit said, reported BBC News. UK Prime Minister Theresa May described the fire as "terrible". Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Notre-Dame a "symbol of French and European culture". US President Donald Trum said over his Twitter account: "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!". Top image: Francois Guillot / AFP / Getty > via BBC News Early Sunday afternoon, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg delivered what everyone agreed was a terrific speech, announcing his candidacy for President of the United States. A New York Times annotation shows you how thoughtfully the speech was structured, and how artfully it was composed. Subtle references to history, calibrated hints at his agenda, carefully chosen and well-rendered personal revelations, all leading up to a swelling metaphorical conclusion: If you and I rise together to meet this moment, one day they will write histories, not just about one campaign or one presidency but about the era that began here today in this building where past, present, and future meet, right here this chilly day in South Bend. Its cold out, but weve had it with winter. You and I have the chance to usher in a new American spring. So with hope in our hearts and fire in our bellies, lets get to work and lets make history! And then his husband posted this, on Twitter: Shout-out to PSA member Dan Conley, who somehow managed not to question how Buttigieg could have typed a speech this longlet alone written a speech this importantby himself, in an hour. (Let alone why he would try!) That's the report from the most authentic candidate here in the Land of Authenticity. Meanwhile, on the Continent of Artifice, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands was publicly celebrating the work of his "unsurpassed speechwriter," who won a Cicero Speechwriting Award. We'll give Pete Buttigieg the benefit of the doubt: He can't help it if his husband has old-fashioned notions about authenticity and authorship. It's also possible that Buttigieg wrote most or all of the speech himself. In fact, his communication advisor claims it. But not the morning of. And not without coffee. Ask Hugo de Jonge. Ask Lieke Hagebeuk. NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission released its fifth year of survey data on April 11, 2019. The five years of NEOWISE data have significantly advanced scientists' knowledge of asteroids and comets in the solar system, as well as the stars and galaxies beyond. The data from all five years of the survey are available at: http://wise2.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/release/neowise/. "NEOWISE recently surpassed 95 billion recorded measurements of asteroids, comets, stars and galaxies -- a remarkable accomplishment for a recycled spacecraft," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer and head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This asteroid hunter has measured the sizes of more than 1,000 near-Earth asteroids and is still producing great data, making it a unique asset in our portfolio of asteroid-hunting telescopes and an important prototype for an upcoming space-based NEO survey mission." In addition to providing critical data on asteroids and comets in our own solar system, NEOWISE has provided data that have enabled the worldwide scientific community to track bursting stars, characterize distant quasars from the first billion years of the universe's history, conduct a census of millions of merging galaxies and take multi-wavelength measurements of hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. "The data from NEOWISE effectively give us a movie of the universe as it changes over time at infrared wavelengths, which is now being used in over 1,000 different astronomical publications," said Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. From WISE to NEOWISE Originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the spacecraft was launched in December 2009 to study galaxies, stars and solar system bodies by imaging the the infrared light in the entire sky. It was placed in hibernation in 2011 after completing its primary astrophysics mission. In September 2013, the spacecraft was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE and assigned a new mission: to assist NASA's efforts to identify and characterize the population of near-Earth objects. NEOWISE is also characterizing more distant populations of asteroids and comets to provide information about their sizes and compositions. The NEOWISE survey will end when its changing orbit eventually prevents it from obtaining high-quality data. But until that time, NEOWISE will continue to contribute valuable data both to humanity's record of the universe around us and to the search for asteroids that pose a hazard to Earth. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing takes place at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about NEOWISE, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/neowise and http://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu/ For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. This is an artist's conception of HD 21749c, the first Earth-sized planet found by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS), as well as its sibling, HD 21749b, a warm sub-Neptune-sized world. Robin Dienel, courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science A nearby system hosts the first Earth-sized planet discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as a warm sub-Neptune-sized world. This is according to a new paper from a team of astronomers that includes Carnegie's Johanna Teske, Paul Butler, Steve Shectman, Jeff Crane, and Sharon Wang. Their work is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "It's so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business," said Teske, who is second author on the paper. "The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-up community to flag potentially interesting targets for additional observations using ground-based telescopes and instruments." One such tool, the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, was a crucial component of this effort. It helped confirm the planetary nature of the TESS signal, and to measure the mass of the newly discovered sub-Neptune. The PFS--built by Shectman and Crane using a method pioneered by Butler and his collaborators--works using a technique called the radial velocity method, which is currently the only way for astronomers to measure the masses of individual planets. Without known masses, it is very challenging to determine a planet's density or its general chemical composition. This method takes advantage of that fact that not only does a star's gravity influence the planet orbiting it, but the planet's gravity also affects the star in turn. The PFS enables astronomers to detect these tiny wobbles that the planet's gravity induces in the star's orbit. "PFS is one of the only instruments in the Southern Hemisphere that can do these types of measurements," Teske added. "So, it will be a very important part of further characterizing the planets found by the TESS mission." With an orbit that takes about 36 days to complete, the sub-Neptune, HD 21749b, has the longest period of any of the TESS discoveries published so far. Because of the technique that TESS employs, it is predicted that most of the planets the mission finds will have orbital periods of fewer than 10 days, so HD 21749b is unusual in this regard. In fact, this also made the detection of the planet in the TESS data an extra challenge. "There was quite some detective work involved, and the right people were there at the right time," said lead author Diana Dragomir of MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. "But we were lucky, and we caught the signals, and they were really clear." Its host star has about 80 percent of the mass of our Sun and is found about 53 light-years distant from Earth. HD 21749b has about 23 times Earth's mass and a radius of about 2.7 times Earth's. Its density indicates the planet has substantial atmosphere but is not rocky, so it could potentially help astronomers understand the composition and evolution of cooler sub-Neptune planet atmospheres. Excitingly, the longer period sub-Neptune planet in this system is not alone. It has a sibling planet, HD 21749c, which takes about eight days to orbit the host star and is much smaller--similar in size to Earth. "Measuring the exact mass and composition of such a small planet will be challenging, but important for comparing HD 21749c to Earth," said Wang. "Carnegie's PFS team is continuing to collect data on this object with this goal in mind." Thanks to TESS, astronomers will be able to measure the masses, atmospheric compositions, and other properties of many smaller exoplanets for the first time. Although small exoplanets are common in our galaxy, there is still much to learn about their diversity and about how they compare to the planets in our own Solar System. "For stars that are very close by and very bright, we expected to find up to a couple dozen Earth-sized planets," said Dragomir. "And here we are--this would be our first one, and it's a milestone for TESS. It sets the path for finding smaller planets around even smaller stars, and those planets may potentially be habitable." Support for this research was provided by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grants, by MITs Kavli Institute through Torres postdoctoral fellowships, by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, by the Harvard Future Faculty Leaders Postdoctoral fellowship, and by the Branco Weiss Fellowship-Society in Science. The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. For Subscribers Knights look to continue hot start, Central boys at home this weekend Here's what you need to know headed into the weekend filled with basketball. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Democratic members of a U.S. House committee including two members of New Mexicos delegation expressed concern Monday that lax oil and natural gas regulations are putting state residents at risk and depriving the state of revenue it should be getting. While taxes and royalties from fossil fuel production have long helped prop up New Mexicos budget, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently ordered Cabinet secretaries to come up with a plan to reduce methane emissions. She also signed legislation aimed at moving the state away from its oil and gas reliance and toward solar, wind and other types of renewable energy. That effort drew praise from members of the states congressional delegation. I would love for us to explore other ways for folks to make a living, U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., said during a field hearing Monday at the Roundhouse. We shouldnt have to suffer every time the price of oil goes down. A day after touring Chaco Culture National Historic Park, Haaland and other members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committees Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources listened to testimony from state officials, tribal leaders and health policy experts during the nearly four-hour hearing, the first held by the subcommittee since Democrats won control of the U.S. House in the November general election. No Republican members attended the hearing, and oil and gas industry voices were largely absent. U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., said invitations were sent out to GOP members and representatives of the oil and gas industries. They did not choose to respond, Lowenthal told reporters. However, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association Executive Director Ryan Flynn, who attended part of Mondays hearing but did not testify, described it as a one-sided affair. Weve got a good record when it comes to methane emission and water use, and I didnt see that those issues were highlighted, Flynn told the Journal. This industry provides more benefits to the state than any other industry, and its not even close, he said, referring to an unprecedented $1.2 billion state budget surplus thats due in large part to an oil production boom in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and Texas. The congressional field hearing came just weeks after members of New Mexicos congressional delegation introduced legislation that would prevent the sale of oil and gas leases on federally owned lands within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a site considered sacred by many Native Americans. In response to questioning, several tribal leaders said Monday that they support the legislation, though at least one Navajo Nation resident voiced concern about how it would affect allotments owned by tribal members. U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., accused opponents of the bill of spreading misinformation and said the legislation would apply only to federally owned land. This should not be controversial, Lujan said during Mondays hearing. The hearing focused largely on methane emissions, which are climbing amid the oil production surge, according to a recent analysis from a prominent environmental group. During their tour of the Four Corners region, members of the congressional subcommittee used infrared cameras to observe the release or leakage of excess natural gas, which consists primarily of methane. Lujan cited an estimate that New Mexico could be losing out on up to $47 million annually in potential revenue due to methane being released into the atmosphere instead of being sold to consumers. Meanwhile, Lujan Grisham, a former member of Congress who was elected governor last year, told the subcommittee the state is moving in a different direction from that of President Donald Trumps administration, which has reversed previous federal methane regulations. We must protect this region with the same vigor we protect the air we breathe, Lujan Grisham said. We are laboring with a federal government that has failed in a regulatory sense and in an omission of leadership. Methane emissions have also been linked to air quality problems, and at least one Four Corners resident described the pollution as omnipresent. You can smell the pollution and see the flares being released every day, said Kendra Pinto, a Navajo Nation member. She also said she had been urging members of the states congressional delegation to visit the region for years. Members of a grassroots immigrant and worker rights organization, and a group of restaurant workers staged a protest outside Albuquerque City Hall Monday, claiming that wage theft is rampant at eateries and city leaders should more vigorously enforce minimum wage laws. Marian Mendoza Cera, a community organizer with El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, said employers steal wages in a variety of ways, including not paying overtime, reclassifying workers as salaried instead of hourly wage earners to avoid paying overtime, not paying the minimum wage, having employees work off the clock, stealing tips or simply refusing to provide a paycheck. This harms state and local economies, and impacts the workers ability to provide for their families, pushing many of them deeper into poverty, Mendoza Cera said. When employers dont pay their workers their wages, those employers are also not paying payroll taxes, which harms the states revenues and places law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage, as well as impedes consumer spending that is necessary for a communitys economic growth, she said. She added that all the restaurant employees with grievances filed claims with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. They also unsuccessfully attempted to settle the matter with the restaurant employees to avoid escalation. El Centro and the restaurant workers pointed to three restaurants in particular: Hacienda del Rio in Old Town and Mtuccis, both of which, they said, neglected to pay workers overtime and in some cases changed worker classifications to avoid paying overtime. They also alleged Scalo Northern Italian Grill, which is now closed, left employees without final paychecks for work they had performed. While the owners of Scalo and Hacienda del Rio did not return messages, the owner of Mtuccis said he was familiar with the charge and blamed it on one disgruntled employee. Four former workers at Hacienda del Rio, including Guillermo Camacho, who addressed those assembled, filed suit against the restaurant owners alleging they were not paid for all of their hours worked. District Judge Nancy Franchini in 2017 ruled that the restaurant owners were liable for the unpaid wages of about $40,000. The workers have not yet seen the money, Mendoza Cera said. She added that since that ruling, additional wage claims have been filed against Hacienda del Rio with the Department of Workforce Solutions and a class action lawsuit against the restaurant is pending. Former Mtucci worker Pablo Lazalde, said from 2016 through 2017, he regularly worked 40-80 hours a week without being paid overtime. He was eventually made a sous chef at the restaurants Rio Rancho location, where he was put in charge of employee schedules. Thats when I saw that other employees were also not being paid overtime. Thats also when he decided to speak up and complain to management, and eventually left the restaurant, he said. Mtucci owner Jeff Spiegel said Lazaldes allegations are nonsense brought about by one person, a disgruntled employee who essentially tried to cause a rebellion in our kitchen. The rebellion, he said, did not work, and he tried to get people to sabotage our business; he did the same thing to his next employer and that didnt work either, and they got rid of him quickly. Lazalde, he said, left Mtuccis on his own and was not fired. In 30 years of owning restaurants, Spiegel said, Weve never had an incident like that. He further noted that in the years following the 2013 opening of the first Mtuccis restaurant in Albuquerque, 80 percent of the original employees were still working there. SIOUX CITY, Iowa Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker on Monday proposed a significant expansion of the earned income tax credit that he said would lower the annual tax bill for almost half of American taxpayers. The senator from New Jersey, who recently launched a national tour aimed at boosting his 2020 presidential bid, touted the plan during a campaign event in Iowa as creating a tax code that reflects our values. His announcement came on the date that most Americans taxes are due to the IRS. Why should somebody who works for a hedge fund in New York City, who makes a million dollars a year, pay less in taxes than that schoolteacher? he asked the audience at his Sioux City event. Booker would pay for his expanded tax credit by taxing capital gains income at the same rate as other income. His campaign, citing the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, projects the policy would benefit 154 million Americans. Booker also suggested his tax policy would boost the economy. We are a consumption-based society. Giving tax credits directly to the people who invest the most in our society actually will grow our economy, he said. ___ Schor contributed to this report from Washington. Americans are increasingly likely to die by their own hand. In 1999, about 29,000 people in the U.S. killed themselves, and by 2017 the toll had grown to more than 47,000, a significant rise even when adjusted for the growing population. In recent weeks, three of those deaths have shocked the nation. Two teenage survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting of 2018 apparently died by suicide, as did the father of one of the children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Mass., in 2012. Both communities are in mourning. Mental health experts advise caution in moments like these. There is a persistent concern about contagion effects, the risk that people who hear about suicides will be more likely to end their own lives. And experts say it can be difficult to draw specific conclusions from individual deaths in which the contributing factors are not fully understood. Every suicide is a unique tragedy. But these deaths provide an opportunity to confront a national public health crisis as suicides become more common. Researchers who study suicide say the field is grossly underfunded. They say they have minimal understanding of who, exactly, is most at risk of suicide. The basic question raised in recent days what is the link between surviving extreme trauma and the subsequent risk for self-harm is not readily answered. We know that adverse childhood experiences are linked to many bad outcomes suicides, drug fatalities are examples but we dont know how much higher that risk is, as no one has studied folks over the course of time comparing diverse outcomes against diverse experiences, said Eric Caine, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center. And, indeed, the vast, vast majority of abused, traumatized folks dont kill themselves. At a more personal level, the news bulletins provide a reminder to everyone that people who are traumatized need continued care that the trauma doesnt necessarily recede in a week, or a month, or even a year. People who are suffering should be reminded that they can reach out, that help is available (including at the suicide hotline 800-273-TALK). And support networks friends, family members, professionals need to stay vigilant. In the second year, friends and family are no longer checking on you as much. The first year, you may have distracted yourself or taken on other things to move forward, but you get fatigued over time. That comes at a price and you cant always sustain it as well, said David Schonfeld, director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at the University of Southern California, who is an expert on mass shootings and has been working as consultant to the Broward County, Fla., school district in the year since the Parkland shooting. But Schonfeld said that, even though survivors are never quite the same, they often emerge with new coping strategies, a stronger sense of purpose in life, and what he calls a post-traumatic growth effect. The public should not expect survivors to be depressed or suicidal, he said. We should be communicating the expectation of recovery, he said. The Parkland student body became nationally famous as many Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School studentscampaigned to end gun violence. That was an experience unique among mass shooting survivors, and the students operate amid great expectations and with many people watching them, noted Jane Pearson, a suicide researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health. Its different than normal grieving, or even grieving that comes after a natural and man-made disaster. This is grieving in the wake of a man-made murder disaster, she said. The Parkland students were already a vulnerable population because theyre going through massive psychological transitions as they move from adolescence to young adulthood, said Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. The fact that they were at ground zero for an event that was so unexpected, so horrific, so unexpectedly ironic in the sense that it was one of their own peers that perpetrated it created the potential for massive psychological, emotional shock waves. Suicide is the 10th most common cause of death in the U.S., but the second most common among teenagers and young adults. The death rate from suicide is rising broadly, among almost all demographic groups. Experts cannot easily explain it. There is no single factor driving the phenomenon. We grossly underfund suicide research, said April Foreman, a psychologist and executive board member of the American Association of Suicidology who specializes in treating patients at high risk of suicide. What we dont understand very well as scientists is whos going to be suicidal . . . We dont have the blood pressure cuff of mental health. I wish that we did. We dont have the thermometer of suicide risk. One theory for the rise in suicides in the U.S. is that it has lost some of its cultural stigma. The rise of social media and always-online lifestyles could also be a factor, said Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who has written a book about iGen, the generation that has come of age during the iPhone era. She said research shows that suicidal thoughts among people aged 18 or 19 increased 46 percent from 2008 to 2017, and suicide attempts among people 22 to 23 years old doubled. Theres been a fundamental shift in how young people use their time outside of work and school, its shifted away from face to face interaction and toward more time on the screen, she said. She said face to face interaction provides social support and emotional connections that are not matched by online connections. A significant factor in the high suicide rate in the United States is the ready availability of guns. Most of the folks who die by suicide in America die by firearms, said Michael Anestis, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. The Parkland students and the Newtown father reportedly died by gunfire. Anestis said people need to be sure to lock up firearms if there is someone in a home who might be vulnerable to self-harm. Gun control advocates are pushing for red flag laws and other procedures for keeping firearms from people who may be a danger to themselves or others. Pearson said the most important message for everyone is that help is out there: If someone is feeling suicidal, we want them to hold on and stay alive and safe long enough to where we can help them to get better. There is help To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 800-273-TALK (8255). You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyns ultra-Orthodox Jewish community drove through the night to Detroit his next fundraising stop. He felt sick en route and saw a doctor when he got there. But the doctor, who had never seen measles, misdiagnosed the mans fever and cough as bronchitis. Over the next two weeks, the traveler would become Michigans Patient Zero, spreading the highly contagious respiratory virus to 39 people as he stayed in private homes, attended synagogue daily and shopped in kosher markets. His case offers a cautionary tale about how easily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet spreads within close-knit communities especially those whose members live, work and socialize outside the mainstream. Every one of our cases has had a link to the initial case, said Leigh-Anne Stafford, health officer for Oakland County, a Detroit suburb where all but one case was reported. In the past five years, 75 percent of measles cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention occurred in various insular communities, among them the Amish in Ohio, the Somali community in Minnesota, Eastern European groups in the Pacific Northwest and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York. In the current outbreak, the New York contagion has spread through Patient Zero and other travelers to predominantly ultra-Orthodox communities in Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York; Oakland County in Michigan, and Baltimore County in Maryland. On Friday, Connecticut officials said an adult contracted measles while visiting Brooklyn in late March. New Jersey officials are investigating possible links between 11 cases in the Ocean County area and those in New York. Whats similar about all of these communities is that they live in proximity to each other and spend a lot of their time interacting with each other, said Daniel Salmon, a professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the schools Institute for Vaccine Safety. Thats what matters. Measles doesnt care what your cultural heritage is. Many of these communities are wary of government, avoid television and the Internet, and often rely on their own clinicians for medical care. In such a void, anti-vaccine misinformation has sometimes gained a foothold, deterring parents from fully vaccinating their children. The traveler had come from Israel last November to Brooklyn, the epicenter of a measles outbreak, and stayed for about two months before going on to the Detroit area in early March, said Russell Faust, Oakland Countys medical officer. The man, whom Michigan health officials are not identifying, told them he was visiting ultra-Orthodox communities in the United States to raise money for charity. Feverish and coughing after his arrival, he saw a doctor, who prescribed antibiotics. When the man called back to complain of a rash the next day, the doctor thought he was having an allergic reaction. But after the doctor thought more about it, he worried about the possibility of measles and decided to leave a voice message for the health department with the mans cellphone number. Health officials jumped on the case but couldnt reach the man because of a problem with his cellphone. They turned to Steve McGraw, head of Oakland emergency medical services and longtime member of the Detroit-area Hatzalah, the ultra-Orthodox communitys emergency medical response group, an all-volunteer effort with deep ties to many families. McGraw alerted rabbinical leaders, then jumped in his car and drove to the area the traveler was supposed to be staying to look for the mans rental car, a blue sedan, knowing it would stand out among the minivans used by virtually every family. Hatzalah members and rabbinical leaders also mobilized to search for the traveler, who was staying in a neighborhood guesthouse. When they found him a few hours later, the traveler was stunned. He told McGraw and the rabbi who found him that they had to be wrong since he believed he had had the measles. There is only one disease, and you have it, McGraw recalled saying, as one rabbi translated into Hebrew. He put his head down and was very emotional. I could tell from the look on his face that he was devastated. He was doing the math in his head, counting all the people he had been in contact with, McGraw said. The traveler, as it turned out, had had hundreds of contacts with community members that health officials needed to trace. He had stayed mostly in private homes in the areas of Oak Park and Southfield. He had visited synagogues three times a day to pray and study and frequented kosher markets and pizza parlors, among 30 locations in one week. This guy was walking around all over the community and contagious, McGraw said. We knew we had a really significant exposure. Measles virus is so infectious that if an unvaccinated person walks through a room up to two hours after someone with measles has left, theres a 90 percent chance the unvaccinated person will get sick. People can spread measles for four days before and four days after the telltale rash. Because measles is so infectious, at least 96 percent or more of a community need to be vaccinated to prevent risk of outbreak. On March 13, blood tests confirmed the travelers measles. The strain matched the genetic fingerprint of the New York City outbreak, McGraw said. The same day, health officials alerted the public. To get information out to the ultra-Orthodox community, health officials used its internal messaging system known as a calling post. Recorded voice messages ring on about 1,200 mobile phones. McGraw recorded a message that rabbinical leaders approved for delivery, the first of several that provided information about the disease and vaccination clinics. Over the next few weeks, Janet Snider, a pediatrician for many ultra-Orthodox families, and Gedalya Cooper, an emergency medicine doctor, both members of the Hatzalah, visited people in their homes to diagnose and test them for measles. The Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit issued an unequivocal statement, saying Jewish law obligated every community member to be properly and fully vaccinated according to the CDC. The agency recommends children get two measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) doses, starting with the first dose at age 12 through 15 months and the second dose at age 4 through 6 years. In order to protect and safeguard each and every individual within the larger community, every individual, family and institution must take the necessary precautions against anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated, the statement said. The Hatzalah and rabbinical leaders helped the health department set up three clinics at one synagogue, immunizing nearly 1,000 people in one week. As of early April, health officials have given more than 2,100 vaccinations. Vaccine refusal does not appear to be a major factor in the Oakland County cluster, officials said. In Michigan, at least, the close collaboration between health officials and the religious community appears to have controlled the spread of the disease, which can cause severe complications including deafness, pneumonia, brain damage and death. Now, with 555 measles cases in 20 states the highest in five years other localities are looking at that model. Hatzalah groups in other parts of the country are reaching out to county officials for advice on boosting vaccination within the ultra-Orthodox community, Faust said. Oakland County had something else going for it: Measles outbreaks typically start with children. But Patient Zero had spent most of his time with adults, and most of the 39 cases are in adults. Many adults who got sick had believed they were immune, as some had been told they had the disease as children or were vaccinated. There are a fair number of nonimmunized or under-immunized adults, said Faust, the medical officer. Some of the adults infected also were born before 1957, when most people caught measles and are thought to have natural immunity. Officials said that the risk remains high for those who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated and who travel to communities here or abroad where measles cases are raging. Gaps in vaccination coverage have led to a 20-year high in measles cases in Europe. Major outbreaks also are taking place in parts of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan. More than 1,200 people have died in Madagascar. With spring break and summer vacations approaching, travelers visiting European countries with outbreaks, such as France and Italy, have a much higher chance of bringing infections back to islands or pockets of vulnerability, said Saad Omer, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. Measles is a very unforgiving disease, he said. Even if most people are vaccinated, that number may not be high enough. FARMINGTON A Farmington man convicted by a jury of more than 20 felony sex charges faces a centurieslong prison term for inappropriately touching and molesting a 10-year-old boy. Harold Atencio, 55, was convicted of a first-degree felony count of criminal sexual penetration and 21 second-degree felony counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, according to San Juan County District Attorneys Office Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin OBrien. Atencio had confessed to various sex offenses. He was charged with performing oral sex on the boy and molesting him, according to The Daily Times archives. The one-day jury trial was held Wednesday in Aztec District Court in front of Chief District Judge Karen Townsend. Ruth Wheeler, Atencios attorney, said they will appeal as she believes there are a number of winnable issues. The jurys decision was a positive result for the victim and Atencio could face up to 330 years in prison, according to OBrien. The investigation by the San Juan County Sheriffs Office started on Dec. 26, 2017, when the victims father contacted the Sheriffs Office to report sex offenses involving the boy. The incidents occurred in June and October 2017, when the boy and his siblings were removed from their mothers residence in Kirtland by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. Atencio was a neighbor of the childrens mother. The boy told his father Atencio would touch him in the private parts, according to court documents. The Citrus County Sheriffs Office in Inverness, Florida, interviewed the victim and his siblings, who, along with the father, had relocated there from New Mexico. Atencio was interviewed on March 19, 2018, by detectives at the San Juan County Sheriffs Office. He confessed to inappropriately touching the boy during the interview. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. BERNALILLO Sandoval County Commissioners decided last week in a 3-2 vote to request that County Assessor Linda Gallegos remove her first cousin, Richard Shanks, as deputy assessor. They did so after Gallegos presented the board with 27 letters of recommendation for her cousin that were gathered within 24 hours. Please let him get back to his job, she said. Shanks also went before the board and explained his qualifications and community service. I left my secure position as an educator with less than two years until my retirement to serve in something I believe in, and to work for someone who believes in me, he said. According to Shanks, he was approached with the position under the assertion that there would be full disclosure, transparency and a legal review. Whether the commission has the right to intervene in the hiring and management of employees of other elected officials was called into question, as was the ethics of hiring relatives. County Attorney Robin Hammer said that according to state law, Gallegoss actions were legal, and that the rules and personnel regulations of the county do not apply to elected officials. I, as a county employee, could not hire my first cousin, but one of the five elected officials could hire a first cousin as their deputy, she said. Article 38, section 4-38-18 of New Mexico law states that the commission is not charged with managing any other elected county office, according to Commissioner Katherine A. Bruch, who voted against the request to remove Shanks. Commissioner Kenneth Eichwald showed support for Gallegoss authority to hire whom she sees fit. She has the authority to do what she feels is necessary, he said. Ive been on this board for three years. In these three years, we have had elected officials that wouldnt show up to work. We had a sheriff that was never at work; we had a probate judge that was never at work. Alexandria Piland, an instructor at Central New Mexico Community College, said partisan politics were at work. They routinely support ordinances, resolutions and now this that are in line with their partys platform, she said, later adding that the majority of the commissioners are Republican. Commissioner Jay Block said nepotism is the issue rather than partisan politics. This is really simple. You dont hire family members in politics, he said. When the public sees you do that, they lose trust. In response to the question of violating personnel regulations set in place before Gallegos made the hire, Block said he disagreed with the county attorney and wanted a second opinion. Former Sandoval County Planning and Zoning Commission member Todd Hawthorne said the disappointment should be in the countys attorney. He said the attorney should have brought to the board any questions about past regulations before hiring a family member. She has circumvented your authority here, he said. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE What would it be like to view Georgia OKeeffes work, but not be able to distinguish many of her different bold hues? The Georgie OKeeffe Museum is taking a unique approach to preventing that from happening by partnering with a California glasses company to offer corrective specs for its colorblind visitors. Starting May 3, the museum will lend out the glasses made by EnChroma, a Berkeley, Calif.-based company whose mission is to help those with red-green color vision deficiencies see hues the way most people do. The genetic condition impacts about 8 percent of men worldwide and one in 200 women, according to the museum. According to the EnChroma companys website, its glasses help those with anomalous trichromacy, which includes most types of colorblindness. The glasses utilize special lens technology to readjust the affected persons overlapping color sensitivities, which can make it difficult to distinguish between certain colors like red and green. The OKeeffe Museums communications director Mara Harris said the glasses will be a permanent addition to the museums guest offerings. Three pairs will be available for checkout. EnChromas CEO and co-founder Andrew Schmeder said the company hopes to make OKeeffes paintings more accessible to those with colorblindness. Think of a classic OKeeffe painting, and bold colors come to mind. But for people with color vision deficiency the hues are limited, said Katrina Stacy, the OKeeffe Museums curator of Education and Interpretation. We are thrilled at this opportunity to offer some of our visitors an enhanced, more colorful visual experience. With the EnChroma glasses, we can share OKeeffes hope to convey the wideness and wonder of the world with everyone. The museums news release also noted that OKeeffe herself suffered from vision loss later in her life. Macular degeneration led her to focus more on sculpture rather than paintings starting in the 1970s. This project has a strong tie to that part of her story, Stacy said. On May 3, from 5 to 7 p.m., the OKeeffe Museum will host representatives from EnChroma, who will be set up at a table to answer questions about colorblindness and the glasses. EL PASO, Texas Officials say an Army sergeant has been charged with murder in the death of his wife on a West Texas military base. An Army spokesman says Staff Sgt. Amy Colbert died on April 6 at Fort Bliss, a base in El Paso. After an investigation, Sgt. Lance Colbert was charged with murder, threatening, stalking and using indecent language under military code on April 11. Details of the alleged killing were not released, and the Army declined to provide further information. Amy Colbert enlisted in 2011 and served combat tours in Afghanistan and Kuwait. She was posthumously promoted from sergeant to staff sergeant. Lance Colbert enlisted in 2012 and deployed to Afghanistan. He is being held in military custody and has not had a date set for his initial court hearing. Copyright 2019 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE The Gila River, which flows out of New Mexicos largest designated wilderness area, has been named the nations most endangered river as debate continues to smolder over a high-profile proposed diversion project. The 649-mile-long river, which runs west from New Mexico into Arizona, beat out New Yorks Hudson River and the upper Mississippi River for the dubious distinction, which is given yearly by American Rivers, a national conservation group. The river home to a rare trout species is threatened by climate change and the proposed diversion project, the group said Tuesday in announcing its 2019 list. Its not exactly a good thing to be No. 1 on the list, but it does raise awareness of the issue, said Allyson Siwik, the executive director of the Silver City-based Gila Conservation Coalition. Debate over whether to build a large-scale diversion project on the Gila River in New Mexico dates back to at least the 1960s, but disagreements, delays and court challenges have kept construction from taking place. However, this year could prove pivotal as the state faces a deadline under a 2004 law passed by Congress that provided up to 14,000 acre-feet of water and made available nearly $66 million in federal funding to date. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who took office in January, pledged on the campaign trail to end work on the Gila River Diversion Project. The governor also used her line-item veto authority this month to ax nearly $1.7 million for the project from a bill that authorizes more than $900 million in public infrastructure spending. Shes made her position on the diversion project clear, and that has not changed, Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said Tuesday. He also said the Gila River will feature prominently in a new 50-year water plan Lujan Grisham has vowed to undertake, while also pointing out that the governor issued an executive order aimed at combating the effects of climate change. However, backers of the diversion project say the state will lose out on additional revenue and new water rights if the project is not completed. Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, questioned critics description of the Gila as a free-flowing river, saying there are already multiple irrigation ditches and acequias that divert water from the river as it flows toward Arizona. Although state lawmakers have a limited say in how the debate is ultimately resolved, competing bills dealing with the Gila River both stalled during this years 60-day legislative session. One measure with bipartisan backing would have given more authority to the organization tasked with planning and building a Gila River diversion project, technically known as the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity. Meanwhile, the other proposal would have reallocated money available under the 2004 federal law for the project to other southwestern New Mexico water projects. Critics of the proposed diversion project say those alternatives should be pursued, arguing that they would not hurt the states tourism economy or cause environmental damage. There are cultural and historic reasons why the Gila is a special place, Siwik said. Dow, for one, said shes not opposed to some alternative projects, adding that she hopes the current political logjam is broken soon. The project is stalled, and I wish there was a resolution, Dow told the Journal. Other waterways on the list of most endangered rivers include the Green-Duwamish River in Washington, the Willamette River in Oregon and Alaskas Chilkat River. Woodbine Mohawk Park would like to inform all horsepeople of a change to the current qualifying schedule. Through the remainder of April, Woodbine Mohawk Park will host qualifiers every Monday and Thursday before shifting to a Monday and Friday qualifying schedule in May. Qualifiers will begin each morning at 10 a.m. The draw for Monday qualifiers will take place on Saturday mornings, while Thursday qualifiers will be drawn on Wednesday mornings. The entry box closes at 10:30 a.m. (Woodbine Mohawk Park) CALIFORNIA - State officials are showing new concern over PG&Es commitment to wildfire prevention. The president of the California Public Utilities Commission said he is skeptical about PG&Es promises to instill a culture of safety in the company. Consultants hired by the California Public Utilities Commission said in March that PG&E lacks an overall safety strategy. 10 of PG&Es 13 board members were replaced last month. The company also hired a new CEO. Chrome News Track, an exclusive 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 15 According to the Chrome News Track data for the Week 15 - 2019, 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is the most Aired News this week, followed by news about Shatrughan Sinha Joins Congress. The news about IT Department Raid on MP CM Kamal Nath's Aides stood at the 3rd spot, the news about Smriti Irani Files Nomination from Amethi Seat is next in the list, while news about Indian Army Letter Controversy managed to take the fifth spot. Most Watched News in Week 15 The survey also unveils that 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is the most watched news for the week grabbing maximum eyeballs, followed by IT Department Raid on MP CM Kamal Nath's Aides. The news about Shatrughan Sinha Joins Congress, Indian Army Letter Controversy and Smriti Irani Files Nomination from Amethi Seat also generated interests amongst viewers and are placed at 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively, in the list. Most Discussed News in Week 15 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 Indian Army Letter Controversy happens to be the 2nd most discussed news as per the survey. Shatrughan Sinha Joins Congress became the 3rd most discussed news among the masses, while Smriti Irani Files Nomination from Amethi Seat and IT Department Raid on MP CM Kamal Nath's Aides are placed at 4th and 5th , respectively, in the list. Watch TV to win some money! No its not fake news, its 100% true! Sony SAB has launched an exciting new initiative for their loyal viewers called TV Bana ATM contest. All that the viewers have to do is answer two simple questions and get a chance to win cash prizes on the spot. Starting 15th April to 26th April, - between 7:30pm to 10:30pm, at the end of each episode (Tenali Rama, Bhakharwadi, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chasmah, Aladdin Naam Toh Suna Hoga, Jijaji Chhat Per Hain & Baavle Utaavle) on the channel, viewers will be posed with two simple show related questions. Questions will be as simple as Who does Aladdin want to rescue? All you need to do is send the correct answers to the questions via a SMS to 8340883408. The winner of each correct answer stands a chance to win an instant gratification of Rs. 5000 as cash prize. Whats more! You can keep participating and answer multiple questions and keep winning. So what are you waiting for! Tune into Sony SAB, watch your favourite characters and increase your wealth! In their bid to urge Indians to go out and make their vote count, Network18, one of the leading media conglomerates in the country, launched the initiative, Button Dabao, Desh Banao. As the country prepares itself for yet another landmark election, the campaign encourages all Indian nationals to make an informed decision and exercise their fundamental right to vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While it may take only a button to elect a government representative, a lot of people shy away from this responsibility. With the previous General Election in 2014 earning the distinction of recording the highest voter turnout ever at 66.4%, the Button Dabao, Desh Banao campaign is a call-to-action campaign shedding light on how each vote counts. Speaking about the campaign, Priyanka Kaul, President Marketing, Network18 said, Little actions can make a big difference. Voting is one such activity, for it shapes us and our countrys future. Button Dabao, Desh Banao is a simple campaign with which we hope to encourage Indians to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Through various digital and offline platforms, Network18 will amplify its voice by calling out to the citizens of this country to build a better India together. In a recent conversation regarding the importance of voting and in support of the upcoming Button Dabao, Desh Banao campaign by Network18, Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India said, I urge all voters come out and cast their vote early in the morning. Pehle matdaan, baad me jalpaan (vote first, then breakfast). Voters today are very aware. There are long queues at booths. Urge voters to carry water to drink. I would like to urge peaceful polling and a heavy turnout. I would like to specially reach out to first time voters, people born in the 21st century. New voters deserve a special respect and a place of pride, for the first time they are about to cast their vote on national issues and be a party to the nations development. I urge first time voters to definitely come out and vote. Lets also verify our names in the voters list online in advance. Let all voters to be part of this great election festival. Let democracy be eternal. Lets move forward with this mission. The Button Dabao, Desh Banao campaign will be a 360-degree endeavour, extending its reach across the nation via Network 18s extensive television and digital network along with social media, print and OOH elements. PowerAdspy, a leading Social Media Ad Intelligence Platform launches the Worlds First Instagram Ad intelligence platform for Advertisers, Media Buyers, Ad agencies, etc. to discover the most profitable Instagram ad campaigns/Ideas, effectively analyze the competitors campaign strategies, research any Instagram ad campaign in seconds. The only Instagram Ad intelligence platform that serves to the innovative thinking with a gaggle of ad varieties that counterpart everything from the merchandise briefs to high-engagement, brand-centered stories. 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Here Dorit maintains the level of obfuscation we might expect following her article on the benefits of agency capture, only surprise she does not recognise any instance of capture and all the points where the CDC and industry meet either through Task Force or the CDC Foundation are ineffably benign and beneficent.Dorit: Reading the Task Force's annual report, I see some ex-CDC among its people, and some projects in which the CDC is a funder. http://www.taskforce.org/sites .... The fact that the Task Force gets funding from CDC seems to suggest that if anything the CDC has input into their projects, not that pharma influences the CDC covertly through the Task Force. That's not good evidence of pharmaceutical control (or even influence) on the CDC. To remind you, the CDC's operations are funded by CongressMe: Surely, it is a matter of culture. Julie Gerberding was appointed head of Merck vaccine division within a year of leaving the directorship of the CDC - that is scarcely reassuring. You may be comfortable with such things, but I am not.It's a long time ago but Task Force according to Wiki was founded by three ex CDC execs who could thus form partnerships with both industry and the CDC.Another commenter Ember intervenes:Your article arguing the benefits of (regulatory) capture is not confusing. The term regulatory capture was originated by Woodrow Wilson to signify the phenomenon of state regulatory agencies which were created to act in the public interest but which instead advance the commercial or special interests that dominate the industries the agencies are charged with regulating. There's really nothing confusing about trying to rectify the term or the practice as a "good thing."Dorit responds to neither point. This is a later exchange:Me: Actually, when it comes to the issue of regulatory capture the CDC Foundation is a very interesting topic. Here is a list of the foundations corporate partners with the rubric:"Our diverse partners understand that linking with CDC through the CDC Foundation can significantly advance public health in this country and worldwide. Often, partners become engaged early on in a project to clearly understand its objectives or participate in the program design. Several partners may jointly fund a program to ensure its successful completion."Corporations whose goals or philanthropic interests align with CDCs work often partner with the CDC Foundation to advance CDC's work on a specific health threat, such as protecting patients from healthcare-associated infections, reducing tobacco use and increasing screening and treatment for chronic and infectious disease." ( http://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners#category-299) Of course, all the major pharmaceutical manufacturers are there (and none of them are really philanthropic organizations)Dorit: The foundation is actually set up as a good example of thekind of collaboration that we want to encourage and that does not really raise concerns about capture. The foundation operates outside the CDC, with a dedicated team; it does things that do not require direct regulation of companies - most of the projects are focused either on research or on activism abroad; it does not give funding partners direct access to decision making inside the CDC; it allows the CDC to do things that it would not be able to do on its regular budget to prevent health threat; and in case you noticed, funding partners include The Mayo Clinic, the World Health Organization, and others.Me: An alternative reading is that the agency simply becomes the instrument of various industrial (and other) interests, which as I understand it you welcome. That, after all, was where we came in.Dorit: I'm not sure where you read that I welcome an agency becoming the instrument of industrial interests - that's some serious misunderstanding of my article. But the CDC foundation certainly does not show that the CDC is an instrument of the companies. It does projects related to public health beyond the core responsibilities of the CDC, separate functionally from decision making, and I'm not sure how you can say any of the specific projects makes it the instruments of companies.Me: It certainly does not show careful distance - it makes the CDC a conduit for trade.To which Dorit does not respond.These two issues sit together, with Dorits attempt to de-legitimize and marginalize Jennys experience. I wrote:Me: When I wrote an article about you a couple of weeks agoI was disturbed at your attitude to agency capture, combined with your very hard line on vaccine compliance and an aggressive strategy to shut people out anddown who disagree - Jenny McCarthy would be a case in point.Dorit: I always do my best - time permitting - to respond to comments from the other sides on articles in journals, though I rarely engage on your home base, which seems needlessly provocative. I certainly do have a strong view on vaccine compliance: while I do not support mandatory laws (laws imposing fines and penalties on those not vaccinating), I support tight school attendance requirements and other mechanisms for encouraging compliance. But it is unfair to characterize this as shutting down people: nobody is preventing McCarthy - or anyone else - from voicing an opinion, and she - and you - do so in many forums. The opposition to her role on The View is because of the apparent legitimacy it confers on her opinions - not as an attempt to shut her up. She still has multiple forums to express her opinions, and I would certainly not deny her her right to free speech. On the other hand, I too can exercise my right to free speech and mobilize to get a private network not to hire her.Me: No, that's doubletalk. Her opinions are perfectly legitimate - she speaks from experience, and she asks for the vaccine program to be made safer - what could possibly be more moderate or reasonable? The basic point is that you want a say on what is legitimate. People who don't jump into line must be excluded from public life, shoved to the margins.It's perfectly reasonable to debate the pros and cons of vaccines in a blog and it ought to be on TV tooDorit:.. It's not double talk: free speech does not entitle one to a public, televised platform. Jenny McCarthy provides unfounded, problematic health advice - on vaccine and other things. I won't support shutting her up, but I do protest against putting her on the show.Me: No, you say it is unfounded, and you want to say it is unfounded in the case of every single parent who speaks up, but you weren't there - and frankly it is a bit of a nerve. The reality is that vaccines cause brain damage and they cause autism:After the Hannah Poling case Julie Gerberding, at the time head of the CDC but now of Merck's vaccine division was forced to admit .. if youre predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it [vaccination] can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism..While Vaccine Injury Compensation Program officials told Sharyl Attkisson: "The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures."But apparently you know better, and you know better in every single case.Dorit: As to the cases: encephalopathy is not autism (nor is encephalitis) (see question 6 here: http://www.neuro.jhmi.edu/neuroimmunopath/autism_faqs.htm ) A mitochondrial disorder is not autism, even if some of the symptoms are similar. As these studies show, it is not clearly connected to autism: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2350-12-50.pdf http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21404085 The fact that a child has both encephalitis and autism does not negate this. And to remind you, vaccine preventable diseases also cause encephalitis - at much higher rates than vaccines - and can also be horrible to children with mitochondrial disorders. So if those conditions translate to autism, the absence of vaccines would increase rates. But they're not autism, nor contribute to it.Liquidambar: Dorit;Autism is just the psych term of what you got left after a vaccine injury.Me: No one said encephalopathy is autism - straw man argument. 'Liquidambar' is right too: autism may not be the exclusive cause of autism but it is matter of the brain injury resulting in autism (which is a non-specific group of neurological impairments), and the officials admit that it happens.Of course, now we have an autism rate of about 1 in 50 so the issue of vaccinated vs unvaccinated is very pressing.Dorit: I wasn't there. But frankly, being there means the parent can offer excellent testimony onwhat happened (allowing for the natural limitations of perception and memory that apply to every eyewitness account, especially something this charged). They are less able to address the why, because they don't have the perspective of background rates and other potential causes: those things are invisible. And I've no doubt saying this hurts the parents, and if there's one thing I regret here is that pain: it can't be pleasant to hear, again and again, you are wrong about something this important to your heart. But I will still say it, for two reasons: A. Parents who believe vaccines caused their child's autism feel guilt for allow the child to be vaccinated and bitterness at others. I think it's important to remind parents that there is no evidence for that link because it's not fair to the parents to leave them with those emotions, when it's contrary to the evidence. B. Not vaccinating leaves children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases. That's dangerous. Leaving children at that risk without evidence of a link, and with evidence to the contrary is worse. I think it's important to point out the flaws and provide the information to correct that. But I do understand that it hits a nerve, and wish there was a way to make the argument without that.Liquidambar: Nope you were not there, as I kept vaccinating and kept seeing reactions that even the vaccine inserts says to talk to your doctor about. But something is wrong with the doctors - they did not listen untill a stroke like eventI think that is called rechallenged isn't it?Me: Almost immediately above I have posted statements by US government official[s] admitting that vaccination can give rise to autisms - it is certainly possible and certainly happens. I guess you don't like being told your wrong or having possible guilt foisted on you either, but relevance?Dorit: Neither statement admits that vaccine cause autism, and both point out that compensation was not for autism.Me: In bureaucrat-speak fairyland: autism is the effect of the injury. If there was no significant effect from the injury there would be no serious compensation.Dorit: "Symptoms that can have characteristics of autism" and "autism-like" symptoms are not autism. Symptoms cross over between conditions. The fact that I can have nausea after I broke my arm and nausea because of morning sickness does not mean a broken arm is a pregnancy.Me: This is completely wrong. - autism is entirely defined by it symptoms. If there were any difference between "autistic behaviour" and "autism" - only possibly a matter of degree - the HHS HRSA statement resolves it by naming both (as the result of vaccine induced brain injury) and also mentioning seizures, which alas often accompany autism. But as I have also pointed out the case for a brain injury would be hard to make out if there was no resulting impairment, so in principle the impairment is acknowledged too - has to be. What Dorit does here is demonstrate her total ignorance of autism diagnosis (which doesn't stop her pontificating).Dorit: Autism is defined by its symptoms, but it has requirement - just having some of the symptoms, or something like the symptoms is not enough. http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-autism.html Me: And your point is?Dorit: Encephalopathy is not autism; encephalitis is not autism; a mitochondrial disorder is not autism; the government officials did not concede vaccines cause autism, in fact they said they did not. They did point out that some of the injuries cause by vaccines can have some of the symptoms of autism. In no case did the NVICP or another court in the U.S. compensate a child on the theory vaccines caused her autism. There is no credible evidence for such a link.Me: Dorit, if you want to argue like that its up to you, and people can draw their own conclusions about your motives, but this is what they said:"The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures."Now, there is more than a touch of distinctions without differences about this (as Sharyl Attkisson was pointing out) but in so far as one can make sense of it the point is there is a mechanism (encephalopathy) which results in impairment (autistic behaviour, autism, seizures) and what you have to show is brain damage occurred as a result of the vaccine. But if there was no impairment it would be hard to argue that a case needed compensating, so they are forcing a point while admitting that autism is sometimes involved.Also, it is worth noting that in the statement "autism" and "autistic behavior" are symptoms of encephalopathy ("encephalopathy may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms including...") and there is no mention of "symptoms of autism", which is erroneously interpolated by you in order suggest it is not proper autism. But not only is this technically silly - another distinction without a difference - what concerns parents is not whether there is some Platonic ideal of autism to which their child's disability corresponds, but their often reasonable belief that their child has been damaged.This conversation goes round in circles a few more times with Dorit splitting the same hairs. The government did not compensate the autism, they compensated the encephalopathy which caused the autism (but then if encephalopathy didnt cause anything why compensate it?) And at the end of it is simply not clear why Jenny McCarthy would be unreasonable in believing that her childs autism was caused by a vaccine, or why Dorit who says she believes in free speech is reasonable in wanting to ban Jenny from speaking in the mainstream media. Some might call it humbug, and who would I be to disagree?Me: There are lots of things which ought to be debated here - and now you are making a show of welcoming discussion but this has not been the pattern until this point.My own contention over vaccines is not that they don't have benefits but they are neither as effective or as safe as you or the propaganda would have everyone believe: in fact the truth is decidedly messy and we don't have proper accountability. I suspect if you had your way it would be reduced to zero. But this is done by silencing people and that is not a scientific project.Dorit: Obviously I also disagree with your claim that vaccines are not safe and effective and I think the evidence on this is very clear cut. I'm willing to discuss specific points with you.Me: Well, there are a great many specific points to discuss and one is aggressive campaigns against parents or professionals who have spoken up about vaccine damage - that in itself is a way of distorting the evidence base. The problem with Andrew Wakefield was not the quality of his research but the fact that he listened to parents - that was what was intolerable. But as was shown in the English High Court last year - in the appeal of his senior colleague John Walker-Smith - there was nothing wrong with the Lancet paper which the UK General Medical Council skewered all three doctors on. Of course, it was a warning to everyone else who stepped out of line.I was particularly sickened at the beginning of the year when GAVI/Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation successfully lobbied the UN to continue the use of thimerosal in vaccines on completely spurious arguments.I sent Dr Larson 90 abstracts of pubmed studies condemning thimerosal to no avail. It is very easy to conduct studies which don't find anything but these were 90 which did.That's two points. It's very late at night here.Dorit: The last point about thimerosal - as pointed out, thimerosal in vaccines has actually been studied in relation to autism, and no harm actually found. Your studies seem to be a combination of animal studies and tissue studies, and the human studies examining the issue - and examining it in the context of vaccines - are stronger. I would also add that I'm not sure why you think it's possible to fake a negative result but not a positive one. Seems that either result could be arrived at in a valid or flawed manner, depending on the methodology.Me: No, you can fake both positive and negative but it is easy to design studies poorly to obtain indeterminate results. This critique by Brian Hooker of two recent CDC studies is very telling, and nobody of any sense came to defend them.Dorit fails to respond to the Hooker question and moves on to Andrew Wakefield (with something of a concession):Dorit: I think your description of the Walker-Smith decision is incomplete. It is true that the judge found the council did not have evidence that the procedures performed on the children were clinically unjustified, and that may affect Wakefield's case; but the judge's overturning of the guilt for misrepresenting the ethic's committee approval was based on Wakefield changing the article after the last draft Walker-Smith saw - basically, on Wakefield misrepresenting the facts behind his co-authors back, and that is not an exoneration of Wakefield, quite the contrary. Similarly, the Walker-Smith decision does not address Wakefield hiding conflicts of interest and the other problems.However, silence reigns again when I demonstrate that there is nothing in the ethical approval issue to incriminate Wakefield either:Me: I think John Walker-Smith missed it because there wasn't much to see:"Ethical approval and consent"Investigations were approved by the Ethical Practices Committee of the Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, and parents gave informed consent."The investigations needed ethical approval and had them and the paper did not have ethical approval and did not need it. The statement does not say the paper had ethical approval. Nor was it commissioned by the Legal Aid Board or based on their protocol, so no conflict there. Nor was it the convention in that period to declare court work as a competing interest.Perhaps Dorit might like to consider how peoples lives can be unfairly and erroneously trashed when they stand up against governments or industry, and wonder whether this is really the nice side to be on.I did not raise this but of course Offit is one of the four professional advisors of VFV. It was, of course, a VFV predecessor of Karen Ernst (and fellow St Paul citizen) Lisa Randall who in 2008 went after Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News because of her report on Offit, through Orange County Record who, finally in 2011 published a retraction An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled Dr. Paul Offit Responds contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offits statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?July 25, 2008.Unsubstantiated statements include: Offits claim that Attkisson lied; and Offits claim that CBS News sent a mean spirited and vituperative email over the signature of Sharyl Attkisson stating Youre clearly hiding something. In fact, the OC Register has no evidence to support those claims. Further, Offit told the OC Register that he provided CBS News the details of his relationship, and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias relationship, with pharmaceutical company Merck. However, documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose his financial relationships with Merck, including a $1.5 million Hilleman chair he sits in that is co-sponsored by Merck. According to the CBS News documentation recently reviewed by the OC Register, the network requested (but Offit did not disclose) the entire profile of his professional financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including: The amount of compensation hed received from which companies in speaking fees; and pharmaceutical consulting relationships and fees. The CBS News documentation indicates Offit also did not disclose his share of past and future royalties for the Merck vaccine he co-invented. To the extent that unsubstantiated and/or false claims appeared in the OC Register and have been repeated by other organizations and individuals, the OC Register wishes to express this clarification for their reference and for the record"Anyway Liquidambar raised the issue of Offits rotavirus vaccine conflict:Liquidambar: Get paid for your work - is fine, but how often is it that you get to actually vote on your own work and force it upon everyone because it is made mandatory. He got a hefty some for his work too - 6 million I do believe.Dorit: How can they vote to make their work mandatory?Me: "Unlike most other patented products, the market for mandated childhood vaccines is created not by consumer demand, but by the recommendation of an appointed body called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In a single vote, ACIP can create a commercial market for a new vaccine that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a matter of months. For example, after ACIP approved the addition of Mercks (and Offits) Rotateq vaccine to the childhood vaccination schedule, Mercks Rotateq revenue rose from zero in the beginning of 2006 to $655 million in fiscal year 2008. When one multiplies a price of close to $200 per three dose series of Rotateq by a mandated market of four million children per year, its not hard to see the commercial value to Merck of favorable ACIP votes. From 1998 to 2003, Offit served as a member of ACIP . Before and during his ACIP term, Offit was involved in rotavirus vaccine development activities, the value of which ACIP influenced. Shortly before his term began in October 1998, Offits first two rotavirus patents were granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the first on May 6, 1997 and the second on May 12, 1998. During his ACIP term, Offit received two additional patents in 2000 and 2001"Dorit: It's a little unclear whether your insinuations about Dr. Offit stem from your feeling that he voted on his personal interests or because you see him as representing Merck. At any case, they are incorrect:A. Dr. Offit does not hold the patent for Rotateq - CHOP does. After the initial payment, he does not get royalties (and I am sure you don't begrudge a man payment for 25 years work, work that resulted in a vaccine with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives), so he does not have a financial stake in the success of the vaccine.B. As you yourself point out, Dr. Offit stopped serving on ACIP in 2003 and the Rotateq vaccine was voted in later. He was not involved.C. Dr. Offit does not work for Merck - as is pretty easy to find, he works in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and for Penn Medical School. He does not depend on Merck for his salary.Me: I should have included the next paragraph:"Four months before Offit was appointed to ACIP in October 1998, the committee had voted to give the rotavirus category a Routine Vaccination status, in anticipation of an FDA approval of RotaShield (oddly, ACIP made this vote before the FDA approved Wyeths RotaShield vaccine on October 1, 1998). Shortly after Offits term began, there were several additional votes involved in establishing the rotavirus vaccine market and Offit voted yes in every case. In May of 1999, the CDC published its revised childhood vaccination schedule and rotavirus vaccine was included. This series of favorable votes clearly enhanced the monetary value of Offits stake in Mercks rotavirus vaccine, which was five years into clinical trials."Dorit: So the vaccine was added to the schedule before Offit joined, and he had to decide on specific issues after the facts, issues related to a vaccine that was not his - was, in fact, a competitor - while his vaccine was still in trials, behind in market entry. Sorry, not very good evidence of a conspiracy or capture.Dorit: It is true that the CDC's ACIP approves - and removes approval - from vaccines. For example, after concerns about intussusception arose from Rotashield, that vaccine was removed from the market - and removal from the market (like in this case), and non-recommendations - for example, not recommending meningococcal C for infants - is good evidence that ACIP does not blindly stamp industry recommendations and is not captured.Me: Even better for Paul O. His product also has a big record with intussusception.Found 914 events where Vaccine is RV5 and Symptom is Intussusception Found 7 events where Vaccine is RV5 and Symptom is Intussusception and Patient Died Found 266 events where Vaccine is RV5 and Patient Died Of course, VAERS is only passive surveillance and is likely only to record a small percentage of incidents.Dorit: Actually, to remind you, Rotateq tested for intussusception in the clinical trials, and the rate was lower for the vaccine group than the placebo group. The CDC examined the VAERS incidence, and it was found no higher than the background rate - remember, intussusception does happen naturally - which leads to the conclusion that rotateq does not cause intussusception, that we're just seeing the regular rate. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafe.... And again, this whole incidence is evidence of how seriously real problems with vaccines are treated: a serious adverse event was discovered in one out of 10,000 children with Rotashield; the vaccine was removed from market; the new vaccines were tested to make sure they don't cause the same problem. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vp.... This is pretty good evidence that there is no capture and the system works.Me: And post-marketing monitoring? The spirit of the three wise monkey reigns!In the UK we are just about to get rotavirus vaccine (the GSK version) so it is quite interesting to look at our Health Protection Agency charts - it seems to be fairly consistently around 15,000 lab confirmed cases a year (connected with hospital admissions). That's a lot, but what I don't see are any associated deaths (unlike the vaccines).I should have said post-market monitoring seemed to have worked better in the case of Rotashield than Offits Rotateq but raising the issue that the vaccine seemed more associated with death than disease was once again met with Dorits silence.I have not reported every aspect of the discussion: for instance Dorits hobby horse about suing parents who do not vaccinate for infection, as against the problem of vaccines that shed and spread infection (for instance the nasal flu vaccine Flumist/Fluenz), nor our exchanges about genetic research. But it was an interesting and ultimately revealing dialogue, which perhaps I enjoyed more than she did.John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism. And I even mentioned the liability problem in my response to his inaugural smear piece on September 2nd, in Breakdown In Accountability At Heart Of Decline In Vaccinations , but he must not read his own paper. So naturally, he printed, " Ginger Taylor, an anti-vaccine advocate from Brunswick, describes her autistic son Chandler, now 12, as a vaccine-injured child ," and failed to mention the liability issue at all. In fact in his five years writing on this topic, I can't ever remember him mentioning the liability-freeness of the vaccine program. Lawlor himself began his vaccine coverage on August 10th of 2014. He called me for an interview, and I discussed with him that I was not anti-vaccine, and to please not call me that, and this was about the restoration of liability to vaccine makers for injury and death to children. We talked for 45 minutes, emphasizing the liability problem. Their board declared on Sunday that debate is closed on BOTH the scientific AND political vaccine discussions. Not only are they wrong on both counts, the PPH putting their foot down and saying that no one is allowed to talk about this any more is as laughable as the countless other authoritarian temper tantrums that have declared that the "science is settled" for more than a decade now. Joe Lawlor is the health reporter for Maine's most prominent newspaper, the Portland Press Herald. The paper has been pushing for the passage of LD 798, which removes the religious and philosophical vaccine exemptions from everywhere in Maine law. The PPH doesn't even believe the right to choose what vaccine goes into one's body should be the subject of public debate any more , despite the fact that the PPH has never referenced the vaccine liability protection in one of its articles much less debated it. Dorit believes that forced vaccination is constitutional. Mind you, not just coerced vaccination for school entry or employment, she is referencing door to door vaccination by police with guns, and in some circumstances (she does not say which), tying a child down and vaccinating him or her. For the uninitiated, Dorit Reiss is a law professor at UC Hastings who, while she has never taken the bar exam or practiced law, has been held out by the vaccine industry as the go to legal mind on vaccine mandates. The liability-free industry had a problem in Mary Holland, JD, well respected NYU legal scholar and member of the SCOTUS bar, and Dorit was the best they could come up with to offer a legal response. He may not put that in his "reporting" for the Portland Press Herald as the paper advocates for mandatory vaccination in Maine, but he puts it in his emails to principal advocate for vaccination via violence, Dorit Reiss. Joe Lawlor believes that vaccine injured families advocating for their right to bodily integrity are cult-like anti-vaxxers. It turned out that I was the sucker. He appeared a only two days later on the dais at the National Press Club with Paul Offit as an example of good vaccine reporting, I guess. He didn't even seem to understand why he was there, almost apologizing for appearing on what was billed as a panel of "experts" after less than two months of reporting on the vaccine issue. But aww shucks if he didn't come into this as a wide eyed newbie who just wanted to explore the issue, what with him being such an earnest and impartial journalist (that keeps forgetting the central issue of liability... well, I am sure he will get to it one of these years.) Oh, and also he became BFFs with Dorit Reiss within four hours of posting his first story (give or take a few time zones.) I noticed that Dorit posts on the PPH vaccine stories a LOT. I mean a lot even for her. And then I saw one day where people were sending freedom of information requests for her UC Hastings email to see what her chats with Offit were like. So I wondered to UC Hastings if she was pals with Lawlor. Subject: PRA REQUEST: CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN REISS AND LAWLER Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2019 12:26:47 -0500 From: Ginger Taylor To: martinezleo@uchastings.edu, scullionk@uchastings.edu Dear Mr. Martinez, This is a request for public information under the California Public Records Act. The records sought and to what extent are described below. 1. All information and communications, as described below, between Mrs. Dorit Reiss to and from Joe Lawler of the Portland Press Herald, from the time Mrs. Reiss started working at UC Hastings, which Mrs. Reiss dates back to 2007 according to an interview she did with "Above The Law". The request is both for the emails sent by Reiss, as well as those sent by Lawler. The following information is requested both as part of this PRA. As used herein, information, documentation, correspondence and/or communication means all communications between and among the above parties in any form, including but not limited to hand written, typed, written, email, electronic, recorded; including notes, PowerPoint presentations, flyers, invitations, publications, webinar recordings, and the like, etc. If any or all documents do not exist please note that specifically in your response. If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $10.00. However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public's interest and will contribute significantly to my and the publics understanding of Mrs. Reiss and UC Hasting's association with Joe Lawler, his media outlet and the vaccine industry partnerships that they have established to remove the rights of Maine families to informed consent in vaccination. The California Public Records Act requires a response within ten business days. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer, please contact me with information about when I might expect such copies. Please provide all materials in electronic format by reply email as they become available, as opposed to until all of them are collected and become available. If you deny any part of or this entire request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and under what legal authority, and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under university policy and procedures and under the law. Please advise when I can expect a reply to my email and the requested information. Thank you for attention to my request. Thank you for your kind attention. -- Ginger Taylor, MS She is. Here are the emails between them sent to me by UC Hastings: https://uchastings365-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/scullionk_uchastings_edu/Ei5SQSnEwtBIicZrH54OkUQBkupQwUoFAQV9l55tV4LAFA?e=9jrw0o Here are a few samples of their penpalship. It all began on that fateful day that Lawlor called me "anti-vaccine." From:Reiss, Dorit R. [mailto:reissd@uchastings.edu] Sent:Sunday, August 10, 2014 11:52 PM To:Joe Lawlor Subject:RE: Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" My apologies for my lack of patience. I guess it just took time to go through all the comments you've received. Apologies, too, for posting more than once when I thought there was a problem. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss Professor of Law UC Hastings College of the Law 415-5654844 reissd@uchastings.edu ______________________________________________ From:Reiss, Dorit R. Sent:Monday, August 11, 2014 1:55 AM To:jlawlor@pressherald.com Subject:Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" Dear Mr. Lawlor, I've posted several times on this article, but most of my comments have disappeared. I'm not sure if the problem is the moderation or Facebook, but I wanted to double check - if moderation, I'm not sure why my comments are deleted. best, Dorit. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss Professor of Law UC Hastings College of the Law 415-5654844 reissd@uchastings.edu ______________________________________________ From:Reiss, Dorit R. [mailto:reissd@uchastings.edu] Sent:Monday, August 11, 2014 10:10 AM To:Joe Lawlor Subject:RE: Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" And it's a great article. Thanks for speaking up on this, and doing it in such a careful, sensitive way. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss Professor of Law UC Hastings College of the Law 415-5654844 reissd@uchastings.edu ______________________________________________ From:Joe Lawlor Sent:Monday, August 11, 2014 1:40 PM To:Reiss, Dorit R. Subject:RE: Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" Thanks for being a voice of reason on the commenting board..321 comments and counting! Wow, to see the anti-vaccine crowd in full throat is a bit scary.This is my favorite quote on the boards so far, from you no less I agree that the body is much more complex than an automobile. Which is why I'm surprised that anti-vaccine people, who would not presume they know more than their mechanic by reading their car manual, presume they can know more than people who have studied immunology all their lives by a few hours of googling. ______________________________________________ From:Reiss, Dorit R. [mailto:reissd@uchastings.edu] Sent:Monday, August 11, 2014 8:54 PM To:Joe Lawlor Subject:RE: Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" I've also been asked to tell you, from some of my science friends, that you "wrote quite a good article and should be commended for staying away from the false-balance trap that so many fall into." And welcome to the wonderful world of anti-vaccine engagement. best, Dorit . ______________________________________________ From:Joe Lawlor Sent:Monday, August 11, 2014 9:58 PM To:Reiss, Dorit R. Subject:RE: Article "More Maine families are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines" I just checked into the comments. My God, you and Liz have spent the entire day debunking the deluge of anti-vaccine propaganda below the story Kudos to you. I cant believe there are 455 comments on whether vaccines are safe! In what is settled science! I know it doesnt surprise you, but to me its still unbelievable. Its almost cult-like.. I can be more forthcoming in a personal email to you as compared to a public forum.:) Best wishes Joe L. ______________________________________________ From:Joe Lawlor Sent on: Thursday, August 14, 2014 2:00:05 PM To: Reiss, Dorit R. Subject: Follow-up story Follow up: Flag for follow up Follow up status: Completed Completed on: Thursday, August 14, 2014 2:20:41 PM FYI heres my follow-up story.Well see what happens.So far zero comments on story. Calm before the storm, or did the last story with 600+ comments tire everyone out? LOL! http://www.pressherald.com/2014/08/14/state-legislators-to-seek-stronger-vaccine-laws/ Soon they were targeting random medical professionals like they had been comrades for years! (name changed) From: Joe Lawlor Sent on: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 4:32:43 PM To: Reiss, Dorit R. Subject: Fwd: Vaccine Safety Panel Hi Dorit. Have you ever heard of X Smith? Is he an anti-vaccination person? Just curious. Joe Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: "X Smith" Date: October 8, 2014 at 12:26:06 PM EDT To: Subject: Vaccine Safety Panel Mr. Lawlor, I am a ... physician in XX State. Yesterday, I caught some of your comments on C-Span coverage of the National Panel on Vaccine Safety. I was disturbed by some of the assumptions made by the panel. I understand that the vaccine conversation is quite an emotional one and that in the midst of that emotion sometimes the science gets lost. However, you said that the science is solid on the efficacy and safety of vaccines, and that the debate is over. I must respectfully disagree. To give you some background, I also read the party line portrayed in medical textbooks and journal abstracts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. I also thought anti-vaxers were not credible and were putting others unduly at risk. I also thought with arrogance, that it was my duty to inform them. I also bullied my patients into taking vaccines at worst and at best prescribed them without concern for the risks. Little did I know, I was the one who was uninformed. When I moved to XX State, there was such a vehement anti-vax movement, on a whim I decided to look into their arguments so that I would know what to say to them. Well, what I discovered is that there are some credible scientists and physicians who have found issues with the studies regarding vaccine safety and efficacy and the theory of herd immunity ( I thought it was a fact but, it is a flawed theory). I reviewed their findings, looked at their videos and read their books. And now I have to say I dont feel the same way about vaccines. I am much more cautious and concerned. I also noticed that as soon as these physicians speak out, there are internet trolls who write ad hominem attacks to discredit them, such as Stephen Barrett, MD and David Gorski, MD. Both who have their own professional issues. These scientists dont use science in their debunking activities at all. As you stated, you just started looking into the vaccine issue since July. I would like to provide you with some links to materials produced by people who have put thousands of hours into researching the methods and results of vaccine studies and the history of vaccines in depth. I am sure you admire and respect Dr. Paul Offit, and I believe he may be well intentioned, but he also engages in ad hominem attacks against these scientists and physicians to discredit them. I only ask that you keep an open mind. 1. Suzanne Humphries, MD a. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/ b. http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2012/07/05/herd-immunity-the-flawed-science-and-failures-of-mass-vaccination-suzanne-humphries-md-3/ c. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=suzanne+humphries 2. Tatyana Obukhanych, PhD a. http://www.amazon.com/Vaccine-Illusion-Tetyana-Obukhanych-ebook/dp/B007AW2CLG b. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h66beBrEpk 3. Sherri Tennpeny, DO (FYI Dr. Paul Offit and Tenpenny both seems to be adversarial with one another, so it gets emotional but her facts are sound, as far as I can tell). a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oYAVLDyR6Y To be balanced, I think you should review some of these materials. These scientists and physicians get very little air time from the media. In fact, it seems that every time a person who questions vaccines is given air time by the media, they are a mother, without a scientific background, who is emotional vs. Paul Offit ( a vaccine icon). This is used to discredit the legitimate concerns in the vaccination conversation. So, I offer you these links as a compass, so that you may be truly informed about why there is a debate, what the arguments are, and realize that the conversation is far from over. X Smith, [Insert advanced degrees here] Also my vaccine safety reform bill and the legislator who was working with me: From: Joe Lawlor Sent on: Sunday, January 11, 2015 5:37:10 PM To: Reiss, Dorit R. Subject: Re: Another story Thanks....Does the anti-vax bill have a legislative sponsor? Sent from my iPhone On Jan 11, 2015, at 12:02 PM, Reiss, Dorit R. wrote: I don't think this will go anywhere, but if it does, it may be useful for you to have the rebuttal at hand: "A bill was proposed by Maine legislator Richard Farnsworth adopting an informed refusal requirement before a parent can make use of Maines philosophical exemption to send their child to school without the required immunizations. In response, the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice (MCVC), an antivaccine advocacy group, proposed its own law, the Maine Vaccine Consumer Protection Act. Proposing an alternative law is not inappropriate. There are, however, two significant problems: the premises underlying the alternative law, and the content of the proposal. The proposal is based on premises that are either simply untrue or inaccurate and misleading. And its extremely bad law." http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/maine-coalition-vaccine-choice-legislation-bad-premises-bad-law/ best, Dorit. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss Professor of Law UC Hastings College of the Law 415-5654844 reissd@uchastings.edu Also now I super know how gross it feels to spend 4 years reaching out to The 4th Estate simply to be fodder, as apparently my emails to him went straight to Dorit: From: Joe Lawlor Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 1:51 PM To: Reiss, Dorit R. Subject: Fwd: Thompson given immunity by Obama admin to testify against CDC for vaccine safety fraud FYI.... Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Ginger Taylor Date: February 4, 2015 at 8:30:17 AM EST To: [a bunch of people including Joe Lawlor] Senator Mason and Representative O'Connor, There has been a development today in the #CDCwhistleblower scandal. The Daily Caller is reporting that senior CDC vaccine scientist William Thompson ... I checked to see if any of this violated The Portland Press Herald code of ethics, but it turns out they don't have any. MaineToday Media (Parent company of the PPH) is simply, "committed to delivering content by employing a variety of sources including traditional print products and emerging technology platforms. Our goal is to allow our readers to access our information in any manner of their choosing." Still, I have asked the Portland Press Herald for a response to the revelation that their health reporter is a user of bigoted epithets toward vaccine injured families, calling us cult-like anti-vaxxers, while posing as an objective reporter, while using an advocate of vaccination through violence as source, while pushing bills like LD 798 to eviscerate the 1st Amendment and Informed Consent in Medicine, while touting a connection to the Columbia School of Journalism, while keeping a straight face. Does the PPH believe that door to door vaccination by police is in order in Maine? Mr. Schechtman, Today I have published emails between Joe Lawlor and Dorit Reiss that I believe call for a response from the PPH on whether or not the paper shares Ms. Reiss' dystopian views on vaccination by police, and whether or not it is appropriate for a writer who refers to families with vaccine injured children with the epithets of "cult-like" and "anti-vaxxers" to be writing on vaccines for your outlet. I await your response. -- Ginger Taylor I have every reason to believe that they will continue to act in bad faith with no response or remorse for their #fakenews - I mean "content" - and that they will continue to report that Maine has the 7th highest vaccine exemption rate in the nation, when Maine is the 25th in the nation for vaccine coverage, while ignoring the liability-free elephant in the room. April 20 is the 20th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 12 students, one teacher and left 24 more injured. This year a group of student activists, including Columbine students and others from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, have launched MyLastShot.org, which urges media outlets to publish pictures of them if they die by gun violence. Organizer Kaylee Tyner says the public has been too protected from real images of gun death. Poynter advises editors to be cautious, however. 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. The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative a long-awaited venture slated for USC Aiken has earned some public praise from a U.S. Department of Energy executive. Anne Marie White, the leader of the DOE Office of Environmental Management, last week described the AMC project as "very exciting." White was speaking at a U.S. House Armed Services Committee hearing regarding President Donald Trump's fiscal year 2020 budget request. Trump's budget blueprint includes $50 million for AMC design and construction. White later said the AMC project allows "us to make some investments" in the Savannah River National Laboratory, "which will be very important." "That is EM's only lab," she continued, "and EM operates it." The AMC represents a convergence of SRNL, education, industry and workforce development. The AMC if built, completed and opened will "provide some laboratory space, testing kinds of space, available both for industry and academia," Savannah River Site deputy manager Thomas Johnson Jr. has said. The planned facility, first pitched about three years ago, will cover 60,000 square-feet, according to federal budget documents. Renderings and drawings of AMC depict engineering, cyber, robotics and metal labs as well as office spaces, break rooms and meeting hubs. "The AMC will not only allow experts in emerging technologies to collaborate with industry, academia and government to improve manufacturing, but also assist the DOE complex by accelerating technology development for the cleanup mission," U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said during the committee hearing. The AMC has been hailed as an economic catalyst by those closely involved or affected. White last week said AMC is "exactly the kind of facility that is going to attract next-generation workers." That's good news, she continued, for Environmental Management, the SRS landlord. Dr. Sandra Jordan, the USCA chancellor, has said South Carolina built its economy around skilled labor. It would only make sense then, Jordan continued, for the AMC to come to fruition. "This is a knowledge-based economy that we're in," Jordan said in a previous interview with the Aiken Standard. Will Williams, the president and CEO of the Economic Development Partnership, has said a successful AMC could usher in "some very high-tech, positive growth" along and around University Parkway. Williams has been involved with the AMC saga since the beginning. Despite popular pressure for a complete overhaul of Algeria's political system, the army is moving forward with the transition called for under the constitution following President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's resignation. Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, the speaker of Algeria's upper house of parliament, was sworn in April 9. He has promised elections for July 4. But can the poll even take place in the current climate? That's the first uncertainty, as the street and army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah find themselves on opposite trajectories for the first time since protests broke out in February. As a result, security services have grown harsher while Gaid Salah has ominously accused some protest leaders of being backed by "foreign hands." Gaid Salah and the ruling class are counting on the lure of elections to divide and weaken protesters' calls for a transition outside the framework of a constitution that keeps the regime in the driver's seat. If Gaid Salah has his way, the advantage will go to politicians close to the regime, many of whom have made no secret of their presidential ambitions, who have the connections and cash to run a campaign. Four names stand out in the context of a short transition period that hamstrings the emergence of new leaders: former prime minister and two-time Bouteflika challenger, Ali Benflis, who leads the Vanguard of Freedoms party; Abderrazak Makri, president of the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Movement of Society for Peace; retired Gen. Ali Ghediri, a former top Defense Ministry official; and Abdelaziz Belaid, a doctor who leads the Future Front party. Ali Benflis, the 'house' candidate Having twice run unsuccessfully against Bouteflika in 2004 and 2014, Benflis is often accused of having acted consciously or not to legitimize a process whose outcome was preordained. A product of the system, he could be a natural choice to take back control after the tsunami of popular protests. Despite his current image as a Bouteflika challenger, Benflis ran the former president's campaign in 1999 and served as his prime minister until 2003, while serving as secretary-general of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) from 2001 to 2004. At 75, Benflis is hardly the candidate of the rebelling youth, but he's perfectly acceptable to the regime and was quick to rally to the army's agenda. Last week, he called for a "quick return to elections," prompting criticism that he was already dreaming of entering the presidential palace "on the back of a tank." Even as he supports Gaid Salah, Benflis has been cautious not to anger the street. During an April 11 television appearance, he insisted that the political crisis could only be resolved through application of Articles 7 and 8 of the constitution, which hold that the people are the source of all political power. Benflis is a regular on regime-controlled television, which has promoted him as a friendly candidate who can give the system a much needed face-lift. But what makes Benflis appealing to the ruling class is exactly what turns many voters off. His three years as head of government were marked by high-profile scandals, including the distribution of opaque licenses to foreign communications firms, the collapse of the Khalifa financial empire and, worst of all, the brutal repression of Berber activists during the Black Spring of 2001 that killed 127 people. Benflis was also the one to announce the ban on protests in Algiers in 2001 a prohibition that was only challenged with this year's protests that took down Bouteflika. Abderrezak Makri, the striving 'brother' In retrospect, the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) made a wise choice when it ditched the Bouteflika-allied Boudjerra Soltani for Abderrezak Makri in 2013. Soltani's cozy ties with the presidential clan had sparked a revolt by party leaders upset at the MSP's loss of political identity. Makri had been a sharp critic of the regime and has transformed the MSP into a serious opposition party since taking over. A 58-year-old doctor by training with a law degree, Makri has a strong electoral base. Yet the base is plagued by a high abstention rate in a country whose elections have long lacked credibility. Makri has been a fixture at the weekly protests since February, consistently denouncing the regime's "obstinacy in ignoring the Algerian people's demands." Makri has called Bensalah's installment as interim president a provocation and a "humiliation for the Algerian people." He would be the only candidate with a natural electoral base independent of the ruling class. However, he faces a formidable challenge from a military-security establishment that is unflinchingly hostile to even moderate Islamist parties following the civil war of the 1990s. Ali Ghediri, a soldier in the arena Ali Ghediri, a 65-year-old retired general, is a new face on the political scene. His media presence, which only dates to the past year, has paradoxically been boosted by Gaid Salah's open hostility to his demands. A former human resources director at the Algerian Defense Ministry, Ghediri made a name for himself with open letters to the army chief of staff late last year, calling on the military to "assume its responsibilities" and block Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term. Ghediri had announced his candidacy in the postponed April elections as the champion of a "profound overhaul of the system" to allow Algeria to "achieve the modernity desired by its people." The protest movement, which does not hold him in high regard, has not changed his mind: He is the first declared candidate for the July elections, which he has called a solution to the Algerian political crisis. In a small concession to the protesters, he has called on authorities to "respond to popular demand to replace transition officials" and demanded that the army commit to guaranteeing a "free and transparent election." Abdelaziz Belaid, the outsider If the regime wants to appeal to younger voters after the uprising against the 82-year-old Bouteflika, it couldn't find a better candidate than Abdelaziz Belaid, a 55-year-old doctor by training who has been involved with the ruling FLN since he was 23. A former secretary-general of the National Union of Young Algerians, the party's youth wing, he was twice elected deputy, in 1997 and 2007, before leaving the FLN to form his own party, the Future Front, in 2012. Belaid has surrounded himself with university graduates as an "outsider" who the regime nevertheless thinks it can put in power, without risk, if need be. Belaid is one of the few Algerian politicians unconditionally in favor of the electoral process. He backed the army chief of staff's April 2 call for Bouteflika to step down, even as lawmakers in his political party opposed Bensalah's interim presidency. Today, all signs point to Belaid following in Ghediri's footsteps and announcing his candidacy for the July 4 election. The Egyptian parliament approved March 25 new amendments to an anti-terrorism law, tightening penalties against those who promote extremist ideas and incite terrorist acts, whether verbally, in writing or by any other means. According to the new amendments, proposed by the parliamentary National Defense and Security Committee, the sanctions were increased from five to 10 years in prison. According to the new law, calling for the use of violence by any means, whether on social media, on TV or anywhere else, is considered an indirect promotion of such acts and advocacy of extremist ideology. Those who promote violence and extremism in places of worship, public places or state institutions, among members of the armed forces or police forces, or in places where these forces are located shall be sentenced to 15 years in prison, the new law stipulates. Parliamentarians, politicians and human rights activists have expressed mixed reactions to the new amendments, with some saying it has the potential of eradicating terrorism in the country and others claiming it could stifle freedom of expression, especially on social media. Promoting terrorist and extremist ideas has nothing to do with freedom of expression. Freedom is not a right when it violates the rights of others to be safe and secure, Mohamed Abu Hamed, a member of parliament and member of the parliamentary Social Solidarity Committee, told Al-Monitor. He said that the new amendments to the anti-terrorism law are consistent with the strategic direction of the state in combating terrorism, and come as part of other legislation and steps taken by the parliament to confront terrorism. Abu Hamed noted that he would submit a bill to rid all state institutions of all elements having extremist ideas or belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group. In September 2013, the Egyptian authorities banned the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered the confiscation of all its funds; in December of the same year, it labeled the Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Most members of the Muslim Brotherhood were put in prison and its leaders were handed several death sentences. Abu Hamed added that a judicial committee would be formed according to the bill to decide on this matter, while the head of any state authority or institution would be entrusted with submitting the files or names of the employees whose affiliation should be investigated in order to determine the Brotherhood elements at various state bodies. The bill obliges various state institutions to cooperate with the judicial committee to verify the authenticity or nonvalidity of the affiliation of their suspect employees to a terrorist group, Abu Hamed said, adding that a person will not be convicted of joining a terrorist group except with concrete evidence. As part of the states ongoing fight against terrorism, Maj. Gen. Yahya al-Kadwani, a member of the parliamentary National Defense and Security Committee, announced Jan. 4 that the parliament is preparing a draft law that would oblige tenants of furnished apartments to inform the security authorities of their identities and obtain a rental license from the nearest police station. Kadwani told local media that the draft law limits the use of furnished apartments in terrorist operations, drug trafficking and acts of immorality. Negad el-Borei, a human rights lawyer and head of UG Law, said it should be guaranteed that the law is not targeted at a specific group of people, adding that the government has to scrutinize whether someone is inciting violence or is just expressing his point of view. If someone is just expressing his viewpoint on the current Egyptian government or leadership, that should not be classified as inciting violence or promoting terrorism, Borei told Al-Monitor. In recent months, Egypts parliament approved a number of laws to combat terrorism and extremism in all its forms. In March 2018, parliament approved amendments to tighten penalties against owners, importers and manufacturers of explosive devices. The law also stipulates life imprisonment if the crime was committed for the purpose of committing terrorist acts. In April 2018, parliament passed a law regulating the procedures for managing funds of terrorist groups in order to limit the financing of terrorism, as well as the establishment of the Supreme Council for Combating Terrorism and Extremism, which is carrying out a national strategy to counter terrorism and dry up sources of funding. Abu Hamed said that Egypt has to step up cooperation with other countries in order to combat waves of extremism and terrorism, and exchange information related to terrorist elements and sources of financing to eliminate the phenomenon. He added that legislation alone is not enough and stressed the need to combine all efforts to raise awareness of the seriousness of terrorism, including online efforts. Egypts Red Sea governorate will be the first governorate in the country to ban single-use plastics starting June. The ban comes as part of a decision April 1 by Red Sea Gov. Ahmed Abdullah seeking to protect marine life, particularly endangered species that are exposed to plastics. The governor explained in a press statement that the ban of single-use plastic bags will apply to pharmacies, grocery and seafood stores, restaurants, fruit and vegetable shops, butchers and supermarkets. Plastic products such as knives, forks, plates, straws and cups used on bus tours and boat trips will also be banned. The Red Sea governorate is located between the Nile and the Red Sea in the southeast with a coastline of 1,080 kilometers (671 miles). It is one of Egypt's main tourist destinations and known for its water sports, scuba diving and sailing facilities. TripAdvisor placed the governorate's capital Hurghada on its list of 25 cities around the world to visit in 2019, referring to the city as a prime destination for diving and snorkeling because of its stunning coral reef and turquoise-colored waters. In addition to Hurghada, the governorate includes six towns Marsa Alam, Qusair, Ras Ghareb, Shalatin, Halayeb and Safaga that are rich in natural resources. In order to implement the ban on plastics in June, Red Sea officials have been working closely with the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) a nongovernmental organization founded in 1992 to protect and preserve the natural resources of the Egyptian Red Sea environment to organize awareness campaigns about the hazards of single-use plastics on public health and provide shops and restaurants with an alternative. Heba Shawky, deputy managing director of HEPCA, said that the decision does not only benefit marine life, but human lives, too. People should realize that single-use plastics are harmful to marine life and their own health as well. Unfortunately food shops use plastic containers for hot foods such as soups, causing a threat to people's health including cancer, she told Al-Monitor. According to Shawky, during cleanup campaigns carried out by HEPCA, in cooperation with local diving centers, it became clear that plastic bags cover the coral reef leading to its destruction. She said that plastics also threaten dolphins, migratory birds and sea turtles. Single-use plastic bags look remarkably like jellyfish when floating in the sea. When turtles, for instance, see [a plastic bag], they unfortunately eat it, thus filling their stomachs and sadly causing death, Shawky added. She noted that one of the campaigns activities is to organize lectures and events in schools, markets and governmental institutions in order to talk about the alternatives to single-use plastic products such as biodegradable and recycled bags. We are distributing these bags in different sizes for free to Red Sea residents. They can be used for two years or so. The publics feedback has been very positive as they have started using them [the recyclable bags] even before June, she said. Various governorate agencies such as the supply, environment and health administrations will be in charge of following up on the ban. After the ban enters into force in June, if a restaurant or a grocery store, for instance, is found using single-use plastic products, it will be given a week's notice to use alternative products. If it fails to do so, the facility will be closed. Egyptians use roughly 12 billion nondegradable plastic bags each year, at a total cost of 2 billion Egyptian pounds (roughly $115 million), Mohamed Shehab Abdel Wahab, then-CEO of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, said in June 2018. Once these bags are used, they end up in the streets, the Nile, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Many efforts have been made to restrict the production of single-use plastic bags in the country. In June 2017, a European Union-funded initiative was launched by the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with the public and private sectors, to reduce the plastic bag consumption. The initiative also aimed to encourage manufacturers to produce disposable and paper bags. During this initiative that lasted about 18 months, roughly 4.5 million tons of biodegradable plastic bags were distributed mainly in Cairo. In 2018, dozens of young people in Hurghada organized a campaign to clean up beaches on Magawish island, a nature reserve located near the city's coastline and known for its coral reef. The campaign succeeded in cleaning the plastic and solid waste. Globally, plastic pollution has become a notorious environmental issue, which is posing a major threat to coastal biodiversity. According to a report published by the UK Government Office for Science in 2018, around 70% of marine litter is nondegradable plastic and is expected to increase threefold between 2015 and 2025. In March, the European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a ban on some single-use plastics in all EU member states by 2021. More than 80% of marine litter on European beaches are made up of plastic. We hope that we succeed in banning single-use plastics in the governorate. I am sure that other Egyptian governorates will follow our example to get rid of single-use plastic products, Shawky concluded. Iraq is trying hard to dissociate itself from the rising hostilities between Iran and the United States, as it hopes to preserve its national interests without aligning with either axis in the conflict. Following his recent visit to Iran, Iraqi Prime Minster Adel Abdul Mahdi announced April 9 that he will soon visit Saudi Arabia to sign economic and security agreements, as Iraq has done with Jordan and Iran. A high-ranking Saudi delegation visited Iraq last week and signed several agreements, including ones involving electricity imports to Iraq and the construction of a large stadium. Iraq depends on Iran for a large portion of its electricity supply. The United States has warned Iraq several times to cut its electricity imports from Iran. Previously, Washington granted a short-term waiver to Iraq exempting it from US sanctions and allowing it to import electricity and gas from Iran. The waiver was extended a few times, but as US rhetoric against Tehran intensifies, Washington's tolerance with Baghdad's imports won't last forever. Iraq has realized that US tolerance regarding electricity imports is limited, and thus has attempted to find alternate electricity sources in the region. Iraqi parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi traveled to Kuwait in February and discussed the possibility of importing electricity to Iraq. In another meeting with the Kuwaiti ambassador in Baghdad, Salem Ghassab al-Zamanan, Halbusi thanked the Kuwaiti government for its efforts to improve the situation in Basra, particularly in the fields of electricity and water. Iraq is also considering importing electricity from Saudi Arabia. Washington is tightening the noose on Iranians in Iraq and the region. It recently added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. This will affect the Iraqi Shiite militias that are working under the Popular Mobilization Units, as they are in direct contact with the IRGC and Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. The US charge daffaires in Baghdad Joey Hood warned the Iraqi militias receiving support from the IRGC that the impact of US actions against Iran will affect them as well. It is not normal for a Revolutionary Guard to be coming into another country and doing things without coordination with that government and trying to destabilize it, and weaken the sovereignty of that government, Hood said. He added that if they stand with Iran, they will lose their relationship with the United States. This designation makes it clearer and clearer that people can have a relationship with the problematic parts of the Iranian government, like the IRGC, or they can have a relationship with the United States and our financial system, but they cannot do both at the same time," he said. Meanwhile, a group of Iran-backed Shiite militias slammed the United States on April 13 for adding the IRGC to the terrorist list. We reject this action from America and say we have honor to be in the Islamic resistance that fought and beat terrorism, a spokesman for the Fateh coalition, which is made up of Popular Mobilization Units factions, said in a statement from the home of Iran's consul general in the city of Najaf. Abdul Mahdi seeks to maintain balance between the conflicting parties and avoid Iraq becoming a battleground between Iran and the United States. As Iraq keeps its relationship with Iran at the highest level, Iraq-Saudi ties are growing rapidly. The Iraqi Council of Ministers approved April 9 a Saudi request to open a consulate in Najaf. In his recent trip to Tehran, Abdul Mahdi made clear that Iran wouldn't dictate their demands to Iraq. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Iraq to demand that US troops leave the country as soon as possible." Abdul Mahdi, according to a statement issued by his office, replied, Iraq rejects being a part of regional and international axes. Iraq wants to keep its good relationship with all without being a part of an axis against the other." In his five-day trip to Washington last Month, parliamentary speaker Halbusi said US military support is vital in combating terror groups. "The continuation of US support to eliminate the remaining sleeper cells and extremist ideologies are vital to ensuring that an Islamic State resurgence is contained," he said. Abdul Mahdi refused to pay its gas and electricity fees in US dollars or euros to Iran, as Iran had requested during Abdul Mahdi's trip to Tehran. He also informed officials in Tehran that the project to connect Iran's railway to Syria through Iraq should be under Iraqi supervision and should not include transferring arms or selling Irans oil in a way that violates US sanctions. Iraq is trying to maintain impartiality in the intensifying conflict between Iran and the United States. However, questions remain: Will Iraq's efforts successfully curb Iran's influence in the country? Or will Iraq eventually be turned into a battleground between the two parties? Shortly after voting ended and exit polls aired on April 9, Labor party politicos were already looking for scapegoats on whom to blame their plunge from 24 Knesset seats, garnered in the 2015 elections by the Zionist Camp that it led, to six. Less than 48 hours later, the partys Secretary-General Eran Hermoni called on Labor Chair Avi Gabbay to step down, openly expressing the prevailing mood among many of his leadership colleagues, chief among them those who lost their Knesset seats due to the partys poor election showing. The chair of the opposition in the outgoing Knesset, Labor Knesset member Shelly Yachimovich, was more guarded. In a lengthy post, Labors former party chair from 2011 to 2013 asked her followers Where do we go from here? and How do we continue to express our political ideology? The battered left is once again seeking a magic cure by switching doctors. On Feb. 21, on the eve of the deadline for submitting the candidate lists for the upcoming elections, Yachimovich agreed in principle with Meretz Party Chair Tamar Zandberg that the two left-leaning parties should consider a merger in response to the merger announced between the centrist Yesh Atid, Israel Resilience and Telem parties forming the new Blue and White party. But the initiative by Zandberg did not materialize. The day after the elections, Zandberg and Yachimovich were once again contemplating the idea. Former Meretz Chair Zehava Gal-On has already expressed support for expanding the left-wing front. In the past, she even held talks on the issue with the Arab-Jewish Hadash Party. This week, Gal-On told Al-Monitor that given the strongly right-wing Knesset just elected, Meretz and Labor should form a united front in the legislature with the two elected Arab factions. Experienced left-wing veterans are toying with the idea of disbanding the existing political frameworks to the left of the new centrist Blue and White party and replacing them with a new Jewish-Arab amalgam. Such a coalition would be based on the principle of Israel as the state of all of its citizens Jews and Arabs and on gradual revocation of the Law of Return that discriminates between Jews and Arabs by granting automatic citizenship to Jews only (any Jewish person immigrating to Israel is entitled to Israeli citizenship). Such a move, however, is unlikely. The heads of the Arab parties weren't even able to put aside their egos in order to keep together the Knesset alliance they formed in 2015 in the Arab Joint List uniting four Arab parties, and they are unlikely to join forces with Zionist parties. Knesset member Ayman Odeh, head of Hadash Israels former Communist party spoke in 2015 of establishing a democratic camp in response to the merger between Labor and Tzipi Livnis Hatnua Party into the Zionist Camp, which was dismantled ahead of the April 9 elections. Odehs rival/partner, Knesset member Ahmad Tibi of the Taal party (both parties ran on one ticket this time around), declined to discuss such an option with Al-Monitor. Former Labor Knesset member Shakib Shanan, a member of the Druze minority, told Al-Monitor that a joint Jewish-Arab faction is needed, and how, and that he supports any idea enabling dignified coexistence and uprooting the senseless hatred between the two people. A serious roadmap for recovery of the political left cannot consist only of treating the symptoms that emerge once every few years at the ballot box. It must be based on learning the ideological lessons of the lefts ongoing decline. As Yachimovich wrote: I learned that trying to appease the consensus or fearing incitement from the right is an insatiable monster demanding more concessions, more placation, more brown-nosing. Yachimovich learned the hard way that abandoning the road to peace has led Labor to a dead end. Seeking to placate public opinion and fearing anger from the right, she adamantly refused to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after she was picked as Labor chair in 2011. Labors Knesset member Hilik Bar, who served as the party's secretary-general and headed the pro-peace lobby in the outgoing Knesset, told Al-Monitor that most of his fellow party members were not active in the lobby. The mother of all sins was neglecting the issue of peacemaking with the Palestinians, he said. Chief among the sinners is Gabbay, who has made a point of steering well clear of Abbas. After the Palestinian leader called to congratulate him on his election as Labor chair in July 2017, Gabbay issued a statement saying he had urged Abbas to remove books from Palestinian schools that contain anti-Israel incitement. Shortly after, Gabbay said a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was feasible without uprooting any Israeli settlements. A Palestinian official who maintains close ties with Israeli peace activists told Al-Monitor this week that leaders of the Israeli left, as well as those of the countrys Arab minority, have proven they are a hindrance to change, not a catalyst for one. The Israeli left needs a real leader, the official said on condition of anonymity. He added, Sadly, the peace groups in Israel can barely even organize a significant event. He nonetheless praised Labor Knesset member and former Labor Chief Amir Peretz. Speaking with Al-Monitor this week, Peretz said Labor must turn its crisis into an opportunity. We will have to conduct a renewed campaign throughout Israeli society, irrespective of religion, race or sex, and decide on ways to connect with new populations, including the Arab sector, Peretz said. He recalled that when he served as Labor chair in 2007, he was the first to name a Muslim Arab (former Science Minister Raleb Majadeleh) to the government. At a conference in November 2015 on peace sponsored by the Israeli daily Haaretz, Peretz then a member of the Hatnua Party presented a roadmap for peace with the Palestinians. The plan included negotiations based on Israels 1967 borderlines and handing over to Palestinian sovereignty the Palestinian villages that Israel annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. The blueprint is filed away in an archive along with a mass of other yellowing peace plans. Avner Gvaryahu, director of the prominent pro-peace group Breaking the Silence, believes the time has come for the left to place the occupation at the top of its agenda, from where it has been sidelined by the discussion of ending the conflict. The peace activist told Al-Monitor that the left must highlight the cost of the occupation the control by force of millions of people and the existence of one law for Jews and another for Arabs. A left that avoids dealing with the cost of the occupation will keep losing voters trust, Gvaryahu warned. More than ever, the left-wing camp should heed the eulogy delivered in December 2015 by writer Amos Oz at the grave of former Knesset member and peace advocate Yossi Sarid. Our public must not under any circumstances view itself as the last bastion or as a world nearing extinction, he said. Oz, the Israel Prize in Literature laureate who recently passed away, added, The historic struggle for peace, for justice, for sense, for moderation began long before we came into this world and will continue after we leave. As thousands of soldiers and other commuters were preparing to board trains home for the weekend on April 12, the Israel Railways Corporation suspended all services. According to management, the decision was prompted by a sudden sick out by eight of 21 safety controllers responsible for preventing collisions. Management claimed that when it tried to call other controllers to replace them, no one answered. Service resumed two hours later. The head of the workers union, Gila Edrei, denied management claims that she had instigated the event, accusing the management of halting service to fuel public anger against the union. She even threatened a libel suit against the management, which in turn demanded that the Histadrut Labor Federation punish the rail workers union. The union is convinced that management tricked it in order to further tarnish its battered public image. What happened on Friday was an outrageous manipulation by management designed to incite against the union, union spokesperson Naama Katzir Shmueli told Al-Monitor. Contrary to managements claim, only two controllers did not show up for work, not eight. I have never heard of a serious organization that could not find replacements for two absent workers. It was a planned provocation designed to obfuscate a series of failures by management, a damning report by the State Comptroller and outrageous safety flaws. The Friday stoppage was the latest in a long string of failures, outages and strikes. Last month, the State Comptroller issued a scathing report about a public transportation crisis in Israel, detailing at length the chaotic train service. Israelis need no government watchdog agency to tell them about the shortcomings of what is probably the countrys most hated public service. Israelis know all about the severe shortage of rail cars and tracks, antiquated equipment and huge financial losses that result in poor service such as chronic delays, cancellations, unbearable overcrowding, dozens of strikes a year and safety violations. To top it all off, the long-touted high-speed rail service from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv has been plagued by failure since its launch last September. Prompted by ongoing scandals, commuters set up a Facebook group to vent their frustration and share information. We are the home of Israel Railways passengers. Our followers are updated online about strikes, defects and problems that arise with the trains, Shimrit Nutman, one of the page's administrators, explained to Al-Monitor. The main problem with Israels rail service, she said, is a total lack of reliability. People boarding the train cannot know for sure when they will arrive, if at all, she said. For example, someone gets on the train hoping to get to Ben-Gurion Airport in time to make a flight, but that might not happen. The train might let passengers off at a different station or not get to its destination at all. This happens on a regular basis. No one has a satisfactory answer to why the labor union often disrupts service. I have been trying to understand for years what bothers the union but have not yet succeeded, Yossi Saidov, founder of a public transportation advocacy group called 15 Minutes, told Al-Monitor. Nutman thinks a power play between labor and management is to blame. It is an aggressive struggle over the question of who is the boss. The union wants to control the trains and management obviously does not want to allow it. Then they start to arm wrestle and the struggle veers out of control. The union is waging its power struggle on the backs of the passengers, using blackmail tactics. They assume that thousands of commuters stranded on platforms will create pressure on management to negotiate with them. Management, for its part, does not appear to be doing enough to find solutions regarding the union. The unions spokesperson Katzir-Shmueli views things differently. Most of our protest steps do not hurt passengers and most of the problems with the trains are not the unions fault. The train infrastructure is flawed, there is a shortage of human resources and unprofessional management, but obviously the easiest thing is to pass the blame onto the workers. As for strikes, she explained, Sometimes, we have no choice and we strike in accordance with the law. Management does not give us the time of day. They undermine our rights, hurt our pay and their unprofessional conduct threatens passenger safety. Now they are trying to undermine our legal right to strike. A proposed government measure floated this week could disarm the union of its most effective weapon. The unions nightmare scenario took shape on April 14, when Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz demanded that any party joining the new government Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the process of forming commit to backing legislation mandating compulsory arbitration of labor disputes in essential services. The legislation would ban strikes in government entities such as Israel Railways, the Israel Electric Company, the Israel Ports Authority and Israel Airports Authority. The union is outraged over the proposal, but Saidov says it brought it on itself. The railway workers union turned public transportation passengers in Israel into hostages in their struggles with management, he said. The backing provided by the Histadrut for this farce indirectly undermines the legitimacy of all labor unions in Israel. You want to protest against management? Block the entry into their offices; enable passengers to travel free. Why abuse the poor passengers? At the same time, Saidov is also critical of the government. Katz has held his post for a decade, running from one ribbon-cutting ceremony to another but neglecting Israels public transportation problems in a manner reminiscent of a developing country. I will give you just one example. There is a shortage of rail cars, but there is also an endless argument over who will pay for new ones, the Finance Ministry or Israel Railways Corporation. After a decision is made, we wait two years for the carriages to arrive, and it turns out that not enough were ordered. That means that these problems will not be resolved in the next decade, either. The government appears to have given up in light of the endless labor-management bickering. The Finance Ministry has gone as far as to consider shutting down the rail company and opening a new one, but that will not help. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Israel is experiencing a severe shortage of public transportation infrastructure. Its roads are the most crowded among the organizations member states, and all forecasts indicate the worst is yet to come, with unprecedented transportation chaos ahead overshadowing the current woes. For years, Jordanians have been accustomed to seeing placards and posters along the highway to the airport and the road to the Dead Sea resorts welcoming guests to a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East and North Africa. Since 2003, Jordan has hosted the event 10 of the 17 times it has been held in the region. Bringing the WEF to Jordan was originally seen as an opportunity to showcase the kingdoms economic potential to world leaders, politicians, businesspeople, innovators and academics and to attract foreign investment. King Abdullah II worked hard on getting the WEF to the kingdom, making use of his ties to Klaus Schwab, the organizations founder. Abdullah opened this years WEF on April 6. More than 1,000 visitors, including top government officials and leaders and company CEOs, took part in the two-day conference. Building New Platforms of Cooperation was the main theme of the gathering. According to the Jordan Times, The event focused on four transformational imperatives: shaping a new economic and social model for the region, environmental stewardship in the Arab world, finding common ground in a multi-conceptual world and the fourth industrial revolution in the Arab world. Sponsored jointly by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and the Swiss-based WEF, this year's meeting included a special session on the fourth industrial revolution involving the top 100 Arab startsups. Unlike previous meetings, however, there were no announcements of major economic agreements or investment projects for the kingdom. In contrast, in 2015 at the WEF Dead Sea, Jordan had announced the signing of 19 agreements worth a total investment of $8.5 billion. Instead in a speech delivered April 6, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz noted that the mere fact of the WEF continuing to be held in Jordan and doing so for the 10th time underscored the kingdoms position as a venue embodying cooperation and partnership and where major world challenges are discussed in a bid to find solutions. The forum convened at a time when Jordanians are feeling pressure from the country's waning economic performance, rising unemployment and poverty rates and increasing foreign debt. For the vast majority of Jordanians, the WEF has had no positive effect on their economic well-being. Speaking to the press on April 6, Razzaz called unemployment the biggest challenge facing his government, asserting, The stockpile of unemployment is huge. The latest official statistics put the unemployment rate in March at 18.7%. A few days later, on April 11, Qasem al-Zoubi, director of general of the Statistics Department, told Al-Mamlaka TV that the absolute poverty rate now stands at 15.7% in Jordan, a country with a population of more than 9 million people. Awni al-Dawood, business editor at the daily Addustour, wrote an April 8 column summing up the WEF meeting. He said that of the 100 Arab startups highlighted at the conference, 27 were Jordanian, but added that these ventures will be supported by Bahrain. He also noted the importance of focusing on investment in the tourism sector. Other than that, he pointed to political topics, highlighting Jordans position on the Palestinian issue and in particular its stance on Jerusalem. In contrast, Osama al-Rantisi, editor of the Awal news website, challenged the government to cite one project that had materialized since Jordan has been hosting the WEF. In a column on April 6, he noted the irony of tens of impoverished villagers suffering from unemployment and poor infrastructure only a few kilometers from the WEF's posh venue. In Al-Ghad on April 7, the columnist Nidal Mansour called for a complete reassessment of the Jordanian case, acknowledging that none of the economic reforms discussed at the WEF over the years had managed to improve the lives of Jordanians. He added that since the government is unable to carry out genuine economic reforms, it should at least offer political initiatives that will allow citizens to have a role in decision-making. The political analyst Labib Kamhawi was skeptical of the value of holding the WEF in Jordan. He told Al-Monitor that after years of hosting the conference, Jordanians are yet to see any real achievements on the ground. The only people who benefited are the opportunists who seek to fatten their fortunes through side deals that have nothing to do with the public interest, he said. Kamhawi added that the WEF is no more than an exercise in public relations and challenged anyone in the government to be transparent in outlining any real benefits from it. Sabre Corporation has appointed Jaya Kumar K as Vice President & Managing Director, for Sabre Global Development Center in Bangalore, reaffirming its commitment to transforming the future of travel and strengthening Sabres presence in India. In his role, Jaya will be responsible for propelling the Centres innovation capabilities, as well as attracting key talent to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions. Jaya comes to Sabre from Walmart, where he was Managing Director and Vice President, Global Technology Services, where he grew Walmart Labs India significantly, and established Centers of Excellences (CoE) for analytics across e-commerce and in-store technologies. Prior to that, Jaya also co-founded and built Neta, a pioneering data mining tool. Louis Selincourt, Senior Vice President, Sabre Global Development Center Operations, said, As we continue to push the boundaries of technological innovation at all levels of the travel industry, we are pleased to have Jaya join the team to drive our development strategy forward, and ultimately, enable us to better serve our clients. The Global Development Centre in Bangalore is essential to our success, and I am delighted to have Jaya on board to spearhead Sabres efforts in driving the industry toward next generation retailing, distribution and fulfilment. Speaking on his new role, Jaya Kumar K Vice President & Managing Director, Global Development Center Bangalore, said, I am delighted to be a part of the team. I want the Bangalore Center to be known as a dynamic growth engine that provides holistic career opportunities for professionals. My focus will be to make this Center a hub of opportunity for talented individuals while keeping innovation and creativity at the core of our operations. I look forward to a long and successful journey with the organization. Established in 2005, the Global Development Center in Bangalore has been driving innovation for Sabres global customer base of over 425,000 travel agents, 350 airline partners, and 40,000 hotel properties. The team supports multiple technology functions, including product development, enterprise data and analytics and operations research efforts, while providing customer care and support, implementation and consulting services, and delivering leading products and solutions to Sabre customers globally. Syrian Minister of Transport Ali Hammoud met with Chinese Ambassador to Syria Qi Qianjin in Damascus on April 10. Hammoud stressed the importance of his countrys incorporation into Beijings One Belt, One Road initiative an ambitious plan to recreate the modern-day analogue of the Silk Road. Hammoud invited Chinese investors to participate in commercial projects on Syrian soil, including the City of Marine Industries, to be established on the coast between Latakia and Tartus; the development of international transport routes; and the launch of railroad projects in rural Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad paid his own visit to Tehran Feb. 25 to meet with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. The visit occurred in light of intensified exchanges between Iranian and Syrian business delegations, and expert discussions about Irans claims to a predominant role in Syrias reconstruction. Meanwhile, Russia will host the 5th Yalta International Economic Forum from April 17 to 20. Syria has been made an honorary member of the forum following the mutual cooperation agreement signed by the Republic of Crimea and Syria last year. SANA news agency and Syria TV are considered the informational partners of the forum. According to Asia Times, Russia intends to stay on in Syria as the sole foreign military power along the Mediterranean coast, given its air base in Khmeimim and its invitation from Damascus to modernize a Soviet-age naval base in Tartus. But the Iranians also have an eye on the coast. They have had a partial lease of the Latakia port since October 2018. Although Iran is officially permitted to use the harbor only for economic purposes, this new reality concerns Moscow, which foresees risks to its own forces, who may be subject to incidental attacks on Iranian proxies by Israel or even the United States. Joshua Landis, a renowned Syria scholar, linked the Iranian Latakia affair to China. Everyone wants a Silk Road nowadays, and ports are a good place to start, Landis told Asia Times, referring to Tehrans dream of selling oil and gas to Europe via Iraqi and Syrian transport corridors. Sinan Hatahet, a senior fellow at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, said Moscow and Tehran are competing for access to the Syrian economy, with a particular focus on reconstruction contracts. In addition to lines of credit and supply of vital strategic products, Russia and Iran are pursuing a larger role in the Syrian economy by agreeing investment contracts for their major companies and conglomerates," the analyst argued at Chatham House. "Moscow and Tehran seek partial compensation for their military interventions in Syria, and both adopt an opportunity-based approach to the Syrian market." If analyzed through the prism of SWOT methodology strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Iran, Russia and China face unique challenges in terms of their economic presence in Syria. Since 2012, Iranian troops, together with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, have played a decisive military role on the ground. This created a pro-Iranian faction in the Syrian army and the national security conglomerate. Irans status as a key sponsor assigning credit lines worth $7.6 billion from 2013-2017, supplemented by monthly supplies of oil products enhanced Tehran-oriented groups in the Syrian government and among state-affiliated entrepreneurs. Russia has facilitated its own factions within the Syrian military and intelligence since September 2015, both through its military campaign and alleged subsidizing of some elite Syrian regiments. In 2014, Moscow sent ad hoc financial aid to civil servants, later supplemented by humanitarian supplies of wheat. Stroytransgaz, a well-wired company involved in Syrian projects prior to and during the crisis, consolidated its sympathizers in local government and business circles. The Chinese, in turn, have worked to shape influential relations with different government structures and local public sector companies since the 2000s. Viewing Syria as a hub for accessing Lebanese and Iraqi markets, China focused on projects for bilateral cooperation in oil, gas and electricity. The positions secured at the time by Beijing may now be backed up with much bigger financial and industrial potential, in comparison with Tehran or Moscow. The weaknesses of the respective parties are even more remarkable. Attempts by Iran to ensure a dominant role, while fashioning its own economic aid as a long-term investment, not charity, have split Syrias political, military and business elites. Tensions occurred, by and large, along two lines: between secular and religious-minded Syrians, including the Alawites; and between war-time entrepreneurs who benefit from Iranian projects and their rivals, traditionally parties aligned with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, other Arab Gulf monarchies, Lebanon and the West. Russian businesses also faced challenges in financing projects in Syria. Given Russias stronger links with the global economy than those of Iran, a major challenge is the anti-Syrian and anti-Russian sanctions. These difficulties are further compacted by the deficit of positive practical experiences between the private sectors of both countries, along with corruption and excess bureaucracy in Syria. Chinas weaknesses are embodied by its nonexistent positions among the Syrian military. Also, Hong Kong banks seem reluctant to finance direct investments in Syrias reconstruction over fear of US sanctions. Nevertheless, all three powers see some interesting opportunities for themselves. Iran dreams of creating a strategic bridge to Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as a historic chance for merchants and industrialists to acquire exclusive access to Syrian markets. Russia seeks compensation for its military spending on the war through the extraction of oil, gas, phosphates and other mineral resources, with an eye toward future profits from the modernization of transport infrastructure. China is determined to increase Syrias dependence on Beijing in terms of critical infrastructure, such as the energy sector, in turn undermining Japan and Germany. It also craves unlimited access to vast markets for the consumption of its goods. At the same time, the Chinese want to carry out selective projects aimed at ensuring the localization of industries, like car production. Finally, in terms of threats, the Iranian presence has already put Syrian authorities at risk of attack by Israel a concern Moscow feels it needs to act on. Beijing risks losing big investments if Assad steps down and Syria's traditional business partners (Japan, Korea and the EU) reemerge. In sum, amid widespread speculations about growing economic rivalries between Iran, Russia and China in Syria, Moscow and Tehran are seeking to divide their spheres of interests and build government-to-government, government-to-business and business-to-business relationships with Syrian partners. While the Russians are more focused on mineral resources, transport infrastructure and the production of fertilizers, the Iranians prioritize trade, real estate and the agricultural and construction sectors. The Chinese, for their part, still limit their efforts to the electricity sector and some manufacturing industries. The Donald Trump administrations long-delayed pick to serve as the top US diplomat overseeing the Middle East is finally set to move forward, Senate aides told Al-Monitor. David Schenker, nominated as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs more than a year ago, is expected to be voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at its next meeting following the two-week congressional recess. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat serving on the panel, had been holding Schenker up since September in an unsuccessful bid to force the Trump administration to release a secret legal memo justifying US cruise missile strikes against Syria over its use of chemical weapons. Schenker served as the Pentagons top policy aide for the Levant during the George W. Bush administration. In his role at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Schenker cultivated ties in Lebanon that cross religious and sectarian lines and bonds in Jordan that span from the mayors of small towns in Jordan to the king, said Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama who worked with Schenker at the Middle East-focused think tank. "So youre getting somebody who knows the broader issues in the region. He brings a very special feel to the job," he added. If confirmed by the Senate, Schenker would become the bureaus first permanent leader since Trump first took office in January 2017, taking over from career diplomat David Satterfield. Satterfield, who has filled the role on an acting basis, has been tapped to be ambassador to Turkey. In his interim role, Satterfield pushed for the United States to scale back a ceasefire zone near Syria's borders with Jordan and Israel, even as national security adviser John Bolton sought to deny Irans presence in the country. Though Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook leads the maximum pressure campaign against Tehran inside the State Department, Schenker is likely to face questions about the Trump administration's endgame from allies around the region. Even if he doesnt have responsibility for Iran its going to come up, said Ross. When hes in the Gulf its going to dominate the discussion. His likely advancement in the Senate would come a few weeks after the State Department designated Irans elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. But that pressure may be hard to extend in some places, such as Lebanon, where the United States has struggled to get the Beirut government to disentangle its relationship with Iran-backed Hezbollah. "You can apply pressure, but youre applying pressure on jello," said another former US official in the region on condition of anonymity. "It squishes around." Kaine never had any formal authority to hold up Schenker in committee only the panels leader can do that but Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and his predecessor Bob Corker, R-Tenn., had previously complied with his wishes over the course of a couple of business meetings. Kaine, who has pressed both the Barack Obama and Trump administrations for a more robust legal justification for US wars in the Middle East, maintains his hold, however, denying consent for a quick vote on the Senate floor. Sen. Kaine hasnt lifted his hold on David Schenkers nomination and the administration still has not provided him with its 2017 memo on the legal rationale for airstrikes against Syria, said Kaine spokeswoman Sarah Peck. The Senate Foreign Relations Committees top Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez has no outstanding inquiries regarding Schenkers nomination, a committee aide told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. In a statement late last month, Risch called for the Senate to clear a backlog of 61 Trump administration picks to fill the State Department rank. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have repeatedly sent back nominees they have deemed to be unqualified. According to a White House aide involved in the confirmation process speaking on background, the president is committed to Schenkers nomination, and the Senate leadership knows this. The aide added that the president believes the Senate confirmation process has moved too slowly. The backlog of State Department nominees has begun to clear. Twenty-three nominees were voted out of committee and onto the Senate floor last week, including John Abizaid, the former US Central Command chief poised to become US envoy to Saudi Arabia, and Matthew Tueller, Trumps pick to become ambassador to Iraq. On Thursday, the White House tapped Jonathan Cohen, who replaced Nikki Haley as acting US ambassador to the United Nations, to serve as envoy to Egypt. Trump, however, has yet to nominate envoys to serve in Jordan and Qatar. The US Government Accountability Office reported last month that 18% of foreign service posts in the Middle East remained unfilled as of early 2018. Schenker may play a smaller role in Iraq and Syria, as his former Washington Institute colleague and one-time US ambassador to Baghdad James Jeffrey is serving as a dual-hatted envoy for the Syria peace process and the fight against the Islamic State. Former US officials worry that chronic vacancies will put more pressure on Schenker to jet around the region to make policy. "When youve got a fully staffed set of embassies across the region, youve got ambassadors who can be talking and working at senior-most levels of government. When its working well, its a smoothly humming orchestra, said the former US official. Where you dont have all of that senior leadership and you find that some charges cant get access, then you have more of a burden falling back on Washington to help manage those relationships." WASHINGTON Is Turkeys acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system a done deal? Yes and no, according to a member of a senior Turkish delegation visiting Washington this week, suggesting there was still room for negotiation, and Ankara was trying to find a way to avoid a collision course with Washington. Politically speaking, we believe we can find a way to address this without having a collision course on this issue, the senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday. Solving this would be the biggest part of a positive agenda. With Congress threatening sanctions if Turkey acquires the Russian air defense system, and the Pentagon and State Department warning that Turkey could lock itself out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft program and will not receive the fighter jets if it doesnt scrap the S-400 deal, Turkey is taking its case directly to President Donald Trump. Trump in an unusual meeting with a foreign Cabinet official below presidential rank met with Berat Albayrak, who is Turkeys finance minister and also the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the White House on Monday. Joining in the previously unannounced meeting were Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, and US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Albayrak said Trump gave a reasonable hearing to the Turkish position on the S-400. He listened in a very reasonable way with a positive understanding to the process regarding Turkeys needs for the S-400s, Albayrak told Turkish reporters, according to CNN Turk. There was a very positive, constructive conversation. Congress has ratcheted up warnings to Turkey that it has to choose either the S-400 or the F-35 fighter jet: It cant have both. A bipartisan group of senators, writing in The New York Times last week, warned Erdogan that unless he canceled the S-400 purchase, sanctions will be imposed as required by United States law under the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The Turks appear to be hoping that the Trump White House helps them out of their dilemma, said Alan Makovsky, a Turkey expert who previously served on the congressional staff. For months now the Turks have been saying its a done deal, Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told Al-Monitor. Erdogan repeated that after his meeting with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin last week. I think the Turks thesis has been that Trump will bail them out, Makovsky continued. Unlike SACEUR [Supreme Allied Commander Curtis] Scaparrotti and several senior US officials, the White House has never uttered the 'S-400s or F-35s not both' formula, so the Turks are putting their faith in Trump. Notwithstanding the four senators New York Times op-ed, Erdogan and his folks may not understand Congress ability and determination to prevent Turkey from taking both, Makovsky said. I hear, however, that there are some people in Erdogans circle who do see the looming train wreck, understand that Turkey will get the worst of it, and are looking for workarounds, such as taking delivery of the S-400 batteries and then mothballing them. Meanwhile, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara would hope Trump will issue a waiver if Congress does in fact impose sanctions. If it comes to that, that is, the sanctions proposed to be implemented by the Congress, of course we will expect President Trump to use his power for a waiver on that issue," he told reporters in a briefing today. Turkey has floated various proposals to try to resolve the standoff, so far to little avail from the Pentagon or State Department. Turkeys Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, speaking to journalists in Washington on Monday, said Turkey is planning to deploy the F-35s and the S-400s in two different provinces apart from each other, to prevent interaction between the systems. Akar said the purpose of the S-400s is to protect Ankara and Istanbul, so they would be deployed in Turkey's western regions; the F-35s would be deployed in Turkeys southeastern province of Malatya close to the Syrian border. The Pentagon has previously rejected a proposal made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month to establish a bilateral working group to resolve US concerns about the S-400 possibly compromising the F-35, Al-Monitor has reported. A technical working group at this stage isn't necessary or a path the US is even considering as a resolution, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Al-Monitors Jack Detsch on April 4. We have been clear with Turkey at all levels the S-400 is a threat to the F-35 program and the safety of our NATO allies. We proposed to the American side to establish a technical committee to look into the S-400, the senior Turkish official said Monday. We do not want the F-35 jeopardized by any Russian technology. The Turks suggested they might also consider an improved US offer to buy the US Patriot air defense system, but said they were disappointed in the last US offer they received. A Defense Department official this month told Al-Monitor that the US could provide Turkey with an interim air defense system until the Patriot batteries could be delivered in 2024, should Ankara forgo the S-400. -Jack Detsch contributed reporting. Turkey appears determined to counter US warnings against purchasing Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile-defense system, despite growing threats from Washington. If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan buys Russia's missile-defense product, Washington won't sell Ankara the F-35 jets Erdogan wants. But Ankara has two means of leverage at hand: First, it can look for an alternative to the F-35s; and second, it can scare up some hysteria by allowing a Russian naval presence on its Mediterranean coast. Worrying reports from Washington came one right after the other following March 31 local elections in Turkey that sapped strength from Erdogan's Justice and Development Party. The Washington administration hardened its position regarding Ankaras done deal narrative about buying the S-400 air defense systems from Russia, and Russias announcement that the systems will be delivered to Turkey in July perhaps earlier. The headline of an April 9 op-ed in the New York Times by four US senators succinctly summarized the rise in Washington's dominating attitude: "A U.S. Fighter Jet or a Russian Missile System. Not Both." Washington says Turkey's possession of both systems would give Russia access to US technology. The United States had offered to sell Turkey US Patriot missile systems in place of the S-400, but no deal was reached. In a nutshell, the US has developed an anti-Turkey stance by threatening to remove Ankara from the multibillion-dollar F-35 program and also threatening to impose sanctions. Ankara nevertheless appears determined to respond to these warnings with its own counterpoints and further escalate the current tensions. Ankara's first message to Washington has been that Turkey isn't short of F-35 alternatives and won't hesitate to approach Russia to fill that need, too, if necessary. This message has been sent via pro-government Turkish media; Yeni Safak daily reported March 29 that Turkey could up the ante by purchasing Su-35 or Su-57 warplanes from Russia instead of F-35s. Russias Sputnik news agency echoed that report, and added that Russia and Turkey could even manufacture a joint warplane. Then, after Russian President Vladimir Putin met April 8 in Moscow with Erdogan, Putin said Russia could also deliver other sophisticated military products to Turkey. Many wondered if Putin was implying that Ankara had given up on F-35s and decided to turn to Moscow. Was Moscow airing these proposals just to remind Ankara of its options and to strengthen Ankaras hand against Washington or was it truly serious? Well-informed sources in Ankara told Al-Monitor that Turkey is also interested in transferring technology for flight avionics, mission computers and ammunitions to develop its own plane. No doubt ... Turkey will be looking for alternatives to buy another plane. Two fifth-generation warplanes currently mass-produced in the world are the American F-22 and Chinese J-20. But both are banned from sales to other countries, avionics expert Hakan Kilic told Al-Monitor. Turkey needs 4++ [generation] planes and if a decision is made to buy them from Russia, many other products could be bought from Russia. In recent weeks there have been many media reports that Egypt is paying $2 billion for more than 20 Su-35s Russia's most sophisticated warplane, with better maneuverability and more armament capacity than NATO-compatible planes. Therefore, if Russia can sell its newest and most-sophisticated plane to Egypt, it can sell it also to Turkey, Kilic added. Not surprisingly, the United States also warned Egypt not to carry out the purchase. The Su-57 had started out as a program for a fifth-generation Russian warplane. But for a plane to be recognized as fifth-generation, it has to be a stealth craft with low radar signature, and has to be network-centric with a low thermal signature. The Su-57 doesnt meet these requirements. According to Kilic, Moscow has its own reasons to avoid sharing such technology. It could be wishful thinking that Russia would share the most advanced technology of its most sophisticated plane, the Su-57, with a NATO country, he said. Remember, some months ago the India-Russia joint Su-57 manufacturing project was terminated by India because Russia was not satisfactorily sharing its technology. India is now in the process of deciding [whether] to manufacture its own fifth-generation plane. Another development discussed at the Putin-Erdogan summit could take their countries' military ties to an upper level: adding a port to the Russian-built Akkuyu nuclear power station that is due to be completed in 2023. One other possibility being talked up in Ankaras political circles is to provide Russia with an anchorage base for a small naval force for safely removing nuclear waste from the power station. If this possibility becomes reality, the port adjacent to the Akkuyu nuclear facility could become the second Russian naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean, after Syria's Tartus. The Akkuyu facility is some 230 kilometers (143 miles) from Incirlik Air Base, which is used by NATO. This possibility could be another card Ankara could play against Washington and the Western security bloc. The Turkish navy, to ensure an appropriate presence in its naval jurisdiction areas and to contribute to naval security, has been conducting air and naval reconnaissance and surveillance missions as part of NATOs Sea Guardian Patrols to detect and deter terror attacks. Rumors of a port construction at the Akkuyu nuclear station and deploying a Russian naval unit in that port may be interpreted as Ankara reconsidering its pro-NATO stance in the Eastern Mediterranean and preparing to adopt a more independent position. In short, Ankara appears ready to review its military missions in the Eastern Mediterranean in response to US F-35-related threats. NATO supports Washington's ultimatum. This could, of course, mean radical power shifts in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ankara is responding to recent US demands by becoming closer to Moscow, while opening to discussion the NATO air and sea missions Turkey had been conducting. Escalation of the S-400 and F-35 crises could well spill over to other areas. This means the deeply rooted security links between Turkey and the Western security bloc could well be eroding. No doubt this would please the Kremlin. Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown April 11 by military coup, was a good friend and close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During his 30-year rule, Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010, charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, two counts of war crimes and three counts of genocide for his alleged mass killings in Darfur that cost some 300,000 lives. Bashir could travel safely to only a few places in the world and Turkey was one of them. The last time he visited Turkey was right after the June 2018 elections to join Erdogans inauguration ceremony. Six months before that visit, Erdogan had been to Sudan in December 2017, a trip that signified the close relations between the two countries. While in Khartoum, Erdogan didnt spare his chance to lash out at the West. The imperialists devastated Africa, while Turkey will be there for a win-win, he said. During his visit, the two leaders decided to increase the trade volume between their countries to $10 billion from $500 million. Turkish companies, mainly in the construction field, became involved in some 300 projects in Sudan following Erdogans visit. Turkey has leased some 315,000 hectares [almost 780,000 acres] of agricultural land in Sudan for 99 years. In September 2018, Turkeys state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. made an oil-exploration deal in Sudan that amounted to $100 million. Turkeys most important geopolitical and strategic involvement with Sudan concerns Turkeys interest in establishing a military base on Suakin Island. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar visited Khartoum in 2018 to arrange to lease the island. Suakin is strategically located at the Red Sea near the Gulf of Aden and Saudi Arabia. The ambitious Turkish project would become the third foreign Turkish military facility, after Qatar and Somalia. Such Turkish objectives irritate the Arab-Sunni axis of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Sudan has always been considered, geopolitically, the Achilles heel of Egypt. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quick to applaud Bashir's removal, while Erdogans tone was comparatively very measured. The wording used by Anadolu Agency, the Turkish government's official mouthpiece, is interesting to note: Turkey's president voiced hope Thursday that Sudan will handle its current process peacefully, in a spirit of national reconciliation." "I hope that Sudan gets through its current process in national reconciliation and peace," Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Burkina Fasos president, in Ankara. Amid various accounts about Bashir, there is no reliable information, according to Erdogan, who went on to say Turkey supports the continuation of deep-rooted relations with Sudan. Earlier Thursday, the Sudanese army announced the removal' of al-Bashir and the imposition of a two-year 'transitional phase,' Anadolu reported. Anadolu did not report fully what Erdogan said in the press conference with the visiting president; he referred to the coup that removed Bashir. Erdogan reminded his audience that he did not achieve power thanks to any coup, but was targeted by a military coup attempt. [Bashir] knows what a military coup means, Erdogan said. "Every coup [brings a] severe loss of blood. I do not want friendly and fraternal Sudan to have such an experience. Erdogan was furious after the 2013 military coup in Egypt, led by Sisi, that ousted President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood party from power. Erdogan condemned the United States and the European Union for endorsing it. All those who remember his anger couldn't help but notice the cautious tone he adopted regarding the coup in Sudan that removed his close friend Bashir. The reason seems to be that the nature of the Sudanese regime in the wake of Bashirs removal is still uncertain and Erdogan looks keen to preserve Turkeys close relations with Sudan if the new regime is based on people such as recently resigned Sudanese Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf. Erdogan, notwithstanding his anti-coup reputation, would accept Sudan under military rule as long as it doesn't challenge Turkeys fortunes. Ibn Auf declared the establishment of a two-year transitional military council with him in charge, but in the face of continued protests, he didn't stay long in that position. "[The coup] just replaced one thief with another," Ahmad Ibrahim, a young protester outside the Sudanese army headquarters in Khartoum, told The Washington Post. "We are going to keep pushing until all of our demands are met." One of those demands is that Bashir, who was arrested, now be prosecuted. But the newspaper also noted, "Ibn Auf was a key military leader during Bashirs suppression of rebels in Darfur and is unlikely to give Bashir up for prosecution. The US government also imposed sanctions against [Ibn Ouf] in 2007 for his role in Darfur." Ibn Auf stepped down as council chief after just one day. The body is now led by Lt.-Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan. Regardless of the outcome for Turkeys interests in Sudan, Bashirs downfall sent a worrisome signal in Erdogan's direction. What happened in Sudan showed that even the most entrenched dictatorships are vulnerable, and that for autocrats, the future is uncertain. In Turkey's March 31 elections, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies lost almost all the big cities, above all Istanbul and the capital, Ankara. Erdogan did not concede the loss of Istanbul, and the recount, which will be in vain for him, continues more than two weeks after the vote. In the meantime, the Supreme Electoral Commission which is considered to be under Erdogan's influence has prevented the elected mayors affiliated with the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) from taking over those municipalities. For now. Elections seem to be losing their appeal for Turkeys increasingly autocratic president. Turkeys economy is in crisis, and the long-awaited reform package announced April 10 by Finance Minister Berat Albayrak (who is also Erdogan's son-in-law) left investors in Washington underwhelmed, according to Reuters. In another report, Reuters said, Turkeys economy is expected to contract in 2019 after a decade of strong growth, and economists are predicting a longer recession ahead after a recent bout of volatility in the lira. Turkeys economy has been dragged into crisis, along with the country's relations with the United States and NATO over Erdogans insistence on acquiring Russia's S-400 air-defense missile system. The possibility that Ankara will face US sanctions is no longer remote, which will further devastate Turkey's finances. If elections no longer ensure Erdogans survival, and the looming and seemingly insurmountable economic and political crises trigger mass protests such as those in Sudan for the past four months, Bashir's saga will haunt Erdogan. Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara tomorrow after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency reported today. Syria will undoubtedly top the agenda in Zarifs meetings in Ankara, where the Iranian diplomats trajectory will likely excite speculation that he may be carrying messages from Damascus. Assad and Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who together oversaw an unprecedented boom in bilateral ties, fell out with the outbreak of Syrias civil conflict in 2011. The break was prompted by Turkeys support for opposition rebels seeking Assads ouster that evaporated following Russias decisive intervention in favor of the regime. But a thaw remains unlikely as long as the United States continues to dangle the hope of a safe zone in the northeastern stretch of Syria under Ankara's military protection. The Donald Trump administrations Syria envoy, Jim Jeffrey, told an audience of Turkish-American business people yesterday that the proposed haven would be empty of the US coalitions Syrian Kurdish partners, whom Turkey labels terrorists. The administration views Turkish support as key to curbing Iranian influence in Syria, one reason it is now reportedly leaning toward allowing a limited number of Turkish forces into the safe zone over Kurdish objections. Russia, which is trying to woo Ankara to its side, has suggested that Turkeys security concerns can be addressed via the 1998 Adana agreement between Ankara and Damascus. The accord, signed after Turkey threatened to go to war over Syrias harboring of the now imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abduallah Ocalan, allows Turkey to pursue hostile forces inside Syrian territory. The difference is that the Russians do not want Turkish troops to expand their presence inside Syria any further, saying its own military police together with regime forces will assure border security instead. Both Russia and Iran are keen for Turkey and Syria to kiss and make up. Prior to the conflict, Syria was Turkeys commercial gateway to the Arab world. Iran is Turkeys land bridge to the former Soviet states in central Asia. For Tehran, Turkish goodwill remains critical as the Trump administration ratchets up sanctions against the Iranian regime. Erdogan announced in December that Turkey would establish its own trade mechanism with the Islam Republic, which is among Turkeys top three suppliers of oil. Last week Cavusoglu aired opposition to Trumps designation of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. We do not support Irans Revolutionary Guard in Syria, but no country can declare another countrys armed forces a terrorist organization, Cavusoglu said. We also do not support unilateral decisions [that] lead to instability in the region, he added. Despite their differences over the Assad regime, Iran and Turkeys interests intersect in Syria. Both countries have large and restive Kurdish minorities and feel threatened by the dizzying rise of the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, which control broad swaths of territory with US backing. Iran and Turkey are alongside Russia sponsors of the Astana peace process, which has seen regime forces regain control over so-called de-escalation zones in places like northern Homs, Eastern Ghouta, Daraa and Quneitra. Efforts are currently focused on the northwestern province of Idlib, where the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has entrenched its control. Turkish forces are enforcing a demilitarized zone established under the terms of an agreement reached with Russia in September. The deal is meant to allow Turkey time to negotiate with HTS, peeling away moderates and getting the rest to surrender their weapons. The alternative is a full-scale regime assault, which would put millions of civilian lives at risk. Birminghams Nequette Architecture & Design has been honored for two designs, including a national award for excellence in residential and commercial projects. The firm was honored at the 18th annual Palladio Awards competition and by the American Institute of Architects Alabama chapter. Nequettes Stukes Residence project won a Palladio Award in the category of New Design & Construction of more than 5,000 sq. ft. In addition, Nequettes Hughes Lake House project was recognized with an Honorable Mention by AIA Alabamas 2019 Excellence in Design Awards. Nequettes Hughes Lake House project was recognized with an Honorable Mention by AIA Alabamas 2019 Excellence in Design Awards. One Palladio Award juror, David Andreozzi, said the Stukes Residence is a celebration of craft, vernacular, and culture that are all tied to the principles of the Picturesque. Louis Nequette called it one of the most unique and special design projects Ive ever been a part of. Seldom has a client approached a project with an equal passion for the quality of the work and for the hands that craft it," Nequette said. "Beth has the biggest heart and infected every person on that job site with pride, joy, and energy when we she was present. The final product is only what it is because of her passion and taste. Jurors praised the Hughes Lake House project for its L-shaped diagram, its use of glass and materials, and its detailing. A Huntsville-based company says it has raised $8 million in its initial round of venture capital funding. Spur, an employment platform with other offices in New York and Chicago, said venture capital firm Third Prime, with participation from Mark Bezos and John Griffin, the founder of Blue Ridge Capital, led the funding. Bezos, the brother of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, has also been appointed to Spurs board of directors. The company believes this is one of the largest venture rounds ever raised by an Alabama-based company. The move comes after Spur named a new corporate team in January and announced 75 openings. Spur connects hourly workers in the hotel and restaurant industries, as well as other fields, with businesses needing to fill positions quickly. In doing so, Spur becomes the official employer of record, which saves the business on costs associated with human resources and payroll. Businesses using the platform schedule employees and approve time through the Spur app. Employees on Spur also get access to benefits and other services including healthcare, savings accounts, discounted products and services and paid sick leave. Workers can also land side gigs using the app. Company officials say they will use the funding for growth within the hospitality industry. Spur also plans to add more metro areas and continue development of its platform and products. Spur is currently active in several cities, including Atlanta, Orlando, Birmingham and Houston. Founder and CEO Glenn Clayton said the company was created to give workers greater access to opportunity. Third Prime, Mark Bezos and our other investors joining the Spur mission further validates the importance of what we have built and the enormous market demand for better ways to manage employment for Americas growing hourly workforce," Clayton said. It has been six months since Hurricane Michael ravaged the Floridas Big Bend and Panhandle. It wiped out the community of Mexico Beach, razed pine forests and laid siege to Georgias cotton crop while claiming 57 lives in the process. Now - half a year into the lengthy recovery process - we are getting our first glimpses of Panama City television coverage from a station that at the time was getting knocked off the air by the storm thrashing their city. And it is jarring. Were in that core, the chilling video begins. WMBB Chief Meteorologist Justin Kiefer gestures toward a radar display showing an amalgamation of deep yellows, oranges and most fearsome - reds - battering Panama City. That is the eyewall - the most vicious part of the storm. It is shortly after 11 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2018. A voice calls out from off-camera, Were at twenty-seven nine nine for the pressure. Kiefer looks stunned. That is a barometer reading of 27.99 inches. Typical surface air pressure at sea level is around 30.00 inches. All that missing air has been vacuumed out the storms top, fueling its ferocious 130-plus mph wind gusts. The wind can be heard roaring outside. Kiefer appears actively nervous, but keeps his composure. From time to time his voice wavers. Take towercam, he tells the folks in the control room. The view mimics what one would see from inside a washing machine, the camera helplessly flailing in the extreme wind. Water is coming through our roof. Tension continues to rise as news director Tom Lewis walks onto the set, offering a sobering report: We have lost our Internet. Weve lost Verizon phones. We believe were broadcasting. Our colleagues at NBC Channel 7 . . . their roof is gone, announces an off-camera voice (the station later learned that the NBC affiliates roof was actually intact). Anchor Amy Hoyt calls a friend at the competing station on her cellphone, who confirms the roof is still in place. Moments later, Hoyt interjects, Uh oh. Is that the roof? watching a live shot of debris and shrapnel peel away from their own roof. We may have to run out of here if this gets any worse. Kiefer pops up a velocity on plot on radar, peppered with 130-to-140-mph wind estimates. A series of loud clangs can be heard, the sound of the wind ominously growing in volume. Kiefer pauses for a second, looking startled. What do you think fellas? he asks his crew in a moment of levity amid fear and raw emotion. Weve got the roof leaking, debris falling from the ceiling, the lights shaking, says anchor Jerry Brown. Hoyt agrees: Its everything weve seen on television in other places, and now its happening here. My ears just popped, reports Kiefer, a product of the wild air pressure fluctuations in the inner eyewall. You can see our roof is falling apart, says Hoyt. Seconds later, Brown jumps in. Its a history-making storm. As if by cue, a shrill, piercing beep hisses eerily in the background. The screen goes blue as the station loses power - the anchors continuing to deliver their broadcast, unaware it was not being disseminated. Out of the studio! a voice shouts. Go go go, urges Hoyt. I want a list of everybodys names so we can account for everybody, orders a voice - presumably belonging to Lewis. The screen goes black. Six months later, and with hurricane season only seven weeks away, thousands of Florida Panhandle residents continue to struggle. Alleged lackluster state and federal responses have come under fire in recent weeks. Sand dunes have been replaced with mounds of debris, entire neighborhoods abandoned since the storm. Januarys government shutdown and terse relations in Congress mean a disaster-relief supplemental federal funding bill never materialized, leaving many Florida residents to fend for themselves. As Michaels victims continue the slow and painstaking process of recovery, one question echoes in the vastness of the disaster: Have Florida residents been forgotten? One Monday morning, I stopped at a drive-thru and bought my son a chicken biscuit. He was still young enough to be in a booster seat and after a moment of thinking about what hed heard the day before in Sunday School said, this biscuit makes me remember eating Jesus body. Finding Jesus in a chicken biscuit wasnt exactly holy, yet it was a refreshing point that we should remember the sacrifice of the crucifixion in all we do, not just during formal communion at church. Just before the Easter story unfolded, when the Disciples gathered in the upper room, they were instructed to do this in remembrance of me. They werent given further instructions or specific directions, but were charged instead, with the task of remembering. When my husband and I married and combined our two denominational backgrounds, we almost came to blows over where to attend church. The biggest sticking point was how they observed communion. Tiny plastic cups? Grape juice? Kneeling? Wine? Standing? Golden chalice? Sitting? Dipping or sipping? It drove us crazy, until we realized the things we argued about were man-made rules. Jesus didnt say to call it the Lords Supper once a quarter or Communion once a week. He basically said, Dont forget what Im about to do for you. Take action and remember. Easter is the giant day of remembrance and how we celebrate and honor the resurrection is as varied as how we take communion. Some of us will attend a familiar church, others will worship on mountaintops at sunrise or on beaches with guitars as the surf rolls in. Christians will do this in remembrance of me by breaking bread together in mega churches with video screens and gift shops, The Vatican in Rome, or even in homes with windows covered for fear of their government discovering them. Other Christians will find the strength to celebrate from a hospital bed or while they work overtime in order to feed their families. We may have wildly different interpretations of scripture and argue fiercely with each other as well as with other congregations right down the street from us, but on Easter, all disharmony ceases, and we are united. Its the day we celebrate the resurrection with all Christians around the world. Its our holy day of purpose that defines who we are. Just as our worship styles, and beliefs will vary, so will our hearts. Some will worship with gladness and joy while others will drag their weary, beat-up and broken hearts to worship against their will. Indifference, anger, jealousy and fear will all be represented as real-life Christians feel the pressures of the sinful world and will struggle to recharge through the words and music of the familiar Easter story. And at the end of the service, with all of our different approaches and motives, well still remember Him and Hell thankfully remember us. As a child struggles to grasp the meaning of a broken body and the resurrection through a chicken biscuit, he correctly takes the story out of the church and personalizes and embraces it as his own so we too must take the unifying lessons of forgiveness and hope out of the church and into the world, for a lifetime lived for Easter. Leslie Anne is the author of The Majorettes are Back in Town and Other Things to Love about the South. You can read more at her blog: http://leslieannetarabella.com Polynt has signed a five-year contract with Orange Business Services for a global wide area network (WAN). The network meets Polynts 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 Polynts international operations and serve as a platform for future unified communications technologies. 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. Fabrice de Windt, Senior Vice President, Europe, Orange Business Services, said, 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 Polynts global growth in the years to come. Annamaria Codari, Global IT Director at Polynt, said, 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. More than 72 percent of families in Birmingham are single-parent households, the second-highest figure in the U.S. It turns out Alabamas largest city is also one of the worst places in the country for households headed up by a single parent. A study by MagnifyMoney, a Lending Tree brand, looked at four indicators income, affordability, commute time/hours worked and workplace protection in the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. The best places in the U.S. for single parents were Springfield, Massachusetts.; Sacramento, California; and Buffalo, NY. The worst places were Houston, which came in at number 100, and Atlanta, at 99. Birmingham came in at number 98. Birmingham earned its low score due in part to high rates of poverty among single-parent homes. The median income for single parent households in Birmingham was $26,079, almost 50 percent less than the average median income among all households. More than 44 percent live below the federal poverty line, the study showed. Nationally, the average household income among single-parent homes was $31,452, 47 percent lower than the national average. Forty percent live below the federal poverty line. You can see how all the cities rank here. The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill today to require K-12 public schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag at the start of each school day. The sponsor, House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, has said he was surprised to learn last year that the school attended by one of his grandchildren was not conducting the pledge despite a state Board of Education requirement. Ledbetters bill would amend a state law that now says schools must give students in grades K-12 the opportunity to voluntarily recite the pledge every day. The bill would change the law to say the pledge shall be conducted at the beginning of each school day. Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, said it was her hope the state would apply the commitment to justice for all in the pledge to issues like education funding, criminal justice and removing the sales tax for food. Hall voted for the bill, which passed by a vote of 101-0. The bill moves to the Senate. A new bill before the Alabama Legislature would give a three-year tax break that would cover the cost of a storm shelter. Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, introduced the bill last week. It would provide an income tax credit for building or installing a qualified storm shelter or safe room, defined as a shelter that meets Federal Emergency Management Agency minimum criteria and capable of withstanding an EF5 tornado. You can read a copy of the bill here. The tax credit would provide for a third of the total cost and could be used each year for a period of three years. The credit is capped at $6,000 for a shelter at a taxpayers primary residence; $25,000 for a multi-family development like an apartment building. To qualify, applicants would have to complete a form to provide documentation on the costs for the construction or installation of the shelter. The bill comes after a destructing spring in Alabama, including a deadly tornado that killed 23 in Lee County in March. According to the National Weather Service, 19 of the 23 victims in the Lee County storm lived in a mobile or manufactured home, structures considered particularly unsafe during a storm. Update 7:12 p.m. Monday: Henry James Abercrombie was found safe in Midfield, police said. Original story: Birmingham Police Department detectives are conducting a missing person investigation for a dementia patient who disappeared Monday from BMC Princeton Hospital. Henry James Abercrombie, 63, of Birmingham, was described as a 5-foot-6-inch tall black man weighing 130 pounds. He was last seen Monday before he walked away from the hospital wearing a hospital gown and socks, police said. Abercrombie suffers from dementia and high blood pressure. Police believe he may be trying to walk home. Anyone with information on Abercrombies whereabouts was urged to call Birmingham Police at 205-297-8413 or 911. Anyone with additional information on the investigation was asked to call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. The north Alabama inmate who escaped from a Decatur prison work-release facility Monday morning was recaptured early Monday evening, the state Department of Corrections said. Billy Harold Anderson III, 29, was captured by Alabama Department of Corrections officials at 6:45 p.m. Monday, the agency said. Anderson is serving an 18-month sentence at the North Alabama Community Based Facility in Decatur. When he escaped from his detention, Anderson was wearing streetclothes instead of his prison uniform. He is still on the sidelines, but ex-Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore would be the frontrunner in the 2020 Republican Senate primary a little less than a year out from the contest, according to a poll released Tuesday. The Mason-Dixon poll of 400 registered Alabama voters who identify as Republican showed Moore with 27 percent support, followed by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, at 18 percent, and the only declared candidate, Republican Congressman Bradley Byrne of Fairhope, at 13 percent. U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Hoover, had 11 percent support while Alabama Senate President Del Marsh had 4 percent and businessman Tim James was sixth at 2 percent. A quarter of those polled were undecided. Alabamas primaries will take place March 3, 2020, and polls this far out are largely a measure of name recognition. For example, Moore has 96 percent name recognition buoyed by his tumultuous tenure as chief justice and his 2017 special election campaign against Democrat Doug Jones. Brooks a high-profile northern Alabama congressman who also vied for the GOP Senate nomination in 2017 -- was recognized by 77 percent of those polled, and Byrnes was recognized by a little more than half of respondents. Palmer, Marsh, and James all had name recognition below 50 percent. Despite the sexual abuse allegations against Moore that dogged his Senate campaign, his widest lead among the potential candidates in the poll was recorded among women. Moore had the support of 31 percent of women in the Mason-Dixon survey, followed by Brooks (13 percent), Palmer (11 percent) and Byrne (10 percent.) He had a much slimmer lead among men that was outside the polls margin of error. Moore had the support of 24 percent of men, compared to 23 percent for Brooks, 15 percent for Byrne and 11 percent for Palmer. Moore has not made a decision yet on whether to mount another Senate challenge. Jefferson County commissioners debated Tuesday whether a UAB-run health authority should take over the management of Cooper Green Mercy Health Services. A county commission committee voted 3-2 to move the issue to Thursdays agenda to ratify the vote. Cooper Green, a county-owned health center which provides indigent healthcare services, stopped its inpatient hospital services in 2012. Currently, outpatient clinics operate in the building like Alabama Regional Medical Services, along with an urgent-care facility. The UAB University Healthcare Authority would follow the provisions set out in a 2016 state law enabling universities with medical schools to create University Health Authorities. The commissions proposal would mean the county would engage with UAB to create a healthcare authority and allow UAB to handle the management of the facility and the care of Cooper Greens patients. The authority would mean UAB assumes the risks of cost overages, that UAB and Cooper Green would share costs for lab work and pharmacy operations, that UAB would implement its IT system, and that UAB would have the advantages of a purchasing operation. Currently, Cooper Green uses the Indigent Care Fund to operate, which is a fund derived from the countys general sales and use tax and the countys alcoholic beverage tax. In 2017, Cooper Greens expenditures were over $7 million more than its revenues, according to Jefferson County Commission Chief Financial Officer John Henry. The center also has to follow the countys operating structure. The authority would control how the indigent care funds were allocated and used. According to commissioners who support the authority taking over the center, the model would allow Cooper Green to run more efficiently and UAB would bear the responsibility for Cooper Greens patients and for the cost. Of the seven members on the health authoritys board, three would be chosen by the county commission and four would be chosen by UAB. No elected officials, including commissioners, would be allowed to sit on the board. Commissioners Sheila Tyson and Lashunda Scales voiced their opposition to the agreement. Tyson said the law allowing such partnerships was written specifically for UAB and that by creating an authority, UAB would have total control over the hospital. Tyson said the commission, Cooper Green employees, and patients would have no voice in decisions made regarding the center, and that there would be no measures in place to protect those people. The county attorney, who was present at the meeting, said the agreement was specifically set up for UAB to be able to take control of the center and manage daily operations, and determine how to best use its budget. Commission President Jimmie Stephens said the bottom line is patient treatment. Are we doing our indigents good care? Scales said she visited Cooper Green last week and called the situation pure hopelessness and said in addition to a dilapidated facility, employees morale is low. Scales, visibly emotional, she is worried the agreement could send the county into bankruptcy or startle liability issues. Commissioner Joe Knight said UAB has always provided specialty care for Cooper Green patients, even when the hospitals inpatient facility was still operating. Partnering with the university system was always in the back of [our] mind, he said. Allowing UAB to take over would mean giving patients world-class care and giving the very best we can to those who need it the most, he said. UAB is not going to put their reputation on the line to fail. Knight continued, Since Ive been here eight-and-a-half years, weve never really had control of Cooper Green. Not really, not this commission. Commissioner Steve Ammons, Knight, and Stephens voted to send the issue to Thursdays agenda. Update 5:35 p.m. Monday: Arnold Gene Wheeler has been found safe at a Birmingham bus station, police said. Wheelers family escorted him home. He is reported to be doing fine. Original story: Authorities are asking for the publics help finding a man who is missing from Birmingham. Arnold Gene Wheeler, 62, was last seen Monday morning near his home in the 1800 block of 31st Street in Ensley, according to Birmingham police. Wheeler suffers from various health issues including memory loss. Wheeler was last seen wearing a black shirt, black sweat pants and a gray skull cap. He is 5-feet, 8-inches tall and weighs 260 pounds. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Birmingham Police at 205-297-8413 or 911. Several people, including two children, were hospitalized after an early-morning fire in Midfield. Firefighters from Midfield Fire and Rescue Service were called the 1800 block of Stone Road on a house fire around 4:02 a.m. Tuesday, according to Chief Larry Manning. He said four people suffered smoke inhalation, but only three were transported to hospitals initially. Those three people- one adult and two children- were in serious condition, Manning said. The two children were taken to Childrens of Alabama and the injured adult, a 41-year-old man, was taken to UAB Hospital. The children were described as a 6-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. The fourth victim, a woman who initially refused treatment, was later taken to a hospital for problems relating to her asthma. Manning said the fire appears to have started in the kitchen, resulting from food left on the stove. This post will be updated. A young Birmingham father has died following an accidental shooting outside Chuck E Cheeses in Vestavia Hills. The Jefferson County Coroners Office on Tuesday identified the victim as Timothy Roshun Smith Jr. He was 22 and lived in eastern Birmingham. The shooting happened Saturday while authorities say Smith was changing his daughters diaper in a vehicle outside the restaurant in the Olde Towne shopping center on Montgomery Highway. Authorities said a gun was in the diaper bag. As Smith reached into the bag to get what he needed to change the girls diaper, he came in contact with the gun and it discharged. A single bullet struck the girl in the leg, and entered into Smiths chest. He was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital at 2:10 p.m. Monday. His daughter is going to be OK. "This was a tragic accident and condolences from the VHPD and VHFD go out to the family involved,'' read a statement released Tuesday by Vestavia Hills police. Four years after a monstrous storm blasted the fleet engaged in Mobile Bays biggest sailboat race, killing six people, the U.S. Coast Guard has issued a report on its investigation, which found plenty of blame to go around. The first point of the report's conclusion is blunt, saying that "the initiating event (first unwanted outcome) for this casualty was the failure of the race participants to monitor, prepare for, and/or seek safe refuge from the severe thunderstorms approaching from the west." However, Coast Guard investigators did not absolve organizers at Fairhope Yacht Club of all responsibility. Among causal factors it lists two "that involve human error." The first: "Failure of race participants to use all available means to monitor weather and urgent marine weather broadcasts." The second: "The Race Committee failed to immediately notify participants and/or cancel the race once presented with information regarding severe thunderstorms located in Pascagoula, MS headed for Mobile Bay, AL." The split nature of the findings makes it difficult to predict how the report will affect ongoing litigation between Fairhope Yacht Club and several parties who lost loved ones or otherwise suffered in the disaster. That complex case, which merges together several separate suits as well as counterclaims filed by Fairhope Yacht Club, currently is set for a pretrial conference in August to be followed by a bench trial in the fall. An attorney representing Fairhope Yacht Club said the club had not yet received a copy of the report and could not comment on it. The report offers six safety recommendations, none of which are aimed directly at race organizers or participants. Four are recommendations for the U.S. Sailing Association (USSA) to change rules in ways intended to improve safety. The other two suggest changes to Coast Guard administrative procedures. Jack Gierhart, chief executive officer of the USSA, said late Monday via email that for years his organization had been expressing its desire for a copy of the report when it was complete, but had not yet received one. He said that USSA plans to give it a thorough review and then decide what potential actions it will take. The report itself apparently was completed less than a year after the catastrophe: Capt. Joseph H. Snowden, then the head of Coast Guard Sector Mobile, signed off on it on March 11, 2015. But it was still subject to higher review and its pages bore the warning "This document is for internal Coast Guard use only. This document shall not be published or otherwise released outside the Coast Guard without approval from Commandant." That final approval didnt come until April 8, 2019, when it was cleared by Rear Adm. J.P. Nadeau, assistant commandant for prevention policy. Within days after that, Coast Guard Sector Mobile began meeting with the families of those who died to share the findings. One of the families provided a copy of the report to AL.com. The report begins with a recap of race day, April 25, 2015. This was the 57th annual Dauphin Island Race, a one-way race that runs from the upper Bay to a finish line about 18 nautical miles away, within sight of the Dauphin Island Bridge. The Coast Guard report says 125 boats and 475 people registered and 117 boats actually competed. Miscommunication and a false start delayed the beginning of the race by more than an hour. The first boats finished shortly before 2 p.m.; shortly after 3 p.m. "severe thunderstorms consisting of hurricane force winds and steep waves swept across the western shores of Mobile Bay." Eight boats sank, six lives were lost and 40 people were rescued from the water. A capsized catamaran is seen floating in Mobile in the aftermath of the 2015 Dauphin Island Race disaster. (Sharon Steinmann | AL.com file) Findings of Fact lay out a timeline in which weather warnings worsen ominously as the fleet gathers for the start and then scatters across the bay. (In this race, the first and last finishers often are separated by hours. Some who finish then proceed on to a harbor on Dauphin Island for post-race festivities, while others turn back to the north for the voyage home. This makes it difficult to say whether the outcome would have been significantly better had the race started on time, though that would have given at least a few more boats enough time to reach harbor.) Racers were advised the night before that a line of thunderstorms likely would come through in the afternoon. Early on race day, advisories began to build to the east. A National Weather Service bulletin at 7:15 a.m. warned of very large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph in coastal Texas and southwestern Louisiana. At 9:45 a.m. NWS Mobile warned that afternoon storms in the region could be "strong or briefly severe with damaging winds and large hail." At 10:10 a.m. a buoy in Louisiana recorded 83 mph winds. On it went, with the warnings creeping eastward. At 1:22 p.m. NWS warned that a storm in Stone County, Miss, was capable of producing winds over 60 mph. A little later, it warned that a storm "capable of producing quarter size hail and damaging winds over 60 mph was located 8 miles northeast of Leakesville, MS and moving east at 35 mph." Hindsight may make the picture look sharper than it was at the time. The Coast Guard timeline also notes that at 1:42 NWS Mobile issued a marine forecast for coastal waters from Pascagoula to Destin advising that winds generally would be 12-17 mph. A potentially pivotal event occurred shortly before 2 p.m. when race organizers received a call from the Coast Guard at Station Dauphin Island "that conveyed weather concerns of thunderstorms heading east from Pascagoula, MS approaching Mobile Bay area with wind gusts of up to 58 mph." That call, as might be expected, has been a point of keen interest in the litigation. John Hirsch, co-chairman of the race and then vice commodore of Fairhope Yacht Club, testified in a deposition that he took the call and and considered it an advisory rather than a warning; Principal Race Officer Anne Randlette Fitzpatrick testified in a deposition that she was aware of the call but likewise did not see it as motivation to broadcast a warning or alter race plans. Hirsch's account: "And they said we just wanted to let you know that we have observed a storm in Gulfport, Mississippi and we don't know which way it's gonna go, either northeast -- it could go east, we don't know. And if it goes east, then it's gonna be a horrible storm. "And then I was thinking at that time that we're operating under the permit given by the Coast Guard, and they could pull that permit at any time. "So I asked him directly, I said, are you telling me to cancel this event? And he said no. And I said what are you telling me to do? And he said, I'm telling you to get out your iPhones and look at your apps and keep a weather eye out for this storm. "And I said, okay. Because that's exactly what I've been doing all day, and I really wasn't changing anything that I had been doing based on that. "So when I hung up, I looked up at the apps and I saw the storm that he was recognizing in Gulfport, which is the same one I was recognizing. I looked at the pattern, and it looked like it was tracking to the northeast and it was gonna completely miss Mobile Bay. And that's the extent of our conversation." In the Coast Guard timeline, the warnings rapidly go from ominous to terrifying. At 2:21 NWS Mobile warned of a severe storm that was near Grand Bay and moving east at 70 mph -- meaning it would hit the Bay in minutes -- capable of quarter-size hail and winds over 60 mph. At 2:46 a monitoring station in Pascagoula recorded 53 mph winds. At 3:09 NWS Mobile issued a marine warning that a line of thunderstorms producing winds of 39 mph or more was at the western edge of the Bay, moving east at 58 mph. Then it hit. A data station near Dauphin Island's Katrina Cut recorded 63 mph winds. The data station at Middle Bay Light, a central point in the race course, reported 73 mph winds. In the aftermath, sailors reported gale-force winds that hit suddenly, giant waves and blinding rain. In contrast to most bay squalls, this terror went on for 20 to 30 minutes. The Coast Guard's analysis is not kind to the racers or the organizers: "Investigators heard numerous times during interviews, 'the weather came out of nowhere,' but throughout the day of 25 April 2015, the NWS tracked a line of severe thunderstorms moving across Louisiana, headed for southern Alabama with recorded winds in excess of 75 mph." "Most participants had some means to monitor weather but also admitted to investigators they were so focused on competing in and enjoying the race that they lost touch with their responsibility to monitor weather. Multiple race participants stated they kept their handheld VHFs in a waterproof container in the cabin, had the device turned off, or were at most periodically monitoring their smartphones. Under these conditions, no one could hear or would have heard urgent weather broadcasts or communications from the race committee." "This investigation revealed that by the start of the race, the organizational authority for the race was not adequately informed of the impending weather heading towards Mobile Bay. Organizational authorities were unaware and did not use local resources for continuous weather monitoring; emergency management divisions in nearby counties provide detailed weather data and reports for large scale events free of charge to organizational authorities upon request." The Coast Guard report also takes issue with sailing culture on a couple of points. "Nothing in Maritime Law relieves the Master/Operator/Person in Charge of a vessel of their duty to safely navigate the vessel," it says. "During interviews, it was noted amongst investigators that there was a noticeable level of over confidence. The Dauphin Island Regatta is known as a fun race. It has a party, good time atmosphere and has been held successfully for many years with no negative outcomes. This event started with optimal sailing conditions for the race. The high level of comfort with this race lulled many of the participants into a false sense of safety and inattention to their duties." Furthermore: "There exists a cultural view within the sailing community that after the start of an event, the race committee and participants do not communicate with one another unless absolutely necessary," the report says. "The belief is that if one participant failed to hear an official communication and another did, then one participant may receive an unfair advantage over the other, possibly leading to protests, recalls, restarts or race cancellations. Many believe that race communications are to be avoided if at all possible. In talking with members from US Sailing, this was discussed and all agree that this view is shared in their community but should change. There should be no hesitation to pass information, particularly if the communication is safety related." The four rule changes recommended to the U.S. Sailing Association would require racers to wear Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) throughout all events; would require racing crews to keep handheld VHF radio units in boat cockpits rather than secured somewhere out of reach; would require boats to check in prior to race start with all crew on deck and wearing PFDs and a VHF displayed; and would require updated crew rosters of all boats to be filed shortly before the start of any race. At least for the Dauphin Island Race, some of those procedures have already become the norm. Responsibility for the race rotates among three yacht clubs, and in 2016 Mobile Yacht Club implemented several new requirements. Among them, boats had to file up-to-date crew rosters reflecting any last-minute changes. All crew had to wear their PFDs during the start and for five minutes after. (Race organizers said this would guarantee that sailors knew where their PFDs were and that they fit, should they be needed later.) And all boats had to check in before the start to show that everyone had their PFD on. Mobile Yacht Club once again is in charge for 2019, and those safety procedures remain in effect. The 61st annual Dauphin Island Race is scheduled for April 27. The racing instructions that spell them out also carry a reminder that the sea remains as unforgiving as ever. Neither the establishment of minimum equipment standards nor any inspection that may be performed by the Race Committee shall in any way limit the Owners and/or Skippers responsibility or confer any such responsibility on the Race Committee. Competitors participate in this race entirely at their own risk. This fourth anniversary of 17-year-old Adam Clarks death in the 2015 Dauphin Island Race will be the first one in which his family has whatever closure it can draw from a U.S. Coast Guard report on the disaster. That's some, said his mother, Angie Tew, but never enough: "It's just this hunger for information because we want to know as much as we can about his last moments," she said. The report provides a clinical account of how circumstances built toward a tragedy that claimed six lives on April 25, 2015. In its conclusions, the Coast Guard does suggest some changes that might keep such a thing from happening again. But Tew said she sees it as a mixed bag. "Now that the report is out, I think we can really work to change things, so something like this doesn't happen again," she said. But in addition to technical recommendations, the report also sees problems in racing sailors' attitudes toward communication and weather awareness. Tew said she's glad to see that topic addressed but isn't sure it'll carry enough weight. "I don't think that's going to change the sailing culture," she said. The monster storm front that swept across Mobile Bay that day caught much of the 117-boat race fleet still on the water. Eight boats sank and 40 people were rescued from the water, according to the Coast Guard, which began an investigation shortly after rescue and recovery operations were done. The report on that investigation apparently was finished at the local level in March 2016 but didn't receive final approval at the national level until recently. Tew, Clark's mother, said Coast Guard representatives then began meeting with the families of the victims to go over the findings. Tew and husband TJ Tew say they have nothing but praise for the Coast Guard's conduct, all the way from the initial search-and-rescue effort to the present. "They've been great throughout the entire process," said TJ Tew. All the same, going to a local Coast Guard base to review the findings wasn't easy. That "was a lot harder than I expected because that's where we reviewed the initial search," said Angie Tew. Adam had a mind for science and physics, and his mother thinks that's what drew him to sailing. He certainly wasn't experienced at it. "I honestly think Adam just wanted to give it a try," she said. "Just preparing for this event was the only experience he had." He'd joined a 17-year-old friend, Lennard Luiten, aboard a 23-foot Santana named Razr, which was owned by Luiten's father, Robert Luiten. The boat was one of those sunk and is listed by the Coast Guard as a total loss. Five people were on the boat and some of them spent up to six hours in the water before being rescued. Clark and 71-year-old Jimmie Charles "J.C." Brown died; Brown's body was never recovered. The aftermath of the disaster includes ongoing litigation in federal court. The Lennards and Tew are among those who have filed claims against Fairhope Yacht Club, which has filed counterclaims against the Lennards. Tew can't say much about the suit, and an attorney representing Fairhope Yacht Club said Monday that the club hadn't received the Coast Guard report and so had no comment on its findings. The report lays primary blame on the race participants, saying that they failed to adequately asses the threat of the storm and in many cases weren't using equipment that might have allowed them to hear a warning if race organizers had issued one. It also faults race organizers for not issuing a warning as the danger mounted. I take full responsibility as Adams parent for letting him go out that day, Tew said. I knew there was going to be bad weather that afternoon but assumed they would be done. But she said the Coast Guard report supports her feeling that race organizers weren't blameless. It's comparable to letting a child take part of a 5k run or other such event, she said: "You assume a car's not going to run over your child, because organizers have the streets blocked off," she said. "I've never placed the blame on any one person," she said. "I just think everybody has to take responsibility for their portion for things to change." She said she's especially pained by the whole thing's impact on her son's friend Lennard Luiten. "A 17-year-old kid has taken full responsibility on this," she said. "He breaks down every time I see them." Adam's death affected a large blended family. He was the younger of two sons from an earlier marriage, and he was a big brother to a daughter from the Tews' union who was two at the time of his death. "He's still an integral part of her life," said TJ Tew of his daughter, now six. "Sometimes it takes my breath," said Angie Tew, "because anytime she meets a new friend she has to tell them [about her brother's death] because it's such a part of who she is." More recently the Tews have had twins. They've had Adam's image Photoshopped into family portraits. "Our life, it's never going to be the same," she said. "It's a different level of happiness. You never get quite as happy as you used to could get." They started the Adam Clark Foundation in their son's memory, and they hold an annual Kentucky Derby party fundraiser. The third annual event will be held at Fairhope Brewing Co. starting at 3 p.m. May 4. Last year they raised money for St. Jude's and gave scientific calculators to Davidson High School. This year the primary beneficiary will be the Mitchell Cancer Institute, and a batch of calculators will be donated to another area school. "With the foundation we've done lots of things," she said. Adam Clark, seen in a photo collage provided his family, died at age 17 in the 2015 Dauphin Island Race. He was one of six people killed when a severe storm swept across Mobile Bay. (Courtesy of Angie Tew) In 2016 responsibility for the race rotated to Mobile Yacht Club, which implemented some new safety procedures. The Tews said they were happy to see things such as a requirement for all boats to file updated crew rosters before the race start. That would have helped a lot in 2015, when the Coast Guard struggled to determine how many people were missing, they said. "If the Coast Guard doesn't know who's missing, it's extremely chaotic for them and risky," TJ Tew said. "I was very happy to see that because I felt like it was a step in the right direction," his wife said of the 2016 changes. On the point of race culture, the Coast Guard report cites a general overconfidence with regard to the weather. It also focuses specifically on a mindset that too much communication between race organizers and participants constitutes a kind of interference. Sailors and organizers both tend to believe that once a race is under way, organizers should take a hands-off approach and let it run, the report found. The report makes six recommendations. Two regard internal Coast Guard policies and the other four suggest that the U.S. Sailing Association, a national sanctioning body, change its racing rules. The suggested changes are that the USSA require race participants to wear Personal Flotation Devices at all times, that it require marine radios to be kept handy at all times in racing boats, and that boaters check in at the start of the race to prove they are meeting those two conditions. The suggested changes also include a requirement that updated crew rosters be submitted before races start. The chief executive officer of the USSA said Monday that his organization had not yet received the report but plans to give it a thorough review. "I hope that the U.S. Sailing Association takes it in and makes some changes," said Angie Tew. "I hope it's enough to change the culture." "But I still question has the culture really changed enough to prevent it from happening again," she said. She can't control that. But she can find ways to give her son a living legacy. Well continue to do work through the foundation, she said. The way I see it, its still my way of taking care of Adam. Alabama legislators are about to tackle the most comprehensive abortion ban tried in the state at a public hearing on Wednesday in Montgomery. The companion bills, House Bill 314 and Senate Bill 211, are an attempt to overturn Roe V. Wade and would criminalize abortions. Both bills do not account for exceptions in the case of rape or incest, only if the mothers health is at risk. The House bill will be debated in a public hearing Wednesday morning before the House Health Committee. Here are five key people who are steering the debate in Alabama: Terri Collins Rep. Terri Collins, R - Decatur is the sponsor for House Bill 314, which would make abortion a Class A felony and attempted abortion a Class C felony for abortion providers. Collins was elected to the Alabama House in 2010 after a 16 years working as the vice president of a bank. Collins has primarily focused on education and economic development. She has served as the chair of the Education Policy Committee and helped pass a bill requiring high schoolers to pass a civics exam before graduating and introduced the emergency task force on school safety and security in 2017. She also just introduced new legislation that would focus financial resources on early literacy programs and would hold back third graders who do not have proficient reading skills. Collins has carried Alabamas version of a heartbeat bill for the last four years, but told AL.com this year was a good year to pivot to a bill banning abortion outright. She has volunteered with her local Save-A-Life Pregnancy Resource center and helped raise money to buy a sonogram machine so girls could look at that baby before they make a decision about that baby. According to her website, she is a founding member of the Womens Leadership Council and was appointed to the Womens Commission and the Commission on Girls and Women in the Criminal Justice System. Greg Albritton Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, sponsored Senate Bill 211, banning abortions after two weeks without exception for rape or incest. The bill would criminalize abortion, making performing an abortion a Class A felony and attempting to perform abortion a Class C felony. According to his website, Albritton, of Atmore, is a father of six and grandfather of 19. He has served as a municipal judge in Evergreen and as an attorney in Castleberry. He is a member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and touts his dedication to the constitution and supports the right to bear arms and worship God without government interference. Albritton is also responsible for the bill ending marriage licenses and would eliminate the requirement for a ceremony to solemnize the marriage. I would suggest this is the end of the state telling people who they can and cannot marry. A license is permission, Albritton told AL.com in March. Sam McLure Sam McLure has long had his hands in Alabamas abortion debate, but with the changing tides of Supreme Court justices and the countrys recent reconsideration of Roe v. Wade, the cases he touches are reaching a national audience. McLure is on the litigation team of Personhood Alabama and the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm focusing on abortion and religious liberty, and has served as of counsel on at least four abortion-related cases in Alabama, including the case possibly granting personhood to a 6-week-old aborted fetus. McLure previously called for a state militia to overturn Roe V. Wade when speaking to the Alabama Constitution Party in August 2017 according to Alabama Political Reporter. The Second Amendment provides for a well regulated militia. Where is Alabamas militia? The armed people of Alabama are the militia and they would prevent a Federal officer from moving against a pro-life Alabama governor who ended abortion in the state. You must be willing to die for your political beliefs and to protect your neighbors lives, McLure said. According to his website, McLure graduated from Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner in Montgomery and clerked at the Supreme Court of Alabama during his externship. In 2011 he founded the Adoption Law Firm with his wife after adopting his first child. According to the website, the firm advocates for children placed for adoption. He was head legal counsel for Lifeline Children Services, an adoption agency, from 2015-2016. In 2017 McLure launched a campaign for Alabama Attorney General and promised to prioritize foster care and adoption. He lost in the Republican primary. Brent Helms Brent Helms jumped into the international spotlight representing Ryan Magers, the 19 year old suing Alabama Womens Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville on behalf of an aborted 6-week-old fetus. According to the lawsuit Magers former girlfriend received a medication abortion when she was six weeks pregnant against his wishes. Helms told multiple news outlets this lawsuit was the first of its kind where an aborted fetus was granted rights, or personhood retroactively. [the probate judge recognizing the lawsuit] gives more legs to the lawsuit and it's also pretty monumental because it's the first time a probate court has opened an estate for an aborted baby," Helms told AL.com in March. "It does establish some precedent in that it recognizes that an aborted baby is a person. I guess that would be the significance of the opening of the estate." According to his website, Helms is a former judge, a father of seven from Alabaster, and can espeaka Spanish fluently. He now focuses primarily on probate law, estate planning, elder law and civil litigation. Helms will represent Magers and Baby Roe during a jury trial on July 24. Alabama Womens Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville on April 1 filed a motion to dismiss the case, but a judge denied it. Randall Marshall Randall Marshall is the executive director and the former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama. Marshall previously led the ACLU of Alabama alongside Planned Parenthood to challenge a law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges. The requirement was struck down as unconstitutional and ended up costing taxpayers $1.7 million in legal fees to be paid back to the ACLU. Marshall has responded to the Alabama abortion bans with promises of more expensive litigation. Before working at the ACLU of Alabama, Marshall worked for 13 years as the legal director of the ACLU of Florida. If you place this in the entire context of the last several years, there has been repeated attacks throughout the South to come up with ways to restrict access to abortion and to that extent sure I understand folks being nervous about the prospects, Marshall told AL.com in March. So far all of the attempts have been unsuccessful and have been enjoined by the federal courts and will continue to be enjoined the federal courts. Faced with rising gun violence, and an epidemic of guns stolen from unlocked vehicles, the Mobile City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to support a resolution that does three things: -Requests state lawmakers grant Mobile city leaders more independence in determining reasonable regulations to prevent firearm thefts from unlocked vehicles. -Urges the support of two crime-fighting initiatives, both backed by the citys executive director of public safety, James Barber. The first, HB375, would make it a Class C felony for someone who is arrested in possession of a stolen gun. The second, HB282, is a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval that would give judges more authority to deny bail if a suspect is viewed as a risk to reoffend. People have asked me, C.J., What can you do about these killings? said Councilman C.J. Small, who first pitched a resolution more than three weeks ago. What the council did here today was say, Hey, state, give us leeway. Therefore, if the citizens come to us, we can really just point them back to the state and say that weve been working with the state Legislature. General and broad The compromise resolution removed examples of gun control options that the city could implement if given more autonomy. Among those previous options was authorizing civil penalties for failure to properly secure weapons in a vehicle. The resolution is general and broad, said Small. It just says, help us do something and lets keep this conversation going and keep it hot. Some council members had concerns about providing options within the resolution. While we like the idea of having more tools in our toolbox to do something we need to soften the language, said Councilwoman Gina Gregory. Specific language might close the door. I dont want people to think my Yes vote on this is for gun laws, said Councilman John Williams, who supported the resolution as a path toward a possible requirement for gun owners to report a stolen or lost weapon. Its not about us trying to tell a gun owner how they can get a gun or not or how they should carry a gun. This, in my opinion, is an opportunity in the future to implement a reporting requirement. Not reporting that your weapon is stolen is irresponsible. There should be some action to make sure that doesnt happen. Barber repeatedly cautioned against any resolution that would seem to punish law-abiding citizens who happened leave their weapons unsecured inside a vehicle. He said a resolution that included any criminalizing of gun owners would not go far in Montgomery. I dont think it will be effective, Barber said, explaining that the citys backing of HB375 and HB282 would have a far greater impact. Lets put the blame where it needs to be and that is on the criminals with stolen guns, he said. Raising awareness The issue has risen to the forefront of Mobile deliberations since late March, when Small put forward a resolution requesting that the state support reasonable actions by the city to deal with gun thefts. Data show that approximately 1,200 guns were stolen from vehicles in Mobile during 2018, and, of those, 80 percent were taken from unlocked cars and trucks. Many of those same guns were turning up in crime cases. In particular, a stolen gun taken from an unlocked vehicle was used the Jan. 20 slaying of Mobile police Officer Sean Tuder. Mobile police, meanwhile, have been pushing public service announcements highlighting the Tuder murder in an effort to encourage people secure their weapons and not leave them in vehicles. Barber said police will be meeting with neighborhood leaders and church pastors in the coming days to address ways to stop firearms from getting into the wrong hands. Said Barber, We need to do a better job of identifying and removing people involved in this type of activity in trafficking firearms and carrying stolen firearms. Barber said there has been a slight downtick in the number of stolen guns from vehicles in recent weeks. He said he was unsure what has led to the downturn, but suggested that the media attention from Smalls resolution had helped. There is more awareness, Barber said. Even though I disagree with arresting gun owners who forget to lock up their car, this did drive the conversation constantly out in the public, which did bring awareness up and we hope to continue that conversation. Said Small, We need to keep this conversation hot and on top of the table. Reckless endangerment Small said he plans to continue pursuing other measures that could address people leaving guns inside unlocked vehicles. He recently requested the citys legal staff to explore whether city officials can apply reckless endangerment penalties against gun owners whose weapons are stolen from unlocked vehicles and used in a crime. Small asked City Attorney Ricardo Woods to request an opinion from the state Attorney Generals Office. Alabama significantly limits home rule authority by counties and cities, requiring them to seek approval from the Legislature before engaging in certain activities. Small said that within his district which is south and east of downtown Mobile, and includes some hot spots for gun-related crime in recent months gun shots occur with alarming frequency. Ive shared many letters with the mayor from citizens who are writing to me and pleading with me for help, said Small. I cannot tell a policeman what to do and who to search. But what I can do is pass a resolution. And thats what we did by asking the state to give us more leeway. Managua, Nicaragua Bullet holes still pock the white walls and roof of the church where the Reverend Edwin Roman Calderon sheltered bleeding anti-government protesters last year after police and paramilitary fighters attacked demonstrators in streets of Masaya in western Nicaragua. The deadly violence that turned his church into a morgue has ebbed since President Daniel Ortegas violent crackdown last April sparked Nicaraguas worst political upheaval in decades. Despite some hope from recent peace talks, Calderon, 59, who became a target of government harassment and intimidation, said the crisis still has a stranglehold on his country. Theres a lot of pain. There are people in other countries, without a job, mothers who are by themselves suffering lost sons or husbands, people still in prison, he said. As Nicaragua nears the one-year mark since its political turmoil began, pressure from international sanctions and a growing economic crisis has helped push Ortega to accept several key opposition demands in recent weeks. That has included promising to release 640 remaining political prisoners within 90 days and easing repression of protests and free speech. But while the former Sandinista rebel issued a statement in March urging the international community to suspend sanctions as part of the agreement, UN officials said this week that the agreements do not appear to have been implemented. Foreign Minister Denis Moncada also recently rejected early elections before those planned for 2021, which the opposition group Civic Alliance said was critical to talks that have since faltered. And just one day after agreeing to respect free speech, police squelched protest and made arrests in Managua, generating scepticism and uncertainty in advance of the anniversary. Ortega feels pressured to step back from repressive tactics but not because he wants peace, said opposition member Madelaine Caracas, who remains in Costa Rica despite Ortegas promise of safety for returning exiles. His words cant be trusted. A year of crisis The protests started in April 2018 over a since-scrapped social security reform proposal. But the violent crackdown, which a United Nations report in August said included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and torture, set fire to long-building discontent with Ortega. 190311142024776 The former leftist rebel leaders last 12 years in office saw economic gains but was increasingly viewed by critics as becoming increasingly authoritarian including consolidating power by getting the courts to allow him additional terms and the national assembly to scrap term limits. He made his wife, Rosario Murillo, the vice president. US Senator Marco Rubio, a critic of the regime, said late last month through his press office that sanctions would continue if Ortega intends to use these negotiations as a farce and opt to continue to violate the rights of Nicaraguans. Meanwhile, signs of crisis remain visible in Nicaragua: Red-and-black Sandinista graffiti reading, My commander stays duel with white-and-blue colours of the opposition calling for his resignation. Heavily armed police at times gather along roads to keep protests at bay. Families tend graves of those shot by snipers during protests. In the centre of the colonial city Granada, some hotels were half empty amid a decline in tourism. Graffiti supporting Daniel Ortegas Sandinista National Liberation Front party is painted on a wall in the city of Jinotepe, Nicaragua, where protesters faced arrest and violence in last years crackdown on dissent [Chris Kenning/Al Jazeera] Prominent human rights lawyer Julio Montenegro, who represents protesters the government has jailed as terrorists and handed some draconian prison sentences, said the crisis has cut a swath of extreme hardship through many residents of the hemispheres second-poorest nation. More than 700 have been imprisoned, 325 killed and nearly 2,000 injured, according to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. More than 20 police officers also died, a UN report found. Students have been expelled from universities and teachers, doctors and others were fired from jobs in retaliation. In addition, an estimated 62,000 fled to other countries including Costa Rica. Caracas is among those living in San Jose, where she said many are struggling to afford food and housing, living in refugee centres or in poor neighbourhoods on the outskirts. Only a fraction have gotten work permits, she said. Nicaraguas government said recently it would implement a programme to guarantee the safe return of exiles who did not face charges or court cases, but opponents dismissed the proposal saying few would trust the government. 190317055615030 If Ortega completely disappears, probably I will return to my country, said Daniel Reyes, 47, who fled to the United States after he saw his 20-year career as a microbiology professor collapse when he was fired from the Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Leon for demonstrating. He hid for months, dodging police and paramilitaries looking for him, before his wife encouraged him to flee to Miami in December. My family was very scared, said Reyes, whose visa does not yet allow him to work. It completely changed my situation, he told Al Jazeera via phone. And its affecting the family, without the income. Ortega has said hell allow the International Red Cross to propose a list of prisoners who should be released by mid-May. So far, only a trickle have been released, some to house arrest. Some families with jailed family members are sceptical and say it wont diminish their opposition to Ortega. What the government wants from the talks is more air to remain in power, said Juana Lesage, whose three sons remain in prison since last summer after marching in the city of Jinotepe, south of Managua. A Nicaraguan family cycles on street outside of Masaya, Nicaragua, where the governments violent crackdown on anti-government protests last year left a city divided by opponents and supporters of President Daniel Ortega [Chris Kenning/Al Jazeera] The government has not yet reopened shuttered media outlets including 100% Noticias channel and the publication Confidencial, despite indications they would be allowed under the agreements. Alvaro Navarro, a journalist for the online publication Articulo 66 and a former staffer at Confidencial, recalled how hed been caught in gunfire and faced threats during an interview in a small newsroom set up in an unmarked building with high security. The media that were confiscated are still closed. Two journalists remain imprisoned for their work. The journalists who are still resisting and carrying out our work are under threat, he said. Ortega has not fulfilled any point related to freedoms and human rights. The goal is not to get to 2021 Amid the unrest and political uncertainty, Nicaraguas economy shrank by nearly four percent last year and that could a reach seven-to-11 percent decline in 2019, according to a projection by the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development. Vidal Reyes, a construction worker who fought the Contras during the 1980s, said his once steady work sanding concrete on foreign-funded buildings has all but stopped. That has made the loss of his stepson who died last May he believes at the hands of pro-government forces after attending a protests all the more difficult. Like thousands of others, the struggle and despair have increased his desire to see Ortega step down. A real Sandinista knows the evil (Ortega) is doing is not right, he said. 180807123154246 Last month, the first protests erupted in Managua since they were outlawed last fall. Called by the National Blue and White Unity movement, they ended with more than 100 arrests and attacks by paramilitary groups. Since then, smaller, shorter student protests are still popping up around the capital of Managua. And more are planned this week. Before the one-year anniversary, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday in a statement that she was concerned that the protests planned for later in the week may trigger another violent reaction and urged government restraint. Ultimately, pressure from international governments driven partly by continuing protests, could help force Ortega to agree to early elections despite promises of electoral reforms, said Marlen Chow, a 69-year-old sociologist and former Sandinista revolutionary who is now an opposition figure after two arrests. The goal is to not get to 2021, she said. The unrest, Caracas believes, has pushed Nicaragua into new territory where residents are less willing to accept corruption or injustice and see civil protests as a way to achieve change. We broke our silence and raised our voices to injustice, killing and corruption, Caracas said. Since then, Nicaraguas people have changed, were not the same any more. Still, the crisis last left lasting scars. In Masaya last month, Calderon sat in a rocking chair on a patio at his residence that adjoins the church. He recalled the fighting last spring and summer, including the so-called Operation Cleanup in July which saw arrests and deaths, and confrontations with police leaders in the square outside. Edwin Roman Calderon stands outside his church in Masaya, Nicaragua, where he sheltered bleeding anti-government protesters last year after police and paramilitary gunmen attacked them during a violent crackdown on dissent [Chris Kenning/Al Jazeera] Other Catholic leaders such as Silvio Baez the auxiliary of Managua, have called out what they view as human rights violations. Calderon said his effort to support his community has meant being followed by paramilitaries revving menacingly on motorcycles and being falsely accused of crimes. Ive been a priest of 29 years. In the last year, I feel like I grew up. I am more conscious to reality, said Calderon, who sees hope in the dialogue agreements but fears elections wont be free and fair. If Ortega does actually allow full protests, he said, He would see the streets dont belong to him. They belong to Nicaragua. The War of Independence left behind major political cleavages which are now being played out in the streets of Algeria. Last weeks announcement that presidential elections will be held on July 4 has done nothing to abate the country-wide protests in Algeria. In February, people took to the streets to reject the decision of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a fifth mandate. Despite his resignation and increased police violence and arrests, demonstrations have continued. Algerians now demand a transparent political transition and the removal of all figures who have played a prominent role in the regime. They have rejected both the interim presidency of Abdelkader Bensalah, a figure close to deposed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and military interference under the auspices of Ahmed Gaid Salah, the army chief of staff and deputy defence minister. The latter, like Bouteflika, was a member of the National Liberation Front (FLN) and fought against the French in the 1950s and 1960s in the War of Independence. He is seen as a top power broker in the country and a central figure in what some Algerians suspect are attempts to engineer an intra-regime handover of power. Gaid Salah has tried to pin the protests on the well-known trope of foreign interference and manipulation (la main de letranger). His claim is unconvincing first because foreign partners of the regime have no interest in unsettling the Algerian status-quo, as it serves their security-based strategy in North Africa; and second because, protesters have been clear that any foreign involvement whether French, Russian or American is not welcome. Yet these accusations have provoked concerns that some elements within the Algerian regime are pondering a military takeover. For this reason, in recent weeks, Algerians have repeatedly referred to Article 7 of the Constitution which stipulates that ultimately, sovereignty belongs to the people and their will is represented by civilian institutions. The army still retains popular legitimacy and enjoys the support of the Algerian people: after all, it is the institutional successor of FLNs military wing which still recruits its soldiers from the general population through conscription. But ongoing protests reveal that unresolved historical tensions between military and civilian power have resurfaced. Their roots go as far back as the power struggle between different factions of the FLN during the liberation struggle. The three Bs and the Congress of Soummam References to the War of Independence and the struggle between FLN factions can easily be discerned in the symbolism and rhetoric of the ongoing protests. In recent weeks, for example, protesters have called for the resignations of Interim President Ben Salah, Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, and Constitutional Council Chairman Tayeb Belaiz (who resigned on April 16), rejecting their participation in the transitional period. They have been dubbed the three Bs a rather symbolic reference to another important political trio: Krim Belkacem, Abdelhafid Boussouf, and Lakhdar Bentobal. The historical three Bs were key figures in the Algerian resistance who represented the dominance of FLNs military branch over its political leadership during the war. The three are suspected of being responsible for the murder of Abane Ramdane, a fellow FLN member and a revolutionary activist, who remains widely popular until today. In fact, his portrait can often be seen carried by the crowd during demonstrations. Ramdane early on sought to set up native political structures that were to replace the French state after its eventual defeat and withdrawal. With this idea in mind, he organised the 1956 Congress of Soummam, references to which can easily be spotted on political posters in the streets of Algiers today. The congress established two main principles: first, that the political branch of the party should have primacy over the military; and second, that priority should be given to those who fought inside the country during the war, rather than those who were stationed abroad. Thus Ramdane, along with fellow revolutionary Larbi Ben Mhidi (who was killed by the French 1957), sought to rein in the influence of the armed forces, as well as of fighters stationed outside the country, who were seen as being disconnected from the daily realities of the war in Algeria. It was an attempt to put an end to divisions and rivalries and solidify a mechanism of political decision-making. Yet these principles were disregarded almost immediately and the blueprint for the future Algerian state outlined during the congress discarded. The first Algerian president, Ahmed Ben Bella, who did not attend the congress, came to power in 1963 with the support of the armed forces, sidelining other civilian leaders, like the interim president of the constituent assembly, Ferhat Abbas,who he placed under house arrest in 1964. Ben Bellas authoritarian ways alienated many of FLNs top functionaries and in 1965 his defence minister, Houari Boumediene overthrew him in a coup only to consolidate further the power of the military. Algerias third and fourth presidents, Chadli Bendjedid and Liamine Zeroual, were also military figures. These developments later prompted Abbas to declare the post-1962 period the confiscated independence in an eponymous book. Algeria above all Despite the historical tension between the military and civilian powers, the army in Algeria continued to be seen as an extension of the people. The uprisings of October 1988, however, undermined this narrative. As young people took to the streets, frustrated with economic austerity and political corruption, the army moved in to violently suppress them, which resulted in the deaths of more than 500 civilians. Growing public anger forced the Algerian regime to introduce a multi-party system and hold parliamentary elections in December 1991. The FLN lost the vote dramatically to the opposition Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which threatened to undo the status quo in Algeria. The army subsequently cancelled the vote and hoping to defuse tensions, brought back from exile Mohamed Boudiaf, a popular figure and a founding member of the FLN who had opposed both Ben Bella and Boumediene. But in June 1992, Boudiaf was assassinated in mysterious circumstances, which plunged the country into a civil war, ultimately reinforcing both the factionalism that had persisted since independence as well as the supremacy of the army. His murder inspired a host of conspiracy theories that portrayed the army as a malevolent force which allegedly controls the Algerian deep state. Meanwhile, Boudiaf emerged was seen as a genuine patriot who attempted to save the state at a time of crisis. Although he was responsible for a ruthless crackdown on Islamist activists, he was also perceived as someone who took on top military officers, as they sought to personalise control over the security apparatus. He, along with Ramdane, Ben Mhidi and others, left behind a historical legacy of civilian leadership, which Algerian protesters are now eager to revive, as they struggle for a transparent transition of power that upholds the primacy of civilian institutions. Just three days after Bouteflikas resignation, Boudiafs son Nacer and Ben Mhidis sister Drifa joined the protests in Algiers and addressed a cheering crowd. We are not asking that only three go, all of them must go! said Drifa. A few days later the Boudiaf family released a statement calling for a return to the original principles of the Algerian revolution, declaring that Algeria is a republic and not a [military] barrack and that the interests of Algeria should come above all. By reaffirming historical figures like Boudiaf, Rammdane and Ben Mhidi and referring to the principles of the Congress of Soummam, Algerian protesters have made it clear that they will not let the ruling elite confiscate the revolution once again. While they have not rejected the historical legitimacy of the army as an institution, they have, nevertheless, issued a firm injunction that its leadership must serve the interests of the people. Military involvement in politics has long been perceived as the original sin of the regime and any attempt to push for a transition under military control would surely be met stiff resistance. Editors note: A pervious version of this article wrongly identified Tayeb Belaiz as Algerias interior minister. Until April 16, he was the chairman of the Constitutional Council and a former interior minister (in office until 2015). The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Why is it that a Catholic cathedral in flames provokes more public grieving than the mass suffering and death of humans? On 15 April, as news emerged of the fire raging at the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, social media was ablaze with hashtag-laden expressions of grief. President Emmanuel Macron declared that the whole French nation was overwhelmed with emotion, while Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo could not find strong enough words to express the pain she felt. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, among bazillions of others, tweeted that the incident was heartbreaking. US President Donald Trump called it horrible and offered the helpful suggestion that perhaps flying water tankers could be used to extinguish the flames. Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker bewailed the sad spectacle and the horror of the fire at Notre Dame, an institution allegedly belonging to the whole of humanity. Granted, humans on the receiving end of French colonial oppression or of the Catholic churchs long history of crimes might fail to detect a common cause. International heartbreak Im not going to argue that its impermissible to lament the demise of historically and globally significant architecture or that anyone shedding virtual tears on behalf of Notre Dame automatically doesnt give a damn about other global causes. But the magnitude of blaze-induced grief is nonetheless unsettling given that far more serious human tragedies rarely elicit such a level of international heartbreak. Where are the calls for flying water tankers or the all-pervasive despair when, for example, Israel periodically undertakes to set the Gaza Strip on fire? During Israels 50-day Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the United Nations calculated that the Israeli military killed no fewer than 2,251 Palestinians, among them 299 women and 551 children. Talk about loss and destruction. The Israeli ambassador to the US valiantly defended Israels right to bomb hospitals and yet the literal horror of this objectively sad spectacle hardly drew a mob of Twitter-mourners. Ditto for the year-long killing and maiming spree unleashed by Israeli soldiers in 2018 onto peaceful protesters near the Gaza fence, which resulted in the death of more than 260 people and the injury of close to 30,000 others. Nor has Yemen found itself to be especially heartbreaking on the international scene, despite being under continuous assault by a Saudi-led coalition. Though the country does attract split-second attention here and there as when a US-supplied bomb slaughtered 40 Yemeni children on a school bus last year theres been no sustained collective weeping over reports that, since the start of the Saudi onslaught in 2015, 85,000 children may have died of starvation. And there seemed to be hardly any reaction when, on April 7, the Saudi-led coalition bombed yet another school in Sanaa, killing 14 children, just days after British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt published an op-ed in Politico arguing that the UK should not halt its export of weapons to Saudi Arabia. A higher purpose? To be sure, its pretty emotionally straightforward to grieve in social media solidarity over a Very Symbolic Building, one that has been firmly established in the international consciousness and visited by loads of fellow humans, particularly those belonging to social classes that possess the economic wherewithal to travel. For US citizens like me, at least, its certainly easier than contemplating how to go about grieving Palestinians or Yemenis when my own government is highly implicated in their murder. And while former US president Barack Obama somberly mused re: Notre Dame that its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost, its apparently not in our nature to mourn when we drop 26,171 bombs on the world in a single year which is what Obama did in 2016 and which would seem to constitute a destruction of history in its own right. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for her part, has also entered mourning mode with the following tweet: My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purpose. This is the same Clinton, of course, who once boasted of her willingness to totally obliterate the nation of Iran. Raging empathy The New York Times observes that the fire that tore through Notre Dame generated an outpouring of grief in France and around the world as the symbol of French culture and history burned. As previously alluded to, however, French history has been none too inclusive, entailing instead blood-soaked colonial escapades founded on systematic torture and other forms of brutality. Nowadays, Western colonial and imperial legacies continue to perniciously affect the livelihoods of much of the worlds population, and what do you know? refugees fleeing contexts of violence and poverty from Africa to Central America are often fatally blocked from joining that oh-so-cheery concept of humanity, as increasingly right-wing governments in Europe and the US endeavour to criminalise their very existence. Hence the current heartless panorama, in which Guatemalan children die in US government custody and migrants drown by the hundreds in the Mediterranean. Whatever your own attachment to Notre Dame might be, the fact that such tragic realities dont elicit the same raging empathy as a cathedral fire is a tragedy unto itself. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. 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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 Several of Frances wealthiest citizens open their wallets to help foot bill of fire-ravaged icons restoration. Paris, France Hours after a massive fire ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral, an outpouring of financial support has seen private donors pledging more than half a billion euros ($564m) towards the restoration of the Parisian landmark. The full extent of the damage has yet to be assessed, but the world-famous icon of Gothic architecture potentially faces many years of costly repairs to restore its roof and spire, which collapsed in dramatic fashion on Monday evening. Shortly after an impassioned speech by President Emmanuel Macron, in which he said the full restoration for the cathedral would be part of the French destiny, several of the countrys wealthiest citizens opened their wallets to help foot the bill. Francois Pinault, the billionaire CEO of Kering group, offered 100 million euros ($113m) towards repairs, while his rival in luxury goods, CEO of the LVMH conglomerate Pierre Arnault, later pledged 200 million euros ($226m). Energy firm Total promised 100 million euros ($113m), while cosmetics group LOreal and the Bettencourt family said they would donate 200 million euros ($226m). Other wealthy families vowed to give a further 20 million euros ($22m). The art and religious treasures that survived the blaze will be transported to the Louvre museum for safekeeping [Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via Reuters] The promised assistance is a welcome if late surprise for the centuries-old Notre Dame, whose condition has been deteriorating for many years while the church and city government bickered over who should pay for much-needed repairs. Air pollution has done extensive damage to the cathedrals facade, eroding the stonework and its famous gargoyles, but it has received only two million euros ($2.2m) a year in state funding far short of what is required. Since Mondays disaster, the city of Paris has promised 50 million euros ($56m) for repairs, and the regional government another 10 million euros ($11m). Offers of practical assistance have flooded in from across Europe: Polands President Andrzej Duda has extended the service of his countrys reconstruction experts, famed for their restoration of Warsaw buildings razed to the ground in World War II; while the York Glaziers Trust in Britain, which restored the windows of York Minster cathedral when it was gutted by fire in 1984, has volunteered its expertise. Notre Dame has been restored several times in its 850 years [Benoit Moser/BSPP/Getty Images] Meanwhile, the art and religious treasures that survived the blaze will be transported to Pariss Louvre Museum for safekeeping, according to Frances Culture Minister Franck Riester. Some of them will require restoration after being exposed to smoke and water. Emotionally, everyone is devastated and struck, but lets be clear, the main stone structure of the cathedral is standing, Jean-Louis Cohen, a professor of the history of architecture at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, told Al Jazeera. What has burned is essentially the roof structure. Two-thirds of the roof, which is basically wooden carpentry and extremely important historically because it was still the original woodwork. Bertrand de Feydeau, the vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told France Info radio that the roof -made from latticed oak beams from 5,000 trees could not be replicated, as France did not have oaks the size of those felled in the 13th century. Dating back to the 12th century, Notre Dame has seen several major restoration projects throughout its 850 years overlooking the Seine River. Victor Hugo bemoaned its pitiful neglect in the 1830s, but decades later it was given new life as its flying buttresses were renovated and a new wooden spire was installed. But the cathedrals greatest rebirth lies ahead, perhaps many years from now. Its simply going to be a matter of a lot of time and a lot of money, Robert Bork, an art historian specialising in Gothic architecture, told Al Jazeera. To do it right requires a lot of handicraft and a lot of man-hours. This is not something you want to do in an offhand or hasty way, he added. The building is so iconic and so beloved and I hope that means they will take the time to do it right and do it carefully. Theyre going to have to consolidate the vault structure which was badly damaged by the fire and just be very careful about not removing any of the parts that are holding it together right now in the course of the restoration. The regional body says the army has 15 days to hand over power to civilian authority or risk suspension. The African Union has warned Sudans military that the country has 15 days to install a civilian government or risk getting kicked out of the bloc, as a sit-in demanding the army hand over power entered its 11th day on Tuesday. Sudan must aim to hold free, fair and transparent elections as soon as possible, the AUs Peace and Security Council said it in a statement on Monday. A military-led transition would be completely contrary to the aspirations of the people of Sudan, it added. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday became the first foreign leader to meet with members of Sudans ruling military council and pledged his support for the neighbouring country. The Transitional Military Council has met many demands of the protesters, but some of the demands of the protesters need time to answer, said General Jalal Eldin Alshaik, a member of the council, after the meeting. He also vowed that the sit-in would not be dispersed from outside the armys headquarters and appeared to change the councils position on former president Omar al-Bashirs extradition to The Hague. The decision whether to extradite al-Bashir to the [International Criminal Court] will be made by a popularly elected government and not the transitional military council, he said at a press conference in Addis Ababa. The council had previously said al-Bashir who was arrested after Thursdays military coup would not be extradited to face charges of war crimes in Darfur. Fears of old guards return Fearing that the core of the old establishment is far from gone, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) on Monday reiterated its call for the military council to be dissolved and substituted with a civilian one that would only include limited army representation. The umbrella organisation, which spearheaded the months of protests that precipitated al-Bashirs removal, also demanded the sacking of Sudans prosecutor general and judiciary head, as well as the disbanding of the former presidents National Congress Party (NCP). 190415114207364 The objectives of the revolution cannot be achieved totally and completely in the face of the backstage manipulations by the remnants of the regime, SPA member Taha Osman told reporters in the capital, Khartoum. The key demand is the formation of a civil council to guarantee that the revolution is safeguarded and all the goals are achieved. On April 11, after nearly four months of the popular uprising, a military takeover ended al-Bashirs 30-year authoritarian rule. In a televised address to the nation, Sudans then-Defence Minister, Lieutenant General Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, announced that al-Bashir who had seized power himself in a 1989 coup had been arrested and taken to a safe location. But the protesters elation quickly turned to anger as Ibn Auf, a long-time al-Bashir loyalist, announced the establishment of a two-year transitional military council and later was sworn in as its head. Defying a newly imposed curfew, the demonstrators continued taking to the streets, denouncing Ibn Aufs statement as a farce. Barely 24 hours later, the military council was forced to appoint its second leader in two days, with Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replacing Ibn Auf. Transfer of power Since then, negotiations have taken place between the council and protest organisers, who on Saturday submitted a list of demands to Sudans military rulers. The military council is yet to formally respond to those demands, which include the transfer of power to a civilian-headed transitional authority for a period of four years, at the end of which elections will be held. It has, however, made a number of moves in an apparent bid to appease the protesters, including the lifting of the night-time curfew. 190415144622104 Al-Burhan has also vowed to restructure state institutions and uproot the [Bashir] regime and its symbols but has also said that the transition to civilian rule could take up to two years. Separately, al-Bashirs National Congress Party issued a statement criticising its treatment in recent days. [The coup] has encouraged some political forces to call for political exclusion and to launch a hatred campaign towards the National Congress Party calling for its dissolution and confiscating its property, and we will deal with that according to the legal procedures, the party said. Ahmed Gaid Salah says solution must be found as soon as possible, as protesters demand departure of rulers. Algerias army chief has said the military is considering all options to resolve the countrys political crisis, as thousands of protesters marched through the capital calling for the countrys interim leaders to resign. In a speech broadcast on state media on Tuesday, General Ahmed Gaid Salah warned that time is running out to find a solution to the ongoing upheaval ahead of elections scheduled for July 4. All options are open in the pursuit of overcoming the different difficulties and finding a solution to the crisis as soon as possible, in a way that serves our nations interests without regard to individual interest, he said. His comments came after state media reported that the head of the Algerian Constitutional Council had stepped down. Tayeb Belaiz on Tuesday informed the council, which will play a key role in the upcoming presidential election, that he presented his resignation to the head of state. Algerians have called for Belaiz and other top figures to quit in mass rallies which prompted the departure of veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika earlier this month. Despite the presidents resignation, the demonstrations have continued, with protesters calling for a broad overhaul of the political system. In Algiers on Tuesday, marchers demanded that Bouteflikas allies withdraw from any political transition. We will continue to march until a transitional [authority] led by clean politicians is set up, medical student Mira Laifa told AFP news agency. Samia Baloun, 25, told DPA news agency that the departure of Belaiz opens the way for the resignation of other members of the regime, who are hated by the streets. 190415114207364 Algerians have been protesting against the 3B Belaiz, Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, and Abdelkader Bensalah who served as the upper house speaker until being appointed interim president after Bouteflikas resignation. Bensalah has defended his appointment under constitutional rules and has pledged a transparent vote. The constitutional council is tasked with vetting election candidates, as well as ensuring the regularity of the polls. Stephen McInerney, the executive director at Project on Middle East Democracy, said Belaizs resignation was unlikely to appease demonstrators. This is a significant resignation, he told Al Jazeera. At the same time, I dont think its enough to satisfy the demands of the protesters who really want a genuine transition thats led by independent figures. Despite officials ruling out arson, far-right commentators share Islamophobic conspiracy theories after Notre Dame fire. Alt-right supporters have used the Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris to spread xenophobic rhetoric on social media. The massive blaze that erupted on Monday in the French capital destroyed much of the timber roof and toppled the spire of the cathedral, which was in the middle of a $6.8m renovation. The fire was extinguished on Tuesday around 15 hours after it broke out. Officials are still investigating the reason behind the fire, but have ruled out arson. French media reported that the fire might have been linked to the renovation work. The Paris prosecutors office said that as matters stand it was investigating a count of involuntary destruction by fire. Yet, alt-right provocateurs were quick to peddle conspiracy theories and spread insinuations against Muslims in the wake of the blaze, that gutted parts of the historic building. Richard Spencer, a white supremacist and the leader of the alt-right, said the fire would have served a glorious purpose if it pushed the White man into action. If the Nortre Dame fire serves to spur the White man into actionto sieze power in his countries, in Europe, in the worldthen it will have served a glorious purpose and we will one day bless this catastrophe. Richard Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) April 15, 2019 Alt-right is a loosely knit coalition of far-right groups that include populists, white supremacists, white nationalists, neo-Confederates and neo-Nazis. Many alt-rightists promote various forms of white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Similarly, Pamela Geller, an anti-Muslim public figure, posted a photograph of two men who appeared to stand near the scene of the Notre Dame fire. In her post, she said: Jihadists reveled sharing media photos of the flames billowing smoke, and comments expressing their joy. https://twitter.com/PamelaGeller/status/1117890969959972865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Al Jazeera could not verify the circumstances behind the photo, nor identify the men in the image. Far-right politicians in Europe have also attempted to link the fire to rising intolerance against Christians on the continent. Alice Weidel, the parliamentary group leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Germanys largest opposition party and first far-right nationalist movement to enter parliament since World War II, linked the incident to previous attacks in France. The AfDs original purpose was to promote a eurosceptic agenda, but the party has since shifted its focus to immigration and Islam. During Holy Week #NotreDame burns. March: second largest church Saint-Sulpice burns. February: 47 attacks in France, Weidel wrote on Twitter. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe speaks of a significant increase, she added, including a link to an article published in March in a German Catholic magazine. In der #Karwoche brennt #NotreDame. Marz: zweitgrote Kirche Saint-Sulpice brennnt Februar: 47 Angriffe in Die Beobachtungsstelle gegen Intoleranz und Diskriminierung von Christen in Europa spricht von einer signifikanten Zunahme.#NotreDameCathedralhttps://t.co/SjmIFKGy8O Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) April 16, 2019 The brief fire on March 17 at Saint-Sulpice, a Roman Catholic church in Paris, left no one hurt and caused little damage. Investigators have opened an inquiry into the blaze. Meanwhile, Arab and Muslim organisations and public figures shared their concerns over conspiracies spreading on social media and on French and Western media outlets. Ali Abunimah, the cofounder of Electronic Intifada, an online magazine that documents the Israeli occupation, warned in a Twitter post that a narrative is being created based on nothing. 7Katie Hopkins Hopkins, who boasts almost one million Twitter followers, made a similar dog-whistle argument about Judeo-Christian culture following the #NotreDameCathedralFire Reject such narratives and Islamophobic dog whistles. pic.twitter.com/GiiQgbdrCR Tell MAMA UK (@TellMamaUK) April 16, 2019 Tell MAMA, a UK group which monitors hate crime, called on people to reject such narratives and Islamophobic dog whistles, as it highlighted a series of posts from figures including Katie Hopkins, Frank Gaffney, Stefan Molyneux and Paul Joseph Watson. A previous version of this article stated that life expectancy in most Arab states (except Yemen) is now close to 80. This was incorrect. This number only applies to most of the Gulf Arab states. Doha, Qatar When Maryam al-Badr, 20, a Qatari female student at Northwestern University in Qatar, began her journey as a journalism major in August 2017, she had aspirations of completing her degree and being in a position to be independent, especially financially. She took a years worth of foundation courses after high school to prepare herself to gain admission to the university and fulfil her dreams. Getting married and starting a family was only a distant option. Many Qatari women in the generations before her would have never had the same aspirations, but mindsets are changing among young women in the Arab world. Most Arab families want to have two to three children at most, Marcia Inhorn, the author of a 2018 study from Yale University that explained the unprecedented decline in fertility rates in the Arab world, told Al Jazeera. The phenomenon, which first started in 1975, has occurred without major economic development or strong family planning programs, according to the study. Qatars fertility rate is at three children per woman [File: Fadi al-Assaad/Reuters] According to the study, this dramatic decline in fertility rate is due to the changing nature of the household structure, economic growth and available contraception. Declines in fertility rates are consistent across all Arab countries regardless of wealth. [This is] primarily because women are getting more educated in the Arab world and they are seeking a different future and aspirations for themselves, Inhorn told Al Jazeera. Q uiet revolution When total fertility rates were first recorded in the 19751980 period, women in all 17 Arab nations showed rates far exceeding the world average at that time, which was 3.85 children per woman, according to Inhorns study. Seven Arab countries Algeria, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen had rates greater than 7.0, with the highest recorded rate of 8.58 in Yemen, she wrote. Today, only three Arab countries, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen, have a total fertility rate above three. We labelled this decline as a quiet revolution because no one is talking about this change and it is not being recognised, said Inhorn. The study shows that the attitudinal changes in the Arab world have had a greater effect on fertility decline than the prevalence of contraceptives among Arab families. The study also explains that the Arab family has evolved from an extended to a nuclear family. This is because small families provide greater marital privacy to women from poor households, give more freedom to mothers to raise their children and better opportunities to invest more resources into the education and success of each child, according to the study. [Childrens] expenses are so high, that you need to invest a lot of money in one child, let alone having four or five children, added al-Badr. She believes this is why fertility rates have dropped and more women are turning to contraception as they are aware of the economic repercussions. It is also the reason why she wants to wait a while after graduation before getting married and being able to afford a family. According to Spyridon Chouliaras, attending physician of reproductive medicine at Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, the trend of having smaller families is evident, but there is still a strong intent among Arab families to have multiple children. The values are there, I dont think theyve changed significantly, he said. Rather, he believes as people are becoming more educated, they are aware of their options. There is increasing knowledge about contraception, but you have increasing knowledge about where to go for help, he said. However, sharp fertility declines do not necessarily denote positive outcomes for Arab society, according to Inhorn. Yes, there is a growing rate of economic soundness, but rapidly declining fertility rates will change population structures dramatically, Inhorn explains. For instance, the threat of a possible youth bulge is quite imminent. This is when the percentage of young people between 15-30 years old temporarily increases in the overall population. Inhorn refers to the effect of this being called waithood, where young people wait longer to get married and form families, leading to a large stuck youth population. E lderquakes This is commonly the case in resource-poor Arab countries like Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, where the majority of the youth population is unemployed. According to Inhorn, youth bulges will eventually lead to elderquakes, or very rapidly ageing populations. Statistics released by the United Nations on current and future life expectancy in the Arab world showed, with the exception of Sudan and Yemen, all Arab countries have exceeded the worlds current average life expectancy of 71.9 years. Moreover, the life expectancy in most of the Gulf Arab states (with the exception of Yemen) is now closer to 80, she writes in her study. However, Inhorn says there is no social safety net for these ageing populations as Arab states are not equipped to handle them. These elderquakes will not happen for some time, but they could prompt potential crises in caretaking. There are definitely repercussions for low total fertility rates in the GCC, Ahmed Aref, a doctoral researcher for the Institute of Policy Research at University of Bath in the United Kingdom, said. Demographic imbalance and low replacement rate can adversely affect the economic situation. Finally, five out of the total of 17 Arab countries have even dipped below replacement fertility rate the fertility rate required for a population to maintain itself usually 2.1 children for every woman. These Arab countries may well become barren states, with a growing ageing population, a shortage of labour, and plummeting national populations. The threat of depopulation is real. The Arab worlds quiet reproductive revolution, in and of itself, is not always a positive demographic trajectory, added Inhorn. However, Inhorn acknowledges that Arab Gulf states are different from other Arab nations. The population demographics are distinctive, with a large expatriate workforce. The author notes that the fertility rate of Qatari women is slightly higher, at around three children, compared with 1.75 per woman for the entire population. [Qatar] is still concerned they need to increase their fertility level, they do feel theres a crisis of not enough nationals. That feeling is true in some of the Gulf states; [locals] are significantly outnumbered, said Inhorn. Additionally, there is a new inflow of migration due to the current instability in Yemen and Syria and the refugee crisis according to Inhorn, which could dramatically change the demographic structure of both resource-poor and resource-rich Arab states. [The Arab refugee crisis] is a grim reminder of the regions failed revolutions, said Inhorn. Additional reporting by Khadija Islow A court jails 138 members of the Shia minority and strips them of citizenship for establishing a terror cell. A Bahraini court has sentenced 138 people to jail and revoked their citizenship on terror-related charges, the public prosecutor said. Their jail term varies between three years and life term. The defendants were convicted of establishing a terror cell with links to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad al-Hammadi said in a statement on Tuesday. A judicial source said all the defendants are members of the Shia community in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. The High Criminal Court handed out life jail terms to 69 of the defendants, the prosecutor said, adding they were sentenced for crimes including joining a terrorist group, bombings, attempted murder and receiving arms and explosives training. Some members had received military training in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, Hammadi said. It said the defendants had formed an Iran-linked cell it referred to as the Bahraini Hezbollah with the purpose of carrying out attacks in the country. The defendants have the right to appeal the ruling, it said. Of those sentenced, 60 were in absentia, a defence lawyer said. Rights group Amnesty International condemned the courts decision, saying this amounts to mass arbitrary denaturalisation. Periodic clashes Bahrain has prosecuted hundreds of protesters in mass trials and banned main opposition groups. Most of the leading opposition figures and rights activists are imprisoned or have fled abroad. Such trials, condemned by rights groups, became commonplace after a failed uprising in 2011 that was led by members of the Shia Muslim majority in the country and crushed with the help of neighbour Saudi Arabia. Since the uprising eight years ago, the island nation has seen periodic clashes between protesters and security forces, who have been targeted by several bomb attacks. The Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy criticised the trial as deeply unfair and said Bahrain was using revocations of citizenship as a tool of oppression. Tuesdays decision took the number of citizenship revocations in Bahrain to 990, 180 of them this year, the institute said in a statement. A mass trial cannot produce a just result and rendering people stateless in a mass trial is a clear violation of international law, institutes director of advocacy Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said. The government denies deliberately targeting the Shia political opposition, saying it is only acting to preserve Bahrains national security. Weld enters as a long-shot candidate against an incumbent president who has remained popular within his party. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld announced his candidacy on Monday to challenge US President Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Weld, 73, who served two terms as governor, from 1991-1997, enters as a long-shot candidate against an incumbent president who has remained popular within his party. Weld in February had said that he planned to challenge Trump. I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff weve had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy, he said on CNN. So, I would be ashamed of myself if I didnt raise my hand and run. Weld has accused Trump of leaving the nation in grave peril and has said his priorities are skewed towards promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country. Welds challenge marks the first against Trump by a member of his own party. Other Republicans have publicly flirted with their own challenges, including former Ohio Governor John Kasich, one of the many Republican candidates whom Trump defeated for the partys presidential nomination in 2016. 190203104231427 But Republican leaders have signalled little tolerance for intra-party fights as Trump gears up for a potentially challenging bid for a second term. Trumps campaign has taken extraordinary steps in cementing control over the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the broader nomination process as it seeks to minimise the risk of any potential challenger doing the same to the president. His campaign recently reported raising $30m in the first quarter of this year, while Democrats are raising less money than in previous cycles. Any effort to challenge the presidents nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere, the RNC said in a statement responding to Welds announcement, noting that its operation and the Republican Party are firmly behind Trump. Unconventional Weld, a former prosecutor and the vice presidential candidate in 2016 on the Libertarian ticket, has been a consistent critic of Trump. He told CNN that he does not plan to mount an independent bid if unsuccessful. Fiscally conservative but socially liberal, Weld is known for an unconventional, at times quirky, political style and a long history of friction with the party he now seeks to lead. Weld endorsed Democrat Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain in 2008, later saying it was a mistake to do so, and has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with the Clintons, which began early in his career when he served alongside Hillary Clinton as a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate proceedings. 190305061846774 Welds nomination by former President Bill Clinton to be US ambassador to Mexico touched off a bitter public spat with then-Senator Jesse Helms, a conservative Republican from South Carolina who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Years earlier, Weld was among a handful of top Justice Department officials to resign in protest over alleged ethical violations by then-Attorney General Ed Meese, long a favourite of conservatives. With little in the way of organisation or outside money, and at odds with a majority of Republican voters who solidly support Trump, Welds longshot campaign will target disaffected Republicans and independents who share his disdain for the president and embrace libertarian values of small government, free trade and free markets, and personal freedom. Weld has not won a political race since being re-elected governor by a landslide in his heavily Democratic state in 1994. He was first elected to the office in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate, and quickly became one of Massachusetts most popular governors in recent history. While holding the line on spending and taxes, Weld as governor embraced liberal positions at odds with national Republicans on abortion and gay rights. His low-key style and sharp wit also seemed to play well with voters as did his penchant for the unexpected: He once ended a news conference touting progress in cleaning up Bostons polluted Charles River by diving fully clothed into the waterway. A politician, federal prosecutor, investment banker, lobbyist and even novelist, Weld was a lifelong Republican before bolting the GOP to run on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson in 2016. 190302193312310 Johnson and Weld received about 4.5 million votes, a little more than three percent of the national popular vote. Despite a pledge to libertarians that he would remain loyal to the party going forward, Weld on January 17 walked into the clerks office of the Massachusetts town where he lives and re-registered as a Republican, adding to speculation that he would challenge Trump in the primaries. Weld planned to kick off his campaign in New Hampshire, which holds an influential early nominating contest. He said the states voters would be receptive to his message and familiar with his record in neighbouring Massachusetts. Right now, all there really is coming out of Washington is divisiveness, he said on CNN, calling both parties responsible but pointedly adding, the grand master of that is the president himself. Indonesia works hard to get the ballot to the remotest parts of the vast archipelago. Gorontalo, Indonesia After being printed and counted in Indonesias eastern city of Makassar, election workers seal and pack a wad of ballot papers, along with other election equipment, into boxes for their journey into the mountains of Sulawesi. It takes three days for them to get to the northern city of Gorontalo and a further two hours by road and foot, including a half-hour hike along a dirt track and across a hanging bridge to reach their final destination of Tulabolo, a village of 500 voters. Two years ago, this road did not exist and it would have been a lot harder to get here, said Arfan Suleman, a local election worker in charge of delivering ballots to the village. People in Tulabolo on Wednesday will vote to pick the countrys next president, as well as four representatives in local and regional government. Indonesias polls are more than one of the worlds biggest single-day democratic exercises; theyre also a complicated challenge in logistics. The hanging bridge above Bone River before Tulabolo [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera] [Al Jazeera] About half the citizens of the worlds fourth most populous country live in rural areas and an estimated 10 million households have no electricity, so ensuring the people have ballots to cast and an understanding of who they are voting for is an often monumental task. The road that smoothed the journey of Arfan and his team is a result of one of incumbent president Joko Jokowi Widodos key policies and a major campaign platform. The village fund programme gives each settlement access to a portion of the states $5bn village budget, with at least $50,000 going to each one of them. Many villages have used the money to build roads 191,000km in total, according to Eko Sandjojo, the villages minister. The villages fund makes people more connected [to Jakarta], but thats not enough, he said. Without the infrastructure that connects villages to other villages, I think the economic development is still a bit slow. A village polling station in the mountains of Sulawesi. Ensuring everyone gets a chance to vote is one of the biggest logistical challenges of Indonesias democracy. [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera] The challenge of geography Better roads cannot address all the problems caused by Indonesias difficult terrain and unforgiving weather. Thousands of election workers in the worlds third-largest democracy wrestle with the archipelagos geography to ensure villages of just a few dozen people can vote. In Aru, a large but neglected island chain closer to the Australian city of Darwin than Indonesias capital, Jakarta, the most remote settlements can only be reached by a days travel on costly rented boats. Aru is a scattered archipelago, said Labok Yos, a member of the election commission for the islands, which are home to about 80,000 people. The biggest problem is simply geography. There is no regular transportation around the islands, so were forced to use chartered boats. Even further east, in central Papua, Daud Mita has been working for a decade to make sure residents of mountain hamlets have a chance to make their voices heard. He has overseen improvements that mean trips that used to take 10 hours now take just three. In a few areas, we have been able to start going by land because the roads have been paved, although another flood has destroyed the new bridges we were starting to use, Daud said. The local election commission uses helicopters and small planes, and equips workers with professional gear for a six-hour hike through the forest to get boxes and ballots where they need to be. The most remote area requires a day and nights journey on foot. Despite the daunting obstacles, Daud said: Thank God, we finished distributing the ballots to all the sites. Voters must punch a hole in a ballot and drop it in a box for the vote to be valid, and millions of workers are needed to ensure election day runs smoothly. Election workers began holding information sessions months ago to teach people how the process works. In the most far-flung areas, public meetings included ensuring voters knew who the candidates were. Without stable electricity, much less internet, often the only information about who is running comes from campaign posters delivered by election workers. Up in the mountains of Sulawesi, ballot papers, boxes and other equipment sometimes have to be delivered by dirt bike or on foot. [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera] Widodos opponent, former general and businessman Prabowo Subianto, has attempted to stoke scepticism about the election process, calling for supporters to challenge the results if they are not in his favour. Election workers admit the process, involving 800,000 polling stations strung out across the archipelago, carries risks of corruption. Thats what were afraid of, Daud said. We hope election observers can take action if there are reports of fraud because we are limited in our ability to make sure it doesnt happen after we leave the ballot boxes. Around Tulabolo, one local candidate was caught buying votes while, in a different settlement, supervisors said they were concerned about potential ballot stuffing because it was the home village of another person running for office. The elections commission at the national level did not respond to Al Jazeeras questions about the integrity of the ballot in hard-to-reach locations. Workers unload ballot boxes and other election equipment in preparation for Indonesias election on Wednesday. KPU is the Indonesian acronym for the countrys elections commission. [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera] Noken system In some rural areas in Papua, more than a five-and-a-half-hour flight east of Jakarta, voting is done through the noken system, in which ballots are collected in a traditional bag woven from tree roots that gives the process its name. Sometimes, the head of a village votes on the peoples behalf, sometimes the bag is simply used in place of a ballot box. The method has been criticised for undermining voting secrecy and being susceptible to cheating. Daud says his election commission requires that people vote individually, but as a village, they can use noken if they want. The noken system is an effective way to vote, especially in mountainous and inland areas, said Hari Suroto, an archaeologist based in Papuas capital, Jayapura. Populations live scattered on the slopes of mountains, in valleys and in forests, where there is no road access and it can take days to get to the polling station. Those who work closely with rural communities say it is important that villagers have the chance to vote because they are often directly affected by government initiatives or development projects. Over the last three years, there has been a significant reduction in poverty, said Ah Maftuchan, executive director of Prakarsa, an Indonesian research NGO. Nationally, the speed of the drop in poverty has been much faster in villages than cities, Maftuchan said. But in more remote areas, especially in the east, like Papua and East Nusa Tenggara, poverty is still very high, because the living standards are so far from ideal. In smoothing the roads to the villages, Widodo may well have been trying to clear his own path back to office. The proposed changes mean Sisis second term in office could end in 2024, after which he will be allowed to run again. Egypts parliament has passed proposed constitutional amendments that could see President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi remain in power until 2030, according to state media. The vote on Tuesday sends the changes to a public referendum that will likely take place before early May when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts. Critics have decried the proposals as another step back to authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended put an end to Hosni Mubaraks decades-long rule. The amendments approved by the 596-member parliament, which is dominated by pro-Sisi politicians, include allowing the general-turned-president to extend his current term by two years and stand for another six-year mandate. Today, we are concluding what we started in February, Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said at the beginning of the session. In this great day, we offer to the Egyptian people a draft bill of the constitutional amendments. Human rights record In recent weeks, large posters encouraging people to vote in the referendum and back the changes have been splattered across Egypts capital, Cairo, including in the central Tahrir Square, where mass protests became the symbol of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising and of hopes for democratic change in Egypt. 190228075713352 Take part, say yes for the constitutional amendments, says one banner near the pro-government Nations Future Party. Most of the posters were apparently funded by pro-government parties, businessmen and MPs, according to reports. Sisi led the 2013 military overthrow of elected president and Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi. He won his first term as president in 2014 and was re-elected in March 2018 with more than 97 percent of the vote, after standing virtually unopposed. His government has been widely criticised by human rights groups for the repression of political opponents. In the past three years, more than 15,000 civilians, including children, have been referred to military prosecution in Egypt, according to Human Rights Watch. Proposed amendments The constitutional changes would only extend a presidents term in office from four to six years and allow for a maximum of two terms. But they also include a special article specific to Sisi that extends his current second four-year term to six years and allows him to run for another six-year term in 2024 potentially extending his rule until 2030. Justifying this clause, Abdel-Al, the speaker, said it was aimed at political justice and the required stability. The February draft of the special article was different, proposing to allow Sisi to run for two more six-year terms after his current term expires in 2022, possibly putting him at the helm of Egypt until 2034. No reason was given for the change, apparently made by the committee that drafted the final version of the text. The amendments introduce one or more vice presidents, revive the Senate and enshrine a 25 percent quota for women in parliaments lower, legislative chamber. They allow the president to appoint top judges and bypass judiciary oversight in vetting draft legislation. They declare the military the guardian and protector of the Egyptian state, democracy and the constitution, while also granting military courts wider jurisdiction in trying civilians. Finally, they include provisions for what is described as adequate representation for workers, farmers, youth and people with special needs. Politicians from all sides agree that universities have a problem with violence; they just disagree on ways to solve it. Violence on campuses in Greek universities is common. Anarchists and criminals are often seen attacking staff and students. Some believe this is because of a law that prevents police from entering campuses and protecting people. But others say it is important to keep the police out. Al Jazeeras John Psaropoulos reports. Richwood, TX (77531) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. More than 190 million Indonesians will vote in polls that pit incumbent Widodo against long-time rival Prabowo. Jakarta, Indonesia More than 190 million Indonesians go to the polls on Wednesday to choose their next president after a polarising election campaign that has focussed on ideologies rather than policies. The presidential race pits incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo and his running mate, Indonesian Ulama Council Chairman Maruf Amin, against retired general and longtime rival Prabowo Subianto and multi-millionaire businessman Sandiaga Uno. Widodo and Amin are trying to project themselves as progressive yet religious, with a campaign slogan of Advancing Indonesia. I am a nationalist, Widodo said on the announcement of his candidacy in August 2018. He is a devout religious figure. We complement each other well. Prabowo, who has been accused of human rights abuses, ran against Widodo in 2014, while Uno is a businessman who spent a few months as deputy governor of Jakarta, after the mass rallies against Basuki Tjajaha Purnama (also known as Ahok) who was accused and later convicted of blasphemy. The latest opinion polls in the lead-up to the election have Widodo-Amin leading by as many as 20 points, with a significant proportion of undecided voters. Most political experts predict a closer result, however, given that 2014s pre-election polls were similar, but Widodo ultimately beat Prabowo by just six points. Both sets Prabowo and his supporters have said they will protest in the streets if the vote is stolen from them. Some supporters have also been accusing the Widodo camp of voter fraud, claiming they are registering foreign voters and using fake voter lists. 190415060854971 Social media is helping fuel such conspiracies, with tension between each set of the supporters running high. On Twitter, Widodo supporters are referred to with derision as cebong (tadpoles), and Prabowo fans dismissed as kampret (bats). At least two pieces of fake news are widely believed by Prabowo supporters, said Andreas Harsono, Indonesian Researcher at Human Rights Watch. One is that they believe there are many mainland Chinese workers in Indonesia, even though this has been repeatedly debunked. Expatriates in Indonesia make up just 0.06 percent of the workforce, but Prabowos camp argue that there are millions of Chinese workers. The second is that they believe Jokowi is anti-Islam. They believe he is a good Muslim and a good grandfather, but they believe he is anti-Islam. These hoaxes will be very influential on many voters. If its zero-one [referring to Widodos party number on the ballot paper], we know his track record. The other guy were not so sure, he looks like hes flip-flopping, Im not really sure about him, Jeffrey Sidero, a Widodo supporter, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Both Widodo and Prabowo are courting the Muslim vote. Widodos running mate is a well-known conservative voice and part of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesias largest Islamic organisation. Prabowo and Uno both have strong support from the anti-Ahok 212 movement, including from unofficial leader Rizieq Shihab, currently in self-imposed exile due to pornography-related charges in Saudi Arabia. But many say they will back Prabowo-Uno not because of religion, but because of the economy, encouraged by their promise to reduce the prices of electricity and staple foods like rice within 100 days of coming into power. 190408080355562 How many Indonesians eat three meals a day? Prabowo asked a crowd of more than 100,000 people at his final rally in Jakarta on April 7. Do you want to remain servants forever? Prabowo-Uno are widely predicted to win in Jakarta, where their nationalistic policies are popular with both the working and middle classes. Widodo-Amin, meanwhile, are promising to continue the focus on infrastructure and social support programmes. Under the current government, infrastructure has boomed , with new toll roads, ports and airports opening up access across the country. We have high hopes for zero-two [Prabowo] to become president, a president who defends our rights, cheap prices, cheap education for our children, cheap fuel prices and basic necessities, said Akhirudin Konsi, a Prabowo supporter, as quoted by AP. Wednesday will also see elections for parliamentarians taking place. Legislative elections are normally held months prior to presidential elections but the move means voters will be confronted with a list of tough choices. The electoral commissions website crashed on Monday evening due to the number of people looking for information on legislative candidates. Indonesias conservative opposition candidate Prabowo says election is rigged but provides no evidence. Indonesias largest hardline Muslim group is threatening to take to the streets if there is cheating in Wednesdays election. President Joko Widodo is expected to win a second term in office but his opponent, Prabowo Subianto, is already alleging there are widespread irregularities. Its a claim thats being seized upon by some who want to take the moderate Muslim country in a more conservative direction. Al Jazeeras Wayne Hay reports from Jakarta. Myanmar reporters win journalism award for revealing massacre of Rohingya men by countrys security forces. Two jailed reporters for the Reuters news agency have won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for revealing the massacre of 10 Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been jailed for 490 days in Myanmar for their role in uncovering the killings, won the prestigious award for international reporting on Monday. They were arrested in December 2017 and are serving a seven-year sentence for violating the countrys colonial Official Secrets Act. Im thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognised for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J Adler said. I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars. Thomson Reuters CEO Jim Smith said the news service wont be truly celebrating until Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are free. The honourees, both Myanmar citizens, found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of victims. Journalists Maggie Michael, Maad al-Zikry and Nariman El-Mofty of the Associated Press agency also won the same award for their coverage of famine and torture during Yemens civil war. The Reuters staff bagged a second prize for photographs of Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. In other categories, coverage of mass shootings in the US and investigations into US President Donald Trump featured prominently. The Washington Post was a finalist for the public service medal for its coverage of the murder of Saudi journalist and Post columnist Jamal Khassoggi inside the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul. Heres a list of this years winners: Journalism Public Service South Florida Sun Sentinel for examining mistakes by school and law enforcement officials before and after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting massacre in Parkland, Florida. Breaking News Reporting Staff, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for coverage of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue and its aftermath. Investigative Reporting Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan and Paul Pringle, Los Angeles Times, for reporting on a gynaecologist at the University of Southern California accused of abusing young women over decades. Explanatory Reporting David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, The New York Times, for their examination of family tax schemes that helped President Donald Trump inherit a fortune from his father. Local Reporting Staff, The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for an examination of the states jury system and a law that allowed convictions without a unanimous verdict. National Reporting Staff, The Wall Street Journal, for stories disclosing payoffs during the campaign to two women who claimed to have had affairs with President Donald Trump, and how those transactions were handled. International Reporting Maggie Michael, Maad al-Zikry and Nariman El-Mofty, The Associated Press, for stories on famine and torture during Yemens civil war. The staff of Reuters, with contributions from Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, for stories on the expulsion and killing of Rohingya in Myanmar by the military and Buddhist villagers. Feature Writing Hannah Dreier, ProPublica, for stories about Salvadoran immigrants in New York affected by a federal crackdown on MS-13. Commentary Tony Messenger, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for columns showing how poor Missourians faced high fines or jail time over misdemeanour crimes. Criticism Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post, for reviews and essays on books focusing on government and the United States. Editorial Writing Brent Staples, The New York Times, for editorials focusing on racial issues. Editorial Cartooning Darrin Bell, freelancer, for cartoons taking aim at the Trump administration over political turmoil and the effect on marginalised communities. Breaking News Photography Staff, Reuters, for images following the difficult journey of migrants attempting to get to the United States from South and Central America. Feature Photography Lorenzo Tugnoli, The Washington Post, for photographs documenting the famine in Yemen. Special Citation Capital Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, in honour of the journalists, staff and editorial board for their response to the killings of their colleagues in a newsroom shooting. Arts Fiction The Overstory by Richard Powers. Drama Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury. History Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W Blight. Biography or Autobiography The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C Stewart. Poetry Be With by Forrest Gander. General Nonfiction Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America by Eliza Griswold. Music p r i s m by Ellen Reid. Special Citation Aretha Franklin, for her role in American music for more than 50 years. The Kabul delegation to be sent to Qatar will also include women for talks expected to start on April 20. The government of Afghanistan has announced a list of 250 people, including around 50 women, who will head to Qatar for talks with the Taliban later this week. The names were released by officials in Kabul on Tuesday, although the Taliban has refused to talk directly with Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis government, saying it would recognise participants only as ordinary Afghans. The meeting a gathering known as intra-Afghan dialogue is expected to last for two days, starting on Saturday, April 20. The list includes representatives of political parties, government officials, opposition figures, former fighters, womens rights activists, war victims families, Muslim leaders, youth and media groups, as well as tribal elders and members of Afghanistans High Peace Council (AHPC), a body that oversees peace efforts but does not represent the government. It is unclear whether all those on the list will attend. Afghan women have repeatedly voiced their concerns at having been left out of the peace process. When they were in power (1996-2001), Taliban officials would not allow women to work, attend a school or leave home without a guardian. Afghan women are concerned that the group could reimpose such restrictions if they are allowed to return as a political entity. While the Taliban previously met Afghan representatives and politicians in Russia in February, those talks did not include members of Ghanis government. The spokesman for former President Hamid Karzai, who was at the Moscow talks, said Karzai supported the upcoming intra-Afghan conference in Qatars capital, Doha, but he would not be attending. Taliban refusals The Taliban has refused to meet directly with the Afghan government, calling them puppets of the West. Instead, the group has held a series of talks with US officials led by Zalmay Khalilzad, Washingtons special representative for Afghanistan. Both the US and the Taliban say they have reached a draft agreement in two areas: the withdrawal of a majority of US forces, and a deal where the Taliban would no longer assist other groups such as al-Qaeda in using Afghanistan for attacks on other nations. The dates for the next round of talks between the two sides have not been set, according to the US State Department. Despite the ongoing talks, the Taliban on Friday announced the beginning of its annual spring offensive, calling on Afghan forces to join it and saying it would keep fighting. In a series of Twitter posts on Monday, Khalilzad called on the Taliban to discuss a ceasefire. Let Afghan people judge whether Talib[an] statements encouraging more violence is way forward, he wrote. North Korean leader awarded himself a new title recently. But the view from Seoul is not that encouraging Seoul, South Korea Kim Jong Uns new title which he conferred upon himself the Supreme Representative of all the Korean People is said to solidify the North Korean leaders grip on power but is also likely to cause aggravation in Seoul. North Korean state media, the Korean Central News Agency, began using the new title on Friday after Kim emerged from one of North Koreas largest political reshuffles in recent history with increased powers. But while some analysts in South Korea are debating what the new title means, some believe it is in line with Pyongyangs ultimate goal of reunification which it has stated openly on numerous occasions. Theyve been talking about the issue of minjok for some time now, James Kim, of the security think-tank Asan Institute in Seoul, told Al Jazeera. 190412005145509 Minjok is the Korean term for the shared bloodline between Korean people and is often used to spark nationalist fervour and rally public support. Its not out of the ordinary and North Korea has always stuck to that kind of rhetoric. The idea of reunification is built into North Koreas political system, with the ruling Workers Party leading a coalition called the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, otherwise known as the Fatherland Front. The South Korean government has yet to comment on Kims new title but reactions in Seoul have been mixed, with many passing the comment off as just another boisterous claim by the North Korean leadership. Grand overstatements are par for the course in DPRK politics and media, said Lonnie Edge, assistant professor at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. Many in Seoul feel the same. Theyre always saying outrageous things. I dont take it seriously, said Kim Mee-young, a nail artist and hip-hop dancer in Seoul. Others believe Kim had no right to claim to represent South Koreans. We already have a president. Most South Korean people wouldnt approve of that [Kims title], said Lee Gi-yoon a 27-year-old police officer from Busan, South Korea. But not everyone in South Korea is sceptical of Kim. When rumours spread of Kims possible visit to Seoul last December, a poll by Realmeter found 61 percent of South Koreans willing to welcome the North Korean leader. Kim is not the only leader stoking hopes for a reunited Korean Peninsula. President Moon Jae-in, whose parents fled North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, has led an ambitious charge towards improving ties with Pyongyang. P eace, prosperity and reunification Last week, Moon reaffirmed his reunification goals after his return from Washington where he held talks with President Donald Trump in the United States to discuss progress on denuclearisation talks with North Korea following the failed Vietnam summit in February. The fervent desire of the Korean people is to see the journey towards ultimate peace, prosperity and reunification completed, Moon said in a statement to senior secretaries. The idea of reunification, however, may be losing support among young South Koreans. A survey done in 2017 by the Korea Institute for National Unification found that 71 percent of South Koreans in their 20s are against reunification. Support has plummeted across the population to 57.8 percent, down from 69.3 percent in 2014. 190412004404224 After nearly 70 years of separation, the economic and cultural differences have widened between the worlds last hermit kingdom and the technologically-advanced society of South Korea. South Korea currently has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.5 trillion compared with North Koreas $12.38bn. Although relations have improved in recent months, a stream of hostile rhetoric from North Korea in the past has also kept many young people from seeing the benefits of reunification. I dont even hope for reunification any more, I think a lot of young people feel the same, said 28-year-old Yoon Sora, who works at an airport in South Korea. North Korea has broken our trust a few times. So we dont know when theyll betray us again. Some also believe Moon may be blinded by his hopes for reunification. But shifting public opinion has not stopped Moon from putting great effort into establishing peace on the peninsula, as his recent trip to Washington has shown. Peace on the Korean Peninsula is a matter of survival for us. This is a matter that is inseparable from not only the lives and safety of the Korean people, but also the economy, Moon said in a statement after his trip. He also told senior officials that an inter-Korean summit was the next step in the dialogue with North Korea, adding that Trump also recognised the need for that summit. With the next inter-Korean summit likely to take place in Seoul, public opinion on Kim and reactions to his boisterous claims will be put to the test. In an effort to increase pressure on Cuba, the US plans to open the way for lawsuits over property confiscated by Cuba. Stepping up pressure on Cuba, United States President Donald Trump is poised to allow lawsuits against foreign companies that have benefited from Cubas seizure of American companies after the 1959 revolution, a senior administration official said on Tuesday. The move marks a change in more than two decades of US policy on Cuba. The 1996 Helms-Burton Act gave Americans the right to sue companies profiting from properties that Cuba confiscated, but every US president since Bill Clinton has suspended the key clause Title 3 because of fears of alienating US allies and complicating relations with Cuba. When the law was initially passed, it had been strongly opposed by the European Union, whose businesses have long-standing interests on the island and worried about the legal repercussions in US courts. But Trump has been shifting sharply back to the former US effort of trying to weaken the Cuban government. His predecessor, Barack Obama, normalised relations with Cuba, eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Havana, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. No more waivers On Tuesday, the senior government official said going forward, there will be no more waivers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity before the official announcement. The Trump administration had signalled plans to end the waivers. It is taking the step in retaliation for Cubas support of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The US supports opposition leader Juan Guaido who declared himself Venezuelas interim president earlier this year, saying Maduros presidency was illegitimate. NSA John Bolton is expected to discuss the new policy during a speech on Wednesday in Miami, which is home to thousands of exiles and immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The speech at the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association is being delivered on the 58th anniversary of the USs failed 1961 invasion of the island, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters news agency. But the countrys National Assembly, meeting over the weekend, declared the Helms-Burton Act illegitimate, unenforceable and without legal effect. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a speech on Saturday that the US has pushed the precarious relations with our country back to the worst level trying to activate the hateful Helms-Burton Law, which aims to return us in principle to when we were a slave nation of another empire. Among the foreign companies heavily invested in Cuba are Canadian mining firm Sherritt International Corp and Spains Melia Hotels International SA. US companies, including airlines and cruise companies, have forged business deals in Cuba since the easing of restrictions under Obama. Defending the administrations decision, the senior US official said allowing Cuba-related lawsuits would cause only a bump in the business world but would send a message of US resolve against Havana. In addition to halting any further waivers, the administration will begin enforcement of Helms-Burtons Title 4, which requires the denial of visas to and exclusion from the US of those involved in trafficking confiscated properties in Cuba. UNs Ghassan Salame says he hopes both sides will realise that neither could achieve an outright military victory. The United Nationss top envoy for Libya has said that renegade General Khalifa Haftar tried to stage a coup when he issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). Speaking to BBC Radio on Monday, Special Representative Ghassan Salame said Haftars decision to issue in the course of his offensive arrest warrants against al-Sarraj and other top Tripoli officials sounded more like a coup than counterterrorism. Haftar announced an attack against Tripoli on April 4 to wrest control of western Libya from armed groups that back the UN-backed GNA, headed by al-Sarraj. The 75-year-old, who casts himself as a foe of extremism but is viewed by opponents as a new authoritarian leader in the mould of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi, has vowed to continue his offensive until Libya is cleansed of terrorism. Mired in chaos 190414092955725 Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the NATO-backed toppling of Gaddafi in 2011, has been split into rival eastern and western administrations since 2014. In March 2016, GNA chief al-Sarraj arrived in Tripoli to set up a new government, but the Haftar-allied administration in the eastern city of Tobruk refused to recognise its authority. Haftars push on the capital threatens to further destabilise the oil-rich country and reignite a full-blown civil war. Both sides accuse each other of targeting civilians. At least 174 people have been killed and 756 wounded since the LNA started its offensive on April 4, according to the World Health Organization. It says it has deployed additional surgical staff to support hospitals receiving trauma cases. About 15,700 people have been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with a significant number of others still stuck in conflict zones. Haftars side confirmed the warrant had been issued and al-Sarrajs government said it had been immediately rejected. Military stalemate Diplomats believe Haftar, for now, faces no pressure to stand down from backers including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France, who see him as the best bet to end the factional chaos plaguing Libya since Gaddafis fall in the 2011 uprising. We are in fact in a military stalemate since eight days, or nine days, Salame said, adding that both sides had carried out 30 air attacks each that had not changed the situation on the ground. Qatars foreign minister said in a tweet on Tuesday that Haftars actions were obstructing international efforts towards dialogue in Libya. Air raids and shelling have hit civilian infrastructure and residential homes, especially in the south of Tripoli where Haftars forces have sought to penetrate government defences. OCHA has said that targeting civilians was a violation of international humanitarian law. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) warned in a statement that the bombing of schools, hospitals, ambulances and civilian areas is strictly prohibited, adding that it was documenting all such offences for the UN Security Council. 190407155352767 A school was hit on Saturday in an air raid blamed on Haftars forces, Tripoli officials said. Two missiles also struck education ministry warehouses late on Sunday, destroying 3.1 million school books, an official in the Tripoli government told Reuters news agency. OCHA said in a tweet five million books and national exam results had been destroyed. Within less than 48hrs from bombing a school, Ministry of Education warehouses were shelled & burnt. 5m books &national exams results were destroyed . Humanitarian community in #Tripoli #Libya warns again: TARGETING CIVILIANS FACILITIES IS A VIOLATION OF IHL. #NOTATARGET pic.twitter.com/NsdfQNbiNn OCHA Libya (@OCHA_Libya) April 15, 2019 Salame, whose plans for a national reconciliation conference this week had to be postponed because of the fighting, said he hoped both sides would realise in the coming days that neither could achieve an outright military victory. Judge adds federal hate times to charges against white man accused of burning down three black churches in the US state. Three additional charges were lodged against a white man accused of burning down three predominately black churches in southern Louisiana in the past few weeks, local media reported late on Monday. A judge in the US state added three federal hate crime charges against Holden Matthews, 21, and denied him bond, multiple media accounts reported. Matthews, a resident of St Landry Parish, the county where the fires occurred, was previously charged with three counts of arson on religious buildings, officials said. Matthews entered a plea of not guilty on Monday and remains in custody at the St Landry Parish jail, media reports say. A judge set a September trial date. Matthews, the son of Deputy Roy Matthews of the St Landry Parish Sheriffs Office, was taken into custody last Wednesday. The three churches destroyed by the fires have mostly black congregations, raising authorities suspicions that the fires may be racially motivated hate crimes. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Bureau investigators work the crime scene of the burned ruins of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, one of three that recently burned down in St Landry Parish, in Opelousas, Louisana [Gerald Herbert/AP Photo] Matthews had shown interest in black metal, an extreme subgenre of heavy metal linked, in some instances, to fires at Christian churches in Norway in the 1990s, Louisiana Fire Marshal Butch Browning said last week. 190411190240739 A Facebook page that appeared to belong to Matthews showed him with the words black metal spray painted on a wall behind him. He also posted a comment on a movies portrayal of black metal musician Varg Vikernes, a far-right figure convicted of manslaughter and arson at three churches. Black metal lyrics often espouse satanism and paganism, and a few bands feature neo-Nazi beliefs. Noting the history of burnings of black churches in the southern United States, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the episode was especially painful because it reminds us of a very dark past of intimidation and fear. The fires set between March 26 and April 4 destroyed St Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, and Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas. St Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said he believed his deputy was unaware of Holden Matthews involvement in the fires. Frances President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after a colossal fire caused the spire of the historic edifice to crash to the ground and wiped out centuries of heritage. About 400 firefighters battled the fire on Monday, aiming jets of water at the 850-year-old cathedral as solemn crowds watched quietly from behind police cordons. Fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet said late on Monday that the structure of the cathedral had been saved and preserved overall and its bell towers, at one point thought to be at risk, were safe. Shortly afterwards, Macron said: The worst has been avoided, even if the battle has not been fully won. Calling the cathedral the very centre of our lives, he vowed that France will rebuild Notre Dame. Notre Dame de Paris is our history, our literature, said Macron. The place where we have lived all the great moments, wars and liberation. It is the very centre of our lives and we measure ourselves in Paris from the centre. This history, it is ours and it is burning. I know the sadness, internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens. Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France. https://t.co/KnLegnlRFH Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 15, 2019 Macron added that a national fundraising campaign would be launched to restore the building. The fire, which came as Catholics prepare to celebrate Easter, sent orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in horror. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said we can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved as well as the two towers. French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault has pledged 100 million euros ($113m) towards the rebuilding of the building, according to a statement sent to AFP news agency by the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses. The money towards the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre-Dame would be paid by the Pinault familys investment firm Artemis, the statement said. https://twitter.com/patrickgaley/status/1117848909877895171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Gasps and cries of Oh my god erupted around an hour after the fire first broke out when the top portion of the churchs spire came crashing down. We have been dealt a knockout blow, a stricken-looking Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit told reporters. The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. Coalition negotiations set to begin as majority of parliament backs PM to continue as leader, president says. Israels President Reuven Rivlin has said a majority of parliament members have backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new coalition government. Despite facing the prospect of being charged in three corruption cases, Netanyahu is set to embark on a record fifth term in office after the April 9 election. In Israels political system, the president chooses whichever leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government after consultations with political parties. His choice will be officially announced on Wednesday, after which the picked politician will have up to 42 days to conclude coalition negotiations. Netanyahu now has a majority of Knesset members supporting him, Rivlin said on Tuesday in broadcast remarks. Any room for manoeuvre has effectively been removed at this moment. The final vote tallies, published earlier in the day, showed that Netanyahus Likud party won 35 seats in the parliament, the same number as its nearest rival, the Blue and White party, led by former military chief Benny Gantz. 190411114850551 But Netanyahu has the support of enough right-wing and religious parties to secure 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Forty-five members backed Gantz, while the 10 members of Arab parties did not recommend anyone. Netanyahu hailed a sweet and historic victory on Tuesday, pledging to work to unite society after a heated election campaign, during which he leaned on right-wing populist rhetoric that Palestinian citizens of Israel said amounted to demonisation. Turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel was reportedly around 50 percent, much lower than the 63 percent who voted in the previous election in 2015. On polling day, the Likud party sent activists with 1,200 body cameras to voting stations in Palestinian towns and villages. I want all parts of Israeli society, Jews and non-Jews, to be part of the great success story called Israel, Netanyahu said. He also noted he was congratulated over his victory by a large number of world leaders, including many from Arab and Muslim countries, which he did not name. I believe there is a great opening for the future here, a great opening for hope, he said. Coalition clash On Monday evening, Avigdor Lieberman, a former defence minister whose Yisrael Beitunu party has five seats that will be critical for Netanyahu, announced his support for the prime minister. However, he said he would only join the coalition if the government adopted a law that makes military service mandatory for Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Lieberman has warned that he would remain in opposition or be prepared to go to new elections if he did not receive assurances on the subject. Ultra-Orthodox Jews studying in religious seminaries are currently exempt from conscription and political leaders from the community have said they are not prepared to compromise with Lieberman. Ultra-Orthodox parties will control 16 seats in the next coalition government. In February, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he intends to charge Netanyahu in three corruption cases. The prime minister has denied wrongdoing. While Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign if indicted, he will likely face pressure to step if the attorney general files fraud and bribery charges against him. Paris prosecutor says no sign Notre Dame fire was caused on purpose, as investigators look at roof renovation work. A massive fire consumed the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday, gutting its roof and stunning France and the world. Firefighters saved the main bell towers and outer walls from collapse before bringing the blaze under control early on Tuesday. Here is what we know so far: What happened at Notre Dame? On Monday evening 16:50 GMT a fire broke out in the attic of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The blaze consumed the roof and the eight-centuries-old cathedrals spire for more than eight hours before firefighters brought it under control, saving its bell towers and outer walls. The destroyed roof was one of the oldest such structures in Paris, according to the cathedrals website. By the early hours of Tuesday, at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) the fire service said the fire was extinguished. About 500 fighters battled the blaze. One firefighter was seriously injured in the only reported casualty. Smoke billows as the fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris [Benoit Tessier/Reuters] What was saved? The Paris fire brigade chief, Jean-Claude Gallet, said the structure, including its two front towers, was saved and preserved as a whole. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene that some of many artworks that were in the cathedral were rescued and were being put in safe storage. The Holy Crown of Thorns and a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis, two irreplaceable artefacts, were rescued. French President Emmanuel Macron said the worst has been avoided, but warned the fire would likely continue to burn for several days, saying: The battle is not yet totally won. The Holy Crown of Thorns is displayed during a ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris [FIle: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters] Investigation The cause of the fire is still not known and authorities are continuing their probe into how it started, French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said on Tuesday. The Paris prosecutors office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson. The initial call to emergency services notified authorities of a fire in the attic, according to reports. The site was undergoing renovations. What happens now? Groups and individuals are mobilising to help rebuild the damaged parts of the cathedral. Hundreds of millions have already been pledged. The Fondation du patrimoine, a heritage organisation, will launch a national collection for the reconstruction of Notre Dame, Anne Le Breton, deputy mayor of the French capitals 4th arrondissement, said. French President Emmanuel Macron said a national undertaking would be launched, and that far beyond our borders, we will appeal to the greatest talents who will contribute, and we will rebuild. French billionaire businessman Bernard Arnaults family and his LVMH luxury goods group will donate 200 million euros ($226m) to help repair the cathedral. Another French billionaire, Francois-Henri Pinault of the Kering group, earlier pledged 100 million euros ($113m). Reactions People from all around the world reacted, and shared their thoughts on social media: US President Trump said it was horrible to watch: So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 UN Secretary Antonio Guterres said that he was horrified by the images coming out of Paris. Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France. https://t.co/KnLegnlRFH Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 15, 2019 EU Council President Donald Tusk expressed his condolences after the fire broke at the cathedral. Notre-Dame de Paris est Notre-Dame de toute lEurope. We are all with Paris today. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 15, 2019 Former US President Barak Obama said that Notre Dame was one of the worlds great treasures. Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2019 UK Prime Minister Theresa May also expressed her support. My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral. Theresa May (@theresa_may) April 15, 2019 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent his condolences. Paris prosecutor says no sign Notre Dame fire was caused on purpose, as investigators look at roof renovation work. Paris, France Parisians are grappling with the aftermath of a night of anguish, when a fire tore through Notre Dame Cathedral, gutting its roof and toppling its iconic spire as thousands watched on in dismay from the streets. This morning crowds thronged the banks of the Seine to witness the damage for themselves after hundreds of firefighters battled the inferno through the early hours of Tuesday. Locals were relieved the damage was not as extensive as they had feared when flames engulfed the medieval masterpiece on Monday evening, billowing smoke across the skyline of the French capital. Just before midnight firefighters announced that the bulk of the structure had been preserved, including its stone face and distinctive bell towers, though the ribbed oak roof had been reduced to ash. We consider the two towers of Notre Dame to have been saved, said Jean-Claude Galler, chief of the Paris fire service. 190415170937511 A full investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire, which prosecutors say was an accident. Authorities are examining whether it began on the roof, which construction workers were renovating. Engineers will conduct a full assessment of the damage and the integrity of the surviving structure. The worst has been avoided, said French President Emmanuel Macron, who rushed to the scene, pledging to restore the 850-year-old cathedral he said was integral to the countrys heritage and identity. We will rebuild this cathedral together and it is undoubtedly part of the French destiny and the project we will have for the years ahead, he said. The Foundation for French Heritage has launched a national collection to raise funds for the restoration, while two of the countrys wealthiest men, billionaires Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault, pledged 300 million euros ($340m) from their fortunes. Most of the priceless relics and treasures inside, which included the purported crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ and its 8,000 pipe organ, were also spared from destruction. One of its celebrated rose windows, whose ornate stained-glass designs date to the 13th century, has been confirmed as saved, though there are conflicting reports about the fate of those on the south and west sides of the building. Profound loss Churches across the country rang their bells in mourning and solidarity last night, signalling a profound loss that transcends Frances strict division between religious and secular life. Notre Dame has survived centuries of war, plague and revolution, surveying Paris from its island perch on the river Seine as it grew from a provincial city to the capital of European culture and politics. It was the scene of Napoleons coronation as emperor, the inspiration for Victor Hugos classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and today draws 12 million tourists each year, almost twice the number compared with the Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame is burning, France is crying and the whole world, too, is extremely emotional, the Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit told reporters last night. Ive received messages from all over the world The first message I received was from the Chief Rabbi of France Haim Korsia, who said to me, this is our place and I am crying with you. Sorbonne student Margaret Sos told Al Jazeera she was in shock when she heard the news. I thought its fake news, its not possible, she said. I cried because Im Catholic and for me its not [just a] beautiful building, its also a spiritual place so its very hard. Parisian Thierry Nico was relieved to see the familiar facade of Notre Dame greet him when he arrived this morning. We know that probably she will be like before yesterday in 10 years, 15 years, maybe five years, but anyway the structure seems quite solid. Im emotional but happy, he told Al Jazeera. I think its a big deal for all countries. Its not only a Parisian church, a French church, its a kind of monument which belongs to the world. The Notre Dame fire as it happened On Monday evening at 16:50 GMT the fire broke out in the attic of the cathedral. The blaze consumed the roof and the eight-centuries-old cathedrals spire before firefighters brought it under control, saving its bell towers and outer walls. The destroyed roof was one of the oldest such structures in Paris. By the early hours of Tuesday, at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) the fire service said the fire was extinguished. About 500 fighters battled the blaze. One firefighter was seriously injured the only reported casualty. Smoke billows as the fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris [Benoit Tessier/Reuters] What was saved? Paris fire service chief, Jean-Claude Gallet, said the structure, including its two front towers, was saved and preserved as a whole. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene that some of many artworks that were in the cathedral were rescued and were being put in safe storage. The Holy Crown of Thorns and a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French King Louis, two irreplaceable artefacts, were rescued. French President Macron said the worst has been avoided, but warned the fire would likely continue to burn for several days, saying: The battle is not yet totally won. The Holy Crown of Thorns is displayed during a ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris [FIle: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters] Investigation The cause of the fire is still not known and authorities are continuing their probe into how it started, French junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said on Tuesday. The Paris prosecutors office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson. The initial call to emergency services notified authorities of a fire in the attic and according to reports, the site was undergoing renovations. What happens now? Groups and individuals are mobilising to help rebuild the damaged parts of the cathedral. Hundreds of millions have already been pledged. The Fondation du Patrimoine, a heritage organisation, will launch a national collection for the reconstruction of Notre Dame, Anne Le Breton, deputy mayor of the French capitals 4th arrondissement, said. President Macron said a national undertaking would be launched, and that far beyond our borders, we will appeal to the greatest talents who will contribute, and we will rebuild. French billionaire businessman Bernard Arnaults family and his LVMH luxury goods group will donate 200 million euros ($226m) to help repair Paris Notre Dame Cathedral. Reactions People from all around the world reacted, and shared their thoughts on social media: US President Donald Trump said it was horrible to watch: So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 UN Secretary Antonio Guterres said that he was horrified by the images coming out of Paris. Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France. https://t.co/KnLegnlRFH Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 15, 2019 EU Council President Donald Tusk expressed his condolences after the fire broke at the cathedral. Notre-Dame de Paris est Notre-Dame de toute lEurope. We are all with Paris today. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 15, 2019 Former US President Barack Obama said that Notre Dame was one of the worlds great treasures. Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2019 UK Prime Minister Theresa May also expressed her support. My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral. Theresa May (@theresa_may) April 15, 2019 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent his condolences. Some of Frances richest people have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the cathedral. More than 800 years of history, and it took less than 12 hours for much of it to go up in flames. After controlling the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, the focus now is the enormous task of rebuilding Frances most enduring symbol. Some of its treasures were saved from the flames, which brought down its iconic spire. As the countrys richest people are pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild, Russia, Japan and the Vatican are also offering to help restore the World Heritage site. Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith reports. The Philippines is considering legal action against China for allegedly harvesting giant clams in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. Philippines Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Junior said on Tuesday the government had filed a diplomatic protest after Filipino fishermen reported that Chinese vessels were mass harvesting giant clams from the disputed Scarborough Shoal. We just caught them doing that recently, filed a diplomatic note, and will be taking legal action, said Locsin in a tweet. With our legal department now. 190405023420467 Locsin told CNN Philippines in an interview that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) took the substance of a related report by the national task force on the West Philippine Sea. He said this report is verified by us. We protest this. This is illegal, and in fact you are also violating conventions on environmental protection, for which we can take legal action, said Locsin. Scarborough Shoal also known to the Chinese as Huangyan Dao or Democracy Reef is located 230 kilometres from the Philippines northwestern coast. The shoal was the site of a standoff between Philippine and Chinese government ships in April 2012. China later took control of the area, often chasing away Filipino fishermen. The incident prompted Manila to file an arbitration case against China in January 2013, questioning Beijings sweeping claims to the disputed sea. In July 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled Beijing has no legal or historical basis to its claim over the South China Sea, a key shipping lane believed to be rich in mineral and marine resources, which are also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. Frode Berg sentenced to 14 years in prison for gathering intelligence about Russian nuclear submarines. A Moscow court has found a retired Norwegian border guard guilty of spying on Russian nuclear submarines and sentenced him to 14 years in prison on Tuesday. Frode Berg, a 63-year-old former guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, was arrested in Moscow in December 2017 and tried behind closed doors this month. He pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage on behalf of Norway. He will not appeal the verdict and plans to request a presidential pardon from Vladimir Putin that would see him freed, Ilya Novikov, his lawyer, said. Berg has no illusions, he accepted (the verdict) calmly. He expects his government to undertake diplomatic efforts, Novikov said. We see no practical use in appealing. Berg has admitted to acting several times as a courier for the Norwegian intelligence services but said he thought he was only carrying money. A former Russian police officer was accused of handing Berg files on the Russian navy and given a 13-year prison term in December. Diplomatic efforts Bergs case was raised during a meeting between Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in Saint Petersburg last week. When asked about the possibility of a pardon, Putin said: We must wait for the court proceedings We will take a look at what we can do with this depending on the courts decision. Defence lawyer Novikov said that the fact that Putin spoke publicly about the case with the Norwegian prime minister was probably a good sign for his client. The question is how successful diplomatic efforts will be to secure his release, Novikov said before the hearing. State prosecutors had asked the court to jail Berg for 14 years. The maximum penalty for espionage is 20 years. The verdict was read out in front of journalists in the Moscow court on Tuesday, the only time the case was open to the media. NATO member Norway normally enjoys good relations with neighbouring Russia, with which it shares a short land border. But relations have grown tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian rebellion erupted in eastern Ukraine. China said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft conducted necessary drills around Taiwan on Monday. Taiwan is not intimidated by Chinas military drills this week, its president said, after the latest Chinese military manoeuvres were denounced as coercion and a threat to stability in the region. Chinas Peoples Liberation Army said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft conducted necessary drills around Taiwan on Monday, although it described them as routine. Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces, its defence ministry said, accusing Beijing of trying to change the status quo of the Taiwan Strait. On Tuesday, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan was not intimidated by the drills. 190103011354919 As you may be aware, Chinas armed forces yesterday sent a large number of military aircraft and naval vessels into our vicinity. Their actions threaten Taiwan and other-like minded countries in the region, said Tsai. These actions only serve to strengthen our resolve. Our military forces have the capacity, determination, and commitment to defend Taiwan and not allow coercion to dictate our own future. Tsai also said the US administration had notified Taipei of its third arms sale to Taiwan, and the training of pilots at the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. It enhances their abilities to defend our air space. I want to express my appreciation to the US government for the announcement. The goal of the drills was to practise a combined firepower assault that included electronic jamming from aircraft under the protection of fighter jets, the Peoples Liberation Army Daily reported on Tuesday. Bombers screamed towards the area and carried out sudden attacks while warships occupied assault positions and conducted attacks on enemy fire points, the official paper of Chinas military said. The paper cited a Chinese military representative as saying the drills were annual, planned exercises that were completely within the normal legal rights of a sovereign country. Meanwhile, Paul Ryan, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, said the United States considers any military threat to Taiwan a concern and urged China to stop, saying the moves were counterproductive. The US has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. Ankara expects US to grant it waivers from US sanctions related to Iranian oil and Russian air defences. Turkey expects the Trump administration to grant it waivers from the US related to its purchases of Iranian oil and Russian air defences, a top aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Presidential spokesman and senior adviser Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference he could not be certain that the waivers would be granted. But, he said Turkey had made a strong case that should be heeded. Turkey is seeking an extension to a waiver that allows it to import Iranian oil without US penalties that were re-imposed in November after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The waiver expires early next month. We are expecting an extension for Turkey, Kalin said. We have made it clear we would like to continue to buy Iranian oil. People should not expect Turkey to turn its back on Iran just like that. Turkey did not support US sanctions policy on Iran and did not think it would yield the desired result, Kalin said. The administration granted waivers to eight countries, including Turkey, allowing them to continue to buy Iranian crude provided they pledged to move to cut their imports to zero. Those waivers expire on May 2. US officials have said that three of the eight waivers wont require extensions because they have eliminated Iranian oil imports. But they have refused to say whether any of the other five will be extended. The lack of clarity has angered Iran hawks in Congress and elsewhere who say that any waiver extensions will hurt the administrations maximum pressure campaign on Iran to press it to end what the US terms its malign activities in the Middle East and beyond. 181106111233106 Sources close to the matter told Reuters News Agency in March that Washington is likely to renew waivers for at least three buyers of Iranian oil and Turkey was one of them, along with China and India. Kalin said Turkey would not want to violate sanctions if a waiver were not extended. We will look for alternatives in terms of transactions and other things. We dont want to break or violate the sanctions but at the same time we dont want to be deprived of our right to buy oil and gas from Iran, he said. Russias S-400 missile defence system Kalin also said Turkey wants a waiver for sanctions that will likely be triggered should it take delivery of Russias advanced S-400 missile defence system over Washingtons objections. 190404064751519 Turkeys purchase of the S-400 has created a deep rift between the NATO allies, with US officials warning of significant consequences if it is finalised and Turkish officials saying it is a done deal that will not be cancelled. Kalin said Erdogan and other Turkish officials have been pressing Trump to use a presidential exemption to spare Turkey from sanctions under legislation known as the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which is aimed in part at Russias defence industry. The exemption allows Trump to bypass the mandated sanctions should he determine it is in US national security interests to do so. If it comes to it, of course, we would expect President Trump to use his waiver, Kalin said. He stressed that he could not speak for Trump or other US officials but said that Trump had promised Erdogan that he would personally look into the situation. Kalin said he expected delivery of the S-400 system to be completed within two to three months. In addition to the sanctions, the Pentagon and State Department have said the S-400 purchase will jeopardise Turkeys participation in the US F-35 fighter aircraft programme. Kalin said Turkey was hopeful the US would agree to a Turkish proposal to set up a technical committee to review possible security threats posed by the S-400. Kalin spoke to reporters at the Turkish embassy as he wrapped up a trip to Washington, DC, with other senior officials in Erdogans government, including the ministers of defence, finance and trade. In addition to their meetings with US officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trumps senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, the officials all spoke at the American-Turkish Councils annual conference on US-Turkey relations. The conference was held at the Trump International Hotel. About 20 Ukrainian news outlets have called on presidential frontrunner Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop avoiding the media before a runoff vote on Sunday. Zelenskyy, a 41-year-old comedian, has to prove that the principles of openness and transparency that he proclaims are not just empty words, the organisations said in an open letter published on Tuesday. Our readers, viewers and listeners are asking questions we cannot answer since we have not once talked with you directly, the letter said. Our professional duty as journalists is to bring important information to the public in a timely and comprehensive manner. Since you ignore our interview requests, we cannot fulfil this function. Despite his minimum engagement with mainstream media, Zelenskyy, a political novice, is expected to easily win on Sunday. In the first round of voting on March 31, he secured more than 30 percent of ballots, ahead of the runoff rival, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who secured under 16 percent. Throughout his campaign, Zelenskyy has reached out to voters on social media channels and YouTube clips. Critics, however, accuse him of avoiding direct questions and not providing specific details of how he intends to fix the countrys problems. 190401112002072 Brian Bonner, the editor-in-chief of Kyiv Post, told Al Jazeera that there were a lot of unanswered questions about Zelenskyy. I dont even think his supporters or his campaign advisers know what is going to happen if he is elected president, Bonner said on Tuesday. But from the latest opinion polls today, Zelenskyy is going to win 70 percent of the vote. This is a clear indication that Ukrainians are going to vote for change in power even if they dont know what the change in power will mean. Zelenskyy supporters who spoke to Al Jazeera during the first round of voting said they were backing him because he was not a politician. They argued that Zelenskyy would come to power to fulfil his civic duty and fight Ukraines endemic corruption from the countrys top seat. Fiction to reality For more than three years, Zelenskyy portrayed a teacher-turned-president battling corruption in the popular sitcom, Servant of the People. Oleksiy Haran, a professor of comparative politics at the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, told Al Jazeera that Ukrainians did not realise that they were electing a TV character instead of Zelenskyy. The problem is that Zelenskyy is a very inexperienced [candidate] and he is not prepared for a meaningful debate. So thats why the whole strategy of his campaign has been based on avoiding contact with experts and journalists, Haran said. People projected the image of the fictional president in his movie into the real candidate. This is a psychological phenomenon. When Zelenskyy is starting to speak, he is making a lot of mistakes. Thats why the position of his team is actually to avoid any direct communication between Zelenskyy and journalists or experts. At the weekend, Zelenskyy was a no-show for a debate against Poroshenko. Shadow leader Zelenskyys critics fear that if he wins, Ukraine will be run from the shadows by Ihor Kolomoisky, an oligarch who owns the TV channel that airs the candidates TV series. A study by Reuters news agency of vehicle registration databases, company ownership documents and photographic records suggested on Tuesday that Kolomoisky and Zelenskyy intersect in other ways. According to the Reuters report, the two men have common business partners; Zelenskyy uses security staff who in the past were also seen accompanying Kolomoisky; a former Kolomoisky adviser is on Zelenskyys campaign team; and at least two vehicles used by Zelenskyy and his entourage are owned by people or entities linked to Kolomoisky. None of the reported evidence demonstrates that Kolomoisky is financing Zelenskyys campaign or influencing him. Both Zelenskyy and Kolomoisky have said their relationship is strictly professional, and centred on the comedians TV work. Both say no undue influence is being exerted by the oligarch. Haran told Al Jazeera that there was no doubt that Zelenskyy was connected with Kolomoisky. The question is to what extent he will depend on Kolomoisky when he becomes a president, he said. Follow Tamila Varshalomidze on Twitter @tamila87v In need of development funding from Jakarta, Acehs largest political party hedges its bets on presidential vote. Banda Aceh, Indonesia In a rice field on the outskirts of Banda Aceh, the capital of the semi-autonomous Aceh province, several banners sway gently in the breeze. They spell out Jokowi, the nickname of Indonesias President Joko Widodo, who is running for re-election on Wednesday in a contest against his longtime rival, former General Prabowo Subianto. Residents of Banda Aceh said the show of support for Widodo in this religious conservative area was extraordinary. Despite winning the 2014 national polls, in Aceh, Widodo had garnered only 45 percent of the vote to his rivals 54 percent. Part of the reason for the new support was due to a split within Partai Aceh, the provinces largest political party, according to locals and analysts. In the last vote, the party, which advocates for Islamic nationalism in Aceh, put its weight firmly behind Prabowo, whose nationalist Gerindra Party is backed by conservative Islamist parties. But this time, Partai Acehs highest ranking figures are divided; Muzakir Manaf, the partys chairman, has once again backed Prabowo, while Kamaruddin Abu Razak Abubakar, the partys secretary-general, has thrown his support behind Widodo. Most of Acehs two million voters take their cue from Partai Aceh, launched a decade ago by former commanders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which fought a decades-long battle against the Indonesian state for independence. The conflict ended when a devastating tsunami in 2004 brought the rival sides to the negotiating table. Happy with whoever Abu Razak, who is also a former deputy commander of GAM, said he switched his support to Widodo because he was impressed by the presidents commitment to improving infrastructure across the whole of Indonesia. In Aceh, located on the northwestern tip of Sumatra island, this included three new hydropower dams and a new road connecting the capital on the western coast to the town of Sigli on the east, said Abu Razak, who described Widodos governance over the past five years as simple and clean. The split within Partai Aceh would not confuse voters in the area, he said. The most important thing is that we are legal and peaceful, and that we put Partai Aceh first, Abu Razak said. He added: Whoever is elected as president will bring with them their own infrastructure projects. They could also choose to stop the ones that exist now at any time. We dont want these projects to stop, so we will be happy with whoever wins. Partai Aceh secretary-general, Kamaruddin Abu Razak Abubakar, speaking at a campaign rally in support of incumbent president Joko Widodo [Kamaruddin Abubakar/Al Jazeera] Despite Acehs semi-autonomous status, it relies on the central government in the capital, Jakarta, for infrastructure funding. Muhajir, a former journalist who has been campaigning for Partai Aceh, said the split in the partys upper echelons reflected its pragmatic approach to politics. Whichever candidate wins, Partai Aceh will have a foot in the door in Jakarta, said Muhajir, who like many Indonesians only goes by one name. Failed politicians But there were some who felt Acehs politicians attempt to curry favour with Jakarta puts at risk justice for human rights abuses committed by Indonesias military during the three-decade Aceh conflict. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people died in the fighting between the army and GAM fighters. The peace deal, signed in 2005, gave Aceh partial autonomy and allowed the province to establish its own political parties and government. As a result, many former GAM fighters became politicians. Politics in Aceh has moved on [from the time of the civil conflict] but thats easy if youre a member of the political elite. For the victims, however, its much more difficult for them to move on without closure, said Evi Zain, deputy head of a truth and reconciliation commission set up as part of the peace process. Evi Zain, deputy head of the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation in the Indonesian province of Aceh [Raymondo/Al Jazeera] Politicians in Aceh were no longer interested in seeking justice from Jakarta for past crimes or reparations for victims, said Zain. Accusing the government of Aceh of failing to act on the commissions reports, she also said the provincial administration did not provide it with the adequate funds and staff to carry out its task of documenting past rights abuses. Muhajir said the regions politicians have failed to live up to the expectations of voters in Ache. Just like other regions in Indonesia, corruption is ingrained right down to the bone, he said. Two weeks ago, Irwandi Yusuf, the provinces former governor and a respected GAM leader, was sentenced to seven years in jail for accepting bribes to award infrastructure projects to companies linked to one of his district chiefs. He was also found guilty of receiving bribes from his campaign team in return for awarding lucrative contracts to procure goods and infrastructure materials. People in Aceh are disappointed that former GAM combatants havent succeeded in making Aceh truly prosperous. They took power [at the time of the peace agreement] and then tried to take power over the economy, said Muhajir. But they didnt know how to adapt to democracy. 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. 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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. The news that the Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire knocked the breath out of me. I was amazed at my emotional reaction to the destruction of a building Ive never visited, a building created by the corrupt medieval Roman Catholic church, a building so old that it should be irrelevant -- but it isnt. Were all heartbroken. Why? Notre Dame lives in us all. It is romance, danger, and transcendence. It is there as a backdrop for many of the movies, of the plays, of the novels weve loved. I can still access the corner of my brain where Quasimodo is laboring up the bell tower steps. It stands tall in the background of Les Miserables, of The Tale of Two Cities, of Le Crime de Sylvester Bonnard - the first book I read in French. That takes me back to my high school days and my eccentric, Francophile French teacher whose main curriculum was showing us 3-D color slides of Paris. Shed make us turn in our seats so that we were oriented in the proper direction as we gazed at the shots of the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille, and of course and most often Notre Dame. It sits there as the literal crossroads of France. All distances are measured from a ground-zero plaque on the pavement in front of the cathedral. That place is literally the center of all that is French. It stands as a monument to Christianity and its foundational role in the stabilization of medieval Europe. It embodies reverence for tradition, for art, for innovation, for beauty, for holiness. It houses nine bells in its almost-twin towers and the lightning rod on the spire - now totally destroyed - held relics from St. Denis and St. Genevieve - Paris patron saints. I dont even believe in patron saints, let alone relics, but I mourn the loss of those tiny bits history. History -- time -- is a most frustrating dimension. We retain so little of the past, even though we have this sensation that its important, foundational. We have history books, but they tell us little about the daily lives of those who have gone before, of the millions of souls who have knelt in prayer on Notre Dames stone floor. The computer age makes it possible for us to fanatically keep records, but those are more numerical than personal and contain little of what moves us, what worries us, or what brings us joy. One can, however, stand in the midst of such a cathedral, gaze up at its gothic-arch roof and its story-telling stained-glass windows and know that such a building does address those issues. It is three-dimensional time travel, and this fire has just closed that portal. It is also a peek at devotion, at long-term commitment. The construction of Notre Dame began in 1160 with the demolition of an older church on that site. It wasnt completed until the 14th century when flying buttresses were added to the apse and choir. We can barely grasp, in our whiz-bang, instant-everything society what it must be like to start building something that wont be finished for 200 years, to work at completing something that was begun by people long dead. The building was a monument to a slower, more patient, more self-less life. It also memorialized a worldview where God was everywhere and always had been. That God had power over every aspect of life and one couldnt just ignore Him. There He was in that magnificent building that quite insistently pointed upward toward heaven. It was still standing, patiently aimed skyward during the French Revolution and its attendant bloodbath. It lived through two world wars. But now, with all of the West struggling to hold onto its meaning and its place in the world, Notre Dame burns. We know that Europe is in terrible trouble. It is no longer replacing its population --except for the influx of anti-Christian, anti-Semitic Muslim refugees. We know its cathedrals sit mostly empty for mass. We know that most of Europe bows to government, but no longer to the church. France is fraught with violent behavior from those it has tried to help, and by taxes that are draining its economy. And Europe, including Great Britain, is Americas mother. Europe is family. I can trace my lineage back to a watchmaker in Switzerland in the 16th century, a maid from Copenhagen, and to a tailor from Czechoslovakia. Most of us come from Europe and those homelands caught on fire this morning. It isnt just the loss of an old building, but the loss of our beginnings. Notre Dame stood proud and tall to remind us of that. But she has been dealt a mortal blow. She may be repairable, but she is not replaceable. The craftsmanship that laboriously built her is no longer available and no one today wants to wait 200 years. Its as if all those centuries have been erased. This fire reminds us that even the most permanent human accomplishments arent permanent at all. Even the best we can build can be destroyed. We will be waiting to see what or who caused this disaster, but we also know that we may not be told the truth. Deana Chadwell blogs at www.ASingleWindow.com. She is also an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College in southern Oregon. She teaches writing and public speaking. The latest lightweight to announce for the Democratic nomination for president is Peter Buttigieg (age 37), a two-term mayor of South Bend, IN. The media has gone gaga over Buttigieg, who refers to himself as "Mayor Pete," in the same way it has with Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke. While both men have few accomplishments in life, Mayor Pete is the more genuine of the two. O'Rourke is trying to assume the personage of a Mexican. This is as shallow as Rachel Dolezal, now named Nkechi Amare Diallo, pretending that she is black or Elizabeth Warren claiming that she is a Cherokee Indian. In all three cases, the intent was personal advancement the NAACP, politics or academia. Not Buttigieg: he's a genuine homosexual and openly proud about it.... at least he is now. But that fact was kept under covers when Buttigieg first ran for mayor of South Bend in 2011. When he was up for re-election in 2015, only then did Buttigieg announce that he was of that unusual persuasion. Is Mayor Pete's re-election proof that the voters of that small Midwestern city (population 102,000) approve of homosexuality, as Buttigieg and his media cheerleaders are now implying? The answer is 'no.' In his Home Alone: A Neighbor's Thoughts on Pete Buttigieg. E. Michael Jones notes that: Homosexuality is still a 'career death sentence' in Indiana. That's why Pete is running for the president of the United States. He couldn't get elected as dog catcher in Kokomo. He could not have gotten elected as mayor of South Bend in 2011 if the electorate had known he was a homosexual. Pete would go on to claim that he was re-elected in 2015 with '80 percent of the vote, failing to tell us that his 'mandate' consisted of 80 percent of the 11 percent of the eligible voters who showed up at the polls, which translates to 9 percent of the electorate. As Jones also points out, South Bend is a solidly Democratic. To win the primary there is to win the general election. In 2015, Buttigieg had no primary opponent. It was the Democratic machine that carried him back into the mayor's office. And it is upon this slim reed that Mayor Pete aspires to gain the White House. Buttigieg has no chance to win the Democratic primary let alone the presidency. In fact, he couldn't even win a statewide office in Indiana. He's being pumped up by the liberal media for basically two reasons. First, as Sundance at the Conservative Treehouse has often said, candidates like Mayor Pete and Beto are not intended as serious contenders for the nomination. Rather, their purpose is to generate a database of supporters that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) can milk for donations and votes down the road. Second, the progressive establishment is using Buttigieg's time in the spotlight to further their unceasing efforts to further normalize homosexuality in America. This strategy is already yielding some unfortunate results. For example. Buttigieg was 'married' to the effeminate Chasten Glezman at South Bend's Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in 2018. At that time, Buttigieg referred to Glezman, a junior high school teacher, as his 'husband.' In other postings, Glezman refers to Buttigieg as his 'husband.' To further complicate the picture, Chasten now goes by the name Chasten Buttigieg. How weird is all that? Only in a diabolical mind geared to deconstruction as is the thinking on the Left can such an absurdity be voiced. It is no wonder the Catholic Catechism teaches that homosexuality is 'objectively' and' intrinsically' disordered. The point is that since this 'wedding,' Chasten Buttigieg become somewhat of a celebrity in the social media and on YouTube where he touts Buttigieg's campaign and their wonderful life together. It's all sunshine and lollipops. This has gone so far that the Guardian has labeled Glezman as the 'breakout star of Pete Bulligieg's 2020 campaign.' It is frightening to think how many weak minds are influenced by this. The affect becomes even more powerful when it is augmented by the propaganda taught in the schools and uncritically supported by the mainstream media. As to governance, according to Home Alone, the greatest resistance Buttigieg has faced in South Bend has come from black religious leaders who take exception to his sodomite lifestyle. They also find Buttigieg's attempt to link the homosexual agenda with the civil rights movement morally repugnant. In return, Jones writes what the media won't report. The Democrats like to portray themselves as friends of the black man. But after the mayor got elected under false pretenses, the Buttigieg administration engaged in the deliberate marginalization of the black community in favor of other groups [homosexuals] whose existence we did not know until the mayor made his announcement. The black community is still frozen out of government contracts. Are those contracts, as I asked then [at a city council meeting], now being handed out to homosexuals? Buttigieg will fade from the political scene soon enough. However, the damage that his 2020 campaign will have done will be long lasting. Merely by being accepted as a legitimate presidential contender in the Democrat mosh pit, Buttigieg and his significant other will have planted the homosexual banner in new territory, thus making it even harder for critics to speak out against it in the future. The God-fearing America of the past grows smaller by the day, squeezed as it is by the aggressive secularists who are intent on making the country as God free as possible. Vermont continues to struggle with legal questions surrounding the use of police body cameras. The Vermont Supreme Court hears arguments April 17 to determine whether its citizens must pay money to access police video footage. In Doyle v. Burlington Police Department, the police required a $220.50 payment for processing costs for the redaction of minors' faces before it would release a body camera video to the plaintiff. The police went to great lengths to prevent Doyle from obtaining this video footage. Yet this same police department recently released similarly redacted video to exonerate Secret Service agents accused of roughing up a black 16-year-old who posted a laughable video alleging that their questioning of him was racially motivated. The incident occurred on March 25; the redacted video was released on April 2. Back in 2017, this department released a video that exonerated an officer after a young woman alleged on Facebook that she had been sexually assaulted. The embarrassing video of a June 22 incident, released within about a month, redacted juveniles' faces and not only exonerated the officers, but exposed the young woman as a brat and a liar. Yet another recent Vermont case involves a police video as evidence of whether an officer properly respected constitutional safeguards in a drug seizure during a motor vehicle search. In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes was a powerful giant with a hundred eyes who watched over lo, the heifer-nymph (a nymph in the guise of a heifer). It was said that a few of Argus's multitude of eyes would sleep at a time, allowing the others to be ever vigilant, in all directions. This idea of a creature that can see in all directions at all times has been made real by modern technology. In the 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham coined the term "Panopticon" (borrowing from that Greek tale) to describe his "modern" design of an institutional penitentiary in which one or a very few guards were stationed so as to look over hundreds of prison cells from a hidden vantage. Inmates who couldn't know when they were being watched must act as if they were being watched at all times. This "efficient" system leads people to conform their own behavior, with a minimum of oversight. George Orwell amplified this idea into a dystopian warning, in his iconic 1984. This concept is employed not just in prisons, but in hospitals, schoolrooms, public buildings, and shopping malls. Jeremy Bentham would have loved the incredible abilities of modern video surveillance! Would-be shoplifters cannot know whether there is a camera in use, or whether someone is watching them if there is so they are constantly fearing those eyes of Argus, guarding the divine heifer-nymph (shelves of consumer goods). Motorists in urban areas around the globe must consider the Panopticon of modern techno-scrutiny when they ponder running that red light. Then there are police officer body cams, which pose unique moral questions for our society. The idea of government surveillance of citizens was of great importance to the founders of America, which is why we continue to embrace numerous constitutional protections of privacy. Yet body cams flip this concept on its head because the use of body cams may be most powerful where they serve as citizen surveillance of government. Every police officer is aware that when he interacts with the public, he represents the reputation of his fellow officers and that misconduct could tarnish that reputation or his personal career. These interactions must never be hidden. The Panopticon may be well employed at the Department of Motor Vehicles, in prisons or at traffic lights, or in private retail establishments and home protection surveillance. But it is most vitally employed when those one hundred sleepless eyes are kept steadily trained on government and the behavior of its representatives, most especially the police. Vermont's experiences show the value and importance of body cam footage, yet the state's police recently attempted to divert $560,000 that the Vermont Legislature had slotted for body cameras to spend instead on assault weapons! Will the Department of Homeland Security be free to randomly spy on Americans with sophisticated drones (as it does), yet we cannot access records of our interactions with government? Are federal helicopters to fly over our homes and peer into our yards, forests, and pastures (they do), while citizens are prohibited from protecting themselves by video-recording an encounter with police on their cell phones? Is the NSA to scrutinize and record Americans' internet history, phone logs, and GPS data (it has and does), while citizens are denied access to video footage chronicling the conduct of public servants? It appears that Vermont's police quickly release video footage from body cams when it exonerates officers as well they should. But since the Panopticon now works both ways, so too should the availability of tools that ensure transparency, especially in law enforcement. Given recent high-profile examples of videos released (at public expense) that included redactions of minors' faces, the Vermont Supreme Court will likely agree. If not, the ACLU may well shepherd the case up to the federal stage. The Burlington City Police clearly dragged their feet in the Doyle case, and our State Police seek to fund guns instead of body cameras. This reveals the power and importance of such technology to ensure accountability. Law enforcement officers must always behave as if watched, to always follow the rules, like prisoners, shoplifters, and hospital patients. It would be incongruous for the Vermont Supreme Court to rule that the police may unilaterally decide to release redacted videos to the press, but citizens must pay to gain access to that same evidence. If Vermont allows government to hold the upper hand in surveillance, it will have abandoned its guard over that divine heifer of our freedoms and embraced the fate of Argus, whose many eyes were lulled to sleep by the magic charms of Hermes, who then struck Argus's head with a stone. Greek legend relates that Argus's eyes were preserved forever in the tail feathers of the peacock. Not just Vermonters, but all Americans should keep their eyes peeled, wary of the would-be criminals of government that would pluck our liberties to fluff their bureaucratic plumage. One thing the left is adept at is overreaching. Not content with a small victory, they prefer to double down, going double-or-nothing, and usually ending up closer to nothing than double. Some call this, Perfect is the enemy of the good and it is sage advice, whether in politics or in gambling. Pushing the Trump-Russia collusion coup is but one example of such overreach, as AG William Barr will soon demonstrate. Abortion is the latest issue where Democrats, as well as their leftist cultural and media accomplices, have taken what is for them a solid win and are overreaching to the point that they will actually lose ground in one of their core missions of aborting as many babies as possible. Roe v. Wade settled the abortion debate in 1973, legally although not morally, when the U.S. Supreme Court found that a right to privacy outweighed states rights to regulate abortion, with the ultimate compromise being a restriction on third-term abortions. A subsequent court ruling in Casey v. Planned Parenthood further clarified the third trimester prohibition, eliminating the arbitrary trimester distinction, instead allowing abortion only until viability, which with modern medical care is usually in the second trimester. The debate was never settled as it represented a textbook example of judicial activism. Nine unelected justices made the decision of when a woman can have an abortion. The legislative and executive branches of the federal government were left out of the decision, despite the fact that those two branches were elected by the people to represent the will of we the people. Most countries legislate abortion rights and restrictions based on the vote of the peoples representatives, as in a legislature or parliament. Other countries such as Ireland decided abortion based on a ballot referendum, the true will of the people. Irish voters approved abortion on demand only up to 12 weeks, with certain exceptions. Northern Ireland maintains an almost complete ban on abortion. The point is that these countries allowed their people, either directly or indirectly, to decide the issue. If voters dont like the decision made by the legislature, they can vote out those they disagree with and elect new representatives who better reflect the will of the people. In the U.S., there is no recourse. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life and there is no constitutional method to overturn their decision. Even a new law passed by Congress and signed by the President may be ruled unconstitutional, particularly on an issue already decided by the high court. The Court is also reluctant to overturn settled law, or in lawyer-speak, the concept of stare decisis. Despite Democratic fearmongering predictions that every conservative appointment to the high court will lead to Roe being overturned, the decision still stands strong after 45 years. One would think the left would be delighted, with abortion readily available, on demand, during most of a womans pregnancy. Not only available, but also funded through generous taxpayer contributions to Planned Parenthood. Why not quit while you are ahead? Why not accept the good rather than overreaching for perfect? The first overreach was in New York State earlier this year when lawmakers applauded a bill that legalized abortion up to the time of birth. While liberals are cheering, the rest of the country was not. Gallup found that 60 percent of Americans are accepting of first trimester abortions, with only 28 percent for second-term abortions, and a further drop to only 13 percent supporting the right to third-term abortions. The city lights of New York City may glow pink in celebration of full-term abortion, but most people dont share in the glee. Not content with good, Democrats in NY want perfect, at least in their warped eyes. Much the same happened in Virginia, where a proposed bill allowing post-birth abortion, also known as infanticide, fortunately did not pass. Virginia Governor Ralph Coonman Northam, a former pediatric neurologist weighed in on the bill saying, If a mother is in labor, I could tell you exactly what would happen: the infant would be delivered; the infant would be kept comfortable; the infant would be resuscitated, if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. Again, the Democrats overreached beyond what was an already liberal abortion policy. After Governor Coonman slipped up and gave the world a glimpse of his states attempt at legalizing infanticide, the governor was conveniently shown in either blackface or KKK robes, providing a much-needed distraction from his abortion views. As Isaac Newton said, For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The abortion reaction is now many states pushing near-bans. 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. Ohio is in process of passing a similar bill. Alabama may go further, with legislation introduced banning all abortion unless the mothers health is in jeopardy. Other states are considering fetal heartbeat bills, including Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia. This is actually the proper way for an issue such as abortion to be decided. The Tenth Amendment states, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Abortion is just such an issue, as is same-sex marriage, transgendered bathrooms, and other social issues. If New York wants unlimited abortion and Texas does not, each state gets to decide, just as states are doing with marijuana, both recreational and medicinal. One always has the option to move to a state more aligned with ones values. These state decisions will work their way through the courts and one case may end up at the Supreme Court. Given Trumps past and future nominees, the settled law of Roe v Wade may be given a second look and possibly overturned. Its the overreach in states like New York and Virginia, pushing the limits of late-term abortion, that is creating the backlash. The rest of the world is not on the American lefts side of abortion with only seven countries permitting late-term abortion, meaning after 20 weeks, and several of those countries banning abortion after 24 weeks. The U.S. is in the clear minority on abortion rights. Not content to call it a day, the left is pushing the limits to outright infanticide, a line most Americans wont cross. And in response, many states will restrict abortion far more than Roe did, counter to the lefts original goal. When the dust settles, abortion in America may be more restricted than at any time since the Roe decision, all because the left couldnt leave well enough alone. Overreach has consequences, whether for abortion, or deep state meddling in an election and its outcome. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. So Mayor Pete is running for president. Perhaps now he'll stop attacking Vice President Mike Pence for allegedly having a "problem" with him because Buttigieg is gay. V.P. Pence, to his credit, didn't know there was a problem, as he had only ever had what seemed like positive interactions with Mayor Pete. Is there such a thing as "straight privilege"? If not, doubtless it will be invented. Buttigieg asserted that Pence (and presumably anyone else who allegedly has a problem with Mayor Pete's gayness) has a problem with his Creator. I wonder if Buttigieg understands the implications of his remark. By blaming God for a human choice that breaks the divine laws, Buttigieg removes all concept of sin from life. If your behavior is strictly a result of how you were created, then you are not responsible for your poor choices any more than you are your eye color. Nor is society, nor your parents. It's all God's fault for not making you perfect in the first place. So there is no reason for Jesus to have died for your sins because there were and are no sins. Even acts that seem overwhelmingly evil are no longer sins. Murder, rape, theft, and whatever else you can think of are all non-sins, if they grow out of our being created imperfectly. We did not create ourselves, after all. It's not our fault if God made us flawed, so why are we responsible for our personal choices? My understanding of this is that we start life with DNA and a soul. We aren't guaranteed that we won't have flaws in our DNA. Even in biblical times, there were people who were born blind or lame, and the laws were the same for them as for the physically whole and healthy. The soul we have is also not perfect, since it incorporates our human nature and we are all fallen. However, we all have the capability to make both wise choices and foolish choices, to support and affirm life or undermine and destroy life. God didn't make the angels perfect, nor did he make us perfect. My speculation is that a decision to follow God would be meaningless if we had no choice. I also expect that there is something planned for us in the afterlife that we can succeed at only if we have exploited our current life as training in following God's will. I have no meaningful suggestions for what that cosmic task might be. Obedience, as the Bible tells us, is paramount. The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, but love is supposed to drive our obedience to His will. The second commandment is to love our neighbors (like Mayor Pete) as we love ourselves. When Christians tell Buttigieg that homosexuality is a sin in God's eyes, they are trying to warn him. The Bible contains text alleged to be from God, and it refers to homosexuality (and a few other things) as an "abomination." Christians don't make the rules for God, it's the other way around. If Mayor Pete doesn't like the rules, then he's the one who has a problem with his Creator. By Azernews By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Test supplies within framework of the Phase 1 of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) started on April 15, TANAP consortium told Trend. The commercial natural gas transmission will start when TAP is ready to receive it. TANAP is ready on all levels but as long as TAP is not, there cant be any commercial transmission of gas to the EU, said the consortium. Earlier, TANAP informed that 40 million cubic meters of gas will be transmitted and then the number will gradually rise to 85 million cubic meters. TANAP is a natural gas pipeline in Turkey. It is the central part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will connect the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe through the South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The pipeline has a strategic importance for both Azerbaijan and Turkey. It allows Azerbaijan's first gas exports to Europe through Turkey. It also strengthens the role of Turkey as a regional energy hub. The project was announced on November 17, 2011 at the Third Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Istanbul. On December 26, 2011, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a consortium to build and operate the pipeline. On November 21, 2018, TANAP and TAP were joined along the shores of the Maritsa River at the Turkish-Greek border. As a result of the joining of these two pipelines, Azerbaijani natural gas from the Shah Deniz-2 field can be transported to Italy via Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea. TANAP is operated by SOCAR. Southern Gas Corridor holds a 58-percent stake in the project. Turkey's pipeline operator BOTAS owns 30 percent, while BP acquired 12 percent in the project on March 13, 2015. The TANAP project company is headquartered in the Netherlands. The total length of the pipeline, consisting of the Phase-0 and Phase-1 sections, is 1,850 kilometers. The diameter of the pipeline section from the Georgian-Turkish border to Eskisehir (Phase-0) is 142 centimeters, the length is 1,340 kilometers. On June 12, 2018, the official opening ceremony of this site took place. On June 30, the first commercial gas deliveries to Turkey started via TANAP. The diameter of the Eskisehir-Edirne-Europe (Phase-1) section is 122 centimeters and its length is 476 kilometers. No, I didn't see any Muslims dancing over it which, in my anger as the horror sank in, was the first thing I looked for. But there were plenty of people who didn't quite get what the massive losses from the Notre Dame fire, which made so many of us actually cry, was really about. The fire devoured one of the world's great landmarks, a rare thing of beauty in a world of ugly modern art, an amazing work of human hands from an era not many years beyond the Dark Ages, a storied place that survived the horrors of World War II and even worse, the French Revolution, a place so beautiful and full of excellence that it had to have been motivated by spiritual strength and passion to build it, and a place so artistically and spiritually powerful that it spun off other works of art art that begat more art such as Victor Hugo's literary masterpieces. From this far distance, I think of my friends in the Beverly Hills parish I used to know, whose parish in Paris was Notre Dame, who described how peaceful and spiritually comforting its atmosphere was. And unlike most of Europe, its pews were full. And I wistfully mourned that now that I would never see it, since I have never been to Paris beyond a train stop at the gare. And I asked God how it could happen, what was his message, it felt like a message. It also felt like being in New York on 9/11, which I was. All of these thoughts were in the huge stream of emotions as the story we all hoped was a false story when we first saw it or heard of it turned out to be a real one. The mayor of Toronto had a beautiful simple tweet: Anyone who has ever visited Notre Dame would have been moved by the grandeur, the peaceful and spiritual feeling and the sense of history. Seeing the images from Paris of the Cathedral burning is a truly sad sight. I know many are saying prayers hoping it can be saved. John Tory (@JohnTory) April 15, 2019 Anyone who has ever visited Notre Dame would have been moved by the grandeur, the peaceful and spiritual feeling and the sense of history. Seeing the images from Paris of the Cathedral burning is a truly sad sight. I know many are saying prayers hoping it can be saved. John Tory (@JohnTory) April 15, 2019 First, the press coverage utterly dismissing that it was terrorism, or that someone set the fire deliberately. For a place like Notre Dame to go 850 years without such a fire, and now in this era of terrorism and mysterious fires (think of Brazil's massive inferno that took down its National Museum; think of the Taliban's deliberate destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas; think of the horrific ISIS destruction of the ancient ruins of Palmyra) is frankly hard to believe. And France's deeply troubled political scene, with yellow vest riots and protests not letting up and people of all political stripes alienated and bitter at the establishment and spiritually bereft, suggests that something bad could have happened even from that direction. Yet news report after news report said there was no chance of terrorism or arson. Now the Parisian cops say they are moving to investigate the whole matter as a crime. The glib coverage saying terrorism was ruled out and before anyone knew what was happening was rather rich. Second, there was a lot of criticism of President Trump for saying maybe the French firefighters should drop water on the building, something they could not do out of fear of collapsing the whole fragile structure, but this was a polite bid to help, given that many Americans, especially here out west, see massive fires in wilderness areas responded to with water dumps, and so it was natural to wonder. No, the one that gets me is the quick and dismissive 'we will rebuild.' President Obama's tweet patronizingly saying it is "in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can" is pretty irritating. Yes, it's natural for us to mourn, and hey, it's also natural to glibly spout that the whole thing will be rebuilt "as strong as we can." Ugh. And notice he distilled it down to just history, which was idiotic Europe is loaded with history. I am sure something will be rebuilt, the heart of Paris cannot remain a ruin, but this is glib. Will it be the same, or will the Parisians remake it into some sort of modern 'interpretation,' the way they did with the Louvre and that glass pyramid thing? Worse still, maybe it can't be rebuilt: The techniques used by the Medieval builders are ... still a mystery to today's engineers. One can only hope they can approximate it even if they cannot resolve the mystery -- and that what they do restores the glory of the edifice. Anything else will be sad. And the time it will take is sad, too. We all know how long it took to rebuild the World Trade Center. We can only hope that Paris makes no such dreary dragging out of it as New York did, but again, they don't entirely know what they are going to have to do. All told, 'we will rebuild' is easier said than done. And to shout it now is wearying. Third, there were those on Twitter who said it was just stuff. That real spirituality didn't require such stuff. That the people in the church were more important. That our God was more important. Protestants were most likely to point this out, and of course, in actual worship, it is true. But it was an odious comparison to make this about what is more imporant. And it certainly dismissed too glibly the sorrow of the loss. Were our tears somehow out of place then because of that, or were they just jerks? The cathedral was not just about spirituality, though that was the heart of it it was about history. It was about art. It was about excellence. It was about the work of human hands giving glory to God. You know, those very people who 'are the church.' And their work gave us a connection to them. To dismiss it as just stuff is disgusting. In any case, in any great disaster, people talk out of turn. One can only hope that such nonsense does not become a 'narrative.' Image credit: Twitter screen grab Caleb Parke, in a column on the Fox News website entitled "Students, alumni outraged, 'shaking' after Vice President Pence invited to give commencement," tells of campus unrest at Taylor, a Christian university in Indiana. Parke writes that "Vice President Mike Pence is getting pushback from Taylor University students and alumni after the small evangelical Christian school tapped the former Indiana governor to be this year's commencement speaker." "Over 3,300 people," Parke continues, "have signed a change.org petition to get Pence's invitation to the mid-May commencement ceremony rescinded," claiming that the Trump-Pence administration's policies "are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear." Is it reasonable to wonder, I ask myself, if an invitation to former President Barack Obama, who from the Oval Office apparently selected enemies to be killed in drone strikes, would raise such a furor? Some years ago, when my daughter graduated from the University of Maryland, those in attendance had the opportunity to hear a commencement address given by James Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin. On the list of speakers whose views I care to hear, the name James Carville does not appear. That notwithstanding, those in attendance listened with respect to each member of America's oddest couple. Times have obviously changed over recent decades as our distinctly American culture is being progressively destroyed by so called institutions of higher education. What recourse does America have to reverse this trend? The president has taken a good first step by denying federal funding to universities that refuse to support freedom of thought and ideas, but more should be done. Perhaps it is time for the federal government to completely eliminate the funding of higher education. Why do our taxes continue to fund the anti-American sentiments expressed and taught at the university level? Why do universities, many having millions or billions of dollars in endowments while charging outrageous tuition and fees, receive continued government funding? Perhaps it is also time to reduce and restrict student loans. It is almost criminal to allow university graduates to leave school with debt that can take decades to repay, especially for those graduating with degrees for which there is little demand in the work force. In looking at bachelor's and master's programs in several local state universities, I found myself again wondering how many jobs are really available for graduates of degrees in applied ethnomusicology; women's studies; ethnic, minority, gender, and group studies; African-American studies; or trans-cultural German studies, to name a few. While knowledge for knowledge's sake may be good, it does not necessarily lead to a successful career, financial well-being, or the ability to repay large student debt. It is federal funding plus the student loan program that has allowed universities to unreasonably duplicate offerings (how many universities in a single city need departments of gender studies, etc.?) and to continue to raise tuition and fees. It is time to force upon American universities some of the same economic realities that other business and normal Americans experience in daily living. A university need not be all things to all students. While each university should offer a selection of studies appropriate to being a university, should they all not at the same time specialize in certain self-determined fields of study? Must one size fit all? Should any single university be expected to offer degrees in every known and obscure field of study? Wouldn't financially required specialization, by reducing unnecessary redundancy, have a profound effect on staff size, facility requirements, and overall costs of higher education? Addressing redundancy of departments and academic offerings in areas of study unheard of in previous decades might, in addition to making higher education more affordable, have the added benefit of reducing positions that seem to attract faculty intent on indoctrination as opposed to education. Perhaps students and faculty, in this process, can be re-introduced to concepts of courtesy, openness, and simple decency with regard to those having opposing (otherwise known as normal) belief systems. While such results may be unlikely, Americans could at least take satisfaction that educational intolerance seeming rampant on university campuses is no longer funded by federal tax dollars. The backstory to how Julian Assange overstayed his welcome in Ecuador's London embassy and was finally forced to leave included secret negotiations with the U.S. to wangle a pledge from Washington that we would not seek the death penalty for Assange's crimes. It took nearly a year of back-channel talks, but the Justice Department finally relented and agreed not to subject Assange to the threat of capital punishment. ABC News: The process of moving Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy started a year ago, on March 7, 2018, when the Ecuadorians made their first request to the U.K.: a letter asking for written assurances that the U.K. would not extradite Assange to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to the Ecuadorian Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo. Ecuador's direct outreach to the U.S. came six months later, through the country's ambassador to Germany, Manuel Mejia Dalmau, according to U.S. and Ecuadorian officials. Dalmau sought a private "emergency meeting" in Berlin with the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, viewed as one of President Donald Trump's closest envoys in Europe, the officials said. Ecuador had become tired of paying for Assange's upkeep $10 million in extra security and perks that Assange demanded. The embassy's people were perfectly willing to throw him under the bus as long as the U.S. declined to seek the death penalty. The challenge the Ecuadorans faced in turning him over to British officials, though, was the prospect of Assange facing the death penalty, which Ecuador strongly opposes. Dalmau was blunt in his request, according to U.S. and Ecuadorian officials. During one meeting, Dalmau asked whether the U.S. would commit to not putting Assange to death, according to a senior US. official. Grenell then contacted the U.S Justice Department to see if he could provide assurances that the U.S. government would not seek the death penalty. According to the senior U.S. official, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein consented. That enabled Grenell to make the pledge. The agreement between the U.S. and Ecuador was a verbal one, according to a source in the Ecuadoran government. It's not unusual for a nation without the death penalty to demand that capital punishment be taken off the table before extradition is agreed to. Great Britain has a law that prevents extradition to a country where the defendant could be executed. The Extradition Act 2003 allows the UK to extradite individuals to certain countries, including the US, but removing someone to the authority of a foreign state is prohibited by statute if that person could face the death penalty unless the home secretary gets adequate written assurance that it will not be imposed. What's interesting about the Assange case is that the hacker has not been charged with a capital offense yet. The indictment alleges that Assange in 2010 "agreed to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on United States Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network, a United States government network used for classified documents and communications." Those crimes are punishable by up to five years in prison. But the Justice Department has 60 days from the request for extradition to amend the charges. It is widely expected that far more serious charges will be forthcoming against Assange because the hundreds of thousands of documents he is responsible for leaking contained sensitive and top-secret information. Still, now that the U.S. has given verbal assurances that it will spare Assange's life, it's unlikely that any federal prosecutor will seek the death penalty. This was not a difficult choice, as the federal death penalty is rare even in cases of treason and espionage. So Assange will probably live out his life in a super-max prison. His fears that the CIA will try to kill him while he's locked up will probably not be realized, given the intense security he will be under for the rest of his life. A couple days ago, former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy had a stunning piece on the arrest of Julian Assange and what that could really mean for understanding what was going on with the Russians during the 2016 elections that Democrats made such a stink about. In a piece for Fox News, he wrote: Prior to the publication of the stolen Democratic-party emails and internal documents, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks exhorted Russian government hackers to send them new material. That is what we are told by Special Counsel Robert Muellers indictment of Russian intelligence officers. (I wont offend anyone by calling them spies after all, they were just doing electronic surveillance authorized by their government, right?) Assange wanted the Russians to rest assured that giving new material to WikiLeaks (identified as Organization 1 in the indictment) would have a much higher impact than what you are doing i.e., hacking and then putting the information out through other channels. But time was of the essence. It was early 2016. If Hillary Clinton was not stopped right there and then, WikiLeaks warned, proceedings at the imminent Democratic national convention would solidify bernie supporters behind her. Of course, bernie is Bernie Sanders, the competitor who could still get the nomination. But if Assange and the Russians couldnt raise Bernies prospects, WikiLeaks explained, Mrs. Clinton would be a White House shoo-in: We think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary . . . so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting. McCarthy goes into a deep legal dive and asks why Assange isn't also being charged as a Russian agent, making lots of sense. But I am most intrigued by the shift in the narrative that this represents. Assange up until now has always been a subject of focus for his solicitation of theft for U.S. military secrets - from the likes of then-known Bradley Manning and the like. Crimes related to that are what he's up on charges for and what the press is reporting. But actually, he was soliciting Russian mischief back when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were duking it out on the primary stage .. and looking to help Bernie. What's more, the Russians obliged. From their own perspective, they might have had good reason to. It's known that Clinton was detested by Putin dating from her days as Secretary of State. Not because she was a strong leader, as she argues now, but because she was so darn ignorant of them. She knew nothing of Russia or its history or its geographic situations or its desire for reclaimed lost glory -- and territory for sometimes arguable reasons, which are basically the issues it deals with among its leadership. Clinton's 'reset' button was sign enough of that, and her default ignorance propelled U.S. policy along so fecklessly, basically leaving players such as George Soros to call the shots. They hated this. The left has since cooked up the narrative that if the Russians hated Hillary, it was because they loved Trump. They couldn't even get in contact with Trump, but yes, there were some who liked him -- because he was not Hillary. But there were quite a few more - with power and the will to use it - who liked Sanders. That would explain the Russian leak of the Democratic National Committee's pro-Hillary (and very conniving against Bernie) emails, which of course was blamed by Hillary's team on Trump. It was so easy to blame Trump. But actually, the new revelations show it was a gift to Bernie. The Russians wanted Bernie - a committed pacifist who probably wouldn't get into any confrontations with Russia other than a few tut-tutting words to please the NGOs, and who was a socialist who spent his honeymoon in Moscow. Just for old time's sake, Bernie was attractive. Here's another thing not noted by McCarthy but something that does add to the flavor. Russian propaganda networks, such as RT News, had most of their reporters rooting for Bernie, too. I know this, because I met with one of them after the election and asked who they had wanted to win. Despite the apparent conservatism of them - many were admirers of Russia's tsar - they liked Bernie, they supported Bernie. About 75% of them were Bernie supporters. Everything that was flung at Hillary from them ... was really a love letter to Bernie rather than Trump. As for Trump, I've argued earlier that Russian officials may have liked Trump in some ways, but they also were calculating that Trump would never win. They were as surprised as anyone when he did. That would be matched by Assange's assertions that Trump would never win. The Russian mischief does seem to have been mainly limited to the primary stage in the election, with the focus on the Democrats, and the Russian involvement after that was largely catch-up - as with the Trump tower meeting. The Russians were rooting for someone all right - and it wasn't Trump. One can only wonder now what the Russians have planned for the man now that he's the frontrunner in this coming election, too. Image credit: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0 President Trump confronted China's effort to dominate the South China Sea by sailing the USS Wasp Marine Assault Carrier armed with up to 15 F-35B jump jets. Local fishermen uploaded video of the USS Wasp amphibious carrier on April 15 sailing near the highly disputed Scarborough Shoal reef about 140 miles from the Philippine mainland that Beijing forcibly seized in 2012, after an extended standoff with Manila. The Obama administration diplomatically intervened, but the Chinese have been dredging and have continued block access to Scarborough Shoal's fish-rich lagoon. President Trump began confronting China by sailing the 4,500-ton USS Hopper destroyer to within 12 miles of Scarborough Shoal in January 2018. Filipino fishermen were stunned when the monstrous 844-foot USS Wasp, weighing 40,500 tons, came over the horizon. They reported that the vessel, carrying a crew of 1,000 sailors, 1,600 Marines, fifteen F-35Bs, four V-22 Ospreys and helicopters, was actively launching and recovering armed F-35B warplanes. A U.S. military spokeswoman told the Japan Times that the Wasp had joined with the Philippine Navy for a "force protection and security" training mission. The United States since 1945 had assured freedom-of-navigation rights for the world's oceans that cover 140 million square miles of the Earth's surface. That effort has included supporting the U.N.'s 12-mile territorial sea boundaries and exclusive economic zones extending up to 200 miles offshore. But with about $3.4 trillion, or about 20 percent, of world trade moving through the strategic area, China has drawn a Nine-Dash-Line to claim 80 percent of the 1.35-million-mile South China Sea as its Exclusive Economic Zone, directly infringing on the U.N.-recognized EEZs for Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei. Although the People's Liberation Navy has expanded to 232 combat vessels, two aircraft carriers, and about 250 Coast Guard vessels, China is no match for the U.S. Navy with about 300 active combat vessels, including 11 aircraft carriers and nine Marine Assault Group light carriers. But China has constantly tried to intimidate the nations that ring the South and East China Seas by bolstering its growing naval presence with a maritime militia consisting of hundreds of vessels that Geopolitical Futures refers to as "little blue men." Most little blue men appear to be fishing trawlers that provide Beijing with a distributed surveillance, but some are camouflaged large boats manned by the People's Liberation Army and feature water cannons and oversized rails suitable for ramming. Combining its naval, coast guard, and little blue men has allowed China to engage in layered "cabbage tactics." To avoid sparking a U.S. response, the little blue men squat or form cordons around disputed fishing grounds and islands, knowing they can call on the Chinese coast guard close by if confronted by local coast guards or call in the PLA-Navy if a foreign navy shows up. China has used the "cabbage tactics" to take control of several South China Sea rocky outcropping in the Spratly and Paracel Islands. On Woody Island, China reclaimed land to build an 8,900-foot military runway and landed a Chinese long-range H-6K bomber. After a Philippine warship attempted to arrest Chinese little blue men harassing its forces supplying Scarborough Shoal in 2012, two Chinese coast guard cutters and several militia vessels charged in and set off a two-month confrontation and then ousted the blocking Philippine fishermen. China used the same tactics in deploying hundreds of vessels to allow a massive oil-drilling ship to deploy in Vietnamese coastal waters. President Trump's military confrontation with China comes as the Red Dragon is desperate to show that its economy is recovering. According to Jim Pinto, who built computer component plants across Asia for three decades, high-tech consumer goodsmanufacturers will close parts-supplier order books for the Christmas season within four weeks. His polling indicates that factory order books are down substantially and can recover only if the Chinese are able to assure customers with a signed U.S. trade agreement. For over two years, the public has been treated to diatribes from people acting as journalists and other Democrats, saying Trump was guilty of colluding with Russia to win the election, even though there was never evidence those talking points were true and much evidence showing the conspiracy theory was false. When the Mueller report came out and A.G. Barr said there was no evidence of collusion or obstruction, some of these same people accused Barr of lying or a cover-up with no evidence that that is true. We have continually been told that Trump and others should not challenge the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department no matter what they did, as they were seeking to destroy so many lives based on the fictitious collusion story based on the false dossier supplied by the despicable and corrupt DNC and Hillary. Now these complicit journalists and other Democrats are ripping into Barr because he is not going along with their lies that have been exposed. It has been clear for years that the Obama administration has spied on people surrounding Trump, but when William Barr said he was going to investigate how the spying started, these serial liars are squealing like stuck pigs. Journalists are lying to the public by saying there is no evidence that the Obama administration lied. Pelosi said it was dangerous to have people like Trump and Barr in charge. She was not scared of the president and Justice officials who spied and targeted political opponents while protecting guilty parties they liked. She is scared of people who will actually investigate the wrongdoing. The most humorous attack on Barr was by the serial liar, leaker, and protector of criminals James Comey, who said he was confused by Barr using the term "spy" because it has such a bad connotation. He said it was actually authorized surveillance. So, for corrupt officials like Comey, they can lie as much as they want to the FISA courts to get warrants, and that is OK and not spying. What would they do with ordinary Americans if they wanted to surveil them, if they would lie to the courts to target political opponents? The next time Russia is accused of spying, they should say, "No that is authorized surveillance." Journalists and other Democrats have known for years that the Obama administration illegally spied on thousands of Americans, including Trump and reporters, yet now they act completely ignorant as they intentionally mislead the public with more lies when they say there is no evidence that the Obama administration spied. The following are several stories about Obama's illegal spying, and every one of these articles uses the word "spy," but Barr is dangerous when he used the term? The ruling reveals that the Obama administration engaged in widespread violation of NSA surveillance rules. The Obama administration was reprimanded by the FISA court for illegal searches that constitute "very serious Fourth Amendment issue[s]." According to previously classified documents, this admission of methodical and long-term violations of Americans' Constitutional rights was made on October 26th of 2016. It looks like Obama did spy on Trump, just as he apparently did to me By Sharyl Attkisson, Many in the media are diving deeply into minutiae in order to discredit any notion that President Trump might have been onto something in March when he fired off a series of tweets claiming President Obama had "tapped" "wires" in Trump Tower just before the election. According to media reports this week, the FBI did indeed "wiretap" the former head of Trump's campaign, Paul Manafort, both before and after Trump was elected. If Trump officials or Trump himself communicated with Manafort during the wiretaps, they would have been recorded, too. If these reports are accurate, it means U.S. intelligence agencies secretly surveilled at least a half dozen Trump associates. And those are just the ones we know about. Besides Manafort, the officials include former Trump advisers Carter Page and Michael Flynn. Last week, we discovered multiple Trump "transition officials" were "incidentally" captured during government surveillance of a foreign official. We know this because former Obama adviser Susan Rice reportedly admitted "unmasking," or asking to know the identities of, the officials. Spying on U.S. citizens is considered so sensitive, their names are supposed to be hidden or "masked," even inside the government, to protect their privacy. In May, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates acknowledged they, too, reviewed communications of political figures, secretly collected under President Obama. James Clapper, head of National Intelligence under Obama, is a serial liar who was never prosecuted for his lying and is treated as a trusted source by many media outlets as he trashes Trump and Barr. 4 Different Lies James Clapper Told About Lying To Congress Five years ago to this month, former director of national intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress, and he has been scrambling to make excuses for the ongoing lies and leaks ever since. In March 2013, Sen. Ron Wyder asked Clapper under oath if the U.S. government was collecting "any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans." Clapper paused and said, "No, sir. Not wittingly." Three months later, Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing that the National Security Agency was in fact collecting in bulk domestic call records and other various internet communications on millions of Americans. John Brennan is another serial liar, who was never prosecuted, who is used by the media as a trusted source. Ex-CIA Chief Brennan's Security Clearance Should Have Been Revoked Long Ago In 2014, he flat-out denied hacking into computers used by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was at the time investigating the CIA's use of harsh interrogation measures against terrorists. After the computer break-ins were proven beyond a doubt, Brennan apologized but refused to acknowledge wrong-doing by the CIA. Despite calls for his dismissal even by Democrats, President Obama stood by his man. Brennan stayed. But this wasn't the last time Brennan's CIA spied on U.S. citizens. Far worse than spying on Congress was the CIA's involvement in the 2016 election, which increasingly appears to be not just out of bounds, but outright illegal. Brennan's CIA ran an operation with the FBI that targeted the Trump presidential campaign, using foreign-based assets like CIA and MI6-linked Cambridge professor Stefan Halper, to lure Trump campaign aides into potentially politically-compromising meetings. Eric Holder was a serial liar who was never prosecuted. Journalists and Democrats never cared, but now they attack Barr with no evidence that he is not telling the truth. Eric Holder's Long History Of Lying To Congress Before he lied to Congress while under oath about what he knew about targeting reporters, he lied about Fast and Furious. As early as the New Black Panthers case, Eric Holder had a problem with the truth. That the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath during his May 15 testimony on Department of Justice (DOJ) surveillance of reporters comes as no surprise. People have forgotten about the New Black Panther case, perhaps the most clear-cut case of voter suppression and intimidation ever. On Election Day 2008, New Black Panther Party members in military garb were videotaped intimidating voters outside a Philadelphia polling place. The slam-dunk prosecution of these thugs was dropped by Holder's Justice Department. When asked why, Holder, on March 1, 2011, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies that the "decisions made in the New Black Panther Party case were made by career attorneys in the department." Holder lied, for the decisions were made by political appointees. J. Christian Adams, a former career DOJ attorney in the Voting Rights Section, testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that it was Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, an Obama political appointee, who overruled a unanimous recommendation for prosecution by Adams and his associates. Obama obviously liked liars as attorneys general because both his picks gladly did what he wanted. When Lisa Page's transcripts came out showing that the Justice Department was never going to prosecute Hillary no matter how many crimes she committed, the complicit journalists and other Democrats didn't care and mostly hid the story from the public. Obama's AG, Loretta Lynch, Facing Over A Decade In Prison For Lying To Congress & Obstructing Justice According to Lisa Page's testimony, it revealed a bombshell, that the DOJ, under then-President Barack Obama, urged the FBI against charging Hillary Clinton with "gross negligence" in 2016 after it was found that she mishandled classified government information when it was found that she had used a private email server from her home during her time serving as Secretary of State. The Obama Administration continually abused its power as it targeted and spied on political opponents and was supported every step of the way by the sycophant media. I would have expected more of the media to be embarrassed by now in their support of corrupt politicians, but instead they remain on the attack and willing to spread lies to get Democrats back in power. The Founding Fathers gave the press freedom to hold the powerful to account, not to protect people they liked no matter what they did while seeking to destroy others they didn't like with no evidence. Image credit: Pixabay. The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) has requested that the United States Supreme Court hear its case that the President Donald Trump administrations Section 232 tariffs and quotas on imported steel violate the US Constitution. The urgency of the matter justified going straight to the highest court in the US and bypassing the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the AIIS said. Having a second three-judge panel hear the same case is a waste of judicial resources, the AIIS said in a petition for writ of certiorari dated Monday April 15. A three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled against the AIIS on March 25, with the trade group subsequently vowing to take its fight to the Supreme Court. The AIIS' case alleges in part that Section 232 violates the Constitution by allowing the president to act without the checks and balances that the nation's founders intended the legislative and judicial branches of government to provide against the executive branch. The case also targets Kevin K. McAleenan, the commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - the federal agency tasked with collecting Section 232 tariffs, which stand at 25% in the case of most imported steel products and 10% for imported aluminium. The Commerce Department declined to comment, and the White House and CBP did not respond to Fastmarkets' requests on April 16. Section 232: The law of would-be kings? The Constitution provides that Congress shall make the laws, but... there are no meaningful limits on what the president can do under Section 232, the AIIS wrote in its appeal. And unless President Donald Trump is restrained, Section 232 could be deployed to hammer imported automobiles or automobile parts at any time. Experts have cautioned that Section 232 tariffs on the automobile sector could topple the rules-based global trading system embodied by the World Trade Organization (WTO). And there is precedent for a presidential ambush on imports, given that to retaliate, the AIIS said. Straight to the Supremes If this court grants this petition, petitioners are prepared to meet whatever schedule the court orders so that this issue can be promptly and definitively resolved, the AIIS said in its writ . A nonprofit trade association , AIIS said its members collectively handle, import, ship or store 80% of all basic steel products brought into the US. Association members petitioning the Supreme Court in the case include oil country tubular goods (OCTG) wholesaler Sim-Tex LP, which imports 40,000-45,000 tons per month from South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, German and Italy. Another petitioner is Kurt Orban Partners LLC, which buys 200,000-250,000 tons of imported steel per year - all of it subject to 25% tariffs. An appeal to the Federal Circuit could take a year or more, time that importers can't afford especially given that concerns about Section 232 can be decided only by the Supreme Court, the group said. Trump used Section 232 to justify placing tariffs and quotas on imported steel in March of last year. The measure caused US steel prices to surge to their highest point in nearly a decade. It also resulted in unprecedented price volatility. Hot-rolled coil prices started 2018 at $32.63 per hundredweight ($652.60 per short ton), rising by 40.5% to an annual peak of $45.84 per cwt in early July in the aftermath of duties being extended in June to traditional US allies and trading partners in Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Fastmarkets AMMs daily Midwest hot-rolled coil index has fallen steadily since then to stand at $34.38 per cwt on April 16 - 25% below the July high. Camouflaging has always been a part of warfare, but it was only during the two world wars that things got really creative. During the First World War, both sides kept constant watch of the enemy lines for movement, but that was not an easy task. Anyone who stuck his head above the trench parapet for more than a few seconds was shot. So the French started disguising observation posts as trees. Then they taught the British how to do it. Later, the Germans started using them too. Because the front was constantly watched by the enemy, one just couldnt erect a new tree, because any new tree appearing out of nowhere would have instantly drawn attraction and fire. The fake tree had to replace an existing tree. A dead tree, blasted by a bomb, located ideally near the trenches was chosen. The tree was then photographed and extensively studied, measurements taken and sketches made. A hollow, steel replica was then made in the workshop far behind the lines. At night, under the cover of darkness and artillery fire, the real tree was felled and the fake one installed in its place. The artillery fire also drowned out the noise of the work. The tree's base was sunk into the ground, and its entrance was concealed. If a trench was spotted leading up to the tree in aerial photographs it would be a giveaway. A soldier would enter the observation post from the base and climb up a ladder bolted to the interior of the steel tube. Near the top, perched on a seat, the soldier would keep watch of enemy positions through multiple viewing holes. For protection, the soldier used a periscope to view through the holes while remaining behind a solid metal wall. These observation posts were surprisingly successful, and none were detected by the enemy. Plan of dummy tree observation post. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum An artist's sketch. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum Construction of dummy tree as observation post. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum A model of a sectioned observation post with an artillery observer. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum Erecting the First Camouflage Tree, 1916, by Solomon. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum A canvas and steel tree observation post. Near Souchez, 15 May 1918. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum Entrance to a canvas and steel tree observation post. Near Souchez, 15 May 1918. Photo credit: Imperial War Museum Two unidentified Australian officers examining a tree trunk which was used as an observation post at German House. Photo credit: Australian War Memorial By Trend Javad Zarif, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will visit Ankara, Trend reports via Turkish media. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the visit of Zarif to Ankara is scheduled for April 17. Regional issues, including the development of bilateral relations will be discussed during Zarif's visit to Ankara. Update: Samsung sent along this comment to this story: Samsung makes it a top priority to protect and respect the intellectual property rights of others. We are deeply disappointed at media reports that had widely assumed or even suggested of Samsungs involvement in any wrong doing against ASML, which are not true. Advertisement While we cannot disclose details of our business deals, Samsung had made precautions so as to adhere to all laws and regulations with its development contract with Xtal, including a clause that specifically prohibits the illegal use of 3rd-party IPs. All products that have resulted from our partnership with Xtal do not interfere with ASMLs IPs. We would also like to clarify that, unlike media reports, our partnership with ASML has remained strong without discontinuation. Samsung spied on, and stole software from ASML. A company that it uses to help mass-produce its chipsets that are used in smartphones, tablets, and just about everything else that the company makes. Advertisement Originally, the Dutch press believed that it was the Chinese Government that was spying on ASML, which wouldnt be a too outlandish idea given Chinas recent actions. But, ASMLs CEO, Peter Wennink denied that it was China, and instead said it was our biggest [South] Korean customer. Wennink refused to say that it was Samsung by name, and instead said that it was their biggest Korean customer a second time. Which basically points to Samsung, seeing as that is the only chip maker (thats big enough) in South Korea that ASML works with. According to Wennink, this conclusion came from the company hiring an external company, to find out who was behind the espionage and theft of its software. The external company was able to conclude that it was not state espionage, but rather ordinary business espionage. Apparently, the spies are all Chinese former employees who stole the software and created their own company to compete with ASML, Xtal. It is in China and the US. Advertisement The spying took place in 2015, and the new company, Xtal was created in 2016. that year, Samsung became a 30-percent shareholder of Xtal, then ASML lost Samsung as a customer for this particular software. The software in question is used to set up chip machines for optimum production of electronic chips. But interestingly enough, Samsung is already a customer of ASML, once again. Its unclear how things will play out for Samsung and ASML, now that all of this information is out in the public and people are seeing Samsungs true colors. But the fact that Samsung spied on one of its partners, is not a huge surprise. It actually happens quite often, though, it is typically Chinese companies that do this and not South Korean companies. For instance, Huawei spied and stole some of T-Mobiles equipment many years ago. It happened almost a decade ago, and was settled a few years ago. But it only hit the news cycle late last year. So these things can take some time to come to light, and once they do, it paints the company in a bad light. The fact that ASML came out and rejected the fact that the Chinese government spied on them, is a pretty big deal. In its press release, however, it did not point the finger at Samsung, which may be a bit surprising. However, its CEO, did indeed point it directly at Samsung, and given the fact that Samsung stopped using ASML shortly after the espionage was completed and a competitor opened up in China, it definitely makes this all smell pretty fishy. Advertisement ASML has said that once it found out it was a victim of espionage, it acted quickly. It has also stepped up its game to make sure that it does not happen again. While also admitting that corporate espionage is not something that is out of the ordinary. Google has apparently backed out of the deal where it purchased a large store-front in Chicago, where it was rumored to be placing its first brick and mortar store. This is being reported by the Chicago Tribune. The search giant purchased this space last year, it was about 14,000 square-feet, in the Fulton Market area. But now the Tribune is reporting that Google has backed out of the deal, and the landlord is now looking for a new tenant for that space. So it appears that Google has not only backed out of building its own store, but also out of the lease for that space. This does not mean that Google is giving up on a physical retail store. It is just not going to build one in Fulton Market, at least not yet. The company has been building all sorts of pop-up shops around the country, typically after having a big hardware event, to show off its new products. So this does not mean the end of its retail ambitions. But rather a change of heart. Google, of course, would not comment on the matter. Like most companies, a spokesperson did state that it does not comment on rumors and speculation. No surprise there, but it does leave a lot of people scratching their head about what Google may be up to, when it comes to retail. Advertisement Google has long been rumored to be entering the retail space, and opening stores like Apple Stores around the country (and eventually, around the world). Which is a bit surprising, seeing as we are seeing these brick and mortar retail stores closing up left and right. But now that Google has a hardware division that has a pretty decent sized portfolio of products, Google has plenty of products to offer in a retail store. And Google being Google, it would likely be colorful and a pretty fun place to go to. Its very possible that Google could be looking for another city to open its first retail store, maybe San Francisco or New York City. Chicago is already a pretty big city, but those two are bigger and could get more foot traffic into their first retail store, to see if its worth investing in it. For years, Google has been rumored to be getting into the retail business, and it looks like Google fans are going to have to wait a bit longer for it to become a reality. The Chicago location was pretty ideal for Google, since it wasnt far from its Chicago offices. It was also in a pretty good spot in downtown Chicago, in a space that was previously vacant for many years. Meaning that it was taking over an older building and it was going to need some renovations, but it was a great idea for a company like Google to lease, instead of just letting it sit there, abandoned. Something we see a lot in bigger Midwestern towns. But it appears that it was not meant to be, for Google. By Trend A meeting of the Turkmen-French Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was held in Ashgabat, Trend reports referring to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Political consultations were also held between the foreign ministries of Turkmenistan and France, and Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, minister of state attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, arrived in Ashgabat on a working visit to take part in these consultations. Following the consultations, a number of bilateral documents were signed, the report said. The French businessmen operate in the Turkmen market in such areas as construction, transport, tourism and energy. Two countries are interested in the implementation of the project of transporting Turkmen gas to Europe. The option of laying a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan and connecting it to the transnational projects in the European direction is being considered. OnePlus CEO, Pete Lau, has confirmed that the company is not planning to release a foldable smartphone, at least not anytime soon. He confirmed that while he was speaking at the European Design Institute in Milan, according to Repubblica, an Italian publication. Mr. Lau stated that foldable devices dont do anything notably different, though he did admit that the company has been considering releasing a foldable smartphone for over a year. In that time, the company realized that foldable smartphones are definitely not worth it at the moment, as theyre still not where theyre supposed to be. So, all in all, the companys CEO did leave the door open for foldable phones down the line, but dont expect to see one anytime soon. Pete Lau also said that OnePlus is focused on developing a smart TV, while adding that the companys TV, or a smart display, as he referred to it, will act as a hub for other smart devices. OnePlus seems to be focused on building an ecosystem of products at the moment, so who knows what else we may see from the company in the coming years. Advertisement OnePlus also does not plan to make a car, not at all, confirmed its CEO. Mr. Lau said that building a car would be extremely complicated, and that it is completely different from creating something like a smartphone or smart TV. Mr. Lau also talked about the era of Internet of Things, stating that in ten years, everything will be connected, but he also added that its impossible for one company to be a manufacturer of all those IoT devices. This does hint that the company is working on more products, though. On top of everything, OnePlus CEO also mentioned 5G, and a super virtual assistant that will assist people in ways that are difficult to imagine these days, though he mentioned 2025 when talking about it, as 5G-related tech will not fully develop anytime soon. That is an interesting and vague remark, and it doesnt exactly confirm that OnePlus is working on a virtual assistant, but who knows. Pete Lau did not really talk about the companys upcoming flagship, the OnePlus 7, but that device is expected to arrive soon. A tipster hinted that it will be arriving on May 14, while Carl Pei, OnePlus co-founder, promised some interesting news for tomorrow (Wednesday), as hell probably announce the OnePlus 7s press conference. Advertisement If rumors and leaks are accurate, OnePlus is actually planning to release more than one OnePlus 7 handset this time around. The OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro, and OnePlus 7 Pro 5G are allegedly in the works. It is still not clear what will the difference between the first two be, but model numbers for all three devices did surface. The OnePlus 7 could be a bit smaller than the OnePlus 7 Pro, and it could also ship with a flat display. The OnePlus 7 Pro did surface a couple of days ago, and it featured a 6.67-inch fullHD+ curved display, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The devices spec list suggested that the Snapdragon 855 is also included in the package, and the same can be said for Android 9 Pie. It remains to be seen how accurate are these specifications, of course, but it sure seems like we will see more than one model this time around. The OnePlus 7 Pro 5G is expected to be the same as the OnePlus 7 Pro, but it will support 5G connectivity and be more expensive because of it. Qualcomm and Apples years-long legal dispute over patent practices and royalties has now been brought to a sudden stop, Bloomberg reports, following a settlement agreement between the tech giants being reached. The deal between the two companies means that both companies will be ending all litigation processes on a global scale but also reportedly includes some perks for Qualcomm. Apple will be compensating the chipset manufacturer an unspecified sum as part of a six-year agreement that goes into effect as of the first of this month. Licensing isnt the only inclusion in the agreement either. Apple will retain the option to extend the deal by two years and a chipset supply agreement that will span several years. Advertisement The change in the case is in stark contrast to claims the iPhone maker has previously made regarding what it has referred to as Qualcomms unfair licensing terms. Those include charging partners royalties for the overall cost of a device shipped using the latter companys components. That practice has previously landed Qualcomm in hot water with other companies over the past several months and years with accusations ranging from anti-competitive practices to double-charging licensing. Qualcomm has historically been able to settle a large number of those disputes but has lost ground in areas where patents were deemed essential to the industry forcing it to license its inventions to competitors. The two companies have sparred over accusations of patent infringement and lapsed payments, with both tech giants taking the gloves off in early 2017. Advertisement Sudden but not entirely unexpected because 5G Although the new agreement between Apple and Qualcomm came abruptly within the context of how virulent the litigation had become on both sides, it didnt necessarily come without warning. Whether by luck or otherwise, industry insiders have been predicting that a deal would likely be reached since as recently as August of last year. The unnamed sources also suggested that the resulting agreement would end all litigation and that both companies would drop their ongoing cases. The expectations were, in part, pinned on Apples need to continue pushing out new handsets for iPhone users who dont have the luxury of simply switching OEMs and maintaining the same experience. It also came down to necessity in terms of keeping up with Android, to begin with. Advertisement Summarily, Qualcomm is a company that has formed partnerships and alliances with other component makers, ensuring that it has effectively cornered the 5G segment of the industry. If Apple hopes to release its first 5G-enhanced iPhone alongside the biggest names and its biggest threat in Android, it is going to be reliant to some extent on Qualcomm irrespective of which company it partners with. Its all in the non-existent details Specifics about the deal thats been reached by the companies are predictably slim on the ground for the time being, likely due to final considerations and proceedings to cement the agreement. So not only have no financial reparations not been divulged. Theres also no way to determine with any certainty whether 5G hardware and modems or some other factor played a central role in paving the way for the stand-off to come to an end. Nearly a quarter of US consumers want access to 5G but that number is overshadowed by doubt about its capabilities, availability, and providers according to a recent survey conducted by PCMag. Almost half of the 24-percent who do welcome the technology, approximately 41-percent, also dont believe it will become available for them. Perhaps more importantly, 71-percent of respondents dont buy into the promises made by the industry or carriers with 30-percent expressing outright distrust. Those figures dont translate any better when participants are asked where they hope to see the most improvement from the next-gen networks. Disdain is shown regarding some areas where extreme-low-latency 5G technology is expected to have the most impact. Advertisement For self-driving vehicles, only 13-percent hope to see improvement from 5G while only 19-percent say the same about smart cities and a percent fewer than that hope to see advances in healthcare. At just 8-percent, AR and VR show even less promise from a consumer perspective. New IoT applications, despite industry-wide concerns about safety and privacy of IoT networks, is a category that retains some promise as 20-percent of respondents want to see improvement there. Thats compared to the 22-percent who want to see improvements in public safety and infrastructure. No trust + carrier discrepancy = all hype Advertisement Buyers in the US have shown that they dont necessarily trust the providers of 5G technologies or networks but it extends a bit further than that with the specific wording used for the survey. The above-mentioned 71-percent of users who make up the bulk of respondents view the technology as nothing more than hype. The source of that may not be too difficult to pin down though. Between public misconceptions and confusion about the safety of 5G, low coverage in areas where the technology has already landed in the country, and other factors, consumers are understandably wary. AT&Ts decision to launch an advanced new 4G LTE network alongside a new notification bar icon and marketing touting the service as 5G E is one of the most visible examples. Thats because 5G is fundamentally different from previous networking and there is still plenty of confusion about what exactly it is. Advertisement Its inability to perform in many areas, coupled with a generally widespread understanding that 5G is about speed and latency if not about finer details of that has left a sour taste in consumers mouths. Thats leaving alone that the move was widely viewed as very deceptive before AT&T even launched it. Yet another example within the US may be traced back to Verizons use of 5G in its initial rollout. Primarily, thats because Verizon started with home Wi-Fi and fixed installations based on 5G rather than focusing on wireless. It also failed to meet expectations with regard to the spread of coverage in both home and wireless implementations with maps later being discovered that revealed just how limited that was in cities it covered. Sprint and T-Mobile cant escape unscathed either thanks to a relatively lackluster push from either and slower planned rollouts that simply dont match the promises of the competition. Advertisement A worldwide impact? The distrust in mobile carriers ability to accurately describe the technology and put it in place, within the confines of the US, may not be the only problem either. At the global scale, there are health concerns that have been raised about 5G. Not least among those is a series of disagreements and statements stemming from the heart of the EU in Brussels. Consumers in the US already wary of service provider claims. That health concerns are appearing surrounding the technology elsewhere but go unaddressed by carriers in the US may be contributing to further distrust in the technology itself. It almost certainly contributes to figures related to what consumers say they want as already noted, that appears to be centered around public safety and infrastructure. Advertisement Carriers will need to step it up in terms of both clarification and rollouts if they want to change any of those perceptions anytime soon. By Trend Pakistani Finance Minister Asad Umar revealed on Monday that Pakistan would sign a bailout agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would be worth $6-8 billion, Trend reported citing Geo TV. Briefing the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs chaired by Faizullah Kamoka, the finance minister said the IMF finalised a bailout package for Pakistan during talks between the two sides at a recent visit by the Pakistani delegation to the United States. Pakistan would receive funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank immediately following the IMF bailout, he said. Umar said the IMF package would ease off pressure from the country's foreign reserves. External account pressure reduced Pakistan's international reserves to $6.6 billion by mid-January 2019, but with short-term financing from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China, foreign reserves increased to $10.5 billion at the end of March. The finance minister further assured that the capital market would also improve following the IMF programme. Umar told the committee that an IMF mission will visit Islamabad during the last week of April, which is when the bailout package amount will be finalised. Speaking to media later, he said the public will not be impacted by the IMF agreement, and the government has no plans to raise electricity prices, the minister said. Umar said he met with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Marshall Billingslea during the US visit, who assured him that any decision would be taken on technical grounds. Pakistan will send a draft detailing its implementation on FATF's recommendations by today, he said. A delegation of FATF will visit Pakistan in the third week of May to review the implementation efforts. IMF did not object to an asset declaration scheme proposed by Pakistan, sources said earlier, pointing out that Pakistan had already shared a draft of the proposed scheme with the IMF and the FATF. Asad Umar is also set to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and take him into confidence regarding the IMF talks. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, speaking to media earlier today, said the finance minister will inform the nation regarding the IMF agreement in the coming days. Chaudhry said the country can expect some major news about the economy within the next two days. Pakistans economy is moving towards strength, he said, adding that there had been positive progress with the Paris-based anti-terror laundering watchdog FATF as well. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Revenue Hamad Azhar said an agreement in principle had been reached on all outstanding issues with IMF during the finance minister's recent successful visit to the US. He said technical details and formalities would now be finalised during the IMF's staff-level visit to Pakistan later this month. Furthermore, the office of the IMF resident representative said in a statement that Pakistani authorities and global lender's staff held constructive discussions during the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC towards an IMF-supported programme. "At the request of the [Pakistani] authorities, an IMF mission will be going to Pakistan before the end of April to continue the discussions," it said. A group of GCSE students have been told by a Dubai-based young business leader that the only thing holding them back from future entrepreneurial success is their state of mind. Omar Jackson, partner at international private equity firm Berkeley Assets, spoke to Year 10 and Year 11 students at Safa Community School ahead of their upcoming GCSE exams about turning passions into profits and the importance of goal setting. Waking up every morning with gratitude for where you are in life is the best way to start every day, said Jackson. Adopting a positive attitude and state of mind will make it almost impossible for you to focus on the negative. The way you communicate with people, the way you sit, stand, talk it all has an impact on your wellbeing. An entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word, Jackson is one of the most innovative business leaders under the age of 30 in the UK and Middle East, becoming a multi-millionaire by 24. His leadership skills were apparent from an early age, setting up his first business at the age of 13 selling cakes to fellow school pupils, soon earning Dh1,000 ($272) a week, and he has always sought ways to turn hard work into profits. Now 27, Jackson spoke to the Safa Community School students for two hours and took questions from the youngsters on topics ranging from business motivations, entrepreneurial ideas, goal setting, the passions driving him to succeed, and how to come back from failures. Failure helps you to learn, he said. But you have to understand why you fail in order to move on. Be willing to accept youve made a mistake and we all make them, sometimes over and over again but you need to take ownership of what went wrong before you can harness that failure to develop. A year into his Bachelors of Arts degree at University College London studying History, Philosophy of Science with Economics, Jackson decided to leave higher education to pursue a career in business and finance. I promised my mum I would get into university and I was accepted into one of the best in the country, but I quickly knew it wasnt the right path for me. And I didnt promise Id complete the course! It was a risk to leave and a difficult decision to make at 18 years old, but it was a calculated risk and it paid off for me. He set up numerous businesses while living in London, sourcing vital investment for an electronic smoking brand, securing various property development deals in the UK and USA, and investing in a restaurant & bar, before branching out to Dubai, UAE in 2011. Some of the students highlighted the challenges they face in securing part-time work in Dubai, due to the employment rules in the UAE. Theres nothing stopping you being entrepreneurial, said Jackson. More than half of you raised your hands when asked if you want to run your own businesses; harness that drive and learn what passions you have to help you succeed. Michael Davies, head teacher of Secondary at Safa Community School said: It was a fantastic experience for our GCSE students to welcome Omar into the classroom. The students were inspired by his innovative approach to all aspects of his life. We hope to welcome him back to the school shortly. As a partner of various financial businesses in the Middle East and acting on behalf of a portfolio of private investment clients, Jackson capitalized on the Blockchain technology movement by acquiring Cryptech World, a firm which provides investment opportunities to individuals and institutions wishing to explore the potential of Blockchain. Berkeley Assets is currently expanding its reach from the current London and Dubai offices into six overseas markets to drive the companys strategic growth on a global level. A new office in Marbella, Spain opened this month, while Mexico City, Moscow, Cape Town, Hong Kong and Singapore are planned to follow throughout 2019. TradeArabia News Service No, Chicago isnt about to negotiate with North Korea. And London isnt making a mutual defense treaty with New York. But on a range of issues from climate change to workers rights, cities are making pacts with one another. CityLab We will rebuild it, vowed French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, after people around the world collectively gasped at the horrific sight of Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. The sickening collapse of its spire was captured on videoan image almost as nightmarish as the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center towers but, mercifully, without the catastrophic the loss of life: One fireman was reportedly injured yesterday, but there were no reports of fatalities. French corporations and US-based Apple have announced that they will make major contributions to the rebuilding effort. For others who want to help, this page on the Friends of Notre-Dames website provides a way to make donations that are tax deductible in the US through the The Friends of Notre-Dame, a 501c3 public charity. Interestingly, an exact digital 3D mapping (as reported by MIT Technology Review) of the entire interior and exterior of the cathedral, overseen in 2015 by the late architectural historian Andrew Tallon, could provide a detailed guide for the restoration. Heres a screenshot of a laser scan, as shown in a 2015 National Geographic video in which Tallon described his study of Notre Dame: As reported here by the Guardian (which has been running a helpful live feed of breaking events in this sad saga), the structure of Notre Dame is still sound,' and large paintings inside the cathedral are believed to have sustained some smoke damage but are largely intact. Those were expected to be transferred to the Louvre for safekeeping. The NY Times has published an account of the status of Notre-Dames important artworks and Christian relics, based, in part, on comments by Franck Riester, Frances culture minister. Franck Riester, French Minister of Culture, discussing the aftermath of the Notre-Dame fire Screenshot from Twitter feed of France Inter (French public radio) How have American museums reacted? The Getty Museum, Cleveland Museum, Philadelphia Museum and Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among others, tweeted their sympathy. along with images of Notre-Dame Cathedral from their collections. The Metropolitan Museum was less self-referential and more pragmatic, making this explicit offer of help: Unmentioned by the Met is that one of its most relevant resources resides in its own collectionthe damaged Head of King David, exhibited in its Medieval Europe Gallery, which came from the decapitated figure on the righthand portal of Notre-Dames west facade: Head of King David, ca. 1145, Metropolitan Museum On its collection website, the Met says this about the limestone sculpture that had once been a part of Paris now scorched cathedral: Because it was thought they represented the ancient rulers of France, all of the monumental kings decorating the portals of the famed Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Paris were decapitated and presumably destroyed during the French Revolution. Until recently, this head of King David was the only known surviving head from this rich decorative program. Perhaps one wayboth concrete and symbolicfor the Met to send all of our support and strength to the people of Paris (as vowed in its tweet) would be for it to return this head to France for eventual installation at the building for which it was intended. French firemen labored yesterday to rescue the cathedrals artworks, some of whichstatues representing the 12 apostles and four evangelistswere fortuitously already off-premises, having been removed last Thursday in connection with the ill-fated restoration of the now destroyed spire. Why did this calamity happen? Heres what Paris officials are saying, as reported by Lori Hinnant, Samuel Petrequin and Elaine Ganley of the Associated Press: The Paris prosecutors office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives, at least for now. French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire was potentially linked to a $6.8 million renovation project on the churchs spire and its 500 tons of wood and 250 tons of lead. Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet said the churchs structure had been saved after firefighters managed to stop the fire spreading to the northern belfry. Gallet said two-thirds of the roofing has been ravaged. Heres why renovation was desperately needed, as described on the cathedrals website: Serious deterioration today (fall of gargoyles, ruin of pinnacles) are the result of a slow process that spares no part of the cathedral. The state of Notre-Dame Cathedral has actually reached a stage where its structures will soon no longer play their role and threaten the very stability of the monument, not to mention the permanent loss of carved decorations. In the same way, the movable elements (paintings, sculptures, treasure, bells, organ), which constitute a unique and precious whole and which for some have kept an intensive liturgical use, must be maintained and periodically restored by highly qualified specialists [emphasis added]. Now those highly qualified specialists will have much more to do than they could ever have imagined. What now after COP26? With the frenetic weeks of COP26 over and disputes over its actual achievements still in full spate, here are a few developments that may help put the United Nations climate conference into perspective. Hala China, in collaboration with the global Chinese company Samanea, yesterday (April 15) hosted The Big C Forum, aiming to build a platform for Chinese businesses to connect with government entities and companies in the UAE. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, chairman of the board of directors at Hala China, officially opened the strategic event, held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai. The forum drew the participation of more than 600 Chinese investors and entrepreneurs as well as businesses and government entities from the UAE, including the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, the Prime Ministers Office, Dubai Land Department (DLD), and the Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), said a statement. Highlighting the opportunities for Chinese SMEs to embrace Dubais digital transformation as a means to expand their market share in the Middle East, the event also examined new developments on Dubais retail landscape, particularly the growth of the e-commerce industry, it said. According to Fitch Ratings, the value of the UAEs e-commerce sector is expected to reach $17.8 billion by 2020, accounting for 45.6 per cent of the total market value in the Middle East. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla said: The Big C Forum offers an essential platform for Chinese SMEs and other entities in Dubai to explore mutually beneficial business synergies. Our collaboration with Samanea builds on Hala Chinas efforts to strengthen Dubais commitment towards the Belt and Road Initiative. We are confident that the event will open new avenues for reinforcing trade ties between China and Dubai, he added. During the forum, Hala China and Samanea signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a strategic framework to provide Chinese companies with a deeper understanding of Dubais forward-looking trade policies and infrastructure. Headquartered in Singapore, Samanea supports small businesses through hosting them in professional trade centres in key markets that offer marketing, logistics, financial and networking opportunities. As an immediate outcome of the MoU, Chinese entities, including Yiwu Small Commodity City, Zhongshan Lighting and Midea Electric, signed letters of intent (LOI) to partner with Samanea. Launched in 2018, Hala China seeks to explore opportunities to facilitate economic development in Dubai and China through tourism, trade and investment. The initiative has partnered with several key government entities and companies in the UAE and China to organise events such as Chinese Film Week in Dubai, the China and Arab Intercity Culture and Tourism Forum, and a special China-focused edition of Design Days Dubai, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Nestle modified an ordinary resolution in a notice dated March 12, 2019 to its shareholders. "Respecting the feedback received and the commitment of the company to high standards of corporate governance including shareholder rights, approval of members shall be sought every 5 (five) years in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations,"informed Nestle India to the bourses in an addendum notice this week. New Delhi: FMCG major Nestle now plans to seek shareholders' approval every five years for royalty payment to its Swiss parent firm Societe des Produits Nestle SA, after receiving their feedback over the issue. Modifying an ordinary resolution in a notice dated March 12, 2019 to its shareholders, Nestle India said that now it will seek approval from its shareholders every five years over the royalty payment. "Respecting the feedback received and the commitment of the company to high standards of corporate governance including shareholder rights, approval of members shall be sought every 5 (five) years in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations,"informed Nestle India to the bourses in an addendum notice this week. Nestle India, which is going to convene its general meeting on April 25, had earlier proposed payment of general licence fees (royalty) of 4.5 per cent of the net sales to its licensor "during any financial year". According to a media report, it was opposed by several minority shareholders and proxy advisory firms, contending that the move was against good corporate governance norms. Commenting on the development, a Nestle India Spokesperson said: "We received feedback from our shareholders and other stakeholders on the resolution pertaining to royalty payment and as a responsible corporate citizen with high standards of corporate governance modified the resolution". However, he said that the "resolution does not propose any revision in the royalty rate". Nestle India, which follows January-December fiscal calender, had reported a revenue of Rs 11,292.27 crore in 2018. The company which primarily operates in food and beverage space, has some powerful brands, which includes Maggi, Nescafe, Kitkat etc. A free trade and warehousing zone is a special category of SEZ with focus on trading and warehousing activities. Inter-ministerial body Board of Approval (BoA), chaired by Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan, will take up this proposal for consideration in its meeting on April 22, the official said. (Representative Image) New Delhi: A proposal for setting up of a free trade and warehousing zone by NDR Infrastructure with over Rs 292 crore investment in Tamil Nadu will be considered by the highest decision-making body on SEZs on April 22, an official said. Inter-ministerial body Board of Approval (BoA), chaired by Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan, will take up this proposal for consideration in its meeting on April 22, the official said. A free trade and warehousing zone (FTWZ) is a special category of special economic zones (SEZs) with focus on trading and warehousing activities. The developer, NDR Infrastructure, has submitted its application before the BoA for setting of the zone in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu over an area of about 100 acre. According to the foreign trade policy, proposals for setting up of FTWZs are considered by the BoA. On approval, the developer will be issued a letter of permission for the development, operation and maintenance of the zone. The developer is permitted to import duty-free building materials and equipment for the development and infrastructure of the zone. Developer of FTWZs are allowed to sale, lease and rent out warehouses, workshops, office-space and other facilities to traders and exporters. Units in these zones enjoy certain tax exemptions including service tax. Further, the BoA would also consider a proposal of Yash Technologies to set up information technology (IT) or IT-enabled services zone in Madhya Pradesh. The total proposed investment in this project is Rs 199.54 crore. NSCN-K faction has demanded release of their leaders by the Myanmar government in order facilitate their availability for the peace-talks. National Socialist Council of Nagaland/K-Khango has also entered into a fresh ceasefire agreement with the MHA from Monday for a period of one year, the statement said. Guwahati: The ministry of home affairs on Monday extended the ceasefire agreement by one year with two insurgent groups in Nagaland, while a fresh pact for suspension of operations was signed with another outfit. Informing that an agreement on suspension of operation between New Delhi and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Neopao Konyak/ Kitovi) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Reformation (NSCN/R) was signed, the ministry of home affairs in a statement said that it was decided to extend the suspension of operation agreement with NSCN/NK and NSCN/R for a further period of one year with effect from April 28 this year till April 27, 2020. Meanwhile, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/K-Khango has also entered into a fresh ceasefire agreement with the MHA from Monday for a period of one year, the statement said. Meanwhile, NSCN-K faction has demanded release of their leaders by the Myanmar government in order facilitate their availability for the peace-talks. They said they had written to the Mohmdiya Jama Masjid, Bopodi, Pune, and Imam to allow them to enter mosque. New Delhi: Encouraged by the verdict in the Sabarimala temple case allowing entry of women of all ages without any discrimination, two Muslim women moved the Supreme Court on Monday to direct the religious authorities in Islam to allow all Muslim women to enter mosque and offer prayers. The petitioners, Yasmeen Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and Zuber Ahmad Nazir Ahmad Peerzade, in their writ petition prayed for a direction against the Union of India and others for declaring the practices of prohibition of entry of Muslim Women in Mosque in India as illegal, unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 and 29 of the Constitution. They wanted a direction to provide a life of dignity to Muslim women and to permit them to enter mosque and to direct the authorities to permit the Muslim Women to offer their prayer/namaz inside mosque and to enter the mosque through the main door and have an Islamic right to visual and auditory access to the musalla (main sanctuary). They said if the petition is allowed it would benefit the citizens of this country generally as rule of law is essential for democracy and such brazen violation of law by the respondents can be stopped by the orders of this Court only. They said the persons affected by such acts of the State are numerous and are not in a position to approach the Court hence the petitioners are filing the present PIL on behalf of such affected persons. They said they had written to the Mohmdiya Jama Masjid, Bopodi, Pune, and Imam to allow them to enter mosque. They had responded stating that no practice of entry of women in mosque is permitted in Pune and other areas. Hence the present petition seeking court intervention to remove the gender discrimination. The BJP is yet to announce the names of any of its candidate for the seven parliamentary seats. New Delhi: Ending days of confusion over his partys stand on the AAP-Congress allia-nce for Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday put the ball in Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwals court with a tweet suggesting that the tie-up was being delayed by AAPs indecision. Almost immediately the Delhi chief minister reacted sharply, saying that it was the Congress which didnt seem serious about the alliance and was actually helping the Bharatiya Janata Party by splitting the anti-Modi vote by not aligning with parties in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. In his tweet, Mr Gandhi said, An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out. But immediately, Mr Kejriwal tweeted, Which U-turn you are talking about? To my knowledge, talks are still going on. Your tweet shows that the alliance is not really your priority. I am sad that you are indulging in public posturing by issuing statements. Today, it is important to save the country from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. It is unfortunate that by dividing anti-Modi votes in UP and other states, you are helping Modiji. This is the first this when Mr Gandhi has spoken on the partys attempts at forming an alliance with the AAP though Mr Kejriwal has repeatedly needled the Congress over it. Mr Gandhi has offered four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to AAP. In the continuing bargain process between AAP and Congress, the former has asked for an alliance in 33 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. If Mr Gandhis 3:4 seat sharing formula works out between the Congress and AAP, sources say then the Congress is likely to field former Union ministers Ajay Maken and Kapil Sibal from New Delhi and Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. The Congress may also field its state unit head and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshits trusted lieutenant Raj Kumar Chauhan, who was also her Cabinet minister, from the North West Lok Sabha seat. Since the AAP has already announced the names of its seven candidates, the party may have to withdraw Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk, Brajesh Goel from New Delhi and Gugan Singh from North West. Other AAP candidates likely to contest are Atishi Marlena from East Delhi, Raghav Chadha from South Delhi, Dilip Pandey from North East and and Balbir Singh Jakhar from West Delhi. The BJP is yet to announce the names of any of its candidate for the seven parliamentary seats. The last date for filing nominations is April 23. Mr Kejriwal had, on Sunday, softened his tone and said that his party will do anything to save the country from Prime Minister Narender Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. But now Mr Gandhi has directly blamed Mr Kejriwal for putting roadblocks in the talks process. AAP leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had recently said that his party was ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh but would not agree for a tie-up just in the national capital. In Punjab, AAP has four MPs and 20 legislators, but Congress (which rules the state) does not want to part with even one seat. In Haryana, Congress has a single MP but does not want to give any seat. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. The Supreme Court has asked Mayawati's counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. SC expressed satisfaction over Election Commission's action against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BSP supremo Mayawati and others for allegedly making hate speeches during poll campaign. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider BSP supremo Mayawati's plea challenging the EC's 48-hr campaign ban on her and expressed satisfaction over the poll body's action against leaders making hate speeches. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Mayawati's counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. Taking note of the EC action, the court said it seems the poll body has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. Read: EC bars Mayawati from campaigning for 2 days, Yogi Adityanath for 3 days The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. The Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Adityanath for 72 hours and on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Mayawati for 48 hours from Tuesday for their "provocative" communal remarks, which it said had the "propensity to polarise the elections". A 72-hour campaign ban has also been imposed on Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe against actor-politician Jaya Prada, who is his rival BJP candidate in Rampur Lok Sabha seat. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI Yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking a direction to the EC to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the media in the run up to general elections. The all-India ban on all four leaders -- two from the ruling BJP and two from opposition parties -- came into force from 6 am Tuesday. While Adityanath, Mayawati and Gandhi were found guilty of violating the model code, the EC said Khan not only violated the poll code, he also disregarded its November 2013 directive asking politicians to desist from "deeds or actions construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women". For the first time a pan-India ban has been imposed on politicians, while any restriction on a chief minister and a union minister is unprecedented. Mayawati alleged the order has been passed "under pressure" and it would be remembered as a "black day" in the EC's history. She has faced action for appealing to Muslims to not vote for the Congress to avoid their anti-BJP votes getting divided. Her alliance partner and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asked the EC whether it is capable to issue similar directives to the prime minister to stop him from asking for votes in name of the Army. The EC order to bar Adityanath and Mayawati came soon after the Supreme Court asked the poll watchdog about the action it has initiated against them. The apex court had on Monday expressed displeasure over the Election Commission not taking quick action against politicians for communal and hate speeches during the Lok Sabha campaigning and decided to examine the ambit of its power following submission that it was "toothless". The bench had taken the cases of alleged communal speeches of Mayawati and Adityanath and asked the EC about the action taken so far against them while deciding to examine the statutory powers of poll panel to deal with the violation of model code of conduct (MCC). The EC's counsel had said: "The power of the EC in this behalf is very limited. We can issue notice and seek reply but we cannot de-recognise a party or disqualify a candidate...we can only issue advisories and in case of a repeat offence, register a complaint." Reacting sharply, the bench had said, "So you are basically saying you are toothless and powerless against hate speeches." It had then said that besides sending a notice, an advisory and a criminal case can be filed only against such leader. "It is stated by the counsel appearing for the EC that the power of the ECI for violation of the Model Code of Conduct by making hate speeches on grounds of religion, caste etc is circumscribed to issuing of notice and upon consideration of the reply to issue advisories. Only in case of repeated violation of the advisories, the EC has the power to file an FIR with the Police for initiation of criminal proceedings," the bench had noted in the order. The apex court, on April 8, had issued notice to the Centre and the poll panel on the PIL seeking direction to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on castes and religions in the media in the run up to general elections. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Yogi Adityanath, Azam Khan cant campaign for 72 hrs, Mayawati, Maneka Gandhi get 48-hr gag order. New Delhi: A livid Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Election Commission (EC) for sleeping over violations of model code of conduct by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati while delivering hate speeches and seeking votes in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on the basis of religion earlier this month. The tongue-lashing by the top court sent the poll panel into a hyperactive mode as it banned both the Uttar Pradesh leaders from campaigning for three and two days respectively within minutes of the court hearing. By late evening, the EC also banned Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Union Maneka Gandhi from campaigning for similar offence. While expressing displeasure over the EC not taking quick action against hate speeches, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi gave the poll panel time till Tuesday to explain its lawyers submissions that the EC is largely powerless and toothless in such matters. The court also decided to examine on Tuesday the ambit of the ECs powers, asking if the poll panel is even aware of its powers to force errant political leaders to fall in line. Just after the apex court decided to examine the ECs powers, both Mr Adityanath and Ms Mayawati were restrained from participating in election meetings for three and two days respectively. The two were banned from campaigning in an uncommon censure under Article 324 of the Constitution that deals with power of the EC to conduct national and Assembly elections. The EC acted against Mr Adityanath for his Ali and Bajrang Bali remarks while addressing a rally in Meerut on April 9. Ms Mayawati courted controversy over her speech in Deoband on April 7 asking Muslims not to vote for the Congress as this could help the BJP. Reacting to EC action against her without a hearing, Mayawati said, The ban on me will always be viewed as a blot on the ECs history. The hurried nature of the action shows that it was taken under pressure. Azam Khan and Maneka Gandhi were banned from campaigning for 72 hours and 48 hours respectively, starting 10 am, April 16. During a rally in Rampur on April 14, Mr Khan had targeted BJP candidate Jaya Prada, without naming her, saying that it took the people 17 years to understand her reality but I could recognise it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear. While seeking action against Mr Khan, Ms Prada said, He has crossed the lakshman rekhaa this time. He is no longer a brother to me I tolerated everything, but now I cannot tolerate (this). Maneka Gandhi, at a rally in Sultanpur on April 14, had tried to coerce Muslims to voter for her saying that if they do not support her she would not do their works after her election. All four Uttar Pradesh leaders censured by the EC will miss the last day of campaigning ahead of the second phase of elections on April 18. Earlier, expressing displeasure over the ECs inaction, CJI Gogoi said, The Election Commission says we are toothless. They issue a notice if someone violates model code... or uses religion or caste for votes... then an advisory, if they dont follow notice... We would like to examine the matter, we want a representative of the EC who is conversant with the details to appear. At one stage during the hearing, CJI Gogoi warned the counsel for EC that they may summon the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora within the next half hour if the court does not get clear answers to its questions on the poll bodys powers on hate speeches. At the outset, the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, asked the ECs counsel about the action taken so far against the two top leaders of Uttar Pradesh. Tell us what are you doing... Tell us what actions you have taken, said the bench, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Harpreet Mansukhani, an NRI yoga teacher based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking a direction to the EC to take strict action against political parties if their leaders make remarks based on caste and religion. The counsel for the EC said, The power of the ECI in this behalf is very limited... we can issue notice and seek reply but we cant de-recognise a party or disqualify a candidate. Mayawati was required to file her explanation to the Commissions notice by April 12 but it was not done. We can only issue advisories and in case of a repeat offence, register a complaint. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioner, maintained that the ECs powers under Article 324 of the Constitution are quite extensive and it can initiate action against leaders who spew hate. From the ECs submissions the court found out that it has issued notices for hate speeches in only three cases so far in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The two cases include that of Mr Adityanath and Ms Mayawati. Appealing to caste or communal feelings to secure votes is not allowed under the model code, which is a series of dos and donts for political parties ahead of elections. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. 'Only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in the Sabarimala temple case,' bench said. A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond to the plea filed by a Pune-based couple. (Photo: File) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Centre on plea seeking to allow Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers. A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond to the plea filed by a Pune-based couple. The bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioner that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the case involving Kerala's Sabarimala temple. "The only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in the Sabarimala temple case," the bench said. In the current petition, the couple has sought the apex court's direction to declare as "illegal" and "unconstitutional" the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers. Referring to constitutional provisions, the petitioners have said there should not be any discrimination against any citizen of the country on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. They have added that a life of dignity and equality is the most sacrosanct fundamental right and a Muslim woman cannot be prohibited from entering a mosque. During the hearing, the bench sought to know from the petitioners' counsel as to whether Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque in foreign countries. The counsel informed the bench that Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque at the holy Mecca and also in Canada. However, the bench asked the counsel whether the fundamental right to equality could be asserted against non-State actors. "Can you invoke Article 14 of the Constitution and claim equal treatment from another human being?," it asked. The petitioners' counsel told the court that the mosques in India were enjoying the benefits and grant extended to them by the State. (With PTI inputs) Senior leader Kapil Sibal told reporters, They (Supreme Court) have sought an explanation. We will give an explanation to them on the contempt plea. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed political leaders to ensure that none of their views, observations or findings are attributed to the court in political addresses to the media or public unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the court. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna passed this order while seeking the response of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi over his chowkidar chor hai remarks after the apex courts April 10 Rafale order. The Bench asked Mr Gandhi to submit his clarification on the statement through an affidavit on or before next Monday and the matter will be heard on April 23 (next Tuesday). Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ms Lekhi, accused Mr Gandhi of misquoting the SCs order when the Congress leader said the apex court had accepted that chowkidar (a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi), is a chor (thief). He submitted that Mr Gandhi, by attributing his remarks to the apex court which were not made by the court, had committed contempt of court. Mr Gandhi, while speaking to the media in Amethi on April 10, had said, The Supreme Court has made it clear that chowkidar allowed theft and that it had accepted that some sort of corruption had taken place in the Rafale deal. He was reacting to the Supreme Courts order to examine the decision-making process in the Rafale deal on the basis of stolen documents published in the media on alleged irregularities in the deal. Reacting to Mr Gandhis statement, Ms Lekhi had said, Rahul Gandhi has misquoted the Supreme Courts order on the Rafale deal... I am sure the court must have been watching the media where Rahul Gandhi made false claims about the courts order. How can the Gandhi family talk about corruption when three of the four members of the family are out on bail Rahul Gandhi has misquoted the Supreme Court order and he made the remarks to influence the voters during the Lok Sabha elections, she further said. Reacting to the Supreme Courts directions seeking an explanation from Mr Gandhi, the Congress said on Monday that it would provide an explanation to the court. Senior leader Kapil Sibal told reporters, They (Supreme Court) have sought an explanation. We will give an explanation to them on the contempt plea. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, We make it clear that views, observations, findings attributed to this court in the alleged speeches, remarks made by Gandhi to media/public have been incorrectly attributed to this court. We also make it clear that this court had no occasion to make such observation in as much as it was deciding legal admissibility of certain documents which were objected by the attorney general. Having clarified the matter, we deem it proper to ask the respondent (Rahul Gandhi) for his explanation which will be laid before us on or before 22.04.2019. The petitioner will be at liberty to file additional affidavit. We further observe that no views, observations or findings should be attributed to the Court in political address to the media and in public speeches, unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the court, the order further said. Aramex, a leading global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions, has launched a new, partially automated fulfilment centre in Dubai, UAE, to support the rapid growth of its e-commerce business with business-to-business (B2B) retailers. Located at Dubai Logistics City and covering 60,000 sq m, the temperature-controlled centre is one of Aramexs largest fulfillment warehouses across the region, said a company statement. It features new technologies including a Pick to Light system, which uses light-directed picking technology to improve accuracy and efficiency, and an automated conveyer belt system, it said. Iyad Kamal, chief operating officer at Aramex, said: Our new fulfilment centre is an important investment that will help support the rapid growth of our logistics business and our retailers omni-channel sales strategies. The facilitys cutting-edge technology strengthens our position by ensuring fast, seamless and reliable fulfilment. It forms an important component of our digital transformation strategy and our efforts to improve our logistics offering for retailers across the world, he added. Saeed Mukhtar, global head of logistics at Aramex, said: The centre will expand our global logistics capacity and enable us to help more start-ups and established businesses receive, process and deliver orders to customers through effective supply chain management. We are pleased to expand our fulfilment infrastructure to deliver our customers the speed and reliability that they deserve, he added. In FY2018, logistics and supply chain management operations grew by 16 per cent over that financial year to Dh302 million ($82.22 million), due to the strong demand for Aramexs warehousing and other value-added services across key markets. The company remains committed to improving that service offering to capture growth opportunities, it stated. TradeArabia News Service He said todays situation requires those articles to be scrapped. Hyderabad: Retired Supreme Court judge N. Santosh Hegde Tuesday said Articles 35A and 370, giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, are required to be scra-pped as they run counter to the rights of other states. He said in 1948 when the Maharaja of Kashmir agreed to merge the state of Kashmir with India, certain assurances were given to the people by introducing Article 35A and Article 370 of the Constitution. Though the wording of this looks like the assurance is permanent, in the background in which it was given and the consequential things that have happened in the nation indicate its not possible to continue these articles because if Kashmir is an integral part of India, it cant have a separate status compared to other states, he said. So, in todays context both the articles are causing a lot of problems for the country as a whole, the former Solicitor General of India said in an interview. So, I dont think its possible to continue that article. He said todays situation requires those articles to be scrapped because certain autonomy given under that Act would run counter to the rights of other states. Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was rushed to a hospital by his mother, Ujjwala Tiwari, where he was declared brought dead. NEW DELHI: The 40 year-old son of former chief minister of Uttrakhand and UP and veteran Congress leader late Narayan Dutt Tiwari died at his home in the national capital under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday. Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was rushed to a hospital by his mother, Ujjwala Tiwari, where he was declared brought dead. Confirming the incident, DCP (South) Vijay Kumar said Rohit was brought dead to Max Hospital in Saket. The police has also cordoned off Rohits residence in Defence Colony. Prima facie it is suspected that a heart attack led to the sudden demise. However, the post-mortem report will ascertain the exact cause of death, a senior police official said, adding that a probe has been initiated in this regard and all angles are being investigated. Rohit, an advocate by profession, came to limelight in 2008 when he went to court against N.D. Tiwari claiming he was born out of an affair between the Congress leader and his mother. But the N.D. Tiwari refused to accept him as his son for a long time. In 2014, N.D. Tiwari finally accepted him as his son, putting an end to a prolonged legal battle on the issue and married Ujjwala at the age 88 in a ceremony that took place in Lucknow. The Congress leader died on his 93rd birthday in October 2018 in New Delhi due to multiple organ failure. Rohit was an avid music lover and had received training in Indian classical music from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. Though his father was a senior Congress-man, he joined the BJP in 2017. In May last year Rohit tied the knot with advocate Apurva Shukla in a high profile wedding in the national capital. He is survived by his wife and mother. Women are not allowed inside most mosques in India although a few have separate entrances for women to go into segregated areas. The petitioners advocate submitted that in Canada women are allowed inside mosques and that in Saudi Arabia, there is a fatwah in that behalf. (Photo: PTI/Representational) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition from a Muslim couple for allowing women to enter mosques and offer prayers, seeing a common gender issue in the plea and the curbs on women devotees at Keralas Sabarimala temple that it had struck down last year. We are only hearing you, and may hear you in the future, because of Sabarimala judgment, said a bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde while issuing notices to the Centre and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Wakf board. On September 28 last year, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying a ban on their entry amounted to gender discrimination. In the current petition, the Pune-based couple has sought the top courts direction to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers. The Muslim couple referred to the Sabarimala temple ruling, which angered conservative Hindus, as a precedent to support their call for women to be allowed to pray at mosques. While seeking to overturn a centuries-old practice that largely bars women from the places of worship, the petitioners, Yasmeen Peerzade and her husband Zuber Peerzade, said that women were allowed to enter mosques during the time of the Prophet Mohammad. Women are not allowed inside most mosques in India although a few have separate entrances for women to go into segregated areas. On Tuesday, while taking up the petition for hearing, Justice Bobde and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer asked the petitioners counsel about the practice abroad. Who denied you entry? You tried to enter and were denied by virtue of an order or a law? Which other mosques in the world allow women? asked Justice Bobde. When Justice Bobde asked if women are allowed in Mecca, Justice Nazeer observed, I dont think there is a common congregation. The petitioners advocate submitted that in Canada women are allowed inside mosques and that in Saudi Arabia, there is a fatwah in that behalf. Questioning the petitioner, Justice Bobde said, Can an individual assert his or her right to equality against a non-state player. Is a mosque or temple or church a state? If a person refuses to let you enter his house can you seek police help for it? asked the court. Can the fundamental right to equality be assessed against another human being? Can your demand that a human being treat you how he treats anybody else? Article 14 is for the state. Does that apply to an individual? asked Justice Bobde. The counsel for petitioners said, At present, women are allowed to offer prayers at mosques under Jamaat-e-Islami and Mujahid denominations, while they are barred from mosques under the predominant Sunni faction. Referring to the Sabarimala judgment, the petitioners said, This Court in the case of Sabarimala held that religion cannot be used as cover to deny rights of worship to women and it is also against human dignity. Prohibition on women is due to non-religious reasons and it is a grim shadow of discrimination going on for centuries.They said if the petition is allowed it would benefit the citizens of this country generally as the rule of law is essential for democracy and such brazen violation of law can be stopped by the orders of this court only. Coming down heavily on PM Modi, Gandhi said he has 'failed' to fulfil the promises made during the last five years. The Congress President was addressing an election rally at the St Stephen college grounds here in Kollam district. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Kollam: Addressing a poll rally in Keralas Kollam, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that normally he fights the election from Amethi but this time he chose to give a message to south India by fighting from Kerala. Coming down heavily on PM Modi, Gandhi said he has "failed" to fulfil the promises made during the last five years. "The promises Modi has given to you, he has not fulfilled but Anil Ambani gets Rs 30,000 crore in Rafale deal. The Prime Minister is speaking of nationalism and he gave the biggest defence deal to a person who has not made a single aircraft," Gandhi charged. The Congress President was addressing an election rally at the St Stephen college grounds here in Kollam district. Attacking the ruling government, Gandhi said, No matter how many times you (BJP/RSS) attack us, we will use love and non violence to convince you are wrong. "In the last five years, our Prime Minister promised several things. Two crore job opportunities.. Rs 15 lakh deposits in bank accounts and price support for farmers," he said. Gandhi asked the people how many of them had received the money in their bank account promised by the Prime Minister. Gandhi assured the cashew farmers in the state that his party, if voted to power, will to take up their cause. "We will start a conversation to help make cashew growing a viable alternative", he said adding that it was an "honour" for him to fight elections from Kerala. Rahul Gandhi arrived here last night on a two day visit to Kerala. Besides Kollam, he would address rallies in three more districts. Kollam: Addressing a poll rally in Keralas Kollam, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that normally he fights the election from Amethi but this time he chose to give a message to south India by fighting from Kerala. Attacking the ruling government, Gandhi said, No matter how many times you (BJP/RSS) attack us, we will use love and non violence to convince you are wrong. (With agency inputs) Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Both the seats are believed to be tough for the BJP this time. He also held a road show before attending the meeting in Deesa. Ahmedabad: BJP president Amit Shah appealed to voters in Gujarat to once again back Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "It is certain that Narendrabhai is going to be the Prime Minister again, but it is your responsibility to give him all 26 seats, Mr Shah told a public rally in Kodinar in Saurashtra region. This was his first public rally outside his constituency Gandhinagar in the state. Mr Shah, who is on a two-day tour of the state, Mr Shah addressed a rally at Kodinar covering Junagadh Lok Sabha in the morning. In the afternoon, he spoke at a public meeting in Deesa in North Gujarat for the Banaskantha seat. Both the seats are believed to be tough for the BJP this time. He also held a road show before attending the meeting in Deesa. In Kodinar, Mr Shah said, "The Modi government has given an AIIMS to Saurashtra. Our government has opened a new milk processing plant to ensure that the people of this area can earn more money." Hitting out at the Congress, Mr Shah added, "When our government had inaugurated Sauni Yojana for water, the Congress people were laughing. Today they are mum because water has reached your village." "Wherever I have gone, I can only hear Modi Modi Modi. Today Rahul Gandhi is talking about poverty, but let me ask him that what did his ancestors do when they ruled the country for 55 years," Mr Shah said. "The Modi government has ensured safety of the people. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. 'Mahamilavat cannot keep this country safe,' Amit Shah said. Amit Shah said, 'I want to tell you one thing, let Rahul baba believe whatever he wants, let his partner Omar Abdullah believe whatever he wants, until there is life in the last BJP karyakartas body, no one can separate Kashmir from Hindustan.' (Photo: ANI) Bengaluru: Taking a swipe at the opposition grand alliance for not naming the Prime Ministerial candidate, BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday wondered how they expected to run the country without a leader if they came to power and said the nation would be safe from terror attacks only if Narendra Modi was once again installed in the post. "Can Mahamilavat- Congress and JD(S) keep the country safe? Can they give a befitting reply to terrorism and Pakistan? They cannot keep this country safe. To keep the country safe BJP has to come to power with Narendra Modi as Prime minister once again," Shah said addressing a rally at Davangere. The BJP president he had travelled extensively across the country during the last four months and had only heard the slogans of 'Modi, Modi' and said the party had decided to strenghten the country by making Modi Prime Minister again. "On the one side BJP and all parties of NDA are ready to face this election under the leadership of Narendra Modi. We have decided that once BJP gets majority Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister once again. On the other side there is Rahul baba (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) and company. I ask them who their Prime Ministerial candidate is, they dont answer me," he said. "...if their Mahamilavat alliance government is formed, Mayawati will become Prime Minister on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, Wednesday-Deve Gowda, Thursday- Chandrababu Naidu, Friday- Sharad Pawar, Saturdey- Mamata didi and on Sunday the country will go on holiday," he added. Shah was in Davangere to campaign for BJP candidate and former Union Minister G M Siddeshwara, pitted against H B Manjappa of Congress. Noting that the biggest achievement of the Modi government was securing the county from terror attacks, Shah referred to the Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF jawans and said the government had given a fitting reply through airstrikes and 'decimated' terror camps by entering Pakistani territory. Hitting out at the opposition which said dialogue was the best way forward with Pakistan, he said "Congress says talk to Pakistan, Sam Pitoda (Chairman of overseas wing of Congress) says talk to them, dont bomb them. I want to ask people of Davangere, do we have to talk to terrorists who killed 40 of our soldiers? Do we have to bomb them or speak to them? Warning Pakistan of a strong response on any 'misadventure,' he said "Friends ...BJPs policy is clear if goli (bullet) comes from Pakistan side, gola (bombshell) will go from here, eet ka jawaab pattar se diya jayega..." he added. Taking a jibe at former former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his statement on separate Prime Minister for the state, Shah asked "Can there be two Prime Ministers in a country?" "I want to tell you one thing, let Rahul baba believe whatever he wants, let his partner Omar Abdullah believe whatever he wants, until there is life in the last BJP karyakartas body, no one can separate Kashmir from Hindustan. Kashmir is ours. this is BJPs strong decision." Taking a dig at Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, Shah alleged that Congress was indulging in corruption through remote control by making someone from JD(S), which won the least number of seats in the assembly polls last year, the Chief Minister. "During the assembly election JD(S) got least number of seats, while BJP got a majority. But look at the feat of the Mahamilavat people, the party that got the least number of seats, Congress made that leader the Chief Minister and is indulging in corruption through remote control." Recalling that Karnataka Chief Minister had said that people of the state did not make him the Chief Minister, but Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi who made him occupy the top post, Shah said, he (Kumarasswamy) should be ashamed for lowering the dignity of his office. Highlighting the differences and disgruntlement within the ruling coalition, he said they cannot do good for Karnataka. "For Congress Karnatakas development is not important, for Congress Karnataka is the ATM of corruption from where they keep getting funds," he added. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Central government, for the last few months, has sent a clear message that terrorism will not be accepted in the Valley. Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that India may launch another Balakot type attack in Pakistan to hoodwink the people of the country and lure them to cast their votes in favour of the ruling party. "There're apprehensions that the BJP-led government in a bid to save its sinking ship may launch another Balakot type attack against Pakistan," she said while speaking at party workers' convention in hometown Bijbebara in southern Anantnag district. She alleged that the Modi government has failed on every front "with the masses perturbed, joblessness spiralling and economy witnessing a dreadful dip". She said, "The BJP tried its best to polarise the situation and instigate communal riots all across. When nothing worked, it enacted a drama called Balakot strike". She claimed that during the very first phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has foreseen its defeat and "in order to garner votes and hoodwink the electorate there are apprehensions that Modi-led government is preparing to launch one more Balakot type attack against Pakistan." Ms Mufti said that the government's "ongoing antagonistic approach" towards Pakistan and "unleashing terror upon the unarmed and innocent people of Kashmir" are nothing but a vote bank politics of the BJP as the party is witnessing rout all across the country. Reacting to the statements of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in which apprehensions were raised over the authenticity of the Pulwama suicide attack, the PDP president demanded a thorough enquiry to ascertain the facts. "A thorough probe should be conducted so that the truth behind the Pulwama suicide attack comes to fore and questions raised by senior political voices are answered sans any hindrance," she said. She also slammed the BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement on the relationship between the PDP and Jamaat-e-Islami, Kashmir and said that in a democratic set up, the socio-political and religious organisation- (Jamaat-e- Islami) has every right to propagate its ideology and function without any hindrance. "As Chief Minister I was under tremendous pressure to ban Jamaat-e-Islami in the State. However, I refused to sign on a dotted line due to which BJP was compelled to run away from the coalition," she claimed. She said that her party will continue its fight so that ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami is revoked and the organisation is allowed to work freely once again. Earlier Mr. Jaitley had in a tweet said, "The NDA supported in good faith a regime of the mainstream party in the State. But PDP remained in the clutches of Jamaat-e-Islami agenda. Thereafter, Central government, for the last few months, has sent a clear message that terrorism will not be accepted in the Valley". Reacting to it, Ms. Mufti wrote on the micro-blogging site "Jamaat, an organisation that has done great work in upliftment of poor makes you uncomfortable owing to its Islamic ideology. You'd rather extend patronage to rabid right wing organisations that lynch innocents on flimsy excuses and spearhead a divisive agenda to persecute minorities". The Finance Minister also said that the PDP instead of working for total integration, wanted a loose and liberal constitutional arrangement with Articles 370 and 35A with the State "under an erroneous impression that this would further the cause of integration". He termed it as a fraud on the people of India. Responding to it, the former chief minister said, "PDPs stand on Article 370 and 35A was always public. If BJP believed it undermined India's integrity why did it form government with us agreeing not to touch these provisions? BJPs attempts to divide India on basis of religion are a greater threat to its integrity than anything else". In her reaction to Mr. Jaitley's assertion that the statements of mainstream parties of Kashmir create a separatist psyche which was not acceptable to New India, Ms. Mufti said, "Unacceptable is a new India where those who kill and lynch in the name of religion are feted and garlanded. If standing up for my people makes me a separatist and anti national then it's a badge I will wear with honour". End it Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. The party officially launched its poll slogan and campaign song, penned by poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, about two weeks ago. Congress focuses primarily on five issues- jobs, minimum income, education, farming - in its manifesto for national elections. (Photo: File) New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took to Twitter to announce that partys campaign song has become a big hit across India. The campaign song is based on the concept of Nyay (justice). Sharing a new video of the partys campaign song, Gandhi tweeted: #AbHogaNYAY is not just a slogan, its the Congress partys commitment to the people of India. Our catchy campaign theme song has become a big hit across India. Heres a new video built around our NYAY theme. pic.twitter.com/a38EiyvJsO Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 16, 2019 Congresss poll slogan Ab Hoga Nyay is based on the election promise of basic minimum income support for the poorest of the poor families in the country. Congress focuses primarily on five issues- jobs, minimum income, education, farming - in its manifesto for national elections. The party officially launched its poll slogan and campaign song, penned by poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, about two weeks ago. The firebrand saffron leader tweeted a series of posts reiterating her assertion not to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections. Bhopal: Union minister Uma Bharti on Monday dug in her heels over taking on Congress veteran Digvijay Singh in Bhopal in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, saying, My fight against him ended in the 2003 Assembly elections in MP when I dislodged his decade-long government. The firebrand saffron leader tweeted a series of posts reiterating her assertion not to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections. Ms Bharti, who is currently fighting a defamation case filed against her by Mr Singh around 15 years ago for calling him a corrupt chief minister, however, said she was not afraid of a contest against the septuagenarian leader as she could defeat him easily in the polls. My role was over when the BJP led by me crushed Congress led by Mr Singh in 2003 Assembly elections in MP with a three-fourths majority. This time, people are desperate to defeat him, Ms Bharti said. She recounted how former chief ministers such as Kailash Nath Katju, P.C. Sethi and Arjun Singh were defeated by BJP leaders and said, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a CM for 13 years, can easily defeat Mr Singh. Even leaders like sitting Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar, Alok Sharma, Rameswar Sharma, Krishna Gaur, Bhagwandass Sabnani, Shailendra Sharma and Viswas Sarang can also defeat him without putting much effort. She, however, added that the party would take the final call on the candidate for Bhopal. Sources, however, said the BJP leadership was still persuading Ms Bharti to withdraw her decision to back out of the upcoming LS polls and take on Mr Singh in Bhopal. She has been sulking ever since she was removed from post of chief minister of MP in 2004 following a court case and was not reinstated in the office even after the case was settled in her favour. BJP was yet to declare candidate for Bhopal along with four other LS seats Indore, Vidisha, Sagar and Guna in MP. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Ahmed was campaigning for TMC on tourist visa. Kolkata: Popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed hasreturned to his country following directions from Bangladeshi deputy high commission in Kolkata after he courted controversy by campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections for the Trinamul Congress (TMC) in North Bengal recently. The incident has left the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC red-faced. The development comes after the BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the actor for violating visa rules and the TMC for violating the model code of conduct. It argued that foreigners cannot take part in poll campaigns in the country as they visit on tourist visas. On April 14, Mr Ahmed was seen along with some Bengali actors in a jeep during a roadshow for the TMC candidate of Raiganj in North Dinajpur, Kan-ailal Agarwal. On Monday he campaigned in the districts Karandighi and Chakulia areas. Mr Ahmed was also seen appealing to people to cast their vote for Mr Agarwal. According to diplomatic sources, the Bangladeshi deputy high commission in Kolkata called up Mr Ahmed and asked him to return to Bangladesh immediately following instructions from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. The EC had taken up the matter with the Bangl-adesh High Commission while seeking a report on the actor from the ministry of home affairs which, in turn, had directed the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Kolkata, under the Bureau of Immigration, to look into Mr Ahmeds visa tenure. On Tuesday evening, Mohammed Mofakkharul Iqbal, first secretary (press), Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, told this newspaper, The actor said he was shooting for a film and the producer asked him to go there. When we told him he was seen participating in a poll campaign and that he cannot do that, he admitted it. We then advised him to return to Bangladesh and asked him to complete his shooting after the polls. He has returned to Bangladesh. Raking up the infiltration issue, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said, Whenever a foreigner visits our country, he or she has to disclose his purpose. If an artist comes like an infiltrator and campaigns for a political party here, it amounts to violation of international norms. I condemn it. It is a shame for chief minister Mamata Ban-erjee that there is no one in the country who can work for her, he added. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Renault and Nissan, the French and Japanese automotive alliance partners, have announced the establishment of a new research and development joint venture in Shanghai, China. The new venture will be referred to as Alliance Innovation Lab Shanghai (AIL-SH), said a statement. Renault and Nissan each hold 50 per cent of this new entity which will conduct research and development focusing on autonomous drive, connected vehicles and electric vehicles. Technologies pioneered by the innovation hub will be potentially applied to Renault and Nissan vehicles sold in China and around the world. Takao Asami, Alliance senior vice president, research and advanced engineering, said: China is not only the worlds largest auto market but is also at the leading edge of new technologies that will change the face of future mobility. From a strategic point of view, it is vital that the Alliance has a development hub in this thriving market, where the Alliance sold more vehicles than anywhere else in 2018. The knowledge and skills obtained here will be leveraged not just inside China but globally, helping to contribute to the demanding objectives of our Alliance 2022 mid-term plan, Asami added. Kenju Kobayashi, the Alliance global director responsible for the AIL-SH, said: Shanghai is a leading hub for innovation in China for automotive related technologies and across a range of industries. By bringing together the talents of the Alliance with the range of expertise found in Shanghai and across China, we will be able to aggressively pursue open innovation that transcends industry boundaries and rapidly develop technologies driving the business growth of Alliance members, Kobayashi added. Under the Alliance 2022 mid-term plan, 12 new zero-emission electric vehicles are due to be launched by 2022, and 40 vehicles are to be introduced with different levels of autonomy and over 90 per cent of vehicles will be connected cars globally. The plan also includes a commitment to operating robo-vehicle ride-hailing mobility services, it stated. Alliance Ventures is the strategic venture capital fund of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the worlds largest automotive alliance. The fund, launched in 2018 and co-located in Amsterdam, Silicon-Valley, Paris, Yokohama, Beijing and Tel Aviv, plans to invest up to $1 billion in its first five years to support open innovation. TradeArabia News Service The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is also going to be published in the same month. BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarmah dances with the crowd during an election campaign rally at Bahjani in Nalbari district of Assam on Tuesday in support of the party candidate Dilip Saikia of Mangaldoi parliamentary constituency. (Photo: PTI) Guwahati: The BJP general secretary Ram Madhav who on Tuesday reiterated the commitment of the BJP to bring in Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the parliament predicted that the Bill could be a reality in July. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is also going to be published in the same month. In what may be called an attempt to woo the Hindu Bengali voters, Mr Madhav addressed a press conference at Silchar in Southern Assams Barak Valley on Tuesday and said, The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is going to be published by July end. Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, will also come by then in the parliament. Once these tools come into effect, the issues relating to foreigners will be resolved, said Mr Madhav assuring the people that their woes regarding citizenship would end soon. He admitted that they have agreed to find some middle ground on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to address the concerns that is being expressed by different alliance partners as well as different sections of the people in the Northeast. He, however, asserted, We are also committed to deliver on our promise to the persecuted people. It is significant that the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had walked out of BJP-led alliance as the Bill, passed by Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, by relaxing eligibility rules for getting Indian citizenship for immigrants belonging to six minority (non-Muslim) religions Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan. It is seen in Assam and Northeast as a threat to the indigenous communities of the region as it goes against Assam Accord provision, which says that any person who came into Assam after midnight of March 24, 1971, would be identified as a foreigner. Mr Madhav who was in Silchar also refuted charges of politicisation of services in the ongoing election campaign and instead claimed that the party leaders cite the services to highlight the valour and commitment of the armed forces towards national security. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Modi also slammed manifesto of Congress for promising to repeal sedition law. Korba (Chhattisgarh): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday blamed the policies of the Congress for revival of Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh. Addressing an election rally in the industrial town of Korba, Mr Modi said Congress used to term Naxals revolutionaries, which boosted the morale of left-wing insurgents consequently leading to the rise of Maoists in the state. He cited the recent killing of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi along with four jawans in Chhattisgarhs south Bastar district of Dantewada to drive his point home. There is a conspiracy to push the state into violence once again. People need to be aware of the design, he cautioned. What kind of politics is this? While the Centre is working towards security and development of the country and its backward and tribal areas, there was a conspiracy to push the state towards violence and destruction, he added. Mr Modi also slammed manifesto of Congress for promising to repeal sedition law, saying that such a move would bolster divisive forces, Naxals and terrorists in the country. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. 1st time LS polls annulled over alleged use of cash for bribing voters. The DMK said that they will challenge the decision to cancel polls. New Delhi/Chennai: Polling in Tamil Nadus Vellore Lok Sabha constituency has been cancelled, the Election Commission said Tuesday, after Rs 11.5 crore in cash was allegedly seized from a warehouse belonging to a DMK candidate earlier this month. This is the first time that Lok Sabha polls to a constituency have been cancelled over alleged use of cash for bribing voters. So far, over Rs 500 crore have been seized from Tamil Nadu with Rs 205 crore in cash and the rest in gold. The EC notification on Tuesday said in the commissions considered opinion conducting polls in Vellore in such a vitiated atmosphere would severely jeopardise the conduct of free and fair election. Hence, the commission recommended cancelling the polls to the government which was accepted and poll for Vellore seat was annulled. Accepting the recommendation of the Election Commission dated 14th April 2019, President has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency, Tamil Nadu, the EC said in a statement. President Ram Nath Kovind issued the order rescinding the polls by amending portions of the original poll notification that called the electorate in Vellore to elect a member to the Lok Sabha. Vellore was to go to polls on Thursday, along with 38 other seats of Tamil Nadu as part of the second phase of general elections. Twenty-three candidates are contesting for the Vellore constituency. The cancellation of the poll evoked sharp reactions from the DMK which alleged it was an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to besmirch the party using the Election Commission. It is a murder of democracy. Modi has planned to wreck the polls by allegedly misusing the Enforcement Directorate, CBI, income tax and the Election Commission, DMK president M.K. Stalin told reporters in Tiruchirappalli. The DMK said that they will challenge the decision to cancel polls. The EC took the decision after the district police had filed a complaint against DM Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the income tax department on April 10. Mr Anand is the son of senior party leader Durai Murugan. On March 30, Income Tax officials had conducted searches at Mr Durai Murugans residence over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering, and seized Rs 10.50 lakh in alleged excess cash. Mr Durai Murugan, however, said that he had not concealed anything. Questioning the timing of the income tax departments operation, he alleged that the raids were a conspiracy by certain political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena. Two days later, the income tax officials claimed to have seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leaders associate in the same district. According to tax officials, they had seized evidences from the premises showing how the cash was bundled ward wise to bribe the voters. Mr Anand was charged under the Representation of the People Act for giving wrong information in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, the police said. The other two, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, were booked under bribery charges. In 2017, the Election Commission had postponed the by-election for the RK Nagar Assembly constituency after complaints of large-scale bribing of voters. Ruling AIADMK demanded that Mr Anand be disqualified from contesting the poll instead of cancelling the election. Cash stuffed in cartons and gunny bags neatly packed for ward and division-wise distribution were unearthed,officials had said. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Sidhu gave the statement while campaigning for Congress nominee Tariq Anwar in Katihar. Patna: Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has created a controversy by asking Muslims voters to unite and defeat the BJP. Mr Sidhu gave the statement while campaigning for Congress nominee Tariq Anwar in Katihar. Muslim brothers, I have come here warn you. They are trying to divide your precious votes by forming new political parties and bringing people like Mr Owaisi. If you people unite and vote then I am sure Mr Modi will lose, Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said. The statement is being seen by the NDA as highly communal and it can put Mr Sidhu under the EC scanner, which recently barred BSP chief Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, SP leader Azam Khan and Union minister Maneka Gandhi for speaking on similar lines during their campaigning. After Sidhus statement, BJP approached the EC and submitted a memorandum against the Congress party for trying to influence voters on communal lines. BJP leaders in Patna said, We have requested the Election Commission to initiate action against Navjot Singh Sidhu who gave the communal speech in Katihar. According to political analysts the two Mahagathbandhan partners Congress and RJD believe that All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisis entry could influence a large group of voters in the Seemanchal region where Muslims have maximum representation. As per an assessment, the Seemanchal region, which comprises of Katihar, Purnea, and Kishanganj account for more than 40 per cent of the minority population. In Kishanganj alone Muslim population is about 50 per cent. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. He said anyone challenging the family and dynasty faces abuse. Korba/Bhatapara (Chhattisgarh): Targeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the chief of the Grand Old Party had insulted an entire community with his all Modis are thieves remark. Addressing a rally in Korba in Chhattisgarh, Mr Modi said, They are saying whosoever has Modi in their names are thieves. What kind of politics is this? They have branded an entire community as thief that too only to get applause and to insult your chowkidar (watchman). Mr Modis statement was a response to Mr Gandhis earlier remark, Why all the thieves have Modi in their names be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We dont know how many more such Modis will come out. On Tuesday, Mr Modi hit out at Mr Gandhi for using improper language. This is the sultanate mentality which sees every exploited and neglected person as a slave. Today naamdar is abusing Modi and tomorrow they will abuse tribals and later everyone else, the Prime Minister, indirectly referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi as naamdar (dynast). He said anyone challenging the family and dynasty faces abuse. Mr Modi said surgical and air strikes against Pakistan and demonstration of Indias anti-satellite missile capability were all possible only because of the strength of peoples vote. Mr Modi said the Congress used to term Naxals as revolutionaries which boosted morale of the Leftwing insurgents consequently leading to rise of Naxalism in the state. He cited the recent killing of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi along with four jawans by Naxals in Dantewada to drive his point home. There is a conspiracy to push the state into violence once again. People need to be aware of the design, he cautioned. Addressing a rally in Odishas Sambalpur, Mr Modi sounded quite aggressive against the BJD government and gave a call to party workers to work seriously for a change of leadership in the state. Though the PM didnt name BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik, he took a dig at the him saying people in the country now knew who patronised the chit fund scam and mining scam mafias in the state. For the last 20 years, you blindly trusted the BJD government that has given protection to chit fund scam and mining mafia and is also embroiled in PC (percentage commission) culture. Now its time to bring a change in the leadership its time to eject the BJD government, Mr Modi said while addressing the partys Vijay Sankalp Samavesh. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. Fearing anti-incumbency, the BJP has already denied tickets to all 10 of its sitting MPs, including former chief ministers son. New Delhi: Three-time Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, a once-powerful BJP leader, is paying the price for losing the state during last years Assembly polls. His son, Abhishek, a sitting member of Parliament from Rajnandgaon, was also denied a ticket as the party decided against fielding him due to the simmering discontent among the state population against his rule. Sources stated that the sidelining of the once-tallest leader of the mineral-rich state has been complete this Lok Sabha poll season as the BJP has also not been using him as extensively as it did during election campaigning. Moreover, the recent selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha contest was clearly directed by the central leadership led by party chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the former chief minister seemingly been cut to size in the distribution of tickets process as well. Fearing anti-incumbency, the BJP has already denied tickets to all 10 of its sitting MPs, including former chief ministers son. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had secured 10 seats with the Congress bagging just one. However, just four months ago, political equations changed drastically as Dr Singhs 15-year government was booted out and the Congress stormed to victory with 68 seats in the 90-member state Assembly. Sources said the party feels that by maintaining a safe distance from the earlier government of Dr Singh and banking on the nationalistic appeal and image of Mr Modi would be able to salvage its pride in the Lok Sabha polls. It is learnt that by working on this strategy, the BJP hopes to make a drastic comeback and retain at least half of the seats that it had won during the 2014 general elections. However, the BJP faces an uphill task as its chief adversary, the Congress, has seemingly regained its self-confidence under the leadership of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and is giving a tough time to the once powerful saffron brigade in the state. In Chhattisgarh, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are being held in three phases the first on April 11 saw polling in the Naxal-infested constituency of Bastar, the second on April 18 will witness voting in three constituencies while the remaining seven will vote in the third phase on April 23. Papa roach: Chinese farmer breeds bugs for the table. The greatest effect of cockroaches are that they have great immunity, which is why humans will absorb its benefits after eating them. (Photo: AP) Beijing: As farmer Li Bingcai opened the door to his cockroach farm in southwest China, an insect the size of a dart flew into his face. Picking the critter off his forehead, he tossed it back into the dark room where some 10 million more of its kind scurried around, housed in wooden frames perched on shelves. The six-legged creatures may be a bugbear for most, but Li and other breeders in China are turning them into a niche business. Some sell cockroaches for medicinal purposes, as animal feed or to get rid of food waste. Li breeds them for something else: food for human consumption. A restaurant down the road from his small facility fries them up in famously spicy Sichuan sauce for the gutsier eaters. "People don't believe how good it is until they try some," Li told AFP, putting a live one into his mouth as others crawled all over the place and people visiting. Known colloquially as American cockroaches, the Periplaneta americana is one of the largest species and are consumed for a variety of ailments: stomach ulcers, respiratory tract problems, and even simply as a tonic. "The greatest effect of cockroaches are that they have great immunity, which is why humans will absorb its benefits after eating them," Li said, noting that in China cockroaches are dubbed "Little Strong" because they can live for days even after being cut in half. Tucked at the edge of bamboo-covered mountains in Yibin, Li's facility is a nondescript single-storey former farmhouse surrounded by crop fields and livestock farms. The breeding area is roughly the size of a badminton court, with windows sealed off with netting to prevent any great escapes. Security is paramount: In 2013, some one million cockroaches escaped a farm in eastern Jiangsu province roamed free after their greenhouse was destroyed. Li's cockroaches live between the spaces of square wooden frames that are held together by pipes and stored in racks lining two rooms. The place is kept warm and humid, leaving a smell reminiscent of damp clothes. Feeding time causes frenzy as Li heaps a mix of ground corn, fruit and vegetable peelings on small trays, the insects suddenly swarm the platforms, crawling over each other. "We breed them in a hygienic environment. They eat proper food nothing synthetic," he said. The Congress chief had said that while the doors of his party are open, time is running out. New Delhi: All eyes are on Wednesdays meeting where senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, partys in-charge of Delhi affairs P.C. Chacko and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh are expected to sit together to deliberate upon the formalities to forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in the national capital. A highly placed source said that if things do not materialise, there are chances the two parties may announce forging of the alliance next week only. On Tuesday, Congress asserted that it has shown a big heart by agreeing to form an alliance with AAP in Delhi. It said the ball is now in the court of chief minister Arvind Kejriwals party. It now rests with them to take a final call on the matter, which has been dragging for the past one month. A day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Mr Kejriwal indulged in a public spat over the issue, the grand old party said it has already offered AAP four seats in the national capital and now the decision has to be taken by it. The Congress chief had said that while the doors of his party are open, time is running out. Congress has offered AAP a 4:3 seat sharing formula four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three for itself. However, AAP has proposed a 5:2 ratio keeping five seats for itself and two for the grand old party. The arrangement has been arrived at on the basis of the vote-share of both the parties in the 2017 civic polls here. Congress has accused the Kejriwal-led outfit of backing out from its commitment as it is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab, and Chandigarh besides Delhi for a pre-poll understanding with Congress. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: Party president Rahul Gandhi has made it pretty clear that an alliance can be formed only in Delhi in a ratio of 4:3. He accused Mr Kejriwal of playing hide and seek and said Mr Gandhi has made the partys stand clear. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said: Congress is not giving even a single seat to AAP in Punjab where it has four MPs and 20 MLAs. In Delhi, where Congress has no MPs and MLAs, it is demanding three seats. Is this how agreements are made? AAP has already announced its candidates for the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi while Congress has finalised names of former Union ministers Ajay Maken and Kapil Sibal from New Delhi and Chandni Chowk constituencies respectively. The party has also decided to field state Congress chief and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshits trusted lieutenant Raj Kumar Chauhan for the Northwest seat. There are strong indications that Ms Dikshit may be asked to contest from East Delhi constituency. The seat was earlier held by her son, Sandeep Dikshit. Mr Sibal, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, could be replaced by former MP JP Aggarwal. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading. The Prime Minister kick-started his poll campaign in the state with a public rally at Wardha on April 1 and later in Gondia on April 3. Mumbai: In an indicator of Maharashtras importance in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold two more rallies on April 22 in Nashik and Nandurbar districts. Bharati Pawar and Union minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates from Dindori and Nandurbar Lok Sabha seats, respectively. Dindori is one of the three Lok Sabha seats in Nashik district. The Prime Minister will address the rally in Dindori first, followed by another one in Nandurbar on April 22, a senior state BJP functionary said. The Prime Minister kick-started his poll campaign in the state with a public rally at Wardha on April 1 and later in Gondia on April 3. He followed it up with a third public rally in Latur constituency on April 9, and will be holding yet another one at Akluj in Solapur district on April 17. We have planned eight rallies for Mr Modi in the state. The number may go up as more constituencies go to polls in the third and fourth phases as compared to the first two phases, said a senior BJP leader. As of now, two rallies each have been planned for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls, to be held on April 11, 18, 23 and 29 in the state, he added. Sources in the BJP said that four phases of the polls in the state will give enough time to top leaders to campaign vigorously in the state. However in Mumbai, which has six Lok Sabha seats, only one rally of the Prime Minister has been scheduled so far. Only one rally has so far been planned in the city where Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will share the stage with the Prime Minister, the leader said. Initially, cutting of around 2,238 trees have been proposed, as notice for the same has been pasted on the Aarey trees. Environmentalists have been emphasising on Kanjurmarg plot as an alternative plot, given its flat surface and lesser impact on environment. Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the application seeking an enquiry into alternative sites for the car shed for the Metro 3 line that has been proposed in Aarey Milk Colony. The activists who filed the petition in the apex court were disappointed stating that there was no proper hearing on Monday about the state governments procedures and merits for discarding other sites. Initially, cutting of around 2,238 trees have been proposed, as notice for the same has been pasted on the Aarey trees. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna was hearing the application when the court stated that the technical committee had earlier examined all the sites and found them unfeasible except Aarey Colony. While upholding the Bombay high courts earlier order, the apex courts bench gave the verdict based on the technical committees report and disposed of the application within a few minutes. While the state government had not filed an affidavit on the matter despite the apex courts directions earlier, the petitioner stated that its counsel was not given a chance to refute the rep-orts content. The application was disposed of within minutes and hence we could not refute that the same Kanjur-marg plot that was considered unviable, is now being used for Metro 6, said Amrita Bhatacharjee, the petitioner. We had submitted all the relevant information about the car shed and alternative sites. The state government was earlier given one weeks time to reply on why the alternative sites are not being considered. Howe-ver, they did not respond, said Zoru Bhathena. The car shed for Metro 3 has been proposed on 33.3 hectares of land in Aarey, also known as green lungs of the city. Another petition challenging the change in reservation of No Development Zone for the land to Metro car shed zone is yet to be heard in the apex court. Global technology major Siemens has appointed Arja Talakar as the new chief executive officer for its oil and gas unit. He will be based in Houston, US, the global headquarters for its parent operating company, Siemens Gas and Power. Talakar brings to this position extensive leadership experience. Prior to this, he was responsible for Siemens Saudi Arabia, a market and area of the world very important to the oil and gas and power businesses. Together with his team, Talakar has developed close ties and strategic partnerships with leading global oil and gas, energy and petrochemicals companies, and has succeeded in securing and executing large infrastructure projects. His focus has also provided broad exposure to Siemens' products, projects, solutions, and services, said a statement from Siemens. Talakar began his career with Siemens in 1996 as a rotating equipment and automation systems engineer and has since held several roles of increasing responsibility across the globe. His 23 years of experience with Siemens provides valuable perspective to the power and oil and gas businesses as energy markets continue to evolve in this transitionary period. As the new energy head, Talakar will provide a luncheon keynote address at the 50th annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston next month. The title of his presentation is Fostering a Smarter Energy Transition from Cleaner Hydrocarbons to Cost-competitive Renewables. "The energy industry is transforming amidst a digital and technological revolution, which moves us toward evermore complex, multi-modal and decentralized systems," said Arja. "Managing this complexity is the true challenge of shaping the new energy future requiring us to think and plan how we will, together with our customers, transform from today to tomorrow's energy ecosystem." Siemens Gas and Power (GP) is a global pacesetter in energy, helping customers to meet the evolving demands of today's industries and societies. GP comprises broad competencies across the entire energy value chain and offers a uniquely comprehensive portfolio for utilities, independent power producers, transmission system operators and the oil and gas industry.-TradeArabia News Service Pakistan was, is and will, unfortunately, remain an enemy state in all likelihood. The past three general elections of 2014, 2009 and 2004 were centred on the internal dynamics, national health and expected fate of the nation. The 2004 election was posited as a virtual referendum for the presumed economic feel good factor of the BJP-led NDA government that was encapsulated in its failed India Shining campaign. By 2009, the central electoral theme had evolved to the resilience of the incumbent Congress-led UPA government, with its campaign focused on rural India and on the underprivileged sections of society. The 2014 election was a brilliantly conducted campaign by the victorious NDA coalition against the perceived inertia, corruption and indecisiveness of the UPA government till then. While the security situation remained tense during that period of 15 years with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Northeasts insurgencies, the Maoist violence, etc, and with the continuing impasse in the state of Jammu and Kashmir Pakistan had still not arrived as the predominant theme that could galvanise the masses towards electoral gratification, as it was always the more daily-felt and impacted socio-economic urgencies of the mainstream that dominated all political battles. What started as the early green shoots of the uber-nationalistic discourse in the 2014 general election has over the past five years assumed a gargantuan and all-pervasive resonance and justification, with Pakistan at the epicentre of the entire narrative. The juxtaposition of Pakistan as the principal supporter of the terror industry is rightfully aimed at Islamabads continued and incorrigible dalliances with terror, in both, erstwhile Pakistan, as also in the so-called Naya Pakistan. However, beyond the deserved condemnation for its nefarious and historical terror support, Pakistan has been contextualised creatively to retrofit into virtually every possible argument concerning administrative decisions or indecisions. From arguing for or against issues like demonetisation, award-wapsi to questioning civil liberties the Damocles sword of a potential threat to banish to Pakistan has become a ready riposte. Even the main Opposition partys manifesto has been described as a planning document of Pakistans conspiracy. The parallel linking of the morale of our forces, along with the metaphor of Pakistan, further nails the muscularity, efficacy and stridency of the political pitch that naturally evokes passionate traction from the electorate, when conjoined. So, in the midst and throes of the ensuing electoral frenzy and counter-accusations, Pakistan has emerged as a powerful and pithy symbol of political galvanisation that is beyond questioning. While our bloody and unsettled history with Pakistan is both a reality and a threat in terms of our future security concerns and geopolitical and geostrategic implications, the expanded societal context of Pakistan as the preferred destination, idyll or idea for all those who disagree with partisan thought, however unrelated to Pakistan, is a great disservice to the democratic traditions, liberality and intellect of debate in India. This simplistic and instinctive threat has evolved to a level where Pakistan is auto-evoked at the drop of a hat, in case of any contrarian opinion to the ruling side of the day. The threats are particularly severe for any dissenting voices from the minority community as co-religiosity becomes the insidious rationale for accusations sadly ignoring the fact that the proud Indian Muslim had vehemently rejected the flawed idea of Pakistan in 1947 and chose to repose their faith in the idea, profundity and secularity of Mahatma Gandhis India. Pakistan also has immense distractive value, as indeed unifying abilities as the sentiments against the said country justifiably cut across the length and breadth of the country, especially after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot airstrikes. Electoral speeches across the country are not focusing on the enormity of the debilitating agrarian crisis, nor the crippling aftereffects of the job losses, nor about the dangerously escalating polarisation levels in society it is only referencing the constituents towards Pakistan, along with all its implied and extended allusions. In the face of its obviously emotive powers, the Opposition is falling short of connecting with constituents with its proposed agenda of socio-economic transformation, without the crucial hook of an enemy. Postured revisionism is a powerful tactic during the electoral heat and any talk like reforms by repealing the sedition law or Afspa the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, in force in J&K and parts of the Northeast is easy fodder for right-wing strategists who can position the same as an abject surrender, never mind the fact that Afspa has actually been withdrawn from multiple states in the Northeast by the present government itself. The shallowest instincts of political honesty are at play during the run-up to the elections herein the truth is usually the first casualty, and anything goes, as long as the overall narrative is able to seduce the required number of votes towards a partisan purpose. Pakistan was, is and will, unfortunately, remain an enemy state in all likelihood that needs to be accounted into our sovereign calculus however the proportion, tenor and context that we attribute to it will reflect our own political maturity, sobriety and morality. The toxic winner-takes-it-all approach may warrant a hate campaign for electoral purposes, but it also diminishes the national profundity and constitutionality that has been maintained from the Nehruvian times till the era of Inder Kumar Gujral, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh, where the balance, irrespective of electoral temptations, was never lost. Former Prime Minister Vajpayee had famously written in the visitors book at the Minar-e-Pakistan: A strong and stable Pakistan is in Indias best interest, along with wishing it the best. Vajpayees visionary statesmanship and balanced conduct had elevated the high moral ground for India, as suggested in the reciprocal accolade from a former Pakistani minister, Mushahid Hussain, who noted: While other Indian leaders have talked of peace, but only Vajpayee had the vision, will and moral courage to walk the talk; he realised that after the 1998 nuclear tests both Pakistan and India needed a fresh start based on new ground realities, including paying homage at the Minar-e-Pakistan. Decency, decorum and dignity were natural instincts for someone like Vajpayee, who incidentally was also behind the success of the Kargil War and the 1998 nuclear tests, without any unnecessary sabre-rattling or name-calling that lowers the discourse. Malware analysis shows that the platform has been developed and used for at least the last five years. Malware analysis shows that the platform has been developed and used for at least the last five years, with the earliest sample dated April 2013, and the most recent August 2018. Kaspersky Lab researchers have uncovered a technically sophisticated cyberespionage framework that has been active since at least 2013 and appears to be unconnected to any known threat actors. The framework, which researchers have named TajMahal, features around 80 malicious modules and includes functionality never before seen in an advanced persistent threat, such as the ability to steal information from printer queues and to grab previously seen files from a USB device the next time it reconnects. Kaspersky Lab has so far seen only one victim, a foreign-based central Asian embassy, but it is likely that others have been affected. Kaspersky Lab researchers discovered TajMahal in late 2018. It is a technically sophisticated APT framework designed for extensive cyber espionage. Malware analysis shows that the platform has been developed and used for at least the last five years, with the earliest sample dated April 2013, and the most recent August 2018. The name TajMahal comes from the name of the file used to exfiltrate the stolen data. The TajMahal framework is believed to include two main packages, self-named as Tokyo and Yokohama. Tokyo is the smaller of the two, with around three modules. It contains the main backdoor functionality, and periodically connects with the command and control servers. Tokyo leverages PowerShell and remains in the network even after the intrusion has moved to stage two. Stage two is the Yokohama package: a fully armed spying framework. Yokohama includes a Virtual File System (VFS) with all plugins, open source and proprietary third-party libraries, and configuration files. There are nearly 80 modules in all, and they include loaders, orchestrators, command and control communicators, audio recorders, keyloggers, screen and webcam grabbers, documents and cryptography key stealers. TajMahal is also able to grab browser cookies, gather the backup list for Apple mobile devices, steal data from a CD burnt by a victim as well as documents in a printer queue. It can also request the theft of a particular file from a previously seen USB stick, and the file will be stolen the next time the USB is connected to the computer. The targeted systems found by Kaspersky Lab were infected with both Tokyo and Yokohama. This suggests that Tokyo was used as first stage infection, deploying the fully-functional Yokohama package on interesting victims, and then left in for backup purposes. So far, only one victim has been observed - a foreign-based, central Asian diplomatic entity, infected by 2014. The distribution and infection vectors for TajMahal are currently unknown. The connection between Georgia and Azerbaijan is a unique model of cooperation in the region, Anadolu Agency concludes in its article Azerbaijan and Georgia: interdependence cannot be risked. Considering Transcaucasia as a transit zone for big projects and investments, one can say that the region is also a field of power projection for the neighboring states such as Iran, Russia and Turkey. However, besides the foreign interventions in the region, the relationship between three sovereign states of the region matters as well. Georgia stands with Azerbaijan in big economic investments and energy projects while its territory -- Javakheti -- is claimed by the Armenians. The same goes for Azerbaijan in that the countrys Karabakh region is still under Armenian occupation and Azerbaijan cooperates with Georgia for gaining access to the Black Sea and Europe. However, the relationship between Azerbaijan and Georgia has recently become strained with the opening of a bust of Mikhail Avagyan [1], an Armenian war criminal in the Upper Karabakh War, on Jan. 20, 2019, in the Georgian village of Bugashen. The current socio-political environment in Georgia should be appreciated well in order to make sense of the sudden escalation in tensions in between two peaceful neighbors. Georgians headed to the polls on Oct. 28, 2018 to cast their ballots for the last time to elect their president since the next election, slated for 2024, will be held by the 300-member Electoral College due to the constitutional changes. Salome Zourabichvili, an independent candidate backed by the party in power, the Georgian Dream, was elected as president of the country. Salome Zourabichvili is best remembered with her criticism of the former president Saakashvili for giving Georgian passport to Turks [2] and she, in turn, faced criticism herself for doing that in the region of Armenian voters, which can be seen as an attempt to exploit ethnic tensions for political purposes during an election period. The strength of the Georgian Dream is in the center of attention since the party chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man of the country, clearly dominates the socio-political life of the country. His personal wealth gives him ultimate power to determine the political scene of the country. In contrast with the other post-Soviet countries, Georgia has a mono-oligarchic system whereas other countries have poly-oligarchic systems to maintain balance to continue supporting various ideological groups. Many consider the pressures on Mamuka Khazaradze, one of the oligarchs and the former owner of the TBC Bank, as a political move. Khazaradze was accused of financing the protests in May-June 2018 against the government and his fierce move to run the Anaklia Port -- one of the greatest economic projects of Georgia -- along the company from the U.S. was in the center of the discussion about the possible economic rivalry against Ivanishvili. However, after pressures on Khazaradze and his resignation from the board of the TBC Bank [3], there is no one to challenge the power of Ivanishvili, which enabled him to bring Zurabishvili to presidency easier than expected. Georgia is a homeland for both Azerbaijani and Armenian minorities, where the former is the largest minority community of the country. Even if Georgians did not take part in the Upper Karabakh conflict, it is no surprise that the Armenian minority of Georgia is lobbying in Tbilisi and continuing their ideologically parallel line with Armenia on the issue of hostility against Azerbaijan. For a simple example, it is enough to look at the monument raised for Avagyan in Akhalkalaki, the Armenian minority region. The monument resulted in protests by the Azerbaijani community and a massive rally in front of the Georgian Parliament [4] in Tbilisi on Feb. 8, 2019. Both Baku [5] and the Azerbaijanis living in Georgia stated that the monument was a clear provocation and disrespect towards the massacred civilians in Karabakh. Protestors also condemned the attendance of Levan Izoria, Georgias minister of defense, at the 27th anniversary of the Armenian Armed Forces, celebrated in Georgia by the Armenian Embassy on Jan. 28, 2019. Salome Zourabichvili made her first official visit to Baku on Feb. 27, 2019, and in her statement after meeting with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, she made a strong emphasis on the territorial integrity of both countries [6]. Mentioning border security and concerns against occupation of sovereign territories, Zourabichvili also praised the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and economic ties between the regional countries. However, critics said that Zourabichvilis speech was politically correct and merely diplomatic, and therefore will not result in any serious action regarding the issue of occupied territories [7]. However, the bust was erected by the municipality, and not the central government, and it is not a secret that the Armenian minority has de facto control over the Javakheti region. Furthermore, the monument was not removed, but the protests stopped. The main problem for Azerbaijanis is that their representatives fall short of strongly lobbying for their rights and especially empowering local governance as Armenians do. The voices from Azerbaijan against the monument crisis and the general stance of Georgia on this issue were mainly negative, Georgia is being blamed for being simply ungrateful. No matter the size of the Azerbaijani investments in Georgia, Azerbaijan needs Georgian friendship as much as vice versa. From the Azerbaijani perspective, it can be dangerous to push Georgia deliberately towards Armenia even if the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey trilateral relationship is seen as a guarantor of peace and stability in the region. Despite the increased tensions between communities, Georgian president made it clear that Azerbaijani-Georgian relationship cannot be risked or confronted with a fait accompli. She simply described the relationship between the two countries as Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! [8] which gives hope for the future of an extremely important relationship despite border tensions, Armenian provocations, and the occupied territories. She was elected to ACICAs board as an executive director a year ago and succeeds Alex Baykitch AM as president. Arbitration in Australia is growing apace to support the increasing number of cross-border transactions taking place. At this thriving time, we are therefore particularly proud that Brenda has been elected as president of ACICA, said Paula Hodges, QC, head of Herbert Smith Freehills Global Arbitration Practice. Legal professionals vote to unionise amid pay gap Solicitors, paralegals, and barristers in the UK have decided to unionise to tackle the pay gap in the profession. The newly-formed Legal Sector Workers United (LSWU) is part of the trade union Voices of the World, which represents some of the lowest paid workers. The C8 Chevrolet Corvette prototypes were reportedly heading northbound on I75, just north of Lexington, KY - helmet tip to Corvetteblogger for bringing this sighting to our attention.And the lead car came with lighter camo compared to the other units, allowing us to notice more design details that define the front end (you'll find these details in the first video below). This reminds us of the C8 Corvette rendering we featured yesterday, which used the recent official New York appearance of the Mid-Engined Corvette as a starting point (the second slip below showcases this adventure).The nose of the upcoming Chevrolet halo car will be defined by aggressive, angular styling cues, headlights included.And you should keep in mind that the release of the supercar is close: July 18th, 2019 - as the windscreen sticker of the 2020 Mid-Engined Corvette that recently took New York by storm has let is slip, this is the date when the C8 'Vette is scheduled to be officially introduced.As with the outgoing C7 , there will be multiple flavors. The base car is expected to be animated by an updated version of the current Corvette Stingray's 460 hp 6.2-liter LT1, with the V8 expected to deliver around 500 ponies.Then again, forum chat mentions that the engine range will also include a twin-turbo V8, along with a hybridised version of the TT unit - the latter could climb all the way to 1,000 ponies. 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. Democratic 2020 frontrunner Bernie Sanders defended being a millionaire, called for immigration reform, criticized President Trump and won applause for his "Medicare for All" plan at a Fox News town hall Monday. Details: Moderator Bret Baier asked the Vermont senator if the 180 million people on private insurance would lose it under Sanders' proposal. Sanders said millions of Americans lost health insurance every year, perhaps because their employer changed insurers, whereas his plan would provide stability, prompting cheers from the crowd. The big picture: Sanders' town hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was at times a fiery affair, as he covered his stance on a variety of issues in discussions with Fox News Baier and Martha MacCallum during the hour-long program. A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted. On democratic socialism, Sanders said the concept is about "creating a government and an economy and a society for all," instead of just the top 1 percent. On Sanders' tax returns, which he released before the town hall that showed he's now a millionaire, he defended his status. He credited a recent book for his new wealth and said he wouldn't apologize for that. "Isnt that the definition of capitalism and the American dream?" Baier asked. Sanders disagreed and said he wanted a country where everybody has opportunity. "I paid the taxes that I owe. Why dont you get Donald Trump up here and ask him how much he pays in taxes?" On Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who's been accused of using stereotypes often perceived as anti-Semitic when criticizing Israel, the Jewish senator defended the freshman. "It is not anti-Semitic to be critical of a right-wing government in Israel," he said. He said she might need to do a better job in speaking to the Jewish community. On immigration, Sanders said there needed to be sensible, comprehensive reform. "We don't need to demonize immigrants," he said. On the Southern border, the senator said he would enlist "many, many more judges to expedite the process." On Trump, Sanders called the president a "pathological liar." However, he said Democrats would lose the 2020 election if they devoted all their time to attacking Trump. On Yemen, Sanders appealed directly to Trump on his favorite network to end U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led war. On Sanders' age, MacCallum asked the 77-year-old what he would tell voters who believe hes too old to be president. "Follow me around the campaign trail," he said. Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg said on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" Monday that he took a "leap of faith" by coming out at age 33 before the South Bend, Indiana, mayor's re-election in 2014. Theres this war that breaks out inside a lot of people when they realize that they might be something theyre afraid of. It took me a very long time to resolve that." Details: On the show, host Rachel Maddow noted she and the 37-year-old were both Rhodes Scholars, but she was already openly gay before she went through college and the scholarship selection process. "It would have killed me to be closeted for that long," she said. He agreed it was "really hard" and said he consulted with others before coming out. "I did make sure, as a kind of final way of coming out to myself, to come out to at least a couple of people in my life before I took office because I knew that I didnt want to have that psychological pressure of at least not being out to somebody." The turning point: The Navy veteran said it was his deployment to Afghanistan that put him "over the top." He realized you only get to be one person. "You dont know how long you have on this Earth, and by the time I came back, I realized, 'I gotta do something,'" he said. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to temporarily block a lower court's decision that would've stopped the Trump administration's policy to send asylum seekers to Mexico, the AP reports. The backdrop: On Monday, Judge Richard Seeborg's ruling paused the change to the American asylum system, saying the policy does not comply with federal law. The appeals court will hear the arguments from the government and civil groups next week. Immigration officials have halted the practice of sending asylum seekers to Mexico until the appeals court reaches a decision, per the AP. About 1,300 people have been returned to Mexico under this program. Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will temporarily allow asylum seekers to return to Mexico. There's an arms race underway for control of the world's money in the coming cashless society. While a future without hard currency notes may seem far away in the U.S. where more people write checks than use digital payments, globally, digital currencies are becoming the norm at a stunning pace. Why it matters: "We might have to be prepared for a future with a lot more digital money, maybe with cash, maybe substituting for cash," Benoit Coeure, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, said last week during a presentation at the IMF-World Bank meetings. As more people move into the middle class in emerging nations, they're showing a clear preference for cyber currency provided by tech companies. Mobile payment transactions in China rose to nearly $13 trillion in just the period from January to October last year, according to official figures from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology cited by the South China Morning Post. The transactions were largely on Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's WeChat Pay. More tech companies are moving into the space, as are unregulated currency systems like Bitcoin. The big picture: The Bank for International Settlements is studying digital currencies, and global central banks including Bank of Canada and Bank of Japan are looking into releasing central bank digital currencies. Cecilia Skingsley, deputy governor of Sweden's Riksbank, says there's a "50/50" chance the central bank launches an "e-krona" digital currency within the next 5 years. In Kenya, the M-Pesa is quickly replacing cash. Government data showed that in December Kenya had 31.6 million active users of mobile money services with a population of around 50 million. The other side: The world's largest financial institutions are working to ensure they aren't displaced in the developed world. The largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, US Bank and Wells Fargo, together launched online payment provider Zelle in 2017. According to JPMorgan's CFO of Consumer and Community Banking Sarah Youngwood, Zelle is now larger than Venmo. JPMorgan also announced JPM Coin in February, which allows global payment and settlement between clients on the blockchain. (Just don't call it a cryptocurrency.) The intrigue: While Jeremy Allaire, CEO of crypto finance company Circle, argues that in the cashless society no one will pay for the ability to pay, with commercial banks dominating both digital payments and debit and credit instruments, the banks would oversee the exchange of almost all money and could thereby control its cost. "Payments are to their nature a monopoly," Riksbank's Skingsley said. "It may look from the outside like you have very, very many choices as a customer, but it may be a very concentrated, private system in the middle." Go deeper: The cashless backlash is getting results Swelling nationalism and religious tensions are coloring two of the worlds largest democratic exercises, in India and Indonesia, thanks in part to incendiary misinformation proliferating on social media. The big picture: Both countries have among the largest populations of social media users on the planet, and cheap smartphones mean more people are being connected every day. The propaganda and fearmongering were seeing isnt new, but powerful tools are spreading it farther and more rapidly than ever before. In both cases, some of the most effective misinformation plays on voters suspicions. In Hindu-majority India, that often means portraying candidates or parties as pro-Muslim. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, meanwhile, President Joko Widodo (known as Jokowi) has been depicted as a closet Christian, or even a Chinese infiltrator. In India, political parties including the ruling BJP have nationwide cyberarmies that traffic in targeted misinformation rooted in domestic divisions and prejudices, the Atlantic reports. The consequences are extreme, from death threats to actual murders in the past year, more than two dozen people have been lynched by mobs spurred by nothing more than rumors sent over WhatsApp. In Indonesia, meanwhile, both leading presidential campaigns have been funding sophisticated social media operations to spread propaganda and disinformation through fake accounts on behalf of the candidates, according to a Reuters investigation. Challenger Prabowo Subianto has been both implicated and targeted in the spread of false stories. Reuters reports that hes been depicted as both impious and planning to create a caliphate, while his running mate has been portrayed inaccurately as gay. The big picture: The number of Indians with smartphones has more than doubled to over 500 million since the last national election in 2014. Ravi Agrawal, author of India Connected: How the Smartphone is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy, tells me that for millions of Indians, a smartphone is not only their first telephone. Its their first camera, their first computer, their first TV. That has revolutionized the way Indians discuss politics and access news. Savvy users can now fact-check what they hear from candidates or partisan media, Agrawal says but misinformation spreads quickly in a country with limited media and digital literacy. Regulators and tech companies are scrambling to keep up. As Axios Media Trends reporter Sara Fischer puts it, theyre creating war rooms, but theyre still losing the war. Facebook has a task force on the ground in India. It also removed 234 Indonesian pages, accounts and groups last Friday "for spreading polarizing political messaging," according to the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, placed limits last year on how many times a message can be forwarded in India after mob lynchings were linked to viral messages. Closed circuit messaging networks like WhatsApp and ShareChat make it harder to check and debunk fake news, and that magnifies any potential impact of fearmongering, Agrawal tells me. What to watch: Experts worry policies nominally intended to weed out fake news could actually lead to restrictions on free speech, Sara writes. The problem of disinformation is growing much faster than our ability to combat it. India's election began last week but will continue in stages through May 19. Indonesia goes to the polls on Wednesday. Go deeper: World's largest-ever exercise in democracy underway in India President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev made his first state visit to Tashkent. Following the talks with Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a package of documents was signed, including a joint statement saying that the parties intend to raise "multi-faceted cooperation to a qualitatively new level." Tokayev said that the relations with Uzbekistan a priority direction of Kazakhstans foreign policy. This is the second foreign trip of the new Kazakh president. In early April, he paid a state visit to Moscow. Thus, Russia and Central Asia are indicatively designated as Kazakhstans foreign policy priorities, thus pushing back China, the European Union and the United States. Tashkent appreciated the choice of Nur-Sultan. "We highly appreciate the fact that your first state visit as president of Kazakhstan was a visit to Uzbekistan. We see a clear manifestation of commitment to further deepen the strategic partnership between our countries by that. For us, Kazakhstan is a close neighbor and strategic partner. We are pleased with the positive dynamics all areas of cooperation," President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said. "By the way, Mirzieyev was one of the first presidents who congratulated Tokayev on assuming office and invited him to Uzbekistan. However, the Kazakh president's visit to Tashkent was planned long ago, since last year, when Astana [the former name of Kazakhstan's capital Nur-Sultan - Vestnik Kavkaza] was visited by the Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyev. Then first president Nursultan Nazarbayev awarded his Uzbek colleague the Dostyk Order of the 1st degree and declared 2018 as the year of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan. This year was declared the year of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan. Second president Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev was honored to open it," the Deputy Director of Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sanat Kushkumbayev, told Vestnik Kavkaza. At the talks in Tashkent, Tokayev and Mirziyoyev agreed to expand ties in the fields of transport, logistics and industrial cooperation. The neighbors will also develop their cooperation in the military-technical sphere and the space industry. "Relations between our countries are a successful and effective model of bilateral cooperation, which is an important factor for stability, security and sustainable development of the entire Central Asian region. In my opinion, concord between the goals and objectives of Nur-Sultan and Tashkent will serve as a powerful incentive for further strengthening our large-scale cooperation," Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev said in an interview with the Uzbek media on the eve of his visit to Tashkent. He also noted that he and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev have "a common vision on all issues of bilateral development, which is important." "I am convinced that the trusting and regular contacts that have developed between us will further deepen the fraternal Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan relations," Tokayev said. According to Kushkumbayev, the signed package of documents testifies to the big plans of Nur-Sultan and Tashkent. It was not by chance that the parties plan to increase trade turnover to $5 billion by 2020 regardless of any internal political agendas. For comparison, the trade turnover grew by almost 50% in 2018, exceeding $3 billion. The change of power in Kazakhstan is nearing completion. On June 9, the republic will hols the early presidential election. Chief Researcher of the Institute of Market Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences Nabi Ziyadullayev told Vestnik Kavkaza that Tokayev would have the best chances in the upcoming election, if the Nur Otan party nominates him as a candidate. According to the legislation, only public associations can nominate candidates for presidential elections in Kazakhstan. The congress of the Nur Otan party will be held on April 23. According to the researcher, "the state visit to Uzbekistan strengthened the status of Tokayev as incumbent president, not only in Kazakhstan, but also in the Central Asian region." According to him, it would be fair for Tokayev to remain in power for the next five years. Nabi Ziyadullayev stressed that over the past two years, relations between the two neighboring countries have been developing progressively: "Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan managed to resolve a number of issues that became the basis for regional integration. As long as the transit period continues in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan assumes leadership in the region." At the talks with Mirziyoyev, Tokayev called relations with Uzbekistan a priority direction of Kazakhstans foreign policy. According to him, this is the merit of the Kazakh and Uzbek presidents: "Dear Shavkat Miromonovich, you and first president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev raised interstate relations to a completely new level. For my part, as president of Kazakhstan, I intend to ensure the continuity of the Elbasy policy and continue the development of comprehensive Kazakh-Uzbek interaction. This is confirmed by the joint presidential statement signed by us today, which reflects our main achievements and further horizons of cooperation." According to Tokayev, there is a very high need in Kazakhstan for cooperation with "brotherly Uzbekistan." In addition to economic projects, the two presidents discussed international problems and the peaceful settlement of the situation in Afghanistan. Tokayev and Mirziyoyev reaffirmed their commitment to reviving the economy of Afghanistan and spoke in favor of the need to develop long-term good-neighborly cooperation with the Islamic Republic, including through implementing large-scale projects in the areas of transport communications, education and health. "We are facing common regional problems: terrorism, religious extremism, illegal arms trade, organized crime, illegal migration and drug trafficking. The situation in Afghanistan, which increases the security risks in our region, is of a serious concern. All this requires coordinated, systematic proactive efforts. Therefore, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are establishing links between law enforcement agencies and special services of the two countries," Tokayev noted. The Supreme Court yesterday declined to take up challenges to appellate rulings that upheld state subsidies in Illinois and New York aimed at keeping nuclear plants from shutting down. Why it matters: A number of climate advocates fear that allowing substantial amounts of nuclear generation which is facing stiff market pressures to go offline will be a major setback. The decision not to hear the cases is also important because some other states have crafted or are weighing plans to preserve their nuclear generation. What's happening: Here's Utility Dive on the high court's refusal to hear the challenges to so-called zero emissions credits programs in 2 states... "Since New York and Illinois approved their nuclear supports in 2016 and 2017, respectively, Connecticut and New Jersey have enacted programs to preserve the generators threatened with early retirement because of competition from natural gas and renewables." Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Ohio are weighing nuclear subsidies as well, they note. What they're saying: The rejection of the petition to review the appellate rulings affirms that "states have broad legal authority to enact programs that pay clean energy generators for their production of zero-emission energy," Harvard electricity law expert Ari Peskoe said in comments circulated to reporters. Go deeper: Trump striking out on coal and nuclear energy Egypt's parliament has passed a constitutional amendment that would allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who took power following a 2013 military coup, to remain in office until 2030. Details: The amendment would change the length of presidential terms from 4 to 6 years and includes a provision that would extend Sisi's current term and allow him to run once more before facing term limits. The changes must be approved in a referendum, though that might not be too difficult Sisi won a sham presidential election last year with 97% of the vote. Why it matters: Sisi rules Egypt as a dictator, and his brutal crackdowns on dissent have seen thousands jailed. He remains a close U.S. ally, however, and President Trump called him a "great president" during a White House visit earlier this month. The big picture: Elsewhere in North Africa, dictators are falling. Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika are out following mass protests. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was toppled in the Arab Spring of 2011, but 8 years later another Egyptian dictator is settling in for a long rule. A new International Crisis Group report explores how the U.S. got involved in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, where things went wrong, and what lessons have emerged for U.S. foreign policy. The big picture: The authors write that "Washington initially overestimated its ability to shape coalition conduct and underestimated the devastation of the conflict it was helping enable." They also note that both Barack Obama and Donald Trump elected "to continue this assistance even after the miscalculations had been exposed." Why the U.S. got in: The authors spoke with senior Obama administration officials who said they had viewed Yemen's president as a good partner, particularly on counterterrorism, and his ouster "as an affront to the international order." The officials "sympathized" with Saudi Arabia's security concerns over the Houthi insurgency, and "knew that Iran was offering the Houthis some support though, unlike Riyadh, they did not see this as a threat to the kingdom of strategic proportions." The Obama administration was also "highly conscious of growing strains in the relationships" with Gulf partners that had been "exacerbated" by the Iran nuclear deal. Where things went wrong: The Obama administration recognized the war as a quagmire "within months," during which time "evidence of the coalitions brutal tactics had already emerged." Many officials believed the U.S. could shape the coalitions behavior, though they "never had a realistic plan for achieving this objective, nor for what to do when efforts to achieve it failed." The Trump administration then "drew ever closer to Riyadh" and "efforts to press the coalition to temper its tactics and ultimately exit Yemens civil war faded further into the background." What to watch: One lesson for Washington, the authors write, is that leverage over security partners like Saudi Arabia "sometimes can only be effective by taking the hazardous step of putting the partnership on the line." Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rejected on Monday human rights activists and opposition leaders criticism of his angry behavior and sacking orders issued during a visit to a customs facility in Yerevan. Pashinian berated a customs officer, Hayk Martirosian, for not standing at attention when he began inspecting the facility on April 9. He then entered an office and noticed an apparently dirty Armenian flag there before ordering everyone working in the room to be fired. Human rights activists condemned Pashinians behavior, saying that he is not legally allowed to order such sackings. They also decried Martirosians humiliation in front of TV cameras. Martirosian and the chief of the customs terminal resigned from their jobs following the incident. The State Revenue Committee (SRC), which comprises the Armenian customs service, denied forcing them to quit. The SRC chief, Davit Ananian, also claimed that Pashinian urged, rather than ordered, their dismissal. Opposition politicians added their voice to the criticism. One of them compared Pashinians behavior to Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenkos periodical public outbursts, while another published an open letter earlier on Monday accusing the prime minister of violating labor rights. Pashinian scoffed at the letter. If things continue like this, the next letter will be about us violating Serzh Sarkisians labor rights, he said, referring to Armenias former leader overthrown in last years velvet revolution. Pashinian said that Martirosians failure to stand at attention in his presence highlighted customs officers lack of respect for many citizens dealing with the customs service. Why do you think we are getting hundreds of letters complaining about customs bodies? he told reporters. He could have avoid writing the [resignation] letter, Pashinian said of Martirosian. What should I do? My position is that such people must not be [in the customs service.] I think that no action aimed at enhancing [state bodies proper] attitude towards the national flag has been as effective as that incident, he added. The National Assembly on Tuesday refused to appoint a new member of Armenias Constitutional Court nominated by President Armen Sarkissian. Sarkissian picked Gor Hovannisian, a legal scholar based in Germany, from among three potential candidates for the vacant position in the countrys highest court. Hovannisian needed the backing of at least 79 members of the 132-seat parliament. Only 24 deputies voted for him in secret ballot, with 75 others voting against his candidacy. Hovannisians appointment appeared to have been blocked by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians My Step alliance which controls 88 parliament seats. Speaking before the vote, parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan cited discrepancies in documents submitted by him. Another senior My Step lawmaker, Nikolay Baghdasarian, said the documents do not prove that the nominee possesses at least 15 years of professional experience required for being a Constitutional Court judge. Hovannisian earlier held separate meetings with lawmakers from the three political groups represented in the parliament and answered their questions. He won unequivocal support only from the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) holding 16 seats. LHK leader Edmon Marukian praised Hovannisian before the vote, saying that the candidate is not connected to Armenias current or former governments. President Sarkissians two other Constitutional Court picks were rejected by the former parliament last fall. One of those nominees, Vahe Grigorian, reportedly enjoys the backing of Pashinian and political allies. Grigorian was one of the three candidates considered by Sarkissian this time around. Grigorian has a long history of human rights advocacy. He has also cooperated with opposition groups that challenged former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian. In particular, Grigorian represented Levon Ter-Petrosian and his Armenian National Congress party in Constitutional Court hearings on their appeals against official results of a 2008 presidential elections and parliamentary elections held in 2012 and 2017. The court refused to annul the election results. By Leman Mammadova The British company Trans Global Projects Group (TGP) has received the right to participate in the construction of power plants in Sangachal. As many as 22 engines of 17.2 MW each will be installed at the 400 MW station, according to the foreign media. TGP will supply them. The Trans Global Projects Group has had a presence and team in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus region of Eurasia since the early 1990s. Over the course of 90 days, TGPs specialists worked with partners in both Turkey and Azerbaijan to plan and execute the shipment. The transport of the gigantic engines, measuring 14m x 4.5m x 6.35m, had to be completed before the winter freeze ended the navigable season for the Volga-Don canal The total weight of giant engines 14 meters long, 4.5 meters wide and 6.35 meters high is 295 tons. The first batch of engines was delivered from Turkey, loaded onto three ULUS cargo ships and delivered to Baku in 10 days. The ships overcame the distance along the Volga-Don canal with a length of 2,745 km. Start of operations of the new power plant, which will be integrated into the public power grid, is slated for 2020. In the summer of 2017, Azerenergy announced plans to build a new power plant Sangachal-2 with a capacity of 385 MW in the village of Sangachaly of the Garadagh district of Baku. The goal of the project is to satisfy the growing demand for electricity in Azerbaijan. The company expects to use the most advanced technological equipment during the construction of the station - more than 20 W20V50SG engines manufactured by the Finnish company Wartsila. At present, the Sangachal thermal power plant, commissioned in December 2008, is operating in Azerbaijan. It consists of 18 units with a capacity of 16.7 megawatts each. The station uses natural gas and fuel oil as fuel. The station is mainly used to power the Sangachal terminal. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Hajigabul Gushchulug, a poultry factory in Azerbaijan's Hajigabul district, has started exporting eggs to Qatar, a source at the company told Trend. The source noted the volume of deliveries amounted to 1,000 packages or 36,000 eggs. "We expect to increase the number of eggs exported to Qatar to 40,000-45,000. The factory produces about 30-35 million eggs per year," the source said. The source added that the factorys eggs are shipped to Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Previously, the factory also produced chicken meat, broiler chickens. Manufactured products have a certificate of conformity issued by the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents of Azerbaijan. The factory uses equipment from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Leman Mammadova The cost of the EU4Climate regional project on combating climate change, which covers Azerbaijan, is 8.8 million euros, Michael Rupp, head of the sector for connectivity in the Eastern Partnership countries of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, told Trend. In Azerbaijan, EU funds of around 830,000 euros will go for the implementation of nationally important climate change policies and practices. Rupp noted that the project covers all sectors, including energy, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), transport, etc. The main goal of the project is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the activities in all sectors. He noted that the experts of the UN Development Program experts and Azerbaijan will discuss the current situation in the country and decide what is best to do and where to start from. Rupp added that Azerbaijan has set a goal to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. This is not an easy task, so all agencies and ministries should work together, he said. On April 15, Baku hosted the presentation of the EU4Climate project being implemented by the UN and the EU. The EU4Climate project is being implemented to help the Eastern Partnership countries to combat climate change, prepare a strategy for the development of preventive measures in this area, as well as to help integrate climate change issues into the main policy of states. The project will be implemented until 2022 in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia. In all six countries, the project will contribute to accelerating the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 accompanying Sustainable Development Goals. The project is implemented in line with the framework of the Easter Partnership 20 Deliverables for 2020 policy, which aims to deliver and demonstrate tangible results to improve the lives of citizens across four major areas: economic development; good governance; better connectivity and environment; and social mobility. Earlier, EU funded projects on Promoting Development of Alternative Sources of Energy in Azerbaijan for 2011-2014 and the precursor of this program, the 4-year Regional Clima-East Project for the period 2013-2017, covering six countries. The current project will help implement measures in the Paris Climate Agreement in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan set a goal to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere by 35 percent by 2030. The project envisages contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, development towards a low-emissions and climate-resilient economy as well as harmonization of national legislation in accordance with the respective EU acquits as provided by bilateral agreements with the EU and in the context of Energy Community Treaty. It will also ensure the mobilization of climate finance to deal with the threat of climate change. By Leman Mammadova An enterprise for the assembly of Belarusian tractors in the Turkish city of Kirikkale was opened on April 16. The Azerbaijan-Belarus enterprise for the assembly of tractors of the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) in Turkey will be put into operation in July 2019. BELARUS tractor assembly plant is established in the Turkish city Krkkale with the support of the Ganja Automobile Plant, which has been cooperating with MTZ for many years. The total area of the enterprise is 15,000 square meters. According to the BelTA, a special version of the BELARUS-1221 model of the Euro-4 environmental standard has been developed for the Turkish market. This year, we plan to produce 100 tractors, next year 200. We intend to increase the production to 2,000 units. The capacity of the plant will allow to assemble up to 3,000 tractors per year. We just need the personnel for it. Specialists of MTZ and Ganja Automobile Plant will train the local workers in Turkey, MTZ Director General Fyodor Domotenko told media. He noted that tractor components in large volumes will be supplied to the Ganja Automobile Plant, and further to Kirikkale for final assembly. It was very expensive for Belarus to open its own production of tractors in Turkey. Thanks to the support of the Ganja Automobile Plant and close ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey, about $ 1 million was saved on the construction of only one building of the enterprise, he added. The investment cost of the project is $17 million. A total of $5 million has been spent on it to date. Presently, the Ganja Automobile Plant specializes on assembling of Russian Oka and UAZ cars, Belarusian MAZ and Belarus tractors, Chinese Changan vans & trucks and other vehicles. Ganja Automobile Plant is the largest assembly plant of Belarusian tractors outside the Eurasian Economic Union. Launched in 2004, the plant organizes the assembly of all types of trucks and tractors of Belarusian production since 2006. So far, more than 10,000 Belarusian tractors and specialized equipment have been assembled at the Ganja automobile plant over the years. Earlier, the Ganja Automobile Plant signed an agreement with the Belarusian company. Thus, Belkommunmash will supply four large-capacity E321 electric buses to Azerbaijan to launch a pilot electric bus route in the Ganja city in 2019. In the future, on the basis of the Ganja Automobile Plant, it is planned to organize a joint assembly production. The parties signed an agreement on cooperation during the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation to the enterprise. Electricity savings in the operation of the electric bus compared with the trolley bus is 14 percent. Last year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Belarus was about $ 204 million, which is approximately $ 56 million more than the figure of 2017. However, the volume of trade between Azerbaijan and Belarus reached $ 60 million in January-February this year. The imports from Belarus to our country amounted to $ 55.9 million, while the volume of exports from Azerbaijan to Belarus was $ 3.3 million. Products of the machine engineering industry, petrochemistry, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, military-technical cooperation made up the main Belarusian export items to Azerbaijan. In turn, Azerbaijan mainly exports to Belarus petrochemicals, vegetables, fruits and other non-oil products. --- Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova Exhibition of Azerbaijani photographer Maya Bagirova solemnly opened at Art Tower Gallery. Speaking at the event, head of the Arts Council Dadash Mammadov told about cooperation with the French embassy in Azerbaijan and ongoing joint projects, Trend Life reported. "We are always happy to support Francophonie Weeks held annually in Azerbaijan. As part of the festival, this year, we are holding an exhibition of talented photographer Maya Bagirova, who lives in France. She created a beautiful series of photographs dedicated to Paris. But, this is not the Paris which tourists are used to see. Maya conveyed the aura of the city, its beauty, details that many do not notice. This is a new look on the capital of France," said Mammadov. In her speech, Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan Aurelia Bouchez praised the creative work of the national photographer. The diplomat stressed that the photos of Maya Bagirova received a number of awards. In 2015, the photographer took part in the exhibition at the gallery Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. In 2018, Paris Match magazine presented her a prestigious award. Maya Bagirova added that this is her first solo exhibition, despite the fact that she has repeatedly presented her works in group expositions. "I express my gratitude to the organizers for their support. The works presented at the opening day were created in the first year of my life in Paris. I wanted to show freedom in them, maybe that's why there are a lot of birds in the photos: for me they are a symbol of freedom," said Bagirova. A series of photographs by Maya Bagirova can be described by the word "impression". Maya Bagirova moved to Paris in 2016.The student of one of the leading photography schools in Europe- Speos Paris Photographic Institute, Maya Bagirova discovered Paris through the photography. Walking around an unfamiliar city, she became acquainted with its history and wonderful atmosphere. The exhibition was organized with the support of the Icherisheher State Historical-Architectural Reserve, the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, the French Embassy in Azerbaijan and Arts Council Azerbaijan. The days of French language were held in Baku from March 30 to April 15. The embassies of France, Belgium, Costa Rica, Greece, Hungary, Morocco, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Switzerland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia in Azerbaijan, as well as the European Union took part in the festival. A number of events were organized as part of Francophonie Weeks. The International Organization of La Francophonie was created in 1970. Its mission is to embody the active solidarity between its 88 member states and governments (61 members and 27 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 300 million French speakers. IOF organizes political activities and actions of multilateral cooperation that benefit French-speaking populations. Its actions respect cultural and linguistic diversity and serve to promote the French language, peace and sustainable development. Overall, the days of French language and culture are annual spring event in Azerbaijan that brings French-speaking people together. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Calling Armenian-Azerbaijani armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh a war between two ethnic groups is a bit of stretch. Confrontation of 1991-1994 created militaristic image of beautiful Armenia, which inspired intelligentsia of the late 1980s, which faced harsh post-Soviet reality with no room for romanticism. Consolidating idea of Armenian nationalism, based on military aggression in Nagorno-Karabakh, became a national dogma for Armenians, which promised them questionable triumph. Despite relatively successful military occupation, Armenians suffered psychological defeat in this war. Ideals of socially and economically successful state - "South Caucasus' Switzerland" - have been replaced with negative and unpromising idea of defensive war of attrition. Tragedy of the situation is aggravated by the fact that extreme conditions, in which Armenia finds itself, were created by the hands of those in power. This is equally perceived by Armenians of older and oldest generations, but simply can't be understood by their children and grandchildren. And younger generation is the one that has to deal with all the burden of war. Thousands and thousands of young people died at the front, most of them were from simple families. It's important to mention that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict continues to be a moral ideal for young Armenians, living many kilometers from the contact line, while Armenian youth, living far beyond the South Caucasus region, tries not to mention this topic, focusing on diaspora as they seek an opportunity for their own self-realization. In Armenia itself, young people are exploring options of becoming a part of the diaspora, reinforcing ethnic dispersion. The ideals of Armenia, built on war and occupation, don't attract many people, especially against the background of constant threat of resumption of conflict, which is why most of the population has already left the country and this process continues. People are the most valuable capital, and a stable outflow of population will sooner or later lead to weakening of the already poor economy of Armenia. This conflict is not beneficial to either Armenia or Azerbaijan. This is the crisis in post-Soviet space, in which children and grandchildren of Soviet Armenians and Soviet Azerbaijanis are participating. Azerbaijan has to increase its military spending annually, while the most conscious part of Armenian diaspora, unwilling to finance the war, doesn't have an opportunity to invest in Armenian economy. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and infrastructure in the occupied areas have been destroyed, and it will take years to restore all of this. This applies to hundreds of homes, schools, medical facilities and other infrastructure that ensure functioning of the once thriving cities and districts, where Armenians and Azerbaijanis could live in peace as friends. Frozen Karabakh conflict doesn't allow sides to work on reconstruction without the risk of complete destruction of the achieved results. In conditions of globalization, virtual war for "historical territories" threatens Armenian ethnos with isolation. Nationalism and aggression of Armenian separatists divides the international community into friends and enemies of Armenians. Those who praise occupation are considered friends of Armenian people, while any other point of view is subjected to severe criticism. As for Azerbaijan, Karabakh conflict led to the consolidation of forces around idea of preservation of sovereign statehood. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was imposed on Azerbaijan from the outside through provocation of separatist tendencies in the areas of traditional residence of Lezgins, Avars and Talyshs. Azerbaijani society has tried to prevent a split. Occupation has caused hostility between two peoples who have lived peacefully for centuries, but hatred cannot serve as the basis of society. Modern Azerbaijanis don't hate Armenians (this is confirmed by numerous contacts and cooperation of representatives of two peoples outside the South Caucasus region), while they firmly support preservation of sovereign statehood. Today, Baku is limited solely by the norms of international law, as well as experience of diplomatic relations in resolving consequences of the conflicts. After return of the occupied territories, principle of statism will become the basis of their economic, social, administrative and humanitarian development, since restoration of any autonomy is contrary to interests of both Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples. By Laman Ismayilova The organizers of ANIMAFILM Baku International festival held a meeting with the pupils of Landau School in Baku. The children were happy to host Elchin Hami Akhundov, famous animation director of Azerbaijan. He took this opportunity to explain the process of creating animated films to the schoolchildren and answered their questions. Director of ANIMAFILM Festival Rashid Aghamaliyev addressed Landau Schools pupils via video message inviting them to the 2nd ANIMAFILM Festival, to be held this October in Baku. Aghamaliyev also promoted the opportunity to join the Festival's Kids Jury consisting of five children. Afterwards, the children watched the fragments of the 1st ANIMAFILM Festival and expressed their great interest to join the festivals second edition. Elchin Akhundov presented the book Azerbaijani animation and gave an insight view on the history of national animation. Then the animated film "Jirtdan the Giant" was screened. The kids discussed their impressions about the film. The member of Festival's Organizing Committee Mirvari Aghakishiyeva played an interactive game called "Animation of Future" together with the schoolchildren. Thus, the kids became the authors of their own animation heroes and drew them on paper. The Organizing Committee of the festival will inform about selection rules for Kids Jury soon. One of the children of Landau School may join Kids Jury. Second edition of ANIMAFILM - Baku International Animation Festival will be held in the capital of Azerbaijan on October 18-20. The festival will see dozens of foreign and national animated films for children and adults for three days. The main goal of the organizers is to create an annual event that will delight the local and foreign audience and professionals, as well as promoting the development of animation art in Azerbaijan. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Laman Ismayilova The meeting of the Board of the Azerbaijan Union of Cinematographers has been held in Baku. At the meeting, some of the key themes including the order of President Ilham Aliyev "On certain measures for the development of cinematography of Azerbaijan" and the project "Concept for the development of cinematography of Azerbaijan" were discussed. The cinematographers exchanged views on creating a fund to help veterans and young cinematographers, Trend Life reported. Also, the national prize "Yeni nefes" (New Breath) was established for young filmmakers. The prize will be awarded to young filmmakers who are members of the Azerbaijan Union of Cinematographers. The awarding ceremony will be held annually on August 2, the Day of National Cinema. In addition, more than 30 actors working in the field of cinema joined the Union. The main activity of the Azerbaijan Union of Cinematographers is presenting national films in the international arena, their shooting, organization of international symposia and conferences, and formation of cinema's infrastructure. Azerbaijan has a rich history and has significantly contributed to the international film industry. Today, the Azerbaijani cinema has come to be an internationally recognized modern art enjoying a huge popularity and recognition at international film festivals, which frequently award the national films. Over the past years, more than 300 films and 1,200 documentaries, as well as hundreds of cartoons were filmed. Shortly after the Lumiere brothers from France invented cinematograph, an apparatus for making motion pictures, in 1895, Russian photographer and cameraman Alexandre Michon began shooting motion pictures that depicted everyday life in Baku. The first short, silent film of Azerbaijani cinematography "You are caught" was shown in Baku on August 2, 1898. The audience witnessed a historical event - the birth of Azerbaijani cinematography. To honor this historical day, the national leader Heydar Aliyev signed an order on December 18, 2000, to declare August 2 as professional holiday of cinema workers Day of Azerbaijani Cinema. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend As a result of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories, 132 kilometers of the Azerbaijani-Iranian state border are not under our control, deputy prime minister, Chairman of Azerbaijans State Commission on Combating Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking Ali Hasanov said. He made the remarks at the 36th International Drug Enforcement Conference, held in Baku on April 15, Trend reports. "These territories are occupied by Armenian units. The lands under the Armenian occupation are very fertile and drugs are being cultivated here and laboratories are built for processing," the deputy prime minister said. Subsequently, a monitoring group was created, but Armenia did not let it into the occupied territories, Hasanov said. Responding to a question about the sale of psychotropic drugs in Baku pharmacies, the deputy prime minister said that serious measures have been taken to prevent such cases, which have recently been fully eliminated. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend A meeting was held between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on April 15, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. The meeting was held on the initiative of the Russian side and with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The meeting was also attended by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. During the meeting, a detailed exchange of views took place on the main issues of resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this context, prospects for advancing the negotiation process on the conflict were considered, taking into account the outcome of the meeting between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, held on March 29 in Vienna. Also, the meeting participants exchanged views on measures to reduce tension in the conflict zone, as well as on possible joint activities in the humanitarian sphere. The ministers agreed to take practical steps to improve relations between the peoples of the two countries, including reciprocal visits by media representatives. The meeting participants agreed to continue contacts in the near future. At the end of the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted by the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend On 15 April, Foreign Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia Sergey Lavrov, Elmar Mammadyarov, and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held a working meeting in Moscow at the initiative of the Russian side, Trend reports citing OSCE. "The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, and Stephane Visconti of France), as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, joined the meeting. "As a follow-up to the agreements reached by President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan at their summit in Vienna on 29 March of this year, the participants in the meeting discussed the situation at the border and the line of contact, as well as the prospects for establishing humanitarian co-operation. They also exchanged detailed views on key aspects of the settlement process. "The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia reaffirmed the intention of the parties to continue their efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through political and diplomatic means. The Ministers emphasized their interest in further stabilization of the situation in the conflict zone, in particular during agricultural activities. They also agreed to take measures, on a mutual basis, to allow families to have access to their relatives held in custody in the respective detention centers of the parties. The Ministers expressed their willingness to start concrete work on establishing contacts between people, including through mutual visits of media representatives. "The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group reiterated their commitment to the mediation mission aimed at achieving a sustainable peace in the region. The participants of the meeting agreed to continue their contacts in the near future," reads the statement. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov has left for the Republic of Poland with an official visit, the ministry told Trend. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on April 14 that his country had set up a company to work within the framework of the INSTEX proposed by Europe (a tool for supporting trade exchanges with Iran) and informed the EU of this. "Iran has created an institute corresponding to INSTEX, and announced its formation in the EU," Zarif said at a meeting with Italian Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Vito Rosario Petrochelli in Tehran, Fars News reported. He also stressed strong relations between Tehran and Rome, expressing hope for further expansion of economic ties during the tenure of the new government of Italy. During the meeting, the parties also discussed the U.S. measures against Iran and developments in the region and the world. The Central Bank of Iran announced that the company corresponding to the European Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was registered in Tehran on March 20. Earlier, the head of the Central Bank said that a special trade and financial institution (STFI) would be created in Iran to work with INSTEX to ease trade restrictions in the face of U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran in 2018. Recently, a European delegation visited Iran to complete the arrangements, but Iranian officials expressed doubts that INSTEX would play an important role in overcoming the economic isolation of Iran. The honesty of Europeans in connection with the nuclear deal is seriously disputed by the Iranian masses, who are unhappy with the negotiations with their European counterparts. INSTEX is a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) established in January 2019 by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran. The SPV is headquartered in Paris, France, and is headed by German national Per Fischer, who formerly served as Head of Financial Institutions at Commerzbank. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend Pakistani Finance Minister Asad Umar revealed on Monday that Pakistan would sign a bailout agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would be worth $6-8 billion, Trend reported citing Geo TV. Briefing the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs chaired by Faizullah Kamoka, the finance minister said the IMF finalised a bailout package for Pakistan during talks between the two sides at a recent visit by the Pakistani delegation to the United States. Pakistan would receive funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank immediately following the IMF bailout, he said. Umar said the IMF package would ease off pressure from the country's foreign reserves. External account pressure reduced Pakistan's international reserves to $6.6 billion by mid-January 2019, but with short-term financing from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China, foreign reserves increased to $10.5 billion at the end of March. The finance minister further assured that the capital market would also improve following the IMF programme. Umar told the committee that an IMF mission will visit Islamabad during the last week of April, which is when the bailout package amount will be finalised. Speaking to media later, he said the public will not be impacted by the IMF agreement, and the government has no plans to raise electricity prices, the minister said. Umar said he met with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Marshall Billingslea during the US visit, who assured him that any decision would be taken on technical grounds. Pakistan will send a draft detailing its implementation on FATF's recommendations by today, he said. A delegation of FATF will visit Pakistan in the third week of May to review the implementation efforts. IMF did not object to an asset declaration scheme proposed by Pakistan, sources said earlier, pointing out that Pakistan had already shared a draft of the proposed scheme with the IMF and the FATF. Asad Umar is also set to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and take him into confidence regarding the IMF talks. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, speaking to media earlier today, said the finance minister will inform the nation regarding the IMF agreement in the coming days. Chaudhry said the country can expect some major news about the economy within the next two days. Pakistans economy is moving towards strength, he said, adding that there had been positive progress with the Paris-based anti-terror laundering watchdog FATF as well. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Revenue Hamad Azhar said an agreement in principle had been reached on all outstanding issues with IMF during the finance minister's recent successful visit to the US. He said technical details and formalities would now be finalised during the IMF's staff-level visit to Pakistan later this month. Furthermore, the office of the IMF resident representative said in a statement that Pakistani authorities and global lender's staff held constructive discussions during the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC towards an IMF-supported programme. "At the request of the [Pakistani] authorities, an IMF mission will be going to Pakistan before the end of April to continue the discussions," it said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Trend A regional meeting of the heads of the Central Asian Missions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is taking place (April 15-16) in Ashgabat, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Representatives of the OSCE secretariat, the OSCE program offices in Central Asia, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the heads of the EU delegation in Central Asia are taking part in the event. During the meeting, it was emphasized that in modern conditions, the states of Central Asia play a prominent role in addressing topical issues related to strengthening international security, the report said. The headquarters of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA) is located in Ashgabat. Regular events with the participation of delegations from all countries of the Central Asian region in this center made it possible to focus on general topics, the most important of which include preventive diplomacy as a tool for achieving results in the process of ensuring security and stability in the world, managing transboundary water and energy resources, the fight against cross-border crime and drug trafficking and the situation in neighboring Afghanistan, the UNRCCA website reported earlier. This is while during one of the sessions of the UN General Assembly, Turkmenistan voiced the initiative to hold a forum in Ashgabat on cooperation and security in Central Asia. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov The "VEB.RF" state corporation will join the Rosatom project on the NPP construction in Uzbekistan. Two state-owned companies signed an agreement during the 11th International Forum "AtomExpo-2019" "Nuclear technologies for a better life," RBC reports. Rosatom's financial director Ilya Rebrov explained that VEB will provide construction contractors with guarantees and trade finance. He considers most likely, the NPPs construction in Uzbekistan will be carried out by providing state credit. Earlier, Assistant to the President of Russia Yury Ushakov said that the cost of the project will be about $ 11 billion, and the first power unit should be launched in 2028. Rosatom declared readiness to build NPP in Uzbekistan back in 2017. Alexei Likhachev, the General Director of the state corporation said that their proposal is to build in Uzbekistan, a station of two blocks, modern units of the three plus generation of the Water-water power reactor-1200 in the time that the Uzbek side considers acceptable. The head of Rosatom emphasized it is assumed that the capacity of each unit will be up to 1.2 GW. For Uzbekistan, the project will be of great national importance, due to the diversification of the energy complex, which means ensuring the energy security of Uzbekistan. In October 2018, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed an agreement on the NPP construction in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan. The model of the future NPP was made on the model of the existing Novovoronezh NPP-2. At "Atomexpo-2019" on April 15, the head of the Rosatom Supervisory Board, Sergey Kiriyenko, said that today, in the portfolio of Rosatom's foreign orders there are 36 blocks in 12 countries. State Development Corporation VEB.RF operates under federal law on the development bank. The primary objective of the national development institution is to contribute to long-term economic growth. In partnership with commercial banks, VEB.RF provides financing for large-scale projects to develop the countrys infrastructure, industrial production and social sphere, strengthen its technological potential and improve the quality of life. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Uzbekistan were established on March 20, 1992. The trade turnover between Russia and Uzbekistan in 2018 increased by 21 percent to $5.7 billion. The structure of Russia's exports to Uzbekistan includes metals and products, wood and pulp and paper products, machinery, equipment and vehicles, food products and agricultural raw materials, mineral products, chemical products. The structure of imports of Russia from Uzbekistan includes textiles and footwear, chemical products, machinery, food products and agricultural raw materials, metals and products from them. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The opposition movement in Venezuela has been stuck. Today it is absolutely clear that Juan Guaido, self-proclaimed president of Venezuela supported by Washington, cannot succeed rapidly. President-elect Nicolas Maduro has withstood. This, however, does not mean that a coup or a revolution initiated by Guaido has choked. Experience suggests that the United States does not give up its plans so quickly and easily. Exactly Washington but not Juan Guaido has finally become the number one enemy of Caracas. Previously, the revolutionary had been regarded dismissively as American puppet, and today the Venezuelan authorities recall him as a last resort - when it is impossible not to name him. The exchange of blows is carried out with Washington. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "a face with shiny cheeks," and Colombian President Ivan Duque - an "ungrateful lackey." So the minister commented the meeting of Pompeo and Duque in the Colombian city of Cucuta, bordering Venezuela, from where the Secretary of State addressed Caracas with a hypocritical call to open the border at least "to provide humanitarian assistance to the poor population." Arreaza called his move the halo of pharisaism - after imposing a criminal blockade against Venezuela Washington speaks about humanitarian aid. "The consequences of the criminal blockade imposed by the US administration on Venezuela are incalculable. They bring death, suffering and poverty. And he with his shiny face proposes a pseudo-help during the show in Cucuta," Arreaza said. According to the Latin American Center for Geopolitical Studies, due to the American sanctions, Venezuela has lost 350 billion dollars since 2013. The level of cynicism of the US Secretary of State is off the scale, the minister said, calling the meeting between Duque and Pompeo "a demonstration of subservience and servility" and "the most low-grade and cheapest show." Arreaza reminded that the abandoned town of Cucuta lives at the expense of the Venezuelan economy. President Nicholas Maduro did not remain silent either, demanding from the United States "respect and the cessation of imperialist attacks", as well as a revision of all its hostile policies. He recalled that April 11 was the 17th anniversary of the attempted coup against revolution leader Hugo Chavez. "The people of Venezuela, full of dignity, once already defended themselves against conspiracies and attempts to impose loyal power from outside. Seventeen years ago, businessman Pedro Carmona proclaimed himself president, abolished the Constitution trying to remove Hugo Chavez from power. And today, Juan Guaido is trying to do the same with the US support. Then the people, the military, along with civilians took to the streets to repel the plotters, " Maduro reminded. He called todays events in Venezuela "an attempt of a prolonged coup d'etat accompanied by threats of military intervention." Meanwhile, the United States began to recognize the failure in the Venezuelan direction. But they are not willing to tolerate this. The American Spectator believes that time plays into the hands of Caracas, and the more indecisive Washington is, the more difficult it will be to dislodge Russia and Iran who stepped in to support the Maduro regime. We need to act despite the condemnation of many South American countries, the article reads. The publication draws a parallel between the events in Venezuela and Syria, stating that the United States did not expect the conclusion of a de facto military alliance between Russia and Iran in this Middle Eastern country, as well as the fact that "Turkeys perfidious alliance with Russia and Iran to keep Bashar Assad in power." In Venezuela, the situation is exactly the same. The Russian military and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are already in the country, and Ankara supports Caracas declaratively. Most likely, Cuban troops have come to Maduros help, and Venezuela has turned into a large joint base for foreign formations. Offering another analogy - with the events leading up to the Caribbean crisis - The American Spectator suddenly makes an amazing pirouette, declaring that the main purpose of the "seriously considered US military intervention" is not to topple Maduro, which will be the result of everything that happens. Our national security interest in Venezuela is to bar Russia and Iran from turning Venezuela into a power base in the Americas, the article reads. Needless to say that it is an attempt of an obvious substitution - foreigners came to Venezuela in response to Washingtons attempt to replace anti-American Maduro with pro-American Guaido! According to the newspaper, Maduro will provide carte blanche to his allies to hold on to his position, after which "neither Moscow nor Tehran will peacefully withdraw from its presence in Venezuela." The US actions should be adequate, based on the Monroe Doctrine, according to which the Western Hemisphere should not be considered as an object for further colonization, and any attempt of this kind will be considered by the United States as hostile against it. Washington is ready to declare Russia and Irans actions in Venezuela an attempt to colonize this state and thus acquire the right to actively intervene in the events. After that President Donald Trump must enlist the support of the American people, making a speech that the growing Russian-Iranian power in Venezuela is a threat to the US national security, and to tell Americans that "we must expel them by any means." "Time is not on our side. The longer we wait to take decisive action against Russia and Iran, the harder it will be to force them out of Venezuela. And forcing them out is, regrettably, our only option." - The American Spectator states. Probably, it is necessary to remind those who provides a basis for the possible invasion of American forces into Venezuela about other components of the Monroe Doctrine. In particular, they guarantee the world community the non-interference of the United States in the affairs of sovereign states. Especially in the Eastern hemisphere. It could be quiet a ridiculous situation, if not numerous human lives that were lost. By Abdul Kerimkhanov Kyrgyzstan has a unique potential for travel and recreation of visiting tourists. About 7 million foreigners, with more than half of them being tourists, visited Kyrgyzstan in 2018, announced the Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism, the director of the tourism department, Maksat Damir uulu, at a meeting with journalists on April 16. He noted that 6.95 million foreign citizens came to Kyrgyzstan from different countries in 2018. We can say that about 3 million tourists visited our country. In 2018, tourism exports also increased, he stressed. The director of the tourism department also said that today, Kyrgyzstan already has developed a five-year program. In particular, we are talking about promoting the country and developing marketing. This time we will focus on three areas: Lake Issyk-Kul, eco-tourism and winter tourism. We want to develop good routes, hold concerts and sporting events in Issyk-Kul, added Maksat Damir uulu. In turn, General Director of the State Enterprise Kyrgyz Tourism Daniyar Kazakov said that Kyrgyzstan expects the largest influx of tourists in 2019. This year we expect the most peak tourist traffic in Kyrgyzstan, as a direct flight from Qatar and Seoul opens, which will increase the number of tourists. Many applications came from India, China and the United Arab Emirates, he stated. In addition, Kazakov noted that this year new routes are being developed and an emphasis will be placed on the development of regions. In this regard, we are ready to support the initiators who are ready to provide their sites for the development of tourism. In particular, support will be provided in the form of building infrastructure, he stressed. Kyrgyzstan has introduced a visa-free regime for up to 60 days for citizens of seven more states - Montenegro, Andorra, Brazil, San Marino, Chile, Argentina and Oman since April 9. Visas were fully abolished for citizens of 52 countries. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Abdul Kerimkhanov Tajikistan's net trade in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to about $964 million, which is 3.1 percent more compared to the same period last year. The Republic exported products worth $244 million in January-March 2019, according to the Statistics Agency under the Government of Tajikistan. Exports compared to the same period of last year increased by 0.3 percent or $700,000. More than 40 percent in the export structure accounts for mineral products, 19 percent - for non-precious metals and products from them (mainly aluminum), 18 percent - for textile materials. Imports of goods in the first quarter of this year made $720 million, which is 41 percent ($28 million) more than in January-March 2018. The structure of imports is dominated by vehicles, machinery and equipment (20 percent), mineral products (20 percent), products of plant origin (12 percent). The deficit in the trade balance amounted to $476 million. In the first quarter of this year, Tajikistan maintained trade relations with 90 countries of the world. Russia remains the main trade partner of the Republic, the volume of bilateral trade with which amounted to $230 million (almost a quarter of the total foreign trade turnover of Tajikistan). The volume of trade with Kazakhstan amounted to $203 million, with China - $118 million, with Turkey - $90 million. Today as a result of all economic reforms the national economy of the Central Asian country is gradually being restored. The state monopoly in the field of agriculture, production, trade and other industries has been actually abolished. For example, today the share of non-governmental segment in total volume of agricultural production output amounts to over 80 percent. Support and development of average and small businesses is one of the major component of economic reforms and one of priority activities of the Republic government. The state budget assigns means for formation and development of investment and market structures, small and average businesses. --- Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade Today, Azerbaijan is a cultural and tourist center with great potential, Vice President of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Eldar Hajiyev said at a presentation entitled Azerbaijan through the eyes of a falcon in Riyadh, during which new routes of Azerbaijan Airlines to a number of cities in Saudi Arabia were announced. The main flow of tourists arrives in Azerbaijan by air, he said. Heydar Aliyev Airport which has become a countrys air gate due to its favorable geographical position has acquired the status of the regions main transit airport, Hajiyev noted. The Vice President noted that in our country, despite the relatively small territory, there are six international airports that meet international standards. Today, Azerbaijan is a cultural and tourist center with great potential. Beautiful nature, diverse climate, rich historical and cultural heritage - all this allows Azerbaijan to receive guests of the whole world at the highest level, he said. In recent years, Azerbaijan's trade and tourism relations with Gulf countries are growing rapidly. Official tourism representative offices of Azerbaijan have been operating in Riyadh and Dubai since the end of the last year. In 2018, as many as 2,849,600 tourists from 196 countries visited Azerbaijan, and UAE citizens accounted for 3.3 percent of those arriving in the country while Saudi citizens accounted for about 2.6 percent. Simplification of visa regime played a major role in the growth of tourist flow from the Middle East. In February 2016, Azerbaijan simplified the procedure of obtaining visas for citizens of Gulf countries. Its noteworthy that Saudi Arabia facilitates the increase in flow of Arab tourists to Azerbaijan. The Saudi Travel and Tourism Association is developing a "roadmap" to provide assistance in attracting Arab tourists to Azerbaijan. The roadmap is designed for five years. All aspects of the cooperation of the sides will be coordinated by the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan. Saudi Arabia will also attract tourists to Azerbaijan, and will ensure an annual increase in investment in the country at a level of at least five percent. Recently, Flynas, Saudi Arabia's leading low-cost airline, has announced its plan to launch flights to Baku. That will contribute to the further growth in tourist flow to Baku from Gulf countries. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz As Turkey leaves behind elections for a period of stability, that presents it with an opportunity, said a European Union spokesman. Hurriyet Daliy News reports in its article Next 4 years an opportunity for Turkey: EU spokesperson that the doors of the European Union are open and remain open but the hinges must work for the doors to remain open, he added. In the wake of Turkey's recent local elections and in the four-year run-up to its next elections, set for 2023, Turkey will go through stability without electoral processes for the next four years, and we should see this as an opportunity, said European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas. In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Schinas rebuffed calls to suspend Turkey's EU negotiations, saying doing so would require the consent of all member states. The doors of the European Union are open and remain open but the hinges must work for the doors to remain open, he added. The hinges are reform, the rule of law, and democracy. If we get this part right, together with everything else that is on the table on Turkey's pre-accession, the door will remain open, he said. The commissioner stressed the importance of Turkey and the EU cooperating in the fight against terrorism as well as on immigration, intelligence, trade, transport, and energy. The recently announced economic reform program is also a positive step, Schinas added. About the EU-Turkey customs union, amid Turkish calls for an overdue update to the union, Schinas said the EU will do its part. On visa liberalization, which Turkey has been pushing for since a March immigration 2016 agreement that included liberalization, Schinas said that Turkey is expected to fulfill its obligations to get visa-free travel. I am hopeful because contacts and dialogue between the authorities are continuing, but we have not reached the final point yet, he said. Turkey opening its doors to 3.6 million Syrian refugees is the country that hosts the most refugees [in the world], thereby [it] has made a great achievement in the eyes of the EU authorities, said Schinas. The commissioner said Europe is doing its share by paying 3 million euros for the refugees in Turkey. In March 2016, EU and Turkey reached an agreement to take stricter measures against human smugglers and discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea, and improve the conditions of Syrian refugees in Turkey, with the EU giving a 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country. Turkey has complained that the EU failed to deliver the promised aid in a timely manner.Schinas touted the 2016 agreement, saying: The results show that the influx of refugees in the Aegean region is down by 90 percent. Stressing Turkey's importance, Schinas said the EU is geographically and historically connected with Turkey. We will continue to establish connections with the Turkish people and Turkey, he added. A parliamentary delegation led by Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov will leave for St. Petersburg on April 17 to participate in events of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS). The agenda of the IPA CIS session includes, among others, the following issues: organization of election observation in the CIS member countries, monitoring by international observers the elections held in Moldova and Armenia, preparations for 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and legal support for antiterrorism activity, Trend reports with reference to the press service of the parliament. During the visit, Asadov's meetings with the heads of the delegations participating in the IPA CIS events are envisaged. The visit of Azerbaijani MPs will continue until April 19. Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said at the press briefing with his Romanian counterpart Viorica Dancila that political dialogue between Georgia and Romania is on the highest level. Bakhtadze said Romania is "an outstanding partner" for Georgia, and that the two countries are connected with "special bonds." The Georgian PM also said that the two countries still need to untap the economic potential of the Black Sea region. "The Black Sea offers us unique opportunities to play greater role not only in the development of bilateral relations, but also in deepening of our economic relations with other countries," he said, adding that the European and Euro-Atlantic security "cannot be imagined without security of the Black Sea region," Civil.ge reported. Bakhtadze then stressed the importance of intensified cooperation between Georgian and Romanian ports, "particularly in light of the fact that we are building a deep sea port in Georgia, which will open up entirely new opportunities for economic cooperation." The Bakersfield City Council will soon decide if a new park in Bakersfield will be named after Sikh civil rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is set to travel to Ankara on an official visit today upon the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. All aspects of bilateral relations and the opportunities to expand cooperation in various areas will be discussed during the talks at the presidential complex, according to an official statement. The leaders will also exchange views on recent regional and international developments. The inking of various agreements has been planned to expand bilateral relations. There will also be a Belarus-Turkey business forum as part of the official visit, Anadolu Agency reported. Bridge City ISD responded to a social media post that has been circulating the Golden Triangle. "Bridge City ISD has concluded its investigation regarding the serious allegations a third-party made in an April 15, 2019 social media post," the statement said. " The allegations are unquestionably and completely false." The allegations sent out via twitter alleged a male Bridge City Middle School student was sexually assaulted by his peers after coming out as a homosexual. The author of the tweet then claimed the administration refused to take action and asked twitter to, "do your thing," to bring justice for the child. The post as since been removed from twitter. The district went on to condemn the use of social media to spread false information, and urged parents to contact the school directly if they have any concerns. The European Union and the United Nations are launching EU4Climate, a regional project to combat climate change in Azerbaijan, minister-counselor of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Simona Gatti said at the presentation of the project in Baku. The project will be financed by the EU and the UN. "This project will help implement in Azerbaijan the measures reflected in the Paris Agreement, as well as support the improvement of legislation in this direction," Gatti noted. She stressed that the project will be implemented in the Eastern Partnership countries - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia. The EU4Climate project is being implemented to help the Eastern Partnership countries to combat climate change. The project will be implemented until 2022, Trend reports. Armenia's former Chief Enforcement Officer, former MP from the Republican Party of Armenia Mihran Poghosyan is accused of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds, the Special Investigation Service said. "Poghosyan is charged under paragraph 1, part 3 of article 179 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (misappropriation or embezzlement of a particularly large amount) and under part 2 of article 308 (abuse of power resulting in grave consequences)," the statement reads. According to the prosecution, Poghosyan, who served as Chief Enforcement Officer since June, 2008, appointed his bodyguard as first-class counselor, and his driver as a leading advisor to the Operative Department of the agency. None performed their duties and none went to work. Instead they executed personal orders of Poghosyan, and both received salaries and other payments, which totaled 44.2 million drams, ARKA reported. According to the prosecutors, in 2011-2016 on behalf of the Chief Enforcement Service Poghosyan signed contracts with Ketrin Group LLC (it was founded by him and later sold to another company) for the purchase of 32 BAD buses worth 211.2 million drams, of which 20 were purchased at a price exceeding the market one by 20 million drams. On April 17, 2014, Poghosyan signed a contract with the Best Realty Company, which he actually managed, for the assessment of movable and immovable property, on the basis of which the company provided services to Chief Enforcement Service worth 43.9 million drams. On April 13, 2019, the Special Investigative Service asked a court to allow the arrest of Poghosyan, and placed him on the list of wanted persons. A jury has found a San Antonio woman guilty of murder in the fatal shooting and stabbing of her boyfriend, a decorated Army veteran. It took the jury two hours and 45 minutes to find Laura Flores Messick guilty. Messick, who faces up to life in prison, has chosen to be sentenced by Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl. The date for the sentencing hearing hasnt been set yet. Chason Montez DeOca was killed on June 10, 2017. His bloodied body was found in his home in the 7400 block of Muleshoe Lane on the West Side. The 40-year-old veteran had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Messick, 32, was accused of killing him after the pair argued in his home. In a video interview conducted by a San Antonio police detective, Messick had admitted she shot DeOca and shortly after cut his neck to see if he was dead. On Friday, both sides rested their cases after hearing the chilling screams and cries from the victims mother, who testified about how she went to her sons home after he did not return her calls and texts, and found him lying in a pool of his own blood. Related: Mothers emotional testimony the last jury heard in murder trial of San Antonio woman accused of killing boyfriend Testimony established that DeOca likely was standing with his palm out because when the gun was fired, the bullet went through his palm and into his heart. In addition, his neck was cut from behind with a kitchen knife. In his closing argument Monday, prosecutor Thom Nisbet reminded the jury of all the evidence and testimony they have seen and urged jurors to find her guilty. She let him die by her own admission, Nisbet told the panel. And, shes not sorry. No remorse. Referencing a phone call the defendant had with another person after the incident, Nisbet reminded the jury that Messick told the person she was chillin and killin, he said. The word for that is murder, Nisbet said. Defense attorney Edward Garza told the jury in his closing argument that his client and the victim had a history of situations where she and DeOca would fight, and he would block her path if she tried to leave. Garza said the incident also was an escalation to an altercation his client had with DeOcas ex-wife, and that in the end, Messick did what she did because she was afraid and acted in self-defense. Its our position Chason took out a gun and she was trying to leave, Garza told the panel. Maybe he didnt let her leave. He had a tendency of blocking her from leaving, placing her in fear. Related: San Antonio woman on trial for murder allegedly shot boyfriend for being a jerk Referencing the emotional testimony of the victims mother, Rachel Montez DeOca on Friday, Garza told the jury that theres no doubt his mother suffered a loss and is still grieving, but he urged them to look at the facts and not base their decision on sympathy. Theres more than enough for you to consider she acted in self-defense, Garza told the jury. I ask that you find her not guilty. In her closing argument, Talia Triesch recalled her opening statement when she said the case was not a whodunit, but a howd she do it. She reminded the panel of the crime scene photographs that showed no struggle, except for that the victim, who dragged his body through his own blood down the hallway. Theres no struggle in that house. No overturned furniture, no broken glass, no torn curtains, she said. He was no threat to her. 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 Texans who were hoping that this session of the Legislature would see some movement on medical marijuana in our state should start bracing themselves for disappointment. The window isnt completely closed, but the remaining gap isnt that wide. At the start of this session, the chances seemed better. Seventeen bills were filed to liberalize state laws on medical cannabis, but most are fading away. Two bills could fare better: House Bill 1365, authored by Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, and Senate Bill 90, authored by Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio. Lucios bill would allow patients to use medical marijuana for conditions like autism, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder. Menendezs bill would also expand the list of conditions for which medical cannabis could be prescribed to cancer and spinal cord injury, among others. In both cases, those additional ailments need to be authorized for treatment because under current state law, only patients with intractable epilepsy can use small amounts of low-THC CBD oil. Thats better than nothing, but its not much, and it was a product of the 2015 legislative session. Thirty-four other states have gone further, and Texas should join them in this session. Medical marijuana is not a panacea for any ailment, and it has nothing to do with recreational smoking. But there is no doubt that some patients with some conditions are helped by various forms of medical cannabis. Whether the effect is psychological or physical could be debated in some cases, but the bottom line is that some people with severe medical problems get relief from medical cannabis. There ought to be a way for these desperate people in Texas to find out if they, too, could be helped. State officials are actually moving in this direction. Both parties approved platform statements last year supporting greater use of medical marijuana. Gov. Greg Abbott has even said he favors fines instead of jail time for people caught with small amounts of marijuana for smoking. This legislative session should reflect that momentum. The House and Senate should stop talking about helping seriously ill people get access to medical marijuana and start removing the roadblocks to that treatment. An artificial intelligence screening system developed by scientists at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass., can identify homologous recombination deficiency, a cancer-causing genetic defect that often goes undetected, according to a press release. If integrated into widespread use, the AI system could expand treatment options for cancer patients with HR deficiency. Most clinical genetic tests are unable to accurately detect HR deficiency, according to the release, which can be treated with PARP inhibitors, a type of medication used most commonly to treat breast cancer patients with BRCA mutations. "We suspect there are many more patients without BRCA mutations who could benefit from PARP inhibitors, but doctors do not know which ones they are. Our approach could help close that gap," Peter Park, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics at HMS's Blavatnik Institute, said in a statement. In tests, the new algorithm, called SigMA, correctly identified 74 percent of cell samples with HR deficiency, compared to other screening systems that typically identify HR-deficient cancer cells with only 30 to 40 percent accuracy. "Pinpointing actionable genetic biomarkers and treating patients with drugs that specifically target the relevant cancer-driving pathways is at the heart of precision medicine. We believe our algorithm can greatly enhance physicians' ability to deliver such individualized therapy," Dr. Park said. A shuttle between Connecticut-based Yale New Haven Hospital's two main campuses and parking facilities could be completely driverless within just a few years, if the city's application to a state pilot program is approved, the New Haven Register reports. Yale New Haven, the New Haven Parking Authority and the city have reportedly teamed up to propose the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on a 1.7-mile route between the hospital's 20 York St. and St. Raphael campuses and the Air Rights Garage. The proposal will be submitted by the end of May to Connecticut's Fully Autonomous Vehicle Testing Pilot Program, which was established in 2017 to encourage the testing and implementation of AVs across the state. If approved, the study will cost the city $40,000 to $50,000, Doug Hausladen, director of the city's Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, and acting director of the NHPA, estimated. The hospital shuttles would be 16-foot-long, battery-operated vehicles capable of autonomous operation, though, during the testing period, a driver will be on board. The shuttles can carry eight seated passengers and up to eight more standing riders, travel at an average speed of 15 miles per hour and are wheelchair accessible. Each vehicle will cost between $200,000 and $250,000, according to the New Haven Independent. More articles about AI: Harvard Medical School's AI screening system could produce more accurate cancer treatment programs Approving AI for medical use: 7 things to know Google quietly disbands another AI advisory board Russia's S-400 missile systems will possibly bolster security of the biggest Turkish cities, Ankara and Istanbul, Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said in Washington. "S-400 missile systems will, possibly, enhance security of Ankara and Istanbul," the NTV channel cited Akar as saying. He recalled that the U.S. supplied newest fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets would be stationed at an Air Force Base in the town of Malatya, 600 km away from the Turkish capital. The minister also divulged the latest updates on the possible day the Russian missile systems will arrive in Turkey. "In the course of our last contacts with Russia, they mentioned June," Akar stressed. Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that S-400s could be delivered to Turkey before July this year. Advocates, protestors and legislators in Vermont are debating whether to make patients medical records available to physicians in a statewide database, according to the VTDigger. Currently, Vermont has an opt-in system, which requires patients to include themselves in the state's online health information exchange. Advocates of a statewide, open database are arguing for an opt-out system, meaning patients would have to remove themselves from the database. Opponents of the opt-out policy say that it would be an unnecessary step and could jeopardize patient rights, the VTDigger reports. Burlington-based Vermont Information Technology Leaders developed the health information exchange to improve care delivery by making medical records easily accessible to all providers. However, the organization has struggled with administration and financial challenges. In 2017, a report found few patient records were available on the system. The state stepped in to improve operations, and today, the exchange includes about 40 percent of state residents' medical records. The Department of Vermont Health agreed that a consent policy change is necessary, as 33 of 40 states with statewide health exchanges have opt-out policies or no consent requirements, reports the VTDigger. The Vermont Medical Society is in favor of an opt-out policy, citing the new process would improve patient care and reduce administrative burdens. On the counter side, the Office of the Health Care Advocates says the policy is the "wrong solution" due to the state's track record. More articles on EHRs: Cerner to launch EHR-agnostic tool for bundled payments Physician viewpoint: EHRs still need a makeover CHS patients can access EHR on iPhone From reimbursement landscape challenges to dwindling patient volumes, many factors lead hospitals to close. Here are the factors that led eight hospitals to close so far this year: 1. Belmont Community Hospital, a 99-bed hospital in Bellaire, Ohio, closed April 5. Hospital officials cited a decline in patient volume as the reason for the closure. "Utilization of BCH has continued to decline despite efforts to offer varying services at the facility," the hospital said in a press release. "The decline has place[d] a financial strain on the BCH that cannot be sustained in the long term." 2. Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville, Ind., closed April 5. The hospital, which opened in 2009, faced financial losses for years and previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. 3. Horton (Kan.) Community Hospital closed March 12. The 25-bed critical access hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, shut down after struggling to pay utilities and missing payroll for several weeks. The hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14. 4. Georgiana (Ala.) Medical Center closed March 8. Ivy Creek Healthcare in Georgiana, which owns the hospital, cited growing costs and cuts to reimbursement as the reasons for the closure. 5. Cumberland River Hospital in Celina, Tenn., closed March 1. In January, officials announcedthat the hospital was shutting down due to financial challenges. They said Cumberland River Hospital had experienced significant losses in recent years due to declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes. 6. Harrisburg, Pa.-based UPMC Pinnacle closed its hospital in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 28. The health system announced plans in December to close UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster and transition inpatient services to another one of its hospitals located about 7 miles away. In a Feb. 15 news release, UPMC Pinnacle President and CEO Philip Guarneschelli said consolidating inpatient services on one campus would make care more convenient for patients. 7. Oswego (Kan.) Community Hospital and its two affiliated clinics closed Feb. 14. A statement from the board announcing the closure said the hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, wasn't bringing in enough revenue to cover payroll and other expenses. After the abrupt closure, the hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17. 8. Washington County Hospital in Plymouth, N.C., closed Feb. 14 after missing payroll on Feb. 8. The critical access hospital is now working its way through the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process. The hospital is one of several facilities owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS that has entered bankruptcy or closed in recent months. The Washington County Board of Commissioners is working with state and federal agencies to investigate the hospital's financial and operational issues and working to restore medical services as the hospital, according to a Feb. 19 public service announcement on Washington County's website. More articles on healthcare finance: Memorial Sloan Kettering's annual revenue climbs to $4.9B Detroit hospital avoids Medicare funding cutoff Activist investor targets HCA: 5 things to know Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System announced that it will cease using its five proprietary MediMap genetic tests after the FDA issued a warning about their unauthorized usage, according to the Washington Business Journal. The nonprofit health organization's MediMap tests were used by physicians in the Inova Genomics Laboratory to predict drug dosage, side effects and efficiency for patients. On April 4, the FDA issued a letter to Inova warning that claims on the lab's website were in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Though Inova claimed the MediMap tests could predict patient responses to drugs, the FDA noted that it had not approved the tests' safety and accuracy. Blockchain became part of the average American's lexicon a year and half ago when the price of one bitcoin surged to $13,800. Today, the price for a bitcoin is down nearly 60 percent, at $5,407. But that doesn't mean blockchain the technology behind bitcoin doesn't have immense potential. Between the financial, healthcare, retail and supply chain industries, C-suite executives are implementing blockchain at different paces. The financial industry has often been regarded as a leader in blockchain, with banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America investing big bucks in the decentralized ledger. Healthcare is beginning to catch up. Phoenix-based Arizona Care Network, an ACO, is among the few healthcare organizations to implement blockchain tools. "Last year, Arizona Care Network and Solve.Care Foundation were first in the healthcare industry to launch a provider rewards program built on blockchain technology," David Hanekom, MD, the CEO of the ACO. "Our goal was to relieve administrative burdens, reduce waste in the system and improve healthcare outcomes." The mobile app, called Care.Wallet, is built on the blockchain and used by physicians at ACN. It displays relevant patient data for providers as well as financial rewards physicians can earn for improving quality and keeping costs down. The ACO plans to launch Care.Wallet for patients, which automatically synchronizes patients' benefit information, including deductibles and copays, co-insurance and out-of-pocket expenses, into the blockchain. Patients can also use the blockchain to obtain immediate authorization, schedule appointments and share benefits information. Here, Mr. Hanekom dives deep into the healthcare organization's blockchain use and gives his thoughts on whether the decentralized ledger can improve the $3 trillion annual healthcare spend. Note: Responses were edited lightly for length and clarity. Question: How are you using blockchain technology within your ACO? Dr. David Hanekom: Last year, Arizona Care Network and Solve.Care Foundation were first in the healthcare industry to launch a provider rewards program built on blockchain technology. Our goal was to relieve administrative burdens, reduce waste in the system and improve healthcare outcomes. The ACN Care.Wallet is a mobile app that employs blockchain technology, cloud computing and cognitive learning capabilities that gives our providers anytime access to the quality metrics that matter most, enabling them to act. On a provider's personal device, they can view their performance data, compare their success with others in the network and redeem financial rewards. The data displayed is both transparent and actionable. This is phase one. We already have a Care.Wallet in development for patients and families. That platform will display an identification card that verifies that the patient is eligible for services from our network. As we partner with payers, we'll add immediate verification of patient eligibility, eliminating the need for practice staff to call the payer while the patient waits. It also will drive price transparency because the data in each wallet is specific to that individual's coverage, including current deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs. This drives significant patient satisfaction. The ability to communicate care gaps, post reminders for health screening or protocols for their medical condition and suggest wellness activities all help patients take charge of their own health and improve their outcomes. Q: Where is blockchain at in healthcare? DH: Although we are just beginning to apply blockchain in healthcare, we are already seeing tremendous benefits. The beauty of blockchain technology is that is allows for true coordination of care administration and enables organizations like ACN to have direct interaction among patients, insurers and providers. This will help improve patient outcomes and reduce or eliminate the cost of duplication, inefficiency, waste, abuse and fraud from the system. Q: What would you tell other ACOs and hospitals looking to integrate blockchain? DH: Blockchain can make a real and measurable impact in helping providers and hospitals achieve the Quadruple Aim: improve population health, reduce total cost of care, improve the patient experience and drive provider satisfaction. This is particularly true in the age of value-based medicine, where to be successful, organizations need immediate access to actionable health data. A case in point is the ACN Care.Wallet, which creates, stores and shares administrative and financial records via a network of personal devices that do not rely on a central entity to control the data. Information is updated to all parties in the "chain" in real time, so doctors' offices can use the application to check patient eligibility and benefits details, coordinate care across parties and locations, and eliminate delays in payer reimbursement. Q: Where do you see blockchain's potential in healthcare in the next 5 to 10 years? DH: In my view, blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry. Consider that administrative costs in the industry account for between 7 percent and as much as 30 percent of the more than $3 trillion annual healthcare spend. Blockchain can automate much of an archaic claims and payment systems that are expensive and resource-intensive, improve coordination of care, and create a permanent record of online transactions that can be securely stored and selectively shared with targeted users via a network of personal devices. In the case of the ACN Care.Wallet, we even foresee this as one way to improve the revenue cycle by reimbursing providers more quickly and reducing the number of unpaid claims due to verification issues discovered long after care has been delivered. I know of no other industry that will deliver services in good faith on a promise to receive all, or perhaps part, of the bill from a third party at some point in the future. The result of this archaic system is a huge burden that requires independent doctors to hire staff and jump through onerous administrative hoops to get paid. This takes them away from their first passion, which is listening and talking with patients and providing clinical care and it drives up costs within our healthcare system. Q: Is blockchain more than just a buzzword? DH: To think about the positive, lasting impact of blockchain technology, one need only look at the financial services industry. Initially used to lower the worldwide cost of cross-border payments, security trading and compliance, blockchain technology now has the potential to save the banking industry an astounding $20 billion by 2022, according to estimates by the management consulting firm Accenture. The healthcare industry stands to reap similar benefits. Think of how blockchain could give patients access to providers, help them understand their benefits and the cost of treatment, and eliminate duplicative paperwork associated with insurance billing and payments. Blockchain technology also can give providers a 360-degree view of a patient's care, enabling an entire medical team to communicate, coordinate and eliminate unnecessary tests and procedures that drive up healthcare costs. This is the kind of focused application of technology that I strongly believe will empower both the patient and physician to make better collaborative decisions to improve health and drive sustainability into our healthcare system. The total number of healthcare mergers and acquisitions hit a record high in 2018, and several deals have closed so far this year. Here are 17 mergers and acquisitions involving hospitals and health systems that closed since Jan. 1: 1. Quorum divests Texas hospital Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health sold Scenic Mountain Medical Center, a 146-bed hospital in Big Spring, Texas, to Dallas-based Steward Health Care. 2. Merger creates $2.4B health system with hospitals in New York, Connecticut LaGrangeville, N.Y.-based Health Quest and Danbury-based Western Connecticut Health Network combined to form a new nonprofit health system called Nuvance Health. 3. Advocate Aurora Health acquires Wisconsin hospital Advocate Aurora Health assumed full ownership of Bay Area Medical Center in Marinette, Wis. 4. Mississippi hospital secures 3rd owner in 2 years Charlotte, N.C.-based Vizion Health acquired Panola Medical Center, a 112-bed hospital in Batesville, Miss. 5. Ascension buys Florida hospital, plans $47M investment Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health Services completed the sale of its interest in Bay Medical Sacred Heart in Panama City, Fla., to St. Louis-based Ascension on March 14. 6. Rennova acquires Tennessee hospital West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health acquired Jellico (Tenn.) Community Hospital and CarePlus Center in Williamsburg, Ky. 7. CHS sells 4 South Carolina hospitals for $176M Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems completed the sale of four South Carolina hospitals to Medical University of South Carolina Hospital Authority in Charleston on March 1. 8. Beth Israel Deaconess-Lahey Health merger is official Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health in Burlington, Mass., merged March 1 to become Beth Israel Lahey Health, a system with 13 hospitals and 4,300 physicians across Massachusetts. 9. Bankrupt California hospital chain closes $235M sale El Segundo, Calif.-based Verity Health, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August, completed the sale of two California hospitals on March 1. 10. Dignity Health, CHI merge into $29B system Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives and San Francisco-based Dignity Health completed a deal to combine their systems. 11. CHS sells New Jersey hospital A nonprofit run by Bloomfield, N.J.-based Community Healthcare Associates acquired Salem, N.J.-based Memorial Hospital of Salem County from Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems 12. HCA completes $1.5B acquisition of Mission Health Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare acquired Mission Health, a six-hospital system based in Asheville, N.C. 13. Tenet sells 3 hospitals, exits Chicago market Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare sold its three remaining Chicago-area hospitals to Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health. 14. Somerset Hospital to officially join UPMC Somerset (Pa.) Hospital officially joined UPMC Somerset on Feb. 1. 15. Cleveland Clinic adds 4 hospitals Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach, Fla., and Martin Health System, a three-hospital system based in Stuart, Fla., joined Cleveland Clinic health system. 16. Hackensack Meridian Health, Carrier Clinic merge to improve behavioral health Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health merged with Belle Mead, N.J.-based behavioral health provider Carrier Clinic. 17. Sanford Health grows to $5B+ system after finalizing merger Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health completed its merger with a nationwide senior care services provider. More articles on healthcare industry transactions: Atrium, Wake Forest to create academic health system: 5 things to know Chicago hospital pitches $22.5M deal to expand footprint U of Louisville prolongs search for Jewish Hospital partner The University of Californias largest employee union is calling for a boycott of school speaking engagements, according to AFSCME Local 3299. The union represents more than 24,000 employees at the University of California's 10 campuses, five medical centers, various clinics, research laboratories and UC Hastings College of the Law. The union is seeking the boycott as the university has started naming guest speakers ahead of spring graduation ceremonies. Scheduled guest speakers include former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. The call for a boycott comes after a strike by service and patient care workers that began April 10. In an unfair labor practice charge, members of AFSCME Local 3299 accuse the university of workplace retaliation, threats of police citation and other actions that interfere with their rights. "The University of California has used intimidation tactics to keep workers from protesting over outsourcing and income inequality instead of negotiating in good faith," AFSCME Local 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger said. "We do not tolerate bullying. If invited speakers feel the same way, then they'll honor this boycott of UC events." It is wrong for AFSCME leaders to resort to the tactic of undermining graduation ceremonies and exploiting this special milestone, which belongs squarely to our hardworking students and their families. Claire Doan, spokesperson with the university's office of the president, spoke against the union's actions. "AFSCME leaders can try to spin their alleged reasons for demanding a speakers boycott, but their actions including four disruptive strikes in less than a year and a refusal to truly negotiate make clear their self-interested agenda. The union is demanding a 36 percent increase over four years; that is nearly triple the raises the university has given to other employees," she said in an emailed statement to Becker's. Ms. Doan added that the university wants the union "to support and honor our deserving students at this momentous time in their lives," rather than call for a speakers boycott. More articles on human capital and risk: Kaiser mental health patients to rally outside Oakland HQ, demand meeting with CEO Henry Mayo nurses to discuss next steps in negotiations After 400 layoffs, Kaiser Permanente Colorado in talks with labor unions over workforce needs A judge has dismissed a case against the Missouri State Auditor's Office brought by Hospital Partners related to billing at one of its Missouri hospitals, according to ABC/CBS affiliate KTVO. A 2017 report by Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway revealed that 15-bed Putnam County Memorial hospital in Unionville received $92 million in insurance payments in less than a year for lab services that were performed at other U.S. facilities. In April 2018, Hospital Partners a Florida-based company that managed Putnam County Memorial filed a lawsuit against the hospital board and the state auditor's office. The lawsuit accused the hospital board of illegally ending the companys management contract and alleged that Ms. Galloway overstepped by auditing a privately managed hospital, according to local NPR station KCUR. Hospital Partners sought $2 million in damages from the hospital board and Ms. Galloway. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: HHS hit with class-action complaint over suspended Medicare payments Sutter Health enters $30M settlement over upcoding allegations UHS can't dodge claims it held patients illegally, investors say Cardiac Associates, a medical group with four offices in Maryland, has agreed to pay $399,230 to settle false billing allegations, according to the Department of Justice. The settlement resolves allegations that Cardiac Associates submitted claims to Medicare for services that weren't actually rendered between January 2012 and December 2016. The government alleged that the medical group billed Medicare for two similar procedures on the same date for the same patients, when only one of the procedures was actually performed. Specifically, the government alleged Cardiac Associates billed Medicare under CPT 93970 for tests administered to patients to assess the venous sufficiency in their legs. The group also allegedly billed for an additional test using CPT 93965, which references older technology that has generally been replaced by CPT 93970. Billing for both codes led to the submission of false claims to Medicare, according to the Justice Department. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: HHS hit with class-action complaint over suspended Medicare payments Sutter Health enters $30M settlement over upcoding allegations UHS can't dodge claims it held patients illegally, investors say The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Allergan's appeal defending its effort to shield its patents from review by selling them to a Native American tribe, according to STAT. The rebuff leaves a lower court ruling in place. In 2017, Allergan transferred six patents of its best-selling eye medication, Restasis, to St. Regis Mohawk tribe in an effort to keep generic competition from the market. At the same time, Allergan was facing a patent challenge from several generic manufacturers, including Mylan, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Akorn. The three generic drugmakers petitioned for what is known as an inter partes review, a separate legal process overseen by a unit of the U.S. Patent Office. The controversial deal struck with the Mohawk tribe sought to protect the Restasis deal from legal review, as the drugmaker believed the sovereign tribal government had immunity from inter partes review. Allergan paid the tribe $14 million and agreed to pay another $15 million in annual royalties. The Mohawk tribe then worked to get the challenges dismissed before the patent board. But in February 2018, the patent board decided that tribal immunity doesn't apply to inter partes review cases. In July 2018, the decision was upheld by a federal appeals court, which ruled a Native American tribe can't claim sovereign immunity to sidestep an inter partes review. Allergan and the Mohawk tribe then asked the Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court ruling. In its argument to the Supreme Court, Allergan and the Mohawk tribe argued that the federal appeals court "fundamentally misconstrued" an earlier case that informed its decision. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, leaving the lower court ruling in place. An Allergan spokesperson declined STAT's request for comment. Read the full report here. New research shows that applying alcohol-based hand rub in 15 seconds using a three-step technique is as effective for hand hygiene as the protocol recommended by the World Health Organization, which involves six steps and is 30 seconds long, according to the Science Daily. The research was presented at this month's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Current WHO guidance calls for healthcare workers to use the six-step, 30-second application technique, however adherence to this protocol is low, reports Science Daily. Researchers from a Switzerland-based hospital studied the efficacy of a simpler three-step technique with a shortened 15-second application time. They examined 20 healthy volunteers who all used the following hand hygiene protocols: The six-step technique for 30 seconds The six-step technique for 15 seconds The three-step technique for 30 seconds The three-step technique for 15 seconds The study shows that applying hand rub for 15 seconds was as effective at reducing bacteria on the hands of study participants as applying it for 30 seconds. Additionally, reducing the number of steps involved in the technique could help improve compliance. "Our findings suggest that shortening hand-rubbing time and simplifying the technique for use of hand rub could be a safe alternative that is easier to fit into their busy routine, could enhance the overall quality of hand hygiene performance, and have a positive effect on adherence," said Sarah Tschudin Sutter, MD, the study leader. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will soon be restored. According to Ilham Aliyev, he was deeply saddened by the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is one of the gems of the cultural heritage of France and the world. "I hope the monument will soon be restored and returned to the mankind," the head of state wrote on his Twitter account. The CDC confirmed 90 new measles cases in the past week, bringing the annual total to 555 infections as of April 11, reports CNBC. 1. The CDC has confirmed measles cases in 20 states. Of the 90 new cases, 77 occurred in New York. 2. The state is facing outbreaks in New York City and Rockland County. Health officials in both areas have taken untraditional measures to address the outbreak, including banning unvaccinated children from enclosed public spaces. 3. The current U.S. case count puts 2019 on track to be the worst year for measles since 2000, when the CDC declared the virus eradicated in the U.S. In 2014, the agency reported a record 667 cases. 4. The World Health Organization also reported more than 110,000 measles cases worldwide in the first three months of 2019, a 300 percent increase from the same period in 2018, reports CNN. More articles on clinical leadership and infection control: Report: Veteran's leg amputated after VA fails to log home care appointments ICU healthcare workers have low hand hygiene compliance, study finds Duodenoscope contamination rates higher than expected, says FDA Police are investigating the death of a nurse who died about a week after being attacked by a patient at Baton Rouge (La.) General Medical Center's Mid City campus, reports CBS affiliate WAFB 9. A mental health patient attacked 56-year-old Lynne Truxillo the week of April 1. She suffered a torn leg muscle and head injury during the attack but was able to finish her shift. Ms. Truxillo visited the hospital's emergency room after her shift and was treated and released. Ms. Truxillo returned to the hospital for care six days later and was admitted to the intensive care unit. She died April 11 from a blood clot in her leg and a pulmonary embolism, according to preliminary autopsy results released April 15. East Baton Rouge Coroner Beau Clark, MD, on April 16 said that the fatal blood clots were directly connected to the physical altercation. Editor's note: This article was updated April 17 at 10:20 a.m. More articles on clinical leadership and infection control: Report: Veteran's leg amputated after VA fails to log home care appointments ICU healthcare workers have low hand hygiene compliance, study finds Duodenoscope contamination rates higher than expected, says FDA Five parents anonymously filed a lawsuit April 15 against the New York City Department of Health over the city's decision to make measles vaccinations mandatory for some zip codes, reports the New York Post. The mandate was part of an April 9 emergency declaration in response to the city's ongoing measles outbreak, which has sickened 329 people since October 2018. The outbreak has primarily affected the area's Orthodox Jewish community, many of whom choose not to vaccinate their children. The parents argue the outbreak is not severe enough to justify such "drastic emergency measures," according to the lawsuit. They also claim the mandate exceeds the health department commissioner's powers and violates their children's right to religious exemptions. The lawsuit is seeking a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a motion to vacate the city's orders, according to the New York Post. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the state health department is very confident about the legality of its mandate. "When I announced it last Tuesday, I said that this is something the [city] Law Department feels very strongly about and that everything that's been done here is fully within our legal rights," he said April 15, according to the New York Post. Visibly, an eye care telemedicine company, filed a lawsuit last week against Indiana agencies that enforce the statewide ban on ocular telemedicine, Indy Star reports. Visibly sued the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, Indiana Professional Agency and Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, among others, alleging the states telemedicine law is unconstitutional. The law, which was passed in 2016, allowed for the practice of telemedicine in the state, but it specifically excluded use of the technology for ophthalmic devices as well as prescriptions for most opioids and abortion drugs, according to the report. The Indiana attorney general's office said April 11 that it received a copy of the complaint and its attorneys were in the process of reviewing it. Visibly argues that telemedicine lowers the cost of eye exams for otherwise healthy patients. However, the company does not offer a replacement for comprehensive eye exams. Thirty-nine states currently allow for telemedicine eye exams. Indiana Optometry, the state's affiliate of the American Optometric Association, only supports in-person vision prescriptions, Indiana Optometry President Christopher Browning, MD, said. Stuart Hershman, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, discusses the big trends in spinal deformity surgery today. Question: What are some key trends in adult deformity surgery? Dr. Stuart Hershman: For the last decade-plus, we've been trying to identify ways to prevent proximal junctional kyphosis. Recently, there have been two schools of thought, both of which use spinopelvic parameters as a reference for pre-surgical planning. One of these theories uses the Global Alignment and Proportion Score, which analyzes the sagittal plane to help predict mechanical complications in patients undergoing surgery for adult spinal deformity. The second school of thought uses age-adjusted parameters, suggesting that we may have been overcorrecting patients and should consider striving for less correction. At the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, many of the talks focused on these areas and discussed concepts to try to reduce and prevent PJK. New research addressed key points, focusing on how much lordosis should be restored to help reduce the incidence of PJK. Q: What should surgeons know about reducing narcotic consumption in adult deformity surgery? SH: It is important to look at the research being done in other areas of medicine; using a multi-modal approach to pain management is going to be key in reducing narcotic consumption following adult deformity surgery. This approach involves utilizing various medications given both pre- and postoperatively, local anesthetics, behavior modification techniques, educating patients and managing their expectations. At AAOS, a study out of Arizona discussed using of a long-acting liposomal bupivacaine injection during wound closure. The research found that using this type of local anesthetic was successful in reducing narcotic consumption in the acute perioperative period. Learn more about key trends in spine surgery at the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference, June 13-15 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register. For more information about exhibitor and sponsor opportunities, contact Maura Jodoin at mjodoin@beckershealthcare.com. Joseph Schwab, MD, chief of orthopedic spine surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, examines the key trends in spine fracture management. Question: What are some trends in pathological spine fracture management? Dr. Joseph Schwab: In spine fracture management, a main focus for us is predicting which patients will fracture or not. One of the biggest trends in the field right now is using machine learning or artificial intelligence to predict fractures. This trend will allow for prediction models that are currently relatively static to be replaced with AI to offer a more personalized and accurate description of where fractures will happen on a patient. AI is a field thats rapidly expanding for the orthopedics industry and we saw this at the recent AAOS meeting in Las Vegas, including a session that I moderated on artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data that addressed the direct application of these tools to clinical care. Q: What challenges and opportunities do you see as an orthopedic spine surgery chief? JS: There is a considerable advantage in using machine learning and AI for spine surgery. Transitioning into AI assisted care will provide dramatic changes in spine patient management, improving preoperative planning, surgical execution and patient-reported outcomes. There seem to be larger and larger medical groups that are expanding outside of their primary market and region. A challenge with this growth is keeping the balance between medical groups expanding to remain competitive without losing control of their brand. Learn more about key trends in spine surgery at the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference, June 13-15 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register. For more information about exhibitor and sponsor opportunities, contact Maura Jodoin at mjodoin@beckershealthcare.com. By any measure, we are a decade into the recovery that followed the great financial crash. Every month there is a release of statistics pertaining to economic output, the labour market or exports. Every month we tend to look at these numbers over the last 10 years and ask ourselves the question - are we there yet? In the second quarter of 2009, the UK economy finally began to grow again, following six quarters of negative growth. This is the point from which any recovery, such as it has been, began. The recovery looked as though it might splutter out in 2012, but it was probably saved by the impact of the Olympic Games in London. However, it wasn't until the second quarter of 2013, that UK GDP recovered to its pre-crisis output level. Even then, much of that growth was due to an increased population, and so GDP per capita became a more important measure of recovery. That didn't find its pre-crisis level again until the second quarter of 2015, six years after the recovery began. For Northern Ireland the story was even worse. There is no one definitive source on economic growth for Northern Ireland, but they all agree that the pace of recovery here has been much slower. The best-case scenario is that we reached our pre-crisis output in 2015, but other estimates place it as late as the second quarter of 2016, a full three years after the UK as a whole. When we adjust for population growth, Northern Ireland only reached its pre-crisis peak last year. In terms of the labour market, both Northern Ireland and the UK have added back the equivalent number of jobs lost during the crisis. At UK level, this was achieved in March 2012, three years after the hit. For Northern Ireland, it took five years, and was only achieved in 2015. Overall though, the rate of unemployment is now down below where it was even before the crisis hit. So, are we there yet? Have we recovered? This question should prompt us to think about what we expected our 'recovery' to look like. If we are evaluating recovery on the basis of economic output and the number of jobs, well then yes, the economy has recovered. However, if we define recovery as the economy returning to what it was before the crash, then no, we have not. This is one of the biggest problems with using a word such as recovery to describe the economy. Recovery implies getting back what you have lost and in economic terms some of what we lost is never coming back and that has profound consequences for what we can expect from our economy. In Northern Ireland, during the financial crisis, we lost a huge portion of our output in construction, finance and other related industries. The level of output we previously enjoyed in these sectors was unsustainable and that is why we cannot have it back. We have made up ground in terms of output, but not in the same places. This has meant the type of jobs which were created over the recovery are not comparable to those that were lost. Firstly, full-time employment, whilst still accounting for the majority of jobs, has fallen from 77% of employment 10 years ago to 74%. Added to this there has been a substantial increase in the number of workers in temporary employment. In 2009, temporary employment accounted for 5.8% of employees, and that has now increased to 7.3%. This has also impacted on earnings from work. The annual rate of growth in weekly pay averaged 0.2% in the 10 years since 2008 and as of 2018, wages are still 1.1% below where they were in 2009. So, the number of jobs and the proportion of the population employed has recovered, yet we are not back to where we were. This has implications for our public finances. While the UK economy may have reached and exceeded its 2008 position, government spending is in a very different position. In Northern Ireland, this means that in real terms, day to day public spending is lower now than it was in 2010. Even if the budgets to come in the next few years are more expansionary than what came before, it will take some time before we reach those levels of government spending again. What all of this means is that an economic 'recovery' or whatever you wish to call it, is not an automatic rebound. The policy space in which a recovery occurs matters. The UK government adopted a strategy of fiscal consolidation over an investment led expansion. This determined the shape of recovery that we have made. We may feel the consequences of this for many years to come. Were he still around, Jonathan Swift would surely be furious that he has been left so much out of the Brexit debate. As well as being easily offended, he was a mighty warrior when it came to matters of trade. He had much to be furious about at the turn of the 17th century. The ever-changing constitutional question gave Ireland and England the same king - which meant government then - but two kingdoms. The English used that difference to try to kill any Irish products which competed with theirs, even in overseas trade. Swift's call for retaliation - "Burn everything English, except their coal" - may be his best-known quotation . We have not heard it used much this time, although it was the popular mantra during the Anglo-Irish "economic war" of 1932. Of course, we do not have a trade war - yet - just patriotism. A better quote for current Irish policy might be John Healy's description of the economic war: "When the farmers killed the calves for Dev." The Anglo-Irish "war" was not about trade either. It was about who should pay compensation to landlords for purchase of estates in the 19th century, but it ended in trade retaliation . If the UK should leave with no deal and end up under World Trade Organisation rules, it would not be because of a trade war between Britain and the EU. But the effect would be the same. Elsewhere in the world, trade is dangerous politically. Those 17th century English merchants may have been unkind, but they used what seems like common sense - protecting their business against foreign competition. Today, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping would agree with them, one openly and the other surreptitiously. Standard economic theory holds that, on this at least, common sense is misleading. Overall, it says, we are better off if trade is not restricted by tariffs, quotas and regulations. The EU has applied these ideas to a unique degree with the customs union and single market - although it was inspired by much more than free trade theory. The consequences are the same though, whatever the motivation. Some of them overturn common sense a bit too. The controversially topical speech by Irish President Michael D Higgins sees a bias in favour of business and finance in the make-up of the EU. He seems to regard this as a deliberate choice, inspired by the power of money. Some of it undoubtedly is, but much else is unavoidable. One cannot have free markets without a lot of freedom for business, or have free movement of workers without some freedom for employers to hire and fire. The system for keeping markets open and fair is tried and tested. But turn the glass one way, and it looks like rampant capitalism; turned the other, a great Brussels bureaucracy is stifling enterprise. There have been relatively few attacks on the EU system itself in the UK debate - it's been more a case of whether Britain needs Europe more than Europe needs Britain. The best Brexiters can come up with is that Britain will do better outside the EU, rather than a ridiculous claim that it has been harmed by the single market. Outside Europe, 17th century common sense is re-asserting itself. Free trade is being seen as foreigners taking advantage of one's generosity. The old slogans of buying less abroad and making more at home are back in vogue. Those slogans had their heyday in the 1930s and into the 1950s. Since then, freeing up trade has been a great agent of change. IMF analysts believe that trade integration - in particular the growth of multi-national supply chains - has been the biggest factor behind the falling prices. The extraordinary integration of the EU has been laid bare by the attempted Brexit dis-integration but the same process has been at work everywhere. The arguments over the effects of free trade and globalisation often miss one important point - that they have been of enormous advantage to those on lower incomes. In rich countries, the dramatic fall in the real prices of manufactured goods has been a major boost to living standards. In developing economies, especially in Asia, the effects have been even more dramatic. Tens of millions have moved from near-starvation subsistence to western standards of prosperity. But no one now disputes there have been losers as well. The doughty champions of free trade at the IMF concede that globalisation must be accompanied by enhanced social protection and training for displaced workers to mitigate the downside. There may be more to it than redundant industrial workers. The market power of large companies has increased, not diminished. The single market and the single currency disguise imbalances between member states and keep them out of political debates. Actions since the euro crisis have reduced those imbalances through changes in domestic polices, since tariffs are not allowed. However, they have largely been policies of restricting consumption in the deficit countries rather than improving productivity. That may not be sustainable. It is a great achievement that one EU country cannot deliberately restrict sales from another. It would be an even greater achievement if surplus member states could be persuaded that the others need to be given competitive advantages to enable them to sell more. On that basis, perhaps Dean Swift should have said "burn English coal more efficiently" - only he would have found a much better way to say it. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that the worst had been avoided regarding the Notre Dame fire. "The worst has been avoided but the battle has not yet been won," Macron said at the site of the fire. He added that the next few hours will be very difficult. "Thanks to the bravery of firefighters, the cathedral's two main bell towers have been saved," he noted. Macron said the Notre Dame fire was "a terrible tragedy." "I want to thank firefighters who continue working on extinguishing the blaze. They have demonstrated great professionalism," the French president noted. "I solemnly pledge that we will rebuild the cathedral together. We will launch an international fundraising campaign for the Notre Dame cathedral," Macron told reporters. "Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicenter of our lives," the French president said. "Let's be proud, because we built this cathedral more than 800 years ago, we've built it and, throughout centuries, let it grow and improved it," he added. Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet said that the main structure of the Notre Dame cathedral has been saved from the fire and preserved. "We now consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved. We now believe that the two towers of Notre Dame have been saved," Reuters cited Gallet as saying. According to Reuters, one firefighter was seriously injured while working at the scene. French Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said earlier that the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral has been contained as it decreased in intensity. However, firefighters continue working on extinguishing the blaze completely. The Russian Embassy in Paris said that the damage caused by the fire at the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral is an irreparable loss for humanity. "Even without casualties, this is an irreparable loss for Paris, for France, and for humanity as a whole," the embassy wrote on its official Facebook page. The fire at the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral has been extinguished, Le Figaro newspaper reported citing firefighters. "The fire has been extinguished, and we continue to monitor remaining sources of fire and cool down the hot parts of the building. We will make sure the fire will not pick up again," the fire department said. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that most artworks and religious relics, including the Crown of Thorns, were removed from Notre Dame to the Paris Mayor Office. According to BFM, they would be transferred to the Louvre on Tuesday or Wednesday. A fire broke out at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Monday at around 7 pm local time. The top part of the spire and the clock of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral have collapsed as a result of the fire. The fire is believed to have broken out because of the renovation works underway at the cathedral. The Paris prosecutors office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire. Several police sources said they were working on the assumption for now that the fire was accidental. The bosses of a Co Tyrone concrete firm have said it's well-positioned for further growth after turning a 400,000 loss last year into profits of 1.3m. A spokesman for Acheson & Glover Ltd, which is based in Fivemiletown, said like for like turnover was also up 19% over the nine months to December last year. Meanwhile, consolidated accounts for Acheson Holdings Limited showed pre-tax profits had risen from a 4m loss in the 12 months to March last year to a profit of 132,000 for March to December last year. The accounts for both entities are yet to be filed at Companies House. The group, led by CEO Raymond Acheson, manufactures and sells concrete building products to domestic and commercial clients in the UK and Ireland. The spokesman said Acheson Holdings' bank debts had also been slashed by 8.1m after the disposal of non-core assets and after a long-term aggregates supply agreement had been reached. But the consolidated accounts also reflect the impact of losses following the administration of Acheson and Glover Precast in November, he said. Creditors were owed 3m when the business went into administration. But directors said they were confident Acheson Holdings Ltd could achieve further growth by creating innovative products. They said: "The order intake is performing more strongly than at any time in the last eight years and the directors plan to continue the sales growth into 2019 and beyond. "By ensuring our proposition and product range is more geared towards the value-added market, we have generated a strong order book right across all sectors and especially in Great Britain where we are poised for strong growth in 2019. "During the nine month period in question the company completed a major capital investment of 2m on a wash plant facility in Fivemiletown that will enable it to improve the efficiency of its quarrying operations as well as providing improvements to finished products due to the high and consistent quality of the raw materials used." McAleer & Rushe Contracts UK Ltd enjoyed a 25% surge in pre-tax profits to 16.8m in the 12 months to December 31 2018 (stock photo) Co Tyrone construction company McAleer & Rushe has revealed that it turned down a number of projects last year in order to keep its portfolio of major UK contracts on time and within costs. The Cookstown firm made the disclosure in a new company report which showed it recorded an 18% rise in its annual turnover to 395m on the back of a series of major projects in England during 2018. McAleer & Rushe Contracts UK Ltd enjoyed a 25% surge in pre-tax profits to 16.8m in the 12 months to December 31 2018. The Tyrone company also saw its workforce expand from 300 to 332 over the year. The details were disclosed in a fresh set of accounts made public over the weekend. The report relates to the construction end of the business and does not detail income from its property and investment portfolio. Managing director Martin Magee said: "While we have increased our turnover by 61m, we have also been able to increase our net profit to 4.2%. This is a reflection of the continued success and financial robustness of the business and we look forward to building on that success in 2019." According to a strategic report by McAleer and Rushe director Eamon Higgins, the construction firm was actively on site at 24 UK building projects at the end of December, including a 131m residential scheme at Wembley and two student schemes in Bournemouth worth 54m. It said: "The company continued to build on the strong platform established in recent years and, with the progression of several larger schemes to their latter stages through the year, further turnover growth was delivered." The pipeline of major contracts is expected to continue for McAleer and Rushe. "The company is close to securing a number of further larger scale contracts with both new and existing clients while operating at, or close to, current project levels," states the report. However, it adds: "Despite the availability of work during the year, the company has not taken up all opportunities presented to ensure focus remains on the timely and cost-focused delivery of a manageable workload." McAleer and Rushe said its current strategic approach to major contracts should allow it to target a comparable performance in 2019. The plans would have seen St Columba's College in Portaferry merge with three schools in Downpatrick. Credit: Google Maps Plans to amalgamate a school in Portaferry with three others have been dropped due to concerns over transport. In 2018, it was announced that St Columba's College would merge with De La Salle High School, St Mary's High School and St Patrick's Grammar, which are all in Downpatrick, for financial reasons. Concerns were raised by parents in Portaferry, however, such as how the 170 St Columba's pupils would travel to Downpatrick each morning. Read More Options included either taking a ferry trip of less than a mile across Strangford Lough, or 41-mile bus journey lasting more than an hour. It was suggested that the current ferry service would not have the capacity to get all the pupils to school on time. The Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS), which manages the schools involved in the plans, has now announced the merger will not go ahead. "CCMS, and the Trustees of the Downpatrick/Portaferry Post-primary Project Board, have completed the review of the stakeholder consultation on the future of post-primary education in Downpatrick and Portaferry," they said in a statement. Breaking News - no amalgamation for St. Columba's We have learned this evening that St. Columba's College is not going... Posted by St. Columba's College Portaferry on Monday, April 15, 2019 "All responses to the consultation process have been given due consideration and the aim of improving educational opportunities for pupils in the area remains central to the project. "CCMS and the trustees have concluded that unique challenges face pupils from Portaferry in terms of requiring additional ferry places to transport pupils to Downpatrick. "As a result, CCMS and the Trustees are withdrawing St Columbas College, Portaferry from the proposed amalgamation." St Columba's said their Board of Governor's welcomes the decision and parents would be informed on Tuesday. Vile anti-Semitic remarks made to an Israeli documentary maker by a punter in a bar in Londonderry were last night branded "disturbing and disgusting". Israeli writer Tuvia Tenenbom was filming in the Bogside Inn when the incident happened. Mr Tenenbom had entered the pub in the heart of the republican Bogside to ask why so many Palestinian flags were on display in the street. The customer sitting at the bar told him it was "because we support them - the Israelis are scum". He added that the "only thing that Hitler didn't do wrong - he didn't kill enough f*****g Jews, Hitler didn't kill enough Jews. The scourge of the world." Steven Jaffe, a Belfast-born consultant to public affairs organisation the Jewish Leadership Council, said people needed to be "educated on the evils of anti-Semitism". "The Jewish community enjoys the friendship and respect of the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland," he said. "We call upon faith and political leaders to educate their communities on the evil danger that is anti-Semitism. "Phrases like 'Hitler didn't kill enough of them' is tantamount to a call for genocide yet they are being expressed quite openly on social media and casually in a bar. "In particular, political leaders should reflect on how extremist positions and comments relating to the Arab-Israel conflict can impact directly on the safety of local Jewish and Muslim communities." East Londonderry DUP MP Gregory Campbell said the remarks were "blatantly anti-Semitic". He added: "What was said plays into this narrative that virtually all the problems in various problems across the globe are down to some sort of Jewish conspiracy. "And it is just blatantly anti-Semitic. "Some people are dismissing it as bar room talk, but if someone knows that there is a camera there and a person conducting some sort of interview scenario and they say it knowing that it is on the record, they have to understand the deep offence that would cause to the Jewish community right across the globe. "Is the problem with Jews that they exist? Is that the problem some people have in their mind when they come out with a statement that Hitler didn't kill enough of them? It appeared, from what I saw, that nobody acted with outrage within the other customers. "There seemed to be just an acceptance that this was a view and no one challenged it. "And when the interview put him over it to see if that is what he meant, again he repeated it and no one took exception to it. "It is just an appalling indictment on the views of the people he was interviewing. "What I think should happen is that the people who represent that area, they should be very clear in their opinion, should disassociate themselves with it and condemn it totally." Sinn Fein said: "There is no place for racism, sectarianism, anti-Semitism or discrimination of any kind in our society." Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill with Stephen Garrett Snr and Stephen Garrett Jnr at the Firmus Energy Local Women Magazine Awards Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill with Stephen Garrett Snr and Stephen Garrett Jnr at the Firmus Energy Local Women Magazine Awards The DUP has defended Arlene Foster posing for a photograph with Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O'Neill despite the fact power-sharing at Stormont is suspended. TUV leader Jim Allister had described the picture as "cosy" and noted that the parties were not into "group hugs". Read More The DUP leader and the Sinn Fein vice-president were pictured together by former Miss Great Britain Gemma Garrett. Also in the photograph were Ms Garrett's brother Stephen, a Cliftonville player, and her father Stephen Snr. The two politicians were guests at the Firmus Energy Local Women Magazine Awards in Belfast's Europa Hotel on Saturday night. Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said: "We don't need hugs, we need delivery. "If Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill can attend functions together, they can join forces and address the issues currently impacting on the people of Northern Ireland. "For a start, they can get down to work together on the transformation of healthcare, reforms to education and tackling dilapidated infrastructure on behalf of the whole community." Reacting to the photograph of Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill circulating on social media, TUV leader Jim Allister tweeted: "Cosy. DUP/SF now into group hugs. Hmm." But DUP MP Gregory Campbell defended his party leader. "People regularly ask to have their photo taken with Arlene, and Saturday's event was no different," he said. "Walking away because someone else was also invited to be in the picture would achieve nothing." In a side swipe at the TUV leader, Mr Campbell said: "However, for some of the critics, walking away is the only thing they have ever achieved." The East Londonderry MP added: "I also attended, along with Arlene, the 10th anniversary of the Local Women awards on Saturday. Over 1,700 was raised for local cancer charities at this very worthwhile event." There has been no Executive or Assembly since January 2017 when Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister, the late Martin McGuinness, resigned. The Stormont institutions collapsed amidst the cash-for-ash scandal. Last week Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley suggested she was open to appointing an independent person to chair talks designed to restore power-sharing. The Ulster Unionists and the SDLP declined to comment on the photograph of Mrs Foster and Ms O'Neill. Social media was divided over the picture. On Twitter, the chair of Alliance Youth and Lagan River council candidate Eoin Tennyson said: "Glad Arlene and Michelle can overcome their differences for the sake of a fancy awards dinner. "Shame they can't do the same for victims of historical abuse, people on hospital waiting lists and kids in schools under financial pressure." Another tweeter said: "It's great to see that Michelle and Arlene can finally stand beside each other. It's a shame they can't do it in a parliamentary building, you know, the thing that they're getting paid to do?" But a Facebook poster said: "This is a brilliant photo it gives the people a bit of hope , better seeing them smiling and talking to each other than at each other's throats." The British Government is trying to "cover up" its role in state killings, Sinn Fein has claimed. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley is considering the shape of new structures investigating the toxic legacy of unresolved deaths during the 30-year conflict. Some MPs and veterans have pressed for a statute of limitations which would protect former soldiers from prosecution. Mrs Bradley has said she does not support the measure and it was omitted from her recent consultation on addressing the past. Sinn Fein's local government election manifesto said: "The British Government has sought to cover up its role in the deaths of many Irish citizens and is seeking to introduce an amnesty for those it directed to carry out such killings. "Sinn Fein will continue to oppose the British Government's policy on this issue and demand that the legacy mechanisms agreed at Stormont House are implemented in a human rights-compliant manner." Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said the Ministry of Defence is working across Government to drive through a new package of safeguards to ensure members of the Armed Forces are not treated unfairly. He pledged the Government will urgently reform the system for dealing with legacy issues and said serving and former personnel cannot live in constant fear of prosecution. One former serviceman, Soldier F, is to be prosecuted following the deaths of civil rights protesters shot in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. On Friday thousands of motor bikers demonstrated outside Parliament against the legal action and urged the Government to step in to protect veterans from prosecution. A statute of limitations is backed by many Conservative backbenchers, including some who are former soldiers. Many unionists in Northern Ireland however have expressed concern it could lead to an amnesty for former republican and loyalist paramilitaries. Sinn Fein launched its manifesto for next month's local council elections in Ballymena, Co Antrim. It focused on familiar themes like the "political vandalism" of Brexit, Tory austerity and the need to prepare for a United Ireland. Leader Mary Lou McDonald said: "Brexit has added to uncertainty and instability. "Under the Tory and DUP pact, funding for health and public services isn't even enough to stand still and now they seek to impose Brexit against the will of the people. This is an unprecedented act of political vandalism. This election is an opportunity to say time is up on Brexit, time is up on the DUP/Tory cuts." Sinn Fein is standing 400 candidates across Ireland in the local government elections, including 155 in Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has said that Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland will continue to be EU citizens in "all circumstances". Mr Coveney, who also serves as Tanaiste, made the comments in the Dail on Tuesday. There has been confusion on the status of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland after Brexit. The UK Government is currently conducting a review into the situation after claims that changes proposed by the Home Office could undermine the rights of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland. It has been claimed that a recent Home Office rule change has rendered Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland as considered British by default. Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, people born in Northern Ireland are entitled to identify as Irish, British or both. There was further confusion last month after Secretary of State Karen Bradley suggested that Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland would not be entitled to vote in any referendum on Irish unity. Read More Mr Coveney said that Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland must continue to enjoy all the benefits of EU membership. He told the Dail that if necessary the Irish Government would be willing to cover the cost of European Health Insurance Cards for citizens living in Northern Ireland after Brexit. The Irish Foreign Minister also pointed to the EU's Erasmus study abroad scheme and said that he wanted citizens living in Northern Ireland to continue to have access to the scheme. "The Government is fully committed to ensuring that the vital citizenship and identity provisions of the Good Friday Agreement are respected and upheld in all relevant policy areas," Mr Coveney said. "I'm fully aware of the concerns at recent statements that the UK Government has made that raised concerns for Irish citizens in Northern Ireland, particularly at present given the uncertainty linked to Brexit. "It's important to be clear that these statements in no way change the position that Irish citizens in Northern Ireland continue to be EU citizens in all circumstances." Mr Coveney said that the Good Friday Agreement was explicit in giving people born in Northern Ireland the right to self-identify. "In the Good Friday Agreement the Governments recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as British, or Irish, or both and confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments," he said. "These rights must be fully respect and taken into account in all relevant circumstances. "The Good Friday Agreement was agreed at a time when both British and Irish citizenship also entailed EU citizenship. After the UK exits the EU this will no longer be the case. "In order to fully uphold the spirit of the agreement, where issues arise, they should be addressed in a way that avoids any difference in entitlements based on citizenship. "In particular people in Northern Ireland should not be required to renounce Irish or British citizenship in order to access an entitlement." Mr Coveney said that the Irish Government was "actively seeking" the outcome of the UK Government's review into the situation around the rights of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland. The heartbroken daughter of a Co Down woman who died in a weekend road accident said that she doesn't know how she will ever get over the loss of the woman she "loved more than life itself". Michelle Healy (48), from Castlewellan, died in a single vehicle collision on Dree Hill in Dromara at around 1.10pm on Sunday. She had been travelling from the home of her partner Peter Joe O'Hare towards Dromara when the red Mitsubishi vehicle she was driving left the narrow country road high in the Mournes and tumbled four times into a field. She died at the scene. Ms Healy is survived by her five children: Hannah (29), Paul (27), Tara (21), Niamh (17) and Oisin (11), and four grandchildren: Corey, Leah-Rose, Finn and Emily. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph yesterday, Hannah said: "I wish this was all a bad dream, but it's comforting to know that she didn't suffer. "My heart's hurting so much and the news still hasn't sunk in yet. "I just can't believe I'm never going to see or hug my mum again. "She was the best mum that anyone could have asked for and someone who was loved by so many people. "I'm going to miss her every single day. "She was my everything and I loved her more than life itself. "I don't know how I'm ever going to get over this, but Heaven has gained the most beautiful angel in mummy and I'm going to do everything to make her proud of me." Father Denis McKinlay of St Malachy's Church in Castlewellan, where Ms Healy's funeral will take place tomorrow, said her tragic death had come just weeks after local man Shane McAnallen lost his life in a car crash in Co Louth. Mr McAnallen, from Burrenreagh Road in the town, and his friend Martin Patterson, who were both aged in 20s, died in the crash near Carlingford on the Cooley Peninsula in the early hours of March 18. Fr McKinlay said: "This is exceptionally sad news and is the second road traffic accident in the parish within a matter of weeks. "It's just so shocking and terribly sad that now we have another young woman's life taken so suddenly in a tragic road crash. "I know several members of the family and they are exceptionally nice people. "The parish feels for them in their time of sorrow and will be praying for them." Hundreds of people took to social media yesterday to offer their condolences to the family, with many remembering Ms Healy as "a lovely kind-hearted woman" and "a wonderful person". One family friend posted: "Michelle was a great person, my family always thought well of her. God bless x Rest in Peace Michelle". Another added: "Rest easy Michelle, you were like my second mom. "You'll never be forgotten!" Ms Healy is also survived by her parents Fred and Mary Rose; siblings Bernadette, Rosene, Sharon, Mickey, Marian and Eileen; nieces, nephews and entire family circle. Ms Healy's remains will leave her mother's home in Castlewellan tomorrow morning to arrive at St Malachy's Church for Requiem Mass, which will be followed by burial in the grounds in Aughlisnafin. Meanwhile, police have issued an appeal for anyone who witnessed the collision or who may have dash cam footage to get in touch by calling the non-emergency 101 number. US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) and Congressman Richard Neal (left) are greeted by Simon Coveney. Photo credit: Niall Carson/PA Wire The third most powerful politician in the United States has warned Donald Trump and the Brexiteers not to even think about a US-UK trade deal if there is any threat of a border in Ireland. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker in the House of Representatives, said a trade agreement that damages peace in Ireland just cant possibly happen. Addressing a small gathering in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Pelosi said the Good Friday Agreement is not just a peace agreement but something that resolved hundreds of years of conflict. She said America, including President Bill Clinton and former senator George Mitchell, had worked hard to ensure people on this island could live in harmony. This isnt for us an issue or an agreement. Its a value. Read More Ms Pelosi, who regularly clashes with US President Donald Trump, went on to say that while speaking with UK politicians in recent days she made clear the position of the Democratic Party. She said the UK people had voted to leave the EU and politicians must facilitate that. Expand Close US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi at Iveagh House, Dublin. Photo credit: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi at Iveagh House, Dublin. Photo credit: Niall Carson/PA Wire But she added: And as they work that out, not to think for one minutes that theres any comfort for them that if they leave the EU they will quickly have a US-UK trade agreement. Thats just not in the cards if there is any harm done to the Good Friday accords. Dont even think about it. Ms Pelosi said that US politicians were not taking sides. Were just holding to our values. Its an ideal that is a model for the world. Other place copy so that they can make peace and find common ground. Tanaiste Simon Coveney told the same lunch gathering that Ireland respects the UKs decision to leave the Uion. We have no desire to make life difficult for the UK, he said, adding that Ireland would be the strongest voice in the EU when it comes to support a close relationship in to the future. We want our nearest neighbours to thrive and to prosper. Mr Coveney said Britain will make its own decisions about the future but they do have the right to determine ours. The second meeting of the High Level Working Group on the Caspian Sea issues has started in Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry's press service said. As part of the meeting, it is planned to continue adjusting a draft agreement on the establishment of direct baselines in the Caspian Sea, as well as discussing issues related to the implementation of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea and the implementation of the agreements and instructions of the heads of state following the Fifth Caspian Summit August 12 last year in Aktau. Representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and Turkmenistan are taking part in the event. The first meeting of the working group will be held February 19-20 in Baku. The families of two schoolchildren shot dead by security forces in Londonderry have marked the anniversaries of their deaths by calling for secret files held by the Government to be released. Paul Whitters (15) died 10 days after he was hit on the side of the head by a plastic bullet fired by a RUC constable on April 15, 1981, while 11-yearold Stephen McConomy died three days after he was shot in the back of the head by a soldier who fired a plastic bullet at close range on April 16, 1982. The two families have written to Secretary of State Karen Bradley demanding she use powers available to her to release files held in the National Archives in London on the deaths of the two children which have been sealed until 2059. In her letter to Mrs Bradley, Paul Whitters' mother Helen spoke of the shock she felt when she became aware of the secret file on her son's death. She said: "I have become aware that a file exists at the National Archives in London titled Paul Whitters: killed by a plastic baton round April 1981 CJ4/4402. "It appears that the file was reviewed in 2018 and the decision was made to keep the file closed until January 1, 2059. "I find this deeply shocking. "I brought Paul into this world. When this file is opened on January 1, 2059 I will not be alive. "No one will still be alive who actually knew Paul as the lovely, handsome, caring, intelligent young man that he was," Mrs Whitters added. "Why should a file on the death of my 15-year-old child, which happened almost 40 years ago, remain classified for another 40 years? "What has the British government, the NIO, the RUC got to hide? "What secrets must be protected about events on that April evening in Great James Street? "Paul would be 53 if he were still alive. "He might well have been a proud and loving father and husband, and I may well have had more grandchildren. "Who knows what he would have achieved? I owe it to him to ensure that his file is not allowed to gather dust in a vault in London simply because it is seen as too embarrassing for the establishment. " Mrs Whitters is being supported by the brothers of Stephen McConomy who are also demanding the files are released unredacted. Emmet McConomy recently met with Mrs Bradley after she told the House of Commons that soldiers who killed people in Northern Ireland had not committed a crime. He said she needs to prove she was sincere in her subsequent apology. He said: "It is well within the powers of Karen Bradley to release these files and it would go some way to addressing the concern the families have. "This is an opportunity for Karen Bradley after her apology to us over her remarks in the House of Commons to set the record straight that she and her government have nothing to hide and that they are prepared to meet the needs of the families and victims. "We are talking here about the deaths of two children. "So what are they hiding or what are they so ashamed of that they have to keep these files closed? "It is time now these questions were answered. "This adds to the pain of our family and all families who are seeking the truth of what happen to our loved ones." The Northern Ireland Office declined to comment. The sister of a young Belfast mother who was shot dead in 1972 has accused the PSNI and the Government of showing "contempt" to her family by seeking to appeal a court ruling requiring an independent investigation into her death. Jean Smyth-Campbell (24) was shot while in a car in the Glen Road in west Belfast on June 8, 1972. Her death was initially blamed on the IRA, but it was later suspected the Military Reaction Force, a secretive Army unit, was responsible. This morning members of her family are meeting PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton, who has said he fears that the court's recent decision could have "significant implications" for contemporary policing. Last month the Court of Appeal in Belfast found the PSNI lacked the independence necessary to investigate the killing. It was also found that the Northern Ireland Office and Department of Justice had failed to provide an investigation compliant European human rights law. Ms Smyth-Campbell's sister Margaret McQuillan called the appeal a "shameful delaying tactic by the PSNI and the British Government". "The PSNI, the Department of Justice, and the British Secretary of State (Karen Bradley) have shown Jean and our family nothing but contempt. They should be ashamed of themselves. They have no respect for victims or their families," she said. Speaking on behalf of Kinnear & Co, Campbell family legal representative Niall O'Murchu said the appeal undermined Mr Hamilton's claim he did not want the PSNI to handle legacy cases. He added attempts to make the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch independent were "window-dressing" the families won't accept. Mr O'Murchu also noted that the PSNI was appealing only part of the judgment which concerns its independence, while the NIO and DoJ were appealing against all of it. He called this "a callous attempt to try and block meaningful legacy investigations". Mr Hamilton said he accepted the original investigations by the RUC and the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) in 2008 were inadequate. "It is a matter of deep regret that policing has failed to provide answers and secure justice for the Smyth family," he said. With no Historical Investigation Unit in place, Mr Hamilton said he had ordered steps to ensure "practical independence" for the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch, "The case of Jean Smyth is one of a number which are challenging the independence of the PSNI," he said. "While these cases relate to legacy incidents, I am concerned by their potential implications for the delivery of effective, operationally independent and accountable policing in the present day." A UK Government spokesperson said it remained "fully committed" to the implementation of historical legacy institutions. They added that the Government was still seeking clarification over the court case, but could not comment any further during ongoing proceedings. "Our thoughts today remain with the Smyth family and all families in Northern Ireland who lost loved ones as a result of the Troubles," they added. In the absence of agreed mechanisms on the past, the Department of Justice decides on funding for legacy investigations. The department said: "The appeal will seek to provide clarity on issues pertaining to the obligation to investigate legacy cases in a way that satisfies Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights." The family of a 15-year-old boy shot dead by a soldier in Londonderry in 1972 prayed at his graveside after "a dark cloud lifted" when they were told the man who shot him is to be charged with his murder. The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said there is enough evidence to charge the veteran, known as Soldier B, with the murder of Daniel Hegarty. Read More He will also face a charge of wounding with intent Daniel's cousin Christopher Hegarty (17) during Operation Motorman, as the army went into 'no go' areas of Derry. Daniel's sister Margaret Brady said the family feel huge relief that her brother can now rest in peace. She said: "As soon as we left the meeting we went straight to Daniel's grave and prayed. I told him, 'You can rest in peace now Daniel', as can my mother and father. "We stood at his grave and it was as if a dark cloud had been lifted. I honestly think Daniel is in heaven praying for the soldier who murdered him. "I know my mother had masses offered for him (the soldier) a number of times and I have often wondered about him myself. "I wondered if he ever had a son and did he ever look at his son aged 15 and think about the boy in Derry who never got to live his life. These have been long hard years, but we were determined we would not stop until this day came, but sadly our sister Philomena passed away just 12 weeks ago so she didn't get to hear the decision we had fought so hard for. We were so nervous going into the meeting with the PPS and half expected to hear that they would not prosecute the soldier, but it was a huge relief for all of us that he will be charged with Daniel's murder." A fresh inquest into Daniel's death was held in 2011 when the then Northern Ireland Coroner, John Leckey, found Daniel was totally innocent and "posed no risk" at the time he was shot. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Daniel Hegarty and his sister Kathleen Shot dead: Daniel Hegarty / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Daniel Hegarty and his sister Kathleen He referred the case back to the PPS who in 2016 decided there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction and the test for prosecution had not been met - a decision Mr Hegarty's family successfully challenged. The Director of Public Prosecutions was asked by the Divisional Court last year to review the case. Following his meeting with the Hegarty family, Stephen Herron said after considering all of the available evidence, he had "concluded that the evidence which can be presented at court is sufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction and that the Evidential Test for Prosecution is met. He said: "As with all cases, I have also carefully considered whether the public interest requires prosecution through the courts. Particular consideration was given to Soldier B's ill health, regarding which an updated medical report was obtained. "In line with our Code for Prosecutors, I have concluded, given the seriousness of the charges, that the Public Interest Test for Prosecution is also met. "I have therefore taken the decision to prosecute an individual identified as Soldier B for the offence of murder in relation to the death of Daniel Hegarty and for the wounding of Christopher Hegarty." A Government spokeswoman said: "We note today's decision taken by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service, and we will offer full legal and pastoral support to the individual affected." Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Firefighters battle a blaze in the Mater Hospital on April 16th 2019 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Thirty firefighters worked to extinguish a blaze at the Mater Hospital in north Belfast on Tuesday. The fire started in the hospital's laundry room around 4:09pm. The Fire Service sent five standard appliances and one specialist appliance to the scene. Firefighters entered the building and extinguished the blaze, they also worked to stop smoke spreading to any of the critical care areas in that part of the hospital. A Fire Service spokesperson confirmed that the incident was dealt with by 5.38pm. He said that an investigation was now under way to determine the cause of the fire. No patients were evacuated as a result of the fire. A Belfast Trust spokesperson confirmed there had been an "incident" at the hospital and said they are trying to establish the facts surrounding it. A DUP councillor who is registered blind has spoken of his shock and disgust after his appearance was mocked on social media. Graham Craig, who is seeking re-election in Belfast's Botanic ward in next month's local government elections, said those who made fun of him were "far from being the progressives they proclaim to be". Read More Mr Craig is blind in one eye and has limited sight in the other. A photograph of his election literature saying he wanted to protect parts of the Botanic area from being bulldozed was posted on a political page on Facebook. But attention then focused on the DUP councillor's appearance. One person said he had "tiny, tiny eyes". Another stated: "His eyes are funny, ya don't think he's the other sort do ya??" One person said: "Ask him to look you straight in the eye." Another person used sexual language to criticise the councillor's appearance. Mr Craig last night told the Belfast Telegraph: "Politicians should have thick skins. "I have no problem with anybody having a pop at my politics or anything I state in my literature, that's fair game. "But I am shocked and disgusted that people who call themselves progressive are making fun of my eyes. "I don't like speaking out about my disability as I don't let it define me but I can't allow these comments to pass." Mr Craig said he suffered from a rare genetic condition which resulted in him being born blind in one eye and having limited sight in the other. Elected as a UUP councillor in 2014, he defected to the DUP two years ago. He said he had faced "a few snide comments" from some political opponents over his eyesight in City Hall but he had "chosen not to make a big deal out of it". The DUP councillor said that canvassing in elections presented practical problems for him. "It is tough and I can't go into a street on my own but I have some good friends who come with me," he said. "I do walk into things like the odd lamppost when I'm out and about, and it's hard for me to find letterboxes when I'm delivering leaflets. "But the biggest disadvantage is that when you can't see people well you can't read their body language and you really need to be able to do that and pick up on the signs when canvassing. "The other difficulty is posing for photographs. "Even when I think I'm looking straight, I'm not." Mr Craig is from Castlederg, Co Tyrone. His sister Jayne, who also suffers from the condition, is a disability rights campaigner. Last month the DUP told Mr Craig to withdraw a controversial leaflet saying he would campaign for 'local homes for local people', saying it wasn't sanctioned by the party. The body that oversees safety standards in hospitals, care homes and dental surgeries across Northern Ireland is looking for a new chief executive. The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) has advertised the top job at the organisation as the current chief executive prepares to leave the post at the end of a three-year secondment in June. Olive MacLeod took up the post in 2016, temporarily leaving her job at the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, where she had been working as Director of Nursing and User Experience since 2011. The Northern Trust last night refused to say whether Ms MacLeod will be returning to the 75,000-a-year post. A spokeswoman said: "We do not comment on the circumstances of individual employees." The successful candidate for the RQIA job will be responsible for managing the organisation as it faces scrutiny for how it reacted to serious failings at a care home on the outskirts of west Belfast. The police are currently carrying out a probe into allegations of neglect and abuse at Dunmurry Manor following on from the publication of a damning review into conditions there. Ms MacLeod came under fire after controversial comments she made in which she said she would prefer to describe resident-on-resident sex abuse as "disinhibited behaviour". The RQIA is responsible for inspecting healthcare settings across Northern Ireland to ensure basic safety standards are being met. In particular, it carries out unannounced inspections at hospital wards and care homes to establish how well they are being run and whether they are clean and safe. It has the power to close facilities or implement sanctions if RQIA inspectors are concerned about standards. A spokesman from the RQIA said: "The position of RQIA chief executive is a key role in health and social care in Northern Ireland, and is being advertised on a permanent basis." The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP/Getty Images Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - (Photo by Pierre Galey / AFP)PIERRE GALEY/AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Lori Hinant) Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Lori Hinant) Handout video grab taken from the Twitter feed of @leistomania93 of smoke and flames coming from the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday April 15, 2019. See PA story FIRE NotreDame. Photo credit should read: @leistomania93/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Lori Hinant) Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday April 15, 2019. See PA story FIRE NotreDame. Photo credit should read: @slopezserra/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Smoke and flames coming from the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo credit: Ashley Huntington/Mercedes Girona/PA Wire People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) People watch as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) A fire fighter tackles the blaze as flames and smoke rise while Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A fire fighter tackles the blaze as flames and smoke rise while Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) People watch Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) People watch Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) A fire fighter gestures as a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) File photo dated 01/03/15 of the North Rose stained glass window at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, which is feared to have been destroyed by fire. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday April 15, 2019. See PA story FIRE NotreDame. Photo credit should read: David Davies/PA Wire A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Firefighters use hoses as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Firefighters use hoses as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Flames illuminate the night sky as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Flames and smoke are seen as the interior of the Notre-Dame Cathedral continues to burn on April 15, 2019, in the French capital Paris. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. (Photo by PHILIPPE WOJAZER / POOL / AFP)PHILIPPE WOJAZER/AFP/Getty Images Firemen inspect the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris, Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Experts are assessing the blackened shell of Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral to establish next steps to save what remains after a devastating fire destroyed much of the almost 900-year-old building. With the fire that broke out Monday evening and quickly consumed the cathedral now under control, attention is turning to ensuring the structural integrity of the remaining building. (AP Photo/Christophe Enaa) An aerial view of the fire raging at Notre Dame Cathedral. (Photo by - / AFP)-/AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo credit should read GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX *** Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP) The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday evening. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday April 15, 2019. See PA story FIRE NotreDame. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) A former Belfast priest has said Notre Dame Cathedral will rise again after a devastating fire ripped through the centuries old church on Monday. It comes as Paris firefighters confirmed the blaze had been extinguished on Tuesday morning. There has been relief in Paris the main structure was saved with French President Emmanuel Macron pledging to rebuild the iconic landmark. Have you been in Notre Dame or there now? Share your memories with us, contact us at digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk The Cathedral is home to some of the world's most historic Christian artifacts. There were fears they would be lost as temperatures reached 600 degrees within the stone structure. However items such as the Crown of Thorns, thought to have been worn by Christ on the Cross, were saved. Read More Aidan Troy worked in Belfast for years at Holy Cross Church in north Belfast. He has celebrated Mass in Notre Dame and was at the scene on Monday night. "I have never stood so silently in Notre Dame. There is normally so much activity, the millions of visitors. And the great thing is you don't have to show you are a believer, the door is always open," he told the BBC. Expand Close An aerial view of the fire raging at Notre Dame Cathedral. (Photo by - / AFP)-/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp An aerial view of the fire raging at Notre Dame Cathedral. (Photo by - / AFP)-/AFP/Getty Images "It was a moment of disbelief. There was nothing you could do other than bow your head and say this is a moment of history." Unity of purpose between State and Church. Father Troy has worked in Paris for the past 10 years. He said the fire reminded him of the attack on the Bataclan Theatre when gunmen open up on concert goers in November 2015 resulting in the death of 130 people and 494 wounded. "Last night was surely an extraordinary night just to be there and see the building crumbling before your eyes," he said. "But there is some hope now. President Macron spoke and beside him was the Archibishop of Paris and though legally they are separate, there is a unity of purpose between the Church and the State." Standing tonight with hundred of others speechless looking at Notre Dame Cathedral. Paris, France and many other places, with a sense of personal loss. Praying it will rise from these ashes to welcome through its doors again people of all religions and none. Rest for now in peace Aidan Troy (@fatherfrench) April 15, 2019 The incident comes just days before the central Easter celebrations, one of the biggest weeks in the Christian faith. Father Troy was due to be in Notre Dame to celebrate Mass with the Archbishop of Paris on Wednesday and events had been scheduled right through the week. "This is holy week.. it is a huge week with huge ceremonies," he continued. "I was due to be there to celebrate Mass tomorrow evening with the archbishop and probably 300 or 400 priests when the oils will be blessed, when we renew our vows as priests. "Holy Thursday the washing of the feet; Good Friday with the relics like the Crown of thorns; Holy Saturday there will be 400 new baptisms of adults. And then Easter Sunday the bells will ring out for the resurrection. "It is an extraordinary week and I know the Church in Paris will reschedule this and we will reassemble tomorrow night and this will not be the end of the story. "Like Easter Sunday there will be a resurrection of Notre Dame." US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) and Congressman Richard Neal (left) are greeted by Simon Coveney, Irelands Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade at Iveagh House, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi has warned the UK not to undermine the Good Friday Agreement when it leaves the EU. The senior Democrat said a quick trade agreement between the UK and the US after Brexit was not on the cards if there was any harm done to the accord. Speaking in Dublin, she said the UK had made the decision to leave the bloc and it should not think for one minute that theres any comfort for them in the fact that if they leave the EU that they would quickly have a US-UK trade agreement. Expand Close Nancy Pelosi (J Scott Applewhite/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Nancy Pelosi (J Scott Applewhite/AP) Thats just not on the cards, if theres any harm done to the Good Friday accords, she said. Dont even think about that. She said the Good Friday pact was not just a peace agreement, it was something much more. This isnt, for us, an issue or an agreement. Its a value, she said. Ms Pelosi made the comments at the Department of Foreign Affairs at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland. She was greeted by the countrys deputy premier and foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney, ahead of a meeting with Irish premier Leo Varadkar at Government Buildings. Mr Coveney said Ireland respected the UKs decision to leave the EU and had no desire to make life difficult for the United Kingdom. But he added that while Britain had the right to determine its own destiny, it did not have the right to determine Irelands future. Thank you to @SpeakerPelosi @RepRichardNeal @RepBrendanBoyle and all the US delegation for coming to visit Ireland at this important time. Your friendship and ongoing support is so valued and appreciated. #Brexit . pic.twitter.com/aTBsvnkqIp Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) April 16, 2019 Ms Pelosi is part of a delegation of high-ranking US politicians on a fact-finding mission to the country. On Wednesday, she will address TDs, senators and former politicians of the Irish parliament in the Dail chamber. The group will then meet President Michael D Higgins and Mr Varadkar will host a dinner at Dublin Castle. Expand Close Leo Varadkar presents Nancy Pelosi with a copy of a letter signed by more than 300 congressman written in 1937 to congratulate Ireland on its new constitution (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Leo Varadkar presents Nancy Pelosi with a copy of a letter signed by more than 300 congressman written in 1937 to congratulate Ireland on its new constitution (Brian Lawless/PA) The US delegation includes several members of the Friends of Ireland caucus, including congressman Richie Neal. The US politicians will also visit Northern Ireland. On Monday, Ms Pelosi said there would be no chance of a US-UK trade deal if there was any weakening of the Good Friday Agreement. Speaking at the London School of Economics, she said the accord was a model that could not be bargained away in another agreement. We were honored to be welcomed to Westminster yesterday by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, hearing his deep expertise on Parliament and on how to get the most of a call for Order! pic.twitter.com/b0Brk0zlgi Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) April 15, 2019 Ms Pelosi is the third most powerful politician in the US. Ahead of the visit, Mr Varadkar said: Its an honour to welcome the delegation from the US Congress to Ireland. This visit is more evidence of the deep and historic ties between our two countries and is a good opportunity to further deepen US-Ireland bilateral relations. We will discuss a range of issues including trade, visas, immigration and Brexit. Russias UFC Reigning Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov rules out all possible contenders for his next fight except for Dustin Poirier of the United States, a spokesman for the Russian fighters team said. "We have only one option and this option is Poirier," TASS cited the spokesman s saying. Dustin The Diamond Poirier defeated over the weekend another American fighter, Max Blessed Holloway (20 wins, 4 defeats), becoming an interim UFC champion, which means that he is now officially a mandatory challenger for the fight against Russias Nurmagomedov. Poirier, 30, has fought to win 25 bouts (12 by KO/TKO, 7 by submission and 6 by decisions). He also lost five of his previous fights (2 by KO/TKO, 1 by submission and 2 by decisions). Nurmagomedov currently holds an unblemished record of 27 wins in all of his mixed martial arts fights (8 by KOs, 9 by submission and 10 by decision). The next fight of the 30-year-old Russian fighter, nicknamed The Eagle is scheduled for September 7. ATM ripped from the wall of a building in the town centre of Bushmills. A tractor was left burnt out at the scene. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia ATM ripped from the wall of a building in the town centre of Bushmills. A digger was left burnt out at the scene. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia ATM ripped from the wall of a building in the town centre of Bushmills. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim. Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press Thieves have used a digger to rip an ATM machine from a wall in Co Antrim. It is the ninth such theft of a machine in Northern Ireland this year. Read More In the latest thieves used a tractor and trailer to transport a digger to the Market Square area of Bushmills at around 3.30am on Tuesday. The excavator was then used to rip the machine from the wall. Both the tractor and the digger were set alight and destroyed by fire with police and the fire service attended the scene. TUV MLA Jim Allister said a lack of police presence had left the area "wide open for these gangs" and the "criminals were winning". The diamond area of the town remains sealed off as police continue their investigations. There is concern in Bushmills over the loss of the machine just ahead of the busy Easter holidays. One witness said: "At about 3.20am I heard a massive crash followed by another crash, I though it was thunder. It's unreal that this has happened in our village. "It now means that people will not be able to get cash especially coming up to the Easter holidays, when the village will be very busy with tourists given its location in proximity to Bushmills Distillery and the Giants Causeway." A short time later another vehicle was found burnt out at the nearby Craigboney Road near Bushmills. It is believed that both incidents are linked. Expand Close PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press There has been a spate of thefts of machines at various mainly rural locations across Northern Ireland over recent months. On Friday police issued an appeal for communities to be on the look out for heavy plant machinery operating in the early hours of the morning. They also urged builders to ensure their machinery was secured revealing one incident was thwarted because a digger was fitted with a functioning immobiliser. "We need communities to help be our eyes and ears," said Detective Chief Inspector David Henderson. Police have set up a special team of detectives to investigate the thefts. They have also upped patrols at vulnerable and high risk locations. Police have defended their response to the recent spate of thefts saying they cant be everywhere at once and called on the publics support to try and catch those responsible. Expand Close PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PACEMAKER BELFAST 15/4/2019 The scene after a cash machine was stolen in Bushmills in Co Antrim, Thieves have used a digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a shop.The incident happened in Market Square early on Tuesday morning.The digger was set on fire. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press Over recent days police have posted several updates of their officers visiting cash machines throughout Northern Ireland. "We dont have crystal balls, one officer said on Facebook in response to criticism of police actions. There are concerns communities could be left without cash machines. Retail NI, which represents independent traders has said shop owners feel "under siege" that they will be next. Expand Close ATM ripped from the wall of a building in the town centre of Bushmills. A tractor was left burnt out at the scene. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp ATM ripped from the wall of a building in the town centre of Bushmills. A tractor was left burnt out at the scene. Pic Steven McAuley/McAuley Multimedia Mr Allister has expressed his anger at the latest theft after a similar raid in Ahoghill earlier this month. He said: The paucity of policing in North Antrim is, I believe, making life easy for the criminals. With barely a police officer or police vehicle available within north Antrim during the night, with such service as there is withdrawn to Coleraine, the area has been left wide open for these gangs, who are not ignorant of the opportunities lack of policing presents. After Ahoghill I expected targeting of ATMs, in terms of surveillance and increased patrols, by the PSNI, but once more the criminals are winning. This is not good enough. This is not just another ATM theft, but the ripping of a vital service out of the village of Bushmills. Police have been contacted for a comment. Anyone with information should contact detectives on 101 quoting ref 106 16/04/18 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Gardai have arrested three men as part of an ongoing investigation into a Romanian organised crime group. The men, aged 24, 25 and 31, were arrested following the search of a house in Letterkenny, Co Donegal on Tuesday morning. During the search police recovered documentation relating to suspected frauds in Northern Ireland. The investigation includes enquiries with the PSNI and Europol and is ongoing. The search was conducted by members of Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, National Bureau of Criminal Investigations and assisted by local Gardai from Letterkenny and Milford. A large amount of fraud paraphernalia including suspected cloned credit cards, credit cards issued in false names, bank account details, false Romanian identity documents, credit card machines, till rolls and a number of suspected stolen Irish and UK passports and driving licences along with two cars bought on finance obtained on bank accounts opened in false names were discovered at the location and seized. The three arrested men are currently detained under Section 50, Criminal Justice Act, 2007 as amended and are detained at Letterkenny and Milford Garda Stations. Three west Belfast men were in court yesterday charged with stealing a JCB digger and trailer worth 20,000. Standing side by side at the back of Lisburn Magistrates Court, Damien Rush (28), Robert Braniff (34) and Patrick McGowan (49) confirmed they understood the single charge against them. Rush, from Balkan Street; Braniff, from the Ballymurphy Road, and McGowan, from Brittons Parade, are accused of stealing the JCB digger and Ivor Williams trailer from the Knockbracken estate on March 23, 2017. None of the facts surrounding the charge were opened in court but during a short preliminary enquiry, the legal process necessary to refer a case upwards to the Crown Court, a prosecuting lawyer submitted there was a case to answer. The defence lawyers conceded there was a prima facie case against their clients, who declined the opportunity to comment or to call evidence. Applying for legal aid, one defence lawyer said the charge was "particularly significant given the current media attention" and revealed there would be "forensic issues" to deal with at the trial. Freeing the three accused on their own bail of 500 and granting legal aid for one counsel, Deputy District Judge Sean O'Hare ordered them to appear at Craigavon Crown Court for their arraignment on June 4. Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday A man and woman have been charged with money laundering as part of a major police crackdown on "money mules" throughout Northern Ireland. More than 100 officers took part in morning raids on a total of eight properties yesterday which resulted in the arrest of two men aged 31 and 24 and a 29-year-old woman. Read More The search operation was conducted by the PSNI's Economic Crime Unit and targeted properties in Craigavon and Belfast, although arrests were only made in the Shankill and Poleglass areas. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Wilson said one of the suspects targeted in the operation has also been charged with a number of drug offences. "A 24-year-old man has been charged with money laundering, possession of a class B drug, possession of a Class B drug with intent to supply, acquiring criminal property and converting criminal property. "A 29-year-old woman has been charged with money laundering, acquiring criminal property and converting criminal property," he said. They are due to appear in court on May 13. The other suspect was released on bail pending further enquiries. DCI Wilson warned that those who launder money through their personal bank accounts on behalf of criminals could be enabling human trafficking and prostitution. "Typically, the money has been received as the result of a scam or fraud and the victim sends the cash to the money mule's account," he said. "It is then laundered by the mule who withdraws it, often changes it into a foreign currency and then passes it on to the criminal." Police warned individuals who are being recruited through social media and by word of mouth to engage in illegal money transfers that it is not an easy way to make a living. "Allowing your account details to be used for fraud could lead to you serving a custodial sentence," DCI Wilson said. Police say they are investigating around 200 separate cases. A number of posters have been stolen ahead of May's council elections Police in Londonderry have told people to "support the right to a free, democratic vote" and issued a warning following a spate of election poster thefts. As Northern Ireland prepares to go to the polls for the local government elections next month, dozens of candidates across the province have reported the theft of their campaign posters from lamposts. Last week, four people appeared in court charged with the theft and criminal damage of election posters, stolen from around the north coast area. Read More Posting on social media, PSNI Foyle described the crimes as either "a moment of madness or something more sinister". "Regardless it is a criminal offence. Depending on the circumstances it will be treated as theft or criminal damage," they warned. Election Time Police have recently detected and are in the process of prosecuting people who have damaged/removed or... Posted by Police Derry City & Strabane on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 "The posters are expensive to produce and they are the property of the people or parties standing for election." Earlier this month, Sinn Fein accused the PSNI of "indifference" to the thefts, after several of their candidates' posters were removed in the south Antrim area. Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton, however, refuted the claims, stating police will "fully respond" to any thefts and prosecute those identified as carrying them out. PSNI Foyle said that, while members of the public will not agree with each and every political party, "we as a society must remember to respect freedom of speech and support the right to a free democratic vote." "The opportunity to vote is a cornerstone of democracy and a human rights issue," they wrote. "Facilitating a fair, peaceful and effective voting process is a primary concern for the police service. "Therefore we will act on behalf of ALL when enforcing the law when required." Last month, SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan hit out at "amateurs" taking to social media to brag of collecting Alliance, Sinn Fein and SDLP posters in the Tyrone area. He said he has made a complaint to police after one Twitter user posted a picture of the boards saying he would use them for the July bonfires. An annual national commemoration day to remember former residents of mother and baby institutions could be introduced in Ireland as part of a series of recommendations set out by a consultative group. It comes as the Government announced a number of measures it is implementing following the report from the collaborative forum of mother and baby home survivors. The Government is to develop a package of health and well-being measures which will be brought for approval in September. Recommendations of Collaborative Forum for Former Residents of Mother and Baby Homes and Related Institutions as well as response of Government published https://t.co/ye8tfiqrcC @DCYAPress @merrionstreet @tusla pic.twitter.com/OKUqDbAwY3 Katherine Zappone (@k_zappone) April 16, 2019 There will also be changes to adoption legislation, a memorialisation programme and a research project on language and terminology. Among the 44 recommendations is to erect a national monument in Phoenix Park to commemorate the mothers and children. Minister for Children Katherine Zappone said the initiatives will make real progress. Hundreds of women have been waiting for some 70 years for this day to have their voices heardTerri Harrison Terri Harrison, who was a resident in the former mother and baby home at Bessborough in Cork, said the announcement has given her great hope. Hundreds of women have been waiting for some 70 years for this day to have their voices heard, she added. I did not think I would live to see this day, ever. She was 18 years old when her son was adopted against her will when he was a few weeks old. This is a day for us. I believe this day has given us great hope, she continued. We never survived, we are not survivors, we are surviving. We have learned coping skills and to live with our bereavement. When our children were taken from us we had to learn to live with that. The Coalition Of Mother And Baby Home Survivors estimates that around 35,000 women and girls went through nine mother and baby homes between 1904 and 1996. A commission has been set up to investigate 14 mother and baby homes which operated between 1922 and 1998. A number of members from the collaborative forum also spoke of the great sense of frustration following the Governments decision to delay publishing the report in full for another year. Samantha Long, chairwoman of the sub-committee on memorialisation, who was also adopted from St Patricks Mother and Baby Home in Dublin, said: So much work has been put into this by so many and theres a frustration that there may be a perception there is something to be hidden and thats not the case. The minister (Ms Zappone) is acting on the Attorney Generals advice and we have no right to know exactly what that is but we hope that it will be published in early course because there is nothing to hide. There is a lot to be educated about and a lot of narratives do need to be heard. Ms Zappone said Minister for Health Simon Harris is to develop proposals for a package of health and well-being supports, including access to appropriate health and social care measures. The minister has agreed to set up a working group with officials from her department to report back to Government by September. Ms Zappone said: In my own area, I am proposing to amend key provisions of the Adoption Bill to take account of issues raised by the forum. I am also developing a memorialisation programme and the commissioning of research on the use of language and terminology. The forum also recommended the establishment of an expert group to deliver an approved template of terms and language to be used to describe the treatment of mothers and children within the institutions. It also recommended the inclusion of a module on Mother and Baby Homes in the National History Curriculum for schools. Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame (Philippe Wojazer/Pool/AP) A massive fire at Pariss Notre Dame cathedral has caused shock around the world. Here is a look at similar disasters to befall buildings of historic importance, and the steps taken to rebuild, here in the UK and abroad. Windsor Castle Expand Close Fire swept through the length of St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle (PA file) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fire swept through the length of St Georges Hall at Windsor Castle (PA file) Part of the building, one of the Queens official residences, was wrecked by fire on November 20 1992. The fire started in the first floor Private Chapel, in the Upper Castle Ward, and Prince Andrew was among the team which attempted to salvage valuable works of art during the blaze. A 36.5 million repair project involving 1,500 building workers saw the 14th-century building reopen in 1997. Expand Close The damage cost some 36.5 million to repair (PA file) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The damage cost some 36.5 million to repair (PA file) York Minster Expand Close Firemen survey the fire damage to the South Transept of York Minster in 1984 (PA file) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Firemen survey the fire damage to the South Transept of York Minster in 1984 (PA file) A lightning bolt is believed to have sparked a fire in the buildings south transept on July 9 1984 which completely destroyed the roof. More than 100 firefighters tackled the blaze, which caused 2.25 million in damage. The restoration work was completed in 1988. Expand Close A restoration project was completed in 1988 (PA file) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A restoration project was completed in 1988 (PA file) Coventry Cathedral Expand Close The ruins of Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire, after the Medieval building was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs during air raids (PA file) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The ruins of Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire, after the Medieval building was destroyed by Luftwaffe bombs during air raids (PA file) The medieval Parish Church Cathedral of St Michael burned when the Luftwaffe bombed the city on the night of November 14 1940, killing more than 1,000 civilians. Its ruins were preserved as a reminder of the folly and waste of war, while a new cathedral was built alongside. Expand Close The ruins were retained as part of the creation of a new cathedral (Steven Baker/Historic England) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The ruins were retained as part of the creation of a new cathedral (Steven Baker/Historic England) Glasgow School of Art Expand Close A second fire at the school in 2018 was more destructive (@banpo_monkey/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A second fire at the school in 2018 was more destructive (@banpo_monkey/PA) The west wing of Charles Rennie Mackintoshs famed building was damaged by fire on May 23 2014. A multimillion-pound restoration project was nearing completion when a second, more destructive, fire tore through the school on June 15 2018. Expand Close Work to stabilise the building has been taking place (Glasgow School of Art/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Work to stabilise the building has been taking place (Glasgow School of Art/PA) National Museum of Brazil Expand Close Flames engulfed the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil (Leo Correa/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flames engulfed the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil (Leo Correa/AP) A fire which broke out at the building, in Rio de Janeiro, in September 2018 destroyed most of its 20 million-strong collection. The fire quickly spread through the building and President Michel Temer said that 200 years of work, research and knowledge were lost. However around 2,000 artefacts were recovered from the ashes, including the 11,500-year-old skull of Luzia, the oldest human ever found in the Americas. The supervisory board of Russias biggest lender Sberbank has recommended paying 361.4 billion rubles ($5.62 billion) in dividends for 2018, CEO German Gref said. The dividend payment will account for 43.5% of the banks net profit calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The record date is June 13. In 2018, the bank paid 12 rubles per share, or a total of 271.043 billion rubles, in dividends for 2017, which accounted for 36.2% of the banks IFRS net profit for the year. The central bank owns a 50% plus one share stake in Sberbank, non-Russian resident companies 45.64%, resident companies 1.52%, and private investors 2.84%. Head of the State Dumas Committee for Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the increasing role of dividends in Sberbank's profit structure makes it attractive for investors to it, although it is not an undoubtedly positive trend. "It would be much more efficient to use profits to increase the banks capital and expand its credit process. From the point of view of Sberbanks investors, this is a very attractive number, and those who have invested in Sberbank won fair amount of money," he said. "Accordingly, investors will be happy to invest in Sberbank shares, which will encourage interest in it, including from abroad, despite all the talk about Western sanctions against state banks. Sberbanks profits are the case when an opportunity to earn good money outweighs any risks for foreign investors," Anatoly Aksakov stressed. At the same time, the deputy expressed doubt that the main beneficiary of Sberbank - the government - will try to increase its share in the banks capital in order to increase payments to the state budget. "I don't think it will be happen, including because minority shareholders are unlikely to sell shares in such a profitable enterprise. Sberbank shares is one of the sweetest spots in our financial market," he concluded. Bernard Arnault said he, his family and company would donate 200 million euro (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File) Two of Frances richest men, long locked in a public rivalry, are once again pitted against each other this time over flashy and competing donations to rebuild Notre Dame. Billionaire luxury tycoons Bernard Arnault, 70, and Francois Pinault, 82 are among Frances fiercest business competitors and patrons. Their rivalry reached dramatic heights when it was announced Mr Pinault, his son and their company Artemis would immediately donate 100 million euro to help finance renovations to Notre Dame after it was seriously damaged in an inferno during building works. They're like competing boys, but the stakes run into the billionsLong Nguyen, Flaunt magazine fashion editor Hours later, Mr Arnault shot back with an announcement that he, his family and his luxury company LVMH would pledge double that amount 200 million euro for the restoration of the church that was immortalised in Victor Hugos 1831 novel The Hunchback Of Notre Dame an eternal story of obsession and jealousy. The famed rivalry of Mr Arnault and Mr Pinault, whose names rhyme, goes back decades. Theyre like competing boys, but the stakes run into the billions, said Long Nguyen, fashion editor at Flaunt magazine. Mr Arnault is Frances and Europes richest man and CEO of the worlds biggest luxury group, LVMH, the owner of iconic fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. Mr Pinault founded the worlds second-biggest, Kering, formerly PPR, that acquired rival brand Saint Laurent in a face-off. The Notre Dame donations are the latest in a long line They run competing fashion houses and both like the centre stage, he added. Both men also possess a sizeable art collection and a desire to show it off in competing museums. Mr Pinaults son Francois-Henri married actress Salma Hayek and is often in the society pages, while Mr Arnaults son Antoine fathered children to supermodel Natalia Vodianova. Expand Close Antoine Arnault and Natalia Vodianova (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Antoine Arnault and Natalia Vodianova (AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer, File) The two were reportedly on friendly business terms until the late 1990s. Some commentators have linked the souring of the pairs relations to a bidding battle over the ownership of Italian fashion house Gucci, which eventually went to Mr Pinaults Kering group. Then, the battling turned to art. Mr Arnault opened the Louis Vuitton Foundation, designed by architect Frank Gehry, in 2014 to showcase his vast personal art trove in Paris far western suburbs. Some critics have branded it a vanity project, with French media claiming that the glimmering buildings final price tag came in at close to 900 million US dollars (689 million). Meanwhile Mr Pinault, who with his son is estimated to represent Frances sixth fortune, is following hot on Mr Arnaults heels and is set to open his multimillion-pound contemporary art museum, the Collection Pinault-Paris, next spring. Expand Close Francois-Henri Pinault and his film star wife Salma Hayek (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Francois-Henri Pinault and his film star wife Salma Hayek (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File) Since 2001, Mr Pinault has gradually been ceding control of his business interests to his eldest son Francois-Henri, 56, to concentrate on his art collecting. The museum, designed by another big-name architect, Tadao Ando, will display the octogenarian tycoons personal contemporary art collection. The website highlights its prime central location in the very heart of Paris in the citys former stock exchange. The Bettencourt Meyers family, which owns cosmetics giant LOreal, and Total also each pledged 100 million euro to go towards the restoration of the 850-year-old cathedral. The devastating fire which has torn apart the historic Notre Dame Cathedral will horrify all people of faith around the world, as well as the French nation and the Catholics in Paris who worship regularly at this icon of European Christianity. The spectacle of this great building burning before our very eyes on television was reminiscent of the dreadful pictures of the Twin Towers on fire in New York on 9/11. However, unlike New York, the cause of this fire is yet unknown and may well be an accident rather than something more sinister, at a time when a number of churches in France and elsewhere have been attacked by those people who see Christianity and Christians as their enemy. The devastation of Notre Dame is depressing not only for millions of Christian believers but also for many millions of other faiths and of none who have visited this elegant Grand Dame of Paris as a tourist attraction. As a student just out of Queen's University more than 50 years ago, I went to Paris on one of my first trips abroad, and it was then I fell in love with Notre Dame as one of the greatest Gothic cathedrals imaginable. I have visited Notre Dame every time I have been in Paris down the decades to gaze yet again at its wonderful architecture and stained glass. On my most recent visit a couple of years ago, I noticed for the first time a commemoration of the bond between France and Britain in two World Wars, and the symbol of the poppies, which represented the sacrifice of the men and women of both nations. In the days and months to come we will find out more about what happened last night in Paris, but in the meantime we can only hope for better days for a rebuilt cathedral and also pray for a nation and its people who have been so wounded by this calamity. Nigel Farage talks big - he always does - but in the past his bombast has been largely treated with something approaching derision by Labour and the Tories. But this time, his words may have to be taken far more seriously by the big two, especially the Conservatives, who are experiencing more internal disaffection among their members - both at Westminster and countrywide - than ever before in their long history. Let's look at the facts. The Conservatives have plummeted by a sensational 10 points, according to a recent opinion poll. Although opinion poll findings are often, and justifiably, treated with at least outward scepticism by politicians. But the Tories would be foolish to shrug off such a massive potential falling off. The alarm bells should be jangling in their ears. On top of this, Farage's timing in the formation of his new Brexit party could hardly be bettered. An alarming and dangerously high number of dissatisfied Tories must be sorely tempted to join this new outfit. And many of them are likely to succumb to that temptation. To make matters worse, some pundits calculate that a general election now could cost the Tories 60 Commons seats and drive them into the wilderness and oblivion. Their prospects are bleak. At the moment, the Tories appear be spending all their energy in fighting among themselves. But the demands for Theresa May to be replaced without delay, are falling on deaf ears. Indeed, party rules do not allow another internal vote of confidence in her for a long time yet, although it has been pointed out that that rule could be rescinded without much trouble. Nor are there any signs that May will voluntarily step down. She has asserted that she will see the Brexit crisis through to the bitter end before she even considers leaving 10 Downing Street. Even so, the sinister men in grey suits could come knocking on the door, like executioners rousing a condemned prisoner. I doubt whether the Tories are actually quaking in their boots about Farage's boisterous initiative, but they are certainly entitled to feel a little anxious. Politicians are often given to outrageous hyperbole, and Farage is himself a master of that "art". But his talk about the new party creating an earthquake in the British political landscape must cause some feelings of discomfort. David Cameron once described members of Farage's old party, Ukip, as "fruitcakes". Today, the Conservatives will have no appetite for that kind of contemptuous language about Farage's new party. They are too absorbed with their own internal mass brawl, which could be the death of them. Those 70 or so MPs who have written to the Home Secretary demanding that Julian Assange be extradited to Sweden appear to have jumped the gun. At the time of writing, Sweden does not appear to have requested Assange's extradition to answer rape and sexual assault allegations against him. And although at a late stage of any proceedings, a Government minister may be involved, this is, at the moment, certainly a matter for the courts and not Parliament. But as usual, some MPs cannot resist the temptation of meddling. Lord Falconer, the former Labour Lord Chancellor and Tony Blair's ex-flatmate, has, not for the first time, hit the nail on the head. He said: "This is really a matter for the courts to decide, isn't it? I don't think politicians should be saying Julian Assange should or should not be... extradited." He should know. As if the Brexit crisis was not hot enough already, Labour MP David Lammy has stoked it further by likening Right-wing Tory Brexiteers to Nazis. I am afraid that if Mr Lammy thinks such remarks will help to bring an early resolution to what is looking like an intractable problem, he is seriously misguided. I am all for robust politics, but this is surely way over the top. Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday Police carry out searches in the Shankill area of Belfast yesterday Curious residents gathered on a quiet street in north Belfast yesterday morning to speculate on why half a dozen police vehicles had pulled up outside their homes. Others could be seen peeking through blinds, clutching their phones close to their ears, at around 10am. Read More "What's going on at your man's house," one woman whispered as dozens of officers gained access to a terraced property in the Shankill. The sudden appearance of a heavily armed tactical support team - which was assisting the PSNI Economic Crime Unit's search - left a female who was in the house being targeted posing the same question. The perplexed occupant quickly vacated the property with a young child to avoid getting in the way of officers, who had only just begun to rummage through the house in search of items of interest, mainly evidence of financial transactions. She returned a short time later in a BMW to collect a small dog from the address and utter a string of profanities at a reporter who was standing outside. Just a few minutes later a man was led away in handcuffs. He was one of three people arrested on suspicion of money laundering yesterday. A similar scenario was being played out at the same time on eight other streets, including areas of Poleglass in west Belfast and Craigavon. The dramatic scenes signified that Operation Impervial was progressing as expected following meticulous planning. Just a few hours earlier officers gathered for a morning briefing before a large convoy of police vehicles set off on a mission to catch suspected money mules in action. Police, who are currently investigating around 200 separate individuals suspected of using personal bank accounts to clean money for criminals, hope the operation will help raise awareness of the tricks employed. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Wilson also sought to warn offenders that they enable serious criminals to thrive and could be linked to human trafficking. "Sometimes they'll phone a business claiming to be a supplier and provide 'new' bank account details," he said. "They engage in a whole range of scams in order to get people to transfer money into their accounts. Then they'll take a percentage cut and pass the rest on to whoever they are acting for." A 24-year-old man charged with money laundering and drugs-related offences is due to appear at Lisburn Magistrates Court on May 13. A 29-year-old woman charged with money laundering, acquiring and converting criminal property, will appear in Laganside Court on the same day. Another man (31) has been released on police bail pending further enquiries. I love going to the theatre but am a terrible fidget. So when I discover that a play will last an hour and 40 minutes without an interval my sweat glands go into overdrive. I am also convinced that Ryanair based their seat designs on theatre seating. That said, usually the draw of the production outweighs my fears of getting thrombosis. My favourite theatre is the Abbey in Dublin even though its exterior looks brutalist, which in some ways reflects the area's general resistance to the inevitable march towards gentrification. The plays I most enjoy are those which provide historical or social commentary on actual events such as Juno And The Paycock by Sean O'Casey or Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme by Frank McGuinness. At the Lyric last week I attended the Belfast premiere of A Day In May, which I would describe more as a docu-drama than a play. A Day In May is based on a book written by former RTE chief news reporter Charlie Bird and it's a collection of personal narratives from those impacted by the struggle to achieve equality for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community in Ireland. The title of the book is derived from May 23, 2015 when the Irish electorate voted by a whopping 62% to establish marriage equality by popular vote. The playwright and Sunday Business Post commentator Colin Murphy turned Bird's book into a documentary-drama. Murphy is well suited to these docu-dramas having tackled both the bailout and the legendary deal between Charles J Haughey and the maverick independent Dublin TD, the late Tony Gregory. At first glance a story about a very long social and human rights struggle combined with politics and campaigning wouldn't have most people clamouring for tickets. But A Day In May was riveting to watch and a packed Lyric Theatre seemed to agree. I attended with two of the author's brothers, one of whom only relatively recently came out as gay. Both brothers cried during various parts of the performance. Being of thran Ulster stock I struggled to know what to do with all this bare emotion, so I gave a very masculine northern tap onto the shoulders of both siblings. There was a certain poignancy to hosting the performance in Belfast. The issue of marriage equality still remains a pipe-dream within Northern Ireland - despite a majority of people supporting a change in the law. It is totally iniquitous and somewhat duplicitous of the DUP to deny Northern Ireland citizens the same rights which are available to all other citizens throughout Britain. The prejudices of the DUP should have no standing, legal or moral, when it comes to the British Government ensuring that all in the UK are treated equally in law. The purpose of this column is not to review the document-drama - there are far more eloquent writers more capable of that. No, it's more to make the overt political point that issues such as marriage equality are not just about the LGBT community, but about the whole community. That's the message of A Day In May. No one should feel threatened by a matter of equality and particularly not about a matter of love. It is clear that is how the LGBT campaigners won over the general population in the Republic of Ireland. And to achieve that win they told the stories of their own journeys and their own families. LGBT people were not some kind of "others", they were simply a part of the weave of human fabric that makes up Irish society. They were not asking for more than anyone else, just the same. I confessed at the Lyric after party reception to my hosts that in 2015 I hadn't been convinced by the need for marriage equality when civil partnerships were available. I saw the issue in legal terms, not as a matter of the heart or equality. Then, driving up from Dublin a few days ahead of the referendum, I heard one of the most remarkable radio interviews ever on Newstalk. It was a discussion with Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran and his son Finnian. During the conversation Curran described himself as a committed Catholic, bound by the love of God not solely by Church dogma. He said that when Finnian told him and his wife that he was gay, the only phrase that kept going through his head was: "You are carved in the palm of my hand." It's a phrase from Isaiah. There is a preface to it: "I will not forget you." Tom Curran's words struck me more than any of the major debates I had listened to or watched. Even the eloquence of Mary McAleese had not impacted on me. It was so simple that any parent, grandparent, godparent or guardian could empathise with its sentiment. How could someone so inextricably linked to your own being be less equal than another? How could you forget someone carved into your palm? At that point I became convinced marriage equality threatens no one. It is simply a right that should be afforded to all. The audience at the Lyric could clearly identify with the personal narratives being played out on the stage. Particularly distressing were those stories which told of suicide and suicide attempts; the loneliness and self-destruction brought about by unhappiness. Outside the theatre there was a stand for the loveequalityni.org manned by those who are tireless in their commitment to achieve equality. They are as indefatigable as the infamous "unsinkable" Molly Brown of Titanic fame. But how much longer should they have to wait? How much longer can they be denied? There is a great line in Juno And The Paycock from the much put upon and hard working Juno - "It's nearly time we had a little less respect for the dead, an' a little more regard for the living." In a place that can seem so obsessive about the past maybe we should have a little more regard for the living - especially those denied their rights. Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo (front, second from left) and his running mate, conservative Islamic cleric Maruf Amin (front, third from left), present their certificate of candidacies to election officials in Jakarta, Aug. 10, 2018. Endorsements from popular Indonesian Islamic preachers could boost chances for presidential candidates, but it is unclear if that support could sway voters in the worlds largest Muslim-majority nation, analysts said ahead of Wednesdays general election. Incumbent President Joko Jokowi Widodo and opposition candidate Prabowo Subianto have both tried to woo the support of conservative Islamic leaders. Prabowo, for his part, has received a flurry of endorsements in the past few days from ultra-conservative preachers such as Abdul Somad and Adi Hidayat, whose sermons on YouTube are popular among young Muslims. At least the endorsements for Prabowo will consolidate voters with the same affiliation. The question is: Are voters who support Jokowi switching to Prabowo? Is the influence significant? This is interesting to analyze, said Muslimin, a researcher at Charta Politica, a private pollster. Prabowo, a 67-year-old former army general known for nationalist rhetoric, has courted the backing of conservative Muslim groups that seek a greater role of Islam in government, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). But he has denied accusations of wanting to turn the secular nation into a caliphate. FPI is led by cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, who shot to political prominence after he helped lead a campaign in 2016 and 2017 to oust then-Jakarta Gov. Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, over allegations that he had insulted the Koran in off-the-cuff remarks. The events leading to Ahoks jailing raised concerns about growing religious intolerance in Indonesia, which has long been considered moderate in its practice of Islam. The former governor finished serving his sentence in January. Ikrama Masloman, a researcher at the Jakarta-based pollster Indonesian Survey Circle, said the clerics endorsements of Prabowo was unlikely to significantly boost his election chances. It was a little too late. If it had been given long ago, the impact would have been greater, he told BenarNews. Prabowos campaign spokesman, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, welcomed public expression of support from Abdul and Adi, saying they represented the voices of the people. They both command huge influence. There was a survey that suggested that if both were neutral, Jokowi would win. With Abdul Somad supporting Prabowo, Jokowi is certain to lose, he said. Jokowis last-minute pilgrimage to Mecca Abdul Kadir Karding, a deputy chairperson of the Jokowi campaign, however, said the preachers support for Prabowo would only rally moderate Muslim groups around the incumbent president. Theres actually a silver lining, that NU and other moderate Islamic groups will unite, he told reporters, noting that Jokowi had received backing from revered NU clerics, such as Muhammad Lutfi and Maimoen Zubair. Jokowi, 57, picked Maruf Amin, a senior cleric known for anti-gay views, as his vice-presidential running mate apparently to fend off criticism that he was not sufficiently pious. In an apparent attempt to dispel unfounded accusations that he was not a good Muslim, Jokowi and his family also went to Saudi Arabia over the weekend on a pilgrimage known as umrah. Photographs circulated by the Jokowi campaign showed him entering the Kaaba, a black cube-shaped building at the center of Islams holiest mosque in Mecca, and kissing the revered Black Stone. He also met with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, officials said. The crown prince appreciated Indonesias economic and political stability and said that Indonesia is lucky to have a progressive leader, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said. More than 190 million people are eligible to vote on Wednesday in a re-match of the 2014 presidential election, in which Jokowi defeated Prabowo by almost six percentage points. A video of the radical cleric Rizieq Shihab is seen on the stadium scoreboard as supporters of candidate Prabowo Subianto gather during a campaign rally at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta, April 7, 2019. [AP] Islamic parties unlikely to benefit Even though religious fervor has been strong during campaigning, Islamic parties are not expected to perform better than the previous elections, Ikrama said. Even though the issue of religion is prominent in the presidential election, it does not necessarily translate to votes for Islamic parties. Nationalist parties that are fielding their own presidential candidates will win the most votes, he said. Its because Islamic parties have no popular figures, he said. He was referring to Jokowis Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and Prabowos Gerindra Party. Several recent polls suggest that nationalist parties will dominate the 575-strong House of Representatives (DPR), with the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) expected to win the most votes in the April 17 election. Indonesias main faith-based party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), is not expected to repeat its 2014 performance, when it won 6.8 percent of the votes, while the more moderate United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party (PAN) may not secure enough votes to pass the 4-percent threshold required to hold a seat in parliament, recent polls suggest. PPP and PAN won 6.5 and 7.6 percent of the votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections, respectively. The National Awakening Party (PKB), a member of the ruling coalition backing Jokowis bid for re-election, is the only Islamic party expected to secure its old parliamentary seats. Concerns that the polarization among Muslims could widen communal divisions after the election are unfounded, Muslimin of the Charta Politica pollster told BenarNews. Sentiments may be running high, but I don't think it will have a long-lasting effect, he said. After the election, I think things will go back to normal. Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and he said Trump took a reasonable stance regarding Turkeys planned purchase of a Russian air defense missile system, Turkish media reported. Albayrak said he also met Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House adviser Jared Kushner. "During our meetings, where we discussed steps to increase our cooperation, we were received by U.S. President Donald Trump. We passed on the greetings and messages of our president," Albayrak wrote on Twitter. "He listened in a very reasonable way with a positive understanding to the process regarding Turkeys needs for the S-400s," CNN Turk cited Albayrak as saying. "There was a very positive, constructive conversation." Albayrak was also cited as saying there were discussions at the meetings on increasing bilateral trade between the United States and Turkey to $75 billion annually from $20 billion currently. The Vologda City Court has satisfied a motion to grant parole to Varvara Karaulova (aka Alexandra Ivanova) convicted for an attempt to join the ISIS terror group (outlawed in Russia). "The petition for convicts parole is subject to satisfaction," TASS cited the judge as saying, On May 27, 2015, Varvara Karaulova, then a student at the Moscow Universitys school of philosophy took a flight from Moscow to Istanbul, concealing the fact from her parents. The people who met her at the airport in Turkey took her to a safe apartment in the town of Kilis. Security service agents and the police detained her later for an attempt to cross the Turkish-Syrian border illegally. Her father managed to bring her back home on June 12, 2015. The court authorized her arrest on October 28 and official charges were issued on November 10. The Moscow region military court sentenced Karaulova to 4.5 years in a general penal colony in 2016. In December 2017, Karaulova sought the ombudspersons help and support in preparing an appeal for pardon to the Russian president. The events for the Monday before Easter are recorded in Matthew 21:12-22, Mark 11:12-19, and Luke 19:45-48. Ramsey describes Jerusalem as a beehive, and the triumphal entry was like hitting that angry hive with a stick. If some of the people werent angry enough at Jesus entry to the city, He would now declare to them their failure to live up to Gods covenant with them. But Jesus was already a marked man as Ramsey remarks. This is the Monday when Jesus entered the temples and drove out all those who bought and sold things there. Matthew tells us that even upon seeing the wondrous things Jesus did and hearing the children cry out Hosanna to the Son of David! the chief priests and scribes were indignant. Their hearts and minds were made up about this man whom they considered the biggest nuisance to ever enter Jerusalem. But Jesus responds to His disciples awe with Scripture from Psalm 8:2, "...'have you never read,' 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" Matthew 21:16 Ramsey summarizes, Much of what the Gospels tell us about Monday centers on the theme of Jesuss authorityboth over the created world and his right to judge it. Jesus is fulfilling all of the Scriptures; He is the one with the authority in this situation not the religious leaders. Photo Credit: Thinkstock/Matthew Brousseau 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 15, 2019 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Inspector General to Investigate Secretary Bernhardt's Role in Suppressing Pesticide Dangers Reports Showed Pesticide Harmed Nearly 1,400 Protected Species WASHINGTON The inspector general for the Department of the Interior today announced it will open an investigation of Secretary David Bernhardts role in blocking the release of a scientific assessment showing the pesticide chlorpyrifos threatens the existence of nearly 1,400 protected species. The inspector generals decision comes in response to two requests for an investigation: one from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and a second from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and seven other senators. Bernhardts suppression of scientific assessments by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was revealed in a document obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity through the Freedom of Information Act. Those findings were highlighted in a New York Times investigation published last month. Bernhardts actions followed a request by the pesticide industry to the Trump administration in April 2017 to scrap the four-year effort of career scientist to quantify the impacts of chlorpyrifos. This investigation will shed important light on one of the most shameful episodes of the Trump administrations assault on the environment, said Brett Hartl, director of government affairs at the Center. Animals are being pushed closer to extinction across this country because Bernhardt unilaterally decided that the pesticide industry knew best about how to protect our nations endangered species. After Bernhardt learned about the pesticide assessments, no action was taken to implement any on-the-ground conservation measures to protect endangered species. Instead, Bernhardt instructed the Interior department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to undercut the career scientists work and delay all further efforts to reduce the impacts of pesticides on endangered species. In response to the New York Times investigation, Wyden asked Bernhardt several questions regarding his role in stopping the pesticide assessments at Bernhardts confirmation hearing to become Secretary of the Interior. Finding his responses not credible, Wyden requested that the inspector general investigate whether Bernhardts actions were lawful. Several days later, Hirono sent a similar request to the inspector general raising concerns about Bernhardt undermining scientific integrity at the department. That request was joined by seven other senators. Were grateful that Senator Hirono and Senator Wyden called for this investigation into actions Bernhardt took on behalf of special interests, Hartl said. Theres no excuse for sweeping scientific investigations under the rug, especially when it involves pesticides that put endangered species in harms way. For Immediate Release, April 16, 2019 Contact: Patrick Donnelly, (702) 483-0449, pdonnelly@biologicaldiversity.org Nevada's Clark County Wants Protected Tortoise Habitat Used for Off-road Vehicles LAS VEGAS Clark County commissioners voted unanimously today to urge Congress to designate nearly 110,000 acres of public lands for off-road vehicle use, even though it includes critical habitat for the imperiled desert tortoise. About 27,000 acres of the tortoises federally protected habitat would be included in the proposed Nelson Hills Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area on lands surrounding Las Vegas. This is an outrageous attack on Nevadas state reptile, said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The commission wants to permanently designate protected areas as off-highway vehicle sacrifice zones. These elegant tortoises really have no defense against a swarm of vehicles racing through the desert. Critical habitats are deemed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be essential to the survival and recovery of imperiled species like desert tortoises. They are afforded a higher level of protection than normal public lands. The OHV-area proposal is a part of a larger effort by Clark County to convince Congress to dramatically expand the urban growth boundary around Las Vegas. The commission also wants Congress to sell more than 40,000 acres of public land to allow sprawl development. This would push off-road vehicle riders farther out, leading the commission to ask Congress to designate the new OHV areas. Were incredibly disappointed in the commissioners, some of whom have been champions for our public lands and wildlife, Donnelly said. This proposal makes a mockery of the Endangered Species Act. It would be chaos if Congress modified critical habitat every time a county requested it. Nevadas congressional delegation must reject this wrong-headed proposal and protect the desert tortoise. The aim of a European project (TRANSCAN) is to identify metabolite signatures that are associated with all stages in the development of colorectal cancer. Metabolomic analysis was performed on more than 2,000 plasma samples from individuals with colorectal cancer, colorectal adenoma and a control group. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. In Austria, approximately 5,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer every year. It is well known that the development from benign precursors-polyps or adenomas to colorectal cancer takes about 10 years. During this time period, these precursors can be diagnosed and removed during colonoscopy, thus preventing the development of colorectal cancer. Biobanks: valuable resources for research Over the past 16 years, a research team from the Medical University of Vienna headed by Andrea Gsur has established a comprehensive biobank that includes DNA, plasma samples and clinical data of more than 16,000 individuals with colorectal cancer, adenomas and a control group. The CORSA (Colorectal Cancer Study of Austria) biobank was established in close cooperation with the screening programme Burgenland Prevention Trial of Colorectal Cancer Disease with Immunological Testing (B-PREDICT) in the Austrian province of Burgenland. CORSA is as a valuable resource for the international research project MetaboCCC. MetaboCCC is supported by the European network ERA-NET on Translational Cancer Research (TRANSCAN), also supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The consortium involves the Medical University of Vienna, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, the Universities of Maastricht and Wageningen in the Netherlands, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, and BEVITAL in Norway. Identification of metabolite signatures In the course of MetaboCCC more than 2,000 plasma samples from individuals with colorectal cancer, adenomas and controls, which are confirmed by colonoscopy to be free of adenomas and colon cancer were examined. All participating TRANSCAN countries (Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Norway) sent their plasma samples to the expert laboratory at the IARC in France for metabolomic measurements. Measurements have been conducted by mass spectroscopy. Metabolomics is an innovative and powerful approach by which a large number of metabolites are systematically screened. Metabolomics has been proven as a high-throughput method for the discovery of new biomarkers. Metabolomics has the advantage of an easy transition from a profiling technology to a clinical assay, explains Andrea Gsur. The MetaboCCC consortium allowed the measurement in a large sample size and enabled the validation of results in independent study population (discovery and validation set). 15 significant metabolites identified The aim of this project was to identify metabolite signatures that are associated with all stages in the development of colorectal cancer. In a recent publication resulting from the project, metabolomic profiles of patients from the Germany cohort were used as a discovery set and samples from Austria were used for validation. Thereby, 15 statistically significant metabolites could be identified. Within the MetaboCCC consortium, statistical analyses of the comprehensive data set is ongoing and further publications are in preparation. The newly discovered metabolites could contribute to the development of tailored therapeutic approaches and prevention strategies. AIMED raises concern that many key strategic aspects of the Road Map discussed with the Indian Medical Devices Industry Associations are missing in the Minutes of the Meeting released DTAB has released the Minutes of the 82nd meeting of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) held on 02 April, 2019 at Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator of AIMED pointed out, While we welcome the steps being taken by DTAB to consider to phase in Regulation of all medical devices however we notice with great concern that many key strategic aspects of the Road Map discussed with the Indian Medical Devices Industry Associations are missing and are not committed anywhere viz. : 1 - All Medical Devices need to be regulated under a separate Medical Devices specific Law 2 - Separate and Clear Regulations from Drugs required 3 - Representation on DTAB (Drugs Technical Advisory Board) by Medical Devices Industry nominees & regulatory expert as a special invitee till we have MTAB (Medical Devices Technical Advisory Board) 4 - Constitution of MD - EAG (Medical Devices- Expert Advisory Group) to aid DTAB & MoH in Rolling out medical devices regulations in a phased manner. DTAB in the meeting deliberated the matter and agreed to notify all medical devices as Drugs under the Section 3(b)(iv) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and also to provide exemptions in the Rule 90 of the Medical Device Rules, 2017 during the transition period. The Board further agreed that CDSCO should be strengthened with respect to manpower and infrastructure to regulate all medical devices. The Board further recommended to include specialists like dentists and ophthalmologists in the category of experts to be recruited. The Board also recommended that manpower and infrastructure in all States should also be strengthened and an advisory may be issued to all the States in this regard. Registration of all Manufacturers & Importers of all Non Notified Medical Devices at earliest on voluntary basis initially and then mandatory. Rajiv Nath said, We request the Govt. to stick to earlier assurance given to the Industry by MOH&FW in 2016 of 4 steps - of starting with Medical Devices Rules (MDR), initially experimenting with a few Electronic Devices under MDR, MDR to be amended as per experience gained after 6 months of introduction and simultaneously draft Bill of a Medical Device Patient Safety Bill to be reviewed and passed by Parliament and the MDR to be tweaked to fit with eventual Medical Device Law. While we complement CDSCO & MoH&FW in listening to our requests to bring in a separate regulatory framework for medical devices independent of Drugs and carry forward the initial rolling out of regulations from the launch of Medical Devices Rules earlier in Jan 2018 to a logical conclusion and in a phased manner, but much more needs to be done and in a more planned manner in place of a piecemeal approach. We regret to note certain important strategic directions are missing. Thankfully a re-start of the process that had stalled has been made. Lets hope MoH&FW will act stop procrastinating in the need to ensure patient safety and encourage domestic manufacturing that had been negatively impacted in absence of a predictable regulatory environment, added Nath Its imperative to have a separate Law as Devices are engineering items and not medicines - an X Ray machine by no stretch of imagination can be called a Drug so continued attempts to regulate Devices as Drugs is illogical & incorrect. The Medical Devices Rules has risk proportionate controls correlating to risk classification of devices. Similarly the law and penal provisions need to be risk proportional as you cant have the same penalty for a manufacturing failure of a spectacle as is for a contact lens or for a intraocular lens, he also added. Additionally we are all aware of the pitfalls in the current regulatory framework of Drugs that do not regulate the quality uniformly and equitably from state to state in absence of a central national singular regulatory authority and we dont wish to fall under the same issues for Devices too. The DTAB meeting is silent on this and regretfully no representative of medical devices industry or a regulatory expert is invited to these important meetings that decide the fate of the industry. In absence of regulatory approval a start and entrepreneur is challenged to prove his medical is safe to be used on patients and has good quality though the Quality Council of India does provide a voluntary certification scheme. There is an urgent need for an integrated and calibrated development policy to put Make In India initiative in medical devices sector in top gear, reduce high import dependency on foreign made devices in order to promote indigenous manufacturing of drugs and devices as a regulatory approval to an indigenous product will go a long way in making India a global robust hub for medical devices manufacturing and fulfilling Govts ambitious mission of making quality healthcare affordable for common masses concluded Rajiv Nath. Mount Sinai Health System has launched a clinical trial of a new imaging device for detecting head and neck cancer during surgery The device, called Otis Wide Field OCT (by Perimeter Medical Imaging), is an ultra-high-resolution imaging system that can image tumor specimens in real time during surgery, allowing surgeons to remove all of the cancerous tissue during one procedure, rather than waiting for traditional pathology results to come in afterward, which can often lead to additional procedures. Patients in the trial agree to have their tumors placed in the system for imaging, which is then compared to the standard pathology evaluation. State-of-the-art imaging platforms, such as the Otis system and others, will likely play a significant role in the future of head and neck cancer surgery. While traditional pathologic examination of tissues is the standard around the world, we need new technology to allow us to detect cancer and ensure adequate resection at the time of surgery, explains lead investigator Brett Miles, DDS, MD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Co-Chief of the Division of Head and Neck Oncology for the Mount Sinai Health System. Data from this study, and other projects in the optical imaging program, will help us understand how beneficial these technologies may be and drive future innovation during head and neck cancer surgery. Investigators from the Head and Neck Cancer Research Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are also conducting a high-risk HPV screening study, along with colleagues from Johns Hopkins University and three other institutions. The study, known as MOUTH, is a clinical trial to better understand how risk factors affect oral HPV infection rates. In this study, researchers are collecting samples of blood, saliva, and urine to test them for HPV antibodies. So far, approximately 630 samples have been collected, and patients who screened positive for high-risk HPV viral types are entering the close observational arm of the study, in which they will receive clinical visits and imaging, such as ultrasound and MRI, to monitor them for head and neck cancer. They will be monitored annually for the next five years. The study is currently open and enrolling patients. We are pleased to be participating in this groundbreaking study, and glad that patients are willing to participate in this work. Currently there exists no accepted screening method for HPV-related head and neck cancer, despite the fact that there are currently more cases diagnosed in the United States than cases of cervical cancer [which is also caused by HPV]. Its truly an epidemic. In many cases the cancer is asymptomatic for significant periods of time, making the discovery of new detection methods vital. This study provides important information on who is at risk, and who needs additional follow-up for high-risk HPV infection in the head and neck, explains Dr. Miles. BCW, a leading global communications agency, has won the Award for African Network of the Year, for the fourth consecutive year, at the annual PRISM Awards held on 14 April 2019 in Johannesburg. Robyn de Villiers, chairman and CEO of BCW Africa also received the Lifetime Achievement award on the evening for her contribution to the communications industry. BCW Africa is PRISM African Network of the Year. Pioneer The PRISM Awards are Africas most sought-after awards in the public relations industry.De Villiers said: We are thrilled to have received the PRISM Award for African Network of the Year for the fourth year in a row. I am so proud of the long-term partnerships we have built with our affiliates and branded partners.Together, as BCW Africa, we form the largest network of PR agencies across over 50 African countries. This award is a tribute to our partners and to every member of our African team, in every country we cover on the continent.For 30 years, De Villiers has been a champion for economic development and integration across Africa. She has pioneered the advancement of communications skills in the communications profession and her name is synonymous with skills transfer and industry transformation. All of this is testament to her belief in, and commitment to, communications on the continent.Donna Imperato, global CEO, BCW said, Robyn de Villiers is nothing short of a visionary. She recognised well before anyone else, that Africa could become a major player in the global communications industry and she has spent her career making that vision a reality. Because of her efforts, BCW has representation in over 50 countries in Africa, making us by far the premier network across the continent.Equally impressive is Robyns rigorous focus on training and development. She is a champion for the region, for her people and for her clients. Robyn embodies everything one could ask for in a leader and we are incredibly proud to have her on the BCW team.Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, president, African Public Relations Association (APRA), De Villiers is the vice-president, said, Robyn is a pioneer. Her approach to communications across Africa has been one of leading the way; defining a path which others follow. She has contributed immensely to the growth and development of our association, and is a great example to fellow PR and communications practitioners as well as young professionals in the industry. She is the true definition of exemplary leadership and professionalism.Earlier this month, BCW Africa received four Gold Awards and eight Certificates of Excellence at the 2019 African SABRE Awards. In addition, Blast BCW in Mauritius has been shortlisted for the Platinum 'Best in Show' SABRE Award, which recognises the best African campaign of the year. #Bookmarks2019: Bravery in telling stories without fear or favour Eyewitness News (EWN) recently won a Bookmarks' Gold for its Poisonous Bullets: The Silent Betrayal of Sindiso Magaqa three-part podcast series, in which news reporter Ziyanda Ngcobo took an in-depth look at what killed the former ANC Youth League secretary to tell the story of the broader political killings in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Mahlatse Mahlase In addition to this, the radio station was also awarded a Silver in the online news video category for its coverage of the Zimbabwe elections. Here, editor-in-chief Mahlatse Mahlase tells us about the historical importance of both events and that it was the longevity of the podcast that she believes stood out, as the killers have since been arrested and are going to trial. She also goes into how this particular format gives the listener a deeper sense of the story and how news consumption is changing Comment on your Bookmarks 2019 wins. Comment on your Bookmarks 2019 wins. In addition to this, the radio station was also awarded a Silver in the online news video category for its coverage of the Zimbabwe elections.Here, editor-in-chief Mahlatse Mahlase tells us about the historical importance of both events and that it was the longevity of the podcast that she believes stood out, as the killers have since been arrested and are going to trial. She also goes into how this particular format gives the listener a deeper sense of the story and how news consumption is changing What does this recognition mean to you/for EWN? What does this recognition mean to you/for EWN? The bravery in telling stories without fear or favour, it is new journalism so to speak because its video and podcast. What does it take to put together a podcast such as this? What does it take to put together a podcast such as this? Why was Ziyanda Ngcobo the journalist for the job? Why was Ziyanda Ngcobo the journalist for the job? What barriers did you have to overcome to get the story? What barriers did you have to overcome to get the story? Why do you believe this series is worthy of a Gold what aspect do you believe stood out? Why do you believe this series is worthy of a Gold what aspect do you believe stood out? Comment on the category (podcasts and audio streaming) why you think this format worked well for this particular piece. Comment on the category (podcasts and audio streaming) why you think this format worked well for this particular piece. Jessica Tennant's articles About Jessica Tennant Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. moc.ytinummoczib@swengnitekram We won in two categories, the online news video which was a compilation of the work that we did during the Zimbabwe elections. The second one was podcasts and audio streaming; this was for a podcast that was titled Poisonous Bullets, which was around the political killings in KZN and the death of Sindiso Magaqa. Both stories have historical importance.On the Zimbabwe elections, it was the first time the country didnt have Robert Mugabe present. In the compilation of the work that reporters do, it vividly illustrates the risk of what they go through in their everyday lives.Sindiso Magaqas story was brought to the attention of South Africans, the political killings that are happening in KZN. We saw, out of his death, commissions being set up and a national focus in political killings.To Eyewitness News (EWN) this is continued recognition of the hard work of our team.It shows that EWN is at the forefront of pioneering and delivering the news in the new formats that the public is getting to enjoy.Podcasts and videos are big in our offering and to be recognised for that is something that we take a bow and acknowledge.It takes a lot of hard work. Newsrooms are becoming smaller and smaller and to be able to do in-depth podcasts that speak to the families and political players. For the reporters, it is a lot of hard work and if you listen to that podcast of Poisonous Bullets there is a lot of heart and hard work that went into it, which comes through in the final product. During the elections in Zimbabwe, reporters worked 24 hours and made sure that they were there on the frontline, telling the Zimbabwean story.Ziyanda Ngcobo is hardworking and was passionate about the story and it came through in her work.With the Zimbabwean story, the evidence is there with the video to tell, the live ammunition fired in the presence of our reporters, but they continued to do the work risking all. KZN was quite volatile, especially if you are focusing on the political killings. It is about trying to build confidence with the different political players and getting their trust to be able to do the interviews.The personal stories and longevity. It used one persons story to tell the broader political killings in KZN.Whats great about the podcast is longevity. We saw that with Sindiso Magaqa, the killers have since been arrested and are going to trial. We are also learning that people are finding more time to listen.Podcasts allow us to showcase the depth of our reporters in terms of reporting but also their creativity. It also gives our reporters time to do special broadcasts because in all our platforms its only bulletins but now we have additional content that can be converted into podcasts and this gives the listener a deeper sense of the story. Former Ndalo Media employees are challenging owner Khanyi Dhlomo's decision to liquidate the company. The 60 employees are presenting their case before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).This follows retrenchments at the company when Dhlomo shut down the magazine publisher. She reportedly decided against the retrenchment process and proceeded to liquidate the company, which means employees will receive whatever is left after investors are paid.Ndalo Media housed prominent magazines likeandRead more on Sowetan Live. This job expired on 22 May 2019. PR Newswire ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Month of the Military Child in April, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is celebrating the half a million military-connected youth they serve each year at 484 affiliated youth centers by hosting several events throughout the month with the culmination celebration on Purple Up Day, April 25. "Military youth face unique challenges like moving from place to place and Boys & Girls Clubs seeks to provide them with a welcoming and familiar environment," said Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "We are honored to have the U.S. Armed Services as a partner, as we celebrate the incredible resilience of our nation's military youth." Boys & Girls Clubs of America-affiliated Youth Centers across the nation and abroad will use this time to raise awareness of the needs and the programs offered to military youth. Programs like Raytheon's STEM Centers of Innovation positively influence the overall well-being, resiliency, and academic success of military kids. Three new Raytheon STEM Centers of Innovation will open this month at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, Fort Gordon and Fort Meade and a fourth will be opening this June at Langley Air Force Base. As a part of Raytheon's $10 million pledge to support military families and veterans, the STEM Centers of Innovation are fully supported by Raytheon's $5 million, multi-year commitment to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Boys & Girls Clubs of America is excited announce a new partnership with Blue Star Families. Through this partnership, the two organizations will work together to empower military families by connecting them with civilian organizations, creating a stronger community of support. These initiatives, along with many more not mentioned, are all part of Boys & Girls Clubs of America's larger initiative of expanding military outreach to provide support to more military-connected youth. "If I could describe my life as a military child, I would say its "fun" and a struggle sometimes," said Ryan Walker, Boys & Girls Clubs of America's 2018-19 Military Youth of the Year. "Although I changed schools often, one thing remained consistent in my life. No matter where we moved, there was always a Boys & Girls Club. The Club was full of military kids who were just like me. It was a safe space where I could find my passion, give back to my community and just be myself." The public is invited to help raise awareness of military kids and teens and their resiliency by wearing purple on April 25th. Also, join in on the conversation on social media by using the hashtags #BGCPurpleUp and #BGCMOTMC. For more information about Month of the Military Child, visit www.bgca.org. About Boys & Girls Clubs of AmericaFor more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,300 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun and friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Club programs promote academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at Facebook and Twitter. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boys--girls-clubs-of-america-kicks-off-month-of-the-military-child-celebrations-300833242.html SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION Both the subject and the target of the classnonfiction literature and heritage speakersare new for Hispanic studies, and students who enrolled in the spring semester class said they were attracted by both. (Fluent non-native speakers and bilingual students were welcome in the course as well.) Heritage speakers are students who know the language because they have spoken it at home with their parents or grandparents, but who have often not formally studied it, according to Wolfenzon, who is an associate professor of Romance languages and literatures. Barbara Sawhill, a visiting lecturer in Spanish who helped lay the groundwork for Bowdoin's first heritage language class, said the classes are tailored to students for whom the Spanish language is "readily accessible." A typical introductory Spanish course at Bowdoin that focuses on grammar and pronunciation is often too basic for them; instead, they flourish in classes where the discussions and readings are more sophisticated. Maynor Loaisiga 22, who was born in Nicaragua, said speaking Spanish always makes him "feel closer to home." He was drawn to the class's exploration of modern Latin American issues through a journalistic lens. "In an area of the world where the press is threatened every day, it is important to bring light to the issues Latin American journalists write about," he said. Loaisiga also said the diverse authors the class has been readingwriters from Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Ricocollectively craft a more complicated and nuanced narrative about Latin America than what an international audience is often presented with. Luis Cuervo 20 said he enrolled in the class because he's interested in journalism and modern Latin American writers. That he would be studying alongside other heritage speakers was a bonus. "Yes, the fact that it was targeted at heritage speakers really interested me," he said, adding that he looked forward to "not only meeting other Bowdoin classmates who understood the language to a greater level, but with whom I could have a deeper dialogue." Roughly ten percent of Bowdoin's student population identify as Hispanic or Latino. They all have varying exposure to the language and varying degrees of fluency. This spring, fourteen students enrolled in Spanish Nonfiction Writing Workshop. All but four are heritage speakers. "I love the class because we have students from very diverse backgrounds," Wolfenzon said. "Some have lived in Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, or El Salvador before coming to the United States." Besides reading nonfiction chronicles, most of which have been published within the last decade, the students have had the chance to interview six of the writers in person or via Skype: Leila Guerriero and Selva Almada, both of Argentina; Juan Pablo Meneses, of Chile; Nestor Diaz de Villegas, of Cuba; and Julian Herbert, of Mexico, whose new book was recently reviewed by the New York Times. An internationally recognized scholar in the fields of epidemiology, public health and preventive medicine and an experienced administrative leader in higher education will become Brandon Universitys new dean of the Faculty of Health Studies. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/4/2019 (976 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us An internationally recognized scholar in the fields of epidemiology, public health and preventive medicine and an experienced administrative leader in higher education will become Brandon Universitys new dean of the Faculty of Health Studies. Dr. Jean (John) Moraros will assume the role of dean for a five-year term on Aug. 1, the university said in a news release. "I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Moraros to Brandon University," Dr. Meir Serfaty, BUs acting vice-president (Academic & Provost)," said in the news release. "He brings an impressive track record of research, community engagement, and academic excellence that fit very well with the existing strengths of both the Faculty of Health Studies and of BU." Dr. Moraros comes to BU from the University of Saskatchewan, where he served as an associate professor of Behavioral Science, Health Disparities and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. He holds an MD from Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and an MPH and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from New Mexico State, USA. Dr. Moraros also served in various academic leadership positions, including director, Master of Public Health (MPH) program. He currently serves on the executive board for a number of national and international organizations. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts in highly respected scientific journals and has given more than 60 scientific presentations (both oral and poster format) in various national and international conferences. Dr. Moraros research is predicated on evidence-based, community participatory approach, which leads to practical and effective public health interventions and utilizes culturally appropriate strategies to help empower minority, marginalized and vulnerable populations to take ownership of their own healthcare needs, services, and status. Recent research has focused on topics such as healthcare delivery systems, mental health, substance use and addictions, sexually transmitted infections and obesity. "The people of Brandon and the Faculty of Health Studies have been so warm and welcoming," Dr. Moraros said in the release. "It is an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with this wonderful opportunity to lead BUs Faculty of Health Studies and set our sights to even greater heights." Emphasizing the importance of student-centered learning, interdisciplinary research and community outreach, Dr. Moraros said he was looking forward to learning more about BU and fully exploring the opportunities for the Faculty of Health Studies. "I am excited about the future and look forward to the positive impact of our collaborative work," he said. "There are many opportunities to grow our academic offerings and programming, enhance our research capacity and outputs and strength our bond and contributions to our local, national and international community. We can continue to improve the quality of life for people, right here in southwestern Manitoba." Dr. Moraros said developing and deepening partnerships will be a priority. "The Faculty of Health Studies and BU are poised to accomplish a number of great initiatives in the near future," he said. "We invite and welcome the active participation and meaningful contributions of our current and prospective students, our outstanding faculty and staff and our community partners and organizations. I urge them to please join us on this exciting journey." The Brandon Sun Most of Paris, France, appeared deserted on Monday evening as people flocked to watch the Notre Dame Cathedral become consumed by flames. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us CP Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday. (The Associated Press) Most of Paris, France, appeared deserted on Monday evening as people flocked to watch the Notre Dame Cathedral become consumed by flames. Former Brandonite Karl Jannuska, who still has family in the Wheat City, said the feeling in Paris is one of sadness as crowds of thousands rushed to watch the building burn. Jannuska lives in Paris, about 20 minutes walking distance from the cathedral, with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. Originally from Brandon, the drummer met the French woman who would become his wife while attending McGill University. Upon graduating approximately 19 years ago, the couple relocated to France. On Monday evening, the family tuned their television in to watch a "much-anticipated speech" from French President Emmanuel Macron only to be greeted with images of the blaze. "Needless to say, his speech was upstaged by this historic fire which left my wife, daughter and I in tears and heavy hearts," Jannuska said. The family sat in shocked silence after seeing the news. That feeling seems to be shared across the city, he said, describing the busy street in the centre of Paris he lives on as being eerily deserted. Hundreds of people gathered on the bridges around the area, watching in shock as flames consumed the roof behind the nave of the cathedral. The blaze collapsed the cathedral's spire and spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers. The entire wooden frame of the cathedral will likely come down, said a spokesman, along with the vault of the edifice. As of printing, no deaths have been reported. A selection of art pieces were evacuated from the burning cathedral along with people in the area. Approximately 400 firefighters battled to contain the blaze. In a Twitter message, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo asked Parisians to respect the security perimeter surrounding the cathedral as firefighters worked to contain the blaze. Parisians gathered outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame singing prayers as the cathedral burned. Macron has treated the fire as a national emergency, rushing to the scene and straight into meetings at the nearby Paris police headquarters. The Jannuska family has visited the cathedral many times over the years and would often stroll around the Seine river or enjoy a picnic, where they would admire the cathedral. At night when the church was beautifully illuminated by lights, Jannuska said it was "a sight to behold." "It never ceased to take our breath away." The number of people gathering outside the church made the Jannuska family hesitant to investigate it more closely on Monday. Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks in the world and stood for more than 800 years. A historic part of the city, Jannuska said he doubts he will see the building restored to its glory in his lifetime. "It wont be the same." The fire takes places in the midst of an almost6 million-euro (CAN$6.8 million) restoration of the churchs spire. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, the building was the most famous example of a Middle Ages Gothic cathedral. Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river, the cathedral's architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses. In a written statement, Archbishop of Winnipeg Richard Gagnon called the destruction of Notre Dame a "tragedy," due to the loss the amazing architectural icon, the French culture and history and the Catholic tradition and heritage associated with the building. "It is a very sad event that not only is a catastrophe observed by the eye but a loss felt by the heart. Notre Dame Cathedral has been an inspiration for many millions of people from different cultures and religions around the world," Gagnon said. "Our prayers go out to the people of France at this time and for the firefighter who was badly injured fighting the blaze." In Winnipeg, parallels were being drawn Monday between the Notre Dame fire and the 1968 blaze that levelled the St. Boniface Cathedral. The St. Boniface blaze started near the top of the building during renovations, moved to the roof and funnelled into deadly spirals that blew off the bell towers. Firefighters found it impossible to scale stone walls to attack the flames so high up. On July 22, 1968, Philippe Mailhot stood in the cemetery in St. Boniface and watched the flames. He was 13. On Monday, Mailhot, now semi-retired, was watching similar images a half-world away in Paris on CNN. Mailhot devoted his life to francophone heritage in Manitoba. A former director of the St. Boniface Museum, who is still closely involved in charities and boards, he was very much aware of the eerie similarities. "Its very evocative of the St. Boniface Cathedral fire. Obviously, not on the same scale in terms of its historical significance and the like, but the circumstances, even if people are not practising or dont go to church, you get a building that is iconic to the city," Mailhot said. "St. Boniface used to call itself the 'Cathedral City.' And Notre Dame to Paris, people all over the world, it was an image. You saw the facade of that church, or even the rear of it from the river, and you immediately knew what you were looking at." ckemp@brandonsun.com, with files from The Associated Press and the Winnipeg Free Press Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp VANCOUVER - Canadian researchers have identified genes in brain cancer stem cells that fuel the growth and survival of glioblastoma in hopes their data will be mined to develop treatments targeting an aggressive tumour that claimed the life of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Gord Downie performs at WE Day in Toronto on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. Canadian researchers have identified genes in brain cancer stem cells that fuel the growth and survival of glioblastoma in hopes their data will be mined to develop treatment targeting the aggressive tumour that claimed the life of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young VANCOUVER - Canadian researchers have identified genes in brain cancer stem cells that fuel the growth and survival of glioblastoma in hopes their data will be mined to develop treatments targeting an aggressive tumour that claimed the life of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie. The major challenge is that even after 99 per cent of a tumour is removed, a few remaining cells multiply like tentacles and regrow in another part of the brain where further surgery is no longer an option. Dr. Peter Dirks, principal co-investigator of a study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports, said despite genomic research that has led to better drug therapies for various cancers over the last decade, there's been little advancement in the treatment of glioblastoma, which has largely remained a mystery. "It's a miserable way to go because involving your brain it robs you of your identity," said Dirks, who in 2003 discovered the existence of cancer stem cells in brain tumours and had a family member who died of glioblastoma. "Having that happen a few years ago certainly has continued to reinforce my commitment to do the best that we can, to continue to try and push the needle forward," said the neurosurgeon and senior scientist in brain tumour research at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Findings of the study, which includes research by Dirks and investigators at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan faculty of pharmacy and the Cumming school of medicine at the University of Calgary, could help scientists around the world come up with new drugs beyond the mostly ineffective standard radiation and chemotherapy treatment, Dirks said. His research team provided 10 patients' glioblastoma stem cell cultures for an experiment using powerful genetic technology called CRISPR-Cas 9 to analyze all 20,000 genes from each of the patients' samples to determine which are important for the proliferation and growth of glioblastoma cells. Dr. Stephane Angers, co-principal investigator of that part of the study at the University of Toronto, said the protein Cas9 is akin to a homing device that targeted certain genes important for the progression of the tumour cells. "It's like you take all the components to make a car and put them on the sidewalk," he said of the experiment that systematically analyzed each gene. "An engineer could tell you which pieces of the engine are important to make the car move forward. Our study basically was able to identify the pieces of the engine, which are the pieces within the cells that are really important to make the tumour cell grow." The technology could one day allow the "bad" genes to be cut out and disabled by Cas9, allowing disease-causing mutations in DNA to be replaced with new DNA sequences. "There are about 400 genes that we found that are important for the growth and the life of these glioblastoma tumour cells and of these we need to hone in on a subset that are candidates for a new drug, and I would say 20 to 30 of them for sure," Angers said. "We and others are now going to try and develop inhibitors, drugs, small molecules, antibodies to interrupt the function of these genes. What we're now providing the scientific community is the blue book, if you will, the instruction manual, of how our glioblastoma cancer cells are wired and what is important in their circuits for driving the growth programs." Among the thousands of genes analyzed was one called DOT1L, which was found to be necessary for tumour persistence in seven of the 10 patients' cultures. Dr. Samuel Weiss, at the Calgary medical school, was part of the collaboration that demonstrated the same gene is also involved in the growth of some leukemias, for which a particular drug is currently being used as a treatment. Angers said that drug does not enter the brain well so it could not immediately be tested in glioblastoma patients though it could potentially be modified to improve its delivery to the brain and be investigated through clinical trials to determine if it would be beneficial. Both Dirks and Angers said that while their study may point to tailored treatment in the future, they cautioned much more research remains to done to put the pieces of the glioblastoma puzzle together as researchers grapple with the disease that also took the life of New Democrat MP Paul Dewer as well as American senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, and former vice-president Joe Biden's son Beau Biden. The survival rate is about eight per cent over five years for the disease that every year is diagnosed in about 1,500 Canadian adults and 150 children. The average period of survival following diagnosis is about 14 months. Follow @CamilleBains1 on Twitter. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Five stories in the news for Tuesday, April 16 DESTRUCTION AT NOTRE DAME TOUCHES CANADIANS The Archbishop of Toronto said the fire that heavily damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a tragic event that has touched people everywhere. Thomas Cardinal Collins pointed out that the fire has come in the week before Easter, the holiest time of the year for Christians. In Montreal, the bells of the city's Notre-Dame Basilica rang out in solidarity this afternoon as the Paris landmark was consumed by flames. Pastor Miguel Castellanos said in a post on the Montreal church's Facebook page that he's in shock over the news of the fire at Notre Dame de Paris, which he described as a jewel of architecture and an exceptional cultural, historical and religious symbol. INDIGENOUS CANNABIS ENTREPRENEURS FACE OBSTACLES Lewis Mitchell, a former police chief on the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, chuckled when asked if he thought he would have trouble finding customers when his first batch of cannabis is ready for sale around summertime. But he does not believe the customers will be from his community. It has been six months since the federal Liberal government legalized marijuana in Canada, leaving it up to the provinces to manage sale and distribution. First Nations people have jumped in on the action, but reserve politics and jurisdictional issues have complicated legalization in Indigenous communities. Akwesasne is a glaring example. BROTHER OF BRONCO SURVIVOR IN WEEKEND CRASH The family of paralyzed Humboldt Broncos player Ryan Straschnitzki is hoping their run of bad luck ends with three vehicle accidents. Straschnitzki's 16-year-old brother, Jett, was driving a car that was hit over the weekend in Airdrie, Alta. He wasn't injured but he and his parents were shaken. Tom Straschnitzki says the teen called late Saturday after the vehicle he had been driving was hit by an alleged impaired driver. Jett was upset, particularly because of what happened to his older brother, said the father. APPEAL TODAY FOR WOMAN WHO PLOTTED MALL MASSACRE Nova Scotia's top court will hear the appeal today of an American woman who plotted a Valentine's Day shooting spree at a Halifax mall. Lindsay Souvannarath was jailed in April last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in a 2015 plan to shoot people at the Halifax Shopping Centre food court. The 26-year-old woman has argued in provincial Appeal Court documents that her sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 10 years should be revised to a fixed sentence of 12 to 14 years. The Chicago-area woman has provided five grounds for appeal, including suggesting that the presiding judge committed an error by imposing a burden on her to prove she was remorseful and had renounced anti-social beliefs. CANADIAN SENT TO US PRISON FOR RISKY TUNNEL SCHEME A Canadian cab driver has been sentenced to 16 months in a U.S. prison for sending desperate immigrants through a risky international tunnel under the Detroit River. Juan Garcia-Jimenez wept and apologized Monday in federal court in Detroit. Besides prison, he was fined $8,680, the amount of money paid by nine people who were caught last year when they emerged on foot on the Detroit side of a railroad tunnel. ALSO IN THE NEWS: Albertans go to the polls today The Parliament Budget Officer releases a report on its website titled "Bill C-266: Increasing the duration of parole ineligibility." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours the Communitech startup space, and makes an innovation and technology jobs announcement. CRANBROOK, B.C. - A four-day gap in the whereabouts of a 15-year-old girl is enough to dispute whether she was removed from Canada in 2004 to marry a member of a fundamentalist sect in the United States, a lawyer argued Tuesday at the trial of a former member of the church. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. CRANBROOK, B.C. - A four-day gap in the whereabouts of a 15-year-old girl is enough to dispute whether she was removed from Canada in 2004 to marry a member of a fundamentalist sect in the United States, a lawyer argued Tuesday at the trial of a former member of the church. Joe Doyle, who is serving as an amicus curiae or friend of the court to ensure a fair trial, said Crown prosecutors haven't proven that the girl was in Canada when the leader of the sect called James Oler and allegedly ordered him to bring the child to the United States to get married. Oler is charged with removing the girl from Canada to marry a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practises polygamy in Bountiful, B.C., and the United States. He was acquitted in 2017 by a judge who was not convinced Oler did anything within Canada's borders to arrange the girl's transfer to the U.S. But the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown that proof of wrongdoing in Canada was not necessary and ordered a new trial. Oler is self-represented and did not call any witnesses or make a case in his defence. In his closing argument, Doyle argued prosecutors hadn't accounted for the window when the girl was last seen in Bountiful but then identified by a witness four days later in northern Idaho at a highway rest stop on June 24, 2004. Doyle raised the possibility that the accused and the girl were potentially already in the United States visiting other communities associated with the fundamentalist sect when Warren Jeffs allegedly called Oler. Special prosecutor Peter Wilson questioned Doyle's suggestion that Oler and the girl may have already been in the United States in the four-day window, describing his argument on their movements as "fanciful." "Maybe it did anything can happen," he added. Doyle also questioned the credibility of church records seized by U.S. law enforcement officials a decade ago at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas. The court has heard the girl's marriage was documented by priesthood records kept by Jeffs, the church's president and prophet. One priesthood record describes the phone call that Jeffs made to Oler. Some of the documentation was incomplete and uncertified, which is contrary to the church's doctrine, Doyle said. "What is not known about these records and is still not known is which person or persons prepared them, when were they prepared, what information led to their preparation and where that information came from," he said. In his closing arguments on Monday, Wilson contended that Oler should have known the girl would be subject to sexual activity following her marriage based on the nature of church doctrine and the role of women in the faith. Women do not have financial assets and need permission to travel or pursue post-secondary education, former church members told the trial. They were taught that their role within the religion was to be a celestial wife in polygamous marriages and to bear children. Justice Martha Devlin of the B.C. Supreme Court has reserved her decision and tentatively scheduled a ruling on June 24. (Cranbrook Daily Townsman) OTTAWA - Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's legal team accused the federal government on Tuesday of hiding behind solicitor-client privilege to prevent the release of documents they believe will prove the case against their client has been tainted by political interference. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Vice Admiral Mark Norman arrives at court in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - Vice-Admiral Mark Norman's legal team accused the federal government on Tuesday of hiding behind solicitor-client privilege to prevent the release of documents they believe will prove the case against their client has been tainted by political interference. Norman's lawyers took aim at the government's decision to label dozens of documents, including several memos to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from the country's top bureaucrat, Michael Wernick, as solicitor-client privilege. They also want a chart purportedly showing how government officials determined Norman passed cabinet secrets to a Quebec shipyard and a CBC journalist in 2014-15 and not what his lawyers describe as "simply information of a confidential nature." In a document submitted to the court on Tuesday, Norman's lawyers said the chart represented "the linchpin to the Crown's case and undermining it is central" to their ability prove the suspended military officer's innocence. The government wants to keep the memos, chart and numerous other documents secret, with lawyers from the Department of Justice arguing during a pre-trial hearing that they represent legal advice and should thus be protected. Norman's lawyers accused the government of applying the label too broadly, pointing out neither Trudeau nor Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick are lawyers, and asked the court to determine whether the documents were truly privileged. Even if the documents were properly labelled, Norman's legal team added, the court can and should lift the privilege if their client's innocence is at stake. The back and forth represented the latest twist in Norman's high-profile legal drama, which has dragged on for more than two years and is currently scheduled to culminate in a full trial starting in August and running through the election. Justice Heather Perkins-McVey is responsible for determining whether the privilege has been properly applied and, if so, whether the documents should nonetheless be disclosed to ensure Norman gets a fair trial. Norman served as the military's second-in-command before being suspended and charged with breach of trust for allegedly leaking government secrets to influence cabinet's decision-making on a $700-million shipbuilding contract. He has denied any wrongdoing. His legal team has alleged that the case against him is politically motivated and is trying to get access to the requested documents to officially make that case in an effort to get the charge tossed out. Norman's lawyers scored a partial victory on Tuesday when Justice Department lawyer Robert MacKinnon revealed that the government had accidentally disclosed some records labelled legal advice but would not fight to keep them secret. They also grilled Patrick Hill, director of operations at the Privy Council Office, the department that supports the prime minister, on why solicitor-client privilege had been claimed for a variety of documents related to Norman's case. Asked about one of the memos sent to Trudeau from Wernick, Hill testified the document was in fact authored by lawyers within the Privy Council Office and sent to the prime minister through the clerk as is common practice. "All memos to the prime minister are under the pen of the clerk," Hill told the court in response to a question from Norman's lead lawyer, Marie Henein. "That includes legal advice." The two also sparred over what constituted solicitor-client privilege, particularly as Henein questioned Hill about an August 2017 email chain from PCO lawyers updating the department's communications section about the case. "Is it the provision of legal advice or is it an update as to what's happening to the communications department?" Henein said of the emails. "Just because a lawyer says it doesn't make it privileged, doesn't make it solicitor-client communication, even if it is a client." "This is not legal advice," Hill said, before adding: "My understanding is that it is still subject to solicitor-client privilege by virtue of the relationship between the client and the counsel." At one point, Henein asked whether former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould would have been copied on any of the memos or legal advice provided to the prime minister about Norman's case. Hill, who will return to the witness box on Wednesday, said he was unaware of Wilson-Raybould being copied on any of the documents. Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter. MONTREAL - The fire that swept through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday should serve as a reminder that having proper plans and documentation of valued Canadian buildings is crucial, heritage advocates say. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Firefighters work near the rose window of Notre Dame cathedral Tuesday April 16, 2019, following the devastating fire Monday night in Paris. Experts are assessing the blackened shell of Paris' iconic Notre Dame Cathedral to ascertain what artifacts can be saved and what has been lost in the blaze. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) MONTREAL - The fire that swept through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday should serve as a reminder that having proper plans and documentation of valued Canadian buildings is crucial, heritage advocates say. The blaze, which destroyed the cathedral's roof and spire, has triggered an outpouring of unity and financial support as well as a promise from French President Emmanuel Macron to rebuild within five years. When they do, they'll have a wealth of information to rely on, said Martin Bressani, director of the Peter Fu School of Architecture at McGill University. "Notre Dame is obviously the greatest historical monument in France," he said. "It's completely documented, every square inch." Bressani said most major Canadian landmark buildings and structures likely have detailed plans and documentation. "I would say yes, every major prestigious building in Canada, which is often not much older than 19th Century, is documented," he said. Jerry Dick, executive director of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in the province's capital underwent a digital scan two years ago that would be of great value if the building were ever damaged. Such detailed plans are important for two reasons restoration and reproduction but also for a historical record if rebuilding is impossible. "Every square inch of that building, inside and outside, was scanned to a very high degree, so they have the type of documentation right now that, heaven forbid, should something like that happen, they would have the information to restore or reproduce elements," Dick said. Other properties, often in smaller communities, may slip through the cracks when it comes to having proper files, said Ali Piwowar of the National Trust of Canada, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for heritage sites. "Obviously there's a benefit of having a record like that if you were to capture the exact condition of the building in order to reconstruct it," Piwowar said. "But when you're looking at something in a small town ... it's probably pretty unlikely they've had recording done, so being able get a hold of the original construction drawings is always recommended for the owners to have something on file." In terms of protecting heritage, many properties have seen sprinkler and fire-safety systems installed in recent years, Piwowar added. Stephane Corriveau, operations chief for the Montreal fire department, noted that Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica was hit by fire in 1978 and reopened in 1983 with fire protection, alarms, interior sprinklers and a dry-pipe sprinkler system for the exterior of the building. "From our perspective, we can't have any better than that," said Corriveau, calling it one of the safest churches in Canada. "But for most churches, putting them up to code is very expensive." There are about 400 churches in Montreal, including St. Joseph's Oratory, Canada's largest church, which is built from stone and is largely fireproof with the exception of its contents, Corriveau said. Meanwhile, Mary Queen of the World Cathedral in downtown Montreal, completed in 1894, never had a fire and was never outfitted with modern fire prevention measures. Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepine, who conducted a special midday mass at the basilica Tuesday in honour of its Paris namesake, told reporters that Montreal churches are equipped with alarms connected to the fire service and some of the bigger venues have video surveillance. As for rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral, Bressani noted the spire that was felled by the flames was actually a more recent edition from the mid-19th century, the work of Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. "When he created this in the mid-19th century, the spire had been destroyed for centuries and there was no documentation coming from the Middle Ages as to what the original spire looked like," Bressani noted. But current restoration officials will have access to Viollet-le-Duc's drawings in the archives as they rebuild. The questions will centre on design and materials. "To do something like the spire is an incredible challenge, so that will be interesting to see," Bressani said. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 11, 2019 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 11, 2019 | 02:03 PM | PADUCAH Members of a screening committee have been picked to help find the next superintendent of McCracken County Schools. Pete Galloway with the Kentucky School Board Association told West Kentucky Star Thursday the committee includes two parents, Emily Luckett and Chris Yarber; two teachers, Mary Lee Cooper and Crystal Culp; Hendron-Lone Oak Elementary principal Jonathan Reid; school board member Kelly Walker; and Dan Pope, a classified employee. Galloway said the official search process will begin next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at a joint meeting between the school board and the screening committee. The committee will then meet several times over the next few weeks as they work to find a suitable candidate. The school system's former superintendent, Brian Harper, resigned on March 8. Board members appointed Heath Cartwright interim superintendent on March 11. Galloway, who previously served as Graves County Schools Superintendent, said he will be assisting the screening committee as they work to fill the position. He said ultimately the choice is up to committee members though, regardless of his recommendations. BEAUCEVILLE, Que. - Quebec's Beauce region has so far been the hardest hit by spring flooding affecting many parts of the province, Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A man picks a recycling bin from the parking lot by a flooded car, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 in Beauceville Que. The Chaudi?re River flooded and forced the evacuation of 230 buildings and 36 people. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot BEAUCEVILLE, Que. - Quebec's Beauce region has so far been the hardest hit by spring flooding affecting many parts of the province, Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said Tuesday. Warm weather and up to 80 millimetres of rain are forecast between Thursday and Saturday in the region, which could aggravate flooding in towns across the area. On Tuesday, Guilbault toured downtown Beauceville, located 90 kilometres south of Quebec City. She told reporters about 230 buildings are flooded in the town. Thirty-six people have had to leave their homes and six roads have been affected by the rising waters of the Chaudiere River. "Many regions across Quebec have been affected," she said, "but it's really here that's most critical." Thomas Blanchet, a spokesman for the Public Security Department, said the water rose quickly Tuesday in downtown Beauceville after an ice jam broke free early in the morning. He said sunny weather on Wednesday will "stabilize" the flooding for a while but a new system bringing more precipitation and warm weather which will increase snow melt by Thursday risks causing more problems. "We will see how the river reacts," he said. Andre Cantin with Environment Canada said temperatures are expected to remain above freezing across much of southern Quebec over the next few days, increasing the risk of flooding. He said authorities should also be monitoring the water levels of the Ottawa River close to the Montreal area, as up to 50 millimetres of rain are expected to fall in that region by the weekend. Guilbault warned that an aid program announced by her government this month would have limits and require difficult choices in situations of repeated flooding. Citing the experience of the people of Beauceville, "who are flooded year after year," Guilbault was clear that government aid would not be endless. "Over the years, if the person is always flooded and reaches a certain maximum (of government aid) we will tell him: either you take this last check, or we help you relocate somewhere else," she said. Limerick and Cork Chambers have won the prestigious Most Successful Policy Campaign award for their joint campaign Gearing up for the M20 Cork Limerick Motorway at the Chambers Ireland Annual Chamber Awards. Both Limerick and Cork Chambers have long argued that a motorway linking the two cities is vital for the economy in the south of the country. Im pleased to accept this award in recognition of the commitment and determination of Cork and Limerick Chamber to secure the delivery of this vital piece of infrastructure," said Dee Ryan, Limerick Chamber CEO "A multi-city approach is the only way to realise a counter-balance to Dublin, and connectivity by motorway between Ireland's second and third largest cities is crucial," she added. Speaking at the Chamber Awards, Conor Healy, CEO of Cork Chamber said: The M20 is a critical investment for the future of the southern region. Connecting Irelands second and third largest city regions is essential for sustainable economic development. "The current route was already at 120% capacity in 2017 and is under increasing pressure. Ultimately, the M20 will support an additional 4,000-5,000 direct jobs and provide a gross exchequer impact of up to 128 million per annum," he added. Among the benefits the project would bring to the region is it would increase the accessibility of the wider South-West and Mid-West Regions for overseas and domestic tourism visitors, according to the Cork & Limerick Chamber Indecon/RED C M20 Report: Chamber award winners Overall Chamber of the Year County Kildare Chamber Event of the Year Waterford Chamber Toys4Engineers Conference & Expo Most Innovative Project Northern Ireland Chamber Learn Grow Excel Business Support Initiative Most Successful Policy Campaign Cork Chamber & Limerick Chamber Gearing up for the M20 Cork Limerick Motorway Local Authority Collaboration South Dublin Chamber Sustainable Business Partnership Programme with South Dublin County Council, South Dublin LEO & South Dublin Chamber Best Chamber Marketing Campaign Mullingar Chamber Winterfest Mullingar 2018 A number of typo-ridden billboards have been erected in South Africa ahead of an upcoming election, resulting in unexpected international attention for a suburb in the southside of Cork city. A sign from the African National Congress (ANC) in Nelson Mandela Bay has misspelled the party's campaign slogan, 'Lets grow South Africa together', instead telling voters: 'Lets grow South Africa Togher'. The poster also shows an image of the ANC's Cyril Ramaphosa, the fifth and current President of South Africa South African YouTuber Renaldo Gouws pointed out the mistake on social media yesterday, leading to many in the nation discovering the existence of Cork's own Togher. Apparently Togher is an Irish suburb in Cork City. The finest single malt whiskeys come from that part of the world. Lets indulge, shall we! pic.twitter.com/wkfovzyGib Seshego Sa MajaTladi (@SeshegoR) April 16, 2019 On the funny side, Togher is a suburb in lovely County Cork in Ireland . Maybe thats the aspiration ? Priscilla Urquhart (@PriscillaUrq) April 16, 2019 Before jumping to conclusions regarding the incompetency of @MYANC because of a spelling mistake on a billboard, it should be noted that this billboard was placed in the Cork city suburb of Togher. Asking the people of Ireland to help us build SA is maybe not such a bad idea... pic.twitter.com/UFmoHzM7Hy MJ DU PREEZ (@DOKTRINE) April 16, 2019 News website thesouthafrican.com also highlighted the billboard's connection to Cork in a tongue-in-cheek article. "Togher, a parish of Cork in the south of the country, is popular for giving the world former Manchester United full-back Denis Irwin, racewalking olympian Robert Heffernan and *checks notes* the worlds largest bingo card. "With a history like that, its perhaps understandable why the ANC are so keen to put Togher on the map," it said. It has led to much mirth on our own shores, with Sinn Fein TD and Togher resident Donnchadh O Laoghaire leading the Irish reactions on social media. In a statement, the ANC blamed its service provider for the error and said the party "will not allow a human error that was made by a service provider to derail us," criticising its opposition for focusing on the mistake. "This error has been used by opposition in an attempt to discredit the work of the ANC. This, to us, is a sign that opposition parties do not have anything to offer voters as we approach the May 8 general election and as such, they have resorted to focusing their campaigns on minor errors attributed to the ANC." The party said it will remove the misspelled billboards immediately. We consider this a very minor and insignificant setback to our campaign and will ensure the immediate removal of the billboard, which will, in turn, kill the campaign of the opposition. With all this free advertising, perhaps Failte Ireland should be preparing the people of Togher, and Cork, for an increase in South African tourism. A teenager who already has her sporting skills down to a fine art is this year's overall winner of the 65th Texaco Children's Art Competition. Naoise Hennessy from Craanford, near Gorey, Co Wexford, is already known to many as an all-Ireland medal winner and goal-scoring forward on the county's under-16 camogie team. She is now enjoying new-found fame as the overall winner of the art competition that attracted over 25,000 entries across Ireland. Naoise's winning art entry Lifelines - is a portrait of an elderly lady delicately reproduced using watercolour pencils throughout. Judges were impressed with how the 16-year-old captured the features and characters of her extremely challenging subject. Naoise's mother Marie said her daughter, the youngest of four children loves art in all its forms. The teenager, overjoyed when told she was the overall winner, attributes her success to the guidance she received from her art teacher Eugene Lynch at Colaiste Bhride in Carnew, Co Wicklow. The chairman of the judging panel Gary Granville, Professor Emeritus of Education at the National College of Art and Design, said Naoise's truly lifelike and painstakingly executed work was worthy of a place in any public gallery. Naoise's first prize in the senior 16-18 years age category is a cheque for 1,500 and an invitation from the International Foundation for Arts and Culture to visit Tokyo in August. The teenager will be a special guest at the 20th International High School Arts Festival that will be held in Japan's National Art Centre where her winning work will be exhibited. Naoise and the 126 winners from seven categories will be presented with their prizes at a ceremony held in Johnstown Estate Hotel, Enfield, Co Meath. Amihan Navarro won first prize in the 9-11 years category for her work entitled 'Little Me'. The other first prize category winners: 14-15 years: Nadia Stefaniak (15), Abbey Community College, Ferrybank, Co Waterford, for her work entitled Colour Blast 12-13 years: Lea Moloney (13), St. Joseph of Cluny, Killiney, Co. Dublin, for her work entitled My Ouma. 9-11 years: Amihan Navarro (10), Guardian Angels National School, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, for a work entitled Little Me. 7-8 years: Alfie Whyte (8), Cloughoge Primary School, Newry, Co. Armagh, for his work entitled My Brother Charlie. 6 years and younger: Laurie Hehir (6), Ennis Art School, Co. Clare, for her work entitled Cow In Blue. Young artists with special needs: James Moonan (13), The Arthouse, Drogheda, Co Louth, for his work entitled Old Friends. Fallon Murphy won second prize in the 6 years and younger category for her work entitled 'Fallon's Portrait' Director of Ireland Operations for Valero, who market fuel under the Texaco brand, said there was a "groundswell of artistic talent" to be found among Ireland's young people. "Despite the numerous other attractions that exist today, it is extremely gratifying to know that our young people continue to show an enduring interest in art and to demonstrate their ability in the magnificent prize-winning entries," he said. The Texaco Children's Art competition has an unbroken history dating back to 1955. Past winners include Graham Knuttel, Robert Ballagh, Bernadette Madden, Dorothy Cross and fashion designer Paul Costello. The son of a former Labour Party councillor who died in a house fire which his inquest heard was probably caused by a tumble dryer, said warnings about potential fire risks should be placed on all manufactured dryer machines. The recommendation, relating to potential combustion risks from interrupting drying cycles and leaving hot clothes in dryers, was also made earlier by Limerick City Coroner John McNamara, on behalf of former Limerick city councillor Seamus Houlihans devastated family. Mr Houlihans inquest heard that a tumble drier was the probable cause of the fatal blaze, although the exact cause could not be definitively established. Mr Houlihan, 84, was found unresponsive by his son James, also a former Labour councillor, after he arrived at their home, which was on fire, on June 2, 2018. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death. Mr Houlihan, who had a number of underlying health issues, died from high levels of carbon monoxide poisoning, the inquest heard. A forensic examination of the three year old tumble dryer found it was the likely cause of the blaze. An engineer's report stated the risk of laundry self heating and subsequent spontaneous combustion is a known safety risk in the laundry industry, particularly if the cooling phase of a cycle is stopped or interrupted. James Houlihan told the inquest the lint filter in the dryer was maintained regularly, and he insisted the dryer was not turned on when he left the house earlier on the night. Dr McNamara said he was not aware of the potential risks of laundry catching fire. On behalf of a request of James Houlihan, Dr McNamara agreed to a general recommendation that warning stickers be prominently placed on tumble dryers. Speaking afterwards, James Houlihan said he hoped this would help create awareness around the issue. Mr Houlihan said the inquest verdict half provided some closure for him. And, hopefully, any warnings that get out there might help other families, he said. We have finality. This thing has being going on now ten months. Mr Houlihan thanked family and friends for helping him refurbish his family home which he returned to living in last month. Well, its my home, its as simple as that. Its different, but Im back in there anyway, and Id like to thank family and friends that helped me get back into the house. A teenager who facing charges under Operation Joyrider a garda investigation of car thefts in Cork city has been released on more stringent bail after four nights in custody. Jake OSullivan, 18, of 22 Fairfield Road, Farranree, Cork, had his bail revoked last Friday for 18 breaches of his bail conditions over the last few weeks. Judge Olann Kelleher remanded the teenager in custody from Friday until today. However, he agreed to release him when Shane Collins Daly, solicitor, renewed the bail application. Sgt Ann Marie Twomey said the gardai wanted the 11pm curfew changed to 9pm and the three-day-a-week signing condition increased to a requirement to sign every day at Gurranabraher garda station. Judge Olann Kelleher amended those conditions. The case was adjourned for a hearing at Cork District Court on June 20 with OSullivan on bail until then. He faces charges of driving 11 stolen vehicles between March and November 2017. Garda Marie Geraghty testified on Friday that since March 6 the defendant had failed to sign on at Gurranabraher garda station 11 times and had failed to keep his curfew to be home by 11pm each night on seven occasions. Garda Geraghty gave evidence of gardai calling to his house after 11pm seven times since March 20 and the accused not being home. OSullivan testified in his unsuccessful application for continuing bail on Friday. I was being lazy and being stupid Please, judge, I can guarantee there wont be one single breach of bail. OSullivans bail conditions now require him to keep a 9pm-6am curfew, not contact co-defendants, not drive, abstain from alcohol and everyday at Gurranabraher garda station. Members of the Collaborative Forum on Mother and Baby Homes have expressed their disappointment at the Government's refusal to publish its full report. The forum - which is comprised of former residents of the institutions and advocates and is separate from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission - began its work in July of last year and presented a report of almost 90 pages to children's minister Katherine Zappone in December. However, Ms Zappone yesterday only published the recommendations of the forum - citing legal advice from the Attorney General. She said she intends to publish the full report after the Commission publishes its final report in February of next year. The Irish Examiner understands that the decision to not publish the report has caused a considerable degree of upset among members of the forum. The group had worked on the report and its recommendations for almost one year - with some members flying in from the US on a monthly basis for meetings. The forum was requested to attend a meeting with Ms Zappone on April 3 where she informed them that report could not be published in full on advice from the Attorney General. The report is believed to be extremely critical of a number of agencies including Tusla which holds a large number of records in relation to former Mother and Baby Homes. It is understood that one member of the forum sent a resignation email to Ms Zappone in recent days in protest at the decision not to publish the report in full. "I have lost all faith in the forum and I couldn't agree to recommendations being released without the backing of the report we worked so hard on," she said. In a foreward to the recommendations, forum members stressed that only the publication of the full report can allow the basis of its recommendations to be heard and understood. Those recommendations include a package of health and well-being measures for survivors, a memorialisation programme and a research project on language and terminology used to describe the reality of Irelands treatment of certain groups of mothers and children. The forum has also called for the scrapping of the Government's planned Information and Tracing Bill and its replacement with an alternative Identities and Personal Information Bill. It has also called for the creation of a "one-stop-shop" to house records from across State, religious orders, county and other sources so as "to enable access to identity, personal and institutional information by any person separated from their family of origin, or detained in State-funded or regulated Institutions". A plaque at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home Ms Zappone praised the work of the forum and said that a package for health and well-being measures which will be brought to Government for approval in September and also committed to a memorialisation programme and a research project on language and terminology. However, the Minister stated that she will only seek to amend the current Information and Tracing Bill. Middle-ranking officers claim that gardai are in a no-win situation in policing court-ordered repossessions. And some members have received threats as a result, the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has heard. Supervisors want Garda HQ to devise operating guidelines to deal with the controversial events and train members in them. The national executive of the AGSI backed calls from delegates in the Roscommon/Longford division on the matter. Roscommon was at the centre of a contentious repossession last year which was filmed and circulated online. Sgt Paul McDermott, who is from the Roscommon/Longford Division and sits on the AGSI National Executive, called on Garda management to draw up standard operating procedures to bring clarity on the roles of members. I'm not referring to particular incidents, but incidents are arising around the country - we have seen them in Dublin and seen them around the country in rural areas, he said. He said that, particularly in rural areas, members were embedded in their community and then asked to cover a repossession in their own community or neighbouring area where they are probably known and that this made it more difficult. Sgt McDermott said: Our role is only there to make sure a breach of the peace doesn't occur. We are the meat in the sandwich, we are caught in the middle - it's a no-win situation for us. He said issues that needed addressing include proper notice, planning and training. He added: "I would have experienced members who would have received threats following these types of incidents. There have been other incidents as well where people have been identified, not in our area, put up on social media and threats were put up. Separately, a delegate from Limerick said gardai who had been told at the last minute that their scheduled promotion is on hold are subject to personal character assassination and found guilty without committing any wrongdoing. Sergeant Pat Brennan, with 29 years service and 11 years in the Armed Support Unit, said four sergeants and one garda were told last Friday just half an hour before the promotion list was published that they were not going to be on it. The members were informed their promotion was being deferred until an active investigation by GSOC regarding them was completed. Sgt Brennan said: Everybody in the job would have known they were to be on that list, their families would have known that they were to be on that list, because they weren't on that list, everyone's wondering what did they do wrong. "The stress that causes to the families, to the members, it's character assassination. He said there were serious time delays with GSOC investigations and said the watchdog should take action against serial complainers. Housing charity Threshold is warning of an increase in homelessness unless legislation going through the Dail is amended to protect tenants. The charity spoke out in the wake of the eviction into homelessness of a young mother, Stephanie, and her three children from the Cork city home she had been renting for nine years. The family spent the weekend in a family hub before transferring to emergency B&B accommodation some 20km south of the city. Threshold, which is supporting Stephanie, described her as a 'model tenant'. The charity's southern regional manager, Edel Conlon, said: Every day we are dealing with families and individuals such as Stephanie, model tenants who pay their rent on time, invest time and personal resources making a house their home and through no fault of their own, are now homelessness. Our sense is that things are worsening. We are extremely disappointed that the new Residential Tenancies Bill, that is currently progressing through the Dail, does not contain any measures to address the issue of tenancy terminations for no reason. As long as Section 34b remains in place, we will continue to see a rise in homelessness. Stephanies landlord served her with a notice to quit last August. Threshold liaised with her landlord, resulting in an offer to increase her monthly rental payment to just over 1,100. But the landlord rejected the offer and advised the woman to leave the property by last Thursday. The family had no option but to spend the weekend in the family hub on the Western Road before relocating to a B&B in the county for the next two weeks. Threshold said the issue of security of tenure is the dominating issue for tenants in the private rented sector and is the number-one query being dealt with by their advisors. It accounts for 34% of the queries dealt with in the first half of 2018 and 31% of all queries in 2017. Ms Conlon said: Rents are increasing more than incomes, housing assistance payments do not reflect market rents and we are witnessing a steady decline in supply of affordable accommodation for people in low and middle incomes." A snap survey in the Munster region last December found that the percentage of queries on tenancy terminations in the province between January and October of 2018 increased to 40%, compared with 32% for 2017. Nationally, Threshold dealt with 4,893 tenancy termination cases last year - 1,153 of which were in the south. Ms Conlon said Threshold has actively campaigned for the removal from the Residential Tenancies Bill of Section 34b, governing residential tenancies, because it goes against security of tenure provisions: Section 34b enables a landlord to give notice with no reason at the end of a Part 4 or Further Part 4 tenancy." Advertisement By State Representative Richard Heath Apr. 15, 2019 | MAYFIELD By State Representative Richard Heath Apr. 15, 2019 | 08:57 AM | MAYFIELD In the final hours of the last day to veto legislation, the Governor rejected an agreement that provided financial relief for quasi-governmental agencies including local health departments, mental health agencies, and rape crisis centers and our regional universities participating in the Kentucky Retirement Systems. The bill, HB 358, was the product of weeks of work and discussions with the stakeholders and employee representatives in an effort to strike a balance between providing relief to the employers and keeping the states commitment to employees. I joined my colleagues in the House and Senate in supporting it because I felt it best represented the best interest of everyone involved. While the first step in what will be a very difficult path, the bill provided a solution to one significant part of our states overall pension crisis. In his veto message, the Governor shared that he intends to call us back into session before July 1 and he is the only one who can call us into special session. I do not like the idea of a special session, but I think it is critical that he sit down with us prior to calling one so that we can once again reach an agreement that he will not veto. We absolutely should not incur the costs associated with a special session without a bill that can become law. Why is this issue so critical? As a result of the Governors veto, these agencies and organizations will see the contribution they make towards their employee retirement plans escalate from 49 percent to 83 percent on July 1. That translates into 83 cents for every dollar in wages, almost doubling the cost of each employee. There are 118 agencies directly impacted by this, employing 9,000 people and providing services to hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians. Regional universities have told us that the increased cost would lead to tuition increases and staff cuts. According to the Cabinet for Health and Family services, health departments that serve 64 counties more than half the state - would close in two years or less. The final version of the legislation allowed employers to choose to remain in the current plan. But if they left the plan, Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees could make their own choice to remain in the current plan or move into a new, defined-contribution plan. Meanwhile, Tier 3 employees those who have been hired since 2014 would be moved to a new plan. In the House, we felt that it was very important for employees who have put many years into the retirement system to have their contract honored, and be allowed to remain in the same plan. While not perfect, this issue came with no perfect solution that kept our commitment to employees and relieved employers. This is a complicated issue with a lot of moving parts, but I would like to keep you as updated as possible as we work to solve it. Please reach out to me with any questions you may have about HB 358, or any other issue on your mind. I can be reached by email at richard.heath@lrc.ky.gov, or through the toll-free message line in Frankfort at 1-800-372-7181. I appreciate any and all feedback from constituents. If you would like more information, please visit the legislature's website at www.legislature.ky.gov. The planning watchdog has refused permission for the development of a Lidl supermarket in a Cork suburb for the second time, following local objections. Cork County Council has twice given the green light to the proposed supermarket on a two-acre site between Carrigaline Rd and Churchyard Lane in the heart of Douglas village, only for An Bord Pleanala to twice overturn the decision on appeal. In 2017, the board rejected the local authoritys first decision to grant planning permission after locals lodged objections over traffic, parking, and the visual impact the proposed supermarket would have on the village. The site is located in a designated Architectural Conservation Area. Lidl lodged a second application last year and the council approved a development which would have comprised a 2,251 sq/m supermarket and a separate 1,351 sq/m three-storey mixed-use building with a cafe/restaurant, offices, and five apartments. But An Bord Pleanala overturned the decision. It determined the development by reason of its design, scale and massing, would be visually dominant and out of character with the pattern of existing development in the Church Street Architectural Conservation Area and would be visually obtrusive within the Douglas Village streetscape. The board also ruled the development would prejudice the development potential of adjoining lands to the north. Peter Horgan, a local election Labour candidate in the South East city council ward, had lodged an objection with the county council. The area in question will come under City Hall following the boundary expansion. Its a great result for those who have fought this imposition in Douglas Village and an eye opener for the local authority who have twice sought to implant this development against the wishes of the people, he said. The evidence against Patrick Quirke amounts to no more than suspicion and is not enough to convince a jury that he killed Bobby Ryan, a defence barrister has told the love rival murder trial at the Central Criminal Court. Bernard Condon SC also criticised the garda investigation and told the jury they had been given substandard evidence due to failures in the investigation. He asked them to imagine themselves or a person they love in his position, having done what he can to assist gardai and then having had everything he said interpreted in the worst possible way and be accused based on what Mary Lowry said and "a couple of internet searches". Mr Condon completed his eight-hour speech to the jury of six men and six women today by asking them to acquit his client. The jury will return next Tuesday (April 23) to hear the judge's charge from Justice Eileen Creedon before they begin their deliberations. Mr Quirke (50) of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, a part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight. Mr Ryan went missing on June 3, 2011 after leaving his girlfriend Mary Lowry's home at about 6.30am. His body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by the accused at Fawnagown, Tipperary 22 months later in April 2013. The prosecution has claimed Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry (52). Mr Condon reminded the jury that his client told gardai he was a "curious and inquisitive" person. He suggested that much of what the prosecution sought to use against him could be explained by these traits. You might say he is a "nosy parker," Mr Condon said, adding, "nobody would like to be called nosy but we all have flaws and personality quirks but that's not murder." He asked the jury to look fairly and with nuance at the evidence that Mr Quirke's computer was used to search for information on DNA and "human body decomposition" while Mr Ryan was still a missing person. You could not, he said, convict based on those searches. Mr Quirke told gardai he was "inquisitive by nature" and Mr Condon warned the jury of the "great risk" of making a leap based on those searches alone. He said: "If they move you, they will move you to no more than suspicion." Bobby Ryan They were general searches, he said, with no specific detail relating to this case, carried out in circumstances where Bobby Ryan was missing and Mr Quirke was following the disappearance in the news. There was, Mr Condon said, reference in the news to Trace Ireland and cadaver dogs having been used to try to find him. There is nothing in those searches to do with bodies decomposing in water or in an airtight container, which would be specific to this case. He asked the jury what weight they could place on the searches and whether they can be relied on. Counsel further reminded the jury of Mr Quirke's garda interviews in which he said that if he knew where Mr Ryan's body was and wanted to know what condition it was in all he had to do was open the tank and look. He noted that in interview Mr Quirke had referenced his deceased son when asked about the decomposition searches. Mr Condon said it may be "macabre" but people do the strangest things on their computers. "You are invited to weigh the evidence but you are not entitled to start and jump all the way to the end," he said. "You can't go straight to guilty on the basis of some searches on the internet over a couple of minutes in December." He described the prosecution as requiring "enormous leaps" and stated that the height of the prosecution case is suspicion. He told the jurors they don't know anything about what happened on June 3, 2011. All the jury has, Mr Condon said, is "this little piece which does not achieve what the prosecution wants it to achieve which is to convince you with certainty that this man, who has denied, denied, denied, actually killed Bobby Ryan." He said there is no hard evidence and this search alone is not enough to convict. Counsel called on the jury to start from the position that Mr Quirke is innocent and to imagine themselves or a person they love in his position having done what he can to assist gardai and having had everything he said interpreted in the worst possible way. To be accused based on what Mary Lowry said and a couple of internet searches. He concluded: "I ask you to acquit this man." Mary Lowry. File image. Earlier Mr Condon criticised the garda investigation telling the jury they had been given substandard evidence due to failures in the investigation. He urged the jury to approach the prosecution's claims with "great care and skepticism". Mr Condon told the jury that gardai should have searched Mary Lowry's house at Fawnagowan, the last place Mr Ryan was reported alive in 2011. They should also have video taped the removal of Mr Ryan's body from the tank in 2013. They had failed to tell a pathologist that a concrete lid covering the tank cracked, dropping debris onto the body, he said. They should have used the garda sub aqua team to recover the body rather than the fire brigade. They had failed, he said, to record the finding of a hair clip in the tank beside the body, something Mr Condon suggested the prosecution was trying to "airbrush" out of the case. He said prosecution counsel Michael Bowman had "pooh poohed it". When senior investigating officer Inspector Patrick O'Callaghan was asked about the clip, counsel said he "jumped to" the suggestion that it could have belonged to the Lowry sisters who grew up on the farm. Mr Condon said the "more obvious" person would be Mary Lowry who had been living on the farm for the previous 15 years. Dr Khalid Jaber, the former deputy state pathologist, did not attend the scene where the body was found, something that Acting State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis and former Northern Ireland State Pathologist Professor Jack Crane said they would have done. Dr Jaber retained only one maggot from the body to be analyzed by an entomologist and did not note if it was alive or dead when he found it, Mr Condon said. He also failed to retain any of the adult flies seen on the body. Counsel said it was "extraordinary" that gardai emptied onto the ground the contents of the vacuum tanker which Mr Quirke said he used to draw water from the tank before discovering the body. A sixth class student, Mr Condon suggested, could have come up with the idea to empty the contents into buckets or bringing the tanker to another location to be measured and analysed. He said the prosecution was now seeking to draw inferences against Mr Quirke based on the assertion of one garda who estimated that only a small amount of water came out of the tanker. Mr Condon asked the jury if they were satisfied that gardai at the scene had maintained evidence with such "robustness" that they would have no criticism and no sleepless nights. He further asked if they could be satisfied that the hair clip had been excluded and does not amount to a reasonable doubt. Patrick Quirke. File image. Earlier: The defence has finished its closing arguments to the jury in Patrick Quirkes murder trial. The 50-year-old farmer from Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his love rival, local DJ Bobby Mr Moonlight Ryan. Over the course of three days in court, defence barrister Bernard Condon described the case against his client as one based on theory with no hard evidence. He described Patrick Quirkes former lover Mary Lowry as an unreliable and dangerous witness. She was in a relationship with Bobby Ryan when he went missing in June 2011 and it is the prosecutions case that Mr Quirke murdered him in an attempt to rekindle an affair he had previously with her. Today, Mr Condon criticised the Gardas initial Missing Person investigation and subsequent murder investigation after the accused found Mr Ryans body in a run-off tank on Ms Lowrys farm in 2013. He said things should have been done differently and he finished by asking the jurors to approach this case with some degree of fairness and to put themselves in Mr Quirkes shoes. He suggested they would say this is not enough if it were one of them or one of their loved ones in the dock. - Digital Desk A new package of health measures has been announced for former residents of Mother and Baby Homes. They include access to GP services, counselling and mental health supports. There will also be action taken on adoption legislation, a memorialisation programme and a research project on language and terminology. The proposals were put forward by a forum of former residents and will be brought to government for approval in September. The Children's Minister Katherine Zappone says she is also open to an annual day of commemoration. "I am very pleased that the Minister for Health will develop proposals for a package of health and well-being supports, including access to appropriate health and social care measures," said Minister Zappone. "The Minister has agreed to set up a working group with officials from my Department to report back to Government by September, in time for the Estimates process leading to Budget 2020. "In my own area, I am proposing to amend key provisions of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill to take account of issues raised by the Forum. I am also developing a memorialisation programme and the commissioning of research on the use of language and terminology. The Minister has secured Government approval to amend provisions of the Adoption Bill to provide for the greatest possible release of birth information to adopted persons and other relevant persons. Amendments are being drafted which will seek to remove the requirement for an undertaking to be signed by the person seeking their birth information. Minister Zappone is to develop a series of measures in relation to commemorations including the establishment of a scheme to fund permanent memorials in the locality of Mother and Baby institutions, provision of financial support to survivor-led groups for annual commemoration events and a working group to develop a national memorial that "commemorates, respects and honours mothers and children held in these Institutions". Recommendations of Collaborative Forum for Former Residents of Mother and Baby Homes and Related Institutions as well as response of Government published https://t.co/ye8tfiqrcC @DCYAPress @merrionstreet @tusla pic.twitter.com/OKUqDbAwY3 Katherine Zappone (@k_zappone) April 16, 2019 Ms Zappone thanked and congratulated the members of the Forum for their work. "We now have the considered views of those most affected by our history in this area," said Minister Zappone. "I am committed to moving forward, and I believe we can make real progress with the initiatives I am announcing today." There would be no chance of a US-UK trade deal if there was any weakening of the Good Friday Agreement, a senior American politician has said. US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi told a packed lecture theatre that the Good Friday Agreement was a model that could not be "bargained away in another agreement". Speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday Ms Pelosi said passing a trade bill in Congress would be very hard and was "no given". She added: "First of all it is very hard to pass a trade bill in the Congress of the United States, so it's no given anyway. But if there were any weakening of the Good Friday accords there would be no chance whatsoever, a non-starter for a US-UK trade agreement. The Good Friday accords ended 700 years of conflict. "This is not a treaty only, it's an ideal, it's a value, it's something that's a model to the world, something that we all take pride in. "It was a model and other people have used it as a model and we don't want that model to be something that can be bargained away in another agreement." Ms Pelosi is to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney today as part of a two-day fact-finding visit by a congressional delegation from the US House of Representatives, which includes several members of the 'Friends of Ireland' caucus. Mr Varadkar says the visit is a good opportunity and is evidence of the deep and historic ties between Ireland and the US. The delegation will meet with the Taoiseach at Government Buildings this afternoon, following a lunch hosted by the Tanaiste and culminating with a dinner hosted by Mr Varadkar tomorrow night at Dublin Castle. - Digital Desk & Press Association Ireland's Sam Bennett has claimed the first stage of the Tour of Turkey. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider won in a tight sprint finish ahead of Quick-Step's Fabio Jakobsen, with Caleb Ewan of Lotto-Soudal in third. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given an award established in honour of an assassinated journalist. Assange, jailed in England last week after being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, was awarded the 2019 GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information. It is sponsored by European parliamentarians after being established in 2018 in honour of assassinated Maltese journalist Daphne Galizia. The award is given to individuals "uncovering the truth and exposing it to the public" and to honour "individuals or groups who have been intimidated and/or persecuted for uncovering the truth and exposing it to the public". Nobel Peace prize winner Mairead Maguire, from Belfast, collected the award on Assange's behalf at an event in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. File photo of Mairead Maguire. Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor, said: "Through WikiLeaks Julian Assange's vision of transparency has revolutionalised journalism. "His imprisonment and threatened extradition to the United States has drawn a sharp line in the sand. You are either encouraging the crackdown on media freedom or you are standing with Julian Assange." Last year the Galizia prize was jointly awarded to murdered Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and LuxLeaks whistleblower Raphael Halet. Assange had lived inside the embassy for almost seven years before his diplomatic asylum was revoked. Mr Pompeo, you can stop: China hits back at criticism over Latin America | South China Morning Post Chinas foreign ministry has hit back at criticism from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the countrys activities in Latin America, urging the top US diplomat to watch his words. Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Monday responded angrily to Pompeos remarks, saying he was spreading lies about China. Speaking during a four-nation tour of Latin America last week, Pompeo said Chinese financial intervention in Venezuela had helped destroy the country and called on leaders in the region to see who their true friend was. Lu, during a regular press briefing, said the US secretary of state had wantonly slandered Chinas relations with Latin America. For some time, some US politicians have been carrying the same version, the same script of slandering China all over the world, and fanning the flames and sowing discord everywhere, Lu said. The words and deeds are despicable. But lies are lies, even if you say it a thousand times, they are still lies. Mr Pompeo, you can stop, the spokesman said. The director of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has explained the decision to rename their prestigious Barry Award, saying controversial comments made by namesake Barry Humphries hadn't helped their relationship, but were not the sole reason for the shift. The Barry, the festival's top gong, will now be called the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award and is given yearly to the comedian with the most outstanding show during the festival. Festival director Susan Provan said the name-change was not directly related to Humphries's heavily criticised comments about transgender people, but rather about reflecting the growth of the festival in recent years. "We've been talking about changing the name for some time," Provan said. "Barry's comments didn't help our relationship, honestly. But, overall, we just feel that the festival has grown so much that it's time our award name reflected something broader than just one man. More than a third of our winners have been women. We'd rather it say Melbourne comedy award." Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has overlooked a key part of his policy platform by telling Australians he has no plans to increase taxes on superannuation, despite a stated policy to raise tens of billions of dollars from changes to super. The Labor election plan includes changes to super contribution rules and higher earnings taxes on those on high incomes, going further than the controversial Coalition changes put to the last election. Bill Shorten denied Labor would increase taxes while speaking to the media on Tuesday - in apparent contradiction of his party's policy. Credit:AAP "We have no plans to increase taxes on superannuation," Mr Shorten said on Tuesday while campaigning in South Australia. But the government estimates the Labor changes would increase tax revenue by $34 billion over a decade, although an earlier Labor estimate put the revenue at $19 billion. Former Liberal MP Julia Banks has slammed the party's candidate for the seat of Chisholm, accusing her former colleague Gladys Liu of "abhorrent and misleading" comments about LGBTI people. But Ms Liu, the star candidate for the Melbourne seat vacated by Ms Banks, says she has been misrepresented after audio emerged of her saying some members of Australia's Chinese community felt LGBTI issues were "ridiculous rubbish". Gladys Liu dubbed media reports quoting her on LGBTI issues as "fake news". Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Both Ms Liu and the Liberal Party deny the comments were her own views and say the candidate was merely representing the views of some members of the Chinese community. "I reject any suggestion the comments reported in 2016 were my own views," Ms Liu said in a statement on Tuesday. Stand with your back to the Cenotaph and look towards the GPO building at 1 Martin Place and you will see Queen Victoria, albeit somewhat begrimed, staring down. She's been staring down since 1887. Just below her is the marble statue of the virginal maiden Australia in Romanesque tunic, representing the Colony. She's clutching a basket of fruit and native flowers. Her gown has fallen away revealing a bare left breast, also contaminated by some 130 years of pollution. Passing Australia the garland of civilisation is Boadicea in warrior's helmet representing the Empire. Up close and personal, aloft the scaffolding, it is plain to see that she has some quite appalling underarm stains and facial discolourisation. While many of your recent ferry memories (C8) involve the South Steyne, the trip to Broken Bay on weekends in the 1960s is as fondly remembered as the regular harbour commute. Both John Nicol of Surry Hills and Jenifer Grieve of Erina took part. Jenifer writes: I remember what started out as a glorious day, until the return voyage ran into a southerly off the coast. My husband-to-be and my brother were at the bow, with waves pouring over, having fun. Mother and I were downstairs until the bottom deck became awash. Needless to say, the nurse on board had given up on handing out seasickness tablets and paper bags. When it came to re-entering Sydney Harbour, it was a problem such that the ferry ventured south past the Heads then headed north/northwest, to avoid being battered side-on by the huge waves, and into the safety. John recalls a similar event, describing it as a wild and rollicking ride. Jim Specht of Ultimo recently came across the following statement by Karl Marx: The daily press and the telegraph, which in a moment spreads its inventions over the earth, fabricate more myths in one day (and the bourgeois cattle believe and propagate them still further) than could have previously been produced in a century.' Marx was commenting on statements by the media of the day and various competing parties about the short-lived Paris Commune of 1870-71. Fake news was obviously not invented by todays fourth estate or social media. "Where is the Little End of town?" asks Les Shearman of Darlington. Steve Cornelius of Brookvale writes: "During the Hard Quiz introduction (C8), Tom Gleeson mentioned Pat Sheils electoral campaign slogan 'Sheil be right'. Unfortunately, Pats defeat by a woman in the final round showed that sometimes shell be right and Sheil be wrong." "What wonderful news," says George Manojlovic of Mangerton. Life Savers lollies are to be manufactured here in Australia again. They'll make a mint! Is that the hole story? A private school in Sydney's west has been accused of putting the lives of students at risk with a "defective" second-storey school building that did not have sprinklers, a fire hydrant or emergency lighting and posed a "very significant risk of fire". Rissalah College an Islamic school that teaches more than 500 primary school students at Lakemba has been sued by its former landlord in the NSW Supreme Court over allegations the school broke its lease and owes more than $120,000 in unpaid rent. Rissalah College is being sued in the NSW Supreme Court. Pictured is its new school site. Credit:Edwina Pickles The school is accused of leaving its former premises at 291 Haldon Street, Lakemba, "dirty and littered" with peeling paint and broken glass when it moved to a new school site at the end of 2010. It is further accused of failing to have development approval when it built a computer room at its former site. The landlord, Five Bright Stars Pty Ltd, alleges the school breached its lease by failing to comply with fire safety requirements, and by failing to use due care, skill and material suitable for purpose when a second storey was added to "Building C" at Haldon Street. A couple have been sent to prison for callously exploiting a Fijian woman after trafficking her into the country and forcing her to work for them. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was treated so badly her freedom had been taken and her human rights were "seriously compromised", according to a judge. Malavine Pulini (third from left) and Isikeli Feleatoua Pulini (second from left) are seen arriving at the Brisbane District Court in Brisbane on Tuesday. Credit:AAP She was trafficked into the country on a tourist visa by Brisbane mother Malavine Pulini, 48, to work for her and her husband Isikeli in 2008. They gave her a bogus promise of being able to get her a longer visa. A teenage boy, several other bystanders and paramedics have saved the life of a man who was found unconscious in a Gold Coast hotel pool overnight. Emergency services were called to the Surfers Paradise resort just before 9.30pm on Tuesday. Critical care paramedics and the Gold Coast High Acuity Response Unit responded to the near-drowning. Credit:Glenn Hunt Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Gavin Fuller said a boy, believed to be 16-years-old, who was staying at the resort spotted the man "on the bottom of the pool". "That person has been retrieved from the pool and CPR was commenced by bystanders until the arrival of Queensland Ambulance where further resuscitation attempts were made," Mr Fuller said. Former NRL player Ben Barba will return to Townsville in May to face public nuisance offences after a last-minute decision not to plead guilty. Mr Barba had initially intended to plead guilty in Mackay Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning His lawyer, Campbell MacCallum, said the charges would now be adjourned to Townsville on May 7 because he was "not satisfied" with the facts the prosecution intended to put before the court. Former NRL player Ben Barba speaks with media outside Townsville Magistrate Court last month. Credit:AAP The 29-year-old was charged with two counts of public nuisance following an incident at a Townsville Casino in January which cost him his lucrative deal with the North Queensland Cowboys. In September 2018, during the tampering crisis, Brisbane Times observed the Elimbah facility still operating with more than 60 workers cars parked outside, even after every other packing plant in the district had shut down after finding no market for their fruit. But Elimbah residents said Donnybrooks success had come at a cost to the environment and their quality of life and they blamed Moreton Bay Regional Council for failing to enforce basic planning, traffic and environmental regulations at properties where Mr Cufari operated. Some of the breaches potentially carry fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Locals left frustrated Residents alleged Mr Cufaris business had cleared forest and sunk dams in a flood zone, both without permission, and was causing nuisance and traffic hazard with its 24-hour trucking operation, including running B-double vehicles that were not permitted to use local roads. Hes just doing whatever he wants and the council wont do anything, said one Elimbah resident, who complained to council officers about the land clearing and did not want to be identified. Another resident, Mick Dickinson, lives near Donnybrooks packing plant at Pates Road in Elimbah. He said he had raised concerns with his local councillor about the danger posed to locals by Donnybrooks truck traffic, including B-doubles illegally accessing the rural roads, but had been politely fobbed off. Its the nature of the business, its the impost on us ... its almost like this guy is just operating with impunity, Mr Dickinson said. Judy McDonald, who lives next door to the packing plant, said she and her two children had been forced to stay with relatives for several days each week during the strawberry season in 2017 and 2018 because the noise of the plant and associated traffic made it impossible to sleep. Some days we didnt go to work or school because wed been up all night from the trucks, she said. Ms McDonald provided dashcam video showing her being forced off the road by B-doubles and other trucks servicing the Donnybrook property, including at night. Ms McDonald, who has lived at the property for 17 years, said the noise from the plant, built in mid-2017, included workers being directed by one of the plant managers using a megaphone in the middle of the night. You never think youre going to be driven from your home when you move to a rural property for peace and quiet, she said. Ms McDonald said she had first complained to Moreton Bay Regional Council in May 2017 and despite meeting council officers along with other residents, providing diaries recording the dust and noise and hiring a planning consultant and lawyers to help argue her case, nothing had changed. You just get bounced around and you dont get answers, she said. We were never answered when we first wrote in. Then we paid good money to a lawyer to write a letter and waited three months for them to respond to it. Ms McDonald said the pattern of work at the packing plant, with almost non-stop truck traffic during the picking season, indicated it was not just handling fruit from adjacent farms but was a fully-fledged industrial facility and transport depot, meaning it required planning permission and residents consent. Donnybrook Berries neighbour Judy McDonald was forced to move out with her family during the strawberry season because of the noise and dust from the plant. Credit:Mark Solomons Ms McDonald said that in August 2017 there had been 1300 truck movements at the property. They werent even growing strawberries at the farm then, she said. And they kept packing right through Christmas last year, when every farm in the district had stopped picking weeks earlier. Moreton Bay Regional Council said in a statement it was investigating complaints regarding noise and dust associated with vehicle movements on the property. But it said no planning approval was required under the relevant scheme for the activities at the site. This site is zoned as Rural and a packing shed defined as a Rural Industry is an approved use within the Rural zone. Neighbourhood watch Ms McDonald filmed hundreds of trucks attending the packing plant each week in the 2017 and 2018 strawberry seasons, accessing the Donnybrook property via an unapproved track that crosses council parkland. They included long B-doubles that cannot lawfully use local roads without a special permit. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, the federal body responsible for monitoring large trucks, confirmed it had issued no access permits for this type of vehicle. The nearest approved route for such vehicles is about a 15-kilometre drive away. Ms McDonald said she had lodged a formal complaint with the NHVR but the regulator said it was unable to find any record of it. The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads said it generally enforced the rules on heavy trucks and that court-imposed penalties of up to $6700 could apply for infringements. But the department said the roads in question were managed by Moreton Bay Regional Council. The council did not respond to questions about the truck traffic. Some of the B-doubles were marked with the Donnybrook logo while others were painted in the livery of Hernes Freight Service, a NSW-based trucking company. Donnybrook Berries did not respond to detailed questions about its activities. Hernes Freight Service did not respond to requests for comment. Surveillance footage of a Hernes Freight Service B-double truck servicing the Donnybrook packing plant at Pates Road at Elimbah on August 15, 2017, at the height of the strawberry season. Ms McDonalds footage records every vehicle movement during the 2018 picking season including up to 2000 cars and vans a month carrying fruit pickers and other workers. The McDonald family has provided it to the local council. They also offered it to Queensland police detectives investigating the strawberry tampering scandal, but they did not take up the offer. The Queensland Police Service declined to comment, citing the criminal case over the alleged tampering. 'I was only the contractor' As part of its expansion in the strawberry growing area around Caboolture, in 2016 the Donnybrook business paid $700,000 for a 40-hectare forest block on Twin View Road at Elimbah. Part of the property is zoned as endangered habitat for species including frogs and koalas. The whole site is covered by state laws protecting endangered plants, requiring a special survey to be carried out before any clearing, and it is also designated matters of state environmental significance on council maps. Any large-scale clearing work at the site requires development approval from the council. However in mid-2016, without seeking approval, Donnybrook hired local earthmoving company Alzino & Co to bulldoze the property. Alzino managing director Greg Chapman said while the tree clearing work was under way, officers from Moreton Bay Regional Council had turned up and said you have to stop. But this had been virtually at the end of all the clearing, he said. We then got called into a meeting at the council and they said we had to put in an application, Mr Chapman said. The council immediately rejected the application - lodged in Mr Chapmans name - for being improperly made, on grounds including that the project required impact assessment, meaning the local community had to be consulted. The council allowed several time extensions for a revised application to be submitted but received no such document. In September 2017 the council informed Mr Chapman the application had lapsed altogether. It has not been revived. Mr Chapman indicated it had not been his decision to put his name on the application forms. I cant understand why it [the application] was put through me, Mr Chapman said. I was only the contractor. Council documents show Donnybrook Berries promised it would revegetate the land at Twin View Road as part of a separate application for a change of use to cropping, which was approved by council. The development approval, available on the councils website, includes a map showing a revegetation area, although the only vegetation-related requirement specified in the list of conditions was that no further trees be removed. Brisbane Times visited the property, which is entirely visible from public roads, and there was no evidence of any revegetation having been carried out. Donnybrook Berries' Twin View Road property, cleared of vegetation without permission in 2016. Moreton Bay Regional Council knew of the clearing but has taken no enforcement action. Credit:Mark Solomons The business has sunk three large dams where the promised revegetation was supposed to take place and fully cultivated the property as a strawberry farm. A council spokesman said: Officers have investigated the clearing matter and are considering the most appropriate enforcement action. The Donnybrook business has for some time marketed strawberries under the Twin View Berries brand, although the berries are not from Twin View Road as the first crop has yet to be planted at that property. At Donnybrooks nearby Old Gympie Road site, where it runs its packing operation, the council issued an enforcement notice in September 2017 after the business built dams in a flood zone without permission and installed shipping containers and fencing without approval. Under planning laws the offences carry fines of up to $600,000. But the council dropped the enforcement notice in 2018 after Donnybrook lodged an appeal in the planning court. Council withdrew the notice before the appeal could be heard. Brisbane Times asked the council why: it did not respond. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science said that prior to any clearing work, the owner of the property was obliged to carry out a survey to check whether any endangered, vulnerable or near-threatened plants would be impacted. A department spokesperson said it had not been contacted by the landowner (and) has not issued any permits or exemptions for plant clearing on this site, and will look into this matter further. But in a follow-up response, the department said an inspection of satellite images appears to show that areas of plant growth likely to fall under the protected plants legislative framework remain relatively intact on the property. The department said it would further review the matter. Mr Dickinson, a former mining executive who ran a local sand mine, said he could not understand the lack of action over Donnybrooks activities in the light of his previous professional dealings with the council. The council drove me mad with its diligence, he said. You couldnt fart without them checking. I dont deny that people are entitled to run their business but I am curious as to why this guy seems to operate as a real outlaw and [the council] arent doing anything about it. The Palaszczuk Labor state government tightened land clearing laws after they were relaxed under the previous Newman LNP administration. Peter Dutton has personally apologised to his Labor rival for the offence he caused by suggesting she was using her disability as an "excuse", while revealing his own "deep offence" at a Greens senator's allegations of racism against him. Mr Dutton came under fire last week when he accused his Labor opponent Ali France of "using her disability as an excuse" for not living in the marginal seat of Dickson. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Labor candidate for Dickson Ali France at Club Pine Rivers in Bray Park. Credit:AAP Image/ Glenn Hunt The Home Affairs Minister then doubled down, but later issued a belated two-sentence apology on Twitter. Facing off against Ms France during a debate at Club Pine Rivers on Tuesday night, Mr Dutton acknowledged he had made a mistake. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected calls for the Australian government to set up or contribute to a fund to rebuild Paris' fire-ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral, despite Treasurer Josh Frydenberg indicating earlier on Friday that he supported the idea. "We're not making a government fund," Mr Morrison said. "If Australians want to make donations to that cause, they're very welcome... But I'm not going to mandate it from anybody." The Prime Minister said that France was a prosperous nation which would be able to cover the expenses of rebuilding Notre-Dame. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said early on Tuesday morning that he backed the idea, raised by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, of a government fund to channel donations to rebuilding efforts. Women will be able to get access to the pill when their prescription runs out without heading back to the doctor under a new trial. It comes after a parliamentary inquiry investigated the establishment of a pharmacy council and pharmacists' scope of practice. Health Minister Steven Miles recently announced 16 and 17-year-olds would be allowed to access vaccinations, including for the flu, at pharmacies. Credit:AAP Image/ Dan Peled Queensland Health will roll out a statewide trial to allow pharmacists to provide once-off repeat prescriptions of the contraceptive pill and antibiotics for urinary tract infections. Health Minister Steven Miles said Queensland Health would work with industry stakeholders to develop a trial. Berlin: In the late 19th century a young Indigenous girl was enslaved by Broome pearlers. They tied heavy stones to the childs feet that dragged her to painful depths, then hauled her back up to their lugger with armfuls of mother-of-pearl for the buttons of the European elite. Her untimely, young death was not the end of her exploitation. A Yawuru man performs at the repatriation ceremony at the Australian embassy in Berlin. Credit:Nick Miller The remains of the girl and more from the Yawuru and other Indigenous communities were sold again: as scientific curiosities and specimens for institutions and collections on the other side of the world. Some ended up in a museum in Dresden in east Germany, and there insult was heaped upon indignity. Moscow: Russia will deploy anti-aircraft missiles in the Arctic for the first time since the Cold War as Moscow builds up its military presence in the far north. China has also bought technology associated with Russian S-400 air defence missiles, seen here being deployed at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria. Credit:AP S-400 missiles, which can shoot down planes and cruise missiles from up to 400 kilometres away, will be stationed on the Arctic coast and islands by the end of 2020, the Izvestia newspaper reported. The Defence Ministry, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment, said in December that units in the Arctic would be among those to receive S-400s. New infrastructure is being constructed for anti-aircraft units along the north-east passage. Omar, said Sam Nunberg, a 2016 campaign aide to Trump, "is the perfect embodiment of the sharp contrast President Trump wants to paint for 2020," one he thinks "gives the President a chance to expand his support closer to 50 per cent." And the contrast Trump drew in a video he tweeted out on Friday was not subtle. Against the backdrop of graphic images of the World Trade Centre during the September 11 attacks, the video repeatedly quotes a portion of a speech Omar gave at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, describing how the group was founded after the attacks "because they recognised that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties." President Donald Trump sits down for an iftar dinner at the White House last year. Credit:AP The video focused only on the words "some people did something," implying that Omar was playing down what had happened. Juxtaposed was Trump's comment in capital letters: "We will never forget". Trump's electoral success in 2016 was based partly on culture wars and fears among an older, white voting base that the country it knew was slipping away. Like his hard line on immigration, his plays on fears of Muslims including consistently conflating Islam with terrorism proved polarising among the wider electorate, but helped him keep a tight grip on his most enthusiastic voters. In the South Carolina Republican primary in February 2016, for instance, exit polls showed that 75 per cent of voters favoured his proposed Muslim ban. An attendee holds a sign during the Republican Jewish Coalitions National Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit:Bloomberg Trump has privately said his language about Muslims has been received well among his base. His advisers and friends acknowledge that, in effect, he is trying to re-create some of the same conditions of the 2016 campaign. Now, as he looks toward 2020, he is betting the issue can deliver for him again. It is a strategy that will provoke criticism that he is summoning dark forces in American society, a point that Omar made in a statement on Sunday evening. "Since the President's tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life many directly referencing or replying to the President's video," Omar said. "This is endangering lives. It has to stop." Loading Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, denied that Trump meant any harm by the video. "Certainly the President is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence toward anyone," she said. But Democrats across the philosophical spectrum from members of the Congressional Black Caucus to centrists like Josh Gottheimer, one of Omar's most vocal critics expressed alarm at the way Omar was singled out. "Since Ilhan came to national attention and throughout her tenure in Congress she has been a target of these right-wing extremists; that's why we're standing up for her," said Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "This isn't the first time that President Trump has targeted her and people like her." Gottheimer, though less partisan, denounced the threats against Omar, adding, "The response to different points of view in our country must never be threats of physical harm or violence." Democract Jerrold Nadler, who has also been critical of Omar, singled out Trump's own reaction to the events of September 11. "He has no moral authority to be talking about 9/11 at all," he said, noting that Trump's real estate company applied for and received grants after the attacks that were intended for small businesses affected by the devastation. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said it was "beneath the dignity of the Oval Office" for Trump to have shared a video of Omar spliced with footage of the burning twin towers. Taking questions during an appearance at the London School of Economics, Pelosi said she was hesitant to criticise Trump while on foreign soil. But she said called his action "wrong" when questioned about how Trump has responded to the freshman lawmaker. "I don't think any president of the United States should use the tragedy of 9/11 as a political tool," Pelosi said, adding that she is "proud" of her Democratic colleagues. She had earlier calle don Trump to take the Twitter post down. Geoff Garin, a veteran Democratic strategist, predicted that Trump's use of such graphic images from one of the nation's darkest days would backfire for him. Loading "Voters are turned off by the use of 9/11 for political purposes, and my guess is that moderate voters are going to see Trump's use of that as both ugly and extreme," Garin said. "I think his over-the-top exploitation of 9/11 is going to turn more voters off than he wins over by attacking the Democrats on this." On a quick trip to Omar's home state of Minnesota to hold an economic round table at a trucking company on Monday, the president made no mention of her. Outside, however, the debate over Omar was raucous. The President's supporters, in trademark red hats on one side of the road, chanted "Trump 2020" and "Omar divides" with the occasional "CAIR is Hamas" sign, in reference to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Across the street, chanting "This is what Democracy looks like" and singing This Little Light of Mine, protesters waved "I stand with Ilhan" signs and banners. New York: The American Museum of Natural History in New York will not be hosting a scheduled gala dinner honouring the President of Brazil. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attends a ceremony marking his first 100 days in office in Brasilia, last week. Credit:AP Loading The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce's planned to honour Jair Bolsonaro, who has suggested he would pull Brazil out of the Paris Accord on climate change and wants to develop the Amazon rainforest, at a museum dedicated to science and nature was met with outrage last week. The planned event angered some museum staff members and others who said an institution dedicated to preserving nature should not host such a politician. Bolsonaro has been criticised for favouring mining in the Amazon, as well as logging and fossil fuel exploration. The newly released AFG Mortgage Index provides stark evidence that the lending environment has significantly deteriorated according to the groups CEO, who went so far as to say the data should be a wake-up call for policymakers. The Index showed that lending volumes in the first three months of 2019 dropped 10% from the previous quarter, with volumes in the March quarter 15% lower year on year. Both the number and volume of loans lodged during the quarter were the lowest in over five years. According to AFG CEO David Bailey, We have reached a critical time in the housing market cycle and we would urge policymakers to tread carefully in any regulatory responses flowing from the royal commission. This is a time for policy formulation that considers the full potential impact on the lending market. It is clear the broader implications for the Australian economy are huge if we get it wrong. The tight lending market and falling housing prices have contributed to a decline in NSW volumes of almost 20% quarter on quarter. All other states, with the exception of the Northern Territory, are also significantly lower than the same time last year. While many of the figures are grim, the Index did highlight the crucial contribution of the broking industry. Bailey explained, The value mortgage brokers deliver by facilitating a competitive lending environment is most starkly shown by the ongoing decline in the market share of the major banks, which peaked in Q3 of 2013 at 78.2%. That figure now rests at 58.6%. Bailey continued, Outside of the mortgage broking channel, the majors have control and dominate the market. The distribution capability provided by mortgage brokers enables the countrys non-major lenders to compete. With the sole exception of first home buyers, who remain the last bastion of major bank lending, the growth in non-major lending has been broadly uniform across all other customer types. The Index revealed that the big losers of the past six months have been ANZ and NAB, with the latters share halving and now sitting at 5%. Among the winners are Westpac and its affiliated brands, as well as Western-Australia based Bankwest. The CEO of a leading mortgage broker has dubbed the newest addition to its lending panel as integral to the companys Western Australia offering moving into the future. Aussie Home Loans and Keystart, an initiative of the Western Australian government, yesterday announced their new partnership. Aussie CEO James Symond said, Keystart has a unique offering, requiring a deposit from as low as 2% from customers, depending on location. Our WA team of 80 mortgage brokers, including 18 retail stores, is excited to be able to offer Keystart to first home buyers to help them purchase a home sooner. In the current tighter lending environment, its important that we give our brokers and customers access to such an accessible product. Keystart has assisted over 100,000 Western Australians in buying a home, including those who may not have been able to meet the deposit requirements of mainstream lenders. The commitment to consumers is further evidenced through Keystart not charging lenders mortgage insurance or ongoing monthly fees. With the addition of Keystart, Aussie has 24 lenders on its panel. Paul Graham, CEO at Keystart, said: We are excited to be partnering with Aussie to help more Western Australians into home ownership. The broker channel remains an important contributor to Keystarts business and we welcome the additional choice Aussie provides Western Australians. Volt Bank CEO Steve Weston used his platform at the AltFi Australasia Summit this week to warn that significant changes lie ahead for the banking system. If were talking about an iceberg, the royal commission was just the tip. It was the big scandal, but in terms of the volume of issues, those will be lifted out of the water in the next few years, he said. Weston, who spent a portion of his career in London, explained that the industry insight hes provided over the past several months has stemmed from the fact that the UK has experienced a similar version of what the Australian banking system is currently going through. He said, The issues that are impacting us the royal commission, the broker remuneration reviews, responsible lending that all played out five years earlier in the UK. The terms that we use may be different, but the issues themselves are the same. Speaking of the federal budget passed down in May 2017, Weston said, In one fell swoop the last remaining key bits of banking regulation from the UK were brought into Australia. They came in the form of calling for an open banking review, introduction of the bank levy for Macquarie and the majors, and the introduction of the bank executive accountability regime (BEAR). According to the neobank CEO, these impending changes will be more impactful on banking in Australia than the royal commission. After his on-stage talk, Weston further elaborated his views to Australian Broker. In Australia, like the UK, we dont have rules-based regulations. We have principles-based regulation. So it doesnt say, You must do A, B, and C. It says, You must achieve this outcome. As banks, weve been left to our devices to work out what that means, he explained. If we look at the UK and I think Australia will be the same we find out some of those things that weve been doing are actually not what the regulators or society expected, so weve got to fix them. Weve got to remediate the sins of the past and put processes in place to stop them happening again. The continued tumult in the banking world will likely leave consumers anxious for stability and seeking assistance elsewhere. This is a wonderful opportunity for brokers. People are looking for someone to trust, concluded Weston. After the overwhelmingly positive response to the 2018 Industry Commercial Masterclass held last July, the commercial and equipment finance training is back for its second year, with additional locations and increased relevance given recent events. The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) and Vow Financial partnered last year with the aim of equipping mortgage brokers with the necessary skills and knowledge to diversify. The feedback was that the content was excellent and that more of this should be done, said Glenn Mitchell, head of commercial and leasing at Vow/Yellow Brick Road (YBR) Group. Now, following the royal commission recommendations, this is a sector where the remuneration structure remains in place, both upfronts and trails. I can only speak to the aggregation business that I work in, but a significant number of our brokers have indicated that this is an area that they really need to increase their knowledge in. Representatives from Pepper Money, Suncorp, and ThinkTank are among the lenders confirmed to lead the sessions and help brokers gain insight into how to best develop and carry out opportunities within the commercial and equipment finance space. Last year, the event attracted more than 600 brokers cumulatively at the three events held in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Mitchell is confident that this year will be as successful, with events scheduled in Adelaide and Perth in addition to the repeat visits to Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. Weve booked venues that will be able to comfortably take in additional numbers from what we had last year, he said. Brokers will have the chance to join in Q&A sessions for personalised and customised conversations and input. They will also receive exclusive commercial lending templates that can be utilised with any lender in the industry. I have no doubt that any attendee will benefit, whether they want to do a refresher on last years content or they didnt attend then but this is something that theyre wanting to implement into their business now, Mitchell concluded. More information to come as the event draws nearer. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC They need to try harder! The city must reduce the number of incarcerated people it plans to move into borough-based jails as part of Mayor Bill de Blasios plan to close Rikers Island, attendants of an April 11 Community Board 2 meeting said. Hizzoners plan to close down the beleaguered jail complex, reduce the incarcerated population from currently just under 8,000 people to 5,000, and relocate them to four borough-based jails should aim for a lower number of incarcerated people, given the recently-passed reforms to the justice system in Albany, according to one state legislator. I urge the city to set a more ambitious goal of reducing the average daily jail population to 3,500, Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon (DBoerum Hill) said at the meeting, which was held at Clinton Hills Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. State pols passed a sweeping legislative package on April 1, which will end cash bail and pretrial detention for almost all misdemeanor and nonviolent felony defendants, among other reforms, and which will reduce the amount of people awaiting trial in jail because they cant afford bail. The legislation will not come into effect until Jan. 1, 2020, but a recent study by the criminal justice reform advocacy group the Center for Court Innovation found that more than two out five people detained pretrial in the five boroughs would have been released under the new laws. Simon cited the study and news reports by The City that the department as well as the Correctional Health Services are looking into moving incarcerated people with mental health issues, drug-related problems, and complex medical needs off site in or near city hospitals. If these plans reduce the amount of incarcerated people the department has to rehouse, they wont need to tear down Atlantic Avenues House of Detention to build a new 395-foot-tall jail with 1,437 beds, according to another state representative. For those of you who think we dont need any new jails, we sure dont need the one in Brooklyn to double in size, said state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (DBoerum Hill). Whatever else your plan does and doesnt include, it should not include a 40-story building, or even a 36 one. Councilman Steven Levin (DBoerum Hill) said the proposed plans for the Kings County facility were out of proportion with the neighborhood and the mayors goals to make a significant dent in the number of jailed New Yorkers. It is obviously, as proposed, way too big, its so far out of context, he said. We should not build excess capacity. If we want to have a system that has fewer people incarcerated, then we should not be building a system that is bigger than that. Photo by Kevin Duggan A representative for the mayors Office of Criminal Justice Initiatives told the audience that they were very supportive of the current legislative reforms and that they were looking to see if they could lower their projections. We are working very closely right now to understand what the impact will be of these changes on the population projections and well be able to return back and share that, said Dana Kaplan. We are optimistic that in terms of how we will get to reducing the population from less than 8,000 today to 5,000 and were happy to do more and were very much on track. One resident scalded the city for planning to include an underground parking garage with 292 spaces for staff and department vehicles despite the many public transit options near the building, saying that planners could use that space for jail facilities instead and make the above-ground structure smaller. All the subways, many buses, they do not need 300 parking spaces, said Michael Levine. They are planning for yesterdays needs for tomorrow. During the four-hour meeting, the community board heard emotional testimonial from dozens of activists and former incarcerated people of Rikers Island, which it will consider for its purely advisory vote as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure the city must pass before it can break ground on the larger site between Boerum Place and Smith Street. A former incarcerated person turned activist supported the citys proposal for borough-based jails, but told of his harrowing experience of incarceration in his teens. The Department of Correction has destroyed my life, said Vidal Guzman, a community organizer for Just Leadership USA, an organization that works to reduce the incarcerated population across the country. Guzman said that abusive correctional officers traumatized him and that he was lucky to survive his time behind bars, unlike Kalief Browder, a Bronx native who died from suicide in 2015 after spending three years on Rikers Island after being accused of taking a backpack. Another speaker denounced the plan as not solving the issue of mass incarceration and said that bringing the jails closer to the communities alone will not guarantee a more just system as seen with the federal Sunset Park prison. We dont need a kinder gentler version of mass incarceration, we need no mass incarceration, said Justin Cohen. They said they were going to be safer. You dont need to look any further than Sunset Park where a bunch of our neighbors were just incarcerated and treated in worse conditions than you can imagine in close proximity to all of us. We have to imagine a system where we dont need 6,000 cages for our neighbors and thats the conversation that we should be having. Reach reporter Kevin Duggan at (718) 2602511 or by e-mail at kdugg an@cn gloca l.com . Follow him on Twitter @kduggan16. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC A presidential candidate spoke at a packed house at a fund-raising event at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg Monday night. Pete Buttigieg, who has been the mayor of South Bend, Ind., for nearly eight years, made the trip to Brooklyn after he announced his presidential campaign on Sunday. My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete. I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana. And I am running for President of the United States, he said to thunderous applause at the April 14 announcement in South Bend. The Democrat would be the first openly gay president if elected, and at 37 years old, the youngest, too. The minimum age to run for president is 35. Buttigieg was first elected mayor of South Bend where he grew up in 2011 when he was 29 years old and was re-elected in 2015 with 80 percent of the vote. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and is a graduate of Harvard University. He served as a lieutenant in the Afghanistan War and earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his counterterrorism work. He developed his political skills working on the 2004 Kerry presidential campaign, the Obama campaign in 2008, and other campaigns. He boosted his profile in 2017 when he ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee, though he withdrew from the race before the 2018 vote. He lost a 2010 race for Indiana state treasurer before becoming mayor of South Bend in 2011. Sign up for our PoliticsNY newsletter for the latest coverage and to stay informed about the 2021 elections in your district and across NYC It was an E Major loss. Cops are looking to reunite a man and the vintage guitar he left on a Crown Heights sidewalk on March 3. The 29-year-old was loading his car at 401 Saratoga Ave. at approximately 11:40 a.m., when he left the light blue guitar on the sidewalk and drove off. The victim returned the car 15 minutes later to find the $2,300 instrument missing. Police are asking the public for assistance in tracking down a man who they believe picked up the unattended guitar. The man is describe as a bearded male in his late 30s. Cops are not currently treating the situation as a crime. Anyone with information in regard to the identity of this male is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-8477. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at www.nypdc rimes toppe rs.com or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential. Reach reporter Aidan Graham at agrah am@sc hneps media.com or by calling (718) 2604577. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes A$18 Million Share Placement Anchored by German Institutions Perth, April 16, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Altech Chemicals Limited (Altech/the Company) ( ASX:ATC ) ( FRA:A3Y ) is pleased to announce the successful completion of an A$18.0 million (before costs) share placement ("placement").Highlights- New German investors anchor A$18 million share placement- Placement well supported by existing significant shareholders- Stage 2 engineering and construction of HPA plant in Johor, Malaysia to now proceedThe placement is anchored by two German institutional investors (Deutsche Balaton and Delphi), each will subscribed to A$5.425 million worth of new Altech shares. Also, existing Altech shareholders SMS Investments and the Melewar Group have each agreed to subscribe to A$2.0 million of new shares (subject to shareholder approval in the case of Melewar). SMS group remain committed to an equity contribution of ~A$13 million at project financial close. A number of other professional and sophisticated investors also supported the placement.Proceeds from the placement will be applied towards the commencement of Stage 2 engineering and construction of the Company's high purity alumina (HPA) plant in Johor, Malaysia and for administration and working capital purposes. Petra Capital acted as lead manager and bookrunner to the placement.In Johor, Stage 2 engineering and construction works will include: third party and supplier engineering, advancing various civil loads in the plant and advancing current Stage 1 activities. Altech is continuing with its strategy of advancing construction of the HPA plant in parallel with project financial close, thereby ensuring that project momentum is maintained.Placement shares will be issued at a price of $0.1085 per share, which represents a 16.5% discount to the price of the Company's shares as traded on the ASX at the close of trade on 11 April 2019 (the day prior to initiation of a trading halt).Key participants in the share placement are:- Deutsche Balaton AG: A$ 5.425 million- Delphi Unternehmensberatung AG: A$ 5.425 million- Melewar Group: A$ 2.000 million- SMS Investments: A$ 2.000 millionTotal for key participants: A$14.850 millionThe Placement Shares will be issued in two tranches:- Up to 143.1 million shares (~A$15.5 million) will be issued under the Company's current placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rules 7.1 and 7.1A. 85,883,999 shares under Listing Rule 7.1A and approximately 57,255,999 shares under Listing Rule 7.1.- The placement to Melewar Group will be subject to shareholder approval at General Meeting of shareholders to be scheduled on or around 30 May 2019.Traditionally, whenever the Company has conducted a share placement it has offered all shareholders the opportunity to acquire shares at the same price as the placement shares via a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) Class Order by which the Company is able to offer a SPP limits shareholder participation in a SPP to once per 12-month period to a maximum of $15,000 per shareholder. Because the Company last conducted a SPP in July 2018, a SPP will not be offered in conjunction with this placement.Altech managing director, Mr Iggy Tan said, "The Company is extremely pleased with the support that it has received for the placement. We are delighted to welcome German strategic investors' Deutsche Balaton and Delphi which will have a combined 13.6% shareholding in the Company once the placement is completed. The placement was also well supported by existing substantial shareholders, including SMS Investments and the Melewar Group.At our Malaysian HPA site, Stage 1 construction (majority pre-paid) is progressing well and SMS group's construction team is making solid progress. We are keen to maintain construction momentum at the site whilst project finance is being finalised.After many months of extensive scrutiny, in February 2019 a positive report with a "no fatal flaws" finding on the HPA project was received from the technical consultant appointed by proposed Mezzanine debt provided Macquarie Bank (Macquarie). Altech has since signed a mandate with Macquarie appointing it as the exclusive mezzanine lender for a proposed facility of up to US$90 million. Next steps will include non-technical project due diligence such as legal, detailed HPA market research, bank project financial modelling and inter-creditor discussions with KfW IPEX-Bank.On the final project equity requirement, this will depend on amongst other things the final requirements of both lenders (KfW IPEX-Bank and Macquarie) and on the amount of construction work that has been pre-funded by Altech prior to project financial close. The Company continues to engage closely with a wide variety of investors (both existing and potential), including parties that have expressed interest in investing directly at the project level. Any direct project equity investment in likely to occur only after the mezzanine debt is finalised.Whilst working towards project financial close, we see it as critical to maintain construction momentum at our HPA plant site, and are delighted that those who have participated in this placement also share this view."About Deutsche Balaton AktiengesellschaftDeutsche Balaton Aktiengesellschaft ("Deutsche Balaton") is a German investment company located in Heidelberg. The shares of Deutsche Balaton are listed at the German Stock Exchange for more than 20 years. Deutsche Balaton has a very stable shareholder structure with one majority shareholder. The company manages its own funds, which are around 250 million EUR of equity (IFRS) and around 500 million EUR of total assets under management. Deutsche Balaton has a very broad investment spectrum ranging from investments in stock listed companies as well as private equity and seed investments to real estate. Within the last two years the group has expanded its investment focus to the Australian resource sector. The major shareholder of Deutsche Balaton is Wilhelm Zours.About Delphi Unternehmensberatung AGDelphi Unternehmensberatung AG ("Delphi") is a private investment company located in Heidelberg, Germany, whose primary business objective is to invest its own funds in a portfolio of companies. Delphi, has been active in other Australian resources investments. Wilhelm Zours is the major shareholder of Delphi.About Altech Chemicals Ltd Altech Chemicals Limited (ASX:ATC) (FRA:A3Y) is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500tpa high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia. Feedstock for the plant will be sourced from the Company's 100%-owned kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia and shipped to Malaysia. HPA is a high-value, high margin and highly demanded product as it is the critical ingredient required for the production of synthetic sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is used in the manufacture of substrates for LED lights, semiconductor wafers used in the electronics industry, and scratch-resistant sapphire glass used for wristwatch faces, optical windows and smartphone components. Increasingly HPA is used by lithium-ion battery manufacturers as the coating on the battery's separator, which improves performance, longevity and safety of the battery. With global HPA demand approximately 19,000t (2018), it is estimated that this demand will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% (2018-2028); by 2028 HPA market demand will be approximately 272,000t, driven by the increasing adoption of LEDs worldwide as well as the demand for HPA by lithium-ion battery manufacturers to serve the surging electric vehicle market. 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 Lenders to Jet Airways India Ltd. have refused to bail out the cash-strapped carrier, according to people familiar with the situation, forcing the nations oldest surviving private airline to temporarily ground its flights. Bankers have confirmed that theres no money coming in for now, the people said asking not to be identified as the matter is not public. Jet Airways executives, including operational heads, are meeting in Mumbai Tuesday to take a call on complete halt of operations, according to two persons in the know, even as the failing airline scrambles to get a new ... In a new paper, Investor stewardship: one hand on the wheel?, Willis Towers Watson calls on the investment community to redouble its stewardship efforts. The paper summarises research on six large asset managers who collectively manage assets in excess of US $17 trillion: BlackRock, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Northern Trust Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), UBS Asset Management (UBS) and Vanguard. All of the managers acknowledge their stewardship responsibility and are taking positive actions, in their own way, to raise their game. For example, BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink is known for communicating from the top through his public annual letters to company CEOs. Meanwhile, SSGA has helped to raise awareness around gender diversity on boards through its Fearless Girl campaign. While improvements have been made, stewardship activities still account for a small fraction of asset management industry activities. The paper identifies five catalysts for an acceleration in progress: Resources Stewardship resourcing is sparse in the context of the task and the size of the opportunity. If a quarter of one basis point of every asset invested was directed to stewardship, that could mean stewardship teams over 10 times larger than at present, on average. Clarity Currently stewardship seems to lack urgency and accountability is soft. Tangible, specific milestones around what stewardship success looks like are called for. Voting Voting rights are sometimes underutilised and at times there appears to be reticence to vote differently to company management recommendations. Collaboration Inter-manager collaboration is limited, but stewardship is an area where collaboration, not competition, is often in the interests of end savers. Leadership There is room for stronger leadership. For example proactively setting out the standards expected of companies. Via these levers Willis Towers Watson calls for more progress to be made in various subject areas ranging from board quality for example the processes of independent directors to climate risk where initiatives can lack sufficient urgency or depth. Stephen Miles, Senior Director, Head of Equities, Willis Towers Watson, said: We wanted to share this research widely to highlight the importance of stewardship as a key lever by which asset managers can create value for end savers. There has been good progress in some areas but there is a lot more to reach for. As large index tracking asset managers continue to grow and become increasingly dominant shareholders of many companies, so grows their responsibility for high quality stewardship. Some may see it as an inconvenient responsibility as it involves time-consuming and, at times, uncomfortable conversations with company management. But stewardship is a critical part of corporate oversight and value creation within the industry. There should be no place for halfhearted, reactive stewardship and there is a huge opportunity for those who really step up. Investor Stewardship - One hand on the wheel Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending firms are likely to get some respite from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as the banking sector regulator is likely to raise the ceiling on fund infusion from individual investors into these platforms to around Rs 25 lakh from Rs 10 lakh currently. The P2P industry has, for the past one and a half years, been consistently asking the RBI for a higher investment cap from individual lenders, as the current Rs 10 lakh ceiling is seen as a major impediment to scaling up their businesses. "The RBI is considering our demand on investment cap and we have ... Elections bring out the rural-urban divide like no other time. Two days ahead of the polls, that divide is prominent in the IT capital of India, Bengaluru. While start-ups with their dollar fundings look for new benchmarks in valuations, many who have migrated to the city from far-flung areas struggle to find jobs. For them, the April 18 Lok Sabha election means little. K Ramesh, 23, left his village in Belgaum district, after his father, a farmer, urged him to find a job in the city. Rainfall has been inconsistent for the last three years and his familys debts are at an ... Nissan Motor no longer has an office staffed by an inner circle of people working for the chief executive officer following the arrest and exit of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, a person with knowledge of the change said. The team was abolished as of April 1, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information hasnt been made public yet. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the Congress of helping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the talk of the alliance is stuck as Congress is willing to let BJP win on several seats. "Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh together have 18 seats. The Congress is saying that let them win on three seats; AAP will win four seats and let BJP win on 11 seats. We do not want to give BJP a single seat. The matter is stuck here," AAP Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai tweeted. "Why does Congress want to let BJP win on 11 seats?" he asked. Meanwhile, AAP has again expressed interest in taking forward the discussions on seat-sharing in the three states. AAP leader and Delhi's deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "AAP has authorized Sanjay Singh to talk to the Congress. Rahul Ji should also authorise a Congressman who could sit with the AAP to form a strategy to defeat the BJP on all 18 (Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh) seats." With a long suspicion over the alliance, the Congress-AAP war of word on the issue started unfolding on social media after Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the ruling party of Delhi of backing out from its commitment. On Monday, Gandhi scion had said that AAP is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, besides Delhi. It had earlier stated that its party only wants a tie-up with AAP in the capital. All seven parliamentary seats in Delhi will go to polls in a single phase on May 12. 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.) In an innovative step, District Collector (DC) office here in collaboration with India Post has sent out as many as 1 lakh postcards to the first-time voters across the city, urging them to cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections. "As a part of the awareness program, we have made around 1 lakh one thousand postcards, which have been sent out to the first time voters. I request them to come out and vote," DC Vikrant Panday told ANI. He also said that various students and teachers from across the city made the postcards. "To eliminate the possibility of any political message going into the postcards, we had scrutinised them thoroughly," he added. Meanwhile, Director of Postal services (Gujarat circle) Sunil Sharma said that special arrangements have been made to deliver the postcards to the people before the polling day. Gujarat will go to polls in the third phase of polling on April 23. Counting of votes will be done on May 23. . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh on Tuesday said there is no space for the poor, farmers and the youth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's '56-inch chest' and accused him of favouring only the rich and corrupt. "BJP claims Modi is very strong. He has a 56-inch chest. But he has no heart in it. There is no place for the poor, farmers, Dalit and unemployed youth in his heart," Singh said at a rally here organised jointly by the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and RLD. "He has enough space for Ambanis, Adanis and one Modi, two Modi, three Modi... in his heart. This is the Chowkidar (watchman) of the people who fled the country with Rs 10,000 crore," he added. Taking a dig at the Prime Minister for calling himself a 'chowkidar', Singh said that the country needs a Prime Minister, not a watchman. The RLD chief exhorted the gathering to chant 'chowkidar chor hai' (the watchman is a thief) by whispering the same in the mic and with his gestures. "And where is the place for thieves?" Singh asked amid the chants. "Jail," the crowd replied. Singh asserted that the grand alliance will emerge victorious in the General elections. "The time of the thief is about to go and your 'achhe din' (good days) are coming." Taking a dig at the Prime Minister's radio programme 'Mann ki Baat', Singh said that Modi, however, does not listen to the people. "You listen to his speeches three times a day and his 'Mann ki Baat' on radio. We want a PM who listens to our mann ki baat," he stated. He accused Prime Minister Modi of lying and alleged that Modi produced fake documents to back his educational qualification claims. Voting in Uttar Pradesh is taking place in seven phases, which began on April 11 and will end on May 19. Counting of votes will be held on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned the announcement of another spring offensive by the Taliban, saying it will "result in more suffering and destruction for the Afghan people." The global body also said that Afghan's people "desire" peace in their country, reported Xinhua. "The spring offensive will result in more suffering and destruction for the Afghan people. The members of the Security Council recognized the Afghan people's strong desire for sustainable peace in Afghanistan. They underscored that calls for more fighting will not advance the goal of making a sustainable peace," said a press statement released by the UNSC. Last week, the Taliban had announced its annual spring offensive, with an aim of "eradicating occupation" and "cleansing Muslim homeland from invasion and corruption". It comes as a major setback to the US as it is holding talks with the Taliban since last year to end the conflict in the country. The annual spring offensive marks the beginning of the so-called fighting season. The Taliban has, since the announcement, launched a series of attacks against the government in the war-torn country. It attempted an attack near the district governor's office in Shirzad district in Nangarhar province on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of 'concerned citizens', comprising civil servants, defence officers, judges, academicians, and professionals, have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, stating that the open letter penned by retired civil servants on the functioning of the Election Commission (EC) is giving rise to a suspicion that a "deliberate attempt is being made by groups with vested interests, to denigrate such institutions of democracy by undermining their position." "Slurs being laid against the Election Commission of India, casting aspersions on its neutrality and ability to hold free and fair elections appears to be a part of the larger design to influence its decision making and to make it conform to a particular line of behaviour and thought," the letter read. "It has been stated in the open letter by the retired civil servants that the Election Commission is suffering from a crisis of credibility, and its independence has been compromised. They state that this is the perception of the country. However, we beg to submit that these perceptions are only of a small group of people, who may be having a partisan interest in propagating such a view," the group claimed. Without naming the biopic 'PM Narendra Modi' in the letter, the group alleged that the letter penned down by retired civil servants have "influenced" the decision of the EC in banning the biopic. "The very people who have cast aspersions on the independence of the Election Commission appear to have succeeded in influencing the decision of the Commission, in banning a biopic made by an independent producer. It may be noted that the decision by the Election Commission was deliveredonly after the release of the open letter by this group of civil servants," the letter to the President read. They also claimed that the same retired civil servants also attempted to block a web series revolving around the life of the incumbent Prime Minister. "Now, the same retired civil servants, through their open letter to your hon'ble self, are trying to stop a ten-part web series "Modi: A Common Man's Journey," of which five episodes have already been screened before the model code of conduct came into effect. This again amounts to a violation of Constitutional rights and depriving certain people of their freedom of expression.," the letter read. "We do hope that the Election Commission takes note of such tactics being used by certain groups with vested interests, " it added. The 'citizens' also slammed the retired civil servants for raking up the EVM issue and demanding proper implementation of VVPAT-based audits of EVMs in the ongoing elections. "The signatories to the open letter have commented on the need for the proper implementation of VVPAT based audits of EVMs in the forthcoming elections and have raised doubts over the integrity of the Election Commissions and of the EVMs. This is unfortunate and smacks of partisan behaviour. It also raises concerns that the signatories, by writing a letter to the President of India, have ipso facto attempted to influence the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court, which has now examined the case. It would be interesting to flag here that no doubts were raised on the efficacy of the EVMs by these civil servants when the Opposition parties won electoral victories in a few states which were held before the General elections. This issue has been now already decided by the Hon'ble Apex Court." In a concluding note, the officials said, "We are deeply pained that a few retired civil servants, who should have known better, have chosen to slander the Election Commission and are attempting through such slander, to influence its decisions. It amounts to a smear campaign, designed to weaken India's well tested constitutional bodies. One wonders on whose behest such a partisan approach is being taken. Needless to say, unfounded allegations and slander campaigns do little to promote the cause of democracy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced that he will file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged "all thieves have Modi in their surnames" comment. "I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in Patna High Court within two days," Modi told reporters here. The BJP leader claimed that Gandhi has hurt the sentiments of crores of people with Modi surname. The Deputy Chief Minister said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has referred to crores of people with 'Modi' surname as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments." He asked whether it is a crime to have used the title. "Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname?" he asked. Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a rally in Maharashtra on Monday, asked how come all "thieves" have Modi as the common surname as he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of corruption. "But tell me one thing...Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as a common name. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common name?" Gandhi had asked. In a separate case, the Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Congress president on a petition filed against him by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi for allegedly making contemptuous remarks in connection with its order on the admissibility of the certain document in the Rafale deal. The contempt petition accused Rahul Gandhi of misquoting the order when he said the apex court had accepted that "chowkidar" (a reference to PM Narendra Modi), is a "chor (thief)". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday refuted charges of politicisation of services in the ongoing election campaign and instead claimed that party leaders cite the services to highlight the valour and commitment of the armed forces towards security. "We are just referring to recent examples of armed forces' valour and commitment towards security. Many such incidents had taken place in the past as well. Surgical strike is another such example," Ram Madhav said at a press conference here. Defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, the party general secretary said that the leaders mentioned about the armed forces in their election rallies to express respect. He said, "We are not making it an electoral agenda, we look at it as a respect to the forces." He threw the ball in the Opposition's court and held it responsible for dragging the services into "It is Opposition leaders who dragged the Balakot airstrike in politics," Madhav said. Alleging that the Opposition doubted the valour of armed forces, Madhav said: "Those who doubt whether our forces carried out such actions or not, do not doubt us but they have a doubt on forces." Madhav's comments came days after a purported letter by a group of veterans appealing President Ram Nath Kovind to direct political parties not to use services in poll campaigning, surfaced on social media. Later, however, some senior veterans mentioned as signatories in the letter denied having written any such letter. PM Modi in a recent speech in Maharashtra exhorted first-time voters to dedicate their ballot to CRPF jawans who were in Pulwama terror attack and to the IAF pilots who raided a terrorist camp in Pakistan's Balakot. Assuring the people of Northeast that their woes regarding citizenship would end soon, Madhav said that the Register of Citizens will be "released in July end". He said, "Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will also come by then. Once both of these come, issues relating to foreigners will be resolved." According to him, there is no option before the country other than Modi and the countrymen will once again make Modi the Prime Minister. He claimed that the country witnessed no act of violence or rioting in the last five years. The BJP leader also slammed Congress for indirectly joining hands with Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front to win elections in Assam. He reiterated BJP's confidence of winning 20 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Northeast region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two people have been arrested for carrying out several burglaries in secluded farmhouses in South Delhi. According to the police, the accused have been identified as Yasin Khan and Sazid Malik. Yasin, a resident of Jahangir Puri, has a record of involvement in more than 11 cases of murder and burglary in the past. A team of seven cops held the accused after acting on a tip-off on Monday. Yasin confessed to committing burglary in several farmhouses in Maidangarhi and Fatehpurberi area of the city. He told the police that his nephew Chaman, brother-in-law Janab and a associates Anish and Bablu had committed burglary in several farmhouses in Maidangarhi and Fatehpurberi area of the city. Further investigation is going on, the police informed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre removed on Tuesday Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Vineet Agarwal from the post of special director at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after he landed himself in the middle of a controversy a fortnight ago for transferring the officer leading the probe against fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. According to sources, Agarwal was transferred back to his original cadre. On March 29, Satyabrata Kumar, an ED joint director, was in London for a hearing in the Nirav Modi case, when Agarwal issued the controversial transfer orders. However, within few hours ED Director Sanjay Mishra had revoked Kumar's transfer, asserting that Agarwal was not authorised to take the decision against the joint director on his own. The finance ministry issued an order on Tuesday after getting sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and subsequently the ED headquarters in Delhi issued the orders relieving Agarwal from the post of special director of the agency in Mumbai. As Mumbai special director, Agarwal headed ED's probes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Agarwal is a 1994-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre and was appointed as special director in ED in January 2017 for five years. The fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi is wanted for his alleged involvement in Rs 13,000 crore Punjab Bank (PNB) loan default case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of betraying the nation while asserting that the democracy is in danger and usage of EVMs must be stopped. Holding a media briefing in the presence of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Dayanidhi Maran and other leaders of his party, Naidu said, "I want to appeal to Tamil Nadu voters that democracy is in danger. Narendra Modi has done so much injustice to the nation and betrayed the nation." Continuing with his tirade against EVM, he said the machine is not used by most of the countries in the world. "Out of 10 populous countries, only three are using it partially. Germany one of the most advanced countries technologically started EVM in 2005 and discontinued its usage in 2009. Similarly, Netherland and Ireland also stopped it due to different concerns," he said. Claiming EVMs are vulnerable, Naidu said, "Even yesterday, CEC agreed on malfunctioning of EVM. There is neither any auditing of EVMs today nor there is any regulator to oversee it. EVM is vulnerable to programmable error." Naidu also alleged that 25 lakh voters have been removed in Telangana by using form-7. "Yesterday, the Election Commissioner admitted there is the possibility of tampering," said Naidu. He also claimed that Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer was unable to vote in the first time because EVM was not working and he has to come again. "The Election Commission failed in the state and voting at many places lasted till 4 am", said Andhra Chief Minister Naidu. On April 11, polling in a few districts of Andhra Pradesh was disrupted briefly due to malfunctioning of EVMs, following which Naidu requested the EC for an extension of polling time in the state to compensate for the time lost due to technical glitches. Voting took place for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and for its 175 Assembly seats on April 11. 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 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday cancelled the business visa of Bangladeshi national Ferdous Ahmed, following his campaign for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal on Sunday. The MHA issued a notice to the actor, asking him to leave India for violating his visa conditions. He has been blacklisted from campaigning in the country. Earlier in the day, the MHA had asked for a report from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), over the issue. Ahmed on Monday had campaigned for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Raiganj parliamentary constituency in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had strongly objected to the actor's campaign, alleging the violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC).Three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal - Darjeeling, Raiganj and Jalpaiguri - will go to polls in the second phase of elections on April 18. 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.) For those who find it difficult to understand the concept of 'Game of Thrones', Jimmy Kimmel on Monday, presented 'Game of Phones', where the stars themselves assisted in explaining the series. Kimmel's Monday night show had Sophie Turner, Lena Headey, John Bradley, Joe Dempsie, Maisie Williams, Kristian Nairn, Iwan Rheon and Liam Cunningham acting as telephone operators and answering questions from fans in a mock commercial, reported The Hollywood Reporter. "With so many characters, plots and locations it can be difficult to keep track of what's going on. For just $2.99 a minute, our certified experts will give you the answers you can trust," the commercial advertised. A fan asked, "Who poisoned King Joffrey," the reply came from Sansa (Sophie Turner) herself, "No one did it. Turned out to be a bad clam. Remember you have to touch the shell to make sure they're alive before you cook them." "I just want to say that I hate you. You are sick and are just awful," a caller carped Ramsey Bolton played by Iwan Rheon, to which he replied, "You know I have caller ID. See you soon Gary." Hodor, played by Kristian Nairn, refused to share his HBOGO password with the caller. Although, the caller was apt in guessing the password 'Hodor'. Cersei Lannister, Lena Headey in real, offered a piece of advice to a caller who was confused as what to do now as she has a crush on her brother. Cersei said, "It's illegal and demoral to act on those feelings. On the other hand, if he's hot go for it!" Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) mocked swapping faces when a caller asked, "How does the face swapping things work?" The advertisement also shows a mock contract, where it is written for every character that they "must spend 20 hours a week answering the 'Game of Phones' hotline in perpetuity" and also "cut George R.R. Martin's lawn." The advertisement ends with 'No Habla Dothraki'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a shocking proof of wildlife poaching being prevalent in the state, Hyderabad police on Monday seized the skin of a leopard and arrested four men. The police also seized four leopard nails from their possession. Mahesh Bhagwat, Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda told ANI, "The sleuths of Sot Malkajgiri zone Rachakonda Commissionerate in a joint operation with LB Nagar police have apprehended four persons Basudev Masti, Jagannath Sisa, Bali Pangi and Nagothi Banuat in Mayur lodge LB Nagar and seized one leopard skin, four Nails and one car from their possession." "The accused are from Odisha state and there are involved in animals poaching by laying wires traps and mostly targeting the Leopards, Tigers as their skin is very much in demand. They are well aware of this wild animals track moving frequently from SirpurKagaznagar forest area, Maharashtra Tadoba forest area, Chhattisgarh forest and borders of Orissa and Vizag forest areas," he added. According to the police, there are around 10 members in their gang. "After killing animals, they inform their source for disposing of the skin for a particular rate. They get Rs 5 lakh for Leopard skin and some times more also. For Tiger's skin, they get around Rs 25 lakh as its demand is more than that of Leopard's skin," Bhagwat said. The Police Commissioner further said, "They have killed the leopard about three months back by laying wire traps and killed it later. They have removed the skin carefully and dried it. It was a male leopard age about two years and they informed their contacts about killing the leopard and searching for the prospective customers for selling it for five to ten lakh rupees." The police said that they were waiting for a customer in a hotel at LB Nagar area to sell the skin. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a tit for tat move, 204 out of 256 Iranian Parliament members voted in favour of designating the US Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organisation on Tuesday. This comes after the United States designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation last week, a move which was severely criticised in Iran. Right after the listing, Iran's Foreign Ministry had advised its country's Supreme National Security Council to include CENTCOM in its list of terrorist groups. The bill also considers any type of financial, technological or information aid given to CENTCOM as a terrorist measure, according to Sputnik. While announcing IRGC's designation, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had said: "The use of terrorism is central to the Iranian regime's foreign policy. The designation of IRGC, including Qods Force will help starve the regime of the means to execute this destructive policy. Maximum pressure will be unrelenting until Iran's regime abandons its deadly ambitions." IRGC's listing is the first time that the United States has designated another country's governmental entity as a terror body. The designation makes it illegal to provide any materials to Iran's paramilitary organisation, which was formed in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution to defend its government. "This is just another chapter, there are more chapters to come...This was long overdue," a US official had said. The CENTCOM, established in 1983, focuses on protecting the US' national interests and those of its partners in 20 nations in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and the strategic waterways that surround them. Tensions between the United States and Iran are high, especially after Washington pulled out of the Iran Nuclear deal under US President Donald Trump. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States on Monday (local time) said that a high-ranking ISIS-Somalia terrorist was killed in an air strike which targeted a vehicle near Xiriiro in the Bari Region here. The deceased terrorist has been identified as Abdulhakim Dhuqub, believed to be the terror group's "second-in-command", according to the US Africa Command. "Dhuqub...was responsible for the daily operations of the extremist group, attack planning, and resource procurement," CNN quoted the US Africa Command as saying. "We continue to work with our Somali partners to keep the pressure on the al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia terror networks," Major General Gregg Olson, the US Africa Command director of operations, said in a statement. The terror group's Somalia branch has fewer than 150 terrorists, as per US defence officials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The flying squad of the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday inspected the luggage of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at a helipad in Shivamogga. The details regarding whether the EC made any seizure are awaited. Earlier, the Income Tax department had seized Rs 1.66 crore in cash during raids conducted across Karnataka. On March 28, a total of 24 premises were searched by the IT Department. Karnataka will go to polls during the second and third phases of Lok Sabha polls on April 18 and April 23 respectively. 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.) Two days before Karnataka is set to go to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday offered prayers at the Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru. The prayers were conducted for the "electoral victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi" in the LS elections. Thereafter, the BJP president also conducted a road show in the region. Earlier in the day, Shah addressed a public rally at Davanagere in the state. In his address, Shah had accused the Congress party of helping the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) to form the government in the state through corrupt means, despite the JDS securing least number of seats as compared to the BJP in the assembly elections last year. Karnataka with 28 parliamentary seats will go to polls in the second and third phases of seven phase Lok Sabha polls on April 18 and April 23, respectively. 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.) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday accused Congress of helping Janta Dal Secular (JDS) through corrupt means to form the government in Karnataka, despite JDS securing least number of seats in the assembly elections last year. Addressing an election rally here, Shah said: "JDS got the lowest number of seats in the assembly elections while the BJP got the most, however, Congress through its corrupt practices ensured that JDS government is formed in the state." Hitting out at Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, the BJP president said: "Kumaraswamy gave the credit of becoming the chief minister to Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi instead of acknowledging that people of Karnataka have made him the chief minister." "Under UPA government, Karnataka only got Rs 88,583 crore, but under the BJP's tenure through the 14th finance commission, Rs 3,88,971 crore has been allocated to the state," added Shah. Mocking the grand alliance, Shah said, "If 'gathbandhan' (grand-alliance) comes to power after elections, then we will have six different prime ministers on six different days of the week and on the seventh day there will be a holiday." Recounting the work done by the BJP government at the Centre, Shah said: "In the past five years new passports and visa centres have been opened here. In Harihar town around 275 hectares land was used to develop fertilizer industry, this decision was taken by BJP... We have given funds for smart cities projects. Shimoga railway lines project work will begin soon." "Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at Centre, we have provided 10,000 poor with household in this district. Also, 3,000 urban poor got households. BJP gave gas connections to 7 crore houses, 8 crore houses got toilets and 50 crore poor will get Rs 5 lakh Insurance under Ayushman Bharat scheme," added Shah. The BJP president said, "The BJP government has secured India from the menace of terrorism. We lost 40 jawans in Pulwama, but Narendra Modi government did air strikes in Pakistan and demolished terrorists there. "Congress asks for talks with Pakistan, I want to ask how can we talk with those who killed our soldiers in Pulwama. We will always give a befitting reply to Pakistan, added the BJP president. Can (alliance parties) can make India safe and give a befitting reply to Pakistan. It is only BJP and NDA government under the leadership of Narendra Modi that a strong reply to Pakistan can be given. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Pakistan on Tuesday, held a meeting to discuss the outstanding technical issues pertaining to the construction of Kartarpur corridor, according to government sources. The meeting comes after India postponed the second round of talks on corridor after reports surfaced about the appointment of "controversial elements" by Pakistan in a committee associated with the corridor. The two countries were previously slated to meet on April 2, in Pakistan for the second round of talks. Despite the postponement, India offered to hold a technical meeting to discuss other aspects, according to India's Ministry of External Affair Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. Local media has claimed that Pakistan has completed more than 50 per cent of the construction work of the corridor. The first round of talks between the two sides was held at Attari in Punjab on March 14, during which issues like finalisation of the draft agreement between the two countries were discussed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Pakistan will hold a second round of talks regarding Kartarpur corridor on Tuesday. Officials from both countries are expected to discuss technical aspects regarding the construction of the corridor, including fencing, road, and maps. According to Dunya news, officials from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of religious affairs and Federal Works Organisation (FWO) will attend the dialogues. Local media has claimed that Pakistan has completed more than 50 per cent of the construction's work of the corridor. The meeting comes after India postponed the second round of talks on corridor after reports surfaced about the appointment of "controversial elements" by Pakistan in a committee associated with the corridor. The two countries were previously slated to meet on April 2 in Pakistan for the second round of talks. Despite the postponement, India offered to hold a technical meeting to discuss other aspects, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. Kumar had said earlier that India had sought certain clarifications from Pakistan on several "unaddressed" issues regarding the Corridor, including the number of pilgrims that can visit daily, issues of visas, etc. The first round of talks between the two sides was held at Attari in Punjab on March 14 during which issues like finalisation of the draft agreement between the two countries were discussed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scores of protesters took to the streets across London on Monday (local time), demanding the government to "take decisive action on the climate and ecological emergency," playing out around the at the moment. The protests, called by British climate organisation Extinction Rebellion, are expected to last for a week at least across 80 cities in more than 33 countries. "I've come to force the government to tell the truth about climate change, the extent of the damage ... it's about priorities: fossil fuel industries, the banks, the businesses, everybody -- it's not in everyone's interest to go carbon neutral," one of the protesters told CNN. "I'm here for my children, I've lived my life but I want them to live a normal life, and they might not have a chance to," she added. Protesters glued themselves to gates, benches and other street furniture to bring attention to their cause. They also carried trees, plants and solar panels as they blocked Waterloo Bridge, one of the five locations being targeted by the campaigners in London. "For 30 years people have known the signs of what's happening with the climate, with the ecological crisis, nothing's been done. We've tried writing letters, we've tried voting with our feet, we've tried campaigning in all the usual institutional ways, nothing's worked, emissions keep going up year on year and so this is the last thing we can think of," Mark Ovland, another one of the protesters said. He glued himself to the pink boat at Oxford Circus, according to CNN. "We don't want to disrupt people, but we think this must surely get attention. We need to do this," he stated. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) From gadgets, Sony is moving into taxi-hailing service. The company announced the launch of its taxi-hailing service, S.Ride app, in Tokyo. The Sony S.Ride is a joint venture of Sony and its payment service with five taxi companies in Tokyo. The service offer area is Tokyo 23 wards, Musashino City, Mitaka City, the company statement notes. Unlike Uber, the app is not for ride-hailing service, but works by connecting you closest taxi from the existing taxi network. Once you launch the app, a taxi close by, from the partner companies, will pick you up. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There is a need for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel- Palestinian conflict, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. According to The Times of Israel, Merkel in a telephonic conversation with Netanyahu, congratulated him on his recent win in the election and apprised him with the relevance of a two-state solution, which she said should be the goal of his international efforts. She also invited Netanyahu to visit Berlin. Merkel's remarks appear to be in stark contrast with the Israel Prime Minister's intention as Netanyahu had earlier vowed to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins the elections. "I am going to apply Israeli sovereignty, but I do not distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements. From my perspective, each of those settlement points is Israeli. We have the responsibility [for them] as the government of Israel. I do not uproot any, and I will not transfer them to the sovereignty of the Palestinians. I take care of them all," Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu as saying. West Bank is a disputed territory, with Israel and Palestinians equally claiming it. Over 400,000 Jews live in West Bank settlements. Another 200,000-plus live in East Jerusalem neighbourhoods annexed by Israel after the 1967 war. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba will leave for Thailand for a two-day bilateral visit from April 17 to 19 on Wednesday. The visit is aimed at enhancing the maritime relations between the two nations, a press release from the Navy said on Tuesday. "The two-day visit of the Navy Chief is intended to consolidate and enhance the maritime bilateral relations between India and Thailand and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation," it added. During the visit, Admiral Lanba will hold bilateral discussions with General Ponpipaat Benyasri, Chief of Defence Forces, Royal Thai Armed Forces, Admiral Luechai Ruddit, Commander-in-Chief Royal Thai Navy and other senior government officials. In addition to holding important bilateral discussions, the Admiral will visit the Royal Thai Navy and Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters in Bangkok and the 3rd Naval Area Command at Phuket. The release further informed that both countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1947. Defence relationship between the two nations has matured over the years, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation in January 2012. The Defence Cooperation between the two countries is being progressed through the Annual High-Level Defence Dialogue, the 7th edition of which was held in March 2019 at New Delhi. "The co-operation between the two Naval force include operational interactions, training exchanges and hydrographic cooperation. These activities are coordinated between the navies through the medium of Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks, the 11th edition of which was held at Bangkok in March 2019." "The Royal Thai Navy is also a member of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and actively participates in the three IONS Working Groups, viz 'Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief' (HADR), 'Maritime Security' and 'Information Sharing and Interoperability'," the release added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pope Francis on Tuesday expressed solidarity with the people of France following the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday. The Pope wrote on his official Twitter handle, "Today we unite in prayer with the people of France, as we wait for the sorrow inflicted by the serious damage to be transformed into hope with reconstruction. Holy Mary, Our Lady, pray for us. #NotreDame" A deadly blaze engulfed the historic cathedral in France on Monday afternoon (local time), taking down the structure's famous spire, much to the horror of onlookers and community alike. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday conveyed his shock and sadness on the devastation caused by the fire, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar wrote on Twitter. In a letter written to the French President Emmanuel Macron, PM Modi "expressed India's solidarity with the President and people of France on this national loss." The cathedral houses a few of the most coveted relics in Christianity, including the Holy Crown, which many believe to be from the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus. Catholics have prayed to the crown at the Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 16 centuries now, as per the cathedral. The fire was declared fully extinguished some 15 hours after it began. French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to reconstruct the historic building. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Opposition wants to get me out of their way for launching a crackdown on their corrupt activities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday. "It is with people's support that we were able to take strong decisions. Otherwise, in the past, we have seen weak and corrupt government in Delhi which has done many scams. As soon as money would come, some would start robbing it. After I attacked their (Opposition) corruption they are in so much pain that they want to remove me from their way," he said while addressing a rally here. "In such hot weather, such a huge crowd, such enthusiasm; pictures of these rallies are giving sleepless nights to others. People are supporting us because they want a strong government," he added. Modi asserted that the country was never short of means and resources, but of intent. "If there was a shortage it was of the right use of public money. Past governments never paid any attention towards ensuring that the funds being sent from Delhi are helping people or not," he claimed. The Prime Minister said that earlier, a majority of the funds being sent for public welfare was not reaching the right recipients, and went on to acknowledge that times have now changed. "If middlemen save 85 paise out of 100 paise, it won't be possible to construct hospitals, schools or bridges. After Independence, this happened for many years but no one stopped it. But now, Narendra Modi government has made such a system that when we give 100 paise all of it is spent for the welfare of people", he mentioned. Modi also said that after BJP forms the new government, a dedicated water ministry under the name of 'Jal Shakti' ministry will be established under which a mission to bring the water of rivers, seas, and rain to the needy across the country will be launched. He also said the present government had amended the decade-old mining law and ensured that a part of the fund from the resources extracted is utilised for the development of local infrastructure. Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi will hold a roadshow and address a public rally in Odisha's capital Bhubaneshwar. Sambalpur and Bhubaneshwar will go to polls in the third phase on April 23. The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are being held simultaneously in four phases in Odisha from April 11 to April 29. 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.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks of nationalism, but gave the world's biggest defence contract to a man who has never built a single aircraft, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said here on Tuesday. Addressing an election rally here, Gandhi said: "Prime Minister Modi gave Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani in Rafale deal. This amount is equivalent to the total budget allotted to Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) for one year. But, in this case, only one man received the entire amount. This is unfair." Stepping up the campaign for his party in the state, he reiterated his promise of giving Rs 72,000 per annum to five crore families in the country under the NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) scheme. "In a bid to empower women, our party will deposit the entire amount into the bank accounts of the women of the household," he added. The Congress chief also asserted that if voted to power, he will launch a "surgical strike" on poverty. "I will do NYAY (justice) to the poor people not by snatching the money from the pockets of the middle class, but by recovering money from Ambanis, Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya," Gandhi said. Among his other promises was a promise of rolling out two budgets-- Budget and Farmer Budget, if his party is elected to power in the the general elections. "We will announce everything starting from Minimum Support Price (MSP), loan waiver and crop insurance for the farmers in the first few months of coming to power," Gandhi said. In tune with the party promise in the election manifesto, he said, "No youngster will have to take the permission from ten government organisations to start a business. If our party is voted to power, entrepreneurs would be able to register their business even after three years." Kerala, which has 20 Lok Sabha seats, will go to polls in a single phase on April 23. Congress is contesting on 16 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala leaving four seats for its allies - two for Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and one each for Kerala Congress (Mani) and Socialist Party (RSP). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Poonam Sinha, wife of actor-politician Shatrugan Sinha on Tuesday joined the Samajwadi Party (SP), who is pitting her from Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow parliamentary constituency against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The development comes after last week, Shatrughan Sinha joined the Congress after quitting the BJP, with whom he had an almost three-decade-long association. Poonam was inducted into the party in the presence of SP leader and party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav. SP leader Ravidas Mehrotra told ANI that Poonam would contest from Lucknow parliamentary constituency against Rajnath Singh. "Poonam Sinha ji will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow. She will file her nomination on April 18 and we appeal to the Congress to not field their candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated," Mehrotra said. Reacting to her induction into the SP fold, party chief Akhilesh Yadav said" "I would like to congratulate Poonam Sinha on joining Samajwadi party. Good thing is Dimple Yadav who herself is contesting in the election was present on her joining. This is the beauty of alliance. In the first phase the alliance is leading and like this only votes will keep coming." BJP's Rajnath Singh had won from the Lucknow seat in the 2014 general elections. SP, BSP and RLD are contesting Lok Sabha polls in alliance in Uttar Pradesh in which the SP will contest on 37 seats, BSP on 38 and RLD on three. The alliance has left two seats, Rae Bareli and Amethi, for the Congress. Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in all seven phases. The second phase of elections is on April 18 and counting of votes for all phases will take place on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that Anil Ambani's firm which never manufactured a plane was chosen in Rafale deal over the Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) which manufactured planes used for carrying out air strikes in Balakot. "Air Force people wrote in the file that Narendra Modi is doing direct negotiations with France government and Rafale. People of India suffer a loss of Rs 30,000 crore. On the other hand, Anil Ambani got money for free. He never manufactured a plane and he did not know it. Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) knows how to manufacture a plane and has been manufacturing planes for 70 years," Gandhi said while addressing an election rally here. "The planes which had dropped bombs in Balakot? It was HAL. Planes like Sukhoi, Mirage, Mig, Jaguar. HAL is a government company manufacturing planes for 70 years," he emphasized. The Indian Air Force (IAF) had carried out aerial strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Congress chief further attacked the Prime Minister for evading his questions over Rafale deal in the Parliament. "When I asked him a question in the Parliament. He spoke for one and a half hours, took names of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi but never talked about corruption, Anil Ambani and Rafale. He could not look into the eyes of the country," he said while campaigning for Congress's Maharashtra unit president Ashok Chavan who is contesting from Nanded seat, one of 10 Lok Sabha constituencies that are going to polls in the second phase on April 18. Gandhi reiterated his poll promise of giving Rs 72, 000 per annum or Rs 3.60 lakh in five years in the accounts of five crore families in the country under his party's NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) scheme. The Congress chief further spoke of rolling out of two budgets-- Budget and Farmer Budget-- if his party voted to power. "There used to be two budgets-- Budget and Railway Budget. We have decided that after winning General elections, there will be two budgets. One will be the Budget but the other would not be a Railway Budget, it will be the Farmer's budget," he said. "We will tell everything related to farmers at the beginning including loan waiver, minimum support price, crop insurance etc," Gandhi said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid uncertainty over its tie-up with the Congress, AAP Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai on Tuesday said that Rahul Gandhi is "giving excuses" to avoid forming an alliance with his party for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. "Yesterday, Arvind Kejriwal clearly stated that the party will do anything to defeat BJP in the Lok Sabha. Our party decided to form an alliance with other parties because people want to unseat BJP. I feel Rahul Ji is making excuses for not forming an alliance with us. If he is really serious, then the Congress must come forward and form an alliance," he told ANI. "And if he is not interested, he must tell us like his other party leaders directly that he is not interested in forming an alliance. Rahul ji is not even ready to hold a discussion on the same. He is not able to justify why Congress cannot form an alliance with the AAP. Congress is in confusion from the past three months," Rai added. The statement from Rai came a day after the Gandhi scion accused AAP of backing out from its commitment, as it is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, besides Delhi for a pre-poll understanding with the Congress. It had earlier stated that it only wants a tie-up with AAP in the capital. Meanwhile, AAP leader Alka Lamba is of the view that an alliance will not be possible as both the parties are not ready to bow in front of each other. She also predicted that BJP will not be able to ensure victory in all seven seats in Delhi as people residing in some areas are angry with them over the implementation of the GST and for carrying out sealing drives. "I feel that it would be difficult for both the parties to come together as both of them are not willing to bow in front of each other. Things will become much clearer by today evening," she said. "I am the elected MLA from Chandni Chowk constituency. When I visited the area, I realised that BJP cannot win all the seven seats as people in some areas are upset with them over the implementation of the GST and carrying out sealing drives," Lamba added. All seven parliamentary seats in Delhi will go to polls in a single phase on May 12. 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.) Reliance Industrial Infrastructure has reported 1.7 per cent fall in its total revenue of Rs 99.81 crore in 2018-19 compared to Rs 101.55 crore in the previous year. The income from product transportation services declined to Rs 30.93 crore, down 4.8 per cent from Rs 30.99 crore, according to an official statement. Income from hiring construction machinery also decreased from Rs 24.95 crore to Rs 19.79 crore. But income from other support services increase from Rs 32.93 crore to Rs 33.87 crore, said the statement. Consequently, the net profit for the year ended March 31, 2019 was Rs 7.79 crore compared to Rs 9.74 crore on the year-on-year basis. Reliance Industrial Infrastructure provides support services to Reliance Industries Group with a substantial portion to Reliance Industries. It provides transportation of petroleum products and water through pipelines besides construction machinery on hire. There are no expansion plans on the anvil, the company said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Centre, Commission for Women (NCW), Central Waqf Council, and All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on a plea seeking entry of women into mosques in order to offer prayers. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justice S Abdul Naseer admitted the plea of a Pune-based Muslim couple asking to lift the prohibition on entry of Muslim women into mosques. The apex court said, "the only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in Sabarimala temple". On September 28 last year, the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years into the premises of Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, Kerala. The petition filed before the top court also sought direction to declare the prohibition on entry of Muslim women into mosques in the country as "illegal and unconstitutional" because it violates the fundamental rights of women. During the hearing, the court asked the petitioner's advocate Ashutosh Dubey, "who denied entry to the women in mosque? "Have you tried to enter and anybody denied it?" "Can an individual assert his or her right to equality against a non-state player. Is a mosque or temple or church a state?" asked the bench. It further said, "If a person refuses to let you enter his house can you seek police help for it?" In his argument, the petitioner's counsel told the court, "A mosque is not an individual person. There are no records stating that the Holy Quran and Prophet Muhammad had opposed women entering mosques and offering prayers...Like men, women also have the constitutional rights to offer worship according to their belief." The counsel further said: "At present, women are allowed to offer prayers at mosques under Jamaat-e-Islami and Mujahid denominations, while they are barred from mosques under the predominant Sunni faction. The petitioner citing the Sabarimala judgement stated, "This Court in the case of Sabarimala held that "religion cannot be used as cover to deny rights of worship to women and it is also against human dignity. Prohibition on women is due to non-religious reasons and it is a grim shadow of discrimination going on for centuries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of fanning violence against BJP and RSS workers in the state. "More than 120 BJP and RSS workers have been killed in Kerala. The maximum number of killings took place in your district (Kannur). Around 525 incidents of mob lynching and violence have taken place," Shah said at a rally here. "The Kerala government has unleashed violence on the devotees of Sabarimala at the pretexts of the Supreme Court's order. What message does the Kerala Chief Minister (Pinarayi Vijayan) want to send through the violence on the devotees?" he added. He claimed that the state government was not able to develop Kerala at an expected scale, despite the Centre giving nearly Rs 2 lakh crore for the southern state's development in the last five years. "UPA government gave Rs 45,393 crore under the 13th Finance Commission. However, in five years, NDA government gave Rs 1.98 lakh crore to Kerala under the 14th Finance Commission," Shah said. Taking a jibe at the Opposition's 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance), Shah stressed that while the parties, including the BJP, stands united under the NDA alliance, the Opposition was still busy in cobbling an alliance to take on the ruling party. "Under Modi's leadership, BJP and other parties in NDA stand united. But Rahul Gandhi and others are busy doing a 'mahagathbandhan'," the BJP president said. He claimed that Congress was "finished" in the entire country, and the Communist Party was "finished" in the world. "If this country is to be taken forward to achieve greater heights, then it is only the BJP which can do so," Shah asserted. Kerala with 20 Lok Sabha seats goes to polls on April 23. 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 United States, Brazil and Colombia are preparing for a military intervention into Venezuela, claimed Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Monday. She also urged the international community to pay attention to a "criminal plan" by these countries. "The international community and its institutions for protecting legitimacy around the should know that a criminal plan is in the works to stage a military attack on Venezuela," TASS quoted Rodriguez as saying. "US, Brazilian and Colombian officials intend to ignore the will of the Venezuelan people and launch a military intervention," she added. However, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has denied such reports saying, "Brazil does not intend to interfere into Venezuela's internal affairs." He also warned that any kind of intervention Venezuela may lead to a guerilla war. This comes days after Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro ordered an expansion of the civilian militia by nearly one million by the end of December 2019. Venezuela is currently facing a political and economic crisis, which has been worsened by blackouts and an acute shortage of water and medicines. National Assembly leader Juan Guaido had proclaimed himself interim President of Venezuela in January, as protests calling for President Nicolas Maduro's ouster shook the Latin American nation. The US immediately supported Guaido, asking other nations to back the self-proclaimed President. Several countries called for Maduro to step down or hold fresh elections, as they largely view the elections which brought the 56-year-old leader to power as rigged. The embattled President continues to hold on to his post and enjoys the Venezuelan military's support. While countries like US, UK, France and Japan recognise Guaido as the interim President, China, Russia, and other countries have slammed international interference in Venezuela's internal affairs, throwing their weight behind Maduro. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that members of CPM and all other political parties should view him as their brother, who will represent what is in their heart. "View me as your brother, who will represent what is in your heart. It is with utmost humility that I say this and I say this not only to the members of Congress party but all Kerala people and members of all political parties including CPM and others," Rahul said while addressing a public rally here. The Congress leader said that he chooses to contest the Lok Sabha election from Kerala because it is the land of "different ideas" which needs to be represented. He said that he does not commit to learning the language of Kerala except a few words. "When I first came to Kerala and signed my nomination paper, I made very clear that I am here to fight BJP and send a clear message that India is not just one idea but many ideas and South India needs to be represented," said Rahul Gandhi. "I choose Kerala because it is the land of different faiths land of different ideas because you know how to love each other and how to love different faiths. I choose Kerala because you respect other people ideas. The Congress party believes in allowing all people to express their belief, faith and sentiments," said Rahul Gandhi. "We want an India where people can express what is inside their heart as long as that expression is peaceful and non-violent," he said. Earlier on April 4, after filing his nomination papers for the Wayanad parliamentary constituency, Congress president Rahul Gandhi vowed not to utter a word against the ruling CPI-M during his electioneering and said he was in the state to send a "message of unity". Rahul is contesting from Wayanad seat in Kerala, along with his traditional bastion Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to further strengthen the unity of North and South. However, the move had upset the Left in Kerala, saying it was against the Congress' commitment to defeat the BJP and vowed to defeat the grand old party in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Kerala, which has 20 Lok Sabha seats at stake, will go to polls on April 23. 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.) A court in Dubai sentenced two Indians and a Pakistani to six months in jail and asked them to pay a fine of 150,000 dirhams for stealing 900 juice boxes from a food catering company's branch at a police academy. According to the Khaleej Times, the thefts took place in Al Barsha between April 2017 and May 2018 and the products were worth 23,760 dirhams. The daily reported the Indian warehouse keeper allowed the two -- an Indian and a Pakistani man -- to keep a large quantity of juice boxes when the deliveries were made instead of depositing them at the warehouse. The men sold the juice later. While the keeper collected 10,800 dirhams from the unlawful deal, he signed receipts and bills that the merchandise was delivered and deposited at the warehouse. The trio was accused of abusing their posts to embezzle three delivery orders -- each order was for 100 boxes. The court on Monday also ordered each of the three defendants to pay another fine of 23,760 dirhams. They were convicted of embezzlement, forgery, use of forged e-documents and criminal complicity. They will be deported upon completion of jail sentences. The Indian PRO of the plaintiff said they reported the incident after the auditor discovered the deficit. The ruling has been appealed. --IANS soni/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In wake of a controversy over famed Bangladesh actor Ferdous Ahmed canvassing for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, the Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh has asked him not to take part in the election campaign in India and return to his country. It was also suggested to the actor that he should resume his shooting here after the election season gets over, an official at the Bangladeshi mission said. Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national now working in Bengali film industry, on Sunday campaigned for Trinamool's candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. He was seen along with two other Bengali actors, Ankush Hazra and Payel Sarkar. "Based on media reports, he was asked whether he participated in the campaign or not. Ahmed told us that he was there for the purpose of shooting and had participated in the (ongoing Lok Sabha election) campaign. It was not a right thing to take part in the election as a foreign national. He was asked to go back," the official told IANS. "We have also suggested to him that he should resume his shooting activities after the election season gets over," the official added. The Election Commission on Monday said the Model Code of Conduct doesn't specifically state anything about a foreign national canvassing for any political party. Asked if it is a violation of the poll code or if any party has complained against the actor, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Basu had said: "The MCC does not have anything specifically written regarding this. If anyone complains, we will see to it." The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday lodged a complaint against the Trinamool candidate on violation of model code of conduct on foreigner canvassing for a party. --IANS bdc/ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Senator Bernie Sanders has released a decade of tax returns, providing new insight into how the Democratic socialist from Vermont became a millionaire between his two presidential runs. According to the returns provided by his campaign on Monday, Sanders and wife Jane's bottom line jumped from $240,622 in 2015, the year he launched his first White House bid, to $1,073,333 a year later, as the once obscure lawmaker became a political sensation on the left and a bestselling author with royalties pouring in, CNN reported. Since that first run, the Sanders couple made a total of more than $2.79 million, putting them in the category of the super-rich. Sanders in a statement on Monday said the returns "show that our family has been very fortunate". "I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country... I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people," he added. The records showed that Sanders' growing income and confirmed his status as a millionaire, largely on the strength of proceeds from book sales, including the bestselling "Where We Go From Here", published in 2018. Sanders reported a total 2018 family income of $566,421 -- $382,920 of which came from writing and royalties. The documents showed he paid $137,573 in federal taxes in 2018 and owed $8,267 in taxes for the year. Sanders reported paying a 26 per cent effective tax rate on his adjusted gross income. The couple reported donating $18,950 to charity. Sanders last year made $110 in music royalties, presumably for his 1987 folk album, "We Shall Overcome", and an additional $1,810 from his 1997 memoir, "Outsider in the House". He was paid and additional $391,000 for his books. In 2016, during his first presidential campaign, Sanders released only one year of records -- from 2014. Sanders' tax returns comes a day after Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, on Sunday released 15 years of her tax returns, showing that she and her husband earned almost $1.9 million in 2018. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Washington Governor Jay Inslee, has already made their tax returns public as part of their Democratic presidential campaigns. Senator Cory Booker, former congressman Beto O'Rourke and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg are yet to release their financial documents. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid a row over famed Bangladesh actor Ferdous Ahmed's campaign for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, the BJP on Tuesday demanded immediate removal of the Additional Chief Electoral Officer of the state Sanjay Basu, accusing him of working as a "mouthpiece" the state's ruling party. BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said Basu was working without coordination with state's CEO Ariz Aftab and urged the Election Commission to look into the issue. Referring to two video clips purportedly showing two Bangladesh actors --Ferdous Ahmed and Gazi Noor -- campaigning for Trinamool Congress for the coming 2019 polls, Sinha alleged that Basu tried to trivialise the matter and safeguard the Trinamool candidate by saying that the model code of conduct (MCC) doesn't specifically state anything about a foreign national canvassing for any political party. "I think he (Basu) is working as the mouthpiece of Trinamool Congress. He is trying to safeguard the Trinamool candidate. We demand his immediate removal from the post. We have submitted a letter to the CEO about the same," Sinha said. He said BJP leaders had submitted a protest letter to the CEO about the incident on Sunday. "He acknowledged the issue as critical and said it has been informed to the EC. But Basu said he had received no complaints," Sinha said. "There is no coordination between the CEO and additional CEO. He is not worthy of this post as he does not have the basic idea about the country's election process. An incident such as using a foreign national for campaigns has not happened before in India. So how can there be directions about it in the MCC?" he questioned. The BJP had on Sunday lodged a complaint with the CEO through Whatsapp, accusing Ahmed of canvassing for Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal in Raiganj and demanded Agarwal's candidature be removed if the action was found to be illegal. However, Basu told the media persons that the MCC doesn't specifically state anything about a foreign national canvassing for any political party. He said the matter has been referred to the EC for further clarification. "Basu has tried to divert the matter. I personally believe that Jamat-e-Islami was behind this conspiracy. the incident should be probed by the NIA," Sinha claimed. He also accused Basu of trying to terrorise the voters of Bengal by repeatedly making media statements about the deployment of Central forces in the polling stations and questioned his right to make such statements. "Before the first phase of polls, he had said that only four percent booths in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar will be manned by Central force. But in reality, CRPF were deployed in nearly 60 per cent of the booths. He has also said that only sensitive polling stations would have central force and the rest will be manned by state police force during the second phase of polling. "By making such statements, he is trying to terrorise the voters of Bengal as people here remember the unprecedented violence during the state Panchayat polls when the booths were guarded by state police," Sinha alleged. --IANS mgr/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Central Gujarat's Fatepura constituency Ramesh Katara has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is watching every polling booth through closed-circuit television network. In an election meeting, Katara asserted" "This time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fitted CCTV cameras in every polling booth to watch who votes for BJP and who votes for Congress." Campaigning for BJP candidate and sitting MP Jashwantsinh Bhabhor in the Scheduled Tribe seat of Dahod, Katara added: "He (Modi) would watch sitting in Delhi and if BJP gets less votes from a particular booth, the area will get less government grants." A video of the election meeting has been making rounds on the social media. Bhabhor is pitted against Congress's Babu Katara, who has been a Lok Sabha member twice from the BJP. Katara joined the Congress in 2017 when his son became an MLA from the party. When contacted, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Manish Doshi said his party would file a complaint with the Election Commission against Katara. "We hope the Election Commission takes impartial action against the BJP MLA and ensure free and fair elections are held in Gujarat," Doshi said. On April 6, BJP's Waghodia MLA Madhu Srivastava had threatened the voters with "dire consequences" if they did not vote for the BJP. The Congress had then filed a complaint with the poll panel, which subsequently issued show-cause notice to Srivastava. He was campaigning for BJP candidate and sitting Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt. The voting on all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on April 23. --IANS desai/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura, which has traditionally witnessed a direct or triangular contest, will for the first time in seven decades see a multi-cornered battle as the ruling BJP has emerged as a potent political force after last year's Assembly polls. While one of the two Lok Sabha seats in the state went to the polls on April 11, Tripura East will vote on Thursday. Since 1952, the Left parties have won the East Tripura seat 12 times and the Congress four times. The CPI-M, which has a substantial base both among the tribals and non-tribals in Tripura, has been winning the tribal reserved seat uninterruptedly since 1996. In last year's Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 36 seats in the 60-member Assembly and got 43.59 per cent of the votes while it's junior partner the IPFT (Indigenous People's Front of Tripura) bagged eight seats and 7.38 per cent votes. The CPI-M-led Left Front won 16 seats despite bagging 44.35 per cent votes while the Congress secured less than 2 per cent votes. The BJP-IPFT alliance formed the government in Tripura on March 9 last year, ending a 25-year uninterrupted rule of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front. In the 2014 parliamentary polls, the CPI-M had secured 64 per cent (1,295,436 votes), Congress 15.2 per cent (307,592), Trinamool Congress 9.6 per cent (194,755), BJP 5.7 per cent (115,319) and IPFT 1.1 per cent (21,326) votes. With most Congress leaders and activists joining the BJP and the Left losing its bastion, the political situation has dramatically changed in Tripura now. Of Tripura's four million population, tribals constitute one third (31 per cent). Tribals and tribal-based parties have always played a key role in Tripura Political analyst Sanjib Deb feels that the Congress would improve its position in the Lok Sabha polls but the BJP remained in a commanding position. The tribal-based IPFT had helped the BJP achieve the unexpected result in the Assembly polls. However, this time the two are contesting separately. But election expert Subhash Das, who was earlier a senior officer in the Election Commission, said: "If the Lok Sabha elections are free and fair, the CPI-M and Congress in Tripura East seat would get a significant percentage of votes." Rejecting the BJP's appeal, the IPFT has fielded candidates in Tripura's both Lok Sabha seats. IPFT President and Revenue Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma, who is contesting from Tripura East, said: "We are contesting to raise our demand for tribal statehood. However, we are not snapping our alliance with the BJP." Since 2009, the IPFT has been agitating for upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) as a separate tribal state. The TTAADC has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area. All political parties, including the BJP, CPI-M and the Congress, oppose the IPFT demand. There are 10 contestants, including two women, in the Tripura East seat. The three main contenders are CPI-M's sitting MP and tribal leader Jitendra Chowdhury, BJP's Rebati Tripura and Congress' Maharaj Kumari Pragya Deb Barman, the elder sister of state Congress chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman. Pragya's father Kirit Birkram Kishore Manikya Deb Barman won the Tripura East seat three times (1967, 1977 and 1989) and her mother Maharani Bibhu Kumari Devi (also a former Minister) succeeded in 1991. Both were Congress nominees. In all, 1,257,944 voters, including 620,291 women and four 'third gender' voters, are eligible to vote in 1,645 polling stations across the mountainous Tripura East constituency. (Sujit Chakraborty canbe reached at sujit.c@ians.in) --IANS sc/akk/in/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The campaign drums fell silent for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal on Tuesday for three parliamentary constituencies that will vote on April 18. With high voltage public meetings, rallies, street corner meetings and last-minute door-to-door contact with voters, canvassing reached a peak over the past couple of days, before coming to an end at 6 p.m on Tuesday in Jalpaiguri (SC), Darjeeling and Raiganj constituencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Deepa Das Munshi and Bengali actor Mimi Chakraborty were some of the star campaigners in this phase. Trinamool Congress triggered a controversy by roping in Bangladesh actor Ferdous Ahmed for their campaign in Raiganj along with two other Bengali actors, Ankush Hazra and Payel Sarkar. A total of 49,323,46 voters in the three seats will decide the fate of a total of 42 candidates in the second phase. As per the electoral roll, there are 25,228,87 men, 24,093,72 women and 87 registered in the 'other' category for the three constituencies. Out of total 5,390 polling stations, Jalpaiguri (SC) has 1,868, Darjeeling 1,899 and 1,623 in Raiganj. Among the star candidates in this phase are former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi (Congress), BJP state general secretary Debashri Chaudhuri and CPI-M politburo member Mohammad Salim -- all contesting from Raiganj. According to an analysis done by the West Bengal Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, 13 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves and 14 are crorepatis. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had bagged Darjeeling, while Jalpaiguri elected a Trinamool candidate and Raiganj voted the CPI-M to victory. The votes will be counted on May 23. --IANS bnd/ssp/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The campaigning came to an end on Tuesday for 97 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 13 states and Union Territories which will go to the polls on Thursday in the second phase of the mega seven-phase electoral exercise. Since poll timings vary in different seats, the campaigning period also ended at different times between 3 p.m and 6 p.m in different constituencies (except Madurai) -- 48 hours before the voting closure time. In Madurai, since the polling period is till 8 p.m. due to the famous car festival that day, campaigning in the constituency was allowed till 8 p.m on Tuesday as well. 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 97 constituencies of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Tripura and Puducherry. In the first phase, voting will take place in all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. It will also cover 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Bihar and Odisha, and three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The electorate in five Assam constituencies, two Jammu and Kashmir constituencies, and one constituency each in Manipur, Tripura and Puducherry, would also cast their votes in this phase. The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections started on April 11 and would conclude on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23. --IANS vv/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress of crying foul over electronic voting machines (EVMs) and said it was the result of their frustration over their impending defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary, Himachal Pradesh, Chandermohan Thakur said in a statement that the Congress has always found an excuse for their defeat in the polls instead of introspecting about their anti-people policies. "The party is blaming the Supreme Court, the Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General as part of its larger conspiracy to create anarchy in the country over EVMs. But the people of the country now know their true character and they won't fall for such lies," he said. Thakur said Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders were frustrated over the mass support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi across the country. "The opposition parties are losing their credibility over such accusations on impartial constitutional institutions like the Election Commission. The Congress is saying that they don't trust the Election Commission or EVMs for they aren't working properly while the fact is that all is well with them," the BJP leader added. Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls for its four Lok Sabha seats on May 19. --IANS vg/pg/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Tuesday hit out at the Congress over its accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi about "omitting" certain details about his property in his affidavits, saying there was bankruptcy of issues in the opposition parties and the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers. The party accused the Congress of falsehoods and said there was a limit to trivialisation. "The caravan of falsehood moves on. There is a bankruptcy of issues in the Congress party. Today's election issue was that the number of plot owned by the PM (his only asset) is now shown differently numbered from what was shown earlier. "Similar charge is made against the Finance Minister. There is a limit to trivialisation. Four plots purchased by four different persons were amalgamated into one on 25.4.2008. Obviously, the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers," the party said in tweets. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had alleged at a press conference here that Modi was "hiding something" about a property in Gandhinagar. Khera said the Election Commission should take "thorough cognizance of the seemingly deliberate omissions" in the Prime Minister's affidavits and take appropriate action. BJP leaders said that "false and misleading" allegations were being levelled against Modi who was working on the principle of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" and noted that he had donated Rs 21 lakh from his personal savings to the corpus fund for the welfare of sanitation workers of Kumbh Mela. They said he had also contributed prize money of Seoul Peace Prize and that amount received from auction of mementoes during his tenure as prime minister to Namami Gange mission and had made contributions earlier as chief minister of Gujarat for education of girl child. --IANS ps/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said the Congress, which has sought "proof of martyrdom" of the armed forces, should not teach nationalism to his Bharatiya Janata Party. Hitting back at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who had attacked the BJP on Monday for building a narrative around nationalism, Prasad claimed it was her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi, who had supported "tukde tukde gang" and sought proof of the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. "Priyanka had said that their nationalism and ours is different. When slogans like 'desh ke tukde, inshallah' were raised in the JNU, Rahul had gone there to address them. Was it nationalism?" he said. Never in the history of independent India, doubts were raised on the sacrifices made by armed force personnel, he said. "Congress should not give us advice on nationalism. Rahul and the Congress had asked for proof to check if the Balakot airstrike happened," he said. Stressing the BJP's thinking was to strengthen nationalism as it opposes those trying to infiltrate into the country, Prasad said the BJP was "proud" that the nationalism had become an electoral issue. "Nationalism, national security, national self-confidence and national self-respect have come to the centre of the discourse of the electoral campaign due to opposition seeking evidence of sacrifices and valour of armed forces," he said. --IANS spk/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CPI-M on Tuesday held demonstrations in New Delhi and Agartala demanding repoll in 464 of the 1,679 polling booths in the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency, and free and fair poll in the Tripura East seat on April 18. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday visited the Election Commission and submitted a memorandum with videos and photographs in support of their demand. He was accompanied by party candidate for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat Sankar Prasad Datta and other leaders. The full Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, later held video conference to review poll preparedness in some constituencies of West Bengal and Tripura going to polls in the second and third phases. Addressing a rally in Agartala, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said it was now up to the EC to ensure that democracy was protected in India. "The Left parties have given the EC specific evidences -- a large number of videos and photographs -- to prove how polling was turned into farce on April 11," said Sarkar, also a member of the CPI-M politburo. Tripura Left Front convenor Bijan Dhar, who led a five-member delegation to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti to submit a memorandum on Sunday, said the CEO said he had received over 800 complaints from Tripura West, which were being scrutinised by the Returning Officer. Dhar, a CPI-M central committee member, said, "Since the first parliamentary elections in 1952, Tripura had never seen such a farcical and violent polling as was witnessed on April 11. "Even during the Congress rule (before 1978 and 1988-1993), there was never such a mockery of polling. BJP goons drove out polling agents of the Left and other parties' from hundreds of polling stations and prevented thousands of opposition supporters from casting their votes." Demanding effective deployment of central and state forces for the second phase of polling, CPI-M state Secretary Gautam Das said the governments at the Centre and in Tripura kept the security forces away from poll duties on April 11 to ease rigging by BJP workers. Leading a demonstration near the poll panel office in Delhi on Tuesday, Yechury said democracy was being killed and rights of the people were being trampled under the BJP regime. "I did not see a single central paramilitary force jawan in Tripura on April 11. The entire central force sent to Tripura for election duty and the state forces were kept in barracks by the BJP governments to facilitate rigging," Yechury said. He said the EC didn't listen to the Left parties' demand for action against poll code violations. "It woke up following the Supreme Court order on hate speeches by various leaders in UP. Both secularism and democracy are being attacked under the Narendra Modi-led government," he said. --IANS sc/rtp/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A court here on Tuesday granted bail to lawyer Gautam Khaitan in a money laundering and black money case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed Khaitan's bail plea asking him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25 lakh and two surety of like amount each. The court directed him not to influence witnesses or hamper the investigation in the case. It also directed him to join the investigation in the case whenever required. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed Khaitan's bail plea. It was the second bail plea moved by Khaitan. On March 12, the court had rejected his first plea for bail. Khaitan was arrested on January 25, a week after the Income Tax Department searched his offices and other properties in Delhi and the National Capital Region. On March 25, the ED filed a chargesheet in the money laundering case. The agency said Khaitan was "controlling" the modus operandi and was responsible for routing money, misusing his connections and clients, including the ones inherited from his father, to launder money through a variety of accounts in Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore, Tunisia, Switzerland, the UK and India. The ED officials said that the accounts included those belonging to his undisclosed shell companies outside India. The ED had filed a money laundering case against Khaitan and others based on a case lodged by the I-T Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act. Khaitan was arrested in September 2014 for his alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. He got bail in January 2015 but was again arrested along with Sanjeev Tyagi, another accused in the case, on December 9, 2016, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He later secured bail. The CBI chargesheet had described Khaitan as the brain behind the AgustaWestland deal. --IANS ak/ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's civil aviation regulator on Tuesday advised airlines to keep air fares in check as Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu took stock of the situation in wake of Jet Airways' troubles. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) met airline representatives on the spurt in air fares as Jet Airways struggles to stay afloat. "... airlines were advised to continue to monitor at their level and provide information to the DGCA to keep fares low as far as possible," it said in a statement, adding that airlines' representatives intimated it about some seats from higher price buckets being removed to lower fare buckets. "DGCA will continue to monitor fare movement on daily basis and engage with airline for appropriate action," the regulator said. Earlier in the day, Prabhu directed his Ministry officials to review issues related to high air fares, passenger rights and safety. "Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc. Asked him (Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola) to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety; and to work with all stakeholders for their well being," he said in a tweet. --IANS rv/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea by BSP supremo Mayawati against the Election Commission's ban on her for the next 48 hours starting on the day. Dushyant Dave appearing for Mayawati requested the court to hear its argument, as there were important meetings scheduled for the day. The court said in that case file a separate plea if you are aggrieved. --IANS ss/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Polling in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu was cancelled on Tuesday, two days after Income Tax officials seized Rs 11.5-crore cash from a warehouse in the district "Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated April 14, 2019, the President is pleased to rescind election to Vellore Parliamentary Constituency, Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha," an official statement said. The seizure was made by the Income Tax Department during a search operation at a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK official. Reacting to the development, DMK President M.K. Stalin said it has been done to defame the party. DMK treasurer Duraimurugan, whose son D.M. Kathir Anand is the party's candidate from the Vellore constituency, said it is murder of democracy. On the other hand senior AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, demanded that the Election Commission disqualify the candidate indulding in such malpractices. In all, 23 candidates are in fray from the Vellore constituency. The IT officials had found bundles of cash stuffed in cartons and gunny bags in a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK man considered close to the party treasurer. A senior IT official told IANS that the cash, amounting to about Rs 11.5 crore, was for distribution ward wise, with the packets having division and ward numbers written on them. According to Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, the polling has been cancelled only for the Vellore Lok Sabha seat, as the by-elections to Ambur and Gudiyatham Assembly seats would be held as scheduled on April 18. --IANS vj/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday rescinded the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu's Vellore parliamentary constituency. "Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated April 14, 2019, the President is pleased to rescind election to Vellore Parliamentary Constituency, Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha," an official statement said. The decision comes two days after the Election Commission wrote to the President apprising him about the seizure of Rs 11.5 crore cash from a warehouse in Vellore district. The seizures were made by the Income Tax Department in a search operation at a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK official. --IANS aks/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bill Weld, the former Governor of the US state of Massachusetts, has announced that he was officially entering the 2020 presidential race, becoming the first Republican to challenge President Donald Trump who he thinks "mocks the law". "Ours is a nation built on courage, resilience, and independence. In these times of great political strife, when both major parties are entrenched in their 'win at all cost' battles, the voices of the American people are being ignored and our nation is suffering," CNN quoted Weld as saying on Monday. "It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag. It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln -- equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight." In 2016, Weld was the Vice Presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. He previously served two terms as the governor of Massachusetts in the early 1990s. Weld ran for the Senate in Massachusetts in 1996 and lost against John Kerry. He later moved to New York and in 2005 unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor. Weld told CNN that it would be a "political tragedy" and he would "fear for the Republic" if the country had six more years of Trump as President. "I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff we've had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy, and I would fear for the Republic," he said. "I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run," he added. Weld said he will not run as an Independent if he does not win the Republican nomination. Trump enjoys a nearly 90 per cent approval rating among Republicans, according to Gallup. When asked about the President's historically high approval rating and whether he believes he can beat him in the primary, Weld said: "Yeah, I do. Particularly in New Hampshire, where I'm spending a lot of time, it's one vote at a time and one voter at a time..." He added that he feels Trump "mocks the rule of law". "I spent seven years in the Justice Department trying to keep the out of law enforcement, he's trying to put it in," Weld said. Weld also slammed Trump's attitude toward climate change and his confrontational style toward the press. While Weld sees blame on both sides of the aisle for the divisiveness coming from Washington, he said Trump is the "grand master" of the problem. "I've never seen such bitterness in this country." --IANS ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Facebook and the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) -- a consortium of public and private organisations -- on Tuesday announced a partnership to train entrepreneurs and create jobs across India. Phase one of this partnership, to be rolled out this year, will cover 10 states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra, among others. The partnership is in line with Facebook's commitment to train five million people with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2021, the social networking platform said in a statement. Women currently constitute 23 per cent of Internet users and six per cent of mass entrepreneurs in India. "When you give women and youth the skills and technology to improve their lives, we can equip them to unlock economic and social value for themselves and their communities," said Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook - India, South and Central Asia. GAME and its partners will assist small entrepreneurs build their businesses using digital platforms like Facebook and Instagram to aggregate demand, market products and acquire customers. "Imagine the power of a platform that can bring together communities of artisan clusters, agri-entrepreneurs or homepreneurs in the thousands to learn, collaborate and succeed," added Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME. GAME and Facebook will kick-off their engagement with a project empowering local communities of rural entrepreneurs -- using digital and physical modes, a landscape review and identification of solutions for women entrepreneurs and a grand prize challenge for innovative models that spur new business creation. With its ongoing programmes, Facebook has already trained over one million people across 150 cities and 48,000 villages with support from 50 partners. --IANS na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As 97 Lok Sabha constituencies go to the polls in the second phase of elections tomorrow, AIADMK has the maximum number of 36 seats to defend, followed by the BJP, which has 26 at stake. In the second phase, which will cover 13 states, Congress has 11 seats at stake while Shiv Sena has to defend 4, BJD 3, RJD, JD(S) and CPI(M) 2 each, and JD(U), TMC, NCP, National Conference, AIUDF, PMK and AINRC one each. Of the 97 seats going to polls tomorrow, 39 are in Tamil Nadu, 14 in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three in West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir, one each in Manipur, Tripura and Puducherry. The first phase on April 11 saw voting in 91 constituencies spread across 20 states. In Tamil Nadu, where all the 39 Lok Sabha seats will see balloting tomorrow, it is the first major election without the stalwarts - late AIADMK leader Jayalaithaa and late DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state were swept by the AIDMK under Jayalalithaa's leadership, winning 37 of the total 39 seats. In the by polls later, the party lost one seat and now has 36 seats to defend in a changed political situation after Jayalalithaa's death. The party faces a strong challenge from the DMK-led alliance. The BJP, which had won one seat in the state in the last elections, is trying to emerge as a player in the southern state. It has sought to forge a "formidable alliance" led by AIADMK and is contesting five seats in the state. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is also in the fray for the first time. Congress, which drew a blank in 2014, is contesting nine seats as part of the front led by DMK. Among the state's constituencies going to the polls is Pollcahi, where sexual abuse-cum-blackmail case had created a political furore. DMK has been raking up the issue in the hope that it will hit the ruling AIADMK. After Tamil Nadu, the biggest chunk of 14 seats going to polls tomorrow is Karnataka. In the state, key constituencies to be watched out for include Tumkur from where former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda is in the fray. He has left his traditional Hasaan seat for his grandson Prajwal Revanna, where BJP has fielded A Madhu. His other grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting from Mandya where he is locked in a tough contest with Sumalatha, actor and wife of late Kannada actor and former Union Minister M.H. Ambareesh. The Congress, which used to be a strong rival of JD-S in southern Karnataka, is now its ally. In the last elections, the BJP had won six of the 14 seats going to the polls in the second phase. In Maharashtra, where polling will be held in 10 seats tomorrow, the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena will have to defend four seats each, which they won last time. This time, the NCP-Congress combine is giving them a tough fight by highlighting issues like farmers' distress and unemployment. Eight seats of politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh will also go the polls in the second phase. Of the total 80 seats, balloting has already been held on eight seats in the first phase in the state. The BJP, which had won all the eight seats in the last elections, this time has to face a formidable challenge from the coalition of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. The BJP is hoping for a repeat of its performance, relying on popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the impact of schemes such as Ujjawala, Ayushman Bharat on the ground as also the houses and toilets built in rural areas in the last five years. Of the five seats of Assam going to the polls in the second phase, the BJP and Congress had won two seats each in 2014 and one had been won by AIUDF. The BJP's promise of Citizenship Amendment Bill has traction in Barak Valley seats of Silichar and Karimganj and the party will be hoping to improve its performance. In Bihar, the BJP, in the last elections, had not won any of the five seats going to the polls tomorrow. Most of these seats are in Seemanchal region of the state which is a difficult territory for BJP due to high Muslim population. However, in the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was contesting alone in Bihar while this time it has an alliance with JD(U). In Chhattisgarh, where the BJP had last time won all the three seats going to polls tomorrow, has changed its candidates this time to beat the perceived anti-incumbency. In West Bengal, the three seats going to the polls in the second phase are Jalpaiguri, Raiganj and Darjeeling. Raigarh seat was among reasons for the CPI-M and Congress not being able to forge an alliance in the state as both wanted to contest from there. It is held by CPI-M's Mohammad Salim. In Darjeeling, where the BJP fielded Jaswant Singh and S.S. Ahluwalia in the previous two elections, the contest this time appears triangular. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has struck an alliance with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) faction led by Binay Tamang while the GNLF and the GJM led by Bimal Gurung are supporting the BJP. Congress candidate Shankar Malakar is an MLA from an assembly segment in the constituency. In Odisha, the only seat BJP won in 2014 elections was Sundargarh, which will go to the polls in the second phase along with four other seats. The ruling BJD had won 20 of 21 seats in 2014 and the BJP is hoping to turn the tide in this election. It had 21.5 per cent votes in 2014. In Jammu and Kashmir, union minister Jitendra Singh had emerged as a giant killer in 2014 by defeating senior Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad. He is facing Vikramaditya Singh, son of former union minister Karan Singh in this election. Former state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is in fray from Srinagar as National Conference candidate, with tacit support of the Congress. (Prashant Sood can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in) --IANS ps/akk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A high-voltage campaign by national and state leaders concluded on Tuesday for the first 14 Lok Sabha seats in the central and southern regions of Karnataka on April 18. "Electioneering for the first phase of polling in the state's 14 seats ended at 5 p.m after 3 weeks of intense campaign by leaders of national and regional parties and others in the fray," a poll official told IANS. On the last day, BJP national president Amit Shah held a massive road show and addressed a public meeting at Tumkur, about 70km northwest of Bengaluru, for the party's candidate G.S. Basavaraju from its constituency. Not to be outdone, 86-year-old Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda held road shows, participated in a rally and addressed people at Gubbi and other assembly segments of Tumkur where he is a strong candidate against Basavaraju and others in a straight contest. Massive rallies, road shows and public addresses were witnessed through the day in the high-profile Mandya constituency where multi-lingual South Indian actress Sumalatha Ambareesh is taking on Nikhil Gowda of JD-S in a straight contest. With Kannada film super stars Yesh and Darshan campaigning for Sumalatha, thousands of people, including fans of rebel star Ambareesh, traders, farmers, teachers and youth joined her rallies, blowing trumpets, a symbol allotted to her as an Independent candidate. As Nikhil is son of state Chief Minister H.D Kumarasway and grandson of Deve Gowda, all the 10 JD-S ministers campaigned for him in Mandya's all 8 assembly segments, about 100km southwest of Mysuru. Nikhil's mother Anita Kumaraswamy, a legislator from nearby Ramanagara, joined her husband and party leaders to woo the voters. In India's tech hub, which has 3 parliamentary seats, hectic campaign and road shows were held by their leaders, candidates and cadres of the BJP and Congress, which are locked in straight contests. Hectic campaigning was held in Mysore, Dakshina Kannada, Chamarajnagar (SC), Chitradurga (SC) and Udupi-Chikmagalur, where BJP's outgoing member Shobha Karandlaje is re-contesting for a second term. In Hassan, the bastion of the Gowda clan, electioneering went down to the wires till sunset, as Deve Gowda's another grandson Prajwal is contesting against A. Manju of the BJP and others. In Chickaballapur and Kolar (SC), former central ministers in the UPA government - M. Veerappai Moily and K.H. Muniyappa are locked in straight contest with BJP candidates. The candidates and their cadres will be allowed to go on door canvassing on Wednesday to meet the electorate and distribute voters' slips to guide them to the nearest polling booth for casting their ballot on Thursday. Unlike in the past and assembly elections for over three decades, the ruling JD-S and Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP, which is contesting 13 seats and supporting Sumalatha in Mandya. In the 2014 elections, BJP and Congress won 6 seats each and JD-S the remaining 2 of the 14 seats. Polling in the remaining 14 Lok Sabha seats across coastal and northern regions of the southern state will he held on April 23. Vote count will be on May 23 for all the 28 seats. --IANS fb/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Far away from the 'naamdar' versus 'kamdaar' debate initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Delhi durbar, extolling the virtues of labour over lineage, in tiny Goa, the BJP appears to have developed a weakness for the latter of late. Ahead of the 2019 polls, the Goa edition of the saffron party, which in the past used the 'dynasty' debate to good effect while attacking the Congress 'family raj', now appears to have developed a taste for dynasty too. But this time round, the BJP and its allies prefer to give an alternative spin to the phenomenon: legacy. The dynasty debate kick-started more than a month ago when former deputy Chief Minister late Francis D'Souza's son Joshua was picked to represent his father's seat in the Mapusa Assembly constituency, one of the four by-polls due in the state in two phases. A virtual non-entity in politics, Joshua was picked to further his father's "legacy" at the expense of D'Souza's 'Man Friday' Sudhir Kandolkar, who subsequently quit the party and is contesting from the same Assembly seat on a Congress ticket. "It is my father's legacy that I have decided to carry forward. By entering and contesting on the same seat as my father, I want to give back to the people who have supported him over decades," Joshua D'Souza said. In Panaji, where by-polls have been necessitated by the death of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the BJP is now rooting for the departed leader's elder son, Utpal, to carry forward the former Defence Minister's 'legacy'. While the official word isn't out yet on his candidature for Panaji, there is ample indication to believe that Parrikar's son will brook no stopping, especially after he has made all the politically correct comments, since Utpal and his brother Abhijat last month, announced their intention to carry forward his father's legacy of service to the state and country. Utpal has dismissed the barbs about dynasty and lack of experience, saying it is only up to the people of Goa to decide his political worth. "My people of Panaji might decide what kind of material I am. People of Goa will decide what kind of material I am," Utpal Parrikar has maintained, virtually throwing his hand in the ring for the Panaji Assembly by-poll which is due on May 19. For now, Utpal has been 'requested' by the state BJP to canvass in Panaji for Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik, who is contesting the North Goa Lok Sabha seat for the fifth time. BJP insiders believe Utpal's involvement in canvassing for Naik, will help the party gauge the response of Panaji voters to him and help tinker the chemistry for the upcoming Panaji by-poll. "Since Utpal has never been in active politics, his canvassing for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections will help us understand his connect with the people. We can work around the connection for his Assembly by-poll contest," a state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said on condition of anonymity. The Congress, however, has been refusing to bite the "legacy" bait, insisting that the era of the "rising son" has now descended on the BJP in Goa. "In the past, they targeted the Congress for promoting family raj. But they have no qualms raising dynasties in their own fold. The elevation of Joshua and Utpal shows that the time has come for the sons to rise in BJP," Congress spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said. --IANS maya/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has been accused of showing a political bias in the ongoing feud in the Chautala family in Haryana. The Kejriwal government has allowed Ajay Chautala to come out of Tihar prison on a 21-day furlough right in the middle of the heated up political season before the May 12 polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. The furlough has been allowed unconditionally - including no specified bar on political activity or campaigning. Ajay Chautala, who along with his estranged father Om Prakash Chautala is serving a 10-year prison term in the JBT (junior basic teacher) recruitment scam since January 2013, is father of Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala. Dushyant, along with his legislator mother Naina Chautala and younger brother Digvijay Chautala, had floated the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in December last year after a split in the Chautala family and its Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) party. The Kejriwal government's benevolence towards Ajay Chautala being allowed the furlough is not hard to understand. The AAP and JJP last week announced an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. The JJP will contest seven seats and AAP three seats. INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who is the younger brother of Ajay Chautala, has cried foul over the move by the Kejriwal government. He has pointed out that INLD supremo O.P. Chautala's request for parole was opposed by the Kejriwal government saying that he was seeking it for political purposes. Chautala senior, 84, had sought the parole to attend to his ailing wife. Abhay has further alleged that the Kejriwal government had earlier also shown its bias in the matter. "When AAP extended support to JJP in the Jind bypoll in January this year, the Kejriwal government refused the furlough for Chautala (senior) and he was put in jail after taking him away from a hospital in Delhi in the middle of the night. When he was allowed parole, it was on strict condition that will will not participate in political activities or campaign for the INLD," Abhay pointed out. The Kejriwal government and AAP, which talks of transparency and probity in public life, seems to have a definite bias in dealing with the Chautalas. --IANS js/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Despite the summer heat soaring in Tamil Nadu, some people are praying for man-made power cuts at night -- so that contestants can stealthily hand over cash to voters. Cash for votes in Tamil Nadu is no more a novel factor. It has become a part of election process. With the Income Tax Department and Election Commission's flying squads seizing unaccounted cash, some political parties are reportedly waiting for the night to fall so that power supply can be switched off locally. During the 2009 Lok Sabha battle, some parts of Chennai suffered unscheduled power cuts. Later it was said that the outage was the handiwork of some political parties for distribution of cash for voters. MNM Pollachi Lok Sabha candidate R. Mookambika told IANS: "I heard money was distributed to the people in that locality by rival parties for the people to change their views." In 2017, the Election Commission postponed the by-election for the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency after complaints of large-scale voter bribing. IT officials had raided the residences and business premises of Tamil Nadu Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, his relatives as well as people close to him and his business associates. "We have seized cash totalling Rs 5.5 crore. We have also seized documents showing Rs 89 crore changed hands in R.K. Nagar," an IT official had then told IANS. In 2016, the EC had postponed polls for the Thanjavur and Aravakuruchi Assembly seats following reports of large-scale bribery of voters. Cash for votes in a systematic manner began during the by-election for the Thirumangalam Assembly constituency in 2009. After that it has become a statewide phenomenon. According to reports, cash has been distributed in some Lok Sabha constituencies this time too. --IANS vj/ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian man was sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation for hacking the server of a media company which was responsible for 15 client websites. The Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday charged the 33-year-old with hacking websites and issuing threats, Gulf News reported. He was also handed a three-month suspended jail term and will be deported immediately. According to official records, the defendant, who worked as a computer programmer with the media company, resigned and threatened to hack its client websites after 4,000 dirhams ($1,080) was deducted from his salary. "He sent WhatsApp messages to another programmer at the company saying that he will hack the websites if the company didn't repay him the 4,000 dirhams deducted from his salary. "He was informed that the deduction would be made if he resigned before the end of the probation period," said the company owner. After investigation, the police said that the data found on the defendant's personal laptop confirmed that he had accessed the websites. The defendant has denied the charges. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian expatriates across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) celebrated spring time harvest festivals and ushered in traditional new years, the media reported. Keralites, the largest group among more than 3.3 million-strong Indian community in the UAE, celebrated Vishu on Monday, reports the Gulf News. Dubai resident Anoop Nair, who has released a Vishu special song called "Mama Malayalam" (My Malayalam) on YouTube, said the Vishu celebration of Malayalees was incomplete without the 'sadhya', a sumptuous 26-item vegetarian feast served on banana leaf. "Everyone wears new clothes and enjoys the sadhya. What we generally miss here are the crackers that we burst back home." The Assamese New Year -- Rongali Bihu -- also fell on Monday. The small Assamese community in Dubai has planned a get-together on April 26 to celebrate the festival and make the younger generation aware about their traditions, said Aswini Borkotoky, who owns a car leasing company. The Bengalis marked Poila Baisakh on Monday by observing many rituals. Anandita Kumar, a project manager in Dubai, said he was looking forward to a cultural celebration by her community group on Friday. While people from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana marked their new year called 'Ugadi' on April 6, Sikhs from Punjab celebrated 'Baisakhi' and Tamilians ushered in 'Puthandu' on April 14. --IANS ksk/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Tuesday said he will visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to promote bilateral relations. "I will go to Saudi Arabia with a large number of businessmen, as we are in front of a major shift in our relations with Saudi Arabia," Mahdi told a press conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, Xinhua reported. "The visit will witness discussing new agreements, in addition to raising the level of economic cooperation between the two countries," he said. "The economic agreements will be complementary to the understandings of the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council," he added. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister revealed that he will pay official visits to France and Germany before the holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin in early May. On April 2, Mahdi said that he "will make an official visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss issues of trade exchange, customs tariff and the development of relations between the two countries". The relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have improved since Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad in 2016 after 25 years of closure. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Financially-challenged Jet Airways' Board meeting here on Tuesday ended inconclusively as the airline awaits the lenders' decision on its plea for interim funds to stay aloft, sources said. A day before, the financially-struggling airline presented a plan for interim funding to its lenders. "The Board meet was inconclusive. We are awaiting for the lenders reply. It is of paramount importance that we receive a clarity on interim funding," an airline source told IANS here. The development assumes significance as the airline has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. Industry insiders says that without extra funds, the airline might have to temporarily suspend operations. It has folded up most operations due to grounding of over 80 per cent of its fleet by lessors, and is running just 7 aircraft, barely enough to save its air operating permit. Awaiting the outcome of lenders' meet with the government, the cash-starved airline has extended cancellation of international flights till April 18 (Thursday) after last week suspending them till April 15 (Monday). Airlines CEO Vinay Dube wrote to staff, saying the management would seek guidance from the board on the next steps. In his message, he said the airline has been working with lenders to secure interim funding for its operations. "The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far and as a result of which we have extended cancellation of international operations through Thursday, April 19," he wrote. "We will keep you updated on all critical developments," he added. Late on Monday evening, the State Bank of India (SBI), which leads the consortium of Jet's lenders, said merchant banker SBI Caps' legal team was working on the expressions of interest (EoIs) received from investors, and bidders will be selected soon. "The proposed equity conversion by banks, if any, will be undertaken as a transitory mechanism to facilitate the bidding-cum-sale process," the SBI said in a statement. SBI Caps is acting on behalf of the group of lenders as part of the bank-led resolution process. Necessary support to facilitate the process is being extended by other banks in the consortium. "Cooperation and support from all other stakeholders will be the key to success of the process," the SBI said. Even the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started giving the airline's slots to other carriers suggesting Jet's closure is just a matter of time. Jet's woes has intensified as the airline that once operated around 120 aircraft is now left with just a 16 plane fleet. It owes over Rs 8,000 crore to the SBI-led consortium of lenders. Its only ray of hope is an immediate injection of interim funding and the completion of the stake sale process, initiated by lenders. --IANS rv/sn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials from India and Pakistan met at the Zero Line along the international border between the two countries in Dera Baba Nanak sector on Tuesday and discussed the technical and security aspects of the upcoming Kartarpur Corridor. Official sources said that officers from the two sides discussed the alignment of the Corridor which will be around 5-km long. Out of this, nearly 4.5 km will fall in Pakistan's territory. The officials also discussed security arrangements for the Corridor which is expected to cater to hundreds of pilgrims from India who will be visiting the Sikh shrine inside Pakistan under a visa-free arrangement. The Corridor is expected to be completed before November this year to enable pilgrims to travel to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November this year. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been demanding visa-free "khule darshan" at the gurdwara for Indians of all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week. The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place. The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara -- a demand made by the Sikhs for over 70 years. Dera Baba Nanak town is around 260 km from here. --IANS js/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Project implementation of the Kartarpur corridor proposed for Indian pilgrims to visit the revered Sikh shrine in Pakistan is "progressing with speed", sources said on Tuesday after officials of the two countries held a meeting to discuss technical and security issues. The officials of the two countries met in Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district on Tuesday after India made the proposal to address the outstanding technical issues, the sources said. The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, is a highly revered Sikh shrine as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place. The two sides discussed issues such as the alignment of the corridor, which will be around 5 km long, of which nearly 4.5 km will fall in the Pakistan territory, sources said. The officials also discussed security arrangements for the corridor which is expected to cater to hundreds of pilgrims from India who are eager to visit the Sikh shrine inside Pakistan through a visa-free arrangement. The sources said project implementation on the ground is progressing with speed. The corridor is expected to be completed before November this year to enable pilgrims to travel to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara -- a demand made by the Sikhs for the past over 70 years. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been demanding visa-free "khule darshan" at the gurdwara for Indians of all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week. --IANS js/akk/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "This is not a time for politics," French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told the nation in a short televised speech in the wake of Notre Dame Cathedral fire, pledging to come out with a response to the "Yellow Vest" movement soon. "I will come back to you as I have been committed in the coming days so that we can act collectively following 'the great debate'," he said. Still struggling to find a way out of the social unrest, the president regretted "the false impatience", saying "tomorrow and its turmoil will resume... but the moment has not yet come." Macron, a former investment banker, had planned to reach out discontent people on Monday evening to unveil decisions he has taken to ease social tension that led his approval ratings to record low, Xinhua reported. However, he had cancelled the speech after a blaze consumed Notre Dame Cathedral's roof and spire, which had brought shock and sorrow to France and the rest of the world. A press conference scheduled on Tuesday was also delayed, according to the presidency office. The "Yellow Vest" movement, a nationwide protest against weak economic performance and stagnant income increase under President Macron, started as a campaign against surge in fuel prices in November 2018. It had since turned into a social rebellion demanding Macron to step down, despite his reversal of tax hike and measures worth 10 billion euros ($11.28 billion) to bolster purchasing power. (1 euro 1.128 U.S. dollars) --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Police have arrested a criminal who had been on the run for the last five years after killing his neighbour in the national capital, said an officer on Tuesday. Laloo Yadav, 26, a native of Bihar, had killed his neighbour Arvind with the help of his friend Anil in 2014 following an altercation over parking issue. "Although the police team managed to arrest Anil, Laloo Yadav had been absconding to evade his arrest ever since. He was later declared proclaimed offender by Tis Hazari Court. A reward of Rs 25,000 was also announced for his arrest," DCP G. Ramgopal Naik said. "A team of Special Investigation Unit headed by ACP Sandeep Lamba on Sunday arrested Laloo Yadav from Begusarai in Bihar on a tip-off," Naik added. --IANS sp/nir (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Georgia Engel, who played the soft-spoken Georgette Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", is dead. She was 70. Engel died on Friday in Princeton, New Jersey. John Quilty, Engel's friend and executor said that the cause of death is unknown, as Engel was a Christian Scientist who did not consult doctors, reports nytimes.com. Engel was Emmy nominated twice for outstanding continuing performance by a supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Georgette, girlfriend and later wife to Ted Baxter. She joined "Mary Tyler Moore" in 1972, during its third season. Engel had recurring roles as Pat MacDougall, the mother-in-law of Brad Garret's character, on three seasons of "Everybody Loves Raymond" from 2003-2005, as well as on "Hot in Cleveland" from 2012-2015. Her work on "Everybody Loves Raymond" earned her three Emmy nominations for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series. Her most recent appearance was on Netflix's "One Day at a Time" as Sister Barbara. Though she worked predominantly in television throughout her career, Engel began acting on stage, including off-Broadway and Broadway shows. Her film debut came with Milos Forman's first English-language film "Taking Off", which earned her a BAFTA nomination for best actress. In her later years, Engel returned to the stage, appearing in the 2006 Broadway production of "The Drowsy Chaperone," originating the role of Mrs. Tottendale. Engel is survived by two sisters -- Robin Engel and Penny Lusk. --IANS dc/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the Pulitzer Prize for public service on Monday for its intensive followup coverage of last years mass shooting that killed 17 at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The Pulitzer Prize board awarded the top journalism prize for exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Meanwhile, the Pulitzer board gave a special mention to the Eagle Eye, the student newspaper at Stoneman Douglas High, for its coverage of the shooting. The Sun Sentinels immediate coverage after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting spree was cited as a finalist in the breaking news category (losing to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettes coverage of the Oct. 27 mass shooting at a synagogue that killed 11 people). But it was the Fort Lauderdale-based newspapers stories in the months after the school shooting that led to the public service prize. The papers 20 story submissions included A lost and lonely killer , an examination of the shooters troubled life published just over a week after the shootings; Hide, deny, spin, threaten: How the school district tried to mask failures that led to Parkland shooting , published Nov. 30; and Unprepared and overwhelmed , a Dec. 28 account of how educators and police in Parkland were unprepared for a mass shooter despite the lessons of Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Other submissions included What went wrong on the third floor in Parkland school shooting? and What went right on the second floor in Parkland? And yet another submission was from last August, Judge blasts Sun-Sentinel for publishing confidential information about Parkland school shooting case . The story referred to a Broward County School District report about the shooter that was supposed to be substantially blacked out on the districts public website, but which the newspaper was able to read in full by copying and pasting into another file. A lawyer for the paper argued in court that the Sun-Sentinel violated no laws by publishing the information. It means so much to win the gold medal Pulitzer for public service because thats the spirit in which we approached our Parkland coverage, Sun Sentinel Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson said in a report in her newspaper. We wanted our reporting to make a difference so that this never happens again. Managing Editor Dana Banker said in the same report This was the biggest and the saddest story our newsroom has ever covered. More than anything else, we wanted our work to serve the greater good. In a world where the next school shooting seems inevitable, we believed we had to do everything we could to expose what went wrong and the lessons to be learned. In January, two parents of students slain at Stoneman Douglas High School wrote an open letter to the leadership of the Pulitzer Prizes, calling for the Sun Sentinel to be awarded the top prize for its coverage of the mass shooting. This was the most avoidable mass murder in American history, enabled by a sheriffs office and a school district characterized by administrative incompetence so staggering and moral corruption so deep that it took the Sun Sentinel the better part of the year the uncover it all, says the letter published Jan. 30 at the website Real Clear Education by Andrew Pollack and Ryan Petty. But long after the national media moved on to the next controversy, local reporters here kept at it. Dana Canedy, the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, told Education Week at the time that prize deliberations are held in strict confidence in order to maintain the integrity of the judging process. And we let the prize selections speak for themselves. Petty tweeted Monday, Well deserved by the @SunSentinel team. Their coverage of the MSD tragedy went well beyond these hashtags. Thats what great journalism is all about. Canedy recognized the Eagle Eye student journalists at the outset of the announcement ceremony, noting that the newspaper had submitted the obituaries it had published of the 17 students and staff members killed in the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High. I want to break with tradition and offer my sincere admiration for an entry that did not win, but which should give us all hope for the future of journalism in this great democracy, Canedy said. These budding journalists remind us of the medias unwavering commitment to bearing witness, even in the most wrenching of circumstances, in service to a nation whose very existence depends on a free and dedicated press. There was one other education series cited as a finalist. The Philadelphia Inquirer was a finalist for local reporting for what the Pulitzer board said was dogged scientific investigation and evocative storytelling that exposed toxic dangers lurking in Philadelphia school buildings that sickened children in their classrooms. The reporters on the series were Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman, Dylan Purcell, and Jessica Griffin. The winner of the local reporting category was the Advocate newspaper of Baton Rouge, La., for a series on discrimination in jury trials. British national Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AugustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, on Tuesday moved a Delhi court seeking bail to celebrate Easter. He wished to attend the holy mass on the Easter day and wanted to make offerings during those holidays. The interim bail plea was moved before Special Judge Arvind Kumar, who has sought Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) response on Michel's application. The court has listed the matter for further hearing on April 18. Michel's counsel Aljo K. Joseph and Vishnu Shankar told the court that the week commencing form April 14 to 21 is a holy week for the Christian and April 21 is the Easter. "Michel wishes to attend the holy mass on the Easter day and would like to make offerings during the Easter day," the defence counsel said. The counsel also told the court that Michel has been in the ED custody since before Christmas -- December 22 to 28, 2018 and was interrogated by the agency even on Christmas. They also apprised the court that being a Christian he was even then not allowed to offer a Holy mass. Michel has been in custody for more than 9 months now that has affected his health and he has lost more than 7 kilos during last 4 weeks, the defence counsel said, urging for a general medical check-up. "The CBI has given quiet a voluminous documents pertaining to the entire case and ED has also given more than 3,000 pages with regard to the entire investigation and the prosecution complaint filed before this court," Michel, in his plea, said. "The applicant (Michel) intend to file a detailed bail application and the counsels for the applicant/accused is finding it difficult to carry the said documents every time to Tihar Jail for taking proper instructions with regard to the present charge sheet." Michel was extradited to India on December 4, 2018 from the United Arab Emirates. --IANS ak/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of millions of euros have been pledged to help rebuild the partially destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral, the 850-year-old Unesco world heritage, as a fire that ripped through the Paris landmark was extinguished on Tuesday. The fire could be extinguished some 15 hours after it began on Monday evening, but emergency services said they were still working to douse the hot spots. "The fire has been extinguished," fire services spokesperson Gabriel Plus said, adding around 100 fire-fighters were still at the scene making sure that embers and hot spots were under control and "surveying the movement of structures and extinguishing smouldering residues". The blaze ravaged the iconic building's roof and caused the collapse of the Cathedral's spectacular Gothic spire and the destruction of its roof structure. However, the fire-fighters who worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers. Though the cause of the fire was not yet clear, officials believe it could be linked to extensive renovation works. The Paris prosecutor's office said it was currently being investigated as an accident. While French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reconstruct the historic building, two French business magnates have pledged about 300 million euros. Offers of help with the reconstruction also poured in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU member states to rally round. "I'd like to say words of comfort and solidarity with the French nation, also as a citizen of Gdansk, 90 per cent destroyed and burnt, later rebuilt," said Tusk. "You will also rebuild your cathedral," he added, calling on all 28 member states of the EU "to take part in this task." Macron described the blaze as a "terrible tragedy" and pledged to raise funds worldwide. "Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives. I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together." Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city would make 50 million euros available and propose holding an international donors' conference to coordinate the pledges to restore the building. French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would donate 200 million euros for the reconstruction efforts. The pledge came after the rival fashion group Kering, founded by the billionaire Francois Pinault, offered 100 million euros to help "completely rebuild Notre Dame". Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to Macron, offering Russian experts to help in the restoration project. The UN's Paris-based cultural agency Unesco also promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site, which it declared a world heritage site in 1991. "We are in contact with experts and ready to dispatch an urgent mission to evaluate the damage," Unesco's Secretary General Audrey Azoulay said. The 12th-century Cathedral's iconic facade and towers were salvaged, as were a host of invaluable artefacts and works of art stored inside, including the Holy Crown, believed by many to be from the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ. A tunic, which King Louis IX is said to have worn when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris, was also saved. The Vatican said the Holy See learned with "shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, symbol of Christianity, in France and in the world". US President Donald Trump termed it a "terrible, terrible fire", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Notre Dame a "symbol of French and European culture". UK Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted: "My thoughts are with the people of France and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame cathedral." The Notre Dame's foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III and the Cathedral was completed in the 13th century. It is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year. --IANS soni/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of millions of euros were pledged to help rebuild the partially destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral, the 850-year-old Unesco world heritage, as flames that ripped through the Paris landmark were extinguished on Tuesday. The fire was extinguished some 15 hours after it began on Monday evening, but emergency services said they were still working to douse the hot spots. "The fire has been extinguished," fire services spokesperson Gabriel Plus said, adding that around 100 fire-fighters were still at the scene making sure that embers and hot spots were under control and "surveying the movement of structures and extinguishing smouldering residues". The blaze ravaged the iconic building's roof and caused the collapse of the Cathedral's spectacular Gothic spire and the destruction of its roof structure. However, the fire-fighters who worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers. As the cause of the fire was not clear, the police began questioning workers who were carrying out renovations at the cathedral. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry into "involuntary destruction by fire", indicating they believe the cause of the blaze was accidental rather than criminal, the Guardian reported. While French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reconstruct the historic building, two French business magnates pledged about 300 million euros. Offers of help with the reconstruction also poured in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU member states to rally around. "I'd like to say words of comfort and solidarity with the French nation, also as a citizen of Gdansk, 90 per cent destroyed and burnt, later rebuilt," said Tusk. "You will also rebuild your cathedral," he added, calling on all 28 member states of the EU "to take part in this task." Macron described the blaze as a "terrible tragedy" and pledged to raise funds worldwide. "Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives. I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together." Emergency teams managed to rescue valuable artwork and religious items from the blaze, including what is said to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus before his crucifixion. A tunic King Louis IX is said to have worn when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris was also saved. The works of art that sustained smoke damage were being taken to the Louvre where they would be dried out, restored and stored. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city would make 50 million euros available and propose holding an international donors' conference to coordinate the pledges to restore the building. French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would donate 200 million euros for the reconstruction efforts. The pledge came after the rival fashion group Kering, founded by the billionaire Francois Pinault, offered 100 million euros to help "completely rebuild Notre Dame". Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to Macron, offering Russian experts to help in the restoration project. The UN's Paris-based cultural agency Unesco also promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site. "We are in contact with experts and ready to dispatch an urgent mission to evaluate the damage," Unesco's Secretary General Audrey Azoulay said. Britain's Queen Elizabeth expressed her "deep sadness" and sent a message of support to the people of France in the wake of the fire. UK Ambassador to France Ed Llewellyn said the British government was also looking into what it can do to help. Chinese President Xi Jinping said: "China firmly believes that restoration will be carried out smoothly and Notre Dame will regain her splendour under the efforts of the French people and with support from the international community." US President Donald Trump termed it a "terrible, terrible fire", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Notre Dame a "symbol of French and European culture". The Notre Dame's foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III and the Cathedral was completed in the 13th century. It is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leaders of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday held a mega election rally here even without the presence of BSP leader Mayawati who has been banned from campaigning for 48 hours by the Election Commission. Substituting Mayawati, her nephew Akash took the stage and made his maiden speech and appealed to the voters to ensure the 'gathbandhan' candidates in Agra and Mathura Lok Sabha parliamentary constituencies won handsomely. BSP leader Satish Mishra told the rally at Kothi Meena Bazar ground: "Five years of BJP rule has been a failure... The BJP was only exploiting religious feelings." Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged the people to remove the 'chowkidar'. He said the BJP was spreading hatred and dividing the society. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) President Ajit Singh said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should be "swept out" of Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 members to the Lok Sabha. He said: "Modi may have a 56-inch chest but his heart is only of one inch. We want someone who does our 'dil ki baat' and not his 'man ki baat'." --IANS bk/pg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Making an election campaign pitch to the farming community in Odisha to vote for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-led state government for large scale corruption. "It is the result of the earlier corrupt and weak governments that the people of Odisha remained poor after so many years of Independence. Discrimination on the basis of region and caste are the only achievements of Congress and BJD," Modi said, while addressing a rally in Sambalpur. He said despite the Mahanadi river and the Hirakud reservoir, farmers in the state are not getting enough water to irrigate their fields. The Prime Minister said that although the Centre has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) on paddy to 1.5 times of the production cost, middlemen continue to rule the roost as the state government has failed to procure paddy from the farmers. He also said the state government failed had to provide the list of farmers required to avail the benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Nidhi Yojana. Only 8.5 lakh farmers have benefited under this scheme as the government did not provide the complete list of farmers, he added. "On May 23, when the Modi government comes to power again, we are going to provide direct benefit to the bank accounts of the farmers of Odisha," Modi informed. He said the KALIA scheme being implemented by the state government is full of loopholes. He also said that a Jal Shakti Ministry and Fisheries Ministry would be set up when the BJP forms a new government at the Centre. Taking a dig at the BJD government, he said the state government is trying to hijack the subsidized rice scheme under National Food Security Act. "The central government procures rice at Rs 19-30 per kg and sends it to Odisha. Odisha government adds only Rs 2 per kg to it. However, they claim that they provide rice at a subsidised rate to the people of Odisha. It's a blatant lie," the Prime Minister said. He wondered whether a government that continued to protect chit fund scamsters and mining mafias could possibly think of people's welfare. "For 20 years, you trusted Odisha's government blindly, but now the people of the state want change. They want governments of double engine growth at Delhi and Bhubaneswar," he added. He also said that while over Rs 6,000 crore has been collected under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund, the government could only utilise Rs 1,000 crore for the development of the mining-affected areas in the state. The Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency will go to the polls in the third phase on April 23. Elections for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats are being held in Odisha in four phases. --IANS cd/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Mumbai Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against agrochemical manufacturer United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) for allegedly preparing electronic poll propaganda material for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress said. The FIR, lodged at Khar Police Station, North-West Mumbai, following a complaint by the EC, names Raju Shroff, one of UPL's directors, as accused. Last Tuesday, the EC team, along with state Congress General Secretary Sachin Sawant and others, searched the UPL office in the Khar area and allegedly found the BJP campaign material being prepared there. The EC team seized Rs 6 crore electronic cards and sealed the office. It also found photographs of defence aircraft, army, air force, surgical strikes and recorded clips of voice messages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speeches appealing people to vote for the BJP. "As per the EC order, the armed forces cannot be used for poll purposes. But here, the BJP was engaged in making lakhs of e-pamphlets for distribution without the EC clearance. It's obvious these won't be accounted for in the poll expenses to be submitted to the EC," Sawant said. He also alleged under-age children were being used to stick electronic chips on e-pamphlets. Demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe, Sawant said it was not clear since when the factory was operating, how many e-pamphlets had been produced and despatched for distribution among voters. The Congress also urged the EC to probe if more such factories were operating in Mumbai or Maharashtra. UPL was the company that ran the Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai, he said. "Its toxic pesticides have led to death of around 40 farmers in Vidarbha in the past two years and health ailments to another 700. It is shocking that the BJP government investigated the matter and gave UPL a clean chit," he said. "These and other aspects of the company's links with the BJP and its MP Sanjay Kakade must be probed by the CBI," he said. --IANS qn/rtp/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday summoned a prominent Kashmiri businessman in connection with a terror funding case being investigated by the agency. Yasin Khan, President of the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), was told to be present at the NIA's Delhi office on Thursday. NIA questioned senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for three days last week in connection with the same investigation. --IANS sq/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Union is not likely to extend the Brexit negotiation period beyond the current - and already delayed - date of October 31, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday. The Luxembourg politician told a European Parliament plenary that if the UK government fails to ratify the withdrawal deal -- an almost 600-page document negotiated with the EU -- before October 31 then it would crash out in a so-called hard Brexit. He warned that the UK must also prepare to take part in upcoming European parliamentary elections or face an earlier exit than scheduled, Efe news reported. "If the UK is a member on May 23, it must organize European elections, if it does not do so and the withdrawal deal is not ratified by May 22, the extension ends on May 31," he said, adding that the stipulation was founded on a legal basis. The European Parliament becomes illegal if a member state fails to run in the elections and therefore has representation in the chamber. The UK has 73 MEPs. Juncker said the UK government led by Prime Minister Theresa May could revoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism that officially notified the EU of its intention to leave, if it wishes. May's deal has been shot down in the House of Commons, the UK's lower chamber of Parliament, three times. The Conservative leader was engaged in talks with the opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to strike a consensus that would command a parliamentary majority. European Council President Donald Tusk said the UK should not be treated as a "second-class" member state during the extension period. "I am strongly opposed to the idea that during this further extension the UK be treated as a second category member state." "I also advised members of the chamber not to let Brexit-fatigue affect their judgment. "I know that on both sides of the channel everyone, including myself, is exhausted with Brexit. However, this is not an excuse to says 'let's just get this over with because we are tired'. "We must continue to deal with Brexit with an open mind and in a civilized manner. Because whatever happens we are bound by common fate and want to remain friends and close partners in the future," Tusk added. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday hit out at the Congress for not mentioning the Ram temple at Ayodhya in its 2019 election manifesto. Addressing an election rally here, he reiterated that while the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine is committed to constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Congress manifesto makes no reference to this. "Ram mandir must be built at all costs. It figures in our (BJP-Sena) alliance document, but there's not a word of it from the Congress," Thackeray, who had visited Ayodhya for two days last November and demanded that the BJP should announce the date when the temple construction would begin, said. The Sena chief also demanded to know whether the Congress President Rahul Gandhi was planning to strike down sedition laws for the benefit of the "red monkeys" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Thackeray said he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "teach" such a lesson to Pakistan that it dare not cast an evil eye on the country. Dwelling on farmers' issues, he claimed that the BJP-Sena combine had implemented the some of the best policies for the farmers in the country, which never happened during the decades of Congress rules. "All the problems the farmers face in the loan waiver schemes will be resolved... we are committed to that. We shall strengthen the machinery and even approach the banks to ensure this," he assured. Noting that many farmers' daughters had committed suicide as they did not want to burden their debt-ridden parents for their marriage expenses, he said that his party stepped forward and arranged mass marriage ceremonies for them to spare their parents the expenses. "Did Rahul Gandhi ever organise such functions?" he asked. Appealing to the voters, he said: "You have blessed my father, Bal Thackeray in the past, now I seek your blessings. Ensure that we win all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. "The next time I greet you, it will be in the company of all the 48 BJP-Sena victorious candidates." --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress' Nyuntam Aay Yojana (Nyay), a minimum income guarantee scheme, will jump-start the Indian economy, party President Rahul Gandhi said here on Tuesday. Gandhi kicked off his two-day campaign tour from Pathanapuram, Kollam district, where he arrived on Tuesday morning from the state capital. His first stop was at the St, Stephen's School ground near here, where he addressed a public rally. "In the past five years of the Narendra Modi government, he has not fulfilled a single promise and all sectors are reeling. The demonetisation and the 'Gabbar Singh Tax' has deeply affected the Indian economy. "Our Nyay scheme which has been charted out by expert economists will see that five crore families in our country will get Rs 72,000 every year and it would not be what Modi promised to give Rs 15 lakhs," Gandhi said to cheers from the crowd. The party chief added: "This scheme will create new business, which in turn will create new jobs and the money will start to circulate which will help jump-start the economy. I have made it clear that if Modi can give away crores of rupees to 15 business people, I will give it to the poor people which constitute 20 per cent of the population." He said that if the Congress comes to power, the party will allow anyone to start a business which will provide employment without any license for three years. "Once the business becomes successful and after a period of three years, only then will we insist for papers. We also promise the farmers in the country that there would be a special budget for them, while also regular interactions will take place. "Modi did nothing for the cashew industry here but we assure you that it will be taken care of by us." He reiterated that his reason for contesting from Wayanad was to send out a message that India is one, while also praising Kerala for the huge progress it has made on all fronts including tolerance. "My message is to point out that India should not be viewed from just one perspective which the BJP/RSS are trying to drive into. They only want their view to be accepted by all. "But we believe that India is a place of million ideas and perspectives and we will listen to all of them," said Gandhi. At his second stop in Pathanamthitta, he told the people to consider him as a brother to represent Kerala. "I say this with utmost humility and I say this not just to Congressmen in Kerala, but to the entire people who represent all other political parties. I consider it as a huge honour to represent Kerala. I want to spend time with you to learn from you on your culture, history and tradition." Gandhi has two more public meetings in Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram slated for the day. He will also pay a visit to the home of K.M. Mani, a veteran Kerala politician who died last week. After his Thiruvananthapuram address, he will fly to Kannur on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he will conduct a road show in Wayanad. Kerala will go to the polls on April 23 to elect 20 Lok Sabha members. --IANS sg/ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aiming to better embrace digital transformation, online beauty major Nykaa.com on Tuesday announced it is partnering with software major Adobe in order to expand its focus on Customer Experience Management (CXM). The partnership announcement was made at the Adobe Symposium 2019 here. "Led by its increasing digitisation focus, mobile-first customer behaviour and vast millennial population, India is well on its way to becoming a trillion-dollar economy," Adobe Managing Director (South Asia) Kulmeet Bawa told reporters here. "Today more than ever, businesses are rapidly evolving to become Experience Businesses, and this quest for transformation is pervasive across the C-suite. Customer Experience Management (CXM) unlocks digital transformation and Adobe is leading the way with continuous innovation on its Adobe Experience Platform," he added. Nykaa is leveraging Adobe Experience Cloud solutions - Adobe Media Optimizer and Adobe Analytics - to power its approach towards customer acquisition and experience management. With Adobe Media Optimiser, the company is able to prioritise and differentiate communication directed towards diverse customer segments. "Nykaa.com was conceived with a vision of approaching beauty as an experience, rather than a commodity, and through the years, we've made strategic investments in digital to deliver on this goal. With Adobe's long-standing partnership, we look forward to adding thrust to our focus on delivering relevant, real time experience to our customers," said Nykaa Founder and CEO Falguni Nayar. --IANS ksc/bc (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The New York Police Department (NYPD) was trolled mercilessly on Twitter after it posted about "closely monitoring" the fire at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. "We are closely monitoring the fire at the #NotreDame Cathedral in Paris, France... As our followers know, we tweet immediately about most large scale international events to inform you, as we assess how they may or may not impact NYC," NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau tweeted on Monday. After the tweets, NYPD was mocked by social media users with one asking: "what is the risk of it spreading to the US." "How does Game of Thrones season 8 impact NYC? Thank you in advance, I'll take my answer off the air," tweeted another user. Some of the other interesting responses on the NYPD's tweets were: "I just saw someone throw litter out of their car window here in Canada. Are you on the case?" "I never realized fire is a sentiment and could fly across the Atlantic Ocean." "I knew you guys liked dressing up and playing spies where you have no jurisdiction in violation of the law, but i didn't know you had escalated to playing spooky spies in foreign countries." --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Zealand on Tuesday criticised the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for disclosing the identity of a nurse abducted by the Islamic State (IS) terror group in 2013 in Syria. Vice Prime Minister Winston Peters was speaking on the issue two days after the ICRC made a public call for information about three staff members held captive by the IS for more than five years in the war-torn country, Efe news reported. The ICRC identified the abducted personnel with their names and countries of origin, describing Louisa Akavi, a citizen of New Zealand, as "an experienced, dedicated and resilient nurse who has carried out 17 field missions with the ICRC and the New Zealand Red Cross". Successive New Zealand governments had since her abduction in October 2013 kept Akavi's capture and her identity secret over fears that it might jeopardise her life. She was reportedly last seen in January tending to wounded fighters in Al-Baghuz, the last IS stronghold in Syria. "What I said was, was that the message that was being carried (that the government supported the decision to release the information) was balderdash. That's a very polite way of describing how one person has, in my view, dropped the ball so to speak," Peters told Radio New Zealand. "Not the whole organisation and not the wider international purpose of being engaged there, but I don't want to condemn a highly worthy international humanitarian organization." The New Zealand government established a group in 2013 to locate Akavi and went on to send a team of special forces and intelligence personnel to Iraq and Syria to try to rescue her, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday. Ardern also expressed her opposition to the ICRC's decision to make Akavi's identity public. Akavi, who has been working for the Red Cross since 1988, was kidnapped by the IS along with Alaa Rajab and Nabil Bakdounes, both Syrians, who worked as drivers for ICRC. --IANS ksk/mr (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 on Tuesday thanked Mehbooba Mufti, his political rival and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, for her concern about a grenade attack on NC's poll meeting in Tral town earlier in the day. Militants hurled a grenade at the meeting. But it exploded without causing any damage. The meeting was being attended by Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi, the NC candidate against Mehbooba Mufti in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. The meeting was being held at local NC leader Muhammad Ashraf Bhat's house, which has been attacked by militants in the past as well. Hearing about the attack, Mufti tweeted, "Very sorry to hear about a grenade attack on NC's Anantnag parliamentary candidate. Relieved to know that he is safe & no other casualties/damage was reported. Allah sabko salamat rakhay." Appreciating her concern, Omar wrote back on Twitter, "Thank you for your concern. Allah was kind, thankfully the programme had concluded & Masoodi Sahib & other colleagues were in a nearby home when the grenade fell. Sadly, this is the umpteenth time Ashraf & his family have faced this sort of attack in recent years." --IANS sq/rtp/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the opposition Congress and its allies saying they have lost their credibility and faith of people. "The Congress and its allies have lost their credibility. They have lost people's faith in the country," said Modi while addressing an election rally here. He said the people now believe that for the first time such a government is sitting in Delhi, which is sincerely working for the development of the country. "The Opposition is making false accusations every day and night. They have no vision for carrying the country forward. They have no vision, no mission, no policy and no leader as well. The opposition has only one agenda 'Modi Hatao'," said the Prime Minister. He alleged that Congress has conspired to destroy the faith of people by linking the Hindus with terror for their vote bank "Congress has hatched a conspiracy for the destruction of our faith and our tradition. The conspiracy was to link the Hindus of the country with terror," he added. "Congress can go to any extent for power. The history of Congress has it that it can divide the country for power, Vande Mataram can be broken into pieces for power and it can split states for power," said Modi. He said the 'Chowkidar' stands as a wall against every conspiracy of Congress. The Prime Minister also talked about how the world stood with the country during the attack on terrorists on Pakistan soil. He also took potshots at the earlier government for not teaching a lesson to Pakistan, even though the terrorists had attacked India several times. "A person can talk about peace, whose muscles has strength. Who listens to the dead people? We have seen the government talking about peace, the world has not listened to us. When we showed strength, the world is standing with us today," said Modi. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, Modi held a public meeting at Sambalpur. Both Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituencies will go to the polls in the third phase on April 23. Elections are being held for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the state in four phases. --IANS cd/prs (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Mridul Sharma, who made his debut in the negative role of Jai Singh in "Delhi Crime" -- based on the gruesome 2012 Delhi gangrape case -- says he struggled to connect with the on-screen character since he hated him personally. In the Richie Mehta directorial, Mridul plays one of the rapists. Sharing the initial hesitation of performing such a dark and negative character, Mridul told IANS: "It was a challenge to play this character... At the beginning of my career, playing a character who has done a dirty work that is a shame on humanity.... I was worried about my future, about my image, to be introduced to the audience with the portrayal of such character. "I personally hated him, so I was initially unable to get involved with this character." The Netflix show's story revolves around the aftermath of the heart-wrenching incident. Its cast, including actors Adil Hussain, Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang and Denzil Smith, has been praised. Asked if working with such senior actors was tough, Mridul said: "I was working with one of the world's best director at the time of the 'Delhi crime'. So I will not be able to tell which scene was difficult to shoot. But yes, there was a scene in which my co-actor had to spit on my face, and that was a little uncomfortable." Mridul, who comes from Chhattisgarh, always loved watching films and thought about becoming a 'hero' in Bollywood movies. "Since childhood, there was only one desire -- to become a hero. But when I came to college and studied acting and drama, then the difference between actor and hero came to be understood. "Then I caught the path to becoming a good actor," said Mridul. How is life after 'Delhi Crime'? "The show has given me a very good place to be established as an actor in this industry. People now know me as a good actor and give me respect. After 'Delhi Crime' released, some people have started to offer me a good role. "As an actor, my self-respect and self-confidence have also increased. One of my movies is coming in June and I will start working on a web series and a movie too," he said. --IANS aru/rb/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi praised her female helicopter pilot, saying she is proud to be flown by a lady. "So proud to be flown by a lady today, that too in a chopper," Gandhi tweeted along with a picture with the pilot on Monday without naming her. The Congress leader was flying to Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur Sikri for an election rally. --IANS nks/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pulitzer Prizes were awarded to news organisations that uncovered instances of malfeasance and outright fraud in US President Donald Trumps financial past, recognising journalists perseverance in the face of his ever-sharper attacks on a free press. Among the honours that were announced on Monday, The New York Times received the explanatory reporting prize for an 18-month investigation that revealed how the future President and his relatives avoided paying roughly half a billion dollars' worth of taxes. The Times's examination of Trump's family finances, by the journalists David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner, drew on tens of thousands of pages of confidential records and previously undisclosed tax returns. The award was the fourth Pulitzer win for Barstow, a record for a reporter. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting award for disclosing clandestine payoffs made by the President's associates before the 2016 election to two women who had alleged affairs with Trump. The Los Angeles Times won the investigative reporting prize for revealing accusations of sexual abuse against a gynecologist at the University of Southern California. The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the prize for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, for documenting the massacre of 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018. The paper's in-depth articles revealed a series of failures by local officials and law enforcement that contributed to the loss of life. "Feeling overwhelmed and grateful," a Sun Sentinel reporter, Scott Travis, wrote on Twitter after learning of the honour. "But also sad that we won the greatest journalism award - the Pulitzer - because of a tragedy that never should have happened." The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won for breaking news coverage of a gunman's spree at the Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018, where 11 people died. The Pulitzer board also recognised The Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Maryland, where five employees were killed in a shooting last June, with a special citation that included a $100,000 bequest. Dana Canedy, the awards' administrator, on Monday cited The Capital Gazette's "unflagging commitment to covering news at a time of unspeakable grief". In honouring The Sun Sentinel, The Post-Gazette and The Capital Gazette, the Pulitzer board underlined the importance of local journalism at a moment when regional papers are struggling to survive. In the international reporting category, the year's winners included Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters journalists imprisoned for more than a year in Myanmar. Their reporting, on human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation, shared the prize with coverage by The Associated Press of atrocities in Yemen. First given in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes are presented annually by Columbia University for excellence in journalism and letters. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The release of the report of the investigation into allegations that Russia colluded with President Donald Trump's campaign in the 2016 election that is scheduled for Thursday with some redactions will only amp the volume of debate, rather than set the controversy at rest. Acceding partially to demands by Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, Attorney-General William Barr will submit the report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller after cuts to it, the Justice Department announced on Monday. Democrats have questioned the authenticity of the summary of the report issued by Barr last month and have said that they will not be convinced by the redacted version. Barr wrote that Mueller had cleared Trump of the allegations of Russian collusion. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said that the redactions will "only fuel suspicions" about the matter. Trump, who was convinced that the report gave him "total exoneration", has said that he had no objection to the report's release. He prepared for the release of the report with his own offensive on Monday. He tweeted: "The Mueller Report, which was written by 18 Angry Democrats who also happen to be Trump Haters (and Clinton Supporters), should have focused on the people who spied on my 2016 Campaign, and others who fabricated the whole Russia hoax." The report's release is timed for the middle of the Congressional recess this week and next and comes out on the eve of Good Friday and the Jewish observance of Passover, when legislators will be away from Washington. It will also delay any Congressional action or concerted reaction. Legislators, politicians and the media will go through the version of the report with a fine-tooth comb on Thursday looking for anything that will show wrong-doing by Trump: If not collaboration with Moscow, the obstruction of justice allegations that the report left with no conclusive evidence. Barr has said that he will be redacting parts of the 400-page report dealing with intelligence matters, testimonies covered by secrecy laws, ongoing investigations and third parties not directly involved. Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding the a fuller version of the report. The House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee last week authorised its chairman Jerry Nadler to issue Barr a subpoena to handover the entire report. The House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff demanded on Monday that Barr share with the panel the counterintelligence matters in the report and testify before it. The top Republican on the panel, Devin Nunes, also joined him in making the request. After feeling convinced that Trump's 2016 victory was due to his collaboration with Russia, the report summary provided by Barr in his letter to Congressional leaders was a let-down for the Democrats, dashing their hopes of using it to oust the President from office. Mueller said that he could not conclusively determine if Trump had obstructed justice or not and left it to Barr to decide on prosecution. Barr said that he did not think there was adequate evidence to act against Trump. Democrats will now look for any evidence of it in the report to take action on their own. Mueller produced the report after a 22-month investigation during which his staff interviewed more than 500 witnesses and executed 500 search warrants. The inquiry led to charges being filed against 34 people and entities, some of them Russian for meddling in the election. It also took down some close associates of Trump like campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, all of whom admitted guilt on various charges in court. It also provided leads for federal prosecutors to launch investigations and prosecutions of their own -- which Democrats hope to replicate from the House. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Moscow court has sentenced Frode Berg, a retired Norwegian border guard, to 14 years in a high security prison for spying on Russian Navy submarines, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Berg, who was arrested in Moscow in 2017, denied the allegation. He admitted acting as a courier for Norwegian intelligence, but said he had little knowledge of the mission, the BBC reported. Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov said his client would not appeal against the verdict but would seek a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Russian ex-policeman accused of passing him Navy files had also been jailed. Norway -- a Nato member -- shares an Arctic border with Russia and for decades their relations were amicable. But ties have worsened since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dwarfed more often than not by his peer, but more importantly Goa's tallest BJP leader late Manohar Parrikar, the April 23 Lok Sabha polls offers Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik the first opportunity to break free of the shadow of the four-time Chief Minister. "We all know what a great leader Parrikarji was. There is a vacuum which hid death has left behind and we are all trying our best to fill it up. This is our first election without his presence, but I am sure our party workers and leaders will keep his memory in their mind and word doubly hard," Naik told IANS as he set out on the campaign trail. Naik is a four-term MP and is now seeking a fifth term in the Lower House, but this is the first time, that he is entering battle without the company of BJP's Krishna-for-all-seasons, Parrikar, a cause of perceptible worry for the senior leaders of the party. Facing him is state Congress president Girish Chodankar, who has been parachuted from his home-base - the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency - specifically to take a shot at pulling down BJP's Goliathan contestant. The battle appears particularly tough for Naik this time round, with the party demoralised due to various factors ranging from the death of Parrikar and disenchantment within a faction of the BJP, which was close to the late Defence Minister, with Naik's performance. A recent video where Parrikar's nephew is heard criticising Naik for his inaccessibility and non-performance, exposed the cracks in the party cadre's support for Naik, who at 66, is one of the seniormost party leaders. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant however insists that Naik's victory is beyond doubt, thanks to his humility, efficient disbursal of MPLAD funds and of course the 'Modi-wave' gripping the country. "The Congress candidate should now think about contesting the upcoming bypoll in Panaji, because as far as I am concerned, Shripad Naik is winning the North Goa seat hands down," Sawant said. For 52-year-old Girish Chodankar, on the other hand, this contest is the second high high-profile electoral - he unsuccessfully contested the assembly bypoll against Parrikar in 2017 - a test which will help him earn credibility in Congress ranks, which has four Chief Ministers in the party's legislative ranks and where the former school teacher is considered a lightweight. The main poll plank for Chodankar, is what he claims, is the consistent failure of Naik as a four term MP, who the Congress leader says faces unprecedented anti-incumbency. "All I have to do is point out to his failures as MP. He has failed to raise legtimate issues related to the state in Parliament as MP and in the Union cabinet as central minister," Naik said. The issues which concern the constituency include the inability of the BJP-led governments in the state and at the Centre, to restart Goa's iron ore mining industry, which was banned by the Supreme Court last year. In North Goa, the mining leases are spread over five Hindu-dominated assembly segments, whose economy has been paralysed due to mining inactivity. "Shripad Naik could not even get an appointment with the Prime Minister for the mining dependents who wanted to meet Modi for over one year," Chodankar said, even as Naik insisted that only a BJP-led government at the Centre would be able to resolve the state's mining deadlock. The two other factors which are likely to hamstring Naik's campaign this time round, are the potential backlash of the minority communities over the pan-India chorus about lynchings and beef-related killings and harassment and locally speaking, the threat of an aggrieved Maharashtrwadi Gomantak Party, a regional outfit which also appeals to the Hindu conservative voter. Last month's midnight raid by the BJP on MGP's legislative unit, which poached two out of its three MLAs, has had the MGP fuming and mouthing retribution. The Congress' key worry could be the suspect loyalties of its own MLAs, two of whom joined the BJP last year and at least two others who are in constant talks with the saffron party, vis-a-vis a hop over the political fence. Out of the other four candidates, two of whom are independents, the presence of Aam Aadmi Party's Pradeep Padgaonkar could result in hiving off of some of the Congress's minority and 'secular' votes, because of the penchant which a section of Goa's Catholics appear to have developed for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's party, along with a tiny fraction of the intelligentsia. (Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayaushan.n@ians.in) --IANS maya/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday said that he will file a defamation case against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for his reported statement that "all thieves have Modi in their surnames". "I have decided to file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for calling all people with the Modi surname as thieves. I will file it soon in a Patna court," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader told the media. "It is not only objectionable, but it defames and hurts the sentiments of everyone who has the Modi surname." He also objected to Gandhi's 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe. Sushil Modi is one of the star campaigners of the BJP and NDA in Bihar and has been addressing election meetings in different parliamentary constituencies daily. As per the NDA's seat-sharing formula, the BJP and the Janata Dal-United are contesting on 17 seats each in Bihar, leaving six seats for the Lok Jantantrik Party. --IANS ik/ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prices of telecom services are likely to rise in the second half of the current financial year (2019-20), an Edelweiss report said on Tuesday. The probability of a price hike can be attributed to the fact that the penetration in mobile broadband services has increased significantly and is nearing a saturation point. "We estimate telecom operators to raise prices in H2FY20 as mobile broadband subscriber penetration reaches 65 per cent," said the report titled "Telecom-Daylight Again". "Typically, in a market characterised by low penetration of services, providers' quest for market share to gain economies of scale drives down prices, fuelling price wars. However, as investment requirements mount and relative attractiveness of balance market wanes, weaker players consolidate and participants start favouring pricing over incremental market share." On Reliance Jio, the Edelweiss report said that after 10 quarters since its launch and achieving 30 per cent of the revenue market share (RMS), "it is important to pause and take stock where the company stands now versus its objectives". "We believe that after achieving one of its key goals -- 400mn subscribers in H2FY20 -- RJIO will hike prices to improve return ratios," it said, adding that, JIO's management, during its launch, had stated that one of its target is to achieve 400 million subscribers. Regarding Bharti Airtel, the report observed that with a strong balance sheet and adequate network investments, it is well placed to capitalise on industry recovery. On the merged entity of Vodafone Idea, it said: "Although Vodafone Idea has higher operating and financial leverage from India's telecom industry revival, we maintain our cautious stance considering underwhelming capacity expansion plans and weak data volume traction. "We continue to believe that RJIO will become India's largest telecom operator led by the network's high data capacity driving mobile broadband subscriber market share." --IANS rrb/sn/ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ten people have been arrested in connection with violence after a Ram Navami rally in Asansol, the city with the second largest population in West Bengal, police said on Tuesday. Two police vehicles were vandalised and set on fire in the violence on Barakar Station Road, Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Laxmi Narayan Meena told IANS. He, however, said the situation was now "completely peaceful" and "under control". "Yesterday (Monday) there was unrest in the area after Ram Navami rally. Two police vehicles were vandalised and set on fire. We have arrested 10 people for vandalism," said Meena. The police were probing whether all of them took part in the rallies. "Their political affiliation is yet to be ascertained," he said. Viswa Hindu Parishad spokesman Sourish Mukherjee claimed that trouble erupted after stones were pelted at the Ram Navami rally. "This sort of situation happened last year also. Unfortunately, police and the administration never take action against these miscreants," he said. He said several people sustained injuries when they were beaten up by the police. Meena said the exact cause of violence was being probed. Mukherjee said more rallies will be taken out in and around Asansol on Tuesday. --IANS mgr-ssp/ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor, aiming for a hat-trick of wins, on Tuesday sought a probe into a freak accident at a temple near here which led him to have to eight stitches on his head. "My mother, who is 86 years old, said she has never ever heard of the 'tulabharam' breaking. So it's better that a probe is needed to know what happened. The district Congress committee President has already written to the police seeking a probe. Let us know what actually happened," said Tharoor, after being discharged from the Medical College Hospital here. The incident occurred at the popular Gandhari Amman temple here when he went to celebrate Vishu, the traditional Hindu New year. Praying while seated on the weighing balance, as part of a temple ritual, the chains holding the balance broke and fell on Tharoor's head. He was rushed to a hospital. On Tuesday, he had a surprise visitor in Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Tharoor will be present on the stage later in the day with Congress President Rahul Gandhi. However, he has cancelled all election related programmes listed for Wednesday. Tharoor is engaged in a three-way electoral battle with former Mizoram Governor Kummanem Rajasekheran of BJP and CPI's C. Divakaran, a sitting legislator and former state Minister. In 2014, Tharoor scraped through with a margin of around 15,000 votes against BJP's O. Rajagopal, who is now a MLA. --IANS sg/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thousands of people blocked well-known landmarks in London, bringing widespread disruption to the UK capital in a "climate rebellion", that organisers said could last several days. On Monday, parents and their children joined scientists, teachers, long-term environmentalists and other protesters to occupy major junctions and demand urgent action over the escalating ecological crisis, reports the Guardian. The protests are part of a global campaign organised by the British climate group Extinction Rebellion, with demonstrations planned in 80 cities across 33 countries in the coming days. The group is calling on the UK government to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025 and establish a citizens' assembly to devise an emergency plan of action to tackle climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. Five London landmarks - Waterloo Bridge, Marble Arch, Parliament Square, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus - had been blocked by thousands of protesters. By Monday night, police moved in and began to arrest protesters still blocking the Waterloo Bridge. By midnight there had been around 50 arrests. Extinction Rebellion, in a letter to May also on Monday, outlined their demands and asked for talks. "Make no mistake, people are already dying... In the majority world, indigenous communities are now on the brink of extinction. This crisis is only going to get worse... Prime Minister, you cannot ignore this crisis any longer. We must act now." Organisers are hoping that the rebellion will last for several days and said its success depends on the number of people willing to occupy the sites in the days and nights ahead. The events in London were the biggest demonstrations but there were smaller protests in other cities around the world. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Caste intricacies has tied up the elections in Tamil Nadu in several knots because of a cluttered four-cornered contest throwing up new factors. The four corners in the poll contest are represented by AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance -- comprising BJP, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Vijaykanth's Desiya Murpokku Dravid Kazhagham and three others; the DMK-Congress alliance (also including Vaiko's MDMK, Muslim League and the Left); besides debutant Kamal Hassan's Makkal Needhi Maiam and the AIADMK's breakaway faction led by T.T.V. Dinakaran. The caste and community voting pattern of the 2014 elections, swept by AIADMK which won 37 out of 39 Lok Sabha seats (with a vote share of 44 per cent), show that the party got 50 per cent Thevar and 60 per cent of Uadayar votes, according to a CSDS study. It also got 40 per cent of Vanniyar, 44 per cent Mudliyar, 49 per cent other OBCs and 42 per cent of Muslim votes. The party benefitted from the consolidation of OBC votes in its favour. The DMK on the other hand got maximum support -- 47 per cent -- from Upper Caste followed by Mudaliyar (34 per cent) and Muslims (31 per cent). The Bharatiya Janata Party, which won the sole seat of Kanniyakumari from where Pon Radhakrishnan secured a win by over 1.26 lakh votes, got maximum support from Thevars and Udayar (35 per cent each) and Vanniyar (40 per cent) communities apart from Christian fishermen and Nadar caste. The key differences this year is that the two national parties BJP and the Congress have aligned with regional powerhouses AIADMK and DMK and the emergence of new factors in the form of Dinakaran and Kamal Hassan. By making an impressive entry in the R.K. Nagar bypolls, Dinakaran's fight for late Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha's legacy makes him the "man to watch" in 2019 and could may well re-cast the caste lines. According to 2011 census, Tamil Nadu with a population of 7.21 crore, had 20.1 per cent of it as Scheduled Castes. It has the second largest percentage of SC with 32 per cent, second to Puanjab which has 39.8 per cent. The total electorate in the state is 5.86 crore. 18 per cent of its population is Dalit, one of the highest in the country, while seven Lok Sabha seats are reserved. Among the larger states, Tamil Nadu also has one of the highest literacy rate (73.3 per cent) of SC population. There are only four districts in Tamil Nadu -- Thiruvarur, the Nilgiirs, Nagapattinam and Perambalu -- where the SC population is less than 30-40 per cent while in another two -- Viluppuram and Cuddalore, the SC population is less than 25-30 per cent. Thevar, consisting of sub sects like Kallars, Maravars and Agamudiayars, is one of the key communities in the state commanding significant political influence particularly in south Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK has got the full support of the community but fissures have appeared after the death of Jayalalitha and may lead to a split in Thevar votes. There are seven reserved constituencies (SC) in Tamil Nadu which include Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Viluppuram, Nilgiris, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam and Tenkasi. In Tenkasi, AIADMK's M. Vasanthi had won by 1.61 lakh votes last time. This time DMK's Dhanush Kumar is in fray as party has fielded a candidate on the seat after 28 years. Tiruvallur is located close to Chennai and is represented by AIADMK's P. Venugopal who had won in 2009 as well. The constituency has strong Vanniyar presence. In Nilgiri, A. Raja is trying his luck again after racing defeat in 2014, but AIADMK also did not trust sitting MP C. Gopalkrishnan and replaced him with M. Thiagarajan. In Kanchipuram, K. Maratha of AIADMK is seeking another term in this saree hub facing a challenge from DMK's G. Selvam. The Villupuram reserved seat is witnessing communal and caste violence, temple town Chidambaram will see contest between, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol Thirumavalavan and AIADMK's P. Chandrasekhar. --IANS gd/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The mass outbreak of the baleful IL&FS bonds virus is engulfing more and more entities with the passing of each day. With NCLAT scheduled to hear the case again on Tuesday and some element of a consensus evolving on whether repayments of Provident and Pension Funds should be prioritised, working class people from 1,400 firms amounting to Rs 9,700 crore of their lifelong hard work are waiting with bated breath for any sort of direction from the tribunal. Over the last couple of days, IANS has been writing about how salaried employees of blue chip public and private sector firms are stranded with their life's savings pledged with these funds which have exposure to what were once 'triple A' rated bonds. The contagion now a full fledged pandemic has touched the government's flagship National Pension Scheme, academic institutions and MNCs. Thousands of employees, both blue and white collar, are awaiting salvation on this dark road to perdition. Now, IANS learns that media and advertising entities too haven't been spared by this widespread virus. The Times of India Provident Fund has many entries of Rs 12.95 crore, Rs 5.40 crore, Rs 2.95 crore and other amounts, just as BBC Worldwide India staff provident fund has exposure. Similarly, Pune-based Sakal Papers Ltd and Kerala-based Mathrubhumi EPF too have their funds exposed to the bonds. Ditto for publishers Oxford University Press, ad agencies Hindustan Thompson, McCann Erickson and R.K. Swamy Advertising Associates PF. Perhaps the biggest travesty is the long list of orphanages and hospitals who have exposure - for instance the celebrated Breach Candy Hospital Trust Staff PF or the J.N. Petit Parsi Orphanage PF, Hindustan Charity Trust PF, Seamens PF, Bombay Scottish Orphanage EPF and New Delhi Holy Family Society EPF. One of India's largest cooperatives IFFCO has multiple entries as IFFCO EPF and as IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI). Equally Khadi Gramodyog Sangh EPF, Southern Railway Employees Credit Coop Society are also named in the MCA supplementary affidavit. The prestigious Doon School EPF trust and the elitist Sanskriti School for government servants' children too are named. --IANS prs/ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is drawing heavy flak from opposition parties, especially the BJP, for roping in Bangladeshi actors to boost the party's campaign in the state. The Trinamool action, perhaps unprecedented in independent India's democratic history, has brought up issues of legality, visa rules and ethics, with calls for arrest of the dramatis personae and a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to unearth whether any foreign insurgent group is involved in the entire episode. The row was sparked off after videos appeared of Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed canvassing for Trinamool's Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal in Islampur of North Dinajpur district. The issue got further escalated when another video grab showed his fellow Bangladeshi actor Gazi Abdun Noor canvassing alongside Trinamool leader Madan Mitra in support of the party's Dum Dum constituency candidate Sougata Roy. The BJP on Sunday sent a complaint through WhatsApp to the Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab about Ahmed, and asked him to verify the legality of the matter with reference to the actor's visa terms. On Monday, BJP national Secretary Rahul Sinha alleged that Trinamool has lost the moral right to contest the polls after taking the "unprecedented step" of roping in foreign nationals to influence voters in India's democratic process. "She (Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee) should withdraw all her candidates. She has besmirched Bengal's reputation. This is unprecedented in the country's democratic history. "Today, actors are coming from Bangladesh. Tomorrow those from Pakistan will come. She may depend on Pakistan's militant organisations also." In the wake of the controversy, the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission here asked Ahmed to return home. "Based on media reports, he was asked whether he participated in the campaign or not. Ahmed told us that he was there for the purpose of shooting and had participated in the (ongoing Lok Sabha election) campaign. It was not a right thing to take part in the election as a foreign national. He was asked to go back," said an official of the Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh. "We have also suggested to him that he should resume his shooting activities after the election season gets over," he told IANS. The Indian government, however, has cancelled Ahmed's visa and he has been asked to leave the country, the Union Home Ministry announced on Tuesday evening. Sinha, however, demanded that both Ahmed and Gazi Noor should have been arrested, and strong action should be taken against such people who "interfere in our internal affairs". He said those who sponsored the two actors and used their services committed an act of "treason" and called for strong punitive action against the Trinamool including arrest on criminal charges of all those persons who facilitated the matter. "If there is any foreign conspiracy that has to be probed. Personally i feel Jamaat-e-Islami is involved. Let there be a probe by the NIA. We will write to the Centre," he said. BJP Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta said the matter is a violation of visa rules as those coming to India on business visa cannot take part in political activities. "This is no minor matter. If such private initiatives continue, then the normal diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh can be affected. "Is Trinamool running its own private foreign policy? If anybody says it's a minor matter, then what is there to prevent fundamentalists from Pakistan from coming here and campaigning?" On a remark by an Election Commission official here that the Model Code of Conduct had nothing specific on foreign national campaigning for any political party, Dasgupta said: "Well, the MCC does not include application of common sense." To prevent any recurrence of such episodes, he suggested the External Affairs Ministry issue an advisory to all Indian embassies that foreigners are not allowed to campaign in Indian elections. Sinha said his party had sent the complaint to the poll panel which has said it is a vital matter and sought clarification from External Affairs Ministry. The Congress also lashed out against the Trinamool and the actors. "I have told the Election Commission that both the actors, as also the candidates, and those who played a role in taking them for the campaigning should be arrested and a probe ordered," senior party leader Pradip Bhattacharya told IANS. However, another Congress leader and leading lawyer Arunava Ghosh claimed there is no general bar on any foreign national from campaigning in Indian elections. "Well, if there is any specific bar on an individual, then that's a different case." On the other hand, Agarwal denied that Ahmed campaigned for him. "I have no such information," he said. Ahmed, 45, has acted in over 200 films in Bangladesh and won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Actor on four occasions. Gazi Noor is in Kolkata to act in a television serial "Karunamoyee Ranirashmoni". --IANS ssp/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The two aspirants for the party nominations for the 2020 presidential elections from the two extreme ends of the electoral spectrum, US President Donald Trump and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, are leading the race in poll fund-raising. According to their campaign finance filings for the first quarter, Trump's war chest is about $30 million, while Senator Sanders, vying for the Democratic Party nomination, has collected $18 million. Senator Kamala Harris is behind them with $12 million, followed by Beto O'Rourke with $9.4 million, Pete Buttigieg with $7.1 million and Senator Elizabeth Warren with $6 million. O'Rourke, a former Representative, was defeated in his Senate run from Texas last year, while Buttigieg is Mayor of a small university town in Indiana state. But they have received a lot of positive publicity in the media. Fund-raising is considered a sign of popularity and is one of the markers for selecting participants for the Democratic Party's televised debate among candidates starting in June. Former Vice-President Joe Biden, leading the opinion polls for the Democratic nomination, is yet to officially announce his candidature and has not raised funds. The 16 Democratic Party candidates, for whom the filings are available, have together collected about $80 million, which is far higher than Trump's election haul. But they suffer a serious handicap against Trump. The Democratic candidates will be using most of their funds till the middle of next year to fight each other during primaries to be anointed the party candidate at the convention in July 2020, rather than Trump. About 20 candidates are vying for the Democratic Party nomination. Trump has a huge advantage because he does not have a serious challenger for the Republican nomination -- and, if none emerge, he will not have to spend funds on the primary, leaving him with a larger pool for re-election campaign. Whatever he spends during primaries will, in effect, also contribute to building his image for re-election. His fundraising also displayed his continuing attraction among middle class and working class Americans. Although Trump is perceived to be aligned with big business, he got nearly 99 per cent of his funds from individuals contributing $200 or less, with the average being under $35. Like Trump, Sanders had a strong showing with his base that is almost similar if politically polar opposite. He has received 84 per cent of his funds from people sending less than $200, with the average being $20. The average size of Harris' donation was higher than the other two at $55. She is from California and is a favourite of Hollywood, according to Politico. She received $2,800 from Ben Affleck, $5,600 from Elizabeth Banks and $5,400 from Eva Longoria Baston, according to Politico. Under the US laws, the maximum contribution a person can make to a candidate is $2,700 for each election and it is likely that the actors' contributions include donations for previous elections. Among candidates hoping to run in the 2020 elections, billionaire Trump is the richest, although the extent of his wealth is not known. He has claimed to have assets worth $10 billion, while other estimates have put it at $3 billion. Since he has refused to release his income tax returns, the real numbers are not known. Harris is the richest, according to her tax returns, which showed an income of $1.9 million last year. Senator Elizabeth Warren came next with $846,000 and Sanders with $516,000. Sanders, however, crossed the million-dollar mark in 2016. He made most of the money from royalties for his book, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In", earning $2 million over three years. Sanders, who promotes himself as a socialist and the common man's candidate, was unapologetic about his wealth. He said on Monday on a Fox TV programme: "If anyone thinks I should apologise for writing a bestselling book, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that". Harris also made money off her book, "The Truths We Hold", a memoir. She reported earning $733,000 from it last year. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) --IANS al/soni/pcj (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Income Tax officials and the Election Commission's static surveillance team on Tuesday carried out a joint search at the house of DMK Lok Sabha candidate K. Kanimozhi in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukodi on Tuesday, an official said. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is contesting against the BJP's state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan in the Thootukodi Lok Sabha constituency. Polling to all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu is slated for April 18 in the second stage of the Lok Sabha polls. However, on Tuesday, the President rescinded the election in Vellore parliamentary constituency on the recommendation of the Election Commission after a huge haul of cash was found there. --IANS vj/vd/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US State Department has approved a possible deal with Taiwan to renew a $500 million training programme in America for Taiwanese F-16 pilots and maintenance crews. "Today's (Monday) notification is consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act and our support for Taiwan's ability to maintain a sufficient self-defence capability," a State Department official told CNN. The training programme is based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and goes back several years. The $500 million package covers the costs associated with the programme including flight training, participation in approved training exercises, training munitions, supply and maintenance support, and spare and repair parts. The proposed sale is unrelated to Taiwan's reported plans to purchase new F-16 fighter jets from the US, according to the State Department official. --IANS ksk (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The West Bengal government on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to vacate its two "ex-parte" orders restraining the state from taking any coercive action against former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh and seeking to bar her from entering the state. The government has sought the vacation of the earlier orders restraining the state police from taking any action against Ghosh, who is now the BJP candidate for Ghatal Lok Sabha seat in Midnapore district, and barring her from entering the state contending that she may tamper with evidence. As senior counsel Kapil Sibal urged the top court to vacate the orders as they were coming in the way of its investigations in other cases, the bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.M. Joseph said that "we can clarify that former police cop would co-operate with the investigation." The court said that its order did not mean that the police can't investigate the cases. The SC by its October 1, 2018, order had said that Bharati Ghosh "shall not be arrested in connection with any of the cases" at that point of time and by its February 19, 2019 order, it said: "Without prejudice to the contentions of the parties, we are of the view that till the next date of hearing no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner (Bharati Ghosh) in any of the cases." Sibal, appearing for West Bengal government, told the court that there were four categories of cases against the accused that were rooted in certain acts in the wake of demonetization, possession of disproportionate assets, recovery of cash to the tune of Rs 2 crore among others. Senior counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for Bharati Ghosh said that the move to keep Ghosh away from the state was politically coloured as she was contesting the Lok Sabha election as a BJP nominee. Sibal said that she was welcome to come and file her nomination papers but that can't be a ground for asking the state police to hold its hands from investigating the cases against her - a point court agreed with observing that this could not be a ground to thwart the investigation. The court also noted that most of the cases against the former cop were much before she charted on the political path. At one point, Justice Joseph observed how an officer of impeccable record would do so. Sibal drew the attention of the court towards the evidence, including transcripts of intercepts of telephonic conversation and the observation of the High Court in the case. Since the arguments were inconclusive, they would continue on April 25. --IANS pk/pg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a condolence message to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron after a fire ravaged the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Chinese President called Notre Dame "a significant symbol of the French civilization and a great treasure of the human civilization", Xinhua news agency reported. Like the French people, the Chinese people were also deeply saddened by the devastating fire, Xi said. "China firmly believes that restoration will be carried out smoothly and Notre Dame will regain her splendour under the efforts of the French people and with support from the international community," he added. --IANS soni/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) YouTube's new tool for battling misinformation mistakenly linked videos of the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US and later issued an apology for the "wrong call". As images of the iconic tower falling played on newscasts around the world on Monday - and on the YouTube channels mirroring those newscasts - "information panels" appeared in boxes below the videos providing details about the collapses of New York's World Trade Center after the terrorist attack, which killed thousands of people. The video giant later said that the new fact-checking tool made "the wrong call" when it displayed text about 9/11 in several videos of the Paris cathedral burning. "We are deeply saddened by the ongoing fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral," a YouTube spokesperson was quoted as saying by ABC News. "These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call. We are disabling these panels for live streams related to the fire." YouTube introduced the fact-checking feature last year to curb the spread of conspiracy theories online, including those that question the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre. The algorithm is supposed to show information panels with links to third party sources like Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia while displaying videos on subjects that are rife for conspiracies, according to the company. The YouTube gaffe came just a month after the video giant and Facebook struggled for hours to detect and block video of a mass shooting at a New Zealand mosque that Internet users were posting and reposting. The appearance of the information panels fed a wave of baseless speculation on social media that the Notre Dame fire was a terrorist attack. On Twitter, some users falsely asserted that the fire was sparked by Muslim terrorists. However, authorities in Paris blamed ongoing renovations at the cathedral and cited no evidence of terrorism. --IANS soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In what could be a huge signal for the future, the fund announced last month an intention to gradually move away from investments in oil exploration and production companies, to make the governments wealth less vulnerable to a permanent drop in oil process. While the tilt away from upstream companies could bolster investments in renewable energy, that was clearly not the driver of the decision. Its an investment fund, lawmaker Henrik Asheim was quoted as ... 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 On the last day of the election campaign in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, under a scorching sun in Salem, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami spoke to T E Narasimhan on his party's (AIADMK's) alliance with the BJP, the state's economy, and what he thought of the Centre's policies. Edited excerpts: How many seats are you confident of winning in the Lok Sabha and in the (state assembly) bypolls? All. 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 Scotland Yard on Tuesday said it was dealing with serious disruptions caused by climate change activists as part of the Extinction Rebellion protests which have blocked roads and traffic across London, resulting in 122 arrests. Most of those arrested since Monday's launch of the weeks-long protests have been detained on suspicion of public order offences, while five people were held on charges of criminal damage at oil giant Shell's London headquarters. "We need to ensure we are striking the right balance between allowing the right to a peaceful protest, while ensuring disruption to communities is kept to a minimum," said Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove. "At this time, ongoing demonstrations are causing serious disruptions to public transport, local businesses and Londoners who wish to go about their daily business," he said. The Met Police imposed a condition on campaigners to restrict their protests to Marble Arch area of central London to contain some of the disruption. Extinction Rebellion said it wants to "shut down London" until April 29 in a series of protests and called for "reinforcements" to help maintain a roadblock at Waterloo Bridge in London. Hundreds of protesters tried to hinder police efforts to move them along, including four who glued and chained themselves under a lorry parked on the bridge. Extinction Rebellion says it has three core demands: for the government to "tell the truth about climate change", reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025, and create a citizens' assembly to oversee progress. Organisers said protests had been held in more than 80 cities across 33 countries. The second day of action included speeches at Parliament Square about how to tackle climate change. In its response, the UK's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Britain had cut its emissions by 44 per cent since 1990. "We've asked our independent climate experts for advice on a net zero emissions target and set out plans to transition to low emission vehicles and significantly reduce pollution through our Clean Air Strategy," a BEIS spokesperson said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 16,000 police personnel in Mumbai will cast their votes through postal ballot during the Lok Sabha elections, an official said Tuesday. Mumbai will be going to the polls on April 29. Around 50,000 police personnel and officers will be on 'bandobast' (security) duty in the city alongwith Central forces that day. As a result, many of them, who live in neighbouring Raigad, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts, would not be able to vote themselves, he said. "Mumbai Police had appealed to their men to go for postal ballot, following which more than 16,000 personnel showed willingness to cast their vote through postal ballot," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjunath Singe. This figure is the highest in the state, he said. "We have forwarded applications of these police personnel to the concerned returning officers, following which further process (to accept postal ballot) will take place," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Around 179 polling parties have been deployed Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district for Doda and Bhaderwah Assembly segments under Udhampur parliamentary constituency which is going to polls in the second phase on Thursday, officials said. The polling parties -- 73 for Doda and 106 for Bhaderwah -- left for the respective polling stations under the supervision of Doda District Election Officer Sagar Doifode, they said. Earlier in the morning, the polling parties reported at the respective dispatch centres where Electronic Voting Machine along with Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and other election material were made available to them. Later, accompanied by security personnel, the presiding officers and other team members, the polling staff left for their respective polling stations to undertake the voting process, to be held on April 18 from 7 am to 6 pm. In Udhampur parliamentary constituency, 12 of those in the fray are Tilak Raj Bhagat of Bhujan Samaj Party, Jitendra Singh of Bhartiya Janata Party, Vikramaditya Singh of Indian National Congress, Harsh Dev Singh of JKNPP, Ch. Lal Singh of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party, Mohammad Ayub of Navrang Congress Party, Meenakshi of Shiv Sena and Bansi Lal, Rakesh Mudgal, Shaber Ahmad, Garib Singh and Firdous Ahmed all Independents. The constituency is spread over 17 Assembly segments comprising six districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi, Udhampur and Kathua. The Udhampur Lok Sabha seat has 16, 85,779 electors of which 1,665,467 are registered as general voters and 20,312 as service voters. Among the general voters, 876,319 are males and 789,105 females. The service voters include 20,052 males and 260 females, and 43 transgender electors. For the smooth conduct of election in the constituency, the Election Commission has established 2,710 polling stations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Indian expats and a Pakistani were sentenced to six months of imprisonment by a Dubai court for stealing 900 boxes of juice from a from a food catering company's branch at a police academy. The court on Monday also imposed a fine of Dh 150,000 (approx Rs 28 lakh) on the trio. They were also ordered to pay a fine of Dh 23,760 (approx Rs 4.50 lakh) each, the Khaleej Times reported. The three will be deported to their respective countries upon completion of their jail sentences. The thefts took place at the company's branch in Al Barsha between April 2017 and May 2018. The stolen products were worth Dh 23,760 (approx Rs 4.50 lakh). According to the report, the 33-year-old Indian warehouse keeper allowed his two transportation worker accomplices -- a 31-year-old Indian and a 30-year-old Pakistani -- to keep a large quantity of juice boxes when the deliveries were made instead of depositing them at the warehouse. They sold the juice later. While the keeper collected Dh 10,800 (approx Rs 2 lakh from the unlawful deal, he signed receipts and bills that the merchandise was delivered and deposited at the warehouse. The three have been convicted of embezzlement, forgery, use of forged e-documents and criminal complicity. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three government employees on election duty were killed after the truck they were travelling in overturned in Rajasthan's Barmer district, police said Tuesday. The officials were returning from Jaipur on Monday night when the truck overturned in Yalawas village along the Barmer-Jodhpur district border, Additional Divisional Commissioner Aslam Mehar said. The deceased were identified as Assistant Administrative Officer Kishan Lal Dabhi (55), Senior Assistant Chandra Prakash Soni (43) and Om Prakash (48), Mehar said, adding that all three were residents of Barmer district. While Dabhi and Om Prakash died on the spot, Chandra Prakash succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jodhpur, police said. The bodies were sent to Barmer after postmortem, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three people, including a police and a fire official, were injured in a fire that broke out at a wedding venue in northwest Delhi's Netaji Subhash Place Tuesday, officials said. Police were informed about the fire at around 12:30 am, they added. Two pandals at the venue had caught fire and a wedding function was underway in one of them, a senior police officer said. About 12 police personnel, along with officers of the Fire Department, started the evacuation process and 22 fire tenders were pressed into service, he said. The blaze was brought under control after a few hours, he added. The injured were identified as Delhi Police Head Constable Ravinder, Delhi Fire Service officer Satish and catering service employee Ankit, the officer said. About 400 people present at the venue were safely evacuated, he said, adding that the officers sustained injuries during the evacuation. All three were rushed to a hospital, where they were treated and later, discharged, he added. A case was registered and an investigation launched to ascertain the cause of the fire, police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three policemen and two others have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from a truck fleet operator in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said Tuesday. Thane Rural police spokesperson identified the arrested personnel as sub-inspector Sameer Shende and constables Ajay Shetye and Datta Ingole, all attached to Vashind police. The others held on Monday are Arun Jadhav and Manoj Raut, he said. "A transporter with 125 cold storage trucks lodged a complaint that the accused had stopped one of their trucks transporting meat at Vashind on April 13. Despite the papers being in order, the accused demanded Rs 5 lakh in return for not slapping a case," the official said. A case for extortion was registered in Vashind police station and the five arrested, he said, adding that Deputy Superintendent of Police D M Godbole was probing the case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For the first time, a three-member team of women climbers from India, Nepal and China on Tuesday set out to scale the world's highest peak, Mt Everest, to spread the message of women empowerment, world peace and friendship. The expedition, supported by the Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign of the Nepal Tourism Board, was flagged off at a function here. The three women who will climb the 8848-metre Everest are Kalpana Dash from India, Kanchhi Maya Tamang from Nepal and Liyamu Ma from China. World's renowned mountaineer and six Guinness world records holder Pemba Dorje Sherpa, who has successfully climbed the summit 18 times, will guide the women while another world record holder Sherpa Phurba Tenjing will also help the team in their expedition, the Nepal Tourism Board said. "This type of expedition has been organised for the first time in the history of Everest expedition. It will give a message to women of the region that they are capable of carrying out adventure activities, and also inspire them to visit Nepal to take part in such activities," the Board said in a statement. The women left for Ramechap to take their flight to Lukla, the gate way to the Everest base camp on Wednesday. All three women have already summited the Everest in the past. Dash has climbed Mt Everest in 2008 as a team leader, apart from climbing six other highest peaks in India, Nepal, Europe, South America and Australia. Tamang is the first woman of her community to successfully climb the world's highest peak. She is associated with various organisations and also a Goodwill Ambassador of UN Women since 2017. Chiese national Ma has also previously climbed Everest, apart from summits in Nepal and China, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vodafone Idea, which is in the midst of Rs 25,000 crore mega fund-raising, has said the Indian telecom market with three private players is an "ideal scenario" in terms of healthy competition, dismissing any possibility of cartelisation or duopoly. "It is three private players plus one (BSNL and MTNL) and that is the ideal scenario to be. There are four players here...it is an ideal level of competition," Balesh Sharma, CEO of Vodafone Idea told PTI. Worldwide, markets with three private players are known to be markets where constantly there is an ongoing war but a healthy level of competition exists, he added. Sharma said a market with three strong players almost equal to each other "is an ideal place to be" as "they all want to become bigger and are fighting with each other". "There is absolutely no concern for duopoly also...because I believe in a democracy all policy makers, politicians, and everyone understands that for consumers' rights there needs to be at least three strong private players and hoping that the government player also continues to be in that...," Sharma said. Such a scenario will keep the competition level at an "optimal", he noted. The telecom sector has witnessed a spate of consolidation aimed at finding economies of scale after Reliance Jio stormed into the market ploughing in billions of dollars into a pan-India national 4G data service, offering free voice call and tariffs well below prevailing rates. This triggered a massive consolidation in the industry. Bharti Airtel, then number one operator, fired the starting gun with the acquisition of the Indian business of Norway-based Telenor. It also subsequently announced takeover of consumer mobile businesses of Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharastra Ltd (TTML). Last year, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Plc announced completion of the USD 23.2 billion (approximately Rs 1.6 lakh crore) merger of their India operations to create the country's largest telecom operator -- Vodafone Idea -- to take on competition from Reliance Jio. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five suspected narcotics and bovine smugglers have been arrested after a large quantity of poppy straw was seized and 13 domestic animals were rescued in separate operations in Jammu region, police said Tuesday. Parvez Ahmad and Anwar Hussain were arrested in Nud village of Samba district Tuesday when they were trying to smuggle 13 bovines to Kashmir via the Samba-Mansar road, an official spokesperson said. They were booked under relevant sections of the law, he said. The official added that three suspected drug smugglers were arrested on Monday. Mohammad Khalil, a resident of Punjab, was arrested after 30 kg poppy straw was found in his truck at Flata-Rehambal along the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur district, he said. Amit Kumar, a resident of Sial Sallan village, was arrested in Udhampur after five kg poppy straw was found in his possession, the spokesperson said. Shahnawaz Khan was arrested when eight grams of a banned narcotic was found on him during checking at the Dhani Dhar Bowli morh in Rajouri district, he said. All three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigation was on, the official added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Despite improvement in the medical technologies for the treatment of hemophilia, health experts believe that nearly 80 per cent of Indians with the serious blood disorder are not diagnosed due to the absence of proper diagnostic facilities in the remote areas. India with nearly two lakh cases is estimated to have the second highest number of patients with hemophilia, a lifelong bleeding disorder that prevents blood from clotting, doctors said ahead of the World Hemophilia day on April 17. According to Hemophilia Foundation of India, the umbrella body for registration of the patient with the disorder, the cause of hemophilia is the inability of the body to produce the anti-hemophilic factor (AHF) in the required quantity. There is no known cure for this disorder. If not diagnosed early, the repeated bleeding into joints, bones muscles may lead to synovitis, arthritis and permanent joint deformities. The bleeding itself can lead to wasting and atrophy of muscles. In a case study from New Delhi-based Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Nasir Khan, a painter by profession, got to know about hemophilia when his three year-old son hurt himself and started bleeding profusely 10 years ago. However, he ignored his condition that over the years became severe and caused a permanent joint disability. Dr Ruby Reshi, head of Pathology department at Government Medical College Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, said India is fast progressing in the field of hemophilia treatment but the core problem is of diagnosis. "With only 20,000 registered patients for hemophilia in the country, there is a huge gap as the total number of people with the genetic disorder is not less than 2,00,000. "There is a need for diagnostic centres that can help first of all in diagnosis and later make people aware about the seriousness of the health disorder," Reshi told PTI. "Currently only about 20,000 patients are registered with Hemophilia Federation of India while over 1.5 lakh are still not brought under the registry until diagnosed. Over 80 per cent are undiagnosed. This needs to be bridged," said Dr Nita Radhakrishnan, assistant professor at Noida-based Super Speciality Pediatric Hospital Doctors said, though the government has done enough under the National Health Mission for hemophilia, proper diagnostic centres have not come up in remote belts of the country. Hemophilia is usually inherited and about one in every 5,000 males is born with the disorder. It cannot be caught or transmitted except through inheritance but can sometimes occur when there is no family history of Hemophilia. About one third of new cases are caused by a new mutation of the gene in the mother or the child. In these cases, there is no previous history of hemophilia in the family. Women who have the hemophilia gene are called carriers, and they can pass it on to their children. Dr Rajesh Kashyap, associate professor Hematology department at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, UP, said that only expanding the net of diagnostic labs in the districts of the country can solve the problem of hemophilia. "Until the diagnostic net is expanded neither hemophilia nor gravity of the problem can be known," Kashyap told PTI. Stating the tests for diagnosing Hemophilia are not expensive and can be done at district hospitals, Kashyap explained that there are two types of tests -- Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) Test and Prothrombin Time (PT) Test. "The PT and APTT screenings are blood tests that show if the blood is clotting properly. Currently the only challenge is about screening which has a huge gap in the rural parts of India, he said. Radhakrishnan said that treatment of hemophilia has undergone a lot of change in the last one decade. "Earlier there was a situation when the patient went without medicines and would go for physiotherapy and other treatments as remedies. "Today, though every state has been doing well in terms of ensuring treatment for the patients with hemophilia the major challenge remains diagnosis," Radhakrishnan said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The AAP Tuesday said its Lok Sabha candidates would file their nominations from Thursday even as uncertainty remained over a possible alliance between the ruling party in Delhi and the Congress. Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the party's west Delhi candidate Balbir Singh Jakhar would file his nomination on Thursday while Chandni Chowk candidate Pankaj Gupta, East Delhi candidate Atishi and North West Delhi candidate Gugan Singh would file their nominations on Saturday. On Monday, South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha, North East candidate Dilip Pandey and New Delhi candidate Brajesh Goel would file their nomination, Rai said. He said before filing of nominations, a road show would be taken out by all the candidates and senior party leaders would also participate in it. Amid continuing blame game over seat-sharing in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi and AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal Monday engaged in a public spat, with the Congress president accusing the AAP of making a 'U-turn' over alliance talks prompting the Delhi chief minister to hit back at him. The Congress chief had said while the doors of his party are open, time is running out, but Kejriwal slammed him, questioning what U-turn was he talking about as the talks were still on. The Congress has offered the AAP 4:3 seat-sharing formula - four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three seats for itself while the AAP has proposed 5:2 ration keeping five seats for itself and two for the grand old party. The arrangement has been arrived at on basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here. The Congress has accused the Kejriwal-led outfit of backing out from its commitment, as it is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, besides Delhi for a pre-poll understanding with the Congress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ADB committed to provide USD 3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986, said the annual report of multilateral lending agency. In all, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), owned by 68 member countries, committed a total of USD 3.88 billion, including sovereign loans and co-financing during the year ended December 2018. The demand for ADB assistance continued to grow in 2018. New commitments included USD 21.6 billion in loans, grants and investments from ADB's own resources, exceeding the target of USD 19.71 billion and up 10 per cent from 2017, said the report released on Tuesday. Private sector operations reached USD 3.14 billion, a 37 per cent increase from 2017, which is 14.5 per cent of ADB's overall commitment. ADB also successfully mobilised USD 14 billion in co-financing from bilateral and multilateral agencies and other financing partners, including USD 7.17 billion in co-financing from ADB's private sector operations. "In India, ADB committed USD 3 billion in sovereign loans in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country," the report said. The Manila-headquartered ADB committed several projects in India, including in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Odisha. The report also noted that in India, ADB provided a USD 100-million loan to Ostro Kutch Wind, a renewable energy company owned by investment funds under the management of Actis Capital, for constructing and operating a 250-megawatt wind power project in Gujarat. Among others, it also provided USD 30 million in equity and USD 20 million in debt security to Annapurna Finance, a microfinance company. In March 2018, ADB signed a cooperation arrangement with the International Solar Alliance, headquartered in India, to promote solar energy deployment across Asia and the Pacific, particularly in South Asia. The arrangement includes support for solar power generation, solar-based minigrids, and transmission systems for integrating solar energy into grids. The alliance's major objectives include global deployment of over 1,000 gigawatt of solar generation capacity and investment of over USD 1 trillion into solar energy by 2030. "ADB continued to deliver on its climate commitments in 2018 with USD 3.6 billion in financing approved. "ADB is on target to double its annual climate financing to USD 6 billion in approvals by 2020," the report said. ADB was established in 1966. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Afghan official says a police officer in western Farah province opened fire at fellow policemen, killing four before he was taken into custody. Mohibullah Mohib, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, says an investigation is underway into the attack, which occurred on Monday night. Mohib says it happened at a checkpoint near the city of Farah, the provincial capital. No group immediately claimed responsibility but the Taliban have been very active in Farah. Mohib says the investigation will show whether there are links to the Taliban. The attack comes as a resurgent Taliban, who now hold sway over nearly half of Afghanistan, stage near-daily assaults on Afghan military and security forces, government and other installations throughout the country, including in Farah. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump will open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba, enforcing a controversial law that could rattle the island's economy and anger European allies after more than two decades of delay. Ever since Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, US presidents starting with Bill Clinton have used their power to suspend the key provision every six months, mindful of the international consequences. Those once-routine waivers are now over. A senior administration official said national security advisor John Bolton will formally unveil the shift Wednesday in a speech in Miami to expatriates from Cuba as well as Venezuela and Nicaragua, two other countries in Latin America with leftist governments opposed by Trump. Bolton "will announce the enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," the official said. Under the 1996 law, Cuban exiles will be allowed to head to US courts to sue both private companies and the Havana government for profiting from properties nationalized after Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution. While US courts cannot directly enforce decisions inside Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act is meant to send a chilling message to foreign investors -- including Americans -- who may increasingly decide to exit or steer clear of the island. When it was initially passed, the law had been strongly opposed by the European Union, which worries about legal repercussions for its businesses in the United States. A related provision restricts entry into the United States of anyone who is connected to an unresolved claim in Cuba over confiscated property. Republican lawmakers who have long pushed for tough action on Cuba have rejoiced at the Trump administration's signals since January that it was moving to fully enforce the Helms-Burton Act. "Years of consecutive extensions may have lulled some into a false sense of impunity," said Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican of Cuban descent. "Yet now companies which willingly entangle themselves in partnerships with the anti-American, illegitimate and oppressive regime in Cuba are on notice that they will be held responsible for their part in callously benefiting from the extensive losses suffered by victims of the regime," he said in a recent statement. The US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that supports commercial ties between the longtime adversaries, said that companies with combined revenues of USD 678 billion could be targeted in Helms-Burton lawsuits. According to the group, companies that have been mentioned for potential lawsuits include major international airlines, including US-based American, Delta and United, hotels chains such as Marriott and Accor and companies as diverse of French liquor maker Pernod Ricard and Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Trump's move marks a drastic shift from his predecessor Barack Obama, who had normalized relations with Cuba, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. Obama eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Cuba, signaling to many US businesses that the time had come to return to the island. Trump has also been pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy that has sparked a massive exodus. It is the latest time that Trump has moved ahead with a policy long seen as too disruptive. In 2017, he moved the US embassy in Israel to bitterly divided Jerusalem, similarly ending years of waivers of a US law. The Helms-Burton Law is named for far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and congressman Dan Burton. They drafted the law passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by Clinton to try to repair relations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, amid the 72-hour ban on campaigning imposed on him by the Election Commission. Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple here and offered prayers Tuesday, a day after the poll panel barred him from electioneering for three days for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. In Ayodhya, along with the makeshift shrine to Ram Lalla, the chief minister will also pray at the nearby Hanuman Garhi temple on Wednesday. In the evening, he will go to Devipatan, a temple of goddess Durga in Balrampur district, where he would stay the night. The chief minister reached the Hanuman Setu temple here Tuesday morning and got a rousing reception from his supporters amid slogans of "Jai Gorakhdham" and "Jai Bajrangbali ji". He, however, refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite the "Hanuman Chalisa." Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. The chief minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's roadshow, held Tuesday before he filed his nomination paper for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Adityanath also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the chief minister's visit to the temple "a personal one". The Election Commission Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am Tuesday for his "divisive" comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Retired Supreme Court judge N Santosh Hegde Tuesday said Articles 35A and 370, giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, are required to be scrapped as they run counter to the rights of other states. He said in 1948 when the Maharaja of Kashmir agreed to merge the state of Kashmir with India, certain assurances were given to the people by introducing Article 35A and Article 370 of the Constitution. Though the wording of this looks like the assurance is "permanent", in the background in which it was given and the consequential things that have happened in the nation indicate it's not possible to continue these articles because if Kashmir is an integral part of India, it can't have a separate status compared to other states, Hegde said. "So, in today's context both the articles are causing a lot of problems for the country as a whole", the former Solicitor General of India told PTI in an interview. "So, I don't think it's possible to continue that article". He said "today's situation" requires those articles to be scrapped because certain autonomy given under that Act would run counter to the rights of other states and if Kashmir is an integral part of India, then it must have only an equal status with others. "I think 70 years have gone by...whatever was the purpose of those articles...according to me, it has served that purpose. Therefore, now it can't be said that Kashmir is not an integral part of India. Therefore, these two articles do not have any place in the constitution anymore", the former Karnataka Lokayukta said. Article 370 grants special status to J&K and 35A prohibits outsiders from purchasing land and property in that state. The BJP has in its election manifesto promised to repeal the articles if it retains power after the Lok Sabha polls. Meanwhile, referring to campaigning by political parties for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Hegde, a former Advocate General of Karnataka, said "We have come to the lowest possible standards in our electioneering now". Hegde mentioned in particular controversial comments made by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi regarding "minorities' votes" and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on his BJP opponent and film actor Jaya Prada. " is in the lowest ebb possible today. I think unless there is a change in the thinking and moral standard of these politicians go up, I think we are in big trouble in the days to come", he said. Irrespective of political parties, some of their members have gone to such a level that they don't deserve to be in politics, he said. "And this is not the political campaign India would have expected from its leaders. It's a very cheap and low level of campaigning, without any moral standards", he said. "Unfortunately, it's not confined to only one political party. Every day standard is coming so low, it's a very sad thing that in a country of values like India, that we have to suffer this", Hegde said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was on Tuesday issued a fresh show cause notice by the Election Commission for allegedly making inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradeh in the past few days. The EC gave him 24 hours to respond to the notice saying prima facie he is guilty of violating the provisions of the model code. Giving instances of his remarks, the EC said on one occasion, he had allegedly said that "fascists are trying to kill him". On another occasion, he had allegedly claimed that the prime minister has killed Muslims. He had also allegedly said that criminals were occupying constitutional posts, in an apparent jibe at Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh. The EC pointed out that FlRs have been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act against him in the cases. The notice also pointed out that the Supreme Court has noted that religion and caste cannot be used by anyone while making any statement during electioneering. "Now, therefore, the Commission, after considering the available material and extant instructions on the matter, has decided to provide you an opportunity to explain your stand regarding the said statements. Your explanation shall be submitted within 24 hours of receipt of this notice, failing which the Commission shall take a decision without further reference to you," it said. Not satisfied with the reply on "khaki underwear" jibe at BJP candidate Jaya Prada, the Commission had on Monday barred him from campaigning for 72 hours beginning Tuesday morning. While Tuesday's ban is pan India, Khan had faced a similar UP-centric ban in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for his inflammatory remarks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after the EC barred senior SP leader Azam Khan from poll campaigning over his derogatory remarks against BJP leader Jaya Prada, his son Abdullah Tuesday alleged that his father was targeted as he is a Muslim. "No action was taken when the BJP candidate (Jaya Prada) stated on Twitter that she is coming to Rampur (Khan's constituency) to bring an end to the regime of a demon," Abdullah told persons here. "But in (Khan's) speech, there has been no mention of a name or gender, Azam Khan has been banned only because he is a Muslim," he added. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was slapped Monday with a poll campaign ban, an FIR and a women commission notice for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe at Jaya Prada. Jaya Prada, who was earlier with the SP and has now been pitted by the BJP against Khan from Rampur Lok Sabha seat, demanded his immediate disqualification from contesting polls. However, Abdullah termed the gag order as an attempt by the EC to please the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the poll panel banned Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath from campaigning. "As Yogi was also banned, it was required to ban Azam Khan so that it does not seem that action is being taken only against the BJP and make them angry... it was done to please the BJP," Abdullah alleged. The EC had imposed a nation-wide ban on Adityanath for 72 hours, starting from 6 am Tuesday, for his "provocative" communal remarks. Stressing that the SP leader was not allowed to present his view point, he said, "No notice was served... natural justice was denied... he was banned just like that." Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in Lok Sabha after winning in 2004 and 2009 as a Samajwadi Party leader. Later she was expelled from the party, along with Amar Singh, following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Last month she joined BJP and has been nominated as the saffron party's candidate against Khan from Rampur, which goes to polls on April 23. Khan and some other SP leaders sought to suggest that Khan's comments were targeted at Singh, who is considered her mentor in UP (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bahrain on Tuesday jailed 138 people and revoked their citizenship for plotting to form a "terror" group with links to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the public prosecutor said. They received prison terms of three years to life for having tried to build a Bahrain Hezbollah, similar to the Shiite militia active in Lebanon, said Ahmad al-Hammadi. Some members had received military training in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, he said in a statement. Another man was also jailed but his citizenship was not revoked, while 30 others were acquitted, said the statement posted on the prosecution Instagram account. A judicial source said all the defendants are members of the Shiite community in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. The source also said that 111 were already in custody while 58 were sentenced in absentia. The mass sentencing was "the largest single incident" since the Bahraini government began revoking nationalities of opponents in 2012, said the opposition Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Manama had stripped the nationalities of 990 people since 2012, including 180 this year, it said. Global rights group Amnesty International condemned the court decision to strip the convicts of their citizenship, saying "this amounts to mass arbitrary denaturalisation". The prosecutor said that 69 defendants were sentenced to life in jail, 39 to 10 years, 23 to seven years and the rest to between three and five years imprisonment. Ninety-six of the defendants were also fined 100,000 Bahraini dinars (USD 265,000) each. Bahrain's population is majority Shiite Muslim, according to unofficial estimates that are contested by the government. Authorities have jailed dozens of high-profile activists and disbanded both religious and secular opposition groups since Shiite-led protests demanding political change erupted in 2011. They have stripped hundreds of those convicted of their citizenship, leaving many stateless. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress Tuesday asserted that it has shown a "big heart" by agreeing to form an alliance with the AAP in Delhi and said the ball is now in the court of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to take a decision. A day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal indulged in a public spat over the issue, the grand old party said it has already offered AAP four seats in the national capital and now the decision has to be taken by it. "Party president Rahul Gandhi has made it pretty clear that an alliance can be formed just in Delhi in a ratio of 4:3," he told reporters, in response to a question on alliance. "People have expressed their doubts to us over AAP but despite that we have shown a big heart and for a common objective we have agreed to form an alliance in Delhi. Senior party leader Randeep Surjewala has made it clear on the party's stand on alliance in other states," he said. He accused Kejriwal of playing "hide and seek" and said Gandhi has made its stand clear. Surjewala had last week said that if an alliance has to be made it can only be made in the national capital and not in other states. Amid a continuing blame game over seat-sharing in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal Monday engaged in a public spat, with the Congress president accusing the AAP of making a 'U-turn' over alliance talks prompting the Delhi chief minister to hit back at him. The Congress chief had said while the doors of his party are open, time is running out, but Kejriwal slammed him, questioning what U-turn was he talking about as the talks were still on. The Congress has offered the AAP 4:3 seat-sharing formula - four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three seats for itself while the AAP has proposed 5:2 ration keeping five seats for itself and two for the grand old party. The arrangement has been arrived at on basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here. The Congress has accused the Kejriwal-led outfit of backing out from its commitment, as it is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, besides Delhi for a pre-poll understanding with the Congress. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said in response to Gandhi's tweet, "The Congress is not giving even a single seat to the AAP in Punjab where it has four MPs and 20 MLAs and in Haryana." "In Delhi where the Congress has zero MPs and MLAs, it is demanding three seats. Is this how agreement happens? Why do not you want to stop the BJP in other states," he asked. The AAP has already announced its candidates on the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi, while the Congress has finalised names of its candidates which could be announced soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank Tuesday said it has received approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the proposed acquisition of Gruh Finance. Gruh Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of HDFC Ltd, was taken over in January by Bandhan Bank in a share-swap deal. Last month, the private sector lender received a nod in this regard from the Reserve Bank of India. "The Competition Commission of India has by way of its letter dated April 15, 2019, intimated that CCI, at its meeting held on April 15, 2019, considered the proposed combination and approved the same," the bank said in a regulatory filing. As part of the deal, Bandhan Bank has to transfer 14.9 per cent stake to HDFC for merging Gruh with itself. The deal will allow Bandhan Bank's promoter Bandhan Financial Holdings' shareholding to come down to about 61 per cent from about 82 per cent, and HDFC to hold around 15 per cent in the merged entity from about 57 per cent in Gruh. The swap ratio for the amalgamation would be 568 shares of Bandhan Bank for every 1,000 shares of Gruh Finance. Shares of Bandhan Bank closed at Rs 558.10 apiece on the BSE, up 4.72 per cent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The electoral battle in Amroha is raging over the "outsider" tag with key contenders -- BJP's sitting MP Kanwar Singh Tanwar and BSP's Danish Ali -- accusing each other of being oblivious to local issues and concerns. The last time a sitting MP retained the Amroha seat was in 1980 when Chandrapal Singh won his second straight election from here. Barring that election, voters in Amroha are known to choose new candidates ever since Congress veteran Maulana Hifzur Rahman scored a hat-trick of wins in the 1950s and 60s. So, Tanwar has an uphill task with history and numbers stacked against him as he takes on BSP-SP-RLD mahagathbandhan candidate Ali and the Congress's Sachin Chaudhary. Ali, who was general secretary of the Janata Dal (Secular), quit that party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Muslims constitute a substantial chunk of the population. Dalits also are in sizeable numbers, especially in rural areas. Both Muslims and the Dalits appear to be backing the gathbandhan, but the fear of vote division is also lurking. In this election, the "outsider" tag has become a major issue. "I am not an outsider. I am a part of this constituency. This is false information being spread by the BJP. There are four segments under the constituency and I am from the Garhmukteshwar segment," Ali told PTI. "It (the outsider issue) is propaganda and the BJP is a master at propaganda," he said, adding that Amroha is my birthplace and also my "karmabhoomi". Ali alleged that Tanwar was an outsider who was not even from Uttar Pradesh, but Haryana. Tanwar hit back at Ali saying it is he who is an outsider and does not live here. "My family, my children are here. I have a house here, I have land here. I have been living here since 2011. So, how am I an outsider here," Tanwar asked. "He (Ali) has been living in Bengaluru. His children study there. He is running his campaign out of a hotel. He doesn't even have a rented house here," he claimed. Tanwar is hoping to cash in on the goodwill Prime Minister Narendra Modi has here with several people backing him to get a second term. "There is a wave for Prime Minister Modi especially in the villages. Can't say about the city. Modi should get a second term," Manoj Kumar, a first time voter, said. Another resident Hakim Sabahat Ullah, however, said the 'gathbandhan' will win hands down as the Muslims and Dalits are together this time. Amroha has about 16 lakh voters with Muslims, Jats and Dalits forming a large chunk of the population. It was way back in 1980 that incumbent MP Chandrapal Singh was re-elected. However, he won in 1977 on a Bharatiya Lok Dal party ticket, while in 1980, he was victorious on a Janata Party (Secular) ticket. Tanwar, however, expressed confidence that he will break the jinx and win from here for a second straight time. The BSP last won the seat in 1999 when Rashid Alvi was victorious on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. In the 2004 elections, Independent candidate Harish Nagpal won the seat. while in the 2009 elections, Devendra Nagpal of the Rashtriya Lok Dal registered a victory. Amroha goes to polls on Thursday in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 22-year-old man was shot dead by two unidentified miscreants who also looted Rs 60,000 from him here in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Monday when Deepak (22), along with his father Ram Kumar, was returning home after withdrawing money from a bank, they added. The armed miscreants, who came on a motorcycle, intercepted the victim and his father near Inderghar village under the Thana Bhawan police station limits, Station House Officer (SHO) Sandeep Baltan said, adding that they looted Rs 60,000 from the father-son duo and when Deepak attempted to resist their move, they shot him dead. A case had been registered in connection with the incident, the SHO said, adding that efforts were on to identify the culprits on the basis of the CCTV footage collected from the area. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leading political parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress have not pledged any significant policy reform for debt-ridden telecom sector, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said Tuesday. However, their popular poll promises may help the sector by pushing up consumer spending on communications services, it said. "Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor Indian National Congress (INC) are pledging significant policy reform in the telecom sector, which will continue to suffer from depressed earnings and elevated debt levels in the near term. "Populist measures could lend tailwinds to increased short-term spending on communications services," Fitch Solutions said in its industry trend analysis. The firm said that mobile subscription growth in India is likely to outperform with its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7 per cent over the 2019-28 compared to the Asia average of 1 per cent due to support that is expected to come from the populist measures proposed by both the leading political parties and continued price-led competition, which will attract first-time subscribers. Both BJP and INC have committed to provide national broadband connectivity to every village in India. The nationwide BharatNet broadband project was officially launched in 2011 under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to connect all 2.5 lakh village panchayats in the country. "That administration itself made little progress towards rollout, with most of the infrastructure deployed by the successor BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government instead. The initiative itself, however, has missed several deadlines, and as of December 2018 the government announced that about half of the village blocks were connected to the ?bre network," Fitch Solutions said. The firm said that both parties are keen to deliver on their pledges in order to shore up electoral support. The BJP has promised to double farmer incomes by 2022 from 2014 levels, while the Congress has proposed steps to raise expenditures and slash taxes, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP Tuesday urged the Election Commission (EC) to ban Congress president Rahul Gandhi from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls and impose the "heaviest penalty" on him, saying he levelled false allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale aircraft deal. A BJP delegation comprising Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Hardeep Singh Puri among others met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora with the complaint and demanded action against Gandhi for repeatedly using the term 'chowkidar chor hai' and making false attributions to the Supreme Court. "Today we have strongly complained to the EC to take serious cognisance, take appropriate action against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his continuous reckless allegations against the Prime Minister of India by calling him 'Chowkidar chor hai'," Prasad told the reporters outside the EC office after meeting the CEC. Demanding strict action against Gandhi, the Union law minister also said that the Congress chief's behaviour was in violation of the model code of conduct (MCC). "It is the EC alone which is authorised to take action in case of violation of MCC. We have urged the EC to impose heaviest penalty on Gandhi including banning him from campaigning because of the reckless manner in which he is abusing the campaign platform. He is shamelessly saying 'chowkidar chor hai' and lying constantly so there should by an investigation into it," Prasad said. He also said that Gandhi crossed "all limits" by making false attributions to the Supreme Court order which only spoke about the admissibility of certain documents unauthorisedly taken out of the Ministry of Defence. He said Gandhi sought to distort the Supreme Court order which has not said a word of any illegality in the Rafale deal, adding that the BJP has submitted all the evidence of his comments made after he filed nomination in Amethi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress after its leader Navjot Singh Sidhu apparently asked Muslims at an election rally in Bihar to unite and oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying it was in the opposition party's "DNA" to divide people. At a press conference here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) played a video of Sidhu's speech at Katihar in Bihar, where the Punjab minister is heard saying minorities in the country are the majority in that area and if they vote unitedly, the Modi government will be "sorted out". Slamming the Congress,BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "It is part of the Congress' DNA to divide. It is not a new norm in this party." The BJP also moved the Election Commission, seeking action against Sidhu for allegedly inflaming communal passion. Prasad also attacked Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her criticism of the saffron party over its interpretation of nationalism, and said she should not be giving lessons in nationalism to the BJP. "Your Congress encourages 'tukde-tukde gang'. It seeks evidence of soldiers' valour," he alleged, accusing the opposition party of dividing people for vote bank Is this nationalism, the BJP leader asked. "We are proud that nationalism, national security and national respect have emerged as a big issue. People of country will respond. We are very assured to know that because of these comments of opposition leaders, seeking evidence of sacrifices, questioning tough action against terrorism, all these issues have come to the centre stage of this campaign," he said. Whether it is Sidhu or opposition leaders like Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, they are all speaking on a similar voice, Prasad alleged. The BJP leader also took strong exception to some Bangladeshi actors campaigning in West Bengal in support of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress and questioned if they had sought permission for this. The general election is for the citizens of India, he said, adding outsiders may come as observers but if they want to campaign for a party, then they may require permission. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari Tuesday slammed the BJP for attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi with expletives. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party was resorting to abusive language as they had "no poll issue" and a "track record of non-performance" to campaign with for the ongoing General Elections. "The difficulty is that the BJP has no issue. They have no performance. So, how do you deflect the (public's) attention? You indulge in abuse and rhetoric. People of India are not going to be misled. They are angry over the broken promises of the past five years and they will teach the Narendra Modi government a lesson in these elections," the former Congress union minister said. Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti had allegedly made a derogatory comment against Rahul Gandhi at a public event in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, provoking strong protests from the Congress. Tewari, who is the Congress candidate from Anandpur Sahib, said the Lok Sabha elections are a "referendum" on the "non-performance" of the NDA government at the Centre. He accused the central government of destruction of institutions and no action to counter the agrarian crisis. Tewari, who had opted out of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is pitted against SAD candidate and sitting MP Prem Singh Chandumajra from Anandpur Sahib Parliamentary seat. The AAP has fielded Narinder Singh Shergill for the seat. Tewari initially applied ticket for Chandigarh seat. However, the party gave the ticket to four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal. "The issue in this election is the non-performance of the NDA government in which the Akali Dal has been a participant. The Punjab government was elected in 2017. Performance of the Punjab government will be assessed in 2022, which is at the end of sixty months," Tiwari said, when asked about state opposition members charging the Amarinder Singh-led government with reneging on poll promises. On his political rivals calling him an "outsider", Tewari said the description was "absurd, preposterous and nonsensical." "I have not come from Pakistan. What do you mean by outsider? Have I come from Pakistan? Punjab is such a small state and to label somebody an insider or outsider means you are bereft of real issues. I was born and brought up in Chandigarh. If we get into an outsider (debate), then Chandumajra is an outsider as he comes from Patiala. Why is he contesting from Anandpur Sahib," he asked. He sought to assuage the sentiments of the Other Backward Classes community (OBCs), saying "they are part of the family" and they will be reached out to. On Monday, the Congress had expelled its spokesperson Gurwinder Singh Bali from the primary membership for six years for "anti-party activities". Bali was reportedly upset over being ignored for the Anandpur Sahib ticket. The party's representatives in the OBC community had threatened to field their candidate as an Independent, if their claim for the Anandpur Sahib seat was ignored. "The party is united. Yesterday, we went to Anandpur Sahib and the entire local leadership of the constituency, grass root workers, all the MLAs were there. So the whole party is united," Tiwari said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Changes that US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has proposed in the wake of two deadly accidents of its top-selling 737 MAX aircraft are "suitable", a government source has said. However, Boeing has not yet submitted a planned software fix to the Federal Aviation Administration, the source told AFP on Tuesday. The source said "the training is operationally suitable. Boeing has yet to submit the final software package." Boeing has been working on a software fix for its anti-stall system following crashes shortly after takeoff in Ethiopia last month and Indonesia in October. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Authorities conducted search at a store in the Theni Lok Sabha constituency in on Tuesday night following inputs about suspected cash, during which police had to open fire in the air to disperse supporters of the TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK who objected to the action, officials said. The raiding team, comprising officials of the Election Commission-appointed surveillance squad and the income tax department, seized bundles of cash allegedly meant for distribution among voters, they said. When the team arrived at the store in Andipatti in Theni district, believed to be run by a supporter of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), the shopkeeper fled the spot after downing the shutter. Soon, an argument broke out between AMMK workers and the officials which resulted in a commotion and police fired four rounds in the air, they said. No one was injured in the firing, a senior official said. Four AMMK volunteers were detained in connection with the incident. The officials said a number of neatly packed packets containing cash. "The packets have ward numbers and number of voters written on them and Rs 300 is written on each of the packets. The raid is continuing," the senior official said. goes to polls on April 18. Earlier, the countermanded election to the Vellore parliamentary constituency on charges of illegal cash being used to lure voters there. Campaigning for the East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to the poll in the second phase on April 18, ended at 5 pm Tuesday, Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti said. East Tripura constituency is spread across 30 assembly segments and six districts and altogether 10 candidates, including those of the ruling BJP, Congress and the CPI-M are in the fray for it. Ruling BJP candidate Rebati Mohan Tripura, sitting MP Jitendra Chowdhury of the CPI (M) and Pragya Dev Burman of the Congress are among those contesting from the seat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri campaigned for the respective party candidates in the high voltage canvassing. Dhalai district superintendent of police Sudipta Das told PTI that sufficient security deployment was made to ensure free and fair polling on April 18. "We have put central and state armed forces and Tripura Police personnel on duty round-the-clock and CCTV cameras will be installed in polling stations. There will be sector officers from both civil and police administration apart from flying squads," Das said. Additional central para military force personnel were sent to the constituency after the first phase of polls in West Tripura seat on April 11, he said. Returning officer of East Tripura, Vikas Singh said strict security arrangement would be maintained in the constituency. The BSF has intensified vigilance along the Indo-Bangladesh border which would be completely sealed much before the beginning of polling, he said adding security escorts for candidates have been enhanced and some more arrangements would be made on election day. Poll personnel will reach their destination by April 17 and polling will be held from 7 am till 5 pm on April 18. In an effort to reach out to the people, the BJP has promised pension scheme for farmers, National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) in the state, smart border fencing to stop illegal immigration, enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Bill and development of indigenous communities. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also stressed on fulfillment of HIRA (Highways, I-ways, Railways and Airways) and making Tripura a model state in poll campaigns. Congress has formed an alliance with Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT) an indigenous regional party. They are contesting the poll with issues like scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, inclusion of Kokborok, the lingua franca of Tripura's indigenous community in the 8th schedule and empowering Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous Territorial Council (TTAADC), which constitute two third of the state territory and is home to tribals, who forms one third of the state population. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura ( IPFT), which an ally of the ruling BJP, will contest the Lok Sabha polls alone and has fielded N C Debbarma, who is also state revenue minister, as its candidate in East constituency. Like in the assembly polls, the indigenous party kept up its demand for a separate Tipraland as its main poll plank for the Lok Sabha polls. The IPFT and BJP had together formed the government after bagging 44 out of 60 Assembly seats in 2018, ending a two-decade old Marxist era. The East Tripura seat had been won by Left candidates since 1952 except for two terms when late Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore won from the seat in 1989 and Bibhu Kumari Devi in 1991. The number of voters in the constituency is 12,61,861 of whom 6,41,515 are male and 6,20,342 are women and 4 are from the third gender. They will exercise their franchise in 1645 polling stations of which 30 will be managed by women, EC sources said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The nearly one month long campaigning by political parties for the April 18 elections in the union territory for the lone Lok Sabha seat and the by election to Thattanchavady assembly here ended at 6 PM today. Leaders of various political parties, including from neighbouring Tamil Nadu had campaigned in Puducherry in support of their respective front's candidates for nearly a month. Local leaders and others attached to the DMK led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) had attacked not only the BJP led NDA, AINRC and AIADMK, but also Lt Governor Kiran Bedi "for putting obstacles in implementation of welfare schemes." The poll is for all practical purposes a prestige fight between the ruling Congress and opposition AINRC. The Chief Minister focussed on the Congress manifesto and highlighted its promise that every poor family would be provided a monthly income of Rs 6000. He also highlighted 'challenges' the elected government was facing here because of 'obstacles' Lt Governor Kiran Bedi was placing in implementation of schemes and also the fall in grants from the Centre. Narayanasamy had pointed out that statehood was the only solution to help the Union Territory overcome its sufferings. AINRC leader and former Chief Minister N Rangasamy had flayed the three year Congress rule here, accusing it of failure in all sectors without implementing welfare schemes. Rangasamy had also said the Chief Minister should have maintained cordial relations with Bedi for better development of the Union Territoty, instead of frequently locking horns with her. Eighteen candidates are contesting the lone seat in Parliament, including senior Congress leader Vaithilingam, doctor turned politician K Narayanasamy (AINRC), former AIADMK MLA M A S Subramanian (Makkal Needhi Maiam), among others. There are also two women contestants in the fray. Puducherry and its outlying regions of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam together have a total strength of 9,73,410 voters. Women voters with a strength of 5,13,810 outnumber men. (4,59,504). There are 96 voters coming under the other category. The Thattanchavady Assembly segment fell vacant following disqualification of sitting legislator Ashok Anand (AINRC) on November 8 after he was convicted by a CBI court in a disproportionate assets case. All 18 candidates contesting the poll are fresh faces in a parliamentary election though the Congress candidate is a former Chief Minister and former Speaker. Similarly all eight candidates contesting the bypoll to Thattanchavady Assembly constituency are also green horns in the poll battle. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Campaigning ended Tuesday for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 18 for 96 seats spread across 12 states and the union territory of Puducherry that was marked by acrimony with the Election Commission barring several leaders from electioneering for their controversial remarks. Polling will be held in 38 seats in Tamil Nadu, 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipura, Tripura and Puducherry. Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and a host of Union ministers among others canvassed for their party candidates in the past few days, undertaking whirlwind tours of constituencies. Among the key contestants in the fray are Union ministers Jual Oram, Sadananda Gowda and Pon Radhakrishnan, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress leaders Verappa Moily and Raj Babbar, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, BJP's Hema Malini and DMK's Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and Kanimozhi. After the Election Commission Monday barred Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Maneka Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Azam Khan from campaigning for varying periods over violations of the moral code of conduct, the leaders stayed away from the campaign but marked their presence in other ways. Mayawati's nephew Akash Anand delivered his first political speech in Nagina, where she was initially scheduled to address a joint opposition alliance meeting. Khan's son Abdullah addressed a press conference in Rampur, criticising the EC order while Adityanath prayed at a Hanuman temple in Lucknow, a day after the EC issued the order frowning at his 'Ali-Bajrang Bali' remark. In Odisha, besides the five Lok Sabha seats, polling will also be held for 35 assembly constituencies. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is contesting from his home turf Hinjili in Ganjam district and Bijepur in Bargarh. While there are five women candidates in the Lok Sabha seats, 25 women are in the fray for the assembly segments. In Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, contesting as part of the NDA. The alliance comprises among others BJP, PMK, DMDK and Tamil Maanila Congress of former union minister G K Vasan. The DMK has formed a "Secular Progressive Alliance" comprising the Congress and Left parties, among others. The electoral battle in the state is largely among the two fronts led by the Dravidian majors and the AMMK led by TTV Dhinakaran, an AIADMK rival, though parties such as the fledgling Makkal Needhi Maiam of actor-politician Kamal Hassan are also testing their fortunes. Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu are the first ever after the demise of Dravidian stalwarts J Jayalalithaa of AIADMK and M Karunanidhi of the DMK. Allegations of use of money flew thick and fast in the run up to the polls with poll authorities seizing over Rs 127 crore cash and gold and other precious metals with a total value of Rs 284 crore in various parts of the state. The EC in an order Tuesday evening cancelled the poll in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency over allegations of excess use of money power. Authorities had seized over Rs 10 crore cash from a premises of an associate of a DMK leader recently. The district police had filed a complaint against DMK candidate Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. It was a relatively low key campaign in Srinagar with only Farooq Abdullah, who is seeking a fourth term in the lower house of Parliament from the seat, making his presence felt as a candidate. Abdullah is pitched against political greenhorns Aga Moshin of the PDP, Irfan Ansari of the People's Conference and Khalid Jehangir of the BJP. An election official said there were only 46 rallies in Srinagar district, a city of over 12 lakh residents, during the campaign period. The Lok Sabha polls are being held in seven-phases for 543 seats on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19, and counting will be on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after the opposition parties complained of malpractices in the first phase of polls in West Bengal, the has decided to deploy central forces at 80 per cent of over 5,000 booths in three Lok Sabha seats, where voting will be held on April 18. Sporadic incidents of booth capture, smashing of electronic voting machines and intimidation of voters were reported from parts of Cooch Behar and Alipurduar on April 11. According to an EC official, the authorities had initially decided to deploy central forces at 55 per cent of the 5,390 booths in Darjeeling, Raiganj and Jalpaiguri seats, but changed its mind following complaints of irregularities during the first phase of election. "In the first phase, the central forces covered 51 per cent of the booths in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. Now, it has been decided that 194 companies of central forces will be on guard at 80 per cent of the polling stations in the three north Bengal constituencies," he said. The other 20 per cent of the booths will be manned by the state armed police, aided with CCTVs, webcasting, videography and micro-observers, the official stated. Apart from that, six companies of central forces will be deployed to guard the strong rooms, he said. "There will also be arrangements of webcasting to help the ECI officials, both in Kolkata and New Delhi, to oversee the polling process," he explained. The manner in which the deployment of central forces has been increased in the second phase, "there are chances that the EC will seek hundred percent paramilitary force cover" for the next five phases, the official said. "As per EC directives, 274 companies of paramilitary forces are likely to be coming to for the third phase of polling. The number may increase to 383 in the fourth phase, 400 in the fifth phase. In the sixth and the seventh phases, however, the figure may come down again, with 395 companies for south Bengal seats and 388 for constituencies in Kolkata and its surrounding areas," he noted. Incidentally, the seventh phase will have 17,058 booths, the highest among the seven phases in "In the first phase, there were complaints of malpractices in several booths of Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. The incidents were nothing major, but we are making arrangements to ensure that people get to exercise their franchise without fear," he said. In Darjeeling, around 50 per cent of the total booths have been marked 'sensitive', keeping in mind the geographical location of the constituency and the recent reports of violence in the region. "Some places in Darjeeling are difficult to access, but we are taking all forms of precautionary measures to ensure an incident-free election. The central forces as well as the EC officials will be reaching the Hills by the end of the day," he maintained. Another EC official said Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has issued strict instructions, seeking proper deployment of central forces in the state. "The central forces are conducting route marches to help the voters gain confidence. There has been clear directives that action will be taken if any nuisance comes to notice," he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday claimed that for the first time the Centre is not facing any anti-incumbency this election and hit out at Congress saying it has lost credibility among the people as it has no mission and its leader (Rahul Gandhi) lacks vision. He also claimed that for the first time the party (BJP) in power at the Centre is contesting Lok Sabha polls with confidence, while opposition parties are frustrated and disheartened. People know that the BJP-led government at the Centre is working honestly for the development of the country and there is no anti-incumbency factor this time, he told a public meeting here. "People are not angry with Modi or the BJP-led government. They are angry with the Congress and its 'Mahamilawati' (highly adulterated) friends for their behaviour. They have been spreading lies and making false allegations," the prime minister said. "Now everybody knows that Congress has no mission, while its leader has no vision. They are devoid of principles and intentions," Modi said without naming anyone. Mounting a scathing attack on the Congress, he said it can go to any extent for its vote bank. "The party and its friends have only one agenda - that of 'Modi Hatao'," he said. Modi held an impressive roadshow from Bhubaneswar airport to Baramunda ground for the public meeting. The prime minister slammed the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government in Odisha accusing it of having failed to pull the state out of backwardness and for protecting the corrupt. "I can see enthusiasm among the people here who are keen to elect a double engine government by voting for BJP both at the Centre and in Odisha to ensure speedy development," he said. Assembly election in Odisha is being held along with Lok Sabha polls in four phases. While the first phase was held on April 11, the remaining polls will be held on April 18, 23 and 29. The state has 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre Tuesday sought a report from theForeigner Regional Registration Officer, Kolkata, on a Bangladeshi actor allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls, officials said. The move comes following reports that Bangladeshi starFerdous Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMC's Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) Kolkata has been asked to send a detailed report whether Ahmed has violated visa conditions by allegedly participating in the Lok Sabha poll campaigning. Ahmed is said to be visiting India on a Business Visa. The Bangladeshi film star was reportedly seen seeking votes for Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border. TheFRROis responsible for providing visa services in the area under its jurisdiction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese police have ramped up efforts to close down illegal marriage centres and brokers amid complaints of trafficking of Pakistani women to China, who were lured with fake marriages. Local authorities in Heze, East China's Shandong Province, have stepped up efforts to close illegal marriage brokers which introduce women from Pakistan to Chinese men, state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday. There are many videos of wedding ceremonies of Pakistani women with Chinese men. Many of these videos were claimed to be shot in Shandong, one of China's most populous provinces, the report said. The scandal came to light after a top private Pakistani television station 'ARY news' last week aired images of several Chinese men with six local women in different rooms, including two teenage girls, at an illegal matchmaking centre in the eastern city of Lahore. A Voice of America (VOA) report said the ARY channel crew showed up unannounced at the facility along with local police and interviewed the foreigners, their local facilitators and the alleged Pakistani wives of the Chinese men. The local facilitators told the TV channel they would lure families into an agreement by saying their would-be Chinese son-in-law was seeking Pakistani citizenship so he could invest in the country as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC), the USD 60 billion project connecting both the countries. The report raised concerns of trafficking of Pakistani women to China. Since the CPEC project started in 2013, there are large number of Chinese into Pakistan to work on various projects. The scandal came to light at a sensitive time when China is set to organise the 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) from April 25-27 to showcase the development of its mega USD trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC project is officially stated to be BRI's flagship project. The report said since February, civil affairs department, local police and market supervision departments in Heze have worked together to take down illegal matchmaking centres. Two illegal centres in Heze's Caoxian county, which allegedly introduced local males to females from Pakistan for a price of more than 100,000 yuan (USD15,000), were raided on February 21, the report said. Some matchmaking centres in Heze spread information on cross-national marriages among young people during the past Spring Festival and Chinese New Year holidays in February charging large sums of money to effect introductions to women from abroad, it said. China is cooperating with Pakistani law enforcement agencies to crack down on the illegal marriage brokers, rejecting Pakistani media reports of human trafficking and sales of organs, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan said in a press release on Saturday. "We remind both Chinese and Pakistani citizens to remain vigilant and not to be cheated. We hope that the public does not believe in misleading information and works together to safeguard China-Pakistan friendship," the embassy said. A marriage broker surnamed Li, who works for a matchmaker in Chinese city of Dezhou, also in Shandong Province, told the Global Times that Chinese men looked for foreign brides as it is not easy for local men to find a wife, especially as the gender ratio is so unbalanced. The gender ratio in China which was 113.5 men to every 100 women in 2015, one of the highest in the world. It is forecast to drop below 112 by 2020 and 107 by 2030, according to the National Population Development Outline released by the Chinese central cabinet in January, 2017. Li said that his agency had successfully introduced several couples. He promised that if the marriage does not last two months, the clients have a second chance to go to Pakistan to find another wife, the Global Times report said. "Several matchmaking agencies in China reached by the daily confirmed that they used to introduce Pakistani women to Chinese men, but some had stopped the business because it was too difficult to get visas," the report said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Swedish telecom giant Ericsson said Tuesday that China's market regulator was investigating the company over licensing issues as countries around the world prepare to roll out the next generation of mobile networks. China's State Administration of Market Regulation is investigating the firm due to complaints against its intellectual property rights licensing in China, a spokesperson for Ericsson told AFP. The telecom gear maker earns about seven percent of its revenue in China, according to its 2018 annual report. China's market regulator dispatched roughly 20 investigators to raid Ericsson's Beijing office on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing a person familiar with the matter. "Ericsson is fully cooperating with the investigation and will refrain from further comments while it is ongoing," a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement. Ericsson and its US-based competitor Qualcomm own a large portion of patents connected to 3G and 4G mobile networks and devices and have come under fire for the high licensing royalties they charge. Qualcomm in 2015 agreed to pay a 6.1 billion yuan (nearly $1 billion) fine and said it would modify its business practices in China to end an official anti-trust investigation triggered after unnamed industry players complained the firm was abusing its market dominance to charge high prices. "At Ericsson, we license our industry leading patent portfolio on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms and conditions and have always been committed to these FRAND principles," a spokesperson for the company said. China's homegrown tech giant Huawei has earned a large number of patents that companies will need to license as they roll out next generation 5G mobile networks and devices. Huawei is the world's biggest producer of telecommunications gear and has been under fire in recent months after the arrest of a top executive in Canada and a global campaign by Washington to blacklist its equipment over security concerns. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Christian Michel, the alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, moved a Delhi court Tuesday seeking 7-day interim bail to celebrate Easter with his family. Special Judge Arvind Kumar directed the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate which have filed cases against him to respond to his bail application by April 18, when the court will hear the mater. "It is submitted that the applicant was in the ED custody even during Christmas week ie. December 22 to 28, 2018 and was interrogated by the agency even during the Christmas day. Being a Christian, he was not even allowed to offer a Holy mass even during Christmas...," said the application moved by the accused. "It is submitted that the week commencing form 14th April to 21st April is a holy week for the Christian's and 21st April is the Easter which will be celebrated universally. The petitioner wishes to attend the holy mass on the Easter day and would like to make offerings during the Easter day," it said. The ED filed a supplementary charge sheet against Michel and others on April 4, Michel was arrested by the ED on December 22 last year after his extradition from Dubai. He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the chopper scam by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The agency had earlier told the court that Michel received 24.25 million euros and 1,60,96,245 pounds from the AgustaWestland deal. The ED told the court that it had identified Michel's properties purchased with the proceeds of the crime. The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he had received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland. The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday called on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is in hospital after suffering head injuries while performing a ritual at a temple here. Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP and party candidate in the April 23 Lok Sabha polls, was injured when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head during the "Thulabharam" ritual. He was admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital Monday, and is expected to be discharged later Tuesday. The former union minister later tweeted, "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala.Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!". 'Thulabharam' is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation. Monday being the Malayalam new year day ('Vishu'), Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his poll campaign. Sitharaman had reached Kerala Monday night and held a road show at Thiruvananthapuram along with BJP candidate Kummanam Rajashekaran along the coastal stretch, besides addressing a campaign meeting at Attingal for Shobha Surendran. C Divakaran, the CPI and left front candidate, who is opposing Tharoor, also visited him at the hospital. "Very gracious of my LDF rival C Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being.Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok," Tharoor said. Divakaran asked Tharoor not to be demoralised,. "I'm not: I'm more determined than ever to see this through!," Tharoor said. The Thiruvananthapuram constituency is witnessing a fierce triangular fight among the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, Opposition Congress-led UDF and BJP-led NDA. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of giving "wrong information" in his earlier election about a plot in Gandhinagar allotted to him and urged the Election Commission to take action against him, but the BJP refuted the allegations and counter-accused the opposition parties of spreading "falsehood". At a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed Modi had declared in the affidavit that he was the sole owner of Plot 411, in Sector 1, a prime property in Gandhinagar, but later omitted that and gave details of another piece of land. "In the light of discrepancies in the affidavit, the Congress party demands that the Election Commission of India takes thorough cognisance of the seemingly deliberate omissions in Modi's affidavit and take appropriate action under the Representation of People Act," he said alleging that Modi has given "wrong information". Rejecting the allegations, the BJP accused the Congress of levelling false charges against the prime minister and the finance minister. Through its official Twitter handle, the BJP said, "The caravan of falsehood moves on. There is a bankruptcy of issues in the Congress Party. Today's election issue was that the number of the plot owned by the PM (his only asset) is now shown differently numbered from what was shown earlier." "Similar charge is made against the Finance Minister. There is a limit to trivialisation. Four plots purchased by four different persons were amalgamated into one on 25.4.2008. Obviously, the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers," the BJP said, The Congress charges followed a plea filed in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged non-disclosure in his election affidavits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the details of a plot allotted to him in Gandhinagar. The petition filed by Maharashtra-based Saket Gokhale has alleged that in October 2002, when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he was allotted land in Gandhinagar as per the state government policy. Khera alleged that in 2012, when Gujarat went to polls, Modi omitted the mention of Plot 411 from his affidavit and instead listed a plot '401/A', and declared himself a quarter owner. His next affidavit filed for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections also did not mention 'Plot 411' and rather lists 'Plot 401/A', matching his 2012 affidavit. In his declaration on the PMO website also in 2015, the prime minister has declared one-fourth ownership of '401/A'. Khera said the area of the plot has remained the same from 2007 to 2015, but the ownership has changed from being full owner of 'Plot 411' to one-fourth ownership of 'Plot 401/A'. He claimed there is no plot listed as '401/A' in the Gujarat revenue department's land records for Gandhinagar, but the same plot is also listed in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2014 affidavit. "Jaitley listed himself as a 1/4th owner of the same plot as PM Modi's Plot 401/A," he said. Khera also said publicly available land records state that Jaitley is the present and sole owner of Plot 401, but this record is discordant with previous filings Jaitley made to the Election Commission. "Intriguingly enough, in 2012, while the Supreme Court was hearing an appeal regarding land allotments to government servants in Gujarat, and BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi, who was then the counsel for the state, submitted to the apex court that the Gujarat government had not made any fresh land allotments to MPs/MLAs or public servants since the year 2000. "Then how did Narendra Modi acquired this piece of land Gandhinagar," Khera asked. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the BJP led NDA trying to turn the Sabarimala issue into a major poll plank, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said his party believes in allowing people to express their faith and sentiments and never stop them from "genuinely" expressing their belief. Addressing a massive poll rally in Pathanamthitta, where the famed Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple is located, Gandhi said his party wants an India "where people can express what is there inside their heart as long as those expressions are peaceful and non-violent." However, he was cautious not to mention the name of Lord Ayyappa or the recent agitations witnessed by the state against the entry of young women there. Pathanamthitta was ground zero of the Sabarimala women's entry agitations last year. The entire Kerala, including Pathanamthitta, had witnessed frenzied protests by devotees and right wing outfits against the CPI-M-led LDF government's decision to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict, permitting women of allage groups into the hillock shrine. "The Congress party believes in allowing all people to express their faith, express their beliefs and express their sentiments," Gandhi said. "But theCongress will never take an action that stops people from genuinely expressing their faith," he said, adding that he leaves the matter to the "wisdom of the people of the state." The Congress chief also said he chose Wayanad in Kerala as his second constituency as the southern state respects other people's ideas. Pathanamthitta is witnessing a fierce tri-cornered fight between Anto Antony of the Congress-led UDF, Veena George of the CPI(M)-headed LDF and BJP-NDA nominee K Surendran. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, while addressing an election meeting in Kozhikode on April 12, also not mentioned the words like 'Sabarimala' or 'Lord Ayyappa'. But the Prime Minister had said that the BJP government would ensure that the centuries old beliefs of devotees would be protected. However during his campaign meetings in Tamil Nadu later,Modi had alleged that the communists, Congress and Muslim League were playing a dangerous game on the Sabarimala issue, which Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rubbished as "misleading" and "utter lies". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress Tuesday demanded an investigation into the transportation of a "suspicious black box" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's helicopter during poll campaign in Karnataka's Chitradurga. A Congress delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and submitted five memorandums on various issues including hate speeches by BJP president Amit Shah and its Himachal Pradesh chief Satpal Singh Satti during campaigning for Lok Sabha elections. The Congress delegation was led by party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and also included AICC secretary Pranav Jha. "We have raised five main issues before the Election Commission and it has assured us of action. The EC has said that it has already initiated action on some issues raised by us and will take further action on the other issues," Singhvi told reporters after the meeting. He said a level-playing field must be maintained during elections. "It is strange that the prime minister, holding such a high post, carries a black box in his own helicopter...," Singhvi said. "There should be a thorough investigation into this. We have not got any satisfactory reply on this issue. It is strange that the ruling party is doing such an illegal thing while hiding behind the prime minister," he added. The Congress also sought action against Modi and Shah for allegedly making hate and divisive speeches in Nanded and Latur respectively on April 12. "Now that the EC has initiated action and a precedent has been set, then why has action not been initiated against the Prime Minister and Amit Shah as the speeches made by them are in violation of the model code?" he asked. The Congress also demanded strict action against Satti for allegedly using expletives and making "obscene remarks" against party president Rahul Gandhi. Speaking about Satti, Singhvi said, "What is worrisome is that instead of apologising, this person has said that he will not apologise and claims his statement is right as Rahul Gandhi opposes the prime minister." "It is shameful and it brings out the real face of the BJP. We demand that such a person be restrained immediately from campaigning," he added. Speaking about Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's remarks in Katihar Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar, Singhvi said there is nothing objectionable about them and if there is, the EC will take action. He, however, added that the kind of statements that are coming from BJP leaders are crossing all limits of decency. Sidhu stoked controversy on Monday by urging Muslim voters of Bihar's Katihar Lok Sabha constituency, with sizeable population of the minority community, to vote en bloc and defeat Modi. The Congress delegation also alleged that the Congress candidate in Tamil Nadu's Karur Lok Sabha constituency is being restrained from campaigning and demanded action against local poll officials. Singhvi said the party candidate had complained to the poll officials but they threatened to take action against her only. "We have asked the EC to hold an inquiry into this incident and if need be, the returning officer should be changed after holding an inquiry," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Shakil Ahmed on Tuesday filed his nomination papers here, in presence of a host of party leaders,including a couple of MLAs, and expressed hope that he would be allotted the party symbol within the next couple of days failing which he would be contesting as an Independent. Like Ahmed, senior RJD leader Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi might also throw his hat in the ring for Madhubani Lok Sabha seat against the mahagathbandhan nominee hailing from fledgling VIP party. Ahmed, who had announced his decision to enter the fray on Monday followed by resignation from the post of AICC senior spokesman, filed his nomination papers in two sets one as a candidate of the Congress party and another as an Independent. I will wait till April 18. From the positive response I have so far got from the party leadership I am confident that I will be allotted the party symbol. If not, I will withdraw the papers submitted in capacity of the party candidate but will still contest as an Independent, Ahmed said here after submitting his papers. The Congress leader, who underscored that he had resigned only from a post I hold in the party and not quit the party itself was speaking in presence of supporters including MLAs Bhavana Jha and Amita Bhushan the latter also being the head of the state unit of Mahila Congress. Defending his decision, Ahmed said I have taken the decision in the interests of the party and in the interests of the Mahagathbandhan. The candidate fielded on behalf of the alliance simply does not have winning potential and it would be like giving a walk over to the BJP-led NDA. He cited the case of RJD nominees filing nomination against mahagathbandhan candidates hailing from Congress from Chatra in Jharkhand and Supual in Bihar to justify his decision. Currently represented by BJPs Hukumdev Narayan Yadav whose son Ashok Yadav is in the fray as the party candidate, Madhubani has gone to fledgling outfit Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) in the mahagathbandhan which has fielded a former RJD leader Badrinath Purve. Ahmed had won the seat in 2004 and finished the runner-up in 2009. He had to give up the seat in 2014 when alliance partner RJD fielded its senior leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui. With Siddiqui getting a ticket from Darbhanga, notwithstanding the claim of sitting MP Kirti Azad who has been sent to Dhanbad in neighboring Jharkhand, Ahmed who had served as a minister in the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was hopeful of getting a party ticket from the constituency. However, speaking in Patna, Congress MLC and senior leader Prem Chandra Mishra claimed efforts are being made to convince Ahmed, a party veteran, to withdraw and not insist on a friendly fight. He claimed the general view in the party is that if we agree to the demand made by a senior leader like Ahmed, it would open a Pandoras box. Already, former Aurangabad MP Nikhil Kumar has written to the leadership requesting permission for entering the fray for a friendly fight in Karakat. Our MLA Sanjiv Kumar Tunna has expressed similar wish for Supaul. Meanwhile, in a related development, senior RJD leader Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi announced I am resigning from all the posts I hold in the party. I have conveyed my wish to contest from Madhubani to the leadership. If I get no response till April 18, I will file my nomination as an Independent. A four-time MP from Darbhanga who had served as a minister in the Manmohan Singh government, Fatmi had been hopeful of being considered for Madhubani after Siddiqui was announced the candidate from his seat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said Tuesday that the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra lacked both leaders and direction. The Sena-BJP alliance will win all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Thackeray said, addressing a campaign rally for sitting MP and Sena candidate Anandrao Adsul here. "Congress-NCP alliance is leaderless and rudderless... They even struggled to find candidates," he said. Saying that the strike carried out by the Indian Air Force on a terrorist training camp at Balakot taught a lesson to Pakistan, Thackeray asserted that for "a strong and safe nation", prime minister Narendra Modi must get another term in office. The steps taken by the NDA government for farmers' welfare were bearing fruit, the Sena chief said. Referring to alleged scams that took place during the Congress-NCP regime in the state, Thackeray said if these parties came back to power, the country would plunge into "darkness". Polling for the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency in eastern Maharashtra will be held on April 18. Among the 24 candidates in the fray, prominent ones are Adsul, independent candidate Navneet Rana who is supported by the Congress and NCP, Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Gunwant Deopare and BSP's Arun Wankhade. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Jitendra Singh Tuesday accused the Congress of resorting to "anti-India and anti-Army rhetoric" out of insecurity, and asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will never allow anti-nationals to succeed in their designs. On the last day of campaigning ahead of the second phase of polling on April 18, Singh, who is seeking re-election from Udhampur, addressed a series of meeting here and claimed that the poll this time is no longer confined to just electing a member of Parliament. "It is going to be a decisive battle to decide what kind of India we wish to leave for our children," he said. "Congress, its allies and all those political parties and leaders who have ganged up against the BJP and Modi, are feeling so insecure that they have resorted to anti-India and anti-Army rhetoric," Singh said. However, Modi will never allow anti-nationals to succeed in their designs, he asserted. The Union Minister claimed the Congress has become so "rattled" after being voted out of power in 2014, that it has sought alliance with parties like the National Conference, which "advocate pre-1953 position for Jammu and Kashmir and a separate prime minister". On the other hand, the BJP, even when not in power, never compromised on its commitment towards maintaining the sovereignty and integrity of India or in its supreme regard for the Indian Army, Singh said. He said, "Each and every vote cast for BJP will be a vote to reiterate their resolve of 'nation first' as well as a for the development which led to huge transformation of the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda region in the last five years." Over 16.85 lakh electorate will on April 18 decide the fate of 12 candidates in the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, spread over 17 Assembly segments in six districts -- Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi, Udhampur and Kathua. Prominent among the contestants include BJP's Jitendra Singh, Dogra dynasty scion and Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS) founder Choudhary Lal Singh and National Panthers party chairman Harsh Dev Singh. The National Conference (NC) has extended support to the Congress in Udhampur, while the PDP has also not fielded any candidate from the seat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With its talks of a tie-up with AAP heading nowhere, the Congress has now focussed its attention on the announcement of its candidates for the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. A senior Congress leader claimed that the list of candidates on all seven seats could be announced on Wednesday. "Congress president Rahul Gandhi has advised us to make the best efforts for the alliance with the AAP and if results are not encouraging go alone for the polls in Delhi," he said. In view of the significance of Purvanchali voters in Delhi, the party plans to field a "celebrity" belonging to the community from West Delhi seat, sources in Congress said. The party has already finalised its candidates on almost all the seven seats, including East Delhi seat from which Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit will be fielded in case a tie-up with the AAP does not materialise, the party leader said. The names of former Union ministers Kapil Sibal and Ajay Maken were finalised on Chandni Chowk and New Delhi seats. Former MP JP Agarwal will be fielded from North East Delhi while former minister Rajkumar Chauhan will contest from North West Delhi seat, sources said. Olympic medal winner Sushil Kumar is likely to be South Delhi candidate of the party, they said. The talk of a possible alliance between Congress and AAP has been stuck up due to "non negotiable" terms proposed by both sides. "The 4:3 formula is non negotiable. We have explained to the AAP leaders the rationale behind it," said the Congress leader. Congress wants to limit alliance in Delhi alone by having three seats for itself while agreeing to four seats being contested by the AAP. AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said Congress can not be given more than two seats if it wants to have alliance in Delhi alone. The AAP has declared dates for filing of nomination of its candidates on all the seven seats. Nomination process that began today will conclude on April 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday asked Congress legislators and workers to "aggressively and effectively" counter the "disinformation" campaign of the SAD and the AAP, who, he alleged, were stooping to "chicanery" to woo voters. He also alleged that the opposition parties were indulging in "false propaganda" to "mislead" voters, a party release here said. Singh Tuesday held a series of meetings with party MLAs and workers, and welcomed new members into the Congress fold ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He welcomed Parminder Mehta from Ludhiana back into the Punjab Congress. Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, who had contested as an independent in the 2017 Assembly polls from Sanour seat in Patiala also joined the party. Pathanmajra's entry will give the Congress a boost in Patiala, Singh said. The 'Balmiki Samaj', led by MLA Raj Kumar Verka, also met the chief minister to extend its unconditional support to the Congress. The 'Balmiki Samaj' has full faith in Singh's leadership and wants to strengthen his hands against the "divisive and anti-people forces" in the state, Verka said. Singh said his government was committed to the welfare of all sections of society, particularly the underprivileged, and had already initiated a series of measures for their betterment. The Congress, under Rahul Gandhi, is all geared up to work for the upliftment of the disadvantaged segments, he added. Interacting with MLAs from Faridkot parliamentary constituency and workers from various districts, Singh exhorted them to go all out to ensure victory of the Congress candidate with an impressive margin. The chief minister asked the MLAs and workers to take the development agenda of the Congress government in Punjab down to the last voter. Singh also asked them to create awareness among the people on the need to bring the Congress to power at the Centre with a thumping majority to bring the nation's growth back on track. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Taking a swipe at the opposition grand alliance for not naming the Prime Ministerial candidate, BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday wondered how they expected to run the country without a leader if they came to power and said the nation would be safe from terror attacks only if Narendra Modi was once again installed in the post. "Can Mahamilavat- Congress and JD(S) keep the country safe? Can they give a befitting reply to terrorism and Pakistan? They cannot keep this country safe. To keep the country safe BJP has to come to power with Narendra Modi as Prime minister once again," Shah said addressing a rally at Davangere. The BJP president he had travelled extensively across the country during the last four months and had only heard the slogans of 'Modi, Modi' and said the party had decided to strenghten the country by making Modi Prime Minister again. "On the one side BJP and all parties of NDA are ready to face this election under the leadership of Narendra Modi. We have decided that once BJP gets majority Narendra Modi will become Prime Minister once again. On the other side there is Rahul baba (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) and company. I ask them who their Prime Ministerial candidate is, they dont answer me," he said. "...if their Mahamilavat alliance government is formed, Mayawati will become Prime Minister on Monday, Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday, Wednesday-Deve Gowda, Thursday- Chandrababu Naidu, Friday- Sharad Pawar, Saturdey- Mamata didi and on Sunday the country will go on holiday," he added. Shah was in Davangere to campaign for BJP candidate and former Union Minister G M Siddeshwara, pitted against H B Manjappa of Congress. Noting that the biggest achievement of the Modi government was securing the county from terror attacks, Shah referred to the Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF jawans and said the government had given a fitting reply through airstrikes and 'decimated' terror camps by entering Pakistani territory. Hitting out at the opposition which said dialogue was the best way forward with Pakistan, he said "Congress says talk to Pakistan, Sam Pitoda (Chairman of overseas wing of Congress) says talk to them, dont bomb them. I want to ask people of Davangere, do we have to talk to terrorists who killed 40 of our soldiers? Do we have to bomb them or speak to them? Warning Pakistan of a strong response on any 'misadventure,' he said "Friends ...BJPs policy is clear if goli (bullet) comes from Pakistan side, gola (bombshell) will go from here, eet ka jawaab pattar se diya jayega..." he added. Taking a jibe at former former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his statement on separate Prime Minister for the state, Shah asked "Can there be two Prime Ministers in a country?" "I want to tell you one thing, let Rahul baba believe whatever he wants, let his partner Omar Abdullah believe whatever he wants, until there is life in the last BJP karyakartas body, no one can separate Kashmir from Hindustan. Kashmir is ours.this is BJPs strong decision."Taking a dig at Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, Shah alleged that Congress was indulging in corruption through remote control by making someone from JD(S), which won the least number of seats in the assembly polls last year, the Chief Minister. "During the assembly election JD(S) got least number of seats, while BJP got a majority. But look at the feat of the Mahamilavat people, the party that got the least number of seats, Congress made that leader the Chief Minister and is indulging in corruption through remote control." Recalling that Karnataka Chief Minister had said that people of the state did not make him the Chief Minister, but Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi who made him occupy the top post, Shah said, he (Kumarasswamy) should be ashamed for lowering the dignity of his office. Highlighting the differences and disgruntlement within the ruling coalition, he said they cannot do good for Karnataka. "For Congress Karnatakas development is not important, for Congress Karnataka is the ATM of corruption from where they keep getting funds," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CRPF has ordered a "high-level inquiry" into the death of a patient as his ambulance was stopped due to the latest restriction imposed on the movement of civilian traffic in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack. The force issued a public statement saying it was "deeply anguished at the sad demise of Abdul Qayoom Banday of Doda". It said the man was suffering from terminal illness and his ambulance was "asked to halt" near Lower Munda area on April 10 while on way to Doda from Srinagar after being discharged by a hospital. It said the ambulance was stopped due to the "restrictions placed by the government on civilian traffic movement." "We express our sincere condolences and sympathise with the Banday family for their loss. We would like to assure the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir that strict instructions are in place to enable speedy passage to ambulances and ailing civilians." "A high-level enquiry has been ordered into the incident," it added. The restrictions on movement of civilian vehicles in Kashmir valley were imposed after the February 14 terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force bus, plying on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, that killed 40 troops. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two BMC engineers, arrested in connection with last month's foot-over bridge (FOB) collapse here, have moved separate bail pleas before a Mumbai sessions court, claiming the case against them is "false and concocted". The engineers, Anil Patil and S F Kakulte, were working with the bridges department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The duo was arrested days after the 40-year-old bridge, connecting the area near the Times of India building with the CSMT railway station in south Mumbai, collapsed on March 14, killing seven people. Earlier, their bail pleas had been rejected by the Metropolitan Magistrate court. In their fresh applications moved before additional sessions judge M S Azmi Monday, the accused claimed they have been "falsely implicated" in the case and have nothing to do with the said offence. The allegation against them is "false and concocted" and there is nothing on record to involve them in the crime directly or indirectly, they said. The accused claimed that even admitting that they had not done their job properly, in the worst case scenario it can merely be dereliction of duty and not the IPC sections applied in the case. They have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other relevant provisions of the IPC. Culpable homicide not amounting to murder invites maximum punishment of life imprisonment. In its reply filed before the court Tuesday, the police said the accused were not present on the spot during the structural audit of the bridge even for a single day. It is mandatory to carry out the inspection of such bridges before and after the monsoon, but the accused never did so, the police said. Their bail applications will come up for hearing Thursday, public prosecutor Mangesh Arote said. Besides the duo, police have also arrested structural auditor Neeraj Kumar Desai in connection with the incident. Desai, who worked with a private firm, had allegedly given clearance for continued use of the ill-fated bridge after a structural audit. A preliminary report into the collapse submitted by the BMC had said the structural audit of the FOB was not carried out properly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The high-decibel campaign for 14 Lok Sabha seats, which will go to polls during the first phase in Karnataka on April 18, ended Tuesday, with top leaders of the BJP and Congress-JD(S) alliance making a last-gasp effort to sway voters in their favour. Star campaigners who campaigned for their party candidates on the last day included BJP chief Amit Shah in Davangere and Tumkur, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy in Mandya, Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah in Chamarajanagar. From nationalism debate, corruption allegations, personal attacks, dynasty politics, open defiance of party line,foes turning friends, accusations of misuse of government machinery and emotional outbursts- the campaigning had it all. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi helmed the BJP's campaign in the State, party chief Amit Shah, several union ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman, besides state leaders including B S Yeddyurappa were among those who campaigned extensively. For the Congress-JD(S) combine, it was Congress president Rahul Gandhi, JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, chief minister Kumaraswamy, coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah and also Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu who led the charge. There were some initial hiccups for the BJP as it gave the ticket to 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya for Bangalore South with just hours left for deadline for filing of nominations, denying ticket to former union minister Ananth Kumars widow Tejaswini, who was earlier tipped to be the party candidate. Other than that, it was a smooth campaign for the saffron party. In the case of the Congress-JD(S) alliance, disgruntlement among the rank and file of both parties, which had been arch rivals in most constituencies for decades, over seat sharing arrangement overshadowed the campaign. In few constituencies like Mandya, Congress workers openly defied their party diktat extending support to the independent candidate. In Hassan and Mysore too, pro-Modi slogans were reportedly raised at party meetings of Congress and JD(S). There are 241 candidates in the fray in the 14 constituencies out of the 28 in the state which are going to the polls on April 18. Elections will be held in the remaining 14 constituencies on April 23. The main contest will be between the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) alliance. While BJP is contesting in 13 seats and supporting independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya, Congress and JD(S) have fielded its candidates in 10 and four constituencies respectively. Of the 14 constituencies going to the polls, the BJP and Congress had won six each in 2014, and the JD(S) two. Prominent contestants in the first phase include former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda (Tumkur), his grandsons Prajwal Revanna and Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Hassan and Mandya respectively, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North) and senior Congress leaders Verappa Moily (Chikkaballapura). Mandya is the constituency that hogged most of the limelight with Kumaraswamys son Nikhil in the fray against independent candidate and actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, who has BJPs support. The campaigning saw emotional outbursts and personal attacks, with Sumalatha emerging as a strong opponent. Several personalities of the Kannada film industry, including popular actors like Yash and Darshan, actively campaigned for Sumalatha. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy devoted most of the time to Mandya, with much at stake for him as he has to get his son elected with Congress local leaders against him despite warnings by his alliance partner's high command. In a last minute resort to woo the voters of Mandya both Sumalatha and Kumaraswamy held mega road shows and rallies, separately on Tuesday. With transfer of votes between the Congress and JD(S) crucial for coalition candidates to defeat the BJP, it remains to be seen how the equation works out in seats like Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chikkaballapure, Kolar, Tumkur, Bangalore North among others. Many believe that any adverse results in these constituencies will have its implications on the longevity of the coalition government in the state. In the run-up to the polls, income tax raids on few contractors in Hassan and Mandya triggered outrage among the ruling coalition which termed it as politically motivated, The coalition alleged that the I-T had targeted their supporters on the BJP-led NDA government's direction. Kumaraswamy had even led a protest in front of I-T office here along with other coalition leaders. Many ruling coalition leaders, who had turned foes and had never shared a stage, were also seen with each other during this campaign, depicting the changed political situation in the State. Notable among them were Siddaramaiah seen along with Deve Gowda and Minister G T Devegowda (who had defeated him in Chamundeshwari during assembly polls). Counting of votes will be on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Datamatics Global Services Ltd. (DGSL), a global IT & BPM company, today announced that it has won IMC Digital Technology Awards 2018 under the Excellence in Emerging Technology category for TruBot, its Robotic Process Automation product and TruAI, its Artificial Intelligence platform. The award ceremony was held on 12th April 2019 at St Regis, Mumbai. The Panel of Jury constituted an eminent panel comprising of the stalwarts in the IT industry: Mr. Atul Nishar - Former Chairman of NASSCOM, Founder and Chairman Hexaware Technologies Ltd., Padma Shri Dr. Deepak Phatak - Professor, IIT Mumbai, Mr. Harish Mehta - Co-Founder of NASSCOM and Executive Chairman, Onward Technologies Ltd., Mr. Keshav Murugesh - Group CEO, WNS Global Services Pvt. Ltd. and recently appointed Chairman, NASSCOM, Mr. Mukesh Kriplani - Chief Executive Officer - ParekhPlast Ltd., Ms. Sandhya Vasudevan - MD, Deutsche Bank Group, Mr. Sanjay Mehta - Private Investor, Mr. Sumit Rajwade - Founder, Digital Innovation Specialist, Stealthmode Startup, Mr. Krishna Tewari - Director, Genessa Smart Solutions. The IMC Awards recognize achievements across all areas of the IT industry. Winners of each award are selected by a panel of executives representing the wide variety of services present in the IT landscape. The awards are designed to celebrate innovation through technological product/solutions and applications that are transformative to business. The award was presented by the Chief Guest Padma Shri Dr Deepak B. Phatak. Ms Sandhya Vasudevan, Jury Chair, IMC Digital Technology Awards 2018 said, "I congratulate Datamatics for its innovative and future oriented products TruBot and TruAI. She emphasized on how our solution has helped to automate processes and detect fraud in the banking sector." Mr. Rahul Kanodia - Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer said, "AI and RPA are going to change the ways how organisation are looking at the technologies in the coming future. Datamatics is actively investing in these emerging technologies. We are happy to be recognized in the emerging technology space by IMC." Datamatics' TruBot is a versatile, multi-skilled bot that automates a range of repetitive and rule-based processes without any manual intervention. The Everest Group, a leading global analyst firm has featured TruBot in their RPA PEAK Matrix recently. Also, Gartner, the leading Research and Analyst firm, named Datamatics in its Report on Consulting and System Integration Service Providers for Robotic Process Automation. Datamatics' TruAI is a comprehensive Artificial Intelligence platform that businesses use for Pattern Detection, Text and Data Mining. It helps enterprises extract intelligence from high volumes of structured, unstructured and multi-structured data from diverse sources. About Datamatics Global Services Datamatics (BSE: 532528) (NSE: DATAMATICS) provides Intelligent Solutions for data driven businesses to increase productivity and enhance customer experience. The company's portfolio of service offerings spans across Information Technology Services, Business Process Management, Engineering Services and Big Data & Analytics all powered by Artificial Intelligence. It has established products in Robotics Process Automation, Advanced Analytics, Business Intelligence and Automated Fare Collection. Datamatics services over 500 customers globally across Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, International Organizations and Media & Publishing. Headquartered in Mumbai, the Company has presence across 4 continents with major delivery centers in the USA, India and Philippines with an employee base of 10,000. To know more about Datamatics, visit www.datamatics.com Safe Harbour Some of the statements in this update that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include our financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, strategies, intentions and beliefs concerning our business and the markets in which we operate. These statements are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, the level of market demand for our services, the highly-competitive market for the types of services that we offer, market conditions that could cause our customers to reduce their spending for our services, our ability to create, acquire and build new businesses and to grow our existing businesses, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, currency fluctuations and market conditions in India and elsewhere around the world, and other risks not specifically mentioned herein but those that are common to industry. Source: Datamatics Global Services Ltd. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler Tuesday said he was "deeply moved" by the emotional outpouring of people of India in the wake of the massive fire at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The over 800-year-old cathedral, a World Heritage Site, is considered one of the most iconic landmarks globally and is visited by a large number of people from several countries. "Deeply moved by the outpouring of messages sent from all over India after the fire at #NotreDame de Paris. It's also in such times that one can gauge the value of friendship. Thank you India!," Ambassador Ziegler tweeted. Soon after the spread about the devastating blaze at the cathedral, several Indians took to social media to express grief. Many recalled the time they had visited there and others shared pictures from their visit. "No overreading from the incident. We, the people of republic of India, are with you. I know your emotions on this iconic symbol. Rebuild the material structure, because you are known for building equality," wrote a user, Ganesan Ambedkar on Twitter. Others also expressed grief and hoped for its reconstruction. "My thoughts are with the people of France. The 850 years of Notre Dame history teach us to rebuild stronger and we will. - love from India," Gautam Damodaran, another user, tweeted. The fire that broke out at the monumental cathedral in the French capital on Monday has left the world stunned. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions Monday as part of investigations into President Donald Trump's finances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation "into allegations of potential foreign influence on the US political process." Schiff did not name the other financial institutions or describe the subpoenas. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters said in a separate statement that "the potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern." She said her committee is looking into those matters, including whether they pertain to Trump. It was unclear exactly what the committees asked for. The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the president's personal and political life, and Schiff has said he is investigating whether foreign actors, including Russia, have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates. As part of his investigation, Schiff has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trump's businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years. Deutsche Bank is a German asset management firm that has lent Trump's real estate organization millions of dollars over time. The two committees have been working with the bank for several weeks, and both Waters and Schiff have said officials have been cooperative. Schiff said in his statement that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank is a "friendly" subpoena, meaning he expects them to continue working with the committees. The request comes as a third committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, is sparring with the White House over Trump's tax returns. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has set a deadline of April 23 for six years of returns. But Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said Democrats will "never" see the returns, "nor should they," and "they know it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh Tuesday reviewed the security situation in Kishtwar district, where a prominent RSS leader was shot dead last week, and ordered strengthening of arrangements ahead of the April 18 polls. Kishtwar is part of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency. "The DGP called for establishment of new Special Operation Group (SOG) camps, checking points and bunkers (pickets) in the district and advised all the security forces deployed in the district to work in coordination in order to neutralise militants," a police spokesperson said. Senior RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO were killed by a terrorist in Kishtwar district hospital on April 9, prompting imposition of curfew in the communally sensitive town and adjoining areas. Earlier on Tuesday, day curfew was lifted in Kishtwar. "Noose must be tightened around the militants and their over ground workers," Singh said. The DGP held meetings with officers to take stock of the preparedness for the elections and addressed police, Army and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel deployed for the polls. Accompanied by IGP Jammu and inspector generals of the CRPF and the BSF, Singh also visited far-flung areas of the district including Marwah and Dachan. He also held a meeting with civil officers including District Development Commissioner of Kishtwar A S Rana. Singh directed the officers to ensure no untoward incident takes place and polling is held smoothly in Kishtwar. "Action should be taken against trouble mongers after identifying them," he said. On law and order front, the DGP advised his officers to reach out to every section of the society in order to gain confidence of the general public. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday slammed Rahul Gandhi for calling "all Modis" thieves, adding such a language does not behove the Congress chief. Such type of language does not behove the Congress leader, Modi said, addressing a poll rally here in Chhattisgarh. "I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out," Gandhi had said, attacking the PM over alleged corruption. "Is this the language to be used," Modi said, targeting Gandhi. Modi also accused the Congress of being "hand in glove with not only naxals but also with those who want to to break India". The Congress poll manifesto will give an open license to those who misguide peaceful tribals in forests, Modi said referring to naxals. The Congress' panja (palm) wants our armed forces to be stripped of their special powers and weaken them, Modi said. "Will you allow the Congress to compromise on national security," Modi said. Congress party's poll promise to strip the army of special power has led to celebration among those forces who are engaged in spreading violence, Modi said. "Does the Congress 'hand' favour development or destruction," he said. The PM exuded confidence that there will be 'Modi Sarkar' once again after Lok Sabha poll results on May 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Billionaires and local governments pledged nearly 500 million euros (USD 565 million) Tuesday to help restore Notre-Dame cathedral, with foundations and crowd-sourcing sites also launching fund-raising drives. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed the emblematic monument will be rebuilt after its spire and roof collapsed Monday night in a blaze thought to be linked to extensive renovation work. French luxury group Kering, whose brands include Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, kicked off the campaign late Monday with a promise of 100 million euros (USD 113 million). That was followed Tuesday by a 200-million-euro pledge from its crosstown rival LVMH and the family of its founder Bernard Arnault. The chief executive of French oil giant Total said the firm would contribute 100 million euros. Other high-profile French donors so far included the investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere with 10 million euros, and construction magnates Martin and Olivier Bouygues, also with 10 million euros. Pledges were also pouring in from anonymous donors to groups including the privately run French Heritage Foundation, which said it had already secured pledges totalling 1.6 million euros. On a more modest scale, a fund set up by an "anonymous Parisian" on the Leetchi fundraising platform had topped 20,000 euros at midday Tuesday. And the Hungarian city of Szeged promised to donate 10,000 euros to the reconstruction effort, in recognition of the help it received from the French capital after a devastating flood in 1879. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Tuesday that the city would unlock 50 million euros, and proposed holding an international donors' conference in the coming weeks to coordinate the pledges to restore the gothic architectural masterpiece. Specialised craftsmen and rare materials are also expected to be needed to restore the monument, which welcomes around 13 million visitors each year -- an average of more than 35,000 people a day. The head of a French lumber company told AFP he would try to gather the 1,300 oak beams he figures are necessary to rebuild the intricate lattice that supported the now-destroyed roof, known as the "Forest". But Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group said finding big enough logs would not be easy, since "there aren't any stocks of cut wood in France available for a project this big." The United Nations' Paris-based cultural agency UNESCO has promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site, which it declared a world heritage site in 1991. The German and Italian governments have also offered to help in the reconstruction, while Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to send "the best Russian specialists with rich experience in the restoration of national heritage monuments." The painstaking renovation work is likely to cost hundreds of millions of euros over several years, if not decades, though experts breathed sighs of relief that the damage was not even worse. The steeple of the gothic edifice had been undergoing an 11-million-euro (USD 12.4-million) overhaul financed by the French state to repair damage inflicted by time, pollution and the weather. But it also relies heavily on individual donations for repairs, and a few years ago created a US-registered charity letting American voters deduct gifts from their taxes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former IPS officer A G Mourya, contesting from the North Chennai Lok Sabha seat on a Makkal Needhi Maiam ticket, is attempting to lure voters with promises of developing infrastructure and providing adequate water supply in the area. Mourya says he took the plunge into politics to serve the people of North Madras. "I too hail from an ordinary family and I am also son of this soil (North Chennai). I felt, I am the person who should take care of these North Madras people,....the ideologies of MNM also matched mine," he told PTI. "I thought I can address the problems of the people through the political medium," he said. Mourya during his stint in the police department served North Chennai as Deputy Superintendent of Police (Ennore), Assistant Commissioner (Washermenpet), Deputy Commissioner (Washermenpet). He said issues like adequate water supply, health and hygiene in the locality are major issues that has been plaguing the area for 30-40 years. On contesting under a Makkal Needhi Maiam ticket, he said, "MNM is a new party and its ideologies attracted me, we want only to serve people and the movement attracted me.. Mourya says actor and MNM founder Kamal Haasan's political agenda inspired him to join his party. "..people are looking for a change now," Mourya says. His family was very supportive of his decision to take the electoral plunge, the former police official adds. Makkal Needhi Maiam is contesting in all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in neighbouring Puducherry. Twenty three candidates are contesting from the North Chennai constituency. Mourya is up against DMK's Kalanidhi Veerasamy, son of former minister 'Arcot' N Veerasamy, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam's R Mohan Raj who is contesting under the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance. North Chennai constitutes Thiruvottiyur, Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar, Perambur, Kolathur, Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar (SC) and Royapuram. The total number of voters in this constituency is 14,68,523. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered re-poll in 19 polling stations of Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency following complaints of voter intimidation by militants and destruction of EVMs and VVPATs. Repolling in these polling stations spread over four districts -- Senapati, Chandel, Churachandpur and Ukhrul -- will be held on April 18, the same day of voting for Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, according to an order by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Eleven polling stations in Senapati, four in Ukhrul, three in Churachandpur and one in Chandel will witness repolling. In a communication to the returning officer of Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat, ECI Secretary Mohammed Umar said the repoll has been ordered on the basis of reports of the officer and observers "after taking all material circumstances into account". The BJP had filed complaint with the Manipur Chief Election Officer last week, alleging voter intimidation by the cadre of the National Socialist Council for Nagaland (NSCN-IM) to vote for the NPF's Outer Manipur candidate Lorho Mao that went to polls in the first phase on April 11. On the other hand, the NPF had also alleged that EVMs were tampered with by opening three rooms at Churachandpur DC office where these were kept after voting. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P K Singh had stated that two polling booths at Poi in Chingai in Ukhrul district were ransacked by unidentified persons who also destroyed EVMs and VVPATs on April 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission of India has ordered repolling in one booth in Dhemaji district, where election was held in the first phase, for not erasing the mock poll data. The repoll will take place along with the second phase of polling on April 18 from 7 am to 5 pm, an official release said. The polling booth falls in the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency where election took place on April 11. According to the election department, the officials of the polling station number 165, Dhemaji Town High School did not erase the test data of the mock poll conducted in the presence of the agents of different parties. The actual election on April 11 had begun with the mock poll date intact in the EVM, which was pointed out later by Congress' polling agent, officials said. Replacement of the EVM was ordered immediately but the replaced voting machine did not reach on time, the officials said. In the first phase of polling, 78.23 per cent votes were cast. Karimganj (SC), Silchar, Autonmous District(ST), Nowgong and Mangaldoi seats will go to the polls in the second phase. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hong Kong: Doctor shortage talks welcomed The Government welcomes the Medical Councils plan to re-discuss ways to attract more overseas doctors to practise in Hong Kong, Chief Executive Carrie Lam says. Speaking ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mrs Lam expressed disappointment and regret over the councils earlier veto of proposals to relax the internship requirement of non-locally trained specialist doctors. However, she welcomed the councils move to discuss the issue again. Mrs Lam hoped a consensus could be reached by the council on a more lenient arrangement for overseas doctors working in public hospitals under limited registration to become fully registered. Noting that relaxing the internship arrangement alone cannot solve the doctor shortage, the Chief Executive said the Government is willing to explore various options with different sectors to alleviate the situation. The Government hopes there will be more locally-trained doctors and has asked the University Grants Committee to increase the number of doctor training places, Mrs Lam added. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Editors Intro: Youth development and community-based organizations are taking steps to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Today, Kate Walker, University of Minnesota Extension professor and specialist in youth work practice, describes the process the Extension Center for Youth Development used to create consensus around barriers to, and strategies for, advancing equity in youth programs. There are many different interpretations of the word equity. For us at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development, we define equity as promoting just and fair inclusion and creating the conditions in which all young people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. In other words, equity is everyone having what they need to be successful. As we began developing a learning series for youth workers focused on exploring and advancing equity in youth programs, we recognized that we are not experts in this arena and that we needed input from youth workers and young people. So we served as conveners and co-learners, putting in place a process, outlined below, to identify barriers, a vision, and strategies. This process could be useful to others working on similar equity projects. Guiding Principles Even before convening a Community Design Team, we hosted discovery sessions with staff, stakeholders, and young people to begin to (re)imagine how a learning series on this complex, important, and emerging topic looks and feels. We also gathered wider input via an online survey. This resulted in key learnings that serve as our Guiding Principles: Share space and the role of expert. Maintain the authenticity and rigor of learning by balancing practitioners and academics as experts; promising practices should come from both practitioners and academics. Learning should be reciprocal and mutually beneficial. Highlight practical and meaningful tools. Lead with vulnerability and transparency. Demonstrate institutional self-awareness across the learning series. The host walks the talk; internal work should fuel external work. Lead this work by example, making sure that the planning team reflects the community it serves. Also, the university must own its history and privilege by actively displaying humility and vocal accountability. Ensure that historically silenced voices are centered. Amplify and honor unheard voices. Lift up and celebrate effective youth-development practices that come from traditionally under-represented cultures and communities. Engage and elevate youth voices. Employ a thoughtful engagement of young people from traditionally under-represented communities. Cultivate youth leadership throughout so that youth voice is present at all levels of planning and execution of the learning series. Community Design Team We convened more than 20 Community Design Team members who work in organizations with a commitment to equity across diverse communities and with young people who could be tapped for their perspectives. We held three sessions, each hosted and facilitated by diverse staff from different partner organizations. Barriers The goal of our first session was to build trust among team members, provide context for the purpose of the group, and develop clear understanding of the barriers to doing equity in youth work. Collectively, the team responded to the question: What gets in the way of operationalizing equity? The group chose the more focused perspective of racial equity, and 87 barriers were identified. A subgroup with balanced participation from persons of color and white persons conducted a thematic analysis of the 87 barriers. They identified six overarching barriers: We all fear the consequences of acting opposite of our assigned racial identity(ies). Planning about people without people perpetuates exclusion and white supremacy. Layers of oppression can block self-awareness, which limits growth and action toward equity. Frameworks, funding, policy, and practices are rooted in whiteness. Biased systems perpetuate deficit-based approaches that block fundamental change. The acceptance of oppression as the norm. Vision Over 20 young people joined the Community Design Team members for a Speakout session to get at the question: What does equity in a youth program look and feel like for you? The purpose was to define equity within youth programs and identify what adults need to know and do to support it (i.e., to map out our vision for a series of public learning events focused on exploring and advancing equity within Minnesotas youth-serving organizations). Speakouts are opportunities for different groups to share their experiences as members of the group and to have those who are not a part of the group listen and acknowledge their perspectives and feelings. The young people, followed by the adults, shared their responses to these discussion questions: What happens in your program that makes you feel like you are valued, treated fairly, and belong? What do you never want to see, hear, or have happen again in a youth program? What do you want others to know and do to promote equity in youth programs? Strategies Given the barriers that surfaced and considering the vision created, the intent of the final session was to build consensus around the question, What actions are needed to remove barriers and move towards the vision of equity that youth want? The Community Design Team built consensus around five strategies to advance equity in youth programs: Expose histories to unpack identities and practices. Uncover untold histories to identify how they currently affect our society, mindset, youth, youth workers, and practices. Reconstruct the platform to redistribute power to youths. Move from youths as customers or participants toward youths as partners and leaders. Institutionalize inclusive practices. Embed inclusive practices in existing institutions so that inclusivity becomes normalized in our society. Prioritize accountability to youths and their communities. Shift program accountability to include expectations from youths and community. Recommendations for Youth Programs We recognize that this is not merely the work of stand-alone professional-development opportunities. We encourage others to hold space for conversations within their youth-development settings around these strategies. Examples include: What would enable you to move from viewing youths as customers or participants toward authentically engaging youths as partners and leaders in your program? How can you create opportunities in your setting to learn about a diverse range of histories as well as systems of white supremacy? How can you embed inclusive practices in your organization? Whats the origin story of your organization, and how does that either prevent you from or accelerate creating change? What barriers have been put up that block young people from fully benefiting or engaging with your program? How can you meaningfully ask, listen, and respond to youth-identified needs and assets? What needs to happen in order to shift accountability from funders to youths and their communities? What does this shift in accountability mean for your work? How do you know what community expects? How do you share with them what youve done to meet their expectations? Next Steps As a result of this work, an implementation team of youths and adults will create learning opportunities based on these recommendations for Minnesotas youth programs. How are you advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in your youth program or school? We invite you to share the strategies, resources, and curricula that you are using in the comment section below. Follow Kate , the University of Minnesota Extension , Heather , and the Center for Global Education on Twitter. Image by Padah Vang, Wilders Youth Leadership Initiative alumni and intern. Used with permission. Infographic created by the author. Used with permission. The Election Commission Tuesday turned down the AAP government's request to release advertisements about summer camps in government schools prompting Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to write a letter to the poll body to reconsider its decision. The EC has pointed out that it has no objection to running summer camps which is part of AAP government's Mission Buniyad Programme, subject to the condition that the appeal to send their wards to the camp has to be made to the parents through schools and not through print, TV or radio advertisements. Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Minister, questioned the "basis" on which the request has been rejected. "I feel extremely disappointed that the ECI chose to look at this issue from a very narrow political lens, completely ignoring the interest of lakhs of children largely from marginalised section of society. "The success of the camp is contingent upon support of parents which is ensured through regular reach out to them by government using print media, TV and radio," Sisodia said in a letter to the ECI. He said by exercising your power to stop a simple message to the poor parents asking them to send their children to school during summer vacation, do you really think you are aiding in conducting free and fair elections? "The elections will be over in the next one month but the loss to lakhs of children cannot be compensated if you allow your unjustified decision to stay on," he added. During a press conference, Sisodia said,"Did the EC even think for a while as to what mode to be adopted by the school to ask the poor parents to come to school in the first place?" The summer camps in Delhi government's school, an initiative of the AAP dispensation will be organised from May 16 to June 9 for classes 3 to 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Automakers showcased electric SUVs and sedans with longer range and luxury features Tuesday at the Shanghai auto show, wooing Chinese buyers as Beijing slashes subsidies that helped to launch the industry. Two of China's biggest state-owned automakers unveiled models they said can travel 600 kilometres on one charge, or nearly double the range of global competitors. If that can be achieved, it would raise the standard for an industry trying to compete with gasoline models by defusing "range anxiety" or fear of being stranded with a dead battery. China's communist leaders have spent heavily seeking to make the country a leader in electrics. They're now shifting the burden to automakers by imposing sales targets. That requires brands to create consumer-friendly models at a time when they are struggling with a sales slump. "Competition will become more fierce," said Ma Fanglie, chairman of BJEV, the electric unit of state-owned BAIC Group. BJEV, one of the biggest electric producers by sales volume, unveiled the EX3 sedan, which it said can travel up to 630 kilometres on one charge. Ma said it is one of five new electric models under a plan to "transform and upgrade" BJEV into a brand that can compete without subsidies. General Motors, Nissan, China's Geely Auto and other brands displayed dozens of electric models, from luxury SUVs to compacts priced under USD 10,000. The auto show, the world's biggest, opens to the public Saturday following a preview for media. China's leaders have been promoting "new energy vehicles" for 15 years with subsidies for developers and buyers. That, along support including orders to state-owned utilities to blanket China with charging stations, is helping make the technology a mainstream product. "After an initial push from the government, now customers are really wanting and demanding EVs," said Nissan's director of electric vehicles, Nic Thomas. Electric vehicles are key for government-led development of Chinese global competitors in technologies from robotics to biotech. Those ambitions set off Beijing's tariff war with President Donald Trump. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain Chinese subsidies to technology developers and pressure on foreign companies to share know-how violate its market-opening commitments. China lags Europe, the United States and Japan in battery and other vehicle technology but is developing fast. It has about half of global production capacity for batteries, an electric car's biggest and most expensive component. Last year's Chinese sales of pure-electric and hybrid sedans and SUVs soared 60 per cent over 2017 to 1.3 million, or half the global total. At the same time, industry revenue was squeezed by a 4.1 per cent fall in total Chinese auto sales to 23.7 million vehicles. That skid that worsened this year as first-quarter sales fell 13.7 per cent from a year ago. Subsidies end next year. Under the new system, automakers must earn credits for sales of electrics equal to at least 10 per cent of purchases this year and 12 per cent in 2020. Longer-range vehicles can earn double credits. That means some brands can fill their quota if electrics make up as little as 5 per cent of sales. Most automakers still lose money on each electric vehicle. But industry analysts say that as the cost of batteries and other components falls, electrics could become cost-competitive with gasoline models and profitable for their producers within five years. In Shanghai, the GAC electric car unit GAC New Energy unveiled the Aion LX SUV, which it said can travel 600 kilometres on one charge. The unit's deputy general manager, Xi Zhongmin, said no price or release date have been decided. Most Chinese brands target the domestic market, but Geely has global ambitions. Its electric brand, Geometry, displayed a sedan with an advertised range of up to 500 kilometres on one charge. Geely says the Geometry A, unveiled last week in Singapore, will be marketed worldwide. Geely's parent, Geely Holding, also has a joint venture with Mercedes parent Daimler AG to develop an electric version of the German automaker's smart brand. "Geely wants to become the choice of customers for electric driving," said Geely Group's CEO, Yang Xueliang. China's BYD Auto, the biggest global electric brand by sales volume, displayed three new pure-electric models that were unveiled last month. All promise more than 400 kilometres on one charge. On Monday, GM unveiled Buick's first all-electric model for China. GM says the four-door Velite 6 can travel 301 kilometres on one charge. VW showed off a concept electric SUV, the whimsically named I.D. ROOMZZ, designed to travel 450 kilometres on one charge. Features include seats that rotate 25 degrees to create a lounge-like atmosphere. China is a top market for global automakers, giving them an incentive to go along with Beijing's electric ambitions. Also Tuesday, Nissan Motor Co. and its Chinese partner displayed the Sylphy Zero Emission, an all-electric model designed for China. Based on Nissan's Leaf, the lower-priced Sylphy went on sale in August. Mercedes Benz displayed its first all-electric model in China, the EQC 400 SUV, with a 400-kilometre range. It is one of 10 electrified models the German automaker says it will release worldwide, with most made in China. Also this week, Mercedes said it will launch a roadside "butler service" in China offering recharging for drivers who run out of power and other services. "We want to take away every reason a customer might say, umm, is it really time go electric?" said Hubertus Troska, a Daimler AG board member. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Emma Thompson has blasted Hollywood studios for miserable treatment of writers, saying they are considered "the lowest of the low". The veteran star said the studios do not give the respect and creative space the writers deserve, adding they are often fired without proper explanation. "One of the reasons is that they need stars - big stars - who work all the time and have to be fitted into timescales. What happens is there will be an idea for a story. It will be in development, and then suddenly two of the big stars come free, and everyone says, 'right, let's shoot it, we'll work it out as we shoot'. "One thing I know, after 30 years of doing this, is you can't work it out while you shoot... It always ends up just making things so much more difficult in post-production," Thompson told the Guardian. The 60-year-old star, who won an Oscar for best screenplay for her work on 1995 film "Sense and Sensibility", said she can will no longer follow the infamous trend of working with incomplete scripts. "This is a tradition and yet, when there is a good screenplay, and everyone recognises that it's a good screenplay, there's a lot of fuss and a tremendous amount of what can only be described as lip service to the value of good writing. "And then everything continues as before. That's what happens, and I don't know how to change that. But I know that I don't want to make films with unfinished scripts," she added. Thompson is currently working on "Last Christmas", which she co-wrote with Bryony Kimmings. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The excitement around "Avengers: Endgame" evaporated into the thin air as a sense of an ending dawned upon the Marvel fans after the franchise veterans, Robert Downey Jr and Jeremy Renner, greeted them at an event here and reminisced about their decade spent making superhero films. Actor Brie Larson, the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), also soaked in the fan mania, striking the famous Korean heart sign with her fingers and shouting "I love you" to the crowd. The upcoming film, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, completes the storyline of 22 films as Avengers, an ensemble of MCU superheroes, unite to fight supervillain Thanos who has wiped out half of the universe's population, including some of their own, with the snap of his fingers. Though there is a strict veil of secrecy around the film, "Endgame" might mark the departure of a host of superheroes, including Downey Jr's Iron Man and actor Chris Evans' Captain America, from the MCU fold. The film's cast and the studio have both time and again declined to confirm or deny the same. Loudest of the cheers were reserved for Downey Jr as he made a grand entry to the stage, striking his trademark Iron Man pose at the Jangchung Arena on Monday night. The actor, known for his humorous one-liners, seemed emotional with the outpouring of love from the admirers, who chanted his name at every opportunity. Some had even donned the heavy metallic Iron Man suit while others were spotted with messages of love, posters and photographs. Downey Jr was all hearts as he recalled his first trip to the city and how being a superhero on screen changed his life. Asked about his plans on the day of "Endgame" release, he promised Korean fans to visit theatres in disguise and steal their popcorns. In a press conference earlier in the day, Downey Jr walked down the memory lane to recall his first trip to the city and his decades-long association with the MCU. "It's about relationships. Jeremy and I have become fathers since we started doing this together. We had all these life-changing experiences, so I want to thank Korea and fans for the opportunities for us to continue our friendship and careers with these characters for so long," he said at the press event. Though Downey Jr promised to "stick around anyway" as a superhero at the press event, fans are worried that he may retire or not come back as Iron Man after "Endgame". Renner, whose Hawkeye has a major role after missing from the action in "Infinity War", dived straight into the crowd to wish a fan happy birthday. He made the fan's day special as the rest of the Avengers team, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, the directors, Downey Jr and the crowd joined Renner to chant 'Happy Birthday' to the fan. Larson said she had been eating non-stop since she landed in Korea, which was beautiful in the spring season with cherry blossoms everywhere. "Avengers: Endgame" releases on April 26 in India but fans in Korea will get to see it on April 24. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for strongly rebutting those talking about the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from the country, the Shiv Sena Tuesday said he must commit that the PDP, NC and the NCP won't be part of the NDA after elections even if it is short on numbers. The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, said while it is good that the prime minister has spoken against those attempting to divide the country, he needs to give people two assurances. "Tomorrow, whatever may be the case on the numbers required to form the government, there will be no relationship with those who talk of dividing the nation. And those who have ruined three generations of Kashmiris will not get a place in Modi's cabinet or the NDA," the Sena said. The Sena further said Modi's stand against Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, for "supporting" those who want to "divide" the nation, should remain the same even after polls. "Those dividing the country and those supporting them should not get a place in in future. If those supporting anti-nationals today sit with nationalists for political reasons, it will be an insult to our jawans," the Sena said. The Sena said while National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has spoken about Jammu and Kashmir having a separate PM, it will not be a reality even after 100 generations have passed. The Sena claimed Article 370 gives special privileges to the restive northern state, and the law of the country does not apply there, and therefore, there have been demands from many years to abolish the Constitutional privilege. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party sought to remind the BJP that Abdullah was a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and the NC was a part of the NDA, adding that his party's policy towards Article 370 and 35 (A), both of which give special status to J-K, was age old. "Yet we keep kissing their furry caps to achieve the numbers in Parliament. This is nationalism of convenience," it alleged. The Sena added that People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has a similar stand on the Constitutional provisions for Jammu and Kashmir and she has warned that the state will not remain with India if its special status is revoked. "Until yesterday, the same person was chief minister with support of the BJP. Even her anti-national mindset is old. Yet, the BJP got friendly with them while we kept opposing their alliance," it said. It said both these leaders are today speaking against abolishing of Article 370 and 35 (A) while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting back in his rallies. "Modi has spoken with grit - the way an Indian prime minister should have spoken. He has spoken about how three generations have been destroyed under Abdullah and Mufti's regimes," the party said. "Modi has also spoken about displacement of Kashmiri Pandits. However their ghar wapsi (return to roots) couldn't happen in the last 5 years," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted for rules aimed at protecting whistleblowers from reprisals following corporate scandals such as Dieselgate and Cambridge Analytica. With 591 votes in favour, 29 against and 33 abstentions, the parliament backed rules to boost the fight against fraud, corruption, corporate tax avoidance and damage to people's health and the environment. Recent corporate scandals "have helped to shine a light on the great precariousness that whistle-blowers suffer today," said Virginie Roziere, the French socialist who steered the legislation through the assembly. The vote in parliament sends "a strong signal that it has heard the concerns of its citizens, and pushed for robust rules guaranteeing their safety and that of those persons who choose to speak out," the MEP said. The EU parliamentary vote came days after Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks whistleblowing site, was arrested and carried out of Ecuador's embassy in London. He faces possible extradition to the United States on computer crime charges. During the EU parliamentary debate on Monday, French MEP Younous Omarjee, of the leftwing France Insoumise (France Unbowed) movement, mentioned Assange as a whistleblower needing protection. The new rules -- proposed by the executive European Commission a year ago -- must still be formally approved by EU countries that have already shown support for them. Once approved, member states will have two years to comply with the rules. The parliament said the rules offer the first EU-wide protection for whistleblowers who will be able to choose between internal and external reporting, for example to national or EU authorities. The rules aim to both protect and encourage reporting of breaches of EU law. These potential breaches cover tax fraud, money laundering, public procurement, product and transport safety, environmental protection, public health, consumer protection and data protection. The rules also aim to ensure information disclosed remains confidential. They will, if adopted, also protect those dealing with whistleblowers, including colleagues, relatives and investigative journalists, the parliament said. It said EU member countries must offer whistle blowers "comprehensive and independent information" on how to report breaches and pursue their cases while providing them with legal, financial and psychological support. Protection for whistleblowers is patchy across the bloc with only ten countries providing comprehensive legal protection: France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and Britain. The EU Commission said whistleblowers have already played an important role in the Dieselgate scandal, where Volkswagen was discovered to have used devices to hide diesel emissions. It also recalled how they helped expose the scandal at Cambridge Analytica, the now defunct British data consultancy accused of having harvested the data of millions of Facebook users without their permission. MEP Roziere also highlighted other scandals, like LuxLeaks and the Panama Papers, which have exposed tax evasion by multinationals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple here and offered prayers Tuesday, a day after the Election Commission barred him from electioneering for 72 hours for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. The chief minister who arrived in the temple to a rousing reception by his supporters amid slogans of "Jai Gorakhdham" and "Jai Bajrangbali ji" refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite "Hanuman Chalisa." Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. Owing to the poll panel's gag order, the chief minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's road show Tuesday before he filed the nomination paper by him for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. The chief minister also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the chief minister's visit to the temple "a personal one". The Election Commission Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am Tuesday for his "divisive" comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Himachal Pradesh election office Tuesday served a notice to state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti for allegedly using an expletive against Congress president Rahul Gandhi and is also probing a "threat" to cut off the ruling party leader's tongue, officials said. The police registered an FIR against Satti under section 294 of IPC (obscene acts) under Baddi police limits. State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Devesh Kumar said Satti has been served a notice for violation of Model Code of Conduct by the district election officer (DEO) of Solan. The BJP leader has been asked to reply within 24 hours from the receipt of the notice, Kumar said. The CEO said the Election Commission of India (ECI) had taken strict cognisance of the alleged derogatory comments by Satti, which had gone viral on social media. The ECI has been informed about the action taken in the matter on the basis of the reports by Solan DEO, Kumar said. The Congress burned the effigies of Satti at district headquarters across the state on Tuesday. The election office and the local police are looking into a BJP complaint that a Congress "supporter" has offered a reward of Rs 10 lakh to anyone who cuts of Satti's tongue. Meanwhile, a video, which went viral on social media, showed an alleged Congress supporter Vinay Sharma -- claimed by the BJP to be a former deputy advocate general of the state during Congress rule -- announcing a reward of Rs 10 lakh for any person who cuts off Satti's tongue. The BJP filed a complaint with the state chief electoral officer, demanding registration of FIR against the Congress and Vinay Sharma for threat, criminal intimidation, instigation of physical violence and for other electoral offences. In his complaint, state BJP general secretary Chander Mohan Thakur alleged, "The Congress leader, who has been identified as Vinay Sharma, a former deputy advocate general during Congress rule, is openly instigating the public to bodily harm Satti." The Kangra district electoral officer has directed a thorough probe into the BJP's complaint, officials said. The BJP also lodged a related complaint with Shimla police. Earlier, the Congress state unit spokesperson Naresh Chauhan had sought Satti's apology in the matter, but the saffron party leader refused to do so, saying he merely read out contents of a message which was already viral on social media. On Monday, state Congress general secretary Rajneesh Kimta had filed a complaint with the CEO against Satti for allegedly using expletives against the Congress president. Kimta also lodged a police complaint, demanding a case be registered against the BJP leader. Shimla Superintendent of Police Omapati Jamwal said the Congress complaint had been sent to Baddi police as the alleged remark was made in Ramshehar village, which is in Baddi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The first shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrived in crisis-wracked Venezuela on Tuesday following approval from President Nicolas Maduro's government, the organization confirmed. "It is with great joy and responsibility that we would like to reveal that right now the first Red Cross humanitarian aid shipment is entering Venezuela," said Mario Villarroel, president of the organization's Venezuelan branch. The shipment, which arrived at the airport serving Caracas, includes desperately needed medication, medical supplies and power units "that will be distributed in various hospitals," added Villarroel. Venezuela has suffered more than four years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. The United Nations says a quarter of its 30 million population is in urgent need of aid. Last week, Maduro and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came to an agreement to allow in the humanitarian aid. Supplies destined for Venezuela's long-suffering population formed the basis of a stand-off between Maduro and parliament speaker Juan Guaido, who launched a direct challenge to the president's authority in January. Guaido has since been recognised by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as Venezuela's interim president. But despite a highly publicized campaign, he failed to force humanitarian aid stockpiled over the border in Colombia into the country after the military -- which remains loyal to Maduro -- blockaded a bridge crossing. Maduro claimed the aid was nothing more than a smokescreen to cover a US-led invasion. Cardboard boxes bearing the symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement were loaded by forklift onto trucks at the Maiquetia international airport, according to images shared on social media. Earlier on Tuesday an official confirmed to AFP, on the condition of anonymity, that the shipment had arrived. But Francisco Valencia, president of the Coalition of Organizations for the Right to Health and Life, voiced concerns that "there is still no clarity over what aid is arriving" and whether or not it would help the "more than 300,000 people in Venezuela with a high risk condition." Public hospitals have struggled to treat patients due to shortages of antibiotics, bandages and respiratory equipment. The government has been unable to import what the country needs due to a lack of liquidity, in part due to a sharp drop in its oil production -- around a third of its level from 10 years ago -- which accounts for 96 percent of its revenue, as well as US sanctions. Maduro has repeatedly denied Venezuela is suffering from a humanitarian crisis and blames the US for the oil-rich South American country's economic woes. But last week he said on national TV and radio that his government and the Red Cross had agreed "to work together with UN agencies to bring into Venezuela all the humanitarian aid that can be brought." Guaido blames government incompetence and corruption for his country's crisis. Last month, the ICRC announced it would begin in early April a first phase of aid distribution to help 650,000 people. ICRC president Francesco Rocca had said the operation would be "similar" to a previous one that delivered aid to Syria. Villarroel urged both sides to avoid "politicizing this great achievement." The UN estimates that 3.7 million Venezuelans are malnourished and 22 per cent of children younger than age five suffer from chronic malnourishment. It also estimates that more than 2.7 million citizens have fled Venezuela since 2015. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government has taken custody of the 100 fishermen released by Pakistan on Saturday as part of a goodwill gesture amidst strained ties between the two countries. The fishermen, most of them from Gujarat and Union Territory of Daman and Diu, will reach Vadodara on the night of April 17 and taken to their native places, a senior Fisheries department officer said Tuesday. "The batch of the 100 fishermen was released (from Malir Jail in Karachi) on Saturday. They were handed over to the BSF at the Wagah border on Monday," said N F Patel, Deputy Director, Fisheries Commissionerate, Gujarat. Among the 100 fishermen, 84 hailed from Gir Somnath district, six from Navsari, one from Bhavnagar and four from UT of Daman and Diu, he said, adding that rest five fishermen belonged to West Bengal. The released fishermen are part of the second batch of 360 Indian prisoners Pakistan has promised to set free in four phases this month. Pakistan had released the first batch of 100 Indian fishermen on April 7. They had been arrested for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters. Another 100 will be freed on April 22 and the rest on April 29. Both the countries frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in the Arabian Sea and these fishermen do not have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location. Owing to the lengthy and slow bureaucratic and legal procedures, the fishermen usually remain in jail for several months and sometimes years. Tensions between both the countries escalated since Pulwama attack in the Valley in February this year and India's retaliatory air strike on a terrorist training camp in Balakot. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Security has been tightened across Haryana and Himachal Pradesh after an official of the Ambala Cantonment railway station Tuesday received a threat letter, officials said. The letter threatened to blow up railway stations and religious places in the state "to avenge the atrocities against Muslims by Hindus", Station House Officer (GRP) Ram Bachahan said. "The station director at the Ambala Cantonment railway station on Tuesday received a letter threatening to blow up a few railway stations of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh including Ambala Canttand various religious places," Bachahan said. The station's director B S Gill found the letter on his table, he said, adding that there was no stamp of a post office on the letter cover. The station director had received a similar threat a few months ago, he said further. A security alert has been issued at most of the railway stations and other vulnerable places in in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, the SHO said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of former civil servants, defence personnel, judges and academicians wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind Tuesday, expressing concerns over alleged attempts being made by certain groups to "discredit" the Election Commission by casting aspersions on its neutrality. The letter, signed by nearly 80 former civil servants, defence officers, judges, academicians and professionals, said "slurs" are being levelled against the poll body and doubts are being raised on its ability to hold free and fair elections. Among those who signed the letter included former Delhi Police commissioner R S Gupta, Air Marshal (retd) R C Bajpai, former diplomat Ashok Kumar, Lt. Gen. A K Sahni. The letter was in response to an earlier plea made by a group of former civil servants expressing concern over the credibility and functioning of the Election Commission for failing to deal with alleged cases of poll violations, particulary those involving the ruling party. "We have come to express concerns over attempts being made by certain groups to discredit the EC which has been time-tested and great credibility not just in India, but all across the world," the letter to the president said. This, the letter added, gives rise to suspicion that a deliberate attempt is being made by groups with "vested interests" to denigrate such institutions of democracy by undermining their position. "This appears to be part of a larger design to influence its decision-making and to make it conform to a particular line of behaviour and thought," the letter said. Referring to the objections raised by the group on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biopic, the letter said, "The very people who have cast aspersions on the independence of the Election Commission have appeared to have succeeded in influencing the decision of the poll body in banning the biopic made by an independent producer. It may be noted that the decision was delivered only after release of the open letter by the group of (former) civil servants." Last week, the Election Commission banned the release of the biopic, titled "PM Narendra Modi", until its further orders. The letter also pointed out that the said group is trying to stop a 10-part web series 'Modi-A Common Man's Journey', five episodes of which have already been screened before the model code of conduct came into effect. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting out at the Sangh Parivar, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said the country was "under attack" from the BJP and RSS, who want to suppress all voices other than their own. Addressing an election rally at the St Stephen college grounds here in Kollam district, Gandhi said India should be ruled by people of the country and not just one ideology or person. "Currently our country is under attack by the BJP and the RSS. They want to suppress all voices other than their own. They believe that only one idea should rule India while we believe that the people should rule India. We do not believe that India should be ruled by one person. They say if we do not believe in their ideas we will destroy you," the Congress President said. "Prime Minister said Congrees Mukt Bharat. That means they will erase the idea of Congress in India. But what we are saying is that we do not agree with you. We will fight you to convince you that you are wrong. We will beat you in the election. But we will not use violence against you...," he added. On his decision to contest a second seat from Wayanad constituency, the Congress chief said his party wants every person in the country to feel that each voice matters and hence chose Wayanad in Kerala due it its history of tolerance and understanding of different cultures. "... I chose Kerala because you are a very very good example... Your history of tolerance, history of understanding different cultures, history of connecting with the rest of the world, not with the inferiority but with an openness and not with fear but with confidence...," Gandhi said. Lashingout at Modi, hesaid, "in the last five years, our Prime Minister promised several things. Two crore job opportunities.. Rs 15 lakh deposits in bank accounts and price support for farmers." Gandhi asked the people how many of them had received the money in their bank account promised by the Prime Minister. He also assured the cashew farmers in the state that his party, if voted to power, would to take up their cause. "We will start a conversation to help make cashew growing a viable alternative," he said. Raking up the Rafale deal, Gandhi alleged that Rs 30,000 crore gained by Anil Ambani through the deal was almost equivalent to one year's NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). "Anil Ambani gets Rs 30,000 through Rafale deal. The Prime Minister speaks of nationalism and gives the biggest defense deal to a company which has no experience. ...lakhs and lakhs of people get work from NREGA, But here one man gets Rs 30,000 crore. He has givenRs 3.50 lakh crore to 15 of the richest people of this country...," Gandhi said. Promising a separate budget for farmers, Gandhi said he would ask the state government to fulfill the promises made by it to the cashew farmers in the state. Gandhi, who refrained from attacking the CPI(M)-led LDF government in state once again, however, thanked "every single Keralite, regardless of any party," for the support given to him to contest from the state. "We are intrested in your voice. We are interested in removing fear from your heart. We are open to any conversation. We are not here to force ideology on you. You are our ideology. Your voice is our ideology. Because we understand that without your voice, this country is meaningless. And that's why we are fighting for fairness and justice," he said. ".. I would like to say its an honour for me to fight from this part of the country. With humility, because how intelligent, how profound your voices and I want to thank every single Keralite, regardless that any party, i thank every one of them," Gandhi said. He will attend three more functions in state today before going to his constituency, Wayanad for campaigning tomorrow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia's Gazprom has resumed imports of gas from Turkmenistan that it stopped three years ago, according to Turkmenistan's state energy company Turkmengaz. Turkmengaz said in a statement on its website late Monday that gas deliveries had resumed "after a commercial pause, initiated by Gazprom in early 2016." Turkmengaz made no mention of the volumes the company would export to Russia or the value of the new deal. Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller had said that deliveries would resume at the beginning of the year during a trip to Turkmenistan for talks over the contract in October. Russia was once the leading importer of Turkmen gas until it was displaced by China around the beginning of the decade. Relatively cheap imports of gas from Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries enabled Russia to boost its exports to Europe. In 2015, Gazprom announced plans to cut imports of Turkmen gas to four billion cubic metres (bcm) per year, down from 10 bcm in 2010. The move was followed by a complete cessation of purchases announced at the beginning of 2016, adding to the pressure on Turkmenistan's economy which is highly dependent on hydrocarbons as a source of hard currency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Election officials in Maharashtra have asked production houses of two Hindi TV serials accused of espousing the BJP-led government's schemes to get 'politically influential' content vetted with them before it is telecast. The content telecast was a clear violation of the model election code, an official said. Maharashtra's additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde, in an order issued on Monday said, "The production houses should get politically influential content checked from election officials before using it in their serials." The Congress had taken objection to characters in the two TV serials praising government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. The two production houses had subsequently replied to the notice. "Going by the content aired, it is evident that it is a violation of model code of conduct, he said. "We have asked the production houses to remove the content from the serials immediately," he added. Shinde said the explanation from producers of the two serials affirms the poll officials' opinion that the content aired intends to influence "one political party". Election officials in Maharashtra directed producers of television serials Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai and Tujhse Hai Raabta to remove content that was deemed to benefit prospects of a political party. Last week, office of chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had served notices to Binaifer Kohli and Sanjay Kohlis Edit II Productions (Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai) and Sonali Potnis and Aamir Jaffers Full Media House (Tujhse Hai Raabta) after it received a complaint from the Congress, accusing the two shows of espousing the benefits of schemes run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. The Congress had taken objection to characters in the two TV serials praising government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. The two production houses had subsequently replied to the notice. The producers had denied the allegations of promoting government schemes to propagate a political party, claiming they had no such intention. They also claimed that government schemes shown were general in nature," the official said. The producers have also been asked to not to show any such content which may disturb the level playing field of any political party, the official said. The Permanent Court of Arbitration will in June hear Russia's objections against a move by Ukraine to drag it before the world' oldest arbitration body over rights to coastal waters around annexed Crimea. Russia snatched the Black Sea peninsula from Kiev in 2014 and was being accused by the West of illegally blocking access to the Sea of Azov, used by both Russia and Ukraine. Kiev in September 2016 dragged Moscow to the Hague-based PCA, saying it instituted arbitration under international maritime laws "to vindicate its rights as the coastal state in maritime zones adjacent to Crimea in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait." It asked the arbitral tribunal to "enforce its maritime rights by ordering the Russian Federation to cease its internationally wrongful actions in the relevant waters." Moscow in turn indicated it would submit its objections in the case to the PCA, with a public hearing scheduled for June. "The opening statement of the Russian Federation will be delivered on Monday, 10 June at 10 am (local time)," the PCA said in a statement Tuesday. Ukraine's opening statement will be delivered a day later, it added. Russia in November fired and seized three Ukranian navy vessels, capturing dozens of sailors near the Kerch Strait, as they tried to pass from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea. The incident was the first open military clash between Kiev and Moscow since 2014, when the Crimea was annexed and a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg earlier this month said the alliance planned to address "the aggressive actions of Russia" in the Black Sea. Kay Bailey, the US ambassador to NATO added that allies would send more ships to the area to ensure that "countries in and around the Black Sea are safe from Russian meddling." Moscow in turn criticised the Black Sea plan, saying it regretted that the alliance "has no intention to renounce its political and military confrontation with Russia" asking instead to de-escalate "military and political tensions." Set up in 1899, the PCA is the world's oldest arbitral tribunal and resolves disputes between countries and private parties through referring to contracts, special agreements and various treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa has defended a Christian priest who is under scanner of election authorities for alleged hate speech. The party, contesting the Lok Sabha polls in the coastal state, said there was nothing "objectionable" in what the Christian priest has said, and accused the BJP of "spreading communal hatred and divisiveness". The priest courted controversy after a video of his speech, in which he is seen strongly criticising the BJP, its president Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, went viral on social media. The Goa BJP had lodged a complaint against the priest on Sunday even as South Goa District Election Officer Ajit Roy launched an inquiry into the matter. The Goa Church, which wields considerable influence among community members, has expressed regret over the priest's statement and asked him to refrain from making such remarks. However, Goa AAP convener Elvis Gomes has come out in support of the priest. "What's wrong in that? I personally don't see anything wrong in that. I don't think anything that is there in the video is objectionable," Gomes said. "Every day you hear about BJP spreading communal hatred and divisiveness in the society. They are into that," said the former bureaucrat, attacking the saffron outfit. "Recently, the BJP president himself said infiltratorswould be thrown out of the country. Who are theseinfiltrators? Apart from Hindus and Sikhs rest all areinfiltrators," he said. Gomes is the AAP candidate from the South Goa parliamentary constituency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Catholic priest who had allegedly made statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Tuesday tendered an "unconditional apology" after he was found guilty of violating the poll code. The priest, Fr Conceicao D'Silva, faced a probe by election officials after a video of his controversial speech went viral on social media. Stung by the remarks, the BJP had Sunday lodged a complaint against him with poll authorities. South Goa District Returning Officer Ajit Roy, in an order issued here, said DSilva, the Parish Priest of Our Lady of Snows Church, has admitted to making the statements during an inquiry conducted by Additional District Magistrate Agnelo Fernandes. "The Parish Priest has admitted that he had made statements. However, he regrets it and has tendered his unconditional apology for hurting sentiments of general public," Roy said. "As the priest has tendered an unconditional apology, the apology has been accepted and he has been strongly warned not to repeat such things in future. "He has been advised to confine himself to priestly duties as per customs and traditions, failing which strict action will be taken as per law," the order read. The returning officer asked politicians, election candidates, priests, community leaders and heads of associations to desist from making hate speeches. "A humble call is given to all religious leaders, priests, community leaders, heads of associations, leaders of political parties, candidates and members of general public to refrain from making any hate speech and aggressive statements," he said. They should avoid statements which have the potential to inflame communal or caste feelings, Roy said. "They should also avoid using any place of religious worshiplike mosques, churches, temples etc as a forum for election propoganda," he said. A resident of South Goa and the BJP had filed two separate complaints against the priest for making statements against Modi, Shah and Parrikar. The Goa Church, which wields considerable influence among community members, had Monday expressed regret over the priest's statement and asked him to refrain from making such remarks. The model code of conduct is in force in Goa for the elections to the two Lok Sabha constituencies and four assembly bypolls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has asked tech giants Google and Apple to comply with the Madras High Court's order that had banned popular mobile app TikTok, according to sources. Sources said instructions in this regard were sent to the two American companies on Monday after the Supreme Court refused to stay the April 3 order of Madras High Cout that had directed the Centre to ban Tiktok app over concerns about access to pornographic content through it. E-mails sent to Apple and Google did not elicit a response. On Monday, the Supreme Court said the ban directive was just an interim order and that the high court is scheduled to hear the matter on April 16. In its April 3 order, the Madras HC said it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such mobile applications. It had also directed the media not to telecast video clips made with TikTok. The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, allows users to create short videos and then share them. In a statement on Tuesday, TikTok said it has faith in the Indian judicial system. "We are optimistic about an outcome that would allow over 120 million monthly active users in India to continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice to Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed and cancelled the business visa given to him for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, officials said. Ahmed has also been "blacklisted" by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the chances of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a Leave India notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a home ministry official said. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from theForeigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMC's Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Bangladeshi film star was reportedly seen seeking votes for Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border. TheFRROis responsible for providing visa services in the area under its jurisdiction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was ordered to leave the country immediately and his business visa cancelled, an official said Tuesday, two days after he allegedly campaigned for West Bengal's ruling TMC that sparked a political row. West Bengal state BJP leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria also met the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab on Monday to register a complaint and urged him to take appropriation action over the alleged violation of the model code of conduct by the Trinamool Congress(TMC). A video showing Ahmed and Bengali actors Ankush and Payal participating in a roadshow on Sunday to seek votes for Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, the TMC candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, went viral on social media. "All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for didi (TMC chief Mamata Banerjee)," Ahmed was claimed to have told voters while sharing the dais with Agarwal. The Centre Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice and cancelled the business visa given to the actor. Ahmed has also been "blacklisted" by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the prospects of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh National, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a 'Leave India' notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a union home ministry official said in Delhi. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor over his alleged poll campaign. Majumdar, the state BJP vice president, wanted to know how a Bangladeshi national on a visit to the country could campaign for a candidate, and alleged that the actor was brought to polarise minority voters in the constituency. "We believe that it is a completely illegal move executed intentionally. This is a proof of the TMC's bankrupt politics," he said. When reached by PTI for comments, Agarwal said he had no knowledge of the actor canvassing for him. "I have no knowledge about this (Ahmed campaigning for him). I have only two star campaigners Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikary. I have participated in Mamata's two rallies and today I took part in a roadshow in Islampur where Suvendu Adhikary was present," Agarwal said. Senior TMC leader and former state minister Madan Mitra was dismissive about any violation of the model code because of a Bangladeshi national campaigning in an election in India. "I don't know whether the actor participated in the rally or was invited by the candidate. But I don't think there is any violation of the model code. The code says a foreigner cannot be a candidate but I think there is no harm if anybody participates in campaigning. I don't see any violation of the MCC," Mitra said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to a para athlete, suffering muscular degeneration, to continue with stem cell treatment which was stopped following new rules that only licensed companies or clinics are to provide it. The court said the interim relief is subject to the clinic, where petitioner Aditya Bhatia was undergoing the treatment, submitting within a week all the information about the treatment being afforded to him to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. Justice Vibhu Bakhru passed the interim order after the counsel for the government said there was no clarity as to whether the treatment being provided to the petitioner falls within the new rules as no details have been submitted by the clinic. "...this court considers it apposite to direct, as an interim measure, that the treatment being provided to the petitioner will not be impeded," the judge said in the order. The treatment was earlier discontinued after the government enacted new rules for the mostly unregulated industry. The court also said that the concerned authority should examine whether the treatment or products administered to Bhatia prima facie fall within the scope of the expression 'new drugs' as defined under the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, and communicate its view to him and the clinic. In March, the Union Health Ministry had notified New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, which for the first time include 'stem cell derived products' as 'new drugs'. After the central government added stem cells and related products to the list of 'new drugs', any company or a clinic needs permission of a central licensing authority to provide such treatment. The court also added in its order that if the products fall within the scope of the definition 'new drugs', the concerned clinic/ entity administering it would require to take approval as required under the new rules. It disposed of the plea in which Bhati has also said that he needs the treatment daily which, coupled with physiotherapy, prevents his muscles from wasting away. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, that degenerates muscles. His lawyers had told the court that if he has to wait for a licence to be granted to the clinic, which is providing him the treatment, he might die. The lawyers had said the clinic has discontinued the experimental treatment till it gets a licence. He has sought protection till the time the clinic applies and gets license to provide the treatment. The central government had defended its decision to put stem cells in the list of new drugs, notified last month, saying its use was unregulated and complaints were being received regarding its side effects. The government had said several complaints were received that patients developed tumours on account of undergoing embryonic stem cell treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court Tuesday restrained a trial court here from examining the CBI witnesses connected with a probe done in Himachal Pradesh in a Rs 10-crore disproportionate assets case allegedly involving former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Justice Sunil Gaur, in an interim order, noted that Section 6 of Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act has been challenged and the matter is sub-judice. Section 6 of the Act deals with the consent of a state government for exercising powers and jurisdiction by CBI officials. The court was informed by Singh's counsel that the investigation in the case was conducted in Himachal Pradesh as well as in Delhi. To this, the high court said the trial court should make an endeavour to first examine the witnesses who are not related to the investigation done in Himachal Pradesh on the date fixed by the lower court. The trial in the DA case is pending before a lower court which had fixed May 1 for recording evidence of prosecution (CBI) witnesses. The high court listed for September 18, the pleas of Singh, his wife Pratibha and two others challenging the trial court order to frame charges against them. During the hearing, senior advocate Dayan Krishnan and lawyer D K Thakur, appearing for Singh, told the court that if the trial court is allowed to proceed with recording of evidence collected from Himachal Pradesh, the entire process of filing the petition would be defeated. The high court had refused to stay the trial court order to frame charges against Singh and others in the DA case and had asked the CBI to respond to the pleas. The 82-year-old Congress leader and his wife have sought quashing of the December 10, 2018 trial court order directing framing of charges against them and seven others in the case filed by CBI. The CBI prosecutor had told the court that the agency has already filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, challenging a limited part of the high court's March 31, 2017 order in which it had said that the consent issue will be adjudicated by the trial court and notice was earlier issued to Singh. Before the apex court, the CBI has sought clarification on the nature of sanction needed from a government to probe any offence committed in the state. The CBI had contended before the high court that there was a general consent granted by the Himachal Pradesh government on August 24, 1990 to probe offences of central government employees in the territory of the state. Singh, on the other hand, had contended in the high court that the consent order does not take within its scope a central minister, who served as a public servant in Delhi under the central government. Singh has claimed in the plea that the offence of possessing disproportionate assets under the Prevention of Corruption Act, if any, is said to have been committed in Himachal Pradesh and the consent of the state government is necessary to initiate an investigation. The plea has contended that the trial court was only required to look into the effect of the investigation conducted without consent and not to look into the law as to whether consent was necessary. The trial court, in its December 2018 order, had said that Singh intended to cause loss to tax authorities by presenting unaccounted money as sale proceeds of apples and had also ordered framing of charges against his wife and seven others for allegedly abetting in the offences. The other seven accused in the case are LIC agent Anand Chauhan, Chunni Lal Chauhan, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, Lawan Kumar Roach and Ram Prakash Bhatia. The punishment for the offences of criminal misconduct and disproportionate assets under the PC Act ranges between one to seven years jail term, forgery under IPC entails a maximum of two years imprisonment and the offence of cheating could lead to a maximum sentence of seven years. On the role of his wife, the court had said there was "grave suspicion" that she committed the offence of abetment under the IPC. The CBI had registered the case against Singh and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known source of income when he was the union minister in the UPA government. A charge sheet filed in the trial court claimed that Singh had amassed assets worth around Rs 10 crore which were disproportionate by 192 per cent of his total income during his tenure as a union minister. The matter was transferred by the Supreme Court from the Himachal Pradesh High Court to the Delhi High Court, which on April 6, 2016 had asked the CBI not to arrest Singh and had directed him to join the probe. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court Tuesday stayed the reclamation and construction work for the Coastal Road Project in Mumbai. Last week, a bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice N M Jamdar had suggested that a status-quo be maintained, and the lawyer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had assured that no further work will be carried out. However, the court said Tuesday, it was brought to its notice that with each passing day further damage was being caused to the marine life and livelihood of fisher-folk living along the coast due to the ongoing reclamation and dumping of debris. While the BMC denied this and urged the court not to stay the work, the bench passed an interim direction, asking the civic body not to carry out further reclamation or cause more damage to the coastline until orders. Damage to the biodiversity would cause irreversible problems for society, the high court said. The court also asked why the BMC did not seek objections from the public before starting the work, and why the project was treated as an exceptional case and exempted from certain norms regarding reclamation. The high court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by an NGO, a group of residents and fisher-folk, challenging proposed felling of trees and the ongoing reclamation for the project. Senior advocates Janak Dwarkadas and Gayatri Singh, the petitioners' lawyers, alleged that the BMC had not obtained the requisite environmental clearance (EC) from the Centre. Senior advocate Shrihari Aney, appearing for the BMC, argued that an EC was obtained for the northern part of the project, while it was not required for the southern end. The road proposes to link Marine Drive in South Mumbai to Borivali in North Mumbai. "One takes six hours to commute between Borivali and South Mumbai. The city is dying of increasing traffic burden. So, if the BMC and the state are making any attempt to ease this burden, that in itself becomes an exceptional circumstance," Aney said. The bench said it was trying to ensure that no further damage was caused to the and the coastline. "The petitioners say everyday the damage continues. And, it is this that we have to take care of," the court said. Directing the Maharashtra government and the BMC to "maintain status quo," the bench said a detailed order will be made public Thursday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Income-Tax Department Tuesday said it is conducting searches at about a dozen premises in on charges of tax evasion. The raids are being conducted in state capital Bangalore, Hassan and Mandya and the department said the action is aimed against and blackmoney generators. Official sources, however, indicated that links of these persons with respect to ongoing polls will also be a part of the investigative operation. "The searches are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets. "Taxpayers covered in the search operations are engaged in the business of real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing government contracts, operating petrol bunks, saw mill and managing cooperative banks," the department said in a statement. These are sectors, it added, which are "prone" to generation of blackmoney. It said five residences in Hassan, one each in Bangalore and Mandya along with their business premises are being covered as part of the search operations. About a dozen premises are being searched, sources added. 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls in two phases on April 18 and 23. / -- India is marching towards establishing itself as a top global innovator for high technology products and services. Given the benefit of a dynamic young population - with more than half of the country's population under 25 years of age, and the urgent imperative for change coming from almost every segment and region, India is on the path towards an innovation-led, rapid and inclusive growth to achieve social and economic transformation. In such a scenario, ICT Academy, an initiative of Government of India, State Government and Industry came up with 'Student Innovator Award', for the students across the nation to foster innovation midst the younger generation. ICT Academy conducted the regional round for Karnataka and identified 'Alliance University' as the regional host and the state partner on March 22-23, 2019. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871625/Presentation_at_Alliance_University.jpg) A total of 4131 students from 170 colleges across Karnataka, had registered for the event. 1377 projects were submitted in total. Of this, 59 teams with 183 students from 21 colleges participated in the finale hosted at Alliance University. Innovation no more happens on demand. Innovation has become an integral part of business, product, process, service and lifestyle. It is believed that innovation is the change that unlocks new value. Innovation can only be nourished by creating the right environment for ideas to be developed. ICT Academy with this objective, instituted the Student Innovator Award in the year 2012, through which the Academy thrives to enhance student knowledge and benefit society through professional integrated with research, creativity and innovation. Student Innovator Award presents an opportunity for students to showcase their innovative projects state-wide and provides an environment to nurture their invention by discussing with subject matter experts. ICT Academy invited innovative projects of the students in the branches of: Computer Science & Information TechnologyCivil & ArchitectureMechanical & Automobile andElectrical & ElectronicsFull time engineering students under UG and PG courses across India mentioned in the streams above applied for this award. The students whose projects got short listed had to make presentation and demo in front of industry experts at Alliance University, Bengaluru. The top 3 honors were given to: Shri Sairam College of Engineering Reva University BMS Institute of Technology and Management About Alliance University: Alliance University is a private University established in Karnataka State by Act No.34 of year 2010 and is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi. The University is known for its diverse degree courses, state-of-the-art campus, high quality and excellent placement record, aspires to be among the best universities in the world by the year 2025. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatsinh Solanki, the Congress' Anand Lok Sabha candidate, is confident of wresting the seat from the BJP and claims it is his party's safest bet in Gujarat. He said if the Congress cannot win Anand Lok Sabha seat, in central Gujarat, then it can't win any of the 26 seats in the state. In the 2014 polls, the BJP had blanked out the Congress winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats. Anand, known as the milk capital of India and famous worldwide for the Amul dairy brand, is expected to see a close contest between Solanki, two-time MP from here in 2004 and 2009, and the BJP's Mitesh Patel, a well known businessman making his poll debut. The BJP, possibly sensing anti-incumbency, dropped sitting MP Dilip Patel, who had defeated Solanki, a former Union minister, riding the Narendra Modi wave. Anand has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, the party having won from here ten times, while the BJP managed to wrest it in 1989, 1999 and 2014. Among the ten Congress victories, five belong to Solanki's maternal grandfather Ishwar Chavda between 1980 and 1998. While BJP's Mitesh Patel claimed people here will vote in favour of BJP as they want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister again, Solanki said basic issues such as lack of employment and farm distress would ensure a Congress win. Though Solanki, who had served as the state Congress president between 2015 and 2017, is upbeat, several voters of Dedarda village of Borsad taluka, from where Solanki is registered as a voter, feel the BJP government's developmental works and "pro-people" decisions cannot be overlooked. "The road passing from Dedarda is now a two-lane road. We have a school with classes till 10th standard. No doubt villagers have a soft corner for Solanki as he is registered as voter from this village, but we cannot ignore the BJP government's schemes, such as free treatment under Rs 5 lakhs for the poor," said Mulji Solanki of Dedarda, a part of Petlad Assembly constituency. Another villager alleged that Solanki direct contact with the public was weak and this had led to his defeat in 2014. "Congress MLA from Anklav and Solanki's cousin Amit Chavda would have been a better choice. Unlike Chavda, Solanki does not believe in keeping in touch. When he was an MP and a minister, he hardly came here," said a roadside tea seller who did not wish to be identified. Chavda took over the reins of state party unit from Solanki after the 2017 Assembly polls. A samosa vendor in Napa-Talpad village of Borsad had a similar complaint against Solanki. "Napa has a sizable Muslim population and the sarpanch is also Muslim. We normally support the Congress. But many of us have seen Solanki does not even stop here or wave his hand to us if he passes from here. This is the biggest problem with him," said Shabbir Shaikh. While Congress supporters are aplenty in the rural parts, the urban population of Anand and adjoining Vallabh Vidyanagar wants to go with the BJP to "strengthen national security". "Just look at our roads and streets. They are neat and clean. The bus connectivity is good. The BJP has done a great job both at local and national levels. Only Modi can fight terrorism and make India a strong country," said Rakesh Patel, a college student. Anand Lok Sabha seat has seven Assembly segments, namely Anand, Khambhat, Borsad, Anklav, Umreth, Sojitra and Petlad. Among these, Umreth and Khambhat are with the BJP while the rest are with the Congress. Mitesh Patel said sitting MP Dilip Patel's works at the local level and Modi's decisions at the Centre will help BJP retain the seat. "Our MP had spent his entire grant for various works in rural parts of Anand. People know him very well. Many roads in villages were built through his grants. He is constantly with me during campaigning. We have seen that people have made up their mind to make Modiji PM again," said Patel. Solanki, while admitting that he could not remain in touch with people in the past due to party responsibilities, claimed the Congress would win as people have lost trust in BJP. "When you become party president, it is obvious you can't run the party from your home in Borsad as some things change with such responsibilities. Otherwise, I am very much in touch with my people," he said. "If not Anand, then Congress cannot win any other seat," said a confident Solanki. Solanki belongs to the OBC Kshatriya Thakor caste, with over 7.5 lakh voters, while Mitesh Patel belongs to the Patidar community, with around 2.42 lakh voters. Muslim voters number around 1.70 lakh. Though caste equations are in the Congress' favour, the BJP candidate Mitesh Patel claims it does not come into the picture as his party won from here in 1989, 1999 and 2014. Solanki, on other hand, said his chances of voctory are better as there are no Muslim candidates in the fray, unlike in 2014 when there were two Independent candidates from the minority community. Polling for all 26 seats in the state will take place on April 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 33-year-old Indian man has been sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation for hacking 15 websites, according to a media report. The Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday charged the man with hacking websites and issuing threats, Gulf reported. He was also handed a three-month suspended jail term and will be deported immediately, the report said. According to official records, the defendant, who worked as a computer programmer with the media company, resigned and threatened to hack its client websites after 4,000 dirhams (USD 1,080) was deducted from his salary. "He sent WhatsApp messages to another programmer at the company saying that he will hack the websites if the company did not repay him the 4,000 dirhams deducted from his salary. "He was informed that the deduction would be made if he resigned before the end of the probation period," said the company owner. After investigation, the police said that the data found on the defendant's personal laptop confirmed that he had accessed the websites. The defendant has denied the charges. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of Indian and Pakistani professionals on Tuesday won their appeal in the UK Court of Appeal against the British government's decision to reject their right to settle in the country over a controversial national security clause. The four applicants, three of whom are Indian and one Pakistani, had been refused their Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK under a skilled visa category over perceived dishonesty in reporting their earnings to the UK's tax department. Their case had been clubbed together for the purpose of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which ruled against UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid and found his approach was "legally flawed" to apply Paragraph 322(5) of the immigration rules related to conduct and character. "The formal result is that each of these four appeals will be allowed," concludes the judgment handed down by Lord Justice Underhill, Lord Justice Hickinbottom and Lord Justice Singh. "The approach taken by the Secretary of State (Javid) in deciding to refuse the applications for leave to remain in each of these cases on paragraph 322 (5) grounds which we take to have been his general approach in all earnings discrepancy cases was legally flawed," the judgment notes. The judges conclude that the Home Office proceeded directly from finding discrepancies in reported earnings by the applicants to a decision that they were the result of dishonesty, without giving the applicants an opportunity to "proffer an innocent explanation". They lay out a number of procedural directions, which are likely to impact other similar cases in future. "It is a big relief but it has been a very long and difficult journey," said Ashish Balajigari, from Hyderabad. His application for ILR must now be reassessed after the court found that he had not been given "an opportunity to make representations" in response to an allegation that he had "acted dishonestly" over what he had submitted was a rectified accountant error. The case of another Indian professional, Somnath Majumder, was found to have been "plainly flawed" and a "clear breach of the duty of procedural fairness by the Secretary of State". Majumder, who is believed to have since returned to India, has had the refusal of his settlement right in the UK quashed. Fellow Indian national Avais Kawos and his wife and children will also be among those whose case must be reconsidered, alongside the case of Pakistani national Amor Albert. The test case follows months of legal wrangles faced by professionals, largely from South Asia, who were entitled to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after a minimum of five years' lawful residency in the UK. Legal experts noted a pattern of many such applications being turned down by Home Office caseworkers citing clause 322(5) of the UK Immigration Act, a discretionary rule aimed at denying convicted criminals and terrorists the right to live in the UK. The Home Office questioned the good character of these professionals over apparent differences in their declared earnings to the UK tax department and the Home Office in order to make up the required income-related points on their settlement application. The Court of Appeal judgment said the Home Office must also consider whether any such dishonesty renders the presence of the applicant in the UK undesirable or whether there are other factors which outweigh the presumption in favour of removal and admits that human rights factors would also come into play in such cases. A Home Office spokesperson said that the department would consider the judgment and its response to it carefully. "The Court agreed that the use of paragraph 322(5) is appropriate in these types of cases and that we are right to expect a full and convincing explanation from people when there are discrepancies in their tax records and immigration applications," the spokesperson said. The issue had also led to a Home Office review last year, with the government admitting errors were made in denying some professionals the right to live and work in the UK over the controversial clause. However, it has maintained the overall use of Paragraph 322(5) falls within policy guidelines. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Investigators were working Tuesday to identify the source of a massive blaze that devastated the cathedral in Paris, as church officials inspected the damage from a disaster that has sent shockwaves through France and the world. Donations and offers of help began to pour in on Tuesday as day broke over the City of Light, revealing the extent of the damage from Monday night's inferno which took around 15 hours to extinguish. "All night long I saw men going past with tears in their eyes. I described it this way: It was total chaos, but we can't let it knock us down," said Philippe Marsset, the vicar general of French President Emmanuel Macron had also struck a defiant tone on Monday night as he visited the scene with his wife Brigitte, telling reporters: "We will rebuild because it is what the French expect." Around 400 firefighters battled through the night to control the flames, declaring only at around 10 am on Tuesday that it had finally been extinguished. "Now we're in the phase of investigating," fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters. A public appeal for funds was launched by the privately run French Heritage Foundation to help restore a "symbol of French history and culture". French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced Tuesday that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would give 200 million euros ($226 million), after luxury rival Kering offered 100 million euros. "We have everything to be able to rebuild it in exactly the same way," Culture Minister Franck Riester told France Inter radio, adding that the government was looking at ways to encourage donations. Thousands of Parisians and tourists had watched in horror from nearby streets as flames engulfed the building and officials tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's countless treasures, built up over centuries. The inferno destroyed two-thirds of the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the evening sky. Attention was expected to turn to the source of the fire, which occurred during renovation work to overhaul the spire that had suffered damage inflicted by weather and pollution. Investigators began interviewing witnesses overnight and are treating the case as an "involuntary fire", not arson. Firefighters have said the renovation work could be to blame, and the fire started in an area of the roof that was below scaffolding. One firefighter suffered injuries during the blaze, which at one point threatened to bring down one of the two monumental towers on the western facade of the cathedral that is visited by more than 12 million tourists each year. Late on Monday night, to the relief of the nation, Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet had declared that "we can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved," as well as the two bell towers. But culture minister Riester warned that the structure remained unstable and that no one had yet been able to fully inspect the extent of the fire and water damage inside. "We'll have to wait for a while to do a full inventory," he said, adding that the organ appeared to have been "badly damaged" as had many paintings and frescos. The Holy Crown of Thorns and a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis, two irreplaceable artifacts, had been rescued along with the church's main crucifix, and placed with at the Paris town hall. French investigators interviewed construction workers involved in renovation work at the Notre-Dame cathedral on Tuesday as they sought to identify the source of a devastating blaze at the monument that has sent shockwaves through France and the world. Donations and offers of help began to pour in as day broke over the City of Light, revealing the extent of the damage from Monday night's inferno which took around 15 hours to extinguish. "All night long I saw men going past with tears in their eyes. I described it this way: It was total chaos, but we can't let it knock us down," said Philippe Marsset, the vicar general of Notre-Dame. Most of the roof has been destroyed, the steeple has collapsed and an unknown number of artifacts and paintings have been lost, but the walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows remain in tact. Around 400 firefighters battled through the night to control the flames and the last remnants of the inferno were extinguished at around 10 am on Tuesday, 15 hours after it broke out. Ongoing renovation work is widely suspected to have caused the fire after the blaze broke out in an area below scaffolding. Investigators interviewed witnesses overnight and began speaking to the employees of five different construction companies which were working on the monument, said public prosecutor Remy Heitz. "Nothing indicates this was a voluntary act," Heitz told reporters, adding that 50 investigators had been assigned to the case. French President Emmanuel Macron had struck a defiant tone on Monday night as he visited the scene with his wife Brigitte, telling reporters: "We will rebuild Notre-Dame because it is what the French expect." He described the cathedral as the "epicentre of our life". A public appeal for funds drew immediate support from French billionaires and other private donors as well foreign countries including Germany, Italy and Russia which offered to lend their expertise. French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced Tuesday that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would give 200 million euros (USD 226 million), after luxury rival Kering offered 100 million euros. Specialised craftsmen and rare materials are also expected to be needed to restore the monument, seen as symbol of Western civilisation and an emblem of France which has survived revolutions and wars. A French wood company in Murlin, central France, offered to put its loggers to work immediately for the oak beams that will be needed to rebuild the vaulted roof of the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site. "The work will surely take years, decades even, but it will require thousands of cubic metres of wood," Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group told France Inter radio. The privately run French Heritage Foundation launched a call for donations on its website -- www.fondation-patrimoine.org -- while several pages were set up on the Leetchi fundraising portal. "We have everything to be able to rebuild it in exactly the same way," Culture Minister Franck Riester told France Inter, adding that the government was looking at ways to encourage donations. Thousands of Parisians and tourists had watched in horror from nearby streets on Monday night as flames engulfed the building and officials tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's countless treasures, built up over centuries. The inferno destroyed two-thirds of the roof of the 850-year-old landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the evening sky. One firefighter suffered injuries during the blaze, which at one point threatened to bring down one of the two monumental towers on the western facade of the cathedral that is visited by around 13 million tourists each year. Culture minister Riester warned that the structure remained unstable and that no one had yet been able to fully inspect the extent of the fire and water damage inside. "We'll have to wait for a while to do a full inventory," he said. The Holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion, was saved by firefighters, as was a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis. Rescuers formed a human chain at the site of the disaster to bring out as many artifacts as possible which have been stocked at the Paris town hall. The sense of shock at the damage was palpable in France and stirred reactions from governments across the world. The cathedral has figured as a central character through the ups and downs of French history since construction began in mid-12th century. During the French Revolution in the 18th century, it was vandalised and plundered, but would go on to feature as a central character in a Victor Hugo novel published in 1831, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" which is credited with helping save it. It survived the devastation of two global conflicts in the 20th century and famously rang its bells on August 24, 1944, the day of the Liberation of Paris from German occupation at the end of the World War II. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Notre-Dame cathedral a "symbol of European culture" as the blaze raged. The Vatican expressed its "incredulity" and "sadness" over the fire. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Damascus on Tuesday ahead of a fresh round of talks next week in Kazakhstan towards ending Syria's eight-year civil war. Iran and Russia are key allies of the Damascus regime, and along with rebel backer Turkey have sponsored the so-called Astana negotiations track to end the conflict. Kazakhstan is to host a fresh round of talks on April 25-26 in its capital, last month renamed from Astana to Nur-Sultan. In Damascus, Zarif and President Bashar al-Assad discussed "the next round of Astana talks and the importance of lasting communication between Damascus and Tehran for continued cooperation", the presidency said in a statement. Both countries are facing a flurry of sanctions by Western nations including the United States, with Washington this month designating Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation. Syria is in the grips of a growing fuel crisis that it blames on these sanctions. Zarif and Assad accused Western countries headed by the United States of "launching wars and economic terrorism against anyone who did not agree with them" in regional matters, the presidency said. Earlier on Tuesday, Zarif met his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem. After the meeting, Muallem told journalists Iran, Russia and Turkey would be focusing on the jihadist-held bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria, pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said. The region on the border with Turkey is held by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and is in theory protected from a massive regime offensive by a Russia-Turkey deal. The September accord aimed to set up a buffer zone around Idlib, but was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from it. "The Astana guarantors... need to abide by the commitments linked to the Idlib file," including "disarming terrorists groups and them leaving Idlib", Muallem said, according to Al-Watan. Regime forces have continued to bombard Idlib despite the deal, increasingly so in recent weeks. Zarif is expected to visit Turkey after Damascus. Endless rounds of UN-backed Syria peace talks have failed to stem the bloodshed, and Iran, Russia and Turkey have sponsored the parallel Astana negotiations track since early 2017. Tehran has provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad throughout the war, which has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since 2011. The Syrian regime has made a military comeback with Russian military support since 2015, and now holds almost two-thirds of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, is giving a tacit support to his son Sujay, who is the BJP contestant from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, sources have said. The Vikhe Patil senior is working behind the curtains, they said, adding that the Congress leader is in touch with the supporters of his father late Balasaheb Vikhe Patil in Rahuri, Parnerand other areas in Ahmednagar district, and exhorting them to support Sujay. "He is supporting Sujay in his role as a father," they said. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who has been a traditional opponent of the Vikhe Patils, has made the Ahmednagar contest a prestige battle. Pawar had refused to vacate the constituency, which is with the NCP as per the seat-sharing deal with the Congress, for Sujay who eventually joined the BJP. The constituency is divided into pro and anti-Sujay camps. According to sources, some Congress workers who are close to Sujay consider him as a political strategist for working to ensure that his father won the assembly elections in 2014. Sujay also played an important role in Zilla Parishad elections held in 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The management of cash-strapped Jet Airways will take a final call by end of the day on whether to continue operations as the airline makes last ditch efforts to raise funds, sources said Tuesday. Sources at the airline said all options would be explored before deciding on its operations. As the crisis-hit airline's board is meeting here, reports said the carrier might be temporarily suspending its operations due to cash crunch. Shares of Jet Airways plummeted nearly 19 per cent on Tuesday. Sources at the airline said all efforts are being made and operations would continue till all options are exhausted. The final call would be taken by the end of the day, they added. Jet Airways shares, which opened the day on a weak note, further plummeted 18.56 per cent to Rs 213.20 in afternoon trade on the BSE. The carrier, which was founded more than 25 years ago, has already suspended international operations till April 18. On Monday, Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube said the lenders could not decide on the emergency funding and that the airline's board would meet on Tuesday to take a call on the future. "As you are aware, we have been working with the lenders to secure interim funding for our operations. The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far, and as a result we have extended cancellation of international operations until April 18. "The current status of our engagement with the lenders and other related matters shall be placed before the board tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, where the management will seek guidance from the board on the next steps forward. We will keep you updated on all critical developments," Dube said in an internal communication on Monday. On March 25, the airline's board had approved a debt resolution plan, under which SBI-led consortium would provide an emergency loan of Rs 1,500 crore and also take control of the carrier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Spider-Man: Homecoming" director Jon Watts is in negotiations to helm Michael B Jordan-starrer "Methuselah". According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is about a man who has managed to stay alive for hundreds of years. The project, which hails from Warner Bros, has been in development for many years now. At one point, superstar Tom Cruise was attached for the lead part. "Methuselah" will be produced by Jordan's Outlier Society along with Heyday's David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford. Watts is currently working on "Spider-Man: Far From Home", the sequel to the 2017 film. Featuring Tom Holland in the title role, the movie will release in July this year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mining dependents of Karnataka Tuesday staged a protest here at Jantar Mantar to press for non-discriminatory practices in iron ore trade in the state and sought immediate action by the Centre in "rescuing their livelihoods from prejudiced policies" prevailing in the state. "Around 600 people of Karnataka Gani Avalambithara Vedike (KGAV), consisting of iron ore mining dependants from Bellary, Hospet, Chitradurga districts and surrounding mining belt gathered for a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today," KGAV, which represents mining dependents, said in a statement. The mining dependents have also made a plea to allow free trade, giving preference to local iron ore over imports and ensuring regular business for truckers and lakhs of other mining dependents, it said. Leading the protest, KGAV spokesperson Rajakumar S said in the mining belts of Karnataka which are also drought-prone areas, around 25 per cent of population depends on agriculture, whereas the remaining 75 per cent depends on mining. Despite this huge number, the lives of these mining dependants have become uncertain due to discriminatory policies and restrictions prevalent only in Karnataka, resulting in massive unemployment. "We have gathered here to make an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Centre, the concerned ministries and bureaucrats to save us from these biased trade practices and provide us an environment that ensures a secured future for our families and children," Rajakumar S said in a statement. In addition to the loss of livelihood, the stagnant production and inventory pile-up has disrupted the state's economic growth, causing a huge loss to the exchequer and contribution to District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and other welfare and developmental schemes, he added. After mining was banned in Karnataka, lakhs of people dependent on iron ore mining industry including truckers were the most affected as it resulted in large scale job losses. Their livelihood became highly uncertain even after the Supreme Court permitted to start mining but, production cap, e-auction and lots of other restrictions lowered the mining capacity that led to stagnation in iron ore industry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) JNU students union presidents entering mainstream in Bihar is nothing new. For many who thought Kanhaiya Kumar, who shot to fame in 2016 after he was booked for sedition, was the only one to take the political plunge, there have been many more. Shakeel Ahmed Khan who is a Congress MLA from Kadwa in Bihar's Katihar district was the JNUSU President in 1992-93 and was also the union's Vice President in the preceding year. While Khan had contested student union polls as member of the left-affiliated Students Federation of India (SFI), he joined Congress as he moved out of the university "JNU did shape my interest in which ultimately became my career for the rest of my life. I will not be dishonest to say that the move to join Congress was not opportunistic but it was almost two decades back, the political atmosphere of the country was different. "Making a political career with the grand old party was in my mind but I have stuck to the party I joined despite all odds," Khan told PTI. Khan had joined Congress in 1999 and was first elected as MLA from Kadwa constituency in 2015. Also in the league is Janata Dal (United) MLC, Tanvir Akhtar, a resident of Sherghati in Gaya, who was the JNUSU president in 1991-92 when Ahmad was the Vice President. Akhtar, contested the student union polls, on a ticket from the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI). He moved out of the campus but remained with the Congress and was made the party's member of legislative council. He was also the Vice-President of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and President of Bihar Youth Congress. However, he joined JDU last year. "I did not switch my party in an opportunist move. Despite contributing a lot for the Congress, I was humiliated by party leaders and hence I took the decision. I started very young with NSUI which was almost negligible in JNU campus and still continues to be the that way," he told PTI. Kanhaiya, who shot to fame in 2016 after he was booked for sedition over an event on campus during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, is making his poll debut this year from his hometown Begusarai, which goes to polls on April 29. Contesting the election on a CPI ticket, he is pitted against BJP veteran Giriraj Singh and RJD's Tanveer Hassan in Begusarai. There were many more. Chandrashekhar Prasad, who was elected Vice-President of the student union in 1993, and eventually President, for two successive terms had returned to his hometown Siwan and was working for the Communist Party of India but could not make his electoral debut in mainstream politics as he was killed in 1997. Former Banka MP, Digvijay Singh, a native of Gidhaur in Bihar's Jamui district, who died in 2010, was also the general secretary of JNUSU in 1982 from the Students for Democratic Socialism (DYS) outfit. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and Pakistan Tuesday held another round of talks at the border here to discuss technical issues relating to the proposed corridor to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in the neighbouring country, officials said. At the nearly four-hour meeting, which took place in makeshift tents on the zeroline, experts and technicians from both the countries discussed "timing for completion of bridge, alignment of roads and engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points", the officials said. While the meeting was on, civilians were not allowed access to a point on the Indian side from where they can have darshan of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib through binoculars. The meeting was conducted in a benevolent atmosphere and various issues were discussed for speedy completion of the proposed project, the officials said. The Pakistani team included 8 to 10 delegates from the foreign ministry, and religion and federal works departments, while the 12-member Indian team comprised officials from the Land Ports Authority of India, National Highways Authority of India, Centre Public Work Department and Border Security Force. In November 2018, India and Pakistan had agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak, to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspurdistrict. A meeting between officials of India and Pakistan was held last month. Kartarpur is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the Ravi,about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak.. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kazakhstan said Tuesday it will host fresh talks on Syria on April 25-26, backed by Iran, Russia and Turkey as they eye an end to the eight-year conflict. Delegations from the Syrian regime and armed opposition groups are expected to participate along with representatives of the three guarantor states, Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said in a statement. The United Nations and Jordan would attend as observers, it added. The situation on the ground in Idlib will be on the agenda of the talks, as well as "confidence-building measures" and the distribution of humanitarian aid. The talks will be the first in Astana for the UN's new Syria envoy Geir Pedersen, who took over from Staffan de Mistura in January. De Mistura seemed frustrated at the most recent Astana talks in November, ruing a "missed opportunity" to move closer towards a political settlement. Pedersen said that talks in Damascus Sunday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem focused on a political settlement had been "substantial." Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has taken a lead role in diplomatic efforts through the so-called "Astana process" with Iran and Turkey that has largely sidelined UN diplomacy. The talks there began in January 2017. Last month the Kazakh capital changed its name from Astana to Nur-Sultan, although the former name is still being used for the talks. Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since the conflict began with the repression of anti-government protests in 2011. The Syrian regime has made a military comeback with Russian military support since 2015, and now holds almost two-thirds of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An ambulance literally streaked across the road transporting a 15-day-old infant with a serious heart-related problem from a hospital in Mangaluru to a private one here in five-and-a-half hours Tuesday as authorities and people came together to create a green corridor on a 400 km stretch. The child has been admitted to the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences here following intervention by the Kerala government, official sources said. Initially, the relatives had decided to take the child directly to the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology in Thiruvananthapuram in the ambulance covering over 600 km in 12 hours. However, State Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher intervened and urged the relatives to take it to the Kochi hospital. The minister, who spoke to doctors in Amrita Hospital, convinced the relatives that a long journey will be risky for the child who was in a serious condition. The minister also offered free treatment for the child under the 'Hrudyam project' of the state government. When the Ambulance started from Mangalore at around 11 am, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made an appeal to the people to ensure smooth journey for the vehicle. Messages through various social media platforms also helped the authorities provide a hassle-free journey and the ambulance reached the hospital in five and a half hours covering the distance of 400 km. The baby, diagnosed with a serious heart-related problem, was born to Sania and Mithah from Kasaragod 15 days ago, according to sources. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Relatives of Srinagar Central Jail inmates staged a protest here demanding the prisoners are not shifted out of Kashmir and that their rights are upheld. The protestors alleged that they were not being allowed to meet their jailed relatives following a clash between inmates and prison staff last week. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti expressed serious concern over the alleged violation of prisoner's rights in Central Jail and "use of brute force" against protesting inmates. "It looks like the Government of India wants to turn Srinagar Central Jail into another Guantanamo," she told reporters in Budgam. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Who will win Mandya Lok Sabha seat? It's a million dollar question that has split this Vokkaliga bastion wide open. The contest between two debutantes Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil and independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh is likely to go down to the wire. Will it be "Dodda Gowdara mommaga" (Deve Gowda's grandson) or "Mandya da Sose" (daughter-in-law of Mandya) is the point of discussion, whether in sugarcane fields or at road-side tea stalls, suggesting the JD(S) candidate is on a sticky wicket. Mandya, known as "Sakkare Naadu" (land of sugarcane), has been the hotbed of Cauvery and the present contest has made it no less than a sensational drama. There are 22 candidates in the fray, but the straight contest is between Nikhil, Congress-JD(S) joint candidate, and Sumalatha, backed by BJP. Nikhil, 31, is the third-generation political entrant from former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's family, and Sumalatha, 55, is the widow of popular actor-turned-politician M H Ambareesh. There is a clear split among voters in Mandya, with both candidates banking on their family's political legacy. The Gowda family hails from the neighbouring Hassan district, and many in Mandya see Nikhil's candidature as imposition of dynasty "Why is the Gowda family imposing their dynasty on Mandya? Don't they have any able candidate in the party from here? After Channapatna and Ramanagara, Mandya too is being taken under the family fold," 58-year-old Eerappa said, during a roadside discussion in Gejjalagere. Ningappa, a farmer, praised Sumalatha and Ambareesh for the goodwill they share with Mandya, and questioned Kumaraswamy how development can come all of a sudden if Nikhil becomes MP when nothing happened despite having 8 MLAs and 3 ministers from the district. A JD(S) supporter retorted to Ningappa, pointing at crores of rupees worth of projects sanctioned for Mandya under the present government. While there is a visible support for Sumalatha, who is riding on Ambareesh's popularity, the question is will it translate into votes. That she enjoys the support of BJP and a section of disgruntled Congress workers in Mandya, her strength at the booth-level is not clear. As the poll in a way is seen as a fight between Sumalatha and the chief minister himself, there is lot at stake for Kumaraswamy as winning the seat will establish continued JD(S) dominance over the Vokkaliga heartland. There is considerable anti-incumbency against the JD(S) MLAs and ministers, and wide-spread backlash against their dynasty politics, which may add to Nikhil's worries. Sumalatha had sought to contest from Congress, the party Ambareesh represented from Mandya, but decided to be an independent after being denied ticket. All is not well between the alliance partners, as several Congress leaders, including former MLAs N Cheluvarayaswamy, P M Narendraswamy and Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, are miffed over their party's decision to cede the seat to JD(S). Also upset over comments made by Kumaraswamy allegedly against them, they have not joined the election campaign. Many Congress workers have extended support to Sumalatha, despite recent suspension of seven block presidents in Mandya. Conceding that there is some bickering, Kumaraswamy said, "Along with BJP, one section of Congress friends, some farmers' organisations and local media are completely supporting the independent candidate. But it will not help and my son will win with a thumping majority, with the blessings of people," he said. Nikhil has the political might of his party, Sumalatha has several personalities of Kannada film industry on her side, with film stars like Darshan and Yash actively campaigning for her. "I know I'm pitted again a very formidable opposition. You can't discount the fact that their whole family is into politics, they are holding power, there are 8 MLAs, three of them are ministers from here... The very fact that I have taken this risk at the very onset of my entry into politics, should be an assurance for people that I'm there for them," Sumalatha said. Meanwhile, a campaign is on to question Sumalatha's identity as a "Gowdthi" (Vokkaliga), highlighting her Telugu background. The prestige battle for Mandya has also seen personal attacks on rival candidates, politics over Income Tax raids on JD(S) supporters and transfer of deputy commissioner on the allegation of being "biased" towards Kumaraswamy's son. Confident about his win, Nikhil, who has acted in a lead role in a couple of movies, said, "I come from a political background, it is nothing new for me. I don't come from a cinema background. I opted for cinema because I wanted to prove myself and to the world that I can still do something other than politics And I wanted to take little more time before I plunge into politics." Despite Nikhil's confidence, the role local Congress workers would play during the election is crucial for his victory, as transfer of Congress's votes to JD(S) will be the key, because along with Vokkaliga, the backward classes votes could also be a deciding factor. Congress and JD(S), arch-rivals in the old Mysuru region which includes Mandya, joined hands to form a government as the May 2018 assembly polls threw up a hung verdict. The Congress is contesting 21 and JD(S) seven seats as part of the alliance. According to the election commission, there are a total 17,11,534 voters in Mandya, among them 8,54,859 are males, 8,56,525 females and 150 are third-gender voters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena arrived here Tuesday to offer prayers at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near here, a temple official said. Accompanied by his wife Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari and other family members and Lankan officials, Sirisena landed at Renigunta airport, 20 km from here, at noon. Amid tight security, he reached the hills by road, the official told PTI. The president would take part in the 'Suprabhatha' ritual (recitation of Sanskrit hymns by priests to wake the Lord) and offer prayers to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara in the early hours Wednesday, the official added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran Communist leader Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy Tuesday said the Left is not facing "existential threat" but acknowledged it has to improve its position in the Lok Sabha to play a role in national The General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) said the Left is in a "difficult position" because of the "BJP rule on one side" and the setback it suffered in the 2014 elections on the other. The Left, comprising CPI-M, CPI and smaller Communist parties, won 61 Lok Sabha seats in 2004, a number that declined to mere 12 in the last general elections. "So, this (the ongoing Lok Sabha elections) is very important for us. We have to improve our position in the Lok Sabha...very much important", Reddy told PTI in an interview. He does not believe the Left is facing existential threat. "In elections, there will be ups and downs, but our mass organisations, mass following has not diminished; there is an erosion (in our vote share) but it's not that much", he said. The CPI leader claimed the country's election system itself was defective as it is not based on proportional representation. The Left does not get seats according to its strength, "except when it goes for some sort of electoral understandings which has not become possible in the recent period", he said. "Otherwise, I don't think there is any danger of existential threat. We reject it", he said. "I don't think it (the ongoing Lok Sabha election) is a do or die battle. It's important, undoubtedly, but we have to improve our position, and then play our part, our role in the national politics". Reddy said the Left was unable to withstand "goondaism" of the Trinamool in West Bengal. In this scenario, "in anger and after being fed up", a small section of the Left followers had joined the BJP to defeat Trinamool, leading to the Amit Shah-led party gaining "some vote share", he said. "But still the Left is a much stronger force than the BJP in West Bengal", he asserted. Reddy said the Congress President Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad in the Left-ruled Kerala, in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, has created a misunderstanding not only among the Communist parties and Congress, but among the "general secular public" as well. "People don't understand why Rahul Gandhi should go all the way to Wayanad to contest against the Left. It gives a wrong signal that for them (Congress) the Left is bigger enemy than (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. This is a very immature decision that Rahul Gandhi has taken", he said. The ongoing Lok Sabha election is "quite a tough" contest. "I still believe that non-BJP, anti-BJP parties would have bigger number of seats than the NDA," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Narendra Modi will become ex-Prime Minister on May 23 when the Lok Sabha results are declared, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said here. He said the people were "harassed" by the ruling BJP with its policies and would be voted out in the April-May Lok Sabha polls. Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, expressed confidence that the Congress would win between "12-15" out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had drawn a blank in Gujarat. "The people are harassed by the ruling party's policies but the BJP is trying to paint a rosy picture. But people are not going to be mislead this time," Patel said Monday while attending a private function here. "Narendra Modi will become ex-PM on May 23 when the Lok Sabha results are declared," he said, adding that the opposition parties' "mahagathbandhan" will choose its prime ministerial face after winning the general polls. He also hit out at the BJP for its nationalism and terrorism planks during the poll campaign, saying the ruling party need not advise the Congress on the two issues. "Congress leaders have sacrificed their lives fighting terrorism. The BJP need not give us lessons on how to fight terrorism. The BJP might see in terrorism," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame cathedral "even more beautifully" within five years, as France reeled with shock from the fire that gutted the great Paris landmark. Macron announced the fast timescale -- for a process some experts said would take decades -- in an address to the nation where he hailed how the disaster had shown the capacity of France to mobilise and unite. Pledges worth around 700 million euros (USD 790 million) have already been made Tuesday from French billionaires and businesses to restore the Gothic masterpiece. Most of the roof has been destroyed, its steeple has collapsed and an unknown number of artifacts and paintings have been lost. The main organ, which had close to 8,000 pipes, has also suffered damage. But the cathedral's walls, bell towers and the most famous circular stained-glass windows at France's most visited tourist attraction remain intact. Macron's defiant comments indicated he wants the reconstruction of the cathedral to be completed by the time Paris hosts the Olympic Games in 2024. "We will rebuild the cathedral even more beautifully and I want it to be finished within five years," Macron said from the Elysee Palace. "And we can do it." Macron said that the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country riven with divisions and since November shaken by sometimes violent protests against his rule. "What we saw last night in Paris was our capacity to mobilise and to unite," Macron said, hailing France as a nation of "builders". "Our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome," he said. Images from inside the cathedral Tuesday showed its immense walls standing proud, with statues still in place and a gleaming golden cross above the altar. However the floor was covered in charred rubble from the fallen roof and water while parts of the vaulting at the top of the cathedral had collapsed. Junior interior minister Laurent Nunez told reporters at the scene that work to secure the structure would continue into Thursday, allowing firefighters access to remove remaining artifacts and artworks. He said the building had been saved within a critical time window of 15-30 minutes by a team of 400 firefighters who worked flat out throughout the night. Though "some weaknesses" in the 850-year-old structure had been identified, overall it is "holding up OK", he added. President Donald Trump relayed Americans' "condolences" to Macron over the fire, the White House said. French fire chiefs had earlier dismissed as "risible" comments by Trump that the fire should be tackled with water bombers, saying this risked destroying the entire edifice of the cathedral. The Paris fire service said that the last remnants of the blaze were extinguished Tuesday, 15 hours after the fire broke out. Renovation work on the steeple, where workers were replacing its lead covering, is widely suspected to have caused the inferno after the blaze broke out in an area under scaffolding. Investigators interviewed witnesses overnight and began speaking with employees of five different construction companies that were working on the monument, said public prosecutor Remy Heitz. "Nothing indicates this was a deliberate act," Heitz told reporters, adding that 50 investigators had been assigned to what he expected to be a "long and complex" case. A public appeal for funds drew immediate support from French billionaires and other private donors as well as from countries including Germany, Italy and Russia which offered expertise. French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his LVMH luxury conglomerate, rival high-end designer goods group Kering, Total oil company and cosmetics giant L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros or more. Support came from outside France as well, with Apple chief Tim Cook announcing the tech giant would give an unspecified amount to help restore a "precious heritage for future generations." But experts had warned a full restoration will take many years. "I'd say decades," said Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral. Thousands of Parisians and tourists watched in horror Monday as flames engulfed the building and rescuers tried to save as much as they could of the cathedral's treasures. Many more came Tuesday to the banks of the river Seine to gaze at where the roof and steeple once stood. A firefighter suffered injuries during the blaze, which at one point threatened to bring down one of the two monumental towers on the western facade of the cathedral that is visited by 13 million tourists each year. The Holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion, was saved by firefighters, as was a sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis IX. Rescuers formed a human chain at the site of the disaster to evacuate as many artifacts as possible, which were then stocked temporarily at the Paris town hall. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court Tuesday restrained DMK president M K Stalin and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami from talking about the Kodanad heist and murder case. Justice GK Ilanithiraiyan issued the order while closing a contempt petition filed by City Public Prosecutor (CPP) A Natarajan against Stalin for flouting an earlier oral order of the court. The judge had given the oral order on a petition by Natarajan seeking the court to restrain the DMK leader from making any speech regarding the Kodanad case during the campaigning for Lok Sabha elections. On April 5, Justice Ilanithiraiyan had said the CPP can record the remarks, if any, made by Stalin and produce the footage before the court. Natarajan Tuesday produced a video of Stalin's speeches related to the Kodanad heist and murder case. Stalin's counsel informed the court that Palaniswami also spoke about the case and it was published in newspapers. The judge then directed both Stalin and Palaniswami to not speak about the Kodanad case which is pending in a court in Nilgiris district. On April 23, 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate, the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's retreat home in the hilly district of the Nilgiris, was murdered in a robbery attempt by a 10-member gang. It emerged during the probe that Jayalalithaa's former driver C Kanagaraj and Sayan had allegedly plotted the crime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maharashtra government is relying on office-bearers of housing societies to spread voter awareness and improve polling percentage in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The government, through its cooperatives department and collectorates, has reminded housing societies about its seven-year-old directive to make their presidents and secretaries "booth-level volunteers" to ensure 100 per cent voting on their premises. The department had issued a directive in 2012 to office-bearers of housing societies asking them to make audit of their respective society mandatory and furnish a list of shifted, dead and new voters before July 31 every year. "This directive is still very much relevant and we are reminding the office-bearers of housing societies to ensure 100 per cent voting in coming elections," an official told PTI Tuesday. However, Dharmin Sampat, honorary secretary, Co- operative Societies Residents, Users and Welfare Association, is not impressed with the government's move, saying it is simply passing the buck. "Authorities are trying to shift the responsibility to the office-bearers who render their services with zero pay. Instead, the government should devise another mechanism to ensure 100 per cent voting," Sampat said. D S Vader, honorary secretary, Mumbai District Co-op Housing Society Federation Ltd, said they have been approached by state government and election officials to ensure 100 per cent voting on their premises. The federation is the government-approved apex body of housing societies in Maharashtra. Vader said, "The department has approached us to raise the percentage of voting. We are going to publish a sankalp patra (document of resolution) which we have prepared in association with the election department." "The document will be pasted in front of every housing society building in Mumbai and other parts of the state. With this sankalp patra, all members of the society will take oath to cast their votes," he said. Social activist Mayank Gandhi has launched a campaign, "Ungli Dikha", urging voting to exercise their franchise. "For this cause, we are holding 1,000 street plays in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Besides we have tied up with 1.5 lakh dabbawalas (tiffin carriers) to spread awareness," Gandhi said. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde said, "Voting percentage has certainly improved and it seems our efforts have paid off. "Not only in urban areas, but in Naxal-hit areas like Gadchiroli, too, we witnessed higher voting (in first phase on April 11 that covered seven Lok Sabha seats in the state)." The first round posted over 60 per cent voting. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, is voting in four phases. The first round is over and the next three phases will be held on April 18, 23, 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking. The Southeast Asian nation is home to swathes of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare creatures from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but they are frequently targeted by poachers. Two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested Monday by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state, said Xavier Jayakumar, water, land and natural resources minister. The men were in possession of claws and teeth from the Malayan tiger, he said. The species once roamed the jungles of Malaysia in the thousands but is now critically endangered, with just a small number believed left in the wild. They also had teeth and claws from bears, teeth from wild boars, as well as hunting equipment including machetes, axes and wire for setting traps, the minister said. "The two suspects have been arrested and will be remanded for three days to assist in the investigation," he said. Tiger pelts are prized collectors' items and fetch a high price on the black market, while many animals' body parts are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia, including Vietnam and China. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Tuesday attributed long period of absence of party MP Arpita Ghosh, a theatre activist, from her constituency Balurghat to an accident she had suffered in 2016. Ghosh has been renominated from the seat going to polls on April 23, leading to dissent in the party. Stating that Ghosh has performed well in Parliament, Banerjee sought blessings of the people of Balurghat for the candidate again. "You may ask what Arpita has done in the last five years. She has fought in Parliament for the people's rights," the West Bengal chief minister said. She said Ghosh had suffered an accident in 2016 and because of that she has not been seen in the constituency. On April 14, 2016, Ghosh had sustained injuries on her head, right shoulder and left foot in a collision between her car and a three-wheeler in South Dinajpur district while returning from a party meeting. One person was killed in that accident. Ghosh's renomination gave rise to dissent within the party with its district president Biplab Mitra having opposed her candidature. The TMC supremo said MPs represent the constituency in Parliament, while local representatives of the party look after the area development work. The railway wagon factory in Balurghat was sanctioned in the Railway budget by her when she was the railway minister, but the BJP government has not done anything to make it a reality, Banerjee said. The people of Balurghat had not voted for the Trinamool Congress in the last Assembly elections, she said. Of the six assembly seats within the Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency, TMC and RSP had won two each while CPI(M) and Congress emerged victorious in one each. The Congress MLA had later switched over to the TMC. She said the Assembly election results had, however, not stopped her from initiating and executing various development projects for the area. "Its ok if you had chosen them. But vote for us this time so that we can win 42 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. This will ensure we have the strongest say in Parliament," she said. TMC Dakshin Dinajpur district president Biplab Mitra had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, but lost to RSP by over 5,000 votes. Banerjee replaced him in the 2014 elections and made Ghosh candidate for the constituency. Ghosh, a resident of Kolkata, had won by over one lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Balurghat. She has been accused of not being seen much in her constituency following her win by both the local people as well as by a section of district party leadership. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An unidentified person threw acid on a 25-year-old man on the busy Tilak Road here late Tuesday evening and later shot and injured himself, police said. Two rounds were reportedly fired during the attack, they said. "The injured man was identified as Rohit Thorat. He has been rushed to the hospital," said senior inspector Sunil Kalgutkar of the Vishrambaug police station. Meanwhile, the police said the suspect who threw acid allegedly shot himself. "The suspect, after throwing acid, ran into a building and hid. We requested him to surrender, but he shot himself," said a police officer. He said with the help of fire brigade, the injured suspect was captured and rushed to a nearby hospital. "We are trying to ascertain his name and other details," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BSP chief Mayawati's nephew and SP leader Azam Khan's son Tuesday filled in for the two Uttar Pradesh heavyweights on Tuesday, the final day of electioneering for the second phase of polling in the state. The Election Commission had Monday barred the two leaders as well as UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP's Maneka Gandhi from campaigning for varying periods over violations of the moral code of conduct. The leaders stayed away from the campaign, but marked their presence in other ways. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo's nephew Akash Anand delivered his first political speech in Nagina, where Mayawati was initially scheduled to address a joint opposition alliance meeting. Azam Khan's son Abdullah addressed a press conference in Rampur, criticising the EC order. Yogi Adityanath prayed at a Hanuman temple in Lucknow, a day after the EC's issued the order frowning at his Ali-Bajrang Bali remark, seemingly framing the election as a contest between Hindus and Muslims. Campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh ended Tuesday evening. Elections will be held on eight Uttar Pradesh seats on April 18 -- Nagina (SC), Amroha, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh, Hathras (SC), Mathura, Agra (SC) and Fatehpur Sikri. Adityanath followed the EC order, keeping away from the meetings he was scheduled to address in second-phase constituencies of Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. He also skipped Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's road show, held before he filed his nomination as the BJP candidate from Lucknow. Instead, Adityanath prayed at the well-known Hanuman Setu temple in the state capital, refusing to interact with other worshippers. Mayawati skipped the joint opposition alliance rally in Agra, which too goes to the polls on April 18. But her nephew Akash Anand delivered his first political speech there, watched on by SP president Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and BSP's S C Mishra. "People in such large numbers have come here on the appeal of my aunt, for which I am thankful, he said. He said the victory of the alliance candidates will be a "proper reply" to the Election Commission, ending his brief address with the 'Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat" slogan. Akash Anand is the son of Mayawati's brother Anand and had begun appearing in public with her, but not as a speaker. While Azam Khan didn't campaign Tuesday following the EC reprimand, his son Abdullah courted controversy by claiming that the leader was targeted because he is a Muslim. The EC had ordered Azam Khan to suspend his campaign over a khakhi underwear jibe at BJP candidate Jaya Prada. "No action was taken when the BJP candidate stated on Twitter that she is coming to Rampur to bring an end to the regime of a demon," Abdullah told reporters in his father's constituency. He maintained there was no mention of her in his father's speech and he has been barred only because he is a Muslim". Abdullah termed the gag order an attempt by the EC to please the Bharatiya Janata Party after the poll panel banned Yogi Adityanath from campaigning. The EC had taken objection to Adityanath's remark suggesting that while the BSP and the SP had faith in Ali, the BJP believed in Bajrang Bali, or Lord Hanuman. This was in rejoinder to Mayawati's appeal for Muslim votes at an earlier rally in Deoband, which got her banned for 48 hours. Adityanath, barred from campaigning for 72 hours, had also called the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala a green virus. Among the candidates in the fray in UP in the second phase are two actors-turned-politicians -- BJP's Hema Malini is contesting from Mathura and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar has been fielded in Fatehpur Sikri. UP cabinet minister SP Baghel (BJP) is contesting for the Agra (SC) seat. Kunwar Danish Ali, who till recently was general secretary of the Janata Dal-Secular, is contesting on the BSP ticket from Amroha against BJP's Kanwar Singh Tanwar. There are 85 candidates in the fray in Thursday's polling -- Nagina (7), Amroha (10), Bulandshahr (9), Aligarh (14), Hathras (8), Mathura (13), Agra (9) and Fatehpur Sikri (15). According to the Election Commission, 1,40,76,635 people are registered to vote at 16,162 booths in 8,751 polling centres spread across these constituencies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German auto giant Mercedes-Benz apologised Tuesday over the ordeal of a Chinese car buyer who alleged mistreatment by an authorised dealership in a viral video that triggered consumer outrage. The woman, whose name has not been revealed, has said she purchased a new Mercedes from an authorised dealer in the northern city of Xi'an only to discover afterwards that it was leaking oil on the showroom floor. A video was posted showing her sitting on the hood of a car in the showroom and angrily accusing sales staff of dodging her demands for a refund. The woman also alleged in later media interviews that she originally wanted to pay cash for the car but was pressured by the dealership into taking out a loan that came with high fees. "We're very sorry for whatever happened," said Hubertus Troskas, a board member and head of China operations for Daimler, Mercedes' parent group. "We have reached an agreement with the customer and she will continue to be a Mercedes customer," he added, speaking to journalists on the opening day of the Shanghai Auto Show. But the irate buyer said in a Chinese media interview posted on Monday that she would continue to refuse any settlement offer by Mercedes, saying she wanted the matter fully investigated by consumer protection authorities first. Daimler, as well as government authorities in Xi'an, have already announced investigations. "This is nothing we approve of. We go by the law," Troskas said on the opening day of the Chinese auto show. "There is good consumer protection in China and we want all of our dealers to work to the letter of the law and the ethics of our brand," he said. "We clearly have to apologise. That has not been dealt with properly." The woman has alleged that when she requested a refund, the dealership first offered to repair the leak, and then to install a new engine. Her complaints have sparked a flood of supportive online comments by Chinese web-users, with many relating their own consumer horror stories. The episode is the latest in a series of cases to show foreign brands the power of Chinese netizens. Last year, Mercedes-Benz apologised for "hurting the feelings" of China's people after its Instagram account used a quote by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who is vilified as a separatist by Beijing. Also last year, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana apologised to Chinese consumers after its products were pulled from lucrative Chinese e-commerce platforms over an Instagram post by the brand that was seen in China as culturally offensive. And hotel group Marriott's website in China was shut down by authorities after a customer questionnaire listed Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong as separate countries, angering Beijing. Marriott apologised and change the wording. Global carmakers have gathered for the Shanghai Auto Show amid a rare sales slump in the world's largest vehicle market stemming from a range of economic and trade factors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Militants Tuesday hurled a grenade at the residence of a National Conference leader in Tral town in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said. There was no damage due to the grenade explosion. A police official said the ultras lobbed grenade towards the house of Mohammad Ashraf Bhat in Tral town but it landed some distance away. Security forces have launched searches to nab the attackers, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a pointed attack on Narendra Modi in his home state, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu Tuesday said the land of Gujarat, which is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, has also produced a prime minister who is the "biggest liar". Addressing a rally in Dang district while canvassing for Congress' Valsad Lok Sabha nominee Jitu Chaudhary, Sidhu said the prime minister works only for the wealthy people. "I am surprised because the very land (of Gujarat) which gave us Mahatma Gandhi has also produced a prime minister who is the biggest liar," the Congress leader said. He also termed Modi as "Jhootha No.1' and 'Feku No. 1". Sidhu, who is a minister in the Congress government of Punjab, said Modi represents only affluent people and not the poor. "Modiji, you are the PM of only one per cent wealthy people. You are not the PM of poor citizens. You are asking these locals to vacate their land and go elsewhere. Almost 80 per cent of locals of this region are working as labourers in other states," the Congress leader told the audience, most of them tribals. Sidhu said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi would immediately grant a loan waiver for Gujarat farmers after coming to power. The former BJP leader also accused Modi of not keeping his promise of generating two crore jobs every year. "You promised two crore jobs every year (in the run-up to 2014 elections). But, only 8 lakh people got jobs in your tenure. Though China's GDP is 6 per cent, they gave jobs to 70 lakh people in five years. While India's GDP is 8 per cent, we could create only 8 lakh jobs," said Sidhu. He also claimed that even state-run HAL, BSNL and MTNL are retrenching their employees. "There is a backlog of 25 lakh posts in the government sector. I want to tell you that Rahul Gandhi will fill up these 25 lakh vacant posts," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hitting out at the BJP for repeatedly bringing up Pakistan in its campaign, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia says Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party must stop looking outwards and gaze inwards as jobs and agrarian distress are the key issues facing the country. Scindia, the Congress' general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (West), said he is very confident the party's strategy, the candidates fielded and the campaign in the state will result in it winning the trust of the people. The Congress is fighting the elections in UP on its own strength to rebuild the party, the senior leader told PTI in an interview. Asked about BJP leaders repeatedly talking about Pakistan in their election campaign, he said, The key issue in India is jobs, jobs and jobs. The key issue in India is about (the distress faced by) the kisan, the key issue in India is the maan (respect), samman (honour) and pehchaan (identity) of every citizen. Stop looking outwards Mr Modi and and the BJP, look inwards and resolve the issues of the country, he said. As far as terrorism and Pakistan are concerned, everyone stands together, there is no Congress and no BJP, only India and the tricolour, he said. Whether you are a Congressman or from any other party, the country always comes first, Scindia said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress' general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh (East), has also slammed the BJP over its repeated Pakistan references. Instead of speaking about India and what it had done for its youth, the ruling party was talking about Pakistan, she has said. Describing the party's minimum income scheme NYAY' as a game changer, Scindia said the party will raise funds to ensure that NYAY' is provided to the poorest in the country. Rs 72,000 in the bank account of specifically the woman member of every family that's below the poverty line is certainly a game changer not for UP alone but for the whole of India, Scindia said. It will cost Rs 3,60,000 crore. We will raise the funds to ensure that we provide that NYAY. This is a fight about samman (honour), this is a fight about maan (respect), this is a fight about pehchan (identity) of every single citizen. That is the statement that we are taking to the people of the country, he said. On whether the scheme will have an impact electorally, Scindia asserted that it is not the Congress strategy to do things for electoral impact. The Congress, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, has said 'NYAY' or Nyuntam Aay Yojana will assure up to Rs 72,000 a year or Rs 6,000 a month income to 20 per cent of India's poorest families. Questioned on the possibility of a post poll tie-up between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD grand alliance, he said the Congress is fighting on its own might and the results will be there for all parties to see. "Let's see where the chips fall on the 23rd of May, he added. He also dismissed suggestions that a divided opposition had handed the BJP the advantage, saying we will speak on May 23 when the results will be out and the UPA forms the government at the Centre. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a thanksgiving convention at Talkatora stadium here on April 19 organised by traders supporting the BJP to express "gratitude" for various measures promised in the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, Delhi BJP leaders said Tuesday. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls has "raised hopes" of the people including traders in the country who want to bring Modi back as prime minister. Union minister Vijay Goel earlier said prominent business leaders and office-bearers of all market associations in Delhi have been invited to "Rashtriye Vyapari Dhanyawad Mahasammelan". "Crores of traders want to express their gratitude to the Prime Minister for the BJP's Sankalp Patra promising measures like accident insurance of Rs 10 lakh, pension after 60 years, traders credit card, simplification of GST and also exemption from income tax up to Rs 5 lakhs," Goel said Tuesday. Delhi BJP chief Tiwari claimed only the saffron party can permanently solve the problems of traders. "The traders of Delhi are wise and very well understand the falsehood of the Kejriwal government. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has never raised his voice in the interest of the traders. If any party can solve the problems of traders on a permanent basis, it is the BJP," Tiwari asserted. AAP leaders, including party chief Kejriwal, have been at the forefront of charging the Modi government of destroying small and medium businesses through its twin decisions of demonetisation and goods and services tax. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 60,000 people have fled the crisis in Nicaragua over the past year, the UN said Tuesday, with neighbouring Costa Rica bearing the brunt of the refugee flow. The central American country has been gripped by a year of political unrest since months of street protests erupted last April against President Daniel Ortega's government, leaving more than 325 people dead. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said that an estimated 62,000 people had fled to neighbouring countries -- 55,000 of them to Costa Rica. People "have resorted to irregular crossings to avoid detection, often walking for hours through difficult terrain, exposed to heat, humidity and the risk of malaria," UNHCR said in a statement. Those seeking asylum in Costa Rica include "students, former public officials, opposition figures, journalists, doctors, human rights defenders and farmers," the agency added. Government talks with the opposition aimed at easing the crisis broke up last week without agreement on political reform in the crisis-torn country. Ortega's leftist government has said it remains committed to breaking the impasse through dialogue. The United States and European Union have threatened Ortega with sanctions, while the opposition has demanded the release of all those detained during protests. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Power outages have returned to haunt 'energy surplus' Madhya Pradesh as well as the ruling Congress at a time when political heat is going up in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections along with the summer mercury. Well aware of the political cost of the power cuts, especially during elections are around, Chief Minister and seasoned politician Kamal Nath has sought a status report on availability of power, distribution and the power cuts carried out in the last one month from state Energy Minister and other higher ups, a party functionary said Tuesday. "Nath has sought to know from the concerned persons whether power cuts were being carried out under a conspiracy when the state is power surplus," said state Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja. State Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot recently told a public meeting in his home district Jabalpur that some staffers of power distribution companies were working against the Congress who will be dealt with after the model code of conduct comes to end. In 2003, outgoing chief minister Digvijaya Singh had famously said that power shortage in the state has dealt an electric shock to Congress party in that year's assembly polls. The Congress, which returned to power after a gap of 15 years last year, has become wary of power cuts now. Madhya Pradesh will vote in four phases beginning April 29. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - Some 400 ISIS fighters held in Tripoli and Misrata may take advantage of the chaos in Libya and flee to Europe, Libyan Deputy Premier Ahmed Maitig told the foreign press in Rome Tuesday. "With the ongoing war in Libya hundreds of thousands of migrants may easily reach European shores," he added. "But even worse may happen," he said, alluding to the ISIS fugitive threat. Maitig said his government "has worked with the international community to keep these terrorists prisoners". Despite this, he said, "we see that some partners are backing (eastern strongman General Khalifa) Haftar's offensive" on the UN-backed government in Tripoli. Talking to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini later, Maitig said there was a "concrete risk" of a civil war developing in Libya. The Italian interior ministry on Tuesday issued a directive aimed at dealing with terrorists possibly arriving from wartorn Libya. "Hundreds of Islamic terrorists could arrive in Italy taking advantage of the chaos in Libya," it said. "It is no accident that France has officially asked to extend the closure of its borders with Italy for another six months for a national emergency linked to terrorism". "The interior ministry is responding with a directive". There is a risk of foreign fighters arriving from Libya if migrant flows surge due to the chaos there, Premier Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday. "We are very concerned about the Libya crisis, we have always worked and will continue to work to avert a humanitarian crisis that may expose us to the risk of the arrival of foreign fighters on our soil," he said. "We must absolutely avert an escalation", he said. Conte added that "Italy's immigration policy has never been reduced to open ports yes or no. "This is a beautiful simplification for the public, but those that follow it can discover that Italian immigration policy is much more complex". Dozens have been killed in fighting in Libya since eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar ordered his Libyan National Army (LNA) forces to advance on Tripoli, where the UN-backed Government of National Accord is located. Some 800,000 refugees including criminals and ISIS-linked fighters are set to invade Italy from the conflict-torn country, Premier Fayez al-Sarraj told Corriere della Sera Monday. Italy's 'closed ports' policy may not be enough if there is a migrant surge as feared from wartorn Libya, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Tuesday. "The line is that if thousands of asylum seekers were to arrive, the closed ports approach cannot be enough," he said. Toninelli told Italian radio that "we'll have to open other European ports" and "there will have to be a redistribution" of migrants. "The approach must be international", he said. Sarraj said the refugee surge was likely if the conflict with Haftar escalates. Asked about being probed for a migrant standoff with the EU in Sicily, Toninelli said "it's not a medal". "We must continue to save lives but this must be done in safety and security", he said. Toninelli is being probed along with Interior Minister Salvini, Premier Conte and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio in the case of the German NGO-run SeaWatch 3 whose 47 rescued migrants were allegedly "kidnapped" at Siracusa for 12 days. A teenage girl allegedly committed suicide in Umarwada village in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district after her mother scolded her for purchasing a mobile phone, police said Tuesday. Barghat Police Station in charge Santosh Dhurve said the 18-year-old girl hanged herself from the ceiling fan on Monday morning, and the incident came to light when her younger brother reached home. Dhurve said a suicide note, purportedly written by her, has been recovered from the house in which the teen has apologised to her mother for the act. The teen's mother, a labourer, has told police the girl had purchased a mobile phone with the money kept at home for repaying a loan and this led to an argument between the two on Sunday, the official said. "She later hanged herself on Monday morning. Our probe in the incident is underway," Dhurve said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indonesia kicks off one of the world's biggest one-day elections Wednesday, pitting president Joko Widodo against ex-general Prabowo Subianto in a race to lead the Muslim majority nation. More than 190 million Indonesians are set to cast a ballot with the vote kicking off at 7:00 am local time (2200 GMT Tuesday) in restive Papua and ending at 1:00 pm (0600 GMT) in Sumatra at the other end of the volcano-dotted archipelago. A record 245,000 candidates are running for public office in the world's third-biggest democracy, from the presidency and parliamentary seats to local positions. Opinion polls show Widodo, 57, is a clear favourite -- but he faces a tough challenge from Subianto, 67, who has leaned on a fiery nationalist ticket and warned he will challenge the results over voter-list irregularities if he loses. Subianto narrowly lost to Widodo in 2014 elections, and unsuccessfully challenged those results. Voters will flock to more than 800,000 polling stations where they'll punch holes in ballots -- to make clear their candidate choice -- and then dip a finger in Muslim-approved halal ink, a measure to prevent double-voting in a graft-riddled country where ballot buying is rife. The polls present a huge logistical challenge in a country stretching 4,800 kilometres across more than 17,000 islands with a population of more than 260 million, including hundreds of ethnic groups and languages. Officials are moving cardboard ballot boxes by motorbikes, boats and planes -- as well as elephants and horses -- to reach mountaintop villages and communities deep in the jungle. A series of so-called "quick counts" are expected to give a reliable indication of the presidential winner later Wednesday. Official results are not expected until May. The poll has been punctuated by bitter mudslinging and a slew of fake online that threatens to sway millions of undecided voters. Widodo has campaigned on his ambitious drive to build much-needed roads, airports and other infrastructure across Southeast Asia's largest economy. But his rights record has been criticised owing to an uptick in discriminatory attacks on religious and other minorities, including a small LGBT community, as Islamic hardliners become more vocal in public life. His choice of conservative cleric Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate has also raised fears about the future of Indonesia's reputation for moderate Islam. Raised in a bamboo shack in a riverside slum, the soft-spoken Widodo stands in stark contrast to Subianto, whose strongman image is underscored by a penchant for slamming lecterns as he accuses Jakarta of selling the country off to foreign interests. Subianto -- joined by running mate Sandiaga Uno, a 49-year-old wealthy financier -- has courted Islamic hardliners, promised a boost to military and defence spending and, taking a page from US President Donald Trump, vowed to put "Indonesia first" by reviewing billions of dollars in Chinese investment. Subianto's long-held presidential ambitions have been dogged by strong ties to the Suharto family and a chequered past. He ordered the abduction of democracy activists as the authoritarian regime collapsed in 1998, and was accused of committing atrocities in East Timor. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NASA's latest planet-hunting probe has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away. The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warm sub-Neptune-sized world in the same system, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "It's so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business," said Johanna Teske, Carnegie Institution for Science in the US. "The spacecraft surveys the sky and we collaborate with the TESS follow-up community to flag potentially interesting targets for additional observations using ground-based telescopes and instruments," Teske said in a statement. One such tool, the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope in Chile, was a crucial component of this effort. It helped confirm the planetary nature of the TESS signal, and to measure the mass of the newly discovered sub-Neptune. The PFS works using a technique called the radial velocity method, which is currently the only way for astronomers to measure the masses of individual planets. Without known masses, it is very challenging to determine a planet's density or its general chemical composition. This method takes advantage of that fact that not only does a star's gravity influence the planet orbiting it, but the planet's gravity also affects the star in turn. The PFS enables astronomers to detect these tiny wobbles that the planet's gravity induces in the star's orbit. "PFS is one of the only instruments in the Southern Hemisphere that can do these types of measurements. So, it will be a very important part of further characterising the planets found by the TESS mission," Teske added. With an orbit that takes about 36 days to complete, the sub-Neptune, HD 21749b, has the longest period of any of the TESS discoveries published so far, researchers said. Its host star has about 80 per cent of the mass of our Sun and is found about 53 light-years distant from Earth. HD 21749b has about 23 times Earth's mass and a radius of about 2.7 times Earth's. Its density indicates the planet has substantial atmosphere but is not rocky, so it could potentially help astronomers understand the composition and evolution of cooler sub-Neptune planet atmospheres. The longer period sub-Neptune planet in this system is not alone. It has a sibling planet, HD 21749c, which takes about eight days to orbit the host star and is much smaller -- similar in size to Earth. Thanks to TESS, astronomers will be able to measure the masses, atmospheric compositions, and other properties of many smaller exoplanets for the first time. Although small exoplanets are common in our galaxy, there is still much to learn about their diversity and about how they compare to the planets in our own Solar System. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will begin a four-day visit to Thailand from Wednesday with an aim to further consolidate maritime cooperation between the two countries. Admiral Lanba will hold extensive talks with Thailand's Chief of Defence Forces General Ponpipaat Benyasri and Admiral Luechai Ruddit, Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Navy, besides meeting other senior government officials, the Navy said. "The visit is intended to consolidate and enhance the maritime bilateral relations between India and Thailand and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation," it said in a statement. Admiral Lanba will also visit the headquarters of Royal Thai Armed Forces in Bangkok and the third Naval Area Command at Phuket. Cooperation between Indian and Thai navies are on an upswing in the last few years on a number of fronts, including operational interactions and training. The Royal Thai Navy is also a member of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a platform of littoral states of the Indian Ocean region for enhancing maritime security cooperation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Navy is organising a two-day painting exhibition, titled Dhanak, for the public starting Wednesday, a Defence statement informed. The Navy statement said the exhibition, which will be held in Ballard Bunder in south Mumbai's Ballard Pier area, will showcase paintings, artifacts including abstracts, semi abstracts and other works of various artists. "The artists' work is generally used on board several Navy ships and submarines. They are showcasing their creative skills and talents for the public at a painting exhibition titled Dhanak," the Navy said. It will be open for visitors from 10 am on both the days, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi government for "highlighting" military actions like surgical strikes as its achievements and said this was due to lack of experience in the NDA dispensation. Gehlot said instead of being misled by Modi's tall promises, people should remember "India became a superpower under former prime ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi". The NDA government lacks experience. They highlight surgical strikes. This never happened before. In the rule of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Pakistan was divided into two (nations) but she never claimed it as her achievement and rather gave credit to the Army, Gehlot said at public rally in Bawdi area of Jodhpur's Bhopalgarh town. It was a historic event when thousands of Pakistani soldiers surrendered but Indira Gandhi never highlighted this as her achievement, he added. The chief minister alleged that Modi made false promises during the last Lok Sabha elections and did nothing after coming to power. He has no achievement to list... He should give an account of works done in five years, Gehlot said. Targeting former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, he said her government had barred "less educated people" from contesting Panchayat elections but the Congress government scrapped this decision. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership would form the government at the Centre on its own after the Lok Sabha elections and not need support from parties like TRS, Telangana BJP President K Laxman said here Tuesday. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been proposing a non-BJP, non-Congress government at Centre, had favoured a Federal Front government in the country after the Lok Sabha polls. "Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, NDA is going to form the government on its own. NDA does not require the support of parties like Telangana Rashtra Samithi. We are confident NDA is going to have the government on its own by winning more than 300 seats," Laxman told reporters here. The TRS is seeking 16 seats for itself and one for ally AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi to ensure that Telangana gets a 'good' deal post the Lok Sabha elections. There are 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. Laxman accused KCR, as Rao is also referred to, of trying to take 'revenge' on government employees for not voting for candidates supported by the ruling party in the recently held Legislative Council elections. In a setback to the ruling TRS in Telangana, party backed candidates lost the Legislative Council elections held for three constituencies in the state in March. The government employees have demanded announcment of Interim Relief and Pay Revision Commission (PRC), but nothing had come of it and the CM "forgot" about it, Laxman said. "KCR says the revenue department will be revamped to root out corruption. There is rampant corruption in the name of redesigning irrigation projects. Why is the Chief Minister not speaking about corruption at all levels? Be it the sand mafia and land mafia. The Chief Minister himself does not goes to Secretariat," Laxman said. He also alleged that the Telangana government reduced reservations to Backward Classes (BCs) in Panchayat Raj institutions from 34 per cent to 23 per cent, citing a Supreme Court order. "However, in the context of panchayat elections,the Chief Minister's decision to reduce the BC quota without exploring available constitutional and legislative provisions for maintenance of 34 per cent reservation for the BCs, casts doubts on the intent of the Government vis--vis justice to BCs", he maintained. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) FMCG major Nestle now plans to seek shareholders' approval every five years for royalty payment to its Swiss parent firm Societe des Produits Nestle SA, after receiving their feedback over the issue. Modifying an ordinary resolution in a notice dated March 12, 2019 to its shareholders, Nestle India said that now it will seek approval from its shareholders every five years over the royalty payment. "Respecting the feedback received and the commitment of the company to high standards of corporate governance including shareholder rights, approval of members shall be sought every 5 (five) years in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations,"informed Nestle India to the bourses in an addendum notice this week. Nestle India, which is going to convene its general meeting on April 25, had earlier proposed payment of general licence fees (royalty) of 4.5 per cent of the net sales to its licensor "during any financial year". According to a media report, it was opposed by several minority shareholders and proxy advisory firms, contending that the move was against good corporate governance norms. Commenting on the development, a Nestle India Spokesperson said: "We received feedback from our shareholders and other stakeholders on the resolution pertaining to royalty payment and as a responsible corporate citizen with high standards of corporate governance modified the resolution". However, he said that the "resolution does not propose any revision in the royalty rate". Nestle India, which follows January-December fiscal calender, had reported a revenue of Rs 11,292.27 crore in 2018. The company which primarily operates in food and beverage space, has some powerful brands, which includes Maggi, Nescafe, Kitkat etc. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to receive formal backing to remain premier for a fifth term Wednesday, but tough negotiations to form a coalition government await following last week's elections. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin must choose who will form the next government and is expected to pick Netanyahu to do so on Wednesday night after final election results are announced. Rivlin's office said Tuesday he planned to meet with his choice for premier at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) Wednesday and both would speak publicly about an hour later. Projections based on results so far have given Netanyahu's right-wing Likud the most seats at 36, one ahead of his main rivals from the Blue and White alliance led by ex-military chief Benny Gantz. Together with allied right-wing and religious parties, Netanyahu is best placed to form a coalition with results showing they would control 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Rivlin wrapped up consultations with political parties on Tuesday and a key politician threw his backing behind Netanyahu. Former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman had held off on publicly backing Netanyahu until Monday night, when he did so before supporters. His party, Yisrael Beitenu, also told Rivlin on Tuesday that it would back Netanyahu and its five seats will be crucial for the prime minister as he forms his next coalition. But Lieberman also said he would condition his joining the coalition on the adoption of a law aimed at having ultra-Orthodox Jews serve in the military like their secular counterparts. He has insisted that the version of the law he proposed when he was defence minister be adopted in full and says he will even remain in the opposition or be prepared to go to new elections if he does not receive assurances on the subject. Ultra-Orthodox Jews studying in religious seminaries are currently exempt from mandatory military service, a practice many Israelis view as unfair. But attempts to change the law have met with strong opposition from ultra-Orthodox political parties, which according to results so far would control 15 seats in the next governing coalition. Ultra-Orthodox political leaders have warned they are not prepared to compromise over Lieberman's demands. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up some 10 per cent of Israel's nearly nine million population. Complications in passing a law on the subject contributed to the holding of early elections last week. Lieberman resigned as defence minister in November after accusing Netanyahu of being soft on Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Green Tribunal has refused to entertain a plea seeking cancellation of approval granted by the DDA to allot land at Sonia Vihar and Ghonda Gujran areas to set up landfill sites. A bench headed by Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, which had earlier issued notice to the Ministry of and Forests and Delhi Development Authority (DDA), said there was no substantial question of "Allegation in this letter, which has been treated as an application, is that solid waste processing plant at Ghonda Gujran is causing pollution. In absence of adequate material in support of the allegation, we are unable to hold the issue to be a substantial question of to be taken by the Tribunal suo motu," the bench said. The tribunal was hearing a plea filed Ghonda MLA Shri Dutt Sharma and others seeking a direction to restrain the DDA from allotting an area of 130 acres at Sonia Vihar and a 50-acre plot at Ghonda Gujran to the EDMC for handling and processing waste. The petition had said that if the project is started by the EDMC for landfill sites at the two areas, it will adversely affect the ecosystem and the overall ecology since there are several densely populated colonies nearby. It had said the approval given on the recommendation of the Central Pollution Control Board and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute was based on wrong information and that it violated the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The petition had sought a direction to the DDA to cancel the allotment of land in question falling within the active floodplain of the Yamuna. It had also asked for a direction to the authorities to conduct a cumulative impact study to record the status of ecology and environment in the two areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - Italy's famed art cops have recovered and Ancient Roman statue stolen from comic actor and director Roberto Benigni, police said Tuesday. The second-century AD statue was stolen from the Rome villa of the Life Is Beautiful star in 2010. It has now been tracked down to Spain and will be returned to the comedian, police said. In the same probe, the Carabinieri Unit for the Protection of Cultural Heritage also recovered a sculpture that had been stolen from Rome's Villa Borghese gallery. In the course of another probe, the art cops led by General Fabrizio Parrulli also recovered a precious bas-relief attributed to the Della Robbia brothers that was stolen almost 50 years ago from a church in Scansano near Grosseto. The Election Commission Tuesday issued notification for the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on May 12 in 59 seats across seven states. The seven-phase elections began on April 11 and will end on May 19. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will head for voting in all the seven phases of the general elections. All the seven seats in Delhi will also go for polling in the sixth phase. Amid sparring between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter, sources claimed the two sides were "engaged" in taking the alliance talks forward and are likely to meet again on Wednesday over seat sharing between the two. The Congress chief said his party is willing to give four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to the AAP to ensure that their alliance defeats the BJP, which had won all the seven seats in 2014. The Congress has offered the AAP 4:3 seat-sharing formula, four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three seats for itself. The arrangement has been arrived at on basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here. The election will pit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance against mostly different opposition groupings in various states, including of Congress, the Left and regional forces which are continuing to work out a grand alliance to minimise a division of votes against the saffron party. The BJP has worked out a seat-sharing formula with some new allies and several old partners. However, opposition parties are yet to do so in several states. With the issuance of notification, the process of filing nominations has begun. The last date of filing nominations is April 24, while scrutiny will take place on on April 24. The last date of withdrawing from the electoral battle is April 26. The poll for the sixth phase will be held on May 12. Some of the constituencies gong to poll are: Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi are going for polls. Like Delhi, Lok Sabha elections will be held in a single phase in Haryana also. Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Chhindwara and Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh will also go for elections in the sixth phase. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers, and a frantic rescue effort saved the monument's "most precious treasures," including the Crown of Thorns purportedly worn by Jesus, officials said Tuesday. Also surviving was the Roman Catholic cathedral's famous 18th century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes, after a plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action after the fire broke out Monday. Statues removed from the roof for restoration just days ago also were saved. But the cathedral's high altar was damaged by falling debris when the spire collapsed, one official said. Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into what caused the fire would be "long and complex." Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 pm Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered on the roof. that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." "Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works," said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there were still some risks to the structure. The cathedral is "under permanent surveillance because it can still budge," Castaner told reporters after a brief visit inside. The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame's most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly transported from the Roman Catholic cathedral after the fire broke out, said Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ's head during the crucifixion. Also saved was the tunic of St Louis, a long, shirt-like garment from the 13th century, said Culture Minister Franck Riester. "The works of art, the most precious treasures were secured last night," Riester told reporters, thanking teams from city hall, the culture ministry, firefighters and the bishopric who worked to save the items. Other works were being transferred from City Hall to the Louvre. There they will be dehumidified, protected and eventually restored. The minister said the cathedral's greatest paintings would be removed starting Friday. "We assume they have not been damaged by the fire but there will eventually be damage from the smoke," he added. The 3-metre-tall copper statues that looked over the city from Notre Dame's 96-metre peak had already been sent to southwestern France for work that is part of a 6 million-euro (USD 6.8 million) renovation project on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. Much was saved in the interior too. The cathedral's high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, was the only major work damaged inside the building, hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. "We have been able to salvage all the rest," said Prades, who watched the recovery overnight. "All the 18th century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels and the big organ are fine." The three large stained-glass rose windows, among the most famous elements inside the cathedral, have not been destroyed, Prades said, but added they might have been damaged by the heat and will be assessed by an expert. "The task is now the risk of fire has been put aside about the building, how the structure will resist," said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure. The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain "extremely fragile," notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO heritage site and UNESCO has offered its expertise. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral he called "a part of us" and appealed for help to do so. Offers of assistance began flowing in from around the world to help restore the 12th century tourist attraction to its former glory. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects, while major French businesses pledged financial assistance. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah Tuesday welcomed the Election Commission's order barring four prominent politicians from electioneering for two to three days for their "provocative" or "snide" remarks. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, however, wanted the poll panel to take harsher measures against the leaders making hate speeches or sexiest remarks during campaigning. "I think the recent steps taken by the Election Commission, while (being) welcome, need to be stronger," he said. "Stopping somebody from campaigning for a day or two or three days is not exactly something that will deter these people because a lot of them are past masters in this sort of the use of language," he told reporters on the sidelines of campaigning for his father and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in Budgam district. The NC leader said there should be no place for hate speeches or sexiest remarks in electoral discourse and even otherwise. "One hopes the Election Commission will take very firm actions against any sexiest remark or hate speech injected into campaigns," Omar Abdullah added. In reply to a question, he also appealed to the governor's administration to cancel the ban on civilian traffic on state highways for two days a week, saying it did not benefit the security forces despite inconveniencing common people. "The surprising thing is that no force, be it police, paramilitary or army, made this demand. The Army has said they don't need this ban and they will not even follow it. They are going to ply their vehicles all seven days a week. "For God's sake, tell me what is the purpose of closing the highways for two days. Security forces have not benefitted from it but common people have had to suffer," he said. The former chief minister said some people have unnecessarily made the highway ban a prestige issue. "I will again appeal to the governor administration, please don't make it an ego issue. Please cancel this order and allow people to use the highways," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amid claims of "misusing" the armed forces for electoral gain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said the strength of "one vote" had enabled the surgical strike and air strike in Pakistan. Addressing a poll rally here in Chhattisgarh, Modi said the India of today carries out surgical and air strikes across the border and shoots down satellite in space due to the strength of "one vote" of the people. The last week sought a report from poll officials in Maharashtra after Modi's remarks at a rally in Latur, where he asked first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the Balakot air strike. The report was 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. Modi also stepped up attack on chief Rahul Gandhi, saying it was the mindset of the "sultanate" of the 'Naamdar' to abuse the deprived and treat them as slaves. Modi's barb came a day after Gandhi made the "how come all Modis are thieves" remark. Modi attributed Gandhi's comment to frustration among the and its "Mahamilvati" allies caused by the "BJP wave" being witnessed across the country. "These people are crossing limits daily. According to them, anyone whose name is Modi is a thief. What kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your 'chowkidar'," Modi said. "I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out," Gandhi had said, addressing a rally in Maharashtra Monday. ALSO READ: PM Modi lashes out at Naveen Patnaik govt over subsidised rice scheme "The and its Mahamilavati allies are unable to sleep during night. Now they are abusing me in frustration, are insulting me. The voters of India are seeing this," Modi said. "It is naamdar's sultanate mindset which sneers at the exploited, deprived and treats them as slaves," he said. The Congress labelled honest tax-payers as selfish, Modi said. The naamdars are faced with cases of income tax theft of crores of rupees, he added. "They are having fun after committing scam following land allotment to bring out a newspaper...they are out on bail," Modi said, without naming the National Herald case. "They seek commission in deals relating to national security," Modi said, in a veiled reference to the Bofors scam, in which late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's name was dragged by the opposition. Police complaint regarding incidents of abuse or violence by any patient or attendant at Delhi government hospitals would have to be filed by the hospital, and doctors or medical staff cannot be asked to do so, the city's health department ordered on Tuesday. In a circular issued to heads and medical superintendents of various city government-run hospitals and medical institutions, Delhi Health Secretary Sanjeev Khirwar also said, non-compliance of the direction will be "viewed seriously". "The direction apply to Delhi government hospitals, but we are seeing if it can be extended to private hospitals in the city too," He told PTI. Various incidents of scuffle have been reported at government and private hospitals in the city in the past. "All HoDs of hospitals or medical institutions are hereby directed that in case of any incident involving abuse or violence by patients or their attendants, an FIR/complaint is required to be filed by the hospital or institution concerned immediately," the circular says. "In no case, the individual doctor/para-medical/nursing/ administrative staff, etc, should be asked to lodge the FIR/complaints with the police in such cases," it said. It will be "incumbent" on the medical superintendent or director of the institution to ensure that an FIR is lodged in such cases promptly by the hospital or the institution concerned rather than insisting on the hospital staff concerned to lodge the FIR, the circular added. The Delhi government has various hospital under its administration, including the LNJP Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, BSA Hospital, DDU Hospital and the GTB Hospital. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistani spy agency ISI's ex-chief Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani and two former head of the military's media wing have been denied permission by the army to appear on media as defence analysts. In a notification issued on Monday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of the military - has allowed 26 retired officers of the armed forces to appear on media as defence analysts. "The prominent omissions are Brig (retd.) Mahmood Shah, Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani, Lt Gen (retd.) Talat Masood, Maj Amir (retd.) and DG ISPR Maj Gen (retd.) Athar Abbas and Maj Gen (retd.) Rashid Quershi," the Dawn reported, citing the notification. Seven retired Lt Generals are among those allowed to appear on media as defence analysts. "Their views/comments/opinions on media shall remain personal/independent expression and not attributable to the institution," the notification said. It also said that any other retired officer desirous of appearing as defence analyst can contact the ISPR to obtain a no-objection certificate. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority recently instructed all TV channels to seek prior clearance from the ISPR before inviting retired military officers on and current affairs programmes "to solicit their views on matters of national security". In a notification dated April 4, the media regulator said that "concerned quarters" have observed that retired military officers, when invited on TV programmes, "are usually not fully conversant with the latest defence and security developments due to their service background and post-retirement time". Lt Gen (retd.) Durrani and Lt Gen (retd.) Masood frequently appeared on the Indian media. In February, the Pakistan Army held Durrani guilty of violating military code of conduct by co-authoring a controversial book with India's former intelligence head and punished him by stopping his pension and other benefits. Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from August 1990 till March 1992, along with former RAW chief A S Dulat published the book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' in India. The powerful army had ordered a Court of Inquiry against Durrani over the book in which the two former spy chiefs touched upon some thorny issues including terrorism, particularly Mumbai attack, Kashmir and the influence of intelligence agencies. Durrani is also not allowed to leave the country due to his name being on no-fly list. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan and India on Tuesday held a technical meeting to discuss the modalities for the corridor linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The technical experts and foreign office officials from both sides participated in the talks held at Zero Point (Kartarpur), according to Geo They reportedly discussed installation of a border fence and road design. An official of the Pakistan Rangers told PTI that the meeting of both sides took place at the Kartarpur Zero Point to the PTI but said any statement will be issued either by Pakistan's Foreign Office or the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan military. In a major initiative last November, both India and Pakistan agreed to set up the Kartarpur Corridor to link the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev -- to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Earlier, India postponed the Kartarpur Corridor meeting between the two countries at the Wagah border scheduled for April 2. India and Pakistan on March 19 held a meeting of technical experts on the Kartarpur corridor during which its alignment, coordinates, and other engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points were discussed. The technical meeting at the level of experts, including engineers and surveyors, was held at "proposed zero points" in the follow up to the decision reached on the March 14 meeting. Later, the Pakistani Cabinet constituted a 10-member Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) to facilitate Sikh pilgrims after opening of the Kartarpur corridor. India voiced concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in the committee on the Kartarpur corridor and said it will wait for a response from Islamabad on the issue and will not go ahead with a previously agreed meeting on the corridor on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side. During the previous meeting, both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the Zero Point and discussed the technical details, including finished road level, high flood level etc. Pakistan will build the corridor from the Indian border to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak in Indian Punjab's Gurdaspur district up to the border will be constructed by India. In Pakistan, the groundbreaking ceremony of the corridor was performed on November 28 last year by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Fifty per cent of the four-kilometre stretch being built by Pakistan has been completed while the stretch between the Zero Line to Baba Nanak's shrine is being built by India. The corridor will be opened in November this year in connection with the 550 birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of Pakistan's Shia Hazara Muslims ended their protest against frequent terror attacks targeting the minority community in the restive Balochistan province after the government assured to take more measures to protect them. The Shia Muslims began their sit-in in Quetta on Friday after the suicide bombing by the ISIS at an open-air market killed 21 people in Balochistan last week. Those killed included 10 members of the Hazara Shia community, two children and security personnel. The protesters were demanding an effective security plan to ensure the protection of the Hazara Shia community. The Hazara community members ended their sit-in late on Monday night after receiving assurances from Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani and State Minister for Interior Sheharyar Afridi, the Dawn reported. Hazaras make up a significant minority group in Pakistan and most of them live in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Nearly half-a-million Hazaras have settled in Balochistan, many of them after fleeing war-torn Afghanistan. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) last year stated that 509 members of the Hazara community were killed and 627 injured in various incidents of terrorism in Quetta from January 2012 to December 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The new Palestinian prime minister accused the United States of declaring "financial war" on his people and said an American peace plan purported to be in the works will be "born dead". In his first interview with the international media since taking office over the weekend, Mohammad Shtayyeh laid out plans to get through the financial crisis he has inherited and predicted that the international community, including US allies in the Arab world, would join the Palestinians in rejecting President Donald Trump's expected peace plan. "There are no partners in Palestine for Trump. There are no Arab partners for Trump and there are no European partners for Trump," Shtayyeh said during a wide-ranging hour-long interview on Tuesday. Shtayyeh, a British-educated economist, takes office at a difficult time for the Palestinians, with his government, the Palestinian Authority, mired in a dire financial crisis. The PA administers autonomous zones in the West Bank. The Trump administration has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars of aid, including all of its support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Israel has also withheld tens of millions of dollars of tax transfers to punish the Palestinians for their "martyrs' fund," a programme that provides stipends to the families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed as a result of fighting with Israel. The Israelis say the fund rewards violence, while the Palestinians say the payments are a national duty to families affected by decades of violence. Furious about the withholding, the Palestinians have in turn refused to accept partial tax transfers from Israel. Without its key sources of revenue, the Palestinian Authority has begun paying only half salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants, reduced services and increased borrowing. In a new report being released Wednesday, the World Bank said the Palestinian deficit will grow from USD 400 million last year to over $1 billion this year. "Israel is part of the financial war that has been declared upon us by the United States. The whole system is to try to push us to surrender" and agree to an unacceptable peace proposal, Shtayyeh said. "This a financial blackmail, which we reject." Shtayyeh laid out a number of proposals for weathering the storm. He said he has imposed spending cuts by reducing perks for his Cabinet ministers. He said he would seek to develop the Palestinian agricultural, economic and education sectors and seek ways to reduce the Palestinian economy's dependence on Israel. For example, he proposed importing fuel from neighboring Jordan, instead of from Israel, and even floating a Palestinian currency. He also said the Palestinians would seek financial backing from Arab and European donors. Despite the tensions with Israel and the US, Shtayyeh said the Palestinians remain committed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war. That includes establishing a capital in east Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed and claims as part of its eternal capital. The two-state solution has enjoyed overwhelming international support for the past two decades. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line political allies reject Palestinian independence. Netanyahu secured another term in office in elections last week and is expected to form a new coalition with religious and nationalist parties that oppose the two-state solution. On the campaign trail, Netanyahu even raised the possibility of annexing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a step that could extinguish any remaining hopes for an independent Palestine. Netanyahu has received a boost from Trump, who has given Netanyahu a number of diplomatic gifts since taking office. Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US Embassy to the holy city, slashed aid to the Palestinians and shuttered the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington. In a departure from Republican and Democratic predecessors, Trump also has notably refused to endorse the two-state solution. His peace team, led by son-in-law Jared Kushner, has repeatedly pushed back the release of a peace plan it says it is preparing, and it remains unclear if or when it will be released. Kushner's team has said little about their proposal. But their limited public statements have indicated it will call for large amounts of economic investment in the Palestinians, but given no sign that it will include their demand for independence. Shtayyeh said that after all of the US moves in favour of Israel, particularly the recognition of Jerusalem, there is nothing left to negotiate. He said any proposal that ignores key Palestinian demands will be rejected by the international community. The European Union this week reiterated its call for peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state. "Where are we going to have the Palestinian state?" he asked. "We are not looking for an entity. We are looking for a sovereign state." "Palestinians are not interested in economic peace. We are interested in ending occupation," he said. "Life cannot be enjoyed under occupation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought a response of the AAP government on a plea for making fast track courts a permanent feature at the district-level. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani issued notice to the Delhi government and the Registrar General of the high court seeking their stand on the petition filed by a lawyer concerned with delay in disposal of cases in the lower courts. Prag Chawla, in his plea, has contended that the Registrar General of the high court has made representations to authorities to make fast track courts (FTC) a permanent feature by sanctioning more posts of judges and ancillary staff, but till date no action has been taken. The petition, filed through advocate Sumit Chander, has claimed that FTCs at the level of additional district or session judge (ADJ/ASJ) was being run on ad-hoc or temporary basis and the Supreme Court in 2012 had directed that either they be discontinued or made permanent. Chawla has said that after the apex court's decision, the high court had sent a letter in July 2012 to the Delhi government requesting it to continue the FTC scheme as a permanent feature. Thereafter, in 2013 the high court had again written to the Delhi government to expedite the setting up of permanent FTCs and to sanction 20 posts of additional district and sessions judge along with 95 posts of ancillary staff, the petition has said. The government, however, sanctioned the FTCs only for one more year, the plea has claimed and added that this sanction was given year after year whenever a letter was sent by the high court to make it permanent. "However, no such court (FTC) has become functional against this sanction as no appointment to such courts can be made on an ad-hoc basis," the petition has claimed. It has also claimed that there is a shortfall of over 200 judges in the subordinate judiciary which has led to an increase in pendency of cases, including those of sexual assault against minors and rape, in the lower courts. The petition has also alleged that there is a shortage of commercial courts at the district-level and has sought creation of 22 posts with ancillary staff for this purpose. "The present petition is necessitated in view of the delay by the Government of NCT of Delhi to take any action or decision in respect of the establishment of FTCs on a permanent basis and its insistence on extending the scheme on an ad-hoc basis," the plea has said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - Deputy Premier, Labour and Industry Minister and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio on Tuesday appeared to criticise the directive issued by the interior ministry aimed at dealing with the threat of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn Libya. The interior ministry is headed by fellow Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League, the M5S's coalition partner. "If we really have the problem of 800,000 migrants coming to Italy, you certainly won't stop them with directives, which no one has ever listened to," Di Maio said Abu Dhabi. "If we want to help Italy, let's dump those countries (that don't receive migrants) instead of making alliances with them, starting from (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban," he added, in an apparent dig at Salvini's attempts to form alliances with other rightwing parties at the European level. Di Maio also hit back at Salvini's calls for action on Alitalia, the former flag-carrier that is in extraordinary administration. "I'm please to see that we all want to see action," he said. "It's a shame that those who want action, only do talking". The Supreme Court Tuesday sought responses from the Uttarakhand government and others on a plea challenging a state high court order which had dismissed a petition seeking to house eight elephants, in the custody of the forest department, in their natural habitat. The Uttarakhand High Court had on March 6 dismissed the plea which had also challenged an order of the chief wildlife warden of the state to hand over these elephants back to their respective owners. The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer. The counsel appearing for the petitioner said that one of these elephants was found to be "unfit" while another was blind. "Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Until further orders, there shall be stay of operation of the impugned judgement and order passed by the high court," the bench said. The high court, while hearing another petition, had last year banned the commercial use of elephants in Uttarakhand, including for joyrides by owners of resorts, until further orders. It had also directed the chief wildlife warden to take custody of elephants from their owners by issuing them proper receipts of their treatment, medical examination and proper upkeep and to temporarily keep them at Rajaji National Park in the state. The high court's order was challenged before the apex court by one of the elephant owners. The top court had on January 29 stayed operation of last year's order of the high court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pledges to donate millions of euros in cash and materials poured in Tuesday in the aftermath of a massive fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, which firefighters were still fighting to extinguish more than 12 hours after it started. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed the emblematic church will be rebuilt after its spire and roof collapsed Monday night in a blaze thought to be linked to extensive renovation work. French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced Tuesday that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would give 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction efforts. The pledge came after Arnault's crosstown rival Kering, the fashion group founded by fellow billionaire Francois Pinault, offered 100 million euros to help "completely rebuild Notre-Dame". The privately run French Heritage Foundation has already launched a call for donations to help restore a "symbol of French history and culture." Valerie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region comprising the greater Paris region, said it would provide 10 million euros. And the head of a French lumber company told FranceInfo radio that it was ready to offer the best oak beams available to rebuild the intricate lattice that supported the now-destroyed roof, known as the "Forest". "The work will surely take years, decades even, but it will require thousands of cubic metres of wood. We'll have to find the best specimens, with large diameters," Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group in Murlin, central France, told the radio. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday proposed organising an international donor conference to coordinate the pledges to restore the gothic architectural masterpiece. The United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO has also promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site, which it declared a world heritage site in 1991. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here late Tuesday night and will stay overnight before leaving for Akluj in Solapur district, where he will address an election rally Wednesday. Modi arrived at the Lohegaon airport were BJP leaders, including the party's Lok Sabha candidate from the city Girish Bapat, sitting MP Anil Shirole and Pune city BJP president Yogesh Gogawale received him. According to BJP leaders, the PM will stay overnight at Raj Bhavan here and leave for Akluj to address an election rally in the Madha Lok Sabha constituency of Solapur district Wednesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "chowkidar chor hai" barb, and said anyone challenging the "family" and "dynasty" faces abuse. Addressing poll rallies in Chhattisgarh, Modi said surgical and air strikes against Pakistan and demonstration of India's anti-satellite missile capability were all possible only because of the strength of people's vote. Addressing a poll rally at Bhatapara in Balodabazar district, he said the anti-BJP alliance has lost its sleep after seeing a "wave" in favour of the saffron party. "The Congress and its 'mahamilavati' (adulterated) friends have lost their sleep after seeing a wave in favour of the BJP in the entire country and in frustration they are hurling abuses at me. People of the country are seeing this," he said. "As soon as they (the Congress and opposition parties) will come to know the strength of crowd in my rally today, they will start abusing more, he said. Modi said, "They are saying whosoever has Modi in their names are thieves. What kind of is this? They have branded an entire community as thief that too only to get applause and to insult your chowkidar (watchman)." "This is the sultanate mentality which sees every exploited and neglected person as a slave. Today 'naamdar' is abusing Modi and tomorrow they will abuse tribals and later everyone else. "They make fun of dressing style of tribals. Whosoever challenges their family and dynasty, faces abuses from them," Modi said. In his speeches, the PM has been describing Gandhi as a 'naamdar' (dynast). "The Sahu community in Gujarat is called Modi and Rathore in Rajasthan. I am stunned...which kind of language they are using? Are all Modis thieves," he asked. "The truth is that when they abuse backward class people and tribals, they do not look into their own position," he added. Most members of the 'naamdar' family are out on bail, he said without naming the Gandhi family. "Now they pick up chief ministers who are out on bail. It has become their criteria for choosing a CM," Modi said in an apparent reference to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is out on bail in a sex CD case in the state. The PM said the current Lok Sabha polls are more than just electing Members of Parliament. "It was because of your support that I reached Delhi in 2014 and took major decisions. This time the election is not limited to just choosing a party, an MP or a government... rather it is about building a new India," he said. "India has conducted surgical and air strikes across the border and launched an anti-satellite missile. India now has the capability to shoot down satellites of enemies in just three minutes. Who did all these," Modi asked people at the rally to which they replied he did it. However, Modi credited people for these achievements. "Your answer is wrong. Modi did not do these things. These were possible because of the strength of your one vote. Because of the strength of your vote the country is emerging as a 'shakti' (power) in the world," he said. Earlier, addressing a rally in Korba district, Modi targeted the Congress, claiming that it was "hand in glove" with naxals. Modi said naxal influence in the area where BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed in a blast had been considerably reduced. "Why did this happen now," he said, referring to the naxal attack which claimed Mandavi's life. Mandavi and four security personnel were killed last Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. "Perpetrators of violence and terror are dancing with joy after Congress manifesto assurances. Will you allow Congress to compromise on your national security," he said. "The Congress is encouraging naxals in Chhatisgarh," Modi said. Encouragement to naxalism is seen in Congress manifesto which calls for scrapping of sedition law, he said. "Congress ka haath vikas ke saath ya vinash ke saath," he said. "Does Chhattisgarh want landmine or electricity and water pipeline," he added. Congress party's poll promise to strip the army of special power has led to celebration among those forces who are engaged in spreading violence, Modi said. Modi said the Ayushman Bharat scheme has been stopped in Chhattisgarh after the Congress government came to power in the state last year. Similarly, the state government had stopped sending list of farmers who will be beneficiaries of the PM Kisan yojana, he said. Modi said on May 23 when "Modi sarkar" will be re-elected, the PM Kisan yojana will be implemented and a host of other schemes for farmers would also be initiated including pension for farmers, farm labourers and small traders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he was "exploiting" the valour of the jawans and their sacrifices for political gains. Criss-crossing through four districts of Kollam, Pathnamthitta, the ground zero of Sabarimala protests, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram, Gandhi targeted Modi on a host of issues and hit out at the Sangh Parivar but refrained from attacking the CPI-M-led LDF government in the state. "If the Army and Air force carries out an action, the credit is fully theirs," Gandhi said addressing a massive gathering of party workers in Thiruvanathapuram. "It is shameful that PM does not give them credit. Because they are the people who gave their blood.It is their families who suffer and they deserve the credit," Gandhi said. On the Pulwama terror attack, the Congress chief said his immediate reaction was not to politicise the matter. "This was not a political issue to be exploited. I refuse to exploit our martyrs and jawans. But this is not what our PM thinks. Our PM exploits the valour of our jawans for his political gains," he said. Targeting Modi on alleged corruption in the Rafale jet deal, demonetisation and rising unemployment, Gandhi attacked the saffron forces for "imposing" one ideology. The congress chief said his party does not want to impose a single ideology. "Congress does not want to impose one ideology or one thought, while the saffron parties wants to impose one idea,crush others," he said. While Gandhi went all out to attack Modi and saffron outfits, he was soft on the CPI(M), saying the left has never questioned the Constitution of India. "We fight with the Left in Kerala. But the Left has never done what the RSS has done to this country. The Left has never questioned the institutions in India. The Left has never questioned the Constitution of India. The Left has never attempted to destroy the institutions in the country," Gandhi said in Alappuzha. Despite the scorching heat, thousands of people had gathered at the campaign meetings to hear Gandhi as he criss-crossed through the four districts. In Pathnamthitta, where the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple is located, Gandhi said his party believes in allowing people to express their faith and sentiments and never stop them from "genuinely" expressing their belief. Gandhi asked whether the prime minister had ever apologised to any traders for the failure of demonetisation and took potshots at Modi who, he said, dresses "immaculately" during his visits abroad changing his attire at least four times. "We have seen him with Nirav Modi, we have seen him hugging Anil Ambani, but never seen him with an unemployed youth or a farmer," the congress chief said. On his decision to contest a second seat from Wayanad constituency besides the Congress stronghold of Amethi, Gandhi said his party wants every person in the country to feel that each voice matters and hence he chose Wayanad in Kerala due it its history of tolerance and understanding of different cultures. Hitting out at the Sangh Parivar at an election meeting at Pathanapuram in Kollam, Gandhi said the country was "under attack" from the BJP and RSS, who want to suppress all voices other than their own. Addressing an election rally at the St Stephen college grounds, Gandhi said India should be ruled by people of the country and not just one ideology or person. Gandhi, who refrained from attacking the left government, however, thanked "every single Keralite, regardless of any party," for the support given to him to contest from the State. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad Tuesday said the people have realised "political opportunism" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his "lies and deceit" cannot save the "sinking ship" of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In an election rally in south Kashmir's Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, Azad also alleged that the BJP has not been able to fulfil any of the promises made in the 2014 election campaign and that the party after coming to power, has destroyed the constitutional fabric of the country. "PM Narendra Modi's lies and deceit will not save the sinking ship of the BJP, as the people have realized the exploitation and political opportunism on the part of the outgoing prime minister," Azad said. "Never in the history have four senior judges of Supreme Court come out and said that democracy was in danger in the country," he said. Azad said the Centre over the past five years has filled up independent constitutional institutions and academic institutions like universities with people from the RSS. "RSS people are handpicked and placed in independent institutions or appointed as vice chancellors. This is what is called dictatorship," he said. He blamed the "wrong policies" adopted by the Centre for deteriorating situation in Kashmir. "The people in the country and state will never forgive the BJP for vitiating the atmosphere," Azad said. Azad appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to defeat the designs of the BJP. He expressed confidence that people in the country and in the state will ensure victory of Congress candidates with a "thumping majority". "The ensuing Lok Sabha elections have provided you an opportunity to defeat the of exploitation and vendetta on the part of BJP," he added. Azad was campaigning for Congress candidate for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who is taking on PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. Former High Court judge Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi is contesting on a National Conference ticket while the BJP has fielded Sofi Yousuf from the constituency where polling will be held in three phases on 29 April (Anantnag), May 3 (Kulgam) and 6 May (Pulwama and Shopian districts). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "why are all Modis thieves" barb, adding using derogatory language has become synonymous with the "naamdar" (dynast). Addressing a rally here, Modi said it has become a fashion for the "naamdar" to speak in derogatory terms. "Is this the language to speak? We have to throw out such people. Abusive language is the norm. The Sahu community here would have been called Modi in Gujarat. Are they all thieves," Modi said. Targeting the Congress, Modi said naxal influence in the area where BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed by them, had been considerably reduced. "Why did this happen now," he said, referring to the naxal attack which claimed Mandavi's life. Mandavi and four security personnel were killed last Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. Modi claimed that the Congress was "hand in glove" with naxals. "Perpetrators of violence and terror are dancing with joy after Congress manifesto assurances. Will you allow Congress to compromise on your national security," he said. "The Congress is encouraging naxals in Chhatisgarh," Modi said. Encouragement to naxalism is seen in Congress manifesto which calls for scrapping of sedition law, he said. "Congress ka haath vikas ke saath ya vinash ke saath," he said. "Does Chhattisgarh want landmine or electricity and water pipeline," he added. Modi said the Ayushman Bharat scheme has been stopped in Chhattisgarh after the Congress government came to power in the state last year. Similarly, the state government had stopped sending list of farmers who will be beneficiaries of the PM Kisan yojana, he said. Modi said on May 23 when "Modi sarkar" will be re-elected, the PM Kisan yojana will be implemented and a host of other schemes for farmers would also be initiated including pension for farmers, farm labourers and small traders. Modi accused the Congress of doing a PhD in betraying people. "Its neeyat and niti (intention and policy) are not clean. Ek parivar ki gulami (slavery of one family) is the Congress party's identity," he said. The Congress poll manifesto will give an open license to those who misguide peaceful tribals in forests, Modi said referring to naxals. The Congress' panja (palm) wants our armed forces to be stripped of their special powers and weaken them, Modi said. Congress party's poll promise to strip the army of special power has led to celebration among those forces who are engaged in spreading violence, Modi said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Armed with court orders, the Mumbai police have started investigation into the seizure of campaign material of the BJP from the premises of United Phosphorous Ltd (UPL) here, an official said Tuesday. On April 9, a flying squad of the Election Commission (EC) had raided the premises of UPL at suburban Khar, where electronic cards for the BJP's poll campaign were being allegedly assembled. The returning officer had then issued a show-cause notice to the company. Earlier, the Khar police had registered a non- cognisable offence in the case, the official said. Non-cognisable offence refers to an offence in which the police have no authority to apprehend a person for crime on their own. Under this law, the police require a warrant to arrest an accused and a court's prior approval to begin investigation. "Now, the police have started investigation in this case after seeking proper permission from the local court under CrPC section 155 (21)", said Sanjay More, senior inspector at the Khar Police station. The electronic cards, seized by the police and the EC squad, did not have the name of the publisher, he said. The cards had the pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the armed forces printed on them, More said. This was a grave violation of the model code of conduct and all cards worth Rs 6 crore were seized, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant had told media persons. The Maharashtra Congress had demanded a CBI inquiry in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The campaigning for prestigious Srinagar Lok Sabha seat here, going to the polls on April 18 in the second phase of elections, came to an end Tuesday. Srinagar Lok Sabha seat comprises three districts of Jammu and Kashmir -- Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal. It was relatively a low key campaign here with only National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who is seeking a fourth term in the lower house of Parliament from here, making his presence felt as a candidate. Abdullah is pitched against political greenhorns Aga Moshin of the PDP, Irfan Ansari of the People's Conference and Khalid Jehangir of the BJP. An election official said there were only 46 rallies in Srinagar district, a city of over 12 lakh residents, during the campaign period. "The campaign period remained by and large peaceful," he added. He said 16 complaints of the violation of model code of conduct were received and the action was taken in nine of them. The polling on Thursday will be keenly watched within and outside Kashmir as the constituency recorded an all-time low of 7.2 per cent voter turn out in 2017 bye-election, marred by violence on polling day that left nine persons dead and scores of others injured. This will be first major election since a shawl weaver from Utlipora in Budgam district was used as a human shield by an army officer to save his men from a stone-pelting mob on the election day. Stringent security measures have been put in place for the polling as additional security personnel have been deployed across the Srinagar constituency to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct of elections, the official said. As many as 12,90,318 voters are eligible to cast their votes with authorities having set up 1,716 polling stations in the constituency. For migrant voters of the constituency, 26 polling stations have been set up with 21 in Jammu, one in Udhampur and four in New Delhi. Farooq Abdullah is among 10 candidates in the fray and is seen as the front runner to enter the Lok Sabha for the fourth time from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Poppy plants were seized from a village in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh and a man was arrested in this connection, police said on Tuesday. According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Kumar Pandey, acting on a tip-off, the police seized 55 poppy plants, used in preparation of drugs, from the fields of Tisang village under the Jhinjhana police station limits on Monday. A case was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against one Daljit Singh, the officer said, adding that the accused was arrested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - Italy's 'closed ports' policy should change if there is a migrant surge as feared from wartorn Libya, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Tuesday. "The line is that if thousands of asylum seekers were to arrive, the closed ports approach cannot be enough," he said. Toninelli told Italian radio that "we'll have to open other European ports" and "there will have to be a redistribution" of migrants. "The approach must be international", he said. Libyan Premier Fayez al-Sarraj said Monday as many as 800,000 migrants and Libyans including criminals and ISIS affiliates may leave for Italy if the conflict with eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar escalates. Asked about being probed for a migrant standoff with the EU in Sicily, Toninelli said "it's not a medal". "We must continue to save lives but this must be done in safety and security", he said. Toninelli is being probed along with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Premier Giuseppe Conte and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio in the case of the German NGO-run SeaWatch 3 whose 47 rescued migrants were allegedly "kidnapped" at Siracusa for 12 days. In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, the government has granted emergency powers to the three services to procure weapons and military hardware to enhance their operational preparedness along the border with Pakistan, official sources said. The government also relaxed certain rules to cut delays in military purchase like allowing the three services to procure required weapons and equipment from a single vendor. In March last year, the vice chiefs of the three services were granted additional financial powers to carry out specific procurement to ensure operational preparedness. Now, the government has granted more powers to the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force to go for buying of critical weapons and equipment to help them effectively deal with any hostilities along the border with Pakistan. In March last year, the defence ministry enhanced the financial powers of the three vice chiefs from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore for specific procurement arms and ammunition. Sources said the threshold granted to the three forces couple of weeks ago for each proposal is around Rs 300 crore. India's military planes struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26, in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack. A day after the Balakot strike, Pakistan launched a counter-offensive, unsuccessfully targeting several Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The number of suicide cases among inmates in Tihar jail has reduced significantly due to counselling provided by professional mental health experts as part of 'Project Samarthan' launched last year, officials claimed Tuesday. As many as 7,000 inmates were provided counselling as part of the project which was launched by the prison administration in April last year with an aim to reduce suicide cases. "One year of Project Samarthan has shown encouraging results. There is a significant reduction in number of violent incidents reported amongst inmates. Cases of misconduct involving jail punishments have decreased and suicide in prisons have reduced significantly. "One suicide was reported as against seven in the previous corresponding period," Director General (Prisons) Ajay Kashyap told a gathering on the first anniversary of the initiative. A book on mental health was also released on the occasion. The officer said maintaining a safe and dignified custody of inmates in the face of over-crowding, under-staffing, mental stress and depression holds a tremendous challenge to the prison administration. "Whenever we interact with inmates, we feel a sense of hopelessness, loss of purpose and resignation to the circumstances among them and it is very difficult to articulate," he said. "Overcrowding, lack of privacy, lack of meaningful activities, forced solicitude, various forms of violence, insecure future prospects and inadequate health services lead to the mental illness," said Delhi High Court judge Mukta Gupta who was an invitee at the event. "We need to listen them whether you are a counsellor, prison authority, judge or legal aid lawyer. By listening them, we can solve most of their problems. There should be some more caring personalities in the jail," she said. Congratulating the prison authority for their achievement, Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev said the basic concept of Project Samarthan was to take care the mental wellbeing of inmates. "Suicides occur as prisoners face depression after entering jail," he said, adding the project must be continued to make the Delhi prisons "a zero suicide" jail. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former minister for external affairs S M Krishna Tuesday called Congress president Rahul Gandhi 'aprabuddha unlimited' (unintellectual unlimited) following a rap from the Supreme Court for wrongly attributing it to the Rafale case. "When somebody acquires a reputed position, especially in the case of the Congress president whose party has a history of 125 years, the sign of intellect should have been that the views are expressed cautiously after much deliberation. It's a sign of maturity. But today what we witnessed today is unintellectual unlimited," Krishna said at a press conference here. The former Karnataka chief minister, who played a long innings in the Congress before joining the BJP, said the opposition "lacked truth and evidence" before making allegations. "Whatever the allegations are being made against the prime minister lacks truth, gravity and documentation. For example, we can see how the Congress president has incurred the wrath of Supreme Court due to his immature behaviour," the BJP leader said. He was referring to the apex court's order seeking explanation from Rahul Gandhi by April 22 for 'incorrectly attributing' to it in the Rafale deal case. The Supreme Court Monday made it clear that the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi in the media on the Rafale case verdict were "incorrectly attributed" to the apex court and directed the Congress chief to give his explanation by April 22. The top court gave a categorical clarification that in its Rafale judgement there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the alleged contemptuous observation that "Chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain" as has been attributed to it by Gandhi. The former union minister said the 'unintellectual' has grown so big that the Congress president was caught in a difficult situation. He (Rahul Gandhi) may have to stand in front of the top court as a criminal on April 23, Krishna said. Noting that Gandhi's statement symbolised "political discourse" touching a low ebb, Krishna said the Congress leader cannot escape by saying that his statement has been misquoted because they were video recorded. When asked how he saw the future of the country if Gandhi became the prime minister, Krishna said, "You should ask Mayawati or Akhilesh Yadav." "Why has Congress become untouchable? In Uttar Pradesh the alliance of SP-BSP gave only two seats to Congress by taking pity on them. Do you need any other evidence than this to show how serious condition the Congress is in today?" he asked. On the NYAY scheme, Krishna sought to know how resources would be mobilised to materialise the scheme. The Congress, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, has said Nyay assures up to Rs 72,000 a year or Rs 6,000 a month income to 20 per cent of India's poorest families. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan Tuesday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of "lying" to people about fulfilment of his promise to waive loans of farmers which he had made ahead of the last year's assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. Taking potshots at Gandhi, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said Gandhi should be presented with the "world's biggest liar" award. Addressing a poll rally in Halol town in Panchmahal district, Chouhan said, "Ahead of the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi had promised to waive loans of farmers within 11 days of forming the government. Though three-and-a-half months have passed, farmers are still waiting. They are asking when that promise will be fulfilled". Halol assembly segment falls under Chhota Udaipur Lok Sabha constituency. Chouhan claimed that incumbent chief minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath is now sending SMSes to farmers stating that their loans cannot be waived right now due to the Model Code of Conduct. "Some farmers were even served notices to repay their pending loans. Farmers are committing suicides in Madhya Pradesh. Even then, Rahul Gandhi is not ashamed of falsely claiming that Congress had waived loans of farmers. He should be presented with the world's biggest liar award," Chouhan alleged. The former CM also attacked the Congress president for his "Chowkidar Chor Hai" jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "This is an insult to 130 crore citizens of this country," he said. Earlier in the day, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, while addressing a rally in Dang, said the land of Gujarat, which is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, has also produced a prime minister who is the "biggest liar". Polling for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on April 23. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP alleged Tuesday that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who has been campaigning against the saffron party, was receiving his "script" from NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Thackeray, whose party is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections but who is holding rallies and urging people to "remove" Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah from politics, reportedly met Pawar at a hotel Monday. "Pawar met Thackeray with a new script for his future political rallies at Balaji hotel in Solapur Monday night. Thackeray is currently holding his 'touring talkies' shows across Maharashtra and entertaining people, for which he needs a script, which was provided by Pawar," said Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Vinod Tawde. At a rally in Solapur, Thackeray had claimed that Harisal village in Maharashtra's Amravati district, touted as the first "digital village" in the country, does not have Internet service at present, and no shop there accepts digital payment. The MNS chief screened a short video to back his accusation. Tawde claimed that the situation was different now. "There is adquate internet connectivity in the village. Those who have doubts, can visit and see for themselves. The video is very old," he said. He also asked if Thackeray was a "star campaigner" of other parties, as some Congress leaders shared the stage with him during the rally in Solapur. "If he is a star campaigner for Congress and NCP, then the expenditure of his rallies should be added to the accounts of their candidates," the BJP leader said. Commenting on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's recent rally in Nanded in central Maharashtra, Tawde said, "He spoke selectively on Rafale fighter jet deal but uttered no word on the Supreme Court's notice to him." The apex court Monday said remarks made by Rahul on the Rafale controversy were wrongly attributed to the court, and sought an explanation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Tuesday declared assets worth Rs 10.68 crore, according to the affidavit he submitted while filing his nomination papers from the Jaipur rural Lok Sabha seat. His wife Gayatri Rathore and daughter Gauri Rathore have moveable assets worth Rs 2.05 crore and Rs 3.93 lakh respectively. There is no immovable asset in their names, the affidavit says. The 49-year-old shooter and Olympian possesses 14 weapons-- 10 0.12 bore gun, one 0.357 pistol, one rifle, one 0.22 bore rifle and one 0.30 bore rifle. Of them, 10 are prize awards and two ancestral weapons. During the 2014 general election, the total value of moveable and immovable assets owned by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was Rs 4.89 crore and his wife and daughter had moveable assets worth Rs 1.87 crore and Rs 1.27 lakh respectively. The minister, who took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army in 2013 to join politics, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the second time. The party has retained him on the Jaipur rural Parliamentary constituency where the Congress has fielded Olympian and discus throwerKrishnaPoonia against him. Jaipur rural seat, which has 19.33 lakh voters, including 9.12 lakh female, is among the 12 Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan which will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 6. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday said it will put into circulation Rs 50 denomination banknotes signed by its Governor Shaktikanta Das. The RBI will issue Rs 50 denomination banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi new series bearing the signature of Das. The design of these notes is similar in all respects to Rs 50 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi new series, it said. "All banknotes in the denomination of Rs 50 issued by the Reserve Bank in the past will continue to be legal tender," the RBI said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, who served 19 months in US jail for insider trading, Tuesday said he fell back on Bhagavad Gita during his stint in the prison. Gupta was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty in 2012 of passing confidential boardroom information about Goldman Sachs to the then hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading. "I had Bhagavad Gita with me (in prison).... Although I was familiar with Bhagavad Gita, I had the chance to read it several times and some ideas of Bhagavad Gita helped me to cope with solitary confinement punishment of 8 weeks," he said while discussing his book titled 'Mind Without Fear' organised by The Circle. Gupta further said that he does not feel bitter about friends who treated him unfairly. He was released from prison in 2016. India-born Gupta, a former IIT alumnus, said that talent is India's biggest exports, "we are great in information technology (IT) services but we have not created truely global brand like Google or Facebook," he noted. On India's education system, Gupta pointed out that IITs/IIMs have excelled but they have draconian selection process. "The value addition by IITs/IIMs may not be as high as we like to be, as none of the IITs are in top 100 engineering colleges in the world.... There is need of reforming and scaling up the IIT system," he said. Gupta said that although India is the fastest growing major economy, the country's economic growth rate is perhaps 'not high enough' in terms of job creation. "Think about whatever they said, statistics you believe or not believe, the point is the job growth probably is not as much as we need" Gupta said. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), India is projected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2019-20. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) No country can prosper if research does not take place in areas of fundamental science, DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy said Tuesday and urged the youth to work in that domain for a technologically stronger India. He was addressing a house full of youths from high schools and colleges at a seminar held here on Mission Shakti, an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test conducted by India. Reddy in his address also reiterated that the Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) test India conducted on March 27 really boosted the morale of the scientist, and shared a few anecdotes to make his point. "On March 28 morning, a DRDO scientist who lives in Delhi had a visit from a newspaper boy, who just wanted to meet him after reading the And, then another scientist from Vizag, who was in Delhi, had an unusual situation, when an auto-rickshaw driver gave him back the extra money he had charged beyond the due fare, after he saw him getting down at DRDO office," he said. These two incidents really show how people reacted to the news, Reddy said. Reddy recently had told reporters that India had chosen a much lower orbit of less than 300 km during Mission Shakti for "capability demonstration" and to avoid threat of debris to global space assets. In his address, he also exhorted the youth of the country to give time to research in ares of fundamental science. "No country can prosper if research does not take place in areas of fundamental science," he said, adding, the academia, research and development (R&D) and the industry are the three important components in promoting research. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking review of an order by which a plea for various civil rights, such as same-sex marriage, adoption and surrogacy for the LGBTQ community was dismissed. The apex court, on October 29, 2018, had dismissed a plea filed by Tushar Nayyar which had sought reliefs such as grant of civil rights to the members of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer) community besides seeking decriminalising the consensual gay sex. "We are not inclined to entertain this petition after the decision of this Court in Navtej Singh Johar v Union of India decided on September 6, 2018," the apex court had said. Seeking the review of the order, the plea said that the petition, which was dismissed, was not limited to the issue of decriminalising the consensual gay sex only. The plea had raised the issue of "non-recognition of same-sex marriages" under the Special Marriages Act, 1954) and denial of adoption and surrogacy rights to the members of the LGBTQ community members. The plea had sought civil rights of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer) community as part of the basic human rights and said that these rights were not addressed in the apex court's judgement on Section 377 of the IPC which had criminalised consensual gay sex. It had sought recognition of their rights to same-sex marriages, adoption, surrogacy, IVF and directions so that the community can serve openly in the army, navy and air force. "LGBTQ rights are not recognised as part of human rights. Non Recognition of same-sex marriages (Indian Special Marriages Act, 1954), availability of adoption, surrogacy, IVF (for LGBTQ only) is violative of Article 14, 15, 19, 21, 29. Discrimination solely on basis of sexual orientation violates Article 14, 15, 21 in relation to Army, Navy, Air force Act. "Other instances of indirect discrimination are not addressed in the Navtej Singh Johar case. People in the military are not allowed to serve openly. Heterosexual people end up marrying LGBT people, end up consummating marriage with them, which harms heterosexual people most. Gay women have it worst," the plea had said. The plea had said that the definition of marriage for LGBTQ had not been addressed in the apex court's judgement of September 6, 2018. The plea said both heterosexuals in an opposite-sex relationship and homosexuals in a same-sex relationship are similarly circumstanced as the general nature of relationship is romantic and sexual one, either at the time of marriage as in a love marriage or is sought or hoped to be as in the case of arranged marriage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Updated. More than 20 Denver-area schools, including Columbine High School in nearby Littleton, Colo., stepped up safety efforts Tuesday as the FBI warned of an armed and extremely dangerous woman who was inspired by the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. The FBIs Denver Field Office said Tuesday night it was conducting a massive manhunt for an 18-year-old woman named Sol Pais who had traveled to the area the night before and made general threats toward unspecified schools in the area. The FBIs Miami office tipped off authorities that the woman was infatuated with Columbine, they said in a press conference. After landing in Denver, the woman had purchased a pump-action shotgun and ammunition, officials said. The @FBIDenver & JCSO are asking for the publics help regarding a potential credible threat. Last night Sol Pais traveled to Colorado & made threats. She is armed & considered to be extremely dangerous 1/3 pic.twitter.com/2x5iwddsMp -- Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) April 16, 2019 Officials speaking to the media Tuesday night did not detail the womans threats, saying they were acting on comments she made to others. A notice sent by the FBIs Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force Tuesday afternoon said there was no cause for the womans arrest, but that officers should detain her and evaluate her mental health. Several Denver-area school districts said Tuesday night that they would make decisions about possible cancellations early Wednesday morning. Earlier Tuesday, schools in the area began soft lockdowns, or lockouts, in which educators lock exterior doors to buildings, blocking out outsiders while classes continue inside. Denver-area districts and the states department of education first warned the FBI was investigating an unspecified credible threat, but they said the threat had not been targeted at a specific school. Columbine High School cancelled after-school activities as a safety precaution Tuesday night. Some districts said the stepped up police presence outside of schools as law enforcement searched for the woman. The threat being investigated is to schools in general, and we are working together across the metro area to gather more information. We will keep everyone updated as soon as we can, in the meatime in Aurora we are increasing police presence at our schools. -- Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) April 16, 2019 We are currently investigating what appears to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools. Children are safe. Deputies are at the schools. Multiple schools are on lockout in Columbine area & Mountains. More details to come #JeffCo pic.twitter.com/LwS6VJKxdV -- Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) April 16, 2019 The Columbine High School shooting, which happened 20 years ago this week, has inspired many school shooters and mass attackers in the time since, prompting campaigns to identify mass attackers less frequently in publications and on social media. The Jefferson County district, home to Columbine, has a sophisticated security plan. And schools around Colorado cooperate with an anonymous reporting system run by the states attorney generals office. Columbine High School regularly attracts attention from people interested in the 1999 attack, the Washington Post reports, and it has stepped up security as the Saturday anniversary approaches. (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - The Lower House's foreign affairs committee on Tuesday approved a base text for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the death of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, tortured and murdered in Cairo in late January-early February 2016. Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge doctoral student researching Cairo street sellers unions, disappeared on the Cairo metro on February 25, 2016, the highly policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak. His mutilated body was found in a ditch on the highway to Alexandria on February 3. His parents said they could only recognise him "from the tip of his nose". Egypt has put out several explanations for his death including a car accident, a gay lovers' tiff turned ugly and a kidnapping for ransom in which the alleged gang, criminals but presumably innocent of the Regeni murder, were later wiped out. Italy recently placed several members of the Egyptian security apparatus under investigation in the case - after which bilateral cooperation ground to a halt. A controversy has erupted in West Bengal after popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed campaigned for the state's ruling TMC, prompting the BJP to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission claiming it violated the model code of conduct. State BJP leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria met the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab and urged him to take appropriation action over the alleged violation of the model code. A video showing Ferdous and Bengali actors Ankush and Payal participating in a roadshow to seek votes for Trinamool Congress candidate for Raiganj Lok Sabha seat Kanhaiyalal Agarwal on Sunday has gone viral on social media. The BJP leaders met Aftab on Monday to register their complaint. "We believe that it is a compeletely illegal move executed intentionally. This is a proof of the TMC's bankrupt politics," the Majumdar, the state BJP vice president, said. He wanted to know how a Bangladeshi national visiting the country on a tourist visa could campaign for a candidate, and alleged that the actor was brought it to polarise minority voters in the constituency. "All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for didi (TMC chief Mamata Banerjee)," Ferdous was claimed to have told voters while sharing the dais with Agarwal. When reached by PTI for comments, Agarwal said he had no knowledge of the actor canvassing for him. "I have no knowledge about this (Ferdous campaigning for him). I have only two star campaigners Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikary. I have participated in Mamata's two rallies and today I took part in a roadshow in Islampur where Suvendu Adhikary was present," Agarwal said. Senior TMC leader and former state minister Madan Mitra was dismissive about the violation of the model code because of a Bangladeshi national campaigning in an election in India. "I don't know whether the actor participated in the rally or was invited by the candidate. But I don't think there is any violation of the model code. The code says a foreigner cannot be a candidate but I think there is no harm if anybody participates in campaigning. I don't see any violation of the MCC," Mitra said. When approached for comments, a senior official at the CEO's office tersely said the matter is being looked into. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Flying Squad Tuesday seized unaccounted cash of Rs 1.41 crore from a car near Sulur on the outskirts of the city during a vehicle check. Police said the cash was found stashed in two suitcases in the car when it was stopped by the squad for vehicle check. Since the three occupants of the car, a bank employee and two security personnel did not have proper documents to account for the money, it was seized, they said. Though the three claimed the money was meant for depositing in ATMs in three places in Tirupur district, the officials directed them to produce the relevant documents and then take back the cash, which was deposited in the treasury. Meanwhile, a few DMK workers caught five people, reportedly AIADMK cadres, while they were distributing money at Ponnaiahrajapuram area in the city. The DMK workers acted on a tip off that money was being distributed to voters, rushed to the spot, nabbed the five, held them in a house and informed police. Though one of them managed to escape, the other four were taken to the police station for questioning. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP chief Amit Shah Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Kerala's CPI(M)-led LDF government over the Sabarimala women entry issue, accusing it of violating centuries' old customs and destroying the sanctity of the Lord Ayyappa temple. The BJP chief alleged that the State government unleashed violence on the devotees of Sabarimala under the pretext of implementing the Supreme Court order permitting entry of all women into the ancient shrine. "What message does Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan want to send to people through the violence on the devotees?" Shah said at an election meeting of BJP's candidate for the Thrissur Lok Sabha Seat Suresh Gopi in Thrissur. The BJP chief's attack on the left government comes two days after Vijayan claimed it was the Centre which had asked his government to impose prohibitory orders in Sabarimala during frenzied protests in 2018 over entry of women of all age groups into the shrine. Shah alleged that the government had unconstitutionally recruited DYFI cadres in police to destroy the sanctity of the temple. "The DYFI cadre were recruited unconstitutionally in police force by the state government. They are destroying the sanctity of the temple," he said. Backing the agitation by devotees to protect the centuries' old customs of the shrine, Shah said "We are with the faithful. We will stand like a rock with you in your fight till the last," Shah said and noted that the BJP has mentioned its manifesto that "we will do everything to protect believers." The BJP president alleged that 30,000 Ayyappa devotees had been "trapped" in cases by the Left government in connection with the Sabarimala protests. He also accused the government of targeting BJP-RSS workers in connection with the Sabarimala agitation. Addressing an election rally, organised in Aluva for BJP candidates Alphons Kannanthanam in Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat and A N Radhakrishnan in Chalakkudy, Shah alleged that around 2000 devotees of Sabarimala were behind bars "due to the excesses of the Communists." "In our manifesto, we have stated that we will make every effort to provide constitutional protection to Sabarimala," he said. His attack on the left government comes on a day the CPI(M) wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora demanding action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly violating the model code of conduct and communally polarising voters by making remarks on the Sabarimala issue. Poll authorities had in March asked political parties to refrain from soliciting votes in the name of Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity of Sabarimala, in the elections. On September 28 last year, a five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 verdict had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the shrine, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination. Addressing meetings in Thrissur and Aluva, Shah also took potshots at both the Congress and CPI(M) over their statements on air strikes in Pakistan's Balakot, saying only Prime Minister Narendra Modi was capable ofkeeping India safe from terrorists from across the border. "The most important task accomplished by Modi government is to provide security to the country.During the tenure of the previous government, the country witnessed many attacks by terrorists. We don't believe in engaging in dialogue with people who kill our brave soldiers.A befitting reply will be given to anyone who indulges in such activity," Shah said. He also questioned the silence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's over the statement by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on separate Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. "Can there be two Prime Ministers in a country?, Shah asked and said "until there is life in the last BJP karyakarta's body, no one can separate Kashmir from India." "Kashmir is an integral part of India and none can separate it. Congress and Communists can't keep our country secure and safe, only PM Modi is capable of doing this." Shah alleged that around 525 incidents of mob lynching had taken place under the Left rule in Kerala. Taking a dig at the CPI(M), he said the Left party leaders rake up issues of lynching incidents in other parts of the country and sought to know "why the so-called champions of human rights not raising such issues happening in Kerala." "More than 120 karyakartas of BJP and RSS have been killed in Kerala. The most number of killings took place in the district of Kerala Chief Minister. Who is supporting this violence?" he asked. Shah said while the UPA government gave only Rs 45,393 crore under the 13th Finance Commission, in five years, the NDA government gave Rs 1.98 lakh crore to the State under the 14th Finance Commission. "NDA government gave around Rs 2 lakh crore for the development of Kerala. However, Kerala government has not been able to develop Kerala at expected scale," he claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court Tuesday granted bail to a sacked Uttar Pradesh Police constable in connection with Apple executive Vivek Tiwari's murder case. Sandeep Kumar who was sent to jail on March 22 was directed by the court not to misuse the liberty of bail and affect the trial. The order came from justice D K Singh. The petitioner had pleaded that he was innocent as his name had initially not figured in the police charge sheet as a murder accused. Kumar and another constable, Prashant Chaudhary, were arrested and dismissed from service after the 38-year-old Apple area sales manager was shot dead early on September 29, 2018 for allegedly refusing to stop his car. A case of murder was registered based on a complaint filed by the relatives of the deceased. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to consider BSP supremo Mayawati's plea challenging the EC's 48-hr campaign ban on her and expressed satisfaction over the poll body's action against leaders making hate speeches. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Mayawati's counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. Taking note of the EC action, the court said it seems the poll body has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. The Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Adityanath for 72 hours and on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Mayawati for 48 hours from Tuesday for their "provocative" communal remarks, which it said had the "propensity to polarise the elections". A 72-hour campaign ban has also been imposed on Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe against actor-politician Jaya Prada, who is his rival BJP candidate in Rampur Lok Sabha seat. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI Yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking a direction to the EC to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the media in the run up to general elections. The all-India ban on all four leaders -- two from the ruling BJP and two from opposition parties -- came into force from 6 am Tuesday. While Adityanath, Mayawati and Gandhi were found guilty of violating the model code, the EC said Khan not only violated the poll code, he also disregarded its November 2013 directive asking politicians to desist from "deeds or actions construed as being repugnant to the honour and dignity of women". For the first time a pan-India ban has been imposed on politicians, while any restriction on a chief minister and a union minister is unprecedented. Mayawati alleged the order has been passed "under pressure" and it would be remembered as a "black day" in the EC's history. She has faced action for appealing to Muslims to not vote for the Congress to avoid their anti-BJP votes getting divided. Her alliance partner and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asked the EC whether it is capable to issue similar directives to the prime minister to stop him from asking for votes in name of the Army. The EC order to bar Adityanath and Mayawati came soon after the Supreme Court asked the poll watchdog about the action it has initiated against them. The apex court had on Monday expressed displeasure over the Election Commission not taking quick action against politicians for communal and hate speeches during the Lok Sabha campaigning and decided to examine the ambit of its power following submission that it was "toothless". The bench had taken the cases of alleged communal speeches of Mayawati and Adityanath and asked the EC about the action taken so far against them while deciding to examine the statutory powers of poll panel to deal with the violation of model code of conduct (MCC). The EC's counsel had said: "The power of the EC in this behalf is very limited. We can issue notice and seek reply but we cannot de-recognise a party or disqualify a candidate...we can only issue advisories and in case of a repeat offence, register a complaint." Reacting sharply, the bench had said, "So you are basically saying you are toothless and powerless against hate speeches." It had then said that besides sending a notice, an advisory and a criminal case can be filed only against such leader. "It is stated by the counsel appearing for the EC that the power of the ECI for violation of the Model Code of Conduct by making hate speeches on grounds of religion, caste etc is circumscribed to issuing of notice and upon consideration of the reply to issue advisories. "Only in case of repeated violation of the advisories, the EC has the power to file an FIR with the Police for initiation of criminal proceedings," the bench had noted in the order. The apex court, on April 8, had issued notice to the Centre and the poll panel on the PIL seeking direction to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on castes and religions in the media in the run up to general elections. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear a plea seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers and asked the Centre to respond to it. A bench of justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer told the petitioners' counsel that it would hear the matter only in view of the apex court's judgement in the Sabrimala temple case. "The only reason we may hear you is because of our judgement in the Sabarimala case. Otherwise you are not giving us satisfactory answers," the bench told the counsel appearing for petitioners Yasmeen Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and Zuber Ahmad Nazir Ahmad Peerzade. On September 28 last year, a five-judge constitution bench of the apex court, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination. Besides the Centre, the apex court also issued notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Minority Affairs, National Commission for Women, Maharashtra State Board of Waqfs, Central Waqf Council and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, seeking their replies on the plea filed by the Pune-based couple. During the hearing on Tuesday, the apex court asked the petitioners' lawyer as to whether the right to equality could be invoked against private individuals. "Can you invoke Article 14 (equality before law) of the Constitution and claim equal treatment from another human being?" the bench said, adding, "Is a mosque a state? Is a temple a state? Is a church a state?" The bench also sought to know from the petitioners how the state was involved in this. "Persons in a mosque are individuals. Where is the state involved in this?" the bench said, adding that the fundamental right to equality can be invoked against the state and not against individuals. To this, the petitioners' counsel said mosques in the country were enjoying the benefits and grants extended to them by the state. At the outset, when the petitioners' counsel said the issue was about the right of Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers, the bench had asked, "Who has denied this right? Have you tried to enter (a mosque) and were denied entry?" The bench then asked the counsel about a matter before the Bombay High Court regarding the entry of women in the Haji Ali Dargah. The counsel replied that women were allowed to enter the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai. He said in a similar matter related to the entry of women in mosques, the Kerala High Court had dismissed a plea, saying, "let a Muslim person come forward" on this issue. At this juncture, Justice Bobde asked, "Which are the other mosques where women can enter?" The counsel said women were allowed to enter the holy Mecca and also mosques in Canada, but in Saudi Arabia, there was a 'fatwa' in this regard. The counsel said the petitioners had written to police for help but no assistance was given to them. "This is not an offence. Why should the police help somebody in this? If you do not want a person to enter your house, can that person get police help to enter your house?" the bench observed. In their plea, the petitioners have sought a direction to declare the practices of prohibition of entry of Muslim women in mosques in India as illegal and unconstitutional for being violative of constitutional provisions, including articles 14 (equality before law) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty). The plea also said that there was nothing in the holy Quran or the Hadith that required "gender segregation" and there were no records stating that the holy "Quran and Prophet Muhammad had opposed women entering mosques and offering prayers". "Like men, women also have the constitutional rights to offer worship according to their belief. At present, women are allowed to offer prayers at mosques under the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Mujahid denominations, while they are barred from mosques under the predominant Sunni faction," the plea said. It said that even in mosques where women are allowed, there are separate entrances and enclosures for worship for men and women. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday sought Election Commission's response on a plea alleging that people were being bribed on a massive scale for Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the petitioner K K Ramesh to serve the copy of the petition to the EC counsel for receiving necessary instructions. The bench said it would hear the plea on April 22. The petitioner said that Madras High Court dismissed his plea on March 26 in which he sought creating awareness through TV, newspapers and radio that it was an punishable offence to give or take cash for votes. He said the poll panel has already designated all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, along with 70 other seats across the country, as "expenditure sensitive". The petition said that so far Rs 78.12 crore in cash has been seized in the state. "That Case of the petitioner is that there are reports in all the leading newspapers and T.V. Channels regarding cash-for-vote in bye elections and Lok Sabha, elections and state assembly elections. A survey report also speak about the increasing cash for vote practice in Tamil Nadu," the plea said. The petition further said that if one political party has an over whelming superiority in money, the newspapers support and give patronage to it, and it will be almost impossible for it ever to be defeated. "This would result in some voters being denied an equal voice and some candidates, denied equal chance," it said. The plea further alleged that all political parties openly paid cash-for-vote to the voters in Madurai, Thirumangalam bye-election held on 2009. "A main major political party paid Rs 5,000 each to the voters to cast their vote, to their favoured candidates. The Election Commission's hands were tied and its officials were seen as silent spectators in Madurai, Thirumangalam Bye Election constituency," the plea claimed. The petition sought to increase the number of flying squads appointed by EC to control cash-for-vote and effective monitoring. It also sought that if election is postponed or cancelled for the reason of distribution of cash for vote or for deviating any election rules, the huge money spent for election by government should be recovered from the candidate/ head of political party. The petitioner referred to the media and intelligence reports to say that Rs 10,000 crore case was arriving in Tamil Nadu and the recent seizure of Rs 11.5 crore from a cement godown in Vellore district by the I-T investigation wing substantiates the allegations that huge cash was being used for votes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday set aside a warrant for execution of death sentence of a 30-year-old man who was convicted for killing a college girl and her lover after raping her in Tamil Nadu in 2011. The Madras high court had on March 13 confirmed the death sentence of Kattavellai alias Devakar after holding him guilty of rape and double murder near Suruli hills in Theni district. The trial court subsequently issued warrant for execution of the death sentence on March 27. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said that the issuance of the warrant of death sentence without giving the convict him the opportunity to exhaust the remedies available under law was unsustainable. "Be that as it may, as the period for filing of a special leave petition/an appeal against the order of conviction and sentence passed is yet to be over, we are of the view that the warrant for execution of death sentence, dated March 27, 2019, is contrary to the law laid down by this Court...," the bench said. "We deem it proper, without issuing any notice, to set aside the said warrant of execution of death sentence and allow this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution," it said. The court further said that if Kattavellai files an appeal against the high court order then it will receive due attention of the Court. Kattavellai has challenged the issuance of death warrant against him by the trial court without allowing him to move the apex court. The high court had noted that the convict had also cut off the girl's limbs after killing her. "It was a brutal act on the helpless young couple, that too after raping the girl. The savageness of the act was shocking and such a person will be a menace to the society," it said. The high court said the case fell in the category of rarest of rare case and the accused deserved the death sentence. A trial court in Theni district had sentenced Kattavellai to death in March 2018, saying the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear the Income Tax department's appeal challenging the Madras High Court order which quashed criminal prosecution against senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's family members under the Black Money law. The top court, however, refused to stay the order of the high court. A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to Chidambaram's wife Nalini and their son Karti, who is contesting Lok Sabha election from Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu. The bench also sought reply from Karti's wife Srinidhi and others in the case. The high court had quashed criminal prosecution initiated by the I-T department under the Black Money Act against the three. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the I-T department, sought stay of the high court order of November 2, 2018 on various grounds including that it can be used by other accused to avoid criminal prosecution in cases related to black money. To this, the bench said that granting stay at this stage without hearing the other side would amount to allowing the appeal of the I-T department. The Solicitor general further said that if the stay is not granted then other high courts may quash the criminal prosecution against similarly placed accused under the black money law and urged that the November order of the high court should not be treated as a precedent. The bench said that it will not be treated as a precedent as the high court would be cognizant of the fact that the apex court is seized of the matter and is scrutinizing the Madras High Court order. The issue relates to alleged non-disclosure of overseas assets and bank accounts held by the trio. According to the I-T Department, the three had not disclosed a property they jointly owned in Cambridge in the UK worth Rs 5.37 crore in their returns which amounted to an offence under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act and Imposition of Tax Act. The department has also alleged that Karti had not disclosed an overseas bank account he holds with Metro Bank in the UK and investments he had made in Nano Holdings LLC, USA. He had also "failed" to disclose investments made by Chess Global Advisory, a company co-owned by him, which amounted to committing an offence under the Black Money Act, the department had said in its complaint in the special court in May last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that Italy was working to stop conflict in Libya and called on everyone in the international community to do the same. "Someone tried a blitz in Libya. It didn't go well," Salvini said, referring to the offensive of the Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar on the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli. "Someone certainly supported this blitz, not Italy. "The Italian government is working as a fire-fighter. "Let's hope that there are not just a few of us doing that. "Let's hope that the international community helps is to restore peace to the centre of Libya's objectives". Pakistan security forces raided a militant hideout in a residential compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, triggering a 17-hour standoff in which a police officer and five terrorists were killed. The joint operation was carried out on the basis of an intelligence tip-off on the presence of terrorists in a three-storey building. The operation saw the exchange of heavy fire between security forces and terrorists, officials said. "Army and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police conducted a joint Intelligence Based Operation in Hayatabad Phase VII, Peshawar against a terrorist hideout," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of the military - said in a statement Tuesday. "During exchange of fire, five terrorists have been killed," it said. An officer, identified as ASI Qamar Alam, was also killed while two others injured during the shootout which began Monday night, it added. The terrorists, wanted for attacks on a judge and additional inspector-general of police, were hiding in the three-storey residential building in a posh locality of Hayatabad township bordering Khyber district, sources said. The security forces blew up the main boundary walls of the house and entered the building. The militants were asked to surrender but instead, they opened fire on the security forces. Police said the suspects also threw grenades, which killed the officer. The killing of the police officer triggered a full fledge operation against terrorists and continued till 1230 pm on Tuesday. Zahoor Afridi, SSP Operation Peshawar, told reporters that operation has been successfully completed as all the terrorists were killed and the compound was cleared. During the clearance operation, the forces recovered explosive laden motorcycle which was neutralised by the Bomb Disposal Squad. Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Shaheen Mazhar Mahmood visited the site and directed officials to adopt all possible precautions to ensure the security of the area's affected residents. Peshawar city police chief Qazi Jameel told the media that one of the suspects had been killed last night, whereas the rest of the four were neutralised today. "The Special Services Group and police personnel participated in the operation. Two of them were injured during today's action," Jameel said. Jameel said that houses in the neighbourhood were vacated to avert any casualty to local residents. He said that the operation lasted for over 17 hours as the forces were directed to conduct the operation in such a manner to avoid casualties to civilians. The terrorists are yet to be identified. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of SpiceJet continued to rise for fourth day in a row Tuesday, zooming over 11 per cent on plans to expand its fleet and announcement of new international destinations. The scrip jumped 11.19 per cent to close at Rs 132.70 on BSE. During the day, it climbed 13.78 per cent to Rs 135.80. On the traded volume front, 229.15 lakh shares were traded on BSE during the day. Buying was also seen in other listed airline InterGlobe Aviation which advanced 7.35 per cent to Rs 1,583.15 at close of trade on BSE. Shares of SpiceJet zoomed nearly 9 per cent Monday amid the company announcing that it will launch direct flights from Mumbai to seven international destinations, including Colombo, Jeddah, Dhaka, Riyadh and Hong Kong. The shares had climbed 8.5 per cent Friday after the airline announced it will induct 16 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, a move that will help in bringing down flight cancellations. In four days, the scrip has gained 40.49 per cent. Budget carrier SpiceJet Tuesday said it plans to expand its regional jet fleet to 32 aircraft by adding five more 90-seater Bombardier Q400s. The move is aimed at augmenting capacity in the domestic markets especially on regional routes, following the near collapse of Jet Airways, which has resulted in massive surge in air fares besides mismatch in demand and supply amid peak travel season. The Gurugram-based no-frills carrier had last week announced dry leasing of 16 Boeing 737-800 NG for the carrier. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sudanese troops participating in a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen will remain in the war-wracked country until the Arab alliance achieves its goals, a senior Sudanese military official has said. "We will stick to our commitment with the Arab alliance and our troops will remain until the alliance achieves its goals," Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, the number two in Sudan's new ruling military council, told the official SUNA agency on Monday. Ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir deployed troops to Yemen in 2015 as part of a major foreign policy shift that saw Khartoum break its decades-old ties with Shiite Iran and join the Saudi-led coalition. Several opposition leaders and analysts had questioned Bashir's decision, which he had justified as an "ideological" one. This was the first major foreign policy announcement made by the new military rulers after ousting Bashir last week and essentially a continuation of his policy. Sudanese media reports claim that many of the Sudanese troops fighting in Yemen are from the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary group. Hundreds of Sudanese soldiers and officers are fighting in Yemen, and have often suffered casualties raising calls of withdrawal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday threatened to file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comment that all thieves shared the Modi surname. Sushil Modi's strong reaction came in the backdrop of Gandhis jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi that all thieves had the same surname. I was deeply hurt by Rahul Gandhis statement wherein he remarked that all those who are chor (thieves) shared the Modi surname. Besides insulting the Prime Minister, he has hurt me personally as I share the same surname. Hence, I would be suing him for defamation, the senior BJP leader told reporters here. Gandhi, who has rankled the BJP with his chowkidar chor hai jibe over alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal, has also been accusing the Prime Minister of colluding with Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi both wanted in different corruption cases and currently on the run. In an attempt to pepper his attacks with sarcasm, he has of late been saying why is it that all the thieves have the same surname Modi. Meanwhile, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav whose party is an ally of the Congress in Bihar reacted to the deputy chief ministers defamation threat saying I openly say Sushil Kumar Modi is a thief. Let him sue me for defamation as well. I have for long been saying that Sushil Kumar Modi is directly involved in the Srijan scam. If he is so upset over an indirect remark by Rahul Gandhi, let me add upfront Sushil Kumar Modi is a thief. Now let him sue me for defamation, the RJD heir apparent whom the BJP leader has succeeded as deputy cm, said. Currently being investigated by the CBI, the Srijan scam pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of thousands of crores from the treasury and illegal transfer of the money into accounts of an NGO based in Bhagalpur with branches in several other districts. A distant relative of the deputy cm, Rekha Modi, is said to be allegedly involved in the scam though Modi who holds the finance portfolio insists that he maintains no family ties with her. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tech giant Foxconn's boss Terry Gou hinted Tuesday that he is considering running for president of Taiwan in elections early next year. The 69-year-old said Monday that he would soon step back from frontline operations while remaining at the helm of the major Apple supplier. Known for his aggressive dealmaking, Gou has been snapping up investments from Japan to India in a bid to diversify from electronics assembly. But when asked by reporters Tuesday if he would run for president, he said: "I will have meetings today and hear (feedback). Hopefully we can talk about this tomorrow or later." Gou, a supporter of the Beijing-friendly opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, said he would follow the party's nomination procedure "if I were to join the KMT's primary". "If (I were to) stand from the height of the president to ponder over Taiwan's issues, I feel that peace, security, economy and future ... are most important," he said in comments aired by local tv channels. Incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, 62, of the Beijing-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has declared she is seeking re-election in the January 11 elections. She faces the challenge of pro-independence former Premier William Lai in the party's primaries, and the DPP is set to announce its presidential candidate later this month. Also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn is the world's biggest contract electronics maker and assembles Apple iPhones as well as parts and accessories for other international brands. Last year, Gou appeared alongside US President Donald Trump at a groundbreaking ceremony for a cutting-edge factory in Wisconsin, backed by $4 billion in controversial tax breaks. However, Foxconn announced earlier this year that it was re-assessing its $10 billion plan for the factory due to changing global market environment. Asked Tuesday if he would tell Trump should he decide to run for president, Gou said: "Why would I tell my decision to the US president? He is not (among) my voters. My voters are Taiwanese compatriots. My priority is tell the voters my decision." Gou was born in 1950 in Taipei to Chinese immigrant parents who had fled the Communist victory in China's civil war. He studied shipping management in college while supporting himself with part-time jobs. Gou started his business in 1974 making television parts with an investment of Tw$100,000 ($3,250 at current exchange rate) from his mother, and later began producing computer parts -- eventually growing to become the world's biggest contract electronics maker. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) / -- Walmart, Coca-Cola, Tata Sampann, Hogan Lovells, Nestl India and Coty Inc. will lead a field of India's top CEO's and business leaders as speakers and mentors at the 2019 India Edition of House of Rose Professional's Break the ceiling touch the sky - the success and leadership summit for women. The summit will be held on May 13, 2019 in Mumbai. The 2019 India Edition of Break the ceiling touch the sky features best practices for success, leadership and gender diversity across industries. Participating Companies can access cutting-edge, cross industry knowledge to enhance the skills of their leaders and gender diversity within their organizations at a fraction of the cost of other expensive training programs; network with and influence the top leadership talent in the country and share their own success at this forum. Topics on the agenda include Building sustainable diversity and inclusion strategies that positively impact business, success secrets of the most inspirational women leaders, best practices for influencing in male-dominated environments and changing mindsets to influence future generations. A special speed-mentoring module is included in the day's agenda. The India Edition benefits from the vast international experience of Break the ceiling touch the sky which currently has editions in Singapore, USA, UAE, Australia New Zealand (ANZ) and India. Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India said, "Walmart is deeply committed to women's economic empowerment and at Walmart India, we believe in a well-rounded approach to empowering women and have therefore included all critical stakeholders in this journey. We are committed to having a fair share in the workforce, increase diversity in the supply chain and support women entrepreneurs. We are very happy to partner with the 2019 India Edition of Break the ceiling touch the sky and believe that this initiative will inspire many more women to greater success. We look forward to meeting many of our suppliers and future partners at the summit." Christina Ruggiero, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd shared, "Diversity is at the heart of our business. In India we are making vast strides in unlocking the full potential of our leaders with equal access to development and opportunity. Our business is honoured to be a world sponsor of Break the ceiling touch the sky which will give participants a tremendous opportunity to learn from others, share best practices, network with peers and chart their own individual courses for success." Amit Narain, Director, Human Resources, Nestl India "With 'Respect for Diversity' as one of our core values, diversity is a part of the cultural fabric of our organization. Our journey on diversity and inclusion has crossed multiple milestones and we are committed to continue to create new ones. Break the ceiling touch the sky is a platform that provides a great opportunity for all of us to learn, share and connect and take our diversity and inclusion journey to the next level."Richa Arora, Chief Operating Officer - Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals commented, "Diversity & inclusion are core to our business. Stronger and more successful women make for a stronger and more successful nation. We are delighted to be a sponsor for the 2019 India Edition of Break the ceiling touch the sky and look forward to learning from the best practices of other companies as well as sharing our own to benefit the larger industry."Commented Anthony A. Rose, Chairman and CEO, House of Rose Professional and best-selling author of the book Break the Ceiling, Touch the Sky: success secrets of the world's most inspirational women which inspired the summit: "We invite organizations in India to leverage this unique day of learning and development across industries to enable their teams and leaders, especially their women leaders to greater build sustainable strategies to unlock the full impact of gender diversity & inclusion on their businesses."Coca-Cola is a World sponsor of the summit. Hogan Lovells a platinum sponsor. Walmart a Gold Sponsor. Coty Inc. and Nestl India are Silver sponsors and Tata Sampann is a luncheon sponsor. NHRD, Enactus, BWBusinessworld and exchange4media Group are Network Partners for the summit and are entitled to preferential rates for their members/ subscribers. Additional sponsor and participating company slots are now open. For details please visit www.houseofroseprofessional.com. House of Rose Professional Pte. Ltd. operates across the People, Public Relations and Publishing businesses. For media/sponsorship inquiries contact: Anthony A. Rose, House of Rose Professional Pte. Ltd. Email: anthony@houseofroseprofessional.com Logo - http://photos.prnasia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Enforcement Directorate Tuesday said it has attached Rs 6.19 crore assets of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali in a money laundering case related to funding of terror and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency also charged Watali and Hurriyat leaders of receiving funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commission in India "directly". It said a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued for attaching lands in Sozeith Goripora, Narbal and Budgam areas of Kashmir belonging to Watali and his family members that are worth Rs 6.19 crore. The ED case is based on a charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as part of its probe against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. "Watali has been found to be involved in fund raising and as a financial conduit of Hurriyat leaders," the ED said. The probe revealed that the "Hurriyat leaders have received funds from Pakistan through conduits and also from the Pakistan High Commission directly," it said in a statement. "This was substantiated by an incriminating document seized from the house of Ghulam Mohd Bhat during search," it said. Bhat worked as a cashier-cum-accountant with Watali, the ED said. "The document clearly indicates that Watali was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed (LeT and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa chief), from ISI, from the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi and also from a source based in Dubai. "Watali was remitting the same to the Hurriyat leaders, separatists and stone-pelters of Jammu and Kashmir. The said document has been maintained in regular course of his business and is signed by Watali," it said. This document, the ED said, indicated that the Hurriyat leaders were receiving funds from Pakistan through the officials of the Pakistan High Commission and through Watali. The agency said the signature of Watali "has been verified" and as per the expert report, his signature on the stated document matches with his specimen handwriting as well as his admitted handwriting. It said another accused in the case, Naval Kishore Kapoor, mobilised funds from "unknown sources in Dubai and remitted the same to Watali and his company Trison Farms and Construction Pvt Ltd". The agency last month had similarly attached Rs 1.03 crore assets of Watali in Gurgaon in this case as part of a crackdown against terror funding and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency said the NIA probe revealed that the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and other secessionists instigate the public, especially youths, to observe strikes and issue directives to the masses to hold anti-India protests, demonstrations and processions through press releases, newspapers and social media. "This is done willfully to create such circumstances which will arouse disaffection among the people of Jammu and Kashmir towards the Government of India," the ED said. Watali, Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and nine others have been accused by the NIA of "conspiring to wage a war against the government" and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley. In its charge sheet, the NIA has alleged that Watali received money from ISI of Pakistan, Pakistan High Commission here and from a source in Dubai. Watali is lodged in the Tihar jail at present in connection with the NIA case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday expressed her solidarity with France and offered the UK's expertise to help rebuild the parts of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris which burnt down in a devastating fire. May described the Gothic structure as one of the most beautiful in the world, which was cherished across the globe, and announced that the bells of London's Westminster Abbey will toll to mark the moment the fire began on Monday. "The images of destruction we saw last night were truly heart-rending. To underline our solidarity with France and her people, the bells at Westminster Abbey will toll at 5:43pm this evening (Tuesday) to mark the moment the fire began yesterday [Monday]," May said in a statement. "When it comes to the task of rebuilding, French craftsmen and women are among the finest in the world. As they prepare to embark on this daunting task, we stand ready to offer any UK experience and expertise that could be helpful in the work that lies ahead to restore this magnificent cathedral," she said. Downing Street said that Historic England, in charge of protecting and conserving historical buildings, is coordinating with experts across the UK heritage sector to make an offer of support to French counterparts once the damage has been assessed. Meanwhile, bells will be rung at churches and cathedrals across England later in the week to mark Maundy Thursday ahead of Easter as well in solidarity with France following the devastating fire at Notre-Dame cathedral, a prominent landmark of the French capital. The fire, declared fully extinguished some 15 hours after it began on Monday, ravaged the 850-year-old building's roof and caused its spire to collapse. But firefighters who worked through the night managed to save the landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers. The cause of the fire is not yet clear but ongoing renovation work on the site is believed to be responsible. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral and millions have poured in for a reconstruction fund. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress national general secretary Avinash Pandey Tuesday claimed people who voted the BJP to power in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls are "feeling deceived" after five years of the saffron party's rule. Addressing a press conference here, Pandey said, "The BJP leaders are not ready to answer how many promises have they fulfilled in the last five years." "They are diverting the attention of the people by highlighting the issue of nationalism and military action to hide their failure," he added. "People who voted the BJP with a majority at the Centre five years ago are now feeling deceived," he said further. Pandey, who is also the party's state in-charge for elections, stressed that people of the country have always remained committed towards nationalism but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is whipping up the issue of air strikes in Pakistan to hide his failures. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre has failed to provide 10 crore jobs, eliminate corruption and terrorism through demonetisation, deposit Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of the people, he claimed. The Congress' proposed Minimum Income Scheme 'NYAY' will provide relief to 20 per cent poor people of the country, he said, adding that it will make families self-sustainable and contribute in their livelihood. Pandey said that ahead of Lok Sabha polls in the state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be touring Beneshwar Dham in Banswara Lok Sabha constituency on April 23 to address an election rally. The Gandhi scion is likely to hold eight to nine election rallies in the state, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two tribal girls, studying at a residential school for tribal children in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, were allegedly sexually abused by two school officials, the police said Tuesday. Both the officials have been arrested alongwith two women staff members, the police said in a release here. The school, run by a private organisation, is located in Rajura tehsil. The girls, around 10 years old, were admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here recently for repeatedly falling unconscious, the release said. The gynaecologist at the GMCH noticed signs of sexual abuse and alerted the authorities, following which a police complaint was filed. During the probe, police arrested school superintendent Chaban Pachare and assistant superintendent Narendra Virutkar who had allegedly sexually abused the two girls. The duo were booked under IPC section 376 (rape) as well the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A court remanded them in police custody till April 20. On Tuesday, two women caretakers at the school -- Kalpana Thakre and Lata Kanake -- were arrested for allegedly abetting the crime. Further probe is on, said district superintendent of police Maheshwar Reddy. The school's government recognition was cancelled after the incident came to light, a senior official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - The interior ministry on Tuesday issued a directive aimed at dealing with terrorists possibly arriving from wartorn Libya. "Hundreds of Islamic terrorists could arrive in Italy taking advantage of the chaos in Libya," it said. "It is no accident that France has officially asked to extend the closure of its borders with Italy for another six months for a national emergency linked to terrorism". "The interior ministry is responding with a directive". Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Tuesday expressed "deep sorrow" at the untimely death of former chief minister ND Tiwari's son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari in New Delhi. He prayed for "peace to the departed soul" and courage and strength to the bereaved family members to bear the loss. Rohit passed away in New Delhi on Tuesday less than six months after his father died at the age of 93 in October last year. Rohit had fought a six-year-long legal battle to prove that he was N D Tiwari's "biological" son born of an affair between the former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister and his mother Ujjwala. Tiwari married Rohit's mother at the age of 89 in 2014 after Rohit won the paternity suit against him. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump on Tuesday relayed Americans' "condolences" to French President Emmanuel Macron over the fire at Notre-Dame cathedral, the White House said. "We stand with France today and offer our assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization. Vive la France!" Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. Sanders called Notre Dame, which was heavily damaged in the blaze, an "iconic structure" that "has served as a spiritual home for almost a millennium." The statement called France the oldest US ally and said "we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dame's bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again." The White House's measured words contrasted with Trump's shocked, off-the-cuff reaction on Monday, when he asked whether the French fire services shouldn't be bringing water tankers to try and extinguish the blaze from the air. "Must act quickly!" he tweeted as French firefighters scrambled to try and control the inferno. French authorities pointedly responded in a tweet written in English that "all means are being used, except for water-bombing aircraft," because the force of falling water could destroy the ancient building. Later, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Bernier, a fire chief who speaks for the national civil defense organization, reacted in less diplomatic fashion, calling Trump's suggestion "risible". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Hethenahalli Adishakthi Maramma temple holds a special place in the hearts of its many devotees who consider it sacrilegious to break a promise made in its premises -- a vulnerability that politicians have used to extract votes in exchange for cash, say locals. The 13th century Durga temple, where politics and religion regularly meet, even served as a "guarantee" for candidates allegedly involved in the "note-for-votes" scam in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election. According to locals in this high profile constituency from where JD(S) chief and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda is contesting the Lok Sabha election, nominees of various political parties offered Rs 2,000 per family to vote for them in 2018. Voters were also given a picture of Durga, along with the money, on which they were asked to swear that they would vote for a particular candidate, residents said. In the 2018 Assembly polls, parties exploited people's faith by bringing them to the temple and making them take a vow to vote for them. Later, they were also paid some money, Hethanahalli gram panchayat member Ravindra Gowda alleged. The vows ensured they would not vote for anyone else after taking money from a particular candidate, he said. With elections only two days away, the temple is back as the centrepiece of discussion with many locals in Hethenahalli village, about nine kilometres from Tumkur town, expecting a 2018 repeat with parties in the fray again distributing money among voters. The election is expected to be a tough battle between Deve Gowda, who vacated the Hassan seat and moved to what is considered a Congress bastion, and the BJP's G S Basavaraju. In 2014, the seat was won by Congress' Muddahanume Gowda. "The temple was built in 1235 and it is famous for curing small pox. Those with devotion always have their prayers answered. Politicians of late have started exploiting people's faith in the temple," the temple's priest, 72-year-old Marianna, told PTI. The temple is known as a wish-granting shrine and its presiding goddess, Adhishakti Durga, is revered by thousands of devotees around Tumkur, Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapur districts. The origins of the temple are rooted in a story of farmers and the miracle of Durga Legend has it that farmers were travelling in a bullock cart from Mysore through a forest (now Hethenahalli) without realising that goddess Durga had hitched a ride in disguise. As it got dark, the farmers decided to take rest at a place and cook in a makeshift three-stone cooking fire. Suddenly, the fire got doused, the oxen collapsed and the goddess appeared. She said she would reside here and subsequently, the temple was built. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Hethenahalli Adishakthi Maramma temple is again in discussion in this high-profile constituency, from where JD(S) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda is contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, as the shrine served as a "guarantee" for the candidates who had indulged in the "note-for-votes" scam in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election. Regarded as one of the most sacred temples in the region, people consider it almost blasphemous taking a false oath here. According to the locals, nominees of various political parties had offered Rs 2,000 per family to vote for them in 2018, but the voters were also given a picture of goddess Durga, along with the money, on which they were asked to swear that they would vote for a particular candidate. Many people in this village, located at a distance of nine kilometres from Tumkur city, are expecting a repeat of the 2018 story in the general election. "The temple was built in 1235 and it is famous for curing small pox. Those with devotion always have their prayers answered. Politicians of late have started exploiting people's faith in the temple," the 72-year-old priest, Marianna, told PTI. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the political parties had exploited people's faith by bringing them here and making them take a vow to vote for them. Later, they were also paid some money, Hethanahalli gram panchayat member Ravindra Gowda said. The vow ensured that they would not vote for anyone else after taking money from a particular candidate, he added. The 13th-century temple is known as a wish-granting shrine and its presiding goddess, Adhishakti Durga, is revered by thousands of devotees around Tumkur, Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapur districts. Such is the belief of the people in the goddess that they are scared to break any promise made before her. As the polling date nears, locals say it is likely that the tactic to exploit their faith in the temple may be employed again given the fact that many JD(S) leaders believe in vaastu, astrology and other spiritual and religious rituals. It is believed that farmers were travelling in a bullock cart from Mysore through a forest (now Hethenahalli) without realising that goddess Durga had hitched a ride in disguise. As it got dark, the farmers decided to take rest at a place and cook in a makeshift three-stone cooking fire. Suddenly, the fire got doused, the oxen collapsed and the goddess appeared. She said she would reside here and subsequently, the temple was built. The Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency is set to witness a tough poll contest between Deve Gowda, who vacated the Hassan seat and moved here, and the BJP's GS Basavaraju. Since prestige is involved in the electoral battle, the locals feel that either of the two candidates is likely to distribute money among voters, but not before seeking the blessings of Adhishakti Durga at the Hethenahalli Adishakthi Maramma temple. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkey voiced hope Tuesday that the United States will extend an exemption in sanctions to allow it to keep buying oil from Iran, despite tensions between the allies on multiple fronts. Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak met President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday and discussed the range of disagreements, including Ankara's major weapons purchase from Russia, said Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "It was a positive meeting overall," Kalin told reporters in Washington. Kalin said Turkey was hopeful that the Trump administration would issue another waiver for Turkey after last year demanding that all nations stop buying oil from Iran. "Certainly we are expecting an extension for Turkey," Kalin said, adding that Ankara has not received a formal notice. The United States has given six-month exemptions to eight countries -- China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey -- that run out on May 2. Kalin said Turkey had reduced its imports from Iran despite disagreeing with the US sanctions, which Trump imposed unilaterally after pulling out of an international accord under which Tehran drastically scaled back its nuclear programme. "People should not expect Turkey to turn its back on Iran just like that," he said, pointing to the countries' shared border and historic relationship. "We want to maintain good relations with Iran and we believe that the way to deal with Iran is more engagement rather than more sanctions." Relations between the United States and Turkey deteriorated after the NATO ally said it would buy the S-400 missile defense system from the alliance's main nemesis Russia. The United States has responded by suspending Turkey's participation in the key F-35 fighter-jet project. Kalin renewed Turkey's offer to form a joint committee to examine US concerns that Russia would gain data in Turkey to help the S-400 system shoot down the Western planes. He said that Russian air defenses are already operating in war-torn Syria, where Israeli F-35s frequently enter the airspace. "When you consider the airspace in the region, it should be very easy for Russians to gain access to that sensitive data already," Kalin said. "If they are waiting for Turkey to install these S-400s in Turkey to get that information, that wouldn't make sense." Kalin was in Washington to participate in a conference of the American-Turkish Council, a business group, at the Trump International Hotel. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two burglars who targeted secluded farm houses in south Delhi have been arrested, police said Tuesday. Acting on a tip-off, Yasin Khan, a resident of Jahangir Puri and Sazid Malik, a resident of Mustafabad (29) were arrested on Monday, they said. During interrogation, Khan said he along with associates, including nephew Chaman Khan, Janab Khan, Anish and Bablu, had looted several farm houses in Maidangarhi and Fatehpurberi areas, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Vijay Kumar. Several stolen articles were recovered from them, police said, adding Yasin was found to be previously involved in more than 11 cases of murder and burglary. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The owes India $38 million, the highest it has to pay to any country, for the peacekeeping operations as of March 2019, UN Secretary General has said as he voiced concern over the world body's deteriorating financial health. In his report on improving the financial situation of the world body, he said, as of March 31, 2019, the total amount payable to troop- and police-contributing countries with respect to active peacekeeping missions was $265 million. Of this, the UN owes $38 million to India, followed by Rwanda ($31 million), Pakistan ($28 million), Bangladesh ($25 million) and Nepal ($23 million), Guterres said in his report. He said the arrears to troop- and police-contributing (TCCs/PCCs) countries could increase to $588 million by June 2019 "in the worst-case scenario". The UN chief added that which troop- and police-contributing countries will or will not be paid depends on the cash position of the individual missions to which they contribute and is not determined by their individual capacity to shoulder that unfair burden. "That has created a paradox. The is now effectively borrowing for prolonged periods from troop- and police-contributing countries. Many of them are low-income countries for which that imposes a significant financial burden. At the same time, the Organisation is asking those same countries to do more to train their personnel and improve the quality of their equipment, all while operating in increasingly challenging environments. The United Nations, however, is not fulfilling its obligation towards them in a timely manner," he said. Guterres further said that troop- and police-contributing countries make every effort to provide well-trained and well-equipped personnel to peacekeeping operations, and they continue to improve on that objective. "Reimbursement by the UN for their contributions is key to supporting those efforts. The delays in reimbursing the contributing countries expose them to financial challenges in pursuit of their efforts and consequently have an adverse impact on the operations and the delivery of their mandates," he said. Earlier this year, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin had said that the ?financial situation of the ?peacekeeping?, particularly the non-payment/delayed payment of arrears to the troop/police contributing countries, is a "cause for concern". He had said that the practice of delaying payments to TCCs/PCCs, even as contractual obligations to others are met, cannot continue unaddressed. "It results in TCCs/PCCs bearing unsustainable burdens. In some cases, TCCs and PCCs are owed 100 to 200 times their cumulative annual financial contributions to the UN," he had said. Guterres said while the UN is working to become more effective, nimble, accountable, transparent and efficient, the success of the organisation's efforts depends not only on the internal efforts of the Secretariat, but also on the support of Member States and on the predictability and adequacy of their financial contributions to UN programmes and activities. Expressing concern about the organisation's deteriorating financial health, the UN chief, said the UN is facing deepening liquidity problems in its regular budget, a trend that must be urgently halted and reversed. "Peacekeeping operations also face frequent cash constraints that forced the Organisation to postpone the settlement of its obligations to troop- and police-contributing countries," he said. The UN had a positive cash balance of $412 million at the end of 2010 but it finished 2018 with a negative cash balance of $323 million a decrease of $735 million in an eight-year period. Guterres said that regular budget assessments are issued at the beginning of each year and member states are required to pay their contributions in full within 30 days. In 2017 and 2018, 73 member states had paid their contributions in full by the end of the first quarter, compared with 62 in 2016 and 67 in 2015. So far, 74 member states have paid in full in 2019. "Regrettably, some member states pay neither in full nor on time. The level of arrears at the end of 2018 was $529 million, equivalent to more than 21 per cent of that year's assessments and nearly 150 per cent of the liquidity reserves," he said. The United States is responsible for 22 per cent of the $5.4 billion regular budget for 2018 and 2019 and more than 28 per cent of the $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget for the year to June 30. As of the end of the 2017/18 peacekeeping fiscal year, outstanding contributions to peacekeeping operations amounted to almost $2 billion, well above the $1.3 billion unpaid as on June 30, 2017. "The overall level of unpaid peacekeeping contributions is also affected by the decision of one Member State to contribute at a level approximately 3 per cent below its applicable rate of assessment," he said. The UN chief requested the General Assembly to increase the Working Capital Fund to $350 million effective July 1, 2019 and to create a Peacekeeping Working Capital Fund of $250 million and authorise its use to address the liquidity challenges of active peacekeeping operations among ways to help improve the financial situation of the world body and deal with timely payment of dues to troop and police contributing countries. UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed horror and sadness at the devastation of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris as fire tore through the 12th-century symbol of faith and architectural brilliance, days just before the world will celebrate Easter. The colossal fire swept through the famed cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky. "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France," Secretary-General Guterres said in a tweet as images began to flash on television and social media of a burning Notre- Dame Cathedral. Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture also expressed her "deep emotion in the face of this dramatic fire at the cathedral." Azoulay said that UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by the French people's side to "safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage."The Organisation elevated Notre-Dame, widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French gothic architecture, to world heritage status in 1991. Construction of the cathedral began in 1163, on the central Parisian island in the middle of the Seine, known as Ile de la Cite, during the reign of King Louis VII, and it was finally completed in 1345. The President of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa said in a tweet that she is "deeply saddened by the images of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the jewels of French and European cultural heritage, the cathedral was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. "I stand with the people and government of France," she said. The devastation came days just before the world will celebrate Easter on April 21. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Around 400 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly five hours. According to Paris City Hall, the fire started shortly before 7pm Paris time Monday. About 11 to 13 million visitors visit Notre Dame each year. The cathedral was undergoing much-needed renovations. While the cathedral's iconic spire and roof collapsed in the fire, the main structure of the Gothic cathedral was saved from total destruction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court here is likely to pass an order on April 29 on the applications of former police officers D G Vanzara and N K Amin seeking quashing of proceedings against them in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case. The arguments by the lawyers of the two officers and advocate Vrinda Grover who appeared for Ishrat's mother Shamima Kauser concluded Tuesday before special judge for CBI cases J K Pandya. Kauser has opposed the applications. The Gujarat government has denied sanction for the prosecution of Vanzara and Amin. In a written submission, Kauser said it was the Union Home Ministry and not the state of Gujarat which was the appropriate sanctioning authority in this case. Further, the state's orders denying the sanction to prosecute the two officers were invalid because the two orders were identical even when the "criminal roles and actions" attributed to them were distinct, she said. Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which government's sanction is needed to prosecute public servants, would not apply here as the case is of "abduction, confinement and murder", which cannot fall in the purview of "official duty" of public servants, Kauser's plea said. "The material on record shows there was no encounter ....a fake encounter was staged," it said. To this, Vanzara's lawyer V D Gajjar said the court cannot determine the validity of a sanction (or its denial). "Judicial findings" had established that there was no "fake encounter", and the sanction for prosecution was denied after the state government examined all evidence, he said. Vanzara, a former IPS officer, and Amin, who recently retired as a superintendent of police, moved the court seeking that the proceedings against them be dropped, after the CBI informed that the state had not given its sanction to prosecute them. Ishrat, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh, alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed by the Gujarat Police in an alleged fake encounter in the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. While police claimed that they had links with terrorists, a special investigation team appointed by the high court held that it was a fake encounter. The CBI has named several police officers, including Vanzara and Amin, in its charge sheet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mining baron Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Tuesday announced the appointment of Ajay Kumar Dixit as the CEO of its oil and gas arm, Cairn, replacing Sudhir Mathur who has quit the company unexpectedly. "Ajay (Kumar Dixit) brings 39 years of rich experience in the energy sector and joined Vedanta in 2015 from Siemens where he was CEO - Energy for South Asia," the company said in a statement. He will replace Mathur, who, after seven years with the company, "moves on to pursue personal endeavourers", it said. An alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering, Dixit served as the acting chief executive officer (CEO) of Vedanta's aluminium and power business before being elevated to this new role. "He brings deep experience in strategy, operations, technology, finance, and regulatory affairs. His leadership will support Cairn's vision to realise the full potential of Barmer block, grow the offshore business, appraisal of new blocks (won) under Open Acreage Licensing Policy-I and Discovered Small Field-II round," the statement said. Mathur is the fourth CEO to quit the firm since it was taken over by Vedanta seven years ago. He resigned about a month ago and his resignation was made public only this month. Mathur, 58, joined Cairn India in January 2013 and was named interim CEO when Mayank Ashar resigned as the chief executive of the company in May 2016. He continued as interim CEO till the time Cairn India remained a separate listed company under Vedanta. He was elevated as the CEO of oil and gas business at Vedanta last year when Cairn India was merged with its parent firm Vedanta. Rahul Dhir, the company's first CEO who oversaw its listing and development of India's biggest oil discovery in Rajasthan, quit the company in August 2012. His successor P Elango resigned in May 2014, while the third CEO Mayank Ashar resigned in May 2016. Speaking on the appointment of Dixit, Vedanta CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said, "Ajay has a deep understanding of our business and the markets we operate in. He is a dynamic and values-driven leader with an impressive track record of delivering consistently high-quality performance in a safe and sustainable way." He thanked Mathur for all his contributions and wish him the very best in his future. Dixit said, "I have been closely watching and admiring Cairn's spectacular performance and it is a privilege for me to lead this business. We will continue to invest systematically and bring in world-class technology to further strengthen our India exploration footprint." He also said that the company's focus will remain on exploration and production in innovative and sustainable ways. Cairn produces about 2 lakh barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is about 25 per cent of India's crude production, and has the vision to take up its contribution to 50 per cent. The company has planned investments worth USD 3.5 billion in the next 3-4 years which will significantly ramp up its production. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - There should be no deficit spending to fund tax cuts in next year's budget, the Bank of Italy said Tuesday. Reporting to parliament on the DEF economic blueprint, BoI chief economist Eugenio Gaiotti welcomed the government's decision to review tax expenditures. Overall, he said the BoI agreed with the DEF's general picture of the economy. He said "it is subject to considerable risks, that may come from a worsening of the global context and from a more accentuated deterioration of business confidence". Gaiotti added that it will take "considerable financial cover" to reach the government's policy targets including deactivating a VAT 'safeguard clause', investments, tax cuts and debt reduction. Stressing that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi can protect the nation, Yoga guru Ramdev Tuesday urged the people to vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. "To make India a world economic and political superpower in next 20-25 years, we have to make Modi stronger. In his hands, the country is safe; the future of our Jawans is safe, honour and respect of women is safe and farms of farmers are safe," Ramdev said. Addressing a public meeting here in support of BJP candidate from Jaipur rural constituency and Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Ramdev said it was not about an individual but about the character and personality of Modi who was "the pride of Bharat Mata". Ramdev said that only Modi can take the guarantee of not only protecting the borders, but to protect the whole nation. In his address, Rathore said that the 2019 Lok Sabha election is about the development work done by the Modi government in five years as he slammed the Congress for failing to ensure the country's overall progress despite being in power for 50 years. The Congress is talking about 'Nyay' and 'Ab Hoga Nyay' but what has it achieved so far, he asked. "Now is the time to punish them. 'Nyay' will happen now at every booth and will be delivered by the public. Voters will do justice now," he said indicating that the BJP will win the polls. Earlier, Rathore filed nomination papers for the lok sabha polls from Jaipur rural constituency which will vote on May 6. He was accompanied by his wife, Ramdev and several sportspersons. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Struggling with water scarcity, people in Tumkur are in a Catch-22 situation on whether to vote for JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda or thwart the expansion of his dynasty politics and vote his rival BJP candidate to victory. Deve Gowda has left his home turf Hassan to one of his grandsons and is seeking re-election from Tumkur, a Congress bastion and major industrial city, about 70 km from the state capital Bengaluru. Discontent is growing among people including JD(S) workers who feel Deve Gowda is preparing the ground to politically expand his family's influence. Also, the sitting Congress MP wanted to contest from Tumkur and this could have a bearing on Deve Gowda's election. But the JD(S) has said issues with Congress on this matter have been resolved and the two parties are campaigning together in the constituency. An interesting contest unfolds in the constituency as Deve Gowda, a Vokkaliga, has locked horn in a two-cornered contest with BJP candidate G S Basavaraj, a Lingayat. Basavaraj is contesting for the eighth time since starting in 1984, out of which he had won thrice on a Congress ticket and once on a BJP ticket (2009). He was defeated by Muddahanume Gowda of Congress in 2014. This time, JD(S) is seeking votes with a promise of development and to address the water woes in the constituency, a dry-land region. The BJP candidate is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity. He is also trying to convince people it was Deve Gowda's party which did not ensure adequate release of water from river Hemavathi, despite being in power in the state in alliance with the Congress. Basavaraj said Deve Gowda may not get much support from Congress voters as people are annoyed due to non-release of 24 TMC of water from Hemavathi river. Tumkur has a share of 24 TMC from Hemavathi river. But, Basavaraj alleged, Deve Gowda has issued specific instruction to his son and state PWD Minister H D Revanna to "not release water for this region, much of which has been diverted to Hassan which Deve Gowda considers his true home." While caste politics have dominated elections in this region, residents want their leaders to look beyond that this time and help them tide over the water problems. "Some of us are confused who to vote," said Chiranjeevi, a local contractor from Hethenahalli village. "We want our community leader (Deve Gowda) to win. But his son, being a PWD minister, is working against us and not releasing water. For us, water is a basic necessity and vote will be cast to those who will resolve the water problem," he added. Basavaraj said the electoral contest in Tumkur is based on caste lines and Lingayats and Vokkaligas will play a major role in deciding the winner. Deve Gowda is exploiting his core vote bank the Vokkaliga community, while the BJP candidate said he is banking on Lingayats, Yadavs, Valmikis and Brahmins. Gowda is contesting from Tumkur only to ensure his grandson is elected from Hassan but people are aware of this and will teach him a lesson, he alleged. The BJP leader said Gowda is "least concerned about farmers' plight here" else he would ensure adequate water to the people. The JD(S) has previously dismissed the allegations and said several irrigation projects are underway to address the issue. In the 2014 elections, the Vokkaliga votes were split due to a triangular fight, but this time JD(S) is hoping to capture this section in those assembly segments where it lost with a narrow margin. Local Congress leaders have said that ceding Tumkur to Deve Gowda was like giving their bastion on a platter to JD(S). Tumkur district comes under the Old Mysore region. The JD(S) has never won from the seat in parliamentary polls. C N Bhaskarappa had won in 1996 as undivided Janata Dal candidate. The constituency has eight assembly segments Chikkanayakanahalli, Tiptur, Turuvekere, Tumkur City, Tumkur Rural, Koratagere, Gubbi and Madhugiri. Out of that, four are currently held by BJP, three by (JDS) and one by Congress. Spread over 6,706 sq.km, Tumkur has 15,94,703 registered voters 7,97,512 males and 7,97,191 females. Polling is scheduled in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Consul general of China in Kolkata, Zha Liyou said on Tuesday that his country is keen on balanced trade with India as it is always beneficial and inclusive. There is greater need for boosting trade and investment between the two countries, he said on economic ties between the two countries. "We do not want to have trade deficit with India. We want a bilateral balanced trade as it is always mutually inclusive", he told the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here Liyou said that Yunan Provincial Investment Infrastructure would come to West Bengal after the Lok Sabha election to discuss possible investment avenues between Kunming and Kolkata, the sister cities. Besides, there is great need for creating a good environment through more people to people contact. Talking about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China, Liyou said it is directed by a mutually constructed and shared vision and China is a great supporter for multilateralism. ' "Our country is open today. In a few days time, China is going to hold the BRI convention where delegates from 40 countries and various business leaders would be present", he said. The Chinese envoy invited India to participate in the Import-Export event in China during the later part of the year. He said a six-member delegation from Yunan had come to Kolkata to attend the Bengal Blobal Business Summit. "A similar event will be held in Yunan on June 10 and 11 which will be big event", he said. The Consular General's office in Kolkata is in charge of the five states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Bihar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi government over continuing Income Tax raids, alleging the searches were only targeted against those who opposed the BJP. Addressing a press conference in the DMK's headquarters here, he sought to know whether I-T raids were conducted in any BJP-ruled states. "Income Tax raids were conducted only against DMK, Telugu Desam and (Karnataka Chief Minister) H D Kumaraswamy," he said sharing the dais with DMK candidates for the Lok Sabha elections to be held on Thursday. "Today there is a raid in Karnataka. Are there any raids in BJP ruled states?" he asked. Attacking the AIADMK, he charged that "the party is not ruling the state in Tamil Nadu and it is 'ModiMK'. If you vote for AIADMK, it is a vote to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi". The DMK and other opposition parties have been accusing the AIADMK of being subservient to the BJP after the demise of its supremo Jayalalithaa, a charge denied by the ruling party. "Today, I came here with a mission. I wanted to appeal to all voters in Tamil Nadu... democracy is in danger and at the same time, Modi has just done so much injustice to the nation. He betrayed the Nation", he alleged. Referring to the 100-day long protests led by farmers from Tamil Nadu in New Delhi, he asked whether Modi had met them to address their issue. Alleging that the electronic voting machines can be manipulated, he said, several developed countries have stopped the use of EVMs. Naidu had met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in Delhi on Sunday and raised the issue of alleged largescale malfunctioning of EVMs during the polling in Andhra Pradesh on April 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) IT services giant Wipro Tuesday said its net profit increased by 38.4 per cent to Rs 2,493.9 crore in the March 2019 quarter, and announced a Rs 10,500 crore buyback programme. The Bengaluru-based company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,800.8 crore in the January-March 2018 period, Wipro CEO and Executive Director Abidali Z Neemuchwala told reporters here. Its revenue from operations - under IND AS accounting norms - grew 8.9 per cent to Rs 15,006.3 crore in the period under review from Rs 13,768.6 crore in the year-ago period, he said. "We have built a strong foundation for growth on the back of healthy order book and continued investments in big bet areas of digital, cyber security, engineering services and cloud. "Our customers find these investments relevant as part of their digital transformation and IT Operations landscape modernisation, enabling us to win in the market," he said. The Wipro board, Neemuchwala said, had approved a Rs 10,500 crore buyback plan under which it will acquire up to 32.3 crore shares at Rs 325 apiece. This is Wipro's second buyback programme in about 15 months and the third since 2016. It had undertaken a Rs 2,500 crore programme in 2016, and another Rs 11,000 crore buyback offer in November-December 2017. The buyback was proposed to be made from the existing shareholders of the company through a tender offer route in accordance with the provisions, the CEO said. As on March 31, 2019, promoters held 73.85 per cent shares, while 6.49 per cent was held by Indian financial institutions, banks and mutual funds. Foreign holding was at 11.74 per cent, and that of Indian public, corporates and others at 7.92 per cent. The proposal is subject to approval of shareholders by way of a special resolution through a postal ballot. The process, timelines and other requisite details with regard to the postal ballot will be communicated in due course, Wipro said. On the company's outlook, Neemuchwala said Q1 was seasonally a weak quarter for it, which is reflected in its guidance. The outlook also factors completion of certain large programmes and delayed start of fresh projects, he said. Hence, Wipro was confident that its growth trajectory will improve from Q2 on back of strong order book and healthy pipeline, Neemuchwala said. Besides, the company was seeing continued momentum in BFSI, Consumer Business Unit and Energy Natural Resources and Utilities on a YoY basis in FY20. He also said the company sees an uptick in growth rates of communications and tech business unit this year, while health and manufacturing are likely to remain choppy, especially in the first half. "The demand environment in the global markets is stable and Wipro sees abundant opportunities in newer areas of digital and cloud," he said. Neemuchwala said the company's revenues in Q4 grew by 1.4 per cent in reported terms and 1.0 per cent in constant currency terms, at the mid-point of its guidance range. On a full year basis, it grew 5.4 per cent in constant currency terms, he said adding through the year, the company had built on the momentum with YoY growth improving consistently each quarter. Neemuchwala also said the company's rigor in execution and focus on improved quality of revenues had resulted in operating margins expansion of 1.8 per cent for the full year. The operating metrics have shown consistent improvement with utilisation being at its highest, improved offshoring, higher percentage of work done by BOTS and moderation in its attrition rates, he said. On strategic themes, Neemuchwala said Wipro's digital revenue continues to see a strong growth as it grew 6.4 per cent sequentially and now contributes 34.8 per cent of its revenues. He also said for the year, digital grew by 32.2 per cent YoY. On Client Mining, Neemuchwala said in Q4, the company's top 10 customers continued to post a strong performance and added three new clients in USD 75Mn+ revenue bucket. On a full year basis, the company's top 10 clients have grown by 9.6 per cent in reported terms on YoY basis while its Net Promoter Score (NPS) improved by 510 basis points, he said. Referring to automation, Neemuchwala said the company has deployed Wipro HOLMESTM in over 350 clients and the work done by BOTS in fixed price projects has improved from 6.7 per cent in Q3 to 11.3 per cent in Q4. Its fixed price mix has improved to 60 per cent. Neemuchwala said the company has significantly moved up the localisation ratios in all its major markets like US, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Africa and Middle East. In the US, the company has reached new high of 64 per cent up from 62.6 per cent last quarter, he added. He further said campus hiring from universities was playing a critical role across geographies along with training programmes, specially designed to get the university graduates move successfully into customer projects. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Crisis continued to deepen at cash-starved Jet Airways Tuesday as the airline flew just five planes and the management made desperate attempts to garner emergency funds worth Rs 400 crore to stay afloat even as the lenders remained undecided on extending the lifeline. While the meeting of the ailing airline's board in Mumbai that went on for over three hours remained inconclusive, officials at the lenders and the government maintained that efforts are on to revive the carrier. However, the carrier's pilots union NAG Tuesday threatened to seek resolution under insolvency law as salaries dues remained unpaid. As SBI Capital Markets vets the initial bids received for stake purchase in the struggling Jet Airways, the airline's founder and former chairman Naresh Goyal opted out from bidding, sources said. With uncertainty mounting over the future course for the airline, which has been in operation for more than 25 years, its shares crashed nearly 19 per cent during the day amid reports that the carrier might temporarily suspend operations. Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the airline has sought emergency funds worth around Rs 400 crore from banks and that the matter is between the carrier and the lenders. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, he said Jet Airways was operating only five planes. Government officials said lenders are discussing ways to revive the crisis-hit carrier and fresh funds are likely to be infused shortly. "Discussions for reviving the airline are underway and nothing has been finalised as of now," Punjab National Bank Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta told reporters in New Delhi. Representatives of various lenders to Jet Airways are also understood to have discussed issues related to Jet Airways with Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. Jet Airways has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,000 crore. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier. Earlier in the day, sources at the airline said all options would be explored before deciding on continuing with its operations. Shares of Jet Airways plunged nearly 19 per cent during the day's trade amid reports that the airline might temporarily shut down its operations. The carrier has already suspended international operations till April 18. Jet Airways said it is awaiting "emergency liquidity support" from the SBI-led consortium of lenders to arrest further deterioration in its services. Sources said that Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube has written a letter to SBI, which is the lead lender, seeking immediate fund infusion of Rs 400 crore. Dube has said that if funds do not come, then the airline would have to ground its entire operations, sources added. In the morning, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu called for a review of issues related to Jet Airways, including rise in airfares. The civil aviation ministry, in a late evening tweet, said that as instructed by the minister, a review meeting was held under the chairmanship of the secretary. "Airlines agreed to use lower price buckets for selling tickets in order to keep fares within reasonable limits," it said. NAG's Vice President Aseem Vlianini said the union might approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for a resolution. Entities seeking resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) should have to first get the go-ahead from the tribunal. The union, which has around 1,100 members, said the airline is only operating around 450 seats per day and that operations would have to be suspended if money does not come in. Management has said that salaries are to be paid from the additional funding only but SBI has said that salaries would not be part of the funds, according to Vlianini. "I think SBI is not serious (about funding)," he said. An airline source said the number of pilots have reduced to around 1,300 after about 400 pilots left in the wake of the crisis. "Tuesday alone 23 pilots left the airline," the source claimed, adding that over 100-odd pilots have joined budget carrier IndiGo. A government official said that approaching the NCLT for Jet Airways is not an option at this stage. "Right now, the lenders are trying to resolve the issue by seeking bidders for investment. This is not the time for lenders to approach NCLT for resolution," the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the EC barred BSP chief Mayawati from campaigning for 48 hours, her 24-year-old nephew Akash Anand Tuesday addressed his first political rally here, urging the people to vote for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the Lok Sabha polls. Occupying one of the four seats on the dais with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, RLD president Ajit Singh and BSP general secretary S C Misra at the Koti Mina Bazar ground here, Akash Anand was the first one to address the joint rally. "People in such large numbers have come here on the appeal of my aunt for which I am thankful... My seniors are sitting on the dais but I am appearing before you for the first time and want to make an appeal... will you all listen to me," he said reading from a written text. He appealed to the people to vote for the candidates fielded by the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance in Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Mathura Lok Sabha seats, introducing them to the crowd. Seeking their support, he said the victory of the alliance candidates will be a "proper reply" to the Election Commission, ending the brief address with the BSP's usual slogan of 'jai Bhim... jai Bharat". Akash Anand, the son of Mayawati's brother Anand, began appearing in public with her recently. On January 15, he was seen standing behind the BSP chief when she met Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on her birthday and was also present on the dais at the joint SP-BSP-RLD rally in Deoband on April 7. He has also been included in the list of BSP's star campaigners. The EC on Monday imposed a nation-wide ban on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati from campaigning for 72 and 48 hours respectively from Tuesday for their "provocative" communal remarks. While Mayawati was issued the notice for her speech in Deoband, where she appealed to Muslims to not vote for the Congress, Adityanath was served the notice for his "Ali" and "Bajrang Bali" remarks while addressing a rally in Meerut. In his address, Misra referred to Akash Anand as his nephew and went on to attack the state chief minister for the ban on Mayawati's campaigning. He claimed that the BSP chief was only apprising the people about Adityanath's attempts to divide the voters by using the Ali-Bajrang Bali formulation. "It was because of this that the party supremo had to apprise the electorate about the BJP designs of dividing the society," Misra pointed out. "By taking the help of the Election Commission, a ban has been imposed on the campaigning of our leader Mayawati by the government when everyone knows that it is totally wrong an unconstitutional," Misra claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 40-year-old woman suffered head injuries on Tuesday after her saree got stuck in a carriage door of a Delhi Metro train as it was about to leave a station, due to which she got dragged on the platform, her husband said. The victim, Gita, was travelling with her daughter when the incident took place at the Moti Nagar metro station on the Blue Line. "Gita and my daughter were travelling from Nawada. They got off at the Moti Nagar station when the 'pallu' of Gita's saree got stuck in the closing door. As a result, she got dragged for some distance on the platform," her husband Jagdish Prasad said. Gita, a housewife, suffered injures on her head and was rushed to a nearby hospital, Prasad added. "I got a call from my daughter who told me about the incident. Apparently, one of the commuters had pressed the emergency button to alert the driver for stopping the train," he said. A senior Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official confirmed that the incident took place at the Moti Nagar station. In a tweet, the DMRC informed that the services were briefly affected between the Moti Nagar and Rajendra Place stations. Gita is a resident of the Shashtri Nagar area near Inderlok. The Blue Line of Delhi Metro connects Dwarka in Delhi to Noida Electronic City. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rebuilding the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris could take decades after it was gutted by a fire, experts warned Tuesday, even as its most senior cleric expressed hope he could celebrate mass there within years. Parisians and people around the world watched in horror on Monday evening as a huge fire ripped through the 850-year-old gothic cathedral, causing its spire and part of the vaulted roof to collapse and triggering a scramble to save its precious relics and artworks. Declaring that the "worst has been avoided", President Emmanuel Macron immediately vowed; "We will rebuild Notre-Dame together." And pledges of immense donations together already worth hundreds of millions within hours flooded in from the business world in France. But asked how long the restoration could take, Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring the 1,000-year-old Strasbourg cathedral, which recently underwent a three-year facelift, said: "I'd say decades." "The damage will be significant. But we are lucky in France to still have a network of excellent heritage restoration companies, whether small-time artisans or bigger groups," he told AFP Fischer said the ability to rebuild the colossal cathedral in a manner that respects its original form and character would depend on the plans, diagrams and other materials available to the architects. They would need "a maximum of historical data or more recent data gathered with modern technology such as 3D scans" of the kind used in the restoration of the Strasbourg cathedral, he said. Stephane Bern, a TV presenter famous for his programmes on mediaeval France who was recently appointed the government's representative on heritage, estimated the rebuilding would take "10 to 20 years minimum". Noting the restoration of Reims cathedral which was bombarded by German forces during World War I took decades, an emotional Bern, 55, told French radio: "You know what hurts me the most? It's the idea that I will not see it again in my lifetime." "It will be rebuilt for future generations," he said. But Jack Lang, who served as a hugely prominent culture minister under the presidency of Francois Mitterrand, called for a much quicker turnaround. "Since yesterday I've been hearing that it will take a decade. That's a joke," an indignant Lang told AFP outside the cathedral on Tuesday. Pointing to the renovations in Strasbourg, he said: "We have to do the same thing here, not in 10-15 years but three years." The rector of Notre-Dame, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, also attempted to strike a hopeful note. "I hope I will see that cathedral again in my lifetime and that I will celebrate a mass there. I'm 67 now and if all goes well, even if it takes 10 years, I will be 77 and still able to do it," he told France Inter radio. As pledges of donations flooded in from around the world, the city of Paris and private individuals, Italy, Russia and Germany offered to send expert help. President Vladimir Putin of Russia offered to send "the best Russian specialists with rich experience in the restoration of national heritage monuments" while Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini promised "all the help we can give." In a sign of the scale of the challenge, France's top producer of oak said it was worried about the stock of oak available to rebuild the gutted wooden interior of the nave's roof. Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group estimated that 1,300 oak trees had been used in the construction of the roof. "To constitute a big enough stock of oak logs of that quality will take several years," said Charlois, who has pledged to donate wood. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Swaraj India National President Yogendra Yadav Tuesday claimed the AIADMK, DMK, national parties and others in Tamil Nadu have reached a "dead end" and backed actor Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), saying it offered "clean politics". Seeking votes for MNM candidates here on the last day of campaign for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, he said Haasan's party "represented a new force for alternative and clean " "I believe that political establishment of TN which includes the DMK, AIADMK and national parties they all have reached a dead end," Yadav said. He alleged the country was facing 'unprecedented' challenge from the NDA regime at the centre and said the proposed "Mahagathbandhan" of opposition parties was in no position to counter it. "Therefore, this country needs new forces, new energies and new ideas - which should this time come from the south. New concept of nationalism should travel from south to north India," he said. Yadav, who recently campaigned for actor Prakash Raj contesting in Bengaluru Central constituency as an independent, invited Haasan to take his to the rest of the country. The MNM is contesting the polls on its own. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (ANSA) - Abu Dhabi, April 16 - Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said Tuesday that Italy was willing to help rebuild Notre-Dame after Monday's fire. "First of all I'd like to give a big embrace to the French people who are going through this tragedy," Di Maio told a press conference at the end of a visit to the United Arab Emirates. "I've spoken to (Culture) Minister (Alberto) Bonisoli, who has talked to his counterpart in France and said that Italy is ready to take part in the reconstruction". Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday visited the Hanuman Setu Temple here and offered prayers, a day after the Election Commission imposed a nationwide campaign ban on him for 72 hours for his "provocative" communal remarks. Adityanath took part in 'puja' and after spending about 20 minutes in the temple, he left without taking any question from the media. The Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Adityanath for 72 hours for his speech at a rally in Meerut, where he compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between 'Ali', a revered figure in Islam, and 'Bajrang Bali', a name for Hindu god Hanuman. Following the EC orders, the chief minister will also not participate in the road show of Home Minister Rajnath Singh who will file his nomination papers Tuesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Markets regulator Sebi has barred Kashyap Technologies and six other entities, including Clifford Capital Partners, for at least five years from securities market in a matter related to manipulation of global depository receipts (GDRs). Among the six entities, five were Kashyap Technologies' directors when the violation took place. Besides, Sebi directed Kashyap Technologies ltd (KTL) to continue efforts to recover an outstanding sum of $ 10.39 million from Clifford Capital Partners, the only subscriber of the company's GDRs. The regulator after an investigation of a GDR issue during December 2007 found that the firm issued 0.49 million GDRs worth $ 16.5 million on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. It was observed that the entire 0.49 million GDRs were subscribed by only one entity, Clifford Capital Partners. The subscription amount for GDRs was paid by Clifford after securing a loan from Lisbon-based bank Banco Efisa. However, the firm had pledged the GDR proceeds to the bank against the loan given to Clifford for subscription of GDRs, Sebi said in an order on Friday. Besides, the firm gave a false and misleading corporate announcement that its GDR issue was successfully allotted whereas the same was subscribed by only one entity, the regulator said. Regarding the five directors, Sebi said they were the members of the board of directors who approved the resolution regarding the loan agreement to Clifford and thus were part of the fraudulent arrangement of facilitating the subscription of its own GDR. Further, it said Clifford had the knowledge of the fact that KTL itself was acting as a security provider for the loan being taken by it for subscribing the GDR issue, hence the claim that it was not a party to the scheme is not acceptable. Moreover, $ 10.39 million was transferred to Clifford by KTL for default in repayment of loan to the bank. The regulator found that the Clifford acquired the GDR, to the extent of $ 10.39 million for free and at the cost of investors of KTL which cleared the loan of Clifford from the GDR proceeds. By indulging in such activities, all the entities violated the PFUTP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) regulations, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said. The five directors are A Venkatramani, A Ganesan, R Dakshinamurthy, A Sivakumaran and R Gopalan. Also read: Sebi bars CAT Technologies, 7 cos directors from securities markets for 5 yrs for GDR manipulation Also read: Sebi bars Bhoruka Aluminium, 4 others for five years from securities market for GDR manipulation Low-cost carrier SpiceJet Tuesday announced that it would add five 90-seater Bombardier Q400s taking its regional jet fleet size to 32. The budget carrier said that three of these planes would join its fleet in the next 10 days and the remaining two would be inducted by June, SpiceJet said in a statement. With this move, the airline is aiming at augmenting its capacity in the domestic markets, especially on regional routes, following the crisis at Jet Airways, which has triggered a huge surge in airfares in addition to a mismatch in demand and supply amid peak travel season. SpiceJet last week announced the induction of 16 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft on dry lease. Also Read: SpiceJet shares surge over 8% on announcement of new international flights "As part of our efforts to augment capacity and minimise passenger inconvenience, SpiceJet will induct five more Q400s in addition to the 16 B737s we announced last week," SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said. He further stated that the sudden reduction of aviation capacity should in no way hamper air connectivity to the smaller towns and cities of India and as the country's largest regional operator, SpiceJet will make all efforts in this direction. Also Read: Jet Airways pilots, engineers joining SpiceJet with pay cuts of up to 50%: report The 90-seater variant is part of SpiceJet's second purchase order for up to 50 Q400 turboprops placed in September 2017 worth $1.7 billion. Spicejet has already inducted five planes as part of this order. It also operates a 78-seater variant of the same aircraft. SpiceJet operates 516 average daily flights to 60 destinations, including 51 domestic and 9 international ones. The airline has a fleet of 48 Boeing 737, 27 Bombardier Q-400s and one B737 freighter. Also Read: SpiceJet zooms over 9% on inducting new aircraft to its fleet Also Read: Bombardier signs $1.7 billion deal with SpiceJet for 50 Q400 turboprop jets (With inputs from agency.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers. A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond to the plea filed by a Pune-based couple. The bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioners that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the Sabarimala temple case. "The only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in the Sabarimala temple case," it said. On September 28 last year, a five-judge constitution bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination. In the current petition, the couple has sought the apex court's direction to declare as "illegal" and "unconstitutional" the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers. Referring to constitutional provisions, the petitioners have said there should not be any discrimination against any citizen of the country on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. They have added that a life of dignity and equality is the most sacrosanct fundamental right and a Muslim woman cannot be prohibited from entering a mosque. During the hearing, the bench sought to know from the petitioners' counsel as to whether Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque in foreign countries. The counsel informed the bench that Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque at the holy Mecca and also in Canada. However, the bench asked the counsel whether the fundamental right to equality could be asserted against non-State actors. "Can you invoke Article 14 of the Constitution and claim equal treatment from another human being?," it asked. The petitioners' counsel told the court that the mosques in India were enjoying the benefits and grant extended to them by the State. Hectic campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019, scheduled to be held on April 18, will come to an end today. A total of 97 parliamentary constituencies across 13 states will go to polls in the phase 2 of the 2019 General Elections. As part of his polls campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address four public rallies in Odisha and Chhattisgarh today. The Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could also announce their alliance in Delhi where polls are scheduled to be held on May 12. Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details Here are all the latest updates on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 1.05pm: The Supreme Court has expressed satisfaction over Election Commission's action against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and others for allegedly making hate speeches during Lok Sabha election campaign. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also refused to consider the plea of Mayawati challenging the Election Commission's (EC) 48-hr ban on the leader and asked her counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. Taking note of the EC action, the court said it seems the EC has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. (PTI) 12.45pm: "For the last four months, I have been roaming all over the country, and all I am hearing is - Modi, Modi, and Modi," says BJP Chief Amit Shah in Davanagere, Karnataka. 12.37pm: Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore files his nomination from Jaipur parliamentary constituency for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. Rajasthan: Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore files his nomination from Jaipur parliamentary constituency for #LokSabhaElections2019 . Yog guru Ramdev and Rathore's wife Gayatri Rathore are also present. pic.twitter.com/wl1FTjbLMe ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 12.20pm: Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'All thieves have Modi in their surnames': "I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court." Prakash Raj who is contesting from Bengaluru Central LS seat as an independent candidate,says,"I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose" pic.twitter.com/LYA1keGpT2 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 11.52am: Prakash Raj who is contesting from Bengaluru Central LS seat as an independent candidate, tells ANI,"I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose." 11.50am: "In such hot weather, such a huge crowd, such enthusiasm; pictures of these rallies are giving sleepless nights to others. People are supporting us because they want a strong government," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Odisha's Sambalpur. 11.31am: Rahul Gandhi in Kollam, Kerala: "As PM said 'Congress mukt Bharat', meaning we'll erase idea of Congress from India. What Congress says to Narendra Modi is we don't agree with you. We'll fight you to convince you, you're wrong." 10.30am: Two Railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station yesterday. 2 Railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station yesterday. ADM says, "On 13 April, when shift changes, the old roll was mistakenly used. 2 employees suspended, dept probe underway" pic.twitter.com/1fbLFbXq9X ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2019 10.20am: He said India had emerged as a major global power, and that the country believed in "working with everyone for the good of all". Watch my interview to @DDNewsLive & @rajyasabhatv on a wide range of issues. https://t.co/psCu7BlUsr Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 16, 2019 12.15am: Prime Minister also took a dig at the Congress party's proposed NYAY Scheme, saying the party had done 'Anyay'(injustice) for the past 60 long years. Slamming the Opposition, the PM also asked the Congress if the party will also give 'Nyay' to to the 1984 anti-sikh riot victims? 10.10am: In an interview to DD News, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said over 12,000 small and marginal farmers will benefit from the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. 10.02am: PM Narendra Modi assures that government will transfer Rs 7, 50,000 crore through DBT into bank accounts of farmers within 10 years as part of the KISAN scheme. PM @narendramodi assures that government will transfer Rs 7, 50,000 crore through DBT into bank accounts of farmers within 10 years as part of the scheme pic.twitter.com/DMXD30Hp0T Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) April 16, 2019 9.56am: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Dayanidhi Maran campaigns in the constituency. Tamil Nadu: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Dayanidhi Maran campaigns in the constituency. All 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls on 18th April. pic.twitter.com/QUDloBdA9N ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 9.36am: Yogi Adityanath on EC ban: The Uttar Pradesh chief minister tells the poll body he was only responding to the divisive politics of the Opposition. He visited a Hanuman temple amid the EC ban on his campagining. 9.20am: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrabab Naidu, key interlocutor among 21 Opposition parties demanding verification of at least 50 per cent of polled votes against VVAPT slips, alleged the Election Commission was functioning under the 'guidance' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Opposition parties on Sunday had held a meeting to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning and said they will approach the Supreme Court again to demand that at least 50 per cent of paper trails be verified with EVMs. (PTI) 9.13am: "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala," says Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. He reportedly received six stitches on his head after he was injured while offering prayers at a temple in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. Tharoor was performing the ritual of 'thulabharam' when he suffered the injury. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 9.00am: Villagers in this Chhattisgarh village say, "No Road, No Vote." Chhattisgarh: Villagers in Dokada have decided to boycott #LokSabhaElections2019 over no roads in the village. Locals say, No Road, No Vote. We will not go to cast our vote till our demand of road development in the village is fulfilled. pic.twitter.com/TCRa5e1uq5 ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2019 8.45am: The BJP's Karnataka unit: "Congress Exposed Youth Cong Nation Secretary Ibrahim Khaleelulla has been arrested after being caught printing fake Voters ID cards." The Karnataka Congress says the BJP spreading "fake news". Congress Exposed Youth Cong Nation Secretary Ibrahim Khaleelulla has been arrested after being caught printing fake Voters ID cards. 18 people involved in printing fake Voter ID cards have been arrested Bengaluru central candidate @ArshadRizwan is behind this racket. BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 15, 2019 The Election Commission @SpokespersonECI should clarify immediately as to what was found. If there were any fake IDs, I leave it to the wisdom of people as to why BJP is spreading fake news. I am filing a defamation suit against @BJP4Karnataka for trying to malign my image. https://t.co/WxrAYv7aTk Rizwan Arshad (@ArshadRizwan) April 15, 2019 8.30am: BJP chief Amit Shah will address four public rallies in Karnataka and Kerala. 8.15am: Congress candidate from Mumbai North Constituency Urmila Matondkar on Monday alleged that BJP workers created a ruckus and reportedly tried to disrupt her public rally at Borivali railway station. 8.00am: Schedule for PM Modi's rallies on April 16. As the election fever grips the country, politicians are looking for different ways to woo the electorates. From the advertisement, social media to web series and movies -- they don't want to leave any stone unturned to garner maximum attention. Among many such tactics being applied in the election campaigning is movies on prominent party leaders. Though the Election Commission (EC) has for now banned the release of the biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi starring Vivek Oberoi -- and the case is being heard in the SC -- another biopic on Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, 'Baghini: Bengal Tigress', is set to release on May 3. However, the final phase of polling in West Bengal will be held on May 7 and May 12. Directed by Nehal Dutta, Baghini: Bengal Tigress traces Mamata's rise in politics, from a dogged street fighter to becoming the first woman Chief Minister of Bengal. The film has already obtained clearance from the censor board. Theatre actor Ruma Chakraborty will be playing the role of CM Banerjee. "It is not easy to portray such a living legend. I saw several videos of her, tried to practice her mannerisms, the way she conducts herself," said Chakraborty in an interview to India Today's Indrajit Kundu. The trailer of Baghini: Bengal Tigress was released two days back. The film's trailer shows references to Banerjee's Singur and Nandigram protests. In Nandigram, more than 10 people died in police firing during protests against a special economic zone. In Singur's case, Mamata's All India Trinamool Congress party (AITMC) protested against setting up Tata Motor's plant to manufacture Nano cars in the state. The trailer also hints at the "poriborton" (change) brought by its protagonist - a word also used by TMC supremo in the run-up to the Assembly election. According to the director, the film was made after three years of research on the leader. The filmmaker said he took help of articles, biographies and news video clippings to sketch the life story of the politician in the film. He, however, insisted that it was not intended to be a biopic of Banerjee. Dutta told India Today: "Unlike Modi's film, ours is not a biopic. You can say we have been inspired by her (Mamata Banerjee). She is an iconic figure. It is an emotional story about women's' empowerment." Also read: Biopic on PM Modi: SC to hear on Apr 15 plea challenging EC's ban on release of film Also read: Election Commission bans release of PM Modi biopic ahead of Lok Sabha election, order to affect NaMo TV too India Inc is doing its bit to encourage employees to cast their vote. Offering paid leave on voting days is just the start. For instance, Walmart-owned Flipkart is organising voter registration camps for employees as well as their families, The Economic Times reported. These camps are meant to facilitate not just first-time voters but also those seeking to shift registration to a different constituency. Bangalore-based unicorn Swiggy on the other hand has not only rolled out a #votekarophirswiggykaro campaign that is getting rave reviews but is also offering its delivery staff 'Swiggy Smiles' reward points for getting inked as part of the campaign. The ad campaign, incidentally, offers a menu card for the "Nation's needs", covering items like affordable housing for all, ending red tapism, increased job opportunities, loan waivers, zero criminals for politicians and crackdown on black money, among others. When you click on any of the options, you get the following message: "Sorry we are not there yet. Unfortunately, there are some things you can't get delivered home. So this general election, step out and vote." Hey @swiggy_in A very creative way of reminding people about the value of voting ! This is really good Very well done guys !! #VoteForIndia #VoteKar pic.twitter.com/ThEOG8vId4 - Dr Mahendra Shetty (@FirstAidBharat) April 11, 2019 Many companies are sending out information on voting dates by constituency to their employees. BSE is also sending texts urging employees to vote along with running a campaign on its social media handles. While a large number of firms, including L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Deloitte, Accenture, Domino's and Dunkin Donuts, both run by Jubilant FoodWorks, H&M and Titan, have given employees a day off to cast votes, Samsung has done one better. The South Korean consumer durables giant is also offering employees time out to go back to their constituencies to cast their votes - and these days won't be counted as leave. A spokesperson told the daily that this move to not consider voting-related travel as leave is the first such initiative by Samsung. Also Read: After biopic on PM Modi, 'Baghini: Bengal Tigress' traces Mamata's rise in politics; to release on May 3 Some are falling back on Indians' love for discounts. The Tamil Nadu Hotels Association (TNHA) has reportedly come up with an offer of a 10% discount for voters. Just show up at a TNHA eatery after 6 pm on April 18 and show your inked finger along with your voter ID to avail the discount. Around 1,200 eateries, including popular brands like Hot Chips and Saravana Bhavan, are part of the group. Social-networking site Facebook, last month, launched two new India-specific tools called "Candidate Connect" and "Share You Voted", to boost civic engagement on its platform during the general elections that commence in April, IANS reported. While "Candidate Connect" will help people learn more about candidates, the "Share You Voted" will provide people with polling information and enable them to announce and celebrate their vote. Another social media giant, Twitter, launched a social initiative called #PowerOf18 last November to encourage first-time voters. The campaign leveraged on insights gathered from a survey conducted by the company that focussed on 18- to 30-year-olds' attitude in shaping India's political and social environment. Interestingly, the study found an overwhelming 94% of respondents from a base of over 3,600 youth indicating that they will vote in Elections 2019. Leading dairy player Amul is similarly leveraging brand reputation to encourage voting. The company is reportedly printing a 'go and vote' message on 3.5 crore packs of milk daily, for 10 days. As for Google, it predictably had an election-themed doodle on April 11, when the polling juggernaut started rolling. (Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal) Also Read: Jobs are back in IT sector! Top 6 firms hire over 1 lakh employees in 2018-19 Also Read: SC agrees to hear plea seeking Muslim women's entry to mosques, offer prayers Data breaches today blow a million-dollar hole in India Inc's pocket. Financial sector firms lose the most, followed by the services and industrial sectors. Companies are now more aware than ever of the issues data breaches can cause. India saw the second highest number of data breaches in 2018. Take a few burning examples in recent times. A leading e-commerce portal in India admitted that owing to a technical glitch, tax reports of some of its sellers were exposed to others. The company said this affected about 400,000 sellers on its platform. Sellers who were affected said they were able to download tax reports of other vendors. One of the largest banks in India secured an unprotected server that allowed unrestricted access to financial information of millions of its customers. In this case, the bank had not protected the server with a password, allowing anyone who knew where to look to access the data on millions of customers' information. Also Read: Digital Dose For Pharma Stating just a couple of data breach examples would be significantly underplaying the level of threat that enterprise and personal data are exposed to at present. Take the recent case of Gnosticplayers, who has put up more than 863 million user records for sale on the Dark Web since February 2019 over multiple rounds. More than 40 companies across the globe have been affected by this single hacker, and include businesses across sectors as diverse as game development, book retail, and e-commerce. Names and databases of several affected companies have not been named, as they caved in to the extortion demands of the hacker. Such examples just go on to show how challenging ensuring data security in an increasingly digital-first actually is. This is a reflection of how innovative threat actors have become over the years. They exploit weaknesses in platform codes and often leverage multiple vulnerabilities in tandem to come up with unique attack vectors that internal teams would never even have thought to check for during security testing. Also Read: Break Free From Data Colonialism "To me, this underlines an urgent need for organisations to start approaching their processes, products/services, and technological integrations with a security-first outlook," says Sanjay Katkar, Joint Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, Quick Heal Technologies. Doing so will allow companies to build robust business infrastructures which are more capable of withstanding new-age threats and cyber-attacks, and to ensure that the critical data they handle does not fall into the hands of cybercriminals. Let's look at some more examples. One of the recent incidents that shook the banking industry globally was the British Bank Scam. Scammers stole 1.2 billion Pounds from British bank customers over the last year, but the data was released only recently by UK Finance. The fraud against customers rocketed to 1.2 billion Pounds, with a 25% spike in comparison to the previous year. "The two key tools used to steal money were; unauthorized use of payment cards and authorized push payment (APP). APP breaches occur when fraudsters hack into email accounts to trick consumers into sending money to criminal accounts," says Ramesh Mamgain, Area Vice President of Sales - India & SAARC at Commvault. However, it's great that the bank even reported this. Earlier, banks globally wouldn't report such incidents, due to fear of losing market cap. Indian banks too need to report such incidents publically, so that there is enough awareness and a robust mechanism is established to fight data breaches. Domestic banking corporations here can learn from incidents like these in foreign banks as technology continues to break physical barriers, and cybercrime has no borders. We are not yet over with this. Data breach examples abound over the last year: The world's largest container shipping company - Maersk was attacked by a ransomware. Maersk's ships are completely digitally run. The directions, volume and weights on the ship are managed by technology. As the ransomware hit their systems, the operations across the world stopped working. Billions worth of goods were stuck in oceans as the ships stopped working. With timely intervention and help from a major data security solution provider, Maersk was able to recover its entire backed up data in seven days. In January 2019, cybercriminals hit the cloud storage service provider MEGA. More than 772 million email addresses and 22 million unique passwords were compromised in this breach. In November 2018, the guest reservation database of Marriott's Starwood division was hit with a large-scale data breach that is estimated to have compromised the records of around 500 million customers. The compromised data included critical information such as guest payment information, mailing addresses, passport numbers etc. Experts estimate that the attacker(s) had unrestricted access to multiple IT systems across the organisation for a significant duration of time. One of the most popular AMA platforms in the world, Quora was hit with a security breach in November 2018 that ended up compromising the personal information of around 100 million users. Cybercriminals got away with extremely sensitive user information such as user names/IDs, email/IP addresses, encrypted passwords, user account settings, personalization data, public actions, etc. 2018 was not a good year for Facebook in terms of data security. The social network was hit with several massive data breaches throughout the course of the year, with the worst incident leading to more than 50 million users being compromised. It is estimated that several hundred million Facebook users across the globe have been affected by these security breaches. Cybercriminals stole the details of more than 380,000 booking transactions in a web skimming attack on British Airways between August 21 and September 5, 2018. The breach, which is one of the biggest cybersecurity incidents faced by the global aviation industry, saw extremely sensitive personal information such as credit/debit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV codes being compromised. High profile incidents and hacks of notable entities have brought digital security to the forefront of people's minds. Vinod Jaisingh - Head of Global Analytics, RBS India highlights some of the major digital security gaps faced by the BFSI sector: Automation - Offenders can use automation to scale up their activities - many millions of unsolicited bulk spam messages can be sent out by automation. Hacking attacks are often also now automated with as many as 80 million hacking attacks every day due to the use of software tools that can attack thousands of computer systems within hours. Anonymous communications - Determining the origin of communication is very often a key component of cybercrime investigation. However, the distributed nature of the network, as well as the availability of certain Internet services, which create uncertainty of origin, make it difficult to identify offenders. A recent report by a think tank found that 97% of sites are hit with some sort of bad bots. Bots can be programmed to perform a wide range of activities, but here are the most common for e-commerce sites: Price Scraping : If the website has unique pricing and product information, the chances are extremely high that the site will be hit by scraping bots. These bots collect pricing and product data and send it back to the bot-maker, who could be a competitor so that they can lower their prices and take sales. : If the website has unique pricing and product information, the chances are extremely high that the site will be hit by scraping bots. These bots collect pricing and product data and send it back to the bot-maker, who could be a competitor so that they can lower their prices and take sales. Login Fraud: Bots can attempt to login using real user's credentials by guessing the password by rapidly going through a dictionary of words and number combinations, or by testing known credentials that have been leaked elsewhere. Bots can attempt to login using real user's credentials by guessing the password by rapidly going through a dictionary of words and number combinations, or by testing known credentials that have been leaked elsewhere. Holding Items : Because bots can act more quickly than human browsers, they are able to refresh pages many times over to check for sales or limited-release products. Bots can add items to a cart, limiting inventory for actual users who visit the site looking for a specific product. : Because bots can act more quickly than human browsers, they are able to refresh pages many times over to check for sales or limited-release products. Bots can add items to a cart, limiting inventory for actual users who visit the site looking for a specific product. Incorrect Analytics: A secondary effect of bad bot traffic is that it can significantly impact analytics. Over 50% of bots can load JavaScript, which is the mechanism most analytics tools use to measure page views, bounce rate, conversion rate, and more. Since bots are imitating human behaviour, they can be included in analytics and can do harm to these important metrics, lowering average conversion rate or convincing customers to spend more money on advertising. When it comes to data and IT security, larger banks and financial institutions in India realized the magnitude of the security challenges that they face and are now taking adequate measures to bolster their cybersecurity. Although, an important thing to highlight from an IT/data security standpoint, is the gap in security spending by Indian BFSI companies and their global peers. Globally, banks spend around 8-10% of their overall IT budget in cybersecurity. Banks in India, in comparison, spend barely 4-6% on security. This gap needs to be addressed, and urgently. The main challenge, however, when it comes to the Indian BFSI sector, exists in the cooperative banking sector. These localised banks have only just commenced their digital transformation journeys. IT security is a relatively new aspect for them. This results in lack of awareness about the critical need for IT and data security in BFSI operations, which permeates through the entire organisation. As such, they don't make the necessary investments in shoring up their IT defences. Fintech companies need to enforce security within their development lifecycles at the design and architecture stage by identifying various threat models and ensuring adequate mechanisms to mitigate them. There is also a need to have a well-defined security response strategy in place, in case of a breach. An effective breach detection, response, and remediation plan can help contain any attack at a very initial stage and makes it possible for security experts to limit the surface area of the impact while they eliminate the threat. A lot of data breaches also become possible because of poor awareness about cybersecurity, both within the BFSI workforce and third-party agencies which banks partner with for various operational requirements such as document/address verification. There is a need to sensitise both internal employees and external vendors about how vulnerable critical data is to cyber attacks, and what security measures need to be taken while handling or processing such data. Banks need to take adequate measures to ensure that their security postures remain robust and evolve in step with a dynamic threat landscape. Cooperative banks also need to appoint qualified Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to manage the security of their IT resources and data. There also needs to be a renewed focus on data classification. It is important to define data hierarchies and access policies to ensure that only authorised stakeholders handle critical enterprise and user data. "Banks also need to identify what data is critical and important to their operations, and what data has become redundant. Disposing off redundant data through data wiping tools also forms an important component of a robust cybersecurity strategy," says Katkar. Innovative security solutions such as Data Encryption and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) can also help banks protect their critical data- whether at rest, in use, or during transit - from malicious threat actors. Moreover, independent third-party security audits, such as the RED Team Assessment, can also help BFSI companies identify existing security vulnerabilities and loopholes in their IT infrastructure, business processes, user sensitisation, and data handling capabilities. This can help them deploy the most relevant security solution to meet their specific requirements. The Indian banking sector has evolved at a rapid rate in the past few years. "Firms providing these services are allotting bigger budgets towards developing a robust IT infrastructure and leveraging it across all operations to secure customer data," says Mamgain elaborating on some common measures which include: Complying with local data policies: International firms with data centres in India have been given time to comply with RBI guidelines of storing data in the country. This also means all of these companies will now have to invest in technologies to meet domestic guidelines. Using end to end data protection: This involves covering ranges and complete paths of computer systems, hard drives, data transmissions and functions to verify data correctness. A lot of ransomware enter the system via cellphones and laptops. It's important to protect electronic gadgets used by employees. Training employees and customers: Setting awareness programs to align with the security parameters of the firm. Hiring ethical hackers: To survey their systems and find loopholes in them before the malicious hackers could. This measure helps pre-empt possible problems with the system and aid the process of securing customer data. This ensures that loopholes in firewalls are detected in advance. Jaisingh further adds on some of the key steps that Indian companies are taking to protect and safeguard customer data: Charting of Data Lineage: This entails creating an end to end data life cycle including the origin of the data and the flow of this data across the organisation. By accurately identifying their data flow and its vulnerable points, companies are taking informed decisions on how to protect their data. This entails creating an end to end data life cycle including the origin of the data and the flow of this data across the organisation. By accurately identifying their data flow and its vulnerable points, companies are taking informed decisions on how to protect their data. Robust policy for handling all types of data: Organisations are accurately differentiating their sensitive and non-sensitive data to outline a strict process for handling important information. In the case of restricted data, employees are given access on need basis only. Organisations are accurately differentiating their sensitive and non-sensitive data to outline a strict process for handling important information. In the case of restricted data, employees are given access on need basis only. Encrypt data for protection: As the sensitive data in motion is accessed by all types of people and applications, it must be encrypted. As the sensitive data in motion is accessed by all types of people and applications, it must be encrypted. Educating employees at all levels: The human factor is often the biggest vulnerability in the chain of data protection. Companies are now ensuring that employees are kept informed of compliance regulations and internal cybersecurity policies, providing them with both training and clear guidelines for those coming into contact with the most sensitive types of data. The human factor is often the biggest vulnerability in the chain of data protection. Companies are now ensuring that employees are kept informed of compliance regulations and internal cybersecurity policies, providing them with both training and clear guidelines for those coming into contact with the most sensitive types of data. Focus on password security: In most cases, employees use weak passwords to protect data in their systems that end up making them vulnerable to malicious attacks. Password security practices have been improved by providing enhanced security training to employees. The recent development of blockchain and 5G should be looked at as instruments which also have the potential to secure data. "Because, if blockchain is the brain, 5G will act as the nervous system and data like blood. With the adoption of 5G, there is bound to be an overflow of data. The key to harnessing this data is by using technologies like blockchain to manage data efficiently," says Mamgain. Also, access to blockchain requires both a public and a private key. Keys are cryptic strings of characters of sufficient length to make the odds of guessing them truly difficult. Since it is essentially impossible to access data within a blockchain without the right keys, this represents the strength of blockchain technology. Without the right keys, no hacker will be able to access any data ever. On the other hand, all a hacker needs are the right keys to access data. However, this is true even with personal computers and cellphones. That doesn't mean we stop using them. Instead, the need is to focus on building a strong anti-virus technology and also simplified awareness campaigns on safe use of blockchain as organizations across the world move towards adopting newer technologies. In this context, it would be pertinent to look at India's draft Data Protection bill which is modelled on the General Data Protection Regulation introduced by the European Union. "As such, several provisions in the bill mirror those made in the EU-GDPR, with some cosmetic changes. For instance, data subjects and data principals, as defined by the EU-GDPR, are referred to as data controllers and data fiduciaries, respectively, in the bill," says Katkar. The absolute right of an individual over his/her personal data is one of the strongest provisions recommended in the draft bill, which also mandates organisational practices such as DPIAs. Furthermore, strict penalties have been recommended for non-compliance. The draft bill also recommends the creation of a Data Protection Authority (DPA) which has the power to interpret regulations, investigate enterprises, and issue fines, injunctions, and criminal penalties on non-compliant entities. Unlike the EU-GDPR, however, the DPA will be empowered to engage in the policymaking process to keep the regulations up-to-date with the latest developments. Another key difference between the Data Protection bill and the EU-GDPR is the provision of data localisation. The provision requires businesses to store copies of personal data of Indian citizens within Indian borders and makes any transfer of such data across international boundaries extremely difficult. In today's digital age, when data is the new 'oil', its security is no longer just an IT problem. It has, quite literally, become a business challenge. Apart from the obvious disruption in productivity and operations, it can lead to an erosion of a company's market capitalisation, reputation, and brand value. This, in turn, could lead to a loss of business opportunities and have a major impact on the company's customer loyalty and acquisition. The introduction of new data protection policies such as the EU-GDPR and the draft Data Protection bill in India also means that businesses across sectors will have to pay a heavy penalty for any non-compliance with the regulations. "This is what makes it critical for organisations across sectors to invest heavily in security systems, practices, governance, awareness, and compliance. Businesses need to adopt a security-first approach to their data, IT resources, processes, products, services, and people," says Katkar. (The author is a Delhi based writer & blogger on BFSI Industry.) Samsung has launched its Android Go smartphone called Samsung Galaxy A2 Core to take on Xiaomi's Redmi Go. The Galaxy A2 Core runs on Android Pie (Go Edition) and is the successor to Samsung Galaxy J2 Core, which was codenamed as SM-J260. The Galaxy A2 Core is priced higher than the Xiaomi Redmi Go at Rs 5,290. Xiaomi's Redmi Go is priced at Rs 4,499. "We are going to ship out Galaxy A2 core this week at Rs 5,290. This is going to be a tremendous boost to people who want to switch from feature phones to smartphones. This is going to be huge in terms of volume," Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, Samsung India said. Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Go among best entry-level smartphones under Rs 5,000 As far as specifications are concerned, Galaxy A2 Core has a 5-inch LCD with a qHD (960x540 pixels) display. The smartphone is powered by the octa-core Exynos 7870 SoC paired with just 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The dimensions of Samsung Galaxy A2 Core are 141.6x71x9.1mm and it weighs 142 grams. The phone draws power from a 2,600mAh battery, which is slightly smaller than the one in Redmi Go (3000 mAh). Since the device runs Android Pie (Go Edition), it will come pre-installed with a host of Android Go-optimised apps like Google Go, YouTube Go, Gmail Go, Assistant Go, Maps Go, Chrome browser, Facebook Lite, FM Radio, File Manager, Calendar, Calculator and more. The Android Pie (Go Edition) is a trimmed down version of the power-hungry OS, which is designed to work flawlessly with limited memory and processing power. Meanwhile, as per the leaked user manual, the Samsung Galaxy A2 Core will come with both single-SIM and dual-SIM variants, but it is not clear which version has made it to the Indian market. Going by the usage pattern of Indian consumers, the dual-SIM variant will surely make its way into the country. Lastly, the optics of Samsung Galaxy A2 Core will be at best satisfactory. The smartphone comes equipped with a single 5-MP rear camera as well as a 5-MP front camera. In comparison, Redmi Go houses an 8-MP camera with flash and HDR. The camera application is neat with photo, video, square and manual mode. The front camera of Redmi Go also has the AI Beautify feature. Edited By: Udit Verma Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Y3 with 32-MP selfie camera to launch on April 24 Also Read: Realme 3 Pro to launch in India on April 22; here's all we know Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro review: Look no further for a phone under Rs 15,000 Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi 7, Redmi 7A and Redmi Y3 tipped to launch in India soon; here're the details (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - The Italo-German bond-yield spread will weigh 0.7% on GDP if it stays at its current high levels for the next three years, the Bank of Italy warned on Tuesday. BoI chief economist Eugenio Gaiotti, briefing parliament on the government's DEF economic blueprint, said the high spread would "cut growth by 0.1 percentage points in a year and 0.7% in three years". "The elevated spread will continue to have a negative effect, and a growing one, on the years after 2019," he said. He complained that the government had not supplied information on alternatives to hiking VAT in the so-called financial 'safeguard clauses'. The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) has welcomed news of record-breaking Irish and UK cruise passenger numbers, as announced by the Cruise Lines International Association (Clia). Surpassing 2 million passengers for the first time, the figures indicate a 2% year on year growth in passenger numbers. The global cruise industry is continuing to strengthen, with approximately 90% of Irish and UK customers setting sail within 12 months of their first cruise. Cruises to central and western Mediterranean regions remain the number one destination for European cruise passengers, while Clias research also reports strong growth in cruises to Northern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, Canary Islands, and the Baltics. Commenting on the figures, ITAA CEO, Pat Dawson said, "The cruise industry is demonstrating considerable growth and has become an important part of both inbound and outbound Irish tourism. By hosting turnarounds, Irish ports allow tourists to end their sailing here and travel within Ireland before flying directly home, while Irish holidaymakers join the ship to set sail on their adventure." He added, "With growing popularity among Irish holidaymakers and such striking passenger numbers, it is disappointing that Dublin port is reducing the number of cruise liners it will host. Last year saw 150 ships call to Dublin port and we expect this to rise to over 160 by the end of 2019. However, from 2021, only 80 will be permitted by Dublin port. This is a major blow to the choice of cruise available to Irish holidaymakers." Source: www.businessworld.ie An environmental group has raised serious concerns about artificial forestation in the coastal wetlands outside Shanghai that are slated for continued development. According to the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, the natural ecology of the Nanhui New City area is wetlands and beaches creating a vital habitat for 85% of bird species recorded in Shanghai and 28% of Chinas total bird species on record. Nanhui New City, also referred to as Lingang New City, is a hot urban development zone located at the tip of a peninsula on the Hangzhou Bay and the outskirts of Shanghai. It is about 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) from the city center, near the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Recently, the Shanghai government approved Teslas plans to build a factory in Lingang. Currently, the low-lying, water-rich Nanhui East Beach area has beaches outside the seawall and paddy fields and reed marshes inside the seawall. Inside the embankment, famers have leased land from the local government to grow rice or farm fish. Local wildlife protection volunteers have complained that outside the seawall, rapid land reclamation projects have led to a drop in marine life. Birdwatchers frequent the area to observe the diverse species of birds, such as the endangered black-faced spoonbill and the near-threatened reed parrotbill. It is of huge value ecologically, and the more I discovered it, the more I was amazed that more was not being done to preserve it, said Craig Brelsford, founder and publisher of birding site shanghaibirding.com, who has long advocated for the area to be a nature reserve. In 2017, a volunteer saw that engineering teams were beginning to fill some areas of the wetlands with soil, and later that year birdwatchers saw workers planting trees where there were previously paddy fields. The volunteers appealed to the government and the project stopped briefly, though the government said that at present, there are no plans to have the wetlands permanently. A volunteer showed Caixin a more recent response to the question of what will happen to the wetlands, which similarly indicated that the natural wetlands may be filled due to forest coverage rate requirements. The forest coverage rate of the Nanhui New City Administrative Region is only 11.5%, far below the average level of the city. According to local and municipal forest construction requirements, there is an objective need to increase forest planting in a planned and step-by-step manner, the response read. According to the Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau, the forest coverage rate in Shanghai reached 16.8% in 2019. The city plans to build 17 eco-corridors by 2020 and increase its forest coverage to 25% by 2040. The development plan always included forestation in the area to allow for further urban development. According to our understanding, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, 10,000 mu (1,650 acres) of trees will be planted in Lingang New City, one article from the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation in March wrote. Of this, over 3,000 mu have already been planted, and more than 6,000 mu of trees will be planted in 2019 and 2020. People close to Shanghais municipal urban planning department told Caixin that the city intends to designate Chongming Island as a breeding area for migratory birds. However, Brelsford lamented that the island is not easily accessible for tourists or children to come and appreciate the flocks of shorebirds, ducks and migratory birds flying vast distances. The foundation called for a stop to artificial forestation in the wetlands area. In order to protect the ecological diversity of the Lingang area, we strongly appeal for the area of trees planted in the coastal wetlands to not be too large, the foundation wrote. Brelsford, who is now based in Florida, said that forestation would radically alter the natural environment and endanger the natural systems at Cape Nanhui, which are valuable, unique and worthy of preservation. Contact reporter Ren Qiuyu (qiuyuren@caixin.com) An exhibition at the 124th Canton Fair in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, Oct. 17, 2018. Photo: IC Iconic trade fair loses luster, boding ill for exports The China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, Chinas decades-old event seen as a a barometer of the vitality of Chinas international trade, apparently has struggled to attract buyers to its spring session. This bodes ill for the countrys exports, an event organizer said. The 125th fair opened Monday and will run across three five-day sessions till May 5. Xu Bing, the events spokesperson, said the situation this year is grave, based on the number of applications made by exhibitors for invitation letters for their overseas customers, the number of preliminary event passes issued and the number of local hotel rooms and airline tickets booked. Xu skipped the traditional practice of revealing the number of buyers who are expected to attend the event. Just fewer than 190,000 purchasers visited during last years autumn session, down 1.1% from a year earlier, official figures showed. FINANCE & ECONOMICS Georgetown Harbour, Grand Cayman, Oct. 1, 2010. Photo: IC Tax haven / Questions remain over Cayman Islands tax avoidance law Three months after the Cayman Islands, the British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean, enacted a new law to combat cross-border tax avoidance, questions remain about how firms go about passing a test to prove they undertake activities of economic substance there ahead of a July 1 deadline. The Cayman Islands has been a popular offshore incorporation destination for Chinese companies, which sometimes have "variable-interest entity" structures designed to skirt Chinese rules banning foreign investment and ownership in certain sectors, including internet businesses and value-added telecom services. Vague requirements in the new rules say companies must maintain adequate physical presence on the islands and have adequate operating expenditure and HR. Lending / Credit growth accelerates after slowdown in February Chinas total social financing, a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, grew by a net 2.86 trillion yuan ($426 billion) in March, much higher than a net increase of 703 billion yuan the month before, central bank data showed. The latest data suggest that credit growth may now be resuming in response to the central banks efforts to loosen monetary conditions, said Chang Liu, an economist with Capital Economics, in a research note. However, a rapid economic turnaround is unlikely, the economist said, adding that even if the recovery in lending continues, economic growth wont stabilize for a few more months. Local misdeeds / Local governments problematic treatment of foreign investors Local authorities in 45 areas were found to have treated overseas-funded businesses poorly in recent years, according to a quarterly report released by the National Audit Office. The central province of Hunan stood out. From 2016 to 2018, authorities in 25 city- and county-level governments illegally charged foreign companies 4.8 million yuan ($699,938) to review construction drawings despite a provincial ban on such charges, according to the report. Other provincial-level regions such as Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia were also called out for misconduct. Aging population / Chinas pension fund could see shortfall much earlier than expected A Wednesday report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted that the pension funds collected in 2019 will not cover expenses of the same year. The shortfall is appearing much earlier than expected. This is based on Chinas preferred payment rate of 16% of a company's total expenses on staff salaries, not including government subsidies. When subsidies are taken into consideration, the report shows an annual shortfall would begin in 2028, when a system debt as large as 118.1 billion yuan ($17.58 billion) is expected. The shortfall could soar up to 11.3 trillion yuan in 2050. Quick hits / MSCI is delaying transition of its All China Indexes to its China All Shares Indexes World Bank should share reform expertise with China, ex-head says Contracts of red date futures will start trading on Chinas Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange Barry Eichengreen: Emerging risks for emerging economies China plans third review of revisions to securities law, but with no final agreement in sight Japan to send high-level delegation to Chinas Belt and Road summit BUSINESS & TECH Delivery personnel of JD Logistics check delivery information on their mobile phones Nov. 11, 2018. Photo: IC Logistics / Salary cut for deliverymen was due to nearly 3 billion yuan in losses: JD boss JD.coms chief said a 12th straight year of losses for its delivery unit was part of the reason it cut base salaries of drivers, leaving them with only commission-based pay. Richard Liu, the founder of the e-commerce giant, said JD Logistics racked up 2.8 billion yuan ($420 million) in net losses last year. This left the company with enough money to operate for only two more years, he said in a public letter released Monday. Green energy / China puts another nail in the coffin of renewable power subsidies The Chinese government is now prioritizing photovoltaic (PV) and wind projects that can go toe-to-toe with coal and other forms of generation without subsidy support, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a draft document, after the government struggled with a backlog of 140 billion yuan in subsidy payments. Just 3 billion yuan of PV subsidies will be given out this year, with new projects to be graded on a three-tier scale, according to the draft. Approval priority will go to projects in regions with abundant light and therefore greater energy-generating efficiency, while those graded to be in the less promising categories will be less likely to receive approval and will receive less aid even if approved. Sharing economy / Up-and-coming Didi rivals want a slice of the pie As a follow-up to our feature looking at automakers teaming up to try to unseat Didi from its ride-hailing throne, we've compiled a list of challengers of which some are niche or localized, but as of last year are increasingly fronted by car manufacturers themselves. M&A / Chinas ENN drops plan to buy Toshibas U.S. LNG assets Privately owned Chinese energy company ENN Ecological Holdings Co. is scrapping a plan to buy Toshiba Corp.s long-struggling liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations in the U.S. after a failure to obtain approvals from shareholders and the U.S. government. ENN said its board terminated the proposed deal after shareholders voted against it, a blow to the Japanese industrial conglomerate, which has long sought to shed the money-losing business. Real estate / Shenzhen climbs into top five of most expensive housing markets Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen are among the five most expensive housing markets globally, according to a new ranking by U.S. real estate services and investment company CBRE Group Inc. Hong Kong again ranked at the top of the list with an average home price of $1.24 million, followed by Singapore, Shanghai, Vancouver and Shenzhen. Shenzhen, southern Chinas technology hub, made its first appearance in the top five with properties priced at $680,283 on average. Quick hits / Opinion: How can we improve the lives of Chinas delivery drivers? Foxconn denies report that its chairman is stepping down Mercedes-Benz lands at heart of customer dissatisfaction debate Thanks for reading. If you haven't already, click here to subscribe. (ANSA) - Rome, April 16 - There should be no deficit spending to fund tax cuts in next year's budget, the Bank of Italy said Tuesday. Reporting to parliament on the DEF economic blueprint, BoI chief economist Eugenio Gaiotti welcomed the government's decision to review tax expenditures. Overall, he said the BoI agreed with the DEF's general picture of the economy. He said "it is subject to considerable risks, that may come from a worsening of the global context and from a more accentuated deterioration of business confidence". Gaiotti added that it will take "considerable financial cover" to reach the government's policy targets including deactivating a VAT 'safeguard clause', investments, tax cuts and debt reduction. Without VAT hikes, he said, the budget deficit will be 3.4% next year, 3.3% in 2021 and 3% in 2022. The Italo-German bond-yield spread will weigh 0.7% on GDP if it stays at its current high levels for the next three years, the central bank warned. BoI chief economist Eugenio Gaiotti, briefing parliament on the government's DEF economic blueprint, said the high spread would "cut growth by 0.1 percentage points in a year and 0.7% in three years". "The elevated spread will continue to have a negative effect, and a growing one, on the years after 2019," he said. He complained that the government had not supplied information on alternatives to hiking VAT in the so-called financial 'safeguard clauses'. CAMEROUN :: Baby elephants killed, three arrested in Sangmelima :: CAMEROON Three people have been arrested in the Sangmelima in connection with killing of baby elephants and the trafficking of ivory tusks. The arrest was carried out by the Dja and Lobo Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife in collaboration with the state counsel chambers, the police and the gendarmerie. The first two suspects were arrested as they sat drinking while a third person was arrested several minutes later in the same town. Five tiny elephant tusks and a tail were found inside in a red knapsack they had with them at the moment of the arrest. The arresting team made a quick move that caught them by surprise and gave no chance for escape. The operation was carried out following an investigation that was launched when information was out that some baby elephants had been shot and killed at the Dja Biosphere Reserve. A non-governmental organization called LAGA assisted wildlife authorities during the operation. According to sources close to the operation, during the interrogation of the first two traffickers following their arrest, the third trafficker who was roaming free called one of them to know if he could come and collect his share of the money from the sale of the tusks. Police immediately sprang into action to locate and apprehend him. Prior investigations show that he is the poacher suspected to have recently shot and killed baby elephants at the Dja Biosphere Reserve. The very tiny elephant tusks that measured roughly 15 cm in length each and weighed less than a kilogramme were still very fresh and stinking. They probably had just been pulled out from the head of the newly killed baby elephants. Seeing the tiny little elephant tusks was distressing and Mbarga Atangana who is the wildlife chief at the divisional delegation declared: We weighed the five ivory tusks and it couldnt weigh up to one kilogramme, while adding, we want sanctions to be applied and their severity should be commensurate to the killing of these baby elephants. We hope justice shall do its job. Nous avons pese les 5 pointes divoire qui natteignent meme pas 1kg. Bon, on aimerait bien que les sanctions soient appliquees, et quelles soient aussi severes, a la hauteur des elephanteaux si on peut deja le dire comme ca, qui ont ete abattus. Enfin, on espere que la justice fera son travail. The traffickers used a canoe to cross into the Dja reserve and according to the same sources, travelled through very difficult parts of the forest to avoid being spotted by ecoguards. The areas are not only difficult to cross but also difficult to reach for ecoguards keeping watch over the reserve. Poachers have been entering the reserve through this route some reports show. The traffickers equally activated a chain of several small traffickers and poachers who were at their employ around the reserve. They also trafficked in pangolin scales. One of the traffickers is the son of a retired policeman whose gun, as disclosed by the same sources, is suspected to have been used in killing the elephants. A similar arrest was done by wildlife officials in 2017 when three people were arrested in Ebolowa for shooting and killing elephants and attempting to sell their tusks. They too had used the gun of a retired policeman. One of the traffickers is based in Djoum that is considered to be an ivory hotspot in the country and close to the Dja Biosphere Reserve that holds the remaining populations of elephants in the country. This reserve is blessed with natural borders such as rivers hampering easy access but it seems poachers are discovering new ways of entering the reserve. The arrest is attracting some interest in Sangmelima as the suspects were well known for their lavish lifestyles. When news broke out on their arrest, family members as well as one of their relatives who is a sheriff bailiff called at the wildlife office. The bailiff requested to discuss with wildlife officials on the issue and was promptly told to hold while the writing of the complaint reports against the traffickers were ongoing and he would later leave. The traffickers are presently behind bars. Anti-ISIS coalition air strikes in eastern Syria, 3 dead In Dayr az Zor area, in Euphrates Valley (ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 16 - At least three people have been killed in the last 24 hours in the area of Dayr az Zor, Syria, in the lower Euphrates Valley, in air strikes by the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, according to sources on the ground and local Syrian media. Sources said the air strikes targeted the town of Shufa, killing one man and two women.(ANSAmed). 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. California regulators on Friday proposed regulations that would allow vehicle manufacturers to test or deploy small self-driving delivery trucks on public roads, the states Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said in a statement. Manufacturers will be allowed to test autonomous delivery vehicles weighing less than 10,001 pounds with an approved permit from the regulator, the DMV said. It was not clear if these delivery vehicles will be required to have a safety driver while testing, as is required for passenger cars. The regulator will hold a public hearing at its Sacramento headquarters on May 30 to gather inputs on the proposed regulations. Currently, 62 companies have valid permits to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver on California public roadways. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) STRASBOURG - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg met with European Parliament President Antonio Tajani on Tuesday and afterwards gave a speech. "I expect politicians to act now because there isn't much time, we have a window to do something that won't be open long," Thunberg said after the meeting. "To the young people, I say that you have to continue because you're doing great work," she said, adding that with their climate demonstrations "they have made history and they should be proud". "Young people can do many things to improve the situation, in particular to put pressure on the people in power," she said, including voting in the European elections, which she said is "essential". "But also at an individual level, it's necessary to change our habits and understand what is happening. Personally I feel happy to do something that I feel is important," she said. Thunberg said her invitation to the European Parliament "is a great opportunity to speak in the name of young people who share my concerns". "We will have to see if the politicians now take action. I hope they are listening," she said. The young activist's arrival on Tuesday morning at the European Parliament in Strasbourg caused a flurry of action, attracting a crowd of journalists, cameramen and onlookers typically seen at important occasions. Notre Dame artworks to be transferred to Louvre Says French culture minister (ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 16 - French Culture Minister Franck Riester said on Tuesday that some artworks from the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, which was devastated by a fire that broke out on Monday evening, will be transferred to the Louvre museum. Riester told BFMTV that "the most precious artworks were transferred to the Hotel de Ville in Paris", city hall, on Monday evening, and that other artworks would be transferred to the Louvre on Tuesday.(ANSAmed). Matsiloje Cement MD claims his company was not protected 16 April 2019 Racjit Josh, managing director of the closed Matsiloje Portland Cement (MPC) plant, has said that it would be difficult to reopen the plant without government support to restrict cement imports. The Botswana factory, which is owned by Nortex Textiles, closed in January 2018 due to competition from South African imports and 150 people lost their jobs. In June last year, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment said that it was in the process of introducing restrictions on the importation of cement, but the country still has not implemented the proposals. "Zimbabwe, Nambia and SA have measures (import restrictions) in place to protect their market while Botswana does not have," said Mr Josh. "When we were in operation we constantly reduced prices until we reached a point where we felt that it was not sustainable to continue running the business. We had hoped that the business environment will change for the bette, but things did go not as we had anticipated." MPC had an annual turnover of around BWP20m (US$1.89m) and produced 30,000tpa of cement, according to Mr Josh. The company also produced the lime it used for its cement. It sourced other raw materials from Morupule (fly ash) and South Africa. Last year, government said the proposed cement import restrictions would require that 70 per cent of the product be sourced from local manufacturing companies. Botswana now just has a single running grinding plant, Gaborone Mill, which is operated by South Africa's PPC and produces 0.55Mta of cement. Published under ROME - Firefighters managed to save the overall structure of Paris' Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire that broke out Monday evening, but the building's stability remains uncertain as experts assess the situation Tuesday morning. At least 400 firefighters worked overnight to quell the blaze, using 18 tanker trucks, and by Tuesday morning the fire was almost completely extinguished with the exception of a few remaining spots inside the cathedral. The fire caused the cathedral's spire to collapse, followed by at least two-thirds of the roof, according to firefighters' estimates. French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte witnessed the scene into the late hours of Monday night. He called the firefighters "true heroes" who managed to "avoid the worst". "We will rebuild it, all together," Macron said. "It's what the French people expect, it's what our history deserves," he said. An international fundraising drive has already begun for the reconstruction efforts. Pope Francis expressed his support to the French people through a tweet in French by the interim director of the Holy See Press Office. "The pope is close to France, praying for French Catholics and for the people of Paris who are in shock over the terrible fire that devastated the Notre Dame Cathedral," said the tweet. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also tweeted: "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France". The fire broke out at 6:50 p.m. on Monday in the area between the cathedral's vault and roof, where restoration work was underway. The fire rapidly spread through the 850-year-old wooden roof beams, which were so numerous that they were nicknamed "la foret", the forest. Various works of art and relics were recovered and brought to safety. At 10:50 p.m., firefighters issued a statement that the structure had been saved and preserved in its entirety. However, the scope of the damage and its impact on the ancient building's stability are still unknown. French Interior Ministry Secretary of State Laurent Nunez said the issue is structural, "to know how the building will withstand the very serious fire that it suffered last night". The condition of the magnificent rose windows and centuries-old stained glass is still unknown. The first images taken inside the cathedral and broadcast by CNN show sections where the vault collapsed, including the transept. In addition to the destroyed wood and fire damage, high temperatures may have compromised the stability of the stone and marble, which experts said tend to calcify and crumble. There are 5.8 million Americans living with Alzheimer's (120,000 in Tennessee) and over 16 million (435,000) unpaid Alzheimer's caregivers. Over 1,200 advocates from across the nation just returned from the Alzheimer's Impact Movement Advocacy Forum in Washington, D.C. On Capitol Hill we asked our senators and Congressman Fleischmann to support legislation to provide researchers, clinicians and caregivers with resources necessary to combat Alzheimer's. Also urging increased funding for research at the National Institutes of Health and the BOLD Act. Rep. Fleischmann as a ranking member of the Appropriation's Committee is crucial to moving these funding requests forward. I also met and thanked Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, for her part in introducing the BOLD Act and helping it get passed in December 2018. Alzheimer's is the 6th leading cause of death in the nation (4th in Tennessee). It is also the most expensive with an estimated cost of $290 billion in 2019. Someone develops Alzheimer's every 65 seconds making it a public health crisis. There is no prevention, no cure, no survivors. I know. My husband was diagnosed in 2004 at the age 57 and passed away in June 2018. I had the privilege of taking care of him. Now I will advocate for him. Andrea "Andi" Erwin Animal Emergency & Specialty Center announces Jessica Leeman-Goepp, DVM, DACVS-SA has been added to the surgical staff at their Chattanooga location. "With the addition of a board-certified surgeon to our extensive Animal Emergency & Specialty Center team, Animal Emergency & Specialty Center is able to provide 24/7 access to a board-certified surgeon for complex and critical surgical cases," officials said. Dr. Leeman-Goepp hails from the west coast of Florida and went to veterinary school at the University of Florida. She then went on to complete a small animal internship at Louisiana State University and small animal surgery residency at Seattle Veterinary specialists in Washington. She became board certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2017. Upon completion of her residency, Dr. Leeman-Goepp worked emergency and surgery at Seattle Veterinary Specialists for almost three additional years while becoming a mom to two boys. She also served as the Surgery Internship director during the last two years of her employment and contributed to veterinary literature. Dr. Leeman-Goepp said she loves teaching and remains active in her community by providing CE to local veterinarians and their staff. Her areas of interest include challenging soft tissue cases and surgical emergencies. After picking up a pair of wins last weekend in Southern Conference action, the Chattanooga Mocs softball team will shift its focus toward a non-conference showdown against the Belmont Bruins in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday night.First pitch for Tuesday's game is set for 6 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT.Chattanooga is coming off a series victory at SoCon-leading Mercer last weekend where it saw a pair of 4-2 victories and a tough 2-1 loss. The Mocs upped their place in the league standings to fourth with a 4-5 record.Samford paces the conference behind a 9-3 tally.UTC went an impressive 21-7 in non-conference games and a perfect 8-0 against OVC members this season. Tuesday's game marks the first non-conference game since March 16. Newly appointed General Sessions Court Judge Gerald Webb on Tuesday directed that a man charged with shooting another man seven times be placed under a GPS monitor upon the request of the state. Prosecutor Larry Ables said the bond initially was set "incredibly low" at $20,000 for Darius Woods. He said, "It was very peculiar how this bond was set with no conditions whatsoever. This man has been walking around free ever since." Defense attorney Hank Hill denied that it was set without the state being present. He said, "A DA is always present when these bonds are set." He said prosecutor Ables was upset "because you didn't get to set the bond in your favorite court - Judge Statom's." Court officials said the bond was set by General Sessions Court Judge Clarence Shattuck after the Sept. 9 shooting on Wheeler Avenue. Judge Webb said he agreed the bond was low. He said in lieu of increasing the bond, he was ordering the ankle bracelet. Attorney Hill denied there was any need for the monitor. He said Woods had been out for six months with no contact with anyone involved in the incident. Police said Tavares Walker was found suffering from "multiple life-threatening gunshot wounds in the arms, legs and torso areas." Walker said he knew Woods through a family member. He said that night he and a cousin went to the Hot Boys Lounge. He said when it closed around 3 a.m. they went on to an "after spot" on Wheeler Avenue, where you paid to get in. Attorney Hill called it a "good time house." Walker said Woods was at the after spot and the two of them exchanged jokes about the other one being ugly. He said when that place closed he was walking with the cousin, two females and Woods toward their cars. He said he was standing on one side of the females' car and Woods was on the other. He said they continued their banter. He said Woods got offended, walked around the car, and gave him a push. He said that caused a fight to break out that ended up some 30 yards away. He said he believed he had knocked Woods out, so he got up to leave. Walker said a short time later he heard shots coming from behind him and he felt the sting of bullets. He said he wound up being shot in both arms and both legs. He said there were seven bullets and nine exit and entrance holes in all. He said he was in the hospital for a month and had a metal plate inserted in one leg and a metal rod in the other. He said he still has two of the bullets in his body. Under cross-examination, Walker said he formerly lived in Chicago and was a member of Satan's Disciples. The cousin, Leon Walker, said he was at the car when the fight broke out. He said after it appeared that Woods was out cold, he saw him rise up with a gun and start firing. During the hearing, prosecutor Ables twice called attorney Hill "Judge Hill," saying it appeared he was making the rulings. Judge Webb, who was sworn in earlier this month, at one point said he was "close to using my gavel for the first time." Click here for audio. Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III joined a 17-state coalition this week to support farmers and landowners by urging the Trump administration to adopt its proposed replacement of the Obama-era, Waters of the United States rule. The coalition, in comments filed late Monday, argued the Trump administrations proposal would restore reasonable, predictable lines between waters subject to federal and state regulation. The proposed rule, unlike the rule that it would replace, respects the traditional role of Tennessee and all other states to regulate their own water resources, said Attorney General Slatery. The coalition believes the new rule will correct flaws within the 2015 regulation, which extended authority of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers far beyond what Congress intended and the Constitution permits. The Trump Administration proposal also shows respect for the primary responsibility and right of states to regulate their own water resources. The 2015 WOTUS rule, if implemented, would have taken jurisdiction over natural resources from states and asserted federal authority over almost any body of water, including roadside ditches, short-lived streams and many other areas where water may flow once every 100 years. Tennessee signed the West Virginia-led letter with attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Read the public comments filing here: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2019/pr19-12-letter.pdf With Meghan Markle set to give birth just about any day now, the anticipation is building! Rumors are running wild over when the baby will arrive, and what will happen when Meghan actually goes into labor. The world saw Prince William and Kate Middleton debut two newborn princes and one princess on the steps of the Lindo wing while the flashbulbs went off by the hundreds. Meghan and Prince Harry have revealed that they have a different birth plan in mind, which raises an important question: Does Queen Elizabeth approve? What was originally expected? Back when Meghan and Harry announced that they were expecting their first child, it was thought that Meghan would follow in her sister-in-laws footsteps. We thought that wed see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex emerge from St. Marys hospital in Paddington, London, holding a precious bundle, while the entire world watched. Eventually, it was announced that Meghan would not deliver Baby Sussex at the same hospital as Kate and Princess Diana did, and that we would not meet Baby Sussex in the same way as the Cambridge children. Speculation surrounding Baby Sussex Over the months, we have heard various rumors. Some news outlets stated that Meghan had not yet chosen a hospital. Others even thought that shed be traveling to the United States to deliver the baby in her home state of California. When we discovered that Meghan and Harry were moving to Windsor, England, many royal fans believed that Baby Sussex would be making his or her debut at Frimley Park hospital, not far from the couples new home at Frogmore cottage. Now, it has been announced that Meghan is actually planning a home birth! Meghan Markle and Prince Harry wont announce the birth for a few days With all three of William and Kates children, we immediately knew when the birth occurred. It was even announced when Kate was in the early stages of labor and had been admitted to the hospital. This allowed for fans and photographers to line up in the streets outside the Lindo wing, waiting for the announcement that would come soon after the babys arrival. It was then only a few hours later that we saw the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leaving with their newborn. Meghan and Harry have decided not to go this route. Instead, they will keep the news private for a few days.. What can we expect from the Baby Sussex announcement ? At this point in time, we are not sure exactly when the announcement will come. We do know that Doria Ragland, Meghans mother, is traveling to England to be with her daughter at this important time. The news may be announced a couple of days after the birth, or Meghan and Harry could possibly choose to wait even longer before telling the world. Does the queen approve of Meghan Markles birth plan? Fans can bet that she does. We believe Queen Elizabeth actually prefers that Meghan and Harry keep the birth private at first. This is a very personal time for the royal family, and it will not only give Meghan a chance to rest while she and Harry enjoy the first few days of parenthood, but it will also give the entire royal family a chance to celebrate privately. Many years ago, this was the exact birth plan that the queen herself followed, so she is likely happy Meghan has decided to do the same. Although the world cant wait to catch a glimpse of the new baby, we understand that the royal couple would like to have a private experience. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have been together since 2016 and they are one of Hollywoods most talked about couples. Both of them are A-list stars and extremely successful in their respective industries. Many fans have been rooting for Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom since the start, so now that the couple is getting married, it seems gossip columns cannot stop speculating on all the rumors surrounding them. Although they have not set a wedding date yet, the latest reports are saying that Katy Perry is already pregnant. Sounds exciting, but is it true? Lets take a look at what we know. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom got engaged in February Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have only been engaged for about two months. He proposed to her on Valentines Day 2019 with a lot of roses and balloons. They shared the big news on social media and, on the day that they got engaged, Orlando Bloom even posted an insightful picture with the text: A shallow person will have only shallow relationships. Real love is not one person clinging to another, it can only be fostered between two strong people secure in their individuality. Love is not two people gazing at each other, but two people looking ahead together in the same direction. After getting together in 2016, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom broke up for about six months in 2017. However, they got back together and were determined to make their relationship work the second time. It seems that things have been going well for them now that the pair are planning on getting married. Why do people think Katy Perry is pregnant? Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are currently living together in Los Angeles and recently were invited to attend one of Kanye Wests Sunday Services. When photographers spotted the two of them leaving the service together, people were surprised to see Katy Perry wearing a dress with a loose button-down shirt on top. Normally, female celebrities who are trying to hide their baby bump will opt for loose-fitting clothes, so news outlets began wondering if the American Idol judge could be expecting soon. According to an issue of Life & Style magazine, a source said: Katy had wanted to wait until after they were married to have kids, but thats not written in stone. Another person also shared: If she were to get pregnant today, shed probably just postpone the wedding until after the babys born. Is Katy Perry really pregnant with Orlando Blooms baby? Unfortunately, it does not seem like this news is true at the moment. Fact-checking website Gossip Cop wrote that this is just a baseless rumor that was made up by Life & Style simply because Katy Perry did not wear a skin-tight outfit to Kanye Wests Sunday Service. Gossip Cop also confirmed with sources close to the couple and both sides said that Katy Perry is not pregnant. According to the website, Life & Style has a history of publishing outlandish information. In 2018, the magazine said that Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom got engaged in Tokyo only to write a few months later that they got engaged in Greece. Neither story added up and both were proven to be false when the pair got engaged for real in February 2019. Will Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have a family together? Just because they are not expecting now does not mean that they will never get to that point. It has been reported that Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom do foresee having kids together in the future. Katy is slowing down her career this year, a source told People. [They] want to get married and start a family sooner rather than later. Orlando Bloom has a son, Flynn, with his ex-wife Miranda Kerr. Katy Perry and Miranda Kerr get along quite well, so the couple now is looking to give Flynn some sibling companionship at home. At the moment, however, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are simply focusing on planning their wedding. Not much has been finalized or shared with the public, so it will be a while before we know more about the next steps in their relationship. Even though comedians John Mulaney and Pete Davidson are touring, they still take time out to raise money to support a good cause. Mulaney recently posted to social media that he and Davidson are hosting a charity show to support My Brothers Table. My Brothers Table is dedicated to feeding the community in Lynn, Massachusetts. The organization served more than three million hot meals since its inception in 1982 and 186,000 meals last year alone. John Mulaney, Pete Davidson, Colin Jost |Photo by Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photobank Mulaneys grandmother worked as a volunteer for the organization, so hes using his star power and tour with Davidson to raise money during a benefit on May 6 in Boston. My Brothers Table offers year-round assistance My Brothers Table now offers year-round meals, regardless of the weather or other issues like power outages. That means the organization has served for more than 10,000 consecutive days, providing free meals to anyone who comes through the doors. Beyond serving in their facility, volunteers also provide meals to homebound people, plus community members have access to a free weekly medical clinic. At least 60% of the community members who depend on My Brothers Table rely on meal service every day. Also, nine out of 10 of the organizations guests have been homeless at least one time in their life. All ticket proceeds go to My Brothers Table Mulaney posted to Instagram and tweeted about the upcoming event. My Nana has served the homeless and needy of Lynn, MA at My Brothers Table for decades. So I am doing a benefit for them in BOSTON MAY 6 with every Nanas favorite comic Pete Davidson. Every $ we make goes to MBT. He also included a cool, hand-drawn poster featuring Mulaney and Davidson as superheroes. The concert event is at The Wilbur in Boston. Ticket prices range from $125 to $200, which is significantly higher than what is being charged for Mulaney and Davidsons current tour. One fan seemed bummed about the price. Why must the ticket prices be so high? i get its a benefit, but im a broke college student who just wants to see you, the fan tweeted. Mulaney responded by saying the idea is to raise a lot of money. Both Mulaney and Davidson are generous guys Only a few weeks ago, Davidson held his own fundraiser. Davidson offered a thrilling opportunity for a few fans to attend Saturday Night Live and get a chance to hang out with him after the show. Fans simply had to donate to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is a cause near Davidsons heart. Climate change is no laughing matter, but I hope that through comedy we can inspire action, Pete Davidson said in a release. NRDC has been at the forefront of this fight for almost fifty years, making it its mission to protect the wellbeing of this planet and everything in it. Thats why I am excited to be supporting NRDC and hope that youll do the same. Fans earned an entry to the contest by donating at least $10 to the NRDC. Each $10 donation equals one entry into the contest (so $50 equals five entries). Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook! As the weather turns warmer in most of the country, theres just one thing on everyones minds: When is Meghan Markle going to have her baby? Royal fans have been speculating on the Duchess of Sussexs exact due date for months now. This information wouldnt necessarily help pin down the day of delivery after all, only a small percentage of mothers go into labor on the exact predicted day. But it would at least narrow down a time to start paying closer attention to Prince Harry and Meghan Markles newly created Instagram account. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Dominic Lipinski/AFP/Getty Images British royal family members are experts at keeping the private details of their lives shielded from the public. But Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, may have inadvertently just revealed a crucial piece of information about the due date of their new grandchild. When is baby Sussex due? So far all we know is that Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby is due sometime in late April or early May so it could happen literally any minute now. The Duchess of Sussex is already on maternity leave and getting ready for the little ones arrival while Prince Harry was seen at several royal engagements as late as last week. Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson WPA Pool/Getty Images But then came the announcement that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles will be embarking on a three-day tour of Germany beginning on May 7th. Considering that Prince Charles was overheard saying how excited he is to meet his grandchild, the timing of his trip has fans wondering if he knows the baby will already be born by then. Is Prince Harry and Meghan Markles baby already born? This announcement comes on the heels of another official announcement from the Palace. No one was surprised to find that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are doing things their own way. Rather than giving birth at St. Marys Lindo Wing and taking the iconic photos on the steps, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to celebrate the babys birth privately with their family before making an official announcement. Knowing this, royal fans are rightly wondering if the baby might already be born. Its not inconceivable to imagine that the Duchess of Sussex gave birth in secret before heading to her new home at Frogmore Cottage before making a public announcement. Prince Charles announcement would make sense if the baby was born. Or it could mean the baby will definitely be born before the first week of May. When did the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announce their pregnancy? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images The couple announced that they were expecting a baby together on October 15, 2018 after her 12 week scan. Its fairly typical to wait until the first trimester is over to announce a pregnancy as the risk for miscarriage decreases significantly past that point. Counting forwards, that means Meghan Markle is most likely due in April, not May. This all fits in with the theory that Prince Charles felt comfortable scheduling a trip for May 7th since the baby will definitely be born by then. In other words the royal baby will be here any day now! How exciting is that?! Kody Brown seemed all-in when fans watched the family of 23 pack several moving vans in Las Vegas. The July 2018 move was a culmination of months of work on Kodys part. Not only did he have to convince four wives and a handful of kids that leaving their surroundings was a good idea, but he also needed to find a place for everyone to live. Now, however, it seems like Brown isnt entirely committed to staying in Flagstaff, even after plunking down nearly $1 million on a piece of undeveloped property. Kody Brown says he cant guarantee The first part of the Sister Wives Tell-All special was a real eye-opener for fans. Not only did Kody share that hes working to repair his damaged relationship with first wife Meri, but he also suggested that hes not willing to guarantee that Flagstaff will be the familys final stop. The discussion between Kody and fourth wife, Robyn, got particularly tense; it clued viewers in on the fact that the familys home base is an ongoing battle between the pair. Robyn and Kody presented a united front in the series 13th season while trying to convince the rest of the family that Arizona was the place to be, but there appears to be a crack in the relationship now. Kody quipped that he couldnt make that promise because Robyn would hold him to it, leading some fans to wonder if hes already dreaming of a new location. Robyn Brown calls Kody out on his lack of commitment Robyn Brown was feeling feisty during the familys tell-all special on TLC. Not only did she huff at several of Kodys statement, but she directly called him out for his lack of commitment regarding Flagstaff. The 37-year-old legal wife called Brown out on his lack of commitment to The Grand Canyon state. Kodys lackluster response to her pleas to consider Flagstaff the familys last home might be especially nerve-wracking for Robyn. Fans have theorized that the entire reason the Browns currently reside in Arizona is because of Robyn. Eagle-eyed fans believe that Robyns oldest son, Dayton, is currently attending college in the state and Robyn wanted to move to remain close. Moving again could mean Robyn would be forced to leave Dayton behind, something she appears to be vehemently against. The rest of the wives seem unsurprised While Robyn is certainly hellbent on staying in Flagstaff for the rest of her life, the other sister wives arent particularly shocked the Kody is refusing t commit to the location as a permanent move. In the lead-up to their Flagstaff move, Brown insisted that the entire family was going to be happy in Flagstaff. He even reasoned that Vegas was never intended to be the familys home base. Meri Brown, Janelle Brown and Christine Brown all seem confident that Flagstaff is unlikely to be the familys last residence, and their past has something to do with it. According to the familys tell-all episode on TLC, the Brown family moved a whopping 19 times before settling in Vegas for the last seven years. Meri, who married Kody in 1990 followed the plural family patriarch between Utah and Wyoming several times. When the family added Janelle and Christine several more moves took place. They continued to traverse four states as a family until Robyn appeared on the scene in 2010. Robyn has only endured two moves with the family; first out of Utah into a Vegas rental home. They finally settled into a gated community in the state. UNICEF says 7,300 children displaced from Libya 4,500 asking to be evacuated. Death toll rises to 174 in clashes (ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 16 - A total of 7,300 children have been displaced in Libya due to clashes currently underway, according to data updated through April 15, UNICEF told ANSA on Tuesday. It said about 4,500 people, including 1,800 children, are still in the areas of conflict and have asked to be evacuated. UNICEF is enacting a rapid response to the emergency through the delivery of packages of essential goods, such as food and personal hygiene aids. About 200 families (about 1,000 people, including children), have been assisted since the start of the crisis. UNICEF is providing essential health-sanitary kits, medicines, and educational kits, to provide immediate assistance to children, families, and displaced people hit by the conflict. As part of its health response, UNICEF is also working to support healthcare structures in areas hit by the war. Four medical kits that can provide basic healthcare assistance to at least 10,000 people for three months were given to Zintan hospital. UNICEF is also ensuring psychological and social services and support to displaced children and their families. Since the start of the conflict, more than 100 young boys and girls and 50 parents have benefited from childhood protection programmes and awareness programmes. To respond to the emergencies in Tripoli and Western Libya, UNICEF and its partners have launched an urgent appeal for 4.77 million dollars to continue to provide multi-sector assistance to children and families directly hit by the conflict. Meanwhile, the toll from clashes in Tripoli has risen to 174 dead and 756 wounded, according to the World Health Organisation in Libya.(ANSAmed). New Museum of the Bible exhibit to explore relationship between science and the Bible Christian Post Contributor | 16 April, 2019 by Samuel Smith The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., has announced plans for a year-long exhibition examining the often contentious relationship between science and the Bible over the course of history. Through millions of dollars in grants received from the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust, the temporary exhibit will run from summer 2020 through summer 2021 and will detail the contemporary debates related to scientific inquiry and biblical interpretation. Specifically, the exhibit seeks to answer six of the world's most pressing questions: How did it all begin? What keeps the universe running? Are we different from animals? What are we made of? Where are we going? Are we alone? "We believe that the narrative for the most part in Western civilization is that the Bible and science are incompatible with each other," the museum's chief executive officer Ken McKenzie told The Christian Post in an interview. "We believe that in the scientific community some folks look at the Bible and say, 'We believe folks on the religious side look at science as competing with the Bible and therefore, is antagonistic. Our argument is that both the Bible and science have an authoritative place in society, and we believe a lot is complementary and they are not opposite to each other at all times." The museum aims to tackle "myths" that have emerged on both sides of the science-faith discussion in ways that are educational, engaging and informative. The exhibit will feature artifacts from the museum and those on loan from other institutions around the world. As there is much debate about the origins of the universe and human life, the matters of creation and evolution will be covered in the exhibit but will not be the entire focus. Rather, the focus will be on the six "big questions" that everyone has asked at some point in their lives. "The origin of the universe and the diversity of life are certainly big questions," he said. "We will cover them in Pod 1 and Pod 3 which ask, 'How did it all begin' and 'Are we different from animals?' respectively." Topics that will be discussed in the exhibit will range from past discoveries like Newton's laws of motion and Darwin's theory of natural selection, as well as modern topics like the cosmos and the debate on life and health. "[We hope] that it makes you ask more questions as to where you believe you land on either side of the two parties biblically based or scientific based," McKenzie said. "If you really lean heavily to one of the other, we hope that it challenges your thinking and then think, 'Maybe there is a lot of places where these overlap and actually are complementary to each other." Continue reading about the Museum of the Bible at The Christian Post. Bible scholars trying to retrace the route Moses took when he led the Israelites out of Egypt say they have found evidence that Mount Sinai is actually in eastern Saudi Arabia. Ryan Mauro, of the Doubting Thomas Research Foundation (DTRF), told Daily Star Online that his team traveled to Saudi Arabia three times to gather evidence. What I found there was simply mind-blowing, Mauro said. I couldnt believe that there was all this evidence for the Exodus and hardly anyone outside this region was aware of it. Although they are still piecing together a map and timeline, the researcher believes his theory is the most plausible" route. It starts with the Israelites leaving Egypt through Cairo and crossing into the Sinai Peninsula. Mauro said there is evidence that Moses split the sea at the Gulf of Aqaba, at a spot now known as Nuweiba beach. There, the crossing would be just eight miles wide and 33 meters (108 feet) deep. He believes they crossed into ancient Midian and stopped at Mount Sinai, which he claims is the peak of Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia. It was at Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. "I'm fully convinced that the Israelites went into the ancient land of Midian when they fled slavery in Egypt," he told the British newspaper. The theory that Jabal al-Lawz is the biblical Mount Sinai is not new and has been challenged by traditional academics, many of whom question the entire Exodus account and some go as far as to dismiss the existence of Moses. In its reporting of the DTRFfindings, CBN News reported that Mount Sinai is traditionally associated with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and that St. Catherine Monastery was built over what is believed to be the site where God spoke to Moses in the burning bush. There is no credible historical, geographical, archaeological or biblical evidence for the thesis that Mount Sinai is at Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia, said Creationist researcher Gordon Franz. James Karl Hoffmeier, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, described monumental blunders as leading to the conclusion of the mountain being the one mentioned in the Bible. Mauro, however, encourages skeptics to "keep an open mind," adding that "all the pieces fit." His team outlines their discoveries in a 25-minute documentary, Finding the Mountain of Moses: The Real Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps these skeptics have doubted the historical account of the Exodus story because of a lack of evidence at the traditional site at St. Catherines, but what we have found appears to fit the ancient accounts, the researcher said. Among the evidence, he claims are inscriptions of what appear to be cows on Jabal al-Lawz, which matches up with the biblical story of the idol of the Golden Calf. The researcher said that ancient rock structures at the foot of the mountain could be the remains of the altars built by the Israelites. He also points to Jabal al-Lawzs blackened peak, which would match the story of Moses meeting God as he descended upon the mountain in a fire. The Daily Star Online reported, however, that its unclear if this blackening of the peak is a natural phenomenon or the result of the rocks being scorched by holy fire. Additionally, Mauro said there is evidence of a large, ancient graveyard, which appears to match the massacre of the worshippers of the Golden Calf. The graveyard is part of a camp he believes to have been at the base of the mountain. Near that site, Mauro believes his team has discovered the Rock of Horebwhich is said to be the Israelites final camp before moving onto Mount Sinai. The Old Testament chronicles how Moses struck a rock, causing it to split, spilling out water to quench the thirst of the Israelites. Mauro says they have found a large, seemingly water-eroded rock, sitting on a hill and split in two. The golden calf, the split rock, Moses altar, the Red Sea crossing site; all of these pieces need to fit, and they fit at this site in a way that no other site does, he said. These events really did happen. It doesnt require belief in one of these faiths to accept the evidence. Photo courtesy: Rabah al-Shammary/Unsplash Students opposed to a biological boy using the girls restroom staged a walkout at an Iowa high school last week, chanting we want privacy and he is a male. The students at Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa., gathered on a sidewalk outside the school, while students supportive of the individuals right to use the whichever restroom they pleased climbed an adjacent hill. The protest April 11 was peaceful, and students were not suspended. The walkout was sparked by a female student who believes her privacy is being violated by the transgender student using the girls restroom, WOWT reported. Most students protesting the policy were female students impacted by the situation. We felt very uncomfortable with a male who's not doing anything to be transgender going into the female restrooms, student Elana Owens told WOWT. Another student, Brandi Scherlund, said, I believe if you have the male parts you go to the males bathroom and if you have the female parts you go to a ladies room and that's just the way I was raised. The protest lasted about 15 minutes, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Students who want the transgender girl out of the girls restroom chanted, One over all is not fair and We want privacy. He is a male. The other group of students chanted, Equality. Vickie Murillo, superintendent of the Council Bluffs Community School District, said she was very proud of how the students peacefully conducted themselves. Its important to us to let students express their opinions as long as its done in a respectful way, Murillo told the newspaper. The school district, Murillo said, believes students who are transitioning into a new gender have the right to use the restroom that they identify. Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com. Photo courtesy: Adrian Naranjo/Unsplash This week the world watched aghast as images flickered across social media of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris engulfed in flames. As we all know, this majestic building survived the French Revolution and Nazi occupation, but is now partially in cinders. Even when rebuilt, an incalculable cultural and religious treasure is irrevocably lost. Its, of course, easy to see why my Roman Catholic friends would be in such anguish, but what about the rest of us? Apart from the loss of a civilizational achievement, should low-church Christians care about what happens to a cathedral? Even as Paris fire services were attempting to put out the flame, my friend Seth Brown, editor of the North Carolina Baptist newspaper the Biblical Recorder posted on social media a warning to all of us in American evangelicalism. Brown said that we should remember that theres something between The church is not the building but the people and Buildings dont matter. Hes exactly right. For many, buildings (or other signs of rootedness) become the point. Thats why we can see architectural wonders in major cities sitting empty. And its why weve seen some orthodox (small o) Christians buckle beneath outright heresy, for fear of losing their church buildings to their theologically-adrift denominations. And, of course, how many evangelical congregations are ripped apart by arguments about buildings? The jokes we tell about church splits over the color of the carpet are ubiquitous because they are rooted in countless true stories. Moreover, weve seen numerous churches sacrifice their mission for indebtedness, shackling generations to pay for enormous facilities. Plus, in evangelical circles, many of the most dynamic, missions-sending, evangelistic churches are those not very tied to buildings. Of all the things that cheer my heart in seeing what God is doing in a resurgent evangelical church-planting movement in North America, architecture is not high on the list. The church of Jesus Christ, globally and locally, is not consigned to a specific building or set of buildings. Thats true. That doesnt mean, though, that place doesnt matter. The Bible speaks repeatedly of making markers of where grace was found. After crossing the Jordan into the Land of Promise, Joshua commanded the people to set up twelve stones as a memorial for future generations. When your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you? then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Joshua said. So these stones shall be to the people a memorial forever (Joshua 4:6-7). And when God delivers his people from the Philistines, the prophet Samuel erects a stone memorial there, naming it Ebenezer (1 Sam. 7:2-14). This is why I cringe every time a hymn takes out Ebenezer from the lyrics of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. They will say, But people dont know what it means. And the answer is: Thats the point! To teach them! Sorry. You do not want to get me started on this topic. Look at the names of many churches around the country and around the world. Many of them are named after places marked out to remember the interruptions of grace: Bethel, for instance. Thats good and right. Too much rootedness can cause us to mistake our land of sojourn for the kingdom, causing us to forget that we are wayfarers and strangers. But not enough rootedness can cause us to grow ungrateful for the ways that God has acted in space and time, for us. Thats true not just in the broad sweep of redemptive history, but also in your own life. When I go back to my home church, I can see exactly where I first heard the gospel, where I was baptized, where I memorized the word that now enlivens my psyche. There are other places I can go and see exactly where I was when I prayed for something specific in my life, where I worked through with God a difficult decision. Thats a blessing, not because those places are enchanted, but because God moves in many ways, and one of those ways is through memory. A memory pointed toward gratitude can be a sign of grace. Buildings matter. Buildings are not ultimate. We need both catacombs and cathedrals. We need churches meeting in homes and schools and movie theaters, to remind us that we are citizens of heaven, and we need structures and stability to remind us that we are connected to generations before us and to come. Notre Dame is a remarkable building. France, and the world, should grieve, and should then rebuild. We are right to lament the loss, but we are right also to be reminded of what cannot be lost. Cathedrals can be shaken; the kingdom never can be. PhotoCredit: GettyImages/barm 7 inspirational songs for Palm Sunday Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In many churches, the Sunday before Easter serves as a celebration of Jesus' triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, in which the Bible records that local waved palm branches in his honor. Known as Palm Sunday, the day begins what is called Holy Week, a time on the liturgical calendar that includes Holy Thursday, which recalls the Last Supper, Good Friday, which recalls the Crucifixion, Holy Saturday, and finally Easter. The observance will often involve members of a congregation taking palm branches and waving them during worship, especially the opening processional of the service. Here are seven songs that are used to celebrate and contemplate the significance of Palm Sunday. They include works ranging from Medieval times to this very century. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next Al Mohler: True Christians believe every word of the Apostles' Creed (exclusive) Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In a society in which counterfeit gospels, false doctrines, and diluted theology are becoming rampant, Albert Mohler Jr. is calling on the Church to define Christianity in its historical biblical terms for true spiritual fulfillment. In his new book, The Apostles' Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits, Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, argues that the Apostles' Creed, although written nearly 2,000 years ago, remains a powerful summary of the Christian faith as revealed in the Bible for the 21st century Church. We live in a day where theres spirituality, but not Christianity, Mohler told The Christian Post. Thats not a category found in Scripture. Theres no Christianity that isnt doctrinal Christianity. Christianity is based on events that took place in space and time in history. Its a faith of definite, essential beliefs. The Apostles' Creed is a way of summarizing the Christian faith so that Christians can be grounded in the truth and be able to detect false doctrine and false Christianity. The oldest known creed in Christendom, the Apostles' Creed is a faithful summary of what Christians believe and holds an unparalleled level of doctrinal authority, beginning with the statement, I believe in God. Those simple words, Mohler said, contain the basis of the entire Christian faith. You have so many people who say, I have belief or I have a faith, but according to Scripture, these people are only Christians if the focus and foundation of that belief is Christ. We dont believe were saved by faith; we believe were saved by faith in Christ, he said. There are many people who know accurate truths concerning Christ, but they arent trusting Christ, they arent placing their faith and confidence in Christ. They dont believe in Christ as a Savior who died on the cross for their sins and was raised by the power of God. True Christianity is a personal belief and those words go back to the Apostles believing Jesus declaration, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Mohler acknowledged that some churches disregard the Apostles' Creed, instead adopting the slogan No creed but the Bible. He told CP that while he understands the impulse behind that statement, it was often used by liberal church leaders to deny the essential truths of the Gospel. Jesus gave His disciples the ability to maintain that faith which was first of all delivered to the saints, he explained. We have to summarize what the Bible teaches, to determine whether or not someone is teaching the whole truth. Paul wrote to Timothy that one of his main responsibilities was to maintain the pattern of sound words. This is an essential responsibility of the Church. We have to know the essential doctrines that will mark real Christianity wherever its found. In his book, Mohler addresses common misunderstandings regarding the Apostles' Creed, such as the line that states, I believe in ... the holy catholic church." The Creed declares a belief in the holy catholic church, but the word catholic is not the name of a religious body, but rather a definition of the Church; Jesus said His Church was catholic, meaning over all people, over all places, over space and time, he said. It speaks to the singularity of the Church, and theres not another word that fits there. The affirmation I believe in the holy catholic church is the belief that Christ died for His Church and it is united to Him in the sense that the Church includes those who, at any place and at any time, come to saving faith. Protestants, he added, should not concede the word catholic to the Catholic Church. Its an important word for Protestants to embrace. Another stumbling block for some evangelicals is the line in the Apostles Creed that talks about Jesus descending into Hell. The theologian explained that the Creed is not referring to Hell as a place of everlasting punishment, but rather the state of being dead. Unfortunately, the medieval church used a lot of imagination on this issue, which is not helpful to our modern reading of the Creed, he said. Jesus did not go to the place of everlasting torment, but He did die. That line is referring to the biblical simplicity that Jesus was crucified, He genuinely died, and He joined the dead, and was then raised on the third day." Ultimately, its important for Christians to understand that there are limitations on substitute language when it comes to the Apostles' Creed, Mohler said. He pointed out that the original words of the Creed also hold significant historical weight, as they were often the final recitation of Christian martyrs in the earliest days of the Church and were confessed by the Puritans and Protestant Reformers. Theres tremendous value in saying the very words martyrs, Puritans, and Reformers spoke, he said. There are certain words that would lose a great deal if they were updated too much. You can think of this with the preamble to the Constitution or Declaration of Independence. Theres a limitation to how modernized you can make some statements without losing too much meaning. The Apostles' Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits is the third and final installment in Mohlers series of works about three central documents in Christian faith and practice. His previous books addressed the Ten Commandments (2009s Words from the Fire), and The Lords Prayer (2018s The Prayer that Turns the World Upside-Down). Mohler explained that throughout Christian history, those three texts the Lords Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles' Creed have been used by the Church in the worship and teaching of new believers. One of my goals early in ministry was to write an exposition of these three texts for the Church, he said. Throughout history, all of these texts have been incorporated into Christian worship. Theres something powerful about Christians standing together, saying I believe in unison, praying as instructed in the Lords Prayer, and reciting the Ten Commandments. Its not a coincidence that every Christian church has found its way to those three things. The Apostles Creed, Mohler said, can build true Christian unity on the foundations and the fundamentals of the faith. All Christians across denominational lines, he asserted, can believe more than the Apostles' Creed but no Christian can believe less. Thats crucial because every church has holes and teaches doctrines that are beyond the Apostles' Creed, he explained. The Creed doesnt tell us how or whom to baptize, it doesnt tell us the order of the church, it doesnt speak to many of those things. But a Christian church believes every word of the Apostles' Creed. If it believes less than the Creed, it's not a true Christian church." "If the church doesnt know the truth, it cant function as Christ assigned it to function," he emphasized. Although an ancient statement, the Apostles' Creed is a faithful explanation of the Gospel and has the power to equip coming generations to remain doctrinally and theologically faithful in an increasingly post-Christian culture, Mohler said. We need to teach these truths to our children and to new believers, he said. My great hope is to introduce many Christians to the Apostles' Creed, maybe for the first time, and to help them understand the richness of the orthodox, biblical, classical Christian faith as rooted in Scripture and as founded by Christ. "I hope to give Christians ammunition against false doctrines and help them to detect false Christianity. Baptist seminary adopts Nashville Statement as confessional statement Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Baptist seminary based in Kansas City, Missouri, decided to adopt the Nashville Statement, a declaration from 2017 that affirmed a traditional biblical understanding of sexual ethics and gender identity. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary announced Thursday that the schools Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt the statement at their spring meeting, April 8-9. Midwestern Baptist President Jason Allen said that the move came in response to the increasing social acceptance of the LGBT movement in the United States. In light of ever-changing cultural norms and expectations toward marriage, gender, and sexuality, and in recognition that Southern Baptists are a confessional people, expecting their entities to maintain faithfulness to Holy Scripture and a clear witness to the world, Midwestern Seminary will strengthen its doctrinal clarity, witness, and legal standing by formally adopting the Nashville Statement, stated Allen, according to the announcement. The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the group that released the statement, celebrated the news of Midwestern Baptists adoption of it. This is good news out of Kansas City, and it is exactly why the Nashville Statement was created in the first place to assist churches and Christian ministries to articulate a biblically faithful confession of the Bibles teaching about sexuality, wrote CBMW President Denny Burk on Thursday. Thanks to President Jason Allen for his leadership in making this happen at Midwestern Seminary. The trustees have made a strong statement of conviction to serve as a guideline for their entire ministry. That can only bear good fruit in the days ahead. The Nashville Statement was released in August 2017 and within a year was signed by over 20,000 evangelical leaders, activists and theologians. Notable signatories included John Piper, founder of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary; Dr. James Dobson, former head of Focus on the Family and founder of Family Talk; Karen Swallow Prior, professor at Liberty University; Fred Luter, the first African-American president of the Southern Baptist Convention; and David French, columnist with the National Review. The statement had its share of critics from both secular and Christin backgrounds. Pastor Josh Daffern of MTV Church in Columbus, Mississippi, wrote in 2017 that while he agreed with the statement, he felt the document lacked pastoral wisdom. Daffern noted that a lesbian woman has been attending his church and was reportedly battling addictions and struggling with many other personal issues. "If I preached on the Nashville Statement and declared my allegiance, would that help or hinder her own spiritual journey?" wrote Daffern. "Why would I be more comfortable with pastors and not Christian academics creating this document? Because orthodoxy divorced from relationships can many times lead to rhetoric that hinders (not helps) us achieve our overall mission, to lead all people to Jesus." CAIRO - Egypt's parliament will vote on Tuesday to approve a constitutional modification that would, among other things, allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until as long as 2030. The reforms reduced the proposed term extension by four years, following an initial draft to extend the term to up to 2034. According to a report by the legislative committee, which summarises the constitutional changes and was published by the site Youm-7, an extension of the presidential term from four to six years would be applied to the "current president", also giving him "the right to run for only one other term". Sisi was elected to a second term last year, which ends in 2022. The reform extends his current term to 2024, and then to 2030 in the event of re-election for another six-year term. In order to be enacted, the reforms have to be approved by a referendum; however, its approval is a foregone conclusion, as with Tuesday's vote in parliament since parliament backs the president. Louisiana church will give away free gas and prayers on Good Friday Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In a creative move that combines ministering to both the material and spiritual needs of their community, the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist in New Orleans, Louisiana, will be giving away free gas to their community on Good Friday while supplies last. Executive Pastor Donna Williams told The Christian Post Friday that come April 19, the church will give gas away from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at Sterling Express station located at 1667 Tchoupitoulas Street and the Gentilly-Paris Shell located at 2035 Gentilly Boulevard. We do this as a way of giving back to the community. This is the second year that we will be doing it. We call it [the] Greater Good Friday Gas Giveaway, Williams said. Community members hoping for a shot at the free gas will have to make sure that they are among the first 250 people to show up at the gas stations. We plan to service 250 people and we have two different gas stations that they give the gas away, so once we reach the amount that we expect to giveaway then unfortunately we just have to turn some people away, she said. Williams explained that if people miss out on the free gas, the church will also be offering prayers and an invitation to join them at Greater St. Stephen Baptist for worship on Easter Sunday. Were there and we witness to them. If they want prayer we offer prayer and we invite them to celebrate with us on Easter Sunday, she said. When the church first held the event which was the brainchild of Senior Pastor Debra B. Morton last year, Williams said they were able to invite many people to church and about 20 percent of them showed up for church on Sunday. I would say maybe 20 percent [showed up], she said. We give them cards and we ask them to bring the cards and we have a small reception planned for them, those who show up. Beginning next Wednesday as well, Williams said the church will kick off a more traditional Easter event in which they will host early morning services from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. until Good Friday. We call it a Holy Week Symposium service that starts on Wednesday morning. Weve been doing it for like 50 some odd years. Its a one hour service on Wednesday, Thursday and Good Friday morning. And that is just overwhelming, so many people come, Williams said. They look forward to it because its something that weve done traditionally. For the gas giveaway, Williams said Morton wants the community to know that the church cares. She explained that the church conducts other types of community outreach like feeding the hungry and providing clothes to those who are in need but we just thought that the gas would be something that people needed [at this time]. For this Easter, Williams added, Greater St. Stephen is promoting the theme, Jesus, the Cross: The Salvation factor. We just all want people to know that Jesus Christ died and He was crucified and He was risen so that we can all have a better life, she ended. Most religious groups becoming more Republican, data show Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Most religious groups in the United States, including mainline Protestant denominations like the United Methodist Church, have become more Republican since 2008, according to a political science researcher. Ryan Burge of Eastern Illinois University analyzed data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, between 2008 and 2018, using two-year intervals. He looked at 34 different religious groups in the United States who had at least 100 respondents in the biannual survey. In an analysis published last week by Religion in Public, Burge found that of the 34 faith traditions charted, 27 of them leaned more Republican in 2018 than they did in 2008. Only seven became more Democrat. Burge noted that the average shift for all of the groups from 2008 to 2018 was +0.13 on the scale, with a positive change associated with becoming more Republican while a negative change meant becoming more Democrat. Among surveyed religious groups, major shifts rightward included Independent Baptist at 0.69, American Baptist Churches in USA at 0.43, Other Pentecostal Church at 0.72, and Eastern or Greek Orthodox at 0.61. The United Methodist Church, which has in recent months endured a divisive debate over LGBT issues, shifted rightward by 0.34 from 2008 to 2018, according to the report. Rightward shifts were also documented for non-Christian traditions like Buddhists (0.29), Agnostics (0.14), and Jewish (0.1). The religious category that went the most leftward during the time period were respondents who identified as Mormon, with an overall shift of -0.31. Other groups that leaned more Democrat in 2018 than in 2008 included atheists (-0.28), nondenominational Fundamentalist (-0.23), and other (-0.16). Taken together," Burge concluded, "this evidence strikes a blow to the argument that there is polarization among Protestant Christian traditions. Looked at here, the overwhelming narrative is that Protestants are more and more Republican every two years. ... American religion is becoming more and more synonymous with the Republican Party while those who have no religious affiliation tend to be the (weak) base for the Democrats. If one wants to be an active Christian but disagrees with Republican politics, where do they go? Despite the fact that most Democrats do currently claim a religious affiliation, it seems that the places of refuge are dwindling every year. Burges analysis of a rightward shift in most religious groups comes as many candidates in the crowded Democratic presidential primary field address faith issues. Emma Green of the Atlantic noted in a story published earlier this month that Faith has come up often in the 2020 Democratic race so far. In her campaign-kickoff speech, Senator Kamala Harris of California nodded to the faith of abolitionist and civil-rights leaders, arguing that to love the religion of Jesus is to hate the religion of the slave master, wrote Green. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts referred to the Book of Matthew in a CNN town-hall interview in mid-March while talking about the importance of fighting poverty. At a similar CNN event, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey told potential voters that Christ is the center of my life, and quoted Jewish teachings in Hebrew. Democrat candidate and openly gay South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg garnered attention for recent comments in which he argued that entering a same-sex marriage strengthened his Christian faith. My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God, stated Buttigieg at an LGBT Victory Fund event, as reported by 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. In response, conservative commentator Erick Erickson argued that Buttigiegs comments against Pence and others against President Donald Trump showed why progressive Christianity is so corrupt and flawed. As much as Buttigieg makes a valid critique on the presidents behavior and evangelicals' excusing that behavior, Buttigieg wants to reject the inconvenient parts of faith he does not like, wrote Erickson earlier this month. Buttigieg wants to use the social obligations as Christians against the president, but wants to avoid any implication on the personal obligations of Christians in terms of clear biblical sexual ethics and how we are to live our lives applying our faith even for the least of these. All-male black college Morehouse to accept transgender men; slammed for 'masculinist gender norms' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Morehouse College, Americas only all-male historically black college, will begin accepting women who identify as men, a move that upsets some in the LGBT community because it enforces "masculinist gender norms." Students born male but who now identify as female will not be admitted to the 152-year-old institution. The Morehouse College Board of Trustees has approved a Gender Identity Policy that will allow individuals who self-identify as men, regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth, to be considered for admission in the nations only historically black school for men, the Atlanta college, which also describes itself as Americas largest liberal arts institution for men, said Saturday in a release. The announcement explained that the decision was made to implement the new policy, which will begin for the Fall of 2020 class, after 15 months of community engagement with faculty, staff, students, and alumni through a task force created by the president of Morehouse College, Dr. David A. Thomas. We found that when our admission representatives were going out, oftentimes people would ask them, Does Morehouse admit transgender people? David A. Thomas, the president of the college told The New York Times on Sunday. Terrance Dixon, vice president for enrollment management at Morehouse, further explained the thinking behind the decision. In a rapidly changing world that includes a better understanding of gender identity, were proud to expand our admissions policy to consider trans men who want to be part of an institution that has produced some of the greatest leaders in social justice, politics, business, and the arts for more than 150 years, Dixon said in the statement released by the school. The ratification of this policy affirms the Colleges commitment to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service. Morehouse officials further noted that to continue at the school every student must self-identify as a man. If a student transitions from a man to a woman, that student will no longer be eligible to matriculate at Morehouse. Exemptions from this rule may be granted by a three-person committee appointed by the President after a written appeal is submitted by the student. In the event that the impacted student disagrees with the decision of the committee, the student may make a final appeal to the President of Morehouse, the college said. Morehouse student Marquintas Oldham, 21, who identifies as queer, non-binary and who prefers to use the pronouns they and their, told the New York Times that the schools new policy is erasing their existence. Who I am on this campus, they are trying to kind of like remove me from self-identifying myself, Oldham, who identified as male when he first started at the school, said. They said in their policy that they are going to still use male-gendered language and that affects me. Sometimes I do dress as a feminine, non-binary person, so when I dress the way I want to dress and its a problem, that affects me. Oldham, who is set to graduate in 2021, transitioned while he was enrolled. I knew I was part of the queer community, I knew I was gay, but I got here to Morehouse and this was different for me. I decided to just live. On Sunday, an association of LGBT Morehouse alumni called the new policy, anti trans. This is an anti-trans policy to enforce conformity to masculinist gender norms under the guise of trans acceptance. Anyone who goes to Morehouse will risk being de- enrolled if they eventually identify as a trans woman / femme or bend gender anywhere on the femme spectrum, the group said on Twitter. Rashad Raymond Moore, 29, who graduated from Morehouse in 2012, told The New York Times that keeping the college all male was a big part of the schools history. Making the decision to include transgender men, said Moore, will change the schools moral fiber. It is the only black institution in the United States that is dedicated to the intellectual and moral formation of black men and to allow trans women to enroll or matriculate or graduate from Morehouse would change the moral fiber of the institution completely, he said. Lecrae signs first-ever female artist to Reach Records: Wande Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment ORLANDO Reach Records founder and Grammy-Award winning emcee Lecrae publicly welcomed their first-ever female artist to the Christian record label on Thursday. Lecrae and his Reach Records team have been out on the Unashamed 2019 Tour and during their recent stop in Orlando, Florida, the rapper introduced The Christian Post to 23-year-old Wande Isola, the long-awaited first lady of the Reach Records family. Its a great time in the culture for all this to happen and come together. Im excited to be here in this moment and see what the future holds, Wanda shared during an interview with The Christian Post. The Austin, Texas, native by way of Nigeria has worked in Atlanta for the hip-hop label behind the scenes for some time and now she is introducing her rapping skills to the world. Being on the administrative aspects helped me see a lot of things clear that I wouldnt have been able to see if I had only dived into my creative side. I feel likes its really cool because it was almost like a blessing, I was able to be prepared for now before I take on this artistry. There's more knowledge that I have and more wisdom I can use when approaching my artistry, she explained. The young rapper described herself as multifaceted" and "energetic" who likes to have fun. Like everyone else at the label, the new signee is a devoted Christian and unashamedly shared her faith. At the core [I] love Jesus and will always tell you about the truth and [am] not afraid to represent that, Wande testified. Im also just growing because Im becoming an adult, so Im going to take yall along for the ride for that as I discover what its like to be young and unashamed as well. Wandes new single, Blessed Up, is now available. Lecrae officially welcomed Wande to the family, alongside all of the Reach Records artists, Andy Mineo, Tedashii, Trip Lee, KB, GAWVI, 1K Phew, and WHATUPRG at Thursday night's concert. After performing her new single, her labelmates and everyone in attendance prayed over her. See footage below. 'Roe v. Wade' director Nick Loeb shares pro-life conversion, says he dreams of 2 aborted babies Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment ANAHEIM, California Actor Nick Loeb, director of the upcoming film "Roe v. Wade," revealed why he went from being a pro-choice advocate who supported two abortions in past relationships to a vocal defender of the unborn. I grew up in the '80s and early '90s, and I was taught that when I woman gets pregnant, its just a bunch of cells; theres no life there, its not a baby until it can kick, Loeb recalled in an interview with The Christian Post where he admitted to sometimes dreaming of the unborn children he fathered. So I had no problem with a woman doing whatever she wanted to do with her own body. I thought, science tells you theres no life there, so why not terminate it if thats what you want to do? The actor said that in his 20s, he supported two different girlfriends who decided to terminate their pregnancies. But as the years passed, he began to dream of the children who had been so easily discarded. As I got older, into my late 20s and early 30s, I started to have dreams of the children that had been aborted. I saw them at the ages they wouldve been at that time, he said. That prompted me to begin looking more into the issue, researching and educating myself. But Loeb said he wasnt yet truly pro-life and adopted the mantra, I am pro-life for me, but it's OK for you to be pro-choice and make your own decisions. That changed when a friend began challenging him on his beliefs. My friend said, Do you think its OK to rob banks? I said, No, of course not. He said, But its OK for other people to rob banks? I said, No. He said, Then why is abortion not OK for you, but its OK for other people? The actor said he then decided abortion was only acceptable in cases of rape until he was in a car accident nine years ago that led to permanent Sciatica, an excruciating nerve pain running down the length of his leg. Im not going to compare it to rape; rape is a horrible thing that women go through, he clarified, but Ill live with this pain my entire life, its a horrible thing, a bad thing that happened to me. But I cant just get rid of it and kill it and its not even a life. So yes, bad things happen to women, bad things happen to people all the time, but why are we going to punish another life or something that happened to you? Yes, youll go through nine months of trauma because youll have to carry it, he said. But its not as bad as the lifetime of trauma youll have when you abort it. So you weigh that out as well. And if you dont want to live with that child after, there are millions of people who want to adopt your baby. So to me, I really wasn't pro-life although I labeled myself that, he continued. People arent pro-life until theyre really for life, under any circumstances, no matter what, no excuses, no exceptions. Starring Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Corbin Bernsen, John Schneider and Stacey Dash, Roe v. Wade tells the true story of how Norma McCorvey, commonly known as Jane Roe, was persuaded by lies and manipulation to sue the government for the right to have an abortion, according to the film synopsis. The script, co-written by Loeb, was developed from actual court records to share the truth behind the case that has allowed the killing of more than 60 million children in the United States. The film will be released in theaters nationwide in the fall of 2019. Loeb told CP that many people are pro-choice because Hollywood has glamorized abortion and reinforced the myth that life doesnt begin at conception. He pointed out that while the pro-life camp does an excellent job with fundraisers, galas and other events, it has done a poor job of tackling pop culture. He explained: Planned Parenthood has been incredible with getting celebrities on board. The Kardashians did an entire episode where Planned Parenthood spent $30 million bringing them to a clinic, showing about wellness and talking about their services. They've been great at getting their theme into movies and pop culture today." Pop culture, Loeb said, is what drives social change, adding, "We have a president that got elected because of pop culture, right? You want to affect change in America today, you have to go to pop culture; you have to spend the money, he said. The film has already experienced pushback. During an interview with Fox News last March, Loeb revealed that Facebook had blocked their efforts to promote the film. In another interview, he said that some actors even walked off the set and quit after finding out it would have a pro-life perspective. Still, Loeb told CP hes optimistic and hopes the film leads to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and educates the public on the devastating reality of abortion. I think things are changing today with the advent of technology and being able to see the baby's heartbeat within the first three weeks, Loeb said. Even millennials today and kids out of college are trending more toward life and toward the social conservative side of the life issue. I think so much of it is lack of education because I can't really think that anyone is that evil to think it's OK to kill a child. We really need a movie to educate. We want to show that life begins at conception, period, he added. This movie is so important because people believe what they see, and we want to change hearts and minds. To help support the movie or for more information, visit "Roe v. Wade" movie.com. Pastors explain why Christians should tithe, reject 'sow your seed' preaching Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Tithing is not a popular practice among U.S. Christians and some pastors believe the church hasnt done the best job in relaying the significance of giving a tenth of ones income. Were not talking about it in the right way. When the church has talked about money, its in a guilt thing or obligation, and it is very much in a transactional way do this and God will do that, Glen Packiam, lead pastor of New Life Downtown in Colorado, said in a recent podcast. Daniel Grothe, associate senior pastor of New Life Church, knows all too well the message on tithing many pastors give: Sow your seed so you can reap your harvest. Grothe grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which he labeled the word of faith capital of the universe. The problem with these messages is that they make it all about you and not about the community. This is not about you and Jesus being OK. This is about God blessing us to make us a blessing because whether or not youre struggling, someone out there is struggling and if we will pool our strength, if we will be the church, there will be single moms and their little kids rejoicing because of it, said Grothe. Though 83 percent of churchgoers believe tithing is a biblical command that still applies today, only 54 percent of those who attend church at least once a month say they tithe, according to LifeWay Research. Its fair to say that many people are hesitant to give and skeptical of the local church because theyve seen so much mismanagement of money, Packiam acknowledged. Theyve seen pastors padding their own bank accounts; theyre not helping the poor. So in some ways we have earned the distrust of our own community. But we can earn it back by reminding them of the mission, by having a bit of transparency [and] accountability. Money given to the church is supposed to help fill the needs of the community, the Colorado pastors maintained. New Life Senior Pastor Brady Boyd believes if every member of his church tithed, he would be able to solve the homeless single mom problem in El Paso County. People [are] withholding their money at the detriment of people right here in the city who are sleeping in their car, he said. There are people in our city who will suffer tonight because the church is not equipped and not resourced enough to meet the need. The Colorado pastors pointed to the example of the early believers in the book of Acts to demonstrate the impact of giving to the church. Acts 4:32-35 states: All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And Gods grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. The early Christians showed a radical or even dangerous generosity that resulted in no needy persons among them, Grothe emphasized. You dont get the sense that after Jesus, once the church is established that tithing goes away. You get the sense that its heightened, that people start living recklessly generous, trusting their Father in Heaven. Generosity is part of the Christian DNA because of who God is, Grothe suggested. God gave His son and His son gave His own life and Christians are made in His image. While giving helps people to connect with the rest of the community, the pastors noted a pattern in which the wealthy become more distant and less likely to tithe as they move into better neighborhoods and lose contact with and compassion for those less fortunate. Poor people who are living among poor people realize the power of the church and thats why tithing, the percentage of giving is really high among poor people because theyve tasted and seen firsthand the power of the church in their lives, said Boyd. The richer we get, the less connected we get with the poor; thats why tithing keeps us connected to the plight of the poor. Stripped down to its basics, tithing is an act of worship to God, its a form of surrendering to Him. Its a representative gift thats supposed to speak of everything belonging to God, Packiam explained. Tithing is not about following artificial standards, noted Andrew Arndt, a teaching pastor at New Life. The important question is: What is the demand of love? There are moments in life where tithing may be difficult, such as when one loses a job or is dealing with a health problem. Theres grace for those in such situations, Boyd said. But thats precisely why the rest of the congregation should be tithing to take care of those who are struggling, he added. As for whether a believer can tithe their income to places other than their church, Boyd argued that the first 10 percent should be given to the local church the central place of mission. Donations given to other nonprofits or parachurches should not come from that 10 percent. In the end, tithing and generosity in general can change a persons life, Boyd stressed. What tithing has done for me is it revealed motives that were deep in my heart, he said. It revealed in me a fear of losing money or not having enough. Who do I trust for my future and for my money? Tithing unsettled me, tithing stretched me, tithing made me more disciplined. It forced me into the realm of budgeting and to stewardship and it uprooted some deep issues in my heart. 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. 8 Democrat presidential candidates who have talked about their Christian faith Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Over the last several years, many political commentators have spoken about the Democratic Partys apparent problems with the issue of religion. A 2006 Pew Research Center piece summed it up as follows: insofar as religion has become a political force, it seems generally to help Republicans and hurt Democrats. However, in the race to become the 2020 presidential nominee, many Democrat candidates have been discussing their faith in interviews and town halls. Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service noticed the trend and started keeping a thread on his Twitter account late last month of the instances in which Democrats have been publicly discussing their beliefs. Here are eight examples of Democratic hopefuls, specifically those coming from Christian backgrounds, speaking about their faith. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next Christian college students, alumni protest Mike Pence invite over Trump admin policies Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Thousands of students, alumni and supporters of Taylor University, a Christian college in Indiana, are calling on school officials to disinvite Vice President Mike Pence as their commencement speaker because his politics are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear. Inviting Vice President Pence to Taylor University and giving him a coveted platform for his political views makes our alumni, faculty, staff and current students complicit in the Trump-Pence Administration's policies, which we believe are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear, Alex Hoekstra, a 2007 graduate of Taylor, wrote in a Change.org petition he launched on Friday, which has already garnered more than 4,000 signatures. Founded in 1846, Taylor University describes itself as a premier, nondenominational, Christian liberal arts university and the number one college in the Midwest. Taylors president, Paul Lowell Haines, announced Pence as the schools 2019 commencement speaker in a release last Thursday. Taylor University is pleased and honored to welcome to our campus and its 2019 Commencement exercises, Vice President Mike Pence, Haines said. Mr. Pence has been a good friend to the University over many years, and is a Christian brother whose life and values have exemplified what we strive to instill in our graduates. We welcome the Vice President and his wife, Karen Pence, to this 173-year-old premier institution of Christian higher education, and thank them for their love and service for our nation, our state, and our institution. The petition has triggered divided opinions about Taylors decision to invite Pence. I attended Taylor University for two years in 1974-75 and am upset that TU has invited VP Mike Pence to speak. His actions in office have not reflected any Christian values that I recognize. He has been judgmental and divisive. His unwillingness to speak out when President Trump puts children in cages is the antithesis of Christianity, Sara Hare wrote on the petition Tuesday. Others like Velma Landrum argued that Pence should be allowed to speak. Many of my kids teachers graduated from Taylor. I thought it was a strong Christian school. It seems that no place is immune from the left liberal agenda. I think Pence should be allowed to speak and welcomed with respect! she wrote. Also weighing in on the controversy on Tuesday was Rev. Franklin Graham, who serves as president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Protesters, he argued, should be absolutely thrilled that Pence will be speaking at the school. For the life of me I dont understand this. Some students and alumni at Taylor University in Indiana, a Christian college, are objecting to Vice President Mike Pence speaking at their upcoming graduation commencement. They should be absolutely thrilled. But instead, this group started a petition to rescind the invitation because they say the Administration is not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear, he wrote in a statement on Facebook. What are these people smoking? This reminds me of Pauls words, You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? (Galatians 3:1). Vice President Mike Pence recently told CNN that he is a Bible-believing Christian. Is that what they are objecting to? I appreciate the fact that Taylors president, Paul Lowell Haines, has stood firm on the decision to invite the vice president and publicly praised him as a good friend to the University over many years, and a Christian brother whose life and values have exemplified what we strive to instill in our graduates. There couldnt be a better, more qualified, more inspirational speaker for graduates to hear from or a better example for them to follow in life. Thank you Mr. Vice President, Graham said. Court orders return of Pakistani Christian teen raped and tortured in forced Islamic marriage Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Pakistani court has ordered the return of a Christian teenager who was abducted and forced into an Islamic marriage in March after the victim gave testimony of how she was beaten, tortured and raped, rights groups are reporting. Shalet Masih, believed to be about 15-years-old, was rescued by a police raid at the home of her captor, Zafar Iqbal, last Wednesday morning, according to the London-based NGO British Pakistani Christian Association. Masih was said to have been kidnapped on March 25 after leaving her familys home in Faisalabad, Pakistans third most populous city. Although she left the home following an argument with her brother, Masih reportedly headed to a family friends house. However, BPCA reports that Masih was eventually sold into slavery by a neighbor of the family friend to a Muslim man. After Masihs family and NGOs pressured police to intervene, a woman by the name of Rukhsana was arrested. According to BPCA, Rukhsana is alleged to have confessed to police that she sold Masih to a man who she knew to be involved in sex trafficking. However, the woman could not tell police where the girl was at that time. About a week later, the family reportedly received what is said to be a fraudulent marriage certificate in the mail signifying that their daughter had married Iqbal and also converted to Islam. Even though the raid was conducted before dawn last Wednesday, Iqbal is believed to have fled the home before police arrived and is still on the run. After officers secured Masih, she was allowed to call home to her parents. The parents later arrived at the location to see their daughter. Later that morning, the family appeared in the Lahore High Court. Masih shared the details of her capture and forced marriage. She claimed that she was coerced into converting to Islam, forcibly raped, beaten and tortured. She told the judge that she wanted to return to her parents. Justice Tariq Saleem Shaikh ruled that the girl be allowed to return to the legal custody of her parents. Lawyer Chaudhry Abdul Rasheed advocated on behalf of Masih. I was violated and abused by my captor but he has not broken my spirit, Masih told BPCA officer Mehwish Bhatti. I spoke in court and will testify again and again until the monster is jailed he should not be allowed to do this to anyone else ever again." According to the U.K.-based NGO Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, Masihs name was changed during the abduction from Shalet to Ayesha. Handing the kidnapped girl back to their parents is not enough the perpetrators have to be brought to justice, Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, said in a statement. It is important to punish all those who were involved in kidnapping, selling, and then forcibly converting her to Islam. Masihs ordeal comes as countless girls and teens, especially religious minorities, have been abducted, raped or forced into Islamic marriages over the last several years. An NGO called the Movement of Solidarity and Peace estimated in 2014 that between 100 to 700 Christian girls are abducted, raped and forced into Islamic marriages every year. "If this case is won by Shalet it will prove once and for all that releasing captured girls from the clutches of their Muslim rapists reveals the truth of their ordeal, BPCA Chairman Wilson Chowdhry said in a statement of the criminal case against the culprits. "It will bring to an end the awful Muslim insinuation that Christian girls willingly convert and marry men much older than them. It should be a test case that hails in new more favorable marriage laws in Pakistan that protect minority girls. Last month, it was reported that a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian teen was abducted by three men and forced to convert to Islam. What is most disturbing in many of these cases is how rape is used as a weapon to entrap victims, International Christian Concern Regional Manager William Stark told The Christian Post in March. For many women in Pakistan, securing a good marriage is the only way to secure a good life. When these victimized women are raped, they feel trapped because it takes away their ability to secure a good marriage due to the shame associated with being a rape victim. Stark added that another tactic that abductors use to exert their power over the teen or girl is by claiming that they have custody over them because of the forced marriage. This makes it especially difficult for Christian women who have been abducted, forcefully converted to Islam, and forcefully married to their abductors to provide testimony against their abductors, Stark said. Pakistan, which is over 97 percent Muslim, ranks as the fifth-worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2019 World Watch List. Christian girls are not the only ones victimized by abduction and forced marriage. Earlier this month, two Hindu girls were kidnapped by armed men and are believed to have been forced to convert to Islam. Ministry issues directive on terrorists from Libya France has asked to extend border closure for six mts (ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 16 - The interior ministry on Tuesday issued a directive aimed at dealing with terrorists possibly arriving from wartorn Libya. "Hundreds of Islamic terrorists could arrive in Italy taking advantage of the chaos in Libya," it said. "It is no accident that France has officially asked to extend the closure of its borders with Italy for another six months for a national emergency linked to terrorism". "The interior ministry is responding with a directive".(ANSAmed). Emotion for a whole nation; Paris Notre Dame Cathedral ruined by fire Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Notre Dame Cathedral, a major church that has long been an enduring iconic symbol of Paris, France, has experienced a severe fire that has caused heavy damage. Fire broke out Monday evening in Paris at the historic church, with the spire of the large sanctuary eventually falling over amid the blaze. Many were quick to post video and photos of the fast-moving fire as it consumed the cathedral, despite large numbers of fire fighters being on the scene. French President Emmanuel Macron canceled a planned speech for that evening and took to Twitter to express his sadness over the Notre Dame fire. Notre Dame of Paris in flames. Emotion for a whole nation. Thoughts for all Catholics and for all French. Like all our countrymen, I'm sad tonight to see this part of us burn, stated Macron, as reported by CNN. A cathedral spokesperson told French media that the damage was colossal and that nothing will remain from the frame of the structure. Completed in the 13th century and French for "Our Lady," Notre Dame has endured its share of tumultuous history, from the French Revolution to German occupation during the Second World War. In its history, Notre Dame has endured destruction and subsequent restoration in many periods, explained notredamecathedralparis.com. In the 16th century, both the Huguenots and the French king vandalized and changed a lot of the cathedrals contents. The cathedral was converted into a storage warehouse for food, during the French Revolution, and the heads of many of Notre Dames statues were removed. Over 10 million people visit the notable Cathedral every year, which is located on the Ile de la Cite, a small island inside of Paris. In a statement posted to Twitter, Vice President Mike Pence said that it was heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames. Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters on the scene and all the people of Paris, tweeted Pence. First lady Melania Trump also tweeted about the fire, stating My heart breaks for the people of Paris after seeing the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Praying for everyones safety. David French, prominent conservative columnist with the National Review, spoke about how he and his wife were married within sight of the very spire that collapsed on Monday. Its impossible to estimate the number of people who have experienced significant, transcendent moments at Notre Dame. Ill never forget praying there the morning of my wedding, tweeted French. Former secretary of state and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton took to social media to offer her condolences. My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purposeto build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own. I wish France strength and shared purpose as they grieve and rebuild, stated Clinton. Evangelicals unveil statement on artificial intelligence, say the Church needs to engage Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment WASHINGTON Evangelicals have issued a statement of principles on artificial intelligence as the subject presents existential and theological questions posed by emergent technology. The statement, "Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles," which was released Thursday by the Research Institute of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, contains 12 articles touching on data and privacy, sexuality, the relationship between AI and humanity, and the future of AI and public policy. The document frames the subject in light of the Gospel. "Christians must not fear the future or any technological development because we know that God is, above all, sovereign over history, and that nothing will ever supplant the image of God in which human beings are created. We recognize that AI will allow us to achieve unprecedented possibilities, while acknowledging the potential risks posed by AI if used without wisdom and care," the preamble to the statement reads. "We desire to equip the church to proactively engage the field of AI, rather than responding to these issues after they have already affected our communities." Already the statement has received signatures from evangelical Christian thought leaders, leaders of Christian universities, seminaries, influential churches and advocacy groups. Among the signatories are Erick Erickson, editor of the Resurgent; Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family; Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas; and Karen Swallow Prior, a professor of English at Liberty University. In remarks before dozens gathered, ERLC Creative Director Jason Thacker noted that artificial intelligence can aid in human flourishing but can also be among the gravest of threats to human dignity. "Nowhere in Scripture do you see the tool [of technology, AI] itself being condemned for being evil or bad," Thacker, who is writing a book on artificial intelligence, said. "It is human beings that are evil and sinful and broken." Developing AI technology can be good provided that it is utilized to glorify God and love one's neighbor, grounded in the understanding that every single human person bears God's image, he emphasized. "What we need are Scripture-formed Christians who are actually engaged on these issues," Russell Moore, ERLC president, said in an interview with The Christian Post after a panel discussion and presentation of the statement Thursday. "If Christians aren't engaged on these issues there is a void that is going to be filled by someone else with some other worldview." Asked specifically about the tendency some have to conflate artificial intelligence with transhumanism and the challenges that arise from an overtly anti-human ideology, Moore explained that he welcomes the questions that often come up about the meaning of life. "I think often we have people in the tech industry in local communities where churches are not able to talk to them or able to disciple them. Christians in the tech industry will talk to me about loneliness, not just personally but also just in terms of forming a conscience to think through some of the projects they are working on because they don't have a point of connection with other Christians." "When we see some of the frightening sorts of proposals that may be made in some areas, that ought to be an incentive to be more engaged. The first article in the AI statement says partly, "We deny that any part of creation, including any form of technology, should ever be used to usurp or subvert the dominion and stewardship which has been entrusted solely to humanity by God; nor should technology be assigned a level of human identity, worth, dignity, or moral agency." The fundamental premise of transhumanism, that consciousness itself can be replicated by machines, is flawed, Moore noted. "That doesn't worry me. What worries me are a whole variety of other technologies: augmented reality, sex robotics, and those sorts of questions that aren't addressed." Twelve years ago, Moore, as a professor, gave a final exam in which he asked seminary students to explore how they would approach sharing the Gospel with a person who identified as transgender. "Most of the students in the room thought this was a wild, hypothetical gotcha question," Moore said. "And I said, 'no, every one of you will be grappling with this issue.'" Christopher Benek, a Presbyterian pastor and founder of CoCreatorsTech, commended the ERLC for its efforts, particularly since few denominations attempt to address these issues. "My own denomination for instance, the PCUSA, radically defeated a proposed amendment to simply study issues of AI and automation at our General Assembly in St. Louis last summer. So I am happy to see evangelical churches stepping up to the plate where many progressive ones have not," Benek noted in an email to CP Monday. However, he believes the document is an "early iteration" of what is needed at the moment, that it lacks input from technologists, and is short-sighted on several themes. "For instance, with regard to automation, the best report in the world on this issue, by the McKinsey Global Institute, posits that by 2030 there will be 11-22% unemployment in the United States due to automation. To give some perspective, unemployment was at 25% during the Great Depression. With 57% of all U.S. churches being under 100 members and many of those struggling to afford pastors presently even an 11% decrease in giving could reduce the total number of American churches by half in just a decade," Benek said. "If the ERLC and the church universal dont see that as an immediate problem then we are missing the robotically driven boat so-to-speak. The questions that remain prominent are these: When society needs the church most in the coming future, will we be prepared to help? Or will we still be theologically posturing for the scraps of ecclesiastical power?" He concluded: "My prayer is that, together, we will have prepared to help others as Christ instructed." In shocking message on Easter, pastor allows kids to hit, spit on and even cut him with steak knife Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A pastor in Pataskala, Ohio, had members of the public reacting with shock and disgust this week after a video of him allowing children in an after school program to hit, spit on and even cut him with a steak knife to illustrate a message about Easter. A recording of the message shared on Facebook by Lola Hatfield, shows part-time pastor of Impact City Church, Jaddeus Dempsey, being spat on by several young boys who then later slap him repeatedly in the face without any reaction from the pastor. Dempsey then removes his shirt and picks up a steak knife and offers it to one of the boys and tells him to cut him gently. This request however was met with an incredulous Are you serious! The pastor insisted that he be cut however until one of the boys steps up and draws the blade across his back. One parent, whose son is featured in the video, said she got a call from a friend warning her about what was happening at the church. The guy who is in the video turns around and grabs the knife and he hands it right to my son, the parent identified only as Mandy told 10TV. She said she and her husband Josh rushed to the church to pick up their son because they found the event inappropriate. He was upset. He thought he was in trouble. When I explained to him I'm not upset with you, I just want you to know that the things that happened here wasn't OK, Josh said. The churchs lead pastor, Justin Ross, in an appearance with Dempsey, later apologized for the incident in a video message on Facebook Monday. Ross said the incident took place during the churchs student after school hangout. Each Monday we invite students to come across the street, a place where they can hangout with their friends. We provide activities for them, we feed them. As part of that program we also take five minutes to do a deposit of faith in the students. A chance where we can share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, Ross said. Dempsey, who chose to discuss the message of Easter on Monday, took things a little too far Ross said. He chose to use an illustration to explain a very important topic about the crucifixion but the illustration went too far and it was inappropriate for the audience that we had, Ross said before retelling the details of the video. Jaddeus got up in front of his students and he says, Im gonna ask you to do something that might seem a little crazy, but if there is anyone here that would like to spit in my face you can do so without any repercussions. Now the students were a little caught off guard. Some got excited about it as they never had the opportunity to willingly spit in someones face and several students took him up on it, he said. The process was repeated with the offer to slap Dempsey in the face as well as cut him with the steak knife. The reactions are appropriate. Many of you were disgusted, many of you were hurt by this, many of you were very confused. Why this would be taking place in a church, in a youth group? And we agree, it was inappropriate for this audience. And there is really no excuse for why it happened, Ross said. He argued, however, that the intent behind the exercise is important. This part did not get posted on social media. After Jaddeus allowed them to spit on him, slap him and cut him, he sat them down and explained to them about this guy named Jesus who thousands of years ago, He was put on trial for a crime He did not commit, Ross said. And He was beaten, He was broken, He was whipped. He was crucified. He died as an innocent man. We believe Jesus had the power at any point to stop them. To stop those that were hurting Him. But He chose to allow it to happen in order to take the payment of our debt that we call sin, he explained. Dempsey who spoke later in the video took full responsibility for his actions and apologized to the church community for his bad judgement. I am deeply sorry for the pain that Ive caused, he said. New Museum of the Bible exhibit to explore relationship between science and the Bible Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., has announced plans for a year-long exhibition examining the often contentious relationship between science and the Bible over the course of history. Through millions of dollars in grants received from the John Templeton Foundation and Templeton Religion Trust, the temporary exhibit will run from summer 2020 through summer 2021 and will detail the contemporary debates related to scientific inquiry and biblical interpretation. Specifically, the exhibit seeks to answer six of the worlds most pressing questions: How did it all begin? What keeps the universe running? Are we different from animals? What are we made of? Where are we going? Are we alone? We believe that the narrative for the most part in Western civilization is that the Bible and science are incompatible with each other, the museums chief executive officer Ken McKenzie told The Christian Post in an interview. We believe that in the scientific community some folks look at the Bible and say, We believe folks on the religious side look at science as competing with the Bible and therefore, is antagonistic. Our argument is that both the Bible and science have an authoritative place in society, and we believe a lot is complementary and they are not opposite to each other at all times. The museum aims to tackle myths that have emerged on both sides of the science-faith discussion in ways that are educational, engaging and informative. The exhibit will feature artifacts from the museum and those on loan from other institutions around the world. As there is much debate about the origins of the universe and human life, the matters of creation and evolution will be covered in the exhibit but will not be the entire focus. Rather, the focus will be on the six big questions that everyone has asked at some point in their lives. The origin of the universe and the diversity of life are certainly big questions, he said. We will cover them in Pod 1 and Pod 3 which ask, How did it all begin and Are we different from animals? respectively. Topics that will be discussed in the exhibit will range from past discoveries like Newtons laws of motion and Darwins theory of natural selection, as well as modern topics like the cosmos and the debate on life and health. [We hope] that it makes you ask more questions as to where you believe you land on either side of the two parties biblically based or scientific based, McKenzie said. If you really lean heavily to one of the other, we hope that it challenges your thinking and then think, Maybe there is a lot of places where these overlap and actually are complementary to each other. The exhibit will be thousands of square feet in size and will be an interactive experience. However, it has not yet been determined what exactly the interactive experience will entail. The museum is working with an international advisory panel of 13 scientists and scholars to develop the exhibit's content and associated educational programs. Included in the advisory panel are astronomers, biologists, and geologists. According to McKenzie, a former airline executive who was appointed CEO of the museum last September, the discussions about this exhibit began around June of last year. We had chances to meet together and Oxford. We've met in Washington, over in Rome, Florence, he explained. So that team of scholars in conjunction with our exhibit staff are fine-tuning exactly what this is going to look like. Since we're looking to roll it out in 2020, there's still a number of questions to be answered. And every architect is going to be there. Rick Warren criticized for hosting Rwanda president at Saddleback Church Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment California megachurch pastor and author Rick Warren is facing criticism for his decision to invite Rwanda President Paul Kagame to speak at Saddleback Church about the transformation of the Central African nation since the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. Warren, who has been friends with Kagame for over 15 years and has traveled to Rwanda a number of times, interviewed the 61-year-old Kagame during a Sunday service in which he preached how to overcome trauma. With April marking the 25th anniversary of the three-month span in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Rwandan security forces and Hutu extremists, Saddleback Church honored the victims during its April 13 and 14 services. The services also celebrated Saddleback's 14-year partnership with Rwandan churches that are using Saddleback's missionary and reconciliation strategy, The PEACE Plan. "The PEACE Plan started in Rwanda, was birthed in Rwanda at the invitation of the president, and its now all over the world," Warren told the church on Sunday. Kagame was asked to talk about how the nation has overcome the trauma of genocide to unite around the purpose of building a better future. The Kagame government has stressed the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness within Rwandan communities as being keys to Rwandas future. If you look at our history, the country was divided, ideology and politics played out so that a section of our population was made to believe the other is not only different but they should hate each other, Kagame, who took office in 2000, said. We found a way of saying we are a family with different individuals but at the same time, we have a lot in common and a lot of common aspirations. Considering that neighbors killed neighbors during the genocide, Kagame said that his government didnt expect all Rwandans to be able to put their hurt aside to forgive those who killed their family members. However, there are many stories throughout Rwanda of neighbors forgiving their genocide perpetrators. In some cases, victims and perpetrators have worked together to rebuild their broken communities. Forgiveness may come out of realizing that first, we have to live [for] the future, Kagame said. We have to have a better life coming for us. How do we get there? You dont forget that you have lost so much. You keep that in mind. But the people in Rwanda have found it possible to forgive so that they create a better future so that we can stop losing the little we are left with. Warren chimed in: Are you hearing what he is saying? We dont forgive for the other peoples sake. We forgive for our own sake because we dont want to hold on to the pain. And second, we are going to need forgiveness ourselves. And third, we want a better future. Although much of Warrens talk with Kagame was focused on the positives of Rwandas transformation in the last 25 years, critics are not happy with Warrens decision to invite Kagame. It was also not the first time that Kagame had been invited to Saddleback Church. Kagame spoke at the church in 2014 to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi. Although the Kagame government has been praised as the driver of economic growth that has led many Rwandans out of poverty, Kagame has also been accused of being a dictator whose RPF-led government has done all it can to silence political dissent and maintain its stronghold on the Rwandan political system. In 2017, Kagame was elected to a third term in office in 2017 after parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow Kagame to serve more than two terms. Thanks to changes enacted by parliament, it is possible for Kagame to remain in power until 2034. Additionally, the Rwandan government is suspected of being behind the mysterious killings or disappearances of Kagames political dissidents. The Rwandan government has been accused of running hit squads to assassinate political opponents. Aristide Rwigara, the younger brother of womens rights activist Diane Rwigara, who ran against Kagame for president in 2017, told the Los Angeles Times that hes shocked Warren would host Kagame at his church. Diane Rwigara was imprisoned for over a year along with her mother. "This cannot go unchallenged, Rwigara, who works in Los Angeles as a translator, said. Warren is a global figure, and if you want to wear the mantle of spiritual leadership, why would you do this? I used to think he was the real deal, and then I found out that he backed the government a government that stifles all manner of opposition, that has no humanity. Rwigara also criticized Kagames government for forcing thousands of churches to close last year. Last year, the Rwandan government passed a law regulating churches and requiring pastors to receive theology degrees. "Why would [Warren] give attention to someone who has closed thousands of churches and who has consistently denied human rights to his own people?" Rwigara said. The Christian Post reached out for a response to the criticisms of Kagames visit from Saddleback Church. A response to the criticisms was not provided. CP was pointed in the direction of a press release stating that Saddleback is standing in solidarity with Rwanda so that the genocide will never be forgotten. Warrens invitation to Kagame was also criticized by David Himbara, a professor of international development and solar energy at Centennial College in Toronto and a former economic adviser to Kagame. Pastor Rick Warren is fully aware that Christians remain one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world, Himbara wrote in an op-ed. Warren ought to know that while Christian persecution takes many forms, it is defined as any hostility experienced by Christians. For Warren to host a strongman who closed 8,000 churches and imprisoned 6 church leaders, including a Bishop, Warren is on the side of the persecutors of Christians. Shame. Although Rwandas church law was criticized by many, some have praised the law. Ananias Sentozi, an integrated programs manager for World Vision Rwanda whose organization receives funding from the Rwandan government, told reporters in February that the Rwandan government does not interfere with faith work in the country. Sentozi believes many people have gotten the wrong idea about the church regulation. "I know there has been kind of misinterpretation of what happened early last year ... when the government decided to close a number of churches that were not fulfilling their requirements, Sentozi explained. "Some of those [churches] were in the households of people. Some of those were just gathering under tents. Some didnt have wash facilities. There was no car parking. There was no sound management systems. There was no water. There were not any minimum requirement of bringing people together. Sentozi, who has worked for the evangelical humanitarian group for 19 years, said that many churches did not have the adequate facilities to accommodate children. In some cases, the churches would be housed in a tent with a loudspeaker. In the end, Sentozi said, there is cause to celebrate the new law. "Because now in church, you find it looks nice and they manage their sounds and have basic facilities like wash, water, a toilet, he explained. You could imagine if you go to one of our churches, the highest population are the children and the shortest service here will take two to three hours. You can imagine gathering children for three hours in a place that doesnt have water with no toilet. What could be the effect? I think there have been good improvement and we appreciate the decision of the government." SWBTS removes stained glass honoring Paige Patterson, conservative SBC leaders Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Stained-glass windows at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary immortalizing leaders of the conservative resurgence within the Southern Baptist Convention have been removed. The Fort Worth, Texas-based seminary confirmed that the stained-glass windows depicting the likes of former SWBTS President Paige Patterson and other controversial conservative Southern Baptist leaders have been taken down from the J.W. MacGorman Chapel and Performing Arts Center. Colby Adams, the schools vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff, told The Alabama Baptist that the school is working with donors to finalize plans for relocating the windows. After much prayerful consideration and discussion, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of the institution to remove and relocate the stained-glass windows installed in our J.W. MacGorman Chapel and Performing Arts Center, SWBTS Board of Trustees Chairman Kevin Ueckert wrote in a letter dated April 3, according to the newspaper. Expenses to remove the windows are minimal and will be covered by the seminary. The seminary will [safely] store the windows until we have a chance to discuss with you the next steps. Along with Patterson, who stepped down as SWBTS president last year after he was accused of mishandling rape allegations brought to him by students, two other controversial leaders featured in the windows are Paul Pressler and Frank S. Page. Pressler is a former Texas judge who was accused in a lawsuit last year of sexual assault. Pressler denied the allegations and the case was later dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. Page is the former CEO and president of the Southern Baptist Conventions executive committee. But he resigned last year citing an inappropriate relationship. Others depicted in the stained glass windows include California megachurch pastor and author Rick Warren, Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell, former SBC presidents W.A. Criswell, Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, Ed Young and Ronnie Floyd. Floyd was recently elected to serve as the new SBC executive committee president. After Pattersons firing from SWBTS, critics on social media called for his stained glass window to be removed. Jimmy Draper, chair of the Southwestern Advisory Council, who is also depicted in one of the windows, told Baptist Press that there was a sense for the past year on the council that the windows needed to be removed. "I have mixed feelings about that because I think the Conservative Resurgence was a very significant part of Southern Baptist life, but it was only two decades, really, of the 111-year history of the school," Draper explained. "I do understand that." The windows were created by Forth Worth-based artist Don Young. The first of the stained glass was installed in the building in 2013. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the stained glass windows are the dream of Pattersons wife, Dorothy. My dream was to portray the 20-year history of the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Church, Patterson was quoted as saying in 2013. A press release from 2015 stated that the windows were created to pay tribute to those who played a major role in turning the convention back to a high view of Scripture. In an October 2015 service, Patterson claimed that in 1978, there were only 16 professors at the SBCs six theological seminaries that believed in the inerrancy of the Bible. But due to the conservative resurgence, Patterson said, there is not one professor today at an SBC seminary who does not believe in the infallibility of the Bible. That is a phenomenal act of God, Patterson said at the time. And we want future generations of students to know about the people who made that possible. The Christian Post reached out to SWBTS for comment on why the windows were removed. A response is pending. It remains unclear as to where the windows will be reinstalled. Teacher fired for protesting pro-transgender lessons at son's UK Christian school Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Christian school assistant has been fired for gross misconduct after she protested against transgender issues being taught at her young sons Church of England school. Kristie Higgs, 43, was fired from her positions as pastoral assistant at a Gloucestershire academy after she posted objections on her personal Facebook page to the use of two pro-LGBT children's books at her son's school, the Daily Mail reports. The books in question included stories about a boy who wants to wear a dress and a red crayon that discovers it is really blue. She also urged her Facebook followers to sign a petition against compulsory sex education in primary schools, which will go into effect September 2020. Under the new guidelines issued by the U.K. Department of Education, children as young as five will receive lessons about LGBT relationships and gender reassignment. On Facebook, Higgs warned that under the new curriculum, children will be taught that all relationships are valid and normal, so that same sex marriage is exactly the same as traditional marriage, and that gender is a matter of choice, not biology, so that its up to them what sex they are. She added that at the same time, expressing and teaching fundamental Christian beliefs, relating to the creation of men and women and marriage, will in practice become forbidden because they conflict with the new morality and are seen as indoctrination into unacceptable religious bigotry. Please sign this petition, they have already started to brainwash our innocent wonderfully created children and its [sic] happening in our local primary school now, she concluded. Higgs, a mother of two who had worked at the secondary school for six years with an unblemished record, was fired after a sole anonymous email complaint accused her of posting homophobic and prejudiced views, the DailyMail reports. A disciplinary panel found she was guilty of gross misconduct and illegal discrimination for using language which could be deemed offensive. The panel also said her comments could bring the school into disrepute and damage the reputation of the school, but admitted there was no actual evidence that this had happened. The school told Higgs that no action was taken because of your religion and that the disciplinary action occurred for reasons other than your religion. However, Higgs said shes clearly being targeted for her faith: As soon as the investigation began I was repeatedly told 'This is nothing to do with your religion, she said. That was clearly a legal tactic and of course it has everything to do with my religion. Higgs has launched a legal challenge via Christian Legal Centre, the legal arm of the lobbying group Christian Concern, the BBC reports. In a statement via Christian Concern, she said: I hold these views because of my Christian beliefs, beliefs, and views which are shared by hundreds of thousands of parents across the UK. My number one concern has always been the effect that learning about sex and gender in school will have on children at such a young age. She added: I am determined to fight this case and to stand for Christians and all parents across the country who are being silenced for sharing and holding these views. Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: This case is about the freedom to hold Christian views about what it means to be human. In February, Damian Hinds, the education secretary, announced English schools will significantly broaden sex and relationship education to cover topics including same-sex relationships, transgender people, and other issues. Our guiding principles have been that these compulsory subjects should help to keep children safe, should help to prepare them for the world in which theyre growing up, Hinds said, adding the curriculum will help them foster respect for others and for difference. Parents may opt out of any sex education element of relationships education in primary school; in secondary school, they may only withdraw their children from lessons until the age of 15. However, at that stage, a student can request to have lessons alongside their classmates regardless of their parents views and in exceptional circumstances, head teachers can overrule parents. The updated sex education curriculum has seen vocal opposition from conservative Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents, who say the new guidelines undermine their religious beliefs. In a statement, Colin Hart, chairman of the Coalition for Marriage, called the lessons completely unacceptable and warned they will downgrade marriage. The Department for Education is sidelining traditional marriage, the most stable form of relationship for raising children and forcing them to learn about every other form of relationship under the sun, even when it is not age-appropriate. The law should encourage traditional marriage, not undermine it, he said. Hart said the new guidelines evidence that the Department for Education believes that traditional marriage no longer matters and marginalizes those who do not support political correctness for religious reasons. But even those keen to promote other forms of family life have been unable to deny that evidence shows that children do best when they are raised by their mother and father, he said. It also ignores that marriage, the life long union between one man and one woman, despite all the rhetoric and spin is the most stable form of relationship. This is why rather than downgrading marriage we should be doing more to celebrate its many societal and personal benefits. How to Get a Free Year of Seminary In an era when educational costs and associated debt levels are climbing at an alarming rate, Dallas Theological Seminary is committed to making a seminary education affordable and has extended its ground breaking Last Year Free Scholarship Initiative through Spring of 2020! Introduced in 2015, the Last Year Free Scholarship covers the tuition cost for the final 24 credit hours of a students ThM degree. DTSs 4-year Master of Theology degree, often considered the gold standard of ministry degrees, offers deeper theological training with greater ministry preparation than the traditional 3-year Master of Divinity (MDiv) degrees offered by most seminaries. DTS recognizes that asking students to pursue a longer degree means they could incur higher costshence the reasoning behind the Last Year Free Scholarship. It makes the ThM degree as affordable, if not more cost-effective than many MDiv programs because students can combine it with other scholarships. According to president Mark L. Bailey, Dallas Theological Seminary believes so strongly in our mandate to Teach Truth, Love Well that we want to make it more affordable to study all 66 books of the Bible at seminarywhich embodies the teach truth component of our visionary slogan. However, we recognize that some of our future ministry leaders dont have enough financial means to cover their entire degree. We are committed to sending out a generation of biblically-rooted leaders who are equipped to meet the changing needs of todays church and culture while keeping that training as affordable as we possibly can. This scholarship reflects the love well component because it helps students finish their degree with less debt and less stress. Current ThM student Dustin Burson had this to say about the scholarship: Last Year Free was one of the winks the Lord used to help us have the faith to pack up our life and move to Dallas. It is a gift that reflects the generous heartbeat of DTS and its a tremendous blessing that helps me push full-steam ahead towards the finish line. What a joy it will be to relish the journey in our final year without any financial pressure. Annually, DTS gives out more than $4.6 million in scholarship funds, and over 87% of its students are able to complete their seminary degree without taking any additional educational debt. These statistics stand in stark contrast to the trend of increased debt in graduate theological education. If you want to find out more about the scholarship or about seminary, please fill in the request information. The Christian Post wins 2 EPA awards Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Christian Post won two awards, including first place for online news, in the Evangelical Press Associations annual contest. The Christian Post deserves kudos for covering the full range of evangelicalism from Bible churches to non-denominationals to Pentecostals. They seem to understand the diversity of the Body of Christ, the judges wrote. There is nothing else like it, that I can say. The Award of Excellence for Newspaper-Online News was presented this week at the EPA Convention in Oklahoma City. There, CP also won first place for Article Series for its eight-part series on school shootings and violence among youths. (Links to the entire series can be found here) The judges commended CP for taking a fresh look at and offering a larger view of the mass shootings perpetrated by young students over the years. The EPA, which CP is a member of, describes itself as the worlds largest professional organization for the evangelical periodical publishing industry. Each year, it hosts two contests the Awards of Excellence contest (for publications as a whole) and the Higher Goals contest (for individual pieces). It saw a record number of entries this year for its more than 60 categories. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Nearly one-quarter of Americans identify as Evangelical Protestants. Those affirming Catholic faith are roughly another quarter. And about one-third of us say we have no religion. These are the findings of recent General Social Survey data presented by Eastern Illinois University political scientist Ryan Burge. What a great opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! So many who need Him, and so many ways to share the good news with them. The news about the rise of the unaffiliated has overshadowed something buried a bit further down in the surveys findings: The collapse of mainline Protestantism. Only 11 percent of our fellow citizens now identify as members of the mainline. This is a decline from 28 percent in 1972. What are these churches? The seven sisters of American Protestantism include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the American Baptist Churches, the Disciples of Christ, and the United Church of Christ. The news for these denominations is getting worse. Given current trend lines, mainline Protestantism will be closing up shop by 2039. The numbers keep dwindling in both those who attend a mainline church regularly and those who identify with a mainline denomination, reports journalist Bill Brady. With every respect for those believers who persevere in the old-line Protestant groups in the hope of bearing witness to the living Savior, this decline should come as no surprise. Why bother attending a church where the sum total of the theology can be summarized as: Believe in an undemanding, all-succoring deity; be nice to people; question or deny every tenet of historic Christian theology: affirm all manner of sexual behavior for everyone at pretty much any time; and support left-wing social and political action. Its a lot simpler to stay home, have coffee and watch Oprah. And saves money, too. As historian Rodney Stark has written, The wreckage of the former Mainline denominations is strewn upon the shoal of a modernist theology that began to dominate the Mainline seminaries early in the nineteenth century. This theology presumed that advances in human knowledge had made faith outmoded Eventually, Mainline theologians discarded nearly every doctrinal aspect of traditional Christianity. This claim is born out by hard research. In their 2016 paper, Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy, researchers David Millard Haskell, Kevin N. Flatt and Stephanie Burgoyne show that most churches that teach the historic Christian gospel are growing and those that do not, are not. For example, this study shows that 79% of growing congregants agreed strongly with the statement, Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God provided a way for the forgiveness of my sins, whereas only 57% of declining congregants thought the same. Put more simply, people need the truth and hope offered in the good news that God became a man in the historic person Jesus of Nazareth. He lived a sinless life, performed matchless miracles, died an atoning death, and rose to new life on the third day. He now offers new and eternal life to all who decide to place their trust in Him for remission of their sins. For Evangelicals, there is nothing to crow about in the collapse of the once-mainline but now old-line churches. Their abandonment of Christian teaching and the shabby, flabby message with which they have replaced it is a tragedy that both grieves and outrages the heart of God. But in this, there is opportunity. To reach the disaffected Protestants who have voted with their feet and chosen to abandon the denominations of their youth is yet another chance for those who have been born again to bear witness to the Risen One. Will we take it? Rob Schwarzwalder is senior lecturer and director at the Center for Christian Thought and Action, Regent University. UN draft resolution calls for immediate ceasefire in Libya 'De-escalation and effort for complete end to hostilities' (ANSAmed) - NEW YORK, APRIL 16 - A draft resolution written by Great Britain and brought to the UN Security Council calls for an immediate de-escalation in Libya as well as a ceasefire and efforts to end hostilities. "The situation in Libya continues to constitute a threat to peace and security, and therefore we call on all parties for an immediate de-escalation, to commit to a ceasefire and with the United Nations to guarantee a complete cease of hostilities in the country," said the document, a copy of which was obtained by ANSA. In addition, the text written by Great Britain "asks the parties in Libya to immediately resume UN-facilitated political dialogue, reaffirm full support to UN special envoy Ghassan Salame, and work for a comprehensive political solution to the crisis", as well as adopting the measures needed to ensure unconditional humanitarian access for those who need it. Finally, the document "calls on member states to use their influence on the parties in Libya to guarantee respect for this resolution".(ANSAmed). Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment C. S. Lewiss The Screwtape Letters has a lot of amazing insights on the working of our enemy, but one of my favorites occurs when the demon undersecretary advises his nephew: Above all, do not attempt to use scienceas a defence against Christianity. [It] will positively encourage [your patient] to think about realities he cant touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. Of course, what Uncle Screwtape calls sad cases are wins for Christianity! One such case is Dartmouth theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser, who was recently profiled by Scientific American. Gleiser is known for studying the properties of the early universe, the behavior of fundamental particles, and the origin of lifein other words, hes studying those realities we cant touch or see that Screwtape mentioned. To be clear, Gleiser calls himself an agnostic, not a Christian. Still, hes the latest recipient of the Templeton Prizeawarded to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to affirming lifes spiritual dimension. The reason is simple: Gleiser, unlike many science popularizers in our day, boldly admits that science has its limits and urges his fellow scientists to respect those limits. Theres a metaphor he uses to illustrate this, which he calls the Island of Knowledge. Its also the title of a book hes written. He urges us all to imagine all the discoveries of science as a small island, surrounded by an ocean of the unknown. The paradox of knowledge, he observes, is that as it expands and the boundary between the known and the unknown changes, you inevitably start to ask questions that you couldnt even ask before. In other words, science is so limited that not only are there many things we dont know, we dont even know how much we dont know! Thus, the very best scientists are humblerecognizing the limits of their discipline and understanding that science cannot offer answers about ultimate meaning, purpose, or moral truth. This is quite a contrast to many science popularizers, who frequently wander off the Island of Knowledge into water way over their heads. Gleiser mentions both Lawrence Krauss and the late Stephen Hawking, both known for making bold claims that science not only tells us how the universe exists, but why. Another well-known example is Carl Sagan, who famously began his Cosmos TV series with this pronouncement: The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. All of these men were or are outspoken in their atheism, confidently declaring that science disproves the existence of God, or at least renders Him unnecessary. Categorical statements of non-belief like this, says Gleiser, dont just go beyond the bounds of science. Theyre actually incompatible with the scientific method. This whole notion of finality and final ideas, he told Scientific American, is just an attempt to turn science into a religious system. Theres a name for that religious system: scientismthe belief that science is the only valid source of human knowledge. Instead of staying humble and curious, proponents of scientism insist that any question we cant answer in a laboratory isnt worth asking. In effect, they stand on the little island of knowledge and deny the ocean lapping at their toes. This reminds me of a debate between apologist William Lane Craig and Oxford chemist Peter Atkins. Atkins called science omnipotentthats a Divine attribute! According to him, theres nothing science cannot explain. Craig smiled, disagreed, and then listed five things science cant explain: logical and mathematical truths, metaphysical truths like the existence of other minds and the external world, ethical values, aesthetic judgments, and most importantly, the scientific method itself! Gleiser may not be convinced yet of Gods existence, but I do pray for the increase of this theoretical physicists tribe. We need more scientists who give faith a fair shake, and fewer advocates of scientism who think they already know all the answers. Resources Atheism Is Inconsistent with the Scientific Method, Prizewinning Physicist Says, Lee Billings | Scientificamerican.com | March 20, 2019 What Science Can't Prove: Dr. William Lane Craig explains to Dr. Peter Atkins, Youtube video The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis | HarperOne Publishing | 2001 Originally posted at Breakpoint. American missionary in Paraguay gunned down in home by suspected robber Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment An American Christian missionary in Paraguay was killed in his own home last week by a suspected robber after serving as a missionary for over 25 years, according to his sponsoring agency. Ethnos360, founded in 1942 as New Tribes Mission, announced on Friday that it lost one of its own, 50-year-old Wayne Goddard. Goddard served the people in Paraguay for over two decades before he was gunned down during an apparent robbery attempt. According to Ethnos360, Goddard was assaulted by armed men while serving the Ava Guarani and Pai Tavytera tribes. Goddard served as a cross-cultural worker for Ethnos360, which operates in various countries around the world to help local churches train and send missionaries to reach the unreached people groups in their regions. Goddard worked hands-on with the mission agencys partner Mision a Nuevas Tribus en el Paraguay since 1994. He is survived by his brother and father. As news of his death has reached the world, its our desire to recognize the sacrifice Wayne made as he followed our Lord in willing service, an Ethnos360 Facebook post reads. Please join us in prayer for his family and the people he served and loved in Paraguay. According to Goddards family, he was killed last Tuesday. Ethnos360 didnt make the announcement until days later to give his family days to grieve in silence. In a family blog post, Goddards cousin, Mike Goddard, explained that Goddard grew up in Paraguay and was a third-generation missionary. Goddards memorial was on Sunday in Asuncion. He was a faithful man of God and will be dearly missed, the blog post reads. We are very thankful for the precious memories that we have with him as well as the time this past Christmas holiday, where Wayne participated and we could also celebrate his 50th birthday. We know that he is with our Savior, which has strengthened our hearts and has given us courage to continue moving forward. As reported by Evangelical Focus, Goddard was wounded by gunshots in his home in the indigenous colony of Mboijagua, which is about 12 miles from the Paraguayan Villa Ygatimi district. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he died. An investigation on Goddards death was opened and a search was put on for the killer. Officer Sergio Servian told Evangelical Focus that Goddards house was located thousands of meters away from the last available dirt road in a location that was hidden and dark. The Paraguay-based newspaper Ultima Hora reports that police have taken one suspect, who is believed to be the man who killed Goddard, into custody. The suspect is 42-year-old Atanacio Godoy Fernandez. The newspaper also notes that it is believed that as many as five people entered Goddards home Tuesday night with the express purpose of robbery. Franklin Graham, others call for prayers for Sudan following overthrow of gov't Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Rev. Franklin Graham and other Christian leaders are urging supporters to pray about the current political crisis in the African nation of Sudan. The head of the charity group Samaritans Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association took to his official Facebook page last Friday to comment on the developments. Graham spoke about twice meeting with newly deposed Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. The first of the meetings involved asking the dictator to stop bombing our Samaritan's Purse hospital in the south during the war, which he did. Tens of thousands of people died under his reign. Pray for the people of this war-plagued nationand the churches there, wrote Graham. It is my prayer that God will give them a new leader who is not associated with this former regime and who will lead Sudan to peace, safety, and prosperity for the people. Last Thursday, President al-Bashir, who had ruled Sudan as a dictator since 1989 and was charged with committing genocide in the Darfur region during the nation's decades-long civil war, was overthrown following months of protests. Amnesty International Secretary General Kumi Naidoo released a statement last Thursday celebrating the news of the removal of al-Bashir, saying that it should serve as a wake-up call to leaders around the world who think they can get away with denying people their basic rights. However, Naidoo also expressed concern over the series of emergency measures announced by the military following al-Bashirs removal from power. Sudans military authorities should ensure that emergency laws are not used to undermine peoples rights. Instead, they must now consign to history the assault on human rights that marked al-Bashirs 30 years in power, stated Naidoo. The transitional authorities must take all necessary measures to facilitate a peaceful transfer of power in Sudan. That means respecting the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and ultimately ending an era of bloodshed and oppression in the country. An Islamic government, the al-Bashir regime was known for its intolerance toward religious minorities, including Christians. In a 2014 interview with The Christian Post, Sudanese lawyer Nahmia Shaloka, who was forced to flee the country due to persecution, explained that al-Bashir wanted Sudan to be "purely Islamic" and "governed by Sharia law." Open Doors USA, a Christian persecution watchdog group, recently ranked Sudan No. 6 on its World Watch List of worst persecutors of Christians. In response to the news that al-Bashir had been overthrown, Open Doors stated that the Christian community in Sudan is waiting and watching along with the rest of the world. While Bashir was no doubt a dictator likely guilty of terrible crimes, there is no assurance that his replacement will be any better, said the group. Open Doors has heard from church leaders in Sudan who are right now asking you to pray with them and for Sudan. They ask us to Pray the next leaders of Sudan will commit to allowing Christians and other religious minorities the ability to live out their faith freely. As instability continues in Sudan, Christian group sees 'window of opportunity' to end persecution In the face of ongoing upheaval in Sudan, Release International says there is a "window of opportunity" to end persecution against the country's Christian minority. The country faces huge uncertainty after a coup last Thursday ousted Omar al Bashir after nearly 30 years in power. The takeover has concerned Sudan's neighbours, with the African Union threatening to revoke its membership in the organisation unless there is a return to civilian rule in two weeks. The AU "strongly condemns and totally rejects the seizure of power by the Sudanese military and its plan to lead the transition for two years," the organisation said in a statement. Release International, which supports the persecuted church worldwide, said that the unrest may be an opportunity to end years of oppression against Christians. Persecution has been especially severe in the Nuba Mountains region, where Release said the Sudanese government was engaging in "ethnic cleansing". The government has tightened restrictions on religious freedom in recent years, favouring an increasingly strict application of Sharia law in which Muslims who convert to Christianity risk prosecution and death. Across the country, the authorities have stopped the growth of Christianity by refusing Christians permission to build new churches, while existing church property has in some cases been seized or demolished. Some church leaders have also faced arrest. With military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan releasing hundreds of political prisoners, Release CEO Paul Robinson said the upheaval could also open the door to greater religious freedom. "This could be a turning point where all that could change," he said. "These are encouraging steps. But the next step must be to allow full religious freedom in the country. Without true freedom of belief and association, Sudan will continue to be one of the most repressive states in the world today. "Handled well, this could be a window of opportunity for Christians in Sudan, who have suffered immensely for many years." He said it was time for "change" in the country as he called on the new leaders to implement full religious freedom and join the "free, democratic nations of the world". "Right now, the world is watching and hoping. This is an opportunity for change and we call on Christians everywhere who enjoy freedom of worship to pray for our brothers and sisters in Sudan," he said. Fleabag and the flawed, handsome priest As a Catholic millennial scrolling through twitter, the last thing that you expect to see trending is 'sexy priest'. Phoebe Waller-Bridge's superb BBC Three comedy drama Fleabag has taken the UK by storm in its address of London-living, sibling-rivalry, mental health, and the moment that you fall in love with the wrong person. Last Monday, the second series came to an almighty (excuse the pun) end with the wedding between Fleabag's father and her Godmother. In an interview on BBC Breakfast, Sian Clifford who plays Fleabag's perfectionist sister Claire revealed that there would not be a third series. The online furore throughout this series has focused on the addition of an unnamed priest played by Andrew Scott. Famous for being Jim Moriarty in the BBC Sherlock series, nobody expected the vaguely cool, young priest image to be all to this new character. He has garnered a wide range of criticism from The Guardian, to the Church Times, and even in Vogue. Hayley Maitland of Vogue gives her opinion: "As far as I'm concerned, there are two types of people in the world: the ones who hope that Fleabag gets together with the hot priest (and quite possibly stays a head case forever), and the ones who hope Fleabag finds some degree of catharsis and redemption through his spiritual guidance." The reality, however, is not that simple. Looking into the wider context of the image of Catholic priesthood, Fleabag's "sexy priest" friend poses a real problem. Hannah Malcolm of The Church Times offers a third category of viewer, one that "want[s] to see some evidence that his Church has a safeguarding policy." She is not wrong. Hannah Freeman of the Guardian adds him to a list of "hot but mean" men in pop culture. She calls him out as "an exploitative muppet in a robe" and a demonstration of manhood that we should not be endorsing. Priests, as she rightly demonstrates, are not literary characters that only behave badly in a figment of someone's imagination. Their image in the media is complex and difficult for many people. Pope Francis' latest document, Christus Vivit, is aimed at the same target audience as Fleabag. He tells 1630-year olds that not all priests deserve to be tarred with the same reputation. He says that "those who committed these horrible crimes are not the majority of priests, who carry out their ministry with fidelity and generosity. I ask young people to let themselves be inspired by this vast majority." Young priests too can feel disillusioned with the institution of the Church. "No one watches Father Ted and thinks 'sign me up to the priesthood'!" one 31-year-old, skinny-jean wearing, soon-to-be-ordained Catholic priest told me. Without his collar he looks like any other millennial man who wouldn't be out of place at your local pub quiz, as with the Fleabag priest. "With my non-Christian friends, I used to play things cool and not go on about it," he says. Whilst studying in Rome he would aim to find commonality with his friends, such as late-night library sessions before assignments or the home comforts of the holidays. "Do you still like music?" this young priest was recently asked. Granted, his Spotify account is niche but he assures me "that is a matter of taste, not vocation!" But that isn't the question that people really want to ask. As Fleabag herself discerns, the notion of celibacy is not just a struggle for the lay person. Andrew Scott's priestly character blows off her question with the idea that "celibacy is a lot less complicated than romantic relationships". Without giving away any spoilers, celibacy is clearly something that he struggles with too. The notion that a 20-something-year-old in the "prime of their life" would want to give up sex is an idea that is alien to a lot of people. But what Fleabag's priest demonstrates is that an active lifestyle decision doesn't stop a person having feelings, cravings, lapses and desires. The capability of those things is part of how a priest can become a guide and confidant. Compare him to the therapist character, completely removed from Fleabag's pain and mixed-up life. The audience were rooting, as Maitland says, for Fleabag's catharsis to come through the welcoming, open, real and raw priest. This is not a condoning of breaking the vows a priest makes to the Church. That (episode four) is not what a confessional is for. And believe it, this guy is going to be in a lot of trouble when his Bishop comes around. But look at it through another lens for a moment. "Being a millennial priest is tough," says my friend. "We are a minority within a minority." And a difficult 'them and us' pattern is clear. It is hard to ignore the raised eyebrows and whispers when a priest has a female visitor. But for the young priests I spoke to, it is exactly this character in the show that needs Andrew Scott's priest most. Fleabag walking into an almost empty church, curtailing the keen Pam (every parish has one), looking for something but not sure what. "For some people, we might be the only people they will really talk to in a course of a week. A cup of tea and a chat might sound corny to some but for others it's a lifeline," my friend tells me. One would have to wonder whether Fleabag would have been able to open up over a rich tea biscuit to an old man in a cassock. Fleabag's sexy priest might not be what draws young people to the Church, or not for the right reasons anyway. But at a time when the image of the priesthood is so tainted, the millennial priest is something that the Church brand could use. Nina Mattiello Azadeh studied music and philosophy and was a Faith in Politics media intern in 2016. She has a keen interest in interfaith relations, social action and is a classical ballet dancer. Follow her on Twitter @Ninamataz Folau, Vunipola and the intolerance of the culture of tolerance How to make a crowd turn If you follow rugby at all then it couldn't have escaped your attention that there's been a furor around Israel Folau's provocative Instagram post and then Billy Vunipola's subsequent 'like' of the post and expression of support for it. The condemnation has been swift and on message across media outlets, governing bodies, clubs, sponsors, current and ex players and the wider rugby community. As of this morning Israel Folau's contract has been terminated with the ARU. Billy Vunipola has met with Saracens and received a formal warning, will meet the RFU this week and was roundly booed by the crowds at the weekend. Whilst not denying the provocative character of Folau's original post we should not miss the way that these events have exposed the concerning nature of a 'New Colonialism' that holds sway in our society and increasingly in sport. Those who don't study history are destined to repeat its mistakes and that's just what we are doing. Colonialism at its most strident was a set of ideals that were so impregnable and beyond critique that they legitimised the steamrolling of whatever stood in their way. The well honed belief that the West was further down the arc of history in technological and ethical terms than the majority of the rest of the world was absolute. Therefore the sooner the rest of the world accepted the Western consensus, or if they refused to accept it, was forced to adopt it, the better. As such minority rights were ridden over roughshod, other cultures and their norms were forced to adopt the Western order of things, and perhaps most concerning of all this was done without a moment's pause and self-examination, "Are we actually right to think that we are right?" Does this sound familiar? It should. Aligning with Vunipola's response As mentioned above, the character of Folau's post has been accused of being provocative and further of lacking compassion. However the content that Billy Vunipola is defending, and with which Christians in Sport aligns (as seen within our Statement of Faith), is historical, orthodox Christianity which holds that God's good design for sex is within heterosexual marriage. What Vunipola's response flushed out is that it's not really the provocative character of the communication people are taking issue with, but with the content that goes against the current Western consensus. Vunipola's Instagram message was very measured. Here it is in full because it's interesting how little it's been quoted in full. "So this morning I got 3 phone calls from people telling me to 'unlike' the @izzyfolau post. This is my position on it. I don't HATE anyone neither do I think I'm perfect. There just comes a point when you insult what I grew up believing in that you just say enough is enough, what he's saying isn't that he doesn't like or love those people. He's saying how we live our lives needs to be closer to how God intended them to be. Man was made for woman to procreate that was the goal no? I'm not perfect I'm at least everything on that list at least at one point in my life. It hurts to know that. But that's why I believe there's a God. To guide and protect us and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Notice the character of the post. It is staggering that Saracens would imply it lacks 'respect' or 'humility' unless now defacto any opinion that contradicts the Western consensus is disrespectful and proud! Notice also the content of his point, 'There just comes a point when you insult what I grew up believing in that you say enough is enough'. For Vunipola this is about beliefs which are a core part of his Tongan and South Pacific Island heritage. And what are these incredibly controversial beliefs that should draw such sharp condemnation? "Man was made for woman to pro create (sic.)." A view which was the Western consensus until this generation, was only enacted in UK law in 2014 and which is still the majority view globally. But such facts don't come into play when you are right. And the West is right, right? Is this really a culture of 'inclusivity and tolerance'? I know I'm a white, middle-class, privileged male writing about this and that Folau and Vunipola don't look like your typical minority ethnic group members by virtue of being 18 stone and rugby players, but being a minority group isn't about physical size. Folau and Vunipola's posts have received many likes from those from South Pacific Island heritage who are feeling the New Colonial steamroller coming their way. But the momentum of the Western consensus is now so strong that few have noticed this worrying dynamic and its ugly historical precedents. Few have noticed the irony of the intolerance of the culture of 'tolerance'. Much has been touted by journalists and the sporting bodies about 'rugby's culture of inclusivity and tolerance'. As one who has lived within that culture at an amateur and professional level for much of his life I feel able to comment on it. Yes rugby's culture has increasingly become one of acceptance and inclusivity (let's not pretend it has always been as such!). There's now an equality across the community. There's a sense in which going hard at each other on the pitch leads to strong friendships off the pitch regardless of backgrounds. But that acceptance and inclusivity has never meant enforced conformity to certain beliefs even if the truth might be controversial and unpopular. For how can you find out what is true unless it is able to be discussed and debated openly? It needs to be done respectfully of course. With humility? Yes ideally. But when these values of respect and humility, tolerance and acceptance start to prescribe content not character and are used as masks to enforce a New Colonial consensus then I have to say this ceases to be the rugby community I recognise. Pete Nicholas is a Trustee of Christians in Sport and a former rugby player. He continues to play touch rugby and is ordained in the Church of England. He currently serves as Minister in Charge of Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell in London. This article was originally published on the Christians in Sport website and is re-printed here with permission. Prayers for Paris as city grieves devastating fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral Christians have been offering prayers and condolences for the people of Paris and the whole of France as the scale of the damage caused by a major fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral became increasingly apparent on Monday night. The fire broke out late afternoon and quickly spread, engulfing parts of the building in flames and plumes of smoke. The roof and tower of the 12th century gothic building have collapsed and the surrounding area has been evacuated as firefighters tackle the blaze. A Paris fire official told AFP news agency that the main structure of the cathedral had been "saved and preserved", including the two main towers. French President Emmanuel Macron was at the scene of the fire on Monday evening where he was meeting with senior police officers. He tweeted: "Our Lady of Paris in flames. Emotion of a whole nation... I'm sad tonight to see this part of us burn." Church leaders have also expressed their grief at the devastation. The Catholic Bishops' Conference spoke of their "immense sadness" over the destruction caused to the cathedral but encouraged people to look to Christ for their hope, especially in Holy Week. "While the dramatic fire still devastates Notre-Dame cathedral, the bishops of France express their immense sadness and assure Archbishop Aupetit, Archbishop of Paris, of their closeness and their prayers for his diocese," reads a statement issued on behalf of the conference. "They are well aware that the influence of Notre-Dame de Paris goes beyond the capital and that it will remain a major symbol of the Catholic faith and a place where all, believers and unbelievers, can meet at important moments of the history of our country." Malcolm McLoughlin, Associate Pastor of Trinity International Church in Paris, told Christian Today he was praying for comfort for the grieving. "We are heartsick at this terrible loss and are grieving with the people from Paris and around the world," he said. "Notre Dame Cathedral is iconic and deeply loved by the millions who visit it each year. "We as followers of Jesus are praying for comfort for the grieving, strength for the firefighters, and wisdom for our leaders. May this catastrophe draw us closer to our Lord Jesus." The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, tweeted: "Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic #NotreDame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ. Nous sommes avec vous." Prayers for the firefighters, emergency services and all those trying to contain the #NotreDame cathedral fire. The Church of England (@churchofengland) April 15, 2019 The Dean of Coventry Cathedral, the Very Rev John Witcombe said his heart and prayers were with the people of Paris. "Our hearts go out to our sisters and brothers in the cathedral and civic community in Paris. To see the roof of your beloved Cathedral brings to mind our own destruction in 1940, in the terrible years of war. And more recently in 2001 we were again threatened with fire, though not with destruction," he said. "You will feel that your heart has been taken from you, but God still holds your life in his hands, and will give you grace to rebuild, as he did for us. "For now, though, your grief will be inconsolable and our hearts and our prayers are with you from this city and this community'. We continue to pray for all of those involved." Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said: "The shock at the outbreak of this fire is spreading round the world. It is an iconic building visited by millions but more importantly is a symbol of faith which is at the heart of Europe. "We therefore all pray that the fire is extinguished quickly and with a shared effort the building made good." 'We'll rebuild this cathedral:' Macron's vow after fire ravages Notre-Dame French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed that the cathedral of Notre-Dame will be rebuilt after fire ravaged the building on Monday night. The spire and roof collapsed in the blaze that has stunned the world, but firefighters were able to save the main stone structure of the building, including its iconic two main towers. The fire was under control by Tuesday morning, officials said, and an investigation is underway to determine the cause. General Jean-Claude Gallet, commander of the Paris fire brigade, said: "We can consider that the two towers have been saved. The structure of Notre Dame is saved and preserved in its totality. Firefighters are going to work all night to save the artworks." Mr Macron was at the site on Monday night where he met with police and fire chiefs. He said the blaze was a "terrible tragedy" but added that the "worst had been avoided" and that a major global fundraising initiative would commence to rebuild the 12th century cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage site. "We'll rebuild this cathedral all together and it's undoubtedly part of the French destiny and the project we'll have for the coming years," the president said, visibly emotional. "That's what the French expect [and] because it's what our history deserves. Because it is our profound destiny ... it has witnessed all our major moments, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations. It is the epicentre of our lives." As the fire spread through the building on Monday night, crowds of people gathered in the streets of Paris to watch, some in tears. Others collected in groups to sing hymns and say prayers, while some churches around the city rang their bells in solidarity. Around 500 firefighters battled through the night to save the building - France's most visited landmark. One was reportedly seriously injured. The medieval timber frame of the roof was lost, as were many of the stained glass windows. Extensive scaffolding surrounded the building at the time as it was undergoing major renovations. It is not yet clear if the renovation works were a factor in the fire. In the midst of the devastation, there were stories of hope. Just last week, 16 copper statues were removed from the roof as part of the renovation works and emergency teams were able to rescue some of the priceless artworks and religious items stored inside the cathedral, including a crown of thorns said to be the one worn by Jesus before his crucifixion and a tunic worn by King Louis IX when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris, Archpriest of Notre-Dame Monsignor Patrick Chauvet told reporters. Mgr Chauvet admitted he was "very upset" after the fire. "This building is 850-year-old. To see the building fall to pieces, the spire fall down, just as we were renovating it ... All I can do is pray," he said. Pray for the people of Paris. Pray for the firefighters. Pray for our desire and determination to rebuild this great Cathedral in the same faith that inspired it over 1000 years ago. #NotreDame Cardinal Nichols (@CardinalNichols) April 15, 2019 The devastation caused to the landmark building has triggered an outpouring of grief around the world. British Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with the people of France after the "terrible" blaze, whlie German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the cathedral as a "symbol of France and our European culture". The Queen said in a statement: "Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral." The Vatican said the cathedral was a "symbol of Christianity in France and in the world" and that the fire had caused "shock and sadness". The Bishops' Conference of France spoke of its "immense sadness" but asked people to look to Christ as the "source of our hope". "They are well aware that the influence of Notre-Dame de Paris goes beyond the capital and that it will remain a major symbol of the Catholic faith and a place where all, believers and unbelievers, can meet at important moments of the history of our country," a statement read. Chevron's chief executive reiterated the company's commitment to maintaining a campus in The Woodlands after acquiring Anadarko Petroleum in a $33 billion. Chevron rocked the energy world Friday with the massive deal to buy The Woodlands-based Anadarko in a cash-and-stock deal. This week, Chevron CEO Michael K. Wirth sent a video message to the naturally nervous Anadarko employees in an effort to assuage some of their concerns. "I know there are some questions about office locations, especially in Houston," Wirth said. "Our focus is primarily on bringing assets, people and operations together - and The Woodlands campus is part of our plan." SEE THE ORIGINAL STORY: Chevron to buy Anadarko in $33B mega deal Chevron isn't giving a lot of specifics and some layoffs in redundant areas are inevitable, but Wirth has said he's seeking to minimize job cuts and isn't planning on any widespread reductions. Anadarko employs almost 2,000 people in The Woodlands in its connecting twin towers that stand as the tallest buildings in the planned community. Anadarko has about 4,700 workers companywide. FUEL FIX | Newsletter: Get energy, oil, and gas news updates each weekday. Chevron, which employs about 7,000 people in the Houston area, maintains its biggest hub in downtown Houston. While Wirth isn't promising everyone will keep their jobs, he is pledging to maintain a transparent process. "As we prepare for integration over the next few months, you can expect frequent communication and strong collaboration every step of the way," Wirth said. If the deal goes through as planned, it would close in late 2019. The companies appointed Chevron Executive Vice President Joe Geagea and Anadarko President Bob Gwin to lead the joint integration team. Wirth said he believes both companies maintain similar cultures that should mesh well. "We're guided by The Chevron Way which sets out a vision to be the global energy company most admired for our people, partnership and performance," he said. "This vision is remarkably similar to Anadarko's vision to be most admired for your people, portfolio and performance." Noble Drilling Services has renewed its 115,661-square-foot lease at the Sugar Creek campus in Sugar Land. The offshore drilling contractor signed the deal with owner Stockdale Capital Partners for the Sugar Creek I building at 13135 Dairy Ashford, near Interstate 69 and U.S. 90. Terms were not disclosed. "Noble's continued commitment to the building after two decades of tenancy speaks to the quality of the project and value of the location," Andrew Saba of Stockdale Capital Partners said in an announcement. "We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Noble and facilitate their growth in the future." RELATED: Real estate transactions: Law firms drive leasing activity at downtown buildings Rolls Royce and Modisoft have also signed new leases at the property. Three full floors of office space will become available at the Sugar Creek campus, which totals more than 400,000 square feet in two buildings. Sugar Creek I was built in 1999, followed by Sugar Creek II in 2008. "Market fundamentals, along with early interest from larger tenants in the market and growing tenants in the project, lead us to believe that the space will be filled fairly quickly," said Stream Vice President Craig McKenna, who handles leasing at Sugar Creek Place I along with Richard Barbles. The Sugar Land office market is 92.7 percent leased compared with an occupancy rate of 83.4 percent for the Houston area overall. NAI Partners' Brad Marnitz represented the tenant in the transaction. Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners has owned the buildings for about five years. Creamistry, a California-based franchise that specializes in made-to-order ice cream flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen, plans to open two shops in the northwest Houston suburbs this summer. The new stores -- in Vintage Park and Cypress -- will join Creamistry locations open in Uptown, Memorial City, Katy and Friendswood in the Houston area. Funeral services are scheduled to be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at The Fellowship-Cinco Ranch at 22765 Westheimer Parkway, for Robert Matthew "Matt" Markiton, who was recognized last fall as a Harvey's Hero. He died April 11 following an April 9 heart and double lung transplant at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. A graveside service at Fulshear Cemetery followed. He and his wife, Audrey, were among 70 people honored as Harveys Heroes by the Willow Fork Drainage District in September 2018. The Markitons organized rescues via phone and Facebook with the Cajun Navy for 2.5 days to help Canyon Gate residents until the National Guard arrived after Hurricane Harvey. Born with a heart defect, Matt got a heart infection after Hurricane Harvey and went into heart failure, said his wife. That placed additional pressure on other body organs leading to the need for him to have a double lung and kidney transplant, too. Fundraising efforts to help the family with medical expenses also called attention to the need for organ donors. Matt has the most perfect opportunity with the best doctors ever, said Audrey. I continue to believe organ donation saves lives and provides the greatest chance for families to have their loved ones longer. It continues to be our hope at least one person will sign up for organ donation from following his story. Matt Markiton was born on March 31, 1976, in Houston to Robert Irvine and Christine Ann Leder Markiton. He attended Lee High School and Blinn College. On June 7, 2003, he married Audrey Jackson in Spring. They have two sons: Robert Alexander (Alex) and Jacob Gustav. The family asks in lieu of flowers to consider a donation to the Matt Markiton Memorial Education Fund. Zelle Funds - 281-782-2295. Mail checks to Hot Tubs of Katy, 630 Katy Fort Bend Road, Katy, Texas 77494. He was in the hot tub business, both manufacturing and retail, for 25 years. In early 2015, The Markitons opened Hot Tubs of Katy. karen.zurawski@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. Wendy Duncan, director at Willow Fork Drainage District and co-founder of Barker Flood Prevention, offered a suggestion on how people might be part of the solution to mitigate flooding at the April 10 Fulshear-Katy Area Chamber of Commerce meeting: contact their representative in the Texas Legislature to support proposed bills. Duncan specifically listed Senate Bill 7 and Senate Bill 500. SB 7, introduced by District 4 state Sen. Brandon Creighton, focuses on the Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund. Visit http://tinyurl.com/y5mjwwel for details about flood control planning and funding. District 12 state Sen. Jane Nelson authored SB 500 to allocate money for the infrastructure relief fund. Visit http://tinyurl.com/yyq9knhh for information. Going forward people need to decide if this will be the generation that finally resolves the flooding problem, said Duncan. Weve known about it for decades. Previous generations have given us the two reservoirs. Its now time for us to give future generations the best flood resiliency for the area. While it may not be possible to build to prevent the consequences of another Hurricane Harvey, she said, there are measures that can be taken to protect against the Tax Day and Memorial Day flooding. Duncans program included video about the 1935 flooding of Houston. At that time, Houston was very small and had not experienced the explosive, expansive suburban sprawl now seen, she said, noting that people today often blame development for conditions that cause flooding. What Houston lacked then and lacked during Hurricane Harvey is infrastructure to protect against flooding events, she said. We have studied this problem for decades, she continued. Key issues are conveyance and capacity. Conveyance would move the water from the area. When people talk about capacity, theyre talking about detention and retention ponds, she said. Capacity and conveyance were issues in 1935 and they are still issues contributing to flooding today, she said. The 1935 flooding event led to the Barkers and Addicks reservoirs and dams being built in the 1940s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she said, but there were the only projects built from seven infrastructure alternatives offered by the Civil Engineer Corps study because World War II broke out. Among items left unbuilt were a south canal to convey water from the reservoirs to the Houston Ship Channel and a levee for Cypress Creek. Duncan said a proposed flood tunnel under the Katy Freeway, which now is under study by the Harris County Flood Control District, could convey water from the reservoirs to the Ship Channel since land is unavailable to widen the Buffalo Bayou as a mid-term solution. The 23-mile long tunnel with a diameter of 30 feet or more could handle a water flow rate of 10,000 to 15,000 cubic feet per second, said Duncan. If implemented, it would be about a $2.5 billion, 10-to-15-year project. Buffalo Bayou can convey 4,000 cubic feet per second, she said, and couldnt handle the 15,000 cubic feet per second of water that came from the two reservoirs after Harvey. Mid-term solutions include select excavations to deepen a portion of the reservoirs and increase their storage capacity, she said. A long-term solution is building a reservoir at Cypress Creek. Controlling the Creek Creek overflow is a critical component to Greater Houston area flood control, said Duncan. Sheetflow from the creek isnt absorbed by clay-based land and enters the Addicks Reservoir and part of the Barker reservoir, she said. Duncan said the Willow Fork Drainage District maintains a diversion channel created in 1986 that serves north Fort Bend County. The district works in tandem with the Fort Bend County Drainage District, which maintains the nearby Buffalo Bayou. She talked about efforts by both districts to clear the silt from the channels to protect local residents. karen.zurawski@chron.com The new Nassau Bay fire station pays off in better emergency response, not only for that city but for neighboring communities, a department official says. The Nassau Bay Volunteer Fire Department receives about 30 calls each week, including those that involve assisting other communities, department administrative assistant Leslie Shak said. The $4.1 million facility, which had its grand opening in January as the citys first fire station to be built since 1980, improves the departments ability to provide mutual-aid response to neighboring cities such as Kemah, Seabrook, Webster and League City, she said. The 17,400-square-foot building at 18295 Upper Bay Road features advanced technology, four drive-through double-door bays, rooms for weekly training and a gym for staff and city employees. It also has living quarters something previous Nassau Bay stations lacked. During large-scale emergency response situations, firefighters previously had to sleep on floors or in chairs. During (Hurricane Harvey), we hardly had room, but guys were doing round-the-clock shifts and putting in their own time throughout the storm, Shak said. The way the building is built, its one of the safest buildings in the city, she said. So, this is a great place for members to be safe while their riding out these emergencies. Its just a much better setup for everybody all the way around, because we went from very little square footage to what we have now. The station, which also houses the citys emergency medical services, will accommodate the citys growth for the next 50 years, said Mary Dickerson, the fire departments secretary. The city has about 4,000 residents. Since 2008, the department had operated out of a station at 120 Surf Court. The citys first station had been demolished to make way for the construction of the Nassau Bay Town Square. The fire department was formed in 1967, three years before the city was incorporated, according to the departments website. The city realized the need to have its own department in the fall of 1966 when a train blocking the Texas 3-NASA Road 1 intersection delayed the Webster Volunteer Fire Department from responding to a fire at a hotel on NASA Road 1. A hotel guest broke a leg when forced to jump from a second-story window. That convinced Chuck Miller, a former fire fighter from Florida who owned a service station on NASA Road 1, that the city was growing too fast to rely on outside help during emergencies. He became Nassau Bays first fire chief. The department has about 35 members who include NASA engineers, pilots and volunteers who serve as firefighters for other departments. They put a lot of their own time into this, and we are so appreciative of everything that all of our volunteers do, Shak said. A beam from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was installed in the station to honor first responders, including those who died in that disaster. A lot of planning when into the building of this station, Shak said. Our chief (Tom George) was here every day during construction just to make sure everything was done right, and it ended up being a beautiful building. The department has three engines and other vehicles and two boats. The station was funded through tax increment reinvestment zone funds. yorozco@hcn.online.com Aldine and Spring ISDs were chosen Tuesday as part of the second group of districts to participate in The Holdsworth Center, a prominent school leadership program supported by an initial $100-million investment from the chairman and CEO of grocery giant H-E-B. The two Houston-area districts will work with The Holdsworth Center for five years to train their current administrators and develop structures for preparing future leaders for high-ranking jobs. Participating districts receive on-site staff support, management training and several other accommodations totaling about $4 million over the five-year period. Through the program, we hope to learn new and innovative ways to build leadership capacity in our district and campus leaders, Aldine ISD Superintendent LaTonya Goffney said in a statement. Those skills will be used to attract and retain highly effective leaders at all levels. H-E-B chairman and CEO Charles Butt founded The Holdsworth Center in 2017, choosing to focus on school leadership development as a method of improving public education outcomes in Texas. The Holdsworth Centers administrators and some education advocates believe district and campus leadership play an undervalued role in academic results, with too little investment in cultivating high-level talent. Dozens of districts are expected to complete The Holdsworth Center program over the next several years, with a third group of districts expected to be chosen in 2021. On HoustonChronicle.com: The Holdsworth Center hopes improved leadership equals better student results The Holdsworth Center is finishing its second year working with its initial group of participants, which include Klein ISD and Lamar CISD in Houston area. Aldine and Spring were among six districts chosen Tuesday for The Holdsworth Centers second round, joining Harlingen CISD (Rio Grande Valley), Judson ISD (San Antonio), Lockhart ISD (San Marcos) and Mesquite ISD (Dallas). The Holdsworth Center selects districts based on willingness and ability to change, level of commitment to the program and administrative cohesion, among other measures. Aldine will become the centers largest participant to date, with an enrollment approaching 68,000 students. Goffney is finishing her first year leading the district, which ranks among the most impoverished in Texas. Aldine scored well-below-average on various academic performance metrics last year, including standardized test scores, high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates. Spring, which shares a southern border with Aldine, also has struggled academically under fifth-year Superintendent Rodney Watson. The district would have received an academic accountability rating of 70 equivalent to a C letter grade last year if it had not received a waiver due to Hurricane Harvey. Watson has sought to increase access to challenging courses, expand school choice within the district and improve parent engagement in recent months. This partnership with The Holdsworth Center comes at a perfect time for Spring ISD, Watson said in a statement. Well be learning from the best in terms of how to build a high-performing organization where everyone is inspired to do their best work. jacob.carpenter@chron.com twitter.com/chronjacob Forty-five days after a special prosecutor deemed Alfred Dewayne Brown innocent, the former death row prisoner is still waiting for a court to greenlight the paperwork. But the end may finally be in sight. In a court hearing Monday, Judge George Powell promised a decision by April 29, after he grapples with questions both of Brown's innocence and of whether his court has jurisdiction to re-dismiss an already closed case, this time with the proper wording to ensure the wrongfully convicted Harris County man can get compensation for the 12 years he spent behind bars. Brown was sent to death row in 2005 for the killing of Houston Police Officer Charles Clark during a botched robbery of a check-cashing store. He spent a decade awaiting execution before his conviction was tossed after a police investigator turned over evidence phone records that might have confirmed Brown's alibi found in his garage during spring cleaning. Afterward, Brown was released from prison but denied state compensation for his time behind bars because then-District Attorney Devon Anderson didn't deem him "actually innocent" when she moved to dismiss the case. So Brown filed a federal lawsuit against the the district attorney, the county, the prosecutor and police. During the course of discovery, the district attorney's office found evidence of possible past prosecutorial misconduct and the new District Attorney Kim Ogg appointed attorney John Raley as a special prosecutor to reinvestigate the case. After a 10-month probe, Raley issued a 179-page report finding Brown actually innocent. That same day, prosecutors filed an amended motion to dismiss the case, this time specifically noting Brown's innocence. But Powell didn't immediately sign the motion, and instead set Monday's court date to hear from the parties involved including Raley, Ogg and attorney Neal Manne, who represents Brown in his quest for state compensation. In friend-of-the-court briefs filed during the weeks leading up to the hearing, attorneys wrestled with whether Powell has jurisdiction to dismiss a case that's already been tossed out, and the Houston police union filed a short brief maintaining that he didn't. "Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has decided that once a court signs an order of dismissal and discharges the accused in a criminal case," union attorneys wrote, citing a case from 1980, "the case is no longer pending and there is no remaining jurisdiction in the dismissing court to issue orders related to the case." During Monday's hearing to which the judge arrived two hours late Ogg, Raley and Manne all argued that the court did have jurisdiction. To make that point, the attorneys cited two previous cases that ended in a similar manner, with an amended motion to dismiss in light of evidence of actual innocence. "Statutes should be interpreted in a way that makes sense," Raley said, arguing that it wouldn't make sense to have a law allowing for compensation if the wrongly convicted can't make use of it. But Powell's questioning didn't focus on concerns over jurisdiction; instead, he zeroed in on whether or not Brown is truly innocent, pointing out that there was no DNA to exonerate him. In response, Raley highlighted some of the key findings of his report, including a focus on the two alibi witnesses who never changed their stories and the fact that Brown's height didn't match multiple descriptions of the suspects. "Under the current legal standard," Ogg added, "Alfred Brown is legally innocent, he's actually innocent." If the judge refuses to sign the amended dismissal, it could be unprecedented, attorneys said in court Monday. "The court would be the first in the State of Texas," Raley said, "to decline an actual innocence claim when requested by the DA." From thousands of miles away in Houston, Father Ted Baenziger watched Monday as a catastrophic inferno ravaged the storied Cathedral of Notre Dame where he has celebrated Mass dozens of times. The 72-year-old Basilian order priest was most fearful that the ornate stained-glass rose windows that he had come to adore from his time at the 12th-century house of worship had been destroyed. The southern-most window was gifted to the cathedral by King St. Louis in 1260, Baenziger said. "I'm just devastated by the damage that's been done to this place," said Baenziger, a French professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas. "They were two of the most extraordinary stained-glass windows that I've ever seen in my life. One of the greatest honors Baenziger described was getting to know the historic cathedral from having celebrated Mass there more than two dozen times in front of awestruck globetrotters and from guiding more than 40 tours the last one in the summer of 2018 within its sandstone walls. His tours at the one of the world's most visited landmarks focused on the French-Gothic architecture of the church and the role that Notre Dame and the ground where it stands has had as a sacred space, he said. "I feel very privileged," Baenziger said. "I see that it's going to be a long time before we do Mass again in that Cathedral." THE LATEST: Catastrophic fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Firefighters were struggling to save the structure as Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, head of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, mourned the damage. The flames had just toppled the iconic 19th-century spire and were threatening to engulf the rest of the cathedral. Fire crews soon stopped the blaze from spreading to the northern belfry. "This particular cathedral is not only a majestic Church, it is also a world treasure," DiNardo said in a written statement. "Noble in architecture and art, it has long been a symbol of the transcendent human spirit as well as our longing for God." The cause of the fire was not yet known Monday evening but Parisian fire officials believed it to be accidental and possibly linked to the $6.8 million renovation project that the cathedral's spire comprised of 250 tons of lead was undergoing. DiNardo shared his condolences to Parisians and Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris, who called on the nation's clergy to ring church bells for the cathedral. "We pray for all the people of France, entrusting all to the prayers and intercession of the Mother of God, especially the firefighters battling the fire," DiNardo added. DiNardo, 69, penned the message on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops while recovering from a stroke that left him hospitalized on March 15 while leading the Stations of the Cross ceremony. He is still undergoing rehabilitation, an archdiocese spokeswoman said. Houston's Museum of Fine Arts paid tribute to the cathedral as an inspiration to art by tweeting an image of the "Notre Dame, Paris" oil painting from French Neo-impressionist Maximilien Luce in its collection. Alexis Andres, Consul General of France in Houston, wrote on Twitter that he was grateful to the firefighters who managed to stop the fire and the many people who shared expressions of hope and solidarity. He also assured the museum that the cathedral would be restored. "Notre Dame is not lost," Andres tweeted. "We will rebuild it! And together we will give it a Renaissance." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Three children and two adults were injured when a car burst into flames during a head-on crash Tuesday morning in northeast Harris County. The crash happened on a small stretch of road in the 11800 block of Vickery Street, just north of East Mount Houston Road near Interstate 69. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the crash appeared to be a head-on collision, severely injuring an 11-year-old girl as her parent drove her to school. Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Houston fire union Monday he would provide it with financial data that leaders requested, a sign of progress at a critical point in negotiations between the mayor and union to phase in Proposition B raises for firefighters. Officials from the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association have asked Turner to open the citys books, allowing firefighters to verify that the mayors offer to phase in the pay raises over multiple years honors the terms of the charter amendment, which requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police of corresponding rank and seniority. The incumbent seeking the District H seat on Pasadena City Council in the May 4 elections said he prides himself on a hands-on approach and accessibility to the community, while his opponent is highlighting her experience and perspective as an attorney and veteran first responder. Thomas Schoenbein, 59, a real estate agent who is seeking his second term, describes himself as a 24-7 council member. I think people appreciate my personal touch, he said. When they call, they know theyre going to get a response within 30 minutes or an hour. They can text me or they can send me pictures of drainage issues. Im very responsive and I have a very good track record of getting the job done. His opponent, Lori Laird, has a law practice that includes handling family law and civil and criminal cases, and she was a former police officer who served more than 11 years with the Baytown Police Department. As a lawyer, I bring an understanding of the law and the ability to be a fierce advocate for the residents of my district, Laird said. As a former police officer and volunteer (emergency medical technician), I have a unique understanding of the needs of first responders and wholeheartedly support police and fire services. Schoenbein said he has been able to successfully push to replace a 30-year-old fire station in District H with a new one on Crenshaw Road and that hes pressed to get new training facilities for the police and fire departments that will be completed in the summer. But Laird said several residents in District H have had issues with infrastructure. I have heard many complaints about potholes and the need for sidewalk repair, she said, noting several residents reported tripping over a sidewalk in a neighborhood in Brookwood. There are complaints about drainage issues from many locations within our district. There are requests for changes to parks and green spaces, she said. Another major complaint is the need for a noise-control barrier wall along Space Center Boulevard. Schoenbein said hes involved in every aspect of his district. Im very involved with infrastructure, he said. I go out to residents. I submit pictures of sidewalks, drainage issues, retention issues. Ill deal with heavy trash issues, code-enforcement issues and health issues. He said he has received endorsements from the Pasadena Police Officers Union, Plumbers Union Local No. 68 and Harris County Precinct. 8 Constable Phil Sandlin. Looking back on his first term, Schoenbein likes the job Mayor Jeff Wagner is doing and believes some of the disagreements that occur among current council members make for healthy discussion. I think council members should respect one another and be professional in the way that they present information in front of our citizens, he said. Our citizens want people that represent them that are factual and are professional in a manner that they can understand information being disseminated and that they come across as being knowledgeable when issues come up that have to have some explanation on the reason youre voting on things. Laird respects the approachability of the mayor along with his demeanor and leadership during Hurricane Harvey and the recovery efforts that followed. After the hurricane, I closed my office, and many of my family members and I volunteered at one of the local shelters helping those who were displaced by the hurricane. We prepared and served food, washed dishes, folded clothes and (did) various other tasks that needed to be done. The mayor was there several times, visiting and comforting those who had to seek shelter and reaching out to Red Cross and church volunteers, she said. Both candidates are involved in numerous organizations throughout Pasadena. Schoenbein said he has attended most of the 15 to 18 homeowners association meetings in his district over the last two years and that he goes to regional events that are important to his district and city. He said he has networked with Harris County commissioners to promote District H. I look forward to working with our new county commissioner (Adrian Garcia in Precinct 2) to make sure District H has the same representation as we did with the previous county commissioner, Schoenbein said. Laird serves as an ambassador for the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and is a board member on Pasadena Philharmonic Orchestra. She plays the violin in the orchestra along with her husband Craig Schweitzer, who is a timpanist and percussionist. I have served on boards for many charitable organizations over the years and believe in the power of volunteerism and service to the community, she said. I feel I can make a strong contribution to City Council, have ideas to share and a passion and commitment to do the right thing. Early voting for the election begins Monday, April 22. For more information about the election, click here. tyler.johnson@chron.com A man arrested for buying sex in October was convicted of prostitution Monday and sentenced to one-year probation and a $1,000 fine by County Court of Law 1 Judge Dennis Watson. Gabriel Guel, 33, was one of 75 people arrested in a human trafficking and prostitution sting in The Woodlands that ultimately led to the recovery of five trafficked individuals, one of which was a juvenile. While many of those arrested in the sting have pleaded guilty since being arrested, Guel was the first one to go to trial, according to Montgomery County District Attorneys Office Special Crimes Bureau Chief Tyler Dunman. During a press conference Nov. 5, the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office released the details of the sting dubbed Operation Cross County where officials worked with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to address the growing problem of human trafficking in Montgomery County. Several non-governmental organizations were also involved in the operation. RELATED: Human trafficking, prostitution sting near The Woodlands nets 75 arrests Of the 75 arrests, Cannon said 32 were men, 11 of which were pimps. He added 28 were women, with some of the women in possession of controlled substances and/or handguns. Agencies working with sheriffs office were the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office, Houston Police Department, Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constables Office, the Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Attorney Generals Office, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. State Department. Dunman said he hopes that the sting and the convictions send a strong message to those who buy and sell sex that Montgomery County officials are attacking the demand to stop the cycle of violence in Montgomery County. In the last several years our office and law enforcement has taken a more proactive approach to address human trafficking in Montgomery County, Dunman said. The goal in that is to rescue victims who are being trafficked out of those situations. One of the ways they are doing that, Dunman said, is through large scale sting operations. RECORDS: Ex-Magnolia ISD bus driver one of 8 nabbed for felony sex crimes in Montgomery Ultimately what we hope to do is attack the demand for sexual exploitation in the county and we do that through arresting and charging buys of sex and charging them with prostitution, Dunman said. According to Dunman, there has been a paradigm shift over the years that what was originally believed a woman who sells sexual service wants to, is actually a situation where girls and woman are being forced against their will by traffickers to provide the services. Many are being trafficked by force, fraud or coercion, a pimp or trafficker is controlling them, Dunman said. They are equally vulnerable because of homelessness or poverty or being a prior victim of sexual abuse. They have resorted to engaging in that type of behavior in order to survive. Of the 75 arrests, Dunman the ones who have not been convicted are still pending. In our experience, its the conviction that most of these men are trying to avoid because of the ramifications it has on their career and reputation and their status in the community, Dunman explained. That is the line in the sand our office has drawn. We are not offering diversions or some way for them to avoid a conviction and it is a tough approach but it is one we think is important. cdominguez@hcnonline.com After a year off, the Spring Fine Arts Show is returning to Market Street in The Woodlands on May 4 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event, which has happened annually for several years in the past, was canceled last year due to the after-effects of Hurricane Harvey. But, Market Streets Marketing Director Noemi Gonzalez said she and others are excited to announce that the show has returned. Were a huge supporter of the arts, and this is another way to express that, Gonzalez said. Officials expect to bring about 40 artists to the show, lined up in booths along the street for the 2,000 people anticipated to come out during the day. Something unique about this show, Gonzalez said, is that the majority of the artists are local to Texas, if not the Houston region specifically. We will have people who travel from other cities in Texas, but not from outside of Texas. Theyre local, and they love coming out here, Gonzalez said, explaining that theyll have painters, photographers and wood carvers displaying their work at the show. This years event has been bumped up due to the renovations to the Central Park in Market Street. With synthetic turf and extra seating as well as pergolas and outdoor sculptures, the area received quite the makeover for these types of outdoor events. Were so excited its finally completed. Now were able to use the turf year-round and we added some games: corn hole, jumbo jenga, connect four, Gonzalez said. The whole point of the renovation is to elevate our customer experience. Everyone is pleased with it, and it seems that people are truly enjoying it. Market Street is partnering with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Visit The Woodlands, by sponsoring a tent with kids coloring tables and artwork stations. Live music is also scheduled for the day. (My favorite part) is the live music, just because it gives it a whole different vibe out here. Its like a surprise for the dinner crowd: people can walk around or shop while theyre waiting for their table, and I love to see that, Gonzalez said. In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled to the next Saturday, May 11. jane.stueckemann@chron.com Pet owners wanting to pamper their furry friends now have another store near The Woodlands to visit. Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming has been open for just over a month in the Creekside Park Village Center. Kelly Ross is the owner of the 1,731-square foot store that sells pet products, pet food and provides full-service grooming and a self-wash room for dogs. Ive been in the industry a little over 10 years, both on the manufacturing and distributing side of business. I decided that with all of my knowledge and experience, moving forward to open a store would be the next step in my career, said Ross, who is a resident of Creekside Park. Although this is her first franchise, Rosss store is the seventh location of the franchise in the Houston region. What makes the Creekside location unique, Ross said, is the spa-style grooming made by appointment, the products made of natural ingredients sourced in the United States and baked goods cooked with human-grade ingredients. Theyre for dogs, but people can eat them too if they feel the need to share the treat with their pet, Ross said with a laugh. Since opening, Ross said business has been amazing. Shes added a second groomer to her team and now offers grooming seven days a week. I have to pinch myself regularly becauseyou go into business and dont know what to expect. I knew we were different, I just didnt realize that customers would know were so different right off the bat, Ross said. jane.stueckemann@chron.com Courtesy of Jamie Florio. For use only with CONNECTICUT-BABY Courtesy of Jamie Florio. For use only with CONNECTICUT-BABY. Courtesy of John Florio. For use only with CONNECTICUT-BABY. Courtesy of John Florio. For use only with CONNECTICUT-BABY. Baby Connor was born a tiny preemie in July, weighing just 11 ounces - about the size of a human heart and lighter than a can of soda. He went home to Connecticut this week in what doctors called a triumph of medicine and the human spirit. It was extremely rare, they said, for an infant born so small to survive. His father could hold him in the palm of his hand when he was born. "Connor is probably one of the smallest babies to have survived in the United States," said Dennis Davidson, chief of the infant and toddler unit at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Westchester County, New York. On Tuesday, when Connor was discharged to go home with his parents, Jamie and John Florio, he weighed nearly 11 pounds - about 15 times his birth weight. Jamie Florio, 29, said doctors and nurses told her that although Connor was the smallest baby they'd ever seen, he was also the feistiest. "I believe that's what helped him to survive," she said. "He was the size of a newborn kitten. Stretched out, he was only nine inches long, from head to toe. But he was a fighter." Davidson said Connor also has "a great social smile." Then he deadpanned: "Discharge was based on the condition that they send us photos of Connor as he grows up." Davidson said he expects Connor to thrive at home with his parents in Danbury, Connecticut. "His parents have been unbelievably dedicated to observing the little nuances of his clinical conditions," Davidson said, which included chronic lung disease, neurodevelopment disorder and feeding issues. To keep their spirits up during the nine months that their son was hospitalized, the Florios bought wee costumes for Connor at Build-a-Bear to celebrate every holiday and take photos. On Valentine's Day, Connor was dressed up as a cupid, and on St. Patrick's Day, he was a leprechaun. On Thanksgiving, he was a pilgrim, and on Christmas, he was an elf. On Halloween, Jamie Florio found him a miniature doctor's uniform and a Superman costume. In the days after Connor's discharge Tuesday, there was little time for the Florios to snap pictures. "We're so happy to finally have him here, but it's more stressful now," said John Florio, who is about to return to his job as a middle school social studies teacher after taking a week off to celebrate Connor's homecoming. Jamie Florio, a special-education teacher, is just now beginning her maternity leave. "We don't have a staff to take care of him now," John Florio said. "It's finally all up to us." Connor was delivered in an emergency C-section birth and spent five months in the newborn intensive-care unit at the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, followed by four months at Blythedale Children's Hospital. It was during Jamie Florio's 25th week of pregnancy that doctors said Connor wasn't getting enough nutrients to thrive, and she was admitted to the hospital to be monitored. Something was wrong with Florio's placenta, and Connor hadn't been receiving enough nutrients to grow at a normal rate. One week later, doctors decided that an urgent C-section was necessary. "We knew it was risky because we kept hearing, 'We'll do everything we can,' " Jamie Florio recalled. "Even though (Connor) was 26 weeks along, he was the size of a 20-week fetus." When their tiny son was delivered, though, John Florio had a strong hunch that he would ultimately be healthy and strong. "He came out kicking and screaming and swinging his arms," he said. "I could see that he had some strength in him." Now at home, Connor will need a feeding tube for a while, but doctors say he will probably be taken off supplemental oxygen in a few weeks. Then the Florios can look forward to watching their feisty little boy reach new milestones. "My hope in the future is that he has a normal childhood," said John Florio. "And of course, I can't wait to show all of his baby pictures someday to his prom date." One of the major complaints from marijuana researchers in recent years is that cannabis grown for research purposes is, to put it bluntly, basically skunk weed. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Northern Colorado offers science to back up that claim. They found that marijuana from the federal facility is genetically closer to hemp than it is to the weed for sale at your local dispensary. That's a problen because, as the researchers wrote, These results suggest that subjects consuming research grade marijuana may experience different effects than average consumers. Its like test driving a Honda to find out what its like to drive a BMW. Related: Hemp vs. Marijuana: Why Can't Cops Tell Them Apart? Marijuana from Ole Miss. The University of Mississippi is the only place licensed by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to grow marijuana for research purposes. Thats because marijuana remains a Schedule I illegal drug in the eyes of the federal government. The school recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of having the contract with the government to grow research-grade marijuana. In an article on the school website late in 2018 about the anniversary, the schools pharmacy dean said the university has done an outstanding job of working within federal guidelines to produce cannabis products that are standardized for scientific research. The University of North Colorado study, however, found that research at the school, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA), is producing cannabis that is genetically divergent from commercial cannabis. The researchers investigated the genetics of research cannabis because previous studies already had found THC and cannabinoid levels in research marijuana were less than that found in cannabis purchased legally in Colorado, Washington and California. The Washington Post reported that while marijuana is supposed to have 13 percent THC, tests show research-grade marijuana had about 8 percent. Related: Will Medical Cannabis Sales Eventually Surpass Recreational Sales? More fuel for the fire. The study offers more research to support the ongoing effort to get the DEA to license more facilities to grow research-grade marijuana. The DEA had started procedures to license more facilities during the Obama Administration, but none had been awarded as of early April. Frustrated researchers have sent photos of research weed they have been given that looks more like lawn clippings than actual marijuana -- and that was two years ago. Both the Justice Department and DEA officials told Vox they either had no update on the program or were working through the issue, without further explanation. Meanwhile, researchers continue to worry that without proper marijuana to test, consumers still dont have a clear idea on the effects and potential health treatments available with cannabis. Follow dispensaries.com on Instagram to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news. Related: This Week in Weed: Notorious B.U.D! Marijuana the Feds Allow for Research Is More Like Hemp Than Real-Life Pot This Week in Weed: DO NOT SMOKE THIS! Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The trial of a Houston teen accused in the deaths of his parents stalled on Tuesday as attorneys conferred over a possible missing bag of evidence. Jurors took their seats for the first time since a four-day recess around 2:50 p.m. Tuesday to resume hearing the prosecution's witnesses in the case against Antonio Armstrong, Jr. Investigators arrested him on July 29, 2016, after they said he shot his parents in the head at their Bellaire-area home. Much of the morning was occupied with arguing over the inclusion of evidence obtained from phone records, and determining what happened to an apparently lost bag of evidence. In the early afternoon, court reporter Gail Rolen testified about the garbage bag in question during a hushed hearing in front of Judge Kelli Johnson. Defense attorney Rick DeToto questioned Rolen during the hearing. They huddled around the judge's bench and spoke only in whispers, meaning most of the testimony was indecipherable to reporters in the audience. The hearing was on the record, as another court reporter stepped in to transcribe the conversation. After, the bailiff in the courtroom testified in similarly hushed tones. Because of the secrecy at the bench, it's unknown what happened to the bag, what was in it or how it got lost. Prosecutors aren't speaking with reporters during the trial, and DeToto declined to answer questions on the evidence after court recessed. Only the former headmaster of The Kinkaid School, where Armstrong attended before transferring to Lamar High School, testified before jurors were dismissed for the day. The former school leader, Andrew Martire, described Kinkaid as a rigorous institution, where students were expected to participate athletically, academically and in the fine arts. Armstrong was placed on academic probation in the second semester of the 2015-2016 school year, Martire said. School officials were interested in keeping him at the school, but he wasn't offered re-enrollment at the end of the semester, he said. "His grades were not sufficient enough ... to essentially release the academic probation," he said. Armstrong's father called Martire in mid-June and was friendly about the news. At some point, Martire heard that Armstrong's sister, Kayra, wouldn't be returning to school either because of financial reasons. In the upper school, tuition totaled at least $24,000 a person, he said. During cross examination, Martire said he knew that the Armstrong siblings were receiving financial aid. Martire described Armstrong as respectful during his time at Kinkaid. They hugged outside of the courtroom at some point Tuesday, he said. Prosecutors are establishing a motive that Armstrong was angry with his parents, Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr., for sending him to Lamar High School, where he likely wouldn't start on the football team. Court resumed Tuesday morning after a four-day recess and will continue Wednesday morning. 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 gang member was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday for his involvement in a drug rip that led to the deaths of three people in a home invasion, according to the Harris County District Attorneys Office. Brodrick Bell, 24, is the second person to be convicted of capital murder in the deaths that occurred while he and several others broke into a Greenspoint-area apartment to steal drugs in 2015. The jury agreed that this man is too dangerous to be on our streets, or the streets of any community, ever again, District Attorney Kim Ogg said. THE ORIGINAL STORY: HPD investigating triple homicide in north Houston Bell who was known by the nickname John Gotti, after the notorious New York City crime boss was prosecuted under a state law that allows anyone who is a party to a crime to be charged with the same offense. Prosecutors say he and Celvin Wayne Brooks, 21, who has already been found guilty on the same charge and sentenced, were driven to the apartment in the 800 block of Seminar on March 20, 2015. The three people in the apartment resident Kiara Jackson, 22; her boyfriend DeMarquise Edwards, 23; and friend Terrell Paynes, 20 died from gunshot wounds to the head. Bell and the other intruders stole cash, drugs, at least one cell phone and a wallet before fleeing, police said. The brutality was so extreme; they executed everybody there,Assistant District Attorney Keri Fuller said.. This was a very well-planned and premeditated attack. Prosecutors said Edwards was known in the neighborhood for selling codeine syrup. They previously said in court that the apartment was also a hub for selling marijuana and pills. A third defendant in the slayings, 23-year-old Kevoughn Dontrell Fields, is awaiting trial. Fields was the leader of a group suspected of committing up to 15 armed robberies, prosecutors have said. Fuller and Assistant District Attorney Ryan Trask prosecuted the case in state District Judge Abigail Anastasios court. samantha.ketterer@chron.com A Houston man was sentenced on Tuesday to 16 years in federal prison for a carjacking in which he pistol-whipped a man, authorities said. His arrest days later came after a high-speed chase, including through parts of downtown, that ended when the assailant crashed into an SUV carrying a family of six. The punishment for Sean Rodriguez, 35, includes about six and a half years for kidnapping and 10 years for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. The sentence, handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, will run consecutively, authorities said. Rodriguez was initially charged in state district court, where records show the attack occurred on Jan. 17, 2018. At a probable cause hearing, a Harris County prosecutor said Rodriguez carjacked a vehicle from a couple he knew who agreed to give him a ride. He led them down a neighborhood, pulled a gun and told them he needed their car. AT THE COURTHOUSE: Capital murder trial of Houston teen stalls over possible missing bag of evidence The woman driving the car got out but her boyfriend wrestled with Rodriguez, who pistol-whipped him, according to the probable cause hearing. Three days later, authorities were pursuing the stolen car when Rodriguez led them on a chase, the prosecutor said. He nearly hit pedestrians downtown and at one time, speeds reached up to 80 mph on Allen Parkway, the prosecutor said. The chase ended when he struck a 2015 Audi SUV in the north Houston area. After he was arrested, he told authorities that he had rented the car for $100, and that he didn't know the couple. The state district charges were dismissed after Rodriguez was indicted in federal court. A jury convicted Rodriguez on the federal charges in September, nine months after the attack. During the trial, the boyfriend told jurors how Rodriguez pistol-whipped him, at which time the gun discharged above his head, federal authorities said. Jurors were also told that when Rodriguez crashed, he struck a vehicle carrying a family of six. In handing down the sentence, the court noted that Rodriguez was lucky that no one was killed or injured during the chase and crash. Rodriguez will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined later, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick said. NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. Deputies have filed charges against a driver accused of drag racing and crashing into two pedestrians, severely injuring them back in late March. Ronald Gray Pace III, 28, is facing two felony charges after allegedly racing along Houston Oaks Drive near Sam Houston Parkway late March 29, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. He crashed into two pedestrians after losing control at high speeds, Gonzalez said. Pace is the son of Ronnie "Barefoot" Pace, who's best known for his role on the Discovery Channel street racing show "Street Outlaws," according to Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Division. Pace has yet to be arrested but faces two second-degree felony counts of racing causing serious bodily injury, Gonzalez said. The driver competing against Pace who won the race without crashing could also face charges, detectives announced at a press conference Tuesday morning. "(We're) hoping that street racers will get the message and stay off our roads," Gonzalez said. "(We want) to send the message that illegal street racers will be held accountable for their crimes in Harris County." The crash happened the same weekend as the legally sanctioned TX2K19 racing event in Baytown, which drew hundreds of racers from the area onto Houston streets. Just days before the crash, deputies with the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office arrested four drivers accused of racing along the Katy Freeway. Pace is facing up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. Both victims are expected to survive. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message A scooter stolen from a Midtown home is in the hands of some of the "luckiest criminals," the owner says. At least three men used bolt cutters and a touch of sass early Friday morning to steal Dan Rebensdorf's Honda Ruckus, a small-yet-capable motorbike the law student used for the daily trek between his home on Welch Street to the South Texas College of Law in downtown Houston. "It's so easy to get around Houston in that thing," Rebensdorf said. "I was saving money on gas, it was easy to park." On Thursday evening, he locked up the bike outside his rent house for the night, he said. When he woke up Friday morning, it was nowhere to be found. NORTHWEST HARRIS COUNTY: Son of street-racing TV star charged in Houston after violent street racing crash He checked the house's surveillance video and saw a man using the heavy tool to cut his bike free, he said. He watched the rest of the video and spotted the crook giving the camera the bird as he ran off. "Every time I watch that video, the guy flipping off the camera, he's got to be joking," Rebensdorf said. "They just did not care." He went door-to-door in his neighborhood to see if anyone else had surveillance of the crooks but came up short. One neighbor has a camera, but it was facing the wrong way. Another neighbor also has a camera this time facing the right direction but it wasn't recording during the heist. The one video he was able to get only shows a portion of the license plate on the truck used as a getaway, he said. "These guys are the luckiest criminals," he said. Rebensdorf hopes the Houston Police Department can help get the rest of the license plate on the truck to help track the thieves down. Until then, he's remaining vigilant and hoping a $500 reward he's financing will help. Anyone with information about the theft is urged to call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message Courtesy of the artist / Courtesy of the artist Local writer, educator and activist Tony Diaz will kick off a new speaker series called Community Cultural Capital, focusing on diverse Latino experiences in Houston. The series, funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance, begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Yes Prep Gulfton with guest speaker Maria Duran, founder of the multicutural marketing company Duran Concepts LLC. The talk will focus on Central American perspectives on Latino culture, particularly in Houston. One person has died aboard a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Houston, an airline spokesperson confirmed. Flight 440 left around 10 a.m. in Frankfurt and landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 1:55 p.m. today, according to flightstats.com. REWARD OFFERED: Scooter thief shoots middle finger at surveillance camera The passengers name and cause of death havent been identified. Local authorities will take over the investigation, said Tal Muscal, head of corporate communications for Lufthansa in the Americas. 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. Even a saints-encrusted pistol couldn't protect this guy from the cops. Deputies took a sizable bite out of the Houston drug scene during a routine traffic stop Friday. Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office found nearly 10 kilos of methamphetamine, 21 grams of cocaine and several firearms, all seized and now off the streets, officials said. REWARD OFFERED: Scooter thief shoots middle finger at surveillance camera Deputies seized an AR long gun and two pistols, which both had grips appearing to depict saints. One looks to have St. Joseph carrying baby Jesus while the other depicts La Virgen de Guadalupe. They also seized about $4,200 in cash, officials said. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message More than 4,000 parents whose children attended the Houston-based Varnett charter school network between 2007 and 2014 could receive restitution payments totaling more than $600,000 nearly a year after the districts founders were convicted of siphoning millions from the schools, federal officials announced Tuesday. Parents could be eligible for $110.02 per child for every year they attended one of the districts three campuses. For example, if a family sent three children to the school for three years, it could be eligible for $990.06. The money came from selling assets once owned by Marian Annette Cluff and her husband, Alsie Cluff Jr., who also have been ordered to pay $1.89 million to the charter school district, $1.83 million to the Internal Revenue Service, $100,000 to a Philadelphia-based insurance company and nearly $14,800 to two employees. Both Cluffs were sentenced in June 2018 and are in federal custody. Marian Cluff is serving 10 years for conspiracy to commit tax evasion and mail fraud; Alsie Cluff was sentenced to three years on a conspiracy to commit tax evasion conviction. Ryan Patrick, U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Texas, said Tuesday that the Cluffs billed parents for routine expenses such as field trips and fundraisers even though those functions already had been funded by the school. Instead of spending the money on students, the two used the extra funds to pay for lavish vacations aboard a private jet, furnish a 7,000-square-foot home in South Houston, purchase designer jewelry and fund upkeep on a ranch. What the Cluffs did was use this set of charter schools as pass-throughs for their own financial gain, Patrick said. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: The most popular schools for students transferring out of HISD The Cluffs founded the Varnett school network, which has grown to serve about 1,600 elementary students across three campuses, in 1984. They paid themselves exorbitant salaries, Marian Cluff for working as the schools superintendent and Alsie Cluff for managing business operations. Alsie Cluff also made millions from contracts and other deals with the schools. The couple reported about $12 million in income from Varnett during an eight-year period. In addition to giving themselves higher-than average salaries, the Cluffs skimmed money parents paid under the guise of using the funds for field trips, the chance to wear regular clothes instead of uniforms on Fridays, fundraisers and materials. Its particularly egregious because they not only victimized taxpayers but also victimized those who were most vulnerable in our community, said Neil Sanchez, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Educations Office of the Inspector General. Patrick said a whistleblower alerted local authorities to inconsistencies in the schools finances in the early 2010s. The Texas Education Agency in 2013 found the network was rife with conflicts of interest and excessive spending among school leaders. The couple was indicted on fraud and tax evasion charges after federal officials found they were moving small deposits into an off-the-books account. They surrendered to federal authorities in 2018. YES PREP: Aiming to cut expulsions, school opens disciplinary alternative education program, according to HoustonChronicle.com report Sanchez said the restitution they owed was based on the amount of money funneled into their off-the-books account and the number of years they pocketed parents money. That was broken down into a per-student, per-year basis, Sanchez said. The U.S. Attorneys office obtained attendance records for the years covered by the restitution and will send letters to parents by the end of the week providing more information. Those who do not receive a letter within the next week or two should contact Patricks office. Patrick and Perrye K. Turner, special agent in charge of the FBIs Houston Division, said it is rare for victims in such cases to receive restitution. Often, those who commit this type of fraud use the money on vacations or items that cannot be recovered by authorities, such as expensive meals or nights out. It is rare when there are assets seized, Turner said. Often times, the moneys just gone. A Carnival cruise ship recently had to change course to take on some unexpected passengers. On Sunday the Carnival Fantasy ship rescued 23 people who were stuck adrift at sea. The ship's crew brought the individuals on board at 10:47 a.m. around two hours after they were located by a U.S. Coast Guard aircrew. Read about the latest cruise ship health and safety violations on HoustonChronicle.com The rescue occurred 130 nautical miles off the Yucatan Peninsula, the Coast Guard said in a press release. A Cuban national made contact with the Coast Guard at 1:15 a.m. Sunday. He claimed his brother, along with 22 other individuals, were adrift on board a disabled sport fishing boat. The caller said the 23 Cubans had been going from Cuba to Mexico on a wooden boat. That boat eventually lost power (according to the release). A Cuban-Mexican national saw their boat and welcomed the 23 people onto his sport fishing. His vessel malfunctioned, too. As a result, all involved were stuck at sea for another three days, according to the Coast Guard. Two of the individuals who were rescued had "minor medical issues." They were treated by the cruise ship's medical staff. The cruise ship was traveling from Mexico to a Mobile, Alabama port when it altered its course. It eventually docked in Mobile on Monday morning. The rescued individuals were set to be transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard Investigative Services in Mobile on Tuesday morning, the Coast Guard release said. 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. Despite having worked for decades in the real estate industry, Sharon Voss, 79, made a mistake that will likely cost her her home of nearly 30 years at an auction this month. The culprit: a reverse mortgage that was meant to keep her financially solvent through her golden years. Voss' husband had taken out a home equity conversion mortgage, as the federally backed loans are called, on the couple's four-bedroom, Orlando-area home tucked away on a quiet street. Like more than a million other older U.S. homeowners, they traded the ownership of the 2,000-square-foot property and any equity earned for cash to pay off outstanding debts. They believed they would be able to remain in the home until their deaths, which is typically how these loans work. But after Voss' husband passed away, six years ago, the banks came calling and the foreclosure notices began. The problem was that the couple had agreed to take Sharon Voss' name off the title of the house when lenders said that was the only way the loan would be approved. They had assured her that her name could go back on the deed if her husband died. It didn't. My husband "thought he was protecting me," says Voss, a real estate agent and former president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. "Im from the Dark Ages when the husband did this and I did that. He wanted control of the finances. With the largest generation ever to retirethe baby boomersbeginning to do so en masse, reverse mortgages will likely rise in popularity as a way to help them fund their retirement. Currently, around 50,000 of these loans are taken out each year, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. But in barely a decade, 1 in 5 U.S. residents will be old enough to qualify for the mortgages, according to U.S. Census demographers. "Given the demographic trends in the U.S., we certainly anticipate continual growth in the reverse mortgage space," says Steve Irwin, executive vice president of the association. But Voss' case illustrates one of the pitfalls of the reverse mortgage, which has long been a controversial product that some finance experts warn could leave the elderly in worse financial shape. The loans have now come under federal scrutinynot because of consumer complaints, but because they simply cost too much. A report in November found that the home equity conversion mortgage program is a major money loser: During the past budget year, it had a negative worth of more than $13 billion, as claims exceeded the current value of the loans insured through federal funds. As part of an overall reform of the nation's housing finance system, President Donald Trump in March tasked Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson with drafting a plan to bring the program onto financially solid ground. But changes could result in lenders becoming less generous with the upfront payments they provide homeowners. The loans could also become more difficult to obtain. The ins and outs of reverse mortgages Reverse mortgages were created in the 1960s to allow the elderly a new source of income. Those 62 and older can receive a lump sum payment, monthly installments, or a line of credit secured by the value of their home. That money can help them pay medical bills, go on vacation, or cover property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on their abodes. But the loans must be paid off before the owners named on the deed sell their residence, move, or die. If it isn't, they or their heirs are responsible for the balanceor the lender can collect the property. Reverse mortgages are most common in California, making up about 33% of the nation's reverse mortgages. Florida and Colorado make up the next most, at about 7% each. The dangers of reverse mortgages San Francisco attorney Ingrid Evans, who focuses on cases of elder fraud, says the federal government needs to do a better job of protecting aging homeowners. Reverse mortgages can also be pricey, with upfront costs that can run $15,000 to $20,000 on a $200,000 home. Thats important to consider, especially for those who don't plan to stay in their homes long or want to borrow only a small amount. Reverse mortgages are just a terrible deal for seniors, unless they have no other options, says Evans. Some widows and widowers say they were unaware that they would lose their homes. Others took upfront payments for medical bills or other expenses, but could then not afford the property taxes and home upkeep. About five years ago, greater controls were established to allow surviving spouses to stay in their homes. Voss says she tried to qualify for widow relief so she could stay in her residence. But the mortgage her husband took out predated reforms for surviving spouses. About a year after he died in 2013, she began to get notices about foreclosure. The process slowed as the mortgage changed hands to other lenders, and her attorney helped her try to stake her claim, but there was only so much she could spend on legal costs. Ive been in the business a long time, but you dont know about things like this, says Voss. Now, she's trying to figure out where to go next. The auction is slated for April 16. She's looking at apartments and is considering moving into a mobile home community. Whatever you do, get an attorney to read over everything before you agree to the terms, says Voss. A reverse mortgage "may sound like a good situation, but make sure your name is on the deed." The post Reversal of Fortune: The Mortgage Mistake That Could Cost One Woman Her Longtime Home appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Spring has arrived, which means it's a great time to visit dozens of Northern California waterfalls. As the snow in the Sierra melts, the runoff will increase water levels and river flows across Northern California. Waterfall photographer Leon Turnbull gave his top six picks of Northern California waterfalls to visit during late spring. HORSETAIL FALLS: You can catch this 590-foot waterfall cascade down the mountain alongside Highway 50 on your way to South Lake Tahoe. "The first time we came was late in the year, and we thought the waterfall was great. We came back in the spring, and we were amazed. I had to up my ranking from eight to nine. Wow," Turnbull said. Visitors can stop and see the waterfall by parking at the trailhead at Twin Bridges. Note that there is a parking fee. "There are usually a lot of cars parked here on weekends, so there might be quite a few people here. This is a very popular destination," Turnbull said. CRYSTAL BASIN FALLS: In the Desolation Wilderness near Wrights Lake, you can stumble upon a 40-foot "high segmented" waterfall dropping into an incredible pool, or better known as the Enchanted Pools. SUSIE LAKE FALLS: "Susie Lake Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the Lake Tahoe area," Turnbull said. This 150-foot waterfall goes from the outlet stream of Susie Lake all the way down to Grass Lake in El Dorado County. "I wonder just how many people each year hike right by Susie Lake without even realizing there is an incredible waterfall just below the lake?" Turnbull said. You can see the waterfall from Susie Lake. However, it is a steep and difficult trek, Turnbull said. He suggests watching the waterfall from Grass Lake. TWIN LAKE FALLS: Another waterfall to look out for in the Desolation Wilderness is the Twin Lake Falls. The 214-foot-high waterfall drops into Twin Lakes. It's a 2.5-mile hike from Wrights Lake to Twin Lake Falls. "This is a gorgeous hike to a gorgeous destination," Turnbull said. UPPER TRUCKEE RIVER FALLS: This 64-foot high waterfall along the Upper Truckee River isn't as popular to visitors but won't disappoint, Turnbull suggests. "This one upstream is not as well-known, and bypassed by most, yet is a much more interesting waterfall," Turnbull said. There is a lower waterfall on the Upper Truckee, which is a more popular waterfall and very easy to get to. GROUSE FALLS: In Mariposa County, the trail to Grouse Falls overlook is an easy, pleasant hike through the forest. Once there, you can see the 504-foot waterfall from a steep cliff into a deep canyon. "The canyons in this area of the Sierra are stunningly beautiful and difficult to get into as well," Turnbull said. "At the overlook, you are looking at the huge waterfall from a half-mile away, across a large canyon. Even from this distance, the waterfall is amazingly spectacular." Grouse Creek joins up with the South Branch Grouse Creek, where there is another waterfall. Water rushes downstream, where it joins up with the North Fork of the American River. However, Grouse Creek is greatly reduced in volume once all the snow is melted. "Spring is definitely the best time to visit Grouse Falls," Turnbull said. Until just a few years ago, New York City Councilman Kalman Yegers recent dismissal of Palestinians existence would not have necessarily triggered any condemnation from his colleagues much less removing him from a committee. For the first half-century of Israels existence, the Democratic Party was consistently more pro-Israel than the GOP. Jewish voters have always leaned Democratic and Israel was historically socially and economically progressive in its domestic policies. Those facts, as well as Israels identity as a nation founded as a homeland for a persecuted minority in the Middle East and Europe, endeared it American liberals. Now, shifting demographics in the United States and Israels growing rightward tilt have changed the political playing field with major reverberations in New York. Israels government has grown increasingly aggressive in its posture toward Palestinians and the occupied territories, granted increasing power to the ultra-Orthodox and adopted extremist religious openly aligned itself with the Republican Party. Meanwhile, living conditions in the occupied territories have worsened and support and sympathy for Palestinians has grown on the left. That has created a split between the rising tide of left-wing insurgents such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and state Sen. Julia Salazar and New Yorks Democratic establishment. New York state is home to 1.75 million Jews, the largest concentration of Jews in any state and far more than in any country besides Israel. New York City alone has 1.1 million Jews, making it the city with the largest Jewish population in the world. New York elected officials have generally been especially supportive of Israel, often taking trips to visit the country and regularly churning out op-eds and votes, both symbolic and substantive, in support of its interests. However, even in New York, fault lines are beginning to form as lawmakers find themselves forced to contend with new and changing ideologies and identities among their constituents. The number of self-identified Arab-Americans in New York state has increased by 27%, to 153,000, between 2000 and 2013, the most recent year for which data is available. Muslims, which includes not only many Arab-Americans but also immigrants from Africa, south Asia and southeast Asia and their descendants, along with some converts, are now an estimated 6% of New York state residents, compared to Jews 9%. Recent events, ranging from comments from Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim refugee from Somalia, about the influence of Israel in American politics to a Yegers assertion that Palestine does not exist, have brought these fault lines to the surface. Here is where politically powerful New York Democrats with prominent stances on the Middle East line up: Combatively pro-Israel New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger Yeger, who represents a large Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, takes Israels side in the conflict with Palestinians and evinces none of the concern for Palestinian rights or feelings that more mainstream Democrats try to. In late March, he tweeted that Palestine does not exist. (Before he was a councilman he had tweeted similar sentiments.) His recent comment led to several rallies, both for Yeger and against him. Yeger refused to apologize and the City Council leadership removed him as a member of the Committee on Immigration. Former Assemblyman Dov Hikind When pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Yegers office, though were outnumbered by counter-protesters, egged on by former Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who used to represent the same area as Yeger. Hikind has long battled with the left when it comes to Middle East policy. In 2011, his endorsement of Republican Bob Turner, intended to send Democrats a message over Israel policy, helped Turner win a special election to replace former Rep. Anthony Weiner. Hikind went on to appear with Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Israeli conservative politician Danny Danon at an event in New York where he criticized Obamas Israel policy. At the recent pro-Yeger rally, Hikind falsely claimed Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist who has become something of a boogeyman to Israel supporters and someone whom Hikind has attacked before, had organized the Yeger protest. At one point during the counter-protest, Hikind led the chant Linda Sarsour is a terrorist, despite her not being there, having nothing to do with the event and having never even been accused much less convicted of any actual terrorist activity. At another point, a counter-protester asked if an Arab-American child brought a bomb. Mainstream Israel supporters U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer Schumer is a longtime supporter of Israel. He has even described himself as the guardian of Israel in the past. In 2018, called the boycott movement against Israel anti-Semitic during his speech at the annual AIPAC conference, earning him criticism among his partys progressive wing. Schumer also asserted the true obstacle to peace is the fact Arabs dont want a Jewish state in the region at all. Unlike many of his Democratic colleagues who did not attend the conference this year, Schumer still delivered a speech at the 2019 AIPAC conference, where he denounced Omar for making what he said were anti-Semitic statements against the lobbying group. However, he voted against the anti-BDS bill when it came up for a vote during the 2019 government shutdown, saying he would not pass anything until the government reopened. Additionally, Schumer formerly opposed the Obama administrations agreement with Iran to stop it from obtaining nuclear weapons, which Israels government opposed, though he has since offered tepid support for its continuation when President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from it. Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey Engel and Lowey share very similar stances on Israel and Palestine. The pair have consistently voted in line with the interests of the Israeli government, including withholding support for President Barack Obamas Iran nuclear deal. More recently, the pair individually condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar for statements they said were anti-Semitic. Lowey called her statements hurtful, damaging and unacceptable, and later implied that Omar employed the anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty. Engel made similar comments, saying Omars comments were outrageous and deeply hurtful, and that it is unacceptable and deeply offensive to call into question lawmakers loyalty for America given their support of Israel. Engel and Lowey were among the loudest voices calling for a resolution condemning anti-Semitism in the wake of Omars comments. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Despite touting himself as an ardent progressive, de Blasio remains hawkish comes to Israel and Palestine. When other liberal presidential hopefuls, of which de Blasio may be one, sat out the 2019 AIPAC conference, he still spoke there. And before that, he made an unpublicized appearance at a private event hosted by AIPAC. De Blasio also called out Rep. Omar for her comments about loyalty and allegiance to Israel, calling them absolutely unacceptable and suggesting that his own strong support for the state Israel does not mean he feels beholden to it. He did, however, call on City Councilman Kalman Yeger to apologize after Yeger said Palestine does not exist. De Blasio has long had a close relationship with Orthodox Jewish community, some of whom he represented during his tenure in the City Council. Gov. Andrew Cuomo Cuomo continues to support Israel and its conservative government, often visiting the country. He declared in a 2016 op-ed in The Washington Post that if any company boycotts Israel as part of the BDS movement, the state would not do business with it, calling boycott efforts an insidious way to delegitimize the state of Israel. He made that declaration official through an executive order and later quietly released a short of list of companies his administration found to boycott Israel, though none were in New York, or even in the United States. Pro-Israel, but willing to defy it Rep. Jerrold Nadler Nadler was the only Jewish member of New Yorks congressional delegation to support the Iran nuclear deal, despite strong pressure from pro-Israel allies to oppose it and his own history of strong support for Israel and its causes, earning him harsh criticism from Orthodox leaders. However, this was one of the only times the Nadler whose district is both liberal and heavily Jewish has broken from the Israeli governments stance. He remains opposed to the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, which he said is neither progressive nor pro-peace, and recently introduced a resolution to condemn it. Nadler also called out Omar for her criticisms of AIPAC and Israel, saying she failed that test of leadership by tread(ing) into the waters of anti-Semitism, and helped craft the anti-Semitism resolution later passed by the House in response to her statements. Outside of his support of the Iran nuclear deal, Nadlers positions are similar in nature to most other New York politicians, consistently voting in favor of pro-Israel policies. Pro-Israel, but moving left U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Gillibrand, like most lawmakers from New York, has a history of support for Israel. She has in the past opposed the Boycott, Divest and Sanction, or BDS, movement. However, despite originally co-sponsoring legislation that would have allow the federal government to refuse to do business with companies that boycott Israel in 2017, she withdrew her support later that same year over civil liberties concerns. She asserted that she did not support BDS, but that she said she wanted to see the bill rewritten to comply with the First Amendment. When it eventually came to a vote in 2019, Gillibrand voted against it. Gillibrand also skipped the 2019 conference hosted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. She also stopped short of fully condemning or defending Rep. Ilhan Omar after she made statements about the Israel lobbys influence that some charged were anti-Semitic, or at least deployed anti-Semitic tropes. Gillibrand said that Omar should be able to criticize Israel without the use of such tropes, the same way others who criticize Omar should use not Islamophobic language. Gillibrands recent leftward trend on the issue of Israel seems to align with her presidential bid, as she has moved left on a number of issues. Gillibrand also supported the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. New York City Councilman Brad Lander Lander, who is Jewish and a leading liberal on the Council, described himself in an op-ed for Buzzfeed News as a progressive Zionist. He has in the past said he supports the right of Palestinian self-determination and laid the blame for violence in the region and death of Palestinian civilians at the feet of both Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lander has also said that while he opposes BDS, he also opposes Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, language generally avoided by other Democrats. In the Buzzfeed op-ed, published in the aftermath of comments from Rep. Omar and the ensuing divide it seemed to create between mainstream and progressive Democrats, Lander said that progressive Zionists like himself must do more to call out Israeli human rights violations of Palestinians and of Israels occupation of Palestinian territories, while asking members of the emergent left to make room for those who believe in Israels right to exist and to be more active in rooting out anti-Semitism when it appears. Lander asserted that he does not believe that his fellow City Councilman Kalman Yeger is not a bigot following Yegers comment that Palestine does not exist, but nonetheless voted to remove him from the Immigration Committee. New York City Speaker Corey Johnson In response to Yegers tweet that Palestine does not exist, Johnson, who is considering a run for mayor, denounced the comment, calling it unwelcome and unhelpful. He however asserted his strong support for both Israel and a two-state solution that respects the dignity of both the Palestinian and Israeli people. Supportive but critical of Israel Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ocasio-Cortez represents the younger, more left-wing perspective on Israel, unafraid to criticize it while still maintaining support for Israels right to exist and a two-state solution. After her election and before officially taking office, she called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. She also referred to the deaths of protesters in Gaza at the hands of Israeli military as a massacre and that Democrats should not remain silent on the plight of Palestinians. Ocasio-Cortez was one of several progressive members of Congress to defend Rep. Ilhan Omar following Omars statements criticizing the influence of money and lobbying efforts on behalf of pro-Israel interests, which many considered either anti-Semitic, or at least utilized anti-Semitic tropes. However, she does not go as for in her criticism of Israel or support of Palestine as either Omar nor Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Muslim-Americans who are considered parts of the same new, young progressive class of Congress and who both support the BDS movement. However, the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Ocasio-Cortez is a member, is staunchly supportive of BDS. Far-left anti-Israel Assemblyman Charles Barron Barron, a former New York City Councilman and Black Panther activist, is one of the few New Yorkers who is staunchly pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. He has defended Hamas, the Palestinian political party in power in Gaza that is considered by America to be a terrorist group, and often conflates the lobbying power of Israel as the Jewish lobby, which is widely seen as anti-Semitic rhetoric. He also attacked Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who defeated Barron when he ran for Congress, for stating that the U.S. should have vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Beyond criticisms of the Israeli government, Barrons comments have veered into blatantly anti-Semitic territory, such as making the odd, historically inaccurate claim that people from sub-Saharan Africa, not Jews, are the "real" Semites. He has also defended the highly controversial leader of the Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan, who himself is anti-Semitic. 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 Last month, Charles Allen, a member of the Washington, DC Council, introduced the Public School Transparency Amendment Act of 2019, which would extend the same sunshine laws applied to traditional public schools to publicly funded charter schools. The proposal came on the heels of suggested reforms put forth by the DC Public Charter School Board. In addition to promoting access to records and meetings, it would also force charter schools to include a list of donations greater than $500 in their annual reports and to include at least two teachers on their boards. (At high schools or adult learning centers, a student representative would also have to be included.) This week, the editorial board of The Washington Post argued against the measure. We are firm believers in sunshine in public matters, but this legislationwhich seems to be taken from the national teachers union playbook on how to kneecap charter schoolsis not designed to benefit the public or help students, the editorial board wrote. The piece goes on to tout the charter school boards reputation for scrupulous oversight, arguing that it already upholds a requirement that charters disclose financial information, including how they use resources from the government and what they accomplish with those resources. Enacting the amendment, the editorial argues, would threaten the schools independence with unnecessary bureaucracy. ICYMI: Poll: 60% of people think journalists get paid by their sources In endorsing the obscurity of charter school finances, the editorial board struggles to see how the release of informationsuch as the names of charter school employees, salaries, and vendor contracts under $100,000, data that DC public schools must make availableis critical to student learning. The editorial board adds that its easy to see how it might help unions in their bid to organize at charter schools. The citys 123 charter schools, attended by nearly 45,000 students, benefit from $800 million in taxpayer funds every year. The quasi-public board that oversees them is subject to open meetings laws and the Freedom of Information Act, but journalists and the public are only granted access to charter school documents in the boards possession. The board acts as a curator, allowing public access only to information that it deems necessary. This poses obvious problems for parents, who seek information about how their kids schools are run, and for journalists, tasked with covering schools that make up a massive chunk of the public education landscape in the nations capital. By contrast, California passed a law last month that would subject its 1,300 charter schools to public records and open meetings laws. Last month, Rachel Cohen, who covers education for the Washington City Paper and DCist, reported that the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, both pro-charter school advocacy groups, support the application of transparency laws to charter schools. Washington, DC, is an outlier: Todd Ziebarth, of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, told the Post in February that in most jurisdictions, members of the public can attend charter school board meetings and make records requests at individual schools. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Were told that it would be unnecessary bureaucracy and a distraction from student learning and an infringement on autonomy, among other weak rationales, Cohen tells CJR of the transparency law. But advocates against FOIA have never once pointed to actual evidence to show that would be the case. Some of the biggest investigations into charter schools, Cohen adds, began with journalists getting ahold of emails and other documents sent between school leaders and charter school board members. Those kinds of stories are simply not possible right now in Washington, DC. The Post editorial board believes that the proposed bill would unduly burden charter schools. And indeed, processing FOIA requests does require staff; other public agencies have complained about how cumbersome it can be. But Cohen points out that, in the past, the FOIA load on the charter schools board has been light: between October 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018, 74 requests were made, and most were processed within 15 days at a total cost of $22,600. The proposed law includes a provision for tracking the load of requests and says that the board would have to help schools meet it. When CJR reached out to Fred Hiatt, the Posts editorial page editor, asking how his team reached their conclusion, he wrote back, We read the law carefully; we reported on the process that led to its introduction, including consultations that did or did not take place; got the views of several council members and city officials; and our judgment was that the costs to charter effectiveness outweigh any potential gain. He added, I have yet to hear, for example, a convincing argument of why what would likely be individually identifiable salary information at a charter school would be essential information for parents, potential parents or, for that matter, reporters. Charter schools should be judged first and foremost on the results they deliver. Washington, DC, is a city lauded for its high public school teacher salaries; the DC charter school board requests that its members include salary data in their annual reportssome do, but it is not a requirement. As a result, DC families have an incomplete picture of teacher compensation across their city. After a year of stunning displays of teachers strikes across the country, meant to address myriad problemsincluding teacher paythis information is of obvious news value and reporters routinely cover it. For a journalistic entityopinion section or otherwiseto advocate against a measure that seeks to increase transparency is backwards. The editorial boards stance echoes the arguments of charter school operators, instead of supporting a measure that would improve access to information about taxpayer-funded entities. While journalists across the country work overtime to uphold the values of disclosure, this editorialfrom one of the countrys preeminent newspapers, whose tagline is Democracy Dies in Darknessisnt just embarrassing, its undermining. ICYMI: Pulitzer Prizes reflect a violent years for journalists Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Alexandria Neason was CJRs staff writer and Senior Delacorte Fellow. Recently, she became an editor and producer at WNYCs Radiolab. Yesterday evening, Paris time, Notre-Dame cathedral caught fire. As it burned, photos and videoof billowing smoke; of flames raging in the cross-shaped interior; of the spire leaning slowly, then tumbling awayheld global attention. French media were never far from someone weeping. Pardon me I am just so shaken, one caller cried on Radio France. Its a treasure, a national treasure that has gone up in flames, said another, through sobs. The late edition of Le Parisien, echoing the poignant religious symbolism of so much coverage, led with the headline Notre-Dame des larmes: Our lady of tears. In the US, the story was everywhere. The networks quickly corralled their correspondents (disrupting at least one vacation in the process). As news reporters kept us abreast of firefighters battle to save the cathedrals structure, magazines published more personal reflections. In The New Yorker, Lauren Collins recalled a recent visit to Notre-Dames roof, where she had checked in on renovation work. Tonight, she wrote, I realized that we may have been some of the last people to stand there. For The Atlantic, Rachel Donadio watched amid a crowd as a building that had survived eight centuries of plague, war, revolution, and the Nazis started to fall. Messages come in from friends around the worldAre you okay?as if this were another terrorist attack, or a death in the family, she wrote. In a way, it is a death. In the human family. We are all shocked together. ICYMI: Journalism in Rwanda, 25 years after the genocide In many corners of social media, the atmosphere was funereal. Even people who could see the fire with their own eyes viewed it through their phones. They were trying to capture in a few pixels what had stood for centuries, wrote Donadio, who encapsulated the cathedrals lifespan: Built in the Gothic era, destroyed in the social-media era. Because this is the social-media era, misinformation about the fire spread quickly. BuzzFeeds Jane Lytvynenko rounded up hoaxsters claims that Emmanuel Macron/Michelle Obama/Muslims/terrorists set the fire deliberately. (While the actual cause has yet to be established, French officials say theres no evidence of arson, and suspect an accident.) The platforms, once again, attracted criticism. Matt Dornic, an executive at CNN, said Twitter refused to remove a fake CNN account because it had the word parody in its bio. (The account was later suspended.) YouTube, for its part, flagged several major outlets livestreams of the fire as misinformation, then, for some reason, linked out to explainer content about 9/11. For the most part, who or what might be to blame seemed a secondary concern. People around the world led with their tributes, their reflections, and their grief. As Michael Kimmelman observed in The New York Times, no one had died. The global reaction, nonetheless, was overwhelming. Was it because Notre-Dame has been such a focal point of Western culture, both religious and secular? Was it something peculiar to Paris, which has always tugged on our heartstrings? Was it the abundance of shocking visuals, served to us everywhere we looked? Did we see a metaphorin our troubled timesfor lost permanence, lost steadfastness, lost beauty? What, exactly, did it stir in us? Admittedly, its easier to pose questions than answers. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Whatever the reason, an angry world and much of its media stopped, for a few hours, at least, to watch a tragedy and to try to process it. We werent silentfar from it. But the tenor of the coverage was a break from the incessant thunder to which we have become accustomed. Briefly, something old and beautiful commanded our attention, and our contemplation. Below, more on Notre-Dame: Other notable stories: ICYMI: Pete Buttigieg is flavor of the month 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. The family of a Kenyan man who died in a Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 that crashed in Ethiopia last month filed a complaint against the planemaker in a court in Illinois. George Kabau was an engineer with General Electric Co., according to his brother Tom Kabau. He was among the 157 people who died when the 737 Max plane went down shortly after take off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. My father has never been the same since this happened, Kabau told reporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Legal action should not only to seek justice for George, but also ensure air safety of all. The family alleged that Boeing failed to properly inform pilots about the dangers presented by sensors that malfunctioned on the doomed jet, and caused the wrongful death of their kin. The legal team will let the jury determine the amount of compensation to be paid, Texas-licensed lawyer Nomaan Husain said in Nairobi. Right now we are not looking at Ethiopian Airlines at all because initial information shows pilots followed procedure, Husain said. Similar Suits Husain filed a similar lawsuit last week on behalf of U.S. citizen Mucaad Hussein Abdallah, who also died in the March 10 crash. The parents of another American victim, Samya Stumo, are also making a claim against Boeing, Ethiopian, and aircraft-sensor maker Rosemount Aerospace Inc. for negligence. Consumer advocate seeks 737 Max recall as Boeing woes mount over crashes Even if the consolidation happens, each case will be tried separately, with a separate jury, Husain said. The Flight 302 disaster occurred less than five months after another 737 Max operated by Indonesias Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea with 189 people aboard. Information recovered from the flight-data and cockpit-voice recorders showed clear similarities between the ill-fated flights, according to Ethiopian authorities. Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. WASHINGTON It was the middle of the night when Yvonne Rawhousers neighbor woke her up to warn her that a nearby hillside was aflame. The wildfire that had been raging through northern Californias wine country in October 2017 was closing in on the mobile home park where Rawhouser had lived for decades. I grabbed my cat in the cat box, recalled Rawhouser, 60, a cancer survivor who suffers from renal failure. We thought wed be evacuated for a few hours and then come home. Instead, the fire destroyed most of the 160 houses in the Journeys End seniors park in Santa Rosa with the dozens of remaining homes rendered unliveable, Rawhouser told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. In part because her home is still standing, Rawhouser has not been able to access insurance payouts or federal assistance, a year and a half after the fires. Stories like Rawhousers underscore nationwide gaps in the post-disaster social safety net for people in non-traditional housing situations, such as those living in mobile or rental homes and the homeless, say housing rights advocates. What happened to the Journeys End residents is typical of whenever communities are hit by disaster, said Larry Florin, chief executive of Burbank Housing, an affordable housing provider working with victims of Californias recent wildfires. Even if residents of a mobile home community own their homes, they typically do not own the ground it sits on and they rely on the parks privately-run utilities, said Florin. He noted that the Journeys End sewage, electricity and water systems were all destroyed, making it economically unfeasible to rebuild the park. And almost no residents have received insurance or federal assistance to allow them to move somewhere else. They fell through the cracks, he said. Proving Ownership The wildfires that spread through parts of California in 2017 and 2018 devastated areas that have almost no affordable housing, said Ilene J. Jacobs, director of advocacy at California Rural Legal Assistance, a non-profit. In those areas, mobile home parks play a key role in housing farm workers, elderly people and other low-income communities, she said. But, there is no effective aid-funded program that will help rebuild a mobile home park or adequately relocate people to a new park and replace the individual mobile homes. Further, mobile home residents often are not able to access the post-disaster assistance available to other homeowners, Jacobs said, because of government requirements around proving ownership of their property. Her clients and others have run into obstacles for a litany of reasons, including not having the titles to their mobile homes or having titles that were fraudulent, she said. In some cases, the houses identifying decal number had melted in a fire, making it more difficult to prove ownership. A spokesman for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said the agency has a responsibility to verify property ownership. By doing this, we make sure the person requesting assistance is the rightful owner, that they resided in the property before and during the event, and to avoid duplicate applications, said Daniel Llargues. Keeping titles, deeds or property tax statements somewhere safe is a key way of preparing for a potential disaster, he said in a phone interview. Floundering Asked what steps FEMA is taking to address the issue of ownership in informal housing, agency spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow pointed to new guidance, published in March. It says residents of non-traditional housing such as tents can access rental and other assistance if their occupancy can be verified. But they are not eligible for repair or replacement costs, according to the guidance. Mobile homeowners, like other homeowners, are eligible for repairs not covered by insurance, while renters can access various types of assistance, it says. But FEMA continues to deny assistance to individuals who own their homes but who may have not have a formal title, said Sarah Mickelson, senior director of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a non-profit. Advocates for the poor have been highlighting such problems for decades, but policymakers have only recently begun to take notice, she said, spurred by the effects of climate change and an ongoing national housing crisis. During a March U.S. House committee hearing on ways to improve the post-disaster assistance system, Democratic U.S. representative Rashida Tlaib said access to disaster-recovery funds is incredibly hard for people with the greatest needs. The hearing focused on Hurricane Marias devastating tear through Puerto Rico in September 2017, which damaged or destroyed more than 166,000 homes, according to the Puerto Rico government. One legacy of the U.S. territorys Spanish colonial past is that a person does not have to hold a formal deed to be the rightful owner of a house or piece of land, said Adi Martinez-Roman, head of the Fundacion Fondo de Acceso a la Justicia in San Juan. As a result, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, an estimated half-million people had no property title when Hurricane Maria hit. All of these people started applying for benefits, and they started to get denied because (FEMA was) asking for proof of ownership in the form of a title, she said. Eventually FEMA allowed people to assert ownership via notarized statements and later accepted a template form created by legal aid workers, Martinez-Roman said. Still, in its recovery plan, the Puerto Rican government noted that high denial rates have left hundreds of thousands without critical assistance and outlined a $40 million program to verify and provide property titles. That funding was approved in March, but has since been thrown into question after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed scepticism toward additional disaster assistance for Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, Martinez-Roman said, the islands landscape remains dotted with the blue tarps of damaged homes, the owners somewhere, waiting to get on with their lives. In California, Rawhouser knows the feeling, as she awaits the resolution of legal and political processes that are out of her hands. They just have us out here floundering, she said. My whole life is chaos. A Texas man who stole more than a thousand credit and debit card numbers was sentenced today to 58 months in federal prison, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas said Tuesday. Odis Edwards, 40, of Lewisville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud in January. In plea papers, Mr. Edwards admits he stole more than 1,200 credit and debit card numbers via the darknet and Internet chat rooms. He and his co-conspirators used counterfeit cards to book more than $250,000 in rooms and incidentals at hotels around Dallas. An agent testified in Court on Monday that Mr. Edwards sub-rented the rooms to drug dealers and pimps at a fraction of their true cost. Hotel personnel became suspicious when multiple people racked up hefty room service bills, all charged to Mr. Edwards account. Inside the rooms, law enforcement officers found altered credit cards as well as notebooks containing what appeared to be credit card numbers and URLs for digital credit card number generators. More and more, were seeing perpetrators attempt to cloak themselves in the seeming anonymity of the darknet. But they should know that we prioritize the investigation of illicit activity on the darknet and will vigorously prosecute this unlawful behavior, said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. In this case, I applaud the hard work of our Secret Service and police partners, as well as the hotel workers who reached out to law enforcement when they felt something was amiss. The U.S. Secret Service conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Colleyville Police Department. Source: U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas AKRON, Ohio Summit County Council has designated the first Monday in October as North American First Peoples Day to celebrate Native American heritage throughout the county. A similar resolution was adopted by Akron City Council in January 2018 to honor the indigenous people of America one week before Columbus Day. The initiative was brought by students at The Lippman School of Akron, which has a longstanding relationship with the Northern Cheyenne Nation of Montana. From what we understand, Akron is the first city in the United States to designate a unique day to recognize native people rather than renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, said Lippman Head of School Sam Chestnut. This is an exciting time for our students, staff and the Northern Cheyenne Nation, and I am proud of what weve been able to accomplish together. Two Lippman School students made presentations Monday to council about their experiences learning about Native American history, life and culture. LaDonna Blue Eye of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Burt Medicine Bull, a Northern Cheyenne language instructor at Chief Dull Knife College, asked council to support the resolution. Medicine Bull honored councilmembers with a traditional song. Organizers have planned a week of events to commemorate Summit Countys first North American Peoples Day, which falls on Oct. 7, 2019. The Portage Path Akrons oldest landmark and a tribute to the Native people of the area will be celebrated beginning Oct. 4 with the opening of a new Native American art and artifact exhibit at the Cummings Center, Institute for Human Science and Culture at the University of Akron. The fourth-annual walk of a one-kilometer leg of the Portage Path is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Portage Path CLC at 55 S. Portage Path. Members of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, drumming and in regalia, will lead the procession. The walk will end at the Perkins Stone Mansion at 550 Copley Road, followed by a short program at 2 p.m. A dinner featuring Native American food is set for Oct. 6 at the outdoor pavilion of the Schultz Campus for Jewish Life on White Pond Drive. The Portage Path Collective, which is comprised of the Summit County Historical Society, The Lippman School, Summit Metro Parks and the University of Akrons Institute for Human Science and Culture and Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, will sponsor in-school activities on Oct. 7 including appearances from Indian nation representatives. In 2016, students from Lippman, Portage Path CLC and the Cheyenne Nation worked to create a mobile app that provides information about the Portage Paths history and environment. The app can be accessed at www.walkportagepath.org. A new publication about the history of the eight-mile trail is free and available at the Summit County Historical Society and Metro Parks Seiberling Naturerealm. 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 The revolution is no longer the only act of its kind in town. Thanks to the new Chamber Brews series, the good folks at Classical Revolution Cleveland now have another set of hands helping them tear down barriers. Recently founded by violinist Devin Copfer, a Cleveland native based in Columbus, the new series exists solely to shatter classical stereotypes, and the next concert in Cleveland is this Friday. Were both committed to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues, said Copfer, referring to series co-founder and fellow Ohio State University alum, cellist Elisabeth Jeremica. We really want to break down that fourth wall. What Classical Revolution Cleveland is to Happy Dog tavern, Chamber Brews Friday will be to Forest City Brewery, a bar on the edge of Clevelands Tremont neighborhood. Copfer and two friends will convene in the bars Waldorf Beer Hall and present a concert unlike most others in the classical arena. Theyll talk, play trios by Eugene Ysaye, Kenji Bunch, and Augusta Read Thomas, and take questions and comments from all who would share (not necessarily in that order). Too shy to talk? Submit your question in writing. Our programs are specifically designed to figure out how to have that conversation, Copfer said. Were not talking down. Were just trying to be as real as we can about what were doing. To us, what matters most is the process. Taking questions and engaging listeners in conversation arent the only ways Copfer friends go about eliminating the stuffiness they see around much of classical music. They also try to make people feel more comfortable simply by choosing laid-back venues and tinkering with stages and chairs. Of all the places she could have chosen to put on a concert, Forest City Brewery may be the most relaxed, Copfer said. Beyond that, the bars stage is only a few inches off the ground, and the tables and chairs are freestanding, allowing patrons to come and go as they please. Traditional concert halls make people behave in a certain way, Copfer said. It becomes us and them, rather than an open space. We try to bring the audience as close to us as possible. People really do behave differently when theyre given free rein. Ordinarily, Chamber Brews is a quartet. This week, however, and the foreseeable future, its a trio. Jeremica, the groups co-founder, has moved to Australia. But Copfer isnt sad or worried to be moving forward without her friend. If Fridays concert turns out anything like the others Chamber Brews has given so far, she and the audience have a lot to look forward to. The interactions we have are whats so beautiful about this, she said. It really shows how possible it is, that theres still a possibility to communicate. PREVIEW Chamber Brews What: Trios by Kenji Bunch, Eugene Ysaye, and Augusta Read Thomas When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 19. Where: Forest City Brewery, 2135 Columbus Rd., Cleveland. Tickets: $15 online; $20 at the door. Go to chamberbrews.com. CLEVELAND, Ohio Delivering drinking water to more than 1.4 million people takes more than just pumping water from Lake Erie to more than 80 communities in Greater Cleveland. Before that water reaches the tap, it goes through a purification process that involves teams of chemists in four water plants who test more than 160,000 samples a year. This years water quality report, a study prepared annually, showed there were no violations of federal water quality guidelines at any of Cleveland water departments four plants in 2018. A copy of that report is available online. How extensive is monitoring? Cleveland starts collecting data before the water ever enters one of the four intake sites in Lake Erie. Sensors in the lake take readings in the lake from several depths in a water column, measuring the water for acidity, chlorine, temperature and algal levels Readings are collected near the intakes, each of which is about five miles off shore. Readings also are taken from bouys about 15 miles out where dead zones -- areas with low oxygen levels in the water -- tend to form. The city shares that data with other water systems along the lake shore and with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Together they monitor changes in the lake that could have an impact on water systems. NOAA, for example, now provides forecasts for algal bloom a couple of times a week. The water plants monitor about 20,000 different things in real time, adjusting as necessary, water Commissioner Alex Margevicius said in an interview with cleveland.com. And more samples are taken from the system once the water leaves the plants. The more data points the better, Margevicius said. What about lead? Cleveland still has some lead pipes in use. Beginning in the 1990s, when lead concentrations were well above the federal limit of 15 parts per billion, the city began using a compound of phosphoric acids to line the pipes, creating a barrier between the lead sides and the water flowing through the pipes. That practice quickly lowered the lead levels in Cleveland water to well below the federal limits. Over the last 10 years, those levels have continued to decline to a point where EPA is looking to Cleveland to see if its practices can be applied elsewhere, Margevicius said. The levels of lead in Clevelands water were less than 2 parts per billion in 2018, about one-eighth the federal limit and about one-twelfth its high point in the 1990s. What happens next? Cleveland is looking at improvements to the 5 Mile Crib, the water intake visible from downtown Cleveland that supplies the Baldwin Treatment Plant. The crib had ports at various levels in the intake structure that extends up from the bottom of the lake. The improvements would allow the system to shift which ports are used to draw in water, depending on the conditions in the lake, Margevicius said. That would make it easier to treat the water. If, for example, high algal levels are detected near the surface, the lower ports on the column could be used to take in water. If high levels of manganese are detected at the bottom of the lake something that can occur in areas with low oxygen levels water could be drawn in from the upper ports. The improvements are just getting to the design stages, Margevicus said. Actual upgrades to the crib are probably a couple of years away. Get insider texts about Cleveland City Hall on your phone from Robert Higgs: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with cleveland.coms City Hall reporter, just like you would with your friends. Its just $3.99 a month, which works out to about 13 cents a day. Learn more and sign up here. RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Denise DeBiase, the first female officer the Richmond Heights Police Department hired 23 years ago, was promoted April 8 to the rank of lieutenant, making her second in command to Chief Thomas Wetzel. Weve had some women (officers) come and go over the years, but Im still the only one, said DeBiase, who has become well known throughout the community because of her participation in many activities that involve the public. Ive taught DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education for students) since 1998, Ive been involved with the juvenile diversion program and I do all of our community service activities, she said. DeBiase, 48, has served as a patrol officer, detective and, most recently, as one of the departments five sergeants. Since Wetzel became chief in November, DeBiase said she is happy that the department is seeking to do more community policing. Mayor David Roche, left, Lt. Denise DeBiase and RHPD Chief Thomas Wetzel on April 8 in Wetzel's office, after Roche swore in DeBiase to her new rank. (Richmond Heights Police Department Facebook photo) Chief Wetzel and I see eye to eye on that, she said. I want (police) to be reaching out to the community we serve as much as possible. Im excited about it. I have a few goals there Id like for us to achieve. Among those goals, she said, is to work closer with the citys businesses, and to have police help start a Nextdoor social networking service for neighbors. I was thrilled on Dec. 26 when we (the RHPD) finally started our Facebook page. It was something I was looking forward to and thought we needed for a long time. The community loves us, and its nice for officers to see positive comments posted on Facebook, as opposed to a lot of the negative things you see in the media about police," she said. DeBiase was promoted after the recent retirement of former lieutenant Thomas Glaettli, who served the department for 30 years, 15 as lieutenant. DeBiase and three other sergeants tested to become the next lieutenant. RHPD Lt. Denis DeBiase Denise has a longstanding appreciation for the principles of community policing, which is very important to me, and an excellent work history here at the department, Wetzel said. "She has big shoes to fill, but Im confident she will do an excellent job. She brings an energy and enthusiasm that can be contagious, and she likes to motivate officers. She has built up many relationships within the community over the years, and is probably the most well-known officer on the police department, he said. For many, she is the face of the police department, and now has an opportunity to have an even bigger impact on the future of the agency. As a recent example of her engagement with the community, DeBiase, through a patrol officer, heard of a complaint that had been made about an elderly women flying a tattered American flag at her house. DeBiase used her own money to purchase the woman a new flag and, with the officer, helped run it up the pole at the womans house. I love the flag, DeBiase said at the time. I always have. DeBiase grew up in Perry and graduated from Perry High School in 1989. It seems like she had little choice but to grow up and eventually serve the public. My dad (Dennis, an aerospace engineer) and brother (Doug) are (Army) veterans, she said. My (late) mother (Lois) was the secretary for the Perry Fire Department chief (Steve Sitz). Chief Sitz was like my second father. In addition, the current Willoughby Hills police chief, Christopher Collins, was her next-door neighbor when DeBiase was a child. (Collins) said to me one day, I think youd make a good police officer. You should consider a career in public safety. Of course, the firefighters I knew wanted me to be a firefighter," DeBiase said. DeBiase had other plans, however. She graduated from Slippery Rock College, where she majored in political science and pre-law. She spent a brief stint in Washington, D.C., where she was set to be a lawmakers page. I didnt like it, she said of that experience. I didnt like the political climate. I thought it wasnt a good way to directly serve the public. An athlete throughout her high school and college years, DeBiase said she loved driving the fast cars that her father would work on at their home. As a student, she said she was shy and quiet, and a teachers pet who would read the morning announcements over the public address system. I wasnt notable in school, she said. When I went back for my 10th (high school) reunion, everybody was surprised that I became a police officer. Now, I do a lot of public speaking as part of my job. She said that being the only RHPD female officer for many years has had its challenges, but said: We all razz each other. My fellow officers are like my brothers. In addition to Collins serving as a mentor, DeBiase, who is married to a Euclid police officer and the mother of a 10-year-old son, said former RHPD chief Gene Rowe also was her mentor. She said she followed Rowes example in continually taking advantage of the educational opportunities her job offers. I love Richmond Heights, she said. Its a small community where everyone seems to know everyone. And, although its small, how many cities can say they have a hospital, an airport and a mall? Its a diverse community, with assisted living facilities and apartments. Its the perfect place to be for people who live here and work here. Read more news from the Sun Messeger here. ROCKY RIVER, Ohio Dr. Cory Lamar, a young chiropractor originally from Amherst, opened a HealthSource location in Rocky Rivers Giant Eagle plaza on April 13. The public was invited to see the 2,100-square-foot facility at 21820 Center Ridge Road, meet Lamar and learn about the expanded services HealthSource offers to patients. HealthSource began with an idea in 2005 by another chiropractor, Dr. Christopher Tomshack, from Avon. When Tomshack was in college, he wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. After sustaining an injury, he was introduced to chiropractic services. It changed my course, he said. After running four chiropractic clinics, he believed expanded services would make a perfect model for franchising. Since 2006, he has opened 225 HealthSource franchises in 40 states. With one franchise also in Canada as a beginning, he said he looks to become a global force. Lamar described the expanded services as ones that few chiropractors employ. We do physical therapy for rehabilitation, he said, and also muscle training and nutrition -- a one-stop shop to treat the whole body. He said the muscle training, in particular, can prevent future problems and is a service for all ages. The physical therapy addresses the underlying cause. Its not just putting on a Band-Aid, masking the symptoms until you go back to a chiropractor again, he said. He also noted that some patients want to come back periodically, just like going for a regular dental visit. Currently, Lamar is offering a $20 special for an exam and x-rays. The rate will rise to $30 soon, but he notes that HealthSource accepts all types of insurance and mentioned that Medicare usually covers adjustments with some type of co-pay. They realize, he said, as do the insurance companies, that it will save them money in the long run. Tomshack added, The types of care we provide is what separates us. We are always searching for more ways to serve our patients, finding what works better and what gives a better outcome. And we do it under one roof and we do it economically. For more information on HealthSource, visit https://www.healthsourcechiro.com/rocky-river/ or call 216-772-2600. Read more news from the West Shore Sun here. STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- An Outback Steakhouse was approved last week for Royalton Collection -- a proposed office-retail development on Ohio 82 across from SouthPark Mall -- by the Strongsville Planning Commission. Also, City Barbeque and Catering, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe, based in Florida, will open eateries in Royalton Collection, according to Hope Wheeler, spokesperson for Somera Road Inc., the New York-based firm developing Royalton Collection. However, a spokesperson for Outbacks parent company, Bloomin Brands Inc. in Tampa, Fla., said a final decision to open in Strongsville hasnt been made, even though the Planning Commission approved the site plan last week. We are interested in the area, but it is too early to confirm a new location there, Cathie Koch, vice president of communications with Bloomin Brands, told cleveland.com in an email Monday (April 15). Brian Hipsher, vice president of marketing with City Barbeque, confirmed Tuesday (April 16) that the restaurant chain has signed a lease to open in Royalton Collection. Were excited about Strongsville, Hipsher said. We just opened a location in Beachwood (in January) and weve been happy about how weve been received there. Strongsville is a natural next step. Tropical Smoothie could not be reached Tuesday for comment. In December, Somera Road announced that HomeGoods, an off-price retailer with more than 700 stores in 48 states and Puerto Rico, will open a store in Royalton Collection. The development also will include Panera Bread, which will relocate about 1,400 feet west from its existing location at 17090 Royalton Road. HomeGoods will occupy about 75 percent of a 30,500-square-foot building. Three additional retail buildings in Royalton Collection will measure 16,500, 16,000 and 4,800 square feet. In November, Foundation Software Inc., a seller of software and payroll services targeting the construction industry, announced that it was moving into the former Medical Mutual of Ohio building, the sole office space in Royalton Collection. Expanding restaurants According to plans approved by the Planning Commission last week, an Outback Steakhouse measuring about 5,700 square feet would occupy a freestanding building just east of the Royalton Collection entrance. The restaurant would employ 100 workers. The site plan adheres to a 2017 agreement between Somera Road and Strongsville residents living near the proposed development that prohibits building construction along the eastern border of Royalton Collection, although a corner of the Outback parking lot crosses the line. It wasnt clear Tuesday which of Royalton Collections retail buildings City Barbeque and Tropical Smoothies will occupy. City Barbeque has 49 restaurants in Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina, according to the companys website. Twenty of those restaurants are in Ohio, including those in Beachwood and Fairlawn. Several City Barbeque eateries are in the Columbus area. The menu at City Barbeque features smoked meats, with or without a bun, including beef brisket, pulled pork, turkey breast, pulled chicken and sausage. The restaurant also serves ribs. According to its website, Tropical Smoothie has more than 700 locations nationwide. In Ohio, Tropical Smoothie restaurants are on Euclid Avenue near University Circle in Cleveland, as well as in Beavercreek, Blue Ash, Centerville, Cincinnati, Dayton, Fairborn, Findlay, Huber Heights, Maumee, Rossford, Springfield and Toledo. Tropical Smoothie serves conventional and flatbread sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas, bowls, breakfast wraps and flatbreads and a wide variety of smoothies. Read more news from the Sun Star Courier here. CLEVELAND, Ohio A lawsuit says Cuyahoga County failed to pay overtime wages to county Juvenile Court division employees who worked more than 40 hours in a week or keep accurate records. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Cleveland on behalf of four workers Shavanda Beck, Tracy Reid, Revell Whitney and Melchezidek Muhammad employed at the countys Juvenile Detention Center. It is seeking to bring the case on behalf of all current and former Juvenile Court employees who did not receive proper compensation. The suit says employees affected include those are or were employed as activities assistants, cooks, custodial workers, detention clerks, detention officers and food service workers. The lawsuit says the county violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and other state and federal laws. It is seeking an unnamed amount in damages. A call left for Frank Consolo, the lawyer who filed the suit, was not immediately returned. The lawsuit is the latest the county has faced that alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Jail corrections officers and other employees brought similar suits in recent years. Most recently, the County Council approved a $290,000 settlement for a lawsuit filed over unpaid overtime wages to corrections officers. A spokeswoman for the county said officials would review the lawsuit. The Juvenile Court employees case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Brooklyn, Ohio man who killed a Baldwin Wallace University student in a 2016 head-on collision as part of an attempt to take his own life died in an Ohio prison last month. Mark Rafter was about 14 months into a life prison stint when he died on March 17 of what authorities believe to have been natural causes. Rafter, 52, died at the states medical treatment prison, the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus, Sara French, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction deputy communication chief, said. His death was medically expected and there is no foul play expected, French said in an email. Rafter was sentenced after jurors convicted him of aggravated murder in the Valentines Day 2016 death of 20-year-old Kayla Coates. Rafter, who had a history of mental illness and substance abuse, sought to take his own life by ramming his sons F-150 truck into an oncoming car as he drove the wrong way on Interstate 480, according to court records and trial testimony. He got onto the highway at the Tiedeman Road exit about 4:30 a.m. and drove the pickup truck at full-throttle for 25 seconds, reaching speeds of nearly 100 mph, before he slammed into Coatess Ford Fiesta as the sophomore accounting major headed to what was supposed to be her last early morning shift at the McDonalds restaurant where she worked. Investigators believe that Coates saw the headlights of Rafters vehicle barreling toward her, slammed on her brakes and jerked the wheel in a last-ditch effort to avoid the crash. She dodged a full head-on collision, but the two vehicles collided with the combined force of a car going 150 mph striking a wall, Thomas said. The force of the truck nearly ripped Coates car in half, and killed her instantly. Rafter also suffered severe injuries in the crash. He was hospitalized for nearly eight months after the crash before he was released into police custody. He used a wheelchair and wore an oxygen tank and sunglasses during his trial nearly two years after the crash. An appeals court upheld Rafters convictions this past Feb. 14, on the third anniversary of the crash. To comment on this story, please visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Last week, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first-ever image of an astronomical black hole, found in the Messier 87 galaxy. If the coordinated telescopes are able to zoom in further into the black hole will they be able to find President Trumps tax returns and the lost tax refunds of millions of taxpayers under Trumps reworked tax system? While we can now see a black hole that is 55 million light years away, Congress still cant see Trumps tax returns and millions of taxpayers saw a reduced tax refund or a tax bill instead of a refund, when filing returns to meet yesterdays April 15 deadline for the first time under Trumps new tax system. President Reagan used to ask are you better than you were four years ago? as a test of economic health. Forget about four years ago, under the Trump tax system, are you better off than you were a year ago? After yesterday, the answer for millions of Americans will be no. Especially if they found themselves having to send the IRS money instead of getting the refund they anticipated and had gotten previous years. Trump had sold his tax plan as a deficit reducer and economic booster, both nationally and personally. Its proven to be another Trump con job. Under the Trumps tax deal, deficits have gone up, refunds have gone down or disappeared. For middle America, the tax cut return/boost has been barely noticeable in their paychecks. Time magazine reports that only one-fifth Americans believe their taxes have gone down. How is that possible when the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that two out of three Americans would see a tax reduction? Its because Trumps plan benefited the top 1 percent the most. The average tax break for the top 1 percent was $62,000 in 2018, according to Time. For middle income earners, the average tax cut amounted to $1,090 - about $20 per biweekly paycheck. Thats not even a weeks worth of gas. What kind of tax refunds and benefits has Trump been getting? The House Ways and Committee has ratcheted up its demands for the IRS to release Trumps returns to them as the Trump administration has ratcheted up the ridiculousness of their reasons not to release the returns. White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney wants you to keep in mind that thats an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the President could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didnt, and they elected him anyway, which of course drives the Democrats crazy. Press secretary Sarah Sanders wants you to keep in mind that the multi-millionaires, accountants and business men and women in Congress are too dumb to understand Trumps tax returns. Frankly, I dont think Congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trumps taxes will be. My guess is most of them dont do their own taxes, and I certainly dont trust them to look through the decades of success that the President has and determine anything, Sanders told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wants to avoid allowing the Democrats to weaponize the IRS the way President Richard Nixon did. Its appropriate the Mnuchin brought up Nixon, in more ways than one. Under a 1924 law, Congress has the legal right to view the Presidents tax returns, in private, to monitor how the IRS audits the return. The last time Congress did so, was under Nixon, and found that he owed the IRS nearly half a million dollars. Now that Trumps been told that his suggested use of water tankers would have collapsed Notre Dame Cathedral, he may instead have them fly over the Capitol when the House and Ways Committee is in session. Senate Bill 119 is a great example of government officials having a 50/50 chance -- and making the wrong decision (Ohio legislators propose keeping clocks sprung forward, March 27). Ohio is on the western edge of the Eastern time zone. As such, the sun rises here more than 30 minutes later than cities to our east. Currently, the latest the sun rises in Cleveland is 7:53 a.m. If this legislation passes, we will have more than 100 days per year when the sun rises later than 8:00 a.m. As this occurs in winter, we will be getting up for work and sending our kids to school in the cold and dark. How is this a benefit? Sens. Kristina Roegner of Hudson and Bob Peterson of Fayette must have the luxury of sleeping in. For those of us who work, this change would be a mistake. Im in favor of discarding the lunacy of springing forward and falling back. However, keep standard time, not daylight saving time. If its determined that the whole country is going to switch to daylight saving time, then Ohio should become the leading edge of the Central time zone, not the lagging edge of the Eastern time zone. John F. Kelly, Cleveland CLEVELAND, Ohio About 25 members of CLASH Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing asked city council members Monday night not to dismiss the voices of more than 10,000 Clevelanders who signed petitions to support lead safe housing legislation. In matching shirts, the advocacy groups members lined the hallway outside of councils chambers to express opposition to a decision Friday by Council Clerk Patricia Britt to reject CLASHs petitions. Britt said though the group gathered enough valid voter signatures, the petitions were invalid because they lacked language required by Ohio law about the penalties for election falsification. CLASH had used volunteers and paid canvassers to collect more than 10,000 signatures in support of the legislation that would require rental housing and day care centers to be lead safe by 2021. Clevelands charter requires 5,000 signatures to put an ordinance before council and, if not approved by council, on the ballot for voters to decide. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections verified on April 11 that 6,530 of the signatures were valid. This isnt about CLASH, Jeff Johnson, a member of the group and former city council member told fellow group members before the meeting. Its about the 10,000 people who signed the petitions. Johnson acknowledged CLASHs misstep, saying the group included only one of two required warnings on its petitions. After the rejection, CLASH members argued that the citys charter requires the legislation to be introduced and considered by council even if it legally could not appear on the ballot. The group said it will ask a court to decide that issue, possibly this week. Its members also might hit the streets again with new petitions, Yvonka Hall, a member of CLASH and head of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition said. In the meantime, the group hoped to persuade one of the 17 council members to sponsor the legislation. None of the council members took CLASH up on that request prior to Monday nights council meeting, though several signaled general support for CLASHs efforts to draw attention to the issue. Councilman Blaine Griffin asked the CLASH members to stand to be recognized toward the end of the 45-minute meeting. City Council does not allow public comments during its regular meetings so no CLASH members were able to speak. Democracy is often iron sharpening iron, Griffin said, acknowledging that more than 10,000 citizens signed the groups petitions, a fact that contributed to the sense of urgency for a solution to Clevelands lead poisoning problem. But Griffin said along with urgency, legislation needed to be comprehensive and sustainable, which is why council is working with 250 partners as part of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition. The coalition was announced in January. The coalition is planning for a Lead Safe Home Summit on June 21 and its policy committee is close to finalizing recommendations for council for legislation on how to prevent lead poisoning in rental housing in the city. Currently the city responds and investigates homes after a child is poisoned. Griffin said if the coalitions recommendations are completed by May 1, he expects council to be having a fervent discussion about the recommendations within a week, by May 6. Rebecca Maurer, a CLASH member who helped draft the groups legislation, said shes unsure if the coalitions recommendations could be translated that quickly into legislation for council to consider. Updated at 12:08 p.m. A city council attorney has attended Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition policy committee meetings and has already been working on potential draft legislation based on the discussed recommendations, council spokeswoman Joan Mazzolini said. Those recommendations are ongoing, she said. Council President Kevin Kelley previously told The Plain Dealer he expected council to pass legislation sometime after the June 21 summit. GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio Authorities are searching for a man who robbed a credit union earlier this month. According to the FBI in Cleveland, the suspect went to the Ohio Catholic Federal Credit Union on Rockside Road on April 2. He approached a teller and held a note to his chest that said, Give me your money, no dye pack, do not set off alarms. The man left the bank with an unspecified amount of cash and fled the area on foot. Authorities say the suspect is about 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, in his early 50s, with a white-colored beard. He was wearing a black Chicago White Sox jacket, a red hat, dark jeans, a beige bandana covering his face and gray sneakers. Tips, which can remain anonymous, can be sent to the FBI in Cleveland, the Garfield Heights Police Department or CrimeStoppers. Reward money is available if information leads to the successful identification and prosecution of the suspect. To comment on this story, visit Mondays crime and courts comment section. CLEVELAND, Ohio Children 12 years old and younger will receive free rides from June 2 to Aug. 10 with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. Kids must be accompanied by an adult age 18 or older, and RTA is imposing a limit of three children per adult. The program was approved Tuesday morning by the RTA Board of Trustees. More than 135,000 children have received free rides since the program started two summers ago, according to the RTA. The program saw a 50 percent increase in use during the first eight weeks of the program between 2017 and 2018. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The ACLU of Ohio has released a report that is highly critical of mayors courts in Ohio, especially those operating in urban areas, including Cuyahoga and Summit counties. The report concludes that mayors courts, which handle traffic violations and minor misdemeanors that would otherwise be prosecuted in a municipal court, are largely discriminatory, profit-seeking and lacking in transparency. The ACLU calls for several changes, including greater oversight of mayors courts, more transparency, and elimination of the courts ability to suspend drivers licenses for failure to pay court fines and fees. The report also says mayors courts in Cuyahoga, Summit, Franklin and Hamilton counties should be abolished altogether. To read more about the ACLUs of report, click here. CLEVELAND, Ohio To celebrate 50 years of environmental resurgence, the Cuyahoga River has been named River of the Year by American Rivers. The Washington D.C.-based conservation organization works to protect wild rivers, restore damage rivers and advocate for clean water. For more than 30 years, the organization annually has named 10 endangered rivers, including this year Big Darby Creek in Columbus. The Cuyahoga has never been named to the endangered list. But its being honored for its role in sparking the modern environmental movement after the 1969 fire. May other cities draw inspiration from Cleveands story, and may we all work together to spark an urban river renaissance nationwide, American Rivers President Bob Irvin. Because everyone in our country deserves clean water and a healthy river." More than 300 Northeast Ohio organizations are planning events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the June 22 fire and the transformation of the river from an open sewer to an active fishery and watersports playground. More than 60 fish species thrive in the river, which hosts kayakers, stand-up paddleboards and oodles of rowers from April through November. Irvin said the clean-up has revitalized Cleveland, and he hopes it inspires Americans across the country. When were smart enough to stop polluting river or stop diverting a river or take down dams, rivers can come back to life and they can do that amazingly quickly, Irvin said. Big Darby Creek is listed on the groups endangered rivers list because of proposals to develop thousands of acres of farmland around the national scenic river. The zone would literally straddle Big Darby Creek and critically imperil the health of the river, says American Rivers. Said Irvin: Its an amazingly important stream for city of Columbus. Want more Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River news? Follow RocktheLake on Facebook. Cleveland, Ohio The simple, hand-painted sign on Broadview Road gets your attention: Witch Museum it says under the adorable image of a painted cat. A broomstick points to the door of a century-old storefront. Since March, this building at 2155 Broadview Road has been home to Clevelands unique Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick. It was previously located on West 14th Street in Tremont. Like many of the business moving to the neighborhood south of downtown, they were driven out of Tremont by high rents. Yes, even witch museums have worldly concerns. But were so glad weve moved, says Director Steven Intermill. Old Brooklyn is a great neighborhood, very welcoming. Buckland joins an array of diverse, locally owned establishments who have made Old Brooklyn Clevelands on-the-rise neighborhood: across the street is Lucys Ethiopian Bar and Restaurant, a few blocks away sits the excellent El Rinconcito Chapin Guatemalan eatery, not far away is the Old Brooklyn Cheese Co., new coffee shops, bikes shops and more. The CDC helped us find this spot, they were so helpful, says Intermill. Plus, it seems like there are really a lot of witches in Parma who this is convenient for. Even more than location, Intermill, who opened the museum with his wife Jillian in 2017, is excited about the space the new address offers. Its four times as big, weve been able to bring out so much more of our collection from storage. The magic collection, known as the Raymond Buckland Collection, is one of the most significant in America. It was started by Buckland, founder of one of Americas first covens, in 1966 after a visit to English Wiccan leader Gerald Gardner on the Isle of Man. Buckland worked for British Airways and began to acquire artifacts as he traveled the world. At first, he showed his pieces in his house in Long Island, N.Y. But by the early 70s he had so many artifacts from Ancient Egyptian ushabtis to Salem Witch trials pieces that he opened a museum in New York. As the only anthropological museum in America dedicated to witchcraft, it garnered attention in The New York Times, Newsday, Look Magazine, Esquire and other magazines. Some of his pieces were even shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1976, Buckland moved his museum to New Hampshire, where it was open until 1980. Busy with lecturing and writing, he put the collection in storage until 1999, when the Rev. Velvet Reith of the Covenant of the Pentacle Wiccan Church put it on display in New Orleans. Buckland, who passed away in 2017, was still active in writing and promoting Wicca, but no longer involved in the museum, which he entrusted to Reith. In 2015, Buckland, then living in Northern Ohio gave his collection to the Temple of Sacrifice in Columbus Ohio, where it was purchased by Toni Rotonda. It was here that Intermill became familiar with the collection. My wife Jillian and I always wanted to own a small museum, so when the opportunity came to show the Buckland collection we went for it, he says. I had sent Raymond Buckland an email asking about the collection, not knowing it was here in Ohio. He forwarded it on to our now partner in this endeavor, Toni Rotonda, the actual owner of the artifacts themselves. She called me up, I went to Columbus to visit here and we decided to show them here in Cleveland. Highlights of the collection include Raymond Bucklands ceremonial robe; the horned pipe and briefcase of Gerald Gardner; Bucklands cards of alchemy; a high priest ceremonial horned helmet; Bucklands ritual wand; thousands of books; and even a demon in a box captured by Buckland in the 1970s. I really love them all, but the part of the collection that is most special to me is the archive of newspaper clippings, says Intermill. There are hundreds of clippings in featuring articles about Raymond Buckland or his contemporaries, a real treasure trove of information about contemporary witchcraft coming of age in the 1960s and 70s. Though not Wiccan himself, Intermill says It's just exciting to show something of such beauty and depth, and of real significance to our culture. His goal, he says is simple: I hope by learning about the history of witchcraft and demystifying it, people learn a little more about their neighbors. The Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick is at 2155 Broadview Road, Cleveland. Call 718- 709-6643. Open noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday Saturday. Admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors, $5 children 3 12. It will celebrate its re-opening with a party from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 27, with tarot readers and more. COLUMBUS, Ohio FirstEnergys efforts to try to get Ohio politicians to rescue its troubled nuclear power business havent come cheap. Since 2017, FirstEnergy and its allies have spent millions on campaign contributions to Ohio politicians, as well as on lobbying, public relations and advertising, state and federal records show. The time period covers multiple attempts to subsidize the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo and the Perry nuclear plant, near Cleveland, including a new iteration, a clean air bill Republican state lawmakers rolled out on Friday. Nailing down an exact number is difficult. But the spending can be tracked through two main sources: State and federal campaign-finance filings, which detail campaign contributions from FirstEnergy and its allies. Filings in the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings for FirstEnergy Solutions, a former subsidiary which FirstEnergy spun off last year as it works to exit the power-plant business. FirstEnergy Solutions now owns the plants, part of a corporate restructuring plan thats currently before a federal bankruptcy judge in Akron for approval. Some of that campaigning showed itself on Friday, when state lawmakers rolled out House Bill 6, which would tack new fees onto every electric bill in Ohio, raising $300 million for clean energy including $150 million for the Davis-Besse and Perry plants while eliminating different charges that fund renewable energy projects. Backers of the plan bill it as a way to fund clean energy and protect jobs, while downplaying the legislations origins as a way to rescue the nuclear plants, which together have about 1,400 full-time employees. After House Bill 6 was unveiled, a group calling itself the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance, with a veteran Republican PR operative serving as its spokesman, unveiled a list of dozens of politicians, union officials, business owners and more who support the plan. FirstEnergy officials say they have no longer have a stake in the nuclear plants. But shoring up the plants finances could help both FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions in the face of concern from environmental groups and regulators that if the plants were to close, the restructuring plan doesnt include enough money to pay to adequately clean them up. A federal bankruptcy judge cited those concerns in a ruling last week that blocked the restructuring deal. FirstEnergy identified the possible partial or total collapse of the FES bankruptcy deal as a significant risk in an annual report it recently filed with the SEC. While previous efforts to get state lawmakers to bail out the nuclear plants have failed, the plan now has the support of Householder, whom FirstEnergy helped get elected to his leadership position during the 2018 campaign. Statehouse observers expect lobbying and advertising to ramp up as the weeks go on, and as the legislation works its way through the state legislature. Heres a rundown of what FirstEnergy, FirstEnergy Solutions and their allies have spent their money on so far: Lobbying / PR The Energy and Policy Institute, an advocacy group for renewable energy, in a Friday online post compiled hundreds of pages of filings from FirstEnergy Solutions ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. The records show that FES from March through December 2018 had paid nearly $2.7 million to lobbyists and PR firms working to convince Ohio lawmakers to support bailing out their nuclear plants. That included about $1.2 million paid to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Washington D.C. lobbying and law firm. In bankruptcy filings, Akin Gump said it had worked to help build support for bailout bills in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where FES owns a third nuclear plant. Akin Gump continued to focus on building support among affected stakeholders, interested parties, and public officials, including supporting the launch of the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance, an Akin Gump attorney wrote in a January filing. Akin Gump professionals provided state-level developments leading up to the mid-term elections, and finally, Akin Gump worked with key officials at FES and retained local advisors in preparation of more actively engaging Ohio and Pennsylvania officials at the start of the new legislative sessions in 2019. The Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance through Monday had spent about $62,993 (about $10,000 since the plan was rolled out on Friday) on Facebook ads, according to the social networks ad transparency section. FES also paid about $541,000 to Dewey Square Group, a national public-affairs company and $61,628.00 to Oxley Group LLC, a Columbus lobbying firm, bankruptcy filings collected by The Energy and Policy Institute show. The companies helped with launching the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance and lobbying Ohio officials, respectively. FES also in July 2018 hired Van Meter, Ashbrook & Associates, an influential Republican lobbying firm in Columbus that backed Householders bid for speaker, agreeing to pay them a $15,000 a month fee, eventually totaling $60,000. But the lobbying firm refunded the money after they failed to file paperwork with the bankruptcy court. State lobbying filings show as of late January, the firm no longer works for FirstEnergy Solutions. FirstEnergy, FESs former parent company, also employs a handful of powerful lobbying firms in Columbus, including The Success Group, which was for years led by Dan McCarthy, whos now DeWines director of legislative affairs. In February, FirstEnergy also hired The CJR Group, which has close ties to the DeWine campaign its led by Josh Rubin, a member of DeWines informal kitchen cabinet who ran DeWines 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. A former CJR partner is Laurel Dawson, whos now DeWines chief of staff. And the company earlier this year hired Brittany Warner, who served as communications director for DeWines campaign for governor. FirstEnergy isnt currently lobbying for House Bill 6, and Company CEO Chuck Jones in a February letter to state lawmakers said FirstEnergy has no financial interest in the plants anymore. But more generally, Jones wrote that sustaining Ohios nuclear plants is vital to Ohios consumers and the environment. While we are still reviewing the Ohio Clean Air Program legislation that was proposed, it appears to be a good starting point for a statewide discussion about retaining and developing clean energy resources in our state, FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said in an email on Monday. Campaign contributions State and federal elections records show FirstEnergy, its political action committees and its employees have given about $1.17 million to help Ohio candidates and political parties since January 2017, according to a cleveland.com analysis. Of that, about $806,800 went to Republicans and $362,600 went to Democrats. The biggest individual contribution was $250,000 given in October to A Stronger Ohio, a Super PAC aligned with Democratic governor candidate Richard Cordray, who ended up narrowly losing his race to now-Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican. Other big recipients were the Ohio Republican Party (around $160,000 split among various party funds) and the Ohio Democratic Party ($38,000); Secretary of State Frank LaRose ($64,300); State Rep. Anthony DeVitis, an Akron Republican (35,400) and Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Hudson Republican ($25,400). DeWines campaign got $62,000, his official transition committee got $20,000, and Jones, FirstEnergys CEO, in October donated an additional $12,700 in free food and drinks to DeWines campaign. But perhaps the most significant recipient of FirstEnergy money was Householder, who last year was a state representative competing in a heated political battle to get selected as the top Republican in the Ohio House of Representatives. Householder directly got $25,415, but FirstEnergy in early 2018 also split $159,000 among more than a dozen Ohio House candidates who backed Householder for speaker over Rep. Ryan Smith, a competing Republican candidate. And in January, Householder, with support from his slate of Republican candidates and some Democrats, was elected Ohio House speaker. FirstEnergy also gave $18,700 to Jamie Callender, helping him get elected to the state legislature last year. Callender introduced the nuclear bailout bill with Householder on Friday. Smith has issued a statement unfavorably comparing the bill to the Green New Deal supported by some prominent national Democrats. Employees of Gump Akin, the lobbying firm FirstEnergy Solutions hired, also gave roughly $26,000 to Ohio candidates in the 2018 cycle, nearly all of which went to three Democratic Ohio candidates Cordray, attorney general candidate Steve Dettelbach and secretary of state candidate Kathleen Clyde, all of whom lost their races in the November election. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman is accompanying eight other U.S. Senators on a trip to South Korea and Vietnam this week where he will discuss issues including trade, nuclear negotiations, and North Korean human rights abuses, including the death of Cincinnati native Otto Warmbier, his office says. In South Korea, Portman is scheduled to meet with the nations trade minister, where he will discuss discuss ways to open up the nations markets to more agriculture, auto and manufacturing exports from Ohio. He is also scheduled to travel to the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea and visit with troops from Ohio. In addition, he will meet with the U.S. ambassador to South Korea and the commander of U.S. forces in South Korea. Portmans office said hell discuss trade and other bilateral issues involving South Korea, as well as U.S.-North Korea nuclear negotiations, POW/MIAs, and 22-year-old Warmbier, who died after being imprisoned for more than a year in North Korea. In Vietnam, Portman will meet with U.S. Embassy officials and representatives of the nations government and business community. He will discuss expanding trade opportunities between the two countries and opening Vietnamese markets to Ohio products, his office said. Portman and his colleagues will also participate in a pair of events to address legacies of the Vietnam war. They will help inaugurate a U.S.-funded dioxin remediation project at Bien Hoa Air Base near Ho Chi Minh City, to reclaim lands contaminated by Agent Orange. The delegation will also participate in the signing of a Disabilities Memorandum of Intent between the United States and Vietnam to support health and disability programs for persons with disabilities in provinces that were heavily sprayed with Agent Orange. Portmans office said the trip was organized by Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and also includes Democrats Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. He will return to the United States early next week. WASHINGTON, D.C. - Days before he launched his presidential campaign, Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryans congressional campaign account contained just $67,192, far less than any other member of Congress from Northeast Ohio. Reports filed Monday at the Federal Election Commission showed Ryans congressional campaign raised just $73,939.43 in the quarter that ended on March 30 and spent $124,942 in that time frame. He announced his presidential campaign on April 4, and hasnt yet released any presidential fundraising tallies. Members of Congress who seek the nations highest office usually stockpile campaign cash to prepare for the expense. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown - who decided not to run for president after exploratory trips to early primary states - raised $254,987 in the years first quarter, spent $425,367 and ended up with $1.2 million in the bank. Most of the Democratic partys declared presidential candidates have already raised several million dollars. The top fundraiser so far, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has $18.2 million, while the campaign of Republican President Donald Trump has more than $30 million. Ryans presidential communications director, Julia Krieger, noted that he kicked off his presidential campaign in the second quarter of the year, which is separate from the fundraising he reported in the first quarter. She would not say how much money Ryans presidential campaign has raised since its April 4 kickoff. Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge raised less money than Ryan during the years first quarter, $9,044, but she also spent far less and ended up with $897,088 in the bank. Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur collected $98,658, spent $136,153.10 and finished the quarter with $624,304. Kapturs donors included former Democratic National Committee chairman David Wilhelm and former Federal Railroad Administration and Ohio Department of Transportation head Jolene Molitoris. Freshman Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Rocky River raised $209,737 in the quarter, spent $60,130, and had $216,179 in the bank. Holmes County GOP Rep. Bob Gibbs collected $103,075, spent $23,183 had $233,506 left on March 30. Bainbridge Township Republican Rep. Dave Joyce accumulated $292,138 during the quarter, spent $130,732 and had $405,956 left. Joyces donors included former Anheuser-Busch chairman August A. Busch, III. Champaign County Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, who recently became the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, gathered $484,198.41 in the quarter, spent $343,190 and had $863,683 at the end. He spent more than $200,000 on digital consulting and fundraising during the quarter, and gave $2,000 campaign donations to every GOP member of his committee, including Gibbs. The Republican who ran for Senate against Brown, former Wadsworth Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, ended the quarter with $17,095 in the bank. His campaign finance report indicated that $3,472,505 of a $4 million personal loan that Renacci made to his campaign was repaid, and the remainder was forgiven and designated a campaign contribution from the candidate. CLEVELAND, Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said Monday that Republican President Donald Trump keeps attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act because he cant relate to people who have benefitted from the law. Brown made the comments following a press conference at The Centers for Family and Children standing alongside Secundra Beasley, a 55-year-old East Cleveland woman diagnosed with mental illness. Brown said the Trump administrations support of a verdict by a Texas judge in federal court overturning the Affordable Care Act put Beasley and millions of other Ohioans at risk of losing their health care. I dont think Donald Trump knows people that have lost insurance because of a pre-existing condition, Brown said. I dont think hes ever lived his life where he really does see, up close, the problems that people have that dont have the financial resources that he inherited. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Brown has been a vocal critic of the Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act more commonly known as Obamacare especially provisions of the law that prevent insurers from charging people with pre-existing conditions more for coverage. During his Monday press conference, he said Trumps decision to not defend the law in court anymore threatened not only coverage, but consumer provisions like protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Tax credits, allowing children to stay on their parents health care plan until 26, the Medicaid expansion, limits on out-of-pocket expenses for seniors, preventive screening and prescription drug affordability are all in danger of being upended, Brown said. Speaking after Brown, Beasley detailed her struggle with mental illness. A Kent State University graduate, she formerly worked in management at the Smithsonian in Washington. Mental health problems manifested and she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she said. She returned home, but said she found her family in shambles. The stress made me increasingly unhealthy and unstable, Beasley said. "I was not compliant with my medication and was not able to maintain employment when I became homeless. Beasley found care and eventually entered the Medicaid rolls and was further diagnosed with social anxiety and autism spectrum disorders. If she were booted from coverage because of her pre-existing conditions, she said she doesnt know how she would manage. I wouldnt know where to get medicine from, Beasley said. I will probably have to pay out of pocket, and I know for one of my medications I would have to pay $600 as opposed to the $8.20 I pay for my refills. Brown said he hoped stories like Beasleys might sway Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare. I dont think they connect a human face to what theyre doing, Brown said. BROOKLYN COLLEGE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2019/03/02: Democratic Presidential candidate US Senator Bernie Sanders launches first presidential campaign rally with more than 10000 in attendance at Brooklyn College. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released 10 years of tax returns Monday evening, showing the majority of his income came from his U.S. Senate salary until 2016, when his income jumped with the publication of a book on his first presidential run. His total income popped to over $1 million in 2016 and 2017, after he wrote "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In" in November 2016, raising his effective tax rate for those years to over 30 percent. "I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country," Sanders said in a statement released by his campaign. "I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people." His book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #3, and has sold approximately 227,000 copies, according to the industry tracker NPD BookScan. Two subsequent books, "The Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution" and "Where Do We Go From Here: Two Years in the Resistance" sold over 27,000 and 26,000 copies, respectively. During his 2016 campaign, Sanders initially released just a summary of his 2014 tax returns, before releasing his full return later in the primary. "We had a good idea based on his 2014 returns what to expect," Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, told NBC News after reviewing his returns. "He made a whole bunch of money as an author now, which is sizable. Running for president has been a lucrative business for him." Sanders has been under pressure to release his returns since he launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in February. In a televised CNN town hall shortly after, the senator promised to release them "sooner than later." However, after several weeks without producing documents, questions continued to grow. Sanders then told reporters he would release them by tax day, April 15th. "You sort of wonder why he resisted releasing more returns in prior years," Rosenthal said. "Now he's released 10 years of returns but they all look the same, all of which is pretty modest in what he's showing." On the trail, Sanders who makes the fight for economic justice a fundamental theme of his candidacy routinely rails against the millionaire and billionaire class, saying the "1 percent may have unlimited resources and power, but they are the 1 percent. We are the 99 percent." In January, he introduced the "For the 99.8 Percent Act" that his office says would raise $2.2 trillion through a dramatic increase to the estate tax on wealthy families. Sanders now joins several other 2020 candidates who have released their tax documents to the public. Sunday, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., released 15 years of returns. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., added 2018 to the 10 years of returns released last August. In March, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., was the first to release her 2018 returns, publishing 12 years total, and started an online petition that calls on every candidate to disclose their taxes. Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have released their returns for this year as well. 3Pea International Inc.: "Well, that's about as speculative as it gets. That's a payment processor that's a niche payment processor, but you said it's speculative, so therefore I'm gonna say [buy]." Oracle Corp.: "Oracle is just an inexpensive stock that needs a catalyst. That didn't shock me. I mean they got a cloud business but it's not like Amazon's. It's just not." Walmart Inc.: "Yes. I would buy it even right here. It's very inexpensive and no one's championing it, except for me." Nektar Therapeutics: "No a great company. People just want it for bid because 'cause of oncology. I don't think it has it. I'm gonna say [don't buy]." Toll Brothers Inc.: "I like the homebuilders. I think that [D. R.] Hortons is a little better than Toll, and so is Lennar, but Toll's good." Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.: "I think [CEO] Frank Del Rio has told us a compelling story from day 1, and I would stick with Frank. Stick with Norwegian." Bluebird Bio Inc.: "That one's always a bridesmaid, never a bride. You know what, I gotta tell you it's a great spec, if you want to do that I'll leave it as a spec." Broadcom Inc.: "I still wanna buy it 'cause it's still inexpensive. I wish it would come down, my charitable trust wanted to buy it. We never got the chance." Media giant Disney announced its new video streaming platform and Netflix competitor, Disney+, last week. Its stock went up by as much as as 12% and enjoyed its best day since May 2009. Its current stock price is hovering around $130 a share. And if you invested in the company 10 years ago, you would have made a profit: A $1,000 investment on April 15, 2009, would be worth more than $7,600 as of April 15, 2019, a total return over 660%, according to CNBC calculations. Over the same period of time, the S&P 500 was up 240%. Disney's chairman and chief executive officer, Bob Iger, told CNBC that he was "optimistic" about the streaming service "because of the content, because of the user interface and because of the price." CNBC: Disney stock as of April 15, 2019 Disney+, which will officially begin streaming mid-November, will start at $6.99 a month or around $70 a year. Disney plans to use it to showcase its popular material, including the "Star Wars" franchise. The company also expects to spend about $1 billion on original content in 2020 and $2 billion by 2024. Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money," was excited about the company's potential: "How can you not take it? It's a reasonable price. You have an unbelievable library. We have all bought these. ... I've bought every single property of Disney. [For] my kids, it just was kind of a rite of passage," he said. Iger "has transformed this company back to a growth stock in a way that people are saying, 'Finally, I've got one with earnings, with a balance sheet, with a great CEO; I don't have to risk it anymore.' That's what this story is. .... Wow. Wow. Big." Still, while Disney's stock has shot up recently and has largely performed well over the years, any individual stock can over- or underperform and past returns do not predict future results. Some analysts believe Disney's goals are too lofty and that it will be difficult for their streaming service to disrupt major players like Amazon and Netflix. "We do not view Disney+ as a strong alternative to Netflix," Matthew Thornton, a tech analyst at bank holding company Suntrust, said in a note. "Disney+ features family content, while Netflix offers a much broader range of content with the majority of the most-searched content on the platform." Apple was up less than 1%. Intel , a Qualcomm competitor, sharply dipped on the news before recovering. Qualcomm stock rose more than 20% after the news broke, boosting its market cap by about $14.5 billion to more than $84 billion. It's Qualcomm's best day since 1999. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm as well as a chipset supply agreement, suggesting that Apple will buy Qualcomm chips for future iPhones. The companies did not say how much the payment will be. Apple and Qualcomm have settled their royalty dispute, the companies announced in a press release . Qualcomm took off following a Tuesday announcement it had reached a settlement agreement with Apple. The company gained billions in market cap as a result. Qualcomm expects incremental earnings per share of $2 as product shipments ramp, the company said. "This was a major win for Qualcomm as fears of a loss in the courts was a major overhang on the name with Apple going after this IP issue full steam ahead," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said. "A settlement is a surprise to investors as ultimately Apple realized this was more about two kids fighting in the sandbox and they have bigger issues ahead with 5G and iPhone softness rather than battling Qualcomm in court." The two companies started proceedings in a trial in federal court in San Diego on Monday, which was expected to last until May. Both sides were asking for billions in damages. The antitrust case was originally filed by Apple in early 2017. The complicated legal battle, centered around modem chips and related disputes, has been raging in courts around the world for the past two years, including an earlier trial between Qualcomm and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. For years, Apple bought modem chips from Qualcomm, but it chafed under Qualcomm's prices and requirement that any company using its chips would also pay licensing fees for its patents. Apple argued that Qualcomm was abusing its position as one of the only suppliers for cellular technology, and Qualcomm contended that Apple was withholding payments that the two companies had hammered out as part of a royalty agreement. According to Qualcomm, the new license between the two companies is six years, with a two-year option to extend. It includes a one-time payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The amount of the payment was not disclosed. In November, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that he believed that the two companies were on the "doorstep" to settling. Apple CEO Tim Cook contradicted him shortly after, saying that Apple hasn't been in settlement discussions since the third calendar quarter of 2018. New iPhone models released in 2018 used Intel modem chips instead of Qualcomm's technology. Analysts had previously said that the dispute between Qualcomm and Apple could slow down Apple's plans to support next-generation 5G networks. Qualcomm is one of the top suppliers of chips that can connect to 5G networks. The agreement opens up the possibility that Apple could release a 5G iPhone sooner than expected with Qualcomm's modem technology. Here is the full press release: Qualcomm and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. WATCH: How Qualcomm became a chip giant and why its business model is being challenged by Apple and the FTC The Saudi Stock Exchange, also known as the Tadawul All Share Index, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Major Saudi shopping mall developer Arabian Centres Company is launching an initial public offering that will be the kingdom's biggest since 2014, when Saudi Arabia's largest lender, National Commercial Bank, was listed. The listing, which was approved by Saudi financial regulator Capital Market Authority, is offering 95 million shares on the Tadawul, the Saudi stock exchange. It represents about 20 percent of the company's share capital. The IPO "could be in the range of $1 billion," said Olivier Nougarou, the CEO of Arabian Centres Company, according to Reuters. Arabian Centres Company which operates, develops and owns 19 malls across 10 cities in Saudi Arabia is owned by Fawaz Alhokair Group, whose majority shareholder is Saudi billionaire Fawaz Alhokair. Alhokair was the subject of an anti-graft shakeup led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in late 2017 that saw scores of businessmen and royals detained in the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh. The billionaire businessman was released in January 2018 with no charges against him, according to reports. The 17-year-old shopping mall operator had a revenue of $576 million in 2018 up from $511 million in 2016. Its future plans include the opening of four more malls and one extension in the coming 12 months, according to the company. In a statement Tuesday, the company described the IPO as "laying the groundwork for the next chapter of our growth story." It said the listing would give both domestic and international investors "the opportunity to invest in a dynamic company and industry well-positioned to benefit from the longer-term structural growth path within the retail sector in the Kingdom." The IPO comes as Saudi Arabia works to implement liberalizing economic reforms and deepen its financial markets as part of Vision 2030, an initiative aimed at diversifying the kingdom's oil-dependent economy. Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, speaks during a press conference introducing the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Sen. Bernie Sanders spent much of a Fox News town hall Monday discussing his signature "Medicare for All" proposal, which has energized liberals and fueled conservative backlash. The Vermont independent should be encouraged by the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, crowd's reaction to his plan. At one point in the event, Fox's Bret Baier asked attendees if they get private health insurance from work. A majority of audience members raised their hands. Baier then asked whether people would be willing to transition to a government-run health system as described by Sanders. Roughly the same number of attendees raised their hands. Some audience members cheered. Baier noted during the town hall that the crowd included Democrats, Republicans and independents. Sanders tweet: Raise your hand if you're sick and tired of your private health insurance company. We need Medicare for All. #BernieTownHall Trump, a frequent Fox viewer who often shares supportive talking points from the network's conservative hosts, tweeted Tuesday that it was "so weird to watch Crazy Bernie" on Fox News. Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist and a frequent target of the network. "Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the 'audience' was so smiley and nice. Very strange, and now we have @donnabrazile?" Trump added, referencing the former interim Democratic National Committee chair who recently joined Fox as a contributor. Sanders vaulted to national prominence in the 2016 presidential election in part by arguing for insuring all Americans through a single-payer system. Now, Medicare for All has gained traction among Democrats in both the House and Senate, as well as among Sanders' rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. As Democrats try to thwart President Donald Trump's reelection bid in part by criticizing his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump and congressional Republicans have cast Sanders' proposal as a radical, expensive plan that would dismantle the private insurance market. During the town hall Monday, Baier pressed Sanders about the prospect of his proposal forcing people off the private insurance plans they currently have. "Millions of people every single year lose their health insurance," Sanders responded. "You know why? They get fired, or they quit and they go to another employer." He continued: "Every year, millions of workers wake up in the morning and their employer has changed the insurance that they have. Maybe they like their doctors. ... So this is not new. Every year. Now, what we're talking about is stability. That when you have a Medicare for All, it is there now and it will be there in the future." It should not come as a surprise that Sanders' plan fared well in presidential swing state Pennsylvania. In March, 56 percent of people surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation said they support a "national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan," while 39 percent said they oppose such a proposal. Support for a single-payer system climbed from 50 percent in a February 2016 Kaiser poll. However, support for Medicare for All drops significantly if poll respondents are told it could require most Americans to pay more in taxes or eliminate private health insurance companies, according to separate Kaiser polling. Last week, Sanders introduced a new version of his Medicare for All legislation. It would cover a wide range of health services and let Americans see any doctor with no deductibles or copays. Four other senators running for president Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts co-sponsored the bill. Among contenders in the Senate, only Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., did not back the plan. She supports an optional government health-care buy-in. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Britain's Union Jack national flag is pictured during a debate on Britains withdrawal from the EU during a plenary session at the European Parliament on January 16, 2018 in Strasbourg. FREDERICK FLORIN | AFP | Getty Images Britain's departure from the European Union (EU) could paralyse law-making in Brussels for at least 5 years. Brexit may now not happen before October 31st, after European leaders agreed last week to allow more time for Prime Minister Theresa May and the U.K.'s parliament to sort out the country's exit from the EU. But if current divergences in London over Brexit are not solved by May 22, then Britain will have to take part in European Parliamentary elections opening unprecedented legal and political challenges to the EU. Holding EU elections in the U.K. is set to fatally affect the good functioning of the next European Parliament (the EU's legislative arm) as well as the entire Union for the five years to come, two European law experts told CNBC in emailed remarks. Not only the British participation in the elections is set to distort the new political balance emerging within the new Parliament, but also to irremediably tarnish the validity of the Parliament's future decisions, Alberto Alemanno, Professor of EU law at HEC Paris, and Benjamin Bodson, researcher in EU law at UCLouvain said. European citizens elect new lawmakers to the European Parliament every five years. Following the U.K.'s request to exit the union in 2017, the European chamber has prepared for the fact that 73 British members of the European Parliament would not be taking their seats. It's not easy to explain to the French, to the Polish, to the Austrian citizens that again the country who is leaving the EU will have a major say in the future decision-making process of the EU. Manfred Weber Member of the European Parliament The EU decided to allocate further seats to certain countries and keep some of the other seats empty for when new countries join the Union. This decision stated that the upcoming parliament would be formed by 705 members, from the 751 today; and it would award 27 extra-seats to 14 member states. However, with the possibility that the U.K. will remain a member until October 31st, the European Parliament is yet to agree what to do with the seat allocation. If it follows the old rules and 751 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected, it will break the principle of "degressive proportionally" meaning that countries such as Sweden, Austria and Spain will be less represented than other countries with similar population sizes, Alemanno pointed out, saying this would breach European law. But if the new rules remain and 14 European countries are allowed to get 27 out of the 73 U.K. seats, the question then becomes when these extra MEPs would be able to start their jobs. "These soon-to-be MEPs could argue that the treaties ensure them a term of five years, not less, and require to start their position as soon as July 2, when the new European Parliament will be sitting for the first time (and not whenever the U.K. leaves)," Alemanno said. "On the other hand, 'temporarily' elected British MEPs could invoke the same provision to stay after the UK's withdrawal. This would lead the new European Parliament to have a record number of 778 MEPs," the law professor also said, pointing to another breach of European rules. Political Difficulties Legal implications aside, there are also political consequences of delaying the U.K.'s departure beyond the month of May. U.K. voters could have a strong say on who is the biggest political force at the European Parliament ultimately influencing the direction of futures decisions. "It's not easy to explain to the French, to the Polish, to the Austrian citizens that again the country who is leaving the EU will have a major say in the future decision-making process of the EU. That is a political challenge ahead," Manfred Weber, the head of the conservative party at the European Parliament, told CNBC last week in an exclusive interview. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (R) and China's Premier Li Keqiang (L) inspect Chinese honour guards during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 20, 2018 Malaysia's relationship with China is under scrutiny in the Southeast Asian country ahead of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's expected April visit to Beijing. Mainland Chinese businesses in Malaysia, in particular, are hopeful that the 93-year-old leader will be able to smooth ties with Asia's dominant economic power. There are already positive signs as the two countries renegotiated a previously stalled multibillion-dollar rail project that caused uncertainty in the bilateral relationship. Last Friday, the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office released a statement announcing the resumption of the project at a reduced cost of 44 billion Malaysian ringgit ($10.7 billion) two-thirds the original cost of 65.5 billion ringgit ($15.9 billion) That could be a turning point for other deals with Chinese companies and entities, which have been awaiting a signal on the future of the bilateral relationship. After all, the stalled train line had "more or less hurt the confidence of Chinese enterprises" operating in the Southeast Asian countries, said Keith Li, the president of the China Entrepreneurs Association in Malaysia. In fact, there have been a "small number" of projects and developments put on hold as the Chinese companies involved take a wait-and-see approach, Li told CNBC in Kuala Lumpur last month. He declined to go into detail about those deals that had been affected. Li's association represents the interests of mainland Chinese businesses in Malaysia, of which there are an estimated 1,000. Li, who runs a travel agency, said he is a permanent resident of Malaysia and has lived in the country for over 20 years. The planned rail project on Peninsular Malaysia was thrown into uncertainty after Mahathir's party stunned international prognosticators with a win against the incumbent Najib Razak in a general election last May. Mahathir's administration then decided that costly projects authorized by the previous administration would be cancelled or renegotiated, sparking concerns among mainland Chinese enterprises in Malaysia. There is much at stake. Malaysia's finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, said in March that foreign direct investment planned by manufacturers from China rose from 3.9 billion Malaysian ringgit ($948 million) in 2017 to 19.7 billion ringgit ($4.8 billion) in 2018, an increase of over 400 percent, local media reported. In 2018, China was one of the largest contributors to the manufacturing sector in Malaysia alongside Indonesia, the Netherlands, Japan and the U.S., government news agency Bernama reported, citing official figures. The U.S. tech industry is currently adding new jobs at almost 400% the rate of other fields, and it pays workers about twice as much too, according to jobs site Comparably. That high pay isn't just limited to a handful of senior roles or hardcore technical positions. New college graduates and career changers can earn into the six figures from their first day in the office in many of tech's entry-level positions. To find the roles that paid workers top dollar from the outset, Comparably analyzed more than 8,000 tech workers' salary records to find the ones that led to the biggest paychecks during the first three years of an employee's career. The results are good news for those who want to work in tech without learning how to code. While several of the 10 highest-paying gigs rely on strong computer science or programming skills, quite a few call for a knowledge of business or marketing. No matter the role, wise tech workers would head to San Francisco or Seattle to start their careers. These two locations paid the most for each of the following 10 positions, beating out other top cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago and Austin, Comparably found. 10. QA analyst Average salary: $70,383 Software quality assurance or QA analysts perform in-depth testing of systems, software and websites and then diagnose and correct any problems they encounter. Most QA analysts have a bachelor's degree in a computer-related field, although it is not always a requirement if an applicant has solid skills in information technology or computer programming, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 9. Marketing manager Average salary: $70,392 A liaison between the marketing department and the sales, public relations and product development staff, this role is responsible for estimating the demand for an organization's tech product or service and identifying potential markets for such products. They may also develop pricing strategies to help the company increase its profits or market share. A bachelor's degree is required for most marketing management positions, and is typically earned in advertising, journalism or communications, according to the BLS. 8. Sales representative Average salary: $70,622 These workers are responsible for finding prospective clients or customers who might be interested in purchasing a company's product. They give presentations or demonstrations about the products they are selling, negotiate prices, and answer any customer questions. Typically, representatives selling technical products have a bachelor's degree, according to the BLS. 7. UI/UX designer Average salary: $84,841 User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designers work together to ensure that a user's experience on a web page, software or device matches the company's vision. This means they need to make sure the interface design is stylistically pleasing as well as easy to use and navigate, but they may also be responsible for ensuring the overall branding, designs, usability and function of a device is spot on. Educational requirements for this role vary depending on the employer, but more specialized positions may require a bachelor's degree in computer science or programming, according to the BLS. 6. DevOps Engineer Average salary: $89,300 DevOps engineers work with developers and the IT staff to oversee software deployment. They typically help a company release small features or changes to a product quickly and then incorporate feedback about such changes. Like many other roles on the list, no educational degree is necessary, though employers favor applicants with a bachelor's degree in a relevant field like computer science or programming. 5. Sales engineer Average salary: $90,575 This sales position demands extensive knowledge of the products' parts and functions as well as understanding of the scientific processes that make these products work. Their technical skills are necessary to accurately explain the benefits of a product or service to prospective customers and demonstrate how it is better than a competitors'. Many of their duties, however, are similar to those of other sales representative in that they must win over new clients and negotiate a price. Most companies like to hire candidates with a bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field, but previous sales experience as well as technical experience or training can be enough to land the role at some companies, according to the BLS. 4. Mobile developer Average salary: $98,317 This is a software developer who specializes in creating new applications for mobile devices. They typically must meet with clients or management to discuss the needs and look of an application, write the code for it using various programming languages, as well as integrate graphics, audio and video in the mobile app. An associate's degree in web design or related field is the most common requirement for landing a job in this field, but isn't necessary if a person can demonstrate knowledge of programming and graphic design, according to the BLS. 3. Developer Average salary: $100,610 Software developers create computer programs and applications that allow people to perform certain functions on a computer or other device. They must identify the core functionality that users need from software programs as well as back-end support for that user experience such as the level of security and performance needed. Once they've designed the program, they then give instructions to programmers, who write computer code and test it. Software developers usually have a bachelor's degree in computer science and strong computer programming skills, according to the BLS. 2. Product manager Average salary: $106,127 This managerial role maps out different stages of a product's development, launch and maintenance. They coordinate the work done by many other employees or teams within a company, such as that of software engineers and data scientists. They are ultimately responsible for the business success of the product. Product managers typically have a bachelor's degree in business or a related field. 1. Data scientist Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, are displayed before a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, September 23, 2016 in New York City. The Department of Homeland Security is considering classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, or WMD, according to an internal memo attained by military news outlet Task & Purpose. The memo said the painkiller would be labeled a WMD "when certain criteria are met," and that federal officials have "long regarded fentanyl as a chemical weapons threat." Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. It is prescribed to treat severe pain but is also sold illegally in the U.S. Fentanyl-related deaths in the country spiked more than 1,000% from 2011 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2017, more than 28,000 U.S. citizens fatally overdosed on the drug. The drug's high toxicity and increasing availability are "attractive" to potential adversaries "seeking nonconventional materials for a chemical attack," James McDonnell, an assistant secretary at DHS, wrote in the memo, according to Task & Purpose. McDonnell wrote that "as little as" 2 to 3 milligrams of fentanyl can induce respiratory depression, respiratory arrest and possibly death. The memo said the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office would only focus on quantities and configurations of the drug that could be used as mass casualty weapons. However, the memo leaves out some key details, according to Dr. Michael Kuhlman, chief scientist specializing in WMD issues at Battelle, a science and technology nonprofit organization. "What the memo doesn't spell out the details of is: In what quantities and what do they mean by configurations?" Kuhlman said. Kuhlman said a chemical powder is not in itself a WMD and that it needs to be combined with some form of delivery method for it to be considered so. "You need something to weaponize it," he said. In a statement to CNBC, a DHS official said, "DHS is constantly assessing new and emerging threats that may impact the nation's security. We coordinate closely with partners at [the Department of Defense], [Department of Justice], and throughout the interagency to better protect the American people." The official declined to offer further comment on the specifics of those discussions. The Department of Justice also declined to comment. When CNBC twice called to confirm if the Department of Defense proposed designating fentanyl as a WMD, a person who answered the phone hung up both times. The memo said the CWMD office would assist in countering fentanyl by managing and developing requirements for technology development, deploying detection technology and providing analytical expertise. It also said the agency would conduct an official analysis of smuggling routes by which fentanyl enters the U.S. Large amounts of the drug have been traced to China and Mexico. The internal memo comes at the same time the Trump administration touts progress in combating the U.S. opioid epidemic. President Donald Trump has vowed to battle the opioid crisis, securing $6 billion in funding over two years to fight drug abuse. But health experts say there is little evidence that opioid deaths have decreased as a result of administrative action. Kuhlman said it's possible the DHS is targeting fentanyl because it is responsible for so many deaths in the U.S. However, he said "the memo that I saw could just have easily have said heroin" in mass quantities could be considered a WMD, too. "Clearly, I think all of us would wish for a better ability to prevent fentanyl, heroin and other illicit drugs from reaching our country," Kuhlman said, adding that increased detection methods could help. Read the full memo at Task & Purpose's site. The flags of the EU member states in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France Thomas Trutschel | Photothek | Getty Images The European Union is having a hard job building a sufficient firewall when it comes to election interference, experts have told CNBC. The European Parliament the EU's legislative arm has launched a campaign to tackle online disinformation ahead of its elections in May. But there are certain loopholes that mean there could still be outside influence in the vote. "Russia will attempt to influence the parliamentary elections using its usual tool kit, including targeted propaganda, and the stealing and leaking of information," Andrew Foxall, director of the Russia and Eurasia studies at the Henry Jackson Society, told CNBC via email. He added that there are a number of steps that European institutions should take to prevent such influence. EU countries could share information with each other on "fake news" stories or disinformation; make public any influence attempts whether from Russia or elsewhere; pledge not to use stolen data in their campaigns and make campaign financing more transparent, Foxall said. The Russian government was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Almost all European populist parties have direct ties to Russia, although this is most often through individual connections rather than institutional ones. Andrew Foxall Director at the Henry Jackson Society Campaign financing is another sensitive topic in Europe. There is no common European rule for party funding; instead, parties in certain jurisdictions must comply with their country's own rules. "(European) leaders have thus far failed to address a major vulnerability, namely that foreign money can flow unimpeded into campaigns in a number of member states," Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a national security advocacy group, said in an article last October. According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, four out of the 28 European countries do not have any restrictions on foreign donations to political parties. They are Belgium, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. This means that, for example, an Italian political party could receive funding from a third country, without it being illegal. Eleven other countries have partial restrictions to foreign donations. And only 13 have full bans in place. A spokesperson for the European Parliament told CNBC that the institution contributes to the funding of European political parties through its budget. Up to 85% of party expenditure is reimbursable from the European Parliament , while the rest should be covered by the party's own resources. However, the same spokesperson also said that funding rules for national political parties are outside the European Parliament's remit and as such cannot comment on the matter. European citizens vote on national parties to represent them at the European Parliament. Those elected then decide which European political group they want to be a part of. According to the spokesperson, there is funding for the latter, but no oversight on funding at the national level. Russian links to European parties European officials are paying particular attention toward Russia, given the conclusion from U.S. intelligence agencies that the Kremlin did interfere in the U.S. 2016 presidential election. Marine Le Pen's nationalist party, recently renamed National Rally, found itself strapped for cash back in 2014, as none of the French banks wanted to provide it with any loans. But through one of its party members, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, who had links to the Russian government, Le Pen's party obtained funds from a Russian-based bank, according to the Washington Post. Marine Le Pen has previously denied she has been influenced by Russian money. Furthermore, a former Le Pen advisor, who is currently member of the European Parliament, hired the daughter of President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, raising some concern along the corridors of the Brussels institution. There have been other episodes showing apparent Russian links with European nationalist parties. Panos Kammenos, the leader of Greece's right-wing nationalist party has often been photographed alongside Russian officials in Moscow. A spokesperson for his Independent Greeks party wasn't immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. Media reports, unverified by CNBC, have also suggested that Italy's Lega, led by Matteo Salvini, sought funding from Russia via a petroleum export deal involving a firm close to the Kremlin. The party has denied the accusations. "Almost all European populist parties have direct ties to Russia, although this is most often through individual connections rather than institutional ones," Foxall told CNBC via email. "These are people who, for example, accept invitations to travel to Moscow or visit illegally-occupied Crimea, both of which are paid for by the Russian state. These same people would also be courted in their home countries by Russian diplomats and intelligence officers," he added. Salvini's Lega is a member of a club for European nationalists, called The Movement. This group was founded by Steve Bannon, the political strategist who previously worked for President Donald Trump, and by a nationalist Belgian politician called Mischael Modrikamen. When asked about his links to Russia, Modrikamen told CNBC last month: "I was invited a few years ago to Moscow, visited the Parliament, the Duma and so on." He also said that he had been invited to some events at the Russian embassy in Belgium, but has no relationship with the country apart from that. How could Europe be targeted? "What policymakers should be concerned about is actions by the Russian government to undermine democracy, gain economic leverage that can be used to further its broader foreign policy goals, or interfere in countries' domestic democratic political processes," Joshua Kirschenbaum, senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, told CNBC. "The Russian uses opaque financial channels and strategic investments in furtherance of these aims, and in so doing it often exports corruption and criminality," he also said. If there is [a nation] somewhere whose main political priority is to disintegrate Europe, this certainly is Russia. Donald Tusk European Council President Gold bars at the Austrian Gold and Silver Separating Plant in Vienna, Austria. Gold dropped 1 percent on Tuesday to its lowest level of 2019, as a string of robust economic data boosted demand for riskier assets like equities while bullion was further weighed down by gains in the U.S. dollar. Spot gold was down 0.88 percent to $1,276.25 per ounce as of 3:00 p.m. EDT, having earlier slipped to its lowest since Dec. 27 at $1,272.70. U.S. gold futures settled 1.1 percent lower at $1,277.20 an ounce. "We're likely to see some more pressure on gold over the next couple of days, especially with earnings coming out that's going to keep the equity market stronger," said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. Bullion is also being weighed down by strong data from China and a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report last week, he said. Indicating strong appeal for riskier assets, Wall Street equities climbed on better-than-expected results from healthcare giants, adding to momentum in global equities driven by the data from China and improved sentiment in Germany. The dollar also firmed, making the yellow metal more expensive for holders of other currencies. Investors are now waiting on China's gross domestic product numbers for further cues on global growth. A Reuters poll forecast first-quarter growth to have cooled to 6.3 percent, the weakest pace in at least 27 years, but a flurry of measures to boost domestic demand may have put a floor under activity in March. "If the data comes out south of 6 percent, it will be enough to rally gold, but anything north of 6 percent will keep gold on the defensive," RJO's Haberkorn said. Bullion could see a bounce later in the week on bargain hunting with "traders waiting for more downside to go," he added. On the technical front, gold's break below key support levels, including the 100- and 50-day moving averages, signaled a further downside to prices, analysts and traders said. Overall sentiment for bullion was turning positive, however, with increasing central bank buying likely to provide a cushion for prices, Standard Chartered analysts said in a client note. Among other precious metals, silver rose 0.09 percent to $15.00 an ounce, having hit $14.81 in the previous session, its lowest since Dec. 26. Spot platinum fell 0.96 percent, to $876.50 per ounce, while palladium was down 0.59 percent to $1,353.50. A sustained deficit in palladium's supply had pushed prices to a record high of $1,620.53 last month and was likely to deepen further this year and in 2020, Standard Chartered added. Investors can expect weak earnings growth across all major markets in 2019, according to Goldman Sachs' chief global equity strategist. Both Goldman and Citigroup missed revenue estimates in financial results announced on Monday, with fellow Wall Street giants Morgan Stanley and Bank of America scheduled to report earnings later this week. Goldman's Peter Oppenheimer told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Tuesday that more dovish guidance from central banks has been crucial in triggering a recovery in equity markets, meaning the focus will now shift to earnings season. "We do think that earnings growth is going to be quite weak this year in all of the major markets," he said. "So having seen the rebound that we've had already, much is going to depend now on how far earnings can grow, and I think that's going to be quite modest." While the first quarter is expected to be negative for the U.S., Goldman Sachs expects a recovery at quarterly level during the second-half of the year, both in the U.S. and globally. He added: "We do think global activity will improve in the second-half of the year, even in Europe which has really lagged behind, we have some tailwinds from moderation in fiscal policy, particularly in Germany, and also Europe should benefit from the pickup in China and elsewhere." Kia Motors Corp. vehicles sit parked in this aerial photograph taken above the company's delivery center in Gwangju, South Korea, on Friday, July 8, 2016. Park Byung-kyu once led Kia Motor's union in the city of Gwangju, fighting for labor protections against the powerful, family-run chaebol that dominated the economy during South Korea's rapid industrialization. But about 20 years ago, Park was assaulted by unionized workers wielding steel clubs after he campaigned for the rights of temporary workers at another company, leaving him paralyzed on the right side of his body. The attack also left him disillusioned with the approach of South Korea's forceful and often militant unions, which have faced increasing criticism for protecting their interests at the expense of other workers. Now, Park is working for the city of Gwangju on a proposed joint venture with Hyundai Motor to build a new low-wage car factory, Hyundai's first new factory in South Korea in 25 years. The $616 million plant would create 1,000 jobs, but at less than half the wages of Hyundai's unionized workers and without many of the privileges they currently enjoy. "The labor unions with vested interests should change. If not, their interests will be taken away," said the 53-year-old Park. "Unionized labor should face up to the reality." The unions of Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors, which together form the world's fifth-largest automaker by volume, have staged strikes and rallies to protest the plant. They say it will create "bad jobs" and take away production and employment from existing factories. But in a city that has seen a steady exodus of manufacturing jobs move to low-cost countries, many job seekers say they would work for the plant in a heartbeat. Employment is a key focus for President Moon Jae-in's administration as Asia's fourth-largest economy struggles to create jobs in the face of a slowing China economy, U.S. trade protectionism and increased minimum wages. The Moon government plans to provide financial assistance to the Gwangju plant, and also introduce similar government-business ventures in two other cities by June. Officials hope it will lead to a "U-turn" of Korean companies which would otherwise build factories overseas. "This is a bold experiment to resolve jobs and labor relations problems," said Park Myung-joon, a senior research fellow at state-funded Korea Labour Institute, who has been involved in the project since its beginning in 2014. The carmaking venture, the first of its kind in South Korea, is the biggest threat to date for legacy unionized auto workers, who have largely maintained high wages and benefits even with youth unemployment near a record high and the economy sluggish, Park said. "The expensive union jobs will gradually disappear." An Indian security official looks on as an aircraft of Jet Airways taxies after landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. Almost twenty percent of the value of Indian airline Jet Airways was wiped away at one stage Tuesday, following uncertainty over lifeline funding needed to keep planes flying. The airline has run out of cash, forcing pilots to go without salaries for months and causing failed payments to companies that lease aircraft, as well as defaults on other loans. As the cash crunch has worsened, the airline's fleet has shrunk to seven aircraft from 119, as unpaid leasing companies who own the planes take back the aircraft. Shares in the carrier have fallen by more than 60 percent in the last 12 months. The airline's board has been hoping to secure 15 billion rupees ($215 million) in emergency funding and it is being reported by CNBC-TV18 that the board of Jet Airways has asked CEO Vinay Dube to plead one last time to lenders. Without a credit lifeline, it is understood operations will have to be temporarily shut down. The carrier, which was founded more than 25 years ago, has already suspended international operations till April 18. On India's National Stock Exchange in Mumbai on Tuesday, stock in the carrier was down more than 18 percent at one stage but had pared losses to sit around 7.5 percent down after reports that funding from lenders was likely to come through. In March, the airline's founder, Naresh Goyal, stepped down as chairman, handing majority control to a consortium of Indian lenders led by government-owned SBI (State Bank of India). A longer-term rescue for the airline is being crafted, with bids being encouraged for outsiders to take a majority stake. SBI Capital Markets, a division of the State Bank of India, is running the Jet Airways stake sale on behalf of a consortium of lenders. Potential buyers reportedly include Etihad Airways, PJSC, India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and private equity firms TPG Capital and Indigo Partners. A separate proposal backed by founder Goyal is believed to have now withdrawn its bid. Jet Airways had its first flight in May 1993, operating primarily out of Mumbai. Its latest official figures put the number of employees at more than 17,000. Domestically, it is now India's third-largest private airline after IndiGo and Spice Jet, holding a 10% passenger market share during February 2019. Wall Street analysts are squarely focused on what Netflix has to say about subscriber growth, price hikes, and its rivals launching streaming services, when the company reports earnings after the market close Tuesday. Last week, Disney unveiled its long awaited $6.99 per month streaming services. After Disney's announcement, many analysts said they believed the company was not a threat to Netflix. Shares of Netflix are up over 30 percent year-to-date. "Sell-side consensus international paid subscriber expectations are 24.4 million and 24.8 million net additions, respectively, vs our estimates of 27.4 million and 27.5 million," wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft who also upgraded the stock Wednesday and raised his price target. "The idea that consumers will choose Disney+ over Netflix seems unrealistic, unless a given consumer's use case for having Netflix has been limited to watching Disney films," he said. "We see limited scope for a negative surprise on domestic [subscriptions] in 1Q or 2Q guidance, despite concerns about price hikes and competition, " Bank of America analyst Nat Schindler wrote. "We would see any dip on either issue as a particularly attractive buying opportunity because we do not view Disney as the competition," he said. Analysts at KeyBanc also seemed skeptical that any of the new competition would pose much threat to the streaming giant subscriber results. "While other services may carve out valuable add-on positions, we do not expect the launch of new services from Apple, Disney, AT&T, or others to meaningfully impact Netflix.." "We continue to view Netflix's strategic positioning very favorably," they said. French companies including L'Oreal and luxury groups LVMH and Kering have pledged millions of euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after it was severely damaged in a fire Monday night. Francois-Henri Pinault, whose Artemis holding company owns a controlling stake in Kering, pledged 100 million euros ($113 million), while Bernard Arnault, chair of LVMH, gave 200 million euros. Kering owns labels such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, while LVMH's star brands include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon champagne. "This tragedy is striking all the French people, and beyond that, all those attached to spiritual values. Faced with this tragedy, everyone wishes to give life back to this jewel of our heritage as soon as possible," Pinault, chair of Artemis said in a statement. Meanwhile, cosmetics group L'Oreal and its majority shareholder the Bettencourt Meyers family and the Bettencourt Schueller foundation said they would donate 200 million euros, according to a Reuters report. French energy company Total will also contribute 100 million euros, its CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Tuesday, Reuters reported, while consulting firm Capgemini will donate 1 million euros, it said in an online statement. In addition to these companies, Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, CEO of Fimalac, an investment group focused on digital media and real estate, pledged 10 million euros, according to a Reuters report. French outdoor advertising group, JCDecaux, pledged 20 million euros to rebuilding efforts while financial services company Societe Generale pledged 10 million euros. The IT services group, Capgemini pledged 1 million euros. Supermarket and retail company Groupe Casino said that its Franprix and Monoprix stores would implement price-rounding operations to help support foundations aiding with the repairs, Reuters reported. Air France and Air France-KLM also pledged their support to the rebuilding of Notre Dame. In a joint statement from the airlines, the company said that "All Air France and Air France-KLM teams around the world have been deeply affected and saddened since yesterday." This is why Benjamin Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, with Anne-Marie Couderc, chairman of Air France-KLM, and Anne Rigail, CEO of Air France have decided that the company will provide free transport for all official partners involved in reconstructing the famed cathedral. In addition to this, the Air France-KLM group will be setting up a voluntary donations fund for its customers to help finance these efforts. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple tweeted on Tuesday morning that the company will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dame as well. Tim Cook tweet Apple didn't immediately return a call seeking additional information about the donation. LVMH added that it would give France access to its creative, architectural and financial experts to assist in the reconstruction. Construction group Vinci called on all building companies in France to work together to repair Notre Dame in an "industry-wide skills sponsorship drive," according to a press release from the company. Bouygues Group said they would join this skills sponsorship while Martin Bouygues, who oversees a telecoms to construction conglomerate, tweeted on behalf of himself and his brother Olivier, pledging to donate 10 million euros. Vinci Tweet "The Arnault family and the LVMH Group, in solidarity with this national tragedy, are committed to assist with the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, symbol of France, its heritage and its unity," LVMH said in a statement on its website on Tuesday. Notre Dame is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, attracting millions of tourists each year. The 850-year-old building was being renovated and French officials said the cause of the fire could be related. Qatar Airways has partnered with Rolls-Royce to trial a virtual reality training tool. The technology, which uses HTC Vive equipment, has been designed to give engineers virtual refresher training with Rolls-Royce's biggest engine, the Trent XWB. The Trent XWB is used on Qatar Airways' A350 fleet. Due to the large size of the engine, it has to be separated into different parts before repairs and maintenance are carried out. Using their devices, engineers will experience sight, touch and sound and be able to "separate" the engine and carry out training in a virtual environment. Before the development of the new technology, engines would either be physically sent to Doha or the airline would provide "an engine in service" for training to take place. This, Rolls-Royce said, would risk damage to equipment or the loss of valuable flying time. Steve Buckland is a customer and product training manager at Rolls-Royce and developed the virtual reality training program. "Virtual reality has a valuable application here," he said in a statement Monday. "It's going to save time, money, and frees up engines that could otherwise be on aircraft, keeping passengers moving," he added. Buckland went on to explain that the business was looking to create holograms of engines that can be used in the classroom, as well as augmented reality that could be placed over a real engine in order to show technical information. "Nothing will beat learning with an engine and this will never be replaced, but new technology is allowing us to be innovative with the ways we teach engineers," he added. While technology is transforming the way that engineers are trained to maintain the engines that make planes fly, it is also impacting operations on the ground in airports. It was recently announced that a robotic head would use artificial intelligence to provide information to passengers passing through Germany's Frankfurt Airport during a six-week trial. The assistant, dubbed FRAnny, will be able to provide information on topics such as departure gates, Wi-Fi access and the location of restaurants. It can communicate with humans in English, German and seven other languages. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Saying "I'm sorry," especially when you're not at fault, is an automatic reaction and chances are you've probably said it a handful of times this week. According to a 2015 poll from research firm YouGov, there are approximately 15 British "sorries" for every 10 American ones (for situations like if they sneezed, stood in someone's way or corrected someone who is wrong). The survey, which polled 1,600 British people and 1,000 Americans, showed a few similarities: 73% of British people would apologize for interrupting someone, compared to the 71% of Americans. And when doing a favor for someone but getting it wrong, 60% of British people said they'd apologize, compared to the 58% of Americans. Why (and when) you shouldn't say 'I'm sorry' Over-apologizing for things you have little control over can make people think less of you. A few examples of things you don't need to apologize for include sneezing, standing in someone's way (but you're both in a crowded space with little room to move), getting bumped into by someone else, being interrupted and so on. The list is endless. Here's how it could backfire: 1. People lose respect for you. In her book, "The Power of an Apology," psychotherapist Beverly Engel says over-apologizing isn't so different from over-complimenting: You may think you're displaying yourself as a nice and caring person, but you're actually sending the message that you lack confidence and are ineffectual. "It can even give a certain kind of person permission to treat you poorly, or even abuse you," warns Engel. 2. It lessens the impact of future apologies. Don't cry wolf. If you say "I'm sorry" for every little thing now, your apologies will carry less weight later on for situations that really warrant a sincere apology. 3. It's annoying. We've all been around someone who constantly apologizes. We understand they're only trying to be nice, but it can often feel exhausting and irritating at the same time. A study published in the journal Frontiers of Psychology even found that saying "I'm sorry" when intentionally rejecting someone (i.e., cancelling plans, breaking up with someone) could cause the other person to "feel worse, or that they have to forgive the rejecter before they are ready," says Gili Freedman, one of the study's authors. 4. It can lower your self-esteem. Choosing not to apologize may have psychological benefits, according to a study published in The European Journal of Social Psychology. Researchers found that participants who refused to express remorse showed signs of "greater self-esteem, increased feelings of power (or control) and integrity." Monitoring your apologies If you want to start apologizing less frequently, it will simply take lots of effort and practice. Here are a few ways to do it: 1. Be more self-aware. The first step here is to assess your own behaviors and tendencies. Are you really someone who apologizes way too much? Knowing so will help you to carefully observe a situation before immediately blurting our the words "I'm sorry." It may also help to keep a tally of how many times you apologize in a day and for what reasons. 2. Know what you should (and shouldn't) apologize for. If you couldn't control the situation or it was a trivial (and honest) mistake, there's no need to apologize. But if you were really at fault, own up to it. Admitting you're wrong is never easy, but it can strengthen your relationships and show that have emotional intelligence. 3. Flip the script. Flipping the script takes self-discipline, but over time, it'll begin to feel natural. If a colleague catches a spelling error in one of your emails, say, "Thank you for catching that." If you're in a crowded room and someone is impatiently trying to push their way through, say, "Here, let me get out of your way." 4. Get comfortable with saying "no." Saying "no" can be awkward and uncomfortable for some, but it can be a very effective way to protect your time. If you're swamped at work and a colleague asks for help, you don't need to be sorry for not chipping in. If you can't make it to happy hour because you made plans prior to knowing, say, "I can't make it. Maybe next time!" Whatever you say, be transparent. There's no need to go out of your way simply because you felt bad. 5. Download Google Chrome's Just Not Sorry plugin. As you're composing an email, the Just Not Sorry plugin will notify you each time you use a word or phrase that undermine your message (i.e., "I'm sorry," "I'm no expert, but..."). You can also hover your mouse over the underlined words for a bite-sized explanation of how they might make people think less of you. Saying 'sorry' isn't always bad A woman talks on her phone as she walks past T-mobile and Sprint wireless stores in New York. Reuters later confirmed the report with one person familiar with the matter, who cautioned that a final decision has not been made. Staffers from the Justice Department have reportedly told both carriers that the deal may not be approved under its current structure, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of Sprint plunged as much as 12% in after-hours trading following the report, while T-Mobile fell more than 4%. A spokesman for Sprint declined to comment to CNBC. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. About a year ago, T-Mobile and Sprint announced they had reached an all-stock deal to combine the companies. Shareholders of both companies approved the deal in October, which later received national security clearance. But the deal's greatest regulatory hurdle was that it would combine the third- and fourth-largest wireless providers in the U.S., a market with only two other participants: AT&T and Verizon. Shares of Verizon slipped about 1% in postmarket trading Tuesday, while AT&T edged 0.6% lower. Both Sprint and T-Mobile have argued that the merger is necessary to compete with the two larger carriers. The companies also said the merger will help Sprint and T-Mobile provide greater access to 5G. Critics of the merger have argued it would lead to job loss, decreased competition and increased prices for consumers, especially in rural America. In February, T-Mobile CEO John Legere defended the deal before Congress, asserting that the deal would create jobs and lower prices. Read the full report in The Wall Street Journal. The rally in global equities may have further to go as more money jumps back into the market, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Tuesday. "We have a risk of a melt-up, not a meltdown here. Despite where the markets are in equities, we have not seen money being put to work," the head of the world's largest asset manager told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We have record amounts of money in cash. We still see outflows in retail in equities and in institutions." In stock market terms, a melt-up is considered a big move in the markets that comes from investors trying to get in on a momentum shift. It also can be a sign of a late-stage bull market. The iShares MSCI ACWI exchange-traded fund, which tracks global stocks, is up more than 15% this year. In the U.S., the S&P 500 has rallied nearly 16% through Monday's close and is within 1.5% of an all-time high set in late September. Stocks benefited this year from apparent progress in U.S.-China trade talks and a recalibration of global monetary-policy expectations. The Federal Reserve slashed its rate projections to reflect no hikes in 2019. The U.S. central bank also indicated it will end its balance-sheet reduction process earlier than expected. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank pushed back plans for future rate hikes. It also announced last month it will issue cheap loans to banks in the region. "Many people thought we were going to be in a period of rising rates. We were not and we saw huge underinvestment and people had to rush into fixed income," Fink said. "We have not seen that in equities yet." Fink added that, with central banks being "more dovish than ever there is a shortage of good assets" for investors, which could ignite the melt-up in the global equity market. Fink's comments follow the release of better-than-expected earnings from BlackRock. However, the company's overall revenue missed expectations as it fell 7% on a year-over-year basis. Shares rose 2.4 percent Tuesday morning. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president, looks on during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Taipei, Taiwan, on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019. Taiwan is not intimidated by China's military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, after the latest Chinese military maneuvers were denounced by a senior U.S. official as "coercion" and a threat to stability in the region. China's People's Liberation Army said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft had conducted "necessary drills" around Taiwan on Monday, though it described them as routine. "We will not make any compromise on our territory for even one inch. We always hold on tight to our democracy and freedom," Tsai told reporters at an event to mark Taiwan-U.S. ties in Taipei, adding U.S. arm sales to Taiwan would help reinforce the capability of Taiwan's Air Force. Tsai was speaking at a forum co-hosted by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th anniversary of Taiwan-U.S. ties, following Washington's decision to ditch formal recognition of Taiwan in favor of China in 1979. Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces on Monday, its defense ministry said, accusing Beijing of "trying to change the status quo of the Taiwan Strait". China has repeatedly carried out what it calls "island encirclement patrols" in the past few years. A delegation led by former U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, is in Taipei to mark 40 years since the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act, which governs U.S.-Taiwan relations, and to reaffirm Washington's commitment. Ryan said the United States considers any military threat to Taiwan a concern and urged China to stop, saying the moves were counterproductive. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan. Beijing suspects Taiwan's president is pushing for the island's formal independence, a red line for China which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo with China but will defend Taiwan's security and democracy. The visit by U.S. officials comes just weeks after Tsai said the United States was responding positively to Taipei's requests for new arms sales to bolster its defences in the face of growing pressure from China. Last month, Washington sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the narrow strait separating the island from the mainland, part of an increase in the frequency of U.S. movement through the strategic waterway to show support for Taipei. Stephen Moore, visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, stands for a photograph following a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, March 22, 2019. Now, Moore's past humorous writings, which make pointed jokes about his then-jobless spouse, and about Hillary Clinton, Democrats and AIDS, have come to light, raising the prospect of even rockier waters for Moore in his bid to join the central bank. The proposal by President Donald Trump to put conservative economic pundit Stephen Moore on the Federal Reserve board hit a stumbling block weeks ago with the disclosure of his contentious divorce and a federal tax lien, which came on the heels of criticism of his nomination by a range of economists. In a 2003 National Review Online column, Moore joked that he had deployed an "ingenious child rearing technique" of taping "gruesome pictures" of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's dead, mangled sons on the family refrigerator with the written message: "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO KIDS THAT GROW UP TO BE DEMOCRATS!" In 2004, Moore wrote another National Review Online column, a "Happy Christmas" letter that likewise was clearly intended to be humorous. In the piece, Moore griped about his young sons' poor athletic performance and his then-3-year-old boy being diagnosed with "low-muscle tone" by a pediatrician. "He might as well have told us that [the boy] has AIDS," Moore wrote. The columns, which CNBC has reviewed, seem less funny now than they may have been seen originally in light of the recent exposure of Moore's divorce records. Those documents show that his ex-wife Allison had accused him of adultery, of subjecting her to "emotional and psychological abuse," and of shorting her on more than $300,000 he had agreed to pay her in a divorce settlement, alimony and child support until a judge held him in contempt of court. The IRS has a $75,000 tax lien on Moore for unpaid income taxes from his 2014 tax return. Moore is contesting that amount. On Tuesday, Trump's top economics advisor, Larry Kudlow, a key backer of Moore's nomination, told reporters that the White House is speaking with "a number of" other potential "candidates" for the Fed's two open board seats besides Moore and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, whose selection by the president likewise has faced criticism. Kudlow also said that Moore and Cain are both still in the vetting process, and that "we support" both men's candidacies for the central bank posts. A spokeswoman for Moore told CNBC that Moore had no comment either on his columns or on Kudlow's remarks. In her 2010 divorce complaint, Allison Moore said she was the "primary caretaker and role model for the parties' children." "She quit her job to devote her time to raising their children," the complaint said. But Allison Moore's lack of a job was a subject of jabs by her husband in the joke-laden National Review Online columns which appear to be written as parodies of annual family Christmas letters. In the essays, he routinely referred to himself in the third person. "Allison consumes, but she still doesn't produce," Moore wrote of his then-wife in a December 2003 column in the National Review. "She now falls into the category of what economists call 'long-term unemployed.' Steve describes her as the family's 'loss leader.'" "She manages to keep busy though, what with her anger-management class in the morning, Weight Watchers in the afternoon, and then Tuesday and Thursday evenings when she and Steve attend couple's therapy," he wrote. When you stand still on trade, you fall behind. Nowhere is this more apparent for the United States than in Japan, the world's third largest economy and long a top market for U.S. exports. It's also why the U.S. just launched negotiations for a trade agreement with Japan. Like many other countries in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan has been striking new trade deals and tearing down barriers to global commerce. It's imperative that we act quickly so that our workers, farmers, and companies are not stuck on the outside, looking in. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a case in point. The U.S. led the way in negotiating this 12-country trade pact, but when Washington withdrew in 2017, Japan and the other participating countries chose to implement it without us. The TPP finally entered into force last December. Thanks to the agreement's tariff cuts, Japan imported 60% more beef from Canada, Australia, and other TPP countries in January than it did the previous year. And since a new EU-Japan trade pact entered into force in February, European farmers and manufacturers are also benefiting from tariff cuts in Japan. However, the rising tide of trade between Japan and its new trade agreement partners has meant lost sales for Americans. U.S. pork exports to Japan, the top export destination, have dropped by 35% so far this year. U.S. wheat and barley sales to Japan are also suffering. The trend extends to manufactured goods as well. In response, the U.S. is poised to launch negotiations with Japan for a bilateral trade pact. This is good news, and the Chamber strongly supports this move. U.S.-Japan trade topped $300 billion last year, and Japanese firms, which have invested nearly $500 billion dollars in the U.S., employ nearly 1 million Americans. U.S. President Donald Trump and acting U.S. Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt arrive to place a wreath at the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, U.S., January 21, 2019. Newly appointed Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt is the latest member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet to come under investigation by his own agency's watchdog. The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General on Monday confirmed that it has opened an investigation into allegations of conflict of interest and other violations during Bernhardt's tenure as the agency's deputy secretary. The confirmation comes less than a week after the Senate confirmed Bernhardt to his position. It keeps the spotlight on the nation's top steward of public lands, whose past lobbying for energy and agribusiness clients drew scrutiny from Democrats during confirmation hearings. The probe is the latest to target a member of Trump's administration, which has been dogged by allegations of conflict of interest and self-dealing. Similar investigations paved the way for the departure of Bernhardt's predecessor, Ryan Zinke, and the exit of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. The disclosure was made in a letter to Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. Last month, the lawmakers asked the inspector general to look into whether there was anything improper about Bernhardt's participation in regulatory activity that affected former clients. Bernhardt previously chaired the natural resources practice at lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall told the lawmakers that the office "has received seven complaints, including yours, from a wide assortment of complainants and have opened an investigation to address them." McCollum and Udall requested an investigation following a New York Times report on Bernhardt's involvement rolling back wildlife protections, which would benefit his former clients in the California farming industry. British Prime Minster Theresa May and President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker attend a press conference at the European Commission on March 11, 2019 in Strasbourg, France. Lawmakers in the United Kingdom are reportedly set to be given another chance to break the Brexit deadlock with a vote on whether to maintain a customs union with the European Union. London's Evening Standard newspaper has reported that long-time Member of Parliament Frank Field plans to bring the vote, claiming he is "confident of getting it through." U.K. leader Theresa May has failed three times to persuade a majority of the U.K. Parliament to agree to her plan to leave the EU, causing European leaders to allow an extension to Britain's membership until at least the end of October. A customs union is an agreement that allows partaking countries to set common external tariffs while allowing goods to travel freely between those countries. The draft proposal between the U.K. and EU does not include a customs union as supporters of Brexit say it prevents the right to strike fresh trade deals. May and main opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn have been conducting talks in a bid to break the impasse, but few believe either side will be prepared to compromise for fear of losing party support. Field said his vote, which he would bring to parliament with Conservative veteran lawmaker Kenneth Clarke, will take the pressure off both Corbyn and May. "I think if it comes from the backbenches, neither of the party leaders can be accused of dividing their parties. I would be confident of getting it through," he said. Earlier Tuesday, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that he still believed that Brexit could be reversed. "At this rather difficult moment in our history, we need dreamers and dreams. We cannot give in to fatalism. At least I will not stop dreaming about a better and united Europe." Commuters heading into the City of London walk in the rain across London Bridge, in front of the Shard skyscraper, in central London on June 27, 2016. British workers' pay grew at its joint fastest pace in over a decade, fuelled by further job creation, adding to suggestions that Brexit uncertainty is prompting firms to hire workers rather than make longer-term investment in equipment. Total earnings, including bonuses, rose by an annual 3.5 percent in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics said, matching the median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. That was the joint highest rate since mid-2008 although in February alone the pace of wage growth slowed. Average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, rose by 3.4 percent on the year, also in line with the Reuters poll. It was the first fall in that measure of pay growth since the middle of last year. Britain's labour market has defied the approach of Brexit, helping households whose spending drives the economy. ValueAct Capital founder and CEO Jeff Ubben is betting on electricity with his private investment in hydrogen-fueled truck company Nikola Motor. "The electricity grid is the crown jewel in the clean economy," Ubben said on Tuesday in an interview with CNBC's David Faber at 13D Monitor's Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York. The companies that can best address environmental and social goals are "where the breakout returns are over the next 20 years," Ubben added. Ubben told Faber ValueAct had built a stake in Nikola without disclosing the amount of investment. Bloomberg first reported the investment Monday. Nikola's technology uses solar power and grid power to produce hydrogen that can be used for trucking fuel, which is significantly cheaper than diesel, Ubben said. He said the technology could help Nikola grow into a $300 billion giant. "Because the energy is so cheap, they are beating diesel handily today on a per hour basis," Ubben said. Ubben also has a stake in renewable utility company Hawaiian Electric, CNBC previously reported. President Donald Trump's top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, said Tuesday that the White House is "talking to a number of candidates" to fill two open seats on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, while insisting that controversial Trump picks Herman Cain and Stephen Moore are still in the running. Asked Tuesday whether the White House was interviewing anyone else for the two Fed seats in case Cain and Moore drop out, Kudlow said: "We're talking to a number of candidates. We always do." The potential nominations of Cain and Moore, which would need confirmation in the Senate, have been met with lukewarm reactions from economics experts and some Republicans. Both men have faced controversies a messy divorce in Moore's case, and allegations of sexual misconduct in Cain's. Cain has denied the accusations. Critics also say the two men are too politically biased toward Trump to serve on the independent Fed board. Cain in particular has faced resistance from GOP senators, four of whom have already said they would vote against him to join the central bank's seven-member board of governors. North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer's announcement of opposition to Cain last Thursday effectively doomed his nomination, assuming Democrats in the chamber would vote against him. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Utah's Mitt Romney have also said they would vote against Cain. "Herman's going through the vetting process, for now, that's where we are on that," Kudlow said of the former presidential candidate and ex-CEO of the Godfather's Pizza restaurant chain. Cain had previously served at the Kansas City Fed before moving into politics. "At the end of the day, it'll probably be up to Herman Cain if he wants to stay in that process or not. As far as we're concerned he's in that process. And it's proceeding in an orderly way," Kudlow told reporters at the White House. Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, pushed back when pressed by reporters whether that tepid endorsement was meant as a hint for either Cain or conservative think tank fellow Moore to get out of the running for the Fed seats. "Stephen Moore is in the process. We support him. We support Herman Cain. We'll just let things play out in the vetting process," Kudlow said. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Kudlow's remarks. 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. City spokeswoman Kim Stuart issued a statement Sunday that said "Mayor Coffman said he is feeling better and is currently experiencing mild symptoms while he quarantines at home. He appreciates the many well wishes that have been expressed and hopes for a speedy recovery." "There is a magic to helping veterans," retired Lt. Gen. Richard Harding said. "They stand shoulder to shoulder, just as they did when they were active duty. They support one another, and its therapeutic." This is Gods work, says the vicar of Phnom Penh, Bishop Schmitthaeusler, who urges the faithful to experience their mission as baptised and sent: the Church has been, the Church is, the Church shall be. Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/EdA) On Easter night, Cambodias Catholic community will celebrate the baptism of 294 people: 154 in the capital Phnom Penh, 80 in Battambang and 60 in Kampong Cham (capitals of their respective homonymous provinces), said Mgr Olivier Michel Marie Schmitthaeusler, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, on the occasion of the Chrism Mass celebrated on 9 April (pictures). About 80 local priests took part in the service in which Mgr Schmitthaeusler urged the faithful to live their mission of baptised and sent, in accordance with the theme of the next Extraordinary Month of the Mission called by Pope Francis in 2017. Baptised and sent: The Church of Christ on a mission in the world will be celebrated in October 2019. In his homily, the apostolic vicar said that "In Cambodia, the Extraordinary Month of the Mission is a sort of powerful reminder of the ordinary life of our baptised and sent." "Here, he added, our small vicariate and our small prefectures do not have large structures, and our communities, often tiny and planted in the middle of a rice field, at the foot of a hill or in the heart of the city, do not have crowds of Christians. The mission is the heart of our lives as believers, priests and religious. Here, the whole People of God is an apostle, with daily concerns, in the manner of Saint Paul: "woe to me if I do not preach it (the Gospel)!" After noting the number of the newly baptised, Mgr Schmitthaeusler asked those present: "Is this simply the result of the work of the sixty priests present in Cambodia, or the hundreds of men and women religious who live there, or the work of some thirty lay missionaries? No, it is above all Gods work. Dear brothers and sisters, we are this People of God, baptised and sent. Let us give thanks to God for all the Christians who, as in the days of the Acts of the Apostles, are our most precious collaborators. The priest is the pastor of the community he must love and understand, to walk together towards God. Let us simply be pastors in accordance with Gods Heart. The prelate told those present how to "build our Church, a sign of the Kingdom of God", in ten points - one for each year of apostolic vicariate in Phnom Penh. "Spiritual life: we are born of God and sent into the world; communion: among us; inclusion: for all, everyone is welcome; forgiveness: a sine qua non condition to go forward; a heart that listens and loves in action and in truth: charity in action; true and direct dialogue at all levels: religious, institutional, societal; concrete presence in society; the integral education of just and virtuous men and women; a paternal and maternal heart: the Church is a family . . . a giant tree with a huge heart; be creative: the Gospel is new every morning". "Yesterday, today, tomorrow: The Church is 2000 years old; it has roots that nourish our today and prepare the future. Useless servants: no one is indispensable, we are useless servants . . . who offer however more love and life, and who can withdraw discreetly knowing that others will continue this service of proclamation and peace; the Church has been, the Church is, the Church shall be. (Photo credit: EdA). There has been some concern that Windows 10 gathers too much private information from users. Whether you think Microsoft's operating system crosses the privacy line or just want to make sure you protect as much of your personal life as possible, we're here to help. Here's how to protect your privacy in just a few minutes. Note: This story has been updated for the Windows 10 May 2021 Update, version 21H1. If you have an earlier release of Windows 10, some things may be different. [ Further reading: 15 ways to speed up Windows 10 ] Turn off ad tracking At the top of many people's privacy concerns is what data is being gathered about them as they browse the web. That information creates a profile of a person's interests that is used by a variety of companies to target ads. Windows 10 does this with the use of an advertising ID. The ID doesn't just gather information about you when you browse the web, but also when you use Windows 10 apps. You can turn that advertising ID off if you want. Launch the Windows 10 Settings app (by clicking on the Start button at the lower left corner of your screen and then clicking the Settings icon, which looks like a gear) and go to Privacy > General. There you'll see a list of choices under the title "Change privacy options"; the first controls the advertising ID. Move the slider from On to Off. You'll still get ads delivered to you, but they'll be generic ones rather than targeted ones, and your interests won't be tracked. IDG You can turn off Windows 10's advertising ID if you want. You'll still get ads, but they'll be generic ones. (Click image to enlarge it.) To make absolutely sure you're not tracked online when you use Windows 10, and to turn off any other ways Microsoft will use information about you to target ads, head to the Ad Settings section of Microsoft's Privacy Dashboard. Sign into your Microsoft account at the top right of the page. Then go to the "See ads that interest you" section at the top of the page and move the slider from On to Off. Turn off location tracking Wherever you go, Windows 10 knows you're there. Some people don't mind this, because it helps the operating system give you relevant information, such as your local weather, what restaurants are nearby and so on. But if you don't want Windows 10 to track your location, you can tell it to stop. Launch the Settings app and go to Privacy > Location. Underneath "Allow access to location on this device," click Change and, on the screen that appears, move the slider from On to Off. Doing that turns off all location tracking for every user on the PC. IDG Clicking the Change button lets you turn location tracking on or off for every user on the Windows 10 device. (Click image to enlarge it.) This doesn't have to be all-or-nothing affair you can turn off location tracking on an app-by-app basis. If you want your location to be used only for some apps and not others, make sure location tracking is turned on, then scroll down to the "Choose apps that can use your precise location" section. You'll see a list of every Windows 10 app that can use your location. Move the slider to On for the apps you want to allow to use your location for example, Weather or Maps and to Off for the apps you don't. That doesnt cover desktop apps, though. So after you turn on location tracking, go to Allow desktop apps to access your location. When you do that, a list of desktop apps that use location tracking appears. Move the slider to On for each of the apps you want to use your location and Off for each app you dont. When you turn off location tracking, Windows 10 will still keep a record of your past location history. To clear your location history, go to the Privacy Dashboard, scroll down to the Location Activity section, click View and Clear Location Activity, and delete all or some of your location history. There's a lot more you can do to protect your privacy when you're there. For details, see "Use Microsoft's Privacy Dashboard" below. Turn off Timeline Timeline is a Windows 10 feature that lets you review and then resume activities and open files you've started on your Windows 10 PC, as well as any other Windows PCs and devices you have. So, for example, you can switch between a desktop and a laptop, and from each machine resume activities you've started on either PC. In order to do that, Windows needs to gather information about all your activities on each of your machines. If that worries you, it's easy to turn Timeline off. To do it, go to Settings > Privacy > Activity history and uncheck the boxes next to Store my activity history on this device and Send my activity history to Microsoft. IDG Here's how to turn off Timeline so that Microsoft doesn't gather information about your activities on your PC. (Click image to enlarge it.) At that point, Windows 10 no longer gathers information about your activities. However, it still keeps information about your old activities and shows them in your Timeline on all your PCs. To get rid of that old information, go down to the "Clear activity history" section of the screen and click Clear. Note that you'll have to take these steps on all of your PCs to turn off the tracking of your activities. Curb Cortana Cortana is a somewhat useful digital assistant, but there's a tradeoff in using it: To do its job well, it needs to know things about you such as your home location, place of work, and the times and route you take to commute there. If you're worried it will invade your privacy by doing that, there are a few things you can do to limit the information Cortana gathers about you. But there's some information you'll have to share with Cortana if you want to use the assistant at all. Start by opening Cortana settings: Click the Cortana icon to the right of the Windows search box (it's a circle), then click the three-dot icon in the upper left of the screen and select the settings icon that appears in the pane. Then click Privacy. A panel appears that lets you, to a limited extent, limit the information Cortana gathers about you. IDG Here's the central location for handling privacy in Cortana, but there's not a lot you can do to limit its privacy gathering if you want to continue to use it. (Click image to enlarge it.) Click Revoke permission and sign out, and you'll be signed out of Cortana, your chat history will be cleared, and Cortana won't track information such as your location or connect with your calendar, email, contacts and other apps and services. But you won't be able to use Cortana, either. The next time you sign in, Cortana will once against track you and connect with all those services. If you only want to clear your chat history but remain signed into Cortana, click Clear in the chat history section. Your chat history will be deleted, but once you start using Cortana, you'll once again build up a chat history. Note that the Microsoft Privacy dashboard section of Cortanas settings is outdated. It brings you to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard, but the Dashboard no longer lets you clear Cortana data. Ditch a Microsoft account for a local account When you use your Microsoft account to log into Windows 10, you're able to sync your settings with all Windows devices. So, for example, when you make changes to your settings on a desktop PC, those changes will also be made on your laptop the next time you log in. But maybe you don't want Microsoft to store that information about you. And maybe you want to cut your ties as much as possible to anything Microsoft stores about you. If that's the case, your best bet is to stop using your Microsoft account and instead use a local account. To do it, go to Settings > Accounts > Family & other users. Then click Add someone else to this PC. From the screen that appears, select I don't have this person's sign-in information. On the next page, select Add a user without a Microsoft account and follow the instructions to create and use a local account. Keep in mind that when you do this, you won't be able to use Microsoft's OneDrive storage or download and install for-pay apps from the Microsoft Store. You can, however, download and install free apps from the Microsoft Store. Change your app permissions Windows apps have the potential to invade your privacy they can have access to your camera, microphone, location, pictures and videos. But you can decide, in a very granular way, what kind of access each app can have. To do this, go to Settings > Apps. Below "Apps & features" you'll see a list of your installed apps. Click the app whose permissions you want to control, then click Advanced options and set the app's permissions by toggling them either on or off. IDG Setting permissions for Microsofts 3D Viewer app. (Click image to enlarge it.) Note, though, that not all apps have an "Advanced options" link. And of those that do, not all let you customize your app permissions. However, there's another way to change app permissions. To do it, go to Settings > Privacy and look under the "App permissions" section on the left-hand side of the page. You'll see a list of all of Windows' hardware, capabilities and features that apps can access if they're given permission location, camera, microphone, notifications, account info, contacts and so on. Click any of the listed items for example, Microphone. At the top of the page that appears, you can turn off access to the microphone for all apps. Below that you'll see a listing of all the apps with access to the microphone, where you can control access on an app-by-app basis. Any app with access has a slider that is set to On. To stop any app from having access, move the slider to Off. Control and delete diagnostic data As you use Windows 10, data is gathered about your hardware and what you do when you use Windows. Microsoft says that it collects this data as a way to continually improve Windows and to offer you customized advice on how to best use Windows. That makes plenty of people uncomfortable. If you're one of them, you can to a certain extent control what kind of diagnostic data is gathered about you. To do it, head to Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Feedback. In the "Diagnostic data" section, you can choose between two levels of diagnostic data to be gathered. Note that there's no way to stop Microsoft from gathering diagnostic data entirely. Here are your two choices: Required diagnostic data : This sends information to Microsoft "about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly." If you're worried about your privacy, this is the setting to choose. : This sends information to Microsoft "about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly." If you're worried about your privacy, this is the setting to choose. Optional diagnostic data: This sends the whole nine yards to Microsoft: It will send info about the websites you browse and how you use apps and features, plus additional info about device health, device usage, and enhanced error reporting." It also sends along required diagnostic data. If you're worried about your privacy, don't make this choice. IDG Go here to control what diagnostic data Windows 10 gathers. (Click image to enlarge it.) Next, scroll down to the "Tailored experiences" section and move the slider to Off. This won't affect the data Microsoft gathers, but it will turn off targeted ads and tips that are based on that information. So while it won't enhance your privacy, you'll at least cut down on the annoyance factor. Now scroll a bit further down and in the "Delete diagnostic data" section, click Delete. That will delete all the diagnostic data Microsoft has gathered about you. However, after you delete it, Microsoft will start gathering the data again. Finally on this screen, consider scrolling up to the "Improve inking & typing recognition" section and moving the slider to Off. That will stop Windows 10 from sending to Microsoft the words you input using the keyboard and inking. One final note about diagnostic data. You may have heard about a tool Microsoft has been hyping, called the Diagnostic Data Viewer, which you can download from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft claims it lets you see exactly what kind of diagnostic data Microsoft gathers about you. Don't believe it. It's something only a programmer could love or understand. You won't be able to use it to clearly see the diagnostic data Microsoft collects. Instead, you'll scroll or search through incomprehensible headings such as "TelClientSynthetic.PdcNetworkActivation_4" and "Microsoft.Windows.App.Browser.IEFrameProcessAttached" with no explanation of what it means. Click any heading, and you'll find even more incomprehensible data. Use Microsoft's Privacy Dashboard Microsoft has built an excellent, little-known web tool called the Privacy Dashboard that lets you track and delete a lot of information Microsoft gathers about you. To get to it, go to https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/. As covered earlier in this story, here you can turn off ad targeting. You can also view and delete your browsing history, search history, location activity, voice activity, media activity, and more. (Note that for your browsing and search history, it only tracks your activity when you use Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer. It doesn't track data when you use other browsers, like Chrome or Firefox. And it only tracks your location history when you're using Microsoft devices, not those that use iOS or Android.) IDG Microsoft's little-known Privacy Dashboard is a great place to delete much of the information Microsoft gathers about you. (Click image to enlarge it.) To use it, head to the information you want to view and clear, then click the appropriate link for example, View and delete browser history in Microsoft Edge. Note that in some instances, you wont have full control over deleting and managing data. Get granular in the Settings app All this shouldn't take that long and will do a great deal to protect your privacy. However, if you want to dig even deeper into privacy protections, there's something else you can do. Launch the Settings app and click Privacy. On the left-hand side of the screen, you'll see the various areas where you can get even more granular about privacy for example, in the Windows permissions section you can change your global privacy options for things such as speech recognition and inking. And here's where you'll get access to all app permissions, as outlined earlier in this article. These steps can take you a long way towards making sure that Windows 10 doesn't cross the line into gathering data you'd prefer remain private. This article was originally published in January 2016 and most recently updated in August 2021. More privacy tips In a completely unexpected twist to what was shaping up to be a colossally dull never-ending global lawsuit, Apple and Qualcomm have reached a settlement that means both sides can work together, at least for the next six years. Apple settles with Qualcomm The two companies announced their new detente in a press release, titled: Qualcomm and Apple agree to drop all litigation. You can read it in full here, but it really is as short as the below: The companies have ended litigation worldwide. This ending of hostilities extends to manufacturing partners. The companies have reached a global licensing deal. That deal extends for six years and includes a two-year option to extend. They have reached a chipset supply agreement. Apple has paid Qualcomm an undisclosed sum. Reaction to the deal has been positive. Qualcomm stock is spiking (up over 20%) at time of writing, while Apples has climbed a few points in anticipation of what this might mean for its future mobile product plans. In too deep Apple and Qualcomm have been engaged in a multi-country, multi-billion-dollar legal dispute over Qualcomms licensing models for wireless technology. Apple has argued that the network company wants to take too much, while Qualcomm has countered that it must have rights to profit from its own inventions. This seems to be the nature of the deal, at least according to Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead, who said in a statement: I believe both Apple and Qualcomm got deeper into this than they wanted to. Apple was challenging Qualcomm's most profitable business model, licensing, and Qualcomm was accusing Apple of IP theft and lack of payment. This settlement should be good for the wireless industry as companies should feel free to invest in research, get paid a fair price for those inventions, and consumers take advantage of those innovations at a very rapid pace. The peace deal comes as both companies had been expected to engage in legal arguments in federal court, The 5G iPhone just got real? The background might be Intels recent confession that it would be unable to ship its own 5G chips before 2020, along with the huge mood shift against Chinas Huawei, which also makes chips suitable for the standard. (That company recently offered Apple the chance to use its 5G chips, but this may have generated unwanted tension for both parties, given recent warnings about the firm.) Its perhaps a little over-optimistic to imagine that the deal makes it easier for Apple to develop a 5G iPhone 5G networks arent really here yet, the services that rely on those networks sit further behind, and theres a great deal of network investment required before the mobile broadband standard is really something we use every day. At the same time, every enterprise network provider is raving about the potential of 5G to enable powerful data services that well may impact every part of life, and the standard is gong to become a reality soon enough. Apple is already developing around the tech. While the deal may prove costly to Apple in the short term, it does provide the company with options that may enable it to hit market with a 5G device just as soon as theres enough real rather than over-hyped demand. Update 4/16/19: A report on Nikkei cites a single source who claims direct knowledge of the deal. That source claims Apple intends using Qualcomm's 5G modem chips inside iPhones starting in 2020, and that negotiations have been taking place "for weeks". This is a developing story, so watch this space. Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. Dubai Gurudwara to host daily iftaar for Muslims during Ramadan Sikh community is famous all over the world for extending help to the people of other faiths. In consonance with the same spirit, Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara of Dubai will host iftaar for workers throughout the month of upcoming Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims observe daily fasts. Announcing this during a ceremony to mark Baisakhi, Surender Singh Kandhari, Chairman of Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara, said, There are lot of Muslim workers in this area. There are not many places where they can break their fast. We will invite these workers to have iftaar from our Gurudwara. Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara of Dubai will host iftaar for workers throughout the month of upcoming Ramadan. Photo courtesy: Facebook page of Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara We will add dates, fruits, rose milk, buttermilk, and some Indian snacks like pakora, samosa also for them. We expect to host 100 to 200 believers every day during Ramadan, he added. The Chairman further observed that the free meal (langar) offered to every visitor in the Gurudwara irrespective of their background, will be offered to those visiting to break the fast also. Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara is the only Sikh temple in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) situated in Dubais Jebel Ali. This Gurudwara has been hosting an interfaith iftaar during every Ramadan in the past six years. Speaking about the importance of the present year, Kandhari said, This year is very important for us here in the UAE. It is the Year of Tolerance for the UAE, 550th Year of Guru Nanaks birth anniversary, the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhis birth anniversary, the 320th year of the birth of Khalsa Panth, and 100th year of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre which happened on a Baisakhi. Keeping all these in mind, we celebrated Baisakhi to send across the message of love, peace, humanity and tolerance. Earlier, tens of thousands of Sikhs visited the Gurudwara to celebrate Baisakhi on Sunday and over the weekend. The Gurudwara offered langar to around 50,000 visitors on Friday and several thousands of them were believers of other faiths. Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, director general of Dubais Community Development Authority (CDA) appreciated what the Sikh community has done for Dubai especially in spreading the message of tolerance. Congratulating Sikhs on Baisakhi, he said, This is one way of coming together to see something that really helps in sending the message of tolerance to other communities. Election Department of Singapore releases updated voter rolls The Election Department of Singapore has released the updated voter rolls of citizens who are eligible to cast their vote in the next general elections. The voter rolls are also open for public inspection. There are a total of 2,594,740 electors in the Registers of Electors. This is about 80,000 more people than the 2,515,322 in the last revision of voters rolls in 2017. Election Department of Singapore. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Singapore citizens may check their particulars in the registers: Online at the Elections Department website At community centres/clubs with their NRIC/passport At Singapore overseas missions that serve as overseas registration centres with their NRIC/passport. People living abroad can check at Singapore missions in New York, Washington DC, Sans Francisco, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Canberra and Dubai. Elections Department with their NRIC/passport. Restoration of name to registers Persons whose names were removed from the Registers of Electors for failing to vote at a past election may still apply to have their names restored to the registers so that they can vote at future elections. They are encouraged to apply early as no applications for restoration will be processed during the period from the date the writ for an election is issued until after Nomination Day if the election is not contested, or until after Polling Day if a poll is to be taken. Registration as an overseas elector Re-registration as an overseas elector is required with each preparation of the registers. Overseas Singaporeans, whose names are listed in the Registers of Electors and have resided in Singapore for an aggregate of at least 30 days during the 3-year period between February 1, 2016 and January 31, 2019, may continue to register as overseas electors to vote at one of the designated overseas polling stations if they have not done so after February 1, 2019. Application for registration as an overseas elector is open all-year-round. However, in accordance with the law, applications will not be processed during the period from the 3rd day after the Writ for an election is issued until after Nomination Day if the election is uncontested, or until after Polling Day if a poll is to be taken. The last general election took place in September 2015 and the next must be held by April 2021. World Statesman Award 2019 to be given to PM Lee US-based interfaith group Appeal of Conscience Foundation will confer the prestigious 2019 World Statesman Award upon Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong. PM Lee will receive the honour in New York on September 23 at the awards dinner. Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong will receive the prestigious 2019 World Statesman Award in New York. Photo courtesy: pmo.gov.sg The award honours leaders who support peace and freedom by promoting tolerance, human dignity and human rights. Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President and Founder of Appeal of Conscience Foundation, said, Prime Minister Lee will be recognised for fostering a society that embraces multiculturalism in which ethnic communities maintain their unique way of life while at the same time living harmoniously. In addition to this, Lee was also recognised for supporting a knowledge-based economy and an education system that provides its citizens with the necessary skills and knowledge to survive in a globally competitive environment and for implementing a renowned world-class health infrastructure." PM Lee is honoured to be presented with the award. The award recognises Singapores long-standing efforts to promote religious freedom and tolerance among our diverse ethnic and racial groups. Prime Minister Lee will accept the award in New York in September 2019, said a spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Singapore. The World Statesman Award has been presented to different world leaders including French President Francois Hollande in 2016, former British prime minister David Cameron in 2015, as well as former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono in 2013. These world leaders have supported peace and freedom in their country by promoting tolerance, human dignity and human rights. They have also worked with other world leaders to build a better future. The Appeal of Conscience Foundation is an interfaith coalition of business and religious leaders who promote peace, tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution. It was founded in 1965. Brexit 1) Hunt declares that leaving the EU in time to avoid Euro Elections is an absolute priority Call to repair relations with the DUP Daily Telegraph Conservatives expect to lose half their MEPs The Guardian It is an absolute priority for the government to leave the EU by 23 May to avoid having to take part in European elections, Jeremy Hunt has said. The foreign secretary said the public would find it hugely disappointing to be asked to send MEPs to Brussels. Asked if it could be a disaster for the Tories, he told the BBC in terms of polling it certainly looks that way. Some local Tory activists have signalled they will not campaign and regard the polls as a distraction. Downing Street said that in order to avoid the need for elections, legislation implementing the Brexit withdrawal deal would have to be passed by Parliament by 22 May. Last week, the EU agreed a new Brexit deadline of 31 October. Talks between the government and Labour are set to continue over the Easter parliamentary recess in the hope of finding an agreement that will be acceptable to MPs. BBC >Today: Brexit 2) Contingency planning will continue for no deal, insists May Theresa May has written to every civil servant to tell them no-deal Brexit preparations must continue after a backlash over the Governments decision to wind down its worst-case scenario planning. The Prime Minister sent the message to Whitehall workers on Monday morning to tell them the necessary preparations would carry on but with a sensibly adjusted timetable. Mrs May also said that it would be up to permanent secretaries the most senior civil servant in a department to decide what to plan for and when. It emerged last week that the Government had shelved some of its no-deal planning with immediate effect after Mrs May agreed to a Brexit delay. Daily Telegraph Secretive approach led to blunders, Institute for Government report concludes The Scotsman Brexit 3) UKIP MEPs defect, to join Farage Brexit 4) Germanys Foreign Minister warns against assuming an extension would be agreed beyond October 31st Three UKIP MEPs have quit to join Nigel Farages Brexit Party. Margot Parker, Jill Seymour and Jane Collins joined eight other MEPs elected for UKIP who have defected to their former leaders new group. Of the 24 UKIP MEPs elected in 2014 when the party came first in the British European elections, four remain. The Brexit Party now has 11, the third highest after Labour and the Tories. Ms Seymour said that under Gerard Battens leadership UKIP had moved to the extreme right. Ms Collins said that UKIPs attitude to women was disgusting. The Times Germanys foreign minister has warned London that there will be no Brexit extension beyond October, sending out the strongest signal yet that Berlins patience with the UKs deadlocked political system is starting to wear out. They will have to decide what they want by October, Heiko Maas told the Financial Times in an interview. You cannot drag out Brexit for a decade. Angela Merkel, German chancellor, fought hard to secure a six-month Brexit delay at last weeks European summit against French insistence that the UK should be given at most until the end of June to secure an orderly withdrawal from the EU. Mr Maass intervention suggests that Berlin will side with the harder French line should the new Brexit deadline of October 31 draw closer without progress on the UK side. Financial Times A hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland would prevent US-UK trade deal, warns Pelosi Belfast Telegraph Brexit 5) UK named as top investment destination Brexit 6) Change UK claims enthusiastic response for Euro Elections Britain was today named as the worlds top investment destination for businesses despite Brexit, knocking the United States off the top spot for the first time in five years. The survey on corporate deal-making by consulting and accounting firm EY said Britain was the top investment destination in the world for the first time in the reports 10-year history. The pounds fall since the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union has made British assets cheaper, but Steve Krouskos, a global vice chair at EY, said Britain also remained an open environment for foreign investors even in the midst of the Brexit chaos. That culture, he said, is reinforced by the English language, a skilled workforce, and a strong technology base. Daily Mail More than 3,000 people have applied to stand as Change UK candidates at the European parliament elections, overwhelming the fledgling centrist party. MPs from the Independent Group, the force behind the new organisation, are working through applications and will select from a shortlist of 100 this weekend. According to insiders, the enthusiastic response is in marked contrast to a Conservative campaign that is likely to be stripped to the bare minimum of funding Brandon Lewis, the Conservative Party chairman, who has been in Chile for a meeting of the International Democrat Union of right-of-centre political parties, is expected to sign off the Tories slate this week. The Times UK politics is broken Bronwen Maddox, Financial Times Brexit 7) Braverman: A message to Lammy disagreeing with you on EU membership does not allow you to compare me to a Nazi Shame on you, for comparing Brexiteer MPs to the Nazis, who killed millions of my people Stephen Pollard, Daily Mail Brexit 8) Hague: Labour doesnt want to negotiate a solution On free movement, meanwhile, simply because I wish the UK Government not Brussels to determine our migration policy does not make me a racist. Just as my parents emigrated to this country in the Sixties and have made a valuable contribution here, so I want the UK to welcome migrants after we leave the EU. The change I seek is for UK politicians, not the EU, to decideDavid, just because I disagree with you on Brexit does not allow you to compare me to a Nazi. Casual and ill-informed usage of such language diminishes the reality of its tragedy. We all need to feel free to express ourselves and vilifying us with abuse in an attempt to silence will not work. The majority of British people voted in good faith for the UK to leave the EU. By smearing them, you denigrate a nation of tolerant, open-minded and generous people. Youre better than that. Suela Braverman, Daily Telegraph When you are conducting a negotiation, as leading Conservative and Labour figures are now doing over Brexit, it is essential to understand what the people on the other side of the table really want.Now think what it is that the Tory and Labour leaderships really want from the effort to find a jointly acceptable solution to the Brexit conundrum. For the Cabinet, this is a negotiation they have been forced into by the refusal of a small section of their own party to pass the deal on the table. They genuinely want to solve the problem threatening to overwhelm the Conservative Party and the entire body politic, but their room for manoeuvre without bringing themselves down is very limited. For the Labour leadership, their objective is completely different. Brutally put, they want to destroy the people on the other side of the table. If Brexit assists them in accomplishing that, so much the better, but it is not in their view the main issue facing the country. William Hague, Daily Telegraph Its like a parody of student politics Interview with Ken Clarke, The Guardian Javid says as a schoolboy he was told shoplifting and drug dealing offer easy money Home Secretary ignored police warning of gun loophole The Times Tackling crime means upholding what is right and decent Leader, Daily Telegraph Sajid Javid has disclosed he could have been drawn into a life of crime, as he admitted the surge in knife crime had left him fearing the streets were no longer safe for his children. Describing how he was brought up on the most dangerous street in Britain, the Home Secretary told how shoplifting and drug dealing pupils at his school invited him to join them to make easy money. In a speech setting out his vision for tackling the roots of crime, he cited his own experience as the way he wanted to shift the mindset of government to stop the violence before it begins. By the time a person becomes a problem for the police, its often too late, he said. Its not so difficult to see how, instead of being in the Cabinet, I could have actually turned out to have a life of crime myself. There were the pupils at school that shoplifted, and asked if I wanted to help. There were the drug dealers who stood near my school gates and told me that if joined in, I too could make some easy money. But I was lucky. I had loving and supporting parents, who despite their own circumstances gave me security. I had some brilliant teachers who motivated me. Daily Telegraph >Yesterday: MPsETC: Javids speech on knife crime: We cannot afford to leave anyone behind. Full text. Thousands join the Conservatives, to vote in leadership elections Senior Tories fear they are being infiltrated by thousands of Brexit activists joining to pick a new PM after the partys membership swelled by a fifth. The Sun can reveal that a fresh surge of 30,000 have joined the Conservatives within the last 12 months.The influx boosted its overall numbers to more than 150,000 at least a seven year high. While CCHQ insiders insist some of the rise is from a new recruitment drive, other party chiefs say the prospect of having a say on Theresa Mays successor is now being heavily exploited. Under party rules designed to block leadership contests from being influenced, new joiners can only vote in them if they have been members for three monthsNew joiners are thought to be both new arrivals from UKIP dubbed Blukippers as well as a new wave of Remainers signing up to try to stop a new hard Brexit leader. The Sun Labour council candidate suspended for anti semitism Pelosi shames Corbyn The Sun Begum will get legal aid to help fund her fight to return to Britain A Labour council candidate was suspended from the party last night for spreading a series of abhorrent conspiracy theories about Israel. Alex Braithwaite shared a post suggesting Labours anti-Semitism crisis was being whipped up by Israel to discredit leader Jeremy Corbyn. Last night she apologised and was suspended by Labour. But she remains a candidate for Brighton and Hove Council because it is too late to withdraw. If she wins she will sit as an independent. Daily Mail A row erupted last night after the Mail revealed Shamima Begum will get legal aid to help fund her fight to return to Britain. The families of IRA victims, who had to battle for years to get taxpayer help with their legal bills, said it was an outrage that the jihadi bride was in line for public funding. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted he was very uncomfortable with the idea of Begum receiving public funds to fight Sajid Javids decision to remove her British citizenship. However, ministers insisted the decision was a matter for the Independent Legal Aid Agency (LAA) and they could not intervene while Jeremy Corbyn defended Begums right to get funding. It is thought the Government is facing a string of other legal challenges to citizenship deprivation orders, which could ultimately land the taxpayer with a substantial bill if all are granted legal aid. Daily Mail Yes, Shamima Begum does deserve legal aid Melanie Phillips, The Times Keep her out Leader, The Sun 100,000 pupils sent to failing primaries New EU copyright laws approved Almost 100,000 children will be allocated places in weak or failing primary schools when they receive their offers today, according to research. Some 12,500 of these children will be forced to attend a school that has been rated inadequate or requires improvement for more than ten years. Ofsted data show that 2,223 primary schools in England have the lowest two of four ratings. This means that around 95,000 four and five-year-olds will be starting their school days in institutions that are not good enough. It is almost certain that these will not be the familys first or even second choiceThe research was conducted by the New Schools Network (NSN), a charity that helps parents set up free schools. The Times A revamp of the EUs copyright rules has passed its final hurdle and will now come into law. The rules include a section known as Article 13. It says that if users upload infringing content to a service, the tech firm involved must either make a best effort to get permission from the rights holders or quickly remove it. The UK was among 19 nations that supported the law in its European Council vote. But Poland was one of those that objected on the grounds that it could pave the way to internet censorship. EU sources say that five other countries also opposed the rules Italy, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands while Belgium, Estonia and Slovenia abstained. BBC Trump to face a challenger for the Republican nomination Underdogs of America Leader, The Times PM on walking holiday but not planning a General Election US President Donald Trump is facing a longshot challenge from within his own party ahead of next years White House election. Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld has become the first Republican to challenge Mr Trump in 2020. Mr Weld, 73, has released a campaign video contrasting his style with the current presidents. But he faces an uphill battle to take over a Republican party that has been refashioned in Mr Trumps image. Mr Weld was governor of Massachusetts from 1991-97 after serving in the justice department under President Ronald Reagan. He was running mate on the Libertarian ticket during the 2016 presidential election. BBC Theresa May is spending part of her Easter break on a walking holiday in Wales, Downing Street has said. But stand down everyone Number 10 has insisted the prime minister is not considering calling a general election. Mrs May famously decided to call a snap election during a walking holiday in Snowdonia in 2017 and went on to see her Commons majority wiped out. She has previously said she loves going to north Wales with her husband Philip because the scenerys great. The parliamentary Easter recess comes at a turbulent time in politics, with Brexit deadlocked in Parliament and no resolution yet from talks between the government and Labour. BBC Security team close down ladies lavatories on the M54 Daily Mail Spence: Mercer should not have joined the left wing outrage mob in hounding Scruton Eco activists threaten two weeks of disruption The smearing of Sir Roger Scruton exemplifies the current wretched state of politics in this countryGeorge Eatons own reputation has certainly taken a hit, and the New Statesman can expect a barrage of ill-will when requesting interviews in future from anyone to the right of Richard Burgon. But Eatons biggest scalp may not be the one he intended. Rather than Sir Roger, it is the Tories who threw in their lot with the outrage mob who have lost the most specifically Johnny MercerHis [Sir Rogers] comments said Mercer on Twitter, in my view and I am allowed one are not acceptable in public life, to which he accepted a role. In taking this stance, and in his readiness to side with the Left-wing outrage mob from the outset, without looking properly into the matter, he has shown his true colours to those desperate to see an end to the creeping censorship of thought and speech in the UK. Mercer has made it clear to these people that if their views dont align with his own, he has no problem with that leading to their condemnation, hounding and even costing them their jobs. Benedict Spence, Daily Telegraph Environmental protesters are intent on causing two weeks of traffic chaos in London by continuously blocking main roads and junctions. The activists were surprised to meet no resistance from police yesterday as they set up stages on Waterloo Bridge and at Oxford Circus and Marble Arch. They also blocked Piccadilly Circus and Parliament Square. The protests in London are part of a wider campaign, which will see demonstrations take place in at least 80 cities and more than 33 countries. The protest group Extinction Rebellion claimed it was committed to non-violent civil disobedience but announced that five of its members had vandalised Shells headquarters and caused more than 5,000 of damage the figure that ensures a jury trial. The Times Bryants pitch to succeed Bercow Macron seeks international help to rebuild Notre-Dame Labours Chris Bryant has said he hopes to replace John Bercow as the Speaker of the House of Commons when he leaves the role, promising not to belittle or diminish or lecture MPs from the chair. Bryant, a friend and supporter of Bercow, who has been at the heart of multiple rows over parliamentary protocol during the Brexit debates, said he hoped to engender a more respectful and tolerant atmosphere. Bercow had suggested he would step down after nine years in post but has shown no sign of resigning, with the Brexit process in parliament still to be finalised. The Speaker has championed backbenchers and sometimes controversial procedures including allowing amendments to give MPs control over parliamentary business, but has also been the subject of multiple serious bullying allegations, which he denies. The Guardian French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the medieval cathedral of Notre-Dame after a major fire partially destroyed the Paris landmark. Firefighters managed to save the 850-year-old Gothic buildings main stone structure, including its two towers, but the spire and roof collapsed. The fire was declared under control almost nine hours after it started. The cause is not yet clear but officials say it could be linked to extensive renovation works under way. Paris prosecutors office said it was currently being investigated as an accident. A firefighter was seriously injured while tackling the blaze. Visiting the site on Monday night, Mr Macron said the worst had been avoided with the preservation of the cathedrals main structure as he pledged to launch an international fundraising scheme for the reconstruction. BBC PMs message of sympathy over the terrible blaze Daily Express Paris needs another Hugo to champion its gothic survivor Jonathan Glancey, Daily Telegraph Notre-Dame can and must rise again Leader, Daily Telegraph News in Brief Andrew Goodfellow: I know all about attack dossiers. Heres why Tory leadership candidates shouldnt deploy them on their rivals. Andrew Goodfellow is Vice President of UK Policy Group, a research and political intelligence consultancy. He was the Conservative Partys Director of Policy and Research from 2015 to 2017. At the weekend, the Dailt Telegraph reported with barely concealed relish that the expected Conservative Party leadership contest would be the dirtiest for a generation. Christopher Hopes impeccably sourced piece claimed: And given the wide open nature of the field, it is hardly a surprise the teams are drawing up war books about one another according to one adviser, shining a light on controversial historic articles, details of alleged sexual peccadilloes and unsavoury claims about their partners. One adviser said that without a doubt the campaigning in the upcoming Tory leadership campaign will be the dirtiest for decades. The biggest feature in Westminster is people looking for dirt on other people. They are all at it [war books]. Everyone is going on about the war books, who has got what. It is already quite a nasty campaign. Now, I love a good opposition research book more than anyone. A well-constructed dossier of votes, quotes, dodgy connections, questionable decisions and all the rest is, if done well, a thing of beauty. Ive been working in this field in one capacity or another for over six years, and opposition research is one of the most maligned and least appreciated elements of politics. But I think any prospective Conservative leadership candidate commissioning this sort of work on their rivals is being badly advised, and making a tactical error. Here are five reasons why: You need to know your own weaknesses better than those of your opponents. The last Conservative leadership contest ended with Andrea Leadsom giving an ill-advised interview, but even before that she was dogged by questions about inconsistencies on her CV. If her campaign had conducted proper due diligence and self-vetting work, they would have been prepared for the inevitable challenges that appeared in the press. The level of scrutiny potential leaders or Prime Ministers face is huge from the press and from political opponents. Concentrate your limited time and resources on ensuring that you are prepared to respond to anticipated attacks and shut them down comprehensively. Avoid rows about process and tactics. If your team get caught briefing against rivals, pitching opposition research stories to journalists, or starting whispering campaigns in the tea room, it will get out. Theres only a limited amount of space available to get your message out there- dont let your campaign get embroiled in a row about who-said-what-about-whom. Party management. These are your future Cabinet colleagues. British political history is littered with examples of internal rows in the government sabotaging Prime Ministers. As a point of good politics, why would you deliberately antagonise your rival leadership candidates, when its highly likely that youll be sitting across the Cabinet table from them if you win? Conservative MPs and members are crying out for some positivity. The last three years of British politics have been thoroughly miserable. Doom, gloom, dire warnings, online abuse and fury, from all sides of politics. Regardless of where they stand on Brexit, Conservative members want to know what a potential leader has to say about how theyll bring the country together, and give us a vision of some sunlit uplands. At the next General Election whenever it comes Labour will present an expensive package of spending pledges, cash handouts, and carefully targeted taxes. The next Conservative leader would be wise to pitch to MPs and members with a set of policy proposals that will prove more appealing to the country than the Labour alternative. Focus on the real enemy, dont do Labours work for them. Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party now theres a group of people who know a thing or two about internal disputes. Theyre not going to sit on their hands and watch a Conservative leadership election unfold without making the most of the opportunity to inflict further damage. Bright researchers at Labour HQ will be paging through microfilm of student newspapers, scouring YouTube for barely watched videos of obscure think-tank events, and assembling comprehensive documents of embarrassing quotes and controversial donations. If youre a Conservative, why on earth would you want to assist this process? Adding more opposition research into the political bloodstream will only give Labour and their allies more ammunition to aim at our party. In his early days as leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron urged members to let sunshine win the day as he called for optimism to beat pessimism. The Grand National sized field of prospective Conservative leaders could do well to revisit that speech from the 2006 Party conference. They need to make the most compelling possible pitch for why they are the best person to lead the party, not simply the least worst option. So rather than building opposition research dossiers on opponents, candidates should spend that time getting to know their own vulnerabilities, and mitigating against them. Then they should put together the positive case for why they should lead our party and our country. At the end of the day, the only winner from a messy Conservative leadership election would be Jeremy Corbyn. Henry Newman is Director of Open Europe. A counterfactual thought experiment: on 29th March, the Conservative Party almost all voted together for the Prime Ministers deal. Despite their heart-felt concerns, the remaining members of the ERG were persuaded by Jacob Rees-Mogg to back the Government. On the other end of the Brexit divide, Conservative critics on the Remain side accepted that the indicative votes had shown no majority for a second referendum, and agreed to allow the country to move on. With a few additional Labour rebels, the Withdrawal Agreement just scraped a Commons majority. Speaking in Downing Street on Friday evening, the Prime Minister set out a timetable for her departure. She reassured MPs that there was no need to hold European elections, to the delight of Daniel Hannan. The weekends papers showed a poll bounce towards the Conservatives, putting them in a good position to hold council seats in forthcoming local elections. At the European Council last week, the EU agreed a short technical extension to complete ratification of the Withdrawal Bill. Brexit day was set for Friday 24th May, with an extra bank holiday on Tuesday. All European Ambassadors were invited to a service in Westminster Abbey to mark the end of 46 years of British membership. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, are guests of honour at a gala dinner. With Brexit secured, the Peoples Vote campaign collapsed. Formal negotiations with the EU will resume after the summer, following the formation of a new European Commission and with a new British Prime Minister in place. The Labour Party has continued to press for a softer Brexit deal, but has yet to clarify its policy. Meanwhile, Heidi Allens Change UK advocates British re-accession to the European Union, and a new referendum. Several new defectors have joined the party from the Liberal Democrats, who had not yet committed to re-joining the EU. The Alternative Arrangements UK-EU Irish border working group has set out an ambitious timetable of fortnightly meetings, with an expanded cast list of relevant experts. Meanwhile, an anonymous philanthropist has donated a 100,000 prize for the most creative approach to resolving the border question. Several Californian tech companies are also hard at work on possible solutions. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has published his proposed post-Brexit immigration system. With Free Movement ending by 2021, the new policy will prioritise those coming to work in education, universities or the health service, and those likely to contribute the most to our economy or society. A fast-track work visa scheme will help ensure British companies access to necessary foreign labour, but those companies doing so will need to pay a levy to support UK skills training. The Fisheries Bill is due back in the Commons shortly. The Environment Secretary has already announced that from 2021 the UKs Exclusive Economic Zone, extending across around a third of a million square miles of sea, will be under British control. Michael Gove has invited fishing ministers from European coastal states to a new annual fishing summit, to be held on Tyneside in early 2020. The French are threatening to boycott the summit in protest at the British refusal to grant them continued access to our fishing waters on the same basis as before. Liam Fox spent Easter week jetting across the Pacific. Australia and New Zealand have launched working groups to develop a series of trade deals with the UK which they hope to fast-track over coming months. At a joint press conference, ministers announced they will prioritise a services trade deal, which provides unprecedented access for financial services, including retail banking and insurance, as well as new agreements on investor protection. This is designed to come into effect in 2021, whether or not the UK enters the backstop, but can be upgraded to a fuller comprehensive trade deal. Also on the plane was Matt Hancock. The Health Secretary is pressing for a new mutual recognition of qualifications deal. The proposal is to allow Australian and New Zealand doctors and nurses to work in Britain, without having to re-qualify. At present, only doctors qualifying in the European Economic Area from Latvia to Lichtenstein have that automatic right. The DUP were concerned by the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement, which they had voted against. However, they have agreed to work with the Government to implement a Stormont Lock which will come into effect if the UK enters the backstop. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the existing goods rules will be maintained in Great Britain, as well as in the Northern Ireland, for the foreseeable future. As a result, the Business Secretary has confirmed that there will be no regulatory checks required on industrial or manufactured goods moving across the Irish Sea. The Brexit Secretary has also informed Michel Barnier that, if the UK enters the backstop, the UK will by default veto all new goods regulations, only accepting those new rules it determines are in its core national interest. There was some significant protest at this decision, but the Commissions legal team reluctantly admitted that this was the UKs right under the Treaty. Unfortunately this happy picture is a fantasy. What actually happened (of course) is that, although around 90 per cent of Tory MPs voted for the Withdrawal Agreement, about three dozen Conservatives refused to do so. As a result Brexit is profoundly at risk, and the Conservatives are taking an acute hammering in the opinion polls. Some of the Prime Ministers critics continue to believe they can reach their No Deal nirvana. But the last few months have shown how elusive that mirage can be. The plan seems to entail forcing the Prime Minister out, and then securing a new Conservative Leader committed to scrapping the backstop. Advocates of this path tend to argue that Theresa May has never really tried to scrap the backstop, and if somehow [insert name of a potential Brexity party leader] just went to Brussels and told them we would not have the backstop, the EU would agree to take it out. Sadly, this is as fantastical as my thought experiment above. Anyone promising to scrap the backstop might as well promise to take the country to No Deal. With this Parliament certain to try to block No Deal, a new leader would need to win a general election. But even assuming that the Conservatives could secure a narrow majority which seems a stretch at present its not clear that No Deal would then be plausible. At least a couple of dozen Conservative MPs, and possibly considerably more, would resist No Deal at almost any cost. Unless a path through can be found for the Withdrawal Agreement in the coming weeks and months, the chances of Brexit being lost entirely will only rise. So the best option, barring a rethink from the Prime Ministers backbench critics, seems to be to broker some agreement with Labour, however unpalatable that is for many Conservatives. Function is everything. If a building doesnt have one, it is of no use. It follows that its past is of no importance at least, if the building serves no practical use now. Or so one school of thinking would have it. Over eight hundred years after the start of its construction, Notre Dame Cathedral still has a function for most of its vistors. This, for the non-Christians who now make up the majority of them, is as a tourist attraction. But it was conceived, of course, as a place of Christian worship, and has served as such ever since (for most of the time): as a church containing a cathedra, a bishops throne: in this case, that of the Bishop of Paris. For that functions purposes, a square building with a flat roof would have done just as well, if those who designed the cathedral had simply wanted a building to accomodate lots of people. Instead, they wished to create a space with a sense of the sacred, and that sense implies beauty. And so to the Notre Dame that some of our readers will have visited, with its flying buttresses, Gothic columns, rose windows and rib vaults. Others will never have been there. Some may not have passed the doors of any cathedral, anywhere like, at a rough guess, the majority of people in Britain. That didnt diminish the shock of the pictures that filled our media yesterday evening. If nothing else, the dismay that has followed is a kind of repudiation of functionality. Like our own cathedrals, with their stained glass and tombs and old flags and carvings and whitewashed walls, Notre Dame has a value of its own. It has it not by doing anything but by being something. In his poem Church Going, Philip Larkin asks whether we shall keep / A few cathedrals chronically on show and later, stumbles upon an answer to his question, as he contemplates an English parish church. A serious house on serious earth it is / In whose blent air all our compulsions meet / Are recognised and robed as destinies / And that much never can be obsolete. If asked whether it is right to be moved by a blazing building in a world full of suffering people, Larkins poem offers the beginning of an answer. Notre Dame and the fire that engulfed it in the holiest week of the Christian calendar is beyond politics, or should be. But if cathedrals are sermons in stone, it is worth listening to what they are saying. Those things include: the past isnt just another country; heritage counts; function isnt everything; beauty matters; something can be important even if you make no use of it; people, like buildings, have value. That last conviction is part of the belief system that drove the creation of cathedrals in the first place part of the stuff of which they are made, if you like. They are exercises in conservation and, to conservatives, conservation ought to matter. So it is not irrational to be moved by the desolating pictures from Paris not unreasonable, anyway. And important to praise the firemen who have saved Notre Dame from total destruction. Now the work of reconstruction begins. We should count our blessings here at home. In 2001, an arsonist set fire to a stack of chairs in Peterborough Cathedral. The blaze could have taken out the most ancient painted ceiling in Europe. Fortunately, it was extinguished, and the cathedral remains intact tomb of Katherine of Aragon and all. York Minster, too, was saved, after the roof of its south transept was destroyed in 1984. Meanwhile, cathedral attendances here have been rising in recent years. Perhaps the gain comes from a revival of their original function though theres more to them than that, as weve seen. That may be a consolation on a smouldering morning for Paris and the world. The Conservative Party is in a peculiar position when it comes to its leadership. Just about everybody agrees Theresa May ought to resign. Indeed, even Theresa May agrees that Theresa May ought to resign, at least in principle. She just differs with the majority of her party over the timing. And yet she is still there. The Prime Ministers internal opponents misfired with the vote of no confidence in December, then refused to be tempted into voting for her deal by the carrot of her resignation. So we all find ourselves subject to the stick which is her continued leadership. Under the current rules, there is no formal way for the Party leader to be ousted until 12 months have passed since the previous No Confidence ballot. But, with dire polls, deep activist discontent, a new threat in the form of the Brexit Party, and the prospect of a tough time in local and European elections very soon, few are very keen to wait so long. Informal measures a series of resignations, publicly breaching her most high profile promises, the open breakdown of discipline have markedly failed to persuade May that her time is up. In the meantime, therefore, eyes have turned to the Conservative Partys rulebook in a search for a solution. Im aware of four different ideas doing the rounds about what could be done. A 1922 committee indicative vote of no confidence Given the innovation of indicative voting by Remainers in the Commons, some Brexiteers within the Parliamentary Conservative Party have pondered applying the same process internally. If they arent allowed a binding no confidence vote until December, they reason, then they could still have a non-binding vote to make the message clear. Some are reportedly already submitting letters to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee in the hope that he will communicate the scale of their dissent. The idea that this could translate into an early indicative ballot founders not only on the quite important fact that Graham Brady has ruled it out, but also on the fact that the Prime Minister shows no sign of accepting mere advice from her critics, or even from some of her allies. A petition of members to change the constitution Buried within the Conservative Partys constitution is Schedule 9, regulating the power to initiate amendments to the constitution. Such amendments can be kickstarted by the 22 or the Party Board (both divided on the topic) or by the National Conservative Convention (which is not due to meet for months) or by a mass petition from Party members. Yes, there is at least a little bit of direct democracy in there: A petition, delivered to the Chairman of the Board, signed by not less than 10,000 Party Members . That is a not inconsiderable number. Even back in the late 90s when the constitution was first composed, it was a lot and as the Party has shrunk, that 10,000 becomes a large proportion of the membership. Nonetheless, it isnt completely impossible, particularly in the digital age. A young Conservative activist named Soutiam Goodarzi has started a petition which has so far topped 1,000 signatures. However, there are two issues. First, time. The rules say that if a petition is successful, it triggers a postal ballot of the Constitutional College (the Convention, plus MPs, MEPs and senior peers). But that would take place somewhere between 28 and 56 days after the petition was received. That would be too late for many people, and would still be reliant on passing a high turnout bar in the Constitutional College vote. Second, the rule change itself. Goodarzis motion calls for the 12-month rule to be reduced to three months, which would effectively allow an immediate ballot. Oddly enough, the rule on confidence ballots by MPs is not in the constitution. I see no reason why Goodarzis petition couldnt effectively add her version, as that would count as a change to the constitution. The rules on electing new leaders are in the constitution, so it wouldnt be completely off-topic to make an addition. But the actual rule making repeat no confidence ballots annual Rule Six sits elsewhere: in the desk of the Secretary of the 1922 Committee. Get the 1922 committee to change Rule Six Yes, the no confidence rule is actually controlled by the 22, and has been since the Hague-era Fresh Future days in the late 1990s. As Archie Hamilton and Michael Spicer, both former Chairmen of the 1922 Committee, pointed out on Sunday: the 1922 Committee drew up the current rules concerning confidence votes and have thus have ownership of them if MPs believe that this rule is an impediment to their proper function and responsibilities for the leadership of their Party it is quite within their right to change these provisions Conservative MPs are responsible for their party. If they wish a change these rules there is nothing standing in their way. This sounds simpler than a 10,000 member petition, or passing a turnout bar in a ballot of the constitutional college. It is indeed simpler numerically, but not politically. The 1922 Committee executive hosts a range of opinions on the Prime Minister herself, but also reportedly last week agreed that it was against natural justice to change the rules as a measure to winkle May out of office. Call an Extraordinary General Meeting of the National Convention to no confidence May (and/or change the constitution) In Schedule 3 of the Party constitution, the Prime Ministers critics have found their latest possible approach: a petition signed by not less than sixty-five Constituency Association Chairmen compels there to be an Extraordinary General Meeting of the National Convention, the body officially representing the voluntary Party. Efforts are, Im told, underway to secure enough signatures in order to do so, so that the Convention can then vote no confidence in May. (Theoretically, such a meeting could also trigger a ballot on changing the constitution if it wished, but it would be even slower than a successful petition). The timescales are not ideal: Convention members are guaranteed a minimum of 28 days notice of a meeting, in writing, and if the Party apparatus wanted to delay the event there are a myriad of ways in which they could try to do so. Ultimately, if enough association chairmens signatures are gathered, and a Convention EGM is called, and that meeting votes no confidence, its worth wondering what would have changed. It would be another embarrassment for the Prime Minister, but she has ridden out many embarrassments before. If rulebook warfare doesnt work, might persuasion succeed? Her unwillingness to take the hint is a common factor across several of the above approaches. The firmest sanctions changing the rules to allow her to be forced out take more time than is available, and/or run up against the unwillingness of some MPs to take part. Other approaches submitting more letters to Brady, holding indicative votes of MPs, getting the Convention to no confidence May might be more easily achieved, but are less forceful or binding. Some, at least, hope that if they can heap up enough evidence of demand for her to resign from the Partys members, councillors, MPs, donors, institutions, voters then the sheer weight of evidence might persuade her. That if enough people are all of one voice, she could no longer ignore the situation. But this returns us to the fundamental stumbling block: the Prime Minister herself. Would warnings that the Convention and the 22 were set to publicly express no confidence in her leadership carry enough weight, where so many Cabinet resignations and other brickbats have been shrugged off? Might tough election results illustrate the damage she is doing, as candidates and constituents lose out and the Opposition make gains? Or will she simply try to go on and on, regardless? The Chaldean primate invites us to deepen our understanding of scripture, to better understand the events of Holy Week. We must fight against intellectual poverty and spiritual decline. From the Church the example to be humble and know how to ask forgiveness. In a Muslim society find answers to the question: how to witness to Christ? Baghdad (AsiaNews) - My invitation for Holy Week is to "read the texts of Christs Passion and Resurrection", to understand the events, even current ones, in a "better and deeper" way, writes Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, in a message addressed to priests and faithful of the Chaldean community in Iraq and in the world, on the occasion of Easter. In the letter sent to AsiaNews for information, the Cardinal urged people "to renew our trust in Christ, our hope, our communion and our unity" so that we can all say aloud: "He is risen, Hallelujah". In this week of fasting, reflection and prayer, Card Sako recalls the ongoing struggle against intellectual "poverty" and the "spiritual decline" present "in many institutions", often favored by overly-easy "access" to distorted information "from social media". This is a privileged time, he warns, "to move forward on the path of unity and to seek peace in the world". "The Church needs more priests - the Chaldean primate admits - of men of prayer, leadership, wisdom, courage, service and sacrifice". People need, he adds, able to understand "cultural, social and political changes" and current challenges, to "live their priesthood with dedication, loyalty, creativity and joy", setting aside "complaints, coldness and boredom". Renewing the invitation to work "for the sanctification of the Church", he urges priests and faithful to "work with passion, humility and sincerity". "Living in a 95% Muslim society - he adds - we must find an answer to the daily question: how can we be witnesses of the universal love of Jesus". And for the Iraqi nation and the entire Middle Eastern area, which are going through a "complex and problematic" phase, Christ's warning is valid: "Do not be afraid". Christians, the cardinal said, must have faith in Jesus and nurture hope, a hope that is founded "on faith, otherwise it will be just an empty and meaningless word". "We have hope - he warns - because God loves us as his children" and the "sufferings of our Church must not weaken the attachment to our identity, to our roots and to the motherland". Finally, the Chaldean primate recalls the importance of forgiveness in this period which is the most important in the life of the Church. "As human beings - he emphasizes - we cannot claim perfection, because we are weak and we make mistakes". However, what matters is that "we are humble enough to ask forgiveness. And I hope that each of us has the same courage that the Church has had in recognizing its mistakes! ". "Nevertheless, - the Cardinal concludes - these errors do not deserve a criticism so fierce as to negatively influence the relationship between the faithful and the Church itself. [...] This is the point on which Pope Francis insists with greater strength and which asks all of us bishops to do". 04/15/2019 Photo (c) mirsad sarajlic - Getty Images A new law takes effect July 1 in California which makes it more expensive for homeowners to install or replace garage door openers. The new law, signed last September, requires newly sold or installed garage door openers in residential applications to have a battery backup. The law was enacted in the wake of a series of deadly fires in the state. According to the California Real Estate Inspection Association, the loss of electricity in neighborhoods affected by the fast-spreading fires made it difficult for some people to escape. In some cases, residents were not able to flee in their vehicles, which were behind closed doors in a garage. At least 44 deaths and 192 severe injuries were attributed to the series of wildfires that burned nearly a quarter of a million acres in 2017. There were even more serious fires the following year. Manual release Garage door openers have a manual release, disengaging it from the powertrain. However, the Association says there were reports of neighbors stopping to help raise garage doors for elderly people who didn't have the strength to manually open their garage door, and a mother who struggled to get her disabled son into a car because their custom van was in the garage they couldn't open. In the end, the fact that the garage door could not be easily opened was blamed for some of the wildfire deaths. The new law will require homeowners who install an automatic garage door opener that is manufactured for sale, sold, offered for sale, or installed in a residence to have a battery backup system that can operate the door in the event of an electricity outage. Failing to comply with the law would result in a $1,000 fine. Other costs for homeowners Last year, the California legislature passed a law requiring new homes built in the state to be equipped with solar panels. The California Energy Commission estimated that the move would drive up housing costs by $10,000, but it said that the decision will eventually save consumers in the form of reduced energy bills. Builders had initially criticized the measure but were reportedly on board with the final rules after regulators agreed on Wednesday to a series of exemptions -- including one for houses with roofs too small to support solar installations. That new law takes effect in January. AT&T sold its minority stake in Hulu back to the streaming video joint venture. The transaction valued Hulu at $15 billion, with AT&Ts 9.5% interest valued at $1.43 billion. AT&T will use proceeds from this transaction, along with additional planned sales of non-core assets, to reduce its debt. We thank AT&T for their support and investment over the past two years and look forward to collaboration in the future. WarnerMedia will remain a valued partner to Hulu for years to come as we offer customers the best of TV, live and on demand, all in one place, said Hulu CEO Randy Freer. Card Ravasi notes that at a religious level the dialogue between the official Church and the so-called underground Church has begun, so "What will happen during the Expo will be a different kind of dialogue, purely cultural. Its task is to create an atmosphere in which it is possible to speak a little more about possible exchange, not only in the religious sphere, but also in the fields of art, culture and scientific research." Vatican City (AsiaNews) China has invited the Holy See to Beijings International Horticultural Exhibition that will be held from April to October 2019. This will be "the first time that the Holy See officially participates at an Expo," said Alessandro Gisotti, acting Holy See Press Office director, at the press conference presenting the Vatican's participation in the event. During the meeting, Card Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, answered a reporters question saying that "at a religious level the dialogue between the official Church and the so-called underground Church has begun, and it has been a long process. The prelate will be the commissioner of the Holy See pavilion. What will happen during the Expo will be a different kind of dialogue, purely cultural. Its task is to create an atmosphere in which it is possible to speak a little more about possible exchange, not only in the religious sphere, but also in the fields of art, culture and scientific research." Card Ravasi cited the example of Matteo Ricci and "of a whole series of Jesuits who carried on a dialogue with Chinese culture in an extremely creative and careful way, namely via inculturation." The prelate noted that the day dedicated to the Holy See, 14 September, comes a day after the start of a national holiday in China. On this occasion, a symposium on the environment will be held in the Vatican Pavilion, which covers an area of approximately 200 square metres. Documents from the Vatican Apostolic Library on herbaria and the medicinal properties of herbs and plants will be on exhibit. 100% Website 3dcart.com uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 61015 bytes (59.58 kb uncompressed) and 13752 bytes (13.43 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-10-21, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 100% Website captainmarketing.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery and Boostrap. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 53194 bytes (51.95 kb uncompressed) and 12366 bytes (12.08 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-03-21, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 100% Website farmerama.nl uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 75217 bytes (73.45 kb uncompressed) and 15528 bytes (15.16 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2019-09-21, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 62% Website ledco.be uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 1513 bytes (1.48 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-06, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 62% Website limbafranceza.ro uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 6152 bytes (6.01 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-03, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. Blue Star, Indias leading air conditioning and refrigeration company, has established a new office and its first state-of-the-art flagship showroom in Dubai. Blue Star claims a long history in the Middle East. Its first forays into the region began in the 1950s with the exports of water coolers to Kuwait. Today, Blue Star serves several Middle Eastern markets with air conditioning equipment, water coolers, and commercial refrigeration products and systems. The new office and showroom are located in a central and prominent locality on the Airport Road in Dubai, with close proximity to important business centres and travel hubs. The Middle East is seen as a promising market for Blue Star, with its growing hospitality sector, rise in construction activities across residential and commercial sectors, and extreme weather conditions. Panasonic UK has announced an end to its air conditioning distributor agreement with TF Solutions. No reason has been given for the termination of the agreement, which has been in place since 2007. In a brief statement from Panasonic, UK country manager Alfredos Armaos, said: We would like to thank TF Solutions for their support and efforts over the last few years and wish them all the best in the future. Customers can rest assured that Panasonic will honour any ongoing agreements and warranties regarding Panasonic products which will be dealt with in the usual way. TF Solutions has been making a number of investments since its acquisition by Travis Perkins in 2017. Already this year it has added Mitsubishi Electric and Samsung to its air conditioning product portfolio, which also includes Fujitsu. The 17 km walk lasted four hours. Catholic youth organised the event via social media whose aim was individual penance and group prayer for India. New Delhi (AsiaNews) Hundreds of young Catholics, and youth from other religions, went on a pilgrimage in the Diocese of Miao (Arunachal Pradesh) to prepare for Holy Week, said Fr Felix Anthony, spokesman for the Catholic Church in northeastern India, speaking to AsiaNews. The 17-kilometre walk was a moment of penance and spiritual meditation, experienced with the typical joy of the new generation," said the clergyman. Participants came together thanks to social media, and several Protestants helped in the organisation. The event took place last Saturday in Changlang District, and lasted about four hours, from 5.30 am to 9.30 am, providing an opportunity to pray for the Indias election, which is currently underway. Along the way, the faithful enlivened the prayers with songs, hymns and the recitation of the Rosary. The starting point was Sacred Heart Church in Neotan, where Fr Felix is parish priest. From there, the pilgrims walked to the Christ the Light Shrine, the diocesan cathedral in Miao. Another 200 people of all faiths and ages joined the 200 young Catholics, who ranged in age from 7 and 76. For Junem Langching, a youth leader who organised the event, "The pilgrimage had two purposes: a journey of penance to prepare us to experience Holy Week the right way and an opportunity to pray for our country at election time. James Mossang echoes such words. On his Facebook profile, he wrote: A small act of penance. Being humble and thankful for His love and sacrifice. (Photo credit: Diocese of Miao) Continue Reading Below Advertisement Director Joe Dante recalled that while they were making the movie, studio notes started coming in saying that the gremlins were "very unpleasant," and there were too many of them. The movie's executive producer responded by sarcastically asking why they didn't just cut all the gremlins and call the movie People. Luckily, that producer was Steven Spielberg, so the studio backed off a little bit. After all, they were only making this weird little project to keep Spielberg happy. Warner Bros. only stopped bugging Dante and Spielberg about the gremlins when they saw test audiences going nuts over the hideous abominations and realized they might actually make money on this thing. Continue Reading Below Advertisement And then there was the monkey shit conundrum. Because this was the pre-CGI era and they couldn't use real gremlins from outer space (union rules), someone came up with the bright idea of using monkeys to portray the creatures. One time they even put a gremlin head on a Rhesus monkey, at which point it ran into the editing room and "shat all over everything." They wisely ended up going with puppets, whose feces are notoriously soft and fuzzy and therefore a pleasure to clean. Related: 7 Stupid Endings That Almost Ruined Classic Horror Movies Bridges, houses and farmland hit; the oil sector spared. The toll (still provisional) is 76 victims and 220,000 displaced persons. 25 provinces and 4400 villages hit. Rouhani asks Khamenei to release two billion from the sovereign fund. Pope sends 100 thousand euros "for the first phase of the emergency". Tehran (AsiaNews) - The heavy floods that have hit Iran in recent weeks have caused damage of at least 2.5 billion dollars due to the collapse or damage to bridges, houses and agricultural land according to state media. Meanwhile US sanctions continue to hinder the entry of aid for a country in serious difficulties. The floods started on March 19 last and so far have caused at least 76 victims; added to these are the more than 220 thousand people left without housing and forced to find shelter in the reception centers set up by the government and by the NGOs operating in the area. The authorities have also deployed the army to deal with the emergency. Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, quoted by the official Irna agency, underlines "recent floods are unprecedented ... affecting 25 provinces and over 4400 villages". The damages, he continues, amount to about 350 trillion rials (equal to 2.5 billion dollars). Transport and Development Minister, Mohammad Eslami, adds that there are about 14 thousand km of damaged roads and more than 700 destroyed. The Iranian authorities point out that the floods have not affected the oil sector and that the greatest damage is registered in the agricultural sector. The government hopes to provide adequate compensation and, to cover the necessary sum, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani asked the great ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be able to withdraw two billion from the sovereign fund. The supreme leader has reportedly agreed, although he specified that he would use the National Development Fund "if there are no other sources available". Over the weekend Pope Francis ordered the allocation of 100 thousand euros in aid to the people of Iran hit by the tragedy. The money will be sent by the Department for the Integral Human Development and will be entrusted to the apostolic nunciature in Tehran, which will then distribute it in the areas of greatest need. In a note published in the Holy See bulletin there is talk of a response to "this first phase of the emergency". "This sum - continues the communique - which aims to be an immediate expression of the sentiments of spiritual closeness on the part of the Holy Father towards the people and territories affected, will be shared [...] among the areas most affected by the catastrophe and will be used in relief and assistance to people and territories . Caritas Iran experts and volunteers have already visited some of the most affected areas and, in collaboration with other NGOs, is working to bring relief to the population. Previously, the pontiff, in a telegram of condolences signed by Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, expressed deep sorrow for the loss of human lives and assured his prayer for humanitarian workers, entrusting the Iranian people to the providence of God. The court has ordered the Indian territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Dnh) and Daman and Diu to restore the festivity, which this year is celebrated on 19 April. The bishops' secretary thanks the many Hindus - starting with the lawyer - who supported the Catholic petition. New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Mumbai High Court has ordered two Indian Union territories to restore Good Friday, which this year is celebrated on April 19, as a public holiday. The fact that Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Dnh) and Daman and Diu, both former Portuguese colonies on the west coast of the country, had canceled the holiday caused deep sorrow not only in the local Catholic community, but throughout India. Speaking to AsiaNews Mgr. Theodore Mascarenhas, general secretary of the Indian Bishops' Conference (CBCI), says joyfully: "We won. We are happy, especially because Indian democracy is alive. We have had incredible support even from many non-Christians. These are the beautiful things of India that we must safeguard. The sentence was issued yesterday, after a few weeks delay. The judges who dealt with the case are the president of the tribunal Pradeep Nandrajog and N.M. Jamdar. They accepted the petition presented by Mr. Anthony Francisco Duarte of Moti Daman, representing the Indian Church and the archdiocese of Goa and Daman. The defense of Christians was instead taken by Dr. Haresh Jagtiani, lawyer of the ADF India association (Alliance Defending Freedom). In India there are only two Christian festivals recognized as public, and also celebrated by many faithful of other religions: Christmas and Good Friday. The bishop stressed that it was precisely the non-Christians - in this case Hindu - who gave the most support to the Catholics petition, providing legal assistance and moral support. In fact, the lawyer Haresh Jagtiani who won the case is Hindu. He also worked pro bono, that is, without receiving compensation. The two judges of the High Court are also Hindus. "We are immensely grateful - insists Msgr. Mascarenhas - to all the people who supported us. Mr. Duarte who presented the petition was very courageous. Not everyone would have been willing to do the same thing. The lawyer was also very good. It was difficult to find a professional with the appropriate skills to plead the cause in a short time . For weeks, the bishop had been worried about the sentence and now reports that he is relieved by the court's decision. For Indian Catholics the decision to downgrade Good Friday from a nationally recognized holiday to an optional holiday had caused anxiety and concern. What was established by the administrations of the two territories risked posing a dangerous judicial precedent: in fact other Indian states could have followed the example and seriously endangered religious freedom in the country. "The right to freely profess one's faith in India has been reaffirmed. The opposite would have been unthinkable, for a country founded on the secular nature of the state , concludes Msgr. Mascarenhas. The premium European cruise brands are bullish on the future of their businesses, as the market segment is expected to expand by 60 percent in passenger capacity between 2019 and 2027, according to the 2019 Cruise Industry News Annual Report. New and bigger ships are driving that expansion, underlined by aggressive growth plans at TUI Cruises, which has seven ships sailing this year, and has plans for another three newbuilds. Another Meyer Turku-built Mein Schiff will join the German fleet in 2023, matching the Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2, which were delivered by the Finnish yard in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In 2024 and 2026, TUI will welcome in a new class of ships built by Fincantieri. The new prototypes will also be the largest in the TUI fleet at 4,000 guests, compared to the latest class of Mein Schiff ships at 2,900 passengers. More growth plans come at Carnival Corporation-owned brands. Cunard will get its fourth Queen, a 3,000-berth vessel, in 2022, which is expected to growth the British brands guest capacity by some 40 percent. At P&O Cruises UK, two new next-general XL-class vessels will join the fleet and sail on LNG. The 5,200-berth Iona is due to launch in 2020, followed by a sister ship in 2022. The addition of more than 10,000 berths to the P&O fleet will drive annual passenger capacity up by some 68 percent by 2023, when the second of the two newbuilds is in service for the full year. The premium market occupies a key section of the cruise product period, often seeing passengers graduate from contemporary brands. Average cruise lengths are between seven and 14 days and per diem rates are typically above the contemporary segment while the brands attract older and more affluent guests. About the Annual Report: The Cruise Industry News Annual Report is the only book of its kind, presenting the worldwide cruise industry through 2027 in 400 pages. Statistics are independently researched. See a preview by clicking here. The report covers everything from new ships on order to supply-and-demand scenarios from 1987 through 2027+. Plus there is a future outlook, complete growth projections for each cruise line, regional market reports, and detailed ship deployment by region and market, covering all the cruise lines. Order the 2019 edition today. Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) has announced three summer expedition cruises around Svalbard aboard the Hondius for the summer of 2020. A small group travel company, OAT caters to American travelers 55 years of age and older and owns a fleet of five vessels in addition to charters. The new 150-passenger Hondius will sail for OAT on a charter agreement. She is registered as a Polar Class 6 expedition vessel. Our travelers are endlessly curious about the world and are eager to learn and be engaged. This Arctic expedition is interactive and experiential with significant opportunity to explore in small groups, said Brian Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of O.A.T. Our. travelers are environmentally conscious, and this ships design aligns with that very well. The 15-day program includes 10 days aboard the Hondius, starting at $12,895 per person, including roundtrip airfare from the United States. The three departures are June 29 and July 9 and 19, 2020. According to OAT, highlights include: 10 days around Svalbard, spotting wildlife such as polar bears, walrus, narwhals, reindeer, arctic foxes, blue whales, and many types of birds; daily zodiac cruising and landings 10 people per zodiac accompanied by a knowledgeable expedition team; educational talks and discussions regarding climate change, pollution, ice flow changes, wildlife and explorers; and an open bridge policy enabling travelers to speak with the captain. In addition to the O.A.T. crew, an expedition team will be on board and available throughout the day, including naturalists, botanists, wildlife experts and ornithologists to help spot and discuss wildlife. Traveling via Oslo, travelers fly to Longyearbyen, where they board the Hondius. Jonathan Blob did not need to see the Freshii location at Stamford Hospital to know that when it came to a nutritious, healthy dining concept, it was the right one for him. After introducing the brand five years ago to southwestern Connecticut, Blob is looking ahead to Freshiis first spring on Greenwich Avenue, with the warmer months typically the busiest for wholesome food options like Freshii. The spring and summer dining season will expand Freshiis staff by about 20 people from 30 in the summer months, both at the Westport and Greenwich locations as well as in White Plains, N.Y. The Greenwich resident opened his first Freshii franchise in Westport in 2013 after a career in finance, taking over an art-gallery space near the base of Main Street. He opened a second location in Fairfield that did not last due to poor foot traffic and a customer base that overlapped somewhat with Westport. Last year, Freshii took over a former Greenwich Salad Co. storefront on The Avenue. I really liked the healthy, fast-casual space (and) I was looking to make a career change, Blob told Hearst Connecticut Media. Freshii was one that really intrigued me its the company that (was) the fastest-growing to 100 stores. ... Faster than McDonalds, faster than Subway, faster than Starbucks. Freshii did so by emphasizing health and convenience at an affordable price, with the menu featuring salads and bowls; wraps and burritos; and smoothies and juices among other items, as well as coffii and breakfast wraps. But in February, the companys founder acknowledged the business has recently been struggling with a cohort of underperforming stores amid a rapid expansion that added 70 locations last year. While Freshii reported a 1 percent decline in same-store sales last year across its footprint, overall revenue was up 25 percent to $172 million. A key takeaway from me which Im deliberately correcting in 2019 is that weve been trying to do too much at once, CEO Matthew Corrin said on a conference call. As we grew quickly, the business got increasingly complex. We had more opportunities and also more problems than ever before, and we try to tackle them all at once. As we move into 2019, its very clear to me that we need to do fewer things, but to do them better. With franchise rights in Fairfield and Westchester counties he does not own the Stamford Hospital location Blob said he envisions eventually opening additional Freshii locations in the region. In the meantime, he is enjoying Freshiis newest restaurant on Greenwich Avenue, less than 10 minutes from his home. This is naturally a fit for me obviously its my home, Blob said. I eat here. ... I spend a lot of my time in this store. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Focus on French Cinema, the annual Francophone festival of the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich for new cutting edge cinema across the French-speaking world, returns to Connecticut and Manhattan Friday, April 26-Tuesday, April 30. FFC 2019 has announced a lineup of 17 feature-length films in five days, including 12 U.S premieres, multiple Cesar and international festival nominees, award-winning short films and continued support of Quebecois cinema, based on the FFC partnership with Cinemania in Montreal. Click here for the full slate of events. The 15th edition honors veteran stars and directors, as well as emerging actors, with a focus on new writers-directors, including the 19 year-old first-time feature director-screenwriter Nathan Ambrosioni; the 2019 Crystal Bear winner at The Berlin International Film Festival, Genevieve Dulude-De Celles; the 25- year-old Quebecois actor and director Jean-Carl Boucher; and actress, writer and director Sophie Picciotto. The screenings will include a diverse slate of newly-released feature-length films, covering everything from literary and artistic capers, to thrillers, war dramas, historical documentaries, family films, biographies and comedies. Events during the festival include a Gala Opening Night in Greenwich on Friday, prior to the U.S. premiere screening of The Mystery of Henri Pick (Le MystereHenri Pick) at Bow Tie Cinemas in Greenwich, as well as a Meet the Directors Breakfast on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bow Tie Cinemas. Additional screenings and parties include the Monday Avon Theatre Film Center screening and party, and the Closing Night Film and Gala on Tuesday at the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF) in Manhattan. The Focus on French Cinema selection committee has come up with another terrific and fantastically varied slate of films for movie lovers of all persuasions, Joe Meyers, FFC 2019 programming director, was quoted as saying in a news release. The 2019 films feature veteran stars we already know and love, such as Gerard Depardieu, as well as emerging actors like Camille Cottin of the hit Netflix series Call My Agent and our opening night film, Le Mystere Henri Pick. Focus on French Cinema, various locations, including Bow Tie Cinemas, 2 Railroad Ave., Greenwich; and Avon Theatre Film Center, 272 Bedford St, Stamford. Friday, April 26-Tuesday, April 30. Disbelief and sadness at the "terrible fire that devastated the cathedral of Notre Dame, a symbol of Christianity in France and the world". Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "The Pope is close to France, he prays for the French Catholics and for the people of Paris, shocked by the terrible fire that has devastated #Notre-Dame cathedral. He assures his prayers for all those who are facing this dramatic situation," read a tweet this morning from the director of the Vatican Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, expressing the dismay and sadness of the Holy See in this dramatic moment for Christianity and the whole world. Already last night the Vatican spokesman said: "The Holy See has received the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the cathedral of Notre Dame, a symbol of Christianity in France and the world, with incredulity and sadness". "We express closeness - he concluded - to the French Catholics and the population of Paris and we assure our prayers for the firefighters and all those who are doing everything possible to face this dramatic situation". STAMFORD A Stamford van driver, accused of running over a woman in a crosswalk in early 2018, took the stand in his own defense before testimony ended Tuesday in the trial of a tragic accident that took the life of 58-year-old Lynette Wagner of Fairfield. George Christiansen is facing a felony count of second-degree manslaughter and faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. On the stand during the court trial, Christiansen, 40, explained that early on that January morning in 2018, he was picking up promotional brochures and pamphlets at a Springdale-based media company before getting on Interstate 95 to head to Westchester County to deliver the materials. Rather than taking Courtland Avenue to get onto I-95 near McDonalds on Stamfords East Side, he decided to get on the highway on North State Street, he said under questioning by his defense attorney Lindy Urso. On Elm Street about to make a right hand turn on North State, Christiansen said he cautiously crept into the crosswalk, waiting for a break in the traffic coming down the Exit 8 ramp before he pulled onto the busy street that leads to the I-95 entrance. Just as he went around the corner, video tape of the accident shows Wagner pulling a legal briefcase as she walked in front of the van while the pedestrian signal was giving her the red hand telling her to stop. She was run over and died a short time later. Christiansen said he went back to where Wagner was and said he tried to talk to her, but she did not respond. I held her hand and told her she was not alone and tried to comfort her, he said on the stand, before Judge Richard Comerford, who will decide Christiansens guilt or innocence, soon after final arguments are made in the case Thursday. Christiansen told two officers that he made that fateful turn on a green light, but a video tape of the incident showed he was turning on a red light, which was legal to do. Under oath on Tuesday, Christiansen said he realized after seeing the video tape that he was wrong about the green light and said he did not mean to mislead the investigating officers. While being cross examined by Assistant States Attorney Daniel Cummings, Christiansen said he was a vigilant driver and was forced to admit that there was a distinct possibility that pedestrians would be at that crosswalk, next to the Henkel building where Wagner worked. Cummings tried to lead Christiansen to say he was watching the traffic coming down the Exit 8 ramp to the exclusion of everything else. But Christiansen said he had been getting onto the North State entrance ramp without incident about every other day for a year and a half since he got the delivery job. Is it fair to say that if you looked carefully, you would have seen her? Cummings asked. I did look carefully, Christiansen responded firmly. When the state rested its case, Urso said he filed a 10-page motion for acquittal, saying that that judge should grant his motion because the state fell short of proving their case. In the motion, Urso said that by filing a manslaughter charge, instead of charges such as misconduct with a motor vehicle or manslaughter with a motor vehicle, the state was not allowing Comerford to find Christiansen guilty of lesser included charges. In three separate cases where defendants have been charged with manslaughter with a motor vehicle or misconduct with a motor vehicle charge, Comerford has found them guilty of lesser included offenses and imposed probation without any jail time. As a result, Urso said in the motion, It appears as though this was a decision by the States Attorneys office to purposely tie the hands of the fact finder, in this case the court. But Stamford States Attorney Richard Colangelo said charges are filed when the evidence can prove them. While it is not appropriate to comment on a specific case, the office does not charge to tie anyones hands. We charge the appropriate crime based on the defendants actions that we can ethically prove, he said. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com HARTFORD From his first days as a Marine serving in Vietnam, George Jaiman always wanted to own an AK-47. So, his lawyer said, when the former corrections officer and Bridgeport police official was offered one of the illegal machine guns by an acquaintance, he instantly pounced at the opportunity. The episode, described in court documents in advance of the 70-year-olds sentencing Tuesday on a gun possession charge, exemplifies the confounding contradictions of Jaimans life. On the one hand, Jaiman served as an exemplary public servant for nearly three decades, protecting and serving the community in which he lived. On the other, he poisoned the very community which he had served by selling machine guns illegally and without any concern for where they ended up, a federal prosecutor wrote in a sentencing memo. In U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Judge Alvin W. Thompson sentenced Jaiman to 14 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $1,000 fine. According to the feds, Jaiman made a deal with Torrington resident Sean Dey to sell machine guns, suppressors and firearms to third parties for profit in 2017 and 2018, despite the fact that neither had a license to do so. He pleaded guilty in October to unlawful possession of a machine gun before Judge Robert A. Richardson at U.S. District Court in Hartford. The charge carried a maximum punishment of 10 years behind bars. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a prison sentence of 37 to 46 months. However, his lawyer, Steven B. Rasile, asked the judge to sentence Jaiman to probation, citing his age, past community service and rough upbringing, which the attorney said included physical abuse from his parents and sexual abuse from another relative. Jaimans law-abiding and community-oriented life is deserving of a non-guideline sentence of probation, Rasile wrote. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale agreed Jaiman should get a break for his past good works but that he should also be imprisoned for 12 to 18 months to serve as an example to others. George Jaiman stands before this Court having violated not only the law, but also his reputation as a stellar public servant, Kale wrote in a sentencing memo. Although his past service to our country, and his age merit a below-Guidelines sentence, the extreme reduction Mr. Jaiman requests for such serious conduct is unwarranted. Rasile emphasized Jaiman didnt make any money on any of the gun sales. He said Jaiman was not interested in the monetary side. The main reason he became involved was because of his affinity for these types of weapons. He believed the guns were being sold to responsible individuals. The feds disagreed. Kale said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives hasnt been able to recover all the guns Dey built and Jaiman sold, and that only time will tell if Mr. Jaimans unrecovered sale is maintained as a trophy or used to cause serious harm to the community. Kale wrote: Guns are obtained and sold illegally like candy and whether he intended it or not, he knew the harm his actions could cause. Dey was sentenced to serve two years in prison in February. Jaimans son Phillip was also charged in the case and pleaded guilty April 9 to illegal possession of a machine gun. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 2, though sentencing guidelines in his case call for a jail term of between 46 and 57 months. The case was investigated by the ATF and Bridgeport Police Department. Editors note: An earlier version of this story identified Jaiman as an ex-Bridgeport cop, citing documents filed in court by his lawyer and federal prosecutors. According to the city, Jaiman was never a sworn police officer, but was a civilian employee. The department also said Jaiman was never director of the Crime Prevention Unit. / The family of a missing Windsor Locks man ate Thanksgiving dinner without knowing his body had been hidden feet away, according to the Hartford Courant. Police believe Michael Keene, 51, had been murdered by his daughter's boyfriend who stuffed the body into a storage tub that was hidden behind a couch in a family member's Windsor Locks condo, the Courant reported. MONROE Former First Selectman Karen Burnaska remembers Raymond F. McPadden, Sr. as a rare thing a truly good person. You would not find someone more committed to his family and the community than Ray, she said. McPadden, 84, died April 12 at St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport. A local business owner who founded the two Mr. Macs Canteen locations (in Monroe and Milford) with his sons, McPadden was also a longtime Monroe resident and active in local government. He served from 1983 to 1991 on the Town Council, and on the Board of Finance from 1991 to 1993. Burnaska, who was First Selectman from 1995 to 2001, recalled McPadden as a tireless public servant who loved to volunteer and contribute to his community. He was also a justice of the peace, she said. He loved marrying people. McPadden was also a member of the Monroe Lions Club. Burnaska said she remembers him hanging wreaths on town hall during different holidays while she was in office. He was always so active in the community, she said. Born in Bridgeport, McPadden according to his obituary worked at, managed and owned the Merritt Canteen in Bridgeport for 50 years until he retired and founded the two Mr. Macs Canteen locations. The Mr. Macs Canteen Facebook page paid tribute to the businesss founder on Monday. We are very sadden (sic) by the loss of the original Mr. Mac! the post read, adding that both locations would be closed Thursday, which is the day of McPaddens funeral. McPadden is survived by a large family, including his wife of 58 years, Norma, and many children and grandchildren. In addition to his work in town government and with the Lions Club, McPadden volunteered with the Council of Italian American Societies of Greater Bridgeport, the Roma Club, the Monroe Scholarship Fund and YMCA Lakewood Trumbull/Monroe. Services for McPadden will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Stephens Church, 6948 Main St., Trumbull. Interment will be private. Family and friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Road, Trumbull. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Baldricks Foundation, 1333 South Mayflower Ave., Suite 400, Monrovia, CA 91016 or at stbaldricks.org. A State Police lieutenant is suing the agency and its commanders on claims he has been retaliated against for battling a work-related DNA collection policy. Lt. Christopher Burns filed a federal lawsuit in 2011 claiming the Department of Public Safety and his command staff were violating his First Amendment rights by chiding him for speaking out against a proposed policy requiring troopers working crime scenes to submit their own DNA, which supposedly would be compared to evidence found during investigations. That case was settled in 2015. The terms of the settlement are not listed among court documents. Since then, Burns contends he has been subject to a barrage of hostile work issues including an incident in July when commanders showed up at his home and took his badge, weapons and state-issued car days after he filed for family medical leave. Burns filed a second federal lawsuit Friday claiming that he has been retaliated against by command staff since the resolution of the 2011 case. The retaliation included "unwarranted scrutiny" and "adverse employment actions" including a 2018 demotion because he invoked his right to leave under the federal Family Medical Leave Act to care for his severely disabled daughter, the lawsuit contends. He was subjected to an internal affairs investigation the day after he informed superiors that he would be filing for the leave, the lawsuit said. The IA investigation claimed he failed to complete four cases in a timely manner. Burns was the subject of previous work complaints regarding his failure to complete cases in a timely manner in 2008, the previous court case showed. Commanders took his car, badge and weapons on July 30, the court documents said. He was demoted in October after the investigation was complete and he had returned to work from FMLA. The 2018 incidents occurred while Doris Schriro served as the Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which is the umbrella agency for the state police, the lawsuit said. The harassment continued when James Rovella took over as Commissioner in January, the court papers indicated. Another superior showed up at his home in February telling Burns that was the subject of a criminal investigation, the papers said. But the superior refused to tell Burns what he was investigating. Burns filed paperwork in March claiming he was suffering from work-related post-related stress disorder and was having anxiety and panic attacks and was working in a hostile work environment. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages. The Constitutional Court ruled that an absolute ban is contrary to the Charter and called for a legislative amendment. In his Easter message the Archbishop of Seoul expresses fears for the consequences on the social fabric of the country. "A nation has the responsibility to protect the life and safety of its people under all circumstances." Seoul (AsiaNews) - Despite various obstacles and social difficulties, Christians must rigorously reject the culture of death and the temptations inherent in it, says Card. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (photo). The Archbishop of Seoul was commenting on the latest ruling on abortion by the Constitutional Court on April 11, which states that an absolute ban is contrary to the Charter. The ruling also called for a legislative amendment that partly allows the legalization of the practice, in the early stage of pregnancy. In his Easter message, Card. Yeom reaffirms Catholic doctrine in defense of life and expresses fears for the consequences that the sentence can have on the social fabric of the country. In his letter, which will be read in all the parishes of the archdiocese during the Easter vigil, Card. Yeom, first of all, expressed his concerns while saying, Im worried that the recent decision on constitutionality of abortion ban by the Constitutional Court, by any chance, brings overall atmosphere to neglect life in Korean society. The archbishop points out: "A nation has a responsibility to protect its peoples life and safety under any circumstances. Every life, from the moment of conception, should be protected as a human being and secured with its dignity. The prelate urges the legislators to carefully prepare the amendment to the current law; invites the faithful to be the first to choose life rather than death, adding, We, people of God, should concretely serve and sacrifice for life. Among various social obstacles and difficulties, we, Christians, should strictly refuse the culture and temptation for the death. The cardinal concludes When we, ourselves, start choosing, respecting, and respecting every life as it is, we will definitely be able to experience the Risen Lord living right here with us.". In recent days, the debate on abortion has returned to divide South Korean public opinion. Some feminist and medical organizations have welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court. They argue that the current law limits women's self-determination rights. Religious communities express disappointment and regret over the verdict, stating that it violates the right to life of unborn children. The pro-life movement challenges some of the reasons for the Court's ruling. Among these, there is one which states: "Embryos completely depend on the mothers body for their survival and development, so it cannot be concluded that they are separate, independent living beings entitled to the right to life. When a colleague from Zuzana Caputova's little-known political party suggested she run for president last year, she thought the idea absurd. But then the murder of a journalist friend -- an act that launched Slovakia's biggest protests since the fall of communism -- made it personal. The former NGO lawyer ran and won by a landslide, and now she's hoping her victory can serve as an example for other political forces who are trying to beat back a wave of nationalism sweeping the European Union before the bloc holds parliamentary elections next month. "It wasn't a murder of some unknown journalist for me," Caputova, 45, said in an interview in her Progressive Slovakia party's office in Bratislava Friday. "It was clear to me from the moment that I saw the news that he was killed because of his work, because I knew what he was working on." The journalist was Jan Kuciak, and what he was working on was an investigation into ties between businessmen and politicians in the Smer party, which has ruled Slovakia for most of the past decade. In another coincidence, the businessman who's been charged with ordering the hit was also Caputova's adversary in a dispute over a planned landfill that she helped block, a role that propelled her to the political stage. Bracketed by Hungary, Poland, where ruling parties vowing to defend the EU's "Christian roots" are clashing with the EU over multi-cultural values and the rule of law, Slovakia's leadership has vowed to keep the country at the bloc's core and support deeper integration. But even then, some mainstream politicians, including former three-time Prime Minister Robert Fico, have joined a growing regional trend of animosity against gays and Muslims, and invoking conspiracy theories like the campaign that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has launched against billionaire financier George Soros. As Kuciak's murder convulsed Slovakia, forcing Fico's resignation and drawing tens of thousands of Slovaks into the street, Caputova decided she could do more good as a politician than as a lawyer. She hopes she might inspire others to fight back against extremism, as leaders including Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini try to bring together like-minded nationalists to pool their power in the European Parliament vote. "The elections were won by a candidate who chose not to go the extremist path, a pro-European, liberal candidate," said the divorced mother of two teenage daughters. "This brings me hope that the call for a change, for decency and justice, has been reflected. And I wish very much that it will be reflected in European and parliamentary elections too." Caputova's victory over a field that included an anti-NATO judge and party leader who once wore Fascist-inspired uniforms and praised Slovakia's Nazi-puppet World War II government put a damper on euroskeptic forces that are seeking to overturn the EU status quo. Backed by the Slovak Progressive Party, which doesn't have seats in Parliament, her campaign path included a slog from eighth place to fifth and then a breakout in national debates that ignited a surge in popularity. After holding her own onstage with the frontrunners, and openly discussing her support of gay rights and deeper ties with the other 27 members of the EU, campaign donations surged, with almost half of the 500,000 euro ($566,000) she raised coming from people who donated 20 or 30 euros a piece, she said. She pins her success at least partly on the idea that, while voters may be tired of the political establishment, opinion surveys show they aren't tired of the benefits the EU brings. "Western democracies are coping with a crisis of trust," she said. "And this is what's at stake: whether democratic values and institutions will continue to be doubted or whether we manage to bring back belief in ideas and values. NEW HAVEN Firefighters responded to a brush fire off of Exit 8 of I-91 North in New Haven on Tuesday afternoon. Two lanes were closed near Exit 8 as firefighters battled the blaze, state police said. Former congressman Beto O'Rourke released 10 years of tax returns Monday night. The Texas Democrat and his wife reported $1,166 of charitable giving from a total income of $370,412 in 2017, the most recent year they released a return for. That's one-third of 1%. How much someone gives to charity is a meaningful metric of their values and priorities, though far from the only one. The flurry of returns from 2020 contenders in recent days offers a lot to chew over. Candidates who release their tax returns deserve credit for transparency, especially because President Donald Trump refuses to disclose his. Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to conceal his tax returns from the American people. One reason many politicians do not like to share their returns for everyone to see is because they don't want people to scrutinize things like their effective tax rate, their deductions and their charitable giving. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and his wife gave $19,000 to charity out of an income of $566,000 last year, or 3.4%. They provided $36,300 to charity in 2017, according to returns released last night. "The Sanders campaign said those rates do not reflect charitable proceeds given from one of his books, which he did not deduct from his taxes," Michael Kranish and Sean Sullivan report. "The campaign did not say how much was given in that case." Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., released 15 years of tax returns on Sunday, showing that she and her husband earned $1.9 million last year and gave $27,000 to charity - or 1.4%.Harris reported no charitable giving at all during her first three years as California's attorney general. But then she married Doug Emhoff in 2014. The first year they filed jointly, Harris and Emhoff - a partner at the law firm DLA Piper - reported giving $60,000 to charity. Their giving dropped off to between $18,000 to $37,000 in the years that followed. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and her husband donated $6,600 of their $338,500 income to charity last year, or just under 2%, according to a return her campaign published on its website yesterday. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and her husband made $215,000 last year and gave $3,750 to charity, also just under 2%. The most generous of the top-tier presidential candidates appears to be Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She and her husband donated $50,000 last year of their $906,000 income. That's 5.5%. Gov. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and his wife, who recently released 12 years of returns, earned an income of $203,000 in 2018. They gave $8,295 to charity, about 4%. Trump's past claims of generous charitable giving have been widely debunked. The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for his investigation into the president's personal charity. Trump donates his government salary as president, but that's a small fraction of his income. It's impossible to know how much Trump has given to charity without seeing his tax returns. When Mitt Romney finally relented under pressure and released his tax returns in 2012, they showed that he and his wife had given away $4 million out of the $13.7 million they took in during the previous year, or 29.4%. Romney didn't even deduct $1.8 million worth of donations that year so that he could live up to his statement that he'd always paid an effective tax rate of at least 13%. Barack and Michelle Obama had given away 22% of their incomes to charity in 2011, donating $172,000 out of $790,000 of income. But Joe and Jill Biden gave just 1.5% of their income to charity, $5,500 out of $379,000. Biden took heat during the 2008 campaign when his tax returns showed that he and his wife had donated only $3,690 to charity in total over the previous 10 years - an average of $369 a year. The most recent year Biden has released his tax returns for is 2015. The then-vice president and second lady gave $6,900 of the $392,000 they earned to charity, about 1.8%. It will be interesting to see if the rate of giving went up after Biden started giving high-priced paid speeches in 2017 and 2018. In addition to Biden, we're still waiting to see tax returns from other top-tier contenders - including Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Booker said Monday that he'll release his returns "soon." He didn't say how soon, but he did unveil a plan to cut taxes for about half the country. Booker called for expanding the earned income tax credit to cover couples with a maximum income as large as $90,000. He would pay for it by taxing income from investments at the same rate as other income, rather than the lower capital gains rate. The Wall Street Journal notices that the O'Rourkes appear to have underpaid their 2013 and 2014 taxes by more than $4,000 total because of an error in the way they reported their medical expenses. "They took deductions for those costs without regard to the limit that only allowed that break for medical and dental expenses above 10% of income for people their age," Richard Rubin reports. "Had they not taken the nearly $16,000 in medical deductions, their taxable income would have been higher. In those years it would likely have been subject to the rates they were paying under the alternative minimum tax." Meanwhile, Trump and his legal team are actively combating efforts by House Democrats to review his tax returns and other financial records. 1) The president's attorneys are pressing an accounting firm not to comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., announced his intention last week to subpoena Mazars USA after the company refused a March request to hand over Trump's financial documents, citing laws and rules that require a subpoena for such documents. "On Monday, lawyers for the president and the Trump Organization wrote in a letter to the accounting firm's counsel that a committee subpoena 'would not be valid or enforceable,'" Tom Hamburger reports. "In a statement, Mazars USA said that the firm 'believes strongly in the ethical and professional rules and regulations that govern our industry, our work and our client interactions.'" 2) The House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issued a separate subpoena to Deutsche Bank, Trump's longtime lender, for Trump's personal and business records. "The two committees . . . also demanded documents from numerous other financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, related to possible money-laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe," the New York Times's Emily Flitter and David Enrich report. "'This subpoena is an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the president and our family for political gain,' Eric Trump said in a statement. . . . Alan Garten, the Trump Organization's lawyer, said the company was weighing its options for potentially blocking Deutsche Bank from complying with the subpoena." 3) Trump's lawyer, William Consovoy, publicly urged the Treasury Department not to comply with a formal request by the House Ways and Means Committee to hand over the president's tax returns. In an open letter, he said the intent of the law is more important than the letter of the law. "Congress's motives do matter under the Constitution," he wrote, arguing that seeing Trump's taxes does not serve any legislative purpose. Now that Tax Day has come and gone, Heather Long assesses whether the 2017 overhaul of the tax code has lived up to its promises: Taxes didn't fit in a postcard, though the main form most tax filers fill out did shrink. The vast majority of Americans did get a tax cut, though. But the bill has not paid for itself. Early results indicate that the $1.5 trillion price tag of the tax cuts will be funded mostly by a larger national debt. Trump said about $4 trillion to $5 trillion would "come flooding back from abroad" from companies who stashed their earnings overseas because of taxes. According to government data, only $665 million has come back. It remains to be seen whether businesses will use that extra cash to invest inside the United States. Trump said Americans would love the tax bill, but polls show more people give it a thumbs down than a thumbs up. Trump made no promises on refunds, but fewer people are receiving them this year. Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community drove through the night to Detroit - his next fundraising stop. He felt sick en route and saw a doctor when he got there. But the doctor, who had never seen measles, misdiagnosed the man's fever and cough as bronchitis. Over the next two weeks, the traveler would become Michigan's Patient Zero, spreading the highly contagious respiratory virus to 39 people as he stayed in private homes, attended synagogue daily and shopped in kosher markets. His case offers a cautionary tale about how easily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet spreads within close-knit communities - especially those whose members live, work and socialize outside the mainstream. "Every one of our cases has had a link to the initial case," said Leigh-Anne Stafford, health officer for Oakland County, a Detroit suburb where all but one case was reported. In the past five years, 75 percent of measles cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention occurred in various insular communities, among them the Amish in Ohio, the Somali community in Minnesota, Eastern European groups in the Pacific Northwest and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York. In the current outbreak, the New York contagion has spread through Patient Zero and other travelers to predominantly ultra-Orthodox communities in Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York; Oakland County in Michigan, and Baltimore County in Maryland. On Friday, Connecticut officials said an adult contracted measles while visiting Brooklyn in late March. New Jersey officials are investigating possible links between 11 cases in the Ocean County area and those in New York. "What's similar about all of these communities is that they live in proximity to each other and spend a lot of their time interacting with each other," said Daniel Salmon, a professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the school's Institute for Vaccine Safety. "That's what matters. Measles doesn't care what your cultural heritage is." Many of these communities are wary of government, avoid television and the Internet, and often rely on their own clinicians for medical care. In such a void, anti-vaccine misinformation has sometimes gained a foothold, deterring parents from fully vaccinating their children. The traveler had come from Israel last November to Brooklyn, the epicenter of a measles outbreak, and stayed for about two months before going on to the Detroit area in early March, said Russell Faust, Oakland County's medical officer. The man, whom Michigan health officials are not identifying, told them he was visiting ultra-Orthodox communities in the United States to raise money for charity. Feverish and coughing after his arrival, he saw a doctor, who prescribed antibiotics. When the man called back to complain of a rash the next day, the doctor thought he was having an allergic reaction. But after the doctor thought more about it, he worried about the possibility of measles and decided to leave a voice message for the health department with the man's cellphone number. Health officials jumped on the case - but couldn't reach the man because of a problem with his cellphone. They turned to Steve McGraw, head of Oakland emergency medical services and longtime member of the Detroit-area Hatzalah, the ultra-Orthodox community's emergency medical response group, an all-volunteer effort with deep ties to many families. McGraw alerted rabbinical leaders, then jumped in his car and drove to the area the traveler was supposed to be staying to look for the man's rental car, a blue sedan, knowing it would stand out among the minivans used by virtually every family. Hatzalah members and rabbinical leaders also mobilized to search for the traveler, who was staying in a neighborhood guesthouse. When they found him a few hours later, the traveler was stunned. He told McGraw and the rabbi who found him that they had to be wrong since he believed he had had the measles. "There is only one disease, and you have it," McGraw recalled saying, as one rabbi translated into Hebrew. "He put his head down and was very emotional. I could tell from the look on his face that he was devastated. He was doing the math in his head," counting all the people he had been in contact with, McGraw said. The traveler, as it turned out, had had hundreds of contacts with community members that health officials needed to trace. He had stayed mostly in private homes in the areas of Oak Park and Southfield. He had visited synagogues three times a day to pray and study and frequented kosher markets and pizza parlors, among 30 locations in one week. "This guy was walking around all over the community and contagious," McGraw said. "We knew we had a really significant exposure." Measles virus is so infectious that if an unvaccinated person walks through a room up to two hours after someone with measles has left, there's a 90 percent chance the unvaccinated person will get sick. People can spread measles for four days before and four days after the telltale rash. Because measles is so infectious, at least 96 percent or more of a community need to be vaccinated to prevent risk of outbreak. On March 13, blood tests confirmed the traveler's measles. The strain matched the genetic fingerprint of the New York City outbreak, McGraw said. The same day, health officials alerted the public. To get information out to the ultra-Orthodox community, health officials used its internal messaging system known as a calling post. Recorded voice messages ring on about 1,200 mobile phones. McGraw recorded a message that rabbinical leaders approved for delivery, the first of several that provided information about the disease and vaccination clinics. Over the next few weeks, Janet Snider, a pediatrician for many ultra-Orthodox families, and Gedalya Cooper, an emergency medicine doctor, both members of the Hatzalah, visited people in their homes to diagnose and test them for measles. The Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit issued an unequivocal statement, saying Jewish law obligated every community member to be "properly and fully vaccinated" according to the CDC. The agency recommends children get two measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) doses, starting with the first dose at age 12 through 15 months and the second dose at age 4 through 6 years. "In order to protect and safeguard each and every individual within the larger community, every individual, family and institution must take the necessary precautions against anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated," the statement said. The Hatzalah and rabbinical leaders helped the health department set up three clinics at one synagogue, immunizing nearly 1,000 people in one week. As of early April, health officials have given more than 2,100 vaccinations. Vaccine refusal does not appear to be a major factor in the Oakland County cluster, officials said. In Michigan, at least, the close collaboration between health officials and the religious community appears to have controlled the spread of the disease, which can cause severe complications including deafness, pneumonia, brain damage and death. Now, with 555 measles cases in 20 states - the highest in five years - other localities are looking at that model. Hatzalah groups in other parts of the country are reaching out to county officials for advice on boosting vaccination within the ultra-Orthodox community, Faust said. Oakland County had something else going for it: Measles outbreaks typically start with children. But Patient Zero had spent most of his time with adults, and most of the 39 cases are in adults. Many adults who got sick had believed they were immune, as some had been told they had the disease as children or were vaccinated. "There are a fair number of nonimmunized or under-immunized adults," said Faust, the medical officer. Some of the adults infected also were born before 1957, when most people caught measles and are thought to have natural immunity. Officials said that the risk remains high for those who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated and who travel to communities here or abroad where measles cases are raging. Gaps in vaccination coverage have led to a 20-year high in measles cases in Europe. Major outbreaks also are taking place in parts of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan. More than 1,200 people have died in Madagascar. With spring break and summer vacations approaching, travelers visiting European countries with outbreaks, such as France and Italy, have a much higher chance of bringing infections back to "islands or pockets of vulnerability," said Saad Omer, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. "Measles is a very unforgiving disease," he said. "Even if most people are vaccinated, that number may not be high enough." The Iranian Foreign Minister: "Our thoughts are with the French and all the Catholics". The Thai Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, expresses "pain". Japan has indicated its willingness to support France in its restoration work. South Korea announces inspections of national monuments. The South Korean Catholic community offers words of consolation and promises solidarity to the French people. Paris (AsiaNews) - Asian countries have joined the international community in expressing sympathy to France and its people, following the fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, this morning declared that he is "saddened by the fact that Notre-Dame is partially destroyed, after having resisted for 800 years, both wars and the French Revolution". "Our thoughts are with the French and all the Catholics," Zarif writes in his social media accounts. The minister of the Islamic Republic describes the Parisian cathedral as "an emblematic monument dedicated to the prayer of our one God and that united us all through Hugo's literary masterpiece". The Thai Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, also expresses "pain". He does so through the words of its spokesman, Werachon Sukondhapatipak. Prayut announced "support for the French government and people, who have suffered a great loss". The prime minister says he is "confident" in Paris's efforts to rebuild the cathedral. Japan has indicated its willingness to support France in its restoration work. "The Japanese government will consider providing support, if requested by the French government," says Yoshihide Suga, chief secretary of the cabinet. "It's a loss for the world and we feel deeply saddened," he adds. In the country, politicians and experts join the solidarity expressed by the government. Miki Kato, head of the Catholic Research Center of the Sendai Shirayuri Women's College, declares that "the magnificence of Notre-Dame was different from any other church, and the many visitors and locals who prayed there aroused wonder". The academician underlined that a function for victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Sendai and other areas of north-eastern Japan in 2011 took place in the cathedral. "Now it's our turn to support France. I pray for the reconstruction of the cathedral . On behalf of the government of South Korea, the Administration for Cultural Heritage (Cha) expresses "profound regret" over the fire and announces inspections in national monuments. La Cha reports asking provincial governments to control fire protection systems in wooden buildings and other cultural assets. In addition, inspections of buildings, tombs and temples directly managed by the Administration are underway. Meanwhile, the South Korean Catholic community offers words of consolation and promises solidarity to the French people. "I was shocked and deeply saddened when I heard the news of the fire," says Card. Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul. "We share the pain and suffering of Catholics in France and the people of Paris". Finally, the cardinal announces that the archdiocese will pray for those who are fighting the disaster and for the full restoration of the cathedral. The Trump administration consistently admonishes our European allies for their cooperation with the Iranian regime. So the recent rhetorical flare-ups between Tehran and Brussels should come as a welcome surprise, although they have little to do with U.S. policy. While Europe shows no signs of abandoning dialogue with the Islamic Republic as Washington has, tensions are mounting. Europe, however, has economic leverage over Iran and seems prepared to use it as a means of reining in bad Iranian behavior. That's something U.S. policy has failed thus far to achieve. Europe has been cooperating with Tehran on the nuclear deal and helping the Iranians to evade U.S. sanctions. Yet the relationship between Iran and Europe is hardly stable - and Iran's leaders appear to be unnerved. "The Europeans should not believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran will wait for long," Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Sunday, complaining about delays from Europe in implementing a non-dollar trade mechanism meant to lessen the blow of U.S. sanctions. The European Union remains committed to the nuclear deal. But European leaders are enraged by Tehran's aggressive acts on European soil and the maltreatment of E.U. nationals by the regime in Tehran. Iranian authorities, meanwhile, are growing impatient with Europe's inability to help administer the economic relief expected from the nuclear deal. Recently Zarif has attempted to present himself as both distant from Europe to domestic Iranian audiences, while simultaneously reminding European leaders of their obligations to the nuclear deal. "Might be useful for European partners to actually read the document they signed on to, and pledged to defend," Zarif tweeted on Monday. But no one is buying his tough talk. Without Europe's participation, there is no nuclear deal. What's more, one could argue that the continent's departure would take away any incentives for Iran to remain committed to restrictions on its nuclear activities. The truth is that Tehran needs Europe - its money and cooperation - for legitimacy and longevity. Which makes continued Iranian transgressions on European soil that much more vexing and unacceptable to Brussels. In France, the fallout from a failed bomb plot in 2018 has darkened relations. Iran recently named an ex-foreign ministry spokesman as ambassador to France - a sign that Tehran hopes to use its spin machine to stabilize a narrative that has spiraled out of its control. The botched attack remains obscure. Iran contends that the alleged plan to bomb a public gathering of the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) by an Iranian diplomat at the embassy in Austria seems implausible and in line with a so-called false flag operation. Regardless, though, of who planned the attack, the notion that opposing sides of Iranian politics might be using the heart of the West to fight their battles, should be of great concern to the free world. Swedish law enforcement officials recently arrested an Iraqi journalist on suspicions that he was spying on Arab separatists in Stockholm for Tehran. A leader of the same group was murdered in the Netherlands in late 2017 by assassins hired by the Iranian regime, according to Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok. Meanwhile, domestic forces inside Iran are doing little to alter perceptions of their thuggery by continuing to arrest foreign nationals with regularity. In the United Kingdom, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt - a lone voice of clarity as the country fumbles through the Brexit debacle - has made two defiant stands on Iranian aggression. In the high-profile case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, he's made the young mother's three-year imprisonment on bogus national security charges a priority, taking the extraordinary measure of giving the dual national diplomatic protections. Hunt has also signaled his support for staff members of the BBC Persian who have gone public with their complaints over years of systematic harassment by the Iranian authorities on the employees of the broadcaster and their families in Iran who have been threatened, arrested and blocked from doing financial transactions. Both the U.K. and E.U. have recently extended sanctions on Iran for human rights violations ranging from Iran's arrests of journalists and civil rights activists, excessive use of capital punishment, false imprisonment and the use of technology to repress Iranian society. There is growing consensus within the West about the need to block the travel and finances of Iranian regime officials and their families, a move the U.S. and European allies have discussed, but never implemented. If the Trump administration is serious about putting an end to Tehran's "malign activity," it should work with our allies to develop a realistic plan to do so. A multinational approach is the best way to get Iran to fall in line, but it will only happen with Europe and the United States operating from the same playbook. - - - Rezaian is a writer for Global Opinions. He served as The Post's correspondent in Tehran from 2012 to 2016. He spent 544 days unjustly imprisoned by Iranian authorities until his release in January 2016. Six years ago, a now $16 billion bank began to acquire nearly 75 branches in the Western U.S. from one of the nations largest banks. Initially, there was a lot of deposit runoff (25 percent), which was accounted for in the purchase price. Once the transaction dust settled, nearly half of the acquired accounts were gone, but deposits were up 25 percent. The banks CEO and his team concluded that the lost accounts were zero or low-balance accounts, part of a past culture that compensated bank employees on the number of accounts opened. Recently, the banks CEO opined on this dynamic in The Wall Street Journal. Our philosophy is to do what is best for the client. If they need a new account, then open it; but, if they have too many accounts, its OK to close them and get to the mix of services the customer desires. Doing whats best for the customeror memberand what he desires as a governing principle for a business model. Sound familiar? Sales is a fascinating phenomenon in credit unions. We want members to buy, but we dont want to pressure the sale. We want to deepen relationships (measured by added products), but we dont want to overwhelm members with a never-ending cross-sell. We want to pull members to a better deal, but not push so much that they leave. So, whats a credit union to do? Advocate for the member. Congress, not federal regulators, must fix the marijuana banking conundrum, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a House subcommittee last week. I dont believe that this is a failure of the regulators, Mnuchin told the House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee, adding that he would encourage Congress to help solve the problem. Mnuchins comments came, as a bipartisan group of senators introduced their version of cannabis banking legislation. Credit union officials have complained that they take a significant risk if they provide financial services to marijuana-related businesses, even in states where cannabis is legal. They say that because marijuana is illegal on the federal level, financial regulators could impose sanctions on them if they serve cannabis-related businesses. Our own Bruce Siwy and Eric Kieta talk about their true-crime cases in Return To View: The Roundtable news One of the most fulfilling elements of membership in the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Profiles of Courage board is examining the essays on political courage that high school students around the country and, increasingly, around the globe, prepare each year. This year, 2,515 students submitted essays, and the finalists we examined were stunningly eloquent and inspiring, making our choice unusually difficult. Nearly two decades ago, the committee was taken with an essay that took first place but that, in its insight and idealism, has special interest in our own time. So timely, in fact, was the essay that won in the year 2000 that it bears fresh examination as the country gears up for the 2020 presidential election. Here are some annotated excerpts from that winning essay: ** ** ** (O)ur future is at risk due to a troubling tendency towards cynicism among voters and elected officials. The successful resolution of every issue before us depends on the fundamental question of public integrity. Sadly, the cynicism that prevailed in the year 2000, just after the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, has only grown in the years since, when two wars, a devastating economic collapse and increased coarsening of our political rhetoric have rendered American politics toxic and have sent public dispirit to new, troubling heights. It is hard to imagine this high school essayist could have contemplated the depths to which American politics has sunk in the years since he sat down to write his essay. ** ** ** A new attitude has swept American politics. Candidates have discovered that it is easier to be elected by not offending anyone rather than by impressing the voters. Politicians are rushing for the center, careful not to stick their necks out on issues. We might quibble with whether the drive to political safety is a new phenomenon; for many years Congress was full of milquetoast characters who repeatedly drifted to safe harbors. But the flight from the sort of courage that Sen. Kennedy cited in his book a politicians willingness to risk the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow man is inescapable in our own time. ** ** ** (C)ynicism is perhaps the greatest threat to the continued success of the American political system. Cynical candidates have developed an ability to outgrow their convictions in order to win power. Cynical citizens have given up on the election process, going to the polls at one of the lowest rates in the democratic world. This barely needs comment. Public cynicism is rampant in contemporary America. And political figures have not hesitated to tailor their views for political gain. President Donald J. Trump once was an advocate of abortion rights; that view is anathema in the new GOP, and as a candidate he abandoned it. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a 2020 presidential candidate, once had an A rating from the National Rifle Association, a profile that would be fatal in Democratic primaries. Now she has an F rating, more congenial to the constituencies she is courting. ** ** ** Such an atmosphere inevitably distances our society from its leadership and is thus a fundamental threat to the principles of democracy. For the first time in more than a decade, perhaps longer, some Americans now speak openly about threats to the principles of democracy. These worries first surfaced in the current century with the crackdown on civil liberties in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Now they are being voiced more broadly, as the political norms that served as buoys to our democracy are being moved. Republican lawmakers joined Democratic critics of the president in opposing his emergency order for a barrier on the Mexican border, for example. The congressional effort to overturn Trumps initiative passed both houses, a measure of concern among elected officials. The president vetoed the measure. ** ** ** Fortunately for the political process, there remain a number of committed individuals who are steadfast enough in their beliefs to run for office to benefit their fellow Americans. Such people are willing to eschew political and personal comfort and convenience because they believe they can make a difference. Thankfully, this has always been true, and indeed the Profiles in Courage committee has celebrated them since the inception of the award nearly three decades ago. Among the winners are President Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama. One of my favorite selections was Elizabeth Redenbaugh, the only white member of North Carolinas New Hanover County school board (and the only Republican) to oppose a redistricting plan increasing racial and socioeconomic segregation in the districts schools. ** ** ** (E)nergy, candor, conviction and ability to bring people together (can) stand against the current of opportunism, moral compromise and partisanship which runs rampant on the American political scene. There are precious few political figures today who base their appeals on unity rather than on the divisions that define us and that, when harnessed cynically but skillfully, propel so many to public office. Trump and the nearly two dozen Democrats seeking the White House would do well to read the passage above. ** ** ** (I am glad to have) an answer to those who say American young people see politics as a cesspool of corruption, beyond redemption. I have heard that no sensible young person today would want to give his or her life to public service. I can personally assure you this is untrue. So wrote the student who won the Profiles in Courage high school essay contest some 19 years ago. His essay represents the redemption of a passage in Sen. Kennedys book that I have consulted so many times that my 35-cent Cardinal Edition paperback opens automatically to that page: The stories of past courage can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul. As for the essay winners personal assurance that a young person would choose a life of public service, that, too, has been redeemed. The author of that essay which celebrated its subject as a reaction to the cynical climate which threatens the effectiveness of the democratic system went from St. Josephs High School in South Bend, Indiana, to Harvard, became a Rhodes Scholar, served in Afghanistan and was elected mayor of his hometown. Now Pete Buttigieg is running for president. One of his rivals is the subject of his winning entry, Sen. Bernie Sanders. (David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter at ShribmanPG.) Four days ago, at a secretive hearing in the basement of a large building in London, not far from St Pauls Cathedral, judges were considering the activities of a person known only by the cipher CY. We dont know in full what the hearing was about. We dont know a word of what was said there or if the mysterious CY was present. We, the public, are unlikely even to learn the outcome. Welcome to the shadowy world of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which says it follows this countrys cherished principles of open justice but in fact operates in a cloak of secrecy [File photo] The only sliver of information relating to CY that we have been allowed to know thanks to the Governments courts and tribunals website is that his or her case began at 10am and was intended to last all day. Welcome to the shadowy world of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which says it follows this countrys cherished principles of open justice but in fact operates in a cloak of secrecy. Yet it is here that the lawyers of jihadi bride Shamima Begum hope to fight remunerated by legal aid funded by taxpayers Home Secretary Sajid Javids decision in February to strip her of her British citizenship. Since then, Begum has been accused of being an IS operative who carried a Kalashnikov rifle, served in the terror outfits morality police and even stitched suicide bombers into explosive vests. When Begums appeal arrives at the SIAC and it could be many months from now the chances are that we will never be told. She will most likely be granted anonymity like so many others who have appeared there She, of course, says she was merely a blameless housewife, married to a Dutch jihadi, who now wants to come home to rebuild her life with her loving family in east London. Whatever the truth, Begums case at the SIAC is unlikely to get a public airing, despite the thousands of pounds it will cost us to finance her fight to regain her citizenship. Journalists and members of the public are routinely refused access to SIAC hearings, which are hidden in the bowels of Field House one of the many immigration appeal tribunal centres around the country. Remember, the individuals whose cases are being heard can be fighting to avoid deportation, trying to return here after being dispatched to foreign soil, asking for bail from prison and even challenging the Government as is expected in Begums case over the removal of their British citizenship. They can have a chequered past, with possible links to terrorism or other anti-state activities. They want to stay in Britain and the Government wants them out because it believes they pose a threat to national security. The stakes could not be higher. Yet little is known about who appeals at the mysterious SIAC. The normal checks and balances of public justice often do not exist. On the SIAC website, which listed CYs case last week, we read that the tribunal sometimes uses reference numbers or initials to protect the anonymity of those involved in the appeal. Whatever the truth, Begums case at the SIAC is unlikely to get a public airing, despite the thousands of pounds it will cost us to finance her fight to regain her citizenship And that sticks in the craw. We understand that evidence at open SIAC hearings might reveal secrets that help our enemies. But shouldnt the public at least be told the names of those who want to live here when the Government wants rid of them? Three years ago, a foreign-born terror suspect who had illegally entered Britain from Algeria won the right to stay here, despite keeping his real name a secret for 23 years. At one stage, he appeared before the SIAC which, amazingly, granted his request for anonymity as B, although his false names Nolidoni and Pierre Dumond were known. The anonymity order made by SIAC judges meant that Bs photograph could not be circulated by anti-terror police to find out his true identity. Its no wonder that Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Party leader, said at the time: How ridiculous. It is completely mad. We have a legal system that has lost all common sense. There are many who will agree with him. Since then, little appears to have changed. When Begums appeal arrives at the SIAC and it could be many months from now the chances are that we will never be told. She will most likely be granted anonymity like so many others who have appeared there. Can that really be right in a free country? When we first heard the news, it wrenched at our hearts. We all felt we were losing something infinitely precious and something almost personal to ourselves. As the fire hoses were trained on the inferno, men and women were running bravely in and out of the flaming building, saving here a statue, a religious relic, there a painting, a precious vestment each separate object in its way a symbol of the huge numbers of human beings whose creativity had made this place. Human beings whose deepest hopes, imaginative dreams and aspirations had helped create what is perhaps the greatest cathedral in the world. Passionate Notre Dame has been, for all of us, an embodiment of Paris and its history. Of that city's medieval Catholic past, its religious wars, its national triumphs and disasters. When I try to put into words what it was like on Monday evening to see the images of Notre Dame in flames, it seems almost uncanny to me now. Because only two weeks ago, looking round for something to read on a holiday, I took it into my head to read Victor Hugo's masterpiece which most of us know as The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Its French title is simply, Notre Dame De Paris, one of the great works of French literature. When I try to put into words what it was like on Monday evening to see the images of Notre Dame in flames, it seems almost uncanny to me now, writes A.N. WILSON I had never read the book, and knew only the 1939 film with Charles Laughton as Quasimodo the hunchback, obsessed with love for Esmerelda and deafened by 'the bells, the bells!' But it begins with a great disquisition on Gothic architecture and what we all owe to it. Hugo, who wrote the book in 1830, could not have been more vivid and passionate in his descriptions of Notre Dame with its flying buttresses and towering spires, its high arching interiors. He regarded its architects as poets who had liberated man's spirit. Soaring to the heavens, the cathedral was to him the greatest expression of collective human endeavour and, though he was a non-believer, of humanity's faith in God. The paradox of Notre Dame today and, indeed, of all the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe is that in this largely post-Christian age it has outlasted its original reason for existing. And yet that is why it matters so much to us, modern, confused and agnostic as most of us are. In times of faith, the cathedral was divisive. The French were tearing themselves apart with religious wars Protestant versus Catholic in the 16th century, and they tried to abolish Christianity with equal zeal during the Revolution, demolishing other Gothic cathedrals and churches while Notre Dame thankfully survived. The paradox of Notre Dame today and, indeed, of all the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe is that in this largely post-Christian age it has outlasted its original reason for existing, writes A.N. WILSON But now, in our secular world, cathedrals unify us as never before. Why do these wonderful great Gothic edifices of the Middle Ages, and Notre Dame in particular, have such enormous significance in our lives? Why do hundreds of thousands of visitors each year flock to Notre Dame, Chartres, Westminster Abbey, Salisbury, York Minster, Cologne? It is because we recognise that the cathedrals of the Middle Ages are among the greatest I would say the greatest works of art in Europe. This is partly because they are not the work of individuals, but of whole communities. Unlike the symphonies of Beethoven or the plays of Shakespeare, they are anonymous and collective. European humanity made them over centuries, and European humanity has loved and adapted and needed them ever since they were built. It is astonishing to me that we use the word 'medieval' as a term of abuse. We say, 'It is positively medieval' to mean some practice is brutal, cruel or unsophisticated. When we use such a phrase, we should look at the architecture produced in our own age inhuman tower blocks, multi-storey car parks smelling of urine, ugly shopping malls and ask what we have built that comes within a million miles of the sophistication of Notre Dame. A cathedral is making a statement about humanity, about the centrality of beauty to human experience and about the ultimate, awe-inspiring puzzle of our existence, writes A.N. WILSON And we should then ask what that building set out to do. Yes, in the narrowest terms, Notre Dame set out to be a place of Catholic worship, where monks could chant the psalms and mutter the mass. But a cathedral is making a statement about humanity, about the centrality of beauty to human experience and about the ultimate, awe-inspiring puzzle of our existence. Cherish To these buildings, nations have come together in their times of great collective experience, for the state funerals, royal weddings, solemn memories of war that bind us all together. To these buildings, too, however, when no ceremonies are in progress, millions of men and women have come quietly for hundreds of years with their own secret sorrows, joys and hopes. And, staring upwards at the swooping arches and coloured glass and the carved statues of kings, virgins, prophets and angels, they have confronted the deep mystery of the world. Lord Salisbury, the great Victorian prime minister, addressing a group of scientists in 1894, said: 'We live in a small bright oasis of knowledge surrounded on all sides by a vast unexplored region of impenetrable mystery.' European humanity made them over centuries, and European humanity has loved and adapted and needed them ever since they were built, writes A.N. WILSON In our own day, some so-called born-again atheists have ignored this fact. They have held out the pathetic illusion that every aspect of life can be explained in materialist terms. The huge numbers of people who cherish our cathedrals know this is not the case, and that at the deepest level, while retaining all our critical faculties and all our powers of reason, we need these spaces, and the music and light they contain. Vivid Our hearts cracked when we saw Notre Dame burn for another reason. It happened at a time of miserable squabbling over the future of Europe. Brexit has made some people imagine that Europe is a dirty word. The truth is that whatever we think about Brexit or a customs union, or any of the esoteric options lying before our often-idiotic politicians, we are all heirs of a great common history. So much of our music, our philosophy, our idea of right and wrong, came to us filtered through the Christian story, whatever we might make of that story now. We do not necessarily believe in the way our forebears did. But this only increases our devotion to the Gothic masterpieces of the Age of Faith. Few houses of faith have such a vivid story to tell as Notre Dame de Paris. The work of rebuilding will begin as soon as the rubble is cleared. The common determination to restore the place will be shared not only by the people of France, but by all Europeans who, as they watch Notre Dame rise again, will once again marvel at the values and stories and human creativity embodied in such a temple. A mother who sold her car and used money she'd been saving for a holiday to pay off her son's debts revealed she 'hopes he goes back inside' in last night's episode of Channel 4's Life After Lock-Up documentary. Rhys, 20, from Portland, was released from prison having spent 34 of the past 38 months behind bars for drug offences, assaults and other crimes. But it wasn't long before his mum Joy kicked him out of the family home after being threatened by drug dealers, who warned they'd set her family's home on fire if she didn't find the cash to pay off his debts. 'It broke my heart all over againis it wrong for me to say I hope he goes back inside?' she said in the eye-opening episode, after being given just five hours to get all of the money together. Despite feeling guilty about her comment and actions, viewers were fully behind her tough decision and insisted Rhys needs to 'grow up.' 'Desperation. When a mum kicks out her own son. Drugs and their devastating effect,' wrote one, while another penned: 'Rhys' mum is only doing what any mum does - protect your kids. You can dislike them, but you never stop loving them.' Rhys (pictured) from Portland who spent time in a Young Offenders Institution, was made to return to prison for dealing drugs just 18 days after his 21st birthday In the show, Tracey admitted: 'It broke my heart all over againis it wrong for me to say I hope he goes back inside?' Despite feeling guilty about her comment and actions, viewers were fully behind her tough decision and insisted Rhys needs to 'grow up' Another wrote: 'Rhys couldn't do it. Feel for his mother,' while a further commented: 'Rhys was doing well. Don't feel guilty, sometimes it's either you take drastic actions or you will go down.' Joy, who also has a young daughter, explained on the show: 'It got to the stage where we were threatened by the drug dealers that they were going to set our house on fire, shoot us, hurt us. And they gave me five hours to get the money up together and pay them off.' During the episode, Rhys moved in with a woman named Shanley and her two children. 'He's gone from being this criminal to basically being a step dad,' she said. He also narrowly avoided prison and was able to spend his 21st birthday with his family the first in four years he's spent out of prison. 'Now I'm 21, I'm an adult now,' he explained. 'I've got a family, my new little family, with two little ones. Love keeps a person going. It keeps me going.' Rhys (above) caused a mixed reaction on social media lats night. With some feeling sorry for him and others blaming him for being selfish Tracey, 38, (pictured) who was jailed for stealing handbags to support her drug habit was introduced in Monday night's episode of Life after lock-up But just 18 days later, it's revealed that Rhys was sent back for dealing drugs and although upset, his mum said: 'It just goes to show you can't change people.' Rhys was sentenced to eight months and returned to prison after 240 days of freedom. But while many slammed the criminal's behaviour, others expressed sympathy for him. 'Rhys has found someone else to manipulate instead of mummy,' wrote one, while a second said: 'Seen this all far too many times. Hope Rhys does some thinking and gets his head sorted.' A third commented: 'Rhys, be a man and stop letting your mummy ruin you. Forgive her and live your life.' While many slammed the criminal's behaviour others expressed sympathy for him. 'Seen this all far too many times,' wrote one. 'Hope Rhys does some thinking and gets his head sorted' The episode focused on the lives of five out of eight convicted criminals after they were released from prison. Tracey, 38, was jailed for eight months after stealing handbags to support her drug habit. She admitted that she struggles with a drug addiction and is eventually kicked out of her friend's house after she's caught using. After getting through to a charity, she's given a room for the night. 'I've got no responsibility,' she said. 'No one to answer to. No responsibility.' 'When I was a kid I heard of addicts, and I was like, I'll never be like that. That won't be me and it's become me. It's become who I am. Defined who I am. My life is one big regret.' A few weeks later, Tracey is arrested for breaching the terms of her probation licence. She returned to prison for another 10 months. The Channel 4 series documents the lives of criminals within Britain who have a history of involvement with drugs, such as Tracey (pictured) who was kicked out of her friend's house for using drugs Jason, 46, (pictured) confessed he prefer sbeing in jail as he has no family or friends. He has been in and out of prison since age 13 Meanwhile, Jason, 46, revealed he had been in and out of prison since he was 13 - and has a history of severe depression. On the day of his release, he stayed in a hotel that the local council had paid for. He admitted that he had no family or friends and actually preferred being in jail. 'Out there to me is worse than jail,' he said. 'I don't understand the rules out there, in jail I do.' During the documentary, Jason explained he'd struggled with a drug addiction after a horrible childhood - and he arranged to meet a drug dealer after two days out of prison. 'Heroin is the only thing I have left to keep me company,' he said. 'It stops me feeling lonely makes me feel a part of something.' He explained he'd lost his younger brother when he was eight-years-old and his dad made him believe it was his fault. 'He put me in a children's home,' he said. 'I stabbed him in the head first.' Azhar (pictured) who appeared in the first episode of Life After Lock-Up, turned back to fighting and drug dealing after he realised he won't make quick money working in a restaurant The episode also caught up on the lives of Gemma and Azhar from last week's episode. Gemma's addiction continued to spiral out of control after she spent 80 on drugs. Azhar was released after three-and-a-half days in prison and desperate to prove to his family he'd changed, he started working in a takeaway shop. He admitted that he doesn't like to fail and wants to make the money so he can buy his son presents. But after realising that he won't make quick cash from working in a restaurant, he resorted back to fighting and drug dealing to make money. Azhar moved back in with his parents but his dad took out a restraining order, forbidding him from visiting the family home. But after breaking the term, he was arrested and subsequently found guilty of two burglaries. He returned to prison after 349 days of freedom. A grieving mother has opened up about the devastating moment she listened to her son's final heartbeats after he was stabbed to death by two teenage thugs. In 2106, mum-of-five Rachel Webb, 41, from south London, had sent 14-year-old Kryon to live with his dad in Manchester as she was scared about the knife crime epidemic in the capital. But a year later, she received a devastating phone call telling her Kyron, 15, had been stabbed in an unprovoked attack by two men, aged 16 and 17. Three days after he was admitted to hospital, Rachel was faced with the harrowing task of switching off her son's life support machine. Rachel Webb has opened up about the devastating moment she listened to her son's final heartbeats after he was stabbed to death by two teenage thugs Kyron, 15, was stabbed in an unprovoked attack by two men, aged 16 and 17, on the streets of Manchester a year after leaving London Speaking on tonight's episode of The Kyle Files - the final one in the series - Rachel recalls how she rested her head on Kyron's chest as he gradually slipped away. She said: 'I just remember leaning forward and I put my head on his chest and I closed my eyes and I thought of every single baby picture I could think of, every happy memory, every smile, every joy, anything I could think of that would remind me of my Kyron. 'I just thought of the strong, powerful heartbeats, and you're thinking, "They're going to switch the machine off and his heart's going to keep beating and it's going to be OK". 'So that's what I was waiting for, for it to be OK, and they were coming really strong, and then it started to slow down a little bit, and then you felt it fading out, and then he's gone. His heart's not beating anymore.' In the UK last year, 250 people died in knife attacks - an 69 per cent rise from the year before. Rachel described Kyron as 'a really sensitive little boy', adding: 'The best thing about him was his smile Rachel told how Kyron wasn't involved in gangs, but she still felt he would be safer in Manchester. But in a sick twist of fate, Kryon was stabbed on the street a year later in a non gang-related attack In tonight's show, Jeremy Kyle speaks to the perpetrators and the families of victims as he investigates why knife crime in Britain has reached crisis levels. He discovers there were 100 victims of knife attacks every day last year on average - with 20 per cent of the culprits charged with offences aged between 10 and 17. Rachel described Kyron as 'a really sensitive little boy', adding: 'The best thing about him was his smile. 'He had the most magnetic, contagious smile and he'd just want a hug. He was so loving. Even at 15.' She told how Kyron wasn't involved in gangs, but she still felt he would be safer in Manchester. But in a sick twist of fate, Kryon was stabbed on the street a year later in a non gang-related attack. Heartbroken Rachel recalls how she rested her head on Kyron's chest as he gradually slipped away Kyron's attacker Michael Idehen was jailed for 15 years for murder in May 2018, while his 16-year-old accomplice received five years for manslaughter Speaking about the moment police officers informed her Kyron had been knifed in the chest, Rachel said: 'As soon as he said his heart, I knew I wasn't going to be bringing my son home. 'I remember just breaking down, screaming, screaming, screaming until I didn't feel I could breathe anymore. I had no more words, I just knew.' Kyron's attacker Michael Idehen was jailed for 15 years for murder in May 2018, while his 16-year-old accomplice received five years for manslaughter. Rachel admitted she now fears for the safety of her other four children when they are not at home. 'You don't have to be misbehaving or having an argument with anybody,' she said. 'You simply have to be in a postcode and its going to be a problem.' In tonight's show, Jeremy Kyle speaks to the perpetrators and the families of victims as he investigates why knife crime in Britain has reached crisis levels During the show, Jeremy interviews two anonymous gang members who claim they carry knives with them every day - one of which admitted he had done so since the age of 14. 'You know youve got to be alpha, and to be that alpha you have to take out those who want to step out of line,' the young lad explained. When asked if he would stab the ITV host if he didn't like the look of him, he said he would 'ask questions first' but attack if he didn't receive an answer. The Kyle Files airs on ITV tonight at 8pm. A mother who launched a sewing business in her home after struggling to find clothes for her newborn is now celebrating turning over 1.5 million just two years later. Laura Newman, 25, from Barnsley, welcomed her son Nate with husband Adam, 34, in 2017, but struggled to find clothes for him. Spotting a gap in the market, she borrowed 1,000 from Adam to cover the costs of six weeks of sewing lessons and purchasing her first sewing machine. Laura decided to start online brand Forever Sewing, offering bespoke handmade garments for babies and toddlers, and was shocked when she made 2,000 within the first two weeks. This month marked the brand's two-year anniversary, and Laura has celebrated an annual turnover of 1.5m more than tripling their revenue, and winning a huge celebrity following. Laura Newman, 25, from Barnsley, struggled to find clothes for her son when she fell pregnant with husband Adam in 2016. She is seen on her wedding day with Adam Laura revealed how she spent hours self-teaching late into the night by watching YouTube tutorials after welcoming Nate, born in 2017. He is seen modelling one of her designs in August 2017 Speaking about her journey, which began during her pregnancy, Laura revealed how she spent hours self-teaching late into the night by watching YouTube tutorials in between feeding her newborn. She told FEMAIL: 'During my pregnancy I struggled to purchase boys' clothing and this is really where it all started. 'Before I knew it I had purchased my very own sewing machine set up on my dining room table so every evening once Nate's bed time rolled round I would be sewing until the early hours.' Revealing her inspiration behind the brand, she continued: 'My husband and I were enjoying the New Year in Disney Land Paris and it became obvious that personalised clothing was of massive interest to a lot of parents. This month marked the brand's two-year anniversary, and Laura has celebrated turning over 1.5m more than tripling their revenue, and winning a huge celebrity following. Amy Childs is seen wearing the brand with her daughter Every evening, after putting Nate to bed, Laura would be sewing until the early hours on her dining room table, but that same year she managed to open a warehouse (seen) as demand became so huge 'We had this in mind when creating our lounge suits and rompers styles and realised that something as simple as positioning the personalisation to the left chest area and left leg area was so effective. 'We knew looking at the overall look of the product that this outfit was going to be very popular and at this point we hadn't seen this available to purchase anywhere else.' Every evening, after putting Nate to bed, Laura would be sewing until the early hours. Laura revealed: 'Monday I would cut, Tuesday embroider, Wednesday overlock, Thursday lockstitch and Friday package for the post run. Every evening, after putting Nate to bed, Laura would be sewing until the early hours at home - before finding a warehouse space later that year (pictured) Laura's hard work paid off, and she made 2,000 in the first week of sales and was making 1,000 a day by the end of the month. Her designs are pictured 'It became apparent very quickly I was pushing myself too much - some mornings finishing up at 5am to then be awake with Nate at 8am and have to be a mum through the day, ready to pick up the production come bedtime. 'In all honesty I didn't sleep longer than 2 hours for 3 months.' However Laura's hard work paid off, and she made 2,000 in the first week of sales and was making 1,000 a day by the end of the month. To sustain the growth of the business, Laura would only go live on the website every Friday at midday, limiting orders coming in at a cap of 10,000 - which was reached within 20 minutes every week. Within 4 weeks, Laura and her husband had built a team of outsourced cutters, embroiderers, machinists and packagers. Laura decided to start online brand Forever Sewing, offering bespoke handmade garments for babies and toddlers, and was shocked when she made 2,000 within the first two weeks Within 4 weeks, Laura and her husband had built a team of outsourced cutters, embroiderers, machinists and packagers and was bombarded with orders Laura said: 'In September 2017 we moved into the Forever Sewing home, no longer making the clothing on dining room tables, but fully equipped work stations with industrial machines that work to very high quality. 'We hired seven full time highly professional machinists who were handpicked from 12 others and who were trained by many high end retailers. 'My own mother also chose to come on board with us, joining our family run business to enhance the cutting department and provide a high level of training to our apprentices that are joining the sewing industry.' Amazingly, within its first year of launching, the brand was taking an average of 40,000 to 50,000 a month. Following the success of the business launch, Adam and Laura were able to afford their dream 30,000 wedding abroad in 2018 They even paid for their family members to join them to witness their nuptials on their special day Following the success of the business launch, Adam and Laura were able to afford their dream 30,000 wedding abroad in 2018 and even paid for their family members to join them to witness their nuptials. The children's clothing site has also been hugely popular with celebrities and influencers. Amy Childs and Stephanie Davies are just some of the stars who have been seen this year dressing their little ones in the garments. The brand has also earned a loyal fan base on social media with followers including Stacey Solomon, Rochelle Humes, Abbey Clancy and Mrs Hinch. Sharing her joy at the success, Laura said: 'We're so lucky, we have had so much support from parents all over the UK. 'It's so amazing to be our own bosses and we couldn't have imagined the scale of success, it really has changed our lives'. The Duchess of Sussex is eagerly awaiting the birth of her first child, but eagle-eyed royal fans are convinced that, rather than putting her feet up, Meghan is busy on social media. Royal watchers have gone into a frenzy after spotting captions on the new @SussexRoyal Instagram account that they believe have been written by Meghan. Fans fans have been quick to spot Americanised spellings, as well as dollar signs and American English in the captions, and claim this points to a US native writing them. Meghan, 37, and Prince Harry, 34, recently thanked fans for donating to their chosen charities in honour of Baby Sussex, and one post about Baby2Baby contains references to 'cribs' and 'diapers'. Several posts use the US spelling 'organization', rather than 'organisation' and 'programs' rather than 'programmes'. Before she was the Duchess of Sussex and began dating Prince Harry, Meghan amassed millions of followers on social media, and loved interacting with her fans. The Sussex Royal account regularly posts photographs of the royal couple, but the captions are providing clues that they could be penned by an American author The words 'cribs' and 'diapers' in the above caption are more common in American-English than the more traditional British 'cots' and 'nappies The former Suits star often posted on pictures of her doing yoga, cuddling her dogs and enjoying a glass of wine on her Instagram account. In January last year when she shut down her profile, she released a statement via Kensington Palace, saying she was 'grateful to everyone who has followed her social media accounts over the years'. At the time, she'd posted over 2,000 times and had millions of followers. Fans are sure there are several clues as to whether Meghan is controlling the new Sussex Royal account, which so far has a total of 12 posts in just two weeks. Meanwhile in the above post, the author refers to 'organization', which is an Americanised-English term that differs from the English word 'organisation' The account, which follows the work the royal's do for charities, patronages and any work engagements, has regularly posted in support of 'organizations', the Americanised-English spelling of the English word 'organisations'. And it's not the only word which points to an American author - in the latest post, which thanks supporters of some of the royal's favourite charities, the occasional American spelling crops up, including 're-energized' instead of 're-energised'. Both spellings of these words can be used in Britain, but the more common way in British English is 'energised' and 'organisations' with an 'S'. In several posts, including one endorsing Baby2Baby, a charity in Los Angeles, the account uses the American spelling 'programs' rather than 'programmes'. The author refers to 'domestic violence programs' in the above captions, which differs from the British English spelling of 'programmes', and 'hometown' as opposed to British English 'home town' Before Meghan became the Duchess of Sussex, she ran a successful Instagram account that had over 2,000 posts and 3 million followers. She shut the account when she began seriously dating Prince Harry Before she began dating Harry, Meghan would regularly post on her own social media and interact with fans and followers In the same post praising the Los Angeles charity, the writer refers to The Duchess of Sussex's 'hometown', the American spelling of the British word 'home town'. The most recent post is perhaps the most heavily Americanised, and refers to baby essentials such as 'diaper' and 'crib' as opposed to words that English people tend to use, like 'nappy' or 'cot'. The person writing the caption also used a dollar sign instead of a pound sign, which could indicate a clear slip from the author. And it's not just the spelling which gives it away - the post in question is just one to feature the Oxford comma. Despite it's name, it is not considered standard in UK English, but is mandatory in American English. This photograph was posted on the Kensington Royal's social media accounts, and was credited to the Duchess of Sussex On posts specific to events the Duke of Sussex has attended, at which Meghan isn't present, the captions tend to follow with more traditional British English spellings. Two of the Instagram posts in question also featured the heart emoji, a symbol never seen on the KensingtonRoyal account. The SussexRoyal account features slick, white borders that give it a stylised look, in contrast to Prince William and Kate Middleton's account. Since the SussexRoyal account has been launched, commentators have suggested that the Duke and Duchess may use it to post the first pictures of Baby Sussex. And it was also reported last year that Meghan had a 'secret' Instagram account in order to keep up with friends and family. She was even hands on with the Kensington Royal account, which she and Harry used to share with the Cambridges. She snapped a photograph of her husband that appeared on the Kensington Royal feed during the royal tour last year. The royal couple's split their social media accounts earlier this year and now the @Kensingtonroyal account purely documents the work of Prince William and Kate Middleton's family. Meghan Markle's makeup artist has sparked intense speculation about the royal's due date after posting a seemingly-innocent Instagram message to his followers about his own travel plans. While the nation has been on tenterhooks since the beginning of April - the month it was reported the Duchess is due - her long-time friend Daniel Martin may now have given the biggest hint yet as to Baby Sussexs expected date of arrival. At the beginning of the month, the New York-based makeup artist was seen in London, before heading to the residence of Prince Harry, 34, and Meghan Markle, 37, in Windsor. This prompted furious speculation that the beauty pro had flown into the city in preparation for applying Meghan's makeup following the birth of her first child. But he has since sent the rumor mill into further overdrive after stating on Instagram that he plans to be home in New York by May 5. Meghan Markle's makeup artist sent the rumor mill into overdrive with speculation about when the Duchess, pictured in London in March, is going to give birth with a simple Instagram post Beauty pro Daniel Martin (pictured) is Meghan's long-time friend and is thought to have flown to London ahead of the birth so he is ready to work with the royal after the baby arrives The New Yorker revealed on Instagram that he plans to be back in the Big Apple by May 5 for an event - prompting furious speculation that Meghan is going to give birth before then It seems Daniel may have answered the question on everyone's lips - without even realizing. The one comment has caused much excitement among fans of the couple, with many interpreting it to mean the mother-to-be would have given birth by then. In a post to his 124,000 followers, which was intended just to plug his make up show, he wrote: 'I'm very excited to share that I'll be making my first ever main stage appearance @themakeupshow on Sunday, May 5th from 10am-11:30am. 'I'll be sharing my journey, doing makeup, tips and tricks and spilling the tea on some of my favorite products in my kit!' Speculation around Baby Sussex's due date has been furious over the past few months, particularly after Harry and Meghan revealed that they will not be announcing the birth immediately, but will instead take a few days to celebrate the arrival in private, before sharing the news publicly. The parents-to-be released a statement last Thursday explaining the decision, revealing that they will also not be sharing any of the plans surrounding the birth, such as the date or the location. Daniel, who is pictured in September 2013 at New York Fashion Week, has been working with Meghan for years, and even attended her baby shower in the Big Apple in February Yesterday we reported that the couple's determination to keep the birth of their baby private is fueling rumors that Meghan, pictured with Harry in March, may have already given birth 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have receive from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby,' the Kensington Palace statement said. 'Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family.' Just yesterday former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter, 79, shut down rumors that Meghan had already given birth. He appeared on Australian show Today Extra, where he discussed several piece of gossip regarding Baby Sussex on Sunday. 'If you believe that, you'd believe anything,' he said. 'We'll know in due course when the baby is born. Harry and Meghan made it very clear the birth is going to be private.' E. L. James has promised fans of the racy Fifty Shades series won't be disappointed by her latest offering, released today, saying: 'Of course theres a bit of erotica.' The author joined Christine on Lorraine this morning to discuss her new book The Mister, which she described her new book as a modern day love story. It follows the life of Maxim Trevelyan, an aristocratic from London who meets a mysterious and beautiful woman, Alessia Demachi, whos recently arrived in England. And she admitted it was nice to focus on another fictional couple after writing three Fifty Shades books, and a follow-up from Christian Grey's point of view. 'These people have been talking to me in my head for a long time now,' she said. 'Ive got several couples bickering in my head.' Author E. L. James said she was embarrassed that men read her novels. She was on Lorraine to discuss her new book, The Mister, out today, James' previous trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey sold 125 million copies online and led to three film adaptation starring Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele (left) and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey (right) Opening up about her latest male hero, the writer said: 'Its an interesting thing hes incredibly privileged, hes tried lots of different things. 'We know very little about the woman he meets, and her past catches up with her.' She said she's been intending to write a new book for some time, as she was excited to explore new characters. 'With Fifty, theyve been with me for a long time now. 'Its a bit different. Its nice to let yourself go and fall in love with two new characters.' Invited on the set of Lorraine, hosted by Christine Lampard, James assured that her new novel contained some erotica E. L. James at her book signing for Fifty Shades of Grey in 2012. The author said that her two sons were proud of her, but that she still blushed at the thought men read of erotica Christine also questioned her about her two sons and what they thought of her success. 'Theyre extraordinarily proud of me,' she said. 'Theyre getting on with their own lives, so they arent particularly interested in what their mum is getting up to.' James' new book, The Mister, is released today. The author teased the plot resembled a modern-day 'Cinderella story' Christine also questioned her on whether she gets embarrassed because of the racy nature of her books. 'Its not that. I write for myself primarily. Fifty was a story Id like to read,' she replied. 'And I love sharing it with women, and I can talk about it with women all the time.' 'I get a little embarrassed about men reading it. Ive had various e-mail from men and I just think "oh my god." I remember one particular one was from a 71-year-old man who wrote to me and said "thank you very much for reminding me what its like to fall in love again." Which was sweet and I hope hell be reading this one as well.' She also revealed that her husband does proofread all of her books as well. 'He reads everything that I do and I really appreciate that,' she said. The author also went on to say that even Oprah has read her books and counts herself as one of her biggest fans. 'Hollywood is an interesting place to be. Ive got lots of friends there. Its an odd place,' she said. Former Made In Chelsea star Tabitha Willett has celebrated the impending arrival of her firstborn with a colourful babyshower featuring her former co-stars. The 27-year-old reality star, who will welcome a little girl with her nightclub mogul boyfriend Fraser Carruthers - a pal of Prince Harry's - in June, shared the pictures of the intimate celebrations with FEMAIL. Tabitha, from London, appeared on Made In Chelsea: Croatia last summer, before leaving the show upon discovering she was pregnant with Fraser following their brief split. At the weekend Tabitha celebrated with close friends and family, as well as some of her former co-stars including Ollie Locke and Olivia Bentley. Former Made In Chelsea star Tabitha Willett celebrated the impending arrival of her firstborn with nightclub mogul boyfriend Fraser Carruthers, seen, with a colourful babyshower At the weekend Tabitha celebrated with close friends and family, as well as some of her former co-stars including Olivia Bentley, pictured left On Saturday Tabitha was pictured dressing her bump in a floral maxi dress and fuchsia-coloured heels as she toasted the start of a new chapter, surrounded by family, friends and an impressive display of colourful balloons and tasty treats. Speaking to FEMAIL about the babyshower, Tabitha said: 'My friends pulled together to help me prepare the baby shower and my mum and grandmother came down to join us. 'The lovely Great British Bake Off's Manon Lagreve even came to set up the cake she made for me. 'The party favours for the guests were from fine jewellery company Ruifier and we had biscuits by Maitre Choux, Biscuiteers and Meringue Girls, as well as rose champagne by Perrier Joet too - I think my guests got through about 40 bottles!' Tabitha's former Made In Chelsea co-star Ollie Locke was also in attendance, seen left She added: 'The decorations were all done by Balloonista so the set up was fairly easy and we held it in one of Fraser's private members club on the Kings Road, Albert's, so we had free rein of the room which was nice.' Revealing the lavish gifts her little one will enjoy, Tabitha continued: 'The baby was so spoilt with some of the most gorgeous presents. 'She got her first first diamond bracelet and she also got her first Harrods bear from my grandmother.' Speaking about being reunited with her former co-stars, she added: 'I was so happy to have my house mates from Croatia there - Ollie Locke and Liv Bentley - I don't see them too much any more so that was a gift in itself.' And Tabitha admits that royal baby fever has increased her excitement. Great British Bake Off's Manon Lagreve, seen right, even came to set up the cake which she made for the party, pictured left Tabitha's mother and grandmother came down to join the festivities, dressed in pretty colourful wrap dresses 'I totally have baby fever about any new arrival at the moment but especially the impending royal baby! I heard that the Duchess of Sussex might be having an at home, natural birth which I think is so cool. 'It has inspired me to try hypnobirthing and if all goes well I should be giving birth at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as naturally as possible'. Discussing her baby name, she added: 'We don't want to reveal the name just yet in case we change our mind last minute but we do know it's going to begin with an O. 'We both love old fashioned and traditional English names. She will also take her father's surname, Carruthers, and her middle names will be family names from both of our sides.' Tabitha is seen with her sisters, mother and grandmother as they enjoyed the colourful celebrations Tabitha met Fraser Carruthers, 35, in 2016 when she worked as a marketing director at his private members club Albert's, named after his great-great-great-great grandfather, which counts Prince Harry as one of its favourite patrons Prince Harry was a regular at Mahiki, one of Fraser's clubs, in his twenties. Pictured: Harry leaving the club back in 2008 Tabitha met Fraser Carruthers, 35, in 2016 when she worked as a marketing director at his private members club Albert's, named after his great-great-great-great grandfather, which counts Prince Harry as one of its favourite patrons. Prince Harry was also a regular at Mahiki, one of Fraser's clubs, in his twenties. Fraser also co-owns popular Chelsea-based club Raffles, and Mahiki in Kensington - a stone's throw from Kensington Palace, as well as owning a property company and having just launched a new Sake brand with Made In Chelsea star Oliver Proudlock. Speaking to FEMAIL previously, Tabitha, who lives with Fraser in London's Parsons Green, remembered how her relationship with Fraser began, explaining: 'I started working as a marketing director at Albert's Private Members Club in 2016 where Fraser and I met. 'It quickly became romantic but we kept very quiet as he was my boss. It was very on-off for a long time before we became official and moved in together in November 2017'. The 27-year-old reality star, who appeared on Made In Chelsea: Croatia last summer and was seen enjoying a brief tryst with Sam Prince, left the show after discovering she was pregnant On Saturday Tabitha was pictured dressing her bump in a floral maxi dress and fuchsia-coloured heels as she toasted the start of a new chapter The tasty treats on offer for guests included biscuits by Maitre Choux, Biscuiteers and Meringue Girls Despite not planning the pregnancy, Tabitha described it was a 'lovely surprise' which has brought the pair closer together. She said: 'We found out about the pregnancy after we got back together and were happily living together and speaking about our future. 'The pregnancy has come as such a happy and welcome surprise to both of us. It has brought us so much closer together and we can't wait to meet our little girl. Fraser will be a very protective father.' And having lived through the dramas of Made In Chelsea's complicated love stories, Tabitha acknowledges that both their industries hold challenges. 'It definitely has it's challenges being with someone who is so actively in night life,' she admitted. 'There are often other girls in the picture and lots of late nights, but we are very confident in each other and love each other very much. We know that as long as there is trust there, then work is work'. Among the guests at Tabitha's glamorous babyshower was Vikings actress Gee Hirst, seen right Tabitha is seen with her former Made In Chelsea co-star Diana Larionov (pictured centre) Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke is pictured with his fiance Garath Locke enjoying the celebrations A hairdresser has told how she predicted her miracle baby would be born with a full head of hair. Jemma Bellingham, 27, from Plymouth, was told she wouldn't be able to have any more children after her son was born. But five years later, the hairdresser found out she was pregnant with a miracle baby and had a 'feeling' that her baby would be born with a full head of hair. When Vienna arrived, her hair was so thick that she needed her first haircut within three months. Hairdresser Jemma Bellingham from Plymouth, had a 'feeling' when she was pregnant that her baby would have a thick head of hair (pictured with her miracle baby Vienna) Jemma also suffered from horrendous heartburn later in her pregnancy, which is said to be a sign that your baby has a lot of hair. The hairdresser, from Plymouth, Devon, said: 'She is so adorable and her hair is on another planet. 'She had absolutely loads of hair when she was born.' She went on to reveal: 'Every single nurse was shocked and said they had never seen so much hair on a newborn.' Even the nurses in the delivery room were stunned by how much hair baby Vienna had, with many saying they'd never seen so much on a newborn Jemma was stunned when she found out she was pregnant having been told she couldn't have any more children. She and her partner Michael, 31, were told after they had their son Rio, now-seven, that they wouldn't get pregnant again. But baby Vienna was a happy surprise, after the couple conceived the baby while relaxing on holiday in Fiji. The hairdresser revealed: 'We went five years thinking we weren't going to have any more so she was really unexpected.' Hairdresser Jemma predicted that her baby would have thick luscious locks - but said she didn't realise it would be 'so thick' The mother-of-two also said that she could picture an image of what her daughter would look like. She revealed: 'I had a little idea - I had an image in my head of what she was going to look like so thought that maybe she would have lots of hair.' The hairdresser went on to suffer from awful heartburn, which is said to be a sign that your baby will be born with lots of hair. She said: 'I thought that she was going to have lots of hair when we found out we were going to have her - it just came to me one day, I just had a feeling but I wasn't even having any heartburn at that point.' People often mistake baby Vienna for a doll because of her hair, which Jemma believes she got from her partner Michael 'But I didn't think it was going to be so thick.' And when she gave birth to the baby on 9 January, the nurses told her that they'd never seen a newborn with such thick hair. Jemma said that people often mistake Vienna for a doll because of her hair, and that her son Rio is also amazed by his baby sister. She added: 'My son also has lots of hair - he has been amazing with her. It's her dad that she has got it from because he has all the dark features. 'No one believed it when we went on holiday to the Maldives and Abu Dhabi recently.' She also revealed that baby Vienna attracted attention while they were out and about, saying: 'Everyone was looking at her - everyone in the queue thought she was a little doll or something. 'She was a little dream on the flight - she is so good.' She's known for her co-ordinated style and warm nature on public appearances. And today was no exception as Queen Maxima of the Netherlands donned a smart houndstooth print dress and jacket for a day of engagements in Doorn, a town in the centre of the country. The monarch was attending a congress for a charity that offers support for young children whose parents have psychiatric problems. And the 47-year-old was all smiles as she greeted well-wishers who had turned out to welcome her. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands donned a dog-tooth print dress and jacket to attend a congress for a charity that offers support for young children who's parents have psychiatric problems The Queen, 47, couldn't help but smile as she was greeted by well-wishers in Doorn, a town in the centre of the country The Argentinian-born royal, who is married to King Willem-Alexander, teamed a pair of suede mustard heels with a knee-length shift dress. The dress, which was in a monochrome dogtooth pattern, was cinched in at the waist, and had capped sleeves that ran down just past the elbow. Stylish as always, Maxima paired the dress with a matching jacket and held onto a yellow clutch bag which perfectly complemented her shoes. At one point, the mother-of-three was given a bunch of orange gerbera flowers, and looked overwhelmed as she sweetly bent down to meet two toddler girls who handed her another bouquet. The Argentinian-born royal, who is married to King Willem-Alexander, teamed a pair of suede mustard heels with a knee-length shift dress Stylish as always, Maxima paired the dress with a matching jacket and held onto a yellow clutch bag which perfectly complemented her shoes The dress, which was in a monochrome dog tooth pattern, was cinched in at the waist and had capped sleeves that ran down just past the elbow Keeping her jewellery look minimal, the former banker went necklace free adding oversized pearl earrings and a simple gold bracelet to her ensemble Keeping her jewellery look minimal, the former banker went necklace free adding oversized pearl earrings and a simple gold bracelet to her ensemble. Maxima wore her blonde hair lose, letting it blow freely in the wind. The royal also opted for a simple make-up look matching a pair red lipstick with layers of black mascara. At one point, the mother-of-three was given a bunch of orange gerbera flowers and looked overwhelmed as she sweetly bent down to meet two toddler girls who handed her another bouquet Maxima, who shares three daughters Catharina-Amalia, 15, Alexia, 13, and Ariane, 11, with the King, looked cheery as she smiled meeting babies and young children Maxima wore her blonde hair lose, letting it blow freely in the wind. The royal also opted for a simple make-up look matching a pair red lipstick with lashes of black mascara. Maxima, who shares three daughters Catharina-Amalia, 15, Alexia, 13, and Ariane, 11, with the King, looked cheery as she smiled meeting babies and young children. Earlier in March it was announced that Queen Maxima had undergone a 'minor and planned' operation and would spend some time away from the limelight, resting. But it appears as if the Queen is fully recovered and keeping as busy as ever Earlier in March it was announced that Queen Maxima had undergone a 'minor and planned' operation and would spend some time away from the limelight, resting. But has since had a busy schedule Maxima (pictured speaking at the congress) has faced another busy month of engagements, who continues to reign high in the style stakes Maxima looked as stylish as ever as well-wishers greeted her outside. The Queen couldn't keep the smile off her face as she spoke to young children Often out supporting charities, Maxima looked at ease as she spoke to the room full of people supporting the charity Maxima has face another busy month of engagements, who continues to reign high in the style stakes. Last week, she attended a dinner for the Diplomatic Corps at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. Before that, Maxima looked stylish as she met with several leaders of Dutch care organisations at the Royal Palace and the day before visited the Nederlands Fotomuseum to view their whole scope of its work, including three of their main exhibitions. The Duchess of Cambridge's long-term stylist is still in charge of the royal's wardrobe despite recent speculation she's been replaced while on maternity leave, Tatler claims. It's been widely rumoured that former Vogue stylist Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey had taken over the role, but it seems loyal aide Natasha Archer is still responsible for the mother-of-three's new look. Kate, 37, is normally one to play it safe when it comes to her fashion choices, sticking to her go-to designers such as Alexander McQueen and Catherine Walker. But the royal has been stepping out in some more daring creations for some of her latest royal engagements - including Missoni, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana - igniting theories that a fresh face was responsible. I think its fair to say Tash was a bit upset at the rumours, particularly as she worked so hard to pull all of the looks together, one source told Tatler. The Duchess of Cambridge donned a new 790 silk Gucci blouse when she visited the Henry Fawcett Children's Centre in Kennington, London On March 12 Natasha Archer carried luggage as she stepped off a plane at Tezpur Airport in Assam, India, on day three of a royal visit to India and Bhutan in December 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's personal assistant was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) by the Queen in the New Year Honours list The long-term stylist accompanied the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the round 10 Super Rugby match between the Waratahs and the Bulls at Allianz Stadium on April 19, 2014 in Sydney, Australia Kate is very fond of her and has been supportive during her pregnancy. She hasnt been replaced. And the reality behind Kate's edgier style is more to do with the Duchess, rather than the switch up of staff. Kate's confidence has grown thanks to Natasha's continued support, and this is reflected in her more bold and daring designer outfits, the publication claims. It's believed that Natasha had carefully planned the royal's wardrobe prior to taking maternity leave to have her son Theo with her Royal Photographer husband Chris Jackson, late last year. There has been much speculation that former Vogue staffer Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey (pictured) had taken over Natasha's role as stylist to the Duchess of Cambridge Natasha Archer and Chris Jackson attended a private viewing at the Saatchi Galleryin London on 14 May 2018 Kate, 37, during a visit to the Empire Music Hall Belfast on 7 February (above). She stunned in a 1,590 Missoni metallic-knit wrap dress, which she paired with her signature Gianvito suede stilettos, costing 505, and a nude Mulberry clutch But with the eyes of the nation transfixed on the royal's style, dressing Kate is no mean feat - so she still seeks advice from various brands and stylists including Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey. Natasha was honoured with Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in the New Year Honours list for services to the Royal Family. She has been Kate's personal assistant/stylist since 2014 and has made the sartorial decisions about the mother-of-three's wardrobe. She has worked with the Royal Family for years, first as a personal assistant, before she became style adviser to Kate and reconciled her position as the wife of the second-in-line to the throne, with her status as a style icon. In February, Kate stepped out in a bespoke Gucci gown as she joined female leaders for the annual 100 Women in Finance event at the Victoria & Albert Museum A Muslim teenager has admitted 'she wouldn't have a house to live in' if she dressed like an English girl. Lauren, from Tamworth and Balqis and Zanib, from Saltley, take part in tonight's The Great British School Swap for Channel 4, when teenagers from two different schools take classes together. But Balqis is left stunned when Lauren tries on traditional Asian clothing - but doesn't add the pairing trousers. Fellow participant Zanib admits that the Muslim girls would 'never ever' dress like that, and wouldn't have a home to go to if they did. Lauren, 14, confides in her mother that she feels like Tatley Academy and Alum Rock Road are 'like another country' Balqis bonds with her partner Lauren over their shared love of pop and rap music. But she and her friends has more conservative views about what young women should wear She revealed that the teenagers cover up to 'keep bad things away'. Fourteen year old Muslim teenager Balqis, who wears a headscarf, is partnered with white teenager Lauren in the television experiment, who admits she is stunned by how different the two communities are. She tells her mother: 'It's mad how we're so close together but it's like two different countries.' The aim of the television experiment is to explore issues ranging from offensive language to what it means to be British. Lauren is stunned when she arrives at Saltley Academy, a secondary school in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham where fewer than one per cent of the children are white British, along with 12 other teenagers for the school swap. Zainab and Hannah also star in the show tonight - Zanib admits that the Muslim girls would 'never ever' dress like British girls do Balqis and Lauren are paired together, with Lauren admitting how different the two communities are Balqis attempts to connect with Lauren over fashion by taking her to a shop on Alum Rock Road, but is horrified when the 14-year-old turns a modest Muslim outfit into a mini dress And the tall, blonde, English girl stands out straight away, when many of the Muslim children nickname her 'the hot one.' After a day of teaching together, the fourteen-year-old reveals to her mother: 'It does feel like going to a different world.' Despite being just fourteen miles apart, many of the children in both sets of children have alarming preconceptions about the other. In order to challenge their views, the teenagers are each paired up with someone from the other school to encourage discussion and understanding between them. When Lauren is paired with Balqis, they almost immediately discover they both like pop and rap music. But during the experiment, the pair go shopping in a traditional Asian shop on Alum Rock Road. Lauren admits that she would normally wear a lot less than her partner Balqis, telling the camera:'I go out wearing lie tiny shorts, tiny top, jacket and a lot of makeup.' Lauren revealed she usually wears a lot less than Balqis, opting for tiny shorts with a tiny jacket teamed with lots of makeup Balqis told Lauren she wouldn't have a home to live in if she walked out wearing the outfit without trousers Kiran and Lucas also star in the show tonight - they are part of the 24 teenagers who have taken part in school swap for Channel 4 experiment The children from Saltley Academy and Tamworth Enterprise College come together in the radical experiment, which sees the teenagers mix from the different areas for the first time So when Balqis manages to find an outfit she thinks partner Lauren will like, she's overjoyed and helps her try it on. She reveals: 'I think I've found something that is both her style and Islamic.' But Balqis is horrified when Lauren wears the top half of a modest outfit as a mini dress. Posing in the pink dress, Lauren revealed: 'It did come with trousers, and I've not put the trousers on because this is something I'd probably wear.' Visibly shocked, another participant Zanib admitted: 'I wouldn't have a house to live in if I walked out like that. I've never seen an Asian dress with that leg. Ever'. Umar (left) and James (right) also star in tonight show -which acts as a huge culture shock for many of the children Balqis warns Lauren that it's important to cover up in order to keep away from bad things, to which Lauren replies she's 'got it' Lauren's difference in attitude towards fashion is just one of the many culture shocks the children experience throughout the programme And the group of school children are keen to explain the reason behind the differences in dressing. She goes on: 'You cover up to keep yourself away from bad things. So say you've got a lolly pop and it's got a wrapper on it and you drop it, you can still pick it up and eat it.' 'But if it's got no wrapper on it and it falls, you just have to throw it away. It's got no use for it.' Nodding, Lauren seems to understand, admitting: 'I've got it.' It's just one of the misconceptions that comes out in the programme, which acts as a huge culture shock for many of the children. The Great British School Swap airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4 A woman has blasted Tesco, via their Facebook page, after she found that her swede, a vegetable which is said to be one of the toughest on the planet, was shrink wrapped in plastic. Sally Crowe, 41, from Keiss, near Caithness was enraged to discover the supermarket had coated her 'ridiculously tough' swede in protective plastic. The vegetable is so dense it contributes to a significant percentage of annual kitchen accidents as knives slip and slice fingers rather than swede. Sally, who farms in the Highland village of Keiss, near Caithness, was so cross at the unnecessary use of polluting plastic she took to Tesco's Facebook page for an epic rant. During her rant she even compared the vegetables toughness to that of a Rhino's skin. Sally Crowe (pictured) 41, from Keiss, near Caithness was enraged to discover the supermarket had coated her 'ridiculously tough' swede in protective plastic The swede in question - Sally found that it had been shrink wrapped in plastic - but it didn't need to be The Scottish crofter wrote: 'Dear Tesco's, I need to talk to you about something. That something is neeps! Or swedes to some folk.' 'Neeps are tough, like really tough. Your average rhino is jealous of how tough a neep's skin is. Lots of folk cut neeps with axes, cos of aforementioned tough skin.' She continued: 'Your average neep can last approximately 3.5 years in the vegetable rack.' After spelling out the toughness of the swede, she reached her point, asking: 'Why do you shrink wrap your neeps in plastic? A woman has blasted Tesco, via their Facebook page, after she found that her swede, which are said to be one of the toughest vegetables on the planet, was shrink wrapped in plastic 'Honestly, that wee, skinny bit of heat-shrunk plastic does nothing except add more plastic waste to our world. 'Neeps aren't soft and squishy like tomatoes, they don't come in bunches that need held together like onions. They're tough, ridiculously so. 'They really don't need, nor benefit from the bit of plastic around them. Please stop. It'll save you money in the long run too.' Sally said that Neeps, or Swedes, aren't soft and squishy like tomatoes - in fact they are very tough 'Plus one wee bit less plastic for your loyal customers to recycle. Honestly no plastic on your neeps is a win win situation for everyone really. Thanks for reading, I await your response.' Reacting online, Jill Harmer wrote: 'Have to pinch. This is brilliant and so right!!' Steven Leith commented: 'Sally, brilliant post. I do wonder what the neeps at Tesco will make of it!' Nadine Paterson said: 'Beautifully put, hope they listen.' Sally added today: 'It's just stupidity. Things like strawberries need plastic but these don't. You can put a sticker on the skin with a barcode if that's the reason for the plastic. Other people loved her post, while Tesco's replied with their plan, but didn't confirm the plastic would be taken off Commenting on the post she said: 'I wrote the post when I was bored waiting on the neeps to boil. All I have got back is a bland generic response about reducing plastic waste.' Tesco declined to give an official comment but referred to a trial they have carried out in some stores where plastic wrapped fruit and veg was removed from its stores. On the trial, Tesco's Director of Quality Sarah Bradbury said: 'We want to remove as much plastic as we can from our products, only using what is necessary to protect and preserve our food' In a recent survey by Greenpeace, Tesco ranked fifth in a league table of supermarkets doing their bit to reduce plastic waste 'Whatever happens, we're going to keep reducing the amount of packaging we use and ensure everything on our shelves is fully recyclable.' In a recent survey by Greenpeace, Tesco ranked fifth in a league table of supermarkets doing their bit to reduce plastic waste. It says the supermarket had reduced 45% of its single-use plastic, 13% behind Iceland who ranked the best on 58%. Sainsbury's ranked bottom of the table on 31%. In March Tesco's announced that it would sell 45 types of fruit and veg loose in a trial in two stores - aiming to reduce plastic pollution. Queen Margrethe proved she's in good voice as she belted out a song from the porch of the Marselisborg Palace on her 79th birthday today. Flanked by her son Crown Prince Frederik, daughter-in-law Crown Princess Mary and their four adorable children, the Danish monarch beamed as she waved to the crowds that had gathered for the special occasion at midday in Aarhus. It is the second birthday she has celebrated without her husband of 50 years, Prince Henrik, by her side, after he passed away last year. Her obvious enthusiasm and passion towards the chant proved infectious, with eight-year-old Princess Josephine emulating her grandmother's raised arm as she sang along. Scroll down for video Queen Margrethe, who turned 79 today, was joined on the porch of the Marselisborg Palace by (from left) Princess Josephine, Crown Prince Frederik, Princess Isabella, Prince Christian, Prince Vincent and Crown Princess Mary The Danish monarch, pictured left, and her son Crown Prince Frederik (pictured right) beamed as they waved to the crowds that had gathered for the special occasion at midday in Aarhus Princess Josephine, pictured left, emulated her grandmother's raised arm as she sang along with her dad Crown Prince Frederik, while her sister Princess Isabella looked a little less convinced During the balcony appearance Queen Margrethe received a small bouquet of flowers from Princess Isabella, 11, which featured a patriotic Danish flag. The family all dressed smartly for the occasion, with the Danish Queen sporting a smart grey skirt suit, a bright blue blouse and brown wool coat. Her daughter-in-law Princess Mary, 47, opted for a jade green belted dress with a white pattern, which she teamed with a complimentary green coat and splash of red thanks to her vibrant nail polish. She wore her brunette tresses loose and naturally wavy, while her mother-in-law swept her locks into a chic updo. During the balcony appearance Queen Margrethe received a small bouquet of flowers from Princess Isabella, 11, which featured a patriotic Danish flag Blazer-in squad: Crown Prince Frederik, pictured right, surveys the scene with his two sons Prince Christian (centre) and Prince Vincent (left) Giggling Princess Isabella clearly finds something amusing as the family greet well-wishers from the porch of the Marselisborg Palace, while her sister Princess Josephine then appears to spot the source of amusement The family all dressed smartly for the occasion, with the Danish Queen sporting a smart grey skirt suit, a bright blue blouse and a brown wool coat Princess Isabella strokes her hair away from her face as they appear in front of the crowds who flocked to Aarhus this afternoon It was smart wool blazers all round for the boys, with Prince Frederik's sons Prince Christian and Prince Vincent following their father's lead, while Princesses Isabella and Josephine both donned stylish check wool coats. Hundreds gathered to pass on their well-wishes, but one noticeable absentee from the celebrations was the queen's youngest son, Prince Joachim, his wife Princess Marie and his four children. Queen Margrethe has been on the throne since January 1972, when she succeeded the late King Frederick IX at the age of 31. Earlier this month she and Princess Mary visited a Copenhagen zoo for the opening of a new enclosure that will house two pandas. Queen Margrethe has been on the throne since January 1972, when she succeeded the late King Frederick IX at the age of 31 Chip off the old block: Young princes Christian and Vincent raise their hands to greet the Danish people Princess Mary, pictured speaking to her son Prince Vincent before the pair wave to the crowd, opted for a jade green belted dress with a white pattern, which she teamed with a complimentary green coat and splash of red thanks to her vibrant nail polish Prince Christian looked smart for his grandmother's birthday in a fitted blue wool blazer, checked blue and white shirt and chinos One noticeable absentee from the celebrations was the queen's youngest son, Prince Joachim, his wife Princess Marie and his four children Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour thinks people should focus more on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's substance than her style but for the record, she likes both. In the latest episode of Vogue's YouTube series Go Ask Anna, the 69-year-old shared her opinions on 29-year-old New York politician, praising both her personal style and the way she's broken the mold. 'Good for her! I'm looking forward to seeing where she takes us,' she said. Scroll down for video She's on board! Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour praised Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's red lipstick and hoop earrings in a new video Loving it: The 29-year-old Congresswoman doesn't always wear the bold color, but fans have taken to it and her hoops Importance: Wintour also said, 'I think people spend a lot, too much time talking about her style rather than her substance and what she has to say' Shade: AOC tweeted last year that she wears Stila's Stay All Day Liquid in the shade Beso Wintour said: 'I think it's wonderful to have a young woman in the political arena that is obviously not frightened to say what she means, that represents another generation, that is independent-thinking, that isn't falling into line with the conventional wisdom of what a woman in politics should be or how she should look or how she should conduct herself.' Though the editor spent the most time talking about what AOC is doing rather than what she is wearing, she did answer a reader question about her thoughts on AOC's fashion choices. The Congresswoman has mostly conformed to the dress code on Capitol Hill, turning up in pantsuits and skirt suits. But she does have a few signature accents: Her hoop earrings and her red lipstick, which she said is Stila's Stay All Day Liquid in the shade Beso. When those bold choices were called out at her swearing-in ceremony, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about why dressing that way was important to her. 'Lip+hoops were inspired by Sonia Sotomayor, who was advised to wear neutral-colored nail polish to her confirmation hearings to avoid scrutiny. She kept her red,' she said. Speaking out: Wintour said, 'I think it's wonderful to have a young woman in the political arena that is obviously not frightened to say what she means' Dress 'n heels: Although AOC uses a bold red lip and hoop earrings to add some flair to her looks, her outfit choices are actually pretty subdued Dressed up: She wears a lot of pantsuits, skirt suits, and heels when she's working (pictured left on March 14, right on March 9) Suit up: The hoops and red lip are also not something that the Congresswoman, who is pictured at an event about the Green New Deal in March, wears every day 'Next time someone tells Bronx girls to take off their hoops, they can just say theyre dressing like a Congresswoman.' Wintour confessed that she is personally a fan of the look and seemingly of the statement that AOC is making when she wears it. 'I think people spend a lot, too much time talking about her style rather than her substance and what she has to say,' she said. 'But I do personally love the red lipstick and the hoop earrings.' The Vogue boss actually has a signature style of her own, which she wears almost always without fail: The fashion editor is known to combine floral dresses, her custom-made nude Manolo Blahnik sandals, sunglasses, and a string of beads around her neck. Wintour also shared her thoughts on the Duchess of Sussex in the video, answering a reader question about Meghan Markle's maternity style. 'I have been very taken by the way Meghan Markle has been dressing, the Duchess of Sussex has been dressing, throughout her pregnancy. Her heels actually seem to be getting taller every time I look at a picture of her.' Talking more about her maternity dressing tips, she went on: 'When pregnant, I think it's very important to continue wearing your own personal style. I never understand why women suddenly decide they want to hide their pregnancy. 'Why not celebrate it? It's an incredibly joyful time in a woman's life. It's nothing to be hidden or be ashamed of. Much better to flaunt it.' Approved! Wintour also shared her thoughts on Meghan Markle's maternity style, saying she has 'been very taken by the way' the Duchess of Sussex has been dressing More praise: She also called Meghan 'an inspiration' while speaking to former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown at the 2019 Women in the World summit in New York last week Meghan had come up in the premiere episode of Go Ask Anna, which was uploaded back in January. 'I think she's amazing,' she said in that clip when asked to share her thoughts on Ms. Markle. Her enthusiastic praise didn't stop at Prince Harry's bride Kate Middleton earned some too. 'I think the two duchesses, the young duchess that they have in Britain, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex are going to keep the royal family afloat, quite frankly,' she said. And last week, Wintour was asked her thoughts on Meghan yet again while being speaking to former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, 65, at the 2019 Women in the World summit in New York. 'She's really bringing modernity to the royal family in a way that is inspiring,' Wintour said. 'I think the image that I have in my mind the Duchess of Sussex walking down the aisle by herself, that to me was representative of a modern woman.' 'When she went on that trip to Australia and New Zealand, she was very respectful in choosing a lot of unknown Australian designers to wear, which was great,' she went on. 'But I think, more importantly, she's really bringing modernity to the royal family in a way that is inspiring,' she said. The main focus of Ivanka Trump's solo tour of Africa may well be to promote her women's empowerment initiatives, but the first daughter also took the opportunity to show off her chic sense of style. Ivanka, 37, modeled two fashionable ensembles on Tuesday: leaving the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in one look, then changing into another outfit upon her arrival in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast later that day. The mother-of-two also proved that she is a fan of both high-end and main street styles, opting for a budget-friendly $220 Zara number for her first outfit of the day, before changing into a Ralph Lauren dress worth almost ten times the price. Changing things up: Ivanka Trump, 37, wore a bright yellow $220 Zara suit when she left Ethiopia on Tuesday, but changed into a $1,990 Ralph Lauren dress after landing in Abidjan Stylish: The first daughter accessorized her suit with a bag from Vince Camuto and a pair of floral heels from her defunct fashion line when boarding the plane for her next destination Bringing the sunshine: She is in Africa for a four-day tour to promote her Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative On the move: The initiative by the White House senior adviser aims to boost 50 million women by the year 2025 with economic empowerment The first daughter was first seen in the afternoon, when she boarded a commercial Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, two days after arriving in the city for the start of her tour to promote the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. For her Tuesday plane outfit, Ivanka continued her floral theme from her Monday outfit by pairing her $220 Zara suit with $40 floral heels which were from her Ivanka Trump shoe collection. The White House senior adviser was seen holding a $258 Vince Camuto brown tote bag, which she used last week when heading to work, while wearing sunglasses as she boarded her Ethiopian Airlines flight. She kept her long blonde hair straight for the flight on the third day of her tour. Ivanka was later pictured touching down in Abidjan where she was greeted by airport workers and staff. She then landed in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast, the second location of the four-day solo trip, to further discuss the White House's initiative to economically boost 50 million women in developing countries by the year 2025. Not long after arriving in the bustling city, she was then seen leaving the Sofitel Hotel while modeling an entirely new look this time opting for a much more low-key and demure Ralph Lauren dress, which came complete with a much larger $1,990 price tag. Looking around: Ivanka was pictured on a tour of the Presidential Palace in Abidjan with Ivory Coast Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan Strutting her stuff: The first daughter later got ready to pose for a picture alongside the Vice President and several other officials from the Presidential Palace Say cheese: Ivanka happily lined up for a photo alongside the group, under the watchful eye of a security guard who inadvertently blocked her ensemble from the image Happy to be here! Ivanka first landed in the Ivory Coast earlier in the day ready to continue the work for her initiative All smiles: When Ivanka landed in the country, she was greeted by staff and locals at the airport. She has been busy since touching down in Africa early Sunday morning Blowing a kiss: She kept her long blonde hair straight for the flight on the third day of her tour and was pictured waving to airport workers - one of whom blew her a kiss She accessorized the look with a pair of coordinating heels, and added the same Vince Camuto bag she was seen carrying earlier in the day. It is not the first time that Ivanka has worn the design; the first daughter chose the caped shirt dress for a TV interview with Joe Kernen on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' back in July 2018, when she was busily promoting her new job training program. On this occasion, however, Ivanka had a very different initiative on her mind. The stop in the Ivory Coast will continue Ivanka's tour where she is focused on promoting economical empowerment for women in developing countries. Her first stop in Abidjan saw her pay a visit to the Presidential Palace where she was given a tour by the Ivory Coast's Vice President, Daniel Kablan Duncan. On Monday, Ivanka met with President Sahle-Work Zewde, and the pair were seen enjoying an animated conversation, with images showing them both laughing happily as they engaged in a discussion. Ivanka shared a picture on her Instagram Story of her meeting with the president, writing, 'Honored to meet with the @sahleworksewde today, the only serving female President in Africa!' She continued: 'I thoroughly enjoyed exchanging ideas & learning from her experiences. Her perspective will inform our work to advance womens economic empowerment on the continent & beyond.' Busy bee: On Monday, Ivanka visited with President Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia to promote the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative Proud: The first daughter shared on Instagram about meeting with Ethiopia's first female president (pictured) and called the moment an 'honor' Picture perfect: Ivanka kept her makeup simple with blush on her cheekbones and a light pink lip to match her floral dress Her outfit on Monday was set a different tone then her budget-friendly plane attire, as she wore a $1,655 floral shirt dress from Emilia Wickstead, which she paired with white heels. She also attended the African Women's Economic Empowerment Dialogue meeting at the United Nations Economic Commission as part of her four-day trip in Africa. During the meeting, Ivanka sat next to President Sahle-Work Zewde while promoting her efforts her Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. Earlier on Monday morning, Ivanka visited Holy Trinity Cathedral to meet with religious leaders and lay a wreath for the people who were killed during the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash last month. The Boeing 737 Max crashed just minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, with Nairobi the intended destination. Airlines and countries have since grounded Boeing 737 Max airplanes in response to the crash over concern of other faulty machines. Ivanka wore a black short-sleeved dress and matching flats for the visit. She also pulled her hair back into a bun and fitted a black lace veil on her head for the occasion. Emotional: On Monday morning, Ivanka paid her respects to the victims who died in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash last month Tribute: The first daughter wore a black dress and matching flats before placing a wreath at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa for the victims of the crash Enjoyable: It is Ivanka Trump's first visit to Africa since the White House undertook the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative in February Fun: Ivanka tried her hand at a traditional weaving loom at Moya, a manufacturing center of textile and traditional crafts, with Moya founder Sara Abera (right) on Sunday The first daughter's schedule has been busy since she touched down in Addis Ababa early Sunday morning. The goal for Ivanka's trip is to promote her initiative of economically empowering 50 million women in developing countries by 2025. Money for the effort will come through USAID, which initially set up a $50 million fund using dollars already budgeted. The president's 2020 budget proposal requests $100 million for the initiative, which will also be supported by programs across the government as well as private investment. The White House spending plan would cut overall funding for diplomacy and development. Ivanka has made women's economic empowerment a centerpiece of her White House portfolio. She has made a number of international trips, with a focus on these issues, including to Japan and India. Her travel to Africa follows a five-day tour that Melania Trump made there last year, with a focus on child welfare. However, Ivanka's efforts could be complicated by the President's own remarks after his private comments about 's***hole countries' in Africa and other regions were leaked to journalists. Primark is facing legal action after producing a 'copycat' version of Veja's popular trainers. The budget friendly retailer is selling 7 shoes that bear a striking resemblance to the French brand's iconic sneakers loved by the Duchess of Sussex and actress Emma Watson. The Veja white leather shoes, which retail at 115, feature a signature black 'V' design on the side and a coloured heel tab. Primark has produced a similar style shoe, with a matching red heel tab, perforated front feature and rubber sole, for a snip of the price. Veja trainers have acquired an almost cult status after they were seen on the feet of Meghan Markle during her royal tour of Australia in October last year The Veja white leather shoes, which retail at 115, feature a signature black 'V' design on the side and a coloured heel tab The high street store was called out by Veja founder Sebastien Kopp on Instagram, who criticised the 'counterfeit' trainers and claimed Primark 'got it wrong'. He said it is 'very sad to see this', adding that Veja uses ethical, sustainable materials and champions factory workers' rights. 'They should not copy the style of our shoes, they should copy the way we do them,' wrote Kopp. 'With organic cotton, with recycled plastic, with more ecological fabrics, in factories where workers are paid decently, and we are working in secure conditions.' He signed off by saying he would 'explain everything to them in court'. Primark has produced a similar style shoe, pictured left, with a matching red heel tab, perforated front feature and rubber sole, for a snip of the price of the Veja trainers, pictured right Kopp founded Veja in Paris in 2004 with best friend Francois Morillion, and has remained committed to his vision of the company being ethically driven and ecologically grounded, from sourcing and production to packaging and distribution. Veja's shoes have acquired a cult status in a relatively short period of time, helped by the fact they were spotted on the feet of Meghan Markle while she and Prince Harry toured Australia in October last year. The brand is also a favourite of actress Emma Watson, Desperate Housewives star Chloe Grace Moretz and a number of fashion bloggers and influencers, including Alice Catherine. The brand was called out by Veja founder Sebastien Kopp on Instagram, who criticised the 'counterfeit' trainers and claimed Primark 'got it wrong' Fans of the brand lashed out at Primark on social media after Veja's founder Sebastien Kopp posted a statement on his Instagram Earlier this year the Veja V-10 trainers were named among the 'world's hottest' styles by Lyst, an online fashion search platform. A spokesperson for Primark told FEMAIL: 'We note the recent comments made by Veja. 'We work hard to offer our customers the most up-to-date looks on the high street and like many of our lines, this shoe is part of a wider trend identified by our buying team.' The brand is also a favourite of actress Emma Watson, Desperate Housewives star Chloe Grace Moretz and a number of fashion bloggers and influencers, including Alice Catherine, pictured In January we told how Primark was sued by Vans for selling 'copies' of two of its iconic trainers in the US - months after the footwear brand asked the budget retailer to stop selling the shoes in the UK. It's not the only brand to have produced a copycat version of Veja's popular shoes. Earlier this year Marks and Spencer produced a look-a-like trainer that closely resemble a pair from the trendy French brand's collection. The 45 Leather Lace-up Trainers, which have rave reviews online, look almost identical to the Veja V-10 pair worn by Meghan Markle in Sydney. A teenage girl had a 'foul-smelling' nasal stone removed from inside her nose that had been slowly growing for a decade. Doctors revealed the girl, who has not been named, had been suffering from nasal discharge and bleeding for many years. After X-rays and CT scans, it was eventually discovered that there was a strange webbed shape within her sinuses. Inside her nose doctors found what is medically called a rhinolith, which slowly develops when deposits build up over a foreign object. In the 15-year-old's case, a piece of mucus-covered rubber around 2cm-long was retrieved. It had most likely got stuck in her nose as a child, the doctors in the United Arab Emirates said. However, the girl didn't have any recollection of putting it there. A 15-year-old girl had a 'foul-smelling' nasal stone that had been slowly growing for over a decade caused by a small piece of rubber (left) The rhinolith had to be removed with surgery by doctors from United Arab Emirates Rhinoliths are rare, accounting for one in 10,000 patients who are treated at an ear, nose and throat unit, figures suggest. The strange growth can often go misdiagnosed, the doctors, led by Dr Mohiyuddin Ali at Ain Alkhaleej Hospital, said in BMJ Case Reports. The girl had no other symptoms of a rhinolith, such as headaches, but had been given antibiotics many times. CT scans showed 'clearly quite a large, irregularly shaped object with lots of spicules and wings', which the doctors described as a 'staghorn'. The next step was to remove the stone, which was large enough to require general anaesthetic. Doctors first did X-rays (left), before finding the 'large irregularly shaped object with lots of spicules and wings' in CT scans (right) Unsurprisingly, the girl felt better immediately after the surgery, and within three weeks, after using antibiotics and saline spray, she had no symptoms at all. A rhinolith is 'not a foreign body per se as it is not introduced from outside but it develops inside the nasal cavity,' the authors wrote. It can be caused by an object, such as fruit seeds, plant material, beads, cotton wool or a bit of paper, or an external object, such as bone fragment. Deposits of calcium and magnesium salts, as well as nasal mucus, cover the piece of material over many years. Having a resting heart rate of 75 beats per minute (bpm) in middle age could double your risk of an early death, research suggests. Men with a resting heart rate of 75 or above in their fifties were twice as likely to die within the next two decades compared to those with a rate of 55bpm or less. And every additional resting heart beat per minute was linked to a three per cent greater risk of death from any cause. Having a resting heart rate of 75 beats per minute (bpm) in middle age could double your risk of an early death, research by the University of Gothenburg suggests (stock) The research was carried out by the University of Gothenburg and led by Dr Salim Bary Barywani, of the department of molecular and clinical medicine. Resting heart rate is the number of times the organ beats per minute while you are not exercising. A normal reading ranges from between 50 to 100bpm, the authors wrote in the British Medical Journal's publication Open Heart. A lower heart rate generally indicates better cardiovascular health and overall fitness. To uncover how changes in our heart rate may affect the risk of an early death, the researchers analysed 798 men. They were all born in 1943. The men completed a questionnaire in 1993 on their lifestyle, stress and any family history of heart disease. They were also given a medical check-up, which included measuring their resting heart rate. The men were divided into four groups: Those with a resting heart rate of 55bpm or less; 56-to-65bpm; 66-to-75bpm; and more than 75bpm. Resting heart rate was measured again in 2003 and 2014 among the 654 and 536 participants, respectively, who were still alive and willing to take part. Coronary artery disease (CAD) clogs up the blood vessels and can lead to angina, strokes or heart attacks Coronary artery disease occurs when the major blood vessels that supply the heart with oxygen and nutrients become damaged. CAD affects more than 1.6million men and one million women in the UK, and a total of 15million adults in the US. It is usually due to plaque and inflammation. When plaque builds up, it narrows the arteries, which decreases blood flow to the heart. Over time this can cause angina, while a complete blockage can result in a heart attack. Many people have no symptoms at first but as the plaque builds up they may notice chest pains or shortness of breath when exercising or stressed. Other causes of CAD include smoking, diabetes and an inactive lifestyle. It can be prevented by quitting smoking, controlling conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure, staying active, eating well and managing stress. Drugs can help to lower cholesterol, while aspirin thins the blood to reduce the risk of clots. In severe cases, stents can be put into the arteries to open them, while coronary bypass surgery creates a graft to bypass the blocked arteries using a vessel from another part of the body. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement During the 21-year study period, 119 - just under 15 per cent - of the participants died before their 71st birthday. And 237 - nearly 28 per cent - developed cardiovascular disease. This is a general term for conditions that affect the heart or blood vessels. Some 113 - slightly over 14 per cent - developed coronary heart disease, when the heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries. Results revealed those with a resting heart rate of 75 or above in 1993 were twice as likely to die from any cause within 21 years compared with those with a heart rate of 55bpm or under. And having a 'stable' resting heart rate between 1993 and 2003 - when the men were 50-to-60 - was associated with an 44 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease over the next 11 years compared to those whose heart rates increased during this time. Results further found every additional heart beat per minute was linked to a three per cent greater risk of death from any cause. This was also associated with a one per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a two per cent increase in the odds of suffering from coronary heart disease. The men whose 1993 heart rates were over 55bpm were more likely to be smokers, inactive and stressed. They were also more likely to have 'heart disease risk factors', such as hypertension or obesity. The researchers stress, however, their study was observational and cannot establish the cause of these deaths or heart-related events. It also only included men of a set age and may not apply to the general population. Nonetheless, they hope their study will lead to our resting heart rate being monitored for changes that may uncover our future heart disease risk. Pets in the UK have been found to be harbouring a gene that enables bacteria to become resistant to a last-ditch antibiotic. Linezolid is used to relieve the notorious superbug MRSA and treat streptococci, which can lead to pneumonia and sepsis. Now, three cats and a dog have been found to carry bacteria 'armed' with a gene that can drive resistance to the antibiotic, which isn't licensed for veterinary use in the UK. Public Health England fears the 'resistant gene' - known as optrA - could spread between bacteria found in animals and their owners. The nation's pets may be fueling the antibiotic resistance crisis, research suggests (stock) 'We believe this is the first report of optrA-positive enterococci isolated from companion animals in the UK,' study author Dr Katie Hopkins said. 'This is concerning as transmission of this organism to owners carries the potential for spread to other bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus.' Staphylococcus aureus lives harmlessly on many people's skin but can cause blood poisoning or toxic shock syndrome if it enters the body via a cut. Dr Hopkins is a clinical scientist in the Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections Reference Unit. She added: 'In order to minimise transmission of resistant bacteria between companion animals and people, veterinary surgeries need to ensure adequate cleaning takes place and pet owners should wash their hands after handling pets.' The 'first-time case' came about during routine antibiotic resistance testing of a cat's wound. A swab was found to contain Enterococcus faecalis, a bacteria which causes urinary tract infections and has demonstrated antibiotic resistance. The swab was referred by a veterinary diagnostic laboratory to PHE. Three further E. faecalis swabs from two other cats and one dog from the same vet, but different homes, were also analysed. Four E. faecalis samples from three swabs - along with a cat rectal swab - were confirmed to be resistant to linezolid. Worryingly, all four samples were also positive for optrA, also involved in resistance to florfenicol - which is used in animals. WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out unnecessarily. Former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism. Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the 'dark ages' if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years. In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years. In September, the WHO warned antibiotics are 'running out' as a report found a 'serious lack' of new drugs in the development pipeline. Without antibiotics, C-sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements will become incredibly 'risky', it was said at the time. Advertisement The bacterial samples also did not respond to the antibiotic gentamicin, which frequently treats infections of the heart, central nervous system and eye. However, the bacteria were susceptible to the antibiotics teicoplanin, vancomycin, and daptomycin. Linezolid resistance is considered rare and is usually related to mutations of the genes on chromosomes. This makes the resistance incapable of spreading to other bacteria. However, genes that code for linezolid resistance - such as optrA - are increasingly being seen on 'mobile bits of DNA caused plasmids', which can spread. Florfenicol is indicated for the treatment of bovine respiratory disease, which can be brought on by bacteria and cause deadly pneumonia. Dr Hopkins added the findings show antibiotic-resistance can be shared by animals and humans, although the direction of transfer is 'often difficult to prove'. She said further transmission was 'stopped by cleaning and decontamination and we have no evidence that any people acquired an infection from these animals'. Dr Hopkins said: 'Transmission of this organism to owners carries the potential for plasmid-mediated spread to other bacteria, particularly in healthcare environments.' She warned the findings, to be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases meeting in Amsterdam, are is of public health importance.' Since pets live in such close proximity to their owners, they are more likely to transfer resistant bacteria to humans than farm animals. This transfer mainly occurs through saliva or skin-to-skin contact. There is growing concern pets risk becoming reservoirs of resistant microbes that then spill over into their owners with disastrous effects. Research has suggested pets can harbour MRSA, which then gets passed between other animals and humans. Cats and dogs have the same strain of the bacteria as people, scientists at Cambridge University have found. MRSA may spread between animals at veterinary clinics in a similar way to hospital infections, they said. Figures suggest about one in 100 cats and two-to-nine per cent of dogs in the UK are carriers of MRSA. It has also been found in horses. The number of measles cases around the world has shot up by 300 per cent in the past year, the World Health Organization has warned. Four times as many cases were reported between January and March 2019 than in the same period in 2018. Experts have pointed the blame the spread of the virus, which can be deadly, on slipping vaccination rates. They said there is a 'clear trend' of measles spreading more widely than it has for years and more than 100,000 people have caught it in 2019. New York declared a public health emergency in parts of Brooklyn last week after a measles outbreak emerged in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community The World Health Organization has warned as many as nine in 10 measles cases aren't even reported so the true figure is likely much higher. In January, February and March, 112,163 measles cases were reported across 170 countries the majority of them were in Africa, followed by Europe. During the same period last year, only 28,124 cases were reported South-East Asia was the worst affected. Africa has seen by far the biggest spike, with cases rocketing from 7,361 in the first quarter of 2018 to 59,943 this year a 714 per cent rise. 'While this data is provisional and not yet complete, it indicates a clear trend,' the WHO said in a statement. CLAIM VACCINES AREN'T SAFE IS 'ABSOLUTELY WRONG' The UK's chief medical officer the top advisor to the Government last year criticised people spreading lies about vaccines being unsafe. Dame Sally Davies, speaking on the 30th anniversary of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab, said people spreading the 'myths' were 'absolutely wrong'. She said in November: 'Over 30 years, we have vaccinated millions of children. It is a safe vaccination, we know that, and we've saved millions of lives across the world. 'People who spread these myths, when children die they will not be there to pick up the pieces or the blame.' One myth is based on research done by Andrew Wakefield in the 1990s which claimed MMR led to autism, but his results were later found to be fake, and the work was called 'fatally flawed', 'fraudulent' and 'dishonest' by experts in the field. Others claim the vaccine doesn't work but after the introduction of MMR in 1963, global measles deaths dropped, on average, from 2.6million to around 100,000, according to the WHO. The vaccine was introduced by the NHS in 1988, a year in which there were 86,001 cases of measles in England within 10 years, in 1998, this had dropped to just 3,728 reported. The figure has fluctuated since, believed to be partly due to the Wakefield scare in the mid-90s, but in 2017 there were reports of only 1,693 measles cases in England. (Note: Figures quoted are cases reported to Public Health England and not lab-confirmed numbers) Advertisement 'Many countries are in the midst of sizeable measles outbreaks, with all regions of the world experiencing sustained rises in cases.' Measles can be effectively prevented by the MMR vaccine, which is given to children in the UK when they're one and three years old. After the introduction of MMR in 1963, global measles deaths dropped, on average, from 2.6million to around 100,000, according to the WHO. 'Spikes in case numbers have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States,' WHO said. 'The disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people,' it added. MMR vaccination rates plummeted across the world in the wake of a now completely discredited piece of research that linked the jab to autism. New York's mayor declared a public health emergency in parts of Brooklyn last week, after a measles outbreak emerged in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where some had resisted vaccination on religious grounds. More than 555 people have been infected in the US so far this year, with the country already catching up on its annual record of 667 cases. The UK has seen slightly more cases in the past 14 weeks 572, according to Public Health England, but this is a drop from 767 in the same period last year. Vaccination rates in the UK have been falling for four years in a row, the NHS revealed last year, with immunisations now at their lowest since 2011. Just 91.2 per cent of children had received their first MMR jab on time last year. The WHO recommends 95 per cent coverage to prevent outbreaks. Although most healthy people recover without complications from measles, it can kill those with weaker immune systems by triggering pneumonia or the brain infection encephalitis. The UN last year said a rising number of measles cases around the world should be 'a wake-up call' for more people to have their children vaccinated. Ukraine saw 30,000 more cases of measles in 2018 than it did in 2017, while Brazil had more than 10,000 people diagnosed compared with none at all the year before Children in the future could face 'disastrous' health problems if the deadly infection is allowed to spiral out of control, the global organisation warned. The number of people who caught measles last year rose by 50 per cent worldwide, UNICEF has revealed, with 98 countries reporting an increase. WHICH COUNTRIES SAW THE BIGGEST SPIKE IN MEASLES CASES LAST YEAR? Ukraine (30,338 cases in 2018) Philippines (13,192) Brazil (10,262) Yemen (6,641) Venezuela (4,916) Serbia (4,355) Madagascar (4,307) Sudan (3,496) Thailand (2,758) France (2,269) Source: UNICEF Advertisement Ukraine, the Philippines and Brazil suffered the biggest increases in measles cases. Brazil didn't record a single case in 2018 but had 10,262 in 2018, while Ukraine saw an increase of more than 30,000 to a total of 35,120. The other countries with the biggest increases were Yemen, Venezuela, Serbia, Madagascar, Sudan, Thailand and France. 'This is a wake-up call,' said Henrietta Fore, executive director of international children's charity, UNICEF. 'We have a safe, effective and inexpensive vaccine against a highly contagious disease a vaccine that saved almost a million lives every year over the last two decades. 'These cases haven't happened overnight. 'Just as the serious outbreaks we are seeing today took hold in 2018, lack of action today will have disastrous consequences for children tomorrow.' People with financial success of fame like President Trump, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk love to brag about how little sleep they need. But myths about how much sleep we need are rising to the level of a 'public health threat,' according to a new New York University study. The most damaging is the idea you can get by on five or fewer hours of shut-eye a night, as Trump insists he does. Americans also believe that snoring is harmless and that a 'night cap' will send you into a more peaceful slumber - but these are all false and harmful to our health, the study authors warn. President Donald Trump has boasted that he needs less than five hours of sleep a night - but a new study warns that this is unhealthy - and that such myths pose a 'public health danger' (file) Britain and the US are among the most sleep deprived countries in the world. Not getting enough has been linked with a host of diseases from dementia to heart disease and cancer. Study leader Dr Rebecca Robbins, an epidemiologist at New York University's School of Medicine, said: 'Sleep is a vital part of life that affects our productivity, mood and general health and well-being. 'Dispelling myths about sleep promotes healthier sleep habits which, in turn, promote overall better health.' In the first investigation of its kind, her team reviewed over 8,000 websites to identify the 20 most common assumptions. Sleep medicine experts ranked each based on if they could be dispelled as fiction or supported by scientific evidence - and on the harm it could cause. The claim by some that they can survive on only five hours a night was among the top myths they were able to refute. It also poses the most serious risk to health from long-term sleep deficits, said the researchers. They suggest creating a consistent sleep schedule and spending more time asleep - at least seven hours, as recommended by the World Health Organization, American Heart Association and various sleep and public health experts the world over. HOW DONALD TRUMP, JACK DORSEY AND ELON MUSK SLEEP DONALD TRUMP President Donald Trump says he sleeps four to five hours. He claims that this is a key to his business success. Trump once asked 'How does somebody thats sleeping 12 and 14 hours a day compete with someone thats sleeping three or four?' Some have suggests he shares a genetic trait with Margaret Thatcher that make them part of the 'sleepless elite' who need less shut-eye than most. JACK DORSEY The Twitter CEO claims to stick to an eccentric 'health' regimen. He has said he sleeps between 11:00 pm and 5:00 am. In his waking hours, Dorsey claims to eat only dinner, nothing at all on Saturdays, meditate for 30 hours and work out three times for seven minutes a time each day. ELON MUSK Musk, who is at the helm of both SpaceX and Tesla claims to function best with minimal sleep. He believes he is not as sharp when he sleeps seven hours. Instead, Musk aims for six to six-and-a-half hours of snooze time a night. He also purports that his tight sleep schedule is a byproduct of his supposed 120-hour work weeks. Advertisement This would avoid the effects of this falsehood and others identified such as the value of taking naps when you routinely have difficulty sleeping overnight. Many people also believe that snoring is completely harmless, according to the new study. In some cases this is true, but in others, the noisy nighttime habit can signal that someone may have sleep apnea. It causes breathing to stop and start over the course of the night. Sleep apnea has, in turn, been associated with the development of dementia. The researchers said patients should not to dismiss loud snoring but see a doctor since it may lead to heart stoppages or other illnesses. They also found sufficient evidence in published studies that, despite beliefs to the contrary, drinking booze before bed is indeed unhealthy for sleep. According to experts alcohol reduces the body's ability to achieve deep sleep which people need to function properly. Co-author Dr Girardin Jean Louis, a psychiatrist at NYU, said: 'Sleep is important to health and there needs to be greater effort to inform the public regarding this important public health issue. 'For example, by discussing sleep habits with their patients, doctors can help prevent sleep myths from increasing risks for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.' The researchers, whose findings are published in Sleep Health, say some myths still cause disagreement - even among experts. This is particularly true when it comes to people who can't get optimal sleep any way. For instance, some scientists say that sleeping in on the weekend disrupts the natural circadian rhythm or body clock. But, then again, others say that shift workers who don't generally get healthy sleep are better off 'catching up' on sleep when they can. These discrepancies, they say, suggest further research needs to be done. When Debra Montague goes to the doctor's, the first thing she says is: 'I am a non-smoker, I've never smoked.' Debra, 54, has advanced lung cancer despite never picking up a cigarette in her life and, as she says: 'I still feel I have to tell doctors, nurses, anyone I meet for the first time that I've never smoked, because unless I say it first, I feel judged or blamed; that the cancer is somehow my fault. 'Of course, it's wrong to judge smokers who have cancer, too. But I still feel I have to explain myself. People think of lung cancer as something only smokers get.' In fact, while smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer (due to more than 60 cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco) and is responsible for 85 per cent of cases, research suggests lung cancer in non-smokers is on the rise. Debra Montague, 54, has advanced lung cancer despite never picking up a cigarette in her life (stock image) Cases have doubled in the past seven years, according to a recent study led by Eric Lim, a consultant thoracic surgeon at Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield NHS Trust in London, published in the European Journal of Cancer. Non-smoking lung cancer accounts for a third of patients undergoing surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital and worryingly, Mr Lim says, non-smokers may have more difficulty getting diagnosed, meaning their cancer is spotted at a later stage when it's harder to treat. 'In general, patients with lung cancer present late because there are no symptoms such as pain or a cough when the cancer is small,' he says. 'When there is a cough, for non-smoking lung cancer the problem is compounded as they are considered low risk a persistent cough in a smoker and non-smoker will be managed very differently, with doctors less likely to send non-smoking patients for lung scans.' Debra, a former marketing manager from Guildford, Surrey, was fit and otherwise healthy when she returned from holiday with a cough, in the summer of 2016. 'It wasn't a normal throaty or chesty cough,' recalls Debra. 'It was from low down a deep, strong cough. It resonated through my bones.' She had no other symptoms and otherwise felt fine. 'My colleagues started jokingly leaving cough sweets on my desk because it was so irritating. It's thanks to them I eventually decided to see the GP.' This was eight weeks after the cough first appeared. 'The GP listened to my chest and said it sounded clear and that, because I'd never smoked, there was no risk of anything sinister,' says Debra. 'But she sent me for blood tests and an X-ray to be on the safe side.' A few days later her GP rang with the results the blood tests were normal but the X-ray was 'inconclusive'. Non-smoking lung cancer accounts for a third of patients undergoing surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital (stock image) Debra had private health insurance through her work at a pharmaceutical company so went to a private respiratory consultant to be seen sooner. Another X-ray showed one lung was clear but the other looked 'snowy' and the consultant recommended further scans, including CT (a form of X-ray that produces a cross section image of the body). Again Debra was reassured it would 'not be lung cancer' and so returned for the results a week later on her own after work. 'I'd been told several times I wasn't at high risk so I wasn't nervous,' she says. At first, her consultant said he wasn't sure what the scan showed but she pushed him. 'I could tell he was being kind, holding back,' she says. 'I asked: "Is it cancer?" and he replied it was most likely cancer.' Debra, who is divorced, has a 21-year-old son, Tom, who had just started at university. Not wanting to worry him, she told her sister Laura. The following day, Debra went for more scans, including a PET a positron emission tomography scan of her entire body; this creates three-dimensional images and can show if the cancer has spread. Three days later, cancer was confirmed she had two tumours in her right lung, and the disease had spread to her right hip, the base of her spine and her adrenal gland (just above the kidneys). 'I was shown to a room where a Macmillan nurse was waiting,' says Debra. 'I knew then it was serious. I kept thinking: How could this have happened?' 'It's difficult to say why non-smoking lung cancer is on the increase', says Mr Lim. 'Or why it tends to affect women more than men. One possibility is that women tend to be exposed to more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by cosmetics, deodorants and cooking fumes.' VOCs are particles released into the air that we can then breathe in, causing damage to cells. They're found in many products including paint, air fresheners and cleaning sprays. Various studies have linked VOCs to health problems. Another possible factor in the rise of non-smoking lung cancer is increased pollution levels. A study in 2013 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer found the risk of lung cancer rises the more tiny dust-like particles called particulate matter there are in air pollution. Cancer Research UK estimates that pollution causes 3,600 cases of lung cancer in the UK each year around one in ten lung cancer patients. Symptoms of lung cancer are often non-specific, but a cough is common. Others include a lump in the neck, a hoarse voice, weight-loss and coughing up blood. However, Mr Lim stresses that these 'tend to occur very late in the disease'. 'Doctors need to be more aware of non-smoker lung cancer,' he adds. 'But their tools to diagnose it are limited.' Chest X-rays are not always sufficient, as the images are not precise enough. A CT scan involves higher exposure to radiation, which doctors may be reluctant to subject a patient to unless they are high risk. Most non-smoking patients are diagnosed after having scans for something else, such as a CT scan for heart disease. Debra was told that her type of lung cancer would respond best to 'targeted therapy' drugs that block chemicals such as growth factors that cancer cells need to grow. It can halt the cancer, but it is not a cure. Debra was put on Xalkori (crizotinib). She developed extreme nausea as a side-effect but fortunately, after a few weeks, PET scans showed the drug was working, and had halted the tumour's growth. 'It meant I'd gone from a prognosis of six months to perhaps five years it was a glimmer of hope,' she says. She is now taking a second type of targeted therapy as the first stopped working and she is planning to do a triathlon as well as abseil down Liverpool Cathedral to raise money for the Roy Castle Cancer Foundation. 'I know that one day this second therapy will stop working and that I'm on borrowed time,' she says. 'In the meantime, I want to live life to the fullest and raise awareness about lung cancer. I'm proof it isn't just smokers who get it. It needs the sympathy other cancers get.' Debra believes there should be a routine screening process so it can be picked up sooner. Mr Lim agrees, but notes that, as the vast majority of the population are now non-smokers, we need to be 'careful how to screen'. A CT programme, for example, would expose people who are otherwise at very low risk to unnecessary radiation. He and his team are working on a blood test that might provide an alternative. It looks at DNA in the blood that is shed by cancer cells. 'We are conducting clinical trials this year,' he says. The hope is it will offer a safe, cheap screening method and make diagnosis of lung cancer easier. (CNN) Aston Martin unveiled the British luxury brand's first electric car at the Shanghai Motor Show, but don't expect to see many more. Only 155 of the four-door Rapide E will ever be produced. Beyond this car, Aston Martin will leave the electric vehicles up to Lagonda, a separate brand that will sell only electric luxury vehicles. An all-electric sedan and an SUV concept vehicle have already been revealed under the Lagonda brand. For the most part, Aston Martin will stick to producing internal combustion-powered vehicles for customers who enjoy the sound and feel of a V8 or V12 engine. For customers who want to enjoy the quiet power of electric motors, there will be Lagonda, executives have said. The Rapide E is an electric version of the gas-powered Rapide S. The car was engineered to, as much as possible, retain the driving feel of the V12-powered Rapide S, according to Aston Martin. Aston Martin designers and engineers slightly altered the body of the sleek four-door Rapide to improve its aerodynamics. Since electric cars require much less air than gasoline-powered cars, the Rapide E's grill was changed to allow less air to flow in. The area under the body was also designed to allow air to flow underneath the car more smoothly. Batteries for the 602-horsepower car are housed where the V12 engine, the transmission and the fuel tank would go in the gasoline-powered version. The car can drive more than 200 miles on a charge, according to Aston Martin. It can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in under four seconds and its top speed is 155 miles an hour. Inside, the usual analog gauge cluster has been replaced by a digital screen. The rear-wheel-drive car is powered by two electric motors mounted in the back. The car is available to order now. Pricing is only available upon ordering, though, the company said. It's expected to cost something over 250,000, or about $330,000. Prices for the gasoline-powered Rapide S start at just over $200,000. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Aston Martin unveils its first electric car." Thousands of Britons lose the use of a hand or limb after damaging nerves in accidents, but surgery to transfer a muscle and nerves can restore movement. Simon Harbinson, 24, a buyer for a drinks company from Guisborough, Yorkshire, tells CAROL DAVIS his story. The patient Simon Harbinson, 24, tells CAROL DAVIS his story Riding my motorbike back from work early one morning in January 2013, I turned a corner, hit the kerb and landed in the road. I was taken by ambulance to the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough and when I came to two days later, doctors told me Id cracked four discs in my neck, damaged my right shoulder, punctured a lung, broken my jaw and had a brain haemorrhage. They put me in a full body brace while I healed. But while the other injuries mended, after four months, I still couldnt raise my right arm. The doctor said I had damaged nerves in my shoulder and there was no chance of getting back movement or feeling in it, or my right arm, without more help. I had loads of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy, but still that arm wouldnt do anything. It felt permanently numb, and I couldnt ride my motorbike any more, or even do basic things like cook and clean for myself, or button my coat. So five months after the accident, I was referred to Leeds General Infirmary to see a specialist surgeon for tests and to discuss surgical options. MRI scans showed Id severed nerves in the shoulder; the surgeon did an exploratory operation to try to repair them using nerves taken from the back of my calf. But although I could now feel my tricep in my upper arm, I still couldnt feel my lower right arm or shoulder (or bend my elbow). Id been a lab technician in the food industry, tasting and checking drinks, but being unable to bend and raise my arm, I couldnt do it any more. The company found me a data inputting job and I worked my way up to my current buyers job, which is fantastic as I was basically sitting in front of a computer. But it was frustrating not to be able to do normal things like play five-a-side with my brother. I was just 19 and didnt want my arm to stay that way for life. My surgeon explained it was likely the signals from the new nerve werent reaching my shoulder muscle but she could try a rarely used procedure where theyd replace both the muscle and attached nerves, rather than just the nerves. I agreed and had the four-hour operation in March 2015 to remove the gracilis muscle, and connected nerves, which helps to move the leg. This was then stitched into my arm. I woke in a sling, which I had to wear for eight weeks while the arm healed. I had a 30cm wound in my inner thigh and a 20cm one running from my shoulder to just above my elbow. The pain from the leg bothered me, but morphine helped. I agreed and had the four-hour operation in March 2015 to remove the gracilis muscle, and connected nerves, which helps to move the leg When the sling was removed after eight weeks, I had physio and hydrotherapy fairly soon after the heated water of the hydrotherapy pool kept my muscles warm, making it easier to exercise and this time I felt a slight twitch in my right arm it was fantastic. Though my arm was still incredibly weak, it showed movement was starting to come back. I had two years of physio and hydrotherapy, and gradually the movement came back into my arm almost completely. Now I can cook and do everything for myself, and while I cant ride my motorbike, Ive learned to drive an automatic car. I took up running while I was recovering, and now Im back to target shooting with my dad, too. I havent noticed any change in my leg movements either. The improvement has been amazing. The surgeon Grainne Bourke is a consultant in hand and plastic surgery at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Spire Leeds Hospital. There are around 48,000 major trauma cases annually, usually arising from road accidents and around 1 per cent of these patients have major nerve injuries. The nerve may be injured or severed and as a result patients lose sensation and movement. Often those affected are active young men who find they cannot move their arm or leg, work or look after their families, and are left in a lot of pain, which is simply devastating. Patients are offered powerful painkillers, including morphine-based drugs, and help from a multi-disciplinary team which can offer rehabilitation. And in some cases this alone will help. There are around 48,000 major trauma cases annually, usually arising from road accidents and around 1 per cent of these patients have major nerve injuries (stock image) Nerve and muscle transplants are another option and many more could benefit from them than currently do but there is low awareness of this method even among medical staff. In some cases transplanting nerves alone will restore function, but in many cases the injury is too old if the muscle doesnt get a signal from a working nerve over time, the junction between muscle and nerve can die, stopping the muscle from receiving the signals it needs to move. Once this happens, we need to add a new muscle with a working nerve already attached, which is why patients should be referred to specialist centres early, within weeks of their injury. What are the risks? Standard surgical risks of bleeding and infection. Risk of problems with the blood flow, which affects up to 5 per cent of patients. In some cases the muscle doesnt work completely, so good power isnt restored. This is a fantastic operation to offer patients who can no longer raise their hand or arm because it restores function to the arm, and is a good option for patients with arm or sometimes knee injuries who are fit enough for a four to five hour operation, says Dean Boyce, consultant plastic surgeon at the Morriston Hospital in Swansea and Spire Cardiff Hospital. Advertisement We always use the gracilis muscle and an attached nerve, which runs down the inner thigh as other muscles will take over its job so the patient isnt left with any leg weakness. It can also be used for repair below the knee, though the leg needs more power so this is more difficult which is why this technique is most often used for arm and shoulder repairs. Using a muscle from the patients own body means there are no issues with rejection. We transplant it with nerves that will make the muscle move in an operation taking four to six hours under general anaesthetic. In Simons case it was the brachial plexus nerves in the shoulder that control all of the right arm that were damaged. I start by making an incision in the armpit, then I send electrical impulses through the nerves using a nerve stimulator. This makes the nerves work, so we can tell if we have targeted the right one as the immobilised limb will twitch. Then I make a 30cm incision in the inner thigh to remove the gracilis muscle. We use diathermy (heat) which seals the severed nerves as it cuts, and suture the blood vessels to close them. I move the transplanted muscle over and attach to the coracoid bone, a small bone in the shoulder. Theres no need to remove the existing muscle as it will have shrunk through lack of use. The other end of the muscle is stitched to the tendon in the biceps in the upper arm. I then use a microscope to connect tiny blood vessels using sutures as fine as a hair, and attach the transplanted nerves to the damaged nerves in the arm and then I close it all up. Studies have shown good results for patients who have muscle transplant surgery: two thirds can then flex their elbow properly, and 87 per cent can do it while lifting a weight. Many regain full function, although some are left with permanent weakness. Although this technique wont help those with paralysis from stroke or cerebral palsy, it could be given to many more trauma patients. Two brothers born with the same brain disorder died within a month of one another one aged three and the other just six hours old. Charlie and Sharon Corcoran, a couple in their 20s from Neasden in London, lost both their sons just 24 days apart last summer. Charlie, three, and Noah, a newborn, both had polymicrogyria, a condition in which the brain does not develop properly in the womb. Mr Corcoran said he feels like he's 'staggering through life' after the devastating loss and the couple don't know if any future children would have the same condition. Sharon and Charlie Corcoran lost both their sons Noah, a newborn, and Charlie, three within a month of each other in June and July last year. Pictured, the family together during the hours before Noah died Noah died hours after he was born by caesarean section on June 11 last year, after doctors discovered her had both polymicrogyria and an underdeveloped heart. And the couple's sorrow deepened just three weeks later when, on July 4, their other son, Charlie, also died after living with the brain condition. 'Noah broke our heart into bits and Charlie took away whatever was left,' said Mr Corcoran, a 29-year-old lorry driver originally from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. 'Ever since, we have been existing rather than living, we're empty and feel like different people, we're just trying to get through each day. 'I feel like I'm staggering through life. The hardest thing is not having our boys and having to try to live without them.' Both Charlie and Noah were born with polymicrogyria, a genetic condition in which the folded structure of the brain forms incorrectly. The condition can be caused by a number of genetic defects, but Mr and Mrs Corcoran haven't been told which of them carries the gene which triggered it. Mrs Corcoran, 23, said: 'We'll never be the same again. Whenever I think "I don't' want to be here" I think I need to fight for them. 'It's very lonely, there are reminders of the boys everywhere. Having kids again is a difficult prospect to think of.' Mr and Mrs Corcoran have been tested to find out which of them carries a gene which may have triggered their sons' brain condition, but haven't been given useful results Noah, who died when he was six hours old (pictured as a newborn), had the brain condition polymicrogyria and an underdeveloped heart WHAT IS POLYMICROGYRIA? Polymicrogyria is a genetic disorder which causes the brain to develop incorrectly. It makes the brain develop an abnormally high number of folds and they grow closer together than usual. This can interrupt nerve signals and cause various problems with the mind and body. In milder cases the condition can lead to controllable seizures, whereas more serious cases can trigger dangerous seizures, epilepsy, intellectual disability, and weakness or paralysis. Polymicrogyria can kill patients by triggering fatal seizures or causing muscle problems which lead to lung infections and breathing difficulties. Experts don't know how common the condition is because it has so many potential causes which may be recorded differently. The condition is thought to be triggered by various genetic disorders including Adams-Oliver syndrome and Aicardi syndrome. Source: US National Library of Medicine Advertisement The structural changes polymicrogyria causes in the brain interfere with nerves abilities to communicate and transmit signals properly. More severe cases of the incurable condition can cause epilepsy, delayed development, speech and swallowing problems, and weakness or paralysis. Polymicrogyria can kill patients by triggering fatal seizures or causing muscle problems which lead to lung infections and breathing difficulties. Doctors told the couple Noah would most likely not survive the birth and, despite making it through that, he died six hours after he was born. The devastated couple returned home to be with Charlie but he, too, died two days after his third birthday a few weeks later. Mr Corcoran said: 'Sharon had to give birth knowing that Noah wouldn't make it. 'Our family brought Charlie in and for six hours we were able to be a family together. 'It was really difficult, as the hours went on we got more and hopeful he'd survive. I've never cried so much before, it was difficult to keep it up. 'When Noah passed away I held him and he cried out in the final moments before he died. 'Right before he passed away I put him on Sharon's chest and he opened his eyes and looked at Sharon. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Charlie, who was three when he died, was also born with polymicrogyria a condition in which the folds of the brain do not develop properly Charlie, pictured with his parents, needed round-the-clock care and medication for his entire life as a result of his condition, and had regular seizures 'Every time I tried to walk away I couldn't it was just too heartbreaking.' Mr and Mrs Corcoran have since been tested in a bid to find out which one of them carries the gene which caused their son's genetic disorders. The condition could be caused by a gene carried by one or both of them but the tests haven't given them any conclusive results. This means they don't know if they will ever be able to have children without passing on the disease. Charlie had frequent seizures and required full-time care and medication throughout his short life, and had seven stays in intensive care. 'We were always told Charlie wouldn't be able to live a normal life or walk or talk,' said Mr Corcoran. 'But he brought so much to our life, he had so much character about him and had a spark that could light up a room. 'Two days after his birthday we went back into the hospital because his breathing had become a struggle. 'We knew deep down it was going to be his final time. We spent two days in hospital holding him and playing music to him. Charlie died just two days after his third birthday. His parents took him to hospital when they noticed he was having breathing problems and his father, Charlie, said: 'We knew deep down it was going to be his final time' Charlie, who was diagnosed when he was a few weeks old, was never expected to learn to walk or talk. But Mr Corcoran said: 'He brought so much to our life, he had so much character about him and had a spark that could light up a room' Noah was delivered by caesarean section on June 11 2018. Doctors didn't expect him to survive the birth he did but he died just six hours later The Corcoran family were able to be together for the first and last time for a few hours after Noah was born. Mr Corcoran said: 'It was a fleeting moment but it's always something we can look back on' 'On July 4 we knew how bad he was getting and we rang all our family and friends and told them we weren't sure if he had much longer left.' The couple are now trying to raise money for the Northwick Park Hospital in London, which Charlie had to visit regularly. They already have more than 2,300 out of a 3,000 target which they hope to contribute towards specialist machines to help sick children breathe normally. Mr Corcoran added: 'I was holding Charlie in those final moments. I was telling him it was OK to go, we didn't want him to suffer anymore and that he could go and be with Noah. 'Right before he passed away he made two sounds like he was trying to say something, and then he took his final breath. 'We knew he was gone, we were in bits. The final photos of us in the hospital room show us together as a real and proper family. 'It was a fleeting moment but it's always something we can look back on.' To donate to their fundraiser visit the GoFundMe page. A woman went into septic shock after a mistake during 'routine' surgery caused her intestines to leak bile that 'ate away her organs'. Bonnie Judge went under the knife in September last year to clear a blockage in her bowel ahead of having her appendix removed. However, her inflamed colon caused doctors to accidentally 'nick' her intestine, it has since been revealed. Initially not realising the mistake, medics wheeled the now 35-year-old to a recovery ward, where she almost immediately threw up black vomit. Thinking she had sepsis, they opened her up to find her intestine was leaking and her abdomen was 'in two', which triggered her body to go into septic shock. Ms Judge, who works at a hotel in Utah, spent several days in an induced coma while her body recovered, only to wake with a 'hole' in her midriff. Once healed, Ms Judge - who has developed 'PTSD' as a result of the ordeal - is set to go under the knife yet again to reconnect her abdominal muscles. Bonnie Judge (left before) went into septic shock after a mistake during 'routine' surgery caused her intestines to leak bile that 'ate away her organs'. Ms Judge went under the knife again, where doctors discovered their error. She woke to find a 'hole' in her abdomen (right) Speaking of the ordeal, Ms Judge said: 'I went into hospital on July 19, 2018 to have my appendix removed. 'During that surgery, the surgeon said that there was a lot of inflammation. So, I was scheduled for another surgery on September 17 to remove a mass on my colon, which was causing a blockage. 'During the surgery on my colon, because my insides were so inflamed, the surgeon accidentally cut my intestine.' Doctors initially thought the surgery had been a success and sent Ms Judge to a ward to recover. 'I remember waking up and the nurse brought in some beef broth and red jelly,' she said. 'After I had three bites of my jelly, I got nauseous and I threw up all over myself, but it wasn't jelly, it was black and looked like coffee grains.' When her condition failed to improve days later, her surgeon became suspicious and ordered a CT scan of her abdomen. 'The results showed nothing,' Ms Judge said. 'Then they decided to put a tube into my nose and down into my stomach to suck all the infection out of my stomach. 'However, I got worse and my blood pressure dropped, and my heart rate was high. My surgeon then suspected sepsis. 'He told me they needed to open me up again, but I was in so much pain and I refused to let it happen. 'I was scared, but when my surgeon explained how serious it was, I agreed to it.' Ms Judge spent several days in an induced coma (pictured) to recover from her septic shock After going under the knife again, doctors realised their mistake and operated there and then. 'The surgery revealed that during the [original] surgery to remove part of my colon, my intestine was nicked and was leaking bile into my body, which was eating away at my organs and tissue,' Ms Judge said. 'The doctors said my body wasn't acting like that of a young person; instead, it was frail and as fragile as someone much older.' Bile is released from the gall bladder into the small intestine when someone eats, to break down fat so it can be absorbed in the body. Most gets reused - but some can reach the large intestine, where it is eventually defecated out. Things went from bad to worse when Ms Judge went into septic shock. Septic shock can develop if sepsis, which occurs as a severe complication of an infection, goes untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic. It causes the body's blood pressure to fall and its organs to shut down. 'I was put on a line with a lot of IV antibiotics and fluids, and then a breathing tube since I had to be put into a coma to try and heal from all the trauma,' Ms Judge said. Ms Judge is pictured left after waking from her second surgery. She had to be sedated after the sight of her wound left her distressed. A vac machine (left) was applied to the 'hole' in her midriff to help it heal faster and stop a new infection occurring. She is awaiting more surgery When she came round from the surgery, Ms Judge was faced with the site of her wound. 'I remember being in the ICU and my woundcare team came in to change the wound vac and I looked down and just started crying because I had no idea what happened as I'd been in an induced coma,' she said. 'I had a wound vac put on to help heal the hole faster and to stop a new infection from happening. 'They split me both horizontally and vertically so they could clean everything because they said my bile was leaking. 'They had to leave me open to let me heal from all the surgeries and to make sure the antibiotics were working. 'Because my muscles were split in half, they said they would have to wait to put them back together once the inflammation in my body went down.' Nurses eventually had to sedate Ms Judge to stop her 'freaking out'. 'I was screaming and shaking the bed rails, and then I was sedated by my nurse to calm me,' she said. 'I woke up from that a day later.' Although now out of hospital, she still suffers the consequences of the ordeal every day. 'The wound hurts constantly and it feels like I have a fist inside me that's twisting incessantly,' Ms Judge said. 'It makes it hard to sit up or get out of bed, I walk as if I have a hunchback and I get the worst anxiety if I need to go out in public because I'm scared someone will bump into me and cause more trauma.' Ms Judge even claims she has developed a form of PTSD due to the ordeal. 'I love being able to say I've survived sepsis, but the fight isn't over because post-sepsis syndrome [PSS] is real,' she said. PSS describes a set of physical, psychological and emotional symptoms some sepsis survivors experience in the six-to-18 months after the scare, according to The UK Sepsis Trust. 'I have nightmares and anxiety,' Ms Judge said. 'Every fever and body ache I get frightens me. It's as if I have PTSD from it.' And it is not just Ms Judge who has been affected by the horrific turn of events. 'My surgeon cried with me many times about what happened, and it took him over a month to do another surgery like mine,' she said. 'It appears we were both traumatised from the surgery.' But despite everything she has been through, Ms Judge does her best to stay positive. 'I am amazed at how much my wound has healed since I first saw it,' she said. 'Although I still hate looking at it and I cry when I do because my body feels like it isn't mine now and I just feel ugly. 'I'm still on oral antibiotics and I have a home nurse who changes my bandage every other day.' Ms Judge is speaking out to help those dealing with a similar trauma to feel less alone. Follow her Instagram account here. A girl had to have her right eye surgically removed after she was diagnosed with the rare cancer retinoblastoma. Gracie Corrigan, from Oregon, was found to have 10 tumours in her eye and doctors decided to operate the day after they found out. Her mother, Elly Smith, first noticed something was wrong when she took a photo of her daughter and the flash made her eye glow strangely. Since having her eye removed she has been given a prosthetic painted to match her remaining one, which Mrs Smith, 38, says Gracie has taken in her stride. In a photo Mrs Smith took of her five-year-old daughter in 2016, Gracie Corrigan's right eye can be seen glowing abnormally because of the flash this is a typical sign of retinoblastoma Gracie (left) had to have her right eye surgically removed after doctors found she had 10 cancerous tumours caused by retinoblastoma. She now has a painted prosthetic eye (pictured right) 'She even has taken her spare eye in for show and tell,' Mrs Smith said. 'She has such an amazing spirit she helped our family get through this.' Mrs Smith became concerned about her daughter's eye when it looked unusual in photos. She took Gracie to see a doctor and she was then referred to eye specialists who diagnosed the cancer and acted quickly. Mrs Smith said: 'I knew something was wrong with Gracie because her eye would be glowing, and it looked like she had a lazy eye. 'I made her an appointment the day I noticed it and her doctor referred us to an eye doctor. 'I could tell something was wrong there and noticed the doctor's chest getting red I was just asking what was wrong. 'When we found out we tried to explain as best we could to a two-year-old and said her eye had an "owee" and that the doctor had to take it out.' Retinoblastoma is a rare form of cancer in the eye which usually affects children under the age of five. About 300 children in the US develop it each year alongside 50 in the UK, according to figures. It causes noticeable changes to the eye so is often caught early on around 98 per cent of children with the disease are successfully treated. Gracie's mother, Elly Smith, 38, first noticed something was wrong when she took a photo of her daughter with the flash on and one of her eyes was glowing Gracie was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare type of cancer which develops in the eye and usually affects children under the age of five Doctors discovered Grace had 10 cancerous tumours in her eye and optic nerve and decided to operate the next day to remove the growths Mrs Smith noticed a white light in her daughter's pupil when she took pictures of Gracie, then two years old, in May 2016. Leukocoria, the medical term for an abnormal white reflection in the pupil, is often one of the first signs of retinoblastoma. When a doctor explained Gracie had cancer Mrs Smith said she didn't know what to do. 'I just started crying,' she said. 'When we left I remember walking to the car crying and shaking, and buckling Gracie in the car seat not knowing what I was going to do. 'I told Gracie "no matter what, you're going to be okay".' The mother and daughter flew more than 2,500 miles (4,000km) to the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, where doctors counted 10 tumours in Gracie's eye and optical nerve. They explained she'd need to have her eye removed the next day. Mrs Smith said: 'I was a mess. We [went] there for a second opinion but never expected she'd need her eye out the next morning.' Her husband Sean Corrigan flew to join them that night and Gracie's eye was removed on June 1, 2016. Surgeons operated just 16 days after her mother first noticed the white flash in Gracie's eye, and she started chemotherapy two weeks later. 'The first two months were really hard on her,' Mrs Smith said. 'She was nauseous and had [nerve damage] badly in her feet from the chemo.' Three months after her eye was removed, Gracie received her prosthetic eye. Gracie has been 'resilient' since having to adjust to life with her prosthetic eye, her mother said. It has now been nearly three years since the surgery Gracie (pictured with her mother shortly after her operation) now takes her prosthetic eye into school for show and tell and tells her friends about her 'magic eye', her mother said Gracie had to have chemotherapy after her operation but has since made a full recovery. She still has check-ups every three months but has so far remained in the all-clear Mrs Smith said: 'The ocularist painted the eye while we were in there and then we came back the next day to pick it up. 'It was so emotional for me, I think I cried for the next 24 hours!' Gracie adapted to her new eye quickly and has made a full recovery. She is still closely monitored and has tests every three months, but has had no problems so far. Now, she lives with no restrictions, playing with other children her age and telling all her friends about her 'magic eye', her mother said. 'Gracie was fine with it,' Mrs Smith said about her daughter's new eye. 'She is so resilient. 'When they make the eye you get to choose something to put on the top so you know which is the top of the eye Gracie chose a horse. 'It was a hard day for me. Gracie had been wearing an eye patch since the removal and seeing the prosthetic eye just made it all real.' A toddler with a rare chromosome condition has proved doctors wrong after they said he would likely never be able to crawl, sit-up, walk or talk. Ethan Bothe, one, of North Carolina, has distal chromosome 18q deletion syndrome, which occurs in around one in 55,000 births worldwide. His parents, Jennifer Bothe, 32, and Kyle Bothe, 34, were devastated when doctors said Ethan would need therapy for the rest of his life. The condition leads to a huge list of medical problems, including poor muscle tone, growth problems, vision loss and hand, food, face and head abnormalities. Although Ethan has severe development problems, he has reached a milestone his medics thought he may never achieve. He started to crawl in February and can now pull himself up to stand and can say, 'mama' and 'dada'. His progress has left his geneticist and parents awe-struck. Ethan Bothe must wear a cranial helmet (pictured) because the muscles on one side of his neck were extremely tight, which lead to plagiocephaly, also known as 'flat head' syndrome. The helmet helps the skull to grow more evenly by applying pressure in 'bulging' places When Ethan was born in March 2018, his parents, Jennifer Bothe, 32, and Kyle Bothe, 34, of North Carolina, were devastated when doctors said he would likely never be able to crawl, sit-up, walk or talk. Pictured in hospital at birth Ethan, who is now one years old, was diagnosed with rare distal chromosome 18q deletion syndrome. It leads to a huge list of medical problems, including poor muscle tone, growth problems, vision loss and hand, food, face and head abnormalities. Pictured with Mrs Bothe Mrs Bothe said: 'The first time Ethan stood up at a small table I cried, the first time he said mama I cried, the first time he swallowed food that wasn't pureed I cried. 'I was completely overwhelmed with emotion every time Ethan achieved something we knew was infinitely difficult for him. 'I've since heard that in medical school they train doctors to say, "I'm sorry" when they are delivering a diagnosis like this. But I firmly believe that needs to change.' She added: 'Parent's don't want sympathy for the existence of their child and saying, "I'm sorry" makes it seem like there's something devastating to be sorry for. WHAT IS DISTAL CHROMOSOME 18G DELETION SYNDROME? Chromosome 18q deletion is a rare genetic condition that leads to a variety of medical conditions. It is a chromosomal disorder in which there is a deletion of part of the long arm of chromosome 18. The level of severity varies from case to case and deletions are either proximal where the deletion is closer to the centre of the chromosome or distal where the deletion is at the end. Its characteristic features generally include, a short stature, hypotonia (poor muscle tone), hand and foot abnormalities, head and facial abnormalities which can include microcephaly (small head), a 'carp shaped' mouth, deep set eyes or an unusually flat or underdeveloped midfacial region. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, chromosome 18q deletion occurs in approximately one in 55,000 newborns worldwide. Since the disorder was originally reported in the medical literature in 1964, more than 80 cases have been recorded, according the the National Organisation for Rare Disorders. It can be inherited from either parent but can also be 'de novo', which means that it is unique to the person effected. Advertisement 'When in fact, these babies can teach us more about love, acceptance and inclusion than anything or anyone else in this world.' In 2017 Mrs Bothe became pregnant for a second time after welcoming her and Mr Bothe's first child, Ella, now three, in 2016. A routine genetic screening early in her pregnancy indicated red flags that couldn't be identified without further testing which showed her unborn son only had one kidney. Ethan was born in March 2018 and in the months that followed he underwent further testing. Mrs Bothe said: 'We knew something was not one hundred per cent with Ethan, but we didn't have a name for it until this meeting with the geneticist. 'Frankly, Kyle and I were both really positive it was nothing big.' In July 2018 Ethan's parents attended their first geneticist appointment. Mrs Bothe said: 'When we sat down with the geneticist she said, "I'm very sorry to tell you this but your son has a rare genetic condition called chromosome 18q deletion syndrome".' The couple were told that Ethan's condition, along with hypotonia, which is very low muscle tone, would mean it was unlikely he would ever be able to sit up, crawl, stand, walk or talk and that he might lose his sight and hearing. There is a high risk of him losing his vision and his hearing as he gets older and he will be very short in stature because he will probably have low growth hormone, doctors warned. Mr and Mrs Bothe were told in July 2018 that Ethan had the syndrome after having genetic testing. They were shocked as the only thing that had been noticed at birth was camptodactyly - a medical condition that causes one or more fingers to be permanently bent. Mrs Bothe said she 'crumbled' and felt like her child had died Doctors said Ethan would need intensive therapy including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and possibly feeding therapy. Pictured at hospital The couple were told that Ethan's condition, along with hypotonia, which is very low muscle tone, would mean it was unlikely he would ever be able to sit up, crawl, stand, walk or talk and that he might lose his sight and hearing. Pictured in hospital He would need intensive therapy including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and feeding therapy. On top of this, the doctors said he will never live an independent life, and therefore never have children. Mrs Bothe said: 'I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. Just hours before this appointment Kyle and I had been discussing how lucky we were that Ethan had examined so well. 'I had worried for nine months of pregnancy only to feel an overwhelming sense of relief when we were told he seemed to "check out fine" and now I was being told he had an extremely complicated genetic condition. 'Under the weight of the doctor's words I just crumbled. In that moment I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces and I cried. 'It was a cry so completely full of anguish and heartache because I felt like someone had told me my baby had died.' Over the past year, Ethan has had countless tests and doctor appointments to determine how his condition is affecting him. Ethan wears a helmet because he had extreme torticollis, meaning the muscles on one side of his neck were extremely tight, which lead to plagiocephaly, an asymmetrical distortion of the skull Ethan has managed to learn how to wave, clap and shake his head as well as saying his three-year-old sister's name, Ella. The most heartwarming thing to see the siblings play, Mrs Bothe said Ethan has allergies, reflux, kidney problems and a growth deficiency. Pictured, having allergy tests in hospital Ethan's condition leaves him with a kidney problems, growth deficiency and camptodactyly, which means his fingers are permanently bent making it difficult to use his hands like other children. His poor muscle tone makes it difficult for him to achieve his motor milestones and there are abnormalities in his feet - which have not yet been fully understood. He also suffers allergies, a reflux problem and food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) - although it is not clear if this is caused by his chromosome condition. Ethan had extreme torticollis, meaning the muscles on one side of his neck were extremely tight, which lead to plagiocephaly, also known as 'flat head' syndrome. Babies commonly develop a mishapen head - flattened on the side of back - usually as a result of spending too much time lying down. 'Chiropractic care was our first attempt at helping Ethan to correct his plagiocephaly before moving forward with his cranial helmet.' The helmet applies pressure to the 'bulging' parts of the skull to relieve pressure on the flatter parts and allow them to grow more evenly. 'Currently, Ethan sees physical therapy, occupational therapy and feeding therapy on an ongoing and weekly basis', Mrs Bothe said. But Ethan has managed to learn how to wave, clap and shake his head as well as saying his sister's name. In December 2018, a geneticist was amazed at Ethans progress and his ability to sit up far exceeded the expectations of his diagnosis for his age. Mrs Bothe said: 'I wish I could go back to that moment [the diagnosis] and tell that sobbing heartbroken woman what I know now. 'I wish I could tell her that Ethan would be one of the greatest gifts of her life, and that he would teach her more about love and patience, strength and resilience than she would ever know. Ethan takes everything in his stride with a smile on his face and his arrival has made the family stronger. Pictured, Mr and Mrs Bothe, Ethan and Ella Mrs Bothe said: 'I was completely overwhelmed with emotion every time Ethan achieved something we knew was infinitely difficult for him' 'I've come to realise that Ethan was not the baby that I expected to have. He is so, so much more.' The most heartwarming thing to see is Ethan and his older sister, Ella, playing. Mrs Bothe said: 'Ethan is awe-struck by his sister Ella. As a mother, it is unbelievably heart-warming to see the two of them interact. 'She is the perfect sister for him. I think even at only three years old she senses his vulnerability, which allows her to be extremely empathetic and caring.' Mrs Bothe shared her words of advice to other families who might be going through a similar situation and to the doctor who gave them such a bleak prognosis. She said: 'I would tell the doctor to just work on their delivery a little more, to put themselves in the shoes of the parents who they are talking to, and to understand how difficult hearing an unexpected diagnosis would be for them. 'Children are so resilient and so much stronger than we give them credit for. Miracles happen every day, so never give up on your child.' Mrs Bothe shares her family's journey on Instagram to raise awareness for Ethan's rare condition. Health chiefs are to begin clamping down on online pharmacies to stop patients from easily buying dangerous drugs. New rules will protect people from the dangers of addictive medications such as strong painkillers without having a consultation. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC) has issued the guidance for providers meaning the way they operate will need to change. The move comes after a surge in legal sites being used by people who can use a prescription from a doctor outside the UK - behind their GPs back. Health chiefs are clamping down on online pharmacies to stop patients from easily buying inappropriate drugs. Pictured, Debbie Headspeath, 41, who died in 2017 after years of addiction to painkillers that she had bought thousands of online Loopholes mean patients can access thousands of pills using multiple sites that are under no obligation to implement safety measures. One case that has been highlighted is that of Debbie Headspeath, a 41-year-old who died in 2017 after years of addiction to painkillers. As well as using those prescribed by her GP, an investigation found that in the nine months before her death she had taken some 3,700 codeine painkiller tablets bought from 21 internet pharmacies. Measures introduced by the GPC include that patients aren't able to get medication unless they have an online consultation with a healthcare professional. If a patient needs a medication that could be abused, or there is a risk of addiction, the prescriber needs to contact their GP in advance. THE 41-YEAR-OLD WHO DIED AFTER YEARS OF ADDICTION TO PAINKILLERS THAT SHE BOUGHT ONLINE Debbie Headspeath, 41, from Ipswich, was a regular customer to legal online pharmacies in the UK. The cause of death, her family believe, was an accidental overdose of opioid painkillers. An inquest into Debbies death is scheduled for May. Ms Headspeath had just started a new job with war veterans and had left one morning in July 2017 for work - but never arrived. Her partner of 20 years, Mike, 54, a Post Office worker from Ipswich, found her lying dead at their home when he received a call from her work that morning. Ms Headspeath had been prescribed the opiate-based painkiller dihydrocodeine by her family doctor in 2008 after developing back pain. She developed a dependency on the drug which initially she tried to deal with on her own with her family doctor Mike says the couple only ever had one conversation about it, one night about four years before she died. She was able to buy more painkillers online, prescribed by doctors and dispensed by UK pharmacies, without her GP or partner's knowledge. Kevin Duggan, Ms Headspeath's brother, told the BBC: 'There's no justification for what they do, which is exploiting people with an addiction. I would like to invite the companies to try and justify their actions to my mum. 'To look my mum in the eyes and explain why they allowed this to happen.' Advertisement Strategies are also to be put in place so the sites can identify requests for medicines that are inappropriate or repeatedly being ordered to the same address. Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPC said: 'We support pharmacy services being provided in innovative ways, including online, as long as the services are safe and effective for people. 'But providing pharmacy services online carries particular risks which need to be successfully managed. 'People can be put at serious risk if they are able to obtain medicines that are not appropriate for them. 'We are now putting in place this updated guidance with further safeguards to protect people.' Further safeguards will be put in place before supplying a range of medicines including antibiotics, opiates, sedatives and laxatives. Those that need ongoing management will have tighter checks, including those to treat diabetes, asthma and mental health conditions. Research by YouGov, commissioned by GPC, found that 25 per cent of people say they are likely to use online pharmacies in the future. The number of sites selling medicine legally to patients has almost doubled since 2015, from 380 to 713, as patients seek prescriptions their GPs are unlikely to give. Opium-based painkillers such as codeine and tramadol can be life-transforming for short-term pain, say experts. Being highly addictive drugs, there have been demands for better guidance about GPs prescribing of it - but that hasn't covered the readily available drugs online. Most other European countries have prevented their citizens being prescribed drugs by a remote online doctor from another country in the EU. A BBC Panorama investigation exposed the risks of websites using doctors from companies based outside England. The Care Quality Commission said these websites could be 'dangerous'. Shortly after being admitted to hospitals, 14 percent of patients' hands and nostrils are teeming with antibiotic resistant superbugs, a new study suggests. And it's not just hospital workers that are responsible for the spread - patients are likely spreading the germs around their rooms and to one another. Antibiotic resistance is considered a top public health concern by the World Health Organization, as the untreatable bugs are becoming more common and could render drugs useless. Hospitals are known to be fertile breeding grounds for dangerous superbugs, making thorough hand-washing practices more crucial than ever to patient safety. But the new pair of studies suggests that hospitals have a long way to go to keep antibiotic resistance in check. Hospitals emphasize the importance of hand-washing for health care providers, but new research suggests patients' hands are spreading antibiotic resistant superbugs, too (file) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) healthcare workers only wash their hands about half as often as they should. Partly as a result, about one in 31 patients in a hospital contracts an infection during their stay. It's a constant and uphill battle as patients file in with their own bacteria, and infections, are treated by doctors and nurses in close contact, and spaces shared by hundreds if not dozens of other sick and injured people. The problem is made worse by hasty attempts at solutions. For decades, doctors have been over-prescribing antibiotics to treat infections that are often viral, meaning the drugs are useless to treat them. And even over-use of sanitizers has in fact helped bacteria 'learn' the medicines and products designed to kill them, mutating and reproducing more resistant bacteria. To get a sense of how superbugs were being spread to patients, researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor followed 399 patients in two of their hospitals. Shortly after the patients were first admitted, the team swabbed their hands and nostrils for germs. To begin with, 14 percent of the patients were colonized with bacteria that were resistant to multiple forms of treatment upon arrival - meaning they were present in their nostrils, but not causing an active infection. Ten percent of the patients had resistant bacteria living on their hands. Rooms were also tested for bacteria, and the team found that 29 percent of them had populations of resistant bacteria. Six percent of patients picked up new antibiotic resistant germs on their hands over the courses of their stays at the two hospitals. And six patient contracted actual infections. They all got antibiotic-resistant MRSA, which was detected on the hands, nostrils or rooms as well. The researchers also looked at how often patients picked up VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) and RGNB (resistant gram-negative bacteria). MRSA was the most common form of bacteria, but all three were present on patient hands, in their nostrils and in their rooms, according to the study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Nurse call buttons, bed controls, and bedside tray tables were most likely to be teeming with bacteria, and the researchers considered them primary culprits for hand-transmission of the superbugs. A third of the rooms were contaminated before new patients were settled into them, and nearly 40 percent of patients had matching bugs on their hands within 48 hours of arrival. Many acquired the bacteria even sooner - in as little as eight hours after admission. 'While the burden of preventing infections has largely been borne by [health care providers], our study shows that patient hands are an important reservoir and play a crucial role in the transmission of pathogens in acute care hospital,' the study authors wrote. 'Thus, patient hand hygiene protocols should be implemented and tested for their ability to reduce environmental contamination, pathogen transmission, and healthcare-associated infections as well as to increase meaningful patient engagement in infection prevention.' In short: if you find yourself in a hospital, make sure to do your part and wash your hands, well and often. A man traveling the country to fund-raise for charity in Orthodox Jewish communities is responsible for 38 cases of measles in Michigan after driving from Brooklyn to Detroit for a business trip full of community meetings. The Israeli traveler, dubbed 'Michigan's Patient Zero' by the Washington Post, arrived in New York in November, when the measles outbreak was starting to take hold in Brooklyn, and he stayed until March. It took Michigan authorities a week to realize he might be the source - by which time, the Post reported, he had interacted with 'hundreds of people', visiting synagogue three times a day, kosher markets, and staying in people's homes. The man, who had gone to a doctor with a fever, cough and rash when he first arrived in Detroit but was given the all-clear, was 'devastated' when he realized he was the source of a fresh outbreak, Michigan health authorities said. The Israeli traveler arrived in New York in November, when the measles outbreak was starting to take hold in Brooklyn. He went to Michigan in early March and was there for a week before diagnosis (file image) On the night that he set off for his overnight drive from New York to Michigan, the man, who has not been identified, had a fever and a heavy cough - two classic symptoms of measles - so he went straight to a doctor when he arrived, the Post reported. His concerns were dismissed. The doctor gave him antibiotics for bronchitis. The next day, the man called the doctor's office saying he'd developed a rash. The doctor said it must be an allergic reaction and nothing to worry about. With the doctor's vote of confidence, the man went ahead with his jam-packed schedule of events across Oakland County, in which Detroit sits, including daily synagogue visits, and staying in people's homes. But shortly after their phone call, the doctor had a moment of realization: it could be measles. He called back. The man's phone, which wasn't working, went straight to voicemail, so he called the authorities. According to the Post, his call was answered by the perfect person: Steve McGraw, not only head of emergency medical services but also part of Oakland County's Orthodox Jewish community, who immediately contacted all the rabbis in the area. His contacts in the community knew exactly who he was talking about and directed him to the neighborhood the man was scheduled to be in that day. McGraw told the Post he felt confident that he could find the man because he knew the man was driving a blue sedan and he knew 'it would stand out among the minivans used by virtually every family'. They tracked him down in a matter of hours and told him what had happened, to his shock. The antibiotics he'd been given were futile for his illness, though it can help for measles sufferers who develop bacterial infections like pneumonia, which is common. There is no treatment for measles, bar a post-exposure vaccine. The only thing doctors can advise is to stay away from others. Autism rates have been steadily increasing across the US for decades - but nowhere so steeply as in New Jersey, according to a new report. While modest increases were seen in five other states tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, there has been a staggering 43 percent increase in autism among four-year-olds in just four years. Awareness of autism has certainly increased and New Jersey has some of the most reliable data on the disorder, but the report's authors say that these factors aren't nearly enough to explain such a sharp rise. What does explain New Jersey's high and growing rates of autism remains a mystery. One in every 35 children in New Jersey is on the autism spectrum, and rates among four-year-olds have increased by 43 percent in four years there, a new CDC report finds Nationwide, between one in 40 and one in 59 children has autism, depending on which estimate you look at. In New Jersey, it's one in 35. Across the seven states included in the new CDC study - Arizona, Colorado Missouri, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin, in addition to New Jersey - autism rates climbed by about 27 percent between 2010 and 2014. Taken together, the average autism rate is 1.7 percent of four-year-old children. But in New Jersey, it's three percent - up from one percent in 2000, and marking a 43 percent between 2010 and 2014. The difference between a 27 percent increase and 43 percent increase is significant and, in this case, difficult to explain. Autism as we know it - a diverse set of behavioral conditions on a spectrum - got its first recognition in 1994 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 4. Because it described several subsets of characteristics to be treated uniquely, doctors started to learn more about the spectrum of disorders and diagnose more children with autism. 'As with any new invention or discovery, there are early adopters that take it on right away, then the bulk will take more time, so you expect rates to vary upward slightly with growing awareness,' says study co-author Dr Walter Zahorodny, a professor of pediatrics at Rutgers University. 'About 10 to 20 percent [of upward variation] could be explained by better awareness, so you might see a change of say 1.1 percent to 1.4 percent over four years, and then it would stabilize. 'But there's no reason for it to vary so many years into the use [of the DSM 4 and 5 criteria], and still people are using that "better awareness" as if it was going to explain a change of 150 percent [since 2000].' Autism is thought to begin with a genetic predisposition - so far, scientists have linked about 65 genes to the spectrum of disorders - and then get 'triggered' by environmental factors. From there the possibilities become virtually endless. The most substantial environmental links have been between autism and perinatal exposures, or things that happen while a baby is in the womb and just after their birth, including contact with pollution, having older parents, being a twin or multiple, premature birth, NICU stays and more. Dr Zahorodny and his research team compared data on the perinatal risk factors faced by the children in their study to the data on rates of autism. 'A number of these factors involved with elevated risk of autism...are all independently or semi-independently risk factors for autism,' says Dr Zahorodny. 'However, all of them taken together don't seem to add up to a magnitude of increase in prevalence like we saw. 'Altogether [perinatal factors] might account for five to 10 percent of the total number, but they're not enough to move the prevalence from one to three percent.' For eight-year-olds, the rate at all sites has increased by 150 percent since 2000. But the surge among four-year-olds, who often don't have clear clinical symptoms yet, was an odd phenomenon and, rather unique to New Jersey out of the seven states. Missouri had the lowest prevalence of autism, and there were no significant changes in it or any of the other states besides New Jersey. But there's no clear explanation for the anomaly in New Jersey. 'There's something that might vary and cause rates to increase, something that would affect the broadest populations - all children, all backgrounds and regions seem to be effected - but I'm not even sure I have any good hypotheses about what it was,' Dr Zahorodny says. For now, our best response to the finding is for everyone to have an eye out for autism, Dr Zahorodny says. 'If you have any question about your child's development between 18 and 30 months, bring it to your pediatrician or family practitioner's attention,' he suggests. 'And if you're an activating person, who wants to try to get other people to do something positive, try to get [your doctor] o use an autism screener for all children, not just sporadically, but for all children.' A three-month-old baby boy born with a rare disease that left him without any skin below the neck could soon be receiving life-saving treatment. Ja'bari Gray was born on New Year's Day in San Antonio, Texas, with his eyelids fused together and skin missing from almost everywhere except on his head. Doctors at Methodist Children's Hospital put the infant on life support and told his parents, Priscilla Mondalo and Marvin Gray, there was nothing more they could do. But the couple refused to accept this and, after a long-fought battle with their insurance company, secured their son a transfer to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. The medical team at TCH believes doctors at the previous hospital misdiagnosed Ja'bari, delaying his treatment, reported the San Antonio Express-News. Surgeons are now planning a procedure to open Ja'bari's airway so he can be taken off a ventilator and will then perform skin grafts to cover areas where skin hasn't grown yet. Ja'bari Gray, three months, was born in January 2019 in San Antonio, Texas, with almost no skin below his neck. Pictured: Ja'bari with his mother, Priscilla Mondalo in April 2019 Doctors diagnosed the infant with aplasia cutis congenita, a condition in which there is the absence of skin at birth. Pictured: Ja'bari in April 2019 Mondalo, Ja'bari's mother, wrote in a post on GoFundMe that she suffered no complications throughout her pregnancy until around the 37-week mark when doctors noticed he wasn't gaining weight. Her doctors at Methodist Children's Hospital decided to induce her but, on the morning of the procedure, Ja'bari's heart rate dropped so low that an emergency C-section was performed. It was then that staff noticed something was very wrong. Ja'bari had skin on his head, neck and some on his legs - but none on his torso or arms. He was diagnosed with aplasia cutis congenita, a condition in which there is absence of skin at birth. Usually these patches, which resemble lesions or open wounds, occur on the scalp, but can also be found on the torso and limbs. Aplasia cutis congenita affects about one in 10,000 newborns. The cause is unknown, but scientists believe it is a genetic disease. After doctors told Ja'bari's parents that there was nothing more they could do, the couple petitioned a transfer to Texas Children's Hospital. At first, Medicaid denied a transfer to TCH because it would be 'out of network', according to Fox San Antonio. But, one day later, the insurance company decided to approve it. Family members told the news station that Medicaid was flooded with complaints after news broke about the denied transfer. Ja'bari (pictured) was placed on life support and doctors told his parents there was nothing more they could do 'It's very amazing. It's just powerful how one word changed this whole scenario for the best for my son,' Maldonado, 25, said. After examining Ja'bari, staff at Texas Children's believe doctors at Methodist Children's may have misdiagnosed the infant. The new team believes the baby is suffering from epidermolyosis bullosa (EB), a rare genetic disorder that causes the skin to blister and burst, leaving raw sores that are susceptible to infections. Sufferers of EB are missing type VII collagen - a protein that allows the top layer of skin to bind with the bottom layers. The slightest movement causes the skin to constantly and consistently fall off. EB is rare, with just one in every 50,000 children in the US diagnosed with the condition, according to Stanford Children's Health. Because it is an inherited disorder, Maldonado and her husband, Marvin Gray, 34, are currently undergoing genetic testing for the condition, reported the Express-News. 'It could be two to three weeks before they have an answer,' Maldonado told the newspaper. 'They don't want to treat my son for the wrong thing.' The couple is hoping for some form of treatment but EB currently has no cure. Ja'bari's new medical team is treating him with pain medication and frequent bandage wrappings that are changed. His condition has improved. He weighed just three pounds at birth and now weighs about eight pounds. But he is suffering from complications. Though skin has started to grow in some area, his fingers and toes became fused during his time in the NICU. Additionally, his chin became fused to his neck. His parents had him transferred to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, where doctors believe he was misdiagnosed and believe Ja'bari has has epidermolyosis bullosa, a rare genetic disorder that causes the skin to blister and burst. Pictured: Ja'bari in March 2019 Skin grafts have been planned to cover areas where skin hasn't grown yet and to separate Ja'bari's neck from his chest after they fused together. Pictured: Ja'bari in March 2019 'Now he has another challenge to conquer which is his breathing, because [his airway] is completely bent in half...just because it's fused together,' Maldonado told Eyewitness News. However, a team of specialists met Ja'bari's parents on Monday to discuss the surgeries they are planning. They plan to make a small incision under the baby's throat that will hopefully remove the scar tissue that caused the neck to fuse to the chest, reported the Express-News. Once he heals from that surgery, doctors plan to perform skin grafts on Ja'bari's torso, arms and legs. Maldonado said she doesn't know how long Ja'bari will remain at TCH, so she and her husband may have to temporarily relocate. 'Even if he does pull through, we don't know what the future holds,' she told the Express-News. 'We're just praying every day. Every day is a blessing.' The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of Ja'bari's medical bills and other specialized medical equipment he will need once he is discharged. So far, more than $23,800 has been raised out of a $50,000 goal. New York City health officials have shut down a daycare center in Brooklyn after the school refused to hand over medical records to confirm all their children were vaccinated. United Talmudical Academy, which has around 250 kids aged three to five years old and 10 teachers, is based in Williamsburg, one of the neighborhoods hardest-hit by the current measles outbreak. Last week, a state of emergency was declared and all schools in four ZIP codes, including Williamsburg, were ordered to exclude any unvaccinated children from the premises, and confirm that all kids were covered to the Department of Health. But directors at United did not comply, and on Monday, after the number of measles cases rose another 15 percent, it became the first center to be shuttered by health authorities since the state of emergency was ordered. 'This is a direct violation of the commissioner's order requiring that unvaccinated students be excluded,' Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said in a statement. 'The school will be allowed to reopen once they convince us that they are able to, on a consistent basis, keep students in school that should be in school and keep students out of school that should not be in school.' Barbot added: 'We recognize that school closures can potentially present hardship for families and that's not our intent, but if a school is unable and unwilling, we will definitely close them.' New York City now has 329 cases of measles recorded since October, up from 285 when the state of emergency was declared on April 9. In a bid to curb the outbreak, health officials are trying to track down anyone who might have come into contact with people who have measles. Their records show two measles sufferers have connections to United Talmudical Academy. Barbot said officials visited the school five times in attempts to work with them, but he says their offers were rejected. United is no stranger to health authorities; teachers also refused to provide vaccination records in 2017. But parents fear other institutions may follow as city officials work to impose Mayor Bill de Blasio's state of emergency. On Monday, de Blasio dismissed the lawsuit filed by Californian anti-vaxxer attorney Robert F Kennedy on behalf of five Orthodox Jewish mothers in Brooklyn opposing the vaccine mandate. 'We feel very confident about our legal position,' de Blasio told a press conference, according to the New York Post. 'When I announced it last Tuesday, I said that... this is something the [city] Law Department feels very strongly about and that everything that's been done here is fully within our legal rights.' Most of us have a box of stored Christmas decorations stuffed with baubles and tinsel. Yet we often do nothing to decorate our homes for Easter. It is after all the most important day in the Christian calendar. A moment of celebration, doubly so when it combines with the arrival of spring. Some of our European neighbours have long made Easter a festive occasion, so perhaps it's time we upped our game. Creative: Harriet picks up tips from Bethan Harwood, home design stylist at John Lewis In Sweden, almost every household holds egg colouring parties. In Ukraine, it surpasses Christmas as the most important holiday of the year, and in the Netherlands, homes are adorned with willow branches and tiny wooden eggs, while the dinner table is dressed with spring flowers and candles, with an Easter tree at the centre. But we're getting there. According to John Lewis, Easter decoration sales are already up 77 per cent compared to last year. I've never considered dressing my home with anything Easter-related, but after a day with the John Lewis team I'm sure my attic will house a box of Easter decorations for evermore. TABLE-TOP DECORATIONS For the dining table, it's best to use a limited colour scheme. 'Stick to one or two colours and compliment the style of your room', says Bethan Harwood, home design stylist at John Lewis. 'If you've got blue furniture, stick with blues and purples.' Themes including Peter Rabbit, the Easter bunny and eggs are natural favourites at Easter, as are daffodils. Emma Bridgewater recently introduced a cheerful collection of daffodil china. The crockery sits nicely alongside her trademark polka dots. In fact, a daffodil egg cup is sold alongside two polka dot cups in a set of three (29.95, johnlewis.com). Natural favourites: Easter eggs are a popular choice for table decorations The table centrepiece is important. 'It should give some height to the table, but also be fun,' says Harwood. 'You can add nests and grass rabbits, but make sure not to create a barrier across the table. Easter trees are lovely for display and can be moved to the side when dining.' Easter crackers are also big business and are sold in many supermarkets. Sainsbury's Easter Crackers feature bunnies, chicks and carrots and include paper hats and a gift (5 for six, sainsburys.co.uk). For a more sophisticated look, go for M&S's Easter crackers which include hats and cookie cutters (5 for six, marksandspencer.com). 'I always opt for drama when decorating a dining table, especially around Easter when everything is bursting with life,' says Sue Jones, creative director at Oka. 'I like to hang up our colourful ceramic eggs or scatter them around the table (40 for 12, oka.com). They were inspired by the hand-painted eggs we found in the Czech Republic.' EASTER TREES Just as Christmas trees act as the focal point of a room, large, Easter trees are becoming increasingly popular. John Lewis's blossom tree (120, johnlewis.com) features prelit blossom which works as the perfect base for decorating with baubles and painted eggs. But you don't have to go out and buy a tree. Focal point: Easter trees are becoming more popular as the centrepiece of decorations 'You can go to the woods and collect some twigs,' says Harwood, 'Pussy willow works well at Easter, it dries out so lasts for some time and has nice pretty white tips.' com FESTIVE WREATHS For a festive welcome before your guests even step foot in your home, add an Easter wreath to your front door. Gisele Graham's faux daisy and twig wreath will add a splash of colour and could be used throughout the spring season (giselagraham.co.uk, 27.99). Festive: This colourful wreath with speckled eggs by John Lewis is 25 For a more festive look, go for a wreath featuring colourful specked eggs (25, johnlewis.com). 'A wreath is a great way to make a statement,' says Harwood. 'I would hang it on a front door or the entrance to the main entertaining space at home. Wreaths can also double up as a centre piece on your dining table or side-board.' Articles of 22 October 2018 and 28 January 2019 may have suggested that Camilla Austin was knowingly involved in a 13.7m pension scam run by her father. In fact, while Ms Austin was banned from serving as a director after holding a directorship in a company associated with the scheme, the court made no findings of wrongdoing against her. We apologise for any contrary impression given. Scam: Some of the texts that were sent from Andrew's phone to overseas numbers An O2 customer has been charged more than 1,000 on his mobile bill after his phone was hacked and used to send hundreds of texts to overseas numbers. Hackers were able to connect to Andrew Teebays phone after he clicked on a Google Chrome notification that was actually a virus that downloaded malware onto his device. It wasnt until Andrew checked his O2 account that he was made aware of an initial 400 that had been added to his phone bill. After contacting the network, he was told it could take up to 24 hours before a block could be put on his phone, preventing any further activity. In the time it took for the block to come into effect, another 600-worth of texts were sent bringing his total bill to well over 1,000. While the intricacies of the scam are as yet unknown, Andrew recalls receiving a call from an unknown number beginning with +81 at 4:30am a couple of weeks ago but he didn't answer as he was asleep. However, this signalled the first of hundreds of texts being sent from his phone to overseas numbers all of which are presumed to be Japanese as the +81 calling code is for Japan. It was obvious from the very beginning that Andrew had never sent these texts himself as he does not speak or write either language. This also meant Andrew was unable to determine what the texts said. After seeing his bill two days after the texts were sent from his phone, he contacted O2 which blocked his phone altogether, although the ensuing delay meant the scam cost him a further 600. It wasn't just the huge bill that Andrew had to cope with. After his Sim had been blocked he was unable to get into his bank account, creating serious problems as he is in the process of selling his house and buying another property. One of the texts that was sent from Andrew's phone to an unknown Japanese number Andrew complained to O2 after the extra money was taken from his account while waiting to have his phone blocked and he was advised by the network that they would return him a 500 credit. However, since This is Money contacted O2 on Andrews behalf, he has been offered a full refund and an investigation is ongoing into how it all happened. An O2 spokesperson said: We spoke to Mr Teebay late on Friday afternoon. He explained that he thinks he received a fake Chrome update notification which installed a malicious copy of Chrome onto his handset. He is going to send his handset to us to examine which will allow us to finalise our investigation into this matter. We have issued a full refund of the charges as a gesture of goodwill and have sent him a replacement handset free of charge. Mr Teebay expressed that he is happy with this outcome. Whilst Andrew has managed to get his funds back, other customers may not be so lucky. This is Money previously reported on the Wangiri scam which targets unsuspecting mobile phone customers. In Japanese, Wangiri means one ring and drop and that is the basis behind the scam. Customers are left with a missed phone call from scam artists who sometimes leave a message. Victims then return their phone call where the fraudster then uses technology to reroute the call to a premium rate number overseas, which can cost a fortune for every minute that the call is connected and leave those affected with a hefty bill. Anybody who has received a missed call from an unknown or foreign number should not return the call unless they are sure of its provenance. It is worth treating any number as scammers become more and more who is trying to gain access to your phone. Nearly every adult in the UK could be in line for a payout from Mastercard after a 14billion damages claim against the payment provider was revived by the Court of Appeal today. The legal action is being brought against the card giant by Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks. He said the maximum payout from the proposed 'opt-out' claim will be around 300 for anyone over the age of 16 and who was a resident in the UK for three months or more between 1992 and 2008. Around 46.2million people could qualify for the payout - including those who have never had a Mastercard, according to Merricks. He alleges that the firm's breaches of competition law, formed by the European Commission in 2007, have led to all UK consumers paying higher prices on purchases from businesses that accepted Mastercard. The legal action is being brought against the card giant by Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks (pictured) Nearly every adult in the UK could be in line for a payout of around 300 from Mastercard after a 14billion damages claim against the payment provider was revived by the Court of Appeal today (file photo) The 14billion Mastercard claim What is the claim against Mastercard? Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks is claiming that Mastercards actions cost UK shoppers billions of pounds through its use of fees. Who would be eligible for a payout? If the claim is successful, as many as 46.2million people, who were adults and UK residents for three months or more between 1992 and 2008, could qualify for the payout. This is dependent on a successful case being brought, however. Mastercard said it will fight the case all the way to the supreme court, if necessary, and disagrees 'fundamentally' with the basis of the claim. If judges rule in favour of Mastercard in any potential case, there will be no payout. How is the case being brought? A major reform of collective action procedures took place in 2015 when an 'opt-out' collective redress procedure for competition law claims in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) was introduced, making Mr Merricks claim a possibility, despite its enormity. When would a potential payout happen? The class action was originally refused in July 2017, but a tribunal ruled that the claim could be brought, opening the door for the case on April 16 2019. The case has not yet been brought - only the possibility of it being brought has been revived - so any potential payout in the event of a successful action would occur after a likely lengthy legal battle, months or possibly years in the future. Why is the class action being brought? The European Commission ruled in 2007 that Mastercard breached competition law through its setting of certain fees. Walter Merricks argues that the firm's breaches led to all UK consumers having to pay higher prices from businesses that accepted Mastercard - even if the customer was not using Mastercard. How much could be paid out in the event of a successful claim? Walter Merricks said the maximum payout from the proposed 'opt-out' claim could be as much as 300 for anyone over the age of 16 and who was a resident in the UK for three months or more between 1992 and 2008. His claim is seeking damages and interest totalling 14.098billion in total. His claim seeks damages and interest totalling 14.098billion, and is one of the first mass consumer claims brought in the UK after class action was introduced in 2015. Mr Merricks' proposed class action was thrown out in July 2017 by a specialist tribunal, which ruled the claim was 'not suitable to be brought in collective proceedings'. But senior judges in London today found the Competition Appeal Tribunal had applied the wrong legal test in deciding whether to give the claim the go-ahead. It means the tribunal will now have to reconsider what has turned into the biggest class action in British legal history. The proposed claim follows the European Commission's 2007 decision that Mastercard had breached competition law in relation to the setting of certain fees charged between banks over Mastercard transactions. How has the Consumer Rights Act 2015 changed class action suits? The Consumer Rights Act, which came into effect in the UK in October 2015, has made it much easier for groups of consumers, as well as organisations, to seek compensation from companies. For instance, consumers now have up to six years to bring a case instead of two. The legislation also makes it easier for class action suits to be brought together after introducing opt-out actions. This means all those affected by the case are automatically members of the class which is suing. Source: International Bar Association Lord Justice Patten, sitting with Lord Justice Hamblen and Lord Justice Coulson, said the CAT 'demanded too much' information about how the fees Mastercard charged on transactions were said to have been 'passed on' to consumers. The judge also ruled the tribunal misdirected itself in relation to how any damages which might ultimately be awarded were to be divided among the claimants. In a statement after the ruling, Mr Merricks said: 'I am very pleased with today's decision. 'It is nearly 12 years since Mastercard was clearly told that they had broken the law by imposing excessive card transaction charges, damaging consumers over a prolonged period. 'As a result we all had to pay higher prices in the shops than we should have done while Mastercard have pocketed the profits. 'It's now time for Mastercard to admit the damage they did, to apologise to the British public, and to agree to pay the compensation they owe.' Mr Merricks' solicitor Boris Bronfentrinker, from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, said: 'Today is truly a landmark day for all UK consumers that Mr Merricks seeks to represent in a claim to recover the billions in damages caused to them by Mastercard's unlawful anti-competitive conduct.' A Mastercard spokeswoman said the company was seeking permission to appeal against the ruling to the Supreme Court. She said in a statement: 'This decision is not a final ruling and the proposed claim is not approved to move forward, rather the court has simply said a rehearing on certain issues should happen. 'Mastercard continues to disagree fundamentally with the basis of the claim and we believe UK consumers receive real value from the security, convenience and consumer protection of our payment services.' The Great British Entrepreneur Challenge has been bigger and better than ever in 2019 and after a flood of entries, we are proud to announce the shortlist of start-ups who've made the final. As ever, our goal was simple - to scour the country for great start-ups and early-stage firms and to find passionate entrepreneurs who want to disrupt and change their market for the better, and change their lives at the same time. The Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge offers start-up bosses the chance to win mentoring and support from Andy Yates and his network - and up to 50,000 of seed funding These entrepreneurs will be given the chance to win expert advice, mentoring and support from me, Andy Yates, and my network - and the chance to bid for up to 50,000 of seed funding. All of the shortlisted candidates below have a great potential to grow and flourish, and engender the spirit of entrepreneurship that can blossom even in difficult political and economic times. We will shortly announce the final winners of The Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge from the shortlist below - but in the meantime we wanted to congratulate all of the entrepreneurs listed below and thank everybody who entered. It is entrepreneurs like you that can make, and will make, a difference. The Great British Entrepreneur Challenge 2019 Finalists (in alphabetical order): Helen Tanner is the founder of Data Cubed The idea: Transforming businesses by harnessing the power of their data. Data Cubed already runs a successful data lab in Bristol, helping everybody from large businesses like AXA and Barclays to start-ups. Now it is on a mission to help British businesses grow. The first goal - to transform the embattled financial adviser industry because better data means a better service to customers. The entrepreneur: Helen Tanner describes herself as a mid-life entrepreneur. She took the plunge to set up a start-up after two decades in corporate life that gave her a wealth of experience in how great data can make great businesses. The idea: The way cars are sold is changing rapidly. Imagine going for a test drive in any car, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home or a car showroom. Domeble already provides high quality 360-degree computer images and backgrounds for Nissan, Mercedes, GM, Audi, BMW, Tesla and Jaguar LandRover to name a few. Now it is building a complete library of virtual reality worlds that put you in the driving seat from any car. Domeble, founded by Carl Lyttle, offers a library of virtual reality worlds that put you in the driving seat of any car The entrepreneur: Belfast born Carl Lyttle is an award winning photographer, who has taken photos of everything and everyone from music legends to stunning landscapes before specialising in digital photography and the car industry. The idea: Experience Something Different offers unique experiences and days out in aid of great causes, with profits going to charity. From training a guide dog to finding out how Oxfam provides emergency response these are days out with a difference. Experience Something Different is a new online experience marketplace offering unique experiences and days out in aid of charitable causes It is backed by the UKs biggest charities and social enterprises including British Red Cross, WaterAid, Unicef, British Heart Foundation, Guide Dogs and the RSPCA. The entrepreneur: Having set-up and sold a previous start-up Lewis Jenkins was selected by the consortium of charities to scale the business. Tim Fleming is the founder of Brighton based Future Visual The idea: Using virtual reality and augmented reality to revolutionise the way businesses run projects and train teams. Brighton-based Future Visual has created VisionxR a platform which allows staff to collaborate in a VR world using any device from anywhere in the world. VisionxR can be used to do anything from training airport staff and guiding planes to managing global engineering projects. The entrepreneur: After a successful career directing shows for the likes of Fat Boy Slim, Tim Fleming went on to create his award-winning VR and AR studio, working with everybody from Peugeot to John Lewis. The idea: For millions of young people today, its never been harder to become a homeowner, with deposits averaging more than 33,000 - up 71 per cent in the past decade. Homewards is aiming to solve this problem by launching a service that gives aspiring homeowners cashback on spending. Homewards offers aspiring homeowners cashback on spending to help them save a deposit This is then used to boost their Lifetime Isa a scheme where the Government tops up savings to help you build towards a deposit for a home. The entrepreneurs: Freddie Altman and Benjamin Milsom met through the start-up programme Entrepreneur First and are passionate about solving the problem of young people struggling to get on the first rung of the housing ladder. The idea: Luxe + Hardy is a luxury womens rest and sleepwear brand. Clothing offered by Luke + Hardy is made sustainably and ethically The clothes are made sustainably and ethically and suppliers are fully traceable. The clothes are designed to be help busy people relax after a hard day's work. The entrepreneur: After five years at Conde Nast Traveller, Sadie Reid launched Hip & Healthy, an online magazine providing readers with wellness tips which inspired her to set-up Luxe and Hardy. The idea: Mental Snapp is a way to actively manage mental health using a private video diary app. Mental Snapp has secured social investment, grants and awards from Bethnal Green Ventures, The Stelios Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and UnLtd, featured on live BBC and in the Evening Standard and has been mentioned in the Houses of Parliament as an example of positive practice in user-led mental health. Mental Snapp was founded by Hannah Chamberlain and Tex Dunstan The entrepreneur: Mental Snapp was the brainchild of founder Hannah Chamberlain who has a 20-year career in mental health and film and passionately believes in the power of telling her story and helping others to do the same. The idea: Matching people with venues around them - using clever technology to give a personalised experience. The app has attracted over 100,000 users, expanded into five cities across Europe, with a further 10 lined up over the next 12 months. Tom Charman (far right) is the co-founder and chief executive of London based NAVA The entrepreneur: London based co-founder and chief executive Tom Charman came up with the idea with his co-founder whilst studying in Munich and exploring the city to uncover amazing food, drink and experiences. The idea: NewsBlocks believes the news industry is in crisis with feeds full of bias, fake news and trash, while at the same time privacy is being eroded. Its solution is to use machine learning to convert all the world's news articles into verified data, stored on a censorship-resistant network to end fake news. NewsBlocks, founded by Mark and Mary Devlin, aims to convert all the worlds news into verified data and store it on tamper-proof blockchain The entrepreneurs: Scotland-based Mark and Mary Devlin founded and published Metropolis, which grew into Japans No. 1 English magazine and japantoday.com which is the largest news site about Japan in the world, later selling the business. The idea: Offspring is launching an app that aims to turn your family and friends into a community of savers, helping your children get the things they need in life. It aims to get people to club together for that birthday present, school trip or perhaps their first car, a university degree, a wedding or their first home. Offspring is an app that aims to turn your family and friends into a community of savers The entrepreneur: Former head of proposition and strategy at financial services giant AXA, Avinash Rajan is passionate about changing the childrens savings market and addressing the huge debts children are facing. The idea: Tutti aims to become Airbnb for rehearsal spaces. They enable musicians to book homes, churches, studios, and more for rehearsals, and help hosts make money while filling dormant space with music. Tutti, founded by Gabriel Isserlis, aims to become Airbnb for rehearsal spaces The entrepreneur: Gabriel Isserlis describes himself as an amateur musician, with generations of professional music in his blood who wants to help protect creative workspaces by enabling them to generate extra revenues. Anzac Day events across New Zealand have been cancelled out of fear Patrons safety could be compromised after Christchurch terror attacks There will be a strong police presence at the remaining commemorations Anzac Day events are being cancelled across New Zealand over fears patrons safety could be compromised after the Christchurch terror attacks. A number of West Auckland-based Returned Services Associations have cancelled their annual commemorations and are instead asking people to attend a select few services which will be supported by a heavy police presence. ADVERTISEMENT Helensville RSA president Les Coste said the local events were scrapped following recommendations from Auckland Police, who suggested fewer events city-wide, the NZ Herald reported. Anzac Day events across New Zealand have been cancelled over fears patrons safety could be compromised after the Christchurch terror attacks Auckland City district commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus said while there is no information pertaining to a specific risk at these events, police presence would be more significant if they weren't spread across numerous local events. 'In the current environment, police are continuing to provide a visible presence nationwide for the safety and reassurance of the community,' she said. Click here to resize this module 'We recognise the public will want to commemorate Anzac Day across the region and we are wanting them to do that in the safest way possible, which may mean some have to travel a little further to an event.' The national terror threat was lifted to high after Brenton Tarrant allegedly stormed two mosques in Christchurch on the south island and shot 50 worshipers dead on March 15. They have not been lowered since the attack. Auckland City district commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus said while there is no information pertaining to a specific risk at these events, police presence would be more significant if they weren't spread across numerous local events New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the attacks as 'one of New Zealand's darkest days'. The Howick RSA also cancelled their parades, but would still run the Dawn and Civic Commemoration Services on Stockade Hill at 6.05am and 11am. Mr Coste said: 'All West Auckland RSAs have also cancelled their local events ... Due to government policy only selected sites are suitable.' ADVERTISEMENT He said council buses are expected to shuttle people from Helensville to Glen Eden for an Anzac Day service, but the details are still being finalised. Chinese authorities seized 7.48 tonnes of smuggled ivory tusks last month, the biggest haul in recent years, as Beijing steps up a campaign against illegal wildlife trafficking. The seizure of 2,748 elephant tusks came during an operation against an international criminal gang 'that has long been specialising in smuggling ivory,' the customs administration said on Monday. China, the world's largest importer and end user of elephant tusks, banned ivory sales in the country in 2017. The seizure of 2,748 elephant tusks came during an operation against an international criminal gang 'that has long been specialising in smuggling ivory,' the customs administration said China, the world's largest importer and end user of elephant tusks, banned ivory sales in 2017 The operation was conducted by customs officers and police across six provinces, according to the General Administration of Customs. 'This case represents the largest amount of elephant tusks seized in a single case investigated independently by the General Administration of Customs' anti-smuggling bureau in recent years,' said Sun Zhijie, director of the administration's anti-smuggling bureau. Twenty suspects were detained, he added. The smuggled tusks were confiscated last month in an operation by customs officers and police across six provinces, according to the General Administration of Customs TRAFFIC, an international NGO monitoring wildlife trade, said in a press release that the seizure was potentially the second biggest ivory seizure worldwide on record Video footage released by Beijing News shows officers raiding the suspects' home and placing them under arrest. The tusks were shipped by sea from African countries. After transiting through various other countries, they were smuggled across the Chinese border hidden among lumber, according to Sun. They were hidden in cargo containers and kept in an old Chinese waste factory while the suspects prepared to sell it, he said. 'This case represents the largest amount of elephant tusks seized in a single case investigated independently by the General Administration of Customs' anti-smuggling bureau in recent years,' said Sun Zhijie, director of the administration's anti-smuggling bureau The tusks were shipped by sea from African countries. After transiting through various other countries, they were smuggled across the Chinese border hidden among lumber Environmental groups have urged authorities to go beyond the seizure of animal products and to prosecute wildlife criminal networks TRAFFIC, an international NGO monitoring wildlife trade, said in a press release that the seizure was potentially the second biggest ivory seizure worldwide on record. In a report conducted with WWF last year, the organisation found that China's ivory ban has had positive effects, with the number of respondents who said they intended to purchase ivory in the future dropping by almost half compared to 2017 before the ban took place. Demand for ivory from Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is turned into jewels and ornaments, has led to a surge in poaching across Africa. Since January, China has seized 8.48 tonnes of ivory and ivory products and more than 500 tonnes of endangered species, the customs administration said. The ivory tusks are part of a flurry of seizures - from rhino horns to pangolin scales - in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam in recent months Demand for ivory from Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is turned into jewels and ornaments, has led to a surge in poaching across Africa The ivory tusks are part of a flurry of seizures - from rhino horns to pangolin scales - in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam in recent months. Much of the trade supplies the traditional Chinese medicine industry, with demand for treatments using animal products driving a surge in illegal trafficking of wildlife. Environmental groups have urged authorities to go beyond the seizure of animal products and to prosecute wildlife criminal networks. Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in Beirut last week Greece has demanded the Parthenon marbles be liberated from their 'murky prison' at the British Museum, reigniting the 200-year-old campaign for their return. The British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the ancient sculptures from the Acropolis temple in Athens while Greece was under Ottoman rule in the early 19th-century. President Prokopis Pavlopoulos told an audience at Athens' glass-fronted Acropolis Museum: 'Let the British Museum come here and make the comparison between this museum of light and the murky, if I may say, prison of the British Museum where the Parthenon Marbles are held as trophies.' He likened the cause 'a holy battle for a monument which is unique.' There was no immediate response from the British Museum. The British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the 2,500-year-old sculptures from the Acropolis temple in Athens during a period when Greece was under Ottoman rule. They have been placed in a gallery inside the British Museum in London, lit by a long skylight. Greece has repeatedly requested their return since its independence in 1832, and stepped up its campaign in 2009 when it opened its new museum at the foot of the Acropolis hill. Tourists take a picture in front of the temple of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis in Athens The Parthenon Marbles, a collection of stone objects, inscriptions and sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, on show at the British Museum in London That building holds the sculptures that Elgin left behind alongside plaster casts of the missing pieces, lit by the sun coming through a glass wall looking over the original site. The British Museum has refused to return the sculptures, saying they were acquired by Elgin under a legal contract with the Ottoman empire. The museum and other British institutions have also resisted other repatriation campaigns citing legislation preventing them from breaking up collections and arguing that they can preserve items and present them to an international audience. Tourists are silhouetted as they walk inside the Acropolis Museum with the temple of Parthenon in Greece, which the Greek President compared to the 'murky' British Museum Michael Avenatti made his mentally-ill paraplegic client sign a positive testimonial about him when he realized the man would soon learn about the claim that he had stolen his $4 million settlement, later using the statement as proof he didn't steal from him, a lawyer has exclusively told DailyMail.com. Avenatti was indicted for 36 criminal offenses last week including charges that he stole the multi-million dollar settlement from Geoffrey Johnson, who had hired Avenatti to fight a case against Los Angeles County after he was poorly treated in a county jail. After negotiating the $4 million settlement in 2015, Avenatti allegedly hid the cash from Johnson, pretending the money couldn't be paid out and doled out as little as $1,000 per month as 'advances'. It was revealed by DailyMail.com that Avenatti had allegedly defrauded Johnson in a debtor's examination hearing last month, where the lawyer was grilled by a partner at his former firm over his assets. Immediately after the hearing - knowing that the story would get out - a panicked Avenatti drove to Johnson's house to try to cover up the alleged fraud, making him sign the testimonial that praised his services, Johnson's lawyer told DailyMail.com. The embattled attorney then tweeted out a copy of the testimonial when the indictment dropped on April 11 as proof of his innocence in mishandling clients' money. Michael Avenatti made his mentally-ill paraplegic client sign a positive testimonial about him when he realized the man would soon learn he had stolen his $4 million settlement, later using the statement as proof he didn't steal from him, a lawyer has exclusively told DailyMail.com Avenatti is accused of hiding the settlement cash from Johnson (pictured), pretending the money couldn't be paid out. When he realized his alleged fraud would be exposed, he rushed over to Johnson and made him sign a glowing testimonial about his services to cover himself, Johnson's lawyer says The embattled attorney then tweeted out a copy of the testimonial (pictured) when the indictment dropped on April 11 was announced as proof of his innocence in mishandling clients' money 'Mr Avenatti took millions of dollars meant to compensate a client for a permanently-disabling injury, stole the money, lied to the client about it for years, then tried to cover it up when the story began to break, leaving the client destitute,' Johnson's attorney Joshua Robbins told DailyMail.com. Avenatti tells DailyMail.com: Joshua Robbins is trying to get his name out there by fabricating a bogus story. He clearly does not know the details of the case or those of the client, who he has evidently represented for less than a month. He also doesn't understand what documents exist that completely undercut his story. I look forward to the truth and facts surrounding my representation of Mr Johnson being presented at trial. Johnson hired Avenatti, the former lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against Donald Trump, to fight his case against Los Angeles County, eventually winning $4 million in a settlement. The 53-year-old uses a wheelchair and is numb from the waist down after falling on his head while trying to hang himself in an Los Angeles jail cell he shared with prisoners who would spit and throw feces at him. But rather than helping his case, Avenatti's tweet may have dropped him in further legal hot water, Johnson's lawyer, Joshua Robbins (pictured), told DailyMail.com The indictment reveals Avenatti, 48, paid Johnson as little as $1,000 per month, giving him a total of only $124,000 over four years. Robbins said: 'When Mr Avenatti received $4 million in settlement funds in January 2015, he did not tell Mr Johnson, as he was required to do under professional ethics rules familiar to every lawyer. 'Instead, Mr Avenatti moved all of the money into other accounts he controlled, then used it for personal expenses, apparently including his car racing team. 'For more than four years, he lied to Mr Johnson, telling him that the funds had not yet been paid and that he was working on collecting them, while pacifying Mr Johnson by paying out small amounts every month as supposed ''advances'' on the future settlement amount.' Avenatti allegedly defrauding Johnson was revealed when he appeared for a hearing late last month in a separate case involving a partner at his former law firm. Robbins claims that after the hearing Avenatti rushed over to Johnson to make him sign the testimonial. 'Mr Avenatti drove straight to Mr Johnson's house, falsely told him that the settlement funds had finally come in, and shortly afterwards asked him to sign a ''client testimonial'' extolling Mr Avenatti's effectiveness and ethics,' Robbins said. 'It was only later that Mr Johnson learned Mr Avenatti had been lying to him and hiding the money for years.' The day the indictment against him was announced, Avenatti tweeted out Johnson's testimonial, saying the government's claims were 'bogus nonsense'. Last month, a Los Angeles court heard that in 2015 Avenatti's law firm won a multi-million dollar settlement from the County of Los Angeles in a lawsuit it filed on behalf of Johnson, a paraplegic man with mental health issues Robbins said: 'When Mr Avenatti received $4 million in settlement funds in January 2015, he did not tell Mr Johnson, as he was required to do under professional ethics rules familiar to every lawyer. Instead, Mr Avenatti moved all of the money into other accounts he controlled, then used it for personal expenses, apparently including his car racing team' The indictment reveals Avenatti, 48, paid Johnson as little as $1,000 per month, giving him a total of only $124,000 over four years Along with the photo of the testimonial, Avenatti wrote on Twitter: 'By way of example only (there are MANY more like this), here is a document Mr Johnson signed less than a month ago attesting to my ethics and how his case was handled. I look forward to proving my innocence.' The document states Avenatti 'has always fiercely advocated on my behalf, looked after my needs, communicated with me about all aspects of my case, and made sure I was taken care of. He is an exceptional, honest and ethical attorney, and I feel fortunate to have had him represent me.' But rather than helping his case, the attorney's tweet may have dropped him in further legal trouble, Robbins told DailyMail.com, adding that Avenatti may have done the prosecutors' work for them by publishing a copy of the signed document on Twitter. 'The government is alleging that the thing that he tweeted is part of the fraud scheme, and so what he has apparently done is to tweet out incriminating evidence in support of the charges, which is a first in my experience,' Robbins said. 'I was a federal prosecutor for a number of years and I haven't seen that before. We're breaking new ground.' Johnson, duped out of his compensation, was forced to live off disability benefits, until the payments were cut off when the Social Security Administration (SSA) heard about his $4 million payout. Johnson uses a wheelchair and is numb from the waist down, after falling on his head while trying to hang himself in an LA jail cell . The 53-year-old, allegedly duped out of his compensation, was forced to live off disability benefits. Johnson currently rents a room in a bare, run down house in Granada Hills, California (pictured), helped by a part-time carer 'Of course, the SSA didn't know what the facts were,' a source close to the investigation told DailyMail.com. 'They asked for information and Avenatti promised to provide the information since he was the one who had it. 'But he obviously didn't want to do that, because that would let the cat out of the bag. 'We know he didn't provide them accurate information. 'Johnson was left without any social security benefits or any further income from the settlement money or from Avenatti.' Robbins said his client is now 'cooperating with the government's investigation'. 'As far as additional actions to try to recover funds from Mr Avenatti, that's something we are contemplating, and it will be part of Mr Johnson's consideration and decision-making going forward,' the lawyer said. Johnson currently rents a room in a bare, run down house in Granada Hills, California, helped by a part-time carer. Though the 53-year-old declined to speak directly to DailyMail.com, his lawyer described Johnson's finances as 'quite desperate'. In a series of tweets last week, Avenatti said he would be contesting the charges against him. 'I intend to fully fight all charges and plead NOT GUILTY. I look forward to the entire truth being known as opposed to a one-sided version meant to sideline me,' he wrote. 'For 20 years, I have represented Davids vs. Goliaths and relied on due process and our system of justice. Along the way, I have made many powerful enemies. I am entitled to a FULL presumption of innocence and am confident that justice will be done once ALL of the facts are known.' Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has vowed to ban drilling for fossil fuels - including overhauling Donald Trumps cheap selling of public land for it. The Senator also pledged to produce 10 per cent of energy from wind or solar farms in a blog post yesterday. Warren, from Massachusetts, has outpaced her rivals for the presidency so far by launching more than half a dozen policies since entering the Democratic presidential primary. Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren answers a question in Charleston, South Carolina, yesterday Warren speaks after she joined striking Stop & Shop supermarket employees on the picket line on Friday in Somerville, Mass Warren, from Massachusetts, has already launched more than half a dozen new proposals since entering the Democratic presidential primary - far outpacing her rivals Her latest plan is to stamp out drilling on public land, which she said President Trump has sold to oil, gas and coal industries for pennies on the dollar. She wrote: Americas public lands are one of our greatest treasures. But today, those lands are under threat. We must not allow corporations to pillage our public lands and leave taxpayers to clean up the mess. All of us local communities and tribes, hunters and anglers, ranchers and weekend backpackers must work together to manage and protect our shared heritage. Warren arrives at the home of Ann Garland in Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Saturday Warren addresses supporters yesterday alongside Germaine Jenkins, an organic farmer, left, and Rev. Joseph Darby, Paster of Morris Brown AME Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks to hundreds of supporters at a rally at Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada on Saturday It comes ahead of Warrens campaign swing in Western states in the coming days as she tries to flesh out her approach to climate change. But the senator has attracted comparisons to fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after her new approach. Her policy bore stark similarities to Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal, which aims to slow climate change by ending fossil fuels within ten years. In the blog post, Warren's plan to ban drilling on public land also ties in with her renewable energy approach. She claps and smiles as she answers questions after announcing new policies in South Carolina Warren speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York, on April 5 (left) and at the speech in Charleston yesterday (right) She said she wants to boost US electricity by increasing the number of solar and wind farms offshore as well as on public land. 'Any serious effort to address climate change must include public lands - fossil fuel extraction in these areas is responsible for nearly a quarter of all US greenhouse gas emissions,' Warren wrote. It is a dramatic u-turn from current policy and Warren admitted her goal is to produce 'nearly ten times what we are currently generating'. Warren, speaks during the We the People Membership Summit, featuring the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, at the Warner Theater, in Washington, on April 1 Her plans are similar to fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose Green New Deal calls for an end to the use of fossil fuels Warren speaks during the We the People Membership Summit, featuring the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, at the Warner Theater, in Washington, on April 1 Warren is also looking back to the previous Democrat administration for her policies. She wants to reinstate Barack Obamas environmental policies that President Trump rolled back, as well as create a service program to help maintain public lands. The senator will discuss the public lands policies this week during campaign stops in South Carolina, Colorado and Utah. Her plans will likely be supported by environmental groups. But it will face criticism from the oil and gas industry which have benefited from millions of acres of public land offered for lease under President Trump. Dan Naatz, senior vice president at the Independent Petroleum Association of America, warned Warren's proposals 'would damage our economy and negatively impact job growth across the country. 'The royalties, rental fees and bonus bid revenues from leasing - which are evenly split between the federal government and the states where the development occurred - play a vital role in the state and local economies of states and tribal communities.' Offshore oil rigs brought in during Trump's time in office have led to splits in his own party. One rig on the Atlantic coast has faced legal challenges, backed by the Republican attorney general of South Carolina. Among Warren's other policy rollouts this year are proposals to tax the nation's wealthiest people and tax corporations with profits greater than $100 million. She wants a universal child care plan and proposals designed to decrease consolidation in the tech industry and the agriculture industry. Investing in the stock market while renting may make you richer than buying a house, new research has shown. Sixty per cent of Sydney renters who put their savings into shares instead of a mortgage are better off than buyers, according to a study. The analysis by accounting giant EY compared two scenarios over a given ten-year period between 1994 and 2017. Investing in the stock market may make you richer than buying a house, new research has shown In one scenario a person buys a house with a 20 per cent deposit. In the other, the person rents in the same suburb and puts the deposit money - plus extra loaned money worth the deposit - into an ASX200 fund. The renter then continues to invest the monthly savings they make by renting instead of paying a mortgage into the fund. In some suburbs over some ten-year periods, the buyer made more money - but the renter came out best in 62 per cent of 645 scenarios. The biggest gain was in Woollahra from 1998 to 2008 where the renter made $608,032 more than the buyer. A decade later, from 2007 to 2017, the buyer was better off by $304,000. Analysts said the research showed that buying a house is not always the best way to become secure financially. Sixty per cent of Sydney renters who put their savings into shares instead of a mortgage are better off than buyers, according to a study 'It's time to give up on the mindset that renting is dead money,' said EY chief economist Jo Masters. 'There's this idea that the only way to build wealth for your future is to buy a property.' 'Yes, when you're paying rent to a landlord, you're not investing in an asset that you own but with today's property prices you could be better off renting somewhere affordable and investing the cash you've saved.' The accountants noted that most Australians choose to buy a house instead of investing in the stock market because it is easier and less risky. 'A lot of people assume you're better off owning your own home and that renting, saving and investing in other ways is always a less attractive option,' said EY's Sydney managing partner Andrew Price. 'It's also about financial literacy. People buy property because they can understand it. 'You know you can go to the bank and get a loan, you can talk to a real estate agent, and a lot of people understand that better than investing in the stockmarket.' He noted that whether or not investing in stocks is better depends on timing. 'Timing is everything,' he said. 'With Woollahra, the popular perception would be that you'd never lose money by buying in a premium suburb so close to the city whereas within a certain time frame you would have been better renting rather than buying there.' Ms Masters added: 'It's ultimately about the relative pace of house price increases.' The researchers admitted that taking the loan to buy the shares is risky and that without doing that, the home owner often makes more money. 'The renter is taking on a risk profile that is perhaps higher than most are likely to take and putting in place a savings framework that is more stringent than most would want,' the research read. 'When we remove the ability for the lender to be able to leverage their ASX200 investment, the results shift in favour of the home owner'. Ten years ago, two university mates from Sydney used free beer to spread the word about their then little known software company. Today, Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes are billionaires and their Australian tech giant Atlassian is worth $26.6 billion. Established in 2002, Atlassian still only consisted of several employees seven years later when the pair gatecrashed a podcast recording at a tech conference in Belgium with the aim of making an impact. A marketing gamble at a tech conference in Belgium paid off for Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes (left) and Scott Farquhar (right) 10 years ago They bought $2000 worth of beer and put Atlassian stickers on them, which were handed to all of the 1,000 attendees as they walked in. The marketing gamble paid off and the pair haven't looked back since. 'We got tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free advertising the naivety of youth sometimes has its benefits,' Mr Farquhar told The Australian. Other guerrilla marketing tactics such as plastering university walls with Atlassian posters and attending community events were deployed by the company in its early days to get the name out. Atlassian has been named as one of Australia's best places to work for several years running Atlassian now has more than 3000 employees (pictured) in 10 offices worldwide 'If your market is the world, tackling it one customer at a time isnt scalable,' Mr Farquhar said. Chief marketing officer Robert Chatwani added: 'We don't have a traditional sales organisation, so we love doing stuff like giving away free swag, free T-shirts, and materials. Whether it's free beer, free T-shirts or paying for pizzas, that stuff is in our DNA and it's part of who we are.' Started on a $10,000 credit card debt, Atlassian briefly passed Telstra in terms of valuation earlier this month and drew thousands to its annual summit in Las Vegas. Scott Farquhar (left, with wife) and Mike Cannon-Brookes (right, with wife) were two university mates from Sydney who co-founded Atlassian in 2002 on a a $10,000 credit card debt Atlassian Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar (pictured in 2006) gatecrashed a tech conference and gave out free beer to spread the word about their start-up tech company The company has more than 3,0000 staff at 10 offices worldwide, including Sydney, San Francisco, Austin, Amsterdam and Manila. Company software tools include Jira, Jira Service Desk, Jira Ops, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello, and many other products. Atlassian has also been named as one of Australia's best places to work for several years running. Mr Cannon-Brookes made headlines last September when he bought Point Piper mansion 'Fairwater' in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The home is the most expensive property ever sold in Australia and had previously been in the hands of the media-mogul Fairfax family for more than a century. This mansion in Point Piper is the most expensive in Australia and owned by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes More than 3,000 Atlassian staff work at 10 offices worldwide, Sydney, San Francisco, Austin, Amsterdam and Manila Atlassian also recently vowed to use 100 per cent clean energy by 2025 to lead the fight against climate change. It will become one of the first Australian companies to exclusively use renewable energy if the ambitious aim can be achieved within six years. 'Being a large and known tech company, we want to make sure we're driving the Australian angle of (renewables) forward, and we're trying to do it relatively fast,' Mr Cannon-Brookes, told the Sydney Morning Herald last week. 'We're trying to set an example and showing what's possible in our challenging environment.' Jussie Smollett appeared tense during a heated phone call on his Hawaii getaway, telling a pal 'it's over, I got off' after all charges against him were dropped. The 36-year-old Empire actor was spotted pacing back and forth during the animated chat and could be heard insisting: 'I did not do any of this. The charges were dropped.' In the footage Jussie, wearing an all black outfit with white sneakers, can be seen walking around a parking lot. An onlooker said: 'He was saying "Ryan, Ryan. You have to believe me".' The star appeared tense during the conversation, which took place during his family vacation to the islands and came just days after he was pictured all smiles on a trip to the beach. Smollett's family were dining in a nearby restaurant during the phone call, according to eyewitnesses. It was a stark difference from the pictures last week which showed the actor laughing, chatting to his sisters and unloading a car for a fun-filled day at the beach. Jussie Smollett appeared tense during a heated phone call on his Hawaii getaway, telling a pal 'it's over, I got off' after all charges against him were dropped The 36-year-old Empire actor was was spotted pacing back and forth during the animated chat and could be heard insisting: ' I did not do any of this. The charges were dropped' The star appeared tense during the conversation, which took place during his family vacation Smollett, his two sisters, brother-in-law and niece and nephew were all spotted at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in Kailua on the Big Island last Wednesday as the fallout from his sensational case raged on in Chicago. The actor was last seen flying in to Los Angeles within days of having 16 felony counts of lying to the police dropped after being accused of staging an attack on himself on January 29 to try to get a raise on Empire. Police say he paid Abel and Ola Osundairo to beat him in what he then described as a racist, homophobic attack by two Trump-loving perpetrators. He has always maintained his innocence and insisted he was attacked. The case against him was suddenly and unexpectedly dropped last month by the State's Attorney's Office in questionable circumstances. The legal fallout saw State Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office was in charge of the probe, facing repeated calls to resign over her handling of the case. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department's Superintendent Eddie Johnson both expressed their fury when her office decided to drop the case. She exchanged text messages with members of Smollett's family in the early stages of the investigation and tried, at their request, to convince the Chicago PD to let the FBI take the lead. Smollett was arrested in February for allegedly lying about the attack. Police say he paid Abel and Ola Osundairo to attack him and that he thought he could use it as leverage to get a raise on Empire, a claim he denies Foxx has defended her actions and those of her prosecutors. The City of Chicago is now suing Smollett after the actor refused to pay $130,106 worth of overtime that was accrued by police. Smollett's team has never offered an alternative explanation for why the brothers, who he knew and had paid for personal training, would attack him. But his lawyer Mark Geragos replied to the city's letter by claiming its threats were 'malicious'. It added that he 'will not be intimidated' by the city's demands. A mother whose baby son was raped and murdered by her boyfriend after he sexually assaulted her has begun legal proceedings against the police for failing to protect her child. Tamica Mullaley had her ribs and collarbone broken, was stripped naked and dumped on the side of the road covered by only a sheet after she was attacked by her boyfriend Mervyn Bell in Broome, Western Australia in March 2013. That same night, while Ms Mullaley was recovering in hospital, Bell abducted her 10-month-old son Charlie before raping and killing him the next day. Charlie was placed in the custody of Bell's cousin - despite Ms Mullaley's father Ted begging for police to look after the child instead. Tamica Mullaley (pictured) had her ribs and collarbone broken, was stripped naked and dumped on the side of the road after she was attacked by her boyfriend Mervyn Bell That same night, while Ms Mullaley was recovering in hospital, Bell raped her 10-month-old son Charlie (pictured) and killed him the next day Bell was convicted of murder in September 2014, and killed himself in prison a year later. Ms Mullaley and her father began human rights proceedings against Western Australia Police in federal court on Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. 'We're doing this because we need justice and the police need to be held accountable for not looking for my son,' Ms Mullaley said. 'I haven't been right since. My dad hasn't been right since. Both our mental health is no good.' Ms Mullaley said when she came out of a coma at hospital, she thought her father was looking after her son. She was taken to a police station from hospital in handcuffs after a confrontation with police, not knowing that her child had been viciously murdered. A report into Charlie's death by the WA Corruption and Crime Commission in 2016 found police could have done more to ensure the child's safety, but there was no serious misconduct. The report found police in Broome were aware Bell had taken Charlie on March 20 and had threatened to kill the baby, but 'failed to obtain any further information' about the incident. The Mullaley family lawyer George Newhouse criticised the investigation, saying the conduct of WA Police needed to be examined. Bell (pictured) was convicted of murder in September 2014, and killed himself in prison a year later 'It seemed obvious that the police should have intervened to protect Charlie when they arrived on the scene, but it appears that the WA Crime and Corruption Commission inquiry totally missed this critical aspect of the case,' he said before a case management hearing on Tuesday. The Mullaley family's claim alleges that police did not do enough to ensure Charlie's safety because he and his mother were Aboriginal. 'The race discrimination complaint is significant because the Mullaleys argue that a non-Indigenous child and a non-Indigenous victim of an extremely violent gender-based attack would not have been treated with such disregard,' Mr Newhouse said. 'If this was a white person's baby, a lot more would have been done.' Mr Mullaley told police multiple times that Charlie had been taken by Bell, but he was told to come back in the morning to speak to an Aboriginal Liaison Officer. A Western Australia Police spokesman said they could not comment on the case as it is 'the subject of ongoing court processes'. An Australian sperm donor who fathered a child with a lesbian couple has launched a legal bid stop the gay couple moving his daughter overseas. The man, referred to as Robert in legal documents, is due to appear in the High Court on Tuesday, where he will attempt to prove he is legally the girl's parent to stop her mother taking her to New Zealand. He will claim he fathered the girl in 2006 via artificial insemination with the understanding he was to remain involved in her upbringing, ABC News reported. An Australian sperm donor who fathered a child with a lesbian couple has launched a legal bid to stop the gay couple moving his daughter overseas (stock) Documents tendered to the court showed the lesbian couple have also parented a second child who is not related to Robert. Legal representation for the man said both children refer to Robert as 'Daddy' and he is also listed as the older girl's father on her birth certificate. An initial Family Court ruling previously prevented the girl's mother, Susan, and her wife Margaret, from relocating the older child to New Zealand. Under the ruling conditions, the women were given equal parental responsibility but told they must consult the man for 'long-term decisions' regarding the child. At the time, Family Court Justice Margaret Cleary said the dispute was putting enormous strain on the girls biological parents' relationship. 'There is interpersonal bitterness, there are accusations by the two women of manipulative, overbearing conduct by [Robert] and accusations by [Robert] of ruthless exclusion by the two women,' she said. Justice Cleary said the man was a parent because of his role in the insemination process. She based her decision on the fact Susan and Margaret could not prove they were in a de-facto relationship at the time of insemination. The man is due to appear in the High Court on Tuesday, where he will attempt to prove he is legally the girl's parent to stop her mother taking her to New Zealand But the decision was overturned on appeal due to New South Wales laws that govern fertilisation processes for same-sex couples. At the time, the women successfully argued that Robert could only be legally considered the girl's parent if he had been married to Susan at the time of conception. The appeal was successful despite Robert playing a significant role in the child's upbringing, including volunteering at her school's canteen. The court also heard how both girls had been involved with the man's extended family. The Federal Government has now stepped in to support the man, claiming he is legally the child's father under the Family Law Act. While the women have been backed by the Victorian Attorney General who claims New South Wales law applies and the man is not the parent. The matter is due to be heard before the High Court on Tuesday. Karen Nettleton, 58, was living in Australia when her grandchildren were smuggled to Syria to live in the Islamic State in 2014 A grandmother of the orphaned children of ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf broke down after reliving the moment she saw a photo of her grandson holding a severed head. Karen Nettleton, 58, was living in Australia when her grandchildren were smuggled to Syria to live in the Islamic State in 2014. Zaynab, 17, Hoda, 16, Humzeh, eight, Abdullah and Zarqawi were taken out of Australia by their mother Tara Nettleton. The family had followed their father Sharrouf, who had already left to fight alongside the ISIS caliphate. While over there, Sharrouf gained notoriety after photos circulated of his young son holding up the severed head of a solider, captioned: 'That's my boy'. The image drew widespread condemnation from the likes of US Secretary of State John Kerry who called it 'one of the most disturbing, stomach turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed'. And as an emotional Ms Nettleton told ABC's Four Corners, the photo rocked the family back home. 'That was the worst picture I've ever seen,' Ms Nettleton said. While over there, Sharrouf gained notoriety after photos circulated of his young son holding up the severed head of a solider, captioned: 'That's my boy' 'I can't imagine someone doing something like that to someone else and then holding it up as a trophy.' In the image, the boy holds the severed head of a man by the hair with both his hands. A blue, plastic children's watch is wrapped around his wrist. Ms Nettleton was unable to hold back the tears as she lamented the longtime repercussions a gruesome photo like that would have on her grandson. 'I was so angry about that picture because it's going to follow him everywhere for the rest of his life,' Ms Nettleton said. 'Whenever you google the name Sharrouf, that picture is going to come up. Anytime there's an article in the paper the picture's used.' The distraught grandmother recalled several other photos that depicted her grandchildren holding weapons. 'There were guns leaning up against the wall in photos, ammunition, that was a shock to me, to see things like that in pictures,' Ms Nettleton said. The two eldest grandchildren Abdullah and Zarqawi were sent to ISIS camps during their stay in Raqqa. Ms Nettleton would receive photos from Tara and her children, and said she couldn't understand why anyone would want to 'train little boys to fight'. 'I'd get a picture of a kid sitting on a couch. behind them here is this like, automatic weapon. That just doesn't happen in my world.' Tara died in 2015 and Sharrouf, alongside Abdullah and Zarqawi, were killed in a US airstrike near Raqqa in 2017. The surviving three children were taken to the Kurdish-controlled camp in Northern Syria al-Hawl and have begged to return home. Ms Nettleton managed to track down Zaynab, Hoda, and Humzeh late last month in the squalid campground of more than 70,000 refugees. Their emotional reunion was captured on camera, as the two sides were reunited five years on since the children were taken to Syria. Emotional reunion: Sydney grandmother Karen Nettleton (pictured right) reunited with her grandchildren last month, five years after they were taken to an ISIS stronghold. Granddaughter Hoda Sharrouf, 16, is seen wearing a black niqab The heartwarming moment also marked the first time Karen met her great-grandchildren, Zaynab's children Aiesha and Fatimah Zaynab (top left), Hoda (top right), and Humzeh (bottom, middle) are in the Al-Howl camp. Their two brothers (also pictured) are believed to have died in airstrikes After searching through a sea of shoddy white tents in a muddy open field for 45 minutes, she finally found her youngest grandson Humzeh. 'Humzeh! Oh, baby. Oh, my baby! Where's your sisters?' she said. The young boy then runs to find Hoda and Zaynab, who were inside their tent and dressed in black niqabs. The Sydney grandmother was seen breaking down in tears after seeing Hoda, who was only 11 years old when she arrived in Syria. 'Oh, Hoda, I'm here. I'm here. Oh, my baby. I missed you so much too. Oh, my God. This is real. I'm here,' Karen said. An emotional Hoda replied: 'I cannot believe I'm hugging you. I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming. I'm scared I'm going to wake up. I'm so scared I'm gonna wake up.' They were later joined by Zaynab, who is seven-months pregnant with her third child and had been suffering from dysentery and severe anaemia. Both girls were reluctant to remove their veils at the camp where women are forced to wear niqabs. The heartwarming moment also marked the first time Karen met her great-grandchildren, Aiesha and Fatimah. Khaled Sharrouf (left) who died in 2017, became Australia's most notorious home grown terrorist after images circulated of his young son holding up the severed head of soldier, captioned, 'That's my boy' Zaynab gave birth after marrying her father's best friend, Mohamed Elomar at the tender age of 13, which Karen said gave her a feeling of 'disgust.' Elomar died in 2015. As she reaches the end of her third trimester, Zaynab now fears she will be forced to give birth at the squalid camp. 'I think that's my biggest fear now, is to give birth here because I've heard a lot of stories of people giving birth inside their tent and a lot of them haven't worked out, like, properly,' she said. 'Some children have made it, some children have died.' The siblings said they desperately want to return to Australia to 'live a normal life,' revealing they were taken to the ISIS stronghold without any warning. Zaynab said she had long been trying to flee ISIS, but feared being caught and tortured as punishment. 'We've been wanting to come home for a very long time, but we were just scared,' she said. 'For me and my children, I want to live a normal life just like anyone would want to live a normal life.' Hoda revealed she had no idea she had arrived in Syria until she heard people speaking Arabic after crossing the border with her family. 'I asked my mum where we were and she told me we were in Syria. I started crying. I told her, 'When the hell are we getting back home''?' The children's mum, Tara Nettleton, was raised in suburban Sydney. She later converted to Islam after meeting Sharrouf. Tara died in 2015 after suffering complications with appendicitis ABC's Four Corners captured the heart-wrenching moment Karen finally found her grandchildren at the squalid campground of more than 70,000 refugees 'I didn't know where we were... I thought we could get out whenever we wanted to. But you can't. Once you get in you're stuck,' she said. Hoda began to ask to return home 'every five seconds' and had been constantly reassured by her mum that they'd go home up until the day she died. She described her grandmother as the 'only thing' she had left of her mum. 'You're like...you're like mum's scent. I just wanted to see you again for that, like, one purpose. It's been so hard these past five years,' she told Karen. Tara died in a Mosul hospital in September 2015 after suffering complications from appendicitis, but Karen revealed she did not learn of her daughter's death until four months later. She then embarked on a years-long mission to get her grandchildren back to Australia. She kept in touch with the kids sporadically through text messages and phone calls, and often received messages from them desperately pleading to be brought home. In March, she received a phone call from one of her granddaughters who revealed they were staying at the camp and she flew out to Syria. She had previously travelled to the Middle East twice in an attempt to rescue them but failed both times. Sharrouf, who was killed in 2017, had shared photos of him and his sons embracing their new lifestyle Hoda (left), Zaynab (right) and Humzeh (centre) are alive and in the camp. Abdullah (second from left) and Zarqawi (second from right) are believed to have died in airstrikes 'Friday night I get a phone call from Hoda telling me she's in the refugee camp, al-Hawl refugee camp. I could not believe it,' she said. 'And then to get the call from Zaynab it took a couple of days for Zaynab because she had to be processed, but getting her call was being told she was there, to actually hear her voice. I just knew they were all safe, they will all be together,' she said. After leaving the last ISIS stronghold of Baghouz, the siblings spent a few nights in the freezing desert before American troops found them and took them to the refugee camp. Harrowing text messages revealed the children's desperate pleas with their grandmother, begging her to get them out and asking for basic necessities such as wipes and soap. Karen has been desperately trying to bring her grandchildren back to Australia for five years. She kept in touch with the kids sporadically through text messages and phone calls and often received messages from them desperately pleading to be brought home Both Karen and her grandchildren have maintained they are not a threat to Australians and do not deserve to pay the price for their parents' actions 'Please, Nana, try and come tomorrow even if it's raining because we physically and emotionally can't take this anymore It's too hard. I'm crying myself to sleep because this is the first time I've felt like I'm in prison. Please, Nana, I beg you, I can't wait another day,' Zaynab said in a message. Karen arrived at the camp with a suitcase full of treats - Skittles, Freddos, and chocolate Flakes - as well as necessities for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. KHALED SHARROUF'S CHILDREN Daughter Zaynab, 17 - Alive Daughter Hoda, 15 - Alive Son Abdullah - Died aged 12 in 2017 Son Zarqawi - Died aged 11 in 2017 Son Humzeh, eight - Alive Advertisement Despite being able to locate her grandchildren at the camp, it is still a long way before Karen can take them back home. Kurdish authorities must approve of the children's release and are awaiting authorisation from the Australian government. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he wasn't willing to risk the lives of officials to rescue the three children. He later softened his stance saying he would only help the children of extremists - not adults - return from the war zones and was working with international aid workers to repatriate them. Both Karen and her grandchildren have maintained they are not a threat to Australians and do not deserve to pay the price for their parents' actions. 'Well, I would say that we weren't the ones that chose to come here in the first place. I mean, we were brought here by our parents. And now that our parents are gone...we want to live,' Zaynab said. 'They're not a threat or a danger to anyone. They're not. I mean Zaynab's a mum, 17 years old, two children, one on the way. Humzeh is a little boy - eight. His main worry is his friends. And Hoda is the quiet one. She's...she's the real soft one,' Karen added. 'Just because their last name is Sharrouf doesn't mean they're monsters. Are my children a risk to Australia? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No way.' Travers 'Candyman' Beynon has revealed one of his his girlfriends had her stomach grazed and was left with a badly injured ankle after she was chased by a kangaroo during a photo shoot. Footage uploaded on the Candy Shop Mansion Instagram account on Sunday shows five bikini-clad women and Benyon's executive assistant sprinting as the kangaroo hopped through the yard of his Helensvale home on the Gold Coast. One of the women, Vanesa, dunked herself into the pool to escape, leading commenters to brand her 'the smartest' one in the group. Mr Beynon told the Gold Coast Bulletin: 'Vanesa was screaming ''RUN! RUN! RUN!'' like a horror movie.' Travers 'Candyman' Beynon (pictured) revealed how one of his girlfriends, Gabi, suffered stomach and ankle injuries during the kangaroo chase He said the rogue kangaroo began hopping around the property when it was chased by the family's dog, Sparti. 'The kangaroo then stopped and decided it was time to change from flight to fight. The roo stopped, got up on its tail and began to chase after Sparti and Vanesa,' Mr Beynon said. One model, Gabi, couldn't open a gate so she frantically climbed over a high fence, leading to her stomach and ankle injuries. As Gabi hoisted herself over, one of the other women successfully opened the gate, and the rest spilled out of the grassy area to the safety of the patio. The kangaroo appeared to chase the women up toward the house in the vision, before doubling back in the opposite direction. As one woman hoisted herself over a fence, one of the other women successfully opened the gate and the rest of the models spilled out of the grassy area to the safety of the patio One of the women, Vanesa, dunked herself into the pool, which saw commenters call her 'the smartest' one in the group The marsupial eventually hopped away from the property but it is unclear where it went. Mr Beynon arrived at the mansion minutes after the kangaroo chase and initially thought the girls were 'exaggerating' about the bizarre incident. 'The girls were shaken but also laughing as nobody was seriously injured,' he said. Beynon is considered Australia's answer to Hugh Hefner and is famous for his excessive parties at his home and his often controversial Instagram posts featuring dozens of scantily clad women. Queen Victoria was said to have attended seances to try to get in touch with her late, beloved husband, Prince Albert. And now Prince Charless Scottish stately home is helping those who want to make contact with dead loved ones. Dumfries House which the heir to the throne saved for the nation in a 45 million deal in 2007 has placed an advertisement on its Facebook page for the New Cumnock Spiritual Sanctuary nearby. Do you feel lost or alone; are you missing someone who has now passed over; are you finding it difficult to adjust to your life without your loved ones? Then we are here for you, the advert says. By coming along, you could get a message from your loved one. Prince Charless Dumfries House has placed an advertisement on its Facebook page for the New Cumnock Spiritual Sanctuary nearby It adds: We have a healing/meditation circle that will help you to feel better and more in tune with your surroundings. Charless charity, the Princes Foundation, led the rejuvenation of New Cumnock Town Hall, where the spiritual sanctuary is held. While Dumfries House has not yet held a seance that we know about, the Ayrshire mansion does have a new alternative health centre in its grounds. In a bid to take pressure off the NHS, Charles set up the multi-million-pound clinic, which he officially opened in January. The Scottishb stately home of Dumfries House, which the Prince bought as part of a consortium from the Marquess of Bute for 45 million due to the cost of upkeep Last week, Health Secretary and wannabe prime minister Matt Hancock made the 800-mile round trip from Westminster to hold talks with Charles, so no doubt he was given a tour of the Dumfries House Health and Wellbeing Centre on his visit. Will Charles persuade Hancock whose, wife, Martha, is an osteopath to open similar alternative health centres elsewhere in the country? Nicknamed the Royal NHS, the clinic gives free treatment to patients with conditions such as chronic pain, diabetes, anxiety, infertility and the side-effects of menopause. It also offers a wide range of complementary therapies, including reflexology and hypnotherapy. And how long will it be before it also offers seances? Lara Stone cant touch her toes . . ! Hard to believe but even Dutch supermodel Lara Stone admits to a physical imperfection. Attending the reopening of the Ivy Spinningfields in Manchester with her property developer boyfriend David Grievson, she watched trapeze artists take part in the Ivy Circus and was envious of their suppleness. People think just because youre a model youre automatically flexible, but I cant even reach my toes because my arms arent long enough, she told me. Lara, 35, has a five-year-old son called Alfie with comedian David Walliams. Although she was recently pictured kissing Bodyguard actor Richard Madden to illustrate his British Vogue interview, she insists her new beau didnt have a case of the green-eyed monster. He knows its just work, she says. Dutch supermodel Lara Stone (pictured with property developer boyfriend David Grievson) joked how she couldn't touch her toes at the re-opening of an Ivy restaurant on Manchester Hold your breath the secret of Judes six pack! So now we know the secret of Jude Laws toned physique. Admirers were impressed by the photograph of the actor in Venice wearing just a snug pair of white swimming trunks while filming TV drama The Young Pope, in which he plays a rogue Pontiff. The 46-year-old father-of-five, it transpires, was indulging in a bit of jiggery-pokery, according to the staff of his favourite Venetian canal-side restaurant Da Ivo. Jude said hes been holding in his stomach for the Lido beach shots, and its the fault of the good food in Venice, head waiter Rachid Farich tells me. He said after a meal at Da Ivo hed have to suck in his stomach even more. Jude Law was photographed of the actor in Venice wearing just a snug pair of white swimming trunks Una-Marys last chapter diamonds are forever London society is in mourning. The sparkling Una-Mary Parker, prolific romantic novelist and former social editor of Tatler magazine, has died peacefully at home aged 89. She was working on another novel and still wearing her pearls and diamonds, her daughter, Baba, tells me. Una-Mary said her childhood was terribly similar to the Queens. She and I were the last people in the country who didnt go to school, explained Una-Mary. I had two English governesses, one French [one], and a piano teacher. Married to society photographer Archie Parker, a kinsman of Andrew Parker Bowles, she parted from him amicably after 22 years and then enjoyed a love affair with actor Edward Duke who encouraged her to start writing novels. Her debut, entitled Riches about lust among the jet-set and aristocracy was an instant bestseller. In 2010, she was assaulted by a burglar at the beautiful Georgian house close to Harrods where she lived for 65 years. But, with scores of friends including Dame Joan Collins and two children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, she felt immensely blessed and celebrated her birthday last month, says Baba, with champagne and canapes. Noels girl dresses up as her pop icon Noel Gallagher's daughter Anais apparently doesnt want anyone to forget who her famous father is. The 19-year-old dressed up as the former Oasis guitarist for a friends Nineties-themed birthday party at the weekend. The aspiring photographer, whose mother is Meg Mathews, was a dead ringer for Noel in signature tracksuit jacket, khaki cargo trousers, trainers and a short brown wig. Did someone say Britpop? she captioned the snap online. Anais sporting a signature tracksuit jacket, khaki cargo trousers, trainers and a short brown wig to evoke her famous father Noel Gallagher Dame Helen Mirren, who was inducted into the Radio Times Hall Of Fame at the weekend, says her latest on-screen alter ego Catherine the Great was much maligned. She did have a lot of sex, but never with a horse thats a complete fantasy, she says. It was cunningly thrown at her by history, because I think history doesnt like very successful and powerful women and they have to drag them down. I hope were going to re-instate her as the incredible leader she was. Theresa Mays recent online video, in which she addressed the nation while perched on a sofa, was criticised for its shaky camerawork and her awkward posture. But the Prime Ministers old friend Damian Green says she should produce more of these informal statements. It showed the real Theresa calmly and relaxingly explaining something very difficult, former minister Green tells me over bacon and eggs at the London Grill Club. Thats why shes a considerable politician. Green, who was at Oxford with May, adds: Shes good at social media when she uses it, and it would be great to see her do more. Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, revealed her kind encounter with Prince Harry who broke Royal protocol to give her a hug The Spice Girls may be falling out over reports of sapphic trysts between Geri Horner and Mel B, but they have loyal fans in Princes William and Harry. Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, declares: The boys have always been great supporters. I did an event recently, and of course theres the protocol shake their hand or curtsy. And then Harry just came in with this big hug. Its lovely, actually. William once admitted that it was Baby Spice whose poster graced his bedroom wall at boarding school. Now, Emma discloses: I was at his house once. I asked him: Wheres my poster that everyones talking about? And he said: Its at Eton. Now Dame Darcey Bussell has quit Strictly Come Dancing as a judge, former contestant Dr Ranj Singh fancies his chances. Theres a space free for a judge now and Ive sent my hat in, ITVs This Morning doctor tells me at the Asian Awards. Seriously, Im joking because how could you ever replace Darcey? You think because she is a Dame she is prim and stuffy, but shes not. One night after a show, we went out for a few drinks and I taught her how to twerk. She was quite good. A woman has been spotted driving on a busy road in Adelaide with a baby kangaroo sitting on her lap. The cute marsupial seemed to be enjoying the ride as the female driver waited in traffic at the weekend. A fellow motorist noticed the unusual passenger through his window and started filming. 'Its a breach of the road rules to drive with a dog on your lap... but it doesnt say diddly squat about a kangaroo or wallaby,' the video caption said. A motorist has been spotted behind the wheel with a baby marsupial sitting on her lap in Adelaide Many users joked about the cheeky Australian passenger. 'It's an unrestrained passenger. Eight demerit points and $510 fine,' one person said. Another commented: 'It would be great! Pity they literally hang in the back on the roof hangers.' 'Just in case you need to "skip" the queue,' another joked. A South Australia police spokesperson said: 'A driver may be fined for driving a vehicle with a person or animal on their lap. Total fine (including $60 Victims of Crime levy) is $244.' Almost 100,000 children will be dumped in failing primary schools today amid a countrywide squeeze on places. On National Offer Day, nine per cent are expected to miss out on their first choice although in some areas it will be as high as 30 per cent. The shortage has been caused by a baby boom fuelled in part by high levels of immigration in the early 2000s. Thousands of children will be placed in failing primary schools today because of a squeeze on places [File photo] Data analysed by the New Schools Network, a charity which supports free schools, shows 95,000 children will be placed in failing schools those rated 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' by Ofsted. It also found 12,500 families are due to be offered places in failing schools which have not made any improvement since 2005. Luke Tryl, director of NSN, said: 'Finding out which primary school your child is going to should be a time of excitement, but today nearly 100,000 families will find out their child is being sent to a school that isn't good.' Exodus of teachers Two-fifths of teachers predict they will not be working in education within five years, a survey suggests. A majority, 62 per cent, say the reason for leaving is workload. The survey of 8,674 National Education Union members found that 40 per cent said they would be out of the profession by 2024 and 18 per cent expect to be gone within two years.-box text Advertisement Ofsted data shows that 2,223 primary schools are rated as 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' and 290 have been stuck with these ratings since 2005. In total, across that 14-year period, 1million pupils will have attended these 'stuck' schools two-thirds of which are in the North and Midlands. Schools minister Nick Gibb said the system is much better than it was in 2010, because 87 per cent of primaries are now rated good or outstanding, compared with 67 per cent nine years ago. Mr Gibb added: 'Even in instances where parents aren't getting the news they hoped for today, the likelihood is that their child will be attending a school which will provide a first-class education.' The son of a police accountant murdered by a Muslim terrorist has said that Australian children who escaped ISIS should be allowed back into the country. Alpha Cheng's father Curtis was shot in the back of the head by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar outside New South Wales Police Headquarters in Parramatta in 2015. But despite his loss at the hands of radical Islam, Mr Cheng insists Australia must not give in to hate and fear and must show compassion to those fleeing terror and war. Australian Khaled Sharrouf (right) was killed alongside his two eldest sons, Abdullah and Zarqawi (pictured) in a US air strike near Raqqa in 2017. Now his two daughters and third son (pictured) want to come home to Australia Alpha Cheng's father Curtis (left) was shot in the back of the head by 15-year-old Farhad Jabar outside New South Wales Police Headquarters in Parramatta in 2015. Right: Alpha and his mother in 2018 There are around 40 Australians stuck in refugee camps in Syria after escaping ISIS when it was defeated last year. Most are women and children, many taken from Australia without any choice, and Mr Cheng says they must now be rehabilitated back into society. 'We cannot hold the children responsible for their parent's terrible decisions,' he told SBS News. Poll Should Australian children in Syria be allowed home? Yes No Undecided Should Australian children in Syria be allowed home? Yes 9 votes No 33 votes Undecided 3 votes Now share your opinion 'I know for one what a young person who has been radicalised could do - there is every possibility that they can be a threat to Australia. 'But there is every possibility that they can be rehabilitated and reintegrated successfully in Australia.' He said that politicians must not give in to hate and fear and must show compassion. 'The measure of us as a country is what do we do to uphold our values as Australians,' he said. Referencing his own struggle, he added: 'If I let what's happened create more hate and anger in myself, it's only going to be self-destructive. 'It's only serving what the extremists want us to feel which is fear, hate and anger, and we can't give in to that.' Mr Cheng went on to say that politicians must not neglect the children who were either taken from their Australian homes with no choice or born in ISIS territory. 'The most important thing for young people is to feel that they belong and that they are cared for,' he said. 'I think the longer we show that we don't care or that we make them feel like they are "the other", the more negative impact that can have.' Talking about how they must be cared for when they return from ISIS, he added: 'It's negligent for us to leave children in a war zone but it will be even more negligent if we choose to bring them back and don't have the necessary support for them as well.' Mr Cheng, a high school teacher in Canberra who volunteers to help rehabilitate radicalised Muslims, said he has seen first hand that rehabilitation works. He said rehabiliated Muslims are very useful in helping to stop radicalisation because many become strong advocates against terrorism. Emotional reunion: Sydney grandmother Karen Nettleton (pictured right) reunited with her grandchildren last month, five years after they were taken to an ISIS stronghold. Granddaughter Hoda Sharrouf, 16, is seen wearing a black niqab Zaynab (top left), Hoda (top right), and Humzeh (bottom, middle) are in the Al-Howl camp. Their two brothers (also pictured) are believed to have died in airstrikes Mr Cheng's comments come after an Australian grandmother was on Monday reunited with her three orphan grandchildren - five years after they were taken from Sydney. Karen Nettleton, 58, tracked down Zaynab, 17, Hoda, 16, Humzeh, eight, at the al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria late last month, after desperately trying to bring them home for years. The three children, along with their two other brothers Abdullah and Zarqawi, were taken to Syria by their mother Tara Nettleton to join the Islamic State in 2014. Tara, who died in 2015, was married to ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, who became notorious after photos circulated of his young son holding up the severed head of soldier, captioned: 'That's my boy.' Sharrouf was killed alongside his two eldest sons, Abdullah and Zarqawi in a US air strike near Raqqa in 2017. After the defeat of ISIS last year, the three surviving children were taken to the Kurdish-controlled camp in northern Syria and have begged to return home. ABC's Four Corners captured the heart-wrenching moment Karen finally found her grandchildren at the squalid campground of more than 70,000 refugees. Foxtel has come under fire from outraged Game of Thrones fans unable to watch the highly anticipated first episode of the eighth and final series. Monday's return of the popular HBO series return sparked a social media uproar due to streaming and buffering issues for online viewers, despite Foxtel's claims most customers watched the show uninterrupted. One angry customer took a photo of their blank computer screen with the message 'The service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.' 'What trying to watch Game of Thrones legally in Australia is like,' the Reddit post was captioned. Foxtel told Daily Mail Australia that hundreds of thousands of Games of Thrones fans were able to watch the series return (pictured) of the eighth and final season uninterrupted The photo was inundated with comments from disappointed viewers experiencing the same issue. 'I gave up and pirated it,' one wrote. Another added: 'I'm frustrated that I can't pay for and watch this. Pirating is easier than paying right now.' Many other fed up fans took to Foxtel's Twitter account to vent their frustration. 'What trying to watch Game of Thrones legally in Australia is like,' this Reddit post (pictured) was captioned by a disappointed Game of Thrones fan and Foxtel customer 'Please fix your streaming services, you should have known the network traffic demand for this series, especially when you are advertising it so hard yourselves. There is no excuses for this. Your silence is very deafening too,' one fan wrote. Another added: 'Foxtel go has crashed again. What a (stuff) up. Think they would have done extensive load testing on their servers considering they were shilling the signup process so hard before the new GOT season - very disappointed.' Foxtel customers had similar streaming issues when the first episode of the seventh series premiered in 2017. 'This is so frustrating this happened last season as well. You guys are so incompetent,' one woman tweeted on Monday night. Not all viewers were disappointed. Streaming and buffering issues, along with crashed messages were among the many complaints from outraged Foxtel customers who couldn't watch Game of Thrones 'Perfect connection for me, good episode,' a satisfied customer tweeted. Another added: 'Credit where it's due. Had a real bitter experience with your streaming last GoT season but just streamed S8Ep01 beautifully in HD with CC.' A Foxtel spokesman told Daily Mail Australia hundreds of thousands of viewers enjoyed the highly anticipated series return uninterrupted. 'The number of social posts was extremely small and related to a cable outage on the NBN/ Telstra network that was beyond Foxtel's control as well as customers' access to MyAccount, our online self-management portal, which had less than 100 social posts related to customers being timed out due to a much higher than normal volume of customers accessing it,' he said. 'The evening's stream of Game of Thrones was not affected.' Social media went into meltdown over streaming issues for Games of Thrones fans Earlier on Monday, fans of the show were warned they faced the prospect of jail if they were caught downloading the highly anticipated final season. Game of Thrones is regarded as the most pirated show on television with 1.77million Australians illegally downloading the seventh season in 2017. A survey from finder.com.au found 30 per cent of Australians who watch the show downloaded it illegally. A video has been posted online of the shocking moment a woman appears to smoke ice while on a crowded bus. In the footage, posted to Instagram on Friday, the woman can be seen lighting a glass pipe while seated on the bus and inhaling the smoke in plain sight of other commuters. The caption for the post indicates the woman was spotted on a bus in Adelaide. A video has been posted online of the shocking moment a woman appears to smoke meth while on a crowded bus (pictured) Some commenters on the post were left in disbelief at the brazen act, while others expressed concern. 'I cannot even,' said one commenter. 'So sad,' another said. A report released in 2018 revealed that South Australia had the highest per capita consumption of methylamphetamine in Australia. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's report released in March last year revealed that one in 10 South Australians had a dose of the drug every day in October 2017. The National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program also revealed an overall increase in illicit drug use across the country. 'Methylamphetamine consumption is generally higher in regional areas than in capital cities, and accurately identifying the worst-affected areas ensures we can more effectively target our law enforcement and prevention strategies and measure their impact,' then Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Minister Angus Taylor said. A spokesperson for South Australia Police told Daily Mail Australia they are aware of the footage. The spokesperson said anyone who has any information about the alleged incident should contact them. She can now be publicly named after losing a court fight to keep the case secret She has 'arrogantly' refused to obey court orders to return the children to the UK Anna Tigipko split from husband in 2015 and moved out of their London home A millionaire mother who abducted her two British daughters and took them to Ukraine has been named in a landmark ruling. The daughter of one of Ukraine's richest men, Anna Tigipko, 34, has refused to bring her children back to London after splitting with her husband in 2015. The court has heard how the businesswoman, who ran a Harley Street clinic, met her future husband in Vienna in 2010. They married in Ukraine in 2012. Anna Tigipko, 34, took her two children to Ukraine after splitting with her husband in 2015. Now she is refusing to return them to London The couple lived in a Hampstead mansion until their marriage ended in late 2015. Both children were born in the UK. After the break-up, Miss Tigipko moved up the road with the children into a 9million home but in 2017 she left Britain with her two daughters. Although she had permission to take them away for a number of weeks, she has refused to bring them back to the country. And despite her 'arrogant disregard' for English court orders to return the two girls, she was able to fight being identified in the British press. The Daily Mail, along with The Times and the BBC, backed the father's challenge to the secrecy surrounding the case. Anna Tigipko's father, former Ukrainian vice-prime minister Sergiy Tigipko, joined in her battle to keep the case secret A 'highly ruthless and manipulative' businesswoman and daughter of former Ukrainian vice-prime minister Sergiy Tigipko, she marshalled a massive 'army' of top lawyers to try to thwart her ex-husband's efforts to publicise his predicament. Her 'heavyweight' legal team included Lord Pannick QC and Alexander Cameron QC, brother of the former Prime Minister. Oligarch Mr Tigipko 59, also fought the transparency bid. But a High Court judge has now allowed them to be identified, concluding that publicity could speed up their return. He said he was satisfied of Mr Tigipko's 'deep complicity' in the affair. The ruling could set a precedent, after Mr Justice Mostyn said 'there is a strong public interest in far more press reporting of international child abduction'. Gervase de Wilde, for the three media organisations, said at a prior hearing that 'child abduction and associated litigation are a topic of high public interest. The London-based father has both British and Russian citizenship. He cannot be named to protect his daughter's identities. He hopes publicity will encourage his former wife into returning his children but fears for his safety in Ukraine. Lord Pannick QC, for Miss Tigipko, unsuccessfully argued publicity would 'intensify tensions and make it less likely to reach a resolution'. But unusually, lawyers for the children's guardian also backed publication of some details. The father has not seen his girls in person since July of last year. He told The Times of his most recent conversation via video call, which lasted less than 30 seconds. He said: 'I could not even see my older daughter and my younger daughter said, 'Hello daddy' and then I heard Anna's voice saying, 'Tell him you're busy' and she put the phone down. I never wanted full custody. I always thought the mother should have them, and I still hold this general position.' Their removal is 'under consideration' as a possible crime by the police, the court heard. In a statement, Miss Tigipko said: 'The children are happy and settled now in Ukraine and their needs are best catered for in Kiev.' Donations to rebuild Notre Dame have exceeded 650 million euros as France's richest man pledged 200 million euros (170m) towards the restoration after Monday night's inferno. Bernard Arnault of luxury goods group LVMH doubled the 100 million euros pledged by Hollywood actress Salma Hayek's husband Francois-Henri Pinault. Other heavyweight donors include the Bettencourt family - owners of cosmetics giant L'Oreal - who have given 200 million euros and the French oil giant Total who donated 100 million on Tuesday. Multi-billionaire Arnault and fashion tycoon Pinault made their generous pledges after President Emmanuel Macron launched an appeal on Monday. Pinault, who is boss of Kering, said: 'This tragedy impacts all French people' and 'everyone wants to restore life as quickly as possible to this jewel of our heritage.' This was followed by another 100 million euro donation from multinational oil and gas company Total, which is headquartered in Paris. CEO Patrick Pouyanne tweeted that Total was making 'a special donation of 100 million euros' and added the slogan 'fluctuat nec mergitur' (tossed but not sunk), a motto on the old Paris coat of arms. But, in a statement, the LVMH group said their donation would be double that. It said: 'The Arnault family and the LVMH group, in solidarity with this national tragedy, are associated with the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, symbol of France, its heritage and its unity. 'In the meantime, the LVMH Group puts at the disposal of the state and the concerned authorities all its teams, creative, architectural, financial, to help the long work of reconstruction on the one hand, and of fundraising on the other hand.' Bernard Arnault and his wife Helene Arnault (left) and Francois-Henri Pinault with wife Salma Hayek (right) Pinault, who married Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek in 2009, is chief executive of Kering, which owns brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris Late on Monday evening French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was partly gutted by a devastating fire Other high-profile French donors included the investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere with 10 million euros, and construction magnates Martin and Olivier Bouygues, also with 10 million euros. Among other firms, the Credit Agricole bank gave five million euros, while US private equity investor Henry Kravis has promised $10 (8.8) million. Corporate contributions are expected to climb, with blue-chip firms like Vinci, Michelin and BNP Paribas also saying they were weighing how to participate. Air France said it would offer free flights to experts brought in to help with Notre-Dame's renovation. France's Heritage Foundation has launched a 'national collection' on its website. And Valerie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, has unveiled a budget of 10 million euros of 'emergency aid to help the archdiocese to start the work.' Ms Pecresse added: 'This reconstruction, which will obviously be very expensive, will mobilise a whole country.' Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, said she wanted to organise an 'an international conference of donors' to welcome 'experts who are able to raise funds.' French President Emmanuel Macron looked distraught outside the cathedral on Monday evening Specialised craftsmen and rare materials are expected to be needed to restore the monument, which welcomes more than 13 million visitors each year - an average of more than 35,000 people a day. The head of a French lumber company told FranceInfo radio that it was ready to offer the best oak beams available to rebuild the intricate lattice that supported the now-destroyed roof, known as the 'Forest'. 'The work will surely take years, decades even, but it will require thousands of cubic metres of wood. We'll have to find the best specimens, with large diameters,' Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group in Murlin, central France, told the radio station. The United Nations' Paris-based cultural agency UNESCO has also promised to stand 'at France's side' to restore the site, which it declared a world heritage site in 1991. 'We are already in contact with experts and ready to dispatch an urgent mission to evaluate the damage, save what can be saved and start elaborating measures for the short- and medium-term,' UNESCO's secretary general Audrey Azoulay said in a statement Tuesday. It came after a visibly emotional French President Emmanuel Macron spoke outside the gothic cathedral and said a national fundraising campaign to restore Notre Dame would be launched on Tuesday, as he called on the world's 'greatest talents' to help. He said while the 'worst had been avoided' and the facade and two towers saved, 'the next hours will be difficult'. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, left, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, right, answer reporters after watching the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral on Monday evening. Miracolously the cross and altar have managed to survive the inferno Firefighters confirmed on Tuesday morning the blaze had been totally extinguished after battling the fire throughout the night. The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. French prosecutors said it was being treated as an 'involuntary' fire, indicating that foul play was ruled out for now. Bernard Arnault Notre Dame donation: 200m Age: 69 Wealth: 70 billion ($91.3 billion) Lives: Paris, France Known for: Chairman and CEO of LVMH - the owner of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Moet. He is the richest person in Europe and the fourth-richest person in the world. Family: Married to Helene Mercier with whom he has three sons, as well as a son and a daughter from a previous marriage Education: Ecole Polytechnique de Paris * * * Bernard Arnault is head of LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company, which was formed in 1987 under the merger of fashion house Louis Vuitton with Moet Hennessy. He oversees 70 brands and is the richest person in fashion - and in Europe. Mr Arnault is married to Helene Mercier, a concert pianist whom he is said to have wooed by playing Chopin and other classical composers. Advertisement Francois-Henri Pinault Notre Dame donation: 100m Age: 56 Wealth: 23.8 billion ($30.6 billion) Lives: Paris, France Known for: Chairman and CEO of Kering, which owns brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen. President of Groupe Artemis which owns auction house Christie's Family: Married to actor Salma Hayek, with whom he has one child, as well as three children from previous relationships Education: HEC School of Management in Jouy-en-Josas, France * * * Francois-Henri Pinault is the son of Francois Pinault, the founder of Pinault S.A., which later became Kering. He is a member of the board of Member of the board of British art auctioneers Christie's and also owns Stade Rennais, a French Ligue 1 football club. He began dating actor Salma Hayek in April 2006 and their daughter, Valentina, was born in September 2007. Advertisement A waitress at a Florida suffered a broken back and foot after jumping 20ft off a pier to save a young boy who was stuck in the rip current. Hanna Pignato, 19, fractured her back in three places and the heel of her foot after jumping off the Main Street Pier in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday night after she saw a mother frantically trying to get help for her son. 'She was screaming bloody Mary, like, just screaming, like, I could just hear the fear in her eyes,' Pignato told WESH 2 News about the moment. 'And I was scared. Everybody was scared.' The eight-year-old boy had gotten separated from a boogie board and was being drawn further and further away by the rip current. Hanna Pignato, 19, thought only of a young boy's safety when she rushed to jump into the waters off of Daytona Beach, Florida, when she herself was badly injured striking a shallow sandbar after her leap Pignato suffered fractures in three places on her back as well as a fracture on the heel of her foot Pignato, who worked on the roof deck of Joe's Crab Shack, the eatery that sits on the pier itself, ran down the back steps to the pier, dropped off her phone and jumped 20 feet into the water. 'Right when I jumped, I was, like, I'm done, like, right when I hit the bottom floor, it was like maybe two feet, three feet,' she said recounting the moment she struck the shallow sandbar. An experienced surfer and swimmer, Pignato says may have misjudged the depth of the water due to the rough surf. Pignato became tearful when recounting the screams of the mother whose son was being dragged away by the current The 19-year-old was working as a waitress on the roof deck at Joe's Crab Shack on the Main Street Pier in Daytona Beach, Florida, when she saw the boy in trouble She leaped 20 feet off of the pier into shallow water, misjudging the depth possibly due to the roughness of the surf The young woman's GoFundMe seeks to raise $75,000 for the waitress without health insurance as she will be unable to work for months with her injuries Despite her painful injuries, Pignato continued to swim toward the child until another swimmer was able to reach him. She herself had to be helped out of the surf. While her own rescue attempt failed, the eight-year-old boy was eventually saved, and Pignato had been thinking about the child's family when she made her snap decision. 'I know what it's like not to have my family,' she said getting choked up. 'I did not want her to go through that. I'm just happy and grateful.' The GoFundMe page trying to raise $75,000 for Pignato states that the 19-year-old service worker does not have any insurance. With her injuries and living in a third story apartment without an elevator, it appears she will have to miss work for months. Australians could soon be able to make charitable donations to rebuild the burnt remains of Notre Dame Cathedral. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australians should be encouraged to 'contribute to a restoration fund' to revive the world-famous 12th century Gothic structure in Paris. 'Notre Dame doesn't just belong to Paris and France. It belongs to the world,' he told reporters on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Australians could soon make a charitable donation to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral after it was gutted by fire 'We, who all of us, who've enjoyed that architecture, the history, we too should perhaps rally around helping Paris and Notre Dame.' The Labor leader advocated the idea of allowing Australians to make a tax-deductible donation following a suggestion from former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. 'If the Australian Government wished to make a direct contribution it could do so as well. Many precedents,' Mr Turnbull tweeted on Tuesday morning. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he had no doubt many Australians would want to contribute. Mr Shorten advocated the idea of allowing Australians to make a tax-deductible donation to rebuild Notre Dame (pictured) following a suggestion from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull 'Absolutely, if money is going towards the restoration and Australians who want to contribute, can, that is to be supported,' he told ABC TV. 'Every Parisian will dig deep as well, no doubt. I don't think there will be a shortage of funds for this to happen.' The massive fire gutted and destroyed the roof of Notre Dame, but firefighters managed to save the shell of the stone structure from collapse. Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured in Melbourne) recalled visiting Notre Dame with his wife Jenny almost 30 years ago The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said some artworks in the cathedral had been taken out and were being put in safe storage. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recalled visiting Notre Dame with his wife Jenny almost 30 years ago. 'It's a pretty special place and to see it in flames today was just really sad,' he told Adelaide's 5AA radio on Tuesday. 'Paris is an eternal city and it will rebuild and it will restore.' Cesar Sayoc, 57 (pictured), who admitted to mailing 16 bombs to prominent opponents of President Donald Trump , including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama , has walked back a letter seeking to retract his guilty plea A Florida man who admitted to mailing 16 bombs to prominent opponents of President Donald Trump, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, has walked back a letter seeking to retract his guilty plea. Cesar Sayoc, 57, reaffirmed his guilty plea on Monday before US District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York, Courthouse News reported. Prior to Monday's hearing, Sayoc wrote a total of three notes to Judge Rakoff, in one of which he claimed he had not answered a question during his plea hearing properly about whether he intended for his devices would hurt his targets. Sayoc said, 'Yes,' at his plea entry hearing on March 22, but in a letter dated March 23, Sayoc said, 'In my heart I wanted to say no,' adding that he only meant to 'intimidate or scare' and had 'answered under extreme emotional circumstances.' After Monday's hearing, Sayoc's letter from March 23, which was made public on April 2, will not impact Sayoc's guilty plea regarding the October 2018 mailings. Hillary Clinton delivers a speech during a campaign rally at Northern Community College in Annandale, Washington in July 2016 - she was sent a mail bomb President Barack Obama speaks during the 2019 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple Of Hope Awards on December 12, 2018 in New York - he too was targeted by Sayoc The judge scheduled the hearing on Monday to determine whether Sayoc's guilty plea should be vacated. At first, Assistant US Attorney Jason Richman said the letters should be treated as a request to vacate Sayoc's plea. Sayoc's attorneys, however, said their client did not actually want to have his plea vacated, despite sending letter to the judge that said he felt pressured to make statements by his attorneys. Judge Rakoff asked on Monday if Sayoc still felt that way, and he said, 'No, your honor, I just felt, just rushed.' Sayoc's letter from March 23 noted that he answered the question about his intent with sending the explosives through the mail just after crying as he read a statement describing his crimes. 'Inside the plastic pipe was powder from fireworks, fertilizer, pool shock and some glass fragments,' Sayoc said in that statement in March. 'I also put pictures of the recipients with red Xs over their faces inside the package.' Prior to Monday's hearing, Sayoc wrote a total of three notes to Judge Rakoff, in one of which he claimed he had not answered a question during his plea hearing properly about whether he intended for his devices would hurt his targets. Sayoc said, 'Yes,' at his plea entry hearing on March 22, but in a letter dated March 23, Sayoc said, 'In my heart I wanted to say no,' adding that he only meant to 'intimidate or scare' and had 'answered under extreme emotional circumstances' The letter said once he returned to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, he reconsidered what he said he was trying to do. 'I realized that it was the wrong thing to say, because under no circumstances my intent was to hurt or harm anyone. The intention was to only intimidate and scare,' he wrote In a second letter, Sayoc included an edited version of the transcript from his guilty plea, addressing whether he intended to injure anyone The letter said once he returned to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, he reconsidered what he said he was trying to do. 'I realized that it was the wrong thing to say, because under no circumstances my intent was to hurt or harm anyone. The intention was to only intimidate and scare,' he wrote. In a second letter, Sayoc included an edited version of the transcript from his guilty plea, addressing whether he intended to injure anyone. A third letter sent by Sayoc had not yet been entered into the public record. On Monday, Judge Rakoff asked Sayoc again: 'You knew, didnt you, if those [devices] exploded or caught fire or in any other way detonated, that it could injure either property or persons?' To that, Sayoc replied, 'Yes, sir.' On Monday, Judge Rakoff asked Sayoc again: 'You knew, didnt you, if those [devices] exploded or caught fire or in any other way detonated, that it could injure either property or persons?' To that, Sayoc replied, 'Yes, sir' Cesar Sayoc (far right in red hat) is seen as President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the AeroMod International hangar at Orlando Melbourne Summarizing a 100-page FBI report, Richman stated on Monday, 'If property assembled and initiated, they could have exploded.' And when asked by the judge on Monday if his guilty plea should stand, Sayoc said, 'Yes.' Based on Sayoc's statement on Monday that the bombs could have injured people or property - whatever his intent, and his affirmation of the guilty plea, the Judge and both the defense and prosecution agreed the plea could stand. Sayoc was arrested in late October at a Florida auto parts store. He had been living in a van plastered with Trump stickers and images of Trump opponents with crosshairs over their faces. Sayoc admitted sending 16 rudimentary bombs - none of which detonated - to targets including Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, several members of Congress, former President Barack Obama and actor Robert De Niro. Devices were also mailed to CNN offices in New York and Atlanta. The bombs began turning up over a five-day stretch weeks before the midterm elections in November. They were mailed to addresses in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, California, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, Georgia. Sayoc faces life in prison at sentencing, which was originally set for September 12, after pleading guilty to various explosives-related crimes in a deal with prosecutors. His attorneys have asked that sentencing be moved up to August 5 instead. The issue at the sentencing hearing will now turn to the likelihood that the bombs could have exploded. A photo of a well-dressed undercover Victorian transport ticket officer has sent social media into a frenzy after it was shared online. The picture, shared to Facebook page Beautiful, Talented & Deadly, shows the young man, officially known as an Authorised Officer, scanning a passenger's myki smart card on a Melbourne tram on April 11. The picture shows the officer dressed in designer glasses, rolled up jeans, ADIDAS runners and a manicured beard while doing the rounds on the tram. The picture, shared to Facebook page Beautiful, Talented & Deadly , shows the young man, officially known as an Authorised Officer, scanning a passenger's myki smart card on a Melbourne Facebook users were quick to respond to the picture. 'This guy pulled me up at least once a week on the tram to La Trobe,' one user wrote. 'Undercover inspector looks like he decided to show up to his shift after being at Cloud Nine nightclub until 6am,' another added. Many were quick to comment on the inspector's appearance. One Facebook user said: 'Is he giving you a fine or is he just something so fine?' Another said: 'I'm never topping up my MYKI again! Pls let him fine me'. While another wrote: 'I'll put my feet on the seat for that'. Other people said they might have also had a run in with the Authorised Officer. 'Omfg I swear this is the exact same PTV officer I saw in first year,' one user wrote. 'This is the tram inspector I ran away from!' another added. While others weren't too happy about plain clothed Authorised Officers. 'They're honestly getting more creative,' one wrote. 'No one is safe,' another added. If you are caught on Victorian public transport without a valid ticket the Authorised Officer files a report with the Department of Transport A spokeswoman for Public Transport Victoria told Daily Mail Australia if you're approached by a plain clothed Authorised Officer they must show their PTV identification. 'Authorised Officers work in either uniform or plain clothes on trains, trams and buses every day of the week,' the spokeswoman said. Over 600 Authorised Officers work on the public transport network, checking tickets at stations and stops, major public transport interchanges and on trains, trams and buses. 'They play a vital role to keep public transport running smoothly and ensure everyone is paying their way,' the spokeswoman said. If you are caught on Victorian public transport without a valid ticket the Authorised Officer files a report with the Department of Transport. After assessing the report PTV may decide to fine the passenger, give them a warning or send them a court summons. Failing to produce a valid ticket has a maximum fine of $242 for adults and $81 for minors. An Irish passenger took four times the recommended dosage of an over-the-counter sleeping tablet before he tried to storm the cockpit of a Los Angeles to Sydney flight. Leroy Hyland was holding a blanket over his head covering everything but his eyes when he approached two Delta Airlines flight attendants in the forward galley midway through DL41. The 26-year-old was carrying an 'unidentifiable black object' when he told the flight attendants he had been robbed of his wallet, passport and phone. The flight attendants offered to accompany Hyland back to his seat to find his supposedly missing possessions, Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court heard on Tuesday. Irishman Leroy Thomas Hyland, 26, took four times the recommended dosage of sleeping tablets before he tried to storm the cockpit of a Los Angeles to Sydney flight in October Leroy Hyland was holding a blanket over his head covering everything but his eyes when he approached two Delta Airlines flight attendants in the forward galley midway through DL41 Leroy Hyland disrupted a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney in October last year 'At this time, using both of his hands, the defendant gave [one flight attendant] a hard shove to his shoulder causing the flight attendant to fall backwards onto [the second cabin crew],' a statement of facts said. 'The defendant ran towards the cockpit door and began beating on the door with his fists.' The banging was loud enough for the captain to hear and internal security procedures were activated during the flight in October last year. The two flight attendants then ran to the cockpit door and tried to pull Hyland away but he broke free and continued banging on the door with his fists. When the cabin crew managed to get Hyland into the aisle of the aircraft they put service carts on either side of the forward galley to block his access to the cockpit door. A United States federal air marshal then tried to escort Hyland to the mid galley of the plane. Leroy Hyland was carrying an 'unidentifiable black object' when he told the flight attendants he had been robbed of his wallet, passport and phone on a Los Angeles to Sydney flight United States air marshals were forced to restrain Hyland for the remainder of the flight 'In an attempt to get away from the air marshal, the defendant turned and jumped over seat 6B into the adjacent aisle, stepping on the passenger seated in seat 6C,' the statement of facts said. Hyland jumped back over the seats located in row 6 when confronted by a second air marshal. 'As the air marshals led the defendant towards the mid gallery of the aircraft he yelled obscenities and threw his identification card at a passenger seated in 11C,' the statement of facts said. 'In the mid galley of the aircraft the air marshals attempted to clam him down, at which time he charged towards them.' Hyland was escorted down the aisle but made another attempt to push past the air marshals using his elbow to intentionally strike one of them on his right arm. The 26-year-old Irishman refused to obey cabin crew instructions to return to his seat and began behaving in a disruptive manner before striking one of the two US air marshals Eventually the air marshals were able to restrain Hyland and he spent the rest of the trip handcuffed next to them until the plan touched down at 6.58am. The court heard the Irish national, who is in Australia on a temporary working visa, was deeply ashamed of his conduct between 10.26pm on October 9 and 6.50am on October 10. Hyland, who lives at Randwick in Sydney's eastern suburbs, pleaded guilty to assaulting/threatening/intimidating aircraft crew and committing an act of violence on board an aircraft. He also pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner on an aircraft. Defence lawyer David Newham said his client had shown remorse for his behaviour which was entirely out of character. Hyland now had an insight into how his fellow passengers and the flight crew must have felt during the fracas. 'There's definitely been a lot of soul-searching for My Hyland after this very, very regrettable event that occurred last year,' Mr Newham said. The court heard Hyland had taken two tablets of the over-the-counter sleeping pill Unisom, then when he felt no effect swallowed two more. The court heard Hyland had taken two tablets of the over-the-counter sleeping pill Unisom, then when he felt no effect swallowed two more. His offending was out of character Magistrate Julie Huber said if Hyland had not taken the tablets it was unlikely the disturbance would have occurred. 'Of course, you took four times the recommended dosage,' Ms Huber said. 'You took it upon yourself to take four times the amount simply because you wanted to sleep. 'In many respects it is no different from having that extra glass of scotch or alcohol.' Ms Huber noted Hyland's contrition and that the had co-operated with the air marshals once he was handcuffed. 'These offences were all committed whilst you were on a plane in mid-air,' she said. 'It's a very confined area, it's one which is occupied my many, many strangers and in many respects good management of the plane including the safety of the plane relies on the behaviour of those occupants.' 'It would appear that this is an unusual event and that as far as personal deterrence is concerned the requirement is relatively low,' she said. Hyland was facing a potential penalty of a $10,000 fine and two years in prison. Ms Huber fined Hyland $4,000 for behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner and imposed two community corrections orders of two years and three years with a total of 550 hours of community service. Hyland declined to comment outside court. Two brothers have been jailed after using their fine chocolate company to smuggle cocaine into Australia. Los Angeles based brothers Nathan and Andrew Dulley linked up with Owen Hanson to distribute the drugs. Hanson, a handsome former University of Southern California gridiron player, was the kingpin of the violent ODOG drug-trafficking, money laundering and illegal gambling syndicate. Nathan Dulley, 36, was sentenced to 33 months' prison in the US District Court in San Diego on Monday. Owen Hanson (pictured) was the kingpin of the violent ODOG drug-trafficking, money laundering and illegal gambling syndicate Andrew Dulley, 34, received 25 months. The brothers entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to distribute cocaine charges. The court heard the Dulleys both had alcohol issues and their import/export fine chocolate company was in financial trouble. It was Nathan Dulley who had the relationship with Hanson. Two brothers have been jailed after using their fine chocolate company to smuggle cocaine into Australia Hanson was previously sentenced to 21 years' prison The brothers agreed to mix about 150kg of cocaine in with their legitimate chocolate exports to Australia, where it was distributed and sold by ODOG members. 'It does appear some sense of financial desperation contributed to the offence,' Judge William Hayes told the court. The Dulleys are the latest convictions from a joint investigation by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission. Hanson was previously sentenced to 21 years' prison and his second in command, Giovanni 'Tank' Brandolino, received an 87-month sentence. A girl who was left in a coma with a brain bleed after a horror racetrack accident broke her eye sockets, cheekbones and nose, has made a miraculous recovery. Two-year-old Lara Whitaker was standing on the sidelines at the Redcliffe Paceway, north of Brisbane, last month when she was hit by a metal boom gate. Lara's eye sockets, cheekbones and nose were broken and she was left in a coma with a brain bleed for one week at Queensland Children's Hospital. Two-year-old Lara Whitaker (pictured) has made a miraculous recovery after a horror racetrack accident She was standing on the sidelines at the Redcliffe Paceway last month when she was hit by a metal boom gate She spent two weeks in intensive care, unable to move or talk. Last week she was moved into the children's unit to begin rehabilitation and make a full recovery. Her mother Joedy Whitaker told 9News: 'They can't see any reason for not close to a full recovery from her, which is just amazing.' Her one-year-old brother Josh were also taken to hospital with a fractured skill and bruising on the brain. Lara's father Gary Whitaker, who was holding her when the accident happened, suffered a large cut to his head. Mr Whitaker works in the harness racing industry and the family is very involved in the racing community. A GoFundMe page was started by racer Todd McCarthy last month and has raised more than $80,000 for the family. An investigation by Workplace Health and Safety and Queensland Police is still underway. Ecuador tried for a year to get rid of Julian Assange and got the US to take the death penalty off the table as part of a deal, according to fresh reports. The WikiLeaks founder cost the South American country millions during his seven-year stay at their London embassy. Now ABC News has reported that diplomats began to broker a deal to move Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy more than a year ago. A senior U.S. official told the network: 'They were over him, he was a big nuisance. They were saying "This is too much. How do we get him out?"' They say Ecuadorians wrote to the U.K in March last year for assurances he would not be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty. Six months later the countrys ambassador to Germany, Manuel Mejia Dalmau, is said to have met with the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell. Dalmau is reported to have directly asked the US to take the death penalty off the table and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein agreed, a senior U.S. official says. Ecuador tried for a year to get rid of Julian Assange and got the US to take the death penalty off the table as part of a deal, reports say The President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno, left, claims Assange violated the terms of his asylum in his country's embassy by using it as a 'centre for spying'. The countrys ambassador to Germany, Manuel Mejia Dalmau, right, is reported to have directly asked the US to take the death penalty off the table British police arrested Assange at Washington's request after Ecuador revoked his seven-year asylum on Thursday. He took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in June 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where authorities wanted to question him as part of a preliminary sexual assault investigation. He was dragged out of the embassy in London and is being held in prison while he faces extradition to the United States. His seven-year stay at the embassy in London is said to have cost the South American country up to $10 million. The State Department would not comment on the reported verbal agreement between the U.S. and Ecuador, ABC reports. The U.S. Justice Department would also not confirm any deals but did say the charge against Assange does not represent a crime punishable by the death penalty. His arrest came after the Ecuadorian government ended his asylum status, saying it was tired of his 'discourteous' behaviour and poor personal hygiene, which reportedly included smearing faeces on the walls of the country's London embassy. Security footage that has come to light over the weekend has show Assange skateboarding through the embassy. Unable to exercise outside, Assange reportedly caused mayhem with his skateboard, left dirty dishes out and blasted loud music. The President of Ecuador also claims he violated the terms of his asylum in his country's embassy by using it as a 'centre for spying'. Lenin Moreno told the Guardian that the decision to end Assange's asylum suddenly last week was based on the WikiLeaks founder allegedly 'breaking international law'. The country's Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said: 'During his stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy, during the government of the former president Rafael Correa, they tolerated things like Mr Assange putting faeces on the walls of the embassy and other types of behaviour of this kind that is far removed from the minimum respect a guest should have in a country which has generously welcomed him.' Ecuadorean Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo says Assange 'put faeces on embassy walls' Just hours after Assanges arrest, U.S. prosecutors announced charges against him for conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, pictured, to gain access to a government computer It comes amid reports Assange and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had reason to believe that leaking U.S. military reports 'would cause injury' to the country, federal prosecutors alleged in a newly unsealed court filing on Monday. In the affidavit submitted to federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors said U.S. military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq included information about the 'identity and significance of local supporters of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.' When U.S. forces raided the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding out, for example, they found a letter that showed the Al Qaeda leader was interested in copies of Pentagon documents published on WikiLeaks, the prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, leaked reports on the Afghan war included information on militants' improvised explosive device designs and attacks, including details of U.S. and coalition countermeasures against such home-made explosive devices and their limitations. The prosecution's affidavit is dated Dec. 21, 2017, but was made public on Monday. It follows the unsealing last week of a U.S. indictment charging Assange with conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Lawyers for Assange could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday. They have previously said Assange may be at risk for torture and his life would be in danger if he were to be extradited to the United States to face charges. Assange's father John Shipton has urged the Australian government to intervene and bring him back to his home country. Assange is charged with conspiring to gain access to a government computer in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history Assange was thrown out of his Ecuador embassy bolthole in London where he had been given refuge since 2012 The U.S. indictment, originally issued in secret by an Alexandria, Virginia-based grand jury in March 2018, said Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password for a classified U.S. government network. In the unsealed affidavit, prosecutors said Manning also had access to other U.S. government databases, including one relating to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a State Department database containing military cables. Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Thursday The United States wants Assange for one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, was jailed on March 8 after being held in contempt by a judge in Virginia for refusing to testify before a grand jury in what is widely believed to be related to the Assange investigation. She was convicted by court-martial in 2013 of espionage and other offences for furnishing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks while an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Former President Barack Obama commuted the final 28 years of Mannings 35-year sentence. Assange hauled before Westminster Magistrate's on Thursday where he was found guilty of failing to surrender to the court. He could face up to 12 months in a UK prison when he is sentenced at Southwark Crown Court, but is wanted in the US for the hacking charges and in Sweden for sexual assault offences. But he is set to challenge any extradition attempts in the Supreme Court with an army of top-shot barristers. Julian Assange was captured skateboarding through the Ecuadorian embassy wearing in shorts in security footage He ignored repeated warnings not to leave half-eaten meals and unwashed dishes in the kitchen The owner of a 'bulldog' that mauled a nine-year-old boy to death at a caravan park has been left devastated. Frankie MacRitchie was killed by a seven-year-old 'bulldog-type breed' called Winston while on holiday at Tencreek Holiday Park in Looe, Cornwall. Owner Sadie Totterdell, 28, a friend of Frankie's mother Tawnee Willis, was arrested in Plymouth on suspicion of manslaughter and having a dog dangerously out of control, but was later released under investigation. Speaking from the family home, Miss Totterdell's mother, Denise, 58, said her daughter was 'distraught' and that both families were reeling from the 'tragedy'. She said: 'Sadie is not good at all. It is just tragic, really. 'It is still too raw we are all trying to still just process it, especially for the family as well. It is just so, so sad.' The owner of a dog that mauled a boy to death at a holiday park in Cornwall has been named as nail technician Sadie Totterdell, 28, pictured with a similar dog Frankie MacRitchie, nine, was found dead by police inside a static caravan following the dog attack at around 5am on a Saturday Ms Totterdell's (pictured left and right) mother said her daughter was 'distraught' at Frankie's death Frankie MacRitchie, nine, pictured with mother Tawnee Willis in a photo taken just hours before his death, was posted with the caption 'caravan life with my babes' Denise said her daughter was not at home and dogs could be heard barking from within the property. Frankie had been staying at the park with relatives and friends, but they were in an 'adjacent' caravan when he was attacked at around 5am on Saturday. Members of the public who heard 'sounds of distress' coming from the caravan rushed over to give Frankie first aid before the emergency services arrived but he died at the scene. Ms Willis, 30, was reportedly seen crying and screaming in her dressing gown after the incident. Meanwhile Ms Willis is staying at her parents' home and declined to comment on the story any further. A source told The Sun that the dog was often muzzled after being involved in four less-serious attacks in the past, including one that happened just a few weeks ago. It is claimed that Frankie's mother and Ms Totterdell had gone for drinks in another caravan when the attack took place. Frankie's headteacher at Riverside Primary School, Plymouth, described him as a 'happy, laid-back character' in a tribute. Frankie MacRitchie, nine, with mother Tawnee Willis. He is believed to have been staying with his grandmother in a caravan when the tragic incident claimed his life Frankie's heartbroken father left a tribute to the youngster online last night in which he said his 'whole world has shattered into a million pieces' He said: 'Frankie was just a really funny young man. He was a very bubbly young boy. He enjoyed coming to school. 'He had a number of friends - he was very social. He was quite cheeky - quite cheeky in his own little ways. The horrific attack was allegedly by a 'bulldog-type breed'. A similar dog is pictured 'I've been looking at photos of him from the last school trip and in every photo he is pulling a funny face. 'But he has a smile on his face as well.' The school opened today so pupils could speak to psychologists if they needed support. Staff also let parents take flowers to the school and write in a book of condolence - despite being closed for the Easter break. The front of the school will stay open all week for people to leave flowers. Mr Jones said the school was doing 'all we can to support those pupils and parents that have been touched by this terrible incident' with help from the educational psychology team. Frankie's heartbroken father Billy MacRitchie left a tribute to the youngster online last night in which he said his 'whole world has shattered into a million pieces'. He wrote: 'Daddy is so lost without you little man I really don't know how I'm ever gonna live without you. 'This should never have happened I wish I could hold you and kiss you forever. You are my whole life and now your gone. Relatives leave flowers at the entrance to Tencreek Holiday Park, Looe, Cornwall today Frankie MacRitchie with his father Billy, pictured together before the youngster's death Relatives leave flowers and a cuddly toy at the entrance to Tencreek Holiday Park, Looe, Cornwall on Sunday 'Sleep tight my darling boy, my best friend, my everything.' Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 The Dangerous Dogs Act (1991) outlaws four types of dog; the pitbull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino, and fila Brasilerio (Brazilian Mastiff). Owners of dogs who attack someone can face jail time depending on the severity on their home or any private property, unless the dog attacks a trespasser. Prison sentences in England and Wales are: - Up to 14 years for a fatal dog attack - Up to five years for injury - Up to three years if an assistance dog is attacked Source: Gov.uk Advertisement One holidaymaker staying told The Sun how they saw the dog wandering the park without a lead. He added: 'I thought it had a dark face. Now I realise his white fur was covered in blood.' Frankie's family laid flowers at the entrance to the holiday park and paid tribute to him. His aunt Danielle MacRitchie, 35, left a bouquet of flowers and a handwritten note, saying: 'Auntie Danielle loved you so much baby boy. 'I've loved you from the second I knew you were coming.The first time I saw you, you were still in mummy's belly and I knew right away we were going to be best friends. 'I'm so sorry this has happened. I am going to miss you till my heart stops beating. We love you baby boy.' She also posted on Facebook: 'My baby boy I just want you back now, I want this to stop now. Our lives are ruined forever. How do we ever stop this pain?' Police tapes cordon off a large area around static caravans at the Tencreek Holiday Park, Looe, Cornwall today, April 14, 2019 Emergency services descended on Tencreek Holiday Park in Looe, Cornwall, just before 5am after a ten-year-old boy was mauled by a dog Officers were alerted to reports of an 'unresponsive' child who was pronounced dead at the scene Her boyfriend Matthew Watering, 35, added: 'We have been to Looe today to lay some flowers which as you can imagine was very difficult, the circumstances in how this has happened is so tragic and hard to understand, I don't think any of us will. 'We love you so much Frankie and will hold our memories forever. 'Words can't describe the pain our family are going through today we love you so much. Heartbroken.' The 'bulldog-type' dog has been seized and remains in kennels in Cornwall. Mike West, Detective Superintendent from Devon and Cornwall Police's major crime investigation team, said the force is still investigating if the dog is registered as a dangerous breed. Breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act include the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo argentino and the fila brasileiro. 'Whether or not the dog will be put down is not a decision for the police at this time,' Det Supt West said. 'We've got specialists that are looking at the breed of the dog, and that's part of our inquiries. We need to understand exactly what the breed of the dog is.' He added in a statement: 'Frankie had been staying at the holiday park in the company of adults for a number of evenings prior to his tragic death. 'We believe that Frankie was alone in a caravan with the dog as he was attacked, whilst the adults that he was on holiday with were in an adjacent unit these two groups of people were known to each other and from the Plymouth area. 'This is a desperately sad event which has seen a nine-year-old boy lose his life whilst on holiday; our thoughts and sympathies are with the loved ones of Frankie and those who knew him. 'I also wish to recognise those who came to his aid at the scene members of the public and emergency services staff who had to work in deeply upsetting conditions. 'We appreciate that this case will shock and upset the public. However, we urge the public not to apportion blame on this tragic incident, and to allow us to do our job and to fully investigate this matter.' Management at the holiday park offered their 'deepest sympathies' to Frankie's family. A picture posted by Tawnee Willis of her son Frankie Macritchie, nine, was found dead by police inside a static caravan following the dog attack at around 5am on a Saturday A killer is on the run after gunning down a doctor at his Brisbane home. The 56-year-old general practitioner was packing his car in the garage of his MacGregor home with the door open when a man pulled up in a light-coloured sedan or hatchback and shot him in the chest about 11.40pm on Monday. 'The man's family was home at the time, his wife and two adult children,' Acting Detective Inspector Steven McCartney said. The 56-year-old was packing his car in the garage of his MacGregor home (pictured) with the door open when a man pulled up in a light coloured sedan or hatchback and shot him in the chest He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition where he died Police have asked for anyone in the MacGregor area, particularly on Delfin Street bounded by Mains Road and Granadilla Street, to come forward with any CCTV or dash cam footage He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition where he died. Police have asked for anyone in the MacGregor area, particularly on Delfin Street bounded by Mains Road and Granadilla Street, to come forward with any CCTV or dash cam footage. The shooter remains at large and it's believed the pair didn't know each other. Police suspect only one person was involved but say it could be more. They are unable to say what type of gun was used or at what range the shooter fired from. The victim worked as a doctor in Brisbane's Chinese community on the city's south side. His wife is an overseas trained doctor, and their two adult children are also studying to become doctors. 'These are professional members of the community, they dedicate their time to helping people, this is just a tragic event that's occurred,' Acting Detective Inspector McCartney said. 'This is a matter that the members of the community should be concerned about, but be comforted in the fact the QPS is expending a lot of resources to identify who is responsible.' The victim worked as a doctor in Brisbane's Chinese community on the city's south side Neighbour and friend Jimmy Huang, 20, said he heard a 'five-second' scream outside the house. 'It was not a normal scream from the guy. It was crying out,' he told the Courier-Mail. He said six people live in the house: two parents, two daughters and their grandparents. 'Normally you'd think MacGregor is a pretty safe place. They're quite nice people. I don't know what the hell happened,' he said. A yacht crew member has relived the moment he was bitten by a 1.5-metre shark after jumping into the water to make sure the reef conditions were safe for a group of waiting tourists. Ryan Bowring, 25, was bitten twice on his right buttock and left hip near Hardy Reef, about 50km north-east of Queensland's Hamilton Island on March 25 after jumping off the 42-metre luxury vessel at about 12.30pm. The Tasmanian-born man has been left with 75 stitches, after suffering from wounds up to four centimetres deep and 10 centimetres wide. 'Out of nowhere it just felt like I was crash-tackled by a big rugby player or something,' he told 9News. But despite the attack, Mr Bowring has urged against culling sharks and plans to dive at the coral reef once he has fully recovered. Yacht crew member Ryan Bowring (pictured) has recalled the time he was bitten by a 1.5-metre shark in an attack that left him with 75 stitches The 25-year-old was bitten twice on his right buttock and twice on his left hip near Hardy Reef (pictured) The Tasmanian born man was four-centimetre deep, ten-centimetre long wounds Mr Bowring, who works for Southern Cross Sailing Adventures, underwent surgery and received blood transfusions and rehabilitation at Mackay Hospital, after he was airlifted by critical care paramedics from the popular reef at 1.45pm. The 25-year-old told rescue crews how the suspected bronze whaler shark had 'a couple of goes at him'. 'It didn't take me too long to realise it was a shark on the other end of me,' he said. Nearly three weeks after the attack, Mr Bowring has bravely returned to the pristine waters where the animal nearly took his life. He travelled three hours through rough waters, where waves reached two to three metres high, while still recovering from his surgery. 'I love the water too much to be worried about the odd shark here and there or the fact that it might happen it's the risk you take if you want to do the things you love,' he said. The shark attack is one of many in Australia in the past seven months and has continued the debate on the effectiveness of drum lines - a trap used to capture large sharks using baited hooks. But Mr Bowring insists using drum lines to address the shark attacks is 'just crazy'. 'They don't need to be here and we should be doing everything we can to help one of the apex predators of the ocean,' he said. Despite the attack, Mr Bowring (pictured) has bravely returned to the pristine waters where the shark nearly took his life He underwent surgery, received blood transfusions and rehabilitation at Mackay Hospital The Queensland opposition is calling for more shark control equipment to be placed in the Whitsundays. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said people simply need to be 'shark-wise'. Victorian man Daniel Christidis, 33, died in November after being attacked at Cid Harbour during a trip with friends and colleagues. That incident followed separate attacks - also at Cid Harbour - on Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick and Victorian 12-year-old Hannah Papps within just 24 hours in September. There were 26 shark deaths in Australia between 2007-2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Hardy Reef is a popular tourist destination with ideal conditions for diving and snorkelling, but takes hours to reach via boat. Mr Bowring has urged against the culling of sharks by the installation of drumlines despite the spate of attacks Advertisement Sparks and bits of flaming woodwork are still cascading from the remnants of the 12th-century roof. The smell instantly sears the back of your throat like a dose of smelling salts and my feet are soaked. The ancient black and white tiles leading up the aisle are under a gently-flowing river of hose water from the fire crews pumping what seems like much of the River Seine from their elevated platforms. Yet I can faithfully report that the Cathedral of Notre Dame is not entirely destroyed. Because I am standing inside it alongside the French prime minister. In the early hours of this morning, I was among the first people to be allowed inside the ruins of one of the worlds finest cathedrals following the fire which has shocked not just the entire French nation but much of the planet. A blaze which began in the cathedrals loft at 6.30pm had turned into an all-consuming catastrophe by nightfall. Officials reported that the wooden interior of the medieval cathedral had been almost completely destroyed. Smoke is seen around the altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening. Miraculously the cross and altar have managed to survive the inferno An aerial view of the cathedral shows the famous structure completely stripped of its roof and still ablaze on the inside Smoke rises around the altar in front of the cross inside the Notre Dame Cathedral as a fire continues to burn in Paris Slide me Before and after: The altar is shown before the fire in all its glory, left, and emerging from the ashes, right Certainly, Notre Dames spire is no more. Great chunks of its eastern end are no more. Its world-famous stained glass windows are in smithereens and the whole edifice is open to the skies. But Paris will wake today to see that the cathedral that has defied world wars, enemy occupations, revolutions and mobs galore is still poking its head above the Paris skyline. And at 1am today, at the far end of the cathedral, illuminated by lingering embers and firefighters equipment, I could just make out a stunning symbol of defiance through the gloom: the unmistakeable sight of a crucifix on what remains of the altar. Notre Dame is gravely damaged. Yet its most spectacular features the 850-year-old twin towers are still there. For centuries, these were the highest structures in Paris until the Eiffel Tower came along. To this day, they are instantly recognisable the world over. And last night, though looking very sorry for themselves, they were in one piece as I stood beneath them alongside a posse of fire crews and prime ministerial aides. Within hours, speculation was rife as to the cause of the fire. For now, it seems that it was what one official called a stray flame linked to a 5 million restoration project which sparked the inferno. Experts have warned for years that the cathedral has been in a poor condition, with the French state reluctant to fund renovation work in recent decades. Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday morning with wooden beams burnt to cinders around scaffolding which was being used for renovation works to 850-year-old building The interior of Notre Dame Cathedral is seen with the roof destroyed by the inferno on Tuesday morning, as firefighters announced they had extinguished the blaze The stones at the top of the building stand blackened on Tuesday morning after the inferno swept through the colossal building and ravaged its architecture A firefighter stands in an aerial lift on Tuesday morning near the burnt roof after a massive fire destroyed the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris Fire crews still surrounded Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday morning as they continued work to prevent more damage to the historic site Pictures from inside the centuries old church last night show the stone-built roof of the structure partially caved in after the huge blaze Notre Dame glows in the morning light over Paris after fire crews worked tirelessly throughout Monday night and continue to do so on Tuesday morning Jets of water can be seen still being sprayed over the part of the building as Paris firefighters announced the blaze had been extinguished on Tuesday morning A jet of water spouts onto the stones of the 850-year-old cathedral on Tuesday morning as huge hoses surrounded the pavements around Notre Dame Paris firefighters stand among the famous gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday morning as it was confirmed the two iconic belfries had been saved Onlookers stand on the banks of the Seine river as the nation was rocked by the destruction of one of its most significant cultural artefacts Stunned Parisians stand and sit on the other side of the Seine river as they survey the wreckage at Notre Dame on Tuesday morning Experts said that the building needed a 129.5million (150million) restoration, but the state had only offered 40million. The cathedral was seeking private donations to make up the rest. The flames were first spotted just minutes after the building had closed to the public for the day. Echoing the fears of his entire country, French president Emmanuel Macron instantly declared a national emergency. Our Lady of Paris in flames, he declared on Twitter. Like all our countrymen, Im sad tonight to see this part of us burn. He has pledged to rebuild Notre Dame, saying: Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where weve lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives. Its the story of our books, our paintings. Its the cathedral for all French people, even if they have never been. But it is burning and I know this sadness will be felt by all of our citizens. Tomorrow a national subscription will be launched for people around the country to help rebuild this great Notre Dame. Because thats what the French people want. That is what their history requires. Because that is our destiny. Questions were immediately asked about the way in which a fire could take such a rapid hold of one of the worlds most visited and most beloved landmarks. The firefighting response was also questioned as few, if any, high-pressure water hoses were able to reach the roof in the first hour. Critically, the Paris prosecutor has already opened an inquiry. I arrived last night to find a dumbstruck City of Light still bathed in a dismal afterglow. Here, on the banks of the Seine, tens of thousands of people of all nationalities stared incredulously at the slow death of a part of Frances soul. Robert Hardman was given access to the charred remains of the Notre Dame cathedral in the early hours of Tuesday morning Pictures taken outside the cathedral and from the entrance hall in the early hours of Tuesday show emergency service personnel still working to make the site safe Vision of hell: Flames are seen from inside Notre Dame cathedral raging through a hole in the building's shattered roof As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno A view from inside the cathedral shows flames in the roof as firefighters douse it from below with hoses. A shocked firefighter looks back at the camera as the bright burnt orange blaze can be seen raging in Paris on Monday evening To describe the cathedral of Notre Dame as a national monument is a grave understatement. Imagine Westminster Abbey, St Pauls Cathedral and the Tower of London all going up in smoke at the same time and you begin to appreciate the magnitude of this loss, except that Notre Dame attracts or used to attract twice as many annual visitors as those three London landmarks put together. That is why, as news began to spread last night, Parisians flocked to the Seine. They came here not as voyeurs but as mourners. They came to pay their last respects. Some sang hymns. Many were in tears. Some brought flowers and cards to place they knew not where. Understandably, perhaps, no one saw fit to light a candle. From medieval times, Notre Dame has marked the epochs in the story of this proud country and inspired one of the most famous literary masterpieces in the French language, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This August marks the 75th anniversary of the day that General Charles De Gaulle marked the liberation of Paris within its walls, even as sporadic gunfire continued outside. This is a city which was famously spared the destruction which history has wreaked on so many other European capitals. It really did feel blessed; almost eternal. Not any more. Those twin towers are now blackened and wide open to the elements. By midnight, however, the flames had died down as the first glimmers of firemens torches could be seen here and there in the remains. Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire I joined what I can only describe as a requiem mass of Parisians chanting prayers on the Pont de Notre Dame. All approaches to the cathedrals island site had been sealed off to the public but crowds kept on coming from all directions for a glimpse. At least the two towers are still standing, and they must stay up so that Notre Dame can be reborn, said civil servant Pascal Boichut, 52. There was a glimmer of hope when Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet told reporters: We consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been preserved. I could vouch for that an hour later when I managed to enter the controlled zone, cross the Seine and join prime minister Edouard Philippe as he was escorted through the West Door and inside the smouldering building. The scenes in the precincts of the cathedral resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. It looked as if every emergency vehicle in Paris had been crammed in to the side streets around the great edifice. In the shock of it all, no one even demanded that we wear a helmet or even a hi-vis jacket. Once inside, no one said a word. There was no need. A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed on Monday evening after the fire chewed through its foundations By 2am, however, word had reached the crowds across the Seine that all was not lost. As some of the fire crews made their way out of the emergency zone for a breather, there were cheers and applause from the Parisian public. Dear old Paris has taken a battering of late. It is just four years since the twin terrorist atrocities of the attacks on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and the massacre at the Bataclan concert hall. There was a palpable Je Suis Charlie-style emotion in Paris last night, along with a similar sense of global sympathy and solidarity as tributes and condolences poured in from around the world. It is hard to avoid this grisly spectacle from any part of central Paris. This is a city which has always favoured a low-rise building policy at its heart in order to preserve the grandeur of its architectural masterpieces. The cathedrals location on an island in the Seine has always enhanced its prominence. Last night, it had the effect of making Frances suffering all the more visible. Even worse than last nights conflagration, however, will be the cold light of dawn as France awakes to find it is not just missing a large part of a much-loved landmark. It will be like missing a limb. The famous spire toppled only 63 minutes after the flames were spotted. The roof crashed shortly afterwards, causing the blaze to spread to the entire frame of the building. At 8.30pm, firemen were seen carrying priceless works of art to safety. Im devastated, said Elizabeth Caille, 58, who lives near the cathedral. Its a symbol of Paris. Its a symbol of Christianity. Its a whole world that is collapsing. Ed Kelly, from Canada, said: This is the first time Ive seen the cathedral up close, and its on fire. Its heartbreaking. At 10.30pm, firemen said the cathedrals famous 13th-century stained glass Rose windows had been destroyed. They exploded because of the heat of the blaze, said one. French police added that one fireman had been seriously injured. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted: Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ. This morning, France will demand answers not to mention a no-expense-spared restoration plan. And fast. The spire collapsed at 7.15pm (GMT) after the flames had eaten their way along the length of the structure. Dramatic pictures showed the spire falling to earth after being sawn in half by the blaze Left: Flames chewing through a turret at 6.30pm. Centre left: The flames beginning to show through the turret at 6.40pm. Centre right: The turret fell through just before 7.00pm Right: Pictured just before the spire fell to earth at around 7.00pm Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson The fire spread rapidly across the roof-line of the cathedral leaving one of the spires and another section of the roof engulfed in flames Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof as they try to stop the flames spreading. Nobody has been injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire' Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris A man holds his hands on his head in despair as the smoke billows from the cathedral this evening as firefighters desperately battle the blaze A woman with tears in her eyes clasps her hands in front of her as she watches the flames spread over the cathedral, and a man puts his head in his hands in despair A woman reacts with shock as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this evening Parisians gather on the River Seine this evening to look at the flames spreading throughout the cathedral. The blaze started in the late afternoon People watch on as firefighters battle the blaze that has engulfed the historic building. A dark smoke filled the Paris sky this evening as the fire continued to rage Parisians cry and drop to their knees in prayer as the flames rip through the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening Crowds look at the flames as they engulf the building on Monday evening. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers for the beloved Paris cathedral French fire crews check the hoses in the streets of Paris on Monday evening. As the cathedral continued to burn, Parisians gathered to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame, as the flames lit the sky behind them People sit and look in disbelief as the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral burns on Monday afternoon and into the evening Officials say the blaze could be linked to renovation works as the spire has been undergoing a $6.8million renovation this year World leaders have expressed their devastation at the destruction of the 850-year-old cathedral with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby saying: 'Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ' The fire spread rapidly across the roof-line of the cathedral leaving one of the spires and another section of the roof engulfed in flames. Firefighters using cranes are trying to battle the blaze this evening The bright orange of the flames can be seen from miles around as darkness descends on Paris. Fire crews are working hard to try and extinguish the flames Sparks fill the Paris air on Monday evening as fire crews spray water to try and stop the blaze. The Louvre Museum has described the fire as 'a tragedy for World Heritage' The white hot flames can be seen raging in the centre of the cathedral. Either side of the Gothic cathedral firefighters can be seen spraying water to try and stem the flames French billionaire pledges 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral A French billionaire has pledged 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral as a defiant President Macron launches a national fundraising campaign to restore the building to its former glory. The catastrophic blaze destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark as horrified Parisians looked on - many in tears and praying - on Monday evening. A visibly emotional Macron, spoke outside the gothic cathedral and said a national fundraising campaign to restore Notre Dame would be launched Tuesday, as he called on the world's 'greatest talents' to help. He said: 'We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre Dame because that's what the French are waiting for, because that's what our history deserves, because it's our deepest destiny.' Late on Monday evening French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was partly gutted by a devastating fire French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of the cathedral. In a statement the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards 'the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame' would be paid by the Pinault family's investment firm Artemis. Macron had earlier cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening to respond to months of protests, and instead headed to the scene in person. He said while the 'worst had been avoided' and the facade and two towers saved, 'the next hours will be difficult'. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said 'we can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved' as well as the two towers. Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also present at the scene on Monday evening, said that for the first time 'the fire had decreased in intensity' while still urging 'extreme caution'. The Vatican on Monday expressed its 'incredulity' and 'sadness', expressing 'our closeness with French Catholics and with the Parisian population.' The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. French prosecutors said it was being treated as an 'involuntary' fire, indicating that foul play was ruled out for now. Advertisement Parisians applaud the firefighters who formed a human chain to save Notre Dame's priceless collection of art and relics including the Crown Of Thorns from Jesus' crucifixion Firefighters, police, and churchmen risked their lives last night to carry priceless historical artefacts and religious relics away from the flames which engulfed Notre Dame de Paris. The Mayor of Paris tweeted her thanks to first responders for forming 'a formidable human chain' to save irreplaceable objects including the relic believed by Catholics to be the crown of thorns which was put on Jesus' head as he died on the cross. Mayor Anne Hidalgo went on: 'The Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place.' Emergency responders worked with city staff to manhandle priceless relics away from the fire Reliquaries, statues, and artefacts including the crown of thorns were saved from the fire by 'human chain' And Father Fournier, Chaplain of the Paris Firefighters, told reporters he went into the burning cathedral to save the Blessed Sacrament and Crown of Thorns. Parisians applauded and cheered fire crews as they drove through the streets in the early hours of the morning. The church's treasure trove of priceless artworks and religious relics include the Crown of Thorns said to have been placed on the head of Jesus before he was crucified, a piece of the True Cross on which he is said to have died and a nail from the crucifixion. The relics were obtained from the Byzantine Empire in 1238 and brought to Paris by King Louis IX. Notre Dame is also home to priceless paintings dating back to the 1600s, including a series known as the Petits Mays, gifted to the cathedral once a year from 1630 to 1707. Among the most celebrated artworks are three stained-glass rose windows high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral. Shortly after midnight, Paris time, the artefacts had been safely transferred to a storage room Worries onlookers were filmed looking at the salvaged antiquities on the night the cathedral's ancient roof burned to cinders Notre Dame's Great Organ, which dates back to the 13th century and was restored in the early 1990s, is considered the most famous in the world, with five keyboards and nearly 8,000 pipes. Last night firemen at the scene said all efforts were being directed at saving artwork in the cathedral and preventing the collapse of its northern tower. 'Everything is collapsing,' a police officer near the scene said as the cathedral continued to burn. The ten bells of Notre Dame are renowned across Europe and the first nine are named Marie, Gabriel, Anne-Genevieve, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie. The final and largest, known as the bourdon bell Emmanuel, weighs more than 13 tonnes. It sits in the southern tower and has been a part of the building since 1681. In 1944, Emmanuel was rung in celebration and triumph by French troops and allies to announce to the city that it was on its way to liberation. The famous gargoyles and chimera that adorn Notre Dame were built in the 19th century by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The original purpose of the gargoyles was to assist with the building's drainage, but they have become one of its most-loved features. The crown is an interleaved ring of reeds, the thorns having been separated and displayed at churches across the medieval world Catholics believe the relic is the 'crown' placed on Jesus' head in mockery as he was crucified A priest wipes the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ, at Notre Dame de Paris In the 1790s, Notre Dame was desecrated during the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed and its treasures plundered. The 28 statues of biblical kings located at the west facade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded. All of the other large statues on the facade, with the exception of that of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed. The cathedral was restored over 25 years after the publication of the book The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo in 1831 brought it into the spotlight. Sixteen statues that were part of the cathedral's destroyed spire were safe and unscathed after being removed as part of a renovation a few days ago, and that the relics had also been saved. The green-grey statues, representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, were apparently lowered by cranes from the site and taken away. The cathedral also has a spectacular series of carved wooden stalls and statues representing the Passion of the Christ. A man puts his hand to his mouth in pure shock as he watches the flames burst from the historic catherdral A woman reacts with horror as she watches the collosal fire engulf the roof of the Notre Dame. The colossal fire swept through the cathedral causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists looked on in dismay A woman on the phone looks on at the burning cathedral and smoke billows into the sky. The spire of Paris's famous Notre Dame cathedral has already collapsed earlier this evening People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching the flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral this evening Parisians and toursits look on in utter shock as the flames engulf the historic cathedral, which is visited by millions every year Firefighters using hoses from all four sides of Notre Dame to try and douse the flames which tore through the building at a startling pace Firefighters look on at the fire fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris as they cross a bridge over the river Seine The flames and smoke engulf the historic gothic building on Monday afternoon. Parisians prayed and cried as they watched it burn French fire crew gather on the parvis in front door of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening as flames are burning its roof in Paris The blaze could be seen from across Paris on Monday night as officials in the city said a major operation was in place to put it out Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe's most-visited historical monument Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus' head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe's most popular historic monument. The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon's coronation in 1804. A view of the middle-age stained glass rosace on the southern side of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260. The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher. After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century - following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 - flying buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault. The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786. During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons. At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm. The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres - nearly half the annual expenditure of France. The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre. The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday - which comes at the end of this week. Notre-Dame de Paris is home to the relic accepted by Catholics the world over cathedral. The holy crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during the Passion During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings - wrongly believed to by French monarchs - were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down. Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building. It wasn't until the publication of Victor Hugo's novel - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began. A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed. Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc won the commission. By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass. This would be updated with modern designs. In 1963 France's Culture Minister, Andre Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed. Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archeologique de l'ile de la Cite, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day. The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell - known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes - is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time. At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts. It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270. While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century. The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century. The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles. They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him - with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions. During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged. One of the cathedral's first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments. The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross. Advertisement 'It's burning to the ground': Trump tweets about massive fire as Notre Dame goes up in flames and suggests use of airborne water tankers then questions the renovation work at the iconic cathedral President Donald Trump tweeted about the massive fire engulfing Notre Dame Monday, suggesting the use of flying water tankers to douse the flames then appeared to criticize renovation work that may have caused it. Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One en route to Minnesota, while viewers around the world were watching the iconic cathedral's in flames. 'So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!' Trump wrote while en route to Minnesota for an event about taxes. Later, at his Tax Day event, Trump told a crowd about the 'terrible, terrible fire.' 'The fire that they're having at the Notre Dame Cathedral is something like few people have witnessed,' the president said. President Donald Trump tweeted about the fire at Notre Dame Monday The president suggested the use of airborne tankers 'When we left the plane, it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn. It's one of the great treasures of the world,' Trump continued. 'It's one of the great treasures in the world. The greatest artists in the world. Probably if you think about it it might be greater almost than any museum in the world and it's burning very badly. Looks like It's burning to the ground,' the president added, as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. Trump said he had a 'communication' with France but did not specify if he spoke to French authorities. 'That puts a damper on what we're about to say to be honest,' Trump told his audience in Minnesota. 'Because that is beyond countries. That's beyond anything. That's a part of our growing up it's a part of our culture, it's a part of our lives. That's a truly great cathedral. And I've been there and I've seen it There's probably no cathedral in the world like it,' Trump said. 'They think it was caused by renovation. And I hope that's the reason,' Trump continued. Renovation. What's that all about?' Trump said. Then he called it a 'terrible sight to behold.' 'With that being said, I want to tell you that a lot of progress has been made by our country in the last two and a half years, ' Trump said, segueing into his tax event. 'Hard to believe we're already starting to think about our next election.' Great buildings ravaged by fire: From Windsor Castle to York Minster The Windsor Castle fire of November 1992 A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence. The Berkshire blaze started at 11am in Queen Victoria's Private Chapel after a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar. Within minutes the blaze had spread to St George's Hall next door, and the fire would go on to destroy 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms. Three hours after the blaze was first spotted 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the fire, using 36 pumps to discharge 1.5million gallons of water at the inferno's peak. The fire break at the other end of St George's Hall remained unbreached, so the Royal Library was fortunately left undamaged. A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence Staff worked to remove works of art from the Royal Collection from the path of the fire. According to the Royal Collection Trust: 'The Castle's Quadrangle was full of some of the finest examples of French 18th-century furniture, paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Gainsborough, Sevres porcelain and other treasures of the Collection. 'Amazingly, only two works of art were lost in the fire - a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting by Sir William Beechey that couldn't be taken down from the wall in time. Luckily works of art had already been removed from many rooms in advance of rewiring work.' The Duke of York had said he he heard the fire alarm and roughly two or three minutes later he saw the smoke after leaving the room he was in, according to contemporary reports. Prince Andrew had joined a group removing valuable works of art from the castle to save them from destruction. The York Minster fire of 1984 Pictured: Aftermath of the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984 Early in the morning of July 9, 1984, York Minster's south transept was set ablaze, destroying the roof and causing 2.25million worth of damage. More than 100 firefighters confronted the church fire, taking two hours to bring it to heel. The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lightning bolt that struck the cathedral shortly after midnight. The blaze seriously damaged the cathedral's stonework, along with its famous Rose Window, and firefighters were left tackling embers on the floor after the roof collapsed at 4am. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am. An investigation ruled out an electrical or gas fault, and arson was discounted due to roof's inaccessibility. Tests had found that the blaze was 'almost certainly' caused by a lightning strike but much of the evidence was destroyed in the fire. The building was restored in 1988 after masonry teams re-carved stonework above the building's rose window and arches. It was reported that the rose window, designed to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, reached a temperature of 842F during the incident, cracking the glass in several places before it was restored. It was not the first time the building had caught ablaze. In the early hours of February 1, 1829, Jonathan Martin set the building on fire, melting the lead from the roof and cracking the building's limestone pillars. Late that afternoon the fire started dying out after roughly 230 feet of choir roof had collapsed. Non-conformist Martin, a former sailor from Northumberland, did not believe in formal liturgy, had published pamphlets condemning the clergy as 'vipers of Hell'. He was charged with setting the building on fire, but was found not guilty due to insanity, and died in a London asylum in 1838. Pictured: The roof of the South Transept of York Minster ablaze at the height of the fire. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am The Great Fire of London St Pauls Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the building collapsed On September 2, 1666, a fire broke out Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane, close to London Bridge. The summer of 1666 had been unusually hot, and the city had not seen rain for several weeks, leaving wooden houses and buildings tinder dry. Once the fire had taken hold, 300 houses quickly collapsed and strong east winds fanned the flames from house to house, sweeping the blaze through London's winding narrow lanes, with houses positioned close together. In an attempt to flee the fire by boat, Londoners poured down to the River Thames and the city was overtaken by chaos. There was no fire brigade in London at the time, so residents themselves had to fight the fire with the help of local soldiers. They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks, pulling down houses with hooks to make gaps or 'fire breaks', but the wind helped fan the fire across the created gaps. King Charles II had ordered that houses in the path of the fire should be pulled down - but the fire outstripped the hooked poles that were used to try and achieve this. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control. Gunpowder was deployed to blow up houses that lay in the path's fire, but the sound of explosions triggered rumours of a French invasion, heightening the city's panic. St Pauls Cathedral caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the cathedral collapsed. The fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished by September 6, leaving just one fifth of London untouched. Almost every civic building had been destroyed, along with 13,000 private homes, 87 parish churches, The Royal Exchange, and Guildhall. Roughly 350,000 people lived in London just before the Great Fire, making the city one of the largest in Europe. A monument was erected in Pudding Lane, where the blaze broke out. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834) The Great Fire of Rome , 64AD The Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64AD, destroyed much of the city after the blaze began in the slums south of the aristocratic Palatine Hill. Strong winds fanned the fire north, scorching homes in its path, causing widespread panic during the inferno's three-day duration. Hundreds died in the conflagration, and thousands were left homeless. Three of the 14 districts were completely destroyed, and only four remained completely untouched. That Emperor Nero 'fiddled while the city burned' has become popular legend, but is not accurate. The Emperor was 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out and allowed his palace to be used as a shelter. And the fiddle had not yet been invented. Nero, who used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild the city in a more Greek style, blamed Christians for the fire, ordering the arrest, torture and execution of hundreds of the religion's faithful. Historian Tacitus said the fire was 'graver and more terrible than any other which had befallen this city.' Advertisement 'Art and history destroyed before our eyes': Witnesses share their horror as the Notre Dame Cathedral is engulfed in flames Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames on Monday in a roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, leaving the city, France, and the international community distraught. Flames that began in the early evening burst through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. While a huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area, Parisians and tourists watched on, as others took to social media to express their sorrow. 'Centuries of art and history destroyed before our eyes. This building has stood since the Middle Ages. This is absolutely devastating,' one Twitter user wrote. Later in the evening, those in the city gathered together to say prayers and sing hymns in front of the nearby Saint Julien Les Pauvres church as the massive blaze continued only a few hundred meters away. Onlookers stand on a bridge as the stare in shock at the smoke and flames rising through the landmark in Paris Many were quietly singing an Ave Maria in Latin, including Stephane Seigneurie, 52, who said he has lived in Paris for the past 25 years. 'I come often, and go in even where there's no mass because it's an extraordinary place, entwined in the history of France,' he said. 'Politically, intellectually and spiritually, it's a symbol of France.' Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit has invited priests across France to ring the bells of their churches in a call for prayers for Notre Dame. 'Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before,' said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s, who had biked over to the scene after being alerted of the fire by a friend. 'I'm a Parisian, my father was a Parisian, my grandfather as well - this was something we brought our sons to see,' he said. 'I won't be showing this to my son.' 'It's a tragedy,' he added. 'If you pray, now is the time to pray.' 'Basically the whole rooftop is gone. I see no hope for the building,' said witness Jacek Poltorak, watching the fire from a fifth-floor balcony two blocks from the southern facade of the cathedral, one of France's most visited places. People sit and watch as the flames blaze through the landmark building in Paris, France A woman talks on the phone and begins to cry as she watches the flames rip through the roof 'Notre Dame is perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever set foot in, and watching it burn down is absolutely soul crushing,' read one Twitter post. 'Terrible seeing the Notre Dame in flames. Art and history turned to ashes. So glad no one has been hurt. Paris we are with you and will be there to see it restored. Shocking news,' another social media user said. Others described the tragedy of never being able to see the Notre Dame as it was before the blaze. 'Sad I'll never get to see Notre Dame,' one Twitter user wrote. 'It's on my bucket list and now one of the historic landmarks is just gone! Thoughts go out to France'. 'It's finished, we'll never be able to see it again,' said Jerome Fautrey, a 37-year-old who had come to watch. Buildings around were evacuated and nobody was injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire.' France 2 television reported that police were treating it as an accident. 'Everything is collapsing,' a police officer near the scene said as the entire roof of the cathedral continued to burn. 'Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,' President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. 'There are a lot of art works inside...it's a real tragedy,' Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene. Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists - some crying, others offering prayers - watched in horror in central Paris on Monday night as firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the flames engulfing the Notre Dame Cathedral Questions for Paris fire brigade as Notre Dame inferno burns out of control for hours Authorities have revealed they are unable to drop water on to Notre Dame to tame the blaze for fear it will ruin what is left of the 850-year-old cathedral as well as injuring people nearby. The tactic was suggested by US President Donald Trump on Twitter but it hasn't been deployed because of the risks it could pose not only to the historic building but to any people nearby. The French Interior Ministry tweeted to say that 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze that is engulfing the cathedral. The French Interior Ministry has tweeted to say 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze In cases of intense fires, a water bomber jet - called a Canadair - can be deployed to drop large amounts of water. Hundreds of comments have flooded in on the Pompiers du Paris Twitter page in support of the brave firefighters risking their lives to save Notre Dame. French news site Le Monde, explains: 'A Canadair projects about six tonnes of water at high speed to the ground. 'The danger is significant of hurting one or more people around the building - which is why Canadair interventions are so infrequent in urban and peri-urban areas. 'Such an intervention could also significantly destroy the little remaining structure of the cathedral.' The French Interior Ministry have mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the blazing inferno which has been burning for If an accident happens while a Canadair is being used, the pilot may also face criminal charges. Canadairs were used earlier this year in March when France experienced intense wildfires near Valdeblore in the Alpes-Maritimes. They were also used in 2017 when France experienced intense wildfires that forced 10,000 people to evacuate their homes and campsites overnight. The French Interior Ministry has mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the inferno that has been burning for hours Experts are warning that project-homes, also known as McMansions, can potentially be money pits for new homeowners. The concerns centre around the energy efficiency of the houses, with claims the 'off the shelf' approach means they are not designed to make use of their location. With power bills sky high, site location, orientation to the sun, natural breezes, window placement, building materials, and insulation can make a huge difference to homeowners' wallets. Houses not designed to their unique environment can lead to residents running airconditioning, lights, heaters, and fans constantly, dramatically increasing their power bills. Experts are warning that project-homes, also known as McMansions, can potentially be money pits for new homeowners With power bills sky high, site location, orientation to the sun, natural breezes, window placement, building materials, and insulation can make a difference to homeowners wallets In February this year a photograph of two project-home style developments built so close to each other that the gutters overlapped caused an uproar online. The caption to the photograph indicated it was a new development on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. A month earlier a similar photograph was posted online showing two new houses whose gutters were touching in a new development south of Brisbane. Kate Fitzgerald, who runs an architecture firm in Western Australia, said she believes the problem has arisen because architects are rarely involved in the project-home market. In February this year a photograph of two project-home style developments built so close to each other that the gutters overlapped caused an uproar online Ms Fitzgerald told the ABC her research into 50 project-home companies found only two had architects actively working on projects. She believes this is the reason Western Australia in particular has higher numbers of homes that don't meet energy efficiency standards. 'Nationally speaking, about 1.5 per cent of houses through our database are less than six stars. In Western Australia it is somewhere like 15 per cent or even 20 per cent,' research lead of building simulation at the CSIRO, Anthony Wright, told ABC Radio. The Housing Industry Association, however, said that all new homes are required to meet six-star energy efficiency in their designs to comply with the construction code. 'There is no difference in how project-homes are designed to meet the minimum energy efficiency standards as any other type of new home,' director of policy Kristin Brookfield told the ABC. She explained many outcomes that can affect the energy efficiency and final running costs of a house after it is built that are not factored into the plans. 'The star ratings only give a home buyer an indication of the amount of energy they use to heat and cool their home. No other electrical appliances are included in a star rating,' she said. Architect Ben Caine said that many new homeowners placed size above other factors in new builds. 'They do want a house that is energy efficient and well designed, but there seems to be this really ingrained attitude that a big house is important for resale,' he said. A leading authorities on online data privacy has warned new EU copyright regulations will give US tech firms money and data from hobbled European rivals. Yesterday the EU has adopted copyright reforms championed by the media despite opposition from Google and campaigners saying it restricts internet freedom. The reform, which got final approval from the European Council on Monday, was loudly backed by news publishers and artists who want protection over their content being shared. But German Data Privacy Commissioner Ulrich Kelber, who is also a computer scientist, warned before the measure passed that its Article 13 will exacerbate the problem of market concentration in the tech sector, and expose Europeans to particular risk of online surveillance and manipulation. Article 13 requires that online communities, platforms, and services prevent their users from committing copyright infringement, rather than ensuring that infringing materials are speedily removed. In an official statement on the Directive, Kelber warned it would lead to the use of automated filters, which would be powered by the industry's largest firms, since they have the resources to build and run the software. Cory Doctorow, pictured, warned: 'Article 13 guarantees America's giant companies a permanent share of all small EU companies' revenues and access to an incredibly valuable data-stream generated by all European discourse, conversation, and expression' The EU has adopted copyright reforms championed by the media despite opposition from Google and campaigners saying it restricts internet freedom (stock image) German Data Privacy Commissioner Ulrich Kelber warned the regulations will expose Europeans to particular risk of online surveillance and manipulation He wrote: 'But if a company is too small to afford licenses, it's also too small to build filters. Google's Content ID for YouTube cost a reported 100 million to build and run, and it only does a fraction of the blocking required under Article 13. That means that they'll have to buy filter services from someone else. 'The most likely filter vendors are the US Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook, who will have to build and run filters anyway, and could recoup their costs by renting access to these filters to smaller competitors.' Cory Doctorow, a leading campaigner for copyright reform, explained: 'So Article 13 guarantees America's giant companies a permanent share of all small EU companies' revenues and access to an incredibly valuable data-stream generated by all European discourse, conversation, and expression. 'These companies have a long track record of capitalising on users personal data to their advantage, and between that advantage and the revenues they siphon off of their small European competitors, they are likely to gain permanent dominance over Europe's Internet.' Nineteen countries endorsed the revamp which hasn't been updated in almost two decades - before the birth of YouTube or Facebook. EU countries adopted the reforms that were agreed last month by the European Parliament, they said in a statement. 'The new rules ensure adequate protection for authors and artists, while opening up new possibilities for accessing and sharing copyright-protected content online throughout the European Union,' they said. An EU source said Italy, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland voted against the controversial legislation. Critics also say will stifle freedom of speech and online creativity and punish smaller web companies (stock image) What are the key issues to the revamped copyright reform? WHAT DOES THE DIRECTIVE SAY? The most vigorously debated part of the legislation is a section that makes companies responsible for making sure that copyrighted material isn't uploaded to their platforms without permission from the original creator. It puts the legal onus on platforms to prevent copyright infringement but critics say it will end up having a chilling effect on freedom of expression on the internet and could result in censorship. Another section of the bill that caused concern requires search engines and social media sites to pay for linking to or offering up snippets of news articles. HOW WILL IT AFFECT INTERNET PLATFORMS? Some sites would be forced to license music or videos. If not, sites would have to make sure they don't have unauthorized copyrighted material. Critics worry that could lead to costly automatic filtering. And paying for links could create further costs. That could give tech giants an edge over smaller companies. Google said last year it spent more than $100 million on Content ID, its copyright management system for approved users on YouTube, where more than 400 hours of content is uploaded every minute. The figure includes both staffing and computing resources. HOW WILL IT SHAPE INTERNET CONTENT? Critics say it could act as censorship and change internet culture. They say the automatic filters are blunt instruments, deleting some material that should be allowed online. YouTube has warned of unintended consequences, saying that in cases where copyright is uncertain, it would have to block videos to avoid liability. Some consumers worry that the new rules would bring an end to parodies and viral internet 'memes' that have powered online culture and are often based on or inspired by existing songs or movies or other content. The EU denies this. 'Despite recent improvements, the EU Directive falls short of creating a balanced and modern framework for copyright,' Maud Sacquet, senior policy manager at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a lobby group. 'We fear it will harm online innovation and restrict online freedoms in Europe.' WILL IT HELP CONTENT CREATORS? It depends on whom you ask. The music industry and other groups that collect royalties say the directive will help give writers, artists and creators more protection of their rights and incomes, by requiring tech giants such as Apple, Facebook and Google to pay them more for their work. Some authors and artists fear they won't earn significantly more money but their creativity will be stifled. Google estimates it has paid out more than $3 billion to rights holders through its Content ID system, which was created in 2007. HOW HAVE PEOPLE REACTED? Some high profile artists have spoken out in favor. Former Beatles member Paul McCartney wrote an open letter to EU lawmakers encouraging them to adopt the new rules. But many appear worried it will change the internet as we know it. More than 5.2 million people signed an online petition against the directive. Internet luminaries such as Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales have spoken out against it. So has the former frontman for the band Fugees, Wyclef Jean, who has said he is better off financially because fans can freely share his music on internet platforms. Last month, tens of thousands of people marched in cities across Germany to protest against the directive. Wikipedia's German-language page was temporarily blacked out in protest and visitors were greeted with a statement from online encyclopedia authors urging them to ask their EU lawmakers to stop the bill. Poland's leader has said his country will not implement the directive, arguing it threatens freedom of speech. WHAT'S NEXT? The EU's member countries have two years to comply with the directive by drafting their own national laws. Six countries - Italy, Sweden, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - voted against it, so implementation is likely to be uneven, setting the stage for legal challenges. Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions Monday as part of investigations into President Donald Trump's finances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation 'into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process.' Schiff did not name the other financial institutions or describe the subpoenas. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a separate statement that 'the potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern.' She said her committee is looking into those matters, including whether they pertain to Trump. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation 'into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process' It was unclear exactly what the committees asked for. The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the president's personal and political life, and Schiff has said he is investigating whether foreign actors, including Russia, have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates. Eric Trump, the president's son and executive vice president of The Trump Organization, said in a statement released Monday that the subpoenas were 'an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the President and our family for political gain.' As part of his investigation, Schiff has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trump's businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years. Eric Trump (pictured left with his brother Don Jr.) said in a statement released Monday that the subpoenas were 'an unprecedented abuse of power Deutsche Bank is a German asset management firm that has lent Trump's real estate organization millions of dollars over time. The two committees have been working with the bank for several weeks, and both Waters and Schiff have said officials have been cooperative. Schiff said in his statement that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank is a 'friendly' subpoena, meaning he expects them to continue working with the committees. The request comes as a third committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, is sparring with the White House over Trump's tax returns. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has set a deadline of April 23 for six years of returns. But Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said Democrats will 'never' see the returns, 'nor should they,' and 'they know it. Parts of Australia will shiver through the Easter weekend as a cold front moves in bringing wind and rain. Temperatures in the Victorian Alps will sink to 3C on Friday morning and drop as low as 10C in Melbourne on Saturday before Easter Sunday will be hot and sunny. Sydney will stay mild with a low of 17C and high of 25C over the weekend - with no rain forecast except for a small shower on Friday. Temperatures in the Victorian Alps will sink to 3C on Friday morning and drop as low as 10C in Melbourne on Saturday before reaching 26C the following day Temperatures in the Victorian Alps will sink to 3C on Friday morning (stock image) Perth will endure a low of 6C on Easter Sunday as a cold front moves in, rising to a high of 21C. The front will bring up to 24mm of rain to some parts of the city. BoM duty forecaster Tisha Winstanley told Daily Mail Australia: 'This is the first time since summer that we'll have a substantial cold front coming through WA. 'It will bring more rain than we've had for a while on Friday and Saturday morning before the skies clear. 'On Saturday a high pressure system will move in meaning it will be clear and sunny - but the temperature will be as low as 6C on Sunday morning.' Temperatures will drop as low as 10C in Melbourne (pictured in stock image) on Saturday before Easter Sunday will be hot and sunny Adelaide will be 14C on Friday morning but will heat up to 31C by the afternoon before cooling off to 20C on Sunday. Darwin will be a minimum of 25C and maximum of 34C over the weekend, while Hobart will have a low of 6C on Friday morning with a high of 24C on Sunday. Brisbane will be hot over Easter with the mercury reaching 28C on Sunday while Canberra will hit 25C on the same day with a lows of 11C. Dozens of mothers and babies have died during childbirth while children suffer from malnutrition and chronic diarrhoea at an Islamic State refugee camp in Syria. They're some of the squalid conditions endured by 70,000 refugees at the Al-Hawl camp site in northeast Syria near the Iraq border, where there's a lack of adequate medical care and ISIS enforcers won't allow women to take off their veils. At least 140 refugees, mainly children, have died en route to the camp or shortly after arriving since December, according to the International Rescue Committee. The pregnant Australian orphaned daughter of ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf described her desperation to escape the camp's harrowing conditions when she and her siblings were reunited with their Australian grandmother Karen Nettleton in an emotional reunion on Monday night's episode of Four Corners. Thousands of children live in squalid conditions at Al-Hawl (pictured), which is home to 70,000 refugees Zaynab, 17, currently lives at Al-Hawl with her sister Hoda, 16 and brother Humzeh, eight, along with her two young children after leaving the last ISIS stronghold of Baghouz. Seven months pregnant with her third child, Zaynab has been suffering from dysentery and severe anaemia at the camp, which she's desperate to leave. She's terrified about the frightening prospect of giving birth at the camp. Zaynab Sharrouf, 17, (pictured left with sister Hoda) fears she'll be forced to give birth to her third child at Al-Hawl, during women and babies have died during childbirth 'I think that's my biggest fear, to give birth here because I've heard a lot of stories of people giving birth inside their tent and a lot of them haven't worked out properly,' Zaynab told the ABC program. 'So it's, yeah, it's a big fear for me because I'm scared for that. Some children have made it, some children have died. It's not a big chance that they'll live, not a big chance.' Even inside their tent, Zaynab and her sister Hoda wouldn't remove their veils because wearing the niqab is strictly enforced at the camp. The children of ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf were recently reunited with their Australian grandmother Karen Nettleton (left) Ms Nettleton gave a thankful Zaynab a care pack of medical supplies, including antihistamines, Panadol and diarrhoea tablets for her children Aiesha, 2, and Fatimah, 3, during their reunion. According to Save the Children, almost a third of children under the age of five screened at the camp in the last two months suffer acute malnutrition and WFP says it has tracked several cases of 'dehydration and diarrhoea'. At least 140 refugees, mainly children, have died en route to the Al-Hawl (pictured) camp or shortly after arriving since December Zaynab and her siblings moved from Sydney to Syria with their mother Tara Nettleton and father, ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf to join the Islamic State in 2013. They are now orphans after their mother died from complications with an illness in 2015 before their father was killed alongside their two older brothers in an air strike in 2017. The Sharroufs are among the fortunate refugees at Al-Hawl who have their own tent. The unlucky ones seek shelter with dozens of others in warehouses. 'There are 10,000 people living in large communal tents which lack privacy,' said Paul Donohoe, from the International Rescue Committee recently told AFP. He added that an extra 5,000 tents are needed to house people as Al-Hawl was only designed to accommodate 10,000, which accounts one seventh of the refugees who call the camp home. A 15-year-old boy allegedly smashed his own head through the rear window of a police car after officers detained him and a friend. The Northern Beaches Police Area Command posted a photo of the shattered window to its Facebook page after the teen allegedly used his head to smash it. Officers says they received reports of two youths allegedly 'drinking and causing problems' on Howard Avenue in Dee Way, north of Sydney at around 9pm. 'A quick patrol and officers found two teens stumbling along Pittwater Road and then into Oaks Avenue,' a police statement read. A 15-year-old boy allegedly smashed his own head through the rear window of a police car (pictured) after officers detained him and a friend before trying to take them home. One teenager was from Cromer and the other was from Mona Vale. Police allege the 15-year-olds had a two-litre bottle of liquid smelling strongly of alcohol in their possession. 'The 15-year olds were stumbling, slurring words and swearing loudly,' the statement read. 'When officers said they'd be taken home to their parents the pair refused, responding with screaming and aggression, threatening harm and refusing to comply.' Officers detained one of the teens without further issues however when they attempted to get the second teen into the vehicle things escalated quickly. 'While one was seated safely in a police truck, the other threw himself forward, his face smashing through the laminated back window of another truck,' the statement continued. 'His face badly cut, the teen fell back, unconscious.' Police immediately called an ambulance and the boy was taken to a nearby hospital while his parents were notified of the incident. Rents in Australia's biggest city have plummeted in tandem with a record fall in house prices and the completion of new apartments. House tenants in Sydney are now paying a median rent of $701.60 a week, a 4.9 per cent fall compared with a year ago, new data from property analysis firm SQM Research showed. Leasing an apartment also became cheaper, with weekly rents in the New South Wales capital falling by 3.1 per cent to $507.50, as of March 2019. Only Darwin had a bigger fall, with house rentals plummeting by 12.3 per cent to $490.90 a week as unit leases dived by 6.4 per cent to $377.80. Rents in Australia's biggest city have plummeted in tandem with a record fall in house prices (stock image) House tenants in Sydney are now paying a median rent of $701.60 a week, a 4.9 per cent fall compared with a year ago, new data from property analysis firm SQM Research showed SQM Research founder Louis Christopher said the completion of new apartment buildings in Sydney had weighed down rents. 'The expected influx of new construction completions and the uncertainty around the federal election are likely to contribute to increased vacancies and downward pressure on rents,' he said. Across Australia, average capital city house rents have fallen by 1.2 per cent during the past year to $556 a week, with Sydney weighing down the national market even though being a tenant became more expensive in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra. Melbourne, Australia's second most expensive place to buy real estate after Sydney, cost $543.60 a week for tenants leasing a home with a backyard, as house rents rose by 1.2 per cent over the year as apartment leases climbed by 3.9 per cent to $422.40. Melbourne (pictured), Australia's second most expensive place to buy real estate, cost $543.60 a week for tenants leasing a home with a backyard Brisbane (pictured) was the third most expensive city for renters, with a house lease costing $456.80 a week Canberra, however, was Australia's second most expensive capital city to rent, with tenants paying a median rental of $635.60 to lease a house, a three per cent annual increase. Adelaide is Australia's cheapest city with renting a unit costing $301 a week, despite a 1.2 per cent increase. Houses in the South Australian capital cost $392.90 a week to lease, with rents rising by an annual pace of 2.4 per cent. Rental league table 1. Sydney: $701.60 for a house; $507.50 for a unit 2. Canberra: $635.60 for a house; $456.60 for a unit 3. Melbourne: $543.60 for a house; $422.40 for a unit 4. Darwin: $490.90 for a house; $377.80 for a unit 5. Brisbane: $456.80 for a house; $371.40 for a unit 6. Perth: $445.90 for a house; $336.10 for a unit 7. Hobart: $428.70 for a house; $400.30 for a unit 8. Adelaide: $392.90 for a house; $301 for a unit Capital city average: $556 for a house; $442 for a unit Source: SQM Research calculations of median weekly rents for properties advertised online for three weeks or more Advertisement Brisbane was the third most expensive city for renters, with a house lease costing $456.80 a week, a year-on-year increase of two per cent. Perth, Australia's sixth most expensive city to rent, cost $445.90 a week for a house. The 5.2 per cent annual increase was the steepest for detached homes in any capital city. Hobart, the capital city with Australia's biggest increase in real estate values, cost $428.70 a week to lease a house, with rents increasing by an annual 4.9 per cent. Units there cost $400.30 a week, with median rents increasing by 12.3 per cent during the past year, marking the sharpest climb in apartment leasing costs anywhere in Australia. The fall in Sydney's average rent occurred as the city's median house price plummeted by 11.8 per cent in the year to March, going by CoreLogic data, as part of a record decline since 2017. Australia-wide, there are 70,877 rental vacancies, with 31 per cent of them in Sydney. Sydney also had the sharpest increase in rental vacancies, with the number of empty properties surging from 15,833 a year ago to 21,942 in March 2019, as the city's vacancy rate climbed from 2.3 per cent to 3.1 per cent. Only Darwin had a higher rental vacancy rate of 3.7 per cent, followed by Perth (2.9 per cent), Brisbane (2.5 per cent), Melbourne (1.6 per cent), Adelaide (1.1 per cent), Canberra (0.9 per cent) and Hobart (0.4 per cent). The data was released as the Reserve Bank of Australia revealed, in the minutes of its April meeting, that it expected high immigration to drive a recovery in house prices in coming years. 'Members also noted that population growth was expected to continue to support demand for housing over the medium-term,' it said. Police have been called after a bizarre letter threatening violence against a barking dog and its owner was sent over 150 mailboxes. A number of residents at the Toowong Alto Apartments in Brisbane's West received a letter with 25 lines repeating the word 'bark', before the anonymous author launches into a tirade against the dog's owner by translating the barks. 'This roughly translates to 1) Help I am in prison! 2) My owner is a f**kwit 3) I want to jump off this building and die,' the letter, obatined by news.com.au on Sunday read. Alto management have sent a follow up letter to residents on Monday, who said they had reported the 'very offensive' note to police. Management at Alto Apartments (pictured) have told residents they are aware of a threatening letter sent to residents The author of the note went to tell dog's owner they had already contacted the local council and would hire lawyers 'to stop this evil act from occurring'. 'I would love to lock you on a balcony for hours on end, with or without food and water for weeks on end and see how you cope,' it said. 'I will contact channel 7 9 10 human rights animal rights PETA 'If council are soft c**ks and can't solve the problem I will go to police.' Alto management said they were investigating the issue about the barking dog. 'To whoever wrote that note and put it in the letter boxes be aware we have reported this matter to Police,' the letter read. 'We have raised the issue of the barking dog with the relevant Resident and they have under taken to resolve the issue.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Alto Apartments for comment. The anonymous neighbour went on to write in bold font: 'You must not (have) been loved enough as a child or f***ed enough as an adult,' they wrote. 'You are truly a sick twisted individual and should not be allowed to own pets. You are everything that's wrong in this world.' Despite the author trying to point out the owner's so-called abuse, they then threatened to 'scale the building and throw the dog off'. 'Not onto the train tracks... but into the drive way area so other tenants could see the dog is free from a painful life of abuse'. The author of the note went on to tell the dog's owner they had already contacted the local council, but had thought ahead in case the council would not act on the complaint (stock) The furious tenant who penned the letter goes on to assume the owner of the dog is a 'poorer tenant from floors 4 to 10' 'But who knows a lot of rich people are stupid and can't even tie their shoelaces, that's why they are reading this too. Rich wa**er.' The letter finishes with yet another threat, 'At the end of the day I won't be the one in the mental asylum or jail having their a****le played with. You will be.' Terrified tenants have expressed concerns over the anonymous neighbour's rage. Some said they had never even heard a dog barking in the building. Casino bartender Diana Nicole Pena, 30 (pictured), and ex-model Kelsey Nichole Turner, 25, were booked into jail in Las Vegas over the weekend in the March murder of Dr Thomas Kirk Burchard, 71 Two female roommates, including a former Playboy model, have been booked into jail for the murder of a psychiatrist who had been paying their rent, while the model's boyfriend remains at large. Ex-model Kelsey Nichole Turner, 25, who is reportedly pregnant, and casino bartender Diana Nicole Pena, 30, were booked into jail in Las Vegas over the weekend for the March murder of Dr Thomas Kirk Burchard, 71. Turner's boyfriend, 27-year-old Jon Logan Kennison, remains at large. All three are charged with murder and conspiracy to murder. Turner was apprehended in Stockton, California, on March 21, while she was with her child and Kennison, but he wasn't considered a suspect at the time and has since gone missing. Kennison and Pena were added to the homicide complaint on April 5, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Det. Mitchell Dosch wrote in a redacted warrant. Scroll down for video Turner's boyfriend, 27-year-old Jon Logan Kennison, remains at large. All three are charged with murder and conspiracy to murder Dr Thomas Kirk Burchard (left) is believed to have met Turner (right) online, and gave the ex-model some $300,000 over the course of two years, the psychiatrist's girlfriend said Turner was extradited to Nevada on Saturday. Kennison had agreed to meet with detectives at one point, but then never returned. Pena was arrested on Saturday, and appeared in court on Sunday. She is set to have a case status check on Tuesday, and both her and Turner have preliminary hearings scheduled in the case on June 3. Burchard's body was found rotting in the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz C300 in a desert outside of Las Vegas on March 21. Earp said that Burchard had signed a lease for a home in Salinas, California where Turner had lived for 'about a year' with her mother (pictured together) and children The Clark County coroner ruled the case a homicide, finding that Burchard was struck multiple times in the head with an unidentified object that left what police called a unique pattern. Burchard also bore what police called defensive wounds. Police say the car was registered to Turner and that all three suspects' fingerprints were found inside the vehicle. A card belonging to Pena from her bartending job at Caesar's Palace was also found inside the car. Burchard, a psychiatrist from Salinas, California, had known Turner for about two years and had given her some $300,000 over that time, the doctor's longtime girlfriend Judy Earp told The Californian. Earp said that Burchard had previously signed a lease for a home in Salinas where Turner had lived with her mother and children before moving to Las Vegas in 2018. She said the model, who appeared in Playboy Italia and Maxim, had told Burchard that she couldn't qualify for a lease because she had bad credit. In Las Vegas, Turner was living with her boyfriend Kennison as well as Pena and another male roommate, whose name was redacted in warrant affidavits and who moved out after things turned ugly in the home on March 2. Burchard's longtime girlfriend Judy Earp (right) said that Turner told him a 'really sad story.' She added: 'She took the $300,000. I'll just leave it at that.' Turner (above) appeared in Playboy Italia and Maxim, and had told Burchard that she couldn't qualify for a lease because she had bad credit Police say that the doctor traveled from Salinas to Las Vegas on March 1 to visit the ex-model Turner, and paid for the March rent on the home she shared with the other suspects. Cops describe the doctor's relationship with the ex-model as intimate. On March 2, a woman showed up at the home drunk and began arguing with Turner, a witness told police. The psychiatrist Burchard intervened and took the drunk woman on a drive around the block to cool her down. While they were gone, Turner became frantic with worry that the woman would tell Burchard about her boyfriend Kennison, a witness told police. Kennison is also said to have gotten agitated, making violent statements and punching a man who was present while Burchard was away. Police believe the murder occurred on the following day, March 3. On March 4, Turner offered a man $20 to clean up red stains in the home, claiming they were red wine. The man also saw her attempting to use pet-stain remover to clean up the stains. He said Turner never paid him for his cleaning services, and police found extensive blood evidence throughout the house, seemingly concentrated around a mattress in an upstairs bedroom. She was extradited on Saturday and her next court appearance is scheduled for April 16 The roommate who had moved out also returned to see a badly damaged bedroom door, which Turner claimed happened when someone got locked in the room. He said that Turner tried to convince him to clean up the house and replace the broken door using Burchard's credit card. He gathered his belongings and left. The roommate said he also noticed that the garage smelled strongly of ammonia, which Turner blamed on the cat, and that the kitchen was filled with expensive food, including two prime cuts of steak that had been left out on the counter. Turner, Kennison and Pena all skipped town in the following days, according to police. They all stayed briefly at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino before permanently turning off their phones when the media reported that Burchard's body had been found on March 7, cops said. Turner and Kennison fled for California. Pena's luggage was found abandoned in her room on March 9, when she was scheduled to check out. Pena's employers at Caesar's Palace told cops that she never showed up for work after March 6, and never called in to explain her absence. Burchard's girlfriend Earp told police that he may have been suffering from early Alzheimer's. Earp would not elaborate on how Turner and Burchard knew each other, only saying she did not believe the model was one of his patients. Sources have previously said that Burchard and Turner met online. 'He helped a lot of people,' Earp told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'She had this really sad story. She took the $300,000. I'll just leave it at that.' A refugee who swore allegiance to ISIS and attempted to flee Australia to join the terror organisation has been jailed. Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif, from Adelaide, was sentenced to three years in a South Australian legal first, convicted of taking steps to become a member of Islamic State. The 24-year-old was stopped by police at Adelaide Airport while trying to board a plane to Istanbul, Turkey, in July 2016. She told officers she was taking a last-minute holiday, despite having a small amount of clothing, no return flight and less than $200 in funds. Zainab Abdirahman-Khalif (pictured), from Adelaide, was sentenced to three years in a South Australian legal first, convicted of taking steps to become a member of Islamic State Justice David Peek agreed her secret trip to Turkey was 'in order to engage with the terrorist organisation, IS'. He said since her detainment she has shown no remorse for her involvement with the organisation, and has maintained her innocence. 'There is no getting around the fact that you blatantly lied to police about this matter,' he said. Abdirahman-Khalif, from Somalia, was later released but arrested at the Port Adelaide TAFE SA campus in May 2017, following a police investigation. Justice Peek said she had repeatedly expressed support for IS and jihad by playing chants about martyrdom, infidels, extreme violence, killing and death. She told officers she was taking a last-minute holiday, despite having a small amount of clothing, no return flight and less than $200 in funds He said while she was in continuous contact with group members, including three women who carried out a deadly attack at a Kenyan police station, she was not involved in performing violent acts of terrorism. 'You were not found to be a terrorist in the sense of a person who is disposed to planning or committing acts of violence and your membership did not involve you undertaking any particular tasks or responsibilities for IS,' he said. Justice Peek said Abdirahman-Khalif spent the first 14 years of her life in refugee camps, which deprived her of a normal childhood and narrowed her real-world experience. But he could not find that she had positive rehabilitation prospects because she refused to give evidence explaining her actions, her current views and her future plans. Justice David Peek said since her detainment she has shown no remorse for her involvement with the organisation, and has maintained her innocence 'It is not established that you no longer hold those extremist jihadist and Islamic State views,' he said. She was handed a non-parole period of two years, three months, backdated to her arrest in May 2017. Abdirahman-Khalif is in the process of appealing her conviction. She will be eligible for parole later this year. 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. The widower of a US soldier killed in Afghanistan is back in America after immigration officials reversed their decision to deport him when it left their 12-year-old daughter in Arizona without either parent, according to reports. Jose Gonzalez Carranza, 30, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last Monday and taken to Mexico April 10. His late wife Barbara Vieyra was 22-years-old when she was killed in September 2010 serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. The couple had a daughter Evelyn Gonzalez Vieyra, a U.S. citizen. Gonzalez was on his way to his welding job when he was picked up and deported to Nogales, Mexico, forcing Evelyn to live with her grandparents in Mesa, azcentral.com reports. Speaking before the decision was reversed he told the paper he was being kept in a shelter for deported migrants in the city, saying: 'I feel so bad. I'm thinking about, I might never see her (Evelyn) again.' His attorney Ezequiel Hernandez added: 'There are plenty of people you can go after but not a guy whose wife died in Afghanistan.' Barbara Vieyra was 22-years-old when she was killed in September 2010 serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. She is pictured with daughter Evelyn Gonzalez Vieyra, a U.S. citizen Jose Gonzalez Carranza, 30, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last Monday and taken to Mexico April 10. He is pictured with Evelyn in recent years Vieyra died when insurgents attacked her unit in Kunar Province. Her widower - who is said to have no criminal record - had arrived in the U.S. illegally as a teenager from Veracruz, Mexico, in 2004. The couple were married in 2007 before Vieyra was tragically killed three years later. Vieyra died when insurgents attacked her unit in Kunar Province. Her widower arrived in the U.S. illegally as a teenager from Veracruz, Mexico, in 2004 According to Hernandez he was then granted parole in place, which means illegal immigrants are allowed to stay in the country without the threat of deportation. Deportation proceedings were then said to have been stopped a judge. But in 2018 ICE reportedly refiled the case but Gonzalez says he did not ever recieve a notice for a court hearing after it was sent to the wrong address. Hernandez says it was only when ICE officers took him into custody last week that he realized a judge had ordered his deportation. ICE officials are said to have reversed the decision after the story was made public. Gonzalez was taken to U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices in Tucson before being taken back to Phoenix. A spokeswoman for Senator Kyrsten Sinema said: 'Our office is in communication with Mr. Carranzas attorney and we will assist the Carranza family in this process.' DailyMail.com has contacted ICE for comment. A thug who tried to kill a refugee by strangling him with a shoelace has been jailed for a minimum of six years. David Pearce crept up behind Abdolhadi Moradi, 28, and attacked him on a street in Adelaide in January 2018. Mr Moradi didn't see his attacker coming and within seconds was on the ground and fighting for his life. Mr Pearce wrapped a shoelace around the neck of Abdolhadi Moradi (pictured) and dragged him to the pavement as his surprised victim struggled to free himself David John Pearce, 37, has been sentenced to six years in jail without parole Pearce, 37, wrapped a shoelace around his victim's throat and pulled it so tight it became partially embedded in his neck. Mr Moradi, an Afghan refugee who had come to Australia with his three siblings in the hope of a safer life, thought he was going to die. 'I tried to get hold of the thing that was around my neck but it went deep into my flesh and I couldn't grab hold of it,' he said in a recent victim impact statement. 'I felt all strength was leaving me I felt myself going cold.' On Tuesday, Pearce was jailed for at least six years after being found guilty of attempted murder. In the Supreme Court, Justice Sam Doyle said he could not establish a motive for the 'brazen' attack and did not find the attempted killing was racially motivated. Pearce had argued at trial that it was a case of mistaken identity, believing Mr Moradi was one of several men who had been following him two days earlier. But the 37-year-old was now contrite and remorseful and accepted that Mr Moradi was completely innocent, the judge found. Justice Doyle said Mr Moradi had struggled to free himself but could not get his fingers under the shoelace to relieve the pressure. 'Mr Moradi lost consciousness. It was very fortunate the victim survived,' he said. The 28-year-old was the eldest of four siblings who were in Australia without their parents and the attack had left the family fearful. Pearce was arrested by police a few minutes after the attack, while Mr Moradi was left with minor neck injuries. The shoelace used in the attack is pictured 'Just imagine what would have happened to my siblings if I'd have died,' he said. Justice Doyle said Pearce's actions could be partially explained by dehydration and the methylamphetamine in his system. But he said his offending was of the 'most grave kind'. 'Fortunately the victim has not suffered any serious or permanent physical harm,' the judge said. 'However, and not surprisingly given the unprovoked, sudden and frightening nature of the attack, the incident has had a significant and continuing psychological impact upon Mr Moradi. 'This is particularly tragic given that he and his family had only recently fled from the dangers that they faced while living in Afghanistan and Iran.' Pearce, who had travelled to Adelaide from Townsville not long before the crime, was jailed for 11 years with a six-year non-parole period. A Western Australian couple whose car became stuck in a crocodile-infested swamp have been rescued after they spelled out 'HELP' in giant letters in the mud. Shantelle Johnson and her partner Colen Nulgit became stuck a bog during a fishing trip to the Keep River National Park in the Northern Territory on Monday. They tried to free the car by digging around the tyres but they eventually gave up and were forced to spend the night in the marsh. Shantelle Johnson (left) and her partner Colen Nulgit (right) became stuck in the bog during a fishing trip to the Keep River National Park in the Northern Territory on Monday Ms Johnson (left) and Mr Nulgit (right) tried to free the car but eventually gave up and were forced to spend the night in the marsh Mr Nulgit told ABC News they didn't get much sleep because they'd spotted crocodile tracks nearby and were worried the rising tide would bring the reptiles out. 'Earlier that day we saw two, three croc tracks - they were about five, six metres long,' Mr Nulgit said. The couple stayed in the car the first night, but as the tide began to rise, they took their belongings, including their dog Ace, and moved away from the car. While they had told relatives where they were going and when to expect them to return, they had very little food and limited water with them. Eventually the couple realised that they would have to take matters into their own hands if they wanted to be rescued. They managed to start a fire and penciled out the word HELP in the mud to attract the attention of passing planes. 'I guess we were both upset but I had to put on my big boy boots and keep her calm and also try to keep myself calm,' Mr Nulgit said. The couple were eventually rescued after they spelled out 'HELP' in giant letters in the mud The couple stayed in the car the first night, but as the tide began to rise, they took their belongings, including Ace the dog, and moved away from the car After more than 24 hours the couple's quick-thinking finally paid off when they were spotted by rescuers flying overhead. Kununurra police later praised the couple for how they handled the situation, including staying with their vehicle and for letting relatives know their whereabouts. Acting Sergeant Dean Andrzejaczek told the publication if the couple hadn't told their family where they were going their fishing trip could've ended in disaster. 'It's always a good idea to tell family where you're going and what time you are expected back,' Sgnt Andrzejaczek said. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ms Johnson and Mr Nulgit for comment. New Jersey police dash cam video captured the moment a downed power line burst into flames while in the hands of a utility worker. An employee with Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) was trying to clean up a fallen wire from a traffic light when the blaze erupted at around 6.30am on Monday. 'I was under the impression that the line was de-energized and based on his actions, I felt he was under the same impression that the line was de-energized,' Manchester Township Police Sgt. Christopher Hemhauser told NBC 10. The power line came down at the intersection of Route 70 and Colonial Drive thanks to a storm on Monday in Manchester Township. The worker can be seen on video holding on to the wire and jerking it, succeeding in getting it unstuck from the traffic light which it had landed on. Sgt. Hemhauser just happened to be parked at the intersection in his patrol car, leading to the incident being captured on his dash cam. New Jersey police dash cam video captured the moment a downed power line burst into flames while in the hands of a Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) utility worker on Monday morning in Manchester Township The worker can be seen on video holding on to the wire and jerking it to get it unstuck He succeeds in getting it unstuck from the traffic light which it had landed on following a storm As the wire comes down and eventually hits the ground, it bursts into flames. The worker then drops the wire and leaps back in surprise, knocking the yellow hood from his coat off of his cap. 'He was definitely startled,' he said. 'Seemed just like myself. Kind of in shock as to what happened.' After a moment the utility worker takes off running alongside the blaze toward safety. As the wire comes down and eventually hits the ground, it bursts into flames. The worker then drops the wire and leaps back in surprise After a moment the utility worker takes off running alongside the blaze toward safety Another person can be seen also bolting away from the fire, appearing to have came from behind the utility truck. The flames were so hot that they burned holes in the asphalt on the street. 'Its just a reminder of how dangerous electricity really is,' Sgt. Hemhauser said, who had to avoid an earlier explosion in the same spot when the line first came down. The worker wasn't hurt, but seemed shaken up, the officer said. JCP&L operations personnel are reviewing the dash cam video of the fire as part of an investigation into the incident 'Ive met, worked alongside these JCP&L guys on many scenes,' Sgt. Hemhauser said. 'They are very cautious. They follow the rules. Something obviously was wrong here.' JCP&L operations personnel are reviewing the dash cam video of the fire as part of an investigation into the incident. A representative from the company told NBC 10 that JCP&L leadership was glad no one was hurt. Bill Shorten has had a tense exchange with a reporter on the campaign trail who asked him about Labor's emission reduction target. Mr Shorten was speaking to reporters in Bedford Park, South Australia on Tuesday when Channel 10 journalist Jonathan Lea asked him about the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. 'When can voters expect to learn more about Labor's emission reduction target, how you're going to get there and the cost to the economy?' Lea asked. Lea said Mr Shorten's reply to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's budget was 'focused exclusively on health', a claim Mr Shorten took exception to. 'First of all I haven't spoken exclusively about health... I don't know what private conversations you have with people or what you want to reveal, but let me go to the record,' Mr Shorten said. He then said Mr Morrison's claim of a strong economy was a 'classic Liberal strong economy' based on 'low wages' and lack of investment in services. 'You're not answering the question Mr Shorten,' Lea said. 'Oh OK... I'm going to give someone else a go,' Mr Shorten said in response, pointing to another reporter. 'Answer the question, when can people know?' Lea asked. 'When can people know, the cost to the economy? You didn't answer the question. 'You should answer the question, that's why we're here to ask questions and you're not answering the question. When can people expect to know, Mr Shorten, the cost to the economy? Mr Shorten (right) was speaking to reporters in Bedford Park, South Australia on Tuesday when Channel 10 journalist Jonathan Lea (left) asked him about the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 'Why can't you answer the question Mr Shorten?' Mr Shorten refused to answer, and said he wanted to take questions from other reporters. 'Cos I'm going to give your colleagues half a go,' Mr Shorten said in reply to Lea asking why he couldn't give an answer to the query about the cost of the emission reduction target. Lea later tweeted about the fiery encounter with Mr Shorten. 'Five times I asked Bill Shorten what the cost of his emissions reduction target would be to the economy? And when Australia would know,' Lea said. 'Five times he refused to even try to answer. Frustrating.' A man who allegedly stabbed his wife to death she had an affair had previously researched ways to punish her for infidelity, a court has heard. Shahab Ahmed has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife of five-and-a-half years, Khondkar Faihi Elahi, in their Parramatta unit in February 2017. NSW Supreme Court heard how Ahmed demanded to see his wife's mobile phone on February 18, dragging her around the house before coming across recent messages and reaching for a knife in the kitchen. He is then believed to have 'posted on Facebook and smoked a cigarette' before calling emergency services. She was found dead in the apartment, having suffered from 14 stab wounds. Shahab Ahmed has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife of five-and-a-half years, Khondkar Faihi Elahi, in their Parramatta unit in February 2017 (pictured together) Justice Monika Schmidt was told 'he intended to kill'. Ahmed, 35, entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter, which was not accepted by the Crown. Prior to the attack, Ahmed had made a number of inquiries 'about the various punishments' for infidelity, according to Islam, and 'had turned his mind to punishing his wife,' the court heard. Defence barrister Avni Djemal said Ahmed accepted legal and moral responsibility for the death of his wife. 'The accused's case is that at the time ... he was substantially impaired by depressive illness,' Mr Djemal said. Ahmed's lawyer said the couple met online and it was 'not a marriage by arrangement, it was a marriage of love' Ahmed was said to be furious about Ms Elahi's betrayal after she pursued a relationship with one of their mutual friends. At Ahmed's judge-alone trial on Tuesday, Omar Khan admitted to having an affair with Ms Elahi from July 2015. Mr Khan said he'd known Ahmed since 1999 and the two men and their wives had built up a strong friendship - which saw the couples holidaying in Bangladesh together. He got Ms Elahi a job but was visited at work by Ahmed in April 2015 and accused of causing marital problems. The Crown says at this time Ahmed expressed concerns to his GP of infidelity between his wife and Mr Khan. Crown prosecutor Sean Hughes said: 'There was kissing. Was it passionate kissing?' At Ahmed's judge-alone trial in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, Omar Khan (pictured) admitted to having an affair with Ms Elahi from July 2015 On February 18 in 2017, the court heard Ahmed demanded to see his wife's mobile phone, dragging her around the house before coming across recent messages and reaching for a knife in the kitchen 'That is correct, but not all the time, especially not when we are in public places,' Mr Khan replied. He said they held hands 'quite often' and exchanged gifts but did not have sexual intercourse. Mr Khan on Tuesday said he'd received a phone call from Ahmed in September 2016, during which he stated: 'I hope you're happy. You can come over. I am leaving home.' Ahmed's lawyer said the couple met online and it was 'not a marriage by arrangement, it was a marriage of love'. He also said Ahmed's reaction on the night of the stabbing was 'out of character'. The accused's boss, Irfan Ali, testified that in the days before the incident, Ahmed said his wife wanted a divorce but 'he didn't want to'. The trial continues. Mr Khan (pictured) said he'd known Ahmed since 1999 and the two men and their wives built up a strong friendship - which saw the couples holidaying in Bangladesh together A homeless man who won over $2000 on the jackpot of a poker machine was overjoyed - until he was robbed as he left the bar. One of the two people who robbed the man appeared in court on Monday for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery. The court heard Gordon Hamish Forbes, 28, walked into the Riv Bar in Hamilton East on New Zealand's North Island just as the victim walked up to the counter to collect his $2039.30 in winnings on June 28 last year. Forbes and his co-offender Kelly Meikura Michelle Potae, 39, offered to give the man a ride into the city for $20 after they overheard him asking the barman to call him a taxi. A homeless man who won over $2000 on the jackpot of a poker machine was overjoyed - until he was robbed as he left the bar The court heard that the trio jumped into Potae's car and headed to central Hamilton, but the pair took the man on a detour through side streets, according to Stuff. They eventually stopped the car and Forbes proceeded to reach into the back seat and grab some cash from the victim's pocket. The victim got out of the car and tried to escape but Forbes tackled him, at which point Potae got out of the car and they both cleaned the man out of his winnings. As Forbes and Potae tried to drive off the victim reached through the window in a last-ditch effort to stop the money being stolen, however, the offenders fought him off and drove away. The pair were later apprehended during a traffic stop on July 8. 'Drug issues have been a factor in your getting into strife on this occasion,' Judge Denise Clark said at Forbes' sentencing. He received 19 months, with considerations for his guilty plea and letter of remorse, and was ordered to pay half the money back to the victim. Potae had been already sentenced to four months of home detention after pleading guilty at a previous hearing. Advertisement The treasures that survived the devastating Notre Dame inferno have been revealed - with the great organ and several priceless paintings rumoured been destroyed. Franck Riester, France's culture minister, said on Tuesday that the cathedral's main organ 'seems to be quite affected' by the blaze while the fate of several other artefacts remains unknown. Firefighters reported that some of the large paintings inside the cathedral were too heavy to take down from the walls and save. Mr Riester said the paintings were mostly undamaged but many may have suffered some effects from the smoke. Inferno: The burning interior of Notre Dame cathedral during the horrific blaze in Paris on Monday evening Heroes: Paris firefighters rush into the cathedral to tackle the blaze and save the medieval building from collapse 'The large paintings, at first glance, have not been affected by the fire. But, often in these situations, there is water damage,' Mr. Riester added. It comes as it was reported officials attending the Notre Dame blaze initially couldn't find any sign of fire despite the alarm being raised 23 minutes before the structure went up in flames. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz announced on Tuesday that firefighters were called to the world-famous cathedral at 6.20pm CET, almost half an hour before the roof caught fire after a fire alarm was triggered. But after an initial inspection they said they were unable to find any evidence of fire. Firefighters remained inside Notre Dame until a second alarm went off at 6.43pm and eventually discovered a fire in the network of wooden beams under the cathedral's roof - but were unable to put it out. Mr Heitz said this evening: 'What we know at this stage is that there was an initial alarm at 6:20 p.m., followed by a procedure to verify this but no fire as found. 'Then, there was a second alarm at 6:43 p.m. and at that point a fire was detected in the structure. 'The investigation is going to be long and complex,' he added. 'We are in the process of interviewing witnesses.' A robot fires water from a hose to douse the flames in the cathedral on Monday night After eventually responding to the blaze, French firefighters were filmed racing into the burning Notre Dame to save the 850-year-old cathedral from destruction. The fearless rescue team charged into the inferno with huge flames leaping across the church and sparks tumbling from the ceiling after the roof of the Paris landmark caught fire. Firefighters battled for eight hours to contain the blaze which destroyed the cathedral's roof and spire, but despite fears that the whole building could collapse the stone structure and iconic bell towers remain standing today. The firefighters' actions - and their quick deployment of a robot to hose down the cathedral - meant that priceless treasures including reputed relics of the Crucifixion and 13th-century stained-glass windows were saved from the blaze. Today haunting new photos of Notre Dame's interior showed debris strewn across the floor - as experts warned the damage could take decades to repair - while detectives probe the renovation work which may have led to the blaze. The pictures revealed that a statue of Jesus descending from the cross, positioned on the altar, was preserved among the smouldering rubble after the roof was destroyed by Monday night's fire. The three 'irreplaceable' Rose Windows, which date to the 13th century and were last night feared to have melted or exploded, were also intact. A Paris firefighter sprays water at the inferno inside Notre Dame as they battled for eight hours to save the landmark The preserved golden crucifix and altar within the wreckage of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after the inferno devastated the roof and much of the structure of the 850-year-old church on Monday night Natural light streams into the cathedral after much of its roof was burned away in the blaze as 400 firefighters were mobilised to deal with the catastrophe Attention has now turned to what may have caused Notre Dame, part of which was being restored in a 150million refurbishment, to fall victim to such a disaster. The focus of prosecutors is currently on contractors Le Bras Freres, whose owner Julien Le Bras last year boasted his firm's goal was 'to keep as many old items as possible and not to put the building at risk' after they were awarded a 5.7m (5m, $6.5m) contract as part of the cathedral's restoration project. Detectives investigating the catastrophic blaze are today interviewing specialist restorers who were carrying out works on the cathedral spire when the inferno broke out. French police are understood to have launched a criminal inquiry after a 'stray flame' caused fire to engulf the landmark last night, with heroic firefighters battling for eight hours to bring the blaze under control. The Paris prosecutor's office is probing 'involuntary destruction caused by fire', indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident and not arson or terrorism. 'Nothing suggests that it was a voluntary act,' Remy Heitz told reporters outside the Gothic cathedral, adding that the workers employed at the site were being questioned over Monday's blaze. The moment Notre Dame's spire began to collapse as distraught Parisians watching the catastrophe let out a collective cry of disbelief at seeing it fall on Monday evening A view from above the nave (left) shows the remains of the cathedral and its roof, but some stained-glass windows and statues (right) remain standing inside The Paris fire brigade rushes into the intense heat and flames of the cathedral to save it from destruction last night Heroes: The Paris firefighters prepare to take on the blaze. Their actions helped to save many priceless relics and artworks The huge firefighting operation is seen last night with multiple engines and hoses at the scene to save the huge cathedral A firefighter is hoisted up on a crane as French rescue workers battle to bring the huge blaze under control as darkness falls Firefighters deploy their hoses as sparks fall from the ceiling, as Parisians feared the entire building was about to be lost Burned debris is strewn across the floor of Notre Dame's nave today following the devastating fire on Monday evening A massive hole is seen in the dome of Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday after flames ripped across its roof during a more than 12-hour battle to save the building Wreckage: The first pictures inside the cathedral on Tuesday morning appear to show at least one of the rose stained-glass windows still intact (left), but debris is covering the floor. Pictured right: the window before the blaze The wooden roof at Notre Dame (left) was completely burned away - as experts said it could not be replaced in the way it was built in the Middle Ages - while charred debris covered the floor (right) but the bell towers remained intact Slide me Before and after: The altar featuring the 1723 statue Descent from the Cross emerges from the ashes, left, and before, right The raging flames of the cathedral on Monday night as Parisians and the world watched the blaze in horror A diagram showing which parts of the cathedral were damaged or destroyed by the fire and which are still intact Before and after: Notre Dame before the fire in September 2010 (top) and on Tuesday, the day after the devastating fire destroyed much of the 850-year-old cathedral (bottom) The catastrophic fire at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral (shown this morning) has left a nation mourning the devastation of its cultural and historic 'epicentre' this morning as French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the treasured landmark One of the upper windows appeared to have been burned out although a statue on top survived (left), as rescue workers were hoisted to the top of the cathedral today (right) as they investigate Monday's devastating fire Firefighters work at the facade of Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday following the fire which destroyed the roof and spire Firefighters continue to douse Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with water this morning following a devastating fire that destroyed its roof last night Hellish scenes: Pictures from inside Notre Dame last night show the fire raging inside the roof, left, and ash raining from the roof, right Fears for the treasures of Notre Dame: Christ's 'crown of thorns' is saved, but fragment of the Cross and nails 'used to crucify Jesus' unaccounted for The fate of many of the Notre Dame's treasures is still unknown after the huge fire which ripped through the 850-year-old cathedral on Monday. Experts are today entering the wreckage of the Paris landmark to find which of the precious artworks and religious relics have been saved. The mayor of Paris said that one of the most irreplaceable items - the crown of thorns reputed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion - was safe last night. But there are fears for the church's 13th-century stained glass windows and its magnificent organ, while the wooden roof and ornate spire have gone. Safe: Crown of thorns One of the cathedral's most precious objects, a relic purported to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, was whisked away to a secure facility. Reports in France stated that the chaplain of the Paris fire brigade had gone inside with the firefighters to save the crown. Experts said the irreplaceable item had been kept in a 'very safe place'. Records of the Crown of Thorns existence begin in the sixth century AD, when it is believed to have been kept in Jerusalem by Christians. During the Crusades in 1238, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople gave it to King Louis IX to win his support and try and preserve his crumbling empire. Louis IX brought the crown back to France and was later made a saint. Although the crown itself was saved, a small fragment of the crown had been kept in the spire and is therefore believed to have burned to ashes. Unknown: True Cross and Holy Nails Another of the cathedral's relics is a purported piece of the True Cross - the very instrument on which Jesus was crucified in the first century AD. The collection also includes a nail which is said to be from the cross. It was unclear on Tuesday morning whether these had been saved along with the Crown of Thorns. Safe: Tunic of St Louis A 13th-century linen tunic which is thought to have belonged to King Louis IX - canonised as St Louis - was also made safe, the mayor of Paris said. In his 44-year reign Louis took part in the Crusades and established early principles of justice such as the presumption of innocence. He was proclaimed a saint in 1297 - the only French monarch to receive the honour - and was responsible for acquiring the Crown of Thorns. Safe: North, West and South Rose Windows The magnificent stained-glass artworks in the cathedral date back to the 13th century. There were fears last night that they would melt or explode but the Archbishop of Paris told BFM-TV today that they were safe. A French journalist at the scene last night said the north window appeared to be safe with no sign of broken glass although firefighters remained concerned. Architecture professor Julio Bermudez said the stained glass windows were 'really irreplaceable'. Advertisement Some of the firm's 200 specialist employees were working at the site where the fire is thought to have originated, the cathedral's 300ft-tall wooden and lead spire, which collapsed in front of crowds of horrified Parisians at 8pm. A source close to the inquiry said that many of the restorers had been interviewed overnight, with prosecutors focusing on the equipment used at the 850-year-old cathedral, where light and power sources were limited. In such circumstances, hordes of cables and wires would have to be attached to dozens of generators, which would then be hoisted high up on to medieval building. 'The fear is that a small fire began in the rood where they were working,' the source added. 'The irony is that the restorers had just begun working on the spire which collapsed along with much of the roof.' Le Bras Freres is one of the most respected companies of its kind in France, and last year finished a widespread restoration programme of Reims Cathedral in the east of the country. The firm had won the 5.7million contract to restore the Notre Dame spire, which was designed by the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc and erected in 1859. They were due to be on site for up to four years along with Europe Scaffolding, another company which had just put 250 tons of scaffolding around Notre Dame, along with a lift that could move up and down the 300ft spire. The blaze, which broke out as the last crowds of tourists ended visits at around 7pm, was finally declared to be 'fully extinguished' at about 9.45am this morning. As the fire raged, brave rescue teams raced to recover what treasures they could from the Gothic masterpiece, which housed priceless artefacts and relics of huge religious and international significance. Among them was the reputed Crown of Thorns, supposedly worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, which was carried to safety by a human chain of emergency service workers. Today the Archbishop of Paris told BFM-TV that the three beautiful rose windows on the north, west and south sides of the church had all survived intact. Fears had grown for the 'really irreplaceable' stained-glass windows, dating back to the 13th century, amid the heat of the fire last night. The status of other relics, including a purported piece of the Cross on which Jesus was crucified, remained unclear today. French priest Jean-Marc Fournier led the efforts to save the Crown of Thorns. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament'. This was confirmed by an emergency services source who said: 'Father Fournier is an absolute hero. 'He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the Cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear.' More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to bring the fire under control some 14 hours after it began. France's richest man Bernard Arnault pledges 200MILLION to repair Notre Dame - doubling the 100million donated by Salma Hayek's billionaire husband France's richest man has pledged 200m (170m) towards the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, doubling the donation of Salma Hayek's husband. Multi-billionaire Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury goods group, instantly became the biggest benefactor of an appeal launched by President Emmanuel Macron. On Monday the day of the blaze French tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of the Cathedral. But, in a statement, the LVMH group said their donation would be double that. It said: 'The Arnault family and the LVMH group, in solidarity with this national tragedy, are associated with the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, symbol of France, its heritage and its unity. A statement from Francois-Henri Pinault said: 'This tragedy impacts all French people' and 'everyone wants to restore life as quickly as possible to this jewel of our heritage.' Advertisement One firefighter was injured; no one else was reported hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening. Shortly after the the blaze broke out, French fashion mogul Francois-Henri Pinault, the husband of Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100million euros (86 million) towards the restoration effort. Hours later, French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced that his family and his LVMH luxury goods group would donate 200million euros to help with repairs. French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the cathedral, whatever the cost. He said in a speech outside the church: 'We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre-Dame because that's what the French are waiting for, because that's what our history deserves, because it's our deepest destiny.' Pope Francis said Tuesday he hoped everyone would pull together to rebuild the devastated Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris following a massive fire. 'I hope the Notre-Dame cathedral may once again become, thanks to reconstruction work and the mobilization of all, a jewel in the heart of the city,' Francis said in a statement issued by the Vatican. Leaders from around the world offered their condolences to France. Among them was Queen Elizabeth II, who said: 'Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral. 'I extend my sincere admiration to the emergency services who have risked their lives to try to save this important national monument. 'My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the Cathedral and all of France at this difficult time.' Notre Dame had previously the site of a terror scare in 2016 when a car carrying seven gas cylinders was found near the cathedral. Three women were arrested over the alleged terror plot, although they were thought to have been targeting a Paris railway station rather than the cathedral itself. Police have made clear today that they believe Monday night's fire was an accident. Rescued treasures: Rescued artefacts are pictured in storage in Paris after being saved by the blaze in Notre Dame Collapse: A sequence image shows the spire of Notre Dame cathedral collapsing during the blaze last night Photographs released by the Paris fire brigade show a close up view of crews battling the fire yesterday Hundreds of firefighters battled to stop the fire wreaking complete destruction of the treasured facade (pictured) after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of Parisians Firefighters at the scene of the fire this morning. The fire was officially declared as extinguished at about 9.45am local time French police are understood to have launched a criminal enquiry after a 'stray flame' caused the landmark to become engulfed in fire last night, with heroic firefighters battling for eight hours to bring the blaze under control Attention has now turned to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored in a 5million refurbishment, to fall victim to such a disaster, which saw its wooden roof and some of its prized artefacts lost Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its stone walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. 'The fire is fully extinguished,' fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters. 'Our job today is to monitor the structure and its movements.' The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's timbered roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to collapsed balustrades and crumbling gargoyles, as well as the spire's wooden frame. The hero who saved the Crown of Thorns: Fire brigade chaplain entered flaming Notre Dame to recover holy relic - three years after he bravely helped Bataclan terror victims Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing Notre Dame cathedral A French priest who helped comfort the wounded after the Bataclan terror attack today also emerged as a hero of the Notre Dame fire. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing cathedral on Monday night. It was feared that both religious artefacts would be lost as flames engulfed the medieval building, but Father Fournier made sure they were taken to safety. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament'. Advertisement Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the Seine river late into the night as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmony as they stood in vigil. 'It's a symbol of our country that risked being destroyed,' Culture Minister Franck Riester said. Notre-Dame is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should bear the brunt of costs for badly needed restoration work. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace at which the fire spread through the cathedral had been stunning. 'We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile,' Violini said. American tourist Susan Hargrove said she'd been left breathless by the scale of devastation. 'We are talking of world history, of our Western culture but also of something that is truly universal,' Hargrove said. 'Notre-Dame means something to everybody.' Firefighters also struggled to take down many of the large paintings in the cathedral, administrative cleric Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said, meaning the scale of the devastation will not be known for some time. A French cultural heritage expert this morning claimed that France no longer has trees big enough to replace ancient wooden beams that fell during the blaze. But at the height of the inferno, many feared the entire building would be lost. 'If Paris is the Eiffel Tower then France is Notre Dame. It's the entire culture, entire history of France incarnated in this monument,' Bernard Lecomte, a writer and specialist in religious history told French TV. In Washington, Donald Trump tweeted: 'So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.' The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sent the best wishes of the Anglican church to people at the scene. 'Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ,' he said. And British Prime Minister Theresa May added: 'My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze.' The focus of prosecutors is currently on contractors Le Bras Freres (Le Bras Brothers), a company based in Jarny, north-eastern France, which had been working from scaffolding (pictured today) erected as part of the restoration project A woman sits and prays near the Notre Dame Cathedral this morning as efforts to dampen down the remainder of the flames continue today Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris this morning in the aftermath of a fire that caused its spire to crash to the ground As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier after the fire burned through its foundations A view from inside the cathedral shows flames in the roof as firefighters douse it from below with hoses. A shocked firefighter looks back at the camera as the blaze is seen raging through a hole in the roof A spokesperson for the cathedral told Le Monde that the entire frame of the historic cathedral's roof (pictured here before the blaze) had caught fire Minute-by-minute rundown of how Notre Dame blaze spread through the building Left: Pictures posted on Twitter at 6.50pm when the fire broke out showed small plumes of smoke coming from the roof. By 7.20pm the plumes had grown much larger and could be seen from miles around At 7.30pm the first amber licks of flame could be seen at the top of the building. People crowded to take pictures from a nearby bridge Flames began chewing through a turret at 7.30pm. The flames show through the turret at 7.40pm. The turret fell through just before 8.00pm The whole of the spire was burning by 8.10pm. It collapsed at 8.15pm after the flames had eaten their way along the length of the structure. Dramatic pictures showed the spire falling to earth after being sawn in half by the blaze At 8.30pm the whole building was alight, with one hose seen battling the flames and focusing on the area the turret collapsed Left: Pieces of scaffolding still standing at 8.45pm Right: Pieces of scaffolding still standing at 9pm despite flames leaping up around it Emmanuel Macron enters the church with fire crews and his wife Brigitte at 9.20pm. He said: 'We will rebuild Notre Dame together' An aerial view of the cathedral taken from a police drone showed the famous structure completely stripped of its roof and still ablaze on the inside People gathering in Paris shed a tear and sung hymns as the historical building remained burning into the night at 10.30pm The scaffolding around the building is illuminated by the fire. But importantly the front face of the building appears in tact At midnight the view of Notre Dame from the Seine shows a boat speeding towards a tunnel. The fire continues to burn in the background but looks reduced By 5.30am this morning the fire was under control and a firefighter paints a lonesome figure as they continue to monitor the building The single fireman sprays water into the scaffolding which survived the blaze despite a turret and the spire collapsing last night Left: A charred cross lies in the battered building. But by 9.45am the fire was extinguished. Right: At 12pm today fire crews were seen in discussion outside one of the windows Speaking with tears in his eyes on the steps of the cathedral, Macron vowed to rebuild Notre Dame with the help of the international community Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church The fast moving fire consumed the roof of the cathedral. This evening, President Emmanuel Macron said the whole nation was moved. 'Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,' he tweeted Smoke continues to billow into the Paris sky this evening as firefighters try to stop the flames from spreading Pictures from inside the centuries old church show the stone-built roof of the structure partially caved in after the huge blaze Many of the church pews were pictured intact despite the blaze as the stone-made part of the church remained largely intact despite the wooden roof structure caving in Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson The famous spire of Notre Dame collapsed dramatically at around 9.15pm after the blaze tore through the wooden structure at the top of the building Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris There was an air of mourning in Paris as the sun rose on Tuesday with hundreds of people gathering on the banks of the Seine to view the devastation at Notre Dame. An elderly woman wondered whether the fire was a sign from god, saying: 'Notre Dame is our soul. The soul of France. 'We are a Catholic country, a republic but a Catholic country nonetheless - nobody remembers that any more.' She said she had heard the statue of the Virgin Mary had been saved, adding that it could be a miracle. Another woman said: 'I think it can be rebuilt, but it could take years and years - I am 79 and today, I don't know if I will ever see Notre Dame whole again.' As the sun rose over the building, ashes from the cathedral's spire blew across the banks of the river, along with the blossom from Notre Dame's gardens. Miraculously, the trees and vines around the building on Ile de la Cite were barely singed, while the bell towers and the enormous circular window of the nave appeared to be intact. Despite the fierce heat that consumed Notre Dame's spire, scaffolding previously erected for restoration work was also still standing. One refuse working collecting litter on the banks of the Seine said: 'It's incredible (the scaffolding) didn't fall.' Daniel Etieve, 70, said: 'It's a very sad picture. For over 800 years this cathedral has been passed from generation to generation. Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof as they try to stop the flames spreading. Nobody has been injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire' The burning orange of the flames can be seen through the rose petal window this evening as Parisians and tourists look on in horror as the blaze continues to spread at the cathedral People watch in Paris this evening as the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral continues to swarm the building, as firefighters fight to contain it The spire collapses while flames are burning through the roof at teh Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today. The blaze started in the late afternoon at one of the most visited monuments in the French capital A cordon is in place as fire crews spray water on the Gothic cathedral to try and stem the flames this evening A lone firefighter on a crane uses a hose to try and extiguish the flames this evening. British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her thoughts for the people of France and emergency services battling a devastating fire this evening The flames have engulfed large parts of the Cathedral, located in central Paris. A spurt of water can be seen at the bottom right of the picture as firefighters do battle with the blaze this evening. Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project The spire seen leaning slightly over as it began to give way because of the fire ripping through its foundations and the rest of the roof One of the turrets on the cathedral before it collapsed (left) at around 7.00pm this evening and afterwards at around 7.30pm 'Now I question what state we will pass it on to the generations after us.' One man, who gave his name only as Fabrice, said he was grieving for the incredible timber beams and wooden carvings that characterised Notre Dame's vaulted ceiling. The 55-year-old art historian said: 'The ceiling was known as 'the forest' because of all the thousands of trees that were cut to build it. I feel very sad but also I am happy that most of the building is still here.' He added that Notre Dame has been built over many centuries and that he took comfort in the way the British had repaired Windsor Castle after the fire of 1992. 'But it's hard to believe that this is happening in Paris - part of ourselves has been destroyed,' he said. 'I always go for a walk in this area every day and come to see Notre Dame. It's like coming to visit an elderly parent.' One commuter said: 'I come often to Notre Dame for mass and to pray and (the damage) is tearing at my heart.' But he added: 'Luckily it was saved. It was not completely destroyed and, as the president said, we will have money to rebuild it and I hope it will be even more beautiful.' Accountant Martin Cassan, 32, was hopeful for the future. He had come down to the scene with friends to watch the cathedral burn on Monday evening. He said: 'There's nothing you can do but have a drink. You feel sad. You definitely feel sad.' French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted shortly after the fire broke out that he was sad to see 'a part of us burn' and sent his sympathies to people across France A visibly upset Emmanuel Macron walking near the Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns (left) and locals watch on helplessly (r) But he asked: 'Should it be (rebuilt) exactly the same as before? Will it be like the Louvre - will we have a pyramid in the middle of it?' Another onlooker, who gave his name only as Clement, said: 'As sad as it is, it reminds us that buildings are just temporary, just as we are.' During the French Revolution in the 18th century, the cathedral was vandalised in widespread anti-Catholic violence. Its spire was dismantled, its treasures plundered and its large statues at the grand entrance doors destroyed. It would go on to feature as a central character in a Victor Hugo novel published in 1831, 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame' and shortly afterwards a restoration project lasting two decades got under way, led by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The building survived the devastation of two global conflicts in the 20th century and famously rang its bells on August 24, 1944, the day of the Liberation of Paris from German occupation at the end of the World War II. Before yesterday's blaze it was in the midst of renovations, with some sections under scaffolding, and bronze statues had been removed last week for works. Its 330ft-long roof, of which a large section was consumed in the first hour of the blaze, was one of the oldest such structures in Paris. Parisians took to the city's streets last night to pray, sing and reminisce about Notre Dame cathedral as it burned before them The emotions became too much for some locals who gathered in the shadow of the cathedral to watch its slow destruction I walked through the gutted cathedral then the crucifix shone from what remained of the altar, a symbol of defiance in the gloom: ROBERT HARDMAN is among first witnesses inside ravaged Notre Dame Sparks and bits of flaming woodwork are still cascading from the remnants of the 12th-century roof. The smell instantly sears the back of your throat like a dose of smelling salts and my feet are soaked. The ancient black and white tiles leading up the aisle are under a gently-flowing river of hose water from the fire crews pumping what seems like much of the River Seine from their elevated platforms. Yet I can faithfully report that the Cathedral of Notre Dame is not entirely destroyed. Because I am standing inside it alongside the French prime minister. In the early hours of this morning, I was among the first people to be allowed inside the ruins of one of the world's finest cathedrals following the fire which has shocked not just the entire French nation but much of the planet. A blaze which begin in the cathedral's loft at 6.30pm had turned into an all-consuming catastrophe by nightfall. Officials reported that the wooden interior of the medieval cathedral had been almost completely destroyed. Certainly, Notre Dame's spire is no more. Great chunks of its eastern end are no more. Its world-famous stained glass windows are in smithereens and the whole edifice is open to the skies. Robert Hardman was given access to the charred remains of the Notre Dame cathedral in the early hours of Tuesday morning Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral on Monday evening. Miracolously the cross and altar have managed to survive the inferno But Paris will wake today to see that the cathedral that has defied world wars, enemy occupations, revolutions and mobs galore is still poking its head above the Paris skyline. And at 1am today, at the far end of the cathedral, illuminated by lingering embers and firefighters' equipment, I could just make out a stunning symbol of defiance through the gloom: the unmistakeable sight of a crucifix on what remains of the altar. Notre Dame is gravely damaged. Yet its most spectacular features the 850-year-old twin towers are still there. For centuries, these were the highest structures in Paris until the Eiffel Tower came along. To this day, they are instantly recognisable the world over. And last night, though looking very sorry for themselves, they were in one piece as I stood beneath them alongside a posse of fire crews and prime ministerial aides. Within hours, speculation was rife as to the cause of the fire. For now, it seems that it was what one official called a 'stray flame' linked to a 5 million restoration project which sparked the inferno. Experts have warned for years that the cathedral has been in a poor condition, with the French state reluctant to fund renovation work in recent decades. Experts said that the building needed a 129.5million (150million) restoration, but the state had only offered 40million. Pictures taken outside the cathedral and from the entrance hall in the early hours of Tuesday show emergency service personnel still working to make the site safe Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the centre of Paris. Firefighters can be seen on the left, fighting the fire The cathedral was seeking private donations to make up the rest. The flames were first spotted just minutes after the building had closed to the public for the day. Echoing the fears of his entire country, French president Emmanuel Macron instantly declared a national emergency. 'Our Lady of Paris in flames,' he declared on Twitter. 'Like all our countrymen, I'm sad tonight to see this part of us burn.' He has pledged to rebuild Notre Dame, saying: 'Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where we've lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives. 'It's the story of our books, our paintings. It's the cathedral for all French people, even if they have never been. But it is burning and I know this sadness will be felt by all of our citizens. 'Tomorrow a national subscription will be launched for people around the country to help rebuild this great Notre Dame. Because that's what the French people want. That is what their history requires. Because that is our destiny.' Questions were immediately asked about the way in which a fire could take such a rapid hold of one of the world's most visited and most beloved landmarks. The firefighting response was also questioned as few, if any, high-pressure water hoses were able to reach the roof in the first hour. Critically, the Paris prosecutor has already opened an enquiry. I arrived last night to find a dumbstruck City of Light still bathed in a dismal afterglow. Here, on the banks of the Seine, tens of thousands of people of all nationalities stared incredulously at the slow death of a part of France's soul. The fire spread rapidly across the roof-line of the cathedral leaving one of the spires and another section of the roof engulfed in flames To describe the cathedral of Notre Dame as a national monument is a grave understatement. Imagine Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London all going up in smoke at the same time and you begin to appreciate the magnitude of this loss, except that Notre Dame attracts or used to attract twice as many annual visitors as those three London landmarks put together. That is why, as news began to spread last night, Parisians flocked to the Seine. They came here not as voyeurs but as mourners. They came to pay their last respects. Some sang hymns. Many were in tears. Some brought flowers and cards to place they knew not where. Understandably, perhaps, no one saw fit to light a candle. From medieval times, Notre Dame has marked the epochs in the story of this proud country and inspired one of the most famous literary masterpieces in the French language, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This August marks the 75th anniversary of the day that General Charles De Gaulle marked the liberation of Paris within its walls, even as sporadic gunfire continued outside. This is a city which was famously spared the destruction which history has wreaked on so many other European capitals. It really did feel blessed; almost eternal. Not any more. Those twin towers are now blackened and wide open to the elements. By midnight, however, the flames had died down as the first glimmers of firemen's torches could be seen here and there in the remains. I joined what I can only describe as a requiem mass of Parisians chanting prayers on the Pont de Notre Dame. All approaches to the cathedral's island site had been sealed off to the public but crowds kept on coming from all directions for a glimpse. 'At least the two towers are still standing, and they must stay up so that Notre Dame can be reborn,' said civil servant Pascal Boichut, 52. There was a glimmer of hope when Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet told reporters: 'We consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been preserved.' In a statement the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards 'the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame' would be paid by the Pinault family's investment firm Artemis. Macron had earlier cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening to respond to months of protests, and instead headed to the scene in person. He said while the 'worst had been avoided' and the facade and two towers saved, 'the next hours will be difficult'. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said 'we can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved' as well as the two towers. French billionaire pledges 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral A French billionaire has pledged 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral as a defiant President Macron launches a national fundraising campaign to restore the building to its former glory. The catastrophic blaze destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark as horrified Parisians looked on - many in tears and praying - on Monday evening. A visibly emotional Macron, spoke outside the gothic cathedral and said a national fundraising campaign to restore Notre Dame would be launched Tuesday, as he called on the world's 'greatest talents' to help. He said: 'We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre Dame because that's what the French are waiting for, because that's what our history deserves, because it's our deepest destiny.' Late on Monday evening French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was partly gutted by a devastating fire French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of the cathedral. In a statement the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards 'the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame' would be paid by the Pinault family's investment firm Artemis. Macron had earlier cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening to respond to months of protests, and instead headed to the scene in person. He said while the 'worst had been avoided' and the facade and two towers saved, 'the next hours will be difficult'. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said 'we can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved' as well as the two towers. Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also present at the scene on Monday evening, said that for the first time 'the fire had decreased in intensity' while still urging 'extreme caution'. The Vatican on Monday expressed its 'incredulity' and 'sadness', expressing 'our closeness with French Catholics and with the Parisian population.' The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. French prosecutors said it was being treated as an 'involuntary' fire, indicating that foul play was ruled out for now. Advertisement Parisians applaud the firefighters who formed a human chain to save Notre Dame's priceless collection of art and relics including the Crown Of Thorns from Jesus' crucifixion Firefighters, police, and churchmen risked their lives last night to carry priceless historical artefacts and religious relics away from the flames which engulfed Notre Dame de Paris. The Mayor of Paris tweeted her thanks to first responders for forming 'a formidable human chain' to save irreplaceable objects including the relic believed by Catholics to be the crown of thorns which was put on Jesus' head as he died on the cross. Mayor Anne Hidalgo went on: 'The Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place.' Emergency responders worked with city staff to manhandle priceless relics away from the fire Reliquaries, statues, and artefacts including the crown of thorns were saved from the fire by 'human chain' And Father Fournier, Chaplain of the Paris Firefighters, told reporters he went into the burning cathedral to save the Blessed Sacrament and Crown of Thorns. Parisians applauded and cheered fire crews as they drove through the streets in the early hours of the morning. The church's treasure trove of priceless artworks and religious relics include the Crown of Thorns said to have been placed on the head of Jesus before he was crucified, a piece of the True Cross on which he is said to have died and a nail from the crucifixion. The relics were obtained from the Byzantine Empire in 1238 and brought to Paris by King Louis IX. Notre Dame is also home to priceless paintings dating back to the 1600s, including a series known as the Petits Mays, gifted to the cathedral once a year from 1630 to 1707. Among the most celebrated artworks are three stained-glass rose windows high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral. Shortly after midnight, Paris time, the artefacts had been safely transferred to a storage room Worries onlookers were filmed looking at the salvaged antiquities on the night the cathedral's ancient roof burned to cinders Notre Dame's Great Organ, which dates back to the 13th century and was restored in the early 1990s, is considered the most famous in the world, with five keyboards and nearly 8,000 pipes. Last night firemen at the scene said all efforts were being directed at saving artwork in the cathedral and preventing the collapse of its northern tower. 'Everything is collapsing,' a police officer near the scene said as the cathedral continued to burn. The ten bells of Notre Dame are renowned across Europe and the first nine are named Marie, Gabriel, Anne-Genevieve, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie. The final and largest, known as the bourdon bell Emmanuel, weighs more than 13 tonnes. It sits in the southern tower and has been a part of the building since 1681. In 1944, Emmanuel was rung in celebration and triumph by French troops and allies to announce to the city that it was on its way to liberation. The famous gargoyles and chimera that adorn Notre Dame were built in the 19th century by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The original purpose of the gargoyles was to assist with the building's drainage, but they have become one of its most-loved features. The crown is an interleaved ring of reeds, the thorns having been separated and displayed at churches across the medieval world Catholics believe the relic is the 'crown' placed on Jesus' head in mockery as he was crucified A priest wipes the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ, at Notre Dame de Paris In the 1790s, Notre Dame was desecrated during the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed and its treasures plundered. The 28 statues of biblical kings located at the west facade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded. All of the other large statues on the facade, with the exception of that of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed. The cathedral was restored over 25 years after the publication of the book The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo in 1831 brought it into the spotlight. Sixteen statues that were part of the cathedral's destroyed spire were safe and unscathed after being removed as part of a renovation a few days ago, and that the relics had also been saved. The green-grey statues, representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, were apparently lowered by cranes from the site and taken away. The cathedral also has a spectacular series of carved wooden stalls and statues representing the Passion of the Christ. A man puts his hand to his mouth in pure shock as he watches the flames burst from the historic catherdral A woman reacts with horror as she watches the collosal fire engulf the roof of the Notre Dame. The colossal fire swept through the cathedral causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists looked on in dismay A woman on the phone looks on at the burning cathedral and smoke billows into the sky. The spire of Paris's famous Notre Dame cathedral has already collapsed earlier this evening A man holds his hands on his head in despair as the smoke billows from the cathedral this evening as firefighers desperately battle the blaze A woman with tears in her eyes clasps her hands in front of her as she watches the flames spread over the cathedral, and a man puts his head in his hands in despair Parisians and toursits look on in utter shock as the flames engulf the historic cathedral, which is visited by millions every year A woman reacts with shock as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this evening Firefighters using hoses from all four sides of Notre Dame to try and douse the flames which tore through the building at a startling pace Firefighters look on at the fire fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris as they cross a bridge over the river Seine Parisians gather on the River Seine this evening to look at the flames spreading throughout the cathedral. The blaze started in the late afternoon Crowds look at the flames as they engulf the building on Monday evening. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers for the beloved Paris cathedral French fire crews check the hoses in the streets of Paris on Monday evening. As the cathedral continued to burn, Parisians gathered to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame, as the flames lit the sky behind them People sit and look in disbelief as the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral burns on Monday afternoon and into the evening Sparks fill the Paris air on Monday evening as fire crews spray water to try and stop the blaze. The Louvre Museum has described the fire as 'a tragedy for World Heritage'. A comment on the art museum's official Twitter account said: 'The fire which has struck Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a tragedy for World Heritage. 'The Louvre expresses its deepest admiration and solidarity with those who are currently battling the flames' The flames and smoke engulf the historic gothic building on Monday afternoon. Parisians prayed and cried as they watched it burn French fire crew gather on the parvis in front door of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening as flames are burning its roof in Paris Officials say the blaze could be linked to renovation works as the spire has been undergoing a $6.8million renovation this year The blaze could be seen from across Paris on Monday night as officials in the city said a major operation was in place to put it out Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe's most-visited historical monument Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus' head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe's most popular historic monument. The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon's coronation in 1804. A view of the middle-age stained glass rosace on the southern side of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260. The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher. After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century - following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 - flying buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault. The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786. During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons. At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm. The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres - nearly half the annual expenditure of France. The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre. The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday - which comes at the end of this week. Notre-Dame de Paris is home to the relic accepted by Catholics the world over cathedral. The holy crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during the Passion During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings - wrongly believed to by French monarchs - were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down. Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building. It wasn't until the publication of Victor Hugo's novel - The Hunchback of Notre Dame - in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began. A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed. Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc won the commission. By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass. This would be updated with modern designs. In 1963 France's Culture Minister, Andre Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed. Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archeologique de l'ile de la Cite, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day. The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell - known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes - is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time. At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts. It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270. While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century. The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century. The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles. They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him - with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions. During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged. One of the cathedral's first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments. The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross. Advertisement 'It's burning to the ground': Trump tweets about massive fire as Notre Dame goes up in flames and suggests use of airborne water tankers then questions the renovation work at the iconic cathedral President Donald Trump tweeted about the massive fire engulfing Notre Dame Monday, suggesting the use of flying water tankers to douse the flames then appeared to criticize renovation work that may have caused it. Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One en route to Minnesota, while viewers around the world were watching the iconic cathedral's in flames. 'So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!' Trump wrote while en route to Minnesota for an event about taxes. Later, at his Tax Day event, Trump told a crowd about the 'terrible, terrible fire.' 'The fire that they're having at the Notre Dame Cathedral is something like few people have witnessed,' the president said. President Donald Trump tweeted about the fire at Notre Dame Monday The president suggested the use of airborne tankers 'When we left the plane, it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn. It's one of the great treasures of the world,' Trump continued. 'It's one of the great treasures in the world. The greatest artists in the world. Probably if you think about it it might be greater almost than any museum in the world and it's burning very badly. Looks like It's burning to the ground,' the president added, as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. Trump said he had a 'communication' with France but did not specify if he spoke to French authorities. 'That puts a damper on what we're about to say to be honest,' Trump told his audience in Minnesota. 'Because that is beyond countries. That's beyond anything. That's a part of our growing up it's a part of our culture, it's a part of our lives. That's a truly great cathedral. And I've been there and I've seen it There's probably no cathedral in the world like it,' Trump said. 'They think it was caused by renovation. And I hope that's the reason,' Trump continued. Renovation. What's that all about?' Trump said. Then he called it a 'terrible sight to behold.' 'With that being said, I want to tell you that a lot of progress has been made by our country in the last two and a half years, ' Trump said, segueing into his tax event. 'Hard to believe we're already starting to think about our next election.' Great buildings ravaged by fire: From Windsor Castle to York Minster The Windsor Castle fire of November 1992 A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence. The Berkshire blaze started at 11am in Queen Victoria's Private Chapel after a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar. Within minutes the blaze had spread to St George's Hall next door, and the fire would go on to destroy 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms. Three hours after the blaze was first spotted 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the fire, using 36 pumps to discharge 1.5million gallons of water at the inferno's peak. The fire break at the other end of St George's Hall remained unbreached, so the Royal Library was fortunately left undamaged. A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence Staff worked to remove works of art from the Royal Collection from the path of the fire. According to the Royal Collection Trust: 'The Castle's Quadrangle was full of some of the finest examples of French 18th-century furniture, paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Gainsborough, Sevres porcelain and other treasures of the Collection. 'Amazingly, only two works of art were lost in the fire - a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting by Sir William Beechey that couldn't be taken down from the wall in time. Luckily works of art had already been removed from many rooms in advance of rewiring work.' The Duke of York had said he he heard the fire alarm and roughly two or three minutes later he saw the smoke after leaving the room he was in, according to contemporary reports. Prince Andrew had joined a group removing valuable works of art from the castle to save them from destruction. The York Minster fire of 1984 Pictured: Aftermath of the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984 Early in the morning of July 9, 1984, York Minster's south transept was set ablaze, destroying the roof and causing 2.25million worth of damage. More than 100 firefighters confronted the church fire, taking two hours to bring it to heel. The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lightning bolt that struck the cathedral shortly after midnight. The blaze seriously damaged the cathedral's stonework, along with its famous Rose Window, and firefighters were left tackling embers on the floor after the roof collapsed at 4am. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am. An investigation ruled out an electrical or gas fault, and arson was discounted due to roof's inaccessibility. Tests had found that the blaze was 'almost certainly' caused by a lightning strike but much of the evidence was destroyed in the fire. The building was restored in 1988 after masonry teams re-carved stonework above the building's rose window and arches. It was reported that the rose window, designed to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, reached a temperature of 842F during the incident, cracking the glass in several places before it was restored. It was not the first time the building had caught ablaze. In the early hours of February 1, 1829, Jonathan Martin set the building on fire, melting the lead from the roof and cracking the building's limestone pillars. Late that afternoon the fire started dying out after roughly 230 feet of choir roof had collapsed. Non-conformist Martin, a former sailor from Northumberland, did not believe in formal liturgy, had published pamphlets condemning the clergy as 'vipers of Hell'. He was charged with setting the building on fire, but was found not guilty due to insanity, and died in a London asylum in 1838. Pictured: The roof of the South Transept of York Minster ablaze at the height of the fire. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am The Great Fire of London St Pauls Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the building collapsed On September 2, 1666, a fire broke out Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane, close to London Bridge. The summer of 1666 had been unusually hot, and the city had not seen rain for several weeks, leaving wooden houses and buildings tinder dry. Once the fire had taken hold, 300 houses quickly collapsed and strong east winds fanned the flames from house to house, sweeping the blaze through London's winding narrow lanes, with houses positioned close together. In an attempt to flee the fire by boat, Londoners poured down to the River Thames and the city was overtaken by chaos. There was no fire brigade in London at the time, so residents themselves had to fight the fire with the help of local soldiers. They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks, pulling down houses with hooks to make gaps or 'fire breaks', but the wind helped fan the fire across the created gaps. King Charles II had ordered that houses in the path of the fire should be pulled down - but the fire outstripped the hooked poles that were used to try and achieve this. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control. Gunpowder was deployed to blow up houses that lay in the path's fire, but the sound of explosions triggered rumours of a French invasion, heightening the city's panic. St Pauls Cathedral caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the cathedral collapsed. The fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished by September 6, leaving just one fifth of London untouched. Almost every civic building had been destroyed, along with 13,000 private homes, 87 parish churches, The Royal Exchange, and Guildhall. Roughly 350,000 people lived in London just before the Great Fire, making the city one of the largest in Europe. A monument was erected in Pudding Lane, where the blaze broke out. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834) The Great Fire of Rome , 64AD The Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64AD, destroyed much of the city after the blaze began in the slums south of the aristocratic Palatine Hill. Strong winds fanned the fire north, scorching homes in its path, causing widespread panic during the inferno's three-day duration. Hundreds died in the conflagration, and thousands were left homeless. Three of the 14 districts were completely destroyed, and only four remained completely untouched. That Emperor Nero 'fiddled while the city burned' has become popular legend, but is not accurate. The Emperor was 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out and allowed his palace to be used as a shelter. And the fiddle had not yet been invented. Nero, who used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild the city in a more Greek style, blamed Christians for the fire, ordering the arrest, torture and execution of hundreds of the religion's faithful. Historian Tacitus said the fire was 'graver and more terrible than any other which had befallen this city.' Advertisement 'Art and history destroyed before our eyes': Witnesses share their horror as the Notre Dame Cathedral is engulfed in flames Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames on Monday in a roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, leaving the city, France, and the international community distraught. Flames that began in the early evening burst through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. While a huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area, Parisians and tourists watched on, as others took to social media to express their sorrow. 'Centuries of art and history destroyed before our eyes. This building has stood since the Middle Ages. This is absolutely devastating,' one Twitter user wrote. Later in the evening, those in the city gathered together to say prayers and sing hymns in front of the nearby Saint Julien Les Pauvres church as the massive blaze continued only a few hundred meters away. Onlookers stand on a bridge as the stare in shock at the smoke and flames rising through the landmark in Paris Many were quietly singing an Ave Maria in Latin, including Stephane Seigneurie, 52, who said he has lived in Paris for the past 25 years. 'I come often, and go in even where there's no mass because it's an extraordinary place, entwined in the history of France,' he said. 'Politically, intellectually and spiritually, it's a symbol of France.' Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit has invited priests across France to ring the bells of their churches in a call for prayers for Notre Dame. 'Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before,' said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s, who had biked over to the scene after being alerted of the fire by a friend. 'I'm a Parisian, my father was a Parisian, my grandfather as well - this was something we brought our sons to see,' he said. 'I won't be showing this to my son.' 'It's a tragedy,' he added. 'If you pray, now is the time to pray.' 'Basically the whole rooftop is gone. I see no hope for the building,' said witness Jacek Poltorak, watching the fire from a fifth-floor balcony two blocks from the southern facade of the cathedral, one of France's most visited places. People sit and watch as the flames blaze through the landmark building in Paris, France A woman talks on the phone and begins to cry as she watches the flames rip through the roof 'Notre Dame is perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever set foot in, and watching it burn down is absolutely soul crushing,' read one Twitter post. 'Terrible seeing the Notre Dame in flames. Art and history turned to ashes. So glad no one has been hurt. Paris we are with you and will be there to see it restored. Shocking news,' another social media user said. Others described the tragedy of never being able to see the Notre Dame as it was before the blaze. 'Sad I'll never get to see Notre Dame,' one Twitter user wrote. 'It's on my bucket list and now one of the historic landmarks is just gone! Thoughts go out to France'. 'It's finished, we'll never be able to see it again,' said Jerome Fautrey, a 37-year-old who had come to watch. Buildings around were evacuated and nobody was injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: 'It's too early to determine the causes of the fire.' France 2 television reported that police were treating it as an accident. 'Everything is collapsing,' a police officer near the scene said as the entire roof of the cathedral continued to burn. 'Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,' President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. 'There are a lot of art works inside...it's a real tragedy,' Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene. Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists - some crying, others offering prayers - watched in horror in central Paris on Monday night as firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the flames engulfing the Notre Dame Cathedral Questions for Paris fire brigade as Notre Dame inferno burns out of control for hours Authorities have revealed they are unable to drop water on to Notre Dame to tame the blaze for fear it will ruin what is left of the 850-year-old cathedral as well as injuring people nearby. The tactic was suggested by US President Donald Trump on Twitter but it hasn't been deployed because of the risks it could pose not only to the historic building but to any people nearby. The French Interior Ministry tweeted to say that 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze that is engulfing the cathedral. The French Interior Ministry has tweeted to say 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze In cases of intense fires, a water bomber jet - called a Canadair - can be deployed to drop large amounts of water. Hundreds of comments have flooded in on the Pompiers du Paris Twitter page in support of the brave firefighters risking their lives to save Notre Dame. French news site Le Monde, explains: 'A Canadair projects about six tonnes of water at high speed to the ground. 'The danger is significant of hurting one or more people around the building - which is why Canadair interventions are so infrequent in urban and peri-urban areas. 'Such an intervention could also significantly destroy the little remaining structure of the cathedral.' The French Interior Ministry have mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the blazing inferno which has been burning for If an accident happens while a Canadair is being used, the pilot may also face criminal charges. Canadairs were used earlier this year in March when France experienced intense wildfires near Valdeblore in the Alpes-Maritimes. They were also used in 2017 when France experienced intense wildfires that forced 10,000 people to evacuate their homes and campsites overnight. The French Interior Ministry has mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the inferno that has been burning for hours A NSW father has been arrested by the child abuse squad and refused bail after his daughter was hospitalised with bruises and illegal drugs in her system. The nine-year-old girl was taken to John Hunter Hill Hospital in Newcastle, unresponsive, on Monday after she allegedly ingested illicit-drug laced food and was assaulted. The child abuse squad arrested the 28-year-old father at a Raymond Terrace home on Monday night, as Detectives allege he assaulted the girl. A NSW father has been arrested by the child abuse squad and refused bail after his daughter was hospitalised with bruises and illegal drugs in her system (stock) The nine-year-old girl was taken to John Hunter Hill Hospital in Newcastle, unresponsive, on Monday after she allegedly ingested illicit-drug laced food and was assaulted Doctors at the hospital were told she had ingested illicit drugs and may have also been given non-prescribed medication. The girl remains in hospital while forensic analysis determines what she consumed. The father was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was denied bail at Raymond Terrace Local Court on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear at the same court again on May 27. A NSW police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that the investigations are still ongoing. Property investors in most cities have seen an improvement in rental yields over the first quarter of 2019, but the best returns are increasingly likely to be found away from the major population hubs of Sydney and Melbourne. Rental yield - the percentage of property's value that can be charged in rent - improved more in Melbourne than Sydney over the opening three months of the year, meaning the two cities are lineball at 3.3 per cent. Both those cities have seen significant improvement in year-on-year terms, principally because of a significant drop in the average value of properties. The biggest improvement in yields in the early part of 2019 was to be found in Hobart, which edged up to 5.13 percent. Even though median weekly rent for Sydney is $540 and Hobart's sits at $450, it's the latter that gives a higher yield for investors due to the relatively low price of homes. Rental yields grew in early 2019 across all capital cities except for Brisbane - which saw a small reduction to sit at 4.6 percent, according to data from the latest Domain Rental Report. Apartments in Canberra, with a yield of 6.14 per cent, offered the best return over the March quarter - but for houses it was Hobart that came in first with yields at 5.13% Housing investors in Hobart are reaping the benefits of not only the highest yield, but also for the significant capital growth, according to Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell. Hobart has the lowest vacancy rate of all the capital cities at 0.3 per cent - which pushes up rental prices as demand grows, and rent prices are rising quicker than house prices. This actually makes the relatively small capital of Hobart more expensive for renters than Melbourne. Median weekly rent for a house in Tasmania's capital city is $450, compared to Melbourne's $440, according to the Domain Rental report for the March quarter. Over the March quarter, apartments in Canberra were best off - with a rental yield of 6.14 per cent. Canberra experienced a development boom which pushed unit prices down. GROSS RENTAL YIELDS FOR HOUSES Capital city March 2019 December 2018 Quarter on Quarter Year on Year Sydney 3.32% 3.29% 0.7% 5.3% Melbourne 3.30% 3.25% 1.4% 7.5% Brisbane 4.61% 4.62% -0.2% 0.2% Adelaide 4.48% 4.43% 1.2% 0.1% Perth 4.42% 4.34% 2.0% 6.0% Canberra 4.39% 4.33% 1.4% 2.3% Darwin 4.76% 4.68% 1.8% -4.2% Hobart 5.13% 5.05% 1.6% 2.4% But much of the apartment stock had been aimed at owner-occupiers - resulting in a shortage of rentals which pushes rent up, Dr Powell said. On a year-to-year basis, Melbourne's improvements in rental yield have been the biggest, jumping by 7.5 per cent. 'When you look at the markets that have seen the most significant improvements it's the cities that have seen the strongest price declines,' Dr Powell said. 'We're seeing prices fall at a faster pace than rents.' GROSS RENTAL YIELDS FOR UNITS Capital City March 2019 December 2018 Quarter on Quarter Year on Year Sydney 3.97% 3.91% 1.4% 2.7% Melbourne 4.58% 4.41% 3.8% 3.3% Brisbane 5.23% 5.08% 3.0% 3.3% Adelaide 5.32% 5.20% 2.2% 3.5% Perth 4.93% 4.83% 2.0% 8.5% Canberra 6.14% 6.03% 1.9% 4.6% Darwin 6.07% 6.04% 0.5% 0.5% Hobart 5.17% 4.95% 4.3% -0.7% Data source: Domain Yields are the lowest in Sydney and Melbourne while sale prices fall, prompting more investors to look elsewhere, said Rich Harvey, chief executive of propertybuyer.com.au. 'You would only ever consider going to that low a yield if you knew there was going to be a strong capital gain,' Mr Harvey said. 'We're seeing a lot of investors [now] interested in regional areas or Brisbane and placing a lot of our investors in the Newcastle market.' He warns investors should not only focus on yields, but also on potential population growth, infrastructure projects and employment opportunities - which all drive property prices upward. The mother of a man whose murder was organised by a 'highly manipulative and totally dishonest' woman says she suffers daily pain 'like being shot in the chest like a canon'. In February, a Supreme Court jury found Yu Tung Lo, 29, guilty of murdering her partner, Bacchus Marsh father Paul Hogan, on May 24, 2016. Lo incited another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to kill the 48-year-old, who died after being shot in the face at point blank range. Hong Kong national Yu Tung Lo (pictured) was found guilty of murdering her partner Paul Hogan in 2016 Paul Hogan was gunned down while reversing out of his Melbourne driveway by a shooter who was convinced to shoot him by his own partner She told the shooter Mr Hogan had repeatedly raped her and threatened to rape the shooter's young daughter. In the lead-up to the murder, Lo and the shooter exchanged text messages, with Lo telling the man she wanted 'it' dead. Lawyers argued during Tuesday's pre-sentence hearing about whether Justice Paul Coghlan should accept Lo's allegations when sentencing her. She pleaded guilty to an extra charge of perjury on Tuesday, admitting she'd lied about matters, including that she'd never had sex with Mr Hogan willingly, and when she last saw him, he was alive. Mrs Hogan, the mother of late Paul Hogan, used Lo's words against her. She she wants to see Lo 'dead' like Lo wanted to see her son dead But defence lawyer Peter Chadwick QC said Justice Coghlan should accept Lo was sexually assaulted, prompting prosecutor Peter Bourke to reply Mr Hogan was no longer alive to 'refute that allegation'. 'It's clear on the evidence the relationship was tumultuous and it was marked by violence,' Justice Coghlan said. A statement from Mr Hogan's mother Val Hogan was read to the court on Tuesday, during which she said she has cried 'oceans of tears' and has nightmares about her son being shot. As her statement was read, Mrs Hogan stared at Lo, sitting in the dock. In the lead-up to the murder, Lo and the shooter exchanged text messages, with Lo telling the man she wanted 'it' dead 'People have asked me what I would like to happen to you. I reply: 'I want it dead',' she said. 'The pain that I feel daily is like being shot in the chest with a canon and there is no relief for me. 'We don't have time served, or parole, we just have the term of our natural lives.' Mr Bourke said Lo had reduced Mr Hogan 'both in her mind and the shooter's mind, to an 'it'.' 'She was highly manipulative and totally dishonest in the steps that she took to engage the shooter, who she knew was particularly vulnerable to her entreaty to kill Mr Hogan,' he said. Lo will be sentenced on May 3. Furious activists are calling for a boycott of the author who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas over his latest book about a transgender boy. They took to social media to slam Irish writer John Boyne's new novel My Brother's Name is Jessica for 'misrepresenting' trans people. Some branded Boyne unqualified to write about the subject because he isn't transgender. But several users leaped to the defence of Boyne, saying writers should be allowed to use their imagination and 'write from many different perspectives'. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne (pictured) has come under fire from transgender activists over his new book which features a trans lead character Nikolai Darkling fumed: 'Boycott @john-boyne and his new 'novel' 'My Brother's Name is Jessica' in which his transphobic main character PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS a trans woman and this action is never condemned. 'Disgusting for an LGBT author to throw us under the bus like this. SHAME.' Another user wrote: 'John is not trans therefore this isn't his story to write. When it comes to transitioning, the trans person themselves should be centered. Not their siblings. 'This perspective has been done countless times already. Reading the novel is not mentally feasible for everyone.' Nikolai Darkling slammed Boyne and called for others to boycott the 'disgusting' new book A third said: 'Trans people are misrepresented enough in the media. They are writing their own stories. 'But another cis person's take is being lauded as brilliant trans representation, when we can tell, by the title of the book, that it's not. I'd almost prefer no rep at all.' Other Twitter users took offence to the novel's name - claiming the title 'misgenders' its protagonist. Some claimed the Irish writer wasn't qualified to write about the topic as he isn't trans himself Kimberly McCauley argued: 'The title of your book is inherently disrespectful and makes it very difficult to start any discourse on polite terms.' Another commented: 'He misgendered the trans person in the title...I think that reflects a lot on what's going to be in the book.' But many users leaped to the author's defence. Others took aim at the book's title, saying it 'misgenders' the lead character One said: 'Really because he is not trans then it is not his story to write? It is like saying a crime writer can't write a crime novel because he is not a criminal!' Author Eileen Wharton agreed and said: 'Writers use their imagination. It's what we do! 'I write from many different perspectives and may not have experienced the things I'm writing about. 'I speak to people who have experienced those things. I do other research as I'm sure John has done.' His new book centres around Sam Waver whose older brother Jason reveals he is transgender John Boyne is an award-winning Irish novelist who specialises in young adult and children's fiction. His most famous book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, topped the New York bestseller's list upon its release and was made into a 2008 film. My Brother's Name is Jessica centres around Sam Waver whose older brother Jason explains that he is transitioning into a woman. Asa Butterfield as Bruno, the son of the commandant at a German concentration camp who strikes a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy, in the 2008 film adaption of Boyne's novel Boyne said he wasn't taking comments that were rude or aggressive, or ones that made assumptions about his beliefs Taking to Twitter, the author defended his decision to write a trans story, despite not being trans himself. He said: 'I'm happy to answer Twitter comments on my new novel when time allows, but not if a tweet is framed in aggressive or rude terms, or makes assumptions about my intentions or beliefs. 'Literature is always open to debate, but the discourse must remain polite & mutually respectful.' Puffin books has been contacted for comment. United Airlines has extended original plans to ban 14 Boeing MAX 9s from June 5 Follows similar plans by American Airlines and Southwest Airlines last week An average 275 flights a day will be cancelled with potential for hiked airfares United Airlines has scrapped all Boeing 737 Max flights until July as the company continues to address safety issues after two planes were involved in devastating crashes. It follows American Airlines and Southwest Airlines which grounded the planes from last week. ADVERTISEMENT United, which have 14 Max 9s, extended its ban on the planes from June 5. United Airlines, which operates 14 Max 9s, have grounded their fleet until early July. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have banned the aircraft until August (stock image) The company had planned to use spare aircraft to lessen the impact on passengers but has now accepted the swell of summer holidaymakers would make this impossible. 'Moving forward, we'll continue to monitor the regulatory process and nimbly make the necessary adjustments to our operation and our schedule to benefit our customers who are traveling this summer,' a spokesman for United told CNBC. Southwest Airlines said on Friday it had cancelled flights using the plane until August 5 - with American grounding the jets until August 19 on Sunday. Southwest is the world's largest Max operator with 34 planes and American has 24. Boeing has slowed production of the 737 Max model and stopped deliveries as the company works on a software fix Click here to resize this module An average of 275 flights a day will be canceled, which are likely to put a dent in airline profits and could cause the companies to raise airfares. All 737 Max aircraft had been banned from the world's skies since mid-March after suffering two fatal crashes less than five months apart. A Lion Air flight crashed in the Java Sea in October - leaving 189 dead - and an Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 killed 157 people. Investigators have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS as possible causes. Boeing is finalizing software upgrades for the MCAS, which it has pledged to submit to regulators in the coming weeks so that the 737 Max grounding order can be lifted. The company's CEO Dennis Muilenburg said 96 flights have clocked up 159 hours with the new adjustments. President Donald Trump mounted pressure on Boeing yesterday, with calls for it to rebrand the scandal-stricken aircraft. ADVERTISEMENT He said: 'What do I know about branding, maybe nothing, but I did become President, but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great and REBRAND the plane with a new name.' Rebranding the aircraft would impose additional costs on the airlines which would be required to fully retrain pilots, while an updated model involves less intense additional training. President Donald Trump tweeted his ideas for helping Boeing rebrand the troubled 737 Max plane in the early hours of this morning Trump tweeted his advice this morning to Boeing on how to revive the 737 Max brand after two crashes claimed the lives of 346 people Flight cancellations show the airlines, that had hoped to have the planes back in the air by May, now expect it will be longer before the aircraft can return to service. Aviation analysts largely agree and expect the grounding to be lifted by the end of August. In the meantime, the industry is working to regain the trust of the flying public. The US Federal Aviation Administration, which must certify the 737 Max's airworthiness, released a video last week in which its interim chief Daniel Elwell said the agency was working to keep pilots informed. The FAA also said the agency would not rush to get the 737 Max flying again. The Ethiopia Airlines jet reportedly had its angle-of-attack sensor damaged on takeoff from a foreign object or bird, experts said last week. The damaged sensor went on to trigger inaccurate data and resulted in the pilots turning the anti-stall software - known as MCAS - off, but it re-engaged and pushed the jet downwards. The pilots are said to have tried to manually bring the nose of the plane back up before restoring power but they were unable to regain control - ultimately resulting in the plane crashing to the ground. ADVERTISEMENT Boeing vowed to fix the software problems detected in its 737 Max flight control system with a new patch following the two deadly crashes. A preliminary accident report into last month's fatal crash in Ethiopia found that faulty sensor readings and multiple automatic commands to push down the nose of the Boeing plane contributed to the crash, leaving the crew struggling to regain control. The Federal Aviation Administration has been meeting with representatives from American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co over the next steps after more than 300 Boeing 737 MAXs were grounded worldwide. FAA officials have also convened a joint review with aviation regulators from other countries, while federal prosecutors, the US Department of Transportation inspector general's office and a blue-ribbon panel are reviewing the plane's certification. United Airlines has scrapped all Boeing 737 Max flights until July as the company continues to address safety issues after two planes were involved in devastating crashes. It follows American Airlines and Southwest Airlines which grounded the planes from last week. United, which have 14 Max 9s, extended its ban on the planes from June 5. United Airlines, which operates 14 Max 9s, have grounded their fleet until early July. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have banned the aircraft until August (stock image) The company had planned to use spare aircraft to lessen the impact on passengers but has now accepted the swell of summer holidaymakers would make this impossible. 'Moving forward, we'll continue to monitor the regulatory process and nimbly make the necessary adjustments to our operation and our schedule to benefit our customers who are traveling this summer,' a spokesman for United told CNBC. Southwest Airlines said on Friday it had cancelled flights using the plane until August 5 - with American grounding the jets until August 19 on Sunday. Southwest is the world's largest Max operator with 34 planes and American has 24. Boeing has slowed production of the 737 Max model and stopped deliveries as the company works on a software fix An average of 275 flights a day will be canceled, which are likely to put a dent in airline profits and could cause the companies to raise airfares. All 737 Max aircraft had been banned from the world's skies since mid-March after suffering two fatal crashes less than five months apart. A Lion Air flight crashed in the Java Sea in October - leaving 189 dead - and an Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 killed 157 people. Investigators have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS as possible causes. Boeing is finalizing software upgrades for the MCAS, which it has pledged to submit to regulators in the coming weeks so that the 737 Max grounding order can be lifted. The company's CEO Dennis Muilenburg said 96 flights have clocked up 159 hours with the new adjustments. President Donald Trump mounted pressure on Boeing yesterday, with calls for it to rebrand the scandal-stricken aircraft. He said: 'What do I know about branding, maybe nothing, but I did become President, but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great and REBRAND the plane with a new name.' Rebranding the aircraft would impose additional costs on the airlines which would be required to fully retrain pilots, while an updated model involves less intense additional training. President Donald Trump tweeted his ideas for helping Boeing rebrand the troubled 737 Max plane in the early hours of this morning Trump tweeted his advice this morning to Boeing on how to revive the 737 Max brand after two crashes claimed the lives of 346 people Flight cancellations show the airlines, that had hoped to have the planes back in the air by May, now expect it will be longer before the aircraft can return to service. Aviation analysts largely agree and expect the grounding to be lifted by the end of August. In the meantime, the industry is working to regain the trust of the flying public. The US Federal Aviation Administration, which must certify the 737 Max's airworthiness, released a video last week in which its interim chief Daniel Elwell said the agency was working to keep pilots informed. The FAA also said the agency would not rush to get the 737 Max flying again. The Ethiopia Airlines jet reportedly had its angle-of-attack sensor damaged on takeoff from a foreign object or bird, experts said last week. The damaged sensor went on to trigger inaccurate data and resulted in the pilots turning the anti-stall software - known as MCAS - off, but it re-engaged and pushed the jet downwards. The pilots are said to have tried to manually bring the nose of the plane back up before restoring power but they were unable to regain control - ultimately resulting in the plane crashing to the ground. Boeing vowed to fix the software problems detected in its 737 Max flight control system with a new patch following the two deadly crashes. A preliminary accident report into last month's fatal crash in Ethiopia found that faulty sensor readings and multiple automatic commands to push down the nose of the Boeing plane contributed to the crash, leaving the crew struggling to regain control. The Federal Aviation Administration has been meeting with representatives from American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co over the next steps after more than 300 Boeing 737 MAXs were grounded worldwide. FAA officials have also convened a joint review with aviation regulators from other countries, while federal prosecutors, the US Department of Transportation inspector general's office and a blue-ribbon panel are reviewing the plane's certification. Fake reviews on little known tech brands and products, many made in China, are skewing customer searches and choices on Amazon, it is claimed. An investigation by Which? found many products that have no record of success or independent assessment carry five-star customer reviews, which could mislead shoppers into wasting their money. The consumer group checked out hundreds of tech products in 14 popular categories, including headphones, dash cams, fitness trackers and smartwatches, checking for tell-tale signs of suspicious reviews. Fake reviews on little known tech brands and products, many made in China, are skewing customer searches and choices on Amazon, it is claimed. Stock image The investigation found that headphones, smart watches and fitness trackers are common products which are given fake reviews. It found that the top-rated items were dominated by unknown brands with names such as ITSHINY, Vogek and Aitalk, which in many cases had thousands of unverified reviews, where there was no evidence the person had bought or used the product. The evidence suggests Amazons efforts to protect customers by weeding out fake or misleading reviews are ineffective. Some 97 per cent of shoppers rely on online customer reviews to help make a purchase, which mean the fakes are a serious problem because customers are misled into buying poor products. The Competition & Markets Authority has raised concerns that misleading reviews can skew consumer spending worth 23billion a year across everything from home products to hotels and restaurants. Natalie Hitchins of Which? said: Our research suggests that Amazon is losing the battle against fake reviews with shoppers bombarded by dubious comments aimed at artificially boosting products from unknown brands. Amazon must do more to purge its websites of unreliable and fake reviews if it is to maintain the trust of its millions of customers. To avoid being misled and possibly buying a dud product, customers should always take reviews with a pinch of salt and look to independent and trustworthy sources when researching a purchase. The Which? researchers found that many products had a suspiciously high number of five-star ratings that had been dumped on to Amazons review pages in a short space of time, which is a red flag suggesting the reviews are fake. For example, a search for headphones based on customer reviews and ratings was topped by unknown brands where almost nine in ten of more than 12,000 reviews were from unverified purchasers. Seven out of ten had suspiciously perfect five-star customer ratings and, bizarrely, some even included reviews for unrelated products such as soap dispensers. One set of headphones, by unknown brand Celebrat, had 439 reviews which were all five-star, all unverified, and all arrived on the same day. Which? shared its findings with review experts ReviewMeta, who concluded that every five-star unverified review of the top ten pairs of headphones was fake. A spokesman for ReviewMeta said: Im shocked. Weve been seeing this so much on Amazon. It seems so obvious and easy to prevent. An examination of the authenticity of one of the unknown headphone brands, Cquang, suggested it barely seemed to exist. The names of the unknown firms that Which? says have received fake reviews for their products on Amazon Cqueang Qianfuyin Gejinfun Idoosmart Advertisement For example, the business did not appear to be based at its claimed head office address. This was repeated for many of the other unknown brands. An analysis of smartwatches found every device on the first page of results when sorted by average customer review was from an unknown brand. Unverified reviews made up 99 per cent of the reviews for the top four products. Three smartwatches had a five-star average customer rating. More than half of the reviews for the Galso Kids Smartwatch had appeared in one 24-hour period in March. The pattern was repeated with action cameras, fitness trackers and wireless security cameras with more than nine in ten of the top-rated products in each category made by unknown brands and boosted by a deluge of dubious reviews. Which? was unable to establish the source of the unverified reviews. Which? is advising shoppers to take extra care buying products from brands they havent heard of, even if they have positive customer reviews, because these are more likely to be fake or incentivised. Where possible, look for thorough and independent reviews from credible sources. Investigation found many products have no record of success or independent assessment. One of the reviews is pictured One set of headphones, by unknown brand Celebrat, had 439 reviews which were all five-star, all unverified, and all arrived on the same day. Stock picture shows Celebrat headphones Which? shared its findings with review experts ReviewMeta, who concluded that every five-star unverified review of the top ten pairs of headphones was fake. Stock picture shows a Luvfun headphone adaptor Amazon said it invests significant resources to protect the integrity of reviews. It confirmed that it has clear participation guidelines for both reviewers and selling partners and it suspends, bans, and takes legal action on those that violate guidelines. The company said it uses a combination of techniques including investigation teams and automated technology to spot fake reviews. Three smartwatches had a five-star average customer rating. More than half of the reviews for the Galso Kids Smartwatch had appeared in one 24-hour period in March It confirmed that it uses machine learning tech to analyse reviews 24/7 as well as working with social media sites to block fake reviews at the source. It said customers can help by reporting any requests they get to manipulate reviews to Amazon customer service. Which? was unable to contact the unknown brands identified in its investigation. Two weeks ago, Which? revealed how many genuine customer reviews on the websites of Amazon, Argos, Currys PC World and John Lewis, gave five-star ratings to products it had tested and rated as a Dont Buy. The customer reviews were often posted soon after purchase and took into account things like speed of delivery. Which? said these were not as valuable as the independent and long-running product tests it carries out. Advertisement A newlywed couple who blamed a husband-and-wife team when their grand design 'dream home' turned into a 5million 'disaster' have lost their fight for damages. Millionaire businessman Stuart Russell and his textile designer wife Naomi claimed they had planned to spend around 2million building 'a bespoke, curved, custom-built, high-end property' with 'a wow factor in every space' in one of London's most exclusive streets. The 'highly successful and experienced businessman' and his wife hoped their four-bedroom house in Highgate would be finished in less than a year. But a series of 'disputes' and withdrawals involving contractors brought 'disarray' and 'disaster' to their scheme. In the end, it took the couple 10 years, and cost them 5million. After completion, they sued project manager and quantity surveyor team Peter Stone, 61, and Linda Stone, 62, who advised them between 2008 and 2012. Stuart and Naomi Russell (both left, pictured outside the High Court in London) said most of the blame for the debacle falls on husband and wife project manager and quantity surveyor 'team', Peter and Linda Stone (right) The couple hired the husband and wife to build a 'a bespoke, curved, custom-built, high-end property' with 'a wow factor in every space' (pictured) in what they hoped would be a four-year project before it spiralled into a 10-year one A High Court judge has thrown out the case against the Stones in relation to the Millfield Lane build (pictured) after the couple sued them for nearly 1million They claimed the Stones' 'failures' and lack of foresight 'caused them to spend significantly more on their property' than intended. But Mrs Justice Jefford threw out the Russells' High Court claim for almost 1million compensation. Millfield Lane in north London is one of the capital's most desirable streets, retaining a 'country lane' feel despite being 30 minutes from the heart of the City, and is a magnet for ambitious multi-million-pound self-builds. The Russells bought a house on the street for 3.65m in August 2006, shortly after they got married, and demolished it to make way for their dream home in 2010. Their 'bespoke modern residential property' is 'a detached home covering three stories with four bedrooms and a swimming pool on the lower ground floor, together with substantial landscaped grounds to the front and back' and is estimated by estate agents to be worth 8million. Pictured: The end result of the 10-year build, with the Russells says ended up costing them more than double what they had envisaged when they first set out on the project The couple proclaimed that they wanted a 'wow factor' in every part of the house, but later sued the Stones over their dissatisfaction at the time the project took and how much they ended up spending The Stones, who live in a 1.2million flat in Kensington, west London, worked on the Russells' project through their business, PSP Consultants, for three-and-a-half years before quitting in 2012, after builders walked out. Mr and Mrs Russell claimed the Stones were responsible for the raft of problems that dogged the project, because they had made 'representations' in a pre-contract letter to them that they 'could manage everything'. Pictured: The kitchen and dining room inside the Grand Designs-style home But the judge found that, while the Stones had been 'selling themselves' before the Russells agreed to sign them on, 'they did not contract on a basis that would make them liable for anything that went wrong'. The judge said Mr and Mrs Russell were only recently married when they bought the house and it was their 'dream home'. 'It was a very personal project for them. Mrs Russell had a background in textile design and the house was an opportunity for her to bring her design eye to their home. 'She wanted a wow factor in each space. This case is about...PSP's responsibility and the extent of their responsibility for what went wrong'. The judge said the focus of the Russells' claim had shifted during the trial and in the end one of the main allegations against the Stones was that they were negligent in their management of the tender process which led to the hiring of the builders who walked off the project in 2012. It was also said by the Russells that, had they been advised by the Stones how much their dream home was going to cost realistically, they would have 'cut their cloth accordingly' and changed the design to something cheaper and simpler before it was too late. But the judge dismissed their claim, saying it was 'wishful thinking with the benefit of hindsight' to claim they would have paused and revised their plans to a less ambitious scheme. The Russells bought the house (above) for 3.65million in August 2006 and demolished it to make way for their dream home but ended up spending more than they had hoped She said: 'Given what happened on this project and with hindsight, the Russells now say, and I have no doubt honestly say, that they would not have gone ahead, but would have taken time to consider their position. Timeline of a property nightmare for the Russells in Highgate August 2006: Stuart and Naomi Russell buy home in Highgate, North London, for 3.65million 2008: Peter and Linda Stone begin to advise the Russells on the new property 2010: Russells demolish current home to make way for their new house, for which they have a budget of 2million July 2011: Russells had hoped the home would be finished by now, but only the concrete is down February 2012: The Stones quit working on the Russells' project after a walkout by builders 2018: Couple's home is now finished after a 5million rebuild project - and is now said to be worth 8million Advertisement 'I find as a matter of fact that it is highly unlikely that Mr and Mrs Russell would have decided not to proceed because of the sorts of risks that it is contended they ought to have been warned of. 'Even though Mr Russell took the advice of professional advisers, as I have said he was still able to exercise his own judgement. I do not accept that they would have done something different. The result is that they got what they paid for.' In relation to the hiring of the building company after a tendering process, she added: 'In my judgment, taking the allegations cumulatively and as going to a single breach, PSP did not fail properly to manage or advise on the tender process. 'Even if I had found PSP to be negligent in their management of the tender process, Mr and Mrs Russell's case would, in my view, have failed on the issue of causation. 'Had I found PSP negligent, there is simply no causative link or no sufficient evidence from which I can infer that any monies expended by Mr and Mrs Russell which exceeded the amount of the building company's tender were expended by reason of PSP's negligence.' At trial, the Stones had insisted the Russells wasted money and caused delays by dithering and agonising too much over choosing their interior details, including door handles, toilet roll holders, sanitary wear and ironmongery. Plans show the aerial view of the home, with the Russells saying that 'dealing with curves in this way is so complex' as they set out their vision for the bespoke property in one of London's most exclusive streets The Russells told how their luxury property in North London 'comprised some unusual interesting areas in each room' but the project turned into a 10-year long affair which ended in a case at the High Court Plans for the south elevation of the property in Highgate, which was built after a 3million overspend on the couple's budget Mr Russell, however, in the witness box claimed the time he and his wife took reaching decisions on their interiors was justified by the unique and 'complex' nature of their new home, telling Mrs Justice Jefford: 'This is not some Barratt home.' 'What we wanted was our house to be our house with everything we wanted,' he said. 'If you are building your own home, you want the design to be what you want and the quality to be what you want. I think where we live has a certain expectation of level of standard. My house was where it was.' The judge found that the argument over the householders' meticulous design decisions was 'largely a non-issue' which had 'taken on a life of its own'. She also dismissed the Stones' counterclaim against the Russells for around 20,000 in 'unpaid fees'. A hearing to deal with the legal costs consequences of the case had yet to take place. A British soldier allegedly attacked by a female colleague and left with a slashed throat broke down in tears today declaring 'I am so lucky to be alive'. Sarah Garrity, 22, was admitted to hospital with potential life threatening injuries, but has made a remarkable recovery and is expected to be allowed home for Easter. Doctors here told her that her recovery 'was like a miracle' as her friend Sydney Cole, 19, remained in police custody after being arrested over the attack. A senior source at the Hospital Son Espases, where Sarah had been in intensive care, told MailOnline that the attack narrowly missed her jugular vein. Cole (right) and Ms Garrity (left) were said by police to have been friends. A source said the incident took place after an 'argument' Sydney Cole was allegedly seen arguing with her friend Sarah Garrity before 'glassing her with a beer bottle' in the shoulder The source added: 'Sarah is making a miraculous recovery. She's a very lucky girl. We can't believe she's still here. ' When we told her this she just cried ''I could have died, I'm so lucky'. 'She lost a lot of blood, underwent an emergency operation and it was touch and go she would pull through. 'It's incredible how well she's recovering. We keep telling her how fortunate she's been because her life was in real danger.' Ms Garrity has been moved from the intensive care unit to a regular ward at Hospital Son Espases in Palma, the capital of the Spanish island of Majorca. Sydney Cole, aged 19, from the Adjutant General Corps has already appeared in court in Palma for the attack and is expected to be further questioned by a judge. She is currently being held in Palma jail. The hospital source added: 'Sarah's now sitting up in bed, talking, eating and drinking. She's chatting on her mobile phone with her family. 'It has surprised us all how quickly she is recovering. Most of all, it's surprised and shocked her.' Cole, 19, from London, being escorted by two Civil Guards to court in the Palma to be questioned by a judge yesterday The two female soldiers are close friends who were on holiday together. Witnesses describe seeing a blood bath as Ms Garrity stumbled out of the Banas de Magaluf club where the attack took place and collapsed on the street, clutching her neck. When para medics arrived, Ms Garrity was in a critical condition after losing a lot of blood. Witnesses also claimed seeing the two women arguing at the bar prior to the attack. A man named as Suleiman, who was working at a kebab shop next door to the nightclub, described the scene as a 'bloodbath' when he saw the injured soldier, who is in the Royal Logistics Corps, collapse outside his restaurant. He added: 'I couldn't look it was so horrible. It was horrific. There was blood everywhere. 'I could hardly bring myself to look. It was a huge gash, and quite a hole that wouldn't stop bleeding.' The hospital source revealed that Ms Garrity's family are expected to arrive later this week to visit her. Police are also due to see her tomorrow to take a formal statement. Until now, she has not had any visitors. Well-placed sources said a decision about an eventual prosecution could depend on whether Ms Garrity decides to make a formal complaint against her close friend. Ms Garrity, who was born in Scotland but lives in a detached home which has a solar powered roof in Middlesbrough, spoke with her family for the first time today. 'It was very emotional and we are expecting them soon. The doctors have already told them how lucky Sarah has been. She's in very good spirits and is looking forward to seeing them. 'Sarah is a very strong girl, she is a soldier after all. She has been very positive, despite what happened. She just wants to go home and we are optimistic that it will be very soon.' Cole said nothing as she was escorted into court for her hearing on Monday with her head bowed in handcuffs and wearing the same blue denim shorts and a white denim top at the time of her arrest. Local reports said she told the judge that Ms Garrity had punched her in the face after intervening in a row she was having with another friend and she injured her by accident after parts of a glass she threw on the floor hit her in the neck. Sydney Cole, 19, from London, allegedly plunged a shattered glass into her friend Sarah Garrity's neck at Bananas de Magaluf club on the Spanish island of Majorca. Ms Garrity, 22, who lives in Middlesbrough, was found in a critical condition outside the night spot and is in intensive care in hospital. Police were hoping to speak to Garrity later today in hospital to see if she wants to press charges against her army colleague over the Magaluf attack which left her fighting for her life. The alleged attack took place at around 1am in the early hours of Monday morning in the popular party area of Punta Bellena and followed some sort of argument between the two soldiers. Witnesses described seeing the two off-duty women, who are thought to have been friends, arguing at the bar. One of the woman came away from the confrontation with blood coming from her nose, according to the Sun. A man who tried to break up the pair said when he went to calm the situation down, Cole allegedly smashed a bottle into Garrity's shoulder. He told the Sun: 'Suddenly ''bang'' the other smaller girl smacked her on the shoulder blade with her beer bottle. It was a really nasty hit and the red mist just descended.' A man named as Suleiman, who was working at a kebab shop next door to the nightclub, described the scene as a 'bloodbath' when he saw the injured soldier, who is in the Royal Logistics Corps, collapse outside his restaurant. He added: 'I couldn't look it was so horrible. It was horrific. There was blood everywhere. 'I could hardly bring myself to look. It was a huge gash, and quite a hole that wouldn't stop bleeding.' Ms Garrity kisses Cole on the cheek in a picture posted on Cole's Instagram account When doctors arrived, Scottish-born Garrity was in a critical condition after losing a lot of blood. Medics managed to stop the bleeding and stabilise her before she was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of Hospital Son Espases. A few hours later, official sources confirmed to Spanish newspaper Ultima Hora that her life was not in danger. One well-placed source said after news of the incident first emerged: 'The girl who was injured suffered a cut to her throat. She was rushed to intensive care and had an emergency op. 'She's still very serious but we're hearing the operation has been successful and saved her life.' Cole, of the Adjutant General Corps, was arrested by the Civil Guard and appeared at court in the Majorcan capital of Palma to be questioned by a judge yesterday afternoon. She said nothing as she was escorted into court for the hearing on Monday with her head bowed in handcuffs and wearing blue denim shorts and a white denim top. Cole appeared in court in the same jean shorts and white jean top she was wearing when she was arrested. The attack happened at around 1am yesterday morning and police have launched a full investigation, with Cole (pictured) being arrested The incident happened at the Bananas de Magaluf nightclub (pictured) in the popular party area of Punta Ballena Cole stands in a nightclub in Budapest, Hungary. Police have launched an investigation into the incident in the early hours of yesterday Fellow squaddie Cole was remanded in custody last night after appearing before the judge in a closed court hearing. Sources at Son Espases Hospital, where Miss Garrity is expected to be moved to a general ward later today from intensive care, said this morning she was 'serious but stable' and recovering. Investigators said they would seek to talk to her as soon as possible about the incident at Bananas nightclub in Magaluf which led to Cole's arrest. Well-placed sources said a decision about an eventual prosecution could depend on whether Scottish-born Sarah Ann decides to make a formal complaint against her close friend. The pair were on holiday together in the party resort after taking time off to go to Spain. Local reports said London-born Cole told the judge who sent her to prison late last night that Sarah Ann had punched her in the face after intervening in a row she was having with another friend and she injured her by accident after parts of a glass she threw on the floor hit her in the neck. Sydeny Cole, pictured heading to court in Palma, Majorca yesterday, allegedly plunged a shattered glass into friend Sarah Garrity's neck at the Bananas de Magaluf disco Another social media picture shows Cole (centre) during her passing out parade Local paper Diario de Mallorca said witnesses to the incident had told investigators the alleged attacker had thrown the glass directly at her pal's head. Both women are believed to have been under the influence of alcohol when the incident occurred. There was no immediate comment from officials regarding the remand in custody. A friend of Sarah Anne's said today: 'Sarah's awake but she's extremely upset which is to be expected.' Barbara Nield, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, whose 23-year-old soldier daughter Bethany Bancroft was engaged to the injured woman until recently, added: 'Bethany is so upset because of what has happened to Sarah. They are not together now but they were very close.' Bethany's brother Ashley Nield, 29, described Sarah as 'bright, witty, funny and caring.' Police sources described the pair as friends. It was not immediately clear if the casualty was glassed with a broken bottle or was hurt when a glass was thrown at her, although sources said they believed she suffered a cut throat after a glass was thrown. Ms Garrity (right) was rushed to the intensive care unit at Hospital Son Espases and is in a critical condition, despite her life not being in danger. She was allegedly attacked by Cole (left) who was arrested at the scene Sarah Ann Garrity (pictured), 22, from Middlesbrough is in critical condition in hospital after the attack A source at Son Espases Hospital in Palma confirmed in the hours after she was rushed to hospital that the injured woman was 'critical' and in intensive care. A source at an emergency response coordination centre said: 'We received the first calls at 12.55am on Monday, about a fight in a nightclub between two female friends. 'The alert that came in said the incident involved a physical attack with a glass by one friend against another.' An army spokesman said: 'We are aware of an incident involving two off duty soldiers in Spain. 'An investigation by the local Spanish police is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to comment further.' Jeremy Kappell was let go from WHEC-TV, Rochester in January and has now filed a lawsuit against the station. The meteorologist appeared to use the racial slur whilst describing a park in the New York state city named after Martin Luther King Jr. During the January 4, 2019 evening broadcast he appeared to say 'Dr. Luther C**n King Jr. Park,' and was let go three days later. During the January 4 evening broadcast he appeared to say 'Dr. Luther C**n King Jr. Park' He always claimed it was a 'linguistic error' and the decision to let him go fueled a lawsuit because he suffered 'severe emotional distress' as a result of what attorneys called 'callous and reckless conduct' by the former employer. Kappell, whose LinkedIn lists him as unemployed, filed the lawsuit against WHEC-TV, Hubbard Broadcasting, and WHEC general manager Richard Reingold on Monday. It lists four causes of action for the lawsuit: breach of contract, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Kappell, who was the chief meteorologist for a year and four months, wants a jury trial regarding his termination. News10NBC Vice President and General Manager Richard Reingold lamented the fact that management weren't alerted to the alleged slur until Sunday, after it aired on a Friday. Kappell always claimed it was a 'linguistic error' and the decision to let him go fueled a lawsuit Kappell, whose LinkedIn lists him as unemployed, filed the lawsuit against WHEC-TV 'That it was not caught immediately is inexcusable,' he said in a statement. 'I regret that we did not immediately interrupt the broadcast and apologize on the spot.' 'The words have no place on News10NBC's air,' he added. Rochester city mayor, Lovely Warren, also called for Kappell's resignation less than 48 hours later but Reingold said the decision was already made by this time. In the presenter's lawsuit, wherein it is stated he has suffered emotional distress, it states that Reingold's statement made on behalf of WHEC is defamatory. It said that the statement was 'representing to the world that Kappell had intentionally uttered a racial slur. 'In doing so, Reingold defamed Kappell, as he knew or should have known that his statement, particularly as it related to Kappell's linguistic error and intent, was false.' Britain cannot be treated like a second class member while it remains an EU member state ahead of Brexit, a top European politician has warned. Donald Tusk used a speech to euro MPs in Brussels to urge them not to give in to 'fear and scaremongering' claims that the UK could use extra time inside the bloc to 'disrupt' its activities. To muted applause in Brussels today the European Council president said that the UK had been a 'constructive and responsible' member state throughout Brexit talks, adding: 'We have no reason to believe this will change.' He also said the the UK 'will' take part in European elections, despite Theresa May's wish to have left before the May 23 poll. Donald Tusk told European MPs in Brussels that the UK had been a 'constructive and responsible' member state throughout Brexit talks Mr Juncker (pictured greeting chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier), told MEPs said the EU was 'ready' for a no-deal Brexit but that the bloc had 'nothing to gain' from it European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told MEPs that like UK politicians the EU was on a 'Brexit break' after months of intense activity Mr Tusk told MEPs that any returned by Britain would be 'full members of the Parliament, with full rights and obligations'. He said: 'I know that some have expressed fear that the UK might want to disrupt the EU's functioning during this time but the EU 27 didn't give in to such fear and scaremongering. 'In fact, since the very beginning of the Brexit process the UK has been a constructive and responsible EU member state and so we have no reason to believe that this should change.' He added: 'One of the consequences of our decision is that the UK will hold European elections next month. 'We should approach this seriously as UK members of the European Parliament will be there for several months - maybe longer. 'They will be full members of the Parliament with all the rights and obligations. 'I am speaking about this today because I have strongly opposed the idea that during this further extension the UK should be treated as a second category member state. 'No, it cannot. Therefore I also ask you to reject similar ideas if they were to be voiced in this House.' It came after a top German politician warned Britain to get its EU departure sorted by the new October 31 deadline, saying 'You cannot drag out Brexit for a decade'. Heiko Maas, Angela Merkel's foreign minister said that the UK had six months to sort itself out politically, hinting that a fresh extension to Article 50 was not a formality. 'They will have to decide what they want by October,' he told the Financial Times. Mr Tusk called for the 'dream' that Britain might give up on leaving the European Union not to be dismissed and urged politicians not to let exhaustion with Brexit negotiations make for a hasty exit. Giving an account of last week's summit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Council President Tusk said he was responding to a statement by one national leader who had warned 'dreamers' not to think 'Brexit could be reversed'. Nigel Farage, who has been an MEP for two decades, greeted Mr Juncker today, days after setting up a new Brexit Party to stand in May's elections on a platform of leaving Nigel Farage shows off socks in British colours as he appears at the European Parliament in Brussels. 'At this rather difficult moment in our history, we need dreamers and dreams. We cannot give in to fatalism. 'At least I will not stop dreaming about a better and united Europe,' said Tusk, long a vocal proponent of Britain having a chance to stay. It was not immediately clear which leader he was referring to, but French President Emmanuel Macron stood out at the summit for pushing for Britain to be given only a few weeks more to decide whether to leave on negotiated terms or without them. The summit compromised by giving Britain another six months. Tusk said: 'I know that, on both sides of the Channel, everyone, including myself, is exhausted with Brexit, which is completely understandable. However, this is not an excuse to say: "let's get it over with", just because we're tired.' However European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker struck a less conciliatory tone this morning. Speaking after Mr Tusk he said it was up to Britain when it chooses to exit the European Union and it was not his working assumption that Brexit could be reversed or extended beyond October. He said the EU was 'ready' for a no-deal Brexit but that the bloc had 'nothing to gain' from the 'disruption' it would cause the UK. He said that like the UK the EU was now on a break from Brexit after the new longer deadline was passed last week. European Parliament chief Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt said he feared Brexit would 'poison' the European elections. Referring to the delay to Brexit, he said: 'I fear that it will continue the uncertainty. I fear that it will prolong the indecision. And I fear most of all that it will import the Brexit mess into the European Union. 'And moreover that it will poison the upcoming European election.' Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage claimed his party would win a general election if Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn agree to a permanent customs union compromise. He told the European Parliament: 'The Brexit Party will sweep the board in these elections and there is only one way it can be stopped and that is if the governing party of Mrs May and the opposition of Mr Corbyn come together and agree to a permanent customs union, and indeed effectively membership of the single market. 'If that happens, the Brexit Party won't win the European elections but it will win the general election because the betrayal will be so complete and utter, so I don't believe it's going to happen.' Earlier Theresa May had been urged to use the delay to Brexit to prepare for the next stage of negotiations with the EU and avoid repeating the blunders made during the divorce process. Talks on a future trade deal with Brussels will be 'more complicated' than the negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement, an Institute for Government (IfG) report said. In a highly critical assessment of the Government's handling of the Brexit process so far, the think tank's analysis blamed Mrs May for creating the 'unsustainable' split in responsibilities between Number 10 and the Department for Exiting the European Union (Dexeu), with the 'secretive' approach adopted by the Prime Minister and her closest aides fuelling division. Negotiations on the first phase of Brexit were also 'bedevilled by the difficulty of getting Cabinet agreement' on the kind of relationship the UK wants with the EU. Politicians, particularly on the Tory backbenches, 'did not trust the UK's official negotiators' led by Olly Robbins. 'Ministers, from the Prime Minister down, were unclear about the instructions they gave to officials,' the report said, meaning that critics could blame the civil servants, undermining their work. IfG programme director Jill Rutter said: 'The Prime Minister moved quickly to establish the Department for Exiting the EU and the Department for International Trade within a day of taking office. 'Those hasty decisions created completely foreseeable problems for the exit negotiations, compounded by the inability of the Cabinet to reach an agreed position on the key future economic relationship. 'Whoever is prime minister for the second phase of the negotiations needs to ensure that they avoid similar mistakes next time round.' An American firefighter has explained the specific challenges faced by the Parisian fire brigade in tackling the enormous blaze that ripped through the centuries-old Notre Dame cathedral in Paris last night. The fire was brought under control late on Monday after it had consumed the structure's iconic spire and much of the roof, leaving millions - including U.S. President Donald Trump - wondering how it could have spread so quickly. According to former St Louis firefighter Gregg Favre, the fire brigade's efforts would have been hampered by limited access to the building, as well as the age and design of the almost 900-year-old structure. In a tweet sent from Air Force One on Monday, Trump suggested that flying water tankers could help extinguish the flames - a theory later debunked by Frances civil defense agency. A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky In a thinly-veiled rebuke to the President, Securite Civile tweeted: 'All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts, which... could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.' Addressing crowds at a Tax Day event in Missouri later that day, Trump spoke of his astonishment that the fire was 'burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn.' Around 400 Parisian firefighters battled for around eight hours to halt not only the immediate danger to life but also to preserve the cathedral and the priceless treasures it houses. As the world watched the horrifying incident unfold, some questioned whether the fire teams had been well-equipped enough to deal with flames at such a height. But after seeing videos of the blaze on social media, Favre - who is a former director of Missouri Department of Public Safety - attempted to explain some of the more technical aspects of the preservation effort, as well the professional procedure that the fire brigade would have had to follow. President Trump suggested the use of airborne tankers as he tweeted about the fire en route to Missouri from Air Force One Securite Civile appeared to slam President Trump's suggestion, by explaining - in its only English-language tweet on the Notre Dame disaster - why using water-bombing aircrafts were not used to tackle the blaze 'The first issue is how old churches are built, heavy timber construction with large open spaces and very few (if any in a church like Notre Dame) fire stops,' he wrote on Monday evening. A firestop is a form of passive fire protection used to seal openings and joints in a wall or floor, and impede the spread of fire in modern buildings. Construction on Notre began in 1163. With structure as tall as the Notre Dame peak, normal methods of stemming the spread of the fire are all-but impossible. Gregg Favre, a former firefighter and director of Missouri Department of Public Safety, tweeted on Monday evening some of his professional observations about the fire and why it could not be immediately stopped 'In firefighting there is something called a "trenchcut" that basically opens a large roof up from peak to gutter, allowing space to stop fire spread,' Favre wrote. 'Given the peak of the cathedral roof and advanced fire conditions, this is an unlikely option in the main area of the building. 'Even if aerial waterways (think hook and ladders with prepiped hoses) could reach the roofline, it is difficult to see how they would get an angle that would get water on the fire - its just too high. 'So this means you have to put firefighters inside... a whole other problem. The primary option is large 2.5" fire hoses. Favre did not mention President Trump in his tweets, but his post came hours after Trump suggested using water-bombing aircraft to tackle the flames - which French security officials later said could have destroyed the entire centuries-old structure 'These are heavy, difficult to maneuver and against a fire like this, largely ineffective. Favre added that firefighters would be reluctant to use this option, as it means placing responders inside the building as the heavy timber roof collapses around them. 'Life safety is always the first priority, even in historic landmarks,' he wrote. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway American firefighter Gregg Favre (pictured) said after seeing videos of the fire on social media that the volume of the flames and heavy, driving smoke pointed to a fire that is well advanced, and he would expect significant, if not total, loss to the roof There is also the matter of accountability, and countless questions that responders on scene must answer before forming their plans. 'NotreDame was undergoing a renovation. This means that there were more people there than normal. Is the Cathedral staff all out? The construction workers? Visitors?' 'If unaccounted for, where were they and how many? What does a rescue task force look like? How many responders do you place in additional harms way for unconfirmed reports?' Favre pointed out that firefighters must follow a strict procedure and assess the risk before tackling a blaze Only once all these queries have been definitively answered can firefighters begin to actually tackle the blaze. Putting out a fire means removing one of the core elements required for it to burn: oxygen, fuel, heat and a chemical chain reaction. But Favre explained the difficulties in each of these scenarios. 'Removing the fuel is a no go. Churches have no shortage of things to burn,' he wrote. 'The heat that a fire this size is putting off is tremendous. Little options for interrupting that. The chemical chain reaction is off to the races. That horse left the stable in the first five minutes.' The fire claimed the steeple and much of Notre Dame's roof, but the fire brigade had to ensure that if it fell sideways the blaze would not spread to other buildings, nor would people's lives be in danger 'That leaves the oxygen. Unfortunately, even if the roof had not burnt off, churches are nearly impossible to control ventilation in. Their design is to be open and airy. Great for Sunday worship, terrible for managing fire spread. 'I'd be worried about construction materials not usually found in churches (since it was under renovation). Things that can explode, things that don't like being hit with water, Hazardous materials that can run off / go airborne, etc.' Finally, Favre said that officials would have to consider what would happen after the inevitable collapse of some, or all, of the building. There was no guarantee that the spire and roof would cave in on themselves and fall straight down - they could have teetered over sideways and ignited other buildings or homes. 'Are the streets in the collapse zone cleared?,' he wrote. 'Of both onlookers and responder/trucks? Any other buildings threatened? 'As a firefighter, Catholic and human this fire is heartbreaking', Favre wrote in his final tweet on Monday night If a wall of fire comes down what [is] the plan to fight THAT fire?' In summary, the extent of damage to any building depends on any number of factors beyond firefighters control - including wind conditions, responder access and water supply, as well as the threat level to firefighters and civilians. In the case of Notre Dame, the unique specifics of such an ancient building would have heightened each of these problems. Now that the fire has been contained, experts must assess the burnt-out shell and plan the next steps to preserve the structure This morning, experts are assessing the blackened shell of the cathedral to establish next steps to save what remains. Now the fire is under control, attention is turning to ensuring the structural integrity of the remaining building. Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that architects and other experts would meet at the cathedral early Tuesday 'to determine if the structure is stable and if the firefighters can go inside to continue their work.' Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure, but that news has done nothing to ease the national mourning. A female passenger has been detained by police for throwing six coins at a plane for good luck before take-off in China. The 66-year-old woman was removed from the Tianjin Airlines flight after admitting to tossing the coins as she was boarding the plane at Hohhot Baita International Airport in Inner Mongolia on Tuesday, according to a statement from the airline. All 100 passengers on flight GS6681 departing for Chifeng city were assigned onto a replacement aircraft and the plane took off following a two-hour delay. The 66-year-old female passenger was removed from the Tianjin Airlines flight (file photo above) after admitting to tossing the coins as she was boarding the plane at Hohhot Baita International Airport in Inner Mongolia on Tuesday. She has been detained by police Staff were deployed to search for the change and six 1 jiao coins were located near the aircraft on the tarmac, an airline spokesperson told MailOnline A crew member alerted security at about 7:50am after seeing the woman tossing the coins from the airstairs, Tianjin Airlines said in a statement on Tuesday. Staff were deployed to search for the change and six 1 jiao coins were located near the aircraft on the tarmac, an airline spokesperson told MailOnline. The woman, identified by her surname Yang, later told police that she had thrown the coins to pray for a safe flight. She has been detained by police for 10 days and could face further punishment from airline authorities, according to state-broadcaster CCTV. A crew member alerted security at about 7:50am after seeing the woman tossing the coins from the airstairs, Tianjin Airlines said in a statement on Tuesday (file photo) Just two weeks ago, a 31-year-old man was caught on camera tossing three coins from the jet bridge towards the plane engine for good luck at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Hubei The engine of an aircraft would be severely damaged or even destroyed if a coin is sucked into it, according to a professor at Civil Aviation University of China cited by China Daily in a previous report. 'The engine could tremble, lose speed and even stop in mid-air if a coin were sucked into its core,' he said. 'That would put all the passengers on board at great risk.' Tianjin Airlines urged passengers to comply with civil aviation laws and regulations and avoid behaviour that could prove detrimental to the safety of passengers. This is not the first time a passenger has attempted to toss coins into an aircraft engine for good fortune and a safe flight. Just two weeks ago, a 31-year-old man was caught on camera tossing three coins from the jet bridge towards the plane engine for good luck at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Hubei province. A similar incident happened in February when a 28-year-old man was detained for throwing two 1 yuan coins at another Lucky Air passenger jet in Anqing, Anhui province The man, surnamed Xia, later told police that his mother-in-law insisted that he should throw coins at the aircraft to pray for a safe flight since it was his child's first time flying. He was detained for endangering passenger safety for 10 days. Last month, two women in their mid-20s were removed from a Lucky Air flight after they each admitted to tossing a 1 yuan coin as they were boarding a plane at Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport in Shandong province. In February, a 28-year-old man was detained for seven days after he admitted to throwing two 1 yuan coins at another Lucky Air passenger jet in Anqing, Anhui province, causing the flight to be cancelled. A total of 162 passengers were affected and the incident caused the airline nearly 140,000 yuan (16,000). A poster created by the Al-Muntasir media group - an ISIS affiliated propaganda wing - appeared online on Monday night, according to the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium ISIS fanatics are heartlessly revelling in the inferno at Notre Dame Cathedral just days before Easter calling it 'retribution and punishment', according to terror intelligence researchers. A poster of the blazing cathedral appeared online accompanied by the words, 'Have a good day,' and was created by the ISIS affiliated Al-Muntasir group according to the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. The poster says: 'Its construction began in the year 1163 and ended in 1345. It's time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism.' The jihadists referred to the catastrophe as 'retribution and punishment,' SITE intelligence reported. The chilling message appeared as firefighters continued their efforts to put out the blaze late on Monday night, which broke out less than a week before Easter and amid Holy Week commemorations. The Al-Munatsir media organisation has shared propaganda rejoicing in terror attacks which have rocked France. The Paris prosecutor's office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives, at least for now. While the jihadists celebrated online, France and the world mourned the destruction of a glorious symbol of Western civilisation. A distraught Parisian watches Notre Dame Cathedral burn as a ferocious inferno engulfed the building on Monday evening A woman reacts with horror as she watches the collosal fire engulf the roof of the Notre Dame on Monday A man puts his hand to his mouth in shock as he watches the flames burst from the historic cathedral French President Emmanuel Macron treated the fire as a national emergency, rushing to the scene and cancelling a previously scheduled televised address meant to address France's yellow vest crisis. 'The worse has been avoided, although the battle is not yet totally won,' the president said, adding that he would launch a national funding campaign on Tuesday and call on the world's 'greatest talents' to help rebuild the monument. 'Notre Dame of Paris is our history, our literature, our imagination. The place where we survived epidemics, wars, liberation. It has been the epicenter of our lives,' Macron said from the scene. President Emmanuel Macron looked shell-shocked at the site of the fire on Monday evening Notre Dame was ravaged as the fire swept across the top of the building around a renovation project before its spire collapsed, threatening priceless architecture and artworks throughout the cathedral. The 12th-century church is home to relics, stained glass and other incalculable works of art and is a leading tourist attraction. French media quoted the Paris fire brigade as saying the fire was 'potentially linked' to a 6 million euro (5.2 million) renovation project on the spire and its 500 tons of wood and 250 tons of lead. Despite the dramatic image of the flaming cathedral, no one was killed. One firefighter was injured, among some 400 who battled the flames for hours before finally extinguishing them. Firefighters continued working through the night to cool the building and secure the monument and announced on Tuesday morning the fire had been extinguished. The blaze started at 6.50pm after the cathedral had closed to the public, and spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers. The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening Nearby buildings were evacuated as fears mounted that the structure could collapse. As the spire fell, the sky lit orange, acrid smoke rose in plumes and flames shot out the roof behind the nave. Hundreds of people lined bridges around the island that houses the church, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world. Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet said the structure had been saved after firefighters managed to stop the fire spreading to the northern belfry. Gallet said 'two-thirds of the roofing has been ravaged.' As the cathedral burned, Parisians gathered spontaneously to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint-Julien-Les-Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame while the flames lit the sky behind them. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers. Parisians and toursits look on in disbelief as the flames engulf the historic cathedral, which is visited by millions every year Firefighters look on at the fire fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris as they cross a bridge over the river Seine Experts say firefighters were left with devastatingly few options to save a structure that's more than 850 years old, built with heavy timber construction and soaring open spaces, and lacking sophisticated fire-protection systems. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river, its architecture is famous for, among other things, its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses. Some 13 million people visit it every year. Viewers were left outraged today after Good Morning Britain's Richard Madeley interrupted an Extinction Rebellion protester to announce, 'David Attenborough's not a saint, just a broadcaster'. The veteran presenter, 62, was accused of 'insulting' the renowned naturalist during a debate on the protests which brought parts of London to a standstill yesterday, and threaten to do so again today. Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook, one of the key organisers of the protests, looked close to tears as she spoke emotionally about the impact of climate change and how she feared her children would be left with nothing to eat. But she was attacked online for her 'theatrics' as the protests she helped arrange continue to cause chaos for members of the public. Richard Madeley (left) was debating Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook today when he made the apparent swipe against Sir David Attenborough Madeley also sparked anger among GMB viewers on Twitter after pointedly interrupting her comments with a swipe at Sir David. Dr Bradbrook said: 'I have two boys, 10 and 13, and they won't have enough food to eat in a few years' time. Sir David Attenborough said the collapse of this civilisation could happen soon.' Madeley replied: 'He's not a saint you know. He's just a broadcaster.' Extinction Rebellion protesters spent yesterday blocking roads and demonstrating outside tube stations, following five arrests outside Shell's headquarters where they glued themselves to windows and smashed glass doors. More than 120 people have been arrested in the last 24 hours as the activist group gears up for another day of chaos. Protesters have been moved from Waterloo Bridge, which was closed yesterday, and restricted to an area around Marble Arch. Attenborough at a discussion on nature at an IMF meeting in Washington, DC, on April 11 Prior to her comments about David Attenborough, Dr Bradbrook apologised for the 'disruption'. 'We're here to get people to have a conversation about climate change,' she said. 'I don't want to wind people up and I do apologise for the inconvenience caused, but you can hear the emotion in my voice.' But many viewers were unconvinced, with one tweeting: 'Arrest them and lock them up for public nuisance and disorder @metpoliceuk and Gail Bradbrook needs to get a life you have micro support from the public.' Another asked: 'Knowing all that you know, and being a "responsible" human being, why did you bring children into a world that is so damned? Stuart Chalmers wrote: 'Please remove this Gail Bradbrook from our screens. Go and hug a tree!! #GMB.' And Phil Davis added: 'Dr Gail Bradbrook came down to the GMB studio, why didn't she use Skype ? better for the environment. She seems to protest about everything.' Madeley sparked anger among GMB viewers on Twitter after pointedly interrupting her comments with a swipe at Sir David, although many found the incident funny Dr Bradbrook was also attacked online, with critics accusing her of 'theatrics' as the protests she helped arrange continue to cause chaos for members of the public Madeley's subsequent interruption also went down badly with viewers, with one tweeting: 'No Richard Madeley, Sir David Attenborough is NOT just a broadcaster he is a legend respected by many. What an insult.' 'Glyn' wrote: 'I thought Piers Morgan was annoying, but Richard Madeley takes it to another level. 'His patronising way of talking to the passionate climate change protester had me shouting at the TV. "David Attenborough is only a TV presenter", no, you are only a TV presenter.' Another viewer raged: 'Richard Madeley describing Sir David Attenborough as "just a broadcaster" demands a public apology.' But others defended Madeley, with viewer John Delaney writing: 'Richard Madeley has cheered my day up. Hilarious...' Madeley later backtracked after the break and said: 'By the way, no disrespect intended whatsoever to David Attenborough. He's peerless and a national treasure.' Environmental protesters from the Extinction Rebellion group gather around a pink boat at Oxford Circus yesterday Activists block a road near Marble Arch this morning on the second day of the protest by the Extinction Rebellion group today The stand-in presenter is known for his Alan Partridge moments, of which there have been several of late. Last week, he startled viewers with his dark orange fake tan, prompting Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli to ask whether or not he had been on holiday. The presenter sheepishly admitted that he had recently been to the South of France, but that the bizarre colour of his face was down to 'make-up'. 'I was in the south of France for two weeks and came back a few days ago and I agree with you, it's looking a bit orange,' he said. And yesterday, he swore on air having already turned the air blue twice the previous week. He then issued a very saucy confession that he always goes commando and worries that he might flash his manhood by mistake. Who is Gail Bradbrook? 'Neo-pagan' who became an eco-warrior after taking mind-bending drugs and holds mystic 'moon circles' inside a tepee with other activists Gail Bradbrook, 47, is one of the directors of private limited company Compassionate Revolution, which has organised and partly financed Extinction Rebellion. The 'neo-pagan' said on a recent podcast that she decided to become an activist as a direct result of taking huge doses of two powerful psychedelic drugs. Ms Bradbrook, who has two sons aged ten and 13, flew to Costa Rica a few years ago to take a dose of ibogaine, a hallucinogenic shrub growing in West Africa. Experience campaigner Gail Bradbrook appearing on Good Morning Britain (left) today The mother, who has a PhD in molecular biophysics, also tried ayahuasca, a highly toxic, mind-bending potion made by Amazon jungle shamans. She said the drugs 'rewired' her brain and gave her 'the codes of social change'. Afterwards, she ended her marriage and began her activism in XR. Within XR, she holds mystic 'moon circles' with female colleagues inside a tepee, at which they ingest another 'natural' drug, mugwort, used by ancient Celts. Ms Bradbrook has warned that warming in the Arctic is likely to cause 'the collapse of the food system' in just three years a belief no scientist would endorse. She has also said she 'does not condemn' protesters who 'choose to damage property in order to protect nature', although she personally prefers non-violence. Advertisement Footy star Gary Rohan and his wife Amie have opened up on the 'most bittersweet day of their lives' - 12 months after losing one of their twin girls hours after birth. Amie, 25, was 12-weeks pregnant when she learned one of her babies had anencephaly - a congenital disorder in which a major part of the baby's brain fails to develop - and would not survive. The mum's delivery of the twins on April 12, 2018 was marked with both joy and pain after the new parents were forced to say goodbye to Bella's sister, Willow Nevaeh, just five hours after she was born. One year on, the couple has celebrated baby Bella's first birthday, while commemorating the short life of their late daughter. 'Because of Willow, we value every second of life. She was a breath of fresh air for every minute she was here the most beautiful wispy willow, blowing in the breeze for the most precious time,' Amie said in a heartbreaking interview with New Idea. One year later: Amie and Gary Rohan have celebrated daughter Bella's first birthday, while commemorating the short life of their late daughter, Willow The couple gave birth to twin girls in April 2018, however, they knew the moment would be bittersweet - learning Willow would not survive long after being born Amie shared a poignant photo of baby Willow's feet captioned: 'the most perfect & precious little feet there ever was' Dad Gary remembered his baby girl as a 'little fighter' who taught them to 'face all challenges head-on.' Amie spoke of the painful moment doctors informed the parents-to-be that their child would not survive. After learning her daughter had been diagnosed with the condition, she clung on to hope that they still had options for their baby. 'It was then that the doctor looked at me and said: "I'm so sorry, but these babies are not compatible with life' and handed me a box of tissues,' Amie said. 'Gary and I both sat there and cried.' Despite the grim diagnosis, she made the brave decision to carry Willow full term to increase her chance of survival. 'We sat down and said: "This journey has been written for us. Let's continue on it,"' she told Harper's Bazaar magazine in October. Shortly after the twins were born via c-section, Bella was transferred to the NICU while the parents spent their first and last moments with their newborn baby girl. Amie described the final hours of Willow's life, a time they would 'forever cherish,' adding that the experience taught her how 'precious' life is. Happy mum: Amie shared a photo of her heavily pregnant a year after giving birth. She said the experience taught her how 'precious life is.' One year older: Despite their grief and heartbreak, the two are now cherishing their job of being parents to 'dreamboat baby' Bella 'Even though her time here was so fleeting, she was a very amazing girl.' The couple said the experience has made them stronger after being forced to face one of life's biggest challenges. And despite their grief and heartbreak, the two are now cherishing their job of being parents to 'dreamboat baby' Bella, they said. The couple says they are open to having more children but need more time to heal from the tragedy. The heartbreaking interview comes days after Amie posted a candid message about going on an 'emotional rollercoaster' ride with her daughter Bella. She posted to Instagram on Tuesday, roughly one year since giving birth, saying 'this week is proving to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be'. Amie posted a photograph of her husband and her daughter Bella to Instagram with the caption: 'Forever grateful to have this amazing human by side on this crazy adventure we call life. Amie posted a photograph of her husband and her daughter Bella with the caption, 'Forever grateful to have this amazing human by side on this crazy adventure we call life' The couple leaving hospital with their daughter Bella in 2018 'This was last night, Bella woke upset like she does most nights before settling into her deep sleep and I could not contain myself. I wept with her, I couldn't bare seeing her so upset. It's never happened before, I was just so overcome with emotion.' 'This week is proving to be a lot tougher than I thought it would be, I'm so open and honest all the time so I thought I'd be fine. Apparently not, I'm one emotional rollercoaster over here that's for sure.' A day after the twins were born, Gary posted a poignant photo captioned: 'Amie, Bella and I soaked up every second we had with Willow, making as many lasting memories as we could all together.' Amie's most recent post to Instagram about the young family's struggles has received overwhelming support, being liked nearly 5,000 times in about four hours. The fledgling centrist political party set up by disaffected Tory and Labour Remainers has been swamped by requests from 3,000 people who want to become its first MEPs. Change UK, which was launched by the Independent Group's 11 MPs, plans to whittle the list down to a shortlist of 100 before choosing who to put forward for the UK's 73 seats, the Times reported. In a statement on the close of applications, the Independent Group told the paper: 'We have been overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of applicants.' The Tories meanwhile have braced themselves for a disastrous showing in May. Many Tory MPs are furious that the elections may have to take place at all following the delay to Brexit. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt acknowledged that the party could be heading for a 'disastrous' showing at the polls if the country was required to vote. A former Tory MEP who is now an MP told the Times: 'Most associations will not have allocated any resources in their budgets for this election. Normally fundraising is geared around such events but that hasn't been possible. So associations will need central funding in spades but I'm not sure Central Office has it either for the same reasons. Money will have been allocated for Locals [the local elections on May 2]. I suspect this will be a phantom election at best. It came as another three Ukip MEPs have said they are quitting to join Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party. Deputy chairman and East Midlands MEP Margot Parker, West Midlands MEP Jill Seymour and Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire MEP Jane Collins announced their resignations on Monday. The Independent Group, led by former Tory Heido Allen, said it had been 'overwhelmed' by applications from people wanting to stand as MEPs in May's election Nigel Farage, who has been an MEP for two decades, greeted Mr Juncker today, days after setting up a new Brexit Party to stand in May's elections on a platform of leaving. Three ex-Ukip MEPs have defected to his party this week Nigel Farage shows off socks in British colours as he appears at the European Parliament in Brussels. Their resignations - which reduce the number of Ukip MEPs in Brussels to four - come a day after Mr Batten provoked outrage by describing a candidate's rape tweet to MP Jess Phillips as 'satire'. Mrs Parker accused party leader Gerard Batten of 'carrying out a purge of party loyalists' and said he had 'taken his eye off the ball'. Ms Collins said Ukip's attitude to women was 'disgusting' and said she wanted to spend the rest of her time as an MEP fighting to secure a 'real Brexit'. Ms Seymour said that under Mr Batten, Ukip had moved to 'the extreme right of politics'. It follows the announcement last week that the sister of leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, Annunziata, had left the Conservative Party to stand as a Brexit Party candidate in next month's elections to the European Parliament. Ukip said in a statement: 'Both Jill Seymour and Margot Parker wished and expected to be placed at the top of their lists in their respective regions as of last Friday. Both gave 1,000 each in Ukip campaign donations this month. 'The leader and the NEC panel reluctantly came to the conclusion that they had not honoured their commitments to the party as described in the MEP charter of 2013 and as such they were not reselected. 'Ukip is disappointed that they have chosen to side with its opponents, but their motivations are clear. 'Ukip is entering the Euro elections with the three loyal MEPs who have honoured their commitments, alongside a fresh slate of candidates. We expect to win big.' A couple has relived the horrifying moment they witnessed three women partake in a public sex romp, and revealed one of the group had the audacity to ask them for a lift home. The couple had been out for drinks in north Brisbane when they stumbled upon the group engaging in lewd sex acts on a James St footpath in Fortitude Valley in broad daylight on March 3. The women appeared not to mind who witnessed the sex romp, which lasted around 10 minutes, as it was in full view of CCTV cameras and 'at least 10 people', including elderly people and children, walked past. Scroll down for video A couple have relived the horrifying moment they witnessed three women partake in a public sex romp (CCTV footage of the incident pictured) Witnesses were left 'shocked and confused' at the vulgar act, with one eventually calling the police. 'Eventually the police rocked up and they stopped,' one witness told news.com.au. 'But when we walked past them, we heard one say "Can you give us a lift home?"'.' The witness said he and his partner watched the 'super drunk' women stagger out of Hellenika restaurant, where they are believed to have walked out on a $600 bill, before their antics escalated. While two of the girls embraced each other a third fell onto the ground, but when she steadied herself the situation took a sexual turn. 'It then escalated to the girl standing up getting pretty handy, then all of a sudden they were both on the ground, one of their dresses halfway off,' he said. The man said he stayed at the scene to see how long the women would continue before they were arrested. However, the three semi-naked women were not arrested, and instead officers - seen in footage addressing one woman with exposed breasts and the second straddling the third - helped them dress and sent them on their way in an Uber. Queensland cops will not be charging three women over a 'vulgar' public sex act in an inner-Brisbane street Queensland police have since confirmed no charges will be brought against the women. Queensland Law Society president, Bill Potts, said laying charges was at the discretion of police. But he also noted the video evidence would constitute at least a public nuisance offence. 'People are entitled to enjoy their lunch or enjoy the use of public spaces without being forced to watch that type of behaviour,' Mr Potts said. It's also thought the three women had walked out on a $600 bill at the trendy Hellenika restaurant, in the nearby Calile Hotel According to a Queensland Police spokesman, the officers had 'nothing they could charged the women with.' 'They did not witness what is by definition willful exposure,' The Courier Mail reported. 'You cannot see the women's genitalia, hence they did not witness an offence.' The police spokesman also said that the police would only investigate if a formal complaint was made. One man who had witnessed the public romp said it was 'completely vulgar.' Another witness revealed that he had seen people get charged for lesser crimes, such as public urination. Advertisement Devastating scenes of the historic Notre Dame being ravaged by a huge blaze last night will bring back memories for those who remember the 1984 York Minster fire. More than 100 firefighters rushed to the Minster when a lightning bolt set alight its south transept - collapsing its roof and causing 2.25m worth of damage in the early hours of 9 July. But after a multi-million pound restoration project, the York Minster rose from the ashes and was returned to its former glory - inspiring hope for the 850-year-old cathedral in France. Firemen survey the fire damage to the South Transept of York Minster after a huge inferno destroyed its roof and ravaged the cathedral in 1984 A lightning bolt set alight the church's south transept, prompting 114 firefighters to rush to try and save the historic structure The south transept of York Minster at the height of the blaze. Like Notre Dame, the English cathedral as built from ancient stone and timber, which made tackling the blaze even more difficult for fire crews at the time Firefighters who attended the blaze in 1984 said the roof collapsing - as it did in Paris last night - actually helped salvage parts of the building by ventilating smoke and heat The building has been returned to its former glory after a 2.25million restoration project Like Notre Dame, the English church was built from ancient stone and timber, which made tackling the blaze even more difficult for fire crews at the time. But those who attended the blaze in 1984 said the roof collapsing - as it did in Paris last night - actually helped salvage parts of the building by ventilating smoke and heat and stopping the flames spreading. Alan Stow, 79, divisional commander of the fire and rescue service at York during the fire, told The Times: 'There was a suggestion that the only way to stop the fire spreading was for the heat and smoke to be ventilated. As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno A shard of the cathedral's spire plummets through the air as it collapsed on Monday evening after the fire chewed through its foundations The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson 'The roof supports were very badly weakened and with a turntable ladder jet carefully positioned it managed to create a domino effect and the roof trusses tumbled down on to the floor. It was a dead easy job once the roof collapsed to put the fire out.' But, unlike in Paris, the fire crews who rushed to the city centre from across North Yorkshire managed to control the flames within a few hours and the majority of the Minster was saved. The York church was rebuilt using traditional materials and stonemasons and carpenters skilled in medieval construction as part of the multi-million pound restoration job. Like Notre Dame, the minster has a famous Rose Window - a stained glass masterpiece which looks over the centre of York. Chaos of rubble and debris inside the 13th century south transept of York Minster after its roof caved in following the blaze in 1984 Eerie: inside the fire-damaged York Minster, where more than 2.25million worth of damage was caused by the blaze 35 years ago The window stayed in place, despite the fire raging around it, but its 73 panels, containing 7,000 pieces of stained glass had shattered into about 40,000 pieces. It was initially thought that the windows at Paris had exploded, but on Tuesday morning the word was that the windows have remained intact. Lord Mayor of York Keith Orrell has said he will be writing to the Mayor of Paris on behalf of the City of York. 'Watching the coverage from Paris of the fire at Notre Dame must remind everyone in York of the Minster fire 35 years ago,' he said. 'I'm sure we all have great sympathy for the people of Paris and France. We welcomed the French Ambassador to the Mansion House a few weeks ago and enjoyed his company tremendously.' Much of the top of the Notre Dame fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church Teams of firefighters from across Paris were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening Historians have also noted the similarities between the two fires. TV history presenter Dan Snow said on Twitter: 'It's overwhelming but remember that York Minster and Hampton Court burned in the 80s, Windsor Castle in the 90s and Cutty Sark in the 00s. Dresden's Frauenkirche, the Catherine Palace What we build, we can rebuild. Their essence endures.' Prayers for Notre Dame were said at the Compline service at York Minster on Monday night and will continue throughout Tuesday. The fire in Paris also has echoes of the Windsor Castle fire on November 20, 1992. Part of the building, one of the Queens official residences, was wrecked when a blaze started in the first floor Private Chapel. The fire in Paris also has echoes of the devastating Windsor Castle fire on November 20, 1992 (dozens of firefighters at the scene) The inferno damaged more than 100 rooms including the vast medieval St Georges Hall (pictured) Around 1,500 builders were drafted in and a 36.5 million repair job saw the 14th-century building reopen in 1997 It was described as one of the greatest historic building project completed in the UK in the 20th century The inferno damaged more than 100 rooms including the vast medieval St Georges Hall. Around 1,500 builders were drafted in and a 36.5 million repair job saw the 14th-century building reopen in 1997. It was described as one of the greatest historic building project completed in the UK in the 20th century. Its restoration will serve as more inspiration that Notre Dame can be saved. The activists behind the chaos caused by climate change protests this week come from all walks of life - including a failed organic farmer and a baronet's daughter. Co-founder Simon Bramwell is a former builder who was taken away in a police van on Monday after supergluing himself to the glass door of the Shell HQ in London. His removal came as 113 people were arrested in the capital by police dealing with the ongoing protests at five landmarks including Waterloo Bridge and Marble Arch. Also leading the 'XR' group is Gail Bradbrook, a 'neo-pagan' who became an activist as a direct result of taking huge doses of two powerful psychedelic drugs. Others involved include Tasmin Osmond, who is the granddaughter of baronet Sir Thomas Lees, veteran campaigner Roger Hallam, and ex-UN worker Laura Reeves. King's post-graduate student George Barda and Stuart Basden, who says prison is like 'boarding school', are also involved in the demonstration of up to 10,000 people. Here is more about those involved in the protest which is now in its second day: Simon Bramwell (left) was taken away in a police van after supergluing himself to the glass door of the Shell HQ in London on Monday. One of the directors of private limited company Compassionate Revolution, which has partly financed XR, is mother Gail Bradbrook (right) Simon Bramwell, who was seen shouting as he was held by police, is a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion from Stroud, Gloucestershire, and a former builder. The 46-year-old was part of a 12-strong group of middle class fanatics who admitted bringing the M4 and A4 to a standstill by lying down on a stretch of the motorway. He was sentenced in 2016 over the protest against the expansion of Heathrow. He has been repeatedly arrested for climate change and anti-fracking protests. The bush craft instructor says 'hearing less birds in our beautiful countryside' - where he goes off the grid for up to 19 days at a time - convinced him to help form 'XR'. He wanted a 'punchier' eco-movement where people were willing to be arrested to be heard instead of just 'playing it safe' and failing to get their message across. Mr Bramwell glued himself to the Shell HQ glass door as part of the protests on Monday One of the directors of private limited company Compassionate Revolution, which has organised and partly financed XR, is Wiltshire mother Gail Bradbrook, 47. The 'neo-pagan' said on a recent podcast that she decided to become an activist as a direct result of taking huge doses of two powerful psychedelic drugs. Ms Bradbrook, who has two sons aged ten and 13, flew to Costa Rica a few years ago to take a dose of ibogaine, a hallucinogenic shrub growing in West Africa. The mother, who has a PhD in molecular biophysics, also tried ayahuasca, a highly toxic, mind-bending potion made by Amazon jungle shamans. She said the drugs 'rewired' her brain and gave her 'the codes of social change'. Afterwards, she ended her marriage and began her activism in XR. Dr Bradbrook appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain where she told of fears for her children Within XR, she holds mystic 'moon circles' with female colleagues inside a tepee, at which they ingest another 'natural' drug, mugwort, used by ancient Celts. Ms Bradbrook has warned that warming in the Arctic is likely to cause 'the collapse of the food system' in just three years a belief no scientist would endorse. She has also said she 'does not condemn' protesters who 'choose to damage property in order to protect nature', although she personally prefers non-violence. Speaking on ITV today, she looked close to tears as she spoke emotionally about the impact of climate change and fears her children would be left with nothing to eat. She told of Sir David Attenborough's fears over civilisation, but Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley interrupted her to say he is 'not a saint, just a broadcaster'. Tasmin Osmond (left), 35, is a veteran of 'direct actions', while Roger Hallam (right), 52, is a veteran demonstrator who is researching a PhD in effective radical campaigning Also involved is Tasmin Osmond, 35, a veteran of 'direct actions' such as Occupy London, the poverty protest which set up a camp outside St Paul's cathedral in 2011. The granddaughter of Dorset baronet Sir Thomas Lees, Omond went to Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read English. Who are Extinction Rebellion and how are they funded? Extinction Rebellion grew out of the activist group 'Rising Up!' which unsuccessfully tried to stop the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Established in Britain in May 2018, the group has been organised and partly financed by a private limited company called Compassionate Revolution. Its financial support comes from philanthropic foundations and crowdfunding - with an online campaign having raised 166,000 since launching in October. XR now has more than 100 groups across Britain alone, with up to 10,000 supporters drawn to the protests in London this week. It has groups in dozens of countries including South Africa, India and even the Solomon Islands - with the latest campaign involving people in at least 80 cities in more than 33 countries. Last November, the group held a protest which blocked bridges across London to bring chaos to the capital. In February, they took part in a UK-wide school strike and on April 1, during one of the Brexit debates, a group of their protesters stripped off in the House of Commons. Advertisement Ms Osmond was thrown out of anti-aviation group Plane Stupid after saying the green movement 'brand' was 'unwashed, unshaven and up a tree'. Another of the founders of Extinction Rebellion is Roger Hallam, 52, a veteran demonstrator who is researching a PhD in effective radical campaigning. He became interested in climate change in his 40s when an organic farm he ran in Wales went bankrupt because of extreme weather conditions. Mr Hallam went on hunger strike in 2017 to demand King's College London stop investing in fossil fuels. His stated ambition for the group is to 'bring down all the regimes in the world and replace them', starting with Britain. In a recent video on YouTube, he said protesters should be ready to cause disruption through personal 'sacrifice'. If necessary, they 'should be willing to die'. Mr Hallam said in the past: 'You need about 400 to go to prison and you need two to three thousand people to get arrested.' But on Monday, he insisted: 'No-one wants to get arrested. I want to get back to my farm. I'm just a poor farmer, nothing special.' He added: 'We aren't throwing stones or shouting. People are coming in to central London and sitting down. We are causing disruption and it's justified.' Mr Hallam has also claimed paralysing traffic will eventually cause food shortages and trigger uprisings. XR co-founder Stuart Basden (left), 36, a middle-class writer from Bristol, while George Barda (right), 43, believes the 'Criminal UK Government' is to blame for climate change Also involved in the group is 43-year-old George Barda, who believes the 'Criminal UK Government' is to blame for climate change. He is a post-graduate student at King's College in London and the son of classical music and stage photographer Clive Barda. But Mr Barda is also a dedicated revolutionary who camped outside St Paul's cathedral in the Occupy London campaign. Today, he is a director of XR parent company Compassionate Revolution and regularly appears on Russia Today, Russia's controversial British TV channel. Meanwhile XR co-founder Stuart Basden, 36, a middle-class writer from Bristol, has goals that go far beyond a desire to curb global warming. Mr Basden has claimed: 'The climate's breakdown is a symptom of a toxic system that has infected the ways we relate to each other as humans and to all life.' He has urged XR followers to embrace jail, where he spent a week after defacing London's City Hall with spray paint last year, saying it is 'a bit like boarding school'. Jane Augsburger, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, was arrested for criminal damage outside Shell's headquarters on Monday Jane Augsburger, 54, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was one of those arrested for criminal damage outside Shell's headquarters on Monday. Pictures show the mother-of-one grinning and kneeling down beside a smashed glass door at the front of the company's office building. The care worker, a Jeremy Corbyn supporter, previously lived in the Dordogne in a luxurious home with a pool. Katerina Hasapopoulos, 40, who has previously attended Stroud Town Council to ask questions about climate change, superglued herself to the Shell HQ on Monday. Before her arrest, the mother-of-three said: 'Shell is already responsible for destroying lives in places like Nigeria. 'Shell cares only for profit and I have three beautiful young girls who I want to see grow up to have a future.' Angie Zelter, 76, was arrested yesterday and carried off Waterloo Bridge after refusing to budge. The veteran protester has been arrested over 100 times across the world and describes herself as a 'global citizen'. In 1996 she was part of a group that disarmed a BAE Hawk Jet, preventing it from being exported to Indonesia. Zack Polanski, a Green Party candidate for the London Assembly, is also involved in the protests. He once claimed his hypnotherapy skills could help women grow bigger breasts. He said: 'It's so safe and cheaper than a boob job.' Commuters cycle today past a pink boat placed in the road at Oxford Circus by activists Rowan Tilly, from Oxford, was among protesters who took part in an 'anti-nuclear raid' at Buckingham Palace in 1993. The furniture maker compared her civil disobedience to the actions of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the suffragettes. Laura Reeves is also involved in the protest group after she was left feeling 'deflated' by 'office activism' having worked for NGOs including the United Nations. The actress and artistic director took to the stage at Marble Arch yesterday to address hundreds of activists. She describes herself as a 'vision holder' for XR. Miss Reeves, whose online show reel lists roles in commercials for River Island and Nikuma Jewellery, has previously lived in New York but is now based in London. She flaunts photos of holidays in far flung destinations such as Peru and the Burning Man festival in Nevada on social media, despite the damage caused by air travel. She said: 'This just isn't a priority for the government but this is literally a matter of life and death, there will be no future unless drastic steps are taken. 'Half of life, half the world's species, has become extinct since the 1970s. The government needs to declare a climate emergency.' Miss Reeves urged members of the crowd to put their heads together and discuss ways in which they could help make their message resonate. 'We have got to come together or we will become extinct,' she said 'People are now starting to wake up. How can anything be more important than life on Earth?' ** Do you know any of the protesters? Please email: tips@dailymail.com ** Natalie Johnston, 39, after leaving Minshull street crown court, Manchester where she is on trial for fraud A mother-of-one plundered almost 50,000 from her boss so she could treat her young son to a series of 'memory making' holidays following her dismissal at another firm for fraud. Accounts assistant Natalie Johnston, 39, had already been facing a police investigation after she was caught transferring over 122,000 from a lettings and management firm into her own account. But fearing she was about to go to jail, Johnston got another job at a small family run car dealership and then looted a further 46,000 from its accounts so she could buy her son birthday presents and fund luxury trips for them to Rome, Ireland and the Lake District. The unsuspecting boss of the dealership Tottington Motors in Bury, Greater Manchester Jason Mawdsley only found out he had been ripped off when Johnston sent him an email saying: 'I fully expect you to call the police. I am truly sorry, I am just ill - not that I would expect anyone to understand. I am truly ashamed.' She was then seen leaving the building with a large pile of invoices and receipts before falsely accusing managing director Mr Mawdsley of VAT fraud. In a statement the innocent businessman said he would be forced to make several staff redundant due to the thefts. He said: 'Her actions have had an impact on my business, and we are currently looking to make people redundant as a result. I am not sleeping due to stress, thinking why did I not notice it early on, as well as the stress of making people redundant as a result of this crime. 'I have to work extra hours, due to demand, and there has been friction at home between me and my wife. She also told me that she had taken VAT receipts and invoices to cover her back. She says that I was falsely claiming VAT back on my property. I think she took them as leverage.' Natalie Johnston in Bar and Grill in Manchester after leaving Minshull street crown court. Mother of one Natalie Johnston plundered almost 50,000 from her boss so she could treat her young son to a series of ''memory making'' holidays following her dismissal at another firm for fraud At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Johnston, from Swinton, Salford admitted fraud by abuse of position at Tottington Motors and also at Fortis Lettings in Manchester where she took 122,265.35. She will be sentenced later. Her former boss at Fortis, Tanya Drinkwater, 34, of Worsley was given 12 months jail suspended for 18 months after she admitted defrauding Fortis out of 16,560.21. The thefts began just six months after Drinkwater joined the staff of Fortis in June 2015 as head of accounts. She would arrange for leaseholder accounts to be managed by her team and both she and Johnston began diverting money which was being transferred between the company and external firms into their own bank accounts. Prosecuting, Nigel Booth said: 'Although, undoubtedly, each defendant knew the other was stealing money, we cannot prove that they conspired with each other. Primarily, the modus operandi was for the bank details on the system to be changed and it would look like the money was being put into British Gas. Tanya Drinkwater who received a suspended sentence for fraud. Drinkwater was an accomplice of mother of one Natalie Johnston 'Natalie Johnston had a total of six accounts into which these transfers went, between September 2015 and February 2017.' In December 2016 officials at Fortis tried to meet Drinkwater to discuss the finances, but she unexpectedly asked to go on annual leave before tendering her resignation saying: 'I know that what I have done is majorly wrong and I am sincerely sorry. My husband left me in a large amount of debt.' Inquiries revealed he had been illegally using the company credit card abroad. Investigators later recovered a text message Drinkwater sent to Johnston saying: 'I have done a lot of thinking today and I realise that I have been a bad person. I am leaving Fortis and, if any of this does come out, you don't need to worry about me because I am leaving.' Tanya Drinkwater in Slug and Lettuce in Manchester after leaving Minshull street crown court where she received a suspended sentence for fraud Johnston then replied: 'They have got the payroll invoices, Tanya, they have got the France stuff. You need to leave, the fraud squad are going to come' before telling bosses she knew Drinkwater had been stealing money. Johnston was herself subsequently sacked from Fortis in January 2017 but six months later was taken on My Mawdsley and she stole 46,851.43 from him between October 2017 and April 2018. Mr Booth said: 'Johnston has trusted access to the company accounting system and she sent money from the company bank account to an account she had set up with Santander. Mr Mawdsley identified a discrepancy and asked the bank to make a check and noticed 51 transfers that made by this defendant. She later attended the building with nothing and left holding a large number of invoices and VAT receipts.' Jason Mawdsley,managing director at Tottington Motor Company who said he would be forced to make several staff redundant due to the thefts 'There were admissions by the defendant when she was interviewed by police. She said the reason why she committed this fraud was to spend more time with her son because she knew he would be taken away from her by his father when she is convicted. 'With this money, she had trips to Rome, Ireland and the Lake District. She also brought her son birthday gifts, took him out and generally treated him.' In mitigation for Drinkwater who has since paid back 5,260 to Fortis, defence barrister, Huw Edwards, said: 'At the time of the offence, she was going through a breakdown in her marriage and she was also drinking a great deal. 'She has a number of character references written about her and they say that this is out of character for her. She is currently trying to start her own business selling herbal remedies.' Sentencing Judge Angela Nield said: ' Fraud by employees often attracts a custodial sentence because employers must be able to trust them and know that it will not be abused. Fraud is often thought to be a victimless crime, but it never is. Someone does ultimately suffer - whether it's a loss in business or a loss of job for others. Drinkwater was also ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work. Johnston will be sentenced on April 26. Flu vaccines have hit pharmacy shelves, but Australians should wait until next month to get vaccinated to avoid getting sick, experts say. Those vaccinated in April will not be protected during the peak influenza season from August to September. Australian Medical Association NSW President Dr Kean Seng Lim advised Australians to wait until May to get their flu shot. Flu vaccines have hit pharmacy shelves but Australians should wait until May to get vaccinated to avoid getting sick, according a Australian Medical Association President (stock image) 'The influenza vaccine is most effective the first three to four months after being vaccinated,' Dr Lim said. 'The peak influenza season is in August to September. 'If you get it (the vaccine) in April you may not be getting peak protection.' He said the advice does not apply to 'high-risk' patients who should get vaccinated as soon as possible. 'High-risk people are those over 65, people with chronic illnesses and pregnant women,' he said. The peak influenza season is from August to September and those who get their vaccine in April 'may not be getting peak protection', according to Dr Lim (stock image) There is a steady rise in influenza cases but no 'outbreak' yet, according to Dr Lim. Meanwhile, more than six million flu shots will be free for Australians aged over 65, indigenous people, pregnant women and those at a greater medical risk of contracting the virus. Health Minister Greg Hunt announced a nationwide distribution of the influenza vaccine, available for eligible people at no cost through the federal government-funded National Immunisation Program. Mr Hunt said it's important Australians get vaccinated each year as the virus changes from year to year. Pregnant women can receive their free vaccine at any stage of their pregnancy to protect themselves and their unborn baby or babies. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to take another thinly veiled shot at the success of rising Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by claiming that a 'glass of water with a D next to its name' would have won her seat. Pelosi, 79, was speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday where she said that the Democratic Party must avoid the 'menace' of liberal policies pushed by rising political stars if it wants to beat President Donald Trump in the 2020 election. She also used the appearance to set out a centrist vision she believes could help woo Republican voters frustrated with Trump's approach. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 79, was speaking at the London School of Economics when she made the comments Pelosi added that New York Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, popularly referred to as AOC, and fellow young progressives elected in 2018 represented only the margins of American society. In reference to the November midterms, where the Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, she picked up a glass and said: 'When we won this election, it wasn't in districts like mine or Alexandria's. 'Those are districts that are solidly Democratic - this glass of whatever would win with a D next to its name in those districts.' During the talk, she also shared her own liberal upbringing and accomplishments while representing the Democratic voters of San Francisco. She said: 'I can compare my liberal credentials across the board. I said to them: ''Anything you're about, I got that sign in my basement 20 years ago''. Speaking at the event, she claimed that a glass of water 'with a D next to it' would have won AOC's district 'What we are saying is, to have a message that appeals to people in a way that does not menace them. 'I share those values - but we must win.' Her words come after she appeared to belittle Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's affiliation with a progressive group in Congress in a new interview. In the sit-down with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes on Sunday, the 79-year-old Pelosi was asked about pushback she received from the left-wing of her own party. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, popularly referred to as AOC, is a rising star in the Democrat party 'You have these wings - AOC, and her group on one side,' Stahl begins asking her. 'That's like five people,' Pelosi interjected. 'No, it's - the progressive group is more than five,' Stahl responds. 'Well, the progressive - I'm a progressive. Yeah,' the Speaker adds. Pelosi may have been referring to the Justice Democrats, a political action committee that supported a small slate of seven representatives that includes Ocasio-Cortez. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, however, includes 78 members of the House of Representatives and Senator Bernie Sanders, according to its website. Earlier this month, Pelosi also appeared to take a subtle swipe at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez while discussing members of Congress with large Twitter followings. The latest dig comes after she dismissed the progressive wing associated with AOC during an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday She made it clear that the number of followers will not impress her, but rather how good representatives are at passing legislation. 'While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what's important is that we have a large number of votes on the floor of the house,' she said on April 8. Officially, Pelosi is in London to discuss the progress of Britain's efforts to withdraw from the European Union. However, her visit has coincided with an ugly war of words that has pitted President Trump against the new breed of Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. Trump accused Omar - the first black Muslim woman elected to Congress - in a tweet Monday of making 'anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful US HATE statements'. Speaker Pelosi vigorously deflected an appearance of conflict among her fellow Democrats to Lesley Stahl interviewing her on 60 Minutes while also brushing off issues like Medicare for all Their latest spat concerns Omar's remarks about the treatment of American Muslims since the September 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Yet Omar's comments about US political backing for Israel being fuelled by money from a pro-Israel lobbying group led to criticism from both sides of the political aisle. Pelosi used a meeting with Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday to speak out against anti-Semitism in politics. She tweeted after the meeting that she and Corbyn discussed the importance of 'protecting human rights, and the necessity of forcefully confronting anti-Semitism & Islamophobia'. Corbyn has been under pressure from Jewish groups to more thoroughly investigate and clamp down on anti-Semitic incidents involving Labour members. But Pelosi also stuck up for Omar in her current standoff with Trump. 'I don't think any president of the United States should use the tragedy of 9/11 as a political tool,' Pelosi said. A man has been jailed for 19 years after forcing his bride-to-be to drink acid, burning her internal organs, and causing her to die in agony 'squirming like a worm'. Driver Alexander Larin, 33, poisoned Olga Ryadchikova, 42, in front of her distraught five-year-old son who saw her writhing in excruciating pain, a Russian court was told. The dangerous acid caused 'chemical burns' to the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, upper respiratory tract, and 'severe toxic damage' to her internal organs. For three days, the woman experienced torture as she burned inside, could not walk, eat and drink, and then died from acute poisoning. Driver Alexander Larin, 33, with his bride-to-be Olga Ryadchikova, 42, (left) and Larin smoking a cigarette and holding a rifle (right) Olga Ryadchikova with son Nikita who was said to be deeply traumatised after witnessing his mother 'squirming like a worm' on the floor of the home in the city of Chita, eastern Russia Her son Nikita watched her appalling suffering and was the main witness against the man who was soon due to become his stepfather. He remains 'haunted' by the memory. A wedding had been planned between killer Larin and the beauty therapist. The boy said: 'He made my mummy drink white beer, and she spat it out like a fountain She was lying in the corridor and squirming like a worm.' Larin claimed the woman voluntarily drank the acid which is used in diluted quantities to pickle cucumbers. Alexander Larin's protestations of innocence were rejected by the judge in Chita who jailed him for 19 years Larin stands with his hands gripping the iron bars of the dock as he appeared in court over killing his fiance He also cruelly prevented her getting medical treatment, the court found. His claim of innocence was rejected by the judge in Chita. The court found that she had been forced to drink a cocktail of at least 50 millilitres of 70 per cent-strength acetic acid. Nikita told how 'mummy looked into my eyes. Then she closed her eyes, and did not open them again.' Olga's mother Galina said: 'He saw his mother's body being taken away. He thinks these were doctors. He is still waiting for her to be cured and allowed home again.' The victims's aunt Valentina Fominykh, 66, who found her dead in the flat, hit out at the 19 year sentence. Galina Belomestnova, mother of victim Olga Ryadchikova, said her grandson still believes his mother is coming home Olga Ryadchikova's body was ravaged by the caustic liquid which burnt through her internal organs Ms Ryadchikova - who has one other older child - had been due to marry Larin before her death 'He should have been given life,' she said. 'Such a person must never be free.he will harm someone else.' Lanin had called an ambulance claiming that his lover had tried to kill herself. But post-mortem tests showed that she died of excruciating pain with her insides burned by the acid. Olga's child is now being raised by his maternal grandmother. She also had an older child, now an adult. A woman in China had to undergo surgery after accidentally swallowing a metal spoon when she was using it to dislodge a fish bone stuck in her throat. The patient, named as Lili, left the 13-centimetre (five-inch) long utensil in her body for at least four days because she didn't experience any pain or discomfort, Chinese media reported. Following an X-ray and an endoscopy - where a tiny plastic tube with an attached camera is inserted in the patient's body - doctors in Shenzhen retrieved the utensil from the patient's duodenum. An x-ray image shows the shadow of the metal spoon in the female patient's duodenum and doctors decided to conduct an endoscopy to extract the utensil. She has since recovered Following an endoscopy - where a tiny plastic tube with an attached camera is inserted in the patient's body - doctors in Shenzhen retrieved the utensil from the patient's duodenum The careless woman swallowed the stainless steel spoon before the Qingming Festival on April 5 and thought it was too much trouble to go to the hospital during the public holiday, according to Shenzhen Evening News. She then decided to wait for several days as she didn't feel any pain in her stomach. The woman arrived at the Shenzhen Nanshan Hospital last Monday and doctors immediately conducted a check-up. An X-ray image shows the shadow of the metal spoon in the patient's duodenum and doctors decided to conduct an endoscopy to extract the utensil. 'As the spoon was in a somewhat horizontal position, we carefully adjusted it before pulling it out vertically,' according to Dr Sun Tingji at the hospital's endoscopy department The careless woman swallowed the stainless steel spoon before the Qingming Festival on April 5 and thought it was too much trouble to go to the hospital during the public holiday 'As the spoon was in a somewhat horizontal position, we carefully adjusted it before pulling it out vertically,' according to Dr Sun Tingji at the hospital's endoscopy department. The entire procedure lasted just over 10 minutes, he added. 'The woman was trying to retrieve a fish bone stuck in her throat when she accidentally lost her grip and swallowed the spoon,' Dr Cheng Chunsheng said. He added that the metal object had caused some swelling and erosion in the patient's duodenum. The woman has been discharged from hospital following treatment, the report added. Last October, doctors in Urumqi, Xinjiang removed an eight-inch spoon from a 26-year-old patient after he swallowed it during a drunken bet An x-ray image showing the metal spoon lodged inside the Xinjiang patient's oesophagus The unusual accident suffered by patient Lili is not unique. Last October, doctors in Urumqi, Xinjiang removed an eight-inch spoon from a 26-year-old patient after he swallowed it during a drunken bet. In September 2015, surgeons successfully removed a six-inch metal spoon from a woman after she swallowed the utensil while eating her noodles 'too quickly'. A student swallowed an ice cream spoon measuring just over five inches when someone knocked into her in June 2015. The implements in both cases were successfully removed. A French priest who helped the wounded in the Bataclan terror attack on Paris and who survived an ambush in Afghanistan also emerged as a hero of the Notre Dame fire today. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, rushed straight for the relics housed in the cathedral to rescue the the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns relics from the blazing building on Monday night. It was feared that both religious artefacts would be lost as flames engulfed the medieval building, but Father Fournier made sure they were taken to safety. Four years ago he also comforted the wounded after the worst terrorist attack on Paris this century when 89 people were massacred at the Eagles of Death Metal concert in 2015. During his time as an army chaplain, Father Fournier, survived an ambush in which 10 soldiers were killed. Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing Notre Dame cathedral The Holy Crown of Thorns displayed at a ceremony at Notre Dame Cathedral in 2014. The holy relic was saved from destruction in last night's blaze by chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, Jean-Marc Fournier The Crown of Thorns 'worn by Jesus as he was crucified' One of the cathedral's most precious objects, the crown of thorns is purported to have been worn by Jesus Christ on the cross. Records of its existence begin in the sixth century AD, when it is believed to have been kept in Jerusalem by Christians. During the Crusades in 1238, the Emperor of Constantinople gave it to King Louis IX to win his support and try and preserve his crumbling empire. Although the crown itself was saved, a small fragment of the crown had been kept in the spire and is therefore believed to have burned to ashes. Advertisement Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament'. This was confirmed by an emergency services source who said: 'Father Fournier is an absolute hero. 'He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the Cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear.' The blaze erupted in the medieval UNESCO world heritage landmark in the French capital on Monday, sending its spire and roof crashing to the ground as flames and clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. One of the cathedral's most precious objects, the Crown of Thorns is purported to have been worn by Jesus Christ on the cross when he was crucified. Records of its existence begin in the sixth century AD, when it is believed to have been kept in Jerusalem by Christians. During the Crusades in 1238, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople gave it to King Louis IX to win his support and try and preserve his crumbling empire. Although the crown itself was saved from the fire last night, a small fragment of the it had been kept in the spire and is therefore believed to have burned to ashes. Emergency services worked with city staff to save priceless relics from the devastating fire Smoke and flames rising into the Paris sky during the devastating fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris last night The fire, which at one point threatened the entire edifice, was brought under control early on Tuesday about nine hours after it broke out. Father Fournier rushed inside the Bataclan music venue in Paris on November 13 2015, when ISIS militants murdered 89 people using guns and explosives. The modest chaplain prayed over the dead, and comforted those who were injured or had lost loved ones. 'I gave collective absolution, as the Catholic Church authorises me,' father Fournier said at the time. Father Fournier, who is in his 50s, started his career as Catholic priest in Germany, and then moved to the Sarthe department of France. He joined the armed forces diocese in 2004, spending seven years working with the army all over the world. In Afghanistan he was involved in an ambush in which 10 soldiers were killed. Father Fournier said: 'On my first trip to Afghanistan, I was seized by fear everything I saw could potentially be dangerous, as we had learned during training courses.' Priceless relics were saved as the inferno rage last night when firefighters formed a human chain inside the fire ravaged building. Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, thanked the city's emergency services in a tweet, revealing they had formed a 'formidable human chain to save the works' of Notre Dame. Other precious artefacts that were saved included the tunic of Saint Louis, which dated back to the 13th century. The Crown of Thorns is said to have been part of the crown placed on Jesus's head during his crucifixion. After parts of the thorns were distributed around Europe in the following centuries it was brought to Paris from Byzantium by Louis IX after being given as a gift by the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II in 1238. Remote mountains and breathtaking fjords of Norway have been brought to life in stunning aerial footage. The enthralling video shows the dramatic the mountainous region of the Nordic country blanketed in white snow. From craggy peaks bearing no sign of life to ice cold black waters, a drone captures remarkable landscape as it sweeps across Lofoten, Norway. Remote mountains and breathtaking fjords of Norway have been brought to life in stunning aerial footage From craggy peaks bearing no sign of life to ice cold black waters, a drone captures remarkable landscape as it sweeps across Lofoten, Norway Prolific drone pilot Benoit 'Fincky' Finck travelled from Paris to Norway, last month, to tackle the stormy elements and capture awe-inspiring footage. The 28-year-old professional pilot has had more than two years experience commanding the skies with his drones. But despite the experience, the stormy weather of Norway was a test Fincky's skills like never before. He manages to capture a plethora of beautiful landscapes, which wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Game of Thrones. A settlement of houses are nestled under stormy skies as the drone zooms over before it crosses over an old wooden bridge Prolific drone pilot Benoit 'Fincky' Finck travelled from Paris to Norway, last month, to tackle the stormy elements and capture awe-inspiring footage A settlement of houses are nestled under stormy skies as the drone zooms over before it crosses over an old wooden bridge. Amazing rock formations peaked in snow lead down to steep fjords that tower above the treacherous landscape. The drone pilot decides to tackle one of the biggest feats of his career and reach the very top of the highest peak. He manages to glide the drone up the side of the mountain before flying it through impossibly narrow crevices. Upon a seamless return, Finky can be heard cheering in disbelief at the incredible accomplishment. He said: 'I rarely do things that scare me a lot now but this thing, it was incredible. 'I was so excited I started shaking'. The enthralling video shows the dramatic the mountainous region of the Nordic country blanketed in white snow A fisherman hailed as an honest hero for handing in 34 bricks of cocaine worth 500,000 has been arrested on suspicion of keeping another six blocks of the drug. Ronie Navales, 48, picked up the huge haul after noticing it off the coast of Surigao del Sur in the Philippines in February. Police gave him 100 and a sack of rice as a reward for handing them over but became suspicious about reports of a new drug dealer in the local village. Navales was investigated and police said last Friday he handed over four blocks each weighing roughly 1.3 kilos, claiming another two were flushed down the toilet. Ronie Navales, 48, recieving cash from Police Brigadier General Gilberto Cruz in Surigao del Sur in the Philippines in February Navales handed over 34 bricks but the police say he kept another four weighing around 1.3 kilos each and had flushed another two down the toilet Police Brigadier General Gilberto Cruz, director of the Caraga Police Regional Office, said: 'Navales became a subject of surveillance operation after police received an intelligence report about his alleged illegal drug activities. 'Navales intentionally kept the six bricks of cocaine thinking he would gain bigger money by selling it to drug users.' Police said Navales had violated Section 11 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for illegal possession of drugs, an act that is punishable with life imprisonment. Cruz added: 'Let us not be blinded by the greed of money for it will only bring trouble to you and your family. 'This serves as a warning to those who recovered bricks of cocaine and are planning not to surrender these to the authorities. You can never hide from the long arm of the law.' A deckhand who was pictured receiving the reward with with Navales in February was not arrested. Coastal towns on the eastern side of the Philippines have seen several instances of cocaine bricks floating in the sea in recent months. Navales (left in the large blue coat) was hailed as a hero in February when he was pictured alongside his deckhand holding his reward - the deckhand is not under investigation A police officer is seen stripping off packaging to reveal the cocaine inside Since February 10, a total of 228 kilos of cocaine worth 1.2 billion Philippine pesos have already been recovered. Police believe they are originating from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands or that smugglers are using them as decoys to get larger shipments through at different ports. However, President Rodrigo Duterte claims a Colombian drug cartel in Medellin is responsible for the floating cocaine. Qantas Airways has been beaten to the top spot once again by its New Zealand counterpart in the annual Australian Corporate Reputation Index. In the institute's report, Air New Zealand took first position as the most trusted brand, while Australia's flagship airline came in a close second place. The institute ranks brands based on the opinions of Australians on a number of factors including product, service and financial performance. Scroll down for video (File picture) Qantas Airways has been beaten to the top spot once again by Air New Zealand in the annual Australian Corporate Reputation Index It's the third consecutive year the New Zealand operator has outperformed Australian firms. The airlines' Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon said the brand it determined to continue its winning streak. 'Air New Zealand is in the business of world-class journeys and maintaining such an outstanding performance year in, year out, is down to the incredible efforts of our people to push boundaries and continually enhance all aspects of our customer experience,' Mr Luxon said. 'Customer focus underpins reputation leadership. (File picture) For the third year in a row the New Zealand operator has outperformed Australian firms 'We maintain our leading position by continuing to invest in our aircraft, products and services and by bringing genuine Kiwi warmth to the 17 million journeys we're part of every year,' he said. Australian Corporate Reputation Index 2019 Ranking: 1. Air New Zealand 2. Qantas 3. JB Hi Fi 4. Toyota 5. Mazda Australia 6. Aldi Australia 7. Samsung 8. Woolworths 9. Hyundai Australia 10. Nestle Australia Advertisement Despite narrowly missing the top spot, second place is an improvement for Quantas who came in third place in 2018. Also in the top five were JB Hi Fi, Toyota and Mazda Australia, respectively. While Aldi Australia, Samsung, Woolworths, Hyundai Australia and Nestle Australia completed the top ten. Meanwhile Virgin Australia plummeted out of the top ten this year, having previously held fourth place in 2018. But Air New Zealand only came in second place in its own country's annual reputation index review, while Toyota took the top position. The company did however bag the top spot in the TripAdvisor's Traveller's Choice Awards for being the best brand in the South Pacific region. Qantas was named as the best service in Australia. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas for comment. The Notre Dame inferno has made international headlines as the world reacted in horror to the disaster. The huge fire sparked a wave of solidarity with France across the globe as newspaper's dedicated their front pages to the shocking scenes in Paris. Many carried dramatic images of the famous spire collapsing as the fire raged, alongside eye-catching headlines. They included one in a daily in Argentina, which said: 'The heart of France burns and the world cries' and another in Italy comparing it to 'The September 11 of Christian Europe.' In France, La Croix, a daily Catholic paper, carried the headline: 'Heart in ashes' with an editorial that said the nation 'suddenly felt its heart shake to see a church aflame.' It adds: 'The cathedral in Paris clearly has a specific place in the collective consciousness, in France, in Europe and in the world.' Le Figaro, one of the oldest daily newspapers in France, carries the headline 'Disaster' La Parisien uses the headline 'Our Lady of Tears' and features nine page of images and reports In France, La Croix, a daily Catholic paper in France, carried the headline: 'Heart in ashes'. Daily paper 'Liberation,' also known as 'Libe,' utilized a play on the French word 'Drame,' which translates to drama La Nacion in Argentina went with 'The Heart of France burns and the world cries' Elsewhere in Europe, Italian daily il Giornale described it as 'The September 11 of Christian Europe.' El Pais in Spain has the headline 'Flames devastate Notre Dame, a symbol of European culture' The Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias features an image of the famous spire on fire, with the words Ardeu da humanidade, that translates as 'Burned humanity' Italian daily La Repubblica features an image of the spire collapsing in flames with the words: The world upset that Notre Dame is gone' Germany's Der Tagesspiegel writes alongside an image of the inferno: 'Notre Dame in flames' Another French daily, La Parisien uses the headline 'Our Lady of Tears' and Le Figaro, one of the biggest selling daily newspapers, went with 'Disaster'. The front page carries the words: 'Faced with this scene of loss, accounts of solidarity and sadness have flocked from across the world.' And Liberation features a dramatic image of the cathedral ablaze with the words 'Our tragedy.' Elsewhere in Europe, Italian daily il Giornale described it as 'The September 11 of Christian Europe.' The inferno made headlines across most US newspapers. The Chicago Tribune using most of its front page with a picture of the blaze and the headline 'Notre Dame Burns' The Dallas Morning News went simply with 'Paris icon burns' The blaze also made the front pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, describing it as 'Fire Mauls Paris's Beloved Notre-Dame alongside dramatic images of the spire collapsing Belgium's De Standaard covered the front page with a picture of the spire collapsing. Also in Belgium, Het Belang Van Limburg declared 'Paris weeps' and the Gazet van Antwerpen went with 'The sorrow of France'. El Pais in Spain has the headline 'Flames devastate Notre Dame, a symbol of European culture'. And in Germany Der Tagesspiegel writes alongside an image of the inferno: 'Notre Dame in flames' Peruvian newspaper El Comercio featured an image of smoke billowing from the burning cathedral with the headline: 'Notre Dame burns' In the US the blaze also made the front pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times describes it as 'Fire Mauls Paris's Beloved Notre-Dame' alongside dramatic images of the spire collapsing. In South America, Peruvian newspaper El Comercio featured an image of smoke billowing from the burning cathedral with the headline: 'Notre Dame burns.' La Nacion in Argentina featured one of the most eye-catching headlines and went with 'The Heart of France burns and the world cries.' And the largest newspaper in Argentina, Clarin, simply went with: 'Paris will no longer be the same.' Publico in Portugal had the headline 'Our Lady of Europe' and like many other used an image of the spire ablaze German auto giant Mercedes-Benz apologised Tuesday over the ordeal of a Chinese car buyer who alleged mistreatment by an authorised dealership in a viral video that triggered consumer outrage. The woman, surnamed Wang, has said she purchased a new CLS 300 coupe from an authorised Mercedes-Benz dealer in the northern city of Xi'an only to discover afterwards that it was leaking oil on the showroom floor even before she drove it out of the dealership. A video was posted showing her sitting on the bonnet of a car in the showroom and angrily accusing sales staff of dodging her demands for a replacement. A video was posted showing the female customer sitting on the hood of a car in the showroom in Xi'an city and angrily accusing sales staff of dodging her demands for a replacement 'I wouldn't be doing something so embarrassing like this if we were able to discuss it reasonably,' the woman was heard yelling. 'I spent 660,000 yuan (75,292) on a car and hadn't even driven a single kilometre [before it started leaking],' she added. 'First, you promised me a refund. Then you said that was too inconvenient, so you said you could give me a replacement. I agreed,' she said. 'Then you said that was also inconvenient and offered me compensation, which I also accepted,' she said. 'Then yesterday, you said you could only swap the engine according to company policy. How can I accept that?' The woman also alleged in later media interviews that she originally wanted to pay cash for the car but was pressured by the dealership into taking out a low interest loan that came with a 'financial service fee' of more than 15,000 yuan (1,710). 'I spent 660,000 yuan (75,292) on a car and hadn't even driven a single kilometre [before it started leaking],' the woman said. The video of her protest went viral and sparked outrage The woman, surnamed Wang, said her brand new CLS 300 started leaking oil even before she had driven it out of the dealership in Xi'an city, Shaanxi province (file photo) 'We're very sorry for whatever happened,' said Hubertus Troskas, a board member and head of China operations for Daimler, Mercedes' parent group. 'We have reached an agreement with the customer and she will continue to be a Mercedes customer,' he added, speaking to journalists on the opening day of the Shanghai Auto Show. But the irate buyer said in a Chinese media interview posted on Monday that she would continue to refuse any settlement offer by Mercedes, saying she wanted the matter fully investigated by consumer protection authorities first. Daimler, as well as government authorities in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, have already announced investigations. The company has also halted operations at the dealership, Xian Lizhixing Auto, amid the probe, a statement released by Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday said. 'This is nothing we approve of. We go by the law,' Troskas said on the opening day of the Chinese auto show. 'There is good consumer protection in China and we want all of our dealers to work to the letter of the law and the ethics of our brand,' he said. 'We clearly have to apologise. That has not been dealt with properly.' 'We're very sorry for whatever happened,' said Hubertus Troskas, a board member and head of China operations for Daimler, Mercedes' parent group at the Shanghai Auto Show on Tuesday The video of Wang complaining after she discovered the Mercedes she had bought was leaking oil went viral in China. Last year, Mercedes-Benz apologised for 'hurting the feelings' of China's people after its Instagram account used a quote by the Dalai Lama The woman's complaints have sparked a flood of supportive online comments by Chinese web-users, with many relating their own consumer horror stories. The episode is the latest in a series of cases to show foreign brands the power of Chinese netizens. Last year, Mercedes-Benz apologised for 'hurting the feelings' of China's people after its Instagram account used a quote by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who is vilified as a separatist by Beijing. Also last year, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana apologised to Chinese consumers after its products were pulled from lucrative Chinese e-commerce platforms over an Instagram post by the brand that was seen in China as culturally offensive. And hotel group Marriott's website in China was shut down by authorities after a customer questionnaire listed Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong as separate countries, angering Beijing. Marriott apologised and change the wording. Global carmakers have gathered for the Shanghai Auto Show amid a rare sales slump in the world's largest vehicle market stemming from a range of economic and trade factors. There would be no chance of a US-UK trade deal if there was any weakening of the Good Friday Agreement, US Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned last night. The US House of Representatives speaker told a packed lecture theatre that the Good Friday Agreement was a model that could not be 'bargained away in another agreement'. Speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday Ms Pelosi said passing a trade bill in Congress would be very hard and was 'no given'. Earlier in her trip, Ms Pelosi reprimanded Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for his failure to tackle anti-Semitism. There would be no chance of a US-UK trade deal if there was any weakening of the Good Friday Agreement, US Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned last night (pictured) The US House of Representatives speaker told a packed lecture theatre that the Good Friday Agreement was a model that could not be 'bargained away in another agreement' amid stalemate She added: 'First of all it is very hard to pass a trade bill in the Congress of the United States, so it's no given anyway. 'But if there were any weakening of the Good Friday accords there would be no chance whatsoever, a non-starter for a US-UK trade agreement. 'The Good Friday accords ended 700 years of conflict. 'This is not a treaty only, it's an ideal, it's a value, it's something that's a model to the world, something that we all take pride in. 'It was a model and other people have used it as a model and we don't want that model to be something that can be bargained away in another agreement.' Ms Pelosi said she had met Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and senior Tories, and spoken to Prime Minister Theresa May on the phone. She added: 'We have met the speaker. We met with the leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn and we met with those who left the Labour Party and we made it clear to all that if there's any harm to the Good Friday accords - no trade treaty. 'Today we met with the Government, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and deputy prime minister and those who are in opposition in the Conservative Party and to all of them we made it clear: don't even think about it. 'Every single person, including Theresa May, who I spoke to over the phone, said 'don't worry about that, we would not even go there'. 'That's a place we cannot go.' Earlier in her trip, Ms Pelosi reprimanded Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured yesterday in Halifax) for his failure to tackle anti-Semitism After the first round of her meetings, including with three ex-Labour MPs who quit over the failure to tackle anti-Semitism, Ms Pelosi declared 'the importance of standing unequivocally against anti-Semitism wherever it is found'. Mrs Pelosi who was instrumental in getting Barack Obama's health care law through the House in 2010 was in London yesterday to meet with Chris Leslie and Mike Gapes, who defected to form The Independent Group, and Ian Austin, who now sits as an independent. She tweeted that they had had an 'important discussion... to hear their perspective on Brexit [and] why they left the Labour Party'. Mrs Pelosi was also due to meet Mr Corbyn last night. Nancy Pelosi said she was pleased to have had a 'candid discussion' with Jeremy Corbyn Her remarks came as Lord Falconer warned that the Labour Party's failure to tackle anti-Semitism was a 'very real threat' to its survival. The former lord chancellor, who has been asked by the party leadership to hold an investigation into anti-Semitism, also said Labour could not be seen as an alternative government unless it is 'absolutely vigorous and effective' in removing people who are anti-Semitic. He said: 'There is too much a sense that anti-Semitism is not being properly dealt with. I think this is a very, very real threat to the party. 'How can you convince people that you are a serious, moral, decent party if you are anti-Semitic? How can you claim to be an alternative government if you are anti-Semitic? We have to do something about it.' The comments came after The Sunday Times published details of a secretly recorded meeting between Mr Corbyn and Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge in February when he outlined his intention to appoint Lord Falconer to review the party's complaints process. The newspaper quoted Mr Corbyn saying: 'The point of him [Falconer] is that he will look at the speed of dealing with cases, the administration of them, and the collation of the evidence before it is put before appropriate panels and things. Mrs Pelosi who was instrumental in getting Barack Obama's health care law through the House in 2010 was in London yesterday to meet with Chris Leslie and Mike Gapes, who defected to form The Independent Group, and Ian Austin, who now sits as an independent 'Because I was concerned that evidence was either being mislaid, ignored or not used and that there had to be some better system.' A Labour spokesman said the party takes allegations of anti-Semitism seriously, adding: 'This shows Jeremy Corbyn's desire to make procedures as robust and efficient as possible and to rebuild trust with the Jewish community. 'We are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms. All complaints... are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.' Dame Margaret told the BBC: 'The reason, actually, that I recorded that particular tape was as an insurance policy. I was having a one-to-one meeting with Jeremy Corbyn and, ironically, I didn't want what I said to be misrepresented.' Labour MP Ronnie Campbell said taping Mr Corbyn was unacceptable. He said: 'I think it's deplorable that somebody goes to a private meeting with the leader and records the conversation.' South Australian police have been fined $390,000 over the death of a cook and cleaner who became trapped in a walk-in freezer at a police training centre in the Adelaide Hills. But no officers or individuals will be held to account over the death of Debra Summers in 2016. Ms Summers died from hypothermia after becoming locked in the freezer at the Echunga facility. Police pleaded guilty in the South Australian Employment Tribunal to breaching work safety laws and Deputy Police Commissioner Linda Williams said on Tuesday the force was 'mortified' over the death of the 54-year-old. South Australian police have been fined $390,000 over the death of a cook and cleaner Debra Summers (pictured) who died of hypothermia after she was trapped in a freezer in 2016 'It's terrible what happened to Deb. We are deeply sorry for the family,' she said. 'We will never let anyone in our workplace down again.' But Ms Williams said a full inquiry had been conducted and no disciplinary action would be taken against any individual officers or staff over the incident. Tribunal deputy president Brian Gilchrist said the death of Ms Summers was both unexpected and preventable. Deputy Police Commissioner Linda Williams (pictured) said on Tuesday the force was 'mortified' over the death of the 54-year-old 'No one deserves to die at work because of their employer's lack of care,' Judge Gilchrist said. 'And there is no penalty that this court can impose that will right the wrong that has occurred. 'Nor can there be any correlation between the size of any fine that might be imposed and the value of Ms Summers' life. 'Her life was priceless.' In earlier submissions, prosecutor Jeff Powell said issues with the freezer and problems at the training centre had either gone unnoticed or unattended to for years. 'Quite apart from the obvious and foreseen perils of someone working alone at a worksite, the precise issues with the walk-in freezer were not only foreseeable and obvious, they too were forseen,' Mr Powell said. The crime scene at a police training centre where Ms Summers froze to death. Prosecutor Jeff Powell said issues with the freezer had either gone unnoticed or unattended to for years He said a technical document had detailed how the freezer should be serviced every six months, including a check of the emergency release system. Had the document been adhered to, 'in all likelihood the precise consequences here would have been avoided', the prosecutor said. SafeWork SA executive director Martyn Campbell said the fine imposed on police was one of the highest for a breach of work safety laws. But Mr Campbell said no financial penalty could make up for the loss the Summers family had suffered. 'I hope that this judgement brings them a sense of justice and allows them to begin the healing process,' he said. (CNN) France's three wealthiest families are coming to the rescue of a national icon, spearheading a fundraising drive to rebuild Notre Dame that has topped $700 million. The billionaires behind luxury giants LVMH Group, Kering and L'Oreal on Tuesday pledged a combined 500 million ($565 million) after a massive fire ripped through the Paris cathedral. LVMH and its CEO Bernard Arnault have promised 200 million ($226 million). The donation has been matched by the Bettencourt Meyers family, which controls L'Oreal. The Pinault family, which operates luxury conglomerate Kering, has pledged 100 million ($113 million). The three fashion dynasties have invoked patriotism and shared cultural identity in explaining their generosity following the devastating fire. Other French companies have also written big checks: The oil and gas company Total has promised 100 million ($113 million), while tech and consulting firm Capgemini will give 1 million ($1.1 million). Combined with other donations from companies including French bank Credit Agricole, the total amount pledged by business and wealthy donors has reached $700 million. Luxury giving LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy, said in a statement that its donation showed "solidarity with this national tragedy" and that funds would be used to rebuild this "extraordinary cathedral." The fashion house went on to describe Notre Dame as a "symbol of French heritage and unity." LVMH said it would make its creative and financial teams available to help with rebuilding and soliciting donations. Arnault, its CEO, is the third richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth comes in at $90.4 billion, more than that of Warren Buffett or Mark Zuckerberg. In addition to its fashion lines, LVMH controls high-end alcohol brands such as Dom Perignon, Hennessy and Veuve Clicquot, as well as popular beauty retailer Sephora. LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault pictured in 2018. Kering, which is the home for brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, was first out of the gate Tuesday with its donation. "This tragedy is striking all the French people, and beyond that, all those attached to spiritual values," Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of Kering, said in a statement. "Faced with this tragedy, everyone wishes to give life back to this jewel of our heritage as soon as possible," added Pinault, who is the son of the billionaire businessman Francois Pinault. The Pinault family is worth an estimated $37.3 billion, per Bloomberg. Francois-Henri Pinault, who manages the family's businesses, is married to actress Salma Hayek. Kering also owns fashion brands such as Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga. The Bettencourt family owns a 33% stake in L'Oreal, which controls brands like Maybelline, Lancome, Garnier and Kiehl's. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the richest woman in the world, is worth $53.5 billion, according to Bloomberg. She inherited the stake from her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, who died in 2017. Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of the company's founder, Eugene Schueller. The rebuilding process The blaze at Notre Dame on Monday devastated large parts of the 850-year-old church, including its iconic spire. The fire was extinguished after nine hours. French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to rebuild the site, saying Monday that France will launch an international fundraising campaign to assist with the effort. The process will be expensive and lengthy, and it could take time to begin in earnest. Immediate steps will need to be taken to prevent further damage, since the structure is now particularly vulnerable to water damage. It's tough to estimate the total time and cost of the restoration. The Venice Opera House, which was gutted by a blaze in 1996, reportedly reopened eight years later after 60 million ($68 million) was spent. When Windsor Castle, one of Britain's royal residences, was severely damaged in a fire in 1992, it reopened nearly five years later at a cost of 36.5 million ($47.8 million). CNN's Saskya Vandoorne and Oscar Holland contributed reporting. This story was first published on CNN.com "France's 3 richest families lead $700 million fundraising effort for Notre Dame" A fire broke out on the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Monday, just as a huge blaze ripped through the Notre Dame cathedral 2000 miles away in Paris. Smoke and fire was seen billowing from the roof of the Marwani Prayer Hall - also known as Solomon's Stables, located at the bottom of stairs which lead down from the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque. 'The fire broke out in the guard's room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully,' the Palestine News Agency said on Monday. Videos from social media show the smoke rising from the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa mosque, near where the Marwani Prayer Hall is located Footage posted on social media shows people gathering in the courtyard of the Marwani room, where Palestinian Muslims hold Friday prayers, emits large plumes of smoke. The room is located under the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif compound in the Old City part of East Jerusalem. A venerated site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike, it houses both the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock - Islam's third-holiest shrine, built on the site of biblical Jewish temples. Monday's fire was contained quickly with no reported injuries or interior damage to the 2000-year-old building. 'The fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully,' the Palestine News Agency said No injuries or damage to the 2000-year-old holy worship site was reported after Monday's fire, which took place at the same time as a devastating blaze ripped through Notre Dame cathedral in Paris Meanwhile in Paris, the devastating blaze claimed the steeple of the almost 900-year-old Notre Dame cathedral, as well as much of the roof. Architects and other experts met at the cathedral early this morning 'to determine if the structure is stable'. The Palestine News Agency, which is the official outlet of the Palestinian National Authority, quoted President Mahmoud Abbas' office as expressing: 'deep regret' over the incident at the historic landmark. 'The Presidency confirmed its solidarity and sympathy with our friends in France over this incident,' it added. A fire broke out on Monday in the Marwani Prayer Hall - also known as Solomon's Stables - which is located at the bottom of stairs which lead down from the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem An aerial view of Jerusalem's Old City with the Dome of the Rock Mosque (centre) in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount Officials consider the Notre Dame fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work taking place at the global architectural treasure. The much smaller Marwani Prayer Hall fire was also thought to be an accident. Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department said that preliminary information suggests it may have been started by children messing around in the area. Owing to the the dual claims of both Judaism and Islam, the Temple Mount compound is one of the most hotly contested religious sites in the world and represents the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Louisiana police have arrested a 71-year-old man on 100 counts of rape against children, dating back as far as the early 1970s. Law enforcement suspect Harvey Joseph Fountain has been accused of carrying out the alleged assaults at his various residences in the Pineville area, up until at least the 1980s. Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office said that on April 1 deputies received a complaint of possible criminal sexual conduct involving juveniles. While they took the initial report, detectives from the Kolin Sub-station were assigned the case for the follow up investigation. Harvey Joseph Fountain, 71, has been accused of 100 rapes against minors, dating back to the early 1970s until at least 1980s. He's pictured April 9 on left and April 13 on right Through their investigation, detectives were able to gather evidence that supported the original allegations. A media statement claims the probe lead to sufficient probable cause being established and warrants were granted for Fountain's arrest. He was detained last Tuesday at 4pm in reference to 50 counts of 1st degree rape. Fountain's April 9 booking into the Rapides Parish Detention Center in reference to the warrants. A $500,000 bond was set on those allegations. However the number of alleged first-degree rape incidents had doubled by April 12 when Fountain was re-arrested and re-booked into the jail at 8.47am. The incidents were said to have taken place at his residences in the Pineville, Louisiana area. Pictured is the Bragg Street home currently listed for the suspect jailed on $1million bond Another $500,000 bond was set on the second set of charges, bringing his bond to $1million. Fountain remained behind bars Tuesday. Detectives said their investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible. Despite the allegations stemming from alleged incidents four decades ago, there is no statute of limitations on the charges. First-degree rape is a capital crime in Louisiana. Lieutenant Stephen Phillips said due to the nature of the case, it will go before a grand jury. Due to due to the case being an ongoing investigation as well as the sanctity of the case, Phillips told DailyMail.com they are unable to share more. Phillips told DailyMail.com that he believed Fountain worked for a local glass company at the time of his arrest. Information suggests he works at Glass Specialities in Pineville. However Phillips said: 'I am unaware of what his occupation was at the time of the current alleged crimes.' Police were not saying how many victims came forward. Phillips told DailyMail.com: 'Additional victims/witnesses have and will be interviewed but nothing that can be released at this time.' It's unclear whether Fountain has a lawyer. Anyone with information on the alleged crimes can contact the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office on (318) 473-6700, Detective Jason Brumfield (318) 484-7350, Detectives (318) 473-6727, or Crime Stoppers at (318) 443-7867. A social sea lion has struck up an unlikely friendship with a dog after the playful pair were captured frolicking in the ocean together just metres from shore. Ryan Waldock had been walking his four-year-old dog Asta at Fremantles South Beach when he noticed the pup was overly excited about something in the water. Despite being two completely different species, marine skipper Ryan said the unlikely pair looked the best of friends as they frolicked in the water. Atsa, a ridgeback cross, began jumping into the waves when she spotted her aquatic friend Asta was very curious about her new friend at Fremantle's South Beach in Western Australia The unlikely pair looked the best of friends as they happily frolicked in the clear blue water 'She went for a swim and the sea lion literally just came straight up to her. It was a really good interaction,' he said. 'They were swimming together for about a minute. They were both really calm and happy. 'Asta was very curious and I think the seal felt the same. They were both checking each other out.' Mr Waldock said at first when Atsra was getting excited about something in the water he had no idea what was going on Mr Waldock has been taking his dog Astra (pictured) for walks along the beach countless times but he had never seen a sea lion this close before Mr Waldock said it was the first time he had ever seen a sea lion that close before. According to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, the rare species are native to Australian waters and are currently endangered with only around 11,000 Australian sea lions left in the wild today. 'It is such a beautiful beach. Its not every day you get to witness something like that. 'All my friends and family were quite jealous that I got to see it with my own eyes, but everyone really loved the video. 'I felt so lucky to see something so amazing. It was unforgettable.' A cheeky sea lion hitched a ride on the back of a boat of in order to grab a tasty snack. Footage shows Tracy Wollschlager, 28, hand-feeding the excited seal pup after it clambered on her boat in Cabo Sun Lucas, Mexico. The friendly animal uses it flippers to grip the vessel as Ms Wollschlager pets it like a dog which elicits a contended look on its face. Footage shows Tracy Wollschlager, 28, hand-feeding the excited seal pup after it clambered on the back of her boat in Cabo Sun Lucas, Mexico It happily gorges on fish she pops in its mouth and appears hungry for more as it nibbles on her hand. Ms Wollschlager can't believe her luck as she strokes the seal's sleek fur, and says 'Look at that face!'. Enjoying the ride, the sea lion happily perches on the back of the boat as it is treated to food and lots of attention. But it doesn't last for long before another sea lion tries to chance its luck and get in on the action. It sneaks up behind its friend and tries to hop on the back of the boat too, causing the other seal pup to bark at it. The commotion causes the sea lion to fall off his perch and go splashing back into the ocean. The friendly animal uses it flippers to grip the vessel as Ms Wollschlager pets it like a dog which elicits a contended look on its face Ms Wollschlager laughs and exclaims: 'He's like, back off!'. The maths professor said: 'The day of the video we were on our way in from Spearfishing and we had left over bait which we use to chum the water to attract the fish. 'There are four sea lions who are well known in Cabo for coming up to fishing boats to grab a snack. 'Pancho, who is very well known, his "wife" and two pups. The sea lions in the video were said to be the two pups. They are adorable and I fell in love. 'When the sea lions came on the back of the boat the captain and first mate handed me the fish to feed them once they saw my level of extreme excitement. Enjoying the ride, the sea lion happily perches on the back of the boat as it is treated to food and lots of attention 'It was the highlight of my Cabo trip. 'You see me feeding this little guy who came on the transom of the boat looking for a snack. He was also loving the head rub. It was a beautiful connection that I made.' Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short, thick hair, and a big chest and belly. 'I love the beauty in nature,' added Ms Wollschlager. 'I think that an experience like this is something that I would of never thought possible. 'I personally don't like zoos or any form of keeping animals in cages. So to experience something like this with a wild animal is truly an experience of a lifetime. 'Animals should be appreciated in their natural habitat. They should not be caged, or put in a tank for viewing.' China's aviation regulator said on Tuesday that it had set up a task force to review design changes to the Boeing Co 737 MAX that had been submitted by the planemaker after the fleet was grounded last month. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has reverted to Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on issues regarding the aircraft's airworthiness and is waiting for their response, the Chinese regulator said in a statement on its website. China was the first country to ground the newest version of Boeing's workhorse 737 model last month following a deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10. Shanghai Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes are grounded at Hongqiao International Airport on March 17, 2019 in Shanghai. China's aviation regulator said on Tuesday that it had set up a task force to review design changes to the 737 MAX that had been submitted by Boeing Boeing filed an application on March 15 through the FAA to obtain an airworthiness certificate from CAAC, the Chinese regulator said in the statement that summarised remarks from a monthly briefing. CAAC said it had since set up a task force to review changes submitted by Boeing in accordance with a bilateral agreement between the United States and China. The Chinese regulator did not specify the changes submitted. Boeing is planning to update the software on an anti-stall system linked to the Ethiopian Airlines crash and an earlier one of Indonesia's Lion Air but the planemaker has not yet submitted the update to FAA for approval. The Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on March 10, killing all 157 people on board. Rescuers are pictured above working at the scene Workers attend a ceremony marking the 1st delivery of a Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane to Air China at the Boeing Zhoushan completion center in Zhoushan, Zhejiang last December. China was the first country to ground the newest version of Boeing's workhorse 737 model CAAC is one of several regulators taking part in an FAA review panel on the 737 MAX which is expected to start this month. The Chinese regulator said one of its pilot experts and one expert on aircraft certification would join the panel. CAAC said it would make sure that every 737 MAX undergoes the necessary design changes and every pilot receives the necessary training before the fleet returns to service. Chinese airlines operated 97 of the 737 MAX jets in service before the grounding, the most of any country, according to Flightglobal data. The Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on March 10, killing all 157 on board. It was the second crash of the 737 MAX, the latest version of Boeing's workhorse narrowbody jet that first entered service in 2017. In October, a 737 MAX 8 operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air crashed 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta on a domestic flight, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. Boeing sold 580 737s last year, which accounted for 72 per cent of the company's total deliveries. The parents of a Fordham University student who is said to have died trying to get a photograph for social media have said they are 'heartbroken' and still 'trying to process' her tragic death. Her parents had remained silent until yesterday when they revealed through a family friend that they were able to 'spend her last moments with' Sydney by her bedside. Sydney Monfries, 22, died on Sunday after breaking into the Bell Tower at the university's campus in New York City with a group of friends in the early hours of the morning, posting a video on Snapchat minutes before her death. Monfries was described as the 'sweetest soul' by her friends. No one else was injured The journalism student and her friends had just had dinner at a barbecue restaurant and decided to climb the tower as a 'rite of passage' before graduating next month, according to staff there. David Barfield, speaking on behalf of her parents, Susan and Wayne Monfries, said in an interview with WABC-TV that the young woman's parents reaction to her death was 'hard to witness'. He said: 'I was just with Susan and she said, 'I lost my best friend.' And they are heartbroken. It's the hardest thing I ever had to witness.' After climbing the narrow staircase inside the tower, Monfries uploaded a video of the view to Snapchat, captioning it: 'Bell Tower,' according to The New York Times. Sydney Monfries died Sunday after breaking into the Bell Tower at the university's campus with a group of friends in the early hours of the morning. Photograph from her Instagram page Monfries fell inside the tower (shown) through a gap in the landing. The tower is off limits to students but, recently, seniors have been breaking in to 'drink and take photographs' Friends previously said she was eager to get a good picture of the city skyline to post on her Instagram page. Police said she tripped on a landing and fell 40 feet through an opening in the stairs The fall knocked her unconscious and when paramedics arrived, they struggled to her out because the staircase was too narrow for them to maneuver the stretcher she was on. Eventually, she was airlifted out through a window then lowered to the ground to be taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Sydney and her friends had climbed the tower to take photographs for social media, according to their friends. The 22-year-old was about to graduate as a journalism student Fordham President Joseph McShane announced her death Sunday night. Gina Vergel, a Fordham spokeswoman, also said that the school will not take disciplinary action against any of the students who were with the 22-year-old. It is unclear how many students were with her at the time or how she fell. The school has also offered counselling to her classmates. The family spokesman also added that Sydney had a close relationship with her father. 'She was daddy's little girl. And one of the things that Wayne celebrated every year was the father-daughter dance,' he said. A waiter at the restaurant where they had dinner beforehand told The New York Post that he did not know if they had been drinking. 'They were like, 'We're seniors, let's go!'. 'She was with a group of friends. My roommate was with them. 'He told me some seniors [wanted to go] to the tower to take some pictures and have a good time before graduating,' he said. The waiter said that after she fell, his roommate rushed to be by her side. 'She couldn't breath. She hit her head,' he said. Monfries was an intern at InStyle magazine. Her family live in Portland, Oregon. Shortly before she died, Sydney uploaded a video to Snapchat from inside the bell tower. She is shown in an Instagram picture posing at the Sears Tower in Chicago On social media, friends paid tribute to Monfries as a 'sweet soul'. Anna Newell paid tribute to her friend on Instagram, writing: ' You were all so kind and good hearted. You were so smart, pretty and kind just like your momma. Thank you for being an amazing person, I will always remember you. RIP.' Shristina Harrigan added: 'Rest in sweetest peace Sydney. I'll never forget all of our memories back when you lived in NJ and I'll forever cherish them! Rest easy sweet girl.' AJ Newell described Monfries as 'the sweetest soul I have ever met'. Advertisement Hordes of devoted worshippers dig metal hooks into their skin and swing from trees while others pierce skewers through their cheeks in a spectacular tradition at a Hindu religious festival in Bangladesh. Thousands descended on the village of Old Dhaka to celebrate the folk festival Charak Puja in honour of the God Shiva, known as The Destroyer. During the celebration, which is held to mark the end of the Bengali calendar year, worshippers must pay a series of penances to please their God, which in turn will eliminate the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year and ensure prosperity for the one ahead. A Hindu devotee is seen with his face pierced with sharp needles as per the traditional ritual of giving pain to oneself during Charak Festival Charak Festival is one of the oldest Folk festivals, where devotees show their faith to God by inflicting pain upon themselves and believe by doing this the God Shiva will help them to overcome their suffering A Hindu 'saint' has his back pierced with iron hooks during the Charak Puja, a religious festival in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh Hindu devotees seen being pierced his back with sharp needles as per the traditional ritual of giving pain to self during Charak Festival A Hindu saint with iron hooks pierced in his back, gets attached on a rope during the Charak Puja, a Hindu festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh As part of the process, a number of men had their backs pierced with sharp hooks and were swung from the Charak tree, a near 40ft-tall tree which is blessed by priests beforehand. Incredibly, the priests who attach the hooks are able to pierce the worshippers' bodies without leaving large cuts or causing serious injury to them. Preparations for the celebration, which happens every year on April 14, usually start a month in advance. Afterwards the Chanak tree is immersed in the river. People believe that by satisfying the God Shiva, they will cleanse themselves of sorrow and sufferings and bring prosperity for the coming year A man walks with hooks placed through his back as part of the religious ritual to please the God Shiva. On the end of the hooks the attendees traditionally place mangoes As part of the festivities, men were swung from the Charak tree, a near 40ft-tall tree which is worshipped by priests beforehand A number of men were strung up to the Charak tree by large metal hooks which have been embedded into the skin on their backs (pictured) Around 5,000 people descended on the village of Old Dhaka in Bangladesh on April 14 to celebrate the folk festival Charak Puja Families including young children gather to observe the rituals of Charak Puja, a Hindu festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 14 The priests who attach the hooks are are so experienced that they are able to pierce worshippers' bodies without leaving large cuts or causing serious injury Photographer Syed Mahabubul Kader said around 5,000 dedicated Hindus attended the festival in Old Dhaka. The 34-year-old said: 'This festival was organised by the local people for the others nearby to the village. 'The people attending have the hooks placed through their backs as part of the religious ritual to please the God Shiva. On the end of the hooks they place a mango. 'It was tough to watch the hooks get put into the backs of the worshippers and them then being swung in the air. It is painful for them and for visitors watching the ritual.' A Hindu saint with iron hooks pierced in his back, reacts as he gets attached to a rope before he will swing from a tree during the Charak Puja A Hindu saint poses during Charak Puja in traditional dress during the Charak Puja folk festival which is held annually to honour the God Shiva, known as The Destroyer A Hindu saint hangs on an iron hook as he performs during Charak Puja in front of huge crowds on April 14 in Dhaka, Bangladesh A Hindu devotee is seen showing his heavily pierced body to the audience during Charak Festival, held to mark the end of the Bengali calendar year A Hindu saint wearing traditional ghungroo stands during Charak Puja festival, for which female devotees fast and men swing from the pole by hooks embedded in their backs Photographer Syed Mahabubul Kader said that the Charak ritual is painful for those taking part, but also for visitors watching on the sidelines The family of a 14-year-old girl knifed to death in the 1960s has won a High Court bid for a fresh inquest after new evidence pointed towards a convicted child killer. Senior judges have ruled there should be a new hearing into the death of Elsie Frost just over a year after her suspected murderer died before he could be charged. No one was ever successfully prosecuted for the murder of Elsie, who was killed on the way home from her sister's house in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October 1965. An inquest held in 1966 implicated local man Ian Bernard Spencer but his criminal trial was thrown out of court due to lack of evidence. New leads uncovered after Elsie's siblings Colin Frost and Anne Cleave persuaded police to reopen the files pointed to Beast of Wombwell killer Peter Pickering. The family of Elsie Frost (left) won a High Court bid to have a fresh inquest into her death. Last year police revealed their belief that she was killed by Peter Pickering (right) Following his death in 2018, the force confirmed Pickering was expected to be charged with Elsie's murder. The 80-year-old was locked up for more than 45 years after killing 14-year-old Shirley Boldy in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, in 1972. The sex attacker was also awaiting sentence for raping an 18-year-old woman, who is now in her sixties, a few weeks prior to Shirley's abduction. Today, Lord Justice Irwin, sitting with Mr Justice Jay, declared 'there will be a new inquest', adding that the court's reasons for its decision will be given at a later date. Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London after the ruling, Elsie's brother Colin Frost said: 'It's a massive step in the right direction, to say the very least. I don't think we really understand the enormity of it yet.' He said: 'We've come a long way for this. We've fought and fought and fought. We have had lots and lots of support from different people. New evidence uncovered after Elsie's brother Colin Frost (pictured at the site where she died) and sister Anne Cleave persuaded West Yorkshire Police to reopen the files pointed to Beast of Wombwell killer Peter Pickering 'It just feels as if we've vindicated everything.' Mr Frost added: 'I'm totally elated with what we are going to achieve for Elsie. We are going to leave a legacy after all of this.' Pickering had been held under a hospital order made by a judge in 1972 after he admitted Shirley's manslaughter by diminished responsibility. She was bundled into Pickering's van as she was returning to Wombwell High School. Peter Pickering: 'The Beast of Wombwell' Peter Pickering was a convicted child killer who was suspected of the murder of Elsie Frost. He was locked up for more than 45 years after killing 14-year-old Shirley Boldy in the Barnsley area of South Yorkshire in 1972. She was bundled into Pickering's van as she was returning to Wombwell High School. Pickering drove her to a secluded location where he tied her up and raped her. He tried to strangle her before stabbing her to death, a crime witnessed by walkers who were too far away to intervene. Pickering killed Shirley just three or four weeks after he abducted and violently raped an 18-year-old woman in the Barnsley area. Pickering was convicted at Leeds Crown Court on March 20 of rape and false imprisonment over the attack, which only came to light through the reinvestigation of the murder of Elsie. Elsie was stabbed in the back and head as she walked through a railway tunnel in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October 1965. Pickering had convictions for sex offences dating back to the very early 1960s and was in prison from 1966 to early 1972 for a violent sex attack on a teenager. He died of natural causes in 2018 before police could charge him with Elsie's murder. Advertisement Pickering drove her to a secluded location where he tied her up and raped her. He tried to strangle her before stabbing her to death, a crime witnessed by walkers who were too far away to intervene. Pickering killed Shirley just three or four weeks after he abducted and violently raped an 18-year-old woman in the Barnsley area. The victim described Pickering as a 'monster' in court and told how he said she was going to die. Pickering was convicted at Leeds Crown Court on March 20 of rape and false imprisonment over the attack, which only came to light through the re-investigation of the murder of Elsie. Elsie was stabbed in the back and head as she walked through a railway tunnel in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October 1965. As part of the inquiry, detectives looked back through Pickering's conversations with psychiatrists and also found a storage garage he rented in the Owlerton area of Sheffield containing possessions including handcuffs and exercise books filled with his rantings. One note written in 1970 said: 'Sex is predominant in my mind - eclipsing all else. Maybe I will be a sex maniac proper. Rape, torture, kill.' Speaking after Pickering's death, Elsie's brother, who pushed for the reinvestigation of the case three years ago along with his sister, Anne Cleave, said: 'It's just an incredible feeling of frustration now.' He said the police had done a 'fantastic job' but criticised the length of time prosecutors had taken to decide on a charge after detectives handed over the file to the Crown Prosecution Service a year ago. Mr Frost said: 'They uncovered a monster. The man was such a nasty, nasty piece of work.' Asked if he believed Pickering could have killed others, he said: 'I think there's every likelihood.' Pickering had convictions for sex offences dating back to the very early 1960s and was in prison from 1966 to early 1972 for a violent sex attack on a teenager. A young boy had to be rescued after he got his head wedged between two glass doors at a supermarket in south-east China. Video of the incident in Pingxiang, Jiangxi province shows the boy crying loudly in pain while being trapped in an awkward position as a team of firefighters work to free him. The mischievous youngster was playing near the glass doors unattended when he poked his head through the gap in the hinges, according to Chinese reports. Video of the incident in Pingxiang, Jiangxi province shows the boy crying loudly in pain while being trapped in an awkward position as a team of firefighters work to free him Several concerned by-standers helped rescuers prop the boy up to relieve pressure off his neck, while others were seen wiping away his tears with tissue paper Footage released by the Jiangxi fire department shows the boy trapped between narrow gap of the doors at the Biyibi Supermarket chain on April 13. Several concerned by-standers helped rescuers prop the boy up to relieve pressure off his neck, while others were seen wiping away his tears with tissue paper. They also used a jacket to cover the boy's body to protect him from any broken glass falling on him. Footage released by the Jiangxi fire department shows the boy trapped between narrow gap of the doors at the Biyibi Supermarket chain on April 13 Bystanders also used a jacket to cover the boy's body to protect him from any broken glass The boy was freed eight minutes later and was taken to hospital for a checkup A team of 12 rescuers were alerted to the scene and came up with a plan to expand the metal frame of the doors with a hydraulic tool, according to Guangming Daily. The boy was freed eight minutes later and was taken to hospital for a checkup. He did not suffer from any serious injuries. The Fire Services Department have previously reminded parents to always keep an eye on their children to prevent similar accidents in the future. Googling symptoms of sickness can be detrimental to a person's health according to medical experts. Almost half of all Australians have scoured the internet for health related information at some point in time while a third have admitted to doing so before going to hospital. But experts have warned searching for symptoms online could cause more harm than good. Dr Cockburn (pictured) said while people should try and stay aware of which online medical websites can be trusted, it was important to seek help from a professional 'No doubt, whatever symptoms you put in, someone will say it's related to cancer,' Dr Sally Cockburn told A Current Affair. 'Then you get scared, then you don't want to go to the doctor, so that's the worst thing,' she said. Dr Cockburn said while people should be aware of which online medical websites can be trusted, it was important to seek help from a professional. She implored anyone who thought they were ill to talk to their doctor or nurse. (File picture) 'Dr Google' doesn't have a medical degree,' Dr Harry Nespolon cautioned Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Harry Nespolon also cautioned people from seeking advice from 'Dr Google'. He said the popular search engine wasn't qualified to diagnose sickness. 'Dr Google' doesn't have a medical degree,' he said. He said the search engines could exaggerate symptoms and increase a person's anxiety in relation to a potential illness. While Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Harry Nespolon (pictured) cautioned anyone considering seeking advice from 'Dr Google' He said searching online could also have the opposite affect and suppress someone's concerns about their symptoms when they could be serious. One woman who fell in the trap of searching symptoms of extreme sinus pain said Google made he believe she had a tumour. Another woman who suffers with a rare cell condition often tortures herself by spending prolonged periods of time searching her condition online. The Palace of Westminster is at risk of a 'huge' fire just like the one that has torn through Notre Dame, MPs have warned following yesterday's blaze. Parliament has caught fire 40 times in just four years, politicians have warned, after the Paris cathedral was pictured in ruins today. And the palace was destroyed in a fire in 1834 to be later rebuilt by architect Charles Barry. The 900-year-old Westminster Hall survived the inferno. Members are calling for action to safeguard the site but demands for greater safety measures follow years of baulking at the billions required to restore the building. Today's stark warnings come less than two weeks after the Commons were flooded by a leak through its roof, spilling gallons of water into the press gallery. Politicians have warned today that Parliament (pictured) is at risk of being ravaged by fire just like Notre Dame as it has caught alight 40 times in just four years Restoration at the Palace of Westminster (pictured) is expected to begin in earnest in the mid-2020s despite MPs warning today that there is a grave fire risk Stark warnings about a potential blaze in Parliament come less than two weeks after a roof leak flooding the Commons Parliament's 'restoration and renewal' programme is not expected to start in earnest until the mid-2020s after MPs and peers voted in early 2018 to leave the historic building to allow the work to be carried out. Labour MP Chris Bryant, who sat on a joint committee of parliamentarians from both Houses which examined the risk of a catastrophic event, says that it is taking far to long to make the building safe. 'We have taken far too long already putting our fire safety measures in place,' he said. 'Parts of the Palace are as old as Notre Dame and we must make sure that every fire precaution is taken as the major work goes ahead. God knows we've had enough warnings.' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also slammed the current state of the palace as 'very poor'. Mr Corbyn said the blaze at Notre Dame was 'very, very sad' and warned that the fire risk was 'huge' for Parliament. 'You can see the majesty and beauty of that building (Notre Dame) and to see it destroyed is devastating, I think, for everybody in Paris and indeed around the world, because you see beautiful buildings like that and think of the beautiful buildings we've got in this country,' he said. 'If any of those were destroyed in fire, how would we feel about it? As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno Photographs released by the Paris fire brigade show a close up view of crews battling the fire yesterday 'The state of the building is very poor in Westminster and a fire risk is obviously huge with a building that has so much wood within it.' The 2016 joint committee report noted 'a substantial and growing risk of either a single, catastrophic event, such as a major fire, or a succession of incremental failures in essential systems which would lead to Parliament no longer being able to occupy the Palace'. Fellow Labour MP Anna Turley said she was shocked by the state of the building when she was first elected to Westminster in 2015. 'On my induction my "buddy" was an engineer,' she said. 'He showed me the electrics - it looked a health and safety disaster (and fire) waiting to happen.' Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, effectively Theresa May's deputy prime minister, said a water leak in the Commons earlier this month was a stark reminder of the need to deal with the building's problems. Writing in the Bucks Free Press, the Aylesbury MP said: 'With each year that passes, the risk of a catastrophic fire grows.' The Palace of Westminster was constructed in the mid-1800s as a state-of-the-art purpose-built home for Parliament after a fire in 1834 destroyed large parts of the old building, although the medieval Westminster Hall survived. Although architect Charles Barry put fire safety at the centre of his designs for the new Palace by using cast iron and stone, the opulent interiors he created with Augustus Welby Pugin used vast quantities of combustible materials. This and the huge network of ventilation shafts and floor voids they created to aid ventilation had the unintended effect of creating ideal conditions for fire and smoke to spread throughout the building. Fire safety systems are in place throughout the Palace but they are antiquated and safety officers are required to patrol the building around the clock to spot signs of a blaze. A parliamentary spokesman said: 'Fire safety is a key priority for Parliament and protections are constantly reviewed and updated including at our active construction sites. 'Last year, we completed a major programme of works to enhance fire safety measures in the Palace of Westminster, and while this work continues we stand ready to learn any lessons that emerge from the fire at Notre Dame to ensure we do everything possible to protect our people and buildings on the Parliamentary Estate.' Plans were being put in place to ensure that fire risks are kept 'to an absolute minimum' when construction works for the restoration and renewal programme start. 'Health, safety and well-being, including fire safety, will remain the highest priority,' the spokesman said. Tory MP Johnny Mercer has received a 'full and unreserved apology' from the Chief Whip after his deputy was accused of mounting a smear campaign against him. Chris Pincher, the deputy chief whip, is alleged to have tried to persuade an ex-serviceman to provide 'dirt' on Mr Mercer, who is a former Army captain. The Daily Mail revealed on Saturday how Mr Pincher had been accused of seeking damaging information on Mr Mercer after meeting a former colleague of his for a drink in February. Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, yesterday issued an apology to Mr Mercer during a telephone conversation. It is not clear why the whips have targeted Mr Mercer. Another former soldier Tory MP Tom Tughendhat last week made similar allegations. The allegations of dirty tricks come as the Tory party builds up to a full-blown race to replace Mrs May - though both Mr Mercer and Mr Tughendhat have denied being candidates. Tory MP Johnny Mercer has received a 'full and unreserved apology' from the Chief Whip after his deputy was accused of mounting a smear campaign against him The Daily Mail revealed on Saturday how Mr Pincher had been accused of seeking damaging information on Mr Mercer after meeting a former colleague of his for a drink in February Mr Mercer, 37, who is seen as a potential future leadership contender, last week tweeted a copy of a message he had received from the fellow ex-serviceman, who alleged the party had tried to 'tap me up for dirt on you'. The Plymouth Moor View MP said it was the third attempt to extract damaging information that he had been notified of in recent months. Chris Pincher, the deputy chief whip, is alleged to have tried to persuade an ex-serviceman to provide 'dirt' on Mr Mercer, who is a former Army captain The message read: 'Btw, the Whips office was trying to tap me up for dirt on you. Obviously. I have none anyway, but I told him to f*** off regardless. 'I guess maybe watch your back a little bit.' Mr Mercer is a former Remain supporter who has since said that the result of the referendum should be respected. But he has also criticised the handling of the process by Theresa May's Government. Mr Mercer said the alleged plot revealed why the UK was in 'such a mess'. He tweeted: 'Third one of these I've had of late, from an only army contact. 'Contrast the values and ethos of that institution vs Parliament, and you'll start to find answers of how we got the UK politically into such a mess. Values, integrity, ethos - never been more important, or more scarce.' Mr Pincher resigned as a whip over allegations of sexual harassment in November 2017, but was later cleared by a Conservative Party probe and was appointed as deputy chief whip in January last year. Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, yesterday issued an apology to Mr Mercer during a telephone conversation The 49-year-old reported himself to the police when the claims were made, but a panel led by an independent QC found there had not been a breach of the party's code of conduct. Mr Pincher, who was has been the MP for Tamworth since 2010, was accused of making an unwanted pass in 2001 at former Olympic rower Alex Story. He was also accused of 'touching up' former Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, who told him to 'f*** off'. Mr Pincher is reported to have tried to untuck Mr Story's shirt and massaged his neck before changing into a bathrobe. Mr Pincher said he did 'not recognise the events' and apologised for any offence caused. Mr Pincher has not responded to requests for comment on the claims regarding Mr Mercer. At the weekend, the Mail on Sunday has learnt that similar enquiries have been made to former Army colleagues of Tory MP Tom Tugendhat who served in the Intelligence Corps who last week ruled out a tilt at No 10. On Thursday, war hero turned Plymouth MP Johnny Mercer (pictured) took to social media to accuse an anonymous Tory enforcer of attempting to 'dig up dirt' about his military career A source said: 'They're trawling through old friends who unsurprisingly reported back.' It is understood that Mr Mercer angrily confronted Chief Whip Mr Smith on the phone on Friday night, urging him to root out any such behaviour. But Downing Street insiders ridiculed the idea that they were behind the hunt. Instead, they heaped blame on the fevered leadership jostling that is currently tearing through the top of the Conservative Party, suggesting Mr Mercer was planning to run to replace Mrs May. One Minister, who is a former Whip, said: 'I never ever heard of this sort of thing being contemplated let alone being done. 'It is much more likely to be a rival to Mercer posing as the Whips' Office. Tom Tugendhat who served in the Intelligence Corps 'There is no way they would have the time or ability.' And a serving Tory Whip told this newspaper: 'We have bigger problems than Johnny Mercer.' But hitting back, Mr Mercer who did three tours of Afghanistan told The Mail on Sunday: 'The Chief Whip agrees with me that this behaviour is unacceptable, that he is the Government's Chief Whip, and that the behaviour of the Whips' Office is his responsibility. 'I have left him in no doubt that I expect this individual to have the integrity to come forward of his own accord.' He added: 'I am actually pleased this has happened to me. I am tired of seeing colleagues treated in this way, who when I ask to intervene seem oddly fearful of the Whips' Office and ask me not to. 'So I'm pleased I have this opportunity to put a firm marker in the sand that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable in a modern Conservative Party. 'Parliament is in need of serious reform. I can't just keep saying that and not call it out when this sort of thing happens.' Mr Mercer also denied he was eyeing up a push for the top job, saying: 'No 10's idea I am running a leadership campaign is a joke. I must be the only Tory MP who hasn't actually asked a single colleague to vote for them. 'We've got a national crisis to sort out; the public do not look fondly on those more preoccupied with their personal ambitions at this time.' The row came as unsubstantiated rumours circulated in Westminster that one major Cabinet frontrunner was having an affair. However, allies of the Minister say the claims pushed by MPs were 'nonsense'. Zia Bi, 39, was a director at Burlow & Spencer Ltd, which allegedly took fees from 19 clients despite having staff that were not properly trained. She's seen outside the Old Bailey today A law firm boss illegally provided immigration advice while not qualified for more than two years, the Old Bailey heard today. Zia Bi, 39, was a director at Burlow & Spencer Ltd, which allegedly took fees from 19 clients despite having staff that were not properly trained. In one case, this left a client who had gone back to Thailand to care for sick relatives unable to return to her husband in the UK because her visa had expired, it is claimed. Simon Ray, prosecuting, told the court how Burlow & Spencer presented itself online as an international law firm that provided quality advice tailored to each client. 'We handle the most basic of visit visa applications all the way through to complex applications in country and entry clearance,' he quoted its website as saying. In total 95 complaints were made against Burlow & Spencer between February 2016 and March 2018, 19 of which form part of the prosecution case. Turning to the case against Bi, Mr Ray said: 'She should have made sure that Burlow & Spencer were properly qualified, but she did not.' Dan Romulus Dandes, 53, and Babbar Jamil, 32, also face charges alongside Bi. As directors of DDR Legal Services LLP, which supervised Burlow & Spencer, they are also accused of providing legal advice without proper qualifications. Mr Ray said: 'All 19 complainants named on the indictment purported to have paid a fee to Burlow & Spencer. 'Both Mr Dandes and Mr Jamal knew that Burlow & Spencer were providing unlawful legal advice.' Dandes denied the claims and said he believed his work was '100 percent legal'. Dan Romulus Dandes, 53, seen outside the Old Bailey today, is also accused of providing legal advice while untrained Jurors heard the case of Jeffrey Crowther, a client whose wife of five years went back to Thailand to care for sick relatives in 2016. During her stay abroad her visa expired and she was unable to return to United Kingdom. Mr Crowther applied to renew his wife's right to stay in the UK with Burlow & Spencer, but they wrongly said his wife was from the Philippines and left out medical records. He said: 'I went on to the internet and found their website. It would be probably be towards the end of April 2016. 'I explained the circumstances at length. They told me they would make the application to the Home Office for a settlement visa.' Mr Crowther was sent a completed application form but asked whether it was correct, he replied: 'Not it was not. 'There quite a few things wrong. The English language certificate had been superseded in April 2015. 'They got her nationality wrong. I corrected that application form and sent it back. They missed out her TB clearance certificate.' The application was eventually refused by the Home Office and Mr Crawford sued Burlow & Spencer for damages and won having spent 3,000 on the process. Another client, Yvonne Leach, lost her son and wanted to bring his twin sister over from Ethiopia for the funeral but had her application declined, the court heard. She told the jury: 'I tried everything. I complained to Burlow & Spencer. I went to the Citizens Advice Bureau. I went to the town hall. I met with my MP.' Dandes told the court that DDR Legal Services - which was responsible for any grievances raised by clients of Burlow and Spencer - was a legitimate business. Giving evidence, he said: 'Sometimes I think I am a little bit over-qualified in what I am doing.' He produced a series of certificates, explaining: 'They show I have no restrictions, and I authorised to represent any entity in Europe.' Jurors heard after the fall of the Soviet Block he left Romania in June 1991 and travelled to New York. Living in Queens he took a degree in Political Science at City University and joined a law firm as an apprentice when be began to be contacted over the internet about immigration cases. But he was told by colleagues: 'If you stay in the US you will be a drop in the ocean. If you go to Romania, you will be one of the few.' Babbar Jamil, 32, (right, next to Bi outside the Old Bailey) faces the same charges as Dandes In 1998 he returned to Romania and took the bar and qualified as a lawyer after studying at the University of Bucharest. He told the jury of eight women and four men: 'I decided to work exclusively for foreign entities and individuals that have various problems in Romania. 'I provided services Pro Bono [without payment]. Then I started getting clients. I worked for ten years being sole attorney and counsel of one of the biggest Austrian firms. 'After a period of time Mr Jamil contacted me. I flew to England and I met him, and I was very impressed by his knowledge, his voice, his diligence and his conscientiousness. 'I liked what I saw in the partnership with him. He suggested something very important. 'Application processes in the UK were not slow but took extra time than I expected, but Mr Jamil came up with a great software which improved the application procedure. 'Everything was good, I think even the government should have it. Simple and not time consuming. 'I did it because it was 100% legal. My reputation for my statues was impeccable. I would not put my future, my license, the future of my children on the line.' When asked whether he realised his membership of the bar in Romania was not valid for providing immigration services in the UK he said: 'I had no idea'. The married father of two explained he spends a lot of time working on cases or with his family. He said he is an American citizen with property in California. Bi, of Birmingham, denies one charge of providing immigration advice when not qualified to do so as director of Burlow & Spencer. Dandes, of central London, denies two counts of providing immigration advice and two of providing immigration services while not qualified. Jamil, of the same address, denies one count of providing immigration services and one of providing advice while not qualified. Burlow & Spencer deny denies two counts of providing immigration advice and two counts of providing immigration services. DDR Legal Service LLP deny one count of providing immigration services and one of providing advice while not qualified. The charges date from February 1, 2016 to April 30, 2018. The trial continues and the defendants deny the charges. The 'crushed' parents of a Fordham student who plunged to her death inside a clock tower on Sunday rushed to be by her side before she was pronounce dead. Sydney Monfries, 22, fell between a gap in the stairs inside the clock tower in the early hours of Sunday morning. She plunged 40ft and sustained fatal injuries to her head. The journalism student and her friends had broken into the off-limits structure because they saw it as a 'rite of passage' as seniors and wanted to get photographs for their Instagram pages, according to their peers. Sydney uploaded a video to Snapchat moments before she died from inside, captioning it 'bell tower'. After she fell, she was rushed to Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. Her parents, Wayne and Susan Monfries, went straight there and were with her in her final moments, according to a family friend. Sydney Monfries is shown with her parents, Susan and Wayne, and her sister, Caitlyn. The student's parents rushed to be by her side after she fell 40ft inside a clock tower on Fordham University campus in the early hours of Sunday and were with her when she died in hospital Sydney, shown more recently, had broken into the clock tower with friends to take photographs and complete what they considered a rite of passage before graduating next month, students said It is unclear if the parents, who live in Portland, Oregon, flew from there or if they were already on the east coast. David Barfield, a long-term family friend who is now on campus with the Monfries family to help them cope with the tragedy, said they were 'devastated' by Sydney's death. 'They are heartbroken. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to witness. 'Right now they're just trying to process this tremendous loss,' he told ABC News. He added: 'Fortunately they were able to spend her last moments with her.' Friends of the student are still reeling from her death. 'They refuted the notion that she died trying to take pictures and called her death a 'freak accident'. Sydney was due to graduate next month. The university has said it will award her her degree posthumously. Sydney's mother Susan (center) described her as her best friend. They are shown, above, with her little sister Caitlyn The 22-year-old lost her footing inside the tower and fell through a gap in the stairs, landing 40ft below and sustaining fatal head injuries Family friend David Barfield, who is now in the Bronx with the student's family, said her parents were too grief-stricken to talk and that they have been 'devastated' by her death Sydney was a journalism student who was set to graduate next month. She will receive her degree posthmously Before she went to the clock tower, Sydney and her friends had a late-night dinner at a local barbecue restaurant. A waiter there told The New York Post on Monday that he heard them discussing going to the clock tower. 'They were like, "Were seniors, lets go!". 'She was with a group of friends. My roommate was with them. 'He told me some seniors [wanted to go] to the tower to take some pictures and have a good time before graduating,' he said. A different student told the newspaper after the accident happened: 'I heard they were just getting a better view of the city. 'I think they were posting on Instagram.' The university said in a statement that it mourned Sydney and would be offering counseling services to students who needed it. This is the adorable moment an overly confident baby hippo faces up to a snoozing crocodile. Rainer Marthe, 44, filmed the encounter between a hippo calf and the crocodile in Kruger National Park, South Africa. And after the hippo successfully scares the crocodile away it tries its luck on a much larger buffalo before it all becomes too scary and the hippo runs back to its mother. Rainer Marthe, 44, filmed the encounter between a hippo calf and the crocodile in Kruger National Park, South Africa After the hippo successfully scares the crocodile away it tries its luck on a much larger buffalo before it all becomes too scary and the hippo runs back to its mother At the start of the video the hippo approaches the crocodile, bares its gums and confidently lunges at the large reptile. And its tactics work as the crocodile appears to jump away from the hippo before escaping in to the water. The calf even follows the crocodile further in to the water near Sunset Dam as if to ensure it doesn't come back. The calf even follows the crocodile further in to the water near Sunset Dam as if to ensure it doesn't come back But a large buffalo doesn't seem to react the same way to the confidently small hippo. This time when he bares his gums and lunges forward the buffalo lunges back. And it is all too much for the calf as it swiftly turns around and runs back in to the safety of the water where his mother waits. Rainer told Latestsightings.com: 'We took Friends from Germany for a day into the Kruger. A large buffalo doesn't seem to react the same way to the confident small hippo. This time when he bares his gums and lunges forward the buffalo lunges back 'We entered through Phabeni Gate and slowly made our way down to Crocodile Bridge, where we stayed overnight just outside the gate. 'It was a rather quiet day, but we still enjoyed our time in the Park. 'Approaching Lower Sabie, we stopped for a quick coffee and then decided to park for a while at Sunset Dam. 'We thought there might be some action happening there because there were quite a lot of cars. 'As we were watching, many big crocodiles were lying in the sun on the bank. Suddenly, a cheeky young hippo came out of the water and started chasing the crocs around. 'It looked like he just wanted to play around a bit. It was just so funny to watch this youngster having some fun with the crocs. 'At the end, he decided to try his luck with a buffalo who came to drink at the dam. 'He seemed to approve of the buffalo but his luck turned on him as the buffalo chased him back into the water. He soon decided to go back to mommy. 'We've never seen a hippo getting so close to big crocodiles like that with no fear at all. It was a great sighting for us.' A banker whose homeopath wife left him after he 'took his mistress to his office party' has lost his fight to keep his 10m-plus fortune secret after he wrongly claimed sharing details could land him in prison. Private equity fund boss Oliver Thum, 47, was hit with UK divorce papers by furious wife Catja Thum, 48, after she 'discovered he had taken his mistress to his office party and to Rome for her 40th birthday'. Mr Thum lost a bid to force through a rival divorce petition in the couple's native Germany last year. He has failed to stop vital information about his finances being used by his ex in their fight over his fortune - despite claiming he potentially faces years in jail in Germany if he illegally discloses business secrets. Mr Justice Mostyn today told the Court of Appeal that it was 'patently absurd' to claim details of money held in the former couple's joint account is 'commercially confidential'. Mr Thum (pictured, left, outside the Court of Appeal) had claimed details of his fortune were 'commercially confidential', which a judge branded 'patently absurd' as the millionaire battled with Mrs Thum (right) after she reportedly dumped him for taking his mistress to a party 'Obviously these documents are not confidential,' he said, slamming 'the continued resistance on spurious grounds to their disclosure by the husband'. He added 'there is absolutely no risk of a prosecution' from sharing the details, which include 'an invoice made out personally to the husband for the purchase of a Porsche'. The court heard last year that the former couple were both born in Germany but moved to London in 2009, so their two sons could be educated at English schools. They set up home in a 3m four-bedroom apartment off Gloucester Road, in Kensington, west London. Mrs Thum, a homeopath, filed for divorce on October 26 2015, two days after she heard about her husband's office party guest, said lawyers. The petition was served on Mr Thum on the evening of January 19 2016 and he lodged divorce proceedings in Germany on the following day. Lawyers claimed that Mrs Thum had by then travelled to Zurich and withdrawn 760,000 from the couple's joint bank accounts. She allegedly 'appropriated' items from a safety deposit box, including 'a 1kg gold bar belonging to her husband'. The millionaire's mansion block is pictured off Gloucester Road in Kensington, west London Her lawyers denied that she had appropriated money or property she was not entitled to. The wife's barrister also told the court that Mr Thum made 'intense and repeated pleas' to save the marriage. The pair are now holding their protracted fight over money in London's High Court before Mr Justice Mostyn. The judge today ruled that vital information about the husband's finances, extracted from a flash drive which the wife says she found in a shared safety deposit box, can legitimately be used to support her claim against his fortune. That was despite Mr Thum, who made his millions as the owner of private equity firm Elvaston Capital Management GmBH, claiming that he faced prosecution in Germany if he was forced to disclose the information by the British divorce courts. He insisted that his wife had got hold of the information on the flash drive 'unlawfully' and should not be allowed to rely on it in court. His lawyers also argued that he was no longer the owner of Elvaston Capital, but only employed as its managing director, and as such had been ordered not to disclose the sensitive commercial information on the flash drive, on pain of prosecution. The husband could face years in jail if the information is disclosed in the divorce proceedings for breaking German competition laws, it was claimed. But Mr Jusice Mostyn said the 'small private equity firm founded and originally owned by the husband...following the breakdown of the marriage, seems to have found its way into the ownership of the husband's good friend'. 'In the real world, the idea that his good friend*would either sack the husband, sue him or seek his prosecution is completely fanciful,' the judge added. He also found that the husband would not be breaking German law in any case because he was not disclosing the information 'for personal gain'. 'I am completely satisfied that the conduct of the husband amounts to improper filibuster, mounted in bad faith, consistent with his attitude and conduct from the very dawn of this case,' Mr Justice Mostyn said. The judge went on to order that the material can be used by the wife in her divorce and should be taken from a copy of the files held by her own lawyers to sidestep any further protest by the husband. The case will now return to court at a later date. Advertisement Julien Le Bras (pictured), whose firm was renovating Notre Dame's spire, declared last year that 'our first thought is to protect the values of historical buildings' A young construction boss boasted about his firm's ability to protect historic sites when the company won a contract to repair the spire of Notre Dame, MailOnline can reveal. Julien Le Bras, 32, declared last year: 'Our first thought is to protect the values of historical buildings, it's in our DNA.' His firm, Le Bras Freres, a small company known as the 'Cathedral Restorers', had won the 5million (5.8m, $6.5m) contract to renovate the spire of the Paris landmark. Today craftsmen from the company were being questioned by investigators after the spire came crashing down in Monday's blaze, which caused such extensive damage that experts believe it could take decades to repair. Investigators believe the devastating blaze started in the roof cavity below the spire where the work, which included the use of electric tools, was being carried out. The blaze was discovered at around 6.50pm but workers would reportedly have downed tools between 5pm and 5.30pm. According to investigators, an alarm went off at 6.20pm, interrupting a Mass, but no fire was found. The alarm then sounded again at 6.43pm, by which time the flames were burning out of control. The first daylight pictures inside the wreckage today showed the roof destroyed, the 850-year-old church exposed to the elements and the floor covered in charred debris. However the three 'irreplaceable' Rose Windows, which date to the 13th century and were last night feared to have melted or exploded, are all still intact. Other treasures, including a crown of thorns reputed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion, were also rescued from the fire, which officials believe was started by accident. The wreckage of Notre Dame is seen today with charred debris scattered across the floorafter falling 100ft from the roof Unscathed: Two of the cathedral's most treasured statues appear to have survived. The 14th century Virgin of Paris, right, and the 17th century Descent from the Cross, left Devastation: A view from the upper balcony inside Notre Dame shows debris strewn across the floor after falling from the ceiling In addition to the statues, 'irreplaceable' Rose Windows, which date to the 13th century and were last night feared to have melted or exploded, are all still believed to be intact. Left: A before and after shot of the main altar. Right: A wider shot of the Church's nave showing the destruction caused by the fire A firefighter battles against the inferno last night. The blaze raged through the cathedral for more than 12 hours Exposed to the elements: the vaulted ceiling of the cathedral is open to the sky today after Notre Dame's wooden roof was destroyed by Monday night's blaze The moment Notre Dame's spire began to collapse as distraught Parisians watching the catastrophe let out a collective cry of disbelief at seeing it fall on Monday evening The wooden roof at Notre Dame (left) was completely burned away - as experts said it could not be replaced in the way it was built in the Middle Ages - while charred debris covered the floor (right) but the bell towers remained intact Paris firefighters douse the flames of the burning Notre Dame cathedral - one of the landmarks of the city - as night falls on Monday Notre Dame 'could take decades to repair' Declaring that the 'worst has been avoided', President Emmanuel Macron vowed yesterday: 'We will rebuild Notre Dame together.' But asked how long the restoration could take, Eric Fischer, head of the foundation in charge of restoring Strasbourg cathedral, said: 'I'd say decades.' Stephane Bern, a TV presenter famous for his programmes on medieval France, estimated the rebuilding would take '10 to 20 years minimum'. The restoration of Reims cathedral which was bombarded by German forces during World War I took decades, he said. Emmanuel Macron (pictured) vowed to rebuild Notre Dame The 55-year-old told French radio: 'You know what hurts me the most? It's the idea that I will not see it again in my lifetime.' 'It will be rebuilt for future generations,' he said. But Jack Lang, who served as a hugely prominent culture minister under the presidency of Francois Mitterrand, called for a much quicker turnaround. 'Since yesterday I've been hearing that it will take a decade. That's a joke,' an indignant Lang said. Advertisement Mr le Bras told reporters at the scene: 'We want more than anyone for light to be shed on the origin of this drama.' He said his company has 12 workers involved in the refurbishment, though none were on site at the time the blaze began on Monday evening. He insisted that 'all the security measures were respected' and that 'workers are participating in the investigation with no hesitation.' Various officials have suggested the fire could have been linked to the renovation work. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the investigation was in its early stages. The 32-year-old construction boss had previously heralded his firm's 'technical ability and competence' and 'pride' in restoring historic buildings. In a film posted online, Mr Le Bras said: 'We are proud of our work on historic buildings. We have the technical ability and the competence for his work. 'Our first thought is to protect the values of historical buildings, it's in our DNA.' In the video posted on the Le Bras Freres Facebook page on New Year's Eve, the CEO says his firm is proud to have been chosen to work on buildings across France, including the Congress Palace in Metz and Notre Dame in Paris. Filmed at the staff end-of-year party Le Bras said: 'We are completely ready to start work in 2019 and we are very well motivated. The team is ready and we have the know-how.' And on winning the Notre Dame contact he said: 'The goal is to keep as many old items as possible and not to put the building at risk.' Le Bras said he would ensure that Notre Dame's famous spire - known in French as la fleche - would not be damaged during the renovation work. He said: 'The spire is 105m tall and there is no question that we will put any pressure on it with the scaffolding.' The Notre Dame renovation work was estimated to cost a total of 130 million (150 million, in an audit by the French Ministry of Culture in 2014. Restoring the famous La Fleche spire to its former beauty was estimated to cost 5 million (6 million) alone. Julien Le Bras (pictured with his partner Charlotte Sartelet) today insisted tha this firm 'wants more than anyone for light to be shed on the origin' of the fire at Notre Dame A diagram showing which parts of the cathedral were damaged or destroyed by the fire and which are still intact Firefighters are hoisted to the upper levels of Notre Dame cathedral to inspect the damage after yesterday's horrific blaze. One of the Paris landmark's stained-glass windows is seen still intact in the background Wreckage: The first pictures inside the cathedral on Tuesday morning appear to show at least one of the rose stained-glass windows still intact (left), but debris is covering the floor. Pictured right: the window before the blaze The catastrophic fire at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral (shown this morning) has left a nation mourning the devastation of its cultural and historic 'epicentre' this morning as French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the treasured landmark The hero who saved the Crown of Thorns: Fire brigade chaplain entered flaming Notre Dame to recover holy relic - three years after he bravely helped Bataclan terror victims Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing Notre Dame cathedral A French priest who helped comfort the wounded after the Bataclan terror attack today also emerged as a hero of the Notre Dame fire. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing cathedral on Monday night. It was feared that both religious artefacts would be lost as flames engulfed the medieval building, but Father Fournier made sure they were taken to safety. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament'. Advertisement Established in 1954 by Louis Le Bras, the current CEO's grandfather, Le Bras Freres, which is based in Jarny, Lorraine, in the east of France and employs 200 craftsmen, has been trusted to renovate some of France's most historic buildings. The firm won the contract to restore Notre Dame last year after successfully renovating nine other historic sites including cathedrals in Reims, Poitiers, Verdun, Strasbourg, Amiens and the Pantheon in Paris. Restoration work on Notre Dame, which began in July 2018, was set to be carried out in several phases over 20 years. The series of repairs and restorations included attention being paid to the 100m meter high spire and the 12 apostles that crown it, which were said to have a large number of cracks and fissures . Experts found that the aging stonework of all of the flying buttresses were causing problems for the stability of the whole building and many pinnacles and gargoyles were in disrepair or had fallen. Lead framework of the stained glass windows had also become weakened. Work using electric tools had been going on in the roof, but the fire caused the iconic spire to collapse. It comprised 250 tonnes of lead and stood 315ft tall. After winning the contract Le Bras said: 'No one has touched it [Notre Dame] for 150 years, it's a great honour to be doing the work. 'We are not expecting our work to last ten years but we are aiming it to last for another 150 years!' he joked. The CEO explained to staff that the tender for the restoration work had been split into three the scaffolding, the frame and the cover. And he was ecstatic when the 'small company from Jarny, eastern France, won against large international groups!' He added: 'This will be our tenth cathedral. This family business has worked on another high-profile buildings in Paris, the Pantheon.' The firm boasts that it is proud to employ French workers and has refused to take on 'low-cost' staff from abroad. Le Bras recently invested 5million in new machinery and work space at his headquarters in Jarny, in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, in the Lorraine region of eastern France. The Paris prosecutor's office is probing 'involuntary destruction caused by fire', indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident and not arson or terrorism. 'Nothing suggests that it was a voluntary act,' Remy Heitz told reporters outside the Gothic cathedral, adding that the workers employed at the site were being questioned over Monday's blaze. Mr Heitz also revealed that an earlier alarm had gone off at 6.20pm, interrupting a Mass, but no fire was found. The alarm then sounded again at 6.43pm. A timeline showing how the fire spread, engulfing and destroying the roof of the cathedral, before firefighters calmed it An aerial view of Notre Dame after the spire and roof were burned away but the bell towers were saved from destruction Firefighters work at the facade of Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday following the fire which destroyed the roof and spire One of the upper windows appeared to have been burned out although a statue on top survived (left), as rescue workers were hoisted to the top of the cathedral today (right) as they investigate Monday's devastating fire A source close to the inquiry said that many of the restorers had been interviewed overnight, with prosecutors focusing on the equipment used at the 850-year-old cathedral, where light and power sources were limited. In such circumstances, hordes of cables and wires would have to be attached to dozens of generators, which would then be hoisted high up on to medieval building. France's richest man Bernard Arnault pledges 200MILLION to repair Notre Dame - doubling the 100million donated by Salma Hayek's billionaire husband France's richest man has pledged 200m (170m) towards the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, doubling the donation of Salma Hayek's husband. Multi-billionaire Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury goods group, instantly became the biggest benefactor of an appeal launched by President Emmanuel Macron. On Monday the day of the blaze French tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros (86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of the Cathedral. But, in a statement, the LVMH group said their donation would be double that. It said: 'The Arnault family and the LVMH group, in solidarity with this national tragedy, are associated with the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, symbol of France, its heritage and its unity. A statement from Francois-Henri Pinault said: 'This tragedy impacts all French people' and 'everyone wants to restore life as quickly as possible to this jewel of our heritage.' Advertisement 'The fear is that a small fire began in the rood where they were working,' the source added. 'The irony is that the restorers had just begun working on the spire which collapsed along with much of the roof.' The firm had won the 5.7million contract to restore the Notre Dame spire, which was designed by the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc and erected in 1859. They were due to be on site for up to four years along with Europe Scaffolding, another company which had just put 250 tons of scaffolding around Notre Dame, along with a lift that could move up and down the 300ft spire. The blaze, which broke out as the last crowds of tourists ended visits at around 7pm, was finally declared to be 'fully extinguished' at about 9.45am this morning. As the fire raged, brave rescue teams raced to recover what treasures they could from the Gothic masterpiece, which housed priceless artefacts and relics of huge religious and international significance. Among them was the reputed Crown of Thorns, supposedly worn by Jesus during his crucifixion, which was carried to safety by a human chain of emergency service workers. Today the Archbishop of Paris told BFM-TV that the three beautiful rose windows on the north, west and south sides of the church had all survived intact. Fears had grown for the 'really irreplaceable' stained-glass windows, dating back to the 13th century, amid the heat of the fire last night. The status of other relics, including a purported piece of the Cross on which Jesus was crucified, remained unclear today. French priest Jean-Marc Fournier led the efforts to save the Crown of Thorns. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with the firefighters into Notre Dame Cathedral to save the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament'. This was confirmed by an emergency services source who said: 'Father Fournier is an absolute hero. Rescued treasures: Rescued artefacts are pictured in storage in Paris after being saved by the blaze in Notre Dame Collapse: A sequence image shows the spire of Notre Dame cathedral collapsing during the blaze last night Photographs released by the Paris fire brigade show a close up view of crews battling the fire yesterday Hundreds of firefighters battled to stop the fire wreaking complete destruction of the treasured facade (pictured) after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of Parisians Natalia Vodianova and Antoine Arnault, the CEO of Berluti, visit the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following the fire Natalia Vodianova outside the building. Antoine's father, Bernard Arnault, has pledged 200 million euro (173 million) towards the reconstruction of the cathedral. 'He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the Cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear.' French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the cathedral, whatever the cost. He said in a speech outside the church: 'We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre Dame because that's what the French are waiting for, because that's what our history deserves, because it's our deepest destiny.' Pope Francis said Tuesday he hoped everyone would pull together to rebuild the devastated cathedral following the massive fire. 'I hope the Notre Dame cathedral may once again become, thanks to reconstruction work and the mobilization of all, a jewel in the heart of the city,' Francis said in a statement issued by the Vatican. Leaders from around the world offered their condolences to France. Among them was Queen Elizabeth II, who said: 'Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral. 'I extend my sincere admiration to the emergency services who have risked their lives to try to save this important national monument. 'My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the Cathedral and all of France at this difficult time.' Notre Dame had previously the site of a terror scare in 2016 when a car carrying seven gas cylinders was found near the cathedral. Three women were arrested over the alleged terror plot, although they were thought to have been targeting a Paris railway station rather than the cathedral itself. Police have made clear today that they believe Monday night's fire was an accident. In Washington, Donald Trump tweeted: 'So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.' The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sent the best wishes of the Anglican church to people at the scene. 'Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ,' he said. And British Prime Minister Theresa May added: 'My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze.' Firefighters at the scene of the fire this morning. The fire was officially declared as extinguished at about 9.45am local time French police are understood to have launched a criminal enquiry after a 'stray flame' caused the landmark to become engulfed in fire last night, with heroic firefighters battling for eight hours to bring the blaze under control The focus of prosecutors is currently on contractors Le Bras Freres (Le Bras Brothers), a company based in Jarny, north-eastern France, which had been working from scaffolding (pictured today) erected as part of the restoration project Fears for the treasures of Notre Dame: Christ's 'crown of thorns' is saved, but fragment of the Cross and nails 'used to crucify Jesus' are among countless ancient artefacts still unaccounted for The fate of many of the Notre Dame's treasures is still unknown after the huge fire which ripped through the 850-year-old cathedral on Monday. Experts are today entering the wreckage of the Paris landmark to find which of the precious artworks and religious relics have been saved. The mayor of Paris said that one of the most irreplaceable items - the crown of thorns reputed to have been worn by Jesus at his crucifixion - was safe last night. Firefighters, police, and churchmen risked their lives last night to carry priceless historical artefacts and religious relics away from the flames which engulfed Notre Dame. Rescued: Some of the treasures and artworks of Notre Dame cathedral are sheltered in the Hotel de Ville in Paris after they were saved from Monday night's devastating fire One of the items is kept in a case after it was rescued from the burning Paris cathedral last night, amid a fire which destroyed the roof and spire of the medieval landmark Safe: Crown of Thorns One of the cathedral's most precious objects, a relic purported to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, was whisked away to a secure facility. The chaplain of the Paris fire brigade had gone inside with the firefighters to save the crown. Experts said the irreplaceable item had been kept in a 'very safe place'. Records of the Crown of Thorns existence begin in the sixth century AD, when it is believed to have been kept in Jerusalem by Christians. During the Crusades in 1238, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople gave it to King Louis IX to win his support and try and preserve his crumbling empire. Louis IX brought the crown back to France and was later made a saint. Although the crown itself was saved, a small fragment of the crown had been kept in the spire and is therefore believed to have burned to ashes. The 'Crown of Thorns' said to have been worn by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, pictured in Notre Dame cathedral, has been saved from Monday night's blaze Safe: North, West and South Rose Windows The magnificent stained-glass artworks in the cathedral date back to the 13th century. There were fears last night that they would melt or explode but the Archbishop of Paris told BFM-TV today that they were safe. A French journalist at the scene last night said the north window appeared to be safe with no sign of broken glass although firefighters remained concerned. Architecture professor Julio Bermudez said the stained glass windows were 'really irreplaceable'. This picture appeared to show the North Rose Window intact on Tuesday morning but the fate of the other stained-glass masterpieces was still unclear Safe: Tunic of St Louis A 13th-century linen tunic which is thought to have belonged to King Louis IX - canonised as St Louis - was also made safe, the mayor of Paris said. In his 44-year reign Louis took part in the Crusades and established early principles of justice such as the presumption of innocence. He was proclaimed a saint in 1297 - the only French monarch to receive the honour - and was responsible for acquiring the Crown of Thorns. The tunic worn by Louis King Louis IX who took part in the crusades and 'acquired' the crown of thorns for France in the 13th-century Safe: Statues airlifted from the roof Renovation was already taking place at the cathedral - which may have been linked to the fire. As part of that work, 16 copper statues were airlifted from near the now-destroyed spire just days before the blaze. The green-grey statues, representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, were apparently lowered by cranes from the site and taken away. Some copper statues, including these sixteen statues which sat around the spire of the cathedral, 12 apostles and the four evangelists commissioned in the 1860s during the great restoration of the cathedral by Viollet-le-Duc, were removed in April for restoration Unknown: True Cross and Holy Nails Another of the cathedral's relics is a purported piece of the True Cross - the very instrument on which Jesus was crucified in the first century AD. The collection also includes a nail which is said to be from the cross. It was unclear on Tuesday morning whether these had been saved along with the Crown of Thorns. A reputed piece of the True Cross - the very instrument on which Jesus was crucified - is one of the relics in Notre Dame's collection Apparently safe: Descent from the Cross This 1723 statue by Nicolas Coustou sits on the cathedral's high altar. It shows Jesus being taken down from the cross after his crucifixion. Initial pictures showed the cross still standing with part of the sculpture visible, although it was surrounded by smoke and debris. The cross and statue on Notre Dame's altar - sculpted by Nicolas Coustou in 1723 - were apparently intact after the blaze but surrounded by smoke and debris Unknown: Thomas Aquinas, Fountain of Wisdom A painting titled Saint Thomas Aquinas - Fountain of Wisdom - is believed to date from 1648. It shows the Italian theologian, who heavily influenced Western philosophy, and was painted by Antoine Nicolas. This 1648 painting of Thomas Aquinas is among the treasures in the Notre Dame cathedral Apparently safe: Cathedral bells Despite fire racing through Notre Dame's roof, firefighters were able to prevent the blaze consuming the cathedral's main structure, including its two bell towers. The bells that have rung out at key moments in France's history were thought to be safe. Emmanuel, the largest bell, was lifted into the south tower in 1685 and weighs over 23 tonnes. Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, was the cathedral's bell-ringer. The ten bells of Notre Dame are renowned across Europe and the first nine are named Marie, Gabriel, Anne-Genevieve, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie. The two cathedral bell towers were still standing this morning with the fire extinguished, offering some hope to Parisians who feared the entire building would collapse Apparently safe: Grand Organ Paris' deputy mayor said Notre Dame's organ, one of the biggest and most famous in the world, remains intact after the fire. The organ, which has its beginnings in 1401, was refurbished in 2013 when the cathedral celebrated its 850th birthday. Each of the nearly 8,000 pipes, some of which date back to the 18th century, was individually cleaned and returned to its place while nine new, gargantuan bells replaced the 19th century ones. The archbishop of Paris said on Tuesday that it may have been damaged but did not appear to have been destroyed. The pipes of the cathedral's Grand Organ - which were cleaned in 2013 - stand under one of the stained glass windows. It is unclear whether the organ was damaged in the fire Unknown: The Visitation painting Jean Jouvenet's 1716 painting shows the Virgin Mary raising her head and arms towards Heaven, with her relative Elizabeth nearby. It is on the western wall of the Saint-Guillaume chapel within the cathedral but its current status is unclear. Jean Jouvenet's 1716 painting shows the Virgin Mary raising her head and arms towards Heavan, with her relative Elizabeth nearby. Unknown: Choir screen An ornate division separates the congregation from where the clergy would be seated. It features 14th-century sculptures by Pierre de Chelle, Jean Ravy and Jean Le Bouteiller. Safe: Madonna and Child statue The 14th-century, life-sized statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus is also known, like the cathedral itself, as Notre Dame or Our Lady. It stands near the Descent from the Cross sculpture and could be seen in a picture on Tuesday apparently unharmed. The statue is one of 37 images of the mother of Jesus in the Catholic cathedral. A statue of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus Christ, sculpted in the 14th century, is one of the treasures still not accounted for in Notre Dame Unknown: The Mays paintings A series of paintings made in the 17th and early 18th century, these artworks were offered to the cathedral in May every year. They include images of the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus and of the crucifixion of St Peter. The Mays paintings includes this work by Saint Peter Curing the Sick By His Shadow (pictured) a scene from the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible Apparently safe: Statue of St Denis This sculpture begun in 1853 depicts St Denis, the patron saint of the city of Paris and a Christian martyr from the 3rd century AD. The statue in Notre Dame shows him holding his severed head after he was executed, but its fate today is not yet known. The Statue of St. Denis holding his head (center) and two angels (left and right) on the left door jamb of the Portal of the Virgin on the western facade of Notre-Dame Cathedral Destroyed: Irreplaceable wooden roof The cathedral's wooden roof - built with beams made more than 800 years ago from ancient forests - was burned to ashes in the fire. A French cultural heritage expert has said that France no longer has trees big enough to replace them. He said the restoration work will have to use new technologies to rebuild the roof. The wooden roof was destroyed in the smoke and flames of the 12th-century cathedral. Experts said France no longer had the trees to replace it in the same way Destroyed: 19th-century spire Parisians watched in horror last night as the spire burned and then collapsed in the intense heat of the blaze. The 13th-century spire was dismantled during the French Revolution and later rebuilt in the 1860s. The spire of the Notre Dame collapses last night. This one was created in the 19th century after the original medieval spire was destroyed during the French Revolution Destroyed: Relics of St Denis and St Genevieve Relics of St Denis - the patron saint of Paris - and the fifth-century St Genevieve were also in the spire which burned and collapsed yesterday. They were reportedly placed there by an archbishop in 1935. Unknown: Statue of St Therese The southern transept of Notre Dame contains a statue, made in 1934, of St Therese of the Child Jesus. The French nun - also known as the Little Flower of Jesus - lived in the 19th century and was described by Pope Pius X as 'the greatest saint of modern times'. French policemen and church officials battle to save the treasure of Notre Dame last night How the Notre Dame fire unfolded: Sequence of photographs show how a 'stray flame' became an inferno before brave firefighters extinguished the fire A dramatic sequence of photographs reveals how a 'stray flame' eventually turned into a towering inferno that engulfed Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral overnight. Heroic firefighters battled for more than eight hours through the night to extinguish the fire and save the 850-year-old landmark from complete destruction. Pictutaken by horrified Parisians reveal how the first plumes of smoke developed over the skyline at about 6.50pm local time, with parts of the iconic spire collapsing just over an hour later. First responders would spend the next couple of hours trying to salvage as many artworks and other priceless pieces as they could from inside the building, before its wooden roof fell in at about 10pm. It would not be until 9.45am the next day, after firefighters had worked overnight to cool down the structure, that authorities would confirm that the blaze had been fully extinguished. Below is a timeline setting out how the fire first took hold of the majestic building. 6.50pm (local time): A photograph posted on Twitter shows the moment that the first plumes of smoke became visible above the roof of the cathedral 7.20pm: Massive crowds have gathered near the cathedral as the plumes swelled in size and could be seen from miles around 7.30pm: A photograph on Twitter reveals the first amber licks of flame rising up from the base of the spire, where restoration works were being carried out 7.35pm: Another photograph shows the flames as they begin to creep up and eat away at the spire that dominates the skyline in this part of Paris 7.40pm: The flames appear to jump from the base of the spire to a nearby turret an hour or so after the fire first broke out 7.45pm: Just five minutes after catching alight, the roof of the turret appears to be disintegrating before the crowds of concerned bystanders 8pm: The turret falls through slightly before 8pm, leaving behind a few timber beams. Shown right, nothing remains of the turret by 8.10pm 8.10pm: The spire collapses after the flames had eaten their way along the length of the structure. Dramatic pictures showed the spire falling to earth after being split in half by the blaze 8.15pm: The main shard of the spire is shown hurtling towards the ground (left) , while seconds later the Paris landscape is changed forever (right) 8.20pm: Shortly before the sun sets, the flames spread to the cathedral's wooden roof, which stands for less than an hour according to reports from the ground 8.20pm: Smoke pours from the two towers of the cathedral's iconic facade, as the fire spreads from the spire to the entire wooden roof 8.20pm: A brave firefighter uses a hose to try and dampen down the raging flames as they engulf the roof of the cathedral 8.30pm: Footage captured from a drone operated by the Ministry of the Interior shows how nearly all of the wooden roof has been destroyed, leaving behind the stonework 8.30pm: An aerial view of the cathedral roof still on fire as the sun goes down over Paris, about an hour and a half after the first reports of a fire 8.45pm: A haunting photograph shows one of the cathedral's stained glass window lit up by a blanket of flame inside 8.50pm: Another photograph from the ground outside the cathedral shows flickers of fire drifting into the sky above Paris 9pm: Sparks fill the air as Paris Fire brigade members spray water to extinguish flames as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns 9.20pm: French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron arrive at the scene to pay a visit to firemen battling the blaze 10pm: Drone footage released by French police shows the devastating damage done to the roof of the cathedral 10.30pm: Parisians gather to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame 11pm: People who live nearby are evacuated in case of a collapse. The Paris fire chief says the structure has been saved and the fire was stopped from spreading to the northern belfry 12am: It is confirmed that the relic of the crown of thorns and a number of priceless artefacts were taken from the cathedral to Paris City Hall for safekeeping 5.30am: The morning after the disaster, with fire crews still on the scene having worked overnight to cool down the structure 7am: Firefighters continue to douse Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with water this morning following the devastating blaze 8am: Firefighters, surrounded by the cathedral's iconic gargoyles, take stock of the damage caused by yesterday's devastating fire 9am: A woman sits and prays near the Notre Dame Cathedral this morning as efforts to dampen down the remainder of the flames continue today 10am: Pictures from inside show how the wooden roof at Notre Dame (left) was completely burned away - as experts said it could not be replaced in the way it was built in the Middle Ages - while charred debris covered the floor (right) A Florida breeder who was killed by his exotic pet bird was not required to have a permit for the dangerous creature. Marvin Hajos, 75 was killed by a cassowary - a large, flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea - after he fell and it attacked him on his property near Gainesville on Friday, authorities said. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Karen Parker confirmed Monday that Hajos exercised an exemption in the agency's captive wildlife rules. Marvin Hajos, 75, (pictured) was killed by a cassowary when he fell and the bird and attacked him, on his property near Gainesville on Friday. State rules mean that Hajos did not require a permit to breed the birds as they are considered domestic livestock The Alachua County Fire Rescue Department said that Havos was likely killed when the bird used its long claws. He was apparently breeding the birds, state wildlife officials said. The Gainesville Sun reported that a permit is normally required to possess, sell or publicly exhibit cassowaries, but breeders are exempt from the rule. The emu-like creatures are considered domestic livestock when an owner decides to breed them, according to Karen Parker, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She said: 'If the owners are breeding, there is no permit required. Its similar to having cows, theyre considered domestic livestock.' The bird falls under the 'Class II' category by the FWC. The classification means they can pose a danger to people and 'substantial experience and cage requirements' are required, according to The Gainesville Sun. Parker said she is unaware why someone would own a cassowary, or why people breed them. 'I dont know what commercial viability they have,' she said. WBTV obtained footage of the birds at Hajos property in Gainesville on Saturday. It is not known which one attacked him or what will happen to the cassowary The bird falls under the 'Class II' category by the FWC. The classification means they can pose a danger to people and 'substantial experience and cage requirements' are required Hajos had two breeding pairs of Cassowaries that he had been keeping on his property and was tending to them when he was attacked WBTV obtained footage of the birds at Hajos property in Gainesville on Saturday. It is not known which one attacked him or what will happen to the cassowary. A number of the cassowaries were seen rambling around on grounds belonging to Hajos. Hajos started working with birds at The Bronx Zoo as a child, 65 years ago and friends have expressed shock at the nature of his death. Family friend Jim Glynn told WOGX: 'He was doing this, because he truly loved animals. Weve been getting calls from quite literally around the world. People who knew Marvin for his passion for preserving this species. Hajos had two breeding pairs of Cassowaries that he had been keeping on his property. One of the females recently laid an egg and the males typically try to smash those eggs. It is believed that Hajos tried to retrieve the eggs and put them in an incubator, before the attack. 'We believe he went in there to recover that egg and then at some point the bird was able to make its attack,' Lt. Brett Rhodenizer from Alachua County Sheriffs Office told WOGX. Glynn said its breeding season and males are particularly aggressive at the moment. 'He was aware of the dangers of these animals. He would not allow anyone else to be exposed to them. He was a knowledgeable guy,' said Glynn. 'These birds can unfortunately be very savage.' THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS BIRD: WHAT ARE CASSOWARIES? Cassowaries are similar to emus and stand up to six feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds. The San Diego Zoo's website calls them the world's most dangerous bird with a four-inch, dagger-like claw on each foot that can cut open people or predators. They can also jump seven feet straight up and can swim, according to the San Diego Zoo. Advertisement Glynn said Hajos called his daughter who tried to assist her father immediately after the attack. He said Hajos developed a love for birds at a young age and volunteered with the staff at The Bronx Zoo to learn all about birds when he was just ten. He was also called upon frequently to speak at colleges and universities to talk about the birds hes worked with, particularly the Cassowary bird. People who have cassowaries to breed, produce meat, skins/hides or feathers are exempt from the rule. The same applies to ostriches, rheas, emus and bison. Parker said she is unsure why breeding is exempt from the regulations that come with permits. 'I dont know enough about it to speculate. Its tragic.' Many people who knew Hajos, who was laid to rest in Gainesville on Monday, posted tributes on social media. Gulf Coast Livestock Association posted a video of Hajos riding a camel and described him as a man who devoted his life to caring for animals. In a tribute on Friday the group wrote: 'Its with a sad and heavy heart that we have to tell you of the passing of our friend Marvin Hajos. 'The cassowary can slice open any predator or potential threat with a single swift kick. Powerful legs help the cassowary run up to 31 miles per hour through the dense forest underbrush,' the website says Cassowaries are similar to emus and stand up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds. They can jump seven feet straight up and can swim. File pictures of a cassowary 'He suddenly and unexpectedly passed away today. Hes been a friend for many many years and we will greatly miss him. He was an asset to us all in the animal world. 'Our animal family is small, I am grateful that we were all together this past weekend.' Owners are required to restrict their animals with a fence at least 6 feet in height, with an 11.5-gauge chain link. Alachua City Manager Adam Boukari said the city has not received any calls from residents concerned about the birds. He claimed that the incident happened just outside Alachuas limits. He told The Gainesville Sun that the exemption 'doesnt seem quite right.' Cassowaries are not raised for food in the US, but are sought after by collectors. Many people who knew Hajos, who was laid to rest in Gainesville on Monday, posted tributes on social media and described him as having a passion for caring for birds and animals Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar raised nearly $1 million dollars in the first quarter of the year despite controversies surrounding comments she made that were perceived to be anti-Semitic. The Minnesota Democrat raised $832,000, according to her Federal Election Commission filings, which are strong numbers from a freshman lawmaker. And she beat out another rising star in her freshman class: New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez raised $726,000 in the first three months of the year, FEC filings show. Rep. Ilhan Omar raised nearly $1 million dollars in the first quarter of the year Omar beat out another rising star in her freshman class: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Omar was involved in a series of controversies earlier this year with her Democratic colleagues. The first was her claim, later retracted, that moneyed Jews buy the support of U.S. lawmakers with a strategy that's 'all about the Benjamins baby.' Then she reignited the controversy again when she said supporters of Israel were pushing for U.S. politicians to declare 'allegiance' to that nation. She's now under fire for describing the 9/11 terror attacks as 'people who did something.' That controversy came to light after first quarter fundraising had ended, however. Both women represent solidly-Democratic House districts but could face primary challenges in the next year. Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to take thinly veiled shot at Ocasio-Cortez by claiming that a 'glass of water with a D next to its name' would have won her seat. 'Those are districts that are solidly Democratic - this glass of whatever would win with a D next to its name in those districts,' she said during a speech at the London School of Economics. It was the speaker's second put down of the liberal left in her caucus. In an interview on '60 Minutes' on Sunday, she was asked about problems with the left-wing of the party. 'That's like five people,' Pelosi interjected. Ocasio-Cortez, in particular, could face a contest after she demonstrated an incumbent could be vulnerable when she defeated Rep. Joe Crowley in their June 2016 primary. Earlier this year, at least one House Democrat privately urged members of the New York delegation to recruit someone from the Bronx or Queens to challenge the social media sensation. 'What I have recommended to the New York delegation is that you find her a primary opponent and make her a one-term congressperson,' a Democratic lawmaker told The Hill newspaper. 'You've got numerous council people and state legislators who've been waiting 20 years for that seat. I'm sure they can find numerous people who want that seat in that district.' 'Meh,' Ocasio-Cortez told DailyMail.com at the time when asked about the party's alleged primary plans. She shrugged her shoulders and went into the House chamber to vote. There have been reports of frustration from more senior lawmakers and moderate Democrats who have grumbled about the attention the younger, more diverse, more liberal freshman class has been sucking up. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken a few shots at the left wing of her party White House counselor Kellyanne Conway charged there is trouble in the Democratic ranks with moderates frustrated with the 'radical freshman' White House counselor Kellyanne Conway charged on Sunday there is trouble in the Democratic ranks over the issue. Her comments included a veiled jab at freshman Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, along with a public swipe at Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Conway said she was told this when moderates - such as those Democrats who belong to the Problems Solvers Caucus - came to the White House for meetings. 'There's a great deal of frustration among some of the rank and file members who represent more moderate districts and, frankly, who represent districts that Donald Trump won in 2016, for example,' she told NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'They're very frustrated. They've been to the White House. They talk to people like me, quietly, saying that they wish that the radical freshmen who get all the magazine covers and all the ink and air time. I guess they're very upset with the leadership,' she added. Holidaymakers looking for Easter getaways are spoiled for choice with airlines and hotels offering amazing last-minute deals. Easter breakers can fly to Australia's most popular holiday spot Bali for as little as $150 thanks to a deal from Virgin Australia. Return flights from Sydney start at $299 when booked with three nights of accommodation between April 24 and April 27 on Flight Centre. Children fly for just $299 while adults cost $399. Easter breakers can fly to Australia's most popular holiday spot Bali (pictured) for as little as $150 thanks to a deal from Virgin Australia (stock image) Those looking for a beach getaway closer to home can stay in the Gold Coast for $175 a day including flights and accommodation at a luxury hotel. Hotel VOCO is right next to the beaches, bars and restaurants along Main Beach Parade and close to Sea World. Deal seekers need to depart from Sydney with Virgin Australia between April 21 and April 26 and book through Expedia. Those looking for a beach getaway closer to home can stay in the Gold Coast for $175 a day including flights and accommodation at a luxury hotel Shopaholics can head to Kuala Lumpur for as little as $245 return with another offer by Flight Centre. The Malaysian capital has huge shopping malls and a variety of food that takes influence from Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures. Return flights from Perth are $245 while flights from Melbourne and the Gold Coast are $329 on select dates from April 24 to June 15. A zoo visitor in China has allegedly tried to feed several giraffes with money by throwing cash at them. Keepers at the Yunnan Wildlife Park noticed a large number of banknotes on the ground of the giraffe enclosure this morning. They quickly led the giraffes away before picking up the paper notes which amounted to nearly 10,000 yuan (1,139), according to the zoo. A handout from the zoo in China shows banknotes on the ground of the giraffe enclosure The zoo suspects the notes have been tossed by a rich visitors who wanted to feed giraffes No giraffes were injured as a result, the zoo said in a social media statement today. It also released footage of workers cleaning away the cash. The zoo suspected that the banknotes had been tossed by a wealthy visitors who wanted to offer food to giraffes. The Yunnan Wildlife Park is situated in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan in southern China. It has imported more than 30 giraffes since 2013, and they are the stars of the zoo. The zoo is looking for the person after collecting cash amounting to some 10,000 yuan (1,139) After reviewing surveillance footage, management said the culprit had thrown the money from a blind spot of the security cameras; therefore they could not track him or her down. The zoo is currently looking for the person to return the money to. It has warned the public against giving 'strange things' to animals. This is not the first time animals at the popular zoo have been reportedly abused by the public. The other events have come with more serious consequences. The Yunnan Wildlife Park (pictured) has more than 30 giraffes and they are the stars of the zoo In 2016, two peacocks were said to be shocked to death within days of each other after tourists picked them up for pictures and plucked out their feathers during two separate occasions. Elsewhere in China, giraffes have died in zoos in Shanghai and Wuxi after being offered plastic bags by visitors. Three years ago, workers at the Wuxi Zoo made a giant sculpture using the preserved body of the giraffe that had died from eating plastic to warn the public against feeding animals. Florida deputies pulled 13 people from the Gulf Coast on Sunday after their pontoon boat capsized in rough conditions. The Pasco Sheriff's Office Marine Unit shared video of the boat accident that shows one victim using debris to stay afloat in the water. Authorities said the 20- foot fiberglass pontoon took on water and sunk while sailing near the Anclote Key. Deputies are seen in the video signaling for one victim to swim over to the marine unit. Deputies are seen in the video signaling for one victim (pictured) to swim over to the marine unit The man (right) then swims toward the vessel and is helped on board by one of the deputies The man then swims toward the vessel and is helped on board by one of the deputies. Moments later, the boat passes several people sitting on top of a piece of the pontoon. 'We're going to get you,' the officer is heard yelling at the survivors. Deputies are then seen rescuing a second man who was already in the water before helping six to seven people sitting on a portion of the sunken pontoon. 'The waves are pushing me away,' one woman is heard yelling, prompting the deputies to throw a rope for her to grab onto. Moments later, the boat passes several people sitting on top of a piece of the pontoon. 'We're going to get you,' the officer is heard telling the victims They helped what appeared to be six to seven people near a portion of the sunken pontoon. Two of the victims were taken to the hospital, but no serious injuries were reported. First responders believe the boat capsized due to inexperience of the boaters and rough conditions Deputies from the Pasco Sheriff's Office assisted several agencies in rescuing the individuals from the watercraft incident. The PSO Marine Unit rescued 10 of the 13 individuals and helped them to safety. Two of the victims were taken to the hospital, but no serious injuries were reported. Officials say no one was wearing a life jacket. 'It was utter panic,' passenger Loryn Decker told WFLA. Passenger Allona Haynes told the station that she 'thought I was going to die'. First responders believe the boat capsized due to inexperience of the boaters and rough conditions. A New York City public school teacher has been arrested for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old student and sending her sexually explicit text messages for more than two months. Daniel Santiago, 29, was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three of third-degree sexual abuse and three of endangering the welfare of a child, court documents showed. Santiago was arrested on Monday by NYPD officers at the Brooklyn Science and Engineering Academy middle school, which shares a building with PS 244 elementary school. According to police, Santiago had been sexually abusing the young student since February, including once in a classroom and once on a school bus during a field trip. He is also alleged to have sent her sexually explicit text messages. Brooklyn school teacher Daniel Santiago, 29 (left), leaves Kings Criminal Court after he was arraigned on sexual assault charges against an 11-year-old student Santiago remained silent as he strode out of the courthouse clenching a piece of paper An investigation into Santiago was started after rumors began circulating around the East Flatbush school concerning the teacher's behavior towards the 11-year-old girl. It was alleged that someone spotted him touching the girl inappropriately, sparking the investigation, the Daily News reported. A PIX11 source said students first came forward to another teacher, who told the school principal. The principal then raised the alarm with the New York City Police Department. When officials interviewed the alleged victim, the girl reportedly came clean about the inappropriate contact with her teacher. Santiago was arrested on Monday on charges of sexual abuse and acting in a manner to injure a child under 17 in a case involving his 11-year-old student An investigation into Santiago was sparked by rumors that began circulating around the East Flatbush school concerning the teacher's behavior Brooklyn Science and Engineering Academy is located on Tilden Avenue in Brooklyn, and shares a building with PS 244 The New York City Department of Education has released a statement saying Santiago was removed from the classroom as soon as administrators learned of the allegations against him. We'll seek to remove him from payroll as quickly as possible while the investigation is pending, the statement read. Santiago was arraigned in Kings County Court on Tuesday afternoon. His wife was seen leaving the court with him carrying a young child in her arms. Fox insiders have hit back after a new miniseries claimed that Gretchen Carlson was solely responsible for the ousting of disgraced CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016. The Loudest Voice, which stars Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe, focuses entirely on 'opportunistic' Carlson with a showrunner describing other accounts of the scandal that describe the contribution of multiple women, including Megyn Kelly, as 'a lie' in an interview with an industry publication last week. But speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, an insider claimed former Fox News anchor Carlson's version of events is based entirely 'on her own opinion because she was gone before other women came forward.' The source said: 'She is telling a story to make herself look like a hero and take credit for the courage other brave women showed risking their careers and reputations by coming forward and sharing their stories of misconduct with investigators.' Fox insiders have hit back after a new miniseries claimed that Gretchen Carlson was solely responsible for the ousting of disgraced CEO Roger Ailes in July 2016 The Loudest Voice focuses entirely on 'opportunistic' Carlson with a show runner describing other accounts of the scandal that reference the input of multiple women, including Megyn Kelly, as 'a lie' in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter (l to r: Sienna Miller as Elizbaeth Ailes, Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes and Naomi Watts as Gretchen Carlson) The source continued: 'The truth is documented in two books written and approved by Fox [meteorologist] Janice Dean's and Megyn Kelly's. 'The fact that Ailes was gone 48 hours after Megyn spoke is backed by the facts and proves Gretchen is being opportunistic. 'The women of Fox News never got any credit for sticking their necks out and risking their livelihoods from Gretchen Carlson.' Ailes, who died at his Palm Beach, Florida, home in May 2017, resigned from his dual role as Chairman and CEO of Fox News in July 2016 after a series of women came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment. Carlson, 52, was the first filing a lawsuit on July 6, 2016 claiming sexual harassment and accusing him of firing her after she rejected his advances. Three days later, the author of a 2014 biography of Ailes that included the claim that the Fox CEO had offered a producer a raise in exchange for sex in the 1980s, reported accounts of sexual harassment from six other women. Gabriel Sherman's book, The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News - and Divided a Country, is now the basis for the miniseries. Although Ailes initially held on, the predatory boss was finally ousted after Kelly and Dean, among others, came forward with harassment allegations of their own on July 19. In her November 2016 book, Settle For More, Kelly detailed Ailes' transgressions including how he would make sexual remarks during meetings and how he once attempted to kiss her during a one-on-one meeting. Ailes was finally ousted after Megyn Kelly (right) and Janice Dean (left) , among others, came forward with harassment allegations of their own on July 19, 2016. 'The women of Fox News never got any credit for sticking their necks out and risking their livelihoods from Gretchen Carlson', a Fox insider told DailyMail.com Other women to come forward with harassment allegations included political analyst Andrea Tantaros and Shelly Ross who was allegedly offered a 'sexual alliance' by Ailes. The episode has now been turned into a film called Fair and Balanced, starring Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman, and miniseries The Loudest Voice. But the differing story lines have proven controversial with the film taking in all the women who made claims, while the miniseries focuses on Carlson and makes no mention of Kelly and others. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter last week, Loudest Voice showrunner Alex Metcalf said writers were correct to play down Kelly's role in Ailes' downfall and claimed it was all about Carlson. He said: 'I'm not trying to trash-talk the movie, but it seems to be predicated on the idea that there was this coterie of women who brought down Roger Ailes, which is a lie. 'There was Gretchen Carlson, and that was it.' But a source close to Kelly told DailyMail.com: 'Megyn's book and Janice Dean's book both detail the facts on how they approached and convinced a group of brave individuals to stand up and tell their stories to the attorneys investigating Roger Ailes. 'It was not the sole achievement of Gretchen Carlson. It's a slap in the face to the courage and character of the other women to claim their narrative is false which Carlson's team is doing.' Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter last week, Loudest Voice show runner Alex Metcalf said writers were correct to play down Kelly's role in Ailes' downfall and claimed it was all about Carlson. He said: 'There was Gretchen Carlson, and that was it' Publicists for Carlson and The Loudest Voice were approached for comment by DailyMail.com. Showtime (behind the Loudest Voice) responded, We have no comment. In her book, Sunny Weather, Dean claimed she and Kelly had helped build 'an army of women' willing to speak out about Ailes' alleged harassment despite the very real threat of losing their jobs. Dean alleges that neither she nor Kelly thought Carlson had any chance of ousting Ailes alone and writes that both women began approaching their female colleagues after hearing that too few were coming forward. Writing in Sunny Weather, she said: 'I reached out to my female co-workers who I knew had a Roger story and asked if I could come to see them in their offices to talk. 'One by one I told them my experiences with the boss, how even though I was risking my career I told the lawyers at Paul Weiss my uncomfortable experiences with Mr. Ailes. 'If we all went in and shared our stories, it could make a difference in the future for women at this company and elsewhere. We could make a change somehow 'Some didn't want to speak out for fear of retaliation, but some of them at great risk and peril to their careers and livelihoods risked everything and did tell their stories.' The source added: 'Megyn consoled and encouraged many women, some as young as 24, who had a career to lose by speaking up.' A zombie movie actor has been accused of beating two women and forcing one of them to taste his blood. Eliot Ryan Rutledge, 30, was arrested last Friday in Rome, Georgia, and booked on several charges including false imprisonment and aggravated assault related to a series incidents over the past two years, according to Floyd County Jail records. In January of this year, Rutledge allegedly cut his hands before chasing a woman and forcing one hand into her mouth so she 'could taste his blood', according to court documents obtained by the Rome News-Tribune. He was charged with battery and disorderly conduct in that incident. On a separate occasion the same month, Rutledge allegedly choked and bit the woman, leaving her with multiple bruises. Eliot Ryan Rutledge, 30, is facing multiple charges for aggravated assault and false imprisonment after police say he beat two women and forced one of them to taste his blood in Rome, Georgia. He is seen in his mugshot on Friday (left) and in a photo from Instagram (right) Rutledge was the lead actor, producer and editor of a 2017 short film Gangsters and Zombies, which is set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He is seen above in a clip from the film Rutledge is also accused of aggravated assault and false imprisonment in incidents involving another woman between June 2017 and October 2018. He allegedly trapped her inside his home last August by blocking all the exits before he punched, elbowed and poked the her. Rutledge is known around Rome for his roles in local theater productions On another occasion he 'choked the victim, picked her up by the neck, slammed her into the front yard ... and continued to choke her once she was on the ground', according to the News-Tribune. The most recent incident took place in February of this year, when Rutledge allegedly attempted to strangle one of the two victims. The suspect is being held at Floyd County Jail without bond. Rutledge is known in the community for his roles in local productions with the Rome Little Theatre as well as the Rome Shakespeare Festival. The 30-year-old was also the lead actor, producer and editor of the 2017 short film Gangsters and Zombies, which is set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse in Georgia. Rutledge's character, Jack, is the leader of a group of survivors who get caught in a war between a Brooklyn-based mob and a rival gang. Donald Trump's administration is looking to take advantage of a federal court's ruling that it can send Central American migrants back to Mexico to await adjudication of their asylum claims. A federal appeals court that's based out of San Francisco broke with precedent and ruled in favor the administration's request to lift an injunction while a legal battle over its 'Remain in Mexico' approach proceeds. The LA Times reports that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advised employees to prepare for the return of the migrants to the Mexican side of the southern border. A memo the outlet says it obtained on Monday refers to the policy as 'Migrant Protection Protocols' and says they 'may resume pending the ongoing litigation.' Donald Trump's administration is looking to take advantage of a federal court's ruling that it can send Central American migrants back to Mexico to await adjudication of their asylum claims Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit granted the Trump administration a stay that allowed it to resume the policy pending a final decision. The court will decide this week whether to extend they stay on the policy that Trump says is necessary to deter illegal immigrants from flooding the border. In a Monday report, the LA Times noted that the administration had not acted on the restored authority. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment on the report - or a tweet from Trump on Monday claiming that migrants would be dropped off in 'sanctuary cities' upon their release from custody. Justice told the LA Times that the president has a right to sent Central American migrants back to Mexico, and it would defend his right to do so. 'The statute explicitly authorizing the use of the Migrant Protection Protocols has been on the books for more than two decades, and the Department of Justice will robustly defend our ability to use it,' DOJ spokesperson said. DOJ had previously argued that a district court judge's order halting the practice imposed 'immediate, substantial harm on the United States, including by diminishing the executive branchs ability to work effectively with Mexico to manage the crisis on our shared border.' The Trump administration began the protocols in December, to satisfy the president's desire to cut back on the number of migrants freely-roaming the U.S. A court ruled earlier this month that the administration cannot force asylum seekers to leave the country until their cases are closed, however. Prior to the injunction the administration had sent more than 1,000 migrants to Mexico to wait their asylum claims to be processed. The White House claimed last Monday it was a 'cooperative program extensively negotiated' with Mexico and a district court was wrong to be 'forcing open borders policies' on an American populace that supports stricter immigration laws. '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,' the White House said. Central American migrants heading in caravan to the U.S. wait in Tapachula on Monday. Mexican authorities say the caravan forced its way in When the Ninth Circuit, which often sides against the administration, ruled that Trump could continue the policy why the case is debated, he celebrated with a tweet that said, 'Finally, great news at the Border!' Migrants that are shipped across the border to places like Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez have told NBC News they're concerned about crowded encampments and violence from violence gangs. In a statement on the district court order halting the process, the White House argued that the 'action gravely undermines' the president's 'ability to address the crisis at the border.' It argued that Trump is merely using the 'tools Congress has authorized' and the court decision 'disrupts the conduct of our foreign affairs.' Labour front bencher Richard Burgon claimed he did not 'recall' saying 'Zionism is the enemy of peace' after he was accused of lying about the slur today. The shadow justice secretary said he believed when he denied it that it was 'inaccurate' to say he used the phrase - but admitted 'regret' at doing so today after a video of him shouting it in 2014 emerged. The tape appeared on social media today years after the allegations were first made in the Daily Mail in August 2016. Mr Burgon denied saying the slogan at the time and then denied it again last year when he was repeatedly asked by the BBC's Andrew Neil in March last year whether he had said 'Zionism is the enemy of peace'. Mr Burgon told Neil that he 'didn't say that' and 'that's not my view'. He insisted the newspaper had been unable to show where he had made the remarks. Newly unearthed footage shows Mr Burgon, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, making a speech to a Labour Party event in 2014. He said: 'The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.' Exclusive: Richard Burgon repeatedly lied to @afneil when he denied saying Zionism is the enemy of peace. He said over and over that he wouldnt have said that because its not his view. This video I discovered shows him saying just that in 2014. Watch the whole thing. pic.twitter.com/RRW1M6yxzz Iggy Ostanin (@magnitsky) April 16, 2019 Following a Daily Mail story, Mr Burgon was repeatedly asked by the BBC's Andrew Neil in March last year (pictured left) whether he had said 'Zionism is the enemy of peace'. He said 'no and it's not my view' (pictured right) Newly unearthed footage shows Mr Burgon, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, making a speech to a Labour Party event in 2014. He said: 'The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.' Investigative journalist Iggy Ostanin, who unearthed the footage, said: 'Richard Burgon repeatedly lied to Andrew Neil when he denied saying 'Zionism is the enemy of peace'. 'He said over and over that he wouldn't have said that because it's not his view. This video I discovered shows him saying just that in 2014. Watch the whole thing.' LFI Director Jennifer Gerber told the Jewish Chronicle: 'For nearly two years, Richard Burgon has deployed half-denials and weasel words to escape responsibility for his appalling suggestion that Zionism is the enemy of peace. 'Now that we've all seen exactly what he said, it's time for Mr Burgon to apologise both for this slur on the Jewish people's right to self-determination and for seemingly misleading the public about it. 'Somebody who aspires to be one of the country's leading legal figures simply cannot behave in this fashion.' Newly unearthed footage shows Mr Burgon, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, making a speech to a Labour Party event in 2014 Jonathan Goldstein, the chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, has written to Mr Burgon about the video. He said: 'In your interview with Andrew Neil last year you denied referring to Zionists as the enemy of peace. Indeed, you went on to say this was not your view and therefore you would not have made those comments. 'Footage of you showing that you did indeed make such comments as recently as 2016 is shocking not just for the content but because of your unequivocal denial. 'Your assertion that this was not your view appears to indicate that you recognise such comments would not only be factually incorrect and offensive but also risk sowing divisions.' In a statement released by Labour, Mr Burgon said: 'When it was put to me in August 2016 that I had made these remarks I did not recall doing so and therefore asked for the full quotes to be provided to me, and asked when and where I had said it. 'I received no reply, so I believed it was inaccurate to have claimed that I had used that phrase. It is now clear that I did and I regret doing so.' The shadow justice secretary said he does recognise such language was 'simplistic' and insisted he would not repeat it today. He added: 'In the meeting, I was criticising Benjamin Netanyahus government and its aggressive expansionist policies. 'In the video I made it explicitly clear that I was of course not speaking about Jewish people. 'As I believed then and believe now, when discussing the issue of Israel and Palestine, you must clearly distinguish between the actions of a particular Israeli government and Jewish people as a whole.' Michelle Jackson, 58, was detained on Wednesday and charged with aggravated battery A Louisiana woman has been arrested on allegations that she beat her ex-boyfriend with his own prosthetic leg after he tried to break up with her. Michelle Jackson, 58, was detained on Wednesday and charged with aggravated battery, according Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman, Captain Jason Rivarde. The Marrero woman is said to have beat her 59-year-old boyfriend. Authorities said that the couple had been having a tumultuous relationship for approximately six years, NOLA.com reports. The couple is said to have been drinking gin at the woman's home on the 600 block of Urbandale Street on February 11. While drinking, the man is said to have told his girlfriend that he wanted to break up. The Marrero woman is said to have beat her 59-year-old boyfriend after the two had been drinking gin at her home on February 19 A relative told authorities that the woman 'flipped' after her man dumped her and she believed that he was dead after beating him with his leg (stock) He told authorities that he went to sleep in one of Jackson's bedrooms at around 11pm. The man told police he was uninjured at the time. At around 1am, he was awoken from his sleep by one of the woman's frantic relatives. He discovered that he was covered with blood and had a huge gash on his head. His finger was also swollen on his right hand. Jackson later told that same relative that she 'flipped' and took her boyfriend's right prosthetic leg and beat him with it, according to authorities. She also told her family that she stabbed the man but no stab injuries were found. The woman went on the run believing that she had killed the man, according to calls she made to her friends and family. Authorities could not immediately find the woman. She was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force New Orleans and booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. She was being held without bond as of Friday. A veteran English actor has claimed that violence on screen inspires children to become violent in real life - despite appearing as a battle commander in ultra violent Game Of Thrones. Actor James Faulkner insists that there is a clear link between young people copying over-the-top action and sex scenes from TV or in theaters. The British star, from Hampstead, London, even blamed screen violence for sparking a recent surge in knife crime in his home country. But his comments come as a surprise given his role as battle commander Randyll Tarly in the HBO hit series Game of Thrones - one of the most brutal and violent TV series ever made. The series, which has just aired its final season, has caused widespread controversy over the years for its graphic portrayal of sexual violence, fighting and torture. But Faulkner - who as Tarly is Lord of Horn Hill and head of House Tarly - insists stars 'have a real responsibility' in this industry to produce films that celebrate the 'better side of human nature' and not continue to 'explore violence and unpleasantness and hatred.' Actor James Faulkner tells DailyMail.com he blames onscreen violence for sparking a recent surge in knife crimes in his home city of London Faulkner plays battle commander Randyll Tarly in the HBO series Game of Thrones, which is deemed one of the most brutal and violent TV series ever made Faulkner, 70, told DailyMail.com: 'I am sure you're aware that at the moment, there's a great deal of discussion in the UK about the amount of knife crime amongst young people and that is because violence is just a matter of fact these days and it's on your TV screen and in your movie theater every day of the week.' He added: 'Of course there is a link between screen violence influencing young people's actions, because violence is represented to them on television. It's easy to become used to it, immune to it, and it teaches you a great deal about how to handle yourself in a street fight and what to do and what moves are available to you and what weapons are available to you. 'It's there every day and it's made commonplace and it certainly wasn't when I was growing up. 'Violence was deeply shocking to me when I first saw it in the cinema. I have kids and I've educated them about violence on screen, and I told them how it was done, and all the tricks.' Faulkner spoke of his concerns at the 2019 Movieguide Awards in LA. He saluted the awards for celebrating films which center on faith and positive messages - unlike many Hollywood ceremonies. 'It is rather important that Movieguide has another take on the movie business. We have a real responsibility in this industry to make films that celebrate the better side of human nature and not continue to explore violence and unpleasantness and hatred. 'And I would like to see a great many more films, which are a pleasure to watch, which are uplifting for the human spirit.' Game of Thrones - now in its final season - has caused widespread controversy for its graphic portrayal of sexual violence, fighting and torture. Pictured is a violent scene where The Hound fights Brienne of Tarth Faulkner says, 'Of course there is a link between screen violence influencing young people's actions, because violence is represented to them on television' Pictured is a scene from the show where Rickon Stark is killed by an arrow This graph shows how knife and sharp weapon crimes are now the highest they have been in a five-year period in the UK Faulkner just filmed Christian film Paul, Apostle of Christ and says the role has changed him. 'In my case, I'd like to do more comedy; I want to make that clear. I've played a great many heavies recently and a great many villains, so what a pleasure to be in a movie where for once I'm a good guy.' Faulkner spoke of his concerns at the 2019 Movieguide Awards in LA. The 70-year-old actor says it is Hollywood's 'responsibility' to not continue to 'explore violence and unpleasantness and hatred' in its films Faulkner, who has enjoyed an almost five-decade career working on stage and in film around the world, including major roles in Starz's Da Vinci's Demons and Downton Abbey, says that Thrones gets him more recognition than any other part. He laughs that wherever he goes in the world people recognize him and says 'it is the weirdest sh**'. The star explained: 'You're an actor for 47 years and then you're in Game Of Thrones. It doesn't matter where I go in the world; I can be in a hat and glasses and be getting out of a cab in Paris. '''Randyll Tarly. It's Randyll Tarly.'' It's the weirdest sh**. Wherever I am in the world, Randyll Tarly is apparently familiar to people. 'It's very strange. When I started, genuinely the only person who knew who I was, was my mother. And the first time I went to New York, I think it was end of 1974, and I just starred in my first movie playing the leading role, and my then partner was with the Royal Shakespeare Company in New York, and she happened to mention it in an interview she had given earlier that day. 'I get to the theater and there are hundreds and hundreds of people. I thought, ''Who's in?'' It was me. I have never experienced that in my life. And at the interval, the doors open at the back and I'm yanked out for more photographs, but these were real fans who were fans not of me, but of the movies, and I was the new kid on the block and they wanted a picture. 'And then that sort of faded away and you just become a sort of character actor, and if you're lucky, a character leading actor, and then you're in Game Of Thrones and everybody seems to know who you are. It is a cult. When I got to Caceres to do season seven, in the middle of Spain, in Extremadura, middle of nowhere, 200 screaming girls outside my hotel. I said, ''Darling, why weren't you here 40 years ago? I'm going to the bar.''' President Donald Trump intensified his assault on the special counsel investigation, insisting again that it's a 'scam,' as he awaited the release of Robert Mueller's final report. Attorney General William Barr says he'll give Congress a redacted version of the report on Thursday morning. That leaves 48 hours for Washington, and the president, to stew over its possible conclusions. 'The greatest Scam in political history. If the Mainstream Media were honest, which they are not, this story would be bigger and more important than Watergate. Someday!' he claimed. President Donald Trump intensified his assault on the special counsel investigation, insisting again that it's a 'scam,' as he awaited the release of Robert Mueller's final report Trump has been preparing for the report's release by tweeting out defenses of his conduct, which the special counsel did not say was criminal but reportedly outlined in an unflattering light Attorney General William Barr says he'll give Congress a redacted version of the report on Thursday morning. That leaves 48 hours for Washington, and the president, to stew over its possible conclusions Trump has been claiming in advance of the report's release that the Obama administration 'spied' on his campaign and he reminded on Tuesday morning that the topline of the report is that he did not collude with Russia. The attorney general also said he did not obstruct justice. He revived the spying charge on Monday morning this time employing a loaded slogan he used days prior to attack Rep. Ilhan Omar for comments about the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. 'THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN (We will never forget)!' Trump tweeted Monday morning before he visited Omar's home state of Minnesota for a tax event. He relied on the same slogan he had referenced several days prior to go after Omar to suggest that alleged spying on his campaign had left a deep stain on the country. On Friday afternoon, Trump tweeted a video of a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11th, as he blasted Omar for her comment that 'some people did something. Critics called the lawmaker's language dismissive, although Omar said her words were taken out of context. 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET!' Trump wrote, in a tweet that Democratic critics immediately claimed stoked negative emotions and potentially endangered the first-term Muslim congresswoman. Trump has nothing on his schedule on Tuesday, leaving him plenty of time to tweet Trump tweeted out the spying accusation Monday, adding: 'We will never forget' REMEMBER THIS? Trump used similar language on Friday while attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar. He retweeted a video that showed a plane striking one of the Twin Towers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she had sought additional security precautions for Omar, one of two Muslim women serving in Congress Trump seemed to link the the two events in Monday tweets. He was harping about the Mueller probe again on Tuesday online, another day when he had nothing that was public on his am schedule. The president considers the investigation into Russian election meddling 'illegal' and a 'witch hunt' that law enforcement tried to use to start a 'coup' to remove him from office. He's let up on prosecutors and Mueller since Barr revealed that the report does not recommend criminal charges. He's continued to claim that the Obama administration authorized illegal surveillance on his campaign associates, however, and on Tuesday he advised his followers to read former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy's column in the New York Post on the topic. McCarthy appeared on Fox News minutes later to refute allegations that Trump may obstructed justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey in the middle of the bureau's investigation into Kremlin interference in the 2016 election. He said of the counterintelligence investigation, 'The only reason they're done is to support the president's mission, his constitutional mission, to protect the United States from foreign threats. 'So, I have yet to hear anyone explain to me how a counter intelligence investigation that's done for the president who is the one in government who decides what intelligence needs of the government are, how that kind of investigation can be obstructed. I still don't get it,' he said. McCarthy also said he expects the inspector general's report into the FBI's conduct soon after the redacted report comes out. 'It would be surprising to me if we didn't learn it roughly simultaneously with when the report goes out,' he said. 'The inspector general has been looking into at least some of this, it will be out as early as potentially May but certainly by June. ' President Trump said it was time to 'INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS' as Washington prepared for the release of the Mueller report Trump has been blasting his side of the story on Twitter for days in advance of the Mueller report's release. He pivoted Monday to claim crimes were committed by Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and 'dirty cops' - a reference to Comey and former FBI agents that worked for him. 'Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!,' he tweeted. His public spin comes the week Mueller's report is expected to be given to members of Congress and released to the public sometime on Thursday. The 400-page report will have some redactions for on-going investigations but is expected to lay out Mueller's findings in its probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. Democrats have demanded the full report after Barr, in a letter to Congress, said Mueller left it up to the attorney general to determine whether the president obstructed justice in the investigation. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Sunday that she doesn't think the full report will be damaging to President Trump. 'I don't think it's going to be damaging to the president because the entire purpose of the investigation was whether or not there was collusion. Mueller was crystal clear in the fact that there was no collusion,' she said on 'Fox News Sunday. She argued that if Mueller could not determine obstruction that meant there wasn't any. 'They couldn't find anything. They couldnt make a determination which is basically Muellers way legally of saying we can't find anything. We're going to leave that up to the process which is the attorney general. He has made a decision, and so, we consider this to be case closed. That there was no collusion, there was no obstruction which I don't know how you can interpret that any other way than total exoneration,' Sanders said. Trump has long claimed to be the victim of a 'witch hunt' and railed against Comey and former agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The two agents, who were having an affair, were working on the counter intelligence investigation of Trump's campaign during the 2016 election and their texts revealed their belief Trump should not win the presidency. Trump has repeatedly railed against the probe of Clinton's private email server, which then-FBI director Comey said was 'extremely careless' but did not recommend filing charges. The president's tweet on Monday also reflects comments his attorney general made late week when he testified before Congress. Barr told lawmakers last Tuesday he was 'reviewing' the conduct of the FBI at the start of the Russia probe and he revealed he will make public a redacted version of the Mueller report within a week. '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 a subcommittee hearing. Republicans on Capitol Hill have taken up the president's call to investigate those who pursued the Russia investigation over the last 19 months. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham is conducting his own investigation of the origins of the probe, while also probing the FBI's 2016 Clinton email investigation. A GPS tracking device has temporarily shut down its service after researchers found a flaw that would allow anyone to track a user's location. TicTocTrack alerted customers it would suspend its service on Tuesday afternoon until it can confirm the 'validity' of the flaws and subsequently fix them. In an email alerting the company, computer researchers Ken Munro and Troy Hunt said they discovered the software failed to 'correctly check that the person logged into the account is the person authorised to access that data,' The Age reported. 'As a result, anyone can access anyone else's data,' the email said. The company announced it would be offering customers refunds on subscriptions if they are unable to resolve the potential issue. TicTocTrack alerted customers it would suspend its service on Tuesday afternoon until it can confirm the 'validity' of the security flaws The $210 smartwatch was designed to keep children safe by allowing parents to track their location using the app on their phone or computer (stock photo) 'We would like to confirm that to this day, there has never been a security breach that has lead (sic) to our customer's personal data being used for malicious purposes,' founder Karen Cantwell said in an email. 'Our dedicated team are constantly working to improve our software and make it as safe as possible for all our users.' The $210 smartwatch was designed to keep children safe by allowing parents to track their location using the app on their phone or computer. The full service plan, which requires a SIM provided by Telstra, is only $19.99 a month and includes unlimited data, texts to the watch, and app access. In a blog post demonstrating the software vulnerability, the tracker was found to have 'leaked' kids' position in real time and allegedly 'allowed anyone to silently listen to children through the watch.' Hunt tested the service with his daughter Elle, six, and posted a video showing how easy it was for a 'stranger' to contact her through the watch. 'Even for me, that video is creepy. It required zero interaction because [other party] was able to add himself as a parent and a parent can call the device and have it automatically answer without interaction by the child,' he said. Mrs Cantwell said the company hopes to restore service by Wednesday. A 'bullied' 12-year-old hanged herself in her bedroom after posting a picture on social media of her foot with 'RIP' written on it. Jessica Scatterson took her own life at home in Warrington, Cheshire, at 3.45am on April 22, 2017. An inquest into her death heard her social media activity had been ramped up to 'intense' levels which led her to be 'emotionally overwhelmed' before her suicide. Jessica Scatterson hanged herself in her bedroom after posting a picture on social media of her foot with 'RIP' written on it, an inquest was told The 12-year-old was 'emotionally overwhelmed' and had become overactive on social media before her death, the inquest heard On the night of the schoolgirl's death, police were called to her home after receiving calls from her concerned friends The hearing was told that Jessica's friends knew she had previously self-harmed, but never told her parents or teachers at Penketh High School Drawings and notes referencing death and suicide were found in her room days after she passed. The notes included the name of an alleged bully. Nasty messages between the girl and her friends in the days leading up to her death were discovered on her iPad, the inquest heard. The hearing was told that Jessica's friends knew she had previously self-harmed, but never told her parents or teachers at Penketh High School. A police inquiry revealed there had been an incident 'relating to Jessica being bullied at school' in April 2016. Inspector Hannah Friend said Jessica had come home with scratches to her face and a swollen eye after arguing with another girl. The matter was reported to the police but it was unclear who started the fight so no action was taken. When quizzed by police, Jessica's friends denied she was bullied and said she 'gave as good as she got'. Senior Coroner for Cheshire, Alan Moore, said: 'The level and the intensity of her activity on social media platforms cannot have failed to have influenced her intentions.' The British government has warned social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram they'll be hit with multi-million pound fines if they fail to rid their platforms of harmful content. UK ministers are planning to launch a tech regulator that can impose the penalties on the firms for failing to delete posts that promote suicide or self harm. Jessica's teachers told the inquest that she loved her father, Christopher Scatterson, but a lot of the domestic chores fell upon her and she was worried about his emotional health. All admitted there had been incidents of name-calling and fall-outs between Jessica and her friends, but denied it was bullying. Mr Scatterson said he was unaware that Jessica was depressed or self-harming. He described his relationship with Year 8 pupil Jessica as 'absolutely great' describing her as his 'little princess.' Jessica's mum Rachael Warburton told the inquest she spoke to her daughter following a 'chance encounter' a few weeks before her death. She said Jessica looked shocked to see her mum, who she was estranged from. Mrs Warburton said the pair would communicate through social media, letters and Jessica's friends. Mrs Warburton said Jessica told her that 'she was mocked by friends because she did not have a mother,' but added 'Jessica did not appear to be bullied by anybody. She seemed happy with her friends and it appeared that she had a close bond with her friends. Drawings and notes referencing death and suicide were found in her room days after she passed Nasty messages between the girl and her friends in the days leading up to her death were discovered on her iPad Jessica had sustained injuries after 'an incident' at school around a year before her suicide The coroner said it was clear the schoolgirl 'must have felt emotionally overwhelmed at the time she took her own life'. 'The level and the intensity of her activity on social media platforms, particularly in the build-up to her death, cannot have failed to have influenced her thinking, her state of mind and her intentions.' On the night of her death, police were called to her home after receiving calls from Jessica's concerned friends. Officers woke her father Christopher by shouting towards an upstairs window, before hearing a 'loud scream' from inside the house. Jessica was treated by paramedics at the scene but she was pronounced dead after arriving at hospital. For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details Washington state police released bodycam footage on Monday of the moment officers shot a man who fired on them with a crossbow after he threatened residents with a machete in a park last December. Agents from the Bellingham Police Department and the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to Arroyo Park after receiving reports about a man threatening people with a large knife. That suspect was later identified as Micah James Godfrey, 46, of California, who allegedly chased a man while wielding the machete. AK-9 unit is seen in the video entering an area with thick brush near a creek. Washington state police have released the bodycam footage of the moment officers shot Micah Godfrey, 46, in December 2018 Two officers are heard saying they saw an object fly by their heads and identified it as an arrow (circled) Police then move into position near the area where the suspect was hiding. Godfrey was hiding inside a tent in the woods After searching the park for more than 35 minutes, two officers saw an object fly by their heads and identified it as an arrow. In the video, the arrow is seen stuck on a tree above the officers. Police then move into position near the area where the suspect was hiding in a tent. 'Show me your hands right now!' an officer is heard yelling at Godfrey. 'Back off! Back off!' Godfrey is heard yelling back at the officers. A single shot is fired. 'Get your hands in the air or you will be shot,' another officer yells. Three more shots are fired and Godfrey is heard screaming in pain. The injured suspect is then seen surrendering to the officers who handcuff him as they begin to apply first aid. The man was shot in the hand and in the chest, according to officials. Four shots are fired and Godfrey is heard screaming in pain. An injured Godfrey (pictured) is then seen surrendering to the officers who handcuff him as they begin to apply first aid The man was shot in the hand and in the chest, according to the officers Officers carried him out of the woods to meet the Bellingham Fire Department ambulance. He was transported to St Joseph's Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries Officers then carried him out of the woods to meet a Bellingham Fire Department ambulance. As the man is placed on a stretcher, he yells: 'F**king terrorists! Y'all tried to kill me!' He was transported to St Joseph's Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. On Monday, the Whatcom County Prosecutor's Office found that the officers involved in the shooting 'adhered to and acted within BPD policy'. The prosecutor's office review of the shooting also determined the officers 'acted in both objective and subjective good faith in their lawful use of deadly force'. 'I thank the Ferndale Police Department,' said Chief David Doll, 'for their thorough investigation, the Washington State Patrol forensics unit who assisted in processing the scene, the Community for their continued support and ultimately our law enforcement personnel who risk their lives daily as experienced in this event to keep our Community safe'. Brook Ellen West, 32, was arrested Monday on charges of public intoxication and endangering the welfare of a minor A substitute teacher in Kentucky who allegedly downed four shots of vodka before taking her middle school class has been jailed for teaching while under the influence. Brook Ellen West, 32, was arrested Monday on charges of public intoxication and endangering the welfare of a minor. Police say she swore at the children, aged 11 to 13, was unsteady on her feet and had a very high blood-alcohol level when tested. Scott County Sheriff's deputies say she admitted to drinking four shots of vodka while teaching a class at Royal Springs Middle School in Georgetown. West even cursed at the children in front of police and had a blood alcohol content level of .317. Video courtesy of WKYT Scott County Sheriff's deputies say she admitted to drinking four shots of vodka while teaching a class at Royal Springs Middle School in Georgetown Scott County Schools says the teacher is no longer employed by the district. West is charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place and endangering the welfare of a minor. Scott County Schools said in a statement: 'On Monday, April 15, 2019, a substitute reported to Royal Spring Middle School to fill a half-day opening in the afternoon. 'The substitute demonstrated erratic behavior. School staff acted immediately upon learning of this behavior. Scott County Sheriff's Department escorted the substitute off school grounds later charging her with alcohol intoxication. 'The individual is no longer employed by Scott County Schools in any capacity.' The mystery death of British killer whale trainer Amy Gerard is being treated as a possible homicide and her boyfriend has dramatically been told he is being placed under investigation. The 28-year-old's body was discovered on December 4 last year floating in the sea off Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife after she went missing following a night out at a pub with German lover Dennis Kissling and friends. A secrecy order was placed over the court probe into her disappearance and death as it emerged a court specialising in violence against women was dealing with the case. The mystery death of British killer whale trainer Amy Gerard (pictured) is being treated as a possible homicide and her boyfriend has dramatically been told he is being placed under investigation The body of Amy Gerard (left) was discovered floating in the sea in Tenerife on December 4. She disappeared following a night out with her then-boyfriend Dennis Kissling (right) and her death is being treated as a possible homicide Today court officials in Tenerife confirmed the secrecy order had been lifted, and Amy's boyfriend would be summonsed before a judge to give evidence. British expat Amy, whose family travelled to Tenerife after she disappeared, was working at Tenerife marine theme park Loro Parque. An official speaking on behalf of the investigating judge in charge of the Court for Violence Against Women in La Orotova, where Grimsby, Lincolnshire-born Amy was living when she disappeared, said: 'The court has lifted the secrecy order hanging over the case since last year following the discovery of the body of Amy Louise Gerard off Puerto de la Cruz. Dennis Kissling and Amy Gerard enjoyed a night out with friends in Tenerife on the day the 28-year-old vanished in November The statement did not name Dennis Kissling (pictured) as the man under investigation, although he was widely described at the time as Amy's boyfriend The body was discovered in the sea opposite the lighthouse in the city of Puerto de la Cruz where Amy, 28, lived 'The court has confirmed that the investigation has detected indications of criminality with regards to the boyfriend of the Loro Parque worker, who has been summonsed to give evidence in the next few weeks as a person under official investigation over his possible involvement in the death of Amy. 'The young woman disappeared on November 30 last year. She was last seen alive that night in a bar in Puerto de la Cruz with several people, including the person who is now under investigation. 'When the autopsy showed that her body had signs of violence on it, the judge who was investigating the case at the time passed it over to the Court For Violence Against Women in La Orotova, where the dead woman lived.' British animal trainer Amy Gerard (pictured) who disappeared in November after a night out with friends in Tenerife The statement did not name Dennis Kissling as the man under investigation, although he was widely described at the time as Amy's boyfriend and it was known she was with him the night she disappeared after leaving Molly Malone pub in Puerto de la Cruz. She was filmed looking happy and relaxed as she danced in a circle alongside Mr Kissling to the Pogues song Fairytale of New York. Amy and Dennis, colleagues at Tenerife marine theme park Loro Parque, were said to have been spotted going their separate ways after leaving the pub. Police were told university graduate Amy, who was estranged from her personal trainer husband Ryan Docherty, was not a big drinker and had not looked inebriated or tipsy when she left the pub. Ryan, believed to be in Britain when Amy went missing, made appeals for information on her whereabouts after she disappeared. Tenerife Police appeared to rule out the existence of a crime three days after the discovery of Amy's body on December 4 last year by saying the 'apparent circumstances' leading to her death did not seem to have been the result of a 'violent act.' The university graduate disappeared shortly after midnight after leaving the city's Molly Malone pub (pictured) where she had been at a friend's birthday Police (pictured) discovered a woman's remains in the ocean in December and DNA testing confirmed the body was that of Amy Gerard Afterwards a Tenerife radio station claimed forensic experts who had carried out a post-mortem on Amy had ruled out the idea of a violent death. However officials made no official comment because of the secrecy order. Mr Kissling has not responded to messages left for him before it emerged he was under investigation. Mum Julie, 59, and sister Chloe, 30, flew to Tenerife with Chloe's fiance after learning of Amy's disappearance. Amy's family said in a statement released nearly a fortnight after the discovery of her body: 'The DNA results confirm our worst nightmare and we are all heartbroken that Amy is no longer with us. 'The police investigation is ongoing and there is no further information to share at this time.' Amy's boyfriend is a 'person under official investigation over his possible involvement' in the death of Amy Gerard (pictured), from Grimsby, Lincolnshire Matthew Searle MBE, Chief Executive of the Lucie Blackman Trust which was set up by the family of Lucie Blackman after she was killed in Tokyo by a millionaire Japanese businessman and has been helping Amy's family, added at the time: 'This is the worst news for the family just before Christmas. The thoughts of all of us here at the charity are with Amy's family and we continue to support them. The family have asked for privacy and we hope this is afforded them.' Under Spanish law an investigating judge is taking an exceptional measure when he or she places a secrecy order over an investigation. The order is normally applied for 30 days but can be extended. Secrecy orders are designed to guarantee the efficiency of a judicial probe. The remains were discovered close to the lighthouse in the town of Puerto de la Cruz (file image) and near to where Ms Gerard was last seen They limit the number of people with access to the court file, meaning for instance that defence lawyers for suspects in cases where police have their doubts about someone are not able to see the file while the secrecy order is in place. Officials who breach orders by revealing sensitive information can be fined or even sentenced to prison in some cases. Mr Kissling will be questioned as an 'investigado' when he appears in court, which literally means he is under official investigation. He would not be charged - if it was felt he should face trial after a full investigation - until further down the line. Officials have not said any arrests have taken place. Judge Keith Cutler, pictured, has revealed he had was excused from jury service because he was presiding over the trial he had been called for A senior judge has revealed that he was called for jury service and was only excused from the duty when he insisted that he was going to preside over the case. Judge Keith Cutler, the resident judge of Winchester and Salisbury since 2009, told a jury of his surprise when he was called upon to do his public duty as a juror. Speaking at Salisbury Crown Court, the senior circuit judge said that even though he replied to the summons stating that he was the judge in the pending trial, his reason was initially rejected. He said: 'I was selected for jury service here at Salisbury Crown Court for a trial starting April 23. 'I told the Jury Central Summoning Bureau that I thought I would be inappropriate seeing I happened to be the judge and knew all the papers. 'They wrote back to me, they picked up on the fact I was the judge but said "Your appeal for refusal has been rejected but you could apply to the resident judge", but I told them "I am the resident judge". 'I had to phone them up and they realised it was a mistake.' Judge Cutler, who served as the coroner for the inquest of Mark Duggan who was shot by police in August 2011, sparking riots across London, and who has also served as president of the Council of Circuit Judges, said he would have been happy to have served as a juror if it had been appropriate. He said: 'I would have liked to have done the jury service to see what it was like and whether I would have liked the judge.' A guide to jury summons issued by the Department of Justice states: 'The normal expectation is that everyone summoned for jury service will serve at the time for which they are summoned. 'However, it is recognised that there will be occasions when it is not reasonable for a person to serve at the time for which they are summoned.' The internet was enthralled by Indiana Mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg delivering a tribute to the people of Paris in perfect French following Mondays fire at Notre Dame cathedral. The 37-year-old, who announced his 2020 White House bid on Sunday, shared his sympathies with Parisians in a video posted to social media after the historic cathedral suffered extreme damage in the blaze. And his message has sent his fans into a frenzy, leaving some swooning and others demanding he be elected the next president. 'To the people of France I would like to say that Notre Dame Cathedral was like a gift to the human species. We share the pain but we also thank you for this gift to civilization,' the Democrat said to a reporter for French station BFM TV. Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37, delivered a tribute to Notre Dame on Monday night after the historic cathedral burned in a devastating fire Give him the job! Video of his message went viral as social media users fawned over his fluent French and hailed him as the next president Fans were dumbstruck to see the South Bend Mayor speak French in his Notre Dame tribute His tribute left some social media users swooning, writing: 'I'm crushing pretty hard on #PeteButtigieg2020 right now' This Twitter user was so impressed she said 'I may have to change my choice for 2020' What can't he do?! Twitter users applauded Buttigieg for his sympathetic message as well as his impressive use of French The South Bend mayors message quickly went viral, racking up 19,000 retweets and 97,000 likes on Twitter. 'Pete, America needs you the world needs you - Ladies gentlemen this is what a president sounds like,' one fan wrote. 'Why is there even an election for goodness sake. Just give him the damn job and I'm Canadian!' one enthusiastic Twitter user posted Monday. 'He had me when I realized he was using complete sentences,' another added. 'Im impressed. We could fall in love with this guy. Macron like, or Trudeau-ish. Young, fresh, articulate and focused, he has a greater idea of what the people want and need right now and hes talented. Which means hes passionate. I may have to change my choice for 2020,' one Twitter user said. 'And he speaks French too! What can't @PeteButtigieg do?!?!' another added. Twitter users compared Buttigieg's response to the tragedy with that of President Donald Trump, who suggested France use tankers to dump water on the fragile cathedral, which officials said would make the building collapse Many on Twitter were quick to compare Buttigieg's response to the tragedy with that of President Donald Trump. 'Today, I saw a video clip of @PeteButtigieg playing classical piano. Another where he speaks in Spanish. And this one, were he tells Parisians, he shares their pain - in French. Just imagine having a President whose intellect exceeds that of a root vegetable for a change,' journalist Ana Navarro-Cardenas tweeted Monday night. 'Something tells me this wasn't French for 'flying water tankers', another added. Trump called for flying tankers to dump water on the burning structure on Monday night, but French officials said the 856-year-old cathedral could collapse under the weight. 'Wow this is way different from our current president. My head may explode,' one Twitter user added. The South Bend Mayor announced Sunday that he will run for president in the 2020 election Buttigieg described the Notre Dame Cathedral as a 'gift of civilization to all humanity' 'I still remember the beauty of an East Mass I attended at Notre Dame cathedral some twenty years ago. Dreadful to see such destruction at one of the world's most wondrous places,' he added Many couldn't interpret his message but fell in love with Buttigieg for his French fluency Some Twitter users noted that French isn't the only language Buttigieg, a skilled polylinguist, speaks. Aside from English and French, he's also proficient in Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic and Dari. Some social media users are more impressed with his French than his politics. 'I'm crushing pretty hard on #PeteButtigieg2020 right now,' one Twitter user wrote. Buttigieg went on the pay his respects in a series of tweets. 'The Cathedral of Notre Dame has been a gift of civilization to all humanity, and we are of one spirit with the French people this evening,' Buttigieg tweeted. 'I still remember the beauty of an East Mass I attended at Notre Dame cathedral some twenty years ago. Dreadful to see such destruction at one of the world's most wondrous places,' he added. A Florida jury on Tuesday found a father guilty of first-degree murder for throwing his five-year-old daughter off a bridge four years ago. Jurors in Clearwater deliberated for about seven hours spread over two days before convicting John Jonchuck in the 2015 killing of his daughter, Phoebe. Jonchuck, dressed in a button-down shirt and striped tie, hugged his attorneys and said, 'Yes, your honor,' when asked if he understood that the verdict carries an automatic life sentence. He was then fingerprinted and led out of the courtroom by bailiffs. Scroll down for video Fate is sealed: Florida father John Jonchuck hugs his attorney, Jessica Manuele, after being found guilty of murder for throwing his five-year-old daughter off a bridge Jonchuck was 29 years old in January 2015 (left), when he was arrested for dropping Phoebe Jonchuck (right) 62 feet into Tampa Bay Jonchuck is seen being led out of the courtroom Tuesday after being reminded by a judge that his conviction carries a life sentence No one from Jonchuck's family was in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. And no friends or relatives spoke on behalf of Phoebe or her father before the sentencing. Jonchuck's lawyers had asked the judge to delay sentencing for a week because they have some issues to check. But when they failed to provide a reason, Judge Chris Helinger proceeded with the sentencing. 'I am satisfied that justice was done,' Tampa Bay Times quoted Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe as saying. 'My immediate reaction is killing children doesn't make one a very sympathetic character.' The judge thanked jurors for their attention during the month-long trial. 'There's no way I can express my appreciation for your service,' she said. 'I've never had a trial this long and I've been here about 12 years as a judge.' Jonchuck's defense team argued during his month-long trial that he was delusional and believed his five-year-old daughter was possessed (pictured in court April 2) No one disputed that Jonchuck, now 29, dropped his daughter 62 feet into Tampa Bay in January 2015, and that he had a long history of mental problems. But prosecutors claimed his action was premeditated. Assistant state attorney Paul Bolan told jurors that Jonchuck was motivated by anger over worries that Phoebe's mother, Michelle Kerr, was going to take the girl away from him and his own mother's doting attention to her granddaughter when she had been inattentive to him growing up. 'It was rage that drove him to it on top of that bridge,' Bolan said. 'Did he know what he was doing, and did he know it was wrong? The answer is clearly yes.' But assistant public defender Jessica Manuele told jurors Jonchuck loved Phoebe more than anything else in the world and that there's no evidence he acted out of 'unbridled anger.' Prosecutors claimed Jonchuck was angry because his own mother lavished attention on Phoebe (left and right). He also feared that that his ex was going to take the girl away from him Phoebe's mother, Michelle Kerr (center), is pictured on the day of her daughter's funeral His delusions led him to believe Phoebe was possessed and that the archangel, Michael, was coming, Manuele said. He poured salt outside her window to keep spirits away, she said. At the moment he threw her off the bridge, 'he thought he was protecting his daughter,' Manuele said. 'It will never make sense because it's insanity.' Twelve hours before Phoebe's death, Jonchuck's divorce lawyer, Genevieve Torres, called a state child protection hotline, fearing for the girl's safety, authorities said. Torres told the Department of Children and Families operator that Jonchuck had driven to three churches in his pajamas with Phoebe in tow that morning, called Torres 'God' and asked her to translate his stepmother's century-old Swedish Bible, which he carried and had become obsessed with. Jonchuck was also paranoid that Phoebe wasn't his child, Torres said. But the operator thought the attorney was more worried about Jonchuck's safety than the girl's and did not report the call to authorities, they said. Jonchuck (pictured on March 21) had a long history of mental health problems leading up to the 2015 tragedy Just after midnight the next day, Jonchuck's PT Cruiser raced past officer William Vickers, who was heading home from a shift in his patrol car. He started following Jonchuck, but never got close enough to read the license plate and didn't know Phoebe was inside, authorities have said. As they reached the bridge's crest, Jonchuck stopped and got out. Vickers, fearing an ambush, stopped behind him, pulled his gun and yelled at Jonchuck to show his hands. He saw no weapon. Jonchuck yelled at the officer, 'You have no free will.' He grabbed Phoebe from the back seat, held her over the side momentarily and then dropped her, according to police accounts. Jonchuck drove off but was soon arrested. Vickers scrambled down a ladder to a dock below the bridge but couldn't see Phoebe in the dark water. A marine rescue boat was summoned, and her body was found hours later. Alex Traykov, 20, used the alias 'Solomon' in a bogus 999 call Four police officers have revealed how they fought for their lives after they were ambushed by a university drop-out who lured them to a vicious knife attack. Alex Traykov, 20, used the alias 'Solomon' when he rang 999 to report a fight at a house in Islington, north London, on the evening of October 6 last year after smoking super-strength cannabis. He then lay in wait with a large kitchen knife hidden behind his back in the hallway of his friend's flat, and the Old Bailey heard that within three minutes, four police constables arrived on the doorstep completely unprepared for the 'extreme violence' about to be unleashed on them. Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC had told jurors: 'Without hesitation or warning and certainly without the slightest provocation from the officers, he raised his right hand and proceeded to attack the officers.' Traykov brought the blade down onto the head of PC Istarlin Said-Ali, 31, cutting her hand as she warded off a second blow. He lunged at PC Rafal Zedziora, 34, cutting his face and slashing the back of his neck. Scroll down for video PC Istarlin Said-Ali, left, said: 'Although we are police officers, we are human beings just like the communities we serve.' PC Ben Thomson, right, said: 'Who can say how we have been injured mentally and whether we will ever come to terms with what we experienced' PC Launa Watkins, left, said: 'When I attended the call that night it was with the intention of protecting the public, I didn't realise it would in fact be me, and my colleagues, who would be fighting for our lives'. PC Rafal Kedziora, right, said officers face 'ruthless criminals' every day who had 'zero regard for the value of life' He went on to attack PC Ben Thomson, 40, before he was finally brought down by PC Launa Watkins, 39, who Tasered him twice. Traykov was cleared of attempted murder but convicted of three counts of wounding with intent and a fourth charge of attempted wounding with intent. The jury deliberated for eight hours to reach verdicts by a majority of 10 to two. Judge Wendy Joseph QC queried why the young man of previously good character had 'gone off the rails'. She said he faced a 'substantial' prison term when he is sentenced on May 10. The judge asked for statements from the officers, saying there must have been a 'psychological effect of finding yourself out of the blue believing that they were going to die'. Following the verdict, the officers spoke of the mental and physical impact of the attack. Jurors were shown harrowing CCTV footage of Alex Trakov attacking the officers Pictured: The knife recovered from the scene. PC Kedziora told how officers face 'ruthless criminals' every day who had 'zero regard for the value of life' PC Thomson said: 'This has been the most stressful period in my life, both personally and for my family. 'I joined this job to protect people and uphold the law. My colleagues and I did our duty on that night, and we were subjected to an unprovoked savage attack at the hands of the defendant. 'We all suffered injury as a result, but fortunately we were able to fight back and ultimately we survived, and our physical injuries have or will heal over time. 'Who can say how we have been injured mentally and whether we will ever come to terms with what we experienced.' PC Watkins said: 'When I attended the call that night it was with the intention of protecting the public, I didn't realise it would in fact be me, and my colleagues, who would be fighting for our lives at the hands of a knife wielding 19-year-old, who had lured us to the address with the intention of carrying out the attack. 'I have never been subjected to such a violent and determined attack in the entirety of my 16 years of service, and I hope that no other officer ever has to endure such gratuitous violence. Traykov was found guilty at the Old Bailey of carrying out a knife attack on four officers Traykov claimed he was making crumpets and was still holding the knife he had used when he answered the door 'Luckily that night, myself and my colleagues were determined to never give up and to stay alive and fight, despite us all suffering injuries at the hands of this individual.' PC Kedziora told how officers face 'ruthless criminals' every day who had 'zero regard for the value of life'. 'I and my colleagues came to work that evening to protect and serve the community, I have been left with life-changing injuries that my family and I are continuing to come to terms with, and the mental scars may never heal,' the officer said. PC Said-Ali described a 'roller coaster of emotions' over the past six months. She said: 'Although we are police officers, we are human beings just like the communities we serve. 'We should be able to go to work and do the job we have chosen to do without a fear of not going home to our loved ones at the end of our shift. 'It is my hope that justice will be served and I hope this can stand in some way as a line drawn in the sand. The former Winchester University history student said he was so 'high' on strong cannabis he was not thinking straight 'I hope it serves to make any person thinking of using a knife against another person to consider the consequences, including those to their own families and friends, understanding that if they do, they will be dealt with robustly and that the judicial process will seek the harshest sentence tariff in order to protect police officers and the law abiding public.' PC Said-Ali had told jurors that Traykov was 'emotionless' in the moments before he produced the blade. She said: 'As soon as I said "he's definitely got something in his hand", he launched towards me with a raised hand, a knife in his hand. 'At the time I did not see a knife, but I saw a metal glint and I automatically knew it could only be a knife. 'I tried to protect myself so naturally I raised my arms. He tried to attack me with the knife. He made contact, hitting my middle finger and also to the back of my head. 'I had gone backwards down the stairs. We all fell on top of each other.' Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, Traykov, who lived with his estate agent mother in Redhill, Surrey, accepted he had injured the officers but denied he meant them serious harm. The former Winchester University history student said he was so 'high' on strong cannabis he was not thinking straight. He claimed he had called 999 to play a 'prank' on his friend then forgotten all about it and made crumpets with jam. Traykov was still holding a knife he had used to make food when he answered the door, he claimed. He told jurors: 'I have felt terrible since I came to prison and I have thought about it every day, tried to reason and live with it. 'I thought about the officers, how they were injured, and now I have seen them in court it's 10 times worse for me.' The jury deliberated for eight hours to reach its verdicts by a majority of 10 to 2. The four injured police officers sat together wearing their dress uniforms as they were delivered. Traykov, who made no reaction in the dock, was remanded into custody. Detective Constable Ed Sehmer, the officer in the case, said: 'This whole attack lasted only about 30 seconds, but was a traumatic and terrifying ordeal for officers, who were only going about their duty. 'Events such as this highlight the courageous work that police do every day, sometimes having to confront violent and dangerous criminals, who are determined to do them harm. 'These officers went to help someone they believed was in need of police assistance, not realising they were being lured to a trap and a chilling ambush awaited them. 'If my colleagues had not reacted so quickly to protect each other, the result of that night could have been deadly.' As the clock ticks down toward the final release of the redacted Mueller report Thursday, current and former aides are fearful that their past cooperation with prosecutors could leave them vulnerable to an indignant president. White House aides, as well as others in Trump's circle, assisted in the Mueller probe as witnesses even as the president eventually reached the point where he regularly attacked the investigation as a 'witch hunt.' Now, those who followed guidance from White House and Trump lawyers to provide cooperation are concerned that their efforts could bring retaliation from the president for what they revealed. 'They got asked questions and told the truth and now theyre worried the wrath will follow,' a former official told NBC News. A person closed to the Trump White House described it as 'breakdown-level anxiety.' President Donald Trump confers with White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (L) as White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders listens during an interview with Reuters at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2018. White House aides are fearful that the Mueller report could expose those who revealed things that might anger the president The aides went along with the probe as part of what former White House lawyer Ty Cobb called 'full cooperation mode.' He described the reasons for it last spring. 'You dont have much choice. Otherwise, they subpoena,' he told Vox News last year even as prolonged negotiations failed to persuade the president himself to submit to an interview. Depending on how the Justice Department and Mueller's team proceed, the report could identify who provided key information or at least make it clear to insiders such as Trump or advisors who whisper the names of potential collaborators. Former White House counsel Don McGahn, who was with Trump on the campaign as well as the White House, spent a total of 30 hours speaking with Mueller's team something that reportedly unnerved Trump. President Trump blasted the Russia probe as a 'witch hunt,' but his White House lawyers urged aides to cooperate Former White House strategist Steve Bannon was a source for Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury' book and speculated that Trump may have met Russians who attended a Trump Tower meeting White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R) was among top officials who spoke to prosecutors Former White House then Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks (L) was interviewed about her knowledge of an initial statement about a Trump Tower meeting with Russians Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and former White House aide Josh Raffel also spoke to Mueller's team. Kushner reportedly spent seven hours with prosecutors in his second interview with them Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also was interviewed 'I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn't have to. I have nothing to hide and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close,' the president tweeted from New Jersey last August when his cooperation came to light. Those who met with Mueller's team included longtime loyalists like Hope Hicks, who was in a position to have critical knowledge about the initial statements responding to news of the Trump Tower meeting with Russians. Others included former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was a source for Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury' book and former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. 'You have a whole bunch of former White House officials and current White House officials, but especially former White House officials, who were told to cooperate, the former White House official requesting anonymity told the network. So people went and did that, and now the uncertainty is just how much of that information is going to be in that report and how identifiable to individuals is it going to be. And nobody knows. How much material gets redacted will be critical. Barr has said he is screening material that would impact 'reputational' interests, but prosecutors may push to include information they deem critical so long as it does not violate grand jury secrecy laws. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also met with investigators. 'The President urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them,' she told CNN in February. Trump urged cooperation during the inquiry, but his public comments also reveal how much he prizes loyalty. He referred to former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, who assisted investigators, as a 'rat,' and repeatedly praised former campaign chair Paul Manafort, who took his case to trial and according to prosecutors lied instead of fully cooperating. The deported husband of a U.S. veteran who died in Afghanistan was allowed to return from Mexico on Monday after ICE kicked him out of the country. Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza, 30, was arrested at gunpoint by officers from the immigration agency while he was driving to his welding job in Phoenix on the morning of April 8. The Mexican national, whose 22-year-old American wife Barbara Vieyra was killed by insurgents during a combat mission in 2010 while serving in the U.S. Army, was told he would be deported last Wednesday. However, Immigration officials allowed him to reenter on Monday following a public outcry. Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza (pictured) was arrested by ICE on April 8 and deported Barbara Vieyra died during a combat mission while serving in the U.S. Army Vieyra was killed by insurgents in Afghanistan on September 18, 2010, the same day her husband celebrated his birthday. She is pictured above with their daughter He told the Arizona Republic that he crossed into the U.S. illegally in 2004 and married Vieyra three years later. However, he failed to file a petition for permanent residency or a green card before his wife died. Immigration officials launched deportation proceedings against him in 2017, however a judge granted his right to stay under the Parole in Place [PIP] program that is available to some undocumented family members of active or retired U.S. military personnel. Later that year, ICE issued Gonzalez Carranza a Notice to Appear that required the widower show up in court in December. He says he didn't get the notice, which led a another judge to order his deportation last week. It is unclear why ICE reversed their decision, but news of the deportation prompted a huge public backlash on social media. Shortly before returning, Gonzalez Carranza blasted immigration officials for overlooking the original court ruling that allowed him to remain. 'The judge gave me an opportunity to obtain my legal documents so that I could remain inn the country,' he told Univision. 'I never imagined that they never cared about a judge's order. They did what hey wanted to do.' Gonzalez Carranza has a 12-year-old daughter from his marriage with Vieyra, who lives with her grandparents. Gonzalez Carranza (pictured) was allowed to return to the United States on Monday afternoon While in Mexico he lived in a halfway house in Nogales, Sonora, unsure of when he would see his daughter again. 'Whether it was an oversight, we'll never know,' Gonzalez Carranza's immigration attorney, Ezequiel Hernandez, told NBC affiliate KPNX. Jose Arturo Gonzalez Carranza (left) married U.S. Army soldier Barbara Vieyra (right) but the couple never applied for his permanent residency card 'But I think the second notice to appear with the court was a mistake.' Gonzalez Carranza and his lawyer will now push for the termination of any future deportation proceedings . 'I think her death was not worth defending this country,' he said of his wife, 'especially as President Trump is supposed to be very supportive of the soldiers.' Four people smugglers behind plot to bring illegal migrants into from France into Britain have been jailed for a total of years. Hiwa Ali, 40, from Iran, Ismael Akdaci, 39, from Iraq, and Constantin Morariu, 43, and Ioan-Sorin Moldovan, 30, both from Romania, were caught at a service station. The men were intercepted by National Crime Agency officers at Hilton Park services in Staffordshire on February 12 as they were handing over the migrants. Constantin Morariu (left), 43, from Romania, and Hiwa Ali (right), 40, from Iran, were involved in the people smuggling gang caught at a motorway service station in February Ioan-Sorin Moldovan (left), 30, from Romania, and Ismael Akdaci (right), 39, from Iraq were among the four men jailed for a total of ten years over their involvement in the crime They all admitted facilitating two migrants entry into the UK at Stafford Crown Court. Moldovan, acting as transport organiser, arranged for corrupt lorry driver Morariu to pick up the migrants - an Iranian and an Iraqi national - in France. They were then driven to England and the services, where Ali and Akdaci were waiting. Morariu was told by Moldovan that he would be paid for his services. Akdaci and Ali, who had travelled from Coventry to pick up the migrants, were then caught smuggling them from the lorry to the back of their car in Staffordshire. The men were intercepted by National Crime Agency officers at Hilton Park services (file picture) in Staffordshire on February 12 as they were handing over the migrants NCA officers, supported by the Invigor Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce, searched the car they found 14,000 in cash hidden inside the lining of the rear seat. How migrants are making the perilous trip from Calais to Dover Unseasonably warm weather last winter saw scores of migrants make the perilous Channel crossing from Calais to Dover in makeshift boats. Ruthless people smugglers were found to be charging migrants up to 13,000 each to cross the channel by inflatable dinghies. A total of 294 migrants, mainly from Iran, have reached UK shores since November. On Christmas Day, 40 people in five boats landed on beaches near Dover, and a further 39 arrived over one weekend in January. In December, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the dramatic spike in migrants arriving on beaches in Kent was a 'major incident'. In response to the crisis, he ordered two Border Force boats that were stationed overseas to return to patrol the Channel. Last month, Border Force officials intercepted a total of 56 migrants attempting to cross the Channel for the Kent coast. Advertisement Moldovan had driven from London that day to oversee the handover. Officers searching the lorry then found 1,000 cash, believed to be Moldovan's payment to Morariu. All four were arrested at the service station on suspicion of illegal immigration offences, as well as the two migrants, who were later passed to immigration enforcement. NCA operations manager Kay Mellor said: 'This crime group had no regard to the safety and wellbeing of the migrants. 'They treated them as nothing more than a commodity to make money from, preying on their vulnerability and desperation to enter the UK. 'Making profit is the motive for criminals and in this case we made sure crime didn't pay; seizing their cash and shutting down their operation.' Invigor is the UK's organised immigration crime taskforce set up to target criminal networks behind people smuggling affecting the UK and European borders. Led by the NCA, it includes Immigration Enforcement, Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service and Border Force. Steve Reynolds, head of the Invigor task force, said: 'We are committed to doing everything in our power to bring people smugglers targeting the UK to justice, whether they are operating in the UK itself or France, and no matter what means they try to use. This operation is another example of our success in doing that.' A leader of Germany's far-right AfD party has tried to link the devastating fire at Paris' Notre Dame cathedral to rising 'intolerance' against Christians in Europe. Despite French investigators believing the inferno was an accident, Alice Weidel suggested the blaze was connected to violence against Christians. In a tweet today, Weidel, the parliamentary group leader of the Alternative for Germany, the country's largest opposition party, implied a connection between Monday's blaze and previous anti-Christian 'attacks' in France. She also implied that the Notre Dame fire was connected to a blaze at another catholic church in Paris last month. Saint-Sulpice church, which was used in the filming of Dan Browns Da Vinci Code bestseller, also caught fire, but only briefly and with less damage than its counterpart less than a mile across the city. The co-leader of the AfD party Alice Weidel linked the fire at Notre Dame with 'attacks' on Christians around Europe Weidel tweeted: 'In #Holy Week #NotreDame is on fire. March: second largest church in Saint-Sulpice burns down February: 47 attacks in France the observatory against intolerance and discrimination of Christians in Europe speaks of a significant increase' Weidel, who is AfD group chairman and member of the party's board, wrote on Tuesday: 'During Holy Week #NotreDame burns. March: second largest church Saint-Sulpice burns. February: 47 attacks in France. 'The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe speaks of a significant increase,' she added, including a link to a March article in a German Catholic magazine headlined 'Catholic churches desecrated across France'. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said on Tuesday that 'nothing indicates' the Notre Dame blaze, which brought the iconic building's towering spire and roof crashing down, 'was a voluntary act'. The cathedral had been undergoing intensive restoration work which firefighters said could be linked to the inferno, investigators said. One of the German AfD party leaders suggested the Notre Dame inferno (pictured today after the blaze was brought under control) was also linked to another church fire Saint-Sulpice church in Paris on fire on March 17. Alice Weidel linked this blaze to the Notre Dame fire despite investigators believing the latest incident was an accident The brief fire on March 17 at Saint-Sulpice, a Roman Catholic church in Paris, left no one hurt and little damage. Investigators have opened an inquiry into the blaze in March, as they have done into the fire that gutted the medieval Notre Dame. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe cited by Weidel is a non-governmental organisation based in Austria. It said that while a partner organisation had found an increase in attacks on French churches this year, it had no indication that Notre Dame had been targeted. We 'will wait with the rest of the public for an official announcement after an investigation into the cause of the fire,' it added. The AfD, which holds more than 90 seats in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, rails against Islam and Muslim immigrants as a threat to Christian culture in Germany and Europe. A man shot dead his wife and then turned the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide inside their California home, before the couple's concerned neighbors discovered their two young children unharmed. A 46-year-old man, identified by the Medical Examiner's Office as David Kooros Parsa, and his 38-year-old wife were found dead of gunshot wounds in Chatsworth at 4:30pm on Sunday, according to police. The 38-year-old is yet to be named by officials. Police say Parsa apparently shot his wife as she lay in bed in an upstairs room, then killed himself. It remains unclear when the murder-suicide took place and how long the couple's children were alone with their parents' bodies inside the home before help arrived. Scroll down for video Police in Chatsworth, California, found a husband and wife dead from a murder-suicide carried out by the man on Sunday inside this home Their neighbors' security camera captured officers performing a welfare check in the morning Police first went to the property at 9am in response to a welfare check request from a family member, but they left after finding nothing amiss. Hours after the cops' departure, a family friend of the couple's came by accompanied by a locksmith, and together with neighbors they gained access into the home and discovered the carnage inside. The deceased couple's neighbor Olivia Robinson told local media outlets that her husband James entered their home first and found a four-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy. Robinson said the toddler was discovered on the first floor of the family's home. 'She obviously was in bad condition because she reeked really bad of urine,' the neighbor told KTLA. 'And she had more of a blank stare on her face. She was very, very quiet.' Robinson said when the child was asked about her parents, she said they are sleeping, then added that they are upstairs and are hurt. The dead couples infant son was found unharmed on the second floor. Another neighbor, Tony Medina, took in the four-year-old into his home and offered her food until police arrived. 'She heard her mom crying, and then what really was kind of heart-wrenching was when she said she saw "mommy was broken,"' Medina told CBS Los Angeles. Police vehicles are seen parked outside the crime scene on a quiet lane in Chatsworth, California, Sunday afternoon Neighbor James Robinson (left) entered the couple's home and found their bodies and their children, an infant and a toddler, unharmed. His wife, Olivia, (right), said the 4-year-old girl smelled of urine and was very quiet A security camera at the home of James and Olivia Robinson, which is located across the street from the dead couple's residence, captured the moment the officers first went knocking on their neighbors' door in the morning. The deceased wife was described as an Asian woman. Her husband, Parsa, was said to be of Persian descent. Officials are withholding the victim's name pending the notification of next of kin. Their two orphaned children were taken into the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Childrens Family Services. Sand Martins that made a 3,500-mile flight from Africa to Britain have finally been able to return to their coastal nests after council workers removed netting following a battle with wildlife activists. The netting was placed across a stretch of the cliffs to stop birds nesting as part of a scheme to move two million cubic metres of sand on to the beach and prevent coastal erosion. But the decision sparked outrage among activists - including BBC's Chris Packham -as the netting prevented birds accessing their nests. Sand Martin birds have returned to their nests after a council was forced to take down netting blocking the birds' homes following huge public backlash Netting was placed across a 1.3km stretch of the cliffs to stop birds nesting as part of a scheme to prevent coastal erosion But the decision sparked outrage, causing the council to remove the netting in time for the birds coming home to roost from a 3,500-mile trip to Africa The Sand Martins had migrated to Africa from the UK for the winter months. New pictures show them returning to the net-free cliffs. The dispute culminated in a meeting between North Norfolk District Council and the RSPB on the 8th April in which the Council agreed to remove the upper levels of the netting on Bacton's cliffs in Norfolk. A spokesperson for the RSPB said: 'The RSPB has had further constructive conversations with North Norfolk District Council this afternoon. 'NNDC has made a sensible decision to start removing the upper section of the netting along the central and western areas of the cliff face. The BBC's Chris Packham said the council had 'every opportunity' to protect the breeding area as well as the cliffs 'We welcome this move and believe it is a good first step in the right direction. 'From here, the Council will also be looking at the middle section of netting and considering whether it is needed on a sectional, case-by-case basis. 'However, the Council need to keep the bottom layer of burrows covered for the sandscaping project to happen in time to stop coastal erosion on the North Norfolk Coast. Workers stripped down the netting after the council was forced to act following public backlash 'A huge amount of sand will be deposited on the beach, and if these burrows are left open to the sand martins to nest there is a high risk the burrows, and therefore sand martins could be suffocated, and sand martins killed. 'Ultimately, these nesting burrows will be covered as a result of the project.' Police say Edward Dominic Thomas, a 29-year-old accused of assaulting a transgender woman after a minor traffic incident last Friday, was offered $200 to carry out the horror attack caught on camera A man accused of assaulting a transgender woman after a minor traffic accident was offered $200 to carry out the horror attack caught on camera, Texas police say. Edward Dominic Thomas, 29, was arrested Sunday in connection with the brutal beating of 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker on Friday in Dallas. Booker told investigators that she accidentally backed into another car at an apartment complex. The driver of the other vehicle told police that he ran Booker off the road to stop her from fleeing the scene. Booker said the unidentified driver, who is named as a suspect in the case but has not been arrested, pointed a gun at her and demanded money for damage to his car. As a crowd gathered in the parking lot, someone offered Thomas $200 to assault Booker, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Dallas Morning News. Officials say the case is being investigated to determine whether it meets the criteria of a hate crime, and the Dallas Police Department has contacted the FBI. Thomas is being held in county jail on a charges of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Scroll down for video Thomas was arrested Sunday in connection with the brutal beating of 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker (above). The victim claims she was attacked after she accidentally hit another car Video shows a man in a white shirt, believed to be Thomas, viciously beating Booker, who is wearing a pink wig and a blue shirt, while a crowd watches and shouts homophobic slurs Video of the violent attack shared on Facebook shows a man in a white shirt viciously beating Booker, apparently into unconsciousness, while the crowd looks on and homophobic slurs are shouted. The camera flips into selfie mode at one point, and the person recording appears to be laughing with a man in a white shirt and pants. That same individual in white later appears to charge at Booker, throwing her to the ground. He then punches her repeatedly as two or three other individuals join in to kick her while she is down on the ground. Police say another suspect who has been identified but not arrested repeatedly stomped on the victim's face. The suspect can be seen straddling Booker on the ground as he punches her repeatedly Police said a second suspect in the attack was identified but has not yet been arrested The camera flips into selfie mode at one point, and the man recording appears to be laughing at the beatdown. He then poses with one of the attackers At points in the video, Booker, who is sporting a pink wing and a blue top, appears to be saying something to the gathering onlookers, but her voice can't be made out in the available footage. Some voices can be heard screaming for the attack to stop as Booker is beaten across the parking lot. Eventually several women carried the victim's limp body to safety and took her to a hospital. Family members told station WFAA that Booker suffered facial fractures and injured her right arm in the attack. The video of the incident posted by a Facebook user Taj Mahal had been viewed more than 152,000 times as of Tuesday morning. The caption said: 'THIS IS A HATE CRIME! Muhlaysia Booker Don't Worry Sis I Got The Video For Dallas Police Department This Is A Hate Crime And Everyone Who Participated Will Be Prosecuted!' Booker was repeatedly thrown across the parking lot during the horrifying ordeal Eventually a group of women were able to intervene and get in between Booker and her attackers. They carried her limp body to a car and took her to the hospital Pierre Booker, the victim's father, called the person responsible for the attack a 'coward,' and told NBCDFW that his daughter has faced hatred for being a transgender woman in the past. 'All I tell them you know is I love them. I love them for whoever they are. And I'm not God, I'm not the judge, I'm not the jury,' Muhlaysia's grandmother added, saying she hoped police view the attack as a hate crime. 'So all I pray is for these people to find it in their hearts to accept people just like God does.' Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings posted a statement to Facebook saying that he watched the video and was angered by what appeared to be 'mob violence' directed against the woman. 'I am in contact with the chief and she assured me that the Dallas Police Department is fully investigating, including the possibility that this was a hate crime,' wrote Mayor Rawlings. 'Those who did this do not represent how Dallasites feel about our thriving LGBTQ community. We will not stand for this kind of behavior.' In response to some witnesses claiming that Booker was the aggressor in the early stages of the confrontation, the 23-year-old took to Facebook Sunday, writing in a blistering status updatr: 'There's no live videos of me attacking no cisgender woman !!!!' She went on to say she was 'never raised to hit a woman.' Family members said Booker (left and right) suffered facial fractures and injured her right arm in the attack. A GoFundMe page was created to help Booker with her medical bills A GoFundMe campaign launched to help Booker with her medical bills had raised more than $1,500 by Tuesday morning. Leslie McMurray, a transgender woman who is an education and advocacy coordinator at the Resource Center in Dallas, called the attack 'terrifying.' 'You could just feel the energy and the malevolence of this crowd escalate as the violence ensued and there was no voice standing up saying stop,' McMurray told WFAA. 'There's no reason that our lives are less valuable than someone else or that we should be someone's punching bag just because we're transgender.' Last November, the FBI reported that 7,175 hate crimes were committed in the United States in 2017, the most recent year for which the agency had compiled data. Of those, 1,130 were based on sexual orientation bias and 119 on gender identity bias. The data showed a 5 pr cent increase in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias and a 4 per cent decrease in hate crimes motivated by gender identity bias. Of crimes motivated by gender identity bias, 106 targeted transgender people, a 1 per cent uptick from 2016. Libya's government is asking for help to stop a rival group's offensive on Tripoli The government is warning that the offensive could displace 800,000 Libyans These refugees, and 400 ISIS prisoners, could then flee to Europe in the carnage Libya Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj has called on Europe to aid his government Libya's government has warned 800,000 migrants could arrive in Europe if instability in the country continues. ADVERTISEMENT The UN-backed administration in Tripoli issued the warning as it begged Europe to help stop General Khalifa Haftar and his rebel forces from marching on the Libyan capital. Haftar has previously declared he was going to clear the city of 'terrorists' sparking fears civil war could trigger a mass displacement of civilians. The country's Prime Minister warned that as many as 800,000 refugees could flee to the West. The GNA claim that helping Libya is in Europe's 'best interests', warning that the fighting and instability could also displace 400 ISIS prisoners if Haftar reaches Tripoli. The International Criminal Court has been gathering evidence following reports of war crimes being committed on the capital by Haftar's men. There have been attacks on schools, homes and offices, with the buildings hit by rockets and bombs. Prime Minister Fayyaz al Serraj told Sky News: 'We still want peace. But if we are forced to fight, we are up for the fight. Click here to resize this module 'The international community must pressurise these forces and call it by its name and pressurise them to go back to where they came from.' He added that he wants the fighters carrying out the attacks on behalf of the General to be tried for crimes against humanity. GNA deputy prime minister Ahmad Maitig added: 'It interests the whole of Europe to see a peaceful and democratic Libya. 800,000 people can easily reach Europe. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (right) meeting Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar (left) at the Ittihadia presidential Palace in the capital Cairo. Haftar has launched an offensive on Libyan capital Tripoli The Libyan government is warning that the ongoing stability could lead to another migrant crisis (Libyan refugees pictured in 2016) A Libyan displaced family, who fled their house because of the fighting between the Eastern forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognised government Members of Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Khalifa Haftar, get ready before heading out of Benghazi to reinforce the troops advancing to Tripoli 'These [ISIS] prisoners are terrorists and we were working with the international community to keep them and hold them. At the same time we see some international partners, our international team players, supporting the attack and supporting Haftar. 'This is something not understandable for the GNA.' ADVERTISEMENT His words came following rumours that France and other European nations may support Haftar and his forces in the conflict. Maitig brushed off reports France favoured Haftar, saying 'the position of the French government is to support the national accord government'. Who is Khalifa Hafter? Born in 1943 in the eastern town of Ajdabiya, Khalifa Hafter was a officer under Gaddafi's command when he seized power in 1969. As a reward for his loyalty and service, Gaddafi promoted Hafter to field marshal and put in charge of Libyan forces in Chad. Defeated by French-backed Chadian forces, Hafter was captured in 1987. Gaddafi, who had long denied the presence of Libyan troops in Chad, cut ties with him - prompting Hafter to vow revenge. During a two-decade exile in the US, Hafter is thought to have plotted with the CIA to overthrow his old master, before returning in 2011 to fight in the uprising against Gaddafi's regime. After the Libyan dictator was deposed and killed, Hafter spent time fighting rebels in the east - where he is popular - before seizing key oil supplies from UN-backed groups. Given access to Russian mercenaries who have provided training to his forces, Haftar has now launched an offensive to seize control of the country. He also added that Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini 'shows big support for the peace process'. However, he repeated warnings that the offensive by Haftar's forces could spark an exodus of displaced Libyans and migrants, as well as ISIS fighters. There were 'more than 400 prisoners' in Libya whose whereabouts could not be secured should Haftar push on to take the capital, he said. ADVERTISEMENT He also dismissed the idea that the government would intervene to prevent Libyans and migrants fleeing for Europe under an EU-approved deal signed between Italy and Libya in 2017. 'There is no agreement on keeping the migrants in Libya at all. Zero. The agreement was to prepare the Libyan coastguard... that is it.' The accord for Italy to train Libya's coastguard - signed in a bid to end Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War - saw a significant drop in the flow of African migrants across the central Mediterranean. Some 265 migrants have landed in Italy so far this year, compared to 7,500 last year in the same period and over 30,000 the year before, according to the interior ministry. Libya has long been a major transit country for migrants desperate to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. International aid groups have warned migrants could be used as human shields or forcibly recruited to fight. Libya has been in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Haftar's offensive began shortly before a conference set for this month to discuss Libya's future - an event the UN cancelled as the forces closed in on the capital. Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed out from his power base in the country's east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government. GNA deputy prime minister Ahmad Maitig warned that as many as 800,000 refugees could flee to Europe Last week, the only functional airport in the Libyan capital was hit by an airstrike amid clashes between rival armed groups for control of Tripoli. The official Facebook page of the Mitiga airport said it had been attacked by a fighter jet. There were no further details and no casualties were immediately reported. A video circulated online shows a fighter jet firing and allegedly targeting the airport. ADVERTISEMENT The airport, located five miles east of the city centre originally functioned as a military base. Libya Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj has called on Europe to aid his government Libya's government has warned 800,000 migrants could arrive in Europe if instability in the country continues. The UN-backed administration in Tripoli issued the warning as it begged Europe to help stop General Khalifa Haftar and his rebel forces from marching on the Libyan capital. Haftar has previously declared he was going to clear the city of 'terrorists' sparking fears civil war could trigger a mass displacement of civilians. The country's Prime Minister warned that as many as 800,000 refugees could flee to the West. The GNA claim that helping Libya is in Europe's 'best interests', warning that the fighting and instability could also displace 400 ISIS prisoners if Haftar reaches Tripoli. The International Criminal Court has been gathering evidence following reports of war crimes being committed on the capital by Haftar's men. There have been attacks on schools, homes and offices, with the buildings hit by rockets and bombs. Prime Minister Fayyaz al Serraj told Sky News: 'We still want peace. But if we are forced to fight, we are up for the fight. 'The international community must pressurise these forces and call it by its name and pressurise them to go back to where they came from.' He added that he wants the fighters carrying out the attacks on behalf of the General to be tried for crimes against humanity. GNA deputy prime minister Ahmad Maitig added: 'It interests the whole of Europe to see a peaceful and democratic Libya. 800,000 people can easily reach Europe. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (right) meeting Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar (left) at the Ittihadia presidential Palace in the capital Cairo. Haftar has launched an offensive on Libyan capital Tripoli The Libyan government is warning that the ongoing stability could lead to another migrant crisis (Libyan refugees pictured in 2016) A Libyan displaced family, who fled their house because of the fighting between the Eastern forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the internationally recognised government Members of Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by Khalifa Haftar, get ready before heading out of Benghazi to reinforce the troops advancing to Tripoli 'These [ISIS] prisoners are terrorists and we were working with the international community to keep them and hold them. At the same time we see some international partners, our international team players, supporting the attack and supporting Haftar. 'This is something not understandable for the GNA.' His words came following rumours that France and other European nations may support Haftar and his forces in the conflict. Maitig brushed off reports France favoured Haftar, saying 'the position of the French government is to support the national accord government'. Who is Khalifa Hafter? Born in 1943 in the eastern town of Ajdabiya, Khalifa Hafter was a officer under Gaddafi's command when he seized power in 1969. As a reward for his loyalty and service, Gaddafi promoted Hafter to field marshal and put in charge of Libyan forces in Chad. Defeated by French-backed Chadian forces, Hafter was captured in 1987. Gaddafi, who had long denied the presence of Libyan troops in Chad, cut ties with him - prompting Hafter to vow revenge. During a two-decade exile in the US, Hafter is thought to have plotted with the CIA to overthrow his old master, before returning in 2011 to fight in the uprising against Gaddafi's regime. After the Libyan dictator was deposed and killed, Hafter spent time fighting rebels in the east - where he is popular - before seizing key oil supplies from UN-backed groups. Given access to Russian mercenaries who have provided training to his forces, Haftar has now launched an offensive to seize control of the country. Advertisement He also added that Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini 'shows big support for the peace process'. However, he repeated warnings that the offensive by Haftar's forces could spark an exodus of displaced Libyans and migrants, as well as ISIS fighters. There were 'more than 400 prisoners' in Libya whose whereabouts could not be secured should Haftar push on to take the capital, he said. He also dismissed the idea that the government would intervene to prevent Libyans and migrants fleeing for Europe under an EU-approved deal signed between Italy and Libya in 2017. 'There is no agreement on keeping the migrants in Libya at all. Zero. The agreement was to prepare the Libyan coastguard... that is it.' The accord for Italy to train Libya's coastguard - signed in a bid to end Europe's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War - saw a significant drop in the flow of African migrants across the central Mediterranean. Some 265 migrants have landed in Italy so far this year, compared to 7,500 last year in the same period and over 30,000 the year before, according to the interior ministry. Libya has long been a major transit country for migrants desperate to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. International aid groups have warned migrants could be used as human shields or forcibly recruited to fight. Libya has been in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Haftar's offensive began shortly before a conference set for this month to discuss Libya's future - an event the UN cancelled as the forces closed in on the capital. Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed out from his power base in the country's east towards the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government. GNA deputy prime minister Ahmad Maitig warned that as many as 800,000 refugees could flee to Europe Last week, the only functional airport in the Libyan capital was hit by an airstrike amid clashes between rival armed groups for control of Tripoli. The official Facebook page of the Mitiga airport said it had been attacked by a fighter jet. There were no further details and no casualties were immediately reported. A video circulated online shows a fighter jet firing and allegedly targeting the airport. The airport, located five miles east of the city centre originally functioned as a military base. A kind Chinese policeman has been hailed as a hero after helping a pregnant passerby tie her shoelaces while out shopping on his day off. Ms Wang, who is seven months pregnant, was walking in a mall in Beijing alone last month when her shoelaces came undone. With both of her hands holding bags of nappies, the mother-to-be had trouble bending down to do up her shoelaces by herself. Off-duty officer Li Xingyue walks up to pregnant Ms Wang after seeing her having trouble to tie up her shoelaces. The touching incident took place on March 29 at a shopping mall in Beijing The kind stranger squats down in front of Ms Wang and does up the shoelace on her left foot Policeman Li Xingyue was standing next to Ms Wang. The off-duty officer was out shopping with his family at the time. He witnessed Ms Wang struggling with her hands full and immediately walked up to offer help. Surveillance footage released by the police shows Mr Li squatting down in front of Ms Wang and tying up the shoelace on her left foot. Moments later, the pair are seen parting their ways without speaking to each other. Beijing's Miyun Police said the touching event took place on March 29 at the Langfu Shopping Plaza. Recalling the incident, Ms Wang said the kind stranger left so quickly she did not have time to take a look at him or say thank you. The mother-to-be said she was so touched by the man's behaviour she decided to look for him. The touched mother-to-be gives a banner to the police officer to thank him for his kind act With the help of the shopping mall and local media, Ms Wang found Mr Li last Wednesday. She was surprised to be informed that he is a police officer. She went to the Miyun Traffic Squad where Mr Li works to thank the selfless helper. Ms Wang said she felt Mr Li had a warm nature when she met him during their brief encounter. She added: 'Although this is a small matter, it has indeed warmed my heart. I want to thank him and wish him good luck with his work in the future.' She gave Mr Li a banner to express her gratitude. Mr Li stayed modest and said he had only done what he ought to do. He said: 'I believe when we see people around us needing help, we will all extend their helping hand.' He concluded: 'I hope Ms Wang and her baby will be safe, healthy and happy in the future.' A millionaire Russian exile granted asylum in Britain because of persecution fears has lost a divorce court battle with his estranged wife. Elena Vasilyeva has been given the go-ahead to make a cash claim in England following the breakdown of her marriage to businessman Boris Shemyakin because she'd only get a 'tiny percentage' of his wealth if it was heard in Russia. Mr Shemyakin, who left Russia nearly eight years ago after being arrested on suspicion of defrauding the Bank of Moscow, had objected and said they had reached a 'final agreement' in his home country. But a High Court judge has ruled against him. Mr Justice Williams decided today that Ms Vasilyeva could make a claim for 'financial relief' under English law. A High Court judge ruled against Mr Shemyakin, who now faces a divorce battle in the capital (pictured: High Court in London) He outlined his decision in a written ruling after analysing evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London in March. The judge has made no decision on the size of any payout. He said Mr Shemyakin and Ms Vasilyeva are Russian, and married in Moscow in 2002. Mr Shemyakin arrived in the UK in September 2011 after being arrested on suspicion of fraud in Russia. He has remained in England since then and lived in Notting Hill, west London. Mr Justice Williams said Mr Shemyakin was granted asylum in 2013 and subsequently given indefinite leave to remain. The judge said Home Office ministers 'self-evidently' believed Mr Shemyakin had a 'well-founded fear of persecution'. Ms Vasilyeva had subsequently joined her husband in London, but moved to Tenerife after their marriage broke down in 2016. They disagree over how much money is at stake. Ms Vasilyeva said Mr Shemyakin had 'at one point' admitted he was worth around 115 million. She said he was 'always very secretive' about his financial affairs. Mr Shemyakin said she had 'grossly exaggerated' his wealth, telling the judge he was worth 3 million to 4 million. Ms Vasilyeva said the case had a 'current connection' to England, as Mr Shemyakin had lived in London for the best part of eight years and was likely to remain. She said he would not return to Russia and there were 'limited assets' there. The judge heard there had been litigation in Moscow, but Ms Vasilyeva said that under a Russian court order she would get a flat in Moscow worth about 1 million, shareholdings worth 430,000 and a parking space worth 38,000. She said those amounts were a 'tiny percentage' of Mr Shemyakin's wealth. Mr Shemyakin said Ms Vasilyeva's application was a 'try on'. He said the case was 'Russian', they had reached a 'final agreement' in Russia, and the reasons behind the application were 'without foundation'. Mr Shemyakin said there was 'no substantial ground' on which Ms Vasilyeva should be given the go-ahead. But Mr Justice Williams said Ms Vasilyeva's application was not 'wholly unmeritorious' and it would be 'unjust' to 'close the door' on her. Coral Lytle, 41, seduced both boys, aged 14 and 15, in the fall of 2017, driving the 15 miles from Tulare to Visalia for the illicit liaisons while her two daughters A California mom who had sex with both of her teenage daughters' boyfriends after plying them with alcohol and cigars will avoid a jail term. Coral Lytle, 41, seduced both boys, aged 14 and 15, in the fall of 2017, driving the 15 miles from Tulare to Visalia for the illicit liaisons. One of the victims said they had sex with the predator three times, the last time on October 5, 2017, but stopped the sordid meetings because of his guilt towards Lytle's husband. Lytle was initially charged with 21 felony sex counts and faced a lengthy suspended prison sentence. However, after reviewing her probation report, a judge said he did not believe the indicated a six-year suspended prison term with five years on probation was appropriate. Lytle, who is out of custody, can now withdraw her earlier plea. A trial setting hearing will take place next Monday. Lytle was initially charged with 21 felony sex counts, but after reviewing her probation report, a judge said he did not believe the indicated five years of probation with a six-year suspended prison term was appropriate Lytle, who is out of custody, can now withdraw her earlier plea. A trial setting hearing will take place next Monday. As the case continues, court documents are revealing more about her alleged manipulation and sexual relationships with two teen boys (pictured in court, Monday) 'Most of the time, when a court makes an indicated sentence, the probation report will follow the indicated sentence,' said Tulare County Assistant District Attorney David Alavezos. 'There are times the probation report will recommend a sentence that is not what was indicated.' As the case continues, court documents are revealing more about her alleged manipulation and sexual relationships with two teenage boys. 'The crimes in this case committed by the defendant involved great cruelty and callousness. Prosecutors say Lytle provided alcohol and cigars to the alleged victims, both freshmen at Redwood High School at the time to coerce them into sex. Records show that Lytle's husband filed divorce paperwork within days of her arrest (pictured in court, Monday) 'Especially considering the defendant took advantage of a position of trust to molest two boys who she met when they (were in) teenage dating relationships with the defendant's daughters,' a Tulare County Deputy District Attorney Prosecutors say Lytle provided alcohol and cigars to the alleged victims, both freshmen at Redwood High School at the time to coerce them into sex. 'Victim stated this was the last time he had sex with Defendant because he felt bad shaking Defendant's husband's hand knowing what he was doing with Defendant,' the court document stated, ABC 7 reported. Records show that Lytle's husband filed divorce paperwork within days of her arrest. Charlotte West (pictured) was distraught to begin her hen do stuck on the tarmac when her easyJet plane was delayed A bride-to-be and nine friends are demanding compensation from easyJet after a cancelled flight 'ruined' their hen party. Charlotte West, 27, was left in tears after a surprise trip to France, including a day in Disneyland Paris, was delayed by 17 hours. The flight was scheduled to depart from Southend Airport, at 2:45pm on February 22nd but was cancelled after being grounded for an hour-and-a-half due to fog. She was pictured looking underwhelmed on her flight as the plane sat on the runway. The delay meant they had to jump on the Eurostar and didn't make it to France until the following day. According to law firm Bott and Co., the 10 hens are being denied compensation by the airline. Charlotte, from King's Cross, north London, said: 'The whole trip was a complete surprise. My friends dressed me up in French themed clothing, including a beret and moustache and it was then that I realised we would be going to Paris. I was so excited.' While stuck on the grounded flight, Charlotte and her friends began to get frustrated with airline staff. She said: 'For the most part, we were told we had to remain seated. One of my bridesmaids desperately needed to use the toilet but wasn't allowed to go initially. 'As time went on, I started to become frustrated, five of my friends were already in Paris waiting for us.' By 5pm the group was still in the UK and Charlotte's group had missed their evening plans including a pre-booked karaoke booth for 200. To make it to Disneyland Paris the following day, the hen party was to travel to get a Eurostar for 8pm. Charlotte said: 'We were kept waiting when we could have been making alternative arrangements. When it all became too much, I began to cry. 'We disembarked the plane to be met with a huge queue in the airport foyer; people were scrambling to get to the ticket desk. The hen party has slammed easyJet and says that it is denying them compensation following Charlotte's ordeal 'We had to choose between lining up and seeing what our options were or leaving to try and make the Eurostar to Paris.' The group made it to Disneyland Paris by 7am the next day, but Charlotte's closest friend dropped out just before they boarded the Eurostar. The bride-to-be described the ordeal as 'heartbreaking'. The airline has refunded the group's Eurostar ticket costs, but have refused to pay out compensation. A spokeswoman for easyJet claimed the hens had all been paid reasonable costs, saying no more compensation was due. She said : 'Like other airlines flying to and from London Southend on 22 February, EasyJet had to divert its previous flight from Paris to Stansted because of fog over Southend. 'Because the weather didn't improve unfortunately the flight had to be cancelled. Whilst these circumstances were outside of our control we'd like to apologise for the inconvenience caused. 'All passengers on the flight were given the option of transferring their flight free of charge or obtaining a refund and we provided hotel accommodation and meals for those requiring it. As the flight was cancelled because of adverse weather no compensation under EU261 is due. 'However we have refunded Ms West for her flight, her alternative Eurostar transport and all reasonable expenses. 'The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority.' Charlotte hit out at the airline, saying: 'I missed my big night out, and in total we lost over 200 for the karaoke room deposit. 'If we hadnt made the decision ourselves to get the Eurostar we would have also missed Disney. 'My hen do was supposed to be a special time but the cancellation really tainted the experience. 'We could have never expected it to go the way it did and I dont think EasyJet handled it very well at all. 'They made no effort to keep us informed throughout the delay and we were all anxious and stressed. 'I wont be flying to Paris next time. I would definitely choose going by Eurostar than EasyJet. I will never fly with them ever again.' She added: 'I feel like my hen do was ruined, not having the big night out and being tired at Disney. The first night was going to be when people whod never met before got to know each other but we didnt get to do that. 'My bridesmaids had put in so much effort and time organising the trip and EasyJet ruined the start of it all.' Charlotte has instructed Bott and Co. to pursue easyJet for compensation A Fox News host was forced to hang up on the president of the Catholic League after the guest began ranting about how the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was 'suspicious'. Neil Cavuto was hosting his show on Fox News' 4pm ET hour when he cut short the phone interview with Catholic League president Bill Donohue over his 'conjectures' about the fire. 'Well, Neil, if it is an accident, it's a monumental tragedy,' Donohoe said. 'But forgive me for being suspicious.' Donohue added: 'Just last month, a 17th-century church was set on fire in Paris. We have seen Tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues have been smashed.' Neil Cavuto was hosting his show on Fox News' 4pm ET hour when he cut short the phone interview with Catholic League President Bill Donohue over his 'conjectures' A firefighter is seen battling the blaze in Notre Dame on Monday. The fire is being investigated as accidental, though some Fox News guests tried to link it to recent anti-Christian crimes Donohue was apparently referring to a March fire at St. Sulpice in Paris, which investigators are confident was arson, as well as other vandalism at French churches since the beginning of the year. Cavuto interjected: 'We don't know that. So if we can avoid what your suspicions might be.' 'I do want to look at what happened now,' the host continued. 'A very pricey rebuilding and renovation effort going on that involved a good deal of Catholic fundraising campaign I know in this country and abroad. 'This renovation was paid for up front. So, in other words, all the monies were there. Now I'm wondering how much more the Catholic Church commits to this or do you think they now first want to get to the bottom of it?' Wreckage from the burnt-out roof is seen in Notre Dame on Tuesday. Investigators are currently looking at the fire as accidental But Donohue insisted on going back to his earlier point. He responded: 'First, they have to get to the bottom of it and they will rebuild it. There's no question about that. They certainly, the Catholic Church will come up for the money for it, that's not even a question. I'm sorry. When I find out that the Eucharist is being destroyed and excrement is being smeared on crosses.' At that point, Cavuto discontinued the interview. 'I love you, Bill, but we cannot make conjectures about this,' he said. 'I do want to let people know, and again we're not trying to be rude to our guests here. There's so much here we don't know about what happened here,' Cavuto continued. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but the early indications are that investigators are looking into it as an accident possibly caused during renovations that were underway. Cavuto was not the first Fox News host who had to tamp down speculation about whether the fire was intentionally set. A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on Tuesday following a major fire yesterday in Paris, France. A fire broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly spread across the building Hours earlier, host Shepard Smith had to cut off an interview with witness Philippe Karsenty, the deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine. 'It's like a 9/11, a French 9/11,' Karsenty declared during the interview. 'It's a big shock. This church was there for more than 850 years. You need to know that for the past years, we've had churches desecrated each and every week all over France. Of course, you will hear the story of the politicallythe political correctness, which will tell you it's probably an accident.' Smith protested that he would not allow such speculation on air, but Karsenty persisted. 'No, sir, we're not doing that here, not now, not on my watch,' Smith said, ending the interview. 'The man on the phone with us has absolutely no information of any kind about the origin of this fire and neither do I.' Advertisement These astonishing pictures show two ferocious male hippos brawling in a titanic tussle to win the affections of a group of females. The aggressive males were snapped in Kasane, north east Botswana and bared their teeth before savagely swinging their heads at each other. One of the hippos is the resident bull, while the other is a new male who was interested in the nearby group of females. The photos were taken by Caron Steele, 54, from Worcestershire, during a photography boat tour on the River Chobe. She said she even saw them fling faeces at each other and stand on their hind legs in an effort to establish dominance. Eventually, the newcomer was defeated and pushed back in the water, slinking away from the females. Two aggressive male hippos had an incredible riverside battle in Kasane, north east Botswana, as they tussled over a a group of females One of the hippos is the resident bull, while the other is a new male who spotted the nearby group of females and came to have a look The two male hippos battled each other fiercely, butting heads and baring their teeth at each other as they clashed The photos were taken by Caron Steele, 54, from Worcestershire, who said: 'A new male approached the resident bull who was on the banks by his harem of females and young and the outsider had presumably seen all females in the water and fancied his chances' The warring animals even got up on their hind legs during the fight, with Caron adding: 'There was much muck spreading by the males as they flung their poop by spinning tails around to impress the females and to mark their territory' Caron said that she was wary of getting two close to the warring animals, instead taking photos from a safe distance away Notre Dame cathedral cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was before the devastating fire ripped through its historic structure because France no longer has trees big enough, experts have warned. Last night's blaze erupted in the UNESCO world heritage landmark in the French capital, sending its spire and roof crashing to the ground as flames and clouds of smoke billowed into the sky. Speaking today, Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine said the cathedral's roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was before the fire because 'we don't, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 12th and 13th century'. He told France Info radio that the wooden roof that went up in flames was built with beams more than 850 years ago from primal forests. One factor that could have impeded the growth of the current crop is that so many of the biggest trees in the 12th century were cut down for construction projects. The Gothic vaulted ceiling of Notre Dame was made up of an estimated 1,300 trees taken from around 51 acres of ancient oak French forests The height of trees is determined by a number of factors, such as competition from its neighbours, environmental conditions, the availability of the right nutrients and also the genetics of the tree. Certain individual trees within a species are likely to have genetics that allow them the grow taller than others. If you remove the largest trees with these genetic predispositions, then only the smaller trees are left to pollinate. Another important issue is the large scale deforestation that took place during this time period. Many trees in the medieval forests of France during the period had been growing since the 7th and 8th centuries - meaning some of the timber in the destroyed frame and roof were as much as 1,300 years old. Such vast amounts of timber were needed in the construction of churches, castles and ships during this period that much of France's ancient woodland was cleared. This deforestation made the reconstruction of such a unique structure centuries later using similar materials even less likely. Columbia University art historian Stephen Murray told Ars Technica: 'You have a stage in France where deforestation was a problem; these buildings consumed huge amounts of wood.' Notre Dame's official website states that even in the 12th century when the cathedral was being built, the felling of huge swathes of French forests were causing concern during the construction. The roof of the cathedral which was engulfed in flames was made from huge oak trees. Simlar size and type of tree no longer exist The entire frame of the 850-year-old building in the centre of Paris is made from timber from an estimated 1,300 trees used for the construction of its beams. Notre Dame is famed for these incredible timber beams and wooden carvings that characterised the cathedral's Gothic vaulted ceiling. But the inferno, which raged for around 12 hours, ravaged the wooden structure of the medieval building. The main spire - which was around 750 tonnes of ancient oak lined with lead - collapsed in flames and crashed through the wooden roof. The nature of the cathedral's timber-framed skeleton means that it will be nearly impossible to rebuilt it in exactly the same way as before. The cathedral contains one of the oldest surviving wood-timber frames in Paris, involving around 52 acres of trees that were cut down in the 12th century. The Notre Dame spire collapsed in on the wood roof. The devastating fire gutted the famous cathedral last night Flames engulfed the roof of the Notre Dame cathedral with the spire collapsing not long after the blaze began Charred damage could be seen inside Notre Dame cathedral after the massive blaze destroyed the roof and wooden interior Each beam is made from an individual tree giving the lattice of woodwork that makes up the ceiling its nickname 'the Forest'. The trees that made up the roof's wooden structure were cut down in around 1160, and some sources estimate that the beams accounted for 13,000 trees. Today only four per cent of Europe's remaining woodland is primary forest that have not been touched by human activity. Experts say the combination of a structure thats more than 850 years old, built with heavy timber construction and soaring open spaces, and lacking sophisticated fire-protection systems led to the quick rise of flames, which jeopardised the entire cathedral before firefighters brought the blaze under control. Once the fire died down it was discovered the golden crucifix and altar of the cathedral were preserved amongst the smouldering rubble. One of the cathedral's most precious objects, a relic said to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, was also saved along with the Blessed Sacrament and King Louis IX tunic. Gavin Williamson slammed Shamima Begum's bid for legal aid today as he accused the Jihadi bride of having 'turned her back on this country' Gavin Williamson slammed Shamima Begum's bid for legal aid today as he accused the Jihadi bride of having 'turned her back on this country'. The Defence Secretary said 'quite frankly the British people don't like it, and quite simply neither do I' after Begum's application emerged. Begum wants taxpayer help to fight a ruling by Home Secretary Sajid Javid that she should lose her British citizenship after she demanded the right to come home to Britain after running away to join ISIS . The 19-year-old turned up in a refugee camp in Syria ahead of the fall of the group's self-proclaimed territorial caliphate. Mr Williamson's comments came after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the idea that the teenager who left Britain in 2015 could receive taxpayer funding to challenge the decision to remove her citizenship made him 'very uncomfortable'. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has insisted she is still a British citizen and has the same rights as anyone else to apply. Speaking at The Royal London Hospital on Tuesday and asked for his thoughts on Ms Begum getting legal aid, Mr Williamson told ITV News: 'Quite frankly the British people don't like it, and quite simply neither do I. 'It is something that people cannot see as to why she is getting legal aid when she turned her back on this country.' Pressed for his thoughts on how the legal aid would allow her to have a fair trial, Mr Williamson stressed again that she made a decision to turn her back on Britain. He added: 'The Home Secretary has made a judgment, it was a fair judgment, and it is a shame public money is going this way.' Gavin Williamson (pictured yesterday at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk) slammed Shamima Begum's bid for legal aid today as he accused the Jihadi bride of having 'turned her back on this country' Asked by reporters if the legal aid rules should be changed in the wake of her case, he added how 'this goes to show that this is something that needs to be looked at afresh'. Legal aid is the public money which is paid to lawyers to help them lodge legal battles for clients facing a court or tribunal hearing. It is aimed at ensuring that ordinary people have access to justice and is part of a safety net for someone who cannot afford to defend themselves. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has insisted she is still a British citizen and has the same rights as anyone else to apply But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn defended Ms Begum's right to apply for legal aid, stating on Monday that whatever crimes Ms Begum was accused of, she was entitled to proper legal representation. He said the decision by Mr Javid to strip the teenager of her citizenship was 'very questionable' and that it was up to the Legal Aid Agency to decide whether she should receive assistance. 'She is a British national and, therefore, she has that right, like any of us do, to apply for legal aid if she has a problem. She has legal rights, just like anybody else does,' Mr Corbyn added. A Legal Aid Agency spokesman said: 'We are unable to comment on individual cases. 'Anybody applying for legal aid in a Special Immigration Appeal Commission case is subject to strict eligibility tests.' An Alabama man has died days after his gun accidentally discharged while he was changing his daughter's diaper outside a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, striking him and his young child. The Jefferson County coroner's office identified the man as being 22-year-old Timothy Roshun Smith Jr on Tuesday. Police in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills say Smith was preparing to change his daughter's diaper in a car outside the pizza restaurant Saturday, when a gun ent off, AL.com reports. Police say the girl was shot in the leg and the man in the chest. The girl's injuries weren't considered life threatening. A man and a baby were accidentally shot outside this Chuck E Cheese in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Saturday after a gun went off inside a diaper bag. Coroners announced on Tuesday that the man died The Jefferson County coroner's office identified the man as being 22-year-old Timothy Roshun Smith Jr on Tuesday Lt. Michael Keller says investigators believe Smith Jr was searching inside the diaper bag when he hit the weapon and it fired accidentally. 'This was a tragic accident and condolences from the VHPD and VHFD go out to the family involved,' the police said in a statement. The incident took place just before 3pm on Saturday in the parking lot at the Olde Towne shopping center on Montgomery Highway in Vestavia Hills. According to police, the man and the young girl were in the backseat of a car when the gun went off, firing one bullet which penetrated the child's leg before hitting Smith Jr in the chest. The child was rushed to Children's of Alabama Hospital, and is in a good condition He was taken to UAB Hospital Trauma Center to be treated for the life-threatening injuries, reported Al.com. The child was rushed to Children's of Alabama Hospital, and is in a good condition. Vestavia Hills police Lt. Michael Keller said: 'You don't expect anyone would bring a gun around where kids would be. It just doesn't make any sense,' Chuck E Cheese patron John Gerrard told WBRC. As of Monday morning, no charges have been filed in connection to the shooting. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reportedly hired a top Hollywood talent agency to try and get a book deal, but the project fell through. The progressive darling and representative for New York, known as AOC, reportedly hired and met with officials from the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) earlier this year. But according to The Daily Beast, the potential book contract was pulled for unknown reasons. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured) reportedly hired a Hollywood talent agency to try and get a book deal CAA did not confirm or deny working with the 29-year-old, and Corbin Trent, the communications director for Ocasio-Cortez, said: 'I can't help you with it.' It's unclear if the project will be picked up at a later date. Sitting House members are prohibited from accepting book advances. Just four months into her new life in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez is already a coveted influencer of Democratic national politics. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called her 'the future of our party'. All six senators aiming to replace Trump co-sponsored the Green New Deal she has championed to combat climate change. The initiative, announced in February, would establish a 10-year framework intended to increase environmental sustainability in a job-friendly way. Included in the Green New Deal's wish list are a transition to 100 percent electric cars and investing in high-speed trains to compete with air travel. It's unclear if the project will be picked up at a later date. Sitting House members are prohibited from accepting book advances. AOC pictured sitting left Despite being on the job just a few months, AOC has cultivated a national profile. She even has higher name recognition than a some presidential presidential candidates, including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, according to Gallup polling. It is Ocasio-Cortezs social media mastery that has made her so influential both by the numbers of followers she has and the authenticity and know-how she exudes in her tweets. But on Tuesday AOC revealed she is quitting Facebook and cutting down on her use of social media because it is a 'public health risk'. The congresswoman admitted that Facebook was crucial to her campaign but said that social media can lead to 'increased isolation, depression, anxiety, addiction and escapism'. Although she has suspended her personal account, she continues to run an official one on the platform, using it to gather support for her Green New Deal and to raise funds. The 29-year-old's statement comes less than a month after advising her supporters and constituents to contact her on Twitter where she has a staggering 3.94 million followers. A father shook his 14-week-old baby so hard he fell into a coma, a court heard. The newborn was left limp after the assault when Pakistani national dad Zeeshan Younis (pictured) was looking after him. A father has been jailed after shaking his 14-week-old baby so hard he suffered a bleed on the brain. The newborn was left limp after the sickening attack which happened when Pakistani national dad Zeeshan Younis, 38, was looking after him. The infant was rushed to hospital after falling into a coma and suffering widespread haemorrhages in his eyes and an irregular heartbeat. Younis, from Blackburn, Lancashire, was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent by a jury at Preston Crown Court in March and was sentenced to six years in jail at Sessions House in the city on Monday. Younis, a Pakistani national, faces possible deportation when he is released as he now has illegal immigrant status having 'overstayed' the period of his UK visa. Sentencing Younis Judge Graham Knowles QC said the baby 'could have been killed'. He said: 'He was your only child and he was well cared for until February 5, 2016, the second time you had been left alone to look after him. 'The health visitor had called to your home at 11.30am and all was well - he was asleep. 'But by 1.45pm you had assaulted him. This was an isolated case of abuse during a momentary loss of control. 'As the jury found, in those moments you acted with intent to do your son grievous bodily harm.' Younis, recently of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, made a 999 call after he shook his son, but at no point told anyone the circumstances surrounding the baby's condition. When paramedics arrived, the baby was in a coma and was pale and floppy. He developed a 'fixed stare' en route to the hospital and became rigid. Emergency treatment was issued and an investigation was launched which led to Younis being arrested. Reports from more than one doctor outlined the fact that the baby's injuries were consistent with an episode of abuse, either by minor head trauma or shaking. Judge Knowles QC added: 'In my view, with all the evidence, what you did was shake your son. 'What you did to your son could have killed him or could have led to grave brain damage with appalling consequences for his life. Mercifully that is not the outcome. 'The Crown opened the trial to the jury by telling them all he had made a good recovery.' Younis, from Blackburn, Lancs, was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent by a jury at Preston Crown Court (pictured) in March and was sentenced to a six years after appearing at Sessions House in the city on Monday Now three years on from the incident, social workers have described the boy, who was adopted, as a 'happy healthy child who is meeting all his milestones'. Doctors said there is a small chances difficulties could develop throughout his life as a result of the assault. Defending, James Hayworth said: 'This was an isolated incident in the life of an otherwise well-cared for baby. 'The reality is that this defendant will forgo his relationship with his son - this may the greatest punishment.' Judge Knowles QC said: 'One day the child will have to learn what was done to him by his own father and that his own father denies it.' Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay, said he and his husband Chasten Buttigieg want to have kids soon but his presidential bid has 'made it a little more complicated.' 'Chasten, my husband, he's made for a lot of things. He's a great educator, he's become a great public figure coming out of the gate,' the South Bend mayor told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Monday evening. 'But he's also going to be an amazing father. And I can't wait to see him - I hope I'll be good at it too - but I can't wait to see him have that chance,' he added. 'This running for president has slowed down the path,' he noted. Pete Buttigieg said he and his husband Chasten Buttigieg want to have kids soon Pete Buttigieg and Chasten Buttigieg, seen here at the mayor's presidential announcement, were married last year Buttigieg, who is on a media tour after his formal presidential announcement on Sunday, told CNN his White House campaign is making family life complicated. 'Obviously, my recent professional choices have made it a little more complicated. We're figuring through all of that. We're also not wealthy. It turns out, parenting is an expensive proposition for anyone. Especially for a same-sex couple, there's a lot to figure out,' he said on 'New Day' on Tuesday morning. 'I can scarcely imagine what it is like as a parent. I know it'd make me a better person, and I imagine it'd make me a better president,' he added. He offered no further details on the options the couple are pursuing or if they have a time line. Chasten Buttigieg, a 29-year-old high school teacher at a South Bend Montessori school. The two were married in 2018 at the Cathedral of Saint James Episcopal church in South Bend. Chasten Buttigieg has become a social media star in his own right, with a growing following as he tweets about the couple's dogs and their life on the campaign trail. Pete Buttigieg, 37, would be the first openly gay president if elected. He talked about how hard it was for him to come out as gay. He told Rachel Maddow the turning point was when he served in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. Navy Reserves. And he said he came out to a few people before he went public to the people of South Bend. 'There's this war that breaks out inside a lot of people when they realize that they might be something they're afraid of. It took me a very long time to resolve that. I did make sure, as a kind of final way of coming out to myself, to come out to at least a couple of people in my life before I took office because I knew that I didn't want to have that psychological pressure of at least not being out to somebody,' he said. Buttigieg added that it was his deployment that 'put me over the top.' 'I realized that you only get to be one person,' he said. 'You don't know how long you have on this earth. And by the time I came back, I realized, 'I gotta do something.' Buttigieg came out as gay during his June 2015 mayoral re-election campaign, which he went on to win with 78 percent of the vote. 'I did not have a dating life while I was closeted. The city was a jealous bride and kept me pretty busy,' he said. Buttigieg said he took a 'leap of faith' when he came out to voters through an op-ed he wrote in the South Bend newspaper. 'I felt like things were going well in the city. I felt like I had done a good job by the people of South Bend and I had some level of trust that I would rewarded with that with re-election. But there's no way to really know. There's no playbook. No executive in Indiana had ever been out. And so it was kind of a leap of faith,' he said on MSNBC. Buttigieg placed third in popularity in a new poll of Democratic presidential contenders Monday, putting him behind top contenders Senator Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden. 'I think I've gone from being viewed as, you know, adorable six weeks ago, to now plausible,' Buttigieg told CNN Chasten Buttigieg has become a media star in his own right as he campaigns for his husband 'I think I've gone from being viewed as, you know, adorable six weeks ago, to now plausible,' he told CNN. And he argued he has not peaked too early in the long, crowded field for the Democratic presidential nomination. There are currently 18 candidates vying for the right to take on President Donald Trump next year and the Iowa caucuses will take place Feb. 3, 2020, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11, 2020. 'We were patiently building an organization. Suddenly, it popped. You only get to kind of arrive on the scene once, so we have to make the most. We have, I think, made the most of that moment to build something lasting. You want to make sure you're not regarded as a flash in the pan, but I think the fact we've been at this more than a month, so we've outlived the flavor of the month period,' he said. 'Now comes the sometimes unglamorous work of building out the early state organizations. Doing the fundraising. Doing the grassroots volunteering. It'll power us to next year,' he added. His national attention grew with his willingness to take on President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence (who was governor of Indiana while Buttigieg was mayor), and their administration. Buttigieg got into a heated back and forth with Pence last week over his sexuality and the vice president's faith in the past week. The mayor told CNN Pence is entitled to his beliefs but those beliefs shouldn't be 'used as an excuse to harm other people.' 'The vice president is entitled to his religious beliefs. My problem is when those religious beliefs are used as an excuse to harm other people,' he said. 'This isn't about him as a human being. This is about policies that hurt people. Policies that hurt children,' he said. Chasten and Pete Buttigieg at their wedding Buttigieg said earlier this month that if the vice president is mad at people for being gay, it's God he should actually be angry at. 'If me being gay was a choice it was a choice made far, far above my pay grade,' he told the LGBTQ Victory Fund event in Washington D.C. 'And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand. That if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator,' he added. Pence shot back, saying the mayor 'knows better' than to criticize his faith and charging him with trying to win points with progressives. 'He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally. And he knows better. He knows me,' Pence, who has a long history of opposing gay rights, told CNBC. Safaa Boular, Britain's youngest woman to be convicted of plotting a terror attack, has had her sentenced reduced by two years The UKs youngest female ISIS terrorist has had her life sentenced slashed from 13 years to 11 after her lawyer compared her to a child grooming gang victim. Safaa Boular, 19, spurred on sister Rizlaine Boular, 23, and mother Mina Dich, 45, to hatch a suicide bomb attack after she was arrested while trying to travel to Syria. Safaa was just 15-years-old when she was wooed by Coventry-born ISIS fighter Naweed Hussain, 32, who urged her to use grenades and guns in a kamikaze attack on the British Museum. The teenager had never met him face to face but they were set to marry in a bizarre Skype ceremony. Her defence lawyer Joel Bennathan, QC, said she had been groomed and radicalised by Hussain and said that she had made her decision in the same way that the young girls in Rochdale haD when they escaped their childrens homes. Safaas plans to join Hussain had been foiled when she was arrested, and her passport seized at the airport, following a family holiday to Morocco. She was remanded in custody after planning to cause carnage in Britain. Whilst Safaa was behind bars she made calls to her siblings, encouraging her sister Rizaline to continue. The court heard how several references were made to a party, which is known as a basic code for an attack. Boular, pictured bottom left, with her mother and sister before the trio began plotting carnage The siblings made several references to Jannah, or paradise and mentioned a Mad Hatters Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland. They had been encouraged by a hardline fundamentalist, Dich, who would drive her eldest daughter around London, passing London landmarks such as Westminster Bridge as the pair carried out hostile reconnaissance on 25 April, 2017. On 26 April, the pair were seen buying knives and a rucksack on Wandsworth Road, southwest London. The following day Rizlaine and her friend Khawla Barghouthi, 21, were recorded practicing how to carry out a knife attack at the latters home in Harlesden, northwest London. Mother Mina Dich, right, helped with reconnaissance trips and bought knives and sister Rizlaine, left, planned to carry on the terror attack plans after Safaa was arrested Barghouthi could be heard to ask: How are you going to do it? What if they are faster than you? Boular replied: Ill put the knife into (inaudible) heart instead. Joel Bennathan, QC, representing Safaa Boular, compared her to the girls abused by the grooming gang in Rochdale. He said the age had been central to the grooming. This is an appellant who was 15 for the first three months of the indictment period. She had been groomed and radicalised, including sexual grooming by a man twice her age in Syria. Boular had planned to marry ISIS fighter Naweed Hussain and become a suicide bomber in Syria but started plotting an attack in London when he was killed in an air strike Making reference to the grooming trials Mr Bennathan said: The large grooming trials in Lancashire and Yorkshire, the complaint there was the girls who had been groomed were treated as voluntary participants. She made her own decision in the same way the girls in Rochdale made their own decision to escape childrens homes, drink alcohol, smoke cannabis, and have sex with older males. He denied that the British museum was a serious plot and that his client had a leading role in it. He said the headline grabbing plot which had obfuscated count 2, an attack with semi-automatic weapons and hand grenades, had been a fantasy. Hussain was introduced to that fantasy by MI5 role players. This appellant was then involved by Naweed Hussain in that plot. The extent of her training was that he had sent her some videos which she had watched carefully. If that is a leading role the term has no meaning. Imran Khan, for Rizlaine Boular, said: Someone at 22 is not fully mature. Lord Justice Holroyde agreed: No, its commonly thought that the brain is not fully mature until 25. Mr Khan continued: This is a young woman aged 22 who had a very traumatic life. He said the mitigating features were significant and said Boular suffered from PTSD. He said: The balancing exercise was weighted against the appellant. Simply to say that this was an immature young woman did the appellant no service. He said an extended determinate sentence rather than a life sentence would have sufficed. Duncan Atkinson QC, for the prosecution, told the court: We submit that in the case of both defendants that they were going to be in a leading role in what was going to be done. he teenager took selfies outside the MI6 building in London as she plotted the terror attack Rizlaine Boular was going to be the one in Westminster with the knife. Safaa Boular was going to be the one wearing the suicide vest and engaging in the attack of the British museum. He said that there had been an aspect of grooming in the case of Safaa Boular but that the trial judge took that into account in reducing her sentence. There had been aspects of early indoctrination and grooming and the judge had them in mind when he made the reduction. Terror sisters listened to Anjem Choudary sermons The often shocking trial of Safaa Boular heard she ran away from home in 2014 after feeling 'crazy, jealous' at schoolfriends who could talk to boys and 'wear what they wanted'. Rizlaine, her older sister had become increasingly radicalised in the toxic atmosphere home where it was normal to blame the sins of the world on the 'kafir' and the decadence of the West. Two months after Safaa ran away from home in August 2014, Rizlaine was caught trying to join ISIS in Istanbul and flown back to the UK. By the time of the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 Safaa too was fully radicalised and in contact with prolific ISIS recruiter Umm Isa Al-Amriki who was living there. Rizlaine also downloaded a stash of extremist material published by ISIS and Al Qaeda as well as content from radical preachers including Anjem Choudary and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman. Advertisement Lord Justice Holroyde said: The judge noted the dysfunctional home that the appellants grew up in. Between 2013 and 2014 Mina Dich became increasingly extreme in her views. Both appellants were exposed to extreme views from their mother and those she invited into the home. At the time Safaa Boular was only 12-13, Rizlaine Boular was appreciably and materially older. Lord Justice Holroyde added: Mr Khan presents an argument that the judge should have given greater consideration to the very unhappy upbringing of this appellant. Which includes being exposed to abusive behaviour by her father towards her mother, being a victim of attempted trafficking, being indoctrinated and reduced to a state where she attempted suicide. These are all matters which the judge clearly took into account in sentencing. Rizlaine Boulars appeal was dismissed but Safaa Boulars minimum term was reduced from 13 years to 11 years. The judge said: We are not able to accept the submission that Safaa Boular was not to play a leading role in the proposed activity. She was to wear a suicide belt. We have no doubt that the judge was entitled to regard that as a leading role. But he said that insufficient weight was put by the judge to her youth and the fact that she was indoctrinated and groomed. He said: For most of the indictment period the appellant was 16. A reduction of a quarter was insufficient. We quash the sentence, and we substitute for that sentence, custody for life with a minimum term of 11 years. Safaa Boular, southwest London, was convicted of two counts of engaging in preparation for terrorist acts and was jailed at trial for life with a minimum term of 13 years. Her appeal was successful and her minimum term was reduced to 11 years. Rizlaine Boular, Clerkenwell, central London admitted preparing for an attack in the UK using knives or other weapons and was jailed at trial for life with a minimum term of 16 years. Her appeal to reduce the sentence was dismissed. President Donald Trump called France's Emmanuel Macron to offer the United States condolences on the Notre Dame fire and U.S. assistance in restoring the iconic cathedral. The U.S. president invoked the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack for the third time in a week as he pledged to support the French after a blaze damaged the exterior of the historic church. 'France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dames bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again,' the White House said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. The readout made no reference to Trump's suggestion while the structure burned that the French use 'flying water tankers' to douse the flames. View of the debris inside the Notre-Dame-de Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral on Tuesday, a day after the fire President Donald Trump called Emmanuel Macron to offer the United States condolences on the Notre Dame fire and U.S. assistance in restoring the iconic cathedral Trump made the recommendation from aboard Air Force One en route to Minnesota on Monday, while viewers around the world watched iconic cathedral go up in flames. WHITE HOUSE ON NOTRE DAME FIRE This morning, President Donald J. Trump, on behalf of the American people, offered his condolences to President Emmanuel Macron of France for the devastation caused by the fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure. The Cathedral has served as a spiritual home for almost a millennium, and we are saddened to witness the damage to this architectural masterpiece. Notre Dame will continue to serve as a symbol of France, including its freedom of religion and democracy. France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dames bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again. We stand with France today and offer our assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization. Vive la France! Advertisement 'So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!' Trump wrote while en route to Minnesota for an event about taxes. Later, at his Tax Day event, Trump told a crowd about the 'terrible, terrible fire.' 'The fire that they're having at the Notre Dame Cathedral is something like few people have witnessed,' the president said. 'When we left the plane, it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn. It's one of the great treasures of the world.' Trump said that the building 'might be greater almost than any museum in the world and its burning very badly.' He noted that he himself had been to see it before. 'Looks like Its burning to the ground,' the president added, as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. Trump said he had a 'communication' with France but did not specify if he spoke to French authorities. 'That puts a damper on what were about to say to be honest,' Trump told his audience in Minnesota. 'Because that is beyond countries. Thats beyond anything. Thats a part of our growing up, its a part of our culture, its a part of our lives. Thats a truly great cathedral. And Ive been there and Ive seen it Theres probably no cathedral in the world like it.' The president said the French believed the fire was related to the ongoing renovation of the 850-year-old cathedral. 'They think it was caused by renovation. And I hope that's the reason,' Trump continued. 'Renovation. What's that all about?' Trump said. Then he called it a 'terrible sight to behold.' President Donald Trump tweeted about the fire at Notre Dame Monday The president suggested the use of airborne tankers The French government tweeted out its reason in English for not using water tankers from the air At the end of his roundtable event, where he hailed tax cuts, gains against ISIS and other matters, Trump returned to Notre Dame. 'We all want to extend our regards and our hopes and our "God Bless you" to Paris and to France, what they're going through,' Trump said. 'This is one of the true catastrophes,' he said. 'Hopefully they did better than they were doing when I left the plane but it was not a good situation with respect to Notre Dame Cathedral.' Hours after Trump's tweet, the French government explained that air drops could have caused the cathedral's walls to implode, bringing the structure down and ruining the artwork inside. France's ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud told CNN, 'It's not possible to use water tankers which could only worsen he situation of the building.' He mentioned the difficulty of containing the fire with intense heat and tons of wood acting as fuel. 'So I think we have only to pray now,' he said. The French civil security division posted a tweet that appeared to rebut Trump posting a single English-language missive on its French-language account. 'Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral,' the tweet said. First lady Melania Trump, who did work in Paris during her modeling career, also tweeted about the fire. 'My heart breaks for the people of Paris after seeing the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Praying for everyones safety,' Melania Trump wrote. PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 15: Flames and smoke rising from the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France on April 15, 2019 A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe The president suggested: 'Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out.' Above an air tanker drops water on a fire along the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway in Simi Valley, Calif., Monday, Nov. 12, 2018 Donald Trump's daughter, traveling in Africa, said the fire was 'devastating' in a tweet sharing he condolences. 'Watching flames engulf the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. A devastating and shocking sight. Praying for the safety of all,' Ivanka Trump wrote. The president has the capability to monitor televised reports while in flight, and was apparently seeing televised coverage showed billowing smoke and flames engulfing the roof of the building. A scant few early signs of an effective firefighting response could be seen, and viewers around the world worried the cathedral would burn down. One helicopter was seen circling the area as Parisian firefighters made their way to the scene. Firefighters eventually were able to assemble fire boats on the river. The cathedral is located on the corner of Ile de la Cite, on a spit of land that juts out into the river Seine. The interior of the building came out relatively unscathed, and the fire brigade said the 'main works of art' had been saved, including the Crown of Thorns that Jesus is believed to have worn and the Rose windows. Notre Dame's facade and it's bell tower also survived the fire. The cathedral's twitter account called it a miracle, inspiring even the admitted non-believers to proclaim Hallelujah. 'My heart breaks for the people of Paris after seeing the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Praying for everyones safety,' Melania Trump wrote Monday Ivanka Trump tweeted about the event from Ethiopia According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the monument before spreading across the roof. The cathedral is one the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe, and one of the most visited buildings in the world. Notre Dame - which means 'Our Lady' - was build in 1160 and completed by 1260, and has been modified on a number of occasions throughout the century. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Monday: 'Notre Dame is an iconic symbol of faith to people all over the world and it is heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames. Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters on the scene and all the people of Paris.' Two sisters in their twenties are in a court battle in Argentina after marrying a pair of wealthy octogenarian brothers and inheriting their farming land, according to local reports published Tuesday. Norma Titti, the 40-year-old daughter of one of the brothers, is trying to reclaim ownership of her family's farm, which passed to one of the wives after two of the brothers died. Liliana Basualdo received two-thirds of the 362-acre plot after the death of Titti's uncle, whom she married in 2008 when she was just 22-years-old. The land belonged to Titti's father and her two uncles in La Para, a countryside town of 3,500 people in the central province of Cordoba. Basualdo had known the three elderly Titti brothers since she was a nine-year-old girl as her parents had worked on their land. At the age of 15, she started working in the farm's milking parlor and soon became romantically involved with the oldest Titti brother, Isidro, whom she married when he was 80. Liliana Basualdo inherited two-thirds of 362 acres of farming land in central Argentina in 2010 two years after she married the then 80-year-old Isidro Titti Nilda Basualdo married her sister's 84-year-old brother-in-law in 2016 Norma Titti (pictured) claims his uncle's widow Liliana Basualdo and her sister, Nilda Basualdo, drew up a plan to keep all of her family's inheritance The couple had a daughter before Isidro died in 2010. The child is now nine-years-old. A few months after Isidro's death, his brother Ciriaco Titti, also in his eighties, also passed away and Basualdo's inheritance sky rocketed. In his will, Ciriaco ordered that his one-third of the family land be turned over to his older brother's wife, Basualdo. Liliana's younger sister, Nilda Basualdo, then married Pedro in 2016. Around the same time, Norma attempted to normalize her relationship with her father, Pedro, but she said the two sisters tried to shield her father from her, according to Argentine television station El Doce TV. 'I had zero relationship with my uncles because since she [Liliana] entered their lives it was impossible to get close to my dad,' Norma said. 'I noticed he was getting very nervous when we crossed paths in the town.' In 2016, a court ruled that Pedro, then aged 84, was mentally unfit and restricted his ability to administer the family's day-to-day business dealings. Norma, a mother-of-three, then went to the court to argue that the marriage should be annulled because her father was not coherent. The marriage was disqualified two months after Pedro died in June 2018. However, Nilda appealed the ruling and is still awaiting a decision. If the court rules in Nilda's favor, the sisters will have complete control of the land. Isidro Titti (pictured) married Liliana Basualdo in 2008. He left her an inheritance of one-third of the family's 362 acres located in La Para, a countryside town of 3,500 people in the central Argentine province of Cordoba Before passing away in 2010 shortly after his brother Isidro, Ciriaco Titti (pictured) added his brother's wife Liliana to be the benefactor of his will A court ruled in 2016 that Pedro Titti (left) was mentally unfit to make any decisions in his family business but he married Nilda Basualdo. The marriage was annulled by a court in August 2018, two months after his death According to Infobae, Liliana said the marriage between her sister and Norma's father was legitimate. 'They made the decision of getting married. Nobody forced them to.' 'You give him breakfast, take him to the doctor, clean him, accompany him. There was no intimacy,' she added. 'We took care of Pedro with great honor and affection until the last day.' Liliana Basualdo (pictured) said her late husband's niece is trying to cash in on the inheritance her uncles never included her in Norma's fear is that the Basualdo sisters will eventually sell off the land. Each acre, where the cattle is raised, is worth between $8,000 and $10,000. Liliana has ownership 176 of the 362 acres pending the court's decision and they have been rented until 2021. She has already sold some land to pay off her legal fees. Norma's father, Pedro, owned 41 acres but Liliana claims his daughter is looking towards getting her hands on at least 120 acres. 'This girl is desperate to collect an inheritance. I am not a millionaire or anything like that. I'm not going to sell the land, I'm not going to touch it because it's mine and my daughter's, and I live off it,' Liliana said. A Montana couple have been arrested and charged with indecent exposure after witnesses at Bozeman Hot Springs said they were having sex just ten feet away from children. Dawn Danielle Klein, 33, and Aaron Hayes Miller, 37, were arrested Friday after police responded to the scene on Gallatin Road at 1.15pm. The manager and four people claim they saw the pair getting intimate in a pool. One witness alleges she noticed Klein's buttocks were exposed when she approached them to ask them to stop. Scroll down for video Dawn Klein, 33, and Aaron Hayes Miller were arrested Friday for indecent exposure. She is pictured in court Monday where she got $5,000 bail The witness went over because her allegedly children noticed them 'fornicating'. The responding Gallatin County deputy sheriff backed up the claim by saying surveillance footage showed Klein clearly not wearing bathing suit bottoms. A clip suggests they had sex twice. Several children could be seen floating on inflatable toys or swimming near the couple, the deputy said about the video recording. Klein and Miller had left the premises by the time police arrived but cops caught up with them and pulled them over nearby. Law enforcement said the duo denied having sexual intercourse in the pool - described online as the 'perfect destination for a family get together... or just for an energizing swim in the therapeutic water' - but their accounts differed. Klein said they were 'dry humping' but Miller said they were only 'stretching'. The facility is referred to as the best natural springs in the southwest and their website states they ensure a consistently clean facility by taking care of their indoor pools via a 'ow through system'. No chemicals are used, instead the water is drained every night. They were both detained at Gallatin County Detention Center. Klein appeared at Gallatin County Justice Court on Monday, looking disheveled in her blue jail garments. Montana couple are accused of having sex around kids at Bozeman Hot Springs. Police were responded to call around 1.15pm but pair had already left. They were pulled over down the street and arrested nearby She wore her blonde hair in a messy up-do along with black framed spectacles. Her bail was set at $5,000 and she is banned from Bozeman Hot Springs, KTVQ reported. Miller was due in court Tuesday. A young mother haunted by the memory of her baby daughter's stillbirth has won more than 271,000 in damages from the NHS for her grief. Justyna Zeromska-Smith, 38, lost her baby Megan at Lincoln County Hospital nearly six years ago and says she has been plagued by depression and anxiety ever since. Following her hospital admission to be induced, the mother was told by medics performing a CTG trace that Megan had no heartbeat, London's High Court heard. But Mrs Zeromska-Smith, from Lincolnshire, still had to endure 18 hours of labour until her first child was delivered stillborn by forceps in May 2013, explained Mr Justice Spencer. Justyna Zeromska-Smith, 38, pictured with her husband, Mark Smith, 58, and their children Although she went on to have two more children - both sons - Mrs Zeromska-Smith said she remains tormented by the memory of Megan's death and later claimed damages from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The NHS Trust admitted breach of duty but strongly disputed the extent of the psychiatric damage sustained by Mrs Zeromska-Smith. After a nine-day hearing Mr Justice Spencer has now awarded her 271,901 in compensation, ruling that she suffered 'a prolonged, pathological grief disorder complicated by a separation anxiety and agoraphobia'. Mrs Zeromska-Smith told the court she had 'always dreamed of having a daughter' and that when a scan revealed she was having a girl, she 'felt the happiest person in the world at that point'. She and her husband, Mark Smith, 58, agreed a name for their baby and decorated and prepared a nursery for her. And although she felt elated when she fell pregnant for the second time in 2015, Mrs Zeromska-Smith was devastated when she learnt it would be a boy. She stressed that she adores both her two sons but that her daughter is irreplaceable. 'Although I love him dearly he is not Megan,' she said of her first son. 'I keep thinking that he should have a sister, we go to Megan's grave and he sings Twinkle Twinkle by her grave'. The mother explained that she is now terrified of losing her two healthy sons, and part of her damages award took account of this acute separation anxiety. Her concerns about her offspring made her fearful of being apart from them for even short periods, and Mrs Zeromska-Smith explained that she wants her boys home-schooled. Following her hospital admission to be induced, the Mrs Zeromska-Smith was told by medics performing a CTG trace that Megan had no heartbeat, London's High Court (pictured) heard Even when she gave evidence the two youngsters remained in a conference room nearby and their mother had a monitor in the witness box to help her watch over them. Mrs Zeromska-Smith told the court she is 'now a shadow of the person I used to be'. 'I have lost all my confidence, motivation, self-worth and the joy of life I had. I can't focus on things, I don't remember simple things like dates of appointments - I feel isolated, lonely and hopeless,' she said. Mr Justice Spencer ruled that she had succumbed to severe depression between December 2015 to December 2016. He found that although she has recovered from her acute depression she has yet to get over the pathological grief disorder. However, he added that Mrs Zeromska-Smith should with luck recover from this and her other anxieties within the next two years. 'She will never be the same person she was before the stillbirth but that will be normal for someone who has lost a child,' the judge concluded. A gunman who authorities say shot and killed a sheriff's deputy in rural Washington state was the half-brother of a man who killed an Oregon police chief eight years ago. Brian Butts, 33, was shot to death Sunday by law enforcement officers as he emerged wet and dirty from woods following a manhunt. Investigators say Butts killed Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier on Saturday night. Butts was the half-brother of Daniel Butts, 29, who pleaded guilty last month to killing Police Chief Ralph Painter in 2011 in Rainier, Oregon, just across the Columbia River from Cowlitz County, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Brian Butts, 33, was shot to death Sunday by law enforcement officers as he emerged wet and dirty from woods following a manhunt. Investigators say Butts killed Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier on Saturday night. Courtesy of KOIN Daniel Butts is serving a life sentence with parole possible after 49 years. Police say he grabbed Painter's sidearm and shot him in the head during a struggle at a car stereo shop. Daniel Butts' father, Mikel Butts, confirmed the relationship, the news outlet said. He said Daniel and Brian had the same mother. Mikel Butts said he hadn't seen Brian Butts in years. DeRosier, 29, had been a Cowlitz County deputy since 2009 and was the married father of a 5-month-old daughter. He responded alone Saturday night to a motorhome blocking a road near the tiny southwestern Washington city of Kalama and reported over police radio that someone was shooting at him. Butts was the half-brother of Daniel Butts, 29, who pleaded guilty last month to killing Police Chief Ralph Painter in 2011 in Rainier, Oregon Daniel Butts is serving a life sentence with parole possible after 49 years. He grabbed Painter's sidearm and shot him in the head during a struggle at a car stereo shop Matthew Veatch, 25, an acquaintance of Brian Butts, was arrested after the shooting for investigation of helping Butts escape. He told investigators he heard a gunshot from his home and that Butts showed up there minutes later, The Daily News of Longview reported, citing a police statement filed in court in support of Veatch's arrest. Butts 'appeared dirty and stated he needed to get out of there,' and he gave Veatch a handgun to 'get rid of,' the statement said. Veatch put the gun in a locked gun cabinet in his room, he told officers, and he led Butts on foot through the dark woods for several hours until they reached an abandoned barn, where they separated. Along the way, Butts told Veatch he shot an officer, the document said. The deputy died during surgery at a hospital in Vancouver, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. Veatch is being held on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned April 30. Brian Butts served five years in prison beginning in September 2012 for drug-related convictions, the Washington State Department of Corrections said. He was then on a year of post-prison supervision, ending in October. Butts also had convictions for assault, burglary and marijuana possession, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. An autopsy for was set for Butts Tuesday night. Investigators said he was armed as he emerged from the woods, but they didn't know yet if he shot at officers during the manhunt. The trial moved to closing arguments on Tuesday after the defense failed to bring any witnesses to the stand Grimes was hit, crashed his ATV into a car, which flipped over killing the teen This is Bessner's second murder trial after a jury failed to reach a verdict last year Police pursued Grimes and he fled on his ATV, prompting Bessner to fire his taser Mark Bessner, 45, is accused of killing Damon Grimes, 15, as he was popping wheelies on an ATV in Detroit on August 26, 2017 A former Michigan State Police trooper charged with the second-degree murder of a 15-year-old boy riding an ATV in 2017 said on Tuesday he wont testify in his own defense. Mark Bessner, 45, is accused of killing teenager Damon Grimes by shooting him with a taser as he was fleeing police on August 26, 2017. Grimes was riding an ATV in Detroit and popped a 'wheelie' before police pursued him. After Grimes was struck with the taser he crashed into a parked car, flipped his ATV over and was killed. The trial moved to closing arguments on Tuesday after Bessner declined to tell his version of what happened on the Detroit street. This is the second trial of Bessner after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict last year. Former Michigan state trooper Mark Bessner, 45, refused to testify in his own defense at his second murder trial. He's accused of killing 15-year-old Damon Grimes. Bessner pictured above on Wednesday April 10, 2019, in Wayne County court Judge Margaret Van Houten pictured above during last Wednesday's court session. This is Bessner's second trial after a jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict last year Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Matthew Penney presents his opening arguments to the jury during Bessner's trial on Wednesday April 10 Bessner is accused of killing Damon Grimes, 15, (above) by hitting him with a taser on August 26, 2017. Grimes was fleeing police who pursued him for popping wheelies 'I exercise my right (not to testify), Bessner said in a sworn statement before Judge Margaret Van Houten, reported the Detroit News. During his first trial Bessner offered his emotional testimony, telling jurors that he believed the 15-year-old had a gun. Grimes did not have a weapon. In court on Tuesday prosecutors urged jurors to convict Bessner, saying there wasn't a 'lick of common sense' in firing a taser at Grimes and that joy-riding isn't a crime. 'Mark Bessner caused Damon Grimes' death. Mark Bessner knew that firing at taser at Damon Grimes created a high risk,' Assistant Wayne County prosecutor Matthew Penney said. 'There can be no question that Mark Bessner knew that (the taser) was going to cause some harm to Damon Grimes,' Penney added, calling his use of the weapon 'deadly force'. Defense attorney Richard Convertino says the ATV was in poor condition and Bessner feared for his safety. This is Bessner's second murder trial after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict last year. Pictured above in court in October 2018 testifying Convertino said that the accused thought 'his life was in imminent danger' and that Grimes dropped one of his hands from the handlebars of the ATV as though he was reaching for a weapon. The defense rested without calling a single witness to the stand after Bessner refused to testify in his own defense and final arguments were presented to jurors. Judge Van Houten ruled on Tuesday that Bessner's partner, Ethan Berger, did not have to testify in the trial. Berger gave statements for a deposition in a federal civil lawsuit about the deadly encounter with Grimes. Grimes is seen on an ATV that appears to be the same one he died on while fleeing cops 'He slowed down. We tased him, and he crashed out,' Trooper Mark Bessner (circled left) says over the radio in the initial aftermath of the ATV crash that killed Grimes The crash scene is seen in an evidence photo. The ATV struck the rear bumper of the parked pickup truck and flipped over, killing Grimes of blunt head trauma Police pictured at the scene of the crime in released bodycam footage. At first officers didn't believe that Grimes, a 6-foot-1, 234-pound teenager, was 15 Berger did not take the witness stand in Bessner's first trial. During testimony at his first trial, Bessner told jurors that the incident was a 'blur' and he believed his life was 'absolutely' in jeopardy. When he learned that Gimes was only a teenager Bessner said he was 'shocked', calling it a 'terrible tragedy'. 'All I could think of was that this family ... had lost their son and all I could think of way my daughter and what they must be going through,' Bessner said on the stand. 'And (all) I could think of (was) what happens now? What do we do now?' Bessner, a 22-year veteran, said once he found out Grimes was a child, 'I felt I had been punched in the gut. It looked like a grown man. He was a boy.' The first trial ended in a mistrial in October. A jury of six men and six women deliberated for three days before finally telling Judge Margaret Van Houten that they could not agree on a verdict. President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin instead of attending the White House Correspondents Dinner. This will be an EPIC rally in Green Bay Wisconsin on April 27th! Trumps 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted Tuesday. We will broadcast it live so millions can watch @realDonaldTrump instead of the boring WHCD. This dinner is almost worse than Hollywoods endless self-serving award shows. Trump said he expects there to be a big crowd at the rally. I will be in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Saturday, April 27th at the Resch Center, Trump tweeted. Big crowd expected! Trump didnt attend the WHCD in 2018, where comedian Michelle Wolf was the invited speaker, and said the event was a total disaster and an embarrassment that was proof the WHCD is DEAD. President Trump will be skipping the third consecutive White House Correspondents' Dinner of his presidency, and instead will hold a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin Trump says the annual dinners are 'boring' and 'negative' and instead wants to hold a positive event He also didnt go to the dinner in 2017, just a few months after he was inaugurated, and instead held a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The president announced April 5 that he would be skipping for the third time in a row the boring and so negative annual dinner. 'The dinner is so boring and so negative,' Trump told the DailyMail.com at the White House before he left for California earlier this month. 'We're going to hold a very positive rally. At the time of the announcement, Trump did not say where the rally would be held. In 2017 Trump held a rally in Washington, Michigin, and in 2018 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania This year's location for the rally Green Bay, Wisconsin is in the state that sealed Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 elections Trump said he is expecting a 'big crowd' to attend the rally President Trump will host a Make America Great Again rally on Saturday, April 27 at 7:00 pm CDT at the Resch Center in Green Bay, WI, Trumps campaign sent in an announcement to supporters. This is the eighteenth rally that President Trump has held in Wisconsin and the third rally in Green Bay since he first began his race for president in June, 2015. Wisconsin is an essential swing state with 10 electoral college votes, that leans Democrats, but voted for Trump in 2016 with 57.2 percent of the vote. During the last presidential election, Wisconsin was the state that sealed Hillary Clintons demise to Trump. President Trump looks forward to sharing the successes of his administration with the great people of Wisconsin, Chief Operating Officer of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. Michael Glassner said. Under President Trumps leadership, paychecks are now growing twice as fast for those in the bottom half of the income spectrum. Unemployment has hit generational lows, and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will open Canadian dairy markets to farmers all across Wisconsin." Advertisement Michelle Obama was spotted on an idyllic dinner cruise in Paris when she and the other guests learned that the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral had gone up in flames. The former first lady boarded the boat with her fellow passengers just across from the Eiffel Tower on Monday evening and set off along the Seine River. Mrs Obama was pictured smiling and sipping wine as she mingled with other guests on the roof of the luxury boat as they cruised past the iconic monuments of Paris. But their mood changed considerably soon after when news filtered through that the nearby 800-year-old cathedral was on fire. At one point, Mrs Obama was pictured staring intently at a fellow passenger's phone with an increasingly concerned look on her face. Michelle Obama was spotted on an idyllic dinner cruise in Paris on Monday night when she and the other guests learned that the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral had gone up in flames The mood of passengers changed when news of the fire at Notre Dame filtered through. At one point during the cruise, Mrs Obama stared intently at a fellow passenger's phone Plumes of smoke quickly billowed from the cathedral and could be seen across much of Paris after the fire broke out at about 6.30pm The fire broke out at about 6.30pm when Notre Dame had closed to the public for the evening. Plumes of smoke quickly billowed from the cathedral and could be seen across much of Paris. As the fire unfolded, the captain of the boat opted to tweak the route of the cruise. The dinner, prepared by famous French-born chef Alain Ducasse, went ahead as planned. Mrs Obama, who was in Paris for her Becoming book tour, later took to social media to say her 'heart aches with the people of France'. She shared an old photo on Instagram of herself, her husband Barack and their two daughters lighting candles in the cathedral. The former first lady was cheerful when she greeted the captain as she boarded the boat just across from the Eiffel Tower on Monday evening She was pictured sipping wine on the roof of the luxury boat as they cruised past the iconic monuments of Paris Mrs Obama was pictured smiling and sipping wine as she mingled with other guests on the Ducasse du Seine luxury cruise Mrs Obama was in Paris to promote her new memoir Becoming 'I will never forget the first time I walked into the Notre Dame Cathedral. I was a teenager on a school trip to Paris. It was my very first international trip, and until then, I hadn't seen much outside of the South Side neighborhood I grew up in,' she wrote. 'But the majesty of Notre Dame - the history, the artistry, the spirituality - took my breath away. The feeling was almost indescribable - a place that lifts you to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be. Every time I've visited in the years since, including as First Lady, I felt the same thing. 'So being here in Paris tonight, my heart aches with the people of France. Yet I know that the Notre Dame I experienced all those years ago, as so many others have over the centuries, will soon awe us again.' Her husband Barack also tweeted: 'Notre Dame is one of the world's great treasures, and we're thinking of the people of France in your time of grief.' The mood of those on board visibly changed when another passenger was spotted showing them something on his phone As the fire unfolded, the captain of the boat opted to tweak the route of the cruise The dinner, prepared by famous French-born chef Alain Ducasse, went ahead as planned Mrs Obama, who was in Paris for her Becoming book tour, later took to social media to say her 'heart aches with the people of France' Mrs Obama later shared an old photo on Instagram of herself, her husband Barack and their two daughters lighting candles in Notre Dame Cathedral when she was first lady More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the gothic masterpiece on Monday night. The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's oak roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire's timber-framed supports. Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the river Seine late into the night, reciting prayers and singing as they stood in vigil while the fire raged. Firefighters worked through the night and finally quelled the blaze some 14 hours after it began. Authorities said they suspected the fire was caused by accident. On Tuesday, firefighters examined the facade with its spectacular 10-metre filigreed stained-glass rose window still intact. From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls stood firm but the insides and the upper structure had been eviscerated. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the gothic masterpiece on Monday night The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's oak roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire's timber-framed supports Michelle Obama waves on stage at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris during a book tour to promote her memoir Becoming on Tuesday A couple have been sent to prison for callously exploiting a Fijian woman after trafficking her into the country and forcing her to work for them. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was treated so badly her freedom had been taken and her human rights were 'seriously compromised', according to a judge. She was trafficked into the country on a tourist visa by Brisbane mother Malavine Pulini, 48, to work for her and her husband Isikeli in 2008. Malavine Pulini, 48, (right) and Isikeli Pulini, 60, (left) were sentenced to six and five years prison for forcing a woman to work as a maid for eight years In a victim impact statement, the Fijian woman wrote how she was wracked by hopelessness, regret and low self-esteem. 'I still experience nightmares about the way they treated me,' she said. 'They abused my trust and knew what they were doing was wrong. 'I often ask, "why me?" What have I done to deserve this treatment?' The couple gave her a bogus promise of being able to get her a longer visa. But when she arrived in the country, the couple took her passport from her and forced her to work as a nanny, maid and cook until her escape in 2016. She was paid about $250 per fortnight, but there were periods where she had to stretch that amount to last up to seven weeks. Last week a jury found the pair guilty of forced labour offences and they pleaded guilty to harbouring an illegal non citizen in the Brisbane District Court. Mrs Pulini was convicted of an additional human trafficking offence. On Tuesday Judge Leanne Clare was scathing in her judgement as she sentenced them to prison with a non parole period of two years. Malavine was sentenced to a total of six years prison while Isikeli was sentenced to five years. Malavine Pulini, 48, was convicted of an additional human trafficking offence after she lured the woman to Australia before taking her passport Judge Clare said the pair tried to enhance the quality of their own lives by oppressing another person. She said the pair had shown no remorse for the years they restricted the woman's life. While the public gallery featured a number of supporters for the Pulini couple, Judge Clare said it was difficult to reconcile the presentation they made to their friends in the church and their neighbourhood with the way they treated the woman. Earlier in the hearing the court was read a victim impact statement from the woman who said she felt 'helpless' and 'treated like a slave' as she toiled on call and around the clock for them for eight years. Liviu Borobeica, pictured, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for trying to smuggle seven people into the UK A Romanian people smuggler who tried to sneak seven people into the UK crammed into a specially adapted van has been jailed for four-and-a-half years. Liviu Borobeica hid five Afghan adults and two children inside a claustrophobic false bulkhead between the rear passenger seats and the boot area. The Mercedes Sprinter van was stopped by Border Force officers at the inbound tourist controls at Dover Eastern Docks in Kent on March 16. Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe, said: 'The van had been adapted for the sole purpose of smuggling. There was no way for the people hidden inside the partition to get in or out without outside assistance. 'The rear seats, which were bolted down, had to be removed before access to the hide could be gained. 'It was a sophisticated concealment. Border Force officers will continue to work with law enforcement colleagues to ensure that people smugglers and traffickers face the full consequences of their crimes.' Borobeica, 20, was arrested and the investigation was passed to officers from Immigration Enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) team. The group, who said they were all from Afghanistan, were hidden inside a claustrophobic false bulkhead between the rear passenger seats and the boot area In interviews with investigators, Borobeica, of no fixed UK address, declined to answer any questions put to him by CFI officers. At Canterbury Crown Court on Monday Borobeica admitted a charge of assisting unlawful immigration to the UK. He was sentenced immediately to four and a half years imprisonment. Acting Deputy Director David Fairclough, from the CFI team, said: 'No consideration had been given to the safety of the seven people hidden inside the cramped partition. 'If there had been any kind of accident there was no way for them to escape and a very real risk of serious injury. 'Borobeica pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, but has rightly been handed a lengthy custodial sentence. The message is clear, if you are involved in immigration related criminality, you will be caught and the consequences will be severe.' The cases of the seven people found in the van, who all claimed to be from Afghanistan, are being dealt with in line with the immigration rules. Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit the Crimestoppers website. A trio of bald eagles in Illinois have come together to 'co-parent' their three eaglets which hatched this spring. Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge have named the male eagle 'parents' Valor I and Valor II. The female was has been named Starr. A webcam is allowing fans around the world to watch the interactions of the family who have nested along the Mississippi River in northwest Illinois. This year, the eagles have successfully produced and hatched three eggs, said Pam Steinhaus, visitor services manager at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. One female and two male bald eagles in Illinois have come together to 'co-parent' by raising three eaglets that hatched this spring The unnamed eaglets, (pictured), covered in soft, gray down with wobbly legs, are now getting old enough to hold their heads up for feeding And the back story to how the unconventional family unit formed is also an interesting one. The original trio formed in 2013 with a female named Hope who went her own way, according to the Houston Chronicle. In 2012, Valor I paired up with Hope. But he wasn't the best parent and would rarely bring food or sit in the nest, Steinhaus explained. Another a handsome young male eagle named Valor II showed up at the nesting site in 2013, it wasn't long before Hope ditched Valor I and got together with the new arrival. Despite being sidelined, Valor I stuck around throughout the breeding season. But sadly in 2017, Hope vanished and fled the nest after being attacked by other eagles. 'Hope was in a fierce battle below the nest for a long time and she never came back,' Steinhaus said. 'More than likely she was severely injured.' When Hope left, the two fathers stepped up, took care of the the nest and successfully raised two baby birds to fledge. Unsurprisingly Steinhaus explained that Valor I has matured and has become a more responsible parent. Starr arrived later that year and three eggs laid by the female hatched this spring. Footage of the nest, which was set up by Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge, shows the eagles taking turns feeding the eaglets and taking care of their home. Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge have live-streamed footage of the nest and officials are monitoring the unconventional The female bald eagle, Starr, (pictured) looks over her eaglets in a nest along the Upper Mississippi River near Fulton, Illinois. The family has captivated social media Steinhaus claimed the eagles are sharing their parenting and household responsibilities in equal measure. She told CNN: 'They are involved in all aspect. Everybody brings in sticks. The boys put the sticks where they think (they go), and Starr always moves them back to where she thinks it (should go).' Starr does a lot of the work when it comes to incubation. But when she gets tired, the fathers are more than happy to take up the reins. 'The boys are right there to remove her and sit on the eggs. The pantry is constantly full. Food is never going to be an issue,' she added. The original trio of the group formed in 2013 after the female which was then in the nest chose a new mate and fled the nest that the creatures still call home Footage has shown that both males mate with Starr and she has hatched multiple eggs since she arrived there in 2017 when the previous female died Eagles are extremely loyal to nest sites, so the three eagles are likely to continue living and working together in the future. 'As long as that nest is successful, they will probably stay together,' Steinhaus said. The unnamed eaglets, which are tiny bundles covered in soft, gray down with unsteady legs, are now getting old enough to hold their heads up to be fed. The adorable chicks are just weeks away from being able to walk and to pick at their own food. In a few more weeks it is though that they will be able to fly on their own. According to the National Audubon Society, it is not unusual for bald eagles to parent in threes. Bald eagle trios were observed in Alaska in 1977, in Minnesota in 1983, and in California in 1992. In those cases, however, it was unclear whether all three eagles were biological parents, or if one was just a nest helper. Four teenage boys were arrested after a shopkeeper was stabbed in the leg during a 'robbery' in Bexley. The owner of the Bexley Food & Wine shop on Blendon Road was attacked this afternoon, and police said it had been reported that a group of males had stolen alcohol and cigarettes from the shop. The victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the incident in the south east London borough, which took place at around 2.17pm. Two officers were seen outside the off license following the incident, and police have confirmed they have arrested four people. Two officers seen outside Bexley Food & Wine in Blendon Road this afternoon following reports of a stabbing Police are hunting six youths in connection with the attack, which took place at around 2.20pm A police spokesperson said: 'Police were called to a shop in Blendon Road, Bexley, at 14.17hrs on Tuesday, 16 April to reports of a robbery. 'Officers attended. It was reported that a group of males had stolen a quantity of alcohol and cigarettes. 'The shopkeeper suffered a stab wound in his leg. He was taken to hospital. His injury has been assessed as non life-threatening of life changing. 'Four teenage boys have been arrested on suspicion of robbery. They have been taken into custody. 'Enquiries continue.' A London Ambulance Service spokesperson had told News Shopper: 'We were called at 2:21pm today (April 16) in Blendon Road, Bexley to reports of an incident. 'We sent an ambulance crew to the scene and took a man to a major trauma centre.' Police are appealing for resident living in the Penhill Road, Rowley Avenue or Bladindon Drive area with CCTV cameras to review their footage and contact officers. President Donald Trump said he would not apologize to Rep. Ilhan Omar for the criticism he's heaped on her after her 9/11 comments, saying she's 'been very disrespectful to this country,' as Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of using the terror attacks as a 'political tool.' 'No not at all,' the president said when asked if he had any second thoughts about a video he tweeted that the Minnesota Democrat claimed increased death threats on her life. 'Look, she's been very disrespectful to this country. She's been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She is somebody that doesn't really understand life. Real life, what it's all about,' he told KSTP, a Minneapolis TV station, during his visit to Minnesota on Monday. President Donald Trump said he would not apologize to Rep. Ilhan Omar for the criticism he's heaped on her after her 9/11 comments Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused him of using the terror attacks as a 'political tool' 'It's unfortunate. She's got a way about her that's very, very bad, I think, for our country. I think she's extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country,' he added. Pelosi, meanwhile, doubled down on her criticism of Trump on Tuesday, charging him with playing politics with a national tragedy. 'I criticized the president for using video of 9/11 as a political tool. I think he was wrong to do that,' she told CNN. 'What the president did was not right.' Omar, a 36-year-old freshman Democrat and mother of three, has been a subject of grief for Democrats and a target for Republicans after a series of controversies. First there were her statements that were taken as anti-Semitic and then there was her description of the September 11 terrorist attacks as 'some people did something.' She charged the president's tweets with increasing death threats on her life, specifically a video he sent out on Friday. 'Since the president's tweet Friday evening, I have experienced an increase in direct threats on my life many directly referencing or replying to the President's video,' Omar said in a statement Sunday. 'Violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country's Commander in Chief. We are all Americans. This is endangering lives. It has to stop,' she said. The video in question was pinned to the top of Trump's Twitter page but is now just in its regular spot in his feed. 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET' he tweeted on Friday night, accompanied by a 43 second video that showed Omar's comment during a speech to the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), interspersed with footage from September 11, 2001. In her full speech to CAIR last month - the footage surfaced last week - Omar said: 'Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and frankly, I'm tired of it and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. '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.' Since the controversial comments resurfaced, Omar has defended what she said, using an example of George W. Bush making similar remarks in the wake of the tragedy and marking the difference in reaction. Omar has said the furor surrounding the comments - which she believes were taken out of context - stem from the fact that she is Muslim, and not white. 'Was Bush downplaying the terrorist attack? What if he was a Muslim,' she asked on Twitter. Rep. Omar has been a subject of grief for Democrats and a target for Republicans after a series of controversies Trump tweeted 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET' with a video that showed Omar's 'some people did something' 9/11 speech intersected with video of the disaster Democrats rushed to defend the freshman lawmaker, who made history last year when Minnesotans elected her to Congress. She is one of two Muslim women serving in the legislative body. But some liberals have questioned whether or not Pelosi has done enough to defend Omar. 'They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse. However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us,' freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only other Muslim woman in Congress, tweeted on Saturday, in reference to another tweet complaining the party leadership was not supportive. Pelosi told CNN she has not had a chance to talk to Omar because she's traveling. She's on a visit to the United Kingdom with other lawmakers. 'I haven't had a chance to speak with her I'm traveling,' she said. The speaker on Sunday called on President Trump to remove the video criticizing Omar from his Twitter feed. 'The President's words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video,' Pelosi said in a statement from London. She also said she's asked Capitol Police to investigate any threats to the freshman Democrat from Minnesota. 'Following the President's tweet, I spoke with the Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff. They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces,' Pelosi said. Rep. Ilhan Omar (right) with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (left), who is one of the liberal left questioning if enough was done to protect the freshman lawmaker Omar divided Democrats during her last controversy starting with her claim, later retracted, that moneyed Jews buy the support of U.S. lawmakers with a strategy that's 'all about the Benjamins baby.' Then she reignited the controversy again when she said supporters of Israel were pushing for U.S. politicians to declare 'allegiance' to that nation. A battle broke out between the older, powerful, more moderate Jewish members of Congress who accused Omar of anti-Semitism and the younger, progressive members who have stormed the House floor after the 2018 election and defended Omar's right to speak. But all Omar's controversies have had one thing in common: they have brought the wrath of Republicans on to the Democrats. Pelosi's call came after White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Sunday President Trump wishes 'no ill will' against Omar but added he is right to call out her comments on the September 11th attacks. 'Certainly the president is wishing no ill will, and certainly not violence towards anyone but the president is absolutely and should be calling out the congresswoman for her not only one time but history of anti-Semitic comments,' Sanders said on ABC's 'This Week.' The officer driving the car, identified as Michael Sansevere, (pictured above) was taken to a local hospital A 12-year-old boy was run over and killed in front of his teenage brother by a New Jersey sheriff on Sunday. Christian Tawadros, 12, is said to have been walking with his brother and a group of friends when he was struck shortly after 9pm in Fair Lawn, WABC reports. The victim was hit while attempting to cross the multi-lane highway at the time, according to a statement from Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton. Fair Lawn Superintendent Nicholas Norcia released a statement and confirmed that Tawadros was a student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. 'Our condolences go out to the student's family and friends,' he said in a statement. The officer driving the marked cruiser was Bergen County Sheriff Michael Sansevere. Sansevere is a 10-year veteran assigned to the K-9 unit who was patrolling Route 208 at the time. He was taken to the hospital to be checked out following the incident. Cureton called Sansevere an exceptional officer. Fair Lawn Superintendent Nicholas Norcia released a statement and confirmed that Christian Tawadros was a student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School 'Right now, my prayers go to him and the family of the young man who died,' Cureton said. Bergen County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the incident. In a statement, the Fair Lawn public school district confirmed he was a student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. Superintendent Nicholas Norcia said the public school district would provide counseling support for students or staff struggling with the loss. Tawadros, from Fair Lawn, was walking with his brother and two friends on Route 208 south when he was hit by the police car (pictured above) Police at the scene where a Bergen County Sheriff's Officer vehicle fatally struck the boy who was walking with his brother and friends on Sunday night 'When our school community experiences a tragedy, such as the loss of a young life, it impacts all of us,' read an email from Superintendent Nicholas Norcia. 'Every child will process this news in his or her own way. You know your child better than anyone else. If you see that your child is grieving, please seek help from our counselors or another trained professional in the community.' 'As a father, this is the unthinkable and my heart goes out to the family,' the superintendent said. 'I ask anyone who reads this to hug your loved ones a little tighter today.' Route 208 south was closed at Maple Avenue in Fair Lawn for a time while investigators combed the scene. Farkhad Akhmedov (pictured above) is suing his ex-wife after she tried to seize control over his yacht A Russian oligarch embroiled in Britain's costliest divorce has personally sued his ex-wife for 88 million for trying to seize control of his super yacht. Farkhad Akhmedov has hit back at his ex and her backers with a claim for damages over being forced to leave the yacht Luna berthed in Dubai for over a year. The huge sum is on top of a claim for 65 million filed last week against his ex-Tatiana by the owners of the mega vessel. The billionaire was recently told he can sail the yacht from the United Arab Emirates after a court ruled a freezing order imposed by a British court should not be upheld. Mother-of-two Tatiana has spent the last three years attempting to get the 453 million she was awarded by a British divorce court following their bitter split. When her husband refused to hand over half his fortune, claiming they had already divorced in their native Russia, she sought a court order to seize his worldwide assets, including the 350 million mega yacht. Luna, which was sold in 2014 to Akhmedov by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovitch, has 10 VIP suites and a crew of 49. It is the 23rd biggest yacht in the world and can travel 9,000 nautical miles without refuelling. The businessman, who made his fortune in gas and oil, has been unable to use the yacht (left and right) for over eight months after it was impounded when it sailed in Dubai for repairs The colossal yacht was bought by Mr Akhmedov from his friend Chelsea owner Roman Abramovitch in 2014 but was out-of-action for around a year. Here it is pictured docked at Port Rashid in Dubai in March last year Akhmedov's ex-wife Tatiana (above) had successfully won a freezing order on his worldwide assets after he refused to pay her half his 1bn fortune. She planned to sell the yacht and keep the proceeds with her ex vowing to sell it for scrap rather than relinquish control Following the ruling by a Dubai court last month, a trust called Straight Establishment that has ownership of the yacht sued his ex-wife and the firm backing her for 65m. The oil and gas tycoon has now personally issued a further claim for 88m in damages against his ex and London-based financial litigation firm Burford Capital. The total amount he is seeking is 153 million. According to court papers filed in Dubai, the massive sum is to compensate for his 'financial loss, moral damage and loss of reputation', caused by having the yacht impounded for 13 months. Men were seen working on the super yacht Luna on Thursday as Akhmedov wasted no time in having the decks swabbed after the appeal court ruling on Wednesday last week As one of the world's super yachts Luna boasts a 20-metre outdoor swimming pool (above), a helicopter landing pad and a mini-submarine Tatiana, who was given a 100 million settlement when she and her husband split, enlisted the help of Burford Capital to go after her half share of his 1 billion fortune. If successful they would receive a 30 per cent share of the 453 million Tatiana was awarded by a divorce court. Akhemedov claims that by backing his ex-wife's bid to seize his yacht they have caused an even bigger problem in their already messy divorce. Papers lodged at the Dubai Court of First Instance claim that Burford were motivated purely for financial gain. Lawyers said they had sought to 'deplete money, inflict significant material and moral loses on the Plaintiff and his family and create many lawsuits in various jurisdictions to achieve huge profits for them, at the expense of family problems which (Tatiana) herself initiated.' The businessman has insisted he given millions to his ex so she can continue to live in luxury. Tatiana, a British citizen, was handed ownership of the families 20m Surrey home (above) and an art collection worth more than 30m A spokesman for Mr Akhmedov said: 'Mr Akhmedov is clear that Burford became involved in this litigation purely for profit, and misjudged the flawed nature of the English High Court judgment and every other English judgment which flowed from it. 'This was confirmed by the wise judges of Dubai when they ruled that the arrest of Luna had no basis in Dubai law. These damages claims against Burford and Tatiana are the inevitable consequence of their actions in Dubai and around the world.' They also added that they have not seen the claim, nor had any formal notification of its filing. 'The claim as reported in the media is a PR stunt which simply ignores the fact that the UK Courts have already ruled that the Luna belongs to Ms Akhmedova. 'The court process in Dubai is ongoing and we are confident that the Dubai Court will find Mr Akhmedov's claim to be without any merit. Any suggestion that Mr Akhmedov's position is justified by an alleged divorce in Russia in 2000 is pure fabrication.' Advertisement The fund to renovate the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today reached the one billion euro mark as President Emmanuel Macron said the cathedral would be rebuilt in five years. Just two days after an inferno destroyed the spire of the ancient place of worship, organisers of a restoration appeal said the incredible figure was growing all the time. Stephane Bern, the TV personality who helped launch the appeal by saying Notre Dame was 'a close friend who almost disappeared' said on Wednesday morning: 'The billion-euro mark of donations was reached during the day.' Macron said in a televised address on Tuesday night that the cathedral would be rebuilt 'even more beautifully' within the next few years as he urged the French nation to 'come together'. Macron spoke to the French nation in a TV address on Tuesday evening to reassure people that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years France's richest man Bernard Arnault (pictured with his wife Helene in 2014), made an donation of 200 million euros (172million) doubling that of Francois-Henri Pinault French multinational companies are among those who have pledged money to restore the medieval cathedral, which was engulfed by flames on Monday following a likely accident in its loft. L'Oreal promised 200 million euros (172.7m) on Tuesday, while the LVMH luxury goods group run by Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, has pledged the same. Multi-billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault and oil company Total have also pledged 100 million euros (87m) each. Other high-profile French donors included the investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere with 10 million euros, and construction magnates Martin and Olivier Bouygues, also with 10 million euros. Among other firms, the Credit Agricole bank gave five million euros, while US private equity investor Henry Kravis has promised $10 (8.8) million. Corporate contributions are expected to climb, with blue-chip firms like Vinci, Michelin and BNP Paribas also saying they were weighing how to participate. Air France said it would offer free flights to experts brought in to help with Notre-Dame's renovation. Such vast amounts of money mean it is almost certain that Macron's claim the cathedral will be restored to its former glory 'within five years' looks extremely likely. 'We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it,' Macron said in a television address to the nation. 'It is up to us to change this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project,' he said. But he also warned: 'Let us not fall into the trap of haste.' Macron said that the dramatic fire had brought out the best in a country that has been riven with divisions. The sun rising over Notre Dame Cathedral on Wednesday morning as donations towards its renovation soared to one billion euros Francois-Henri Pinault, married to actress Salma Hayak (pictured together in 2015), was the first to make a donation towards the rebuild of the cathedral Another speedy donor to the fund to restore Notre Dame was the Bettencourt family (pictured left Jean-Pierre Meyers and his wife Francoise Bettencourt Meyers), who part-own L'Oreal - they've stumped up 200 million euros (172million). Mark (pictured right with his wife Melissa) and Oliver Bouygues, who own construction, media and telecom companies, have donated 10 million euros 'What we saw last night in Paris was our capacity to mobilise and to unite,' the 41-year-old leader said in the solemn address from his office in the presidential palace. France had over the course of its history seen many towns, ports and churches go up in flames, he said. 'Each time we rebuilt them,' he said, adding that the cathedral inferno had shown that 'our history never stops and that we will always have trials to overcome.' Mr Macron's aim to complete the restoration within such a short timeframe was at odds with some experts' estimates that the project would take decades. It came as the iconic rooster weathervane that topped the spire of Notre Dame before it was destroyed by fire has been found in the rubble. In what is being described as 'an absolute miracle', France's Ministry of Culture confirmed that 'the rooster has been saved'. 'It's dented but can be restored,' said a spokesman. 'The fear was that it had been burnt and melted in the fire.' Shocked crowds watched the rooster fall to the ground on Monday evening as a fire engulfed the cathedral and destroyed its wooden and lead spire. Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris Macron said he would be looking to rebuild the church 'even more beautifully than it was before' and urged the nation to come together over the disaster There was particularly fear for the rooster, because it contains religious relics including one of the 70 thorns of the Holy crown of Jesus Christ, and remnants linked to Saint Denis, the Christian martyr and former bishop of Paris, and Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of the French capital. According to cathedral guides, the rooster had acted as 'spiritual lightening rod' to protect the Notre Dame faithful. Jacques Chanut, the president of the French Building Federation, shared a picture of the damaged rooster on Twitter. 'Fire at Notre Dame the Culture Ministry announces that the rooster on the spire of the cathedral has been found.' A neo-Nazi terror suspect would charge racist clients 50 for Islamophobic drawings of burning mosques and offensive images of the Prophet Muhammad, a court heard. Mark Jones, 24, who is charged with belonging to the banned terror group National Action, admitted receiving commissions from strangers on Instagram. He is on trial along with partner Alice Cutter, 22, Garry Jack, 23, and Connor Scothern, 18, who all deny being members of the proscribed organisation. Jones revealed he would sketch images that were likely to be highly offensive to Muslims as it took him 'ten minutes' and would see him paid 50, Birmingham Crown Court heard. A picture alleged to show Mark Jones wearing swastika-related clothing (pictured left). Alice Cutter, 22, who is also on trial, arrives at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday (pictured right) He claimed people came to him simply because he was 'good at drawing' and told the court he did not agree with attacking mosques. Jones admitted to being one of the chief designers of propaganda material for National Action prior to proscription in December 2016, including a 'White Jihad' sticker. He said he designed around 25 pieces for the far-right organisation as well as one for the banned extremist group Scottish Dawn. Jones also told the court an associate was 'within his rights' to tweet the the antisemitic message 'HitlerWasRight' to a Jewish MP. He said he 'didn't particularly' care that Garron Helm had posted the message to the former Labour MP Luciana Berger, for which he received a criminal conviction. Jones holding a gun. He is charged with belonging to the banned terror group National Action Jones argued it was acceptable for Helm to post the message because of 'freedom of speech'. Helm sent the tweet on August 7, 2014, and included a picture of the MP with a Holocaust yellow star superimposed on her forehead, with the hashtag 'Hitler was right'. The tweet, which referred to Berger as a 'communist jewess', said: 'You can always trust a Jew to show their true colours eventually.' When asked whether he approved of Helm's online behaviour, former graphic designer Jones said: 'I don't particularly care, because it is within his right to say what he wants. We have freedom of speech in this country.' When quizzed by prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC today about a drawing he did of a mosque on fire, Jones said: 'I do not agree with blowing up mosques. Jones is on trial along with partner Alice Cutter (pictured right outside court on Tuesday), 22, Garry Jack, 23, and Connor Scothern (left), 18, who all deny being members of the proscribed organisation 'A stranger on Instagram would have asked me to make it because I am a good drawer. It takes me ten minutes and I get 50.' The suspect revealed he was the London regional organiser for National Action and often handled the group's Facebook page before their ban, following the organisation's support of the murder of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox. Giving evidence, Jones said he accepted the Government's proscription of National Action, but argued many other similar groups with racist views had not been banned. Cutter and Jones, of Sowerby Bridge, Halifax, West Yorkshire, deny the charges When asked what National Action would have done if it gained power in the UK, Jones said: 'If we wanted to seize control, we would be a registered political party and we weren't. 'National Action was a street protest group to put into the collective consciousness the ethos of national socialism. 'The Government was correct to proscribe Islamic State. I cannot say whether the Government was right or wrong to proscribe National Action. It's not for me to say. 'The parameters have not been set out by the Home Office or the Government as to why National Action was banned. There are thousands of other racist groups that exist and are not proscribed.' Cutter and Jones, of Sowerby Bridge, Halifax, West Yorkshire, deny the charges alongside Scothern, of Nottingham, and Jack, of Shard End, Birmingham. The trial continues. American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis says in his new book he's tired of hearing liberals complain about Donald Trump winning the 2016 election because he believe it was the naivete of the Left that put him in the position to lead the country. The 55-year-old Californian writes in his new book White, contrary to what was being reported in the run up to the 2016 election, Trump was actually more insulting of people who, like him, are white and male. 'White men got it first and far more than anyone else, yet as the national press corps explained it, this was not the case,' Ellis says in the book. He added he began noticing in summer 2015 that 'legacy institutions like The New York Times and CNN [were not] tracking what seemed to me a shifting reality ... the media became so freaked out that they abandoned the hallmarks of neutrality and perspective'. The writer blames the parents of millennials for fussing over their children to the point they have become serial complainers with no mind of their own. Bret Easton Ellis (left) says that the mainstream media and liberals helped Donald Trump (right) become the US president in 2016 Ellis recalls thinking 'You are the biggest f***ing baby I've ever f***ing heard in my entire f***ing life' when people spoke to him about their disappointment in the election outcome, and even claims his partner accused him of 'colluding' with the new administration and, by extension, with Moscow. 'When my traumatized boyfriend criticized me for not being angrier about the election (five months after it had happened) I shot back that I didn't want to talk about Trump anymore,' he writes in the book out Tuesday. 'I didn't care. He was elected president. Get over it.' The author said in a chat with Eli Roth in Interview magazine this month that while he'd never seen himself as a Republican or conservative, living with his 'millennial communist' musician boyfriend Todd Michael Schultz, has forced him to take on a more central understanding of politics because he's not totally anti-Trump. In his new book White he claims there was a lack of reporting on how much Trump insulted white men Ellis who states he didn't vote in the election because he didn't 'buy into' the Republican or Democrat parties - argues that these days 'everyone has to be the same' or risk being labelled 'racist or a misogynist'. Calling Trump the 'poster-boy antithesis of the proud moral superiority' and claiming Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama were depicted as people to be taken more seriously, Ellis believes this helped Trump become the unsuspecting winner. Ellis continues in the book published by Penguin Random House: 'The way the legacy media was covering the election of 2016 Clinton as heroine, Trump as villain would prove to be an utter moral disaster for the country because it helped turn Donald Trump into the biggest underdog in American political history.' Ellis says musician boyfriend Todd Michael Schultz criticized him for not being angrier about the election Ellis says depicting Hillary Clinton as heroine and Trump as villain 'would prove to be an utter moral disaster for the country because it helped turn Donald Trump into the biggest underdog' The author blames the media for influencing liberal people's opinion when it came to the Senate hearings for Supreme Court Justice Nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Ellis writes the Left 'had turned into haters' and the mainstream media encouraged them to a point where they 'came across as anti-common-sense, anti-rational and anti-American'. He adds in the book: 'Maybe when you're roiling in childish rage, the first thing you lose is judgment, and then comes common sense. And finally you lose your mind and along with that, your freedom.' Ellis claimed Michelle Obama (with former POTUS Barack in 2017) was praised too much Colby Wilson, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and possession of a firearm for allegedly beating his pregnant girlfriend, Allyssa Fielding, so badly that she miscarried An Oklahoma man has been arrested for murder in connection to a brutal attack on his pregnant girlfriend that caused the woman to suffer a miscarriage and left her brain-dead. Officers with the Tulsa Police Department responded to Sawmill Apartments at 1294 East 35th Street on Monday evening after getting a call from a woman saying her son, 22-year-old Colby Ray Wilson, was suicidal. When officers entered the apartment, they found the caller administering CPR to her sons pregnant live-in girlfriend, identified by police as Allyssa Fielding. The six-months-pregnant Fielding was rushed to a hospital, where doctors found that her unborn baby no longer had a heartbeat. She was expected to deliver the baby on July 17. According to police, the woman is now brain-dead after suffering skull fractures, collapsed lungs, as well as cuts and bruises all over her body. Her boyfriend was arrested shortly before 6pm and booked into the Tulsa County Jail on charges of first-degree murder stemming from the death of his girlfriends baby, assault with intent to kill and possession of a firearm. Scroll down for video Police arrived at Wilson and Fielding's home at 1294 East 35th Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma (pictured) to find Wilson's mother administering CPR to the injured mom-to-be When police first interviewed him, Wilson had blood on his clothes and fresh cuts on his knuckles, according to police. Police said in a press release that if Fielding dies from her injuries, Wilson will be charged with a second murder count. When interviewed by detectives following her son's arrest, Wilson's mother said that her son called her on Sunday in tears, saying he was hurt and was going to take his own life, KTUL reported. The mother called 911 and ran over to his apartment, where she said she found Wilson unconscious in a chair and his girlfriend lying on the floor with visible injuries to her face. Wilson's mother told investigators the couple had a history of domestic violence, and that in 2016 her son was convicted of assaulting Fielding. The booking photo on the left shows Colby following his arrest on assault and battery charges targeting Fielding in 2016. The mugshot on the right was taken in 2014, when he was arrested for larceny He was sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison but was released a year later, reported Tulsa World. When officers executed a search warrant at Wilson's apartment, they found a shotgun, which he was not supposed to have because he is still on probation. His criminal record also includes prior arrests on charges of assault and battery, larceny and public intoxication. Records indicate that Fielding had an order of protection in place against her boyfriend at the time of the alleged attack on Monday. Wilson is being held without bond pending his next court appearance scheduled for April 24. A judge lashed out at a North Carolina man as he sentenced him to life in jail for murdering his neighbor and his family. Jonathan Sander was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for the triple murder of his neighbors who had accused him of child molestation following an ongoing feud. He was convicted on April 8 of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of Sandy Mazzella, his wife Stephenie Mazzella, and Sandy's mother Elaine Mazzella. Jonathan Sander, (pictured), was sentenced to life in prison for the triple murder of his neighbors who had accused him of child molestation after a long-running feud Jonathan Sander was convicted on April 8 of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of Sandy Mazzella, his wife Stephenie Mazzella, (together, left) and Sandy's mother Elaine Mazzella (right) In recorded footage after the shootings, Sander told a sheriffs detective that he shot Sandy Mazzella for 'revenge' so that 'his family would be hurt like my family.' Judge Graham Shirley cut Sander off on Monday when he began addressing jurors directly after sentencing him. The judge grew particularly irritated when Sal Mazzella, the father of Sandy and husband of Elaine, became emotional during his victim impact statement and Sander mockingly clapped his hands at his remarks. Judge Shirley told him that he likely would have faced only a 16 to 29-month sentence for indecent liberties with a child, and even that would have been served as probation given his lack of a prior criminal record. In footage of the hearing obtained by WLOS, Judge Shirley told him: 'You sir are going to be housed with the most violent criminals in this state. 'People who have committed murder but have not been sentenced to death who are meaner and more violent than you. He added: 'When you lay your head on your pillow tonight and you hear that iron lock click for the first night of your first time in Central Prison, when the lights go dark, I want you to think about that two minute period that was described in which you ruined the lives of not only your family but the Mazellas.' The three- week trial included frequent outbursts from Sander, who mockingly clapped during victim impact statements. He was told by Jon Sander was told by Supreme Court Judge Graham Shirley, (right), that he 'would die alone' Judge Graham Shirley, (far right), had harsh words for Sander during sentencing (standing left), telling him: 'You'll die alone, you won't even be a footnote' Shirley said that he had learned from weeks in court that Sander is attracted to the spotlight and claimed that much of his speech was addressed to news cameras. He also branded his actions 'selfish and cowardly.' Judge Shirley added: 'I want you to realize that if you live out your life expectancy of 25.1 years, that two-minute period is going to have to repeat itself six million 500 and 78,000 times before you take your last breath. 'When you take your last breath, you're going to die alone and you're going to die forgotten all because of this action. Now get him out of my courtroom.' The court heard previously how Sander and Mazzella had been best friends and partners in a lawn and landscaping business. The court heard previously how Sandy Mazzella, (left) and Sander, (right), had been best friends and partners in a lawn and landscaping business In recorded footage after the shootings, Sander told a sheriffs detective that he shot Sandy Mazzella (pictured with his wife) for 'revenge' so that 'his family would be hurt like my family' However their friendship turned sour and escalated into a feud over money and business disagreements. The matter finally came to a head when the Mazzella family accused Sander of molesting an underage member of their family. Evidence was given that before the murders that Sander drank six Shock Top beers at Buffalo Brothers in Wake Forest. He then took his shotgun and burst into his neighbors house screaming: 'Child molester? Really, Sandy?.' Throughout the trial, Sander repeatedly lashed out at Sal Mazzella, even when he became emotional about witnessing his familys murder. Sander subsequently gave an incoherent speech disputing the evidence, insulting his attorneys and accusing others for his crimes. Sal Mazzella (pictured), the father of Sandy and husband of Elaine, read an emotional two-page statement before the sentencing. He thanked the judge and everyone else who supported him Sal Mazella told Sander that he did not hate him but was interrupted by Sander's frequent outbursts in court 'Everythings a lie and a sham,' he said, handcuffed as he shuffled through notes. 'On my appeal, youll see what justice is. Youre sentencing a good man to life, and thats not going to fly.' ABC 11 reported that he leveled accusations at the Mazzellas, alleging there were drug problems, lies, and romantic overtures directed at him. He subsequently began to criticize his own attorney and questioned the defense he had laid out. At that point, the judge told him last week: 'Come Monday, these people watching this stream are going to be watching something else. You won't even be a footnote.' Sal Mazzella, the father of Sandy and husband of Elaine, read an emotional two-page statement before the sentencing. He thanked the judge and those who supported him. ABC 11 reported him as saying: 'I used to tell my wife, Elaine, that hate should be taken out of the dictionary,' Sal Mazzella said. 'My dear wife, Elaine, was a loving, caring person.' 'My son, Sandy, cared about people. My son never expressed hate. I still cannot understand why you hated my son so much. It baffles me.' The Mazzellas' other son, Nicholas, read also read a victim impact statement and said Sanders' actions had destroyed his family. He said: 'Was what you did really worth the consequences?. You have killed my family and your don't even get to see your kids anymore.' A statement written by Stephenie's mother Karen Maggio, Stephenie's mother was also read in court as she was unable to attend the hearing. 'My daughter would protect those she loved at any cost. 'She was full of life with her happy smile all the time ... loving, thoughtful, caring, lifting in so many ways. 'It is very difficult for me to grasp that I will never be able to talk to her or with her, or hug her again. I miss her every day, every hour, and every minute. my heart cries for her.' Defiant Alan Dershowitz has vowed to fight accuser Virginia Roberts in open court branding her a 'fake' Me Too victim who should be thrown in jail for perjury after she filed a defamation suit against him. Roberts accuses Dershowitz of participating in sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein, having sex with her when she was underage and then defaming her by repeatedly calling her a liar. The 35-year-old who now lives in Australia with her spouse and children, claims she was abused from 2000 to 2002 in court papers filed in New York on Tuesday. Roberts was led to sue Dershowitz, 80, over his 'desperate barrage of false and increasingly defamatory attacks' on her, according to her suit. But the Harvard lawyer and TV law expert exclusively told DailyMail.com he welcomes the chance to prove that the claims made by Roberts, who now goes by Virginia Giuffre, were false. Dershowitz also urged the FBI to attend the proposed trial at US District Court Southern District of New York, saying they should arrest Roberts and lock her up when he 'proves' she is committing perjury. Virginia Roberts accused Alan Dershowitz of participating in sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein, having sex with her when she was underage and then defaming her by repeatedly calling her a liar. The now 35-year-old filed a defamation suit against him in New York Tuesday The Harvard lawyer and TV law expert exclusively told DailyMail.com he welcomes the chance to prove that the claims made by Roberts, who now goes by Virginia Giuffre, were false Roberts was led to sue Dershowitz over his 'desperate barrage of false and increasingly defamatory attacks' on her, according to her suit 'This is the opportunity I've been looking for,' Dershowitz said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com. 'I now have subpoena power and the ability to prove that this woman has committed perjury and has made up the whole story about me.' He went on: 'She is an inveterate liar. She has a long, long history of lying. 'She has claimed to have sex with virtually everyone under the sun from the former majority leader of the United States Senate, to the former Prime Minister of Israel, to the former ambassador to the United Nations, to the inventor of artificial intelligence, to Leslie Wexner, the owner of Victoria's Secret. 'And she's going to have to testify to that in court. And the end result is she going to go to perjury because I am asking the FBI to come to the trial and to listen to my testimony and to listen to hers. Roberts claims in court documents she was recruited by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell when she was 16 in 2000, and for the next two years was abused at 'numerous locations including his mansions in West Palm Beach, Florida, New Mexico, the Virgin Islands.' She was required to be on call for Epstein for sexual purposes and was lent out by Epstein to his friends for sexual purposes, the suit claims. The court papers continue: 'Dershowitz was also a participant in sex trafficking, including as one of the men to whom Epstein lent out Plaintiff for sex.' Roberts claims in court papers she was forced to engage in sexual acts with Dershowitz at Epstein's mansion on the Upper East Side in New York City, as well as other locations. But Dershowitz claims he has never even met Roberts, saying to DailyMail.com: 'This is a zero sum game. One of us is committing perjury. I'm going to swear under oath that I never met her.' Roberts claims in court documents that she was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell (left) and Epstein (right) when she was 16 in 2000, becoming a victim of sex trafficking and repeated sexual abuse Roberts claims in court papers she was forced to engage in sexual acts with Dershowitz at Epstein's mansion on the Upper East Side in New York City (pictured), as well as other locations, but Dershowitz says he never even met her He continued: 'She will swear under oath she had sex with me in times and places that I've never been during the relevant time according to my travel records. 'We are going to produce documentary evidence from her own mouth admitting that I am not one of the people she had sex with. 'And then she's going to be found guilty of perjury which is what I was hoping. So this lawsuit gives me the perfect opportunity to prove her guilt.' Roberts' suit notes that Dershowitz chose to settle an April 2016 defamation case brought by her former lawyers, Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, after he accused the pair of unethical behavior in a TV interview. But he told DailyMail.com: 'That case had nothing to do with whether or not Roberts did or did not have sex with me. 'That case was settled by my insurance company because it was getting very expensive. 'This case will never be settled - I guarantee you. The appropriate outcome would be for her to go to prison for perjury.' Dershowitz urged the FBI to take an interested in the case, adding: 'They just have to walk down the block from the New York FBI headquarters, sit in on the trial and they will hear perjury being committed in their presence in a Federal court. 'The result will be she will be prosecuted for perjury. This is a Federal crime being committed in a Federal courthouse. 'The FBI should be investigating a Federal crime being committed in a Federal courthouse in front of a Federal judge. 'This is an opportunity for me finally to have a judicial forum to prove that she made up the whole story and that she's a perjurer.' Dershowitz claims he has never even met Roberts, saying to DailyMail.com: 'This is a zero sum game. One of us is committing perjury. I'm going to swear under oath that I never met her' Dershowitz dismissed suggestions the suit had anything to do with the Me Too Movement because he insists he has never met Roberts. 'In every other Me Too case the people knew each other, they had a relationship, they worked together,' he added He went on: 'And I'm repeating the defamation right now. She claims I defamed her by calling her a perjurer, I am now telling you that I'm calling her a perjurer. 'And the first thing I will say in court is that I am saying right here, right now, that she's a perjurer.' Dershowitz dismissed suggestions the suit had anything to do with the Me Too Movement because he insists he has never met Roberts. 'In every other Me Too case the people knew each other, they had a relationship, they worked together,' he added. 'In this case I never met this woman. She made up the whole story from beginning to end. 'She hurts the Me Too movement terribly because when it's proved she lied for money the real victims will be people who have really been abused. She is a fake victim.' In her suit, Roberts' lawyers ripped into Dershowitz for saying on March 2, 2019, my 'accusers are Virginia Roberts and Sarah RansomeI hereby accuse my false accusers of committing the felony of perjury and challenge them to sue me for defamation.' Her attorneys note: 'Dershowitz, perhaps believing that Roberts who is now living with her husband and children in Australia would not be prepared to engage in litigation, has again taken to claiming publicly that he demands a trial on the question of whether Roberts committed perjury and made up her statements about him for money.' In response, they filed her defamation suit. Lawyers for Roberts said in court documents: 'As Defendant and Epstein well knew, Dershowitz's assertion was false. Dershowitz and Epstein knew that Dershowitz had in fact had sex with Plaintiff. 'Dershowitz made his statements pursuant to his conspiracy with Epstein and Maxwell maliciously as part of an effort to conceal sex trafficking crimes committed around the world by Epstein and other powerful persons.' The suit states: 'Between 2000 and 2002, Epstein sexually abused Roberts at numerous locations including his mansions in West Palm Beach (pictured). The underage girls were lured to Epstein's mansion in Florida with the lure of a couple hundred dollars to give him a massage- he allegedly sexually assaulted many of them Roberts claims she is a victim of sex trafficking, her suit stating: 'Epstein flew Roberts on his plane nationally and internationally numerous times when she was under the age of 18.' Roberts included in court documents this map showing flights that she took on Epstein's private plane from the plane logs In her suit, lawyers included testimonies from former workers at Epstein's homes in New York and Florida, where they confirm they saw Dershowitz at his residences frequently and that there were underage girls there at the time of his visits. The suit states: 'Maria Farmer was an employee of Epstein responsible for ''manning the front door at his New York mansion and keeping records of people who came to the home''. 'Ms. Farmer ''witnessed a number of school age girls coming to the house, some of the young girls would be wearing their school uniforms'' who ''then would be escorted upstairs''. 'Ms. Farmer asserts that ''Alan Dershowitz was an individual who came to visit Epstein at his New York mansion a number of times when I was working for Epstein. 'Dershowitz was very comfortable at the home and would come in and walk upstairs. On a number of occasions I witnessed Dershowitz at the NY mansion going upstairs at the same time there were young girls under the age of 18 who were present upstairs in the house''.' 'Farmer, like other victims of, and witnesses to, Epstein and Dershowitzs sex trafficking and abuse has been subjected to attacks and intimidations. 'Her courageous testimony... proves beyond any doubt that Dershowitzs claims that he was never present where Ms. Roberts was trafficked, and never in the presence of young girls, are a lie intended to cover up his culpability.' Epstein was arrested for sex trafficking in 2006, reaching a nonprosecution (NPA) deal in 2008, where he avoided life in prison. Roberts said she escaped Epstein in September 2002, when he sent her to Thailand 'to bring a young girl back to Epstein in the United States,' according to the lawsuit. 'Fearing for her life, and not wanting to subject another young girl to the abuse she was forced to endure, Roberts fled from Thailand to Australia to escape from Epstein.' Roberts included in court documents a map showing flights that she allegedly took on Epstein's private plane. Court documents state: 'Epstein flew Roberts on his plane nationally and internationally numerous times when she was under the age of 18... and Epstein also flew Roberts frequently on commercial airlines to meet him and others.' Advertisement Parisians and tourists gathered outside the Notre Dame in Paris this evening for another candlelit vigil after a fire tore through the structure's iconic spire and much of the roof last night. Locals met at the Saint-Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement before walking to the iconic cathedral where they sang hymns outside. The Saint-Suplice church, built in the 17th century and important to French Catholicism, caught on fire last month but had nowhere near as much damage as the older cathedral. The vigil comes as footage of people softly singing the classic hymn 'Ave Maria' and kneeling outside the 856-year-old building during the 12-hour blaze last night went viral, racking up nearly 15million views. Earlier today, Parisians were relieved to see the bell towers and great stained-glass rose window were still standing this morning despite fears the whole building would collapse. 'Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything,' said Sister Marie Aimee, a nun who had hurried to a nearby church to pray as the flames spread. Parisians and tourists gathered outside the Notre Dame in Paris this evening for another candlelit vigil after a fire tore through the structure's iconic spire and much of the roof last night Pictured: a woman closes her eyes as she sings outside of Notre Dame while another holds rosary beads this evening Locals met at the Saint Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement before walking to the iconic cathedral where they sang hymns outside Earlier today, Parisians were relieved to see the bell towers and great stained-glass rose window were still standing this morning despite fears the whole building would collapse 'It is a sign of hope.' Organizers of tonight's vigil said in a statement they want to show their attachment to Notre Dame. French President Emmanuel Macron today pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years. 'We have so much to rebuild,' Macron said in a televised address to the nation. 'We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize (to do so).' Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. 'Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works,' said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang Pictured: the blaze at Notre Dame yesterday. Much of the roof was destroyed, as was the cathedral's spire Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history 'Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything,' said Sister Marie Aimee Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be 'long and complex.' Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations French President Emmanuel Macron today pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be 'long and complex.' Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6.20pm on Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6.43 pm, and the blaze was discovered on the roof. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. 'Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works,' said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. Organizers of tonight's vigil said in a statement they want to show their attachment to Notre Dame Pictured: one Parisian waves a French flag as others sing near the Notre Dame at tonight's emotional vigil Pictured: one Parisian gathered at the vigil waved a gigantic French flag as a large group gathered at the iconic landmark Millennials and Generation Z believe representation of all races and religions in the workplace is more important than hiring based on merit, according to a new survey. Roughly half (51 percent) of Millennials (age 22-39) and Generation Z (age 18-21) said that 'fair representation of race, ethnicity and religion is paramount to creating the ideal workplace,' according to the poll of 2,002 Americans conducted by John Zogby Strategies. By comparison, 48 percent of Generation X (age 40-54) and 42 percent of Baby Boomers (age 55-74) agreed with that statement. Just 15 percent of Generation Z and 32 percent of Millennials agreed with the statement that 'merit and competition supersede all, even if that results in a workplace that creates minimal diversity.' This graph illustrates the share of each generation that wants employers to prioritized diversity versus merit when it comes to hiring decisions Meanwhile, 37 percent of Generation X and 45 percent of Baby Boomers said that merit is more important than diversity. 'There are really two opposing schools, I guess you could say that there's one that's on the side of progressive ideology, whereas the other one is more in line with the way business was always run,' Jeremy Zogby, a partner in Zogby Strategies, told DailyMail.com. 'There is definitely a progressive slant in Millennials and Gen Z.' Among all Americans, 47 percent prioritized diversity in workplace hiring, while 37 percent said merit should matter most. They survey also asked each generation whether businesses should prioritize their impact on the environment or focus on growing jobs and satisfying stockholders. A majority of Generation Z (55 percent) agreed with the statement, 'major business decisions must first and foremost take into account their impact on the environment.' This graph illustrates the share of each generation that wants businesses to prioritize their affect on the environment versus job creation By comparison, 42 percent of Millennials, 41 percent of Generation X and 40 percent of Baby Boomers felt the same way. Just 19 percent of Generation Z agreed with the statement, 'the most important thing in business is to grow jobs, foster entrepreneurship, build growth and satisfy stockholders.' Some 38 percent of Millennials felt the same way, as did 42 percent of Generation X and 44 percent of Baby Boomers. Among all Americans, 42 percent said the environment should come first, while 41 percent said job creation and happy stockholders should be the end goal for businesses. An additional 18 percent said they were 'not sure' how to answer. This graph breaks out by generation the share of Americans who believe that climate change is naturally occurring, versus the those who think human are the cause of rising temperatures on earth Generation Z was the most likely to believe that the pace of global warming 'has been seriously impacted by human behavior with the release of carbons into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates' and 'Global action is required now to preserve the survival of humans and other species.' Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of 18-21-year-olds agreed with that statement, compared to 46 percent of Millennials, 51 percent of Generation X and 48 percent of Baby Boomers. Conversely, just 11 percent of Generation Z agreed with the statement, 'if the earth is actually warming over the last few decades and into the future, it is the natural order of things and there is not much humans can really alter.' More than a quarter (28 percent) of Millennials agreed with the statement, as did 31 percent of Generation X and 36 percent of Baby Boomers. Schools in Colorado have closed after a woman 'obsessed' with the Columbine massacre bought firearms and threatened a similar atrocity - as the FBI continues to hunt her. Authorities are looking for Sol Pais, 18, who is said to have traveled to Colorado from Miami on Monday night and bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition. All schools in the Denver area were urged to tighten security because the threat was deemed 'credible and general,' said Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Now, multiple schools in the area have cancelled classes for Wednesday as the search for Pais continues. Denver Public Schools said that all facilities and programs will be closed Wednesday, and there will be no afternoon activities or athletic competitions. The district said the decision to close campuses was in collaboration with other Denver metro-area school districts due to the ongoing safety concern. The teenager's father, Gardi Pais, 58, has urged her to return saying that family has not heard from her since Sunday after Jefferson County Sheriff's Office confirmed they were hunting the teenager. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is hunting 18-year-old Sol Pais after she 'made threats'. They say she 'is armed & considered to be extremely dangerous' Police stand outside the east entrance of Columbine High school yesterday as bomb squads and SWAT teams secure students 20 April 1999 in Littleton, Colorado The teenager's father, Gardi Pais (pictured), 58, has urged her to return saying that family has not heard from her since Sunday Pais is said to be 'infatuated with the Columbine school shooting' and the FBI was last night searching the south Florida home where she lives with her parents Mr Pais told DailyMail.com he thought she had a 'mental problem' - and begged her to come home. 'They are looking for her. We don't have any idea,' he said from behind his Florida front door. Asked if he had a message for his daughter, he pleaded: 'Please come home.' His voice trembling, he added: 'I think she's gonna be ok. I think maybe she has got a mental problem.' Pais was last seen in the foothills of Jefferson County Monday wearing a black t-shirt, camouflage pants, and black boots. Columbine High School and more than 20 surrounding schools were placed on lockdown after law enforcement confirmed it was investigating what appears to be a 'credible threat' possibly involving the schools. Pais is said to be 'infatuated with the Columbine school shooting' and the FBI was last night searching the south Florida home where she lives with her parents. Agents came to the door of the single story home in Surfside, Miami Beach but declined to comment. Neighbors told how police had earlier swarmed the quiet street a few minutes walk from Miami Beach. Following a lockdown at Columbine High School (pictured yesterday) and other Denver area schools, authorities say they are looking for a woman suspected of making threats Pais is said to be 'infatuated with the Columbine school shooting' (the school is pictured yesterday) and the FBI was last night searching the south Florida home where she lives with her parents Columbine High School (principal Scott Christy, right, outside the school yesterday) and more than 20 surrounding schools were placed on lockdown after law enforcement confirmed it was investigating what appears to be a 'credible threat' possibly involving the schools The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said deputies were posted at the school district as they hunt Sol Pais. They asked for the public's help in finding the 'extremely dangerous teen' Courtesy KDVR School officials say the doors were locked but classes were continuing Tuesday at Columbine and nearby schools and at other schools farther away in the district. 'We are currently investigating what appears to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools,' police tweeted. 'Multiple schools are on lockout in Columbine area & Mountains.' They later added: 'The @FBIDenver & JCSO are asking for the public's help regarding a potential credible threat. Last night Sol Pais traveled to Colorado & made threats. She is armed & considered to be extremely dangerous. 'She is a white female, 18 years old, approximately 5'5' in height, with brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, camouflage pants, and black boots. She was last seen in the foothills of Jefferson County. 'Please call the FBI tipline at (303) 630-6227 where your call will be answered immediately if you have seen this individual or have information on her whereabouts. Please do not approach her as she is considered armed and dangerous.' Mr Pais told DailyMail.com he thought she had a 'mental problem' - and begged her to come home. 'They are looking for her. We don't have any idea,' he said from behind his Florida front door In a press conference Tuesday night police said Pais is infatuated with the Columbine massacre. They said she departed the airport after arriving in Denver and bought a pump action shot gun and ammunition. They confirmed Miami FBI first alerted them to the possible threat. Neighbours said they were stunned that Pais was allegedly armed, dangerous and on the run. 'She didn't say hello, good morning, how are you. She kept to herself. She wasn't nasty but reclusive,' said another neighbor, Jack Reiner. 'Her family have rented the house for eight or nine years, I believe they are from Argentina. People go to the father for music lessons. 'I've never known any trouble, no complaints. Never seen the police there until today. 'I drove past in the morning and saw a police car and two officers talking to the dad. When I came back from the supermarket there were four or five officers talking to him. He looked stressed and startled.' Gardi Pais said he thought his daughter had a 'mental problem' and begged her to come home. He said the family haven't heard from his daughter since Sunday A neighbor confirmed 18-year-old Pais lived there with her parents whom she described as 'sweet, regular people.' The teen attends nearby Beach High School. 'My son rides the bus with her. Her parents are as sweet as can be. Her father is a musician. I invited them to my Christmas party,' the neighbor told DailyMail.com. 'She was strange girl, quiet and withdrawn but then she was a teenager after all. 'She usually wore a black t-shirt and jeans but her look didn't strike me as unusual. 'She never looked looked anyone in the eye when they talked to her. She was always by herself, I don't think she had many friends. 'But I know she was very caring. There was a time a dog was barking across the street and she was worried about it, pleading with her mom to call the Humane society. 'She cared about animals a lot, at least.' Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says the threat that prompted a lockdown at Columbine High School and other Denver-area schools involved someone who was armed and 'may be interested in harming our schools or our kids.' Lockdowns occur when the threat is outside the school but police activity could cause a threat. Officials say the doors were locked but classes were continuing at Columbine, and at least two nearby schools. Diana Wilson, a Jeffco Schools spokeswoman, said in a statement they went ahead with the lockdown at the request of law enforcement. 'Everyone is safe,' Wilson added. The FBI are tonight searching the south Florida home of Pais. Agents came to the door of the single story home in Surfside, Miami Beach where Sol Pais is listed as living with her mom and dad but declined to comment Columbine High School principal Scott Christy, right, joins an officer in watching as students leave the school late Tuesday An officer from Jefferson County, Colo., Schools listens on his radio as students leave Columbine High School 'We will have extra safety and security staff on site at all schools affected. All after-school activities, sports, and practices will occur as scheduled EXCEPT for Columbine High School where all such activities are canceled,' a Facebook post read. The lockout comes just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at the school that killed 12 students and a teacher. DENVER SCHOOLS ON LOCKOUT Bergen Elementary Schools Blue Heron Elementary School Columbine High School Conifer High School Dutch Creek Elementary School Elk Creek Elementary School Evergreen High School Evergreen Middle School Governors Ranch Elementary School Ken Caryl Middle School Leawood Elementary School Marshdale Elementary School Mt. Evans Outdoor Laboratory School Normandy Elementary School Parmalee Elementary School Ralston Elementary School Rocky Mtn Academy of Evergreen West Jeff Elementary School West Jeff Middle School Wilmot Elementary School Windy Peak Outdoor Laboratory School Woodrow Wilson Academy Advertisement Several events have been planned in collaboration with Columbine Memorial Foundation, Waterstone Community Church, Foothills Park & Recreation District Clement Park, and The Rebels Project. Events this week between April 18 and 20 include remembrance services, a vigil and community service day. Cherry Creek School District and Aurora Public Schools joined the precautionary lockdown. Aurora police said in a tweet: 'We too are taking this threat seriously.' They added that they 'are increasing police presence at our schools' and that the threat was 'to schools in general, and we are working together across the metro area to gather more information'. Police later added: 'Because this is an active and ongoing investigation we cannot release further info about where Sol Pais is from, how long she has been here & the nature of the threat.' Since Columbine's mass shooting on April 20, 1999, survivors have seen others at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. Drills teaching students to 'lock down' inside classrooms became routine. Schools formed teams to assess threats, particularly from students. Security firms forged a multibillion-dollar industry, introducing surveillance video, panic buttons and upgraded doors and locks. And police changed their strategies for responding to a gunman intent only on killing. In this April 20, 1999, file photo, members of a police SWAT team march to Columbine High School in Littleton Though it sometimes seems mass shootings inside schools are a commonplace occurrence, they are relatively rare, and statistics show the number has not substantially increased since 2000. But that is of little consolation to a swath of American parents. About 2 in 10 parents said they are not at all or not very confident in their children's safety while at school, while a third of parents are very or extremely confident, according to a March survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Columbine High School was on lockout Tuesday due to a 'credible threat', police said Cops investigated at least 20 other schools just days before 20th anniversary of the shootings Jane Sanders is writing a book about 'her and Bernie's experience together in public service,' the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign says. Sanders has already received an advance on the book of at least $106,250 from St. Martin's Press, a subsidiary of Macmillan. The advance is reflected in the couples' 2017 tax documents. A campaign aide told DailyMail.com that the date of publication has not been decided on. The campaign disclosed the existence of the memoir when it released ten years of the Sanders' tax returns. Jane Sanders is writing a book about 'her and Bernie's experience together in public service,' the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign says The Sanders' tax documents show that they earned well over $1 million on the book Bernie Sanders wrote about his long-shot bid for the White House. Sanders' 2016 memoir was an instant best-seller. He told DailyMail.com on Saturday that he would not 'apologize' for writing the best-selling book that has been translated into at least five languages and declined on Monday at a televised town hall to explain why he gave just 3.4 percent of his wealth away to the poor. In addition to the salary he makes as a U.S. senator, he earns royalties off his books. Jane's only individual source of income appears to be the memoir she's writing she has primarily served as an unpaid adviser to her husband's political organizations for the last several years, having parted ways with Burlington College in 2011 over allegations that she misspent the non-profit's money. Jane and Bernie Sanders' campaign books are published by St. Martin's Press. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday on the manuscript that his wife is said be penning. Sanders' campaign disclosed Jane's book in a statement on the couple's tax returns on Monday. It released ten years worth of the documents, fulfilling a promise that the candidate made and then dragged his feet on weeks prior. Jane Sanders is listed as a 'writer' on the couples' 2018 IRS form suggesting that she spent much of the last writing the as-of-yet unpublished book that St. Martin's Press paid her more than $100,000 up front to write. She recently announced that she and her son David Driscoll were ending their work at a think tank named after her husband. They'd come under scrutiny for the $100,000 annual salary he received for work, in light of Bernie Sanders' latest White House bid. The Sanders Institute, as it is called, will close its doors in May. It will not reopen until the end of his next campaign for higher office. Bernie and Jane Sanders donated $25,000 to the organization in 2017. They made charitable contributions to other organizations equivalent to their gross adjusted income in 2018 of 3.4 percent, the senator's presidential campaign disclosed. Bernie Sanders told DailyMail.com on Saturday that he would not 'apologize' for writing the best-selling book that has been translated into at least five languages and declined on Monday at a televised town hall to explain why he gave just 3.4 percent of his wealth away to the poor That amount does not include proceeds from his book 'The Speech,' his campaign stated, because they are donated directly to charity. 'The Sanders donations have gone primarily to senior centers, low-income organizations, educational entities, and environmental and housing advocacy groups,' the campaign claimed. His campaign acknowledged in the same statement on the Sanders' tax returns that Jane has a book coming out. 'In 2016, the Sanders income increased substantially due to advances and royalties from his best-selling book Our Revolution: A Future To Believe In, which has been translated into 5 languages and published in a number of countries,' the statement said. 'The youth version of Our Revolution, the publication of Where We Go From Here and an advance on a book currently being written by Jane Sanders, are also reflected in the tax filings.' In the couples' 2017 tax documents, Jane Sanders is revealed to have made $106, 250 off her work as a book author. The advance is handsome but not nearly as sizable as the $14 million that Hillary Clinton received for 'Hard Choices' or the eye-popping $65 million that Barack and Michelle Obama received for their post-White House memoirs. Sanders' husband's best-selling book, 'Our Revolution,' received $795,000 advance. He received an advance of $63,750 on a children's adaptation of the book. The Vermont senator admitted last week that the campaign tome he published after he failed to win the Democratic nomination in 2016 yielded more than a million-dollar profit. Asked by DailyMail.com on Saturday at a campaign stop in Gary, Indiana, if his millionaire status 'conflicts' with the message he's pushing, Sanders, who's seeking the presidency again, replied, 'I don't think so. 'I didn't know it was a crime to write a good book,' he said to applause from participants of a breakfast roundtable his campaign had put together. Bernie Sanders, accompanied by the Gary, Indiana, police chief, walks into a roundtable Sanders is on a bus tour of the upper Midwest. His first stop on Saturday was Gary. He addressed question from DailyMail.com about his wealth, having written a best-selling book Sanders claimed he did not want to take Americans' wealth, he wants them to pay a higher rate of taxes on it. 'My view has always been that we need a progressive tax system which demands that the wealthiest people in this country finally start paying their fair share of taxes,' he said. 'If I make a lot of money, you make a lot of money, that is what I believe,' he told his guests. 'So, I don't apologize for writing a book that was number three on the New York Times Best Seller, translated into five or six languages.' Sanders published a campaign manifesto days after Hillary Clinton lost the presidency to Donald Trump. It opened at No. 3 on the New York Times Best Sellers list He successfully changed the subject after he told traveling and local press he was bothered by the inquiry. 'Maybe we might want to talk about Gary, Indiana. Maybe we might want to talk about poverty,' he said 'This might be a great moment to talk abut something else we should discuss.' The democratic socialist's central campaign message over two presidential runs has been an assault the millionaires and billionaires of the country and a demand that they pay their 'fair share' in taxes to fund universal healthcare, tuition-free college and a litany of other progressive promises. Sanders has said that billionaire President Donald Trump should release his tax returns, even though the longtime legislator had not put out his own until Monday. He said in an interview last week that his book 'Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In' raked in more than a million dollars in profit. 'I wrote a best-selling book,' he told the New York Times. 'If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.' Sanders released a second book, 'Where We Go from Here: Two Years in the Resistance,' in November. Retired Navy SEAL turned Congressman Dan Crenshaw has been slammed as 'captain s**thead' by a NYU journalism professor after he criticized Ilhan Omar for her recent comments about the September 11 terror attacks. Crenshaw, who lost his right eye in 2012 in an explosion in Afghanistan, last week accused the Democratic Congresswoman of downplaying the terrorist attacks when she gave a speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles last month. 'First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something'. Unbelievable,' the Texas representative tweeted. His comments slamming Omar were immediately seized on by NYU journalism professor Talia Lavin who lashed out and called the Republican 'captain s**thead'. Retired Navy SEAL turned Congressman Dan Crenshaw was referred to as 'captain s**thead' by NYU journalism professor Talia Lavin after he criticized Ilhan Omar for her recent comments about the September 11 terror attacks 'The real victim, captain s**thead, speaks,' Lavin tweeted. 'Oh I see the right-wing pearl clutchers are here. Sorry, it's my right to criticize a political hack who was also once a troop,' she added after facing backlash. Finally, she tweeted: 'Actually ur right I should respect his rank... his name is lieutenant commander s**thead.' Lavin was hired by NYU a year after she was forced to resign from the New Yorker magazine as a fact checker when she incorrectly identified a U.S. immigration agent as a Nazi sympathizer. Omar's initial comments about 9/11 have drawn criticism from political opponents and conservatives who say she offered a flippant description of the terrorists responsible for the attacks. 'For far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it,' she told the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Crenshaw's comments slamming Omar were immediately seized on by NYU journalism professor Talia Lavin who lashed out and called the Republican 'captain s**thead' Crenshaw last week accused Omar of downplaying the terrorist attacks when she gave a speech recently in Los Angeles '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.' Trump then weighed in on the controversy when he retweeted a video edited to suggest Omar was dismissive of the significance of the attacks. The video showed the part of Omar's speech in which she described the 2001 attacks as 'some people did something', spliced with news footage of the hijacked planes hitting the twin towers. Trump's tweet nor the video included her full quote or the context of Omar's comments. Top Democrats rushed to defend Omar after the video, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who scolded Trump for using the 'painful images of 9/11 for a political attack' on the first term Congresswoman. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren also accused Trump of 'trying to incite violence and to divide us, and every political leader should speak out against that'. Following the disastrous fire at Notre Dame in Paris and supportive tweets from Donald Trump and Mike Pence, Twitter users in America rallied to lend their dollars to the three black churches that were burned down in a hate crime by an arsonist earlier this month. A GoFundMe page called 'Seventh District Baptist Church Fires St Landry' has received just under $480,000 for the three black churches in Louisiana that were burned down by 21-year-old Holden Matthews. It has a goal of $1.8million to be split among the three churches. 'The host of this campaign is the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149 year old non-profit religious organization,' the page states. A GoFundMe called 'Seventh District Baptist Church Fires St Landry' has received just under $480,000 for the three black churches in Louisiana that were burned down by 21-year-old Holden Matthews St. Mary Baptist Church was set ablaze by the arsonist 'We are working with the Governor of Louisiana, local leaders, elected officials, the impacted churches and their pastors, other faith organizations and the community to ensure 100% of all funds raised will be evenly distributed to the three churches affected.' The fundraiser was created on April 10, the same day Holden Matthews was arrested for the attacks that occurred over a 10-day period in Opelousas, Louisiana The fundraiser was created on April 10, the same day Holden Matthews was arrested for the attacks that occurred over a 10-day period in Opelousas, Louisiana. The first blaze at the St. Mary Baptist Church occurred on March 26 in Port Barre, a town just outside of Opelousas. Days later, the Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas were burned. Each was more than 100 years old. And while the GoFundMe had been up for a few days, it caught steam on Tuesday as Twitter users noted how quiet Trump had been on the attacks while he has been rather forthcoming about his help for rebuilding Notre Dame. Donations of more than $600million have poured in worldwide for the French cathedral. Trump released a statement - via the White House - on Tuesday, invoking 9/11 and stating that the cathedral's bells would ring again. 'France is the oldest ally of the United States, and we remember with grateful hearts the tolling of Notre Dames bells on September 12, 2001, in solemn recognition of the tragic September 11th attacks on American soil. Those bells will sound again,' the White House said. While the GoFundMe had been up for a few days, users noted how quiet President Donald Trump had been on the attacks while he has been rather forthcoming about his help for rebuilding Notre Dame Neither Trump or Pence have commented on the black churches that were burned down allegedly by Holden. They have been forthcoming about their help to Notre Dame The statement asserted that the United States would offer 'assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization.' On Twitter, Mike Pence offered his words of support to Paris and said: 'Notre Dame is an iconic symbol of faith to people all over the world and it is heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames. Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters on the scene and all the people of Paris.' Neither have commented on the black churches that were burned down allegedly by Holden. 'The rebuild of Notre Dame will be well funded,' said journalist Yashar Ali. 'In the past month, three historically black churches in Louisiana were destroyed by a racist arsonist. He has been charged with hate crimes, but these churches need your help. Please join me in donating.' 'If your TL is full today of Notre Dame burning down, but you heard nothing of the Black churches in Louisiana being burned this month, I hope you'll reflect on how epistemological violence works,' another user added. 'Privileged stories hold privileged pain--while erasing the pain of the oppressed.' 'The rebuild of Notre Dame will be well funded,' said journalist Yashar Ali. 'In the past month, three historically black churches in Louisiana were destroyed by a racist arsonist. He has been charged with hate crimes, but these churches need your help. Please join me in donating' Writer and activist George Johnson asserted: 'Congress both current and former have been more vocal about Notre Dame Cathedral than the white supremacist son of a cop that burned down 3 Black churches.' 'Mike Pence immediately tweeted about the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire,' said user Denizcan James. 'I dont remember Pence ever mentioning the three historically black churches that were burnt down by a white supremacist/domestic terrorist. Speaks volumes.' Bishop Talbert Swan said: ;This obtuse, gaslighting, doltish, nazi defending , white supremacist, poltroon is tweeting about the #NotreDameCathedralFire, yet has said nothing about a white supremacist burning down 3 Black churches in Louisiana.' 'The GOPers tweeting their sadness about the tragic fire in the Notre Dame Cathedral never once mentioned their sadness about the 3 historically black churches being burnt down by a White Supremacist who is also the son of a sheriff,' Ricky Davila. Holden Matthews, who had no previous criminal record, was arrested Wednesday on three charges of arson of a religious building. Prosecutors filed documents Monday adding three more charges, accusing Matthews of violating Louisiana's hate crime law. Bill Cosby released a blistering statement from behind bars on Tuesday after learning his insurance company had agreed to settle with a woman who accused the disgraced actor of sexually assaulting her in 2008 at the Playboy Mansion. Chloe Goins and her lawyer struck a deal with AIG, with DailyMail.com learning that that the former model and her lawyer Spencer Kuvin were presented with an offer a few weeks back by the insurance company. That offer came just before Cosby, 81, was to be deposed in the case and four months after Kuvin announced that he was in possession of tapes shot inside the Playboy Mansion during some of Hugh Hefner's famed parties. Goins claimed in court documents that she met Cosby at one of those parties, alleging that the actor gave her a drink and that she awoke to find him biting her toes with his pants around his ankles. 'Ms. Goins is pleased with the settlement,' Kuvin said in a brief statement to DailyMail.com. When asked to comment further he politely declined. Civil settlement: Bill Cosby (left in March 2018) has lashed out at his insurance company after learning they agreed to settle with his accuser Chloe Goins (right in 2017) 'AIGs conduct is "despicable" and I can only imagine how terribly theyre treating their policyholders, who dont have my means and my resources,' declared Cosby in a statement. 'It was proven by the Los Angeles Police Department that I was not at the Playboy Mansion on the date in question, and was not in the State of California. This womans supposed friend confirmed that she made up this story by denying that they knew her and, most importantly, denying that they visited the Playboy Mansion with her.' Cosby then took aim at AIG, who previously settled a class action lawsuit brought against him in Massachusetts. 'AIG continues to act egregiously by settling these heinous claims without my knowledge and/or consent; and AIG continues to show theyre complicit in this scheme to destroy me and my family,' said the actor. 'I encourage all of AIGs policyholders to drop this pathetic insurance company quickly, before they destroy you and your family. Ms. Goins lawsuit never should have proceeded and I will still pursue my claims against her. Thank you very much.' Cosby's spokesperson Anrew Wyatt added: 'AIG ignored the fact that the Los Angeles District Attorney found that there is no evidence to support Ms. Goinss claims against Mr. Cosby, which stemmed from events that allegedly occurred at the Playboy Mansion in 2008.' The District Attorney ultimately decided not to pursue charges due to a belief that there would be too much reasonable doubt in regards to the date of the alleged attack, which Goins admitted to being unsure of while speaking to authorities. . On the date that she had originally said she believed the attack to have taken place, investigators were able to determine that Cosby had been across the country in New York. Goins spoke about the allegations back in 2016 in an interview with DailyMail.com. 'Bill Cosby sexually assaulted me at the Playboy mansion in 2008. I'm grateful to the LAPD for conducting an investigation, but I am devastated by this decision,' said the model. 'It has been very difficult for me coming forward and taking this to the police, I have taken a lot of flak by putting myself out there. 'But while I'm disappointed that there won't be any criminal charges, I believe we still have a chance in the civil court. I've not given up yet.' A senior EU negotiator said yesterday he believes Britain will waste its latest Brexit extension. Guy Verhofstadt, European Parliament Brexit coordinator, said the UK will probably 'run down the clock' once again. He criticised MPs' decision to go off on holiday as soon as the six-month extension had been agreed. Mr Verhofstadt said delaying Brexit to the end of October risked prolonging the uncertainty of the process because it was 'too near for a substantial rethink and at the same time too far away to prompt any action'. European Parliament Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt has said UK MPs are wasting time Andrew Bowie, Scottish Conservative Party politician postED a photo of his trip to the Caingorns during Easter recess Lewisham Labour MP Ellie Reeves was also enjoying the British countryside, staying in a cosy-looking cottage in Wales (left) while Tory Rachel Maclean (right) swapped her Redditch seat in the West Midlands for the wild expanse of Blencathra in the lake District, accompanied by her dogs Herbie and Phoebe In an address to the European Parliament, he said: 'My fear is that with this decision, the pressure to come to a cross-party agreement disappears. 'And that both parties, the Conservatives and Labour, will again do what they did for months run down the clock. 'And the proof of this is that the first decision the House of Commons took after your decision was to go on holidays.' Mr Verhofstadt said both parties could be wiped out in May's European elections, adding: 'Maybe the only thing that can save us is Nigel Farage now.' Donald Tusk (pictured above in Strasbourg) said he still believed Britain may not leave the EU Luke Graham Member of Parliament for Ochil and South Perthshire posted a picture of him in Amsterdam The intervention came as EU Council president Donald Tusk said he still believed Britain may not leave the EU. The Brussels chief told MEPs in Strasbourg that after Brexit was delayed until October 31 the UK would continue to be represented in the European Parliament for 'several months maybe longer'. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told MEPs the EU would also be hit by the disruption a No Deal Brexit would bring to the UK. Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured above) told MEPs the EU would also be hit by the disruption a No Deal Brexit would bring to the UK He said: 'Our union has nothing to gain from great disruption in the United Kingdom. 'The only ones who would benefit are those who resent multilateralism and seek to undermine the global legal order.' Nigel Farage claimed his new Brexit Party would 'sweep the board' at the elections on May 23. He told the European Parliament: 'There is only one way it can be stopped and that is if the governing party of Mrs May and the opposition of Mr Corbyn come together and agree to a permanent customs union, and indeed effectively membership of the single market. Jeremy Corbyn (left) warned that Theresa May (right) and her government were stalling 'If that happens, the Brexit Party won't win the European elections but it will win the general election because the betrayal will be so complete and utter, so I don't believe it's going to happen.' In Westminster, cross-party talks between Labour and the Government continued at an official level but Jeremy Corbyn yesterday warned they were stalling. The Labour leader said the party had put its case that the future relationship with Europe had to mean a customs union, but added Mrs May was under pressure from Tories who wanted 'to turn this country into a deregulated low-tax society' to do a trade deal with US President Donald Trump. He added: 'I don't want to do that.' The devastating blaze that has demolished much of Notre Dame Cathedral deprives Paris of one of its' most iconic buildings, visited by over 13million people a year. As the elegant spire collapsed and fell to the ground in flames, onlookers prayed and wept. President Macron described the blaze as 'a terrible tragedy', adding that he was 'so sad tonight to see this part of us all burn.' He immediately launched an international fund to raise money for the reconstruction of the building, which dates back to 1160. The devastating blaze that has demolished much of Notre Dame Cathedral deprives Paris of one of its' most iconic buildings, visited by over 13million people a year Experts reckon it could cost over 550million euros (475,574) and take between 15 and 20 years. From the moment the call for cash went out, the richest people in the world were queuing up to publicly flash their cash in a vulgar display of willy waving. The first billionaire off the blocks was Francois-Henri Pinault, the boss of luxury fashion conglomerate Kering. Married to actress Salma Hayak, Pinault recently announced he was streamlining the company to focus purely on 'sustainable luxury'. I am not sure how sandals and bags costing thousands of euros are eco-friendly, but that's his pitch. Kering's brands include Gucci (easily the hottest retailer in high fashion right now), Balenciaga, McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta. Francois-Henri Pinault, married to actress Salma Hayak (pictured together in 2015), was the first to make a donation towards the rebuild of the cathedral Sales dropped recently by 50 per cent, but profits have risen by 40 per cent as the market for luxury shows no sign of cooling down. Since his marriage to Salma, the company has launched campaigns to promote women's rights and gender issues in the film industry. Salma always wears a dress by one of her husband's stable of designers whenever she's on the red carpet. Nice to have that choice! Mr Pinault (worth 19billion) and his father Francois (worth over 23billion) made an offer of 100million euros (86million) with 'no strings attached' to the rebuilding fund, and the company name was promptly trending on social media. Not to be outdone, his deadly rival Bernard Arnault, whose fortune of 90billion makes him the richest man in France and probably the whole of Europe - made an astonishing donation of 200million euros (172million) exactly double! Monsieur Arnault's LVMH empire encompasses fashion, fine wines and champagne and luxury leather goods. He owns Celine, Kenzo, Pucci, Loro Piana cashmere, Louis Vuitton, Guerlain, Fendi, Givenchy and Loewe, plus most of the best champagne houses, from Krug to Veuve Clicquot and Dom Perignon. It's a bit galling to discover that 90 per cent of all the most expensive frocks in the world are produced by companies owned by just two men, and the rivalry between them is intense. Not to be outdone, his deadly rival Bernard Arnault (pictured with his wife Helene in 2014), whose fortune of 90billion makes him the richest man in France and probably the whole of Europe - made an astonishing donation of 200million euros (172million) exactly double! Another speedy donor to the fund to restore Notre Dame was the Bettencourt family (pictured left Jean-Pierre Meyers and his wife Francoise Bettencourt Meyers), who part-own L'Oreal - they've stumped up 200million euros (172million). Mark (pictured right with his wife Melissa) and Oliver Bouygues, who own construction, media and telecom companies, have donated 10million euros Both men describe themselves as 'art collectors', with private collections worth billions of dollars. Art is always a good way to polish your social credentials and appear intellectual. Building museums and galleries is even better than sponsoring exhibitions as you have total control over the project and it is permanent. Arnault got one of the most famous architects in the world, Frank Gehry, to design his museum in Paris. Pinault is remodelling a historic building in the centre of Paris- the Bourse, once the Stock Exchange, using a Japanese architect and spending over 115million euros (99million). Both men will have their own monuments, and with the rebuilding of Notre Dame, a chance to get their names and their brands linked to a piece of history, a heritage site known the world over. Another speedy donor to the fund to restore Notre Dame was the Bettencourt family, who part-own L'Oreal - they've stumped up 200million euros (172million). A few years ago, Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in world at the time, caused a huge scandal by dishing out 1.4billion euros to a man described as a gigolo - she was said to be in denial about her deafness and dementia. She gave him paintings, cash and even an island in the Seychelles. The family managed to get him convicted and part of the money returned. She was also accused of handing out money to government ministers for favourable tax breaks, and illegally funding Sarkozy's presidential campaign, as well as illegally secreting billions of euros in Switzerland. Liliane died aged 94 in 2017, and the family has been trying to move on from their colourful past. Mark and Oliver Bouygues, who own construction, media and telecom companies, have donated 10million euros (over 8million) to the rebuilding of Notre Dame - their companies are helping to build the Pinault museum- maybe they hope to get involved in this project too, and with a speedy donation, their names are in the news. The fund has already topped over 600million euros (500million) within 24 hours of being launched. But why the rush to rebuild the cathedral at all? The building evolved over many centuries, with constant remodelling and additions. At the time of the fire, experts had already said the Cathedral was in poor condition and required 150million euros (around 130million) to repair- work had been trundling on since 1991. Now, Macron has flushed out a huge fund from a handful of billionaires. The city of Paris will be contributing 50million euros (43million) and the regional government another 10million (over 8million). Flames engulfed the roof of the Notre Dame cathedral with the spire collapsing not long after the blaze began Charred damage could be seen inside Notre Dame cathedral after the massive blaze destroyed the roof and wooden interior Let's face reality- a building which is over 700 years old will always be falling down and require a bottomless pit to keep safe. Notre Dame might be visited by millions of gawking tourists, but the number of people attending church is actually declining at a rapid rate. All over the UK, churches lie empty and unused. In the USA, people under 40 are four times more likely than ever to say they have no religion than they were forty years ago. In every major city in the world, cathedrals are full of tourists shuffling through, photographing everything in sight. They are hardly reverential spaces for quiet contemplation, but have been turned into flashy tourist attractions with guides and souvenirs. The burnt-out building should be left as a poignant reminder of its' former glory days. A reminder that man-made structures are temporary but true belief transcends it's surroundings. After the war, cathedrals were bombed, some were restored, but others left as reminders of man's cruelty to man. The money pouring into Notre Dame would be better put to use solving the severe social problems that divide France - starting with the crime-ridden suburbs just a stone's throw away from the cathedral in the North of the city. Here, violent gangs control drugs and gun running, and police are reluctant to patrol. Immigrants and the poorest families were dumped in soul-less tower blocks and no amenities - the result has been a catastrophe. Social division in France is worse than in the UK or the USA - witness the recent rioting in the Champs Elysee with looting, extreme violence and vandalism of shops and businesses by protestors who feel excluded from society. Instead of offering millions to the less fortunate, Pinault, Arnault, Bettencourt and the Bouygues brothers prefer to stump up in the name of religion. They should remember that Jesus threw the moneylenders out of the temple - I doubt very much that He would approve this cash derived from unnecessary luxury goods being spent in His name. After all, Jesus was happy to wear rags, not couture or Fendi sandals. And he turned water into everyday wine - not Dom Perignon. Advertisement Beneath the light rain that greeted a sleepless Parisian dawn yesterday, there was one over-riding emotion: That some sort of miracle had occurred in the early hours as it transpired one of the worlds greatest medieval buildings had survived wholesale destruction. The near-cataclysmic fire which had raged through the Cathedral of Notre Dame for eight hours during the night had finally been brought under control and smothered by first light. Notre Dame has, without doubt, been horribly damaged. France, along with much of the world, has been deeply shocked at the near-demise of Our Lady of Paris. Yesterday evening, fresh images of the wreckage were released showing the aisle piled high with charred and twisted timbers. Near disaster: An aerial view shows the vast extent of the damage to the Notre Dame Cathedral's roof, where the fire took hold and raged throughout Monday night A birds-eye view using a drone over the top of Notre Dame Cathedral shows extensive damage to the roof of the church after Monday night's inferno The scaffolding still stands around where the he spire stood before it collapsed in breathtaking scenes on Monday night Scorched stones at the top of the central tower of the cathedral which had housed the spire before it collapsed dramatically on Monday The cavernous interior of the church exposed to all the elements and the mangled bars of scaffolding after they were melted and bent by the ferocious blaze The rear of the cathedral beside the Seine river in central Paris after the fire spread rapidly in the lattice of woodwork in the roof known as 'the forest' A plunging hole goes all the way through to the cathedral floor as the bars and boards of the scaffolding which had been used for renovations can be seen mangled after the spire fell away One of the cathedral's many intricate facades around where the tower stood stands blackened after the searing blaze swept through its windows Yet it could have been so very much worse. The 850-year-old towers which stand guard over the entrance and the immortal bells hanging within are in one piece. So, too, is some of the stained glass. Our Lady lives on, bloodied but unbowed. At the same time, the fire had produced another miracle of sorts. This avowedly secular country suddenly seemed to have rediscovered its sense of the spiritual yesterday, if only for a few hours.I have never known so many people talking openly about God, about religion and saying prayers in public, said caterer Marie-Astrid dArras. So many people have become Catholic once again. Underpinning all this talk of divine intervention was a single image which first appeared in the Daily Mail yesterday. I was one of the first people inside the smouldering cathedral as the worst of the fire subsided. I accompanied the French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, and a handful of aides on a preliminary inspection of the charred shell. The sun rising over Notre Dame Cathedral on Wednesday morning as donations towards its renovation soared to one billion euros How did it escape the flames? The golden crucifix standing above a pile of charred debris and twisted timbers We found flames still flickering in some of the upper reaches and a lake at our feet. Then, through the foul-smelling miasma of smoke and hose water which filled this roofless void, we suddenly spotted an image that has come to define this near-disaster: The golden cross above the altar. How on earth had it managed to avoid the fate of everything else in the seat of the blaze, let alone remain upright? Even avowed atheists took to social media yesterday to profess how moved they had been by this poignant symbol of defiance. Several Anglophile Parisians told me it reminded them of that famous wartime image of St Pauls Cathedral standing tall during the Blitz. For the authorities, there were more earthly considerations, notably finding out how the hell this had all happened in the first place. France might be praying a little louder than usual. But it is also pretty angry, too. An interior view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral on Monday People attend a vigil on Tuesday. Firefighters declared success Tuesday in a more than 12-hour battle to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof President Emmanuel Macron knows he needs to show a firm grip on every aspect of this episode and his interior minister Christophe Castaner vowed to identify the culprits yesterday. Attention was firmly focused on the contractors responsible for repair work on the roof in the area where the fire broke out. The fact that it started just moments after the end of the working day could provide a link. Mr Macron cleared yesterdays Cabinet meetings of all other business to focus exclusively on Notre Dame. Such is the mystical hold this 12th Century Gothic masterpiece has on the national psyche. A key issue will be the cost. Under French law, the ownership of the cathedral rests with the State but the French taxpayer received a handsome head start yesterday when two of the countrys richest families pledged 300million euros before breakfast. By last night, the fighting fund had hit an astonishing 600million euros. An aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames on Monday evening in the French capital Paris People pray on their knees by the Seine riverside in front of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers As stories began to emerge of the gallantry of the firefighters and of a particularly heroic priest seen running into the inferno to retrieve some of Notre Dames treasures messages arrived from world leaders, including one from the Queen. Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral, she told President Macron. My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the cathedral and all of France at this difficult time. Tomorrow, she will attend her beloved Royal Maundy service at St Georges Windsor, the traditional prelude to Easter Sunday. There will be no Easter at Notre Dame, for the first time in nearly nine centuries. There was also a message yesterday from the Prince of Wales. I realise only too well what a truly special significance the cathedral holds at the heart of your nation, he told Mr Macron. But also for us outside France it represents one of the greatest architectural achievements of Western civilisation. It is a treasure for all mankind. People gather at the Place Saint-Michel the day after Notre-Dame Cathedral suffered heavy damage from a massive fire By way of consolation, he alluded to the Royal Familys own experience of the 1992 fire which ravaged much of Windsor Castle. Our hearts go out to you and the people of France more than you can ever know, especially in view of our experience with the devastating fire at Windsor Castle 27 years ago, the Prince went on. It was the Prince, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, who led the five-year, 40million rebuilding programme. It more than restored Windsor to its former glory. Mr Macron would be well advised to pick up the phone to the Queen or her eldest son for a few useful tips on how best to resurrect a medieval treasure. Other world leaders expressing their solidarity yesterday included Pope Francis, who announced he was placing the Vaticans heritage experts at Frances disposal. This graphic shows the scale of the damage to the cathedral, with some artefacts confirmed as safe and others damaged Before the blaze: This image from drone footage shows the glory of the cathedral's interior before the devastating fire After all, one of his predecessors, Pope Alexander III, was here to see the foundation stone laid in 1163. The outpouring of international goodwill only added to the emotions I encountered in Paris yesterday. I found young men playing mournful recitals on the cello. Here and there, nuns broke into song or prayer. Gawping crowds encircling the cathedrals island site on either side of the Seine filled miles of pavement and brought traffic to an escargot-style crawl. In front of Notre Dame itself, a succession of sombre politicians talked of a need for national unity. After months of civil disobedience by the anti-Macron gilets jaunes movement, there is a sense that the appetite for organised dissent has waned in the last 24 hours. There is a spirit which lives inside and above this building, one you dont find in, say, the Eiffel Tower, said Ambrose Laurent, secretary of Frances Conference of Bishops Then the bishops issued a joint statement saying every cathedral in France would ring its bells today at the precise time when Mondays fire broke out. Sitting with his drawing pad next to the Seine, I found retired steel executive Robert Gest, 72, sketching the cathedral. He said he wants to leave it to his grandchildren as a reminder of what happened. There has been so much bashing of the church and religion in this country that perhaps this experience will make people think about it a little more, he said. After all, the great cross is still there. The inside of Notre Dame with its Gothic architecture and high vaulted ceiling is seen before it was wrecked by the inferno A view from an upper level of Notre Dame before the interior was ravaged by the fire and the roof and spire destroyed The nave of the Paris cathedral with pews for the congregation is seen before the blaze which left it exposed to the elements Some of the ornate artwork is seen inside the cathedral before the blaze. Most of the architecture remains intact today A drone's view before the blaze shows the cathedral with the 19th-century spire still standing, before its collapse on Monday 'It is a sign of hope': Parisians and tourists gather outside Notre Dame for candlelight vigil as they share their relief that beloved cathedral is still standing despite blaze gutting much of the iconic landmark by Dianne Apen-Sadler Parisians and tourists gathered outside the Notre Dame in Paris this evening for another candlelit vigil after a fire tore through the structure's iconic spire and much of the roof last night. Locals met at the Saint-Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement before walking to the iconic cathedral where they sang hymns outside. The Saint-Suplice church, built in the 17th century and important to French Catholicism, caught on fire last month but had nowhere near as much damage as the older cathedral. Parisians and tourists gathered outside the Notre Dame in Paris this evening for another candlelit vigil after a fire tore through the structure's iconic spire and much of the roof last night Pictured: a woman closes her eyes as she sings outside of Notre Dame while another holds rosary beads this evening Locals met at the Saint Sulpice church in the 6th arrondissement before walking to the iconic cathedral where they sang hymns outside Earlier today, Parisians were relieved to see the bell towers and great stained-glass rose window were still standing this morning despite fears the whole building would collapse 'Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works,' said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang Pictured: the blaze at Notre Dame yesterday. Much of the roof was destroyed, as was the cathedral's spire The vigil comes as footage of people softly singing the classic hymn 'Ave Maria' and kneeling outside the 856-year-old building during the 12-hour blaze last night went viral, racking up nearly 15million views. Earlier today, Parisians were relieved to see the bell towers and great stained-glass rose window were still standing this morning despite fears the whole building would collapse. 'Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything,' said Sister Marie Aimee, a nun who had hurried to a nearby church to pray as the flames spread. 'It is a sign of hope.' Organizers of tonight's vigil said in a statement they want to show their attachment to Notre Dame. French President Emmanuel Macron today pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years. Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history 'Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything,' said Sister Marie Aimee Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be 'long and complex.' Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations French President Emmanuel Macron today pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years Pictured: one Parisian waves a French flag as others sing near the Notre Dame at tonight's emotional vigil Pictured: one Parisian gathered at the vigil waved a gigantic French flag as a large group gathered at the iconic landmark News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' 'We have so much to rebuild,' Macron said in a televised address to the nation. 'We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize (to do so).' Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be 'long and complex.' Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6.20pm on Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6.43 pm, and the blaze was discovered on the roof. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. 'Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works,' said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. A 10-year-old girl was left with 40 stitches after she bravely fought off a shark that suddenly attacked her as she celebrated her birthday on a Florida beach. Peyton Shields' family get-together on Crescent Beach, in Baker County, took a terrifying turn shortly after the birthday girl waded into waist-deep water. Having only been at the beach for an hour, Peyton, just a short distance from the shore, started struggling and screaming out in pain for her parents to help. Peytons dad Steve Shields said he immediately spotted his daughter in discomfort and presumed shed been stung by a jellyfish. Peyton Shields turned 10 last weekend, but the celebrations took a frightening turn when she entered waist-deep waters Her parents initially thought she'd been stung by a jellyfish, until she emerged from the water with a series of bite marks It wasnt until he spotted a red mist forming in the water around Peyton that he says he realized that something much worse was unfolding. I saw she had blood coming out of her hand and then I started going into, 'Whats going on? Steve said to WJXT. Then when she got out, I saw there was a lot more blood coming from the lower half. As a distressed Peyton staggered towards her parents, she told them of her terrifying encounter with a shark, which suddenly started attacking her. The creature began by biting both of her legs and as she tried to push it away the shark took an addition chunk out of her left hand, before swimming off. Peytons parents applied pressure on her wounds until paramedics arrived. Other children were in the water at the time of the attack but she was the only one harmed. The 10-year-old was rushed to a near-by hospital where she was given 40 stitches by doctors, along with a series of bandages. But fortunately brave Peyton was released just in time to attend her birthday party with friends, which ironically was ocean themed, on Saturday just a day after the attack. he creature began by biting both of her legs, and as she tried to push it away the shark took an addition chunk out of her left hand, before swimming away The incident happened on Crescent Beach, in Baker County last friday And completely unfazed by the frightening encounter, Peyton insists she cant wait to get back in the water again later this summer. Shes mad because she cant go swimming and get in the water and all that stuff. She said, 'The sharks gone. Im ready to get back in,' Steve said. We live in Florida. There's sharks. Theres alligators. Were going to go swim in the lake. Were going to swim in the ocean. It is what it is. With her wounds to prove the incredible story, Steve says Payton has become somewhat of a celebrity among the local community. My daughter got bitten by a shark. It's, like, I don't know anybody who has been bitten by a shark, he added. Lucky Peyton. This is the second shark attack to happen in the North-eastern Florida and Southeast Georgia region this year. A senior executive from Huawei has denied that the firm has spoken to Apple about supplying the US company with 5G chipsets in the future. The comment comes a day after Huaewei's founder and CEO said that it was 'open' to selling 5G mobile chips to Apple. The latest remark, made by rotating chairman Ken Hu, was made the day after founder Ren Zhengfei said that he would consider the venture with regards to Apple. So far the tech giant has only used its chips for its own devices, although it has secured 40 contracts to build 5G technology into telecom infrastructures worldwide. Scroll down for video A senior executive from Huawei has denied that the firm has spoken to Apple about supplying the US company with 5G chipsets in the future. The comment from rotating chairman Ken Hu comes a day after its founder saying that it was 'open' to selling 5G mobile chips to Apple At the Huawei annual global analyst summit in its Shenzhen headquarters, Mr Hu reiterated that Huawei does not plan to become a chipset vendor at this time and no such conversations had taken place with Apple. 'We have not had discussions with Apple on this issue,' Mr Hu said. He added that Huawei had secured 40 commercial contracts to build 5G telecommunications infrastructure, up from a previously disclosed tally of more than 30 companies. As the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, Huawei has an inhouse semiconductor arm, HiSilicon that designs chipsets, which includes the phone chips that go into its mobile handsets. But these are currently solely used in its own products and not by other phone companies or third parties. The comments from Mr Hu followed a CNBC interview where founder Ren Zhengfei was specifically asked by the interviewer whether he had considered making his intellectual property in the form of 5G chips available to third party users 'such as Apple'. To which Mr Ren replied: 'To Apple, we are open in this respect'. The response from Mr Ren however, did not suggest that he considered selling 5G chips more widely to third party holders. The latest remark from Huawei, made by rotating chairman Ken Hu, was made the day after founder Ren Zhengfei said that he would consider the idea, specifically with regards to Apple The CEO's response was likely a surprise for many given the repeated denials from Huawei that it had any intention of becoming a chip vendor to compete against the likes of Qualcomm and Intel. In January it launched its 5G modem Balong 5000 which it has claimed to be the industry's most powerful. It has also set up a 5G core chip for base stations called Tiangang. The company last month reported a 25 per cent rise in net profit in 2018 to 59.3 billion yuan (6.75 billion/$8.8 billion), even as revenue from its network equipment business fell 1.3 per cent to 294 billion yuan (33.5 billion/$43.8 billion). So far the tech giant has only used its chips in its own devices, despite contracts to build 5G technology into telecom infrastructures worldwide. Mr Ken Hu (pictured) reiterated that Huawei does not plan to become a chipset vendor at this time and no such conversations had taken place with Apple In the same interview with CNBC on Monday where Mr Ren spoke about Apple, he also paid compliments to the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs. He said: 'Mr. Jobs was great not because he created Apple, but because he created an era, the mobile internet era. 'Saying that he was great is an understatement. I think he was super-great.' He also praised how the company did business and describes the mistakes he himself made with Huawei in its early days. 'With an umbrella, Apple sells at high prices and maintains quality. It has grown the market, enable many other companies to survive.' We set prices based on our costs which were relatively low... as a result, we set our prices at a low level, which made it hard for western companies to compete with us. We have raised our prices and many poeople now think Huawei is expensive. Mr Ren explained how setting higher prices had driven the company's profits and was being put back into research and development for future space project and scientific endeavours. 'This way, we will be able to make world leading products,' he said. A new survey shows the United States and China are the leading nations prepared for ultrafast 5G wireless networks. Friday's launch will see South Korea go live across the country and users with 5G-enabled devices will have internet 20 times faster than the existing 4G (file photo) The Huawei boss recalled a story about a his youngest daughter Annabel Yao from 2011, the year Jobs died. 'When he passed away, I was on a vacation in the mountains with my family. 'My younger daughter is a fan of Mr. Jobs, so she proposed that we stop for a moment of silence to mourn him, and we did.' Huawei's global outlook has also been marred over the past year by the United States repeating concerns that its equipment could be used for espionage and after Washington urged allies to ban Huawei from their 5G mobile networks. The company has dismissed the security concerns as completely unfounded. The chief of Britain's foreign intelligence services MI6 said in December that reliance on Chinese technology for 5G was something Britain needed to discuss. New Zealand and Australia have stopped telecom operators using Huawei's equipment in new 5G networks because they are concerned about possible Chinese government involvement in their communications infrastructure. Chinese firm Huawei, the world's biggest network equipment maker ahead of Ericsson and Nokia, has repeatedly said Beijing has no influence over its operations. BT said Huawei's equipment had not been used in the core of its fixed-line network, and it was removing it from the core of the mobile networks it acquired when it bought operator EE. It said the process was to bring the EE networks into line with the rest of its business rather than a change of policy. 'In 2016, following the acquisition of EE, we began a process to remove Huawei equipment from the core of our 3G and 4G networks, as part of network architecture principles in place since 2006,' a BT spokesman said. He said the company would apply the same principles to its next-generation mobile networks. 'As a result, Huawei have not been included in vendor selection for our 5G core,' he said. 'Huawei remains an important equipment provider outside the core network, and a valued innovation partner,' he added. Fort George is losing a battle with the coastal impact of climate change and rising seas, according to an expert. The 18th century stronghold's exposed coastal location leaves it vulnerable to violent storms likely to hasten corrosion of its walls, buildings and lands. Following the battle of Culloden, the final confrontation of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, George II created Fort George as the ultimate defence against further attacks. It was used as a military base for both world wars and parts of the site, near Iverness, continue to operate as a barracks. But now the historic site, which is susceptible to accelerated decay because of its coastal position, is under threat against natural hazards. Scroll down for video Fort George is losing a battle with the coastal impact of climate change and rising seas, according to an expert Fort George is losing a battle with the coastal impact of climate change and rising seas, according to a climate expert. The 18th century stronghold's exposed coastal location leaves it vulnerable to violent storms likely to hasten corrosion According to the latest projections, by 2100 sea levels in the area could rise up to one meter higher. Currently sea levels are rising at 3-4 mm a year and that figure is increasing, according to the Historic Environment Scotland (HES). Dr Mairi Davies, Climate Change Manager at the HES told MailOnline: 'Rising sea level, and potentially changes in the severity of storm surges, will increase the rate and extent of coastal erosion.' Fort George was strategically located on a promontory jutting in to the Moray Firth, and its coastal position makes it exposed to erosion, she said. To help protect the site, rock armour has already been installed on the exposed, northfacing side, in a project carried out in partnership with the Army. The findings were revealed in Scotland in the Sky, a series featuring aerial photography and footage, presented by James Crawford. Following the battle of Culloden, the final confrontation of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, George II created Fort George as the ultimate defence against further attacks. It was used as a military base for both world wars and parts of the site continue to operate as a barracks Following the battle of Culloden,the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745 George II created the ultimate defence against further Jacobite attacks. Used as a military base for both world wars, parts of the site continue to operate as a barracks HOW DOES WATER CORRODE THE SANDSTONE IN FORT GEORGE? According to the HES, Fort George is built of sandstone. All sandstones have a degree of permeability water will enter and move through the material. Salt water aerosol is a factor in the decay of sandstone buildings, which is exacerbated by wind during storm events. If a sandstone building is exposed to salt water, it is then susceptible to salt-weathering (whereby the expansive force of growing salt crystals can prise apart constituent components in the stonework, promoting granular disintegration in the stone). If sandstone is exposed to increased amounts of moisture, for instance by rising sea levels and storm events, then the speed at which it naturally deteriorates will accelerate. Advertisement In the first part, which airs tomorrow, Crawford visits Fort George to see the impact the erosion of the coastline could eventually have on the near 300-year-old garrison. 'From up high you can read the landscapes of Scotland, see things you could never see down on the ground,' he said. 'You can glimpse Scotland's hidden past and better understand how we've lived and how we've changed our environment over millennia. It's the closest you can ever get to time travel.' The three-part series makes use of the millions of archive pictures held by Historic Environment Scotland to tell the country's story from above. Viewers will be taken on a journey to explore how Scotlands rural and urban landscapes have changed over thousands of years. Historic Environment Scotland and the army have already installed rock armour in a bid to protect the site. The findings were revealed in Scotland in the Sky, a series featuring aerial photography and footage, presented by James Crawford. Pictured, a castle on the site In the first part, which returns tomorrow, Crawford visits Fort George, near Inverness, to see the impact the erosion of the coastline could eventually have on the near 300-year-old garrison It returns tomorrow Crawford said he wanted to use the platform to warn of the potentially catastrophic effect we are having on our history before it's too late. His connection to the aerial archives stretches back a decade to when he began working with the Royal Commission, now part of Historic Environment Scotland. Fort George was built on a monumental scale, making use of sophisticated defence standards, with heavy guns covering every angle. It was one of the ruthless measures introduced by the government to suppress Jacobite ambitions after the nearby Battle of Culloden. According to a report outlining the climate change risk to Scotland's historic sites, over 300 sites in the care of Historic Environment Scotland are at 'climate change risk'. Advertising in space may seem like overkill but marketing staff at Pepsi appear to have taken the idea seriously - at least, to begin with. The soft drinks firm teamed up with a Russian startup to launch a briefcase-sized CubeSat into the upper atmosphere aboard a weather balloon. It carried the logo of Adrenaline Rush, an energy drink aimed at gamers in Russia backed by Pepsi. Its partner StartRocket is planning to use artificial constellations of reflective CubeSats, launched aboard rockets, to advertise commercially by 2021 and charging $20,000 (15,300) for an eight hour advert. The initial test seems to have soured Pepsi's taste in the project, however, and the firm has since issued a statement saying it has dropped its plans. Advertising in space may seem like overkill but marketing staff at Pepsi appear to have taken the idea seriously - at least, to begin with. The firm teamed up with a Russian startup to launch a briefcase-sized CubeSat into the upper atmosphere aboard a weather balloon (pictured) The test launch was conducted near the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky, in Russia's Yaroslavskaya Oblast state, 150 miles (245km) northeast of Moscow. Pepsi's advertising stunt was aimed at promoting its 'campaign against stereotypes and unjustified prejudices against gamers', the firm said. 'We believe in StartRocket potential,' Olga Mangova, a spokesman for Pepsi Russia, told Futurism ahead of the launch. 'Orbital billboards are the revolution on the market of communications. 'That's why on behalf of Adrenaline Rush PepsiCo Russia energy non-alcoholic drink, which is brand innovator, and supports everything new, and non-standard we agreed on this partnership.' It seems that the firm changed its tune after the launch of the high altitude balloon, however, and has since stated it has no further plans to use StartRocket. 'We can confirm StartRocket performed an exploratory test for stratosphere advertisements using the Adrenaline GameChangers logo,' a PepsiCo spokesperson told MailOnline. 'This was a one-time event; we have no further plans to test or commercially use this technology at this time.' Academics lashed out at the campaign and Pepsi's parent company quickly distanced itself from the endeavour. David Clements, reader in astrophysics at Imperial College London, told The Times: 'If enough money is thrown at this project, it is likely it could be made to work. 'However, to my mind, turning the sky into a floating billboard is a monumental act of cultural and scientific vandalism.' StartRocket announced its controversial plans to run adverts across the evening sky using hundreds of tiny orbiting satellites back in January 2019. The ambitious marketing project would beam down luminous slogans and logos from 300 miles (480km) above the people it is targeting. They are designed to reflect light from the sun back towards Earth's surface. As such, they only work when light is available near Earth but not on the surface, such as at dawn and dusk. Each satellite would have a huge reflective sail which would act as a single pixel within the display. Each advert would be visible for a total of six minutes at a time, three or four times a day. StartRocket announced its controversial plans to run adverts across the evening sky using hundreds of tiny orbiting satellites back in January 2019. This image shows a concept advert featured in the firm's first promotional video The ambitious marketing project would beam down luminous slogans and logos from 300 miles (480km) above the people it is targeting. This image shows another concept advert, over the skies of Paris Since it was announced in January, the initiative has angered astronomers and raised questions about the need to better regulate who owns the skies - and what is in them. 'Advertising in space seems to be simply a wasteful and expensive way of ruining the view of the night sky,' Robert Massey, deputy executive director of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society, said in January. 'Light pollution on the ground makes it difficult enough already to see the sky - the stars and the Milky Way - from many locations, and advertising in space is a way of destroying that beautiful vista from the remaining unsullied sites.' Yet, from a legal standpoint there is not much they can do about it, according to law experts. 'In principle, activities like that would be permitted,' Christopher Johnson, space law adviser at the Secure World Foundation, a US think tank, said at the time. 'There is a need to look at these novel uses of outer space that really people haven't though of before.' A top NASA asteroid scientist has said that the best way to defend the Earth from asteroids is to build a new telescope capable of spotting them as soon as possible. Dr Amy Mainzer from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said that trying to spot asteroids with current telescopes was like trying to spot a 'lump of coal in the night's sky'. Her team has proposed a new system designed to spot large meteors capable of causing significant damage. It would identify incoming asteroids capable of causing huge loss of life - just like the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. They claim this would give the scientists more time to come up with a strategy to intercept the rock. Scroll down for video A NASA scientist has said that to defend the Earth from dangerous asteroids is to detect them via heat using an infra-red telescope called the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam). Comet Catalina (pictured) in 2015 was captured by such a telescope called NEOWISE Dr Mainzer cautioned that current telescopes are ineffective when it comes to spotting asteroids until it's too late to stop them hitting our planet in a potentially catastrophic way. The Chelyabinsk meteor, which only measured 17 to 20 meters across, caused extensive ground damage and numerous injuries when it exploded on impact with Earth's atmosphere in February 2013. While the asteroid that hit Earth killing off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago was roughly 6 miles (10 km) across. Detecting these Near-Earth Objects - NEOs in time means preventing such tragedies to human kind, but spotting them in the first place is often the problem. Dr Mainzer likened finding NEOs in space like spotting a 'lump of coal in the night's sky'. She said: 'NEOs are intrinsically faint because they are mostly really small and far away from us in space. 'Add to this the fact that some of them are as dark as printer toner, and trying to spot them against the black of space is very hard.' Dr Amy Mainzer said that trying to spot asteroids via their 'faint' light was like trying to spot a 'lump of coal in the night's sky', but that a proposed Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) mission (pictured) that detects heat waves would make it a lot more accurate The new camera, being proposed to NASA, would use the latest camera technology to allow astronomers enough time to intercept asteroids and comets on a course for Earth. This comes after NASA awarded Elon Musk's SpaceX a 52.7m ($69m) contract to launch an spacecraft to study whether asteroids can be rammed off a collision course with Earth. Dr Mainzer said: 'We are proposing to NASA a new telescope, the NEOCam, to do a much more comprehensive job of mapping asteroid locations and measuring their sizes. 'If we find an object only a few days from impact, it greatly limits our choices, so in our search efforts we've focused on finding NEOs when they are further away from Earth, providing the maximum amount of time and opening up a wider range of mitigation possibilities. Dr Mainzer has proposed a new NEOCam telescope to NASA which she says could prevent similar rocks to that which wiped out the dinosaurs from being future risks to Earth. The picture shown is a collection of images of the asteroid 2305 King by the WISE spacecraft Their findings from the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope are critical for mounting a defensive strategy against Earth-threatening asteroids. This including ramming them off-course - but the method needs details of the asteroid's size and composition, in order to calculate its mass. Dr Mainzer added a new telescope could also be used to study ancient comets and asteroids. She said: 'With the NEOWISE mission we can spot objects regardless of their surface colour, and use it to measure their sizes and other surface properties. 'These objects are intrinsically interesting because some are thought to be as old as the original material that made up the solar system. 'One of the things that we have been finding is that NEOs are pretty diverse in composition.' She said she was now keen to leverage advances in camera technology to aid in the search for NEOs. Dr Mainzer is the principal investigator of NASA's asteroid hunting mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. She was due to present her plans to build a new telescope, the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) to this month's American Physical Society meeting in Denver, US. The full report is published in the journal American Physical Society. Rabbits sometimes kill a few of their own offspring and experts now claim this may be because it allows them to save and nurture more of their babies in the long run. In nature, many animals - including rabbits, hens and fish - are known to suddenly decide to eat or abandon their young. But never before have scientists found proof of them pursuing this for the perceived greater good of their surviving siblings. Researchers from Oxford University have found that eating or abandoning young can reduce the pressure of accidentally having too many offspring - particularly in animals who typically have large litters. Scroll down for video Sometimes, in nature, rabbits and hens suddenly decide to chow down on their respective young or eggs and some researchers believe it may be for the betterment of the litter as a whole (stock photo) Such overcrowding can lead to resource scarcity or greater risks of disease. This therefore can negatively impact entire animal families and populations - forcing the parents to sacrifice a few of their young to the needs of the many. Eating and abandoning offspring has been observed in various species - including birds, fish, insects, mammals and spiders. The reason behind the particularly counter-intuitive approach to parenting has been heavily debated. Scientists had previously suggested that the eating of one's children could be a result of parental hunger, or possibly a form of quality control. In the new study, researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga focused on egg-laying animals that conduct filicide. For egg-layers, overcrowding or 'offspring density' can be a major issue, explains paper author and biologist Hope Klug of the University of Tennessee. 'Communal egg laying is common in a range of fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians,' Professor Klug said. 'This makes it easier to protect, clean, incubate and feed the eggs but can also increase disease transmission, and competition for food and oxygen.' Because of these negative factors, offspring density has the potential to impact survival rates. And in some species, having too many offspring around results in some of the eggs either being abandoned or eaten by their parents. For example, Professor Klug explains that among certain damselfish, 'fathers were more likely to eat eggs under low oxygen conditions.' 'Such cases have led the to the hypothesis that eating or abandoning offspring may be an adaptation to improve overall survival of offspring by reducing their density.' To put this hypothesis to the test, the research team headed up by lead author Mackenzie Davenport of the University of Tennessee created a mechanical model to explore the impact of various parental behaviours. 'The model introduced an imaginary individual with a mutation for filial cannibalism or offspring abandonment into a population of generic egg-laying animals,' explained Dr Davenport. Scientists had previously suggested that the eating of one's young, for example among hens, could be a result of parental hunger, or possibly a form of quality control (stock photo) The researchers found that if parents got advantageous extra energy from snacking on their spawn, the cannibalism gene would spread throughout the population. Furthermore, the models suggest that when the density of egg laying results in an increase in offspring mortality, both abandoning or eating their eggs becomes a sensible strategy for parents. This is because sacrificing a few eggs can result in more offspring surviving overall, which is beneficial to both the parents themselves but also to the wider population. 'Under these conditions, the mutants were able to out-compete and replace the generic population,' Dr Davenport reported. The researchers found that this remained the case even when the cannibalistic parents were given little or no energy bonus from eating their children, or if the model assumed that abandoned offspring die. 'Our findings suggest that, surprisingly, filial cannibalism and offspring abandonment can function as forms of parental care by increasing total offspring survival,' Dr Davenport concluded. The full findings of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Advertisement Scientists have discovered liquid blood inside the carcass of an extinct foal preserved for 42,000 years in the Siberian permafrost, it was announced today. It is believed to be the oldest blood ever found in the world - and boosts hopes of cloning back to life the long-gone Lenskaya species of prehistoric horse. The discovery was made by an international team of scientists who are also hoping in future to clone the extinct woolly mammoth from genetic material frozen in permafrost. Scroll down for video A picture shows the Ice Age blood in a test tube at a laboratory in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world. The discovery was made by an international team of scientists who are also hoping in future to clone the extinct woolly mammoth from genetic material frozen in permafrost Dr Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk said the autopsy on the foal shows 'beautifully preserved internal organs'. The prehistoric baby horse died from drowning aged less than two weeks old, he said They have already revealed they are 'confident of success' in extracting cells from this ancient foal in order to clone its species and bring it back to life. Dr Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk said the autopsy on the foal shows 'beautifully preserved internal organs'. The prehistoric baby horse died from drowning aged less than two weeks old, he said. 'Samples of liquid blood were taken from heart vessels - it was preserved in the liquid state for 42,000 years thanks to favourable burial conditions and permafrost,' he said, reported The Siberian Times. 'The muscle tissues preserved their natural reddish colour. 'We can now claim that this is the best preserved Ice Age animal ever found in the world.' Dr Grigoryev revealed the foal is in an exceptional condition without any visible damage. 'This is extremely rare for paleontological finds, because some of them are either incomplete, fragmented, with serious body deformations or strongly mummified,' he said. There are no artists impression of the exact species Lemskaya - of which the 42,00 year old foal belongs - but it is believed to have looked similar to this pictured foal, which is a modern day descendent, the Yakutian horse The foal was originally dug out of the permafrost last summer but the blood was only extracted on 28 February. It's discovery was kept secret until today It is believed to be the oldest blood ever found in the world - and boosts hopes of cloning back to life the long-gone Lenskaya species of prehistoric horse. Pictured, researchers analysis the blood sample from the foal Work is so advanced that the team is reportedly already choosing a surrogate mother for the historic role of giving birth to the ancient horse The international research team is led by South Korean cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo-suk, who is also closely involved in efforts to use remains of woolly mammoths preserved in permafrost bring the giants back to life 'The foal's hair is intact on its head, legs and part of its body. 'Its tail and mane are black, the rest of the foal's body is bay. 'Having preserved hair is another scientific sensation as all previous ancient horses were found without hair.' Russian scientists are working with experts fromSouth Korean Sooam Biotech Research Foundation. 'Our studies showed that at the moment of death the foal was from one to two weeks old, so he was just recently born,' said Dr Grigoryev.. 'As in previous cases of really well-preserved remains of prehistoric animals, the cause of death was drowning in mud which froze and turned into permafrost. 'A lot of mud and silt which the foal gulped during the last seconds of its life were found inside its gastrointestinal tract.' Michil Yakovlev, editor of the university's corporate media, said: 'Hopefully, the world will soon meet the clone of the ancient foal who lived 42,000 years ago.' The foal was originally dug out of the permafrost last summer but the blood was only extracted on 28 February. It's discovery was kept secret until today. Six years ago blood was found in a mammoth carcass on Malolyakhovskiy island, dated as 28,000 years old. Other samples - some older - taken from mammoths have been found not to be of sufficient quantity for cloning. Scientists will use closely-related modern-day horses (pictured) that are similar to the extinct Lenskaya breed and live in the same region to act as a surrogate mother for the clone. It could be the first step in working out how to restore the long-gone woolly mammoth and would look similar to these modern animals Scientists have said they are 'confident of success' in extracting cells from a 42,000 year old extinct foal in order to clone its prehistoric species back to life, say reports Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 15) The screening body of the country's advertising industry on Monday said it had not approved the controversial ads of whitening product brand GlutaMAX. In a statement, the Ad Standards Council (ASC) of the Philippines said the ads violated the council's manual of procedure. "ASC stands for responsible communications and abides by a strict code of ethics," it said. GlutaMAX drew flack Saturday over its online ads, which encourage women to use its whitening products to avoid being discriminated for being dark-skinned. One of its ads shows two female models, with the brown-skinned one glaring at her whiter counterpart. The ad bears the words "Maputi lang pinaupo na sa bus? Unfair 'di ba?" (Offered with a seat in the bus just because of fair skin? Isn't it unfair?) and "Nakakainis ba 'pag may unfair treatment tuwing [nagko-commute]? 'Wag magalit, mag-GlutaMAX" (Is it annoying when there's unfair treatment during commute? Don't get angry, use GlutaMAX). In another material, GlutaMAX also cited a poll result saying that three in five Filipinos believe that fair-skinned people are treated better. The screening body cited Article 4 Section 1 of the manual, which states that "advertisements shall not directly or indirectly disparage, ridicule, criticize, or attack any natural or juridical persons, groups of persons, or any sector of society, especially on the basis of gender, social or economic class, religion, ethnicity, race, or nationality." The ASC said "the matter will be dealt with in accordance to the rules and regulations as stated in the manual." GlutaMAX had taken down the controversial ads from its social media accounts. The company earlier today also issued an apology. "We believe that the best intentions are never an excuse for causing harm. And for all those that we've offended over the past few days, we offer our sincerest apologies," GlutaMAX said. The Windsor Castle fire of November 1992 A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence. The Berkshire blaze started at 11am in Queen Victoria's Private Chapel after a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar. Within minutes the blaze had spread to St George's Hall next door, and the fire would go on to destroy 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms. Three hours after the blaze was first spotted 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the fire, using 36 pumps to discharge 1.5million gallons of water at the inferno's peak. The fire break at the other end of St George's Hall remained unbreached, so the Royal Library was fortunately left undamaged. A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence Staff worked to remove works of art from the Royal Collection from the path of the fire. According to the Royal Collection Trust: 'The Castle's Quadrangle was full of some of the finest examples of French 18th-century furniture, paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Gainsborough, Sevres porcelain and other treasures of the Collection. 'Amazingly, only two works of art were lost in the fire - a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting by Sir William Beechey that couldn't be taken down from the wall in time. Luckily works of art had already been removed from many rooms in advance of rewiring work.' The Duke of York had said he he heard the fire alarm and roughly two or three minutes later he saw the smoke after leaving the room he was in, according to contemporary reports. Prince Andrew had joined a group removing valuable works of art from the castle to save them from destruction. The York Minster fire of 1984 Pictured: Aftermath of the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984 Early in the morning of July 9, 1984, York Minster's south transept was set ablaze, destroying the roof and causing 2.25million worth of damage. More than 100 firefighters confronted the church fire, taking two hours to bring it to heel. The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lightning bolt that struck the cathedral shortly after midnight. The blaze seriously damaged the cathedral's stonework, along with its famous Rose Window, and firefighters were left tackling embers on the floor after the roof collapsed at 4am. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am. An investigation ruled out an electrical or gas fault, and arson was discounted due to roof's inaccessibility. Tests had found that the blaze was 'almost certainly' caused by a lightning strike but much of the evidence was destroyed in the fire. The building was restored in 1988 after masonry teams re-carved stonework above the building's rose window and arches. It was reported that the rose window, designed to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, reached a temperature of 842F during the incident, cracking the glass in several places before it was restored. It was not the first time the building had caught ablaze. In the early hours of February 1, 1829, Jonathan Martin set the building on fire, melting the lead from the roof and cracking the building's limestone pillars. Late that afternoon the fire started dying out after roughly 230 feet of choir roof had collapsed. Non-conformist Martin, a former sailor from Northumberland, did not believe in formal liturgy, had published pamphlets condemning the clergy as 'vipers of Hell'. He was charged with setting the building on fire, but was found not guilty due to insanity, and died in a London asylum in 1838. Pictured: The roof of the South Transept of York Minster ablaze at the height of the fire. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am The Great Fire of London St Pauls Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the building collapsed On September 2, 1666, a fire broke out Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane, close to London Bridge. The summer of 1666 had been unusually hot, and the city had not seen rain for several weeks, leaving wooden houses and buildings tinder dry. Once the fire had taken hold, 300 houses quickly collapsed and strong east winds fanned the flames from house to house, sweeping the blaze through London's winding narrow lanes, with houses positioned close together. In an attempt to flee the fire by boat, Londoners poured down to the River Thames and the city was overtaken by chaos. There was no fire brigade in London at the time, so residents themselves had to fight the fire with the help of local soldiers. They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks, pulling down houses with hooks to make gaps or 'fire breaks', but the wind helped fan the fire across the created gaps. King Charles II had ordered that houses in the path of the fire should be pulled down - but the fire outstripped the hooked poles that were used to try and achieve this. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control. Gunpowder was deployed to blow up houses that lay in the path's fire, but the sound of explosions triggered rumours of a French invasion, heightening the city's panic. St Pauls Cathedral caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street 'like a river' as the cathedral collapsed. The fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished by September 6, leaving just one fifth of London untouched. Almost every civic building had been destroyed, along with 13,000 private homes, 87 parish churches, The Royal Exchange, and Guildhall. Roughly 350,000 people lived in London just before the Great Fire, making the city one of the largest in Europe. A monument was erected in Pudding Lane, where the blaze broke out. By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834) The Great Fire of Rome , 64AD The Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64AD, destroyed much of the city after the blaze began in the slums south of the aristocratic Palatine Hill. Strong winds fanned the fire north, scorching homes in its path, causing widespread panic during the inferno's three-day duration. Hundreds died in the conflagration, and thousands were left homeless. Three of the 14 districts were completely destroyed, and only four remained completely untouched. That Emperor Nero 'fiddled while the city burned' has become popular legend, but is not accurate. The Emperor was 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out and allowed his palace to be used as a shelter. And the fiddle had not yet been invented. Nero, who used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild the city in a more Greek style, blamed Christians for the fire, ordering the arrest, torture and execution of hundreds of the religion's faithful. Historian Tacitus said the fire was 'graver and more terrible than any other which had befallen this city.' A stomach-churning parasite typically known to infect southeast Asias Burmese python has now made its way to central Florida - and, scientists warn it could spread across the country in a matter of years. The worms, known as pentastome parasites, invade the lungs of their victims and feed exclusively on blood. While its well known that the presence of Burmese pythons is wreaking havoc on native species, scientists say they've identified an alarming new cause for concern after discovering a dead pygmy rattlesnake with parasitic worms spilling out of its mouth. Experts say the parasite already appears to be traveling north, and theres no telling how far or fast it will spread. Scientists have identified an alarming new cause for concern after discovering a dead pygmy rattlesnake with parasitic worms spilling out of its mouth. The worms, known as pentastome parasites, invade the lungs of their victims and feed exclusively on blood Burmese pythons have become invasive in Florida as a result of the exotic pet trade and natural disasters; the giant snakes were among thousands of animals said to have escaped after Hurricane Andrew decimated breeding facilities in 1992. And, it now appears they've brought their parasites with them. According to Terence Farrell, Ph.D., professor of biology at Stetson University who has studied the species for decades, the discovery is pretty alarming. We conducted research and found that these types of parasites have never been found in pygmy rattlesnakes before, Farrell said. As of now, the parasites arent considered much of a threat to humans. But, it could spell disaster for native reptiles. Pygmy rattlesnakes are venomous and can be found throughout the southeast United States. And, theyre essentially defenseless against the worms. Our research shows that the parasites are moving north rapidly along the peninsula and appear to have some major health effects on pygmy rattlesnakes, Farrell said. The parasites that were found in the pygmy rattlesnakes were larger than the ones found in Burmese pythons, the researcher added. Its a nasty situation because the pygmy rattlesnakes havent evolved or developed defenses against the parasite. In a study published this month in the journal Herpetological Review, researchers identified the parasites as the cause of death for three pygmy rattlesnakes at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge in DeLeon Springs, Florida. Dissections of the dead snakes revealed parasites in the lung and trachea areas, where these worms are known to reside after infection. The parasite comes from eating infected prey. According to Terence Farrell (pictured left), Ph.D., professor of biology at Stetson University who has studied the species for decades, the discovery is pretty alarming. According to the researchers, the DNA tests showed the species seen in the pygmy rattlesnakes were consistent with the parasites from southeast Asia that infect Burmese pythons. But, the pygmy rattlesnakes were infected in Central Florida more than 100 miles away from where the invasive pythons now thrive. The research tells us that theres a whole new concern about invasive species and the diseases and parasites that they bring with them, said Farrell. This parasite isnt just a Florida problem. We have no idea how much of the U.S. this parasite will spread and move into, which may cause it to become a nationwide problem in a few years. 2006 Assange creates Wikileaks with a group of like-minded activists and IT experts to provide a secure way for whistleblowers to leak information. He quickly becomes its figurehead and a lightning rod for criticism. 2010 March: U.S. authorities allege Assange engaged in a conspiracy to hack a classified U.S. government computer with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. July: Wikileaks starts releasing tens of thousands of top secrets documents, including a video of U.S. helicopter pilots gunning down 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007. What followed was the release of more than 90,000 classified US military files from the Afghan war and 400,000 from Iraq that included the names of informants. August: Two Swedish women claim that they each had consensual sex with Assange in separate instances when he was on a 10-day trip to Stockholm. They allege the sex became non-consensual when Assange refused to wear a condom. First woman claims Assange was staying at her apartment in Stockholm when he ripped off her clothes. She told police that when she realized Assange was trying to have unprotected sex with her, she demanded he use a condom. She claims he ripped the condom before having sex. Second Swedish woman claims she had sex with Assange at her apartment in Stockholm and she made him wear a condom. She alleges that she later woke up to find Assange having unprotected sex with her. He was questioned by police in Stockholm and denied the allegations. Assange was granted permission by Swedish authorities to fly back to the U.K. November: A Swedish court ruled that the investigation should be reopened and Assange should be detained for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. An international arrest warrant is issued by Swedish police through Interpol. Wikileaks releases its cache of more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. December: Assange presents himself to London police and appears at an extradition hearing where he is remanded in custody. Assange is granted conditional bail at the High Court in London after his supporters pay 240,000 in cash and sureties. 2011 February: A British judge rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden but Wikileaks found vows to fight the decision. April: A cache of classified U.S. military documents is released by Wikileaks, including intelligence assessments on nearly all of the 779 people who are detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. November: Assange loses High Court appeal against the decision to extradite him. 2012 June: Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London requesting political asylum. August: Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador. 2013 June: Assange tells a group of journalists he will not leave the embassy even if sex charges against him are dropped out of fear he will be extradited to the U.S. 2015 August: Swedish prosecutors drop investigation into some of the sex allegations against Assange due to time restrictions. The investigation into suspected rape remains active. 2016 July: Wikileaks begins leaking emails U.S. Democratic Party officials favoring Hillary Clinton. November: Assange is questioned over the sex allegation at the Ecuadorian Embassy in the presence of Sweden's assistant prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and police inspector Cecilia Redell. The interview spans two days. 2017 January: Barack Obama agrees to free whistleblower Chelsea Manning from prison. Her pending release prompts speculation Assange will end his self-imposed exile after Wikileaks tweeted he would agree to U.S. extradition. April: Lenin Moreno becomes the new president of Ecuador who was known to want to improve diplomatic relations between his country and the U.S. May: An investigation into a sex allegation against Assange is suddenly dropped by Swedish prosecutors. 2018 January: Ecuador confirms it has granted citizenship to Assange following his request. February: Assange is visited by Pamela Anderson and Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel. March: The Ecuadorian Embassy suspends Assange's internet access because he wasn't complying with a promise he made the previous year to 'not send messages which entailed interference in relation to other states'. August: U.S. Senate committee asks to interview Assange as part of their investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. September: Assange steps down as editor of WikiLeaks. October: Assange reveals he will launch legal action against the government of Ecuador, accusing it of violating his 'fundamental rights and freedoms'. November: U.S. Justice Department inadvertently names Assange in a court document that says he has been charged in secret. 2019 January: Assange's lawyers say they are taking action to make President Trump's administration reveal charges 'secretly filed' against him. April 6: WikiLeaks tweets that a high level Ecuadorian source has told them Assange will be expelled from the embassy within 'hours or days'. But a senior Ecuadorian official says no decision has been made to remove him from the London building. April 11: Assange has his diplomatic asylum revoked by Ecuador and he is arrested by the Metropolitan Police; he is remanded in custody by a judge at Westminster Magistrates Court. April 12: He is found guilty of breaching his bail terms. May 1: Sentenced to 11 months in jail. May 2: Court hearing takes place over Assange's proposed extradition to the U.S. He tells a court he does not consent to the extradition and the case is adjourned until May 30. May 13: Swedish prosecutors reopen rape case saying they still want to question Assange. June 3: Swedish court rules against detaining him in absentia, setting back the extradition case. June 12 Home Secretary Sajid Javid signs an extradition request from the US. June 13 A hearing sets out the date for Assange's full extradition hearing - February next year. November Swedish prosecutors stop investigation into an allegation of rape against Mr Assange November 25 - Medics say without correct medical care Assange 'could die' in Belmarsh December 13 - Hearing in London hears he is being blocked from seeing key evidence in case December 19 - Appears at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video-link where his lawyer claims US bid to extradite him is 'political'. 2020 June: Assange failed to appear via video link for his most recent court matter in London's Westminster Magistrates' Court For fans of time-bending science fiction, there is good new and there is bad news, according to new research. The good news is that wormholes, famously theorized and depicted throughout history as being shortcuts between time and space, may indeed exist. The bad news, however, is that they are likely not viable forms of instantaneous transit. 'It takes longer to get through these wormholes than to go directly, so they are not very useful for space travel,' said the author of a new study from Harvard University, Daniel Jafferis. Science fiction writers may have to re-think their use of black for instantaneous travel after new research. Wormholes have long been proffered by Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity but have yet to be observed by scientists. Jafferis' statements on wormholes come from analyzing a hypothetical involving two black holes that are entangled on a quantum level called the ER=EPR, a correspondence created by joining two of Einstein's theories. This relationship was posited in 2013 by Juan Maldacena from the Institute for Advanced Study and Lenny Susskind from Stanford. According to Jafferis' conclusions -- which are set to be presented later this month at a Meeting of the American Physical Society -- the link between the two entangled black holes which exist in space is actually shorter than the wormhole connection. 'From the outside perspective, travel through the wormhole is equivalent to quantum teleportation using entangled black holes,' Jafferis said. While the study may rule out the efficacy of traveling via wormholes, according to researchers, the results represent a boon for theories involving quantum physics. For one, the research my shed light on how light can travel through a wormhole and help establish a unifying view on quantum gravity -- a sect of theoretical physics by which gravity can be described through quantum mechanics. While a new study may rule out some theories about wormholes, it has also enriched other thought surrounding quantum mechanics. Secondly, according to Jafferis, the work could could help to solve what is known as the black hole information paradox which pits quantum mechanics against Einstein's general relativity. Broadly, the theory postulates about what happens to matter once it's sucked into a black holes -- does it disappear or is it deposited somewhere unknown? 'I think [the research] will teach us deep things about the gauge/gravity correspondence, quantum gravity, and even perhaps a new way to formulate mechanics,' Jafferis said A German government plane, with no passengers on board, blocked the runway after a rough landing at one of Berlin's airports - forcing authorities to divert incoming planes. The German air force, which operates the government fleet, said the Bombardier Global 5000 jet landed at Schonefeld Airport on Tuesday after turning back because of a malfunction and both wings touched the runway. It said the crew was undergoing medical checks. Flights were delayed and diverted at Berlin's Schonefeld Airport after a German government plane became inoperative after suffering a rough landing The city's airport operator tweeted that flights headed for Schonefeld had to be diverted because of an 'inoperative aircraft' on the runway and advised passengers to check ahead. It wrote earlier this morning: 'Currently operations at Schonefeld Airport is disturbed. 'Flights approaching are diverted. Please inquire with your airline about your flight status.' While the German Air Force said on Twitter: 'The crew is being medically examined. The aircraft headed back to Berlin Schonefeld after a technical malfunction just after take-off. 'We are investigating the cause of the incident.' The city's airport operator tweeted that flights headed for Schonefeld were being diverted because of an 'inoperative aircraft' on the runway The incident came during the busy Easter travel season. Some affected flights were diverted to the nearby Tegel Airport in the city while others were delayed. Schonefeld is one of two Cold War-era airports that serve the German capital. A new airport is currently scheduled to open next year. The German government's fleet of 14 aircraft has become increasingly notorious for frequent malfunctions, with a string of embarrassing high-profile mishaps in recent months. In November, Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived late at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina after a problem with her Airbus A340 forced the plane to turn back. Merkel then took a commercial flight. Other recent mishaps have left the foreign minister stranded in Mali overnight and the president for several hours in Ethiopia. The government is purchasing three new long-haul planes. Married at First Sight's Dan Webb, 34, recently revealed the extent of his trust issues with ex-girlfriend Jessika Power, 27, amid persistent rumours that she was unfaithful. In a tearful interview with Yahoo on Friday, the single dad sensationally claimed Jessika cheated on him with season 5 MAFS star, Telv Williams, 34, in December last year. On Tuesday, Jessica responded to the claims on Instagram, writing: 'no we did not kiss. no we did not sleep together!' Scroll down for video 'We did not kiss or sleep together!' MAFS' Jessika Power DENIES 'secret hook-up with Telv Williams while she was still dating Dan Webb' Sharing a photo with Telv on her Instagram Story, she posted a lengthy denial to the claims she 'secretly hooked-up' with the father. 'Another day, another FALSE cheating allegation who I thought genuinely was my friend!' Jessika took aim at Telv. She claimed the pair innocently 'caught up for a drink so he could introduce me to someone in the media who could help guide me throughout my journey on MAFS'. Despite 'cheating' on her TV husband Mick Gould on MAFS to start an 'affair' with Dan, she said the cheating allegations were completely unfounded. 'I was completely head over heels and infaculated (sic)': Despite 'cheating' on her TV husband Mick Gould on MAFS to start an 'affair' with Dan, she said the cheating allegations by Telv were completely unfounded 'I was completely head over heels and infaculated (sic) with my love for Dan at the time and I would never ever have done anything to jeopardize that.' Jessika also pleaded with the former MAFS star to confess to lying about the 'secret hook-up': 'I have asked Telv to be clear this and admit to his lie so we can all move on and be happy family's again.' Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Telv Williams for comment. 'You could tell he really fancied her!' Fans claimed MAFS' Jessika 'secretly hooked up with Telv Williams (above), 34, while she was still dating Dan Webb' during an outing in Perth last year Jessika also previously denied the allegations to Mamamia: 'I have never been romantically interested in him [Telv] nor would I ever be.' 'All these allegations are hurtful to me and embarrassing to Dan and completely fake. Seems Telv needs to grow up a little and realise the hurt rumours can do,' she added. Meanwhile, Woman's Day magazine reported last week that Telv and Jessika were spotted enjoying a romantic date in their mutual hometown of Perth in December last year, before the MAFS reunion was filmed. 'We recognised Telv straight away and just assumed she was his new girlfriend. said an onlooker,' an onlooker told the magazine. Merry Christmas? In his break-up interview with Yahoo Lifestyle last Friday, Dan (right) told the website: '[Telv] messaged me on Instagram saying they hooked up just before Christmas' 'They were giggling and laughing the whole night, you could tell he really fancied her,' they claimed. Indeed, in his break-up interview with Yahoo Lifestyle last Friday, Dan told the website: '[Telv] messaged me on Instagram saying they hooked up just before Christmas.' Telv subsequently confirmed Dan's claims in a statement to the publication, saying: 'I really did have no idea whatsoever [that Jess was in a relationship]... Dan seems like a really good guy. I feel for him.' Former flame: Telv was previously 'married' to voluptuous MAFS bride Sarah Roza (right) Also in his interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Dan admitted that he was suspicious of Telv and Jess in recent weeks. 'Last weekend, we had an event with Nova on the Thursday and I had to fly back to the Gold Coast because I had family obligations,' Dan wept. 'Telv said something then [on the] Friday she was in Melbourne doing an event and he was in Melbourne.' Splitsville: Earlier in the video, Dan confirmed that he'd dumped Jessika after their awkward live interview on Talking Married, citing trust issues as the reason behind their split 'Like, fair dinkum, we had the best night on the Thursday night before that and it makes me feel like I've been played again,' he continued. Earlier in the video, Dan confirmed that he'd dumped Jessika after their awkward live interview on Talking Married, citing trust issues as the reason behind their split. 'We are not together! There is no way I am going to be dating that girl after the rumours. I'm glad I finished it, it's done,' he declared. 'There's rumoured about her hooking up with him': Dan said that Jessika's rumoured tryst with MAFS groom Nic Jovanovic was a major factor in their breakup Trouble in paradise: Dan admitted that the trouble started for the couple on Monday following their now infamous post-reunion appearance on Talking Married The former rugby player also said that Jessika's rumoured tryst with MAFS groom Nic Jovanovic was a major factor in their breakup. 'I just wanted to get to the bottom of the whole situation with her and Nic if she flirted with him, didn't flirt with him,' he explained. 'During Married At First Sight, Jessika secretly propositioned Nic during one of the weekly dinner parties - only to be turned down by the groom. She then turned her attention towards Dan, which marked the beginning of the pair's 'affair'. Married At First Sight's Billy Vincent announced his new relationship with Instagram model Lily Buhl just last week. But the 28-year-old barista has already landed himself in hot water with his girlfriend, after photos surfaced of him kissing his co-star Lauren Huntriss, 32, last Saturday. Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle about the pictures, which were taken on a boozy night out in Sydney, Lily brushed off Billy's indiscretion on Tuesday. 'He'll be sleeping on the couch for a few days!' Billy Vincent's (right) model girlfriend Lily Buhl (left) has broken her silence after photos surfaced of him kissing MAFS co-star Lauren Huntriss 'Billy contacted me as soon as it happened. From what I've been told it was a fun kiss,' said 20-year-old Lily. 'He'll still be sleeping on the couch for a few days, but I know there was nothing behind it,' she added. It's not the first time Billy has been banished to the couch, as Susie Bradley famously made him sleep on the sofa throughout their ill-fated marriage on MAFS. Pucker up! Billy and Lauren shared a kiss while celebrating Cyrell Paule's 30th birthday at the Flamingo Lounge nightclub in Sydney on Saturday night 'She's a sweetheart': Last week, Billy revealed he and Lauren 'had a thing' in early February, but things didn't work out due to the fact they live long distance It comes after Billy and Lauren shared a kiss while celebrating Cyrell Paule's 30th birthday at the Flamingo Lounge nightclub in Sydney on Saturday night. The pair were surrounded by several MAFS co-stars as they briefly smooched upon their arrival at the venue. Last week, Billy revealed he and Lauren 'had a thing' in early February, but things didn't work out due to the fact they live long distance. Oh, the irony! It's not the first time Billy has been banished to the couch, as Susie Bradley (left) famously made him sleep on the sofa throughout their ill-fated marriage on MAFS After deciding to keep things platonic with Lauren, Billy began dating Lily, who is an Instagram model and hospitality worker. He confirmed their relationship to Daily Mail Australia on Friday, explaining how they got together after meeting at a bar. 'Lily's a bartender at my local pub in Byron Bay,' he said. 'I met her a month ago when I was out at her bar. I recognised her from Instagram and I was really shy and ran away after I got my drink!' 'She's studying teaching and just an all-around sweetheart,' Billy added. 'She's a bartender at my local pub in Byron Bay': Billy told Daily Mail Australia last Friday that he is now dating Lily, revealing the relationship started organically after the pair met at a bar Despite Married At First Sight being one of the biggest shows in television history, Billy said that Lily had no idea who he was. 'She's never watched the show,' he said. 'She has her own fashion blogger following and started dating me before she knew I was on the show. 'She's not fazed about publicity or exposure, which is great for my trust issues.' She is the Australian actress who has achieved worldwide fame in her career. And on Sunday, Rebel Wilson attended a glamorous Mexican wedding fit for her celebrity status. The Pitch Perfect star, 39, stole the spotlight in a floral maxi dress while at her friends' beachside nuptials near Cancun. Dazzling: On Sunday, Rebel Wilson attended a glamorous wedding near Cancun, Mexico Rebel shared footage of the destination wedding to her Instagram Story, and it appears that part of festivities took place in a cave-like setting. In one of her videos, the Sydney-born actress can be seen wading through shallow water with her date for the night, Chris Paules. And in another clip, Rebel waves at the camera as she arrives at the exotic location. Happy occasion: Rebel's date for the wedding of hairstylist Nicole Leal and photographer Josh Separzadeh was Chris Paules (left) Having fun: Rebel shared footage of the destination wedding to her Instagram Story, and it appears that part of festivities took place in a cave-like setting 'Loved sporting this Emilio Pucci dress last night - perfect for beach wedding!' she wrote alongside one of her social media posts. The wedding Rebel attended was between hairstylist Nicole Leal and LA-based photographer Josh Separzadeh. It comes after Rebel spent time in both Los Angeles and her home city of Sydney in recent weeks. Gratitude: 'Loved sporting this Emilio Pucci dress last night - perfect for beach wedding!' she wrote alongside one of her social media posts. At the end of March, she shared a photo of herself to Instagram taking a stroll in Sydney's Barangaroo Reserve. Rebel was in Australia to film a new ABC television series, Les Norton, which is based on the book series by Robert G. Barrett. She most recently appeared in the Hollywood rom-com Isn't It Romantic, alongside fellow Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth. As any parent knows that travelling with young children on planes is not an easy feat. But Dancing With the Stars pro Kym Johnson managed to pull off a long haul flight with her 11-month-old twins - daughter Haven Mae and son, Hudson Robert over the weekend. On Monday, her billionaire husband Robert Herjavec gushed over his wife after she endured a 15-hour journey to Australia from Los Angeles with their children. 'You are a superhero' Kym Johnson, 42, (pictured) endured a 15 hour-flight by herself with her 11-month-old twins, daughter Haven Mae and son Hudson Robert (pictured) from Los Angeles to Australia 'There are all sorts of heroes - shout out to my amazing wife who is a superhero - flying by herself to Australia for 15 hours with (not even) 1 year old twins!,' Kym's husband Robert Herjavec praised his wife for her patience Taking to Instagram, Robert, 56, shared a cute snap of his slender spouse wheeling their two tots through Sydney airport, who were strapped safely on their black luggage. 'There are all sorts of heroes - shout out to my amazing wife who is a superhero - flying by herself to Australia for 15 hours with (not even) 1 year old twins!,' Robert gushed. 'Love you babe - you have far more courage and patience than me!' Meanwhile, Kym took her her Instagram to share photos of her two children and mother from the long-haul flight. A little help: Kym was also helped by her mother who took the trip with her 'It was an all night party on the plane! My rockstar mum even managed to watch @rupaulsdragrace and Gentleman Prefer Blondes. oh, and eat!!,'Kym documented the trip on Instagram 'It was an all night party on the plane! My rockstar mum even managed to watch @rupaulsdragrace and Gentleman Prefer Blondes. oh, and eat!!,' she joked. Since giving birth less than one year ago, Kym has been working hard to get back her post-baby body. In February, the 42-year-old showed off her incredibly toned figure in a skimpy bikini just nine months after giving birth to her children. Fast asleep: She also shared an adorable photo of her son Hudson having a sleep during the long-haul flight The mother-of-two posted a side-by-side photo comparing her body now to when she was pregnant with her twins. After undergoing IVF, she and her Shark Tank investor husband Robert Herjavec welcomed their tots on April 23 last year. '#9monthchallenge,' the Australian-born beauty captioned the snaps that she posted on her Instagram Story. Her hashtag was a twist on the recent viral #10YearChallenge. Spot the difference: In February, she showed off her huge baby bump before the birth of her twins and her toned body just nine months later as she held Hudson and Haven on her hips Kym was seen wearing a black bikini with her baby bump in her 'before' picture. In her 'after' snap she held her twins on her hips as she slipped her slender body into a black frilly bikini with sheer panels. She previously talked about her plans for getting back in shape after her pregnancy. 'My whole thought on this pregnancy is I'm letting my body do what it needs to do,' she told People before giving birth. 'After I have the babies, I'll take my time getting back. I haven't gained too much weight on my arms or my legs. It does seem to be my belly.' Sam Ball's ex-girlfriend Akila Ahmunett has branded the Married At First Sight star a 'snake' in a newly-unearthed social media post from last week. Just days after she was arrested for allegedly breaching an AVO that Sam took out, the 30-year-old beautician took to Facebook to settle scores. Slammed! Sharing a negative Mamamia story about the 26-year-old tradesman, Akila wrote, 'Believe what you see on TV,' followed by three snake emojis Sharing a negative story about Sam originally published by Mamamia, Akila wrote in the caption, 'Believe what you see on TV,' followed by three snake emojis. The Mamamia post that Akila shared read: 'According to Sam, Elizabeth [Sobinoff] was a nutter because she found him sexually irresistible. Then Ines [Basic] was a delusional temptress who imagined their entire relationship. 'Sam Ball, women know to beware of the man who refers to his ex as a "psycho".' It comes after Akila, pleaded not guilty to stalking and harassing Sam on Monday. Akila is accused of harassing Sam with calls, texts and emails and of breaching an AVO police took out on his behalf. She was not required to appear in person on Monday and is on a curfew which does not allow her to leave home between 10pm and 6am. When she first faced court last month, one charge of trespassing on Sam's Alexandria property was dismissed. Bad boy: Sam was one of the biggest villains to come out of Married At First Sight this year Last Thursday, Sam apologised for his behaviour on Married At First Sight, which included fat-shaming Elizabeth Sobinoff on their wedding day and later having a secret fling with Ines. 'I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, male or female, that's watched the show,' he said in a video shared to Instagram. 'I'm disgusted and ashamed of the way I acted and treated other people. I made a lot of mistakes, and I'm going to be a better person for that.' Sorry: Last Thursday, Sam apologised for his behaviour on Married At First Sight, which included fat-shaming his 'wife' Elizabeth Sobinoff (pictured) on their wedding day She is expecting her first child with her husband Jamie Bell. And Kate Mara was spotted caressing her baby bump as she walked through Los Angeles on Monday. The 36-year-old actress cut a chic figure in a black and white blazer as she carried an iced beverage in her hand. Coming soon? Kate Mara was spotted caressing her baby bump as she walked through Los Angeles on Monday Underneath the jacket, Mara sported a black top and added an extra level of comfort via black tights. She pulled her red tresses in an easy ponytail and shaded her eyes with dark sunglasses. The House of Cards alum opted for a comfortable footwear as well, donning black Nike sneakers. A black purse with a silver strap hung across her body, and her engagement ring shimmered in the sun. Out and about: The 36-year-old actress cut a chic figure in a black and white blazer as she carried an iced beverage in her hand Reservoir route: Underneath the jacket, Mara sported a black top and added an extra level of comfort via black tights Mara announced her pregnancy back in February, but there is no word when her and Bell's child is due. The couple co-starred in 2015's Fantastic Four and began dating later that year. They got engaged in January 2017 and married that July, making her a step-mother to his son, Jack, 5, from his previous marriage to Evan Rachel Wood. Happy couple: Mara announced her pregnancy back in February, but there is no word when her and Bell's child is due; the couple is seen here in April 2019 Mara is coming off portraying Patty Bowes in the first season of FX's hit series Pose, in which she appeared in six episodes. The series was renewed for a second season, with FX recently announcing a Sunday, June 9 premiere date for the second season. The series features the largest transgender cast in TV history, including MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross, Billy Porter, Charlayne Woodard, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Dyllon Burnside and Angel Bismark Curiel. Mara is also attached to star in A Teacher, a new pilot for FX based on the 2013 indie film of the same name. The actress will portray a teacher, who engages in an illicit affair with one of her students. Out and about: The House of Cards alum opted for a comfortable footwear as well, donning black Nike sneakers Her five-year-old daughter North West has frequently been seen trying to twin with her mom. But things got to a whole new level on Sunday, with Kim Kardashian revealing North 'refused' to leave their home and attend cousin True Thompson's first birthday unless she got to wear her mom's high heels. The 38-year-old took to social media on Sunday to share some videos of her eldest child struggling to walk around in the shoes, whilst continuing to ignore her mom's plea to take them off. Scroll down for video Just like mom! Kim Kardashian's five-year-old daughter North West refused to take off her mom's high heels as she held one-year-old sister Chicago at cousin True Thompson's first birthday party on Sunday Following in her footsteps: The eldest daughter of Kim and Kanye West wore her mother's stilettos around at the gathering 'Ok guys, look at North's shoes,' Kim narrated while North posed at the photo wall. 'She would not walk out of the house without my shoes. "Northie, put on the other shoes we brought please".' And while Kim politely asked her daughter to swap out her shoes, North appeared to be pretending not to hear her mom, walking away. Taking it a bit too far: 'How do you do this in heels? Ok, ok, put your sister down. Northie, you've got to change into those shoes' Ignoring her mom: 'She would not walk out of the house without my shoes. "Northie, put on the other shoes we brought please"' Aww: North seemed to have fun wearing her mother's shoes Kim progressed to ask her daughter a second time to take off the adult shoes, but once again she ignored her request. 'Northie, take those shoes off,' she said across the outdoor area. And hoping a third time was a charm, the mom-of-three got a little more stern with the five-year-old when she found her not only walking in the heels, but carrying her one-year-old sister Chicago. Sweet: North put down her sister as they walked together hand-in-hand Walking away: Kim progressed to ask her daughter a second time to take off the adult shoes, but once again she ignored her request Mom-of-three: Kim is mom to North, five, Saint, three, and Chicago, one 'How do you do this in heels? Ok, ok, put your sister down. Northie, you've got to change into those shoes.' Kim also made it a point to showcase North and Chicago's matching dresses for the party of the year. And it's not the first time the five-year-old has been seen trying to speed up her age, spotted wearing makeup on various occasions including last year's annual Christmas Party. As Game of Throne fans prepare for the final season of the iconic drama, actor Kit Harington has revealed the far from pleasant situation he was left in during a key scene. In Game Revealed, a behind-the-scenes video released by HBO, the actor, 32, described the moment his right testicle was left trapped while filming a key dragon scene. During the death-defying scene, Kit - who plays Jon Snow - was left fearing the worst as the mechanical dragon he was sat on made a violent turn and swung the star around. Winterfell: Game of Throne star Kit Harington revealed that he was left fearing the worst while filming a scene for the final season (pictured on the show with co-star Emilia Clarke) The star said: 'Buck work is not easy. I think what sums up the buck for me was there was a bit where Jon almost falls off. 'The dragon swings around really violently, like this, and my right ball got trapped, and I didn't have time to say "Stop!" And I was being swung around. 'In my head, I thought, "This is how it ends, on this buck, swinging me around by testicles, literally"'. Kit added: 'Sorry. Probably too much information.' Buck work: Kit, who plays Jon Snow in the iconic drama, described the moment his right testicle was left trapped on a mechanical dragon Ouch! Kit said: 'The dragon swings around really violently, like this, and my right ball got trapped, and I didn't have time to say 'Stop!' Not easy: The actor described fearing that this was 'how it ends' as the mechanical dragon swung him around The eighth season, which sees Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, teach Jon Snow how to train her dragons, features a mechanical dragon swing the actors through the air. However filming the key scene on swinging dragon was no easy feat as Kit added: 'I think the actual dragon ride is the one bit where you've got to convey your love for each other and you're in a green a box on a buck.' To film some of the stunning scenes, Kit and Emilia were flown over to Iceland where there were left with only six hours of light. The limited light would mean cast and crew members had to arrive on set about three hours before the sun rose. Flying: Kit and Emilia were flown to Iceland to film some of the stunning scenes for the final season Behind-the-scenes: Kit added that during the dragon scene he needed to try and convey his love for Daenerys Targaryen played by Emilia Clarke Executive producer and writer David Benioff said: 'Some of those locales in Iceland are so breathtaking that real environments just help the actors so much. 'So if it's Kit and Emelia walking past a frozen river in Iceland and they are shivering that's real.' Meanwhile, Kit recently revealed that he was overwhelmed by emotion as he filmed his final scenes. Speaking to Esquire Magazine, he said: ''Then they called 'Wrap!' and I just f***ing broke down. 'It was this onslaught of relief and grief about not being able to do this again. It wasn't so much about Jon. 'It was about not being in this world, not getting to smell those smells, fight those fights, be with these people - the whole package.' He's the son of respected Australian journalist Terry Willesee. But Jesse Sunset has taken a very different path in life, and on Monday found himself using his wife Ashley as a 'weed tray'. In a photo shared to Instagram, the gold-toothed rapper, 30, handled marijuana while bikini-clad Ashley, 22, posed on all fours in front of him. Scroll down for video 'She's my own personal weed tray!' Terry Willesee's gold-toothed rapper son Jesse Sunset used his bikini-clad wife Ashley as a cannabis bench on Monday 'She's my own personal weed tray,' Jesse captioned the photo. The state of California, where Jesse has lived for several years, legalised the recreational use of marijuana on January 1, 2018. In December, Jesse announced that he and Ashley had married at a 24-hour wedding chapel in Las Vegas. Happily ever after! Jesse announced he married Ashley in a Las Vegas chapel in December last year. He wore a Louis Vuitton velour tracksuit on his special day Before tying the knot, Jesse told his Instagram followers that he and Ashley would 'actually get married' if his most recent post received 100 comments Lo and behold, his fans delivered and the young couple walked down the aisle several hours later. In true Vegas style, Jesse wore a pastel blue Louis Vuitton velour tracksuit, complete with white socks and Adidas slides. The bride opted for a purple tracksuit, which she teamed with chunky white sneakers and a pair of oversized hoop earrings. Needing some encouragement? Jesse had told his followers that if he received 100 comments on an Instagram post, he and Ashley would 'actually get married' in Las Vegas How romantic! In true Vegas style, Jesse wore a pastel blue Louis Vuitton velour tracksuit, complete with white socks and Adidas slides Despite his controversial behaviour, Jesse has always maintained that his parents are supportive of his creative pursuits. In an interview with Woman's Day in August last year, Jesse said his famous father Terry and mother Melissa are in fact his 'biggest fans'. 'My mum [Melissa] checks my Instagram account every single day to see what I've posted and is so involved, and dad helps me film a lot of the videos,' he said. Not a joke! Jesse insisted he wasn't joking about marrying Ashley if he received 100 comments Jesse's uncle is the late Australian journalist Mike Willesee. The legendary broadcaster died aged 76 in March this year following a long battle with throat cancer. After growing up between Australia and the USA, Jesse now resides in Los Angeles. She has spent several long gruelling months working on her upcoming American superhero film, Bird Of Prey, in which she reprises the role of crazed criminal, Harley Quinn. And Margot Robbie finally wrapped filming for the movie in Los Angeles on Monday. The Australian star excitedly took to Instagram to share a picture of herself in a director's chair while in dressed in costume. That's a wrap! Margot Robbie finished filming Birds Of Prey on Monday after months of working on the American superhero movie in Los Angeles With her back to the camera, she was wearing a pair of striped denim shorts, a pink crop top and a PVC jacket adorned with multicoloured ribbons. Her pink and green dyed hair were tied up in Harley's signature pigtails. Just last week Margot was spotted running amok while on the set of the movie. While pushing a shopping cart full of junk food, the 28-year-old actress wore a tethered outfit with her colorful hair. She was earlier captured running from the police as she hilariously stuffed a stolen cheeseburger down the front of her top in another action filled moment. Having a ball! Just last week Margot was spotted running amok while on the set of the movie. While pushing a shopping cart full of junk food, the 28-year-old actress wore a tethered outfit with her colorful hair Birds Of Prey is an upcoming DC flick about Harley Quinn joining forces with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya to fight crime lord Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). They join forces to help a young girl Cassandra Cain, who finds herself in trouble after discovering diamond belonging local crime lord Black Mask. It follows her original turn as Harley Quinn in 2016's Suicide Squad. Reprising the role: It follows her original turn as Harley Quinn in 2016's Suicide Squad Margot, who scored her first Oscar nod for her role as disgraced ice skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, made her Hollywood breakthrough in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. Since then, she has taken on a number of diverse roles, including Queen Elizabeth I in the historical drama film Mary Queen of Scots. The multi-talented star also launched her own production company in 2014 to find better roles. She told the Radio Times earlier this month: I wasnt seeing many scripts where I wanted to play the female role.' They were on hand to celebrate the chilling new horror series. Uma Thurman led the cast at the premiere of Netflix's supernatural thriller Chambers in New York City on Monday. The 48-year-old actress was joined by her co-star, Tony Goldwyn, 58, as well as Lili Taylor, 52. Elegance: Uma Thurman, 48, led the cast at the premiere of Netflix's supernatural thriller Chambers in New York City Thurman wore a chic grayblue jacket adorned with ornate floral patterns over a simple white shirt. She paired it with an ankle-length navy blue skirt and a pair of black leather boots. The Kill Bill star showed off a pair of jeweled hoop earrings, framed by her trademark golden locks. Fashionable: The 5ft11in beauty wore a chic grayblue jacket adorned with ornate floral patterns over a simple white shirt Simple look: She paired it with an ankle-length navy blue skirt and a pair of black leather boots Accessorized: The Kill Bill star showed off a pair of jeweled hoop earrings, framed by her trademark golden locks Dark turn: She stars on Chambers as Nancy Lefevre, the mother of a young woman who's heart was used in a transplant. She seems to have a dark secret She stars on the upcoming series as Nancy Lefevre, the mother of a young woman who's heart was used in a transplant to save Sasha Yazzie, played by Sivan Alyra Rose. As Sasha begins to experience intense, dark hallucinations following the transplant, she investigates Nancy's family, who seem to have a dark secret. Goldwyn plays Thurman's equally sinister husband, Ben Lefevre. The Scandal star opted for a classic navy blue suit and paired it with a blue and white check shirt and brown leather shoes. Made for each other: She was joined at the premiere by Tony Goldwyn, 58, who plays her equally sinister husband, Ben Lefevre Blue mood: The Scandal star opted for a classic navy blue suit, paired with a blue and white checker shirt and a pair of brown leather shoes All smiles: Also featured at the premiere was Lili Taylor, 52, who wore a striking sheer white top decorated with frills of lace, as well as a simple pair of black slacks and black heels Also featured at the premiere was Lili Taylor. The Haunting star wore a striking sheer white top decorated with frills of lace, as well as a simple pair of black slacks and black heels. The star of Chambers, Sivan Alyra Rose, was clothed in an arresting marble-patterned gray and white dress with copious sequins. The outfit mixed in a sheer sleeve and a black and white silk scarf was draped over her other shoulder. She styled her dark tresses in a long braid, decorated with jeweled hair clips and edgy safety pins. Marcus LaVoi, who plays Sasha's father Big Frank Yazzie, was dressed like the wrestler The Undertaker, with a black wide-brimmed hat and a long coat over an all-black outfit. On the rise: The star of Chambers, Sivan Alyra Rose, was clothed in an arresting marble-patterned gray and white dress with copious sequins Imposing: Marcus LaVoi, who plays Sasha's father Big Frank Yazzie, was dressed like the wrestler The Undertaker, with a black wide-brimmed hat and a long coat over an all-black outfit Pretty in pink: Kyanna Simone stood out with a pink and green floral print dress, mixed with thick pink and white tassels on the sleeves, and Sarah Mezzanotte wore a hot pink leather dress that showed off her toned arms and slender figure Kyanna Simone, who plays Yvonne, stood out with a pink and green floral print dress, mixed with thick pink and white tassels on the sleeves. Sarah Mezzanotte, who's billed as Nancy in Chambers, wore a hot pink leather dress that showed off her toned arms and slender figure. Actress Lili Kay opted for a chic androgynous look with baby blue suit that she wore shirtless, showing off a bit of her cleavage. Lilliya Scarlett Reid, who plays the donor of the heart that sets the series in motion, was fitting clad in a pleated scarlet dress with decorative frills over the front. Series creator Leah Rachel wore mostly black for the horror series premiere. She wore a black top with a floral stitching and rhinestone decorations. Suited up: Actress Lili Kay opted for a chic androgynous look with baby blue suit that she wore shirtless, showing off a bit of her cleavage Blood red: Lilliya Scarlett Reid, who plays the donor of the heart that sets the series in motion, was fitting clad in a pleated scarlet dress with decorative frills over the front The mind behind it: Series creator Leah Rachel wore mostly black for the horror series premiere. She had on a black top with a floral stitching and rhinestone decorations Star power: Thurman and Goldwyn posed for photos together inside the movie theatre Sam Wood received a barrage of criticism after sharing an artistic nude photo of himself with his 18-month-old daughter Willow on Instagram this Monday. And on Tuesday, Today Extra's Richard Wilkins and Sonia Kruger playfully weighed in on the daring image during a panel discussion with comedian Vince Sorrenti and Nine Honey's Jo Abi. 'I don't know what the problem is, he's got a bottom like everybody else!' Richard declared during a panel discussion on the controversy. Vince agreed: 'He's got a very nice bottom too!' Sonia, who couldn't help but smile as the photo flashed across the screen, added in agreement: 'Well he is a fitness trainer!' However, not everyone on the panel was convinced that Sam did the right thing, with Jo insisting that the former Bachelor shouldn't have shared the photo on such a public platform. 'He's got a bottom like everybody else!' Today Extra's Richard Wilkins (left) and Sonia Kruger (right) have weighed in on THAT photo of Sam Wood nude on the beach with 18-month-old daughter Willow Nude too rude? Sam received a barrage of criticism after sharing an artistic nude photo of himself with his 18-month-old daughter Willow on Instagram this Monday (pictured) 'I mean, I think we've all got photos of our kids naked and our selves naked holding them, but we don't necessarily share them with the world,' she said. Jo later added: 'I did think about it a lot and look at it a lot to decide how I felt about it,' prompting Sonia to ask: 'How much did you look at it?' 'Enough to form the opinion that maybe he should have kept it private!' Jo responded. If you've got it, flaunt it? Sonia, who couldn't help but smile as the photo flashed across the screen, added in agreement: 'Well he is a fitness trainer!' In contrast, Vince said that the buzz caused by Sam's photo may be good for his public image. 'This is good for Sam. If you want to keep yourself in the public eye, get a shot of your backside,' he said, before jokingly suggesting that Australian politicians should share similarly nude photos to drum up votes ahead of the upcoming Federal Election. Sam's nude image shows the fitness entrepreneur and his toddler daughter playfully posing on a Port Douglas beach with their backs to the camera. Criticism: It comes after some of Sam's followers claimed his photo was inappropriate because Sam is a stepfather to wife Snezana Markoski's 13-year-old daughter, Eve (left) The photo received a mixed-reception from Sam's followers, with many praising and defending the image while others called it 'disappointing.' When contacted for comment, Sam told Daily Mail Australia that the photo was just 'a bit of fun.' 'Willow was running around on the beach saying 'nudie rudie.' It was six in the morning and the beach was empty and she said 'Dadda nudie rudie,' so for a laugh I took my shorts off and splashed around with her.' 'It was a beautiful moment and Snez was laughing her head off and took a photo of us. It's all a bit of fun and I think almost everyone took it as that.' Dancing with the Stars judge Sharna Burgess described Shane Jenek and Joshua Keefe's foxtrot performance on Monday night as a 'first for television'. But when Shane left behind his drag alter ego Courtney Act in the semi-final, it was not the first time two male dancers had performed together on Australian TV. As reported by TV Tonight, that honour actually goes to Strictly Dancing contestants Adam Francis and Alexander Bryan back in 2005. Scroll down for video Hmm! Dancing with the Stars judge Sharna Burgess described Shane Jenek and Joshua Keefe's foxtrot performance on Monday night as a 'first for television' The same-sex duo performed together during the short-lived ABC show and were praised by the majority of fans, despite some negative feedback. Adam and Alexander ended up finishing second in the competition thanks to a surge of public support. While their appearance has largely been forgotten, the two men danced together on national television 14 years before Shane and Joshua took to the stage this week. Deja vu! But when Shane left behind his drag alter ego Courtney Act in the semi-final, it was not the first time two male dancers had performed together on Australian TV. That honour actually goes to Strictly Dancing contestants Adam Francis and Alexander Bryan back in 2005 However, Shane and Josh were the first men to dance together in the history of Dancing with the Stars. Despite being a similar format, Strictly Dancing was not affiliated with the DWTS franchise and did not feature celebrities as contestants. Monday's performance's marked the first time Shane had performed as 'himself' during the series, rather than as drag queen Courtney Act. 'It was stunning to see you two out there doing that and this is a first for television here - to have two men dancing together,' Sharna said after the pair's performance. Different sides: Until Monday night's episode of DWTS, Shane had performed as his drag alter ego Courtney Act Jett Kenny and his partner Lily Cornish were eliminated from the show on Monday night after a sudden-death dance-off. Samuel Johnson and his partner Jorja Freeman were saved and will go on to compete in the finals alongside Courtney/Shane and Josh. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 for comment. Ghosts Rating: Not Going Out Rating: Good sitcoms can win their laughs in two ways. One is to hone their punchlines to a rapier point, then slide them home with precision. The other is to heap sight gags, one-liners, double-takes and wordplay into a wheelbarrow and unload it on the audience in a comedy barrage. This is what Ghosts (BBC1) does. Not every gags a great one. Some are corny. One or two are laboured. But the sheer cumulative effect is overwhelming, a landslide of puns and slapstick that comes so fast you cant possibly catch it all in a single viewing. In Ghosts, ex-midwife Charlotte Ritchie inherits a country house from a distant aunt, suffers a near-fatal accident, and awakens from a coma to discover she can see dead people . . . who are invisible to everyone else And should a joke fail to make you laugh, dont worry the team will return to it with variations, repeatedly whacking you over the funny bone till you succumb. If you were a fan of Horrible Histories, the long-running childrens BBC show that won a clutch of BAFTAs, youll recognise the faces in this six-part series, set in a heavily haunted English mansion. Part of the fun is that, as we meet the ghosts, were invited to guess how each met his or her ghastly end. Jim Howick is a scoutmaster with an arrow through his neck. Martha Howe-Douglas re-enacts her own murder every night, falling with a shriek from a bedroom window, and Katy Wix is Mary the Witch, still smouldering after she was burned at the stake. Not every gags a great one. Some are corny. One or two are laboured. But the sheer cumulative effect is overwhelming, a landslide of puns and slapstick that comes so fast you cant possibly catch it all in a single viewing But its harder to guess what happened to Simon Farnaby, an MP who died without his trousers on. And what about Mathew Bayntons pretentious poet or Ben Wilibonds no-nonsense Army officer? Best of all is Robin the caveman (Laurence Rickard), who can barely say more than ook and ugh . . . though strangely he does seem to know technical terms for interior design such as architrave. The plot is largely lifted from their Sky1 hit, the blissfully funny fantasy Yonderland. In that show, a bored housewife (Martha H-D) discovered a magic portal in her kitchen to a parallel universe that was invisible to everyone else. In Ghosts, ex-midwife Charlotte Ritchie inherits a country house from a distant aunt, suffers a near-fatal accident, and awakens from a coma to discover she can see dead people . . . who are invisible to everyone else. Anyone who grew up with the marvellous childrens sitcom of the Seventies, Rentaghost, will be pleased that this comedy echoes its best traditions especially the rule that all ghosts are petty, sulky and short-fused, generally behaving like toddlers. Speaking of which, Lee Mack returned with a fresh run of Not Going Out (BBC1), easily the funniest bickering match on TV. Husbands, wives, friends and in-laws are permanently at each others throats. Macks comedy is very much of the first type, the meticulous build-up to a perfectly worded pay-off. The lines have been polished till they glow in the dark: for instance, asked whether he wanted to make a parachute jump at 10,000ft, he retorted: Id rather jump out of a birthday cake at Wormwood Scrubs dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Thats a beautifully crafted joke surreal, concise and no ruder than the imagination of the audience. Mack delivered it with expertly weighted timing. Lee Mack returned with a fresh run of Not Going Out (BBC1), easily the funniest bickering match on TV. Husbands, wives, friends and in-laws are permanently at each others throats [File photo] Because every bit of humour meshes like the cogs in a Swiss watch, this sitcom can lack the element of shock. We sense each joke coming. There are no utterly unexpected bellylaughs, such as the moment in Ghosts when we realised the cellar was crammed full of bubonic plague victims with nothing to do but watch the pilot light in the boiler. But surprises dont matter, when the comedy is so well constructed. A minor masterclass. Fresh feet of the week: Dawn French and Richard Ayoade treated their weary toes to a fish pedicure in a Greek lake on Travel Man (C4), before being fitted for bespoke sandals in Athens. Who says Brits abroad always keep their socks on? Home and Away star Bonnie Sveen welcomed her identical twin girls, Myrtle Mae and Emerald Lois, last October. And on Monday, the actress and her partner Nathan Gooley made their first public family appearance with their adorable bundle of joys at Gold Coast airport. Making their way through the terminal, Bonnie, 29, looked relaxed and glowing as she cradled one of her little ones. EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Home and Away star Bonnie Sveen and her partner Nathan Gooley were seen cradling their adorable twins, Myrtle and Emerald, at Gold Coast airport on Monday Babies'first day out: Carrying one tot in a baby carrier on her chest, Bonnie walked alongside her Nathan, who had their other daughter in tow Carrying the tot in a baby carrier on her chest, she walked alongside Nathan, who had their other daughter in tow. The mother-of-two cut a relaxed figure in a pair of black skinny jeans and a grey T-shirt. Showing off her flawless complexion, she went makeup free and left her long blonde tresses in a messy bun. Casual cool: The mother-of-two cut a relaxed figure in a pair of black skinny jeans and a grey T-shirt The causal outing comes after Bonnie described welcoming her girls as nothing short of magical in October last year. 'How could I have possibly earned this double miracle in my life?' she gushed to New Idea magazine. Speaking of motherhood, the star told the publication: 'It's the best. It's definitely far from perfect, but it's the most heart-opening, profound experience I've ever undergone.' Precious cargo: The causal outing comes after Bonnie described welcoming her girls as nothing short of magical in October last year Glowing: Showing off her flawless complexion, she went makeup free and left her long blonde tresses in a messy bun 'It's the best': Speaking of motherhood, the star has said: 'It's the best. It's definitely far from perfect, but it's the most heart-opening, profound experience I've ever undergone' Bonnie also revealed the meaning behind her daughters' unusual names, explaining that Emerald was inspired by the fictional land of Emerald City in The Wizard Of Oz. Meanwhile, Myrtle was named after Bonnie's favourite Tasmanian tree species as well as her aunt - who had the same nickname. Myrtle and Emerald were born almost one month premature and spent two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at Royal Hobart Hospital. While Bonnie admitted she struggled to be separated from her newborns, she was quick to praise the 'incredible' nurses that took care of the girls during that time. Now reunited, the family-of-four have settled down in rural Tasmania. Modern Family diva Sofia Vergara looked fab in floral while stopping by Alfred Coffee Melrose Place with publicist pal Giselle Lafaurie in West Hollywood on Monday. The Colombian 46-year-old - who boasts 34.3M social media followers - then clutched her to-go beverage alongside Giselle for a selfie. The four-time SAG Award winner celebrated the spring season in Los Angeles by donning a long black iris-print coat. Coffee run: Modern Family diva Sofia Vergara (R) looked fab in floral while stopping by Alfred Coffee Melrose Place with publicist pal Giselle Lafaurie (L) in West Hollywood on Monday 'Tardeando #spring!' The Colombian 46-year-old - who boasts 34.3M social media followers - then clutched her to-go beverage alongside Giselle for a selfie Sofia - who relies on stylist duo Jill Lincoln & Jordan Johnson - paired her chic outerwear with a black T-shirt, blue jeans, a beige Chanel bag, and her signature sky-high platform heels. Vergara sported full make-up and she wore her middle-parted brunette tresses down for the sunny outing. The EBY panties co-founder appeared fresh faced and in good spirits despite having hosted an epic, raucous party at her seven-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion only hours earlier. In bloom: The four-time SAG Award winner celebrated the spring season in Los Angeles by donning a long black iris-print coat Ensemble: Sofia paired her chic outerwear with a black T-shirt, blue jeans, a beige Chanel bag, and her signature sky-high platform heels Wedding bling: Vergara sported full make-up and she wore her middle-parted brunette tresses down for the sunny outing Caffeine fix: The EBY panties co-founder appeared fresh faced and in good spirits despite having hosted an epic, raucous party at her Beverly Hills mansion only hours earlier The 365 Days of Love executive producer and her second husband - Rampage action star Joe Manganiello - threw a Game of Thrones watching party which featured a three-tiered 'Iron' cake and catering from The Burger Babes food truck. Lafaurie was among the lucky guests snuggled beneath a Jon Snow blanket at the bash in honor of the hit HBO fantasy series, which concludes May 19 after eight successful seasons. Also getting into the GOT spirit was Sofia's 26-year-old son Manolo Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara, who dressed his four-year-old Chihuaua mix, Baguette, in a fur-trimmed cape. Make a wish! The 365 Days of Love executive producer and her second husband - Rampage action star Joe Manganiello - threw a Game of Thrones watching party which featured a three-tiered 'Iron' cake and catering from The Burger Babes food truck Concludes May 19! Lafaurie (R) was among the lucky guests snuggled beneath a Jon Snow blanket at the bash in honor of the hit HBO fantasy series Squeee! Also getting into the GOT spirit was Sofia's 26-year-old son Manolo Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara, who dressed his four-year-old Chihuaua mix, Baguette, in a fur-trimmed cape Vergara had the 26-year-old Emerson College grad with her high school sweetheart - mechanic and DJ Joe Gonzalez - with whom she was married from 1991-1993. The Con Is On stunner will next join Armie Hammer and John Stamos as celebrity readers at the 10th anniversary Kids Art Museum Project fundraiser happening May 19 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The four-time Golden Globe nominee earns an eye-popping $500K per episode to play housewife Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the 10th (and final) season of the mockumentary series Modern Family, which resumes May 1 on ABC. Story time: Vergara will next join Armie Hammer (L) and John Stamos as celebrity readers at the 10th anniversary Kids Art Museum Project fundraiser happening May 19 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles Actress Priyanka Chopra got her week off to a good start at the theater, supporting a new Broadway opening. The 36 year old actress stepped out to attend the opening night of the revival of Burn This at the Hudson Theater on Monday night. The Indian-born actress has been in New York City for the past few days, in town for the Women in the World Summit. Night out: Priyanka Chopra steps out for a night at the theater for the opening night of Burn This on Broadway on Monday night Chopra was wearing a bright yellow and white mini-dress with a matching coat over a white turtleneck. She also had a yellow purse slung over her shoulder as she arrived at the theater Monday night. She completed her ensemble with a pair of translucent Chanel boots with white heels and soles. Premiere: Chopra was wearing a bright yellow and white mini-dress with a matching coat over a white turtleneck Laughs: She also had a yellow purse slung over her shoulder as she arrived at the theater Monday night Chopra was not seen with her husband Nick Jonas, who has had a busy weekend, as chronicled on Instagram. On Saturday, Jonas participated in the press day for his animated movie Uglydolls, where he voices Lou, hitting theaters May 10. Then on Sunday, he shared a snap from a private plane with his brothers Kevin and Joe, revealing they continued a tradition of watching The Masters at Augusta, Georgia. Clear boots: She completed her ensemble with a pair of clear Chanel boots with white heels and soles All smiles: Chopra most recently starred in the romantic comedy Isn't It Romantic alongside Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth Chopra most recently starred in the romantic comedy Isn't It Romantic alongside Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth. She also starred in the music video for her husband's music video Sucker, the first single Nick and the rest of the Jonas Brothers have released in several years. She also has a new film dubbed The Sky Is Pink in post-production, with an October 11 release date already set. Staying busy: She also starred in the music video for her husband's music video Sucker, the first single Nick and the rest of the Jonas Brothers have released in several years Chopra will also return to her Indian roots with a new film Gangubai, which is currently in production, She also has another Indian film in the works, a biopic dubbed Gustakhiyan, which is based on the life of poet Sahir Ludhianvi. Chopra is also attached to star in Universal's action-thriller Cowboy Ninja Viking alongside Chris Pratt. New film: Chopra will also return to her Indian roots with a new film Gangubai, which is currently in production She is an ageless beauty who has been stunning red carpet audiences for decades. And Brooke Shields stayed true to form on Monday night as she lit up the carpet at the AAFA American Image Awards in New York. The 53-year-old actress cut a chic figure while heading into The Plaza along with other celebrities, including La La Anthony. Shining: Brooke Shields lit up the carpet at the AAFA American Image Awards in New York The Suddenly Susan star stunned in a shin-length black dress that hugged tightly to her curves. A corset belt with metal embellishments was cinched around her waist, highlighting her slender waist. She added a couple extra inches to her 6ft frame via reflective silver heels and carried a small clutch. Brooke left her brunette tresses free to cascade across her shoulders in thick waves. All smiles: The 53-year-old actress cut a chic figure while heading into The Plaza along with other celebrities Stunner: The Suddenly Susan star stunned in a shin-length black dress that hugged tightly to her curves La La sported a shimmering sliver dress with a plunging neckline that highlighted her ample cleavage. The frock hugged the 39-year-old television personality's curves and she added a couple extra inches via beige heels from the Disney Princess x Ruthie Davis collaboration. She pulled her brunette tresses into a tight ponytail, letting the locks pour down her back in waves. Fetching: The frock hugged the 39-year-old television personality's curves and she added a couple extra inches via beige heels from the Disney Princess x Ruthie Davis collaboration Headed in: She pulled her brunette tresses into a tight ponytail, letting the locks pour down her back in waves Joining Brooke on the carpet was, Stacey Bendet who stunned in a shimmering black and white dress. Her dark locks were twisted into an intricate 'do and she painted her lips a robust red. She accessorized with silver pendant earrings and a variety of rings. Eileen Fisher, 68, donned a long black dress with black boots as she also joined Brooke on the red carpet. Fans of each other: Joining Brooke on the carpet was, Stacey Bendet who stunned in a shimmering black and white dress Chic: Her dark locks were twisted into an intricate 'do and she painted her lips a robust red Married At First Sight's Susie Bradley is head over heels for new NRL bad boy boyfriend, Todd Carney. And on Tuesday, the loved-up couple shared an intimate selfie cuddled up in bed during their romantic overseas escape. The blonde bombshell, 25, captioned the cheeky photo under the sheets: 'We are just living our best lives in Bali!' 'We are living our best lives in Bali!' MAFS' Susie Bradley (right) shared bedroom selfie with NRL bad boy boyfriend Todd Carney (left) during romantic getaway Susie, who has already confessed her love for Todd, appeared absolutely smitten with her beau in the bedroom picture. Later in the day, she flaunted her cleavage in a pink bikini as the pair soaked up the sunshine by the pool. Sporting a large grin, she filmed herself before turning the camera on Todd, who was also sunbathing. The trip appears to be a special occasion to mark her 26th birthday on Friday. Pretty in pink! Susie flaunted her cleavage in a pink leopard-print bikini as the pair soaked up the sunshine by the pool in Bali Tatt's her man! She filmed herself before turning the camera on Todd, who was seen sunbathing by the water Over the weekend, Susie celebrated her birthday early in Byron Bay. The blonde beauty was filmed blowing out the candles on her cake surrounded by her daughter, Baby, four, Todd and her cheering friends. 'I had such a fabulous night! Thank you to all of my beautiful friends and family who came and helped me celebrate! You all mean SO much to me!' Her two loves! Over the weekend, Susie celebrated her birthday early in Byron Bay with Todd and her four-year-old daughter, Baby Happy Birthday: Susie (pictured holding daughter Baby) was filmed blowing out the candles on her cake while with boyfriend Todd in Byron Bay A cry of 'that's cute Todd!' could be heard as Susie made a wish and her boyfriend watched on smiling. The happy occasion comes after Susie and Todd were pictured looking at diamond rings at a jewellery store in Sydney last week. Hinting at impending nuptials, the pair were spotted looking specifically at engagement rings at the Michael Hill Jewellers store. The former aged care nurse also revealed on Monday night's episode of Talking Married that she was in 'full blown love' with the ex-Cronulla Sharks star. 'It's totally amazing - I'm like a little schoolgirl. I met someone after the show and I'm actually in full-blown love,' she said. Impending nuptials? The happy occasion comes after Susie and Todd (pictured) were seen looking at diamond rings at a jewellery store in Sydney on Tuesday 'I have been in love once before with my daughter's father and this is nothing like that.' The Married At First Sight 'bride' owned up to the fact she was looking through Instagram 'for good looking people' when she came across Todd's profile. 'It was a bit of a like-for-like scenario - then we met up and haven't left each other's side since,' she revealed. Meanwhile, earlier this month Susie revealed why she gave her daughter the name Baby. She said the name Baby was actually something she first came up with while she was still at school. 'When I was in high school, I used to write lists of names that I liked for kids, and Baby was one of them,' she added. Susie was 'married' to Billy Vincent, 28, on the show in a tempestuous and ultimately short-lived relationship that ended with both choosing to leave the process. She plays a widowed social worker raising two young children in 1970s Los Angeles who's haunted by a female ghost known as the Weeping Woman. And on Monday night, Linda Cardellini put on a stunning show as she headlined the Hollywood premiere for horror movie The Curse of La Llorona. The actress, 43, flaunted her cleavage in a very low-cut monochrome sleeveless dress. Eye-catching: Linda Cardellini put on a stunning show as she headlined the Hollywood premiere for horror movie The Curse of La Llorona on Monday night The patterned dress had a corset-style bodice and a skirt that fell to the actress's ankles. She paired it with pointed toe navy heels. The former ER and Bloodline star wore her hair in an updo with a long tendril left loose at the front to soften the look and frame her face. She accessorized with long diamond earrings and was accompanied to the screening by her longtime partner Steve Rodriguez. The couple share a seven-year-old daughter Lilah-Rose. On trend: The actress, 43, flaunted her cleavage in a very low-cut monochrome sleeveless dress. The patterned dress had a corset-style bodice and a skirt that fell to the ankles Looking good: The former ER and Bloodline star wore her hair in an updo with a long tendril left loose to soften the look and frame her face. She accessorized with long diamond earrings Horror: In The Curse of La Llorona, Cardellini plays a widowed social worker raising two young children in 1970s Los Angeles who's haunted by a female ghost known as the Weeping Woman Date night: The actress was accompanied to the screening by her longtime partner Steve Rodriguez. The couple share a seven-year-old daughter Lilah-Rose The Curse Of La Llorona is the sixth installment in the so-called Conjuring Universe and was produced by James Wan through his Atomic Monster Productions banner. Starring with Cardellini are Patricia Velasquez, Marisol Ramirez and Raymond Cruz. Also at the premiere were child actors Jaynee Lynn Kinchen and Roman Christou who play Cardellini's kids in the film. The Curse of La Llorona, directed by Michael Chaves, opens in theatres on April 19. Stylish: Starring with Cardellini is Patricia Velasquez who arrived at the screening wearing a sleeveless black dress with asymmetrical hem and dark red shoes Roles to play: Also at the premiere were child actors Jaynee Lynn Kinchen and Roman Christou who play Cardellini's kids in the film Reunited: Co-star Raymond Cruz joined Cardellini and the child actors for a group shot Melissa Lucraelli left the Married At First Sight experiment after failing to find love with 'husband' Dino Hira. And even though the show has officially wrapped, the 38-year-old still seems to have bad blood with her former flame. Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the former reality star shared a MAFS promotional photo of herself hugging her TV husband - but decided to crop him out entirely. Well that's awkward! Married At First Sight's Melissa Lucarelli, 38, (pictured) cropped out her ex-husband Dino Hira out of a promotional photo from the series Sharing with fans one of her fashion looks from the show, she tagged designers Sass & Bide and Saba and showed off her outfit. But the brunette stunner failed to include her former TV husband Dino in the snap, only showing herself in the frame. It comes after an extremely tense commitment ceremony on the series, where Dino and Melissa decided to part ways and ended their marriage. Failed marriage: It comes after an extremely tense commitment ceremony on the controversial series, where Dino (pictured) and Melissa decided to part ways and ended their marriage The decision came after Mel was left shaken after the spiritual groom was busted secretly recording his 'wife' on the phone to her sister. 'I wanted to show Mel that the words were hurtful and it wasn't easy for me to take,' explained Dino, when asked about the recordings during their final episode. Speaking to Perth's 96FM with Paul & Lise, Melissa branded the invasion of privacy as 'creepy'. Caught out! The spiritual groom found himself in the middle of a huge scandal in February after he was busted secretly recording his 'wife' Mel 'He was secretly recording me - there's just no excuse for that. It's creepy,' raged Melissa during the radio interview. 'The only way I found out about it was when I then caught him trying to record another conversation. I was beside myself.' Although the act may shock some, Dino had naively intended to play the audio back at a later stage during a counselling session with the experts. 'He was secretly recording me - there's just no excuse for that. It's creepy,' raged Melissa during a radio interview with Perth's 96FM with Paul & Lisein February However, it appears his plan quickly backfired. Despite signing up for the reality show, Melissa added that the stars still expect some level of privacy while in Sydney for filming. 'It's not Big Brother, there's not cameras there recording us 24/7,' added Melissa. 'When we're getting filmed, we know we're getting filmed [but] he was secretly recording my conversation.' He just returned from a vacation with his wife Kim Kardashian to Bali, Indonesia. But Kanye West looked to be back to business as usual as he was spotted leaving a restaurant in Calabasas. The 41-year-old rapper tried to keep his appearances covered up as he made his way to his vehicle. Covered up: Kanye West looked to be back to business as usual as he was spotted leaving a restaurant in Calabasas Kanye pulled a grey hoodie over his head and threw a tie-dye red jacket over top of it. A white shirt peeked out from underneath the Gold Digger creator's sweatshirt and donned baggy black pants underneath. He sported brown shoes and carried his phone in his right hand on what appeared to be a solo trip out. Back to business: The 41-year-old rapper tried to keep his appearances covered up as he made his way to his vehicle Kanye just returned from a trip to Bali with Kim, where the 38-year-old reality star shared gorgeous poolside photos of their villa with a jungle view at the Amandari resort. 'How beautiful is this?' Kim marveled as she showed off the view of Ubud from her bedroom. From the poolside retreat to watching a traditional Balinese dance, Kim was certain to induce envy from fans as she posted an array of stunning photos from her exotic getaway. A world away: He just returned from a vacation with his wife Kim Kardashian to Bali, Indonesia The reality star even made a stop at an animal sanctuary, where she made a new friend. 'Hi cutie!' Kim gushed as she posed beside a tusked elephant, munching on assorted greens. 'Everyone, we're at an animal sanctuary, feeding these beautiful elephants.' The pair stayed at the stunning Amandari resort, which is marking its 30th anniversary by celebrating Balinese culture, cuisine and local community. The resort is a family favorite since it is the sister to Amangani in Jackson Hole where Kanye held his album launch party and also Amangiri in Utah where Kylie announced her pregnancy. Adam Driver and Keri Russell were all smiles as they debuted their new revival of Burn This on Broadway, but Russell got teary-eyed when it was all said and done. Driver, 35, and Russell, 43, were seen on stage, holding bouquets of flowers after their revival of Lanford Wilson's 1987 play, as Russell started getting emotional during the curtain call. The Americans star was seen wiping tears from her eyes as she stood on the stage with her cast mates Driver, plus David Furr and Brandon Uranowitz. Curtain call: Adam Driver and Keri Russell were all smiles as they debuted their new revival of Burn This on Broadway On stage, Russell was wearing a teal dress and black heels, but on the red carpet, she rocked quite a different look. On the red carpet, she was wearing a full tuxedo with a white shirt, black pants and bowtie, but no tuxedo jacket. She also posed on the red carpet with the rest of her cast mates, along with director Michael Mayer. Emotional: The Americans star was seen wiping tears from her eyes as she stood on the stage with her cast mates Driver, plus David Furr and Brandon Uranowitz On the red carpet, she was wearing a full tuxedo with a white shirt, black pants and bowtie, but no tuxedo jacket Burn This: What the critics are saying... 'Burn This is one of the hottest tickets of the season!' - Entertainment Weekly 'I couldnt take [my] eyes off of Adam Driver and Keri Russell! - Rosanna Scotto Good Day New York 'Burn This has the classic romantic-comedy love-triangle structure, but its much rougher around the edgesa scathing, portrait of a grief-stricken couple drawn to each other despite their best impulses. 'This production is, more than any thematic concern, really about Adam Driver, both for brass-tacks reasonsa major Broadway revival today all but requires a star of his cloutand also aesthetic ones. 'Burn This offers a chance to see Drivers Pale span from comic chaos to violent threat, from bluster to paralyzing sensitivity!' - Vogue 'Keri Russell and Adam Driver were both just amazing in it. Really brilliant. And its still so funny, albeit from a more sardonic age than today!' Jon Ronson, author 'Keri Russell and Adam Driver are so great in this!' - Ramin Setoodeh, Variety Advertisement Red carpet: On the red carpet, Driver was clad in a sharp grey suit with a white dress shirt, maroon tie and black shoes On stage, Driver was clad in black, with a black button down shirt tucked into black jeans with a black leather jacket and black cowboy boots. On the red carpet, Driver was clad in a sharp grey suit with a white dress shirt, maroon tie and black shoes. Driver was one of the few primary stars of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker who wasn't at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago last weekend, since Burn This was still in previews. And reviews have been glowing across the board for the production. 'Burn This is one of the hottest tickets of the season!' Entertainment Weekly wrote. Smiles: On stage, Russell was wearing a teal dress and black heels, but on the red carpet, she rocked quite a different look Cast and director: She also posed on the red carpet with the rest of her cast mates, along with director Michael Mayer Ramin Setoodeh of Variety simply said: 'Keri Russell and Adam Driver are so great in this.' Vogue reported: 'Burn This has the classic romantic-comedy love-triangle structure, but its much rougher around the edgesa scathing, portrait of a grief-stricken couple drawn to each other despite their best impulses. 'This production is, more than any thematic concern, really about Adam Driver, both for brass-tacks reasonsa major Broadway revival today all but requires a star of his cloutand also aesthetic ones. 'Burn This offers a chance to see Drivers Pale span from comic chaos to violent threat, from bluster to paralyzing sensitivity.' Adam in black: On stage, Driver was clad in black, with a black button down shirt tucked into black jeans with a black leather jacket and black cowboy Busy star: Driver was one of the few primary stars of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker who wasn't at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago last weekend, since Burn This was still in previews Rosanna Scotto of Good Day New York tweeted: 'I couldnt take [my] eyes off of #adamdriver and #kerirussell!' Author Jon Ronson agreed: 'Keri Russell and Adam Driver were both just amazing in it. Really brilliant. And its still so funny, albeit from a more sardonic age than today.' The stars came out for opening night as well, with Annette Bening and Carla Gugino seen on the red carpet before the play. Also in attendance for opening night was Priyanka Chopra (without husband Nick Jonas), Zachary Quinto, Christian Slater, Zach Braff and Al Roker. Opening night: Annette Bening (left) and Carla Gugino attend opening night of the revival of Lanford Wilson's play Burn This on Broadway Monday night The 60 year old Bening was wearing an off-white pantsuit with a metallic brown dress shirt underneath. She wore thin-rimmed glasses and large silver hoop earrings with white shoes peeking out from her wide-legged pants. The actress wasn't seen with her husband of 27 years, actor Warren Beatty, at the opening night celebration. All smiles: The 60 year old Bening was wearing an off-white pantsuit with a metallic brown dress shirt underneath Gugino was wearing a stylish black ensemble, with a strapless black dress with a black leather belt around the waist. She also wore a gold necklace while carrying a black handbag while walking the red carpet on black platform heels. Burn This is slated to run through July 14 at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. Carla's style: Gugino was wearing a stylish black ensemble, with a strapless black dress with a black leather belt around the waist Stepping out: She also wore a gold necklace while carrying a black handbag while walking the red carpet on black platform heels Hill House: Gugino is coming off her role of Olivia Crain in the critically-acclaimed Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson's acclaimed novel Priyanka on opening night: Priyanka Chopra takes in opening night of Burn This without husband Nick Jonas Quinto: Zachary Quinto arrives at opening night of Burn This Theater lover: Zach Braff takes in opening night of Burn This Christian: Mr. Robot star Christian Slater arrives at the Burn This premiere Grant Crapp isn't the first name you'd think of when it comes to real estate. But after recently becoming a first time home owner, the Love Island Australia star, 23, has offered advice to others wanting to get on the property ladder. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday, Grant urged people to stay clear of big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. 'You're wasting your time in a highly populated area' Love Island's Grant Crapp, 23, has offered advice to first time home buyers after snapping up a three bedroom cabin for $380,000 'Sydney right now, in my opinion, is a terrible place to be purchasing in,' Grant said. Discussing 'value for money', he claims that for an 'average of $600,000 you'll struggle to find anything bigger than a one bed, one bathroom with no backyard.' The electrician added: 'I personally think you're wasting your time in a highly populated area.' 'See where there is potential for capital growth: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Grant urged people to stay clear of big cities - after purchasing this cabin in Malua Bay, New South Wales 'We are slowly becoming more and more populated': Grant and girlfriend Lucy Cartwright purchased the three bedroom property in February for $380,000, and expect the area to boom Instead, Grant, and girlfriend Lucy Cartwright, purchased their first home in Malua Bay, New South Wales back in February. For $380,000, the couple snapped up a three bedroom cabin on a 1098 square metre block of land, which is minutes away from a local beach. 'You have to study the market and see where there is potential for capital growth,' Grant explained. 'In my area of the south coast, we are slowly becoming more and more populated because of the tourism from Canberra/Sydney - and occasionally Melbourne.' 'I believe the property game is an very interesting market and I look to be heavily involved in': Grant has plans to purchase more properties in the remote area Grant continued: 'The area is absolutely beautiful and quiet year round and has a massive potential for capital growth.' Grant then teased that the couple are looking to buy even more properties in the area in the near future. 'I believe the property game is a very interesting market and I look to be heavily involved in it,' concluded Grant. Before! Since snapping up his first home, Grant and Lucy have worked extensively to renovate the place themselves After! On Monday, the reality star shared several before and after photographs of their continued progress Since snapping up his first home, Grant and Lucy have worked extensively to renovate the place themselves. On Monday, the reality star shared several before and after photographs of their continued progress. Grant has completely transformed the property, which is located two hours from his former home of Canberra. Out with the old! Grant has completely transformed the property, which is located two hours from his former home of Canberra She's been garnering rave reviews for her performance in the Hulu true crime story The Act. And on Monday, Joey King attended another Emmy Consideration event, this time hosted by the Los Angeles Times. The 19-year-old posed for several photos at the publication's portrait studio wearing a shiny green one-shoulder blouse and shimmery pink trousers. Buzz: She's been garnering rave reviews for her performance in Hulu's The Act. And Monday, Joey King attended another Emmy Consideration event, this time hosted by the LA Times The actress stars in The Act as Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who persuaded her boyfriend to murder her mother who had subjected her to years of abuse. Dee Dee Blanchard, played in the Hulu series by Patricia Arquette, subjected her daughter to countless unnecessary medical treatments and surgeries, claiming she was suffering from a laundry list of illnesses. It seems to have been a classic case of Munchausen by proxy. The real-life Gypsy Rose is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Striking: The 19-year-old posed for several photos at the publication's portrait studio wearing a shiny green one-shoulder blouse, shimmery pink trousers and silver heels Focused: During the LAT Q&A, King spoke about having to shave off her hair for the role of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. It's the third time she's had to be shorn for the sake of her art True story: King is pictured as Gypsy Rose who persuaded her boyfriend to murder her mother who had subjected her to years of abuse in a classic case of Munchausen by proxy During the LAT Q&A, King spoke about having to shave off her hair for the role of Gypsy Rose. It turns out it is the third time she's had to be shorn for the sake of her art. The actress explained that she had found it 'freeing not to think about vanity' and she committed to shaving her hair off so that the story could be told 'right.' King is currently filming a sequel to her Netflix romantic comedy The Kissing Booth that was released last year. She's an actress and producer and has her own fashion line. And on Monday, Reese Witherspoon was all smiles as she arrived at her office in LA with a female friend. The 43-year-old was dressed business casual in a finely striped shirt and skinny J Brand jeans with a sweater draped over her shoulders. Off to work: She's an actress and producer and has her own fashion line. And on Monday, Reese Witherspoon was all smiles as she arrived at her office in LA with a female friend She stepped out in a pair of very high heels and carried a large patterned tote over one shoulder. Reese wore her blonde hair tucked behind her ears, revealing AirPods, and sported black-framed sunglasses. She seemed in a very good mood as she joked and laughed with her pal. Business casual: The 43-year-old was dressed business casual in a finely striped shirt and skinny J Brand jeans with a sweater draped over her shoulders Connected: Reese wore her blonde hair tucked behind her ears, revealing AirPods, and sported black-framed sunglasses Happy: The Big Little Lies star seemed in a very good mood as she joked and laughed with her pal. She stepped out in a pair of very high heels and carried a patterned tote over one shoulder On Sunday, The Big Little Lies star was spotted arriving at the Pasadena Playhouse for a Public Theater production of Tiny Beautiful Things. The play is based on advice columns from New York Magazine written by Cheryl Strayed who was the inspiration for Reese's 2014 film Wild. Wild was based on Strayed's memoir of the same name that detailed her solo journey hiking across the Pacific Northwest following divorce and a struggle with drug abuse. The play stars My Big Fat Greek Wedding star Nia Vardalos who adapted the advice column collection for the stage. Took in a play: On Sunday, The Big Little Lies star was spotted arriving at the Pasadena Playhouse for a Public Theater production of Tiny Beautiful Things Victoria Beckham shared a picture of her daughter Harper standing alongside her best friend Eva Longoria while enjoying an Easter bash at her LA home. Victoria, 44, wrote: 'Almost as tall as @evalongoria and proud!' alongside the snap of the 5ft 2" former Desperate Housewives star Eva, also 44, posed wearing a black suit and backless Gucci loafers and had a pensive expression on her face as she stood back to back against the youngest Beckham child. Proud: Victoria Beckham shared a picture of her daughter Harper, 7, standing almost as tall as best friend Eva Longoria while attending an Easter bash at her LA home Harper was dressed in a white Easter dress and matching cardigan, wearing a matching knotted scarf headband. She wore tan suede Mary Janes which had a tiny heel. While staying at the home, Victoria also shared a snap of Harper cooing over Eva's baby, Santi, with husband Jose Baston. Cute: While staying at the home, Victoria also shared a snap of Harper cooing over Eva's baby, Santi, with husband Jose Baston Harper was wearing a black and white gingham dress and Santi was rocking a blue and white striped ensemble. She wrote: 'Kisses for Santi. @evalongoria Harper loves him so much. It seemed like lots of fun was being had at the party as Harper got to pour glittery sprinkles over her mother's head. Spice Up Your Life: It seemed like lots of fun was being had at the party as Harper got to pour glittery sprinkles over her mother's head Fluff and stuff: Harper also posed holding one of Eva's cute Easter bunnies and she appeared totally enamoured Victoria was wearing an unusually low-key ensemble of a white T-shirt and simple denim jeans. Harper also posed holding one of Eva's cute Easter bunnies and she appeared totally enamoured. Also celebrating with the group was Victoria's good friend and long-term hairdresser, Ken Paves. The trio all shared a fun snap of themselves holding up fluffy Easter bunnies as they got into the spirits of things. Victoria wrote: 'Who said adults can't enjoy Easter bunnies, too?' Meanwhile, back in the UK, the rest of the Spice Girls have started rehearsals for their UK tour. Mel B was absent, but she is thought to be joining the girls at a later stage. She designs a line of activewear, and Pip Edwards has the body to match. The 39-year-old fashion designer showed off her impressive washboard abs on Instagram on Monday. Sharing a photo of herself in a pair of black and white workout leggings and a matching black and white crop top, Pip can be seen clutching a skipping rope. Keeping fit: She designs a line of activewear, and Pip Edwards has the body to match. The 39-year-old fashion designer showed off her impressive washboard abs on Instagram on Monday Her toned body is on full display, as she stares off into the sun, shielding her eyes behind one hand. She appears to have just completed a workout at Bondi Icebergs Gym, tagging the Sydney hotspot in her post. 'Monday, skip to it,' she captioned the photo, adding a punching hand emoji. Let's get physical: In an interview with Women's Health magazine last week, Pip discussed her gruelling exercise regimen Working it: Pip - who created the lucrative activewear line, P.E Nation - regularly takes to Instagram to share photos of herself working out, showing off her clothing range Pip - who created the lucrative activewear line, P.E Nation - regularly takes to Instagram to share photos of herself working out, showing off her clothing range. In an interview with Women's Health magazine last week, Pip discussed her gruelling exercise regimen. She admitted she's had to tone down her workouts after suffering what she described as a 'bad injury'. Ouch: She admitted she's had to tone down her workouts after suffering what she described as a 'bad injury' Take care: 'I had a bad injury and kept training with it and then I hit a wall and realised that I needed to look after my body,' she confessed 'I spent a lot of time in my early 30's doing weight training and HIIT workouts,' she told the magazine. 'I had a bad injury and kept training with it and then I hit a wall and realised that I needed to look after my body. 'A friend then recommended a really good Pilates instructor who specialises in rehab Pilates. Now I make sure that I fit Pilates classes into my schedule three times a week and it's changed my life.' Rhian Sugden revealed she's 'heartbroken' after being told she has the 'egg count of a woman over 45', as she discussed her fertility. The model, 32, was candid as she spoke with The Sun and discussed the news, after revealing to her Twitter followers that she plans to undergo IVF. Rhian explained: 'I was told that I may never be a mum and Im heartbroken. 'I may never be a mum': Rhian Sugden, 32, plans to start IVF as model was told she has an egg count of 'a woman over 45' but says it carries a 'two per cent' success rate (pictured in 2016) 'Doctors said I have the egg count of a woman over 45, meaning it's unlikely I would ever conceive naturally. 'It also means the odds of getting pregnant by IVF have gone down from 30 per cent to two per cent which was pretty devastating to hear.' This comes after Rhian told her Twitter followers she is 'wishing for a miracle' amid the 'heartbreak' of being told she and actor husband Oliver Mellor, 38, 'might not be able to have children. Rhian wrote: 'I received some pretty devastating news this week about my fertility - which means I will be trying IVF later this year. Miracle: The model, who is married to Oliver Mellor, said: 'Doctors said I have the egg count of a woman over 45, meaning it's unlikely I would ever conceive naturally (pictured last week) 'I wasn't going to share this but I feel the need to highlight the struggles that a lot of women are going through. 'It's hard being a woman and having all the expectations. Being told you might not be able to have children is heartbreaking'. The lingerie model also spoke of the 'pressure' women are put under to become mothers, admitting she 'hates' being asked when she is going to start a family. Rhian said: 'I don't like the pressure that people put on women to have children and I don't like the pressure I have put on myself. Miracle: This comes after Rhian detailed the 'heartbreak' of being told she and her actor husband 'might not be able to have children' 'I struggle to answer questions about when I am going to start a family - even though I know the question comes from a good place, I hate being asked it. 'All I can say really is that I've been trying and I can't.' Rhian and former Coronation Street star Oliver married in a dream wedding in Kalkan, Turkey in September 2018, exchanging vows by the Mediterranean Sea after a four-year engagement. Shortly after the couple's ceremony, Rhian hit out at people for asking when the couple - who have been together for seven years - planned to start a family. She wrote on her Twitter page: 'If one more person asks me when I am going to have babies my head is going to explode!! 'Do people think they grown on trees or that I can just pick one up from Tesco?? For some people it's not that easy!! Don't ask 30+ women when the babies are coming!' Support: Rhian's fans and friends have since taken to Twitter to show support to the model after her news Happily married: Rhian and former Coronation Street star Oliver married in a dream wedding in Kalkan, Turkey in September 2018 after a four-year engagement Dozens of fans and friends have since taken to Twitter to show support to the model after sharing her news. Ex On The Beach star Laura-Alicia Summers said: 'Welcome to my world. Don't give up hun it took my friend 6 try's (sic) and she finally has her [bundle] of joy there's so many different ways these days.' Model Courtnie Quinlan said: 'Oh Rhi. Sending you my thoughts gorgeous girl, you will make an amazing Mum one day that is for sure. You will get there xxxx' Television presenter Gethin Jones commented: 'Sending you both lots of love and support x' It comes after Rhian revealed she will be donating her Watters wedding dress to a terminally ill bride or charity - because 'it deserves to be loved by someone else who really needs it'. 'It's not that easy!' Shortly after the couple's ceremony, Rhian hit out at people for asking when the couple - who have been together for seven years - planned to start a family Writing for ILoveManchester, the model said: 'My dress was one of the most expensive things at my wedding and it is one of the most precious items of clothing I have ever, and will probably ever, buy. 'It feels like a waste. I don't want to hang it up at the back of my wardrobe never to be seen again. It deserves to be loved by someone else who really needs it. 'This is why I have decided that I want to give my dress to someone who doesn't have the time or money to have a perfect dress made something I really took for granted. 'I want someone to wear it and experience the best day of their life in a dress that I helped create.' Kristina Rihanoff has weighed in on the infamous Strictly 'curse' and said it's inevitable following claims that Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton are now dating. The professional dancer, 41, fell victim to the 'curse' twice during her eight year stint on the BBC ballroom stalwart after initially falling for celebrity partner Joe Calzaghe in 2009 and then Ben Cohen four years later when they were partnered in 2013. Appearing on Tuesday's Good Morning Britain, Kristina discussed recent reports that presenter Stacey, 32, broke up with her ex Sam Tucknott for dance partner Kevin, 36. Candid: Kristina Rihanoff has weighed in on the infamous Strictly 'curse' and said it's inevitable following claims that Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton are now dating She said: 'That's what's difficult about this because there is always going to be someone hurt or someone feeling it's wrong what's happening, but people do meet at work and that's where we work.' The Russian dancer admitted that the 'curse' affects the show year-in and year-out because of the 'intense' environment that celebrities and their professional partners find themselves in. 'I think its about creating a very strong bond and trusting one another,' she added. 'The show is very intense emotionally and physically. 'At the end of the day you have a very big task in front of you and lots of pressure on your shoulders people have to trust one another and I think thats where it all starts.' Weighing in: The professional dancer, 41, fell victim to the 'curse' twice during her eight year stint on the BBC ballroom stalwart. Pictured with partner Ben in 2017 In the past: She initially fell for her celebrity partner Joe Calzaghe in 2009 before they split four years later. Pictured with Joe above in 2012 Previously, Kristina embarked upon a four-year relationship with boxer Joe Calzaghe, who dumped his girlfriend of five years, model Jo-Emma Larvin, when they were partnered together in 2009. Within weeks of being paired with Ben in 2013 on the hugely popular BBC1, Kristina and Joe separated. Former England rugby star Ben has always insisted his marriage to Abby Blayney, the mother of his twin girls Isabelle and Harriette, was over before he and Kristina got together. Following the furore of how their romance began, the couple are stronger than ever and have welcomed a daughter, Mila, together in 2016. Discussion: Appearing on Tuesday's Good Morning Britain, Kristina discussed recent reports that presenter Stacey, 32, broke up with her ex Sam Tucknott for dance partner Kevin, 36 'Intense': The Russian dancer admitted that the 'curse' affects the show year-in and year-out because of the 'intense' environment that celebrities and their professional partners find themselves in Twinkle toes: She said: 'I think its about creating a very strong bond and trusting one another. The show is very intense emotionally and physically' Meanwhile, Kristina's comments come after Stacey insisted there's 'two sides to every story' when it comes to her headline-grabbing romance with Strictly partner Kevin. But fresh claims suggest the BBC documentary maker broke up with boyfriend of five years, personal trainer Sam Tucknott, 30, for the professional dancer in order to 'better her career'. It's also been rumoured that Stacey, 32, and Kevin, 36, have been enjoying a secret romance for months, with photos emerging of the pair heading into the same Birmingham hotel in January. Weeks after picking up the Glitterball trophy with Kevin in December, Stacey took part in the Strictly tour, but was separated from her partner who ruled himself out of the live shows to concentrate on his own Burn The Floor tour. Appearance: Kristina appeared opposite GMB hosts Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway Romance: Within weeks of being paired with Ben in 2013, Kristina and Joe separated. Former England rugby star Ben insisted his marriage to Abby Blayney, the mother of his twin girls Isabelle and Harriette, was over before he and Kristina got together. Pictured in 2014 New romance: Stacey reportedly broke up with boyfriend of five years, personal trainer Sam Tucknott, for the her Strictly partner Kevin in order to 'better her career' Despite his hectic work schedule Kevin made the long trip to Birmingham to show his support for Stacey on tour, cheering her on as she danced with Aljaz Skorjanec. Kevin, whose relationship with Stacey was said to be an 'open secret' during the tour, was seen later that night heading into a five star hotel in the city, while Stacey, and the rest of the tour cast, followed close behind. As a Strictly insider said to the Mirror: 'There was no reason for Kevin to slog all the way to Birmingham to see her perform. The fact he did speaks volumes about where they were in their relationship.' Intense: Sam, who split from Stacey after a five-year relationship in March, blames the match on the intensive hours Kevin and the journalist spent together on Strictly Close: It's been rumoured that Stacey and Kevin have been enjoying secret romance for months, with photos emerging of the pair heading into the same Birmingham hotel in January The January meet-up came weeks before Stacey announced she had split from her long-term beau Sam, after five years together. Sam himself admitted in an interview with the Mail On Sunday though, that their relationship was under strain late last year as Stacey spent 14 hours a day training with Kevin for their Strictly win. Insiders have claimed that Stacey, known for her hard-hitting BBC Three documentaries, 'dumped' Sam for Kevin as he was 'better for her image'. Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has revealed the hit BBC One drama could return for two further seasons. Jed, who is the creative mind behind the show, said he is set to have a 'very specific conversation' with the broadcaster to see if there is an 'appetite from fans for more' once the current series five has aired. Although a sixth season of Line of Duty has already been commissioned, it is still unknown whether this will be the last. Future: Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio has revealed the hit BBC One drama could return for two further seasons (pictured, Vicky McClure as DI Kate Fleming) Speaking to The Sun, he said: 'We're looking forward to a conversation with the BBC once series five has aired... about whether there is an appetite from fans to have more, or whether there's a feeling the show is coming towards its natural arc. 'That conversation will be very specific, which is whether series six will be the last, or whether the BBC would be prepared to commission a seventh so we can approach series six knowing it's not the last.' The fifth installment of the drama - which stars Adrian Dunbar (Superintendent Ted Hastings), Vicky McClure (DI Kate Fleming) and Martin Compston (DS Steve Arnott) - is currently airing on BBC One on Sunday nights. The show's current season has already become the biggest BBC show of the year after 11.4 million viewers tuned in to the first episode. Conversation: The showrunner is set to have a 'very specific conversation' with the BBC to see if there is an 'appetite from fans for more' (pictured Martin Compston as DS Steve Arnott) The show runner said: 'We're looking forward to a conversation with the BBC once series five has aired... about whether there is an appetite from fans to have more' (pictured, Jed Mercurio) It was also the series' highest rating for an episode ever, and it performed strongly with younger viewers, with 1.5 million 16 to 34-year-olds tuning in. The new series hasn't been short of dramatic storylines - with PC Maneet Bindra (Maya Sondhi) being left for dead at the end of the opening episode. The actress recently admitted the shock twist came after she drunkenly begged the show runner for more to do on the show. She said: 'The moral of the story is never get drunk with Jed and suggest something. 'Months before he had written this series, we were at an awards do and I was sat next to Jed and I was saying I was chuffed to come back but I said "what are we going to do with her because we have to resolve what happened with Hilton? Unknown: Though a sixth season of Line of Duty has already been commissioned, it is unknown whether this will be the last (pictured right, Adrian Dunbar as Ted Hastings) Current: The fifth installment of the drama is currently airing on BBC One on Sunday nights (pictured, Martin Compson and Aiysha Hart) 'She can't just carry on working there". And he said, "We do need to do something". So I said "We could do something really dramatic". 'Then when he rang me to talk about storylines he said, "You know that stuff you were talking about that was quite interesting" so we kind of colluded. 'I was up for doing something quite dramatic because I just thought you wouldn't expect it from Maneet because she is just basically paper pushing in the background and giving information and doing searches.' Despite Maneet having her throat slit by a balaclava gang, Maya teased that it doesn't necessarily mean she's gone for good and cited Mercurio's Bodyguard twist with Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes. Drama: The new series hasn't been short of dramatic storylines - with PC Maneet Bindra being left for dead at the end of the opening episode (pictured, Maya Soundhi) She said: 'You never know with Jed, look what he did with Keeley in Bodyguard, the whole thing was about the Bodyguard and her and then he killed her off. 'Craig Parkinson's character came back in Line Of Duty before and with Jed you never ever assume anything because you never know what is going to happen. 'That is all I can say really. 'It was a night shoot for those scenes we did so I am not gonna lie it was pretty freezing, but the crew are so amazing and clever what they do. 'We had some of the guys that work on Game Of Thrones that were dealing with the blood, it is so exciting when you see the final thing and the finishing shots, you think that was worth lying around and getting cold for.' She's often praised for her gorgeous figure and fashion-forward outfits. And Samantha Harris did not disappoint when she stepped out in a stunning black-and-gold dress by Sass and Bide on Tuesday. The Indigenous model, 28, cosied up to husband Luke Hunt as they lead celebrity arrivals at Taylors Wines' 50th anniversary dinner at the Art Gallery of NSW. Gorgeous in gold! Samantha Harris (L) flaunted her curves in this striking maxi dress beside husband Luke Hunt (R) as they lead star arrivals at lavish Taylors Wines event in Sydney on Tuesday Enhancing her stunning curves, the glitzy number featured a diaphanous silhouette and was cinched at the waist. Featuring buttons down the front, the dress was adorned with an all-over golden print. Samantha teamed the statement attire with a pair of nude-coloured heels. Hot couple: The Indigenous model, 28, (L) cosied up to husband Luke Hunt (R) as they lead the celebrity arrivals attending Taylors Wines 50th Anniversary Dinner, which was held at the Art Gallery of NSW Looking good! Enhancing her stunning curves, the glitzy number featured a diaphanous silhouette and was cinched at the waist Wow! Featuring buttons down the front, the dress was adorned with this all-over golden print Details: Samantha teamed the statement attire with this pair of nude-coloured heels She styled her brunette locks silky straight, while tucking the front strands behind her ears. Samantha also opted for a neutral makeup look consisting of dewy foundation. defined eyebrows, bronze eye shadow and a pop of nude lip gloss. Meanwhile, another familiar face spotted at the event was presenter Kerri-Anne Kennerley, 65. Hair: She styled her brunette locks silky straight, while tucking the front strands behind her ears and sporting this neutral makeup look Visage: Samantha also opted for a neutral makeup look consisting of dewy foundation. defined eyebrows, bronze eye shadow and a pop of nude lip gloss Wow! Meanwhile, another familiar face spotted at the event was presenter Kerri-Anne Kennerley, 65 Kerri-Anne dropped jaws in a glitzy ensemble, opting for a transparent mesh top that was adorned with quirky silver vines and dragonflies. The blonde beauty also wore a navy blue singlet underneath and matching wide-leg trousers. She completed the look with a pair of lace mule heels and carried a multicoloured glitter clutch. That's different! Kerri-Anne dropped jaws in this glitzy ensemble, opting for a transparent mesh top that was adorned with quirky silver vines and dragonflies Glamazon: The blonde beauty also wore a navy blue singlet underneath, these matching wide-leg trousers and carried a glitter clutch Beauty: Kerri-Anne styled her blonde stresses silky straight while opting for a neutral makeup look with a pop of pink lipstick Fashion designer Rebecca Vallance also made an appearance at the event with her husband David Gasan. Looking simply sensational, the busty blonde flaunted her incredible curves in a bright red dress from Net-A-Porter. Featuring a plunging neckline, long sleeves and a mermaid silhouette, Rebecca had all eyes on her in the striking ensemble. Familiar face! Fashion designer Rebecca Vallance (L) also made an appearance at the event with her husband David Gasan (R) Gorgeous: Featuring a plunging neckline, long sleeves and a mermaid silhouette, Rebecca had all eyes on her in the striking ensemble She completed the look by accessorising with statement silver earrings and a small black clutch. Her short blonde tresses were styled silky straight around her face, while she opted for a glamorous makeup look. Rebecca enhanced her flawless visage with dewy foundation, warm-toned eye shadow and pop of nude lipstick. Glamorous: She completed the look by accessorising with these statement silver earrings and a small black clutch Beauty: Her short blonde tresses were styled silky straight Visage: Samantha enhanced her flawless complexion with this glamorous makeup look Fresh-faced: Rebecca opted for dewy foundation, warm-toned eye shadow and pop of nude lipstick Her beloved husband John passed away at age 78 in late February this year. And on Tuesday, veteran Australian TV personality Kerri-Anne Kennerley put on a brave face as she stepped out at the Art Gallery of NSW. Kerri-Anne, 65, attended the star-studded Taylors Wines 50th anniversary dinner at the iconic venue. Blue belle! Kerri-Anne Kennerley (pictured), 65, looked radiant Taylors Wines 50th Anniversary Dinner at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney on Tuesday night... almost two months after the death of her beloved husband John at age 78 The blonde beauty looking radiant in a transparent mesh top adorned with silver vines and dragonflies. Underneath, Kerri-Anne wore a spaghetti-strap navy blue singlet and completed her outfit with a pair of billowing navy trousers. She accessorised her look with silver-embellished black pumps and a sparkly handbag. Striking style: The blonde beauty looking radiant in a transparent mesh top adorned with silver vines and dragonflies Quirky contrasts: Underneath, Kerri-Anne wore a spaghetti-strap navy blue singlet and completed her outfit with a pair of billowing navy trousers The Studio 10 star looked fresh-faced at the event, wearing light makeup and her long blonde hair out in loose waves. She joined various celebrities at the dinner including model Samantha Harris, 28, TV presenter Cameron Daddo, 54, and designer Rebecca Valance, 39. Kerri-Anne looked to be in high spirits, despite a challenging year. Contentious: Kerri-Anne looked to be in high spirits, despite a challenging year. In January, the veteran TV presenter found herself in hot water after a debate about Australia Day on Studio 10 In January, the veteran TV presenter found herself in hot water after a debate about Australia Day on Studio 10. During a discussion about Invasion Day protesters, Kerri-Anne said: 'Has any one of them been out to the outback where children, babies and five-year-olds are being raped, their mothers are being raped, their sisters are being raped?' The Network 10 panelist was dismissed as 'racist' by Yumi Stynes, 43, for her comments. Clash: During a discussion about Invasion Day protesters on Studio 10 in January, Kerri-Anne (left), said: 'Has any one of them been out to the outback where children, babies and five-year-olds are being raped, their mothers are being raped, their sisters are being raped?' Fellow panelist, Yumi Stynes (right), then branded Kerri-Anne 'racist' Then, on February 27, her husband of 35 years, John Kennerley, passed away at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital with Kerri-Ann and John's son Simon by his side. John was left a quadriplegic after a freak fall in 2016. Danny Miller has claimed his career could be over after he launched into a foul-mouthed rant about his British Soap Awards snub. The Emmerdale actor, 28, reportedly took to his Instagram on Saturday night to share a live stream video of himself lashing out at the annual celebration during a meal out with friends. According to The Sun, Danny even started swearing at a fan, calling them a 's**thouse' as he sparked concern with an erratic 30-minute video, where he said 'f**k the Soap Awards'. Bizarre: Danny Miller has reportedly admitted that his career could be over after he launched into a foul-mouthed rant about his British Soap Awards snub The publication also claimed that the actor, who plays Aaron Dingle on the soap, told other people in the restaurant who were complaining: 'Get out the shot, I've got a British Soap Award!' Danny has been snubbed from the British Soap Award nominations this year after taking home Best Actor and Best Male Dramatic Performance gongs in 2016. 'British Soap Awards I remember when we used to be friends. I used to turn up every year and win something but now... let's talk about the Soap Awards nominees...,' The Sun claims he said in the video. He is then said to have asked his friends: 'Why have you not stopped me yet, this could be my career over? Why haven't you stopped me yet?' Lashing out: The Emmerdale actor, 28, is believed to have taken to his Instagram on Saturday night to share a live stream video of himself lashing out at the annual ceremony during a meal out with friends Danny is believed to have gone on to talk about 'losing his mind' and the 'end of his career'. While his friends and fans are said to have grown concerned with his behaviour in the video asking if he was OK before the video came to an end. MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment. Concern: According to The Sun , who has a clip of the footage, Danny even started swearing at a fan, calling them a 's**thouse' as he sparked concern with an erratic 30-minute video, where he said 'f**k the Soap Awards' Fuming: Only recently, Danny was left shaken after he was filmed showering and getting changed in the gym Only recently, Danny was left shaken after he was filmed showering and getting changed in the gym. Taking to Twitter earlier this month, the Emmerdale star revealed the shocking incident as he hit out at the 'pervert' who had taken the clip. The actor added that he wanted to change the design of smartphones so that it would be impossible to surreptitiously film someone without their knowledge. Outrage: Taking to Twitter earlier this month, the Emmerdale star revealed the shocking incident as he hit out at the 'pervert' who had taken the clip Venting to his 322K followers, Danny tweeted: 'I'm happy to meet people. Just not when trying to get showered and dressed in a gym changing room and you've some pervert who's too f***ing thick to turn the auto flash light off. 'Happens all the time. Imagine me doing that to someone. Front. Page. News. Career done.' He added: 'How would you go about petitioning for @Apple @AppleSupport to introduce a RED RECORDING LIGHT on the back of iPhones so that people in the public eye can tell when a little scrubber is trying to record them without their KNOWLEDGE or PERMISSION to do so?? Can anyone help??' Stassi Schroeder broke down during an 'exorcism' by the self-styled Oracle of Los Angeles on Monday's Vanderpump Rules. In an episode where Lala Kent broke down as she finally admitted being an alcoholic, Stassi, 30, took drastic steps to control 'demons' she blamed for the outbursts threatening her relationship with boyfriend Beau Clark. Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 31, took her friend to the appointment at Amanda Yates Garcia's house, calling her a 'bonafide witch.' 'I want to be exorcised': Stassi Schroeder consulted the self-styled Oracle of Los Angeles on Monday's episode of Vanderpump Rules Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 31, took her friend to the appointment at Amanda Yates Garcia's house, calling her a 'bonafide witch.' 'I want to be exorcised to get the demon out of me,' Stassi insisted. However, once at the house where she was made to go through a 'clearing ceremony' before entering Stassi admitted: 'I feel like I just walked into the Blair Witch House.' She soon got emotional as she spoke about Beau, calling him 'somebody so wonderful' who she feared losing. 'That demonic spirit is coming to visit you, possessing you while you do these angry outbursts,' the Oracle told her. 'You don't need it anymore.' 'Holy s**t. I haven't just been mean I've been demonic,' Stassi said later. 'I want to be exorcised to get the demon out of me,' Stassi insisted Help: Stassi soon got emotional as she spoke about Beau, calling him 'somebody so wonderful' who she feared losing 'Holy s**t. I haven't just been mean I've been demonic,' Stassi said later After sitting in a yoga-like pose while Amanda chanted, Stassi insisted: 'I'm feeling hopeful and helpless at the same time After sitting in a yoga-like pose while Amanda chanted, Stassi insisted: 'I'm feeling hopeful and helpless at the same time. I feel like this is one of the most emotionally draining experiences of my entire life.' She later told the Oracle she was feeling 'younger and lighter,' likening it to a 'cloud on the best day ever like a frickin' Mario Cloud.' Amanda told her: 'This is a turning point for you which is to heal this wound and become the most big and magnificent, beautiful bad a** version of yourself.' Stassi said later: 'Admitting that you have demons is just the first part of trying to be better.' She had earlier spoke to Lala, 28, about her fears of losing Beau blaming booze for most of her outbursts. Amanda told her: 'This is a turning point for you which is to heal this wound and become the most big and magnificent, beautiful bad a** version of yourself.' She had earlier spoke to Lala, 28, about her fears of losing Beau blaming booze for most of her outbursts 'I f***ing get it,' Lala told her. 'Alcohol affects me. It affects my relationship.' 'I f***ing get it,' Lala told her. 'Alcohol affects me. It affects my relationship.' Lala who publicly admitted last month to being an alcoholic then got tearful with Scheana Shay, 33, as she admitted: 'For real, I have a real problem. 'My anxiety attack hat I had in Mexico was 100 percent driven by alcohol. 'I can't mess with alcohol. This needs to be a lifestyle.' Crying, she added: 'I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm happy. It's just a lot ... my heart is so broken,' she said of the death of her dad, Kent Burningham. Lala who publicly admitted last month to being an alcoholic then got tearful with Scheana Shay, 33, as she admitted: 'For real, I have a real problem 'My anxiety attack hat I had in Mexico was 100 percent driven by alcohol.' Lala told Scheana Crying, she added: 'I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm happy. It's just a lot ... my heart is so broken,' she said of the death of her dad, Kent Burningham In a confessional, she said she was 'very confused,' adding: 'I feel like this could be something that I have a real issue with. So I'm making an adult decision to never have a drink again.' Lala also had a public performance of a song she wrote for her dad, stripping to her bra and screaming after the song ended: 'Let's lighten the f***ing mood in here, please!' 'Unfortunately, my dad never got to see me ever perform,' she said, fighting back tears in a confessional as she called it 'a special moment.' 'I just want my dad to know that I'm so grateful for the women he raised. I wouldn't be this person without him. In a confessional, she said she was 'very confused,' adding: 'I feel like this could be something that I have a real issue with. So I'm making an adult decision to never have a drink again.' Lala also had a public performance of a song she wrote for her dad, stripping to her bra and screaming after the song ended: 'Let's lighten the f***ing mood in here, please!' Tom Schwartz, 36, meanwhile, took drastic measures to pay Lisa Vanderpump the $50,000 he owed for his part of their bar TomTom bringing her cash in a suitcase handcuffed to his arm. It started after Lisa confronted his wife Katie Maloney-Schwartz, 31, that his check had been 'like a big rubber ball it kinda bounced.' 'Tell him to get the bloody money and sort it out,' she warned. Tom was then shown calling his banker, saying: 'I have to take 50,000 large, cash. What do I have to do my end to take out a fat stack of cash like that?' Tom Schwartz, 36, meanwhile, took drastic measures to pay Lisa Vanderpump the $50,000 he owed for his part of their bar TomTom bringing her cash in a suitcase handcuffed to his arm He insisted: 'I wanna show Lisa I'm a man of action now. I know I've made mistakes in the past. This is money in the bank 'I feel like a gangster with a heart of gold,' he admitted of his movie-inspired fantasies. He insisted: 'I wanna show Lisa I'm a man of action now. I know I've made mistakes in the past. This is money in the bank. 'I feel like a gangster with a heart of gold,' he admitted of his movie-inspired fantasies. He was then seen nervously picking up the cash, telling his wife who drove him: 'I feel like 17 percent sexier. Wanna pull over and have sex?' 'Not particularly,' she admitted. Admitting he was imagining being James Bond, he dressed in a slick suit and surprised Lisa and husband Ken Todd with the cash in a suitcase,' telling them: 'I want to show you I'm serious.' 'What did you sell to get this?' Lisa asked, with Tom joking: 'My body, of course.' He then joked of the handcuff he used: 'I'm trying to pretend me and Lisa haven't done this before.' Tom dressed in a slick suit and surprised Lisa and husband Ken Todd with the cash in a suitcase,' telling them: 'I want to show you I'm serious.' 'What did you sell to get this?' Lisa asked, with Tom joking: 'My body, of course.' She said later she as 'proud' even though it was ridiculous. 'I guess I'll keep the handcuffs, right?' she said with a wink. Meanwhile, Brittany Cartwright, 29, surprised Jax Taylor, 39, just days before their engagement party last August by admitting she still had serious trust issues over his previous cheating. They were shown in a session with therapist Lindsey Rosenthal with Brittany initially excited for her family to see 'how good we're doing' after their previous fighting. She soon shocked him, however, when she admitted: 'I know he's done so much and he has changed so much and I do trust him again, but there's still like a little bit of me that doesn't trust him. 'I catch myself, like, if he's an hour later than he's supposed to be, being like, "Where is he? What is he doing?" And I shouldn't. I don't want to do that.' Brittany Cartwright, 29, surprised Jax Taylor, 39, just days before their engagement party last August by admitting she still had serious trust issues over his previous cheating They were shown in a session with therapist Lindsey Rosenthal with Brittany initially excited for her family to see 'how good we're doing' after their previous fighting 'I catch myself, like, if he's an hour later than he's supposed to be, being like, "Where is he? What is he doing?" And I shouldn't. I don't want to do that.' Jax snapped: 'This is the first I'm hearing about this, to be honest.' Jax snapped: 'This is the first I'm hearing about this, to be honest.' After he called it 'stressful,' Brittany insisted: 'Since we're gonna get married and stuff, I don't want to have those "what ifs."' Brittany said to camera later: 'Jax has changed a lot for me, but every now and then I still see glimpses into his old behaviour. That's the only thing that really scares me right now.' Jax's anger quickly melted, with him saying Brittany was 'stronger' now and gushing: 'She's just so sweet. She will give everybody a chance. 'Everybody. It doesn't matter if that person killed somebody, "I'm gonna give you a chance."' Vanderpump Rules returns next Monday on Bravo. From a blind date that turned into a first love to a 14-year affair that ended in a very ugly - and public - court battle, Clint Eastwood's love life has been as varied as his film career. The actor was an unabashed ladies' man in Hollywood, living with mistresses while he was still married - only to break their hearts with headlines about secret children. Fast-forward decades later and it seems most of that is under the bridge, with even Eastwood's first wife electing to join him at his latest movie premiere with all eight of his children. But just who were Eastwood's many loves? MAGGIE JOHNSON Before he was famous, Eastwood fell in love with a model named Maggie Johnson - who he met on a blind date when he was 23 Johnson was on hand to support Eastwood during the premiere of his film on Monday Before he was famous, Eastwood fell in love with a model named Maggie Johnson - who he met on a blind date when he was 23 years old. The year was 1953, five years before the actor received his breakthrough role in the CBS series Rawhide. Eastwood and Johnson quickly got engaged and married just six months after their first date. Eastwood and Johnson had two children including Kyle Eastwood (pictured with his mother in 2007) They also gave birth to daughter Alison, who appears in her father's new film The Mule (and is pictured here at Monday's premiere) It was during their engagement that Eastwood had an affair with a woman in Seattle, who got pregnant and gave up their child for adoption. Eastwood and Johnson separated in 1964 after he had an affair he had with a Rawhide stuntwoman, but briefly rekindled their romance and welcomed children Kyle Eastwood in 1968 and Alison Eastwood in 1972. The couple officially divorced in 1984. ROXANNE TUNIS Eastwood met Roxanne Tunis on the set of his show Rawhide. She gave birth to Eastwood's second child Kimber (pictured on Monday with her younger siblings Kyle, Francesca, and Alison) Eastwood met Tunis on Rawhide, where she was a regular stuntwoman and extra on the show. The pair quickly hit it off and began having an affair, which lasted into the 1970s. She even appeared in Eastwood's film Every Which Way But Loose in 1978. Tunis gave birth to Eastwood's second child, Kimber Lynn Eastwood, in 1964. SONDRA LOCKE Eastwood had a 13-year affair with actress Sondra Locke, who he met in 1972 on the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales Eastwood had a 13-year affair with actress Sondra Locke, who he met in 1972 on the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales. Locke lived with Eastwood from 1975 to 1989, while he was still married to Johnson. The couple never had any children but she later claimed that he forced her to get two abortions. Locke lived with Eastwood from 1975 to 1989, while he was still married to Johnson Locke said she also got her tubes tied because Eastwood said parenthood didn't fit their lifestyle, only to find out that he had fathered two children with another woman during the last three years of their relationship. Things turned ugly after Locke learned of Eastwood's affair and in 1989 she filed a palimony lawsuit after he changed the locks on their Bel-Air home and put all her possessions into storage. They eventually settled. Jacelyn Reeves During his relationship with Locke, Eastwood had an affair with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves, who gave birth to their children Scott Eastwood (who she is pictured with here in 2016) It was flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves who Eastwood had an affair with while he was with Locke. Reeves went on to give birth to their son Scott Eastwood in 1986 and daughter Kathryn Eastwood in 1988. The couple reportedly ended their relationship in 1990 after it came out in an expose published by The Star. Reeves and Eastwood also share daughter Kathryn (pictured together on Monday) Kathryn and Scott grew up with their mother in Hawaii but still had a relationship with their father. Scott, an actor, has auditioned to be in a number of his father's films and appeared in Gran Torino and Invictus. FRANCES FISHER The same year that Eastwood broke things off with Locke and Reeves, he fell for a woman named Frances Fisher (pictured) The pair lived together for five years and Frances gave birth to their daughter Francesca Fisher-Eastwood in 1993. She is pictured here with her father on Monday The same year that Eastwood broke things off with Locke and Reeves, he fell for a woman named Frances Fisher. As with many of his romances, Eastwood met the actress on set of a film together. The pair lived together for five years and Frances gave birth to their daughter Francesca Fisher-Eastwood in 1993. DINA EASTWOOD Shortly following his split from Fisher, Eastwood fell for TV news anchor Dina Ruiz. They were married for 17 years, splitting in 2013 Shortly following his split from Fisher, Eastwood fell for TV news anchor Dina Ruiz after she was assigned to interview him about the film Unforgiven. The pair married three years later in 1996 and Dina gave birth to their daughter Morgan that same year. Dina starred in the E! reality show Mrs Eastwood & Company, which centered around her life in Los Angeles with Morgan and step-daughter Francesca. Eastwood only made a few appearances on the show, which premiered in 2012. The couple filed for divorce after 17 years of marriage in 2013. Practice certainly makes perfect. And Kim Kardashian shared to her Instagram account on Monday night that she was brushing up on her legal terminology ahead of a 'torts test tomorrow.' The 38-year-old reality television star showed off her impeccable handwriting in lengthy notes and flashcards ahead of an exam as Kim recently revealed that she's studying to become a lawyer. Exam time: Kim Kardashian shared to her Instagram account on Monday night that she was brushing up on her legal terminology ahead of a 'torts test tomorrow' She held onto a card that said 'negligence' with pages of notes revealing legal jargon and various circumstances surrounding a vocabulary word. Kim recently hit back at claims she is only able to study thanks to her money and privilege and took to social media to explain in detail how she is sacrificing time with her three children to make it happen. In an Instagram post on Monday, she registered with the California State Bar and will spend the next four years studying with two mentors and completing exams every month. 'I've seen some comments from people who are saying it's my privilege or my money that got me here, but that's not the case. One person actually said I should "stay in my lane." Student: The 38-year-old reality television star recently revealed that she's studying to become a lawyer; seen in Vogue Diligent: In an Instagram post on Monday, she registered with the California State Bar and will spend the next four years studying with two mentors and completing exams every month 'I want people to understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, and the accomplishment of new goals. You can create your own lanes, just as I am. She added, 'The state bar doesnt care who you are. Everyone can take this route if you live in a state where this is allowed. Its true I did not finish college. Kim went on to reveal that she needed 60 credits to 'read the law' in an 'in office law school being apprenticed by lawyers' and she had 75. 'For anyone assuming this is the easy way out, its not. My weekends are spent away from my kids while I read and study. I work all day, put my kids to bed and spend my nights studying. Dedicated: Kim detailed her 18 hours a week studies and her monthly tests as she approaches the baby bar - a mini version of the state bar - which she needs to take because she's not doing law school 'Couldn't be more proud': Kim's friends and family showed their support in comments Kim admitted feeling daunted at the huge challenge she set for herself but is thankful for her support system after distancing herself from her social group to dedicate her time to her studies. She continued, 'There are times I feel overwhelmed and when I feel like I cant do it but I get the pep talks I need from the people around me supporting me. I changed my number last year and disconnected from everyone because I have made this strict commitment to follow a dream of mine - Its never too late to follow your dreams.' She ended her note, 'I want to thank Van Jones for believing in me and introducing me to Jessica Jackson. Jessica along with Erin Haney have taken on the role of my mentors and I am forever grateful to them both putting in so much time with me, believing in me and supporting me through this journey. This week I have a big torts essay due on negligence. Wish me luck' New direction: The reality star began a four year long apprenticeship at a San Francisco law firm last summer Along with her message Kim posted a photo of her sat down with her two mentors Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star's family and pals made their support clear as they applauded her dedication in the comments of Kim's post. Sister Kourtney, 39, gushed: 'I couldn't be more proud of you, sister' while her hair stylist Jen Atkin wrote, 'Go Kim Go!'. Last week Kim graced the cover of Vogue's May issue, where she revealed her plans of taking the bar exam in 2022 and began a four-year apprenticeship at a San Francisco law firm last summer. She said she was inspired to study law after successfully petitioning US President Donald Trump last year to pardon Alice Marie Johnson. Vacay: Despite her studies Kim did manage to squeeze in a trip to Bali last week Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother, had served nearly 22 years of a life sentence for cocaine trafficking. A week after meeting with Kardashian, Trump -- also a former reality television star -- pardoned Johnson in June 2018. 'I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society,' she told Vogue. '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,' said the mother-of-three whose own father Robert was an attorney who helped defend OJ Simpson in his murder trial. She plays a successful therapist whose world gets turned upside down when her husband Jonathan, played by Hugh Grant, 58, goes missing right before she's about to publish her first book in the HBO series The Undoing. On Tuesday Nicole Kidman was seen filming an intimate scene with the British actor in at the Carl Schurz Park in Uptown, Manhattan. They not only walked hand-in-hand, but they were also seen nuzzling. Coming soon: Nicole Kidman, 51, plays a successful therapist whose world gets turned upside down when her husband, played by Hugh Grant, 58, goes missing in The Undoing, which the stars filmed in New York City on Tuesday Upcoming series: Nicole was spotted getting close to co-star Hugh Grant as they filmed scenes as a married couple for the upcoming HBO series Nicole braved the chilly morning in a striking red velour belted coat that was cinched in at the waist. She added black tights and complementary ankle boots. The Australian beauty appeared to be sporting a wig in which her tresses were dyed red and left out into natural ringlets. New hair? The Australian beauty appeared to be sporting a wig in which her tresses were dyed red and left out into natural ringlets Drama: The scene they were shooting appeared to be very intense with Kidman getting emotional Filming: The sound boom stayed close to catch the dialogue Action! The pair filmed the scene at the Carl Schurz Park in Manhattan Nicole's glam was simple with rosy cheeks on her porcelain complexion and a pop of color on her lips. Hugh also braved the cold in a dark warm jacket and trousers. As they walked along the Uptown Manhattan park, he was seen holding the Big Little Lies star's hand before they had a warm and friendly hug. Not in the mood: According to onlookers, the scene saw Nicole refuse a kiss from Hugh Latest role: Nicole plays a successful therapist whose world gets turned upside down when her husband Jonathan, played by Hugh Grant, 58, goes missing right before she's about to publish her first book And according to onlookers, the scene saw Nicole refuse a kiss from Hugh. The series will see the wife of Keith Urban play a mom and successful therapist whose world is turned upside down after her husband disappears right before the release of her first book. Faced with a series of horrible and shocking revelations, she must dismantle her life and begin a new one with her son. Gorgeous: Nicole braved the chilly morning in a striking red velour dress that was cinched in at the waist Set to be a hit: The Undoing will be directed by Bird Box's Susanne Bier and sees Nicole serve as an Executive Producer as well Humor: The two stars enjoyed a playful interlude between takes Needed shade: Between takes, Kidman protected her fair skin by donning a wide-brimmed sun hat and and a pair of sunglasses The HBO limited series is created by David E Kelley - the man behind the popular Big Little Lies. The Undoing will be directed by Bird Box's Susanne Bier and sees Nicole serve as an Executive Producer as well. Her next appearance will see her reprise her role in the second season of Big Little Lies as Celeste Wright, who is now a widow, which will premiere on June 9, 2019. The Best Actress Academy Award winner will also be seen in The Goldfinch which follows the tale of a boy who survives a terrorist attack and goes on to become involved in art forgeries. The Goldfinch - which also stars Sarah Paulson and Ansel Elgort - is slated for release in September. She's set to portray the mother of Grindr serial killer Stephen Port's first victim Anthony Walgate, Sarah Sak, in the BBC's The Barking Murders. And Sheridan Smith was back out on set for the disturbing new drama, as she filmed scenes in and around Manchester. The actress, 37, got into character as she dressed in a black floral dress, while she kept warm by donning a purple raincoat over the top of it. The Barking Murders: Sheridan Smith was back out on set for the disturbing new drama, as she filmed scenes in and around Manchester The Gavin And Stacey star wore her dyed auburn locks in a bob, and she kept her fringe from falling in front of her eyes with a pair of black shades. Adding some finishing touches to her character's wardrobe, Sheridan wore gold hoop earrings and a silver necklace. Sheridan was seen heading home after finishing shooting, and she seemed to be in good spirits as she couldn't keep from smiling after a hard's day work. Filming: The actress, 37, got into character as she dressed in a black floral dress, while she kept warm by donning a purple raincoat over the top of it Stephen Port drugged and murdered four men he met on the dating app between 2014 and 2015. He will be played by Stephen Merchant in the series. The killer famously received a life sentence for drugging and raping male victims to 'satisfy his fetish' for sex with the unconscious. Port killed 21-year-old fellow chef Daniel Whitworth, along with Gabriel Kovari, 22, fashion student Anthony Walgate, 23, and Jack Taylor, 25, a forklift driver from Dagenham. He met all of the men on gay dating app Grindr and killed them using date rape drug GHB before dumping their bodies in the street or his local graveyard in Barking, east London. Sentenced in November 2016, Port got the same term as notorious killers including Fred and Rose West, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Robert Black and Mark Bridger. Character: The Gavin And Stacey star wore her dyed auburn locks in a bob, and she kept her fringe from falling in front of her eyes with a pair of black shades And now it is the challenge of former film student Merchant to act out a story that he said 'could not be ignored,' as the drama follows the aftermath of the killings and how Port tried to cover them up. In a stark departure from his usual light-hearted characters, towering 6ft6in actor Stephen had changed his appearance noticeably to take on the menacing air of the Grindr killer. Earlier this year, Stephen explained why he felt compelled to tell the sinister story in a small screen remake. 'This is a story that can't be ignored,' he told Digital Spy. 'How four young lives were lost and their families' brave attempt to uncover what happened.' 'This factual drama will shed light on their story, so it's a privilege to be a part of telling it with the brilliant combination of Jeff Pope, Neil McKay and the BBC.' Filming: Sheridan was seen heading home after finishing shooting, and she seemed to be in good spirits as she couldn't keep from smiling after a hard's day work New role: The star smiled as she got back to work on the drama It's an unexpected move into more serious drama for a beloved actor who is best known for comedy roles in The Office, Extras and a cameo in The Big Bang Theory. Speaking about the transition into factual drama, Stephen told The Evening Standard last March: 'I don't watch comedy, I watch drama or more serious-minded stuff so I'm very pleased to be able to try and do that. 'There are filmmakers I admire from back in the day like Billy Wilder who would do a comedy one movie, a drama the next and then a thriller and they could jump from those different genres. 'I think that's harder to do now but that's something I'd like to try and do.' After his role in Fighting With My Family, a more serious biographical film about a young woman's transformation into a professional wrestler, Stephen said he hoped people would see 'another dimension' to what he does. Transformation: The star sported auburn locks for the day of filming Stroll: The star linked arms as she strolled along with a friend In the aftermath of Port's killings in 2015, police missed multiple opportunities to catch the killer. All four of the men were found dead a short distance from his east London home between 2014 and 2015. It was later revealed that Port had told 'wicked and monstrous lies' about the men found dead that meant their families were told by police that their loved-ones had killed themselves or died accidentally. With each of the murders Port tried to cover his tracks, even going to the extent of writing a fake suicide note for Daniel Whitworth, which was found stuffed it into his hand. One of the most shocking lines read: 'BTW. Please do not blame the guy I was with last night'. Port was first questioned by British Transport Police on June 4, 2014 when he was found with a collapsed man at Barking station. He was allowed to leave, despite admitting that both he and the man had taken illegal drugs. Three weeks later, Port was the one to call police about Anthony Walgate's death, claiming that he was 'drunk or had a seizure' outside his flat. Jack Taylor, Gabriel Kovari and Daniel Whitworth were all found in the exact same spot, within a mile of Port's home. She has been enjoying a sun-soaked trip to Barbados with her mother. And Zara Holland soaked up the last of the rays as she strolled along the sandy shores of a beach with her mum Cheryl Hakeney during the final day of their trip. The Love Island star, 23, and her glamorous mother, 54, have been enjoying a luxurious stay at the world famous Sandy Lane hotel on the Caribbean island. Sun-kissed: Zara Holland soaked up the last of the rays as she strolled along the sandy shores of a beach with her mum Cheryl Hakeney during the final day of their trip Zara showcased her sizzling frame in a string bikini with frilled detailing across the top and gold straps tied in a halterneck style. She teamed the pretty bikini top with a pair of tiny gold bottoms, which showed off her peachy behind as she strutted along the beach. The reality star accessorised her look with a silver pendant heart chain which she wore around her neck as well as a selection of delicate bracelets. Beach babes: The Love Island star, 23, and her glamorous mother, 54, have been enjoying a luxurious stay at the world famous Sandy Lane hotel on the Caribbean island Wow: Zara showcased her sizzling frame in a string bikini with frilled detailing across the top and gold straps tied in a halterneck style Zara swept her locks off her face and tied them into a loose bun, while sporting a pair of gold-rimmed aviator-style shades. Her mum looked equally chic, rocking a navy bandeau bikini which had decorative eyelets and was laced up the front. She teamed her bikini top with a pair of matching bottoms, which were tied at the side in bows. Glam: She teamed the pretty bikini top with a pair of tiny gold bottoms, which showed off her peachy behind as she strutted along the beach Looking good: Her mum looked equally chic, rocking a navy bandeau bikini which had decorative eyelets and was laced up the front Glowing: Zara swept her locks off her face and tied them into a loose bun, while sporting a pair of gold-rimmed aviator-style shades Following their stroll on the beach, Zara slipped on a life jacket and went for a whizz around the bay on a pair of water skis, as she proved to be a natural at the sport. It seemed that this wasn't Zara's first time on the water, due to the face she was using a mono-ski, a single ski which is used by more experienced skiers after learning to ski on two. Zara found fame on Love Island in 2016, where she controversially lost her Miss Great Britain title after having sex on the show with Alex Bowen. She's a natural! Following their stroll on the beach, Zara slipped on a life jacket and went for a whizz around the bay on a pair of water skis, as she proved to be a natural at the sport Water baby: It seemed that this wasn't Zara's first time on the water, due to the face she was using a mono-ski, a single ski which is used by more experienced skiers after learning to ski on two She told The Sun she 'changed as a person' when her Miss GB title was stripped off of her after she had sex on the show and is still 'haunted' by the repercussions. The brunette said: 'I changed as a person, I didnt want to go out or socialise, I came out of Love Island and they didnt contact me. 'Love Island called me for the first time in two years on Thursday [after the death of her co-star Sophie Gradon] to ask if I was OK, funny they call me now when something terrible has happened. 'People applying need to know how serious things can be, they see a claim to fame, they dont see that in ten years time, when youre married with babies, youll still be haunted for the rest of your life.' A spokesperson for Love Island told MailOnline that all slanders are offered psychological support before, during and after their time in the villa. Rise to fame: Zara found fame on Love Island in 2016, where she controversially lost her Miss Great Britain title after having sex on the show with Alex Bowen Actor Andrew Garfield has opened up about understanding the complaint against giving LGBTQ roles to straight actors. Speaking to The Independent, the 35-year-old actor shared his thoughts on the discussion surrounding the roles and the growing consensus that they are being taken away from LGBTQ actors and actresses. The Amazing Spider Man star, who played the gay character Prior Walter in the two-part play Angels in America, said: 'I understand the complaint.' Keeping it cool: Actor Andrew Garfield, 35, shared his thoughts on the discussion surrounding LGBTQ roles being given to straight actors The actor said: 'I think Tony Kushner put it best. He said, ''It's illegal for me to ask someone who they f**k in terms of hiring them for a job. That's none of my business who someone sleeps with. The only question I have as the playwright is, are they right for this character?'' 'He said that if we only let people play who they are, then it's the death of empathic imagination. I think that's beautifully put, and I agree with it.' In 2017, The Social Network star found himself in a bit of a tight spot when he joked that he had watched RuPaul's Drag Race in order to prepare for his role as Prior Walter in Angels in America written by Tony Kushner. Prior is an openly gay man who begins to experience visions of being visited by an angel after being diagnosed with Aids. Suave: The actor said he understood the complaint made by the LGBTQ community before adding that writer Tony Kushner put it best when he said: 'The only question I have as the playwright is, are they right for this character?' Prior Walter: In 2017, Andrew landed himself in hot water when he said he had watched RuPaul's Drag Race in order to prepare for his role as Prior Walter in Angels in America Under the Silver lake: The actor's latest film Under the Silver Lake follows a man's dangerous quest to investigate the disappearance of his neighbour Following his comments, members of the LGBTQ community called the actor out for being insensitive and resorting to gay stereotypes to portray them. However years on from the situation, the star, who said the comments at the time had been taken out of context, said he understood the argument that gay roles were being taken form LGBTQ actors and being given to straight actors. He also added that he believed his job at this very moment was to listen to the argument made by the LGBTQ community and be an 'ally'. The actor, who rose to fame in The Social Network before landing his role in The Amazing Spiderman, was born in Los Angeles before his family moved to Surrey in the UK. The actor recently starred in the film Under the Silver Lake which follows the story of a man's dangerous journey to find his beautiful yet mysterious neighbour. Trust Me Rating: Great British School Swap Rating: Maybe it's springtime madness, or maybe the Brexit shambles has driven the entire country round the twist, but most of the current crop of drama is simply nuts. Kate Beckinsale is running around central Africa, dodging exploding cars in The Widow as she searches for a husband who likes to do his travelling inside a wooden crate. Morven Christie is a policewoman in The Bay, so busy having drunken quickies with murder suspects that she can't see her own children are feral delinquents. But these daft thrillers are positively sane, compared to the delirium of Trust Me (BBC1) a hospital whodunit starring John Hannah as a consultant so creepy that he ought to be wearing a silk cape and fangs. John Hannah stars as a consultant so creepy that he ought to be dressed as a vampire. He is having an affair with a nurse, played by Ashley Jensen Alfred Enoch, who grew up playing a student wizard in the background of the Harry Potter movies, is Corporal Jamie McCain. He's been flown home after an ambush Somewhere Foreign wiped out his platoon and left him paralysed. Inevitably, a murder mystery starring a bedbound sleuth is going to be a bit static, but that wasn't a problem for Michael Gambon in The Singing Detective. Sadly, there's no classic big band soundtrack here, just a lot of ominous electronic music to accompany Jamie's flashbacks and nightmares. In between bedside interrogations by the military police, Jamie is pestered by fellow inmate Danny, a conspiracy theorist. Alfred Enoch (right) plays an Army corporal who has been paralysed in action. He begins investigating suspicions of a high death rate at the hospital where he is being treated Danny is convinced that one of the medical staff is murdering patients. He has no evidence for this, except that everyone keeps dying. You really can't miss it, because the nurses keep carting huge plastic bodybags away. Who is the killer? Dr Vampire? His lover, Nurse Bride of Dracula (Ashley Jensen)? Or troubled junior medic Dr Pillpopper (Katie Clarkson-Hill)? Surely it's not her boyfriend, long-suffering Kind McHunky (Richard Rankin)? Whoever it is, they've got it in for wheelchair-user Danny. He's only in hospital while his flat is being redecorated. Tragically, before the second coat of emulsion is dry, Danny has been stuffed into a body bag. Realising he was safer being shot at, Jamie has to get out of bed. This involves stabbing himself in the leg, to get an adrenaline rush, and then hauling himself round the ward on his elbows. Whether that makes any medical sense, I have no idea (though I have my suspicions) but I'm quite sure it's going to get a lot madder over the next three episodes. Gritty viewing of the night Ben Fogle was in Peru on New Lives In The Wild (C5), at a place called Paracas which means raining sand. The stuff got everywhere in food, bedding, hair, the lot. By the look on Bens face, it was in his undies too. Advertisement At least it was harmless fun. That can't be said of the venal Great British School Swap (C4), a hateful exercise in stirring up bigotry. Under the pretence of copying a U.S. experiment, the producers sent 15 white pupils from Tamworth to a school in nearby Birmingham, and put them in a classroom with 15 pupils from Asian backgrounds. Then they were encouraged to treat each other like dangerous alien species. In case the heavily scripted set-ups didn't provoke enough controversy, the 13-year-olds were given vile exercises such as compiling lists of racist insults and stereotypes. Their parents were encouraged to get in on the act too. To claim that Britain has ever been racially segregated, or that some kind of apartheid operates in the West Midlands, is as vicious as it is divisive and dishonest. As if this wasn't manipulative enough, Channel 4 executives included a child (just 13, remember) called Lucas, who identified as a transgender female. The Asian children were encouraged to bait Lucas mercilessly, while the white pupils rolled their eyes. The whole business was irresponsible, nasty-minded, cruel, pointless and shameful. She may be an international supermodel, but Cheyenne Tozzi looked like an ordinary multi-tasking mum at Sydney Airport on Tuesday. The 30-year-old catwalk queen was seen carrying her baby daughter Dahlia De La Lune while checking into a flight bound for Amsterdam, Netherlands. Accompanied by her mother Yvonee Tozzi, Cheyenne dressed casually in trackpants and slides but added a touch of glamour by draping a blazer over her shoulders. Scroll down for video Oh, baby! She may be an international supermodel, but Cheyenne Tozzi looked like an ordinary multi-tasking mum at Sydney Airport on Tuesday Cheyenne, who appeared to go makeup free for her flight, kissed her baby's forehead at one stage as they waited at the check-in desk. Looking effortlessly chic, she styled her hair in a scruffy low bun and completed her outfit with a shawl wrapped loosely around her neck. Several hours later, she shared a video to Instagram from her hotel in Amsterdam, before stopping by a Rob Peetoom hair salon in Haarlem, a city 30km away. Work trip: Cheyenne, 30, was seen carrying her baby daughter Dahlia De La Lune while checking into a flight bound for Amsterdam, Netherlands Airport style: Accompanied by her mother Yvonee Tozzi, Cheyenne dressed casually in trackpants and slides but added a touch of glamour by draping a blazer over her shoulders How sweet! Cheyenne, who appeared to go makeup free for her flight, kissed her baby's forehead at one stage as they waited at the check-in desk Stunning: Looking effortlessly chic, she styled her hair in a scruffy low bun and completed her outfit with a shawl wrapped loosely around her neck Inked: As she waited at the check-in counter, Cheyenne's various tattoos were on display. The text on her right arm reads, 'Love will tear us apart, which are lyrics to a Joy Division song Cheyenne shares her daughter with boyfriend Marlon Teixeira, a model from Brazil. Marlon did not seem to be accompanying his partner on her trip to the Netherlands, which is likely for business rather than pleasure. The genetically-blessed couple welcomed their first child together last September, but initially kept the baby's arrival a secret. Family: Cheyenne shares her daughter with boyfriend Marlon Teixeira, a model from Brazil Flying solo! Marlon did not seem to be accompanying Cheyenne on her trip to the Netherlands, which is likely for business rather than pleasure Sshh! Marlon and Cheyenne welcomed their first child together last September, but initially kept the baby's arrival a secret Doting display: A month before giving birth, Cheyenne told Harper's Bazaar she was nervous about raising a child - but it looks like she has really taken to motherhood Baby joy! Cheyenne and Marlon first confirmed their pregnancy back in June 2018, saying they were 'thrilled' to be starting a family A month before giving birth, Cheyenne said she was nervous about raising a child. 'Of course I'm freaked out about parenting,' she told Harper's Bazaar. 'But Tahyna [Tozzi, her sister] has a little girl who I know will be close to mine, and my family always has lots of love and humour and support. 'We're strong women. I've got role models,' she added. Cheyenne and Marlon first confirmed their pregnancy back in June 2018, saying they were 'thrilled' to be starting a family. She is set to appear in the upcoming action film 21 grams later this year. And Sienna Miller, 37, decided to take a well-deserved break from her busy schedule as she took a stroll through New York City on Tuesday. The windswept star cut a casual yet glamorous figure as she battled the winds on her day out through the city. Windswept: Actress Sienna Miller, 37, battled the winds as she took a stroll through New York City on Tuesday Despite the winds, the Hollywood star pulled off a look of effortless allure as she donned an over-sized khaki jacket and white jeans on her day out. Letting her blonde locks fly with the winds, the actress looked as radiant as ever as she stepped outside to catch some vitamin D. The model-turned actress sported a pale pink knitted jumper, a pair of white flat shoes and a large burgundy handbag as she took a casual stroll through the busy city. Last week the star was spotted indulging in an ice cream as she took a stroll through the city. Keeping it casual: Sienna cut a casual look as she donned an over-sized khaki jacket and white jeans Windy day: The Hollywood star let her blonde locks fly with the winds as she took a stroll through the city In February, the Layer Cake star was yet again seen enjoying an ice cream as she enjoyed a romantic stroll through New York City with her art gallery owner boyfriend Lucas Zwirner, 27. The couple, who met through mutual friends in New York, went public with their romance last year when they attended Tom Sturridge's birthday party in London together. Lucas, who currently oversees 25 book releases a year as editorial director of David Zwirner Books, is a Yale-educated literature aficionado. The Hollywood star is currently filming her upcoming American TV series The Loudest Voice which is based on the book by Gabriel Sherman. Discover The Miracle of 'Milagros' in Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - So I was walking by this shop in downtown Puerto Vallarta a couple of years ago when I was attracted to the hundreds of wooden shapes hanging on the walls. They were covered with metal icons of every symbol you could imagine... from hands, to hearts, to animals, to people praying, fish and eye glasses and other objects. I was drawn to a green heart with a marijuana leaf in the middle! What? That's when I met Lupita and her husband Francisco who make these objects called milagros. She then proceeded to tell me the relationships she saw between all the icons on the heart I liked. Turns outwhich means "miracles" in Spanish, have been used for over 4000 years as a way for indigenous people to express gratitude for health, home, and food, for blessings and answers to prayers. Thought to have originated somewhere in Europe, milagros were brought to Mexico by the conquistadors in the 16th century. It is said Hernan Cortez brought a solid gold scorpion icon with him after he was stung by one, not wanting to get stung again! Today, Francisco makes the metal icons using wax molds, which he then hammers onto the wooden forms to create amazing figures. Lupita has been able to use her sixth sense to interpret the meanings of these icons on any individual piece. You can even make one of your own and she will interpret for you. So back to my green heart and the marijuana leaf! Seems I should consider using this herb to improve my skin lesion. And green is the color of the heart chakra which is connected to the lungs and grieving. I had pneumonia a while ago after a dear friend died. They are all connected, Lupita tells me, and are right there on my green heart. I have become good friends of Francisco and Lupita, compassionate caring people who have been doing this work for 31 years. I stop by every week just to see if something else calls me. Join my Historic El Centro walking tour to visit this shop. They definitely know how to bring the drama. And the Denise Richards seems to be fitting in nicely with her new pals on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as the actress appeared at odds with Camille Grammer in a tense midseason trailer. The 48-year-old Wild Things star is embattled in a heated discussion where she screamed 'you f***ing back off' at the former dancer, as Camille is heavily focused on the Bravo show post-Woolsey fire where her Malibu home was decimated. Trouble in paradise? Denise Richards seems to be fitting in nicely with her new pals on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as the actress appeared at odds with Camille Grammer in a tense midseason trailer It's unclear what the women are fighting about but Denise quips 'you know' before Camille fires back, 'No I dont know, Denise, so back off!' Camille has been in the process of rebuilding her life after the Woolsey fire burned her Malibu home in November. 'It's like some horror movie,' she said as she toured the site of her burnt property. 'I've got to get out of here.' Yikes: The 48-year-old Wild Things star is embattled in a heated discussion where she screamed 'you f***ing back off' at the former dancer, as Camille is heavily focused on the Bravo show post-Woolsey fire where her Malibu home was decimated Ruff life: While Puppygate rages on, Lisa Vanderpump was in need of a little reassurance as Denise quipped, 'these women still love you' Despite her tough times, there is light at the end of the tunnel as Grammer prepares to marry David C. Meyer in Hawaii. While Puppygate rages on, Lisa Vanderpump was in need of a little reassurance as Denise quipped, 'these women still love you.' Lisa, for her part, is still very much upset about how the ladies disregarded her feelings after it came to light that Dorit Kemsley returned not one, but two of the puppies she adopted from Lisa's Vanderpump Pets back to unnamed shelters. 'It's like some horror movie,' she said as she toured the site of her burnt property. 'I've got to get out of here' Love is in the air: Despite her tough times, there is light at the end of the tunnel as Grammer prepares to marry David C. Meyer in Hawaii 'You dont treat people you love like that,' Vanderpump said to Denise. 'Shes going to make herself the victim,' Kyle said to the women. 'Shes going to turn it all around so that everyone else is wrong.' Erika Girardi, Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave and Lisa Rinna round out the cast, with special appearances by Kim Richards and Brandi Glanville to shake things up even more among the reality stars. The gang's all here: Erika Girardi, Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave and Lisa Rinna round out the cast of the Bravo show A man who had an affair with a woman before she was fatally stabbed 14 times by her husband in Sydney earlier received a phone call from him saying: "I hope you're happy ... I am leaving home", a judge has been told. Shahab Ahmed has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife of five-and-a-half years, Khondkar Faihi Elahi, in their Parramatta unit in February 2017, claiming the partial defence of substantial impairment by abnormality of mind. The 35-year-old man's plea of guilty to manslaughter was not accepted by the Crown. At Ahmed's judge-alone trial in the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, Omar Khan admitted to having an affair with Ms Elahi from July 2015. Crown prosecutor Sean Hughes said: "There was kissing. Was it passionate kissing?" "That is correct, but not all the time, especially not when we are in public places," Mr Khan replied. He said they held hands "quite often" and exchanged gifts but did not have sexual intercourse. Mr Khan said he'd known Ahmed since 1999 and the two men and their wives built up a strong friendship - which saw the couples holidaying in Bangladesh together. He got Ms Elahi a job but was visited at work by Ahmed in April 2015 and accused of causing marital problems. The Crown says at this time Ahmed expressed concerns to his GP of infidelity between his wife and Mr Khan. Mr Khan on Tuesday said he'd received a phone call from Ahmed in September 2016, during which he stated: "I hope you're happy. You can come over. I am leaving home." The Crown says on February 18 in 2017, Ahmed demanded to see his wife's mobile phone, dragging her around the house before coming across recent messages and reaching for a knife in the kitchen. Ms Elahi suffered 14 stab wounds. Mr Hughes said the judge would also hear evidence that Ahmed had earlier made a number of inquiries "about the various punishments" for infidelity, according to Islam, and "had turned his mind to punishing his wife". He said given the nature and number of injuries, the weapon used and Ahmed's actions immediately following the attack - such as posting on Facebook and smoking a cigarette before calling triple zero - Justice Monika Schmidt would be satisfied "he intended to kill". Defence barrister Avni Djemal said Ahmed accepted legal and moral responsibility for the death of his wife. "The accused's case is that at the time ... he was substantially impaired by depressive illness," Mr Djemal said. He said the pair met online and it was "not a marriage by arrangement, it was a marriage of love", adding that Ahmed's reaction on the night of the stabbing was "out of character". The accused's boss, Irfan Ali, testified that in the days before the incident, Ahmed said his wife wanted a divorce but "he didn't want to". The trial continues. Beware the wounded beast. That's the message from Canberra Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker ahead of their NRL clash against an underperforming Brisbane outfit. The Raiders have flown out of the blocks at 4-1 in 2019, their best start to a season in 14 years, while the Broncos have the opposite record. Canberra are gunning for a fourth straight NRL victory when they host Brisbane at GIO Stadium on Sunday. "They've been copping a lot, the Broncos," Croker said. "But they're a big club, a powerful club, they're always a very strong team and I know they're no different this year. They've got a great forward pack and some quality halves and outside backs. "They've lost a few on the bell and that just makes them more dangerous and more desperate." Yogi Adityanath (L) has been banned by India's election watchdog from campaigning for three days India's election watchdog on Monday banned four outspoken politicians, including two top members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, from campaigning in the country's national vote for making provocative speeches. The measures came after the Supreme Court called on the election commission to get tough on hate speech during the world's biggest election, which started last Thursday and runs to May 19. Indian politicians are often accused of using hate or intimidation to win support of the electorate, but soliciting votes on religious lines or threatening voters is prohibited. Maneka Gandhi, the widow of former politician Sanjay Gandhi, received a 48-hour ban for saying Muslims should vote for her -- or their future requests could be shunned if she wins. The election commission said she had violated a provision against appealing "to caste or communal feelings for securing votes" and another against bribery or intimidation. Gandhi is minister for women and child welfare in the cabinet of Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking a second five-year term. Critics have accused Modi of imposing a Hindu agenda on the country and emboldening attacks on Muslims and low-caste Dalits. The election commission gave another 48-hour ban to Dalit leader Mayawati, for calling on Muslims to vote in a bloc against Modi's BJP. Mayawati goes by one name. Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand BJP chief minister of India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, was sidelined for three days over his response to Mayawati, comparing the election to a battle between Muslim and Hindu gods. Hindus -- who make up the majority community in India -- had "no option" but to support the BJP, he added. Adityanath and Mayawati made "highly provocative speeches" which had "the tone and tenor to aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred between different religious communities," the commission said. - 'Repugnant' - Azam Khan (4L), pictured during a 2014 rally, violated a directive against actions "repugnant to honour and dignity of women," the Election Commission said The authority issued a three-day campaign ban to Azam Khan, a senior official in the Samajwadi Party battling the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He was sanctioned after saying that former Bollywood actress Jaya Prada of the BJP "wears a khaki underwear." The election commission said the comments violated a directive against actions "repugnant to honour and dignity of women." The Indian campaign has been marked by headline-grabbing declarations by politicians. Adityanath has already waded into trouble by calling Muslims the "green virus" who are set to "engulf the nation". BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj caused controversy last week by saying he was a "saint" who would put a curse on anyone who votes against him. The Supreme Court has in turn called on opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi to explain why he incorrectly attributed remarks to the court saying that Modi had "committed a theft" in agreeing a fighter deal with France. The election commission -- often accused of being ineffective -- has been flooded with complaints since campaigning started in March, and the Supreme Court told it to "act very promptly" on potential violations. The watchdog told the court its code of conduct limits the punishments it can mete out, however. "We can't de-recognise (parties) or disqualify candidates," the counsel representing the commission at the hearing on Monday said. The commission sought to counter critics this month by postponing the release of a fawning film biography of Modi. It also ordered a clampdown on a TV channel dedicated to the prime minister, NaMO TV. The regime, backed by Iran and Russia, controls almost two-thirds of Syria after a series of victories against rebels and jihadists since 2015, but the country's main oil and gas fields in the northeast remain out of government control. Damascus on Monday imposed new limits on subsidised petrol for cars and motorbikes in regime-held areas of Syria, in the latest bid to curb a fuel crisis it blames on Western sanctions. Owners of private cars would now be allowed just 20 litres (about 7.5 gallons) of fuel every five days, said the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources. At petrol stations in the capital, queues hundreds of metres (yards) long have stretched along streets in the past few weeks, with drivers waiting for hours to get their fill. Qusay, a taxi driver in his 30s, said he had camped out in his car overnight to make sure he got some fuel from a station, so far to no avail. "I got to the front of the queue after midnight with less than 20 cars ahead, but then the petrol ran out at the station," he told AFP, adding that "it's still closed". Ahmad al-Hamawi, 45, gave up after four long hours of waiting. "I'll try to forget my car in the coming days and walk to work," said the radio programme director. The measures announced on Monday allow taxi drivers to fill up 20 litres every two days. Motorbikes would be permitted three litres every five days, the ministry said, in what it described as a "temporary measure to fairly distribute petrol". The measures are the latest in a series of restrictions on the daily consumption of subsidised petrol. On April 8, the ministry of petrol and mineral resources said it was temporarily slashing the daily cap on subsidised petrol by half, to 20 litres from 40 per vehicle. Then on April 10 it further halved the amount to 20 litres every two days. On Sunday, the government said it would halve the amount of fuel allocated to public institutions to run their vehicles, state news agency SANA said. The petrol crisis follow fuel oil and cooking gas shortages over the winter. Syrian officials have blamed the crisis on a flurry of Western sanctions targeting the Damascus regime since the start of the civil war in 2011. In November, the US Treasury issued an advisory threatening penalties against those "involved in petroleum-related shipping transactions with the Government of Syria". Prime Minister Emad Khamis told journalists earlier this month that petrol shipments from Iran had been suspended for six months as Egypt was not allowing them through the Suez Canal, an allegation Cairo has denied. The regime, backed by Iran and Russia, controls almost two-thirds of Syria after a series of victories against rebels and jihadists since 2015, but the country's main oil and gas fields in the northeast remain out of government control. Fighters loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government hold a position outside Tripoli as they fend off an offensive by strongman Khalifa Haftar As Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar's forces fight for control of Tripoli, his success depends more on his ability to win over local militias than on the prowess of his troops, analysts say. Less than two weeks after Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) launched an offensive to seize the Libyan capital -- home to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) -- a rising death toll and slowed advance indicate his troops are facing resistance by loyalists of the GNA, headed by Haftar's arch-nemesis Fayez al-Sarraj. Libya has been gripped by political chaos for years, since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi. And the North African country has also felt the ripple effect of the Gulf diplomatic crisis, and tensions between the UAE and Qatar, Karim Bitar, director of research at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, told AFP. With regional dynamics increasingly at play in Libya, Haftar will have no choice but to woo local militias as he pushes westward, to take Tripoli. - Muslim Brotherhood - Close-up map of Tripoli locating zones hit by air strikes, clash areas and movements of displaced people Haftar's ties to Saudi Arabia and the UAE are critical to his campaign to drive Sarraj from Tripoli and emerge as Libya's uncontested leader, analysts say. "Haftar's hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood, which maintains some influence in Tripoli and within pockets of the official government, has made him popular with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)," says a report by the Soufan Group published Monday. "Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi view the Muslim Brotherhood as a considerable threat to their respective rule and both strongly support strongmen like Egypt's al-Sisi and Libya's Haftar precisely for their anti-Brotherhood stance." At the start of the offensive launched earlier this month, Haftar's press agency published images of long lines of brand new armoured vehicles in a show of force. Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar met at the weekend with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo The images came days after Haftar was in Saudi Arabia, where authorities are said to have pledged tens of millions of dollars to his troops, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday. Haftar was also in Cairo on Sunday, shortly after UAE Crown Prince Mohammed ben Zayed held talks with the Egyptian president. - 'Gangs, jihadists' - The offensive is likely also a result of the dispute between Saudi Arabia and its allies on the one hand, and Qatar and Turkey on the other. Doha and Ankara are strong supporters of Islamists in western Libya. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are not, and Haftar's LNA regularly accuses Doha and Ankara of supplying weapons to its Islamist rivals. And in the labyrinth of Libyan politics, the LNA may not be able to singlehandedly seize western Libya -- a complicated region home to not only Islamists, but militias and armed groups antagonistic to the Government of National Unity. Fierce fighting on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli has left almost 150 people dead since early April The opacity of the Libyan political scene is rooted in the incontrovertible influence of "gangs, criminals, and jihadists switching sides in a complex patchwork of fleeting alliances," according to the Soufan Center. "Haftar can only succeed in his offensive if he succeeds in turning alliances around and winning the support of certain tribes in the west, where territory is dominated by local forces," said Mathieu Guidere, a professor at the University of Paris and specialist in Arab politics. "He must draw inspiration from the system set up by Kadhafi in his day to control territory in the long term," Guidere told AFP. "Otherwise he does not stand a chance of rebuilding the country's territorial unity under one government." - 'No Libyan Sisi' - At least 147 people have been killed and more than 600 wounded in 10 days of fighting, according to the World Health Organization. And some analysts fear the worst is yet to come. "I think Haftar has major difficulties on the ground in western Libya," said Andreas Krieg, a professor at King's College London. "He is now bogged down in an atrocious war between his loose band of militias, the Libyan National Army, and those militias that try to defend the Government of National Accord," Krieg told AFP. "They feel that they didn't make the sacrifices in 2011 to have another military rule by Haftar." Tripoli residents demonstrate against Libyan strongman Haftar in the capital's Martyrs Square And even should Haftar take Tripoli, his position may remain difficult. "Haftar's bet is risky, but he has benefited from the empathy, open or tacit, of many Arab and western countries," Bitar said. "It will be difficult for him to become the 'Libyan Sisi' as Libya lacks an army and central institutions as deeply rooted as those of Egypt," he added. "His power will thus remain shaky." UN envoy Nicholas Haysom will work with the African Union to mediate an end to the crisis in Sudan UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appointed an envoy to Sudan to work with the African Union on mediating an end to the crisis sparked by a military takeover. Nicholas Haysom, a South African lawyer who has served as UN envoy in Somalia, Afghanistan as well as for Sudan and South Sudan, will support AU-led mediation efforts between the military and civil society, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The African Union has called on Sudan's military to hand over power to a civilian government within 15 days and strongly condemned the army takeover as a coup d'etat. The AU peace and security council has threatened to suspend Sudan from the 55-nation organization if it does not move to establish civilian rule. "The African Union put out a very clear statement," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Haysom will "do whatever he can to support their efforts." Guterres discussed the appointment of the envoy by phone on Tuesday with Moussa Faki, the head of the African Union Commission. Sudan's military rulers who removed president Omar al-Bashir from office on April 11 have offered dialogue with all political groups on forming a civilian government after protesters kept up demands for change. Following Bashir's ouster, Guterres has called for a transition that meets the "democratic aspiration" of the Sudanese people. The UN Security Council is due to meet on the Sudan crisis on Wednesday. Old American cars are seen in February 2019 near the Habana Libre Hotel, the former Havana Hilton, which could be the focus of legal action as the US Helms-Burton Act comes fully into effect President Donald Trump will open the way for lawsuits in US courts over property confiscated by Cuba, enforcing a controversial law that angered European allies and could rattle the island's economy, after more than two decades of delay. Ever since Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, US presidents starting with Bill Clinton have used their power to suspend the key provision every six months, mindful of the international consequences. Those once-routine waivers are now over. A senior administration official said National Security Advisor John Bolton will formally unveil the shift Wednesday in a speech in Miami in which he will also outline actions on Venezuela and Nicaragua, two other countries in Latin America with leftist governments opposed by Trump. Bolton "will announce the enforcement of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act," the official said. The hawkish adviser will be speaking to veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to depose Fidel Castro's communist regime in 1961. The European Union was swift in condemning the move. "This will create even more confusion for foreign investments that are helping create jobs and prosperity in Cuba," EU envoy to Havana Alberto Navarro told reporters. With the change, Cuban exiles will be allowed to head to US courts to sue both private companies and the Havana government for profiting from properties nationalized after Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution. While US courts cannot directly enforce decisions inside Cuba, the Helms-Burton Act is meant to send a chilling message to foreign investors -- including Americans -- who may increasingly decide to exit or steer clear of the island. A group of tourists walks in February 2019 past a billboard with revolutionary slogans in Havana, which had become increasingly attractive to US visitors amid a thaw led by president Barack Obama When it was initially passed, the law had been strongly opposed by the European Union, which worries about legal repercussions for its businesses in the United States. With some 200,000 potential lawsuits in the making, US officials feared the law would flood the World Trade Organization with complaints. A related provision restricts entry into the United States of anyone who is connected to an unresolved claim in Cuba over confiscated property. - Rash of lawsuits expected - US National Security Advisor John Bolton is set to announce tough new measures against Cuba Republican lawmakers who have long pushed for tough action on Cuba have rejoiced at the Trump administration's signals since January that it was moving to fully enforce the Helms-Burton Act. "Years of consecutive extensions may have lulled some into a false sense of impunity," said Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican of Cuban descent. "Yet now companies which willingly entangle themselves in partnerships with the anti-American, illegitimate and oppressive regime in Cuba are on notice that they will be held responsible for their part in callously benefiting from the extensive losses suffered by victims of the regime," he said in a recent statement. Spanish Economy Minister renewed the European concerns Saturday during a visit to Washington for IMF and World Bank meetings, saying Spain has "clearly expressed its rejection" of Helms-Burton. The implementation "would be clearly detrimental to the smooth running of international business," she told reporters. Among potential targets of the law are the Hotel Habana Libre, the former Hilton which is now run by Spain's Melia chain. The US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a New York-based group that supports commercial ties between the longtime adversaries, said that companies with combined revenues of $678 billion could be targeted in Helms-Burton lawsuits. According to the group, companies that have been mentioned for potential lawsuits include major international airlines, including US-based American, Delta and United, hotels chains such as Marriott and Accor and companies as diverse of French liquor maker Pernod Ricard and Chinese telecom giant Huawei. - Drastic turn in US policy - Arch-conservative senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, seen here in 2002, spearheaded a tough law on Cuba that is being enforced after more than two decades Trump's move marks a drastic shift from his predecessor Barack Obama, who had normalized relations with Cuba, saying that a half-century of US efforts to topple the regime had failed. Obama eased travel restrictions for Americans and himself visited Cuba, signaling to many US businesses that the time had come to return to the island. Trump has also been pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy that has sparked a massive exodus. It is the latest time that Trump has moved ahead with a policy long seen as too disruptive. In 2017, he moved the US embassy in Israel to bitterly divided Jerusalem, similarly ending years of waivers of a US law. The Helms-Burton Law is named for far-right Republican senator Jesse Helms and congressman Dan Burton. They drafted the law passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two aircraft flown by exiled activists, putting an end to tentative efforts by Clinton to try to repair relations. sms-an-sct-mav-ka/oh TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Last year, Shir Katzenell made a drastic life change, leaving a prestigious job in the Israeli army to pursue a childhood dream: becoming a mermaid. Ever since getting hooked on Disney's "The Little Mermaid" as a kid, Katzenell confided, she has longed to turn into one. While her friends moved on, Katzenell's enchantment with mermaids endured. She fantasized about swimming underwater alongside fish in a 10-pound tail and sequined bikini. Then she actually gave it a try. As it turns out, she's not the only one. Together with a friend and fellow mermaid-fan, Michelle Koretsky, she started an unlikely social scene: a group of aspiring mermaids in Israel, which has grown on Facebook to nearly 1,000 members. It's the Israeli pocket of a worldwide community that she claims is gaining prominence. "It was a crazy revelation," said Katzenell. "I realized I was part of something big." Now, as a 34-year-old "full-time mermaid," she sells brightly-colored tails, some with dizzying $800 price tags, and teaches people the skill of swimming in them. In this Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 photo, Hadas Kellner, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Yahud, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) The tail-clad group convenes regularly to romp in public pools across the country and participate in demonstrations to raise awareness about ocean preservation. "Some come because they're just interested or feel a special connection to the water. Others because they really dream of becoming mermaids," Katzenell said. "They've often been embarrassed, told they were weird or crazy. But here they can find people who understand them." On a recent night at a Tel Aviv pool, dozens of mermaid enthusiasts slipped on their shimmering skin. Huddled on deck, they chatted about the latest developments in mermaid culture, including "The Little Mermaid" remake release date, silicone tail costs and relevant book recommendations. They glided through the water and splashed around, their glittery tails slapping against the surface. One of the clan's few mer-men, Yuval Avrami, marveled at how his fabric fin flitted in the water, describing it as a "dream come true." He said he learned about the trend through transgender friends and became fascinated by "the transition from one species to another, the ability to inhabit a new, magical identity." Another member, an aerobics instructor named Udi Frige, said he had been swimming in the sea with his legs pressed together for decades, imitating mermaid choreography from the hit movie "Splash." Frige, 39, compared confessing his mermaid obsession to coming out in the LGBT community. "It's my thing, it's unique, it's who I am," he said. "It requires lots of difficult explanation, especially if people don't know me." For others, it's just a source of innocent joy. "When I'm flying through the water with my tail, I forget all my worries," said Koretsky, the community co-leader. "For that second, I'm a child again. I'm free." ___ Follow Oded Balilty on Twitter at www.twitter.com/obalilty . Follow Associated Press photographers and photo editors on Twitter: http://apne.ws/15Oo6jo . In this Monday, March. 4, 2019 photo, Inbar Ben Yakar, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Kiryat Yam, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Wednesday, March. 6, 2019 photo, Limor Kahlon, right, and her daughter Yam, members of the Israeli Mermaid Community, pose for a portrait as they wear mermaid tails at their home in Netanya, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 photo, Gal Amnony, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as he wears a tail at his home in Ramat Gan, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019 photo, Ommer Globerman, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Ashkelon, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Wednesday, March. 6, 2019 photo, Michelle Koretsky, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Ra'anana, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 photo, Yuval Avrami, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as he wears a tail at his home in Jerusalem. One of the clan's few mer-men, says he learned about the trend through transgender friends and became fascinated by "the transition from one species to another, the ability to inhabit a new, magical identity." (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019 photo, Shir Katzenell and her son Erez, members of the Israeli Mermaid Community, pose for a portrait as they wear mermaid tails at their home in Or Akiva, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Friday, Feb . 22, 2019 photo, Udi Frige, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as he wears a mermaid tail at his home in Yahud, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019 photo, May Lighty Cohen, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Herzliya, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Tuesday, March. 26, 2019 photo, Vered Klein, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Ramat Gan, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Friday, March. 8, 2019 photo, Mor Barazani, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Modiin, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 photo, Adi Kazav, left, and Lied Adi Hagbi, members of the Israeli Mermaid Community, pose for a portrait as they wear mermaid tails at their home in Netanya, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Monday, March. 4, 2019 photo, Ligal Shternhell, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Kibbutz Ein Carmel, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) In this Monday, March. 4, 2019 photo, Ligal Shternhell, a member of the Israeli Mermaid Community, poses for a portrait as she wears a mermaid tail at her home in Kibbutz Ein Carmel, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) By Mai Nguyen SINGAPORE, April 16 (Reuters) - Nickel prices rose on Tuesday, as a faster rise in housing prices added to hopes that China's stimulus policies are translating into stronger growth. Benchmark nickel rose 1 percent to $13,125 a tonne and the most active nickel futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) closed up 1.1 percent to 102,270 yuan ($15,251.43) a tonne. The gains corresponded with a jump in Chinese shares, which hit a 13-month closing high after China data showed new home prices grew slightly faster in March after growth slowed the previous month, putting a floor under the cooling market. "The macro environment... is becoming optimistic," said an analyst based in Guangzhou, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to company policy. London copper also rose 0.4 percent after a dull trading session in early Asian hours as investors eyed a set of Chinese data due to be released on Wednesday, including the China's economic growth in the first quarter of 2019. "China had this massive credit expansion for March and if the March data still shows a lack of growth or a very weak (economy) then people will start to question about the effective need of the credit expansion," said analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities. FUNDAMENTALS * COPPER: Funds have this year played copper from the short side and from the long side but with little success either way, partly a reflection of copper's lack of directional impetus in recent weeks, said Reuters columnist Andy Home. * ZINC PRICES: London zinc dropped 1.2 percent, on track for a second straight fall, while the most-active zinc contract in Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) fell 1.7 percent. * ZINC INVENTORIES: Zinc inventories in LME-approved warehouse as of Friday shot up 7.5 percent from a day earlier to near a three-week high of 56,125 tonnes, latest data showed. On-warrant zinc stocks in warehouses tracked by ShFE also marked a 7-percent daily increase on Monday to 51,976 tonnes. "Zinc came under pressure after inventories on the LME rose sharply. The 7.5 percent increase was the biggest gain in almost a year," ANZ said in a note. * ERAMET: French mining company Eramet said its loss-making SLN nickel division had received a boost from the New Caledonia government, which authorised SLN to export 4 million tonnes of nickel ore annually for 10 years. * RUSAL: Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China, is making its first investment in the United States since Washington lifted sanctions against the Russian aluminium giant, teaming up with U.S. manufacturer Braidy Industries to build a mill in Kentucky. * TRADE: United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Fox Business Network on Monday that trade negotiations between Washington and their Chinese counterparts were "making a lot of progress." Investors will shift more attention towards the progress of the trade talks should the Chinese economic data disappoint, Argonaut's Lau said. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or PRICES Three month LME copper Most active ShFE copper Three month LME aluminium Most active ShFE aluminium Three month LME zinc Most active ShFE zinc Three month LME lead Most active ShFE lead Three month LME nickel Most active ShFE nickel Three month LME tin Most active ShFE tin ARBS ($1 = 6.7056 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Shreejay Sinha and Rashmi Aich) Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Plays Bach Along U.S.-Mexico Border Nuevo Laredo, Mexico - Legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed Johann Sebastian Bach's "Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello" along the U.S.-Mexico border last Saturday as part of an event to celebrate the relationship between the two border cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. According to NPR, the renowned cellist performed in a park in Laredo near the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, which connects the United States and Mexico. The portions of "Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello" that Ma performed were part of his Bach Project, which uses the centuries-old classical music to explore cultural connections. "As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls," Ma said Saturday, according to the publication. "I've lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations." According to NPR, the overall theme of the event, called the "Day of Action," was to appreciate the connection between the two sister cities. The mayor of Laredo, Pete Saenz, said Saturday that despite the bridge separating the two cities, the border sees itself as one community. "And although people may perceive us as being so different, we're not," he said, according to NPR. "Here the border is extremely unique in that it's one organism. I've always said we're interdependent, interconnected. We survived because the border side survives, especially here on the border area," he added. SOFIA, April 16 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgarias specialised court found the former mayor of capital Sofias district of Mladost Dessislava Ivancheva guilty on charges of soliciting a bribe and sentenced her to a jail term of 20 years (24 Chasa, Trud, Monitor, Sega) -- Hundreds of trucks were blocked at the frontier with Turkey and cannot enter Bulgaria after the Turkish authorities introduced additional controls and collect unpaid fines and toll fees from the Bulgarian drivers at the border checkpoint (Trud, 24 Chasa) -- DOST party leader Lyutvi Mestan has been released on bail of 10,000 levs ($5,779.68) and will face a charge of negligently causing the death of a six-month-old baby in a car crash, the Regional Prosecutors Office in Kurdzhali said (Trud, Monitor) ($1 = 1.7302 leva) By Tom Balmforth MOSCOW, April 16 (Reuters) - A Russian court convicted a Norwegian man on Tuesday of gathering espionage about nuclear submarines and jailed him for 14 years, a verdict that could strain relations between Moscow and its NATO-member neighbour. Frode Berg, a 63-year-old retired former guard on the Norwegian-Russian border, was detained in Moscow in December 2017 and tried behind closed doors this month. He pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage on behalf of Norway. Berg will not appeal the verdict and plans to request a presidential pardon from Vladimir Putin that would see him freed, according to his lawyer, Ilya Novikov. Norway's Foreign Ministry said it had "noted" the verdict but did not comment on its substance. It said it was working in multiple ways to bring Berg back to Norway. "Norwegian authorities... wish to see the safe return of Frode Berg to Norway," a ministry spokeswoman said. Berg, who was wearing a suit and was handcuffed as he watched proceedings from a glass cage, acknowledged having been caught handling sensitive material for Norwegian authorities but denied having any idea he was involved in espionage. Details of the case have not been revealed as they are classified. Asked by the judge in Russian if he understood the court's verdict, Berg bowed his head slightly and said "yes" in English. "He had no illusions. He expects his government will take all necessary steps to secure his release through diplomatic measures," defence lawyer Novikov said. Last week, Putin appeared to leave the door open to the possibility that Berg could be pardoned or possibly exchanged as part of a prisoner swap. Asked during talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg about the possibility of a pardoning, Putin said: "We must wait for the court proceedings...We will take a look at what we can do with this depending on the court's decision." Novikov said he was not aware of any talks under way between Oslo and Moscow to secure Berg's release and that it would take a "significant" diplomatic push for it to happen. "A presidential pardon is not something that is granted in the natural course of events, but with diplomatic measures it is quite possible," Novikov said. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth with additional reporting by Victoria Klesty in Oslo Editing by Mark Heinrich) By Patrick Werr CAIRO, April 16 (Reuters) - The United States will consider new ways to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism if it sees a fundamental change in its government and a commitment not to support terrorism, a State Department official said. The U.S. government added Sudan to its list of terrorism in 1993 over allegations that then-President Omar al-Bashir's government was supporting terrorism. The Islamist Bashir was toppled last week by the military after three decades in power. The designation as a state sponsor of terrorism makes Sudan ineligible for desperately needed debt relief and financing from lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "Sudan remains designated as a state sponsor of terrorism (STT) and a number of foreign assistance and other restrictions remain in place," said the official, responding to questions sent by email. The United States agreed in November to talks with Bashir's government on how to get Sudan removed from the list, but no resolution was reached before his overthrow following weeks of increasing public unrest. "A different statutory path to SST rescission may be available if there is a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government of Sudan," the U.S. official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. Sudan is currently ruled by a Transitional Military Council (TMC) that says it is working with opposition groups to form a civilian government. But protesters say they will not leave the streets until the TMC cedes power to an interim civilian body. The State Department officials said any new government must demonstrate it is not "supporting acts of international terrorism" and provide assurances "it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future". Former Sudanese Defence Minister General Awad Ibn Auf, who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2007, stepped down as TMC chief on Friday, making way for General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a career military officer. Ibn Auf remains on the sanctions list, according to the State Department official. "We are not aware of any person targeted by U.N. or U.S. sanctions in the TMC at present," the official said. "However, the TMC is still being formed. We believe the presence of a designated individual in the TMC would be problematic." Sudan's economy has been laid low by sanctions, corruption and mismanagement. Consumer prices rose by 73 percent in 2018 and long queues at bakeries, petrol stations and cash machines are now common. Government finances were also seriously damaged by the loss of oil revenue when South Sudan, which contained most of the country's oil fields, seceded in 2011, although a near simultaneous increase in gold output helped reduce the blow. In October 2017, the United States lifted separate trade and economic sanctions it had imposed on Sudan in 1997. It kept in place the terrorism designation, which is associated with accusations that Bashir-led Sudan backed anti-Israel Islamist militant groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah. (Reporting by Patrick Werr Editing by Mark Heinrich) By Amy Woodyatt LONDON, April 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fashion giant PVH, which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, said it will investigate reports that Ethiopian workers who make clothes for their high-street stores routinely face verbal abuse and discrimination and earn as little as 12 cents per hour. Workers in PVH supplier factories in Ethiopia are also forced to do unpaid overtime and lose pay for drinking water at their work stations, according to the U.S.-based Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), which monitors labour conditions worldwide. Hiring managers at one factory felt the stomachs of job applicants to see if they were pregnant, a WRC report found. "We will conduct an immediate and thorough investigation and take appropriate action if any violations are found," a PVH spokeswoman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation late on Monday in a statement responding to the WRC's findings. "PVH takes the allegations raised in the WRC report very seriously, noting, however, that some of the interviews are two years old and the [Hawassa Industrial] Park and its practices have evolved since then." PVH helped finance the flagship manufacturing hub in the southern Ethiopian town of Hawassa, one of a dozen such parks. As labour, raw material and tax costs rise in Asian factories, Ethiopia is seeking to offer a cheaper alternative, attracting big brands such as U.S. chain Gap and Sweden's H&M. One of the poorest nations in Africa, Ethiopia is pushing to switch its economic focus from agriculture to manufacturing, in the face of increased scrutiny over labour conditions and rates of pay in the supply chains of global fashion brands. Ethiopia does not have a minimum wage but companies sourcing from Ethiopia have a code of conduct prohibiting abuse, WRC said. Officials from Ethiopia's labour ministry and the prime minister's office were not immediately available to comment. PVH is one of the world's top clothing companies, generating nearly $9.7 billion in revenues in 2018 with about 1 million garment workers in its supply chain, according to its website. Its spokeswoman said that sourcing clothes from Ethiopia supported the local economy and promoted job creation. A January study of Ethiopia by the WageIndicator Foundation - which publishes data on pay around the world - found that the majority of some 1,000 garment factory workers it surveyed earned less than a living wage of 4,130 birr ($143.90) a month. "Unfortunately for the country's garment workers, there is a yawning gap between the brands' ethical pretentions and the workplace reality for the people sewing their clothes," said Penelope Kyritsis, a researcher with the WRC. The WRC report also found labour rights abuses were common in factories in Ethiopia that supply H&M. "We take seriously any allegations of violations of labour standards and will continue to follow up with suppliers and implement our programs addressing working conditions and workers' rights," an H&M spokeswoman said. ($1 = 28.7013 birr) (Reporting by Amy Woodyatt; 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) By Anthony Boadle PACARAIMA, Brazil, April 16 (Reuters) - Surrounded by vultures perched on trees awaiting their turn, Venezuelan migrants scrape out a living scavenging for metal, plastic, cardboard and food in a Brazilian border town's rubbish dump. Trapped in a wasteland limbo, they barely make enough to feed their families and cannot afford a bus ticket to get away and find regular work in Brazilian cities to the south. They blame leftist President Nicolas Maduro for mismanaging their oil-producing nation's economy and causing the deep crisis that has driven several million Venezuelans to emigrate across Latin America. "I left because I was dying of hunger. We are trying to get ahead looking through this rubbish. Every night I pray to God to take me out of here," said Rosemary Tovar, a 23-year-old mother from Caracas. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the political and economic upheaval in their country through Pacaraima, the only road crossing to Brazil, overloading social services and causing tension in the northern border state of Roraima. More than 40,000 Venezuelans have swollen the population of state capital Boa Vista by 11 percent, Mayor Tereza Surita told Reuters. The influx has also been a headache for Brazil's new, far-right government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has so far resisted U.S. pressure to take a more forceful attitude against Maduro. About 3.7 million people have left Venezuela in recent years, mostly via its western neighbor Colombia, according to the World Bank. A dozen Venezuelans scramble to grab bags of rubbish that tumble from the Pacaraima trash truck twice a day. They then sift through the piles as fetid plumes of smoke rise from the smoldering landfill. Sometimes they scavenge at night using headlamps. "We are looking for copper and cans, and hopefully something valuable, even food," said Astrid Prado, who is eight months pregnant. "My goal is to get out of here. Nobody wants to spend their life going through garbage." Charly Sanchez, 42, arrived in Brazil a year ago and has not been able to get to Boa Vista to get his work papers so that he can find employment. "We live off this. We make enough to buy rice, maybe some sausage, but not enough to buy a ticket to Boa Vista," he said. Copper pays best, 13 reais ($3.30) a kilo, but it takes Sanchez a whole week to gather that much "wire by wire." On a lucky day he said he had found a discarded cellphone, but not today. Some spaghetti, a small jar of sugar and a bit of cooking oil was Sanchez's pickings for the day. Samuel Esteban, using a breathing mask for the smoke, stuffed cardboard into a large sack. For 50 kilos he will earn five reais, one third of the minimum monthly wage in Venezuela but just enough to buy a liter of milk in Brazil and some bread. Tovar criticized Maduro for denying that Venezuela is facing a humanitarian crisis. "He is so wrong. Look at us here in this dump," she said. "If Maduro does not leave Venezuela, I will never return there." (Reporting and writing by Anthony Boadle Additional reporting by Leonardo Benassatto; Editing by Tom Brown) By Sam Edwards MADRID April 16 (Reuters) - Spain's election board blocked on Tuesday the far-right Vox party from participating in the only confirmed debate between leading contenders for the April 28 election. The ruling shows the complexity of Spain's shift from decades of two-party rule to a fragmented political landscape where no one party looks set to win a majority and Vox has gone from relative obscurity to major force in less than a year. Vox has never won more than 5 percent of votes in national elections, but achieved a surprise victory in regional elections last year and is predicted by polls to win around 10 percent in this month's parliamentary vote. That was why Spain's Atresmedia network chose it to join the four major national parties for a scheduled April 23 debate over other movements like Catalan and Basque nationalists. But the electoral commission said that was a violation of electoral law. Several smaller parties had demanded inclusion in the debate, based on previous electoral performance. Atresmedia said it would comply - though it did not agree. "Atresmedia maintains that a debate between five candidates is of the greatest journalistic value and most relevance for voters," the network said in a statement after the ruling. Vox reacted defiantly, tweeting that separatist parties had swayed the decision. "It's clear who calls the shots still in Spain: the separatists. Until April 28. Because a great victory for #LongLiveSpain will see those parties who wish to destroy our co-existence, constitution and homeland banned." The vote looks set to be one of Spain's most bitterly-fought in decades. It will probably be split between five parties for the first time since a return to democracy 40 years ago, polls show, making coalition negotiations or even repeat elections a possibility. (Reporting by Sam Edwards; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne) By Bernadette Christina Munthe and Cindy Silviana JAKARTA, April 17 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo appeared set for a second term as "quick count" results from Wednesday's election rolled in, but his challenger claimed that he had won the popular vote and urged supporters not to let his victory be snatched away. Data from private pollsters based on counts of vote samples were in line with opinion polls that had predicted a win for Widodo, a former furniture businessman and low-key reformist. They showed him winning the popular vote with about 54 percent, with a lead of between 7.1 and 11.6 percentage points over former general Prabowo Subianto, who was narrowly defeated when he took Widodo on in the last election five years ago. In previous elections, the counts from reputable companies proved to be accurate. But Prabowo, a former son-in-law of military strongman Suharto who was overthrown in 1998, told a news conference that - based on internal exit polls and "quick count" numbers - his campaign believed his share of the vote was in a 52-54 percent range. "We have noted several incidents that have harmed the supporters of this ticket," he said, without giving detail. "The truth will win." In 2014, Prabowo had also claimed victory on election day, before contesting the results at the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Widodo's win. Widodo said the results indicated he had regained the presidency of the world's fourth-most-populous nation, but urged supporters to wait for the election commission to announce official results. Kevin O'Rourke, a political analyst and author of the Indonesia-focused newsletter Reformasi Weekly, said that Widodo's re-election was now clear but his victory over 67-year-old Prabowo was not resounding. "He failed to attain the psychological 60 percent level that had seemed within reach," O'Rourke said. "Prabowo performed better than expected, which may embolden him to run yet again in 2024, if he is sufficiently fit." Widodo grew up in a riverside slum and was the first national leader to come from outside the political and military elite. Popularly known as Jokowi, his everyman image resonated in 2014 with voters tired of the old guard. 'NO BURNING' The eight-hour vote on Wednesday for both the presidency and legislature seats across a country that stretches more than 5,000 km (3,000 miles) from its western to eastern tips was both a Herculean logistical feat and testimony to the resilience of democracy two decades after authoritarianism was defeated. The poll followed a campaign dominated by economic issues but was also marked by the growing influence of conservative Islam in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation. A senior government official close to the president said before the election that a win for Widodo with 52-55 percent of the vote would be a "sweet spot", and enough of a mandate to press on with, and even accelerate, reforms. The official election results will not be published until May. Any disputes can be taken to the Constitutional Court where a nine-judge panel will have 14 days to rule on them. More than 10,000 volunteers crowd-sourced results posted at polling stations in a real-time bid to thwart attempts at fraud. However, even before the election, the opposition alleged voter-list irregularities that it said could affect millions and vowed legal or "people power" action if its concerns were ignored. Ferdinand Hutahaen, a spokesman for the Prabowo campaign, sought to soothe concerns this could mean a violent response. "Don't consider 'people power' as a form of violence," he told reporters. "There will be no burning, killing. We will see what kind of 'people power' and revolution society wants. We don't want conflict in this country." Prabowo's supporters would march in central Jakarta after midday prayers on Friday, campaign officials said. REFORM AGENDA Analysts are trying to assess whether Widodo will accelerate the cautious reform agenda of his first term and open up more areas to foreign investors, or even try to free up restrictive labour laws. This will partly hinge on his ability to get laws through a newly elected parliament and to take on nationalist forces. Widodo campaigned on his record of deregulation and improving infrastructure, calling it a step to tackling inequality and poverty in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. But religion has also been a factor. Conservative Muslim groups have been increasingly influential. Widodo, a moderate Muslim from Java island, had to burnish his Islamic credentials after smear campaigns and hoax stories accused him of being anti-Islam, a communist or too close to China, all politically damaging in Indonesia. He picked Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin, 76, as his running mate. Prabowo, a former special forces commander who has links to some hardline Muslim groups, and his running mate, business entrepreneur Sandiaga Uno, pledged to boost the economy by slashing taxes and cutting food prices. (Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo da Costa, Maikel Jefriando, Tabita Diela, Kanupriya Kapoor, Jessica Damiana and Cindy Silviana in Jakarta, Tommy Ardiansyah in Bogor, Mas Alina Arifin in Bandar Lampung Writing by John Chalmers and Ed Davies Editing by Robert Birsel) Pakistan has declared Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) the 'global influential figure' of 2018. Before this news sinks in, lets see what the Pakistani media is saying about this. Nothing. There is absolute silence in Pakistan's media so far about this honour extended to MBS soon after he loosened his purse in Pakistan. It is the Saudi media thats hyperventilating on how their MBS has been recognised for his relentless efforts and noble deeds in serving Islam and Muslims; for his care of the two holy mosques; for championing key humanitarian issues, including Palestine, Yemen, Syria and the protection of Muslim minorities. According to Arab News, he was also recognised for his support of Pakistan and the peace process with neighbouring India. So, is this a joke, a really bad one? Because it was in 2018 that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, apart from several other human rights violations taking place ever so often on Saudi soil. No, this is not a joke. Brothers in arms: The rest of the world may soon start envying how they have each other's back. (Photo: Reuters) This is strategically erasing one narrative in favour of another. Social media is up in arms against this strategic cleansing attempt of MBS image by Pakistan. But theres more here than meets the eye. This never-heard-of-before honour is not coming straight from Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan or his army of ministers. This has been conferred on MBS by the All Pakistan Ulema Council a high-level religious body comprising scholars and clerics. And the certificate was presented by the President of Pakistan, Arif-ur Rehman Alvi. So, the Crown Prince is the most influential figure of 2018. Is it so? Yes. And it only took six months to turn things around. In October 2018, the Khashoggi episode ushered in a torrential time in the US-Saudi relationship. But we guess thats also over as the US State Departments human rights report for 2018, released last month, does not mention MBS name. According to reports, it also does not mention US intelligence reports which earlier reportedly exposed how MBS, in all probability, ordered Khashoggi's killing. In this context, its only fair that Pakistan also does its bit to exonerate MBS taking a nice religious route. Because theres nothing further that Pakistan can do now to sing its paeans to MBS. When MBS visited Pakistan and agreed to invest $20 billion there the happy day was announced as a public holiday. PM Imran Khan, clearly overjoyed at what is small change for the Saudis, personally drove MBS home from the airport. Pakistans highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan, has already been conferred on MBS. So, this was only the next logical step. Driving home the point: Imran Khan shocked many with his visible attempts to please MBS. (Photo: Twitter) For those still quibbling, please do note, Pakistans idea of 'global influence' begins and ends with China. And MBSs recent China visit has impressed China despite its ties with Saudis arch-rival Iran. The House of Saud, MBS family, is famous for its defence of Muslims across the world. Pakistans award to MBS also falls along the same lines. But it doesn't matter that MBS apparently supports China's crackdown on the Uighur Muslim minority. Imran Khan, too, doesn't know very much about this. There can't be any better friendship in world politics right now. Also Read: When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed Imran Khan who his daddy is 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. Donna Davies Hosts Scala Vallarta Condos Open House Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Searching the Internet for just the right property can be frustrating, so Timothy Real Estate Group's Donna Davies will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, April 20th at Scala Vallarta Condos, a fun, newly-renovated, urban style building in the heart of Puerto Vallarta. Located in Alta Vista, just a few blocks from downtown Puerto Vallarta and the trendy Romantic Zone and Olas Altas neighborhoods, Scala Vallarta Condos offer a unique opportunity to live in a completely renovated building with a young and energetic vibe. The spaces can be used for residential, commercial, office or retail, and offer you the opportunity to either do your own build out of a loft-like space, or select from a number of packages to finish off your home or office. There are only 6 units left in the Scala building, which boasts units with mountain views, and some offer 180-degree front window panoramas to the ocean and the city. There is off street parking for guests just at your front door, and assigned parking for unit owners. Imagine the beauty of owning a home or office designed with your own taste at a fraction of the cost... Scala Residences is a must see for anyone interested in creating their own unique space for a business, vacation rental property or extraordinary Puerto Vallarta home. Join Donna at the Scala Building in Alta Vista on Saturday, April 20, 2019 from 11:00 am - 2:30 pm and come see for yourself! For more information, call Donna L. Davies on her cellular at 322.779.9406 or at the Timothy Real Estate Group office at (322) 223-5300. The number one selling and listing agency in the greater Bay of Banderas region since 2011, Timothy Real Estate Group is a locally-owned and operated real estate brokerage with a strategic location in the city's Romantic Zone. Because the Puerto Vallarta area has varying neighborhood personalities, we practice localized real estate and, with 5 sales offices around the bay, we know our communities well. If you are looking to sell or purchase a property in the Banderas Bay area, please contact one of the Timothy Real Estate Group agents for the best experience in Puerto Vallarta real estate. For more information, visit TimothyRealEstateGroup.com. The following companies are subsidiares of Banco Santander: 2 & 3 Triton Limited, A & L CF (Guernsey) Limited (f), A & L CF June (2) Limited, A & L CF June (3) Limited, A & L CF March (5) Limited, A & L CF September (4) Limited, AFB SAM Holdings S.L., ALIL Services Limited (b), AN (123) Limited, ANITCO Limited, Abbey Business Services (India) Private Limited, Abbey Covered Bonds (LM) Limited, Abbey National, Abbey National Beta Investments Limited, Abbey National Business Office Equipment Leasing Limited, Abbey National International Limited, Abbey National Nominees Limited, Abbey National PLP (UK) Limited, Abbey National Property Investments, Abbey National Treasury Services Investments Limited, Abbey National Treasury Services Overseas Holdings, Abbey National UK Investments, Abbey Stockbrokers (Nominees) Limited, Abbey Stockbrokers Limited, Ablasa Participaciones S.L., Administracion de Bancos Latinoamericanos Santander S.L., Aduro S.A., Aevis Europa S.L., Afisa S.A., Albert., Aljardi SGPS Lda., Alliance & Leicester, Alliance & Leicester Cash Solutions Limited, Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (Derivatives) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments (No.2) Limited, Alliance & Leicester Investments Limited, Alliance & Leicester Limited, Alliance & Leicester Personal Finance Limited, Altamira Santander Real Estate S.A., Alternative Leasing FIL, Amazonia Trade Limited, Amherst Pierpont, Andaluza de Inversiones S.A., Aquanima Brasil Ltda., Aquanima Chile S.A., Aquanima Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aquanima S.A., Arcaz - Sociedade Imobiliaria Portuguesa Lda., Argenline S.A. (b), Asto Digital Limited, Athena Corporation Limited, Atual - Fundo de Invest Multimercado Credito Privado Investimento no Exterior, Atual Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos e Meios Digitais S.A., Autodescuento S.L., Autohaus24 GmbH, Auttar HUT Processamento de Dados Ltda., Aviacion Antares A.I.E., Aviacion Britanica A.I.E., Aviacion Centaurus A.I.E., Aviacion Comillas S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Intercontinental A.I.E., Aviacion Laredo S.L., Aviacion Oyambre S.L. Unipersonal, Aviacion Real A.I.E., Aviacion Santillana S.L., Aviacion Suances S.L., Aviacion Triton A.I.E., Aymore Credito Financiamento e Investimento S.A., BEN Beneficios e Servicos S.A., BRS Investments S.A., BZW Bank, Banca PSA Italia S.p.A., Banco Bandepe S.A., Banco Madesant - Sociedade Unipessoal S.A., Banco PSA Finance Brasil S.A., Banco Popular, Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A., Banco Santander (Mexico) S.A. 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Unipersonal, First National Motor Business Limited, First National Motor Contracts Limited, First National Motor Facilities Limited, First National Motor Finance Limited, First National Motor Leasing Limited, First National Motor plc, First National Tricity Finance Limited, Fondos Santander S.A. Administradora de Fondos de Inversion (en liquidacion) (b), Fortensky Trading Ltd., Fosse Funding (No.1) Limited, Fosse Master Issuer plc, Fosse Trustee (UK) Limited, GTS El Centro Equity Holdings LLC, GTS El Centro Project Holdings LLC, Gamma Sociedade Financeira de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Gesban Mexico Servicios Administrativos Globales S.A. de C.V., Gesban Santander Servicios Profesionales Contables Limitada, Gesban Servicios Administrativos Globales S.L., Gesban UK Limited, Gestion de Instalaciones Fotovoltaicas S.L. Unipersonal, Gestion de Inversiones JILT S.A., Gestora de Procesos S.A. en liquidacion (b), Getnet Adquirencia e Servicos para Meios de Pagamento S.A., Global Vosgos S.L. Unipersonal, Grupo Empresarial Santander S.L., Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico S.A. de C.V., Grupo Financiero Santander SAB de CV, Guaranty Car S.A. Unipersonal, HQ Mobile Limited, Hispamer Renting S.A. Unipersonal, Holbah II Limited, Holbah Santander S.L. Unipersonal, Holmes Funding Limited, Holmes Master Issuer plc, Holmes Trustees Limited, Hyundai Capital Bank Europe GmbH, Iberica de Compras Corporativas S.L., Independence Community Bank Corp., Insurance Funding Solutions Limited, Interfinance Holanda B.V., Inversiones Capital Global S.A. Unipersonal, Inversiones Maritimas del Mediterraneo S.A., Isla de los Buques S.A., Klare Corredora de Seguros S.A., Landcompany 2020 S.L., Langton Funding (No.1) Limited, Langton Mortgages Trustee (UK) Limited, Langton Securities (2008-1) plc, Langton Securities (2010-1) PLC, Langton Securities (2010-2) PLC, Laparanza S.A., Liquidity Limited, Luri 1 S.A. en liquidacion (b) (e), Luri 6 S.A. Unipersonal, Master Red Europa S.L., Mata Alta S.L., Merciver S.L., Mercury TFS, Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.A. de C.V., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.L., Mercury Trade Finance Solutions S.p.A., Moneybit S.L., Mortgage Engine Limited, Motor 2016-1 PLC, Motor 2017-1 PLC, Mouro Capital I LP, Multiplica SpA, NW Services CO., Naviera Mirambel S.L., Naviera Trans Gas A.I.E., Naviera Trans Iron S.L., Naviera Trans Ore A.I.E., Naviera Trans Wind S.L. (b), Naviera Transcantabrica S.L., Naviera Transchem S.L. Unipersonal, NeoAuto S.A.C., Norbest AS, Novimovest Fundo de Investimento Imobiliario, Open Bank Argentina S.A., Open Bank S.A., Open Digital Market S.L., Open Digital Services S.L., Operadora de Carteras Gamma S.A.P.I. de C.V., Optimal Investment Services SA, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland Euro Fund, Optimal Multiadvisors Ireland Plc / Optimal Strategic US Equity Ireland US Dollar Fund, PBE Companies LLC, PECOH Limited, PI Distribuidora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., PSA Bank Deutschland GmbH, PSA Banque France, PSA Finance UK Limited, PSA Financial Services Nederland B.V., PSA Financial Services Spain E.F.C. S.A., PSA Renting Italia S.p.A., PagoFX Europe S.A., PagoFX HoldCo S.L., PagoFX UK Ltd, PagoNxt Merchant Solutions S.L., PagoNxt S.L., Parasant SA, Patagon.com, Pereda Gestion S.A., Pingham International S.A., Popular Spain Holding de Inversiones S.L.U., Portal Universia Argentina S.A., Portal Universia Portugal Prestacao de Servicos de Informatica S.A., Prime 16 Fundo de Investimentos Imobiliario, Punta Lima LLC, Punta Lima Wind Farm LLC, Retop S.A., Return Capital Servicos de Recuperacao de Creditos S.A., Return Gestao de Recursos S.A., Riobank International (Uruguay) SAIFE (b), Rojo Entretenimento S.A., SAM Asset Management S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, SAM Investment Holdings S.L., SAM UK Investment Holdings Limited (b), SANB Promotora de Vendas e Cobranca Ltda., SCF Eastside Locks GP Limited, SDMX Superdigital S.A. de C.V., SMPS Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A de C.V, Sancap Investimentos e Participacoes S.A., Santander (CF Trustee Property Nominee) Limited, Santander (UK) Group Pension Schemes Trustees Limited, Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 1 S.A., Santander Ahorro Inmobiliario 2 S.A., Santander Alternatives SICAV RAIF, Santander Asesorias Financieras Limitada, Santander Asset Finance (December) Limited, Santander Asset Finance plc, Santander Asset Management - S.G.O.I.C. S.A., Santander Asset Management Chile S.A., Santander Asset Management LLC, Santander Asset Management Luxembourg S.A., Santander Asset Management S.A. Administradora General de Fondos, Santander Asset Management S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Asset Management UK Holdings Limited, Santander Asset Management UK Limited, Santander Back-Offices Globales Mayoristas S.A., Santander Banca de Inversion Colombia S.A.S., Santander Bank & Trust Ltd., Santander Bank National Association, Santander Bank Polska S.A., Santander Brasil Administradora de Consorcio Ltda., Santander Brasil Gestao de Recursos Ltda., Santander Brasil Tecnologia S.A., Santander Capital Desarrollo SGEIC S.A. Unipersonal, Santander Capital Structuring S.A. de C.V., Santander Capitalizacao S.A., Santander Cards Ireland Limited, Santander Cards Limited, Santander Cards UK Limited, Santander Chile Holding S.A., Santander Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Santander Consumer (UK) plc, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2013-B3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L4 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2018-L5 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2019-L3 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-B1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L1 LLC, Santander Consumer Auto Receivables Funding 2020-L2 LLC, Santander Consumer Bank, Santander Consumer Bank AG, Santander Consumer Bank GmbH, Santander Consumer Bank S.A., Santander Consumer Bank S.p.A., Santander Consumer Banque S.A., Santander Consumer Credit Services Limited, Santander Consumer Finance Benelux B.V., Santander Consumer Finance Global Services S.L., Santander Consumer Finance Oy, Santander Consumer Finance S.A., Santander Consumer Finance Schweiz AG, Santander Consumer Financial Solutions Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Finanse Sp. z o.o. (b), Santander Consumer Holding Austria GmbH, Santander Consumer Holding GmbH, Santander Consumer International Puerto Rico LLC, Santander Consumer Leasing GmbH, Santander Consumer Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.L., Santander Consumer Multirent Sp. z o.o., Santander Consumer Operations Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Receivables 10 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 11 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 3 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables 7 LLC, Santander Consumer Receivables Funding LLC, Santander Consumer Renting S.L., Santander Consumer S.A., Santander Consumer S.A.S., Santander Consumer Services GmbH, Santander Consumer Services S.A., Santander Consumer Technology Services GmbH, Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc., Santander Consumer USA Inc., Santander Consumo S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Corredora de Seguros Limitada, Santander Corredores de Bolsa Limitada, Santander Corretora de Cambio e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., Santander Corretora de Seguros Investimentos e Servicos S.A., Santander Customer Voice S.A., Santander Digital Assets S.L., Santander Drive Auto Receivables LLC, Santander Equity Investments Limited, Santander Espana Merchant Services Entidad de Pago S.L. Unipersonal, Santander Espana Servicios Legales y de Cumplimiento S.L., Santander Estates Limited, Santander F24 S.A., Santander Facility Management Espana S.L., Santander Factoring S.A., Santander Factoring Sp. z o.o., Santander Factoring y Confirming S.A. E.F.C., Santander Finance 2012-1 LLC, Santander Financial Exchanges Limited, Santander Financial Services Inc., Santander Financial Services plc, Santander Finanse Sp. z o.o., Santander Fintech Holdings S.L., Santander Fintech Limited, Santander Fundo de Investimento SBAC Referenciado di Credito Privado, Santander Gestion de Recaudacion y Cobranzas Ltda., Santander Global Consumer Finance Limited, Santander Global Facilities S.A. de C.V., Santander Global Facilities S.L., Santander Global Operations S.A., Santander Global Services S.A. (b), Santander Global Sport S.A., Santander Global Technology Brasil Ltda., Santander Global Technology Chile Limitada, Santander Global Technology S.L., Santander Global Trade Platform Solutions S.L., Santander Guarantee Company, Santander Holding Imobiliaria S.A., Santander Holding Internacional S.A., Santander Holdings USA Inc., Santander ISA Managers Limited, Santander Inclusion Financiera S.A. de C.V. S.O.F.O.M. E.R. Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico, Santander Insurance Agency U.S. LLC, Santander Insurance Services UK Limited, Santander Intermediacion Correduria de Seguros S.A., Santander International Products Plc. (d), Santander Inversiones S.A., Santander Investment Bank Limited, Santander Investment Chile Limitada, Santander Investment I S.A., Santander Investment S.A., Santander Investment Securities Inc., Santander Investments GP 1 S.a.r.l., Santander Inwestycje Sp. z o.o., Santander Lease S.A. E.F.C., Santander Leasing LLC, Santander Leasing S.A., Santander Leasing S.A. Arrendamento Mercantil, Santander Lending Limited, Santander Mediacion Operador de Banca-Seguros Vinculado S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Operations S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Services S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions S.A., Santander Merchant Platform Solutions Uruguay S.A., Santander Merchant Platform SolucoesTecnologicas Brasil Ltda., Santander Merchant S.A., Santander Mortgage Holdings Limited, Santander Paraty Qif PLC, Santander Pensiones S.A. E.G.F.P., Santander Pensoes - Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Pensoes S.A., Santander Private Banking Gestion S.A. S.G.I.I.C., Santander Private Banking UK Limited, Santander Private Banking s.p.a. in Liquidazione (b), Santander Private Real Estate Advisory & Management S.A., Santander Private Real Estate Advisory S.A., Santander Real Estate S.A., Santander Retail Auto Lease Funding LLC, Santander Rio Asset Management Gerente de Fondos Comunes de Inversion S.A., Santander Rio Trust S.A., Santander Rio Valores S.A., Santander S.A. Sociedad Securitizadora, Santander Secretariat Services Limited, Santander Securities LLC, Santander Seguros y Reaseguros Compania Aseguradora S.A., Santander Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., Santander Servicios Especializados S.A. de C.V., Santander Technology USA LLC, Santander Tecnologia e Inovacao Ltda., Santander Tecnologia Argentina S.A., Santander Tecnologia Espana S.L.U., Santander Tecnologia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Santander Totta SGPS S.A., Santander Totta Seguros Companhia de Seguros de Vida S.A., Santander Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A., Santander Trade Services Limited, Santander UK Group Holdings plc, Santander UK Investments, Santander UK Operations Limited, Santander UK Plc, Santander UK Technology Limited, Santander Wealth Management International SA, Santander de Titulizacion S.G.F.T. S.A., Santusa Holding S.L., Services and Promotions Delaware Corp., Services and Promotions Miami LLC, Servicio de Alarmas Controladas por Ordenador S.A., Servicios de Cobranza Recuperacion y Seguimiento S.A. De C.V., Sheppards Moneybrokers Limited, Shiloh III Wind Project LLC, Sociedad Integral de Valoraciones Automatizadas S.A., Sociedad Operadora de Tarjetas de Pago Santander Getnet Chile S.A., Socur S.A., Sol Orchard Imperial 1 LLC, Solarlaser Limited, Sovereign Community Development Company, Sovereign Delaware Investment Corporation, Sovereign Lease Holdings LLC, Sovereign REIT Holdings Inc., Sovereign Spirit Limited (f), Sterrebeeck B.V., Suleyado 2003 S.L. Unipersonal, Summer Empreendimentos Ltda., Super Pagamentos e Administracao de Meios Eletronicos S.A., Superdigital Argentina S.A.U., Superdigital Colombia S.A.S., Superdigital Holding Company S.L., Superdigital Peru S.A.C., Suzuki Servicios Financieros S.L., Swesant SA, TIMFin S.p.A., TOPSAM S.A de C.V., Taxagest Sociedade Gestora de Participacoes Sociais S.A., Teatinos Siglo XXI Inversiones S.A., The Alliance & Leicester Corporation Limited, The Best Specialty Coffee S.L. Unipersonal, Time Retail Finance Limited (b), Tonopah Solar I LLC, Toque Fale Servicos de Telemarketing Ltda., Tornquist Asesores de Seguros S.A. (b), Totta (Ireland) PLC, Totta Urbe - Empresa de Administracao e Construcoes S.A., Trabajando.com Mexico S.A. de C.V. en liquidacion (b), Trabajando.com Peru S.A.C., Trans Rotor Limited (b), Transolver Finance EFC S.A., Tresmares Growth Fund Santander SCR S.A., Tresmares Santander Direct Lending SICC S.A., Tuttle and Son Limited, Universia Brasil S.A., Universia Chile S.A., Universia Colombia S.A.S., Universia Espana Red de Universidades S.A., Universia Holding S.L., Universia Mexico S.A. de C.V., Universia Peru S.A., Universia Uruguay S.A., Uro Property Holdings SOCIMI S.A., WIM Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., WTW Shipping Designated Activity Company, Wallcesa S.A., Wave Holdco S.L., Waypoint Insurance Group Inc., and Wirecard (Technological Assets). 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. Dunelm Group plc engages in the retail of homewares in the United Kingdom. The company offers furniture for bedroom, living room, dining room, and office; sofas and chairs; bean bags; bed frames, mattresses, divan beds and bases, and headboards, as well as kids beds; and bedding products, such as bed linens, duvets, pillows, protectors, and baby and kids beddings. It also provides curtains, and poles and tracks; blinds; rugs, runners, and door mats; mirrors; cushion pads, covers; throws; seat pads; pictures and frames, wallpapers, and accessories; lighting products, including ceiling and wall lights, lamp shades, floor and table lamps, and outdoor lights; kitchen products, such as cooking, dining, utility, and electrical products; and storage products for home, clothes, and kitchen, as well as travel and luggage products. In addition, the company offers towels and bathmats, bathroom accessories, and bathroom furniture; kids accessories and toys, and nursery furniture and products, as well as travel, safety, and wellbeing products; garden furniture and storage, and garden dAcor products; and Christmas trees and lights, wreaths and garlands, baubles and tree decoration, and novelty products. It operates 173 superstores and 2 distribution centers, as well as sells its products through an online store at dunelm.com. Dunelm Group plc was founded in 1979 and is based in Syston, the United Kingdom. Read More Greene King plc operates as a pub retailer and brewer in the United Kingdom. The company operates through three segments: Pub Company, Pub Partners, and Brewing & Brands. Its brands include Greene King Local Pubs, Hungry Horse, Flaming Grill, Farmhouse Inns, and Chef & Brewer. The company is also involved in brewing, marketing, and selling beer under the Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale, and Belhaven Best brands. In addition, Greene King plc engages in the employment, financing, pension trustee, and property businesses. As of April 30, 2018, it operated 2,855 managed, tenanted, leased, and franchised pubs, restaurants, and hotels. Greene King plc was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in Bury St Edmunds, the United Kingdom. Read More Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load 9 hours ago 3 Quality Tech Stocks to Buy on the Dip Time to Buy the Dip in Quality Tech Companies? Investors have been dealing with a volatile stretch in the market during the past few weeks, especially in the tech sector. Many of the big winners from earlier in the year are well off of their 52-week highs and continue to face selling pressure on rallies. Read Article iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF's stock was trading at $92.55 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, IWN stock has increased by 74.0% and is now trading at $161.01. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Zurich Insurance Group AG is a holding company. The Company and its subsidiaries provide insurance products and related services. Its segments include General Insurance, Global Life, Farmers, Other Operating Businesses and Non-Core Businesses. The General Insurance segment provides a range of motor, home and commercial products and services for individuals, as well as small and large businesses. The Global Life segment is engaged in providing unit-linked, protection and corporate propositions through global distribution and proposition pillars. The Farmers segment, through Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, provides certain non-claims administrative and management services to the Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange, Truck Insurance Exchange, and their subsidiaries and affiliates. The Other Operating Businesses segment includes the Company's Holding and Financing activities. The Non-Core Businesses segment includes its insurance and reinsurance businesses. Read More JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a financial holding company. It provides financial and investment banking services. The firm offers a range of investment banking products and services in all capital markets, including advising on corporate strategy and structure, capital raising in equity and debt markets, risk management, market making in cash securities and derivative instruments, and brokerage and research. It operates through the following segments: Consumer and Community Banking, Corporate and Investment Bank, Commercial Banking, and Asset and Wealth Management. The Consumer and Community Banking segment serves consumers and businesses through personal service at bank branches and through automated teller machine, online, mobile, and telephone banking. The Corporate and Investment Bank segment offers a suite of investment banking, market-making, prime brokerage, and treasury and securities products and services to a global client base of corporations, investors, financial institutions, government and municipal entities. The Commercial Banking segment delivers services to U.S. and its multinational clients, including corporations, municipalities, financial institutions, and non profit Read More Rayonier, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in investment in timberlands. It operates through the following business segments: Southern Timber, Pacific Northwest Timber, New Zealand Timber, Real Estate, Timber Funds and Trading. The Southern Timber, Pacific Northwest Timber and New Zealand Timber segments reflect all activities related to the harvesting of timber and other value-added activities, such as recreational licenses, within each respective geography. The Real Estate segment reflects all U.S. land sales, which are reported in the following sales categories: Improved Development, Unimproved Development, Rural, Non-Strategic and Timberlands, and Large Dispositions. The Timber Funds segment represents operations of the three private equity timber funds included in the Pope Resources transaction. The Trading segment reflects the log trading activities that support New Zealand operations. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Wild light, FL. Read More Ameresco, Inc. engages in the provision of energy services, including energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, asset sustainability, and renewable energy solutions for businesses and organizations throughout North America and Europe. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Regions, U.S. Federal, Canada, Non-Solar Distributed Generation (DG), and All Other. The U.S. Regions, U.S. Federal, and Canada segments offers energy efficiency products and services, such as design, engineering and installation of equipment and other measures to improve the efficiency and control the operation of a facility's energy infrastructure; and renewable energy solutions and services. The Non-Solar DG sells electricity, processed renewable gas fuel, heat or cooling, produced from renewable sources of energy, other than solar, and generated by small-scale plants; and operations and maintenance services for customer owned small-scale plants. The All Other segment focuses on the provision of enterprise energy management services, consulting services, and integrated-photovoltaic. The company was founded by George Peter Sakellaris on April 25, 2000 and is headquartered in Framingham, MA. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of BorgWarner: B80 Italia S.r.l., BERU AG, BW El Salto S.A. De C.V., BWA Receivables Corporation, BWA Turbo Systems Holding LLC, Borg Warner Europe Holdings (PDS) B. V., BorgWarner (China) Investment Co. Ltd., BorgWarner (Reman) Holdings L.L.C., BorgWarner (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner Aftermarket Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Alternators Inc., BorgWarner Arden LLC, BorgWarner Arnstadt RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Asia Inc., BorgWarner Automotive Asia Limited, BorgWarner Automotive Components (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Brasil Ltda., BorgWarner Chungju Co. LLC, BorgWarner Comercial e Distribuidora de Pecas para Veiculos Automotores Ltda., BorgWarner Comercializadora PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Componentes PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Cooling Systems (India) Private Limited, BorgWarner Cooling Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Diversified Transmission Products Services Inc., BorgWarner Drivetrain Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Drivetrain Management Services de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Drivetrain de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Electric Motors L.L.C., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems Holding LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Emissions Systems LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Portugal Unipessoal LDA, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Spain S.L.U., BorgWarner Emissions Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Emissions Talegaon Private Limited, BorgWarner Engineering Ketsch RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Engineering Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Esslingen GmbH, BorgWarner Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Europe Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Gateshead Limited, BorgWarner Germany Holding GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Holding Services GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REH GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REM GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, BorgWarner Global Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Heidelberg I RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg II RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg REH GmbH, BorgWarner Heidelberg REM GmbH, BorgWarner Holding Inc., BorgWarner Holdings Limited, BorgWarner Hungary Kft., BorgWarner IT Services Europe GmbH, BorgWarner India Holdings Inc., BorgWarner Investment Holding Inc., BorgWarner Ithaca LLC, BorgWarner Ketsch Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Ketsch REH GmbH, BorgWarner Ketsch REM GmbH, BorgWarner Kft., BorgWarner Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Korea Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Korea Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Korea LLC, BorgWarner Limited, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf REH GmbH, BorgWarner Markdorf REM GmbH, BorgWarner Massachusetts Inc., BorgWarner Mauritius Holdings Ltd., BorgWarner Mexico Holding BV, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings II LLC, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Morse Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Morse Systems Italy S.r.l., BorgWarner Morse Systems Japan K.K., BorgWarner Morse Systems Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Muggendorf RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner NW Inc., BorgWarner Netherlands Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Oroszlany Kft., BorgWarner PDS (Anderson) L.L.C., BorgWarner PDS (Changnyeong) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Indiana) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Livonia) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Ochang) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner PDS (USA) Inc., BorgWarner PDS Brasil Produtos Automotivos Ltda., BorgWarner PDS Irapuato S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Technologies L.L.C., BorgWarner Poland Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Pyongtaek LLC, BorgWarner Romeo Power LLC, BorgWarner Rzeszow Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Shenglong (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner South Asia LLC, BorgWarner Southborough Inc., BorgWarner Spain Holding S.L.U, BorgWarner Sweden AB, BorgWarner Systems Lugo S.r.l., BorgWarner Thermal Systems Inc., BorgWarner Thermal Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner TorqTransfer Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Tralee Ltd., BorgWarner Transmission Products LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Arnstadt GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Korea LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Tulle S.A.S., BorgWarner Trustees Limited, BorgWarner Turbo & Emissions Systems France S.A.S., BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems LLC, BorgWarner Turbo Systems Worldwide Headquarters GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Turbo and Emissions Systems de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner UK Financing Ltd., BorgWarner UK Holding and Services Ltd., BorgWarner US Holding LLC, BorgWarner USA Industries L.L.C., BorgWarner United Transmission Systems Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Waterloo Inc., BorgWarner Wrexham Limited, Cascadia Motion LLC, Creon Insurance Agency Limited, Delphi Technologies, Dytech ENSA, Gustav Wahler GmbH u. Co. KG, Haldex, Kuhlman LLC, Kysor Europe Limited, M. & M. Knopf Auto Parts L.L.C., NSK-Warner (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., NSK-Warner K.K., NSK-Warner Mexico S.A. de C.V, NSK-Warner U.S.A. Inc., New PDS Corp., Old Remco Holdings L.L.C., Old Remco International Holdings L.L.C., Remy International, SeohanWarner Turbo Systems LLC, Sevcon, Sevcon New Energy Technology (Hubei) Company Limited, and Transmission Systems AutoForm LLC. The following companies are subsidiares of Prudential Financial: 210-220 E. 22nd Street SSGA Owner LLC, AIG Edison, AIG Star, AREF Cayman Co Ltd., AREF GP II Pte. Ltd., AREF GP Ltd., ASPF II - Feeder Fund GmbH, ASPF II - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, ASPF II Management GmbH, ASPF III (Scots) L.P., ASSURANCE, AST Investment Services Inc., Adlerwerke CB Investment LLC, Administradora de Fondos de Pensiones Habitat S.A., Administradora de Inversiones Previsionales SpA, Aoba Life Insurance Company, Asia Property Fund III GP S.a.r.l., Assurance IQ LLC, Assurance Intelligence LLC, BSC CP LP, Braeloch Holdings Inc., Braeloch Successor Corporation, Brazilian Capital Fund GP Limited, Broad Street Global Advisors LLC, Broome Street Holdings LLC, CB German Retail LLC, CLIS Co. Ltd., COLICO INC., Campus Drive LLC, Capital Agricultural Property Services Inc., Chadwick Boulevard Investment Holdings Co. LLC, Cibecue LLC, Coconino LLC, Colico II Inc., Columbus Drive Partners L.P., Commerce Street Holdings LLC, Commerce Street Investments LLC, Coolidge LLC, Coral Reef GP, Coral Reef L.P., Coral Reef Unit Trust, Cottage Street Investments LLC, Cottage Street Orbit Acquisition LLC, DHFL PRAMERICA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, DICKENS AVENUE HOLDINGS VI LLC, DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (Ireland) L.P., DICKENS AVENUE PARTNERS VI (US) L.P., Don Cesar Investor LLC, Dryden Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Dryden Finance II LLC, EVP II GP S.a r.l., EVP II Sweden Resi I GP S.a r.l., Edison Place Senior Note LLC, Essex LLC, EuroCore GP S.a r.l., European Value Partners GP S.a.r.l., Everbright PGIM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Flagstaff LLC, GA 1600 Commons LLC, GA 333 Hennepin Investor LLC, GA BV LLC, GA Bay Area GP LLC, GA Bay Area Investor LLC, GA Belden LLC, GA CLARENDON LLC, GA Cal Crossings LLC, GA Collins LLC, GA E. 22nd Street Apartments Holdings LLC, GA East 86 Street LLC, GA JHCII LLC, GA MENLO PARK INVESTOR LLC, GA Manor at Harbour Island LLC, GA Metro LLC, GA Mission LLC, GA TRITON INVESTOR LLC, GA W Paces LLC, GA/MDI 333 Hennepin Associates LLC, GIBRALTAR BSN HOLDINGS SDN BHD, GIBRALTAR INDIA SOLUTIONS LLP, Gateway Holdings II LLC, Gateway Holdings LLC, German Retail Income CP LP, Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad, Gibraltar International Insurance Services Company Inc., Gibraltar International Service LLC, Gibraltar Reinsurance Company Ltd., Gibraltar Universal Life Reinsurance Company, Glenealy International Limited, Global Portfolio Strategies Inc., Gold GP Limited, Gold II L.P., Gold L.P., Graham Resources Inc., Graham Royalty Ltd., Green Tree GP, Green Tree L.P., Greenlee LLC, Halsey Street Investments LLC, Hirakata LLC, IVP Fund GP LLC, Impact Investments Bridges UK S.a.r.l, Inter-Atlantic G Fund L.P., Inversiones Previsionales Chile SpA, Inversiones Previsionales Dos SpA, Ironbound Fund LLC, Jennison Associates LLC, Kyarra S.a r.l., Kyoei Annuity Home Co. Ltd., LINEUP LLC, Lake Street Partners IV L.P., MC GA COLLINS HOLDINGS LLC, MC GA COLLINS REALTY LLC, MC Insurance Agency Services LLC, Manor at Harbour Island LLC, Marble Canyon LLC, Maricopa LLC, Market Street Holdings IV LLC, Morenci LLC, Mulberry Street Holdings LLC, Mulberry Street Investment L.P., Mulberry Street Partners LLC, Mullin TBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services, National Family Assurance Group LLC, New Savanna, Orchard Street Acres Inc., PAI Bay Farm LLC, PAI Bayrock Groves LLC, PAI Belvidere Farms LLC, PAI Big Cypress Farm LLC, PAI Corcoran 640 Ranch LLC, PAI DeKalb Farm LLC, PAI Delano 1500 Ranches LLC, PAI Flicker Orchard LLC, PAI Good Hope Farm LLC, PAI Hawk Creek Ranch LLC, PAI Hills Valley Ranches LLC, PAI Holly Hill Groves LLC, PAI Hunt Farm LLC, PAI Jackson Bayou Farm LLC, PAI Lake Placid Groves LLC, PAI Wallula Gap Vineyard LLC, PCP V Cayman AIV GP L.P., PEREF II Co-Invest 1 GP S.a r.l., PEREF II GP S.a r.l., PEREF II PV S.r.l, PFI EM-Tech Fund I LLC, PG Business Service Co. Ltd, PG Collection Service Co. Ltd., PGA Asian Retail Limited, PGA European Limited, PGI Co. Ltd, PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd, PGIM (Hong Kong) Ltd., PGIM (Scots) Limited, PGIM (Shanghai) Company Ltd., PGIM (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., PGIM AVP IV GP S.a r.l., PGIM Advisory (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PGIM Agricultural Investments GP LLC, PGIM Agricultural Investors LP, PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Fund L.P., PGIM Broad Market High Yield Bond Partners LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management (Feeder) VI LLC, PGIM Capital Partners Management Fund VI L.P., PGIM European Financing Limited, PGIM European Services Limited, PGIM Financial Limited, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund II L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives Fund L.P., PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives GP LLC, PGIM Fixed Income Alternatives II GP LLC, PGIM Foreign Investments Inc., PGIM Holding Company LLC, PGIM INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM INDIA TRUSTEES PRIVATE LIMITED, PGIM Inc., PGIM International Financing Inc., PGIM Investments LLC, PGIM Japan Co. Ltd., PGIM Korea Inc., PGIM LTIF Berlin GP S.a r.l., PGIM LTIF Berlin MLP S.ar.l., PGIM LTIF GP S.a.r.l., PGIM Limited, PGIM Loan Originator Manager Limited, PGIM M Campus GP S.a r.l., PGIM Management Partner Limited, PGIM MetaProp Investor LP LLC, PGIM Netherlands B.V., PGIM Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Company Ltd, PGIM Private Capital (Ireland) Limited, PGIM Private Capital Limited, PGIM Private Placement Investors Inc., PGIM Private Placement Investors L.P., PGIM REF EUROPE SCSp, PGIM REF Europe GP S.a r.l., PGIM REF Europe Member LLC, PGIM REF Intermediary Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate (Japan) Ltd., PGIM Real Estate (UK) Limited, PGIM Real Estate CD S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Capital VII GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest GP S.a r.l., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest L.P., PGIM Real Estate Carry & Co-Invest SCSp, PGIM Real Estate Co-Invest Holdings LLC, PGIM Real Estate Debt GmbH, PGIM Real Estate Finance Holding Company, PGIM Real Estate Finance LLC, PGIM Real Estate France SAS, PGIM Real Estate Germany AG, PGIM Real Estate Global Debt GP LLC, PGIM Real Estate Inmuebles S. de R.L. de C.V, PGIM Real Estate Italy S.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Loan Services Inc., PGIM Real Estate Luxembourg S.A., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Administradora V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles IV S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate MVP Inmuebles V S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate Management Luxembourg S.a.r.l., PGIM Real Estate Mexico S.C., PGIM Real Estate S. de R.L. de C.V., PGIM Real Estate U.S. Debt Fund GP LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management (Feeder) I LLC, PGIM Senior Loan Opportunities Management Fund I L.P., PGIM Strategic Financing LLC, PGIM Strategic Investments Inc., PGIM USPF VI Manager LLC, PGIM Warehouse Inc., PGLH of Delaware Inc., PIFM Holdco LLC, PIIC Limited, PIISC Holdings (UK) Limited, PIM KF Blocker Holdings LLC, PIM KF Blocker V Holdings LLC, PIM USPF V Manager LLC, PLA Administradora Industrial SRL, PLA Administradora LLC, PLA Administradora S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional II S. de R.L. de C.V., PLA Asesoria Profesional S.de R.L. de C.V., PLA Co-Investor LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager I LLC, PLA Mexico Industrial Manager II LLC, PLA Mexico Residential Manager I LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Limited Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund III Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Residential Fund IV Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Blue LP, PLA Retail Fund I LP, PLA Retail Fund I Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund I Red LP, PLA Retail Fund II Aggregating Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LLC, PLA Retail Fund II LP, PLA Retail Fund II Manager LLC, PLA Retail Fund II U.S. Carry/Co-Invest LP, PLA Services Manager Mexico LLC, PLAI Limited, PMCF Holdings LLC, PMCF Properties LLC, PPPF General Partner LLP, PR GA SCP Apartments LLC, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP (SCOTS FEEDER) LLP, PRAMERICA PRECAP VI GP LLP, PRECO ACCOUNT III LLC, PRECO ACCOUNT PARTNERSHIP III LP, PRECO Account IV LLC, PRECO Account Partnership IV LP, PRECO III GP LLP, PREFG Hanwha Manager LLC, PREI Acquisition I Inc., PREI Acquisition II Inc., PREI Acquisition LLC, PREI HYDG LLC, PREI International Inc., PRIAC Property Acquisitions LLC, PRICOA Management Partner Limited, PRISA Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Fund Manager LLC, PRISA II Pooled Manager LLC, PRISA III Fund GP LLC, PRISA III Fund PIM LLC, PRREF II Fund Manager LLC, PRU 3XSquare LLC, PRUCO LLC, PRUDENTIAL CAPITAL ENERGY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT (FEEDER) LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP MEMBER LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP REIT LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE 2 LLC, PRUDENTIAL MORTGAGE SKP VENTURE LLC, PT PFI Mega Life Insurance, Passaic Fund LLC, Pine Tree GP, Pine Tree L.P., Platinum GP Limited, Platinum II L.P., Platinum L.P., Pramerica (Hong Kong) Holdings Limited, Pramerica (Luxembourg) CP GP S.a.r.l., Pramerica (Scots) CP GP LLP, Pramerica Business Consulting (Shanghai) Company Limited, Pramerica EVP CP LP, Pramerica Financial Asia Headquarters Pte. Ltd., Pramerica Financial Asia Limited, Pramerica Fixed Income Funds Management Limited, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Pramerica General Partner LLP, Pramerica Holdings Ltd, Pramerica Insurance Agency (China) Company Ltd., Pramerica PRECAP I GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP II GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP III GP LLP, Pramerica PRECAP IV GP LLP, Pramerica Pan European Real Estate (Scots) LP, Pramerica Property Partners Fund (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital I GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital II (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital III (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP (Scots Feeder) LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital IV GP Limited, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Netherlands) GP LLP, Pramerica Real Estate Capital V (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica Real Estate Capital VI (Scots) Limited Partnership, Pramerica SGR S.p.A, Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited, Preco III (Scotland) Limited Partnership, Pru 101 Wood LLC, Pru Alpha Partners I LLC, Pru Fixed Income Emerging Markets Partners I LLC, PruVen Capital Partners Fund I L.P., Pruco Assignment Corporation, Pruco Life Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, Pruco Securities LLC, Prudential 900 Aviation Boulevard LLC, Prudential Affordable Mortgage Company LLC, Prudential Agricultural Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Annuities Distributors Inc., Prudential Annuities Holding Company Inc., Prudential Annuities Inc., Prudential Annuities Information Services & Technology Corporation, Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Captive Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Term Company, Prudential Arizona Reinsurance Universal Company, Prudential Bank & Trust FSB, Prudential Capital Energy Opportunity Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners L.P., Prudential Capital Energy Partners Management Fund L.P., Prudential Capital Partners Management Fund IV L.P., Prudential Capital and Investment Services LLC, Prudential Chile II SpA, Prudential Chile SpA, Prudential Commercial Property Holding Company LLC, Prudential Customer Solutions LLC, Prudential Equity Group LLC, Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, Prudential Fixed Income Global Liquidity Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Fixed Income U.S. Relative Value Partners LLC, Prudential Funding LLC, Prudential General Services of Japan Y.K., Prudential Gibraltar Agency Co. Ltd., Prudential Global Funding LLC, Prudential Holdings of Japan Inc., Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates LLC, Prudential IBH Holdco Inc., Prudential Impact Investments Mortgage Loans LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Debt LLC, Prudential Impact Investments Private Equity LLC, Prudential Industrial Properties LLC, Prudential Insurance Agency LLC, Prudential International Insurance Holdings Ltd., Prudential International Insurance Service Company L.L.C., Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, Prudential International Investments Company LLC, Prudential International Investments LLC, Prudential Investment Management Services LLC, Prudential Japan Holdings LLC, Prudential Legacy Insurance Company of New Jersey, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc., Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 1 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Asset Holdings 2 Japan Investment Business Limited Partnership, Prudential Mortgage Capital Asset Holding Company LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding LLC, Prudential Mortgage Capital Holdings LLC, Prudential Multifamily Mortgage LLC, Prudential Mutual Fund Services LLC, Prudential Newark Realty LLC, Prudential QOZ Investment Fund 1 LLC, Prudential Realty Securities Inc., Prudential Retirement Financial Services Holding LLC, Prudential Retirement Holdings LLC, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, Prudential Securities Secured Financing Corporation, Prudential Securities Structured Assets Inc., Prudential Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., Prudential Seguros S.A., Prudential Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Prudential Structured Settlement Company, Prudential Systems Japan Limited, Prudential Term Reinsurance Company, Prudential Trust Co. Ltd., Prudential Trust Company, Prudential Universal Reinsurance Company, Prudential Workplace Solutions Group Services LLC, Prudential do Brasil Seguros de Vida S.A., Prudential do Brasil Vida em Grupo S.A., Prudential/TMW Real Estate Group LLC, Pruservicos Participacoes Ltda., QMA JP EM All Cap Equity Partners LLC, QMA LLC, QMA Wadhwani LLP, Quartzsite LLC, Residential Services Corporation of America LLC, Rio CP LP, Rock European Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock Global Real Estate LLC, Rock Kensington Limited, Rock Marty GP S.a r.l., Rock Oxford S.a r.l., Rock UK Real Estate Holdings S.ar.l., Rock UK Real Estate II S.a.r.l., Rockstone Co. Ltd., Rosado Grande LLC, Ross Avenue Energy Fund Holdings LLC, Ross Avenue Minerals 2012 LLC, SCP Apartments LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERS VI GP LLC, SENIOR HOUSING PARTNERSHIP FUND VI GP LLC, SHP IV Carried Interest LP, SHP V Carried Interest L.P., SMP Holdings Inc., SVIIT Holdings Inc., Sanei Collection Service Co. Ltd. (Kabushiki Kaisha Sanei Shuuno Service), Senior Housing Partners IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partners V LLC, Senior Housing Partnership Fund IV L.L.C., Senior Housing Partnership Fund V LLC, Sterling Private Placement Management LLP, Stetson Street Partners L.P., Strand Investments Limited, TBG Insurance Services Corporation, TENSATOR HOLDINGS LTD, TF Proveedora S.C., TMW ASPF I Verwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, TMW ASPF Management GmbH, TMW Management LLC, TMW Real Estate Group LLC, TMW Realty Advisors LLC, TMW USPF Verwaltungs GmbH, TRGOAG Company Inc., The Gibraltar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Keynes Dynamic Beta Strategy (US) Fund GP LLC, The Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corp., The Prudential Brazilian Capital Fund LP, The Prudential Gibraltar Financial Life Insurance Co. Ltd., The Prudential Home Mortgage Company Inc., The Prudential Insurance Company of America, The Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., The Prudential Real Estate Financial Services of America Inc., The WMF Group, Thurloe Commercial Guernsey Limited, Times Square Center Associates, USPF V - Verwaltungs - GmbH & Co. KG, USPF V Carry LLC, USPF V Co-Invest LLC, USPF V Investment LP, United States Property Fund VI GP S.a r.l., Vailsburg Fund LLC, Vantage Casualty Insurance Company, Wabash Avenue Holdings V LLC, Wabash Avenue Partners V L.P., Wadhwani Capital Limited, Waveland Avenue Holdings I LLC, Waveland Avenue Partners I (Ireland) L.P., Waveland Avenue Partners I (US) L.P., Wellness Services Ecossistema De Bem Estar Ltda., Wellness Services SRL, Yamato Life, and Yavapai LLC. ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Read More Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 3.53%. Merck & Co., Inc. has been increasing its dividend for 11 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio of Merck & Co., Inc. is 91.87%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, Merck & Co., Inc. will have a dividend payout ratio of 37.85% next year. This indicates that Merck & Co., Inc. will be able to sustain or increase its dividend. View Merck & Co., Inc.'s dividend history. 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. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed 95.3 billion worth of items when he signed the 2019 national budget. In his veto message, the President reiterated that he will not tolerate corruption in his term. "I have said this before and I will say it again - I will not tolerate corruption in my Administration," Duterte said. He added that despite the four-month budget delay, his administration will continue to push for aggressive infrastructure spending. The following are among the vetoed items which amounted to 95.3 billion: - a provision on the use of income of the Department of Labor and Employment - National Labor Relations Commission - allocations of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Trade and Industry on shares of excise taxes from tobacco - funds for the implementation of maternal and child health projects under the Local Government Support Fund - the use of calamity funds for disasters that occurred more than two years ago - funds meant for the vetoed bills that deal with coco levy - funds meant for the Road Board, which was abolished March 2019 - provisions that were "intended to amend other laws" Duterte also vetoed a provision on "Prohibitions Against the Use of Unprogrammed Appropriations." "It limits the powers of the President, as chief architect of foreign policy, to enter into loan agreements," Duterte said. Given the delay on the budget's implementation and the election ban, Duterte also extended the implementation and payment of infrastructure projects until December 31 next year. 11 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hugo Boss in the last twelve months. There are currently 6 hold ratings and 5 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" Hugo Boss stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in BOSS, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares. View analyst ratings for Hugo Boss or view top-rated stocks. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. engages in global investment banking, securities, and investment management, which provides financial services. It operates through the following business segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. The Investment Banking segment serves public and private sector clients around the world and provides financial advisory services, help companies raise capital to strengthen and grow their businesses and provide financing to corporate clients. The Global Markets segment serves its clients who buy and sell financial products, funding and manage risk. The Asset Management segment provides investment services to help clients preserve and grow their financial assets. The Consumer & Wealth Management segment helps clients to achieve their individual financial goals by providing a wealth advisory and banking services. The company was founded by Marcus Goldman in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan. The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe (Services) Limited, AIG Europe Holdings S.a.rl., AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Insurance Company (Switzerland) Ltd, AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG Shared Services Corporation, AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE EOLA LLC, AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American Home Assurance Company Escritorio de Representacao no Brasil Ltda., American International Group Inc., American International Group UK Limited, American International Overseas Association, American International Overseas Limited, American International Realty Corp., American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A., American Security Life Insurance Company Limited, Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Avondhu Limited, Blackboard Customer Care Insurance Services LLC, Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Services LLC, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., Chartis Takaful Enaya B.S.C. (c), Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Fortitude Group Holdings LLC, Fortitude Life & Annuity Solutions Inc., Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd., Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Group Risk Services Limited, Group Risk Technologies Limited, Illinois National Insurance Co., Jefferson Eola Venture LLC, Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, MG Reinsurance Limited, Mt. Mansfield Company Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Private Joint-Stock Company AIG Ukraine Insurance Company, Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SA Affordable Housing LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc., SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Thai CIT Holding Company Limited, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., Western World Insurance Company, and Western World Insurance Group Inc.. SPDR Gold Shares' stock was trading at $153.93 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, GLD stock has increased by 9.0% and is now trading at $167.77. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. Tailored Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TLRD) posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March, 18th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.54) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $690.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.46 million. Tailored Brands had a negative net margin of 14.39% and a negative trailing twelve-month return on equity of 138.49%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.28) EPS. View Tailored Brands' earnings history. TC Energy Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. It operates through Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines, U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines, Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines, Liquids Pipelines, and Power and Storage segments. The company builds and operates 93,400 km network of natural gas pipelines, which transports natural gas from supply basins to local distribution companies, power generation plants, industrial facilities, interconnecting pipelines, LNG export terminals, and other businesses. It also has regulated natural gas storage facilities with a total working gas capacity of 535 billion cubic feet. In addition, it has approximately 4,900 km liquids pipeline system that connects Alberta crude oil supplies to refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Further, the company owns or has interests in seven power generation facilities with a combined capacity of approximately 4,200 megawatts that are powered by natural gas and nuclear fuel sources located in Alberta, Ontario, QuAbec, and New Brunswick; and owns and operates approximately 118 billion cubic feet of non-regulated natural gas storage capacity in Alberta. The company was formerly known as TransCanada Corporation and changed its name to TC Energy Corporation in May 2019. TC Energy Corporation was incorporated in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Vodafone Group: 360 Connect S.A., [email protected] Telecom, A-ccelerator B.V., A-ccelerator Holding B.V, AAA (Euro) Limited, AAA (MCR) Limited, AAA (UK) Limited, Acorn Communications Limited, Africonnect (Zambia) Limited, Ag Mercantile Company Private Limited, Al-Amin Investments Limited, Amsterdamse Beheer- en Consultingmaatschappij B.V., Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited, Array Holdings Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, Aspective Limited, Astec Communications Limited, Autoconnex Limited, Aztec Limited, BelCompany BV, Bluefish Apac Communications Pte. Ltd, Bluefish Communications, Bluefish Communications Limited, Business Serve Limited, C&W Worldwide Nigeria Limited, C.S.P. Solutions Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., CGP India Investments Ltd., CGP Investments (Holdings) Limited, COOP Mobil s.r.o, CT Networks Limited, CWGNL S.A., CWW Operations Limited, Cable & Wireless Access Limited, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems Inc., Cable & Wireless Aspac Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Services Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Svyaz LLC, Cable & Wireless Capital Limited , Cable & Wireless Communications Data Network Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Starclass Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch), Cable & Wireless Europe Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless GN Limited, Cable & Wireless Global (India) Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Business Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Holding Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Telecommunication Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Holdco Limited, Cable & Wireless Networks India Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Trade Mark Management Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Waterside Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Pension Trustee Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Voice Messaging Limited, Cable & Wireless a-Services Inc, Cable & Wireless a-Services Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited Indian Branch Office, Cable and Wireless Nominee Limited, Cable and Wireless Worldwide South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cavalry Holdings Ltd, Celfocus Solucoes Informaticas Para Telecomunicacoes S.A, Cellops Limited, Cellular Operations Limited, Central Communications Group Limited, Central Telecom (Northern) Limited, Centurion GSM Limited, Chelys Limited, City Cable (Holdings) Limited, Cobra do Brasil Servicos de Telematica ltda., Commnet Cellular Inc., Complete Network Technology, Connect (India) Mobile Technologies Private Limited, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, Dataroam Limited , Device Insight, Digital Island (UK) Ltd, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, East Africa Investment (Mauritius) Limited, Emtel Europe Limited, Energis (Ireland) Limited, Energis Communications Limited, Energis Holdings Limited, Energis Local Access Limited, Energis Management Limited, Energis Squared Limited, Erudite Systems Limited, Esprit Telecom B.V., Eudokia Limited, Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., Eurocall Holdings Limited, Europolitan Holdings AB (now Europolitan Vodafone AB), FB Holdings Limited, FM Associates (UK) Limited, FinCo Partner 1 B.V., FireFly Networks Limited, Flexphone Limited, GS Telecom (Pty) Limited, Gateway Communications Africa (UK) Limited, Gateway Communications Tanzania Limited, General Mobile Corporation, Generation Telecom Limited, Ghana Telecommunications, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, Global Cellular Rental Limited, Globe Limited, GrandCentrix GmbH, Grupo Corporativo ONO S.A.U., H3ga Properties (No 3) Pty Limited, HBO Nederland Cooperatief U.A., HBO Netherlands Channels sro, HBO Netherlands Distribution B.V., Hellas Online, How2 Telecom Limited, Hutchison Essar Ltd, Indus Towers Limited, Intercell Communications Limited, Internet Network Services Limited, Invitation Digital Limited, Ipergy Communications NV, Isis Telecommunications Management Limited, Jaguar Communications Limited, Jaykay Finholding (India) Private Limited, Jupicol (Proprietary) Limited, KABELCOM Braunschweig Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, KABELCOM Wolfsburg Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Deutschland Holding, Kabel Deutschland Holding Erste Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Holding Zweite Beteilgungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Neunte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Siebte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabelfernsehen Munchen Servicenter GmbH & Co. KG, LG Financing Partnership, LGE HoldCo V B.V., LGE HoldCo VI B.V., LGE HoldCo VIII B.V., LGE Holdco VII B.V., LLC Vodafone Enterprise Ukraine, Le Bunt Holdings Limited, Legend Communications Limited, Liberty Global, Liberty Global Content Netherlands B.V., London Hydraulic Power Company, M-PESA Foundation, M-PESA Holding Co. Limited, ML Integration Group Limited, ML Integration Limited, ML Integration Services Limited, MV Healthcare Services Private Limited, Mannesmann AG, MetroHoldings Limited, Mezzanine Ware Proprietary Limited (RF), Mirambo Limited, Misrfone Trading Company LLC, MobiFon S.A., Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited, Mobile Phone Centre Limited, Mobile Wallet VM1, Mobile Wallet VM2, Mobile by Sainsburys Limited, Mobiles 4 Business.com Limited, Mobileworld Communications Pty Limited, Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd, Mobilvest, Motifpros 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Multi Risk Indemnity Company Limited, Multi Risk Limited, ND Callus Info Services Private Limited, Nadal Trading Company Private Limited, Nat Comm Air Limited, National Communications Backbone Company Limited, Navtrak Ltd, Netforce Group Limited, Netgrid Telecom SRL, Number Portability Company (Proprietary) Limited, ONO, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited, Oni Way Infocomunicacoes S.A, Oskar Mobil S.R.O., Oxygen Solutions Limited, P.C.P. (North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U. Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V.. 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. Hong Kong: Gov't backs fintech future Financial Secretary Paul Chan Technology is bringing unprecedented opportunities as well as challenges to our financial services - and the customers they court with their innovative offerings. The title of today's forum, "The New Era of Finance Redefined", has aptly pointed this out. As one of the world's leading international financial centres, Hong Kong is blessed with a strategic location, the "one country, two systems" unique arrangement and ever-growing economic collaboration with the Mainland of China. Moreover, Hong Kong has a remarkably enabling environment for the development of fintech. After all, we boast a highly efficient infrastructure in information and communications technology, transparent and reassuring financial regulation, the free flow of capital, talent and information, the rule of law underpinned by independent judiciary, and a Government committed to a fintech future. The results, to date, are clear and compelling. Hong Kong is home to more than 550 fintech companies and startups. Celebrated innovation laboratories and accelerator programmes such as Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab, Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab and the Floor from Israel have also established a presence here. Growing fintech sector Investment in our fintech sector is equally impressive. Over the past five years, fintech companies here have raised over US$1.1 billion, compared favourably with those based in Japan, Australia or Singapore. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is determined to keep this momentum going and be its staunch backer. Indeed, fintech is one of our top priorities, and we have rolled out a wealth of fintech programmes and initiatives. Last September, we launched the Faster Payment System. It connects banks and stored-value facilities - the so-called "e-wallets" - enabling the public to transfer funds instantly, in both Hong Kong dollars and Renminbi, anytime, anywhere. You need only use a mobile phone number or an email address as an account proxy. As of the end of February, the Faster Payment System had recorded more than 2.5 million registrations, processing over 8.7 million transactions in all. A very fast start, I would say. At the same time, we introduced the common QR code standard for retail payments. It helps merchants, especially small and medium enterprises, use a single QR code to accept various payment schemes. In January, the first phase of the Open Application Programming Interface framework for banks got going. In enabling collaboration with technology firms, it offers more innovative financial services. Our Securities & Futures Commission last year released regulatory guidelines to impose licensing conditions on companies managing, or intending to manage, portfolios that invest in virtual assets. The commission is now exploring whether it is suitable to and, if so, how it might regulate virtual asset trading platforms. Emergence of virtual banks As George noted in his address, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has started granting virtual bank licences last month. This is a milestone for Hong Kong opening up the possibility for our banking sector to offer a new kind of customer experience. I'm sure the emergence of virtual banks will help SMEs and boost the competitiveness of the entire banking sector, and transform the banking experience for customers. Insurtech is the future as well. And we must all plan for it. Last year, the Insurance Authority launched a Fast Track scheme. It expedites applications by insurance companies, in or from Hong Kong, looking to use digital distribution channels solely in carrying out their businesses. The first virtual insurer under the Fast Track scheme was granted a licence last December. I am sure more will follow. The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers has also launched two insurtech initiatives: the Motor Insurance DLT-based Authentication System or MIDAS, a blockchain application to help authenticate motor insurance cover notes, and the Insurance Fraud Prevention Claims Database. This helps detect insurance fraud through artificial intelligence and big data means. It will prove particularly beneficial in cases involving multiple claims and syndicates. In trade finance, a blockchain-based platform was developed by a consortium of 12 banks here last October. Called eTradeConnect, it enables participating banks to digitise and share trade documents, automate processes, reduce the risk of fraud and improve overall trade finance processes. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is now exploring connecting eTradeConnect with more overseas initiatives. Financial Secretary Paul Chan gave these remarks at the FinTech Forum of the Internet Economy Summit 2019 on April 16. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) The Integrated Bar of the Philippines and a group of fishermen from Palawan and Zambales run to the Supreme Court to compel government officials "to save the environment in the West Philippine Sea." They sought for a Writ of Kalikasan to direct government officials -- Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, and officials of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine National Police -- to stop neglecting their duties. The groups wanted them to protect and rehabilitate the environment in Panatag Shoal, Ayungin Shoal and Panganiban Reef, which they said were heavily damaged by China's artificial island building activities. Petitioners anchored their factual allegations on the evidence submitted by the Philippines in the arbitration case against China. The country won but they pointed out the government has failed or refuses to enforce the ruling that's beneficial to Filipino, particularly the fishermen. They insisted the Philippine environmental laws are required to be enforced in Ayungin Shoal, Panganiban Reef and Panatag Shoal as those areas form part of the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The EEZ is the area within 200 nautical miles of the territorial shoreline over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction. They also cite the 2016 decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands that Chinese fishing vessels have been involved in harvesting threatened or endangered species in Panatag and Ayungin Shoals. Malacanang earlier said the Philippines has invoked the arbitral ruling, citing the President's suggestion to China to lay off Pag-asa Island as an example. Foxconns Chairman Terry Gou said on Tuesday he is considering whether to run for Taiwans 2020 presidential election, a day after Reuters reported the tycoon planned to step down from the worlds largest contract manufacturer. Speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark the 40th anniversary of Taiwan-US ties, Gou declined to say which party he could represent, though he said if it was the opposition, China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), he would go with the standard procedures of the party. I didnt sleep last night ... 2020 is key for Taiwan. The reason for the tense situation (with China) is because its a turning point for Taiwans direction for politics, economy, defence for the next 20 years, Gou said. So I asked myself the whole night ... I need to ask myself what I can do. What I can do for the youth? ... The next 20 years will decide their fate. Gou, Taiwans richest person with a net worth of USD 7.6 billion according to Forbes, told Reuters on Monday he planned to step down in the coming months to pave the way for younger talent to move up the companys ranks. The company later said Gou will remain chairman of Foxconn, though he plans to withdraw from daily operations. Taiwan is gearing up for presidential elections in January at a time of heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, with Chinese bombers and warships conducting drills around the self-ruled island on Monday. A senior US official denounced the military manoeuvres as coercion and a threat to stability in the region. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. We need peace. We dont need to buy too many weapons. Peace is the biggest weapon, Gou said, adding that Taiwan only needs adequate self-defence. If we spend the money for weapons on economic development, on artificial intelligence, on investment in the United States, this would be the biggest assurance on peace. Whose children are willing to sit in those fighter jets? Management resuffle Asked by Reuters on Monday if he would quit as chairman, Gou said, at 69 years old, he was moving in that direction, though any decision needed to be discussed with Foxconns board. I dont know where you got the information from. But I have to say, basically, Im working towards that direction - to walk back to the second line, or retire, Gou said. He also signalled a major management reshuffle. In the board meeting in April-May we will give the new list of board members to the board, Guo said without elaborating. Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is due to hold its annual general meeting in June. Any management reshuffle would mark another top-level change at a major tech firm on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Morris Chang, founder of Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), retired as chairman last year. In September, Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said he would step down as chairman in a year to allow for younger management. Founded in 1974, the Foxconn group is the worlds biggest contract manufacturer with Taiwan dollar 5.2 trillion (USD 168.52 billion) in annual revenue. It assembles goods for a miscellany of global tech firms but relies on Apple for over half of annual revenue, analysts said. As business integration and competition dialogue deepens on the local economy, divergent views are popping up on the issue. This comes at the backdrop of Competition Authority (CA)s governing Act allowing both horizontal and vertical integration. However, some quarters of the business community fear that virtual integration is swallowing emerging and existing small micro medium enterprises (SMMEs) at the expense of creating efficiency and sustainable businesses. The death of general dealers across the country is one of the examples that has been cited, as a negative outcome of integration, where most Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) have backward and forward integration within their system. For example, a retailer competes with general dealer entrepreneurs yet the established store also owns either a wholesale or manufacturing plants for certain brands. The SMME community is pinning hope on policymakers to make a move on the seemingly anti-competitive practice in the economy. On the other hand, CA believes vertical integration is a business strategy that allows competitive prices, encourages innovation, improves quality and would give local products exposure to international markets, though aware of the negative that the approach carries. Virtual integration has been studied by economist over the years and found to be somewhat a double edged sword, said Enerst Bagopi, Manager, Investigations and Research Analysis Bagopi says currently the law only prohibits resale price maintenance in any virtual integration arrangement. Every business should have the prerogative to set own price, only a recommended resale price can be set, said Bagopi who acknowledges that CA is aware that virtual integration can also promote foreclosure and margin squeeze. Bagopi said though virtual business integration has both negative and positive effects, the local economy should find ways to embrace it. Though virtual integration may be good for the economy; it may also be bad. It is here to stay and we need to work around how it can benefit us. Therefore it is important for the economy to have strong structures in place in order to deal with business strategies of this nature and find how they can benefit the economy at large, said Bagopi. He said businesses are ever on the lookout for ways to minimise costs, ensure consistency quality of inputs and always doing the best to ensure that there is consistence of supply.It is important to embrace these realities, emphasized Bagope. Botswana Millers Association Chairperson, Nkosi Mwaba believes that though integration is a good business strategy, SMMEs should also be given an opportunity to survive and thrive on the local market. He said SMMEs play an important role on socio-economic development of the country. SMMEs are very critical to our economy, but dominant businesses are not doing enough for the SMMEs, as an industry. We are empowering South African SMMEs than our own. Our strategies are not geared to support our own SMMEs, bemoaned Mwaba. He warned that the dominant forces have the money to integrate and squeeze out SMMEs, creating a lot of work opportunities but not opportunities for SMMEs to grow and perfect their craft, said Mwaba. He reiterated that if the nation is looking for socio-economic development it cannot leave out SMMEs. Economist Senye Obuseng at Speck Dynamics said making an informed decision on the impact of virtual integration on the local market needs much more empirical evidence. We cannot come out and say it is good or bad, we need to understand what motivates companies to integrate. There may be gaps that require one to integrate either forward or backwards, said Obuseng. Obuseng further said if the countrys concern is SMME development, competition policy should not be burdened with the responsibility of achieving some of the fundamentals that the nation wants to deal with such as market failure. "Respecting the feedback received and the commitment of the company to high standards of corporate governance including shareholder rights, approval of members shall be sought every 5 (five) years in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations,"informed Nestle India to the bourses in an addendum notice this week. New Delhi: FMCG major Nestle now plans to seek shareholders' approval every five years for royalty payment to its Swiss parent firm Societe des Produits Nestle SA, after receiving their feedback over the issue. Modifying an ordinary resolution in a notice dated March 12, 2019 to its shareholders, Nestle India said that now it will seek approval from its shareholders every five years over the royalty payment. "Respecting the feedback received and the commitment of the company to high standards of corporate governance including shareholder rights, approval of members shall be sought every 5 (five) years in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations,"informed Nestle India to the bourses in an addendum notice this week. Nestle India, which is going to convene its general meeting on April 25, had earlier proposed payment of general licence fees (royalty) of 4.5 per cent of the net sales to its licensor "during any financial year". According to a media report, it was opposed by several minority shareholders and proxy advisory firms, contending that the move was against good corporate governance norms. Commenting on the development, a Nestle India Spokesperson said: "We received feedback from our shareholders and other stakeholders on the resolution pertaining to royalty payment and as a responsible corporate citizen with high standards of corporate governance modified the resolution". However, he said that the "resolution does not propose any revision in the royalty rate". Nestle India, which follows January-December fiscal calender, had reported a revenue of Rs 11,292.27 crore in 2018. The company which primarily operates in food and beverage space, has some powerful brands, which includes Maggi, Nescafe, Kitkat etc. Prabhu has also asked Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to take necessary steps to protect the rights and safety of passengers. New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations. Prabhu has also asked Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to take necessary steps to protect the rights and safety of passengers. Jet Airways is grappling with acute financial crunch and is operating less than 10 planes besides temporarily suspending international operations. "Directed Secretary @MoCA GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc," Prabhu said in a tweet on Tuesday. Besides asking the secretary to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety, Prabhu has called for working with all stakeholders for their well being. This is the second time in less than a week that Prabhu has publicly said he has called for a review of issues related to Jet Airways. On Monday, lenders did not take a final decision on providing emergency funds to the cash-strapped carrier. The airline's board is meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. In afternoon trade, shares of the airline declined 3.59 per cent to Rs 252.40 apiece on the BSE. Jet Airways is operating around seven planes, including six turbo propelled ones used for shorter hauls. It had 123 aircraft in operation in December. "As you are aware, we have been working with the lenders to secure interim funding for our operations. The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far, and as a result we have extended cancellation of international operations until April 18," the airline's CEO Vinay Dube said in an internal communication on Monday. On March 25, the airline's board approved the debt resolution plan, under which SBI-led consortium would provide an emergency loan of Rs 1,500 crore and also take control of the carrier. Mumbai/New Delhi: The cash-strapped Jet Airways has struggled to stay afloat on Tuesday as it awaited badly needed "emergency liquidity support" from the SBI-led consortium of lenders. The airline flew just five planes on Tuesday and the management made desperate attempts to garner emergency funds worth Rs 400 crore but the lenders remained undecided on extending the lifeline. The over three-hour meeting of the airline's board in Mumbai remained inconclusive, but officials of banks and the government maintained that efforts are on to revive the carrier. In a stock exchange filing, Jet Airways said, "The company's leadership, in consultation with its board of directors, is engaged with lenders in connection with the said emergency funding request... The company is also in constant engagement with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Civil Aviation in this regard." The filing was made in response to a clarification sought by the exchange regarding reports that the airline was likely to temporarily shut down its operations. Sources said Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu asked the ministry's Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to conduct a review of matters related to the ill-fated airline and take necessary measures to ensure passenger rights and safety. Besides asking the secretary to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety, Prabhu has called for working with all stakeholders for their well being, just before the airline's board meeting held in Mumbai. Separately, the civil aviation ministry would convene meetings of representatives of airlines and airports on April 18 to discuss capacity expansion, rising airfares and other issues. Representatives of various lenders to Jet Airways are also understood to have discussed issues related to Jet Airways with Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. Jet Airways management is reportedly awaiting clarity on receiving fresh funds from the lenders to decide on continuing g the operations. A senior government official said that funding for Jet Airways from lenders is likely to come through. DGCA monitoring fares With aviation capacity down due to the ongoing Jet Airways crisis, DGCA sources said the aviation regulator is monitoring air fares---to prevent over-charging by other airlines---and that a few airlines had removed "higher fare buckets." DGCA sources on Tuesday said, "DGCA monitors domestic airfares on daily basis, particularly on high density routes and the routes where alternate mode of transport is not available or is difficult. Based on the monitoring process, DGCA engages with airlines when the spurt in airfares is observed at any sector for appropriate action. Today again, DGCA had a meeting with airline representatives on the issue. The sources added: "Airlines representative also intimated DGCA that they have removed the few higher buckets from sale and are offering tickets to passengers in lower fare buckets. Mumbai: Shraddha Kapoor is running round the clock schedule for her multiple releases including big-budget film Saaho, multi-starrer Chhichhore and dance film Street Dancer. The actress is a big dance lover and the testimony of the same are the new advanced techniques that she learned during the prep of Street Dancer. Talking about the same Shraddha Kapoor shares, "I love dancing. It's one of my favourite things to do in the world. Of course, there are challenges but that's what makes it more fun because then you love it even more. It's fun to be back with the ABCD2 gang." Shraddha Kapoor recently finished her London schedule of Street Dancer, she is looking forward to finishing the remaining shoot for the same. The actress is also running a tight schedule hopping one set to another slipping into diverse characters to ace her parts. Shraddha Kapoor is playing diverse characters this year and has bagged four films in her kitty. Saaho will witness the actress in an action-packed avatar where Shraddha will be essaying a cop, while Chhichhore tests her versatility with dual roles of a college student as well as a middle-aged woman. Street Dancer will showcase the actress in complete new dance avatar. With multiple releases this year, Shraddha Kapoor also has an anticipated release with Baaghi 3. Mumbai: This year we were introduced to Major Vihaan Singh Shergill played by Vicky Kaushal in Uri: The Surgical Strike directed by debutant Aditya Dhar and produced by Ronnie Screwvala. The film was based on September 18, 2016, attacks on the army headquarters in Uri, Kashmir, near the LoC. Four militants, along with 17 army personnel, were killed in the six-hour gun battle, following which, on September 29, India retaliated with a surgical strike. The trio is now reuniting for a period-war film that revolves around the mythological character of Ashwatthama, following the success of the true-life military action film, Vicky will play the titular role in the yet-untitled film. After Uri, the makers wanted to return with something big and interesting. Aditya has been working on this script since a long time, even before Uri released, and when he sounded out Ronnie and Vicky, they immediately jumped on board. The film will be mounted on a big scale and will be shot later this year, informs a source close to the development. Son of guru Dronacharya and Kripi, Ashwatthama fought with the Kauravas against the Pandavas in Mahabharats Kurukshetra war. He was born to the couple as an answer to Dronas prayers for a son as valiant as Lord Shiva. A Chiranjivi (immortal beings who according to Hindu mythology will last as long as Kalyug), Ashwatthama was born with a gem in his forehead which gave him power over all living beings lower than humans and protected him from hunger, thirst, and fatigue. In an interview to Mirror (March 6), Aditya had revealed that his next is one of the scripts hes written over the last seven years. At the time, he was also toying with the idea of reviving Raat Baaki, originally planned with Katrina Kaif and Fawad Khan. It was put on hold after the ban on Pakistani artistes following the Uri attacks. Everybody was sad when things didnt materialise, he admitted, adding, But I dont rule out the possibility of another film either. Vicky whose upcoming films include an untitled horror film, Karan Johars Takht and Shoojit Sircars Udham Singh biopic, will begin prep closer to the shoot. Aditya is already neck-deep in research and will go on a recce soon. The film will be shot all over India and the makers are targetting a mid-2020 release, added by the source. Vedhika Kumar, the heroine of Muni-Kanchana, is thrilled to return to Tamil with Muni 4-Kanchana 3, the horror comedy franchise that has gained a lot of popularity over the years and which was remade in Bollywood as well. The svelte actress who says she is so scared of even listening or watching ghost stories and sleeps with the lights on shares her experiences with DC of working in the film with Raghava Lawrence, the hot dance numbers, her Btown debut with Emraan Hashmi, whether she is game for glamour in Hindi which she thinks works and not being intimidated by two or more heroine subjects. The actress says she would be watching Kanchana 3 along with the audiences on FDFS at a multiplex in Chennai. Kanchana 3 is a special film I was very young when Muni was offered to me. Though I did not think that it would become so big, I was confident that Muni would definitely become a hit. The way Lawrence master narrated the script to me in an awe-inspiring manner, I could instantly connect with the concept. The reason being I am scared of ghosts and I knew the ghost story gave me goose bumps and would connect with the audiences. And Muni was a trendsetter in Tamil cinema in horror comedy genre. A slew of such films followed thereafter. I am happy to be part of the franchisee and it is a special film to me. Dancing with a tough taskmaster Lawrence Yeah, everyone knows that Lawrence master is an amazing choreographer. Though I am trained in dance, I am doubly careful while working with master. I give my best foot and try to match up with him. The song and dance sequence Oru Sattai Oru Balpam from the film has garnered a lot of attention and is going viral on net. Fear is always in my head Though I havent come across any spooky experiences in real life, I cant sleep alone in the dark. I call my maid and ask her to stay with me despite the lights being on. Do you know I even pay extra bucks to her for her help? (laughs). But I do love to watch ghost films and how? I close one eye, half close my ears with all the lights on in my home theatre and still enjoy the movie. Not nervous by the presence of other heroines Its not about two or three heroines in a film. I want to be part of films, which I believe in. For me, I choose flicks when a script has importance to my character irrespective of others in the movie. Why the long gap in Tamil Actually, I was busy in various languages and doing films with big stars in Kannada like Shivaraj Kumar and in Malayalam with Prithiviraj. As I said I started my career at the age of 16 and went back to studies in UK for two years. Also, I needed a change from the period films like Bala sirs Paradesi, Kaaviya Thalaivan etc. I was doing. I wanted to explore different genres. I am also foraying into Bollywood with a Jithu Joseph sir film. Btown movies demand highly glamorous heroines. Comment. No one resorts to skin show willingly. If the script demands, one needs to look glamorous in dance routines. And it works in Bollywood. It is applicable to my film as well. I play opposite to Emraan Hashmi in an untitled thriller shot extensively in exotic locales of Mauritius. I dont believe in performing similar type of roles all the time. I have been lucky to get meaty roles, which also fetched awards to me. People have seen that side of me. Films like Kanchana 3 will be refreshing change to audiences. Future Films 2019 has been exciting year so far! I have signed a film with Aadhi, son of ace actor Sai Kumar and directed by Karthik and Vignesh. Talks are on with two more big filmmakers. I am doing Home Minister with Upendra in Kannada and a film in Malayalam. The author believes that the October 10, 2011, event of Justice Dipak Misra taking oath before Justice J. Chelameswar, which resulted in him going on to become the Chief Justice of India, may have led to the January 12, 2018, press conference. One can discern a note of despair in the title of Fali Nariman's book, God Save the Hon'ble Supreme Court. According to the distinguished jurist, though the Supreme Court is cast in stone, the men and women who occupy it, transient though their presence may be, through their failings, ego clashes and interpersonal rivalries, affect the public image of this great edifice that must be held in highest esteem by all Indians. Nariman begins the first chapter of his book with a quote from the opening lines of Charles Dicken's 1859 classic, A Tale of Two Cities to describe the mood of the events in the Supreme Court from January 2017 to the summer vacation of May 2018. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair... He speaks through Justice R.C. Lahoti's observations in the judgment in Tirupati Balaji Developers Pvt Ltd versus State of Bihar (2004), where Justice Lahoti comments, When there is little or no judicial collegiality, there is less incentive for judges to exercise self restraint, to stress the point that collegiality among the judges of the top court is a condition precedent to strengthening the public confidence in this court. Despite their internal differences they must be able to project the image of a unified and coherent whole. Acute controversy, causing widespread concern because and only because a singular lack of spirit of collegiality has been exhibited amongst the seniormost judges. It leaves us all wringing our hands in the winter of despair, the author laments. Nariman provides a valuable lesson for future chief justices, about the dangers of the lack of the spirit of collegiality in one of the world's most powerful courts. He succinctly captures the recent happenings in the Supreme Court both its high and low points. This first chapter is the strength of the book and extends to almost one-third of the entire book comprising 11 chapters. It starts with a brief summary of some of the landmark decisions of this period, including the triple talaq case (Shayara Bano versus Union of India, 2017), the right to privacy case (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy versus Union of India, 2017) and the euthanasia case (Common Cause versus Union of India, 2018). As far as landmark rulings are concerned, it was a glorious period. But alas, it was also a low period, filled with judicial errors. Nariman is especially critical of Justice J. Chelameswar who, according to him, made a grave error of judgment by ordering the setting up of a bench of five judges in the Prasad Educational Trust case, in which it was alleged by the petitioners that Chief Justice Dipak Misra's name was mentioned. It is only the Chief Justice who is the master of the roster. Justice Chelameswar had clearly overstepped his brief in issuing such directions. He writes that he was greatly perturbed by Chelameswar's decision in August 2016 to go public over the lack of transparency in the working of the collegium system. If a judge in the collegium does not like the way the body functions... he/she can quit and then explain why he/she quit. People would then understand him/her better and appreciate his/her stand, he notes. The veteran jurist is also critical of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, saying he ought to have replied to the letter addressed to him by the four seniormost judges listing their complaints. Nariman comments: When you reply to a letter you reveal your stand posterity judges you by what you said at the time, and not by hindsight! This led to the deepening of the crises and both the topmost judges and the senior colleagues did not act in a responsible manner. The author believes that the October 10, 2011, event of Justice Dipak Misra taking oath before Justice J. Chelameswar, which resulted in Misra automatically becoming more senior and going on to become the Chief Justice of India, may have had a role in the four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court airing their differences in public during the unprecedented press conference held at the residence of Justice Chelameswar on January 12, 2018. Nariman writes: And it is now apparent how bitterly it soured relations between them, and divided what up to then was (to the public at least) a seemingly undivided court! Hostility between the seniormost judge (Judge No. 2) and the Chief Justice precisely on account of similar situations has occurred in the past as well, such as between Justice Kuldeep Singh and Chief Justice Ahmadi, and between Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, where seniority was established merely on account of the order in which the oath was administered at the swearing-in ceremony of the judges. In both cases, by virtue of this seniority, the later became the Chief Justice of India. This resulted in strained relationships between these two sets of judges, but they did not take the rifts within the collegium to a public platform. Nariman cites instances of judicial orders where this is clearly visible. He points to how Justice Bhagwati, during the hearing of the First Judges case in the 1980s, made the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, file an affidavit in the Supreme Court to explain the appointment and transfer of a particular high court judge. Justice Bhagwati went on to note in his judgment that the affidavit was delightfully vague. God Save the Honble Supreme Court is a highly academic work but written in an easy style with a great flair and command over the English language. Each chapter is packed with anecdotes drawn from the writers long innings at the bar and his close interaction with judges not only of our own Supreme Court but judges dealing with (British) Common Law as well as the (European) Civil Law traditions. Written in his inimical style, the book is a delight to read for any practising lawyer, or a student of law. But it also needs to be read by our policymakers, lawgivers, politicians and bureaucrats for it contains a wealth of information about the bar, the bench, and issues that concern us today, including a chapter on minority rights within a majoritarian rule, a special chapter on Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, whom he describes as a Super Judge and another brilliant chapter on the importance of advocacy in constitutional cases. The writer is a feminist legal scholar and womens rights lawyer based in Mumbai. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed the emblematic monument will be rebuilt after its spire and roof collapsed Monday night in a blaze. (Photo: AFP) Paris: Billionaires and local governments pledged nearly 500 million euros (565 million dollars) on Tuesday to help restore Notre-Dame cathedral, with foundations and crowd-sourcing sites also launching fund-raising drives. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed the emblematic monument will be rebuilt after its spire and roof collapsed Monday night in a blaze thought to be linked to extensive renovation work. French luxury group Kering, whose brands include Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, kicked off the campaign late Monday with a promise of 100 million euros ($113 million). That was followed Tuesday by a 200-million-euro pledge from its crosstown rival LVMH and the family of its founder Bernard Arnault. The chief executive of French oil giant Total said the firm would contribute 100 million euros. Other high-profile French donors so far included the investor Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere with 10 million euros, and construction magnates Martin and Olivier Bouygues, also with 10 million euros. Pledges were also pouring in from anonymous donors to groups including the privately run French Heritage Foundation, which said it had already secured pledges totalling 1.6 million euros. On a more modest scale, a fund set up by an "anonymous Parisian" on the Leetchi fundraising platform had topped 20,000 euros at midday Tuesday. And the Hungarian city of Szeged promised to donate 10,000 euros to the reconstruction effort, in recognition of the help it received from the French capital after a devastating flood in 1879. Oak beams offered Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that the city would unlock 50 million euros, and proposed holding an international donors' conference in the coming weeks to coordinate the pledges to restore the gothic architectural masterpiece. Specialised craftsmen and rare materials are also expected to be needed to restore the monument, which welcomes around 13 million visitors each year -- an average of more than 35,000 people a day. The head of a French lumber company told AFP he would try to gather the 1,300 oak beams he figures are necessary to rebuild the intricate lattice that supported the now-destroyed roof, known as the "Forest". But Sylvain Charlois of the Charlois group said finding big enough logs would not be easy, since "there aren't any stocks of cut wood in France available for a project this big." The United Nations' Paris-based cultural agency UNESCO has promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site, which it declared a world heritage site in 1991. The German and Italian governments have also offered to help in the reconstruction, while Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to send "the best Russian specialists with rich experience in the restoration of national heritage monuments." Done in years? The painstaking renovation work is likely to cost hundreds of millions of euros over several years, if not decades, though experts breathed sighs of relief that the damage was not even worse. The steeple of the gothic edifice had been undergoing an 11-million-euro ($12.4-million) overhaul financed by the French state to repair damage inflicted by time, pollution and the weather. But it also relies heavily on individual donations for repairs, and a few years ago created a US-registered charity letting American voters deduct gifts from their taxes. Berlin: Can the state help an incurable patient to die without pain? Germany, where the Church retains significant influence, reopens this debate today before its highest court. For four years, conflicting signals have been sent on the subject of the end of life, rendering illegible what is allowed or not. The question is sensitive in a country where the elderly are more numerous, but also where the spectre of Nazism continues to float, the 3rd Reich having largely resorted to euthanasia especially to kill the disabled. In 2015, the Bundestag, after passionate exchanges, had banned the "organised" assistance to suicide, punishable by three years in prison. But two years later, the Administrative Court of Leipzig, Germanys highest administrative authority, made a surprise decision: the judges considered that "in exceptional cases, the state can not prevent a patients access to anaesthetic products that would allow him to commit suicide in a dignified and painless way." This court had been seized by the husband of a woman who was completely paralysed in 2002 by an accident and had to go to Switzerland to benefit from assisted suicide in 2005. The judges had agreed with the husband, setting three conditions: that the suffering of the patient be unbearable, that the decision to die be taken freely and that there is no reasonable alternative. In the face of the outcry, especially in influential Catholic and Protestant churches, the federal government finally suspended in 2018 the implementation of this decision. He can not return to "officials or, in the end, me as a minister", to decide "who can die", estimated in February 2018 Jens Spahn, a senior official of the CDU who will become a few weeks after minister of the Health. Seizure by German and Swiss associations of assisted suicide, doctors or patients, the Constitutional Court will address the issue Tuesday and Wednesday, but its judgment is not expected for months. The complainants believe that the current legislation violates Articles 1 and 2 of the German Basic Law on the "Intangible" Respect for Human "Dignity". "There is not only a right to life but also a right to a responsible death", argues in the weekly Die Zeit one of the plaintiffs, the doctor Michael de Ridder. As suicide is not an offence under German law, doctors and relatives also want greater legal certainty in accompanying patients, especially in the event of a cessation of treatment leading to death. The Catholic Church has already put pressure on the judges of Karlsruhe. The Archbishop of Berlin, Bishop Heiner Koch, warned Monday against any "change in the value system" by the Federal Court of Justice and said he hoped "a strong signal for the protection of life". On this subject, disparities persist between European countries. Three have legalised euthanasia: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Others, such as Switzerland, France, the Scandinavian countries or Great Britain, Spain or Portugal tolerate them a form of aid to death, with the administration of painkillers resulting in shortened life of an incurable patient. Countries with a strong Catholic tradition, such as Italy, Ireland or Poland, remain unresponsive to any aid to death. Other ethical controversies are going through Germany in recent months. The government of presumed consent to donate organs has recently stirred political and religious sentiments. Compulsory vaccination or the possible reimbursement of prenatal tests for trisomy is also debated. Anastasia does not want to reveal her real identity and asks for her face not to be shown on camera. (Photo: AFP) Moscow: When Anastasia, a Russian transgender woman, took her employer to court for firing her after a gender reassignment operation, she did not expect to win. "I knew the chances were slim, I understand what country I live in," the 43-year-old told AFP in her native Saint Petersburg. But in the first known case of its kind in Russia, a court in the former imperial capital last week ruled she had been unfairly discriminated against and ordered compensation. Local LGBT rights groups hailed the decision as a small victory in a country where gay and transgender people are often persecuted. A so-called "gay propaganda" law officially forbids the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" to minors but in effect stops most LGBT campaigning. "It is the first time that this type of case is discussed (in public)," Anastasia's lawyer Max Olenichev told AFP. "This case has made transgender people visible," Olenichev said. "That is very important." For a decade, Anastasia worked for a private printing press in Russia's second city. In 2017, she underwent a gender reassignment operation, legally changing her name and gender in her documents. After this, her employer suggested she resign and when she refused, fired her. The company said she could not continue her job in printing, one of 456 professions from which women are officially banned in Russia. Under Russian law, women cannot work as welders, long-distance truckers, sailors, blacksmiths, aircraft mechanics or hundreds of other roles, including those in printing. But she said her reassignment was the real reason behind her firing. "They did not want a person like me working for them," she said. Lawyer Olenichev argued in court that Anastasia had done her job for ten years without any problems. To their surprise, the Frunzensky court in Saint Petersburg ruled the company's decision "illegal" and demanded it pays Anastasia 1.8 million rubles (around $28,000) in compensation. Anastasia told AFP that Russian society has a "mostly negative attitude" towards transgender people. "This is not surprising, given that all the media says it is not normal," she said. Anastasia has been with her partner for twenty years and also has a teenage daughter. She said her family "accepts and loves" her "no matter what my status is". But she considers herself lucky, saying that is not the case for many transgender people in Russia. Mark Kandolsky, of the "Our Coming Out" gay rights group in Saint Petersburg, said many transgender people in Russia are forced to cut ties with their families. "Due to a lack of information, Russian society is hostile to transgender people," he said. Authorities have banned gay pride parades and since 2017 gay men have spoken of persecution in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Despite having good relations with her family, Anastasia does not want to reveal her real identity and asks for her face not to be shown on camera. "After all this, I just want to live quietly," she said. Botswana Oil Limited is buoyant that the regulator, Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) will have a positive second thought on its exclusive petroleum import license which it rejected nearly a year ago, Botswana Guardian understands. Mid last year, BERA which is headed by Rose Seretse gave the companys application for exclusive import of all petroleum and petroleum products thumbs down, arguing among others that Botswana Oil does not have financial and operational capacity to handle the pressure that comes with the license. Nonetheless, the company did not take the regulator to court but rather decided to engage with the parent ministry on a way forward. When responding to this publication acting Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Oil, Meshack Tshekedi said they are upbeat a solution will be found, once and for all as far as the license is concerned. Ever since the license rejection we have been engaging BERA to look for a common ground and understanding and ways they can facilitate the license, said Tshekedi. He was speaking on Wednesday from Doha, Qatar where he is part of a delegation of Botswana Investment and Trade Centres trade and promotion mission in the oil rich country. Like the previous Chief Executive, Willie Mokgatlhe, Tshekedi is of the opinion the license should be granted to enable the state-oil company to transform the multi-billion Pula sector and create opportunities for citizen companies. Botswana Oil was established to support the government in achieving two broad national economic objectives of ensuring the security and efficiency of fuel supply to as well as promoting active citizen involvement in the petroleum industry. Tshekedi, who is tipped to succeed Mokgatlhe in the companys hot seat disclosed the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security is supporting them in their quest to get a license, which will effectively bar multinational oil companies from buying their supply from outside. They will instead buy from Botswana Oil. However, BERA appears to doubt Botswana Oils readiness. Botswana Oil has not submitted a business case in support of the proposed changes in the current arrangements for importation of petroleum and petroleum products in the country, therefore making it difficult to assess the costs and benefits of the proposal, said the authority in its 8th May 2018 decision that rejected their application. Accordingly, it is this failure by Botswana Oil to state their financial readiness to be the sole importer, that the application is based on speculation, said BERA. By law, any application for this license, Botswana Oil included, is supposed to provide evidence of their financial capability, but such information was not provided when the application was lodged. Back then, Mokgatlhe told Botswana Guardian that Botswana Oil is financially-ready to become the only importer of petroleum products in Botswana. He said, for every litre of petroleum products purchased by consumers, Botswana Oil is entitled to 17, 5 thebe. This allows the Gaborone-based company to go into the open market to raise cash if the need arises. The former Chief Executive also revealed that the company, which has been registered privately, has also agreed with Omani Trading International to supply it with petroleum products on credit basis. This is a done deal (referring to the Omani), he said confidently. Omani Trading specialises in selling, marketing and supplying crude oil. Botswana Oil, which was established in 2013, resubmitted its application for the license last month. Botswanas petroleum industry which is worth billions of Pula and dominated by multi-nationals such as Pula Energy, Engen, Total among others. In the long term, Botswana Oil is expected to roll new fuel filling stations especially in underserviced markets. The cells are currently able to contract, but do not yet have the ability to pump. (Photo: AFP) Jerusalem: Scientists in Israel unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels yesterday, calling it a first and a "major medical breakthrough" that advances possibilities for transplants. While it remains a far way off, scientists hope one day to be able to produce hearts suitable for transplant into humans as well as patches to regenerate defective hearts. The heart produced by researchers at Tel Aviv University is about the size of a rabbit's. It marked "the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," said Tal Dvir, who led the project. "People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels," he said. But the scientists said many challenges remain before fully working 3D printed hearts would be available for transplant into patients. Journalists were shown a 3D print of a heart about the size of a cherry, immersed in liquid, at Tel Aviv University as the researchers announced their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Science. Researchers must now teach the printed hearts "to behave" like real ones. The cells are currently able to contract but do not yet have the ability to pump. Then they plan to transplant them into animal models, hopefully in about a year, said Dvir. "Maybe, in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely," he said. But he said hospitals would likely start with simpler organs than hearts. In its statement announcing the research, Tel Aviv University called it a "major medical breakthrough". Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organisation, and transplants are currently the only option available for patients in the worst cases. The sweeping views and the fact that a cable car stops at the top of the street contributed to its popularity. (Photo: AP) San Francisco: Thousands of tourists could soon have to pay as much as $10 to drive down world-famous Lombard Street in San Francisco. City and state officials on Monday announced a bill that would give San Francisco the authority to establish a toll and reservation system for the street that winds down a steep hill, in an effort to reduce crowds and traffic congestion. We must implement a system that enables both residents and visitors to enjoy the Crookedest Street in the World, said Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat who authored the legislation. Residents say the scenic thoroughfare feels more like an overcrowded amusement park than a neighbourhood street. They have been calling for years for officials to address the traffic jams, trash and trespassing by visitors. In the summer months, an estimated 6,000 people a day visit the 600-foot-long (183-meter) street, creating lines of cars that stretch for blocks, clogging the Russian Hill neighbourhood. The cars really impact the neighbourhood because they line up, they back up, they are sitting idling, said Greg Brundage, president of the Lombard Hill Improvement Association. San Francisco transportation officials have proposed requiring visitors to make a reservation online and pay $5 for each vehicle. Another plan calls for online reservations and a $10 charge on weekends and holidays. The city needs state approval to charge people to use a public road but it would be up to city officials to determine how and what to charge and how to use the funds. The new toll system is not expected to be in place before 2020, officials said. Supervisor Catherine Stefani said the fee would help sustain the reservations system and help pay for more traffic control officers, more police patrols in the area and tourism ambassadors who would make sure visitors have a good experience. Its a pilot program but its something we must try to address the traffic congestion, Stefani said. Vida Bhatt, a tourist from Melbourne, Australia, said she and her family drove down the crooked street, parked their car, then decided to go back and explore the thoroughfare on foot. Its so beautiful! I havent seen anything like this anywhere else in the world, Bhatt said. Bhatt said she would happily pay to have the experience of driving down Lombard Street. Reclusive by nature and better known as the daughter-in-law of film, political and business personality Maganti Murali Mohan, Roopa Maganti is only now stepping into the limelight, as she contests for the Lok Sabha elections on a TDP ticket from Rajmahendravaram (erstwhile Rajahmundry). Born and brought up in Chennai, Roopa and her family lived in Vijayawada for a brief while but communal riots between two communities the Kammas and Kapus forced them to return to Chennai. My father, A.K.V. Prasad made three films in Telugu and was also an agriculturist. However, the Raga Riot as it was known, forced us to move to Chennai. Even though we are Kammas, I remained oblivious about all these communities till I got married and shifted to Hyderabad, says Roopa. After completing her graduation in Corporate Secretaryship and a Masters Degree in Rural Community Development, Roopa went on to do a PG Diploma in Psychology followed by an opportunity to work as an apprentice in Sri Lanka in a labour organisation. Though a one year project, Roopa went on to work as a Government Consultant in Sri Lanka for the next 13 years. I worked for Mahendra Raja Babu in Sri Lanka and consider myself to be a half Tamil, says Roopa, who has managed to keep a very low profile thus far. Even after marrying my husband Ram Mohan, we remain extremely private people. There is nothing about me in the media, as I have always been a very shy person, she says. Showering praise on her father-in-law, Roopa says, I am very proud to be known as his daughter-in-law. He is a very good man, known for his values and integrity. He has done a great job in the film industry. But we continue to be very private even as a family. A reluctant politician of sorts, Roopa is contesting the elections this year from the Rajahmundry constituency in place of her now 80-year-old father-in-law. Says Roopa, I have been working actively in the constituency for the last couple of years and have also been associated with social activities, all of which has taught me a lot. A part of AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidus recent delegation to New Delhi, Roopa explains that the purpose of the trip was to register a complaint against the way polls were conducted in the state. We believe in democracy, and in the work done by our honorable Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu garu. He has done some tremendous work in these last five years, be it in the form of investments, welfare schemes, the education system or for farmers. Interestingly, Roopa reveals that there was absolutely no support from Tollywood. There was a time when Tollywood played a very big role in Telugu politics, but now, it seems they want to keep away from politics, she states As for her agenda in the region, Roopa explains that she wants to give secure jobs to women while creating eco friendly and sustainable industries. 'The comment on Jaya Prada is not merely a comment on her but is rather a comment on crores of women in the country,' said Amit Shah. (Photo: ANI) Kodinar: BJP national president Amit Shah said on Monday that SP leader Azam Khan has not only insulted BJP candidate Jaya Prada but insulted crores of women in the country for which he should apologise. They have all come all together only for a show-biz. SP leader Azam Khan has passed disgusting comment on BJP candidate Jaya Prada which is an insult of "Matr-Shakti"(motherhood). The comment on Jaya Prada is not merely a comment on her but is rather a comment on crores of women in the country, said Amit Shah. I want to ask SP, Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi whether they agree with the comment passed by Azam Khan. I demand an apology from SP, BSP and Azam Khan. Azam Khan should apologise to the crores of mothers in this country, said Shah While addressing a rally in the presence of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan said, I brought her (Jaya Prada) to Rampur. You are a witness that I did not allow anyone to touch her body. It took you 17 years to identify her real face but I got to know in 17 days that she wears khaki underwear. However, asserting that he did not name anyone, the SP leader later said that he would withdraw his candidature from the ongoing polls if proved guilty. Jaya Prada, who is contesting from Rampur on BJPs ticket, has earlier represented the constituency as a Samajwadi Party lawmaker. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis etc all. Happy reading The senior BJP leader also hit out at the Congress over its response to the IAF air strikes in Balakot. (Photo: File) Mathura: Union minister Rajnath Singh Monday said opposition parties are questioning the reliability of electronic voting machines as they are fearing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing an election meeting at Chaumuha town here in favour of BJP candidate Hema Malini, he said, "The way after the polling of 91 seats, opposition parties are questioning the reliability of EVMs, it is clear that they have virtually accepted their defeat." Persisting with their doubts over the credibility of EVMs, several opposition parties have said they will move the Supreme Court to seek verification of at least 50 per cent of the polled votes against VVAPT slips. Opposition parties, including the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M), also jointly addressed a press conference to highlight the issue of transparency in the election process and protection of voter rights and gave a call to "save democracy". Exuding confidence that the Narendra Modi government will come back to power, the Union home minister said the NDA will make the National Security Act (NSA) more robust and check its misuse if voted to power again. He also mentioned the Pulwama terror attack and the Centre's befitting reply to the same. "I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for eliminating terror centres through surgical strike," Singh said. The senior BJP leader also hit out at the Congress over its response to the IAF air strikes in Balakot. "Atal Bihari Vajpayee had congratulated then PM Indira Gandhi after the 1971 India-Pakistan war for her bold step, but the Congress today is acting otherwise," he said. Singh also took a dig at the BSP-SP opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, saying the parties entered into a 'Mahagathabandhan' as they are afraid of the 'Modi wave'. Underlining the 'progress' made by the country under Modi, he said, in 2014, India was placed at ninth position among the world's 10 developing countries. The leadership of Modi catapulted the country to sixth position, he said. The home minister added, "Indira Gandhi se lekar, Rajiv Gandhi aur ab Rahul Gandhi ne garibi ko mudda banaya hai. Jis din Bharat Congress mukt ho jayega, garibi swayam hat jayegi." The statement can be loosely translated to "From Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi to now Rahul Gandhi, they have all made poverty a poll slogan. The day India will get rid of Congress, poverty will be automatically eliminated from the country". He said farmers will be provided interest-free loans for five years if BJP comes to power again. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis etc all. Happy reading The murky affair came out after a few subcontractors, who were being pursued by the I-T department, narrated the goings-on during election time. (Representational image) Hyderabad: At least five major companies, four of which are in the infrastructure sector, are on the radar of the income-tax department after officials stumbled upon some real-time information about their shady transactions which enabled many politicos to spend hundreds of crores during the elections in Telangana and AP. Under the garb of making payments for undertaking different works, these subcontractors were found to be withdrawing the cash from the banks and passing it on to representatives of the political parties assigned to them. This is how some top businessmen funded political parties and the amounts runs into hundreds of crores, the sources said. The murky affair came out after a few subcontractors, who were being pursued by the I-T department, narrated the goings-on during election time. The intermediate companies and subcontractors charged one per cent of the total amount to execute the deals. In a few instances, instead of making the payments directly to the political representatives, the group of subcontractors was returning the money to the main company, turning white money into black, which then was passed on to the political parties. Sources said it was only a matter of time before the I-T department starts hitting the main and intermediate companies. Some of the intermediate companies and subcontractors have already been covered by the department. Many of them have confessed to being part of such an arrangement (with the major companies), they said, adding that these companies could be fined or prosecuted. It is learnt that the I-T department will make them pay huge taxes in the days to come. Sources said the shady arrangement by top infra companies with the intermediate companies and subcontractors was in addition to the electoral bonds, which enables citizens or corporate groups to fund political parties by purchasing bonds from banks. The scheme was introduced in January last year. These bonds are anonymous but many fear being exposed and look at other ways to fund parties. The money from the electoral bonds has been drawn by various political parties this election season. Many people prefer other arrangements to fund political parties than electoral bonds, sources said. While their continuous interface with bank authorities ensured that information about suspicious transactions kept flowing in, what blew the lid off the dirty nexus between these top companies, intermediate companies and subcontractors, was the confessions of some of the intermediate companies and subcontractors who were being pursued by tax officials. Sources in the I-T department told Deccan Chronicle that over the last three months, the tax officials were keeping a close watch on the bank transactions of a few infra companies. Through different bank accounts, these companies were found to be transferring huge monies into the bank accounts of certain intermediate companies, who in turn were transferring smaller amounts to a group of subcontractors and a few individuals. Kolkata: Popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed has returned to his country following directions from Bangladeshi deputy high commission in Kolkata after he courted controversy by campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections for the Trinamul in North Bengal recently. The incident has left the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul red-faced. The development comes after the BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the actor for violating visa rules and the Trinamul for violating the model code of conduct. It argued that foreigners cannot take part in poll campaign as they visit on tourist visas. On April 14, Mr Ahmed was seen along with some Bengali actors in a jeep during a roadshow for Trinamul candidate of Raiganj in North Dinajpur, Kanailal Agarwal. On Monday he campaigned in the districts Karandighi and Chakulia areas. Mr Ahmed was also seen appealing to people to cast their vote for the Trinamul candidate. According to diplomatic sources, the Bangladeshi deputy high commission in Kolkata called up Mr Ahmed and asked him to return to Bangladesh immediately following instructions from Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi. The EC had taken up the matter with the Bangladesh high commission while seeking a report on the actor from the ministry of home affairs which, in turn, had directed the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Kolkata to look into Mr Ahmeds visa tenure. On Tuesday evening, Mohammed Mofakkharul Iqbal, first secretary (press), Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata, told this newspaper, The actor has returned to Bangladesh. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. New Delhi: Three-time Chhattisgarh chief minister Dr Raman Singh, a once-powerful BJP leader, is paying the price for losing the state during last years Assembly polls. His son, Abhishek Singh, a sitting Member of Parliament from Rajnandgaon, was also denied a ticket as the party decided against fielding him due to the simmering discontent among the state population against his rule. Sources stated that the sidelining of the once-tallest leader of the mineral-rich state has been complete this Lok Sabha poll season as the Bharatiya Janata PArty (BJP) has also not been using him as extensively as it did during election campaigning. Moreover, the recent selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha contest was clearly directed by the central leadership led by party chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the former chief minister seemingly been cut to size in the distribution of tickets process as well. Fearing anti-incumbency, the BJP has already denied tickets to all 10 of its sitting MPs, including former chief ministers son. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had secured 10 seats with the Congress bagging just one. However, just four months ago, political equations changed drastically as Dr Singhs 15-year government was booted out and the Congress stormed to victory with 68 seats in the 90-member state Assembly. Sources said the party feels that by maintaining a safe distance from the earlier government of Dr Singh and banking on the nationalistic appeal and image of Mr Modi would be able to salvage its pride in the Lok Sabha polls. It is learnt that by working on this strategy, the BJP hopes to make a drastic comeback and retain at least half of the seats that it had won during the 2014 general elections. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Thiruvananthapuram: Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for exploiting the valour of jawans and their sacrifices for political gains. While addressing the public rallies for Thiruvananthapuram and Attingal Lok Sabha UDF candidates Shashi Tharoor and Adoor Prakash respectively at Central Stadium here in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Gandhi resorted to a hard hitting speech against the BJP government. The Congress president had not commented on Pulwama terrorist attack in rallies at Pathanapuram, Pathanamthitta and later at Alappuzha. This is not a political issue. I refuse to exploit our martyrs and jawans. Prime Minister Modi exploits the valour of our jawans for his own political gains. If the Army and Air Force carry out an action, the credit is fully theirs, said Mr Gandhi. Earlier, he said the party will stand by believers and did not say anything against the LDF government in state. He was in no mood to soften his stand where he went on to add that it is shameful that the martyrs and jawans are not being given their due credit. It is they who gave their blood and it is their families who suffer. They deserve the credit. No one else, added Rahul Gandhi amid applause from the massive crowd. While unleashing a tirade against Mr Modi, the Congress president demanded to know why `35,000 crore given to a pauper like Anil Ambani was not given to the youths in Kerala as educational loans. He also recalled the yeomen service rendered by the fisher folks when the state experienced its worst floods last year, and demanded to know why `35, 000 crore was not given to them. He maintained that the Congress is realistic, compared to the tall claims made by Mr Modi who promised to pay black money of `15 lakh to people. The Congress president termed Nyay scheme as Congress surgical strike. He alleged that the money taken from the peoples accounts were being given to Anil Ambani who walked away with the `35,000 crore Rafale deal bypassing Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. "Congress never gives false promises. Be fair to everyone is our policy. We dont lie like Modi. Not a single farmer will be arrested for non-payment of loans in 2019, when the Congress comes to power. `72,000 per year is the money a government can give to poor. In 2019, 20 percent of the poor are going to get `3.60 lakh in five years, he said amid applause from a packed Central Stadium. Congress president took a jibe against the BJP central leadership for their frequent rhetoric, "Congress Mukth Bharat". Not a single Congress leader will call for BJP Mukth Bharat. When we defeat the BJP it will be through love and care. People of all religions have the right to stand by their beliefs, Mr Gandhi added. While referring to the head injury of Mr Tharoor on Vishu day, Mr Gandhi said he was quite worried when he got hurt. But Im happy to see that he is back in action. I appreciate his spirit. He has represented so well in Parliament where he had debated and his ideologies had been represented. Congress and the people of Kerala can be proud of Mr Tharoor who is a priceless possession. So we have to ensure his victory from Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Gandhi said. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala promised to Mr Gandhi that Kerala would send the maximum number of UDF MPs to Parliament. His speeches made in Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanapuram were translated by 39 year old Jyothi Vijayakumar, who has often been his translator during his previous trips to the state. Daughter of Congress leader D. Vijayakumar, Rahul Gandhi had requested her to accompany him during his Wayanad road show on Wednesday, seeing Jyothis excellent translation skills. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarmah dances with the crowd during an election campaign rally at Bahjani in Nalbari district of Assam on Tuesday in support of the party candidate Dilip Saikia of Mangaldoi parliamentary constituency (Photo: AP) Guwahati: The BJP general secretary Ram Madhav who on Tuesday reiterated the commitment of the BJP to bring in Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the parliament predicted that the Bill could be a reality in July. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is also going to be published in the same month. In what may be called an attempt to woo the Hindu Bengali voters, Mr Madhav addressed a press conference at Silchar in Southern Assams Barak Valley on Tuesday and said, The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is going to be published by July end. Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, will also come by then in the parliament. Once these tools come into effect, the issues relating to foreigners will be resolved, said Mr Madhav assuring the people that their woes regarding citizenship would end soon. He admitted that they have agreed to find some middle ground on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to address the concerns that is being expressed by different alliance partners as well as different sections of the people in the Northeast. He, however, asserted, We are also committed to deliver on our promise to the persecuted people. It is significant that the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had walked out of BJP-led alliance as the Bill, passed by Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, by relaxing eligibility rules for getting Indian citizenship for immigrants belonging to six minority (non-Muslim) religions Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan. It is seen in Assam and Northeast as a threat to the indigenous communities of the region as it goes against Assam Accord provision, which says that any person who came into Assam after midnight of March 24, 1971, would be identified as a foreigner. Mr Madhav who was in Silchar also refuted charges of politicisation of services in the ongoing election campaign and instead claimed that the party leaders cite the services to highlight the valour and commitment of the armed forces towards national security. Proper mentorship and support strategies should be put in place to ensure that entrepreneurs stay focused on their goals, says 2019 Creative Business Cup winner Segametsi Balosang. She said that small scale entrepreneurs are still faced with several challenges and stakeholders including government could put a few measures in place to cultivate talent and skills, harvest potential and ensure that entrepreneurs reach their full potential. The entrepreneur in the food processing and indigenous food perservation sector, said that there is no point in implementing policies to empower entrepreneurs if there is no support structure in place to support them after that. She also said that it is also important to implement monitoring quality standards across board. This will ensure that we are able to compete at an international level which will open up market access, what is the point of funding my project if I cannot even sell it in local retail stores? At the end of the day we seek funding to enable us to execute our go to market strategy locally and internationally to commercially sell our products, she said. Balosang, who runs True Afribites, which produces flavoured phane, recently emerged the winner of the Creative Business Cup 2019, beating 14 other competitors. She is already preparing for her trip to Copenhagen, Denmark in June, where she will get the opportunity to network, seal business deals and partake in the global Creative Business Cup competition - an international platform to encourage entrepreneurs to think out of the box in developing business models and also build brand awareness of local products in the creative field. It is also a point of entry to engaging with international retail stores and to drive online sales. Balosang expressed hope that the win would give her exposure to relevant skills and training workshops to comprehensively sustain her growth. She said that competition was tight as every business had an innovative and globally competitive idea that was presented well. She admitted that for her, it was a challenge to sell her idea within a limited time because as much as she is a serial entrepreneur she has always been terrified of addressing large groups of people so this pushed her from her comfort zone and made her master a new skill. I practised how to pitch and speak in front of people but now have decided to engage a professional because I think there is still room for improvement. Meanwhile, Creative Business Cup Botswana coordinator Nicoletta Chimonoma conceded that one of the hardest things that entrepreneurs encounter is lack of mentorship and exposure to entrepreneurial networks. She said that this year they had engaged speakers from the entrepreneurial space with the hope that they would inspire young entrepreneurs by exposing them to more success stories from those who have made it and continue to grow their businesses day-by-day. She said the reason they held a final event where finalists had to pitch was to help them improve their communication skills, which she said is vital for anyone in the business space. Not everyone is an extrovert or is chatty, but you need to be consistent in communicating messages about your start-up; you need to stay on top of your communications. The Election Commission, in 2017, had countermanded elections to the Dr R.K. Nagar Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu. Chennai: The Election Commission of India has partially rescinded the election in the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in the state, following massive cash haul by the Income Tax sleuths. Tuesdays cancellation has come two days ahead of the poll date. Vellore becomes the first constituency in India where a Lok Sabha election has been cancelled because of cash-for-votes. In April 2017 and May 2016, the election to Tamil Nadus R. K. Nagar Assembly constituency; and Aravakurichi and Thanjavur was deferred owing to largescale distribution of cash-for-votes. The ECIs announcement on Tuesday was based on a report submitted by the Income Tax department on the cash seized in Vellore. Two weeks ago, over Rs 11 crore was seized from a cement godown, belonging to a local DMK functionary. The EC had written to the President Ram Nath Kovind, recommending a cancellation. The President in turn had asked the law ministry for its opinion. On Tuesday evening, the President gave his assent to cancel the election in Vellore. On the basis of recommendations of Election Commission of India, the honourable President is pleased to partially rescind the notification dated March 19, 2019, in so far as it relates to calling upon 8-Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha and accordingly made the amendment in the said notification, said EC in a statement. As per the ECs final order, The commission is fully satisfied that the current electoral process in 8-Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu has been seriously vitiated on account of unlawful activities of certain candidates and some members/workers of the political party and in the Commissions considered opinion, allowing the current electoral process to proceed and conducting the poll in the said constituency on 18th April 2019, as scheduled, in such a vitiated atmosphere would severely jeopardise the conduct of free and fair election in said constituency. New Delhi: Quick to seize on the fevered anticipation for the final season of Game of Thrones, the Election Commission, the Press Information Bureau and even the Congress are using popular references from the hit HBO series to make themselves heard in poll season. As the war between the seven kingdoms for the Iron Throne in Westeros is set to conclude with the final season of the much acclaimed show, known for its portrayal of power dynamics, the poll panel and the PIB are drawing inspiration from it to maximise vot-er turnout in the ongoing 2019 general polls. The opposition Congress is using the show, described as a cultural phenomenon by many, to take potshots at its political opponent. Such is the craze for the show, based on a series of books by George R.R. Martin, that Western Railways is also using GOT messaging to reach out to travellers. The EC, hoping to spread voter awareness on social media, took to the most famous nod to GOT, Winter is coming, in its poster on Twitter. Its poster, ? is Coming, urged twitterati to guess its next quiz in the series. Don your creativity caps! After our #VoterQuotient quiz for the scholarly followers, now we have something for our artistically inclined followers. Can anyone guess whats it about? Be ready as we reveal our next contest at 1pm today, read a following tweet. Mr Raheem said he was informed that on March 14 his son was arrested by local police when he had an altercation with a few people. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: An argument at a restaurant has led to the arrest of a student from Hyderabad in Italy last month. Local authorities have stated that the student, Mohammed Ghouse, is suffering from mental illness and admitted him in a hospital in Italy. Officials have refused to send him back without an attendant. Mr Ghouses father, Mr Mohd Abdul Raheem, said his son was suffering from depression and he had undergone treatment for nine months in the state. Mr Ghouse left in October 2016 to pursue his Masters in Communication and Computer Networking Engineering from Politecnico di Torino College at Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, Torino. He came back in March 2017 on vacation and returned a month later. He came home in December 2017 and stayed nine months due to health problems and went back to Italy to complete his studies in September 2018. Mr Raheem said he was informed that on March 14 his son was arrested by local police when he had an altercation with a few people. He said considering his mental state he was admitted in a hospital. Local authorities informed him about the situation and advised him travel to Torini to bring Mr Ghouse back as they would not send him without a companion belonging to his family. Mr Raheem said he was unable to bear the travel expenses and asked Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to intervene and provide monetary help to bring his son back. He requested the Chief Minister to ask the Union external affairs ministry and the Indian High Commission in Milan to provide necessary legal aid. JD(S) and its ally Congress have been alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre has been misusing central agencies to pursue its politics of vendetta. Bengaluru: Income-tax officials on Tuesday carried out coordinated raids at premises owned by families and businessmen close to JD(S) for allegedly possessing undisclosed wealth and assets in Mandya, Hassan and Bengaluru. Though the I-T department did not name the people, who were searched for alleged tax violations, sources told this newspaper that they were reportedly owned by people close to PWD minister H.D. Revanna and minor irrigation minister and Melukote MLA C.S. Putturaju. The I-T raided the official and residential premises of government contractors, owners of petrol bunks, quarries, saw mills and stone crushing units and those managing co-operative banks in five places in Mandya and one each in Hassan and Bengaluru. Sources said the searches were conducted by four teams, each comprising 15 officials at the offices, residences and factory premises of people allegedly associated with the JD(S) leadership. The officials were accompanied by CRPF personnel. The searches that are being conducted are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets. The sectors, which are under scrutiny are prone to black money, said an income-tax spokesperson. The release further said five residences in Hassan, one in Bengaluru and one in Mandya along with their business premises were covered as part of the search operations. JD(S) and its ally Congress have been alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre has been misusing central agencies to pursue its politics of vendetta. On March 28, leaders of both parties led by chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, former CM Siddaram-aiah, deputy CM G. Parameshwara had staged a demonstration outside the income-tax office when the raids began. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Chennai: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi government over continuing income-tax raids, alleging the searches were targeted against those who opposed the BJP. Addressing a press conference in the DMKs headquarters here, he sought to know whether I-T raids were conducted in BJP-ruled states. Income-tax raids were conducted only against DMK, Telugu Desam and H.D. Kumaraswamy, he said sharing the dais with DMK candidates for Thursdays Lok Sabha elections. Today there is a raid in Karnataka. Are there any raids in BJP ruled states, he asked. He was speaking before the I-T raids on DMK leader Kanimozhi. Democracy is in danger and at the same time Modi has just done so much injustice to the nation, he alleged. Mr Naidu asked if Mr Modi had met the farmers of Tamil Nadu who had held 100-day protests when they were in Delhi. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that the partys campaign song, based on the concept of Nyay (justice), has already become a big hit across the country. Sharing a new video of the Congresss campaign song, Main hi to Hindustan hoon, the party president tweeted, #AbHogaNYAY is not just a slogan, its the Congress partys commitment to the people of India. Our catchy campaign theme song has become a big hit across India. Heres a new video built around our Nyay theme. Ab Hoga Nyay, Congresss poll slogan, is based on its election promise of basic minimum income support for the poorest of the poor families in the country under a flagship scheme called Nyay. Under the scheme, the party has promised an annual minimum income support of Rs 72,000 for the countrys poorest about 20 per cent of the population. The party had officially launched its poll slogan and campaign song, penned by Javed Akhtar, earlier this month. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition from a Muslim couple for allowing women to enter mosques and offer prayers, seeing a common gender issue in the plea and the curbs on women devotees at Sabarimala temple that it had struck down last year. We are only hearing you, and may hear you in the future, because of Sabarimala judgment, said a bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde while issuing notices to the Centre and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Wakf board. On September 28 last, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying a ban on their entry amounted to gender discrimination. In the current petition, the Pune-based couple has sought the top courts direction to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers. The couple has referred to the Sabarimala ruling as a precedent. The couple referred to the Sabarimala ruling, which has angered conservative Hindus, as a precedent to support their call. The petitioners, Yas-meen Peerzade and her husband Zuber said women were allowed to enter mosques during the time of the Prophet Mohammad. Women are not allo-wed inside most mosq-ues in India and a few have separate entran-ces for women to go into segregated areas. Justice Bobde and Justice S. Abdul Naz-eer asked the petitioners counsel about the practice abroad. Who denied you entry? You tried to enter and were denied by virtue of an order or a law? Which other mosques in the world allow women? asked Justice Bobde. When he asked if women are allowed in Mecca, Jus-tice Nazeer observed, I dont think there is a common congregation. The advocate submitted that in Canada women are allowed in mosques. 'Those dividing the country and those supporting them should not get a place in politics in future.' Shiv Sena said. (Photo: ANI) Mumbai: Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for strongly rebutting those talking about the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from the country, the Shiv Sena Tuesday said he must commit that the PDP, NC and the NCP won't be part of the NDA after elections even if it is short on numbers. The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, said while it is good that the prime minister has spoken against those attempting to divide the country, he needs to give people two assurances . "Tomorrow, whatever may be the case on the numbers required to form the government, there will be no relationship with those who talk of dividing the nation. And those who have ruined three generations of Kashmiris will not get a place in Modi's cabinet or the NDA," the Sena said. The Sena further said Modi's stand against Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, for "supporting" those who want to "divide" the nation, should remain the same even after polls. "Those dividing the country and those supporting them should not get a place in politics in future. If those supporting anti-nationals today sit with nationalists for political reasons, it will be an insult to our jawans," the Sena said. The Sena said while National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has spoken about Jammu and Kashmir having a separate PM, it will not be a reality even after 100 generations have passed. The Sena claimed Article 370 gives special privileges to the restive northern state, and the law of the country does not apply there, and therefore, there have been demands from many years to abolish the Constitutional privilege. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party sought to remind the BJP that Abdullah was a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and the NC was a part of the NDA, adding that his party's policy towards Article 370 and 35 (A), both of which give special status to J-K, was age old. "Yet we keep kissing their furry caps to achieve the numbers in Parliament. This is nationalism of convenience," it alleged. The Sena added that People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has a similar stand on the Constitutional provisions for Jammu and Kashmir and she has warned that the state will not remain with India if its special status is revoked. "Until yesterday, the same person was chief minister with support of the BJP. Even her anti-national mindset is old. Yet, the BJP got friendly with them while we kept opposing their alliance," it said. It said both these leaders are today speaking against abolishing of Article 370 and 35 (A) while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting back in his rallies. "Modi has spoken with grit - the way an Indian prime minister should have spoken. He has spoken about how three generations have been destroyed under Abdullah and Mufti's regimes," the party said. "Modi has also spoken about displacement of Kashmiri Pandits. However their ghar wapsi (return to roots) couldn't happen in the last 5 years," it said. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. 'The corrupt Congress party broke the morale of the Army,' Das claimed. (Photo: PTI) Katihar: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday criticised the Congress and said that the country witnessed the highest number of terrorist attacks and corruption cases during its dispensation at the Centre. Addressing an election rally at Haflaganj in favour of Dulal Chand Goswami -- the JD(U) candidate contesting from the Katihar Lok Sabha seat -- Das said the general elections of 2019 will set the course and direction of the country. It is up to the people whether they would elect a dynasty or give another opportunity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The corrupt Congress party broke the morale of the Army," Das claimed. He also alleged that the Congress government did not dare to retaliate in the face of repeated terrorist attacks on key installations. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. All the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 18, in the second phase. (Image: File) Tamil Nadu: The DMK chief MK Stalin's sister and party leader Kanimozhi's house was raided by the income tax department in Tamil Nadus Thoothukudi on Tuesday evening. Kanimozhi is a DMK's candidate from Thoothukudi in the Lok Sabha elections. On Monday, Lok Sabha election to the Vellore constituency was cancelled as a huge amount of cash recovered from premises which were allegedly linked from a DMK candidate's. All the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 18, in the second phase. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis etc all. Happy reading. To meet the goals of the UN Paris Agreement, decision makers from across the world have gathered in Berlin, Germany to identify best practices necessary for an efficient, rapid energy transition from fossil fuels like coal to renewable energy. Speaking at the start of the 5th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) on Tuesday, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said a successful energy transition needs to be conceived globally and holistically. Altmaier said the holistic approach requires the energy shift to be successful in all sectors, and the socio-economic elements to be taken into account throughout. The energy transition is a successful model attracting increasing international attention, given the available technological developments and innovations. A huge range of tried-and-tested technologies are being used in more and more countries to facilitate clean energy supplies and create prosperity while protecting resources and the climate, as the energy transition is not merely a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. During the event that attracted 50 ministers and high-level delegates, industry players and civil society representatives from over 100 countries; constituting over 2000 guests, Heiko Maas, the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs said the energy transition is also upending political constants. Maas explained that using renewable energy enables states to improve their own energy security. Energy is losing its potency as the geopolitical instrument we have known for decades, he said. Adding that countries that are transforming their energy economy can be more independent in pursuing their strategic and foreign-policy interests. Sharing Maas sentiments, at the sidelines of the BETD, Francesco La Camera, Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said the shift towards renewables makes sense. By mid-century, he expounded that the global economy would be larger, and jobs created in the energy sector would boost global employment by 0.2 percent. Policies to promote a just, fair and inclusive transition he also said could maximise the benefits for different countries, regions, and communities, consequently accelerating the achievement of affordable and universal energy access. The global energy transformation goes beyond transformation of the energy sector. It is transformation of our economies and societies, he said. As the urgency to take climate action grows, a new analysis by IRENA titled Global Energy Transformation: A Roadmap to 2050, which was launched on Tuesday at the BETD, found that scaling-up renewable energy combined with electrification could deliver more than three quarters of the energy-related emission reductions needed to meet global climate goals. According to the report, pathways to meet 86 percent of the global power demand with renewable energy exist. The renewable energy transition has inspired dialogue across the world as it is considered the most effective and readily-available solution for reversing the trend of rising CO2 emissions. The BETD event is coupled by the Berlin Energy Week which consists of side-events before and after the conference. It is hosted by the Germany Federal Government in partnership with the German Renewable Energy Federation and the German Solar Industry Association. In the past years the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) has become a leading international forum for key stakeholders of the energy sector.This year, it will be complemented by the Tech Festival of the Start Up Energy Transition (SET) initiative, the hub Berlin, the Future Mobility Summit, the Future of Offshore Windpower, the Drawdown Europe, the IDTechEx, the Electric Vehicles and the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF). New Delhi: The Centre Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice to Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed and cancelled the business visa given to him for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, officials said. Ahmed has also been "blacklisted" by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the chances of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a Leave India notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a home ministry official said. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMC's Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Bangladeshi film star was reportedly seen seeking votes for Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border. The FRRO is responsible for providing visa services in the area under its jurisdiction. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis etc all. Happy reading. Mandya: On the penultimate day of campaign in this sugar bowl, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy broke down twice as he spoke of his concern for farmers and the poor and slammed actors backing independent candidate Mrs Sumalatha Ambareesh for playing the 'self esteem' card on Monday. The Chief Minister explained at length arrangements made by his government when actor-politician M H Ambareesh passed away and how his body was flown to Mandya to allow his fans a last glimpse before the last rites were performed in Bengaluru. "All steps were taken immediately to prevent untoward incidents which occurred when Dr Rajkumar died. When I went to hospital, there was no sign of two actors, Mr Darshan Tugudeepa and Mr Yash who are campaigning now, speaking about 'self esteem.' I did arrange everything for Ambareesh's funeral and treated him my own brother. Taking a dig at Mr Yash for terming JD(S) as a party of thieves, Mr Kumaraswamy asked "who is this actor Yash...what he thinks of himself. He calls the JD(S) a party of thieves. My party workers are keeping quiet as it will send a wrong message at this juncture. Otherwise it would have been a different story. This actor goes to every village to abuse my party. Before coming to politics, I was film distributor and I have groomed many actors like him. Real life is different than real life. Don't believe whatever you see in life. What happen in your house is real. I had kept my mouth shut in the last three months but now she is behaving as if she has already got elected as MP. Even the media is biased but I don't care...let them write or telecast whatever they want". He broke into tears again in K R Pet saying " I had stopped crying but a speech by our party president H Vishwanath made me to cry. None understands my position and how hectic campaigning has taken a toll on my health. I am not bothered about my health as my sole intention is to serve people. I came to politics accidentally and my heart melts for scores of people who come to meet daily seeking help. I have helped every one without asking their caste or religion," he added. Later, Mrs Sumalatha Ambareesh lambasted the Chief Minister for his vilification campaign, Mrs Sumalatha accused Mr Kumaraswamy of being liar who stooped to low level of taking mileage of her husband's death. It was unbecoming on the part of the CM to speak lies that she was not ready for shifting Mr Ambareesh's body to Mandya. A number of supporters were ready to do it, if the CM had not done it. The army chopper was provided by Ms Nirmala Sitaraman but she never claimed the credit for providing it unlike Mr Kumaraswamy who was speaking as though Mr Ambareesh was an orphan," she added. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading. Three people were killed in poll-related violence in the state during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections held last week. (Image: File) Hyderabad: Accusing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of "misusing" his office, YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Tuesday sought the Governor's intervention to stop the "growing attacks" on his party cadre, "misuse" of state funds and to protect EVMs. "We have lodged a complaint with Governor ESL Narasimhan that Chandrababu Naidu, who has appointed his own henchmen in crucial places to help TDP in all ways during the elections and post poll violence and sought his intervention to put the issue under check," Reddy told reporters at Raj Bhavan here after submitting a memorandum to the Governor. "There are many instances of violence which is still unabated and attacks on YSRCP cadre are on the rise as Chandrababu Naidu has given out-of-turn promotions belonging to his community to target the Opposition Party and its sympathisers," he said. He demanded that strong rooms where EVMs were stored at various places be guarded by para-military forces, citing an incident in Machilipatnam, where some people allegedly broke open the room and attempted to tamper with the EVMs. The budget approved ahead of the general elections was vote-on-account and it should be ensured that he (Naidu) does not "misuse" funds by giving largesse to his favoured few, he said. Three people were killed in poll-related violence in the state during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections held last week. Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis etc all. Happy reading. Bengaluru: The police have made elaborate security arrangements across the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due on April 18 and 23. As many as 90,997 police personnel have been deployed at 58,225 polling booth across the state. There is extra security at 11,992 polling booths, which have been identified as sensitive. At a press conference state DG & IGP Neelmani N. Raju said, "With only a day left for the first phase of voting in the state, the police have made elaborate security arrangements and policemen have already taken guard at critical pooling booths to avert any untoward incident. The state has been free from naxal activities for last eight years. Though last year there were some sightings of naxals in the districts of Chikkamagaluru, Udupi and Kodagu, but no untoward incident has been reported." In order to provide security to all the 58,225 booths in the state, a total 90,997 officers and men were required. Since the state had only 49,476 civil police available for poll duty, 40,117 home guards and civil defence personnel, 414 jail wardens and 990 forest guards have been deputed for the poll duty, she added. As many as 10 Central Armed Police Forces were provided to the state, out of which five each were deployed in Phase - l and Phase - ll areas. As many as 55 and 57 Companies of Central Armed Police Forces will be deployed for Phase I and Phase II respectively, are being deployed at Critical Cluster booths and area domination in vulnerable areas. ADGP Kamal Pant said that in order to keep anti-social elements, rowdies and trouble makers under check, 44,844 cases were invoked under preventive sections against 47,427 persons. As a preventive action out of 98,055 licenced arms in the state, 95,422 have been deposited with police, while the rest are exempted by the District Authorities. Besides, 12,621 people have been identified as intimidators. A total of 1,594 cases have been booked under Kamataka Excise Act with total seizures of 11,220 litres of liquor by the police. A total of Rs 15,72,17,6l6 in cash, 23,248 litres of liquor, 312 kg of gold, 43.85 kg of silver along with other items worth Rs 38 lakh have been seized by Static Check Posts. Based on complaints by Static Surveillance Teams a total of 55 FIRs were registered by the jurisdictional police and 1,697 FIRs have been registered related to seizures. If the Election Commission (EC) of India, under the stewardship of Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had taken its constitutional duty to conduct fair and transparent polls in the country with the seriousness and responsibility it deserves, it might have saved itself the humiliation heaped on it by the Supreme Court on Monday. The top court pointedly asked the EC why it had permitted top politicians in Uttar Pradesh to carry on with hate speech and speeches invoking religion. It tore into the ECs counsel who lamely argued that the poll body was toothless. Having expressed satisfaction over the action taken, the apex court has kept the petition pending on ECs powers and its actions. After the pillorying by the Supreme Court, the EC acted post haste. It has suspended campaigning by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Maneka Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati and senior Samajwadi Party politician Azam Khan for periods ranging from 48 hours to 72 hours. This is relatively mild. The time-frame could have been longer. If Mr Arora needs a lesson in constitutional propriety, he should look at the history of T.N. Seshan, another retired IAS officer, who raised the profile of the EC and put the fear of the lord into the toughest politicians. Not a bulldog, but still tough as nails was James Michael Lyngdoh who knew how to straighten out mean-minded politicians, including fearsome chief ministers. If he conducts himself like a wimp, his counsel will embarrass him by pleading toothlessness. While Mr Arora does deserve some credit for at last having acted in the case of some UP politicians, he needs to offer the public some explanations too. Why did he not use his powers to ask Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, who openly canvassed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to display a sense of moral obligation? This would have been sufficient hint for the governor to resign, as had been done in the mid-1990s by the then governor of Himachal Pradesh. Instead, the EC took the stance of a subordinate official. He passed on the Kalyan Singh matter to the President, who referred the case to the Union home ministry. This is a way to bury the issue. After receiving an earful from the top court, the EC should ask BJP president Amit Shah about his comment comparing Wayanad in Kerala, from where Rahul Gandhi is a candidate, to Pakistan just because this constituency has a strong minority communities presence. This is also related to an observation of PM Modi who said Mr Gandhi had chosen to fight from a minorities-dominated constituency since he was fearful of his fate in Amethi, where the majority community is dominant. Such comments are surely avoidable. Come to think of it the top court too let this go. Despite being billed as capable of going 335 km on a single full charge, the ES8 didnt get anywhere near that when driving on freeways at speeds above 100 km per hour (60mph). It took one 330 kilometre trip from Chongqing to Chengdu in his Nio ES8, a seven-seater all-electric SUV, for its owner Wang Haichun to be consumed with buyers remorse. Despite being billed as capable of going 335 km on a single full charge, the ES8 didnt get anywhere near that when driving on freeways at speeds above 100 km per hour (60mph), he said, adding that after 180 km, there was only 50 km of range left. We had to recharge the car once and drove with a high level of anxiety throughout, constantly having to keep an eye on the range meter, the 44-year-old manager of a property firm said. Toward the end of the trip, he shut off the air conditioner and audio system to preserve power. I wouldnt want to do that kind of trip again ever. So unhappy was Wang, who paid 481,000 yuan (USD 71,700) for the vehicle, he sold it. He and his wife have since bought a Lexus NX300h gasoline-electric SUV. Asked to comment on Wangs experience, Nio Inc said in an e-mailed statement the ES8 can travel more than 200 km when constantly driven at a 100 km per hour and that battery swap stations are available for quick recharging. The statement did not address Nios advertising of 335 km on a single full charge. In real-world conditions, all-electric cars can sometimes fall far short of advertised ranges, car engineers say. Thats particularly so when driving at length on freeways or hilly terrain and in hot or cold weather. The problem adds to drawbacks which have hindered wider acceptance - EVs have shorter driving ranges than gasoline vehicles anyway, are more expensive and take a long time to recharge. China, Europe and the US state of California have set ambitious requirements for automakers to dramatically increase EV sales over the next 5-10 years, but those goals are at risk unless EVs can come close to matching gasoline engine cars in cost and ease of use. In China, the country most aggressively pursuing the adoption of EVs and home to the worlds largest auto market, some of the industrys biggest names believe pure battery electric cars will be as cheap as gasoline counterparts by 2025. Those making that prediction include Ouyang Minggao, executive vice president of the EV100 forum, a think tank which is widely seen as the de facto voice of government policy. The turning point is coming. We believe that around 2025, the price of pure electric vehicles will achieve a big breakthrough, he said in a speech in January. Ouyang cited a reduction in battery costs to USD 100 per kilowatt hours from USD 150-USD 200 currently and a planned tightening of emissions rules in China which will make gasoline vehicles there more expensive. But others in the EV industry are less optimistic. Chinese policymakers think EVs will become more like conventional gasoline cars as early as 2025. But thats naive and all automaker engineers would agree with me, said a veteran EV engineer at Honda Motor Co. Sure, theres an EV boom but hybrids and plug-in hybrids will be needed as bridging technologies, he said. The engineer was one of five interviewed by Reuters for this article who believe it will take a decade before battery EVs achieve cost and performance parity with gasoline cars. Most were not authorised to speak to media and declined to identified when describing the shortcomings of EV technology. But pressure to deliver parity will only grow as China rolls back subsidies while setting quotas for sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs). China wants NEVs - which also include hybrids, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles - to account for a fifth of auto sales by 2025 compared with 5 per cent now. For most automakers, battery cells cost around USD 200/kWh, the engineers said, although costs for Tesla Inc are believed to be around USD 150/kWh, partly due to its much greater scale of production. Tesla declined to comment. To cut costs, firms are working on slashing the use of cobalt, the most expensive part of lithium-ion batteries. Firms such as Chinas Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), BYD Co Ltd and South Koreas SK Innovation Co Ltd are developing NMC 811 technology. It uses 80 per cent nickel, 10 per cent manganese, 10 per cent cobalt, while a conventional lithium-ion battery uses 60 per cent nickel, 20 per cent manganese and 20 per cent cobalt. NMC 811 also delivers more energy density, meaning batteries will cost and weigh less. Others are developing similar technologies with slightly different ratios. Batteries jointly produced by Tesla and Panasonic Corp substitute manganese with aluminium and use less cobalt than NMC 811. Less cobalt and more nickel increase the risk that a battery cell will catch fire - a problem still being worked on. Even so, South Korean battery makers say the next generation of batteries due in three years or so will cost much less and offer much greater driving ranges. But the engineers who spoke with Reuter's caution that even if battery unit costs are brought down to USD 100/kWh, this would not necessarily translate into a steep decline in vehicle costs. Thats because the investment to improve battery quality needs to be factored in, while the cars also need sophisticated battery management systems to prevent overheating and overcharging - adding thousands of dollars to their cost. Toyota Motor Corp, which does not have a pure EV on the market currently, says it is concerned about battery durability. Battery capacity can drop by half over 5-10 years - the reason for low EV resale values, said Shigeki Terashi, executive vice president in charge of Toyotas EV strategy. Falling EV battery capacity is not a major issue in China now because sales there have only recently begun, but in time this problem will likely become more evident, he told Reuters in an interview. Longer-term efforts to improve batteries are solid state batteries, where the liquid or gel-form electrolyte in a lithium-ion battery is replaced with a solid. That could help double a batterys energy density. Thats the holy grail, says consultant Jon Bereisa, a former GM engineering director who spearheaded much of the automakers early lithium-ion battery development. Many in the industry believe the technology is at least a decade away from mass-market commercial use. There are a lot of limitations to solid state drive..it will be very difficult to adopt the technology in the automotive applications used by the general public, said YS Yoon, president of SK Innovations battery business. Advances in recharging are also key to making electric vehicles mainstream. A big obstacle is heated, which increases resistance and in turn, reduces the current. Most EVs can get a partial charge in less than half an hour, although several models due out in the next year can get close to a full charge in 20 minutes. TE Connectivity is working with automakers to cut charging time to as little as 5 minutes and Chief Technology Officer Alan Amici say that goal may be attained in five years. But others are sceptical. Bereisa thinks battery costs could achieve parity with gasoline cars by the late 2020s but his verdict on fast fueling parity is maybe never. Its physics, he said, adding that to charge an EV with the same amount of energy in the same amount of time as a gasoline car, youd need a charger powerful enough to run a small city. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The European parliament will vote on April 17, in a plenary session in which a simple majority would be needed to block the Commissions proposal. The bosses of BMW and Deutsche Telekom have urged the German government to take action to block a European Commission proposal that would set a Wi-Fi-based standard for connected cars. In a letter, BMW CEO Harald Krueger and Telekoms Tim Hoettges warned that ruling out an alternative approach based on 5G mobile networks would leave Europe lagging rivals like China when it comes to the future of mobility. We are convinced that mandating Wi-Fi technology will cause significant delay to the European rollout of car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication, the CEOs said in the letter to Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. Asked for comment, the German Transport Ministry said it was reviewing reservations raised by legal advisers to the European Council - the intergovernmental part of the EU decision process - after a working group meeting on April 5. These would have to be examined before the government takes a final position on the issue, the ministry said. The EU executive is seeking to set benchmarks for Internet-connected cars, a market for carmakers, telecoms operators and equipment makers expected to be worth billions of euros a year. The Commissions preference for the Wi-Fi-based ITS-G5 standard would give Volkswagen and Renault an edge over BMW, Daimler, Ford, and PSA Group which endorse the rival 5G standard called C-V2X. Advocates of C-V2X, which could, for example, enable cars to talk directly to each other to avoid colliding, say the technology works on existing 4G LTE networks and would be enhanced by the rollout of next-generation 5G services. C-V2X is a game-changer for safety, an alliance of groups representing the European information technology and automotive industries said in a separate statement on April 15. A key committee of EU lawmakers rejected the Commissions proposal last week. The European Parliament will vote on April 17 in a plenary session in which a simple majority would be needed to block it. The European Council also has a say in the issue and would also need a blocking majority to derail the proposal, say officials in Brussels. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. India has overtaken China as the fastest smartphone market in the world with Apple losing significant ground to the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi. Earlier this month, it was reported that sources familiar with Foxconns plans stated that Apple will begin producing the iPhone X series of handsets in India. Now, Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou has stated that the company will begin mass producing Apples iPhone in India, a shift from China which has been producing the handsets all this while. Reports state that Gou has been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to India as Foxconn plans to expand in the country. For a few years, Apples iPhone SE has been produced in India and the company plans to produce more recent models in their Bangalore plant. A report by Bloomberg stated that Foxconn will plan a trial run of building its latest iPhone models in India before it commences full-scale assembly at its factory outside the city of Chennai. India has overtaken China as the fastest smartphone market in the world with Apple losing significant ground to the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi. Apple has not done exceedingly well in India as its prices have held it back. With production shifting to India, Apple can avoid the 20 per cent import duties and this will help the Cupertino-based smartphone giant gain significant traction in the country. At an event in Taiwan, Gou stated, In the future, we will play a very important role in Indias smartphone industry. We have moved our production lines there. On Monday, Gou stated that he plans to step back from daily operations and focus on the broader strategy. Louis Woo, special assistant to Gou said that he was not stepping down or relinquishing his chairmanship. As of yet, its not clear as to how Apples plans in India will affect its China operations as the latter has been the brands most important manufacturing base for years. Also, China is home to Foxconn and its manufacturing partners. Reports state that the Indian assembly line of Foxconn would potentially serve local and export markets by the time Apple announces its next iPhone models later n this year. Foxconn is said to invest USD 300 million to set up for Apple and it is believed the investments will increase as the capacity ramps up. By producing iPhones locally in India will definitely benefit Apple and its retail push in India. Apple needs to meet the 30 per cent local sourcing in order to open its official stores in India. Right now, iPhones in India are sold through Apple retail partners and not their official stores. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The State Department said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning. (Photo:AP) Washington: The US has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and asked them not to travel to restive Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), identified as the most dangerous areas due to terror attacks. While Pakistan in general has been placed in "Level Three" category in the latest travel advisory issued by the US on Monday, several parts of the country, including Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have been placed in the most dangerous "Level Four" category. The US has also put Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK, which is under Pakistan's illegal occupation in the "most dangerous" category. The advisory asked US citizens not to travel to these places due to high risk. "Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and/or a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR)," the State Department said in the travel advisory. Asserting that terror groups continue plotting possible attacks, the State Department said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities. In Pakistan, "Terrorists have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past, and information suggests they continue to do so," it said. Terrorist attacks continue to happen across Pakistan, with most occurring in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Large-scale terrorist attacks have resulted in hundreds of casualties, it said. "Do not travel to Balochistan province," the State Department said, adding that active terrorist groups, an active separatist movement, sectarian conflicts and deadly terrorist attacks against civilians, government offices and security forces destabilise the province. Similarly, in the PoK, it warned that terror groups are known to operate in the area and the threat of armed conflict between India and Pakistan remains. "Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchange gun and artillery fire across the Line of Control (LoC)," it said. Noting that India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on both sides of the Line of Control and International Border, the travel advisory said the only official Pakistan-India border crossing point for persons who are not citizens of India or Pakistan is in the province of Punjab between Wagah and Attari. "Do not travel to KPK province, which includes the former FATA," the advisory said. Active terrorist and insurgent groups routinely conduct attacks against civilians, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government offices, and security forces. "These groups historically have not discriminated between government officials and civilians. Assassination and kidnapping attempts are common, including the targeting of polio eradication teams," it said. New York: The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were awarded Pulitzer Prizes on Monday for their separate investigations of US President Donald Trump and his family. The Times won the prestigious journalism award for explanatory reporting for its probe of the Trump familys finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced during a ceremony at New Yorks Columbia University. Coverage of Trumps secret hush money payments to two women during his 2016 presidential campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him earned the Journal a national reporting nod. The South Florida Sun Sentinel won the Pulitzer for public service for its coverage of failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In the breaking news category, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was honored for its coverage of the October 2018 shooting at a synagogue that left 11 dead. Hannah Dreier of ProPublica won the prize for feature writing for a series of stories about immigrants from El Salvador living on New Yorks Long Island caught up in a crackdown on MS-13 gang members. The Associated Press won a Pulitzer for international reporting for its coverage of the war in Yemen. Reuters was honoured for international reporting for its coverage of atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Reuters also won in the breaking news photography category for pictures of migrants travelling to the US from Central America. In other categories, The Overstory by Richard Powers won the Pulitzer for fiction and Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury won the prize for drama. The Pulitzer for history was awarded to David Blight for Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom while the biography prize went to Jeffrey Stewart for The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke. The poetry prize was won by Forrest Gander for Be With. In general non-fiction, the prize went to Eliza Griswold for Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. Although she waged a spirited campaign, Dr. Pelonomi Venson- Moitois presidential bid was littered with many faultlines that culminated in her last minute pullout to the dismay of multitudes of BDP faithful. The nations hope and anticipation had built over time on who would win the historic presidential race. The campaign was tough and at one point involved legal action in which three judges recused themselves to avoid any semblance of bias or perceived relationship with any of the parties. What gave rise to the court case is the fact that Moitoi had submitted a list of people that she said were delegates to Secretary General, Mpho Balopi in compliance with Article 29.3 of the BDP constitution. Balopi received Moitois letter accompanied with names of her 50 delegates but he noticed that 26 of them were Councillors and therefore not delegates. Balopi told Botswana Guardian that he wrote to Moitoi that, according to our reading of Article 26.4 of the constitution and also the legal opinion that the party had sought from the party lawyers, Councillors are not party delegates and therefore once those people are removed from the list, it means she does not comply. Moitoi was then advised to comply, and to do her due diligence to ensure that people that she is submitting are delegates. APPLICATION Balopi said after receipt of that letter, an urgent application, we were served on Wednesday afternoon and required to be in court at 8; 30 am the next morning. The application was bulky, which led to the attorneys working the entire night to respond and actually had to call me as I was just leaving for Kang to come back so that I could give them an affidavit. LEGAL OPINION Three weeks prior to the party writing to Moitoi, the party had obtained legal opinion that the only delegates template by Article 29.3 and 29.3.1 are delegates as defined by article 26.4.2 of the BDP constitution. The attendees of the national congress are all members of the national council (Article 27.3) and they are: Members of the Central Committee, MPs of the party, all regional chairpersons, all branch chairpersons and their secretaries, all members of the inner executive committee of the Youth, Womens wing executive, one councillor from each branch, while members of the sub committees of the central committees may attend as observers. The second group of attendees is eight (8) delegates from each branch of the 57 constituencies bringing the total to 456 delegates as well as all Councillors. All the above have voting rights. Each constituency has to bring observers. It was on the strength of the legal opinion that Moitoi was advised in her list that at least 26 were not delegates in accordance with the BDP constitution. LAWSUIT The Party lawyers raised a number of points in limine and argued them in court, which acceeded to three points being; that, the matter was not urgent as Moitoi had known as far back as 17th December 2018 that she was going to contest. She has been a Central Committee member for long, she knew the process and it ought not to have taken her by surprise that the rules were the ones that are in place. She argued that the constitution does not provide rules, and in court it was demonstrated that there were rules. The post of a party president is that of a member of the Central Committee in accordance with Article 28, and the constitution provides for elections of central committee members with the difference being while the elections for CC are done every two years, the election for president is held on elections year only. The second point Moitoi had not demonstrated that she had locus standi in court showing that she has a demonstrable right to be before the court. The confusion arose from the fact that BDP constitution states that for one to qualify as a candidate for the post of the presidency for the party, one must also qualify to be president of Botswana under Article 29.3.3 of the constitution. The constitution states for one to be president of Botswana one must be a citizen by birth or descent. In her founding affidavit she did not state whether she is a citizen by birth or descent instead she only stated that she is a Member of Parliament. The judges ruled that Section 33(1) of the Botswana Constitution state that a person shall qualify to be a president of Botswana if he/she is a citizen of Botswana by birth or descent. Although there were arguments on the definition of delegate, the court did not rule on it because it was raised as one of the points in limine. Before the court process Moitois lawyers had indicated that they would like to explore the possibility whether the matter could be resolved amicably and they requested to meet with President Masisi. Balopi gave the go ahead and the president was willing to meet them. When the case was set to resume at 2pm the meeting had been set for 11.30. The president and his team waited for about an hour. The president extended an olive branch that although Moitois 26 Councillors are not delegates, for the purpose of the selection the party can accept them as delegates. Moitoi demanded to be given a voters roll but Masisi told her that he also does not have it, however, Balopi can provide it so that she has time to inspect it before the election. Moitois other concerns included wanting to know who the election commissioners were and to be assured of the fairness and transparency of the elections. She was assured there will be international observers, voting will be done in the presence of observers, media and diplomatic corps. There would also be verification before and after reconciliation.Moitoi requested for congress to be postponed to July. The party told her that is not possible as people are already in Kang. Further there are rules that she could have followed if she wanted the congress postponed. In Kang the Commissioners called for the names of both Masisi and Venson, but the latter did not confirm her candidacy as she had withdrawn. Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). Washington: The US has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and asked them not to travel to restive Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), identified as the most dangerous areas due to terror attacks. While Pakistan in general has been placed in Level Three category in the latest travel advisory issued by the US on Monday, several parts of the country, including Balochistan, KPK province, PoK and India-Pakistan border, were placed in the most dangerous Level Four category, in which US citizens are asked not to travel due to high risk areas. Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), the State Department said. Asserting that terror groups continue plotting attacks, it said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations among other places. New Delhi: French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler Tuesday said he was "deeply moved" by the emotional outpouring of people of India in the wake of the massive fire at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The over 800-year-old cathedral, a World Heritage Site, is considered one of the most iconic landmarks globally and is visited by a large number of people from several countries. "Deeply moved by the outpouring of messages sent from all over India after the fire at #NotreDame de Paris. It's also in such times that one can gauge the value of friendship. Thank you India!" Ambassador Ziegler tweeted. Deeply moved by the outpouring of messages sent from all over India after the fire at #NotreDame de Paris. Its also in such times that one can gauge the value of friendship. Thank you India! pic.twitter.com/jb0ZxkZ2Fa Alexandre Ziegler (@FranceinIndia) April 16, 2019 Soon after the news spread about the devastating blaze at the cathedral, several Indians took to social media to express grief. Many recalled the time they had visited there and others shared pictures from their visit. "No overreading from the incident. We, the people of republic of India, are with you. I know your emotions on this iconic symbol. Rebuild the material structure, because you are known for building equality," wrote a user, Ganesan Ambedkar on Twitter. Others also expressed grief and hoped for its reconstruction. "My thoughts are with the people of France. The 850 years of Notre Dame history teach us to rebuild stronger and we will. - love from India," Gautam Damodaran, another user, tweeted. The fire that broke out at the monumental cathedral in the French capital on Monday has left the world stunned. Paris: Various world leaders took to twitter to express their condolences and regrets after the Notre-Dame blaze in Paris. US President Donald Trump wrote God bless the people of France after the tragedy. God bless the people of France! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 UK Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with the people of France and the fire fighters trying to calm the situation. My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral. Theresa May (@theresa_may) April 15, 2019 President of the European Council, Donald Tusk called on all 28 states to take part in the rebuilding process of the Notre-Dame. He compared it to the tragedy that took place in Gdansk. Id like to say words of comfort and solidarity with the French nation, also as citizen of Gdansk, 90% destroyed and burnt, later rebuilt. You will also rebuild your cathedral! From Strasbourg, French capital of the EU, I call on all 28 States to take part in this task.#NotreDame Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) April 16, 2019 UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed horror and sadness at the devastation of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris as fire tore through the 12th-century symbol of faith and architectural brilliance, days just before the world will celebrate Easter. The colossal fire swept through the famed cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky. "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France," Secretary-General Guterres said in a tweet as images began to flash on television and social media of a burning Notre- Dame Cathedral. Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France. https://t.co/KnLegnlRFH Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 15, 2019 Pope Francis stands with France and is praying for Roman Catholics and Parisians alike after a devastating fire raged through the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral in the heart of the city," the Vatican said Tuesday. "The pope is close to France, he is praying for French Catholics and for the people of Paris in face of the terrible fire which has ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral," the head of the Vatican press office Alessandro Gisotti wrote on Twitter. "He offers his prayers to those trying to face up to this dramatic situation," he added. Le Pape est proche de la France, il prie pour les catholiques francais et pour la population parisienne sous le choc du terrible incendie qui a ravage la cathedrale #NotreDame. Il assure de ses prieres tous ceux qui s'efforcent de faire face a cette situation dramatique. Alessandro Gisotti (@AGisotti) April 16, 2019 Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture also expressed her "deep emotion in the face of this dramatic fire at the cathedral." Azoulay said that UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by the French people's side to "safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage." The Organisation elevated Notre-Dame, widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French gothic architecture, to world heritage status in 1991. "Deep emotion in the face of this dramatic fire at the cathedral #NotreDame de Paris, inscribed as #WorldHeritage in 1991. @UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by France's side to safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage." https://t.co/WsGoSym4gD UNESCO (@UNESCO) April 15, 2019 The President of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa said in a tweet that she is "deeply saddened by the images of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the jewels of French and European cultural heritage, the cathedral was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. "I stand with the people and government of France," she said. London: A group of Indian and Pakistani professionals, including one from Hyderabad on Tuesday won their appeal in the UK Court of Appeal against the British governments decision to reject their right to settle in the country over a controversial national security clause. It is a big relief but it has been a very long and difficult journey, said Ashish Balajigari, from Hyderabad. His application for ILR must now be reassessed after the court found that he had not been given an opportunity to make representations in response to an allegation that he had "acted dishonestly" over what he had submitted was a rectified accountant error. The four applicants were refused their Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK under a skilled visa category over perceived dishonesty in reporting their earnings to the UKs tax department. Their case was clubbed together for the purpose of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which ruled against UK home secretary Sajid Javid and found his approach was legally flawed to apply Paragraph 322(5) of the immigration rules related to conduct and character. The formal result is that each of these four appeals will be allowed, concludes the judgment. Earlier, India postponed the Kartarpur Corridor meeting between the two countries at the Wagah border scheduled for April 2. (Photo:AP) Lahore: Pakistan and India on Tuesday held a technical meeting to discuss the modalities for the corridor linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The technical experts and foreign office officials from both sides participated in the talks held at Zero Point (Kartarpur), according to Geo News. They reportedly discussed installation of a border fence and road design. An official of the Pakistan Rangers told PTI that the meeting of both sides took place at the Kartarpur Zero Point to the PTI but said any statement will be issued either by Pakistan's Foreign Office or the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan military. In a major initiative last November, both India and Pakistan agreed to set up the Kartarpur Corridor to link the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev -- to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Earlier, India postponed the Kartarpur Corridor meeting between the two countries at the Wagah border scheduled for April 2. India and Pakistan on March 19 held a meeting of technical experts on the Kartarpur corridor during which its alignment, coordinates, and other engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points were discussed. The technical meeting at the level of experts, including engineers and surveyors, was held at "proposed zero points" in the follow up to the decision reached on the March 14 meeting. Later, the Pakistani Cabinet constituted a 10-member Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) to facilitate Sikh pilgrims after opening of the Kartarpur corridor. India voiced concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in the committee on the Kartarpur corridor and said it will wait for a response from Islamabad on the issue and will not go ahead with a previously agreed meeting on the corridor on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side. During the previous meeting, both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the Zero Point and discussed the technical details, including finished road level, high flood level etc. Pakistan will build the corridor from the Indian border to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak in Indian Punjab's Gurdaspur district up to the border will be constructed by India. In Pakistan, the groundbreaking ceremony of the corridor was performed on November 28 last year by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Fifty per cent of the four-kilometre stretch being built by Pakistan has been completed while the stretch between the Zero Line to Baba Nanak's shrine is being built by India. The corridor will be opened in November this year in connection with the 550 birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak. Political parties frequently question the veracity of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and argue that the machine can be manipulated. The victory of the BJP with a brutal majority at the Centre and a couple of states ignited speculations again recently. Some hackers also backed these arguments. The Supreme Court actually banned the EVM in elections following the first experiment without Parliamentary approval in the 1982 Kerala Assembly polls. The Election Commission (EC) selected 50 out of 84 booths of Paravur constituency in Kerala's Ernakulam district to test EVMs for the first time in the country. The poll panel had a herculean task to convince political parties and teach the electorate about how EVMs would work. The CPI fielded Sivan Pillai to beat former Assembly speaker A C Jose of the Congress in the elections. As a speaker, Jose was known for using the casting vote a historic number of times - seven times - to help the K Karunakaran-led Congress government. Both the Left Front and the Cong-led UDF were somehow convinced and went door to door to persuade voters about using EVMs at polling booths. The voting at EVM booths ended faster than at other booths on May 19, 1982. The counting was also completed sooner. However, the poll result made the Congress party question the technology. Pillai with 30,450 votes defeated Jose (30,327) by a margin of 123 votes. Jose then moved the High Court challenging the use of EVMs under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. He argued that these legislations did not allow the use of EVMs in elections. To his dismay, the High Court dismissed his petition. Jose appealed in the Supreme Court and earned a favourable order. The Supreme Court asked the EC to conduct a repoll with a ballot paper at 50 booths where EVMs were used. The apex court also barred the EC from experimenting with "innovative methods" in elections. After the repoll in 1984, Jose won by a margin of 2,000 votes. Paravur thus made election history in India by being the first constituency to experiment with EVMs. Following the 1984 Supreme Court order, the EC halted the use of EVMs. In 1992, the Parliament amended both the Representation of the People Act and the Conduct of Elections Rules to legitimise the use of EVMs in elections. Since 1998, EVMs are used for both the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections. Now the EC has introduced the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) to have more transparency in the elections. Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi a tyrannical ruler regional National Conference leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah Monday said if his family wanted to break India, there would have been no India. Even if Modi tries his best, he will not be able to break India. I want to tell him from here today that you will break, but India will not. You accuse the Abdullahs of trying to break India, if we wanted to break India, there would have been no India then, he said while addressing an election rally at Sher-e-Kashmir park, near city center Lal Chowk, here. Abdullah was responding to Modi Sunday speech where he accused Abdullahs and Muftis were trying to break the country, saying the two families ruined three generations of Jammu and Kashmir and he will not allow them to divide India. Hitting back at the prime minister, the NC chief said, Modi should remember that it was him (Abdullah) who held the country's flag when no one wanted to fight elections in the state in 1996. There was no one here then, but now you scream. Two days back, Abdullah had alleged Modi was behaving like German dictator Adolf Hitler. Referring to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that the Centre would make a stronger sedition law, the former CM said, We will see what you will do but Modi and the BJP cannot win the hearts of Kashmiris. Modi has been parroting that Kashmir is the Atoot Ang (integral part) of the country, then why didnt he address any public meet here in Kashmir? What barred him from doing that? Abdullah asked. On one hand, he parrots about winning hearts and minds of Kashmiri, but there is a world of difference between his actions and statements. How can the heart be won by banning highways? This is not the way to won hearts, he added Abdullah, also a three-time former CM of J&K, alleged that Modi and BJP president Amit Shah were destroying the country. Which leader fought the British when General Dyer killed people at Jalianwala Bagh? He was Saifuddin Kitchloo, a Kashmiri from Baramulla. And hundreds of those killed there were from Kashmir, he said. Vadakara, a north Kerala constituency, is witnessing a high voltage CPM-Congress political battle with political killings being the key factor. CPM's senior leader P Jayarajan, an accused in two political murder cases and alleged to be the mastermind of political violence, is the LDF candidate. The UDF, with the intention of giving a strong fight, fielded senior Congress leader and sitting MLA K Muraleedharan, who is the son of former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran. Kerala witnessed about 20 political murders after the Left Front came to power. CPM activists are accused in many, the latest being the murder of two Youth Congress workers at Kasargod. Though the repercussions of political murders will directly reflect in Kasargod and Kannur constituencies also, the fight in Vadakara stands apart as Jayarajan is the candidate. "Even if the Left Front wins 19 out of 20 seats in Kerala and loses Vadakara, it is as if the party has got defeated in Kerala," a CPM sympathiser said. The feedback from ground zero is that political violence is turning out to be an adverse factor for CPM, especially since Jayarajan is the candidate. "We want to live in peace here. So we won't let Jayarajan win," Sunil Kumar, a voter from Nadapuram near Vadakara, commented. Similar was the reaction of many. Both CPM and Congress are involved in a fierce campaign. Jayarajan himself suffered a serious attack from RSS years back and, hence, the CPM was projecting him as a victim of political violence. But that doesn't seem to be working among voters. Vadakara, which comprises assembly segments of Kozhikode and Kannur districts, has been a stronghold of the CPM for many years. But in the 2009 elections, Congress leader Mullappally Ramachandran (present Kerala PCC president and a former union minister of state for home affairs), wrested the seat from CPM with a majority of 56,186 votes. But in 2014 Mullappally got only a narrow margin of 3,306 votes. Major threat Revolutionary Marxist Party formed by dissident CPM leader T P Chandrasekharan of Onchiyam in Vadakara is a major threat to CPM. Chandrasekharan contested in the 2009 elections and bagged over 20,000 votes. He was hacked to death by CPM activists in 2012. Now RMP is strongly backing the UDF. Chandrasekharans wife K K Rema said that K Muraleedharan was a strong contender against Jayarajan and RMP was highly hopeful of his victory. Though Loktantrik Janatha Dal led by Rajya Sabha MP Veerendra Kumar, which has considerable influence in Vadakara, is now with the LDF, the party is unhappy that it was not given even one seat to contest in the election. The BJP has fielded V K Sajeevan in Vadakara, who secured 76,313 votes last time. ************************************ HIGHLIGHTS Constituency name: Vadakara State: Kerala 2014 winner/ party: Mullappally Ramachandran (Cong) Runner up/ party: A N Shamseer (CPM) Margin of votes: 3,306 *********************************** 2019 contestants P Jayarajan (CPM) K Muraleedharan (Cong) V K Sajeevan (BJP) Total voters: 12,86,250 The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its satisfaction on the action initiated by the Election Commission against Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, BSP chief Mayawati, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party's leader Azam Khan over their controversial remarks. "It seems the Election Commission has got its power back. So, you have woken up to take actions," a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna told senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for the poll panel. The top court refused to consider a plea by Mayawati, who, represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, contended she has been left remedyless in view of the apex court's observations. The bench said she can challenge the EC's order by filing an appropriate petition. The court said, for now, no further order was required to be passed in a PIL filed by NRI Harpreet Mansukhani. The court allowed senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioner, to raise the issue in future in case of any further violation of the model code of conduct did take place and the poll panel failed to take any action. On Monday, when the court was hearing the PIL, the EC said its power was circumscribed and it was toothless. It had then fixed the matter for Tuesday to examine power of the EC in such cases. Within hours, the poll panel censured Adityanath and Mayawati and barred them from addressing any public meeting for 72 and 48 hours respectively. By the evening, it passed similar orders against Maneka and Khan. MEDIA COURTHOUSE A Clifton Heights woman has been charged with submitting a fraudulent car insurance claim for an accident that occurred in December 2018. Margaret Towell, 32, of the 200 block of Baltimore Avenue, was released on unsecured bail following a preliminary arraignment Tuesday morning before Magisterial District Judge Kelly A. Micozzie-Aquirre, according to online court records. Towell is charged with three felony offenses: False/fraudulent/incomplete insurance claim; theft by deception involving false impression; and criminal use of a communication facility. It was not immediately known if she had retained an attorney. Here in Delaware County we have zero tolerance for insurance fraud, and individuals, such as Margaret Towell, who commit insurance fraud will be held accountable for their action, Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland stated in a prepared release. Towells arrest capped a joint investigation by Clifton Heights police, detectives from the countys Criminal Investigation Division Fraud Unit, and a Farmers Insurance investigator. According to the release, Towell filed an accident claim with Farmers Insurance on Dec. 16, 2018, in reference to an accident that occurred at North Springfield Road and Summit Street in Clifton Heights the day before, Dec. 15. She indicated she was driving her Ford Escape on Springfield Road when an unidentified vehicle hit her bumper, causing her to lose control of the Escape, swerve and hit a pole. Towell informed investigators that two children and her boyfriend were in the car with her at the time of the wreck. She also indicated the striking car drove away from the scene without ever stopping. An investigation into the claim revealed that Clifton Heights police responded to an accident at North Springfield Road and Summit Avenue in Clifton Heights on Dec. 15, 2018, at 9:48 p.m. At that time, police saw a vehicle, identified as Towells Ford Escape, with heavy front-end damage. The vehicles driver, later identified as Towells boyfriend, was on scene along with two children. The investigation and witness interviews revealed that Towells boyfriend was driving the vehicle erratically and ran into a utility pole. Based on their investigation, Clifton Heights police charged him with driving under the influence, according to the release. According to the release, Towell was interviewed by Farmers Insurance Investigator Nicole Treadwell on Dec. 31, 2018. l. At that time, Towell admitted that she was not the driver of the 2011 Ford Escape at the time of the accident, but rather her boyfriend. An investigation was subsequently launched by the county Detectives Christopher Sponaugle and Edward Kazlo, who met with Towell in reference to her insurance claim. As a result of the investigation, it was determined that Margaret Towell provided false information when she filed her claim with Farmers Insurance when she reported she was the individual driving at the time of the accident, the release states. Copeland commended investigators for their joint efforts in the case. A preliminary hearing is listed for May 2 in Micozzie-Aquirres court. MEDIA COURTHOUSE An Upper Chichester man was acquitted on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and strangulation Monday following a jury trial before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge George Pagano. Pete Pomante, 30, of the 600 block of Litwa Lane, was convicted on one count of simple assault but the jury could not reach a verdict on a count of rape, necessitating a second trial for that charge. Pomante was arrested March 6, 2018, following a Pennsylvania State Police investigation. State troopers met with the 22-year-old victim at Riddle Memorial Hospital on the morning of March 5, where she described an hours-long ordeal beginning with an argument on the evening of March 4. The victim told Assistant District Attorney Ryan Grace she had been dating Pomante prior to the assault, but they had been arguing that day and that she told him she was leaving his things outside. Pomante came to her home unbidden that night and suggested they talk in his van, she said. He then drove to an intersection a short distance away, where she said he began punching her in the head. He then took her into the back of the van and choked her, she said. My vision was turning blurry and I was dizzy, she said. I could feel my lungs burning. Pomante then drove them to the parking lot of an apartment complex, where the woman said he threw her phone at her nose, breaking it. The victim said Pomante dragged her into the back of the van again and threatened to kill her with a carpet knife, holding it up to her neck. The two then returned to the front seat of the van where Pomante allegedly told the woman he could cut her head off and mount it to his rearview window. Pomante then jumped on top of me and pulled my pants down, the woman said. She claimed he raped her while she cried and begged him to stop, but he continued until he ejaculated. Afterward, the victim said they lied down on a bed in the back of the van where Pomante fell asleep. The woman said she did not sleep that night. In the morning, she said he drove her back home and instructed her to go straight to her room. On cross examination, defense attorney Mark Much pointed to various love letters the victim had written Pomante in which she said she wanted him to slap and choke her during lovemaking. Much also produced a Facebook post in which the victim described herself as evil and vindictive, as well as numerous text and call logs from her phone. The logs included dozens of unanswered calls to Pomantes phone while he was with the mother of his child, as well as threatening texts. Keep f playing with me, I will make your life a living hell, m, read one text. Another read, You have no idea whats coming to you and everyone around you. Logs also showed the victim texted Pomante the night of the assault and told him she would drop his things off for him. The two had a three-minute phone conversation at 9:35 p.m. that night, though the victim said she did not recall Pomante saying he would come over. Much additionally solicited testimony from the victim that she and Pomante often used the apartment complex parking lot to have sex in the van after a December car crash in which she had broken her nose. A call intercept with Pomante from the day after the assault was played for the jury in which he said he was upset that she had made him do all that stuff, though he seemed incredulous when she said that he had raped her. In the taped conversation, Pomante also accuses the victim of prostituting herself and calls himself a chump who gets a phone call from her later. Several times in the call, Pomante indicates that he believes the police are listening in and tells her to shut your f mouth over the phone. Jurors additionally heard a taped police interview with Pomante in which he acknowledged having rough sex with the victim in the van, but claimed it was consensual. Also testifying was forensic pathologist Chelsie Weaver, who identified semen collected from the victim and the car seat as a match for Pomantes DNA. Chelsea Ross, a nurse at the hospital, also testified to bruising and abrasions on the victim, and said she had a newly broken nose. A retrial for the rape charge has been set for May 28. Sentencing for the simple assault charge has been deferred. CHESTER A new coalition looking to reexamine the incidents surrounding the Philadelphia-based black liberation group MOVE and understand their cautionary tales will bring a discussion to the MJ Freed Theater this week. Re-member Move will give a presentation and panel discussion from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the theater, 515 Avenue of the States. Some people say Ill never forget (the MOVE bombing), but after the MOVE Commission was terminated it just went away, said Ulysses Butch Slaughter, Re-member MOVE organizer. This is an opportunity as a society to look at the past and unpack somethings, but also to avoid some things in the future. Slaughter will join Pauline Thompson as moderators for a present and panel discussion featuring Debbie Africa, a MOVE member released from prison in July 2018; Michael Africa Jr., son of Debbie Africa and social justice advocate; Linn Washington, a journalist who has covered MOVE extensively; and Eric Brother Shomari Grimes, educator, author and radio host. The panel will address the MOVE incidents in Philadelphia, as well as the groups presence in Chester. The event will include the highest profile aspects of MOVEs conflicts with the City of Philadelphia the 1978 shootout with Philadelphia police resulting in third-degree murder convictions for nine members (including Debbie Africa) in the death of Officer James J. Ramp, and the citys May 13, 1985, bombing of MOVEs West Philadelphia rowhome compound along with the groups activity in Chester. The resulting fire in Philadelphia killed eleven MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 65 houses in the neighborhood. The same day as the West Philadelphia bombing, Chester and state police forced members of MOVE a woman and five children from an East End house to block other members from seeking refuge there and in response to numerous health and safety violations. The genesis of Re-Member MOVE came in 2011 from a suggestion by Grimes to Slaughter to bring reconciliation between former Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode, who oversaw the 1985 bombing, and those connected to MOVE. (Grimes) knows Ive done a lot of strategic consultation over the years I couldnt fit it in back then, Slaughter said. Seven years later, the idea came to fruition over the controversy of a Philadelphia City Council proposal to name a street after Goode. There was a big community backlash, said Slaughter, who at that point contacted Goode and those connected with MOVE to gage interest in reconciliation. I went about putting together these people about 50 people are interested and weve been looking at the components of reeducating people who think they know what happened and a whole new generation of people, said Slaughter. Slaughter hopes that events like Thursdays discussion will find ways to avoid similar results in future conflicts. Slaughter cited a March eviction in Upper Darby Township of two members of an anti-government group when authorities stated they wanted to avoid a MOVE-like situation. If (the bombing) can happen in 1985 and (police Superintendent Michael) Chitwood wants to avoid it in 2019 what do we have to study if he thinks that possibility still exists today?, said Slaughter. IF YOURE GOING The Re-member Move presentation and panel discussion is held 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the MJ Freed Theater, 515 Avenue of the States. The event is free but seating is limited; registration is required. To register, visit www.eventbrite.com and search for Re-member Move. LOGAN Utah State University announced Monday professor Lance Seefeldt will succeed professor Alvan Hengge as head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry on July 1. Hengge, who has served as department head for the past 10 years, recently received a Fulbright Award to conduct research at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, a public research university in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He travels to South America in early 2020. Hengge, whose research focuses on the critical biological process of enzyme-catalyzed phosphoryl transfer, received USUs top research honor, the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award, in 2015. He is the recipient of three annual awards for outstanding researcher, outstanding teacher and outstanding undergraduate research mentor. Seefeldt, who joined USU in 1993, is an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and received the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award in 2012. He was named USUs 2019 Graduate Research Mentor of the Year. A longtime expert in nitrogen fixation research, Seefeldt, whose efforts are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, is pioneering studies toward a clean and renewable light-driven process for converting nitrogen to ammonia, a primary component of fertilizer. SALT LAKE CITY A recent settlement between LGBTQ couples and the state of Michigan limiting the rights of faith-based adoption and foster care agencies ended one lawsuit but launched another. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty announced Monday that it's suing Michigan and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on behalf of St. Vincent Catholic Charities and two adoptive families it's served. The lawsuit argues it's wrong for faith-based adoption or foster care agencies to miss out on government contracts simply because they won't work with same-sex couples for religious reasons. "Faith-based agencies like St. Vincent consistently do the best work because of their faith, and we need more agencies like them helping children not fewer. The actions by the Attorney General of Michigan do nothing but harm the thousands of at-risk children in desperate need of loving homes," said Mark Rienzi, Becket's president, in a statement. The new lawsuit is the latest development in a yearslong clash between religious freedom and LGBTQ rights in Michigan and across the country. State and federal leaders are struggling to protect same-sex couples and faith-based adoption agencies at the same time. "Of all the religious freedom issues that I've seen in my 15 years of doing this work, (adoption) is the most nuanced of them," said Robin Fretwell Wilson, director of the family law and policy program at the University of Illinois College of Law, to the Deseret News last year. LGBTQ rights activists say their goal is not to shutter faith-based agencies. Instead, it's to keep organizations that won't serve same-sex couples from receiving public money. "When you accept taxpayer funds to provide this really important government service, you can't throw away good families based on religious criteria that have no relationship to your ability to care for the child," Leslie Cooper, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT & HIV Project, told the Deseret News last month. However, limiting access to government contracts can spell doom for faith-based agencies, which have been leaders in the foster care and adoption landscape for decades, said Nick Reaves, a Becket attorney, in a Monday press call. "St. Vincent would be forced to close down both its foster care and adoption program if the state followed through with the threats that it's made as a result of the settlement agreement," he said. The settlement, announced March 22, explained that agencies discriminating against potential adoptive or foster parents on the basis of sexual orientation would no longer be eligible for state contracts. "Discrimination in the provision of foster care case management and adoption services is illegal, no matter the rationale," said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel at the time. The decision ended an 18-month-long legal dispute between the state of Michigan and the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU. Becket had also joined the lawsuit to offer additional support for faith-based agencies. Limiting the opportunity for a child to be adopted or fostered by a loving home not only goes against the state's goal of finding a home for every child, it is a direct violation of the contract every child placing agency enters into with the state. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel Initially, the state of Michigan defended its partnerships with faith-based foster care and adoption agencies, citing a state law protecting these kinds of organizations from government interference. However, after Nessel took office this year, she expressed interest in working with the ACLU to settle the lawsuit. In March, she said that state law protecting faith-based organizations doesn't outweigh federal nondiscrimination protections. "Limiting the opportunity for a child to be adopted or fostered by a loving home not only goes against the state's goal of finding a home for every child, it is a direct violation of the contract every child placing agency enters into with the state," she said. Becket decried the settlement at the time, arguing that the state of Michigan was trampling religious freedom rights. The new lawsuit is aimed at overturning the settlement, reinstating St. Vincent's access to state contracts and clarifying federal nondiscrimination laws. "One of the arguments that Attorney General Nessel made in the settlement agreement is that (the settlement) was, at least in part, required by the federal government's (adoption-related) regulations," Reaves said. "HHS has stepped back from some of those regulations and it's unclear if they would even apply them themselves." Melissa Buck, one of the families involved in the lawsuit, said organizations like St. Vincent deserve protection. "My five children have a home and a future today thanks to St. Vincent, and my husband and I still rely on St. Vincent's vital support in every step of our journey together as a family. We are hopeful that the courts will step in, do the right thing and allow faith-based agencies to continue to help vulnerable families like mine," she said in a statement. AMERICAN FORK A hiker in American Fork Canyon found human remains that authorities say might belong to a woman who went missing last year. Jerika Binks, 24, of American Fork, was last seen leaving a residential treatment center near 300 North and 1100 East in American Fork about 9 a.m. on Feb. 18. She told her roommates she was going for a run, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office. She hasn't been seen since. On Sunday, a man hiking in the canyon found the remains and notified the sheriff's office. "The man said he hikes regularly in that area but had never before hiked in this particular ravine. The terrain is extremely rugged and steep, and the remains were located on the north side of the canyon about 850 feet above the floor of the canyon," according to a statement from the sheriff's office. Authorities recovered the skeletal remains Monday morning, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "We believe there's a good chance they belong to Jerica Binks, but we don't have positive ID yet," Cannon said. Authorities found evidence of an injury but no evidence so far to suggest foul play was involved, according to the statement. Items were found at the scene that match items Binks' family members described as belonging to her, Cannon said. Although "we feel confident that it is" Binks, Cannon said, authorities are waiting until the State Medical Examiner confirms it. He said there is no cellphone reception where the remains were found on state Route 92 near the Swinging Bridge picnic site. Cannon declined to comment on whether a cellphone was found near the remains. Correction: A previous version incorrectly identified the man who found the remains as a rock climber. He was a hiker. Stepping out of his front door near Paris' Ile Saint-Louis, Benjamin Poussard made his way toward the Pont de la Tournelle, a bridge crossing the Seine River. With plans to meet his wife to celebrate his birthday with a night out, he spotted smoke rising above the Ile de la Cite, the island where the famous Notre Dame Cathedral sits at the heart of Paris. "It was horrible," Poussard said, describing how he watched flames engulf the roof of the city's most-visited tourist attraction. "People from all over Paris were converged on bridges, watching the smoke rise." Realizing the magnitude of what was happening, Poussard rushed home to get his camera, returning to the site where crowds of people were filled the streets and bridges surrounding the small island at the city center. Read the full story at The Church News. SALT LAKE CITY Many people gathered outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral Monday night to sing hymns in honor of the damaged historic site. Videos appeared on social media of patrons standing outside the still-smoking cathedral and singing religious songs, according to CNN. As evening falls in Paris, crowds are still gathered near Notre Dame as the historic cathedral burns, according to CNN. A witness earlier in the day had described an eerie silence; now, the crowd has begun to sing hymns together, many on their knees. Specifically, those standing outside the church were singing Catholic hymns to bring people together as a sign of unity. #NotreDameCathedral: 'Below me there are lots of people gathered singing Ave Maria, singing catholic hymns, trying to bring some kind of unity'@markowenf24 reporting live from the scene pic.twitter.com/ebnPzUM0uV FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 15, 2019 OK, I finally lost it completely: Parisians singing hymns as Notre Dame burns. pic.twitter.com/wSeIdQc8qF Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) April 15, 2019 Parisians sing hymns as their glorious cathedral burns pic.twitter.com/9JoyWLqaLu Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) April 15, 2019 This gets you in the heart. Its sadly ancient and beautiful. Parisians singing as they watch the Notre Dame cathedral burn. What else can they do? pic.twitter.com/WoC2TgM9xZ Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) April 15, 2019 One video showed a group singing Ave Maria. In another video, the church bells of Paris rang for Notre Dame. Les cloches des eglises de Paris sonnent pour soutenir #Notre_Dame pic.twitter.com/gzx9Cnvv8i Baptiste Morin (@baptistemor1) April 15, 2019 According to The Associated Press, a fire erupted at the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday afternoon, engulfing the roof and collapsing the spire. A French fire official said the cathedral was saved from total destruction, although it will take a few more hours to extinguish the flames, CNBC reported. The image was both horrifying and powerful the ominous glow of flames lapped the roof of Notre Dame as the Parisian twilight settled into darkness. Gone was its signature spire, fallen from the charred and weakened structure. The roof collapsed shortly thereafter. As onlookers around the world watched on Monday, they saw not only a medieval edifice succumb to fire but also centuries of history, struggle, religion, refuge and hope seemingly disappear with the rising smoke. But it would be wrong to believe all is lost. For one thing, French officials now say the structure at least is saved from total destruction. Admittedly, that sentiment has the air of a friend desperately trying to console another in the face of tragedy. Sometimes, simply mourning with those who mourn is better than looking on the bright side. Nevertheless, the two towers appear to be safe, and fire crews were reportedly diverting their efforts to save the internal artwork in hopes of preserving a sliver of its tremendous history. The cathedral, ironically, was in the middle of a restoration project. Preserving whats left is no doubt top of mind for the involved parties. It seems likely for them to give the green light for expert crews to begin rebuilding the damaged portions as soon as possible. Not only is it Paris most-visited monument, with roughly 12 million people who flock to it each year, its history is vitally important to the development of Western religion, art and architecture. What college student hasnt examined its flying buttresses or iconic sculptures? Despite the efforts, its hard to look at the scorched images and believe it will ever have a brighter future. Yet, assuming Notre Dame or its history is finished would be the opposite of what the cathedral stands for. Notre Dames construction in the purest sense was a testament to the faith of believers who hoped in a savior to deliver them from trials and pains. Its physical history has mirrored that cause, having weathered the elements and been delivered from wars, invasions and past periods of reconstruction. Notre Dames construction in the purest sense was a testament to the faith of believers who hoped in a savior to deliver them from trials and pains. It stands as a monument to the faith it houses within, that weak things can be made strong, and that with God, all things are possible. The destruction is devastating, but its timing is in some ways instructive. Easter season reminds Christians of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. His crucifixion, entombment and resurrection promise all a life after death and a hope after suffering. His message is the good news of the gospel: Hope is not gone, faith is not dead. All is not lost, and neither is Notre Dame. SALT LAKE CITY What would it take to raise Utah teacher salaries to a living wage? What would it take to retain teachers or re-engage teachers who left the profession? This week, Envision Utah will convene 21 education stakeholders who include legislative leaders, the president of the Utah Education Association, the state superintendent, and top business and technology leaders to seek answers to those questions and develop possible solutions. "We're hoping the discussion will lead to some real guidance on what ought to happen," said Robert Grow, Envision Utah's chief executive officer, during a meeting of the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards Monday. Research and polling conducted by Envision Utah, a nonprofit regional planning agency, points to one key factor: teacher compensation. Compared to other careers that also require a bachelor's degree, Utah teacher salaries rank near or at the bottom. Unlike other professions where earnings increase significantly over time, the growth trajectory for teacher salaries is relatively flat. The list includes financial managers, engineers, accountants, construction managers and other careers that require a bachelor's degree and have a relatively direct path from a college major to a career in the same field. "To make teacher salaries more comparable and competitive would take a 40-55 percent increase in starting salaries and a 38-68 percent increase in median salaries," according to Envision Utah documents. While Envision Utah polling shows a growing number of Utahns say they are willing to increase funding for education, the unanswered question is how. "I don't know the outcome of this. This is not easy. This is hard. This may be the most difficult thing Envision Utah has ever tried to facilitate as a discussion," said Grow. The "how much" seems a little more clear cut. According to the Living Wage Calculator created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, a household of two parents and three children with one working adult would need an annual salary of nearly $60,000 to have a living wage based on typical expenses in Utah. "Median teacher salaries are $5,800 short of that mark," Envision Utah documents state. It would take roughly $200 million ongoing to bring up salaries and benefits to that level. Moreover, with just a bachelor's degree, teachers in 17 of Utah's 41 school districts will never make the living wage for their county. With a master's degree, it takes seven to 24 years for teachers to earn enough to support a five-person family in the county where they work, the documents state. One thing is certain: The demand for teachers outstrips supply. Utah's traditional teacher preparation programs produced 1,780 new teachers in 2016. That same year, 3,452 educators left the profession, leaving a deficit of 1,672. An Envision Utah survey of 4,000 college students showed that 44 percent considered education as a career, but more than a third said they didn't choose teaching because of the pay. Students with GPAs of 3.5 and above and those who scored 30 or higher on the ACT said they would teach if salaries were higher, there were more career growth options, and more scholarships and financial aid. Many people in Envision Utah's stakeholder group have been talking to one another about these challenges for years. Others will be new to the conversation, Grow said. "All of these people approach this question in good faith, with strong feeling and a hope Utah's children will be very well educated," he said. SALT LAKE CITY As I watched Notre Dame go up in flames Monday morning, I couldn't help but contrast what I saw on television with an image in my mind from about a year ago. I was living in France at the time, and it was almost spring. I was walking alone in Paris, energized by the intoxicating atmosphere of the city at night: music, lights, open-air cafes with tables spilling out onto the streets, the whiff of cigarette smoke, snatches of conversation from couples walking by. I was on my way to buy a train ticket for the South of France. Determined to prove to myself that I was Paris street savvy, I refused to use Google Maps to get to the station, although I wasnt entirely certain of the way. I cut down a random side street, and when I emerged onto the main street and looked up to get my bearings, there was Notre Dame. It glowed white, and illuminated the bare branches of trees growing around it until they glowed white, too. I could make out the arcs of each flying buttress. The spire rose to an indistinguishable point in the sky. The cathedral, which is incredibly tall and imposing when viewed from the front, appeared long and lithe from the side. Another word, unexpectedly, came to mind: comforting. I had never been to the cathedral alone I had always gone with a group of people, and we had posed for pictures in front of it, with hundreds of other tourists in the background. But now, looking up alone at the cathedral and its pale light, almost a year after moving to France, finally fluent in the language, I had the strange sensation that I belonged there, and that Notre Dame was no longer a tourist destination for me, a landmark to check off the bucket list. It felt like part of my new home. I almost didnt photograph Notre Dame that night, not wanting to break, or cheapen, whatever special moment had just occurred between me and the cathedral. But it was so ghostly and beautiful that I couldnt resist. Now, Im grateful I took the picture. Why, when I see photos on my Facebook feed of Aleppo in ruins, do I not feel that same rush of self-identification, of personal loss? When I happened to glance up at the TV this morning and saw that Notre Dame was on fire, I had an immediate, visceral reaction of shock and horror. My WhatsApp flooded with messages from the roommates Id had in France: Did you see Notre Dame? Dont even talk about it, Im crying. I felt personally afflicted, broken, as if the tragedy had occurred in my backyard. But I also felt conflicted. Why, when I see photos on my Facebook feed of Aleppo in ruins, do I not feel that same rush of self-identification, of personal loss? And its not just me. Many other tragedies, of similar or larger magnitude, pass unnoticed and unmarked by the majority of Americans, with limited TV coverage, minimal tweets and muted discussion. After the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, which killed 17 people, Facebook rolled out a feature called Temporary Profiles, in which users could overlay their profile pictures with the colors of the French flag to represent their solidarity with the victims of the attacks and the French in general. There was also a feature called Safety Check, allowing people in the vicinity of the attack to indicate if they were safe. The rolling out of these features in response to the Paris attack raised questions about what is perceived as a tragedy, and why. Molly McHugh wrote in Wired, Why wasnt Safety Check turned on for the people of Beirut, where suicide bombings [in November 2015] killed 43? Or Syria? Or Kenya? Why werent there temporary flag filters for these countries, similarly ravaged by tragedy? What was it that set Paris apart? Perhaps it's the gravitational pull that Paris exerts on Americans. Think cult classic films "An American in Paris," "Moulin Rouge" and "Midnight in Paris." Paris is the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe. Its the capital of cuisine and romance and wine and fashion and architecture. Its New Yorks older, more glamorous sister. Its one of the most-visited cities in the world in 2017, 17.4 million foreigners traveled to Paris. Many people feel a connection to Paris by virtue of having been there. This could help explain why tragedies occurring in France, as opposed to other countries, have been especially resonant for so many Americans. If you feel like your group is in conflict with another group, the more empathy you have for your group, the more likely you are to be antagonistic to the other group. Emile Bruneau, a research associate and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania The human mind has a prewired tendency to think in terms of groups, said Emile Bruneau, a research associate and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and lead scientist at the Beyond Conflict Innovation Lab who studies how cognitive biases can drive conflicts. Bruneau said that we feel empathy for people based on whether we consider them to be a part of our group or not. Groups can be defined along a number of lines such as age, gender, skin color, religion, caste, culture and language and groups can also be placed in a hierarchy. We decided during colonial times that it should be a hierarchy based on skin color, and that's stuck with us. We have a tendency to be comfortable with hierarchies and with the idea that some groups are better than others, without even consciously thinking about it, Bruneau added. He pointed out that last week, a man burned down three historically black churches each of which was over 100 years old in Louisiana. Yet the news barely made a blip compared to the Notre Dame fire, which received wall-to-wall coverage on cable news. The awareness that empathy is selectively applied to people who are more like you is a really uncomfortable realization, but it can be a really important one in recognizing how subtle these biases can be, Bruneau said. Two studies Bruneau conducted back up this point. In one study, people of Arab and Israeli descent were shown articles about suffering in their countries, and the empathy zones of their brains lit up. But those regions didn't light up when they were shown articles about South American conflicts. Another study found that when white and African American subjects watched as peoples' hands were pricked with a pin, white people were more likely to feel empathy for the whites being pricked and African Americans were more likely to feel empathy for the African Americans being pricked. I spoke with one of my college friends, Nayab Khan, who is a Muslim community organizer and recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvanias School of Social Policy & Practice, about the selective application of empathy. Khan, 22, said that she noticed many of the people who shared social media posts about the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks were silent about the recent terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. We've been taught to think of the pain white people go through as worse than the pain black and brown people go through. But you dont get to pick and choose what tragedy you want to highlight based on which subset of humans seems closer to you, Khan said. She added that news of tragedies and mass violence in Syria, Yemen, Mali and Sudan arent met with as much uproar by the Western media and by Americans in general because Middle Eastern and African countries are perceived as underdeveloped nations where things like that always happen. It isnt news, its a reality. And the fact that we dont have an uproar about it makes it a reality, because we dont do anything about it. So, what should we do? Bruneau said the answer isn't always more empathy which sometimes can cause us to focus on what's right in front of our nose, at the expense of others elsewhere who might be more in need of help. And, he added, too much empathy can even incite acts of violence. "If you feel like your group is in conflict with another group, the more empathy you have for your group, the more likely you are to be antagonistic to the other group," Bruneau said. Going forward, "we might want to rely on a more rational evaluation of where we can give the most help," Bruneau said. For some people, that might mean donating to rebuild Notre Dame. For others, that might mean volunteer work abroad or at home, or community organizing. Before I left work this afternoon, a former coworker in France texted me: "Mon ami m'a dit il y a le feu a Notre Dame. On n'y a pas cru. Ca touche un element du pays qui parle a tout le monde." "My friend told me Notre Dame was on fire. We didn't believe it. It touches a piece of the country that speaks to everyone." SALT LAKE CITY It was like a scene out of a horror movie. The Notre Dame Cathedral was suddenly ablaze on Monday, the flames dancing in front of the darkening Paris sky. Firefighters saved the majority of the structure, except for its world-famous spire, which collapsed into the remains of the cathedral that draws more than 13 million visitors a year and 30,000 people a day. No one was injured. Patrons gathered outside the church to sing hymns, including Ave Maria, a mournful melody highlighting the ironic twist of fate that such devastating damage should occur during Holy Week, the days of Christian religious celebration leading up to Easter. But the stunning conflagration raises questions for other major architectural structures with religious significance, including those in Utah, such as the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which draws more than 3 million to 5 million visitors each year. The church is scheduled to detail lengthy renovation and retrofitting plans for the temple on Friday, and as Notre Dame burned it brought clearly into focus the need for care during what firefighters say can be a particularly dangerous time for historical structures. "We make every effort to protect our historical facilities from fire or any damage," church Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse told the Church News Monday. Bishop Causse, a native of France, watched with sadness as he and his wife, Valerie, noted the devoted sacrifice of so many over the centuries to build such a grand cathedral for worship in Paris. "Because renovation work may put our historic facilities at greater risk, we use fire prevention plans. These plans typically include 24-hour fire watch, fire suppression systems and extinguishers placed strategically around the facility, and extensive training of staff and workers." Is Salt Lake City prepared to protect not just the temple, but Utah's other historic structures, such as the Cathedral of the Madeleine, the Utah Capitol and the Salt Lake City-County Building? The Deseret News spoke to fire and emergency management officials in Utah about fire lessons learned from similar fires in Utah history, at the Provo Tabernacle and the Governor's Mansion, which burned when a Christmas tree caught fire in 1993. Just what hazards still keep them up at night? Creating a fire safety habit Utah fire officials say there are procedures already in place to prepare for and respond to a fire at one of the states historic buildings. Weve done our best to make sure these buildings have the latest and best resources available to them as far as fire prevention, said Salt Lake City Fire Capt. Adam Archuleta. The Utah Capitol boasts a sophisticated fire prevention program, with a fire alarm system, eight sprinkler zones throughout the building and a smoke evacuation system, in addition to other measures, according to Allyson Gamble, executive director of the Utah Capitol Preservation Board. The Salt Lake Temple has its own large underground water supply to supplement the citys underground water supply in case of a fire, said Archuleta. In the event of a fire at the Salt Lake Temple, the Salt Lake City Fire Department has a plan in place to immediately deploy enough firefighters and firetrucks to the scene, he said. Instead of the department sending a standard three engines and one truck, he said it would send six fire engines and five trucks at a minimum as an initial response. We would have upward of 50 firefighters there within the first 10 minutes or so, said Archuleta. This would give us a huge advantage, and at that point we could expand as necessary. Citizens also have a role to play in fire prevention and safety, said Joe Dougherty, spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management. They should have an idea of where the exits are, where my alternate exit is going to be if I cant use my primary exit, he said. And that works whether you are a patron of the temple, or you are attending a church of another religion. If you're in a public building or you are in your own home, you need to identify the exit out of every room. If we build that type of habit, well make sure that we are going to be as safe as possible when were in a public space. Learning from the past Questions prompted by the Notre Dame fire about Utahs historic buildings are not merely theoretical. In December 1993, a fire caused by faulty wiring on the Christmas tree in the Utah Governors Mansion gutted the ornate building, requiring a long and painstaking renovation to restore the mansions historical interior. And in 2010, the Provo Tabernacle experienced a major fire, ignited by a lighting technician who mistakenly set a 300-watt light fixture on a wooden speaker box in the attic, according to a Provo Fire Department report. The fire cost $15 million in damage, and the building had to be completely renovated. Archuleta remembers the Provo Tabernacle fire clearly. The fire was a historical loss because the building was integrated into the history of the community," he said. It was rebuilt, however, into a second church temple for Provo, saving as much of the original building as possible. It was a place where people congregate and it was a place where people had, for all intents and purposes, spiritual life-changing experiences. So the building itself, yes, it was just brick and mortar to an extent, but that represents the values of the community. While the losses associated with house fires can be traumatic and emotional for individuals and families, the structures themselves can be somewhat easily, cheaply and quickly rebuilt, Archuleta said. Not so with historic buildings. The cathedral or the City-County Building or the Provo Temple, these are landmark structures that simply cannot be replaced, he said. They could be rebuilt to an extent,but nothing like they were originally. So we consider that when were making our fire tactics and strategies. Sometimes, he said, firefighters themselves can be affected by the emotional nature of battling fires that consume structures with great historical or religious significance. Make no mistake, everybody is aware of what the staples of the (Utah) community are from a religious standpoint, said Archuleta. However, its our obligation as firefighters to remove as much of the emotion as possible once we engage in a firefight. Its a testament to the humanity of the firefighters that you have the ability to just remove yourself for a moment, to make the most logical and rational decisions based off of standard firefighting procedures and tactics, he continued. Afterward is when youre going to have that emotional investment and effect." The greatest danger is during construction Firefighters use the term "target hazards" to describe historic structures that could be especially vulnerable to fires, meaning that there is something about those particular buildings that presents unique risks. For the Cathedral of the Madeleine or the Salt Lake Temple, he said one of those hazards has to do with the sheer volume of people that visit the buildings at all hours of the day and night, requiring fire officials to have enough firefighters and resources available to fight a fire there anytime. The greatest danger is during construction. Brad Larson, Fire Marshall with the Unified Fire Authority But the buildings themselves also present fire-safety hazards, said Brad Larson, fire marshall with the Unified Fire Authority. "The greatest danger is during construction," he said. Much attention has been drawn to the fact that the Notre Dame Cathedral fire occurred while the building was undergoing $6.8 million in renovations. Fires are common during building renovations, according to Matthew McFarland, spokesperson for the Unified Fire Authority. Sometimes thats because during construction a buildings power may be shut off, resulting in a disconnection or compromising of a buildings fire alarm system, he said. Construction might also cause the exposure of wood or other materials to open wires, welding or propane heaters used to keep space warm in the winter. Thats why construction companies are required by state law to have a rigid fire prevention program, said Larson. Besides the risks of construction, older buildings themselves can be especially prone to fires sometimes deceptively so, said Archuleta. Gamble, with the Utah Capitol Preservation Board, said the Utah Capitol was designed with fire suppression in mind when it was built in 1916. Rather than wood, the Capitol was primarily built of concrete and steel, with a wood facade painted by artists on the interior of the building. The building is now equipped with sophisticated sprinkler systems and other fire prevention measures. But fire experts say even when the exterior of the building is made of a solid, non-highly flammable material, it can still be highly vulnerable to its interior contents made of modern materials, specifically the use of synthetic materials to furnish the building, such as carpets and furniture. And when buildings have been renovated several times, each renovation brings more and more void spaces, where old plumbing and electrical wiring has been removed, leaving areas of space in the walls, Archuleta said. Fire can travel between the walls," he said. "So even when we think we have a handle on the origin area of the fire, the fire may be spreading all around us without us even being aware of it." Correction: An earlier version stated the Provo Tabernacle fire occurred in 2011. It was in 2010. It also incorrectly stated the number of visitors to the Salt Lake Temple was more than all five of the state's national parks combined. National Park Service figures show the five parks collectively drew more than 10 million visitors in 2018. It also stated the Salt Lake City-County Building is gothic in style. It is Richardsonian Romanesque. PARIS The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers, and a frantic rescue effort saved the monument's "most precious treasures," including the Crown of Thorns purportedly worn by Jesus, officials said Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years. "We have so much to rebuild," Macron said in a televised address to the nation. "We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize (to do so)." Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be "long and complex." Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered on the roof. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." "Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works," said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there were still some risks to the structure and that it was "under permanent surveillance because it can still budge." A plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action after the fire broke out. The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame's most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly transported after the fire broke out, said Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ's head during the crucifixion. Also saved was the tunic of St. Louis, a long, shirt-like garment from the 13th century, said Culture Minister Franck Riester. The cathedral's famous 18th century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes also survived. "The works of art, the most precious treasures were secured last night," Riester told reporters, thanking teams from city hall, the culture ministry, firefighters and the bishopric who worked to save the items. Some of the works were being transferred from City Hall to the Louvre, where they will be dehumidified, protected and eventually restored. The minister said the cathedral's greatest paintings would be removed starting Friday. "We assume they have not been damaged by the fire but there will eventually be damage from the smoke," he added. The 3-meter-tall copper statues that looked over Paris from Notre Dame's 96-meter peak already had been removed from the roof days ago and sent to southwestern France as part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. Much was saved in the interior too. The only major work damaged inside was the cathedral's high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. It was hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. "We have been able to salvage all the rest," said Prades, who watched the recovery overnight. "All the 18th century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels and the big organ are fine." The three large stained-glass rose windows, among the most famous parts of the cathedral, were not destroyed, but might have been damaged by the heat and will be assessed by an expert, he added. "The task is now the risk of fire has been put aside about the building, how the structure will resist," said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure. The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain "extremely fragile," notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO heritage site and UNESCO has offered its expertise. Pope Francis offered his prayers that Notre Dame, the "architectural gem of a collective memory," will once again be a shrine to the Catholic faith, a symbol of the French nation and a spiritual and architectural gift to humanity. In a condolence note to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, Francis said the fire was particularly devastating given that it came during the somber days leading up to Easter during which Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Repairing the cathedral, including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof, presents challenges. The roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because "we don't, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century," said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technology. Also of concern, Feydeau said, is the organ, "a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes." "It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored," he told AP. France's richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction. Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, said they were giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, the holding company owning auction house Christie's and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. French companies Total and L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros. Offers of assistance flowed in from around the world to help restore the 12th century tourist attraction to its former glory. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects, while major French businesses pledged financial assistance. In his speech, Macron thanked firefighters, police and those who pledged funds, although his goal of rebuilding the cathedral in five years seemed ambitious. Peter Fuessenich, who oversees reconstruction for the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, said it could take decades to repair Notre Dame. Cologne Cathedral was heavily damaged during World War II and work to repair it is still ongoing more than 70 years later. "It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired," he told broadcaster RTL. "When the last stone was set in Notre Dame, the first one was laid here in Cologne, and in this respect it affects us all very much." ____ Associated Press writers Angela Charlton, John Leicester, Sylvie Corbet and Elaine Ganley in Paris, Nicole Winfield in Rome and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed. SALT LAKE CITY Millions of dollars have been pledged to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral after a massive fire topped the buildings spire and partially destroyed the monument. One firefighter was "seriously injured" in the blaze. It burned for hours before it was totally extinguished on Tuesday, according to The New York Times. French President Emmanuel Macron said the country would rebuilding the historic building. We will rebuild Notre-Dame, he said. Because that is what the French expect. Two businessmen in France said theyd donate 300 million ($339 million) by early Tuesday to begin the rebuild, BBC News reports. In fact, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and CEO of Kering, pledged $113 million on his own, according to a released statement, The Guardian reported. And the family of Bernard Arnault, who owns the luxury goods group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said the plan is to donate $226 million, according to Agence-France Presse. People from around the globe have donated to the cause as well, according to BBC News. Investigators will begin looking into why the fire began on Monday afternoon. The cathedral, which corrals 13 million visitors every year and close to 30,000 per day, was undergoing a renovation project at the time, CBS News reports. SALT LAKE CITY Thousands of Utah Navajos would no longer have to haul water to their homes if Congress passes bipartisan legislation introduced this week that has the backing of lawmakers in Utah and Arizona. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, joined with two Arizona senators on a bill that would end decades of conflict among the Navajo Nation, the federal government and Utah over water rights. The Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act would settle all current and future tribal claims for water rights in the state and preclude future court litigation. It would provide the Navajo Nation with the rights to 81,500 acre-feet of water a year from the Colorado River Basin. The bill, co-sponsored by Romney, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., would allocate $210 million for water projects to help provide clean drinking water to tribal members. It also calls for Utah to contribute $8 million toward the settlement, which has already been approved. "Along the San Juan River, from New Mexico to Aneth community and all the way to Navajo Mountain, theres 2,400 families who will be connected to running water," said Speaker of the Navajo Nation Seth Damon, adding that up to 11,000 people would be impacted on a daily basis. Romney said the issue could have been resolved through a lengthy court process that would have cost millions of dollars and accomplished little. "Instead, we have come together to introduce legislation that will resolve this conflict by providing additional water for the Navajo Nation and for the people of Utah in a way that is good for everybody," he said. "At the same time it will provide needed infrastructure to the Navajo Nation for nearly half of the 5,000 citizens there that dont have running water." The Navajo Nation Council approved legislation supporting the proposed settlement in January 2015. Some Utah Navajos would get running water for the first time if the bill passes. We have a lot of our citizens in southeastern Utah on the Navajo Reservation that are without water, and they are so close to the San Juan River, theyre so close to all the water in the Colorado Lower Basin, and yet we are without running water and the infrastructure, said Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer. "Its a great thing when you put the needs of others first and everybody comes together, and many lives are going to be blessed because of it." Sinema said she would continue to reach across the aisle to ensure the federal government makes good on its promises to tribal nations. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, introduced a House version of the bill in January. GOP Reps. John Curtis and Chris Stewart and Democrat Ben McAdams signed on as co-sponsors. PARK CITY A South Jordan man was charged Tuesday with firing shots inside a Summit County ski resort hotel after getting into a drug-fueled argument with his brother. Christopher Leahy Head, 32, is charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony; three counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; and three counts of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor. Head was originally booked into the Summit County Jail for investigation of attempted murder, but that charge was not formally filed. Summit County sheriff's deputies and Park City police were called to the Westgate Hotel, 3000 W. Canyons Resort Drive, about 3 a.m. Sunday by Head's 35-year-old brother who reported that "Christopher Head shot at him multiple times, striking him once in the right buttocks," according to a Summit County Jail report. Head had been using cocaine and began yelling at a woman in the hotel, according to charging documents. His brother told him to stop. Head then tried to hit his brother, but the brother moved and counterpunched Head, police say. "Shortly thereafter, Head obtained a handgun and fired two shots in (the brother's) direction," the charges state. The brother was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City to be treated for his injury. Police went to the room where Head was staying and took him into custody without incident, the report states. Three children, ages 14, 2 and 3 weeks, were asleep or nearby when the shots were fired, the report states. Head does not have any significant criminal history in Utah, according to court records. His initial appearance in court is set for April 22. ROY Roy police stopped a motorist for his odd driving behavior early Tuesday only to discover that the man had been shot in both legs. About 4:10 a.m., a Roy police officer spotted a vehicle whose driving patterns were unusual enough that it caught his attention, said Roy police detective Josh Taylor. At one point the car was stopped in the middle of an intersection. When the officer pulled the driver over near 5700 South and 3500 West in Roy, he found more than he was expecting. "When they approached the driver they found out he had two gunshot wounds to his legs. There was blood throughout the vehicle, so they applied a tourniquet (to one leg) and were able to get medical so they could get him transported to a hospital," he said. Investigators believe the adult man, whose name was not released Tuesday, was shot while inside the car, likely by someone else. But Taylor said not much else was known about what happened. "We don't know where this happened at, we don't know when it happened or the circumstances behind why it happened. We're still trying to figure all that out," he said. The car was being processed by detectives on Tuesday for evidence. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call police at 801-774-1101. LOGAN Utah State's track and field teams are set to compete in three different events in California this weekend the Bryan Clay Invitational, the Mt. SAC Relays and the Beach Invitational. The Aggie multi-eventers will compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational on Wednesday and Thursday, April 17-18, in Azusa, California. Junior Alyssa Hirschi-Swenson and sophomore Talie Bonds will make their outdoor season debuts in the heptathlon, while freshman Roman Ruiz will make his outdoor debut decathlon. Senior Adam Hendrickson and sophomore Stokton Smith will also compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Thursday, April 18. Utah State's top track athletes will compete at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays on the campus of El Camino College in Torrance, California. Among the participants are two Aggie All-Americans in seniors Cierra Simmons-Mecham and Alyssa Snyder. On the men's side, junior Sam Clausnitzer will make his outdoor debut in the 5,000 meter-run, and will be joined by senior James Withers and sophomores and Luke Bailey in the same event. The Beach Invitational, hosted by Long Beach State, will see the Aggies compete in both track and field events. Two notable student-athletes for the Aggies that will be competing in Long Beach will be the Mountain West's top shot putter in senior Brenn Flint, as well as the conference's top javelin thrower in junior Kyle Morris. KAYSVILLE At Windridge Elementary School, every third-grader was a senator on Tuesday. With Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, to guide them, 80 students learned the finer points of the legislative process. "Who wants to be a legislator? Anybody?" Adams asked. "Today, you're all going to be a legislator. How about that? It's going to be fun." Before convening the day's work, members elected a president to preside over their senate. Kyler Jones topped a field of five candidates. Adams handed him a small gavel and prompted the newly elected leader through the mechanics of passing a bill. The students passionately debated two bills: one to allow students to eat candy at school any time and another to place swings on the school playground. One third-grade senator called the candy bill "a bad idea" because it would lead to "candy wrappers all over the floor." Speaking for the bill, another senator argued being able to eat candy at school would stave off hunger during the academic day. Eventually, Adams taught the students how to end debate by saying, when recognized by the Senate president, I move the previous question, he said. With that, the bill went down to defeat. Debate on the second bill took things to the next level. The original proposal was to place swings on the school playground. One senator gave this enthusiastic endorsement: "I think it's a great idea. We could have more fun." Other argued that kids would have to take turns to use the swings, which could lead to disputes. After a number of students raised concerns that students could be injured on swings, one senator introduced an amendment to place safety belts on the swings to prevent students from slipping out of them. The amendment raised other concerns. Kids could slip and become tangled in the belts and choke. Or the belts might cut into their bellies as they swung. "Kids could get killed," one senator cautioned. The amendment was eventually defeated but the bill passed, but not by a large enough margin to render it veto proof. When bills pass the Utah Legislature, they go to Gov. Gary Herbert who decides whether to sign them into law, let them become law without his signature or veto them. Adams told the students that the Utah Legislature passed 574 bills during its general session this year. You want to know how many he didnt like? One, he said. Daxton Hauck, the newly elected governor of Windridge Elementarys combined third-grade classes, effectively vetoed the bill, which gave Adams the opportunity to teach the students about a veto override. Overriding the veto would take a two-thirds vote of the senate. Teachers, help me. Whats two-thirds of 80? said Adams, who leads a 29-member body. The vote fell short of the 53 votes needed to override the veto, which Adams said was upsetting for someone from the legislative branch of government. Ill probably be depressed the rest of the day, he said, joking. Third-grade teacher Jessica Payne invited Adams to the school last fall and Adams, serving his first term as Senate president, said he wasnt able to fit the visit into his schedule until after the general session. Payne didnt know Adams but she lives in his Senate district, so perhaps that helped persuade him to come to Windridge Elementary. I thought it was such a cool thing to do and just shows a real authenticity and care for our community that he was able to come today and share his knowledge and experience with our kids, Payne said. Adams said leading the mock senate was a riot. It was a lot of fun. I told them I want to be in third grade again. He added, Our future is really bright. We got great kids but we also have great teachers. They invited me here and I think what an honor it is to come be part of the school today and to get to know the kids. Payne said the students were super engaged with Adams leading the classroom and bringing real world significance to the students' recent study of the three branches of government. Theyve been learning they have checks and balances and how they each have a separate job, she said. Payne said Adams' visit exceeded expectations. I thought it was fantastic. I thought he did a great job. The kids were really engaged, just had a lot of fun and learned a lot, she said. SALT LAKE CITY A 79-year-old Mona man is accused of trying to dupe a Missouri woman by creating a fake sweepstakes, in addition to allegations he created fake credit accounts under the names of his vulnerable sons. Investigators believe he may have attempted financial schemes because he was a victim of one himself, according to court documents. On April 1, Raymond Everett Huffman was charged in Juab County's 4th District Court with two counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony; 10 counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card, a third-degree felony; and attempted theft by deception, a third-degree felony. According to charging documents, between April 1, 2018, and March 29, 2019, Huffman opened five credit card accounts under his two sons' names. "The sons are vulnerable adults by reason of their inability to manage their own resources and some developmental delays," the charges state. "He used the credit obtained on these cards to 'make investments' for them." The sons told investigators that they would sign whatever Huffman put in front of them out of fear he would become angry if they didn't, according to charging documents. Prosecutors say Huffman was a victim of a financial scheme himself "and used the money of his sons to attempt to pull himself out of the schemes." "The entire situation came to light in February 2019, when it was discovered that (Huffman) or someone affiliated with him, as part of a fraudulent scheme, contacted an elderly woman in Missouri, and informed her she had won a sweepstakes prize," the charges state. According to both a Juab County Jail booking report and a search warrant affidavit unsealed in 4th District Court, Huffman convinced the woman in Missouri that she had won a $1 million sweepstakes, but in order for her to collect her prize she needed to send him $25,000 for fees. The woman's daughter discovered what was happening, however, and was able to report it to authorities in time for the U.S. Postal Service to intercept the money her mother had already sent, the charges state. When Huffman attempted to receive his package, the Postal Service would not give it to him, the charges state. Upon further investigation, the local postmaster told law enforcers that Huffman "has received other mailings which appear to be the same in nature" and that Huffman asks other people "to obtain money orders for him in a possible attempt to conceal his involvement with obtaining monies," the jail report states. "Based on these circumstances, (U.S. Postal Inspector Travis Smoot) believes Raymond to be involved in various schemes where he is the intended recipient and acting as an intermediary (aka "money mule") for which he receives monies or goods and forwards them to other individuals and receives a small portion for his assistance. Since this case was opened up I have received calls from law enforcement in Michigan, Maryland and New York. I have contacted the Department of Treasury to assist in investigating the out-of-state fraud," according to the report. Investigators learned from other family members that Huffman "got involved with scammers around March of last year (and) started sending money to these people," the report states. Huffman "was promised anything from money, cars, plane trips, and other things," according to the report. Huffman's family "had several meetings with him. In the meeting, they would ask him to stop what he was doing because he is losing all of his money," according to the report. But Huffman allegedly "took this as a challenge," the report states. Several banks "have flagged Raymond's accounts as fraud. They could not divulge very much information; however, most of his accounts are frozen. The bank managers also described Raymond as being very pushy and being a 'bully,'" according to the report. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7. Also advances productization of commercial units based on the supercomputer technology Tokyo, April 15, 2019 -- Fujitsu Limited today announced that, working with RIKEN, it has completed the design of Post-K, the successor to the K supercomputer. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is aiming to start the public service of Post-K around 2021 or 2022. Fujitsu has now concluded an official contract with RIKEN to manufacture, ship, and install hardware for Post-K. In addition, Fujitsu will productize a commercial supercomputer using technology created in the Post-K development process, and plans to begin global sales in the second half of fiscal 2019. The company's efforts in the development of Post-K will be exhibited at Fujitsu Forum 2019, to be held on May 17 at the Tokyo International Forum in Japan. Background Since 2006, Fujitsu and RIKEN have jointly developed the K computer, aiming to start public service in 2012. The K computer to this day offers world class performance in major performance metrics that show the practical usefulness of supercomputers, serving as an indispensable research and development platform for cutting-edge research. Post-K is the successor to the K computer, and it is expected to serve as both a cutting-edge research and development platform for solving a variety of social and scientific issues. As a major platform, Post-K will also support the creation of "Society 5.0"(1), the Japanese government's vision for an ideal future society. Fujitsu and RIKEN began basic design work in October 2014, and followed by the advancement of system prototypes and detailed design work while conducting co-design with application developers from a variety of fields. About the Start of Production At a meeting of the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation held on November 22, 2018, it was reported that, based on an interim evaluation of the development of Post-K, the project was expected to meet its development goals. Accordingly, the Council judged that it was appropriate to steadily move forward with production and installation based on the results of the system design process. As a result, Fujitsu and RIKEN have now signed an official contract to begin production of hardware for Post-K, and then proceed to shipment and installation. The production of hardware for Post-K will be conducted by Fujitsu IT Products Limited, Fujitsu's key computer system plant, and the hardware will be installed in the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS), where the K computer is currently located. Features of Post-K Post-K will be equipped with A64FX, a high-performance CPU developed by Fujitsu, and the new system will support a wide range of software due to its use of the Arm instruction set architecture, while offering features such as high parallelization, extremely low power consumption, and mainframe-class levels of reliability. Moreover, as part of the development and production of this hardware in addition to the development of software, Fujitsu will work with open source communities. For example, the company will promote the Arm ecosystem, utilize open source software with Post-K, and apply the results obtained with the supercomputer. Future Plans Fujitsu will promote the development and deployment of the system in preparation for Post-K to start public service. Moreover, utilizing the technologies created through the development of Post-K, Fujitsu will productize the commercial supercomputer, and plans to begin global sales as the successor to the Fujitsu Supercomputer PRIMEHPC FX100 in the second half of fiscal 2019. In order to implement these technologies more broadly, Fujitsu is also considering measures such as developing an entry-level model that will be easy to deploy, or supplying these technologies to other vendors. CPU Name A64FX Instruction set architecture Armv8.2-A SVE Number of cores Computational node: 48 cores + 2 assistant cores I/O and computation node: 48 cores + 4 assistant cores Theoretical computational performance Over 2.7 TFLOPS (double precision) Nodes Architecture 1 CPU/node Memory capacity 32 GB (HBM2, 4 stacks) Memory bandwidth 1,024 GB/s Interconnects Tofu Interconnect D Racks Maximum number of nodes 384 nodes/rack Software OS Linux HPC middleware A successor to the Fujitsu Software Technical Computing Suite *As the product is still in development, specifications and other information are subject to change without notice. Going forward, Fujitsu will continue to contribute to the development and utilization of technologies such as computational science, simulations, data utilization, and AI, by developing and delivering high performance supercomputers. Comment by Brent Gorda, senior director of HPC, Arm "Arm's successful collaboration with Fujitsu and RIKEN underscores our commitment to the HPC ecosystem. Reaching the production milestone marks a significant achievement for Post-K and we are excited to see the potential for broader deployment of Arm-based Fujitsu technologies in support of HPC and AI applications. We congratulate Fujitsu and RIKEN for their outstanding work in delivering Post-K." Related Links RIKEN Center for Computational Science [1] Society 5.0 A human-centric society that balances economic development and the resolution of issues in society through systems that blend cyberspace (virtual space) and physical space (the real world) at a high level. About Fujitsu 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. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.1 trillion yen (US $39 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com. Subscriber content preview BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Montana officials plan to challenge a court ruling that struck down a water use permit for a silver and copper mine that's proposed beneath a wilderness area. Judge Kathy Seeley said that state officials didn't adequately consider potential damage to nearby streams from Hecla Mining Co.'s Rock Creek Mine. . . . Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) Malabon mayoral bet Jeannie Sandoval lambasted her rival and the city's incumbent mayor, Antolin Oreta, saying he has done nothing during his term. "When you look at [Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela], mas developed na 'yung ibang cities like Caloocan, Valenzuela and Navotas. The impression is we're being left behind in terms of pagiging business-friendly, in terms of service," Sandoval, the city's incumbent vice mayor, told CNN Philippines' Politics As Usual. Sandoval, who is endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte, blamed Oreta for the city's current problems. "Nakikita ko kasi na napakaraming problema sa lalo na sa pangkalusugan, edukasyon, livelihood, sa protective services natin, sa pagbabaha it's still nand'yan, ang ating basura, nagpo-proliferate pa rin ang criminality, may mga drug problem pa rin tayo doon," she said. [Translation: I see a lot of problems especially in health, education, livelihood, protective services, flooding is still there, garbage, criminality still proliferates, there is still drug problem.] "Kaya nga [That's why] I'm offering alternative change to our botante because I think it's his inaction that's causing these problems," Sandoval added. She said illegal drug trade remains proliferating in the city under Oreta's watch. Of 21 barangays in Malabon, those led by the mayor's allies have the worst drug problems, she said. She said two barangay captains are on the narco list, and the issue on the shabu laboratories discovered in the city has not been resolved yet. "It's command leadership eh. If his inaction will not solve anything syempre may problem din sya [of course, he also has a problem]," she said. During PDP-Laban's campaign rally in Malabon on April 2, Duterte warned he would have Oreta arrested if the mayor fails to curb the city's drug problem in a month. The mayor had countered Duterte's claims, saying 40 percent of the city had been cleared from illegal drugs. "He must know something that regularly we don't know, for now sa sinabi nya na 'yun [with what he said] we just have to wait what happens in months time," Sandoval said. The vice mayor said she hasn't heard of any possible charge to be filed against Oreta yet. "As of now wala pa kong naririnig na kaso pero nagpo-proliferate pa rin ang drug problem [I haven't heard any case but the drug problem still proliferates]," he said. Youve got muscles for aesthetics. Youve got muscles for strength. But do you have muscles to guarantee you a longer life? Thats the question scientists wanted to find an answer to and it seems theyve done it: lift faster whilst maintaining your form. More specifically, muscle power is the secret to prolonging your life, according to Professor Claudio Gil Araujo, director of research and education at Brazils Exercise Medicine Clinic, CLINIMEX. Rising from a chair in old age and kicking a ball depend more on muscle power than muscle strength, yet most weight bearing exercise focuses on the latter, he explained at a congress of the European Society of Cardiology this week. Our study shows for the first time that people with more muscle power tend to live longer. But what is muscle power exactly? Muscle power is defined as the bodys ability to generate force with velocity within a co-ordinated movement i.e. the measure of work performed per unit of time. More power is generated when the same amount of work is done in a shorter amount of time, or when more work is done in the same amount of time. Think 10 box jumps in 10 seconds or 20 muscle-ups in 10 seconds the typical timed high-intensity exercises that most people love to hate. It differs to muscle strength in the sense that scaling stairs fast requires muscle power whilst pushing a heavy object requires muscle strength. Power training is carried out by finding the best combination of speed and weight being lifted or moved. For strength training at the gym most people just think about the amount of weight being lifted and the number of repetitions without paying attention to the speed of execution, said Professor Araujo. But for optimal power training results, you should go beyond typical strength training and add speed to your weight lifts. The reason for this is because humans experience a decrease in muscle power from the age of 40. Professor Araujo and his team believe that muscle power is strongly related to all-cause mortality. The good news is that you only need to be above the median for your sex to have the best survival, with no further benefit in becoming even more powerful, he said. The Brazilian study took into account 3,878 non-athletes aged between 41-85 years between 2001 and 2016. These subjects were split between sexes and exposed to upright row exercises. A follow up median study was then conducted 6.5 years later and it was concluded that participants with a maximal muscle power above the median for their sex had the best survival rates. Meanwhile, those with maximal muscle power below the median possessed a higher risk of dying. Professor Araujo notes that this is the first time muscle power has been assessed in a medically quantitative way. In the past there had been similar studies which relied on handgrip exercises in relation to muscle strength, but not one that replicated the common movement used by most humans in daily life. Think picking up groceries or carrying things. Whilst theres evidence for this connection between muscle power and mortality, the researchers want to go one further by examining the relationship between muscle power and specific causes of death including cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Doctors should consider measuring muscle power in their patients and advise more power training, added Professor Araujo. Keen to do what it takes to live longer? Heres the type of exercises suggested by the European Society of Cardiology to increase your muscle power. Choose multiple exercises for the upper and lower body Choose a weight with the load to achieve the maximal power (not so easy to lift and not so heavy that you can barely lift it) Do one to three sets of six to eight repetitions moving the weight as fast as possible while you contract your muscles (slow or natural speed in returning to initial position) Rest for 20 seconds between each set to sufficiently replenish the energy stores in your muscles to start the new set Repeat the above for the other exercises (biceps curl, etc.). Progression is just as important as starting so dont be complacent when things get easy. Start with six repetitions in each set and when the exercise becomes easy, try to increase to eight If it becomes easy again, increase the weight and go back to six repetitions If you unable to complete the repetitions with the proper technique, avoid cheating and go back to less repetitions or less weight. This is important to prevent injuries. Read Next Jet Airways may halt services temporarily, say reports Jet Airways Ltd has proposed to temporarily suspend all services till it gets sufficient funds and a suitable investor to continue operations, reports citing sources close to the development said. Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, meanwhile, decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline. Airline sources said Goyal, who had stepped down as chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawn the bid documents. The crisis at Jet Airways has deepened with lenders offering no relief to the cash-strapped carrier. With no eligible suitors offering to acquire stake in the ailing airline, the consortium of banks refused to disburse the promised Rs1,500-crore lifeline to Jet Airways. News channel CNBC TV 18 citing unnamed sources said the airline is likely to temporarily shut down operations. A meeting of Jet Airways board today authorised Jets CEO to engage with its lenders one last time, and halt operations, if no funds arrive. Separately, ET Now reported Jets management has proposed to suspend all operations as one option at Tuesdays board meeting, or alternately continue with skeletal operations with any interim funds infused by State Bank of India (SBI), which leads Jets consortium of lenders. It is still uncertain whether some stop-gap funding will help keep Jet Airways flying until a solution to its many ills is found. Lenders are reported to have tried to calm investors hinting at rescuing the airline that is saddled with roughly $1.2 billion debt. Lenders are committed to a revival plan for Jet Airways, Punjab National Banks managing director Sunil Mehta told reporters. SBI is working on the emergency funding, everything is under discussion, nothing is finalised. However, pleas by employees for stop-gap funding to keep alive the airlines services have fallen in deaf ears and the airline is staring at a possible shutdown in the absence of funds. A meeting between the Jet Airways management and the lenders on Monday failed to secure interim funding for the airline to pay dues to employees and lessors as the company does not have any asset to securitise any funding. As you are aware, we have been working with the lenders to secure an interim funding for our operations. The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far... The current status of our engagement with the lenders and other related matters shall be placed before the board in the meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, where the management will seek guidance from the board on the next steps forward, Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube said in a statement ahead of the meeting. On Monday, Jet Airways pilots sought the prime ministers intervention to save 20,000 jobs and appealed to SBI for funds to keep the beleaguered Indian carrier flying and save it from the brink of collapse. Jet Airways pilots body, the National Aviators Guild, appealed the State Bank of India (SBI) to release the Rs1,500 crore it proposed to infuse in the ailing carrier as part of a debt-restructuring plan last month. The airline is operating just 6-7 planes, with almost its entire fleet being grounded due to non-payment of rentals to lessors amid severe paucity of cash. We would like to appeal SBI to release Rs 1,500 crore funds for the airline to help it continue operations. We also appeal Prime Minister Narendra Modi to save 20,000 odd jobs at the airline, National Aviators Guild ( NAG) vice president Adim Valiani told reporters. The airline said it has extended cancellation of all international operations till 19 April due to the fund crunch. There are only about seven flights on domestic routes that are operational. The pilots and staff of Jet Airways, who have been planning a strike to push for pending salaries, have now put off their plans. Lenders are hoping to get a new strategic investor in place to run the airline. Bengaluru airport to raise user fee by 120% for 4 months to fund expansion Flying out from Bengaluru airport will be costlier, beginning today, after the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AREA) has allowed the airport operator to increase user development fee (USF) by a massive 120 per cent, for four months. Bangalore, the nation's third busiest airport after New Delhi and Mumbai, plans to use the additional fee to fund its expansion. "With the AERA order coming into effect from April 16, the UDF for domestic departures will be revised to Rs306 from Rs139 while for international departures it will be Rs1,226 against Rs558 earlier," Bangalore airport said in a statement on Monday. The new charges for domestic and international travel translate into an increase of 120 per cent and 119 per cent, respectively, it added. The revised fee is applicable for tickets procured between 16 April and 15 August, it said, adding the increased fee will be rolled back from 16 August. Bangalore airport expansion envisages Rs13,000-crore investment involving construction of a new terminal, a second runway, access roads, and a multi-modal transport hub, the company said, adding that construction is are scheduled to be completed by March 2021. "This incremental increase in charges will provide us with the much-needed relief as we are in the midst of a Rs13,000-crore capacity expansion," said Hari Marar, managing director and chief executive. As mandated by AERA, the money generated from the incremental UDF hike during these four months, will be deposited in a separate bank account and will be used only to fund the ongoing expansion, he added. The Kempegowda International Airport began operations in May 2008 and is the second airport build on a PPP model after Kochi which was commissioned in the late 1990s. The airport handled 26.91 million passengers in FY18 and is one of the fastest growing in the world. Canadian NRI Prem Watsa-run Fairfax owns 54 per cent in the airport and Siemens Projects Ventures hold 20 per cent. Of the remaining 26 per cent, Karnataka government and the Airports Authority holds 13 per cent each. Nifty ends below 11,800, Sensex up 369 points; SpiceJet gains 11% Market close: It is strong close for the benchmark indices on Tuesday with Nifty closed near to 11,800. The Sensex was up 369.80 points at 39275.64, while Nifty was up 96.80 points at 11787.20. About 1258 shares have advanced, 1276 shares declined, and 159 shares are unchanged. Sensex and Nifty touched record highs of 39,364.34 and 11,810.95 respectively in today's trading session. ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Titan Company, ONGC and Adani Ports were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Wipro, Cipla, GAIL, Tata Motors and Infosys. Except PSU bank and IT, other sectoral indices are ended in green led by infra, metal, FMCG and energy. Nifty Bank ended 1.4 percent higher at 30529.80. Lupin receives USFDA approval: Company has received approval for its Fluoxetine Tablets USP, 10 mg and 20 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market a generic version of Eli Lilly and Companys (Eli Lilly) Prozac Tablets, 10 mg and 20 mg. Market Update: Benchmark indices continue to trade higher on Tuesday with Nifty inching towards 11,800 level. The Sensex is up 374.24 points at 39,280.08, while Nifty is up 98.20 points at 11,788.60. About 1191 shares have advanced, 1158 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged. JSPL posts highest ever domestic steel production & sales: Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) reported its highest ever domestic quarterly steel production and sales in Q4 FY 2018-19. The company registered a record crude steel production of 1.51 million tonnes and robust sales of 1.45 million tonnes during the quarter January March 2019. The quarterly steel production saw a 23% growth during Q4 FY 2019, while the quarterly steel sales record a rise of 21% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Market Update: Sensex and Nifty are at record highs. Sensex is up 350.33 points or 0.90 percent at 39,256.17, and the Nifty is up 91.00 points or 0.78 percent at 11,781.40. About 1,142 shares have advanced, 809 have shares declined, and 89 shares are unchanged. Market Update: Nifty50 touched a record high in today's trading as it crossed its earlier high of 11761. At 09:58 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 285.22 points or 0.73% at 39191.06, and the Nifty up 78.30 points or 0.67% at 11768.70. Buzzing: Shares Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation gained 7 percent as company announced the commercial production of Nitric Acid complex at Dahej, Gujarat. The new facility, with project cost of approximately Rs. 550 crore, has production capacities of 92 KTPA for Concentrated Nitric Acid (CNA) and 149 KTPA for Diluted Nitric Acid (DNA). Market Opens: Indian indices opened higher on Tuesday with Nifty above 11,700 level. At 09:17 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 173.03 points or 0.44% at 39078.87, and the Nifty up 51.50 points or 0.44% at 11741.90. About 546 shares have advanced, 156 shares declined, and 30 shares are unchanged. Dr Reddy's Lab, Vedanta, Cola India, ICICI Bank, IOC, Asian Paints, Wipro, Hero Moto, JSW Steel , Bharti Airtel, SBI are the major gainers on the indices in the morning trade, while on the other hand Infosys, Tata Motors, HUL and Tata Steel are trading lower. All the sectoral indices are trading in green led by metal, pharma, energy, auto, infra, bank and IT. Market at pre-open: Benchmark indices are trading higher in the pre-opening with Nifty above 11,700 level. At 09:02 hrs IST, the Sensex is up 136.84 points or 0.35% at 39042.68, and the Nifty up 42.10 points or 0.36% at 11732.50. Rail Vikas Nigam, Tata Motors, SpiceJet, Wipro are trading higher in the pre-opening session, while Jet Airways is trading lower. Brokerages View: Source CNBC-TV18: Macquarie on Reliance Industries Maintain neutral call, target at Rs 1,290 per share For Q4, expect EPS of Rs 16 (-8% QoQ, +1% YoY) Post results, expect consensus to raise FY1-2 EPS estimates Macquarie on Dr Reddys Lab Maintain neutral call, target at Rs 2,648 per share Resolution in less than 3 months for Bachupally unit 3 ahead of expectation Outstanding warning letter for Srikakulam is only troublesome point Goldman Sachs on ICICI Bank Reiterate buy call, target at Rs 492 per share Strong deposit franchise, lower cost of funds put company at an advantage Expect company to deliver ROAs/ROEs of 1.8%/17% over FY20-21 Wall Street ends lower: Wall Street lost ground on Monday, dragged down by financials as underwhelming bank earnings curbed investor enthusiasm. SGX Nifty: Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader indices in India, a gain of 17 points or 0.14 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,754-level on the Singaporean Exchange. Asian markets trade mixed: Asian stocks hovered below a nine-month peak on Tuesday after disappointing bank earnings dented Wall Street, though recent signs the global economy is likely to avoid a sharper downturn helped limit the losses. Publicis to acquire US data firm Epsilon in $4.4 billion deal Publicis Groupe, a global leader in marketing and communication, on Sunday announced the signing of an agreement with Alliance Data Systems Corporation, under which Publicis will acquire Alliance Datas Epsilon business, in a deal worth $4.40 billion (including tax), to expand Publicis digital business and North American footprint. The management board and the supervisory board of Publicis Groupe have unanimously approved the transaction considering it a one-time opportunity to seize, given the evolution of the industry and the implying transformation of marketing solutions, the company stated in a release. Epsilon is a unique technology and platforms company with unparalleled data assets built over years. The $3.95 billion (net of tax) acquisition of Epsilon will propel Publicis as a leader of data-driven personalised experiences at scale and lead to shareholder value creation, the company stated. Publicis said it expected Epsilon to boost its headline earning per share by around 12.5 per cent. Epsilon is the ideal accelerator for Publicis strategy, Publicis chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun said on a conference call. Our clients are facing increasing pressure from the rise in consumer expectations, the mainstreaming of direct-to-consumer brands and new data regulations. The only response is to deliver personalised experiences at scale. They have to transform to meet this new market imperative, Sadoun said. With the acquisition of Epsilon, Publicis Groupe is bringing the necessary technology, expertise and the talent to complement our offer in creativity, media and business transformation, and help our clients leapfrog their competition and grow profitably, he added. While in 2018 Publicis demonstrated its successful business partnership model with a string of new businesses, he said, the acquisition of Epsilon will accelerate the implementation of Publicis strategy to become the preferred transformation partner for its clients. Publicis expects the acquisition of Epsilon to transform itself into a data-led digital platform, with very compelling financial terms and delivering double-digit accretion of headline EPS and free cash flow from Year 1 (2020). Im pleased to say todays announcement represents a trifecta win for Alliance Data, Epsilon and Publicis Groupe. The announcement of this transaction represents the culmination of an extensive assessment of strategic options for our Epsilon business. With this transaction, we have found what we believe to be the right home for Epsilons technology, data assets and associates, Edward J Heffernan, Alliance Data Systems president and CEO, said. Headquartered in the US, Epsilon is a unique technology and platform company focusing on maximising the value of its clients data. In 2018, Epsilon generated $1.9 billion of net revenue, 97 per cent of it coming from the United States. Epsilon employs approximately 9,000 employees, including 3,700 data scientists and 2,000 Bangalore-based technology delivery experts. Epsilon has gained the trust of at least seven out of the 10 largest US companies across various sectors, including auto, retail, financial services, CPG and media. In addition, its top 50 clients have an average tenure of 14 years and have generated an 8 per cent yearly growth on average over the last two years, demonstrating the significant client benefits delivered by Epsilon. Epsilon has built its assets in technology, data and platforms at an impressive scale. Its loyalty software serves 600 million accounts, it has more than 250 million unique consumers identified in the US, and its proprietary platforms Conversant handle 1 billion updates every 5 minutes allowing to further improve messaging based on consumer insights on a real time basis. Epsilon has developed extremely strong artificial intelligence capabilities allowing consumer behavior predictions We are thrilled to join the Publicis Groupe family. During extensive discussions with the Publicis leadership team during the recent review process, we found powerful common ground, including shared values and a strong vision for the future of data-driven, digital-first marketing, Bryan Kennedy, CEO of Epsilon, said. Publicis and other traditional advertisers, such as WPP, Omnicom and Interpublic face losing ground to new technology and software giants. The traditional advertisers are having to cope with increasing competition from the likes of Facebook, Alphabets Google and digital marketing specialists that track and target individual clients via their smartphones, while navigating tougher data-protection laws. 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. Home Four wheelers Tata Nexon ZX And ZXA+ Variants Receive New Dual-Tone Colours Prices Start At Rs 9.34 Lakh oi-Rahul Nagaraj Tata Motors has updated their popular Nexon SUV with a range of new dual-tone colour options. The new dual-tone colour options on the Tata Nexon are available on the top-spec ZX and ZXA+ variants of the Tata Nexon SUV. Prices for the Tata Nexon with the new Dual-tone paint schemes start at Rs 9.34 lakh for the ZX trim and goes all the way up to Rs 10.90 lakh for the top-end ZXA+ variant with the dual-tone paint scheme. All prices are ex-showroom (Delhi). Both variants are available with two roof colours Sonic Silver and Ivory White. The Sonic Silver roof can be matched with either Morocco Blue, Vermont Red, Calgary White or Etna Orange paint schemes. The Ivory White roof, on the other hand, can be matched with either Morocco Blue, Vermont Red, Etna Orange or Glasgow Grey. The dual-tone paint scheme on the ZX and ZXA+ variants of the Tata Nexon are available on both petrol and diesel options of the top-spec trims. The Tata Nexon is powered by a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol 'Revotron' engine producing 110bhp and 170Nm of torque. The diesel variant comes powered by a 1.5-litre Revotorq engine churning out 110bhp and 260Nm of torque. Both engines come mated to a standard six-speed manual gearbox, with the optional six-speed automatic transmission as well. Tata Motors is now working on introducing its next model in the Indian market, the Altroz premium hatchback. The Tata Altroz was showcased at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show and is expected to be launched in India sometime later this year. The Tata Altroz is part of the company's brand new 'ALFA' platform. Tata Motors is also currently working on updating its products such as the Tiago, Tigor and Nexon to their new platform as well. The current models will also be updated with cosmetic changes, in line with the company's new 'Impact 2.0' design language. Thoughts On The New Dual-Tone Paint Scheme For The Tata Nexon The Tata Nexon is one of the most popular products from the brand in the Indian market. The Tata Nexon brings in volume sales month-on month for the Indian car maker, however Tata hopes that with the addition of the dual-tone paint scheme, the Nexon will attract more customers. Most Viewed Videos Louth County Archives Service has created an online exhibition to mark the 120th anniversary of the first local elections which were held in January 1899 for urban districts and in April 1899 for county areas. The passing into law of the Local Government Act of 1898 altered local government dramatically. Prior to 1899, local government lay in the hands of Grand Juries and Boards of Guardians who were mostly controlled by local landlords. The 1898 Act abolished the Grand Jury system and established County Councils, Rural District Councils and Urban Councils and granted many Irish people the right to vote for the first time. This right gave people a say in local government which meant that they were able to influence the development of their localities. Before the elections of April 1899, Unionists held 704 local election seats and Nationalists held 47. After the elections, it was changed to 774 seats for the Nationalists and 265 seats for Unionists. On 22nd April 1899 many of the new Councils met for the first time and passed resolutions calling for Home Rule. This quiet revolution paved the way for the future. The support of local councils was vital to the acceptance of government by Dail Eireann in 1920. The online exhibition features the minutes of the first Council meetings in 1899 and copies of some surviving archives from 1899 and those early years of Irish local government. In addition, a travelling exhibition on Local Elections will be on display in Louth Co Hall during the week of 15th April 2019. The exhibition, produced by the Local Authority Archivists Group, features archives from local authority collections around the country and offers people an opportunity to assess the history of local government in Ireland since that first local election in 1899. The exhibition focuses on how elections work and on what say people have had and how they used their vote. It also highlights the elections that made a particular impact on Irish society. It is intended that the exhibition will assist in raising awareness of the purpose of local elections and highlight the role and impact that local democracy has on our communities. The Cathaoirleach of Louth County Council, Cllr Liam Reilly, said: It is important to mark this significant anniversary of local democracy. I encourage all to visit both the online and the travelling exhibitions, particularly our schools communities and those who may vote in the local elections in May for the first time. Funding of up to 200,000 is available for rural towns and villages across County Louth through the 2019 Town and Village Renewal Scheme, Fergus ODowd TD has said. The Town and Village Renewal Scheme has become an integral part of the Governments drive to support rural Ireland. It provides funding of up to 200,000 for projects that make our towns more attractive places in which to live and work. The scheme is specifically targeted at rural towns and villages with populations of less than 10,000. ODowd said Fine Gael is delivering Project Ireland 2040 which will ensure sustainable growth over the next twenty years for all parts of Ireland. To ensure the vitality of our rural areas, a significant proportion of national population and economic growth will be targeted at building up the fabric of smaller towns, villages and rural areas, with much of that happening by redeveloping derelict and under-utilised lands inside small towns and villages. Since the Town and Village Renewal Scheme was introduced in 2016, almost 53 million has been approved for over 670 projects across the country. These projects cover a range of activities, from improving the public realm, to job-creation initiatives such as the development of enterprise hubs and digital hubs. I strongly encourage towns and villages in the constituency to work with Louth County Council in preparing innovative and well thought-out projects under the scheme and I look forward to the announcement of the successful recipients of funding in the coming months. In order to avail of funding through the scheme, Louth County Council will be required to advertise for expressions of interest from towns and villages and will select proposals for development into detailed applications to be submitted to the Department by the end of June. The U.S. Supreme Court was sharply divided during oral arguments over when courts should defer to a federal agencys interpretation of its own ambiguous regulationsan issue that has arisen in education over such issues as transgender-student rights and racial disparities in student discipline. The justices, who heard the arguments late last month, are weighing whether they should overrule two long-standing precedents that require courts to defer to agencies reasonable rules interpretations. The case has potentially wide impact as agencies including the U.S. Department of Education have increasingly exerted administrative power through informal guidance documents, which dont require cumbersome notice-and-comment periods as regulations promulgated under the Administrative Procedure Act do. The National School Boards Association joined a friend-of-the-court brief along with other local government groups that call on the high court to overrule a 1997 decision known as Auer v. Robbins , which built on a 1945 decision, Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co. Both stand for the idea that courts should defer to agencies interpretation of their own ambiguous regulations as long as the interpretation is reasonable. Auer invites dramatic shifts in federal policy with each new administration - and tends to result in policies that lack the clarity and wisdom that public participation can engender, says the NSBA brief. The NSBA brief in the case, which involves a military veterans issue, cites two of the more controversial interpretations put forth by the Education Department under President Barack Obamas administration. The Obama administration issued informal guidance in 2016 that asserted that discrimination and harassment based on gender identity and sex stereotypes were covered by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars discrimination based on sex in federally funded schools. A federal appeals court ruled that the interpretation merited deference under Auer in the high-profile case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school student whose Virginia school board had enacted rules requiring students to use restrooms that corresponded to their birth gender. The Supreme Court granted review of that decision, but when the newly elected administration of President Donald Trump withdrew the guidance in 2017, the high court sent the Grimm case back to lower courts. The NSBA brief also cites the Obama administrations 2014 guidance stating that the Education Department would investigate racial disparities in school discipline, as well as the Trump administrations 2018 decision to rescind that guidance. It is not clear whether any states or localities were consulted before either the 2014 or 2018 guidance was issued, the NSBA brief says. Auer allows the federal government to run roughshod over states and localities, forcing them to fall in line or else lose vital federal funds, the brief says. Worse still, it allows federal agenciesunelected and unaccountableto do so without so much as consulting the impacted parties. Veterans Benefits The case now before the justices, Kisor v. Wilkie (No. 18-15), involves a military veterans challenge to a Department of Veterans Affairs interpretation of its regulations on benefits. James L. Kisor, who served as a Marine in the Vietnam War, sought benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder going back to 1983. The VA denied his claim based on its interpretation of the term relevant in one regulations, and a federal appeals court held that the interpretation deserved deference under Auer. The Education Department guidance examples did not come up during the March 27 oral arguments. Several justices disagreed on whether it was more democratic to have an unelected bureaucratic agency or a federal judge interpret a federal regulation. Justice Stephen G. Breyer cited a case in which a lower court granted Auer deference to the Food and Drug Administration for its interpretation of a particularly complex regulation involving chemical compounds. Do you know how much I know about that? Breyer said to Paul W. Hughes, the lawyer representing the veteran. What youre doing is saying, instead of paying attention to people who know about that, but rejecting it if its unreasonable, the judges should decide. Breyer said federal agencies arent very democratic, but there is some responsibility and there [is] one group of people who are still less democratic, and theyre called judges. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch cited the array of friend-of-the-court briefs from business and other groups calling for Auer to be overruled. The benefits of notice and comment are, among other things, people will know prospectively what rules govern them and not be sideswiped later by a bureaucracy, Gorsuch added. And experienced federal judges have the most expertise on what relevant evidence is, he said, not an agency. Gorsuch last year joined a procedural opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas that said deference under Seminole Rock and Auer was constitutionally suspect and on its last gasp. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. have also cast some doubt on Auer deference. Hughes, the lawyer for the veteran, said federal agencies have a very substantial role to play in policymaking, but Congress made the judgment that the way that is done in a democratic way accountable to the population is through notice-and-comment rulemaking, such that the regulated public can provide their views. U.S. Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco, defending the VAs decision before the court, argued for a nuanced position that Seminole Rock and Auer should not be overruled but their scope narrowed. Seminole Rock deference raises some problems in some applications, but its been on the books for decades, Francisco said. It has significant practical benefits, [and] its practical problems can be addressed by reinforcing reasonable limitations on the doctrine. A decision in the case is expected by late June. Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 17) The Wits Mining Institutes (WMI) annual DigiMine Seminar this year shared with delegates from the mining industry digital mining developments and lessons the institute has learnt from its own digital mining laboratory. The WMI is one of Wits Universitys six interdisciplinary 21st Century Research Institutes tasked with developing professionals for careers in the fourth industrial revolution. The WMI comprises the Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine); The Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry (CSMI); and The Centre for Mechanised Mining Systems (CMMS). The DigiMine works with 19 industry partners in hardware, software and systems development to experiment and enable digital mining. It is focused specifically on underground mining, where conditions are notoriously difficult, and where it aims to address knowledge gaps. To do this, the DigiMine focuses on four main research areas: wireless communication systems; surveying, mapping and navigation; health, safety and security; and system integration for smart mining. Alex Fenn from Sibanya Stillwater, the anchor sponsor of the DigiMine, opened the seminar by explaining that advances in digital mining can be attributed to advances in big data. An important advantage of digital technologies is the ability to learn and use technologies from other industries, he said. Another advantage is that it not only allows new business practices, but the opportunity to improve existing processes. However, with the scope of digital mining being so broad, companies often find it difficult to articulate the value of data and focus investment and R&D. Information models Presentations on the day by DigiMine students focused on information models for mining, both geographic information models (GIS) and building information models (BIM). Master student Calvin Opitis research looked at spatio-temporal modelling in GIS, while his fellow student Faiq Javaid conceptualised a mining information model (MIM) based on BIM. Opiti has worked on an integrated GIS and digital sensor systems for a real-time health and safety monitoring in underground mines, including risks such as mine flooding, fires, toxic gasses and rock movements. For his research he used the web streaming feature of sensors to integrate them into Esris ArcGIS software and display the info in an online dashboard. A GIS is a good solution as the exact nature of these incidents is important. It also allows for location-based analyses and machine learning. The director of the WMI, Prof Fred Cawood explained that the institute is still quite new to machine learning, but is making good progress in this field with the help of other disciplines. Advances in this will also hold benefit to projects such as Javaids MIM model. Javaid wants to apply BIM principles to create MIM systems, which he said has the benefit of merging operational and business/economic decisions on one platform. Data from MIMs could also benefit robotics in mining. However, challenges ranging from current IoT infrastructure to network issues occur, much like in commercial mines where entire systems cannot be completely overhauled. Hybrid and legacy networks Both information models are constrained by the universitys existing network, as Femi Kolade explained. The combination of old and new networks, in the DigiMine case Avaya and Cisco networks, along with firewalls posed capacity and configuration problems with the number of data nodes and functions on the same network. Another hard lesson was in creating redundant networks, as the WMI found out when one of its sensors was unable to stream data from an earthquake event in Botswana, which hampered its experiment to calculate movement between two different vertical points. Devices and the role of ICT The sensors themselves can complicate efforts considering the difficulty that some user interfaces create in configuring sensors, or their inability to be configured remotely. This, Prof Cawood believes, is something OEMs will benefit from by improving their products. Researchers in the DigiMine also learnt that ICT remains key in the process, from complying to organisations security policies to working with ICT staff in enabling the infrastructure on which systems run. One way to improve communication between disciplines such as engineers and ICT is through system documentation, which is even more important for other reasons. Need for comprehensive documentation A lesson common to all the DigiMine projects is the importance of and need for complete and comprehensive documentation of each system. Besides creating a blueprint for the digital mine, it can help speed up the process and knowledge transfer when staff members leave, and helps multiple disciplines collaborate. Prof Cawood said a typical system document should include the champion of the system along with company and contact details. It should also include the name and outline of the systems functionality, along with information about its integration with other systems, and typical and known problems with their solutions. A to-do list of outstanding work on the systems and further improvements need can also help steer the system development, while an exit strategy is equally important. A digital mine brings visibility and insights which can help create distance between workers and risk, Prof Cawood said. He argues that humans will remain part of the mining operation in the South African context, and that it is not retrenchment that needs addressing as much as 21st century skill sets. Send your comments to positionit@ee.co.za Related Articles All-island business rate is unacceptable says Council Leader The leader of Douglas Council says the introduction of an all-Island business rate would be totally unacceptable, and would result in a drastic cut in services. The proposal has been put forward in a consultation by the Cabinet Office, aimed at making the local authority charges fair and transparent. Its suggested business rates could be collected by a central agency, with local authorities applying for funds in accordance with national community policies. Its intended to give smaller authorities access to monies without the need to significantly increase rates to cover loans repayments. David Christian claims this is a rate grab by central government, which would have a major impact on the councils financial planning. He says the proposal would add an additional layer of bureaucracy, and if smaller local authorities want extra funding, they should up their rates to pay for new facilities. Rates are an annual tax set and levied by local authorities on both private and commercial property owners, to pay for services like street lighting and waste management. Douglas Council collects 61% of its rates income from domestic payers, and 39% from commercial, whilst 84% of properties in the capital are residential, with the remaining 16% being non-domestic. The consultation closes on 21 April 2019, with the Cabinet Office intending to set out a full plan for rates modernisation by June 2019. Local Democracy Reporter Ewan Gawne asked him why the council was so opposed to the proposal: Media David Christian on Rates Cavendish returns to the saddle Mark Cavendish will return to racing today in the Tour of Turkey, after abandoning Paris-Nice whilst working towards full fitness after suffering illness last year. The Manxman will ride as part of the Dimension Data squad accompanied by his lead-out man Mark Renshaw and fellow Brit Scott Davies. The 33-year-old from Douglas has battled with the Epstein-Barr virus for the past two years. Body found on beach could be linked to disappearance of Scottish man Police investigating the disappearance of a man from Scotland are in talks with Isle of Man Constabulary following the discovery of a body last week. DNA tests are being carried out on a body which was found washed up on Dog Mills beach last Wednesday. 74-year-old Gavin Tait from Wigtown was reported missing on April 6th. In a statement, Police Scotland said: "We are aware of the discovery of a man's body on a beach on the Isle of Man on Wednesday morning. "As part of our investigation we are liaising with staff from Isle of Man Constabulary as they attempt to establish the man's identity. "We have informed Gavin's next of kin of this development, however we must stress the identity of the man's body has not yet been established." Police say DNA has been taken and submitted to the missing person's database. Grafton Group has conditionally agreed to acquire Polvo, a Dutch company, for 131 million (113 million). Polvo specialises in ironmongery, tools and ventilation systems. It trades from 51 branches and reported revenue of 127.3 million last year (109 million). Grafton is the parent company of brands including as Selco, Buildbase and Plumbase. This acquisition increases its presence in the Southern, Western and Eastern regions of the Netherlands, where it already owns the Isero tools store business. The combined businesses will have revenues in excess of 300 million and will trade from 113 branches. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of June 2019. The announcement caused Graftons shares to rise 6.1% to their highest since the economic downturn in 2007. Gavin Slark, CEO of Grafton, (pictured) said: "This acquisition will complement our existing Isero business, increase our exposure to the attractive, fast growing Dutch market and support our strategy of creating a more balanced portfolio of businesses internationally. Polvo is a long-established high quality business and brand that gives Grafton a unique opportunity to materially increase its scale and consolidate its market leadership position in The Netherlands." Brexit cannot hinder EU's progress, says Juncker Union's future to be determined by trade deals, relations with int'l partners, says Jean-Claude Junker. Brexit is not the future of the European Union and cannot pose as an obstacle before EUs progress, the head of European Commission said on Thursday. "BRITAIN SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSTRUCTIVE" Brexit cannot hinder our progress and it will not. The trade agreements and relations with international partners will determine the future of our union, Jean-Claude Juncker told the General Assembly of European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The UK should behave constructive and responsible as long as it a member of the union. Also addressing the meeting, European Council President Donald Tusk said the Brexit extension, now due on Oct. 31, will provide more time and political space for the UK to find a way out of the current situation. On Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed with the EU for a longer Brexit extension, till the end of October, which means the UK will take part in European Parliament elections set for May 23-26. Tusk stressed: The European Council will be awaiting a clear message from the UK on the way forward. The EU Council head also said he strongly opposed to the idea that the UK should be treated as a second category member state. "I know that, on both sides of the channel, including myself, is exhausted with Brexit, which is completely understandable," he added. "However, this is not an excuse to say Lets get it over with, just because we are tired," he said. You must continue to deal with Brexit with an open mind and in a civilized manner, Tusk said. EU continue to help Syrian refugees in Turkey, says Berger EU, Turkey facing the same situation, sailing the same boat, says the head of EU Delegation to Turkey. Turkey and the European Union will continue to support Syrian refugees, said head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Christian Berger. "WE HAVE TO CONTINUE TO HELP" Briefing the media alongside German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann, on the 3rd day of an EU delegations visit to Antakya on the Syrian border, Berger said the efforts must continue to help Syrian refugees. "Our purpose from the beginning was to support both the Syrian community and also the host community that is shouldering the burden of having received so many people," he said. "We don't know when this conflict is going to be over. Therefore, we will continue providing support [to refugees] and we will continue being fully aware that both the European Union and Turkey are in this respect facing the same situation and sailing the same boat," Berger added. Erdmann, for his part, drew attention to the need for a "multilateral effort" in handling the Syrian crisis, and said support for the Syrian refugees is a "top priority" for the German government. The German envoy also said Turkey and other countries in the region that are shouldering the heavy burden of hosting millions of refugees "cannot be and should not be left alone." After expressing Germany's gratitude to Turkey for hosting a large number of Syrian refugees over a long period of time, Erdmann said: "Germany wants to make sure Turkey is not left alone." Turkey currently hosts almost 4 million registered refugees including nearly 3.6 million Syrians, more than any other country in the world. No evidence of arson at Notre Dame The fire that tore through Notre-Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday. Prosecutors have ruled out the possibility of arson in Monday's massive fire which gutted Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. PROSECUTORS RULE OUT ARSON AT NOTRE DAME We are favoring the theory of an accident. Nothing indicates this was a deliberate act," Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz told reporters on Tuesday. French investigators will interrogate the employees of construction companies involved in renovation work at the cathedral, Heitz said, adding that they are doing their best to learn the cause of the fire. Fire-fighters managed to douse the fire late on Monday after eight-and-a-half hours. The fire caused the roof of the 850-year-old church to collapse. President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the cathedral and launch a national fundraising campaign for the restoration. One of the citys most important tourist spots, Notre Dame which means 'Our Lady' dates back to the 14th century. US to take protective measures against Palestinians The US to take protective measures in anticipation of Palestinian rejection of deal of the century. The US counter-terrorism coordinator said Tuesday his country was taking "protective measures" regarding anticipated Palestinian rejection to its back-channel peace plan known as "deal of the century". NO MORE DETAILS HAVE BEEN DISCLOSED ABOUT THE MEASURES Speaking to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Nathan Sales, who currently visits Israel, said that measures were being taken in anticipation to "active opposition from the Palestinian Authority". No more details have been disclosed about the measures. The terms of Washington's peace plan remain vague. However, according to recent speculations, Palestinian refugees will be asked to concede their right to return to historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. Sales visited Kerem Shalom, the sole commercial terminal for the blockaded Gaza Strip, and viewed an 8-meters-long tunnel allegedly dug by Palestinian group Hamas between the enclave and Israel. Leading a US delegation, Sales is currently visiting Israel to attend an annual dialogue with Israel regarding the fight against terrorism. The Palestinian Authority has rejected any US mediation since Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in late 2017, triggering world outcry. Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem occupied by Israel since 1967 might one day serve as the capital of a Palestinian state. Venezuela sells gold amid sanctions The sale could mean President Nicolas Maduro has found a way to remove the economic blockade. Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10, when Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition. Tensions flared when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, a move supported by the US and many European and Latin American countries. Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Bolivia and Mexico have thrown their weight behind Maduro. $400 MILLION SALES Venezuela's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil, the country's main export. The country sold about $400 million in gold despite a growing international push to freeze the countrys assets. Maduro has blown through reserves, selling gold to firms in Turkey, as sanctions increasingly cut off his authoritarian regime from the global financial system. While he maintains a stranglehold on power on the ground -- including the military and government bureaucracy self-declared leaders Juan Guaido is using support from dozens of countries to slowly seize Venezuelas financial assets abroad. 16 April 2019 The EPO and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV) jointly hosted the first in a series of events on computer-implemented inventions in medical technology last week in Lund, Sweden. The conference, which focused on the importance of patents for small and mid-sized companies, was attended by participants and speakers from SMEs and start-ups, industry, universities, public research institutes, patent offices and regulatory bodies from over a dozen countries. Medical technology was the field with the highest number of European patent applications last year, according to the EPO Annual Report 2018. As with many other technical fields, the impact of computer-implemented inventions is being strongly felt in this area. With this event, the EPO and the PRV aimed to raise awareness among businesses of the value of patents and IP strategies, and highlight how patent offices can contribute by providing the necessary knowledge and tools. Similar events are planned in other cities in Sweden and across Europe. In their welcome addresses, Peter Stromback, PRV Director General, and Peter Albrecht, EPO Principal Director Operations, underlined the close co-operation between the EPO and national patent offices in Europe. They emphasised the role of patent offices in supporting innovation, with a particular focus on increased digitalisation across all technical fields. "This conference highlights the market value of patents for SMEs and the importance of having an IP strategy," said Peter Albrecht. "We have to stay in a dialogue with all of the actors of the innovation ecosystem in order to jointly address the challenges and opportunities of rapid technological change, including the growing importance of digital technologies in medtech," Peter Stromback said. At the Lund event, patent examiners from the EPO and PRV spoke about which type of inventions combining computers and medical technology can be protected by patents , and how. This included discussion of patent information and IP strategies, as well as post-examination (opposition and appeal) procedures. Several presenters from business backgrounds, ranging from investors to CEOs, shared their expertise and discussed case studies. The conference also delved deeper into legal aspects and looked at regulation, national litigation, licensing strategies and even how the drafting of a patent application can affect the future commercialisation of an invention. Europe-wide IP training for business The EPO's European Patent Academy, which organised today's Lund event together with the PRV, has run another Europe-wide training series called "IP for business" since 2017. With a focus on general IP training for technology-driven SMEs, "IP for business" events will be held this year in Bucharest, Copenhagen, Oslo, Budapest, Bratislava and Ljubljana. Another conference for businesses jointly organised by the EPO and the Licensing Executives Society International on strategies to facilitate the transfer of patented technologies will take place in Dublin on 4/5 November 2019, and two additional medtech events are scheduled for 2020. Further information Washington, D.C. April 16, 2019 -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) published a paper today in the Annals of Internal Medicine that examines ways to improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Improving the Affordable Care Act's Insurance Coverage Provisions provides a set of recommendations to strengthen the ACA and lay the foundation for health care reforms that will lead to universal coverage for all Americans. ACP is committed to supporting policies that work to achieve universal health care coverage, and supported the passage of the ACA in 2010. However, while the ACA has made health care more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans, especially patients with pre-existing conditions, many still remain uninsured or face significant gaps in coverage. ACP's policy paper explores common-sense approaches to improve the ACA as internists continue to advocate for universal health care for all patients and consumers. "Exploring ways to improve the ACA can help us better understand and address the unique needs of patients," said Robert McLean, MD, FACP, president, ACP. "It's important that physicians and other medical professionals account for how the ACA has made major progress in reducing the number of people who are uninsured, but also recognize that major challenges remain in providing access to care. I believe there's a lot more that can be done to reduce coverage gaps and ensure that every American has affordable health insurance coverage for vital care." Promoting policies to achieve universal health care for all Americans is a longstanding goal of ACP. To protect patients and consumers and ensure they have access to quality care, ACP's paper calls for efforts to bolster the ACA, including stabilizing the health insurance market, expanding Medicaid, increasing competition in the marketplace, and amplifying awareness about how the ACA works to help patients and how to enroll in coverage plans. Additionally, ACP recommends that Congress enact legislation to develop a public insurance plan to ensure consumers have access to a variety of coverage options in their areas. The College also supports federal and state-led auto-enrollment programs to help make sure all individuals can successfully enroll in health care plans. "We encourage congressional leaders and the administration, as well as governments at the state level, to embrace patient-centered health care reform and take concrete action to ensure that the ACA continues to protect patients and make the necessary changes that would improve coverage for all Americans," said Dr. McLean. ACP's evidence-based public policy positions are based on reviewed literature and input from the ACP's Board of Governors, Board of Regents, Council of Early Career Physicians, Council of Resident/Fellow Members, Council of Student Members, and Council of Subspecialty Societies and nonmember experts in the relevant field. This paper was developed by ACP's Health and Public Policy Committee, which is charged with addressing issues that affect the health care of the American public and the practice of internal medicine and its subspecialties. ### About the American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 154,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today announced that Nicole Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, BCPP, FASCP, of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy will be honored with the 2019 Dennis W. Jahnigen Award celebrating work to train health professionals in the care we all need as we age. A Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Science and Executive Director of the School of Pharmacy's Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, Dr. Brandt has dedicated more than two decades to uncovering best practices in medication management for older people and to training fellow pharmacists, doctors, nurses, social workers, and other colleagues in the compassionate, team-based care we all need as we age. "In her research, leadership, and approach to education, Dr. Brandt embodies all the hallmarks of geriatrics as a 'team sport,'" notes Laurie G. Jacobs, MD, AGSF, AGS President. "An expert on medication management--one of the most important topics for our patients--Dr. Brandt has helped the AGS build a bridge between that expertise and the training our diverse health workforce needs to keep us all safe, healthy, and independent as we age." In her various roles at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, where she also earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1997, Dr. Brandt has been instrumental in advancing interdisciplinary education for a range of students and colleagues. Dr. Brandt developed a geriatrics and palliative care pathway and an accredited geriatrics residency that will be celebrating its 20th year in 2020, for example. Sustained through a generous endowment, the residency program in particular offers pharmacists the opportunity for training outside traditional health facilities and in settings that may be key to supporting health and independence for older adults who prefer to remain at home or in the community. In further support of Dr. Brandt's dedication to exemplary education, she also has been instrumental in securing funding for innovative programs benefitting older adults across Maryland. These include a Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) grant with Johns Hopkins University to expand the geriatric workforce, an educational grant to improve medication knowledge for providers working in assisted-living settings, and a medication use and safety training grant targeting caregivers and older adults. An AGS member since 2010, Dr. Brandt has brought her wealth of knowledge and expertise to several high-priority AGS projects, having served as a panelist for updates to the AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults in 2012, 2015 and 2019. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 research publications and presentations and has supervised or advised hundreds of students--many of whom now lead geriatrics efforts at health facilities across the U.S. The late Dennis W. Jahnigen, MD, was a compassionate geriatrician and acclaimed educator who dedicated his life to training future leaders. Today, his namesake award recognizes an AGS member, like Dr. Brandt, committed to working with students and advancing geriatrics education in schools of health and medicine. It is one of several honors conferred by the AGS at its Annual Scientific Meeting--held this year in Portland, Ore., May 2-4. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. ### About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for more than 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. About the Dennis W. Jahnigen Award The late Dennis W. Jahnigen, MD, was a compassionate geriatrician and acclaimed educator who dedicated his life to training future leaders. Today, his namesake award recognizes an AGS member committed to working with students and advancing geriatrics education in schools of health and medicine. About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,500 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene May 2-4, 2019 (pre-conference program on May 1), at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today named Kellie Flood, MD, one of Alabama's premier geriatrics health professionals, its 2019 Clinician of the Year. An Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as well as Associate Chief Medical and Quality Officer for Geriatrics and Care Transitions at UAB Hospital, Dr. Flood will be honored at the AGS 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS19) May 2-4 in Portland, Ore. "Dr. Flood represents everything we've come to expect from a geriatrics health professional," noted Laurie G. Jacobs. MD, AGSF, AGS President. "She's a skilled researcher, educator, and health system leader--all this because she remains so connected to the older people under her care." A board-certified physician in internal medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care, Dr. Flood wears dual caps as a leading clinician and an influential educator in a state where both are in high demand. Dr. Flood launched and continues to serve on the inpatient geriatric consult service that currently performs more than 1,400 consultations annually. And while coordinating that volume of care is impressive in its own right, Dr. Flood is perhaps best known for "going above and beyond" for each of her patients as individuals. "A frequent comment from the patients and families Dr. Flood sees is: 'I've never had someone care like that before,'" notes Katina Booth, MD, Assistant Professor and a colleague of Dr. Flood at UAB. "Dr. Flood has been recognized locally as a 'Hospital Hero' by the Birmingham Regional Hospital Council, and it's certainly no surprise to see that same recognition nationally from a community of Dr. Flood's colleagues." In addition to providing direct care to older adults at two UAB Hospital campuses, Dr. Flood also has worked tirelessly to expand the impact of geriatrics expertise and geriatrics leadership for thousands of older adults in Alabama and beyond. She launched and continues to co-lead with colleagues from nursing the UAB Geriatric Scholar Program, for example, which has trained more than 250 nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, and other health professionals in core geriatrics principles. Projects orchestrated by these scholars helped UAB Hospital standardize assessments of cognition and function for older patients throughout the hospital. And as health systems across the country move toward using electronic health records more effectively, Dr. Flood and the entire geriatric interprofessional leadership team ensured UAB Hospital would be at the front of the pack with the incorporation of the ACE Tracker tool developed by one of her mentors and fellow AGS member, Michael Malone, MD. An AGS member since 2000, Dr. Flood graduated from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School and completed her residency and geriatric fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine, where she rose to the role of Assistant Professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care before transitioning to UAB. The AGS Clinician of the Year Award recognizes exceptional health professionals who deliver outstanding care to older adults and who model the importance of geriatrics for our country. It is one of several honors conferred by the AGS at its Annual Scientific Meeting. The 2019 award recipients include more than 20 health leaders representing the depth and breadth of disciplines championing care for older adults. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. ### About the American Geriatrics Society Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for more than 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org. About the AGS Clinician of the Year Award The AGS Clinician of the Year Award was established to recognize the contributions of practitioners to quality health care for older people and the importance of the geriatrics clinician in our healthcare delivery system. Through awardees' efforts, scientific advances are integrated into the practice of geriatrics, resulting in improved well-being and quality of life for older adults. About the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting The AGS Annual Scientific Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics, providing the latest information on clinical care, research on aging, and innovative models of care delivery. More than 2,500 nurses, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, long-term care and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, and others will convene May 2-4, 2019 (pre-conference program on May 1), at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., to advance geriatrics knowledge and skills through state-of-the-art educational sessions and research presentations. For more information, visit Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org. They may be small, but CubeSats are mighty when it comes to affordably obtaining scientific data in space WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2019 -- Only a few years ago, the astronomy and heliophysics communities were skeptical about whether CubeSats could reliably obtain scientific data. But these breadloaf-size satellites have proven their ability to return useful data. During the American Physical Society's April Meeting 2019, being held April 13-16, in Denver, Colorado, Christopher S. Moore, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the Solar and Stellar X-ray Group, will describe how the twin Miniature X-ray Solar Spectometer (MinXSS) CubeSats measure soft X-rays from the Sun. These were the first solar science-oriented CubeSat missions flown for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. As he will describe at the meeting, Moore was one of several dozen graduate students who contributed to MinXSS over its lifetime. He worked on the MinXSS CubeSats as part of his doctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder. "This work demonstrated that these small, relatively cheap -- ranging from $1 million to $2 million for MinXSS -- CubeSats can collect data that fills a specific niche and is consistent with large satellites, which are much more expensive, and contribute to major science investigations," said Moore. MinXSS-1 was launched in December 2015 on the Atlas-V Cygnus OA-4 Launch, Orbital ATK resupply mission to the International Space Station, where it was deployed for an approximately 12-month orbit around Earth. The second version, MinXXS-2, was launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express in December 2018 and deployed for a four- to five-year orbit and operation. Science-oriented CubeSats are low-cost, short-lifespan satellites built to take specific scientific observations and measurements. MinXSS, for example, features cost-saving components such as an extendable tape measure that serves as a radio antenna. Its science payload consists of a soft X-ray spectrometer that was modified for compatibility with the harsh environment of space. MinXSS is also carrying silicon-based photometers onboard for other soft X-ray and visible light measurements. The NASA-funded MinXSS-1 (the first of the twin satellites) was the initial test of the Blue Canyon Technologies XACT, which is a miniaturized attitude determination and control system. The success of MinXSS-1 and XACT resulted in the SmallSat 2016 Mission of the Year award. "MinXSS measures solar soft X-rays between 0.5 to 12 kiloelectron volts at moderate spectral resolution, which includes the sparsely observed 0.5- to 2-keV bandpass," explained Moore. "This spectral region is highly informative of the solar atmospheric plasma conditions for temperatures greater than 2 million kelvin present in solar flares and during quiescence (dormancy)." The data collected by MinXSS has been consistent with inferences from large satellites. "MinXSS data will help us understand the physics behind solar flares," Moore said. "The soft X-rays carry information about the temperature, density and chemical composition of material in the Sun's atmosphere, which allows scientists to trace how events like flares and other processes during calmer times heat the surrounding material in the corona, the Sun's atmosphere." Variations of the solar X-ray emission strongly correlate with large-scale magnetic features called active regions. "These active regions appear as bright loops in soft X-rays, but appear as dark spots at the solar surface (the photosphere), so they're called 'sunspots.' MinXSS data can help directly constrain the plasma temperature of these relatively quasi-static features," Moore said. CubeSats provide "excellent opportunities to train future leaders in technology and science, as undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs commonly have pivotal roles in design, development, testing, mission operations and science analysis," said Moore. "More than 40 graduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder contributed to MinXSS over the project's lifetime." Due to recent CubeSat successes, NASA and the National Science Foundation now offer new funding opportunities to directly fund science-oriented CubeSats. ### The presentation, "Using the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) CubeSats to Probe HOT Plasma in the Atmosphere of a COOL Star," will take place at 10:57 a.m. MT, Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 10 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. ABSTRACT: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/X08.2 MORE MEETING INFORMATION USEFUL LINKS Register as Press: https://goo.gl/forms/7l15SaH0GOAbhBgR2 Main Press Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/press.cfm Main Meeting Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/ Hotel Information: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/hotel-travel.cfm PRESS REGISTRATION APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. Press credentials are approved at the sole discretion of APS. For press related questions about the APS April Meeting, email . PRESS CONFERENCES A series of press conferences will be held during the meeting at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The press conferences will be live webcast, and members of the media who are unable to attend the meeting in person may register to view the live webcasts at https://www.apswebcasting.com. ABOUT APS The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. https://www.aps.org/ The trick is spotting the near-Earth objects first, according to NASA researchers presenting at the 2019 APS April meeting in Denver WASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2019 -- A mere 17-20 meters across, the Chelyabinsk meteor caused extensive ground damage and numerous injuries when it exploded on impact with Earth's atmosphere in February 2013. To prevent another such impact, Amy Mainzer and colleagues use a simple yet ingenious way to spot these tiny near-Earth objects (NEOs) as they hurtle toward the planet. She is the principal investigator of NASA's asteroid hunting mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and will outline the work of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office this week at the American Physical Society April Meeting in Denver -- including her team's NEO recognition method and how it will aid the efforts to prevent future Earth impacts. "If we find an object only a few days from impact, it greatly limits our choices, so in our search efforts we've focused on finding NEOs when they are further away from Earth, providing the maximum amount of time and opening up a wider range of mitigation possibilities," Mainzer said. But it's a difficult task -- like spotting a lump of coal in the night's sky, Mainzer explained. "NEOs are intrinsically faint because they are mostly really small and far away from us in space," she said. "Add to this the fact that some of them are as dark as printer toner, and trying to spot them against the black of space is very hard." Instead of using visible light to spot incoming objects, Mainzer's team at JPL/Caltech has leveraged a characteristic signature of NEOs -- their heat. Asteroids and comets are warmed by the sun and so glow brightly at thermal wavelengths (infrared), making them easier to spot with the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope. "With the NEOWISE mission we can spot objects regardless of their surface color, and use it to measure their sizes and other surface properties," Mainzer said. Discovering NEO surface properties provides Mainzer and her colleagues an insight into how big the objects are and what they are made of, both critical details in mounting a defensive strategy against an Earth-threatening NEO. For instance, one defensive strategy is to physically "nudge" an NEO away from an Earth impact trajectory. But to calculate the energy required for that nudge, details of NEO mass, and therefore size and composition, are necessary. Astronomers also think that examining the composition of asteroids will help to understand how the solar system was formed. "These objects are intrinsically interesting because some are thought to be as old as the original material that made up the solar system," Mainzer said. "One of the things that we have been finding is that NEOs are pretty diverse in composition." Mainzer is now keen to leverage advances in camera technology to aid in the search for NEOs. "We are proposing to NASA a new telescope, the Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), to do a much more comprehensive job of mapping asteroid locations and measuring their sizes," Mainzer said. NASA is not the only space agency trying to understand NEOs. For instance, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) Hayabusa 2's mission plans to collect samples from an asteroid. And in her presentation Mainzer will explain how NASA works with the global space community in an international effort to defend the planet from NEO impact. ### The presentation, "NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA HQ," will take place at 10:45 a.m. MT, Tuesday, April 16, in room Governor's Square 14 of the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. ABSTRACT: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR19/Session/X05.1 MORE MEETING INFORMATION USEFUL LINKS Register as Press: https://goo.gl/forms/7l15SaH0GOAbhBgR2 Main Press Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/press.cfm Main Meeting Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/ Hotel Information: https://www.aps.org/meetings/april/hotel-travel.cfm PRESS REGISTRATION APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. Press credentials are approved at the sole discretion of APS. For press related questions about the APS April Meeting, email . PRESS CONFERENCES A series of press conferences will be held during the meeting at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel. The press conferences will be live webcast, and members of the media who are unable to attend the meeting in person may register to view the live webcasts at https://www.apswebcasting.com. ABOUT APS The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. https://www.aps.org/ Half of patients prescribed statins in primary care fail to reach 'healthy' cholesterol levels after two years of treatment with these drugs, reveals research published online in the journal Heart. The findings back up those of previous studies, and highlight the need for personalised medicine to tackle high cholesterol and lower the significantly increased risks of future heart disease and stroke--the leading causes of death worldwide--say the researchers. National US and UK guidelines designed to curb cardiovascular disease deaths specify statin treatment targets: in the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) stipulates a reduction of 40 per cent or more in LDL ('bad') cholesterol. The researchers therefore wanted to find out how well patients respond to statins, based on the NICE target, and how this might affect their future risk of cardiovascular disease. They drew on diagnostic and prescribing data submitted anonymously by 681 family doctor practices to the nationally representative UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, and linked them to episodes of hospital treatment (HES data) and statistics on cause of death (ONS data). Complete information was available for 165,411 patients, who had not been treated for heart disease or stroke, and who had had their cholesterol measured at least once in the year before statin treatment and at least once within two years of starting it. The average age at which patients started on statins was 62; nearly half (48.5%) of them were women. All had started treatment between 1990 and 2016. Any reduction in cholesterol below 40 per cent after two years of statin treatment was deemed to be a 'suboptimal' response. This applied to half (51%; 84,609) the patients. During an average monitoring period of six years, new cases of cardiovascular disease were reported in 22,798 (just under 14%) patients. Some 12,142 arose in those who failed to reach a healthy cholesterol; 10,656 arose in those whose cholesterol did drop by 40 per cent. After taking account of potentially influential factors, including age, cholesterol level, and any underlying conditions before treatment, patients who failed to reach a 40 per cent reduction after two years were 22 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those who did respond well. Every 1 mmol/l fall in low density cholesterol was associated with a 6 per cent lower risk of stroke and mini stroke in those who failed to reach the 40 per cent target. But among those who responded well, this was associated with a 13 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, in general, reinforcing the health benefits of reaching the 40 per cent target, say the researchers. Several factors may be behind the difference in response, but genetic make-up and an inability to stick to treatment may explain some of the observed variation, they suggest. "Currently, there is no management strategy in clinical practice which takes into account patient variations in [low density cholesterol] response, and no guidelines for predictive screening before commencement of statin therapy," they highlight. This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause. But the findings reflect the real-world experiences and outcomes of a large number of people over time, the researchers point out, and should be applicable to patients elsewhere. "These findings contribute to the debate on the effectiveness of statin therapy and highlight the need for personalised medicine in lipid management for patients," they conclude. In a linked editorial, Dr Marcio Bittencourt, of University Hospital Sao Paolo, Brazil, describes the high rate of poor responders as "clearly alarming." He suggests that the reasons may lie as much with doctors as with patients. Doctors might prescribe lower doses of less powerful drugs, because they aren't aware of official guidance, or because they remain unconvinced that more powerful statins will be more effective or won't produce unwanted side effects, he says. But he adds: "Effective implementation of guidelines among healthcare practitioners and the general population has been a challenge for a long time. Both physicians and patients should be targets for approaches aiming at improving adherence to guidelines." And he emphasises: "Patients and society should be educated on the scientific evidence documenting the benefits of lipid lowering therapy, and antistatin propaganda based on pseudoscience should be strongly disavowed and demystified by health authorities." ### It should be replaced with informed consent, argues activist and bioethicist Doctors should ditch the requirement for a mental health assessment of transgender teens and adults before prescribing them hormone treatment, argues an activist and bioethicist, drawing on their own personal experience in the Journal of Medical Ethics. The practice is dehumanising, unjustified, and turns the process of transformation into the treatment of a mental illness, says Florence Ashley of McGill University, Montreal, Canada. It should instead be replaced with informed consent, which respects a patient's lived experience and autonomy, they insist. The informed consent approach is becoming more common, they acknowledge. But many doctors still require an assessment and referral letter from a mental health professional in compliance with the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care. The author says that their decision to take hormones was not made in haste, and they had 'socially transitioned' months before opting for hormone treatment. Their university health clinic had adopted informed consent for transgender care, which allowed them to get a prescription for hormones without a referral letter. But "many others are not so lucky," they point out, adding that their own luck ran out when they had to get two referral letters for genital surgery. The assessment of gender dysphoria--discomfort or distress caused by the mismatch between a person's gender identity and his/her sex assigned at birth--left them "feeling exposed, naked and dehumanised," because it was viewed as a mental flaw that needed fixing. "Referral requirements for [hormone treatment] treat self-reports of gender dysphoria not as one would treat reports of normal mental experiences, but as one would treat reports of mental illnesses," they write. By requiring a mental health assessment instead of taking the transgender person's word, doctors "deny the authority trans people have over their own mental health experiences," they say. "As being transgender is not a mental illness, treating gender dysphoria in this way is pathologising and, because it pathologises normal human variance, dehumanising." What's more, the desire to transition may not be a result of gender dysphoria, they suggest. And so these assessments "devalue" the diverse experiences of those who wish to change their bodies for other reasons, they say. There is no scientific evidence to back up referral letter requirements, they point out, arguing that hormone therapy poses no more risk to health than several other medical procedures for which no psychological assessment is required--abortion, for example. "I invite physicians to answer this question for themselves and inquire into how double standards in clinical practices may reflect unconscious hostility towards trans lives and experiences," they write. "The referral requirements may reflect a failure of clinical guidelines to keep up with our evolving understanding of transitude--the fact of being trans--as part of normal human diversity," they suggest. But while there does seem to be some progress towards adopting informed consent rather than a mental health assessment before providing hormone treatment, it is not happening fast enough, they say. "More than just unjustified, these requirements are dehumanising and pathologising for trans people and should be abandoned," they conclude. ### A new method, which uses the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate liver cancer mouse models by rapidly adding (knocking in) cancer genes to DNA, is being reported in the open access journal Genome Medicine. Wen Xue of the RNA Therapeutics Institute at University of Massachusetts Medical School, the corresponding author said: "Well-defined tumor models are needed to better understand cancer biology, perform preclinical studies and identify potential therapeutic strategies for patients. Existing methods used to make models of cancer by adding (knocking in) cancer-causing oncogenes have low efficiency, or it can be difficult to control where the gene is added and how many copies are made. CRISPR/Cas9 allows for the integration of large DNA sequences into a specific place on the genome, called a target locus, and is applicable for human cells in the lab or in mice. We have developed a new system - CRISPR-SONIC - which allows a greater degree of precision for flexible gene knock-in in live cancer mouse models." To tackle existing issues with cancer modelling and to satisfy the need for rapid and efficient generation of live models, the new system, developed by Haiwei Mou, Deniz Ozata and Jordan L. Smith, uses the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system to insert cancer-causing oncogenes into the genomes of live mice. The CRISPR/Cas9 system consists of a guide RNA and the Cas9 enzyme. Guide RNAs are short sequences of nucleotides (DNA building blocks) that attach to a specific target DNA sequence in a genome. As the guide RNA also attaches to the Cas9 enzyme, it can be used to guide Cas9 to a target sequence. Cas9 then cuts the DNA, allowing for single nucleotides or whole genes to be removed or inserted as the DNA is repaired. The authors used CRISPR/Cas9 with two guide RNAs in a three-step process. First, one of the guide RNAs and the Cas9 enzyme cut the target DNA locus. Second, the other guide RNA and Cas9 cut and linearize a round piece of DNA (called a plasmid donor), which in a third step is inserted into the DNA at the target locus. To test their approach, the authors used the method to add a green fluorescent reporter gene (GFP) into mouse cells cultured in the laboratory. This gene, when added to the DNA of a cell, produces a green fluorescent protein which is visible under a laser, indicating that the insertion has worked and the gene is being expressed. After testing the method in cells in the laboratory, the authors tested the method in mice. Deniz Ozata said: "We observed that, following our use of CRISPR-SONIC, approximately 10% of the liver cells in our sample were GFP positive. This is a significant improvement compared to the 0.5% knock-in efficiency of previous methods." Next, the authors tested if they could use their CRISPR-SONIC system - comprising the targeted guide RNAs, the Cas9 enzyme and a common oncogene plasmid - to model intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), the second most common liver cancer, in live mice. Haiwei Mou said: "The top mutations that drive this cancer are of the tumour suppressor gene TP53 (26-44% of cases) and the oncogene KRAS (16-18%). It has previously been shown that if the two mutations occur together, they drive ICC in mouse models. We used CRISPR-SONIC to knock in KRAS, while also adding a guide-RNA that would target and disable (knock out) the TP53 tumour suppressor gene. This is important for cancer modelling, because KRAS is not associated with tumour formation in the presence of p53." One month after injection, the authors observed tumour formation in the livers of treated mice. Control mice injected with the guide RNA, Cas9 and a luminescent DNA sequence, rather than an oncogene, did not develop tumours. Jordan L. Smith said: "We tested our strategy on RAS oncogenes but we assume that any desired oncogenic DNA sequence could be used and tailored to model other cancer types. While we show the use of CRISPR-SONIC in creating models of liver cancer, the method may also potentially be applied to other tissues and organs." The authors also showed that the method can be used to create bioluminescent cancer models which allow researchers to monitor how cancer grows and develops in real time. ### Media Contact Anne Korn Senior Communications Manager BMC T: +44 (0)20 3192 2744 E: anne.korn@biomedcentral.com Notes to editor: 1. Research article: CRISPR-SONIC: targeted somatic oncogene knock-in enables rapid in vivo cancer modeling Mou et al. Genome Medicine 2019 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-019-0627-9 For an embargoed copy of the research article, please contact Anne Korn at BMC. After the embargo lifts, the article will be available here: https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-019-0627-9 Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BMC's open access policy. 2. Genome Medicine is an open access journal publishing outstanding research in the application of genetics, genomics and multi-omics to understand, diagnose and treat disease. Our publication policy combines selection for broad interest and importance with a commitment to serving authors well. 3. A pioneer of open access publishing, BMC has an evolving portfolio of high quality peer-reviewed journals including broad interest titles such as BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, specialist journals such as Malaria Journal and Microbiome, and the BMC series. At BMC, research is always in progress. We are committed to continual innovation to better support the needs of our communities, ensuring the integrity of the research we publish, and championing the benefits of open research. BMC is part of Springer Nature, giving us greater opportunities to help authors connect and advance discoveries across the world. (Boston)--The Framingham Heart Study (FHS), the nation's longest running cohort study with longitudinal analysis of cardiovascular disease, has been renewed for an additional six years and $38 million dollars from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The contract will support examining the elderly groups of the cohort study starting later this year in hopes of better understanding the biology of aging and determinants of health and disease in older people, as well as examination of the younger generation of the FHS after a couple of years. Examples of studies in the older cohort include studying liver fat, platelet function, arterial stiffness, the heart and great vessels and patterns of thousands of circulating blood proteins in the elderly participants. "With the rapidly increasing number of Americans over the age of 65 years, comprehensive studies of older individuals are invaluable," explained Vasan Ramachandran, MD, FACC, principal investigator and Boston University director of the FHS and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). "The opportunity to perform comprehensive analysis of phenotypic abnormalities in older individuals using state-of-the-art scientific technology is unparalleled. Serial follow-up of the younger cohorts will also yield critical insights into the development of cardiovascular disease over the life course." In addition, the funding allows for continued maintenance of study operations, its data and bio-sample collection as well as follow-up and surveillance of all cohort participants and continued analysis of their data. It also facilitates integration of newer, cutting-edge ancillary studies in the study's core protocols. In its seven decades, the FHS has been responsible for numerous research breakthroughs, including smoking's contribution to heart disease risk (1960); identifying fundamental risk factors for heart disease (1961); the benefit of physical activity and the risk posed by obesity, with regard to heart disease (1967); heightened stroke risk from high blood pressure (1970); and the importance of so-called good cholesterol in reducing death risk (1988). Now 70 years later, researchers are studying the children and grandchildren of those original participants which has led to groundbreaking discoveries in other domains including neurodegenerative diseases, obesity, lung abnormalities and pulmonary fibrosis. Over the last two decades, the FHS reported definitive evidence that parental occurrence of heart disease or stroke by age 65 increased the risk of heart disease and stroke two- to three-fold in their children. Ongoing collaborative genetic research with other groups in large consortia have identified hundreds of new genetic loci that contribute to the risk of developing risk factors and heart disease and stroke. In 1948, under the direction of the National Heart Institute (now the NHLBI), researchers of the FHS opened their doors and recruited 5,209 men and women between ages of 30 and 62. Their objective was to identify the common factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease by following its development over a long period of time in participants who have not yet developed overt symptoms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or suffered a heart attack or stroke. "The study's ambitious mission not only educates the public on the implications of their research findings, but also provides the next generation of scientists with vital training opportunities," said Karen Antman, MD, BU Medical Campus provost and BUSM dean. Since 1971, Boston University has been the recipient of contracts from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to administer the FHS. ### Bacterial cells that normally colonize our guts can distinguish themselves from other bacterial species using what's traditionally considered their enemy--a virus. Researchers report April 16 in the journal Cell Reports that some bacteria use viruses that have infected them (i.e., phages) for self-recognition and thereby show greater fitness, repelling competitors that lack this adaptation. "This is the first evidence that cells can distinguish themselves from related competitors through the use of a virus," says Thomas Wood of Pennsylvania State University, one of the co-senior authors on the study. "The implications are that we should re-evaluate the relationship between a virus and its cellular host in that there are sometimes benefits to having a viral infection." The idea for the study began when Wood and his team noticed a demarcation line that formed between different Escherichia coli K-12 strains, but not between identical clones, as they swam toward each other. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, Wood, first author Sooyeon Song of Pennsylvania State University, and co-senior study author Xiaoxue Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences screened the swimming behavior of the complete E. coli K-12 library of 4,296 single-gene knockouts. They discovered that the demarcation line completely disappeared for only one mutation affecting a gene that is required for the replication of some phages. The findings suggested that phage-related proteins are responsible for bacterial self-recognition. Consistent with this idea, the researchers found that the demarcation line was also eliminated for an E. coli K-12 strain lacking all nine cryptic prophages - bacteriophage genomes that have integrated into bacterial chromosomes but do not form active phage particles or rupture ("lyse") their host cells. In particular, additional experiments revealed that the cryptic prophage CPS-53 and one of its proteins, YfdM, were required for the demarcation line. Since CPS-53 is essentially inactive in terms of cell lysis and phage-particle production, the researchers suspected that the demarcation line is formed through cell lysis caused by a different, active phage. They found that exposing bacterial cells containing an active lytic phage called SW1 to YfdM stimulated the production of phage particles and caused the lysis of cells, primarily those lacking SW1. Greater concentrations of YfdM or phage particles produced thicker demarcation lines between bacterial cells. The findings suggest that SW1 controls the formation of the demarcation line by using one of the host's cryptic prophage proteins, YfdM of CPS-53, to propagate. "E. coli utilizes the tools of its old enemy, which got stuck in its chromosome, to work with this new virus SW1, which stays primarily on the outside of the cell, basically surfing on the cell," Wood says. "So the bacterial cell is both using a new virus, SW1, against its competitors and using a protein from a virus that attacked millions of years ago." This strategy clearly benefitted the host cells, which repelled other strains that lacked SW1 and showed a growth advantage when challenged with phage particles from other strains. "A new virus, SW1, and an old virus protein, YfdM, are used as tools by the cell as it searches for food -- and all bacteria are usually starving," Wood says. "The basic idea is that the cell that carries virus SW1 is not killed as much as the one that has not seen virus SW1 before. So the cell that carries virus SW1 is more fit than the cell that lacks the virus." This newly discovered mechanism of self-recognition allows bacteria to form social groups, cooperating with kin while antagonizing non-kin during behaviors that may be important for nourishment, virulence, protection, quorum sensing, and biofilm formation. "Bacteria are frequently thought of as living individually, but in fact they can forage for food as groups," Wood says. "In order to act as a group, they must be able to distinguish themselves from other bacteria. In one type of social activity, when they communicate, bacterial cells secrete chemical signals to communicate. Now we show cells utilize viruses to distinguish themselves from closely related bacteria." In future studies, the researchers plan to investigate how SW1 avoids attacking its host cells, instead killing primarily bacteria that lack the virus. Ultimately, understanding how cells compete could be useful for synthetic biology applications that mimic nature and use bacteria in groups. "In addition, if we understand better how viruses choose which cells to attack, we can perhaps be in a better position to use viruses to combat bacterial infections." ### This work was supported by Army Research Office funds derived from the Biotechnology Endowed Professorship at the Pennsylvania State University, the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the KRIBB Initiative Research Program. Cell Reports, Song et al.: "Phages Mediate Bacterial Self-Recognition" https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(19)30400-0 Cell Reports (@CellReports), published by Cell Press, is a weekly open-access journal that publishes high-quality papers across the entire life sciences spectrum. The journal features reports, articles, and resources that provide new biological insights, are thought-provoking, and/or are examples of cutting-edge research. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) announced today an exclusive licensing agreement with partner Inari, a company that is advancing plant breeding by tapping nature's genetic diversity. The technology developed by CSHL Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Zachary Lippman allows Inari to tailor plant architecture and other traits in crops, improving productivity and quality to fit local environmental conditions. Today, commercial production of major crops, such as soybeans, corn, wheat and tomato, relies on a handful of standard seed varieties--with limited options for farmers. Inari is applying the Lippman technology to its product development process, which aims to address challenges to our current food system, increasing plant yields as well as water--and nitrogen-use efficiency. "CSHL identified Inari as an exclusive partner because of its potential to disrupt the market," said CSHL President and CEO Bruce Stillman. "Dr. Lippman's team has already demonstrated the power of basic research in understanding crop yield and this collaboration with Inari applies his research to help farmers deal with changing environmental conditions, water shortages, and threats to arable land." Lippman first came to CSHL as a Ph.D. student, studying how gene regulation can impact diversity. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he studied how tweaks in gene regulation cause wide variation in traits. In Israel, Lippman and colleagues identified two genes--both of which encode regulators of other genes--that help control the branching of flower-bearing shoots in tomato plants. Recruited back to CSHL as a faculty member, he has studied the architecture and flowering of tomatoes, developing new approaches, including the Promoter Fine Tuning technology, to tailor the genes that control these traits. Two years in the making, the licensing of Promoter Fine Tuning technology is consistent with CSHL's strategy to pursue innovation in the focus areas of crop improvement, clinical diagnostics, cancer therapeutics and orphan diseases. Standard academic technology transfer strategy considers commercialization when basic research sparks an idea for a marketable technology. "CSHL's approach is more forward-looking, aligned with its historic high-risk/high-reward approach to accelerating innovative research," explained Andrew Whiteley, CSHL Vice President for Business Development and Technology Transfer. "We want to initiate relationships with industry partners while the technology is being shaped and developed at CSHL." ### About Inari Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2016, Inari seeks a winning food system with its industry-disrupting Seed Foundry, a process which taps the natural genetic diversity of plants in the context of climate change and respect for our environment. Inari works with seed companies to co-develop high-performance seeds, with innovations directly benefiting farmers. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with development sites in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Ghent, Belgium, Inari has a growing team of over 90-100 employees. To learn more, visit Inari.com or follow on Twitter @inari_Ag About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,100 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory's education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle and high school students and teachers. For more information, visit http://www.cshl.edu This Easter, researchers reveal why some parents eat their kids' eggs: it's because they care As you bite into a chocolate bunny or egg this weekend, consider this: rabbits often eat their own young, and hens their own eggs. In fact, eating or abandoning offspring has been documented in a variety of mammal and bird species - as well as fish, insects and spiders. Hunger and quality control are among the many reasons proposed for this counterintuitive survivor of natural selection. Now researchers at the University of Tennessee and the University of Oxford suggest that in some cases, filial cannibalism and offspring abandonment might even be considered forms of parental care. Published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, their mathematical model shows that when overcrowding threatens offspring survival - which often occurs due to spread of infection or competition for resources - sacrificing a few so the most can live becomes the ultimate form of tough love. Putting all your eggs in one basket To understand the role of overcrowding or 'offspring density' in the survival benefit of filial cannibals, the researchers focused on species that lay eggs. "Communal egg laying is common in a range of fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians," says senior author Dr. Hope Klug, Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. "This makes it easier to protect, clean, incubate and feed the eggs - but can also increase disease transmission, and competition for food and oxygen." Offspring density has been found to affect egg survival, and in some cases abandonment or cannibalism, in many of these species. "For example, in the beaugregory damselfish, fathers were more likely to eat eggs under low oxygen conditions," notes Klug. "Such cases have led the to the hypothesis that eating or abandoning offspring may be an adaptation to improve overall survival of offspring by reducing their density." Model parents eat their offspring Klug and colleagues created a mathematical model to test this hypothesis. "The model introduced an imaginary individual with a mutation for filial cannibalism or offspring abandonment, into a population of generic egg-laying animals," explains lead author Dr. Mackenzie Davenport, also of the University of Tennessee. As in the group's previous models, the gene for cannibalism spread throughout the population if it gave parents extra calories. But for the first time in this model, they found that when offspring mortality increases with egg laying density, both filial cannibalism and offspring abandonment result in increased fitness. "Under these conditions, the mutants were able to outcompete and replace the generic population," reports Davenport. This was the case even when cannibal parents were given little or no energy benefit from the extra food - or when abandoned offspring were assumed to die. "Our findings suggest that surprisingly, filial cannibalism and offspring abandonment can function as forms of parental care, by increasing total offspring survival." Live fast, die young, be prepared to abort "The fitness benefit of offspring abandonment and filial cannibalism also increases as adult death rate increases, particularly for the case of filial cannibalism," adds co-author Prof. Michael Bonsall of the University of Oxford. In other words: if you've got fewer shots at reproducing, you'll need to be ruthless in protecting your brood. But if offspring mortality is density dependent, why produce so many eggs in the first place? "It is not always possible for parents to predict the environment that their offspring will end up in," explains Bonsall. "Factors like food availability, oxygen availability, diseases presence and predation, might change in an unpredictable manner. Likewise, in many fish and other animals females deposit their eggs in the nests or territories of males and leave, so cannot predict an optimal laying density given that additional females might subsequently add eggs to the nest." "It's up to empiricists now to test these models in a variety of species," the authors conclude. ### Please link to the original research article in your reporting: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00113/full Corresponding author: Dr. Hope Klug, hope-klug@utc.edu Frontiers is an award-winning Open Science platform and leading open-access scholarly publisher. Our mission is to make high-quality, peer-reviewed research articles rapidly and freely available to everybody in the world, thereby accelerating scientific and technological innovation, societal progress and economic growth. Frontiers received the 2014 ALPSP Gold Award for Innovation in Publishing. For more information, visit http://www.frontiersin.org and follow @Frontiersin on Twitter. WASHINGTON -- Despite a mandate to help patients make better-informed health care decisions, a ten-year research program established under the Affordable Care Act has funded a relatively small number of studies that examine primary care, the setting where the majority of patients in the U.S. receive treatment. The finding, reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found that only about a quarter of the 250 trials funded between 2015-2018 by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) had any relation to the primary care setting. The rest were devoted to specialty care. Furthermore, only about 30 percent of the $1.17 billion spent on the research had any applicability to primary patient care, says the study's senior investigator, Dan Merenstein, MD, professor of medicine and director of research programs in the department of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. "If the mission is to help guide patients through issues that have the greatest impact upon them, then PCORI is funneling substantial grant money where it shouldn't be," says Merenstein. "The program, which is up for renewal and may be dissolved in 2020 with grants exceeding $3.5 billion, is very disappointing to physicians who are devoted to, and strongly believe in, primary care. We should be at the forefront of such research." Merenstein and his collaborators, all at Georgetown when the study began, pointed out in their first study, published in 2016, that an examination of 300 grants, worth $400 million, awarded between 2011-2014 found between 19 percent and 32 percent included any focus on primary care. This latest study looks at grants given between 2015-2018, and has found no change. This new study is "stronger in the sense that if there was any chance the study impacted primary care patients we counted it as primary care," says Merenstein. PCORI is an independent nonprofit, nongovernmental organization authorized by Congress in 2010. "It is in a unique position to impact patient health, particularly in the primary care setting. Most health care is accessed within primary care, making it an ideal setting to do research that will make an impact on the patient health care experience," says the first author, Andrew Blaster, a Georgetown medical student. co-author ### Other collaborators in the new study are Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH, a Georgetown family medicine physician who also directs the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care in Washington, and Stephany Mazur, who was the lead investigator of the 2016 study while attending medical school at Georgetown. A co-author on the new study, Mazur, MD, is now at Northwestern University. The study was funded by the Georgetown University School of Medicine Office of Student Research. Conflicts on Interest: Merenstein discloses that he has previously applied for PCORI grants and has served on PCORI review committees. About Georgetown University Medical Center Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through MedStar Health). GUMC's mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, both nationally ranked; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute; and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization, which accounts for the majority of externally funded research at GUMC including a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. Connect with GUMC on Facebook (Facebook.com/GUMCUpdate), Twitter (@gumedcenter) and Instagram (@gumedcenter). An original design for an oral appliance developed in Hiroshima University Hospital can help sufferers of sleep apnea sleep more soundly Researchers measured a novel treatment for sleep apnea developed at Hiroshima University Hospital with positive results. By measuring patients lying down flat, the researchers stimulated sleep conditions and measured the patient's airways using 3D imaging. The study confirmed that the treatment is effective at opening the airways and warrants further collaboration between dentists and doctors in treatment of sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition that causes throat muscles to relax and narrows the airways of those affected while they are asleep. Snorting, choking or gasping while sleeping are the indicators of the condition. Usually the sufferers' partner notices before they do! People with mild to moderate sleep apnea experience daily fatigue and a shortened attention span from lack of sleep. Sleep apnea can also have more serious consequences; people have died from very severe forms of the condition. "Your eyes are closed but you're not resting," explains Dr. Cynthia Concepcion-Medina, Research Assistant at the Department of Orthodontics at Hiroshima University Hospital who contributed to the study with her colleagues Associate Professor Hiroshi Ueda and Dr. Yu Matsumura. Treatments include a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine (a mask worn by the patient that delivers air pressure throughout the night) or one-piece oral appliances. The Department of Orthodontics at Hiroshima University Hospital developed an oral appliance to help patients with mild to moderate sleep apnea. This appliance brings the jawbone forward to enlarge the air passageways at the back of their mouth. Each appliance is custom made for each patient and allows jaw movement, so it doesn't affect patient's teeth or change the shape of their face. "This is like when you have to use glasses, you have to wear them every time you want to see properly so [patients] have to wear this appliance every time [they] want to sleep better." according to Dr. Ueda. To further investigate how well the appliance works the research team, led by Dr. Matsumura, scanned a group of patients with mild-to-moderate sleep apnea using Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT)-- a type of X-ray where the machine rotates around an object, and it takes a picture each time it rotates. This data is then combined to see a 3D object and is a fast and precise method of scanning. Previous research usually measured patients standing up, which does not simulate sleeping conditions. This study (published in Sleep Disorders, 2019) measured the change in airway space of 13 patients lying flat. The team found that the appliance had a positive effect on patients: wearing it almost halved the number of times the patients had sleep apnea episodes during the night and widened their airways to allow easier breathing. "I think it's unique research because we are dentists, but we can contribute to improve the [patient's] sleep situation or breathing situation." says Dr. Ueda. This study indicates promising effects of this treatment and the team hopes that they can continue this collaboration between the dental and the medical field. ### Since its foundation in 1949, Hiroshima University has strived to become one of the most prominent and comprehensive universities in Japan for the promotion and development of scholarship and education. Consisting of 12 schools and 11 graduate schools, ranging from International Development and Cooperation to Integrated Arts and Sciences, the university has grown into one of the most distinguished research universities in Japan. English website: https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en Pupils in Zhoa attending school after a long time WhatsApp At a time when schools resumed for the third term of the 2018/2019 academic year across Cameroon, some pupils and students in the countrys North West and South West Regions were attending school for the first time in three years. Reports say children in Zhoa, Fungom Subdivision of Menchum Division in the North West Region were in school Monday, April 15, 2019 after staying home since November 2016 following a teachers strike that went sour. The council hall and the conference hall of the Divisional Officers office serve as five classes for the primary section. The pupils are under the watch of vigilante groups flanked by a detachment of government troops. As at now, 75 children are present, Cameroon-info.net learnt. This comes on the heels of a Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia leaders meeting in Berlin, Germany, on April 11to April 14, christened the Ambazonia Stakeholders Strategic Conference, ASSC, resolved to allow schools resume where security can be guaranteed. The conference which the organisers said brought together all integral parts that make up the Interim Government, has also pulled the presence of finest think tanks, international partners, stakeholders and friends of Ambazonia from all over the world was attended by the Acting Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, H.E. Rev Dr. Samuel Sako Ikome. Resolution No. 24 in a release issued after the conference states that the ASSC: Appeals to parents to assess the security situation in their LGAs/Counties before sending their children to school. Though some other leaders have described the resolutions as controversial, one the resolutions states that the ASSC: Encourages the IG to continue to collaborate with any leaders, nationalist movements, trade unions [among others], through Memorandum of Understanding. The militias, who want to create Ambazonia, began to emerge in 2017 after a security force crackdown on mass protests, led by lawyers and teachers, over the government's alleged failure to give enough recognition to the English legal and education systems in the North-West and South-West. The government was accused of relying heavily on people trained in the French legal and educational tradition to work in key posts and generally marginalising Cameroon's English-speaking minority, who make up about 20% of the population. School boycott and ghost towns were used as a weapon of civil disobedience and later morphed into a monster that saw the kidnapping the students, pupils and school administrators. It is hopes that this new position on school resumption will keep the belligerents away from schools and let the children have an education. Cancer cells are characterised by the ability to evade apoptosis, a type of programmed cell death that allows the organism to remove damaged cells. Many studies devoted to new chemotherapy treatments aim to induce apoptosis and thus remove cancer cells or reduce the size of the tumour. Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have demonstrated that the protein TP53INP2 plays an important role in the induction of cell death. This finding could be relevant in the treatment of certain types of cancer. "We observed that when cells have high levels of TP53INP2, apoptosis is accelerated when specific receptors on the cell membrane are activated. In contrast, the cells that did not express this protein were more resistant to apoptosis," comments Antonio Zorzano, head of the Complex Metabolic Disease and Mitochondria Lab at IRB Barcelona. Published in EMBO Journal, this study describes how this protein increases the efficacy of certain chemotherapy treatments, such as TRAIL. "We demonstrate that TP53INP2 makes cancer cells more sensitive to death signals, including TRAIL," explains Saska Ivanova, postdoctoral fellow at IRB Barcelona and first author of the study. TRAIL holds great promise for the treatment of cancer because it can selectively induce the death of cancer cells. Since its discovery in 1995, many clinical assays have been devoted to this drug. However, not all patients with cancer respond to this treatment. Researchers at IRB Barcelona have confirmed the relation between high levels of TP53INP2 and an enhanced response of liver and breast cancer cells to TRAIL. One of the issues regarding TRAIL is the need to identify patients likely to respond to this treatment, as TRAIL can enhance tumour progression in some types of cancer. "We propose the protein TP53INP2 as a potential marker to identify patients that could benefit from treatment with TRAIL," explains Zorzano, full professor at the University of Barcelona and CIBERDEM researcher. Personalised medicine, an approach that allows treatment to be adapted to the characteristics of each patient, emerges as one of the health care strategies with most potential. Knowledge of the type of cancer and selection of the most efficient treatment in each case will increase patient survival. However, biomarkers are needed. In this regard, this study offers a new approach to support physicians in the selection of personalised treatments. "We are now extending the study to other types of cancer, such as lung cancer, to confirm whether TP53INP2 also improves the response to treatment with TRAIL," adds Ivanova. ### The study has been supported by funding from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (previously called MINECO), CIBERDEM (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), the Catalan Government, INFLAMES, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, INTERREG IV-B-SUDOE-FEDER and the "La Caixa" Foundation. Reference article: Saska Ivanova, Mira Polajnar, Alvaro Jesus Narbona-Perez, Maria Isabel Hernandez-Alvarez, Petra Frager, Konstantin Slobodnyuk, Natalia Plana, Angel R. Nebreda, Manuel Palacin, Roger R. Gomis, Christian Behrends and Antonio Zorzano. Regulation of death receptor signaling by the autophagy protein TP53INP2 EMBO Journal (2019) doi: 10.15252/embj.201899300 A vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of childhood illness and mortality in the developing world, sharply reduced the incidence of serious pneumococcal disease among children in a large Kenyan community after it was introduced in 2011, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published online in The Lancet April 15, is the first to evaluate the effect of the vaccine, called PCV10, on a large scale in Africa. The researchers examined two time periods, 1999-2010, before the vaccine's introduction and 2012-2016, after its introduction, and found that the average annual incidence of serious pneumococcal disease caused by S. pneumoniae strains that the vaccine is designed to prevent dropped by 92 percent among children under five years of age. The incidence of disease among older, unvaccinated age groups also dropped sharply, suggesting that the vaccine produced an added "herd immunity" benefit. This occurs because children who have been vaccinated no longer transmit the disease in the community. S. pneumoniae infection can cause many serious conditions, which are broadly termed "pneumococcal disease" and include pneumonia, meningitis, ear and sinus problems, and sepsis (blood infection). Children are especially vulnerable to pneumococcal infection and while pneumococcal vaccination programs in wealthier countries have greatly reduced the burden of pneumococcal disease, access to pneumococcal vaccines lagged behind in lower-income countries. As recently as 2015, pneumococcal disease still annually claimed the lives of more than 300,000 children age five and under around the world. "There is evidence of the substantial impact of pneumococcal vaccines in the U.S. and other wealthy-country settings, and it's really exciting to now show a powerful population-level benefit of PCV10 vaccination in Africa, where most deaths from pneumococcal disease occur," says study lead author Laura Hammitt, MD, associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health and clinical epidemiologist with the International Vaccine Access Center and the Center for American Indian Health at the Bloomberg School. Kenya until 2011 did not have a pneumococcal vaccine in its national childhood immunization schedule. In that year, though, with assistance from a global health organization called Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, it introduced PCV10, also called Synflorix, which is designed to protect against 10 common strains of S. pneumoniae. The Kenyan program provided for a three-dose schedule of PCV10 vaccination in infants at six, 10 and 14 weeks of age, with initial "catch-up" vaccination in 2011 for children who were less than a year old. Additionally, in the study community, the Kenyan Ministry of Health extended catch-up vaccination to children up to age five years. This helped to accelerate the population-level effects of the vaccine program. The study population included people living in and around Kilifi, a town on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast. The research was a collaboration involving the Bloomberg School, Oxford University, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Kenya's Ministry of Health, Kilifi County Hospital and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Program in Kilifi. The researchers calculated the incidence, or annual rate per capita, of serious ("invasive") pneumococcal disease cases involving the ten PCV10 strains in children less than five years old at the hospital during the years 1999-2016. They then compared the average incidence during the 1999-2010 pre-vaccine period to the average incidence in 2012-2016 after the vaccine was in routine use. Comparing these before and after periods, they found that the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in children under five, involving those ten pneumococcal strains, declined 92 percent. The number of cases of invasive pneumococcal disease involving the PCV10 strains in children younger than five fell from an average of 25 per year in the pre-vaccine era to just one per year in the vaccine era. The study also found that pneumococcal disease caused by non-PCV10 strains did not increase to fill the gap left by the vaccine. "There are many different strains of pneumococcus so it is important to monitor whether strains not included in the vaccine begin replacing those that are. This could potentially erode some of the benefit of the vaccine through so-called replacement disease," Hammitt says. "Fortunately, we haven't seen any evidence of significant replacement disease now six years after the introduction of PCV10 in Kenya." For invasive pneumococcal disease involving any S. pneumoniae strain, the average incidence dropped by 68 percent and there was also an 85 percent reduction in pneumococcal pneumonia among children younger than 5 years. The study revealed an added benefit from "herd immunity," in which vaccinating children led to reductions in disease in older, unvaccinated age groups by reducing the spread of infection in the community. The researchers found that the incidence of pneumococcal disease involving PCV10 strains among infants younger than two months--those too young to be vaccinated--declined from 173 per year per 100,000 population in the pre-vaccine period to zero after the vaccine was introduced. Similarly, the researchers saw declines in incidence of 74 percent and 81 percent, respectively, among children between five and 14 and those who were older than 14--groups that were not vaccinated. Herd protection is what makes the vaccine cost-effective in high-income countries but it has not been observed in tropical Africa until now. "The herd immunity provided by PCV10 is important not only because it improves the health of the population as a whole, but also because it makes the vaccine more cost-effective," Hammitt says. In addition to monitoring invasive disease, the study team also conducted "carriage surveys" in which they tested for pneumococcal bacteria in the noses of more than 4,000 Kilifi-area residents. These surveys showed declines in carriage of the PCV10 strains for all age groups from the pre-vaccine period to the post-vaccine period, which aligns with the observed declines in invasive disease. However, among children, carriage of the vaccine strains of S. pneumoniae remained higher than in wealthy-country settings (6 to 8 percent in Kilifi compared to less than 1 to 2 percent in the U.S.). "Persistent carriage of vaccine strains could lead to rebound disease if vaccine coverage levels do not remain high," Hammitt says. The study team plans to continue surveillance to monitor for any shifts in carriage and disease. "We have demonstrated a strong operational impact of PCV10 use in Kenya," Hammitt says. "Policymakers face difficult decisions about how to best use limited financial resources. Data like these provide critical evidence to support investment in childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccine programs to improve the health of the population." ### "Effect of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on invasive pneumococcal disease and nasopharyngeal carriage in Kenya" was written by Laura Hammitt, Anthony Etyang, Susan Morpeth, John Ojal, Alex Mutuku, Neema Mturi, Jennifer Moisi, Ifedayo Adetifa, Angela Karani, Donald Akech, Mark Otiende, Tahreni Bwanaali, Jackline Wafula, Christine Mataza, Edward Mumbo, Collins Tabu, Maria Deloria Knoll, Evasius Bauni, Kevin Marsh, Thomas Williams, Tatu Kamau, Shahnaaz Sharif, Orin Levine, and Anthony Scott. Funding was provided by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and the Wellcome Trust. As growth makes neighborhoods more crowded for humans, it's also concentrating carnivores like bobcats and coyotes into the remaining green spaces, leading them to interact with each other more frequently than they do in wild areas, according to research in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. The citizen science study looks at how carnivores interact with each other when they're sharing space in small suburban forest patches. With the help of 557 volunteers and 1,260 remote cameras set up in suburban, exurban, rural and wild areas, the researchers documented 6,413 carnivores among nearly 43,000 images of wildlife. Carnivore species included bobcats and coyotes along with smaller gray and red foxes. "We found a lot of animal activity in the suburbs, but it was really concentrated in the remaining green space. We think carnivores are trying to avoid people, so they are moving through the strips of remaining forest, where they are more likely to interact with each other," says lead author Arielle Parsons, researcher with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University. "What we discovered was that preserving green space in our cities is important not only for humans but also for wildlife species. Green space provides cover, it provides food and it's a good way for carnivores to navigate without being in any danger from people." In general, the smaller carnivores steer clear of the larger ones. Some have theorized that smaller carnivores might stay closer to people, using them as "human shields" from larger predators. But that wasn't borne out by the study. "We found, on the contrary, that gray foxes and coyotes especially - our smallest species and our largest species - actually tended to use the same sites," Parsons says. "In other words, they didn't avoid each other, which was pretty surprising." For those who are wary about having carnivores in their midst, Parsons says it's actually a good thing, given the key role they play in the ecosystem. "Our study is showing that carnivores are trying to stay away from people by using forested areas," Parsons says. "If we give them the opportunity to do that through preservation of green space and green space corridors through our urban areas, carnivores are going to continue to live nearby, which is actually a good thing for the ecology of our cities." "Just like roadways and sidewalks focus human movement and increase the potential for interaction, we find the high use of strips of remaining green space by carnivores increases their level of interaction," says study co-author Roland Kays, a zoologist with NC State and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. "This shows how urban planning can affect the ecology of animals that share cities with people." ### The study was supported with funding from the National Science Foundation (grants 1232442 and 1319293). The VWR Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Smithsonian Institution also contributed to the work. Note: An abstract of the paper follows. "Urbanization focuses carnivore activity in remaining natural habitats, increasing species interactions" Authors: Arielle Parsons, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University; Christopher T. Rota, West Virginia University; Tavis Forester, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; Megan C. Baker-Whatton, The Nature Conservancy; William J. McShea, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; Stephanie G. Schuttler, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences; Joshua J. Millspaugh, University of Montana; Roland Kays; N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University Accepted: Journal of Applied Ecology DOI: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.13385 Abstract: 1. Interspecific interactions can provoke temporal and spatial avoidance, ultimately affecting population densities and spatial distribution patterns. The ability (or inability) of species to coexist has consequences for diversity and ultimately ecosystem stability. Urbanization is predicted to change species interactions but its relative impact is not well known. Urbanization gradients offer the opportunity to evaluate the effect of humans on species interactions by comparing community dynamics across levels of disturbance. 2. We used camera traps deployed by citizen scientists to survey mammals along urbanization gradients of two cities (Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC, USA). We used a multispecies occupancy model with four competing predator species to test whether forest fragmentation, interspecific interactions, humans or prey had the greatest influence on carnivore distribution. 3. Our study produced 6,413 carnivore detections from 1,260 sites in two cities, sampling both private and public lands. All species used all levels of the urbanization gradient to a similar extent, but co-occurrence of urban-adapted foxes with less urban-adapted bobcats and coyotes was dependent on the availability of green space, especially as urbanization increased. This suggests green space allows less urban-adapted species to occupy suburban areas, but focuses their movements through remaining forest patches, leading to more species interactions. 4. Synthesis and applications. Species interactions, forest fragmentation and human-related covariates were important determinants of carnivore occupancy across a gradient of urbanization with the relative importance of forest fragmentation being highest. We found evidence of both positive and negative interactions across the gradient with some dependent on available green space, suggesting that fragmentation leads to higher levels of spatial interaction. Where green space is adequate, there appears to be sufficient opportunity for coexistence between carnivore species in an urban landscape. WASHINGTON (April 16, 2019) -- The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors today approved $44.6 million to fund 12 studies comparing the best ways to treat a range of health conditions that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers and the healthcare system. The newly approved awards include four focused on improving the availability and effectiveness of treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), which affects 2.5 million Americans aged 12 and older, including 8 to 12 percent of people prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Three awards focus on patients treated for OUD in doctors' offices with the medication buprenorphine and seek to determine which psychosocial treatments work best in combination with that medication to help these patients abstain from opioid use: A $5.5 million Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine study comparing three psychosocial treatments for people being treated at federally qualified health centers. The study looks at which kind of psychosocial treatment -- cognitive behavioral therapy, peer recovery support or a combination of both -- is most effective. A $4.9 million RAND Corporation study of whether incorporating a patient's support system into their treatment with buprenorphine can improve outcomes. The study will examine whether a counseling program for someone close to the patient, such as a family member, spouse or friend, can improve recovery. A $4.4 million Johns Hopkins School of Medicine project comparing ways to improve outcomes by using patient incentives. One method will be standard care and two others will involve incentives for people who use buprenorphine daily to stay on their medication and not use drugs. The fourth opioids-related award is $5.6 million for a Yale University School of Medicine study comparing two approaches for supporting obstetricians who treat pregnant women with OUD with medication-assisted treatment. One is a collaborative care model where a care manager supports the obstetrician with patient screening, intake, education, treatment and care coordination. The other uses remote education to provide obstetricians with expert mentorship and guidance via video conferencing. The study looks at which model is better for patients. "PCORI is committed to funding studies across the broad range of issues that need to be considered if we are to reduce the toll that opioid use disorders, and inappropriate use of opioids more broadly, is taking on patients, their families and the healthcare system," said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. "We believe PCORI's approach to helping combat this major public health challenge -- by comparing which care approaches work best, based on relevant outcomes -- can help patients and their doctors make better-informed decisions about their treatment options." These latest awards bring to nearly three-dozen the number of patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness (CER) studies PCORI has funded related to opioid use. These are part of PCORI's broader focus on addressing the opioid epidemic by finding better ways to help people manage chronic pain, prevent inappropriate opioid use, improve long-term pain management while reducing the risk opioids can pose, and increase access to and quality of OUD treatment. Other awards approved include: $5.7 million to examine strategies for improving treatment of insomnia in rural areas, looking at how well a commonly prescribed drug works compared with cognitive behavioral therapy $5.6 million for a study comparing ways to enhance prenatal care to improve maternal and child health. $2.7 million in funding for a study comparing two non-drug approaches - acupuncture and massage therapy -- to improve care for severe pain in people with cancer Details of all projects approved for funding by the Board appear on PCORI's website. All awards were approved pending a business and programmatic review by PCORI staff and issuance of formal award contracts. With these latest awards, PCORI has invested $2.4 billion to fund more than 460 patient-centered CER studies and to support other projects designed to enhance CER methods and the infrastructure necessary to conduct CER rigorously and efficiently. ### The optical laser has grown to a $10 billion global technology market since it was invented in 1960, and has led to Nobel prizes for Art Ashkin for developing optical tweezing and Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland for work with pulsed lasers. Now a Rochester Institute of Technology researcher has teamed up with experts at the University of Rochester to create a different kind of laser - a laser for sound, using the optical tweezer technique invented by Ashkin. In the newest issue of Nature Photonics, the researchers propose and demonstrate a phonon laser using an optically levitated nanoparticle. A phonon is a quantum of energy associated with a sound wave and optical tweezers test the limits of quantum effects in isolation and eliminates physical disturbances from the surrounding environment. The researchers studied the mechanical vibrations of the nanoparticle, which is levitated against gravity by the force of radiation at the focus of an optical laser beam. "Measuring the position of the nanoparticle by detecting the light it scatters, and feeding that information back into the tweezer beam allows us to create a laser-like situation," said Mishkat Bhattacharya, associate professor of physics at RIT and a theoretical quantum optics researcher. "The mechanical vibrations become intense and fall into perfect sync, just like the electromagnetic waves emerging from an optical laser." Because the waves emerging from a laser pointer are in sync, the beam can travel a long distance without spreading in all directions - unlike light from the sun or from a light bulb. In a standard optical laser the properties of the light output are controlled by the material from which the laser is made. Interestingly, in the phonon laser the roles of light and matter are reversed - the motion of the material particle is now governed by the optical feedback. "We are very excited to see what the uses of this device are going to be - especially for sensing and information processing given that the optical laser has so many, and still evolving, applications," said Bhattacharya. He also said the phonon laser promises to enable the investigation of fundamental quantum physics, including engineering of the famous thought experiment of Schrodinger's cat, which can exist at two places simultaneously. ### Bhattacharya collaborated with the experimental group led by Nick Vamivakas at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. Bhattacharya's theoretical team on the paper consisted of RIT postdoctoral researchers Wenchao Ge and Pardeep Kumar, while Vamivakas led current UR graduate students Robert Pettit and Danika Luntz-Martin, former graduate student Levi Neukirch and postdoctoral associate Justin Schultz. Both groups are supported by the U.S. Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research via individual grants as well as a combined award which is led by the University of Rochester and includes Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Washington and University of Maryland. To read the full study, go to https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-019-0395-5. For more information, contact Luke Auburn at 585-475-4335 or luke.auburn@rit.edu. Siddhartha Mukherjee has delighted, informed, and touched a wide audience through his books and essays, for which he will be awarded the 2019 Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. The prize, honoring scientists as inspirational authors, will be presented Monday, April 22, at a free, public event on The Rockefeller University campus. Mukherjee's commitment to demystifying cancer takes multiple expressions. He has won acclaim for the sensitive and caring treatment he delivers to his patients, and for his innovative cancer biology research. But what has ultimately made him a household name is his work as a science writer, especially his debut piece chronicling the past, present, and possible future of the disease. In his 2010 book, The Emperor of All Maladies, Mukherjee travels back more than 4,000 years to the first documented mention of cancer, and then explores humanity's relationship with the disease through the ages and until present time. He traces not only the medical and scientific history of the cancer, but also its cultural meanings and political currency. "Mukherjee's willingness and ability to bring cancer to a human level epitomizes the 'scientist as poet' spirit of the Lewis Thomas Prize," says Jesse H. Ausubel, chair of the selection committee. "His clear and engaging writing about science bridges the worldviews of scientists and writers, and brings pivotal scientific discoveries about cancer into the public discourse." The committee also noted that The Emperor conveys an immense amount of material while telling the stories of real people--scientists, doctors, and patients--whose journeys move the heart as much as they stimulate the mind. The book has won several other literary awards, including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Mukherjee has also written other books, including The Laws of Medicine and The Gene, and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Mukherjee first encountered his lifelong interest in cancer at age nine, when a cousin with neck and mouth cancer visited his family home. He earned his undergraduate degree at Stanford University and then attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He attended Harvard Medical School, and is now on the faculty of Columbia University, where he practices medicine and conducts research. He has made scientific discoveries that hold promise for the development of new treatments for cancers of the blood, as well as for other conditions such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. ### Recent recipients of the Lewis Thomas Prize include astrophysicist Kip Thorne, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, physiologist Frances Ashcroft, surgeon Atul Gawande, and mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Ian Stewart. Register here to attend this year's event on April 22. A reception will take place at 5:30 p.m., followed by the prize presentation and a lecture at 6:30 p.m. In a paper recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, an international team of conservationists highlights the importance of tree dens for pandas raising infants in native habitats. The study, conducted in Fengtongzai and Foping Nature Reserves in China, analyzed the difference in microhabitats of cave dens and tree dens used by female pandas. The result of the research suggests that conservation efforts need to take into account key resources, such as large old trees that provide important microhabitats that support rare and endangered wildlife. Pandas are found in different kinds of forests in China, said the studys lead author, Wei Wei, an associate professor at China West Normal University. Old growth forests provide large tree cavities for den sites, but pandas living in forests without these large old trees must use cave dens instead. We studied the microclimates inside these den habitats, and found that tree dens were better at buffering against extremes of temperature and humidity than cave densindicating that tree dens provide a more stable microclimate for rearing cubs. The study was conducted with support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Peoples Republic of China, and San Diego Zoo Global. Current monitoring practices for giant pandas and their habitat do not include systematic surveys of large old trees, but our data points to the possibility that these trees are critical limiting resources used by denning maternal females, possibly facilitating offspring survival, said Zejun Zhang, professor and director of the Science Department at China West Normal University. Future monitoring and management plans should emphasize this critical resource, so that we can better judge its importance for giant panda conservation. Findings of this study may help guide future giant panda conservation effortsin habitat management and, where needed, in construction of artificial dens. Management practices that preserve large old trees may increase capacity of reserves to sustain larger giant panda populations, said Ron Swaisgood, director of Recovery Ecology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Our data on preferred characteristics of dens also will provide important guidance for construction of artificial dens. Future experiments will evaluate whether building artificial dens that mimic the qualities of preferred natural dens will be a useful tool for improving den habitat while we wait for old growth forests to re-establish. ### The Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University is a leading institute in the protection of wildlife resources in southwestern China. The Key Laboratory conducts research to solve crucial conservation ecology issues by incorporating studies of evolutionary biology, population dynamics, life history and reproductive strategies for endemic wildlife species in Chinas southwest mountain ranges. To promote effective conservation measures, the laboratory studies endangered wildlife, including key species such as the giant panda, blue sheep, dwarf blue sheep, sika deer, golden takin and golden monkey. As an international nonprofit organization, San Diego Zoo Global works to fight extinction through conservation efforts for plants and animals worldwide. With a history of leadership in species recovery and animal care, San Diego Zoo Global works with partners in science-based field programs on six continents, and maintains sanctuaries and public education facilities in many places. Inspiring passion for nature is critical to saving species, and San Diego Zoo Globals outreach efforts share the wonder of wildlife with millions of people every year. Current major conservation initiatives include fighting wildlife trafficking and the impacts of climate change on wildlife species; broad-spectrum species and habitat protection efforts in Kenya, in Peru and on islands worldwide; preventing extinction in our own backyard; and expanding efforts to bank critical genetic resources and apply them to the conservation of critically endangered species. To learn more, visit sandiegozooglobal.org. UBC researchers have determined the majority of men struggle when it comes to understanding the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Professors Joan Bottorff and John Oliffe are scientists with UBC's Men's Health Research Program. Together, while studying men's knowledge or literacy of prostate cancer, they realized many are in the dark when it comes to what they know about the disease. And, more importantly, what direction to take after diagnosis. "In terms of health literacy, there is a long history of people saying men are not up to speed," says Oliffe. "This includes their knowledge when it comes to understanding prescription drugs and dosages, whether they know the stages of a disease and how they apply the knowledge they have." Health literacy is the ability to access, understand and use health-related information to make informed decisions and manage personal health. However, when it comes to prostate cancer, the information is overwhelming for many men, adds research coordinator and study lead author Cherisse Seaton. "Our research looks at how men apply the knowledge they have," she says. "Quite often there is so much information out there and it's complex in terms of choice." Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men and it has a high survival rate. However, says Seaton, low health literacy is considered a risk factor for poor health and poor decision-making. "Men have some big decisions to make after diagnosis," says Seaton. "Not all prostate cancers are aggressive and it can be challenging to predict if a patient has slow-growing cancer or one that is aggressive. The patients have to decide what type of treatment course to follow. To do that they need to be well informed and understand of all the options." A common treatment option--active surveillance --calls for no surgery or active treatments. The goal is to wait out the disease while consulting regularly with a doctor. While active surveillance can be an option, the study shows more than 91 per cent of men surveyed opted for treatment. "There are some men who just really want to get rid of the cancer regardless of what they are told," says Bottorff, who teaches in UBC Okanagan School of Nursing. "They go forward with the surgery or a more aggressive treatment than they might need, quite often from fear or lack of knowledge. These active treatment options have considerable side effects and we believe the better the men's health literacy, the better they will do when it comes to making informed choices and avoiding decisional regret." Although research shows men rate their understanding of health information highly, many feel they do not have enough information to manage their personal health. To help with men's health literacy for prostate cancer, the Men's Health Research team created an interactive website titled If I Were Tom. The site, Oliffe explains, is useful for men right after diagnosis. A number of videos follow fictional patient named Tom through the prostate test, diagnosis and a treatment decision. Site visitors can make decisions with Tom, and learn of the many options available. The interactive website also shares messages from survivors, health care providers and family members. "Our research showed that even though men had a lot of interaction with health care providers, and there are tools out there, they still felt they needed more information," says Bottorff. "Clearly, we need to find other ways to connect men with the information they are looking for. This website is an effort to address those information needs in a way that is accessible to men." ### Supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant, this research was published recently in Health Promotion Practice. In the largest analysis to date of narrative medical school evaluations, researchers at UC San Francisco and Brown University have found significant differences in how female and underrepresented minority medical students are described. The researchers used natural language processing to analyze a large bicoastal sample of nearly 90,000 narrative evaluations of third-year clerkships from UCSF and Brown. The data spanned nine years at UCSF -- from 2006 to 2015 -- and five at Brown -- from 2011 to 2016. These evaluations are supposed to focus on student behaviors -- or competencies -- that are directly relevant to medicine. But the analysis found that evaluators often used personal descriptors to describe a student's performance, and they used strikingly different words for men and for women. The study also identified personal descriptors that were applied differently depending on whether students were members of groups that are underrepresented in medicine (URM). But nearly all of these personal descriptors were used more often to describe students who were not in those groups. The evaluations form the basis of the grades that students get in their core clerkships, which are like medical apprenticeships, and are frequently quoted in letters of recommendation for residencies. Even small biases can snowball, with lasting effects on students' career prospects. "There shouldn't be systematic differences based on gender or URM status in a sample this big," said Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF and the senior author of the study, published Tuesday, April 16, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. "Everything should come out in the wash." A fourth-year UCSF medical student, Alexandra Rojek, used natural language processing to find the words that were commonly used to describe students -- yet not so common that they were used to describe too many different things and therefore could have a wide range of meanings -- and that also were used more or less often depending on a student's gender or URM status. The analysis found 37 descriptive words that evaluators applied differently by gender and 53 descriptive words applied differently by URM status. "Looking at the words, we realized a lot of these terms were personality descriptors," Rojek said. "While one could say there are only 37 differences, this is after we filtered out words that don't appear very often. Even a handful of these words may be enough for us to be concerned." The study authors determined that nearly two-thirds (23 of 37) of the words used differently by gender described students' personal attributes, and just over half of these (13 of 23) were more likely to be used to describe women. These included "pleasant," which was associated with getting a passing grade; "energetic," "cheerful," and "lovely," which were not associated with any particular grade; and "wonderful" and "fabulous," which were associated with honors grades. The words used more commonly for men included "respectful" and "considerate," which had no association with a grade, while "good" was associated with earning passing grades, and "humble" was more common among those who earned honors grades. Descriptive words that varied by gender also included four competency-related words. "Efficient," "comprehensive," and "compassionate," which the raters deemed related to competency in patient care, predominated for women, and were associated with honors grades. "Relevant" was more common for men, and was also associated with honors grades. Of the 53 words that differed by URM status, nearly a third (16 of 53) described personal attributes, and the overwhelming majority (13 of 16) were used for non-URM students. Evaluators were more likely to use words like "pleasant," "open," and "nice" to describe URM students, and these words were associated with passing grades. Descriptors like "enthusiastic," "sharp," and "bright" were used more commonly for non-URM students. These words were not associated with getting a particular grade, but "mature" and "sophisticated" were more frequently associated with honors grades. Just over a quarter of the words (15 of 53) were related to competencies, and all of them were used more often for non-URM students. These included, "outstanding," "impressive," and "advanced," which were associated with honors, while "superior," "conscientious," and "integral" were not associated with a grade. "Even when we think we're being thoughtful, we can fall into old tropes," said Catherine Lucey, MD, executive vice dean and vice dean for education at UCSF School of Medicine. "We need to remind faculty there are words they should try to avoid -- words they believe are positive, but are highly gendered or highly racially stereotyped. This paper opens up the door to how we can address this." ### Authors: Alexandra Rojek; Raman Khanna, MD, MAS; Joanne Yim, PhD; Sarah Lisker; Karen Hauer, MD, PhD; Catherine Lucey, MD; and Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, of UCSF; and Rebekah Gardner, MD, of Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School. Funding: National Cancer Institute (K24CA212294). Disclosures: None. About UCSF: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises three top-ranked hospitals - UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland - as well as Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics, UCSF Benioff Children's Physicians and the UCSF Faculty Practice. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF faculty also provide all physician care at the public Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, and the SF VA Medical Center. The UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program is a major branch of the University of California, San Francisco's School of Medicine. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/news. Kinesiology researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received funding to compare the effects of tai chi and mindfulness meditation on both the physical balance and psychosocial well-being of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In a pilot study with 30 participants who have mild to moderate MS symptoms, researchers at the Motor Control Lab of Richard van Emmerik, professor of kinesiology, will use a one-year, $54,972 pilot grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to measure the immediate and ongoing benefits of the two mind-body practices. Julianna Averill, a doctoral student in motor control working in Van Emmerik's lab, hopes the results will validate the approach of community-based classes and lead to a larger scale study across the commonwealth. Tai chi, a Chinese martial art, involves stretching and slow, focused, flowing postures that keep the body in constant motion. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, the meditation component of the study, teaches various mindfulness practices, such as body scan meditation and loving kindness meditation. "This is our first intervention study which has a teaching component," Averill says. "The participants will be trained, and they will be able to practice on their own." Characterized by unpredictable periods of relapse and remission, MS is the most common disabling neurological disorder among young adults, with many diagnoses occurring between age 20 and 40, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. People with MS may have a range of symptoms, including vision problems, muscle weakness, coordination and balance problems, tingling and burning sensations or numbness, extreme fatigue, fuzzy thinking and depression. The symptoms occur because the signals between the brain and body are disrupted when the fatty layer surrounding neurons in the brain and spinal cord - called the myelin sheath - is slowly destroyed. "While MS symptoms vary depending on where the damage in the brain and spinal cord is located, balance issues are a common occurrence in MS," Averill says. "Mind-body interventions are beneficial as they train dynamic balance, such as transitioning between postures, turning, reaching, etc., in a manner similar to movements in daily life." Finding ways to improve postural control and balance confidence is crucial to reducing the risk and fear of falls, a common and serious hazard for people with MS, which also affects their quality of life, Averill says. The study is designed to offer a fresh and expanded look at the effects of tai chi and mindfulness meditation. "With mindfulness meditation, studies have been primarily looking at the mental constructs and not the impact on physical balance," she says. Previous studies involving tai chi focused on standing balance, and UMass Amherst's study will also seek to measure participants' balance as they move. Researchers are recruiting people with mild to moderate symptoms who are between age 21 and 70 and able to stand and move without assistance for 15 minutes. At three lab sessions over 10 weeks - before the classes start, after they end and two weeks later - participants will wear inertial sensors that collect postural sway data as they perform various movements. During the same sessions, the participants also will answer questionnaires that gauge their fall history, balance confidence, level of fatigue and ability to cope and adapt. "We're taking a more holistic look, considering the whole person and overall quality of life," Averill says. After the first data collection, participants will be randomly assigned to either eight weeks of free tai chi at YMAA Western Mass Tai Chi or free mindfulness meditation classes at Downtown Mindfulness, both local businesses that are partnering with UMass Amherst for the study. Participants will attend classes for 2.5 hours a week and have 2.5 hours of homework, either listening to meditation podcasts or watching tai chi videos on an innovative website that tracks participants' activity. ### When the study is over, participants who want to continue the classes will be offered a discounted price. People with MS who are interested in participating in the study may contact Averill at umassms.team@gmail.com. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) The Philippine National Police (PNP) has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to deny alleged "narco politicians" of personal security ahead of the midterm elections. In a joint briefing by the two bodies together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines on Tuesday, Comelec chair Sheriff Abas confirmed the poll body has received a letter from the police asking them to effectively remove personal security escorts of politicians and candidates part of the government's drug watch list. PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said the move was done to be fair to candidates part of the narco list. "Baka may mga nakapag-apply before at napirmahan namin at nabigyan na ng temporary security, kaya tayo nakipag-communicate sa Comelec para sila ang magbigay ng authority sa amin na immediately tanggalan ng security itong nasa narco list," Albayalde told reporters. [Translation: Maybe there were candidates who have applied and were approved to have temporary security. That's why we're communicating with Comelec so that they can give us authority to immediately remove the security of those in the narco list.] The police body earlier said it would provide security to the alleged narco officials should they receive death threats. President Rodrigo Duterte in March named dozens of officials in a narco list he read aloud during a council meeting in Davao City. The police chief said that the provision of security is not a "matter of right"-- adding that it can even be revoked without notice. "Provision of security is not a matter of right, it is a privilege that can be extended to anybody and it can be revoked any time also, even without notice actually," Albayalde argued. Comelec, however, said it has yet to act on the recommendation as it is still being reviewed by authorities. Election hotspots increase Albayalde, in the same briefing, bared that areas tagged as election hotspots have increased from 923 to 936. However, he said that the number of areas under the red category have dwindled from 574 to 540. A category red means there may be sufficient grounds for Comelec to put an area under its control. The poll body can also direct more police and military forces "as the need arises." READ: Comelec declares whole Mindanao, 3 other areas as election hotspots Less than a month before the elections, authorities assured that the poll-related security problem remains "manageable" in the whole country. Paul Biya et Tibor Nagy, Palais de l'Unite le 18-03-2019 PRC Tibor Peter Nagy Jr., the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs is turning out to be a foxy diplomat blowing cold today and hot the next day. When he met President Paul Biya in Yaounde on March 18, 2019, he reserved very kind words for the Cameroonian leader, as if to rubbish media reports on his hitherto very tough stance on the Anglophone crisis rocking the country. Before arriving Yaounde, Nagy had nailed the Biya government, accusing them of not handling the situation in the North West and South West regions properly. Before coming to Cameroon he blamed the escalation of the conflict on the Cameroonian authorities and argued that President Biya's stay in power is responsible for what is now known as the Anglophone crisis. On Cameroonian soil, President Biya suddenly became a man of knowledge and wisdom, according to the American diplomat. The moment he emerged from the close door meeting with Biya, his pitch hung more on economic cooperation between the two countries rather than the rumble pundits were expecting from him. Nagy got a backlash from the Cameroon Diaspora that is for the most part in favour of separation. Mean ones accused him of receiving bribe from Yaounde. In 177 seconds video circulating over social media since Friday, the United States under Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy makes a statement which contradicts his March 18, 2019 statements on Cameroon. In his address to the Cameroon diaspora in Houston, Texas Thursday April 11, 2019, Nagy said plausible things to them to the point of stating that: After Sudan, my next concern is Cameroon and you know how I feel about hating the violence thats going on there. In the video, he said most of what he has heard from congress on the conflict in the North West and South West regions is largely thanks to the Cameroon Diaspora. These words are measured to give the Cameroon Diaspora the impression that their diplomacy' is paying off. His target audience in the said video is the Diaspora that dreams of a putative state, christened Ambazonia. To further hold his audience, he told them the current US policy recognises the existing the boundaries of Cameroon. He repeated the word current, certainly for emphasises. He gives the false hope that this current US policy could be history in the future. Such words are heart-warming to secessionists. He plants the idea of possible recognition of the Ambazonia state by the US in the future. He insisted as it were that the population of the North West and South West are fighting for their rights. His words: As I said, weve had so much good news from Africa. Last year, look whats happening in Ethiopia, look whats happening in the whole of Africa; look whats happening in Angola. More recently, look whats happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which for the first time in its History may actually become Democratic and a Republic. And maybe, the worlds richest country may actually share some of its wealth with its own people. After Sudan, Cameroon is next!? Nagy agrees that People Power overthrew the Regime of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan and commends the Sudanese people. In two tweets on April 9, Nagy wrote: I commend the Sudanese people for their peaceful & resilient expression of their legitimate demands for change, especially given the violent repression of some security institutions by the Government of Sudan. We support their desire for a Sudan that is more peaceful and prosperous; We call on the Government of Sudan to halt all use of force against protesters, including the current sit in. A decision to use violence against civilians in the coming days would impact all aspects of our bilateral relationship with the Government of Sudan. It is therefore not known how the US intends to tilt her attention to Cameroon but Nagy may well be the man to watch out for. Tampa, Fla. (April 16, 2019) - In advance of its 2019 annual meeting, the American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (ASNTR) has presented The 2019 Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award to Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Jerome Harris Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center and Director of the of the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures at the Duke University School of Medicine. The award, presented annually at the ASNTR meeting, recognizes Dr. Kurtzberg's distinguished career in pediatrics and regenerative medicine. Dr. Kurtzberg is internationally renowned in pediatric hematology and oncology, pediatric blood and marrow transplantation, umbilical cord blood banking and transplantation as well as cellular therapies and regenerative medicine. Dr. Kurtzberg will also be an invited guest speaker at ASNTR's 26th Annual Conference to be held April 25-28, 2019 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. "Dr. Kurtzberg is a true pioneer in the field and continues to be at the forefront of cord blood stem cell research, positively impacting the lives of so many," said Dr. Paul Sanberg, Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation & Knowledge Enterprise University of South Florida. "Her recently completed clinical trial, determining the safety of cord blood therapy in adult ischemic stroke patients, had very positive results opening doors to the potential treatment of other neurological diseases and disorders. It is wonderful to see the progress that has been made since losing my father Bernard to stroke 20 years ago." Dr. Kurtzberg, who conducts both clinical and laboratory-based translational research, is co-director of the Stem cell Transplant Laboratory at Duke University and has most recently initiated an autologous (self-donated) umbilical cord blood program at Duke University where she treats children with cancer, blood disorders, immune deficiencies and inherited metabolic diseases. This program follows her two-decade pioneering investigations pertaining umbilical cord blood cell transplantation as an alternative to transplanting stem cells. Dr. Kurtzberg's colleagues laud not only her important work, but also point to her dedication to patients. "Dr. Kurtzberg's unwavering dedication to developing life-changing treatments is surpassed only by the compassionate care that she provides to each of her patients," said Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University and director of Duke's Center for Autism and Brain Development. "She is a tireless advocate for new treatments that will improve the lives of patients worldwide and an inspiring role model for her colleagues and students." Dr. Evan Snyder, founding director of the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) and professor at the University of California San Diego, agrees. "Dr. Kurtzberg is one of the most dedicated and selfless physicians I have ever known," said Dr. Snyder. "She is constantly thinking of her patients' welfare, a focus I believe motivated her to be so creative with her clinical tools, such as bone marrow transplantation using umbilical cord blood against the toughest of diseases, including neurologic diseases. It is in large part because of her work that umbilical cord blood has become the mainstay in bone marrow transplantation. Her work is a "gift" to pediatrics and translational neuroscience. I feel honored and blessed to call her a collaborator and friend. She is generous, giving, considerate, and most deserving of this award." ### The Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award for Brain Repair is named for Bernard Sanberg, father of ASNTR co-founder Dr. Paul Sanberg. After Bernard Sanberg died of a stroke in 1999, the award bearing his name was established and is presented by the ASNTR annually to an individual who has made outstanding research contributions in the field of neural therapy and repair. First presented in 2000, the award is presented every year at ASNTR's Annual Meeting. Recent past winners of the Bernard Sanberg Memorial Award for Brain Repair include: S. Thomas Carmichael, MD., PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Li-Ru Zhao, MD, PhD, State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University; Marina E. Emborg, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison; John D. Elsworth, PhD, Yale School of Medicine, Douglas Kondziolka, MD, NYU Langone Medical Center. ASNTR's 27th Annual Conference will be held April 23-25, 2020 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. For more information, email Donna Morrison dmorriso@health.usf.edu or visit the ASNTR website http://www.ASNTR.org ASNTR is a society for basic and clinical neuroscientists using a variety of technologies to better understand how the nervous system functions and establish new procedures for its repair in response to trauma or neurodegenerative disease. Member scientists employ stem/neural cell transplantation, gene therapy, trophic factor and neuroprotective compound administration and other approaches. TORONTO, April 16, 2019 - Glioblastoma is one of the most devastating forms of cancer, with few existing treatment options. It is also a leading cause of cancer-related death in children and young adults. Scientists have 'reverse engineered' brain cancer stem cells gene by gene, uncovering multiple potential targets for this hard-to-treat cancer. This work is a collaboration between the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and the University of Calgary. Findings were published today in the journal Cell Reports, making this the first published study to systematically profile a large panel of patient-derived brain tumour cells that have stem cell properties. "We think that, in one big experiment, we have uncovered many new targets for glioblastoma, some of which were surprising," says Dr. Peter Dirks, co-principal investigator of the study, Staff Neurosurgeon and Senior Scientist at SickKids. "These glioblastoma stem cells are also resistant to treatment, which is one reason that these tumours are so hard to cure. We need new ways to disrupt these cells specifically if we are going to give people a better chance of survival." The research team also found that adult glioblastoma cells are actually dependent on the same genes that are important for brain development in infancy and early childhood. "This really emphasizes how much research needs to be done to understand the developing human brain," says Dirks, who, in 2003, was the first to discover the existence of cancer stem cells in brain tumours. CRISPR: A powerful new tool The emergence of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology provides a powerful new way to explore cancer biology through genome-wide screens. Dr. Stephane Angers, co-principal investigator of the study and Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, specializes in the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in cancer. Taking 10 unique patient-derived glioblastoma stem cell cultures collected by the Dirks research team, the Angers lab used CRISPR 'cell fitness screens' to determine which genes in the cancer stem cells were required for the cells to survive and to grow, therefore, important for tumour progression. "Cancer stem cells fuel the growth of tumours and progression of the disease," says Angers. "In order to effectively target these cells, having a comprehensive view of the genes controlling the growth programs is critical. If you know which genes are necessary for these cells to survive and proliferate, you can then look at ways to attack or block these genes and stop tumour growth in its tracks." By systematically knocking out each of the 20,000 genes, one at the time, from each of the 10 patient samples, the Angers team found multiple genetic vulnerabilities and revealed a wealth of data that can be further mined to identify possible drug targets for glioblastoma. "This is one of the first studies of its kind, where CRISPR screens are performed directly in multiple freshly isolated patient cells in parallel. This study has provided a massive amount of new information that the research community can now interrogate to help design new treatment strategies. " says Angers. One gene identified in the study, known as DOT1L, was found to be necessary for tumour persistence in seven of the 10 glioblastoma patient tumour cultures. In collaboration with Dr. Samuel Weiss at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, the team used preclinical models to demonstrate the effectiveness of a drug currently used to treat leukemia to inhibit the DOT1L gene product in glioblastoma stem cells. "We found that blocking this specific protein in this particular form of brain cancer reduced tumour growth and resulted in longer survival in the preclinical model," says Angers. "This is promising because it uncovered a biological process, not previously suspected to be implicated in glioblastoma, for which a small molecule drug already exists." Moving beyond a "static picture" of cancer In recent years, significant time, effort and funding dollars have been spent on the genomic sequencing of cancer tumours. While this has given us a clearer picture of the hundreds of genetic mutations present in glioblastoma and other cancers, for glioblastoma it has not led to any significant treatment advances, Angers says. "This shows that just knowing about genetic mutations is not enough," says Graham MacLeod, a post-doctoral fellow with the Angers lab and co-first author of the study. "That is a static picture of cancer. We are learning that we need to better understand the blueprint of how this cancer functions and what specific genes fuel tumour growth in order to attack it." ### This research was supported by Stand Up to Cancer Canada Cancer Stem Cell Dream Team funding provided by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and SickKids Foundation. Two civil engineering researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington are working with the Texas Department of Transportation to better monitor and predict soil weakness, which can lead to slope failures on state highways. Mohsen Shahandashti, UTA assistant professor of civil engineering, is leading two, two-year projects worth $518,245. Sahadat Hossain, a UTA civil engineering professor, is a co-principal investigator on the projects. They will help TxDOT more effectively conduct underground geophysical explorations and develop action plans to mitigate soil failures. Shahandashti said recurring slope failures happen frequently in Texas due to the extreme weather and soil conditions. "UTA is in a position to reduce recurring slope failures, lessen construction costs and decrease maintenance costs for TxDOT and taxpayers," Shahandashti said. "The benefits go beyond mere cost savings. Better roads would enhance safety, lengthen a road's life, make the transportation system more reliable and ease traffic congestion." The first project's goals include collecting data to assess and map the conditions of highway slopes; developing slope failure predictive models; recommending rapid, resilient and sustainable repair methods to prevent recurring failures; and developing a repair and maintenance master plan. The second grant requires the researchers to implement geophysical tools that are not commonly used in Texas; identify and recommend how those advanced tools can improve the agency's geotechnical analysis; develop decision flowcharts for dealing with buried utilities, foundation depth or geological formations; and design parameters for soil plasticity, liquidity, sulfate content, moisture variations and forensic evaluations. Shahandashti said the team also will develop a manual for implementing and demonstrating electrical resistivity profiling in five current TxDOT projects in five different districts of the state to cover different geotechnical conditions and environments. Electrical resistivity in this project means how well the soil allows the flow of electric current. The UTA team also will conduct regional training workshops. Ali Abolmaali, chair of the UTA Department of Civil Engineering, said the work Shahandashti and Hossain are doing for TxDOT flows easily into two themes of UTA's Strategic Plan 2020: sustainable urban communities and global environmental impact. "Better and longer-lasting infrastructure are keys to how successful Texas can be now and in the future," Abolmaali said. "These projects bring UTA to the forefront of infrastructure and soil research. It allows decision-makers to make better choices for Texas." Shahandashti, who started at UTA in 2016, develops foundations and applications to enhance analytics for resilient construction and infrastructure systems. He specializes in leveraging big-data sources along with recent advances in statistics, computer science and operations research to address construction and infrastructure grand challenges. His present and past research activities have been funded by several funding agencies, including TxDOT, the city of Arlington, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and the Engineering Information Foundation. Hossain, who also works with TxDOT to use recycled plastic pins for slope stabilization, is the director of UTA's Solid Waste Institute for Sustainability. His research and scholarship are well recognized nationally and internationally. He is an expert in the design of waste containment and bioreactor landfill technology, having worked on different aspects of bioreactor landfill engineering design and operational practices for last 15 years. ### U.S. News & World Report's 2020 "Best Graduate Schools" list ranks the College of Engineering No. 82 in the nation. The SR Education group ranked UTA No. 9 on its list of "Best Online Colleges Offering a Master's in Civil Engineering" for 2019. (San Antonio, April 16, 2019) - Four University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) researchers have each been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, totaling $2 million in new research funding for San Antonio's largest public research university. CAREER Awards, one of the NSF's most prestigious programs, helps UTSA advance closer to National Research University Fund (NRUF) eligibility. UTSA's 2019 CAREER Award recipients include: Bing Dong, assistant professor, mechanical engineering Nikolaos Gatsis, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering Teja Guda, assistant professor, biomedical engineering Xiaoyin Wang, assistant professor, computer science To earn NRUF eligibility, UTSA must meet qualitative and quantitative targets such as restricted research expenditures, the quality of an institution's faculty and its annual rate of doctoral degrees awarded. To evaluate the quality of an institution's faculty for NRUF eligibility, Texas considers only the most prestigious professional achievements. NSF CAREER Awards are among those highly recognized honors. "Through our various research excellence initiatives, the research culture on campus is evolving. The NSF Early CAREER award is a success marker in the research world, and is an amazing accomplishment by our esteemed faculty members. Their achievement elevates and promotes the quality of our faculty and the research conducted at UTSA to prospective students and peers alike," said Bernard Arulanandam, UTSA interim vice president for research, economic development, and knowledge enterprise. Dong's NSF CAREER Award of $500,181 will support his project, "Holistic Assessment of the Impacts of Connected Buildings and People on Community Energy Planning and Management." The funding will allow Dong to develop a new method of energy planning and management for smart communities and cities. "This CAREER award will help me achieve my long-term career goal of advancing interdisciplinary research on sustainable and smart cities, where smart communities, people, grid, transportation, water systems and others interplay and to make a real world impact on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability," said Dong. Gatsis will further his research on electricity distribution networks and water distribution systems as part of his project, "Optimal Interdependent Operation of Electricity Distribution Grids and Water Distribution Systems in Smart Cities." His $500,000 CAREER award will support the development of more reliable and cost-effective electricity and water delivery. "It's an honor to receive this award," said Gatsis. "It will enable me to explore an exciting and timely research direction. This project also supports education through enhancement of the power engineering curriculum at UTSA." Guda was awarded $530,688 for his project, "Programming Vascularization by Design in Porous Composites," which will generate new discoveries about how blood vessels grow. "What we learn about how these vessels grow will allow us to design new biomaterials solutions for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine," said Guda. "Understanding the underlying science could also potentially help us understand what goes wrong with vessel formation during cancer, when competent, structured networks of vessels are not formed." Wang will use his $492,358 CAREER award to develop techniques for better detection and repair of software bugs in his project, "Analysis and Repair of Build Scripts for DevOps Software Practice." His research interests include enhancing software productivity and quality using more robust software build systems. "By reducing the bugs in software build systems, my research will lead to more timely software release and software products of higher quality, which will benefit people who directly use or are involved in activities supported by the software," said Wang. ### The NSF CAREER Award supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Unlike most research grants, this award requires both strong scholarly research and a significant plan for education and mentorship. Eleven UTSA faculty have won CAREER Awards over the last five years. this news is not available Volatility for the Euro exchange rates picked up during Tuesday's session in the wake of the latest ZEW economic sentiment releases. According to the findings of the latest ZEW economic sentiment survey, both German and Euro-wide economic sentiment rebounded strongly in March to print above forecast. Both figures rebounded into optimistic territory (above 0) for the first time since mid 2018. Meanwhile assessments of the current economic situation declined considerably. Above: ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment (Germany) The immediate market reaction saw Euro rates gridlocked before bowing to downside pressure. At the time of writing, the Euro to US Dollar exchange rate was seen to be trading at $1.12920 after dipping to a session low of $1.128. Key Points: - ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany: +3.1 points (+6.7 vs. previous month) - ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Eurozone: +4.5 points (+7.0 vs. previous month) - Assessment of the Current Situation in Germany: +5.5 points (-5.6 vs. previous month) - Assessment of the Current Situation in the Eurozone: -13.2 points (-6.6 vs. previous month) Key Quotes: ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach said "The slight improvement recorded by the ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment is largely based on the hope that the global economic environment will develop less poorly than previously assumed. "The postponement of the Brexit deadline may also have contributed to buoy the economic outlook. By contrast, the latest figures regarding incoming orders and industrial production in the German industry point to a rather weak economic development." Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Today, were discussing grass. You see lots of interesting products at the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) convention and expo. Some exhibitors at the expo offer products for both the consumer and the industry. Pearls Premium Ultra Low Maintenance Lawn Seed is such a product. In the video below, Jackson Madnick, CEO of Pearls Premium, points out the benefits of their remarkable lawn seed. [embedded content] Madnick introduced the 5th generation of this grass seed. Its got 16 years of research behind it, and two U.S. patents. Some of the benefits include: Extremely low maintenance it only needs mowing once every four to six weeks instead of weekly. If desired, you dont have to mow at all. Weeds cant compete the grass roots extend four feet deep into the earth, out-competing weeds and other grasses. Year-round green color even in the cold of winter or extreme heat of summer, it has a deep dark green color. Drought resistant the deepness of the root system means less watering, 50 to 75% less water. All natural the seed is 100% non-GMO, it needs no chemical fertilizers or pesticides to grow and thrive, and it can even help lessen climate change. Its adaptable it grows well in all climates, in full sun to deep shade, in all 50 states and Canada. Madnick pointed out that home renovator Bob Vila gave Pearls Premium a rave review and uses it on his own home lawn. Its successfully used in residential, municipal and commercial settings, and of course, in cemeteries. You can use this remarkable lawn seed without having to tear up existing grass. Makes sense for the folks who run cemeteries to check into using this product! The company also donates grass to support Habitat for Humanity. Learn more at www.PearlsPremium.com. Share this: Welcome to the News Release Wire Selection Control Panel. Instant News Wire Screenshot /Google A California company will close its call center on San Antonios South Side this summer, laying off more than 40 employees. Volt Management Corp. a subsidiary of Orange, Calif.-based Volt Information Sciences Inc., a company that provides staffing services will shutter the center at 3300 Sidney Brooks Road at the Brooks master-planned community by June 7, the company told the Texas Workforce Commission on April 7. UN Women Team leader to Cameroon Twitter The ongoing sociopolitical unrest in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, continues to affect women and the girl child, despite all efforts and calls for a ceasefire. It is for this reason, that a team from the United Nations Women Commission is currently in Cameroon, where they have been consoling internally displaced women living in Douala, littoral region, as well as the South West and today, Centre region. The team is headed by Liberian born Laymeh Roberta Gbowee, Secretary General at the United Nationals Security Council. They began a fact-finding mission on Monday, as they are also here to investigate why the Anglophone crisis, persists. At the Women Empowerment centre in Douala, they listened to painful stories from female war victims, who are now displaced and fighting to meet up with family demands. Stories of women living in bushes without appropriate hygienic conditions especially during their menstrual period, were raised, as well as poor living conditions. It was a scene of tears in Douala, as the Nobel Peace prize winner, Laymeh Roberta Gbowee, asked participants to open up, as strict measures were taken to ensure none of their lives were put at risk. She will be in Yaounde this Tuesday, where she is expected to carry out same event with women affected by the war, and civil society organisations. Gbowee arrived Cameroon on Saturday, where she was received at the Douala International Airport by the Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Celestine Ketcha and the Littoral regional governor, Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua. Her main objective is to evaluate the implementation of Resolution1325(2000), of the United Nations Security Council. The Security Council adopted this resolution on women and peace and security on 31 October 2000. The resolution reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security. Resolution 1325 urges all actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts. It also calls on all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict. The resolution provides a number of important operational mandates, with implications for Member States and the entities of the United Nations system. Since the Anglophone crisis became an armed conflict, over 400,000 persons have been displaced, with a majority of them being women and children. It is same for Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, with over 30,000 persons. There have been several reports on rape and other forms of abuse on women, perpetrated by both military and armed separatists. A San Antonio psychiatric hospital said it plans to build a $30 million, 80-bed inpatient facility to meet the growing demand for mental health services for military personnel, veterans and emergency first responders. Laurel Ridge Treatment Center will break ground Wednesday for the 61,618-square-foot, one-story building, which will be freestanding. It will be an expansion of the centers main campus, located on an 18-acre property near Stone Oak. The privately owned hospital has been providing specialized behavioral health care and substance abuse services for more than 30 years in San Antonio. The expansion will bring the centers total of specialty inpatient beds to 330. This represents the commitment that we have not only to San Antonio, but to the mental health community, said Terry Buford, a spokesman for Laurel Ridge, owned by Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services Inc. The centers Mission Resiliency Program already serves more than 100 military installations, including bases in San Antonio, making it the largest civilian provider of the treatment of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder in the U.S. Nearly 1 in 4 active-duty military members showed signs of a mental health condition, according to a 2014 study in the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Psychiatry. Construction of the facility at 17720 Corporate Woods Drive is expected to be completed within 14 months. The expansion will also free up 60 beds at the hospitals main campus, Buford said, which means the hospital will have more room to serve nonmilitary patients. On ExpressNews.com: State unveils design for new psychiatric hospital in San Antonio Hospital officials say patients are admitted to Laurel Ridge from across Texas because of a statewide shortage of psychiatric beds and providers. Laura Garcia covers the healthcare industry in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her stories and more local coverage on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | laura.garcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @Reporter_Laura Former congressman Beto O'Rourke released 10 years' worth of tax returns Monday night, becoming the latest 2020 presidential contender to reveal information about his personal finances. The Democratic candidate's disclosure came shortly after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is also running for president, released his tax returns dating back to 2009. The returns show that O'Rourke and his wife, Amy, made more than $370,000 in 2017, the most recent year for which they released returns. That amount includes O'Rourke's $162,211 salary as a member of Congress representing Texas and more than $11,000 from Stanton Street Technology, an El Paso, Texas-based internet company O'Rourke co-founded in 1999. It also includes about $53,000 in income from the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED. Amy O'Rourke has worked as a consultant for the philanthropic organization, which aims to improve the academic performance of students in the El Paso area. Earlier in the day, O'Rourke told reporters that he would release his tax returns in an effort to be transparent with voters - and he criticized President Donald Trump for not doing the same. "If he must be compelled through a subpoena to do so, so be it," O'Rourke said, following a town hall in Charlotte on Monday morning. "But everyone who runs to seek that office should release their taxes." The O'Rourkes paid about $81,000 in taxes in 2017, giving them an effective tax rate of 21.9 percent. The couple had a little less than $25,000 withheld during that year and paid the remainder - along with a $1,250 penalty - after requesting a filing extension, the forms show. Of the 10 years for which the couple released their tax returns, their income was lowest in 2012, when O'Rourke made his first run for Congress; they made about $164,000 that year. The O'Rourkes' income was highest in 2009, when they made more than $496,000. Other Democratic presidential candidates who have recently released tax returns include Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. - - - The Washington Post's Jenna Johnson in Charlotte and Michael Scherer in Washington contributed to this report. San Antonio will bid farewell to legendary Doolittle Raider Dick Cole with speeches from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff. The invitation-only event begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, the 77th anniversary of the raid. Cole, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who was the last of 80 crewmen in the raid, died April 9 at 103. Hundreds of airmen will line the four-lane boulevard leading into Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph as part of the sendoff. Theyll salute as Coles family enters the base for a final tribute. Dad never felt important, said his daughter, Cindy Cole Chal, 73, of Comfort. He never felt he was a hero, and most of the men of World War II were glad to do something for their country when their country needed them. She and her brother, Rich Cole will go to a hangar where Goldfein and Wilson, among others, will speak. Dick Cole will be honored with a flyby and a missing man formation. Hell be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. At 26, Lt. Richard Eugene Cole was the co-pilot for Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, an already-famous barnstormer and aviation innovator. They flew the lead aircraft of 16 twin-engine B-25 Mitchell bombers off the USS Hornet and bombed Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokosuka, stunning Japans leaders. On ExpressNews.com: Dick Cole, last survivor of fabled Doolittle Raiders, dies The raiders then landed or bailed out over China, where most were guided to allied lines by friendly troops and civilians. Cole stayed in Asia after the raid, flying cargo planes for 14 months before briefly landing a stateside assignment in Tulsa, Okla., where he met Lucia Martha Marty Harrell, who was learning to fly and stowed away on one of the airplanes he tested. Two weeks later they married. He had another tour in China with the 1st Air Commando Group and ended his Air Force career in 1966 as a highly decorated lieutenant colonel. Cole and his wife had five children. She died in 2003 and three of the children, Andrew, Christina and Samuel, died in recent years. The family was steeped in the military. His son, Rich, was an F-15 pilot. Two grandsons, Nathan and Elliott, went to the Air Force Academy and West Point, respectively. Sig Christenson covers the military and veterans in San Antonio, Bexar County and the nation. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe An appeal has abruptly ended for a trucker convicted of a deadly immigrant smuggling venture that left 10 people dead and hospitalized several others who were rescued from a sweltering trailer in San Antonio in 2017. The federal public defenders office in San Antonio filed a motion last week explaining that an appeal for James Matthew Bradley Jr. was filed too late, and that there are no other reasonable avenues for continuing to seek recourse. Although Bradley wishes to appeal his conviction and sentence, counsel cannot find any nonfrivolous basis on which to do so, Assistant Federal Public Defender Bradley W. Bogan wrote in court papers seeking to dismiss the appeal. Bradleys notice of appeal was untimely, and the Government has advised counsel that it would move to dismiss the appeal on that basis. Bradley, 62, filed his appeal 12 days after the most extreme deadline allowed by federal appeals rules, Bogan said. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans accepted Bogans motion and signed off on the dismissal in an order made public Tuesday. On ExpressNews.com: Driver in San Antonio smuggling tragedy that left 10 dead pleads guilty Bradley, of Kentucky, is serving two concurrent life sentences without parole in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He pleaded guilty in October 2017 to two counts of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants for profit, resulting in death. In July 2017, Bradley was found with 39 immigrants in his tractor-trailer in the parking lot of a Walmart on San Antonios South Side. Eight were already dead when police arrived; two more died later at area hospitals; and the rest were hospitalized for treatment of heat-related injuries, some so severe that they were received kidney dialysis for months later. Survivors told investigators there may have been more than 70 migrants and as many as 200 in the trailer at one point, though many left in passenger vehicles that followed the trailer into the Walmart parking lot after Bradley called the smugglers. On ExpressNews.com: Trucker involved in deadly smuggling of dozens of immigrants gets life in prison At sentencing in April 2018, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Cory Downs testified that survivors said they were told that, as soon as Bradleys tractor-trailer left Laredo, the cooling system in the trailer would turn on. But it never did because it was broken, something Bradley knew and those inside realized by the time the truck passed a checkpoint just north of Laredo. They tried to cut holes (in the trailer) with what they had keys, a knife, a Leatherman, Downs testified. Someone tried to claw their way through (the trailers wall). There was blood everywhere. You could tell they just shredded their hands, or whatever they used. On ExpressNews.com: Nine dead after trailer found in S.A. At one point, the migrants trapped inside began hallucinating that they thought they saw someone with an oxygen mask and started dogpiling, trying to get access to the air holes. Officials later confirmed that an X-ray machine at the Border Patrol checkpoint north of Laredo was not working the night Bradleys rig went through with its human cargo. Pedro Silva Segura, a stash house operator who delivered some of the immigrants to a staging point for loading onto Bradleys trailer, was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the incident. No one else has been charged. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an out-of-service order in October 2017 to the Iowa company that hired Bradley, Pyle Transportation, after a review found that the companys safety rating was so unsatisfactory that it was unfit to remain in business. Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland Cameroonian Economist at ECA Twitter The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Ms. Vera Songwe will pay an official visit to Cameroon from 17 to 19 April 2019, with a primary objective, to strengthen the Commissions cooperation ties with the Cameroon. A statement on UNECA's website says the Cameroonian-born and UNECA, would support Cameroon as the country puts in effort toward inclusive and sustainable development, structural transformation, economic diversification, regional integration and trade, as well as the digital economy. For three days, she is expected to hold discussions with several Cameroonian State authorities and give a lecture on Regional Integration and the Digital Economy at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC). She is also expected to address key Cameroonian policy makers convened by ECA to a National Awareness and Information Forum on the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which will soon go operational following its ratification by 22 African member States. Ms. Songwes first official visit to Cameroon in her capacity as ECAs Executive Secretary has been considered very timely, given that the country is embarking on development trajectories which are at the center of ECAs current development policy advice to African member States. ECA explains that Cameroon has embarked on strategies and plans to achieve emergence in the next 20 years through structural transformation, infrastructure development, industrialization, digitization, trade and a new fiscal and public debt management framework (framework with international financial institutions). Having just taken part in deliberations of ECAs 52nd Session (held from 20 to 26 March 2019 in Marrakech, Morocco), where she intimated that Africa can raise the U$680 billion a year needed to deliver on the SDGs in a decade, by adopting appropriate fiscal policies, taxing of hard-to-reach sectors and leveraging digitization in development programs, instruments and practices, Ms. Songwe is likely to laser-focus this message to the Central African and Cameroonian context, during her visit. When Jabari Grey was born on New Years Day in San Antonio, he lacked an organ most people take for granted his skin. Missing that crucial barrier between his body and the world, the 3-month-olds mother has been unable to properly hug, snuggle or kiss him. Doctors in Houston, where the baby was transferred on April 12, are racing to discover the cause of Jabaris condition so they may better treat him. On Tuesday, the baby boy was stable and doing well. We want to find an answer right now, but everything is in the air, said mother Priscilla Maldonado. Theyre just really focused on keeping him comfortable right now. The boy was born on Jan. 1 at Methodist Hospital with most of his skin missing, except on his head and legs. Specialists at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston have more experience treating rare skin conditions, so the child was moved there. On Monday, they told Maldonado, 25, and her husband Marvin Grey, 34, that their son might have something other than Aplasia Cutis, the rare skin condition that medical personnel at Methodist had determined was the cause of his missing skin. On ExpressNews.com: Local hospitals get rated by the federal government The Houston physicians told her he might be suffering from Epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic connective tissue disorder that affects only 20 newborns out of 1 million live births in the U.S. The hallmark of EB is extremely fragile skin that blisters and tears from minor friction or trauma. There is no cure, but the disease can be managed, with pain medications, infection control and other measures. To see if this is the cause of Jabaris condition, Maldonado, Gray and Jabari are undergoing genetic testing, because most forms of the illness are inherited. It could be two to three weeks before they have an answer, said Maldonado, who, like her spouse, works at a Taco Cabana in San Antonio. They dont want to treat my son for the wrong thing. Doctors in Houston are treating Jabari, who weighed only three pounds at birth, with pain medication and frequent dressing changes, along with topical ointments to decrease the chance of infection, Maldonado said. He now weighs 8 pounds and is fed through a tube inserted in his nose. Maldonado said a roomful of specialists met with her and her husband on Monday to discuss the treatment plan for their son. An upcoming surgery will involve making an incision on Jabaris throat, to cut scar tissue that has caused his chin to fuse with his chest. The babys eyelids have been fused since birth. Hes been in the hospital his whole life, said Maldonado, who works as a shift leader at the Mexican fast-food restaurant. Ive been able to hold him twice, but you have to be dressed in a gown and gloved-up. Its not skin-to-skin. Its not the same. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio man cant leave TB hospital for one year Its treatment the child almost didnt receive. Maldonado said Medicaid officials told her the insurance wouldnt cover Jabaris transfer and treatment at Texas Childrens because it was out of network. Medicaid later reversed its decision, after considerable media coverage of the familys plight. Someone told me somebody in the government got involved, but I dont know who, Maldonado said. She and her husband have two other children, ages 5 and 6. Maldonado had what seemed to be a normal, healthy pregnancy with Jabari. It was only when he emerged from the womb that doctors saw something was seriously wrong. In addition to his head, Jabari has some skin on his legs, but none on his torso or arms. Taco Cabana is helping pay for the couple to stay in a Houston hotel while their son receives treatment, and a gofundme account has been set up. Maldonado, whose kids are staying with her mother in San Antonio while their sick brother receives care, said the family may have to move to Houston. She said doctors cant tell them how long her son might need to stay in the hospital; Medicaid wont pay for all the specialized medical equipment and other care her son is going to need. Even if he does pull through, we dont know what the future holds, she said. Were just praying every day. Every day is a blessing. 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 settlement has been reached over $6 million worth of San Antonio real estate the U.S. government seized during a money laundering investigation of Luis Armando Reynoso Femat, who was governor of Aguascalientes state in Mexico from 2004 to 2010. In a lawsuit, federal authorities claimed the four model homes in an affluent Northeast Side subdivision and other property were bought by the embattled politicians son with money embezzled by Reynoso Femat from the central Mexican state. On ExpressNews.com: Settlement stalls in money-laundering case involving San Antonio property The properties will be sold, said lawyer David Dilley of San Antonio, who represents the son, Luis Armando Reynoso Lopez. It was (settled) on favorable terms for both parties. Dilley said the deal does not allow him to disclose more details, such as what percentage of the proceeds Reynoso Lopez, who lives in Mexico, may get. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Nelda Valadez said details need to be put in writing for a judges approval, but that the deal would eventually let the Internal Revenue Service sell the properties by auction. We anticipate that to happen, Valadez said. In addition to the homes, the government in 2014 also seized a pair of large vacant land parcels on Montgomery Road, near U.S. 90, and commercial office space in the 1100 block of West Blanco Road on the North Side. The feds filed a forfeiture lawsuit in 2014 aimed at keeping the properties. The case was headed to trial before the deal was reached. Michael Fisher No one answered the door at any of the homes Tuesday. At the West Blanco Road property, where tenants include home designers, counselors and a bridal consultant, a property manager said she was unaware of a settlement or what it would mean to the future of the buildings or tenants. We havent gotten any notification with whats going to happen, said the woman, who declined to give her name. She said the only time she had seen Reynoso Lopez was when he bought the property years ago, and she added that she had never met the ex-governor. U.S. federal agents had been investigating Reynoso Femat over allegations that he sent $5.5 million he embezzled from Aguascalientes to U.S. banks so his son could use it to purchase the real estate here, court records show. Beginning in 2008, Reynoso Femat and his son, Reynoso Lopez, conspired together, and with others, to divert monies illegally derived from the Mexican state of Aguascalientes through financial institutions in Mexico, to bank accounts they established in the U.S., said an affidavit unsealed in the forfeiture case in 2017. Related: Judge rejects San Antonio real estate agents request to intervene in $6 million forfeiture case But no one has been charged criminally in the U.S., and Dilley said his client purchased the properties with legitimate funds. Hes denied (wrongdoing) from the very beginning, Dilley said. Valadez would not comment on that aspect. Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth recently signed an order closing the civil case in anticipation of receiving something in writing detailing the settlement. Reynoso Femat has not filed any claims to the properties nor responded to the allegations here. He was sentenced in 2017 to more than six years in prison in Mexico for charges that included embezzlement, but later was released on appeal as he continues to fight the allegations. The case is among a string of properties targeted by U.S. authorities in San Antonio and South Texas as they investigate former Mexican politicians over allegations that they laundered in south Texas bribes, stolen funds or drug money they received in their home country. Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland Puro Politics is a Monday podcast hosted by columnist Gilbert Garcia, covering the drama and nuance of local government issues. Produced by Joy-Marie Scott and Chance Dorland. Listen and subscribe on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher TuneIn RSS All Episodes As we enter the final week of municipal campaigning before the start of early voting, its coming down to the basics vs. the fundamentals. Thats how the mayoral contest between incumbent Ron Nirenberg and challenger Greg Brockhouse is playing out, with Brockhouse saying the city should focus more attention on basic services (public safety, infrastructure and jobs) and Nirenberg insisting that the citys fundamental elements are strong. Express-News political reporter Dylan McGuinness covered Nirenbergs second annual State of the City address last Friday and, on this weeks edition of the Express-News Puro Politics podcast, he suggested that the mayor might have been taking a cue from Brockhouses rhetorical choices. The whole speech was about what he called the fundamentals, McGuinness said. And after a campaign where Councilman Greg Brockhouse has kind of said, We should get back to the basics, it seemed like there might have been a connection there. On ExpressNews.com: Nirenberg touts successes in annual address McGuinness noted that Nirenberg used the speech to restate familiar policy objectives rather than roll out major new initiatives. I know in Mayor Nirenbergs first State of the City address, last year, he used the kind of platform to announce new policies, like ConnectSA, the mass transit plan, McGuinness said. This one was less newsy. More just a kind of campaign speech, touting what hes done so far (and) touting where he wants to go. The podcast also touched on the mayoral candidates competing narratives about San Antonios economic status and raised the question of how much any mayor can take credit for a citys job growth. On ExpressNews.com: Castro asserts relevance in presidential race A former San Antonio mayor, Julian Castro, also came up for discussion, with a look at his April 10 anti-Donald-Trump rally at Hemisfair Park and the effect of his recent spate of high-profile media appearances. Hear these and other topics discussed on this weeks Puro Politics podcast. Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Even though St. Marys University held its Oyster Bake and the San Antonio Zulu Association celebrated its Taste of New Orleans over the weekend, the official start of Fiesta is Thursday. Over 10 days, San Antonians will enjoy a litany of events from the Fiesta Carnival to A Night in Old San Antonio, from an all-too-serious Coronation of bejeweled duchesses to its ridiculing counterpart in Cornyation, and four major parades, including my favorite, the illuminated Fiesta Flambeau Parade. Hundreds of other public and private events, many of them fundraisers for nonprofit organizations, will mark our Fiesta. As ancient civilizations did long before us, well mark springs glorious arrival by eating, drinking, dressing up and dancing outdoors. Before it begins, San Antonians were reminded this time by a group of University of Texas at San Antonio students that Fiestas origins are nothing of which to be proud. Express-News Quiz: 10 questions: Fiesta history, how much do you know? In 1891, 55 years after the Battle of San Jacinto the pivotal battle that led to Texas independence from Mexico a group of Anglo women backed by a mens group organized a mock battle of flowers in front of the Alamo to honor the heroes of the Alamo and San Jacinto. That may sound benign if not for the fact that the two battles have been mythologized and purified to be made solely about heroism and liberty. Some Texans still see the battles that way. Other Texans have come to examine the fallacies recorded in textbooks, movies and public consciousness, as hard as they are to shake. History is filled with complexities, but the Alamo story taught in Texas textbooks didnt frame Mexico as fighting for its lands or against slavery, which it had abolished but grudgingly gave Texas a temporary waiver. So, as the UTSA students said on local television, Fiestas origins as hard as it is for some San Antonians to swallow are racist. Katsuo Nishikawa Chavez, an assistant professor of political science at Trinity University, grew up in Mexico and learned a version of the Alamos history that generations of Texas schoolchildren didnt. He learned of a slavers revolt in the north (and) that these slavers wanted to implement slavery and carve out this part of Mexico for themselves. For those who established the first Fiesta, racial dynamics were at play in maintaining a social order and hierarchy. It was omnipresent, the Trinity professor says. Everything invented, created and done in that time dragged those views into the present. It remains with us. In a recent column, the Houston Chronicles Chris Tomlinson argued for rebranding Texas away from such racially charged myths. He noted how in his book, Tomlinson Hill, state leaders wanted to slough off the Southern, white supremacy identity that dominated until the 1940s. That was a period in which Confederate monuments went up, too. Nishikawa Chavez sees a similarity in our Fiesta origins of victory at San Jacinto with Northern Irelands marching season. Protestants take to the streets of Belfast in orange sashes to commemorate William of Oranges defeat of King James II. For Catholics, its when Protestants rub their noses in the ancient defeat. The marches are contentious. Fiesta isnt quite like that, and San Antonio isnt Belfast, of course. But you can see the tensions that the UTSA students are pointing out. Theyre reminding us that none of these events happened in a vacuum. They have meaning and deserve recognition and reconciling. We wont unpack any of these complicated, charged issues during Fiesta, but San Antonio will have to deal with them eventually to become the city we deserve. Its a box we have avoided to open, Nishikawa Chavez says. When we do, well have to build a firewall to hold back how the national debate has handled these issues. He says such challenges are being driven by young people, and he applauds them. Me, too. It wont keep me from enjoying Fiesta. I love what Fiesta has become and my childhood memories of Fiesta, that my parents enjoyed taking us to parades, because they were so proud of my siblings in the Lanier High School marching band. Im not alone. I go to Fiesta and what I see is San Antonio in its full glory, Nishikawa Chavez says. The bodies everywhere are brown, black and white. They are families enjoying community. Its Go Spurs. The origins are lost in these elements. He and his family celebrate Fiesta every year, just as each of us celebrates it and has made it our own. Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has $7.4 million cash on hand, far more than any of his fellow senators gearing up for re-election battles in 2020. Cornyn's bulging war chest is the product of a $2 million fundraising haul during the first three months of 2019, a total that built on his $5.8 million sum to start the year. He spent about $399,000 during the first quarter of the 2020 cycle, according to a report filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission. Kamto et compagnie archives The matter pitting the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) of detained Professor Maurice Kamo and the Minister of Territorial Administration opens today Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at the Administrative Court for the Centre region lodged in the Mfoundi Court premises. The CRM seized the Administrative Courts last week to reverse the April 5 decision of the Minister of Territorial Administration banning nationwide protests the opposition political party had envisaged from April 6 to April 13, 2019. Yakouba Mamadou, First Vice President of the CRM party said in a statement that instead of going frontal on the Yaounde regime, they have decided to seek legal redress to overturn Minister Atanga Nji Pauls decision. He went on to suspend an April 13 nationwide protest initially planned by the party. We thank and congratulate you [CRM members and sympathizers] for your enthusiastic militancy and support. We are equally aware of your mobilization towards the nationwide demonstrations planned for April 13. In this light, we have noted with consternation the illegal decision of the Minister of Territorial Administration contained in an April 5, 2019 communique prohibiting our protests. We have decided to attack the said decision before the law courts, the communique dated April 11, 2019 reads in part. Yakouba Mamadou adds that while the Administrative Court decides on the matter and true to the republican spirit that guides their actions, the public demonstrations initially planned for April 13 will thus take place on a later date. The CRM First Vice National President says theirs is a struggle to install an authentic democracy founded on a consensual electoral process that respects the choices of the electorate, protects liberties and fundamental rights, protection of the public wealth of the country, and restoration and preservation of peace in the country especially a return to normalcy in the restive North West and South West regions. Yakouba Mamadou calls on CRM militants to remain mobilized and vigilant especially against those who are organizing a coup against democracy, peace and stability of Cameroon. Justice Jean-Paul Nguimout of the Administrative Court for the Centre Region is expected to look into the merits of the CRM case when his court openes at 10 oclock today. Prior to todays court session, Professor Maurice Kamto, National President of the CRM wrote a letter of comfort from his detention room to his fellow CRM detainees. Kamto says he shares in their pain, but urges them to remain strong as such is the price to pay to oust the oppressor. Zip it, Mitt. As the junior senator from Utah the area previously known as Northern Mexico you may feel that the debate over immigrants and refugees needs your perspective. It does not. Its not that you Mitt Romney dont have anything to offer. In the past, youve been a moderate on the prickly question of what to do with people who show up uninvited at the back door. During the 2012 presidential campaign, nativists which were once a radical wing of the GOP, but now seemingly make up the whole bird tried to get you, as the Republican nominee, to take a hardline stance on immigration. You refused. The furthest you were willing to go was to suggest that illegal immigrants self-deport. In fact, during that campaign, I was in the room when you while speaking to Hispanic Republicans in Miami endorsed the idea of letting the undocumented stay in the United States as long as the border was secured. In 2014, you told Univision that Congress needed to pass legislation that would make more transparent the process by which illegal immigrants could obtain legal residency. You were attacked by right-wing radio hosts who accused you of supporting amnesty and pushing for an open border. Welcome to my world, Senator, where what you actually say comes in a distant second to what people hear or what they want to believe. That was then. Now, youve joined the rest of the Republican sheeple in backing President Trumps ill-conceived crusade to shut out immigrants and refugees from countries that he deems inferior. During a recent appearance on NBCs Meet the Press, just two days after Trump traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border and declared the country is full, you backed his play and said that Central Americans seeking asylum are overwhelming our system. Weighing in on Trumps crackdown, you declared that it was a winning issue for Americans to say we have to have the sovereignty of our nation. You also credited him with tapping into something which the people feel very deeply. Look, Senator, if you want to cozy up to a man who publicly humiliated you by dangling the job of secretary of state before offering the post to another poor fellow and humiliating him instead, thats between you and your therapist. Youre certainly entitled to your opinion. And the rest of us are obliged to ignore it. Of all people, youre in no position to talk about how the United States should pull up the drawbridge and keep out foreigners. On that topic, youve been compromised by your own lineage. Time to break out the family photo album. The Romneys know all about immigrants and refugees because thats what they were in the 1880s. Your great-grandparents were Mormon refugees, escaping intolerance and discrimination in the Midwest. At the time, the region was largely Protestant and not especially welcoming of those who werent. It wasnt just that Mormons couldnt get a job. The threat of violence was real. The elected officials, and local law enforcement, were of no help. Either they shared the anti-Mormon prejudices of the mob, or maybe they were merely tapping into how did you put it? something which the people feel very deeply. Either way, your great-grandparents needed a safe haven. Refresh my memory. What was the name of the country that graciously took in your family and offered them refuge? Why, what do you know? Its the same country that today bears the brunt of Trumps anti-immigrant zealotry: Mexico. As you know but rarely discuss, your great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, fled the United States and crossed into Mexico in 1885 without an invitation. He helped build the Mormon enclave of Colonia Juarez in Chihuahua, where he lived with his son, Gaskell your grandfather. During the Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 to 1920, Gaskell returned to the United States again without an invitation. And he brought with him his family, which included his son, George your father. Fun fact: Your father (future Michigan governor and 1968 presidential candidate) was born in Chihuahua, and so was my grandfather (future farmworker) who also came to the United States during the revolution. Why the short memory, Senator? You do realize that if Trump had been running U.S. immigration policy at the beginning of the 20th century your grandpa and mine could well have been kept out of the United States and forced to stay in Mexico. And wed be having this conversation in Spanish. ruben@rubennavarrette.com STAMFORD The Board of Finance is holding off on accepting all of a $2 million grant the state gave the city to improve the Springdale train station parking lot. Its because the plan appears to be loaded with soft costs, board Chairman Richard Freedman said. Only half of the money is actually going toward the hard costs of construction, said Freedman, a developer by trade. The other half is administration, design fees and contingency. The plan calls for a city-paid clerk of the works a temporary employee to oversee the two-year project for a total salary of $166,000, plus a general contractor doing the same for whatever construction firm is hired, Freedman said. I am shocked at how little work is actually getting done for $2 million, he said. The city won the competitive grant last year from the Connecticut Office of Policy & Managements 2017 Responsible Growth and Transit-Oriented Development Program, designed to increase use of mass transit by making it easier for people to walk, bicycle and park at transit hubs. The goal is to create better pedestrian and bike access to the train station from the center of Springdale; move the Hope Street commuter-lot entrance so it aligns with Clearview Avenue; reconfigure the lot to maximize the number of parking spaces; renovate surrounding sidewalks; improve nearby Hope Street crosswalks; and add landscaping. Were getting some sidewalks here, bumping out a sidewalk there, maybe putting in a stone wall here and there, getting a few traffic signs, Freedman said during the boards monthly meeting last week. But theres 30 percent in administration costs. City traffic engineer Frank Petise told the board the project is a preliminary concept based on a transit-oriented development plan for Springdale that was completed about five years ago. The idea behind such a plan is to reduce traffic by promoting development around train stations and places, such as Hope Street, with multiple bus stops. One of the goals is to improve sidewalks to promote pedestrian traffic on Hope Street, where there are restaurants, coffee shops, banks, and jewelry, pet, tile, grocery and other stores, plus dry cleaners, hair salons and other service shops. Petise said the sidewalk portion of the Springdale train station parking lot project will add streetscaping and connect it to similar work, completed about four years ago, that ended at Hope Street and Largo Drive. That was a $4.2 million project to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety by widening Hope Street and installing better sidewalks. Petise said his office issued a request for proposals to firms interested in designing the train station parking project and received eight bids. No firm has been selected yet, Petise said. Finance board members decided the traffic department should find a way to tweak the project budget to reduce overhead costs, and the best move was to appropriate half the $2 million state grant so a design can move forward. Once a design is complete, traffic engineers can come back to the board for the remaining money, members said. We can revisit it when the project goes out to bid for construction, board member David Kooris said. The six finance board members voted unanimously to approve half the grant. Freedman said the city should get the biggest bang it can get for a buck, even if the buck is a state grant. I guess I just want to send a message that I would like to see more work done for this money, he said. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296. STAMFORD With one member calling it a drop in the bucket, the Board of Finance chopped $4 million Monday night from Mayor David Martins $603 million budget proposal for 2019-20. The cut includes $2.6 million from the Board of Education budget. Finance board members went through all 447 pages of Martins operating budget, slicing it surgically to bring the July 1 tax increase down from 4.4 percent to 3.6 percent. Its not enough, longtime board member Mary Lou Rinaldi said. The mayor asked for a $30 million increase over this years budget, and we only cut $4 million a drop in the bucket, said Rinaldi, who opened the meeting expressing concern about the strain on taxpayers. This budget has kept me awake at night, more than any other budget Ive had to take action on in all my years on the Board of Finance, Rinaldi said. The more affluent in our community are selling their homes to escape rising taxes. The middle class is being forced out. They already had to see their children leave because they cant afford to live here. Home sales are sluggish. And yet the mayor has requested $1 million in new positions ... its all part of the cost creep in this budget. Her colleagues generally agreed. They cut 12 of the 19 new positions Martin requested: a computer technician, a parks and facilities operations manager, a plan reviewer in the Building Department, a GIS analyst in the Land Use Bureau, an urban designer in the Planning Department, a housing code enforcement officer, an assistant director for the 911 call center, a clerical person in the police department, a Health Department specialist, a Human Resources specialist, a Human Resources generalist, and a Citizens Service Center director. Finance board members also cut money for overtime pay and for purchases of professional services in a number of departments. Mayors proposed new positions The Board of Finance Monday voted to cut 12 of the 19 new positions Mayor David Martin requested: Computer technician Parks and facilities operations manager Plan reviewer in the Building Department GIS analyst in the Land Use Bureau Urban designer in the Planning Department Housing code enforcement officer Assistant director for the 911 call center Clerical person in the police department Health Department specialist Human Resources specialist Human Resources generalist Citizen's Service Center director The board kept the following seven positions: Assistant director of Human Resources Traffic analyst Electrical inspector in the Building Department Superintendent of Parks & Recreation Technology specialist in the Police Department Computer technician in Technology Management Services Data analyst in the Building Department See More Collapse Cutting school Chairman Richard Freedman explained their reduction of the school boards request for $286.5 million a 5 percent increase over this year. The board unanimously voted to reduce the increase to 4 percent. It means the school board so far the Board of Representatives will have its turn at cutting the budget in two weeks will get a $10 million increase instead of the requested $12.6 million. We spent a long time in the Board of Educations budget book and recommended reductions that were carefully crafted and designed to have minimum impact on the district, and still allow them to achieve the mission of educating students, Freedman said. The finance board focused on items budgeted for increases that were higher than trends, based on spending in previous years. Their reductions include $400,000 for six teacher positions, $400,000 for clerical and technical employees, $300,000 for substitute teachers, and $200,000 for pupil services. Members of the finance board have expressed their dissatisfaction with the school districts handling of a mold infestation that began last summer and forced the closing of Westover Magnet Elementary School, the leasing and renovation of an office building on Elmcroft Road to house the students through June 2020, and cleanup and repairs in about a dozen other school buildings that will amount to tens of millions of dollars. The districts contracted facilities manager, ABM Industries, at the very least should have sounded an alarm when they walked in the door that there was mold, Rinaldi said. I think the facilities management company should be fired right away. ... Over the past few months weve seen a lack of financial oversight ... I suggest that the Board of Education re-evaluate the people who are keeping track of a very big budget. Shrinking raises Along those lines, another board member, Kieran Ryan, made a proposal for the city side. Ryan proposed that, given the coming mold expenses and hefty tax hike, raises for the mayor and his top executives be cut. Ryan said the city Charter gives the finance board approval over top executives salaries, and it is time to use it. This path we are on is unsustainable, Ryan said. These salaries are on automatic pilot to the moon. There is no disinterested party watching them, he added. The people in these leadership roles have to set the example. He made a motion to cut Martins $6,405 raise, which would bring the mayors salary to $182,066. Ryan also proposed cutting the raises of Martins chief of staff and four cabinet members, each set to get $4,796 more on July 1, as well as raises ranging from about $3,800 to $4,500 for other top earners in the administration. Freedman disagreed, saying the city needs experienced professionals to manage its big, complex budget. Board member David Kooris said he sees both arguments, and proposed a compromise. Kooris made a motion to proportionately cut the raises, which total almost $52,000, by $20,000. Kooris compromise passed. Ryan voted for it. Anticipating that my motion would not pass, and having made my point, I agree that this is a small cut in a big budget but it sends a message, Ryan said. Passing something along these lines is more important than the numbers. The move roughly reduces the salary increases to 2 percent, from 3 percent, Kooris said. Risky business Finance board members sought to further ease the tax burden by making an unusual move transferring money from the health-insurance reserve for active employees into the General Fund. It was done after a long discussion with the citys health-insurance consultant, Freedman said. The consultant said the reserve is high at $10 million, Freedman said. Still, Kooris said, theres certainly risk that employees could suddenly file a bunch of large claims. The reserve is a source we havent touched in the past, Kooris said. But all six board members ultimately voted to take $500,000 from the reserve. Other than that and the Board of Education cut, the largest reductions to Martins budget were $89,159 for the Citizens Service Center directors salary, $85,471 for Recreation Services rental of the Star Center to expand a program, and $78,499 for a salary in the Human Resources Department. Martins budget faces one more cutting squad: the Board of Representatives will take it up at 8 p.m. May 1 in Legislative Chambers on the fourth floor of the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd. acarella@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2296. FAIRFIELD Shamare Holmes, a community organizer and member of the Bridgeport Education Association, has experienced the lasting impacts on gun violence from an early age. Ive always been involved (in the community) but now, being at this age, where Im confident enough to share this story and Im emotionally able to get through it ... I think its key to be at these meetings, Holmes said at a Monday roundtable discussion at Fairfield University, citing that Bridgeport has seen seven homicides in 2019 alone. Holmes noted that Bridgeport the most populated city in the state at nearly 150,000 residents lacks many of the resources that help students and victims cope with the lingering effects of gun violence. Its against an impressive backdrop mural, part of a TIME magazine and photographer JRs project, that individuals shared their stories and engaged in a conversation about gun culture and legislation in America with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy. The discussion was part of the Quick Centers look into gun culture in America, with the free and open installation of Guns in America: A TIME and JR Production until April 18 and gUN COUNTRY, A Theatrical Exploration of Firearms in America performance scheduled for April 16 at 8 p.m. Its an important discussion and this is a platform using the arts, Helen During, co-founder and artistic director of #UNLOAD, a group that aims to reduce gun violence in the country, said at the event. We want to make make America a safer place. Mary Himes, co-founder and executive director of the same group, prompted the nearly 60 attendees gathered around a table to voice their thoughts and concerns regarding gun violence, ownership and rights. Murphy highlighted the changes at the state level and also mentioned the debate and legislation at the national level had shifted in the right direction. Weve taken courageous steps in Connecticut and weve got a long way to go. Were proof that smart laws work, weve seen a 40 percent reduction in gun crimes, Murphy said. Westport Chief of Police Foti Koskinas, when asked about his thoughts on the gun topic, recounted his first episode with a firearm shooting a gun at age 14 at a friends house in Westport. The father really thought the gun was secure, Koskinas said. If that doesnt scare you, it certainly scares me as a parent of teenage daughters right now. If your children are going on a first playdate, please, dont hold back and ask if the parents have a gun in their home or if theyre secure. Koskinas also reflected on his past, like when he bought a gun with a high-capacity magazine at age 18, acknowledging he did so because he could. The event attracted members from various advocate groups including Moms Demand Action, #UNLOAD and 203 Action. John Walsh, a former Emergency Medical Technician in Albany, N.Y., had cousins attending Sandy Hook Elementary at the time of the 2012 shooting. As someone who had lived through that, Walsh felt it was important to underscore responsible gun ownership. Im a gun owner. I own multiple firearms, Walsh said. Seeing all this violence in the world, in my mind, at least, it doesnt help me or my family one bit when we completely disarm ourselves and bury our heads in the sand...I think gun ownership is incredibly important. Following the events conclusion, Holmes said while discussion is helpful, what matters are not words but actions. After that energy goes, are you really about the work or are you about the moment? Or are you really trying to resolve something?, Holmes said. humberto.juarez@hearstmediact.com Paul et Chantal Biya lors d'une parade au defile du 20 mai Archives The 2019 edition of Cameroons National Day will be celebrated under the theme, Unity in diversity, a major asset of the Cameroonian people in their determined move towards emergence . A document dated April 11, 2019 and signed by Joseph Beti Assomo, Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge Of Defense said the May 20 (National Day) theme is a prescription from President Paul Biya to the security and defense forces. The theme is one that seeks to emphasise the unity of Cameroon at a time when things are not all rosy. Since 2016, the English-speaking minority of the North West and South West regions have protested against perceived marginalization from the Francophone dominant government in Yaounde. The non-respect of Cameroons bilingual, bi-jural and bicultural nature is said to have been cause of the crisis rocking the country with many putting to question unity. National unity and the spirit of patriotism is now a far cry. When citizens love and respect state institutions, it encourages a stable economy that would attract foreign investors, and consequently usher in economic development. But many are of the opinion that the government of the day has not given reason enough for citizens to be patriotic, other than vain sloganeering. It is left to be seen how the hitherto colourful May 20 parades will unfold in places like Kumba, Muyuka, Fontem, Bafut, Belo and Kumbo among other localities in the restive Anglophone regions. Meanwhile, ahead of the National Day fete on May 20, Cameroonians of all walks of life who applied for state medals are now waiting for the Grand Chancellor of National Orders to publish the list of those to be honoured. Members of the security and defence forces, civil servants and other state functionaries, politicians, entrepreneurs, civil society actors are among those expected to be recognize after the close to 10,000 application files would have been scrutinized. The Councils of the National Orders have been meeting in Yaounde since yesterday to examine the files of persons proposed for the award of various categories of medals on the occasion of this year's National Day celebrations on 20 May. Peter Mafany Musonge, Grand Chancellor of National Orders, is presiding at the three-day meeting. It is common practice every year to reward selected individuals with national medals in recognition for their meritorious services or achievements in various walks of life. The practice of bestowing civil or military honours for valour is not unique to Cameroon. It dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans and gained prevalence with the medieval custom of conferring knighthood. The French Commissioner of Cameroon established the Order of Merit for Native Labour in 1924 to recognize service rendered to cultural organizations, development of natural resources or the development of commerce and industry. SALEM, Ohio Ohio Relief Haulers is planning another trip to Nebraska April 26, and they are looking for donations of fencing supplies, building supplies, hay and livestock feed. Fencing supplies include t-post and clips, t-post drivers, wire cutters, wood posts and barbed wire. Building supplies include wood, screws, nails, etc. to rebuild barns. Monetary donations may be made at agcommunityrelief.com, a sister organization that Ohio Relief Haulers works with for all of their trips. To find a drop-off location near you, contact Brittany and Travis Hamlin through Ohio Relief Haulers Facebook page or by calling Brittany, 330-281-2860, or Travis, 330-842-1535. All donations must be dropped off by April 24. People interested in volunteering as drivers are also encouraged to call. Harrisburg, Pa. The deadline for students to apply for the Student Leader Scholarship is June 1. Individuals pursuing an education in a dairy-related field can apply for one of ten $3,000 scholarships made available through the Pennsylvania Dairymens Association and Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation for the 2019-20 academic year. The scholarships are offered annually to recognize outstanding students in dairy. Undergraduate students and high school seniors entering college in the fall are eligible. We truly believe investing in the education of tomorrows dairy leaders will sustain a bright future for Pennsylvanias dairy industry, said Brittany Haag, dairy education program manager for the Dairy Excellence Foundation. We are pleased that our organizations are once again partnering to offer these Student Leader Scholarships. Eligibility To qualify, students must demonstrate a commitment to working in the dairy industry. Selection of recipients is based on academic performance, interest in a dairy-related career, evidence of leadership, character and integrity, and application compliance. Applications are now available online at centerfordairyexcellence.org/student-leader-scholarships/ and are due to the Dairy Excellence Foundation office by June 1, 2019. Consideration for this scholarship shall be given to Pennsylvania residents who are full-time undergraduate students planning to enroll or currently enrolled in a qualifying field of study. This includes dairy and animal science, agricultural marketing and business, nutrition, food science, agriculture and extension education, agricultural communications, agricultural engineering, or related fields. Students can receive the $3,000 scholarship twice during their undergraduate academic career. Students employed by the Center for Dairy Excellence as an intern or in another capacity are not eligible to apply for the scholarship during the period in which they are working for the Center. To learn more, visit centerfordairyexcellence.org/student-leader-scholarships/ or contact Brittany Haag at 717-346-0849 or by email at bhaag@centerfordairyexcellence.org. The Center for Dairy Excellence is a non-profit organization initiated by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture in 2004. Bringing together people from more than 40 different dairy organizations in Pennsylvania, the centers mission is to enhance the profitability of the dairy industry by empowering people, creating partnerships, and increasing the availability and use of resources. Learn more at centerfordairyexcellence.org. Farmers are being told they must pay closer attention to health and safety after concerns are raised over recent livestock handling incidents. Each year a number of people are killed or injured in incidents involving cattle. Last year, eight people died on farms involving livestock - nearly one quarter of the total deaths on British farms. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be visiting farms to encourage farmers to protect themselves, their workers and members of the public from the risks of cattle. The safety watchdog says it can use enforcement to bring about change if there are no improvements on farms which flout regulations. The focus on livestock is part of a programme of inspections over the next twelve months to ensure farmers are doing the right things to comply with the law and prevent death, injury and ill-health. HSEs Head of Agriculture, Andrew Turner said: Last year 33 people were killed in agriculture across Britain and those working in the industry need to realise that death, injuries and cases of ill-health are not an inevitable part of farming and can be prevented. We must not become complacent and accept this as the norm. Farmers should plan their work, know the risks and use the right controls to ensure that everyone can go home healthy from their work. Throughout the inspections, HSE will be reminding workers that when working with livestock, they should have the appropriate controls in place: proper handling facilities, which farmers keep in good working order; a race and a crush suitable for the animals handled; trained and competent workers; and a rigorous culling policy for temperamental animals. It follows the launch of a new safety campaign which aims to reduce on-farm deaths and injuries by 50 percent by 2023. River Wouri in Douala Facebook The remains of three persons, who drowned alongside six others in River Wouri, has been retrieved, officials say. This exercise took place on Monday, April 15 as a search continues for the others, after their wooden boat capsized late Saturday 13th April. The Littoral region is still in shock, after just a survivor was found amongst the seven who were aboard the boat. The seven persons, all fishermen left a locality known as Ngwele in Douala 4 subdivision for a fishing expedition deep into the Wouri River when their boat capsized killing six of them. In another update from Douala, a young man in his mid-twenties Mbah Malvis Muwah has died after being brutally stabbed by a certain Bah Brian. The incident is said to have taken place at a snack bar at BP Cite, Douala. 26 year old Malvis as well as Brian are all internally displaced from the South West region, due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis. According to eyewitnesses, the alleged murderer was sharing the same table with the victim and his friends when the former suddenly became violent. Malvis and his friends tried to calm down Brian, but the later rather went out of the snack bar, brought a knife and stabbed Mbah Malvis. The father of a two year old son, Malvis was immediately rushed to the Mbingo hospital in Mboppi, but died shortly after, due to excessive bleeding. Bah Brian is now on the run as investigations to uncover his whereabouts intensify. The sheep sector has highlighted concerns over the economic impact a no-deal Brexit would have despite a new deadline for the UK to leave the EU. In light of a new Brexit deadline of 31 October being agreed last week, sheep industry figures have discussed mitigation measures with the government. This is if the UK leaves the EU at any point in the future without a deal that has free and frictionless trade on the table. The UK is the third largest sheep meat exporter in the world, supplying more than 80,000 tonnes to the European Union each year. In the event of the UK leaving without a deal, the European Union would apply a tariff of 48 per cent on UK sheep meat. This tariff would mean that it could cost more than 150 million per annum if exports were to be maintained. Sheep industry representatives believe such tariff levels would make exports uncompetitive and would leave the UK market oversupplied. Farmers fear this would have a massive negative impact on incomes, with the sheep market likely to experience significant disruption which would impact on other agricultural sectors. Meanwhile, NFU Scotland and other stakeholders met with the Scottish government to stress the need for short term support in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Scotland is home to one fifth of the entire sheep flock of the UK, and farmers fear that the economy would be substantially affected by such a scenario. The union believes that, given the uncertainty that Brexit is generating, that all sectors should be included in similar discussions on emergency plans and mitigation measures. NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick, who farms 600 breeding ewes at Lochfoot, Dumfries, said: We have known for some time that the impact of a No Deal Brexit on the sheep sector would be substantial given the reliance on exports. Although a new deadline for Brexit has been agreed, the reality is that if we leave the European Union at any point in the future without a deal the impacts would be felt by every farming and crofting businesses from Shetland to Stranraer. At our meeting today with other industry representatives and the Scottish government there was agreement that emergency measures would be needed to support the sector in the event of a No Deal. However, we still need to work on the details on how best to deliver the necessary support to protect farm incomes in order to secure the jobs and opportunities which the sector provides in our rural communities. Mr McCornick urged the UK government and Scottish government to facilitate 'emergency discussions' across all sectors to ensure farmers are prepared for the 'worst possible outcome'. We remain crystal clear that a No Deal Brexit must be avoided if we are to see our industry grow. Farmers across Scotland need security and fair access to the European market. Our politicians must fulfil their duty to secure a favourable future for everyone, he added. A strike ballot of more than three thousand Unite members in Northern Ireland's largest employer, poultry producer Moy Park, will proceed in the coming weeks. The union confirmed it would be balloting members over 'unreasonable management demands' in ongoing pay negotiations. Moy Park is Northern Irelands largest private sector business and one of Europes leading poultry producers, hiring more than 6,300 people across its sites. It follows news of the company's decision to temporarily close some production at a key processing plant. Poultry producers called it a 'blow' to their livelihoods. It will stop slaughtering birds at its Ballymena plant until January 2020. Meanwhile, its North Antrim hatchery will also be out of operation until November this year. Sean McKeever, Unite Regional Officer representing members at Moy Park, said the company was 'intent on attacking terms and conditions of workers in the region.' When Moy Park was sold by Brazilian meat-packing giant JBS SA to one of its own subsidiaries, Pilgrims Pride Corp of the USA, Unite the union forecasted that this would presage a broader onslaught on workforce terms and conditions. Sadly, the accuracy of that forecast is now apparent to every Moy Park worker in Northern Ireland. He added: In recent pay negotiations they have brought forward proposals seeking to undermine Shift Allowances, Sickness scheme, Holiday entitlement, Attendance allowance, Nomi/Statutory days and decent breaks T&Cs that were hard won by this workforce over many years and which are simply not up for negotiation. Management need to think again this is not a workforce that will stand by as they slash and burn their way in a race-to-the-bottom on rights and entitlements. A Moy Park spokesperson said: We are aware of the recent union statement and we will continue to engage with the union and work towards a negotiated agreement. The companys latest annual pre-tax profits were just short of 60 million a major increase of 67 percent on the year previously. Its current owners, Pilgrims Pride, declared net earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $798 million in 2018. Recognized by UNESCO as World City of Gastronomy, Hatay, where several cultures have lived together peacefully for centuries, is better known for its rich, delicious cuisine that is a manifestation of its cultural life. Situated in the southeast of Turkey, Hatay served as the opening gate for the Silk Road to the Mediterranean and has been the centre of spice trade for centuries. It is said that 13 world civilizations have influenced and shaped its gastronomic identity with cuisines from the Middle East, Anatolia and the Mediterranean. It is an exciting experience to savor this world-class cuisine and relish the fresh flavors that it brings to the table. Mozaik Bahce An oasis of calm nestling under shady trees and awnings, Mozaik Bahce is a firm favourite in Fethiye with both residents and holidaymakers alike. The restaurant specialises in cuisine from the region of Hatay in Southeast Turkey. Taster events are an opportunity for restaurants to showcase their menu and specialty dishes, offering customers a chance to try many more dishes than if they had just booked a table for lunch or dinner. There is something about a taster event that makes you want to slow down and savor the different tastes of the food. On Saturday, Mozaik Bahce held their annual Hatay Cuisine taster event. In photos: Mozaik Bahce Hatay Cuisine taster event slow down and savour the flavours Owners, Huseyin and Deren, waiting to welcome you Kabak Borani; Antakyas wedding dish for a long long time. It is a very filling soup and the pumpkin that we use is only grown in Hatay which makes it such a unique dish. Huseyin with the pumpkin from Hatay used to make Kabak Borani Fellah Koftesi/ Fellah Kofte Fellah means farmer in Arabic language. who lives around Adana, Hatay and Mersin. Olive oil & garlic sauce and yogurt & garlic sauce for Fellah Koftesi Surk Salata / Surk Cheese Salad Surk is Hatays special spicy cheese. Zeytinli Zahter Salatas / Fresh Thyme and Olives Salad This kind of thyme is only grow in eastern part of Turkey Belen Tava/ Belen Style Beef Casserole Belen is one of the 15 districts of Hatay. It is located in the Amanos Mountains. Lamb Cooked in A Salt Crust; Encasing the joint in a salt crust helps seal in the juices, for extra-tender meat. Delicious pumpkin dessert The Mozaik Bahce team If youve never tried Hatay cuisine, why not go along to Mozaik Bahce and enjoy a culinary delight. For more information about Mozaik Bahce visit them on Facebook. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Fans Targeted Kangana After Rangoli's Tweet A user named Khevna Anand @khevna_anand wrote, "Is your sister delusional & in love with Ranbir Kapoor?I don't see any other reason why you both are targeting him and @aliaa08. You did the same with @iHrithik ."They hold British or any passport. Are they feeding off you?"GET WELL SOON MAAMU." [sic] And.. It Continued.. Chetan @ichets_sona_hr: "This account is now officially handling by kangu. She doesn't like sucess of @aliaa08 and hence she continusly attacking on her. Two sisters playing gambling on whole Bollywood." [sic] Fans Say Kangana Is Jealous Areeb Faiz @AreebFaiz2: "You both are just jealous of other's success. Manikarnika is not even a clean hit. And look at raazi a blockbuster. You both should learn to be humble. These pity things are done by illiterate people like you and your sister." [sic] Netizens Slam Rangoli As Well krishnakoli mukherjee @KkmBabi: "The brutal death of junaid is a true fact. He was only 15. And he died because of the hatred this new government has spread. I understand u r pro BJP but in that order u r becoming anti human. A heinous act is condemnable and has nothing to do with what citizenship we hold." [sic] Fan Refers Kangana & Rangoli As 'Bhakts' Sana Zoheb @sanazoheb: "It is now proved beyond doubt that these two sisters are and bhakts...I always thought kangana had a brain of her own, but I was wrong." [sic] Netizens Are Unhappy With Rangoli's Jibe At Alia & Her Mom Sovit sourav @sovit_sourav: "Mam I don't think you know India or its culture then you are not an Indian then.Our country gives every people freedom of expression and truly holds " vasudev kudumbkam". Please learn it then criticize anyone.Dont be fool." [sic] Another User Wrote.. Ava B @crazymadmamma: "Then why is the BJP taking in donations from Indians based abroad - Ex-Indians who hold foreign citizenship, yet want to have a say in the kind of government we have today! And sorry, but your claim to fame is being your sister's sister. Where is your own identity/achievement?" [sic] Here's The Picture That Has Taken Instagram By Storm Her followers are in awe of her steamy picture and we gotta say that it's one of the boldest pictures of Urvashi Rautela till date. Picture Courtesy - MAXIM Have A Look At A Few More Recent Pics Of Urvashi A couple of days ago, Urvashi shared her sultry picture from Vienna and captioned it as saying, "Last night in Vienna for the launch of @lofficielaustriaL'officiel Austria Magazine, first international fashion magazine in Austria, first Indian actor to release world prestigious international magazine at the French Embassy in Vienna, Austria. Thank you to everyone in Austria for beautiful welcome." [sic] Urvashi Goes Ethnic In Her New Post Urvashi also shared her 'desi' look from UK 's leading magazine, Khushmag. She can be seen donning nine yards of elegance and boy, she looks stunning! Urvashi's Work Front Urvashi is well known for her toned body and killer dance moves. On the work front, she will be next seen in Pagalpanti. The film also casts John Abraham, Anil kapoor, Ileana D'cruz and Arshad Warsi in this comedy-drama. This Sounds Interesting! According to a report in Mumbai, Vicky Kaushal, Aditya Dhar and Ronnie Screwvala are all set to reunite for a period-war film on Ashwatthama. Who Was Ashwatthama? As per the legend of Mahabharata, Ashwatthama was the son of Guru Dronacharya who fought on the side of Kauravas against Pandavas in the epic war that took place in Kurukshetra, situated in present-day Haryana. Vicky Kaushal To Play The Main Lead The tabloid quoted a source as saying, "After Uri, the makers wanted to return with something big and interesting. Aditya has been working on this script since a long time, even before Uri released, and when he sounded out Ronnie and Vicky, they immediately jumped on board. The film will be mounted on a big scale and will be shot later this year." The Man Himself Confirmed This News Vicky shared the news report on his Instagram handle and wrote, "Up next, by team URI!..." Reportedly, the film will be shot all over India and will hit the big screens in mid-2020. Vicky Has Some Exciting Projects In The Pipeline Apart from the project, Vicky will also be seen in an untitled horror film, Shoojit Sircar's Uddham Singh biopic and Karan Johar's Takht. Seems like there is no end to all the political drama that's occurring in Mandya as two of the biggest faces are contesting against each other. Until Ambareesh was alive, HD Kumaraswamy was known to hold a warm relationship with the Rebel Star's family. However, ever since Sumalatha announced that she would be contesting as an independent candidate, the rivalry began. And now, only a day prior to the elections, Sumalatha's Facebook account has been hacked! The actress expressing extreme disapointment towards Kumaraswamy's party has called them scared for such an uncouth act. She even said that they have stooped low with their dirty gimmicks. Sumalatha often interacts with fans through social media. Ever since she began campaigning, she presented her plans for the welfare of Mandya on Facebook. But now, her Facebook account has been hacked, which has led to the deletion of all her agendas that were published on the public platform. She took to Twitter to inform her followers the same. She tweeted, "Unknown miscreants have taken control and blocked my Social Media Contents Page on Facebook through which I was trumpeting the truth and my plans for people of Mandya Our dynamic technical team is working vigorously to restore the page and contents as soon as possible" - (sic) While the opposition has not commented on the situation, Sumalatha has blamed the Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy. She tweeted, "This is the lowest anyone can stoop to in any election ever people will not be fooled or detracted by these dirty gimmicks" Sumalatha Didn't Contact Rajinikanth For Support; Chandrababu Naidu Enters Mandya For Nikhil She said her team is working hard to restore all the information that has been temporarily removed. Sumalatha didn't hold back from pointing fingers at Kumaraswamy. She shared another tweet recently saying, "This just proves how scared your party is @hd_kumaraswamy. Politics at its worst" - (sic) Yash is one of the actors, who has constantly involved himself in the canvassing and rallies held in Mandya. Though his choice with regard to entering politics was highly criticised, the actor continued to back Sumalatha up without paying heed. With that began the tiff between him and HD Kumaraswamy, who at every given instance have been provoking each other. The latter recently warned the Rocking Star that producers are investing in him only because of his (Kumaraswamy) power. This is making everyone wonder if Yash is, in fact, risking KGF Chapter 2 for Lok Sabha elections. During K.R Pete rally, Kumaraswamy said, "These actors wouldn't survive if not for producers like us." It is a known fact that many films are produced by politicians. Some of the biggest of projects are presented by them and actors too rely on them for opportunities. The CM of Karnataka further added, "Some actor called Yash has been accusing my party members. My supporters have refrained from commenting only because of me. I can't believe I agree to make films with such actors. They are only surviving because of producers like us." "Do not believe all that you see onscreen. What you witness on a daily basis is the truth. Where had these actors been when the farmers committed suicide?" said the Chief Minister. Yash's Subtle Mockery At Kumaraswamy's Two Marriages Goes Viral; CM & KGF Star's Tiff Gets Uglier! However, the fans needn't worry as KGF Chapter 2 has already begun. The film is produced by Vijay Kiragandur, who is nowhere seen in the political drama. As of now, Yash has stayed away from the sets of KGF Chapter 2 owing to the elections. He will be back once the results are declared. Parth Samthaan & Sana Khan On Kitchen Champion It is being said that the actor has been paid a whopping amount to be a part of Kitchen Champion that is hosted by Arjun Bijlani. Parth was seen with Sana Khan. It has to be recalled that Kasautii's Hina Khan had also appeared on the show along with her beau Rocky on Arjun's show. Parth Is Being Paid Highest! A source close to the show revealed to TOI that Parth, who recently shot for an episode of Kitchen Champion, is paid the highest to shoot for the show. Why Parth Is Being Paid More? One of the reasons for Parth being paid highest might be as his show airs on a rival channel. As per Tellychakkar report, the response to the promo of his episode has made it to better trends than the full episodes! The Actor Has Crazy Fan Following Another reason is Parth's fan following. Parth is one of the most popular actors of current times and has a crazy fan following on social media. Parth On Kitchen Champion Parth shared a few pictures and wrote, "Entering the sets of #kitchenchampion and bumping into another Maharashtrian Sindhi @arjunbijlani thankyou for inviting me and @sanakhaan21 , it was fun cooking with @makeupartistdeepa @colorstv @kitchenchampion_official." - (sic) Show To Be Launched At Udaipurs 1000-year-old Saas-bahu Temple The makers of Star Plus' upcoming show will be flying down to the 1000-year-old heritage Saas-Bahu temple in Udaipur along with the lead protagonist Janhvi Mittal essayed by Shrenu Parikh to launch the show there. Why The Show Is Being Launched At The Temple? The iconic part reason behind launching the show at this heritage temple is the significance behind it. A temple dedicated to mother in law - daughter-in-law's (Saas-Bahu) of the nation to glorify the relationship they share. A king back in the 10th century in Mahipala of Kachchhwaha dynasty got it reconstructed. Why Such An Unusual Launch? The show with an anti-heroine protagonist presents a completely different take on the typical Saas-Bahu daily soaps, in sync with the unique concept of the show; the makers devised an equally unusual launch of the TV serial. Shrenu & Zain Off To Udaipur For The Shows Launch Shrenu Parikh and Zain Imam were spotted at Mumbai airport today (April 16, 2019) as they headed towards Udaipur for the show's launch. Shrenu looked beautiful in a pink-grey sari, while Zain looked dapper in a black shirt-pant and maroon blazer. Shrenu Extremely Excited About The Show An excited Shrenu shares, "I am extremely thrilled, not just to launch my show but also the fact that we are opting for such a unique strategy to begin our journey is exciting me. Sarvagun Sampanna is an incredibly different show." The Actress Says "Our launch completely compliments the thought as we visit the Saas-Bahu temple in Udaipur. The 1000-year-old temple is an iconic symbol of the relationship between a daughter and mother-in-law, which is exactly what our show thrives on too." Story of The Show The highly unconventional show traces the story of a daughter-in-law of a rich and prestigious family who is an ideal Bahu for the family; however, she is secretly plotting against her in-laws. The pretentious Jahnvi Mittal inherits all the qualities of an ideal Bahu but in reality, dwells on evil and torturous ideas. The Promos Of The Show The promos of the show have piqued the interest of the viewers by giving an insight into the villainous arc of the lead actress. Building curiosity amongst the masses, the promos have left everyone wondering about the intentions of Janhvi. A Dig At Samantha Akkineni? During a recent interaction with the media, the powerhouse performer spoke about the Telugu remake of her Kannada hit U Turn and ended up taking a dig at Samantha Akkineni. Hinting that she was not happy with the remake, she said that no one can do the role better than her. "I couldn't watch Telugu 'U-Turn' for more than half-an-hour. I am very possessive...can't imagine anyone else in the role done by me," she added Sam Fans Attack Shraddha As expected, her bold comments did not go down well with Sam fans who attacked the Vikram Vedha actress for 'insulting' an established star. Some of them even said that comparing the remake with the original version is not right. Shraddha About Her 'Anna' During the Jersey pre-release event, held yesterday (April 15, 2019), Shraddha once again grabbed plenty of attention when she called Nani 'anna' despite the fact that she plays Nani's wife in Jersey. Most fans felt that her remark was a little inappropriate as it went against the normal practice. Either way, Shraddha made a good impression on the fans a proved that she has the potential to be Tollywood's next big star. The Road Ahead... Interestingly, this is a busy time for Shraddha. Besides Jersey, she has the Kollywood biggie Nerkonda Paarvai in her kitty. The film, a remake of the Bollywood hit Pink, will see her act with 'Thala' Ajith Kumar. 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. NEW YORK, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Reuters, the world's largest multimedia news provider, was today awarded two 2019 Pulitzer Prizes from Columbia University. This marks the second consecutive year that Reuters has received two Pulitzer Prizes. Reuters journalists Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues were recognized as co-winners, alongside the Associate Press, in the International Reporting category, for their series of investigations on the mass expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in the course of their reporting on a massacre of 10 Rohingya men and boys in Inn Din. They were sentenced to seven years in a Yangon prison in September, and have spent 490 days in jail. Awarding the prize to Reuters, the Pulitzer committee recognized the team for "expertly exposing the military units and Buddhist villagers responsible for the systematic expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, courageous coverage that landed its reporters in prison." Reuters photographers Mike Blake, Lucy Nicholson, Loren Elliott, Edgard Garrido, Adrees Latif, Goran Tomasevic, Kim Kyung Hoon, Alkis Konstantinidis, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Carlos Barria and Ueslei Marcelino were recognized in the Breaking News Photography category, for their photos of the mass migration of Central and South Americans towards the U.S. border, and its aftermath. Awarding the prize to Reuters, the Pulitzer committee recognized the team for "a vivid and startling visual narrative of the urgency, desperation and sadness of migrants as they journeyed to the U.S. from Central and South America." "While it's gratifying to be recognized for the work, public attention should be focused more on the people about whom we report than on us: in this case, the Rohingya and the Central American migrants," said Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler. "I'm thrilled that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and their colleagues have been recognized for their extraordinary, courageous coverage, and our photojournalists for their moving pictures that show humanity defying huge obstacles," said Adler. "I remain deeply distressed, however, that our brave reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are still behind bars just for reporting the truth." Reuters Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktops, the world's media organizations and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Follow news about Reuters at @ReutersPR. CONTACT Heather Carpenter Senior Director, Communications Reuters heather.carpenter@thomsonreuters.com 646-223-8551 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/822036/Reuters_Logo.jpg China is continuously exploring new sources of softwood logs around the world. Minor log exporters, such as Japan, Poland, Chile and South Africa all expanded their shipments to China in 2018, reports the WRQ. Of the major log supplying countries, only Russia and Canada reduced their exports to China, while New Zealand, the US and Uruguay all increased their shipments year-over-year SEATTLE, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- China had another record year of softwood log imports in 2018, when over 40 million m3 of logs landed at Chinese ports. This was the third consecutive year of year-over-year- increases, with 2018 volumes being up 37% from 2015. Although import volumes fell slightly from the 3Q/18 to the 4Q/18, the December numbers were the second highest monthly imports on record. Over the past five years, import volumes have declined from the key supplying regions of Russia and Canada, while they have increased from New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand continues to expand its market share, supplying 44% of the total import volume in the 4Q/18, up from 30% just three years earlier, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The biggest decline in market share has been that of Russia, which has fallen from 36% to 18% in the past three years. The only other major change the past few years has been an increase in pine log shipments from Uruguay. These have increased from just a few thousand m3 in 2016 to almost 2.5 million m3 in 2018, making the country the fifth largest log supplier to China last year. The average log import price fell three percent from the 3Q/18 to the 4Q/18, mainly because of lower costs for logs originating from New Zealand and the US. The total average import price has gone up for three consecutive years. Although the prices have trended upward over the past few years, they are still lower than import prices in 2013 and 2014, when high-cost suppliers in the US and Canada had a larger market share. Another interesting development is that Japan, the sixth largest softwood log importer in the world, has almost tripled log exports to China over the past few years, from just over 300,000 m3 in 2014 to almost a million m3 in 2018. Other smaller log supplying countries that have increased shipments to China in 2018 include Poland, Chile, South Africa and Germany. Global lumber, sawlog and pulpwood market reporting is included in the 56-page quarterly publication Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The report, which was established in 1988 and has subscribers in over 30 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, lumber and pellet prices, trade and market developments in most key regions around the world. To subscribe to the WRQ, please go to www.woodprices.com CONTACT: Wood Resources International LLC Hakan Ekstrom info@woodprices.com www.woodprices.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/wood-resources-international-llc/r/log-imports-to-china-reached-another-record-high-in-2018--with-new-zealand-supplying-44--of-the-volu,c2789960 The following files are available for download: Passenger traffic up 6.6% YoY in Argentina and 7.3% in Ecuador, partially offset by declines in other countries of operations Corporacion America Airports S.A. (NYSE: CAAP), ("CAAP" or the "Company") the largest private sector airport operator in the world by number of airports, reported today preliminary year-over-year passenger traffic growth of 2.6% in March 2019. Passenger Traffic, Cargo Volume and Aircraft Movements Highlights Statistics Mar'19 Mar'18 % Var. YTD'19 YTD'18 % Var Domestic Passengers (thousands) 3,941 3,647 8.0% 11,531 10,573 9.1% International Passengers (thousands) 2,205 2,292 -3.8% 6,576 6,732 -2.3% Transit Passengers (thousands) 708 738 -4.1% 2,321 2,342 -0.9% Total Passengers (thousands) 6,854 6,677 2.6% 20,428 19,647 4.0% Cargo Volume (thousand tons) 38.2 36.6 4.4% 104.8 98.6 6.3% Total Aircraft Movements (thousands) 71.5 73.9 -3.2% 212.7 213.4 -0.3% Passenger Traffic Overview Total passenger traffic in March 2019 increased 2.6% YoY, primarily reflecting growth of 6.6% in Argentina and 7.3% in Ecuador, partially offset by declines across most other countries of operations. The Company faced more difficult comps in March as the Easter holidays this year fell in April, while in 2018 they fell in March. In Argentina, total passenger traffic increased 6.6% YoY, mainly driven by 14.8% growth in domestic passengers benefiting from the launch of several new routes and the addition of new airlines during 2018, together with a mix-shift to domestic from international travel by local passengers. This was partially offset by a decline of 7.4% in international passengers, reflecting continued challenging macro conditions. During March, Flybondi added a new domestic route connecting Iguazu with Rosario Airport, further increasing connectivity in the country, while Cordoba and Mendoza airports also reported a record-high traffic volume. In addition, during April low cost airline JetSmart begun domestic operations. Also that month the remaining regional flights were migrated from Aeroparque to Ezeiza Airport, with the exception of flights to/from Montevideo and Punta del Este. In Italy, passenger traffic declined 2.2%, reflecting more difficult comps as last year traffic in March benefited from the Easter school holidays, which are falling in April this year. In Brazil, passenger traffic declined 3.2%, impacted by a decline of approximately 20% in seat supply at Avianca Brasil, that also announced cancellation of certain routes at several Brazilian airports starting April 2019, and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in less profitable routes and frequencies by LATAM Airlines as it seeks to optimize operations at Brasilia Airport. In Ecuador, passenger traffic increased 7.3%, with international passenger traffic at Guayaquil Airport up 14.2%, mainly attributed to the continued good performance of the Spirit Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale, the addition of 3 weekly flights by COPA Airlines, and the start of operations of Jet Blue, that opened a route to Fort Lauderdale with seven weekly flights. Passenger traffic in Uruguay declined 10.3% YoY mainly impacted by macro conditions experienced in Argentina and more difficult comps from the Easter holidays effect as discussed above, together with the cancellation of Avianca's daily route to Bogota, Colombia. Cargo Volume and Aircraft Movements Cargo volume increased 4.4% in March 2019, mainly as a result a 69.4% increase in Brazil, offset by a decline of 9.3% in Argentina, related to the continued challenging macroeconomic conditions. Aircraft movements decreased 3.2% in March 2019, mainly as a result of a 13.3% decline in Brazil. Summary Passenger Traffic, Cargo Volume and Aircraft Movements Mar'19 Mar'18 % Var. YTD'19 YTD'18 % Var Passenger Traffic (thousands) Argentina 3,689 3,462 6.6% 10,960 10,247 7.0% Italy 531 543 -2.2% 1,420 1,398 1.6% Brazil 1,582 1,634 -3.2% 4,968 4,966 0.1% Uruguay 185 206 -10.3% 643 685 -6.2% Ecuador 410 382 7.3% 1,105 1,028 7.5% Armenia 200 187 7.1% 579 524 10.4% Peru 258 264 -2.3% 753 799 -5.7% TOTAL 6,854 6,677 2.6% 20,428 19,647 4.0% Cargo Volume (tons) Argentina 20,145 22,219 -9.3% 56,057 60,392 -7.2% Italy 1,064 929 14.5% 3,081 2,657 16.0% Brazil 9,042 5,338 69.4% 23,524 14,083 67.0% Uruguay 2,249 2,792 -19.4% 6,095 6,756 -9.8% Ecuador 3,955 3,432 15.2% 11,313 10,045 12.6% Armenia 1,331 1,465 -9.1% 3,558 3,474 2.4% Peru 404 406 -0.7% 1,191 1,165 2.2% TOTAL 38,189 36,581 4.4% 104,818 98,571 6.3% Aircraft Movements Argentina 39,347 39,395 -0.1% 115,890 113,425 2.2% Italy 5,206 5,284 -1.5% 14,152 13,885 1.9% Brazil 13,371 15,421 -13.3% 40,751 44,750 -8.9% Uruguay 2,548 2,966 -14.1% 9,337 10,948 -14.7% Ecuador 6,937 6,480 7.1% 20,636 17,989 14.7% Armenia 1,826 1,751 4.3% 5,326 4,915 8.4% Peru 2,308 2,579 -10.5% 6,646 7,467 -11.0% TOTAL 71,543 73,876 -3.2% 212,738 213,379 -0.3% To obtain the full text of this press release, please click on the following link: http://investors.corporacionamericaairports.com. About Corporacion America Airports Corporacion America Airports acquires, develops and operates airport concessions. The Company is the largest private airport operator in the world by the number of airports and the tenth largest based on passenger traffic. Currently, the Company operates 52 airports in 7 countries across Latin America and Europe (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Armenia and Italy). In 2018, Corporacion America Airports served 81.3 million passengers. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange where it trades under the ticker "CAAP". For more information, visit http://investors.corporacionamericaairports.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005906/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations Contact Gimena Albanesi Email: gimena.albanesi@caairports.com Phone: +5411 4852-6411 Amsterdam/'s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, 16 April 2019 In the period from 9 April 2019 until 15 April 2019 Van Lanschot Kempen has repurchased 25,500 of its own shares (depositary receipts for Class A ordinary shares). The shares were repurchased at an average price of 21.40 per share for a total amount of 545,808. These repurchases are part of the share buy-back programme for at most 370,000 of own shares, which was announced on 21 February 2019. The total number of shares repurchased to date is 154,218. More information, including a detailed overview of the repurchase transactions under this programme, is available on www.vanlanschotkempen.com/sharebuyback. Media Relations: +31 20 354 45 85; mediarelations@vanlanschotkempen.com Investor Relations: +31 20 354 45 90; investorrelations@vanlanschotkempen.com About Van Lanschot Kempen Van Lanschot Kempen, a wealth manager operating under the Van Lanschot, Evi and Kempen brand names, is active in Private Banking, Asset Management and Merchant Banking, with the aim of preserving and creating wealth for its clients. Van Lanschot Kempen, listed at Euronext Amsterdam, is the Netherlands' oldest independent financial services company with a history dating back to 1737. vanlanschotkempen.com Disclaimer This document does not constitute an offer or solicitation for the sale, purchase or acquisition in any other way of or subscription to any financial instrument and is not an opinion or a recommendation to perform or refrain from performing any action. This document is a translation of the Dutch original and is provided as a courtesy only. In the event of any disparities, the Dutch version will prevail. Share buy-back programme weekly press release (http://hugin.info/133415/R/2241723/884328.pdf) This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients. The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Van Lanschot Kempen via Globenewswire LONDON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Williamson, a leading tax advisory firm headquartered in the UK, is the second firm to weigh in on the relationship between citizenship by investment (CBI) and taxation. In a report released in April 2019, the independently-owned firm illustrated the differences between one's citizenship, residency, and tax residency, underlining that second citizenship has little to no effect on a person's tax liability. Furthermore, it explored what benefits, if any, could be drawn by becoming not just a citizen, but also a tax resident of any one of three Caribbean jurisdictions offering CBI, concluding that: "This does not create an undue tax advantage and in many cases can result in the individual being exposed to double taxation that cannot be mitigated under the domestic tax credit relief rules of the countries in question." The Smith & Williamson report follows a similar report produced by global tax advisors Ernst & Young (EY) published on 12thMarch 2019. The report finds citizenship and tax residency distinct, and declares that the CBI programmes of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia pose no risk of tax evasion or misreporting under the CRS: "In conclusion, Smith and Williamson believe that Citizenship by Investment does not present a risk to facilitating tax evasion, as citizenship alone is insufficient to secure tax residency of a country." EY's report also concluded that: "Citizenship is a concept distinct from tax residency. Citizenship should not give rise to tax avoidance and evasion opportunities, as the reporting rules are explicit in not using citizenship as a test." Smith & Williamson's work plays an important role in fostering a better understanding of the CBI industry, not least because certain CBI programmes have been heavily criticised by the European Commission, the OECD, and others, based on the erroneous assumption that they afford, as a primary or secondary benefit, tax residency. Smith & Williamson clarifies that this is not the case, and provides a detailed review of the programmes of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia to drive the point home. CBI Programmes Pose No Risk of Tax Evasion or Misreporting Taxation, says Smith & Williamson, is generally related to a person's tax residency, not citizenship: "Although an individual can have citizenship rights or residence rights in a number of different countries, usually only countries where an individual is resident for tax purposes can tax the individual's worldwide income and gains." Whether a person is a tax resident of a country depends on that country's specific rules. In the vast majority of countries, including Caribbean CBI jurisdictions Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia, tax residency is determined by a person's centre of vital interests or domicile, i.e. the place wherein a person has a permanent intention to reside, as evidenced by past or current habitual residence. It is "very rare" for citizenship alone to determine tax residency, with the most notable exception to this being the United States. "Therefore, merely obtaining citizenship of St Lucia, Dominica, or St Kitts and Nevis is not sufficient to make an individual a tax resident of these jurisdictions." With regards to reporting under the CRS, Smith & Williamson notes that this too is "based on tax residence and not on citizenship or the right to reside in a jurisdiction," and, consequently, that CBI programmes pose no risk to proper CRS reporting. Double Taxation Agreements Smith & Williamson examines Double Taxation Agreements, or DTAs, which are treaties agreed between countries to prevent individuals who are tax resident in more than one jurisdiction being taxed on the same capital twice. DTAs contain "tie-breaker tests" to establish to which country a dual tax resident must pay tax. The United Nations offers a model DTA, under which the tie-breaker tests do "not consider citizenship at all." Rather, they consider the person's permanent home, centre of vital interests, and habitual abode. The OECD model similarly only considers citizenship as a last resort, if an individual has "failed all other tie-breaker." Conclusion At a time when CBI is frequently misinterpreted and CBI programmes are subjected to undue criticism, the research conducted by Smith & Williamson affords necessary insight into the meaning of citizenship and its independence from tax residency. Importantly, it affirms that, in providing citizenship and not tax residence, CBI programmes offer no assistance to those who would seek to avoid tax or proper tax reporting. Smith & Williamson comes to the same conclusions as those recently drawn by EY, adding further weight to calls for a re-evaluation of CBI programmes by those international organisations who have largely based their analysis on a misconception. The full Smith & Williamson report can be accessed here. Contact: info@cbiindex.com VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX-V: XIM, 'Ximen' or the 'Company') announces that it is significantly expanding its precious metals exploration efforts for 2019, with programs underway and being scheduled on multiple properties. At the Brett property near Vernon, BC, a permit application will be filed this month to extend the historic mine drift along the trend of the Main Zone and conduct underground drilling. This program is aimed at defining mineralized shoots on the Main Zone and exploring for parallel mineralized structures. A 291 tonne bulk sample was previously mined from the Main Zone, from which the average grade from the smelter was 27.74 grams gold/tonne and 63.7 grams silver /tonne. At the Kenville Gold Mine near Nelson, BC (see news release dated April 8, 2019), a detailed compilation of exploration and historic mining information is planned by Ximen. This work will be aimed at defining targets for possible trial mining. The Kenville Gold mine was the first hard rock gold mine in British Columbia, with recorded production of 2,029 kilograms of gold, 861 kilograms of silver, 23.5 tonnes of lead, 15 tonnes of zinc, 1.6 tonnes of copper and 37 kilograms of cadmium from 181,395 tonnes processed. The Company is also initiating field work at the recently acquired Providence property of 12,900 hectares near Greenwood, BC (see news release dated April 5, 2019). This property surrounds the Gold Drop Property, where GGX Gold Corp. (TSX.V: GGX). is currently diamond drilling under an option agreement. The Providence property covers a total of eleven known mineral occurrences including the historic past producing Providence mine that produced 183 kilograms of gold, 42,552 kilograms of silver, 183 tonnes of lead, 118 tonnes of zinc from 10,426 tonned mined. Geological reconnaissance and rock geocheical sampling are planned to further investigate the historic mine dumps intially identified. Soil geochemistry and trenching will then be planned with a view to generate drilling targets. The Company is also pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement of 675,000 flow through shares at a price of $0.60 cents per share for gross proceeds of $405,000. Each Flow-Through share consists of one common share that qualifies as a 'flow-through share' as defined in subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used by the Company for exploration expenses on the Company's British Columbia mineral properties. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a hold period expiring August 12, 2019. The Company also announces that it has granted 200,000 options at an exercise price of $0.85 to directors, officers, employees and consultants. The options are exercisable for five years and will be cancelled 30 days after cessation of acting as director, officer, employee or consultant of the Company. The options are subject to regulatory approval. Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, approved the technical information contained in this News Release. On behalf of the Board of Directors, 'Christopher R. Anderson' Christopher R. Anderson, President, CEO and Director 604 488-3900 About Ximen Mining Corp. Ximen Mining Corp. owns 100 percent interest in all three of its precious metal projects. Ximen's two gold projects, The Gold Drop Project and Brett Gold Project are located in southern British Columbia. Ximen also owns the Treasure Mountain Silver project adjacent to the past producing Huldra Silver Mine. Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XM and WKN with the number as A1W2EG. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the completion of a proposed Offering and the use of the Offering proceeds to further explore the Company's projects. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the Company is not satisfied with its further due diligence investigations and possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. 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. Contact: Ximen Mining Corp 888 Dunsmuir Street - Suite 888, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 3K4 Tel: 604-488-3900 SOURCE: Ximen Mining Corp View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542079/Ximen-Mining-Expands-Precious-Metals-Exploration-for-2019 HONG KONG, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- China Ping An Insurance Overseas (Holdings) Limited, together with its subsidiaries ("PAOH"), the main overseas investment and asset management platform of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (2318.HK, 601318.SH) announced, the closing of US$758 million in capital commitments to its Ping An Global Infrastructure Funds. "The Funds were partially seeded by Ping An with fund investments and co-investments. The Funds' investments will focus on telecommunication, transportation, midstream, power, utilities and other infrastructure assets. They provide third party investors the opportunity to invest alongside Ping An in primarily OECD countries. The Funds' investment strategy builds on Ping An's over 10 years of successful infrastructure investment in China and overseas," said Mr. Dennis Chan, Head of Infrastructure and Managing Director of PAOH. "We are very pleased to see the completion of the fundraising for our Global Infrastructure Funds, which marks our first step in successfully turning our strong in-house investment capabilities into making a truly global asset management business. We are also very delighted to have Ardian, a world-leading alternative investment house, to anchor our Funds. To follow upon the tremendous success in our asset management business in China, PAOH aspires to become a leading asset manager in Asia with a focus on alternative asset class investing as well as on applying the latest quantitative research and AI technology to investing. The launch of our Funds is our first important step towards the realization of our aspiration and we look forward to offering and sharing more investment opportunities with third-party investors in the future," said Mr. Hoi Tung, Chairman and CEO of PAOH. Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with US$90 billion of assets managed or advised that has particular strengths in fund of funds, direct funds and infrastructure. Jan P. Schmitz, Member of the Executive Board and Head of Ardian Asia and Head of Ardian Germany, said: "We see this as an opportunity for Ardian to partner with a highly experienced team with a great track-record that we got to know well during the lengthy bilateral discussions that ultimately led to this transaction. This complex carve-out transaction is the perfect example of what we are able to offer to financial institutions in terms of portfolio and team structuring. Ping An has been a pioneer in China's asset management industry and we look forward to supporting the team." AMMAN, Jordan, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MS Pharma, a fast growing pharmaceutical company based in Jordan and operating across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares in Genepharm, a leading European pharmaceutical company. Genepharm's senior management will remain with the business and help guide the company through the next phase of its growth. The transaction is expected to close by the end of April. Based in Greece, Genepharm develops, manufactures and out-licenses high-value generic pharmaceutical products. The Company retains a strong portfolio of products and an extensive network of over 223 customers across 70 countries worldwide. Genepharm combines strong R&D capabilities with manufacturing capacity in conventional solids, sterile liquid (oncology) and oncology oral solids. This acquisition will expand MS Pharma's geographic footprint, allowing the company to reach more patients and customers in Europe and the rest of the world. It will also complement MS Pharma's existing chronic disease portfolio with the addition of several important products in cardiovascular, CNS and oncology. The acquisition will allow Genepharm to access MS Pharma's manufacturing facilities and products portfolio and be part of a group employing over 2000 employees. Genepharm's portfolio will be strengthened with sterile injectable products and biotechnology candidates and plans are in place to significantly increase the development resources in Athens. Mr Ghiath Sukhtian, Chairman of MS Pharma said: "This acquisition is highly complementary and synergistic to our business, and marks an important milestone in our growth plans. Genepharm's management team has built a successful business, and we look forward to supporting them in growing the Genepharm business. We believe this acquisition will enable Genepharm to offer a wider range of products and technologies to its customers in Europe and around the world." Genepharm said: "We are excited to be entering into a new phase of growth with MS Pharma. This acquisition will help accelerate Genepharm's growth plans and will enable the company to offer a wider range of products to its partners and customers". About Genepharm Genepharm, based in Athens and founded in 1967, is focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of quality generic pharmaceuticals. The company is active in more than 70 countries and among its customers are the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. www.genepharm.com About MS Pharma MS Pharma is a leading pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions provider and partner of choice in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. The company has over 2000 employees, a presence in 12 countries and exports to over 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The company has the capability to manufacture branded generics in oral, topical and injectable form. The company is headquartered in Jordan and has manufacturing facilities in Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872499/MS_Pharma_Turkey_Factory.jpg) For more information: www.mspharma.com https://www.facebook.com/mspharma1 https://www.linkedin.com/company/ms-pharma PR Agency: BMC Bashir Mraish +962796020000 In 2019 Aperol celebrates its centenary with a series of activities that bring the brand and its history to life PADOVA, Italy, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Aperol, Italy's iconic orange bittersweet aperitif ranking 9th in the list of the world's best-selling cocktails[1], announces the celebration of its centenary at a press conference in Padova, the birthplace of the brand. Recognised around the world for sparking joyful connections and creating memorable shared experiences, Aperol toasts to 100 years of joy. Launched in 1919 at the Padua International Fair, Aperol was created by the Barbieri brothers, Luigi and Silvio, who coined the name 'Aperol', having taken inspiration from the French term for aperitif, 'Apero'. Made with citrus oil infused with precious herbs and roots to create a perfectly balanced combination, the original recipe has remained unchanged and is a secret to this day. Aperol Spritz, the drink's signature serve, is known and enjoyed the world over, single-handedly creating and globally leading the spritz category, earning its rightful place in the International Bartender Association's list (IBA), as the key defining ingredient of the Spritz Veneziano. As much as it is today, Aperol Spritz has traditionally been consumed all over Veneto, in Venetian bars called the 'bacari, which epitomise the 'Venetian way of life' promoting the culture of staying together, enjoying bite size snacks such as the traditional 'cicchetti' and enjoying an aperitif moment. To mark the centenary milestone, Aperol is commencing a series of celebrations internationally throughout 2019, to spark joyful connections, using universal languages such as art, music and Aperol Spritz that brings people together wherever they are. APEROL LIMITED EDITION Over time, Aperol has showcased a real understanding of modern aesthetics which is reflected not only in the bright orange colour of the drink, but also through its iconic bottle. To mark the momentous year, Aperol is launching limited-edition labels to sit on their bottles, that will each be truly unique, thanks to an advanced chromatic formula, that will recreate infinite single variations on an iconic design by Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti (1990), portraying a young couple dancing holding an Aperol bottle and two glasses full of the unmistakable liquid. GRAZIE VENETO(Thank you Veneto) Coining the operation 'Grazie Veneto', Aperol wants to thank the region that contributed to the global spread of this social Italian ritual 'par excellence', by placing three inimitable pieces of urban art in the Central Cavour Square in Padova, due to be unveiled on the 28th of June in the place where it all began 100 years ago. Symbolising how the Veneto ritual has transcended borders, three artists from Italy, England and USA, have come together to interpret the brand's role in sparking joyful connections through modern art and illustrations on an everyday object, a sofa. The sofas will not only represent Aperol's history and heritage but also shed light on the strong values of sharing in the brand's mantra, 'Together We Joy'. Leading design company Kartell, founded in Italy 70 years ago, and who equally spreads Italian flair around the world, has joined forces with Aperol, providing each artist with their iconic Bubble outdoor sofa to work on. The finished products will be placed outside for fans to enjoy, aiming to spark joyful connections between members of the public as they share memorable moments, side by side. GRAPHIC NOVEL Aperol has collaborated with renowned comic book author Tito Faraci, illustrator Sergio Gerasi and (Italian) Publishing House Gribaudo, to create a bespoke illustrated book filled with wonderful stories bringing to life scenarios of joyful connections since the brand first emerged 100 years ago. Telling the story of Aperol in a contemporary way, the graphic novel is comprised of seven comic-strip style stories set in different decades and parts of the world, from Padova to New York, where the artists have created a mosaic of tales, from comedy to suspense with a touch of romance, with orange as leitmotiv to capture the magic of human connections over the course of a hundred years. Orange Chronicles, published by Gribaudo, will be available for purchase from July at the Feltrinelli chain and independent libraries across Italy, online at Amazon and the Gribaudo website from EUR 16.90 in Italian and English. THE APEROL SUMMER TOUR Over the course of the summer, Aperol will be conducting The Aperol Summer Tour across Italy and countries of the European Coast, including Greece and Malta, where they will surprise consumers with a classic aperitif on the beach as orange Amphibious vehicles are used to create unique bars that will sit half on land, and half in the sea. The activity will kick off in Tel Aviv, Israel, this May. These spontaneous pop-up bars will also host DJ stations, the perfect medium to spark joyful connections. Spreading the contagious orange hue far and wide and conquering palates of new Aperol lovers internationally, thousands of people will be joining in celebration. Sergio Giordani, the Mayor of Padova said; "It is fantastic to have a brand that is so deeply rooted in our city and region's heritage being so eager to give back to its home town. We're really looking forward to unveiling the artistic creations that Aperol are placing in Padova to bring crowds together - all set for a wonderful summer of joyful connections ahead of us. We are pleased that this wonderful celebration will coincide with the centenary of the the Padua International Fair, where Aperol was first launched by the Barbieri brothers 100 years ago." Andrea Neri, Managing Director Italian Icons at Campari Group, commented: "Aperol is a brand that aims to bring people together from all over the world using its universal language. In such a special year, we are so pleased to be working on a global project of this scale that will echo in ears of Aperol fans and new consumers alike at the four corners of the globe. As a real Italian icon, Aperol is successfully spreading its philosophy and way of life across borders - we see an orange summer ahead!" Earlier this year, Aperol has also launched their new campaign, 'Together We Joy', projecting the 100 year old brand into the future, with a video showcasing the connectivity of Aperol and the transmissible joyful spirit of the brand. https://www.aperol.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AperolSpritz/ @aperolspritzofficial aperol100 aperolspritz [1] https://drinksint.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/8115/The_World_92s_Best-Selling_Classic_Cocktails_2019.html?current_page=5 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871974/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871975/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871976/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871977/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871978/Aperol.jpg In less than six months, habitat by honestbee's NewGen Retail concept continues to impress and delight customers and industry players SINGAPORE, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- habitat by honestbee , the world's first tech-enabled food and grocery concept, has been voted by IGD1 as "the top 16 stores you must visit in 2019 in the world" and reported by Google as the top 10 trending searches in Singapore in 20182. Since the launch of its flagship 60,000 square feet store with over 20,000 essentials and unique products in mid October 2018, it has met with global success. From its early beginnings in 2015 as an online concierge and food delivery service, honestbee has expanded to a physical space in the form of a multi-sensory, omnichannel store format that serves both online and offline consumers, as well as a logistics and retail innovation lab. Nestled in Singapore's heartlands, habitat by honestbee has welcomed close to half a million visitors across all ages. Designed to be exploratory with elements of nature amid cosy settings, the space provides customers the comfort they would find in their own home. Coupled with the ease and array of products they need as well as world-class finds from all over the world, each trip is one that inspires. Customers are spending a longer time (2 hours) than in any other supermarket. Two of its largest groups of customers fall between the ages of 26 - 35 years old (41%) and 36 - 45 years old (28%). 64% of such customers are multi-generational families that visit the grocery and dining destination for its friendly neighbourhood feel. honestbee's NewGen Retail is changing the way customers shop and dine With the aim to create a community around food, habitat by honestbee's NewGen Retail concept continues to inspire more human interaction, leveraging technology to remove the unnecessary hassles of checkout lines and the handling of cash that come with shopping. In the app, ordering and payment features such as Scan & Go and in-app wallet, beePay, ensure a seamless experience. In-store checkout and collection points, AutoCheckout and RoboCollect, deliver a convenient alternative to traditional retail processes. In F&B, habitat by honestbee's innovation is in its multi-concept kitchen. A custom-built experiential space that's first in the world, it houses an F&B hall with 20 original concepts, from a Japanese-inspired craft coffeehouse to a Josper-grilled steakhouse. Each kitchen is maximised to ensure a strong sales return by operating multiple concepts in one space. This innovation sets habitat by honestbee apart from industry players in the market. Pauline Png, Managing Director of habitat by honestbee shared, "We are pleased to have had such a resounding success since the launch, not just with customers, but also with the business community in retail, property, grocery and F&B. A strong growth in sales pushes us to continue delivering a memorable experience for customers to visit, try new products and return. This tactility that habitat by honestbee provides ignites a curiosity for our products, which are also available online. In fact, we have observed a spike in online orders for Fresh supermarket deliveries since the launch" Partnerships are core to habitat by honestbee's DNA. habitat by honestbee's ecosystem makes it convenient for collaborations with partners and F&B owners. Technological and operational costs as well as infrastructure and fixtures are borne by the company, allowing F&B partners to scale and focus on delivering quality experiences. Without worrying about the heavy risk of failure in traditional retail concepts, this maximises their revenue per square foot. A notable Singapore partner is Bear Bear Fresh, purveyors in sustainable seafood. Prior to partnering with honestbee, the supplier was solely Business-to-Business. By inhabiting a seafood counter at habitat by honestbee, Bear Bear Fresh is now able to reach out directly to their target market. Christopher Chan, Partner, shared, "We are happy to be able to interact with our customers such as families and the everyday shopper in person. habitat by honestbee's pioneering concept of NewGen Retail has empowered us to expand our business. We are looking forward to potentially expanding with the brand to other parts of Asia." habitat by honestbee has also partnered with Heineken for their exclusive launch of Heineken 0.0, its new non-alcoholic all-natural beer with only 69 calories. Faye Wee, Marketing Director of Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd shared, "habitat by honestbee's Get Fresh! campaign made it the ideal platform to launch Heineken 0.0. With our shared goal in providing healthier benefits to customers through food and groceries, our partnership saw a synergy from the start." What's next as honestbee continues to innovate? As part of its commitment to meet customer's needs, honestbee constantly reviews customer feedback and data to improve the 360-degree experience. For instance, after finding that customers often compile orders for families and friends together, honestbee will soon be providing an option to combine food carts on the app, enabling orders from multiple F&B concepts at habitat by honestbee in one receipt. This is an extension of our top local hawker centre experience already available on their online delivery app in Singapore. Engagement and retention are prime focus areas for honestbee. Customers will soon be able to make informed choices on the app with engaging product information and content. Personalised recommendations will also be available at habitat by honestbee via the app. By leveraging on data, the app will provide relevant recommendations for food, beverages and groceries based on an O2O algorithm. They have also launched their honestbee membership program, beeHive, where customers can get value deals for their groceries and food purchases both online and at habitat by honestbee. Joel Sng, CEO and Founder of honestbee shared, "The launch of habitat by honestbee has allowed us to elevate our business into an omnichannel platform and work with partners like no other online player can. We are pleased with the results over the last few months and continue to get a strong interest from prospective retail partners from around the world. habitat by honestbee has leveraged on our brand's promise and expertise in utilising data to optimise the customer experience. We are confident in fuelling the growth of habitat by honestbee to other markets. In the second quarter of the year, we will be extending our food-retail leadership in Asia by launching a scalable multi-concept kitchen and convenience store powered by data." The honestbee app is available for download via the App Store and Google Play Store . For media enquiries, please contact: honestbee press@honestbee.com Asia PR Werkz honestbeeprsg@asiaprwerkz.com About habitat by honestbee habitat by honestbee is the world's first tech-enabled, multi-sensory food wonderland - offering shoppers and diners convenience, value, quality, personalisation and a sense of community. The space utilises the world's first cashless, automated checkout (AutoCheckout) experience and robotic collection point (RoboCollect) and pioneers the 'NewGen Retail' concept - innovation in retail technology that inspires more human engagement for a multi-sensory shopping experience. Spanning over 60,000 square feet of food discoveries, visitors to habitat by honestbee can expect over 20,000 grocery products from Asia and across the globe, as well as 20 delectable food and beverage concepts. About honestbee honestbee is Asia's leading marketplace that delivers quality food products and experiences, available in 16 cities across eight countries: Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong. honestbee is passionate about making every life moment better through food. With a mission to be Asia's fastest-growing food service powered by community and technology, honestbee provides world-class, on-demand logistics, flexible jobs opportunities for their on-demand, independent bees and a strong network of 12,000 partners to deliver innovative services and concepts. The folks at honestbee are passionate about food and how technology can enable more in depth human experiences and moments around food. They employ more than a thousand staff all around Asia. 1 https://retailanalysis.igd.com/news/news-article/t/top-16-stores-you-must-visit-in-2019/i/20741 2 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sports-current-affairs-top-trending-searches-among-singaporeans-in-2018 Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/MP4/Habitat%20by%20Honestbee_130319.mp4 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/766137/habitat_logo_colour_Logo.jpg TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / California Gold Mining Inc. ("California Gold" or the "Company") (CSE: CGM) (OTCQX: CFGMF) is pleased to announce that it has received a Letter of Intent (the "LOI") from Chicago-based industrial hemp cultivation consulting firm Delta Valley Logistics ("DVL") for the purchase of the Company's entire production of feminized, high-CBD industrial hemp seeds ("Seeds") in 2019 and 2020 from the first greenhouse projected to be built on CGM's 100%-owned Fremont property ("Fremont" or the "Property") in Mariposa County, California. Specifically, the non-binding LOI makes clear DVL's intention to purchase up to 5,000 lbs of Seeds from California Gold during this period. The Seeds shall be purchased at the prevailing wholesale market price for the Seeds at the time of harvest, less 5%. The prevailing wholesale market price for the Seeds shall be determined by averaging the sale price of similar quality industrial hemp seeds sold by the top reputable seed suppliers in the US. The current wholesale value for the Seed is estimated to range from US$15,000 to US$30,000 per pound (based on seed sale prices obtained from Oregon-based Oregon CBD Co., and Colorado-based Blue Forest Farms and Cheyenne Mountain Seed Co.). California Gold is also pleased to announce that it has signed a comprehensive consulting agreement (the "Agreement") with DVL (dba Delta Valley Hemp) whereby DVL will conduct all operations related to the Company's industrial hemp seed cultivation project at Fremont. As part of the Agreement, DVL and California Gold have mutually agreed to work with each other on an exclusive basis for the cultivation of industrial hemp seed, oil and fibre within the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona for the duration of the business relationship. Vishal Gupta, the Company's President and CEO stated, "The relationship between California Gold and DVL has not only been consummated with the signing of the Agreement, but it has been further strengthened by the inclusion of an exclusivity clause for the five states mentioned here, and DVL's intention to purchase all of the Seed produced from our first greenhouse at Fremont in 2019 and 2020. The formation of this multi-faceted relationship is a very important milestone in the Company's bid to successfully launch its recently announced industrial hemp seed propagation project in California." DVL's compensation structure includes a greenhouse construction oversight fee, a greenhouse management fee and a modest bottom-line profit-share based on numerous production thresholds. About California Gold Mining Inc. California Gold Mining Inc. is focused on continued development of a high-quality gold resource on its 100%-owned Fremont Property in Mariposa County, California. The Property consists of an entirely private and patented land package totaling 3,351 acres of historically producing gold mines, with a state highway, PG&E electric substation and abundant water present on the Property itself. The Property lies within California's prolific Mother Lode Gold Belt that has produced over 50 million oz of gold. The Company purchased the Property in March 2013. The Company is also investigating establishing greenhouse-based propagation of high-CBD industrial hemp seed on the Fremont Property, the cash flow from which could be used to continue development of its gold business, with less dilution for shareholders. The Company's technical report in respect of the Fremont Property prepared pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.caligold.ca. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release of California Gold contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause California Gold's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such 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. Forward-looking statements in this document include statements regarding the entry into formal agreements (including a definitive credit agreement) and availability of funds to the Company, the Company's industrial hemp seed project and its potential success, the yield and volumes of industrial hemp seed that may be produced by the project, potential sales of any such industrial hemp seed by the Company, DVH or any other party on behalf of or for the Company, revenue that may be generated by the industrial hemp seed project, the ability to obtain permits and approvals that are required before the Company can begin operations in respect of the industrial hemp seed project, the ability to obtain adequate financing for the project, the timing of completion of the Greenhouse and the beginning of project operations, the number of seed propagation cycles that may be achieved on an annualized basis, the suitability of the Property for the location of the Greenhouse and the cultivation of industrial hemp seed, among others. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated by such statements, and could materially affect the Company's results of operations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements in this press release. California Gold does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, unless otherwise required by law. 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. For further information contact: Vishal Gupta, President & CEO Tel.: 647-977-9267 x333 | Website: www.caligold.ca SOURCE: California Gold Mining Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542061/California-Gold-Receives-LOI-for-Purchase-of-Its-Entire-High-CBD-Industrial-Hemp-Seed-Production-in-2019-and-2020 High-Grade Eastern Trend Expanded and Remains Open ST. JOHN'S, NL / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) (the "Company" or "Sokoman") is pleased to announce assay results from Phase 3 diamond drilling at the high-grade Moosehead Gold Project. The recently completed, 21 hole, 4,715 m winter program successfully extended the high-grade Eastern Trend, demonstrated the existence of higher grades in the area, and tested magnetic anomalies northeast of the presently defined Eastern Trend. A portion of the program was completed from the surface of North Pond with the majority of the remaining holes drilled from the eastern side of North Pond. Program highlights, including a summary of significant results: MH-19-62 cuts 4.8 m* of 33.59 g/t Au; including 0.90 m* of 124.15 g/t Au starting at a downhole depth of 239.85 m. MH-19-62 intercept is located 110 m northeast of the MH-18-01 (discovery) intercept. Strike length of the Eastern Trend shear zone is extended to at least 175 m, remaining open along strike to the north and south, and to depth. Additional parallel or possibly stacked structures under North Pond require further testing. Other significant intersections include: MH-19-52 (3.50 m of 11.95 g/t Au, incl. 0.80 m of 36.13 g/t Au); MH-19-63 (4.10 m of 9.94 g/t Au, incl. 0.55 m of 53.25 g/t Au); MH-19-56 (1.85 m of 9.08 g/t Au, incl. 0.45 m of 32.85 g/t Au). Timothy Froude, P. Geo., President and CEO, states: "These are our best results in terms of expanding the strike length of the high-grade core of the Eastern Trend with additional drilling required to outline these high-grade zones. The winter program has defined the controls of higher-grade mineralization, with the majority of the higher-grade intercepts as trends or shoots spatially associated with a strong northeast trending, moderately east dipping shear zone. We have also intersected high-grade veining up-dip from the main shear zone at shallow depths (32.70 m downhole) in MH-19-55 that returned 0.50 m @ 17.94 g/t Au (core length) suggesting parallel or stacked structures. We need more drilling to better define the Eastern Trend, therefore our Phase 4 summer program will be designed to further test this area, to include a barge-based component on North Pond." Four holes (MH-19-47, 49, 51 and 54) were drilled to test magnetic targets under the northern portion of North Pond and were successful in cutting sheared and veined units, and while only returning anomalous results, they are mineralized and open along strike and to depth and will receive further drilling in 2019, including testing a soil geochemical anomaly (140 ppb Au) 250 m to the east of North Pond. Two holes (MH-19-43 and 44) were drilled to test historical results from 2003 drilling near South Pond, approximately 500 m to the south of North Pond, with both holes intersecting anomalous values, further drilling contemplated. The Company also plans to expand the magnetic survey to cover the South Pond area to outline possible shear zones that extend from the gold bearing structures under North Pond, based on the new structural findings at Moosehead that resulted in the Eastern Trend discovery. The magnetic survey will also evaluate an area of gold bearing float in the vicinity of South Pond located by previous operators. These boulders lie up-ice from North Pond and are most likely from a source near South Pond not yet discovered. The intercepts in MH-19-62 and 63, the final two holes of the Phase 3 program, significantly expand the strike length of the Eastern Trend and will be the primary target area for the barge-based program this summer. All data, including new televiewer data from several Phase 3 holes, is being compiled along with Leapfrog 3-D geological modelling software to complete a 3-D model of the Eastern Trend. The planned Phase 4 drilling will be based on the 3-D model, the magnetic survey results and the geological picture forming based on the logging of the Eastern Trend drilling to date. Update on the Clarks Brook Property The Company has also applied for permits to drill in Q2 2019 on the Clarks Brook epithermal gold property located 35 kms to the southeast of Moosehead. This will be a small program, under 2,000 m, testing below previous gold intercepts to see if higher grade mineralization, that often lies deeper in classic epithermal environments, exists. This exploration will be completed before the Phase 4 drilling at Moosehead. QA/QC A total of 1,070 saw cut samples, excluding duplicates, blanks and standards, have been submitted to Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, Newfoundland for gold and ICP analysis. One half of the saw cut sample was submitted for analysis while the other half was retained. Sample lengths varied from 0.07 m to 1.3 m in core length with an average length of 0.91 m. Samples with possible visible gold were submitted for total pulp metallics and gravimetric finish. All other samples were analyzed by standard fire assay methods. Eastern Analytical is an accredited assay lab that conforms to requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. Total pulp metallic analysis is a result of a whole sample being crushed to -10 mesh and pulverized to 95% -150 mesh. The total sample is then weighed and screened 150 mesh. The +150 mesh fraction is fire assayed for Au, and a 30 g subsample of the -150 mesh fraction is fire assayed for Au. A calculated weighted average of total Au in the sample is reported as well. The Company included in the sample stream one blank and one industry approved standard for every twenty samples submitted, as well as random duplicates of selected samples. This is in addition to the in-house standard and duplicate policy of Eastern Analytical. QP This news release has been reviewed and approved by Timothy Froude, P. Geo., a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 and President and CEO of Sokoman Minerals Corp. *True thicknesses from Phase 3 holes are believed to range from 75% to 100% of core length. About Sokoman Minerals Corp. Sokoman Minerals Corp. is a discovery-oriented company with projects in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. The Company's primary focus is its portfolio of gold projects in Central Newfoundland on the structural corridor hosting the 4.2 million ounce Valentine Lake gold project 150 km to the southwest of the Company's high-grade Moosehead gold project. The Company also has a 100% interest in an early-stage antimony/gold project in Newfoundland recently optioned to White Metal Resources, as well as a 100% interest in the Clark's Brook Gold Property, 35 km southeast of Moosehead. In Labrador, the Company has a 100% interest in the Iron Horse (Fe/U/REE) project. To learn more, please contact: Timothy Froude, P. Geo., President & CEO Cathy Hume, Director, Investor Relations Website: www.sokomanmineralscorp.com 709-765-1726 416-868-1079 x231 Twitter: @SokomanMinerals tim@sokomanmineralscorp.com cathy@chfir.com Facebook: @SokomanMinerals 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. Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of the Corporation should be considered highly speculative. Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Sokoman Minerals Corp. will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect financial results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Sokoman Minerals Corp. SOURCE: Sokoman Minerals Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542082/Sokoman-Minerals-Cuts-48-m-of-3359-gt-Au-at-Moosehead-Property-Newfoundland Thousands of fake Danfoss products seized in Sharjah,Dubai and Ajman with the support of the authorities, Dubai Police and Economic Department DUBAI, UAE, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading engineering firm, Danfoss, has been conducting large-scale raids to combat counterfeit products in the UAE's construction and HVACR market in partnership with authorities in Sharjah and Ajman. In recognition of the efforts of the Ajman Economic Development Department, Sharjah Economic Department and Dubai police, Danfoss Intellectual Property team conducted three appreciation ceremonies in the Dubai, Ajman and Sharjah Emirates. The authorities had been working hand-in-hand with the Danfoss IP team to impose a major crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods and to overcome illegal trading activities for the benefit of the UAE economy and the safety of its citizens across the country. A series of successful raids against warehouses have already taken place in Sharjah and Ajman industrial area and free zone in the past 12 months, claiming and destroying thousands of fake Danfoss products, including compressors, filter driers, sight glass and expansion valves. His excellency Brigadier Jamal Salem Ali Al-Jalaf, Director General of Criminal Investigation Department said that the protection of Danfoss products against counterfeits is a direct protection to the consumers from the danger that would lead to terrible accidents. The protection of the brand owners supports the foreign investment. Dubai Police confirms full support and continue strict legal actions and procedures against the counterfeiters. His excellency Sultan Abdullah Bin Hadh Al Swaidi, The President of Sharjah Economic Development Department, confirmed that the Sharjah Economic Development Department is always keen to put practical plan in the field and to organize continuous proactive raids in the UAE market. These raids are conducted around the year by professional team of inspectors from the Consumer protection section in Sharjah Economic Department to make sure that all the business transactions are legally done and to raise awareness between the traders and the consumers. In addition to that fighting each aspect of the commercial fraud and stop the illegal trade which some people do. These actions are supporting the strategy for the Economic growth in Sharjah to reach the leadership in investment and economic growth in order to have a competitive economy with big diversity based on innovation and knowledge. His excellency thanked Danfoss for their appreciation to Sharjah Economic Department inspectors. His excellency praised Ms Sally Hansen's speech (the Global Brand Protection Senior Manager) in which she thanked Sharjah Economic Department for the great support and work. She praised Sharjah resources in economic stability and safe environment for the brand owner which will lead to more investment and joint project with Sharjah. His excellency confirmed that Sharjah Economic Department is very keen to have the best practice and procedure to provide the best Customer service in line with the Consumers protection law. His excellency emphasis that the Economic Department is committed to work with the traders and the consumers to have fair and professional relationship between them. His excellency the president of Sharjah Economic Department thanked the inspection team for their continuous efforts in fighting commercial fraud. His highness Shiekh Abdullah Bin Naser Al Nouaimi, the president of Ajman Economic Development Department appreciates the great cooperation between Danfoss and Ajman Economic Development Department which lead to big seizures of counterfeit Danfoss products. These counterfeit products are dangerous and may cause high safety issues and possible horrible accidents. His Highness added, we seized these dangerous counterfeit products before they reach consumers. His Highness added that the great cooperation between Danfoss and Ajman Economic Development Department supports Danfoss investment in UAE in a safe environment by the protection of their trade marks. His Highness emphasis on providing a continuous support to Danfoss, the brand owner and take all the legal actions against the infringers to protect the consumers and the right holders. "Danfoss products are developed with years of experience and an impressive platform of knowledge and expertise. The products we use and the technology we apply is of the highest quality, and our products go through a stringent and thorough approval process to ensure they are safe for installation and use. Counterfeit products on the other hand are dangerous, and using fakes products in the HVACR industry can lead to grave consequences," commented Abier Wasouf, Regional Anti-counterfeit Counsel for the Middle East and Africa at Danfoss. The use of fake products lead to a much greater risk of fire and other hazards that compromise safety. Counterfeit products also require greater maintenance, have increased energy consumption, have a shorter life span and can ultimately damage the reputation of the company using them. Danfoss is continuously supporting the UAE authorities in a bid to lead the charge through providing training to inspectors in the Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman Economic Departments & police, as well as conducting regular meetings to share knowledge and experiences in the fight against counterfeits. Customers who are in doubt or come across a fake product, are urged to come forward to the UAE authorities or Danfoss representatives in order to create a safer and more efficient environment. About Danfoss Danfoss engineers technologies that enable the world of tomorrow do more with less. We meet the growing need for infrastructure, food supply, energy efficiency and climate-friendly solutions. Our products and services are used in areas such as refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, motor control and mobile machinery. We are also active in the field of renewable energy as well as district heating infrastructure for cities and urban communities. Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933 and today Danfoss is a world-leader, employing 25,000 employees and serving customers in more than 100 countries. We are still privately held by the founding family. Read more about us at www.danfoss. Danfoss FZCO Dubai, UAE Tel.: +971 48123000 Fax: +971 4 8872221 Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872506/Danfoss.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872507/Danfoss.jpg Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872508/Danfoss.jpg Nucleus195 content providers now have access to TIM's trade idea network STAMFORD, Connecticut, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucleus195 today announced a strategic partnership with TIM, providing content providers on the Nucleus195 platform the opportunity to profit from their trade idea contributions via the TIM trade idea network. "I have always been an admirer of TIM and the opportunity for Nucleus195 providers to have access to their platform is a huge value add," said Scott Duxbury, Nucleus195 Co-Founder. "With independent and broker dealer providers from across the globe, the partnership with TIM is a great chance for them to increase their exposure and potentially monetize their trade ideas." "Nucleus195 has a broad and unique range of providers from developed, emerging and frontier markets that will increase our trade idea network and provide investors with even more innovative trade ideas," said Colin Berthoud, Founding Partner for TIM, An Acuris Company. Mehdi Sunderji, Nucleus195 Co-Founder, added: "The Nucleus195 platform has continued to evolve since its launch last year with free tools for the buyside like our recently launched budget setting capabilities and watch list function. We are much more than just an online research marketplace. We have more tools and promotion campaigns that we are rolling out through 2019 that the buyside is looking forward to seeing." About Nucleus195 Nucleus195 provides investment professionals with comprehensive access to in-depth global research and content, across developed, emerging and frontier markets. With a strong global infrastructure of on-the-ground local experts, there's no better platform for gaining knowledge, information, and unique insights for making investment decisions. Nucleus195 allows users to efficiently search for, notate, import, file, and archive relevant content, serving as a comprehensive research management and budget setting tool. Founded in 2017 by investment and financial technology experts and built by experienced engineers, the platform is simple to navigate, offers transparent pricing, and is MiFID II compatible. For more information visit www.nucleus195.com . About TIM, An Acuris Company TIM, an Acuris company, is the world's largest trade ideas network. We connect financial industry professionals through our proprietary network and technology, revolutionizing how broker intelligence is distributed, analyzed and monetized. TIM's network and analytics help the buy-side to extract the value from trade idea data, providing insights that achieve market-beating returns. TIM offers sell-side contributors a compliance-friendly platform that aggregates and conforms broker intelligence to be consumed by systematic investors. Media Contacts Scott Duxbury Natalie Large Nucleus195 TIM, An Acuris Company +1 203 520 7365 tim_marketing@acuris.com scott.duxbury@nucleus195.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/870684/Nucleus195_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/870716/TIM__Logo.jpg Niagara Falls, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies Corp. (TSXV: EHT) ("EHT") is pleased to announce that it has executed a Joint Venture Agreement ("JV") with Growratio, ("Growratio") based in Toronto. Growratio is a provider of intelligent software and hardware for precision indoor agriculture, including advanced control systems, rich sensor networks, energy efficient lighting, and operational support tools powered by a highly scalable and robust cloud platform. The JV provides that a new company called EHT AgTech Ltd. will be formed with EHT and Growratio having joint ownership thereof. The company will market Agricultural Grow Units that will utilize EHT's Enertec Wall Panels, Lightweight Solar and off grid technology with Growratio's superior cultivation technologies, energy efficient lighting and software technologies. "Growratio's vision is to utilize advanced technology to help vertically integrated cultivators achieve more with less," says Paolo Pincente, CEO of Growratio Inc. "It's no secret that sprawling controlled environment agriculture operations use massive amounts of energy both in Canada and abroad. Given the recent news that Canada's climate is warming at twice the global rate, integrating renewables not only makes good business sense by reducing costs, but is critical to our future." John Gamble, CEO of EHT, commented, "The combination of our two technologies into one unit is truly unique in the marketplace; the possibilities for cultivators are endless. We are very pleased to get this arrangement completed." About EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies EHT delivers proprietary, turn-key energy solutions which are intelligent, bankable and sustainable. EHT's expertise includes the development of its ENERTEC module structures with full integration of smart energy solutions. Using a proprietary skin and foam core that is stronger than traditional wood or steel structural insulated panels, EHT provides exceptional thermal energy efficiency in modular homes, cold storage facilities, residential/commercial out buildings and emergency/temporary shelters. EHT works with its partners worldwide to erect the buildings on-site utilizing EHT staff and local crews. In addition to traditional support to established electrical networks, ENERTEC buildings excel where no electrical grid exists. About ENERTEC The EHT advanced ENERTEC Modular Wall and Roof System uses a proprietary skin and foam core that is stronger and more energy efficient than traditional wood or steel structures providing the highest ratings for energy efficiency. EHT works with its partners worldwide to erect the buildings on-site utilizing EHT staff and local crews. After installation, each structure can be furnished and finished to meet the customer's requirements including siding, tile, kitchens and bathrooms or segregated commercial rooms. The finished wall product can be shipped on pallets and delivered via rail, truck or water in standard formats. At the core of the ENERTEC product line is the ENERTEC Embedded Solar Roof Module. Solar cells can be embedded in a proprietary fire proof skin resulting in substantial cost savings by eliminating heavy glass panels and aluminum racking required for traditional solar panels. Two barriers to greater adoption of solar energy are weight limitations of the roof on which solar panels could be deployed and onerous shipping and labour costs. A lighter product at a better price point will open a larger market for solar due to the faster return of capital investment especially for rural and remote users looking to go off-grid. Furthermore, the entire EHT embedded solar roof becomes a massive solar panel capable of producing significantly more energy than the home requires, allowing the structure to then become an important source of power for the local micro grid or large battery storage systems. About Growratio Inc. Growratio develops technology-focused solutions for vertically integrated cultivation operations, utilizing patented hardware and software, proprietary processes, and innovative business models to deliver significant advancements in controlled environment agriculture. Growratio is situated in the heart of the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto, where it operates the first laboratory in the MaRS complex authorized by Health Canada to perform activities with Cannabis. 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. The statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information relating to sales of the products (the "Opportunities") involves risk, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, for the Opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although EHT believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information on the Opportunities outlined in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. EHT disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: John Gamble Director (289) 488-1699 jgamble@ehthybrid.com info@ehthybrid.com Website: www.ehthybrid.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44116 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Tudor Gold Corp. (TSXV: TUD) (FSE: TUC) (the "Company" or "Tudor Gold") is pleased to announce that the Company has retained P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E") of Brampton, Ontario for assistance in planning the upcoming 2019 drilling season, with a view to eventually compiling an initial Mineral Resource Estimate pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 for the 60% company owned Treaty Creek Property in northwestern British Columbia. P&E Mining Consultants Inc., established in 2004, provides geological and mine engineering consulting reports, Mineral Resource Estimate technical reports, Preliminary Economic Assessments and Pre-Feasibility Studies. P&E undertook the initial Mineral Resource Estimate for Pretium Resources Inc.'s Brucejack Property and the resulting Technical Report that supported the $100M IPO. Ken Konkin, Tudor Gold's Exploration Manager stated, "I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Eugene Puritch, P. Eng, FEC and President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and his team of professional geologists and professional engineers on several projects in North and South America. P&E Mining Consultants specialize in geological modeling and mine design and their work is of the highest standards. I look forward to working again with Eugene and his geo-scientists and engineers in order to determine the optimum drill hole spacing required for the drill program. Our goal is to fast-track the exploration program at Treaty Creek during this summer adding value to Tudor's Goldstorm target in the most efficient and economic methods possible. Once drilling begins, P&E Mining Consultants will conduct a site visit and complete a project review." About P&E Mining Consultants Inc. P&E's more than 20 associates have experience in geological interpretation, 3D geologic modeling, technical report writing, Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates, property evaluations, mine design, production scheduling, operating and capital cost estimates and metallurgical engineering. In addition, the company is affiliated with major Canadian based consulting firms for the purposes of joint venturing on Feasibility Studies. Their experience covers over 350 technical reports on diamonds, most metallic deposits including gold, silver, base metals, PGM and iron for both open pit and underground deposits. P&E Mining Consultants Inc. operates under Certificates of Authorization from the provinces of Ontario, Newfoundland, NWT/Nunavut and Saskatchewan. Associates are also licenced in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec and New Brunswick. About Tudor Gold Tudor Gold is a precious and base metals explorer in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, an area that hosts past-producing mines and several large deposits that are approaching potential development. The 17,913 hectare Treaty Creek project (Tudor Gold has a 60 % interest) borders Seabridge Gold Inc.'s KSM property to the southwest and borders Pretium Resources Inc.'s Brucejack property to the southeast. The Company also has a 60% interest in the Electrum project, and a 100% interest in the 18,300 hectare Crown project, all of which are located in the Golden Triangle area. "Walter Storm" Walter Storm President and Chief Executive Officer For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.tudor-gold.com or contact: Marketsmart Communications Inc. Tel: 604-261-4466 Toll-Free: 877-261-4466 Email: info@marketsmart.ca Cautionary Statements regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. All statements including, without limitation, statements relating future plans, objectives or expectations of the Company 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 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 except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44114 Timex Honors Its 165th Anniversary and Enduring Legacy in New Collection MIDDLEBURY, Connecticut, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For the last 165 years, Timex, a global leader in watchmaking, has been inspired by the dreams, aspirations and beauty of the United States. Timex democratized timepieces in 1854 with the first clock any working family could afford. Today, Timex is bringing its craft home again to its headquarters in Middlebury, Connecticut with American Documents. The collection of American-made watches features a Swiss movement to combine American innovation and craftmanship with European precision. The first series of the collection features four watches, assembled by hand in Middlebury, Connecticut, that celebrate the American landscapes, landmarks, communities and cultures that inspired its creation. From rich leather straps made with American cowhides from Minnesota to an "Aged Waterbury Brass" case back coin and crown insert to honor Timex's original headquarters in Waterbury, Connecticut, American Documents timepieces embody the craft of fine watchmaking. Using a combination of modern proprietary and traditional techniques, Timex watchmakers craft small batches of American Documents daily using America's finest materials. Sparing no detail, whether it be brass inserts forged and stamped in New England or impact-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 made-in-Massachusetts, American Documents symbolizes American ingenuity. "The American Documents collection is about so much more than great-looking timepieces - it's about capturing the spirit of what it means to be American-made," said Tobias Reiss-Schmidt, CEO of Timex Group. "Being American-made means the ability to endure, grow, reinvent, evolve. In this collection, we selected partners who are experts in their individual fields and evolved their expertise to fit within the confines of a timepiece to honor brands like ours that embody and celebrate American craftsmanship." To celebrate the launch, Timex partnered with photographer Bryan Schutmaat to chronicle the people, culture and diverse landscapes of America to demonstrate what unites us, separates us and what makes us truly exceptional. With travels beginning in the Northeast, the home of American watchmaking, through Texas, across the desert and ultimately arriving in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Schutmaat created a stunning visual diary of our homeland's landscapes, capturing the spirit of what makes American Documents truly unique. "There's a sense of possibility that comes from the vastness of this country," says Schutmaat. "I wanted to capture the timelessness of our landscape to convey the spaces that bring us and our culture together, because American Documents, and every component of it, honors the beauty of our nation." The purchase of each American Documents watch includes access to a downloadable high-resolution image from the American Documents Gallery, shot by Bryan Schutmaat. The image download is suitable for high-quality printing for personal use. Each watch arrives in a solid cherry wood case that is hand rubbed to a natural finish. An inlaid magnetic closure and brass hinges secure the custom setting for the rare occasions that the watch is not being worn. American Documents retails for $495.00 and is available for purchase in the U.S. at Timex.com and the Timex flagship store in Tokyo, Japan, with additional global markets to follow. For more information, and to view the American Documents photography collection, visit timex.com/americandocuments. About Timex Group Timex Group designs, manufactures and markets innovative timepieces around the world. Timex Group is a privately-held company headquartered in Middlebury, Connecticut with multiple operating units and over 3,000 employees worldwide. As one of the largest watch makers in the world, Timex Group companies produce watches under a number of well-known brands, including Timex, Nautica, Guess, GC, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Versus and Ted Baker. Join Timex on social media: @timex PRESS CONTACTS Cassi Affeldt cassi.affeldt@porternovelli.com | timex@porternovelli.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872142/Timex___American_Documents.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872143/Timex___American_Documents_bottom_shot.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872154/Timex___Logo.jpg SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global Network Management Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005427/en/ Global Network Management Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) Network management services are being utilized as preventive maintenance programs that have helped telecommunications, BFSI, and IT as well as the government sectors curb unplanned outages up to 66%. This category facilitates timely inspections and maintenance of various electronic and mechanical components by trained professionals that assure their optimal functioning. Increasing adoption of virtual networks and stringent regulations pertaining to data storage and privacy are also accelerating the spend momentum of the network management services category during the forecast period. Read the Free Sample copy of this network management market intelligence report here! The ability to support cross-vendor interoperability and coordination by maintaining compatibility with the existing network architecture are acting as one of the primary cost drivers of the network management services category in the US. In APAC, while the growing adoption of cloud computing is fostering agility, cost-effectiveness, security, and better application performance, it is also heralding various security and functionality issues that can be mitigated by the adoption of network management services. In developed regions such as Europe, the demand will be primarily driven by an increase in stringency for regulations such as the GDPR. This network management services procurement research report offers a comprehensive analysis of the significant 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 network management services 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 the network management services market intelligence report! "Suppliers must be selected based on the scalability of their available network infrastructure to buyer's dynamic and future requirements," says SpendEdge procurement expert Sumit Yadav. "This will save the overhead costs of buyers that might be required to collaborate with other suppliers who can cater to the buyer's future needs," added Sumit. This network management services procurement research report has estimated that the following cost drivers will influence the category growth in the following years: Increasing security concerns against data breaches will drive category growth. Adoption of SD-WAN and NFV by service providers will help buyers reduce TCO. Buy the full network management services 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 telecom and networking 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: Network management services 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 network management services 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 VoIP Services Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report Global Wireless Telecom 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/20190416005427/en/ Contacts: SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 984 7340 UK: +44 148 459 9299 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us On the occasion of the publication of its first Climate Report and its annual CSR Report, Groupe PSA is publishing its climate governance. The Group's climate governance leads the implementation of the climate strategy throughout the company. ( download the infographics here As a member of the CDP 1 "A List", Groupe PSA confirms its leadership in the fight against climate change. The Group stands out for its ambitious strategy to reduce its overall CO 2 emissions: vehicles, manufacturing activities, purchasing and logistics. Regulatory News: Groupe PSA (Paris:UG): For Carlos Tavares: "Our structured climate governance ensures Groupe PSA focus on CO 2 issues.As a mobility provider, our company is fully involved in an evolving dynamic. We put our ability to innovate, our agility and our skills at the service of a high-performance and responsible business model that creates shared and sustainable value for its stakeholders." In its Climate Report, the Group gives its stakeholders a global vision of its measures to fight climate change and mitigate its effects. It also describes how the Push to Pass strategic plan integrates climate-related economic opportunities and risks.The achievement of the Group's climate objectives is monitored with full transparent indicators This Climate Report complies with the recommendations of the FSB Task-Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The annual CSR Report presents all the work carried out by the Group on its societal issues, including climate issues. Audited by an independent third party, it connects financial and non-financial performance, in accordance with the recommendations of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). Groupe PSA CSR Report has been awarded "Advanced" for four consecutive years by the United Nations Global Compact. This label rewards both transparency and best practices in sustainable development. About Groupe PSA Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all customer expectations. The Group has five car brands, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall and provides a wide array of mobility and smart services under the Free2Move brand. Its 'Push to Pass' strategic plan represents a first step towards the achievement of the Group's vision to be "a global carmaker with cutting-edge efficiency and a leading mobility provider sustaining lifetime customer relationships". An early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars, Groupe PSA is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia. Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com @GroupePSA_EN 1 A non-profit organization dedicated to studying the impact of the world's leading companies on climate change. Communications Division www.groupe-psa.com/en - +33 6 61 93 29 36- @GroupePSA_EN View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005575/en/ Contacts: Media contact: Pierre-Olivier Salmon +33 6 76 86 45 48 pierreolivier.salmon@mpsa.com VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / Prophecy Development Corp. ("Prophecy" or the "Company") (TSX: PCY, OTCQX: PRPCF, Frankfurt: 1P2N) is pleased to announce that it has submitted, through its wholly owned US subsidiary, the requisite baseline studies for its Gibellini Vanadium Project located in Eureka County, Nevada, USA to both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP). In consultation with the BLM and NDEP, Prophecy is working with contractors to collect supplemental baseline data that will update and confirm the existing data sets. That work is set to be completed in May. The Enhanced Baseline Report format, made with guidance from the BLM, is designed to identify potential resource conflicts early in the project timeline. Doing so will allow measures to be taken to avoid and/or minimize such conflicts and ensure an up-front project planning that is sensitive to all environmental resources. Mine Plan of Operations These baseline studies will be the foundation for the Mine Plan of Operations (MPO). The MPO, which is already under development, describes the concept-level design for the all proposed mine operations and the possible effects of those operation on the environment. Specifically, the MPO outlines scheduling, equipment, operating facilities, water usage, air emission, process design, and access. The MPO also provides a detailed reclamation and closure plan pertaining to any disturbances that might result from operations. This allows the BLM to assess the project in detail and, in coordination with the operator and appropriate agencies, expedite the EIS process. Prophecy intends to submit its MPO by July 2019. Engineering for heap leaching, the processing facility, and the mine design (M3 Engineering and Newfields Companies, LLC) is being integrated into to the site Closure Plan. This facilitates concurrent closure of the heap as each heap cell is finished leaching. This will allow the Closure Plan to be implemented during operations. At the end of active mining, the site can be closed at minimal technical risk. This reduces the closure duration and liability and the commensurate reclamation bond. Water The Company has signed a 10-year water lease agreement (WLA) with the owner of a private ranch located approximately 5 miles from the project. The WLA can be extended for any number of additional 7-year terms, not to exceed a total of 99 years (including the primary term). The Gibellini Project requires a modest maximum flow rate of 500 gallons per minute (gpm) from the ranch that represents less than 20% of the water rights for the ranch. The WLA provides, as the source of water, surface springs located on the private ranch, thus eliminating the need to appropriate water rights from the Nevada Division of Water Resources. The Gibellini Project has completed water-related baseline studies that cover the quantity and quality of both surface and groundwater at the site, surrounding areas and the ranch water supply. Since the baseline studies have been completed, Prophecy expects to expedite any permitting process. See Company press release dated August 20, 2018. Uranium A small amount of uranium will be produced as a by-product at Gibellini (approximately 1% in volume relative to the vanadium production volume) with minute concentrations arising during the vanadium purification process. As uranium concentration and extraction occur only at a single stage within the process design, the uranium permit footprint is confined to a small portion of the process facility. This will be overseen by the Nevada Department of Health rather than the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and results in a significantly reduced regulatory permitting timeline. Sage Grouse With the implementation of the Nevada Sage Grouse Conservation Credit System (CCS), Prophecy has conducted an extensive baseline habitat condition survey. It will use the Habitat Quantification Tool to calculate the number of debits required to mitigate any direct and indirect impacts to sage grouse habitat. Prophecy intends first to avoid and minimize impacts to habitat, and second to either develop or purchase credits to mitigate any remaining impacts. Summary "The Prophecy team is working diligently with the support of the federal and state regulators and is actively engaging all stakeholders in order to obtain all the state and federal permits so that we can begin construction of North America's first producing primary vanadium deposit. We are on track to initiate the EIS process after the Notice of Intent is published, which will be a milestone in permitting the Gibellini Project," notes Ron Espell, VP Environment and Sustainability. "It will represent the starting point of a well-defined 12-month process under the Department of the Interior's Secretarial Order No. 3355 that shareholders will be able to mark on their calendars." Michael Doolin, Prophecy's CEO and COO, observes, "The State of Nevada is the best jurisdiction for mining investment in the world, according to Fraser Institute. The deposit is critical as Gibellini's annual production profile of 9.65 million lb. of V2O5 outlined in the independent preliminary economic assessment is sufficient to meet United States current vanadium consumption requirement." Qualified Persons and QA/QC The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Danniel Oosterman, VP Exploration. Mr. Oosterman is not independent of the Company in that he is employed by the Company. Mr. Oosterman is a Qualified Person ("QP") as defined by the guidelines in NI 43-101. About Prophecy Prophecy is developing the Gibellini project - the only large-scale, open-pit, heap-leach vanadium project of its kind in North America. Located in Nevada, Gibellini is currently undergoing EPCM and permit development. Further information on Prophecy can be found at www.prophecydev.com. PROPHECY DEVELOPMENT CORP. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Michael Doolin" Chief Executive Officer For more information about Prophecy, please contact Investor Relations: +1.604.569.3661 ext. 101 ir@prophecydev.com www.prophecydev.com Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Some statements in this news release are about future events and performance. Such statements are based on current estimates, predictions, expectations, or beliefs. The subjects of the statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the PEA representing a viable development option for the project; (ii) construction of a mine at the project and related actions; (iii) estimates of the capital costs of constructing mine facilities, bringing the mine into production, and sustaining the mine, together with estimates of the length of financing payback periods; (iv) the estimated amount of future production, of both [raw material?] and metal recovered; and (vi) estimates of the life of the mine and of the operating and total costs, cash flow, net present value, and economic returns, including internal rate of return from an operating mine constructed at the project. All forward-looking statements are based on Prophecy's or its consultants' current beliefs and assumptions, which are in turn based on the information currently available to them. The most significant assumptions are set forth above, but generally these assumptions include: (i) the presence and continuity of vanadium mineralization at the project at the estimated grades; (ii) the geotechnical and metallurgical characteristics of the rock conforming to the sampled results; (iii) infrastructure construction costs and schedule; (iv) the availability of personnel, machinery, and equipment at the estimated prices and within the estimated delivery times; (v) currency exchange rates; (vi) vanadium sale prices; (vii) appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in the economic analysis; (viii) tax rates applicable to the proposed mining operation; (ix) the availability of acceptable financing on reasonable terms; (x) projected recovery rates and use of a process method, which although well-known and proven with other commodity types, such as copper, has not been previously brought into production for a vanadium project; (xi) reasonable contingency requirements; (xii) success in realizing proposed operations; and (xiii) assumptions that the project's environmental approval and permitting is forthcoming from county, state, and federal authorities. The economic analysis is partly based on Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA based on these Mineral Resources will be realized. Currently there are no Mineral Reserves on the Gibellini property. Although the Company's management and its consultants consider these assumptions to be reasonable, given the information currently available to them, they could prove to be incorrect. Many forward-looking statements are made assuming the correctness of other forward-looking statements, such as statements of net present value and internal rates of return. Those statements are based in turn on most of the other forward-looking statements and assumptions made herein. The cost information is also prepared using current values, but the time for incurring the costs is in the future and it is assumed costs will remain stable over the relevant period. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements by Prophecy or its consultants. Prophecy and its consultants believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove correct. In addition, although Prophecy and its consultants have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events, or results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Prophecy and its consultants undertake no obligation to publicly release any future revisions of the forward-looking statements that reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this news release or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by law. SOURCE: Prophecy Development Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542105/Prophecy-Submits-Enhanced-Baseline-Studies-for-Gibellini-Vanadium-Project-in-Nevada Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary PALM BEACH, Florida, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --A well-respected purveyor of cannabis industry reports, the Brightfield Group, is not shy about making projections. Not only do they comment on projected revenues, they also look at where the industry is going and how it will get there. They have recently pointed to a previously closed vertical. They said: "that retailers big box retailers, are "Going after CBD" Hard! If you read their report its easy to see why a recent report said: "New Report Predicts CBD Market Will Hit $22 Billion by 2022. A new analysis estimates that the CBD market could explode - and outpace marijuana." The company also said on its website that: "CBD is growing faster than cannabis in the U.S. and will soon be a $22 billion industry. Its been flying under the radar but is set to explode having profound impacts on CPG and Pharma. We detail the category growth rates, leading brands, product innovation by segment. Big Box is ready confirms another source: "since CBD for medical use is legal in 46 states and CBD derived from hemp rather than marijuana (it, CBD) is legal in all states. Recently, this past month of March, CVS announced that it will: "begin selling hemp-derived CBD products in eight states. The national drug store chain will be marketing the topical cannabidiol products, such as creams, sprays and roll-ons, as "an alternative source of relief," CVS said in a statement to NBC News. CVS will also be partnering with a company to test and verify the quality of the CBD topicals sold in its drug stores." NBC News reported that: "CVS to sell CBD products in 800 stores in 8 states. We are carrying hemp-derived CBD products in select states to help meet consumer demand for alternative care options," said CVS Health Spokesperson, Mike DeAngelis. The items will be sold in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and Tennessee." "It's a way to reduce the stigma for a product that really doesn't deserve to be stigmatized," said a nutritionist and cannabis practitioner. Active Companies from around the market with current developments this week include: The Greater Cannabis Company (OTC: GCAN), CBD Unlimited, Inc. (OTC: EDXC), Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA), Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) (TSX: ACB), Valens GroWorks Corp. (CSE: VGW) (OTC: VGWCF). Consumers are interested in CBD and that interest is growing and retailers are noticing. A recent opinion poll said: "three-fourths (of respondents) associated (CBD) with at least one health benefit." The poll went on to show: "As consumers' opinions become increasingly positive, they are exploring other compounds of the cannabis plant, including CBD. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents said they are somewhat, very, or extremely familiar with CBD, while only 14% had never heard of it. Men are more familiar with CBD than women, with 65% reporting at least some familiarity compared to 51% of women. Adults in age cohorts 25-34 and 34-44 are the most aware, with 70-71% in each group reporting at least some familiarity. Survey members living in the Northeast reported the highest level of awareness of any region, followed by the West. Of respondents who have tried CBD, 48% used an oil extract. Vape pens was the second most popular CBD-infused product at 37%, followed by edibles (36%), and capsules/pills (29%). Among adults in age cohort 18-24, vape pens were the most popular form of CBD use, whereas oil extracts were most popular for all other age groups. The Greater Cannabis Company, Inc. (OTCQB: GCAN) BREAKING NEWS: The Greater Cannabis Company, a market leader and innovator in the development and commercialization of cannabinoid delivery systems, today announced it has entered into a letter of agreement (LOI) with a major Brazilian retail pharmacy company, CBR Participacoes SA, to market Greater Cannabis Company's eluting patch technology for cannabis in Brazil. As part of the agreement, CBR Participacoes will distribute the technology to its network of 300 pharmacies and more than 1,500 point-of-sale retailers in the country, serving the Brazil's growing demand and market for cannabis products. The agreement is effectively immediately through 2021. "We continue to see explosive interest and growth for our technology in Brazil as the country's cannabis market continues to expand at an exponential rate," said Aitan Zacharin, Chief Executive Officer of Greater Cannabis Company. "Our new licensing agreement with CBR Participacoes taps into this and will represent the first of many additional agreements we are currently pursuing," concluded Mr. Zacharin. Cannabidiol (CBD) has been legalized for therapeutic use since 2015 in Brazil, the largest country in both South America and Latin America. The country began allowing import of CBD oil in products that have potential medical benefit later that year and has continued to advance its legislation and legalization of cannabis to date. Greater Cannabis Company's eluting patch technology meets a global demand for alternative methods of cannabis administration and has demonstrated stability and bioavailability across a broad range of lab studies conducted by the Company. The Company believes it is poised for significant market growth and traction in Brazil as its government is increasingly approving the use of CBD and cannabis products by its citizens. "After a thorough and diligent search and testing process, we found that Greater Cannabis Company would be the ideal partner for us due to its combined technology, knowledge and expertise in cannabis business and products," said Rogerio P. Rabello, Chief Executive Officer of CBR Participacoes SA. "Although there are many innovative and promising solutions in the market, we believe GCANRx's technological advantages are far advanced and will prove to be critical to ensuring the success of a mutually beneficial and long-term relationship," concluded Mr. Rabello. Read this and more news for GCAN at:https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-gcan/ In the industry developments and happenings in the market this week include: CBD Unlimited, Inc. (OTCPK: EDXC) formerly known as Endexx Corporation (EDXC), a provider of innovative phytonutrient-based food and nutritional products, recently announced that the company has completed the production of 7.5 million wholesale products to meet initial demand requirements. CBD Unlimited recently completed another record-breaking quarter with company projections to hit greater milestones this year. CBD Unlimited has illustrated its ability to produce product at full-scale levels and will continue to expand its full-scale production capabilities as demand continues to increase. The company expects demand to accelerate every quarter over the next 2 years. "Last year, we grew CBD Unlimited's distribution to over 1,000 distribution channels. With full-scale production capabilities, we are confident that we will reach at least 5,000 by 2020," commented CEO & Chairman Todd Davis. "With the recent passage of the Farm Bill in December 2018, we are seeing an increase in our national product reach and will be able to deliver to meet these high demand levels." Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) recently reported its results, for the third quarter and nine months ended February 28, 2019 . All amounts are expressed in thousands of Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted and except for per gram, kilogram, kilogram equivalents, and per share amounts. "I am proud of the efforts of our over 1,000 employees worldwide as we continue to position Aphria for future growth and success in the global medical and adult-use cannabis industry," stated Irwin D. Simon, Aphria's Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer. "Our organization has experienced significant change in a very short period of time which was necessary to propel the Company forward. Our Board of Directors and executive team will remain focused on the advancement of Aphria's leadership position in the global cannabis industry and we are pleased to have announced today the appointment of two new independent directors. Aphria will continue to drive sustainable long-term shareholder value by leveraging its strong brand positioning, superior distribution model, product innovation, industrial scale cultivation and automation, medical-use leadership and strategic global platform." Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) (TSX: ACB:TO) recently announced an update on the status of Aurora Sun, the Company's latest and largest Sky Class facility, which is currently under construction in Medicine Hat, Alberta. To support rapidly growing global demand for high-quality medical cannabis in Canada and abroad, the facility will be expanded to 1.62 million square feet, representing a 33% increase from its originally planned 1.2 million square feet. With the Sky Class production philosophy proven at Aurora Sky, the Company is confident in projecting an expected production capacity at Aurora Sun in excess of 230,000 kg of high-quality cannabis per annum. Aurora's Sky Class facilities are the most technologically advanced in the world. They are not greenhouses, but purpose-built, indoor cannabis grow facilities that create the most optimal growing conditions for cannabis. A sophisticated glass roof, rainwater and snow melt recapture system, and a high-level of technology and automation give Aurora full control over all anticipated environmental and harvest conditions, resulting in the production of consistently high yielding, high-quality cannabis at low-cost. Valens GroWorks Corp. (CSE: VGW) (OTCQB: VGWCF), a multi-licensed provider of cannabis products and services focused on various proprietary extraction methodologies, distillation, cannabinoid isolation and purification, as well as associated quality testing, recently announced that it had closed its previously announced bought-deal prospectus offering (the "Offering"). The Offering was led by AltaCorp Capital Inc. as lead underwriter and sole bookrunner, along with a syndicate of underwriters, including GMP Securities L.P., Raymond James Ltd., Haywood Securities Inc., and Mackie Research Capital Corp., (together with AltaCorp Capital Inc. the "Underwriters"), pursuant to which the Company issued an aggregate of 14,618,644 units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of $2.95 per Unit (the "Offering Price"), which included the full exercise of the Underwriters' over-allotment option for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of $43,125,000. 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Contact Information: Media Contact email: editor@financialnewsmedia.com +1(561)325-8757 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (TSXV: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ) (OTC Pink: QMCQF) ("QMC" or "the Company") today provides an update on the company's 100%-owned Irgon Lithium Mine Project located within the prolific Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element pegmatite field of S.E. Manitoba, which also hosts Cabot Corporation's nearby Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada ("TANCO") rare-element pegmatite. QMC is pleased to report the successful completion of its 2019 Phase One drilling program on the Irgon Lithium Mine Property. In total, 18 NQ diamond drill holes were collared and completed for a total of just over 2,300 metres of drilling, with most holes intersecting significant visible spodumene mineralization. The drill program developed and overseen by QMC's consultant, SGS Canada, was designed to confirm historic spodumene grades and intersections encountered in the 1956 drill intersections and in channel samples taken across the dike on the -61 metre (-200 foot) crosscuts during that period. The deepest hole in the current drill campaign, IR-19-18 (-65o) cut 14 metres (not true width) of spodumene-bearing pegmatite approximately 130 metres vertically below the surface of the dike. This intersection is well below the 61-metre level of the historic underground workings and confirms that significant spodumene mineralization continues to depth. The widest drill intersections cutting through the Irgon Pegmatite Dike were in holes IR-19-03 and 10 which cut 21 and 23.5 metres, respectively (not true width). Both these intersections reported significant visual spodumene mineralization. The results obtained from the current drill program plus all previous historical data will be utilized by SGS Canada to prepare a resource estimate of the Irgon Dike. The core is currently being logged in detail with all pegmatite intersections being sawn and sampled. An initial drill-site evaluation of the core by QMC geologists confirmed significant visual white (suggesting a low iron content) spodumene mineralization. Definitive assays results are pending. QMC and SGS Canada have implemented a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program to ensure the reliability of all sampling and analyses of both surface and drill core samples. QMC inserted certified control standards, duplicates and blanks into the sample stream which provides the ability to monitor data quality. The results of all data quality controls will be carefully reviewed by QMC and SGS Canada prior to the public release of any data. All samples will be shipped directly to SGS Labs in Lakefield Ontario, a certified sample preparation facility and laboratory. Upon receipt, the SGS Lakefield laboratory will analyze the samples for 56 elements including Li, Ta, Nb, Rb and Cs using a sodium peroxide fusion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES / ICP-MS). Analytical results remain pending and will be released upon receipt of the final lab reports, subsequent to the data having been compiled and evaluated. HISTORICAL ESTIMATES Between 1953-1954, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited drilled 25 holes into the Irgon Dike and subsequently reported a historical mineral estimate of 1.2 million tons grading 1.51% Li 2 0 over a strike length of 365 metres and to a depth of 213 metres (Northern Miner, Vol. 41, no.19, Aug. 4, 1955, p.3). This historical estimate is documented in a 1956 Assessment Report by B. B. Bannatyne for the Lithium Corporation of Canada Ltd. (Manitoba Assessment Report No. 94932). This historical estimate is believed to be based on reasonable assumptions, and neither the company nor the QP has any reason to contest the document's relevance and reliability. The detailed channel sampling and a subsequent drill program will be required to update this historical estimate to current NI 43-101 standards. Historic metallurgical tests reported an 87% recovery from which a concentrate averaging 5.9% Li 2 O was obtained. During this historical 1950s era work program, a complete mining plant was installed onsite, designed to process 500 tons of ore per day, and a three-compartment shaft was sunk to a depth of 74 metres. On the 61-metre level, lateral development was extended off the shaft for a total of 366 metres of drifting, from which seven crosscuts transected the dike. The work was suspended in 1957 awaiting a more favourable market for lithium oxides. During this time, the mine buildings were removed. The mineral estimate cited above is presented as a historical estimate and uses historical terminology which does not conform to current NI43-101 standards. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Although the historical estimates are believed to be based on reasonable assumptions, they were calculated prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101. These historical estimates do not meet current standards as defined under sections 1.2 and 1.3 of NI 43-101; consequently, the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Qualified Person and NI 43-101 Disclosure The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Bruce E. Goad, P. Geo., who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About the Company QMC is a British Columbia based company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of resource properties. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious, base, rare metal and resource properties of merit. The Company's properties include the Irgon Lithium Mine project and two VMS properties, the Rocky Lake and Rocky-Namew, known collectively as the Namew Lake District Project. Currently, all of the company's properties are located in Manitoba. On behalf of the Board of Directors of QMC QUANTUM MINERALS CORP. "Balraj Mann" Balraj Mann President and Chief Executive Officer Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Corporate Communications: NetworkWire (NNW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkWire.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44088 Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - EnerSpar Corp. (TSXV: ENER) (FSE: 5E0) ("EnerSpar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a business combination agreement (the "Combination Agreement") dated April 16, 2019, with MindFull Capital Inc. ("MindFull") and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company ("Subco"), whereby the Company will acquire all the outstanding securities of Mindfull (the "Proposed Transaction"). The Proposed Transaction was initially announced in a joint press release of EnerSpar and MindFull dated February 7, 2019. Information Concerning MindFull The business of the Company after the completion of the Proposed Transaction (the "Resulting Issuer"), will be the business of MindFull, which involves bringing innovative food and beverage products to market that feature premium quality ingredients, sustainable packaging and ethical sourcing to improve the health and wellbeing of all. The MindFull team has over 75 years combined experience in the organic and natural products industry, leading to what we believe is a unique, highly differentiated approach to category management, new product development and market leadership. In 2018, MindFull launched GAIAM and VIBE, two ready-to-drink, organic tea brands that are available nationwide in the United States and expected to be launched in Canada in June 2019. Terms of the Proposed Transaction The Proposed Transaction is structured as a three-cornered amalgamation pursuant to which Subco and Mindfull will amalgamate under the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act, to form a new corporation, which will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Resulting Issuer; each issued and outstanding common share of Mindfull (each, a "Mindfull Share") will be cancelled; and each shareholder of Mindfull (other than a dissenting shareholder) will receive a common share of the Resulting Issuer (each, an "Resulting Issuer Share") for each cancelled MindFull Share. In addition, holders of convertible securities of MindFull will be able to exercise their securities for Resulting Issuer Shares in accordance with and permitted under their terms. Prior to completion of the Proposed Transaction, EnerSpar will, among other things, subject to the approval of EnerSpar shareholders, consolidate all of the issued and outstanding common shares of EnerSpar ("EnerSpar Shares") on the basis of eight pre-consolidation EnerSpar Shares for each one post-consolidation EnerSpar Share (the "Consolidation"). The Consolidation will result in the 23,960,000 pre-Consolidation EnerSpar Shares currently outstanding being consolidated into approximately 2,995,000 post-Consolidation EnerSpar Shares (these numbers do not take into account any additional financings by EnerSpar or the exercise of any options of EnerSpar prior to completion of the Proposed Transaction). In connection with the completion of the Proposed Transaction, EnerSpar will issue 36,434,500 Resulting Issuer Shares to the former holders of MindFull Shares. In addition, 11,250,000 stock options; 2,250,000 warrants; and principal amount $3,500,000 convertible debentures will be exercisable or convertible into Resulting Issuer Shares in accordance with and as permitted under their terms. As a result of the completion of the Proposed Transaction, the current holders of MindFull Shares will hold approximately 92.4% of the shares of the Resulting Issuer and the current holders of EnerSpar Shares will hold approximately 7.6% of the shares of the Resulting Issuer. This does not account for certain securities that may be issued by MindFull in connection with certain proposed financings that are currently contemplated to be completed prior to the completion of the Proposed Transaction. Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including, among other others, completion of certain financings by MindFull, receipt of all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals, the execution of related transaction documents, completion of the Arrangement (as defined below), the continuance of EnerSpar into the province of Ontario, the Consolidation, a name change of EnerSpar, approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), and the majority of the minority shareholders, for the delisting of the EnerSpar Shares from the TSXV, and conditional approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange for the listing of the EnerSpar Shares following completion of the Proposed Transaction. Officers and Directors of the Resulting Issuer Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, the board of directors and management of the Resulting Issuer is expected to consist of the following individuals: Matthew Jimenez - Chief Executive Officer and Director Former Senior Category Leader for Whole Foods Market's global grocery team with 20+ years of national brand and product development experience. Sam Majic - Chief Financial Officer and Secretary CPA, CA with over five years of public company audit experience working at Deloitte and spent the past five years at Shopify, a leading technology company in Canada that went public in 2015. Grant Burgess - President Senior Strategic Sales and Channel Development leader for Blue Chip and Emerging Brands. Nicholas Reichenbach - Director Founder, CEO & Director of Flow Water Inc. Serial entrepreneur in consumer products and digital media. Joseph Jackman - Director CEO of Jackman Reinvent; formerly CMO of Gap; CMO of Duane Reade; EVP of Loblaw Companies Ltd. Mary Dalimonte - Director Former SVP of Merchandising and Commercial Programs for Sobeys Inc., led the strategic planning and drove the development and execution of customer-focused, market-leading innovations and new store concept designs for Sobeys' full-service banners across Canada. Former Sr Director, GM, and VP at Loblaw Supermarkets. Spin-Out Transaction Prior to the completion of the Proposed Transaction, the Company intends to complete a court approved arrangement (the "Arrangement") under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia), pursuant to which, among other things, all of the existing assets and operations of EnerSpar will have been placed into a new subsidiary company, and the shares of the new subsidiary will be distributed to EnerSpar's existing shareholders. The effect of the Arrangement is that the existing EnerSpar business will continue for the sole benefit of the existing EnerSpar shareholders. In order to finance the Arrangement, the Company intends to complete a financing or have insiders exercise options for gross proceeds of approximately $100,000. About EnerSpar EnerSpar is a TSX Venture Exchange Tier II listed exploration company focused on industrial minerals oriented to today's and future energy requirements. Potassic feldspars are especially significant as a hardening agent in today's solar panels and tomorrow's solar shingles. About MindFull Located in Ottawa, Ontario, and incorporated under the Federal laws of Canada, MindFull is a private company whose purpose is to create organic, functional food & beverages. MindFull specializes in creating advanced nutraceutical products which we currently believe will be competitive in the rapidly expanding global market to better the health and wellness of the consumer public. Additional Information Additional information regarding EnerSpar is available on SEDAR and EnerSpar's website at www.enerspar.com. Additional information regarding the Proposed Transaction and MindFull, including the proposed management team and board of directors of the resulting issuer, will be made publicly available by EnerSpar and MindFull in accordance with applicable securities laws and stock exchange requirements. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Jay Richardson, Chief Executive Officer and Director Contact: info@enerspar.com Toronto Office: 416-410-JAYR [5297]. READER ADVISORY As noted above, completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, majority of the minority shareholder approval of the voluntary delisting of the EnerSpar Shares from the TSXV and TSXV acceptance of such delisting. The Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained in respect of the applicable matters. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or listing statement of the Company to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of EnerSpar should be considered highly speculative. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. The securities set forth herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly and without limitation, this press release contains forward looking statements and information concerning the Proposed Transaction, the financings of MindFull, the expected business of the Resulting Issuer, the application to the TSXV and the CSE in respect of the Proposed Transaction. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by EnerSpar, including expectations and assumptions concerning EnerSpar, MindFull, the Resulting Issuer, and the Proposed Transaction, the timely receipt of all required securityholder, TSXV and regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions in accordance with the terms of a Combination Agreement. Although EnerSpar believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information because EnerSpar can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed. These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to, the results of the due diligence review on either EnerSpar or MindFull by the other are less than satisfactory, or the parties are unable to obtain the required regulatory and shareholder approvals. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward- looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. EnerSpar undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. We seek safe harbour. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44118 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Carl Data Solutions Inc. (CSE: CRL) (FSE: 7C5) (OTCQB: CDTAF) ("Carl Data" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that Link Global Technologies Inc. ("Link") signed a colocation agreement (the "Agreement") with Carl Data's wholly owned subsidiary, Astra Smart Systems Corp. ("Astra") on April 12, 2019, for use of Astra's data centre (the "Data Centre") in Trail, BC. The Agreement provides for Astra to supply premises and electricity for the set-up and operation of Link's server equipment for the purpose of mining the Bitcoin blockchain currency ("Bitcoin") for a term of one year with three additional six-month optional renewals. Rent as stipulated in the Agreement could range from CDN$53,700 to CDN$65,780 per month depending on Link's of usage of the facilities. There is also a profit sharing opportunity for Carl Data in the future. "This colocation agreement is a significant step forward in helping us reach capacity at the Astra Data Centre," said Greg Johnston, Carl Data CEO and President. "Potential revenue from the contract will assist in the expansion of the data center to provide other complimentary services and in turn allow more revenue streams for the Company." Link's blockchain based mining infrastructure supply chain is being developed with existing experts to provide superior crypto currency mining infrastructures. They have extensive knowledge and experience in helping clients better understand how to implement blockchain technologies. This Agreement allows Link to continue building out its blockchain based infrastructure, while opening up some additional revenue producing opportunities for Carl Data. Carl Data, through Astra is reviewing other ways to expand the operations of both companies. "We are excited to have Carl Data as a partner to reach toward continued growth in revenue and technical capabilities," said Link CEO, Stephen Jenkins. Carl Data understands that from time to time, based on the market price of Bitcoin and the funds received on the day-to-day sale of Bitcoin after applicable transaction fees, the economics of mining Bitcoin may not be favourable, but may become favourable in the future as it has been in past periods. For this reason, the Company is offering an incentive to Link to undertake the set-up and commencement of operations at the Data Centre. The Company is offering to issue common shares of Carl Data (the "Shares") to Link in the quantity which, when multiplied by the current market price for the Shares, equals the shortfall in revenue, if any, with respect to costs that Link has paid to Astra (the "Shortfall") pursuant to the Agreement. These Shares will be issuable from time to time at the request of Link. This incentive can be cancelled on 30 days' notice by Carl Data. About Link Global Technologies Link Global Technologies Inc. is a diversified cryptocurrency and blockchain platform company that is focused on the opportunities in the sector - mining public blockchains and applying permissioned blockchain technology through supply chains. Their Mining as a Service enables management of Bitcoin mining on behalf of third parties globally. Using their extensive knowledge and experience they are developing superior crypto currency mining infrastructure, while helping clients understand how best to implement blockchain technologies into their mining operations. More information can be found at http://linkglobal.io/ About Carl Data Solutions Inc. Carl Data Solutions Inc. is an Industrial IoT (IIoT) company that provides next generation collection, storage and analytics solutions for data-centric companies. Building on its recent acquisitions, Carl Data helps clients analyze and model environmental data through a powerful technology agnostic end-to-end platform of smart sensors combined with web-based monitoring, reporting, and predictive analytics applications. Carl Data continues to develop applications that extract value from new cloud-based mass storage services and machine learning (AI) analytics tools to provide the scalability needed to effectively monitor smart cities, utilities and other industrial verticals. This software suite saves clients time and money by amassing information from any sensor or source to create a real-time decision support system with deep insights into how to protect infrastructure and assets. More information can be found at www.CarlSolutions.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Greg Johnston President, Chief Executive Officer, Director Carl Data Solutions Inc. For further information please contact: Kimberly Bruce Corporate Communications Carl Data Solutions Inc. Telephone: (778) 379-0275 Email: kimberly@carlsolutions.com The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44102 - Secure, regulated exchange to help traders access tokenized assets LONDON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- eToroX, the blockchain division of global investment company eToro, has today announced the launch of its crypto exchange - a secure and regulated trading venue offering a range of cryptoassets as well as a suite of stablecoins. Commenting on the news, Yoni Assia, Co-founder and CEO of eToro, said: "Just as eToro has opened up traditional markets for investors, we want to do the same in the tokenized world. We want to bring crypto and tokenized assets to a wider audience, allowing them to trade with confidence. This is the future of finance. Blockchain will eventually 'eat' traditional financial services through tokenization." At launch the exchange will have a range of instruments including: 8 fiat-stablecoins (eToro New Zealand Dollar (NZDX), eToro Japanese Yen (JPYX), eToro Swiss Franc (CHFX), eToro United States Dollar (USDEX), eToro Euro (EURX), eToro Pound Sterling (GBPX, eToro Australian Dollar (AUDX), eToro Canadian Dollar (CADX) 6 cryptos (Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Dash (DASH), BitcoinCash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) 37 pairs including BTC-USD, XRP-GBP etc. The launch of the exchange is a natural next step in eToro's blockchain journey which began with the work with Colored Coins in 2012. eToro was one of the first regulated financial companies to offer crypto, enabling users to trade bitcoin in 2014 and today has 15 cryptoassets on the eToro platform. The exchange is managed by eToroX, a subsidiary of eToro Group. eToroX is one of the first companies to be certified as a regulated Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) provider by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC). Doron Rosenblum, Managing Director of eToroX, said: "We are proud to be one of the first companies in the world to obtain a license for cryptoassets, and one of only a handful of regulated exchanges in the crypto space. "In the coming weeks and months we will add more cryptoassets, stablecoins and tokens to the exchange and will work with other exchanges to encourage them to list our growing range of stablecoins." Tokenization helps open up markets and encourages diversification by facilitating fractional ownership and removing geographical boundaries. Yoni Assia concluded: "We believe that we will see the greatest transfer of wealth ever as financial services move onto the blockchain. The blockchain brings transparency and a new paradigm for asset ownership. In time, we will see the tokenization of all traditional asset classes, as well as the emergence of new asset classes such as tokenized art, property or even IP. Cryptoassets are just the first step on this journey and we are excited to explore the opportunities offered by tokenization with the launch of our exchange." Notes to editors: About eToro eToro was founded in 2007 with the vision of opening up the global markets so that everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. The eToro Group consists of the eToro platform, our multi-asset trading and investment venue, and eToroX, which manages our crypto wallet and exchange. The eToro platform enables people to invest in the assets they want, from stocks and commodities to cryptoassets. We are a global community of more than ten million registered users who share their investment strategies; and anyone can follow the approaches of those who have been the most successful. Due to the simplicity of the platform users can easily buy, hold and sell assets, monitor their portfolio in real time, and transact whenever they want. As technology has evolved, so has our business. In 2018, we created eToroX, our tokenized asset subsidiary. eToroX provides the infrastructure, in the form of a crypto wallet and the forthcoming exchange, that supports our commitment to facilitating the evolution of tokenized assets. We believe that leveraging blockchain technology will enable us to become the first truly global service provider allowing everyone to trade, invest and save. Disclaimer: eToro is regulated in Europe by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. eToroX is incorporated in Gibraltar with company number 116348 and its registered office is at 57/63 Line Wall Road, Gibraltar. It's distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider licence was granted by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission in December 2018 (licence number FSC1333B). (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/520426/eToro_Logo.jpg) The company has participated in the creation of ConectarAGRO, a consortium of eight partners from the agribusiness and telecommunications fields, whose aim is to bring open connectivity solutions to all the agricultural regions of Brazil London, April 16, 2019 Thanks to both the increasing professionalization of the agricultural sector and the advances in machinery and technology, Brazilian agriculture has experienced significant growth in the last 20 years, placing the country amongst the sector's global leaders. To prepare for the next productivity enhancing step, Brazil needs to invest in ensuring connectivity is brought to the entire agricultural sector. For this purpose, CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI/MI: CNHI), in partnership with seven other companies, has developed ConectarAGRO, an initiative intended to consolidate and expand internet access across all of Brazil's agricultural regions. This initiative will enable rural producers to fully benefit from today's precision farming, digital and automated technological resources, whilst gaining access to a full range of new products and services enabled by connectivity, which will result in business optimization. This initiative will further optimize Case IH and New Holland's agricultural machinery, CASE Construction Equipment and New Holland Construction machines, and IVECO commercial vehicles. "The system will provide connectivity for the entire farm fleet, bringing together equipment, people and other devices under a single system," said Gregory Riordan, Director of Digital Technologies at CNH Industrial, South America. "In this sense, ConectarAGRO will be key to Brazilian agribusinesses as they aim to further increase their global productivity and competitiveness." ConectarAGRO will promote open and standardized technologies, allowing more freedom and flexibility for the farmer, the ultimate user of these technologies. This concept is what sets ConectarAGRO apart from other technological solutions already available - most of which follow a "closed" logic therefore limiting interoperability of multiple systems, requiring higher investments and complicating their large scale implementation. Partnership For this initiative, CNH Industrial has partnered with AGCO, Bayer, Jacto, Nokia, Solinftec, TIM and Trimble. The diversity, competencies and common interests of the companies involved, which have combined their efforts in an unprecedented initiative, creates the environment to better understand the issue of connectivity in the Brazilian agricultural sector from different perspectives, thereby facilitating an effective strategy to find solutions and benefit domestic agribusinesses. Each company involved in ConectarAGRO will contribute its expertise and market experience to help create a favorable ecosystem and improve and develop conditions for connectivity in the sector. There will be no joint development programs, nor production or marketing of equipment, products or services by these companies, which will continue to operate independently, without combining economic activities or sharing risks or results. The agreement to implement this initiative will be entered into in accordance with Brazilian law. CNH IndustrialN.V. Sign up for corporate news alerts from the CNH Industrial Newsroom: bit.ly/media-cnhindustrial-subscribe Media contact: Laura Overall Corporate Communications Manager CNH Industrial Tel. +44 www.cnhindustrial.com Attachments NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / The 2019 Louisiana Energy Conference will be held in New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon May 28 through Friday, May 31, 2019 at the Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans at 921 Canal Street. The Conference will feature a series of approximately 20 panels and presentations May 29 - 30 that will discuss key domestic and international oil and natural gas industry topics. Executives from a variety of leading public and private exploration and production (E&P) and oil field services companies as well as representatives from energy-related private equity firms, industry trade groups, regulatory agencies, investment banks, institutional research groups, industry advisory firms, insurance, and law firms will participate in the panel discussions and presentations. Attendance at the Conference qualifies for continuing education credits for Certified Public Accountants and Chartered Financial Analysts. The Conference will again host several field trips on May 31 to both offshore Gulf of Mexico and onshore south Louisiana facilities, which currently include a crew boat visit to an offshore platform and an onshore airboat trip to view marshland production facilities. Additional new field trips are under consideration. Several networking events are planned for 2019. The Conference will begin at 4 pm on Tuesday afternoon May 28 with a keynote speaker discussing global energy matters, followed by a welcoming reception, both at the Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans. On Wednesday, May 29the Conference will return to the National World War II Museum for its traditional networking dinner and museum tour. There will also be a Thursday evening May 30 post-closing, pre-field trip event from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at a venue to be announced. Confirmed investment professional attendees will be offered the opportunity to register for one-on-one meetings with companies participating on the panels. Over 80 exploration and production (E&P) companies, oil field service companies and other panelist firms are expected to take part in the Conference. The Conference is being hosted by Al Petrie Advisors. For additional information on attendance and sponsorship opportunities, please call (504) 799-1953 or email info@LouisianaEnergyConference.com. Al Petrie, Senior Partner of Al Petrie Advisors commented, "Oil prices are at levels viewed as attractive by the industry, and the outlook is improving for 2019 for both onshore and offshore E&P and oil services companies. We look forward to hearing from executive management from both public and private companies during our 2019 Conference to learn more about their planned activity levels and capital expenditure budgets. In addition, we are implementing several changes to our usual format that we believe will further enhance the event and encourage more interaction with attendees." Attendance at the Conference is directed to investment professionals including buy side and sell side analysts and portfolio managers, as well as private equity and wealth management executives and trust officers. There is no cost for investment professionals to attend the Conference. The cost for all other attendees is $349 for the four-day event. The Conference web site www.LouisianaEnergyConference.com provides additional details on the event and will be updated over the coming months with additional information on the agenda and participating companies. Registration is now open through the web site as well as the ability to reserve rooms online at our special rate. 201 Saint Charles Avenue Suite 2413 New Orleans, Louisiana 70170 CONTACT: Al Petrie, Senior Partner, 504-799-1953 SOURCE: Al Petrie Advisors View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542059/2019-Louisiana-Energy-Conference-to-Be-Held-in-New-Orleans-May-28--31-Will-Feature-Panels-May-29--30-and-Field-Trips-on-May-31 A new Transaction Network Services (TNS) report which surveys consumer attitudes toward smart payments has confirmed that adoption of this technology shows substantial growth, but consumers have significant security concerns. TNS' Consumers Confirm Smart Payments Adoption* report evaluates US, UK and Australian consumer experiences with and attitudes toward smart payment technologies on Internet of Thing (IoT) based devices, including voice assistants, Wi-Fi refrigerators and connected cars. It reveals that an impressive 26% of respondents that own a voice assistant have used it to make a payment, 57% would be willing to make a payment via a connected car if they owned one, and 45% would pay for groceries via a Wi-Fi refrigerator touchscreen or compatible application. While these figures show the promise of alternative integrated IoT based payment methods, it's also important to note that 74% said that security concerns would stop them from making a payment via a voice assistant. Bill Versen, Chief Product Officer for TNS, notes, "Our survey clearly shows that consumers are buying into the latest payment technology as adoption figures are high especially among millennials and Generation Z, but the number reporting security fears is a concern." It is estimated** that there will be eight billion digital voice assistants in use by 2023. If these estimates prove correct, then the market for payments made by voice could be over two billion users. Versen added, "Our conclusion for the industry is that companies need to implement strong security protocols and communicate these measures to consumers to mitigate their concerns. To address this, TNS provides a managed tokenization service which allows merchants to provide secure provisioning and payment of consumer accounts for mobile and in-vehicle applications. More than three million connected cars are currently using, and benefiting from, our secure payment technology." TNS' report also highlights: Payments on other IoT-based devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are popular with 53% of respondents confirming they have made one or more payments on a portable connected device in the last month; 64% felt that making payments via Wi-Fi enabled devices made their lives easier; The US is the most eager to own a connected car with payments capabilities, if the car is not too expensive; In the UK, two in three adults aged 16 to 24 would be willing to make a payment via a Wi-Fi refrigerator; and Security concerns are highest in Australia. The report is available to download by clicking here or emailing solutions@tnsi.com. Founded in 1990, TNS is a trusted partner to the payments industry and offers a broad portfolio of solutions, including secure and resilient transaction delivery services that are used by many of the top banks, transaction processors and ATM deployers around the world. The organization has secured a strong payments heritage, providing services across Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific regions. TNS is a Level 1 PCI DSS certified service provider and a global board member of the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA). TNS' secure network is supported 24x7x365 by multiple Network Operating Centers around the world. For more information about TNS, please visit www.tnsi.com. ENDS KANTAR commissioned a survey on behalf of Transaction Network Services. The survey interviewed 1,050 US adults, 1,022 Australian adults and 1,046 UK adults. The survey was conducted by online self-completion interviews between 17th 21st January 2019 by Kantar. The survey is designed to be nationally representative of adults interviewed per country. The surveys use a quota sample based on age interlocked within gender and a regional quota. Post fieldwork correctional weighting within age, gender and region has been used to ensure the representativeness of the survey. **Juniper Research https://www.juniperresearch.com/press/press-releases/digital-voice-assistants-in-use-to-triple About Transaction Network Services: Transaction Network Services (TNS) is a leading global provider of data communications and interoperability solutions. TNS offers a broad range of networks and innovative value-added services which enable transactions and the exchange of information in diverse industries such as retail, banking, payment processing, telecommunications and the financial markets. Founded in 1990 in the United States, TNS has grown steadily and now provides services in over 60 countries across the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, with our reach extending to many more. TNS has designed and implemented multiple data networks which support a variety of widely accepted communications protocols and are designed to be scalable and accessible by multiple methods. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005430/en/ Contacts: TNS E: pr@tnsi.com Clare Cockroft PR Director T: +44 (0)114 292 0163 Rachel Watson PR Manager +1 703 814 8065 Miami, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Cansortium Inc. (CSE: TIUM.U) ("Cansortium" or the "Company"), one of Florida's largest medical marijuana companies, has expanded its Florida retail footprint with the April 15 opening of a Knox Medical dispensary in Casselberry, FL, its tenth medical marijuana dispensary in Florida, with twenty more in various stages of site selection and development. The new Casselberry dispensary, located six miles northeast of central Orlando, augments the Company's current Orlando dispensary, making it easier for patients in the northern and eastern Orlando suburbs to obtain medical marijuana, whether in-store or through Knox's state-wide home delivery service. The Casselberry location also features a drive-thru to provide expedited service to existing and knowledgeable patients. Cansortium chief executive officer Jose Hidalgo noted, "Cansortium has established a strong track record as a successful strategic first-mover in large markets with high barriers to entry. Our management team's extensive regulatory expertise enables us to navigate the steadily-evolving medical marijuana regulatory framework and we have consistently achieved the highest scores among all licensing applicants. Our company controls one of only 14 operating licenses granted by Florida - the state with the fastest-growing medical marijuana patient population in the US - and we opened Orlando's first dispensary in 2017. We take a measured, strategic approach that sets us apart from our competitors by focusing on high product standards and patient needs. Each Knox Medical dispensary is designed to provide a welcoming, professional environment similar to a trusted neighborhood pharmacy. Each of our dispensaries is highly-visible, convenient to shop, and wheelchair-accessible. Their interiors are warm, professional, sleek and modern, with knowledgeable staff who can guide patients through the process of selecting the right products and who understand the importance of safeguarding patient privacy." Mr. Hidalgo concluded, "In addition to our exciting progress in Florida, we continue to build our business platforms in Texas, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Colombia, as well as secure foundational licensing in several other markets to support future growth." Cansortium operates retail, cultivation, and processing facilities in Texas and Puerto Rico, as well as Colombia - the anticipated hub of the red hot emerging Latin American cannabis market. It also has retail operations in Pennsylvania. The Company recently expanded into Canada, the first federally-legalized recreational market in the world, and it is also expanding into Michigan, where license-holders are allowed an unlimited number of dispensaries. The Company is also pursuing strategic expansions into South America and the emerging European market - which are expected to eventually exceed the size of the US and Canadian markets combined. ABOUT CANSORTIUM Cansortium is a global medical cannabis company operating in highly populous medical cannabis markets with a mission to deliver the highest standards of cannabis care from nursery to lab to shelf. Headquartered in Miami, FL and operating under the Knox Medical brand, the Company through its subsidiaries operates cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities across Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania, with licensing pending in Michigan and Canada. The Company also has a licensed cultivation facility in Colombia. Cansortium's common shares and warrants trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and "TIUM.WT.U" respectively. For information on Cansortium, please visit www.cansortium.com. For further information, contact: Jeffrey Reath Executive Vice-President, Finance and Investor Relations 506-871-6135 jeff@cansortium.com Forward-Looking Information Certain information in this news release, may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in the public documents of the Company available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, 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/44095 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Lithion Energy Corporation (TSXV: LNC) (the "Company" or "Lithion") is pleased to announce that it will appoint Mr. Warren Gilman as Chairman and Alex Granger to the position of CEO and Director after the completion of a private placement. Mr. Gilman, a mining engineer, has more than 30 years of experience as a deal maker in the metals and mining sector. He was a founder of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ("CIBC") Global Mining Team in Toronto in 1988. He subsequently led the team's efforts out of Australia and Hong Kong. During his time with CIBC, Mr. Gilman was responsible for some of the largest equity capital markets financings in Canadian mining history. He served as advisor to the largest mining companies in the world including BHP, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Noranda, Falconbridge, Meridian Gold, China Minmetals, Jinchuan and Zijin. From 2011, Mr. Gilman led CEF Holdings Ltd., a global mining investment company, owned 50% by CIBC and 50% by CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. Despite operating in one of the most challenging mining markets in decades, Mr Gilman was responsible for a number of highly successful mining investments including Niobec Ltd. (niobium in Quebec) and NexGen Energy Ltd. (uranium in Saskatchewan) and he serves as a director for both companies. Mr. Gilman obtained his B.Sc. in Mining Engineering at Queen's University and his MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University. He is Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Western University and a member of the Dean's Advisory board of Laurentian University. Mr. Granger is Managing Director of Xela Group Ltd., a consulting firm to the junior metals & mining sector. From 2010-16, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Barisan Gold Corp., the predecessor company to Lithion Energy Corp. Alex has fifteen years of experience in the investment banking and capital market industry covering the metals and mining sector. Ten of those years were spent in the Asia Pacific region with CIBC covering companies based in East Asia and Australia. Mr. Granger holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University. The Company also announces that it will complete a non-brokered private placement of 7,000,000 common shares to Mr. Gilman and Mr. Granger for aggregate gross proceeds of $350,000 at a price of $0.05 per common share. The completion of the private placement is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. No finder's fees are payable in connection with the private placement. The proceeds of the private placement will be used for general and administrative expenditures, maintenance of the Company's mineral properties and a reserve for asset acquisition investigations. The appointment of Mr. Gilman and Mr. Granger will occur after the closing of the private placement. Darren Smith will tender his resignation as a member of the Company's board to focus his efforts on his other professional duties. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Smith for his valued contributions to Lithion Energy Corp over the past two years. In addition, Shawn Westcott will tender his resignation as President of Lithion. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, visit the Company's website at www.lithionenergycorp.com or contact by email info@lithionenergycorp.com or phone +1 604 365 6681 Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements Certain statements in this News Release, which are not historical in nature, constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under applicable Canadian securities law. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements or information concerning the Company's growth strategy and the Company's future performance. These statements reflect management's current assumptions and expectations and by their nature are subject to certain underlying assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Those risks include the interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; commodity and currency price fluctuation; failure to obtain adequate financing; regulatory, recovery rates, refinery costs, inability to identify or successfully conclude corporate transactions, and other relevant conversion factors, permitting and licensing risks; and general market and mining exploration risks. Forward-looking statements should not be construed as investment advice. Readers should perform a detailed, independent investigation and analysis of the Company and are encouraged to seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or changes in circumstances that occur after the date hereof. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44117 CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "IoT Security Market by Type (Network Security & Cloud Security), Component, Solution (Identity Access Management, Security Analytics, & Device Authentication & Management), Service, Application Area, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Internet of Things (IoT) Security Market size is expected to grow from USD 8.2 billion in 2018 to USD 35.2 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 33.7% during the forecast period. Major factors driving the growth of the market are the increasing number of ransomware attacks on IoT devices across the globe, growing IoT security regulations, and rising security concerns over critical infrastructures. Browse in-depth TOC on "IoT Security Market" 80 - Tables 36 - Figures 144 - Pages Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=67064836 The solutions segment to account for a higher market share during the forecast period Major trends contributing to the market are the increasing security breaches in critical infrastructures and personal data. IoT security solutions include identity access management, data encryption and tokenization, intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system, device authentication and management, secure software and firmware update, secure communications, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) lifecycle management, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection, security analytics, and others (virtual firewall and incidence response system). These solutions enable enterprises to meet their key requirements, which help in securing their IoT devices. The network security segment to account for the highest market share during the forecast period Network security is a technique for securing networks from advanced threats by collecting and analyzing the different types of network security event information. It combines the multiple layers of defenses at the edge and in networks. It is one of the important aspects when it comes to securing the IoT ecosystem. It consists of wireless communication, remote access security, and gateway. In the IoT ecosystem, a huge amount of data is communicated through remote devices; therefore, the security of this wireless communication plays a significant role in network security. The key trend contributing to the growth of the network security segment is the rising adoption of IoT applications among various industries. The device authentication management segment to account for the highest market share during the forecast period Identity access and management refers to a business process framework. This framework consists of policies and technologies, which help organizations, control the appropriate accesses of all employees to technology resources. It is the process of managing attributes, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and social security numbers and authenticating identities. IoT is gaining traction across industries, due to its robust offerings. With the expanding reach of IoT, multiple end users and devices can be connected to networks. One of the main causes of cyber-attacks is unauthorized access to networks through intrusions. The identity access management solution plays a vital role in managing enterprises' electronic or digital identities. These solutions can be quickly and cost-effectively integrated with identity access management policies across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Speak to Analyst: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=67064836 North America to account for the highest market share during the forecast period North America is the dominant region for IoT deployment and progressive in terms of technology adoption. The region comprises the US and Canada. The US is expected to hold r a higher market share in the IoT Security Market. The US and Canada are the early adopters of trending technologies, such as IoT, big data, and mobility, and would provide significant growth opportunities for IoT security vendors. The major vendors in the global IoT Security Market include Cisco (US), IBM (US), Infineon (Germany), Intel (US), Symantec (US), Gemalto (Netherlands), Allot (Israel), Fortinet (US), Zingbox (US), Mocana (US), SecuriThings (Israel), CENTRI (Germany), Armis (US), ForgeRock (US), and NewSky (US). Browse Adjacent Markets: Digitalization and Internet of Things (IoT) Market Research Reports & Consulting 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: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/iot-security-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg SpendEdge, a global procurement market intelligence firm, has announced the release of their Global 4PL Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005510/en/ Global 4PL Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report. (Graphic: Business Wire) The strategic move of the e-commerce giants to establish their own logistics network to minimize their operating cost will pose as a significant hindrance for the spend momentum of the 4PL category during the forecast period. However, the practice of outsourcing logistics operations by buyers to 4PL service providers to focus on their core operations and to achieve cost savings on their logistics needs will serve as one of the prime spend accelerators for the 4PL category. Get access to the Free Sample copy of the 4PL market intelligence report here! Increasing complexities in supply chain management are compelling buyers to migrate from 3PL service to 4PL logistics in the US because of the latter's ability to offer enhanced and comprehensive management of the supply chain. Over 65% of buyers are engaging with logistics providers to leverage their 4PL service lines in the US. Brexit is anticipated to create massive supply chain complexities that will delay goods movement due to the re-imposition of customs checkpoints in the region. This will drive the category adoption in Europe to a significant extent. Considering the undulating growth curve of this category, this 4PL procurement research report offers insights into the cost drivers and spend potential in different geographies. Such insights are critical for buyers who can devise pricing strategies that are specific to the market dynamics of different regions and can help buyers identify cost-saving opportunities. This 4PL procurement research report also highlights the current supply market developments to help the buyers choose the appropriate vendors who can promise a steady supply assurance. Not what you are looking for? Request for free customization of this 4PL market intelligence report. "Technological capability is one of the critical supplier selection criteria for the 4PL category. Such capability can earn buyers enhanced visibility across the entire supply chain, minimized cost, and TAT," says SpendEdge procurement expert Tridib Bora This 4PL market intelligence report has highlighted the following factors to play critical roles in influencing category spend. They include: Entry of 3PL service providers is increasing the competition in the category Horizontally integrated service providers can offer high cost savings to buyers Get the full 4PL market intelligence report to know more about the complete scope of this report 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 logistics, warehousing and transportation category offer information on critical cost drivers and category pricing strategies to help the buyers achieve significant cost-savings. The supply market forecasts offer information on supplier performance benchmarking criteria to help buyers reduce spend and establish better SLAs. Additionally, SpendEdge's reports offer category management insights and procurement best practices for the category. Report scope snapshot: 4PL Category ecosystem Market favorability index for suppliers Competitiveness index for suppliers Threat of new entrants Interested to know more about the scope of our market intelligence reports? Download a FREE sample Category management enablers Procurement organization Category enablers Want customized information from our 4PL procurement research report? Get in touch Category definition Category hierarchy Category scope Category map To view this the complete table of contents for the 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 numerous 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 Perishable Goods Transportation Category Procurement Market Intelligence Report Global Distribution 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/20190416005510/en/ Contacts: SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 984 7340 UK: +44 148 459 9299 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is looking at filing a case against China over reports of Chinese fishermen harvesting giant clams in Scarborough Shoal, which Malacanang said is an "affront" to the country's sovereignty. "We caught them doing that recently, filed a diplomatic note, and will be taking legal action," Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, Jr. said in a tweet Tuesday. He did not reveal details of the possible case, and when and where it will be filed. The country's top diplomat was responding to a netizen who called his attention to a news report quoting Filipino fishermen saying they have been catching less fish due to the harvesting of giant clams, something that they said has been happening for years. In an interview with CNN Philippines' The Source Tuesday, Locsin confirmed that the government had filed a diplomatic protest. "We took the report of the national task force on the West Philippine Sea and we said, 'This is verified by us. We protest this, this is illegal and in fact you're also violating conventions on environmental protection for which we can take legal action,'" Locsin said. "Nothing has escaped a protest," he added. He also expressed frustration at reports of China pouring in resources to revive corals in the area. "It doesn't erase the fact that you wouldn't have had to revive it if you hadn't killed it in the first place," Locsin he said. In a separate media briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Chinese fishermen did the harvesting of clams in "our territory, therefore it is an affront to our territory and to our sovereignty." He, however, recognized that the Chinese are also claiming Scarborough Shoal as theirs. The Philippines calls it Panatag Shoal while for China, it is Huangyan Dao. "As far as they are concerned sa kanila yun so they are performing acts of ownership. Sa atin sa amin yan," he said. The Philippines lost control of Scarborough after a 2012 standoff with China, prompting Manila to file a case for international arbitration. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague largely recognized the country's sovereign rights in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, which the government calls West Philippine Sea. But it did not rule on which country has sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, which lies about 120 nautical miles off Zambales. The landmark decision said because Scarborough is above water only at high tide, it generates an entitlement to a territorial sea, but not to an exclusive economic zone -- favoring a Philippine position. The ruling also recognized it as a common traditional fishing ground, and said China interfered with Filipinos' right to fish there by restricting access. China rejects the arbitral ruling and stands by its sweeping claim to almost the entire South China Sea. Just recently, tensions between the country and China rose again after Chinese vessels were spotted near Pag-asa island, seat of the Kalayaan municipal government under Palawan province. On April 4, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would ask his soldiers to "prepare for suicide mission" if China does not heed his warning to lay off Pag-asa Island, but he later stressed he'd rather go into a compromise instead of an all-out war. Locsin said he has since "fired off (a) salvo of diplomatic notes" against China over the swarming of its vessels in Philippine waters. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC Pink: MXROF) (FSE: M1D1) ("MAX" or the "Company") is pleased to report surface assay results from its ongoing exploration on the Company's 1,757 sq. km "Choco Gold and Platinum Project", located 100km SW of Medellin, Colombia. The concentrates of sample 001 graded 340.84 g/t gold and 111.03 g/t platinum and sample 002 graded 222.06 g/t gold and 113.83 g/t platinum, both samples were located within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone (refer to location map). Sampling detail can be found in the accompanying table. Further analytical results will be reported as received. Production figures the 8 districts: Upper San Juan, Condoto Flats, Condoto Big Flat, Bebedo, Liorento, Cajon, El Tamana & Bajo Tamana a resourced from R.J. Fletcher & Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration & production in Choco Province, Colombia. Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3834/44108_e6cb661bc4ae487e_002full.jpg "The assay results from Samples 001 and 002 are impressive and confirm the presence of noteworthy amounts of gold and platinum on our Choco project," said Brett Matich, President and Chief Executive Officer, MAX. "We continue to enhance our analytical procedures to ensure optimal recovery of fine gold samples, and we look forward to continuing our exploration program within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone and will now expand to the north." Sample 001 and 002 were taken from surface within the same area as the hard rock conglomerate. The gold and platinum are of a coarser nature than the finer gold in the conglomerate. Test work is on-going on the conglomerate samples, with analytical procedure focused on optimal recovery of the fine gold. MAX's on-going exploration will continue to target enrichment zones within and outside the current 1,000 sq. km exploration area. Sampling of conglomerates and overlying surface deposits will continue to locate zones of gold enrichment within the conglomerates. The Company also continues to review and explore additional areas with the 1,757 sq. km Choco Gold and Platinum Project. Sample Concentrate Tailings Partial Grade * Number Weight (g) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) 001 26,800 57.99 340.84 111.03 26,742 No assay No assay 0.74 0.24 002 22,800 39.39 222.06 113.83 22,760.61 No assay No assay 0.38 0.20 * Sample grade is partial as the gold and platinum content of the tailings has not been determined. Assay Methodology MAX continues to work with the CIMEX Mineral Institute at the Medellin Mines Faculty of the National University of Colombia (CIMEX) in Medellin. CIMEX is independent of MAX and carries out all of the processing and testing of the samples. The surface samples are delivered to the CIMEX. Each sample is panned to concentrate by MAX's Colombian specialist panner under the direct supervision of CIMEX personnel. The entire sample is first weighed, then panned. The resulting concentrate is photographed, dried, weighed and then analyzed at CIMEX. The entire concentrate is leached in aqua regia for 48 hours to dissolve the gold and platinum. The leachate is then analyzed on an atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The tailings of the concentrate from the leaching process are fire assayed in their entirety with the resulting button dissolved by aqua regia and analyzed on the atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The final gold and platinum values for the concentrates are calculated utilizing the leachate and fire assay values. CIMEX is currently in the audit process to receive its ISO certification. About Max Resource Corp. MAX is a mineral exploration company focused on the development and acquisition of prospective projects in the rich mineral belts of Colombia. The Company has established significant exploration infrastructure and local community support for the Choco Gold and Platinum Project, located 100 km south of Medellin, which covers or is adjacent to historic production of 1.5Mozs gold and 1.0Mozs platinum. The Company's Gachala Copper Project, is 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. Source: R.J. Fletcher and Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration and Production in Choco Province Colombia Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd.) MAX cautions investors it has yet to verify the historic information. For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com/ For additional information contact: Max Resource Corp. Tim McNulty E: info@maxresource.com T: (604) 290-8100 For Max Resource's French inquiries: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom Inc. E: rs@maricom.ca T: (888) 585-MARI Tim Henneberry, PGeo (British Columbia), a member of the Max Resource advisory board, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release on behalf of the company. 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/44108 CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --According to the new market research report "Safety Valves Market by Size (Up to 1 inch, 1-6 inch, 6 - 25 inch, 25 - 50-inch, 50 inch, and Above), Material (Stainless Steel, Cast Iron, Alloy, Cryogenic), Industry (Oil & Gas, Energy & Power, Water & Wastewater), and Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Safety Valve Market is expected to be worth USD 4.5 billion in 2019 and reach USD 5.5 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 4.30% from 2019 to 2024. The growth of this market can be attributed to the high demand for safety valve from various industries such as oil & gas, energy & power, and water & wastewater, especially from APAC and North America. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=121512658 Oil & gas industry to hold the largest share of the safety valve market in 2019 By industry, the oil & gas leads the safety valve market. Recent uptrend in the oil & gas industry, the latest discovery of shale gas in North America, and increasing demand for cleaner fuels are the major factors that are likely to drive the safety valve market growth in the next few years. In addition, Demand for oil and gas is supported by a large population in emerging economies, such as India and China. Population growth in APAC is likely to support increasing demand for oil, and the transportation sector is likely to account for a larger share of worldwide energy consumption in the coming years. Market for cryogenic material to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period The safety valve market for cryogenic material is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period. Uptrend in the oil & gas industry and increased focus on cleaner fuels will boost the market for natural gas production and transportation, which, in turn, will boost the demand for cryogenic safety valve during the forecast period. This demand generates the need for cryogenic material to handle cryogenic temperature safely. APAC expected to hold largest share of safety valve market in 2019 APAC is expected to hold the largest share of the safety valve market in 2019. The growth is mainly attributed to Rapid urbanization and population growth in developing and emerging economies, such as China, Japan, and India, has prompted speedy development in the region, which will, in turn, boost demand for safety valves from several industries, such as energy & power, water & wastewater treatment, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and oil & gas. Browse in-depth TOC on "Safety Valves Market" 65 - Tables 40 - Figures 130 - Pages Request Sample pages of the Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=121512658 A few key players operating in the safety valve market are Emerson (US), Alfa Laval (Sweden), Cameron Schlumberger (US), LESER (Germany), and IMI PLC (UK). Please Explore Relevant Reports: Industrial Valves Market by Material Type (Cast Iron, Steel, Cryogenic, Alloy Based), Size, Valve Type (Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug), Industry (Oil & Gas, Water & Wastewater, Energy & Power), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023 Control Valve Market by Valve Type (Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug), Valve Size, Valve Components (Actuators, Valve Body, Others), Industry (Oil & Gas, Water & Wastewater Treatment, Energy & Power), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2024 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: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/safety-valve-market.asp Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / MjLink.com, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Social Life Network, Inc. (OTCQB: WDLF), announced today that George Jage, President, and Ken Tapp, CEO, will share their Pre-IPO investment offering in MjLink.com at The 4th Annual Cannabis Private Investment Summit on May 1st, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. The Cannabis Private Investment Summit WEST is back in Beverly Hills for the 4th year. Taking place May 1, 2019 at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, The family office summit series will highlight the industry's top entrepreneurs, technology innovations, and investment opportunities. Speakers will include industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government enforcement officials as they discuss the critical risks and opportunities investors should consider. The summit provides family offices and ultra-high net worth investors an exclusive educational & deal flow platform in the cannabis industry. In addition to Mr. Tapp speaking on a technology panel at the event, both gentlemen will be sharing the Pre-IPO investment opportunity in MjLink.com, Inc. at the event this year. Mr. Tapp was the VP of engineering at HomeBuilder.com & Realtor.com from 1996 through their IPO in 1999, and has invested in more than 20 tech startups over the past 25 years. About MjLink.com, Inc. Social Life Network, a cloud-based social media and social network technology company based in Denver, Colorado, announced on September 25, 2018, the Company had spun its cannabis technology division out of the parent company and incorporated MjLink.com, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, as its wholly owned subsidiary. MjLink operates as a multinational cannabis technology and media organization with two separate social networks: WeedLife.com, a consumer-to-consumer network and MjLink.com, a business-to-business social network. On April 4th of this year, the president of MjLink, George Jage, announced the launch of a new division of the company that is focused on providing the industry with best-in-class Financial, B2B and B2C cannabis centric events that complement their global social networks. For more information about Social Life Network and to download the MjLink Investor Deck, visit https://social-life-network.com Disclaimer This news release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, with respect to achieving corporate objectives, developing additional project interests, the company's analysis of opportunities in the acquisition and development of various project interests and certain other matters. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's or MjLink's future financial results, revenues or stock price. There are no assurances that the Company will successfully take MjLink.com, Inc public. These statements are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements contained herein. Contact: Investor Relations IR@Social-Life-Network.com 855-933-3277 SOURCE: Social Life Network, Inc View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542126/MjLinkcom-Sponsors-The-Cannabis-Private-Investment-Summit-in-Beverly-Hills Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF) (the "Company") has signed an agreement with Two Towers to expand the Wildflower Wellness brand's CBD+ line of products into Poland. Two Towers, a major wholesale prescription medical and over the counter wellness distribution company in Poland, is an extension of Omega Rex which is a group of 14 pharmacies around the central capital region of Warsaw. Wildflower has received tariff codes for the importation of its products into Poland. Once its products are well placed for an explosive launch in Poland, this opens the entire European Union market for export. The Brightfield Group recently announced market intelligence stating that the European CBD market will boom with 400 percent growth through 2023. Companies in the EU are readily on the hunt for reputable, high-quality CBD brands that attract eager consumers. With Wildflower's CBD+ plant-based formulations in a line-up of premium wellness products, Wildflower is well placed to explode into Poland with Two Towers expertise navigating the regulatory landscape along with their existing extensive distribution network. William MacLean, CEO of Wildflower Brands, says: "The European market is fragmented with no CBD market leaders. Our agreement with Two Towers vastly reduces barriers to moving our products between member states. This will position Wildflower as a market leader as the EU members begin opening their markets to CBD. We are excited to be working with Two Towers; their ability to expedite the regulatory process has been invaluable." ABOUT WILDFLOWER Wildflower Brands is a Vancouver-based company developing and designing brands that focus on plant-based health and wellness products. All of the company's brands work in synergy, toward becoming a global wellness leader. ABOUT TWO TOWERS Two Towers is a large wholesale medicinal distribution company that distributes the products of an extensive list of global leaders in pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods. They specialize in three areas: 1) children's products including powered food and other baby nutritional products 2) medications, nutritional supplements, medical materials and instruments and 3) fast moving consumer goods (FMCG.) Two Towers operates with relationships from the whole of Europe, both North and South Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. As they continue to expand, their mission is realized through comprehensive business partners, marketing and logistics in the area of FMCG delivered by a professional and committed team. On Behalf of the Board of Directors "William MacLean" ____________________________________ William MacLean Director and CEO Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the marijuana industry in general such as operational risks in growing; competition; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of various transactions; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and government regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The Canadian Securities Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Corporate Communications: NetworkWire (NW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkWire.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44120 TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR HOLDINGS (to be sent to the relevant issuer and to the FCA in Microsoft Word format if possible)i 1a. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attachedii: ATLANTIS JAPAN GROWTH FUND LTD 1b. Please indicate if the issuer is a non-UK issuer (please mark with an "X" if appropriate) Non-UK issuer X 2. Reason for the notification (please mark the appropriate box or boxes with an "X") An acquisition or disposal of voting rights X An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments An event changing the breakdown of voting rights X Other (please specify)iii: 3. Details of person subject to the notification obligationiv Name MITON GROUP PLC City and country of registered office (if applicable) LONDON, ENGLAND 4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.)v Name City and country of registered office (if applicable) 5. Date on which the threshold was crossed or reachedvi: 12/04/2019 6. Date on which issuer notified (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/04/2019 7. Total positions of person(s) subject to the notification obligation % of voting rights attached to shares (total of 8. A) % of voting rights through financial instruments (total of 8.B 1 + 8.B 2) Total of both in % (8.A + 8.B) Total number of voting rights of issuervii Resulting situation on the date on which threshold was crossed or reached 3.23% 3.23% 44,307,284 Position of previous notification (if applicable) 5.11% 5.11% 8. Notified details of the resulting situation on the date on which the threshold was crossed or reachedviii A: Voting rights attached to shares Class/type of shares ISIN code (if possible) Number of voting rightsix % of voting rights Direct (Art 9 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.1) Indirect (Art 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.2.1) Direct (Art 9 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.1) Indirect (Art 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.2.1) GG00B61ND550 1,432,289 3.23% SUBTOTAL 8. A 1,432,289 3.23% B 1: Financial Instruments according to Art. 13(1)(a) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.3.1.1 (a)) Type of financial instrument Expiration datex Exercise/ Conversion Periodxi Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/converted. % of voting rights SUBTOTAL 8. B 1 B 2: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect according to Art. 13(1)(b) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.3.1.1 (b)) Type of financial instrument Expiration datex Exercise/ Conversion Periodxi Physical or cash settlementxii Number of voting rights % of voting rights SUBTOTAL 8.B.2 9. Information in relation to the person subject to the notification obligation (please mark the applicable box with an "X") Person subject to the notification obligation is not controlled by any natural person or legal entity and does not control any other undertaking(s) holding directly or indirectly an interest in the (underlying) issuerxiii Full chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held starting with the ultimate controlling natural person or legal entityxiv (please add additional rows as necessary) X Namexv % of voting rights if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold % of voting rights through financial instruments if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold Total of both if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold LF MITON WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES FUND 1% 3.23% MITON GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES PLC 2.23% 3.23% 10.In case of proxy voting, please identify: Name of the proxy holder The number and % of voting rights held The date until which the voting rights will be held 11. Additional informationxvi MITON COMPLIANCE ANALYST GEORGINA THOMAS 0203 714 1478 Place of completion LONDON, ENGLAND Date of completion 15/04/2019 Annex: Notification of major holdings (to be filed with the FCA only ) A: Identity of the person subject to the notification obligation Full name (including legal form for legal entities) MITON GROUP PLC Contact address (registered office for legal entities) PATERNOSTER HOUSE, 6TH FLOOR, 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON EC4M 8AB E-Mail Phone number / Fax number 0203 714 1525 Other useful information (at least legal representative for legal persons) B: Identity of the notifier, if applicable Full name Contact address E-Mail Phone number / Fax number Other useful information (e.g. functional relationship with the person or legal entity subject to the notification obligation) C: Additional information Please send the completed form together with this annex to the FCA at the following email address: Majorshareholdings@fca.org.uk. Please send in Microsoft Word format if possible. Notes iPlease note that national forms may vary due to specific national legislation (Article 3(1a) of Directive 2004/109/EC) as for instance the applicable thresholds or information regarding capital holdings. iiFull name of the legal entity and further specification of the issuer or underlying issuer, provided it is reliable and accurate (e.g. address, LEI, domestic number identity). Indicate in the relevant section whether the issuer is a non UK issuer. iiiOther reason for the notification could be voluntary notifications, changes of attribution of the nature of the holding (e.g. expiring of financial instruments) or acting in concert. ivThis should be the full name of (a) the shareholder; (b) the natural person or legal entity acquiring, disposing of or exercising voting rights in the cases provided for in DTR5.2.1 (b) to (h)/ Article 10 (b) to (h) of Directive 2004/109/EC; (c) all parties to the agreement referred to in Article 10 (a) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.2.1 (a)) or (d) the holder of financial instruments referred to in Article 13(1) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.3.1). As the disclosure of cases of acting in concert may vary due to the specific circumstances (e.g. same or different total positions of the parties, entering or exiting of acting in concert by a single party) the standard form does not provide for a specific method how to notify cases of acting in concert. In relation to the transactions referred to in points (b) to (h) of Article 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.2.1 (b) to (h)), the following list is provided as indication of the persons who should be mentioned: - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (b) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (b)), the natural person or legal entity that acquires the voting rights and is entitled to exercise them under the agreement and the natural person or legal entity who is transferring temporarily for consideration the voting rights; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (c) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (c)), the natural person or legal entity holding the collateral, provided the person or entity controls the voting rights and declares its intention of exercising them, and natural person or legal entity lodging the collateral under these conditions; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (d) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (d)), the natural person or legal entity who has a life interest in shares if that person or entity is entitled to exercise the voting rights attached to the shares and the natural person or legal entity who is disposing of the voting rights when the life interest is created; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (e) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (e)), the controlling natural person or legal entity and, provided it has a notification duty at an individual level under Article 9 (DTR 5.1), under letters (a) to (d) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (a) to (d)) or under a combination of any of those situations, the controlled undertaking; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (f) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (f)), the deposit taker of the shares, if he can exercise the voting rights attached to the shares deposited with him at his discretion, and the depositor of the shares allowing the deposit taker to exercise the voting rights at his discretion; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (g) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (g)), the natural person or legal entity that controls the voting rights; - in the circumstances foreseen in letter (h) of Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2.1 (h)), the proxy holder, if he can exercise the voting rights at his discretion, and the shareholder who has given his proxy to the proxy holder allowing the latter to exercise the voting rights at his discretion (e.g. management companies). vApplicable in the cases provided for in Article 10 (b) to (h) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.2.1 (b) to (h). This should be the full name of the shareholder who is the counterparty to the natural person or legal entity referred to in Article 10 of that Directive (DTR5.2) unless the percentage of voting rights held by the shareholder is lower than the lowest notifiable threshold for the disclosure of voting rights holdings in accordance with national practices (e.g. identification of funds managed by management companies). viThe date on which threshold is crossed or reached should be the date on which the acquisition or disposal took place or the other reason triggered the notification obligation. For passive crossings, the date when the corporate event took effect. viiThe total number of voting rights shall be composed of all the shares, including depository receipts representing shares, to which voting rights are attached even if the exercise thereof is suspended. viiiIf the holding has fallen below the lowest applicable threshold in accordance with national law, please note that it might not be necessary in accordance with national law to disclose the extent of the holding, only that the new holding is below that threshold. ixIn case of combined holdings of shares with voting rights attached "direct holding" and voting rights "indirect holding", please split the voting rights number and percentage into the direct and indirect columns - if there is no combined holdings, please leave the relevant box blank. xDate of maturity/expiration of the financial instrument i.e. the date when right to acquire shares ends. xiIf the financial instrument has such a period - please specify this period - for example once every 3 months starting from [date]. xiiIn case of cash settled instruments the number and percentages of voting rights is to be presented on a delta-adjusted basis (Article 13(1a) of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR 5.3.3.A). xiiiIf the person subject to the notification obligation is either controlled and/or does control another undertaking then the second option applies. xivThe full chain of controlled undertakings starting with the ultimate controlling natural person or legal entity has to be presented also in the cases, in which only on subsidiary level a threshold is crossed or reached and the subsidiary undertaking discloses the notification as only thus the markets get always the full picture of the group holdings. In case of multiple chains through which the voting rights and/or financial instruments are effectively held the chains have to be presented chain by chain leaving a row free between different chains (e.g.: A, B, C, free row, A, B, D, free row, A, E, F etc.). xvThe names of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or financial instruments are effectively held have to be presented irrespectively whether the controlled undertakings cross or reach the lowest applicable threshold themselves. xviExample: Correction of a previous notification. Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - White Metal Resources Corp. (TSXV: WHM) ("White Metal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following: Little Joanna Gold Property White Metal has received its work permit allowing White Metal to begin its 2019 exploration program on its recently optioned Little Joanna Gold Property (the "Property"), located in Central Newfoundland. Planned exploration work includes a regional soil sampling survey designed to test for continuity and additional gold-bearing structures and a detailed soil sampling survey over the main gold showing from which selected grab samples by the Property vendor assayed up to 734 g/t Au (23 oz/ton Au). The regional soil sampling survey is planned to extend up to seven kilometres away from the Property's main gold showing. In addition, the regional soil survey will cover an area in which historical work by Noranda (1980s) reported up to 44 g/t Au in boulder samples and outlined two significant basil till sample anomalies of 1.15 g/t Au and 5.2 g/t Au. Soil sampling is expected to commence in the coming weeks, followed by a prospecting program and subsequent trenching on favourable targets. The Property, one of several recently optioned properties (see the Company's press release dated October 23, 2018), is located approximately 25 kilometres northeast of the town of Glenwood, is accessible by supply roads, and comprises 280 claim units covering 7,000 hectares. The Property is situated approximately 45 kilometres northeast of Sokoman's Moosehead Gold project. In July 2018, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (previously Sokoman Iron, herein referred to as "Sokoman') announced their high-grade gold-bearing discovery hole, reporting an assay result from drill core of 44.96 g/t Au over 11.90 metres (from 109.00 to 120.90 metres). Williams and Williams West White Metal work permit applications are also being prepared for the Williams and Williams West properties, also located near Sokoman's Moosehead Gold project. Applications are expected to include prospecting and soil sampling as a Phase 1 work program. A planned Phase 2 program is designed to consist of trenching and drilling of any favourable targets outlined by the Phase 1 program. The Williams and Williams West properties are located nearby and to the south of the town of Glenwood, Newfoundland, approximately 30 kilometres southeast of Sokoman's Moosehead Gold property. The Williams and Williams West properties are also in close proximity to the Clarks Brook property where Sokoman recently drilled 3.74 g/t Au over 3.10 metres, including 14.73 g/t Au over 0.60 metres (see Sokoman News Release dated April 5, 2018). Startreck Gold Work permits will also be submitted by White Metal for the Startreck Gold property to include relocating all previous trenching and drill hole locations and follow up work on the numerous gold showings that have not had any follow up since their original discovery. The Startrek Gold property is located about 20 kilometres west of the Town of Gander, Newfoundland, and was acquired because of the abundant gold showings found on the Property. Previous operator, Rubicon Minerals Corp., performed prospecting, trenching, and drilling on the Startreck Gold property from 2001 to 2005, leaving numerous gold and antimony showings yet to be evaluated. A Phase 2 work program is planned to include follow-up trenching and drilling of any favourable targets developed from the Phase 1 program. Non-Brokered Financing White Metal also announces a proposed non-brokered private placement of up to a maximum of $300,000 to fund working capital requirements by way of an issue of units. Each unit will be priced at $0.05 per unit and each unit will consist of one (1) common share and one (1) share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase an additional common share at $0.10 for a period of two years from the closing of the private placement. The offering is only open to accredited investors in Canada and will be subject to the completion of formal documentation, receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the TSX Venture Exchange and other customary conditions. All of the securities sold pursuant to the offerings will be subject to a four-month plus one day hold period from the date of closing. Finder's fees may be payable on all or a portion of the private placements and will consist of 7% cash and 7% Broker's Warrants, where applicable. In respect of the units, the Broker Warrant will be exercisable for $0.10 for a unit consisting of one common share and one (1) share purchase warrant exercisable at $0.10 for a period of two years from closing. Although the Company fully expects to spend the funds as stated there may be circumstances, for sound business reasons, where a reallocation of funds may be necessary. There is no material change about the Company that has not been generally disclosed. Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans (P.Geo.), Vice President Exploration and a Director of White Metal, who is a Qualified Person under the definitions established by the National Instrument 43-101. About White Metal Resources Corp (TSXV: WHM): White Metal Resources Corp. is a junior exploration company exploring in Canada. For more information please visit the Company's Web Page at www.whitemetalres.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors of White Metal Resources Corp. "Jean-Pierre Colin" Jean-Pierre Colin, President, CEO and Director For further information contact: Jean-Pierre Colin President, CEO & Director (416) 573-4300 jpcolin.whitemetal@gmail.com or Michael Stares Director 684 Squier Street Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, P7B 4A8 Phone: (807) 628-7836 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44121 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Reservoir Capital Corp. (CSE: REO) ("REO") is pleased to announce that it has reached agreements in principle and non-binding Memorandum of Understanding dated April 3, 2019 with Kainji Power Holding Limited ("KPHL") and certain shareholders (the "Vendors") of Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited ("MESL"), pursuant to which REO proposes to substantially increase both its indirect economic interest in MESL and its direct stake in KPHL in exchange for the issuance of common shares of REO ("REO Shares") to the Vendors and their designated beneficiaries (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is subject to the terms of definitive share exchange agreements (the "Definitive Agreements") to be negotiated among REO and the Vendors. MESL is concessionaire of two leading Nigerian hydro power plants with a combined operating capacity of 922MW. Management of REO anticipates that completion of the Transaction would increase MESL's net capacity up to 37MW (from 18.7MW currently). Subject to the terms of the Definitive Agreements, REO would acquire over 10 million shares of MESL, to be held through KPHL, and an additional 35% equity interest in KPHL, bringing REO's total equity interest in KPHL to 95%, in exchange for approximately 270 million REO Shares. REO is also engaged in talks with the owner of the last remaining 5% of KPHL for an envisaged subsequent transaction that would bring REO closer to its target of owning up to 100% of KPHL. Reservoir CEO Lewis Reford stated, "REO, its Board and Management are extremely pleased to have reached agreements-in-principle to increase REO's economic interest in MESL and broaden its shareholder base in a potential all-share transaction. We look forward to deepening and reinforcing our relationship with MESL and its key founding shareholders. Indeed, MESL is proving to be a first-class clean power company, performing and delivering results to all its stakeholders - in particular, the Nigerian public. MESL has been a very successful investment for REO and we will be delighted to welcome some of its founding shareholders as new REO shareholders after the completion of the Definitive Agreements." The issuance of the REO Shares will be subject to approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE"), and such REO Shares will be subject to restrictions on transfer under Canadian securities law and CSE policies. About Reservoir Capital Corp. REO's Vision & Mission is to assemble a portfolio of producing and near-production clean energy assets in emerging markets. REO's strategy to achieve its Vision is to approach owners of privately-held quality assets and offer them diversification, liquidity and exposure to a growing portfolio assembled following a disciplined investment policy. REO's investment policy consists of taking carefully selected minority economic interests in key geographies, targeting regular dividend income over long periods, while offering the potential for capital gain in the medium term. Further Information Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of REO should be considered highly speculative. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the operations or financial results of REO are included in REO's CSE Listing Statement and most recently filed quarterly report, each of which is filed with applicable Canadian securities regulators and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). The CSE have neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. For further information, contact: Lewis Reford CEO, Reservoir Capital Corp. Telephone: 416-399-2274 Email: ceo@reservoircap.team NEITHER THE CSE NOR THE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY REGULATORY ORGANIZATION OF CANADA ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward Looking Statements Certain information set forth in this news release contains "forward-looking statements", and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs regarding future events of management of REO. This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, estimates and forecasts relating to MESL's operating capacity, statements as to management's expectations, the successful negotiation and execution of the Definitive Agreements, completion of the Transaction and CSE approval of the Transaction. These statements generally can be identified by use of forward-looking words such as "may", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intends", "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. These forward looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include without limitation, risks relating to the timing of the closing of the Transaction, successful completion of the Transaction, execution of the Definitive Agreement, the number of securities of REO that may be issued in connection with the Transaction; REO realizing on the anticipated value of the Transaction, REO maintaining its projected growth, CSE approval of the Transaction and general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. In making the forward looking statements in this news release, REO has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation that the acquisition of the economic interest in KPHL and MESL will generate the anticipated revenue per management's expectations and REO will obtain CSE approval of the Transaction. REO does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements, unless and until required by applicable securities laws. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in REO's filings with the 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/44122 The global bilirubin blood test market is expected to post a CAGR of nearly 8% during the forecast period 2019-2023, according to the latest market research report by Technavio This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005775/en/ Technavio has published a new market research report on the global bilirubin blood test market from 2019-2023. (Graphic: Business Wire) Drugs damage and reduce the liver's functioning ability and cause symptoms like jaundice, itching, abdominal pain, and a tendency to bruise and bleed. Drugs such as atazanavir and Evotaz increase bilirubin levels. The atazanavir drug causes the bilirubin levels to increase up to five times than the normal upper limit. A major percentage of people show a rise in their bilirubin levels in a laboratory test. To regulate the bilirubin levels in adult patients, bilirubin blood tests are done in large numbers. This is expected to drive the growth of the global bilirubin blood test market during the forecast period. This market research report on the global bilirubin blood test market 2019-2023also provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook during the forecast period. In this report, Technavio highlights the increasing demand for hand-held diagnostic devices market as one of the key emerging trends in the global bilirubin blood test market. Global bilirubin blood test market: Increasing demand for hand-held diagnostic devices Portable bilirubinometers are compact, single-purpose, and can be used by laboratory professionals to provide instant analysis of the blood sample. They eliminate the hassle of packaging and transport, which is leading to their increased demand over conventional devices. These devices are useful in checking bilirubin levels in newborns. For instance, Koninklijke Philips introduced the BiliChek System to assess the risk of hyperbilirubinemia in infants. The system is compact, has a rechargeable lithium battery, and is easy to handle. It also features BiliCal individual calibration tips made of disposable plastic to reduce the risk of infection. The increasing demand for such hand-held diagnostic devices with added features will lead to their adoption over conventional devices. "Several vendors are combining advanced technologies to stay ahead of the competition. For instance, COBAS INTEGRA 400 plus introduced by F. Hoffman-La Roche features technologies such as absorbance photometry, turbidimetry, fluorescence polarimetry, and ion-selective electrode potentiometry. Similarly, AVI Healthcare offers hand-held transcutaneous jaundice detector for use in the dynamic clinical examination of newborns. The device is non-invasive and eliminates the discomfort in drawing blood. Many such advancements among vendors are expected to boost global bilirubin blood test market growth over the forecast period", says an analyst at Technavio. Global bilirubin blood test market: Segmentation analysis This market report segments the global bilirubin blood test market by application (infants and adults) and geography (Asia, Europe, North America, and ROW). North America led the market in 2018 with a market share of more than 41%, followed by Europe, Asia, and ROW respectively. The dominance of North America can be attributed to the high birth rates and the need for neonatal jaundice test in the first 48 hours after birth. Looking for more information on this market? Request for a free sample reports Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. 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. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005775/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 www.technavio.com CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Virtual Sensors Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Deployment Mode (Cloud and On-Premises), End User (Process Industry - Manufacturing and Utilities, Automotive and Transportation, and Oil and Gas), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Virtual Sensors Market size is expected to grow from USD 235 million in 2018 to USD 910 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 31.1% during the forecast period. Predictive maintenance, potential cost and time saving compared to physical sensors, and increasing adoption of the IoT cloud platforms are major growth factors for the global Virtual Sensors Market. Browse in-depth TOC on "Virtual Sensors Market" 33 - Tables 31 - Figures 97 - Pages Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=255090315 On-premises deployment mode to hold a larger market size during the forecast period The on-premises deployment of virtual sensors offers enterprises with total control over their enterprise-sensitive data, such as customer details, product data, enterprise asset details, and supplier data. The data is secured, as it exists on dedicated servers that are separated both physically and virtually from any other business data of an enterprise. The on-premises deployment of virtual sensors is a traditional deployment mode and is presently the preferred method. It requires IT professionals who can monitor, track, and manage the route optimization process in real time and allows enterprises to install highly customized, secured, and complex virtual sensor solutions, which cater to the specific needs of enterprises. Electrical, electronics, and consumer technology segment to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period Electrical, electronics, and consumer technology companies manufacture and assemble parts of electronics and electrical equipment for user companies and individuals. By incorporating smart manufacturing techniques in processes, productivity and quality can be improved. A majority of the companies in the segment are automating their processes to improve their production efficiency. Manufacturers of electronic products such as television, calculators, personal computers, and automotive electronics are employing automation to meet the increasing consumer demand in a short span of time. The electrical, electronics, and consumer technology industry is being driven by complex and unique product designs. Intense competition among Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to provide new designs and advancements in the existing product line. Additionally, smart connected electrical and electronics products that enable the implementation of virtual sensors will help in improving the efficiency of the overall manufacturing process, product designs, and preventative, proactive, and remote maintenance services. Ask for Report Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=255090315 North America to hold the largest market size during the forecast period North America is expected to account for the largest market size during the forecast period. The region comprises developed countries (the US and Canada) and is considered the most advanced region in terms of adopting digital technologies. The region is an important hub for consumer electronics products, especially for smartphones wearable devices, in which the sensor technology is used prominently. North America is also an important market for medical devices for health monitoring applications. The region has the highest number of end users for healthcare wearable devices. Technological advancements and willingness to adopt innovative technologies among enterprises are contributing to the growth of the Virtual Sensors Market in the region. The region has a wide presence of key industry players offering virtual sensor solutions, and its financial position enables it to invest majorly in the leading tools and technologies for effective business operations. Major vendors offering marketing virtual sensor solutions and services across the globe include General Electric (US), Cisco (US), Honeywell (US), Siemens (Germany), Schneider Electric (France), Elliptic Labs (Norway), Algorithmica technologies (Germany), EXPUTEC (Austria), TACTILE MOBILITY (Israel), IntelliDynamics (US), ANDATA (Austria), Aspen Technology (US), OSIsoft (US), Modelway (Italy), and LMI Technologies (Canada). Browse Adjacent Markets: Digitalization and Internet of Things (IoT) Market Research Reports & Consulting 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: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/virtual-sensor-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg Accommodation revenue* up 4% like-for-like during the first half of the year Regulatory News: Groupe Pierre Vacances-Center Parcs (Paris:VAC): 1] First-half revenue As of 1 October 2018, the Group applies the new revenue recognition standard "IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers". The main impacts on revenue are the following: Tourism: in terms of its tourism marketing mandates and various outsourcing contracts (catering, events, ski lifts etc.), the Group acts mostly as an "agent" in the wording of IFRS 15 and only its net remuneration must be recognised in revenue. Application of IFRS 15 therefore leads to a decline in tourism revenue, which so far recorded the volume of business generated by these activities, with no impact on the Group's net profit (loss) for the year. Property development: sales operations on behalf of third parties are analysed on a case by case basis in order to establish whether the Group acts as an "agent" or a "principal". The outcome of this analysis is a sharp increase in H1 2018/2019 revenue, driven primarily by the signing of renovation/disposal operations at Center Parcs, for which the Group is considered as a "principle" under the terms of IFRS 15. Under IFRS accounting rules, H1 2018/2019 revenue totalled 707.2 million (516.7 million for the tourism activities and 190.5 million for the property development activities). The Group nevertheless continues to comment on its revenue and the associated financial indicators with the presentation of joint undertakings in proportional integration, in compliance with its operating reporting. millions 2018/2019 according to operating reporting 2017/2018 Pro-forma IFRS 15 according to operating reporting Change Like-for-like change* 2017/2018 Reported (Before IFRS15) according to operating reporting Tourism 296.5 291.9 +1.6% 322.8 Pierre et Vacances Tourisme Europe 151.3 151.5 -0.1% 181.7 Center Parcs Europe** 145.2 140.3 +3.5% 141.1 o/w accommodation revenue 197.9 195.5 +1.2% +4.1% 195.5 Pierre et Vacances Tourisme Europe 104.1 105.5 -1.4% +4.1% 105.5 Center Parcs Europe** 93.8 90.0 +4.2% +4.1% 90.0 Property development 48.6 33.1 +46.9% 25.3 Total Q2 345.1 324.9 +6.2% 348.1 Tourism 543.5 529.8 +2.6% 570.1 Pierre et Vacances Tourisme Europe 243.5 238.1 +2.3% 276.6 Center Parcs Europe** 299.9 291.8 +2.8% 293.4 o/w accommodation revenue 367.6 357.1 +2.9% +4.2% 357.1 Pierre et Vacances Tourisme Europe 170.1 166.1 +2.4% +5.1% 166.1 Center Parcs Europe** 197.5 190.9 +3.4% +3.4% 190.9 Property development 194.7 100.0 +94.6% 84.8 Total H1 738.1 629.9 +17.2% 654.8 * Adjusted for the impact of: - the shift from March in 2018 to April in 2019 of school holidays for certain foreign customers (German, Belgian and Spanish especially); - at PVTE, the net reduction in the network operated (withdrawals from loss-making sites and non-renewal of leases); - at CPE, the net growth in the network operated, prompted by the opening of the new Center Parcs in Allgau and the annualisation of stock at the Center Parcs Ardennen in Q1. These effects were partly offset by the impact of the closure of Center Parcs de l'Ailette under the framework of renovation works (from 3 September 2018 to 8 February 2019). ** Including Villages Nature Paris (11.1m over H1 (4.8m over Q2), o/w 8.7m in accommodation revenue (3.9m over Q2)). Tourism revenue Q2 2018/2019 Revenue from the tourism activities rose 1.6% to 296.5 million compared with Q2 of the previous year. Accommodation revenue totalled 197.9 million, up +4.1% like-for-like (i.e. excluding the impact of supply effects and the shift in the school holidays). Pierre Vacances Tourisme Europe contributed 104.1 million, up +4.1% like-for-like. Revenue from the mountain resorts rose 5.9%, benefiting from growth in net average letting rates of more than 5% and an average occupancy rate of 93% over the quarter. Revenue from the seaside resorts rose by 5.7%, with better performances in both metropolitan France and Spain. Revenue from Adagio residences was stable, with momentum noted until December 2018 hampered over Q2 by the Yellow Vest movement in France (and more specifically in Paris). Center Parcs Europe contributed 93.8 million. Revenue rose 4.1% like-for-like, with 3.9% growth at the Belgian, German and Dutch domains (with attractive performances by the domains recently renovated in the Netherlands) and +4.4% for the French domains (o/w +2.0% for the Center Parcs domains and +28.3% for Villages Nature Paris). H1 2018/2019: Revenue from the tourism businesses totalled 543.5 million, up +2.6% relative to H1 2017/2018 Accommodation revenue totalled 367.6 million, up +4.2% like-for-like with growth in revenue in all destinations: +6.1% for mountain destinations, +5.0% for city residences, +3.4% for seaside destinations and +3.4% for Center Parcs Europe. Supplementary income grew by almost +1.8%, with a rise of 2.1% for Pierre Vacances Tourisme Europe and 1.6% for Center Parcs Europe. Revenue from property development Q2 2018/2019 property development revenue totalled 48.6 million, compared with 33.1 million in the year-earlier period, driven primarily by the contribution from renovation operations for Center Parcs (22.9million) and Senioriales residences (16.1 million). In H1 2018/2019, the property development activities posted revenue of 194.7 million (of which 127.5 million for renovation operations for Center Parcs) compared with 100 million in H1 2017/2018. Property reservations recorded in the first half of the year with individual investors represent sales volumes of 177.9m, vs. 164.5 million in the year-earlier period). 2] Outlook for third quarter 2018/ 2019 In Q3 2018/2019, in view of the portfolio of reservations to date, the Group expects growth in like-for-like tourism revenue relative to the previous year. Q3 property development revenue in 2018/2019 ought to be similar to that of Q3 2017/2018. 1 The revenue and financial indicators commented on in this press release stem from operating reporting with the presentation of joint-ventures under proportional consolidation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005705/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations and Strategic Operations Emeline Laute +33 (0) 1 58 21 54 76 info.fin@groupepvcp.com Press Relations Valerie Lauthier +33 (0) 1 58 21 54 61 valerie.lauthier@groupepvcp.com ADECCO GROUP SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE ALL AGENDA ITEMS AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Zurich, Switzerland, 16 April 2019: At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Adecco Group, held today in Lausanne, shareholders re-elected all members of the Board of Directors. Shareholders further approved the Board of Directors' dividend proposal of CHF 2.50 per share, the proposed maximum amount of remuneration for the Board and the Executive Committee, and all other agenda items. Shareholders attending the Adecco Group's AGM, confirmed the following members of the Board of Directors for a further term of one year: Rolf Dorig (Chairman), Jean-Christophe Deslarzes, Ariane Gorin, Alexander Gut, Didier Lamouche, David Prince, Kathleen Taylor and Regula Wallimann. Shareholders also voted in favour of the proposal to pay a cash dividend of CHF 2.50 per share for the financial year 2018. The distribution will be out of available earnings. Ex-date of the dividend payment is 23 April 2019. Furthermore, shareholders approved the maximum total amount of remuneration of the Board of Directors for the office period from the AGM 2019 until the AGM 2020 as well as the maximum total amount of remuneration of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2020, with 92.6% and 94.8% favourable votes respectively. The Remuneration Report 2018, which includes details of the actual remuneration paid, was approved by shareholders in an advisory vote with 86.5% of votes in favour. The Compensation Committee was elected directly by the shareholders and consists of the following members: Jean-Christophe Deslarzes, Kathleen Taylor and Didier Lamouche. Shareholders also approved the Group's Annual Report 2018. Ernst & Young Ltd, Zurich was re-elected as auditors of Adecco Group AG for the business year 2019. The AGM approved all other agenda items including the capital reduction by way of cancellation of own shares after share buyback (3,231,750 registered shares with a nominal value of CHF 0.10 each). To read the Annual Report 2018 online or download the full pdf version, follow this link (http://ar.adeccogroup.com/). For further information please contact: The Adecco Group Investor Relations investor.relations@adeccogroup.com or +41 (0) 44 878 88 88 The Adecco Group Press Office media@adeccogroup.com or +41 (0) 44 878 87 87 adeccogroup.com Facebook: facebook.com/theadeccogroup Twitter: @AdeccoGroup Financial Agenda Ex-dividend date 23 April 2019 Q1 2019 results 7 May 2019 Q2 2019 results 8 August 2019 Q3 2019 results 5 November 2019 Forward-looking statements Information in this release may involve guidance, expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on information available to Adecco Group AG as of the date of this release, and we assume no duty to update any such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences. Factors that could affect the Company's forward-looking statements include, among other things: global GDP trends and the demand for temporary work; changes in regulation of temporary work; intense competition in the markets in which the Company operates; integration of acquired companies; changes in the Company's ability to attract and retain qualified internal and external personnel or clients; the potential impact of disruptions related to IT; any adverse developments in existing commercial relationships, disputes or legal and tax proceedings. About the Adecco Group The Adecco Group is the world's leading HR solutions partner. We provide more than 700,000 people with permanent and flexible employment every day. With more than 34,000 employees in 60 countries, we transform the world of work one job at a time. Our colleagues serve more than 100,000 organisations with the talent, HR services and cutting-edge technology they need to succeed in an ever-changing global economy. As a Fortune Global 500 company, we lead by example, creating shared value that meets social needs while driving business innovation. Our culture of inclusivity, fairness and teamwork empowers individuals and organisations, fuels economies, and builds better societies. These values resonate with our employees, who voted us number 5 on the Great Place to Work - World's Best Workplaces 2018 list. We make the future work for everyone. The Adecco Group is based in Zurich, Switzerland. Adecco Group AG is registered in Switzerland (ISIN: CH0012138605) and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ADEN). The group is powered by ten global brands: Adecco, Adia, Badenoch & Clark, General Assembly, Lee Hecht Harrison, Modis, Pontoon, Spring Professional, Vettery and YOSS. Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced the opening of registration for their 2019 National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers, which will be held June 27, 2019, in Chicago. The program is designed to provide an open forum for regulators and industry professionals including compliance, internal audit, and other senior personnel of broker-dealer firms and branch offices to discuss current compliance practices and promote a more effective compliance structure for the protection of investors. The SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), in coordination with the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, is sponsoring the program with FINRA. The program will be held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT. The program will focus on insights from leadership, protecting retail investors, and regulatory hot topics such as digital assets and cybersecurity. "We look forward to our continued engagement with industry professionals at this year's National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers," said Peter Driscoll, Director of OCIE. "This event is a valuable opportunity for us to share our thoughts and observations from recent examinations and to listen to the insights provided by experienced industry professionals about current market and regulatory risks." "As our regulatory program evolves to meet the challenges of new markets, new products and new rules, FINRA engages with member firms, compliance leaders and other regulators in meaningful discussions that enrich our regulatory efforts and provide broker-dealers with the tools and information needed to better serve investors," said Mike Rufino, Executive Vice President and Head of FINRA Member Regulation-Sales Practice. There is no cost to attend the event, but in-person attendance is limited to 250 on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be a maximum of four attendees per firm. For those that cannot attend, a live webcast will be available at http://www.sec.gov/news/otherwebcasts.shtml. CPE, CRCP and CFP continuing education (CE) credits and a CLE voucher will be available to in-person attendees only. For additional details on the 2019 National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers, including the agenda and information on how to register for the event, visit the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/info/complianceoutreach-bd.htm or FINRA's website at http://www.finra.org/industry/2019-national-compliance-outreach-program-broker-dealers. Regulatory News: EOS imaging (Paris:EOSI) (Euronext, FR0011191766 EOSI), the pioneer of orthopedic medical imaging 2D/3D, today announces consolidated results for the full year ended December 31, 2018, and its first quarter 2019 consolidated revenues as adopted by the Board of Directors on April 16, 2019. FULL YEAR 2018 HIGHLIGHTS +6% Gross Margin growth at 17.8 million vs. 16.8 million as of December 31, 2017 490bp Gross Margin progression up to 50.2% of sales (vs. 45.3% over FY 2017), driven by positive trend in average selling price vs. 16.8 million as of December 31, 2017 Total net cash position of 19.7 million as of December 31, 2018, following convertible notes issuance and Fosun Pharmaceutical AG equity financing as of December 31, 2018, following convertible notes issuance and Fosun Pharmaceutical AG equity financing Growing adoption of EOS in the US up to 100% of Top 10 rated 1 Neurosurgical Hospitals, 100% of the Top 10 rated Pediatric Orthopedic hospitals and 90% of the Top 10 rated Orthopedic Hospitals up to 100% of Top 10 rated Neurosurgical Hospitals, 100% of the Top 10 rated Pediatric Orthopedic hospitals and 90% of the Top 10 rated Orthopedic Hospitals Global install base exceeded 300 EOS systems by the end of year fueling maintenance revenues by the end of year fueling Global maturing opportunity pipeline Mike Lobinsky, CEO of EOS imaging, commented: "2018 has been a year of many accomplishments for EOS imaging. Despite the year end commercial slowdown, we are proud to reach the 300th-installed-EOS mark and see this as an important milestone for the Company. By year-end 2018, we opened three new markets (Mexico, Spain and Portugal) and are excited to see the continued global adoption of our systems in leading hospitals and imaging centers as well as new adoption in private spine and orthopedic clinics in the U.S.; Our growing installed base had also a very positive impact on recurring revenues which increased by +26% over prior year. We are also pleased to see the increasing interest in our Advanced Orthopedic Solutions offering which is continuing to differentiate EOS imaging beyond our core diagnostic imaging system." FULL YEAR 2018 FINANCIAL RESULTS Consolidated revenues over FY 2018: 35.4 millions EOS imaging recorded annual revenues of 35.4 million, compared to 37.1 million in full year 2017. The Company sold 64 EOS systems in 2018. The worldwide installed base grew to over 300 EOS systems by the end of 2018. Recurring revenues grew +26% to 8.9 million notably driven by a strong +33% increase of maintenance contract revenues from the rapidly growing global installed base. Recurring revenues in 2018 represented 25% of total sales, compared to 19% in 2017. EOS imaging continued R&D investments led to revenues from public grants and tax credit amounting to 1.4 million. Gross Margin: 17.8 million Gross Margin increased by +6% to 17.8 million, representing 50.2% of sales, compared to 45.3% in 2017. This improvement was driven up by the combination of an increase in average selling prices and an improvement in production and maintenance costs. Financial Results Operating expenses including cost of share-based payments for the full year 2018 totaled 27.4 million, up 13% compared to the prior year. The increase in Sales, Marketing and Clinical costs was driven by the US sales team reorganization initiated in H2 2017 and taking a full year impact in 2018. Administrative costs have increased by 2.2 million, of which 1 million one-time costs mostly relating to consulting in support to the refinancing and personnel transitions. Operating loss for the full year 2018 was 8.2 million compared with an operating loss of 5.8 million in 2017. Net financial expenses for the full year 2018 totaled (4.8) million, compared to (2.0) million in 2017, mainly reflecting in the one-time expense for the early reimbursement of the company venture debt in May 2018. Net loss for the full year 2018 was 13.0 million compared with a net loss of 7.8 million in the previous year. Summarized Consolidated Income Statement Income Statement Unaudited2 / millions As of December 31 FY 2018 FY 2017 Revenues 35.39 37.09 Other income 1.43 1.72 Total Revenues 36.82 38.81 Direct cost of sales (17.62) (20.29) Gross margin 17.77 16.80 as a of revenue 50.2% 45.3% Indirect cost of production and services (3.87) (4.12) Research Development (4.43) (4.10) Sales Marketing and Clinical (10.87) (9.81) Regulatory expenses (0.76) (0.74) Administrative costs (6.76) (4.61) Total operating expenses excluding cost of goods and share-based payments (26.68) (23.38) Share-based payments (0.77) (0.91) Total operating expenses (27.45) (24.29) Operating income/(loss) (8.24) (5.77) Net financial income/(expense) (4.79) (2.02) Net income/(loss) (13.04) (7.79) As of December 31, 2018 As of December 31, 2017 Net cash position 19.72 6.93 Net cash position at December 31, 2018: 19.7 million As of December 31, 2018, EOS imaging's net cash totaled 19.7 million, compared with 6.9 million at December 31, 2017. This variation results from (8.7) million net cash flow from operations, (4.1) million net cash flow from investments, and 25.5 million net cash flow from financing. Over 2018, EOS imaging undertook two significant financing operations: the issuance of convertible notes allowing the full repayment of the Company's venture debt and a 15.1 million equity financing from Fosun Pharmaceuticals AG. FIRST QUARTER 2019 REVENUES HIGHLIGHTS Sales Terms and Conditions for EOS systems modified to match common U.S. practice, impacting revenue recognition timing Solid business performance including: 15 EOS equipment orders received in Q1 2019 to be compared to a particularly high Q1 2018 with 19 orders received Continuous positive trend in EOS equipments average selling price +27% growth in recurring revenues compared to Q1 2018, driven by maintenance contracts revenue fuelled by the growing installed base Mike Lobinsky, CEO of EOS imaging, commented: "With 15 EOS orders received over the 1st quarter of 2019 and +27% growth in recurring revenues, we are in line with our expectations. Notably, we experimented a positive trend in our two main markets, EMEA and North America, offset by an anticipated decrease in Asia Pacific following the Q4 distributor change in China. We have decided to implement new sales agreements to better meet customer expectations and evolving industry practices, particularly in the US. This strong decision will have short-term impacts on equipment sales revenue recognition, but creates better conditions for commercial development and cash management. We are highly confident in our ability to develop EOS imaging across our three major markets in 2019 and beyond." EOS systems general sales term evolution impacting timing of revenue recognition From 2019, EOS systems direct sales agreements include a transfer of property at the time of acceptance, ie. the signature of the Statement of Working Order commonly referred to as "installation", time at which sale would be effective and revenue recorded. Two additional advanced KPIs, equipment orders3 and order book4, will be used to provide the necessary visibility on business performance as well as a the ability to compare prior year performance. This business driven decision was taken in order to make EOS equipments commercial model more consistent with both customer expectations and evolving industry practices, particularly in the US. Nonetheless, given the 3 to 12 month average delay between the shipment and the installation of EOS systems, 2019 revenues will be significantly impacted by this one-time change. This change should be accompanied by enhancements to the management of supply chain due to shorter shipment to installation times, extension of our working capital and improvements to our receivables. Q1 2019 equipment orders and total revenue by product lines Equipment Orders and Order Book Non-audited Including forex impact5 / million As of March 31 Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Equipment Orders (over the period) 6.25 Equipment Order Book (end of period) 6.20 Revenues Non-audited Including forex impact million As of March 31 Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Equiments 0.05 7.56 Maintenance contracts 2.21 1.73 Consumables and services 0.32 0.26 TOTAL QUARTERLY REVENUE 2.58 9.54 Total revenue for the first three month of 2019, according to the new general sales terms implemented, was2.6 million. Total equipment orders were 6.25 million, following a continuous positive trend in average selling price. Total Q1 2019 recurring revenue was 2.5 million, including 2.2 million in maintenance revenue to be compared to 1.7 million in Q1 2018 (ie. +28% growth). Total Q1 2019 revenue with the addition of the change in equipment order book value reached 8.8 million to be compared to 9.5 million in Q1 2018, ie. -8.0% decrease from a particularly high quarter. Q1 2019 equipment orders and total revenue by geography Revenues Non-audited Including forex impact million As of March 31 Q1 2019 Q1 2018 EMEA 1.26 3.53 APAC 0.17 2.21 NAM 1.15 3.81 Total Quarterly Revenues 2.58 9.54 ABOUT EOS imaging EOS imaging designs, develops and markets EOS, a major innovative medical imaging solution dedicated to osteoarticular pathologies and orthopaedics combining equipment and services targeting a $2B per year market opportunity. EOS imaging is currently present in 34 countries, including the United States under FDA agreement, Japan, China and the European Union under CE labelling, through approximately over 300 EOS installed representing around one million patient exams every year. Revenues were 35.4M in 2018. For more information, please visit www.eos-imaging.com. EOS imaging has been chosen to be included in the new EnterNext PEA-PME 150 index, composed of 150 French companies and listed on Euronext and Alternext markets in Paris. EOS imaging is listed on Compartment C of Euronext Paris ISIN: FR0011191766 Ticker: EOSI Next press release: Release of Q2 2018 sales in July 16, 2019 1 Source: US News 2018/2019 Best Hospitals National Rankings (August 2018) 2 Audit procedures have been performed, but audit reports have not being issued yet 3 Equipment Orders: Sum of EOS system orders recorded in order book over the period 4 Order Book: Accumulation of EOS system ordered but not installed for which revenue has not been recognized 5Forex impact over Q1 2019: +0.08 million www.eos-imaging.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005877/en/ Contacts: EOS imaging Valerie Worrall CFO Ph: (+33) 1 55 25 60 60 investors@eos-imaging.com Investor Relations (US) Tram Bui Emma Poalillo The Ruth Group Ph: (+1) 646-536-7008 7024 EOS-imagingIR@theruthgroup.com Press Relations (US) Kirsten Thomas The Ruth Group Ph: (+1) 508-280-6592 kthomas@theruthgroup.com Free teaching materials help integrate process modelling and digital design throughout curriculum Process Systems Enterprise (PSE), the advanced process modelling company, today launched PATH the Process systems engineering Academic Teaching Highway an initiative aimed at ensuring that chemical engineering graduates enter industry with 21st century skills. PATH provides high-quality, modular teaching materials to help course directors and lecturers integrate process modelling and aspects of digital design into all facets of chemical engineering education. PATH has evolved with input from industrial employers of chemical engineers such as Procter Gamble, ExxonMobil, AstraZeneca and DSM, and the academic community. A key aim is to align the teaching of these technologies within universities with the rapidly-evolving needs of industrial employers, by providing ready-made materials for use in new or existing modules. Eva Sorensen, Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCL, says: "The current wave of digitalisation initiatives in industry is putting pressure on chemical engineering departments to revisit their taught courses to keep up, as we need to ensure that our graduate engineers have the skill set required for the modern world." This sentiment is supported by employers of chemical engineers in industry. Ben Weinstein of Procter Gamble states: "Modelling is a key enabler of innovation. It allows us to develop our first prototypes virtually, and this allows us to explore a much broader design space than would otherwise be possible". PATH provides slides, hands-on exercises and homework assignments that are designed for implementation within any chemical engineering module. The material is offered under a Creative Commons licence, which means that it can be modified and extended as long as the changed versions are offered on the same terms. The material is intended to promote modelling and simulation education, and is not linked to any specific software product. The initial material has been piloted by several universities, and experience to date has been overwhelmingly positive. "When incorporated throughout the curriculum, process modelling helps students gain a better understanding of both textbook theories and the real world," says Pieter Schmal, PATH Programme Director. "It not only makes them better engineers, but also provides them with a skill in high demand by future employers." For Editors Website: psepath.com Watch the video: www.psepath.com/professorsvideo PATH workshop, 30 April 2019, London: www.psenterprise.com/events/uk/2019/path/path-workshop-ucl About: www.psenterprise.com/news/pr190416 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005883/en/ Contacts: Kate Burness +44-20-8563-0888 k.burness@psenterprise.com Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Alberta Clean Technologies (VCC) Ltd. (ABCT) today announced the successful closing of its third round of venture capital financing, bringing the total raised to date to $7.5 million. The funds will be used to invest in Alberta based clean energy technology companies with proprietary technologies, products and processes under the Investing in a Diversified Alberta Act. ABCT further announced the closing of its first venture investment, made up of $2.9 million for a 7.1% equity stake in Rocky Mountain GTL Inc. (RMGTL). RMGTL is a privately owned Alberta company that designs, constructs and operates small scale gas to liquids plants to economically convert natural gas and natural gas liquids into synthetic diesel, naphtha and jet fuel without a refinery. In 2017, RMGTL acquired the patents and trade mark for the process technologies called Enhanced Gas to Liquids (EGTLTM) from Expander Energy Inc. of Calgary. EGTLTM is a direct "well to wheel" solution for the Alberta natural gas industry, converting clean-burning, low emissions qualities of natural gas into high performance, low carbon liquid paraffinic fuels for the road, rail, marine and aviation markets. EGTLTM is carbon efficient, resulting in reduced carbon emissions, and increased production and economics. RMGTL's first commercial project is a plant currently under construction in Carseland, Alberta, which is scheduled to be manufacturing 20 million litres per year of low emission, high performance synthetic fuels by mid-2019. About Alberta Clean Technologies (VCC) Ltd. Alberta Clean Technologies (VCC) Ltd. (ABCT) was founded in June 2018 as a venture capital corporation (VCC) under the Investing in a Diversified Alberta Act. ABCT provides capital to Alberta small businesses doing research, development or commercialization of proprietary clean energy technologies, products or processes. ABCT is not a reporting issuer in any jurisdiction. See www.abct.ca for more information. For more information: Shane Ferster, CFO, (403) 880-7237 or s.ferster@abct.ca, or see www.abct.ca. This press release is for information purposes only. It is not, and under no circumstances should be construed as, a solicitation or invitation to purchase, or advertisement for ABCT Common Shares. No securities regulatory authority in Canada has assessed the merits of the ABCT Common Shares or reviewed this press release. Any representation to the contrary is an offence. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44128 IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / According to the US Department of Education, the performance of federal student loans is by far poor but comparatively, the loans serviced by Premier Student Loan Center perform better than those under other organizations. According to recent reports, the default rate has been roughly 8 percent in the last few years, which compares well with the national default rate of about 12 percent. The default rate is a measure of the percentage of federal student borrowers who are unable to service their loans shortly after hitting the repayment bracket. To help mitigate on the challenge of default, Premier Student Loan Center has devoted a considerable amount of finances in research, development and employee training to equip its staff on key areas that have been the underlying causes of increased default rate among American student loan borrowers. We understand that borrowers equipped with the knowledge on loans, repayment plans and budgeting are less likely to default. We have created a conducive working environment by partnering with government agencies with a view of making crucial policy recommendations to help educate students before they can access the loans. We have also worked to simplify the repayment option and raise borrower contact, policy reforms that are aimed at significantly increase repayment and lower default rates of the loans we service. As a professional firm with a firm grasp of financial trends, we design repayment plans based on real data so you are assured of a plan that addresses your situation as a borrower. Premier Student Loan Center works on a default prevention program that is heavily informed by a set of accurate data all designed to prevent default. Our belief is that increasing contact with our clients significantly reduces chances of default. With the help of this program, Premier Student Loan Center continues to increase income-driven repayment plan enrollment. This is consistent with the Department of Education data and reports that point at a general increase in the number of borrowers already in income-driven repayment plans. Over the last four years, the number has doubled with data showing a decline in the number of default loans by 15% up from 13% in 2014. This can be attributed to the awareness campaigns regarding repayment plan options through consistent contact through numerous channels, such as mail, videos, phone calls and text messages. Some of the ways that have helped reduce the default. What this means is that borrowers will not need to go through the lengthy process of recertifying their incomes every year. As a student, all you need is to let us work on your repayment plan while you focus on getting a quality certificate and the source of income that you'll use to service your loan upon finishing school. Not every company offering service similar to ours is keen on ensuring that your individual needs are met. On our part, we acknowledge the fact that handling financial matters requires someone who understands and empathizes with the person looking for financial assistance. This is what distinguishes us from the rest of the players in the industry. Of course, this is why we have Better Business Bureau Rating of "A+", a clear indicator that Premier Student Loan Center is a reputable and reliable partner. About Us Premier Student Loan Center is a leading provider of student loan account management, financial consultancy and asset management. We're established to help millions of Americans students achieve their dream career in an easy and affordable way. We have retained a team of dedicated and highly skilled finance experts capable of addressing all your concerns around federal student loan repayment plans. CONTACT: contact@premierstudentloancenter.com SOURCE: Premier Student Loan Center View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/541602/Premier-Student-Loan-Center-is-a-Premier-Provider-of-Cutting-Edge-Services 5th annual Fintech and Financing Conference in Toronto addressed challenges and successes of entrepreneurs and innovators transforming the financial industry TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA), the non-profit cross-body organization that promotes and supports fintech and funding throughout Canada, closed its 5th annual flagship Fintech and Financing Conference - FFCON - which featured numerous fintech market leaders, as well as industry experts, government officials, and prominent tech investors. "FEARLESS" was the theme for this year's conference, celebrating the boldness and innovative nature of the FinTech industry, where entrepreneurs constantly challenge pre-existing financial systems with innovative new products and services. The conference brought together more than 500 attendees who experienced keynote speeches, immersive learning, workshops, startup pitch presentations and awards, an exhibitor floor, and networking receptions. Key themes explored at FFCON19: FEARLESS: RISK is a conscious choice and necessary to innovate; Digital trust and security are essential for mass adoption; The digital bank and future of fintech is already here; Collaboration and new social (decentralized) models can revitalize markets controlled by incumbents with too much power and no incentive to change; Private-public market funding trends shifting - seek low-cost liquidity, online funding does work, needs aligned critical mass, can unlock value; Digital asset markets evolving (EIO, STO, stablcoins). Revisit playbooks, diversify, invest/build/prep for growth in securities, currency, record keeping, smart contracts; Canadian fintech lacks a national strategy; regulation is complex, costly and needs to be streamlined and government at all levels are encouraged to collaborate with industry. Conference Highlights include: Over 50+ leading fintech, blockchain, AI and alternative finance experts, 9 pitching finalists and 40+ innovation ecosystem partners gathered to discuss the latest industry developments, trends, insider views and best practices. The 2019 FFCON Pitch Competition Winner was Vacation Fund - an employer-matched travel savings program for employees. The winning pitch was by Erica Pearson, co-founder & CEO, who accepted the award on behalf of Vacation Fund from Richard Carlton, CEO of the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). Jon Medved, CEO of OurCrowd, who has raised over $1 billion for their companies gave a special keynote speech on the first day. OurCrowd was recently named the most active investor in Israel by PitchBook, with investments in 170 startups, and 18 funds, along with 29 exits so far. FFCON19 FEARLESS was proud to have screened the Toronto premiere of TRUST MACHINE: The Story about Blockchain. The documentary and Q&A with John Lyotier, RightMesh CEO, was well received by the sold-out room at Gowlings and shone a light on the history and advancements of blockchain technology. FFCON19 held an extremely popular consultation with The Honorable Bill Walker, Minister of Consumer and Government Services in Ontario, and steward of the province's new data policy. NCFA expanded this year's program with the formal launch of its inaugural online Global Fintech Education program for entrepreneurs in conjunction with Next Decentrum Technologies. Attendees had an exclusive first look at the program with VIP attendees having received complimentary enrolment with conference registration. Early access to the program is now open and program directors are encouraging partners and fintech experts globally to connect to explore opportunities here. Announcements at FFCON19 NCFA announced a partnership with Export Canada that will provide opportunities for qualifying Canadian fintech ventures to connect with global markets and investors with its first mission to enter Asia in early 2020. Coinsquare, the Toronto based cryptocurrency exchange, announced the launch of eCAD, the first stablecoin pegged to the Canadian Dollar. eCAD marks the beginning of a new era for cryptocurrency mass adoption as it will create the first transparent, affordable, and secure way of transferring value in Canada and beyond, without the risk of instability of the traditional cryptocurrency market. Coinsquare continues to cement their place as one of Canada's most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges. 3iQ Corp, the investment fund manager with a focus on cryptocurrency holdings, announced that it signed a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire First Block Capital's FBC Bitcoin Trust and Distributed Ledger Technology Adopters ETF. Watch the FFCON19 highlight video. Check out the photo album or presentation decks The organizers offer special thanks to the conference partners, all the speakers, companies, and volunteers that helped make FFCON19 an informative and memorable event. About the NCFA The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain and cryptocurrency, Regtech, and Insuretech sectors. To learn more about NCFA visit www.ncfacanada.org. About FFCON FFCON (Fintech and Financing Conference) is an annual conference hosted by Canada's National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association (NCFA). Now in its fifth year, FFCON19 brought together professionals and innovators in fintech, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and alternative finance. The theme of FFCON19 was FEARLESS which exudes the boldness of the fintech space where small players are challenging orthodoxy, going against convention and transforming the financial industry with innovative models and thinking. Further information about the conference series can be found at www.fintechandfunding.com. FFCON Contacts Craig Asano Founder and CEO, NCFA casano@ncfacanada.org (416) 618-0254 Partnership Inquiries Lauren Linton Advisor, NCFA lauren@ncfacanada.org (416) 569-4349 Media Contact Michele McDermott-Fox The Top Floor Public Relations pr@thetopflooragency.com (905) 379-1893 SOURCE: National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/542169/NCFA-2019-Conference-Closes-with-Renewed-Focus-on-Fostering-Innovation-in-Fintech NEW YORK, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Eventbrite, Inc. ("Eventbrite" or the "Company") (NYSE: EB). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Eventbrite and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. In September 2017, Eventbrite acquired Ticketfly, LLC ("Ticketfly") from Pandora Media, Inc. for $201.1 million, purportedly to expand Eventbrite's solutions for music-related events. On September 20, 2018, the Company filed a prospectus on Form 424B4 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which forms part of the registration statement issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering ("IPO"). In the IPO, Eventbrite sold 11.5 million shares of Class A common stock at a price of $23.00 per share, raising proceeds of approximately $246 million, net of underwriting discounts and commissions. The proceeds from the IPO were purportedly to be used to repay certain debts, including $30 million of indebtedness incurred to finance the Company's acquisition of Ticketfly, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. Then, on March 7, 2019, in connection with its full year 2018 results, the Company stated that integrating Ticketfly would be a headwind impacting the Company's future growth and revenue. On this news, Eventbrite's stock price fell $7.96 per share, or 24.55%, to close at $24.46 per share on March 8, 2019. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com The issue relates to alleged non-disclosure of overseas assets and bank accounts held by Chidambaram's wife, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from Congress leader P Chidambaram's wife Nalini and son Karti on an appeal of the Income-Tax Department against the Madras High Court order quashing criminal prosecution against them in an alleged black money case. A bench headed by the Chief Justice, while issuing notices to the two, made clear it will not stay the Madras High Court's 2018 order quashing criminal prosecution against the Chidambarams. The issue relates to alleged non-disclosure of overseas assets and bank accounts held by Chidambaram's wife, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi. In November last year, the Madras High Court had quashed criminal prosecution against Chidambaram's family members in a black money case, holding that no such offence was made out against them, said a PTI report. According to the I-T Department, the three had not disclosed a property they jointly owned in Cambridge in the UK worth Rs 5.37 crore in their returns which amounted to an offence under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act and Imposition of Tax Act. When their petitions came up before a division bench of justices S Manikumar and Subramania Prasad, the judges said no case was made out and quashed the criminal prosecution. The family members of the former union minister had filed writ petitions challenging the criminal prosecution. The department had also alleged that Karti had not disclosed an overseas bank account he holds with Metro Bank in the UK and investments he had made in Nano Holdings LLC, USA. He had also "failed" to disclose investments made by Chess Global Advisory, a company co-owned by him, which amounted to committing an offence under the Black Money Act, the department said in its complaint in the special court in May last year. Contesting the prosecution order, the three had approached the high court. As a single judge bench refused any relief, they moved in appeal. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had in October last year listed in a charge sheet former union finance minister Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case, accusing him of conspiring with foreign investors to clear their venture. The nine accused in the case are alleged to have laundered Rs 1.16 crore they got in return for alleged illegal approval by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in March 2006 to the foreign investor Global Communication and Services Holdings Limited, Mauritius. The investigating agencies have claimed that Chidambaram, who was then the finance minister, was not empowered to grant FIPB approval to the firm which, given the quantum of the proposed investment, should have been accorded by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Chidambaram and his son have both denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED. With PTI inputs (Reuters) - Hulu is buying back wireless carrier AT&T Inc's 9.5 percent stake in the streaming service company in a deal valued at $1.43 billion, the two companies said on Monday. The transaction valued Hulu at $15 billion. The company, which competes with Netflix Inc and Amazon.com's Prime Video, has more than 25 million subscribers and is expected to lose $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year. (Reuters) - Hulu is buying back wireless carrier AT&T Inc's 9.5 percent stake in the streaming service company in a deal valued at $1.43 billion, the two companies said on Monday. The transaction valued Hulu at $15 billion. The company, which competes with Netflix Inc and Amazon.com's Prime Video, has more than 25 million subscribers and is expected to lose $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year. AT&T did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment on the structure of the deal. Wall Street analysts were expecting Walt Disney Co, which holds a 60 percent stake in the joint venture that owns Hulu, to buy AT&T's stake. Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal has a 30 percent stake. Based on the joint venture agreement, Disney and Comcast will get to decide on how they want to allocate the shares bought from AT&T. Meanwhile, the wireless carrier said it will use the proceeds http://pdf.reuters.com/htmlnews/htmlnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20190415:nBw2r0mxza from the deal to cut down its debt, which stood at $176.51 billion at the end of 2018. AT&T said in November it could consider selling its stake in Hulu and review its non-core assets in 2019 as in an effort to cut its pile of debt. Disney last week forecast Hulu's subscribers to reach 40 million to 60 million by fiscal 2024 and become profitable in the United States by either 2023 or 2024. (Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Italy's top bank UniCredit SpA and two subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle probes of violations of U.S By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Italy's top bank UniCredit SpA and two subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle probes of violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries, U.S. authorities said on Monday. In addition, UniCredit Bank AG, the bank's German unit, agreed to plead guilty to federal and New York state criminal charges for illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned entities, the U.S. Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. The resolution ends a six-year investigation that has hung over the bank and follows last week's $1.1 billion settlement by London-based Standard Chartered Plc with U.S. and British authorities over similar conduct. The German unit's guilty pleas are connected to violations of U.S. sanctions programs, including those related to IRISL, the state-owned Iranian shipping company sanctioned over weapons of mass destruction, authorities said. UniCredit's German unit went to "great lengths" to help the Iranian shipping company evade sanctions and access the U.S. financial system, said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski. Another unit, UniCredit Bank Austria AG , entered into non-prosecution agreements with federal and state authorities. UniCredit Bank AG, Bank Austria and their parent entity, UniCredit SpA, also agreed to resolve parallel investigations with the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the New York Department of Financial Services. UniCredit said in a statement the penalties owed by each of the units were fully covered by provisions already made. The bank had booked provisions beyond the settlement and, as a result, will have 300 million euros ($339 million) after tax in additional profits in the first quarter. Its Core Tier 1 ratio - an indication of financial strength - will rise by around 8.5 basis points, it said. The bank will report first quarter results on May 9. UniCredit said it agreed to retain an independent consultant to assess its improvements and compliance programme, as part of its settlements with the Federal Reserve and the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). UniCredit engaged in "billions of dollars of transactions with clients from sanctioned nations, including Iran, Libya and Cuba, and then work(ed) to cover their tracks to avoid detection," acting New York Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell said. The German bank disguised transactions between 2002 and 2011 in part by stripping words like Sudan and Tehran from payment messages to New York financial institutions, the regulator said. The settlements relate to apparent violations of sanctions targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, global terrorism and Iran, Myanmar, Cuba, Libya, Sudan and Syria, the Treasury Department said. Ten banks other than UniCredit have been penalized by U.S. and Manhattan authorities over the past decade for sanctions-related violations. France's BNP Paribas SA pleaded guilty in 2014 and paid a record $8.9 billion penalty. Other banks settled with much lower penalties and deferred prosecution agreements, including Amsterdam-based ING Bank, which paid $619 million in 2012 and Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group AG, which paid $536 million in 2009. The latest Standard Chartered settlement was on top of $667 million the bank paid U.S. authorities in 2012 and another $300 million penalty in 2014 related to surveillance shortcomings. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld; additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes in Milan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Lenders to Jet Airways are discussing ways to revive the crisis-hit carrier and fresh funds are likely to be infused shortly, officials said on Tuesday New Delhi: Lenders to Jet Airways are discussing ways to revive the crisis-hit carrier and fresh funds are likely to be infused shortly, officials said on Tuesday. Amid acute financial crunch crippling its operations, Jet Airways management is awaiting clarity on receiving fresh funds after which a decision would be taken on continuing operations. "Discussions for reviving the airline are underway and nothing has been finalised as of now," Punjab National Bank Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta told reporters here. Representatives of various lenders to Jet Airways are also understood to have discussed issues related to Jet Airways with Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar. Jet Airways has a debt burden of more than Rs 8,000 crore. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier. A senior government official said that funding for Jet Airways from lenders is likely to come through. The board of the full-service carrier, which is currently operating less than 10 aircraft, is meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. On Monday, lenders did not take a final decision on providing emergency funds to the cash-strapped carrier. Another government official said that approaching the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for Jet Airways is not an option at this stage. "Right now, the lenders are trying to resolve the issue by seeking bidders for investment. This is not the time for lenders to approach NCLT for resolution," the official said. Creditors can take a defaulting company to the NCLT for seeking approval for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Earlier in the day, sources said Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring a stake in the cash-strapped airline. Pursuant to a debt resolution plan approved by the airline's board last month, SBI Capital Markets, on 8 April, invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential investors to buy out 75 percent stake in the airline. It is expected that the relevant date (of allotment of equity) could be by the end of April 2019, Lakshmi Vilas Bank said New Delhi: Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) Monday said it plans to allot nearly 5 percent equity shares on a preferential basis to Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. However, it is not to be considered as a capital raising means before their proposed merger. "The bank is proposing to make a preferential allotment to Indiabulls Housing Finance to the extent of 4.99 percent of the bank's post-money equity," LVB said in a statement. It is expected that the relevant date (of allotment of equity) could be by the end of April 2019, it added. "This does not presuppose any capital augmentation on account of the proposed merger, which would only conclude after receipt of all regulatory approvals," it added. Earlier this month, the private sector lender had announced its merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IBHL) in a share-swap deal with an intent to create a combined entity with larger capital base and wider geographical reach. The board of LVB has approved the merger with IBHL in which shareholders of the bank will get 14 shares of IBHL for every 100 shares they hold. The combined entity, with employee strength of 14,302, will have a loan book size of Rs 1.23 lakh crore for the first nine-month period of 2018-19. After the proposed merger, IBH will get access to low-cost deposits, geographical diversification and expanded client-base and cross-selling opportunities. However, the Reserve Bank (RBI) is yet to examine the merger proposal of the bank and the NBFC. LVB shares closed 1.65 percent down at Rs 89.20 on BSE, while IBHL closed 0.55 percent up at Rs 834.65 apiece. Airline sources said Naresh Goyal, who had stepped down as chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawn the bid for the airline. Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline, sources said on Tuesday. The full service carrier, which is currently operating less than 10 aircraft, is awaiting fresh fund infusion under a debt resolution plan. Meanwhile, the management of Jet Airways has proposed to suspend all operations of the debt-laden airline at its board meeting, Reuters reported citing ET Now on Tuesday quoting sources. There were reports that lenders to Jet Airways might not consider an initial bid from Goyal to regain control of the troubled airline as he did not fulfil certain conditions set by them while submitting the EoI on Friday. Airline sources said Goyal, who had stepped down as chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawn the bid for the airline. On 12 April, sources said that Goyal had also put in bid for the carrier. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways' sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier. Last month, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal stepped down from the board of the airline, which has more than Rs 8,000 crore debt. Meanwhile, shares of Jet Airways plunged nearly 19 percent on Tuesday amid reports that the company is likely to temporarily shut down its operations. The scrip which had opened the day on a weak note further plummeted 18.56 percent to Rs 213.20 on BSE during the afternoon trade. At NSE, shares cracked 18.53 percent to Rs 213.20. The BSE has sought clarification from Jet Airways with reference to news that it is likely to temporarily shut down its operations. Jet Airways is grappling with acute financial crunch and is operating less than 10 planes besides temporarily suspending international operations. Similar movement was seen on NSE, where the stock opened at Rs 255, then fell to a low of Rs 252.10, down 3.66 percent over its previous closing price. On Monday, the airline in a letter to its employees said it planned to extend its suspension of international flights until Thursday as it had not received any interim funding from lenders. Jet has been grounding planes in recent weeks as lessors move to de-register and take back their aircraft, even as the companys lenders sought expressions of interest in the carrier from potential investors. Local media have reported that as many as six parties have submitted expressions of interest, though it is still far from clear if an acceptable bid will materialize. Jet Airways did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. With inputs from agencies The government has removed ED's special director in Mumbai, Vineet Agarwal, for his alleged interference in relieving the agency's investigating officer in the Nirav Modi money-laundering case without following due procedure New Delhi: The government has removed ED's special director in Mumbai, Vineet Agarwal, for his alleged interference in relieving the agency's investigating officer in the Nirav Modi money-laundering case without following due procedure, officials said Tuesday. They said the tenure of Agarwal has been cut short by three years and the 1994-batch Indian Police Service officer of Maharashtra cadre has been repatriated to his home state with immediate effect. The Union Finance Ministry issued an order Tuesday after getting sanction from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and subsequently the ED headquarters in Delhi issued the orders relieving Agarwal from the post of special director of the agency in Mumbai, the officials said. An ED special director, based in Mumbai, heads the western region of the agency and has control over Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The charge has now been handed over in an "additional capacity" to the agency's special director based in Chennai. Agarwal was sent on deputation to the Enforcement Directorate in January 2017 for five years by the central government. His name cropped up on 29 March after he issued an order relieving his Joint Director in Mumbai, Satyabrat Kumar, from the Nirav Modi case probe when the court hearing in the extradition case of the absconding diamantaire was underway in London. As a controversy erupted in the sensitive case, being monitored at top levels of the government, ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra issued a fresh order in Delhi and cancelled Agarwal's signed order, within a few hours. A report on the day-long episode, seen as embarrassing to the agency in an important case, was subsequently sent by the ED headquarters to the Union Finance Ministry and the PMO, following which the officer was removed, the officials said. They said the IPS officer has been found guilty of exceeding his brief and interfering with the powers of the ED director and official procedures. A special director is only empowered to transfer or alter the charge of an official up to the level of an assistant director, officials explained. A joint director post is one above the assistant director and only the ED director is empowered to transfer such an official. The officials said "unnecessary controversy was created and the March 29 incident was seen as an attempt to weaken Indian investigating agencies' efforts to extradite Nirav Modi by this act." Modi is wanted by ED on money-laundering charges and by CBI for criminal corruption charges in connection with the $2 billion alleged fraud at Punjab National Bank, said to be the largest banking scam of the country. The ED, that day, had also issued a clarification through its Twitter handle, stating that "certain media reports" said the joint director supervising investigation in the case of Nirav Modi has been relieved. "This report is not correct and denied." India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, who served 19 months in US jail for insider trading, on Tuesday said he fell back on Bhagavad Gita during his stint in the prison New Delhi: India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, who served 19 months in US jail for insider trading, on Tuesday said he fell back on Bhagavad Gita during his stint in the prison. Gupta was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty in 2012 of passing confidential boardroom information about Goldman Sachs to the then hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading. "I had Bhagavad Gita with me (in prison).... Although I was familiar with Bhagavad Gita, I had the chance to read it several times and some ideas of Bhagavad Gita helped me to cope with solitary confinement punishment of 8 weeks," he said while discussing his book titled 'Mind Without Fear' organised by The Circle. Gupta further said that he does not feel bitter about friends who treated him unfairly. He was released from prison in 2016. India-born Gupta, a former IIT alumnus, said that talent is India's biggest exports, "we are great in information technology (IT) services but we have not created truely global brand like Google or Facebook," he noted. On India's education system, Gupta pointed out that IITs/IIMs have excelled but they have a draconian selection process. "The value addition by IITs/IIMs may not be as high as we like to be, as none of the IITs are in top 100 engineering colleges in the world.... There is need of reforming and scaling up the IIT system," he said. Gupta said that although India is the fastest growing major economy, the country's economic growth rate is perhaps 'not high enough' in terms of job creation. "Think about whatever they said, statistics you believe or not believe, the point is the job growth probably is not as much as we need" Gupta said. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), India is projected to grow at 7.2 percent in 2019-20. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Monday issued the guidelines for monetisation of non-core assets of CPSEs and immovable enemy properties New Delhi: State-run companies will have 12 months to monetise non-core assets identified by a ministerial panel headed by the finance minister, failing which the finance ministry may restrict budgetary allocations to the CPSEs. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Monday issued the guidelines for monetisation of non-core assets of CPSEs and immovable enemy properties, following a Cabinet decision in February. According to the guidelines, an inter-ministerial group (IMG), chaired by the secretary of DIPAM, will identify the non-core assets of the CPSEs on its own and also on the basis of recommendations of the Niti Aayog. The final call, however, will be taken by the finance minister-headed panel. Once the Alternative Mechanism, comprising the finance minister, road transport minister and the minister of concerned administrative ministry, approves the assets for monetisation, it should be completed within 12 months from the date of approval. This will be the target to be achieved by the CPSEs as part of the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE). "The Department of Expenditure and Department of Economic Affairs may consider any proposal from the CPSE/administrative ministry for budgetary support only after looking at the achievement of asset monetisation target by the CPSE. Performance of contract management will be considered before sanctioning any government budgetary support," the guidelines said. The guidelines also provide CPSEs with an option to seek relaxation from the IMG of the 12-month deadline for the sale of non-core assets. It further said that "any budgetary support for the CPSEs will be considered by the Department of Expenditure and DEA only if asset monetisation target is achieved by the CPSEs, unless an exemption has been taken". With regard to the sale of immovable enemy properties, the guidelines said that the assets would be identified for disposal in consultation with the stakeholders including the respective state governments. The Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) or the Ministry of Home Affairs will select the properties for disposal and will also certify that a clear title deed is available and the property is free of any encumbrances and encroachment. The ministerial panel will also decide on the threshold over which non-core assets of CPSEs and immovable enemy properties would be taken up for monetisation under the asset monetisation framework. Non-core assets below the threshold would be sold by the state-owned entities themselves. The amount raised through the sale of non-core assets would form part of the disinvestment proceeds. The government has set a target of Rs 90,000 crore to be raised through CPSE disinvestment in the current financial year, up from the Rs 85,000 crore mopped up in the previous financial year. The United States is responsible for 22 percent of the $5.4 billion regular budget for 2018 and 2019 and more than 28 percent of the $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget for the year to 30 June. United Nations: The United Nations owes India $38 million, the highest it has to pay to any country, for the peacekeeping operations as of March 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said as he voiced concern over the world body's deteriorating financial health. In his report on improving the financial situation of the world body, he said, as of 31 March, 2019, the total amount payable to troop- and police-contributing countries with respect to active peacekeeping missions was $265 million. Of this, the UN owes $38 million to India, followed by Rwanda ($31 million), Pakistan ($28 million), Bangladesh ($25 million) and Nepal ($23 million), Guterres said in his report. He said the arrears to troop- and police-contributing (TCCs/PCCs) countries could increase to $588 million by June 2019 "in the worst-case scenario". The UN chief added that which troop- and police-contributing countries will or will not be paid depends on the cash position of the individual missions to which they contribute and is not determined by their individual capacity to shoulder that unfair burden. "That has created a paradox. The United Nations is now effectively borrowing for prolonged periods from troop- and police-contributing countries. Many of them are low-income countries for which that imposes a significant financial burden. At the same time, the organisation is asking those same countries to do more to train their personnel and improve the quality of their equipment, all while operating in increasingly challenging environments. The United Nations, however, is not fulfilling its obligation towards them in a timely manner," he said. Guterres further said that troop- and police-contributing countries make every effort to provide well-trained and well-equipped personnel to peacekeeping operations, and they continue to improve on that objective. "Reimbursement by the UN for their contributions is key to supporting those efforts. The delays in reimbursing the contributing countries expose them to financial challenges in pursuit of their efforts and consequently have an adverse impact on the operations and the delivery of their mandates," he said. Earlier this year, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin had said that the financial situation of the United Nations peacekeeping, particularly the non-payment/delayed payment of arrears to the troop/police contributing countries, is a "cause for concern". He had said that the practice of delaying payments to TCCs/PCCs, even as contractual obligations to others are met, cannot continue unaddressed. "It results in TCCs/PCCs bearing unsustainable burdens. In some cases, TCCs and PCCs are owed 100 to 200 times their cumulative annual financial contributions to the UN," he had said. Guterres said while the UN is working to become more effective, nimble, accountable, transparent and efficient, the success of the organisation's efforts depends not only on the internal efforts of the Secretariat, but also on the support of Member States and on the predictability and adequacy of their financial contributions to UN programmes and activities. Expressing concern about the organisation's deteriorating financial health, the UN chief, said the UN is facing deepening liquidity problems in its regular budget, a trend that must be urgently halted and reversed. "Peacekeeping operations also face frequent cash constraints that forced the Organisation to postpone the settlement of its obligations to troop- and police-contributing countries," he said. The UN had a positive cash balance of $412 million at the end of 2010 but it finished 2018 with a negative cash balance of $323 million: a decrease of $735 million in an eight-year period. Guterres said that regular budget assessments are issued at the beginning of each year and member states are required to pay their contributions in full within 30 days. In 2017 and 2018, 73 member states had paid their contributions in full by the end of the first quarter, compared with 62 in 2016 and 67 in 2015. So far, 74 member states have paid in full in 2019. "Regrettably, some member states pay neither in full nor on time. The level of arrears at the end of 2018 was $529 million, equivalent to more than 21 per cent of that year's assessments and nearly 150 percent of the liquidity reserves," he said. The United States is responsible for 22 percent of the $5.4 billion regular budget for 2018 and 2019 and more than 28 percent of the $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget for the year to 30 June. As of the end of the 2017/18 peacekeeping fiscal year, outstanding contributions to peacekeeping operations amounted to almost $2 billion, well above the $1.3 billion unpaid as on 30 June, 2017. "The overall level of unpaid peacekeeping contributions is also affected by the decision of one Member State to contribute at a level approximately 3 per cent below its applicable rate of assessment," he said. The UN chief requested the General Assembly to increase the Working Capital Fund to $USD 350 million effective 1 July, 2019 and to create a Peacekeeping Working Capital Fund of $250 million and authorise its use to address the liquidity challenges of active peacekeeping operations among ways to help improve the financial situation of the world body and deal with timely payment of dues to troop and police contributing countries. The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) will release the EAMCET 2019 admit card on Tuesday, 16 April. AP EAMCET 2019 Admit Card | The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) will release the admit card for the Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) 2019 on Tuesday, 16 April. Candidates who have applied for EAMCET 2019 can visit the official website sche.ap.gov.in to download their hall tickets. EAMCET is scheduled to be held between 20 April and 24 April. The Andhra Pradesh common entrance exam is an computer-based test. The online entrance test will be held in two slots from 10 am to 1 pm and 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm. The qualifying percentage for the AP EAMCET is 25 percent of the maximum marks considered for ranking. Students had till 27 March to submit their online applications without being charged a late fee. Steps to download AP EAMCET 2019 Admit Card: Step 1: Visit the official website, sche.ap.gov.in Step 2: Select the 'download admit card' link Step 3: Enter your registration number, roll number and date of birth Step 4: The admit card will appear on your screen Step 5: Download the hall ticket and take a printout for further reference EAMCET schedule: Engineering: 20, 21, 22 and 23 April Agriculture: 23 and 24 April E and A (both streams): 22 and 23 April The development comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday issued a 'leave India' notice to Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed and cancelled the business visa given to him for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, officials said. Ahmed has also been "blacklisted" by the Union home ministry, thus jeopardising the chances of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a Leave India notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a home ministry official said. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMC's Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Bangladeshi film star was reportedly seen seeking votes for Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the India-Bangladesh border. The FRRO is responsible for providing visa services in the area under its jurisdiction. Despite the high prevalence of child marriage in West Bengal's Malda district, very few police cases get reported, and the rate of conviction is even more abysmal. 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 *** Malda: As West Bengal's Malda district goes to the polls in the 2019 general election, one subject continues to be a political blind spot for all parties in the fray child marriage. Malda has become infamous for having the highest reported number of child marriages in the state. According to a new report released by UNICEF, Factsheet Child Marriages 2019, the prevalence of girls getting married before 18 years of age in India has declined from 47 percent to 27 percent in the past decade, but the harmful practice continues in West Bengal, with nearly 42 percent prevalence of child marriage in the state. Despite being widespread perhaps because of it this issue is rarely discussed on any political platform. Around six years ago, an NGO had approached an elected member of the Habibpur gram panchayat to stop the wedding of an underage girl in her own locality. The organisation had earlier felicitated the gram panchayat leader for her efforts to prevent child marriages. However, her response to the NGO's latest plea was disturbing she had ignored the NGO's request and allowed the wedding to continue as planned because she didn't want to jeopardise her position among local residents with the panchayat elections coming up. It is no wonder that in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, none of the candidates contesting from Malda have addressed the issue of child marriages in the district. None of them would say there is something wrong with the image of 18-year-old Nasreen Parveen sitting at home in Malda North's Shailpur, cradling her two-and-a-half-year-old child. When she was barely 13, Nasreen was married to Lal Chand, who now works as a daily wage labourer in Bengaluru. She was a bright Class 8 student when her parents got her married, she says. Now, as a wife and mother, Nasreen's childhood dreams have been cast aside. "I was good at studies and my teachers liked me a lot. Life Sciences was my favourite subject. I still remember, my roll number in Class 8 was 24," she recalls. Nasreen's is not an isolated case. There are thousands of adolescent girls in Malda district who are forced into child marriage. Data from the National Family Health Survey 2015-2016 shows that West Bengal topped the states in child marriage cases at 41.6 percent, and Malda, at 56.3 percent, had the highest reported number of such cases. In Shailpur, school records from Budiya High Madrasa show that of the more than 150 girls between 15 to 18 years studying there, around 30 were married between the ages of 12 and 13. Take the case of Selina Parveen, a 16-year-old from Rusuladaha village. She was married at 14. She now lives in Shailpur and is the mother of a 10-month-old girl. She was studying in Class 9 when she was forced to get married. Although Selina refused to talk about this, her mother-in-law, Golban Bibi, said she had paid Rs 10,000 to Selina's family for the marriage. This kind of reverse dowry is seen when families of boys who are considered 'unsuitable' look for 'good looking' girls from economically weaker families, luring them with cash and the promise of relative comfort. Case of apathy Despite the increase in the number of child marriages in the district, very few police cases get reported, and the rate of conviction is also abysmal. This indicates that people involved in arranging child marriages have little or no fear of the law. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2016, 326 cases were reported under the Prevention of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which makes this crime a non-bailable offence. The Act includes provisions to punish the adult groom, those who solemnise the marriage and also those who promote or permit the solemnisation of child marriages with fines, imprisonment, or both. In 2016, West Bengal had 41 reported cases of child marriage, only two spots behind Tamil Nadu (55 percent) and Karnataka (51 percent), the top-rankers in this list. NCRB data reveals that the same year, only 35 people (24 male and 11 female) were convicted in West Bengal, whereas the countrywide figure stood at 740. The practice of child marriage isn't new to India, says Biswajit Ghosh, a professor of sociology at Burdwan University, who has done extensive research on child marriage in West Bengal, particularly in Malda. His research says, "From 400 BC, the marriageable age (in India) of both boys and girls got lowered gradually and arrange marriages preferably between eight and 10 years became popular." Census 1931 shows that 72 percent of girls in India were married before the age of 15 at the time. Professor Ghosh's research paper further outlines: "In an earlier survey, we found that patriarchy, poverty, illiteracy, lack of social security of the girls, dowry and lack of awareness were prime factors for child marriages in West Bengal." He also found that in Malda, notions about a girl's virginity and chastity were strongly linked to honour and the status of the family or clan. "There is tremendous pressure to minimise the risk of any untoward incidents or improper sexual activity through early marriages," he explains in his research. Nasreen's 38-year-old mother Razina Bibi felt this societal pressure. She shares, "Nasreen is a beautiful girl and was often teased by boys. She would complain to me. Neighbours were also forcing us to get her married, so I had to do it." Prabal Lala, secretary of Bulbulchandi and Barind Development Society, says: "In Malda, people view girls as a burden. They think that if the girls are married after they turn 18 years, then the ask for dowry will increase. So they try to get them married as early as possible." There is a three-tier system in place to prevent child marriages in states, which includes the Village Level Child Protection Committee (VLCPC), Block Level Child Protection Committee (BLCPC) and District Child Protection Committee (DCPC). While VLCPC is a grassroots-level committee, it is the first to intervene or act if a case of child marriage is reported. If VLCPC is unable to prevent the marriage, it becomes the responsibility of the BLCPC. If this group also fails, then the DCPC steps in. A police officer is also appointed at all districts to look into cases of child marriage. However, in most instances, this post tends to lie vacant or the police personnel appointed are engaged in solving other criminal cases. Hence, what's happening in Malda can be attributed to the failure of the system to check this deplorable practice. A police official in Malda, who requested anonymity, says: "When the case comes to our knowledge, we do intervene, but our job is restricted to prevention only. The rest is in the hands of the child protection committee." District Child Welfare Officer Ambarish Burman attributes lack of awareness to the rampant practice of child marriages in Malda. "Whenever we get information about a child marriage, we go there. In most cases, we face resistance from locals. They don't want us to intervene or stop the marriage. Sometimes, they stop the marriage in front of us, but go ahead with it once we leave the spot," he explains. Impact of Kanyashree scheme Given the seriousness of the situation in the state, the West Bengal government launched the Kanyashree scheme in 2013, offering two types of financial benefits Kanyashree-1 (K1) for unmarried girls aged between 13 and 18 years and Kanyashree-2 (K2) for unmarried girls aged 18 and above. Under K1, girls are eligible to get an annual scholarship of Rs 1,000, whereas K2 is a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 given to an unmarried girl pursuing an education or occupational courses. So far, 56,83,993 girls have been enrolled under the Kanyashree scheme. The scheme has been successful to a certain extent, according to social activist Lala, whose organisation works against child marriages in Malda. Professor Ghosh, who is now studying the impact of the Kanyashree scheme, says, "We are studying how it has affected the social menace in five years. So far, we have found that it hsa had a positive impact." Nasreen shares that she still regrets not protesting against her forced marriage. But there is hope as many girls are now standing up against the practice. Mausumi Parveen, 18-year-old daughter of Abu Taleb of Shailpur, refused to get married at the age of 16 despite pressure from her father. She has now completed her intermediate with good grades and is a beneficiary of the Kanyashree scheme. Another girl from Shailpur, 16-year-old Mintehaz Yasmin is also a beneficiary of the Kanyashree scheme, who had raised her voice against child marriage in her village. She says, "We now keep a watch in our village. If we come to know of a child marriage being planned, we immediately inform the Meena Manch, a school-level organisation of girls." Meena Manch is a UNICEF initiative to promote education among girls. It works with girls who had to drop out of school, usually because they were married, and consults with the children and their parents about continuing their studies. Malda has been Congressman ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury's bastion since 1980. In 2009, Malda district was split into two Lok Sabha constituencies, Malda North and Malda South. Congress' Mausam Noor, who belongs to Ghani Khan's family, represents Malda North. She had won the seat in 2009 and 2014. In 2019, she switched to the Trinamool Congress and is contesting again under their ticket. In response, Congress has fielded Isha Khan Choudhury, Noor's brother-in-law. Congress leader and Ghani Khan's brother Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury represents Malda South. He was a minster of state under the UPA-II regime and represented Malda in 2006 and Malda South in 2009 and 2014. He is re-contesting under the Congress ticket this election. Repeated attempts to reach the candidates for their comments on child marriage in the district proved unsuccessful. The author is a Patna-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters Strongly objecting to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct during their Lok Sabha campaign speeches, the Election Commission of India on Monday barred four prominent politicians Strongly objecting to the violation of the Model Code of Conduct during their Lok Sabha campaign speeches, the Election Commission of India on Monday barred Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from campaigning. While Gandhi and Mayawati have been barred for a period of 48 hours, Adityanath and Khan are banned from campaigning for 72 hours. Reacting to the recent development, two former Chief Election Commissioners N Gopalaswami and VS Sampath welcomed the action taken by the poll body. It is the duty of the Election Commission to crack down on any violation of Model Code of Conduct during the elections and they have essentially done that, Sampath, who presided over the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and was the Chief Election Commissioner between 2012 and 2015, said. Gopalaswami, who headed the Election Commission in the run-up to the 2009 general elections and was the Chief Election Commissioner between 2006 and 2009, said, The Election Commission has done exactly what is needed in such circumstances. It may be noted that Article 324 of the Indian Constitution entitles the Election Commission of India to issue instructions exercising plenary powers to ensure free and fair elections. Sampath pointed out that the apex election body had taken action against communally sensitive speeches in the previous general elections too. Without naming the politicians, but possibly referring to BJP president Amit Shah and Khan, Sampath recalled similar instances of politicians being banned from campaigning during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. I remember we barred two politicians from campaigning for the whole period of elections. One of them later apologised, so we allowed him to continue campaigning. However, another politician showed no remorse at all. Shah, instrumental in BJPs unprecedented success in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 elections, was barred for then allegedly making communally provocative speeches in western Uttar Pradesh. Shah, who apologised in less than 10 days, was allowed to resume campaigning. Take a note that this modification is being done with a view to giving you a second chance to show by your conduct that you adhere to the provisions of Model Code of Conduct in letter and spirit. The commission shall closely monitor your campaign activities by constant video tracking by the concerned district election authorities, the Election Commission had stated in their letter to Shah. On 15 April, 2019, Gandhi was handed a 48-hour campaigning ban for telling Muslims in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur to vote for her as they will need her once the Lok Sabha elections are over. "I have already passed this election. But now, if you have to lay the foundation for getting help then this is the right time to do so," the Union Minister reportedly said. Campaign bans for Khan, on the other hand, are not a new occurrence for Khan. Unlike Shah, the SP leader showed no remorse for facing action after his alleged inflammatory speeches against then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. He had reportedly refused to apologise for his remarks and claimed he had not committed a crime. Five years later, he is yet again under the EC scanner for violating the Model Code of Conduct by making a derogatory remark against BJP candidate Jaya Prada in Rampur. It took you 17 years to identify her real face but I got to know in 17 days that she wears khaki underwear, he said, inviting the ire of other politicians, apart from a 72-hour campaigning ban. Khans blatant violation of the poll code during two Lok Sabha polls raises questions about the effectiveness of putting a ban on campaigning by errant politicians. Sampath claimed that action against the two politicians led to a lesser number of hate speeches being recorded during elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. During the election season, the lifeline of political parties is campaigning. If the Election Commission bars politicians from campaigning, they naturally have to fall in line, he said. Gopalaswami, however, while laying the onus of maintaining the decorum of the election on individual leaders, stressed on the need for longer bans in case of politicians who continue to violate the poll code after the ban imposed on their campaigns is over. The ban will be effective for 48 or 72 hours. Unfortunately, a politician may continue to violate the Model Code of Conduct after the ban is over. It is expected that a politician will learn a lesson after being barred from campaigning for the first time. But if that does not happen, stricter and longer ban may be imposed if necessary, Gopalaswami opined. While addressing a rally in Meerut, Adityanath had compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between Ali, a revered figure in Islam, and Bajrang Bali, another name for the Hindu god Hanuman. The EC banned him from campaigning for 48 hours. Meanwhile, the poll body barred Mayawati for her speech in Deoband, where she appealed to Muslims to not vote for a particular party. "I appeal to Muslims that the Congress is not capable of defeating the BJP. Only the alliance parties are capable of doing it, the former chief minister had said on 7 April. The manner in which oral narratives have been altered across Dakshin Kannada to fit narrative of religious forces. The most recent entrants to have altered the local history of Coastal Karnataka are the Nagpur-born Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangathan. Editor's note: This is the twelfth 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 *** Act 12 Scene 3 A Market in Malaya Seven Jain brothers are seated across each other. Enter Sulikalla Murava Beary Open scene Muruva Beary: I'll take your leave then, sirs. I will set sail back to my land, there is nothing left to do here, anyway. (Silence follows as some of the brothers nod. Others keep mum) Muruva Beary: What has befallen yourselves that all of you sit with such great pain, Sirs? Brother no 4: What do we tell you, Muruva? Our misery is better left to us. How will a Muslim like you help us with our troubles? Muruva Beary: Please tell me, I promise to help if I can. Brother no 2: Our sister is the problem. She is our only sister. We've married her to 24 men till now. Every time we get her married, by the next morning her husband is dead. All of them have died. We don't know what to do with her. If she doesn't give birth to an heir, we are all doomed. What are we to do? Every day we think about our sister and the misery she has brought upon all of us. Muruva Beary: What will I get if I solve your problem? Eldest brother: We will give you half our property. We'll give you a share of the profits we make. We'll give you everything that will make you happy. But tell us, how will you solve this problem? Muruva Beary: No, I shall have none of that. I don't want your property. Instead, let me marry your sister. I will solve this. (Silence. The brothers murmur among themselves) All the brothers: But he...? We need an heir... what will... this is better... No... Yes, this is better. (Brothers turn to Muruva Beary) Eldest brother: We can't keep feeding her, we'd rather see the last of her. So yes, please, we agree to your proposal. But what makes you think you won't die? End Scene *** Muruva Beary is a Muslim trader and Muthu is the Tulu-speaking Jainava woman whose fate is being discussed in this aforementioned scene. They are the parents of Bobbariya. Bobbariya is the Deiva of the sea-faring Moghaveeras of Dakshin Kannada. Before the Moghaveeras set out to seas every day, they take the blessings of Bobbariya. He is said to have died at sea, fighting the wrath of nature after which he was deified by the Moghaveeras. "As we know, the Islamic religion will not allow idol worship or a ritual like Bobbariya and Hindu religion will not allow a Muslim to become their deity for worship. But this is there in the history of Tulunadu. That is the beauty of Tulu folklore," says Purushottam Bilimele, the Kannada Language Chair at the Jawahar Lal Nehru University. Bilimele has spent years travelling across the coast of Karnataka, listening to the Paddana's of Bobbariya. What is a Paddana? Peter J Claus, one of the earliest anthropologists to document Tuluva culture has defined Paddana in "Tulu Paddana's: Text and Performances": "The Tulu-speaking people who inhabit coastal Karnataka have recorded the stories of their heroes and heroines, their local deities, their great families, and their tragedies in an oral narrative tradition called 'paddana'. As the term implies, the stories "must be sung". Although not written in the script, the paddanas are the closest Tulu speakers have to a 'national' literature." "But the risk of oral narratives is that they tend to be twisted according to the prejudices of the people of each generation. For all you know, the next generation is deprived of a history which is theirs and is presented with a concoction which might alter their existence, for all you know," warns Bilimele. Bilimele is referring to the manner in which oral narratives have been altered across the region of Dakshin Kannada to fit the narrative of religious forces which have entered the region through history. The most recent entrants to have altered the local history of Coastal Karnataka are the Nagpur-born Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangathan. Bilimele gives examples of how the Paddana of Bobbariya is being twisted around. "In 2014, a book was written by Sadananda Uchila titled 'Mogaveera Samaja-Ondu Adhyayna' (Study of Mogaveera Community) where the author wrote that Bobbariya was the incarnation of Babruvahana. They changed his father to Arjuna and mother to a Kerala queen Prameela. This is similar to the tale of Chitrangada, the Princess of Manipur in Mahabharat." Bilimele has been attending deiva aradhane ceremonies of Bobbariya since the 1980s. He has documented the Paddanas as a part of his research. He says that the "new" twist in the story of Bobbariya has been picked up by politicians and now is spreading across the region. "Kuntaru Ravish Tantri contested on a BJP ticket from Kasaragod. He has been retelling this Babruvahana story at every possible occasion. This is the best example of what is happening with every deiva in Coastal Karnataka," observes Bilimele. He also says that as the deiva changes form, so does everything around it. "Saffron flag with an om adorn deiva sanas now, an offering of chicken has been replaced with pumpkin, tiny shrines have now turned to temples, Brahmin priests have started officiating at these spaces. The changes are stark." Another piece of history which has been hit is the legend of Bappa Beary. Bappa Beary is a Muslim trader who built a shrine for a local goddess. The story is that she appears in Bappa's dream and tells him to build a temple for her. Out of respect, Bappa does so. This temple has been taken care of by the local community since then. To honour him, the place where her temple is built was renamed to Bappanadu. 'Bappanadu kshetra mahatme' is a Tulu Yakshagana act honouring the legend of Bappa Beary. This play has two central characters, one Bappa himself and the other is his apprentice Usman. Natesh Ullal, a filmmaker, has been watching this play act since he has been a child. "A comparison of what I saw as a child and what I see now will show you how the act has evolved. Bappa, from my early Yakshagana memories, was a trader who conducted himself with dignity and was respected by everyone. Usman was smart and devoted. The Yakshaganas of today, bearing a few, have caricatured both of them. The tale of both the characters revolves around self-deprecating humour and clownish behavior. Jibes at their own culture are common," explains Natesh. He says that even their dress has been changed in a manner that is insulting to the legend. "The story is that Bappa is a well-to-do trader. Which trader will be shown wearing a banian and a lungi? The ones when I was smaller showed him as a well-dressed and a well-groomed individual." Bappa Beary has been used to fuel hate in other ways as well. In 2006, a tableau during the Dasara procession depicted Bappa Beary as falling at the feet of Durga Parameshwari. Terming this as objectionable, the Muslim community approached the police requesting them to not allow the tableau in the procession that is taken out across Mangaluru. But the tableau remained a part of the procession. As the procession passed through Muslim neighborhoods, there were clashes leading to looting and burning of Muslims shops. This triggered communal riots in Dakshin Kannada which went on for weeks. "Deiva ithina, Deva bathina" When you meet Amrutha and Deekiah, you wouldn't be able to guess that like most cinematic love stories theirs started with an argument too. She had walked up to him at a literary festival and posed a few questions about a talk he had just given. But he dismissed the questions and her as just another Bunt girl with 'malladiga' (haughtiness). Both hoped never to run into each other again. After a few months, Amrutha spotted Deekiah again when she started working for an anti-caste Kannada publication in Bangalore. "He was writing a poster, without even using a stencil. Yet it was art like I hadn't seen before." She was intrigued. But so was Deekiah. Amrutha Shetty was a popular Tulu orator and a writer. They fell in love and just when they were to get married, it met the cliched resistance most inter-caste couples face in Dakshina Kannada. While recounting the reactions of her family, Amrutha recounts what it meant for her in the larger scheme of existence. "The struggles we faced during our marriage wane in comparison to the struggle both of us have given our lives to. Other than a handful, nobody supported us. The tragedy is they've turned their backs on their own culture, choosing a replacement which will destroy everything that this land has stood for." What Amrutha was referring to was an attempt by cultural activists like Deekiah and herself to initiate a back-to-roots cultural campaign in Coastal Karnataka. A cultural troupe called 'Aata Koota' was started in early 1990s by Deekiah, Amrutha, and a few others. "The purpose of the troupe was simple. "We set out to perform the real stories of Tulu legends who were being depicted as ganas and avatars of one God or the other", says Amrutha. Aata Koota performed stories various Tulu Deiva's across Dakshin Kananda. It attracted crowds and also met with a lot of resistance. Eventually, the troupe wound up due to lack of financial support. "Nobody wanted to back an initiative like this for obvious reasons," says Amrutha. "Yakshagana is an appropriation of deiva-aradhane," says Deekiah. "It is a form of community worship which used to happen among the Tulu speaking masses. There used to be one person who would narrate the Paddana, in a dramatised manner. He will be the channel to communicate with the deiva. This form was later used by Vedic communities, through Yakshagana, to preach their religion. This religion has nothing to do with us," says Deekiah. Elaborating on why he thinks Yakshagana is an appropriation, he says, "Look at the similarities. Paddana is Bhagavatha, Siri is neri, thala is chenda, thimbara is mandara." (These are components from Aata and Yakshagana, which are similar and almost like counterparts). Bannanje Babu Amin is commonly referred to as a 'barefoot folklorist' for his extensive work to document Paddanas across Dakshin Kannada. He affirms what Deekiah says. "The only purpose of Yakshagana is Dharmic preaching. Dharmasthala, Kollur, Ashta mutt of Udupi, Polali and all other Vedic temples were used as centers for this propagation. During the festivals that are organised here, Yakshagana performances were used to familiarise people with stories that they otherwise were alien to." Deekiah said people didn't realise the danger of it. "Now the RSS and its organisations have managed to turn around history in their favour and we watch this happen as mute spectators. This is the truth." To understand how the RSS is doing this, I asked to be introduced to Dr Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, the RSS main-man of Dakshin Kannada. Some say he is on his way out but there is no denying the clout that Bhat enjoys among the BJP leadership. It is immense. I received several calls from my source informing me that 'Doctorji' (aka Bhat) will meet me at 9 am. I got off the bus at Kalladka and went to Sri Rama Vidya Kendra, the school owned by Bhat. I reached the school and looked for him. When Bhat walked of his office, he seemed surprised to see me. He seemed surprised to see a lone woman and even more taken aback by the fact that she spoke Tulu. He walked me towards the prayer hall across the road. There were posters of Savarkar and Hedgewar inside the school; this was the first time I'd seen anything like it. There were posters of Dr Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh as well. The students stood in neat lines and on the dais a bunch of them were busy setting up a pooja. I began to scan the groups for students I could interview when Bhat asked if I would join him on stage. The morning's proceedings began with a ritual called Agni hotra. Three students sat around a fire and fed it dried cow dung, dried jackfruit, and ghee while reciting Sanskrit shlokas. After the ritual and prayers, Bhat took me on a tour of the school. We walked through a tunnel which led to a cave-like structure, at the end of which was a bust of Hanuman. The school was constructed over what seemed a hillock, where each classroom was a few levels above the previous one. I felt like I was in a gurukula. He took me to four kinds of classrooms, starting from the Shishu Mandirs for the youngest. The activities in the Shishu Mandir were interactive, with the teachers explaining how they taught the children to count, using methods from everyday tasks, like stacking vegetables. Children in each classroom, that I was taken to, broke out into a Sanskrit song-dance performance. The Kannada medium school, Bhat told me, teaches Sanskrit to every student "help them connect to their samskruthi". "This school exists to awaken a feeling of nationalism towards Bharat in students," he said. I asked Bhat if students are encouraged to discuss their local culture or whether they are taught about local heroes like Koti Chennayya or Koraga Thaniya. He said they were. However, when I looked around, I didnt see any local cultural symbols. As we walked through a hanging bridge, he pointed me to the play area where children were making shiva lingas out of clay. Bhat also told me that "more than 95 percent of the students" belonged to lowered castes. Many were also from impoverished backgrounds and lived in the school hostel. He then walked me across to the campus across the road, where the senior secondary and pre-university sections were. Before entering the classrooms, we toured the gaushala at the entrance. It was an open shelter, with the statue of Krishna at the entrance. Coastal Karnataka is lined with schools which are owned by the Sangh and its functionaries. Other than Bhat, VHP leader MV Puranik owns Sharada Vidyalaya. One of the earliest members of VHP in Karnataka, Dr Veerendra Heggade owns Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Education Society. The names of Viinay Hegde who is the Chancellor of Nitte Deemed University and Dr Mohan Alva, who owns Alvas Education Society, often figure in programs of the Sangh. Perhaps the work of Vidya Bharathi will contextualise why the Sangh promotes setting up educational institutions by its members. Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan is the educational wing of the RSS, which was established in the late 70s. The RSS had, by then, set up schools at the local level; Vidya Bharati was created as a centralised institution, to coordinate between these schools. Since then, the functionaries of Vidya Bharati have expanded to 2,000 schools with more than 30 lakh students enrolled in them. Those students who successfully qualify the JAC class 8 examinations will be promoted to class 9. The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) announced the results for the Class 8 board examination on Wednesday, 16 April. The board released the result on its official website jac.nic.in. Students who appeared for the JAC Class 8 exams can also visit the websites jac.jharkhand.gov.in and jacresultonline.com to check their result. Steps to check the JAC Class 8 board exam result 2019: Step 1: Visit the official website of the board jac.nic.in Step 2: On the homepage, click on the result link provided Step 3: Now, enter your roll code and roll number correctly in the provided field Step 4: Click Submit to proceed Step 5: Your result will be displayed on the screen Step 6: Download your result and take a print out of the same for future reference Students are advised to visit only the official websites of the board to check their results. Over 5.5 lakh students appeared for the JAC Class 8 examination 2019. As per the notification, the KEAM 2019 examinations have been rescheduled to 2 May and 3 May, 2019. KEAM 2019 Admit Card Released | The Commissioner for Entrance Examinations, Kerala (CEE) released the KEAM 2019 admit card on Wednesday. Candidates who registered for KEAM 2019 can visit the official website of the board cee.kerala.gov.in to check and download their admit card. They will have to carry a printout of the admit card at the time of examination. According to a CEE notification, the KEAM 2019 examinations have been rescheduled to 2 May and 3 May. Earlier, the exams were set to be held on 27 and 28 April. The results are expected on 25 May. Steps to download KEAM admit card 2019 : Step 1: Visit the official website: cee.kerala.gov.in Step 2: On the homepage, click on the KEAM 2019 link. Step 3: Now click on the link for KEAM 2019 admit card. Step 4: Once, the login page opens, enter your application number and password Step 5: After logging in successfully your admit card will be displayed on the screen. Step 6: Use the link to download the admit card and take a print out for future reference. Candidates are advised to check whether the personal details furnished on the admit card are correct. After downloading the admit card, candidates must keep it safely as they won't be permitted to sit for the examination without it. National Conference (NC) leader Mohammed Ashraf Bhat's residence in Tral came under an UBGL grenade attack by militants on Tuesday. Militants fired a UBGL grenade at the residence of National Conference leader Mohammed Ashraf Bhat in Jammu and Kashmir's upper Tral on Tuesday. According to ANI, the grenade exploded outside Bhat's residence. The incident occurred in Tral when the National Conference's Anantnag parliamentary seat candidate Hasnain Masoodi was addressing workers there. #BREAKING Terrorists attack NC leaders house in Anantnag. Grenade lobbed at NC leader Ashraf Bhats house. No deaths or damage reported in the attack. | @islahmufti with more details pic.twitter.com/0O9vjXrA9w News18 (@CNNnews18) April 16, 2019 No injuries, casualties or damage have been reported in the attack. This is a developing story and more details awaited. In another similar incident where a politician came under attack, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti's convoy was attacked with stones by a few youngsters while she was electioneering in South Kashmir's Khiram area, leaving her security guard injured. Mufti was returning after offering prayers at the Khiram Dargah, which is revered by the local Muslim population. "A Special Services Guard (SSG), a force carved out of Jammu and Kashmir police to protect the serving and former chief ministers, was injured," the officials said. According to them, a spare vehicle in her motorcade was also damaged. Police present at the spot chased the youngsters and later detained them for questioning. Others in the entourage, including the PDP president, escaped unhurt. According to the preliminary report, the youngsters were expressing their unhappiness over the PDP's tie up with the BJP after the 2014 Assembly elections. Traditionally a bastion of the PDP, Khiram is located 77 kilometres from Srinagar and is surrounded on three sides by mountains, separating it from Sallar in the east and Tral and Shikargah in the west and north, respectively. Mufti is contesting the 2019 General Election from the Anantnag seat, which she had won in 2014. With inputs from PTI Asked when he intends to join politics, Vadra told ANI, 'As of now there are no plans. I have no wish to join politics right now. I am amongst the people and working hard. When people will feel that I should enter politics, I will come with full force.' New Delhi: Putting rest to all speculations, Robert Vadra, son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, on Monday clarified that he had no plans of joining politics. He said he will make his debut in politics only when the people feel he is worthy enough to do so. Asked when he intends to join politics, Vadra told ANI, "As of now there are no plans. I have no wish to join politics right now. I am amongst the people and working hard. When people will feel that I should enter politics, I will come with full force." "I think people of Amethi and Rae Bareli feel very happy that the family is with them and have been with them forever and the development is always on our minds. We always reach out and meet everyone. We will do all we can to further develop both Amethi and Rae Bareli," he had told ANI on 13 April. Pete Buttigieg will face stiff competition from fellow party leaders as 18 Democrats have already declared they are running for their party's nomination to face Sonald Trump in 2020. South Bend, United States: When Pete Buttigieg declared his candidacy for US president, he was greeted with a roaring cheer and the drip, drip, drip of a leaky roof in a former auto plant. The 37-year-old who has catapulted from relative obscurity to third place among Democrats in the latest polls spoke in front of thousands on Sunday in the cavernous Studebaker complex in his hometown. The roof was a reminder that the entire plant has been abandoned and decaying for decades. But just steps from where Buttigieg gave his speech was a far different scene gone were rusted roofs and broken windows. Instead, that section of the complex had been redeveloped into gleaming new offices for high-tech companies. Studebaker is one of the young mayor's proudest success stories and an example of where he wants to take America's Rust Belt. "There is a myth being sold to industrial and rural communities: the myth that we can stop the clock and turn it back," Buttigieg said in his speech. Fed up blue-collar workers voted for then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 largely on his promise to revitalise American manufacturing and return their towns to their former glory. But Buttigieg is now trying to win over those same voters with a competing vision. "That's why I'm here today. To tell a different story than 'Make America Great Again,'" he said, invoking President Trump's campaign slogan. "It's time to walk away from the politics of the past, and toward something totally different." A growing city "Mayor Pete", as he's affectionately called, is proposing to do for America what he has done for South Bend. The city managed to reverse decades of decline and attract new development and investment. Its population has grown slightly every year since 2013, two years after Buttigieg became mayor. The labor force has grown, unemployment has declined, and wages are up, according to a report by Indiana University. The changes inspired Gillian Shaw, a New Jersey native, to remain in South Bend after she completed her studies at nearby University of Notre Dame. She co-founded a healthcare technology company that is located in the Studebaker building. "I moved here the same year that Pete was elected mayor," she said. "And I have seen just the revitalisation of this city, and I love it and I want to be part of it." These are no small achievements for a town Newsweek in 2011 called one of America's 10 dying cities. "The mayor was able to create a sense of optimism," said South Bend-based political science professor Elizabeth Bennion of Indiana University. Challenges The question before voters will be whether Buttigieg has shown enough results in his hometown to steer the world's biggest economy. Like the Studebaker plant, South Bend is an unfinished project. Its streets are mixed with new development and buildings that look barely used, if not vacant. Indiana University forecast that South Bend and surrounding areas will grow in 2019, but at "a fairly modest rate". Bennion said the city "continues to face many of the same challenges of other urban cities", including high poverty and homicide rates. Buttigieg also will have stiff competition for the hearts of Trump voters. Eighteen Democrats have already declared they are running for their party's nomination to face Trump in 2020. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also is claiming the Middle America mantle, saying she can speak to swing voters. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is aiming squarely for the Rust Belt. The democratic socialist polls twice as well as Buttigieg and last week traveled to Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all states where blue-collar workers narrowly handed Trump the presidency. And then, there is Joe Biden. The former vice=president during the Barack Obama administration is widely expected to declare his candidacy soon. "A lot depends on what Biden does," because the former vice-president appeals to the same voters Buttigieg is courting, said Paul Beck, a political science professor at Ohio State University. "I would think that if Biden enters in, that's going to be somebody who will be a very serious competitor to Buttigieg," Beck said. 'Does he have longevity?' So far, Buttigieg has captured voters' imagination with a carefully-crafted narrative: a results-oriented mayor, a married gay man who talks earnestly about his religious faith, a Rhodes scholar and an Afghanistan war veteran. Recent polls in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire show Buttigieg in third place behind Biden and Sanders. In just three months, he has raised $7 million in donations. The political rise has been so swift that staffers have struggled to keep up. When Buttigieg delivered his campaign launch speech, he had no speechwriter to assist him. None had been hired yet. "He's caught the fancy of the moment," said G Terry Madonna, who directs the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College. But Madonna added: "Does he have longevity? That's the key." The Supreme Court bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioner that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the case involving Kerala's Sabarimala temple New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a petition seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers. A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond to the plea filed by a Pune-based couple. The bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioners that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the Sabarimala temple case. "The only reason we may hear you is because of our judgment in the Sabarimala temple case," it said. On 28 September 2018, a five-judge constitution bench headed by then chief justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination. In the current petition, the couple has sought the apex court's direction to declare as "illegal" and "unconstitutional" the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers. Referring to constitutional provisions, the petitioners have said there should not be any discrimination against any citizen of the country on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth. They have added that a life of dignity and equality is the most sacrosanct fundamental right and a Muslim woman cannot be prohibited from entering a mosque. During the hearing, the bench sought to know from the petitioners' counsel as to whether Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque in foreign countries. The counsel informed the bench that Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque at the holy Mecca and also in Canada. However, the bench asked the counsel whether the fundamental right to equality could be asserted against non-State actors. "Can you invoke Article 14 of the Constitution and claim equal treatment from another human being?," it asked. The petitioners' counsel told the court that the mosques in India were enjoying the benefits and grant extended to them by the State. Despite poll promises, transport policy and investment remains resolutely oriented towards road building and private vehicles, particularly in Bengaluru, as evidenced by the controversial elevated corridor project championed by the Chief Minister With general elections in the country underway, all political parties have promised to prioritise public transport. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party promises to launch an Urban Mobility Mission, one of whose aims is to increase the use of public transport. On similar lines, the Indian National Congress says it will formulate a policy on urban transport that emphasises public transport including metro rail, suburban rail, public bus transport and non-motorised transport. Yet, despite these stated aims, transport policy and investment remains resolutely oriented towards road building and private vehicles, particularly in Bengaluru, as evidenced by the controversial elevated corridor project championed by the Chief Minister. The Karnataka State Assembly election manifesto of the Indian National Congress, which is a part of the ruling coalition in Karnataka, promised to increase the (mode) share of public transport to 80 percent in Bengaluru, in line with the National Urban Transport Policy. Clearly, its support for the elevated corridors project is inconsistent with this objective. While the election manifesto of the ruling Janata Dal (Secular) in the 2018 Assembly elections talked about providing assistance to municipalities for urban road construction, there was no mention of any urban highway mega project like the elevated corridors. Yet that project is being fast-tracked and prioritised over other transportation initiatives. All MP candidates say they want to promote public transport, improve infrastructure and reduce traffic congestion. Those from Congress say the Elevated Corridor project is the need of the hour. While BJP MP candidates on the campaign trail now are questioning the project on different aspects, in the state legislature, BJP MLAs had also supported the elevated corridors. Bengaluru: The road to nowhere Bengaluru is notorious for its traffic jams. Average traffic speeds have dropped precipitously in the recent past as much as 14 percent in the last year alone to a record low of 17 km/h. But even this is fast compared to some roads like the Outer Ring Road (ORR) where traffic crawls at below average walking speed. Alongside this, the number of vehicles looks all set to cross 1 crore, bringing with it a massive increase in distance travelled by vehicles and associated polluting emissions. Clearly, there are too many vehicles on our roads slowing down traffic to abysmal levels. So why not just build more roads to make room for all the vehicles that are out there? So far, this has been the thinking of the authorities in Bengaluru. There have been innumerable road widening schemes over the years. During the last half-decade or so, yet another fixation has taken hold, that of developing so called signal free corridors by replacing junctions with flyovers and underpasses. This has left our city covered with a web of flyovers and underpasses creating an intimidating environment for the pedestrian, but has delivered scant benefits to mobility as witnessed by growing commute times and falling travel speeds. The latest scheme is for about 100 km of elevated corridors criss-crossing the city. Will this be the solution that Bengaluru needs? Or will it just add to our woes? The plan has aroused much opposition, principally on environmental grounds that it would lead to greater vehicle usage and hence more polluting emissions and that thousands of trees would have to be cut down to build these new roads. Other grounds for opposition are that it would lead to more petroleum consumption which is not readily available in India and concerns over equity that it privileges the few who use cars rather than the many who walk and use public transport. On the other hand, proponents of the plan argue that enabling traffic to flow smoothly rather than being stuck in stop-start traffic would reduce fuel consumption, emissions and consequent pollution. To address the issue of equity, as incomes rise, more people would be able to afford private motor vehicles, and finally even that building elevated roads for private vehicles would allow buses to run faster on the ground level roads. However, there is a more fundamental flaw with these plans. There is a wealth of evidence that building more roads does not reduce congestion or improve mobility. Even under idealized conditions of a fully electric fleet of vehicles affordable to the vast majority, conditions that might become possible in the future, a road based solution will not be viable for Bengaluru. Induced traffic demand Most people are familiar with the idea that if the price of something goes down, its consumption increases as more people are able to afford more of it. It turns out that a similar logic applies to roads. Increasing road capacity to reduce traffic congestion and increase travel times would be beneficial only if the same number of vehicles made the same number of trips as before. But it turns out that the new capacity results in people making more trips than they did before, thereby negating any advantages of the additional road capacity, and in fact increasing petroleum consumption and polluting vehicle emissions. A useful analogy to explain the principle is liquid vs gas. Historically, traffic was assumed to be like a liquid, that is, a certain volume flows through the pipes, and so expanding the pipes would let the liquid get through more easily without backing up. However, traffic is more like a gas that expands to fill the available space. The immediate effect of adding road capacity is to reduce congestion and thus increase traffic speeds. This induces people to make many kinds of trips in their private vehicle that they did before because of high congestion. For example, travel to new destinations like a supermarket or restaurant several kilometres away becomes more attractive. Similarly, with reduced levels of traffic congestion, using the car for a short trip that was earlier done by walk, bicycle or public transport might become more attractive. Soon, the volume of traffic expands to fill up the new capacity, restoring congestion to previous levels. Reduced congestion also affects long term decisions such as where to live. With higher travel speeds, living further away from work becomes more viable. Over time, this results in greater urban sprawl and automobile-dependent development. The dispersed development pattern makes public transport less viable, and wider roads and increased traffic volumes in turn degrade the pedestrian environment, leading more people to shift to the use of motorised private transport. Induced demand exists: Cases from around the world Several studies, around the world, have quantified the results of expanding highway capacity. In 1994, the British Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Appraisal report found that reducing travel time on highways by 20 percent increases traffic volumes by 10 percent in the short term and 20 percent in the long run. As a result they concluded, the economic value of a scheme can be overestimated by the omission of even a small amount of induced traffic. We consider this matter of profound importance to the value-for-money assessment of the road programme. In 1998, the Surface Transport Policy Project, a survey of 70 metropolitan areas found that regions that invested heavily in road capacity expansion did not do better in terms of road congestion compared to regions that did not. Several more recent studies have found similar results. Just this year, Kent Hymel of California State University, USA found that vehicle miles travelled increases in exact proportion to road capacity expansion, and that any congestion relief from capacity expansion vanishes within five years. Thanks to such studies, most countries around the world take the effects of induced demand into account while planning any road expansion. For example, the US Department of Transport now assumes that a 10 percent decrease in a combination of travel time and expense results in traffic volume increasing by 8 percent in 5 years, and an additional 2 percent in 10 years. In India too, the experience appears to have been similar. Professor Ashish Verma of IISc, Bengaluru says, Mumbai has built many flyovers and the Worli Sea Link. But the city is more congested than it was earlier. Talking of Bengaluru, Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of the group Citizens for Bengaluru says, We have nearly 50 flyovers in the city and three elevated corridors. If these are the solutions, then they have failed because we still have traffic problems. Furthermore, all these studies assume a fixed population and a fixed number of vehicles overall. Bengalurus population is increasing, and ever more people are able to afford private vehicles. So if people have to drive to get around, any new road capacity will fill up much more rapidly than indicated in these studies. In fact, Professor Verma has estimated that the proposed elevated corridors will fill up in less than five years. Loose ends Unconvinced proponents of the elevated corridors may poke holes in the argument. Bengaluru has some specific problems, they would argue, that would be mitigated by the elevated corridors. Gridlock, for instance. This refers to instances of substantial traffic backing up in streets to block intersections, thereby stopping traffic flow. Unfortunately, the Victoria Transport Policy Institute finds that more urban highways would actually increase the chance of gridlock, Gridlock can be avoided with proper intersection design and traffic law enforcement. Increasing regional highway capacity tends to increase this risk by adding more traffic to surface streets where gridlock occurs. Anyone who has seen traffic jams at points where flyovers or underpasses end can easily relate to this finding! What about the argument, made by R.K. Mishra, a member of BBMPs Technical Advisory Committee and the person who proposed these elevated corridors? Mishra said that by reducing traffic congestion by creating extra road capacity through elevated corridors, buses can move faster and provide reliable service. At best, this is a recipe for managed decline of bus services. Clearly, all those who could afford it would use their own vehicles to speed through the elevated corridors, instead of using the slower buses on surface streets and having to deal with an unfriendly pedestrian environment. With growing incomes, more people would acquire their own vehicles, and ever fewer would use buses. Present day Los Angeles, criss crossed by highways, serves as a good example where most travel is by automobile with only residual service provided by buses on surface streets. The highways, though, have not reduced traffic congestion imposing huge costs. But it wasnt always like that. Before they built the highways, Los Angeles had one of the most extensive tram networks in the world, which went into terminal decline before being shut down altogether. What should be done instead? Rather than focussing on reducing congestion for automobiles, our attention should be directed towards avoiding traffic congestion and enabling alternative forms of mobility, so that peoples travel needs are not stymied by traffic congestion. Even though this may sound counterintuitive, the way forward might be to reduce, rather than increase, road capacity. Reducing road capacity and reallocating the space for exclusive bus lanes would transport more people using the same space, and with a lower environmental footprint. Similarly, investment in rail-based transport can help improve mobility for a lower environmental impact. Over the last decade, Seoul in South Korea has torn down dozens of elevated expressways and used some of the newly freed land to increase green and blue cover. The result has been a 3.6 degree centigrade reduction in peak summer temperatures. As each summer gets hotter than the one before, Bengaluru would certainly appreciate some relief in this regard! The real and sustainable solution to our problem here is a greater focus on public transport, not more investment in roads that have failed to work so far and are guaranteed to fail in future too. This article is part of a series produced and published under the Citizen Matters - Sustainable Cities Reporting Fellowship and supported by Climate Trends. One of the last great imperial jewelry collections of the world, the intrinsic value of the Hyderabad Nizam's jewels is immense. Experts lament that this collection is not permanently displayed, since it speaks volumes about Indian craftsmanship It was in 2006 that a collection of jewels, formerly owned by the erstwhile rulers of the city, were displayed at the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. The immense buzz around these jewels prompted even my usually laidback household into action, and I was told to accompany my grandmother, mother and aunt for a visit. Just out of my teens, I simply strolled around the exhibit, unimpressed by the riches on display and made fun of the ostentatious setting, while the trio I was with were suitably dazzled by the wealth and glamour of the jewels of one of the richest royal families of the world. Over the years, no conversation in Hyderabad about the Nizams is complete without a mention of these pieces, which were acquired by the Government of India. As the exhibition Jewels of India: The Nizams Jewellery Collection finally puts them on display in Delhi, the iconic jewels have once again captured the attention of enthusiasts, history lovers and jewelry aficionados, owing to their history and the artisanship of the people who designed them. The collection currently displayed in the National Museum was acquired by the government from the Nizam's Jewelry Trusts on payment of Rs 218 crores. In February 1967, Mir Osman Ali Khans (the last Nizam of Hyderabad) death set into motion the process of liquidation of three jewelry trusts that he had established between 1951 and 1952 the Nizams Jewelry Trust, The Nizams Supplemental Jewelry Trust, and the Nizams Jewelry for Family Trust. The story begins in 1951, at the time of Hyderabads accession to the Indian Union, when the Nizam inherited a huge family and household to look after in the face of dwindling revenues. While the Government of India agreed to give him a generous stipend, it was in no way adequate to meet his astounding expenses. He then created close to 54 Trusts, of which three were solely for jewelry. Parts of jewelry in these trusts were not for sale like the symbolic and spiritual collections, which were to be transferred from heir to heir. After acquisition by the Government of India in 1995, the jewels of the Nizams were displayed in 2001 and 2006 in hugely popular exhibitions at two venues: the National Museum, New Delhi, and the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad Usha Balakrishnan, a cultural capital consultant who has authored Jewels of the Nizams and co-authored Treasures of the Deccan Jewels of the Nizams, calls the collection unparalleled. Their specialty is that they have an immaculate provenance they belonged to the Nizams of Hyderabad and that they are set with spectacular gemstones: Golconda diamonds, emeralds from Colombia, rubies and spinels from Burma, and Basra pearls. They epitomise Indian craftsmanship and aesthetics, thereby becoming enduring symbols of the glory of a bygone era. Deepthi Sasidharan, a Fulbright scholar who has curated several Indian exhibitions for private and government collections, including those at the Chowmahalla Palace and Salar Jung Museum, says that the jewelry consists of both mens and womens daily and occasional wear. She explains, Around 40 pieces come from the mens jewels. It has complete womens suites from two of his wives. A typical womans suite in those days included 15-16 classic pieces, including those for the neck, nose, ear, hand and upper hand. Considering that the Nizams had 200-300 wives, it gives us a sense of how much was lost over the years. A coming together of classic pieces The Jacobs Diamond, one of the most popular pieces in the collection, was once used as a paper weight by the last Nizam of Hyderabad! A brilliant irregular oval weighing 184.50 carats, it has never been tested to determine its exact color and clarity on the diamond scale. Outlining its history, Usha says, The rough was discovered in South Africa around 1884 and weighed 457.50 carats. The stone was cut in Amsterdam by MB Barends of the firm Jacques Metz, and it was named the Victoria or the Imperial after Queen Victoria. The gem was owned by a consortium of investors of Messrs Pittar Leverson & Co. Not finding a buyer in Europe, the gem was eventually sent to India on the request of Alexander Malcolm Jacob, a jewelry merchant, who had found a buyer in India Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad. Other pieces include the Padak Almas Kanval, a gold and silver pendant set with diamonds and rubies. Styled as a large diamond surrounded by smaller ones, the pendant has two parrot-like bird motifs with ruby-diamond beaks perched atop. A mesmerizing Kanthi necklace, comprising three rows of around 57 pearls and as many diamonds, is also on display. The collection includes sarpeches (turban ornaments), earrings, armlets, toe rings, finger rings, necklaces, belts and buckles, pairs of bracelets and bangles, a pocket watch and watch chains, buttons and cuff links. The collection showcases the fascination the Hyderabad royals had with emeralds there are an exceptionally large variety of cut emeralds, emerald drops, emerald beads, taveez and two ornamented belts, one studded with a cut and the other with a carved emerald. The quantity of emeralds may run into a couple of thousand carats. Historical importance One of the last great imperial jewelry collections of the world, the intrinsic value of the collection is immense. Apart from the Jacob Diamond, there is a set of 22 uncut old-world Columbian emeralds which are highly distinctive because of their dark green color, which isnt seen in modern-day gems. Others include the biggest and best of blood red rubies from Burma, extremely rare alexandrite from Russia, and of course, ample quantities of flat cut Golconda diamonds. Deepti remarks that what cannot be valued is the full extent of the technique and processes used, most of which are now extinct. She adds, One can see the Indian craftsmanship of the 18th and 19th centuries in full force. Pink and white enameling from the great jewelers of Banaras, Jaipur and the Deccan, as the Nizams bought only the best. And as one moves towards the 1900s, the royals started patronising the biggest jewelers of Europe and one can clearly see the changes in aesthetic. The rich meenakari work and baazubands are gone, and in come the drop-diamond earrings and other subtler pieces of work. Adding that this collection gives a 360-degree view of the finest artisanship the world has ever seen, she explains, These jewels show the whole ego trip of Indian craftsmanship the ability to mount these huge stones and set them with silver foiling or the exquisite detailing. The whole sumptuousness of the collection is staggering. Calls for a permanent exhibit There is a lot of clamour in Hyderabad to have a permanent exhibit of these jewels in the place they originated from. Deepti says that nothing justifies not putting these priceless jewels on display. Its lamentable that while the Hope Diamond is so celebrated, here we have a diamond that is four times its size and is simply tucked away in bank vaults. Historically, these are the last windows of the great legacy of Mughals and other great Islamic rulers of India. Usha says that this entire collection with its impeccable provenance is pivotal in the study of Indian jewelry history. Today, the gems and jewels of India are scattered around the world in museums and private collections. The jewels in this collection are set with fabulous gems, they display the skills of the Indian craftsmen, of Indian design, and also how gems were set, enameling of the Deccan and the mastery of the Indian lapidary in gemstones. Most importantly, the jewels should travel around the world and be showcased in special exhibitions as the heritage and legacy of India. Today, the greatest Indian jewelry exhibitions are being mounted by museums in the West and private collectors like the Al Sabah Collection, Kuwait and the Al Thani collection. With these jewels in our collection, we are not showcasing our own legacy adequately. Experts are unhappy with the current display too: From rubies displayed on red velvet, to the uneven flow of the exhibition which showcases earrings next to sherwani buttons, they feel that it could have been displayed in a better fashion. While the whole world is involved in a discussion of repatriation of lost treasures (from the Elgin Marbles to Chinese art collections), one hopes a collection of such a stellar origin will make its way to the place it belongs to Hyderabad. Usha says that one should also focus on the additional treasures languishing in District Treasuries around India. She adds, These include the Junagadh collection, the Kashmir collection and countless discoveries made in the course of digging, building projects etc. and also material held by the Archaeological Survey of India. And of course, the jewels in the temples. All these need to be documented, studied, published and exhibited urgently. It is unfortunate that we don't consider our own treasures and heritage worthy of exhibition around the world. The exhibition will remain open for public viewing till 5 May, 2019 at the National Museum, Delhi (except Mondays and national holidays) Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally on 9 April at Latur, Maharashtra, urged the first time voters to dedicate their votes to the Air Force which carried out air strikes at Balakot New Delhi: After Election Commission banned BSP chief Mayawati from campaigning for 48 hours for violating poll code, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav took to Twitter questioning the poll panel's integrity and asked whether it could stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi from seeking votes in the name of the Army. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally on 9 April at Latur, Maharashtra, urged the first time voters to dedicate their votes to the Air Force which carried out air strikes at Balakot. EC barred the Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati from poll campaigning for 72, 48 hours respectively. The bar comes into force from 6 am on 16 April. The commission observed: Mayawati in her impugned speech, has appealed to secure votes on religious lines that tantamount to violation of provisions of General Conduct of Model Code of Conduct, for the guidance of political parties and candidates. Mayawati made the objectionable statements during the public rally on 7 April at Deoband, Saharanpur. The SP-BSP-RLD are contesting in alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav wrote on twitter: EC directive against @mayawati ji begs the question: do they have integrity to stop PM from asking for votes in name of the army? Heres the quote @ECISVEEP: ? Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 15, 2019 Taking note of their alleged objectionable statements in speeches, the Election Commission on Monday barred Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati from election campaigning for 72 hours and 48 hours respectively, for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Uttar Pradesh witnessed poll for eight Lok Sabha seats on 11 April during the first phase of election. It will go to poll on 18, 23 and 29 April as well as on 6, 12 and 19 May for 8, 10, 13, 14 and 13 seats respectively. The counting of votes would take place on 23 May. Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE updates: The Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled the business visa of Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed, who allegedly campaigned for the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. He has also been blacklisted. Auto refresh feeds Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be in Kerala on Tuesday and Wednesday, covering several districts including his second constituency of Wayanad. Like Congress president Rahul Gandhi, BJP chief Amit Shah will also address rallies in Kerala. He will, however, begin the day with meetings at Karnataka. The frantic campaign pitches of the two-month-long Lok Sabha election process saw a small reprieve on Tuesday when Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted that BJP minister Nirmala Sitharaman had been to visit him in the hospital in spite of a demanding campaign schedule. Tharoor had been hospitalised after hurting himself during a temple visit on Monday. Union Home Minister and BJP candidate from Lucknow, Rajnath Singh will file his nomination papers on Tuesday. Ahead of the roadshow, Rajnath visited the Hanuman Setu temple in the city. He is likely to be accompanied by senior leaders including Mahendra Nath Pandey, Deputy CM of UP KP Maurya, Dinesh Sharma, MoS Home Hansraj Ahir, Kalraj Mishra. Singh is also expected to hold a road show from party office to the collectorate. This was after the Supreme Court had criticised the Election Commission for not taking concrete action against disrespectful or communally-coloured speeches being political leaders and had called it a"toothless body". The Supreme Court on Tuesday, after summoning the Election Commission on Monday, appreciated the poll watchdog for taking action on political leaders spewing hate speech. The poll watchdog has barred Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Union minister Maneka Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for 48 hours. Mayawati on Tuesday, did not get the relief she was hoping for, from the Supreme Court. The BSP chief, challenging the Election Commission ban on her campaigning for 48 hours starting 6 am today, was told by the Supreme Court to file a separate petition if she was "aggrieved". The Congress chief, speaking in English and with a Tamil interpreter on stage, hit out at the BJP over the Rafale scam, the charge that the BJP has made it easy for the rich to get richer and the rule of the RSS. "I insisted that the money from NYAY be sent to women because I knew that women were better at money. I know the men will not be happy with this," said Rahul to loud laughter and applause, at his Kollam rally on Tuesday. "The money for NYAY will come from the likes of Anil Ambani. Not honest businessmen, not fair people. We will make sure that those who have stolen from you pay you back," Rahul Gandhi said at Kollam on Tuesday. He spoke at length on the Congress's manifesto. At the rally, Rahul also made several promises in line with what the party has promised in its manifesto, including a single cell clearance platform for permissions for new businesses. In frenzy we have seen before as leaders went to respective Collectorates to file their nomination papers, Union Minister and BJP leader Rajnath Singh too is leading a populated roadshow ahead of filing his nomination from the Lucknow Parliamentary seat. Hitting out once again at the Naveen Patnaik government, PM Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the Naveen Patnaik government at Odisha had pocketed 85 percent of the money that the Centre had sent to the state. "You tell me, how will development happen then," he asked, pointing out that most of Odisha's people were wracked by poverty years after Independence because "Congress and BJD have been in power in the state." Prakash Raj is contesting from the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate. On the campaign trail on Tuesday, he said, "I'm not fighting against anyone. I'm fighting for the people." Senior Principal Secretary in the EC KF Wilfred told News18 that there is "no such specific rule, but we need to look in to his (Ferdous) purpose of visit when he applied for visa." BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was once Mamata Banerjee's man friday, led the charge against Trinamool Congress after it engaged Bangladeshi actor Ferdous to campaign for its Lok Sabha candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. The saffron party has complained to the EC in this regard, reports said. Two Railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Azam Khan is the only leader among the four who were banned from campaigning on Monday (including Maneka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati), who did not receive a notice before being banned. This, his son and family have held, is grounds for alleging that the bias against a Muslim candidate was at play. Azam Khan's son, Abdullah Azam Khan, alleged on Tuesday that the Election Commission has been banned from campaigning because he is a Muslim. "Because Yogi Adityanath was banned, they saw it fit to ban a Muslim man too," he said. Amit Shah has begun to address his first public meeting of the day at Davanagere in Karnataka. Immediately upon taking stage, Shah hit out at the mahagathbandhan, saying that if "somehow" the mahamilavat forms a government in the country, the leaders of different political parties of the opposition will "take turns" to become the prime minister, throwing the nation into disarray. Shah hit out repeatedly against the Congress-JDS alliance government in Karnataka, saying that chief minister HD Kumaraswamy is one to say that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have made him chief minister and not the people. Speaking at Davanegere on Tuesday, Amit Shah went back to one of the most troubling topics on the campaign trail: the issue of Kashmir. "For as long as there are BJP karyakartas, Kashmir will remain a part of India," he said, adding that it did not matter what Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah were saying. A BJP delegation comprising senior leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jagat Prakash Nadda, will approach the Election Commission later on Tuesday against the campaign ban on UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, ANI has reported. "Modi has reduced the amount of money spent on education drastically. This is a shame. We have a target of spending 6 percent of the GDP on education. We want the poorest and weakest people to have access to the best education and healthcare systems," Rahul said. In what has proven to be quite a busy day for poll-related developments and fervent campaigns, Rahul Gandhi said in his second rally of the day at Kerala's Pathanamthitta that the Congress will will spend money on education, healthcare and hospitals if it comes to power in 2019. The Election Commission of India's flying squad conducted checks on the luggage of former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at a helipad in Shivamogga. The Election Commission of India's flying squad conducted checks on the luggage of former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at a helipad in Shivamogga. "Our Rahul Gandhi, Yechury, and Pinarayi are saying, our soldiers have to go there and see the count of the dead...their caste, religion etc. If it is Islam, there are some signs, no? he said, adding If you remove their clothes you will be able to know. We have to do all that and return is what they (the Opposition) are saying. Speaking at Attingal, at a campaign rally, the BJP's Kerala chief Sreedharan Pillai remarked that Muslims can be identified by removing their clothes, in a reference to circumcision. Pillai, supporting BJPs Attingal candidate Sobha Surendran was referring to the questions raised by the Opposition on the number of people killed in the Balakot air strikes. BJP's JP Majumdar held a press meet in Kolkata after meeting the Election Commission over Bangladeshi actor Ferdous campaigning for Trinamool. "We understand that foreign nationals can't participate in the electioneering process in India. When TMC is using Bangladeshi nationals for campaigning, they are breaking the rules. He should be arrested for breach of visa rules," Majumdar told ANI. Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate for Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency, M Nara Singh campaigns in the constituency. Lok Sabha polls in the state will be held for one out of two seats on 18 April. Voting for Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency was held on 11 Apr. Narendra Modi is addressing his second rally of the day, at Korba in Chhattisgarh. Almost immediately after taking stage, the prime minister blamed the Congress for siding with Naxals and people who wanted to "divide" India. Congress not just with Naxals but with people who want to divide India, says PM Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had on Monday said at a campaign speech that all Modis were thieves. "There is a namdaar who said recently that all Modis are thieves. Those of you here who are named 'Sahoo', if you went to Gujarat, you would be called 'Modi'. So tell me, are you all thieves? Should we believe that we are all thieves? Are you going to let this go without giving an apt reply to those who say things like this?" Modi asked his Korba audience. "My Muslim brothers and sisters, you must vote for the Congress. If you show solidarity, nobody can defeat your candidate. You are not a minority but a majority," he said. Notwithstanding the fact that as many as four prominent politicians are currently suffering campaign bans by the EC for polarising comments, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, at a rally in Bihar's Katihar, appealed to the Muslim voters to vote for the Congress. "The BJP asked me to contest the Ghosi seat on the BJP symbol but I declined," the Uttar Pradesh minister for backward class welfare and divyangjan empowerment said. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Tuesday announced it will go alone in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in the state and released a list of 39 candidates. Party chief and state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said his party has decided to field its candidates as the seat-sharing talks with the BJP remained unsuccessful. The BJP leader claimed that Rahul has hurt the sentiments of crores of people with Modi surname. The deputy chief minister said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has referred to crores of people with 'Modi' surname as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments." Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced that he will file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged "all thieves have Modi in their surnames" comment. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah began his roadshow in Tumakuru, Karnataka on Wednesday. Former prime minister and JDS chief HD Deve Gowda will contest from Tumakuru in the 2019 general election. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah began his roadshow in Tumakuru, Karnataka on Wednesday. Former prime minister and JDS chief HD Deve Gowda will contest from Tumakuru in the 2019 general election. Poonam Sinha, newly anointed Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha's wife, is likely to go against Rajnath Singh from the Lucknow constituency. The fact that Congress has not fielded anyone from the crucial constituency yet is being considered significant enough to suggest that Sinha will have the backing of Congress, SP and BSP. Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam has reportedly joined the Samajwadi Party, say reports. SP is expected to announce her name as Lucknow candidate soon. Samajwadi Party leader Ravidas Mehrotra said that Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow. She will file nomination on 18 April. "We appeal to the Congress that do not field your candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated," he was quoted as saying by ANI. Against the backdrop of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's 'saare Modi chor hai' remark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, "These people are crossing limits daily. According to them anyone whose name is Modi is a thief, What kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your chowkidar." The Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) Kolkata has been asked to send a detailed report whether Ahmed has violated visa conditions by allegedly participating in the Lok Sabha poll campaigning. Ahmed is said to be visiting India on a business visa. The move comes following reports that Ferdous Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMC's Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Centre sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) in Kolkata on Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls, officials said. "That's not how they see India; they want India to be ruled by one idea and they want to crush anybody who does not agree with their idea. The prime minister can announce from a stage Congress-mukt Bharat. He says he wants to eliminate Congress and its ideas. We do not say that, we don't want the elimination of anybody. We disagree the BJP and the RSS, we fight with them, but we will never kill BJP and RSS. We will never use violence against our opponents. Even when we are fighting our opponents, we will do so with love, respect and compassion. And the history of this state and country will show you that in this country love will always triumphs over hate." Addressing a rally in Kerala's Alappuzha, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "We're currently involved in an ideological fight between the Congress and the BJP-RSS. The Congress views India in a particular way and the RSS views India in a completely different way. We say that India should be represented by the voice of its people. We say that we should accept many different idea, languages, cultures." "This is not the last election. I have details of all officials. The government would change after five years. I would hang all of them upside down then," Shekhawat had purportedly said. The BJP candidate from Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat was angered apparently by the videography of vehicles during his election meeting in Pokhran. The videography was carried following a notice from the sub-divisional magistrate stating that the expenditure on vehicles used by Shekhawat in the meeting would be added to his total campaign cost. The Election Commission (EC) has issued a show cause notice to Union minister and BJP MP from Jodhpur Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by warning government officials and threatening to hang them upside down while addressing an election meeting in Pokhran on Sunday night. Congress on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi submitted wrong information in his affidavits over the years regarding a land owned by him in Gandhinagar. "The Congress demands that the Election Commission of India takes thorough cognisance of the seemingly deliberate omissions in Modi's affidavite and take appropriate action under the Representatin of People Act," it said. In Amravati, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said Tuesday that the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra lacked both leaders and direction. The Sena-BJP alliance will win all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Thackeray said, addressing a campaign rally for sitting MP and Sena candidate Anandrao Adsul. Addressing a public meeting in Thrissur, BJP chief Amit Shah said, "UPA government gave Rs 45,393 crore under the 13th Finance Commission. However, in five years, NDA govt gave Rs 1.98 lakh crore to Kerala under 14th Finance Commission." He further alleged, "Under Pinarayi Vijayan government, 525 incidents of mob lynching and violence have taken place... The Kerala government also unleashed violence on the devotees of Sabarimala in the name of implementing the Supreme Court order. What message does the Kerala chief minister want to send through the violence on the devotees?" Amit Shah claimed in Thrissur that over 120 workers of the BJP and RSS had been murdered in Kerala till date. "I want to ask the Kerala chief minister, why have most of these murders taken place in your district? You must take responsibility." Bihar BJP vice-president Devesh Kumar said, "We met Election Commission and made them aware of Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's statement made at a rally in Katihar, earlier today (Tuesday). They said they have seen the footage and have assured us that necessary action will be taken." He targetted businessman Anil Ambani and the Centre over Rafale deal. "His (Anil Ambani) brother had to pay his debts to keep him out of jail but for some reason he was given the biggest defence contract in the world," he said. Addressing a rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "We understand that hatred hurts India. Division hurts India. Love, united strengthens India. You've seen the BJP government for five years. Their slogan was 'acche din ayenge'. Today we have the highest unemployment rate in 45 years, the highest suicide rate of farmers. Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rafale deal and claimed that Modi failed to answer his questions on the agreement. "He didn't mention Rafale or Anil Ambani (in Modi's response in the Parliament). The old slogan was 'ache din ayenge', the new slogan is 'chowkidar chor hai'." 'Ache din aayenge' has become old, now it's all about chowkidar chor hai, says Congress chief He further said: "The truth is we can remonetise the economy and give 22 lakh government jobs, 10 lakh jobs in the panchayats. We want to unleash India's youngsters, we want to free India's job creation army." "The Congress will come to power in 2019. NYAY will put the fuel into the Indian economy engine and you will see the impact of the scheme in a couple of months. The vibrancy will come back, and millions of jobs would be created. But we don't want to stop there. We want to aggressively fight unemployment." Have no other choice than remonetising economy, says Rahul "Narendra Modi demonetised the economy, we will remonetise the economy. Frankly, there's no other choice other than remonetising the economy," Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram. In Thiruvananthapuram, Rahul Gandhi said, "The fishermen who saved thousands of lives during floods, who sacrificed everything they had to protect the people, we ask them, what would you like us to do? How can we honour what you've done? We have unique problems. The voice of our brave fishermen is in our manifesto. The moment we win the election, fishermen will have their own ministry in Delhi. All we did was listen to the voice of the Indians." Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising armed forces. "When Pulwama took place, my immediate reaction was 'I'm not going to politicise this issue'. This is not a political issue. I refuse to exploit our jawans politically. But that is not how the prime minister thinks. The prime minister exploits the valour of our jawans politically for his own good. And if the army and air force do something, the credit is theirs. It is shameful that the prime minister doesn't give them credit, because they're the people who give their blood. They deserve the credit and nobody else," he said. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor suffered head injuries while performing 'Tulabharam' ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said at the Thiruvananthapuram rally, "I was quite worried when Tharoor got hurt. But I'm happy to see that he's back in action pretty quickly. It tells you about his spirit. He has represented you extremely well in the Parliament. He's an asset to Kerala and to the Congress. So, you have to make sure that he wins the election." Eleven polling stations in Senapati, four in Ukhrul, three in Churachandpur and one in Chandel will witness repolling. Repolling in these polling stations spread over four districts Senapati, Chandel, Churachandpur and Ukhrul will be held on 18 April, the same day of voting for Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, according to an order by the Election Commission. The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered re-poll in 19 polling stations of Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency following complaints of voter intimidation by militants and destruction of EVMs and VVPATs. Accepting the recommendation of EC dated 14 April, President Ram Nath Kovind has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu. The move came following the seizure of over Rs 11 crore cash from a warehouse in Vellore district. After receiving report from Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed who campaigned for TMC, MHA has cancelled his business visa and issued him a leave India notice. He also has been blacklisted. The Election Commission had Monday barred the two leaders as well as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP's Maneka Gandhi from campaigning for varying periods over violations of the Model Code of Conduct. Bahujan Samaj Party supremo's nephew Akash Anand delivered his first political speech in Nagina, where Mayawati was initially scheduled to address a joint opposition alliance meeting. Azam Khan's son Abdullah addressed a press conference in Rampur, criticising the Election Commission order. BSP chief Mayawati's nephew and SP leader Azam Khan's son Tuesday filled in for the two Uttar Pradesh heavyweights on Tuesday, the final day of electioneering for the second phase of polling in the state. He targetted businessman Anil Ambani and the Centre over Rafale deal. "His (Anil Ambani) brother had to pay his debts to keep him out of jail but for some reason he was given the biggest defence contract in the world," he said. Addressing a rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "We understand that hatred hurts India. Division hurts India. Love, united strengthens India. You've seen the BJP government for five years. Their slogan was 'acche din ayenge'. Today we have the highest unemployment rate in 45 years, the highest suicide rate of farmers. Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rafale deal and claimed that Modi failed to answer his questions on the agreement. "He didn't mention Rafale or Anil Ambani (in Modi's response in the Parliament). The old slogan was 'ache din ayenge', the new slogan is 'chowkidar chor hai'." 'Ache din aayenge' has become old, now it's all about chowkidar chor hai, says Congress chief He further said: "The truth is we can remonetise the economy and give 22 lakh government jobs, 10 lakh jobs in the panchayats. We want to unleash India's youngsters, we want to free India's job creation army." "The Congress will come to power in 2019. NYAY will put the fuel into the Indian economy engine and you will see the impact of the scheme in a couple of months. The vibrancy will come back, and millions of jobs would be created. But we don't want to stop there. We want to aggressively fight unemployment." Have no other choice than remonetising economy, says Rahul "Narendra Modi demonetised the economy, we will remonetise the economy. Frankly, there's no other choice other than remonetising the economy," Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram. In Thiruvananthapuram, Rahul Gandhi said, "The fishermen who saved thousands of lives during floods, who sacrificed everything they had to protect the people, we ask them, what would you like us to do? How can we honour what you've done? We have unique problems. The voice of our brave fishermen is in our manifesto. The moment we win the election, fishermen will have their own ministry in Delhi. All we did was listen to the voice of the Indians." Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising armed forces. "When Pulwama took place, my immediate reaction was 'I'm not going to politicise this issue'. This is not a political issue. I refuse to exploit our jawans politically. But that is not how the prime minister thinks. The prime minister exploits the valour of our jawans politically for his own good. And if the army and air force do something, the credit is theirs. It is shameful that the prime minister doesn't give them credit, because they're the people who give their blood. They deserve the credit and nobody else," he said. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor suffered head injuries while performing 'Tulabharam' ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said at the Thiruvananthapuram rally, "I was quite worried when Tharoor got hurt. But I'm happy to see that he's back in action pretty quickly. It tells you about his spirit. He has represented you extremely well in the Parliament. He's an asset to Kerala and to the Congress. So, you have to make sure that he wins the election." Eleven polling stations in Senapati, four in Ukhrul, three in Churachandpur and one in Chandel will witness repolling. Repolling in these polling stations spread over four districts Senapati, Chandel, Churachandpur and Ukhrul will be held on 18 April, the same day of voting for Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, according to an order by the Election Commission. The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered re-poll in 19 polling stations of Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency following complaints of voter intimidation by militants and destruction of EVMs and VVPATs. Accepting the recommendation of EC dated 14 April, President Ram Nath Kovind has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu. The move came following the seizure of over Rs 11 crore cash from a warehouse in Vellore district. After receiving report from Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed who campaigned for TMC, MHA has cancelled his business visa and issued him a leave India notice. He also has been blacklisted. Lok Sabha Election 2019 LATEST updates, 2nd Phase of voting will be held on 18 April: The Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled the business visa of Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed, who allegedly campaigned for the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. He has also been blacklisted. Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated 14 April, President Ram Nath Kovind has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu. The move came following the seizure of over Rs 11 crore cash from a warehouse in Vellore district. In Thiruvananthapuram, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "When Pulwama attack took place, my immediate reaction was 'I'm not going to politicise this issue'... But that is not how the prime minister thinks. The prime minister exploits the valour of our jawans politically for his own good. And if the army and air force do something, the credit is theirs. It is shameful that the prime minister doesn't give them credit, because they're the people who give their blood. They deserve the credit and nobody else." Addressing a rally in Thrissur, BJP chief Amit Shah alleged, "Under Pinarayi Vijayan government, 525 incidents of mob lynching and violence have taken place... The Kerala government also unleashed violence on the devotees of Sabarimala in the name of implementing the Supreme Court order. What message does the Kerala chief minister want to send through the violence on the devotees?" The Election Commission has sought report from the Katihar district magistration on Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's speech in which he reportedly appealed to the Muslims not to split their votes. Addressing a rally in Kerala's Alappuzha, Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that the BJP and RSS want India to be ruled by one idea and they want to "crush anybody" who does not agree with them. "The prime minister can announce from a stage Congress-mukt Bharat. He says he wants to eliminate Congress and its ideas. We do not say that, we don't want the elimination of anybody. We disagree the BJP and the RSS, we fight with them, but we will never kill BJP and RSS," he said. Samajwadi Party leader Ravidas Mehrotra said that Shatrughan Sinha's wife Poonam Sinha will be the SP-BSP-RLD candidate from Lucknow. She will file nomination on 18 April. "We appeal to the Congress that do not field your candidate from here so that BJP can be defeated," he said. Earlier, there were speculations about Poonam being pitted against Rajnath Singh from the Lucknow constituency after she joined the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday. The fact that Congress has not fielded anyone from the crucial constituency yet is being considered significant enough to suggest that she will have the backing of Congress, SP and BSP. BJP chief Amit Shah has been addressing rallies in Karnataka today. After prayers at the Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru, for what reports said was "the electoral victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi", Shah led a roadshow through the town. Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced that he will file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged "all thieves have Modi in their surnames" comment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing his second rally of the day, at Korba in Chhattisgarh. Almost immediately after taking stage, the prime minister blamed the Congress for siding with Naxals and people who wanted to "divide" India. "They had labelled Naxals revolutionaries, and had raised the morale Naxals," he said. A BJP delegation comprising senior leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jagat Prakash Nadda, will approach the Election Commission later on Tuesday against the campaign ban on UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, ANI has reported. Speaking at Attingal, at a campaign rally, the BJP's Kerala chief Sreedharan Pillai remarked that Muslims can be identified by removing their clothes, in a reference to circumcision. Pillai, supporting BJPs Attingal candidate Sobha Surendran was referring to the questions raised by the Opposition on the number of people killed in the Balakot air strikes. "Our Rahul Gandhi, Yechury, and Pinarayi are saying, our soldiers have to go there and see the count of the dead...their caste, religion etc. If it is Islam, there are some signs, no? he said, adding If you remove their clothes you will be able to know. We have to do all that and return is what they (the Opposition) are saying. The Election Commission of India's flying squad conducted checks on the luggage of former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at a helipad in Shivamogga. Speaking at Davanegere on Tuesday, Amit Shah went back to one of the most troubling topics on the campaign trail: the issue of Kashmir. "For as long as there are BJP karyakartas, Kashmir will remain a part of India," he said, adding that it did not matter what Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah were saying. In the presence of senior BJP leaders, Home minister Rajnath Singh is now filing his nomination papers from the Lucknow constituency, at the Collectorate. Rajnath had earlier tweeted that he is eager to fulfill the dreams of Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the city. Azam Khan's son, Abdullah Azam Khan, alleged on Tuesday that the Election Commission has been banned from campaigning because he is a Muslim. "Because Yogi Adityanath was banned, they saw it fit to ban a Muslim man too," he said. Azam Khan is the only leader among the four who were banned from campaigning on Monday (including Maneka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati), who did not receive a notice before being banned. This, his son and family have held, is grounds for alleging that the bias against a Muslim candidate was at play. BJP leader Mukul Roy, who was once Mamata Banerjee's man friday, led the charge against Trinamool Congress after it engaged Bangladeshi actor Ferdous to campaign for its Lok Sabha candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. The saffron party has complained to the EC in this regard, reports said. Senior Principal Secretary in the EC KF Wilfred told News18 that there is "no such specific rule, but we need to look in to his (Ferdous) purpose of visit when he applied for visa." Hitting out once again at the Naveen Patnaik government, PM Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the Naveen Patnaik government at Odisha had pocketed 85 percent of the money that the Centre had sent to the state. "You tell me, how will development happen then," he asked, pointing out that most of Odisha's people were wracked by poverty years after Independence because "Congress and BJD have been in power in the state." Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a mega show in Kerala's Kollam, circled back to the Rafale scam, notwithstanding the backlash to his harnessing of the case. In Lucknow, meanwhile, Rajnath Singh's roadshow has taken off. The Home Minister will file his nomination papers from the Collectorate soon. The Supreme Court on Tuesday, after summoning the Election Commission on Monday, appreciated the poll watchdog for taking action on political leaders spewing hate speech. It also asked Mayawati, who was contesting her campaign ban, to come back another day with a separate plea. The poll watchdog has barred Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours and Union minister Maneka Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for 48 hours. This was after the Supreme Court had criticised the Election Commission for not taking concrete action against disrespectful or communally-coloured speeches being political leaders and had called it a"toothless body". While Tuesday is yet another crucial campaign day for Lok Sabha hopefuls of parties big and small, it is doubly important for the Election Commission of India, which will be heard by the Supreme Court on the matter of hate speeches being made by politicians on the campaign trail. The Election Commission has also hogged the limelight over a confusion regarding whether it has set the wheels in motion to cancel the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency election, scheduled for Phase 2 on Thursday. While it said it has not issue an "order" in the matter, several media reports say that the poll body has recommended to President Ram Nath Kovind that the election to the seat be cancelled after cash amounting to Rs 11.50 crore was found in a warehouse linked to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham party's candidate Kadhir Anand. The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party's rallies, meanwhile, will continue unabated on Tuesday, the last day for campaigning before Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha election on Thursday, 18 April. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to campaign in Kerala, which will vote in the phases beginning on 23 April, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday will see a packed programme for Rahul. He is expected to hold public meetings at the grounds of St Stephens Higher Secondary School at Pathanapuram in Kollam district's Pathanamthitta near the Sabarimala temple and also at stadiums in Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram districts. He will also visit the house of recently deceased Congress leader KM Mani in Kottayam district. The Congress chief's BJP counterpart too will be in Kerala. Amit Shah will address two rallies at Thrissur and Ernakulam, and two others at Karnataka's Tumakuru and Davanagere. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address rallies criss-crossing Odisha and Chhattisgarh, at Sambalpur, Korba, Bhatapara and Bhubaneswar. Significantly for the BJP, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to file his nomination from Lucknow in the company of several leaders. He is likely to hold a road show from the party office to the collectorate. The spectre of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party's alliance in Delhi included considerable bickering between the party chiefs on Monday, as Rahul accused AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal of making a U-turn and the latter refuted his claim all on Twitter. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of manufacturing the Supreme Court order on Rafale deal for political propaganda and said 'right to free speech' is not 'right to falsehood'. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of manufacturing the Supreme Court order on Rafale deal for political propaganda and said 'right to free speech' is not 'right to falsehood'. The minister was commenting on the Supreme Court order which said that the remarks made by Gandhi on its 10 April Rafale case verdict were "incorrectly attributed" to the apex court and directed the Congress President to give his explanation by 22 April. In a series of tweets, Jaitley said, "In Rahul Gandhi's politics, the Right to Free Speech includes the Right to Falsehood". He further said dynasts are also subject to the Supreme Court and while truth holds together, falsehood falls apart. "Indian democracy does not permit them (dynasts) to rewrite Court orders... To manufacture a Court order for a political propaganda is a new low for Rahul Gandhi. The lower he sinks, the higher we rise," Jaitley said. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi in her plea before the Supreme Court alleged that Gandhi has attributed his personal remarks to the top court and tried to create prejudice. The Congress president on 10 April claimed that the apex court has made it "clear" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "committed a theft". The Supreme Court had allowed the plea of petitioners relying on leaked documents for seeking review of its Rafale judgement and dismissed the government's preliminary objections claiming "privilege" over them. "I am happy and I have been saying so for months that Hindustan's prime minister has given the Air Force money to (industrialist) Anil Ambani, and the SC has accepted it. The SC is going to investigate it," Gandhi had said. "I want to thank the SC. It's a very happy day. The SC has talked about justice. Justice has prevailed," he had added. The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation. Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was on Tuesday issued a fresh show cause notice by the Election Commission for allegedly making inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradesh in the past few days New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was on Tuesday issued a fresh show cause notice by the Election Commission for allegedly making inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradesh in the past few days. The EC gave him 24 hours to respond to the notice saying prima facie he is guilty of violating the provisions of the model code. Giving instances of his remarks, the EC said on one occasion, he had allegedly said that "fascists are trying to kill him". On another occasion, he had allegedly claimed that the prime minister has killed Muslims. He had also allegedly said that criminals were occupying constitutional posts, in an apparent jibe at Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh. The EC pointed out that FIRs have been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act against him in the cases. The notice also pointed out that the Supreme Court has noted that religion and caste cannot be used by anyone while making any statement during electioneering. "Now, therefore, the Commission, after considering the available material and extant instructions on the matter, has decided to provide you an opportunity to explain your stand regarding the said statements. Your explanation shall be submitted within 24 hours of receipt of this notice, failing which the Commission shall take a decision without further reference to you," it said. Not satisfied with the reply on "khaki underwear" jibe at BJP candidate Jaya Prada, the Commission had on Monday barred him from campaigning for 72 hours beginning Tuesday morning. While Tuesday's ban is pan India, Khan had faced a similar UP-centric ban in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for his inflammatory remarks. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury alleged that left workers were not allowed in several of the polling booths and voters were asked about the voting choices. New Delhi: Alleging rigging during the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Tripura, Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday demanded re-polling on 464 polling stations in the state and asked the Election Commission to ensure free and fair election in the second phase of polling on 18 April. "Booths were captured after closing the doors. After our candidate asked for CCTV footage of the polling booths, he was denied. The CCTV clips were edited and manipulated in order to ensure that nothing can be caught in camera," CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters after meeting EC officials. He said: "We have demanded re-polling on 464 booths in Tripura. We have asked the commission that none of this (alleged rigging) should be repeated in upcoming phases of the elections." Yechury alleged that left workers were not allowed in several of the polling booths and voters were asked about the voting choices. The CPM leader said: "Many of our agents were not allowed to enter booths. Voters were physically examined. They were inquired as to who they would vote for. Those who were not voting for the ruling party were driven out." He also said that there was no deployment of forces in West Tripura constituency during the polls which went to polls in the first phase of poll on 11 April. "The voting percentage was around 53 percent before the last two hours of voting which jumped up to around 80 percent by the time it ended," Yechury alleged. CPM leader Nilotpal Basu, who accompanied Yechury to the ECI, questioned the "nature of deployment of central forces" during 11 April elections in West Bengal and alleged that forces were deployed under the ruling party's influence. "Left Front candidate was attacked in Cooch Behar constituency on 11 April. This also recurred in Tripura," Basu said. "If candidates are not safe, how would EC ensure voters' safety," he asked. West Tripura candidate Sankar Prasad Datta alleged that he was attacked seven times during the election campaigning. "I was attacked seven times since campaigning began. Police did nothing," Datta told reporters. "An election observer told me that out of 108 booths, there were only BJP agents on 78 booths," he said. There are two parliamentary constituencies West Tripura and East Tripura in the state. East Tripura goes to polls on 18 April. The counting of votes will take place on 23 May. By relying on caste permutations, the BJP-AIADMK is not only underestimating the double anti-incumbency it faces in Tamil Nadu, but also that TTV Dhinakaran is a Thevar and will split the traditional AIADMK votes Who is better...? Is it Gujarats Modi or... Tamil Nadus lady? former AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister late Jayalalithaa asked at a 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign rally. Lady, the amused crowd roared. It might have sounded to them better than any nursery rhyme they had heard. Jayalalithaa's All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) swept the poll in Tamil Nadu by winning 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats. She refused to attend Modis swearing-in as the prime minister on the excuse that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was invited. But Modi and Jayalalithaa had been dear friends earlier. In 2002, Jayalalithaa had attended Modis swearing-in as Gujarat chief minister. In 2008, only a couple of weeks after he took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat again, Modi had visited her home in Chennai and had a two-hour-long Pongal lunch with Jayalalithaa. Modi had flown to Chennai in 2011 to watch the AIADMK chief take oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. A year later, she was once again a star guest at his oath-taking in Gandhinagar. At some point, the political arithmetic or personal chemistry or both, went awry. It was a love-hate relationship in which the proportion of love declined gradually till only hate remained or so it seemed. While it was 'Gujarats Modi versus Tamil Nadus lady' during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it's 'Modi is our daddy' for the AIADMK in 2019. The party has formed an alliance with the BJP along with other local parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the state on 18 April. Its difficult to say for sure whether or not Jayalalithaa would have joined hands with the BJP again if she were alive, but the AIADMK and its main local rival DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) have been flip-flopping between Congress and BJP for reasons that have as much to do with ideology as a watermelon has to do with a nuclear bomb: Year of Lok Sabha poll Whether AIADMK aligned with Congress or BJP Seats AIADMK won (out of total 39) Whether DMK aligned with Congress or BJP Seats DMK won (out of total 39) 2019 BJP NA Cong NA 2014 Neither 37 Neither 0 2009 Third Front 9 Cong 18 2004 BJP 0 Cong 16 1999 Congress 10 BJP 12 1998 BJP 18 United Front 6 1996 Congress 0 United Front 17 National parties back in focus Aside from the fact that this is the first election without AIADMK queen bee Jayalalithaa and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi (who died in August 2018), this is also the first time in 14 years that both national parties BJP and Congress are back in alliances with the two main Dravidian parties of the state. It was in 2004 that the BJP had a tie-up with AIADMK, and the Congress with the DMK. After 2004, this is the first time BJP is tying up with a main Dravidian party though it has been sharing seats with smaller ones. The DMK continued its alliance with Congress in 2009, but abandoned it in 2013, protesting against the Centres stand on Sri Lankan Tamils. Having resumed its association with Congress in the 2016 Assembly poll, the DMK is going ahead with it in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well. So, the state is back to the 2004 kind of situation, though the composition of alliances in terms of smaller parties varies. Of the states 39 seats, DMK and AIADMK are contesting in 20 seats each, leaving the rest to alliance partners. While Congress is contesting in nine seats, the BJP has put up candidates in five seats in their respective alliances. The 2014 Modi wave obviated the need for the BJP to have any support from Tamil Nadu parties, but the looming uncertainty over the 2019 result makes them once again potential king-makers. The BJP began eyeing Tamil Nadu early on. Modis attempts to woo Jayalalithaa back into the BJP fold, while keeping the option of allying with the DMK open, began not long after his 2014 victory. The BJPs attitude towards either party was, however, marked by overconfidence in a rising Hindutva that bordered on arrogance. The so-called vacuum caused by the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi presented what looked like an opportunity. But the opportunity was spotted by three others too: TTV Dhinakaran, the nephew of Jayalalithaas aide Sasikala (now in a Bengaluru jail) who split the AIADMK, as well as actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. Mess that couldn't be worse Lacklustre governance by AIADMK chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam would have been sufficiently bad enough. To that, add an anti-Modi sentiment that has been growing in direct proportion to the popularity of DMK. Add to that again, the possibility of Dhinakarans Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam party cutting into the traditional AIADMK vote. For the BJP, its a mess which couldn't be worse. The only hope for the leaders of AIADMK and BJP seems to come from caste permutations. They hope the combination of EPS' Gounder community, OPS' Thevars and the Vinniyars represented by the Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) party, which is also part of their alliance, will work like a breeze. But they are probably underestimating the double anti-incumbency against the AIADMK in the state and BJP at the Centre and also the fact that Dhinakaran too is a Thevar. The double anti-incumbency comes with double significance, since the by-elections that are also being held to fill 22 vacant seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly can decide the fate of the EPS-OPS government in the state at the same time. Reverse sweep? The DMK alliance is hoping to play a reverse sweep that could make Virat Kohli feel insecure. If the AIADMK did a clean sweep of seats in 2014, the DMK now hopes to do the reverse. There arent too many doubts about the edge the DMK combination has. The only discussion that happens centres around the number of seats that the DMK will leave for AIADMK. And if the Modi-Shah duo is looking to make up for losses elsewhere in India with some swashbuckling gains in Tamil Nadu, they must look elsewhere. The author tweets as @sprasadindia The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered repolling at booths in Outer Manipur, Assams Lakhimpur and Odishas Malkangiri, Berhampur The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday ordered repoll in 19 polling stations of Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency following complaints of voter intimidation by militants and destruction of EVMs and VVPATs. Repolling in 11 polling stations in Senapati, one in Chandel, three in Churachandpur and four in Ukhrul will be held on 18 April, the same day of voting for Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, according to an order by the Election Commission of India. ECI Secretary Mohammed Umar said the repoll has been ordered on the basis of reports of the officer and observers "after taking all material circumstances into account". Meanwhile, repolling in one booth in Dhemaji district has also been ordered, where election was held in the first phase, for not erasing the mock poll data. The repoll will take place along with the second phase of polling on 18 April from 7 am to 5 pm. The polling booth falls in the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency. According to the election department, the officials of the polling station number 165, Dhemaji Town High School did not erase the test data of the mock poll conducted in the presence of the agents of different parties. The actual election on April 11 had begun with the mock poll date intact in the EVM, which was pointed out later by Congress' polling agent, officials said. Replacement of the EVM was ordered immediately but the replaced voting machine did not reach on time, the officials said. Repolling has also been ordered at two polling stations in Odishas Malkangiri and Berhampur after EVM glitches were reported. According to reports received from the returning officers, an EVM fell on the floor in the Malkangiri booth during last-minute voting, while a defect was detected in a machine in Berhampur, the CEO had said on Friday. The BJP had filed complaint with the Manipur Chief Election Officer last week, alleging voter intimidation by the cadre of the National Socialist Council for Nagaland (NSCN-IM) to vote for the NPF's Outer Manipur candidate Lorho Mao that went to polls in the first phase on April 11. On the other hand, the NPF had also alleged that EVMs were tampered with by opening three rooms at Churachandpur DC office where these were kept after voting. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Singh had stated that two polling booths at Poi in Chingai in Ukhrul district were ransacked by unidentified persons who also destroyed EVMs and VVPATs on 11 April. In Assam, Karimganj (SC), Silchar, Autonmous District(ST), Nowgong and Mangaldoi seats will go to the polls in the second phase on 18 April. 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 Gorakhpur contest will essentially be between the SP-BSP candidate and BJP, as it has been always in the Lok Sabha election. In the sprawling campus of Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, lies a beautiful Bheem Sarovar. Beside it is a temple dedicated to Bheem, the second of the five Pandava brothers. Bheem's idol is in a resting position on the floor that is marked by several cracks. The tale goes that Bheem came to invite Yogeshwar Gorakhnath after whom the temple is named for a Rajasuya yajna, organised by his brother Yudhishthir. As Gorakhnath was in samadhi, Bheem had to wait, and the land on which he was resting fell. It was in this memory that the lake was built. This story holds significance because in the past few decades, Bheem's physical heft became an allegory of the political clout the Gorakhnath Math and its 'chief priest' enjoy. In the past three decades, no one but the temple's representative won the Lok Sabha election from Gorakhpur. Yogi Adityanath, the incumbent Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, won this seat five consecutive times since 1998. Before him, Mahant Avedyanath had won from the parliamentary constituency first in 1971 and then three straight times from 1989. And before him, Mahant Digvijaynath had won the seat in 1967. They were all the 'chief priests' of the Gorakhnath Math, a post that Adityanath also holds. The clout of the "mandir" as the Gorakhnath temple it is popularly referred to in the region is not limited to this one parliamentary seat or district either. Its influence stretches to the adjoining constituencies and significantly affects the prospects of many aspiring politicians. However, BJP lost the Gorakhpur seat to the Samajwadi Party in the 2018 bypoll. Praveen Kumar Nishad had the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party, as well, in the by-election, necessitated by Adityanath vacating the seat after being made the chief minister. The defeat was a major embarrassment for both the BJP and Adityanath. The saffron party's candidate Upendra Shukla had lost the by-election by a small margin of around 22,000 votes. While it was earlier speculated that the BJP will field him from Gorakhpur once again, it chose another Shukla and a Brahmin face Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan to represent the party in the constituency. Kishan is a safe bet for Adityanath, who would not want any leader to establish his home constituency as his stronghold. Being an outsider, Kishan will have to completely depend on Adityanath to win. Also, being an actor who is still active in the business would mean that he will not have enough time to establish a strong 'connect' with the people and could be replaced as and when the need may arise. Adityanath has had a bitter experience in this regard and is likely to ensure that no 'independent' leader establishes a place on his home turf, and Kishan's candidature ticks all the right boxes for him. However, after the BJP announced Kishan's candidature, the first reaction among the people of Gorakhpur as well as BJP cadre was one of disbelief. The BJP's last Gorakhpur candidate Upendra Shukla, who had been quite active in the past year, especially after he was promoted as the Uttar Pradesh BJP's vice-president in September, had made party workers believe that he would be the natural choice for the seat if the BJP were to field a Brahmin candidate. However, apart from caste equation, the BJP also relied on the "other factor" in choosing Kishan over Shukla. There is a general agreement among BJP workers in Gorakhpur that Shukla, being an "active party member", would have gained much wider support and should have been given another chance instead of "outsider" Kishan. While the BJP is banking on the popularity of the Bhojpuri actor and his caste, he is in for a tough fight from the Samajwadi Party and BSP's joint candidate Ram Bhuwal Nishad, who is a well-known Nishad leader in the region and was fielded by the BSP in 2014. The contest will essentially be between the SP-BSP candidate and BJP, as it has been always in Gorakhpur. Nishads make up a significant chunk of the population of Uttar Pradesh around 17 percent and includes the Manjhwar, Gaur, Turha, Kharot, Kharvar, Beldar and Koli castes. Their support can bring down even the strongest candidate. However, what can work in Kishan's favour is upper-caste votes, such as those of Brahmins, Thakurs and Kayasthas. Kishan could be a natural choice for Brahmins as he comes from the same community. The support of the 'mandir' and the fact that he is a BJP candidate are also factors that could work in his favour. Thakurs, too, may vote for Kishan as they have a strong affiliation and liking for Adityanath and consider him their leader. They may also vote to ensure Nishad's defeat as he has been at loggerheads with the Thakur community in recent years. Moreover, the Nishad Party, which had defeated the BJP in a by-election, has now allied with the saffron unit and can sway a significant number of Scheduled Caste and Backward Caste votes, including those of Nishads, in the BJP's favour. Whatever may the arithmetic be, the result is what matters in an election. And in Gorakhpur, the contest and its result are not just about a Lok Sabha seat; it is battle to see whether the "leader", who was once considered "invincible" for decades and faced the first serious challenge only last year, will manage to reclaim his land and legacy. Every five years then, anger and frustration determine Rajasthans voting behaviourthe incumbent is voted out, the Opposition is voted in. Mandawara village, in Sikar district of Rajasthan, stretches out like unbleached linen in the scorching sun, with green Khejri trees and the luminous white towers of wind farms providing relief to the eyesight. A handful of farmers have taken shelter under a verandah. Their mid-morning conversation has turned, as is inevitable a month before the Lok Sabha elections, to whom they will vote for. Uttha-patak toh honi chahiyeone party should always replace the other, says a farmer, as others nod in agreement. What they mean is that neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the Congress, the two principal parties in the state, should get a consecutive term in power. This is the refrain one hears as you drive across Rajasthan, sweeping past villages and cities from Sikar to Jaipur and Kota to Chittorgarh. Voters applaud themselves for switching every five years between the Congress and the BJP, for breeding in them a sense of insecurity and discomfort. Call this phenomenon the voters vengeance against the parties failing to fulfil promises they make before every election to garner their votes and come to power. Every five years then, anger and frustration determine Rajasthans voting behaviourthe incumbent is voted out, the Opposition is voted in. Elections are about choosing a party for its agenda of governance. In Rajasthan, though, it is invariably about voters venting their anger against the ruling party, whom they hold responsible for their current woes. While both the parties have committed supporters in Rajasthan, the floating voter, ranging from 20 to 30 percent of the electorate, swings verdicts against incumbents. The switch from BJP- to Congress-ruled governments has been Rajasthans trend since the 2004 elections. We have always voted for change, but change never happens, says Dholi Devi, a resident of Manoharpur, near Kotputli, in Jaipur (Rural) Lok Sabha constituency. We have filled all the necessary forms but only one in ten is able to get a job, says Sanjay, a 22-year-old MA student and Dholi Devis grandson. They live in a region with the highest unemployment rate in Rajasthan and where the Congress promise of a Rs 5,000 monthly unemployment dole had a special resonance during the 2018 Assembly elections. The entire family had blamed the BJPs demonetisation policy of 2016 for the unemployment ravaging its members and neighbours. But the Dholi Devi family is now considering voting for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections for they are upset that neither jobs nor the unemployment dole have reached them in the four months of Congress rule. Fuelling their frustration is their diminishing hope of getting a waiver of Rs 2 lakh on farm loanswhich was another promise the Congress had made, winning over not only the Devi family but a large chunk of Rajasthans farmers. The farmers had pinned their hopes on this waiver after several years of acute distress caused by water scarcity, rising prices of agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and seeds and lack of remunerative prices for crops. For all of these agrarian woes, voters had blamed the incumbent BJP government and therefore elected the Congress. Now, just months into the new governments term, the farmers are already losing hope as their waiver is yet to be implemented. So, it is back to square one --they are angry and frustrated and contemplating switching to the BJP. They feel that the name of the party in power changes while the behaviour towards farmers, in particular, does not. For example, this year, the price of onion at Sikar, which has the biggest wholesale market for agricultural produce in the region, has fallen to Rs 2-Rs 2.50 a kilo, when the farmers recover their costs only at Rs 5 a kilo. Still, Madanlal, a farmer who says he suffered a 90 percent loss on his mustard, wheat and chana crop last year, and expects losses for his onion this year, believes there is no need for a third party in Rajasthan. We should just make the Congress fight the BJP and the other way around. Whether he makes the two parties fight or not depends, quite simply, on whether the Congress keeps its promise of a farm loan waiver. The ongoing elections are meant to elect the national and not the state government, but the voting pattern here is such that people want to punish whichever party is in power in the state. For instance, right now, to admonish the Congress in the state, many voters simply want to thwart its national ambitions. They can achieve this goal by supporting the candidates of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. In this village, more than 70 percent voters were earlier with the BJP. They shifted to the Congress in 2018. Now, the BJP will get even more votes, says Ram Dev Dhakar, a prominent farmer from near Bajor, in Sikar. In 2018, the Congress polled just 0.5 percent more votes than the BJP in the Assembly elections. In 2013, the BJP had won with a 12 percent lead. Typically, the party that wins the Rajasthan state election plays a prominent role at the Centre, especially if both elections are held within months of each other. This year, the narrow victory margin, combined with the tendency of voters to bat against incumbents, has many wondering how well the Congress will do in the Lok Sabha polls in this state. The counter to this would be that within a few months of a party assuming power, voters, even as doggedly anti-establishment as in Rajasthan, cannot become completely disenchanted. Rajasthan is what psephologists call a bipolar state, a term borrowed from psychology which alludes to the mental condition of an individual swinging from one extreme emotional state to another. In the context of elections, bipolarity refers to a state or region in which there are only two principal political parties, opponents of one another. In Rajasthan, what is true electorally appears to be true psychologically, for many of its voters as well: their preferences swing wildly, from disappointment with one party to pinning all hopes on its rival, only to end up disillusioned again. Rajasthans voters are akin to an employee who finds his workplace unsatisfactory, who switches jobs but is even more dissatisfied in the new workplace and quickly starts emailing his resume to potential employers. That said, there is a reason why voters behave this way in the state. A government will come to power even if we don't vote, says a farmer in Sikars wholesale market. At least, by voting we have a say in it. Besides, they vote in every election but dont see governments find long-term remedies to their problems and concerns. While farmers want the right prices for their produce and the unemployed need jobs what they are promised during elections by both parties is waivers and dolesimportant but short-lived solutions. Loan waivers help resolve our immediate distress in the absence of correct prices, says Gobaji Lal Meena, a farmer from Brijnagar, in Kota district, who owns roughly 40 bighas. Does a pen worth Rs 10 sell for Rs 2 or Rs 3? So, why do our crops sell for less than the minimum price fixed by the government? It is a question no party has been able to answer. In March, roughly Rs 2 lakh of the Meena familys total Rs 18 lakh crop loan, taken from formal banking sources, was waived off by the new state government, bringing them some relief. They are still awaiting a waiver of the rest, as promised by the Congress, to those farmers whose family member had committed suicide. In Rajasthan, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 7,927 suicides by farmers between 2000-14. Thereafter, the official figures dipped drastically, and are now a subject of debate and dispute. Last summer, Meenas own son had committed suicidethe trigger was a sudden and dramatic fall in the prices of garlic. Just a year before, garlic prices had hit the roof prompting farmers, including Meenas son, to invest heavily in the crop using borrowed funds. Had we known my brother was contemplating suicide, we might have sold a tractor, a bigha or two, even my motorcycle, and saved him, says Anirudh Meena, Gobajis younger son. But, says the father, if the promised loan waiver doesnt come through, they may still have to sell land to repay the banks and some private moneylenders. The Meenas are traditional Congress voters and believed what the party told them during the election, so the delay confuses them. The Congress should decide what it wants to do about the loan waiver and it should do so soon, he says. Vellore Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled to go to polls on 18 April, in the second phase of the General Election. Reports say that the poll body has sent its recommendation to President Ram Nath Kovind, who alone has the power to rescind permission for election as he is the one who signs the notification for the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission has said that no "order" has been issued by it so far regarding cancellation of Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadus Vellore constituency after reports claimed that it has recommended polls in the seat be cancelled after cash amounting to Rs 11.50 crore was found in a warehouse linked to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham party's candidate Kadhir Anand. Vellore Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled to go to polls on 18 April, in the second phase of the General Election. News18 had reported that the poll body had sent its recommendation to President Ram Nath Kovind, who alone has the power to rescind permission for election as he is the one who signs the notification for the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission's recommendation, The Indian Express reported, will be shared with the law ministry for its views on Tuesday. The report held that cancellation of polls in Vellore is a foregone conclusion as the President is traditionally bound to accept the poll body's recommendation in cases like these. However, the poll body's official spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan said no such "order" has been issued yet. Sharan did not comment on whether the recommendation had been issued, however. It is also not clear if Assembly bypolls will take place in the two seats of Ambur and Gudiyattam, which fall within the Vellore Lok Sabha seat. Click here for polling dates, constituencies and election news of Tamil Nadu The Income Tax department, along with Election Commission officials had conducted raids at DMK leader Durai Murugan's house in Vellore on the night of 29 March. Kingston Engineering College and Durai Murugan BEd College, which are owned by Murugan's son Kadhir Anand, were also being raided by officials in Katpadi. The DMK has fielded Kadhir Anand from Vellore, against AIADMK leader AC Shanmugam. The I-T department had submitted a report in this regard on 10 April. Based on the report, the district police have filed a complaint against Anand and two DMK workers, Srinivasan and Damodaran, reported NDTV. Anand has been charged under the Representation of People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, police told NDTV. DMK has said the raids were politically motivated. Durai Murugan approached the Madras High Court on Monday and said that because of the ongoing raids, Anand has not been able to campaign. With inputs from ANI As part of our coverage of the upcoming Lok Sabha 2019 elections, we asked prominent media personalities in south India to interview leaders from their respective states As part of our coverage of the upcoming Lok Sabha 2019 elections, we asked prominent media personalities in south India to interview leaders from their respective states. In Kerala, we spoke to Gomathi Augustine from Pembilai Orumai, Benny Behanan from the Congress, Veena George of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Kummanam Rajasekharan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shashi Tharoor of the Congress (INC). In this interview, Varsha Basheer speaks to Tharoor, the Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram constituency. Tharoor speaks about the attempts he made in the Parliament to pressurise the ruling BJP government into responding to the crisis at Sabarimala. He alleges that they did nothing legally and only indulged in 'bedlam outside a holy shrine'. He also speaks about the reasons why he wrote his most recent book The Paradoxical Prime Minister and elaborates on the most important chapters in the book, concerning why and how Narendra Modi failed as prime minister. The Congress has decided to field Vikramaditya Singh, a Rajput and the grandson of Hari Singh, the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, from the Udhampur seat. Jammu: Unlike in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Rajputs of Jammus Udhampur constituency aren't sure which Rajput they should vote for. Not just the BJP and the Congress, but even the regional Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party has put up Rajput candidates in the constituency which has a significant Rajput population. While the BJP is once again relying on sitting MP and Union minister Jitendra Singh, the Congress has decided not to repeat its 2014 mistake when it was left red-faced as party stalwart and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad lost to Jitendra, a first-timer, by nearly 60,000 votes. It is due to this factor that the party has decided to field Vikramaditya Singh, a Rajput and the grandson of Hari Singh, the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, from the Udhampur seat. The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party has fielded another Rajput: Harshdev Singh. And yet another Rajput is in the fray: Lal Singh, a controversial leader and former Congress MP who left the party to join BJP in August 2014, but changed his political affiliation again by launching his Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan in February. While the Jammu region has two of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, the competition in Udhampur is particularly interesting as it has become a matter of pride for high-profile candidates. The BJP is also facing a tough time in the wake of failed promises of removing articles 35A and 370 made before the 2014 elections. The party was also not been able to end the perceived Kashmir hegemony over Jammu region and create employment in Jammu, which has also infuriated the populace. Battle of brothers On the one side is Devender Singh Rana, provincial president of the National Conference, and the brother of BJPs Jitendra Singh. On the other, senior BJP leader and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Ajatshatru Singh, the brother of Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh. Both Rana and Ajatshatru are taking part in the political campaign against their siblings. Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency comprises 17 Assembly segments in Jammu that have a considerable Muslim population. Despite being a popular leader and Union health minister in the Congress government, Ghulam Nabi Azad was defeated by Jitendra in 2014 due to the Modi wave. The state was witnessing immense polarisation at the time. Political commentator and historian professor Hari Om said Jammu and Ladakh are once again witnessing similar polarisation over discrimination due to the hegemony of Kashmir. The elections will again see a contest between BJP and Congress in both Jammu and Ladakh where people will vote on religious lines. Ghulam Nabi Azad did not contest the polls this time apparently because he was aware that it could be a repeat of the 2014 poll, Om stated. Udhampur constituency has six districts of Jammu region including Kathua, Udhampur, Ramban, Reasi, Doda and Kishtwar. Of these, Doda has 53.82 percent Muslim population, Kishtwar 57.75 percent, Reasi 49.66 percent, and Ramban 70.68 percent. On the other hand, Udhampur has 88.12 percent Hindu population and Kathua 87.61 percent. Despite the considerable Muslim population in the constituency, the BJP wrested power in 1996 under the leadership of Chaman Lal Gupta. In 2004 and 2009 Lal Singh won on a Congress ticket. The constituency has traditionally remained a Congress bastion. Capt (Retd) Anil Gour, a member of Panthers Party, who is also a strategic and political commentator, believes that the Rajput votes will be split. Being in significant numbers, the role of Rajputs in deciding the candidate cannot be ignored. However, since this time almost all the candidates are from the Rajput community, the voters may get confused, he stated. Will the blue blood sway voters? The royal family is expected to campaign for Vikramaditya. His daughter is married to the grandson of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, while his brother-in-law is Congress leader and Gwalior dynast Jyotiraditya Scindia. Both Jyotiraditya and Captain Amarinder will take part in Vikramadityas political campaign, according to reports. The Congress has also received support from the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While the former entered into a partial alliance with Congress and decided not to field a candidate in Jammu region for two seats, the PDP has decided not to field its candidates in Jammu region so that secular votes aren't split. The BJP is also taking aim at former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, with whom Vikramadityas grandfather Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to join dominion of India much earlier than October 1947, but Nehru did not allow that to happen due to a personal animosity. Nehru was dithering till Vallabhbhai Patel firmly asked him to accept the Instrument of Accession. However, Vikramaditya hides these historical facts as it does not suit him politically, claimed BJP spokesperson Brig (Retd) Anil Gupta. Vikramaditya started his political career with the PDP and was even nominated as party MLC in 2015. In October 2017, he left the PDP, claiming that his voice in favour of Jammu was being scuttled. The Lal Singh factor Besides Vikramaditya and Jitendra, Lal Singh is also another popular leader who cannot be ignored. He came to limelight for taking part in a rally that demanded CBI inquiry into the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kathua and rejected police investigation that indicted a group of locals. In April 2018, he resigned from the BJP and gained support among the Hindu population in the region. Sant Kumar Sharma, a senior Jammu-based journalist, said it is not very clear as of now how effective Lal Singh will prove: The elections are again shaping up as a vote for Modi or against Modi in the Lok Sabha. In that scenario, not many may vote for him. The votes he (Lal Singh) get may prove decisive for the victory of some other candidate., The Congress got more votes from Doda, Kishtwar and Banihal when Ghulam Nabi Azad was the candidate. Apparently, he was favoured by Muslim voters. With Vikramaditya, not as strong a candidate as Azad was, the Congress score may go down further, remarked Sharma. The author is a Ludhiana-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com Om Prakash Rajbhar said his party will contest from Varanasi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur, the seats from where the BJP has fielded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath respectively Lucknow: The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday announced it will go alone in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in the state and released a list of 39 candidates. Party chief and state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said his party has decided to field its candidates as the seat-sharing talks with the BJP remained unsuccessful. "The BJP asked me to contest the Ghosi seat on the BJP symbol but I declined," the Uttar Pradesh minister for backward class welfare and divyangjan empowerment said. He said his party will contest from Varanasi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur, the seats from where the BJP has fielded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath respectively. Rajbhar said he was ready to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was not being accepted. The SBSP had won four seats in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Making public the way seat-sharing negotiations are progressing (or not progressing) isn't prudent. Rahul Gandhi thought otherwise, not realising Arvind Kejriwal would launch a retaliatory strike and paint him a villain standing in the way of Opposition unity. In December 2013, after a crushing defeat in New Delhi at hands of the Aam Aadmi Party still new on the scene Congress president Rahul Gandhi, standing with his mother Sonia at party headquarters, said he was going to learn from Arvind Kejriwal and transform the Grand Old Party. I think the Aam Aadmi Party has involved a lot of people who the traditional parties didnt involve, Rahul said. We are going to learn from that and do a better job than anybody else in the country and involve people in ways you cannot even imagine now I fundamentally believe that I am going to put all my efforts in transforming the organisation of Congress and give you an organisation you can be proud of. His Twitter exchange with AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and latters trusted lieutenant Sanjay Singh is an indication that the Congress president has not learned his lessons. Rahul should first understand Kejriwal's persona, how he crafted his politics, from a bureaucrat, NGO activist, a mass mobiliser, and the founder of the Aam Aadmi Party to a ruthless politician. Kejriwal's unbridled ambition where his personal and political interests are supreme means he doesn't spare anyone who gets in his way. He has proven himself a hard bargainer who doesn't mind shifting the goalposts and who has no permanent friends or enemies. The essence of Kejriwals politics is to portray himself as the foremost leader in the Opposition ranks, who has the ability to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. In fact, Kejriwal is portraying himself as the prime challenger to the ruling dispensation. Though Modi remains a target, Kejriwal is constantly in search of a villain. Kejriwal, depending on the circumstances, and situation, finds a new set of villains including institutions who allow him to play the victim and hero all at once. Indeed, Kejriwal's Twitter exchange with Rahul on Monday, indicates that he has found a new villain in the Congress president. Making public the way seat-sharing negotiations are progressing (or not progressing) isn't prudent. Rahul thought otherwise, not realising Kejriwal would launch a retaliatory strike and paint him a villain standing in the way of Opposition unity. How events unfolded At 5.20 am on Monday, Rahul through a tweet attempted to convey the message that he was flexible during negotiations with Kejriwal, however, the latter was doing 'U-turns' and making it almost impossible to arrive at an agreement. An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out. #AbAAPkiBaari Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 15, 2019 The AAP response was swift and severe. AAP's Sanjay Singh, who was in negotiations with Congress general secretary PC Chacko, blasted Rahul, asking him to first weigh his partys strength and then make a statement on social media. AAP 4 20 Cong , Cong Cong , Cong 0 MLA 0 MP 3 ? ? https://t.co/tJSQBnvH7O Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) April 15, 2019 The AAPs message was clear: the Congress was not only on a weak footing, but was also being unreasonable and working against interests of Opposition unity. The public exchange made clear that no Congress-AAP alliance was on the cards in Delhi and top leaders of both parties took to social media in an attempt to shift the blame. Ashutosh, the journalist-turned-AAP leader-turned political analyst, a hardcore votary of anti-Modi Opposition, summed up the situation on Twitter: When leaders are resorting to twitter for making political statements then one should trust either they are fooling others or themselves. Real and serious politics is never done on social media. @ArvindKejriwal @RahulGandhi ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) April 15, 2019 Alliance would benefit AAP At this stage, it is difficult to predict how much the alliance would impact BJPs prospects in Delhis seven seats, beyond making the elections interesting. But one thing is sure: If the alliance had occurred the way the AAP wanted, it would have given a huge boost to Kejriwal's stature and enhanced his partys standing. Even though Kejriwal has good friends such as Mamata Banerjee and Chandrababu Naidu, he is still struggling to find a place at the Oppostion high-table. Whether Kejriwal and his friends like it or not, Rahul continues to chair that table. Although Kejriwal's entry would not have been a direct threat to Rahuls position, the AAP chief has the capacity to steal the show. An AAP-Congress alliance would be more beneficial to the AAP than the Congress. The AAP has cut into the Congress vote since it entered the political scene. An alliance with Congress would have helped this young party broaden its support. The Delhi Assembly election is scheduled to occur seven months after the Lok Sabha polls. If the Congress has to challenge the AAP, Rahul has to take a different position vis-a-vis Kejriwal. It would not be out of place to remember that in last parliamentary election, when the Congress had ruled Delhi for 15 years, the Congress got nil seats and the BJP won all seven seats. Rahul needs to recall what he said five years ago. The Supreme Court has expressed satisfaction with the Election Commission for action against Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati and others for making 'hate speeches'. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the Election Commission's action against Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath, BSP supremo Mayawati and others for making "hate speeches" during poll campaigns. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also refused to consider the plea of Mayawati challenging the Election Commission's 48-hour ban on the leader, asking her counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. Taking note of the Election Commission's action, the court said it seems the poll panel has "woken up" and barred various politicians from poll campaigning for varying hours. The bench also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. Following the Supreme Court rap for the Election Commission, the poll panel on Monday afternoon took action against Adityanath, Mayawati, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Union minister Maneka Gandhi. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, seeking a direction to the Election Commission to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the run-up to general elections. President Ram Nath Kovind rescinded the notification to hold the election to the Vellore Lok Sabha seat based on the recommendation made by the poll panel. Polling in the constituency was scheduled for 18 April. New Delhi: The Lok Sabha election to the Vellore constituency was cancelled on Tuesday following recovery of huge amount of cash allegedly from a DMK candidate's office a few days ago. President Ram Nath Kovind rescinded the notification to hold the election to the seat based on the recommendation made by the poll panel. Polling in Vellore was scheduled for 18 April. The Election Commission took the decision after the district police had filed a complaint against the accused, Kathir Anand, as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on 10 April. Anand was charged under the Representation of the People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, the police said. The other two, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, were booked under bribery charges. The recommendation was sent to the legislative department of the law ministry on Tuesday which issued the notification. The Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer has now been informed about the decision. He will, in turn, inform the political parties and candidates about the notification, sources in the government said. On 30 March, Income-Tax officials had conducted searches at the residence of Anand's father Durai Murugan over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering, and seized Rs. 10.50 lakh in alleged "excess" cash. Two days later, they claimed to have seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement go-down belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district. Murugan, however, said that he had not concealed anything. Questioning the timing of the Income Tax department's operation, he had alleged that the raids were a "conspiracy" by certain political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena. The Election Commission has also been using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which helps voters verify whether their votes have been recorded correctly. As India votes in the 17th Lok Sabha Election, the Election Commission of India (EC) has taken several steps to ensure that more voters get to exercise their franchise. Voters in constituencies which will undergo polling in the seventh phase (19 May) may apply for their inclusion in the voter's list till 19 April. According to nvsp.in, the application for adding names on electoral rolls should be submitted at least ten days prior to the last date of filing nomination. It also said that deletion and modification of voters' registration will not be processed after 20 March, 2019. Voters can also confirm if they are on the electoral rolls and seek details about their registration status by logging into the Election Commissions voter's helpline portal nvsp.in. Similarly, the EC website also allows voters to make a deletion or objection on the electoral roll, correction of an entry in the electoral roll and transposition within Assembly. Voters can exercise their franchise using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), an electronic device used for recording votes which has two units: a control unit and a balloting unit. The Lok Sabha election in 2004 was the first parliamentary poll conducted entirely on EVMs. The Election Commission has also been using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which helps voters verify whether their votes have been recorded correctly. Voters can also use postal ballots, a system of voting through which people can send their votes by post if they cannot be physically present at the voting centre. These votes are considered at the time of counting of votes. People who work for the defence forces, the government or are on election duty and posted outside their state can use postal ballots. Someone who has been taken into custody as "preventive detention" can also vote through this kind of ballot Yogi Adityanath was handed a 72-hour ban (starting 6 am on Tuesday) for delivering a communal or hate speech during one of his rallies. Though the BJP leader did not defy the ban by participating in a poll campaign, he did violate the spirit of election by making a public visit to the temple. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited a Hanuman temple on Tuesday morning, a day after the Election Commission barred him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha election for 72 hours. This includes holding any public meetings, processions, rallies, roadshows and interviews to the media (electronic, print and social media). Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offers prayers at Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/LuLReDDU5R ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 16, 2019 Adityanath's 72-hour ban on campaigning began at 6 am on Tuesday. Under Article 324 of the Constitution, which gives the Election Commission authority to take such action, the poll panel imposed the ban on the BJP leader for delivering a communally charged "hate speech" at an election rally on 9 April. Although Adityanath did not defy the ban by visiting the Hanuman temple on Tuesday morning, as he was not participating in a poll campaign, the move did violate the spirit of the election. It must also be noted that Adityanath chose to visit a Hanuman temple, even though the Election Commission's ban was in connection with a remark he made on "Bajrangbali". At a BJP rally on 9 April, Adityanath had said that "if Ali is with the BSP-SP-RLD alliance, then Bajrangbali is with the BJP". Ali is a revered figure in Islam and Hindu god Hanuman is often called Bajrangbali. BSP chief Mayawati was also banned from campaigning, though for a shorter 48 hours, for the comments she made while responding to Adityanath's comments. Mayawati had said: "Both Ali and Bajrang Bali are ours. It will give us good results this election." After the Supreme Court questioned the Election Commission on Monday about what action it was taking against politicians making "hate speeches", the poll panel issued the order against Adityanath and Mayawati, as well as Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Union minister Maneka Gandhi. At the follow-up hearing in the case on Tuesday, the court praised the Election Commission, saying it no longer appeared "powerless" and had finally "woken up". The bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, also refused to consider Mayawati's plea challenging the Election Commission's 48-hour ban on campaigning, asking her counsel to file a separate appeal against the poll panel's order. The bench made the observations while hearing a petition filed by an NRI yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking a direction to the Election Commission to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the media during elections. tech2 News Staff Samsung is just days away from releasing its first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold in the US, which will start at $1,980 when it starts shipping on 26 April. While Indian media outlets haven't had a chance to marvel at Samsung's engineering brilliance just yet, numerous US-based outlets have and there are quite a few talking points that have been brought to the fore. There's no doubting that the Galaxy Fold isn't just another flagship phone for Samsung, but a device through which Samsung is trying to establish itself as a pioneer in the brand new space of foldable smartphones. Does Samsung Galaxy Fold feel like a regular phone? While the Galaxy Fold is essentially a phone first, which opens up to reveal a larger display to work on, Business Insider and The Verge are of the opinion that using the phone does slightly alter that perspective. Using the Fold reveals that the device is more of a tablet with a 7.3-inch display which folds up to become more "pocketable". The Verge's Deiter Bohn, in fact, states that the Fold feels more like an iPad mini that can be "packed down to become more pocketable." He does mention though that the device is large enough that itll stick out of any but the deepest pants pockets. "This is a device designed for a purse or a coat pocket," he says. TechRadars John McCann was also concerned with the Galaxy Folds size. He said the smartphones folding feature causes the Galaxy Fold to have double the thickness of most smartphones. On the positive side though, CNET's Jessica Dolcourt said that the device is solid and surprisingly premium. USA Todays Ed Baig also adds that the devices screen open-and-close mechanism is as satisfying as closing an old flip phone. A Galaxy Fold on top of an iPad Mini. Screen is roughly same size unfolded, and of course there are no giant bezels along the top and bottom. First look with @eliblumenthal @usatodaytech https://t.co/52O7r3RnvT pic.twitter.com/Azdxbok80l Ed Baig (@edbaig) April 15, 2019 Theres no fancy in-display fingerprint sensor like on the S10 or S10 Plus, which may actually be a good thing considering the issues many people continue to have with its reliability and accuracy. Digital Trend's Julian Chokkattu, however, does note that there is a basic face unlock you can use to unlock the screen as an alternative, but "its not secure like Apples Face ID." What about that crease in the middle? Now, there were concerns about the Galaxy Folds inner display. When opened, the Fold has a small crease in the middle. USA Today says the crease is noticeable but didnt bother us as much as you might think. Digital Trends felt that the crease was practically invisible during use. The Verge also added that you can also feel the crease, "which is a little disconcerting. But you get over it." But if the crease won't trouble you too much, the big notch on the inner screen just might. The Verge lamented that the Galaxy Fold has a black notch at the top of the screen that sits atop the display and houses the front-facing cameras. The notch got in the way of YouTube videos. When folded, does the Fold feel like any other small smartphone? Samsung is using an AMOLED display here which appears to accentuate the huge bezels around the display on top here. Samsung did this intentionally to maintain a 21:9 aspect ratio. "Because the AMOLED displays Samsung uses for its smartphones are capable of delivering deep blacks, it almost looks like the screen is floating in the centre of the device's cover," says Business Insider's Lisa Eadicco. Engadget's, Cherlynn Low, meanwhile admitted, "Because of its diminutive size, the outside screen was also harder to navigate I kept pressing the wrong buttons when trying to switch lenses in the camera app. From my experience so far, I don't feel like you're meant to spend a lot of time using this smaller screen." Early impressions of battery life and performance? The Fold, as you'd expect from a $2,000 phone, is powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 855 processor. Its paired with a staggering 12 GB of RAM, as well as 512 GB of internal storage. "Id usually say 12 GB of RAM is overkill, but considering this may be one of the few smartphones youll be using to multitask with other apps open, its likely necessary," notes Digital Trends' Chokkattu. While most reviewers noted that while performance with the limited selection of apps during the hands-on was fine, heavier apps on multi-window could weigh on the processor. The Verge stated, "Battery is 4,380 mAh, with cells on both sides of the fold. Whether thats enough for Samsungs claimed full-day of use on a screen this large is anybodys guess." How fluid is the software experience? Samsungs One UI software, running over Android 9.0 Pie, does not appear to be too different from what youll find on Samsungs standard flagships. However, Samsung has worked with Google and a few other developers to work on a feature called 'App Continuity' which essentially makes any app you use on the 4.6-inch screen automatically open on the 7.3-inch screen when its unfolded. CNET's Sarah Taw says that currently, WhatsApp, Microsoft, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video, Samsung and Google apps have all been optimised to use the design. However, "if the app doesn't support app continuity, it still works, but you'll need to resize the app for full-screen you'll see black bars on either side." tech2 News Staff An interim order from the Madras High Court directing the govt to ban TikTok in India has come into effect. Its being reported that Apple and Google have been asked to remove the app from the App Store and Play Store respectively. TikTok is an immensely popular video sharing app that boasts of about 0.5 billion users, over 119 million of whom are in India. The bulk of these users are children and teenagers. The app, which lets users create short, fun videos, has come under fire for allegedly allowing pornographic and sleazy content to propagate, especially among its younger audience. Its also been alleged, in several countries no less, that the app is proving to be a fertile hunting ground for paedophiles. Following a PIL filed earlier this year, the Madras HC on 3 April passed the interim order directing the govt to ban TikTok. The matter was then taken to the Supreme Court, which refused to stay the order on the grounds that the matter was still sub-judice and that it would hear the matter on 22 April. According to an Economic Times report, TikTok has characterised the order as disproportionate, discriminatory and arbitrary and made no comment on the ban. In its defence, TIkTok states that it cant be held liable for the kind of content that third-parties upload on the platform. This is the same argument used by the likes of Facebook and YouTube when defending the content shared on their respective platforms. TikTok's official statement on the matter is as follows: "As per the proceedings in the Supreme Court today, the Madras High Court will hear the matter on ex parte ad interim order. The Supreme Court has listed the matter again for April 22, 2019, to be apprised of the outcome of the hearing on the April 16th, 2019 before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. At TikTok, we have faith in the Indian Judicial system and the stipulations afforded to social media platforms by the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011. We are committed to continuously enhancing our existing measures and introducing additional technical and moderation processes as part of our ongoing commitment to our users in India. In line with this, we have been stepping up efforts to take down objectionable content. To date, we have removed over 6 million videos that violated our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines, following an exhaustive review of content generated by our users in India." Blocking TikTok isnt an effective solution Removing the app from app stores isnt really a solution to the problem, though. The app already has a user base in excess of 100 million and the app isnt going to disappear from their phone just because its been banned. And while new iOS users might be left in the lurch, Android users will simply be able to download the app from unauthorised sources, which would, among other things, only serve to exacerbate the problems of hacking and phishing and other cybersecurity issues. This would, in turn, simply make TikToks target audience more vulnerable. Yet another issue is the manner in which the ban has been implemented. Based on an interim order, the government is ordering the removal of an app, effectively killing its business and revenue. The same mechanism could easily apply to PUBG Mobile, YouTube and any other app or service against which a PIL is filed. Update: Here's TikTok India's statement on the Madras HC directive, We welcome the decision of the Madras High Court to appoint Arvind Datar as Amicus Curae (independent counsel) to the court. We have faith in the Indian judicial system and we are optimistic about an outcome that would be well received by over 120 million monthly active users in India, who continue using TikTok to showcase their creativity and capture moments that matter in their everyday lives. Update 2: TikTok has sent a message to its Indian users addressing the ban "Keeping our TikTok India community informed is important to us. Unfortunately, due to an interim court order, the TikTok app has been temporarily taken down from online app stores as of 17 April, 2019. However, the interim ban does not affect hundreds of millions of existing users of the app. During this time, you can continue using TikTok to capture and share moments that matter in your life, making use of various features, stickers and gestures, as well as participating in our in-app challenges. We are currently working hard on ensuring that anyone in India who wants to use TikTok to showcase your creativity, can do so freely. Do stay tuned for updates. Thanks for your support!" Reuters The United States will push its allies at a meeting in Prague next month to adopt shared security and policy measures that will make it more difficult for China's Huawei to dominate 5G telecommunications networks, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters. The event and broader US campaign to limit the role of Chinese telecommunications firms in the build-out of 5G networks comes as Western governments grapple with the national security implications of moving to 5G, which promises to be at least 100 times faster than the current 4G networks. The issue is crucial because of 5G's leading role in internet-connected products ranging from self-driving cars and smart cities to augmented reality and artificial intelligence. If the underlying technology for 5G connectivity is vulnerable then it could allow hackers to exploit such products to spy or disrupt them. The United States has been meeting with allies in recent months to warn them Washington believes Huawei's equipment could be used by the Chinese state to spy. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has repeatedly denied the allegations. Officials from more than 30 countries will meet May 2-3 to agree on security principles for next-generation telecoms networks, said Robert Kahofer, chief of cabinet at Czech cybersecurity agency NUKIB. A US official familiar with the plan said the Prague meeting marks a strategic shift in how the US government plans to urge allies to drop Huawei and other 5G vendors in the future, which Washington believes pose a risk to national security. The official described the approach as "softer." A Huawei spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. US proposals for the Prague meeting urge governments and operators to consider the legal environment in a vendor's country, how much state support a company receives, transparency of corporate structure, and trustworthiness of equipment. It also calls on partners to prioritise security and work together on investigations into cyberattacks aimed at 5G architecture. The documents do not mention Huawei, the world's largest telecoms equipment maker, by name, but US officials said they hoped it would provide the "intellectual framework" needed for other countries to effectively bar Chinese vendors. In August, US President Donald Trump signed a bill that barred the US government itself from using Huawei and ZTE Corp equipment. "The goal is to agree upon a set of shared principles that would ensure the security of next-generation telecommunications networks," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The Prague conference has been organised by the Czech foreign ministry with support from NUKIB, said Kahofer. The foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Delegations from all of the European Union's 28 member states, as well as the European Commission, NATO and around eight other countries including the United States and Australia are expected to attend, Kahofer said. China and Russia have not been invited, he added, but stressed that the event was not "an anti-Huawei or anti-China conference." Europe has emerged as a key battleground for the future of 5G, with the United States pushing allies and partners to bar Chinese vendors but European governments wary of the trade and economic consequences of angering Beijing. Internet service providers have also warned that banning Huawei would incur huge costs and delay the rollout of 5G by years. A senior US cybersecurity official said last week Washington wanted European governments to adopt "risk-based security frameworks", citing recent moves in Germany to implement stricter security standards for all 5G vendors, and that doing so would effectively rule out using Huawei and ZTE. The United States welcomes engagement from partners and allies to discuss ways that we can work together ensuring that our 5G networks are reliable and secure," said White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis. Officials in Britain, which last month exposed new security flaws in Huawei equipment but says it has found no evidence of Chinese state interference, have also spoken of "raising security across the board" for 5G. The European Commission said in March that EU nations would be required to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of the year. tech2 News Staff Xiaomi has created quite a splash in the Smart TV segment in India since it's launch last year and the company's now ready to unveil newer TV models in China on 23 April. Unlike its smartphone market, Xiaomi happens to be one of the top TV manufacturers in China and the company is now geared up to further expand its Mi TV lineup. Xiaomi's General Manager of the Mi TV division, Li Xiaoshuang, confirmed that the company is indeed planning to launch new products by the end of this month through a social media post. As per a report by GizmoChina, Xiaoshuang stated this as a reply on Weibo in response to Lei Juns announcement of the Xiaomi TV launch conference which is scheduled for 23 April. Xiaomi also released a poster for the event, where the company is expected to launch new products for Spring 2019. While not much is known about the upcoming TV models from Xiaomi, the report states that Xiaomi main focus here will be bettering aesthetics of its TV rather than major hardware changes. A separate report by 91Mobiles notes that Xiaomi's existing 32-inch model of the Mi TV 4A is currently out of stock on its China e-store. This could be a pointer that Xiaomi is gearing up to launch a bunch of refreshed models very soon. Are these new models coming to India? We don't know yet. By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Maxime Bernier, the founder of a right-wing party running in Canada's October federal election, said on Monday that Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's warnings about the dangers of white supremacy were an attack on an 'entire ethnicity.' Bernier, a former Cabinet minister who quit the Conservative Party last year to form his own faction called the People's Party of Canada, has focussed on limiting immigration and promoting free trade. His comments on Monday were in reference to last week's move by the Trudeau government to change a report on terrorist threats in Canada that was first published last year to no longer explicitly mention 'Sikh extremism.' 'We're told the word Sikh was removed because 'entire religions should never be equated with terrorism.' And yet, (Trudeau) has been warning us for weeks about the dangers of 'white supremacy,' equating an entire ethnicity with terrorism,' Bernier wrote on Twitter and Facebook. By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Maxime Bernier, the founder of a right-wing party running in Canada's October federal election, said on Monday that Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's warnings about the dangers of white supremacy were an attack on an "entire ethnicity." Bernier, a former Cabinet minister who quit the Conservative Party last year to form his own faction called the People's Party of Canada, has focussed on limiting immigration and promoting free trade. His comments on Monday were in reference to last week's move by the Trudeau government to change a report on terrorist threats in Canada that was first published last year to no longer explicitly mention "Sikh extremism." "We're told the word Sikh was removed because 'entire religions should never be equated with terrorism.' And yet, (Trudeau) has been warning us for weeks about the dangers of 'white supremacy,' equating an entire ethnicity with terrorism," Bernier wrote on Twitter and Facebook. "Hypocrite! It's all about pandering for votes," he wrote. Trudeau's office declined to comment, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale's office condemned the statement. "While the vast majority of Canadians celebrate our country's diversity, toxic elements continue to peddle vile, hateful intolerance," Goodale's spokesman, Scott Bardsley, said in an email. "We condemn Mr. Bernier's attempt to legitimize them. All political leaders have a responsibility to denounce hatred and intolerance, not court them," he added. The Public Safety Ministry said the number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada jumped 47 percent in 2017, the most recent year for which there are official data. While Canadian politics are not as polarized as those in the United States, there are indications, especially online, of increasing intolerance in Canada, which has a tradition of openness and welcoming immigrants from around the world. Trudeau attacked Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer in parliament last month for not explicitly condemning white supremacy after the mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Opinion polls show that Liberals have lost ground to Conservatives in recent months, with Scheer's party taking the lead. Scheer defeated Bernier for the Conservative leadership in 2017. The People's Party would win 0.5 percent of the national vote if it were held now instead of October, a Nanos Research poll showed last week. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Additional reporting by Julie Gordon; Editing by Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Letitia Stein WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld announced his candidacy on Monday to challenge President Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Weld, 73, who served two terms as governor, from 1991-1997, enters as a long-shot candidate against an incumbent president who has remained popular within his party By Letitia Stein WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld announced his candidacy on Monday to challenge President Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Weld, 73, who served two terms as governor, from 1991-1997, enters as a long-shot candidate against an incumbent president who has remained popular within his party. Weld in February had said that he planned to challenge Trump. "I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff weve had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy," he said on CNN. "So I would be ashamed of myself if I didnt raise my hand and run. Weld's challenge marks the first against Trump by a member of his own party. Other Republicans have publicly flirted with their own challenges, including former Ohio Governor John Kasich, one of the many Republican candidates whom Trump defeated for the party's presidential nomination in 2016. But Republican leaders have signalled little tolerance for intra-party fights as Trump gears up for a potentially challenging bid for a second term. "Any effort to challenge the presidents nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere," the Republican National Committee said in statement responding to Weld's announcement, noting that its operation and the Republican Party are firmly behind Trump. Weld, a former prosecutor and the vice presidential candidate in 2016 on the Libertarian ticket, has been a consistent critic of Trump. He told CNN that he does not plan to mount an independent bid if unsuccessful. Weld planned to kick off his campaign in New Hampshire, which holds an influential early nominating contest. He said the state's voters would be receptive to his message and familiar with his record in neighbouring Massachusetts. "Right now, all there really is coming out of Washington is divisiveness," he said on CNN, calling both parties responsible but pointedly adding, "the grand master of that is the president himself." Trump's campaign raised more than $30 million in the first quarter of 2019, it said on Sunday, far outpacing the sums raised by individual Democratic candidates during that period. The fundraising underscores the willingness of Republican donors to invest in Trump's re-election bid. (Additional reporting by Eric Beech, James Oliphant, Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Sybille de La Hamaide and Julie Carriat PARIS (Reuters) - A fast-moving fire consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday in a massive, roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, a searing loss for the city and for France. Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. A huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area By Sybille de La Hamaide and Julie Carriat PARIS (Reuters) - A fast-moving fire consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday in a massive, roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, a searing loss for the city and for France. Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. A huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area. Parisians watching from the other side of the River Seine gasped as the spire folded over onto itself and fell into the inferno. President Emmanuel Macron said the whole nation was moved. "Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn," he tweeted. At around 1930 GMT, nearly three hours after the fire started, a Fire Department spokesman said the next 90 minutes would be crucial in seeing if the blaze could be contained. "Basically the whole rooftop is gone. I see no hope for the building," said witness Jacek Poltorak, watching the fire from a fifth-floor balcony two blocks from the southern facade of the cathedral, one of France's most visited sites. Firefighters tried to contain the blaze with water hoses and cleared the area around Notre-Dame, which sits on an island in the River Seine and marks the very centre of Paris. Witnesses said the whole island, the Ile de la Cite, was being evacuated. Nobody was injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: "It's too early to determine the causes of the fire." The Paris prosecutor's office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire. France 2 television reported that police were treating it as an accident. "Everything is collapsing," a police officer near the scene said as the cathedral continued to burn. Macron, who cancelled an address to the nation that he had been due to give on Monday evening, went to the scene of the blaze and talked to officials trying to contain it. The French Civil Security service, possibly responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that firefighters "act quickly" and employ flying water tankers, said that was not an option as it might destroy the entire building. "Helicopter or plane, the weight of the water and the intensity of dropping it at low altitude could weaken the structure of Notre-Dame and cause collateral damage to surrounding buildings," it tweeted. Foreign leaders sent messages of support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May said their thoughts were with the French people. Merkel called the cathedral a "symbol of France and our European culture". The Vatican said the blaze had caused "shock and sadness" and said it was praying for the firefighters. SYMBOL OF PARIS The cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, features in Victor Hugo's classic novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". It is a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts millions of tourists every year. It is a focal point for French Roman Catholics who like Christians around the world are celebrating Holy Week, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus. The archbishop of Paris called on all priests in Paris to ring church bells as a gesture of solidarity for Notre-Dame. "I have a lot of friends who live abroad and every time they come I tell them to go to Notre-Dame," said witness Samantha Silva, with tears in her eyes. "I've visited it so many times, but it will never be the same. It's a real symbol of Paris." The cathedral was in the midst of renovations, with some sections under scaffolding, and bronze statues were removed last week for works. Built over a century starting in 1163, Notre-Dame is considered to be among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture. It is renowned for its rib vaulting, flying buttresses and stunning stained glass windows, as well as its many carved stone gargoyles. Its 100-metre-long (330-foot) roof, of which a large section was consumed in the first hour of the blaze, was one of the oldest such structures in Paris, according to the cathedrals website. "There are a lot of art works inside ... it's a real tragedy," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told reporters at the scene. A centre of Roman Catholic faith, over the centuries Notre-Dame has also been a target of political upheaval. It was ransacked by rioting Protestant Huguenots in the 16th century, pillaged again during the French Revolution of the 1790s and left in a state of semi-neglect. Hugos 1831 work led to revived interest in the cathedral and a major partly botched restoration that began in 1844. The wood-and-lead spire was built during that restoration, according to the cathedral's website. UNESCO said in a tweet it was "closely monitoring the situation and is standing by France's side to safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage". (Reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide and Julie Carriat; Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas, Simon Carraud, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Michel Rose, Emmanuel Jarry, Jean-Baptiste Vey, Marine Pennetier, Sarah White, Tim Hepher, Laurence Frost in Paris, Kylie MacLellan in London, Paul Carrel in Berlin; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Reuters won a Pulitzer prize for an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, done by two young Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who are currently in jail. New York: Reuters won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, one for an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces, and one for photographs of migrants on the US border, the Pulitzer administrator announced. The Pulitzers, the most prestigious prizes in American journalism, have been awarded since 1917 after being established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer. The 18-member Pulitzer board is made up of past winners and other distinguished journalists and academics. Reuters and the Associated Press were both awarded prizes for international reporting. The Reuters entry featured an investigative report that revealed the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces at the village of Inn Din, in the heart of the conflict zone of Rakhine State. The story can be read here. Two young Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both Myanmar citizens, found a mass grave filled with bones sticking out of the ground. They went on to gather testimony from perpetrators, witnesses and families of victims. They obtained three devastating photographs from villagers: two showed the 10 Rohingya men bound and kneeling; the third showed the mutilated and bullet-ridden bodies of the same 10 men in the same shallow grave. Before Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo could complete their story, they were arrested in December 2017 in what international observers have criticized as an effort by authorities to block the report. The article, "Massacre in Myanmar," was completed by colleagues Simon Lewis and Antoni Slodkowski and published in February 2018. In September, they were sentenced to seven years behind bars. As of Monday, they have been in jail for 490 days. In the breaking news photography category, 11 Reuters photographers contributed pictures to "On the Migrant Trail to America," a package of images of asylum seekers and others from Central America to the US border. One photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon showed migrants fleeing tear gas launched by US authorities into Mexico at the San Diego-Tijuana border. In the image, a mother grabs her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister emits its fumes. In another image, an aerial photo, Mike Blake was the first to photograph the detention facility in Tornillo, Texas, where children walked in single file, like prisoners. Goran Tomasevic captured an image in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a city with one of the highest murder rates in the world, of a rooster scratching in the dirt next to the slain body of a Barrio 18 gang member. Tomasevic was a previous finalist for his pictures of the war in Syria. The meeting on Kartarpur comes after India postponed the second round of talks after reports surfaced about the appointment of 'controversial elements' by Pakistan in a committee associated with the corridor Islamabad: India and Pakistan will hold a second round of talks regarding Kartarpur corridor on Tuesday. Officials from both countries are expected to discuss technical aspects regarding the construction of the corridor, including fencing, road, and maps. According to Dunya News, officials from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Federal Works Organisation (FWO) will attend the dialogues. Local media has claimed that Pakistan has completed more than 50 percent of the construction work of the corridor. The meeting comes after India postponed the second round of talks on corridor after reports surfaced about the appointment of "controversial elements" by Pakistan in a committee associated with the corridor. The two countries were previously slated to meet on 2 April in Pakistan for the second round of talks. Despite the postponement, India offered to hold a technical meeting to discuss other aspects, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. Kumar had said earlier that India had sought certain clarifications from Pakistan on several "unaddressed" issues regarding the corridor, including the number of pilgrims that can visit daily, issues of visas, etc. The first round of talks between the two sides was held at Attari in Punjab on 14 March during which issues like finalisation of the draft agreement between the two countries were discussed. By Joey Peters BURNSVILLE, Minn. (Reuters) - Supporters of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar rallied outside a Minnesota business visited by U.S. By Joey Peters BURNSVILLE, Minn. (Reuters) - Supporters of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar rallied outside a Minnesota business visited by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, after he launched a fresh attack on the Muslim-American lawmaker by calling her an "out of control" purveyor of "hate" speech. Trump was in Minnesota, which Omar represents in Congress, for a tax reform roundtable. Some of the Omar supporters who gathered outside Nuss Truck and Equipment in Burnsville, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Minneapolis, called on Democratic leaders in Washington to take a stand for Omar. "Some of Ilhans words were taken out of context. I know that she abides by the Constitution. She is a proud American. She might have some opinions, but that shouldnt put her in a position that we attack her," said Abdullahi Farah, a Somali-American who attended the rally. Omar, an immigrant from Somalia, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November. She represents the state's fifth congressional district, which is partially adjacent to the district Trump visited on Monday. Writing on Twitter earlier in the day, Trump blasted both Omar and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for defending her, after he tweeted a video on Friday suggesting Omar had been dismissive of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The video spliced news footage from 9/11 with a clip from a speech Omar gave last month in which she said "some people did something" in reference to the attacks. "Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made," Trump wrote. "She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!" The Minnesota branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, responded to Trump's attacks by organising the rally, where people carried signs and chanted in support of Omar. Democrats "could have done more to help [Omar] out, but in the end I think they care more about their image," said Abdirahman Abdullahi, an area resident. About 200 people rallied in support of Omar while another 200 supporters of Trump gathered across the street and waved American flags. Inside at the tax event, Trump railed against the U.S. immigration system and what he called its "horrible and foolish loopholes." Lawmakers from Trump's Republican Party have accused Omar of minimizing the Sept. 11 attacks, while critics of the president say he took Omar's words out of context in order to stoke anti-Muslim sentiment. Omar was speaking at a CAIR banquet in California in March when she made her controversial remarks about 9/11. Omar also said Muslims had "lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it." Pelosi, in Europe leading a delegation, on Monday said the president should not use 9/11 as a political tool. "I think that is wrong, I think its beneath the dignity of the office, and I dont think that it plays that well, I hope that it doesnt, she said. Omar said on Sunday that she had experienced an increase in threats on her life, many directly referencing or replying to the president's video. Pelosi said Sunday she had spoken with the House Sergeant-at-Arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Omar, her family and staff. The White House said Sunday that Trump did not wish any harm in last week's Twitter post about Omar. The House of Representatives approved a broad resolution condemning bigotry last month after remarks by Omar that some members of both parties viewed as anti-Semitic. (Writing by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and David Alexander; editing by Colleen Jenkins and Tom Brown) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met U.S. Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie in the capital Riyadh to discuss cooperation between the two countries, especially in the military arena, Saudi Press Agency said late on Monday CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met U.S. Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie in the capital Riyadh to discuss cooperation between the two countries, especially in the military arena, Saudi Press Agency said late on Monday. They reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and latest developments in the region, SPA said. (Reporting by Ali Abdelaty; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkey's purchase of a Russian air defence missile system should not trigger U.S. By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkey's purchase of a Russian air defence missile system should not trigger U.S. sanctions because Ankara is not an adversary of Washington and remains committed to the NATO alliance, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday. Speaking at a U.S.-Turkey conference in Washington amid rising tensions between the two NATO allies over Ankara's plan to buy the Russian S-400 missile system, Akar adopted a relatively conciliatory tone and urged to resolve issues via dialogue. "Turkey is clearly not an adversary of the United States," Akar said and added that therefore its procurement of the S-400 system should not be considered within the scope of U.S. sanctions designed to target America's enemies. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that Washington had told Ankara it could face retribution for buying the S-400s under a sanctions law known as Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CATSAA). "This procurement decision does not signify a change in Turkey's course. I'd like to reiterate strongly that there is no change in Turkey's commitment to NATO," Akar said. The disagreement over the F-35 is the latest of a series of diplomatic disputes between the United States and Turkey including Turkish demands that the United States extradite Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, differences over Middle East policy and the war in Syria, and sanctions on Iran. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has refused to back down from Ankara's planned purchase of a Russian S-400 missile defence system that the United States has said would compromise the security of F-35 aircraft, made by Lockheed Martin Corp . Turkey has said it will take delivery of the S-400s in July. In early April, the United States halted delivery of equipment related to the stealthy F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey, marking the first concrete U.S. step to potentially blocking the delivery of the jet to the NATO ally. Akar said Turkey was puzzled by the move and expected U.S. and other partners in the programme to fulfil their obligations. "We firmly believe that linking the S-400 to the F-35 project is unfortunate ... We are one of the investors and partners and not just a buyer. We have invested over $1 billion ... and fulfilled all our obligations," he said. Akar repeated Turkey's offer to hold technical talks with the United States to address "technical concerns" over the S-400 purchase. Turkey is also assessing a renewed offer from the United States to buy Patriot missile defence systems, Akar added. "Recently we received the restated offer for the Patriots. This offer is now on the table, we are studying it carefully," he said. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul; Editing by Dominic Evans and Phil Berlowitz) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) lost nearly half of their value in 2017 as several of the company's key businesses -- most notably its power segment -- ran into trouble. GE stock then plunged more than 50% in 2018 as the downturn at GE Power worsened. However, GE shares bounced back in early 2019, rising about 40% in the first eight weeks of the year. The rally has fizzled out in April, though. Last week, GE stock plunged 10%, sparked by a big analyst downgrade. As of 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, the stock was set to move lower for a ninth consecutive trading day. Yet there hasn't been much fundamental news to drive this stock swoon. GE is certainly still in turnaround mode, but the company appears to be making the right moves now to get back on track. As a result, GE stock looks like a great buy at its current price around $9. A widely followed analyst pans GE again J.P. Morgan analyst Steve Tusa has gained wide recognition in recent years after a prescient call to sell GE stock three years ago. Investors who heeded his advice were able to avoid the stock's massive plunge in 2017 and 2018. Tusa finally upgraded GE stock to a neutral rating last December, near the stock's multiyear bottom. At that point, he argued that the stock price was more reflective of the risks GE faced, although his price target of $6 remained below General Electric's share price. As the stock rebounded in early 2019, Tusa seemed to grow more bearish again, saying that the upward moves in GE stock weren't warranted. Last week, he finally downgraded GE to an underweight rating again -- the equivalent of sell -- and reduced his price target to $5. Investors listened, sending the stock down 5% on the day of the rating change. In justifying the downgrade, Tusa pointed to GE's stubbornly weak free cash flow and its high debt and pension liabilities. He thinks investors are overestimating the company's ability to fix these problems. But the turnaround is on track Tusa deserves a lot of credit for identifying the problems at General Electric long before most investors. However, his recent criticism of the company seems less justified. For example, Tusa repeatedly warned that the company would need to raise capital by selling more GE stock, but management has found plenty of other ways to shore up the balance sheet. Most notably, General Electric struck a deal earlier this year to sell its biopharma business to Danaher for $21 billion. Between this asset sale and selling down the remainder of its stakes in Wabtec and Baker Hughes, a GE Company, GE will be able to pay down more than half of the $55 billion in net debt it had entering 2019. Many analysts expect further asset sales in the next few years. General Electric also plans to reduce its GE Capital unit's leverage, improving profitability there. Meanwhile, CEO Larry Culp expects the power and renewables units -- which are on track to burn more than $4 billion of cash this year -- to improve significantly in 2020 before returning to positive free cash flow in 2021. Indeed, much of the plunge in free cash flow expected for 2019 is being driven by temporary headwinds like legal settlements, restructuring costs, and losses on legacy projects that were not priced properly. All of those headwinds will fade substantially by 2021. Boeing 737 MAX woes won't hold GE stock down The elephant in the room that Tusa only obliquely addressed in his downgrade is GE Aviation, a steadily growing segment that is GE's primary profit driver. Tusa says that the aviation business isn't as strong as it seems. The division's free cash flow totaled $4.2 billion last year, even as its reported segment profit reached $6.5 billion. Management expects segment free cash flow to be flat year over year in 2019. However, GE Aviation's free cash flow is currently being limited by the ongoing transition of its highest-volume product -- produced by its CFM joint venture -- to the new LEAP engine family. That means CFM is incurring temporarily higher production costs. A similar transition (albeit smaller in scale) to the GE9X engine for Boeing's (NYSE:BA) new 777X will begin next year. But beginning in 2021, the gap between earnings and free cash flow for the aviation segment should start to shrink. It would be reasonable for investors to wonder if the current grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX has disrupted GE Aviation's growth momentum. After all, the 737 MAX accounts for more than half of the demand for CFM's LEAP engines. But Boeing is close to submitting a fix for the issues that contributed to two fatal crashes over the past six months, which should pave the way for 737 MAX deliveries to resume a few months from now. Furthermore, GE Aviation gets most of its profit from services, not from selling engines to Boeing and Airbus. (Indeed, at the moment, CFM engines are being sold at a loss.) Services revenue is on track for steady growth over the next decade, driven primarily by maintenance on prior-generation engines. As a result, Boeing's production slowdown is unlikely to meaningfully impact GE Aviation's growth. With this growth driver intact and GE's balance sheet set to improve dramatically over the next year or two, the recent drop in GE stock looks like a great buying opportunity. On average, more than 32 million shares of Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC), the average trading volume is much lower -- around 8 million shares. There's no way to know who's doing all this buying and selling of these top Canadian marijuana stocks. But we do know who at least one buyer was last year. Sweden's government-run AP7 pension fund first bought shares in Aurora and Canopy Growth in 2018, according to Swedish business magazine Affarsvarlden. The AP7 pension fund initially invested 63 million Swedish kronor, with the valuation since then soaring to 100 million Swedish kronor this spring, according to a report from Sweden's public television broadcaster, SVT News. Why is this Swedish government pension fund investing in pot? And why Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth? There's a simple explanation. One key reason The AP7 Equity Fund invests in nearly any stock that is included in the MSCI ACWI Index. The only exceptions are stocks that AP7 has blacklisted for some reason. AP7 seeks wide global exposure to equities with its pension fund. It makes sense that the fund uses the MCSI ACWI Index. This index's holdings include more than 2,700 stocks across 11 sectors in 23 developed markets and 24 emerging markets. So when Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth were added to the MSCI ACWI Index in 2018, AP7 scooped up shares of both stocks. The Council on Ethics of Sweden's AP Funds recommended against buying cannabis stocks. But the AP7 Fund's managers chose to ignore that recommendation. At this point, AP7 hasn't blacklisted cannabis stocks. However, Johan Floren, head of communications and market management at AP7, stated that it's possible that cannabis stocks could be included on the AP7 fund blacklist in the future, according to Affarsvarlden. It's not just Sweden Sweden isn't the first government entity to buy marijuana stocks. Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) bought shares of four marijuana producers last year -- Aurora, Canopy Growth, Aphria, and Cronos Group. At the end of 2018, PSP's biggest cannabis stake was in Canopy Growth, with its position then valued at nearly $14.9 million. Aurora Cannabis was the pension fund's second-largest cannabis holding with a valuation at the end of last year of $12.7 million. PSP's stakes in Aphria and Cronos Group were roughly $3.2 million and $4.5 million, respectively. Last year, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) also invested in two marijuana stocks. CalPERS bought stakes in Canadian marijuana producer Tilray and cannabis-focused biotech Insys Therapeutics. Both were relatively small positions, however, of a few hundred thousand dollars. CalPERS invested in alcoholic beverage maker Constellation Brands several years ago. This turned into an indirect investment in Canopy Growth as well in 2017 when Constellation bought a 9.9% stake in Canopy Growth. Constellation followed up in 2018 by investing another $4 billion to up its ownership of Canopy Growth to 38%. Pension attention Does it really matter that government-run pension funds are buying shares of marijuana stocks like Aurora Cannabis and Canopy Growth? Yes and no. On one hand, pension funds buy hundreds of stocks to better diversify their holdings. It's one thing when a pension fund carefully considers a given marijuana stock and determines that it's likely to outperform the market over the long run. It's another thing altogether when a pension fund like Sweden's AP7 buys Aurora and Canopy solely because the stocks were added to an index. However, the mere fact that pension funds are buying marijuana stocks is important for other investors considering jumping on the cannabis bandwagon for one primary reason: legitimization. For a long time, many considered marijuana stocks as purely speculative and extremely risky. But when government entities put money intended to fund public employees' retirement in marijuana stocks, it sends a strong signal that at least some of these stocks aren't as speculative and risky as previously believed. Don't go out and buy Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth, or any other marijuana stock just because the pension funds of Sweden, Canada, or California are doing so. But the global cannabis industry presents a real opportunity with real prospects of significant returns over the long run. When pension funds start investing in an industry, it's worth paying attention to that industry. Photo: CTV Video obtained by CTV of pedestrian almost hit by left-turning car. Alexander Zacher was walking to work early on the morning of Oct. 31, 2014 in Tsawwassen. He followed the walk signal on 12th Avenue at the intersection of 52nd Street using the marked crosswalk. When he was about two-thirds of the way across, he was struck by a left-turning vehicle driven by Glenn Prescesky and suffered serious injuries. Mr. Prescesky did not see Mr. Zacher as he was focused on the far side of the intersection watching for oncoming traffic. When he did become aware, it was too late to avoid the collision. Mr. Prescesky denied liability for the injuries. It appears from the text of the judgment that his position was based on the fact that Mr. Zacher was wearing dark clothing. During the trial in B.C. Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Affleck cited two previous cases in his reasons for finding Mr. Prescesky to be solely at fault for the collision. The first, Miksh v Hambleton, holds that once a pedestrian has safely entered the crosswalk, unless they do something negligent such as running into the path of a vehicle, they may assume that drivers will yield the right of way and will not be liable if struck. The second, Achilleos v Nix and Vancouver Taxi Ltd., finds that "Pedestrians in crosswalks who are proceeding when the walk pedestrian sign is illuminated are free to wear whatever colour clothes they feel are appropriate." On page 83 in Chapter 6 of Learn to Drive Smart, drivers are cautioned that pedestrians are often hard to see, especially at night. Dont enter a crosswalk without checking to see that its empty, even when the light is green. Clearly, the duty of care lies most heavily on the driver. With Vision Zero in mind, should the function of our traffic signals be revised? If turns to the left and right were not permitted at times when pedestrians are in the adjacent crosswalks, this collision would not have occurred. The pedestrian scramble is one example of this type of solution. Leading pedestrian intervals would not have been much help here. This scheme allows the pedestrian a 3-7 second head start to make them more visible to turning drivers. A potential crash reduction of up to 60% is possible when traffic signals are set this way. Even though Mr. Zacher did everything required by law, he's still the biggest loser in this incident. While he was not required to, there are still precautions that he might have chosen to take in order to protect himself. When you are a vulnerable road user, doing more than you have to could pay off. Story URL: https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/case-law/pedestrians-drivers-turning-left Photo: CTV News Archbishop of Toronto said Monday the fire that heavily damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a tragic event that has touched people everywhere. "All around the world, all of us feel a certain sadness in our hearts at the thought of the people of Paris losing not only such an astonishing, most beautiful cathedral in the world, but their cathedral," Thomas Cardinal Collins said. "It is their church." In Montreal, the bells of the city's Notre-Dame Basilica rang out in solidarity as the Paris landmark was consumed by flames. Pastor Miguel Castellanos said in a post on the Montreal church's Facebook page that he's in shock over the news of the fire at Notre Dame de Paris, which he described as a jewel of architecture and an exceptional cultural, historical and religious symbol. "My prayers are for the French people, the diocese of Paris, and everyone who will have to work hard to rebuild an international treasure, eternal and powerful," Castellanos said. "Our heritage is very fragile. Together, lets take great care of it to preserve our treasures." Collins said a cathedral is meant to be a sign of beauty that leads to truth and goodness. He said the destruction has affected so many people because of its history and magnificence. The archbishop pointed out that the fire has come in the week before Easter, the holiest time of the year for Christians. The fire apparently erupted Monday in the roof of the medieval church, which was undergoing a major restoration. Flames and smoke could be seen engulfing the structure, with the spire collapsing into the church. The cause of the fire remains unclear. Collins said he didn't expect any type of special mass in light of the Notre Dame fire. He said that's because the cathedral is bricks, stone and mortar that is beautiful and significant, but of most importance is the "suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord." In addition to sharing a name with the French cathedral, Old Montreal's gothic revival-style basilica owes its architectural inspiration to the two towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. Castellanos offered prayers to the French people and all those affected by the fire. Alliance Franchise Brands LLC Celebrates Brand, Franchise Member Milestones at 2019 International Convention Top franchisor reflects on past year, franchise members recognized for several key accomplishments April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // PLYMOUTH, Mich. - Leading marketing, visual and graphics communications Alliance Franchise Brands LLC, parent company of Allegra Network LLC, Sign & Graphics Operations LLC and KK Printing ULC, recently commemorated its 2019 annual international convention in Grapevine, Texas. Themed Beyond the Expected, the convention brought together franchise members and support teams from the entire organization for a company outlook, dozens of educational sessions and an inspiring keynote address by Steve Gross, founder of the Life is Good Kids Foundation. The event also featured a day-long trade show with more than 100 exhibitors. Our annual convention is always the highlight of the year, said Mike Marcantonio, CEO of Alliance Franchise Brands. The wide breadth of collective knowledge among our franchise members and their willingness to share their experiences with each other is one of the key benefits to being a part of our network. No one ever goes it alone in our organization. Throughout the convention, Alliance Franchise Brands also recognized top-performing franchise members and their team members in attendance for sales, customer satisfaction and marketing achievements. About Alliance Franchise Brands LLC Alliance Franchise Brands LLC, a world leader in marketing and visual communications, has grown to become a holding company for nine franchise concepts, linking more than 650 locations in North America. Independently-owned and operated franchises provide national, regional and local businesses and organizations with a one-stop resource for technologically advanced and strategically sound solutions for their graphics communications needs under the Allegra Marketing Print Mail, American Speedy Printing, Image360, Insty-Prints, KKP, Signs By Tomorrow and Signs Now brands. RSVP is one of the largest direct mail advertising companies in the U.S. Franchise locations deliver on the proven concept of Direct Mail to the Upscale through luxury card packages. Visit https://alliancefranchisebrands.com/ to learn more. Media Contact: Sydney Thompson All Points Public Relations (847) 897-7494 sthompson@allpointspr.com SOURCE Alliance Franchise Brands LLC ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Entrepreneur Cites Mentor, Maaco Model As Keys To Success, Earning Prestigious Maaco Cup Award For 2018 Maaco Cup Award Winner Experiences Continued Growth Following the Playbook. April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // CHARLOTTE - When Nick Patel came to America from India at the age of 18, he began working at his brother-in-laws Maaco shop. Soon afterward, at 22, he became a franchise owner himself. I saw that Maaco had a business model that worked, said Patel, whose shop is in Villa Park, IL. Now 20 years later, I continue to follow the playbook that led me to build a successful business and receiving the prestigious 2018 Maaco Cup Award. The Maaco Cup recognizes the Maaco Collision Center owner based on top sales and production, commitment to the Maaco system and contribution in the respective market. In 2017, Patel won regional recognition at the Maaco convention, and in 2018 received the top national award after nine consecutive years of sales growth. Patel said that one of the factors that contributed to a successful 2018 was an increase in fleet business through participation in the Maaco Driven Fleet program, which provides qualified owners access to over 200 national fleets. The Maaco model is a very diversified customer base, a combination of customer paid painting and minor repair, insurance paid collision work, and fleet business, said Patel. This helps ensure a steady flow of revenue from multiple sources. Patel is a strong proponent of training and takes advantage of the learning opportunities Maaco provides. He attends Maaco conferences and often hosts regional meetings and training events at his store location. The Villa Park store is an I-CAR Gold Certified Center, which is the industry recognized designation which mean the technicians have been trained in proper vehicle repairs. Patels nine employees participate in the I-CAR training courses through Maaco University. Maaco introduced a new Maaco University in 2018 to accelerate the training and support for franchise owners and their staff. All of Patels employees are cross-trained, making each more versatile and more valuable to the overall operation. Over its 47-year history, Maaco has turned thousands of entrepreneurs and automotive professionals into successful independent business owners like Patel. If you work hard, follow the playbook, and utilize the extensive training that Maaco University provides, you will have success said Patel. It is a business model that works! Maaco, the leader in the $43 billion automotive paint and collision industry, offers a unique and rewarding opportunity for potential franchise owners. An average Maaco certified center will see sales volumes over $1.13 million*, pulling a net income over $200,000*. For entrepreneurs and investors looking for a turnkey, high-potential business with consistent demand, a strong national brand and an excellent operations model, all backed by strategic corporate support, Maaco offers an ideal opportunity. About Maaco Maaco Auto Painting & Collision Repair, a member of the Driven Brands portfolio, is Americas #1 Body Shop. Maaco provides automotive paint and cosmetic repair services for nearly 500,000 drivers annually. With more than 500 independently owned and operated franchises across the United States and Canada, Maaco has restored the safety and appearance of more than 20 million vehicles over 45 years. Maaco has been named a top automotive franchise numerous times by Entrepreneur Magazine in its Annual Franchise 500 ranking. In addition to other honors, Maaco has been included on Franchise Times list of Top 200 franchises. For more information about Maaco, visit www.Maaco.com. *This information is based upon actual, historical financial information provided by Maaco franchisees and is disclosed in MAACOs Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Individual results may vary. Historical financial performance does not guarantee future results. For further information about franchisee financial performance, see Item 19 of the FDD. Average Sales and average income based on 158 Certified Centers who report at least 50 weeks of gross sales for the 52-week period beginning 1/1/2017 and ending 12/31/2017. SOURCE Maaco ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Jersey Mike's Subs Opens Second Arlington Location April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // ARLINGTON, Texas - Jersey Mikes Subs, known for its fresh sliced/fresh grilled subs, opened in Arlington on April 10. Franchise owner John Mills held a grand opening and free sub fundraiser from Wednesday, April 10 to Sunday, April 14 to support A Wish With Wings. The new restaurant, located at 5005 S. Cooper Street, circulated 7,500 coupons throughout the community offering a free regular sub for a minimum $2 contribution to A Wish With Wings. Mills is an exemplary Jersey Mikes franchise owner who shares the companys commitment to quality products and exceptional customer service, and who is dedicated to giving back to the local community. Since 2010, Jersey Mikes locations throughout the country have raised more than $34 million for worthy local charities and have distributed more than 2 million free sub sandwiches to help numerous causes. About Jersey Mikes Started in 1956, Jersey Mikes now has 2,000 restaurants open and under development nationwide. Jersey Mikes was named the countrys fastest-growing Limited Service Chain and fastest-growing sandwich chain in the 2018 Nations Restaurant News Top 100. The growth is fueled by passionate Jersey Mikes fans who crave their subs made Mikes Way with the freshest vegetables onions, lettuce and tomatoes topped off with an exquisite zing of the juice red wine vinegar and olive oil blended to perfection. Jersey Mikes premium meats and cheeses are sliced on the spot, piled high on in-store baked bread and served up with a helping of neighborly banter from a dedicated and high-energy team. Jersey Mikes is always looking for outstanding candidates to join its winning team. Dedicated to a culture of giving, the team is a perfect blend of talent, trust, teamwork, and a shared vision. For more information and to learn about Jersey Mikes team members who moved from behind the counter to franchise owner, please visit: www.jerseymikes.com/careers. The restaurants hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. You can contact this location directly at (817) 422-9458. SOURCE Jersey Mikes ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Le Macaron French Pastries Looks to Make a Sweet Impression in Texas Elegant French Patisserie Franchise Looks to Add 10 New Locations by 2023 April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // Austin, Texas. - Le Macaron French Pastries, an elegant French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries, recently announced plans to introduce more than 10 locations in targeted communities throughout Texas. The community-focused brand will ignite growth through strategic franchise partnerships and aims to open the new locations within the next five years. Le Macaron French Pastries currently has more than 50 locations across the nation and is looking to ramp up growth through a selective strategy, focusing on a solid foundation of smart franchise partnerships and tactical site selection. Three Le Macaron French Pastries franchises are currently open in the Houston and San Antonio area, and each of them have found success with a loyal customer following. Texas has proven to be the perfect market for our business the community has been incredibly supportive and the community appreciates the elevated flavors our pastries have to offer, stated Mervis Ruiz, owner of Le Macaron in Cypress. From the locals to the millions of visitors that flock to the city every year, weve developed a loyal-fan base with our authentic macarons that are unparalleled in the market. I look forward to watching Le Macaron French Pastries further expand its presence throughout Texas as we have become a household name across the State. The dedicated customer base Le Macaron French Pastries secures makes the brand a reliable franchise concept for those beginning their professional careers or individuals looking to take a new step in their professional journeys. Jonathan Hanley, owner of Le Macaron in Frisco, held executive roles in a variety of multi-national tech and consumer goods companies. Hanley and his two daughters fell in love with the product of Le Macaron when trying it for the first time, and felt there needed to be a location in their own community. Launched only two years ago, Hanley and Le Macaron in Frisco have earned a dedicated customer following and well recognized online presence. Our store has seen success in the Frisco community because we are able to create authentic French experiences, said Hanley. Many other macaron brands have gone out of business, but the quality of Le Macarons product has helped make the brand a distinguishable one. Founded by France natives and mother-daughter team Rosalie Guillem and Audrey Saba, Le Macaron French Pastries provides an authentic French experience for Americans nationwide. Upon entering, guests are greeted with brilliant colors and a modern interior complemented with traditional music playing throughout the cafe. Offering more than 20 flavors of macarons, as well as seasonal flavors, the menu extends to include pastries, gelato, coffee, cakes, eclairs, and more. Whether in a metropolitan city or municipal town, Le Macaron French Pastries offers a new franchise opportunity which aims to lean into the growing quick-serve and snack brand trend of kiosks, mobile carts, and express locations. As consumers on-the-go lifestyle continues to accelerate, Le Macaron French Pastries seeks to capitalize on these captive audiences at malls, airports, sporting events, festivals and other gatherings. Franchisees can expect an investment ranging from between $91,750 to $127,000 for a mobile cart and $146,000 to $375,500 for a traditional cafe. All of Le Macaron French Pastries products are made in the kitchen headquarters, eliminating the need for a full kitchen space. Interested parties should have a strong desire to own a business, as well as a passion for the dessert space and success. The thriving economy and diversity of cultures in Texas makes the state an optimal place for Le Macaron French Pastries to grow, said Rosalie Guillem, CEO and co-founder of Le Macaron French Pastries. We are confident our versatile mobile cart franchise opportunity will give local entrepreneurs the opportunity to invest in the brand while reducing the high overhead costs that are often associated with opening a business. We look forward to working with franchise partners in cities like Austin, El Paso and Dallas to help give all Texas residents access to our little bites of heaven known as macarons. About Le Macaron French Pastries Founded in 2009 by Rosalie Guillem and her daughter Audrey, Le Macaron French Pastries is an elegant French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries. Headquartered in Sarasota, Fl., the brand began franchising in 2012 and has since grown to more than 50 locations across the U.S. Le Macaron French Pastries is ranked on Inc. 5,000 2016, #17 on the 2019 Top Emerging Franchise List as well as ranking on the Top 100 Food and Beverage category by Entrepreneur and holds a No. 9 ranking in the baked goods category. For more information, visit http://lemacaron-us.com/. Media Contact: Kathryn Frakes Fishman Public Relations (847) 945-1300 kfrakes@fishmanpr.com SOURCE Le Macaron French Pastries ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Meineke Top Franchise Of The Year Has Found The Winning Formula For Success Dave and Jody Repass Support the Community That Supports Them April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // CHARLOTTE - After 20 years in the direct mail industry, Dave and Jody Repass were ready for a change. The travel became tiresome, I was looking for a new challenge, and I wanted to pursue my passion and hobby, which was cars, said Dave Repass, a Meineke Car Care Center owner in Lewes, DE. Cars became my passion from working in my fathers hot rod shop as a teenager. We also fell in love with Lewes, DE and wanted to move from our home outside of Washington DC, adds Daves wife Jody. When evaluating automotive related franchise opportunities, Meineke was clearly the best fit for Repass. I saw that Meineke had a proven playbook for success, said Repass. And with the ever-changing technology in vehicles today, Meineke would provide the information and training to help us stay up to date on all the latest procedures. My technicians work on so many different makes, models and years of vehicles, it could be a real challenge without the training and support of the Meineke team and their vendors. The Repass family moved to Lewes and opened their Meineke Car Care Center eight years ago. Because of their customer-friendly attitude, the community embraced them, and as a result, their business has steadily grown. As further evidence of that success, the Repass family was named Franchisee of the Year at the 2019 Meineke Convention, held in Las Vegas this past March. From the start, our focus was not about the sale, but about building customers for life, said Repass. That meant designing their shop and their services with the customer in mind. Their 14-bay shop has monitors in the waiting room, so that customers can watch their repairs being made. Repass also utilizes the Meineke e-inspection program, where technicians can communicate electronically with the customer, sending them a professional, electronic estimate, along with photos and video of what maintenance items the vehicle needs, and also what it doesnt. With the Meineke e-inspection system, the technician can send the car owner a photo of the dirty air filter that needs replacingor one that doesnt, said Repass. That communication and transparency help to build trust. Our customers know that we are looking after their best interest. The Repass family also understands that for professionals such as doctors, nurses and school teachers its not easy to get away from work to have their car serviced, so they include a vehicle pickup and delivery service for the local hospitals and schools. The Repass family believes strongly in giving back to their community, and they participate in so many programs that there are too many to name them all. They sponsor programs such as 5K events to raise money to fight breast cancer, a restoration project for historic Fort Miles Army Museum, and Cars for a Cause which honors a Delaware State Trooper who passed. To recognize others and encourage community giving, they provide scholarships to local high school students based solely on the students support of others in the community. Another great program is their free oil change for veterans and active duty military members on Veterans Day. We honor those who sacrifice for their country by providing free oil changes on Veterans Day. Last Veterans day we performed 352 oil changes said Repass proudly. Meineke is a wonderful fit for a technician wanting to become an owner, or an investor looking to own multiple locations, said Repass. Meineke helps you with the technical and the business side. Their playbook is phenomenal, and if you just follow it, you can really achieve great success! Meineke Car Care Centers, the leader in automotive maintenance and repair. About Meineke Meineke Car Care Centers, Inc., is a division of Driven Brands, Inc., the leading automotive aftermarket franchisor in the world. Founded in 1972, Meineke has more than 800 centers that service approximately 3 million cars a year. Meineke continues to be ranked as one of the best franchise opportunities in the country. Media Contact: Deborah Robinson Deborah.robinson@drivenbrands.com 312.505.4336 SOURCE Meineke ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Minuteman Press Franchise in Barrington, Illinois Is Favored by a Community That Supports Local Businesses Converting an independent print shop into a Minuteman Press franchise, Gary Kreuz lends his business acumen to a growing customer base with a world-respected brand. April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // BARRINGTON, Ill. - Before he became an entrepreneur and Minuteman Press franchisee, Gary Kreuz was frequently asked to fix things, which is a modest description he gives to helping companies surge in profit. As Vice President and General Manager of a U.S. company owned by a German manufacturer, he was responsible for sales and service of the machines in North America. He also managed several other companies over his career. I started in the office staff in 1976 and went from sales to sales manager and then to branch manager. When I was asked to become president of another company that was in trouble and needed help in 1993, we rebuilt the team and reversed the downward spiral in sales to wind up doing 25 million in sales. Along the way, there were several companies I started up for someone or I would run divisions within these companies. last company to benefit from his talent was stagnant until he joined them and helped take sales from a million and a half up to seven million. It continued to grow even as his professional trajectory changed when his position was eliminated and he was let go. At that point, he and his wife Nancy took a hard look at their options and were determined to find something that would ensure no one could lay either of them off ever again. I expected to spend 8 more years working at that German company, but when I was terminated at age 62, I realized that even getting an interview much less another job with similar income and responsibilities to what I had previously was impossible. I was doing very well in my career, but suddenly, when I needed a new position, no one would hire me. Essentially, I was forced to be an entrepreneur. I knew I needed to find a way to hire myself. As a Minuteman Press franchise owner, this is my business. Now, no one can terminate my employment. Gary Kreuz, owner, Minuteman Press franchise, Barrington, Illinois Gary and Nancy Kreuz had enough life and business experience to know that this was a decision that required expert advice. Among those advisors, they made a good connection with Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President Doug Harlan, who listened to their story and helped them find the perfect new situation. When I was talking to Doug, he told me he had something a little different for us to consider. He put me in contact with a local, independent print shop owner who was ready to retire and we talked for about 3 or 4 months. At that point, we worked out a deal so she could retire, and we could take on a new business that was not starting at zero. We bought a successful print shop and converted it into a Minuteman Press franchise in Barrington, IL. He adds one last cherry on the sundae of their fresh professional start, Our center is only four miles from our house. Nancy and Gary work together these days, an unplanned pleasantry that they enjoy without regret. Nancy raised our children full-time and made it possible for me to build a career. Now, she is mostly taking care of the bookkeeping and we are learning together how best to take care of our customers and meet our goals. Their grand opening was held in November 2018, and the Minuteman Press brand helps Gary and Nancy by providing a proven system of operations and lifetime support. Like any small business, theyve had their hurdles and are currently jumping them. We live in a small town of about 10,000 and I would say easily ten percent of them are quite affluent. We have a lot of non-profits and everyone is very loyal to Barrington companies. When we converted this independent print shop to a Minuteman Press franchise, some of the people perceived our brand as a big company but the local clientele is learning (and we are demonstrating) that we are different than other franchises and corporations. We are a local company and as they are dedicated to buying locally, we assure them we live nearby and the business is family-owned. Gary further explains the culture he is trying to build on: My philosophy on customer service is (as I taught all of my salespeople over the years in my former career) to find out what the customer needs and then deliver that plus a little more, with a smile. While Minuteman Press in Barrington remains a family-owned and operated small business, Gary and Nancy are able to provide a wide variety of products and services such as printing essentials, promotional items, branded apparel, signs and banners, direct mail marketing campaigns, and custom graphic design. The community of Barrington is smiling brighter as Gary and Nancy join fellow Minuteman Press franchise owners who can say We Are the Modern Printing Industry since they can produce anything you can put a name, image, or logo on. It is a delightful switch from his prior industry to marketing services as Gary gets the pleasure of observing happy customers as he delivers just what they need. It is fun to watch customers open packages and rave about the jobs we do for them. I deliver many completed jobs, calling and offering to visit and most welcome me to come; but they like to come to our center and see us, too. There is reason. The previous owner didnt offer nearly the range that Gary and Nancy have now and they put it all into a beautiful setting for everyone to see as they walk inside. The now retired owner didnt offer promotional products and now that we offer a lot, we updated our lobby for comfort and to display everything, making it more professional. It is a showroom with samples of products and apparel to see, touch and discuss, Gary explains. In addition to providing new products and services, Minuteman Press Barrington recently acquired local print shop Forrest Press. This helped the owners retire and eased the transition for long-time customers. Independent print shop Forrest Press was founded in Lake Barrington in 1947 by Nick and Char Olker, and eventually included their sons Steve and Chuck. We are very proud of the success of our company over two generations of service to our customers, says Chuck Olker. As we retire from the printing business, we are also happy to have worked out an agreement with Minuteman Press of Barrington where our customers will get the same great service from Gary and his team that they have come to count on from us. It is our goal to provide the past clients of Forrest Press a seamless transition of printing services, says Gary. With our experienced staff and the complete art files provided to us by Forrest Press, Minuteman Press Barrington will be able to do just that. Minuteman Press makes a difference for local organizations including Barrington United Way Leslie Luther is the Executive Director for the Barrington United Way and she has high praise for Gary Kreuz and the partnership she maintains with Minuteman Press. We are consistently pleased with the work that is produced by Gary and his team. Minuteman Press in Barrington has quickly become a community partner, sponsoring local community projects with our organization. Leslie is impressed with Garys service and with the transition he made into franchise ownership from what was an independent print shop she used previously. Quick response when we need projects completed in a short period of time is so helpful to fundraising organizations and Gary never disappoints. I also want to add that the transition from the private print shop to a Minuteman Press franchise has been smooth and one that we welcome into our community. We are happy to have a mutually beneficial working relationship with a local business owner like Gary at Minuteman Press who understands the importance of philanthropy. We look forward to the partnership for many years to come. For all of its rewards to lifestyle and freedom from corporate downsizing and layoffs, having a business can be challenging, but Gary is not concerned. My relationship with Minuteman Press International is great. First, I used to have to develop all these systems and relationships on my own whether it was a new division in a different country or a company here in the US. I would have to develop practices by trial and error, but with a franchise like this one, I can trust their experience and they pass it on to us. I am relieved to NOT have the extra work in that area. After all, as the owner of a franchise I know someone has had a great idea for the business and I can use the idea without needing to create a new one. Also, the brand is a help because I get their best practices and value-added relationships (like choice vendors) and all of that helps us become what we really are, a local family-owned business happy to serve our neighbors in marketing, print and design. Gary adds with a smile, Before I was selling machines to large corporations all over the country. Today, we live among our customers. It is a pleasure. Gary and Nancy Kreuz family-owned Minuteman Press franchise is located at 200 James Street, Barrington, IL 60010. For more information, call 847-382-1185 or visit their website: https://barrington-il.minutemanpress.com About Minuteman Press International Minuteman Press International is the number one rated business marketing and printing franchise that offers world class training and unparalleled ongoing local support. Started in 1973 by Roy Titus and his son Bob, Minuteman Press began franchising in 1975 and has grown to nearly 1,000 business service franchise locations worldwide including the U.S., Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Minuteman Press is ranked #1 in category by Entrepreneur 28 times and 16 years in a row, including 2019. Independent franchisee satisfaction firm Franchise Business Review has also named Minuteman Press International to its 2019 Top Franchises, 2018 Top Franchise Leaders, Top Franchises for Women, and Top Franchises for Veterans lists thanks to positive reviews from our owners. At Minuteman Press, We Are The Modern Printing Industry providing high quality products and services that meet the needs of today's business professionals and go way beyond ink on paper. Today, our centers offer innovative branding solutions and produce custom designs, promotional products, branded apparel, direct mail marketing, large format printing (banners and posters), signs and graphics, and much more. Prior experience is not necessary to own and operate a successful Minuteman Press franchise. To learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and speak with one of our experienced franchise representatives at no obligation, call 1-800-645-3006. Continue your franchise research, watch exclusive owner videos and access Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.com Contacts: Minuteman Press International Franchise Opportunities 1-800-645-3006 https://minutemanpressfranchise.com Chris Biscuiti Media Inquiries cbiscuiti@mpihq.com SOURCE Minuteman Press ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus N-Hance Wood Refinishing Widens Reach in New York, Aims to Open 22 Locations by 2024 Surge in New York Home Improvement Spending Draws Franchise Brand to the Market April 16, 2019 // Franchising.com // NEW YORK - N-Hance Wood Refinishing, the leading nationwide franchise specializing in hardwood floor and kitchen cabinet refinishing, has announced plans to add four new territories to New York state, secured through strategic partnerships, by years end. This 2019 expansion is folded into the brands overarching goal to add more than 20 locations throughout the state over the next five years. Kickstarting these aggressive development goals are newly signed agreements in Nassau County and Suffolk County. Entrepreneurs Michael and Carole Gangadeen will debut N-Hances services throughout Floral Park, New Cassel, Plain View, Elmont, Uniondale, and Rockville Centre areas. Additionally, new franchise owner, Andrew Saulino will service the Melville, Amityville, Brentwood, Brightwaters, Bayport, Calverton, Blue Point and Tiana areas. Finally, John Polkwoski will launch the N-Hance brand in markets including Binghamton, Ithaca, Cortland, and Oxford, in central New York. These three new groups will build on the momentum N-Hance has already paved with 21 franchise locations currently operating throughout the state. To meet the rising demand in the market, N-Hance is actively seeking franchise partners in the cities of Binghamton, Albany, Long Island, Bronx, Manhattan, and Syracuse. As of June 2018, New York comes in at third of highest home improvement spending states, 11.6 billion dollars, just behind California and Texas. The surge in home improvement spending is spearheading N-Hances efforts to continue growth in the already successful New York area. The area, economically, is ripe for a concept like N-Hance with our array of offerings for wood refinishing and renewal, said DWayne Tanner, Senior Vice President of Franchise Sales. Weve had resounding successes introducing franchises in this eager market and look forward to continuing this legacy as we create innumerable opportunities for entrepreneurs statewide. Trevor Kaftan, Owner of an N-Hance location in the Poughkeepsie area, who was also N-Hances 2018 Franchisee of the Year, joined the franchise system in 2012 after being attracted to the company for its market opportunity, I had been selling refacing and kitchen remodeling services on my own for three years, and I kept getting pushback from customers. When I found out about N-Hance and what they offered to consumers, I knew there would be a market for the services that N-Hance provides. N-Hance sets the industry standard for hardwood refinishing. Supported by Harris Research, Inc., N-Hance is the only wood refinishing company, working with more than 1,200 Home Depot locations across the nation. Also helping lead the companys growth is its one of a kind Lightspeed instant curing system for hardwood cabinets and floors which saves customers time and money over the traditional refinishing, refacing or replacing alternatives. The innovative process provides one day hardwood refinishing without the hassle of dust, mess or odor. About N-Hance Wood Refinishing Founded in 2001, N-Hance Wood Refinishing is based in Logan, Utah and is a trusted partner of the Home Depot, with a presence in more than 1,200 locations. N-Hance Wood Refinishing has more than 500 franchises across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and is backed by Harris Research, Inc., the same company that grew Chem-Dry into the world's largest carpet cleaning company. Media Contact: Kelly McNamara Fishman Public Relations 847-945-1300 KMcNamara@fishmanpr.com SOURCE N-Hance Wood Refinishing ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Photo: Parks Canada Parks Canada says it will not be attending a public meeting later this month in Osoyoos on the proposed South Okanagan national park. The South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society a group opposed to the project had planned the meeting for April 23 at the Sonora Centre and publicly invited Parks Canada. The federal agency, however, says it is still working on compiling feedback from its public consultation period into a What We Heard report. Parks Canada says it met with 39 groups and stakeholders on the issue. The report will include a summary of the results of the consultation, which will inform future discussions regarding the proposed national park reserve. Parks Canada is currently focused on the preparation of the What We Heard report and, therefore, will not be participating in South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Societys public meeting, a statement Monday said. Parks Canada is committed to openness, transparency and sharing timely, accurate and clear information with the public, Parks Canada continued. For this reason, public information sessions to share the results of the What We Heard report are being planned for later this spring in Osoyoos, Oliver and Penticton. Parks Canada says the dates for those events are still to be determined. Plans remain in motion to have an agreement on a final boundary for the proposed national park reserve and management of the lands in place by summer 2019. Steps would then be undertaken towards the formal establishment of a national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen, the Parks Canada statement says. Photo: The Canadian Press Saputo Inc. has expanded its global presence as it entered the British dairy market with the closing of a $1.7-billion deal to acquire Dairy Crest Group plc. The transaction announced Feb. 22 was payable in cash from a new bank loan. Dairy Crest manufactures and sells cheese, butters, spreads and oils under British brands such as Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight. The company has about 1,100 employees in seven locations across the United Kingdom. For the 12 months ended March 31, it had about $796 million in revenue and $260 million in after-tax profits, including $172 million in exceptional items. Saputo says it has invested in a "well-established and successful industry player with a solid asset base and an experienced management team." Photo: The Canadian Press Five agencies are banding together to help fight money laundering in British Columbia's real estate industry. B.C. Attorney General David Eby and Finance Minister Carole James released a joint statement saying the collaboration will go a long way towards getting dirty money out of the real estate market and protecting consumers. The B.C. Real Estate Association says in a news release the groups commit to sharing best practices to help keep proceeds of crime out of the economy and ensuring the public has full confidence in B.C.'s real estate market. The other participating organizations include the Appraisal Institute of Canada, BC Notaries Association, Canada Mortgage Brokers Association and the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. The groups have committed to share those best practices, including accepting only verified funds and making anti-money laundering education mandatory for all real estate agents. An international anti-money laundering agency said last year that organized criminals were laundering about $1 billion annually in the province and the B.C. government is now reviewing two reports on the crime. The joint statement from Eby and James says the actions by the organizations "will go a long way towards getting dirty money out of the real estate market, protecting consumers and helping industry professionals improve their knowledge and regulatory compliance." The Real Estate Council of B.C., the disciplinary body for agents and brokerages, announced last week that it had agreed to share information with Canada's financial intelligence unit, or FINTRAC, in an attempt to fight money laundering. Photo: The Canadian Press The B.C. government has added a month to its consultations on caribou conservation because of community concerns over logging, backcountry access and talks with First Nations. "This is clearly an issue that has enraged some people and has inflamed passions," said Premier John Horgan in Dawson Creek, in the heart of caribou country. Last month, a draft agreement was reached between two First Nations and the federal and provincial governments on temporary protection for a central B.C. caribou population while a long-term plan is developed. The central caribou population has declined to about 220 animals from about 800 in the early 2000s, and a protection agreement was required under federal species-at-risk legislation. Horgan said Monday that his government hadn't done a good enough job explaining the deal to people. "It was clear the public wasn't satisfied with the information they were getting," he said. "We were sending public officials who sometimes weren't able to answer the questions the public was bringing up, because they weren't connected to the specific issue at play. "There was a lack of understanding about what we were trying to accomplish here." Misinformation was filling that gap, Horgan, said, especially about access to the backcountry for motorized outdoor recreation. "Absent the full framework, people were conjuring up the worst outcomes possible. We wanted to nip that right now." Loggers are also concerned about access to trees. Horgan acknowledged that the main harvest of trees killed by mountain pine beetle infestation is over. "There is dwindling fibre supply," he said. Horgan appointed Blair Lekstrom, a former local Liberal member of the legislature, as a liaison between the premier's office and the area. Candace Batycki of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative said the extra month could help bring better information into the community. "My hope is that it's enough time for a more fact-based conversation," she said. Dawson Creek Mayor Dale Bumstead welcomed the extra consultation as well as Lekstrom's appointment, but said local concerns remain. "It's not clear what the impact will be on the forestry sector." Bumstead said local people felt shouldered aside by constitutional requirements to consult First Nations, which may have contributed to racist-tinged remarks about the issue on social media. "I'm concerned about the split that's occurring now because of the animosity toward the First Nations neighbours. This is a worry for me, when I see the nastiness of some of the comments that are coming out," the mayor said. Batycki agrees the discussion has become racially charged. "We've been concerned about a lot of the racist tone of what's been going on in social media," she said. She pointed out last month's draft deal was the result of two years of talks and she hopes the extra consultation doesn't delay at least temporary caribou protection for too long. "Without interim measures in place, the problem gets worse." There are always whispers of secret menus at any fast food restaurant you visit - and there's always a bit of uncertainty surrounding their legitimacy. KFC Australia have just revealed how to access some of their new off-menu items including the 'Slida Burger', 'Zinger Chipster' and 'Beese Churger'. Untraditional? Sure. Delicious? Probably! The company recently released a statement saying: "We know our fans taste buds are craving new and finger lickin' ways to enjoy their fried chook, but nothing good lasts forever. "Grab your phone, follow the clues, gather your coins and order the next secret menu item available from today. The secret menu is hidden in their app, and includes the never-before-seen 'Kentucky Snack Pack' which features fries topped with Popcorn Chicken and drizzled with 'fiery sauce' according to the Daily Mail. "There's a secret menu for those in the know, with unreleased treats designed by staff long ago. This gift to the world, it's time to bestow, solve my riddle to discover where to go." The menu is in effect in Australia from today. Here's exactly how you can access it: "To make the purchase you need to download the app, select your nearest store, tap 'order' and when the menu appears, drag the screen down," the Daily Mail report reads. "As cartoon Colonel Sanders appears, hold the screen for 11 seconds until the 'Secret Menu' pops up." If the Kentucky Snack Pack described above sounds good to you, there's plenty more where that came from. The secret item is reportedly set to change every month. It's unclear whether the secret menu will be hitting New Zealand anytime soon, but we'll definitely be keeping an ear out! SECRET ITEMS Per the Daily Mail: "THE BEESE CHURGER This is a regular burger with a Zinger fillet, cheese and mayo. In this case, the buns are flipped upside down. 'Honestly, we're not sure how, but it really works, trust us,' KFC said. THE ZINGER CHIPSTER This is a 'next level' Twister with a Zinger fillet, fresh lettuce, cheese and sauce all wrapped in a tortilla and stuffed with golden chips. THE SLIDA BURGER For anyone who wants a burger without the buns, the Slida is the perfect option for you. It is simply a Zinger fillet, smoky bacon, fresh lettuce, cheese and sauce all packed between two flatbread buns." Photo: The Canadian Press James Oler leaves court in Cranbrook, B.C. The Crown wrapped up its case Monday against a former member of a fundamentalist sect who is charged with the alleged removal of a girl from Canada in 2004 to marry a man in the United States. Special prosecutor Peter Wilson argued that the Crown doesn't have to prove that sexual activity took place between the girl and the man she married. "The Crown only has to prove that at some point during the unfolding of the events, that the accused intended or subjectively foresaw that (the girl) would be subject to sexual contact," Wilson told a B.C. Supreme Court judge in Cranbrook. James Oler is charged with removing the 15-year-old girl from Canada to marry a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which practises polygamy in Bountiful, B.C., and the United States. He was acquitted in 2017 by a judge who was not convinced Oler did anything within Canada's borders to arrange the girl's transfer to the U.S. But the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown that proof of wrongdoing in Canada was not necessary and ordered a new trial. Wilson argued that Oler should have known the girl would be subject to sexual activity following her marriage based on the nature of church doctrine and the role of women in the faith. Women do not have financial assets and need permission to travel or pursue post-secondary education, former church members told the trial. They were taught that their role within the religion was to be a celestial wife in polygamous marriages and to bear children. The court has heard the 15-year-old girl's marriage was documented by priesthood records kept by Warren Jeffs, the church's president and prophet. The records were seized after U.S. law enforcement raided the Yearning for Zion ranch in Texas a decade ago. One priesthood record describes a phone call that Jeffs made to Oler, allegedly asking him to bring the girl to the United States to be married. Oler, who is self-represented, did not call any witnesses or mount a legal defence. Joe Doyle, who is serving as a friend of the court to ensure a fair trial, will present his closing arguments on Tuesday. HONOR 20 series to launch on 21st of May in London News oi-Vivek Here is everything we know about the HONOR 20 series of smartphones HONOR, the sub smartphone brand from Huawei has officially confirmed that the company is all set to launch the all-new HONOR 20 series of smartphones on the 21st of May. The company has released a lot of promotional materials for the smartphone, highlighting the camera capabilities of the smartphone. #CAPTUREWONDER is the hashtag used by the company, to highlight the low-light camera capabilities of the smartphone. As of now, there is no additional information about the upcoming flagship smartphones from HONOR. However, considering the current trend, the smartphone maker is most likely to launch at least two smartphones under the HONOR 20 moniker. How good are you at math? #HONOR20Series will be launched on ________! Fill in the blanks for #CaptureWonder. pic.twitter.com/6k0ejoMY1y HONOR (@Honorglobal) April 15, 2019 HONOR 20 & HONOR 20 Pro Just like the Huawei P30 and the Huawei P30 Pro, the HONOR 20 and the HONOR 20 Pro will be the flagship grade smartphones from HONOR with state of the art premium-looking design and flagship grade hardware. These smartphones will share a lot of similarities with the HONOR View20, the first punch-hole display smartphone from Honor with Kirin 980 SoC. Compared to the HONOR 20, the HONOR 20 Pro is expected to offer a number of features, especially on the camera aspect, similar to the Huawei P30 Pro. Both smartphones are likely to be powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 980 SoC with at least 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The HONOR 20 series of smartphones will be competing against the upcoming OnePlus 7 series of smartphones, where, for the first time, OnePlus is likely to launch more than one flagship smartphone. In fact, the company is planning to launch a total of three smartphones, one being a 5G capable device, whereas the other two will support 4G LTE network. As of now, there is no additional information available about the HONOR 20 series of smartphones. Stay tuned to GizBot to learn more about the same. Best Mobiles in India OnePlus CEO teases new device launch on April 17: Is it OnePlus 7? News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Is OnePlus 7 launch set for tomorrow? OnePlus 7 has been hitting the tech headlines for quite a long time. This year, the company is believed to break the tradition by launching three smartphones instead of two. Now, fresh information from the company's CEO hints that there could be some announcement regarding the upcoming devices on April 17. As per a tweet by Pete Lau, the OnePlus CEO, there is a possibility that the company might unveil a new device this Wednesday. He has asked fans to check out his post on the specified date. This tweet makes us believe that the company might be in plans to take the wraps off the OnePlus 7 tomorrow. I know you guys are stoked to hear about the new device - check back to see my post this Wednesday Pete Lau (@petelau2007) April 15, 2019 As mentioned earlier, three devices are expected to be announced this year - OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7 Pro and a 5G-enabled OnePlus smartphone. Recently, there were speculations that the OnePlus flagship smartphone could be announced on May 14. And, it was expected that the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro will be launched at first. Now, following the tweet by the company CEO, we can expect the OnePlus 7 to be launched tomorrow or at least details regarding the same to be announced. However, we will get clarity on this soon. OnePlus 7 rumored specs Talking about the rumored specifications, the OnePlus 7 is expected to arrive with the most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC paired with up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage space. The other aspects that we can expect to see in this smartphone include triple cameras at its rear and a pop-up selfie camera. We have already seen several case renders showing the presence of a pop-up selfie camera and triple cameras in the past. With this design, the upcoming OnePlus smartphone might arrive with a notchless display. Talking about the triple cameras at its rear, we can expect it to feature a 48MP primary sensor as seen in many other smartphones launched recently. While the company did away with the headphone jack with the OnePlus 6T, there are speculations that it might bring it back with the next-generation model. Furthermore, it is likely to be launched with Android 9 Pie topped with OxygenOS. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Sony Xperia 1 with 4K HDR display slated to launch on April 26 in Taiwan News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The Sony Xperia 1 packs a big 6.5-inch OLED 4K HDR display panel with an edge-to-edge design. At the technology trade fair MWC 2019, Sony unveiled its latest flagship smartphone Xperia 1. The key highlight of this device is the 4k HDR display panel with a wide 21:9 aspect ratio for an immersive video watching experience. The smartphone's availability was under the wraps until now. Now, the official launch date of the device is out. Sony has scheduled a launch event in Taiwan on April 26. The company is set to launch the premium Xperia 1 smartphone at the event has also sent out official media invites for the same. It is currently unknown as to when Sony will bring this smartphone in the Indian as well as global market. In addition to a high-resolution display panel, the device packs a powerful flagship Qualcomm processor, under its hood. Let's have a quick look at the specifications of the Sony Xperia 1 smartphone. The Sony Xperia 1 packs a big 6.5-inch OLED 4K HDR display panel with an edge-to-edge design. As mentioned earlier, the display has an aspect ratio of 21:9 making it the first smartphone to offer such a wide aspect ratio display panel. The display comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection on top. Sony has also used Dolby Atmos speakers to enhance the overall viewing experience. The smartphone runs on a Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB RAM and 64GB/128GB of internal storage. It will ship with Android Pie and will be powered by a 3,300mAh battery unit with 18W fast charge support. The Sony Xperia 1 makes use of a triple-lens camera module at the rear panel. The smartphone comes with a 12MP primary lens with f/1.6 aperture, a 16mm wide-angle lens and a 52mm telephoto lens. The front of the device packs an 8MP lens for selfies and video calling. via Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Asteroid makes closest ever approach to our planet at 26,574.8 mph News oi-Vishal Kawadkar The space rock skimmed our planet on April 13. The asteroid known as the NASA Asteroid 2019 GN, skimmed Earth on a so-called "Earth Close Approach" trajectory. The space agency's asteroid trackers said the space rock flew past our planet on April 13. Astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said that this is the asteroid's closest possible approach to the Earth as the orbits the Sun. JPL also estimated that the space rock hurtled at speeds of around 26,574.8 mph (42,768kph) or 11.88km per second. NASA said that the asteroid managed to approach our planet from a distance of 0.00443 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is around 93 million miles. This means the space rock passed from an incredibly close distance, which is 1.72 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. However, there's no immediate risk for the life-sustaining on Earth in the foreseeable future. Asteroid GN is a so-called "Near-Earth Object" or NEO which means it crosses paths with our planet occasionally. The European Space Agency (ESA) explained: "The word NEO stands for Near-Earth Object, indicating a small body of the Solar System which can come into the Earth neighborhood. A broad classification of NEOs distinguishes NECs, Near-Earth Comets, from, NEAs, Near-Earth Asteroid, which constitute the vast majority of NEOs." Besides, NASA is also working on an asteroid defense technology. The space agency has also chosen SpaceX to work on its first-ever attempt to deflect a space rock that's hurtling at high speed in space. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will be launched with the help of a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2021 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Best Mobiles in India Indian Govt asks Google and Apple to remove TikTok from App Stores News oi-Karan Sharma Indian government asks Google and Apple to take down the TikTok app from App Stores to prevent downloads. Google and Apple have been asked by the MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) to take down the video-sharing app from their app stores. The development comes after the Supreme Court rejected the Madras High Court plea to ban the download of the app from April 3. So now it has been official that the app is going to be ban in India. A couple of weeks back Madras High Court passed an order seeking the government to ban the downloading of TikTok app. Later the matter was bought to the Supreme Court, where it was rejected by the next hearing was scheduled on Aril 22. "As per the proceedings in the Supreme Court today, the Madras High Court will hear the matter on ex parte ad interim order. The Supreme Court has listed the matter again for April 22, 2019, to be apprised of the outcome of the hearing on the April 16th, 2019 before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. At TikTok, we have faith in the Indian Judicial system and the stipulations afforded to social media platforms by the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011," Economic Times quoted the company. The order form MeitY will prevent the downloads of the Chinese video sharing app TikTok. However, people who already have downloaded the app can continue using it on the smartphones. Basically, the usage is not banned only the download is ban. Earlier today, in a shocking incident a 19-year-old from Delhi was shot dead by his friend while making TikTok video. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications NASA awards three Indian teams for excellence in building rovers for space missions News oi-Vishal Kawadkar The awards are presented to the best-designed systems. As a part of the annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge that encourages high school and college students to build roving vehicles for future missions, NASA has awarded three Indian teams. The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, was honored with the "AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award", which is awarded for the best-designed systems that meet the space agency's Rover Challenge performance requirements, said NASA. The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai, Maharashtra, received both the "Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award" for tackling issues during the race, as well as the "System Safety Challenge Award". Moreover, the team from Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab was awarded the "STEM Engagement Award" for being the best at informing masses about rocket science and other space-related topics. Around 100 teams participated in the competition, including teams from the US, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco, and Peru. Sunita Williams, Indo-American NASA astronaut was also present at the event, boosting teams' moral and participating in other activities. The International Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany secured the first place in the high school division with 91 points, while the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez received the first prize in the college/university division with 101 points. "We are so proud to congratulate this year's winners and every team that competed," said Bob Musgrove, Acting Manager of the Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. "The creativity, skill, and resourcefulness demonstrated each year on the rover course are the very traits that paved our path to the Moon in 1969, and the ones that will continue to carry NASA forward to the Moon again in 2024," said Musgrove. After building their rovers, the teams attempt to complete a three-quarter-mile course that has a lot of obstacles that resemble the terrain seen on Mars, as well as other planets. Moreover, the rovers should be capable of tasks such as sample collection and instrument deployment. The teams get six minutes to complete the course and complete 14 obstacles. (source) Best Mobiles in India Photo: The Canadian Press Seven Leaf president Lewis Mitchell look at some of their cannabis crop Thursday, April 11, 2019 in Akwesasne, Ont. Lewis Mitchell, a former police chief on the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, chuckled when asked if he thought he would have trouble finding customers when his first batch of cannabis is ready for sale around summertime. "No, not at all," the president of Seven Leaf said at his company's production facility along the St. Lawrence River, about 130 kilometres southwest of Montreal. They just won't be in his own community, at least not for now. It has been six months since the federal Liberal government legalized marijuana in Canada, leaving it up to the provinces to manage sale and distribution. First Nations people have jumped in on the action, but reserve politics and jurisdictional issues have complicated legalization in Indigenous communities. Akwesasne is a glaring example. The Mohawk territory is located within the borders of Ontario, Quebec and New York State. Quebec created a provincial retail monopoly for cannabis and isn't issuing licenses to non-state actors. Ontario, meanwhile, capped its retail licenses at 25 and distributed them through a lottery system. And recreational use of the drug remains illegal in New York. Since legalization in Canada last October, unlicensed smoke shops selling cannabis have sprouted up in Indigenous communities around the Montreal area. In Akwesasne, the Mohawk police force has raided stores judged illegal by the band council. In Kanesatake, a Mohawk community north of Montreal, Grand Chief Serge Simon has told media he is powerless to stop illicit shops from opening. The Akwesasne band council would like to begin licensing its own retail stores, but Grand Chief Abram Benedict said he's still trying to figure out how to ensure the product sold is safe and from a legal source. "I will say the biggest challenge for issuing licenses is the supply chain," he said in an interview Monday. "We haven't solidified where our licensed retailers will get their supply." Mitchell, a youthful looking 62, is president and part owner of Seven Leaf, which he says is the first and only cannabis company in Canada wholly owned by Indigenous people and licensed by the federal health agency. The company, he says, is committed to operating according to federal law. Part of his 7,560-square-metre factory is licensed to grow, while the other section is still under construction. When the whole facility is up and running, he says he'll be able to employ up to 120 people and produce 12,000 kilograms of cannabis per year. But for now, he won't be able to sell a single gram to his own people without risking his license. "We can only sell our products to other licensed sellers and producers," he said, and none of them are located in Akwesasne. He is hoping to sell his initial harvest to provincial agencies in Quebec and Ontario and other licensed buyers. Down the road from Mitchell's factory is Green Chief Naturals, owned by 39-year-old Heath Day. He sells tobacco products and CBD the non-intoxicating extract of the marijuana plant. He's waiting for the band council's blessing before selling the common form of cannabis with THC the constituent of pot that offers the high. President Moreno: Assange used Ecuador's London Embassy for spying Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 07:00AM Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno claims WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tried to use Ecuador's Embassy in London as a "center for spying," and that the decision to strip the whistleblower of his political asylum followed "violations" of that status. Assange was hauled out of the embassy by UK police in a dramatic arrest operation last week after Moreno who took office in 2017 -- revoked his political asylum over allegations of bad behavior during his nearly seven-year stay at the diplomatic mission. The 47-year-old journalist is now in UK custody, awaiting sentencing for breaching his British bail conditions in 2012 by seeking refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden. In Sweden, he once faced two sexual abuse charges, the first of which expired in 2015. The other allegation was also dropped in 2017, but the alleged rape victim has now asked for the case to be reopened. Moreover, he faces extradition to the US on the charge of conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal military secrets. Assange, an Australian national, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In an interview with The Guardian on Sunday, Moreno defended his decision on the Assange case and said the whistleblower had used Ecuador's Embassy in London as a "center for spying." "It is unfortunate that, from our territory and with the permission of authorities of the previous government, facilities have been provided within the Ecuadoran Embassy in London to interfere in processes of other states," the president said. "We cannot allow our house to become a center for spying," Moreno said. "It is unfortunate that there are individuals dedicated to violating the privacy of people." Moreno's comments could be a reference to the recent publication of information on the Ecuadorian President's brother, who, according to an anonymous website linked to WikiLeaks, had established an offshore company. Moreno also accused Assange of a number of everyday wrongdoings such as "improper hygienic behavior" and mistreating embassy staff. "He was a guest who was offered a dignified treatment, but he did not have the basic principle of reciprocity for the country that knew how to welcome him, or the willingness to accept protocols [from] the country that welcomed him," Moreno said. Moreno has been under fire over the past days by civil liberties, media freedom and human rights groups for overturning Assange's asylum status, which they argue could expose him to serious human rights violations. The president, however, said he had been given guarantees about Assange's possible extradition to the US. "For us the maximum right to protect is the right to life," he said. "For this reason, we consulted the government of the United Kingdom on the possibility of Assange's extradition to third countries where he could suffer torture, ill-treatment or the death penalty. The United Kingdom extended written guarantees that if extradition is eventually requested, he will not be extradited to any country where it may suffer such treatment." 'Outrageous allegations' Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson said earlier that Ecuador had fabricated claims about Assange to justify the decision to turn him in to the UK police. "Ecuador has been making some pretty outrageous allegations over the past few days to justify what was an unlawful and extraordinary act in allowing British police to come inside an embassy," she told media. Robinson insisted that the allegations raised against her client were not true. WikiLeaks had recently warned that Assange was likely to be expelled from the embassy soon. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Assange aimed to harm US: Prosecutors Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 04:14PM US federal prosecutors have accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of disseminating secret documents with the intent of doing harm to the United States. A criminal complaint against Assange, dated Dec. 21, 2017, which was unsealed in the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Monday, detailed the case federal prosecutors have prepared against the whistle-blower. Assange, who was arrested by British police last Thursday after spending seven years in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, is now facing possible extradition to the US. Federal prosecutors alleged in the complaint affidavit filed in court that Assange and former US Army intelligence analyst Manning had reason to believe that leaking US military reports "would cause injury" to the United States. "Manning and WikiLeaks had reason to believe that public disclosure of the Afghanistan War Reports and Iraq War Reports would cause injury to the United States" read the complaint affidavit. The affidavit explains how the two "collaborated" to disseminate hundreds of thousands of pages of US State Department cables and Iraq and Afghanistan secret documents. Prosecutors claimed the military documents published in the WikiLeaks reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq included material "which potentially endangered US troops and Afghan civilians, and aided enemies of the United States." "The identity and significance of local supporters of United States and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan" was exposed, according to the prosecutors. "When US forces raided the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding out, for example, they found a letter that showed the Al Qaeda leader was interested in copies of Pentagon documents published on WikiLeaks," the prosecutors said. According to them, leaked reports on the Afghan war included information on militants' improvised explosive device designs and attacks, including details of US and coalition countermeasures against such home-made explosive devices and their limitations. The prosecution's affidavit was made public following last week's indictment charging Assange with conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in US history. Many believe the revocation of Assange's asylum status by the new government of Ecuador and the UK government's arrest of Assange at Washington's behest.was ample proof that freedom of press in Western countries is a lie. Meanwhile, there has been widespread outrage from across the world over Assange's arrest. Journalists, lawmakers, politicians and human rights defenders, who consider the Australian whistle-blower to be a hero, are pressuring the UK government to protect Assange against possible persecution and death if he were extradited to the US. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Moscow Court Sentences Norway's Berg to 14 Years in Jail for Espionage Sputnik News 13:06 16.04.2019(updated 13:57 16.04.2019) MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Moscow court has found Norwegian national Frode Berg guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 14 years in a high-security jail, a Sputnik correspondent reported Tuesday from the courtroom. "To find Berg guilty and sentence him to 14 years of imprisonment in a high-security jail," the judge said. Berg's lawyer Ilya Novikov told Sputnik that the sentenced Norwegian citizen would not appeal against the judgment because that would postpone an opportunity to file a petition for pardon. "For pragmatic reasons, Berg does not see any sense in appeal as it would postpone the moment when he can ask for pardon. We will not appeal against this verdict. Ten days later when the verdict will be translated and Berg will familiarize himself with it, it will enter into force," Novikov stressed. Berg, a retired Norwegian border agent, was arrested in Moscow in December while receiving secret information from a Russian citizen who worked at a defence company and acted under the Federal Security Service's supervision. Berg, 63, is charged with having collected data about Russian nuclear submarines on the instruction of the Norwegian intelligence service. The Russian authorities believe that he served as a courier to bring documents and cash for Norway's military intelligence unit known as E-tjenesten. Berg denies the accusation, while Novikov believes that that the man was most likely used as an "unwitting agent." Norway has said it will continue to defend the interests of its national. "We have taken note of the verdict. The Norwegian authorities will continue to protect the interests of Frode Berg in the best possible way," Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address April 15, 2019 Transcript Press Operations Department Of Defense Off-Camera Press Briefing by Acting Assistant to The Secretary Of Defense Summers and Deputy Undersecretary Of Defense Kurta Charles E. Summers Jr., Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs; Anthony Kurta, performing the duties of Deputy Undersecretary Of Defense, Personnel And Readiness ACTING ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES SUMMERS: Good morning. Yeah, it's still the morning. I want to start off with just a couple of things. First, I want to offer our condolences to the family members of the three Marines that were killed in Afghanistan this week. They gave, obviously, the ultimate sacrifice. And our thoughts and prayers are with their families As part of our ongoing effort to provide access to senior leaders to you all, I've got Dr. Tony Kurta with us here today. He's going to discuss the part -- the department's updates on the transgender policy which take effect today, I believe. And once he is finished with his presentation and your questions, then I'll have some time for questions, as well. But I do want to mention that Jeff Schogol speaks amazing German. I just -- (Laughter.) I just heard him in the bilat upstairs, and I'm very impressed. All right, Tony? (CROSSTALK) ANTHONY KURTA, PERFORMING THE DUTIES OF DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE, PERSONNEL AND READINESS: Well, thank you. One -- one quick correction, for the record -- not a doctor. Thank you. And so -- Ph.D. or medical, either. I just (inaudible). But, hey, thank you, everybody, for having me here today. Thanks to Mr. Summers for sharing some of his time. As he mentioned, the department's policy on military service by transgender persons and persons with gender dysphoria goes into effect today. We have ensured that all of those most immediately affected -- which is, kind of, you know, recruiters, medical providers, commanders, applicant service members -- have the information they need about this policy. So we said it goes into effect today, so what happens today? First, anybody currently serving who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria or anyone who is under contract to asses for the military with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is grandfathered, and they remain under the 2016 policy for the remainder of their careers. For those who want to join the military, a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is presumptively disqualifying under the new policy, just as it is and was under the 2016 policy, absent a waiver. However, there are recognized exceptions. The applicant must demonstrate stability in their biological sex for 36 months and be able to meet all applicable standards, to include those associated with their biological sex. For those who are currently serving, future diagnoses of gender dysphoria will be dealt with on an individual basis. So if the service member can continue to meet all standards, including deployability standards and all those associated with their biological sex, then the service member can continue to serve without waiver. For those who require gender transition to treat their -- their gender dysphoria and cannot or will not meet all standards, including those associated with their biological sex, they will be referred to the disability evaluation system. And then lastly, I'd just like to emphasize two key points. The department will continue to treat all individuals with dignity and respect, and every service member is able to express their gender identity. DOD will take no action solely based on gender identity. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions that you may have. Q: Tom Vanden Brook with USA Today. So if -- under this 2016 policy, if the service member came -- decided that they identified as a female soldier, for instance, would they be required now -- and they wore a female uniform, are they required now to wear a male uniform because that was their biological sex? MR. KURTA: So I'm not -- so you're saying under the 2016 policy or the 20 -- under the new policy? Q: If -- if they came -- if they expressed their gender under the 2016 policy. MR. KURTA: So, again, anybody that was serving and had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria -- so under the scenario that you raise, it kind of seems like the service member probably had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and changed their gender. They are grandfathered under the current policy, and they remain for the remainder of their careers under the old policy. Which, in that case, if they had changed their gender marker and are living in their preferred identity, preferred gender, they can continue to do so for the remainder of their career. Q: So somebody who tomorrow is feeling bad, a service member. They walk in, they see a medical provider. The medical provider says, "You have gender dysphoria." Can you describe the various scenarios that could occur from that point on? And in which case would it eventually go to discharge? MR. KURTA: So you're talking somebody currently serving? (CROSSTALK) MR. KURTA: Somebody currently serving. So I would just -- you know, start out by saying, gender dysphoria is a very complicated condition. Everybody's, you know, medical treatment is different. We treat them as individuals. And as I said, it can be -- can be very complex. But it would go, essentially, as this. They go to their medical provider. The medical provider says, "You have a case of gender dysphoria." Diagnosed with that. By its very definition, that means there's clinically significant distress that impairs somebody in their social, work or other important areas of their life. So medical providers then provide treatment. We provide all necessary treatment to our -- to those in uniform. Very often, the first step of treatment is behavioral health counseling. That would continue as it is in all cases. If with some counseling, the individual says, "Well, I can continue to serve and meet all standards -- deployability standards -- and continue to serve in my biological sex," then nothing happens. They just continue whatever treatment they need, you know. The behavior health treatment. And they can continue to serve. If the military medical provider determines that that individual requires gender transition in order to treat their specific case of gender dysphoria, which would, you know, usually include some cross-sex hormone therapy treatment, maybe some surgical treatment, then they would be referred to the disability evaluation system. And so, that looks, then, at a person's, you know, entire medical history and current medical condition. And if they're eligible for disability, they'd either be, you know -- they could be medically retired, medically discharged, however that goes. And in some cases, they could also be processed for administrative discharge for not being able to meet all applicable standards, if they didn't meet any of the eligibility requirements for the -- for the disability evaluation system. Q: Is there anything in this new policy that precludes the people who are grandfathered from re-enlisting or extending their contract? MR. KURTA: No. Q: So if they're grandfathered, they can still re-enlist, they can still stay in the military? MR. KURTA: Yes. Q: Okay. Q: (inaudible). What precipitated the policy change? MR. KURTA: So, when Secretary Mattis came into office, he was approached by the -- by the service leadership, because we were getting ready to -- under the 2016 or Carter Policy, we were getting close to starting the accessions of transgender individuals. The service leaders expressed some readiness reservations to the secretary, and he said, "Therefore, I will take a look at the policy." And he ordered a review of that policy, later to include impaneling the panel of experts. And then that panel made a recommendation to the secretary. He took that on board, gave it -- his best military advice to the president. The president approved that recommendation and told him to go ahead and implement the policy. Q: I -- what -- can you describe some of the readiness issues that the service chiefs had, that they brought to Secretary Mattis? And then just to clarify, that occurred after the president tweeted about the policy or that occurred prior to the president -- MR. KURTA: That occurred prior. That -- that -- Q: -- tweet in July of 2017? MR. KURTA: They brought their concerns to the secretary shortly after he came to office. And so I can't speak for what they told to the secretary or what their readiness concerns were, but they were such that the secretary said, "We need to take a look at this." And in fact, even under the 2016 policy, we knew that the -- you know, the medicine of -- the medical aspects of this are complicated and changing very quickly over time. So even though we review our accession standards usually every four years, we said, "We're going to do it every two years because things are changing." And so it was almost -- almost time to do that anyway. But the secretary said, "Let's take a look at this." And what we didn't have under the 2016 policy was any data about what was happening to transgender service members or those with gender dysphoria in the military. We just didn't have any history or any data. So he said, "Conduct a review. Look at how we are treating soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines with gender dysphoria. What -- you know, how they're being, you know, employed in their units." Just basically, "Take data that we didn't have the first time. Look at all of that and give me a recommendation anew." And all that was -- was prior to the -- to the tweet. Q: Do you feel that this policy can lead to discrimination of transgender service members by their peers and leaders who could see this policy as some indication that they shouldn't be allowed to serve? MR. KURTA: I don't. I think you'll see in the -- in the memorandum that was signed by -- by Secretary Norquist, it, kind of, started off by emphasizing our core values, that all people will be treated with dignity and respect, and that we're not going to deny re-enlistment, deny accession or otherwise take action against any service member based solely on gender identity. Q: Is there any type of training that is being or was done before this policy, for leaders and service members, was being implemented? MR. KURTA: So we're relying on much of the same training that we did prior to the implementation of the 2016 policy, where all the services went and -- and conducted training for all of the service members on emphasizing those core values, which haven't changed whether it's under the 2016 policy or the 2018 policy. And we've also conducted additional training prior to today by all the services, to ensure that they understand the new policy and the emphasis on treating everybody with dignity and respect. Q: Courtney Kube with NBC News. Can you just run through some of the numbers? Like, there's a lot of confusion about exactly how many people this might impact who are currently in or who are -- have -- are on contract but haven't actually accessed in yet. MR. KURTA: Yes. So the numbers are a difficult issue because we don't track transgender status, (inaudible), right? It's something that people self-identify. So we don't -- we don't ask people. So if you say, "How many are there?" The answer is generally we don't -- we don't know. We did, however, conduct one survey in 2016, a Workplace and Gender Relations Survey, which is a normal survey that we conduct every two years. And there was a question on it of, you know, "Do you identify yourself as a transgender service member?" And the results of that were, in the active force, just shy of 9,000 people consider themselves transgender individuals, who are apparently serving. Okay. So that's, you know, a data point. We do know how many people are diagnosed with gender dysphoria because that's a recognized medical condition, and when they go and get diagnosed with it, it goes in their record. So since the 2016 policy began, we have a little over 1,400 individuals who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. And so that -- that really tells us. And those 1,400 are in various stages of -- of their treatment, changing genders, going through all of that -- all of that process. Q: Do you also know -- if you have any numbers on how many of active duty have gone through or are going through reassignment surgery? MR. KURTA: It's -- I will get you that number but it's a very small number. I believe it's less than 10, but we can get back to you with the exact number. Q: And just one quick thing on that. Are those numbers as of now, sort of, as of the beginning of -- (CROSSTALK) MR. KURTA: Yeah. The very low numbers are within -- within the last month or so. But we'll get that number. Q: And the -- that 1,400 is roughly as of now? MR. KURTA: Yes. So that was -- those -- that number was current, I think, as of February. So 1,400 since the process started. Many of those have left the service, so I think there's currently just over a thousand who are currently in service that we know of, in the active force, who are -- have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Q: And one other quick thing. There were some concerns expressed by some of the services about whether or not they were going to be ready with -- you know, to have all of their recruiters and everyone trained by today. Do you know, are they ready by today to have all the recruiters and everyone necessary trained up? Or is there going to be, sort of, a little kind of transition period here? MR. KURTA: Well, all of the services have indicated formally to us that they are ready to proceed today. That was one of -- obviously before we implement policy, we ensure that they -- that they are ready. As I said, we conducted some specific training for medical providers, for recruiters, for commanders, for service members. Each of the services did that over the course of the past, you know, 30 days or so. And then certified to us that they were ready, as of today, to implement the new policy. Sir? Q: Corey Dickstein with Stars and Stripes. I want to follow up on Elizabeth's question. Can you provide us any evidence right now that transgender service -- that individuals with gender dysphoria have negative impacts on unit cohesion, on readiness, on lethality? Because I don't think you guys have spelled that out in public to us. MR. KURTA: Well, as -- as you know, the department is currently under litigation for -- for this. But I will -- I will say this. I can describe the process by which we came to this conclusion. And the panel of experts, which, you know, consisted of very senior uniformed military personnel, both officer and enlisted, and senior civilian personnel in the department, picked for their, you know, experience and -- combat experience. Talked with civilian medical providers, military medical providers. Talked with transgender service members currently serving. And also talked with the commanders of those transgender service members. Unlike the -- the working group that came up with the 2016 policy, we also had access to our own medical data of -- of those who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria over the past 18 months or so. Having looked at all of that data, tasked by the secretary with using their best individual military judgment, the panel made a recommendation for the policy as you see it today, to the secretary. He gave it an independent scrub himself. Obviously he had -- has, you know, great experience in the military. And he made an independent military judgment, based on that and, you know, his own experience. Made the recommendation to the president. The president approved it. And that's the policy we're implementing today. Q: So you're saying, point blank, this is a military decision that is not a political decision made by the president and forced on this building? MR. KURTA: I just described to you the exact sequence of events and the policy procedure by which we came to this conclusion. STAFF: One more. Q: Oriana Pawlyk, Military.com. You say that medical treatments are different for everyone but the first step in the process for some folks with gender dysphoria is behavioral counseling. Is the Defense Department running these counseling sessions? And are counselors in any way trying to discourage individuals from transitioning to meet your readiness goals? MR. KURTA: So, I'm not quite sure the thrust of the question. But I'd say generally, the first step is, you go to your military medical provider, who's usually a primary care manager, and you describe the symptoms that might be diagnosed as gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is -- is according to the, you know, the DSM-5, is a mental condition. So if you describe -- again, I'm not a doctor, but if you describe symptoms that would lead somebody to diagnosing you with a mental condition, the first step, normally, is to refer them to a behavioral health counselor. So I -- I don't know of any reason -- we encourage everybody to seek military medical care if they have issues that affect their -- their service. We expect all our service members to -- to consult the military medical family if they -- if they have issues. And whether that's behavioral health counselors or no matter who it is, that's an individual responsibility of all our service members, and our collective responsibility to provide that care to all service members. And we do that. Q: Are you -- are counselors, perhaps, saying, you know, to individuals, "Don't transition because this might affect your deployability status"? MR. KURTA: Well, I don't know. The policy's been effective now for, you know, just -- just a few hours. We have not had any evidence of -- of counselors saying that to anybody. I think it is incumbent -- what we have told people is, under the new system, if somebody comes and is diagnosed with gender dysphoria, we do need to lay out to them what the consequences of some of that treatment are, right? If they require gender transition in order to treat that, there is -- you know, under the normal course of things, they would be referred to the disability evaluation system, absent a waiver. So that is the policy. Q: Thank you (inaudible). Are there -- STAFF: Kristina for the last one. Because -- MR. KURTA: Okay. Q: Are there any plans to review this policy once it's been enacted for a while? MR. KURTA: Two years. Q: Okay. Q: I wanted to -- just one thing you (inaudible) my question. So if someone is -- if someone comes in that's already serving but they haven't been diagnosed and then they're diagnosed, they automatically get referred to the disability board even if they have not opted for reassignment? Did I misunderstand that? MR. KURTA: No, no. So I -- I go back to the -- you know, the way I originally explained it. If the gender -- if the treatment for gender dysphoria requires gender transition, then it could be referred to the disability evaluation system. If they -- if -- if just through behavioral counseling it is determined that they continue to meet all standards, to include -- include those associated with their biological sex, then no waiver, nothing further, they continue to serve. Q: Okay, so it's not an automatic review to the -- referral to the disability board. MR. KURTA: Yes. Depends on their -- on their treatment and their individual case. Q: Because there have been people who are in and out who are getting reassignment, but they haven't presented readiness concerns, right? They've still been deployable. So why is that, if you're already in and you're diagnosed? MR. KURTA: So, again, I would -- I would just go back to the -- to the process that I talked about at the beginning. We were told that -- that -- the panel was told to give their -- the best, you know, military and independent advice. And after talking with civilian medical providers, military medical providers, transgender service members and their commanders, and the data that -- that we had on the treatment of gender dysphoria over the last 18 months, that is the best considered advice of that panel of experts and the secretary, and agreed to by the president. MR. SUMMERS: Tony, thank you very much. MR. KURTA: Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: All right, now that we're switching over, I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone may have. (inaudible)? Q: (inaudible). Can I ask you to give us an update on the situation in Libya? There was a story today from the Wall Street Journal saying that the -- that Saudi Arabia has been backing General Haftar in his offensive. So can you give us just an update on, like, where things stand with -- what is DOD's, you know, what is DOD's policy on this? Have -- has DOD had any contact with the Saudis or General Haftar? MR. SUMMERS: Well, you know, our strategy for Libya includes military support to diplomacy and counter-terrorism. And as part of that, U.S. military officials have accompanied delegations to meetings with Libya officials, and those meetings were in support of a diplomatic resolution to Libya's political situation. Q: Is that recent? Since this offensive? MR. SUMMERS: Yeah, I can't give you a -- a specific date, but we're -- you know, it's ongoing. Q: Have you -- has DOD spoken to the Saudis about the situation? MR. SUMMERS: I will have to take that for you. Q: Okay, thank you. Q: Tony Bertuca, Inside Defense. The department's awarded about a billion dollars in contracts now for the border barriers. It was initially going to do $2.5 billion. You were going to transfer the money into that 284 account. What's the timing to move the additional billion and a half into the account and get that under contract? MR. SUMMERS: Well, I can't get into timelines. I think you're talking about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded I think nearly a billion on April 9th, and that was to remove vehicle fencing and replace it with pedestrian fencing along the southwest -- southwest border in El Paso and Yuma, Arizona. And as far as a timeline on when that would be moved, I don't have it. Q: But you're still looking at -- the intention is another billion and a half transferred into that account so it can be put under contract for that purpose? MR. SUMMERS: Well, I -- I can't be that specific with you at this point, but as more of that -- Q: There was the intention, so if -- if it's changed, we -- MR. SUMMERS: I don't believe that anything has changed. Q: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: Yeah? Q: And the intention, then, to move from the counter-drug money into the 2808 funds, is that something that (inaudible)? MR. SUMMERS: Well, the -- the 2808 funds, no decisions have been made on the 20 -- 2808 funds. But as those come -- as those decisions are made, we'll certainly let you know. Q: Could you talk about the status of the consideration of 2808 funds? Where are you at right now? And what needs to happen before you get to that point? MR. SUMMERS: Well, it's -- they're trying to work through that as -- as quickly as possible, but I don't have a timeline for you. Although if -- you know, I would imagine that you would see it sooner than later. STAFF: Ryan? Q: Just to follow up on that, sir, one on the contracts -- the awarding of the contracts. Are those being challenged, to your knowledge, by any other construction firms that could cause its execution to be delayed? And then additionally, on the border just more generally, is the military willing to do detention operations on the southern border? MR. SUMMERS: As -- as far as the military -- military doing anything like that, we are in support of DHS, and DHS has the lead role in -- in terms of -- of police operations down there. So we have no plans. Q: And then, have -- are you aware that the contract award's being challenged? MR. SUMMERS: I am not. Q: Okay. Q: Could I follow up on that? MR. SUMMERS: Yeah. Q: Can the military legally, without violating posse comitatus, actually engage in detention facility management? MR. SUMMERS: Well, as -- as you know, in the past, we have provided facilities for something like that. But we have never engaged in that, and I -- I don't know that we have any plans to do anything like that. Q: Right, which is what you said. But can DOD legally do that without getting -- MR. SUMMERS: I would -- I would have to take that for you. And I'd be happy to because I just want to make sure that you have the right information. Q: I think we'd all appreciate a real clear understanding of where the line is. And I think there's some legal lines here, and I think we'd really like to -- MR. SUMMERS: All right, I'll get with Tom after this and we'll make sure that -- that you have that. Phil? Q: (inaudible) you said that the Pentagon in the past has built detention facilities for migrants? MR. SUMMERS: Built? No, no. We -- we've provided facilities for HHS, not -- not necessarily, you know -- and that's what I was referring to, is HHS. Nancy? Q: Hi. Two questions. The other day President Trump tweeted something about the military would be able to be more rough on the -- along the border if it weren't for laws that were preventing it from doing so. Does the Pentagon believe -- do you find that they were unduly constrained by some unidentified law by being more rough on the border? Does the Pentagon believe that it could be doing other -- that would -- would be unduly constrained along the border from doing what they should be doing? And secondly, I know you guys can't comment on pending legislation, but has the Pentagon started discussions of any kind with the Saudi-led coalition as to what it will do in the instance that President Trump does not veto the War Powers resolution and the military support is cut off to the coalition in Yemen? MR. SUMMERS: That was fairly long. Q: Sorry. MR. SUMMERS: (inaudible) But the first of your question was -- Q: The first part was, do you guys agree with what -- what -- the sentiments that President Trump was expressing in his tweet, which is that the military was unduly constrained by laws about, you know, being more rough along the border (inaudible)? MR. SUMMERS: I would encourage you to talk with the White House, you know, regarding the president's -- Q: Does the Pentagon have that -- like, shares that assessment. MR. SUMMERS: I'm sorry? Q: I'm asking if the Pentagon shares that assessment. MR. SUMMERS: We -- we are -- are in support of direction by the commander in chief and that's simply -- that's our role. Q: Okay. And then the second question is are you guys in discussions, have you initiated discussions with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen as to what will occur if the legislation -- the War Powers legislation that had been passed by both houses of Congress goes into effect, cutting off all remaining assistance to the coalition? MR. SUMMERS: At -- at this time I don't have any updates for you on that, Missy). But I would be happy to take that and get back to you on it. Q: Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: Go on. Q: I want to ask you three to five questions. Has the Japanese government or Japanese military asked the Pentagon to expand the search-and-rescue technology assistance, find the downed jet? MR. SUMMERS: I -- I'm not aware of that. Q: Okay. Turkey, is there any other move planned by the Pentagon to ratchet up pressure on Turkey, in light of the -- their -- apparently, they're going to go ahead with the sale -- they're going to go ahead with the S-400 purchase. Is there any plans to ratchet up pressure beyond manuals and equipment? MR. SUMMERS: Well, I -- you know, I think the important thing to keep in mind is Turkey's a valuable NATO ally, has been a longtime ally, and we are in active discussions with them to get beyond the issue of the S-400. And -- and we will continue to do so and work in a constructive way to try and get beyond this process. We've been longtime allies and friends and we are working to get beyond that. Q: Is there more action planned, though? In terms of ratcheting up pressure, though, in terms of other -- MR. SUMMERS: I don't have anything for you -- Q: (Off mic) Okay, sure. Thanks. MR. SUMMERS: -- in that regard. Yes? Q: Charlie, is there any update as far as any decisions regarding the continuation of military support exercises, foreign military sales, et cetera, to the -- the three countries -- the Northern Triangle countries in Central, South America that have been sanctioned by the White House? MR. SUMMERS: I -- I only heard about the -- I apologize. I guess I'm getting old. Q: Has there been any decision by the Pentagon as far as what will happen with military assistance to the three countries, the Northern Triangle countries? MR. SUMMERS: No. There has not been any decision. Yes? I feel like I should stand. It's -- it's a little -- Q: The next -- (CROSSTALK) MR. SUMMERS: So I hear you. Go ahead. Q: The next U.S. -- the next U.S.-Japan 2+2 security dialogue is happening next week. Is there anything you can share about what they'll be discussing? MR. SUMMERS: I can't -- no, I don't have anything to share on that. Q: Can I do a lightning round of follow-up? MR. SUMMERS: Absolutely. I've been waiting for this. Q: Okay. Sudan, any request for U.S. military assistance to help move the Iraqis out? MR. SUMMERS: I've have -- Q: Now that they've -- they've ordered departure of non-essential whatever? MR. SUMMERS: I have nothing for that. Q: Did we ever get a copy of the Norquist memo that Anthony Kurta referenced on implementation of transgender? Is that something we could get, if not? MR. SUMMERS: I -- let's -- let's take that. And I'd -- I'd be happy to see if I can get that for you. Q: On Libya, is there any -- have any U.S. military troops, are you aware that they've moved back in or are they still out after (inaudible)? MR. SUMMERS: Again, we're -- we're there to -- to help with the diplomatic solution on that. And -- (CROSSTALK) Q: On the ground in Libya? Q: You are there? MR. SUMMERS: No, no, no. No, no, I'm sorry. Let me be clear. We're -- we're -- any support that we would add would be in support of the diplomatic solution. Q: And then can you just update us, have U.S. troops begun the withdrawal from Syria? MR. SUMMERS: As you know, we are -- we are working to meet the president's direction on that. And -- but we will -- will leave a residual force to ensure that ISIS cannot regenerate itself. Q: How large of a residual force? MR. SUMMERS: I can't get into numbers. Q: But the withdrawal has begun, right? Is that fair to say? MR. SUMMERS: We're working to meet the president's direction, yes. Q: That -- that -- does "working to meet the president's direction" mean the withdrawal has begun? Is that what you're saying? MR. SUMMERS: Yes. Q: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: Okay. Melissa? Q: Two quick ones. What is your message to transgender service members who may have some sort of anxiety about today's implementation of the policy? MR. SUMMERS: What is our -- I think -- (CROSSTALK) Q: What is your message to active, you know, currently serving transgender service members who may have some anxiety or fear around the implementation of today's policy? MR. SUMMERS: Well, I think I can sort of echo what Tony Kurta mentioned. That we're working to get full information out to every individual who may have an issue in that regard. And -- and they will have the full support of the military community. Q: And then, could we possibly do this next time on camera? MR. SUMMERS: I would -- I would love to. And -- and -- Q: Or is there a reason we didn't do today on camera? MR. SUMMERS: No. No. Q: No? Okay. MR. SUMMERS: No. Q: With the influx of migrants at the border in recent weeks, has the Pentagon taken in any migrant families or children at any of its bases? And if so, which ones? MR. SUMMERS: I would have to take that for you but I do not believe that is the case. Yes, sir? Q: Chris Kelly, Associated Newspaper. Regarding the downed F-35, does the Pentagon have any independent plans to investigate and is there any cause for concern about the F-35 in general? MR. SUMMERS: I would have to take that question for you. I'd be happy to try to get it answered. Last question? Q: Just a follow-up on that. Has the Pentagon seen any indication that (inaudible) Chinese ships or submarines have -- have moved into the area around where the F-35 went down to try to -- to scoop up some of the pieces? MR. SUMMERS: I don't have anything for you. Okay, Phil. Q: Could you bring us up to date about Russian activities in Venezuela? MR. SUMMERS: Up to date on Russian activities in Venezuela? Q: Yes, military activities. There's been recent deployment of Russian troops in Venezuela. MR. SUMMERS: It's -- I don't have any other updates other than what we've shared in the past. We have seen some movement but that's it. Q: Any in recent days? MR. SUMMERS: No. (Inaudible). Q: Is there -- is there any update on the Niger review? MR. SUMMERS: As you know, the secretary has asked for a review on that and it's currently underway. And as soon as we have something, I'll be happy to share it with you. Q: But Charlie, just on the -- is (inaudible)-- did he give -- did he at least set -- usually they set -- okay, I'd like something back in 30 days, 60 days or whatever. What did he say in regard to how long he -- when he expects a report back on this? MR. SUMMERS: Well, I mean, he's asked for it as -- as soon as it is possible. But it -- but it -- obviously he wants to ensure that that is done correctly. And with the thoughts of -- the concerns of the families in mind and make sure that we have a full accounting. And we hope to have that back as soon as possible. Q: But he didn't set a -- MR. SUMMERS: No. Q: -- timeframe at all? MR. SUMMERS: Not to my knowledge, no. All right. Thank you all very much. Q: Thank you. https://dod.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1814592/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Ross en Route to Black Sea Navy News Service Story Number: NNS190415-16 Release Date: 4/15/2019 12:33:00 PM By Ensign Drake Davis, USS Ross (DDG 71) Public Affairs DARDANELLES STRAIT (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) began its north-bound transit of the Dardanelles Strait, en route to the Black Sea April 14 to conduct maritime security operations and enhance regional maritime stability, combined readiness and naval capability with NATO allies and partners in the region. This is the fourth U.S. ship to visit the Black Sea since the beginning of 2019. The last ship to visit the Black Sea was USS Donald Cook (DDG 64) in February. "Our allies in the Black Sea continue to play a key role in maintaining security in the European theater," Cmdr. Dave Coles, commanding officer of Ross, said. "The crew and I look forward to enhancing our interoperability in a dynamic environment as well as experiencing the rich history and culture in this region." The ship's operations in the Black Sea will strengthen interoperability with NATO allies and partners and demonstrate collective resolve to Black Sea security under Operation Atlantic Resolve. The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea consistent with international law, as well as with the Montreux Convention. Ross, forward-deployed at Naval Station Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo: The Canadian Press Terry Gou , chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., also known as Foxconn, delivers a speech during the company's annual carnival for employees in Taipei, Taiwan. The head of Foxconn Technology Group is planning to step away from day-to-day operations at the world's largest electronics provider and said Tuesday that he is mulling a run for president of Taiwan. Terry Gou said he would make a decision "in a day or two" on a possible presidential bid, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. He said that if he decided to run, he would take part in the opposition Nationalist Party primary rather than mount an independent bid. The Nationalists favour closer ties with Beijing, a policy that accords with Gou's massive business interests in China. Any candidate is expected to face a crowded field in the 2020 polls, in which President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party says she will seek a second four-year term. Gou told reporters Monday at an event in Taipei that he would step back from daily operations at Foxconn. He said he wants to work on a book about his management philosophy honed over 45 years and prepare a younger generation to eventually take over operations at the company. Foxconn counts Apple, Google and Amazon as customers and has said it will build a manufacturing facility in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. "The major direction of the company will still be guided by me. But I will gradually step back from the front-line operations," the 69-year-old Gou said. "I feel that I should tone down my personal influence ... let young people learn sooner in order to take my position as soon as possible so that I can have more free time to work on long-term planning for the company's future." Foxconn announced in 2017, to much fanfare, that it planned to invest $10 billion in Wisconsin and hire 13,000 people to build an LCD factory that could make screens for televisions and a variety of other devices. The company said last year that it was reducing the scale of what was to be made in Wisconsin, from what is known as a Gen 10 factory to Gen 6. Those plans now appear to be in flux, although the company says its Wisconsin campus will house both an advanced manufacturing facility and a centre of "technology innovation for the region." Foxconn earlier this year cited a changing global market as requiring a move away from making LCD panels in Wisconsin. Apple is Foxconn's main manufacturing customer and it has forecast a drop in revenue from the Chinese market due to decreasing demand for iPhones. U.S. Coast Guard Leads PP19 SAR Training Navy News Service Story Number: NNS190415-12 Release Date: 4/15/2019 10:31:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyrell K. Morris, Pacific Partnership Public Affairs MAJURO, Republic of the Marshall Islands (NNS) -- Pacific Partnership 2019 and Republic of the Marshall Islands government officials began a search and rescue exercise (SAREX), March 20. The three-day exercise began with a planning meeting that was hosted by Coastguardsmen from the U.S. Coast Guard 14th District. District 14 covers the Coast Guard's largest area of responsibility which stretches from the Hawaiian Islands and across most of the Central and Western Pacific, to include the Republic of the Marshall Islands. "We have a close working relationship with the Marshall Islands and this planning meeting is a great opportunity for us to discuss any concerns and streamline our procedures to minimize casualties and maximize our ability to provide rescue assistance," said U.S. Coast Guard 14th District Joint Rescue Coordination Center Chief Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Cooper. Pacific Partnership acknowledges the complexity of disaster response operations and the leading part civilian organizations have. The mission provides a platform to deepen understanding and awareness of the military contribution and enhances key relationship with civilian partners. Servicemembers from the U.S. Navy, Royal Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army along with Marshallese government officials from the Marshall Islands National Disaster Management Office, sea patrol and police department attended the planning meeting. A recent vessel grounding incident within the Marshall Islands prompted the meeting and was an opportunity for partner nations to conduct a knowledge exchange, cover lessons learned, and go over details for the upcoming field training exercise. "It is important when working with partner nations and several different government organizations that everyone is speaking the same language and adhering to similar policies and procedures to ensure mission capability and sustainability," said Royal Navy Capt. Paddy Allen, Pacific Partnership 2019 director of mission. Pacific Partnership aims to enhance host nation capability, build regional relationships and exercise a collective ability to respond to all hazards. The U.S. Coast Guard will be leading the two day SAREX field training exercise in the Marshall Islands working with Marshallese sea patrol and local police to evaluate casualty response to a simulated distress incident. The exercise aims to enhance the command, leadership and incident management capacity of local government agencies involved in disaster management and SAR operations, and allow partner nations the opportunity to integrate their skills sets as required. The impact of disaster emergencies transcends borders and requires comprehensive preparation and coordination among nations for effective disaster response. Pacific Partnership, now in its 14th iteration, is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. Each year, the mission team works collectively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase stability and security in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Abraham Lincoln Visits Palma de Mallorca Navy News Service Story Number: NNS190415-09 Release Date: 4/15/2019 10:29:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Public Affairs MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) arrived in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, as part of a scheduled port visit, April 15. The visit marks the first liberty port call for Abraham Lincoln Sailors since departing Norfolk, April 1, and the first visit of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in Palma de Mallorca since the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) arrived in 2014. "I am looking forward to pulling into Palma because this is the first port for Abraham Lincoln in about seven years," Capt. Putnam H. Browne, commanding officer of Abraham Lincoln, said. "It will be a nice time for all Sailors, especially those who have never pulled into port before. I am excited to experience Palma with them and engage with our Spanish navy partners. We're so grateful to the city for hosting us here." "I am excited to continue working alongside our Spanish allies and experience more of their culture while in Palma," said Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician 3rd Class John Garnett, a Sailor attached to Abraham Lincoln. While in Palma de Mallorca, Sailors will volunteer at a local food bank and participate in sporting competitions with troops from the Spanish army. Sailors will also immerse themselves in Spanish culture by taking tours of the region and experiencing local scenery and establishments. Abraham Lincoln is deployed as part of an ongoing rotation of forward-deployed forces in support of maritime security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th, U.S. 6th and U.S. 7th Fleet areas of operation. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group 12, Destroyer Squadron 2, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7; as well as Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez (F 104). Abraham Lincoln departed its homeport earlier this month to support maritime security operations along with other coalition maritime forces and is scheduled to travel around the world to execute a homeport ship from Norfolk to San Diego. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address African Union to suspend Sudan if military fails to hand power to civilians Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:00PM The African Union has threatened to suspend Sudan's membership unless the military council that has swept power in the country hands it over to civilians. On Monday, the pan-African body called the council's recent ousting of the government of decades-long President Omar al-Bashir a "coup." The overthrow last week came following five months of thousands-strong protests by a public weary of poverty and the central government's policies. The AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC) said in a statement that if the junta fails to hand power to civilians within 15 days, the AU will suspend "the participation of the Sudan in all AU's activities until the restoration of constitutional order." "A military-led transition would be completely contrary to the aspirations of the people of Sudan," it added. The protesters have stayed on the streets, likewise demanding a power transition. The military has, meanwhile, been reported trying to disperse a gigantic sit-in staged in support of the public's demands by surrounding the protesters and removing some of the barricades they have set up. Also on Monday, Mohamed Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has been leading the protests, repeated the demand that the military council be scrapped. "We want the military council to be dissolved and be replaced by a civilian council having representatives of the army," he said. Protesters' representatives have given a 12-item list of demands to the council, which has so far withheld an official response to it. A day earlier, the council met with political parties, urging them to agree on an "independent figure" to be prime minister, AFP reported. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN: Parties to Yemen war agree on Hudaydah pullout Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 05:33PM Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters and Saudi Arabia's mercenaries loyal to the former government in Sana's have agreed to a detailed plan for the initial withdrawal of forces from the strategic Red Sea port city of Hudaydah, the UN special envoy for Yemen says. Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council on Monday that agreement for the first phase of withdrawals was reached after negotiations between the warring parties and Danish General Michael Lollesgaard, who heads the UN operation monitoring the ceasefire and a redeployment agreement reached in Sweden in December 2018. "Both parties have now accepted a detailed redeployment plan," Griffiths said via video conference from the Jordanian capital, Amman. He said he had received assurances from the leader of Ansarullah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, when they met in Sana'a last week that Houthi forces would support the deal. "Let us be clear that when, and I hope it is when and not if, these redeployments happen, they will be the first voluntary withdrawal of forces in this long conflict," Griffiths said. Elsewhere in his remarks, the UN official said he was laying the groundwork for broader negotiations on ending the deadly campaign led by the regime in Riyadh against Yemen. "We all need to see tangible progress in Hudaydah before moving to focus on the political solution." The UN announced a deal on a two-stage pullback from Hudaydah and its ports on February 17, but the redeployment failed to materialize on the ground. The redeployment of forces is a critical part of a truce reached during UN-mediated peace talks in Sweden. The Houthis have repeatedly complained that the Saudi-led coalition has been violating the ceasefire. UN diplomats earlier said the Houthis refused to pull away from Hudaydah ports as part of the first stage, citing fears that forces linked to the Saudis will move in to take over facilities there. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched the Hudaydah offensive in June 2018 but have been facing strong resistance from Yemeni armed forces, led by the Houthis, as well as the city's residents. Hudaydah, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the Saudi-led war, which Riyadh began in March 2015. The imposed war initially consisted of an aerial campaign but was later compounded by a naval blockade and the deployment of mercenaries to Yemen. Yemen is going through the worst humanitarian crisis since 2015. Efforts to crush Houthis and reinstate Riyadh ally and former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have so far failed, forcing Saudi Arabia to push for peace with the Yemeni resistance movement and its allies in the army. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi, UAE massively using French weaponry in Yemen war: Classified note Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 03:45PM A classified document of the French government has revealed that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate (UAE) are massively using French-made weaponry in the Saudi-led war on impoverished Yemen, a disturbing fact that contradicts public statements from Paris. The new investigative media outlet, Disclose, published a report on Monday, containing a classified note from the French military intelligence service (DRM). 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 former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. The Houthi fighters have been playing a significant role in aiding the Yemeni army in defending the impoverished country against the invading coalition since the onset of the bloody war, which according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, has so far claimed the lives of about 56,000 Yemenis. France, the third-biggest arms exporter in the world, is a large provider of various kinds of weapons to the Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The French government has so far resisted pressure from rights groups to stop the lucrative arms trade with the two Persian Gulf countries, denying that the weapons were being used against the Yemenis. The Disclose report, however, said according to the DRM note, which was provided to the government in October 2018, 48 CAESAR artillery guns, manufactured by the Nexter group, were being used along the Saudi-Yemen border by the Saudi-led coalition. Nexter Systems is a French state-owned manufacturer of weapons, based in Roanne, Loire. The document, containing lists of French-manufactured tanks, armored vehicles, fighter jets, helicopters, howitzers, ammunition and radar systems sold to both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, also revealed that Leclerc tanks, a main battle tank built by the Nexter and Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets sold in the 1990s to the UAE, have been used in the imposed war against Yemen. The classified note assessed that French missile-guiding technology called DAMOCLES might have been deployed there. It also said that Cougar transport helicopters and the A330 MRTT refueling plane have been used in action, and two French ships are serving in the blockade of Yemeni ports which has led to food and medical shortages, the DRM military intelligence agency concluded. The DRM document concluded that Cougar transport helicopters and the A330 MRTT refueling plane have been seen in action, and two French ships are serving in the crippling blockade of Yemeni ports which has led to unprecedented food and medical shortages in impoverished Yemen. The classified note also contains a map estimating that over 430,000 Yemenis live within the range of French artillery weapons on the Saudi-Yemeni border. It further estimated that French weapons have resulted in civilian casualties. It also referred to a contract signed in December last year between Saudi Arabia and the Nexter Systems to deliver new armored vehicles between 2019 and 2024. Two months earlier, French Armed Forces Minister Francoise Parly assured there were no negotiations for new weapons deals with Riyadh in the works. Furthermore, Parly said during an interview on the France Inter radio station in January that she was "not aware that any (French) arms are being used in this conflict." France, the United States, Britain and other Western countries have faced criticism over arms sales to the Saudi regime and its partners over consequences for a war that has affected 28 million Yemenis and caused what the United Nations calls "one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world." 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 Sudanese protest group reports army attempt to break up sit-in in Khartoum Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:15AM Sudan's main protest group says an attempt has been underway by army forces to break up a sit-in outside the Defense Ministry compound in Khartoum, calling on people to join the demonstrators there and help them block that attempt. The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) made the call on Monday, after Sudanese troops gathered on three sides of the sit-in, while tractors were preparing to remove stone and metal barricades set by the protesters there. In response, the protesters joined hands and formed rings around the sit-in area to prevent the forces from breaking up the sit-in. The protesters, numbering about 5,000 with more arriving, chanted "Freedom, freedom" and "Revolution, revolution," and appealed to the army to protect them. In a statement published on its social media pages, the SPA said, "We hope that everyone will head immediately to the areas of the sit-in to protect your revolution and your accomplishments." The SPA also slammed the attempt to disperse the crowds as "an indication that the military council will not fulfill its commitment given to the people." The sit-in outside the Defense Ministry compound, which also hosts the intelligence headquarters and the presidential residence, began on April 6, after a brief pause in more than three months of protests triggered by a deepening economic crisis blamed on long-time President Omar al-Bashir. On Thursday, Sudan's military toppled and then arrested Bashir, putting an end to his nearly 30-year rule. It also formed a transitional military council to run the country. The protesters, however, have refused to leave the streets, calling for a quick transition to civilian rule after the ouster of Bashir. The SPA has called for the immediate handover of power to a civilian transitional government as well as the prosecution of former officials, among other demands on a list it submitted to the council on Saturday. Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdulrahman, who was sworn in as the head of Sudan's ruling junta on Friday, said that a civilian government would be established in the African country. Burhan said all those linked with al-Bashir's government will be brought to justice. "The transitional military council will be committed to establishing a civilian government based on the following: a transitional period lasting for a maximum of two years, in which during or at the end of it, governance of the country will be handed over to the civilian government formed by the people," Burhan said in a speech addressing the nation on Saturday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Study: Saudis look for way out of Yemen, Houthis invincible Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 09:40AM The International Crisis Group has urged the United States to help its ally, Saudi Arabia, to find a way out of its deadly war on Yemen that has left the kingdom sapped of resources and reputation. The group, which is committed to resolving conflicts, said in a study on Sunday that the Saudi-led coalition "needs to stop thinking about how to eke out some notional victory." The International Crisis Group added that the alliance should "instead commit itself wholly to finding a political exit, regardless of whether that means empowering the Houthis more than it is comfortable with in the short term." Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen on March 26, 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing Houthis. The ICG report comes after the US Congress voted to end Washington's support for Saudi Arabia's war against Yemen in response to persistent civilian casualties and widespread hunger in the improvised country as well as Saudi Arabia's killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the bill, but has not yet done so. The report called on the US to appoint a special envoy and freeze most of its arms exports to Saudi Arabia until the kingdom ends its military campaign against Yemen. "The US should lead the way by finding its own exit," the ICG said. According to the International Crisis Group, the conflict has left Saudi Arabia sapped of resources and reputation. "I think they see that they need to end it (but) they don't know how to end it," Robert Malley, the head of the organization, said of the Saudis. He stressed that the Saudis have failed to achieve their goals in Yemen. The Saudis keep thinking "a little more military power and the Houthis will crack and then we'll be able to end the war and Iran will be on its backfoot," he said. "But we have four years of evidence to disprove that." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy acknowledged the report's finding that the Saudis cannot win the fight against Houthis. "This is not a question of whether or not the coalition is going to defeat the Houthis; that question has been answered," Murphy said at a briefing on the report. "The Houthis are going to play a substantial and significant role in the future governance of Yemen, so it is a matter of deciding how the Saudis will live with that in a way that doesn't threaten their long-term security interests." According to a new 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 around 56,000 Yemenis. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump 'deal of century' to forgo Palestine statehood: US paper Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 09:25AM Sources familiar with US President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" have warned that it will be void of any guarantees for a separate, fully sovereign state of Palestine, the Washington Post reports. The unnamed sources told the paper that the proposal, which is expected to arrive soon, will only offer Palestinians some improvements in living conditions and nothing more. The White House is poised to drop the much-anticipated package later this spring or by early summer, culminating over two years of efforts by Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. With officials on all sides tight-lipped about the terms of the offer, remarks from Kushner and other US officials have suggested that it does away with Palestinian statehood as a per-requisite for any agreement. Instead, Trump's plan to purportedly end the decades-long conflict between Palestinians and Israelis more than anything focuses on Israel's security concerns, the report said. "We believe we have a plan that is fair, realistic and implementable that will enable people to live better lives," a senior White House official told the Post on Friday. "We looked at past efforts and solicited ideas from both sides and partners in the region with the recognition that what has been tried in the past has not worked. Thus, we have taken an unconventional approach founded on not hiding from reality, but instead speaking truth," added the official. According to a new report by US news and information website Axios, King Abdullah II of Jordan said in a closed-door meeting with American lawmakers last month that the White House had given him zero information on how it proposes to divide the Palestinian territory. According to the Post, the American head of state has told friends he would change traditional assumptions about ways to resolve the conflict. However, the outcome would look nothing like his unorthodox personal diplomacy with North Korea and would rather be the product of Kushner, who became Trump's designated agent for all Middle East peace deals at the beginning of his presidency in 2017. While with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump has tried to make peace through vague promises of economic growth and sanctions removal, Arab officials familiar with Kushner's sales pitches said he has offered no specific incentives to Palestinians. What Kushner has offered are suggestions about economic opportunities for Palestinians in exchange for Israeli annexation of the West Bank and all other disputed territories. Kushner and other US officials have indicated that peace and economic development for Palestine are intertwined with the Arab world's recognition of Israel and their acceptance of a Palestinian "autonomy" as opposed to a "sovereignty," sources said. "What we've tried to do is figure out what is a realistic and what is a fair solution to the issues here in 2019 that can enable people to live better lives," Kushner said in an interview with Sky News Arabia as he sought Arab support on a visit to the region in February. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave away the most substantial hints at the deal's contents when he promised on the eve of his re-election last week that he will annex some settlements in the West Bank. The package, according to the sources, is expected to pledge tens of billions of dollars in aid and investment in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the two areas with the most Palestinians, and billions more to Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab nations that have made peace with Israel. Kushner stands little chance of success, analysts say, as European and some Arab leaders have already lost faith in his attempts. A series of actions that Trump has taken in favor of Israel, including moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds after recognizing it as the Israeli regime's capital, have killed any hopes of a breakthrough. Trump has also stirred anger by cutting annual aid to Palestine and shuttering the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington. Those actions have alienated the Palestinian Authority, which has boycotted all negotiations with Washington. Kushner and former Trump lawyer Jason D. Greenblatt, who would be the lead US negotiator for talks, have pleaded with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the table and seal the deal. "To the PA: Our plan will greatly improve Palestinian lives & create something very different than what exists," Greenblatt wrote in a tweet last week. "It's a realistic plan to thrive/prosper even if it means compromises. It's not a 'sell out' if the plan isn't realistic, no one can deliver it." A chief adviser of Abbas said last week that while the Palestinian Authority viewed Americans as biased, they will not reject the Trump plan out of hand. Ilan Goldenberg, the chief of staff to the lead US negotiator in the last failed attempt under former US President Barack Obama, said he still expects the package to be a nonstarter that would pave the way for annexation by forcing the Palestinians to reject the offer. Former EU leaders reject no statehood deal On Sunday, 37 high-ranking ex-officials of the European Union published a call for the European Union to reaffirm its commitment to a Palestinian statehood and reject any deal that fails to account for it. "This cannot continue. For the Israelis, for the Palestinians or for us in Europe," the letter warned, adding that, "Failing to seize this opportunity, at a point in time when this order is unprecedentedly challenged, would have far-reaching negative consequences." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Top members of former Sudanese government arrested, sacked Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 02:27AM The transitional military council of Sudan has arrested or sacked senior members of the government of the ousted leader Omar al-Bashir, a spokesman said. The defense minister, Awad Ibn Auf, was removed from his role on Sunday, a few days after his resignation from heading the military council. Lt. Gen Abu Bakr Mustafa was also appointed as the new chief of Sudan's national intelligence and security service (NISS), replacing Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, known as Salah Gosh. Sudan's ambassadors to Washington and Geneva have also been dismissed, the spokesman said. The purges followed talks between the new military rulers and protest organizers who demand a civilian government. Thousands of protesters remained encamped outside Khartoum's army headquarters to keep up pressure on a military council that took power after ousting Bashir on Thursday. The protesters on Sunday demanded the country's military rulers "immediately" hand power over to a civilian government that should then bring al-Bashir to justice. Meanwhile, Sudan's foreign ministry on Sunday urged the international community to support the country's new military rulers in order to ease a "democratic transition". "The ministry of foreign affairs is looking forward to the international community to understand the situation and to support the transitional military council... in order to achieve the Sudanese goal of democratic transition," the ministry said in a statement. The military seized power from al-Bashir in a coup following months of mass protests across the country. First head of the military council, defense minister Ibn Auf, was forced to resign following massive protest rallies against his rule, and bestowed power to his deputy Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdulrahman. The protests against Bashir initially erupted on December 19, 2018, in the face of a government decision to triple the price of bread. The demonstrations quickly turned into a mass movement across the country against the president, and finally led to his ouster on Thursday. Bashir, 75, who ruled over 30 years, took power in a coup in 1989. He had said that he would only move aside for another army officer or at the ballot box. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Redacted Version Of Mueller's Russia Report To Be Released April 18 By RFE/RL April 15, 2019 The U.S. Justice Department says Attorney General William Barr plans to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on April 18. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said on April 15 that the report will be released to both Congress and the public. She said it will be released on the morning, without specifying a precise time. Democratic lawmakers have been pressuring Barr to release the nearly 400-page report in its entirety since March 24, when he summarized the findings in a four-page letter to Congress that was made public. Democrats have said that the summary is not enough and expressed concerns that Barr, recently appointed by Donald Trump, is attempting to cover up negative findings about the president. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Associated Press last week that she was "very concerned" about Barr's handling of the report. She also accused Barr of doing Trump's political bidding. "He is not the attorney general of Donald Trump. He is the attorney general of the United States," Pelosi said. "I don't trust Barr. I trust Mueller." Trump said on April 10 that the investigation into possible links between his campaign team and Russia was an "attempted coup," and "an attempted takedown of a president." In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 10, Barr said he thought U.S. intelligence agencies conducted "spying" operations against Trump's 2016 election campaign team. Barr did not present any evidence to support the spying accusation, which Trump previously made on several occasions. In later testimony, Barr appeared to backtrack from his statement, saying he wasn't certain that any wrongdoing had occurred. With reporting by Reuters, AP, Bloomberg Business News, and The New York Times Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/redacted- version-of-mueller-russia-report-to-be-released -april-18/29882327.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 Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with the Aga Khan on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The Federal Court has ordered the lobbying commissioner to take another look at whether the Aga Khan broke the rules by giving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a vacation in the Bahamas. In September 2017, then-commissioner Karen Shepherd said there was no basis to a complaint that the Aga Khan, a billionaire philanthropist, had violated the code for lobbyists by allowing Trudeau and his family to stay on his private island in the Caribbean. She found no evidence the Aga Khan was paid for his work as a director of a foundation registered to lobby the federal government, and therefore concluded the code did not apply to his interactions with Trudeau. Ottawa-based group Democracy Watch challenged the ruling in Federal Court. In its newly released decision, the court calls Shepherd's ruling unreasonable because it was a narrow, technical, and targeted analysis that lacked transparency. The court directed Nancy Belanger, who has since become lobbying commissioner, to re-examine the matter. Leaked French Intel Report Contradicts Paris' Claims its Weapons Aren't in Yemen Sputnik News 22:42 15.04.2019(updated 22:43 15.04.2019) A secret French government report detailing the Saudi-led coalition's extensive use of French-made weapons in the war in Yemen has been leaked to the press. It's only the latest expose of how Western nations have provided the coalition with the tools to further the conflict, which has snowballed into a humanitarian catastrophe. Given the laconic title of "Yemen: Security Situation," the highly classified report dates to September 25, 2018, and was prepared by the French Directorate of Military Intelligence for an October meeting of the French "restricted council," a cabinet-level group that includes French President Emmanuel Macron, Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly and Minister of European and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, The Intercept noted. It was leaked to the French investigative news organization Disclose and was published in full Monday by The Intercept, Disclose and four other French media organizations. The report directly contradicts statements made by Parly in late October that French weapons "have not been used against civilians," quipping that "we don't sell weapons like they're baguettes," according to AFP. The defense minister also said on French radio in January that she had "no knowledge as to whether [French] weapons are being used directly in" Yemen and that "we have recently sold no weapons that could be used in the course of the Yemen conflict." Those statements would appear to be untrue. Warning that French war material "may have been used to commit war crimes" in the four-year-long Yemeni War, the report documents the French weapons used by both the Saudi and Emirati militaries, as well as maps of where they've been used. The French weapons named in the report include: the Mirage 2000 fighter jet; the Damocles laser targeting pod, used by aircraft to point the way for laser-guided bombs; the AS-532 A2 Cougar transport and assault helicopter; the AMX-30 and Leclerc tanks; the AMX-10P amphibious infantry fighting vehicle; the Nexter Aravis, a French analogue to the US MRAP vehicle; the COBRA counter-battery radar; the CAESAR and AuF1 self-propelled artillery pieces; the Giat LG1 105-millimeter artillery piece; various small arms, including mortars and anti-infantry missiles; as well as the French-built al-Madinah-class frigates for the Royal Saudi Navy. Philippe's office sent Disclose a lengthy statement in response to inquiries related to the report, insisting that "France is a responsible and reliable partner," and noting that "offensive actions are regularly taken from Yemen against the territory of our regional partners we have seen this with ballistic missile attacks or drones carrying explosives, for example. France maintains a constant dialogue with these partners to respond to their defense needs." "Moreover, to our knowledge, the French weapons available to the members of the coalition are mostly placed in a defensive position, outside Yemeni territory or on coalition holdings, but not on the front line, and we are not aware of civilian casualties resulting from their use in the Yemeni theater," the statement continues. France is the world's third-largest arms exporter, AFP notes, and the Middle East has been its biggest regional market since 2017. Moreover, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been some of its biggest customers, with French arms sales to the region going back decades. Some of the equipment documented in the war was sold to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in the 1980s and 1990s, the report notes. The report also attempts to estimate some of the potential impact on civilians of the use of these weapons. For example, the radii of artillery ranges for pieces placed on the border are demarcated, with an estimated 430,000 Yemenis living within range of those guns. The report frankly describes the Riyadh-led war as "a campaign of massive and continuous airstrikes against territories held by the Houthi rebellion," noting that over 24,000 airstrikes had been made against targets in the country by coalition forces as of September 2018. Further, the report notes that Emirati warplanes have been much more careful about the targets they strike, saying that Emirati plots have a "proven" ability to use guided munitions, conducting themselves in a manner commensurate with NATO pilots. Their Saudi counterparts, however, have proven less scrupulous, despite having access to the same French-made laser targeting pods and munitions. This isn't the first time either Paris or other Western governments have come under scrutiny for their proximity to the war and the coalition's use of Western-made weapons. A March 2018 joint report by London-based Amnesty International and French human rights group ACAT pointed the finger firmly at French defense firms Dassault and Thales, makers of many of the weapons named in the report leaked Monday. Then in May 2018, two human rights NGOs, Droit Solidarite and Aser, threatened to take legal action in the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest legal authority, to pressure the French government into ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The council has the power to verify whether export licenses have been issued legally and authorized by the prime minister, and it serves as chief arbiter in public policy debates, Sputnik noted at the time. This past February, another report by AI complemented one by CNN issued the same week, both of which documented the extent to which the UAE was funnelling weapons of war supplied by Western powers to its proxies on the ground in Yemen, Sputnik reported. CNN's report, "Sold to an Ally, Lost to an Enemy," and AI's report, "When arms go astray: Yemen's deadly new threat of arms diversion to militias," documented how arms sold to the UAE by Western powers, including the United States, have been used "as a form of currency to buy the loyalties of militias or tribes, bolster chosen armed actors and influence the complex political landscape," as local commanders on the ground told CNN. Since 2001, the US by itself has supplied the UAE with $6 billion in weapons, according to DoD figures, but has made made a total of $22 billion in arms agreements with the country. AI's report names several French weapons, too, including LeClerc tanks, but also points the finger at numerous other nations, ranging from South Africa to Serbia and Belgium. AI names 20 countries overall that supply the UAE with arms, with the Gulf monarchy having received $3.5 billion worth of heavy conventional weapons, small arms, light weapons and associated parts and ammunition since the war began in March 2015. AI's report also notes that states supplying arms to anyone in the Yemen conflict are in violation of the Arms Trade Treaty of 2014. The United Nations has called Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The war has been raging since March 2015, when Houthi rebels ousted Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who fled to Riyadh and begged Saudi Arabia to defend what remained of his government. Since then, up to 60,000 people may have been directly killed by the conflict, not including an estimated 85,000 children who may have died from starvation, Sputnik reported, citing the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an NGO that collates data on conflicts around the globe. Further, the World Health Organization has recorded 1.3 million suspected cases of cholera in the country since the war began, with 20.1 million of its 28.25 million people facing food insecurity and almost as many lacking access to basic health care services. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada Sanctions 43 Venezuelan Officials, People Close to Maduro - Ottawa Sputnik News 17:32 15.04.2019(updated 18:22 15.04.2019) Earlier, Canada became one of the first countries to join the United States in recognising self-proclaimed 'interim president' Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader, with Caracas and its allies slamming Guaido's actions as an attempted foreign-backed coup d'etat. Canada has imposed additional sanctions against "the Maduro regime", targeting over three dozen officials and others close to the Venezuelan president, Global Affairs Canada has announced. The restrictions, the fourth round for Canada, target 43 individuals Ottawa alleges are "responsible for the deteriorating situation in Venezuela", with the list including "high-ranking officials," "regional governors" and others said to be "directly implicated in activities undermining democratic institutions." Kimberly Breier, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, called the new sanctions "the right thing to do," and urged "other countries to take concrete actions to support the aspirations of the Venezuelan people." The sanctions included restrictions against Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, one of the few senior officials not yet hit by the tough US restrictions, which included a freeze on Venezuelan assets abroad and efforts to shift billions of dollars' worth of wealth belonging to the Venezuelan state to the opposition 'government' for 'safe-keeping.' Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself Venezuela's 'interim president' on 23 January, less than two weeks after President Nicolas Maduro's inauguration for a second term in office following elections. Guaido was immediately recognised by Washington, Ottawa, and most of the US' European and Latin American allies. Meanwhile, Caracas described Guaido's actions as a coup attempt, and Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Turkey, Syria, Serbia, North Korea and many other countries later voiced their support for the Venezuelan government. Caracas has yet to comment on the latest sanctions, but has previously condemned all foreign efforts to meddle in Venezuela's internal affairs. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sudanese Military Asks Protesters to Clear Camp Outside Army HQ - Reports Sputnik News 17:10 15.04.2019(updated 17:31 15.04.2019) CAIRO (Sputnik) - Sudanese military has asked protesters to leave the area outside of the armed forces' headquarters in Khartoum, where the activists have been staging a sit-in for over a week, Sky News Arabia reported. Earlier in the day, the military attempted to remove the barriers surrounding the protesters' camp outside of the headquarters, but was forced to retreat under pressure from the demonstrators, Sky News Arabia reported. One of the leaders of the protest movement called on all protesters on Monday to join the rallies in the square outside of the military compound in the Sudanese capital in order to "save the revolution." The sit-in was organized on 6 April following months of anti-government protests across Sudan and became the centre of the protest movement. Despite the fact that the military has toppled long-time President Omar Bashir amid the protests and established a transitional military council, the rallies in the capital continue. The protesters demand a transition of power to a civilian government, fearing that the military may seize power for good. The military, in turn, says that the council has been set up for a maximum of two years. After that elections will take place and the power will be handed over to civilian authorities. The protests first began in Sudan in December of 2018. They were initially triggered by the rise in prices for bread and other consumer goods, but then had a new twist as Sudanese citizens called for the resignation of Bashir, who had been in power for nearly 30 years. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India, Pakistan Exchange Heavy Fire Along Border After Brief Respite Sputnik News 13:42 15.04.2019 The last one and a half months has seen some 513 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), a de-facto border between India and Pakistan. There was a lull in the firing for a brief period in the past few days but clashes have reportedly resumed. New Delhi (Sputnik): Indian and Pakistani troops have once again exchanged fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Rajouri district of the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir. "The heavy exchange of mortar and small arms firing took place at about 0815 hrs local time in Nowshera sector of Rajouri," a government official told journalists. On Friday, four Indians, including a girl, were injured due to shelling in forward areas of the Swajin sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir state. Last week, the Indian Army claimed that it had registered at least 513 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir since mid-February. Tensions between the neighbours escalated after the Pulwama terrorist attack in which at least 40 Indian soldiers were killed on 14 February. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and the Indian government accused Islamabad of harbouring and sponsoring the Islamist terrorist outfit. "Almost 513 ceasefire violations happened in the past one-and-a-half month, and over 100 times during these violations, the Pakistan Army used heavy weapons like mortars and artillery guns and targeted civilian areas. Only yesterday (Friday), four civilians, including two girls, were injured in Poonch," General Officer Commanding (GOC) of White Knight Corps Lt Gen Paramjit Singh told reporters in Rajouri. The Indian Army also claimed that the Pakistan Army has suffered five to six times more casualties than its forces in retaliatory firing. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Norway Cannot Be Defended, Top Brass Admits Sputnik News 13:26 15.04.2019 Citing an "increasingly complex" security picture, the Norwegian operational headquarters has admitted a drastic lack of resources and called for at least two additional battalions and more submarines. Lieutenant General Rune Jakobsen, the head of the Norwegian Armed Forces' operational headquarters (FOH), has warned of dramatic consequences if the armed forces are not significantly upgraded. "We now have a new global and regional security picture that is more uncertain than before", Rune Jakobsen told the NRK national broadcaster, citing a "more self-asserting Russia" as one of the challenges. "If there is an attack in the classical sense, then we won't have the robustness that is necessary", he added. Jakobsen admitted that reaction time and endurance in all branches of defence were too low, given Norway's land size. "To be more concrete, the army is too small in relation to the tasks it has and what is expected of Norway and NATO", Jakobsen said. Jakobsen also complained that not all resources are available as quickly as needed. He stressed the need for an emphasis on maritime surveillance aircraft to better follow what's happening in the High North. To address the shortcomings, Lieutenant General Jakobsen called for two battalions in addition to the three existing ones. He also stressed the need for two new submarines, and a better transition plan to modernise the air force. "The current long-term plan describes a structure in imbalance, which has too little volume, and the progress may be a bit too slow," Jakobsen said. By Jakobsen's own admission, his criticism is shared on many levels of the armed forces. "In the armed forces, we are concerned with doing the best with what we have and the orders we receive. Many are concerned about Norwegian security, who believe that the size and robustness of the structure is not good enough. And I totally agree with that", Jakobsen concluded. Last week, the government asked the chief of defence to prepare a new professional military council. The last time this happened was in 2014. The council lay much of the foundation for the long-term plan to be adopted by the parliament next year. The Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the Norwegian Armed Forces operational commando-centre, is located in Reitan outside Bod, where during the Cold War, NATO's Allied Command North Norway was based. As of 2017, the Norwegian Armed Forces had 15,874 active personnel. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address French-Made Weapons Reportedly Used in Yemen War, More Arms to Be Delivered Sputnik News 12:09 15.04.2019 Reporters accuse the French government of concealing information about the deployment of these weapons - including battle tanks, artillery, helicopters, and fighter jets - against the civilian population. Journalists claim to have uncovered the "massive use" of French-made weapons in war-torn Yemen through a leak of secret military documents. Radio France and investigative reporters from the NGO Disclose say they have obtained a classified 2018 report about French arms sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which form part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi militiamen in Yemen since 2015. The paper was allegedly compiled last September by France's military agency DRM and handed over to President Emmanuel Macron and other cabinet-level officials. It apparently contains a list of all French weapons deployed in Yemen by the two Arab monarchies. "These include Leclerc battle tanks, long-rod penetrator ammunition, Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, COBRA counter-battery radar systems, Aravis armoured troop-carrying vehicles, Cougar and Dauphin helicopters, CAESAR truck-mounted howitzers," reads a statement on Disclose's website. The journalists went on to claim that some of the French-made weapons are being used in combat operations in Yemen, including in civilian zones. Specifically, two French-made warships a missile-launching corvette and a warfare frigate are said to be taking part in the naval blockade of Yemen, as per the report. The leaked report appears to include a map titled "Population under threat of bombs", which indicates the deployment of 48 CAESAR guns near the Saudi-Yemeni border. "Put more simply, the guns are used to bombard Yemeni territory to open up a path for the tanks and armoured vehicles invading the country," the journalists argue. The population living within the range of potential artillery fire is estimated at being over 436,000. According to the report, at least 129 CAESAR howitzers are due to be delivered to Saudi Arabia between by 2023. French authorities are yet to comment on the matter. French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly said in a radio interview in February that the military had "recently sold no weapons that can be used in the Yemeni conflict". Last October, she rejected claims that domestically made weapons were targeting civilian population. "To my knowledge, the weapons we have sold recently have not been used against civilians," she told reporters. The minister also described France's weapons exports to Saudis as "relatively modest", saying they were subject to tight restrictions. "We don't sell weapons like they're baguettes," she added. Disclose and Radio France note, meanwhile, that the French parliament has been "deliberately kept apart" from this information by the government, which has so far given only "fragmentary answers or even falsehoods". Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Norway, UK, US Call on Sudan Leadership to Ensure Dialogue Involving All Parties Sputnik News 06:35 15.04.2019 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States urged the Sudanese authorities in a joint statement to ensure that the dialogue on a transition of power to civilian rule involves all stakeholders. "It is time for the Transitional Military Council and all other parties to enter into an inclusive dialogue to effect a transition to civilian rule. This must be done credibly and swiftly, with protest leaders, political opposition, civil society organizations, and all relevant elements of society, including women, who are willing to participate", the countries said in a statement, posted on Facebook by the US Embassy to Sudan late on Sunday. "The Troika" has also called on the Sudanese council to ensure humanitarian access to all areas in the country. "Sudan needs a political system that is inclusive, respectful of human rights and the rule of law, and supported by a sound constitutional basis. We call on the Transitional Military Council to take the steps necessary to build confidence with the people by adhering to its pledge to release all political prisoners", the statement read. The transitional council in Sudan was established on Thursday for a period of up to two years, after the Sudanese military removed President Omar Bashir from power amid anti-government protests. Sudan has been engulfed by rallies since December. The protests were initially triggered by the rise in prices for bread and other consumer goods that greatly increased the vulnerability of Sudanese citizens. The protests then took on a new dimension as Sudanese citizens started calling for the resignation of Bashir, who has been in power for nearly 30 years. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Plan for troop pullback 'now accepted' by rival forces around key Yemen port, but fighting intensifying elsewhere, Security Council warned 15 April 2019 - A plan to withdraw forces from front lines in and around the key Yemeni port of Hudaydah has been accepted by pro-Government forces and Houthi rebels, the UN Special Envoy to the country told the Security Council on Monday, warning however that war shows "no sign of abating" elsewhere. Martin Griffiths said that after a "long and difficult process" agreeing the details of a UN-backed plan, which the warring parties signed up to in Sweden last December to de-escalate fighting around Hudaydah, as the start of a process to hopefully end the fighting nationwide, "both parties have now accepted the detailed redeployment plan for phase one", and the UN was now "moving with all speed towards resolving the final outstanding issues". He said the breakthrough would mark the "first voluntary withdrawals of forces in this long conflict", noting that violence had "significantly reduced" around the Red Sea port city, which is the entry point for the vast majority of aid and goods for the whole country, since the fragile ceasefire began. Mr. Griffiths told Council members he was committed to helping facilitate a political solution to end the war: "My primary responsibility in the next few weeks will be to winnow down differences between the parties so that when they meet they can, in all efficiency, be asked to answer precise questions about the nature of the arrangements to end the war", he said. "I seek the support of this Council for this approach. I ask you to put your faith in the desperate need for peace which is the daily prayer of the millions of Yemenis who still believe in its prospect. Without more support 'the end is nigh' for Yemenis: Lowcock UN Affairs Chief, Mark Lowcock, was next to brief the chamber, also via video-link, picking up Martin Griffith's passionate plea for the international community to act now, to save countless Yemeni lives. He reiterated his earlier call for a nationwide ceasefire, adding that "all the men with guns and bombs need to stop the violence. We again remind the parties that international humanitarian law binds them in all locations and at all times." But bullets are not the only risk to life and limb he warned, citing that so far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported, almost three times the same period last year. "We see the consequences of the destruction of the health system elsewhere too. More than 3,300 cases of diphtheria have been reported since 2018 - the first outbreak in Yemen since 1982. Earlier this year, new measles cases surged to nearly twice the levels reported at the same time in 2018". Looming over everything, the risk of famine continues, he warned, saying that the World Food Programme (WFP) was upping the reach of support for the world's largest aid operation, from nine million a month, to 12 million "in the coming months". Access to the vulnerable remains a key challenge he said, making clear that grain that could feed 3.7 million hungry Yemenis in Hudaydah's Red Sea Mills, remained trapped due to conflict. Secondly, money was running out to save lives, he said, with only $267 million received so far, out of $2.6 billion pledged. WHO, he said, "projects that 60 per cent of diarrhoea treatment centres could close in the coming weeks, and services at 50 per cent of secondary care facilities, could be disrupted." "We remain keenly aware that a sustainable peace - as Martin has said many times - would be the most effective remedy for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen", Mr. Lowcock concluded. "Without peace, we will simply go on treating the symptoms of this crisis, instead addressing the cause." "Let me summarize. Violence has again increased. The relief operation is running out of money. Barring changes, the end is nigh." Level of violence, abuse against children 'simply unacceptable': Gamba The UN's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, focussed on how Yemen's most vulnerable had borne the brunt of war with a "staggering" figure of more than 3,000 children "verified as recruited and used", while more than 7,500 were killed and maimed, with over 800 cases of humanitarian access denied, during nearly five years of fighting. Almost half of those killed and maimed, she said, were victims of airstrikes, for which the Saudi-led coalition supporting the Government, "bears the main responsibility". On the ground however, "the Houthis were responsible for the majority" of casualties, predominantly through shelling, mortar and small arms fire. Ms. Gamba said she had secured agreements with both warring parties during her time in office, to strengthen the protection of child lives, and to cut down on the recruitment of children as part of the war effort. "The violence Yemeni children have been subjected to - and still are - is simply unacceptable. I urge all parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to ensure that their military operations are conducted in full compliance with international law, including through respecting the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution." She too, called on the international community to prioritize funding for Yemen, "in order to provide children with a chance to survive, learn, and construct the Yemen of the future". The Stockholm Agreement had provided hope, "yet as fighting continues and intensifies in parts of the country", said the Special Representative, "I urge the parties to swiftly implement the commitments made. The tragedy of Yemeni children and their role in the Yemen of tomorrow emphasizes the need to put them at the heart of the peace process. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Taliban Signal Afghan Peace Talks Intact Despite Offensive' By Ayaz Gul April 15, 2019 American and Taliban officials have indicated their months-long peace dialogue remains on track, despite the intensification of hostilities in Afghanistan that came with the start of the insurgent group's spring offensive. U.S.-backed Afghan security forces and insurgents have both claimed they have inflicted heavy casualties on each other since Friday when the Taliban announced its annual spring offensive, which marks an increase in fighting, now in its 18th year. The insurgent offensive promptly drew strong condemnation from Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading the American team of negotiators discussing a possible peace deal with the Taliban. He denounced the offensive as "reckless." In turn, the Taliban slammed Khalilzad's remarks and justified the offensive, citing the continued U.S. "occupation" of Afghanistan. The war of words raised questions about the fate of the ongoing U.S.-Taliban talks. But on Monday, both sides signaled they plan to move the process forward and expected to resume discussions in Qatar before the end of April. Khalilzad noted in a series of tweets that in discussions with Taliban interlocutors he had proposed ways to reduce the violence, and lamented that years of hostilities have killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians and Afghans. "The quickest way to prevent casualties is to agree to a ceasefire. Taliban senior leadership should allow their representatives to come to the table and discuss. I will continue to press the case," said Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation. The Afghan-born American diplomat said the Afghan people deserve and want a comprehensive ceasefire and negotiations leading to a lasting peace in the country. Taliban committed to talks A senior Taliban official told VOA his group is committed to the ongoing dialogue process with Washington, saying Khalilzad's latest remarks indicate the other side is also willing to remain engaged. "So the dialogue possibly will take place after the intra-Afghan dialogue. But the date is not fixed yet," said the insurgent official. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The intra-Afghan dialogue the Taliban official referred to is a two-day informal meeting scheduled for Friday (April 19 ) in the Qatari capital of Doha, where politicians, tribal elders along with representatives of civil society, women and youth from the war-ravaged country will interact in their "personal capacity" with Taliban delegates on the current crisis facing Afghanistan. Envoys of the Kabul government are also expected to be part of the discussions but not in their official capacity. Qatar talks The U.S.-Taliban talks in Qatar have primarily focused on two issues: Washington agreement to a timetable for withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban preventing Transnational terrorist groups from again using Afghan soil as a sanctuary. Both sides announced after their last round of talks in early March they have drafted a preliminary agreement covering the two points. Washington-based analyst, Michael Kugelman, says he is unsure whether U.S. determination to push for a ceasefire will produce desired results. "The problem is that the Taliban, which enjoys ample leverage, is unlikely to take any interest in one until the two sides reach an understanding on a troop withdrawal plan," tweeted Kugelman, who is the deputy director of the Asia program and South Asia senior associate at the Wilson Center. Last week, the U.N. Security Council removed travel and financial restrictions on the 15 Qatar-based Taliban leaders holding peace talks with the U.S. team to allow the insurgent team to be able to travel to other countries to participate in Afghan peace-related consultations. Taliban officials acknowledge the U.S had played a role in seeking a nine-month suspension of the sanctions. Khalilzad, however, has made it clear that a final agreement will be linked to a comprehensive Taliban ceasefire and a sustainable intra-Afghan peace process to bring an end to years of bloodshed. Withdrawal first The Taliban is opposed to entering into formal Afghan negotiations until after the U.S. agrees and announces a troop withdrawal plan. Khalilzad has also indirectly criticized Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for taking months to appoint a negotiating team inclusive of all segments of the Afghan society for an eventual Afghan-only peace negotiations. Ghani has reportedly attempted to remain in charge of any peace deal with the Taliban. But internal political rivalries as well as divisions have apparently prevented his government from coming up with an authoritative Afghan team of negotiators. In the past few days, the Afghan leader has tried to assemble an inclusive negotiation team but the effort quickly has suffered setbacks. Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the process, saying he was not consulted beforehand while key opposition leaders also have rejected it. President Donald Trump has said he wants to pull out American troops in Afghanistan but linked the move to progress in talks with the Taliban. A visiting Democratic lawmaker Monday reassured Afghans the United States does not want to pursue a "precipitous" troop withdrawal from the country. "What we've heard here [is] that whatever negotiated settlement ends the conflict, that it be done in a way that's very deliberate, that ensures a transition that all sides can participate in, and that there should not be a precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen told reporters at the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Shaheen also stressed that women must have a place at the table as the U.S. tries to negotiate with the Taliban. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Confirms Airstrike Kills Deputy Leader of IS Militants in Somalia By Carla Babb April 15, 2019 The U.S. military confirmed Monday that it carried out an airstrike that killed the deputy leader of Islamic State militants in Somalia. U.S. Africa Command said Sunday's airstrike near the village of Xiriiro in Somalia's Bari region killed Abdihakim Mohamed Ibrahim. AFRICOM says Ibrahim, also known as Dhoqob, "was responsible for the daily operations of the extremist group, attack planning and resource procurement. Abdisamad Mohamed Gallan, security minister of Somalia's Puntland region, told VOA's Somali Service that the airstrike hit the vehicle in which Dhoqob and another passenger were traveling. He said both men were killed, but the other person had not yet been identified. "The vehicle was burned," said a witness who did not want to be named. IS Somalia is led by Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin, a former scholar for militant group al-Shabab. In October 2015, he defected from the group and pledged his allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Dhoqob was Mumin's right-hand man and had appeared in videos produced by the group. Mumin himself survived another airstrike in his mountainous hideout in Bari region in November 2017. "Killing one of their top leaders will speed up their eradication," Gallan said. The U.S. has carried out scores of military strikes in Somalia in recent years, mostly targeting al-Shabab. This year alone, the U.S. has carried out more than 30 airstrikes in the African country. IS has between 200 and 300 men in Somalia, according to experts. Al-Shabab and IS have recently been fighting in the eastern mountainous areas since December of last year. Al-Shabab has vowed to eliminate its rival IS, accusing it of "dividing the jihadists." Security officials told VOA Somali that IS has lost some of its territory to al-Shabab. Harun Maruf contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo: The Canadian Press The downtown core is seen from the air in Calgary. Colliers International says a rising trend of "reverse migration" is starting to bring office tenants back into Calgary's core, resulting in a decline in the downtown vacancy rate during the first three months of the year. The commercial realtor says the vacancy rate slipped to 25.23 per cent from 26.45 per cent in the last quarter of 2018, thanks to tenants moving back downtown to be closer to clients or to take advantage of aggressive terms being offered by landlords. It says it expects the trend to continue through the year driven by numerous small transactions as most tenants needing more than 20,000 square feet with upcoming lease expiries this year and next have already completed transactions. The report is the second in two weeks to note the improvements in the market which has ballooned by more than four million square feet of new space since 2014 despite an oil price crash that year that led to thousands of oil and gas employee layoffs. Real estate firm CBRE estimates the downtown office vacancy rate improved to 26.5 per cent in the first quarter from the peak of 27.8 per cent last spring, thanks to a net gain in leasing of almost 290,000 square feet, the most since the third quarter of 2014. Neither real estate firm expects a quick fix to Calgary's one-in-four downtown office vacancy rate Colliers predicts it could improve to 24.4 per cent by the end of 2020 while CBRE regional director Greg Kwong says he expects no change through 2019. UN: Yemen's Children Suffer 'Devastating Toll' in 5-Year Conflict By Margaret Besheer April 15, 2019 The United Nations said Monday that the five-year-old conflict in Yemen has taken a "devastating toll" on the country's children, with thousands killed, maimed and recruited to fight since the war began. "The impact of this conflict on children is horrific," Virginia Gamba, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, told a meeting of the Security Council. "All parties to the conflict have acted and reacted militarily to events resulting in the use and abuse of children in multiple ways." Since monitoring began in Yemen in April 2013 (before the conflict fully erupted) until the end of the 2018, Gamba said more than 7,500 children have been killed or maimed and more than 3,000 have been verified as recruited or used, and there have been more than 800 documented cases of denial of humanitarian access to children. Gamba said children reportedly have been forcibly recruited from schools, orphanages and communities to fight on the front lines, man checkpoints, deliver supplies or gather intelligence. Last year, over half of the children recruited were under the age of 15. During that period, the U.N. says more than 200 were killed or maimed while being used by the warring parties. Gamba called out the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels for recruiting the majority of the children, followed by the Popular Resistance, Yemen Armed Forces and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. "The numbers I present to you today represent a mere fraction of violations committed against children in Yemen," she told council members. In addition to harm to child soldiers, Gamba said of the more than 7,500 children killed or maimed between 2013 and 2018, nearly half of the casualties were caused by Saudi-coalition airstrikes. Another 40 percent of such casualties came in ground fighting, including shelling and mortars. Gamba said Houthi rebels were largely to blame, followed by Yemeni government forces, among others. It is not the first time the U.N. has called out the Saudi-led coalition or the Houthis for harming Yemeni children. But while both sides say they avoid harming civilians, the toll continues to rise. Redeployment of forces The U.N. has been working to end the conflict. On Monday, special envoy Martin Griffiths offered a glimmer of hope that the parties might be ready to take a first step away from the battlefield. He told council members that both the Saudi coalition-backed Yemeni government and the Houthis have accepted a detailed redeployment plan to begin moving their fighters away from the crucial Red Sea port city of Hodeida. "We will now move with all speed toward resolving the final outstanding issues related to the operational plans for phase two, redeployments and also the issue of the status of local security forces," Griffiths told the council in a video briefing from Amman, Jordan. The parties committed to the plan at talks in Stockholm in December, but efforts to implement the agreement have failed. Griffiths expressed some confidence that they would go forward now. "When and I hope it is when and not if these redeploys happen, they will be the first ones in this long conflict," he said. Griffiths acknowledged that the "the war in Yemen shows no sign of abating," and said there needs to be real progress on the military redeployments before the focus can shift back to the political track. U.S. Acting U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Cohen welcomed Houthi acceptance to phase one of the withdrawal plan and said Washington would be "watching closely to see if they make good on that agreement." Funds urgently needed Meanwhile, U.N. humanitarian operations in Yemen are at risk of running out of money in the coming weeks. In February, international donors pledged $2.6 billion for Yemen relief operations. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who are prosecuting the war against the Houthis pledged an additional $1 billion. But U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said that nearly four months into 2019, the response plan has received only $267 million in actual funding. "U.N. agencies are rapidly running out of money for essential relief activities," he warned. The country, which is facing a cholera epidemic, could see 60% of its diarrhea treatment centers close in the coming weeks if money is not received. U.N. food programs, which provide emergency food assistance to more than 9 million people every month, would also be impacted. "Closing or scaling back such programs at a time when we are struggling to prevent widespread famine and roll back cholera and other killer diseases would be catastrophic," Lowcock said. He also warned that a potential environmental disaster is brewing off of Yemen's Red Sea coast. Lowcock said that an oil tanker used as a floating storage and offloading facility, and which is 8 kilometers off the coast at the Ras Isa terminal, is old and has not received any maintenance since 2015. It has about 1.1 million barrels of oil on board. "Without maintenance, we fear that it will rupture or even explode, unleashing an environmental disaster in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes," Lowcock said. A Saudi Arabian-led coalition began bombing Houthi rebels in support of Yemen's government in March 2015. Since then, the U.N. estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed, mostly due to coalition airstrikes. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cameroon Authorities Detain 30 Nigerians Allegedly Linked to Boko Haram By Moki Edwin Kindzeka April 15, 2019 Cameroon authorities have detained 30 Nigerians who crossed the border Saturday on suspicion of links to Boko Haram Islamist militants. Police say the group of mainly women and children did not have permission to cross the border or identification cards, and failed to answer their questions, as Cameroon security forces say they traced a bus transporting the detained suspects as it illegally crossed the border Saturday from Gamborou Ngala, a former stronghold of Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. Chetima Malla Abba, the highest-ranking police officer in Cameroon's Far North Region, which borders with Nigeria, says when stopped by police, the 30 Nigerians, mainly women and children, raised further suspicions. He says they have been detained for not being able to present any identification papers, not being able to give the names of the people they claim they want to visit in Cameroon, and for entering the country from a Boko Haram alert zone without obtaining the necessary clearance. Abba gave no further evidence for the Nigerians' alleged links to Boko Haram. But police say they take such suspicious crossings from Nigeria very seriously. Boko Haram militants, they say, have in the past disguised as commuters, merchants or even clerics to launch attacks in Cameroon. And the group has been known to use female suicide bombers. Police in Maroua say they are investigating the Nigerians' identities and reasons for coming to Cameroon. When seen by a reporter, the detained 30 Nigerians, some in burqas, looked tired but in good health. Nigeria authorities had no immediate reaction to the detentions. The governor of the Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari, says Boko Haram attacks have diminished in recent months due to increased security measures. But he warned Boko Haram looks for opportunities to infiltrate when many people are travelling across the border for religious or national holidays. Bakari says he ordered the police and military to intensify checks around the border zone as Cameroon prepares for national and religious events. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that begins on May 5, international Labor Day on May 1, and National Day on May 20, Boko Haram tries to infiltrate and kill people as they gather around mosques and markets, he says. Bakari also credits efforts by the multinational joint task force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, made up of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria for improved security. Boko Haram extended its attacks from inside Nigeria to Cameroon six years ago, after Cameroon's troops began assisting the Nigerian military in fighting the extremists. Cameroon authorities say more than 1,500 Cameroonians have been killed in the attacks. Nigerian and regional troops have taken back most of the territory that Boko Haram once controlled, but the Islamist terrorists are still able to launch frequent attacks. The United Nations says Boko Haram killed 88 people in Niger in March, compared to a total of 107 deaths for all of 2018, and that a new pattern of targeting displaced people was emerging. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sudan's Protesters Defiantly Continue Sit-In Amid Military, Leadership Shuffles By Naba Mohiedeen April 15, 2019 Demonstrators in Sudan's capital are defying attempts by the military to break up their ongoing protest, and are demanding civilian leadership instead of an army-led transitional government. Protesters on Monday said troops tried to clear their ongoing sit-in outside army headquarters in Khartoum. But the protesters, who have camped out since the military announced the removal of longtime president Omar al-Bashir last Thursday, refused to move. The protesters are demanding a quicker move to civilian rule in Sudan than the military's announced two-year transition to an elected government. Many, like Ala'a Salah, are skeptical that the military will hand over power. She says that when Bashir's regime came to power, it was under similar circumstances.They gave promises that they didn't fulfill, says Salah. We need proof, not only talks, she says, and we're staying until our demands are fulfilled. The military's transitional leadership has changed twice since it said Bashir had been placed under house arrest following four months of popular demonstrations. The military council on Monday appointed Hashem Abdel Muttalib as army chief of staff, and said the move was aimed at changing the military. Hashem was appointed by Bashir in February as vice-chief of army staff. Some protesters and analysts have questioned whether the military is being truthful when it says Bashir was toppled and arrested. But others, like political analyst Mutasim Ahmed, say the coup was real. He says trust in the military has won over trust in politics inside the armed forces.The military has considered the situation, says Ahmed, and that's what lead to the big sit-in and the success of it. The military council now in charge said Bashir had ordered troops to disperse the sit-in "at whatever cost," but the military refused. The protests were triggered in December by food and fuel shortages that saw the price of bread skyrocket.When security forces tried to disperse the protest at army headquarters, troops blocked them, an event that signaled Bashir had lost military support. But protesters remain unconvinced that the military is fully on their side. Monday, the main protest organizers, the Sudanese Professionals Association, called for more people to join the demonstrations and the demands for civilian rule. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian deputy foreign minister says Moscow recognizes new Sudan authorities Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 04:58PM Russia's deputy foreign minister has said Moscow recognizes the new Sudanese authorities in Khartoum amid political uncertainty in a country whose president, Omar al-Bashir, was toppled by the military after 30 years in power. Mikhail Bogdanov said on Tuesday that Moscow recognizes a military council that will run Sudan's affairs for a two-year transitional period, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported. In response to a question whether the Kremlin would maintain contact with the Sudanese authorities, the Russian official said, "Yes, of course." On April 11, the day President Bashir was toppled by the military, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian lower house, said Moscow would continue cooperation with the Sudanese government regardless of which party assumes control. Sudan's military formed the council to run the country after the ouster of Bashir. Since then the head of the military council and of Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) have both been replaced. The military council said on Monday it was restructuring the joint forces command, appointing a new chief of staff for the army and a deputy. High-ranking public prosecutors fired Meanwhile, the head of the council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, sacked chief prosecutor Omar Ahmed Mohamed Abdelsalam and deputy public prosecutor Hesham Othman Ibrahim Saleh, as well as head of public prosecutions Amer Ibrahim Majid. On Sunday, Sudan's Foreign Ministry urged the international community to support the country's new military rulers in order to ease a "democratic transition." "The ministry of foreign affairs is looking forward to the international community to understand the situation and to support the transitional military council... in order to achieve the Sudanese goal of democratic transition." Sudan's main protest group, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), has demanded the immediate handover of power to a civilian transitional government as well as prosecution of former officials. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Security Council denounces Taliban's spring offensive Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 08:06AM The United Nations Security Council has denounced the Taliban's launch of a spring offensive in Afghanistan, urging all parties to instead "seize the opportunity" to reach a political settlement. The UNSC said in a unanimous statement on Monday that the Taliban's announcement of the new offensive would "only result in more unnecessary suffering and destruction for the Afghan people." China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States are permanent members of the Security Council. Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, the Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland, and South Africa are the other members. The Taliban announced the beginning of their spring offensive on Friday. Hours after the announcement, the militants launched attacks near the northern city of Kunduz and in the capital, Kabul, leaving at least nine people dead and scores of others wounded, according to Afghan officials. The offensive comes despite the group's involvement in peace talks with the US, and ahead of a new round of negotiations. The last round of talks between the US and Taliban wrapped up last month, with both sides citing "progress." The Taliban have so far refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who has said talks should include Kabul. Another round of negotiations is expected to take place later this month in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office, and will include representatives from a variety of Afghan groups. The UNSC "called on all parties to the conflict to seize the opportunity to begin an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations that result in a political settlement," according to the Monday statement. US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, condemned the announcement of the offensive as "reckless" and "irresponsible." President Ghani announced his government's own spring offensive, dubbed Operation Khalid, against the militant group last month. The Taliban's five-year rule over at least three quarters of Afghanistan came to an end following the US invasion of the country in 2001; but, 18 years on, Washington is seeking truce with the militants, who still control large swathes of land in the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Venezuela Sells $400 Mln in Gold, 'Skirts US Economic Blockade' Report Sputnik News 16:51 16.04.2019 The developments come after Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source in February, that Venezuela plans to sell 15 tonnes of its Central Bank gold reserves to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for euros. Venezuelan authorities have sold about $400 million in gold, equal to nine tonnes, despite the pressure exerted by the US on potential buyers of the precious metal, Bloomberg cited several sources as saying. The sources claimed that the gold could be bought by companies from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "The sale could mean [Venezuelan] President Nicolas Maduro has found a way to skirt the economic blockade" imposed by Washington, the sources pointed out. Venezuela's Central Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reported sale. Its total gold reserves currently stand at $8.6 billion, according to data provided by the Bank. Members of a military agency that transports valuables put gold bars into an armored vehicle to be taken to Venezuela's Central Bank, at the Carlota military airport in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 1, 2018 The sale comes after Venezuela reportedly announced plans in February to sell 15 tonnes of its Central Bank gold to the UAE and be paid in cash in euros. In a separate development that month, President Maduro suggested that "more or less 80 tonnes" of Venezuela's gold could be frozen in the Bank of England. This followed Bloomberg's report that the Bank of England had refused to withdraw Venezuela's gold reserves, worth $1.2 billion, following Maduro's request. The US Treasury has, meanwhile, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Venezuelan state companies since January. In late March, the Treasury specifically sanctioned the Venezuelan state gold mining firm Minerven and its president, Adrian Antonio Perdomo Mata. The total damages from US sanctions against Venezuela have already exceeded $100 billion, according to media reports. The restrictive measures come amid the ongoing political standoff in Venezuela, which escalated in late January when the country's opposition leader Juan Guaido illegally declared himself Venezuela's interim president, in a move that was immediately endorsed by the US. Maduro accused Guaido of being a US "puppet", while blasting Washington for orchestrating a coup in the Latin American country. Russia and a spate of other countries, in turn, stated that they now recognise Maduro as Venezuela's only legitimate president. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US, Brazil, Colombia Mulling Military Options Against Venezuela - Vice President Sputnik News 15:45 16.04.2019(updated 16:03 16.04.2019) Earlier, at a private roundtable hosted on 10 April by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, military intervention options against Venezuela were discussed, The Gray Zone reported on Sunday. Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has accused the United States, Brazil and Colombia of preparing a military invasion of the Bolivarian Republic. A corresponding statement was made on Monday: "The international community and its institutions for protecting legitimacy around the world should be aware that a criminal plan has been conceived to stage a military attack on Venezuela," Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday. If they choose to proceed with their plans, these countries "will commit crimes against humanity and will have to bear responsibility on the international level," she noted. Meanwhile, the US Department of Defence is considering new military options against Venezuela to deter alleged Russian, Cuban and Chinese influence in the Latin American country, CNN cited an unnamed Pentagon official as saying. The source said that the deterrence options are being developed by the Pentagon's Joint Staff and the Southern Command, which oversees "any US military involvement in the southern hemisphere". This comes after National Security Adviser John Bolton instructed acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week to formulate ideas on how to deal with the Venezuela crisis. The options could include US naval drills and more military interaction with neighbouring countries to prevent Moscow, Havana and Beijing from obtaining "unchallenged access to the region", according to the official. On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent allegations related to Moscow's "intervention in Venezuela" as unacceptable. In an interview with Mega TV on 12 April Mr Pompeo said that Russia "intervened" and "went against the leadership of the country of Venezuela". He further claimed that Russia is "there as a hostile power", and that Juan Guaido, who illegally proclaimed himself Venezuela's interim president, is "the duly elected leader". Mr Pompeo also referred to President Nicolas Maduro as "the former leader of Venezuela". "The undiplomatic manners of the current US foreign policy chief cast doubt on the fact that he sees Russian-American contacts at the relevant level as an opportunity for constructive dialogue," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. On 23 January Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself the country's acting president, with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro swiftly branding the move a coup attempt. The United States was among the first to recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido as president, and rushed to impose a number of economic restrictions on the Venezuelan economy to pressure Nicolas Maduro and his supporters. Russia, in addition to numerous other world powers, expressed support for Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela's only legitimate president. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Military Thwarting 'Daily' Pakistani Attempts to Breach Border Reports Sputnik News 14:56 16.04.2019(updated 15:28 16.04.2019) Tensions between the two Asian rivals remain high after a series of back-and-forth skirmishes which followed an Indian Air Force raid into Pakistani territory targeting al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists who claimed responsibility for a deadly car bombing attack in the India-controlled region of Kashmir. The Indian Army is "taking all possible steps to thwart" efforts by Pakistani 'Border Action Teams' (BATs) to infiltrate the fragile Line of Control border in Kashmir, a senior Army source told The Economic Times. According to the source, the military receives intelligence reports "every day" about BAT teams' efforts to "target" Indian security posts along the LoC. These efforts have prompted the Indian military to beef up security along LoC fences, taking action 'against any movement' from the Pakistani side and even carrying out preemptive activity, according to the sources. According to the newspaper, Pakistan's efforts have including encouraging BAT teams and militants from the terrorist groups Jaish-e-Mohammed* and Lashkar-e-Taiba* to wear civilian clothing in place of uniforms to carry out their actions, which include surprise attacks against Indian positions along the LoC. The Economic Times' sources accused the Pakistani side of trying to violate the ceasefire along all sectors after tensions escalated in February following the Indian Air Force strikes in Balakot. Tensions between India and Pakistan grew to their highest level in years starting in mid-February, when Jaish-e-Mohammed affiliated militants attacked an Indian police convoy in Pulwama, killing over 40 security personnel. The attack led India to carry out airstrikes in Balakot, Pakistan. The escalation led to an aerial dogfight in which at least one Indian MiG-21 was downed, and to weeks of skirmishes along the LoC between troops using small arms fire and artillery. At least 10 Pakistani civilians and 4 Indian civilians have been killed in the violence. India has accused Pakistan of failing to effectively combat Islamist extremism on its own territory. Pakistan has denied the claims. Last week, Islamabad asked New Delhi to provide actionable intelligence regarding Pakistan's alleged involvement in the Pulwama attack. *Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists groups. Al-Qaeda is outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Mulling New Venezuela Options to Deter Russia, China & Cuba Report Sputnik News 13:14 16.04.2019(updated 13:15 16.04.2019) On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent allegations related to Moscow's "intervention in Venezuela" as unacceptable. China, in turn, berated Pompeo for his claims that Beijing's friendship with Latin American countries is "pretended". The US Department of Defence is considering new military options related to Venezuela to deter alleged Russian, Cuban and Chinese influence in the Latin American country, CNN cited an unnamed Pentagon official as saying. The source said that the deterrence options are being developed by the Pentagon's Joint Staff and the Southern Command, which oversees "any US military involvement in the southern hemisphere". This comes after National Security Adviser John Bolton instructed acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week to formulate ideas on how to deal with the Venezuela crisis. Instead of major military action, the options could include US naval drills and more military interaction with neighbouring countries to prevent Moscow, Havana and Beijing from obtaining "unchallenged access to the region", according to the official. The remarks follow the Russian Foreign Ministry's statement on Monday that during his recent tour of Latin American countries, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "made a number of unacceptable statements about our country, particularly in the context of events in Venezuela". "The undiplomatic manners of the current US foreign policy chief cast doubt on the fact that he sees Russian-American contacts at the relevant level as an opportunity for constructive dialogue", the ministry underscored. Speaking to Chilean broadcaster Mega TV last week, Pompeo specifically claimed that Russia "intervened" and "went against the leadership of the country of Venezuela", also describing Russia as a "hostile power". Separately, he warned that "every single tool and every single option" for what he described as US efforts "to restore democracy" in Venezuela remains on the table. Earlier this month, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described Washington's pledge to take certain actions against Cuba over Venezuela as blackmail. He was responding to remarks made by US Vice President Mike Pence, who previously told the UN Security Council that Washington would soon announce new action against Cuba in response to what it calls Havana's "malign influence" in Venezuela. Beijing, meanwhile, refuted claims that China sent military personnel to help Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This came after Venezuelan authorities confirmed they received 65 tonnes of medicine from China in late March, with Caracas noting the "important and strategic level" of its partnership with Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also stated that statements by Pompeo about Beijing's allegedly "pretended" friendship with the countries of Latin America are "baseless slanders" and "deliberate provocation". Also in March, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to US President Donald Trump's call to Moscow to get out of Venezuela by stating that Russian servicemen are stationed in Venezuela on a legal basis and they are helping to carry out maintenance of previously supplied Russian military equipment. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, for her part, said that the Russian military's presence in Venezuela was in accordance with the defence agreement between Moscow and Caracas, adding that the personnel would remain in Venezuela as long as the two sides deem their presence necessary. The statement came after a group of Russian military personnel arrived in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas earlier last month to take part in consultations with the country's officials on defence industry cooperation. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Security Council condemns Taliban offensive as a blow against 'sustainable peace' 16 April 2019 - The United Nations Security Council has condemned the announcement by Taliban militants in Afghanistan of its spring offensive, saying it will result in more "unnecessary suffering and destruction for the Afghan people". Recognizing citizens' "strong desire for sustainable peace in Afghanistan", the Council underscored that "calls for more fighting will not advance the goal of making a sustainable peace". According to news reports, the announcement, which came as the UN lifted travel bans on the Taliban's senior leaders to facilitate United States-led peace talks, signals that although negotiations are gaining momentum, fighting is likely to intensify around the country. "Seize the opportunity to begin an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations that result in a political settlement", the Security Council urged all parties to the conflict. The Council members reiterated "the importance of an inclusive Afghan-led and-owned peace process for the long-term prosperity and stability" of the country and expressed their "full support for the Afghan Government's efforts to that end". "The members of the Security Council reiterated that, as mandated by the Security Council, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General stand ready to provide their good offices to support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process, if requested by and in close consultation with the Afghan Government", they concluded. The cost of violence In February, UNAMA released devastating figures showing the direct impact of the conflict on civilians, with 3,804 deaths recorded last year, the highest number since the UN started keeping records ten years ago. In addition, 7,189 people were injured in 2018, five per cent more than in 2017. "But even these figures do not capture the full human cost of the war," the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, informed the Council last month noting that over half the population of the country lives under the poverty line and that 13.5 million people "survive on less than one meal a day," which was compounded by last year's severe drought. At the same time, Afghanistan's presidential election, originally due to take place this coming weekend, has been pushed back twice, from April to July, and most recently to September. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chelsea Powrie UPDATE: 2:30 p.m. Mayor John Vassilaki described John Brittain, a former city engineer, as "a gentle person," and one who "wouldn't hurt a fly." He said Brittain was a supporter in his recent mayoral campaign, and never showed any violent tendencies. Brittain remains in custody at the Okanagan Correctional Centre after a brief court appearance Tuesday morning. He is due back in court on May 8. Supt. Ted De Jager with Penticton RCMP told media that the two crime scenes on Heales Avenue and Cornwall Drive are expected to be released Tuesday afternoon. UPDATE 11:40 a.m. The Penticton RCMP say they will not be releasing the names of the victims in Mondays quadruple homicide, "because there is no operational requirement to further" the investigation. John Brittain, 68, a former City of Penticton engineer is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. The indictment states that the first count involves the shooting of R.W., identified by family as Rudi Winter, who was killed while pruning a tree on Lakeview Street. Court documents identify the remaining three victims as B.W., S.W. and D.K. Land title records for the two homes involved in the shooting scene on Cornwall Drive indicate one of the homes is owned by Susan and Barry Wonch. The other home involved in the crime scene is owned by a woman named Darlene Knippelberg. Supt. Ted De Jager said at a media conference Tuesday that a man and woman were killed at one of the Cornwall Drive homes, while a woman was killed at the other. Both Cornwall Drive homes and the duplex on Lakeview Street remain behind police tape. Police are staying tight-lipped about the possible motive of the shooting and the relationship between the shooter and victims. Mayor John Vassilaki told reporters Brittain retired from the city back in 2016 due to illness, but could not offer specifics. UPDATE: 10:10 a.m. Charges have been approved against the suspected shooter that left four people dead in Penticton on Monday. Prosecutors have confirmed John Brittain has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. John Brittain is a retired civil engineer with the City of Penticton. He's registered as a practising professional engineer with Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. with Ecora Engineering and Resource Group Ltd. Tuesday morning, no one at Ecora was available to comment. ORIGINAL: 9:45 a.m. Rudi Winter, a Penticton senior, has been identified as one of the victims of the fatal shooting spree in Penticton Monday. His family identified him online, CTV News reports. The other three victims have not been identified. RCMP have only said that the shootings were targeted and they believe all of the victims knew each other. Castanet reporter Colin Dacre heard from a distraught woman at the scene of one of the shootings who said she was one victim's wife and said she thought it was the result of a neighbourly dispute. The RCMP are still working on identifying a motive. A media briefing at the Penticton RCMP detachment will be live on Castanet at 11 a.m. Tuesday. -with files from CTV News US Sanctions 7 People, Middle East Firm Over Daesh Pipelines Financing Sputnik News 21:15 15.04.2019 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US government has sanctioned seven individuals and a money services company as "key nodes" of the Daesh* terrorist group's financial network spanning the Middle East, Europe, and East Africa, the Department of the Treasury said in a statement on Monday. "Six individuals, located in Iraq, Turkey, and Belgium, and the entity, an Iraq, Turkey, and Syria-based money services business (MSB), are part of the Rawi Network, a key [Daesh] financial facilitation group based out of Iraq," the statement said. "The seventh individual designated today is a Kenya-based female financial facilitator who has played an important role in an ISIS facilitation network in East Africa." The Treasury has sanctioned the leader of the Rawi Network in Turkey and Iraq, Mushtaq Talib Zughayr al-Rawi, and several of his family members, who helped launder money through exchange shops in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Sudan, and the Gulf to facilitate Daesh operations worldwide. Al-Ard Al-Jadidah Money Exchange Company was designated for transferring and delivering Daesh funds to all the provinces of Iraq, according to the Treasury. The Kenya-based woman, Halima Adan Ali, was sanctioned for playing an integral role in the terrorist group's financial facilitation network. "Between 2017 and early 2018, Halima received large sums of money from around the world, mostly through hawala systems, that she would forward to ISIS [Daesh] fighters in Syria, Libya, and central Africa," the statement said. The Treasury Department said the Rawi Network had previously been the target of a joint Treasury-Department of Defense action in October 2018. *Daesh (also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL) a terrorist group, banned in numerous countries, including Russia Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pyongyang opens new department store Global Times By Zhang Hui Source:Global Times Published: 2019/4/15 21:23:40 N.Korea persists in economic development despite sanctions: experts A modern department store providing commercial and catering services opened on Monday in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, in the country's latest move to showcase its economic facilities to the world. Chinese analysts believe that North Korea's recent actions are intended to show the world its resolution to develop its economy and improve the livelihoods of its people, but for this to happen, the UN needs to lift sanctions against North Korea. Taesong Department Store has been remodeled into a "comprehensive and all-purpose service center," and food, household goods, school supplies and goods for cultural use are on sale, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday. The department store is to ensure the "convenience of customers to the maximum and enhance the material and cultural life of people," according to KCNA. Just days before the opening of the department store, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited it. Kim has been busy visiting economic facilities this month. KCNA reported that Kim made four visits to local factories, tourist facilities and department stores from April 4 to 8, including the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area and Samjiyon Potato Farina Production Factory. Also on Sunday, an inauguration ceremony for the Maebongsan Spring Water Factory in Wonsan was held. North Korea recently invited Japanese journalists to visit a Pyongyang sock factory. A Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) program on April 8 showed North Korean workers making socks with machines. TBS said that inviting foreign journalists to the factory showed that North Korea is attempting to boost its economy under its own steam, and is trying to show this to the world. Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that North Korea shifted its focus toward the economy and people's livelihoods last year, after it started to dismantle its nuclear test sites. North Korea wants opening-up, but achieving it will take a long time considering the current UN sanctions and the US sanctions, Zheng Jiyong, director of the center for Korean studies at the Shanghai-based Fudan University, told the Global Times. Experts believe that North Korea's opening-up will bring stability to Northeast Asia and boost regional economic cooperation, as North Korea has rich natural resources and its geographic location links several countries. Li Guang, foreign trade manager of Hot Tex Woolen Co, a fabric supplier in East China's Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times on Monday that he has heard about the Taesong Department Store, and he believes that North Korea's attempts to boost its economy will mean more opportunities for Chinese merchants. "I'm going to the Pyongyang (Spring) International Trade Fair this May. I hope that representatives from the Taesong Department Store and other state-run stores will come to me so we can cooperate," Li said. Li's company has signed two deals with the North Korean side since the end of last year, and exported fabrics worth $20,000 to North Korea in 2018. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea despaired of continuing talks with US IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 15, IRNA -- Two rounds of talks between the US and North Korean leaders have so far failed to achieve tangible results and continuation of this trend has made Pyongyang's officials despaired of continuing negotiations with the American side to achieve a win-win deal. In recent years, the United States and North Korea have experienced upward and downward relations. The disputes surrounding North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which went on to become a full-fledged war between them, once lost their colors, and the leaders of the two countries, after decades of disagreement in the global public, sat behind the negotiating table. But it did not take long for the North Korean authorities to be the disappointed to reach win-win agreement with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, an example of which was the harsher tone of the Pyongyang officials in the face of the US in recent months, to the point where they threatened the White House to leave the negotiations. Last month, North Korea's deputy foreign minister Choe Sun Hui insisted that the North Korean leader will soon decide on whether to end or continue talks with the US government. North Korea's threats have become effective and have made Trump to retreat at least at his announced policy level. On April 14, at his Twitter page, while praising Kim Jong-Un, Trump accessed North Korea under Un for its immense potential for tremendous growth, economic success and wealth; a literature opposing the literature of the era of hostility when at that time that the US officials in order to describe North Korean leader were using humiliating words such as 'Missile Man', 'Madman', etc. Trump on Twitter, along with his desire for a third meeting with Kim, said North Korean officials did not hope to improve relations after the event, as in past meetings, not even one single of their interconnected problems has been resolved. The first visit of Trump and Kim dates back to Singapore's meeting in June 2018 which achieved no result for either side. The leaders of the two countries tested their luck for the second time in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam; the meeting that not only did not achieve, but the leaders of the two countries left negotiations earlier than scheduled, showing that the demands of the two countries are far from one another. Although Vietnam meeting was held confidentially and behind the closed doors, the various narratives and inconsistencies of the two countries showed deep divisions between them. North Korean officials assessed the US opposition to lift sanctions among the reason for failure of negotiation. According to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, the country's leader only wants to lift some of the sanctions affecting the lives and business of the people, promising to permanently stop all their missile and nuclear tests. But Trump's narrative of the bilateral meeting was different, believing that Kim did not intend to disarm all sectors. 'The North Korean authorities wanted to eliminate a large part of their nuclear facilities, but we could not stop all sanctions,' the president said. "Sanctions are still in place. We know every inch of this country and we need to get what we want.' After the meeting, the North Korean leader, while urging Americans to strive for a just and acceptable deal, also explicitly stated that he was uncertain about the honesty of the American side. According to observers, Trump in North Korea seeks to implement the 'Libyan model'; an issue that was broadcast by Reuters after a failed meeting between the leaders of the two countries. According to the report, the president of the United States during Hanoi talks had offered a similar offer that has been offered for Libya's disarmament; a plan that his national security adviser John Bolton put emphasis on it put it forward as a prescription for the US foreign policy towards North Korea. The model of Libya relates to how the United States succeeded in dismantling nuclear program of this North African country in 2003, which the Tripoli authorities completely stopped as a result of threats (after the US invasion of Iraq) and the pressure of US sanctions on their nuclear program and completely destroyed its nuclear infrastructure. Since the United States has signed neither an agreement in Libyan model nor a concession to Libya, it has become a successful model in the US foreign policy; the White House officials are trying to prescribe it to other nuclear countries like North Korea. 9455**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump and Pompeo disregard Kim's deadline for nuclear talks flexibility Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 02:09AM US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo have disregarded comments made earlier by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un which urged Washington to change its sanctions-based policy by an end-year deadline. Speaking on Monday in Burnsville, Minnesota, Trump dismissed any removal of US sanctions on Pyongyang and expressed satisfaction with the current pace of negotiations. "It doesn't have to move fast. Right now it's moving along just perfectly. And we have a good relationship, the sanctions are on...there's a lot of constructive things going on," said Trump. Also speaking to reporters on Monday, Pompeo stressed the need for Pyongyang to move towards denuclearization before any further progress could be made. Pompeo said that Kim had made a commitment to denuclearization and that "we collectively need to see that outcome move forward." The comments come days after Kim said the US raised the risk of returning to past tensions following the collapse of his second summit with Trump. The North Korean leader stressed that another meeting between the two leaders will only be possible if Washington changes its "current way of calculation". Kim said he would wait "until the end of this year" for Washington to decide. Pyongyang has already suspended missile and nuclear testing, demolished at least one nuclear test site, and agreed to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility as gestures of goodwill. North Korea, however, has refused US demands to completely and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear program before having sanctions removed. Consequently, a second summit between Trump and Kim in February collapsed over differences on how far Pyongyang was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of US eagerness to ease sanctions. Trump abruptly walked away from the talks and held a press conference shortly afterwards. During the presser, Trump said that "he had to walk away" from the talks because of the North's demands to lift all economic sanctions against Pyongyang as a prerequisite to denuclearization. However, a few hours later, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho offered a completely different breakdown of the summit, telling reporters in a separate presser that Pyongyang had never asked for the removal of all sanctions, but was only seeking their partial removal. In June last year, the two leaders had met for the first time at a historic summit in Singapore where they agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Negotiations, however, made little progress mainly because Washington refused to lift its crippling sanctions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kim Set to Meet Putin, With Trump on Both Men's Minds By William Gallo April 16, 2019 Since emerging from his international isolation just over a year ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been a busy man. Kim has met twice with U.S. President Donald Trump, three times with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, four times with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and once with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. One name missing from that list: Russian President Vladimir Putin. That could soon change. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that preparations for a long-rumored Kim-Putin summit are underway. The meeting could happen as soon as next week, according to South Korea's semi-official Yonhap news agency. Pyongyang and Moscow have clear motivations for the meeting. Kim, whose government is being squeezed by international sanctions, is likely to push Putin for economic aid that would give him more leverage in nuclear talks with the United States. Putin may use the meeting to boost his influence in North Korea and ensure Moscow is not sidelined in negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Putin as spoiler? Maybe not. Under Putin, Russia has attempted to disrupt U.S. interests around the world, in areas as diverse as Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela. But Putin is not likely to play the role of spoiler in the North Korea-U.S. talks, in part because he doesn't have much leverage over Pyongyang, says Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seoul's Kookmin University. "And in this case, Russia's interests are not that different from that of the United States. Both sides want to preserve the status quo and want denuclearization," Lankov says. Russia may also be reluctant to upset South Korea, an important trading partner, whose progressive government is heavily invested in engagement with the North. Russia has carried out a balancing act in its approach toward Korea. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian leaders decided to prioritize relations with South Korea over the North. But since the mid-1990s, Moscow's policy has been based on "equidistance," or balanced relations toward both Seoul and Pyongyang, says Anthony Rinna, a North Korea-Russia relations specialist at the Sino-NK research group. "The Kremlin is trying to reverse the post-Cold War decline of its influence in East Asia," Rinna says. "In order to do that, Moscow needs to strengthen its ties with the DPRK." Though Moscow supported intensified U.S.-led international sanctions on North Korea following missile and nuclear tests in 2016 and 2017, it later called for them to be eased. Russian companies have since supplied oil to North Korea, in violation of those sanctions. Another factor: Russia sees North Korea as a buffer against the U.S. military presence in the region, including the 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. But for now, Russia's biggest priority may be preventing a return to the provocations of 2017, when Kim and Trump regularly exchanged threats of nuclear war. "Preserving the status quo is the major goal," says Leonid Petrov, a Korean studies expert at the Australian National University. "That means slow-motion conflict without major shifts or changes." What does North Korea want? Kim's goals, too, are diverse. At the top of his list is economic aid to relieve the pressure of sanctions and expand his leverage in stalled talks with Trump. At a February summit in Hanoi, Trump pushed for a "big deal" in which North Korea commits to completely giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for the United States lifting sanctions. North Korea countered with a gradual approach, offering to dismantle a key nuclear complex in exchange for partial U.S. sanctions relief. By meeting with Putin, Kim may be trying to show Trump that he has other options for economic help. But it's not clear how much Russia can offer, in part because of Russia's struggling economy and also because such help could violate sanctions. For example, North Korea has expressed interest in buying new Russian civilian aircraft to replace its aging fleet, according to Russian state media. However, a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibits the sale of transportation vehicles to North Korea. Besides economic aid, Kim could also ask Putin for a commitment to military assistance in the event North Korea is attacked, as well as continued diplomatic support at the United Nations, Petrov says. "It's a shopping list, and we don't know what's going to materialize," Petrov says. In any case, Putin will not likely offer enough to fundamentally change North Korea's calculation for the nuclear talks, says Kim Heung-kyu, a political science professor at Seoul's Ajou University. "Considering its internal circumstances, Russia is not capable of focusing very much on issues in East Asia," Kim says. "It's also not willing to have regional conflicts." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian Navy Helicopter Crashed After Technical Failure, All Crew Members Safe Sputnik News 19:49 16.04.2019 The Indian Navy confirmed that all crew members were safe, adding that it has launched an inquiry to investigate the cause of the crash. New Delhi (Sputnik) An Indian Navy Chetak helicopter crash-landed into the Arabian Sea last week, the Indian Navy announced on Tuesday, adding that the crash was caused by a technical failure. "As per reports, the helicopter developed technical failure prior to ditching and the crew displayed immense professional prowess and sound training thereby deftly landing the helicopter in the water and successfully egressing from it," the Indian Defence Ministry said in a statement. Last October, a Chetak helicopter crashed at a naval base in Chennai while flying from Mumbai to Bangalore. The French-origin Chetak is a 1960s helicopter and is considered an obsolete part of the navy's helicopter fleet. The Indian Navy is planning to replace all Chetaks with 111 Naval Utility Helicopters which are currently in the tendering process. India's fleet of Chetaks are used for search and rescue operations, casualty evacuation, ferrying passengers from ships, and low-intensity maritime operations, such as dropping torpedoes. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India Looking to 'Explore New Avenues of Defence Cooperation' with Thailand Sputnik News 18:44 16.04.2019 India has had a defence cooperation agreement with Thailand in place since 2012, and New Delhi is now looking to broader the scope of their military cooperation. New Delhi (Sputnik): As the first-ever trilateral maritime exercise with Singapore is expected to be held this year, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will embark on a three-day bilateral visit to Thailand on Wednesday. The Indian Defence Ministry on Tuesday said that the visit is aimed at finding new avenues of defence co-operation, indicating that New Delhi may offer arms to Thailand despite that fact that it has close military ties with China. "The visit is intended to consolidate and enhance the maritime bilateral relations between India and Thailand and also to explore new avenues of defence cooperation," a defence ministry statement released on Tuesday reads. Thailand inked a $411 million deal in 2017 to purchase one S26T diesel-electric submarine derived from the Chinese military's Yuan-class sub. The construction of the vessel has already started and is expected to be delivered by 2023. According to SIPRI yearbook 2018, China is the third-largest arms supplier to Thailand, only behind South Korea and Ukraine. Thailand also ordered 49 VT-4 tanks from China to replace its US-made M41s that have been in service since the Second World War. India has made significant inroads in improving its defence cooperation with East Asian countries in the past few years, many of which have strained ties with China. For example, New Delhi supplied HMS-X hull-mounted sonar and radar tech for Myanmar's Kyan Sittha-class frigates, and also provides night-vision devices, bailey bridges, rocket launchers, mortars, rifles, communication and Inmarsat sets to the armed forces of Myanmar. Similarly, it has also supplied various naval arms to Vietnam as well. Admiral Lanba, in addition to holding important bilateral discussions, will also visit the Royal Thai Navy and Royal Thai Armed Forces headquarters in Bangkok and the 3rd Naval Area Command in Phuket. The Indian Navy cooperates with the Royal Thai Navy on many fronts, which include operational interactions, training exchanges and hydrographic cooperation. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India, US Conduct Anti-Submarine Drills Using New Secure Link for P-8 Aircraft Sputnik News 13:15 16.04.2019 After signing the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) last September, India and the US implemented the deal with their first ever secure communication link set up earlier this month. Prior to COMCASA, the US had to deploy temporary systems with Indian units during joint exercises so the two sides could communicate. New Delhi (Sputnik): The Indian Navy and the US Navy have conducted an anti-submarine exercise in the Indian Ocean involving P-8 aircraft. This is an indication that the US has activated the secure data link on the P-8Is under COMCASA, looking to improve the interoperability of the US P-8 aircraft. Earlier this month, the two navies established their first ever secure communication link under the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) which was signed between the two countries last September. The USS Spruance, based at San Diego, and P-8A aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 8 'Fighting Tigers' based at Jacksonville in Florida, conducted routine operations within the 7th Fleet, which is the US Navy's largest forward-deployed fleet with roughly 50-70 ships and submarines, and 140 aircraft with approximately 20,000 Sailors. "The US Navy is committed to engaging with regional partners in establishing common practices and developing mutual capabilities. Our goal is to further standardise our procedures so we can work more efficiently in future real-world operations," an official statement from commanding officer of USS Spruance Cmdr. Matthew Smidt read. The Indian Navy's P-8I aircraft from Naval Air Squadron 312, based at Indian Naval Station (INS) Rajali, took part in the exercise. The drills were focused on anti-submarine warfare training, information sharing and coordination between maritime patrol aircraft and ships. With the activation of the secure communication link on India's military platform under COMCASA, the Indian Navy will be able to receive real-time US intelligence on military deployments by China and Pakistan. Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba earlier specifically singled out the growing presence of Chinese warships, including submarines, in the northern part of the Indian Ocean as a "challenge" for India. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address FM Zarif urges Europe to read JCPOA context IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 15, IRNA -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged the European states to read context of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action they signed with Iran. 'Reminder to our E3 partners in #JCPOA: There is NO prohibition on the enrichment of uranium by Iran under #NPT, #JCPOA or UNSCR 2239. Neither now, nor in 2025 or beyond,' Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Monday. 'Might be useful for European partners to actually read the document they signed on to, and pledged to defend.' French envoy to US Gerard Araud in a tweet deleted afterwards had claimed 'It's false to say that at the expiration of the JCPOA, Iran will be allowed to enriching uranium. Under the NPT and its additional protocol, it will have to prove, under strict monitoring, that its nuclear activities are civilian.' In reaction to what French diplomat claimed, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said 'If tweets by @GerardAraud represent French position, we're facing a major violation of the object and purpose of the JCPOA and UNSCR 2231. Needs immediate clarification by Paris, or we act accordingly.' 9376**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's Army to unveil new military hardware: Commander Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 02:35PM A senior Iranian military commander says the Army's Ground Forces are to unveil new military hardware, including armored vehicles, armor piercing weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare equipment. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Monday, Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari said the achievements will be showcased during a military parade on Thursday on the occasion of the National Army Day. During the parade, the Iranian Army's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base will also display the S-300 missile defense system, the domestically-manufactured high-altitude and solid-fuel Sayyad 2 (Hunter II) missiles, Sayyad 3 (Hunter III) missiles, short-range and long-range radars and electronic warfare systems, he added. The senior commander noted that the Iranian Army will also use its Saeqeh, Raad and Azarakhsh aircraft and perform aerial refueling operations on Thursday. Heidari said Iran has achieved self-sufficiency in the technology needed to manufacture armored and anti-armor equipment, artillery, drones and helicopters. The Iranian Army's Ground Forces plans to sign an agreement with Defense Ministry to get Karrar (Striker) tanks, which constitute Iran's most advanced domestically-built tank that is also among the most powerful tanks in the world, he added. In March 2017, Iran unveiled its most advanced domestically-manufactured tank of amphibious mobility for induction into the country's armored assets. The tank's missile power is boosted with ballistics computer, laser-guided targeting, and the potential for both the gunner and military commander to aim the projectiles from two parallel gunsights fitted onto the vehicle at the enemy targets. Over the past years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite sanctions and economic pressures on the country. The Islamic Republic maintains that its military power poses no threat to other countries and is merely attentive to its military doctrine of deterrence. Elsewhere in his remarks, Heidari noted that the military parade will not be held in flood-affected provinces of Golestan, Khuzestan and Lorestan. Massive downpours began sweeping Iran on March 19, with raging currents of water battering houses, washing away cars and killing people in a few provinces. The intense rainfalls eventually caused rivers to burst their banks, and dams to overflow, triggering the worst flooding in decades in 25 of the country's 31 provinces. Iran's Forensic Medicine Organization on Sunday put the death toll from the ongoing floods at 76. Most recently, the organization said, flooding claimed the lives of five people in Khuzestan province and left a sixth person dead in the western province of Ilam. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo: The Canadian Press Sonya Berthin and Rose Mackesey, with McCor Management, pose with letters found during construction on a historic building in Winnipeg. Century-old love letters are being returned to a family after they were uncovered by a construction crew working on a historic building in Manitoba. The slightly yellowed letters were found in the basement of the Paris Building in downtown Winnipeg on April 3. Workers weren't sure where the letters fell from, but Sonya Berthin, general manager for the company that manages the building, said they were in near-perfect condition in a pile on the floor. Berthin took them back to her office and started reading, quickly realizing just what a unique find they were. "It's like reading a romance novel, except knowing this is real life," Berthin said. The letters from 1918 and 1919 are addressed to a Rebecca (Becky) Rusoff in Winnipeg from a soldier in Halifax named Soko. In the earlier letter, the man talks about life of as a soldier in Halifax and how he had to build courage to send Becky a photo although the photo was not located with the letters. Soko writes about how he thinks about Becky all the time and believes she is the perfect treasure. "Whenever I think of you, I feel a perfect well of tenderness pouring from my heart. I feel I could love you until death." By the second letter, Soko is baring his soul to Becky. "It's a funny thing, this love business. It has wrecked this calm exterior I have built around me. It's even painful. I understand the bride's tears at a wedding." The writer describes about how love is changing him, making him substitute others' names in love songs with Becky's. But he also shares more information about their relationship before he travelled East. Soko writes that they have known each other for five years and reflects on her beauty at a party they both attended. "I love you because I know you. You are not a mystery to me, not an angel, but a girl." The letter ends with Soko writing that he hopes Becky also has feelings for him. Berthin said she later learned the writer was Hyman Sokolov, who became a prominent lawyer and journalist in Winnipeg. His love letters appeared to be successful, because he eventually married Rebecca and they had three children. Berthin has since been contacted by the Sokolov's grandson and said she is working on returning the letters to the family. "It is nice that these people care and want it, and want to share it with the rest of their family," she said. "So many people let go of history." No one is quite sure when or how the letters ended up in the basement of the building now run by McCor Management. Many businesses have called the building home since 1915, including the Western Jewish News, of which Sokolov was the managing editor. Until 1925, it was the tallest building in Winnipeg. Berthin said treasures from bygone eras can show up when crews are working on older buildings. But, she added, this one will stay with her. "Construction is messy and dirty, and its nice to come across something nice." US Officially Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guards as Terrorist Group Sputnik News 17:35 15.04.2019(updated 19:24 15.04.2019) WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States has formally designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organisation, a notice in the US Federal Register confirmed on Monday. "I hereby designate the aforementioned organization and its aliases as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the [Immigration and Nationality Act]," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the notice published in the Federal Register. Later in the day, US Acting Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield said during a press briefing that the United States' decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation is not an indication of an upcoming conflict or war with Iran. "The recent designation of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, that was not a harbinger of conflict or war with Iran," Satterfield said. "That was another step taken in what has been a consistent and extremely transparent campaign by the United States to constrain the ability of a terrorist organizations and that is how we view the IRGC from continuing their deadly and disruptive work. But no, this has nothing to do with a pretext for or a lead to conflict." Pompeo's statement follows President Donald Trump's announcement made on 8 April that the United States is designating Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Pompeo later confirmed this saying that the designation would take effect in one week. Commenting on the decision, senior US administration official said in a conference last week that it would allow for the criminal prosecution of those providing material support to the IRGC. The official also urged other nations to designate the IRGC. As a response to the US move, the Iranian Foreign Ministry proposed that the country's Supreme National Security Council include the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on its list of terrorist organisations. Tensions between the United States and Iran have escalated since Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal last year and reinstated sanctions against Tehran. The nuclear agreement envisaged gradual lifting of sanctions in return for Iran keeping its nuclear program peaceful. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC blacklisting due to US defeat in region: Statement IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 16, IRNA -- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps says the US move to blacklist the IRGC as a terrorist organization is the result of debacles Washington has faced in the region. 'The idiotic and illegal move by the adventurous US president and his circle is the result of their grudge and anger for chain defeats this pharaonic system has faced in the region as well as the deadly blows from the Iranian nation and this popular institution,' said IRGC Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari in a message published on Tuesday. The United States officially designated Iran's IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization, according to a notice published in the US Federal Register on Monday, Reuters reported. US President Donald Trump said last week he would make the symbolic, but unprecedented move which was immediately condemned by Iran. Majority of politicians from all sides of the Iranian political spectrum rallied in support of the IRGC in a bid to show their support. Also, the Iranian lawmakers, wearing the IRGC's olive green uniforms, attended the parliament on Sunday. The Iranian press also opened their front pages with the news and reactions to the move. The reformist Etemad's page one title read 'I'm a guard' in a clear bipartisan support for the forces. The IRGC expressed its gratitude for the show of support, promising 'a reciprocal response to the enemies, especially the rogue and terrorist-producing government of the US'. The latest anti-Iran move of Trump received fierce reactions from the 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 sponsor of terrorism. 9218**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address France committed to JCPOA: Paris ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 16 April 2019 / 16:06 Tehran (ISNA) Elysee confirmed its commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a day after Iran summoned French ambassador to Tehran following a French diplomat's tweets. In a written answer to a question by Euronews reporter, the office of French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs' spokesperson said, "We remind that France's stance on JCPOA hasn't changed. It means that France is committed to the implementation of JCPOA and supports the deal as long as Iran observes all the nuclear commitments. The deal which is the subject of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 approved by all members, is still a key element in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and an important factor for regional and international security". Hours before the announcement by Elysee, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, "Reminder to our E3 partners in JCPOA: There is NO prohibition on the enrichment of uranium by Iran under NPT, JCPOA or UNSCR 2231. Neither now, nor in 2025 or beyond. Might be useful for European partners to actually read the document they signed on to, and pledged to defend". Earlier, French Ambassador to Washington Gerard Araud wrote on his tweeter, "As we said in 2002 that enriching uranium without a credible civilian program was illegal under the NPT, we'll be able to react likewise in 2025 if necessary. Sanctions were imposed. Sanctions could be reimposed. There is no "sunset" after the JCPOA". "It's false to say that at the expiration of the JCPOA, Iran will be allowed to enriching uranium. Under the NPT and its additional protocol, it will have to prove, under strict monitoring, that its nuclear activities are civilian," Araud added. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran MPs adopt countermeasure against US blacklisting of IRGC Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 02:42PM The Iranian Parliament (Majlis) has overwhelmingly approved the general outlines of a motion devised by the legislature to counter the United States' blacklisting of the Islamic Republic's elite defense forces. The double-urgency motion was forwarded to Majlis last week after the US designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as "a foreign terrorist organization." On Tuesday, the Parliament lent its overall approval to the motion during its open session, with 204 votes in favor, two against, and no abstentions. It features 13 articles, the most important of which are as follows: Article 1 denounces the US measure as a breach of international law, calls it counterproductive to regional and international peace and stability, and reciprocally designates the US Central Command (CENTCOM) -- including all its affiliated bases, units, and forces -- as "a terrorist organization." It also calls any assistance favoring CENTCOM "aiding and abetting acts of terrorism." Article 2 obliges the government to act "decisively" against any US measure potentially compromising the Islamic Republic's interests, while Article 3 urges the government and Armed Forces to preemptively prevent US forces from using available resources against those interests. Article 4 obligates Iran's intelligence apparatuses to identify CENTCOM's commanders and those in charge of its affiliates to enable their prosecution, and tasked the Judiciary to mandate such prosecution. The government was, in line with Article 5, tasked with supporting all the natural and legal persons, who cooperate with the IRGC thus lying in the way of harm by the United States. Article 6 mandates legal, political, and diplomatic endeavor aimed at shuttering the US's regional bases and blocking the US forces' access to regional resources. The countries and people cooperating with the US designation were subjected under Article 7 to retaliatory Iranian efforts. Any Iranian organizations potentially withholding support for the IRGC citing US sanctions were, meanwhile, found subject to punitive measures as per Article 8. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the motion would be discussed in detail at the legislature next week. He praised the vote as "decisive and exceptional," saying it reflected the lawmakers' unity when it came to issues of national importance. "Majlis showed that it acts in unison when it comes to supporting national interests and security. This is an invaluable thing that the Americans should understand well," he noted. Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami addressed the open session, praising the motion and voicing the government's support for it. "This [US] conspiracy too will face defeat," he said, noting that the blacklisting showed that Washington's sanction ploy against the Islamic Republic has been rendered ineffective. "Their successive and long-term sanctions counterproductively resulted in the Iranian nation's self-sufficiency and enhancement of its defensive and deterrent power," Hatami asserted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Enraged by serial defeats in region, US targeted IRGC: Top cmdr. Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 01:20PM The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the United States has blacklisted the elite defense force out of the "vengeance and outrage" resulting from Washington's back-to-back defeats in the region. Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari made the remarks in separate messages addressed to the Iranian people and authorities in acknowledgement of their support for the Corps after the United States formally designated the force as "a foreign terrorist organization" last week. The hostile measure prompted popular rallies across Iran in honor of the IRGC and successive supportive statements by officials of all ranks. Jafari further called the blacklisting an "inane and illegal measure taken by the adventuresome US president and the radicals around him." Such a move "is a product of the vengeance and outrage caused by the pharaonic [US] system's serial defeats in the region," he added. The designation, he added, is also a result of "the deadly blows [dealt to Washington] by the Iranian nation, and this popular revolutionary institution (the IRGC), which has been a successful trailblazer in the fight against terrorism." He hailed the nation's support as an indication of national unity and integrity, which served as the key to success in the face of the challenges being posed to the Islamic Republic by the enemy front. The IRGC has been playing a momentous role in fighting regional terrorism, especially following the emergence of the Takfiri Daesh terror group in Iraq and Syria. At the request of the governments in Damascus and Baghdad, the IRGC's military advisors rushed to the aid of the national Syrian and Iraqi armies, paving the way for them to undo Daesh's gains and rid their countries of the outfit in late 2017, despite widely-reported attempts by the US and its allies to prevent Daesh's collapse. In response to Trump's recent move, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic reciprocally designated the US administration as a "supporter of terrorism" and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) -- including all its affiliated bases, units, and forces -- as "a terrorist organization" pursuant to a decision by Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the country's top security body. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria's Assad denounces US for blacklisting Iran's IRGC Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 09:36AM President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has censured the US for blacklisting Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which has been greatly contributing to his country's fight against terrorists. In a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Damascus on Tuesday, the Syrian leader said the recent designation of the IRGC as "foreign terrorist organization" was yet another "wrong" move by Washington, which could further destabilize the region. During the meeting, the two sides emphasized that the hostile policies of the US and certain Arab countries cannot prevent Iran and Syria from defending the rights of their nations, the statement added. Assad and Zarif further urged the US and its Western allies to stop waging wars and using economic terrorisms against other states who refuse to do their bidding and return, instead, to diplomatic means in dealing with them. For his part, Zarif censured Washington for recognizing the occupied side of Syria's Golan Heights as Israeli territory, saying the measure showed the defeat of the American agenda for the region. Zarif said he and the Syrian president explored ways to promote bilateral ties. The two sides also discussed the Astana peace process for Syria and the progress in the bilateral deals signed during Assad's trip to Iran in February, he added. Prior to his meeting with Assad, Zarif sat down for talks with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem. The top Iranian diplomat arrived at the Damascus International Airport earlier on Tuesday at the head of a delegation and was welcomed by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad. Speaking to reporters upon arrival, Zarif said his trip was aimed at coordinating efforts among regional countries to counter "hostile" US policies, including the recognition of the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory, the recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's "capital" as well as its "illegal and unprecedented" decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a "terrorist" group. Such measures, Zarif added, stem from Washington's repeated defeats both on the battlefield and the political front in the region. Zarif then visited the holy shrine of Hazrat Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), south of Damascus. The Iranian minister will next travel to Turkey for a review of bilateral and regional relations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqis To The Rescue? Iranians Wary Of Paramilitary Forces Sent For 'Flood Relief' Efforts By Golnaz Esfandiari April 16, 2019 Many Iranians are upset by the presence of Iraqi paramilitary forces sent to help with flood relief efforts as they try to cope with a natural disaster called the worst to hit Iran in more than 15 years. Several weeks of heavy rain has created torrential flood waters in nearly all of Iran's 31 provinces, killing more than 70 people, displacing hundreds of thousands, and causing more than $2 billion in damages as the state strains to provide humanitarian aid. Critics say the move to bring Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd al-Shaabi) from Iraq is a show of force by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) amid discontent over what is seen as the state's poor response to the destructive floods. The popular criticism appears to highlight a level of distrust for the IRGC, which has also been accused in the past of using Lebanese militia to crack down on domestic protesters. "If this is to demonstrate solidarity between the two countries [Iran and Iraq], then Iraq's Red Crescent forces should have come, not an armed force," Iran-based journalist Abolfazl Abedini said on Twitter. Abedini noted that Hashd al-Shaabi and the Iranian establishment have "common interests," while adding that "bringing the armed groups of another country for relief is wrong." Through the IRGC's elite Quds Force -- which is responsible for operations outside of Iranian borders -- the IRGC is said to have close ties with powerful groups in Hashd al-Shaabi, an umbrella organization of more than 40 groups that has between 45,000 and 142,000 fighters. The group was also involved in the fight against the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq. 'Depth Of Sympathy' Iranian media report that Hashd al-Shaabi's forces will help with relief efforts in the Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces where towns and villages have been hit with high waters that have destroyed infrastructure and crops while flooding homes. Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi was quoted as saying on April 13 that hundreds of Iraqi tribal leaders and other elites -- including members of Hashd al-Shaabi -- have obtained Iranian visas and gone to Khuzestan and Lorestan to help flood victims. Masjedi said the move demonstrated "the depth of sympathy and ties between the two countries." Iranian officials say 37 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds injured in the past week in flooding set off by heavy rains. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency quotes Iranian President Hassan Rohani as saying the scale of the disaster overwhelmed emergency services in some areas. The neighboring countries fought a bloody war against each other from 1980 to 1988 that was driven by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and led to hundreds of thousands of Iranians and Iraqis being killed. Baghdad-Tehran relations have vastly improved since Hussein's Sunni-led government was overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2003 and replaced by Shi'ite leaders. Iranians adhere predominantly to Shi'a Islam. Many people on social media have questioned the arrival of the Iraqi paramilitary forces just weeks after the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfar-Abadi, suggested that the government could use foreign militia groups -- including Afghans and Pakistanis recruited by the IRGC to fight in Syria -- to put down potential protests inside Iran. "If we do not help the revolution, the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi, the Afghan Fatemiyoun [brigade], the Pakistani Zeynabiyoun, and Yemeni Huthis will come and help the revolution," Ghzanfar-Abadi was quoted as saying last month in a meeting with religious students in Qom. "Helping during floods is different than a 'show of power' -- one is based on empathy, the second fear," journalist Maziar Khosravi wrote on Twitter earlier this week. Some dismissed the concern, including journalist and former political prisoner Bahman Amouee, who suggested on Twitter that the Islamic republic has "enough" repressive forces that there is no need to accuse Afghans and Iraqis of playing a role in state repression. "Do not create hatred towards our neighbors," Amouee said on Twitter. 'It Looks Bad For Us' Some of the resentment appeared to highlight the open wounds of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq during which Khuzestan became a frontline where tens of thousands of people were killed and many cities were left in ruins. In a video shared widely, including by popular actress Mahnaz Afshar, a young man who introduced himself as an Iranian Arab suggested that the presence of Iraqi forces in Iran was damaging to the country. "We should help ourselves -- why have foreigners entered our country? They want to prove themselves and say; 'Look I went to [this] village or [that] village and gave them blankets.'" "It looks bad for us, not for them," the young man added angrily. In an apparent reaction to the sensitivities, lawmaker Ali Sari of Khuzestan's capital, Ahvaz, was asked in parliament by the official government news agency IRNA whether the Iraqi groups who had traveled to Iran carried military equipment. Sari who said he had not seen Hashd al-Shaabi's forces but that he had been informed that they were in Iran to help the flood victims, declined to comment. "I cannot comment on this because I do not have any information," he said. The lawmaker also said he wasn't aware which state body had coordinated the presence of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in Iran while adding that "usually" such decisions are made by IRGC's Quds Force. Demonstrating Reach And Influence? The semiofficial Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, posted a video of "50 trucks" carrying aid by Hashd al-Shaabi that had crossed the border and entered Khorramshahr, in Khuzestan Province. Fars said the trucks were carrying food, clothing, and electrical generators. Fars also reported that members of the Fatemiyoun -- which reportedly consists of mainly Afghan refugees from the Hazara Shi'ite minority recruited and trained by the IRGC to fight in Syria -- were involved in flood relief efforts, too. The deployment of IRGC-backed foreign forces could also be a signal to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which earlier this month designated the powerful Islamic Guards as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Journalist Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the move to bring Iraqi paramilitaries to Iran is aimed at demonstrating the IRGC's reach and influence in the region. "I think the message [the IRGC] is sending to Washington is that we have a large network of ideological, paramilitary, armed, and militia groups in the Middle East and we can react extensively," Mahdavi-Azad, who is based in Germany, said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iranians-wary- iraqis-paramilitary-forces-sent-for-flood -relief-efforts/29884709.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 Iranian Air Force to Debut New Homegrown Fighter Jet in Massive Parade Reports Sputnik News 17:18 16.04.2019(updated 17:30 16.04.2019) The country will celebrate Army Day on Thursday, marking the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Islamic Republic's Armed Forces in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution. This year's Army Day celebrations will feature two domestically built aircraft the Saeqeh fighter jet and the brand new Kowsar interceptor putting the new military hardware on display in the Iranian capital, Air Force Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Hamid Vahedi has announced. "The major difference between this year's parade and those held in previous years is that it will include Kowsar and Saeqeh domestic hunter bombers," Vahedi said Tuesday, according to Press TV. According to the senior officer, the demonstration of Iran's domestic engineering prowess will help "prove to the world that [US] sanctions will stop short of impeding us." Along with the Kowsar and the Saeqeh, Thursday's massive parade is expected to feature Iranian Air Force MiG-29s, F-4 Phantoms, F-14 Tomcats, and KC-707 and KC-747 tanker aircraft, with the planes flying to the capital from airfields across Iran. Iranian jets buzzed over Tehran on Tuesday to rehearse the parade, with the Kowsar snapped alongside some of the other planes featured in the review flyover. The Kowsar and Saeqeh were created by the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company. Introduced in late 2018, the Kowsar has been described a "100 per cent indigenous" outgrowth of the US-designed Northrop F-5, but featuring fourth generation avionics, including an advanced fire control system, smart mobile mapping systems, a glass cockpit, and heads-up display, along with the ability to carry modern munitions, including domestically produced missiles and bombs. The Saeqeh is another fighter derived from the F-5, and features upgraded avionics and improved aerodynamics, and reportedly designed for precision bombing missions, with a declared range of 3,000 km. That plane was first introduced in the mid-2000s. Tensions between Iran and the US escalated again last week after Washington formally designated the Iranian military's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a 'foreign terrorist organisation'. Earlier, Iranian officials accused the US of engaging in 'economic terrorism' through its tough sanctions policy against Tehran. President Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last May, reinstating a series of restrictions aimed at grinding Iran's economy to a halt and seeing its oil exports drop "to zero." Prior to the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran faced US and international sanctions for decades, with the country adapting to the restrictions by developing a wide variety of technologies to replace foreign imports and technology, from energy and consumer goods to the defence sector. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Likud Party Loses One Seat After Recount, But Netanyahu Still to Form Gov't Sputnik News 19:05 16.04.2019(updated 21:12 16.04.2019) The results show that Netanyahu's Likud Party won 35 seats. At the same time, Kahol Lavan, the party led by Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, gained a similar number of seats in the parliament. A final vote count after the election which took place last week in Israel showed that the right-wing Likud Party managed to secure one less seat than the previously released data suggested. However, this does not strip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his right to form the next government. Commenting on his victory, Netanyahu said that he wanted "all parts of Israeli society, Jews and non-Jews as one, to be an integral part of the tremendous success story known as the State of Israel." Meanwhile, the recount shows that the United Torah Judaism Party managed to win an extra seat in the Knesset. The results for other parties remained unchanged in comparison with last week's initial results. On the same day, Israeli media reported that Benjamin Netanyahu secured the support of the parliamentary majority, which recommended Israel's leader to form the new government. According to The Times of Israel newspaper, President Reuven Rivlin received recommendations from 10 of the 11 parties elected to the parliament. Thus, incumbent Prime Minister Netanyahu enjoys the backing of 65 members of the parliament, while his rival from the Blue and White political alliance, Benny Gantz, has been supported by 45 lawmakers. Netanyahu was backed by lawmakers from his Likud party, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, right-wing United Torah Judaism alliance, Union of Right-Wing Parties, Kulanu centrist party, and Yisrael Beytenu secular party. The latter is headed by Avigdor Lieberman who resigned from his defense minister post in November. Gantz, who served as chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 2011-2015, in turn, received support from his centrist Blue and White alliance, left-wing Meretz party and the Israeli Labor Party. Rivlin is due to meet with representatives of one more party, Raam-Balad, to discuss the candidate for the post of prime minister. This is unlikely to change the situation since the party holds only four seats in the parliament, according to the results of the recent parliamentary elections. This comes after Israel held a parliamentary election on 9 April after which both Netanyahu and Kahol Lavan head Benny Gantz claimed victory in and announced their plans to form a cabinet. On the next day after the election, US President Donald Trump said he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory and reinforce American support for the Jewish state. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel Used 'S-300-Evading' Missile for First Time in Syria Strikes - Reports Sputnik News 14:07 16.04.2019(updated 14:24 16.04.2019) Israel reportedly carried out airstrikes against an alleged 'Iran-linked' 'missile factory' in Syria's Hama province in the early hours of Saturday, with Syrian air defence troops saying they intercepted some of the missiles, which were launched from Lebanese airspace to try to thwart an effective air defence. Israeli Air Force F-16s may have used the country's newest air defence-evading 'Rampage' air-to-surface missiles (ASM) during their Saturday strike against a military facility in western Syria, independent defence analyst Babak Taghvaee has reported. According to the analyst, the missiles were used "due to the danger" posed by Syrian Air Defence Force S-300PM-2s, which were delivered to the country by Russia last October following the accidental downing of a Russian plane during an Israeli air raid on Syria. The Israeli military has not commented on the claims. The Rampage missile was introduced last year, with developers boasting that the missile "allows us to strike under conditions we've never had before". The all-weather weapon can be deployed aboard IAF F-15s, F-16s and F-35s, and can travel over 140 km at supersonic speeds, guided by an onboard GPS system. Crucially, the missile is designed to strike high-value targets at standoff ranges, meaning it can be launched by aircraft which can then return to a safe distance, before enemy air defences have a chance to respond. Israeli aircraft reportedly struck a military facility in Masyaf in the Syrian countryside outside the city of Hama in the early hours of Saturday morning, with multiple buildings destroyed and at least three Syrian troops injured. Syrian air defences reported downing several enemy projectiles, with social media users posting videos of efforts to repel the attack. Israeli satellite intelligence firm ImageSat International said the strikes targeted an 'Iranian' missile factory operating inside Syria, but admitted that their images could not verify 'Iranian control' over the facility, nor the site's status as a missile factory, pointing to a lack of actual missiles or launchers in the compound. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria in recent years, while accusing Tehran of using the war-torn country as a foothold for a possible future military attack against Tel Aviv. Tehran has denied these claims, but has admitted to providing military advisors, arms, and other assistance to Syria at Damascus' request to help the country in its fight against Islamist terrorism. Israeli attacks against Syria declined late last year following the deployment of Russian-made S-300 air defence batteries in the country. The Russian military delivered the systems to Syria in response to an incident in which a Syrian-operated S-200 accidentally shot down a Russian Il-20 military aircraft over the Mediterranean while attempting to defend against an Israeli airstrike, killing all 15 Russian service members on board. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libya conflict casualties going up, WHO warns Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 04:24PM The World Health Organization (WHO) says the number of casualties of conflict in Libya has risen to 147 dead and 614 wounded. The rising figure has prompted the WHO to deploy surgical teams "to support Tripoli-area hospitals as they cope with the influx of trauma cases," the UN agency said in a posting on Twitter. It urged "all parties to exercise restraint and avoid causing collateral damage to hospitals, ambulances and health workers." At least eight ambulances have been hit during clashes on the southern outskirts of the Libyan capital. Libya has been divided between two rival governments, the House of Representatives, based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and the internationally-recognized government of Fayez al-Serraj, or the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). General Khalifa Haftar is presumably loyal to the one in the east. His self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) started its offensive against the GNA on April 4. Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 18,000 people fearing violence and clashes have been forced to flee to other safer locations in the past days. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned that the country is in "critical need of assistance." "The situation on the ground continues deteriorating and number of casualties soaring," UNHCR tweeted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libya's Deputy PM Warns EU not to Trust Haftar, Avoid Repeat of Syrian Scenario Sputnik News 16:20 15.04.2019 On Sunday, the World Health Organisation reported that the death toll from the renewed clashes between Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's forces and those loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord has climbed to 147. Libya's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq has warned the countries of the EU not to sit down with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar to discuss the Libyan conflict, which he claimed may lead to a civil war, Syrian-style. "I would like to ask the heads of European governments: do you understand who Haftar is and what he wants? The subversion of the Tripoli government that we represent is a betrayal of international law and UN principles", Maiteeq told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. He added that Libya would like to urge Italy and Europe to help the North African country "observe international law and stop war". "Can Europeans trust a person [Haftar] who, in the midst of difficult negotiations under the auspices of the UN, is betraying the whole process?" Maiteeq noted. He claimed that by using Egypt's support, Haftar is drawing Libya into a protracted war that may result in mass migration and the spread of terrorism. Maiteeq's interview comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday that 147 people have already been killed amid the renewal of clashes between Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) and forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). According to the WHO, just four days ago, the death toll stood at 58 people. Earlier last week, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the EU is concerned by the participation of 'terrorists' in hostilities in Libya and called on the parties to the conflict "to dissociate themselves from these elements, both publicly and on the ground". Mogherini has also urged the sides to resume a political dialogue and "continue to engage in the UN-led process for an inclusive political settlement". Her remarks followed a statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who warned that a serious political dialogue that should be resumed in Libya cannot be launched until the hostilities completely stop in the country. The dangerous confrontation in Libya started to unravel on 4 April, when Haftar's forces announced an unexpected offensive on Tripoli. The Field Marshal claimed at the time that the GNA had formed an alliance with terrorist groups in the country; he pledged to defeat them and cleanse jihadists from the region. Forces loyal to the Tripoli-based GNA said, in turn, that they were launching a counteroffensive operation, dubbed Volcano of Rage. After National Transitional Council forces, supported by NATO, murdered the country's former head Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, Libya was involved in a protracted political gridlock. The country remains divided between the LNA-backed parliament, which was elected in 2014 and is based in the city of Tobruk; and the GNA, which was formed as part of a UN initiative and controls the western part of the country, including the capital Tripoli. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Death Toll From Libya Violence Escalation Rises to 147 WHO Sputnik News 06:04 15.04.2019(updated 06:05 15.04.2019) MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Death toll from the renewal of clashes in Libya between the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and the forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has increased to 147, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday. Earlier, the number of victims from the escalation of tensions in the Maghreb country stood at 121, while the number of injured people amounted to 561, according to the WHO figures. "#LibyaCrisis toll now 147 dead and 614 wounded. WHO has deployed surgical teams to support #Tripoli-area hospitals as they cope with the influx of trauma cases", the organization's office in Libya wrote on Twitter. The security and political situation in Libya has been unstable ever since the 2011 revolution, as the country is still divided between two authorities, with the LNA-backed parliament ruling over eastern Libya and the GNA controlling the west of the country. The confrontation between the two governments dangerously escalated on 4 April, when Haftar's forces announced an unexpected offensive on Tripoli. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN's Libya envoy: Haftar's actions looked like coup Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 07:43AM The United Nations (UN)'s envoy to Libya says self-styled commander Khalifa Haftar attempted a "coup" by issuing an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and other officials in the country's internationally-recognized government. General Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) attacked the capital, Tripoli where Serraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) is seated early this month in an offensive that he has claimed is meant to eradicate "terrorism." UN Envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame told BBC radio on Monday that Haftar's issuance of arrest warrants during that offensive "sounded more like a coup than counter-terrorism." The attack on the capital has prompted intense fighting between Haftar's forces and those loyal to the GNA. Salame said neither side could achieve military superiority over the other. "We are in fact in a military stalemate since eight days, or nine days [ago]," he said. The UN envoy said both sides had carried out airstrikes that also hit civilian infrastructure and residential buildings, especially in the south of Tripoli. The fighting has killed at least 147 people and left 614 others wounded, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The UN agency urged "all parties to exercise restraint and avoid causing collateral damage to hospitals, ambulances, and health workers." The fighting prompted WHO to deploy medical teams "to support Tripoli-area hospitals as they cope with the influx of trauma cases." The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned about an "escalation" in the fighting, which "could create even further displacement." "The situation on the ground continues deteriorating and number of casualties soaring," the UNHCR said in a tweet. The conflict has also raised concerns about a potential rise in terrorism by such groups as Daesh. Germany, Italy voice concerns German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Monday over the Libyan situation, which she described as "very worrying." "It is about fighting, the causes, that lead to fleeing and displacement. [If we address that], then we will have reduced the problem. Unfortunately, we have to say the challenges remain tremendous," she told reporters. Merkel also said that she had had a conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, who has expressed his support for Haftar along with France, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia. According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal this weekend, Saudi Arabia has "promised tens of millions of dollars to help pay for the operation" by Haftar's forces in Libya. "The offer came during a visit to Saudi Arabia that was just one of several meetings Mr. Haftar had with foreign dignitaries in the weeks and days before he began the military campaign on April 4," wrote the Journal. Separately, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met with the supporters of Serraj's government in Rome, where he highlighted the need for averring "a humanitarian crisis that could be devastating, not only for the repercussions on Italy and the EU but in the interests of the Libyan people themselves." In recent years, Italy has been the biggest gateway for refugees trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean and often from conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa. It received more than 6,000 refugees per month up until 2017, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which also warned that the recent conflict in Libya would be sending a great number of refugees to Europe. Qatar says Haftar's forces must withdraw Additionally, Qatar's foreign minister also talked to Italian daily La Repubblica about the Libya conflict on Tuesday, calling for an effective arms embargo against Haftar and his troops to withdraw from areas they have recently seized. Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani also said that he was recently told by his French counterpart that Paris was working to ensure a planned national reconciliation conference on the conflict. 'Haftar's aggression to spread cancer to Europe' Meanwhile, Prime Minister Serraj also warned that hundreds of thousands of refugees could flee the fighting due to what he described as a war of aggression and a betrayal of the people of Libya. Speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Libyan prime minister said on Monday, "We are facing a war of aggression that will spread its cancer throughout the Mediterranean, Italy, and Europe." "We need to be united and firm in blocking the war of aggression of Haftar, a man who has betrayed Libya and the international community," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libyan GNA Troops Able to Drive Haftar Army Out From Tripoli - Deputy PM Sputnik News 19:54 16.04.2019 CAIRO (Sputnik) - The troops of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) are able to protect Tripoli and drive advancing forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar out from the capital, Ahmed Maiteeq, the deputy prime minister of the GNA, said on Tuesday. "We are able to protect Tripoli, and we are ready for this, we will drive Haftar's militia back to where they came from," Maiteeq said at a press conference in Rome. According to Maiteeq, the situation on the ground in Libya has improved significantly two weeks after the beginning of Haftar's offensive. "The position of the GNA is clear. We are talking about a coup, Haftar must go," he said, calling the LNA's offensive "an invasion" and an "attack on the legitimate government." Maiteeq also announced GNA's readiness to discuss the introduction of a no-fly zone in Libya. Meanwhile, the head of Libyan GNA State Council, Khaled Mishri, has accused the Arab League Chief of siding with Haftar. "We did not see the League of Arab States taking a stance against the fighting. Its [general] secretary has sided with Haftar," Mishri said during a news conference. He added that the council would participate in an inter-Libyan dialogue only if Haftar would not be part of it. Libya remains divided between the LNA-backed parliament, which was elected in 2014 and is based in the city of Tobruk, and the GNA, which was formed as part of a UN initiative and controls the western part of the country, including the capital Tripoli. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistani Watchdog Decries Assaults On Religious Freedom, 'Unprecedented' Curbs On Media By RFE/RL April 15, 2019 A Pakistani human rights watchdog has urged the mainly Muslim country to endorse and implement measures to protect its religious minorities, which it says continue to face "harassment, arrest, or even death." In its annual report released on April 15, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that extremist groups "continued to target [Shi'ite] mosques, religious gatherings, religious leaders, and other individuals in attacks resulting in at least 112 persons being killed" in 2018. The report came out days after a suicide bombing that appeared to target the Shi'ite ethnic Hazara community in the southwestern city of Quetta claimed the lives of at least 20 people. The attack was claimed by both an affiliate of the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group. The report, titled State Of Human Rights In 2018, also raised concerns about incidents of forced conversions and marriages of women and girls from the South Asian country's Hindu and Christian communities to Muslim men. HRCP said that around 1,000 cases of forced conversion of Hindu and Christian women and girls were reported last year in the southern province of Sindh alone. Some of the girls were recovered on court orders, it said. Earlier this month, an Islamabad court allowed two sisters from the Hindu community to live with their Muslim husbands, rejecting allegations from their parents that their daughters were abducted and forcibly married. A government investigation concluded the girls were 18 and 19 and that they were not forced to change their religion. HRCP also expressed concern over what it says was the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, where around 70 people have been lynched since 1990 on accusations of insulting Islam. "The blasphemy laws have been grossly abused with many people lodging false complaints to settle their personal vendettas," it said. "In many cases, blasphemy allegations end up in a mob lynching or targeted killing of the accused before they can be tried or heard in a court of law." Forty people are currently on death row or serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges of blasphemy, according to HRCP. The report cited the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was released last year after spending eight years on death row for alleged blasphemy. She has been in protective custody at a secret location since her acquittal in October 2018. HRCP also said that Pakistani media faced "unprecedented" curbs last year, particularly in the run-up to the country's general elections. "Under the opaque shroud of 'national security concerns,' the restrictions on media coverage were stepped up, journalists increasingly took to self-censorship to evade intimidation and threats, cable operators were prohibited from broadcasting certain networks, the distribution of a national newspaper was severely curtailed, and a media blackout was imposed on coverage of certain events," it said. In September 2018, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that the climate for press freedom in Pakistan was deteriorating as the country's powerful army "quietly, but effectively" restricted reporting through "intimidation" and other means. With reporting by AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistani- watchdog-decries-assaults-on-religious-freedom- unprecedented-curbs-on-media/29882353.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 S.Korean president says to push for summit with DPRK leader People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 18:44, April 15, 2019 SEOUL, April 15 -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that he will actively push for another summit meeting with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to help resume dialogue between the DPRK and the United States. "Now, it's time to actively prepare and push for South-North summit," Moon told a regular meeting with his senior secretaries, referring to the fourth summit between South Korea and the DPRK. The leaders of the two Koreas held summit talks three times last year. Moon said he hoped to make concrete and effective discussions with Kim "in any place and formality at the DPRK's convenience" about ways to bear advanced fruits going beyond the past two DPRK-U.S. summits. The comment came after Moon visited Washington last week for summit talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Moon said his Washington meeting with Trump was aimed to remove uncertainties, raised after the second summit between Kim and Trump, and restore the momentum of dialogue between the DPRK and the United States for the unwavering push for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. The second Kim-Trump summit ended with no agreement in late February in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. After the Hanoi summit, Moon vowed to help resume dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. After the meeting with Moon, Trump said in Washington that "smaller deals" could happen "step by step" between the DPRK and the United States, though his country and South Korea were focusing on "the big deal." "The big deal is we have to get rid of the nuclear weapons," Trump explained. The DPRK leader said in his policy speech marking the First Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) on Friday that he was willing to hold one more summit with Trump "if the United States adopts a correct posture and comes to the third DPRK-U.S. summit with a certain methodology that can be shared." Kim noted that he would wait for a "bold decision" from Trump with patience by the end of this year, saying both Pyongyang and Washington should try to find out a "constructive solution to meet each other's interests." In response, Trump tweeted Saturday that a third summit with Kim "would be good in that we fully understand where we each stand." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address S Korea's Moon pushes for 4th summit with N Korea's Kim Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:41AM South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for a fourth summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with the aim of helping salvage faltering denuclearization negotiations between Pyongyang and Seoul's ally the US. "As soon as North Korea is ready, I hope the two Koreas will be able to sit down together," Moon told a meeting with his top aides on Monday. "I will spare no effort to ensure that the upcoming inter-Korean summit becomes a stepping stone for an even bigger opportunity and a more significant outcome," he said. Moon welcomed Kim's "firm commitment for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula" and called for what would be his fourth summit with the North's leader. Moon, who met briefly with US President Donald Trump at the White House last week, has been a supporter of engagement with the North. His recent announcement came after Kim said on Friday that he was open to a third summit with Trump. The South Korean president, however, did not respond to Kim's criticism of Seoul being too subservient to the "anachronistic arrogance and hostile policy of the United States," and that the South's military persisted in "veiled hostility" by conducting exercises with US forces. Trump and Kim held their first landmark summit in Singapore last June, where they signed a vaguely-worded agreement on the "denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." Their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended in failure and left the future of the diplomatic process in doubt. Kim said on Friday that the Hanoi summit raised questions about Washington's decision. He said, however, that Pyongyang will wait until the end of the year for the US to make "a courageous decision." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address HRW Warns Against New Russian Move To Crack Down On Freedom Of Expression, Assembly By RFE/RL April 15, 2019 The Russian government is developing a draft law that will "further jeopardize" freedom of expression and assembly in the country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned. The bill, if adopted, would enable the authorities to "freeze the bank accounts of people who donate to or finance protests that are deemed unlawful," the New York-based human rights watchdog said in a statement on April 15. The provision on financing public assemblies is one of several amendments being considered in a bill to prevent and address the financing of terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and money laundering. HRW said that the provision had the "insidious effect of placing the financing of unauthorized demonstrations in the same category as these other forms of serious criminal activity." Damelya Aitkhozhina, Russia researcher at HRW, urged Russia to immediately drop the provision from the bill, "On amendments to laws of the Russian Federation concerning the financing of terrorism and other illegal activities," saying that it would enable the government "even to target and intimidate someone who paid for some flyers or protest signs." In recent years, the government "has created new obstacles to the exercise of free expression and assembly and has pushed peaceful protesters to the margins of the law," HRW said in its statement. It cited a law on public assemblies that requires protesters to seek authorization for public assemblies and enables the authorities to "routinely deny requests for authorization on a plethora of grounds." "Police routinely disperse authorized and 'unauthorized' protests and detain, beat, harass, fine, and intimidate peaceful protesters," the watchdog said. It added that posting information online about upcoming, unauthorized public gatherings may also result in detention, and repeated violations can lead to a prison sentence. Last month, an 18-year-old Russian activist became the first person punished under a new law that prohibits adults from encouraging minors to take part in unauthorized protests. "As public discontent over the government's economic, social, and political agenda grows, authorities need to stop looking for ways to stamp down the public, and look for ways to listen to what protesters are saying," Aitkhozhina said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/hrw-warns-against -new-russian-move-to-crack-down-on-freedom-of- expression-assembly/29882188.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 Russian Navy Tracking US Destroyer Ross in Black Sea - MoD Sputnik News 10:05 15.04.2019(updated 10:26 15.04.2019) Earlier, US Naval Forces Europe announced in a press release that the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying battle group had begun deployment to the US 6th Fleet, which is responsible for Europe and the west coast of Africa. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is continuously tracking the US Ross destroyer that entered the Black Sea waters on April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. "The designated forces and assets of the Black Sea Fleet are carrying out continuous monitoring of the US naval forces destroyer, which entered the Black Sea on 14 April" the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, when entering to the Black Sea, the US Navy ship was tracked and placed under constant surveillance by the coastal radio equipment of the fleet. It was noted that the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Vasily Bykov and reconnaissance ship Ivan Hurs had been tasked with monitoring the activity of the US destroyer. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As Russia Touts Expanded Arctic Sea Routes, US Observers See Veiled Threat By Danila Galperovich April 15, 2019 At this year's International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russian leaders made the most peaceable statements to date about Moscow's long-term plans for the a rapidly melting Arctic. Answering questions during the forum's international plenary session, President Vladimir Putin extolled Moscow and Washington's common interests in the region, explaining that he doesn't sense any "special military tension" in the region. Not only does Russia forego military exercises in the Arctic, it's focused on helping neighbors dramatically increase cargo shipments across Arctic sea routes, he explained. "Our aviation activity in the Baltic Sea zone, the Arctic, is an order of magnitude lower than the activity of the NATO countries," he announced to those in attendance, which included the leaders of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. "This is a realistic, well-calculated and concrete task. We need to make the Northern sea route safe and commercially feasible," Putin added. Some activities omitted But Putin's account of an ambitious commercial program to secure an Arctic foothold, which includes the planned construction of ports, infrastructure and even an expanded fleet of icebreakers, omitted the following activities. March 2018: "Putin," a newly released campaign-trail film, shows the president boasting of Arctic-based, state-of-the-art missile-launch detection and tracking systems. "The Arctic region is extremely important for Russia," Putin is recorded saying, and that U.S. submarines "keep constant watch in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway." April 2018: Rosgvardia, Russia's National Guard, conducts transport and assault exercises on the militarily inhabited Franz Josef Land. September 2018: Colonel General Oleg Salyukov, commander of the Russia's ground forces, announces a new generation "Tor-M2" air-defense missile system for use in the Arctic, and he says that the Bastion-P mobile anti-ship and surface-to-surface missile defense systems have already been placed on Kotelny Island. February 2019: Pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reports on Russian plans for MiG-31 fighter jet patrols of the Arctic, with two squadrons based at the Murmansk region aerodrome and plans for a permanently stationed regiment. US voices: Arctic strategy needs update Some U.S. military officials and legislators have expressed concern that Washington isn't paying enough attention to Russia's military entrenchment in the region. They say the Department of Defense Arctic Strategy, last updated in 2017, largely got overlooked in the more all-encompassing National Defense Strategy, the main U.S. military strategy document signed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In August 2018, Congress passed a National Defense Authorization Act that approved unprecedented funds for the construction of six new polar class icebreakers by 2029. The U.S. Coast Guard has only two -- one of which is 10 years beyond its intended use -- compared to Russia's 46. The bill also calls for an updated Arctic strategy, including regularly updated summaries of regional foreign threats posed by Russia and China, along with specific roles and missions for each branch of the U.S. military. According to one expert, the asymmetry of U.S. and Russian assets in the Arctic may have to do with how Russia sees itself and the resources it needs for long-term planning. "The Arctic is extremely important for Russia, because it's really part of their national identity," said Robert Orttung of the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs. "In contrast to the United States, Russia really is an Arctic country. Much of the territory is in the Arctic, whereas in the U.S., it's simply Alaska, so we don't really think of ourselves as an Arctic country. "I think the most important question for Russia is the energy there, because they depend heavily on the resources," he added. "And going forward, that's going to be the main source of oil and gas for the country. Second, of course, is defense, and they see that as the main way to build up their Arctic resources and to protect themselves against what they see as a potential threat coming from the north." Orttung also says the melting ice has drained the region of its historically romantic mystique, and that easier access to natural resources may open up more possibilities for international trade and cooperation. "In the past, the Arctic was an area that people were extremely interested in, and there were these heroic explorers who really stirred the imagination in Russia and in the West," he said. "Of course, that's kind of changed now. Now the Arctic is seen more as a place of climate change and dramatic changes -- and possibilities -- in terms of trade and energy development." Military dominant situation But the ultimate Russian goal is to have a militarily dominant situation in the Arctic, "especially at a time when the U.S. is perceived as an adversary," he added. "And the U.S. has been spending less money on the Arctic, but I think we have to look at the difference between the rhetoric coming from the Kremlin and President Putin, and the actual development on the ground," he said. "I think [Putin] talks a better game than actually exists, and it's more about presenting the face of developing this military capacity, when in fact there aren't the funds in Russia to actually do that." Orttung also says he sees the Arctic as one of the last areas for prospective cooperation. "The Arctic for Russia and the U.S. in particular is one of the last areas of actual cooperation, where we can work together as a citizen, as scientists, as observers," he said. "So far, it hasn't been infected by the difficulty of Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukraine, for example. That's sort of been kept as a separate issue. So all this increased talk about militarization -- and of course, the U.S. is putting more airplanes and fighter planes in Alaska -- and it's just making it more and more difficult to see how the traditional cooperation that we've had in the Arctic can be preserved in the future." Retired Admiral Gary Roughead, former chief of U.S. Naval Operations, told VOA's Russian Service that Russia, like any country, has a primary interest in protecting and defending its coastal borders, and that it has a geopolitical interest in influencing how sea routes are developed and used. "To see the transpolar routes become more accessible and used ... I think that it adds stature to Russia, and particularly to Putin, to begin to identify as being the premier, most powerful Arctic nation by virtue of what it's doing from a military perspective," he said. While he's no longer directly engaged in U.S. military strategic investments, Roughead said U.S. and European allies should enhance communications and transnational infrastructure for cooperative naval and aerial patrols with conventional and unmanned vessels. "Something that we looked at was the ability to use unmanned aircraft to be able to patrol in the Arctic, because of their long endurance," he said. "And that's something that not only the United States should look at, but Canada and the some of the European Arctic nations to begin to put in place, some cooperatives, activities, perhaps cooperative investments, cooperative operations that allow us to operate up in the high north, routinely, reliably and safely. "For example, unmanned airplanes being able to take off in one country, conduct the patrol and then land in another country," he said. "Just having the infrastructure in place to do that -- that's something Arctic nations should strive toward." Twenty percent of Russia's gross domestic product is drawn from the Arctic via mining and shipping, whereas less than 1% of U.S. GDP is taken from the region. In 2013, the U.S. and Russian signed the Arctic Council's "Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic," which aims to improve U.S.-Russia collaboration on research in the environmental sciences, biology, ecology and shipping in the region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Facebook, Twitter Given Nine Months To Store Russian Users' Data In Country By Siberia Desk, RFE/RL's Russian Service April 16, 2019 MOSCOW -- Russia's communications watchdog has given social media companies Twitter and Facebook nine months to move Russian users' data onto servers in Russia, the Interfax news agency reports. Interfax on April 16 quoted Roskomnadzor head Aleksandr Zharov as saying he hoped the companies would comply with Russian data law and that the country's authorities will not end up having to block the sites. "The court has met, and the companies have been fined. They've been given time to comply with Russian laws," he told reporters. Russia and many other countries have enacted "data-must-stay" legislation to varying degrees, requiring the personal data of their citizens to be located in their home countries, an action U.S. social media giants have pushed back on. A Russian law adopted in September 2015 requires domestic and foreign companies to store the personal data of Russian citizens on servers in Russia, and allows Roskomnadzor to fine or block violators. In November 2016, Roskomnadzor blocked the professional-networking website LinkedIn, saying it failed to comply with the law. And in January this year, the Russian regulator launched administrative proceedings against Twitter and Facebook for allegedly failing to comply with the legislation. In separate proceedings earlier this month, a Moscow court fined the two companies 3,000 rubles ($46) each, the minimal fine envisioned by the law, for failing to tell authorities where it stores Russian users' data. Under the administrative proceeding, companies can be fined and assigned a deadline of from six months to one year to demonstrate their compliance with the law. Though the fines were relatively small, Zharov has not ruled out larger fines or other measures to get the companies to comply, state-run TASS news agency has reported. With reporting by Reuters, USA Today, and Interfax Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/facebook-twitter -given-nine-months-to-store-russian-users -data-in-country/29884544.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 Zarif, Assad discuss issues of mutual interest IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 16, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif discussed issues of mutual interest with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday. Heading a delegation, Zarif arrived in Damascus to meet with the Syrian top-ranking officials. He was welcomed by Syrian deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad. Zarif told reporters at Damascus airport that the goals of his two-day visit to Syria are to follow up the field victories against terrorism, coordinate the policies of the regional countries and review ways to advance dialog in Syria to reach a political solution. The visit focused on discussing various dimensions of mutual relations, most important regional issues, the latest developments about Astana initiative of leaders of the regional states, and the agreements made during President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Syria. 9417**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Regional policy coordination goal of Syria visit: Zarif IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 16, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Tuesday that his visit to Damascus aims to coordinate regional policies and planning to advance Syrian talks for political solution after gaining victories on the ground. The Iranian foreign minister heading a high-ranking political delegation arrived in Syria on Tuesday to follow up talks and consultations being regularly held between Iran and its neighbors, Syria and Turkey. He said upon arriving in Damascus that recent developments in the region, particularly the hostile policies of the US after its failures on the ground and the political defeat of Washington and the Zionist regime in the region, including the illegitimate moves by Trump recognizing the illegal annexation of Golan Heights to the occupying regime, recognizing Quds as the capital of Israel, followed by the idiotic, illegal and unprecedented move of the Americans labeling Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) a terror organization, necessitate regional efforts for further victories on the ground, coordination of policies of countries in the region, as well as drawing plan for advancing Syrian talks for a political solution in the wake of victories on the ground. Zarif noted that talks between Iran and Syria on bilateral economic ties and in other spheres need to be pursued in the visit. The Iranian foreign minister held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the country's Prime Minister Imad Khamis and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem. The visit is being paid upon an official invitation by President Assad which was offered during his trip to Tehran in February. 9156**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lebanese FM demands restoration of Syria's Arab League membership Iran Press TV Tue Apr 16, 2019 03:23PM Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has called for restoring Syria's membership in the Arab League, amid growing Arab overtures towards the Damascus government now that the country seems to be on the verge of full victory against foreign-backed terrorists. "Every time we meet, there is a vacant chair. ... It is not permissible for Syria to remain outside the Arab fold," Bassil said during a speech at the fifth Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in the Russian capital city of Moscow on Tuesday. He added, "Our Arab people are counting on us and are waiting for the Arab League to play an essential role in bringing together Arabs and solving our many problems." The top Lebanese diplomat then described the Middle East region's list of issues as "long and difficult," but emphasized that addressing the Syrian crisis should take priority. The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011, citing alleged crackdown by Damascus on opposition protests. Syria denounced the move as "illegal and a violation of the organization's charter." Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said on February 3 that his country will eventually return to the Arab League, stressing that the Damascus government will never surrender to blackmail or accept conditions for the restoration of its membership to the regional organization. "Those who are trying to ignore Syria or to impose conditions for its return to the Arab League will not succeed, since Syria will not surrender to blackmail and is not primarily concerned with anything other than its domestic problems," Mekdad said. He added that certain anti-Syria decisions are being made by some Arab states on the instructions of extra-regional powers. Some Arab countries have recently stepped up efforts to normalize ties with Syria as the country's troops have been making sweeping gains against the foreign-backed terrorists operating to topple the Damascus government. The issue of possible restoration of Syria's membership in the Arab League comes especially after a recent move by some Arab countries to re-open their embassies in Damascus. Bahrain's Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on December 28 last year that work at the kingdom's embassy in the Syrian Arab Republic was going on while the embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic to Bahrain was carrying out its duties and flights connecting the two countries were operational without interruption. The United Arab Emirates had earlier officially reopened its embassy in Damascus. The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the reopening of its embassy "reaffirms the keenness of the United Arab Emirates to restore relations between the two friendly countries to their normal course." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China's military actions challenge regional status quo ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/15 22:27:45 Taipei, April 15 (CNA) China's repeated military maneuvers around Taiwan will only heighten tensions in the region and are challenging the regional status quo, the Presidential Office said Monday. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed that a number of Chinese aircraft and military vessels were operating near Taiwan earlier in the day, behavior that Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang () described as "irresponsible." It was irresponsible for China, as a member of the international community, to take any military actions that can disturb security and stability in the region and negatively affect the cross-Taiwan Strait relations, Huang said in a statement. Such actions are also not welcomed by the international community, Huang said, adding that all parties, including both sides of the strait, have a shared responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the region. He assured the public, however, that the PLA's maneuvers near Taiwan are closely watched by the MND, which Huang said has everything in place to ensure national security. A group of planes, consisting of KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, at least one Xian H-6 bomber, Shaanxi Y-8 transport aircraft, and Sukhoi Su-30 and Shenyang J-11 fighters, flew over the Bashi Channel, which separates Taiwan and the Philippines, after taking off from southern China at around noon. Some believe that the PLA movement was directed at challenging American military dominance in the region, and that the timing was deliberately chosen to coincide with 40th anniversary celebrations of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) being held in Taiwan. (By Wen Kuei-hsiang and Ko Lin) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Numerous Chinese military aircraft operate near Taiwan: MND ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/15 18:08:44 Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Numerous Chinese military fighter jets and surveillance and transport planes operated near Taiwan on Monday and were closely monitored, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement. A group of planes, consisting of KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, at least one Xian H-6 bomber, Shaanxi Y-8 transport aircraft, and Sukhoi Su-30 and Shenyang J-11 fighters, flew over the Bashi Channel after taking off from southern China at around noon, the MND said. The Bashi Channel is a waterway separating Taiwan and the Philippines. Taiwan's military responded by sending aircraft and surveillance ships to monitor the maneuver and ensure the safety of the country's national airspace and sea areas, the MND said. The Chinese military planes were believed to be on their way to the West Pacific Ocean for routine distant-sea exercises, according to the ministry. All Chinese military planes returned to their base along the same route, with the exception of one Xian H-6 bomber, which returned via the Miyako Strait, a waterway that lies between Japan's Miyako Island and Okinawa Island, the MND said. The MND described the maneuver by the Chinese military as an attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and said it will not help in contributing to peace in the region and will hurt regional stability and safety. According to an Institute for National Defense and Security Research report, Chinese military planes circled Taiwan a total of 20 times between November 2017 and June 2018, while China's aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, circled Taiwan a total of five times between November 2013 and April last year. More recently on March 31, two Chinese Shenyang J-11 fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in China's first incursion across the line since 1999. (By Matt Yu and William Yen) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Beijing's refusal to renounce use of force destabilizing: Ryan ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/16 12:40:47 Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Former U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan criticized China on Tuesday for changing the cross-Taiwan Strait status quo with its military intimidation and described Beijing's refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan as the most destabilizing element of cross-strait relations. In a speech at the Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue in Taipei, Ryan said Beijing has changed the cross-strait status quo using multiple approaches in recent years. "Beijing has disrupted the status quo by attempting to constrict Taiwan's international space, including pressuring international corporations to refer to Taiwan as a province of China," Ryan said. It has also enticed Taiwan's partners to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan and increased military pressure on Taiwan, he said. Such military coercion occurred on Monday when a number of Chinese aircraft flew through airspace separating Taiwan and the Philippines "in a maneuver that was clearly meant to intimidate Taiwan," Ryan said. The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who is heading an American delegation in Taiwan here to attend events for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), said such military action should stop. "They are irresponsible and they undermine the framework that has enabled peace and stability and development for decades. It's counterproductive," he argued. He also took issue with Beijing's continued threat of force against Taiwan. "It's self evident that perhaps the most destabilizing element of cross-strait relations is Beijing's refusal to renounce the use of force to achieve its goal of unification," Ryan said. Ryan said the world is closely observing whether China can treat Taiwan "with the dignity and the respect that it deserves," stressing it is a test to prove if Beijing is "qualified to take on the leadership role internationally that it believes is befitting its size and stature." He reiterated Washington's stance of urging China to resume peaceful dialogue with Taiwan, saying that committing to peaceful dialogue is the only acceptable way to resolve differences and "an important step for demonstrating to a skeptical world that China can lead in an aspiring and benevolent fashion." The TRA, Ryan said, essentially equates any threat to Taiwan security with a threat to regional peace and a threat to U.S. security interests. "In other words, the United States considers any military action, any boycott or any embargo against Taiwan to be a threat to the peace of the Western Pacific area of grave concern to the United States. That's the text of the law," he stressed. Ryan made the comments during his keynote speech at the Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue, which focused on the TRA and Taiwan-U.S. partnership over the past four decades. 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. It was drafted to serve as a legal basis for unofficial relations between the U.S. and Taiwan and enshrine into law the U.S.'s commitment to helping Taiwan maintain its self-defense capability. Ryan served as the 54th House of Representatives speaker from October 2015 to January 2019. He announced in April 2018 that he would not be seeking re-election, ending a 20-year run in Congress. (By Joseph Yeh) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Visitors with Beijing propaganda agenda not welcome in Taiwan: MAC ROC Central News Agency 2019/04/16 23:00:49 Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Chinese or any other foreign nationals who intend to visit Taiwan to engage in pro-Beijing propaganda or activities that undermine Taiwan's sovereignty will not be welcome in the country, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) warned Tuesday. The statement came following recent media reports that certain groups of people from China and abroad plan to visit the country in late April to advocate unifying Taiwan with China by means of force and engaging in activities of a political nature. In order to safeguard national security and social stability, President Tsai Ing-wen () has instructed all relevant government agencies to pay close attention to the issue and if necessary, ban such people from entering the country, the MAC said. The government does not welcome Chinese nationals who totally disregard Taiwan's opinion on cross-Taiwan Strait issues while touting Chinese President Xi Jinping's "five principles" for managing cross-strait relations and his "one country, two systems" formula for Taiwan, it added. It is also strongly against those who come to promote pro-unification activities that jeopardize national security and social stability, the council said. According to the MAC statement, the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a country of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, whose constitution gives the people a full guarantee of freedom of speech. However, advocating war and promoting the unification of Taiwan and China by means of force violate the universal values of peace pursued by the international community, as well as civil and political rights, it said. The MAC also reminded certain groups of people in Taiwan to respect national interests and not take part in or organize activities that promote unification through the use of force. Everyone should work together to help defend the country's sovereignty, democracy and way of life, it noted. (By Miao Zong-han and Ko Lin) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan to Spend Billions on Bulking Up Island's Defenses Amid China Tensions Sputnik News 00:40 16.04.2019 Taiwan's military budget is expected to increase to more than $13.1 billion by 2027, as the self-ruled island attempts to boost its defense capabilities against Beijing. Taiwan President Tsa Ing-wen's government has increased the country's military budget to $11.34 billion this year, marking a 5.6 percent jump since last year. On Monday, Taiwan military spokesperson Chen Chung-chi told reporters that the Defense Ministry has set a 10-year-budget to increase military funding to over $13.1 billion by 2027. "This is based on our estimation," Chen said, the South China Morning Post reported, also noting that China has ramped up military drills near Taiwan's coast. Taiwan is an island nation off the southern coast of China that has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous state, having political and economic relations with several other countries that recognize its sovereignty, Sputnik previously reported. On Monday, Chinese bombers and warships conducted drills around the island, Reuters reported. "Any attempt to influence Taiwan through threats or coercion, we believe, destabilizes the region and threatens stability in the Taiwan Strait," James Moriarty, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, said at a Monday ceremony acknowledging US-Taiwan relations. "It hurts stability. It damages the cross-strait relationship. It damages any attempt by China to win the hearts and minds of Taiwan people," Moriarty added, Reuters reported. Last month, the US sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the Taiwan Strait, which divides Taiwan from mainland China, to demonstrate the US' commitment to freedom of navigation operations in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey says purchasing Russian S-400 should not trigger US sanctions Iran Press TV Mon Apr 15, 2019 05:51PM Turkey says the purchase of advanced S-400 air defense missile systems from Russia should not unleash US sanctions since Ankara is not an adversary of Washington and remains committed to NATO. Turkey's Defense Minister Hulusi Akar made the comments during a conference on American-Turkish relations in Washington on Monday, stressing, "Threats, ultimatums and deadlines are not constructive and contrary to the spirit of an alliance." Early this month, the US threatened that it would suspend all "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of F-35 stealth fighter jets over Ankara's plans to purchase the S-400. "We firmly believe that linking the S-400 to the F-35 project is unfortunate," Akar further said, adding, "We expect the United States and other project partners to honor their commitments." The S-400 system, whose full name is the Triumph Mobile Multiple Anti-Aircraft Missile System (AAMS), is an advanced Russian missile system designed to detect, track, and destroy planes, drones, or missiles as far as 402 kilometers away. It has previously been sold only to China and India. Moscow and Ankara finalized an agreement on the delivery of the S-400 missile systems in December 2017. Back in April last year, both sides announced that they had agreed to expedite the delivery of the systems. At the time it was said that the delivery could be made between late 2019 and early 2020. The deal has since drawn concerns among some of Turkey's NATO allies, particularly the US, claiming that the missile batteries are not compatible with those of the military alliance. Washington says it will not allow F-35s to operate alongside the S-400 systems. Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington had told Ankara it could face retribution for purchasing the Russian air defense systems under a sanctions law known as CAATSA. Elsewhere in his remarks on Monday, the Turkish defense minister reiterated Turkey's offer to hold technical talks with the US to address "technical concerns" over the S-400 purchase. "We believe this issue can be solved through constructive dialogue," he said. Aker added that Ankara is also assessing a renewed offer from Washington to buy US-made Patriot missile defense systems. "Recently we received the restated offer for the Patriots. This offer is now on the table, we are studying it carefully" he said. Ankara is striving to boost its air defense, particularly after Washington decided in 2015 to withdraw its Patriot surface-to-air missile system from Turkish border with Syria, a move that weakened Turkey's air defense. Before gravitating towards Russia, the Turkish military reportedly walked out of a $3.4-billion contract for a similar Chinese system. The withdrawal took place under purported pressure from Washington. Turkey's relations with the US have been strained over a range of issues. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been critical of Washington for supporting Kurdish armed groups in neighboring Syria that he says are responsible for terror attacks inside Turkey, among other issues. The Turkish leader has also slammed US officials for rejecting his requests to hand over Fethullah Gulen, a powerful opposition figure living in the US, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded a failed coup in mid-July 2016. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Agrees Not to Integrate S-400 With NATO Systems - Defence Minister Sputnik News 18:23 15.04.2019(updated 18:42 15.04.2019) WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Russian S-400 air defence systems will not be integrated into any active NATO military systems, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in Washington on Monday. "This system will not be integrated neither with NATO's systems nor with any other somehow connected to NATO's national [military] systems," the minister said during an annual US-Turkey conference in Washington. He vowed that the decision would not change any of Turkey's commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Turkish minister also expressed hope that other NATO countries would also keep their commitments to Turkey. "The procurement of the S-400 is not an issue," Akar said. "We believe that all disagreements can and should be resolved." Commenting on the tecnhical discussions with the United States, the minister noted that Turkey was ready for them and it would address concerns over Ankara's procurement of Russian S-400 air defence systems. "We are prepared to engage in technical discussions to address US concerns over the S-400 procurement," Akar said adding that Turkey's move to acquire the S-400 purchase is a "national decision." The remarks come after earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that Washington halted deliveries and activities with Turkey on its F-35 fighter jet programme over Ankara's decision to purchase S-400 air defence systems. In December 2017, Russia and Turkey signed a loan agreement for the delivery of S-400 air defence systems to Ankara. The Russian-Turkish cooperation on S-400 deliveries has been criticised by NATO and the United States, which have cited security concerns and the inability of integration between S-400 and NATO's air defence systems. Ankara, for its part, has said that the purchasing of military equipment is its sovereign affair and ruled out the possibility of abandoning the deal with Moscow. The first S-400 shipment is expected to be delivered to Ankara in July. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey Ready to Adjust S-400 Parameters If US Proves They're 'Threat' Sputnik News 15:41 16.04.2019 ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkey may adjust technical parameters of the S-400 air defence systems bought from Russia if the United States proves alleged risks that the complexes pose to the US military facilities, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday. "S-400 will most likely be set to protect Turkey's strategic cities and facilities near Istanbul and Ankara. At the same time, the F-35 aircraft will be stationed at the air base in Malatya. These cities are located far from each other. If the US side proves the existence of a threat, we will make changes to the parameters of the S-400 systems," the minister said, as cited by the Anadolu news agency. The statement came in wake of the visit by the Turkish finance minister to Washington, during which the issue was brought up. According to Minister Berat Albayrak, US President Donald Trump demonstrates a reasonable attitude toward Ankara's purchases of Russian S-400. Earlier, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said that Russian S-400 air defence systems will not be integrated into any active NATO military systems. The US has repeatedly voiced concern over its NATO ally's deal with Russia, threatening with sanctions. In April, the Pentagon announced that Washington halted deliveries and activities with Turkey on F-35 fighter jet program over Ankara's decision to buy S-400 air defense systems. In December 2017, Russia and Turkey signed a loan agreement for the delivery of S-400 air defence systems to Ankara. The Russian-Turkish cooperation on S-400 deliveries has been criticised by NATO and the United States, which have cited security concerns and the inability of integration between S-400 and NATO's air defence systems. Ankara, for its part, has said that the purchasing of military equipment is its sovereign affair and ruled out the possibility of abandoning the deal with Moscow. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK Sends Attack Choppers to Russian Border to Deter 'Credible Russian Threat' Sputnik News 16:00 16.04.2019(updated 16:07 16.04.2019) The UK has maintained a presence at a base in the Baltic nation of Estonia some 100 km from the Russian border since April 2017, and is set to lead a series of NATO drills in the country, known as 'Baltic Protector', next month. Five Apache attack helicopters took off from Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, England on Monday, heading east to the Amari Airbase in Estonia to join NATO's 'enhanced forward presence' along the alliance's border with Russia. British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who was on hand at Wattisham to see the helicopters off, called the deployment "really vital" and said "part of the reason" for the deployment is "a very credible threat that we see from Russia," according to Sky News. "This is about NATO nations standing together in unity as one and you see Great Britain playing the largest role in enhanced forward presence with the largest number of service personnel deployed," Williamson stressed, adding that the UK's Apaches have been "very warmly welcomed by so many nations." The attack helicopters will spend three months in Estonia, and presumably take part in the upcoming UK-led maritime tactical exercises, amphibious drills, shore landings and naval drills known as 'Baltic Protector' in May. They will also take part in Estonia's annual Spring Storm drills, according to the UK Defence Ministry. The Apaches will join four Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters deployed to Estonia last week. The UK, Canada, Germany and the US lead multinational 'Battle Groups', part of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in Eastern Europe. The UK deployment includes troops from the King's Royal Hussars Armoured Regiment. NATO agreed to the creation of a forward presence in the region in 2016 at a Warsaw summit. The alliance has beefed up its presence near Russia considerably in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukraine crisis, deploying battle groups, staging major exercises, and deploying reconnaissance aircraft and drones along the border. Moscow has warned that the buildup has led to an increase in tensions, and pointed to risks of accidental escalation amid the concentration of military hardware in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bethesda, Maryland, March 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bethesda, MD, March 20, 2019 The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF), along with Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), Profectus Biosciences, Inc., the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc., and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have been awarded up to $24.5 million to advance treatments for two lethal henipaviruses. The award was made to Dr. Christopher Broder, professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at USU. The award is a collaborative Center of Excellence for Translational Research (CETR) grant supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant funds will be distributed over five years to further the development of countermeasures used for the prevention and treatment of Nipah and Hendra infections in humans. Recently, Nipah was selected by the World Health Organization as an epidemic threat needing urgent research and development action. The deadly virus was included in the WHO R&D Blueprint list of priority pathogens with epidemic potential and are considered agents with the highest risk of being deliberately misused by bioterrorists to cause mass casualties and produce devastating effects to the economy, critical infrastructure and public confidence. This collaboration of public and private partners is an important step towards developing a successful treatment or prevention to a virus the WHO has recognized as an epidemic threat needing urgent action, said HJF CEO Dr. Joseph Caravalho, Jr. HJF is proud to partner with such laudable institutions and individuals to work towards a treatment for the threat posed by the Nipah and Hendra viruses. A major focus of the CETR will be on preclinical products that have shown an ability to provide complete pre- and post-exposure protection of animals against Nipah and Hendra infection. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved for human use against Nipah and Hendra, and infection causes high mortality rates in people that range between 50 and 100 percent. Transitioning the effective subunit vaccine into a form that can be stored long-term and rapidly deployed to outbreak areas will be a tremendous advancement to preventing widespread human infections. Profectus is working on the initial development of the human subunit vaccine under a grant from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and a license from HJF under the USU-HJF Joint Office of Technology Transfer. We are all very excited about this new grant as it combines the two most promising treatments against infection by Nipah and Hendra; one is a vaccine to offer protection from infection and the other approach provides a post-exposure treatment. Each of these measures has shown the ability to completely protect animals from either infection or lethal disease by these deadly viruses, said Broder. We are extremely appreciative of the support we have received from NIAID/NIH and look forward to working with them and with our corporate partners to further develop these most promising interventions for human use. Broder will work with his long-time collaborator Dr. Thomas Geisbert, professor at UTMB, to evaluate the effectiveness of the countermeasures to be developed, and they will collaborate with John H. Eldridge of Profectus Biosciences, James E. Crowe Jr. of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and with Larry Zetlin, of Mapp Biopharmaceuticals. Our group, in collaboration with Broders team were the first to report on the promise of both a preventive vaccine and a therapeutic treatment for both Nipah and Hendra infection with a clear potential for transition to real human-use application, said Geisbert. Its not often that research quickly leads to the development of medical countermeasures for people, and such progress typically comes from close collaborations between research groups. The grant awarded to Dr. Broder is NIH Award No. U19 AI142764 About HJF: The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF) is a global nonprofit organization with the mission to advance military medicine. HJFs scientific, administrative and program operations services empower investigators, clinicians, and medical researchers around the world to make medical discoveries in all areas of medicine. With more than 35 years of experience, HJF serves as a trusted and responsive link between the military medical community, federal and private partners, and the millions of warfighters, veterans, and civilians who benefit from military medicine. For more information, visit hjf.org. About USU: The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, acute trauma care, and advanced practice nursing and dentistry. For more information, visit www.usuhs.edu. About Profectus Biosciences, Inc.: Profectus BioSciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage vaccine platform company developing novel vaccines for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and associated cancers. Profectus' vaccines are based on the companys proprietary vaccine delivery platforms to provide protection against emerging infectious diseases of public health and biodefense importance such as Ebola, Marburg, Chikungunya, Zika, the equine encephalitis viruses, and respiratory syncytial virus; and therapeutically targeting virally infected cells and cancers associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV), human papilloma virus (HPV), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). For more information, please visit www.profectusbiosciences.com. About Vanderbilt University: Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is one of the nations leading academic medical centers and is the largest comprehensive health system in Tennessee. Its core missions are the delivery of patient care, performing biomedical research and training future leaders in health care. VUMC is the recipient of top accolades by the National Academies, the Magnet Recognition Program, the Leapfrog Group, and has been named a Top Hospital by Truven Health Analytics 14 times. In 2018, U.S. News & World Report named VUMC to the Honor Roll of the nations top 20 hospitals with 10 nationally-ranked adult specialty programs. In 2018, U.S. Newsalso named the Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital at Vanderbilt among the nations Best Childrens Hospitals with 10 out of 10 pediatric specialty programs nationally ranked. For more information and the latest news follow Vanderbilt Health on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter , and in the VUMC Reporter. About UTMB Health: Texas' first academic health center opened its doors in 1891 and today comprises four health sciences schools, three institutes for advanced study, a research enterprise that includes one of only two national laboratories dedicated to the safe study of infectious threats to human health, and a health system offering a full range of primary and specialized medical services throughout Galveston County and the Texas Gulf Coast region. UTMB Health is a component of the University of Texas System and a member of the Texas Medical Center. About Mapp Biopharmaceuticals Inc.: Mapp Biopharmaceutical is an American pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, California engaged in novel pharmaceutical development for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, focusing on unmet needs in global health and biodefense. Mapp Bio, is responsible for the research and development of ZMapp, a drug which is still under development, comprising three humanized monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for Ebola virus disease. Attachment English Latvian Consolidated sales March and 3 months Preliminary consolidated results of JSC Olainfarm for March 2019, show that the Group has made sales worth 10.8 million euros, which represents an increase by 3% compared to March of 2018. Preliminary results for first three months of Y2019 demonstrate 14% sales increase, compared to the Q1 of 2018, reaching 34.7 million euros. Products of Olainfarm Group during this period were sold in 47 markets worldwide. According to consolidated sales numbers for March, three major sales markets were Latvia, with 4% sales increase, Russia, where the sales dropped by 23%, and Belarus with the sales increase of 26%. Sales volumes in Russia declined because the earlier scheduled volumes for March were ordered at the beginning of the year. Amongst the 10 largest sales markets, the sales have been shrinking also in Ukraine (by 24%). All other major outlets demonstrated sales growth in March, with substantial deliveries to Uzbekistan, the Netherlands and Tajikistan. In the 1Q of 2019, the main sales markets of Olainfarm Group remained the same: Latvia (28% share), Russia, (26% share), Belarus (16% share) and Ukraine (8% share). Other major sales markets included Uzbekistan, The Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Germany, Tajikistan and Lithuania. The most rapid sales growth during this three-month period was achieved in the Netherlands, where sales grew by 386% compared to last year, and in Uzbekistan where sale grew by 39%. Russia and Latvia have demonstrated 11% sales increase in Q1. Amongst the largest sales outlets decline has been marked in Kazakhstan (-27%), Germany (-19%) and Lithuania (-34%). March 2019, consolidated sales Sales, thsnd. EUR Share in total sales Changes to March 2018 Latvia 3 233 30% 4% Russia 2 863 26% -23% Belarus 1 562 14% 26% Uzbekistan 584 5% 100% The Netherlands 424 4% 1015% Tajikistan 413 4% 308% Kazakhstan 381 4% 30% Kirgizstan 242 2% 785% Ukraine 172 2% -24% Mongolia 153 1% 1292% Other 802 7% -46% Total 10 830 100% 3% Q1 2019, consolidated sales Sales, thsnd. EUR Share in total sales Changes to Q1 of 2018 Latvia 9 786 28% 11% Russia 9 075 26% 11% Belarus 5 504 16% 20% Ukraine 2 852 8% 21% Uzbekistan 951 3% 39% The Netherlands 777 2% 386% Kazakhstan 614 2% -27% Germany 537 2% -19% Tajikistan 413 1% 34% Lithuania 384 1% -34% Other 3 796 11% 18% Kopa 34 689 100% 14% Unconsolidated sales March and 3 months According to preliminary unconsolidated numbers, sales of JSC Olainfarm in March reached 7.9 million euros, which represents an increase by 1% compared to March of 2018. Result was positively influenced by the sales increase in the Netherlands (by 1038%), Kirgizstan (by 611%) and Tajikistan (by 290%). Sales shrunk in Russia (by 28%) and in Ukraine (by 17%). Unconsolidated sales results for Q1 2019 show that sales of JSC Olainfarm reached 26,5 million euros, which represents and increase by 13% compared to first 3 month of 2018. During the reporting period, sales have increased in all major sales markets of Olainfarm, except Germany, where sales shrunk by 19%, Kazakhstan (decrease by 21%) and Lithuania (decrease by 37%). In this 3-months period, sales of Olainfarm to the Netherlands grew by 388%, but sales to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan accordingly by 39% and 28%. March 2019, unconsolidated sales Sales, thsnd. EUR Share in total sales Changes to March 2018 Latvia 2 439 31% -28% Russia 1 448 18% 1% Belarus 1 253 16% 29% Uzbekistan 584 7% 100% The Netherlands 424 5% 1038% Tajikistan 395 5% 290% Kazakhstan 268 3% 264% Kirgizstan 194 2% 611% Ukraine 156 2% -17% Mongolia 153 2% - Other 549 7% -57% Total 7 864 100% 1% Q1 2019. unconsolidated sales Sales, thsnd. EUR Share in total sales Changes to Q1 2018 Russia 8 017 30% 9% Belarus 4 606 17% 18% Latvia 4 492 17% 1% Ukraine 2 835 11% 22% Uzbekistan 951 4% 39% The Netherlands 777 3% 388% Germany 533 2% -19% Kazakhstan 427 2% -21% Tajikistan 395 1% 28% Lithuania 351 1% -37% Other 3 118 12% 20% Total 26 502 100% 13% Results of Daughter companies March and three months of 2019 Sales of pharmacy chain of SIA Latvijas Aptieka in March 2019 exceeded 2.1 million euros, which represents 2% decrease compared to March of 2018. Sales of SIA Silvanols in March reached 0.58 million euros, representing increase by 7% vs. the March of 2018. Combined sales of Tonus Elast and Elast Medical in March 2019 were 0.9 million euros, which is increase by 8%. Medical centers of Olainmed and Diamed made sales worth 0.27 million euros, while Belarus daughter company NPK Biotest made sales of 0.24 million euros. In Q1 of 2019, SIA Latvijas Aptieka sales were 6.6 million euros, demonstrating 12% increase, sales of SIA Silvanols reached 1.6 million euros (an increase by 7%). Combined sales of Tonus Elast and Elast Medical also grew by 7% to 2.17 million euros. Medical centers sold services worth 0.74 million EUR, while NPK Biotests sales reached 0.79 million. March 2019 3 months of 2019 Sales markets of Olainfarm 29 39 Sales markets of the Group 34 47 Number of pharmacies 71 Sales of Latvijas Aptieka, thsnd. 2 137 6 606 Sales of Medical centers, thsnd. 268 738 Sales of NPK Biotest, thsnd. 244 792 Sales of Tonus Elast and Elast Medical, thsnd. 935 2 168 Sales of Silvanols, thsnd. 576 1 641 According to the budget of JSC Olainfarm, unconsolidated sales of the company in 2019 are planned to reach 99 million euros, while consolidated sales are expected at 133 million euros. According to these preliminary sales figures, in the first 3 months of 2019, 27% of the annual target for unconsolidated sales and 26 % of annual target for consolidated sales are reached. JSC Olainfarm is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Latvia with more than 45 years of experience in production of medication and chemical and pharmaceutical products. A basic principle of company's operations is to produce reliable and effective top -quality products for Latvia and the rest of the world. Products made by the Group are being exported to more than 60 countries of the world, including the Baltics, Russia, other CIS, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. English Latvian JSC Olainfarm hereby informs that from now on, Investor Relations Advisor Janis Dubrovskis will be the core contact person for shareholders and investors. The contact details of Janis Dubrovskis are the following: contact e-mail: janis.dubrovskis@olainfarm.com; contact phone: +371 29178878. Janis Dubrovskis has broad experience in capital markets and corporate finance fields. Since 2003 Mr. Janis Dubrovskis held various positions at banks in Latvia, including Member of the Board at AS BlueOrange Bank from 2017 to 2019. JSC Olainfarm will continue to introduce investors to the consolidated and non-consolidated performance of the company by publishing information quarterly. The company will continue previous webinar practices, dates will be reported separately. At any other time, investors are welcomed to have a dialog personally by contacting J.Dubrovskis. JSC Olainfarm is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Latvia with more than 45 years of experience in production of medication and chemical and pharmaceutical products. A basic principle of the company's operations is to produce reliable and effective top -quality products for Latvia and the rest of the world. Products made by the Group are being exported to more than 60 countries of the world, including the Baltics, Russia, other CIS, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. Information prepared by: English French Swedish Estonian Finnish Latvian Lithuanian Spanish PRESS RELEASE Consolis strengthens its position in Northern Europe and Latvia by acquiring a major part of TMB Group Paris, April 16, 2019 Consolis Group, one of Europes leading suppliers of precast concrete solutions, announced today the agreement on the acquisition of the Finnish and Latvian operations of TMB Group, one of the main producers of concrete elements in the Baltics and Finland. Through this acquisition, Consolis reinforces its presence in Northern Europe and Latvia. Those activities benefit from the long lasting experience of TMB Group which brings more than 50 years of industry expertise and specific capabilities in both residential and non-residential buildings. It operates in Finland through Betonimestarit Oy and in Latvia through TMB Elements SIA. The annual revenues of these local operations acquired by Consolis exceeded 100 million in 2018. This move is part of Consolis growth and development strategy as a European key player in building. It follows the recent acquisition by Consolis of Tecnyconta, one of the key precast producers on the building segment in Spain which took place in November 2018. Nicolas Yatzimirsky, President of Consolis, states: By acquiring a major part of TMB Group, we strengthen our presence in Northern Europe and the Baltics, one of our key European markets. TMB and its subsidiaries in Finland and Latvia have built long-term relationships with their clients and have valuable industrial know-how. By bringing together the best expertise from both companies, Consolis in the region will be able to better meet customers needs with a broader variety of innovative products, services and solutions. Jaan Luts, Chief Executive Officer of TMB: The acquisition of our Finnish and Latvian operations by Consolis is an acknowledgment of our track-record over the years and of the quality of our teams. Consolis is a recognized leader in precast concrete which has solid ground for further growth. TMB will continue its operations in Estonia on a standalone basis. About Consolis: Consolis is a European leading industrial group providing smart, sustainable precast concrete structures for the transportation, utilities and building sectors. With more than 11,000 employees in 21 countries throughout the world, the group generated 1.5 billion in revenue in 2018. We are a key partner in global economic development. www.consolis.com HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD; MSE:ERDN) (" Erdene " or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of the repurchase of a 1% net smelter return (NSR) royalty from Sandstorm Gold Limited (Sandstorm) on its Khundii Gold Project in southwest Mongolia on April 12, 2019 for C$1.2 million. Completing this repurchase is accretive for shareholders as the present value of royalty payments implied by the Preliminary Economic Assessment are well in excess of the purchase price, said Peter Akerley, Erdenes President and CEO. With the exploration potential of the Khundii Gold Project license areas, which we are continuing to evaluate as part of our ongoing 2019 exploration program, the benefits of repurchasing could prove even greater. As announced on April 21, 2016, Erdene completed a transaction granting Sandstorm a 2% NSR royalty on a select area that included the Khundii Gold Project as part of a C$2.5 million financing transaction. This transaction provided Erdene with a three-year option to buy back 50% of the 2% NSR royalty for C$1.2 million. Erdene funded this repurchase from cash on hand. Review of Khundii Gold Project Development Erdenes deposits are located in the Edren Terrane, within the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, host to some of the worlds largest gold and copper-gold deposits. The Company has been the leader in exploration in southwest Mongolia over the past decade and is responsible for the discovery of the Khundii Gold District comprised of multiple high-grade gold and gold/base metal prospects, two of which are being considered for development: the 100%-owned Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar projects. Together, these deposits comprise the Khundii Gold Project (the Project). The Company delivered the Projects maiden mineral resource estimate in Q3 2018 with a Measured and Indicated (M&I) resource of 751,000 ounces (oz) gold at an average grade of 2.3 g/t gold and an Inferred resource of 291,000 oz gold at an average grade of 1.8 g/t gold (cut-off grade of 0.7 g/t gold). This was followed by a National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) Preliminary Economic Assessment in December 2018 which returned an after-tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate (NPV5%) and a US$1,200/oz gold price of US$99 million and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 56%. The initial development has a life of mine head grade of 3.42 g/t gold with an average annual gold production of 51,200 oz over an eight-year mine life. Based on the potential for additional discovery and expansion on the current license areas the planned development is considered as a foundation for growth. About Erdene Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company has interests in four exploration licenses and a mining license in Southwest Mongolia, where exploration success has led to the discovery and definition of the Khundii Gold District. Erdene Resource Development Corp. is listed on the Toronto and Mongolia stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.erdene.com . Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE Mississauga ON,, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), today announced that its National Board of Directors has appointed Angela Mondou as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. The ITAC National Board of Directors is extremely impressed with Angelas knowledge and ideas about the advancement of Canadas ICT industry in Canada, as well as the increasing role ITAC plays in fostering a growing, innovative tech sector in Canada, said national ITAC Board Chair Kevin Peesker, and president of Microsoft Canada. She is a tech visionary with a proven track record of execution and we are pleased to have Angela help drive the Association forward, ensuring we remain the trusted, innovative leader that our members rely on to advocate for a more robust and innovative digital economy. Ms. Mondou is an accomplished, bilingual leader, with over 25+ years of global and Canadian experience driving transformational programs in the tech sector. She has previously held CEO positions in both the health tech sector, and the not-for-profit sector. As program creator of the public-private sector leadership forums Strategic Knowledge Exchange aimed at driving change on a national scale, Angelas experience in developing strategic partnerships across national organizations and around the world, will support driving ITACs vision to influence Canadas position as a global tech leader into the future I am thrilled and honored to be taking on the helm of ITAC at such a pivotal time for Canada and for our sector, said Angela Mondou, president and CEO, ITAC. The decisions we, as a nation, make today will affect our economy and society for generations. Canadas IT ecosystem is integral to Canadas economic future. I look forward to representing ITAC's significant and diverse Tech members, executive leaders and ITAC team, as we work to advance the priorities of our sector and, importantly, our country. Angelas unique career path includes 10 years as a military officer and 18 years as a senior level leader in the tech and defence sectors, including senior leadership roles at Nortel Networs and Blackberry. Ms. Mondou was President of Canada Company, a federally regulated charity, bridging military personnel and the Canadian business community. Author of the leadership best-seller Hit the Ground Leading!, and award-winning founder of her own strategic leadership company, Angela has delivered programs and keynotes to companies and teams around the world! She has held positions as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ivey School of Business, EVP of Leadership with the International Womens Forum and as Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace, Technology and Engineering. Angela is also a recipient of the United Nations Peacekeeping medal. In 2005, Ms. Mondou represented Canada's peacekeepers in the Year of the Veteran campaign; was featured on a special circulation quarter released by the Royal Canadian Mint; and was part of a national television commercial campaign. Ms. Mondous deep understanding and experience of the ICT industry, as well as her strong, dynamic and values-driven approach to business is a reflection of our desire to create a truly purpose-driven Association, added Denise Shortt, vice president, Industry Development, Diversity and Inclusion, and previous interim CEO, ITAC. On behalf of the team, and our Boards of Directors, we welcome Ms. Mondou to the role and wish her every success as we continue our progress achieving our Associations priorities. Ms. Mondou succeeds Denise Shortt, who has served as Interim CEO since November 1, 2018. Ms. Shortt, a long-term employee of ITAC will remain as Vice President, Industry Development, Diversity and Inclusion, a role she has held since 2011. The ITAC National Board appreciates the time and effort put in by Denise Shortt, who stepped into the Interim CEO role, on top of her other duties as Vice President, added Peesker. We appreciate her ongoing leadership and contributions, helping to ensure the Association met and exceeded its strategic goals during this time. -30- About Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) As Canadas national ICT business association, the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) champions the development of a robust and sustainable digital economy in Canada. A vital connection between business and government, we provide our members with the advocacy, networking and professional development services that help them to thrive nationally and compete globally. A prominent advocate for the expansion of Canadas innovative capacity, ITAC encourages technology adoption to capitalize on productivity and performance opportunities across all sectors. A member-driven not-for-profit, ITAC has served as the authoritative national voice of the $170 billion ICT industry for over 60 years. More than 36,000 Canadian ICT firms create and supply goods and services that contribute to a more productive, competitive, and innovative society. The ICT sector generates over one million jobs directly and indirectly and invests $4.9 billion annually in R&D, more than any other private sector performer. TORONTO, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay or the company) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today announced that Waterton Global Resource Management, Inc. (Waterton), which is currently waging a proxy contest against the company, has commenced a legal proceeding in the Ontario Superior Court against Hudbay. Waterton alleges that the companys management information circular in respect of its annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on May 7, 2019 contains misrepresentations and seeks to constrain the companys ability to solicit proxies. Hudbay believes that the litigation is frivolous and will vigorously defend itself. The company will seek to recover its legal costs from Waterton and will provide further updates on this matter as developments warrant. Proxy Voting Information Time is short and the stakes are high. In order to ensure that your vote is counted at the Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders, shareholders are urged to vote only the GREEN proxy FOR the nominees recommended by Hudbay, and ensure that your proxy is received prior to the proxy voting deadline of 10:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on Friday, May 3, 2019. For assistance voting your proxy, shareholders should contact Laurel Hill Advisory Group at 1-877-452-7184 (toll-free for Hudbay shareholders in North America) or 1-416-304-0211 (collect call for Hudbay shareholders outside North America) or assistance@laurelhill.com . Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking information) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by us at the date the forward-looking information is provided, inherently are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to, risks generally associated with the mining industry, such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, currency fluctuations, energy prices and general cost escalation), as well as the risks discussed under the heading Risk Factors in Hudbays most recent Annual Information Form. Should one or more risk, uncertainty, contingency or other factor materialize or should any factor or assumption prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information. Hudbay does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward looking information after the date of this news release or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law. About Hudbay Hudbay (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is an integrated mining company primarily producing copper concentrate (containing copper, gold and silver), molybdenum concentrate and zinc metal. With assets in North and South America, the company is focused on the discovery, production and marketing of base and precious metals. Directly and through its subsidiaries, Hudbay owns three polymetallic mines, four ore concentrators and a zinc production facility in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan (Canada) and Cusco (Peru), and copper projects in Arizona and Nevada (United States). The companys growth strategy is focused on the exploration and development of properties it already controls, as well as other mineral assets it may acquire that fit its strategic criteria. Hudbays vision is to be a responsible, top-tier operator of long-life, low-cost mines in the Americas. Hudbays mission is to create sustainable value through the acquisition, development and operation of high-quality, long-life deposits with exploration potential in jurisdictions that support responsible mining, and to see the regions and communities in which the company operates benefit from its presence. The company is governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act and its shares are listed under the symbol "HBM" on the Toronto Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and Bolsa de Valores de Lima. Further information about Hudbay can be found on www.hudbay.com . For investor inquiries, please contact: Laurel Hill Advisory Group 416-304-0211 or 1-877-452-7184 assistance@laurelhill.com Candace Brule Director, Investor Relations (416) 814-4387 candace.brule@hudbay.com For media inquiries, please contact: Joel Shaffer Longview Communications and Public Affairs (416) 649-8006 jshaffer@longviewcomms.ca Tombstone, AZ, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Mansfield-Martin Exploration Mining, Inc. (OTCMKTS: MCPI) and ZB Capital AG, a private Swiss company, announced today their execution of a Memorandum of Understanding to effect Mansfield-Martins acquisition of the majority of the issued and outstanding shares of EuroGas AG, a Swiss public company. In order to acquire majority of EuroGas AG from ZB Capital AG, Mansfield-Martin will increase its authorized capital to permit the issuance of the necessary shares it will issue to ZB Capital AG in the transaction. The companies also announced plans to commence a comprehensive drilling program on Mansfield-Martins properties in the Tombstone Mining District and exploratory activities on its valuable silver properties in Idaho utilizing financing from ZB Capitals European banking partners immediately after the share transaction between both companies is completed. EuroGas AG is currently actively involved in the development of substantial gold exploration activities in Western-Ukraine as well as commencing exploration on its approximately 2mm hectare diamond concession in the Ukrainian Shield. In addition, EuroGas is continuing its legal efforts to assess and collect a claim against the Slovak Republic. EuroGas claims are being prosecuted through international arbitration proceedings at the World Banks ICSID unit in Washington D.C. and seek damages of in excess of $1b arising from the Republics allegedly illegal expropriation of EuroGas interest in one of the largest and purest talc deposits in the world, located in Gemerska Poloma, Slovak Republic. EuroGas AGs Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Wolfgang Rauball, stated: The EuroGas Group has a long history of interest in Mansfield-Martins properties in Arizonas Tombstone Mining District and in Idaho. These are excellent prospects worthy of comprehensive development for precious metal recovery. The combination with Mansfield-Martin will allow EuroGas to expand from its world-class European mining property portfolio into the well-established US mining portfolio of Mansfield-Martin and to partner with its proven management team. Last year, US District Judge David Nuffer rejected claims by Tombstone Exploration Corporation and its CEO Alan Brown against EuroGas, myself and Mr. Bauska. These matters are now completely resolved and it is time for us to reenter the US markets together. John T. Bauska, Mansfield-Martin President, added: There is great value here for Mansfield-Martins shareholders. Not only are we adding the value of EuroGas excellent mining properties in Europe but also the potential multi-billion dollar ICSID World Bank Arbitration claim against the Slovak Republic. Our combined companies will now be able to also tap into ZB Capitals extensive financial network in Germany and Switzerland in order to fund our ambitious expansion and development plans. The share exchange ratio and timing of the merger transaction will be dependent on the parties completion of mutual investigations and consultations between US and Swiss audit teams and other financial professionals, and will be fully disclosed when the material definitive agreement is finalized. The companies expect to seek OTCQB qualification immediately, along with qualification for Canadian and European exchanges to reflect the value and international character of their business and facilitate trading in the shares for European institutional and retail investors. About Mansfield-Martin Exploration Mining, Inc. Mansfield-Martin Exploration, Inc. is principally engaged in a variety of mining activities on owned and claimed property in Arizonas Tombstone Mining District, a historically prolific zone of silver and gold production. Mansfield-Martin is an SEC-Reporting company, and has approximately 400 million shares issued and over 200 shareholders. Additional information can be found at www.mansfieldmartin.com or in its SEC filings at https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=Mansfield-martin&owner=exclude&action=getcompany . About ZB Capital AG and EuroGas AG EuroGas AG, through its subsidiaries, has been engaged over the last 25 years in the exploration and development of the Gemerska Poloma talc mine in the Slovak Republic, one of the largest and purest talc deposits worldwide. Through its Ukrainian wholly-owned subsidiary EuroGas Minerals LLC it holds interests in large gold and diamond Joint Ventures in the Ukraine. EuroGas AG was formerly known as Minerva Capital AG and changed its name to EuroGas AG in January 2011. The shares of EuroGas AG were trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchanges until December 2012 when EuroGas AG voluntarily delisted its shares in Frankfurt in order to seek a listing on the North American capital markets. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. EuroGas AG is controlled by ZB Capital AG. Additional information can be found at www.eurogasag.ch . ZB Capital AG operates as a Swiss holding company for a variety of mining and financial interests in Central and Eastern Europe. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, trends, analysis, and other information contained in this press release including words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," and other similar expressions of opinion, constitute forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described within the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Contact: Corporate Services Mansfield-Martin Exploration Mining, Inc. Information@mansfieldmartin.com 1137 Highway 80 East P.O. Box 1218 Tombstone, Arizona 85638 Green Leaf to begin its cultivation on a commodity level production of cannabis oils, distillates, isolates and related products for distribution and has now assembled its management team to oversee its Las Vegas and Argentina projects. LAS VEGAS, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Players Network, Inc. (OTCQB: PNTV ), is in the process of changing its name to Green Leaf Farms International, Inc. with the new ticker symbol to be GLFI. PNTV/GLFI is a rapidly growing company in the worldwide cannabis industry with initial operations in Nevada and currently building a medical derivatives production project in Argentina. Growsmith was first tasked with revamping and optimizing the Company's 27,000 sq. ft indoor North Las Vegas facility which serves the Nevada market. Since Growsmith took over the companys North Las Vegas facility in January , the operation is running much more efficiently and producing a higher quality product, leading to greater revenue. The Growsmith team is now preparing next month to help train and educate local agriculture workers in Argentina to transition them into experts in the art and science of cannabis production with medical purposes. As previously announced in its definitive agreement , the Company has entered into a joint venture with a state owned company of the government of Jujuy Province, Argentina, with the purpose of producing cannabis medical derivatives. Also as previously announced the state owned Company has received approval from the Argentine government to import cannabis seeds to begin operations to produce medical cannabis oils, distillates, isolates and related health products for the local public health system, clinical trials, medical product registration, and exportation of medical derivatives. The first phase of the Jujuy project has already received security and health approvals , with the first 8 hectares (20 acres) of land irrigated and ready for planting, expected to take place this year in accordance with Argentinean law and federal government approvals. There is a rapidly growing worldwide demand to supply a wide range of industries including soft drink, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and other health related industries with CBD-infused products and Green Leaf has positioned itself as a producer of Cannabis based commodities. In order to manage such operations Green Leaf undertook a search for a highly experienced cultivation and production team with the experience and knowhow to produce cannabis on such a large scale. After several months of interviewing companies, management selected Growsmith. Led by its founder, Mr. Vyas, Growsmith brings an experienced team of over a dozen agricultural experts with more than 100 years of combined experience in a wide range of disciplines. Over the past eight years Growsmith has been part of the infrastructural design, environmental management and build-out of over 1 million sq. ft of cannabis growing operations in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. S. Vyas, President of Growsmith states, We are thrilled to be chosen by Green Leaf Farms to spearhead the cultivation and production operations for both their North Las Vegas and Argentinian projects. This relationship is the culmination of over a year of due diligence on behalf of both our groups. We are excited for the opportunity to showcase the many skills and resources our team has developed, as well as sharing this knowledge through the development of educational programs. M. Bradley , CEO of Green Leaf Farms states, The Growsmith team has the depth of knowledge and experience needed to take on our projects. Most importantly they possess the passion and understanding of what's needed to be successful while not just entering, but creating a whole new market producing commodity level quantities of cannabis distillates, oils, and isolates now being demanded by the rapidly emerging worldwide market for cannabis infused products. I am pleased to add Mr. Vyas and his team to ours. PNTV published their updated Investor Presentation which explains their business model and plan to increase shareholder value. To view the and download the Investor Presentation , please visit https://playersnetwork.com/investor-presentation . ACTIVATE YOUR SHAREHOLDER ACCOUNT TODAY! Visit www.PlayersNetwork.com/IR to Activate Your Shareholder Account now. About Growsmith Growsmith is a procurement, service management and design company based out of Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 2011, Growsmith is a leader in the development and implementation of advanced protocols for the design, procurement, management and service of commercial cannabis cultivation and production facilities. The company has developed long term relationships with manufacturers to develop new products, applications and protocols for the rapidly expanding cannabis sector. Growsmith currently assists operations of over 400,000 sq ft of cultivation in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, Jamaica and Colombia. About Players Network (stock symbol PNTV) Players Network is a rapidly growing company in the marijuana industry with licensed grow operations in Las Vegas, Nevada and Jujuy, Argentina (only for medical purposes). Over the last twelve months, the Company has grown from a development stage company to a fully operational cannabis business. The business strategy is to grow by acquisitions, joint ventures, and new market opportunities in the US and Internationally. Cannabis is legal for medical use in thirty States plus DC. It is legal for adult recreational use in nine States plus DC. The entire country of Canada legalized marijuana adult use in October 2018. Other 50 countries have legalized cannabis with medical purposes. The Company believes this trend of legalization of marijuana in the US and worldwide will continue and create tremendous growth opportunities for shareholders. Twitter: https://twitter.com/playersnetwork FaceBook: https://facebook.com/PlayersNetwork For more information please visit www.PlayersNetwork.com Activate your FREE account & sign up for news/updates: https://playersnetwork.com/ir Information about Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that include information relating to future events. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by which, that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or managements good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: inability to gain or maintain licenses, reliance on unaudited statements, the Companys need for additional funding, governmental regulation of the cannabis industry, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the demand for the Companys products, and other risks that are detailed from time-to-time in the Companys filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting Players Network, please refer to the Companys recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Players Network Contacts: MC2 will retire Midwest generated Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) equal to 100 percent of its customers energy consumption on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day 2019 MC2 supports the development of sustainable renewable generation resources in the Midwest An equivalent to over 2,800 metric tons of CO 2 will be eliminated from the atmosphere CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MC Squared Energy Services, LLC (MC2), a leading retail electric supply company located in the heart of Chicago, will celebrate and honor Earth Day 2019 in a unique way. On Monday, April 22, MC2 will retire Midwest-based Green-e Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) equal to 100 percent of the energy consumption during this day. This includes all residential, commercial, educational and governmental customers served by MC2 in Illinois and Ohio, states in which the company is a certified retail electric supplier. These RECs are in addition to existing state mandated Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements. Chuck Sutton, MC2 founder and president, said he was looking for a unique way to celebrate Earth Day, a worldwide event established in 1970 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. On Earth Day 2019 MC2 is projected to retire renewable energy certificates equivalent to over 2,800 metric tons of CO 2 eliminated from the atmosphere. Sutton says the company is excited to do its part to help reduce the worlds carbon footprint. Our efforts to reduce carbon emissions on Earth Day is just one way we as company can demonstrate our commitment to make the planet we live in a better and safer place for all of our customers. MC Squared Energy Services offers electricity supply products and services that are backed by RECs as a way for customers to support the reduction of emissions and help the environment. A REC represents 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity that has been generated from a renewable energy source. Each REC is backed by Green-e, a trusted global leader in energy certification. To bolster its environmental commitment, MC Squared Energy Services recently introduced its new EcoGreen Power Supply Program. The program is designed to give customers the opportunity to support renewable energy backed by 100 percent Wind Green e-certified RECS. The MC2 EcoGreen Power Program is Green-e Energy certified and meets the environmental and consumer protection standards established by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. For more information on Green-e, visit https://www.green-e.org/. For more information on MC Squared Energy Services and its EcoGreen Power Program, visit www.mc2energyservices.com. About MC Squared Energy Services, LLC Established in 2008 by veteran energy industry experts, MC Squared Energy Services, LLC (MC2) is a certified, retail electric-service provider headquartered in Chicago. MC2 helps businesses and individuals with competitive electric supply products to fit their specific needs. The companys customer-focused team has the resources and knowledge to meet its customers electrical supply requirements. MC2 prides itself on being easy to work with and responsive to its customers. MC Squared Energy Services, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolverine Holdings. Founded in 1994, the Wolverine companies comprise a number of diversified financial institutions specializing in proprietary trading, asset management, order execution services and technology solutions. They are recognized as a market leader with focus on innovation, achievement and integrity with clients and colleagues. The Wolverine companies are headquartered in Chicago with satellite offices in New York and San Francisco, and a proprietary trading affiliate office located in London. For Further Product Information, Contact: Samantha Komzak MC Squared Energy Services, LLC 312-854-1981 Dublin, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "North America Vaccines Market to 2027 - Regional Analysis and Forecasts by Technology; Disease Indication, Influenza, Hepatitis, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, and Other Diseases); Route of Administration; Patient Type, and Country" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The North America vaccines market is expected to reach US$ 24,510.0 Mn in 2027 from US$ 14,566.0 Mn in 2018. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 6.0% from 2019-2027. The growth of the vaccines market is primarily attributed due to the compulsion or mandate vaccination and dropping vaccination rates. However, low awareness about the benefits of vaccines are likely to hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period. Additionally the growth of the North America vaccines market is contributed due to the factors such as investments made by the key players for various research and development activities as well as launch of new products in the US. In addition, extensive research in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies further expected stimulate the growth of vaccines market in North America. The countries in the regions have face mandatory vaccinations legislation, the legislation was imposed to eradicate the deadly diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella vaccine from the country. For instance, US has the highest prevalence of the measles, it is among the most contagious diseases approximately one out of nine is expected to get measles if he or she is not immune. As per the recent data shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it is stated that in 2018 US experienced approximately 17 cases. In US, cities such as New York State, New Jersey, and New York City has registered three major outbreak of the measles. Therefore, getting vaccinated or immunized is the best preventive measure thus, approximately in 50 states and the District of Columbia require students to be vaccinate before attending school. Owing to these factors the market is likely to grow significantly during the forecast period. In 2018, the conjugate vaccines segment held a largest market share of 27.5% of the vaccines market, by technology. This segment is also expected to dominate the market in 2027 owing to advantages of the conjugate vaccines are their ability to elicit immunological memory and to reduce asymptomatic carriage of the bacteria, resulting in marked herd immunity. Moreover, the conjugate vaccines segment is anticipated to witness the significant growth rate of 6.7% during the forecast period, 2019 to 2027. North America vaccines market by the disease indication was led by the others segments which has included diseases such as poliomyelitis (polio), measles, mumps, rubella, pneumococcal infections, and others. The segment has largest market share in 2018, which accounted 59.8% and is expected to dominate the market in 2027. Similarly, the vaccines market by the route of administration was led by the injectable segment. Whereas, the market of the vaccines in the North America by the patient type was led by the pediatric segment. Some of the major primary and secondary sources for vaccines included in the report are Centers of Disease Control & Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization and Others. Key Topics Covered: Part 1. Introduction 1.1 Scope of the Study 1.2 Report Guidance Part 2. North America Vaccines Market - Key Takeaways Part 3. North America Vaccines Market - Market Landscape 3.1 Overview 3.2 Market Segmentation 3.3 Pest Analysis Part 4. North America Vaccines Market - Key Market Dynamics 4.1 Key Market Drivers 4.1.1 Compulsion Or Mandate Vaccination 4.1.2 Dropping Vaccination Rates 4.2 Key Market Restraints 4.2.1 Low Awareness About the Benefits of Vaccines 4.3 Key Market Opportunities 4.3.1 Rising Numbers of Diseases 4.4 Future Trends 4.4.1 Advances In Vaccine Technology 4.5 Impact Analysis Part 5. Vaccines Market - North America Analysis 5.1 North America Vaccines Market Revenue Forecasts and Analysis 5.2 Market Positioning 5.3 Performance of Key Players Part 6. North America Vaccines Market Analysis - by Technology 6.1 Overview 6.2 North America Vaccines Market, by Type, 2018 & 2027 (%) 6.3 North America Vaccines Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2027, by Technology (US$ Mn) 6.4 North America Recombinant Vaccines Market 6.5 North America Conjugate Vaccines Market 6.6 North America Live Attenuated Vaccines Market 6.7 North America Inactivated Vaccines Market 6.8 North America Toxoid Vaccines Market Part 7. North America Vaccines Market Analysis - by Disease Indication 7.1 Overview 7.2 North America Vaccines Market, by Disease Indication, 2018 & 2027 (%) 7.3 North America Vaccines Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2027, by Disease Indication (US$ Mn) 7.4 North America Dtp (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis) Market 7.5 North America Influenza Market 7.6 North America Hepatitis Market 7.7 North America Other Diseases Market Part 8. North America Vaccines Market Analysis - by Route of Administration 8.1 Overview 8.2 North America Vaccines Market, by Route of Administration, 2018 & 2027 (%) 8.3 North America Vaccines Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2027, by Route of Administration (US$ Mn) 8.4 North America Oral Market 8.5 North America Injectable Market 8.6 North America Other Routes of Administration Market Part 9. North America Vaccines Market Analysis - by Patient Type 9.1 Overview 9.2 North America Vaccines Market, by Patient Type, 2018 & 2027 (%) 9.3 North America Vaccines Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2027, by Patient Type (US$ Mn) 9.4 North America Pediatric Market 9.5 North America Adults Market Part 10. North America Vaccines Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2027 Part 11. Vaccines Market -Industry Landscape 11.1 Overview 11.2 Comparative Company Analysis 11.3 Growth Strategies Done by the Companies In the Market, (%) 11.4 Organic Developments 11.5 Inorganic Developments Part 12. Vaccines Market-Key Company Profiles Pfizer Inc GlaxoSmithKline plc. Merck & Co., Inc. Sanofi Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc Panacea Biotec Limited Astellas Pharma Inc. NOVAVAX, INC. VBI Vaccines Inc Bavarian Nordic. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vco0k6 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Delcath Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: DCTH), an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic cancers of the liver, announces that results from a prospective phase 2 study conducted by Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands on the use of the Delcath Hepatic CHEMOSAT Delivery System to treat patients with metastatic ocular melanoma with liver metastases were presented at the European Conference on Interventional Oncology (ECIO) annual meeting. The LUMC study, Percutaneous hepatic perfusion with melphalan in patients with unresectable liver metastases from ocular melanoma using the Delcath System's second-generation hemofiltration system: a prospective phase II study, was conducted by a team led and presented by Dr. Mark Burgmans. The study evaluated 35 patients with unresectable liver metastases from ocular melanoma treated with CHEMOSAT between February 2014 and June 2017. The 35 patients underwent a total of 72 PHP treatments, and tumor response was evaluable in 32 patients. Primary endpoints were overall response, overall survival, and progression free survival. Secondary measures included safety measures and hematologic toxicity. Results of the study showed that one patient had a complete response and 22 had partial response, for a combined overall response rate of 74.1%. Overall survival was 20.3 months and mean progression free survival was 8.1 months. Safety analysis showed a total of 14 serious adverse events were recorded. The hematologic toxicities were in a majority of the cases self-limiting and manageable. Investigators concluded that PHP Therapy with the Generation Two version of CHEMOSAT is an effective and safe treatment for patients with hepatic metastases from ocular melanoma. The ECIO 2019 conference was held April 8-11 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. About Delcath Systems Delcath Systems, Inc. is an interventional oncology Company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers. Our investigational product Melphalan Hydrochloride for Injection for use with the Delcath Hepatic Delivery System (Melphalan/HDS) is designed to administer high-dose chemotherapy to the liver while controlling systemic exposure and associated side effects. We have been enrolling a global Registration clinical trial for Patients with Hepatic Dominant Ocular Melanoma (OM) called The FOCUS Trial and have initiated a global Phase 3 clinical trial for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) called The ALIGN Trial. Melphalan/HDS has not been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for sale in the U.S. In Europe, our system is marketed under the trade name Delcath Hepatic CHEMOSAT Delivery System for Melphalan (CHEMOSAT) and has been used at major medical centers to treat a wide range of cancers of the liver. Since January 2019 CHEMOSAT is marketed under an exclusive licensing agreement with Medac, a privately held multi-national pharmaceutical company headquartered in Germany and specializing in the treatment and diagnosis of oncological, urological and autoimmune diseases. Forward Looking Statements Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, uncertainties relating to: successful completion of the Companys Rights Offering and related transactions and the amount of gross proceeds, if any; the timing and results of the Companys clinical trials including without limitation the OM and ICC clinical trial programs, timely enrollment and treatment of patients in the global Phase 3 OM and ICC clinical trials, IRB or ethics committee clearance of the Phase 3 OM and ICC Registration trial protocols from participating sites and the timing of site activation and subject enrollment in each trial, the impact of the presentations at major medical conferences and future clinical results consistent with the data presented, approval of Individual Funding Requests for reimbursement of the CHEMOSAT procedure, the impact, if any of ZE reimbursement on potential CHEMOSAT product use and sales in Germany, clinical adoption, use and resulting sales, if any, for the CHEMOSAT system to deliver and filter melphalan in Europe including the key markets of Germany and the UK, the Companys ability to successfully commercialize the Melphalan HDS/CHEMOSAT system and the potential of the Melphalan HDS/CHEMOSAT system as a treatment for patients with primary and metastatic disease in the liver, our ability to obtain reimbursement for the CHEMOSAT system in various markets, approval of the current or future Melphalan HDS/CHEMOSAT system for delivery and filtration of melphalan or other chemotherapeutic agents for various indications in the U.S. and/or in foreign markets, actions by the FDA or other foreign regulatory agencies, the Companys ability to successfully enter into strategic partnership and distribution arrangements in foreign markets and the timing and revenue, if any, of the same, uncertainties relating to the timing and results of research and development projects, and uncertainties regarding the Companys ability to obtain financial and other resources for any research, development, clinical trials and commercialization activities. These factors, and others, are discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made. Contact: Delcath Investor Relations Email: investorrelations@delcath.com NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkNewsAudio - Redfund Capital Corp. (CSE: LOAN) (OTC: PNNRF) (Frankfurt: O3X4), a company focused on providing debt and equity funding in the mid-to-late stages of a target companys development or in technologies that are developed and validated by revenues, today announces the broadcast of its exclusive audio interview with NetworkNewsAudio (NNA), a NetworkNewsWire (NNW) Solution that delivers clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness in the investment community. The interview can be heard at http://nnw.fm/gHVD3 Redfund CEO Meris Kott joins NNW host Stuart Smith in an interview that digs deep into Redfunds business model as the first debt facility merchant bank providing financing via promissory notes, providing a stepping stone for companies as they move to their next stage of growth. Kott said she uses a strange metaphor when discussing Redfunds business strategy in the small cap market. I compare it to dog years. So, basically in the first six months I look at it in a small cap world as the first three and a half years, and I think weve picked some major milestones, she explains. Weve funded a little more than six companies. Weve put our footprint in Colombia, funding one of the largest private companies there. Were hopeful that they get to the public markets this quarter or probably next quarter. They also have a grow in Colorado theyre one of the first Colombian companies to actually have properties outside of Colombia as well. As the first medical cannabis incubator and accelerator financing medical cannabis, CBD and hemp companies through a debt facility, Redfund is effectively bridging finance gaps and helping revenue-producing medical cannabis-related companies grow and build their valuations without prematurely diluting their equity. Redfund recently increased its stake in Marys Wellness Ltd. by converting C$100,000 of a C$1 million convertible secured promissory note into equity. Marys Wellness, founded by Virginia Vidal in 2016, produces a line of cannabis-infused teas in over a dozen formulations and flavors. Were looking at an amazing company in Marys tea, which is the sweetheart of the Canadian industry, Kott says of Redfunds portfolio client. Another exciting Redfund client is Wahupta Ventures Inc., a Canadian company building an extensive and growing Canadian hemp footprint. Wahupta is positioned to be a hemp industry leader from farm to table with CBD and hemp products through strategic joint ventures, partnerships, and acquisitions. Redfund recently announced an expansion of its current advisory agreement with Wahupta Ventures Inc. to include new financing. I liken them to be the Canadian Charlottes Web, Kott says of Wahupta Ventures. Las Vegas, Nevada-based Cannaki Beverage Inc., a pure hemp CBD extract company, is another Redfund client. Cannaki Beverage produces natural and organic functional beverages with core products that include more than 20 different still and carbonated beverages and Nano CBD infused flavored waters. I think from a branding perspective, we really have our hands in a lot of different places, Kott says. From the point of view of Redfund, thats very exciting. Every month our cash flow from our interest payments pay our G&A, which is something that is unheard of in this industry. Redfunds global push includes reviewing various potential portfolio clients in Australia, New Zealand and Israel. The companys strategic alliance with Cannabis Mercantile Exchange, also known as Cannamerx, is a prime example of Redfunds global strategy. Cannamerx is the first live auction platform that brings vetted clients together in the first fully automated B2B international auction platform for wholesale cannabis, cannabis products, hemp and hemp products and genetics, Kott said, noting the company has already onboarded 65 clients. So for small companies that are in the CBD industry in the U.S., they can actually buy trim that they can use for their products so they dont have to buy a big shipment of biomass, she explains. Its very exciting. Theyre adding, uploading European clients, Colombian clients, and Im sure theyre looking to upload German pharma companies. It is the eBay of the industry. Redfunds goal for 2019 is to raise $70 million and welcome 14 more projects into its portfolio, growing it to an even 20 clients. Convincing the marketplace that these smaller companies have revenues in excess of $2 million to $4 million when some of the larger footprints in the public markets have valuations in the hundreds of millions, yet have less revenue than the small cap company, is seen as key to reaching that goal, Kott said. Whats puzzling to me and whats going to be the biggest detour or biggest obstacle is that in the capital markets right now, people are funding companies that have less revenues as a whole than some of our startups we are working with, she said. So that fundamental difference is probably the only roadblock ahead of us. Kott said she believes 2019 will be a big year for Redfund as it looks to raise $70 million and continues to serve the $20 million in projects currently under its portfolio. About Redfund Capital Corp. Redfund intends to provide debt and equity funding in the mid-to-late stages of a target companys development or in technologies that are developed and validated by revenues. The present focus of the merchant bank is on medical cannabis, hemp and CBD-related and healthcare-related companies. For further information, visit the companys website at www.RedfundCapital.com . NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to PNNRF are available in the companys newsroom at http://nnw.fm/PNNRF About NetworkNewsAudio NetworkNewsAudio (NNA) , a NetworkNewsWire (NNW) Solution, allows you to sit back and listen to market updates, CEO interviews and a Company AudioPressRelease (APR) . These audio clips provide snapshots of position, opportunity and momentum. NetworkNewsAudio (NNA) can assist your company by cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNA brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. 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Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications: NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN. SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Petroteq Energy Inc. (Petroteq or the Company) (TSXV: PQE; OTC: PQEFF; FSE: PQCF), a fully integrated oil and gas company, is pleased to announce the execution of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of an additional 50% of the operating rights and interests relating to oil sands under U.S. federal oil and gas leases encompassing approximately 8,480 gross acres (4,240 net acres, less royalty) in the State of Utah. This acquisition, combined with the Companys acquisition, completed and announced last week of 50% of the operating rights and interests under the same leases, will give the Company 100% of the operating rights for oil sands development under the leases. As previously reported, the lands included in the leases are located in P.R. Springs and the Tar Sands Triangle, two areas that have been designated as Special Tar Sands Areas by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Pursuant to the proposed acquisition, TMC Capital, LLC (TMC), an indirect wholly owned operating subsidiary of the Company, will acquire from Petrollo LP Corp (Petrollo), a Nevada corporation, an undivided 50% interest in the operating rights (working interests) under a federal oil and gas lease located in P.R. Springs and five federal oil and gas leases located in the Tar Sands Triangle. Under each of the leases, the operating rights acquired by TMC will consist of the right to explore for and produce bitumen and heavy oil from oil-impregnated bituminous sands formations located at the surface and at subsurface depths down to 1,000 ft. Under this transaction, the total consideration payable to Petrollo will be US$13 million, with US$1 million payable in cash and US$12 million payable in shares, namely 30 million common shares of the Company, at a deemed value of US$0.40 per share, representing a premium of approximately 33% from the last closing price of the common shares. The federal oil and gas leases to be acquired in this transaction have been included in notices or applications previously filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requesting their conversion to new combined hydrocarbon leases or CHLs under the (U.S.) Combined Hydrocarbon Leasing Act of 1981. This conversion process, once completed by BLM, will create enhanced opportunities for the evaluation and potential development of oil sands resources in these areas. According to a report titled Evaluation of Contingent Resources from Chapman Petroleum Engineering, Ltd. dated December 31, 2018 (the Chapman Report), the 50% operating rights and interests to be acquired by TMC under the P.R. Springs lease in this transaction, when combined with the 50% rights and interests previously acquired by TMC under this lease, are estimated to contain gross contingent resources of 90 million barrels of mineable oil/bitumen in place, with an arithmetic average after risk estimate, determined on a net basis (discounted by risk and royalty), of 40.77 million barrels of mineable oil/bitumen in place. Based on certain assumptions in the Chapman Report concerning forecasted oil prices and a recovery factor, the mineable resources that are attributable to the interests in the P.R. Spring leases to be acquired by TMC have an estimated after risk cash flow value of US$2.23 billion on an undiscounted basis, a cash flow value of US$293.4 million on a 10%/year discounted basis, and a cash flow value of US$166.6 million on a 15%/year discounted basis. According to the Chapman Report, the remaining 50% of the operating rights and interests in the Tar Sands Triangle leases to be acquired by TMC are estimated to contain gross contingent resources of 41.3 million barrels of in situ oil/bitumen in place, with an arithmetic average after risk estimate, determined on a net basis (discounted by risk and royalty), of 20.7 million barrels of in situ oil/bitumen in place. No economic evaluation of the resources contained in the Tar Sands Triangle leases has been conducted. The Chapman Report was prepared in compliance with the COGE Handbook and NI 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. This acquisition is part of the Companys strategy of acquiring oil sands resources and opportunities in the State of Utah, including federal leases covering lands and areas that have been designated Special Tar Sands Areas by the U.S. Government, stated the Companys CEO David Sealock All securities issuable pursuant to the above noted transaction will be subject to a four-month hold period. The transaction is ultimately subject to approval of the directors of the Company and the TSX Venture Exchange. About Petroteq Energy Inc. Petroteq is a fully integrated oil and gas company focused on the development and implementation of a new proprietary technology for oil extraction. The Company has an environmentally safe and sustainable technology for the extraction of heavy oil and bitumen from oil sands, oil shale deposits and shallow oil deposits. Petroteq is engaged in the development and implementation of its patented environmentally friendly heavy oil processing and extraction technologies. Our proprietary process produces zero greenhouse gas, zero waste and requires no high temperatures. Petroteq is currently focused on developing its oil sands resources and expanding production capacity at its Asphalt Ridge heavy oil extraction facility located near Vernal, Utah. For more information, visit www.Petroteq.energy. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Words such as may, would, could, should, potential, will, seek, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, including: closing of the above noted transaction; conversion of the leases to new CHLs; the Companys continued development of its oil sands mining and production operations and its existing oil processing and extraction facility; and the Company successfully producing at its current or future plants; are intended to identify forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of its oil sands and mineral resources. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Companys current views and intentions with respect to future events, based on information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information, including: the technology producing as expected; oil prices stabilizing; approval of the transaction by the directors of the Company and by the TSX Venture Exchange. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that the Company believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet the Companys expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of the Company to differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation: uncertainties inherent in the estimation of resources, including whether any reserves will ever be attributed to the Companys properties; changes in laws or regulations; the ability to implement business strategies or to pursue business opportunities, whether for economic or other reasons; status of the world oil markets, oil prices and price volatility; oil pricing; state of capital markets and the ability by the Company to raise capital; litigation; the commercial and economic viability of the Companys oil sands hydrocarbon extraction technology, and other proprietary technologies developed or licensed by the Company or its subsidiaries, which are of experimental nature and have not been used at full capacity for an extended period of time; reliance on suppliers, contractors, consultants and key personnel; the ability of the Company to maintain its mineral lease holdings; potential failure of the Companys business plans or model; the nature of oil and gas production and oil sands mining, extraction and production; uncertainties in exploration and drilling for oil, gas and other hydrocarbon-bearing substances; unanticipated costs and expenses, availability of financing and other capital; potential damage to or destruction of property, loss of life and environmental damage; risks associated with compliance with environmental protection laws and regulations; uninsurable or uninsured risks; potential conflicts of interest of officers and directors; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in the Companys disclosure documents, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. Additionally, the mineral resources reported in this news release are contingent resources that are expressed in terms of barrels of oil/bitumen in place and do not represent reserves within the meaning of either Canadian or U.S. securities laws and regulations. The estimates as to contingent resources and their potential value do not take into account the certainty, timing or cost of resource recovery, which is contingent on the successful development of exploratory, production and processing operations in the recovery of oil and hydrocarbon substances from oil sands structures and formations and on the successful application of the Companys oil sands extraction and processing technologies, methods and technologies, or the commercial and economic feasibility of such operations and other factors, and are therefore not indicative of the expected future resource recovery and should not be relied upon. The securities referred to in this news release have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities, nor a solicitation for offers to buy any securities. Any public offering of securities in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus containing detailed information about the company and management, as well as financial statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CONTACT INFORMATION Petroteq Energy Inc. Alex Blyumkin Executive Chairman Tel: (800) 979-1897 Twitter: https://twitter.com/PetroteqEnergy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petroteq/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Petroteqenergy/ Annual Show by the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) brings together the entire $25 billion U.S. convenience services industry Industrys most powerful networking event will put Reis & Irvys and Print Mates in front of more than 4,500 people as the industrys best and brightest come together to explore new technology, products, trends, and ideas WHO: GENERATION NEXT, REIS & IRVYS AND PRINT MATES WHAT: EXHIBIT AT NAMA SHOW 2019, BOOTH 829 WHEN: APRIL 24-26, 2019 WHERE: LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV SAN DIEGO, CA, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Generation NEXT Franchise Brands , Inc. (OTCQB: VEND) announced today that it would be showcasing both its Reis & Irvys and Print Mates unattended retail offerings at the 2019 NAMA Show , an event of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA). Founded in 1936, NAMA is the association representing the entire $25 billion U.S. convenience services industry, including the food and refreshment vending, coffee service and foodservice management industries, including on-site, commissary, catering and micro markets. With more than 1,000 member companies, NAMA represents many of the worlds most recognized brands. The 2019 NAMA Show brings together the people, products, and possibilities making an impact in the convenience services industry in 2019 and beyond. More than 4,500 of the industrys best and brightest will come together to network and discover powerful technology, explore new products, react to emerging trends and build and strengthen powerful networks of industry allies to grow their businesses this April 24-26th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. For its part, Generation Next will be found at Booth 829, where it will be showcasing its flagship subsidiary and premium, unattended robotic soft serve franchise, Reis & Irvys, as well as its recently acquired Print Mates subsidiary, the patented unattended kiosk designed to reinvent the premium-quality photo printing experience. At our core, Generation Next is a company focused on disruptive unattended retail kiosks coming together to provide solutions to this industry. These same technologies are set to be some of the hottest topics at this years NAMA Show, so were expecting a positive reception, said Nick Yates, CEO of Generation Next. We welcome visitors to come by and sample a refreshing treat served by one of our unattended Reis & Irvys robot kiosks. And since everyone at this years conference is sure to be snapping plenty of photos on their smartphones, it is a perfect opportunity to demo our new Print Mates kiosk as well. Well have the whole team there, from Generation Next, Reis & Irvys and Print Mates so come visit, have a delicious cup of robot-served Froyo and get some high-quality prints of your best shots from the NAMA Show. And of course, we love to talk shop unattended, autonomous retail is our passion, and we look forward to sharing our vision with our fellow attendees and visitors, Yates said. Generation Next, through its subsidiaries, is leading the charge in unattended, autonomous retail with its flagship robot-served frozen yogurt concept, Reis & Irvys, and the recently acquired Print Mates, a maker of digital photo printing retail kiosks and products. Reis & Irvys is the world's first fully-automated robotic frozen dessert vending kiosk designed to disrupt brick-and-mortar competitors. Reis & Irvys unattended robots eliminate the need for costly rents and employees; significantly reduce food safety concerns; and are capable of operating 24-hours a day. Reis & Irvys signature robots can dispense servings of frozen yogurt, ice cream, gelato and sorbet topped with a selection of six delicious toppings in under 60 seconds. With self-checkout touch screen ordering and payment options and delicious frozen dessert provided exclusively by Dannon, Reis & Irvys meets the demands of consumers on the go. Print Mates unattended kiosks are designed to reinvent the premium-quality photo printing experience by making it fast, fun, and inexpensive to get your photos out of your phone into your hand. Customers love using the Print Mates Kiosk because they can instantly, easily and cost-effectively print high-quality photos directly from their smartphones or through their favorite social media (Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos, Dropbox and Flickr) photo sharing, or cloud storage accounts in six different sizes of prints in just seconds. Generation NEXT Website: www.gennextbrands.com About Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc., based in San Diego, California, is a publicly traded company on the OTC Markets trading under the symbol OTCBB: VEND. Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. is parent company to Reis and Irvys Inc, 19 Degrees Corporate Service LLC and Print Mates. www.gennextbrands.com About Reis & Irvys, Inc. Reis & Irvys, Inc. is a subsidiary franchise concept of Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. (VEND). Launched in early 2016, the revolutionary Reis & Irvys Vending Robot serves seven different flavors of frozen yogurt, ice cream, sorbets and gelatos, a choice of up to six custom toppings and to customers within 60 seconds or less at the point of sale. The unique franchise opportunity has since established itself as a high-demand product and currently showcases a franchise network both domestically as well as internationally. www.reisandirvys.com About Print Mates Print Mates was formed by a team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and photography professionals in San Diego that are on a mission to reinvent the premium-quality photo printing experience by making it fast, fun, and inexpensive to get your photos out of your phone and into your hand with the Print Mates Kiosk - and creating a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs and retailers in the process. Print Mates easy-to-use, patented touchscreen kiosks are promising to close the loop on the consumer photo lifecycle, as well as drive much-needed foot traffic to traditional brick-and-mortar businesses ranging from supermarkets, grocery and drug stores to big box retailers, shopping malls, family fun centers, and more. The company began a nationwide expansion in 2019 by offering entrepreneurs, business owners and forward-thinking retailers across the country an opportunity to own a piece of an emerging multi billion-dollar industry. Print Mates Kiosks and ever-expanding product line of photographic decor, gifts, prints and accessories are proudly Made in the USA. www.printmates.com English Swedish Stockholm, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Notice is hereby given to the holders of depository receipts in respect of shares in Vostok New Ventures Ltd, reg. no. 39861, with registered office in Hamilton, Bermuda (Vostok New Ventures or the Company) that an Annual General Meeting (the Meeting) of shareholders shall be held on Wednesday, 15 May 2019 at 2 pm CEST in Kreugersalen at Tandstickspalatset, Vastra Tradsgardsgatan 15 in Stockholm, Sweden. Notice to attend etc. Holders of depository receipts wishing to attend the Meeting shall: be listed in the register of holders of depository receipts kept by Euroclear Sweden AB on Thursday, 9 May 2019; and notify the Company of the intention to attend the Meeting not later than Thursday, 9 May 2019 by mail at the address Computershare AB, Vostok New Ventures Ltd Annual General Meeting, Box 610, SE-182 16 Danderyd, Sweden, by telephone +46 (0)77124 64 00 or by e-mail to agm@vostoknewventures.com. The holder of depository receipts shall state his or her name, personal or company identification number, address as well as telephone number. If a holder of depository receipts intends to be represented by proxy, the name of the proxy holder shall be stated. Information submitted in connection with the notification will be computerised and used exclusively for the Meeting. See below for additional information on the processing of personal data. Holders of depository receipts represented by proxy shall issue dated and signed power of attorney for the proxy. If the power of attorney is issued on behalf of a legal entity, a certified copy of a registration certificate or a corresponding document for the legal entity shall be appended. The power of attorney in original and, where applicable, the registration certificate should be submitted to the Company by mail at the address set forth above well in advance of the Meeting. The form to use for a power of attorney can be found on www.vostoknewventures.com. Holders of depository receipts who hold their receipts through nominees (Sw. forvaltare) must request a temporary registration of the voting rights in order to be able to participate at the Meeting. Holders of depository receipts who want to obtain such registration must contact the nominee regarding this well in advance of Thursday, 9 May 2019. Voting forms will be distributed to the holders who have complied with the above requirements and the voting form must be brought to the Meeting. Proposed agenda Election of Chairman for the Meeting. Preparation and approval of voting list. Approval of the agenda. Election of one or two persons to check and sign the minutes. Resolution that the Meeting has been duly convened. Presentation by the Managing Director. Presentation of the annual report and the auditors report as well as the consolidated annual report and the consolidated auditors report. Resolution in respect of the adoption of the profit and loss account and the balance sheet as well as the consolidated profit and loss account and the consolidated balance sheet; and the appropriation of the Companys results according to the adopted balance sheet. Determination of the number of Directors and auditors. Determination of remuneration to the Directors and the auditors. Election of Directors and auditors. Resolution to appoint the Nomination Committee. Resolution regarding remuneration principles for the senior management. Resolution regarding long-term incentive program. Resolution to amend the Companys Bye-Laws. Resolution to cancel the incentive program adopted in 2007. Resolution to cancel the 2010 Incentive Program. Closing of the Meeting. Proposals of the Nomination Committee (items 1, 9-12) The Nomination Committee, consisting of Jake Hennemuth (Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb), Evert Carlsson (Swedbank Robur Fonder), Marcus Luttgen (Alecta) and Lars O Gronstedt (chairman of the Board of Directors) has not yet completed its work regarding all items within its mandate. Proposals regarding these items will be made available on the Companys website no later than two weeks prior to the Meeting and will, in connection therewith, be made public by the Company by way of a press release. The appropriation of the Companys results (item 8b) The Board of Directors proposes that no dividend is paid to the shareholders and that the Companys results are brought forward. Remuneration principles for the senior management (item 13) The Board of Directors proposes that the Meeting resolves to approve the following management remuneration principles etc. The remuneration to the Managing Director and other members of the senior management shall consist of fixed salary, variable remuneration, other benefits and pension benefits. Except for the Managing Director, the senior management currently includes two individuals. The total remuneration shall correspond to the prevailing market conditions and be competitive. The fixed and variable remuneration shall correspond to the respective individuals responsibility and authority. The variable component should, in the first instance, be covered within the parameters of the Companys Long-Term Incentive Programs and shall, where payable in other instances, be related to milestone accomplishments of the Company and/or its portfolio investments, e.g. particularly successful investments, exits or similar events. The period of notice of termination of employment shall be three to six months in the event of termination by the member of the senior management. In the event of termination by the Company, the total of the period of notice of termination and the period during which severance compensation is payable shall not exceed 12 months. Pension benefits shall be contribution-based with individual retirement ages. The Board of Directors shall be entitled to deviate from these guidelines in individual cases should special reasons exist. Resolution regarding long-term incentive program (item 14) The Board of Directors proposes that the Meeting resolves on long-term incentive program for up to seven (7) employees in Vostok New Ventures Ltd (LTIP 2019) in accordance with the below. LTIP 2019 is a three-year performance-based incentive program which is substantially the same as the depository receipt-based incentive program from 2018 (LTIP 2018). Adoption of an incentive program Summary of the program The Board of Directors proposes that the general meeting resolves to adopt LTIP 2019. LTIP 2019 is proposed to include up to seven (7) employees in Vostok New Ventures. The participants in LTIP 2019 are required to invest in Vostok New Ventures by acquiring shares in the form of depository receipts in Vostok New Ventures (Saving DRs). These Saving DRs are received by way of purchase of depository receipts (representing shares in Vostok New Ventures) at market value or transfer of depository receipts that such participant already holds in accordance with the terms set out under Personal investment below. The participants will thereafter be granted the opportunity to receive depository receipts free of charge in accordance with LTIP 2019, so called Performance DRs in accordance with the terms set out below. In the event that delivery of Performance DRs cannot be achieved at reasonable costs, with reasonable administrative efforts or due to market conditions, participants may instead be offered a cash-based settlement. Personal investment In order to participate in LTIP 2019, the participant must have made a private investment by (i) purchase of depository receipts (representing shares in Vostok New Ventures) at market value and for a value of up to SEK 1,425,0001 depending on the participants position in Vostok New Ventures in accordance with what is further described below, or (ii) by transfer of depository receipts that such participant already holds (provided that the participant holds at least 100% of annual net base pay in depository receipts) for a value of up to SEK 1,425,0002 depending on the participants position in Vostok New Ventures in accordance with what is further described below. For each Saving DR held under LTIP 2019, the Company will grant the participants ten rights to Performance DRs, meaning rights to receive Performance DRs free of charge (Rights). The number of Performance DRs each participants Saving DRs entitles to depends on the Companys fulfilment of the performance conditions. A participant cannot receive more than ten Performance DRs per Saving DR. The maximum amounts for the personal investments are based on an assumed market price of Vostok New Ventures depository receipts of SEK 57. The market price of the depository receipts may have increased or decreased by the time of the personal investment and the Board of Directors is authorised to change the maximum amount of the personal investment to take into account any material changes to the price of Vostok New Ventures depository receipts, in order to give as positive effects as possible for depository receipt holders in the Company. General terms and conditions Subject to the fulfilment of the entry level of the performance based conditions for the period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021 and provided that the participant has kept its investment in Saving DRs during the period from the day of allocation of the Rights until the day of the release of the interim report for the period 1 January to 31 March 2022 (the vesting period) and, with certain exceptions, kept its employment within the Vostok New Ventures group and not given notice of termination at such point in time, two Rights per Saving DR will vest and each Rights will entitle the participant to receive one Performance DR free of charge. Retention and performance conditions The number of Performance DRs each of the participants Saving DR entitles to depends on the Companys fulfilment of the performance conditions during the measurement period. The performance conditions are based on the Net Asset Value per share (NAV per share). The determined levels of the conditions include an entry, a target and a stretch level as regards the number of Rights that vest. The entry level constitutes the minimum level which must be exceeded in order to enable vesting of Rights. If the entry level is reached or exceeded, each participant will receive two Performance DRs per Saving DR. If the target level is reached or exceeded, each participant will receive five Performance DRs per Saving DR. If the stretch level is reached or exceeded, each participant will receive ten Performance DRs per Saving DR. The Board of Directors intends to disclose the outcome of the performance-based conditions in the annual report for the financial year 2021. The Rights The Rights shall be governed by the following terms and conditions: Rights are granted free of charge as soon as possible after the annual general meeting 2019. Vest following the publication of the Companys interim report for the period 1 January 31 March 2022 (the vesting period). May not be transferred or pledged. Two Rights per Saving DR will vest and each Right will entitle the participant to receive one Performance DR after the end of the vesting period, if the entry level of the performance-based conditions has been fulfilled and the participant, at the time of the release of the interim report for the period 1 January 31 March 2022, maintains its employment within the Vostok New Ventures group, has not given notice of termination and maintains the invested Saving DRs. In order to align the participants and the depository receipt holders interests, the Company will compensate the participants for any dividends paid during the three year vesting period. Compensation will only be made for dividend resolved after the time of allocation. Preparation and administration The Board of Directors shall be responsible for preparing the detailed terms and conditions of LTIP 2019, in accordance with the mentioned terms and guidelines. To this end, the Board of Directors shall be entitled to make adjustments to meet foreign regulations or market conditions. The Board of Directors may also make other adjustments if significant changes in the Vostok New Ventures group or its operating environment would result in a situation where the decided terms and conditions of LTIP 2019 no longer serve their purpose. Allocation The participants are divided into different categories and in accordance with the above, LTIP 2019 will comprise the following number of Saving DRs and maximum number of Rights for the different categories: the CEO: may acquire up to SEK 1,425,000 worth of Saving DRs 3 within LTIP 2019, entitling the holder to allotment of not less than two and up to ten Rights per Saving DR; within LTIP 2019, entitling the holder to allotment of not less than two and up to ten Rights per Saving DR; other members of management than the CEO (two individuals) and other employees (four individuals): may acquire in aggregate up to SEK 1,596,000 worth of Saving DRs4 within LTIP 2019, entitling the holder to allotment of not less than two and up to ten Rights per Saving DR. Scope and costs of LTIP 2019 LTIP 2019 will be accounted for in accordance with IFRS 2 which stipulates that the Rights should be recorded as a personnel expense in the income statement during the vesting period. The costs for LTIP 2019 is estimated to amount to approximately SEK 15 million, excluding social security costs, calculated in accordance with IFRS 2. The costs for social security charges are calculated to approximately SEK 4.75 million, based on the above assumptions. In addition to what is set forth above, the costs for LTIP 2019 have been based on that LTIP 2019 comprises up to seven participants and that each participant makes a maximum investment. If the maximum result is reached, and all invested Saving DRs are retained under LTIP 2019 and a fulfilment of the performance conditions of 100 percent, the maximum cost of LTIP 2019 as defined in IFRS 2 is approximately SEK 30 million and the maximum social security cost is estimated to approximately SEK 9.5 million. The costs are expected to have a marginal effect on key ratios of the Vostok New Ventures group. Upon maximum allotment of Performance DRs, 530,000 depository receipts representing shares in the Company may be allocated within the framework of LTIP 2019, which would correspond to approximately 0.68 percent of the share capital and the votes in the Company. A total of 147,000 depository receipts, comprising the currently allocated options under the 2010 Incentive Program (which currently encompasses in total 147,000 allocated options and 2,931,696 options that have not been allocated), 316,050 depository receipts under LTIP 2016, the maximum allotment of 661,500 depository receipts under LTIP 2017, the maximum allotment of 749,700 depository receipts under LTIP 2018 and the maximum allotment of 530,000 depository receipts under LTIP 2019, would correspond to approximately 3.095 percent of the share capital and the votes in the Company. Delivery of Performance DRs under LTIP 2019 To ensure delivery of Performance DRs under LTIP 2019, the Company intends to hedge LTIP 2019 with either repurchased depository receipts, enter into a swap agreement or other similar agreement with a third party or by taking other measures deemed necessary by the Company. The rationale for the proposal The objective of LTIP 2019 is to create incentives for the management to work for a long-term development in the Company. Furthermore, LTIP 2019 shall create conditions for retaining competent employees in the Vostok New Ventures group through the offering of competitive remuneration. LTIP 2019 has been designed based on the view that it is desirable that employees within the group are depository receipt holders in the Company and that they see that working with a long-term horizon pays off. Participation in LTIP 2019 requires a personal investment in Saving DRs. By offering an allotment of Performance DRs which are based performance-based conditions, the participants are rewarded for increased depository receipt holder value. Further, LTIP 2019 rewards employees loyalty and long-term value growth in the Company. Against this background, the Board of Directors is of the opinion that the adoption of LTIP 2019 will have a positive effect on the Vostok New Ventures groups future development and thus be beneficial for both the Company and its depository receipt holders. Preparation The Companys Board of Directors has prepared LTIP 2016, 2017 and 2018, on which LTIP 2019 is based, in consultation with external advisors. LTIP 2019 has been reviewed and determined by resolution by the Board of Directors on 14 March 2019. Other incentive programs in the Company Below are summaries of the current outstanding incentive programs in the Company. For more information about the incentive programs, please see the annual report 2018. 2010 Incentive Program The 2010 Annual General Meeting decided in accordance with the proposal from the Board of Directors to adopt an incentive program entitling present and future employees to be allocated call options to acquire shares represented by depository receipts in Vostok New Ventures. The program covers present and future employees. A total of 5,115,600 options were authorized under the program. A total of 147,000 options are currently allocated. The option life is 7 June 2016 31 July 2019 and the exercise period is 1 June 31 July 2019. If all options are exercised a total of 147,000 depository receipts could be allocated, which would correspond to approximately 0.19 percent of the share capital and the votes in the Company. LTIP 2016 At the 2016 annual general meeting held on 17 May 2016, it was resolved to implement a share-based long-term incentive program for management and key personnel in the Vostok New Ventures group. The program ran from 1 January 2016 through 31 March 2019 and encompassed a maximum of 430,000 shares. Program participants purchased shares in the Company, and for each purchased share were entitled to receive a number of additional shares, so-called performance shares, free of charge, subject to fulfilment of a performance condition set by the Board of Directors on the basis of the Companys Net Asset Value per share. The Board of Directors has determined that the development of the Companys Net Asset Value per share over the term of LTIP 2016 (January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2018), meets the so-called target level, whereby each savings share held by program participants throughout the vesting period (until the day of release of the Companys interim report for the period January 1 through March 31, 2019) will result in an allocation of five performance shares free of charge, which will correspond to 316,050 shares and a dilution of approximately 0.41 percent of the share capital and the votes in the Company. LTIP 2017 At the 2017 annual general meeting held on 16 May 2017, it was resolved to implement a share-based long-term incentive program for management and key personnel in the Vostok New Ventures group. The program runs from 1 January 2017 through 31 March 2020, and encompasses a maximum of 661,500 shares, corresponding to a dilution of 0.85 percent of the total number of shares outstanding at the time of adoption of the program. Program participants purchase shares in the Company, and for each purchased share is entitled to receive a number of additional shares, so-called performance shares, free of charge, subject to fulfilment of a performance condition set by the Board of Directors on the basis of the Companys Net Asset Value. LTIP 2018 At the 2017 annual general meeting held on 16 May 2018, it was resolved to implement a share-based long-term incentive program for management and key personnel in the Vostok New Ventures group. The program runs from 1 January 2018 through 31 March 2021, and encompasses a maximum of 749,700 shares, corresponding to a dilution of 0.96 percent of the total number of shares outstanding at the time of adoption of the program. Program participants purchase shares in the Company, and for each purchased share is entitled to receive a number of additional shares, so-called performance shares, free of charge, subject to fulfilment of a performance condition set by the Board of Directors on the basis of the Companys Net Asset Value. Resolution to amend the Companys Bye-Laws (item 15) The Board of Directors proposes an amendment to the Companys Bye-Laws, whereby the name of the Company as stated in the Bye-Laws is changed from Vostok Nafta Investment Ltd to Vostok New Ventures Ltd, in order to reflect the name change effected by the Company in 2015. With reference to the above, the Board of Directors proposes that section 1.1 of the Bye-Laws, referring to the definition of Company, shall read as follows: Company The company with the name Vostok Nafta Holding Investment Ltd incorporated in Bermuda on the 10th day of April 2007 and subsequently renamed Vostok Nafta Investment Ltd and later Vostok New Ventures Ltd; Furthermore, the first page of the Bye-Laws shall read as follows: Amended and restated Bye-Laws of Vostok New Ventures Ltd Resolution to cancel the incentive program adopted in 2007 (item 16) At an Extra General Meeting held on 29 August 2007, an incentive program was adopted under which the Company could issue and transfer call options to members of the executive management and other employees related to investments in non-listed portfolio companies. By enabling the Companys employees to subscribe for call options of shares in portfolio companies, it was envisioned by the Board of Directors that opportunities would be created for employees to take part in future increases in value, in a similar mode as for individuals working within traditional private equity firms. The Board of Directors has noted that no call options have been granted under this incentive program and further assess that no call options are likely to be granted under this incentive program in the future. As such, the Board of Directors proposes that the incentive program adopted in 2007 is cancelled in its entirety. Resolution to cancel the 2010 Incentive Program (item 17) The 2010 Annual General Meeting decided in accordance with the proposal from the Board of Directors to adopt an incentive program entitling present and future employees to be allocated call options to acquire shares represented by depository receipts in Vostok New Ventures. The program covers present and future employees. A total of 5,115,600 options were authorized under the program. A total of 147,000 options are currently allocated. The option life is 7 June 2016 31 July 2019 and the exercise period is 1 June 31 July 2019. The Board of Directors proposes that the 2010 Incentive Program is cancelled in its entirety following the expiry of the option life and exercise period of the currently allocated 147,000 options. Majority requirements Resolutions in accordance with the Board of Directors proposal in respect of items 14, 16 and 17 requires support of shareholders representing not less than half of the votes cast as well as of the shares represented by depository receipts represented at the Meeting. Resolution in accordance with the Board of Directors proposal in respect of item 15 requires support of shareholders representing not less than two thirds of the votes cast as well as of the shares represented by depository receipts represented at the Meeting. Miscellaneous The annual accounts and the auditors report will be available at the office of the Companys Swedish subsidiary, Vostok New Ventures AB, at Master Samuelsgatan 1 in Stockholm, Sweden and on the Companys website www.vostoknewventures.com. Processing of personal data For information on how your personal data is processed, see the integrity policy that is available at Euroclears webpage www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf. _______________________ April 2019 Pareto Securities AB The Board of Directors of Vostok New Ventures Ltd 1 Corresponding to 25,000 depository receipts based on an assumed price of SEK 57 per depository receipt. 2 Corresponding to 25,000 depository receipts based on an assumed price of SEK 57 per depository receipt. 3 Corresponding to 25,000 depository receipts based on an assumed price of SEK 57 per depository receipt. 4 Corresponding to 28,000 depository receipts based on an assumed price of SEK 57 per depository receipt. 5 Excluding the 2,931,696 options that have not been allocated and will not be allocated if the Meeting resolves in accordance with the Board of Directors proposal under item 17. Including such options, the number of depository receipts would correspond to approximately 6.85 percent of the share capital and the votes in the Company. Attachment NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW CALGARY, Alberta, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (High Arctic) is pleased to announce it has closed on the previously announced agreement to acquire the assets of Precision Drillings snubbing services equipment, entirely located in Canada (Precision Snubbing). The acquisition provides High Arctic with additional quality snubbing equipment and access to experienced personnel and crews. The purchase price of a total of $8.25 million was settled in cash. The acquisition provides High Arctic with twelve additional marketed snubbing units, seven of which have been active over the last twelve months, as well as certain patent rights related to the design and configuration of stand-alone snubbing units and spare equipment. High Arctic operates the largest snubbing fleet in Canada consisting of a total of 29 snubbing units. Of High Arctics total fleet of snubbing units, five are currently being marketed in the United States and an additional three units will be deployed for well service and completion work in the Niobrara and the Bakken. High Arctic is examining other markets in the United States to expand its services. Matt Maclean, who joined High Arctic with the acquisition of Power Stroke in August 2018 will become the Vice President, Pressure Services responsible for snubbing and pressure services in North America. Mr. Maclean has 22 years of pressure control and industry experience. Forward-Looking Statements This News Release contains forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words may, would, could, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, seek, propose, estimate, expect, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Corporations current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Corporations actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this News Release. 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 as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Specific forward looking statements in this Press Release include, among others, statements pertaining to the following: the potential expansion by High Arctic of its well service offerings; the marketing of snubbing units in the United States; and the effects thereof. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this News Release, the Corporation has made assumptions regarding, among other things, that the Corporation will be able to deploy three units for well service and completion work in the Niobrara and the Bakken. The Corporations actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the risk factors set forth above and elsewhere in this News Release, along with the risk factors set out in the most recent Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These statements are given only as of the date of this News Release. The Corporation does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law. About High Arctic High Arctic is a publicly traded company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HWO. The Corporations principal focus is to provide drilling and specialized well completion services, equipment rentals and other services to the oil and gas industry. High Arctic is a market leader providing drilling and specialized well completion services and supplies rig matting, camps and drilling support equipment on a rental basis in Papua New Guinea. The Canadian and US operation provides well servicing, well abandonment, snubbing and nitrogen services and equipment on a rental basis to a large number of oil and natural gas exploration and production companies operating in Western Canada and the United States. For further information contact: J. Cameron Bailey Chief Executive Officer P: (587) 318-3826 E: cam.bailey@haes.ca Jim Hodgson Chief Financial Officer P: (587) 318-2218 E: jim.hodgson@haes.ca French English BROSSARD, Quebec, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DIAGNOS Inc. (DIAGNOS or the Corporation) (TSX Venture: ADK), (OTCQB: DGNOF), a leader in early detection of critical health issues through the use of its FLAIRE platform based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), announces today it will supply its Artificial Intelligence technology to the first Hypertensive Retina Screening Clinic in Saudi Arabia with Kanhoor Medical Inc. (Kanhoor). We are delighted to open our first screening clinic for HBP in collaboration with DIAGNOS, said the President of Kanhoor, Mr. Rashid AlMugait. He also added: We encourage and support DIAGNOS in its endeavor as an AI pioneer. We are pleased with this new hypertension application which will help us to provide an additional prevention service to our communities. We are building on our long term relationship with Kanhoor. Together, we are making a difference in screening patients afflicted with Diabetes and Hypertension to reduce pain and stress to themselves and their families, said Yves-Stephane Couture, Vice-President at DIAGNOS. Our solution that we have explored recently is the use of artificial intelligence for reading and grading of hypertensive retinopathy. It has been evaluated with sensitivity and specificity which is comparable to the manual reviews by specialists. The software automatically elicits the severity level of the hypertensive retinopathy along with a recommendation for treatment referral. This information is relayed immediately to the doctor. The core objective of this project is to integrate AI effectively in the health care system, and to provide better quality health through early screening of chronic diseases by impacting and promoting prevention in a large population, said Dr. Hadi Chakor, CMO at DIAGNOS. About DIAGNOS DIAGNOS is a publicly-traded Canadian corporation with a mission of early detection of critical health issues through the use of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool CARA (Computer Assisted Retina Analysis). CARA is a tele-ophthalmology platform that integrates with existing equipment (hardware and software) and processes at the point of care. CARAs Artificial Intelligence image enhancement algorithms make standard retinal images sharper, clearer and easier to read. CARA is accessible securely over the internet, and is compatible with all recognized image formats and brands of fundus cameras, and is EMR compatible. CARA is a cost-effective tool for screening large numbers of patients in real-time. CARA complies with local regulations, is FDA cleared for commercialization in the United States of America, is Health Canada licensed for commercialization in Canada and is CE marking compliant in Europe. Additional information is available at www.diagnos.com and www.sedar.com For further information, please contact: Mr. Andre Larente, President DIAGNOS Inc. Tel: 450-678-8882 ext. 224 alarente@diagnos.ca This news release contains forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements. DIAGNOS disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CALGARY, Alberta, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XORTX Therapeutics Inc. ("XORTX" or the Company) (CSE: XRX; OTCQB: XRTXF), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat progressive kidney disease, congratulates the TODAY study team and Dr. Petter Bjornstad on successful completion of their study and findings in youths with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). The findings show for the first time that high uric acid levels are common in young patients with T2D nephropathy (T2DN) and that high serum uric acid levels (SUA) are an independent risk factor for progression of kidney disease in this newly described and vulnerable group. In addition, the effects of SUA as an independent risk factor on high blood pressure and protein excretion (albuminuria/ proteinuria) into the urine are also described1. Dr. Allen Davidoff, CEO of XORTX, stated, The results of the TODAY study align with other recent studies that show that SUA is increasingly recognized as a serious risk factor for high blood pressure in T1D, T2D and in the general population. This work identifies, for the first time, a growing population of young individuals with T2D, ~25% of whom are at risk for a concerning combination of high blood pressure and increased albumin excretion indicating the onset of kidney disease. Importantly, the presence of increased uric acid levels, despite pre-existing metformin treatment for their diabetes, is an independent risk factor for aggressively progressing kidney disease. This seven-year, longitudinal study has successfully demonstrated a relationship between SUA, increased risk of high blood pressure and increased risk of urinary albumin excretion in young, T2D patients. Historically, SUA levels have been measured only as a secondary confirmation of the cause of a gout attack. For this reason, data on the association of circulating uric acid levels and their association to metabolic, cardiovascular (CVD) or kidney disease progression is sparse. This study shows for the first time that SUA levels above normal may be driving kidney disease progression early in the disease process that leads proteinuria in young adults with T2DN. The importance of this study in T2DN youth is that DN and cardiovascular disease are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetes, and develop at an alarming rate in adolescents with T2DN2-4, increased uric acid concentrations in serum are an independent risk factor for this disease process. The incidence of T2D is increasing worldwide. At present, there are few therapeutic options to treat progressive kidney disease in the nearly 10 million individuals with diabetic nephropathy in the United States and greater than 100 million people worldwide5. Current projections suggest that in the next 15 years the population of individuals with diabetes will grow from ~350 million today to nearly 550 million by 2035. T2D is increasingly diagnosed in youth and now accounts for 20% to 50% of new-onset diabetes case patients6. By deduction, the population of individuals with T2DN is expected to rise proportionately to ~175 million individuals in the next 15 years, many of whom will be youths or young adults. T2DN is a common complication of diabetes and the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in the developed world. Approximately 40% of persons with diabetes develop T2DN, manifested as albuminuria and/or decreased glomerular filtration rate. Even mild degrees of albuminuria and decrease in glomerular filtration rate are associated with significantly increased risks of cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease, and premature deaths7. Dr. Bjornstad is a clinical researcher and an assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine in the department of pediatrics, division of endocrinology and department of medicine, division of nephrology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is a NIH and JDRF funded translational researcher with a track record of research potential and success. Dr. Bjornstad is a key opinion leader and researcher on the importance of T2DN and enhanced need for therapeutic options in aggressively advancing forms of DN. The TODAY study, published April 7, 2019, furthers the concept that when left untreated uric acid levels in youths with T2DN are a serious risk factor toward rapid progression of kidney disease. References: Bjornstad, P, et. al., Elevated Serum Uric Acid Is Associated with Greater Risk for Hypertension and Diabetic Kidney Disease in Obese Adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes, Diabetes Care, April 2019. Dabelea D., et. al., SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Research Group. Association of type 1 diabetes vs type 2 diabetes diagnosed during childhood and adolescence with complication during teenage years and young adulthood, JAMA 2017;317:825-835. TODAY Study Group. Rapid rise in hypertension and nephropathy in youth with type 2 diabetes: the TODAY clinical trial, Diabetes Care 2013;36:1735-1741. Al-Saaed A.H., et. al., An inverse relationship between age of type 2 diabetes onset and complication risk and mortality: the impact of youth-onset type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2016;39:823-829 Gheith O, et. al., Diabetic Kidney Disease: worldwide difference of prevalence and risk factors, J Nephropharmacol, 5(1):49-56, 2016 Chen J, et. al., Diabetic Nephropathy: Scope of the Problem, Diabetes and Kidney Disease, April 2014, pp9-14 Whiting D, Guariguata L, Weil C, et al. IDF diabetes atlas: global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2011 and 2030. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2011;94:31121. Bobo N, Evert A, Gallivan J, et al; Diabetes in Children Adolescents Work Group of the National Diabetes Education Program. An update on type 2 diabetes in youth from the National Diabetes Education Program. Pediatrics. 2004;114(1):259-263. About XORTX Therapeutics Inc. XORTX Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat progressive kidney disease. XORTX has lead programs to develop treatments for progressive kidney disease due to diabetes, diabetic nephropathy and polycystic kidney disease. Secondary programs focus on developing therapies for health consequences that accompany pre-diabetes, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Additional information on XORTX Therapeutics is available at www.xortx.com . For further information, please contact: Allen Davidoff, CEO adavidoff@xortx.com or +1 403 455 7727 or Erik Matthews, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations erik@xortx.com or +1 747 203 5240 The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release includes forward looking statements that are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Statements in this news release which are not purely historical are forward looking statements, including without limitation any statements concerning the Company's intentions, plans, estimates, beliefs or expectations regarding the future. Although the Company believes that any such intentions, plans, estimates, beliefs and expectations in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such intentions, plans, beliefs and expectations will prove to be accurate. The Company cautions readers that all forward looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are based on assumptions none of which can be assured, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements. Readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in the forward looking statements. The Company assumes no obligations to update any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. MILWAUKEE, Wis., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As our bodies and minds change with age, and frailty and memory loss threaten to separate us, the TimeSlips creative storytelling program offers hope by showing how creativity and imagination can re-connect us. To spur a creative care revolution, the newly re-launched TimeSlips.org website provides more than 300 free resources and activities in the newly expanded Creativity Center to make meaningful engagement a reality for people living with Alzheimers disease and other dementias, their families and caregivers, and people serving them in community-based organizations and residential care facilities. Making up stories together is at the heart of the TimeSlips concept. By providing users with playful photographic and verbal prompts and questions to guide the creation of an original story, TimeSlips releases people living with dementia from the pressure to remember and replaces it with the freedom to imagine. At TimeSlips, we believe that even in our latest and most frail moments, we are capable of creating beauty and meaning, says Anne Basting, PhD, the founder and president of TimeSlips, a professor of theater at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and a MacArthur Fellow. By making so many new resources widely available, we hope to spark a creative revolution in care, offering people a joyful opportunity for connection, even in the midst of the stress and pain that are often part of living with dementia. Beautiful Questions and more than 300+ other no-cost resources The new resources in the TimeSlips.org Creativity Center include: Beautiful Questions, such as, What is the most beautiful sound in the world? or What is something you could teach someone? Gentle Conversation prompts that inspire simple sensory responses. The classic TimeSlips prompt Imagine a Story, using a whimsical, comic, or vintage photograph and open-ended questions to inspire elders and their companions or caregivers to make up an original (and often freewheeling) story together. These fun, low-pressure approaches allow people with dementia to connect with one another and with caregivers and family members, and to express themselves through storytelling without worrying about embarrassing memory lapses or wrong answers. See a video of TimeSlips in action here. One TimeSlips participant put it this way: It makes you feel like you can just fly anywhere go anywhere you want to with this. And you feel good about it happy and pleased. How the revolution got started Anne Basting first envisioned TimeSlips in 1996 when she tried (and failed) to use theater workshop techniques to engage nursing home residents. Rather than giving up, she improvised, showing the group a magazine ad of the cowboy-like Marlboro Man and tossing out questions about him (What should his name be?), then recording the crowd-sourced responses (His name is Fred! Fred what? Fred Astaire!) To her amazement, even people who had been nonverbal in previous sessions began to participate, singing and laughing along with nursing home staffers. It felt like a miracle, Basting recalls. A proven approach that can work in any setting TimeSlips creative approaches are used around the world in care communities, museums, libraries, senior centers, and individual homes, and are delivered and taught by formally credentialled creative facilitators and Master Trainers in 47 states and 19 countries. Training is available for organizations interested in joining the creative care revolution by becoming certified as Creative Communities of Care. TimeSlips models true person-centered care and has been shown to increase the quality and quantity of engagement between staff and residents in nursing homes and lead to enhanced verbal skills, positive behavioral changes, more communication, and less confusion in people living with dementia. Reflecting the strength of its evidence base, TimeSlips is featured on the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Innovations Exchange. Meeting a tremendous need in an unexpected way Around the world, 47 million people live with dementia, affecting 190 million close family and friends. There is no cure for Alzheimers disease or other related dementias, and the number of people affected is expected to rise as the population ages. Partners The massive expansion of the TimeSlips web platform was supported by Bader Philanthropies, the Retirement Research Foundation, and an anonymous donor. The site was designed and developed by Igicom.com, with design consulting from Lafayette American and illustrations by Violeta Noy. The new online training was developed by Hadiya Nuriddin with Focus Learning Solutions. About TimeSlips TimeSlips is a non-profit alliance of artists and caregivers bringing meaning and joy to late life through creative engagement. Our core improvisational storytelling method is evidence-based and has been replicated by Certified Facilitators in 47 states and 19 countries. Our Creative Communities of Care training infuses creativity into organizations serving elders including skilled nursing, assisted living, independent living, senior centers, memory cafes, and museums. We believe every human being deserves to feel meaning and purpose, and that growth and expression is possible all the way through the end of our lives. Learn more at https://timeslips.org. Media Contact Elliott Walker ewalker@aboutSCP.com FRANKLIN, Tenn., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) today announced that it will provide an online Web simulcast and rebroadcast of its first quarter 2019 conference call. The Company will issue a press release announcing its results on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, after the regular close of trading. The conference call is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Central time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available online at www.chs.net . To listen to the live call, please go to the web site at least 15 minutes early to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately 30 days. During this call, Community Health Systems will review the Companys financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. About Community Health Systems, Inc. Community Health Systems, Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded hospital companies in the United States and a leading operator of general acute care hospitals in communities across the country. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns, leases or operates 106 affiliated hospitals in 18 states with an aggregate of approximately 17,000 licensed beds. The Companys headquarters are located in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb south of Nashville. Shares in Community Health Systems, Inc. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CYH. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.chs.net. CONTACT - Media: CONTACT - Investor Relations: Amsterdam +31.20.721.4488 Brussels +32.2.620.15.50 +33.1.70.48.24.17 Dublin Paris +353.1.617.4266 +33.1.70.48.24.45 Lisbon +351.210.600.614 EURONEXTS FASTMATCH BECOMES EURONEXT FX Rebranding of FastMatch into Euronext FX Euronext FX becomes Euronexts foreign exchange (FX) expansion platform Increased commercial intensity and brand consistency will allow further global cross-selling opportunities New York, 16 April 2019 Euronext announces today the rebranding of FastMatch, its Electronic Communication Network (ECN) for Foreign Exchange (FX) trading, into Euronext FX1. This is a new step in the further integration of FastMatch, which has been acquired by Euronext in 2017 as part of its strategy to diversify its top line and extend its best execution value proposition to an additional asset class. This rebranding reflects the evolution of FastMatch since it joined the Euronext Group. While the FastMatch brand name is synonymous with speed and best in class technology, Euronext stands for transparency, regulatory robustness, fairness and accountability. FastMatch was perceived as an industry disruptor thanks to its award-winning technology. While maintaining its technology leadership, the company has gained operational maturity and can now rely on the backing of a large and stable organisation such as Euronext. The FastMatch name will not disappear as it remains the brandname of the trading technology powering Euronext FX2. Building on the name and network of the Euronext teams will allow Euronext FX to acquire larger institutional clients, to interact more closely with Euronexts distribution network, to leverage Euronexts market data services and to rely on improved infrastructure support. Kevin Wolf, CEO of Euronext FX, said: This is an important milestone for our teams, which demonstrates Euronexts commitment to further develop the FX franchise. Being part of Euronext has already helped Euronext FX grow its presence in Europe, access Euronexts vast and diversified client base, both sell-side and buy-side, and benefit from Euronexts reputation. Under the stewardship of Euronext, we successfully launched and developed the Euronext FX Tape, an innovative centralized streaming service providing real-time trade data to market participants, and recently announced a new matching engine in Singapore to better serve our Asian customers. CONTACTS Media Pascal Brabant: +32 2 620 15 50; pbrabant@euronext.com/ mediateam@euronext.com Investors/analysts Aurelie Cohen +33 1 70 48 24 17; ir@euronext.com About Euronext Euronext is the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone, covering Belgium, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. With 1,300 listed issuers worth 3.5 trillion in market capitalisation as of end March 2019, Euronext is an unmatched blue chip franchise that has 24 issuers in the Morningstar Eurozone 50 Index and a strong diverse domestic and international client base. Euronext operates regulated and transparent equity and derivatives markets and is the largest centre for debt and funds listings in the world. Its total product offering includes Equities, FX, Exchange Traded Funds, Warrants & Certificates, Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Indices. Euronext also leverages its expertise in running markets by providing technology and managed services to third parties. In addition to its main regulated market, Euronext also operates Euronext GrowthTM and Euronext AccessTM, simplifying access to listing for SMEs. About Euronext FX Euronext FX is an Electronic Communication Network (ECN) for foreign exchange trading. Powered by FastMatch technology, Euronext FX offers customers access to large pools of diversified and bespoke liquidity, transparency, flexibility in trading protocols and unique order types. Its award-winning technology provides Euronext FX clients with unparalleled speed and the capacity to handle simultaneously thousands of clients, including financial institutions, banks, asset managers, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and retail brokers. Disclaimer This press release is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in investment activities. This press release is provided as is without representation or warranty of any kind. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content, Euronext does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Euronext will not be held liable for any loss or damages of any nature ensuing from using, trusting or acting on information provided. No information set out or referred to in this publication may be regarded as creating any right or obligation. The creation of rights and obligations in respect of financial products that are traded on the exchanges operated by Euronexts subsidiaries shall depend solely on the applicable rules of the market operator. All proprietary rights and interest in or connected with this publication shall vest in Euronext. This press release speaks only as of this date. Euronext refers to Euronext N.V. and its affiliates. Information regarding trademarks and intellectual property rights of Euronext is located at www.euronext.com/terms-use. 2019, Euronext N.V. - All rights reserved. The Euronext Group processes your personal data in order to provide you with information about Euronext (the "Purpose"). With regard to the processing of these personal data, Euronext will comply with its obligations under the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR), and any applicable national laws, rules and regulations implementing the GDPR as provided in its privacy statement available at: www.euronext.com/privacy-policy . In accordance with the applicable legislation you have rights as regard to the processing of your personal data: for more information on your rights, please refer to: www.euronext.com/data_subjects_rights_request_information , , for any request regarding the processing of your data or if you want to unsubscribe to this press release, please use our data subject request form https://connect2.euronext.com/form/data-subjects-rights-request or email our Data Protection Officer at dpo@euronext.com . 1 Similarly, the legal entity FastMatch, Inc. becomes Euronext FX Inc. 2 The product names will be updated as follows: FastMatch ECN becomes Euronext FX ECN The names DisclosedMatch, SafeMatch, AlgoMatch and ManageMatch remain unchanged Attachment FLORHAM PARK, N.J., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two BASF women in manufacturing were among 130 women recognized nationally through The Manufacturing Institutes 2019 STEP Ahead Awards. Focusing on science, technology, engineering and production (STEP), the program annually honors female leaders for their advocacy, mentorship, engagement and leadership in the industry. BASF employees Beth Holland, Vice President of Operations for Polyamides and Precursors in Freeport, Texas, and Dana Scott, Maintenance and Technical Services Director in Geismar, Louisiana received awards. The STEP Ahead Awards are part of the STEP Ahead initiative, that aims to attract, advance and retain strong female talent. It examines and promotes the role of women in the manufacturing industry through recognition, research, and leadership. In five years, STEP Ahead Award winners have impacted more than 300,000 individuals from peers in the industry to school-aged children across the region. As the national sponsor of the STEP Ahead initiative, BASF collaborates with The Manufacturing Institute on the grassroots movement to encourage women to embrace manufacturing as a viable career and help them overcome the shared challenges they may face, said Teressa Szelest, President of Market and Business Development at BASF and National Association of Manufacturers Board of Directors member. Throughout my career at BASF, I have seen firsthand the value women bring to manufacturing, and we want to continue to provide them a supportive and inclusive work environment full of opportunity. Women constitute one of manufacturings largest pools of untapped talent. Female employees totaled 47 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2018, but only 29 percent of the manufacturing workforce. Not only does the STEP Ahead initiative bolster manufacturings attractiveness to women, it also plays an important role in improving the perception of careers in the industry among younger generations. Providing more opportunities for women in manufacturing is more than just the right thing to do. At a time when manufacturers face a workforce crisis, and with women still constituting less than a third of manufacturing workers, it is clearly critical to the future of our industry and the economy, said Carolyn Lee, Executive Director of The Manufacturing Institute. The Manufacturing Institutes STEP Ahead awards which provide todays female leaders in manufacturing the recognition they deserve while simultaneously elevating role models that can inspire future generations to join them are an important element of our commitment to helping foster a 21st century manufacturing workforce by developing current leaders and engaging future ones. BASF sponsored the seventh-annual awards ceremony, which was held April 11 in Washington, D.C. For more information about BASF careers and efforts that promote women in manufacturing, visit http://www.basf.us/women. About BASF BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 20,000 employees in North America and had sales of $19.7 billion in 2018. For more information about BASFs North American operations, visit www.basf.com . VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Midas Gold Corp. (MAX:TSX / MDRPF:OTCQX) today announced it has provided an initial cash grant of $100,000 and issued 1.5 million common shares in the capital of the Company (the Foundation Shares), valued at US$877,500, to launch the Stibnite Foundation in Idaho. These grants to the Stibnite Foundation (the Foundation) were made in accordance with the Companys ongoing annual and milestone funding obligations pursuant to the terms of the Community Agreement, details of which can be found in the Companys December 4, 2018 news release. The Foundation will support projects that benefit the communities surrounding the Stibnite Gold Project and was created through the establishment of the Community Agreement between Midas Gold Idaho and eight communities and counties throughout the West Central Mountains region of Idaho. The Foundation Shares are subject to, among other things, a hold period of four months, and may not be traded until August 17, 2019 except as permitted by applicable securities legislation and the rules and policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Being involved in the communities where we work has always been a strong part of the ethos of our company, said Laurel Sayer, CEO of Midas Gold Idaho. Since day one, we have helped to support the projects and causes that are important to the community. Over the past ten years, weve donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local organizations, helped support efforts to upgrade two community parks and given many hours of our time to give back to the place we call home. Establishing the Stibnite Foundation is the next chapter of our companys commitment to giving back to Idaho. Midas Gold will be required to directly address impacts of the Stibnite Gold Project, such as power and road improvements and environmental mitigation, through the permitting process. The Stibnite Foundation is intended to be a tool to fund projects that address other community desires and needs that may arise. Midas Gold will fund the Foundation through a combination of cash and stock contributions with the intent that the Foundation forms an endowment that can support local communities for generations. This is the first issuance of shares to the foundation, with additional cash and share grants scheduled tied to future progress. About the Stibnite Foundation The Stibnite Foundation was created through the establishment of a Community Agreement between Midas Gold Corp, Midas Gold Idaho and Adams County, Cascade, Council, Donnelly, Idaho County, New Meadows, Riggins and Yellow Pine. The Community Agreement was signed at the end of 2018. Each of the communities who are part of the agreement appoint one representative to sit on the board of directors for the Stibnite Foundation. Communities are still in the process of appointing their representatives, and these appointments are anticipated to be completed in the near future. The Foundation places decision-making authority into the hands of the board of directors, and in turn the local communities. Midas Gold strongly believes that community members know the best investments to make to have the biggest impact. Any group or community project may apply for funding from the Foundation, regardless of participation in the Community Agreement. The Community Agreement obligated Midas Gold to create the Foundation and contribute cash and shares based on calendar and project milestones. In fulfillment of requirements for 2019, in addition to the grant of shares, Midas Gold will contribute a total of $200,000 this year and will provide another $100,000 in 2020. The Stibnite Foundation will continue to receive contributions from Midas Gold throughout operations based on a percentage of profit, as well as an additional grant of shares. Midas Gold is in the process of establishing the necessary legal and tax status to begin operating as a charitable foundation. Charitable giving will begin within a year after receiving the necessary tax status from the Internal Revenue Service. Stibnite Gold Project Permitting Background A detailed presentation on the PRO can be found at www.midasgoldcorp.com . Details of previous news releases and technical studies can be found filed under Midas Golds profile on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com ) or at www.midasgoldcorp.com . For further information about Midas Gold Corp., please contact: Liz Monger -- Manager, Investor Relations (t): 778.724.4704 (e): info@midasgoldcorp.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/midasgoldidaho Twitter: @MidasIdaho Website: www.midasgoldcorp.com About Midas Gold and the Stibnite Gold Project Midas Gold Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiaries are focused on the exploration and, if warranted, site restoration and development of gold-antimony-silver deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine district of central Idaho that are encompassed by its Stibnite Gold Project. Forward-Looking Information Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or financial performance that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions, courses of action and business objectives. In certain cases, Forward-Looking Information can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "advance", "create", "benefit", intends or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results completion, "would", "occur" or "be achieved". Although Midas Gold has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Midas Gold and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, Midas Gold has applied several material assumptions, including the assumption that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Midas Gold does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. DALLAS, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transwestern Investment Group (TIG) today announces it has completed the monetization of TSP Value and Income Fund I, a real estate investment fund that delivered a 17% net IRR to investors after fees, expenses and carried interest. With $150 million in committed equity, the fund also generated greater than 9% annual cash-on-cash since the first acquisition in February 2015. The TSP Value and Income Fund I was focused on reducing risk and volatility in the value-add space. The fund targeted investment opportunities that benefited from TIGs intensive value-add process and also generated strong cash flow during the hold period. We are very pleased with the substantial total return earned by our first fund as we managed risk with current yield distributions, said TIG Executive Managing Director Scott Fitzgerald. We believe the funds success validated our ability to deliver substantial current income to our investors while still achieving a strong overall net return. TIG closed out Fund I with the recent portfolio sale of the industrial investments in the fund, totaling 3.5 million square feet in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The highly successful portfolio sale demonstrated the benefits of the industrial aggregation sub-strategy and resulted in Fund I delivering returns far above the targeted return. All Fund I investors made commitments to TSP Value and Income Fund II, as did new investors. ABOUT TRANSWESTERN INVESTMENT GROUPTranswestern Investment Group (TIG) is an investment adviser serving a broad range of clients through a diversified array of discretionary and non-discretionary investment vehicles. With $4.5 billion of assets under management as of year-end 2018, our client-focused, relationship-driven approach is built upon trust, integrity and transparency. TIG provides tactical investment management with an integrated operating platform through the Transwestern enterprise, which includes a diversified real estate services firm with 34 U.S. offices and a prominent commercial development company. For more information, visit transwesterninvest.com. This document does not constitute an offer, solicitation or recommendation to sell or an offer to buy any securities, investment products or investment advisory services. Any offer or solicitation will be made only pursuant to a confidential private placement memorandum and subscription documents (the Offering Materials) and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such Offering Materials. The clients included in this press release were not selected based on performance, but because they are some of the largest well-known clients with similar strategic alliances. It is not known whether these clients approve or disapprove of TIG or the services or products it provides. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply any level of skill or training. Attachment TORONTO, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX: GCM; OTCQX: TPRFF) announced today the details for the forthcoming quarterly repayment of its 8.25% Senior Secured Gold-Linked Notes due 2024 (the Gold Notes) (TSX: GCM.NT.U) as follows: Payment date: April 30, 2019 Record date: April 23, 2019 Cash payment amount: Approximately US$0.0601384 per US$1.00 principal amount of Gold Notes representing an amortization payment of the principal amount issued and outstanding of approximately US$0.0584708 per US$1.00 principal amount of Gold Notes and a gold premium of approximately US$0.0016676 per US$1.00 principal amount of Gold Notes. The aggregate amount of the cash payments on the Payment Date will be US$5,014,035, of which US$4,875,000 will be applied to reduce the aggregate principal amount of the Gold Notes issued and outstanding. The Company sold the 3,900 ounces accumulated in the gold trust account during the past quarter at the London P.M. Fix on April 15, 2019 of US$1,285.65 per ounce to realize the proceeds required for this cash payment. Principal amount issued and outstanding: As of todays date, there is a total of US$83,375,000 principal amount of Gold Notes issued and outstanding. After this quarterly repayment, the aggregate principal amount of the Gold Notes will be reduced to US$78,500,000. First Quarter 2019 Results Webcast Gran Colombia also announced today that it will release its financial results for the first quarter of 2019 after market close on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 and will host a conference call and webcast on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results. Webcast and call-in details are as follows: Live Event link: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/uxvva6ge International: 1 (514) 841-2157 North America Toll Free: 1 (866) 215-5508 Colombia Toll Free: 01 800 9 156 924 Conference ID: 48466603 A replay of the webcast will be available at www.grancolombiagold.com from Thursday, May 16, 2019 until Friday, June 14, 2019. About Gran Colombia Gold Corp. Gran Colombia is a Canadian-based mid-tier gold producer with its primary focus in Colombia where it is currently the largest underground gold and silver producer with several mines in operation at its Segovia and Marmato Operations. Gran Colombia is continuing to focus on exploration, expansion and modernization activities at its high-grade Segovia Operations. Additional information on Gran Colombia can be found on its website at www.grancolombiagold.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information", which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect repayment of the Gold Notes. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gran Colombia to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated as of March 27, 2019 which is available for view on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and Gran Colombia disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. HOUSTON, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) (Archrock) will host a conference call on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, to discuss its first quarter 2019 financial results. The call will begin at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Archrock will release its first quarter 2019 earnings report prior to the conference call. To listen to the call via a live webcast, please visit Archrocks website at www.archrock.com. The call will also be available by dialing 1-877-407-0784 in the United States and Canada, or 1-201-689-8560 for international calls. Please call approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time and reference Archrock. A replay of the conference call will be available on Archrocks website for approximately seven days. Also, a replay may be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 in the United States and Canada, or 1-412-317-6671 for international calls. The access code is 13688983. About Archrock Archrock is an energy infrastructure company with a pure-play focus on midstream natural gas compression. Archrock is the leading provider of natural gas compression services to customers in the oil and natural gas industry throughout the U.S. and a leading supplier of aftermarket services to customers that own compression equipment in the U.S. Archrock is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with approximately 1,700 employees. For more information, please visit www.archrock.com. SOURCE: Archrock, Inc. For information, contact: Paul Burkhart Treasurer & VP of Investor Relations 281-836-8688 investor.relations@archrock.com VANCOUVER, April 16, 2019 - Macarthur Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: MMS) (OTCQB: MMSDF) (the Company or Macarthur) is pleased to provide an update to Shareholders outlining an active and significant first quarter 2019 in the ongoing development of the Companys iron ore projects and exploration activities across the lithium, gold, nickel and cobalt projects in Western Australia and Nevada, USA. FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS Opened an up to US$6 million institutional Convertible Note offer to fund the production of a Bankable Feasibility Study on the Companys iron ore projects Binding Life-Of-Mine Off-Take Agreement with Glencore International A.G for the Lake Giles Iron Ore Project for approximately 4mtpa for the first 10 years on project start up Company entered into exclusive negotiation agreement with Aurizon for rail haulage services for the Lake Giles Iron Ore Project Available capacity confirmed on the Goldfields to Esperance Port rail line Infill drilling program planned for the Moonshine magnetite deposit Engineering firm Engenium commissioned to revise NI 43-101 compliant technical report and refine operating and capital costs of the hematite and magnetite projects Applications have been made for three additional prospective iron ore tenements. These were properties released by Cliffs Natural Resources and are adjacent to the iron ore operations of Mt Jackson and Deception Mines Further updates will be provided when final reports and agreements are completed. Mr. Cameron McCall, Executive Chairman of Macarthur Minerals commented: Macarthur has managed to keep its extensive Western Australian iron ore projects alive through a prolonged downturn in the global iron ore market. With the upturn in the iron ore industry, it is now time to continue to focus the resources of the Company in developing these projects. The first quarter focused on further development of the Companys iron ore projects. Three key factors have been influencing the commercial potential of these projects in recent times: availability of third-party logistics infrastructure enabling a route to market; a change in demand by Chinese mills for cleaner, high iron content product to meet stricter environmental regulation, and; the supply impacts from Brazil coupled with lag investment time required by major iron ore suppliers to meet customer demand. The Companys core focus in Quarter 2 will be to continue advancing the iron projects with the commencement of an infill drilling program and bankable feasibility study for the Lake Giles Project. This will necessitate the need to potentially reposition our portfolio of gold, lithium, cobalt and nickel projects to focus primarily on our iron ore assets. The Company will continue to actively seek joint venture partners to advance the exploration of its gold, lithium, cobalt and nickel projects. Over the last 24 months the Company has been developing the key areas of Hillside, Panorama and Bonnie Scott lithium and gold projects which form part of the Companys extensive ~1,300 km portfolio in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, to drill ready targets. During this period, exploration planning also continued at the Lake Giles nickel and cobalt projects in the Yilgarn to define drill ready targets. The activities undertaken to date will provide an attractive exploration portfolio for active Pilbara gold and lithium, Yilgarn nickel and cobalt, and Nevada lithium brine explorers. IRON ORE During the first quarter, the Company re-evaluated the operating philosophy of its iron ore projects in Western Australia in response to several key drivers influencing the global iron ore market. A strong demand for high-grade, low impurity iron ore has seen a significant divergence between the Platts 58% Fe and 65% Fe iron indices. This has been coupled with a supply shock from the closure of several Vale operations in Brazil and the release of capacity in local infrastructure. Based on these factors, the Company has engaged engineering firm Engenium to refine the operating and capital costs of a reduced-scale magnetite operation that would take advantage of the premium 65% iron ore market. The full outcomes of this study will be released to the market when it becomes available. With the sale and downturn in production of the Koolyanobbing operation adjacent to Macarthurs Lake Giles Project, access to regional established rail and port infrastructure has become available. During the period Macarthur sought to take advantage of this available capacity by: Engaging with the rail owner Arc Infrastructure to confirm available capacity on the rail line. Entering into an exclusive negotiation agreement with Aurizon for rail haulage services. Engaging with the Southern Ports Authority to enable an export solution through the Port of Esperance. Of significant importance for the commercialisation of the iron ore projects, the Company entered into a binding Life-of-Mine Off-Take agreement for up to 4 Mtpa for the first 10 years, with experienced iron ore trader, Glencore International A.G. The Company also commenced planning for a bankable feasibility study of the Lake Giles Iron Ore Project during this busy first quarter. GOLD, NICKEL AND COBALT Hillside Gold Project Macarthurs 100% owned Hillside Gold Project in the Pilbara covers an area of ~ 400 km2 of greenstone lithologies highly prospective for gold and copper mineralisation. Historical gold mining has occurred within the tenement area with recent activity by prospectors recovering over 700 ounces of gold nuggets. Historical rock chip sampling at the Hillside Gold Project has returned results up to 55 grams per tonne gold and 7.8% copper. In 2018 a SkyTEM survey identified multiple outstanding anomalies that require follow-up exploration in the field. Geological mapping and geochemical sampling will be undertaken across these target areas, followed by drilling of selected targets. Panorama and Bonnie Scot Projects In Q4 2018, the Joint Venture for the Panorama Project with Artemis Resources Ltd. was terminated. Macarthur continues to actively seek new venture partners for this project. During the last quarter, a desk top review of previous exploration from historical archive report dated 1969-1971 (Planet Metals Ltd), identified the Brisbane Nickel Prospect. The Brisbane Nickel Prospect covers a small area on the western margin of E45/4779. Work completed on historical mineral claims, MC45/1076, MC45/1077 and MC45/1112, during 1970 to 1971, comprised geological mapping, costeaning, ground magnetic surveys and rock chip sampling. A magnetic survey delineated an anomaly that possibly represented a sulphide body at depth. Geology Proterozoic sediments and basalts, acid volcanic rocks of Archean age outcrops also. Dunite and olivine-rich peridotite are the principal ultramafic rock types. Orthopyroxene rich peridotites and orthopyroxenites have also been identified. Costean sampling gave a best result of 6,319 ppm Ni. It is recommended that further geophysical work and drilling be undertaken on the anomaly. Lake Giles Drilling was conducted on the high priority nickel sulphide targets identified as a result of a Moving Loop Electromagnetic survey conducted in Quarter 2 2018. Two Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes were completed at Moonshine North in September 2018 returning encouraging assay results. Both holes had successfully intersected sulphide minerals at depth and semi-massive sulphide comprising 20% pyrite/pyrrhotite was recorded over 12m in hole 18MRC002 from 185m to end of hole (EOH). Sulphide mineralisation is open at depth and on strike with the hole ending in sulphide mineralisation. A review of Macarthurs data at the Snark Prospect identified two RC drill holes, LGRC_0015 and LGRC_0010, drilled by Macarthur in 2006 that intersected long intervals of anomalous Ni including 106m @ 0.14% Ni from 62 m in hole LGRC_015 and 128m @ 0.16% Ni from 108 m in hole LGRC_010 within ultramafic volcanics. In 2018 Macarthur collected rock chip samples in the vicinity of these drill holes which returned values up to 2.6% Co and 2.0% Ni. An opportunity to advance nickel and gold exploration at Lake Giles exists by way of utilisation of the Companys exploration database and library of geochemical sample pulps obtained during Macarthurs iron ore drilling. These samples have mostly been analysed for the iron ore suite of elements and this presents an opportunity to re-assay already collected samples for gold and base metals. LITHIUM Western Australia Macarthurs ~1,300km2 lithium portfolio in the Pilbara has now had all Exploration Licences granted and the Company has been advancing discussions with potential partners to further the geological investigation of these tenements. Reynolds Springs Project, Nevada USA Macarthur holds 210 new unpatented placer mining claims at its Reynolds Springs Lithium Brine Project, located approximately 180 miles (300 km) North of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 330 miles (531 km) South East of Teslas new Gigafactory. Macarthurs neighbouring claim owner, LithiumOre, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oroplata Resources has recently commenced drilling activities on its claims for lithium brine. Macarthur has been in discussions with LithiumOre over potential joint venture opportunities for its Reynolds Springs Lithium Brine Project. QUALIFIED PERSONS Mr Ian S Cooper, B.Sc., A.R.S.M., F.G.S. FAusIMM, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (membership number 107348, is a consultant of Macarthur and is a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Mr Cooper has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. ABOUT MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED (TSX-V: MMS) (OTCQB: MMSDF) Macarthur Minerals Ltd. is an iron ore development company with its focus on bringing into production, its sizeable, 100% owned, Moonshine Magnetite and Ularring Hematite Iron Ore Projects in Western Australia. Macarthur Minerals also has prominent (~1,130 square kilometer tenement area) exploration interests in gold, lithium, nickel, cobalt in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. In addition, Macarthur Minerals has lithium brine Claims in the emerging Railroad Valley region in Nevada, USA. On behalf of the Board of Directors, MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED Cameron McCall Cameron McCall, Executive Chairman Company Contact Joe Phillips, CEO and Director Email: jphillips@macarthurminerals.com Telephone: +61 448899247 Website: www.macarthurminerals.com For further information please contact: Investor Cubed Inc.: Neil Simon E-mail: nsimon@investor3.ca Telephone: (647) 258-3310 Fax: (416) 363-7977 THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements Certain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect the current expectations, assumptions or beliefs of the Company based upon information currently available to the Company. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the timely receipt of required approvals, the reliability of information, including historical mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates, prepared and/or published by third parties that are referenced in this press release or was otherwise relied upon by the Company in preparing this press release. 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 no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct as actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in exchange rates and certain commodity prices, uncertainties related to mineral title in the project, unforeseen technology changes that results in a reduction in iron ore demand or substitution by other metals or materials, the discovery of new large low cost deposits of iron ore, uncertainty in successfully returning the project into full operation, and the general level of global economic activity. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Such statements relate to future events and expectations and, as such, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and except as may otherwise be required pursuant to applicable laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. DENVER, April 16, 2019 - Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG; TSX: URE) ("Ur-Energy") and Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels") are pleased that on April 14, 2019 the U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") submitted a report to the White House on DOC's investigation into the effects of uranium imports on U.S. national security. The president now has up to 90 days from April 14 to act on the DOC's recommendations. We have not seen the DOC report, which is expected to remain confidential, but we believe the facts are clear. Uranium imports, increasingly from state-owned enterprises in adversarial countries like Russia and its allies, created a stark national security crisis. More than 60 percent of newly mined uranium around the world now comes from state-owned enterprises that unfriendly nations control. The once robust American uranium mining industry is disappearing because a flood of state-subsidized imports has made fair competition impossible. The U.S. is the world's largest consumer of uranium. It is a vital element in the fuel for our nuclear Navy and the nuclear power plants that provide 20 percent of our electricity and nearly 60 percent of our clean, carbon-free electricity. Yet, in 2019, our domestic industry is expected to produce less than 1 percent of the uranium U.S. utilities need to generate electricity. The rest will come from other countries and increasingly from our adversaries. While uranium imports from our adversaries increase, production from our allies is plummeting. Uranium mining companies in other free market countries like Canada and Australia are also suffering because of state-subsidized production. Only one mine still operates today in Canada and production in Australia is declining. The world knows that Russia weaponizes its natural resources and energy industries. We must not allow the U.S. to be a target for Russia's geopolitical warfare by placing 20 percent of our electricity in the hands of oligarchs and state officials who wish to diminish American influence and power. Meanwhile, China is purchasing uranium mines around the world that were previously reliable, free market suppliers. China National Uranium Corporation is purchasing the Rossing mine, meaning that China will dominate uranium production in Namibia, a historic and important supplier to the U.S. In the Petition, we propose that President Trump implement two common-sense remedies that will preserve U.S. national security and help the domestic uranium mining industry recover. This includes a quota that, in effect, reserves 25 percent of the domestic market for U.S.-mined uranium and a "Buy American" policy for U.S. government entities that use uranium. We believe that President Trump will recognize the danger of imported uranium and act before it is too late. About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading US-based uranium mining company, supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities. The Company also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant. Its corporate offices are in Denver, Colorado, and all of its assets and employees are in the United States. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, and has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is in operation and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR Project is currently on standby. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the U.S., and several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages of permitting and development. The primary trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "UUUU", and the Company's common shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR". Energy Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com. About Ur-Energy: Ur-Energy is a U.S. uranium mining company with corporate and operations offices in Denver, Colorado and Casper, Wyoming. Ur-Energy operates the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. Ur-Energy has produced, packaged and shipped more than 2.5 million pounds from Lost Creek since the commencement of operations. Applications are under review by various agencies to incorporate our LC East project area into the Lost Creek permits, and to construct and operate at our Shirley Basin Project. Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing activities in the United States, including the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of uranium mineral properties. The primary trading market for Ur-Energy's common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "URG;" Ur-Energy's common shares also trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's website is www.ur-energy.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information contained in this statement, including any information relating to: the impacts of our geopolitical rivals and adversaries, including Russia and China, on national security and uranium supply in the U.S.; the potential of the U.S. to be unable to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle and to become 100% dependent on foreign parties; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation as set forth in the report to the White House, including whether the Secretary of Commerce has made one or more recommendations to the President and the nature of the recommendation(s); whether the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; whether the U.S. will be able to rely on allies in the future for the supply of needed uranium for our nuclear fuel cycle needs; and any other statements regarding Energy Fuels' or Ur-Energy's future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects; constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "expects," "does not expect," "plans," "anticipates," "does not anticipate," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "scheduled," "forecast," "budget" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's ability to control or predict. A number of important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements, including without limitation factors relating to: the impacts of our geopolitical rivals and adversaries, including Russia and China, on national security and uranium supply in the U.S.; the potential of the U.S. to be unable to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle and to become 100% dependent on foreign parties; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation as set forth in the report to the White House, including whether the Secretary of Commerce has made one or more recommendations to the President and the nature of the recommendation(s); whether the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; whether the U.S. will be able to rely on allies in the future for the supply of needed uranium for our nuclear fuel cycle needs; and other risk factors as described in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly financial reports. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy assume no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's filings with the various securities commissions which are available online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and plans of the management of Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, that speak only as of the date hereof. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/department-of-commerce-submits-uranium-section-232-report-to-president-trump-300833321.html SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc. WELLINGTON, April 16, 2019 - Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd. (TSXV: "NZP" and NZAX: "CRP" or the "Company") advises with great pleasure that today we executed an Information Sharing and Collaboration agreement with Ngati Mutunga O Wharekauri AHC (Ngati Mutunga).CRP holds a mining permit to extract rock phosphate from an offshore area located on the Chatham Rise (the Project). In order to pursue the Project CRP needs to obtain a marine consent under the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 (Marine Consent). Ng?ti Mutunga is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri Iwi Trust, based on the Chatham Islands and has a significant interest in protecting the Chatham Islands marine environment and securing the economic, social and cultural well-being of the Chathams community. Following discussions between the Parties they now wish to formally collaborate on the Project with a view to: Developing a CRP Marine Consent application that meets the environmental, economic, social and cultural objectives of both Parties individually and together; In the event that the content of such an application is mutually agreed, to formally support the lodging of the CRP Marine Consent application for approval; In the event that the CRP Marine Consent application is successful, ensuring that all operations implemented under that consent are carried out in in a manner that best mitigates environmental effects and respects indigenous rights, beliefs and customs to protect the interests of the Chatham Islands community; and Ensuring that the Chatham Islands community realises tangible benefits from the Project. The first objective of the Parties is to arrange close engagement with the Chathams community to ensure that the Project proceeds in a form that satisfactorily addresses both the reasonable concerns and aspirations of that community. The agreement will be a success if it results in formal community support for the Project. If mutually agreed ways of addressing reasonable community concerns and aspirations cannot be found then the terms of the agreement will no longer apply. Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri Asset Holding Company director Tom McClurg said "we consider this Project to be one that can potentially work for the benefit of our people, our economy and the environment. We look forward to working closely with the Chatham Rock Phosphate team to ensure that commercial, social and cultural benefits are realized by this Project and that these benefits are not at the expense of the marine environment that is so important to us all. We applaud the willingness of CRP to share information and respond to community perspectives that is evidenced by this innovative agreement". Chatham CEO Chris Castle noted "the communities of the Chatham Islands, represented by and including Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri, Moriori, and the Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust (CIET), are the stakeholders most directly affected by the operations of our proposed rock phosphate recovery operation. Significantly these stakeholders also have major fishing industry investments in the waters surrounding the Chatham Islands. It's very exciting that we have reached a point where we can begin working together to ensure that this project can proceed in a manner that protects and benefits all concerned. The signing of this collaboration agreement is a very, very significant milestone for Chatham Rock Phosphate as it signals important support for our project (if it is appropriately managed) from such directly affected stakeholders. We are also gratified that Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri is proposing to make a significant future investment in Chatham Rock Phosphate if the agreement proceeds and the Marine Consent is obtained. In those circumstances Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri and possibly Moriori and the CIET would receive options that are in total equal to 15% of the number of shares on issue at the time a Marine Consent that has their support is granted (being 5% per party). The exercise price of these options will reflect and recognise the accumulated investment made to that date by our shareholders. About Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri Ng?ti Mutunga o Wharekauri is a Maori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original rohe (tribal lands) were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington, and then to the Chatham Islands in 1835. The rohe of the iwi includes all of Chatham Island (Wharekauri), Te Wh?nga Lagoon and all of the outlying islands of the Chathams Group. About Chatham Rock Phosphate Chatham Rock Phosphate is the custodian of New Zealand's only material resource of ultra-low cadmium, environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertiliser. Our key role is connecting the resource with those who need it. The resource represents one of New Zealand's most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand's high agricultural productivity. New Zealand's current access to phosphate is vulnerable to economic and political events in the six countries controlling 98% of the world's phosphate reserves, with 85% of the total in the Western Saharan state of Morocco. Chatham takes very seriously the responsibility vested in it through its granted mining permit to use the world's best knowledge and technology to safely extract this resource to help sustainably feed the world. Our initial environmental consenting process independently established extraction would have no significant impact on fishing yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds. Our project ticks all the boxes: environmental, health, ethical, security of supply, economic, regional development, rare earths and other green minerals Our rock is a proven reactive phosphate rock. Using it results in much less run-off into waterways and an improved soil profile compared with the effects of manufactured fertilisers. It's an organic fertiliser with no additives and with the only processing being grinding and possible pelletisation It contains ultra-low levels of cadmium, a cancer-causing heavy metal with much greater concentrations in other rock phosphate deposits Being locally sourced and needing to be applied less frequently results in much lower carbon emissions (in effect increasing the present NZ electric vehicle fleet from 10,000 to 29,000 vehicles) It is New Zealand's only significant source of phosphate and seabed extraction involves a far smaller environmental impact than that imposed on local overseas communities which mine phosphate The rock is located within one day's sailing distance and supply is far more secure (and more ethical) than phosphate rock imported from unstable regions on the other side of the world The project economics are attractive and Chatham will pay significant royalties and income taxes The project will generate new jobs in environmental monitoring, on the mining ship, in the home port and in the science and agricultural sectors Chatham rock phosphate has been independently shown to be as effective as other phosphate fertilisers used in New Zealand. We could provide the two fertiliser co-ops supplying most of New Zealand's fertiliser with a green fertiliser alternative to naturally complement their other products. Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or NZX Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. SOURCE Chatham Rock Phosphate Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed into law a bill that bars local governments from establishing so-called right-to-work zones, another rebuke to his Republican predecessor, who blocked similar legislation as he battled with Democratic lawmakers over his pro-business, union-weakening agenda.The new law, which was passed with strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate and takes effect immediately, "makes it abundantly clear that we have turned the page here in Illinois," the Democratic governor said during a bill-signing event at the Capitol, where he was joined by legislators and labor leaders.Former Gov. Bruce Rauner was a major proponent of laws prohibiting employers and labor organizations from signing contracts that require workers to join unions or pay dues. In 2017, Rauner vetoed a previous version of the bill banning local governments from creating such laws, and the House fell one vote short of overriding him. This time, the measure passed the House on a 101-8 vote and was approved unanimously in the Senate."From the start, right-to-work was an idea cooked up to lower wages, slash benefits and hurt our working families," Pritzker said. " 'Right-to-work' has always meant, 'right to work for less money,' and it's wrong for Illinois."State lawmakers moved to ban local right-to-work laws after north suburban Lincolnshire passed one in 2015. The ordinance was overturned by a federal court, which ruled that federal law prohibits such local rules, but the village has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.Pritzker said the new state law codifies rulings by lower federal courts."The law as it is does not allow a state to hand this responsibility down to the local communities," he said. "This bill actually just establishes what is the law today, so I believe that would be moot, essentially, at the Supreme Court."Lincolnshire Village Manager Brad Burke did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.State Sen. Ram Villivalam, a freshman Democrat from Chicago who sponsored the measure in the Senate, said it "makes it clear that the regulation of collective bargaining is the responsibility of state government.""It is an honor to stand here ... today as we declare once and for all that right-to-work has no place in the state of Illinois," Villivalam said.The collective bargaining measure was the second time this week Pritzker signed a measure that had been vetoed by Rauner. On Sunday, the new governor signed a bill raising the legal age for purchasing cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 statewide, effective July 1.In his first weeks in office, Pritzker signed a bill raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025. Rauner vetoed a $15 minimum wage bill in 2017.During his campaign, Pritzker promised "he would want to be a voice for working families if elected," said Jeffrey Collier, a union representative with the Edwardsville office of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 881.Since taking office, Pritzker has made good on that promise, Collier said at the bill signing."In less than 100 days as governor, he has already done more than any other governor I've ever known to back up his word to support working families," Collier said. One of Utahs largest police departments is facing a backlash as they consider whether to discontinue body cameras due to cost concerns.Dozens of people have asked Unified Police of Salt Lake County to keep them, including some whose loved ones have been shot by police.One of them was Gina Thayne, whose nephew Dillon Taylor was killed by Salt Lake City officer in 2014 shooting that was found legally justified.I have a lot of faith in the body cameras because it brings out dignity or lack of dignity on both sides, Thayne said, according to the Deseret News. The Florida Supreme Court said Friday it will hear arguments in a dispute about how much the Broward County School Board could be forced to pay to parents and victims in last years mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.Justices issued a unanimous order saying they will take up the case and will hold oral arguments Aug. 28. They also scheduled arguments that day in a case against the Florida Department of Children and Families that raises similar liability questions.The issue centers on the states sovereign-immunity law, which limits how much government agencies can be forced to pay in lawsuits, and how the liability limits should apply when multiple people are killed or injured in incidents.The Broward County School Board has argued that the sovereign-immunity law caps at $300,000 its potential liability to the parents and victims in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at the Parkland high school. The dispute involves whether that $300,000 limit should be an overall total because the mass shooting was a single incident or whether each plaintiff filing a claim against the school board should be able to receive $200,000 because the shots were separate occurrences. Responding to Crime Rates Concerns About Cost and Innocence Fewer Prosecutors Seek Death Sentences Mile Wide and an Inch Deep? Twenty years ago, most politicians in both parties supported the death penalty. But today, opposition to it has become increasingly bipartisan.Democrats have always been more wary, but now more conservatives have also become convinced that capital punishment is another failed government program. In part, that's because the legal process for such cases is enormously expensive, even though few executions are ever carried out.When you look at how much money were spending, no one looks at that and thinks the death penalty works fine, says Hannah Cox, national manager for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, a pro-abolition group. Were seeing a real escalation as far as the number of Republican legislators who are sponsoring repeal bills.Theres evidence of declining political support for capital punishment all around the country.Last month, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on executions . In October, the Washington state Supreme Court struck down the death penalty , finding it arbitrary and racially biased. In February, Wyoming's GOP-controlled House passed an abolition bill, although it failed in the Senate.This is far too much authority to rest in government, GOP state Sen. Brian Boner said during floor debate over the Wyoming bill. Sometimes we wonder if our government can deliver the mail correctly.Lately, the spotlight has shifted to New Hampshire, where last week the legislature sent the governor a bill to repeal the death penalty. Both chambers passed the bill by veto-proof margins, with bipartisan support. Once the legislature overrides GOP Gov. Chris Sununus expected veto, New Hampshire will be the 21st state to outlaw capital punishment. Colorado and Nevada could be next -- both have repeal bills currently pending.For the first time since the death penalty was put back into practice during the 1970s, a majority of Americans now live in states that have abolished the practice or imposed a moratorium on it, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which researches the issue.Still, support for capital punishment has not vanished. Polls show that a majority of Americans continue to back it.President Trump has called for executing drug dealers as part of his plan to address the opioid epidemic. And last week, the U.S. Supreme Court -- where a majority of justices have repeatedly vented frustration with delays in executions -- ruled that Alabama can carry one out despite concerns that the state's method of lethal injection could cause excruciating pain.But the number of executions has come down fast from its peak 20 years ago. The number of death sentences being imposed has also dropped dramatically.The successful abolition efforts have been bipartisan, says Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Democrats are more likely to support repeal than Republicans, but were getting to the point where more and more Republican legislators are introducing bills to abolish the death penalty and signing onto bills in states where the repeal effort is bipartisan.Back in 1992, while running for president, Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton flew back to Arkansas to preside over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a man so badly brain-damaged that he said he was saving part of his last meal for later.Democrats were still supportive of the death penalty, says Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University. They certainly believed it would be a political killer not to be vocal in saying that, at least in some cases, the death penalty would be appropriate.Violent crime rates peaked in the early 1990s, and the tough-on-crime response embraced by Democrats and Republicans at the time culminated in the 1994 federal crime law, which made dozens of additional federal crimes punishable by death.But by the time the bill had passed, crime rates were already beginning to fall. According to the FBI, violent crime rates plummeted by 49 percent between 1993 and 2017. Property crime rates dropped even more.The steep national decline in violent crime and murders over the past generation has made it possible for politicians to do something other than seek the maximum possible sentence at every turn. As with the broader criminal justice reform effort, reexamining the ultimate punishment has become a bipartisan project.Theres a natural alliance with Democrats, says Cox of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. There are not a lot of issues where the two sides are coming together.Appeals are filed as a matter of course in capital cases. Relatively few of them result in sentences of death. Among those convicted, DNA evidence has been used to exonerate more than 160 death row prisoners. One prisoner is now exonerated for every nine executions that are carried out.Its well-known that its more expensive to put people to death than to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives, says Daniel LaChance, an Emory University historian who studies the issue. It all adds up to a really expensive big-government program. There has been a sense, particularly in places that use the death penalty infrequently but have big death rows, of what is this all for?California has the largest death row in the nation, with more than 700 prisoners, but the state hasnt executed anyone since 2006. New Hampshire hasnt carried out an execution since 1939. In Wyoming, its been more than 25 years.If you have a sentence on the books, you want it used, and its not being used, says Brandon Garrett, a law professor at Duke University. The only point of the death penalty is to execute people quickly or it does seem arbitrary.Supreme Court justices and politicians sometimes express frustration and even anger about the long delays involved with executions -- the endless rounds of appeals, the legal challenges that have blocked execution methods."We need to accelerate the process as much as we can," Mississippi GOP state Rep. Mark Baker, who is running for state attorney general, told the Clarion Ledger recently. "Stories abound of inmates on death row and they're just not moving."But a growing number of politicians wonder whether preserving the death penalty is worth the cost.When you talk about death penalty, a lot of people immediately want to have a criminal justice angle on it or a morality angle, Chad McCoy, the Kentucky House Republican whip and sponsor of an abolition bill, told The Hill . Mine is purely economics.Its not only lawmakers who have grown more skeptical about capital punishment. Prosecutors have, too.In part due to the costs associated with capital cases, the death penalty has essentially disappeared from rural counties, says Garrett, author of. Fewer than 2 percent of the counties in the nation are responsible for half the death row convictions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.Not long ago, jurisdictions like Philadelphia County, Los Angeles County and Harris County, which includes Houston, were imposing 10 or more death sentences apiece per year. If Harris County were a country, it would have spent years ranked among the world's top 10 for death sentences.But theres been a changing of the guard in many large counties over the past two or three years, including Harris and Philadelphia. Voters are electing reform-minded prosecutors who are less likely -- or completely unwilling -- to seek execution as a punishment. Last year, no county in the United States imposed more than two death sentences.During the mid-1990s, there were more than 300 death sentences imposed annually for three years running. Last year, the total was 42. There hasnt been more than 100 since 2010.There have been zero defendants sentenced to the death penalty in cases prosecuted by this administration, says Dane Schiller, spokesman for Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg , who was elected in 2016. (One defendant received the death penalty in a case handled by an independent prosecutor due to a conflict of interest in the DAs office.) Three Harris County inmates have been executed, in decades-old cases, since we took office.Last year, eight states executed a total of 25 prisoners -- down from a peak of 98 in 1999. So far this year, three prisoners have been put to death: two in Texas and one in Alabama.Not only is the death penalty only being used in a limited number of places, its also declining in those places.Texas and Florida used to impose more than 40 death sentences per year -- now the number is less than 10. Georgia, another leading death penalty state in recent years, hasnt imposed a death sentence since 2014. Virginia hasnt sentenced anyone to death row for nearly eight years.During the George W. Bush administration , the federal Justice Department actively sought to pursue capital cases in states where the death penalty was moribund. Thats not happening under Trump, even though he was elected on a pro-death penalty platform in 2016.His Justice Department has done nothing, to my knowledge, to speed up executions at the federal level or help at the state level with speeding up capital systems or executions, says Berman, the Ohio State law professor.In 2016, the same year Trump was elected, Nebraska voters overturned a death penalty repeal that had been passed by the legislature, while California voters rejected a ballot measure to end capital punishment. But if 2016 seemed to signal a shift back in favor of capital punishment, the momentum hasn't been sustained.Under Trump, just three federal prisoners have been sentenced to die. In last years elections, two governors who imposed moratoriums on the death penalty -- Democrats Kate Brown of Oregon and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania -- both won reelection.Conversely, two governors who vetoed abolition bills -- Republicans Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire -- also won reelection. (Sununu vetoed an abolition bill last fall, when both chambers were still controlled by Republicans, and legislators failed to override him.)No ones yet to see any significant backlash on either side for being either abolitionist or disinclined to support the death penalty, Berman says.Last year, Gallup found that 56 percent of Americans support the death penalty. That was a point higher than in 2017 but still below the level of 60 percent or higher that Gallup found every other year dating back to 1976 -- including 80 percent support in 1994, the year of the federal crime law.Support for capital punishment has weakened, among both juries and the public at large, due to the spread of the sentence of life without the possibility of parole.In a place like Texas, a big part of the story is life without parole, which they didnt have until 2005, says LaChance, the Emory historian, and author of. For so long, juries were voting for death because they didnt trust the system, they didnt want revolving-door justice.Death penalty opponents like to say that support for executions is a mile wide but an inch deep. A majority of people will reflexively say theyre in favor of it but will support alternatives like life without parole, if given a choice, or be troubled by the number of exonerated death row prisoners.If crime rates increase, support for the death penalty could make a comeback. And many politicians and prosecutors want to keep execution available for punishing the worst of the worst. In Florida, for example, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the alleged shooter in last years Parkland high school massacre.Death penalty experts agree that the practice will not be completely abolished anytime in the foreseeable future. But both the use of the death penalty and political support for it has declined markedly since the 1990s, when it was a wedge issue that moved many voters. The list of states abolishing the death penalty continues to grow.I see the death penalty ending with a whimper, not a bang, Garrett says. It may be that the best thing is to allow states and communities to decide whats best for them. Year after year, Nebraska's conservative lawmakers have rejected measures calling for limited and highly regulated medical marijuana.They're poised to do it again, but their decision this year could have the unintended consequence of ushering in one of the most unrestricted medical marijuana laws in the country.If so, Nebraska will join a growing number of conservative states with unusually easy marijuana access, all because red-state lawmakers refuse to touch the issue and thereby make way for ballot initiatives.Last year, Oklahoma became a vivid example. Billboards there now display a smiling white-coated doctor offering same-day service for marijuana prescriptions. Idaho, Wyoming, and Mississippi may face marijuana ballot initiatives soon after legislators rejected medical marijuana with tight controls.Meanwhile, 18 other states, including more liberal Illinois, New York and Vermont, have legislated restrictions that make legal marijuana harder to get. Google Fiber will pay $3.84 million back to Louisville, Ky., to fix roads and other public rights-of-way, the city announced Monday This comes after the company stopped all service in Louisville in February, essentially leaving town without fulfilling the implied promise of providing access to high-speed Internet throughout the jurisdiction, as it has in other cities such as Austin and Kansas City, Mo. The money Google Fiber has now agreed to pay Louisville will go toward fulfilling obligations the company previously agreed to, including its franchise agreement and local regulations that require service providers to restore rights-of-way after ending service.The city noted in its announcement that these payments, which will be made over a period of 20 months, will go toward removing fiber and sealants from Louisvilles roads; conducting mining and paving activity where it is needed; and removing any above-ground infrastructure the company had in place. This agreement applies to network installations in the Portland, Newburg and The Highlands neighborhoods all of which were communities where Google Fiber had offered its service before the withdrawal.Google Fiber will also make a one-time $150,000 donation to the Community Foundation of Louisvilles Digital Inclusion Fund, which supports digital equity efforts in the area. Those efforts include refurbishing used computers for low-income families as well as enrolling the residents of public housing in affordable Internet options. Google, the city noted, also plans to donate 275 refurbished computers directly to the Louisville Metro Housing Authority.Infrastructure in neighborhoods and public properties affected by Google Fiber will look as good or better than they did before the company began construction, just as our franchise agreement stipulated, said Louisville Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology Grace Simrall in a statement. The city will diligently repair these roads and public spaces over the 20-month period.In that same statement, Simrall also went on to credit Google Fibers brief time in the city for spurring other companies to increase their investment in the area. Google Fibers service in the Louisville area will end just before midnight. The company, the city notes, has also provided the last two months of service to users in the area for free.Mark Strama, general manager for Google Fiber, said in a statement that discontinuing service in Louisville was a very difficult business decision for Google Fiber.In the wake of Google Fiber departing Louisville, community broadband experts have noted that the companys commitment to spreading its service and making affordable high-speed Internet accessible to more cities and regions has waned, likely owing to a change in leadership at the corporate level. The company once believed it was indirectly advantageous to ensure that as much of the country as possible had high-speed Internet at home, the experts said, but Google is now investing instead in other enterprises.Local media has described Google Fiber leaving Louisville as a major hit to residents choices for buying high-speed Internet. As Google noted in a goodbye letter , Louisville was the first city wherein it has discontinued its service. Points that Google made in that letter included that it had moved faster from announcement to sign-up in Louisville than in other cities, they were trialing a new construction method in Louisville, and that resultant challenges had led to disruptions in service there. (TNS) The Maryland General Assembly adjourned Monday without a clear resolution to how communities and telecommunication companies should work together to deploy advanced wireless technology.The Senate and House committees assigned to review a pair of dueling bills on the extent that local governments may control the placement and aesthetic of small facilities that will carry the fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless network, punted and sent the stakeholders to an informal summer study period. What form that study will take, however, is unknown.That is still very much unclear. Based off of prior years, when bills weve been tracking have gone to interim studies, theyve taken different shapes and sizes, said Bill Jorch, manager of government relations and research at the Maryland Municipal League.A summer study is generally less formal than a task force, which has a defined scope and results. Sometimes the committees that assign the study are involved, but that is not guaranteed, he said.Weve received no formal direction on the interim study, Jorch said on Thursday.The Maryland Municipal Leagues sole legislative priority in 2019 was to continue to allow local governments to control the use of public rights of way and enforce local zoning laws during the deployment of the 5G network.Last year, its members and the Maryland Association of Counties tried to negotiate legislation with the telecommunication companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint to guide statewide deployment of the small cell facilities. However, the groups were unable to reach a resolution, which led to two widely divergent bills being submitted during the 2019 session.We are disappointed that Maryland has not yet joined the more than 20 other states including Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia that have passed small cells legislation. Our goal remains to work with leaders across Maryland to deliver the wireless services their constituents demand today and to lay the foundation for 5G and other innovations, AT&T spokesman Daniel Langan said by email on Thursday.A statewide law governing how small cell facilities are to be installed, however, may not be necessary, said Natasha Mehu, legislative director for the Maryland Association of Counties.I think, from our perspective, we dont think there needs to be a statewide bill, Mehu said.Local governments are already working with telecommunication companies to install wireless facilities in ways that make sense for the community, she said. An estimated 600 small wireless facilities have been deployed in Baltimore City alone.The Federal Communications Commission issued a national order in September 2018 mandating that all applications to install a small cell facility on a new pole be processed with 90 days and any co-location of a facility on a pole or structure with one already on it, be processed in 60 days, Jorch said.Due to the federal order, local governments cannot ban the technology, Mehu said. Many also do not want to ban the technology, which promises to improve broadband service to an area.No place yet has 5G capabilities instead the existing 4G network is carried by facilities but the infrastructure upgrades will eventually allow areas to access the 5G network, Mehu said. The association is therefore continuing to work with each county to set its own rules for placement and aesthetics of the facilities, so that when the first application to install one arrives, the jurisdiction is prepared to respond.Overall, our members are supportive of that approach, she said.Advocates for the wireless industry, however, may still be looking for statewide guidance on how to build out the technology in 2020.Arturo Chang, state government affairs counsel for the Wireless Infrastructure Association, said he would continue to work this year on a statewide framework to allow the wireless industry to deploy small cell technology.These summer studies will provide a venue for all relevant stakeholders to meet and resume discussions on this very important issue, Chang said. Gov. Tim Walz has named Tarek Tomes as the next commissioner of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) , a job he will begin April 29.This marks Walzs final cabinet appointment. Tomes will replace Acting Commissioner William Poirier, who assumed the temporary role after the departure of Brig. Gen. Johanna Clyborne in January 2019 Tomes is the chief innovation officer and former chief information officer at the city of St. Paul. He also served as the assistant commissioner for the agency that would later become MNIT for five years and at British Telecom for more than a decade.Walz credited Tomes with repeatedly demonstrating a commitment to developing and delivering customer service focused technology.Thats what Minnesotans should expect from their government. Thats what they should expect from the technology that were employing. And thats what Tarek brings, the governor added during an April 15 press conference.The department has a somewhat troubled past, namely for the bumpy rollout of a new vehicle registration system known as the Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS).Earlier this year Walz formed a Governors Blue Ribbon Council on Information Technology made up of both public- and private-sector experts to advise the governor, the MNIT commissioner, lieutenant governor and state Legislature on issues related to data privacy, cybersecurity and modernization projects like MNLARS.Walz said during a press conference that he was looking for a commissioner with a deep knowledge of technology, as well as the ability to bring about cultural re-organization and the political skills to work with the state Legislature.This is someone who inspires me to a vision. The competency is very clear. And its someone whose openness to hearing from the people who work there, and the constituents and the customers he serves. It is simply exactly what we were looking for, said Walz.The soon-to-be commissioner said he welcomes a chance to build relationships not only across the network of state government, but also the Legislature, and inspire the agency to think boldly without the fear of failure.The fear of failure doesnt mean that youre going to fail, Tomes advised, in comments at the press conference. The fear of failure means that you may not bring forth the appropriate solutions to maybe change peoples lives."The 2,300 state IT workers are as devastated as anyone by the very public issues that MNLARS has had, he continued. And we want to make sure that they dont retreat. We want to make sure that theyre not afraid to continue to put forth bold solutions. And we want to make sure, from a leadership perspective, that we have the processes and methodologies in place to support decisions, and also protect them. Not Everywhere A Shooting (TNS) Body cameras for police have emerged over the past few years as the next standard tool in an officers arsenal alongside the gun and the badge.The conversation around body cams often centers on big cities and how to hold officers more accountable in the face of broken trust with their neighborhoods and residents. Smaller communities and departments are often lost in the discussion even as they continue to add them to their arsenals or take a look at doing so.Agencies that have embraced the cameras say they are working well, while those going without have concerns about cost and privacy.The Dodge County, Wis., Sheriff's Office has been using body cameras for more than a year after receiving a $79,500 grant for them around the time the office was looking to replace its in-car recording systems. The recording devices for the cars and the body cameras deputies wear are linked and turn on when deputies activate the vehicle's flashing lights."The reason I bought it wasnt because of a lot of the conversation out there in the bigger cities about 'cops need to have body cams,'" said Sheriff Dale Schmidt, whose county has a population of 88,000. "I bought it strictly because of evidence. It is a great tool to have out there on the street."Schmidt said he wears his own camera when he's out and he's noticed it keeps interactions between the deputies and the public more professional when they remember they are on camera.A 2018 phone survey commissioned by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association found that 94% of state residents favored body cams for officers."The feedback Ive gotten is its made their jobs easier," he said. "Its made it easier for them to document things theyre seeing out there and it corroborates what theyre saying in their reports. Ive heard nothing but positive feedback."Schmidt said the cameras have allowed deputies in minutes to easily refute complaints from the public that could have otherwise taken time and resources to review. He said he doesn't receive many public records requests for the video, which is an option for anyone wishing to review footage. He said he mostly receives request for videos to use in court cases."Believe it or not, most often when Im getting these complaints from the public, theyre not legitimate," he said. "There are some legitimate ones, I certainly cant say that we dont have those, but it think its been a really good thing for our agency and nothing but positive things have come from it beyond attorneys having more video to review in courts cases."While Dodge County has body cams for deputies, many of its neighboring agencies have not taken the step as they continue to review the concept. According to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Justice last fall, 47% of agencies nationwide had body cams for officers in 2016, while 69% had dashboard cameras and 38% had personal audio recorders for officers.For agencies that had not opted to go for body cams at that time, 77% were concerned about the costs of storage, 74% were concerned about the costs of hardware, 73% were worried about the costs of maintenance and 39% were concerned about privacy, according to the report.According to the Associated Press, the manufacturer Axon told the association that about 60 agencies in Wisconsin use the cameras out of about 500 total.Mayville police used to have some body cams, Chief Jim Ketchem said, but they didn't work very well, and the department did not keep that part of its overall camera system when the equipment was replaced. He said the department is considering a return to body cam use, but he hasn't found the money in the budget quite yet.Brian Drumm, the chief of police in the unincorporated town of Beaver Dam, said the town does not currently have body cams and that officials are looking at getting them when the time comes to replace equipment."Right now it's the cost of storage that's made it prohibitive," he said.Often, it's not the cameras themselves that come with sticker shock, but rather the cost of storage space for the reams of video picked up by the cameras.Mark Schauf, the police chief in Baraboo, which has used body cams for at least three years, said that it's also expensive to license the proprietary software that stores and plays back the video. Baraboo also uses a multi-terabyte server that holds video and also has a system linked to squad car recorders.A camera runs about $1,000, while server repair and maintenance runs about $45,000."A lot of people think its going to be this tool that makes officers change their behaviors," he said. "The officers are doing the right thing. It's just recording what's going on so its removes doubt."Schmidt said Dodge County already had storage on-hand for the video footage collected, so that wasn't as much of a concern, but that it may need to be upgraded in the future.Unlike Dodge County, Columbia County does not use body cams. Roger Brandner, the sheriff of Columbia County, said discussions are ongoing about how to incorporate them into the county. Deputies do have a system where squad car cameras and uniform microphones are combined.Brandner said he sees body cameras as a potential valuable tool that would help eliminate complaints and build cases in court.He said the county is testing using body cameras in the jail to see how the technology works and how well they retain video.The Portage Police Department has also made investments into using body cams.Schmidt said that he knows of many agencies that are waiting to see if the state Legislature passes any laws regarding body cams before making their next move.State legislators, after meeting in a subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Council Committee over the past year or so, have put forth Senate Bill 50, that would formally standardize requirements for departments using the cameras.The main requirements would be that video would need to be retained for at least 120 days. For video that could be used in court proceedings and major investigations, it would need to be retained until the case is resolved. For example, if someone is investigated for domestic assault and then charged, the district attorney would want any video footage from a police response to help build the case. Defense attorneys would want to use video footage if it could help prove that their clients are not guilty.Agencies would need to form their own written policy for body cam use.The bill would also put into law language that allows agencies to not release video as public records to protect the privacy of an individual the department believes should be protected, such as a minor or the victim of a crime, a decision one could challenge under open records law.Agencies like Dodge County and Baraboo already follow similar guidelines on their own.Beaver Dam police officers were called Oct. 26 to a home on Walnut Street over a domestic disturbance.According to a criminal complaint, Officer Brian Linzenmeyer entered the home, where he saw a man and a woman physically fighting, and the woman was trying to get away from the man, later identified as Richard Henke.One investigating officer who also entered the home reported that Henke's eyes were "black and evil," and that his eyes made him look like he was very upset and in a rage before giving a blank stare to Linzenmeyer.The report says that, at one point, it appeared Henke reached to his side where a firearm could be kept, and that he later restrained the woman by the back of the neck, her hair or around her shoulder as she screamed and tried to get away.Later, the document says, Linzenmeyer followed Henke into a bedroom, and Henke soon pointed a rifle directly at the officer as he looked at Linzenmeyer again with "evil" eyes. As Henke continued to raise his rifle at the officer, Linzenmeyer shot the man with his handgun, investigating officers reported.Henke was taken to a hospital and has since been charged with several crimes, including threatening a law enforcement officer, intentionally pointing a firearm at a law enforcement officer and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.Linzenmeyer was put on administrative leave after the shooting for over two months before returning and easing back into work. The Dodge County District Attorney's office justified in his use of a firearm following an investigation by the Dodge County Sheriff's Office. Investigating officers writing in the criminal complaint speak for Linzenmeyer and what he saw.In cases like these, advocates for body cameras would point to the tool as, at least, a way to back up what officers are saying to make sure that such shootings are justified.The Beaver Dam Police Department does not use body cams, however, so the court has to rely on the word of the people who were at the scene there as it moves forward with the criminal case against Henke.Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger said the department has been thinking about getting the cameras for a few years but hasn't made the leap."It would corroborate what the officer is already saying [about an incident]. If the officer is saying that, we have video and audio to back that up and make people understand what the officer was seeing or saying," he said. "But we dont want people to get the unrealistic expectation that cameras are the answer and that they can see and cover everything."Kreuziger said that he still has concerns about using body cameras and that he's waiting for technology and case law to catch up he seeks more answers to his questions about them. Storage is also a concern for him. The department currently uses squad cameras and microphones intended for use during traffic stops."Privacy issues is one of the huge concerns I have," he said. "We do take sexual assaults. We do see pictures of nudity and we do deal with private issues between private people that will be recorded, and we get into those issues of the recording itself and whether that should be released to the public."He said he also wonders about their consistent use in stressful situations and that the cameras still don't completely capture everything an officer would see with their eyes during a call, let alone what the officer is thinking in the moment."Its not the answer to everything," he said. "If I do get cameras, Ill be getting them to protect our officers." (TNS) The Los Angeles Police Department has scrapped a second data policing program it once hailed as a way to target violent offenders in neighborhood hot spots, following concerns that the programs unfairly target black and Latino communities.Chief Michel Moore and other department leaders decided Wednesday to end Operation LASER, a program begun in 2011 to pinpoint locations connected to gun and gang violence.The move came after a meeting Tuesday at which members of the departments civilian oversight panel questioned the effectiveness of data-driven strategies that rely on algorithms and other computer technology to identify violent offenders and map out areas most prone to criminal activity.We discontinued LASER because we want to reassess the data, Josh Rubenstein, the LAPD's chief spokesman, said Friday. It was inconsistent. Were pulling back.The action was another acknowledgment that the once highly touted predictive policing programs that were adopted early on by the LAPD and other agencies across the nation have proved thornier to implement. Privacy and civil rights groups have long asserted that the programs, which use data gathered by officers, are intrusive and racially biased.At Tuesdays Police Commission meeting, Moore argued that the programs have led to the lowest crime rates in years. The algorithms, he stressed, do not use race or gender as identifiers.However, police leaders recognized the concerns raised by commissioners and the public, Rubenstein said. The department still plans to use data tools to fight crime and are evaluating options on how to move forward, he said.LASER, or Los Angeles Strategic Extraction and Restoration, zones, used data mapping to increase police presence in hot spots and identify specific anchor points such as liquor stores, parking lots and residences connected to certain crimes in an area. Analysts, not computers, identified where many crimes occurred and where to send more officers.An inspector general audit released last month described LASER like this:The basic premise is to target with laser-like precision the violent repeat offenders and gang members who commit crimes in the specific target area. The program is analogous to laser surgery, where a trained medical doctor uses modern technology to remove tumors or improve eyesight.But the audit found that the data programs lacked oversight and that officers used inconsistent criteria to label people who were likely to commit violent crimes. It also said the department lacked insufficient data to measure the programs success.Commissioner Shane Murphy Goldsmith applauded the LAPD for ending LASER, saying it was a recognition that the programs have eroded public trust.The department absolutely made the right decision, she said. I absolutely appreciate the members of the community who have raised concerns for a long time.The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition hailed the decision Friday. The group sued the city to get more records on the how the zones affected residents and homeowners. A trial is scheduled for August.Its a great thing that LASER zones have ended, said Jamie Garcia. It was a complete failure to not investigate this program. The fight is not over.Proponents contend that much of the violent crime occurs in poor communities of color.Hamid Khan, another coalition coordinator, said, though, that the program led to excessive policing and increased surveillance in poor neighborhoods, adding, we need to know the impact.The department also recently spiked a more controversial segment of LASER that identified and monitored so-called chronic offenders who were most likely to commit violent crimes. Once identified, they were included on lists of the worst offenders in a given area.Amid outcry, the department in August stopped issuing the lists and using an offender database. The public did not learn about the decision until last month.The department defended the data tools last summer, and Moore supported auditing them for possible problems.Last week, the chief told commissioners that the department will not use programs that fail to produce results and will strive to identify new or emerging ideas that hold promise.Crime reduction strategies are never static, Moore wrote in a memo to the Police Commission. We will continue to learn and evolve in our work. (TNS) Worthington, Ohio, is considering a proposal to outsource its 911 dispatching services, potentially becoming the most recent central Ohio suburb to consolidate.The City Council introduced legislation related to the possible move Monday, one week after Worthington officials recommended the city join the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center.Though the switch would be more costly upfront, officials say it would save the city money in the long term and improve the efficiency of its police, fire and emergency medical services. Worthington's police and fire chief both back the proposal.Worthington estimates that it spent $1.3 million to operate its dispatching center in the 2018 fiscal year, up from about $1 million in 2015. That number is expected to increase to around $1.5 million in 2020, according to a city analysis The city estimates it would pay about $800,000 annually for dispatching services if it joined the Northwest center."I think it's a positive direction for the future," Police Chief Jerry Strait said.Operated by the city of Dublin, the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center currently handles dispatching for Dublin, Hilliard and Upper Arlington, as well as Norwich and Washington township fire departments.The national trend toward consolidation is driven, in large part, by technological advances and high staff turnover, which can be costly for smaller cities such as Worthington. City officials said partnerships like the Northwest center are beneficial because they spread out those costs among multiple governments.Another factor driving consolidation is an increase in the number of 911 calls coming from cellphones, Strait said.Those calls first go to primary dispatching centers such as Northwest, before being routed back to secondary centers such as Worthington. That process can add up to 45 seconds to a minute to response times, he said."It might not sound like a lot of time to the average listener, but I think anyone who is undergoing that heart attack or what have you would disagree," Strait said.Worthington participated in a 2013 study that considered the possibility of creating a multi-city partnership in central Ohio.Worthington decided not to join at the time, but Assistant City Manager Robyn Stewart said the city started to rethink its decision last fall when staffing dropped to its lowest levels in years.There currently are six full-time and eight part-time dispatchers in Worthington, but its center is authorized for nine full-time employees, Strait said. He and other Worthington officials stressed that the desire to join the Northwest center isn't an indictment of its employees."We're pretty lucky to have great people," Strait said. "They do a great job every day."The Northwest center would need to hire about eight more dispatchers if Worthington joined, said Jay Somerville, the center's director of technical services. Worthington's current dispatchers would go through an expedited hiring process if they applied to work at the Dublin center, he said."I'm hoping they'll apply here and we can integrate them," Somerville said.Though outsourcing 911 dispatching services would save Worthington on personnel expenses, it would cost the city another $220,000 to pay for administrative positions within its police department. Those hires would assume the administrative duties that the dispatchers currently handle, such as recordkeeping for towed vehicles and mayor's court.There would be other costs associated with the move, too, including $550,000 for building modifications and other changes such as adding a kiosk to collect mayor's court payments after hours.The City Council also is considering a proposal to give full-time dispatchers a $250 retention bonus for every 36 hours they work leading up to the transition, which would likely take more than a year.After the first-year transition, the city estimates it would spend about $1.2 million annually on its contract with the Northwest center and the replacement administration jobs at its police department."I think in the long run we'll have great return on that investment," City Councilwoman Beth Kowalczyk said. "The cost wasn't the primary consideration." Who will be hurt While humans will still value the skills of a college professor in the future, AI and online learning tools are threatening the way those abilities are delivered. AP Photo/Matt Rourke Worker value Displaced or durable file-20190412-76856-1ygf7m0.gif This value matrix helps workers assess the threat their occupations face based on the two components of value. Latham and Humberd, MIT Sloan Management Review, Author provided What we learn from value What workers can do Walmart recently said it plans to deploy robots to scan shelves, scrub floors and perform other mundane tasks in its stores as the retail giant seeks to lower labor costs While the retail giant did not say which jobs, if any, might be lost as a result, the announcement and the many more surely to follow at other big box retailers begs the question: How can workers prepare for a future of increasingly automated work?Millions of todays jobs are expected to be affected by artificial intelligence and automation as part of the fourth industrial revolution . But just which occupations are most at risk has been a guessing game among economists, futurists and scholars trying to predict winners and losers As experts on workers identities and careers and industry and technological change , we developed a new tool we believe will help workers more accurately determine the fate of their professions and figure out how best to prepare.A host of research studies have examined where industrial revolution 4.0 is likely to wield its greatest impact.Driven by a focus on cost and efficiency, most predictions pit one group of workers against another. For example, blue collar versus white collar college-educated versus not college-educated and even predictions by race and gender While these broad groupings may grab headlines , they offer little guidance to individual workers at a time when, more than ever, individuals are expected to take responsibility for managing and driving their own careers Rather than focus on efficiency or cost, our research offers a more nuanced and sustainable tool for examining the fate of ones profession: value.Our research is based on the idea that every individuals work creates value in his or her day-to-day job.That value may be something a customer pays for, may enable co-workers to do their own jobs or may help the company to function internally. In any case, every job provides some degree of worth or usefulness to another party. The value is constant, but the way it is created and delivered to the end user can be threatened by automation and AI. Only after weve evaluated that can we determine how the coming wave of technological change will affect a jobs future prospects. To assess these threats, we need to break value down into two key components.First, value is created by the skills required to complete a job, such as a programmers ability to code or a painters knack at prepping a wall and applying paint cleanly. In general, weve found that when skills are standardized, they are more likely to be threatened by automation or AI.The second component of value, though, is separate from skills. Its the method of delivering a jobs value to someone else, which can also be threatened by new technology. We call this value form.For example, while a college professors skills and expertise in a particular domain may not be under immediate threat, the form in which their value is delivered is certainly threatened by online learning platforms and the increased use of AI education tools By considering these two threats together, workers can better assess if their jobs are at risk.Our framework has four categories: A job could be displaced, disrupted, deconstructed or durable depending on the level of threat facing its skills and value form.signifies the jobs that are most in danger. Our analysis shows pharmacists radiologists and librarians all belong in the displaced category.means the skills are highly threatened, but people desire the recognized or current method of delivery, which often involves a human interaction. Examples include fast food servers, accountants and real estate agents.flips those two around: The skills are hardly standardized but automation poses a serious threat to how the jobs value is delivered. Photographers, college professors and livery drivers are in this category.jobs are the safest ones because both the skills and the value form are difficult or costly to automate. Lucky workers in this category include electricians, plumbers and physician assistants.In some ways, the value framework confirms what others have found.For example, no one would have argued that shelf stockers at big box retailers like Walmart would be a safe job for years to come as the retailers announcement confirms. Putting them in our framework, their primary skills of keeping inventory stocked and shelves clean are severely threatened because they are standardized and routine.Furthermore, robots can deliver more value through automated transmission of inventory information. Thus, our model shows these workers will most likely be displaced.However, our focus on value suggests that other predictions based merely on categories of at-risk jobs may be missing the mark. For example, some people predict many jobs are threatened simply because they are routine, non-college-educated or blue-collar, like plumbers, electricians and hospice workers. Yet, rewiring an electrical system in a historic home or caring for a hospice patient are nonstandard jobs that require a human to create and deliver value, which is why these jobs can be quite durable.Once workers understand the value they create and the threat automation poses to their skills and value form, what actions can they take?The common answer theyve been given thus far involves encouraging them to engage in lifelong learning . But a focus on value the way our model does provides much more nuanced guidance.Workers in deconstructed jobs, for example, dont need new skills. They just need to learn to adapt existing skills to new forms of delivery. Conversely, workers in disrupted jobs need training to work alongside robots and AI systems during periods of transition.And even if displaced workers a fate that is likely to be on the horizon for Walmarts shelf stockers need to consider retraining, the traditional higher education system is not well suited for the future of work. Universities focus on the longer-term bachelors-to-masters pathway. Rather, individuals need access to quick, modular and adaptable pathways to new jobs.The 48-year-old parent who just lost his job as an accountant is not able to begin a new four-year degree program. But a three-month program to earn a cybersecurity certificate would be doable and all he needs.The future of work is already here. Days after Walmarts announcement, workers at Stop & Shop, a large regional grocery chain in the Boston area, are striking over increased automation. But we have time. Lets worry less about robots and AI itself and more about the value workers can create in different jobs in a landscape that will continue to change for years to come. Value is the only constant. Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy AG have signed a contract for a joint ventureHyundai Hydrogen Mobilityaimed at taking a lead across Europes burgeoning hydrogen mobility ecosystem. To begin the joint ventures operations, Hyundai Motor will deliver 1,600 fuel cell electric heavy-duty trucks to Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility from 2019 through 2025. The venture will then lease a large portion of these fuel-cell powered trucks to the H2 Mobility Switzerland Association, which comprises major refueling station operators, transport and logistics companies, as well as to various other industry players that promote hydrogen mobility in Switzerland. The joint entity will further expand its market presence to other European countries beyond Switzerland. Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility also plans to penetrate the hydrogen sales market through a subsidiary firm that produces and supplies hydrogen in Switzerland, with prospects for entering other European countries. With the establishment of Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility, Hyundai expects to gain a foothold in Switzerland, where the demand for fuel cell trucks is expected to grow from a stiff nationwide road tax on diesel trucks, which incentivizes fleet operators of diesel trucks to switch to zero emission vehicles. In the longer term, Hyundai plans to establish an advanced, sustainable position in Europes fuel cell electric commercial vehicle market, as it increasingly embraces green mobility amid stringent regulations targeting carbon emissions. With todays agreement, Hyundai Motor will strengthen its business operations across the hydrogen ecosystems in Switzerland and beyond. The venture will enable us to take the first step toward successfully entering the larger European market with our fuel cell electric trucks. Harnessing the prospective success of the worlds first commercialization scheme of fuel cell trucks, Hyundai Motor will continue to maintain its technological prowess in hydrogen technology as an innovative and environmentally committed global automaker. n Cheol Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Commercial Vehicle Division at Hyundai Motor H2 Energy has industrywide capabilities throughout Switzerlands hydrogen ecosystem, encompassing hydrogen production and supply, refueling stations, fuel cell vehicle procurement and other fields. The company also offers technical and consulting solutions, drawing on its engineering expertise, extensive infrastructure, solid market presence and close industrywide connections. After scaling up to meet the demand in Europe, Hyundai will launch its fuel-cell commercial vehicle businesses in other regions around the world, including the US and domestic market in Korea. Hyundai Motor argues that the fuel-cell electric powertrain technology has advantages over the battery electric powertrain technology in large commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses. Fuel cell technology saves loading space and reduces vehicle weight, progressively becoming a more cost-efficient power source as the vehicle size increases. As a result, the technology offers a wide array of opportunities in the commercial vehicle sector. Hyundai Motors fuel cell powertrain offers an exclusive propulsion solution for everyday vehicles from passenger cars to commercial vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group has begun fostering the growth of fuel cell and other related industries around the world as part of its FCEV Vision 2030. The vision aims at creating a worldwide hydrogen society that leverages hydrogen technologies beyond the transportation sector. Volkswagen Group China aims to produce more than half (11.6 million) of the groups global objective of 22 million battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2028. Initiatives with all three Chinese vehicle production joint ventures FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC VOLKSWAGEN and JAC Volkswagen will enable this target to be reached. To speed up its e-offensive, Volkswagen Group China will also launch a new joint venture in charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, in the area of future technologies, Volkswagen Group China is combining its research power, with Volkswagen brand, Audi and Group R&D working together within the new ONE R&D structure. We are fulfilling our promises, not only to comply with the new regulations in China, but also to reduce the auto industrys impact on our society through clean mobility and better production processes. For this plan, China is of great importance. Dr. Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management, Volkswagen AG Volkswagen Group China is going full-scale electric in 2019. We will be offering 14 NEV models in China this yearproviding customers with unprecedented choice. With the first two models based on the MEB platform launching next year and our investment in digitalization, we and our partners have laid the foundation to redefine what mobility means in China, and transform it. Dr. Stephan Wollenstein, CEO of Volkswagen Group China With construction progressing on MEB platforms at SAIC VOLKSWAGEN in Anting and FAW-Volkswagen in Foshan, Volkswagen will have the technical capacity to produce an additional 600,000 pure electric vehicles a year in China when the two plants become operational next year. In addition, the JAC Volkswagen joint venture is jointly working on its own e-car platform together with SEAT for the production of smaller NEVs. The Group is backing this up with strong efforts to lower the ecological footprint of its 33 production plants in China. Last year alone, CO 2 emissions from its China production activities were cut by 13%, saving 390,000 tons of CO 2 . A further e-mobility focus is on provision of the necessary infrastructure, with a new charging joint venture to be set up that will result in greater freedom and recharging convenience for the rapidly growing number Chinese NEV owners during their travels. The partnership with Star Charge, FAW and JAC will offer private charging wall boxes from the end of this year and a wide network of public charging. The experience will be made even easier through in-vehicle connectivity provided through the Groups Mobility Asia services, which will allow drivers to find the most convenient charging station. The states outgoing Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell will become interim director of clinical education this summer at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford. Wentzell, who has been serving as commissioner on an interim basis since January, was appointed commissioner of education by then-Governor Dannel P. Malloy in 2015. She had more than 25 years of experience before then as an educator in the state. Our teachers are our heroes, Wentzell said in a statement released by the university Tuesday. This University is a leader in teacher preparation because of how it integrates real classroom clinical practice throughout the education and teacher licensure programs. New thinking is being applied to the preparation and placement of classroom teachers, and Im excited to be a part of it. Wentzell became commissioner in Connecticut as a number of controversial reforms were being implemented including the introduction of a new state standardized test, new educational goals known as the Common Core, and new teacher evaluation procedures. She replaced Stefan Pryor who was criticized by teachers as having little background in education and little understanding of a teachers perspectives. Wentzell was welcomed by many teachers because of her deep experience in the field. A statement from St. Joseph said Wentzell has focused on statewide reduction of the achievement gap, an increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of the educator workforce, and the implementation of more rigorous standards and assessments. University of St. Joseph Provost Michelle Kalis said, We are excited to welcome Dr. Wentzell to USJ this summer. Her expertise is an exceptional addition to our outstanding faculty and staff, while her extensive experience, successful track record, and her local and national professional relationships will benefit our students and alumni, USJs undergraduate and graduate Education programs - accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and approved by the Connecticut State Board of Education and Office of Higher Education - lead to advanced education and teacher licensure in a variety of disciplines. The Stop & Shop workers strike enters its sixth day Tuesday with both sides still unable to agree on a new contract. Negotiations, however, will continue Tuesday morning. While talks continued with the company Monday through the federal mediator, Stop & Shop is still demanding major concessions that could severely impact your ability to provide for yourselves and your families, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 919 said in a statement. We know the company is selectively releasing information to the public about what they have proposed. They are only telling part of the story. The concessions they want would affect members in different ways and we will leave no member behind. We reaffirmed to the company that our members are strong and will continue standing together, rain or shine, until the company does the right thing. Stop & Shop posted on its web site late Monday, Stop & Shop recognizes the valuable role our associates play in creating a great experience for you, our customers. They are a part of your lives, a part of our community, and key to our success. Thats why it is so important to us to provide a fair contract to our employees who are members of the UFCW unions currently on strike. We are committed to resolving our labor negotiations as quickly as possible so that our employees can return to their jobs and we can get back to serving you and the community. The company also posted a Strike Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions. Stop & Shop resumed negotiations Monday with five local union affiliates of the United Food & Commercial Workers, including UFCW Local 371, which has its head office on the Post Road in Westport. The strike extends to stores throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with markets operating on skeleton staffs comprised of managers brought in from other locations and temporary workers. Read reporter Alexander Soules story on how perishable foods are at risk as Stop & Shop strike persists. Also read Columnist Dan Haars story on Stop & Shop strikers tell of fighting for better lives GREENWICH Several trees at Hamilton Avenue School have been saved from the ax after Deputy Tree Warden Steve Gospodinoff denied a developers request to remove five black pine and one Colorado blue spruce next to Hamilton Avenue School. The Pecora Brothers developers had asked to take down the trees as part of a housing project. The (trees) are in relatively good shape, Gospodinoff wrote in his decision. I do not see a reason at this time that these six trees need to be removed. The wardens decision is the final word on the matter. Joe Pecora, co-owner of the company, said the ruling would not have an impact on plans for the project. The trees are on town owned property, not the lot his company is building on. He said removing the trees and replacing them with new ones and other plantings would have improved the aesthetics of the neighborhood. The company is building a 10-unit housing complex that will include affodable units, and had presented a plan to replace the six trees with 10 Armstrong maples and other unspecified varieties. But residents, tree advocates and Interim Superintendent of Schools Ralph Mayo strongly objected to the trees being removed. Before any trees on town property can be taken down, members of the community have the chance to file an appeal, forcing a hearing. In this case the hearing was held last week, resulting in Tuesdays decision. JoAnn Messina, executive director of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, which had objected to cutting the trees down, celebrated the decision Tuesday. We are pleased by the decision because we didnt see any reason why these healthy trees should be cut down, Messina said. We are pleased the deputy tree warden felt the same way. Messina called Pecoras claim that the new trees would have beautified the neighborhood highly subjective. Weve taken the view at the conservancy that as long as the tree is healthy and doing what it should be doing then it should be preserved, Messina said. There has been much controversy about trees in the vicinity of Hamilton Avenue School since the town cut down a row of arborvitae there last year. At the time Gospodinoff gave his approval to those trees being removed with the pledge from Pecora Brothers that they be replaced. Pecora said on Tuesday that trees have been planted to replace those arbor vitaes. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com NEW HAVEN Community members are voicing concerns after a 22-year-old woman was shot following a police pursuit Tuesday morning. The Rev. Boise Kimber of First Calvary Baptist Church, along with other local pastors, called for an explanation as to why Hamden police had followed the vehicle into New Haven, why Yale police had responded, and why, he said, New Haven police were not notified of the incident. A group of area residents later rallied in Hamden, calling for the release of police body camera video and answers to what occurred. The woman, a seemingly unarmed passenger in a car stopped on Dixwell Avenue, was listed in stable condition Tuesday afternoon, police said. The series of events that led up to the shooting began at 4:19 a.m. Tuesday, when Hamden police investigated a report of an armed robbery of a newspaper delivery carrier at a gas station on Arch Street in Hamden, state police said. During the investigation, a Hamden police officer and a Yale police officer found a vehicle suspected to be involved in the area of Argyle Street and Dixwell Avenue in New Haven and initiated a motor vehicle stop, state police said in the release. During the interaction with the suspects vehicle, numerous rounds were fired by both officers on scene, state police said in the release. A female occupant of the vehicle suffered a non-life-threatening bullet wound and was treated at the scene, officials said. The suspect was not injured, but both were taken to Yale New Haven Hospital for evaluation, state police said. State police were called in to investigate the shooting at the request of the New Haven Judicial District States Attorneys Office, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings. In a press briefing livestreamed by WFSB, Trooper Josue Dorelus said officers fired after the driver of the vehicle, a suspect in the alleged robbery, exited the vehicle in an abrupt manner and turned toward them. No weapon was found in the vehicle, Dorelus said, although a detailed search of the vehicle had not yet been completed when he spoke. Dorelus said the driver failed to comply with instructions to step out of the vehicle peacefully and show his hands. No one is seen exiting the vehicle in surveillance video published by WTNH. In that clip, a Hamden officer appears to bring his car to a stop, get out, and fire toward the passenger-side door of the vehicle. Asked about this, Dorelus reiterated his description of the incident. During the briefing Tuesday Hamden Acting Police Chief John Cappiello declined to comment on why Hamden police officers crossed into New Haven. Cappiello said an internal affairs investigation would be conducted. The officers involved will be placed on administrative leave, as is standard after any police-involved shooting, he said. Community members rallied at the scene of the shooting Tuesday night, where Hamden Mayor Curt Leng, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, Cappiello and New Haven Interim Police Chief Otoniel Reyes appeared, along with members of the New Haven Board of Alders and Hamdens Legislative Council. Both Harp and Leng addressed the crowd, with Harp saying that even though there are artificial lines between New Haven and Hamden, the communities are so close together that the police departments need to work together so these incidents dont happen. Leng said he would not comment much on the incident specifically, so as to maintain the integrity of the investigation, but promised a transparent investigation. At one point, a woman who said he was the mother of the male in the car said her son had been released from the hospital and driven home without being arrested. The identity of the officers, the person driving the vehicle and the female passenger who was shot would not be immediately released, Dorelus said. The charges levied against the driver will be released at a later time, he said. Kimber, who voiced strong concerns about Tuesdays incident, said officers coming into New Haven from other towns is a problem, particularly if they are predominantly following people of color. We come today to say that were certainly going to be watching this incident, on top of this incident and praying that this family, this young lady, certainly recover a terrible incident, Kimber said. It is sad. It is upsetting; it is hurtful to see that kind of shooting taking place when no one shot at them, no one tried to run, there are no guns in the car I mean, what is this? Kimber also said he wanted to see any body-camera footage from the Hamden and Yale officers that came to the scene. The surveillance footage published online so far shows terrible events, Kimber said an officer shooting and running, seemingly attempting to get out of a potential crossfire. The Rev. Scott Marks led those in attendance in a refrain of Black Lives Matter. Every day of our lives, were pushing that all lives actually move forward, said Marks, questioning whether Hamden police had followed proper procedure. There needs to be a price paid for breaking those policies, because black lives do matter. New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp said Tuesday afternoon that she is gravely concerned about what transpired. I called the mother of the young woman who was shot to express my concern and wish the young woman a thorough recovery, and I pledged to work with my counterpart in Hamden and police officials from all three jurisdictions to ascertain exactly what happened, so we can work to avoid it happening again, Harp said in a statement. A conference call to include Mayor Leng, all three police chiefs, and me is scheduled for Wednesday morning to continue the conversation about how this happened and how to prevent anything like it from happening again. Harp reiterated that no New Haven police officers were involved in the shooting, and that officers only arrived on scene after the fact to help secure and hold the crime scene, allowing investigators from the Connecticut State Police Major Crimes Unit to gather evidence and begin their investigation. Hamden is currently in the process of revising its pursuit policy, with recommendations to only pursue a suspect wanted for a violent felony. In August 2018, Hamden police pursued a vehicle onto Quinnipiac Avenue in New Haven. The car crashed into a tree and landed in the southbound lane of the road, killing the 26-year-old passenger in the car and critically injuring the driver. Anyone with any information in regard to this investigation is asked to contact Connecticut State Police at 860-685-8190. Callers can remain anonymous, police said. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com; Clare Dignan contributed to this story. The LG V50 ThinQ that was unveiled back in February at MWC 2019 was slated to launch on April 19 in its home country South Korea. However, the company has now announced that the launch has been postponed. LG pushed back the launch citing need to further optimize the Snapdragon 855 SoC and X50 5G modem to offer enhanced experience to V50 ThinQ 5G users. The company also said that it's working with Qualcomm and South Korean mobile operators towards improved 5G service and smartphone interoperability. New release date of the V50 ThinQ 5G is currently unavailable, but LG has said that it will be confirmed soon. You can head over here to know more about the V50 ThinQ 5G. Source (in Korean) Lines for the OnePlus 6T were longer than the ones for the iPhones, says T-Mobile Realme 3 arrived with a Helio P70 chipset in India back in March, but the company said it would hit other markets with the Helio P60 platform by Mediatek. One of them is Pakistan, where the phone just made an official debut. It will be available for purchase on April 20 at online and offline retailers, with prices starting from PRK21,999, which is about $155. The Realme 3 has two memory configurations - 3/32 GB and 4/64 GB. The low price is for the first one and will be only at the local online retailer Daraz. The roomier version is priced at PRK28,999 (about $205) and can be bought offline at all major mobile phone markets across Pakistan. The phone is marketed as the Prettiest Power King and the advertising campaign has a Powered by Oppo slogan tagging along, raising questions about the separation of the sub-brand from the mother company. Source 1 Source 2 The Samsung Galaxy Fold took years to develop, its a pretty complicated device. And thanks to its unusual form factor, reading the specs off a table isnt the best way to describe the phone. For example, there are two separate front cameras. The infographic below does a solid job of describing the features of the device in both folded and unfolded form. When folded, it measures 17mm at the hinge and 15.5mm at the other end. However, the magic happens when you open up the Galaxy Fold, which gives you a 7.3 Dynamic AMOLED with HDR10+ support and a document-friendly 4.2:3 aspect ratio. You can have up to three apps on the screen at the same time. Theres more, e.g. 4G connectivity with nanoSIM + eSIM and more). You might want to click to zoom in as theres a lot of detail in the small print. Click for full size Source Haiti - FLASH : A powerful and mysterious explosion heard throughout the department of Grand'Anse Sunday between 3:00 and 4:00 pm a huge roar, similar to a huge explosion of undetermined origin was heard throughout the department of Grand'Anse sowing anxiety and some panic in the population, unable to locate the origin of this noise and explain the cause, leaving room for rumors of all kinds. Monday 24 hours after this phenomenon some still evoked the awakening of a volcano, while there is no volcano in this department. The only two volcanoes existing in Haiti are at Thomazeau and at the Morne la Vigie. They have been asleep for nearly a million years and pose no danger to the population. Sunday and Monday, the local authorities were not able to explain this phenomenon. The engineer-geologist Claude Prepetit, Director General of the Bureau of Mines and Energy says that it is not an earthquake or a volcanic activity and rather advance the hypothesis of the explosion of a meteorite that would have disintegrated in the atmosphere before touching the ground, no point of impact having been reported for the moment, as it was the case in Cuba at the beginning of February 2019. Claude Prepetit reassures the population that if this hypothesis is confirmed, it no longer represents any danger for the population, while stressing that it is difficult for the moment to confirm what really happened in Grand'Anse Sunday after-midday. SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Economy : The private sector regrets that the Head of State does not listen advices Friday, the businessman Frantz Bernard Craan, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti (CCIH) and Coordinator of the economic forum of the private business sector, said on a TV channel of the capital, that the private sector had to break with the system responsible for poverty and insecurity, before the worsening of the socio-economic situation of the country. According to Craan, the inaction of the private sector in the current situation must stop, as well as the dual policy of entrepreneurs to help politicians to serve their own interests "I think the time has come to make it clear that we must break with this system that does not serve the interests of the people [...] People need a system in which they find security and predictability. He also regretted that hundreds of Haitians are forced to risk their lives at sea, because Haiti can not offer them the minimum necessary to live. On the other hand, he recalled that when one was an entrepreneur or President of a country one must be able to surround himself with experienced experts but also know how to listen to them before making decisions, deploring that this capacity seems to be absent at the Head of State "I can not say that President Jovenel Moise does not make decisions. But I'm not sure he hears and listens..." Citing as proof of the Head of State's inability to hear and listen, the fuel price file "[...] last year, we met with the President and we proposed solutions to the authorities to gradually increase the price of petroleum products to avoid any shock in the economy. As is done in the Dominican Republic, this gradual increase could have been done with one or two gourdes each week "but the opposite was decided leading to the riots of July 2018 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24881-haiti-flash-the-price-of-gas-explodes-at-the-pump.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24897-haiti-flash-3rd-day-of-riots-in-haiti.html . A progressive approach also suggested by the IMF to the Haitian Government, which has not been followed up by effects... https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24941-haiti-fuels-the-imf-suggests-a-much-more-gradual-approach-to-remove-subsidies.html See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24941-haiti-fuels-the-imf-suggests-a-much-more-gradual-approach-to-remove-subsidies.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24897-haiti-flash-3rd-day-of-riots-in-haiti.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24881-haiti-flash-the-price-of-gas-explodes-at-the-pump.html SL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2019/04/16 | Source Park Yoo-chun of boy band JYJ, reads a statement during a press conference in Seoul on April 10. Park Yoo-chun of boy band JYJ is being investigated on charges of taking drugs with an ex-girlfriend. Advertisement About a dozen police officers raided Park's house in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday to search for evidence and collect hair samples for a drug test. Park, who weathered a string of rape allegations in 2016, is the latest casualty in a crackdown on celebrity misbehavior after the arrest of Hwang Hana last week on charges of buying and taking methamphetamines. Hwang, the granddaughter of the Namyang Dairy Products founder, told police she took them with Park. Police initially did not disclose the full name of her alleged partner in crime, but as rumors started to swirl, Park held a press conference on April 10 to protest his innocence. He has now been slapped with a travel ban. Park and Hwang dated a couple of years ago and planned to get married in September 2017 but split up the next year. Published on 2019/04/15 | Source Sources report that Bundang Cha Hospital hid the truth about the death of a newborn for the last 3 years. Advertisement The Cha Hospital in Bundang started off with gynecology and expanded its services. It has a reputation for being one of the best hospitals for women in the country. Three years ago, hospital reportedly dropped a newborn while delivering, causing the death of the child a few hours later. It was reported as a death from disease. According to the report, the medical team dropped a newborn who was born through C-section in the year 2016. The child slipped and fell to the floor while the doctor was moving the child during delivery. The child hit his head and was taken to the for treatment, but died a few hours later. The hospital hid the fact that the child was dropped from its parents and reported the death as death from disease. A death due to other causes require autopsy. Therefore, an autopsy wasn't performed on the child because it was reported as a death from disease. Right after delivery, the child showed a fractured skull and bleeding in the x-ray taken by pediatrics, but the hospital hid this fact from the parents, too. The medical records of the dead child have been partly removed and speculation of a systematical cover-up is circulating. The Seoul District Police are investigating this case. This department has been investigating allegations of professional negligence, criminal escape, and destruction of evidence on the Bundang Cha Hospital medical team since last year. The hospital says, "The physician must have determined the death of a child as a combination of diseases as it was a high-risk, premature infant in seven months of pregnancy. However, it was wrong of the hospital to not have informed the parents of the accident". Bundang Cha Hospital says it will take stern measures against officials inside the hospital, holding them responsible for violating hospital policy, if the police investigation confirms there was a cover-up. Some say there may be more cover-ups like this. They also criticize that the Han Ye-seul scandal that occurred last year was only dealt with by the media because she's a celebrity and the hospital quickly admitted to its faults but that wouldn't be the case of a helpless civilian. By Vasia Orion | Published on 2019/04/15 The world is a daunting place when one is about to enter the complicated world of adulthood, and jTBC's upcoming drama "A Moment at Eighteen" will tackle those feelings, and portray the related struggles. The series starring Ong Seong-wu and Kim Hyang-gi has been expanding its cast, and actor Yoo In-soo has just joined them. Advertisement "A Moment at Eighteen" takes an honest, straightforward look at the emotional, precarious and immature youth. It takes a sentimental and sympathetic approach to those whose emotions run high, even for seemingly trivial things, and captures the fleeting, but real and deep moments of one's world at 18. Yoo In-soo, who has confirmed his participation in the project through his agency, plays Yoo Pil-sang, Choi Joon-woo's (Ong Seong-wu) classmate who is rough, but pure. The rookie actor has been in works such as "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon", "Avengers' Social Club" and "Life", gaining experience in different types of stories along the way. "A Moment at Eighteen" sounds like a potentially fun, but also earnest project in the increasingly popular genre of youth dramas. The series is penned by Yoon Kyeong-ah ("The Perfect Wife", "All About My Mom", "Brain") and helmed by Sim Na-yeon ("A Midsummer's Memory", "Hip Hop Teacher"). It will premiere on the second half of the year. Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings' Sources (1) The Havre City Council Ordinance Committee tabled until its next meeting a proposed ordinance to regulate vacant properties after community members and members of the city government raised concerns about its wording and about the idea of the ordinance itself. The committee decided to work on the language of the proposed vacant property registration ordinance and to ask City Attorney Jennifer Forsyth about the legality of the document. I want this to be relatively painless, but I also want people to take responsibility for their property, Ordinance Committee Chair Caleb Hutchins said. Mayor Tim Solomon appointed the ad hoc committee after concerns were raised about people and organizations buying property and letting them sit empty without doing anything to improve them, rent them or sell them. Several meetings have been held about the proposal. The regulations the ordinance committee is proposing includes people having to register buildings designated as vacant and pay an annual fee that increases every year for five years, topping out at $500 a year, unless they can show they are taking action to improve the property, rent it, put it on the market or reach the process of demolishing it. The owner also must have a designated representative who lives within 60 miles of the city. The proposal has been amended to include exemptions that would allow people to not pay the fee. Committee and City Council member Karen Swenson said that since the VPRO has been in the Ordinance Committee they have heard a number of people who are concerned with the ordinance, but no one in favor of it. We have heard a lot of people who are in opposition and they all have legitimate points, she said. We havent heard very much at all from people supporting the VPRO and I dont think that we should go heading down a road that people really dont support and care about, unless they are willing to come out and say so, because we have heard a lot of good reasons why this might not be a good thing to do. We know there are good reasons why this would be a good thing to do, but if people dont want it there is really no point. So I would like to see next time if people really care about this, Id like to hear them. Solomon said that he supports the idea of the VPRO, but he is concerned the city will be unable to enforce it or have to go to court. In the past, the city has tried to condemn a number of vacant properties within the city but because property rights in Montana are strong and specific about what a city can and cannot do. Id love to see something done with it, but my concern is what legally if we can do this, he said. Concerns raised about the VPRO Havre property owner Marlys Flathers said that, although she understands why some may feel a need of the VPRO, it is infringing on the rights of property owners. She added that she feels as if it is a Big Brother ideology and what she does with her properties is her personal business as long as she pays her taxes and mows the lawn. She said it took her a number of years to be able to complete projects on some of her properties and the VPRO would discourage people from purchasing property. The people the VPRO is meant to target will not care if they are charged the maximum $500 fee and the VPRO will not solve the problem. I hope the city has a good attorney, Flathers added. Hutchins said that although he agrees people have property rights, that is not the argument. I one hundred percent agree that your property is your right and your responsibility, up unto the point that it starts affecting your neighbors, he said. Hutchins said that people who are looking to develop a property but are not financially able to at the time can apply for the exemption and the fees, for the most part, will encourage people to either developed or sell their property. The VPRO is not a solution to every problem of blight in a city, he added. We cant fix every single person but we can put pressure on them to consider changing and there is evidence from other communities that have VPROs that it works, he said. Not that its a 100 percent fix, not that it catches all 100 percent of these property owners, but that it does fix enough of them to be worth it. VPROs are used to help hold negligent property owners accountable, he said. Marlys Flathers husband, Bruce, said that an exemption that requires property owners to register with a licensed realtor is unfair. You cant tell them that they cant sell their properties on their own, you cant force people to hire a realtor, he said. Hutchins said that the VPRO is not requiring people to use a licensed realtor, but if they use a realtor they are exempt from the fees. People also can apply for other exemptions. The reason for the language of the realtor exemption is because the city doesnt want people to be acting in bad faith and asking for exorbitant prices for their properties and applicable for the exemption. Committee member Karen Swenson said that the committee should speak to a realtor and go through the exemption again for clarity. I think it should be as simple as possible, she said. Flathers said that although he appreciates what the committee is trying to do, they need to be careful and clear with the language they use in the ordinance. First off, let me commend you for what you are trying to do, he said. I agree with it, but you have to have things in writing or they dont hold up. It has to be in writing. Mayor Tim Solomon agreed that the committee needed to be clear in the language. Youre going to have to write the ordnance around what you are thinking, he said. Solomon added that the committee also needs to examine what is a vacant property. He said some property owners use their properties for storage, or have sheds and garages. He said although the VPRO outlines some points on what a vacant building is, it needs to be further specified or it will be unenforceable. Hutchins said that he will look at how to examine properties used for storage and do some research to try to come up with solutions. Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson also said that the VPRO needs to be clear and specific. It has to be black and white, he said. Council member Sarah McKinney said that the VPRO is regarding living units and businesses in disrepair. The issue is not entirely the inside of these buildings but the outside which is unkempt and poorly maintained. She added that the city knows what properties are the issues and what properties have disconnected services and use the information as a place to start on finding vacant properties. Its so clear, she said. Hutchins said that at a previous ordinance meeting one concern raised was that property owners found the process burdensome to request an exemption for the registry. The majority of the property owners who spoke at the last meeting own vacant properties but are trying to renovate these properties and are planning on bringing them back onto the market, he said. The ordinance is not meant to punished those who are doing their due diligence with their properties If they are trying their best to keep that property, fix up that property, to do something with it, then I have no problem with them, Hutchins said. To me what we are targeting is the properties that are sitting and rotting and clearly there is no intent to do anything with them in the near future or ever. Hutchins said that a three-year catch-all exemption will allow people to apply to have their properties exempt from the registration fee, but the property owners would still need to register the properties. They have the opportunity to reapply after the three years are complete. He added that he expects a large number of these property owners to request the exemption. We still want people to register, just so we are aware of what is going on with the property, he said. Were not trying to penalize them. If people are denied the exemption by the VPRO officer for arbitrary reasons they can file an appeal to the ordinance committee, who can overturn the decision if it is deemed necessary. I think that is a fair compromise, Hutchins said. It takes some of the burden off of them. But I dont believe it is reasonable for them to simply say that, We dont believe that this should apply to us at all. If you own a property that is vacant by the definition of this ordinance, I think that the city should be aware of it, should know what you have planned and should have emergency contact information in case something goes wrong with that property. According to the ordinance, a building is deemed vacant if it is unoccupied in addition to the property being in violation of another criteria, such as having unsecured windows and doors, unkept lawns, and others. If it is being taken care of, then it is not vacant, he said. He added that compared to other parts of the country including in Montana, the proposed Havre VPRO fee is inexpensive, with ordinances in some other communities charging thousands of dollars. McKinney said vacant properties are a growing problem in the country and are only going to get worse if nobody does anything. This is ridiculous because a city is the result of an effort by people to build it, she said. Somebody came here and poured their heart and soul into Havre and here we are, so shouldnt we have a group effort to carry that forward. If we dont do this then were never going to know. Havre Police Department Someone stopped at the police station asking to speak with an officer Monday at 10:31 a.m., and the issue was referred to another law enforcement agency. -- Everett Dale Windyboy of Havre, 66, was arrested on a shoplifting charge after a caller at a First Street business reported a theft at 11:45 a.m. Monday. -- A Third Street caller asked Monday at 12:56 p.m. to have an officer look at his fence. -- A Second Street caller reported Monday at 2:19 p.m. finding needles while cleaning an apartment. -- A vehicle crash between a GMC and a Dodge was reported Monday at 5:24 p.m. at a U.S. Highway 2 Northwest business. -- Monday at 5:48 p.m. a caller reported a bike was stolen at a First Street business. -- Officers investigated after callers on First Avenue reported Monday at 7 p.m. that a girl was threatening some boys. -- Flint Walker Blackwolf of Box Elder, 31, was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and open container in the city, after someone on Second Street called in a complaint Monday at 7:15 p.m. -- Brian Douglas Carpenter of Havre, 42, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence after a caller at a First Street West establishment reported an intoxicated man on a motorcycle Monday at 11:16 p.m. -- Jeffrey David Hede of Cheyenne, Wyoming, 43, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a caller at a First Street West business reported an intoxicated man was urinating on the side of the building at 12:22 a.m. today. Hill County Sheriff's Office An arrest was made after someone stopped at the sheriff's office asking for assistance Monday at 12:55 p.m. No details were provided on the charges. -- Colton Earthboy Montes of Box Elder, 29, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant at Hill County Detention Center Monday at 1:51 p.m. Havre Fire Department Emergency medical personnel responded to three calls Sunday and two calls Monday. Havre Animal Shelter The Havre shelter this morning held three medium-hair cats, one long-hair cat, one short-hair cat, a medium-hair 14-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 14-week-old puppy, a female husky dog, a male pit bull terrier dog and a female Australian cattle dog-blue heeler-border collie dog. Editors note: Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson told the Havre Daily News after the paper went to press that the Havre City Council vote to approve donating a fire truck to the Kremlin Rural Fire District was an error. The Rudyard Volunteer Fire Department had agreed to take the truck, but the wrong district was listed in the motion voted on by the council. Paulson said a resolution to donate the truck to the Rudyard department will be on the next City Council agenda. Havre City Council approved helping out a rural volunteer fire department Monday by donating a fire truck the city no longer uses. The council approved donating the Havre Fire Departments 1973 Howe fire engine to the Kremlin Rural Fire District. Kremlin Fire Chief Kody Peterson said this morning that Kremlin Fire Department supports all of Kremlins neighboring departments when needed. By having the newer truck, which is able to store more water, the department will be able to better assist and support other departments. It will be a huge asset in helping us, he said. After Havre Fire Department received its new fire engine last summer, Peterson said, Fire Chief Mel Paulson told him the Havre department had an extra truck which was sitting idle. Havre Fire Departments first new truck in 26 years is a handmade Pierce Arrow XT fire engine. Peterson said that after the Kremlin fire department heard the Howe was sitting idle, his department then approached Paulson and asked if Havre could donate the truck to Kremlin. Peterson said that Kremlin has been looking to replace one of its older trucks and this gave them an opportunity to do it. The newer truck is a big enhancement from their 1967 Ford, he said. The Ford has been used for emergencies such as structure fires and has a healthy pump, but was in need of an upgrade. The Howe is set up to be able to hook into fire hydrants, so the truck can remain stocked full while still supplying water to several other fire trucks at a time. That was the big enhancement his department was looking for, Peterson said. The council also approved setting in motion plans for work on a Havre street. It approved a resolution Monday requesting the distribution of the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Program funds for work on 13th Street West in two or three years. Its not a huge project, just the length of it and the fact that we are milling it down instead of just doing an overlay over the top of it makes it a little bit more expensive, Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said this morning. He added that the project will be seven to eight blocks on 13th Street West, and some areas might need additional work if soft spots are found. The city will also be working on the side streets that lead into 13th Street West to ensure good transitions into the street. Curbs and gutters might be replaced for a better storm drain. Peterson said that the project is expected to cost $300,000 to $400,000 and will take two to three years to collect all funding needed for the project. The project itself will most likely take approximately 45 days. The funds can only be used for surface construction and cannot be used for infrastructure. Peterson added that one of the reasons the city has selected the section on 13th Street West is because it has solid infrastructure underneath the road and has a high possibility for remaining in good condition after the construction is complete. Mayor Tim Solomon said during the council meeting that the resolution had to pass through the council because of a regulation enacted in the last legislative session. The regulation requires the Montana Department of Transportation to allocate accrued funds to cities, towns, counties and consolidated city-county governments. The funds allocated by MDT are used for construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of rural roads, city or town streets, alleys and bridges which the governing entities are responsible to maintain. The resolution says that the governing entities which request funds under the Bridge and Road Safety and Accountability Account must match each $20 requested with $1 of matching funds. It added that the matching funds have been budgeted from local option tax funds. Peterson said that the last legislative session provided funds, which have to be designated for a specific project, rather than gas tax funds, which cities and counties have previously received. Its the same purpose but just a different way to go about it, he said this morning. Alissa Hewitt is once again bringing Scott Jackson of Scott Jackson Dog Training classes to the Hi-Line for the third straight year. Hewitt organized holding three days of dog training classes, June 21-23, at the Great Northern Fairgrounds. For puppies up to six months old, a class is set for Friday, June 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. Basic training is available for dogs six months and up Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Advanced training will also take place Friday and Saturday i to 4 p.m. for dogs of all ages and breeds. Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon, Jackson will be available to answer attendees questions. Classes cost $40 each, but a discount is offered for people bringing two or more dogs per class. Jackson is a former California Sheriffs Department Lead K-9 Trainer. He taught classes last year at the Blaine County Fairgrounds. Our puppy class is for dogs up to six months, Hewitt said. The class teaches how to properly use the equipment, walk, basic commands like sit and stay. During every class Scott works with the dogs as a group and also works with each person and dog individually to work on specific issues, she said. Hewitt added that the classes also teach socialization with other people and dogs. Advanced training is for those who have had basic training and want to take that up a notch, Hewitt said. Scent work, hunting, tricks are part of the training. Anything people want to learn outside the scope of the basics. Hewitt is offering free training to anyone who has adopted a dog from the months of April to June, from either the Havre Animal Shelter or Paws in Chinook. I really believe that any issue can be corrected with proper training, Hewitt said. If we can lessen the load on shelters and focus on training, we can make a huge difference. Jackson was with the sheriffs K-9 unit for two decades. He then spent time working with military and private contractors, training narcotics and explosive K-9 units. He now works with the American Kennel Club for the western region as a kennel inspector. He also offers private training and classes on the weekends. Hewitt said classes fill up fast so people should contact her at 357-3316 to reserve spots. More information about Scott Jackson Dog Training Montana can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1974793649447657/. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. He was a doll, Partridge said. He was also teaching at Kendall, and late at night, hed have me help write up test questions. And he always wanted them to be funny. Im not a sommelier, I was just a kid, and Im making little burger sliders with great wine (chef) Takashi (Yagihashi) will be mad when he hears this and Bob was so engaging. He looks at you like he cares, and its legit. It was a hell of an experience, and I didnt even know it at the time. The Tribune never reviewed the movie, until now. My colleague, movie critic Michael Phillips saw a rough cut of the film and calls it a charming slice of 1950-era corporate propaganda, and a swell look back at how the Chicago Daily News liked to see itself. Images of the post-WWII city, in all its blinkered, lily-white splendor, present Chicago as a burg bursting with the boisterous energy of youth (The film) shows us how the Daily News, and Chicago generally, preferred to see itself. It's irresistible viewing all these decades later. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has been appointed honorary professor of peace studies at Queen's University Belfast. Mr Ahern will take up the role at the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Mr Ahern, who served as taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, played a significant role in the negotiations that led to the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement. He also helped to negotiate the return of devolution to Northern Ireland in 2007. In his role as honorary professor, Mr Ahern will take part in workshops and masterclasses with students and will participate in other events at the university. Mr Ahern will deliver his first lecture, the Harri Holkeri Lecture, next month, when he will reflect on the peace process in light of Brexit issues. The annual lecture is in honour of the achievements of former prime minister of Finland and UN official, the late Harri Holkeri, who used his skills as a negotiator and consensus -builder to facilitate arms decommissioning and multi-party peace talks in Northern Ireland. Asset "Bertie Ahern has been an advocate and supporter of the Mitchell Institute and the university for many years, and his political experience will be an asset to both teaching and research at Queen's," said Professor Hastings Donnan, director of the institute. "We look forward very much to his contribution over the next three years." Mr Ahern said he was "privileged" to accept the role. "I have enjoyed working with Queen's University since I received my honorary doctorate in 2008," he added. Northern Ireland Policing Board chair Anne Connolly and Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Dr Michael Maguire have also been awarded honorary professorships at the institute. Professor Douglas MacFarlane, from Monash University, Australia, has been awarded an honorary professorship in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Prof MacFarlane is a world-leading expert in using ionic liquids for electrochemistry, green chemistry, solar cells, batteries and biotechnology. Addiction to the painkiller codeine is "an epidemic verging on eruption and should be recognised now," according to an article in the Irish Medical Journal. Emma McDonnell, of the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, said there was a 208pc increase in prescribing codeine between 2006 and 2016. It is also available in some over-the-counter products and it is difficult to monitor if a particular patient is "codeine shopping" - travelling to different pharmacies to get it. Shackles "Without medical supervision, a large proportion of the Irish population is self-medicating with codeine and many have unknowingly developed an addiction," she wrote. "Those who suffer from a codeine addiction often tell how their relationship with the drug started so innocently in the quest for pain relief in a medical consultation and they had little to no understanding of the truly addictive nature of the drug. "Often when pain has been fully resolved, the shackles of an opiate drug have bound an unassuming victim and withdrawal symptoms have become unbearable. "Withdrawal symptoms include chills, constipation, nausea, insomnia, sweating, anxiety, lacrimation [tears] and muscle aches. In short, a truly horrible experience that is relieved only by succumbing to the drug again. "Rebound headaches are also very commonly encountered by patients misusing codeine." The current recommended treatment for codeine dependence is Suboxone. Ms McDonnell said the problem of self-medicating with codeine could possibly be reduced to some extent if the drug's legal status was changed to prescription-only as has been done recently in Australia and Italy, removing the possibility of its availability over the counter. "Although this could put further pressure on doctors to prescribe codeine, having prescriber involvement may unveil otherwise covert addictions," said Ms McDonnell. "The introduction of screening tools for codeine addiction may also be a useful intervention in combination with improved medical training on prescribing addictive medicines and managing addiction. "The possibility of reducing the quantity of codeine prescribed nationally could be considered, especially in patients with a previous history of taking medications with addictive potential or those uninformed and at risk." Medication addiction could perhaps become a routine question when eliciting medical history from a patient, listed the same way as a medication allergy, to remove the social taboo associated with addiction and improve communication of such information between patient and prescriber, she added. The establishment of a central monitoring system could help to keep track of the number of people being prescribed and purchasing the drug. This could provide vital information on the true consumption of codeine in Ireland and better enable policy and public health decisions to be made to combat it. Being aware of the ease with which one can buy codeine online is important too, she added. A man who followed a woman to her home while continuously exposing himself to her, put her in fear, a court has heard. Ian Brady, who said he had been drinking excessively beforehand and claimed it was completely "out of character", has been placed on a probation bond for two years, subject to conditions. The 29-year-old followed the woman from a north Dublin train station at 7am in July last year. When she turned around he was exposing himself to her, Balbriggan District Court heard. Moments later, the woman, who is in her late 20s, crossed the road and the defendant continued to follow her. Sergeant Darren Farrelly said that while Brady was following the woman, he continuously exposed himself to her, putting her in fear and causing her to become distressed. "She lost sight of him for a while, but when she got to her home, he was on the opposite side of the road, still exposing himself to her," said Sgt Farrelly. Brady, of Mourne Park in Skerries, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to exposing himself in a manner likely to cause fear, alarm or distress on July 15, 2017, in a north Dublin town. He has no previous convictions. Consequences Defence solicitor Siobhan McNelis told Judge Dermot Dempsey the defendant, who has an intellectual disability, has been engaging with a social worker and a key worker since the incident and handed in a letter outlining the defendant's personal circumstances. "He had been drinking excessively beforehand and has now reduced his alcohol intake," the solicitor said, adding that he has attended rehabilitation. She said Brady had "expressed his remorse" and was regretful of the incident. "He lost his job at Tesco, where he worked for 11 years, because of this and understands the consequences," she said. She said Brady had indicated a willingness to engage further with the Probation Services. "He is anxious to move on from it and is asking for leniency," she added. Judge Dempsey said he was concerned a probation report stated the defendant was at the "high-end risk of reoffending" and that areas identified need to be addressed further by the Probation Service, to which Ms McNelis said the defendant was "aware of the contents of the report". "He had six sessions with Alcoholics Anonymous and found it helpful. He wants to stay away from alcohol," she said. Imposing the two-year probation bond, Judge Dempsey was informed that the defendant would not be on the Sex Offenders Register, as the offence he committed was not notifiable to gardai. CCTV footage has been released of a one-legged drug dealer who has been a fugitive for more than a year and is now believed to be on the run in Ireland. Richard Wakeling (52), from Brentwood, Essex, attempted to import 8m (9.25m) of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016. He is said to have family on both sides of the border. Wakeling fled before his trial in Essex began and was sentenced to 11 years in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court on April 9 last year. Clip Yesterday, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) released CCTV footage of him leaving his home on January 5 last year as investigators continue to try to track him down. The clip shows him chatting to a workman and getting into his white Audi Q3, which has the registration number EF 66 ZWR. He left Essex that day and travelled through Iver in Buckinghamshire, before catching a bus from Heathrow to Glasgow and taking a ferry from Stranraer to Belfast. The NCA said he has family in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Thailand. A week after he disappeared, his car was driven back to his home in Essex. "Wakeling has been on the run for well over a year now and knows we are still looking for him," said NCA operations manager Paul Green. "He should also know we will do everything in our power to bring him back to serve his sentence. Frustrating "I would urge him to hand himself in. I've no doubt someone seeing this appeal will have information about his whereabouts. "Anyone helping Wakeling or actively frustrating our efforts to find him could be arrested for assisting an offender." A woman has been charged with careless driving causing the death of one pedestrian and seriously injuring three others in a crash in the south of the city. Rosemarie Gallagher (61) is facing trial after she appeared in court yesterday charged over the incident in 2017. Judge Michael Walsh remanded her on continuing bail for the preparation of a book of evidence. Ms Gallagher, of Belville, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, is charged with driving without due care and attention. The charge alleges that this caused the death of Frenchman Benjamin Renard (24) and serious harm to three other men. Arrested The incident happened at Adelaide Road, Dublin 2, on August 22, 2017. Det Gda Patrick Traynor said he arrested Ms Gallagher at Pearse Street Garda Station on the morning of March 27 and she made no reply to the charge after caution. She was handed a copy of the charge sheet. Det Gda Traynor said the DPP was directing trial on indictment, meaning the case will be sent forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for trial when a book of evidence is ready. Judge Walsh asked where the accused was as she had not come forward when her case was called. Her barrister said she was "on a scooter in the back of the court". He said he had no further application to make, and the judge adjourned the case to a date in June. Ms Gallagher was not required to address the court during the brief hearing and has not yet indicated how she intends to plead to the charge. When the proceedings concluded, she left the Criminal Courts on her mobility scooter. Mr Renard, a LinkedIn acc-ount manager from France, was hit by a car as he was walking on a footpath with friends on Adelaide Road at 6.15pm on the date in question, an inquest into his death heard previously. Convertible The car, a Saab convertible, ended up on its side in the middle of the road. Four Dublin Fire Brigade tenders and three of the service's ambulances attended the scene. Two ambulances from the National Ambulance Service also went to the scene. The four men and the driver of the car were rushed to hospital. Mr Renard was first taken to St James's and later transferred to Beaumont, where he was treated in the intensive care unit. Family members travelled from France as efforts were made to save his life, but he died two weeks later, on September 5. A post-mortem conducted by Dr Francesca Brett gave the cause of death as cerebral trauma due to a road traffic collision. Mr Renard had studied at Dublin City University until 2014 when he was awarded a BA in global business, marketing and sales. He had previously earned a BSc degree in France. For me, the code of the exhibition has to do with that tension. You know, the desire to be able to get right up on a thing, and then it's like, Is the thing precious? Is it precious? he said. Can you sit on the Johnsonesque chairs, in other words, handle the books? Or is this, as something everyday that has been labelled art, merely there to look at? The CFM essentially reiterated, with very minor changes, its previous proposals, including retention of an open defined benefit plan for all current and new members, untenable wage increases and additional paid time off. The CSOA was unable to accept this proposal. The parties have not scheduled any further sessions at this time. Yet as Fodors play moves backward, we see how the thorny personal and political entanglements between Hannah and her mentor have shaped and challenged her own world views. One of the many questions were left with is whether affection and admiration for the great man perhaps warped Arendts views on him. What really is the difference between Heidegger and Baldur Von Schirach (Drew Schad), the Hitler Youth leader whose trial Arendt covered for the New Yorker (and whose conviction she views as just)? Both had access to molding young minds and both wholly embraced Hitler as the way forward for Germany, even if Heideggers infatuation with the Fuhrer was of seemingly shorter duration. Why Gov. Tom Wolf says he has no plans to issue new mask mandates news The festival and stage show are set to be held at the Museum of Science and Industry on June 29. Scenes for the upcoming 50th season of Sesame Street will also be taped in Chicago during the shows three-day visit. More details about the Chicago festival are slated to be revealed in the coming months. Somebody I talked to, she was saying that she didnt really trust the doctors that she went to, and she felt that they couldnt answer her questions adequately, Greene said. We had to think about: Whats another way that we can bring information to people thats easier to access? By providing a texting option, she said, we think it makes the information sharing a little bit more personable. But who says that the people who choose to own firearms shouldnt have to go into their pocketbooks every now and then? Gun owners have no problem shelling out $600 for the latest Smith & Wesson. But if you ask them to pay $10 the current cost of a FOID card they go ballistic. They are perfectly satisfied allowing taxpayers who would never own a gun to supplement the administrative costs for their freedom. 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. "That's when (Aranda) got up and he said, 'I know what you just said. You said that I smell like s---.' And he picked up a plate and cracked him in the head with it," Granlund said Tuesday, the same day Aranda made his first court appearance for allegedly slinging a 5-year-old boy from a balcony at the Mall of America near Minneapolis last week. As the general election is in full swing, political discourse is dominated by issues such as education, rural distress and jobs, leaving out, as usual, conversation about urban distress. The World Economic Forum estimates that five to six million Indians move to cities every year. Our cities drive economic growth, contributing over 60% to the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Yet, we fail to recognise and administer them. Such neglect has its implications, affecting the growth that the cities provide. We fail to recognise urban growth because official estimates disguise the significance of cities. In India, the categorisation of urban and rural areas is based on population thresholds, population density and economic activity. An IDFC Institute study reveals that India is more urban than the numbers suggest. It analysed the effects of relaxing thresholds for the categorisation of cities and found that India moves from 26% urban to ~47% and ~65% urban, if the definitions employed in countries such as Ghana and Mexico were to be used that is, population yardsticks of more than 5,000 and 2,500 persons, respectively. These thresholds present a more accurate picture of Indias urban growth because they forego traditional benchmarks that limit our understanding of urbanisation. Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) were designed to cater to the varying governance needs of urban and rural areas. The 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution identify differences in the powers and functions of these bodies. For instance, urban areas require building codes and firefighting services to ensure safety and development in dense conditions, while rural areas are not mandated to create master plans or establish fire stations. But urbanisation has pushed cities beyond boundaries, rapidly populating the peripheries. This means that some areas that are rural on paper may have actually become urban based on widely employed alternate measures but still being governed by RLBs rather than ULBs. These dense urban peripheries demand a different set of public goods and services than dispersed rural areas, but their administrative categories dont allow for these advantages. The resulting misclassification leads to disparate governance outcomes, particularly in public service delivery. When we dont recognise dense urban growth, public goods provision suffers. Another study supported by IDFC investigates whether governance mismatch (urban areas being governed by rural governance forms rather than urban ones) is associated with the development of settlements. It notes that an urban settlement governed by a ULB rather than an RLB is likely to benefit from a 147% increase in road length per square kilometre, a 128% increase in water storage capacity in kilolitres per capita, a 25% increase in the probability of establishing a higher education institution, and an 11% increase in hospital beds per capita. This means people in urban areas are more likely to have access to more infrastructure, education and healthcare. People living in wrongly classified areas not only lose out on these advantages, but a lack of these public amenities prompts dangerous productivity consequences. Owing to congestion in core urban areas, most of the recent urban growth in India has been in peri-urban regions not equipped with adequate infrastructure. People living there face mobility and financial costs, which erodes their productivity over time. Based on Atlas of Urban Expansion data, we observe a reduction in average road widths from 1990 to 2014: the share of wider, 12-metre roads has remained constant while the share of narrower, under 4-metre roads has increased. Commuters living in peri-urban regions must first traverse the narrow roads to reach the wider ones connected to their workplaces in the urban core/central business district. This has an adverse impact on commute times. In his book, Order Without Design, Alain Bertaud also notes that worker productivity starts to wane beyond 20 minutes of travel time to workplaces and disappears beyond 60 minutes of it. Understandably, congestion costs have long-term impact on efficiency gains. Hence, the deteriorating urban fabric lowers productivity and weakens the capacity of our cities. Adding more nuance and flexibility in recognising urban areas will improve service delivery and resources, and, in turn, quality of life. Political parties are beginning to acknowledge the reality. To alleviate urban challenges, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has initiated schemes such as the Smart Cities Mission, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. On the other side, the Indian National Congresss 2019 election manifesto declares that the party will, ensure that Mayors and Municipal Chairpersons have fully functional powers, so that they can operate as Chief Executives Officers of cities with executive powers and responsibilities and not just ceremonial positions. To keep the momentum going, the new government must continue to align administration with aspirations. Kadambari Shah is associate, and Harshita Agrawal is senior analyst at IDFC Institute, a Mumbai based think/do tank The views expressed are personal The 2019 election manifestos of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress reveal different approaches to governance. In a way, they reflect the respective records of the two parties when in power. While the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) 1 saw the promulgation or drafting of several rights-based legislations in different sectors information, employment, education, forest-dwellers, hawkers, and people with disability in its second term, the Congress lost its way, and, with it, the 2014 elections. The BJP-led governments tenure has seen attempts to dilute rights-based laws. In fact, there has been no new rights-based legislation. While the 2019 BJP manifesto is less than lukewarm on rights of citizens, the Congresss manifesto is replete with promises to strengthen peoples rights. The BJP commits to protect the rights of women and forest dwellers, and the voting rights of citizens. Refreshingly, the party proposes a right to service to ensure time-bound delivery of government services. But this is where its vision of rights ends. The phrase human rights is missing altogether. There is nothing on protecting democratic freedoms, especially against the impunity with which many corporations and various arms of the State use their power to harass, intimidate, arrest, and kill citizens who have dared to dissent or mobilise for their rights. This is unsurprising for a party that has systematically targeted dissenters and done little to quell crimes by the right wing against religious minorities, Dalits, academics and others. The Congresss promises on rights extend to forest dwellers, women, persons with disability, the LGBTQIA+ community (the BJP has only charity measures for transgenders), students, children, women farmers, prisoners, religious and language minorities. It also commits to ensure citizens rights to water and digital access. The BJP is silent on such measures. It only has some welfare measures, consistent with its patron-client approach to governance. Unfortunately, both parties ignore the rights of fishers, and pastoralists, including the nomadic communities. In sharp contrast to the BJP, the Congress commits to repeal or amend anti-democratic laws, and ensure that police and armed forces do not violate democratic freedoms. Its boldest promise is to repeal the colonial-era sedition law. This promise has been criticised by the BJP on the grounds that it is an open pardon for terrorists. But the mere mention of rights could end up being a formality, especially if people are not empowered to defend their rights. This is also true of a welfare approach. But there are crucial ethical and practical differences between the approaches. A rights-based approach acknowledges every persons human rights, the States duty to uphold these, and the right of citizens to hold it accountable. A welfare approach makes the citizen dependent on the goodwill of whoever is in power. This is the reason why peoples movements across the world have focused on securing rights, nationally and globally through the United Nations. The rights-based approach requires recognising that, in a democracy, power lies with the people. But governments have been reluctant to devolve political, financial, legal, and administrative powers to the grassroots institutions. The BJPs manifesto shows no inclination towards this. Its version of gram swaraj, despite citing it as one of the pillars of Mahatma Gandhis vision of India, is restricted to charity offerings such as piped drinking water, housing and roads. The Congress is clearer since it promises to enhance the role and authority of the gram sabhas in matters concerning the villages and panchayats and in relation to several laws. Both parties, however, remain myopic on one crucial issue. Political democratic rights are severely hobbled if people do not also control the economy. Indias model of development, with its blind adherence to GDP growth, the growing stranglehold of mega corporations, the tendency to treat people as exploitable labour and the environment as raw material, violate fundamental rights by displacing communities and grabbing their resources. India needs to shift towards an alternative approach to well being, with peoples basic needs and the environment as its starting points. Such steps would democratise the economy, promote healthy living rather than insane consumerism, and respect the rights of nature too. Sadly, no political party manifesto in the last few decades has moved towards this. Ashish Kothari is with Kalpavriksh, Pune The views expressed are personal. Actor Vivek Oberoi has been in the news of late for his biopic on PM Narendra Modi, whose release was stalled by the Election Commission of India. The actor, otherwise active making films in South India, recently spoke candidly in an interview about work and life. In the sections rapid fire segment he was asked what question he would ask some people if they had been administered with the truth serum. When the question to ask to Salman Khan arose, Vivek was quick to revert. He told Bollywood Hungama that he would ask Salman: Do you truly believe in forgiveness? It is worth recalling that nearly 16 years ago, Salman and Vivek were at loggerheads over one person: Aishwarya Rai. Aishwarya, Salmans long-time girlfriend had walked out on Salman and had begun dating Vivek. In 2003, Vivek had reportedly called a press conference in which he had accused Salman of calling him in a drunken state and threatening to kill him. The presser had a damaging effect on his career and, some may even add, led to his downfall in Bollywood. Also read: Alia Bhatt calls Varun Dhawan Ranbir during interview, her crazy laugh is winning fans hearts. Watch Viveks Modi biopic which was set to hit the screens on April 12 when Election Commission of India asked the producers to not release it, acting on a complaint by many political parties including the Congress. You are directed not to exhibit the film till further orders, the EC had said. The producers later approached the Supreme Court against the Election Commission order. As on April 15, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission to watch the biopic and review its decision to put the movie on hold. Vivek, meanwhile, has been appearing in negative roles in films from south. His latest release, the Malayalam film Lucifer which stars Mohanlal in the lead, has set new industry record for being the fastest Malayalam film to enter the Rs 100-crore club worldwide. It has achieved the feat in just eight days. He also starred in in Ajith starrer Vivegam. Salman, meanwhile, remains busy with Bharat, which is due to hit the screens on Eid. He also has the Hindi remake of Korean film, Veteran, Dabangg 3 and Sanjay Leela Bhansalis next opposite Alia Bhatt. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Centre-appointed committee mandated to recommend the process of giving ownership rights to residents of 1,797 unauthorised colonies is considering using satellite images to fix the boundaries of these colonies. The committee, chaired by Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, has held three meetings to discuss the issue, according to officials aware of the development. The officials said earmarking boundary is key to the process of giving ownership rights. The boundaries have to be fixed as per the cut-off date of January 1, 2015. We can superimpose the satellite image with the current map to fix the boundaries, said a senior official, requesting anonymity. The committee has also discussed imposing development charges and land cost (in cases where the colony has come up on government land) on residents. The two have been contentious issues, as a large number of resident welfare associations has refused to pay the charges in 2008, when the then Congress government had initiated the regularisation process. According to a member of the committee, ownership rights is the not a major problem. But the issue of development charges and land cost has to be settled. Residents will have to pay development and land changes (wherever applicable). But we are looking at if the amount could be reduced, said the official. The committee, which will submit its report in June 2019, said the bigger challenge will be to regularise the colonies. Delhi Development Authority and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) are working on the Master Plan of Delhi-2041. DDA officials said efforts are being made to prepare new development control norms for these colonies since the current rules cant be applied there. We will have to prepare a new set of norms for these colonies. We will also have to look at the structural safety of buildings before we regularise them, said a senior DDA official. Shamsher Singh, former chief town planner with the erstwhile MCD, said, Building plans of a majority of properties cant be approved as per the present rules. Moreover, there is need to have a re-look at the cut-off date for regularisation. The colonies should be regularised on as is where is basis. On Monday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the governments principal agency for weather forecasting and rainfall monitoring, predicted near normal southwest monsoon rainfall this year, even as it downplayed the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon. The IMD said monsoon rainfall (June-September) is likely to be 96% of the Long Period Average (LPA) received during the monsoon months between 1951 and 2000 (LPA is the average rainfall received by the country during the south-west monsoon for a 50-year period). The current LPA is 887 mm, based on the average rainfall over years 1951 and 2000. It acts as a benchmark against which the rainfall in any monsoon season is measured. The IMDs forecast deviates from that of private forecasting company, Skymet Weather, which, on April 5, predicted a below normal monsoon about 93% of the LPA. While the IMDs prediction a near-normal and well-distributed monsoon should have made the country happy, its new categorisation (near normal) has led to disquiet in some quarters. While senior weather officials downplayed the issue, saying there is not much difference between near normal and normal monsoon, two important questions are being raised. First, if there is no difference, why did the IMD come up with a new category (especially in an election year) and create this confusion? Secondly, is the agency trying leave itself with wriggle room in case its prediction goes wrong? Adding to the confusion is another aspect of the prediction: There is a moderate chance of a below normal monsoon. These fears are understandable because forecasting the monsoon remains a fantastically difficult job, especially as four in every 10 monsoons are classified as abnormal. In view of the fact that t he monsoon is an important factor in Indias economic and social life, the IMD should have kept the categorisation straightforward. While everyone in India is obsessed with the movement of the monsoon, the most complex of global weather phenomena, what often gets overlooked is how best to harvest this gift of nature. In a country where two-thirds of the fields lack irrigation, and groundwater is fast depleting, there is hardly much being done to, as the late environmentalist, Anil Agarwal, often said, catch water where it falls. Along with focusing our energies on prediction, time and effort must be invested in conserving the bounty. In their manifestos, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as the Congress, have promised to invest heavily in water conservation. Regardless of who comes to power, this promise needs to be remembered. The new Indian government must also invest in Indias weather prediction capabilities, which will remain poor without investments on three fronts: frequent supercomputing upgrades; an increase in weather observation data; and a significant boost in scientific manpower. After all, as a scientist at the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting told the Mint newspaper last year, Seven billion people are changing the climate. It is hard for a few hundred scientists to keep pace with it. Two people died and five more were injured after a firecracker warehouse caught fire in Kadipur industrial area on Sunday night. Of the injured, two are critical with more than 80% percent burn injuries while the remaining are out of danger, the police said on Monday evening. The police have arrested the owner of the warehouse and his son, and charged them with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to culpable homicide, as well as sections of the Explosives Act. According to the police, the fire broke out around 9.30pm, when batches of firecrackers in the presence of highly inflammable snow sprays were being loaded on to a mini truck at the site. Sumer Singh, deputy commissioner of police (west), said the exact cause of the fire may only be ascertained once samples from the site are tested in the forensic science laboratory (FSL). Singh, however, ruled out the possibility of a leakage in the CNG cylinder of the mini truck as the cause of the fire, contrary to initial speculation. He said the cylinder was found intact in the mini truck, while the top portion of the vehicle was mostly charred. One person died at the spot while six injured were taken to hospitals in Gurugram and New Delhi. One person has died during treatment at Safdarjung Hospital, two more are critical with more than 80% burn injuries. The blast and physics division of the FSL have taken samples from the site, and the exact cause of fire can only be determined after relevant tests are complete, Singh said. The warehouse is situated on a 200 square yard plot. It has a main office near the entrance, and an empty space in the middle used for loading and unloading fire crackers onto and from vehicles. One tin shed at the warehouse, which was stacked with firecrackers, also caught fire and was gutted completely. The fire though did not spread to the room on the right of the shed, a corridor and three rooms in the left, all of which stored firecrackers and cement packets. Singh said the warehouse was licensed and had a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the explosives department in Faridabad, valid till 2022. He said investigations in the matter are ongoing. The warehouse, Lucky Kataria Fire Works Dealer, is located in patakha market in Kadipur industrial area and has several firecracker warehouses in the vicinity. The police have arrested Bharat Bhushan Kataria, the owner of the warehouse, as well as his son Amit, based on the complaint of one of the injured persons, Kanhaiya Lal. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to culpable homicide and relevant sections of the Explosives Act has been registered against them. The police identified the deceased who died at the spot as Nepal Manto, from Begusarai in Bihar. He worked as a security guard at the warehouse. Satar Ramji, who belonged to Ajmer in Rajasthan, died during treatment in the hospital on early Monday morning. The police said he came to the warehouse in the mini truck from Uttam Nagar in west Delhi to load firecrackers on to the vehicle. Anil, a resident of Delhi, and Shailender Mishra, a native of Bareily in Uttar Pradesh suffered in excess of 80% burns and are critical, are being treated at Safdarjung Hospital. Mishra was employed as a daily wage earner in the warehouse while Anil had come to the site in the mini truck. Sanju Rajender, a resident of Delhi and the driver of the mini truck, Kanhaiya Lal and Lal Bahadur both of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, who were employed as daily wage earners in the warehouse were taken to nearby hospitals. Their condition is stable, the police said. The police said apart from Manto, all the men are in their late-30s. The seven were the only ones in the warehouse at the time. As per fire department officials, they received a call about the fire around 9.45 pm. Four fire tenders three from Sector 37, and one from Bhim Nagar were sent to the spot. Only one tender was used. We were able to douse the fire in under 10 minutes as it was confined to one part of the warehouse. We prevented it from spreading to nearby rooms, which were stacked with firecrackers, in time, IS Kashyap, assistant divisional fire safety officer, said. Nepal Mantos younger daughter was expecting her father this week. He had been saving for her wedding, which was to take place later in the week, and was to head home to Begusarai in Bihar, his relatives said on Monday. But Manto wont be at her wedding. He was one of two people who died in Sunday nights fire at a firecracker warehouse in Kadipur industrial area. He had been working there as a security guard for 20 years. Manto was the sole breadwinner in his family, which includes his wife, two daughters and three sons, who live in Begusarai. He lived in a rented accommodation in Kadipur along with four other daily wage earners. His eldest daughter was already married, and Nepals other daughter, the second of the five siblings, was due to be married when he returned home. His three sons are still in school. The family is now unsure if there will be a wedding at all. My brother-in-law had booked tickets for Begusarai later this week to get his daughter married. Everyone back home had started making arrangements for the marriage. We are uncertain what will be done about her wedding now, Dileep Manto, Nepals brother-in-law, said. According to Dileep, it was agreed with the grooms family that Nepals daughter will get married on the day he reached Begusarai. An acquaintance in the family informed us about the death. His body had been taken to a private hospital in Sector 43. It is charred beyond recognition. I dont know how I will show the body to his wife and children, said Dileep who lives near the warehouse. On early Monday morning, Dileep informed officials at the site that the fire could not been caused by an LPG cylinder used to cook, as was being speculated. I informed the officials from the fire department and Gurugram police that my brother-in-law and the workers at the warehouse got tea and their meals from a nearby eatery. They did not cook anything at the establishment, he said. After examining the site, officials have ruled out the possibility of the LPG cylinder causing the fire and, based on evidence collected from the site and statements of the injured, suspect the blaze was caused due to loading firecrackers in the presence of highly combustible snow sprays. Jeremy Renners Hawkeye is the underdog of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once the butt of all the jokes he realises hes thoroughly underpowered as compared to actual gods like Thor and Thanos he has grown to become a character that the fanbase is very fond of. So ahead of Avengers: Endgame, which is said to focus on the original six Avengers, lets take a look at Hawkeyes journey in the MCU. Early days Clint Barton is an expert marksman, a former SHIELD agent, and one of the founding members of the Avengers. After being cast in the role, Renner said in a 2012 interview, When I saw Iron Man, I thought that was a really kick-ass approach to superheroes. Then they told me about this Hawkeye character, and I liked how he wasnt really a superhero; hes just a guy with a high skill set. I could connect to that. Thor Hawkeye made his MCU debut with a cameo appearance in Thor, in which he aims an arrow directly at the God of Thunders head at a military facility, before Agent Coulson commands him to stand down. The Avengers Hawkeye is brainwashed by Loki early on in the film, and spends a significant portion of the film doing his bidding. This includes setting Loki free after he is captured in a helicarrier. Renner has expressed his dissatisfaction at Hawkeyes portrayal in the first Avengers movie. At the end of the day, 90% of the movie, Im not the character I signed on to play. Im literally in there for two minutes, and then all of a sudden he told the Los Angeles Times, adding that he prefers the good version of the character, because if we go to the evil part, or hypnotized or whatever the heck you want to call it, its kind of a vacancy. Not even a bad guy, because theres not really a consciousness to him. The interesting part was being guilty about the bad things I did do when I was hypnotized. I think hes already an interesting enough character. To really kind of take away who that character is and just have him be this sort of robot, essentially, and have him be this minion for evil that Loki uses. Again, I could just focus on the task. I was limited, you know what I mean? I was a terminator in a way. So yeah, fun stunts. But is there any sort of emotional content or thought process? No. Avengers: Age of Ultron Age of Ultron was perhaps the most pivotal film for Hawkeye, and it came very close to ignoring the character like the last time. The scene in which Clint takes the Avengers to his farmhouse, and introduces them to his family, almost didnt make it into the final film. Director Joss Whedon fought hard to have it included, and the tussle with Marvel is what reportedly compelled him to depart from the franchise. He told the Hollywood Reporter that Marvel forced him to include Thors cave scene by holding the farmhouse scene hostage. He said, With the cave, it really turned into: They pointed a gun at the farms head and said, Give us the cave, or well take out the farm in a civilized way. I respect these guys, theyre artists, but thats when it got really, really unpleasant. Captain America: Civil War In Civil War, Clint chooses to side with Steve Rogers in their fight against Tony Starks faction of the Avengers. Renner said in an interview to USA Today that Clint is motivated to join Cap because, Cap was the first guy who called. Lets just get the job done so I can get home to the family, He also said that Clint felt that he owed an apology to Wanda Maximoff, because Wandas brother, Pietro, died in his arms in Age of Ultron. Renner told MTV that hes happy to be the ensemble. Im not scratching or clawing to do a solo movie by any means ... I think (Clints) a utility guy that can bounce around into other peoples universes a little bit. Avengers: Endgame After sitting out Avengers: Infinity War, fans were up in arms about Clint being ignored. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo assured everyone that they hadnt forgotten the twice nominated Jeremy Renner and sure enough, Clint made a much-awaited return in the first trailer for Endgame, which teased him in a brand new avatar, Ronin. It has been speculated that Clint lost his family in the Decimation, and went into exile in Japan. He will be summoned back into service by Black Widow. But because hes restricted from talking about the movie, and his role in it, Renner has been speaking about a fake gay relationship with Paul Rudd, and his characters new hairdo instead. Follow @htshowbiz for more The university condemns any act of violence, and the university will continue to make every effort for our students to receive skills to resolve conflicts peacefully, Khan said in the statement. Three suspected Maoists and a jawan of the seventh battalion of CRPF were killed in an encounter between the security personnel and the banned CPI (Maoist) at Bhatakta village in Giridih district on Monday morning. Confirming the development, Sanjay A Lathkar, CRPF inspector general, said while three Maoists were neutralised in the encounter, a trooper was killed in the exchange of fire. Officials said the encounter occurred on Monday morning when the security forces were patrolling the area as part of their anti-Maoist operations ahead of elections. Election in Giridih Lok Sabha seat, over 150km north of state capital Ranchi, is scheduled for May 12. The CPI (Maoist) has called for a boycott in different parts of the state over the past few days, besides resorting to minor incidents of violence. Last week, suspected Maoists blew up the forest departments under-construction building in Chaibasa. One AK-47 rifle along with two magazines of AK-47 rifles and two bikes were recovered from the encounter site. The inventory of the seized items is being prepared and the identities of the slain Maoists are being established, a police official from Giridih said. CRPF officials said the trooper who died was identified as Vishwajit Chauhan from Assam. Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram candidate Shashi Tharoor, who is recovering at a hospital after a freak accident, had an unexpected visitor early Tuesday. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on a campaign trip to Kerala, dropped in to see the MP who was injured during a religious ceremony on Monday. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!, Tharoor tweeted from his hospital bed. The Congress leader also received a call from Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader C Divakaran who had a piece of advice for him. Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being. Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok. Dont be demoralised, he added. Im not: Im more determined than ever to see this through!, Tharoor tweeted As part of Thulabharam -- a religious ritual where offering equivalent to ones weight is made to the deity -- the Congress candidate was sitting on weighing scales, to be weighed against sugar, when it collapsed injuring his head. The Thiruvananthapuram MP was rushed to a general hospital where he received six stitches on his head. Tharoor is seeking a third term from Thiruvananthapuram, which goes to polls on April 23. He is locked in a keen contest with BJP candidate and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan. A grenade was lobbed by unidentified persons at the residence of a National Conference leader at Tral in Awantipora in south Kashmirs Pulwama district which, however, caused no major damage to life and property. The blast happened moments after National Conferences Lok Sabha candidate for Anantnag, Hasnain Masoodi, met party workers within at the house of another NC leader Mohammad Ashraf Bhat in Tral. We heard a blast outside after the meeting concluded and people dispersed. I dont know what the blast was all about, said Masoodi. A police officer manning the police control room at Awantipora confirmed that it was a grenade blast. There was no major damage to life and property. A passerby got minor splinter injuries in the blast, he said. On Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Muftis cavalcade was pelted with stones injuring the driver of one of the escort vehicles in south Kashmirs Anantnag district. Mufti was on her way to address a party workers convention. The restive Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency comprising Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian districts will go to polls in three phases on April 23, 29 and May 6. The Enforcement Directorate has seized Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watalis assets worth 6 crore in its terror financing probe that targeted terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa founder Hafiz Saeed. The order to seize the businessmans assets worth 6.19 crore was issued after the central probe agency came across evidence that established his role in raising funds and acting as a financial conduit for Hurriyat leaders, a statement by the probe agency mandated to investigate financial crimes said. The statement said the central agencys probe had also been able to directly establish that the Pakistan high commission was one channel of funding for the Kashmiri separatists. During a search at the house of Watalis cashier Ghulam Mohd, it seized a document that makes it clear that the businessman was receiving money from Hafiz Saeed (Head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa), from ISI, from the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi and also from a source based in Dubai, the ED statement said. Also read: ED attaches assets of Shabir Shah, fines three more in terror funding case Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali was remitting the same to the Hurriyat leaders, separatists and stone-throwers in the Kashmir valley. The document, the probe agency said, is signed by Watali. ED initiated investigation under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) based on charges sheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA) against a group of people including Hafiz Saeed and Watali. Watali along with other nine accused are under judicial custody in Delhis Tihar Jail in the case terror funding and money laundering case investigated by the NIA. A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to Gautam Khaitan, who is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in a black money and money laundering case. Special judge Arvind Kumar granted him bail on a personal bond of ~25 lakh. The criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was filed by the ED on the basis of a case lodged by the Income Tax Department under provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. ED contested Khaitans bail plea, arguing that he may hamper the investigation. Khaitans counsel Pramod Kumar Dubey and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra said that the investigation in the case was over and ED had already filed a charge sheet on March 25. This is the second bail plea moved by Khaitan, which was dismissed by the court. While granting bail, the court said it had dismissed the first plea as the matter was at the stage of investigation then but the circumstances had since changed. Michel seeks interim bail for Easter Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, moved a Delhi court Tuesday seeking 7-day interim bail to celebrate Easter with his family. Special Judge Arvind Kumar directed the CBI and the ED to respond to his application by April 18, when the court will hear the mater. The Centre on Tuesday removed Enforcement Directorate special director Vineet Agarwal who landed himself in the middle of a huge controversy a fortnight ago for transferring the officer leading the probe against fugitive Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. Satyabrata Kumar, an ED joint director, was in London on March 29 for a hearing in the Nirav Modi case last month when Agarwal, his boss and the agencys Mumbai chief, issued the controversial transfer orders. ED Director Sanjay Mishra had revoked Satyabrata Kumars transfer within few hours, saying Agarwal was not authorised to transfer the joint director on his own. Officials in the anti-money laundering probe agency said the government had interpreted Agarwals action as an effort to interfere in the crucial Nirav Modi probe and decided to send him packing. A 1994 batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, Agarwal was posted with the central probe agency in January 2017 on a five-term term. On Tuesday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cut short his tenure with the central government by three years and ordered him to report to his parent cadre Maharashtra. As Mumbai special director, Agarwal headed EDs probes in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Agarwal was also the first supervisory officer of 2G scam in CBI. The income tax department raided the house of DMK leader Kanimozhi in Tamil Nadus Thoothukudi on Tuesday evening. I-T department sources said the raids are being conducted at Kanimozhis house in Kurinji Nagar area of Thoothukudi. Kanimozhi is contesting from Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat against state BJP chief Tamilsai Soundararajan. All the 39 seats of Tamil Nadu go to polls on April 18. Kanimozhi is the sister of DMK chief MK Stalin. The Election Commission is playing a sick joke on the people of Tamil Nadu, DMK spokesperson A Saravanan told NDTV. On Sunday night, the Income Tax department and the Election Commissions flying squad raided the room of Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister, RB Udayakumar at the MLAs hostel in Chennai following a tip off that huge amount of cash was being kept there for distribution among voters, but drew a blank. Last week, the I-T department carried out searches on multiple premises belonging to a construction firm and two financiers in Chennai, Namakkal and Tirunelveli. Also read: Polls on Tamil Nadus Vellore seat cancelled after huge cash haul I-T raids at the premises of close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath created a huge political controversy last week. The Election Commission held a meeting with Revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey and Central Board of direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Pramod Chandra Mody after allegations by opposition parties that recent raids are politically motivated and are being conducted at the behest of the BJP government. In the past few weeks, raids have also been conducted in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. YSR Congress party leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday accused TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of continuing to misuse his office by slapping false cases against opposition workers and misappropriating state funds. Jagan, who led a delegation of senior leaders of his party to Raj Bhavan, submitted a memorandum to Governor ESL Narasimhan seeking his intervention in preventing the Naidu government from misusing power after polling for the state assembly was held on April 11 and results were due to be announced next month. Also read: Jagan eyes majority in Assembly, says no need for repolls Speaking to media later, Jagan said there was a complete breakdown of law and order in Andhra Pradesh during and after the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that Naidu was misusing the police force to attack leaders of rival parties. Nearly 40 DSPs (deputy superintendents of police) belonging to a particular community were given posting in crucial places, where they were used to intimidate YSRC workers and foist false cases against them while sparing the TDPs workers who indulged in large scale violence, he alleged. He said police had not filed any case against assembly speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao who had created a ruckus at Inimetla village in Sattenapalli constituency on the polling day. He stormed into the polling station, tore his own shirt and intimidated the voters. Is it not a crime to enter the polling booth? Why havent the police file a case against him? he asked. He also said the police had not filed any case against the TDP workers who assaulted Muslims and Scheduled Caste voters in Gurajala for voting in favour of the YSRC, detained Kurupam MLA Pushpa Sri Vani Jagan in Vizianagaram and those who roughed up Dalit MLA M S Babu in Putalapattu in Chittoor district. Also read: Chandrababu Naidus TDP, poll panel fight over EVM theft-accused Jagan demanded that the strong rooms where electronic voting machines (EVMs) were stored at various places should be guarded and strict vigilance should be placed by pressing para-military forces into service. He said the steps must be taken after the incident in Machilipatnam where unauthorised people had opened the strong room and there was an attempt to tamper with the EVMs. The YSRC chief said the budget approved before the general elections was a vote-on-account one and it should be seen that Naidu did not misuse funds by giving largesse to his favoured contractors. On Naidus complaint about EVMs, Jagan said it had become a habit for the TDP chief to blame somebody or some institution to cover up his imminent defeat. Instead of gracefully accepting the peoples verdict he has been trying to make a mockery of it, he said. Also read: YSR Congress backs EC on EVMs, says Naidu complaining out of frustration Jagan Reddy said they were the same EVMs which were used in 2014 when his coalition had won. Just three months before the general elections, Congress won Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, but there were no complaints, he pointed out. Andhra Pradesh also held polls for the 25 parliamentary constituencies along with 175 assembly seats last week. The votes will be counted on May 23. Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeM) launch pads in new locations across the Line of Control have been activated ahead of a possible effort to push terrorists from the Pakistan-based group into Jammu and Kashmir, top counter-terror officials and senior Jammu and Kashmir police officials said, although the latter added that this is because Indian security forces have eliminated most of the Jaish leadership in the valley. They added that Mohammad Umair, JeM chief Masood Azhars nephew, who was seen around Pulwama in February, when a terrorist affiliated to it carried out a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy, killing 40, has either been killed or has gone back to Pakistan. According to the counter- terror and police officials, none of whom wished to be identified, the reason for the activation of the launch pads is to boost the Jaishs strength and capabilities in the state. Also watch: Lok Sabha Elections | Balakot credit or show proof: Who politicised Army? After the Pulwama attack, Indian security forces have been able to eliminate the majority of the Jaish leadership in the valley, they added, with only one commander, who operates under the codename Munna Bihari currently active in the Shopian district. Previously, Indian forces have gunned down Azhars elder brother Ibrahim Athar eldest son Usman Haider and brother-in-law Abdul Rasheed Kamrans son Talha Rasheed. Soon after Pulwama, the security forces gunned down Jaish divisional commander Kamran on February 18. In a recent audio clip, broadcast over the Jaishs Rang-o-Noor channel, Ibrahim Athar indicates that Mohammed Umair may have also been neutralized by the Indian security forces. In the audio clip, Athar is heard telling his cadre that Umair and Kamran have already reached heaven. HT learns that many of these launch pads are in the scenic Lolab Valley, north of Kupwara, and around 114 km north-west of Srinagar. Also read | Pakistan failed to achieve objective in counter-attack: IAF Chief BS Dhanoa The effort to amplify the infiltration of terrorists coincides with the melting of snows on high mountain passes. Post Pulwama, the Pakistan Army cleared terrorist launch pads fearing a repeat of the 2016 Indian surgical strikes. After the Indian air strike at Jaishs biggest terror training camp at Balakot, the globally proscribed group has threatened to get even by targeting innocents in hinterland India or security forces in the Valley. Communication intercepts indicate that Jaish will ratchet up violence in the Valley in the coming months, the counter-terror officials said. While Pakistan has taken some uncontrolled action against its nationals involved in terrorism to curry favour with Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it is continuing to shelter Indian fugitives like Dawood Ibrahim gang, remnants of Indian Mujahideen and Sikh radicals. If Pakistan really means business, why provide shelter and comfort to Indian fugitives, said one of the officials. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 6.19 crore belonging to a Kashmiri businessman, Zahoor Ahmad Watali, as part of a money laundering probe related to the funding of separatists and terrorists in J&K. The agency, which investigates money laundering and foreign exchange rule violations, also claimed that leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella group of separatist organisations, were receiving funds directly from the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi and also through other conduits operating on behalf of Indias western neighbour. Among the properties attached were land in Sozeith Goripora, Narbal and Budgam areas of Kashmir belonging to Watali and his family members which ED said were worth Rs 6.19 crores. The money laundering probe is based on a charge sheet filed by National Investigation Agency against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed and other separatist leaders. Watali was arrested by the NIA in August 2017. NIA probe also revealed that the All Party Hurriyat Conference and other secessionists instigate the general public, especially the youth, to observe strikes and issue directives to the masses to hold anti-India protests, demonstrations and processions through press releases, newspapers and social media. The secessionists instigate the masses to resort to violence especially stone-pelting on the security forces at encounter sites and also after the Friday prayers. This has been done willfully to create such circumstances which will arouse disaffection among the people of J&K towards the government of India, ED said in a statement. There has never been any harm to non-transgender students from sharing restrooms and locker rooms with students whom they perceive as different, he said. The only harm has been to transgender students who have been targeted with fear-mongering and misinformation. Students who are transgender have never been a threat to anyone in this school or elsewhere. As India grows, it gets more middle class people. Depending on the measures used, the estimated size of this middle class ranges between 78 million (Economist, Jan 2018) to 604 million (Krishnan and Hatekar, EPW June 2017). What are the political implications of the expansion of this class? How will it affect the evolution of Indias democracy? Is it interested in economic well-being and progress, and uninterested in politics? If it does participate in politics, will this class promote patronage politics and lower the quality of democracy? Or, will it deepen democracy? Others have tried to answer these questions. On economics, most observers, if not all, believe that this class favours market-oriented liberalization, something India has witnessed since 1991. Indeed, it is argued that this class is the social mainstay of Indias turn towards globalization and internal economic liberalization. On politics, the opinions vary. Some argue that this class has separated from mainstream politics, craving technocratic solutions to economic problems. Others say that this class is illiberal, exhibiting a Hindu majoritarian proclivity and it would not mind leaving the minorities ever more vulnerable. We submit that India has many middle classes (Easwaran Sridharan of the University of Pennsylvanias Institute for the Advanced Study of India was the first to use the term middle class in plural). These classes neither have the same interests, nor do they speak with the same political voice. Some vigorously participate in politics; others are disengaged. Some are Hindu majoritarian, others would prefer a less aggressive Hindu voice even as they support freedom of religion and minority rights, and still others hold more inclusive views on secular matters. There are four parameters that distinguish the many middle classes: location (rural or urban); occupation; education (high school or college); and vehicular ownership (2-wheeler or car). The parameters related to location and occupation are self-explanatory, as is the parameter on education, with one clarification: the Rising Middle Class is one with high school or college education, but whose fathers (not mothers) were illiterate. The fourth parameter relates to vehicular ownership because vehicular assets are likely to be a more robust indicator (Krishna and Bajpai, EPW, 2015). Their arguments for this choice are threefold: assets are less susceptible to seasonal fluctuation, unlike income and expenditure; people themselves identify the possession of incremental assets as intrinsic markers of vertical mobility; and there is social status associated with assets, especially of certain kinds. In any event, there is significant correlation between data on assets and income/expenditure. Based on these parameters there are actually five middle classes in India: Rural Middle Class, Public Sector Middle Class, Urban Private Sector Middle Class, Trader Middle Class and Rising Middle Class. This may sound technical, but in the real world, the difference between a mid-level bureaucrat and a senior manager in a private firm, is all too obvious. How big are these middle classes? According to our calculations, they accounted for around 33% of Indias population in 2014 (we used the National Electoral Survey (NES) conducted by CSDS/Lokniti for the years 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014, summarised in Table 2). Given that the proportion is up from 11.7% in 1999, the current size of Indias middle classes could be 40% of the population. Interestingly, contrary to the perception that Indias middle class is primarily urban, the Rural Middle Class at 13.7%, is the single largest category. Adding Trader middle class- Rural, and Rising middle class Rural, the overall size of Rural middle classes is 2/3rd of Indias total middle class. Essentially, there is no difference between the Rural-Urban distribution of Indias middle class and the rural-urban distribution of the overall population. Rural Indias economic demographic is no different from Urban Indias. The Urban Private Middle Class is the fastest growing category among the middle classes, increasing seven-fold from 0.4% to 2.7%, and while this is still a small proportion, this class has a disproportionately large agenda-setting capacity. Unfortunately, we dont have data on the Public Middle class those employed across all tiers of government post the 1999 NES survey, when it formed 3% of the overall population. It would be good to understand the trajectory of this class, since its preferences could be different from other classes. The Rising Middle Class is a large and fast-growing group, growing from under 5% in 2004 to close to 12% in 2014. This category may well become the single largest category among the many middle classes in the next decade. So, based on the 2014 data, what do we know about the countrys many middle classes? There are some surprising caste/community patterns. At an overall level, the upper castes are over-represented in the middle classes; OBCs are fairly represented; Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are substantially under-represented, and Muslims are marginally under-represented. Disaggregating further, OBC share is higher among Rural (2-wheeler), Trader(2-wheeler) and Rising Middle Class, and substantially lower among Urban Private Sector Middle Class. While SC/ST shares among Rising Middle Class are closest to their share in overall population, they are virtually non-existent among Trader and Urban Private Middle Class. The share of Muslims is higher among Trader Middle Class than in the overall population, and Muslims generally have higher representation among the urban middle class than the rural middle class. But what do Indias many middle classes believe in? In terms of political participation, the Urban Private Sector Middle Class (UPMC) is the least politically engaged, either through voting, or other forms of political engagement such as participation in rallies, and fund-raising for or membership of parties. The Trader middle class (TMC) is the most politically engaged, with the Trader MC- Rural being more politically engaged than the Trader MC-Urban. In general, rural middle classes are more engaged than their urban counterparts. When it comes to voting criteria, the UPMC makes voting choices differently than the other middle classes, giving equal weightage to both candidate and party, whereas the other middle classes give twice as much weightage to the party as to the candidate. In terms of economics, the many middle classes have very different views. A greater share of urban middle class wants the government to spend more on infrastructure over subsidies perhaps a reflection of the disproportionate share of subsidy benefits that the rural middle classes receive compared to their urban counterparts. On foreign investments, surprisingly, Indias middle classes are generally not very supportive of unrestricted access, with the highest resistance coming, again, surprisingly, from the urban private sector middle class. The rising middle class feels the strongest about striking workers, with close to 50% agreeing that government should curb strikes. It is counter-intuitive that the rising middle class should feel this, but it is perhaps a reflection of their fear and insecurity about disruption and income loss arising out of strikes. What are their views on cultural and social issues? The middle class, in general, is ambivalently illiberal on cultural issues. However, there are differences between the many middle classes the urban middle classes (and especially the urban private middle class) hold more strongly illiberal positions than their rural counterparts. On the question of whether the views of the majority community should prevail in a democracy, about 60% of urban middle classes either strongly agree or somewhat agree, compared to closer to 50% who hold similar views among rural middle classes. Among the groups, the category that holds the strongest views on this question are the Urban Private Sector Middle Class (64%). Similarly, on the question of whether reservations based on caste and religion divide the people of India, the Urban middle class groups hold a much stronger view that this is so (close to 65%) compared to their rural counterpart (55%). Here again, the Urban Private Middle Class holds the strongest views, with close to 75% agreeing that reservations divide India. On the question of whether the government should treat minority and majority communities the same way, urban middle classes are stronger in this view than rural MCs (over 70% compared to 60%). Once again, Urban Private MC feel strongest about this, with close to 80% agreeing with this position. However, an overwhelming majority of the middle classes across both urban and rural India believe that the government should make special provisions to accommodate minorities. Going against trends, the Urban Private middle class have the highest share agreeing with this view (68%). Of the many middle classes, three the Rural Middle Class, the Rising Middle Class, and the Urban Private Middle Class deserve special attention. The large Rural Middle Class has been hiding in plain sight: this blind spot has resulted in little understanding of their positions, preferences or politics, specifically their differences with the rural poor. The Rising Middle Class will soon become the largest single bloc, and bring new forces to politics, informed both by their subaltern caste composition, as well as their different livelihood patterns. The Urban Private Sector Middle Class will, despite being numerically small, have disproportionate impact on political agendas, given its networks and greater access to English media. Each of these middle class groups has its preferences, and will find ways to voice these needs, contest competing claims, and build coalitions, as it seeks to shape political outcomes. As an example, both the urban and rural middle classes may well come together to oppose new forms of cash-based subsidies that are currently being discussed, but for different reasons: the former because they dont get any subsidies anyway, and the latter because they lose the in-kind subsidies (e.g. fertilizer) that they currently receive. In other areas, the urban middle classes may find common cause with the poor in very few cases (such as public transport), but not for the specific needs of the poor. For example, on major issues like healthcare, education, affordable housing etc, the middle class has effectively seceded from the state, and secured these services from private sector providers. This means that we are unlikely to see grand social coalitions that can catalyse the emergence of a welfare state in the classical sense in India i.e. universal access to public goods like education and healthcare. For these, the poor will have to fight by themselves. The convergent and differing views of the many middle classes will impact a vast range of issues in Indias development: its economic trajectory, political formations and social compacts. In our view, the 2019 elections will be the first to see the impact of these positions in a meaningful way. We believe that the importance of Indias many middle classes has so far not been fully understood, certainly by most political analysts and possibly by some political parties. (The authors are co-founders of JANA Group. The article is based on a soon-to-be-published working paper) Priyadeep Dasmunsi was barely nine years old in 2009 when he first appeared at a political rally, besides Sonia Gandhi, and asked people to vote for his mother Deepa Dasmunsi in Raiganj in the Lok Sabha election. Deepa Dasmunsi, the wife of former Union minister and one of Congress most articulate speakers Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, won by a margin of 1,05,203 votes. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi died in 2017 after being in a coma for nine years. His son, now a 19-year-old student at Kings College in London has come to Raiganj with the mission to repeat history and also cast his first vote. On April 10, Priyadeep, fondly called Michhil or procession in Bengali by friends and family, shared the dais with Congress president Rahul Gandhi at Raiganj. The Trinamool Congress made a futile attempt to divide my family in 2014, he said. He was referring to ruling partys decision to field Satya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Priya Ranjans youngest brother, against Deepa. As a result, CPI(M)s Md Salim scraped through with a thin margin of 1,634 votes. This time around, the Trinamool Congress has fielded Kanaia Lal Agarwal, a former Congress MLA who switched sides in 2016. Priyadeep, who has hardly ever spent time at the familys home in Kaliaganj, is trying to fill the vacuum left by his father who was a five-time lawmaker. He won from Raiganj in 1999 and 2004. The senior Dasmunsi suffered a paralytic stroke in 2008 when he was Union minister for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs. The student of politics, philosophy and economics is the most conspicuous campaigner for his mother. He is visiting virtually every nook and cranny of the constituency in north Bengal. I was four months old when my father was first elected from Raiganj in 1999 and he fell terminally ill when I was only nine. Please keep in mind what he did for Raiganj and vote for my mother, he said at a meeting last Friday. On Monday, which marked the wedding anniversary of his parents, Priyadeep shared on social media a photograph from happier days. Pramatha Nath Roy, the Congress MLA from Kaliaganj, said the party is projecting the teenager as an important face. Priyadeep has politics in his blood and can carry forward the legacy left by his father, he said. Satya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who stayed away from politics after his defeat in 2014, is rooting for Deepa Dasmunsi. Priyadeep has my blessings. We want to see him emerge as the next Priya Ranjan. The boy has a bright future in politics, Satya Ranjan said. I am also campaigning for my sister-in-law and I hope she will win, he added. Dhitosree Roy, a primary school teacher at Kaliaganj, said, Priyadeep is drawing attention. For Congress, this is a good sign and it is making a difference. The boy can be seen everywhere, be it small markets or narrow lanes. Raiganj is likely to witness a close race. The contest is so keen that analysts are saying that whoever secures 30% or more votes can hope to win. Polling will be held in the parliamentary constituency on Thursday and votes will be counted on May 23. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on a petition filed by a Muslim couple from seeking the right for women to pray in mosques. However, the court added that it wasnt entirely convinced by their argument because the right to equality could only be demanded from the state and it wasnt clear whether a place of worship could be equated with a state. A bench of justices SA Bobde and SA Nazeer said it was entertaining the public interest litigation (PIL) only because of the Sabarimala verdict delivered last year that allowed women of all ages, including those of childbearing age, to pray at the hilltop shrine in Kerala. Women of childbearing age had been barred from entering Sabarimala on grounds that the presiding deity, Lord Ayyappa, was celibate. We are not convinced with your argument. We are only hearing you because of the Sabarimala judgement. The provision for Right to Equality under the Constitution can only be invoked against the state and not against an individual who is inside a mosque, the court added. The petition, filed by Yasmin Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and Zuber Ahmad Nazir Ahmad Peerzade, refers to the Sabarimala verdict to say that women have the right to worship in mosques. The couple has said that there are no Muslim laws barring women from entering mosques and offering prayers. In reality, women are discouraged from entering mosques. And those mosques that do allow them, confine them to an enclosed area where prayers can be offered. At the start of the hearing the bench asked the lawyer about the SC order in the Haji Ali Dargah matter. The top court had nudged the Haji Ali Dargah Trust to concede in October 2016 to allow women to enter the sanctum sanctorum. Womens entry was stopped inside the dargah in 2011-12. On being asked, the petitioners counsel said women were allowed to offer prayers inside Mecca. Justice Nazeer, however, doubted his assertion and said there was no common congregation there either. The petition, filed under Article 32 (on protection of fundamental rights) , quoted from the Sabarimala judgment saying, religion cannot be used as cover to deny rights or worship to women and a prohibition on women to offer prayers is against human dignity. Giving their own example, the petitioners said, they had requested the Jama Masjid in Pune to let the wife enter the mosque. In response, the couple was told that women were not permitted to offer prayers in the mosque in Pune and other areas. The Imam, however, said he would write to higher authorities to consider the petitioners request and seek directions. Islam imposes no restriction on the entry of anyone into the mosque, least of all women. The couple, which has moved the petition, might be having a local problem, said Iqtedar Farooqui, a retired scientist, who has authored several books on Islam. He, however, added that men and women cannot offer prayer standing side-by-side. There has to be a separate enclosure for men and women, he said. Rejecting the basis of the PIL, Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, a member of AIMPLB, said: Only a person who is ignorant or has no knowledge of Islam would make such a baseless charge. He added that several working Muslim women offers prayers in mosques across Lucknow The Supreme Court has issued notices to the centre and others on a petition filed by a Maharashtra couple that wanted to let women offer prayers in mosques. While hearing the petition, the court said that it was hearing the plea only because of the Sabarimala verdict which had been quoted in the PIL. While hearing the PIL, the Supreme Court said that the bench was not satisfied with the response given by the petitioners counsel to a query on whether an individual can assert his or her right to equality against another individual. We are only hearing you because of the Sabarimala judgement. But the provision for Right to Equality under the Constitution can only be invoked against the state and not against an individual who is inside a mosque, the court said. The judges asked whether a mosque or temple or church is a state. Can you invoke Article 14 and claim equality of treatment from another citizen. Can it be invoked against non-state actors? We can understand that state has to ensure equality. State cannot deny it, the Court observed. The petition filed by the Muslim couple referred to the top courts September judgement on Sabarimala and said that Muslim women have the right to worship in mosques. The petition was filed by Yasmin Zuber Ahmad Peerzade and Zuber Ahmad Nazir Ahmad Peerzade, who said that there are no records stating that women were barred from entering mosques and offering prayers by the Holy Quran and Prophet Muhammad. The petition, filed under Article 32, quoted from the Sabarimala judgment saying, religion cannot be used as cover to deny rights or worship to women and a prohibition on women to offer prayers is against human dignity. Prohibition on women is due to non-religious reasons and its a grim shadow of discrimination going on for centuries, the petition reads further. Giving their own example, the petitioners said, they had requested the Jama Masjid in Pune to let the wife enter the mosque. In response, the couple was told that women were not permitted to offer prayers in the mosque in Pune and other areas. The Imam, however, said he would write to higher authorities to consider the petitioners request and requisite directions. Information technology company Wipro on Tuesday said a few of its employee accounts were affected in an advanced phishing campaign, and the company has taken remedial steps to contain and mitigate any potential impact. The Bengaluru-based company, which also announced its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, said it has also retained an independent forensic firm to assist the company in its investigation of the matter. Cybersecurity blog KrebsOnSecurity had said that Wipros systems had been breached and were being used to launch attacks against some of its clients. We detected a potentially abnormal activity in a few employee accounts on our network due to an advanced phishing campaign, Wipro said in an emailed statement. Upon learning of the incident, Wipro promptly began an investigation, identified the affected users and took remedial steps to contain and mitigate any potential impact, it added. Wipro pointed out that it is leveraging its cyber-security practices and collaborating with its partner ecosystem to collect and monitor advanced threat intelligence for enhancing security posture. We have also retained a well-respected, independent forensic firm to assist us in the investigation. We continue to monitor our enterprise and infrastructure at a heightened level of alertness, it added. KrebsOnSecurity cited people familiar with the matter to state that Wipro was dealing with a multi-month intrusion from an assumed state-sponsored attacker and that Wipros systems were seen being used as jumping-off points for digital fishing expeditions targeting at least a dozen Wipro customer systems. Larger rivals Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd kicked off the Indian corporate results season on Friday. Reuters contributed to this story. swapnil.rawal@hindustantimes.com Even as political parties, especially the Shiv Sena, are riding high on the success of moving the proposed mega oil refinery project out of Nanar, locals are now divided over the issue. While villagers in Ratnagiri district, where the project was supposed to come up, were strongly opposing it, several farmers in 14 villages in the area want the project back. In an attempt to put the refinery back on track, locals, under the banner of Konkan Jankalyan Pratisthan, have put up an independent candidate in the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency against Senas sitting MP Vinayak Raut, Congress Navinchandra Bandivadekar and Nilesh Rane of the Maharashtra Swabhimani Paksha, all of whom are against the project. Announced in 2015, the West Coast Refinery project promised employment to 1 lakh people. In 2017, Saudi Arabia-based Aramco signed an MoU with three state-owned companies Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. The Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), planned over an expanse of over 15,000 acres in Maharashtras Konkan, would have displaced farmers and fisherfolk from 17 villages 14 villages in Ratnagiri and three in neighbouring Sindhudurg along the western coast. Of the total land required, only 126 acres is government land. THE SUPPORT Nilesh Patankar, a chartered accountant in Rajapur, is one of those displaced by the project. Patankar, who would lose 64 acres of ancestral land, said he would prefer development of Konkan and jobs for locals. He was one of the initial supporters of the project and is one of the brains behind the Konkan Jankalyan Pratisthan. According to Patankar, many projects have been proposed in Konkan, but most of them were scrapped owing to protests. Seaworld project, which would boost tourism in the region, has suffered; I-Log Port has faced protests; so has Nanar the list goes on. If this continues, Konkan will miss out on development. There is no employment in the region today; people are migrating. This can change with such projects, including Nanar, he said. The Pratisthans foray in electoral politics is a way to showcase support for the project. Pandharinath V Amberkar, 39, one of the project-affected persons, said many are supporting the project, but are quiet either due to political affiliations or to avoid social backlash. Those who are supporting the project say cultivation of mangoes and cashewnuts is not economically viable anymore. Anant Desai, a mango cultivator in Taral village, said, I have 60 acres of land, with a little more than 550 mango trees. The expenses in a year are about 5 lakh and the earnings are dropping year after year, along with the yield. It is not economically viable. A Sena functionary, Vidya Rane, from Katradevi village said, I will not speak my mind till the elections. Amberkar said, We have tried to convince people to have a discussion with us, to no avail. There are many who have supported us. We have taken consent letters from people owning around 5,000 acres. Patankar said, After the Mumbai elections are done on April 29, we will hand over the consent letters to the CM. Apart from the villages that were originally affected by the villages, adjoining villages have offered to give up their land. So they can rework the plan and build the refinery here. Villages, which have coexisted despite religious and caste divide, are split over the oil refinery, with those supporting the project facing social boycott. As I am in support of the project, farm labourers will not work in my mango fields. The supporters are not invited to village gatherings and people dont attend funerals in their family, said Desai. THE PROTEST Since its announcement, the project has been marred with protests and opposition from fishermen, farmers and locals, who fear losing land and livelihood. There were fears that the plantations of the famous Alphonso mango, which grows in Ratnagiri, would be hit. An outfit, Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, of project-affected persons was floated to oppose the project. Apart from fisherfolk and farmers, those from adjoining villages, too, joined the protest rallies, fearing the refinery would increase the temperature in the area, which would affect their mango cultivation too. The Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to end the Nanar project earlier this year. The Sena, which had taken a pro-farmer stand in Maharashtra, put its weight behind the ones opposing it. Majid Bhatkar, former sarpanch (village head) and head of the Konkan Refinery Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, said, I have no land in the village except my house. Our concern is the project will put us out of business. Many landowners, who cultivate mangoes, are willing to part with their land, as the business is declining. Once the government announces a good package, people will grab it, he said. Shekhar Rane, a resident of Katradevi village, said, We have small landholdings. The project will rob us of our livelihood. Coastal fishing in Nanar is a primary source of income for the Koli community. Salim Solkar, a young fisherman, said, We are all landless here; we live in small houses along the coast and depend on fishing. The project would have taken away our livelihood and homes. THE POLITICS In March 2019, the state government issued a notification to scrap the land acquisition, after political pressure from BJPs ally Sena. Scrapping the Nanar project was one of the key conditions of the Sena while forging an alliance with the BJP. Locals, however, are sceptical of the cancellation, and say it could be till the elections. As the election battle heats up in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, the Shiv Sena, its MP Raut and MLA Rajan Salvi, have been campaigning against the 3-lakh-crore project, claiming it would bring outsiders in Konkan area. Narayan Ranes political outfit, too, has been opposing the project. Raut said, The issue was not taken up for political mileage. It was the peoples wish and therefore Uddhavji decided to stand behind the people of Konkan. Deepak Sawant, Sena leader and minister in Maharashtra government, said, The government is now looking for an alternative site. Whenever the project is welcome, we will support it. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu met Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) senior leaders at Chennai on Tuesday to seek the partys support for scrapping the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and revert to paper ballots. Naidu met DMK Organising Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP R S Bharathi and Dhayanidhi Maran at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters and expressed his dissatisfaction with the EVMs. Even developed countries are not using EVMs. Germany, Netherlands, and Ireland have used EVMs and later abolished that method, he claimed. Naidu also pointed out that there was no transparency about the firms which are producing the EVMs. We dont know which firms are making the EVMs. The recent incidents from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have increased our doubts on EVMs. In order to increase faith in the system, EC should rollback EVMs and reintroduce paper ballot systems. I came here to get the support of DMK for that, Naidu said. He also accused BJP-led NDA government of encouraging a cash-for-vote method. When 1000 and 500 rupee denominations were declared invalid, the union government claimed it was to identify black money. But, they have brought 2000 rupees denomination now. They are using that for easy distribution of cash for votes, Naidu added. Naidu also slammed the Centre saying that the BJP wants to remote control state governments. The government tries to influence all the constitutional institutions. AIADMK is now MODI MK. The AIADMK government is being controlled by the BJP. So, TN people want to make Stalin the CM, Naidu commented. DMK President MK Stalin was at his home turf of Thiruvarur for campaigning at Nagapattinam Lok Sabha seats CPI candidate M Selvarasu and Thiruvarur assembly by-poll candidate Poondi S Kalaivanan and could not meet Naidu. Since we are also the part of 21 opposition parties demanding to verify 50% VVPATs with EVMs in every seat, he has come here to stress the same, Bharati told reporters after the meeting with Naidu. Naidus main rival, the YSR Congress has accused him of raising a bogey about EVMs and railing against the EC out of frustration because the TDP was losing. On Saturday, Naidu had met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and demanded that the Election Commission should revert to the system of recording votes through ballot papers and stop the use of electronic voting machines in polls. He said there are doubts regarding reliability of the EVMs. The EC had earlier brushed aside his objections. In a press conference the night of April 11, the poll watchdog had said the percentage of EVM units replaced was 0.73 %, the percentage of EVM control units replaced was 0.61% and the percentage of VVPATs replaced was 1.70%. Actor-turned politician and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder, Vijayakanth, launched his poll campaign in Chennai on Monday, the penultimate day for electioneering, ending speculation over whether he would step out at all because of heath issues. Captain, as the actor is known his followers, did not disappoint but, spoke only a few words at Villivakkam, the first point of his road show. Enthusiastic DMDK cadre and those from the AIADMK-led alliance burst crackers to welcome him. In his brief two line address, he sought votes for the Pattali Makkal Katchi candidate, SR Sam Paul, a fashion entrepreneur. Is my voice audible to every one?....I request you with love to cast your votes for the PMK candidate in his mango symbol. Thank you, was all that he said. It was in stark contrast to previous elections where he was the star campaigner, drawing huge crowds across the state. A constituent of the AIADMK-BJP alliance, the DMDK is contesting in four Lok Sabha seats out of the 39 in the state. Vijayakant, the star campaigner for his party in the past elections, had kept himself out of the campaign until Monday. His next stop was Perambur in North Chennai Lok Sabha constituency, where the DMDK has fielded Alagapuram R Mohanraj, an import from Salem. Then, he canvassed votes for AIADMK candidate J Jayavardhan, sittign MP and son of Tamil Nadu Minister D Jayakumar, in South Chennai constituency. Though Vijayakanth appeared bright, his voice showed that he was not his former self. In the 2016 assembly poll campaign itself, his failing health was visible and he could not speak coherently. Shortly after that he had left for the United States for treatment. Vijayakant returned from the United States in the middle of February, weeks ahead of sealing the alliance with the AIADMK. The tie-up was struck following Union Minister Piyush Goyals visit to Vijayakanths residence and subsequent negotiations. Hours before launching his poll campaign, Vijayakant released a video, urging the electorate to vote for the DMDK and its allies . The release of the video sparked off rumours that the actor would not enter the campaign. With Vijayakanth remaining confined to his house, his wife and party treasurer, Premalatha, shouldered the burden of the campaign, keeping up the spirit of the party workers. The DMDK which secured over 10 per cent vote share in the 2011 assembly elections replaced the Congress as the third force in the state politics. The party also emerged as the main opposition in the state assembly. But, in the 2016 elections, which the DMDK faced in the company of the Left parties, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Tamil Maanila Congress, the partys vote share plummeted to 2.3 per cent. As such, the party is fighting to retain its electoral relevance. Seeing Captains face is enough for us. Though Anni (Sister-in-law) is campaigning very hard, Vijayakant has charisma. Though Captain could not travel everywhere, his campaign in Chennai will help boost the morale of our party, said Ravi, a DMDK worker. However, for political analyst Aazhi Senthilnaathan this is nothing but a strategy to gain sympathy and reap electoral dividends. The party is fighting with its back to the wall to remain politically relevant. Vijayakanths health is such that he is not able to move alone. That he is very weak is very much visible and it is pathetic that he should be troubled and tortured like this for electoral purpose. It is a clear attempt to play up the sympathy card, he said. Bharatsinh Solanki, the Congress Anand Lok Sabha candidate, is confident of wresting the seat from the BJP and claims it is his partys safest bet in Gujarat. He said if the Congress cannot win Anand Lok Sabha seat, in central Gujarat, then it cant win any of the 26 seats in the state. In the 2014 polls, the BJP had blanked out the Congress winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats. Anand, known as the milk capital of India and famous worldwide for the Amul dairy brand, is expected to see a close contest between Solanki, two-time MP from here in 2004 and 2009, and the BJPs Mitesh Patel, a well known businessman making his poll debut. The BJP, possibly sensing anti-incumbency, dropped sitting MP Dilip Patel, who had defeated Solanki, a former Union minister, riding the Narendra Modi wave. Anand has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, the party having won from here ten times, while the BJP managed to wrest it in 1989, 1999 and 2014. Among the ten Congress victories, five belong to Solankis maternal grandfather Ishwar Chavda between 1980 and 1998. While BJPs Mitesh Patel claimed people here will vote in favour of BJP as they want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister again, Solanki said basic issues such as lack of employment and farm distress would ensure a Congress win. Though Solanki, who had served as the state Congress president between 2015 and 2017, is upbeat, several voters of Dedarda village of Borsad taluka, from where Solanki is registered as a voter, feel the BJP governments developmental works and pro-people decisions cannot be overlooked. The road passing from Dedarda is now a two-lane road. We have a school with classes till 10th standard. No doubt villagers have a soft corner for Solanki as he is registered as voter from this village, but we cannot ignore the BJP governments schemes, such as free treatment under 5 lakhs for the poor, said Mulji Solanki of Dedarda, a part of Petlad Assembly constituency. Another villager alleged that Solanki direct contact with the public was weak and this had led to his defeat in 2014. Congress MLA from Anklav and Solankis cousin Amit Chavda would have been a better choice. Unlike Chavda, Solanki does not believe in keeping in touch. When he was an MP and a minister, he hardly came here, said a roadside tea seller who did not wish to be identified. Chavda took over the reins of state party unit from Solanki after the 2017 Assembly polls. A samosa vendor in Napa-Talpad village of Borsad had a similar complaint against Solanki. Napa has a sizable Muslim population and the sarpanch is also Muslim. We normally support the Congress. But many of us have seen Solanki does not even stop here or wave his hand to us if he passes from here. This is the biggest problem with him, said Shabbir Shaikh. While Congress supporters are aplenty in the rural parts, the urban population of Anand and adjoining Vallabh Vidyanagar wants to go with the BJP to strengthen national security. Just look at our roads and streets. They are neat and clean. The bus connectivity is good. The BJP has done a great job both at local and national levels. Only Modi can fight terrorism and make India a strong country, said Rakesh Patel, a college student. Anand Lok Sabha seat has seven Assembly segments, namely Anand, Khambhat, Borsad, Anklav, Umreth, Sojitra and Petlad. Among these, Umreth and Khambhat are with the BJP while the rest are with the Congress. Mitesh Patel said sitting MP Dilip Patels works at the local level and Modis decisions at the Centre will help BJP retain the seat. Our MP had spent his entire grant for various works in rural parts of Anand. People know him very well. Many roads in villages were built through his grants. He is constantly with me during campaigning. We have seen that people have made up their mind to make Modiji PM again, said Patel. Solanki, while admitting that he could not remain in touch with people in the past due to party responsibilities, claimed the Congress would win as people have lost trust in BJP. When you become party president, it is obvious you cant run the party from your home in Borsad as some things change with such responsibilities. Otherwise, I am very much in touch with my people, he said. If not Anand, then Congress cannot win any other seat, said a confident Solanki. Solanki belongs to the OBC Kshatriya Thakor caste, with over 7.5 lakh voters, while Mitesh Patel belongs to the Patidar community, with around 2.42 lakh voters. Muslim voters number around 1.70 lakh. Though caste equations are in the Congress favour, the BJP candidate Mitesh Patel claims it does not come into the picture as his party won from here in 1989, 1999 and 2014. Solanki, on other hand, said his chances of voctory are better as there are no Muslim candidates in the fray, unlike in 2014 when there were two Independent candidates from the minority community. Polling for all 26 seats in the state will take place on April 23. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) The nation capital will enter into full election mode from Tuesday with the gazette notification declaring polls in the state set to be published on the day. It will signal the first day for candidates to file nomination. The notification announcing for polls in Delhi on May 12 would be issued on April 16. The President of India would issue the notification calling upon electors of all the seven constituencies in Delhi and other constituencies that would be going on polls in the sixth phase. The election commission will simultaneously publish a separate notification, said Ranbir Singh, chief electoral officer of Delhi. The poll panel would also publish the list of centres where candidates can file their nominations. Usually, nominations are filed with returning officer of the respective district starting 11 am. Candidates would have to follow the Model Candidate of Conduct. The returning officer (RO) would give each candidate a kit which has details of the guidelines he has to follow including expenditures, said Singh. The poll panel said that only those citizens whose application for voter enrolment applications were received till April 13, would be processed before May 12. Till date around 1.41 crore electors have been enrolled. At least one lakh applications, which were submitted till April 13, are pending and would be processed before the poll day. At least 35 hamlets have been identified as vulnerable. The poll panel is planning to deploy micro-observers in these polling stations along with CCTV surveillance cameras, videography, webcasting among others. This year we have tied up with the Delhi Transport Corporation and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. At least 1000 DTC buses and 1600 cluster buses and one train of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would be wrapped with election awareness materials, said the official. It also says three operators at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications used days off through the Family and Medical Leave Act to take a July 2017 Caribbean cruise together. Far from experiencing the medical difficulties they described to get the time off, the three operators consumed alcohol, went to numerous restaurants, attended night clubs, toured Caribbean islands, went horseback riding, rode jet skis, and even went on a booze cruise. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) urged the Election Commission of India on Monday to initiate a probe regarding 200 voter identity cards, which volunteers of the party had said they had found dumped on a road in South Delhis Badarpur. In a letter to the commission, the party asked it to put in place a mechanism that ensures voter ID cards sent by them reach the individuals they are meant for. The office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi took cognisance of the matter and asked the district magistrate to submit a preliminary report at the earliest. We have to see if the voters are from Delhi. If yes, then which area of Delhi and who are the concerned officers in charge of the area. Only then will we take appropriate action, a senior electoral official said. On Monday, AAP Lok Sabha candidate from South Delhi Raghav Chadha showed the media a boxful of voter ID cards and torn speed post envelopes, which, he said, AAP volunteers had found near a garbage dumpyard in Badarpur on Sunday. He said they had recovered more than 200 such cards and later, after the details were matched with a database, it emerged that all cards belonged to persons who had found their names missing from the electoral rolls. All enrolments pertaining to the recovered voter ID cards, Chadha said, were done through five registration camps set up by the party in Badarpur. Many individuals who enrolled through our camps have been complaining about not receiving the voter ID cards. When we checked with the EC, we found that most applications were cleared and the cards were dispatched. Now it is clear that the process of distribution has been hijacked, said Chadha, accusing the BJP of doing so. Vijendra Gupta, BJPs leader of Opposition in Delhi called the allegation baseless. He said, I have written to the EC today, requesting for a thorough enquiry into the matter. Srinagar has been the bastion of the National Conference for decades and it was a herculean task to beat the oldest regional party on its own turf despite low polling turnout in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. However, for the first time since its formation in 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) managed to register its win on the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat when party candidate Tariq Karra defeated NC leader Farooq Abdullah. Five years down the line, the political situation has completely changed. The PDP suffered one jolt after another when senior party leaders and legislators left the party. Tariq Karra also resigned from the party soon after 2016 agitation and joined the Congress. The NC wrestled back the seat in by-elections in 2017, with more than 10,000 votes in a violence ridden polling which witnessed mere 7.6% polling. Now the NC is all out to retain the Srinagar seat and its adjoining districts with NC president Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah addressing series of rallies in the city and its outskirts. They have managed to galvanise the party cadres as well. Read | Srinagar constituency in Jammu and Kashmir witnessing third election in five years Addressing one such rally at SK Park on Monday, NC president Farooq Abdullah said,Never in my life, I am going with Modi or the BJP. Please come out to vote. When you people stay away from polling, you are aware how things are manipulated. The senior leader also praised his son Omar and told the gathering that he could safeguard the destiny of his people in his absence as well. Both father son duo has been launching scathing attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP, even raising questions over Pulwama attack and Balakot strike. The NC workers also held a boat rally on the Dal Lake to woo voters living in the interiors of the Dal. Farooq Abdullah, 85, is seeking another Lok Sabha term. The victory on Srinagar seat could also set the tune for next assembly elections, which could be held any time after the Lok Sabha polls. The constituency spread over three districts Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal with 12.95 lakh electorates. For Srinagar, 12 candidates are in a fray. However, it could be a triangular contest between Farooq Abdullah (NC), Irfan Ansari (Peoples Conference) and Agha Mohsin (PDP), with NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah holding an edge over his rivals. Also Read | NC president Farooq Abdullah files nomination from Srinagar For complete coverage of Lok Sabha Elections 2019, click here A day after the Election Commission issued gag orders against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati, the Indian Union Muslim League on Tuesday approached the poll panel for action against BJP president Amit Shah for comparing Wayanad with Pakistan. Addressing a rally in Nagpur last week Shah had chided Congress president Raul Gandhi for selecting his second seat in north Kerala saying when a procession is taken out there, it is difficult to make out whether it is India or Pakistan. He was referring to the IUMLs green flags during Rahul Gandhis road show in Wayanad after filing his papers. This is highly derogatory and people of Kerala are offended. It is also being used to polarize votes of a particular community and to spread hatred between Hindus and Muslims, said the petition submitted by the League national secretary Khorrum Anis Omer. He also asked the Election Commission to direct the police to file an FIR against Shah under Section 153 A of the CrPC. Left Democratic Front Wayanad convener C K Sasindran had also submitted a complaint to the state chief electoral officer and the Chief Election Commissioner seeking action against the BJP president. He divided people on communal lines and tried to create animosity between different religions. It is part of a hate campaign and against poll code of conduct, said the LDF petition. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had also decried his speech. Shah invokes Sabarimala again Addressing a rally in Thrisur on Tuesday, Shah asked voters not to show any leniency to people who trampled the age-old customs of Sabarimala hill temple and put thousands of believers behind bars for chanting hymns in praise of the presiding deity. Sabarimala, we all know what this government did. More than 10,000 people are still facing trumped up cases. We are with believers. We mentioned it in our manifesto that we will do everything to protect our believers, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stepped up attack against the Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, which is in power in Odisha for four consecutive terms, saying that these parties are not concerned about fighting corruption. Without mentioning the name of Naveen Patnaik, the Odisha chief minister, PM Modi accused him of creating obstacles in providing benefits to the farmers in the state. You have trusted them (the BJD) blindly for 20 years. Now the land of Odisha has made up its mind for a change, said PM Modi, who was addressing an election rally in Sambalpur district of the state. The prime minister said that the BJD government of Odisha wrongly claims to be providing one kg of rice for Re 1. He said, The government of chowkidar in Delhi purchases a kg of rice for 29 or 30 and sends it for the poor of the state. The state government puts Re 1 or 2 in the purchase but claims that it provides cheaper rice to the poor. This is not true. If your son sends you money order from Delhi and the postman delivers it to you, will it be postmans money, asked PM Modi at the rally adding, I am not saying the state government is not working hard enough to ensure supply of rice but they must also tell the people who sends the rice from Delhi. PM Modi hit out at the Congress saying that the previous governments at the Centre led by the party failed to check corruption. Earlier, only 15 or 16 paise of a rupee reached the poor, the rest went to the pockets of the middlemen. The government of the chowkidar ensured people get entire amount, he said. There were people who used to keep an eye like vultures on the money sent from the Centre. The moment money arrived they started picking up their shares. I came with the resolve to fight them, said the prime minister adding, The Congress and Mahamilawati group are desperate to oust chowkidar because of the onslaught on corruption. Odisha is voting for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in four phases. There are 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats in Odisha. The first phase was held on April 11 while the polling for the next three phases is scheduled for April 18, 23 and 29 in the state. Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency, where PM Modi addressed his election rally, will go to the polls in the third phase on April 23. The BJP has never won this seat. In the last five Lok Sabha elections, the BJD has won this seat four times. The Congress won the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat in 2009. The Union home ministry on Tuesday cancelled the visa of Ferdous Ahmed, a Bangladeshi actor who triggered a controversy after being seen in a Trinamool Congress rally, and asked him to leave India for violating visa norms. The 45-year-old actor was also blacklisted, which means he will be unable to get a visa for India in the future. The Peoples Representative Act 1951, which governs how elections are conducted in India, does not expressly deal with foreign nationals campaigning for a party but visa rules forbid any foreign entity from participating in political activities in India. After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national Ferdous Ahmed, the Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled his visa and issued him a leave India notice, said a senior MHA official, adding that the Bureau of Immigration was asked to ensure he leaves India at the earliest. Also read: Bangladeshi actor Ferdous campaigns for Trinamool, Home Ministry frowns The action came after the MHA asked the Foreigners Regional Registration Office to inquire whether Ahmed violated visa rules. Ahmed was in India on a business visa and stoked controversy on Sunday when he was seen campaigning for the Trinamools candidate from Raiganj, Kanaia Lal Agarwal. The BJP complained to the Election Commission (EC), alleging a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. TMC leaders, however, remained silent, with two ministers saying they had no comments. Meanwhile, another Bangladeshi actor, Gazi Abdun Noor, was seen taking part in a road show led by TMC leader Madan Mitra in the Kamarhati area. The Home Ministry has sought a report from Foreigners Regional Registration Office on Bangladeshi actor Ferdous campaigning in West Bengal, reports ANI. Several TV channels and regional media showed images of the Bangladeshi actor campaigning for Trinamools Lok Sabha candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. TV channel News18 quoted an elelction agent Agarwal, Musharraf Hussain, as saying , Ferdous is a famous actor in Bangladesh and we requested him to take part in road shows for the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha election. He agreed. Several Bangla film industry actors were present at the meeting and they later joined a roadshow, ABP Live reported. The channel added that the state BJP had complained to the poll officials against the actor from Bangladesh canvassing in West Bengal. Raiganj is keenly-fought seat with Agarwal locked in a triangular contest with Congresss Deepa Dasmunshi and CPI-Ms Mohammad Salim. Raiganj will vote during the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 18. The counting of votes of the seven-phased polls will be held on May 23. In what may come as a blow to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sitting BJP MP from Valmikinagar, Satish Chandra Dubey, on Monday announced his intention contest as an Independent for the seat which was ceded by his party to the JD-U as part of the seat sharing deal. Dubey, a three-time legislator, claimed he was compelled by the party workers to file his papers as an Independent. However, I will not resign even if I fight the polls as an Independent, he told media persons in Bettiah. In 2014, Dubey had won the seat by defeating Congress Purnamasi Ram, his nearest rival. JD-Us Vaidyanath Prasad Mahato was also in the fray. The JD(U) has fielded Mahato again, eyeing voters of his Kushwaha community, in addition to votes of allies BJP and LJP. However, Dubeys supporters, who had earlier held a demonstration against the BJPs decision of surrendering the seat to the JD-U, say Mahato would not be able to make any significant dent into the Brahmin community, which constitutes a sizeable chunk of voters there. After being dropped by the BJP, Dubey had made an abortive bid to join the Congress and seek a ticket, but it failed to materialise. The Congress has instead decided to field Sashwat Kedar, grandson of former chief minister Kedar Pandey. Earlier, over two dozen district level functionaries of the BJP had resigned from their posts in Valmikinagar following the partys decision to cede the seat to JD-U. Dubey is the second important BJP leader to revolt against the leadership in the run-up to the elections. Earlier, former Banka MP Putul Kumar Singh, wife of late Digvijay Singh, has turned a renegade and filed her nomination against the JD(U) candidate in the fray. The party has initiated disciplinary action against her. Leaders of the state BJP said stern action would be taken against Dubey as well if he defied the party line. In 2014, Dubey had polled 3.65 lakh votes, defeating Purnmasi Ram by a margin of 1.20 lakh votes. Mahato of JD(U) stood third, with about 81,000 votes. Officials from the income tax (I-T) department and the Election Commission (EC) searched senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and the partys Thoothukudi candidate K Kanimozhis residence and office in the southern port town on Tuesday evening, two days before the state votes. According to I-T department officials who refused to be named, the raids were conducted on the basis of a complaint by the returning officer and district magistrate Sandeep Nanduri. The raids were conducted in Kurinji Nagar at Thoothukkudi. As we received information about cash movement, we launched the raids. About 10 officials from the EC and I-T department have conducted the raids, said an official in the I-T department on condition of anonymity. Attempts to contact Nanduri were unsuccessful. Also Read: Income tax department raids DMK leader Kanimozhis house in Tamil Nadus Thoothukudi Officials from the revenue department told television channels that the raids were routine. An official in the revenue department said requesting anonymity, IT raids are conducted on the basis of credible intelligence received. It is the job of the department to act upon credible information, which is routine. The raids sparked angry responses from the DMK, which accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using central agencies against opposition parties, even as party workers took to the streets of Thoothukudi and shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. People who hoarded crores of rupees had not been raided; the EC never took any action on our complaints. We have to undertake reforms in the EC in the future, said party president MK Stalin. Kanimozhi is the daughter of late party patriarch M Karunanidhi and Stalins half-sister. She is facing the state BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan in Thoothukudi. Meanwhile in Madurai, reports said policemen allegedly fired in the air after IT department officials were stopped by members of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) from entering the party office in the town of Andipatti, a high-profile constituency once represented by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Police said no one was injured. Earlier in the day, IT officials carried out coordinated raids at premises in Karnatakas Mandya, Hassan and Bengaluru. The searches being conducted today are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets. The taxpayers covered in todays search operations are engaged in the business of real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing government contracts, operating petrol bunks, saw mill and managing cooperative Banks. These are sectors which are prone to generation of black money, said the department in a statement. The I-T department has conducted raids in several states after the Election Commission announced poll dates last month and invoked the model code of conduct (MCC). The raids have been conducted mainly in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. On Monday, I-T authorities issued summons to Tamil Nadu revenue minister RB Udayakumar following a late-night raid on his room at the MLA hostel in Chennai. Earlier, the I-T departments raids in Bhopal, Indore, Goa and Delhi at the residences and offices of people linked to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath had invited sharp criticism from the Opposition, which condemned the action as vendetta politics. Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy called Prime Minister Narendra Modi worse than Hitler after taxmen conducted raids on his party men last month. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had said, 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. The Union home ministry on Tuesday cancelled the visa of Ferdous Ahmed, a Bangladeshi actor who triggered a controversy after being seen in a Trinamool Congress rally, and asked him to leave India for violating visa norms. The 45-year-old actor was also blacklisted, which means he will be unable to get a visa for India in the future. The Peoples Representative Act 1951, which governs how elections are conducted in India, does not expressly deal with foreign nationals campaigning for a party but visa rules forbid any foreign entity from participating in political activities in India. After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national Ferdous Ahmed, the Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled his visa and issued him a leave India notice, said a senior MHA official, adding that the Bureau of Immigration was asked to ensure he leaves India at the earliest. The action came after the MHA asked the Foreigners Regional Registration Office to inquire whether Ahmed violated visa rules. Ahmed was in India on a business visa and stoked controversy on Sunday when he was seen campaigning for the Trinamools candidate from Raiganj, Kanaia Lal Agarwal. The BJP complained to the Election Commission (EC), alleging a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. TMC leaders, however, remained silent, with two ministers saying they had no comments. Meanwhile, another Bangladeshi actor, Gazi Abdun Noor, was seen taking part in a road show led by TMC leader Madan Mitra in the Kamarhati area. With poll dates for other phases of Lok Sabha elections coming closer, political parties in Maharashtra are trying to rein in rebels and pacify the dissidents to avoid damage to prospects of their candidates. The problem is not limited to just the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), but extends to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena too. The problems at Congress and NCP started with Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of senior Congress leader and leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil joining the BJP to contest the polls from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency. Following Sujay, Ranjitsinh, son of NCP heavyweight and sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Madha constituency, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, also joined the BJP last month . Congress MLA from Sillod Assembly constituency in Aurangabad, Abdul Sattar, who was expecting candidature from Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, too, has quit the party. He has now declared support to Independent candidate Harshwardhan Jadhav, a Shiv Sena rebel contesting from the same seat. Significantly, the rebellion of Jadhav who is the son-in-law of state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, has also stirred up trouble for sitting Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire. Former Congress minister Satej Patil has publicly vowed to defeat ally the NCPs candidate Dhanajay Mahadik who is contesting from Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency. Patil is angry with Mahadik who had helped his cousin Amal Mahadik to defeat the former in Kolhapur south assembly constituency in the 2014 elections. Wherever we get such complaints, the district units are asked to submit their report. The party intervenes if we find that leaders have gone against the partys policy or decision. The same rule will be applicable in Kolhapur as well, said Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant. Also Read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Maharashtra set for two-cornered contest The BJP too seems hit by rebellions. The party succeeded in persuading rebels in a few seats but is still struggling to set its house in order in Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, Jalgaon and Dindori constituencies. Last week, the party had to face major embarrassment after two groups within the party clashed with each other in the presence of state water resources minister Girish Mahajan in Amalner, Jalgaon. The incident took place when a meeting was underway to support party candidate and MLA, Unmesh Patil. Supporters of Uday Wagh, district BJP president, thrashed the partys former MLA BS Patil. Wagh was unhappy with the BJP replacing his wife Smita Wagh with Unmesh. In Dindori constituency, the BJP denied candidature to sitting MP Harishchandra Chavan, who is in the fray as an Independent candidate against party candidate Bharati Pawar. In Nandurbar constituency, BJP leader Suhas Natawadkar has filed his nomination as an Independent. He was expecting a ticket from the party but the party chose sitting MP Heena Gavit instead. Natawadkar had contested on a BJP ticket unsuccessfully in the 2004 and 2009 polls. In Dhule, BJPs sitting MLA Anil Gote has quit the party. His revolt may impact the poll prospects of sitting MP and Union minister of state for defence, Subhash Bhamre. In the Nashik Lok Sabha constituency too, former MLA Manikrao Kokate has filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate, adding to the troubles of sitting Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse. Kokate was trying to get candidature from the BJP. The chances on winning the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate are very high. The rebellion is not different with the human tendency to get advantage of the situation. We are trying to persuade the leaders and in many cases have succeeded as well, said Madhav Bhandari, spokesperson, state BJP unit. Bhandari was referring to Bhiwandi and Hingoli, where the rebels decided to withdraw their candidature following chief minister Devendra Fadnavis intervention. In Bhiwandi, Kunbi Sena leader Vishwanath Patil and rebel Shiv Sena leaders Suresh Mhatre and Yogesh Kathore agreed to withdraw their nominations. They had revolted against BJP candidate and sitting MP Kapil Patil. In Hingoli too, a local BJP leader Shivaji Jadhav, who has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate against Shiv Sena candidate Hemant Jadhav, declared he would withdraw after talks with Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Vinayak Mete, chief of Shiv Sangram party, an ally of the BJP, too has declared not to support BJPs MP Pritam Munde from Beed constituency. Mete is not on good terms with the Munde family. Pritam is the daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde. An irked chief minister Fadnavis has now issued an ultimatum to Mete. For only one seat Aurangabad the party candidate is facing rebellion. However, it is also a fact that the exit of any leader had no impact on the party. The same will happen in Harshwardhan Jadhavs case, said Shiv Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe. Burke was charged separately in January with leaning on Texas-based executives to hire his law firm in exchange for help with permits needed to renovate a Burger King at 41st Street and Pulaski Road in his Southwest Side Ward. Prosecutors also alleged that Burke pressured one of the executives to contribute $10,000 to the campaign of an unnamed local politician. Sources told the Tribune the politician was Preckwinkle. Tamil Nadu is one of the few large states where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) barely makes it to among the top five parties in terms of vote share. In 2014, at the crest of the Narendra Modi-wave, it won the solitary Kanyakumari seat, polling 5.5% votes statewide. In the 2016 assembly elections, its vote share halved. If in the past, the party was up against voter indifference to its brand of politics and a relatively weak organization in the state, in 2019, despite an alliance with the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the BJP faces outright anger. The Cauvery delta region in eastern Tamil Nadu is the epicentre of anti-Narendra Modi sentiment. In a region that has prided itself as the granary of Tamil lands for at least 2,000 years, agriculture remains central to the economy. But farmers claim their condition hasnt been worse in living memory. They hold Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible. The reasons for their anger are many. They believe the central government took Karnatakas side in the century-long Cauvery river dispute. Several years of poor rainfall and thin supply of water from the Mettur dam (on the Cauvery) have decimated our lives. The cost of inputs such as diesel and fertiliser have skyrocketed, but the price for our produce has plummeted. Today, a paddy farmer makes a profit of ~6,000 per acre over a three-month crop cycle. Thats a monthly income of ~2,000. Tell me if we can lead a life of dignity. Dont we have children who need to go to school? And the PM talks about doubling our income, says Asai Thambi, a farmer in his late forties who also runs a seeds and pesticides business in Thanjavur. Parched hopes Farmer associations have thrown their lot with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led United Progressive Alliance this election. In fact, farmers from the Cauvery delta have been the most vocal during the many protests in Delhi over the past few years. To attract the PMs attention to our problems, the farmers marched wearing loincloth, they shaved off half their hair, many even clenched rats between their teeth. But nothing moved Modi enough to even come and talk to them. When Cyclone Gaja devastated the delta last year, Modi couldnt visit us, forget offering compensation that was remotely commensurate to our losses, says K Sukumar, a farmer leader in Orathanadu, a small town 25 km from Thanjavur. Not letting up their protests against Modi, more than 100 Cauvery delta farmers plan to contest the Lok Sabha election against him in Varanasi just to make a point. The importance of Cauvery for Tamil Nadu, not just the farmers in its delta, cannot be overstated. Nearly 35% of the states geographical area is part of the Cauvery river basin; 15 of its 33 districts get drinking water from the Mettur dam. The landmark Supreme Court decision in 2018 giving Tamil Nadu a truncated 177 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) share of water in itself was a big disappointment for the state. It was widely seen as yet another instance where the states interests were shortchanged. Distrust of the central government deepened when it dilly-dallied on the formation of an independent Cauvery Water Management Board, in accordance with the SC verdict, to implement the water-sharing. Further proof of the BJP-led governments step-motherly treatment, delta farmers claim, came shortly thereafter when it gave Karnataka the go-ahead to build a reservoir on the Cauvery at Mekedatu in south Karnataka. Karnataka claims the 6,000-crore Mekedatu project is only for drinking water purposes and that too from its own share allotted by the SC. Tamil farmers fear that Karnataka would end up using the project to irrigate dry lands. The gulf of distrust Not just in the Cauvery delta, but across Tamil Nadu, the BJP and Modi face a unique double anti-incumbency. Post chief minister J Jayalalithaas death in 2016, the AIADMK government headed by Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) is perceived to be controlled directly by Modi from Delhi. The failures of the state government also get credited to the BJP. In recent years, Tamil Nadus suspicious view of Delhi has become more entrenched. With neither the Congress nor the BJP politically relevant in the state, Tamils fear their interests are now subservient to those of Karnataka, or the north, where the two national parties compete head-to-head. With the deaths of Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi, heads of the two major Dravidian parties, there is a growing fear that Tamil Nadu now has no effective defender of its interests at the national stage. The state has virtually been in protest mode since 2016. The unfavourable court judgements on jallikattu and Cauvery; the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) for medical school admissions; the proposed hydrocarbon project in the already parched Cauvery delta; the Neutrino observatory at Theni; and mineral giant Vedantas copper plant in Thoothukudi that locals say is polluting, have sparked largescale protests. To top all injustices, there is the sense that a north Indian politician like Modi is calling the shots in Tamil Nadu and in the process has made senior politicians like EPS and O Pannerselvam, BJP vassals, says Stalin Rajangam, a Madurai-based Dalit writer and researcher. The DMKs 2019 campaign slogan Adhikkamum vendaam, adimaithanamum vendaam (we want neither domination nor slavery), is aimed at harnessing this grudge. Perhaps as a result of such prevailing sentiment, the AIADMK and other parties in the NDA alliance in the state are happy for the BJP to confine its campaign to the five Lok Sabha seats in which it is contesting. Other than a few urban pockets in Chennai, Coimbatore and Kanyakumari where it has a sizable support among the Nadars and Goundersboth relatively prosperous backward castesand the on-ground presence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the party lacks the social base to make a dent in Tamil politics. BJP president Amit Shahs whistle stop one-day campaign in Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore in early April came with the distinct feel of watching a Hindi soap hastily dubbed into Tamil. Shahs speech in Coimbatore focused on issues of national security and homed in on Congress manifesto promise to reconsider the Armed Forces Special Powers Acts in Jammu and Kashmir. Many at the well-attended rally started making their way to the exit midway during his address. Many BJP workers even in Coimbatore, where the partys prospects are best, privately admit that its politics isnt in tune with Tamil Nadus social realities. Here, Hindutva cannot have wide appeal. You cant come to Tamil Nadu that has excellent physical infrastructure and say you are building highways. We need strong leaders who can champion peoples causes. Instead, what we end up getting are election agents and advisors like S Gurumurthy [a Chennai-based chartered accountant and convener of the RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, who is now the editor of the pro-BJP Tamil weekly Thuglak and a part-time director of the Reserve Bank of India]. Because we dont have strong leaders who can communicate well with the national leadership in Hindi, we remain recipients of political strategy crafted in distant Delhi, says a senior BJP farmer leader in Coimbatore district, who is active in the campaign. Ordered not to campaign for 72 hours by the Election Commission, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday headed to Lucknows famous Hanuman Setu temple. Adityanath, who is also the chief priest of Gorakhnath temple in eastern Uttar Pradesh, was at the temple for nearly 25 minutes where he recited Hanuman Chalisa. Refusing to take any questions from mediapersons, the BJP leader responded to queries and greetings with a smile. On Wedneday, Adityanath will head for Ayodhya where he will visit the makeshift Ram temple and Hanumangarahi. The Chief Minister courted controversy over his Ali, Bajrang Bali remark, in apparent response to BSP chief Mayawatis speech during an election rally. Mayawati, in her speech at a rally in Saharanpurs Deoband on April 7, had appealed to Muslims to vote for the alliance and not divide their vote by supporting another political party. Two days later, according to the Election Commission, Yogi Adityanath told a rally in Meerut about Mayawatis speech and said: If the Congress, SP and BSP have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrang Bali, the followers of Bajrang Bali will not tolerate them. This invited a 72-hour gag order for Adityanath and 48 hours for Mayawati. The ban on Uttar Pradesh CM is for a longer duration because this is his second code violation. The Election Commission noted that it had already advised the chief minister to be more careful about his public statements on 5 April after his controversial speech that allegedly politicised the army action. The commission also observed that Yogi Adityanath, as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had the added responsibility to not only uphold basic tenets including secularism but also to display the same in his public statements and meetings. In his written response to the election commission notice, Adityanath said that he had used the term green virus to expose the opposition who despite their secular posturing had made a blatantly crass appeal to Muslims to vote for the alliance. He also justified his Bajrang Bali remark saying lord Hanuman was his deity in whom he had immense faith. He said he cant leave his faith if anyone feels bad or insecure about his faith in Bajrang Bali for he worships the lord each morning and remembers him before undertaking any auspicious activity, a senior officer from chief ministers secretariat told HT. Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati will seek a weekly report from its broadcast arms, Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) to verify whether the election commissions directive to ensure balanced coverage for all recognised parties on their platforms is being followed. The first report is likely to be submitted by April 22, said an official aware of the developments. According to the chief executive officer (CEO) of Prasar Bharati, Shashi Shekhar Vempanti, the report is likely to be shared with the poll body on a bi-weekly basis going forward. Last week, the Election Commission criticised the broadcaster for not giving adequate airtime to political parties other than the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Following a complaint by the Congress party, alleging bias by DD News while broadcasting Prime Minister Narendra Modis Main bhi chowkidar programme for nearly an hour, the poll body issued a notice to DD News. A report by the Director General, Doordarshan News on April 5, led the poll panel to conclude that the coverage was not in accordance with the model code of conduct that says the misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity news and publicity regarding achievement with a view of furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided. A three-member committee set up by Prasar Bharati to oversee and plan coverage on DD and AIR also met for the first time on Monday. On how the ECs instruction would be carried out, Vempanti said, the instruction to ensure fair coverage will be adhere to in news broadcasts and other formats including digital platforms. We have sensitized the officials and course correction, if any required, will be taken, he said. The committee comprises former Prasar Bharati official Dhirajan Malvey, consultant Smita Misra and Rahul Mahajan, CEO Rajya Sabha TV. According to another person aware of development who asked not to be named, the channels will works out how to give balanced coverage to all the recognised national and regional parties. There will always be some disparity in coverage based on the rallies and other programmes that the parties organise. Besides, there is also the issue of news-value; bulletins with limited time span can cover only high-value issues, this person added. The official also said that comparing the airtime given to PM Modi as compared to his predecessor Manmohan Singh is flawed because the engagements of both leaders are not comparable.The sheer number of PM Modis public engagements, foreign visits and broadcasts through programmes such as Mann ki Baat are more than those of Dr Singh. That in itself garners more airtime, so to compare the time given to coverage of the two leaders is not correct, the official said. The Congress on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to probe a mysterious box that was allegedly removed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi helicopter and taken to a car in Karnatakas Chitradurga. In its complaint, the Congress asked the election commission to exercise its constitutional powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India. The opposition party also mentioned the incident of April 9, when cash worth crores was seized at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. It would not be entirely out of place to assume that the black box which has been transported in a hurried and clandestine manner could be part of the same modus operandi to carry large sums of cash. While this is a hypothesis it is, as stated above, supported by a recent incident in Pasighat, the Congress complaint said. Saying that it is important that an investigation be initiated in this matter, the Congress said, It would be shocking if top leaders of the BJP are acting as safe havens in carrying out such heinous violations of not just the Electoral but also the Criminal laws of the country. Apart from this, the Congress has also raised four other issues including that of the PMs photograph being used on railway tickets, that no action had been taken against the PM and the BJP chief for their speeches with religious overtones in Nanded and Latur on April 12. The Congress also brought to raised the issue of alleged use of obscene language by Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. In its complaint, the Congress said that when Satti had been confronted by members of the public for his vulgar remarks, Satti was defiant and refused to apologise. The Congress asked the election commission to take all such actions as may be necessary and required in law and direct immediate barring of the Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti from holding rallies and addressing public gatherings. The Congress also complained against the Prime Ministers statement in Nanded that the Congress president had chosen a seat where the majority was in minority, a reference to Rahul Gandhis decision to contest from Wayanad in Kerala. At the same time, it also brought into the ambit of the complaint BJP chief Amit Shah and referred to his statement in Nagpur regarding Rahul Gandhis road show in Wayanad ahead of filing his nomination papers. In his speech at Nagpur, Shah had said, The election procession taken out by Rahul at Waynad in Kerala after filing his nomination papers was such that one wondered if it was done in neighbouring country (referring to green flags). The PMs and Shri Amit Shahs violations have in fact, grown ever more brazen and audacious in their actions and comments. Given its recent (and laudable) order of April 15th, 2019 the ECI must take immediate steps or risk establishing a clear double standard, the Congress wrote in its complaint. To ensure the maximum outreach for its poll promise of Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) or minimum income guarantee scheme in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has asked its workers to create awareness among voters about the scheme. According to a Congress functionary familiar with the development, the party has used its project Shakti, an online platform to connect with workers across the country, to disseminate information about Nyay. Last month, Congress president Rahul Gandhi promised a minimum income guarantee scheme or Nyay if his party came to power in the Lok Sabha polls. Under this scheme, 72,000 a year or 6,000 a month will be transferred to bank accounts of women members of the countrys 20% (or 50 million) poorest families. Congress leaders have termed it a game-changer in the ongoing elections with Gandhi himself calling it a final assault on poverty. Through Shakti, Congress workers will be given complete information about the scheme so that they can explain it in detail to voters. Apart from Nyay being the key element of its manifesto, the party also coined its campaign slogan based on the scheme. Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the slogan Ab hoga Nyay not only alludes to the minimum income guarantee scheme but encompasses justice to all the sections of the society. Soon after Gandhis announcement after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Delhi on March 25, party spokespersons fanned out to different state capitals to address press conferences on the issue. Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had first suggested the term Nyay as an acronym for Nyuntam Aay Yojana (minimum income guarantee scheme) at the CWC meeting in Ahmedabad on March 12. It was decided the suggestion would be discussed in the next CWC meeting and finally incorporated in the Congress manifesto. The Congress functionary quoted above said while the scheme has become a talking point in urban centres and towns, it was yet to create the required buzz in rural areas. When asked how the party planned to ensure maximum outreach of the scheme, Congress general secretary in charge of western Uttar Pradesh Jyotiraditya Scinda said media would be extensively used for the purpose. Through the fourth pillar of democracy. That is the most robust way to do that. Relationships are all about communication. Media is the most effective carriage to take across any political partys content and for that matter todays the Congress partys content. We need to take this to grassroots in India and that process is underway, he said. Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot also said the proliferation of social media and internet is so much that the people not only know about Nyay but understand it as well. Congress leaders have repeatedly claimed the scheme that is expected to cost the public exchequer about 3.6 lakh crore -- is doable and the party has shown its commitment to poverty eradication by implementing schemes such as MNGREGA, Bharat Nirman, Rajiv Gandhi Gram Vidyutikiran Yojana apart from 72,000 crore farm loan waiver that was done by the United Progressive Alliance government. Tripura Congress president Pradyot Kishore Deb Burman on Tuesday said that he would knock the door of the Supreme Court if the Election Commission denies making public the CCTV camera records of the Lok Sabha polls for scrutiny by the political parties. Tripura has two Lok Sabha seats. West Tripura constituency went for Lok Sabha polls in the first phase where 83.1% voters turnout was recorded. The other Lok Sabha seat - East Tripura will go to the polls in the second phase on April 18. A total of 12,57,944 electorates including 6,20,291 women would exercise their franchise in total 1645 polling centres in the constituency. Alleging violence in first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 11, Pradyot said he would meet chief electoral officer S Taranikanti to urge him to ensure free and fair poll on April 18. I will demand the CEO not to allow the polling personnel involved in the election in West Tripura seat and to deploy adequate central forces in all the sensitive areas. I will also demand the election authorities to make all CCTV camera footage from all polling stations public for scrutiny by all the political parties. If they deny doing so, I will move to the apex court, Pradyot told the reporters at the Congress Bhawan in the Tripura capital. Over 3,500 people from the ruling BJP, its alliance partner Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the CPM from different areas joined the Congress on Tuesday. One former Congress MLA Ashok Baidya, who had joined the BJP a year ago, also returned to the party. Everyday thousands of people are coming to the Congress. This shows that there is hope in the Congress and people are frustrated with the BJP-IPFT alliance government. Today, over 3,500 people from different constituencies have joined the Congress. The Congress is now in revival mode and can beat the ruling BJP here, Pradyot said. Earlier this month, IPFT vice-president Ananta Debbarma, the partys youth leader Shuklacharan Noatia and over thousands of IPFT youth activists had joined the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday referred to the death of BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security men in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh to launch a scathing attack at the Congress. Saying that neither the Congresss intentions nor its policies were honest, he said that the party had done a PhD in betraying the people. Addressing a rally at Korba in Chhattisgarh, PM Modi said that the Congress used to refer the Maoists as revolutionaries. He claimed that the rise of Maoists in the state once again was because the Congress was boosting their confidence. What kind of politics is this? On one hand, we are working towards the security and development of the country and its tribal and backwards areas. On the other hand, there is a conspiracy to push the state into violence. You need to beware of such people, he said. WATCH: PM Modi blames Congress after Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh Referring to the Congresss manifesto he said that the Maoists were also being emboldened by the partys manifesto. Congress has announced that if they form the government, they will remove the sedition law. This mean that those who want to spread terror in the country will be given a free hand, they will not be punished? Should the sedition law be removed?, he said. Asking whether Congresss hand was with development or with destruction, he asked if the state wanted to revert to the violent past. Does Chhattisgarh want landmines or does it want electricity and water pipelines?, he said. PM Modi also accused the Congress of supporting those who wanted to divide the country. Referring to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), he said that the Congress wanted to remove the protective powers that the armed forces enjoyed while keeping the country safe in areas like Jammu and Kashmir. Will you let people play with the countrys and your security? The Congress is so removed from the people of the country that they dont understand the people of the country, he claimed. Whatever is happening in Chhattisgarh is being controlled from Delhi. Why else would the Ayushman Bharat Scheme be stopped suddenly in the state? he said. He went on to attack the Congress government in Chhattisgarh for not having provided the list of farmers to the Centre for it to disburse the money to the states farmers under the PM Kisan Yojana. The Congress has decades of experience in betraying the people. It has done a PhD in betrayal. Neither their intentions, nor their policies are honest, he said. He claimed that before the 2014 elections, the Congress had been involved in the coal scam. They gave a free hand to loot the tribal areas. The tribals got nothing, nor did the nations treasury get anything. The Congress took everything, he said. He said that the Congress was so removed the people of the country that they did not understand the peoples aspirations or what they needed. He said that the Congress wants to shut down all the schemes that the Centre has started for the benefit of the poor. Urging the people to vote for the BJP in the coming election, he said that the sooner the Congress was removed, the faster the state would develop. He claimed that while the Congress was working towards stopping all the benefits, the BJP is working towards expanding its projects. By 2022, when we celebrate the 75th year of our Independence, we aim to give pucca houses to all those people who dont own a house, he said. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawatis plea against the 48-hour ban on campaigning imposed by the Election Commission. Mayawati had moved the top court against the poll bodys order on the ground that it was taken under pressure from the ruling dispensation. All citizens have the rights to move about and put forth their point of view. But here, the Election Commission has suddenly given an order which has cruelly deprived me of my rights on the basis of wrong facts. This order will be remembered in the history of Election Commission as a black day, said Mayawati on Monday reacting to the EC order. Watch: Keenly watching if Yadavs will vote for Mayawati, BSP: Yashwant Deshmukh The poll body has imposed a nation-wide ban on Mayawati restricting her from campaigning in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission had found her remarks made at a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh. Some other political leaders were banned from campaigning for their provocative remarks, which the EC said had the propensity to polarise the elections. At an election rally in Deoband last week, Mayawati had appealed to Muslim voters to vote for the grand-alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party and not for the Congress to ensure that anti-BJP votes are not divided. The Election Commission, following a Supreme Court remark to act tough against those violating the poll code, cracked its whip against some of the top politicians. The poll panel imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and SP candidate Azam Khan for 72 hours, and on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and BSP chief Mayawati for 48 hours beginning Tuesday morning. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is misleading the middle class over his partys poll promise of providing cash support to the poor families. Gandhi said if the Congress is voted to power, it will not hike the income tax rates to fund the minimum income guarantee scheme. Gandhi, who was addressing an election rally in Kerala, said, Mr Narendra Modi says that the money for the NYAY scheme is going to come from the middle class. But I want to make it clear to the middle class of Kerala and the country, you are the engine of Indias growth. We are not going to take a single rupee from the pocket of middle class. The income taxes will not be raised at all. The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday dismissed an application filed by a non-government organisation (NGO) seeking alternative sites for the construction of a Metro car shed at Aarey Milk Colony. The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, justice Deepak Gupta and justice Sanjiv Khanna said alternate options had already been looked into and found unviable by Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) and a state-appointed technical committee. However, the main petition challenging a Bombay high court (HC) order which dismissed the NGOs petition in October is still pending before the SC. The construction of the car shed at Aarey for Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) has been at the centre of protests by citizens and environmentalists, who are opposed to it. The application was filed as a special leave petition (SLP) by members of the Aarey Conservation Group, challenging the change of land use across 33 hectares in Aarey, where trees will be cut to build the car shed. Suchitra Chitale, counsel for MMRCL, said, The argument did not have any merit and the bench highlighted that. Jatin Zaveri, the petitioners lawyer, said notices issued to respondents remained unanswered. MMRCL and the state only reiterated the story of 2015. Over the past four years, there have been several developments with the introduction ofDP 2034, and alternate areas for the car shed were opened up. But, the SC bench did not agree with us and dismissed the application. Zaveri said during the next hearing, they will raise the argument that Aarey is a forest, citing SCs order in the TN Godavarman case from 1996. Environmentalists now plan to campaign against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) tree authority and challenge tree-felling permissions at Aarey. We will follow up with the newly-formed tree authority and submit objections, said Amrita Bhattacharjee, a member of the NGO, adding that petitioners will seek the next date of hearing at the earliest. Stalin D, director of NGO Vanashakti, said, This is a sad day for the half-a-decade-long efforts. After federal prosecutors charged Burke with attempted extortion, Preckwinkle tried to distance herself from the alderman and promised to return about $116,000 collected at the event. The filing Monday showed $43,750 has been listed as returned so far among contributions identified by the Tribune as being linked to the Burke fundraiser, leaving about $72,000 still to be officially accounted for. A 16-year-old boys body was found hours after he went missing from Bihars Nalanda on Sunday, the police said. Nalanda police superintendent Neelesh Kumar said Ashwani Kumars eyes were bleeding when they found his body. He said the police were looking into all possible angles in the case and would come up with a report on the findings soon. He said Ashwani, alias Chunnu, went missing around 2pm on Sunday after he left his home to play. His family approached the police, and a search was launched as home did not return home till late in the evening. Five people were detained on Monday. Their identities are not clear yet. When I reached the spot, I found him lying with blood oozing out of his eyes. He was taken to hospital but doctors declared him brought dead, said Chunnus father, Ashutosh Kumar Arya, who is the Nalanda bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan. Neelesh Kumar said the cause of Chunnus death will be known after they get his autopsy report. No other injury marks were visible on his body except for the eyes, he added. Deputy inspector general (central range) Rajesh Kumar said a special investigation team has been formed to probe the case. The police recovered empty Indian-made foreign liquor bottles, disposable glasses and snacks from the scene. Amidst much talk of a poor mango crop this year, officials of the state horticulture department and the Maharashtra State Marketing Board are confident that exports will increase. An order requesting for Maharashtras famed Alphonso mangoes has come in from North Korea. Australia has also been added to the export list, after approval from Australian authorities regarding the irradiation process at Vashi port. North Korea recently approached us with their specifications, and we will be sending their batch shortly, said Manik Trimbake, deputy director, horticulture department. Regular importers of mangoes from Maharashtra, viz, the US, Europe and the UK have already begun receiving batches of the king of fruits. The first consignment of 15 tonnes of mangoes, left for the US in the first week of April from Vashi Navi Mumbai, DD Shinde, general manager, Maharashtra State Marketing Board, said. Despite a low mango crop, due to a prolonged winter; we are expecting this years India exports to cross 50,000 MT, of which 35,000 MT will be exported from Maharashtra, added Shinde. Mangoes exported to the US are irradiated at Baba Atomic Research Centre (Barc), Mumbai. The complete irradiation procedure for one tonne of mangoes, takes an hour at Barc. In terms of mango exports, Maharashtra exports 80 per cent of the countrys total mango exports. Huge drop in mango production expected this year Last year the average annual production of Kelashi Mango Growers Association, Ratnagiri was 720 tonnes. However, the association hopes that the production this year will reach 250-300 tonnes. Due to an extended winter, and the stark difference between day and night temperatures, the flowering stage of the mango trees have been hindered, which in turn will effect mango production this year. Sharad Paranjape, president, Kelashi Mango Growers Association, Ratnagiri, said, The current crop is also being affected as the temperatures have crossed the 38 degrees Celsius mark. The powdery mildew disease on flowers have also affected the flowering of the mangoes. The association has predicted that this adverse climatic condition could impact production of mangoes by 70 per cent. The Notre-Dame (Our Lady in French) cathedral is no stranger to destruction or fire. During the peak of the French Revolution, when French royals were being regularly executed, the crowd had stormed and gutted the cathedral, dubbing it as a Temple of Treason. In 1804, when Napoleon Bonapartes coronation ceremony took place at this same place, the parts of the church, which is worldwide hailed as a fine example of flamboyant gothic architecture, were in such a bad shape that large parts of the structure were covered up for the ceremony. At one point of time, French authorities had almost decided to pull it down. But Victor Hugos classic Hunchback of Notre-Dame aroused so much love and emotion for the old cathedral among the Parisians that they resisted any more destruction. This year on February 11, I saw the Notre-Dame for the first time. The bone-chilling weather was no deterrent to hundreds of other overwhelmed visitors as well. Its the original symbol of Paris built 544 years before Gustave Eiffel completed the Eiffel tower to commemorate hundred years of the French Revolution. Notre-Dame is also the centre of France. For, just before one enters the gothic cathedral, a plaque on the ground says, point zeromarking the spot from where distances of all places and cities were calculated in the old days. And even as the city of lights has expanded manifold, Notre-Dame, on the small island of Ile de la cite, continues to be its geographical centre. If the height of a Paris trip is a ride to the top floor of Eiffel Tower, invariably its starting point is Notre Dame. According to National Geographic, 12 million visitors come to Notre-Dame every year making it the most visited monument in Paris. It is arguably the most significant cathedral after the St Peters basilica in the Vatican City. While St Peters was built under the patronage of the Pope and designed by Michelangelo, Notre Dame showed the sheer will of the inhabitants of Paris who crowd funded and offered free labour for the project. We spent a few hours to carefully observe the facade and the dimly-lit interiors before we walked out to the sideway that offers a clean view of the wooden spire (now gutted in the devastating fire) and the bare-bone flying buttresses that adds to the architectural glamour of Notre-Dame. Right in front of those buttresses is a small park where Parisians regularly come and sit to watch how time flows along the Seine river. I consider myself luck to have seen the majestic cathedral in all its glory. As the news of the devastating fire shook the world on Monday night, I joined the millions of optimists who are confident that the gutsy French, who care and love art and culture more than others, will revive the old glory of the cathedral. Their inspiration possibly lies within the devastated cathedral: A transept with a Joan of arcs statue to remind how she was beatified right here even as she was burned alive by the ruling class. And as Victor Hugo said, Every stone of this venerable pile is a page of the history not only of the country, but of science and art. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter It saddens me that so many of us look at the current mess in Jet Airways with such indifference. When we do talk about it, our concerns are nearly always selfish. Isnt it a nuisance, we say, that they have cancelled so many flights? When will they get their act together? And so on. Few of us bother to think about the employees of Jet Airways. Often, when companies fail, the employees have already seen the writing on the wall and have adopted a couldnt-care-less attitude. The opposite is true of Jet Airways. For a start, the collapse was so sudden and so unexpected that the employees had no time to adjust to the idea that they may soon be salary-less. For another, even when they knew that the airline was in desperate straits and only a few loyalists like me kept flying Jet Airways, the staff acted as though nothing was the matter. They were as hardworking, as dedicated and as devoted to their customers as they had always been. It cant be easy for ground staff to check someone in with a cheery hello or for a cabin attendant to try and persuade a passenger to have a cup of coffee after the meal when they dont know where their next salary is coming from. But the Jet Airways employees did it. Not once did I feel that the service had slackened or that the employees were putting their own concerns ahead of those of the passengers. The fact that so many of them are now struggling to pay school fees for their children or keep up with the EMIs on their homes should serve as a reminder of the way things work in todays India. It doesnt matter how sincerely and hard you work. It doesnt matter that you are part of one of the worlds great airlines. The dedication and quality that you have brought to your work are irrelevant. When a crash comes, it is brutal, sudden, inexplicable and nearly always unfair. One reason why people seem so unsympathetic to the plight of Jet Airways and its employees may be because a new generation is too young to remember what life was like till the mid-1990s when private airlines were not allowed to challenge the monopoly of Indian Airlines. Till that point, air travel in India was a privilege, not just a means of transport. Indian Airlines was not a bad airline (it had many strengths that often went unnoticed while everyone commented on its flaws) but it was ---- at the end of the day --- a public sector monopoly. This meant that there was political interference, that many employees took it easy knowing that their unions would protect them and that chief executives were often appointed on the basis of patronage rather than competence. By the early 1990s, just before the private airlines came along, the employees had got so cocky that the pilots the highest paid public sector employees in India --- routinely misbehaved and/or went on strike. For me, the last straw came in the chaotic days following the demolition of the Babri Masjid when riots broke out all over India. It was at this time that Indian Airlines pilots announced that they would go on strike. After that, I lost any respect I may once have had for them. Because Indian Airlines was the only domestic airline, seats were hard to come by. Today, if you live in Delhi and want to take a flight to Mumbai, you check online for a fare and timing that suit you and make your booking. But, in that era, because there were so few flights, you had to book days in advance to be guaranteed a seat. Many government agencies had quotas on flights. So seats were traded from these quotas for the powerful and the influential. Sometimes, corruption flourished at airports. I saw people slipping a few hundred rupees notes into the palms of check-in staff at Goa airport to get on to Mumbai flights during the New Year season. The private airlines put an end to all that and the competition worked to the benefit of Indian Airlines which suddenly became more efficient. (It was later merged with Air India which led to a new set of problems). I have lost count of the number of private airlines that came and went. (Does anyone remember East West or Damania?) But two airlines seemed to me to have staying power. The first was Indigo which has always been superbly managed (despite the recent incidents where its staff assaulted a passenger etc.) and the second was Jet. I was an admirer of Kingfisher but even as it flew the skies, one had the nagging feeling that the economic model was too lavish to last. I am not sure why Kingfisher failed (Vijay Mallya has one version; the government has another) but its demise was a loss to Indian aviation. Jet, on the other hand, always seemed to be more soundly managed. I knew Naresh Goyal in Mumbai when he was the king of the travel trade (he was General Sales Agent for several top airlines) and as much as I admired his vision of a world class airline, I never thought he could pull it off. In fact, he surprised all of us by creating an airline that was easily on par with any American or European carrier. I knew he had achieved something that I thought was impossible when all the movie stars and millionaires I knew who made fun of me for travelling Air-India and sang the praises of British Airways, shifted loyalties and began travelling Jet. That is a whiny, difficult constituency to please but Naresh won their loyalty. For frequent travellers, the aircraft part of the journey is often the least important component of the experience. Most airlines fly the same aircraft, get their food from the same flight kitchens and offer similar levels of premium service. (The exception is Vistara where the Business Class experience on board the aircraft is better than Jet or Air-India). What really matters is the ground handling: ease of check-in, personal recognition, how long the luggage takes to arrive, being kept informed of delays etc. And this is where Jet scored (even over Vistara, though these days Air-India has also got significantly better) to the extent that nearly anybody who was anybody in India travelled Jet. So how did it go so wrong? As best as I can tell, costs are too high in India (jet fuel, landing charges etc) for airlines to offer the low economy fares that they have to sell in order to compete in the market place. But why Jet got it so wrong and why the collapse was so sudden is still a mystery to me. A year ago, there was talk of Jet bidding for Air India; now Jet itself struggles to survive. You could argue --- as some people have --- that the market has a self-correcting mechanism. It will drive out bad products so lets not shed any tears over Jet, they say. I am not sure that makes much sense. I can understand why people stopped watching Doordarshan once the private channels arrived, why the mobile operators provided a better service than the old telephone department or why the Ambassador faded in to oblivion once better cars came along. But I am wary of using market-jargon in a sector like aviation where so much of the environment (fuel costs are the most obvious example) is still controlled by the government and not the market. And I also believe that Jets problems were not structural in nature. It was not an airline that was behind its time like, say, the Ambassador car or one that functioned badly. Yes, there was a mismatch over the last year between costs and revenues. And yes, I can understand why creditors might want to take control of the management themselves. But nothing explains the current situation where the airline is being ground into the dust, its value eroding each day only because of a lack of working capital. It would not cost the banks a lot to keep Jet flying till a buyer is found. All that their refusal to provide any money ensures is that when Jet is eventually sold, it will be worth much less. I hope that is not part of some greater master plan. Either way, there is much to be sad about. One of the few Indian brands that provided world class service has collapsed. And the men and women who worked hard to make it great now stare at a sad and uncertain future. To read more on The Taste With Vir, click here Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter The co-founder of Indonesias Lion Air, one of two airlines that lost passengers and crew in recent crashes involving the 737 MAX, has lashed out at Boeings handling of the accidents as the potential business fallout from the jets grounding intensifies. Rusdi Kirana said a recent apology by Boeing over the 346 lives lost in the two disasters, firstly at Lion Air in October and then at Ethiopian Airlines last month, stood in contrast to what he viewed as hasty earlier criticism of Lion Airs pilots. In a telephone interview, Kirana also accused Boeing of treating him as a piggy bank. Lion Air has spent tens of billions of dollars on plane orders with Boeing to become one of Asias largest budget carriers. The Indonesian entrepreneur is the figurehead for what is now one of the planemakers largest customers with 187 jets on order and 200 already delivered. Lion Air threatened in December to axe those orders, but has given no further update. Boeing has embarked on a campaign following the two crashes to restore faith in its best-selling jet and pledged to remove any risk that anti-stall software, suspected of pushing the two planes downwards, could be activated by erroneous data. In November, following an interim report on the Lion Air crash, it voiced questions over whether pilots had used correct procedures. Kirana said the contrasting reactions demonstrated that Boeing was taking fast-growing carriers such as his for granted. They look down on my airline and my country even though relations are always handled in a proper way. They treat us as Third World, Kirana told Reuters. They also look down on me. They look at me as their piggy bank, he said in his first interview since the Ethiopian crash. Kiranas comments - by far the strongest since the crash off Indonesia on Oct 29 - underscore the depth of a recent rift between Boeing and Lion Air, which has been balking at taking delivery of Boeing jets worth $21 billion at list prices. His voice also carries weight in Indonesia where he serves as the countrys ambassador to Malaysia, handling relations between two Muslim-majority states with important ties. In a statement to Reuters regarding the comments, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said: We remain heartbroken over the tragic loss of Lion Air Flight 610. Were sorry for the lives lost and deeply regret the devastating impact on the families, friends and colleagues of the passengers and crew. Rusdi Kirana has been a leader and a pioneer in Asian aviation, he said, adding that Kirana and his team remain highly valued partners to Boeing. INCONSISTENCIES Although safety experts have raised some questions over crew performance in both crashes, the regulatory fallout has been dominated so far by questions over MCAS anti-stall software, which Boeing has acknowledged provided a common link in the separate chains of events leading to both crashes. Following the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a statement listing three questions relating to pilot and maintenance actions that had not been addressed in a preliminary report. After a similar report on the Ethiopian crash, Boeing issued a sparser statement focusing on its ongoing software review. It has adopted an increasingly contrite tone as pressure grows over design decisions and its relations with U.S. regulators. Kirana said Boeing had shown inconsistencies in its responses to the two disasters. (They) cast blame for the first one and apologise after the second, he said. Indonesia has 236 Boeing commercial passenger planes on order and operates the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Flag carrier Garuda joined Lion Air last month in threatening to cancel 49 MAX orders. Analysts have questioned how easily either airline can fund deliveries as competition grows and have cautioned that both face lengthy negotiations. The Justin Trudeau government apparently removed references to Khalistani extremism in a report on terror threats to Canada because of a warning that leaders of the ruling Liberal Party wouldnt be allowed to speak at parades marking Baisakhi, the Punjabi harvest festival. Pressure from sections of the Sikh community had mounted on the government over references to Khalistani extremism in Public Safety Canadas report released last December. Last week, the government released an updated version of the report that removed all mention of Sikh and Khalistani extremism, much to the chagrin of India. With federal elections due in October, nagar kirtans or parades are considered prime locations for politicians to reach out to tens of thousands of voters. For instance, the Baisakhi event at Surrey in British Columbia attracts almost 500,000. And its organisers decided that Liberal Party leaders would be banned from speaking at the massive Khalsa Day observation. I definitely think the decision we made as a collective had an impact, otherwise we would not have seen such a quick response within 36 hours by the Liberal government, said Moninder Singh, president of Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar and one of the principal organisers of the event in Surrey. April is the month for nagar kirtans across Canada, with some events stretching into the early weekends of May. There was concern within Liberal Party circles of a domino effect, across cities and provinces. Singh confirmed his group had started discussions for other nagar kirtans in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal to follow suit as well. Prime Minister Trudeau attended a nagar kirtan in Vancouver less than 24 hours after the decision to remove all references to Khalistani extremism from the report was made and the changes were in place. The Liberals also received a scare recently when a slate backed by fathers of two major figures of the Sikh community, cabinet minister Navdeep Bains and MP Ruby Sahota, was soundly defeated in elections to the management of Ontario Khalsa Darbar in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). GTA and Metro Vancouver area (where Surrey is located) account for a trove of seats in the House of Commons, and a majority of Liberal MPs elected in 2015, including Bains and defence minister Harjit Sajjan, are from these areas. There was also the unspoken threat they could be ostracised by some hardline gurdwaras. As Singh said, There was consistent pressure from many different places that pushed this through and forced the Liberal government to take a strong look at the type of language they had used and agree that it was maligning and would not be used in future. Veteran GTA-based journalist Balraj Deol agreed: This was a victory for Khalistani groups. Removing it [the references] is a political decision. Its not a security agency assessment. This happened because of pressure of Khalistanis they control most of the gurdwaras that hold parades. London-based activist Jasdev Singh Rai, who has been in talks with the Narendra Modi government to resolve issues of overseas Sikhs since 2015, said there was frustration and anger among Sikhs worldwide over Canada labelling Sikhs as extremists and terrorists. There was also anger that this was done when Canada had Sikhs at the highest levels of government, including in security. Canada is the only country which has officially now established a black list of Sikhs denied entry. While India has brought down its list with a few exceptions, Canada has set up a black list, he added. Rai said he also believed the Trudeau government was bending over backwards to appease India after his disastrous visit last year. Rai believed Indian diplomats in Canada should adopt a discreet, nuanced and respectful approach towards gurdwaras, similar to that taken by the Indian high commission in the UK, adding he hoped the process of dialogue and unobtrusive engagement is restored. The US has advised its citizens to reconsider their travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and asked them not to travel to restive Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), identified as the most dangerous areas due to terror attacks. While Pakistan in general has been placed in Level Three category in the latest travel advisory issued by the US on Monday, several parts of the country, including Balochistan, KPK province, PoK and India-Pakistan border, have been placed in the most dangerous Level Four category, in which US citizens are asked not to travel due to high risk areas. Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or near Pakistan, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and/or a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR), the State Department said in the travel advisory. Asserting that terror groups continue plotting possible attacks in Pakistan, the State Department said that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, military installations, airports, universities, tourist locations, schools, hospitals, places of worship and government facilities. Terrorists have targeted US diplomats and diplomatic facilities in the past, and information suggests they continue to do so, it said. Terrorist attacks continue to happen across Pakistan, with most occurring in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Large-scale terrorist attacks have resulted in hundreds of casualties, it said. Do not travel to Balochistan province, the State Department said, adding that active terrorist groups, an active separatist movement, sectarian conflicts and deadly terrorist attacks against civilians, government offices and security forces destabilise the province. Similarly, in the PoK, it warned that militant groups are known to operate in the area and the threat of armed conflict between India and Pakistan remains. Indian and Pakistani military forces periodically exchange gun and artillery fire across the Line of Control (LoC), it said. Noting that India and Pakistan maintain a strong military presence on both sides of the border, the travel advisory said the only official Pakistan-India border crossing point for persons who are not citizens of India or Pakistan is in the province of Punjab between Wagah and Attari. Do not travel to KPK province, which includes the former FATA, the advisory said. Active terrorist and insurgent groups routinely conduct attacks against civilians, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government offices, and security forces. These groups historically have not discriminated between government officials and civilians. Assassination and kidnapping attempts are common, including the targeting of polio eradication teams, it said. I n September 1964, I began a journey that was to be my lifes adventure. I was hired as a pilot with Air America, the CIAs secret airline, working on its clandestine operations in Southeast Asia. It was the world of spooks, covert air ops and adventure. Air Americas pilots were shadow people. The airlines schedules and operations were irregular and unknown. I was 27 and had already been a pilot for more than half of my life when I left my home in Detroit for the wild escapades that awaited in Southeast Asia. After orientation in Taipei, Taiwan, and a stint flying big DC-6 transport planes out of Tachikawa, Japan, I was sent to Saigon. When I arrived in March 1965, the war was revving up, and Vietnam provided the aviation playground of my dreams, a place where I could take it to the limit and beyond. Air Americas slogan, Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, would soon become apparent. We delivered everything from rice to munitions to bodies, both living and dead. Our work was never boring. There was no such thing as a typical day. Urban Saigon was quite different from the Air America bases in remote areas of Laos and Thailand. It was difficult to go anywhere in the city because of the influx of refugees from the communist-controlled countryside, which in turn caused traffic jams that made the guys from Los Angeles feel right at home. Trips to and from the airport sometimes took one or two hours out of the day, adding to the irritability factor when I was forced to wait another hour or more in a hot cockpit while in line for takeoff. According to the movie representation of airmen at war, we were gray-suited knights, warriors all, who climbed onto our steeds of shining aluminum, blasting off into the blue skies in support of the battle with the godless communist hordes. Great rhetoric, perhaps, but that romanticized viewpoint could not have been further from the truth. In reality, when our intrepid birdman arrived at an airfield he was often already dusty and wrinkled from his ride on the potholed road to the field. He was still bone-tired from the previous days flying and in a bad mood after mosquitoes feasted on him as he waited in the dark for the Volkswagen bus that transported the crew to the plane. In many cases, a searing hangover coupled with gut-twisting diarrhea also made our knight a bit snappy. The crew bus dropped us off at Operations, a gray, uninspiring two-story building. In 1965, as our missions expanded, we were receiving new pilots almost daily, and the facilities were being taxed to the extreme. We got our daily flight schedule on the second floor, and then most of us went to the standby room, where there was always a pot of vile coffee. No matter how bad it was, everyone wanted a cup even thoughwhen dumped into an already-troubled gastrointestinal systemit would send the lower intestine into violent spasms. No doubt a Viet Cong architect, or perhaps Ho Chi Minh himself, had placed the restrooms in the back of the building on the second floor. On the morning of July 5, 1965, I waited to depart Saigon from the midfield intersection of the north/south runway, which was crossed by main runway 25/7. The orange, pre-dawn glow was marred by someone beating a hammer on the inside of my skull behind my right eye, a repercussion from the previous nights Fourth of July party hosted by our base manager. Even though I had gone home early, the pain was there. Adding to the discomfort was the rumble of the two R-985 radial engines on either side of the cockpit of my Beechcraft, a twin-engine plane built in the U.S. during World War II. The tower cleared for takeoff an Air America Beechcraft in front of me. I watched it roll until the tail came off the ground. Then the pilot cleared a C-46 Commando transport plane to my right on runway 25. As he began his roll I expected to get my own clearance for departure. But then I heard an expletive on the radio. I looked at the Beechcraft that had been cleared and noticed that it was flying, but in trouble and dropping. As though in slow-motion, it drifted down and crashed just outside the airport in the courtyard of a Catholic church. Dust and debris rose, almost gracefully, and obscured the airplane. I thought the pilot had managed to make a survivable crash landing, but suddenly a ball of flame blossomed over the crash site. It was a tragedy, but I had no time to process it. After the emergency vehicles cleared the tarmac on the way to the crash site, the tower resumed business as usual. Another C-46 was cleared for takeoff on runway 25. As soon as it passed the intersection, the tower cleared me to roll on the north/south runway. I began the takeoff. Ease the throttles up, lead with the left a little for torque, tail comin up, the gauges lookin good, ease it off and snap up the gear. I flashed through the smoke from the funeral pyre and wallowed slightly from its rising heat. An odor from the conflagration below wafted through the air ventsthe putrescent breath of the dying beast. According to the accident investigation report, some witnesses claimed to have seen an orange flash under the ill-fated aircraft as it cleared the end of the runway. The investigators surmised that it came from a sky horse, a simple piece of pipe implanted in the ground with a charge at the bottom and debris (nuts, rocks, etc.) placed on top. A Viet Cong hiding nearby probably set it off as a plane passed overhead. It had been a very close call for me. The totally uncontrollable dumbass luck factor had been in my favor. With the escalation of Air America operations, we were getting more airplanes every week and hiring several hundred pilots, which turned us into a sea of interesting characters. Some were the hee-haw funny kind. Others were the volatile punch-you-in-the-mouth-for-fun type. A few were one notch from being skid row alcoholics. There were also plenty of normal people, but some of them just didnt stay very long. Most of the new pilots came from the retired or ex-military group. Civilian-trained pilots were the minority. I was assistant manager of flying and in charge of several aircraft programs, a job description that included training the new arrivals. Those who washed out considered me the rottenest son of a bitch who ever crapped between two boots. My washout rate was indeed alarming, but I was looking for eagles, not buzzards. In the entire time I spent with Air America in Vietnam, not a single pilot approved by me for a certain aircraft ever killed himself in that type of aircraft. I kept up the pressure on the trainees until I could smell their fear. I wanted to see if they could cope with the situation I had put them in. The winners of the Marquis de Sade School of Airborne Survival received a handshake and a set of wings with a star on top. The losers received a chance to go to some other company. Air America frowned on some of my methods, but never asked me to stop. I was getting the job done. Some of my screening practices were drenched in graveyard humor: I would give a new pilot a body bag with his name on it or put pictures of burnt crash victims on my desk. The trainees reactions would give me a glimpse into their ability to handle the unusual. Tom Harper (not his real name) was a short, pudgy pilot in his late 40s with a dusting of gray in his hair. He had recently retired from the Air Force and wanted to make some big bucks to add to his retirement check. In the briefing room with three others before their first training fight in-country, I noticed a tremble in his hands as he kept smoothing the chart laying across his knees. Airborne, Tom was even less than I expected. His abilities were barely average, but as he lost his nervousness he began to think he was better than his actual abilities. In such cases, especially when other trainees were observing from the cabin, I would make a cocky pilot look the fool. This made an enemy for life, but I wasnt in the friend-making business. This first leg took us from Saigon to the old Michelin rubber plantation at An Loc, about 65 miles north of Saigon near Cambodia. We did a couple of touch-and-go landings on the airstrip at the plantation and then flew to Tay Ninh, near the Parrots Beak area above the Mekong Delta on the Cambodian border. There we did full-stop landings. Each trainee got a turn doing takeoffs and landings at all of the locations. En route to Tay Ninh, Tom, now at the controls, was telling me how he used to be a chief check pilot in the Air Force and could help me lay out a similar program. I just kept smiling and nodding. Keeping in mind the possibility of groundfire, we were up to 6,000 feet, so I asked Tom to give me a 60-degree banked turn to the left. Tom looked over his left shoulder to check for traffic as he rolled into the turn, and while he was looking out the window I reached down and shut the fuel off on the left engine. It takes a little while for the fuel line to empty, so I started to get on him to tighten the turn and pull some Gsincrease the gravitational force in the plane. By the time he had it honked in good and tight, the left engine quit. The sudden shock from the drag of the now windmilling propeller (a propeller spinning on its own without power from the engine) rolled us partially inverted, mainly because Tom didnt react fast enough to the unexpected event. During his ensuing struggle to regain control, I moved the fuel selector valve back to the on position, which went unobserved by Tom. Just as he got the bird leveled, the left engine burst back to life, swiveling the airplane in the other direction. What happened? I asked. Engine quit, he wheezed through a sharp intake of air. Gosh, wonder why? Maybe water in the gas? Uh, guess so. Lets not do any more steep turns. Okay, Tom, lets do a power-on stall straight ahead then. As he began pulling the nose up into a stalling angle, I slipped my hand down between the seats onto the elevator trim wheel (a device that helps the pilot keep the plane at a constant speed and angle) and began to roll full nose up. As the speed bled off and the elevator control pressure became looser, he couldnt feel what I was doing. The bird shuddered, and Tom dropped the nose to recover from the stall while applying full power to the engines. The resulting propeller blast now hit the fully deflected trim tab, which in turn slammed the hand wheel back into his gut, with a little help from my right hand on the side of the control column. This made the nose pitch up violently. Toms eyes started to bug out. He was oblivious to anything I was doing, so, as the aircraft entered a secondary stall in about a 45-degree nose-up angle, I shoved in full left rudder. This caused the machine to rotate in a neat snap roll. I leveled the airplane and released the controls to Tom, a move unnoticed and unfelt in his current state, as the dust was still settling in the cockpit. Damn, that was pretty neat, Tom, I commented. Uhhuh, he replied, the elevator jammed! We better let the wrench benders know about that little problem. For now, we just wont do any more of those. Tom seemed a little nervous as we entered the traffic pattern at Tay Ninh. I had placed my left arm over the back of his seat, not in a gesture of friendliness as he thought, but to get my hand by the circuit breaker panel and pluck out the circuit breakers for the flaps and landing gear motor. As we came to the runway, I urged Tom to make a tight approach and get the plane on the ground as soon as possible. Eager to comply, he flipped the landing gear handle down, pulled off some power and rolled in close to the runway. To keep his mind occupied I said, Hey, Tom, theyre shootin at us over here on the right! The whites of his eyes expanded as he slammed the flap lever full down and pulled more power off, whipping it onto final approach. Without the landing gear and flaps down for drag, it is hard to slow an airplane and lose altitude at the same time. By the time Tom got to the approach end of the runway, he had pulled the throttles all the way back, but we were still high and fast. Tom, you dipshitgo around before you put us in the dirt! yelled one of the other trainees, concerned about our proximity to terra firma. The go-around brought a red flush to Toms neck and the sick realization that I had been doing something to make him look the buffoon in front of everybody. I am sure I hurt his feelings, but I hoped that a glimmer of the reasoning behind my actions had been imparted to him. If not, like Rhett Butler before me, frankly, I dont give a damn. (Tom was a co-pilot for about a month before being given another check ride. He eventually made captain.) Black flightssecret/covert/possibly illegalwere for the most part utterly useless. If something went wrong, they were also dangerous for the crew because you would get no support. It was like the opening lines from the TV series Mission: Impossible: The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. How true that proved to be for John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau, CIA agents who were captured trying to infiltrate China in 1952 and spent 20 years in a Chinese prison, waiting for the U.S. government to admit that they were agency operatives, all the Chinese government wanted to hear. Fecteau was released in 1971 and Downey in 1972 as U.S. relations with China improved during President Richard Nixons administration. Once, after my manager and I finished covering the days schedule behind closed doors, he asked if I would be interested in taking a Beechcraft on a black flight to the Ranch later that afternoon. The Ranch was a secret-customer operation at the Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, roughly 145 miles northwest of Bangkok. My job was to get a guy out of Vietnam and into Thailand without going through the legal formalities of customs and immigration. It was made very clear that I was not to even look at the passenger. The embassy would call as soon as he left from downtown in a car, and I was to sit in the cockpit with the door closed until he knocked and climbed in, signaling me to crank up and go. We filed a legitimate flight plan to Bangkok with Takhli as my alternate. Then, just before letting down into Bangkok, I was to announce that I was diverting to my alternate. U.S. Embassy officials in Saigon assured me that no one would get upset over this minor change in plans. They would send one of the spooks from the embassy to make sure everything went smoothly. As soon as embassy called and said that my passenger was on his way, I did as they requested. I sat and waitedand waitedand waited. The cockpit temperature was over 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and I was starting to see little floating spots in my vision. Then a black car with curtained windows finally drove onto the ramp and pulled up out of sight behind the airplane. While I waited for The Knock, I wondered how he was going to get from the car to the airplane without 50 ramp workers seeing him. Or could it be that I was the only one not supposed to see him? I really didnt care if it was LBJ, the pope or Adolf Hitlerjust as long as I could start the engines and get some cool air moving before I passed out. After The Knock, everything went like clockwork. The passenger got off in Takhli and walked to another curtained black car. I refueled, cranked up and was halfway out to the runway when two jeeploads of Thai soldiers blocked the taxiway and raised their rifles. When in deep crap, it is best to act very dumb and quiet. Although the Thais detained me for a week, they finally bought my story of being lost and let me go back to Saigon. So who was the mystery stranger and why did we smuggle him into a friendly country? Beats the hell out of me. One night in 1967, the bedside radio set woke me at 1 a.m. It was Operations calling to tell me that an embassy car would get me in 30 minutes and take me to the airport. On the way, I was to pick up an American to fly co-pilot. I dressed hurriedly, stuffed some underwear in my flight kit and went down to the front gate. The car arrived with an armed escort and swung by the co-pilots house to ruin his night of rest. At Operations, one of the embassy spooks pulled me into a corner, where even my co-pilot couldnt overhear us, and briefed me. He had cargo already loaded in a C-46 that we were to fly nonstop to Hong Kong, without the normal refueling in Da Nang. As usual, we were not to look at the cargo, nor file a flight plan, nor contact anyone on the radio until we were 100 nautical miles (115 miles) from Hong Kong. Of course, we werent to worry about busting into the Hong Kong airspace unannouncedexcept we did worry. If Hong Kong didnt like the idea, we wouldnt have enough gas to fly anywhere else, and then the only options would be to face the heat or ditch the bird. At 100 nautical miles out, I gave Hong Kong air traffic control a call, and they responded as if we were a regularly scheduled flight; obviously someone had gotten the message at their end. Nevertheless, I didnt really breathe a sigh of relief until we were in the terminal drinking a cup of coffee while the airplane was being offloaded into British military trucks. As soon as the customers stuff was well away, we departed Hong Kong, again sans a flight plan, nonstop to Saigon. And that was that. Once home, I ended my typical atypical day with a tepid shower and an 8-ounce very dry martinimade by whispering vermouth softly over the top of a gin-filled tumbler. Neil Hansen left Air America in October 1973. He travels the country on the speaking circuit, recounting stories about his Air America days to military, civic and veterans groups. He lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This article was compiled from his forthcoming book FLIGHT: An Air America Pilots Story of Adventure, Descent and Redemption, History Publishing Co., 2019. This article was published in the June 2019 issue of Vietnam. Changes in technology and lust for battle information led to the birth of modern American journalism During the Civil War, innovations already under way in technology, business organization, professional practice, government relations, and even reader interest led to great advances in American journalism. The legacy of the Civil War includes the modern mass-circulation daily newspaper, the national illustrated weekly newspaper, and the obsession of readers for both. The war also reinforced the vast disparity of access to media between the North and South. The telegraph and the railroad, which had been developing rapidly since the 1840s, blossomed during the war. They dramatically transformed how armies conducted warfare and how newspapers and magazines did journalism. Bigger, faster printing presses allowed yesterdays battle news to be published in todays newspaper or next weeks illustrated weekly. In 1861, the New York Herald topped 100,000 in daily circulation. With distribution by rail, the New York Tribunes national weekly edition achieved a circulation of more than 200,000. Newspapers and illustrated weeklies became large-scale manufacturing enterprises in the 1860s, presided over by famous editors and publishers such as James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greeley, and Frank Leslie. Nearly as famousthough often still pseudonymouswere the battlefield news reporters, who helped to define the role of reporter as a journalistic profession. In addition to regular daily editions and extras, newspapers posted updates on bulletin boards, almost hourly at times. In an 1861 The Atlantic article, Oliver Wendell Holmes captured the new compulsive news habit: This perpetual intercommunication, joined to the power of instantaneous action, keeps us always alive with excitement.Only bread and the newspaper we must have, whatever else we do without. The lust for news was the same for readers in the North and South, but the news industries of the two regions were vastly different. In 1860, less than 10 percent of the nations printing establishments were in the South. The South had 70 daily newspapers in 1860, out of 387 nationwide, but those papers accounted for only 10 percent of the national circulation. Only about 20 dailies survived to the end of the war, in part because the South had only a handful of paper mills and no printing-press manufacturers. In the 1850s, American newspapers employed a few paid correspondents and writers, but it was during the Civil War that newspaper reporting came of age. As war spread across the country, so did legions of reporters. Throughout the war, the New York Herald alone regularly had more than 40 reporters on the fields of battle. Though newspaper reporting had never been a profession that required specialized training or certification, during the war, reporters took on many of the characteristics of professionals: On the major dailies, they were salaried and given lavish expense accounts; they operated independently in the field; lived and worked together in a community of comrades; were supremely competitive yet shared the values that would become standard in journalism: eyewitness description and speed; they resisted military and government censorship; they often became celebrities; and they wrote instant books and memoirs to cash in on that fame. The art of war reporting, then as now, required a mastery of logistics as well as of reporting and writing. Like the generals, the journalists who covered the Civil War depended on telegraphs, railroads, and horses. The enemys task, often achieved, was to destroy those means of communication. Thus, dramatic accounts of reporters getting stories of great battles back to their newspapers became chapters in the lore of American journalism. For example, George W. Smalley of the New York Tribune, unable to get a telegraph connection, wrote what is usually considered the best story of the Battle of Antietam by the light of a small oil lamp on a military train from Baltimore to New York. He arrived at the newspaper office at 5 a.m. September 19, 1862, just two mornings after the battle, and within hours thousands of Tribune copies were on the street. If reporting for Northern newspapers was a logistical struggle, it was a nightmare for the South. Telegraph and rail connections were sparse and unreliable. Southern newspapers were cut off from the Associated Press, the leading news-sharing cooperative, based in New York. Southern publishers organized their own Press Association in 1862, which did its best to distribute news dispatches. In addition to newspapers and periodicals, Americans learned about the war from various pictorial sources. While newspapers were illustrated with drawings etched on wood blocks, people could also purchase lithographs in studios and print shops. Lithography was a technology adopted in the 1830s in which an artist drew an image by hand on a special stone, usually a smooth piece of limestone, with a grease pencil or crayon. Water was then applied and would soak in where there was no crayon. An oil-based ink was applied next. The wet stone would repel the ink, but the areas with grease drawing would not. A press transferred ink to paper. Thousands of impressions could be made from one stone. As lithography grew, it was joined by photography, first with the appearance of the daguerreotype in America in 1839, followed by the more quickly exposed ambrotype and less-expensive tintype in the 1850s. Though these new methods had advantages, their use was still limited. The glass plate or sheet of metal used to capture the image was the photograph, and therefore non-reproducible. The development of the negative-based albumen process, also in the 1850s, eased these impediments to widespread access. This process allowed photos to be reproduced on paper for inexpensive and widespread distribution as carte-de-visite studio portraits and stereographs. Photographers exhibited and sold their work in their galleries. They also used mail order catalogs to distribute photographs and stereographs to distant customers. This material was originally published with The American Antiquarian Societys online exhibit, The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1865. The society sponsors a broad range of programs for schoolchildren, undergraduate and graduate scholars, artists, writers, and the public. Visit www.americanantiquarian.org. Prosecutors have also raised questions about the noise that Harrity later told investigators precipitated the shooting. Harrity initially told the incident commander that the officers got spooked, prosecutor Patrick Lofton told jurors. But the first mention of a possible slap on the squad car came not from Noor or Harrity but rather from others at the scene who made assumptions about what happened, according to Lofton. The first time Harrity mentioned anything about a loud noise on the squad car was days later, when he spoke with state investigators. Officials are appealing to the public for information. Park staffers and volunteers walking the beach and removing as many pieces of glass as they can find. After we asked in a March 29 editorial if she would welcome an independent review of her, and her offices, handling of the case, Foxx responded in a Tribune commentary that she would. She confirmed on Friday that she has asked Patrick Blanchard, the countys inspector general, to conduct a review. Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. The cathedral bells heralded hundreds of years of some of the most studied events in Western civilization. Notre Dame is where Joan of Arcs mother appealed her daughters conviction for heresy, where Mary, Queen of Scots wed and where Napoleon I and Josephine were coronated. Lovers of literature experience it through Victor Hugos The Hunchback of Notre-Dame as do young followers of the Disney tale of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. The cathedral was plundered during the French Revolution and has been threatened by terrorists. Appointment 16 April 2019 UNNA Resorts is pleased to welcome Joseph Violi as Group General Manager for Saint Peter's Bay Luxury Resort and Residences and Port Ferdinand Yacht and Beach Club Residences, two luxury seaside properties in Barbados. An industry veteran and graduate of Cornell University's renowned hotel administration program, Violi brings over 30 years of luxury hospitality experience to his role as Group General Manager. In his new role, Violi will be responsible for overseeing all of the management, operations, and business development efforts for the two oceanfront properties to continue positioning Saint Peter's Bay and Port Ferdinand as the preferred accommodation choices in Barbados. Violi joins the UNNA Resorts team from The Renaissance on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas, where he held the position of General Manager since 2017, managing the largest condominium association in the Southwest. Prior to Turtle Creek, Violi held leadership roles at numerous luxury Hilton Worldwide and The Ritz-Carlton properties, including the esteemed Casa Marina and The Reach - Waldorf Astoria Resorts in Key West, Florida, and The Ritz-Carlton, Aspen. Having a deep understanding of luxury and international hospitality, along with a strong background in sales, marketing, and revenue management, Violi is well placed to oversee both properties' collection of villa-style accommodations, three food and beverage outlets, spa, and world class beach club, Nikki Beach. Press Release 16 April 2019 As the appetite for trying new foods grows and consumers actively seek out new dining experiences, the traditional lines between eating out in restaurants or tucking into street food are blurring. Advertisements Food trucks are one of the main reasons why. Whether they specialise in luxury noodles, artisan pizza or tacos with a twist, growing numbers of street food traders that started off life in food trucks are making the transition to bricks-and-mortar stores. It all adds up to a more exciting local dining scene, says Ian Hanlon, director at JLL Foodservice Consulting. "Today's food trucks offer high-quality ingredients and often champion local produce - a far cry from the greasy burgers of previous years," he says. "As they've become a familiar sight on high streets, in shopping malls and at festivals, they've attracted a new generation of food-loving consumers and their success has spurred others to follow suit." A modern test-bed Food trucks have fast become a favourite way to revitalise tired local dining scenes and transform non-descript areas into vibrant destinations such as Dockyard Social in Glasgow, Kerb in London or Birmingham's Digbeth Dining Club . Much of this is down to creative would-be restauranteurs with big ideas and small budgets who see food trucks as a way to test their dishes without the traditional overheads of a leased restaurant until they're ready to make the move. "There's been some great examples of van operators making their mark on the street or in food halls and becoming so successful that they've moved to bricks-and mortar-units," says Hanlon, pointing to MEATliquor, Rola Wala and Pizza Pilgrims. "On the flip-side, the emergence of more food halls across the UK means new space is there for those seeking it," he adds. London is set to welcome a Time Out Market in 2021 to join its growing crowd of food halls with the likes of Baltic Market in Liverpool and Mackie Mayor in Manchester proving popular in the regions. As appealing as the comfort of covered indoor food hall s may be, food truck operators value flexibility. "The shift to a contained space indoors offers operators a captive audience, while also facing off any concerns over the UK weather," Hanlon says. "But being able to up sticks and move around the UK is just as important - especially when there is no shortage of potential sites. Just look at the growth of the UK music festival scene in recent years." Indeed, being on four wheels has given some food trucks the freedom to travel from London to Leeds for short-term residencies. The Trinity Leeds shopping centre has been offering truck-based concepts one-month positions to five vans on its Trinity Kitchen food floor, despite practical complications around not being at ground level. "When a shopping centre goes to the extra effort of hoisting horseboxes, you can safely say - no pun intended - that food truck dining has reached new heights," says Hanlon. He estimates that shopping centre landlords are focused on having around 80 percent permanent food concepts and 20 percent that can be regularly changed. "It keeps the space fresh, alive and inviting for locals and makes it a destination for visitors," Hanlon says. "But it also means the days of simply locking in your entire roster of food and beverage tenants for long periods are over. So, food truck operators are well-positioned - and sought-after." Keeping the buzz Yet with many successful brands now scaling up, either trying out permanent retail units or expanding their vehicle fleets, Hanlon points out there is the risk that the very thing an operator has become famous for then becomes distanced from the offer. "Success is hugely driven by the passion and personality of the operator," he says, pointing to the cult following truck food gathers online through social media channels. "Scaling up can mean authenticity may get lost somewhat once staff numbers rise." More food brands are also keen to build their name in the street food market. "Competition between truck concepts shows no sign of weakening," says Hanlon. "It's a time of greater choice - both of setting and menu." Longer-term, however, their future is less secure than traditional restaurants - and more could be done to safeguard both the small traders working behind the scenes and the vibrant food scenes they create. "They're providing somewhere to go for the office worker in their lunch hour or out for an after-work social, as well as the weekend diner," Hanlon says. "Some kind of tax relief on food hall or community spaces could be a wise move to help sustain momentum. "They're boosting footfall and fast-becoming the lifeblood of many towns." Opinion Article 16 April 2019 Over the last several years, we've seen Google become a major player in the travel industry. In the last six months in particular, Google has gone from search engine to booking engine, causing more than a few worried glances among those who rely on direct online bookings for revenue. Google had previously been an ally in bringing qualified visitors to hotel websites but has now become your biggest competitor. In October 2018, Google rolled out a desktop treatment for hotel booking that aligned with the mobile experience that had been live for several months. It allows the searcher to filter by location, dates, number of guests, budget, and preferred amenities. No one can argue that it isn't a great way to find what you're looking for. However, it's what happens after you narrow down your search results that is having an impact on direct bookings. Google provides a handful of ways to book that room, with the eye-catching photos, hotel information tabs, reduced rate messaging, reviews, and nearby competitor rates far more appealing than the little "Website" button that actually takes you to the hotel website. We've seen a distinct reduction in website traffic from Google in response to this approach already, and it appears Google has recently taken it a step further and integrated hotel results in their incredibly popular flight search tool. In a quiet non-announcement of sorts, Richard Holden, Google's VP of Product Management for Travel published a blog post in March highlighting the new features and capability of their new travel insights tool. With an impressive list of features, like the Deals filter that "uses machine learning to highlight hotels where one or more of our partners offer rates that are significantly lower than the usual price for that hotel or similar hotels nearby" and a Packages tab to show flight and hotel bundle rates, and even non-hotel vacation rentals in the area of interest, the tool itself is a powerful search engine for travelers. The problem is that Google is keeping all of that browsing and booking traffic on Google, and away from hotel websites. Industry chatter regarding the tool is that Google is trying to compete with, and take business away from, OTAs. But for hotels already elbowing their way to the front of the room to capture direct bookings, this is another obstacle in the way of that valuable revenue channel. I was recently looking up flight and hotel options for a trip and wanted to see how Google's search experience on mobile has changed and if it would impact my own booking decisions. Since I was logged into my own Google account, I got the added bonus of rate reduction offers as a Google One member, with a lower rate shown than I could find elsewhere for the property. After browsing a few hotels, I noticed how difficult it was to get to the hotel website directly and how much effort was placed into directing clicks to the Hotel Ads. In the Prices tab, the ads are the only option for rates and more information, and if you go to any other tabs to get further location info or read reviews, there is a clear CTA to View Prices at the bottom of the screen that takes you back to - you guessed it - the ads. While Google's nudge toward ad clicks that bring them so much annual revenue is nothing new, this brazen and blatant push without organic options is surprising. I wanted to see what else I could do with the tool and checked out the Packages tab (previously labeled "Flights + Hotels"). It had the same great filters, map view, date and price range, and amenity selection. But what happened once I clicked on a hotel to see the package price is noteworthy - you can't actually book a package. The CTA at the bottom includes a bright button with the total price of the package, and you assume that clicking it will take you to where you can book everything together - as, you know, a package. But when you click it, you get a pop-up saying you have to book the hotel and flight separately, and the only option for each is via an ad with an OTA. The CTA was labelled as an ad, but I searched for other opportunities to make the booking directly, and none existed. It appears the entire Packages tab is one big ad for OTAs. So, after falling down the rabbit hole of Google's travel tool, the one thing I was getting further away from with every click was the hotel's website. Also, at no time did I consider checking organic results to see what came up in my searches. Considering the OTAs tend to dominate organic results, it's clear how Google is impacting their traffic with their entrance into the booking world. But after all the time and money hotels spend on being visible in organic results, it seems that Google's moves are making their own results pages obsolete for travel. Clicking on a hotel in the local pack brings you to a variety of ways to get you to click on an ad and keep that cash register ringing over at Google headquarters. How this will translate for your website is a reduction in organic traffic year over year, especially for non-branded searches, even as search trends for hotels in your city remain steady or grow. Google is investing a lot to develop ways to keep people searching and also converting on Google, with the lucrative travel industry becoming their bread and butter. It seems we've been ushered into a new era where the friend you relied upon has become the foe. For more information about how to keep your hotel website relevant & not lose out on direct booking traffic, contact the experts at Vizergy. Witnessing the tragedy of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris brings to mind the incalculable value of our own historic places of worship. It also brings to mind how dismissively we treat them, at least until theyre gone. The citys cultural heritage of sacred spaces, so many of them Catholic, are not being burned to the ground but are being slowly eradicated. The immediate reasons are the emptying of the pews and the loss of priests. But the ultimate reason for this erosion of Catholic cultural heritage is the refusal within the church to look at obvious solutions: the ordination of married priests, the ordination of women, a rethinking of the papal teachings on sex that have driven away so many young people and more than a few old ones, and an authentic reconsideration of the unaccountable and nontransparent way in which the church is governed. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asias largest hospitality company, last week, announced the launch of a new hotel brand - SeleQtions which is a collection of named and distinctive properties. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), South Asias largest hospitality company, last week, announced the launch of a new hotel brand - SeleQtions which is a collection of named and distinctive properties. SeleQtions was launched with 12 hotels across the country. The vision for the brand is to celebrate individuality, by offering unique experiences through landmark hotels that have their own legacy and charm. Speaking on the occasion, Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL said, SeleQtions will allow IHCL to cater to a broader audience of travelers who prefer staying in hotels with a distinctive character. SeleQtions also includes hotels that have a slice of history, defining location or a differentiated theme. We believe the brand has immense potential to grow. The 12 hotels in the first phase include properties present in seven key lodging markets of India: President, Mumbai; Ambassador, New Delhi; The Connaught, New Delhi; Blue Diamond, Pune; Cidade de Goa; Tajview, Agra and Devi Ratn, Jaipur. The other hotels are Pratap Mahal Ajmer; Savoy, Ooty; Gateway Coonoor; Gateway Chikmagalur and Gateway Varkala. For those hotels which are independent - IHCL offers its robust infrastructure including global reservation systems, the award winning Taj InnerCircle loyalty program and sales and marketing support. 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 months, Jussie Smollett has told us all that he is an innocent man after being accused of staging his own hate crime. If you ask him, he really was jumped at 2 in the morning on a cool Chicago night, had a noose tied around his neck, bleach poured over him, and racist and homophobic profanities yelled in his face. After all of the charges were dropped against him, we have no alternative but to believe him. After all, he's been proven innocent in a court of law, right? Not entirely. Empire fans and those who have followed the story closely are not convinced in the least bit that Smollett was actually attacked. That appears to include his friends because while on a vacation in Hawaii, Jussie was videotaped arguing with his friend on the phone, attempting to assert his innocence and repeatedly saying that he didn't plan the attack. Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images In a video captured by Daily Mail, the actor can be seen pacing around a parking lot while on the phone with his friend. Jussie was animated during the conversation, gesturing with his hands and seemingly getting upset that his friend was not buying his story. "Ryan. Ryan. You have to believe me," he reportedly says. "I did not do this. The charges were dropped. I got off." According to witnesses, members of Smollett's family were dining at a restaurant close by. Watch the video here. On her quest to become the next great social justice warrior attorney, Kim Kardashian West has been met with many critics who doubt the reality star. Kim has worked with the president on criminal justice and prison reform, aiding in the release of two inmates, Alice Marie Johnson and Matthew Charles. She recently shared an Instagram photo of herself as she was engulfed in her studies, a post that included a lengthy caption where Kim responded to those who attributed her ability to become an attorney to her connections, fame, and wealth status. As Kim continues with her attorney aspirations, her own lawyer, Shawn Holley, video chatted with TMZ to co-sign Kim. Holley said that she's known Kim for years as she worked her Kim's father, Robert Kardashian, on the O.J. Simpson trial back in the early 1990s. "She has always, even as a young girl, been interested in this area, Holley said. "Be it from a legal standpoint or [an] investigation standpoint, this is something she's always been interested in, always asked my questions about over the years. She has, over the years, called me out of the blue to ask questions about investigations or the law. "It is a true, authentic interest that she has had for a very, very long time," Holley continued. "During the whole Alice Marie Johnson period of time that we were working with the lawyers to get her out, Kim...she was involved far more than you might imagine. She wanted to be on the calls with the lawyers. She wanted to strategize, get involved with legal strategy and not just the part where she talked to Jared or Ivanka. So, to be honest with you, it's not surprising at all to me that she would take it to the next step. When asked if Kim would be defending clients in a court of law, Holley was unsure. "I think she wants to continue doing what she's already doing which is helping people get out of prison who are serving far too much time for their misdeeds. I think she is truly interested in being a justice warrior and she walks the walk, she talks the talk, she puts her money where her mouth is. There was nothing that was asked of her during my working with Alice Marie Johnson that she wasn't ready, willing, and able to do at the drop of a hat." Holley went on to say that Kim wants to have a better knowledge of the law, legal ramifications, and understanding of the complication jargon involved in the cases she plans to handle. According to Holley, the apprenticeship that Kim is involved in with her studies to become a lawyer is the same as attending law school. "The State Bar allows you to study law by doing it the way she's doing it," Holley told TMZ. "It's the equivalent to a law school education." This T.I. and Kodak Black feud has fans wondering when, and if, it's ever going to end, but instead of pumping the breaks on the back and forth, Kodak slammed his foot on the gas and is charging full steam ahead. We previously reported that T.I. was working on a new track where he made mention of his ongoing tit-for-tat with Kodak. "I'm conditioned to see the vision, you/ I don't care if you eight or under twenty-two/ All that back and forth, what you trying to get into?/ I said what I said and I meant it to," T.I. rapped on the track that was previewed on Instagram Live. The Atlanta rapper has chastised Kodak for his words about Lauren London following Nipsey Hussle's murder, ultimately removing the Florida rapper from his Trap Music Museum. As T.I. wanted to keep this beef on waxand well, InstagramKodak followed suit and released a song of his own today. However, he wasn't as aloof with his lyrics, taking aim at T.I. and his wife Tiny. He called Tiny a "b*tch" and "piggy" who is "ugly as hell," words that will no doubt infuriate Tip because we all know that he doesn't play when it comes to his family. Kodak also slips in a Nipsey reference by stating that someone who's been going at him didn't even know the late rapper and "I know some Rollin' 60s." Quotable Lyrics Said they ride for me 'til the wheel fall off, I be like oh really How you tell me what came out my mouth, you don't even know Nipsey Tiny that b*tch ugly as hell, I don't even want Piggy I can't beat you n*ggas at talkin' give me a long sentence You know I keep the pole and I ain't no ho, I know some Rollin' 60's Le'Veon Bell had a very public breakup with the Pittsburgh Steelers that ended with the Steelers forgoing the franchise tag process and letting Bell walk away. Bell ended up signing a deal with the New York Jets and he seems to be pretty happy about his decision. Immediately after signing his deal, Bell did an interview where he explained how he had no regrets and ended up with a "beautiful" contract. "I don't regret anything that had happened," Bell said according to ESPN. "Everything's happened for a reason. Who can say that if I played last year, you know, if I do go out and play last year on a one-year franchise tag, if I do get hurt, do I end up sitting in this position today, being with the New York Jets on a beautiful deal?" While performing at the HQ2 Nightclub at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City over the weekend, Bell showed off his Jets pride by displaying a Jets logo on the screen behind him. There were "JETS" chants going on as Bell performed songs from his recent mixtape, "Life's A Gamble." The footage above was obtained by TMZ and it seems as though both the fans and Bell himself are very excited about his upcoming season. It is no secret that America's going through troubling times right now. In fact, the topic of American politics remains hotly debated since Donald Trump settled in office. The ensuing conversation surrounding the American president's antics constantly finds way to the top of the news. And with Trump in the White House (and on Twitter), the public opinion continues to echo loudly across social media platforms to either support or condemn his acts. Though a touchy subject, freedom of speech fortunately allows all to both share and be entitled to their opinions. As such, former first lady, the beloved Michelle Obama felt confident to speak on Trump's America during a press tour stop for her New York best-selling memoir Becoming. Sadly, things went left for the Harvard-educated author when she experienced a good old case of foot-in-the-mouth syndrome. https://twitter.com/_/status/1117780824924065793 During a chat with political commentator and television show host Stephen Colbert, Ms. Obama attempted to convey an explanation via metaphor to America's issues with their current president. She must have ran out of ideas because she used divorced dads to prove her point. More specifically, the verbal mishap unravelled when Michelle related America's issues as similar to spending the weekend with a divorced dad. Though we're all susceptible to nervousness and poorly thought out rhetoric, many divorced dads and affiliates did not respond well to the metaphor. While others jumped at the opportunity to let Michelle Obama have it. https://twitter.com/_/status/1118206695967059968 https://twitter.com/_/status/1118207970461065217 https://twitter.com/_/status/1118220481470054400 https://twitter.com/_/status/1118211774111723520 https://twitter.com/_/status/1117722822258954241 https://twitter.com/_/status/1117904761238372352 [Via] It's always welcome when two iconic artists link up, and today finds Nas and Mary J Blige uniting for a co-headlining tour. Hitting twenty-two stops across Canada and the United States, Nas and Mary J. will be setting it off on July 19th with a Palm Beach concert. The tour will continue throughout the summer, hitting Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Nevada, Toronto, and more. Intruiged parties can buy tickets this Friday at 10Am, via Live Nation. Craig Barritt/Getty Images Will they perform "Braveheart Party" though? Doubtful. Yet the pair have many collaborations in the cut, including "Love Is All You Need," "Feel Inside," and "Reach Out." If you're interested in witnessing these two legends in action, be sure to check out the full list of dates below, courtesy of Pitchfork. Should you see a ^ beside a given date, the shows in question are without Nas. 07-19 West Palm Beach, FL - Coral Sky Amphitheatre at the S. Florida Fairgrounds 07-13 Tampa, FL - MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre at the FL State Fairgrounds 07-14 Jacksonville, FL - Daily's Place ^ 07-16 Atlanta, GA - Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park 07-20 Atlantic City, NJ - Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena ^ 07-21 Virginia Beach, VA - Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater 07-24 Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion 07-25 Raleigh, NC - Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek 07-28 Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre 07-31 St. Louis, MO - Hollywood Casino Amphitheater 08-02 Houston, TX - The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 08-03 Austin, TX - Austin360 Amphitheater 08-06 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre 08-09 Phoenix, AZ - Ak-Chin Pavilion 08-14 San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre 08-16 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint ^ 08-17 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint ^ 08-20 Albuquerque, NM - Isleta Amphitheater 08-22 Dallas, TX - Dos Equis Pavilion 08-25 Tuscaloosa, AL - Tuscaloosa Amphitheater 08-31 Syracuse, NY - St Josephs Health Amphitheater 09-01 Boston, MA - Xfinity Center 09-10 Toronto, Ontario - Budweiser Stage Revisionist history adds a noted sense of immediacy to the legendary Jay-Z Vs. Nas beef. Yet in reality, the time between opening volley and counterstrike was unusually long, especially by today's standards. Jay-Zs Takeover was released on September 11th, 2001 and Nas dropped Ether on December 4th of that same year. In this day and age, such a delay would be perceived as weakness. Its not uncommon to hear people say they on the clock once the first shot is fired. Perhaps such a mentality is fuelled purely by selfish bloodlust, as a fast turnaround means new, and often passionate, music. Yet this proverbial clock tends to present a false narrative; a delayed response time should not be mistaken for cowardice, though it so often is. Consider a few of last years prominent feuds, namely Drake Vs. Pusha T and Eminem Vs. Machine Gun Kelly. The former feud found Drakes Duppy facing off against Pusha Ts The Story Of Adidon. While tension had been simmering between both parties for some time, the notorious beef unfolded over one incendiary week. Pusha Ts Infrared dropped on May 25th. Drake responded to the subs with Duppy, which he released on that same day. Four days later, Pusha T replied with The Story Of Adidon on May 29th. One of the years biggest feuds unfolded in fewer than ninety-six hours. Eminem and Machine Gun Kellys beef transpired with a similarly brief turnaround time. On August 31st, Eminem set it off with Not Alike. Machine Gun Kelly clapped back on September 8th with Rap Devil. Eminem concluded the war with Killshot on September 14th; in dryly comedic fashion, our own post title for Killshot comes complete with an emphatic Finally. In hindsight, I suppose were all guilty of getting caught in the hype on a reactionary basis. In such a competitive sport, the preservation of reputation can feel like the end-all-be-all. Its not easy to have ones dirty laundry aired in such a public forum, allowing millions of social media users to judge, troll, ridicule, memeify, and malleate an already volatile narrative. If one hundred thousand people clamor for an immediate response, prematurely citing cowardice in the event it never comes, the court of public opinion ultimately runs the risk of shifting against the defendant. Lest we forget, however, that back in 2002 Eminem unleashed two diss tracks to Benzino in The Sauce and Nail In The Coffin. Both tracks were penned in response to Zinos Pull Your Skirt Up, and released a month-and-a-half after its release. Now Imagine Eminem took one-and-a-half months to respond to Machine Gun Kelly. Even if Killshot remained exactly as is, its entirely possible that the modern world would have moved on, the sheen of the battle long having dulled. Yet when Nas and Jay-Z went to war all those years ago, that was hardly the case. The landscape was vastly different, with little-to-no social media. Print outlets like The Source and XXL carried notable weight in providing news and insight into hip-hop culture. Thats not to say the fan response to Takeover was any different than a modern-day post-diss high. Yet the public sense of urgency was far more contained, largely expressed through word of mouth by sheer necessity. I was only twelve when I heard Takeover, and I can still remember hearing Ether for the first time, downloading it in my friends basement. There was no timeline analysis or questioning of reputation gained and lost, only an appreciation of Nas unrelenting and ruthless bars. Were social media to be in play, it would have likely shifted perception. The risk of groupthink is never far, and its easy to imagine Takeover as being premium meme fodder. Imagine the lines you were a ballerina, I got the pictures Ive seen ya, complete with legions of amateur PhotoShops depicting exactly that. Case in point, examine this REACTIONS post to Drakes Duppy for some context. In fairness, the birth of meme culture would have likely added an additional layer of comedy to some of hip-hops classic feuds. And its not as if people should be blamed for living the internet era. Its no secret that news travels faster now, with endless content available at the bat of an eyelash. This generation has long been associated with Instant Gratification, due largely in part to the internets facilitation of damn near everything. Now, if Drake wants to hit the studio and release Duppy, he can upload it to SoundCloud hours later (as he did). Twenty years ago, Drake would have had to resort to different measures altogether. Consider that some of the greatest diss tracks in hip-hop history, including Takeover and Ether, were released on official studio albums. In fact, many prominent diss records arrived on physical copies, which meant above all else, the printing process. 2Pacs Hit Em Up was originally released on June 4th, 1996, as a B-Side to the How Do U Want It single. We mustnt forget that Hit Em Up was penned as a response to Biggies Who Shot Ya, which was released all the way back on February 20th, 1995. Yet when we look back on their feud with a historians lens, Biggie and Pacs still stands among hip-hops most storied beefs. Likewise for Ice Cubes war with his former group NWA, which ultimately spawned the classic No Vaseline. Given that NWA wasted little time in blasting Cube on their albums 100 Miles and Runnin' (August 14th, 1990) and N****z4Life (May 28th, 1991), Cube ultimately felt compelled to place nail firmly in coffin. On October 29th, 1991, five months after NWA dubbed him Benedict Arnold, Ice Cube delivered No Vaseline. Today, a five-month delay between diss tracks is unheard of. Instead, eight-day delays are eternal. Four-days is fair game. Twenty-four hours is ideal. We recently saw Tory Lanez earn praise for his approach to diss-track marketing, which found him engaging in two spirited tilts with Joyner Lucas and Don Q. The former found him releasing two tracks in fewer than forty-eight hours, a pace matched by Joyner. The latter found Lanez responding to Qs Im Not Joyner in fewer than twenty-four. Now imagine if Don Q, or Joyner Lucas for that matter, issued a response tonight. How do you think his efforts would be met? UPDATE: A spokesperson for Russell Simmons has provided us with the following statement: "The anonymous accusers assertion that Mr. Simmons is hiding out in Bali, a country that does not have any extradition treaty with the United States, is false, as are her other accusations against Mr. Simmons, which she claims took place 31 years ago. Likewise, the accusation that Mr. Simmons has traveled to Bali many times over the years, but in the midst of multiple accusations last year, has not yet returned is also false. The fact is Mr. Simmons has been in and out of the United States six times in the last year and will be back for his childs graduation. The accuser, who has been convicted of a crime, is hoping to hit the lottery in this case, asking at least $10 million based on these false allegations." Russell Simmons was one of the first men in the music industry to be accused of sexual assault during the rise of the #MeToo movement. He's denied any wrongdoing, even launching a movement called #NotMe, but the judge denied his plea of a dismissal. Now, the music mogul was reportedly set to be deposed but, according to one of his accusers, he fled the country to dodge prosecution. Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images Simmons was recently spotted in Indonesia where he's reportedly searching for spiritual enlightenment, but The Blast reports that one of his accusers claims he only went to the country in order to protect himself. She said that he fled to Indonesia which has no extradition treaty with the United States in an apparent attempt to protect himself. Simmons has been trying to get the case thrown out over "unsubstantiated allegations," continuing to claim that Jane Doe filed the suit after the statute of limitation expired. Doe claims she has a thorough case behind her evidence and had planned on questioning Simmons during a deposition. However, because Simmons is in Indonesia, she says, It is unlikely he will return to the United States to be deposed in this case and face arrest and imprisonment. Simmons has frequently traveled to Bali in the past, but following the allegations that emerged last year, he went and decided to stay. Or maybe he doesnt want to know. The list of his expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment runs long. Remember how he fueled his political rise with bogus claims in 2011 that President Barack Obama was a Muslim born outside the United States? Remember his campaign vow to ban Muslims from entering this nation "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on?" Remember his repeated claim, also debunked, of thousands and thousands of terrorist sympathizers celebrating in New Jersey during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? Remember his saying on Fox Business in October 2016 that he would certainly look at the idea of closing mosques in the United States? In the highly-anticipated premiere of the sophomore season of T.I. & Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle last night, the Harris household wastes no time in jumping right back into the family drama, personal curveballs and professional pursuits that make their unique dynamic so intriguing. Joined by season one regulars Toya, Monica, Reginae and LeToya, the Harrises navigate the peaks and pitfalls of life in the public eye while proving time and again that to be family, you don't always have to be blood. As said so eloquently by Tip himself in the teaser for the premiere, "We all goin' through life's ups and downs and nobody can really tell what the future holds." Paras Griffin/Getty Images Warning: Spoilers Ahead Martial Bliss...Under One Roof? From cheating scandals, constant claims of infidelity to divorce filings and more, there's no denying that Tiny and wife T.I. have gone through it all together. While they have now finally reconciled and agreed to put the past behind them, that doesn't mean that it's all smooth sailing for the formerly estranged couple. With his house in full reno-mode, Tip had no choice but to move into Tiny's house while work on the lake house wraps up and he is very vocal about wanting to get back into his own space. Lounging next to one another on Tiny's bed, Tip reminds his wife that his place is better in nearly every way (including a more comfortable bed) and he can't wait to get out of her "raggedy-ass" digs. Reminding him of their vows, Tiny then playfully prods Tip that's what's hers is his, and this is their house, not just hers--until they can both move into the lake house together. Going off of their intimacy and chemistry, it's clear that all really is well between the longtime couple, even if Tip has to slum it in Tameka's less-than-modest house. "I'm excited to move back in with my husband, and you know, make things work," said Tiny. Zonnique's An Independent Woman With the family all gathered in the kitchen, Tip and Tiny prod Zonnique about stepping out from under their thumb and shacking up with boyfriend Bandhunta Izzy. Niq Niq is nothing but smiles as she reassures her fam that she's happy, and they, in turn, offer their support for coming into her own as a fully-grown, independent woman. Clarifying just what "shacking up" means for the benefit of the younger Harris children, Tip tells everyone that Niq Niq is letting Izzy "put the thing on it before he puts a ring on it." Swooping in to save her daughter, Tiny then playfully reminds Tip that he shacked up for 10 years before getting down on one knee. Put Tip in his place, Tiny. Family Matters While all lounging together in the living room, Tip checks in with his kids about how they're doing in school and in general. It's no surprise that Tip's oldest daughter Deyjah is loving school and excelling (she gave the senior speech for her graduating class and is now college bound), but that's not the case for all of the kids. "King doesn't see much value in his education right now," revealed Tip in a talking head. If you remember back in season one of Friends and Family Hustle, King's failing grades were a huge stressor in the still-strained relationship between Tip and Tiny. Clearly, things aren't looking up for King and his rebellious streak/disinterest in school. Will Tip be able to lay down the law in a way that makes King finally get in line? Wrapping up the family convo, Tiny pipes in and adds that with everyone growing up and moving out, she wants to enforce a strict attendance policy for their Sunday night dinners. She mentions Kim Porter's passing as the proverbial slap in the face that she needed to remind her just how short life really is. https://www.instagram.com/p/BwSiZD_AhPv Tommi Needs To Step Up There's no doubt that Tommi and LeToya are fully besotted with their newborn baby girl. Showing off their new (temporary) apartment as they are having a house custom built in Dallas, LeToya explains to Tommi just how caring for their one-month-old daughter is going to go down. Refusing to be the only one putting in the work and doing the hard jobs like tending to their daughter Giana's tongue-tie condition, LeToya is kind but firm in her demands for Tommi to step up. "I ain't the big bad mom," says LeToya. "That's not what's goin' on here, and there's about to be some changes." Also, while Giana's birth brought LeToya closer to her mother and her once-estranged father, tensions escalated when LeToya's father shared a screenshot of their FaceTime call with the public without her knowledge. A bold move for a man who just recently re-entered his daughter's life in a major way. Toya's Money Moves Steady with money on her mind, Toya fills Tiny in on her latest move for her Before Bed Headz bonnet line, which is, putting her products in mall vending machines. Ever the supportive friend, Tiny is here for Toya's idea and builds it up. Piggybacking off of Tiny hyping her up, Toya reveals that her motivation is treating her well in both business and in her personal life as she and Red are still rock solid. With a new fitness venture in the works, Toya is no doubt securing the bag. Monica's Vocal Cord Emergency Now, this is something you definitely don't see every episode-- Monica keeping her mouth shut and staying quiet. When Tiny and Toya pay Monica a visit, she has to communicate exclusively through a text-to-talk app on her phone as the doctor told her she's suffering from a vocal cord injury. Gotta keep those pipes in working order for the Super Bowl weekend concert! Eager to back up her talent, Monica says that she's never lip synced before and she's not about to start now. "I've never known Monica to be at a loss for words," said Toya. "This is really different." Toya And The Girls Freeze It Off Toya, Reginae, Tiny and Niq Niq hit the CyroClub to burn calories and freeze off some inches with cyrotherapy. Reginae reveals that since her pilot just got picked up, she's eager to shed some pounds to look trim on the small screen (and yes, for those of you wondering-- she's still with YFN Lucci at this time). While Niq Niq is down to freeze and tone up, she takes the time to throw another jab at Tiny about her mandatory Sunday dinners. Here's to hoping the girls get snatched from spending time in the super cooler. In contrast, Tip shows off his own fitness journey with an intense workout session alongside K-Dubb, son Messiah and his personal trainer. Aiming for a prison body without the jail time, Tip works to push his pain threshold to the max while pumping some serious iron. While at the gym, Tip hounds Messiah about how he wants to celebrate his upcoming 19th birthday and pushes him to reflect on what he wants out of life. Although he is uncomfortable with the impromptu heart-to-heart, Messiah reveals that he has his sights set on conquering the music world. LeToya's Postpartum Problems In a conversation with her mother, LeToya lets it all hang out. Irritated by her mother's prodding, LeToya quickly sets the record straight that she's well aware of the fact that everything is different after baby. Not only did her entire life change, but her body changed as well. From the weight gain that accompanies pregnancy to the breastfeeding-boob-drop struggle, she's fully tuned-in to what's going on under her clothes. She also lets her mother know about her father's newfound interest in her life thanks to Giana's arrival, and makes it clear that the two need to put their differences aside when they're around their granddaughter. There's no room for drama in this chapter of LeToya's life. A New Love Connection For Tip and Tiny? A newly-committed T.I. is now fully invested in keeping the spark alive in his marriage to Tiny. Organizing a date night for the two of them, T.I. shows his wife just how attentive and interested he is in her life and in return, Tiny nearly glows with affection for her man. The two dish on their future plans, their struggle to keep King's head out of the clouds and his schooling on track, and the ongoing renovations at the lake house. Sunday Dinner Tiny sticks to her guns and is able to pull off the "Harris Sunday Family dinner" that the kids have been griping about for the entire episode. Joined by Tiny's mom, Tip's mom and his late sister Precious, the family sits down to break bread and bond. Despite all the good vibes, dinner time heats up when King gets loud about wanting to put school on the back burner and focus on his budding music career. Quick to shut him down, Tip reminds his son that he hasn't put in enough work to make it to the top and that success in the industry doesn't just happen overnight. After all, who would know better than the King of the South himself? "When you get outta school, the struggle don't stop," says T.I. in a heart-to-heart with his son. Apple and Qualcomm announced Tuesday that they have settled their yearslong litigation over the use of Qualcomm's chips in Apple's iPhones. The agreement includes the dismissal of all litigation between the two companies worldwide and includes a six-year licensing agreement and a multiyear supply agreement. According to a statement from the companies, Apple will also make a payment of an unspecified amount to Qualcomm. The agreement was announced after lawyers for Apple made their opening argument in what was expected to be a three-week trial in a San Diego federal court. Before the case settled, each side made blistering arguments attacking the other. Apple lawyer Ruffin Cordell accused Qualcomm of tricking standards bodies into using antiquated technology and then price-gouging Apple and its contract manufacturers into paying for technology they didn't need. In response, Qualcomm lawyer Evan Chesler revealed new documents that he said outlined a five-year plot by Apple to weaken the San Diego company through litigation to extract lower prices for technology in the iPhone. Then Apple did exactly what it had outlined in its secret plan, Chesler said, suing the company and twisting the arms of contract manufacturers to withhold royalty payments from Qualcomm. "This is like watching a play that you've already seen," Chesler said in court. The settlement between the companies sent Qualcomm's stock soaring 22% Tuesday, raising the fortunes of the embattled company almost instantly. Qualcomm laid off more than 1,500 employees last year, in part to handle the onslaught of litigation and to reduce costs in the wake of a hostile takeover bid by rival Broadcom. Qualcomm is still facing headwinds, including from Apple, which opened an office in San Diego in an effort to hire wireless-industry talent and develop its own modem chip. The wireless industry is competitive, and if Qualcomm can't stay at the forefront of the technology, it could lose its edge. Tuesday's settlement is the culmination of a case that began in January 2017, when Apple alleged that the chipmaker and wireless pioneer had a stranglehold on the market for wireless modem chips that, until recently, were used in the iPhone. Apple contends that Qualcomm leveraged its position to overcharge for its patent licenses. Rather than bend to Apple's demands, Qualcomm countersued. Then Apple sued back. There were more than 80 lawsuits between the two companies in Asia, Europe and the United States. As the price of an iPhone has increased over the years, Qualcomm also earned more money because its technology licensing agreements were based on the wholesale price of the phone. Apple found this fact particularly irksome. Unlike other handset-makers, Apple managed to negotiate its fee to about $7.50 per unit, according to court filings and a person familiar with the matter. That's a price Apple still believes is too high. Apple also took issue with Qualcomm's sale of model chips, in addition to a licensing fee that bundled all of Qualcomm's technology together. At Tuesday's trial, Apple argued that was like paying twice and likened it to buying Kentucky Fried Chicken and then being charged extra for a license for all the methods and spices that went into cooking the chicken. Qualcomm argued that the bundle of technology patents includes not just the chip technology but myriad wireless tech that Apple needs in its iPhones. Apple was asking to pay for its chicken and get a side of potatoes for free, Qualcomm said Tuesday. Some nations have taken a dim view of Qualcomm's licensing strategy. In 2015, the Chinese government fined the company $975 million for the way it bundles its licenses, forcing more favorable terms for Chinese manufacturers. In December 2016, South Korea fined Qualcomm $865 million for allegedly refusing to license competing chipset companies, an assertion Qualcomm denies. The two sides eventually reached a settlement. Then, in January 2017, the Federal Trade Commission brought its own case against Qualcomm stemming from the same issues. Qualcomm defended itself in an 11-day trial in January. The company is awaiting a decision from Judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the trial. The terms of Apple's new licensing agreement with Qualcomm were not disclosed Tuesday, and it's unclear whether those terms will still put Qualcomm in the crosshairs of the FTC. Qualcomm could have licensing agreements with other companies that the FTC may find problematic. The FTC case marked the beginning of a tough year for Qualcomm. Apple filed its lawsuit later that month. Then, in November 2017, Broadcom made an unsolicited offer. When Qualcomm's board rejected the deal, it turned into a hostile takeover bid. In March, the United States blocked the Broadcom takeover bid, citing concerns that the deal would hurt innovation and give foreign companies an advantage in developing cutting-edge wireless technology. Before Tuesday, Apple had stopped making royalty payments, costing Qualcomm more than $7 billion, putting financial strain on the company and forcing it to curtail some research and development. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf and Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose relationship grew tense in recent months, were both set to testify in the trial that settled Tuesday. The settlement hurt both companies, weakening Qualcomm and taking from Apple a potential supplier of 5G wireless technology. Apple has fallen behind its competitors in incorporating the new wireless standards in its phones. The two companies went so far as to select a jury Monday and to summarize their arguments in opening statements in court Tuesday, but they didn't wait to see what a panel of ordinary people would think about who was right and who was wrong in the acrimonious battle. Just before Qualcomm finished its opening remarks, the two sides came to an agreement. Frances luxury-goods tycoons are among the countrys wealthiest individuals and companies to pledge at least 600 million euros ($678 million) to help in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral a day after the Paris landmark was ravaged by fire. Kicking off a wave of donations in response to a call from President Emmanuel Macron for a fund-raising campaign, Francois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and chief executive officer of Gucci owner Kering SA, and his father, Francois Pinault, said Tuesday they would donate 100 million euros from their Artemis investment company. Their archrival, the Arnault family, responded minutes later with a pledge of 200 million euros and the architectural and design resources of their LVMH fashion conglomerate. Cosmetics company LOreal SA and its principal shareholder, the Bettencourt Meyers family, will give 100 million euros, while the familys charitable foundation will chip in another 100 million euros, the company said. FEAR OVERSEAS: Houston's faithful react as treasured icon burns down This tragedy is striking all the French people, and beyond that, all those attached to spiritual values, Francois-Henri Pinault, 56, said in a statement. Faced with this tragedy, everyone wishes to give life back to this jewel of our heritage as soon as possible. Corporate and individual gifts poured in, along with offers of technical assistance, from France and abroad. Macron, who vowed to rebuild the 850-year-old Gothic monument, called for contributions and said he would draw on the worlds best talents for the task. Its unclear how much it will cost to repair the cathedral. Windsor Castle in England was hit by a fire in 1992, and restoration work cost 37 million pounds ($48 million) by the time it was completed five years later, according to the Royal Collection Trust. Restoration of Notre Dame was already under way before the fire, with a budget of about 150 million euros, Michel Picaud, of the fund-raising group the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, said in an interview on BFM TV. That may need to be tripled after the fire, he said. Luxury fortunes dominate the upper reaches of Frances wealth landscape and are already behind some restoration projects in the city. The elder Pinault, 82, is the worlds 23rd richest person, with a fortune estimated at $37.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. WHO IS AT FAULT: Experts point to a combination of factors that led to fire Bernard Arnault, 70, is the main shareholder of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and ranks third globally and first in France with a $90.4 billion fortune. LOreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the countrys second-wealthiest and the worlds richest woman with a $53.5 billion fortune. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is considering convening in the coming weeks a conference of international donors to raise the money needed for the restoration, she said Tuesday on Twitter. Germany stands ready to help in the closest friendship, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. We are united in mourning, he added. Oil producer Total SA, Frances biggest company by sales, will contribute 100 million euros to the private non-profit Fondation du Patrimoine for the project, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said. Martin Bouygues and Olivier Bouygues, the brothers who run construction and telecom company Bouygues SA, committed 10 million euros in personal funds and the company said it also would donate. Technology consulting firm Capgemini SE pledged 1 million euros. In the U.S., private-equity titan Henry Kravis and his wife, Marie-Josee Kravis, will give $10 million, they said. Construction company Vinci SA, the Duval family that owns property developer Groupe Duval, and banks BNP Paribas SA, Societe Generale SA and Credit Agricole SA also said they would give. Vinci suggests all building companies in France should join forces to rebuild Notre Dame in an industry-wide skills sponsorship drive, the company said in a statement, noting that the 13th-century wooden beams holding up the roof can never be replaced, while the remaining structure must be safeguarded. Authorities on Tuesday were still assessing the damage from the fire and werent saying how much it would cost to restore the cathedral, which lost large swaths of its roof. Today we must look at the extent of the damage, Culture Minister Franck Riester said on LCI television, adding that only then can the cost of restoration be determined. Clearly money is important, but there will be many donations and money wont be the thing thats missing, Antoine Arnault, Bernard Arnaults son, said in an interview on BFM TV. What will be needed is something more intangible -- extremely competent people with good ideas. LVMH has architectural and artistic savoir faire, as well as expertise in art preservation because of its Louis Vuitton foundation, he said. MORNING REPORT | NEWSLETTER: Get all the news you need to start your day in Houston. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Almost immediately after a for sale sign went up at the northeast corner of Shepherd and Bissonnet, husband-and-wife developers Steve and Hilary Zaic Ybarra made an offer on the property. Within a few months, they had closed on the site, still unsure what they would do with it. The Ybarras, who live in this area just north of Rice University, decided a restaurant with an outdoor patio would be an amenity residents would embrace. The goal was to have something in the neighborhood they could walk to, Hilary Zaic Ybarra said. Their new project at 2132 Bissonnet is nearing completion, and its first tenant - a cafe and bar called Tropicales - will open May 5. They declined to disclose the cost of the development. The Ybarras project is one of the latest new developments along the stretch of Bissonnet from Kirby to the Museum District, long a hodgepodge of townhomes and small retailers operating out of strip centers or in converted houses. Much of that development activity has taken place west of Kirby, a major commercial thoroughfare, where there are larger tracts to be redeveloped. Last month, a developer demolished a commercial property from the 1960s just west of Kirby to make room for a new shopping center. Sugar Land-based Cornerbrook Cos. is developing the property at 2715 Bissonnet, and BPI Realty Services is leasing it. A restaurant group, a spa and a medical user have been in negotiations to lease space there, said Cornerbrooks George Kaleh. Another property, across from the Coca-Cola bottling plant at 2800 Bissonnet, went up for sale last summer and could become one of the areas largest redevelopment projects when it sells. A onetime industrial site dating to 1950, it sits on 15.6 acres. Quiet to the east Little new has been built along the eastern stretch of Bissonnet. A residential tower, the so-called Ashby high-rise, has been proposed at 1717 Bissonnet for years, but neighborhood opposition, among other reasons, has stalled the project. The Ybarras hope to breath new life in the corner at Shepherd. The couple formed Platform Investment Group to develop urban sites with an emphasis on design and walkability. They hired Michael Hsu Office of Architecture to design the building and SWA to landscape the site. Branding firm FODA Studio designed a sculptural address marker that was inspired by the historic blue tile signs seen on Houstons oldest street curbs. Were both former architects, so we wanted to make design a big focus, Steve Ybarra said on a recent tour of the three-story brick and aluminum building. The restaurant, in which the couple has a stake, is a collaboration with Houstons David Buehrer, owner of Greenway Coffee. It will serve Latin- and Gulf Coast-inspired items with a specialty cocktail menu. Westlake Dermatology, a plastic surgery and dermatology group with multiple locations in Austin, will also be a tenant. The practice is expected to open this fall. And the Ybarras plan to move Platform's offices to the 11,500-square-foot building. The couple, both 35, met in architecture school at Yale and have two other projects in the works. They are renovating a 7,200-square-foot brick building built in the 1940s at the corner of Harrisburg Boulevard and York Street in the East End. The property, just down from the former Maxwell House plant and in front of a rail stop along Metro's Green Line, is slated become a bar and events space. They also own a 25,390-square-foot site at 615 West Gray in Montrose. Soon after Robin Olsen left her job in the Denver office of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., she drafted a letter with her lawyers help. Anadarko has a culture of treating women as sexual playthings who are present at work merely for mens sexual gratification, it said. Olsens 2017 letter to Anadarko went on to describe a toxic culture in the satellite office, where 550 of the companys 4,700 employees work, and where she said sexual harassment wasnt punished and women who complained about it were. Anadarko, which agreed last week to be sold to Chevron Corp. for $33 billion, vigorously disputes Olsens characterizations of the company. BIG DEAL: Chevron to buy Anadarko in $33B mega deal Even as the #MeToo movement -- and the backlash against it -- rolls through the corridors of power, the energy industry has largely escaped the scandals that have ensnared scores of prominent men in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Washington and beyond. Interviews with six former employees of Anadarkos Denver office paint a detailed picture of a place where life can be particularly difficult for women. The ex-employees spoke on condition of anonymity because they still have dealings with Anadarko or arent authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Loutish Behavior Allegations include loutish behavior, such as the supervisor who joked that women seeking to advance their careers should be prepared to provide oral sex. They include talk about stunted careers, how the women became stuck in their jobs while the men they complained about moved up the corporate ladder. About how men were promoted while women with comparable experience werent -- such as the company announcing that the three male graduates of a leadership-training seminar would get better jobs than the three females in the same class. Olsens letter to the company alleges that two high-ranking executives had sexual relationships with subordinates, an account corroborated in an affidavit, reviewed by Bloomberg, from Olsens former supervisor, Christopher Castilian. Changed Company Womens complaints changed the company. After the behavior was exposed, Anadarko said it launched a formal sexual-harassment training program. Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarkos Denver office oversees operations in Colorado and Wyoming, where nearly half the companys onshore acreage is located. ANTITRUST: Chevron-Anadarko merger unlikely to run into antitrust problems For its part, Chevron has a zero-tolerance policy, and any form of workplace discrimination -- gender, racial or otherwise -- is unacceptable, spokesman Kent Robertson said in an email. In the oil and gas industry, just one of every five employees is female. At Anadarko, less than one-quarter of employees worldwide are female. Women account for 2 percent of industry chief executives, compared with 5 percent for S&P 500 companies. One of Anadarkos six executive officers is a woman. Two of the former Anadarko employees spoke of a supervisor, known for joking that female employees should provide oral sex to get better jobs, who was promoted while the women who complained about him were passed over and eventually left the company. One woman said her supervisor gave her derisive nicknames, publicly joked about her presumed sexual activity and cut her annual bonus when she complained. Inclusive Environment Jennifer Brice, an Anadarko spokeswoman, said in a statement to Bloomberg that the company has taken steps to address complaints, including launching sexual-harassment and unconscious-bias training, increasing awareness of Anadarkos 24-hour anonymous hotline, and strengthening its policy on retaliation. We strive to create a work environment that is inclusive for all of our employees, and have acted on the concerns weve heard, Brice said. Each case involving specific claims and concerns was investigated once received. HQ: Chevron emphasizes commitment to The Woodlands with Anadarko deal The company has reinforced its zero-tolerance policy for retaliation, and over the last year has trained more than 2,900 of its employees in a program called Speaking Up Creates Change, she said. The woman who described the leadership-training class -- where the company announced the three male graduates would get better jobs than the three females -- said she complained to human resources. She said she received a bump in pay but not a change in job title. After that, she said, she was passed over for promotions. Pay Equity Pay equity is something we take very seriously, and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics expressly states our commitment to diversity in recruiting, hiring, developing, compensating and promoting employees, said Brice, the Anadarko spokeswoman. Anadarkos general counsel annually reviews pay practices and provides advice on avoiding discrimination on the basis of gender, Brice said. Management is routinely reminded and trained on the Codes requirement to make decisions about pay, promotions and other employment-related actions without regard to gender or any other protected category. Olsens letter alleges that Brad Holly, who oversaw the companys Rocky Mountain assets, and Scott Moore, who supervised marketing, carried on sexual relationships with female subordinates. Olsen said she frequently heard the executives having sex with the women behind closed doors in the office, the letter said. When she complained, Holly and Moore stopped speaking to her and gave away plum assignments that were part of her job description that couldve led to career advancement, according to the letter. Policies Strengthened The claims of inappropriate relationships involving Denver-based officers of the company were promptly and thoroughly investigated, Brice said. The individuals referenced are no longer with the company. After the complaints about Moores behavior, the company held sexual-harassment training in the Denver office, former employees said. The seminar gave real-world examples of employees who had violated the companys policies on hostile work environments. Brice said Anadarko has strengthened its policies to specifically prohibit any officer from engaging in an intimate relationship with any employee, regardless of the reporting relationship. OVERSEAS: Anadarko sticks to Mozambique timeline as state boosts security Olsen, who signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of her settlement with the company, said she resolved her differences with Anadarko. She declined to comment further. Denver Office The women allegedly involved in the trysts left the company. Anadarko gave two promotions each to Holly and Moore within two years of the womens departures. Moore, who left the company in 2018, declined to comment, saying personnel matters should be addressed by Anadarko. I have always been a strong advocate for equality, inclusion and mentorship and am proud of my record for advancing the careers of talented professionals in our industry, Holly said in a statement to Bloomberg. I certainly never engaged in any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct, and any allegations that I engaged in inappropriate behavior in the office are categorically false. One woman described gender problems in the Denver office to Holly in an email reviewed by Bloomberg. She warned Holly they would lead to an exodus of talent. While I do not recall the specific email referenced, Holly said, I believe that clear protocols and processes are vital to an equitable and respectful work environment and would have referred any reports of discrimination or retaliation to the Human Resources department for investigation. In May 2017, after Olsen left the company, Holly was promoted to executive vice president of the Rockies Region, the highest-ranking executive in the Denver office. He left the company five months later. After Hollys departure, Anadarkos chief executive officer, Al Walker, visited the Denver office. He asked employees at a town-hall-style meeting if any of them had experienced retaliation for complaining about inappropriate conduct. Thats when at least two women told the CEO their stories, the women said. Brice said that Anadarko investigated all cases brought to Walkers attention and that steps were taken to address the concerns raised. Holly is now the chairman, president and CEO of Denver-based Whiting Petroleum Corp. Whiting declined to comment. 2019 Bloomberg L.P. Mayor Ravinder Bhalla of Hoboken, N.J., did not let his turban and beard which are central to his Sikh faith stand in the way of serving his community. In fact, the way Bhalla has held true to the tenants of his religion, even in the face of bias, while rising up to take the keys of his city, can serve as an inspiration to all, Houstonian Bobby Singh said. Singh is an active member of the local Sikh community and, for the past 25 years, has worked with the Houston Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in community outreach programs to encourage inclusion. He also served as regional director of the Sikh American Legal Defense Fund. In his career, Singh said that he has learned how Sikh individuals can be tested while trying to serve their community. For example, he recounted how a man who enlisted in the U.S. Army in the 1940s was discharged because accommodations were not made for his turban and beard. Others chose to shave or not wear a turban to fit in while serving a range of disciplines, Singh said. When Singh saw Bhalla run for office and get elected in 2017, becoming one of the few Sikhs to ever serve as mayor of a city in the U.S., he immediately started planning to invite the mayor to Houston to share his story. Bhalla will visit Houston Saturday for a luncheon hosted by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and will meet Mayor Sylvester Turner that evening. The following Sunday, Singh is hosting Bhallas visit to the Sikh Center, 8819 Prairie Drive. In the morning, the mayor will speak to children about his journey and then he will address the entire congregation from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The speech is open to the public. Most of us can relate to Mayor Bhallas journey from mobile home to be the Mayor of Hoboken, Singh said. His journey had lots of twists and turns, including bullying, but his faith kept him strong to serve others. He said that Sikh scriptures teach followers to be optimistic and that Bhalla embodies these values. When you see these little shimmers of hope, these sparks remind us there are positive stories, he said. Youll have a person in front of you who faced challenges, whos not a victim but a really positive person, who teaches that life may not be fair, but that you still do the right things. We caught up with Mayor Bhalla before he headed to Houston. Here are his responses to our questions: Q: Can you give us a sneak peak of what you will be discussing in your address at the Sikh center here? A: I intend to give attendees an insight into my personal journey as a second generation Sikh American growing up in the U.S., my journey from a civil rights lawyer to someone interested in city politics, and decision to run for elected office, and finally, how my Sikh faith informs my public service as mayor of the city of Hoboken. Q: You are the first Sikh mayor of New Jersey and one of only a handful of Sikh mayors in the country to ever be elected. Do you feel that growing up, not seeing a lot of Sikh representation in politics discouraged you from seeking that type of position or were you encouraged to make that change? A: I was never discouraged by the absence of Sikh elected officials. I did, however, witness its effects firsthand and come to appreciate the importance of having elected officials from diverse communities. This came primarily through my representation of Sikh Americans as a civil rights lawyer. The struggles in advocating for these individuals and educating decision makers in the public sector made me appreciate the importance for Sikhs themselves to serve in the public sector so that our community can have some measure of self-determination over our future. Today, there are dozens of Sikh officers in the NYPD, but it took years of advocacy to make that change. I decided that running for office myself is one way of making that change by being on the side of the table where we as a community are making decisions impacting our rights, rather than the other side of the table, where we are asking someone to make these decisions for us. Q: Ive read that you did deal with racism and misconceptions while running for office. Do you still face this type of bias? What do you feel is the best way to handle this type of ignorance? A: I still face hate speech in social media on a regular basis and occasional threats of violence. I generally ignore hate speech in social media and focus on advancing my administrations agenda in Hoboken. Where there are threats of violence, either my staff or I report these to appropriate law enforcement authorities for safety purposes. Regrettably, this appears to be the new normal in American public life. However, I am not bothered or distracted by hate speech and remain focused on serving the public fearlessly and proudly with my articles of faith as a Sikh in tact. Q: You were elected to office in 2017. What are some of your proudest accomplishments since then? A: Among my proudest accomplishments are my first act in office, which was signing an executive order declaring the city of Hoboken a Fair and Welcoming Community. This used to be known as a declaration of a city as a sanctuary city. The order mandates, and was accompanied by a police directive from Hobokens Chief of Police, that all persons will be treated equally under the laws of this country, state and city, including undocumented immigrants, and that the City of Hoboken will not expend local resources in the enforcement of federal, civil immigration laws. In the area of civil rights, under my administration, Hoboken became the first city in New Jersey and among the first in the country to require that all single-occupancy restrooms citywide, and at all public establishments, be gender neutral. This initiative was meant to uplift the rights of LGBTQ and transgender community. We also have advanced measures in environmental justice and combatting the impacts of climate change by advancing the Rebuild by Design project to protect Hoboken from coastal flooding caused by climate change, enacting a ban on single-use plastic bags citywide, and becoming the first city in New Jersey to purchase 100 percent of its energy for municipal facilities from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Q: Did being a child of immigrants affect your stance on issues? How do you feel that you gained insight from this experience? A: As the child of immigrants and as a Sikh school child, I knew that we were different from most others in certain ways. Regrettably, these differences as a school child were not always received well, and I was routinely subjected to school bullying based on my skin color and religion. Perhaps this experience, with encouragement from my parents to be proud of my identity, actually made me stronger, more sympathetic to other vulnerable communities in our country, and prepared to advocate for social justice and equal rights in my professional career as a lawyer and elected official. Q: What was the appeal of a career in law for you? How long did you practice as a lawyer? A: I never really had an interest in law growing up and almost decided to drop out of law school during my first semester at Tulane. Eventually, I came to appreciate the law and its value in advancing other topics I was interested in at the time. I practiced law for over 18 years before my full-time service as an elected official. I practiced litigation and conducted numerous jury trials in federal and state courts in the areas of civil rights, criminal defense, business disputes and other civil disputes. Q: What was the reaction of the Sikh community to your election? A: The Sikh community was overjoyed by my election as mayor. The reaction was not to me in particular, but rather to see someone who looked like them and they can relate to, in a high-profile position of influence. It felt like a national morale boost for the Sikh community. To this day, when I visit Sikh temples, I am approached by Sikh mothers, with tears of joy in their eyes, telling me how happy they are about my election as mayor. I think that implicit in this is a message then can pass on to their children that there is no conflict between being a Sikh and being an American, and in this country our Sikh faith is an asset in our pursuit of the American dream. Lindsay Peyton is a writer based in Houston. PARIS - With its iconic cathedral scorched but still standing, France on Tuesday launched an investigation into what triggered the Notre Dame inferno and how a fire that had probably started by accident could gut the symbol of a nation. As the smoke cleared from the sky Tuesday, it was almost possible to look head-on at the church - to see its carved statues and two rectangular bell towers - and imagine that all was intact. Much of the valuable art and relics had been saved. Even the exquisite stained glass windows remained in place, seemingly immune to the previous day's flames. But that belied the somber accounting of all that had been lost, and how the religious and architectural landmark at Paris's center had been altered. The church's trademark steeple, part of the Parisian skyline since the mid-1800s, had been swallowed in the flames. Char and smoke marks licked portions of the walls. And the roof - with its centuries-old wood - had been destroyed like tinder, leaving gaping holes that let sunlight shine into the cathedral Tuesday. Officials warned that Notre Dame may still have gravely dangerous vulnerabilities, especially in the soaring vault. But a few government officials ventured inside, and camera footage showed charred rubble in front of the still-intact pews. In an evening address to the nation, French President Emmanuel Macron described the firefighters as heroic and said he hoped the country would reconstruct Notre Dame within five years - a shorter timetable than that put forward by experts. "We now have to get things done," Macron said. "We will act, and we will succeed." He said the rebuilt cathedral would be "even more beautiful." From around the world, more than $700 million in private donations poured in for reconstruction, while Parisians and tourists lined the banks of the Seine, bearing witness from a distance after police closed bridges that give access to the site. France's interior minister said more than 500 firefighters had been mobilized Monday to help extinguish flames that had filled the sky with smoke. But questions remained about whether any warning signs had been missed. Paris Prosecutor Remy Heitz laid out a timeline in which an alarm went off at 6:20 p.m., but no evidence of fire was found. Only when a second alarm went off - 23 minutes later - was fire detected. "In the meantime, the church was evacuated because a Mass just started a bit earlier," Heitz said. A spokesman for the Paris prosecutor's office later clarified that it was church staffers, not firefighters, who looked into the initial alarm. Patrick Chauvet, the Notre Dame rector, told French radio that the cathedral's "fire watchers" were on constant lookout and three times each day made "assessments" in the vulnerable area under the wooden roof. "In terms of security, I doubt we could have done more," Chauvet said. Buildings such as Notre Dame - full of hidden nooks and passages, and composed of ancient timber and other old materials - are seen by fire prevention experts as particularly risky, especially when they are under renovation. Stewart Kidd, a consultant on heritage buildings in Britain, said that in old structures, by the time flames become visible, "they may have been burning for an hour" in unseen spaces. And when there is construction, Kidd said, "the building is exposed to all sorts of dangerous activity." French officials said they do not suspect foul play. Heitz said there were no indications that the blaze was started deliberately. Investigators plan to interview people from the five companies that were doing renovation work at the site. Before the fire, part of the Gothic structure had been encased in scaffolding. The Notre Dame cathedral was built over centuries, starting in 1163. It was partially consumed in just hours Monday, as thousands of Parisians and tourists stood sentinel, some singing "Ave Maria" and weeping at the sight. "Parisians lose their lady," read one French headline. In Strasbourg, the city's great cathedral, also named Notre Dame, tolled its bell for 15 minutes Tuesday morning in solidarity. There were no deaths in the Paris fire, but two police officers and one firefighter were injured, officials said. Culture Minister Franck Riester said on French radio early Tuesday that much of the cathedral's art and artifacts had been saved. The 8,000-pipe grand organ survived the flames - though whether it had suffered water damage was still to be determined. Riester also confirmed that firefighters had rescued the church's two most hallowed relics: the crown of thorns said to have been worn by Jesus and a tunic of Saint Louis, a 13th-century French king. The objects would be transferred from Paris City Hall to the Louvre Museum, Riester said. "It was necessary to bring them out through the smoke," Paris Fire Commander Jean-Claude Gallet told BFMTV. He said firefighters rushed into the chamber of the cathedral at the height of the fire to make the rescue. The cathedral's stained-glass rose windows, an ensemble that dates to the 12th and 13th centuries, are also most likely intact, said Andre Finot, a cathedral spokesman. "It's a bit of a miracle. We're very relieved," he told BFMTV. Vittorio Sgarbi, a Rome-based art historian, said that Notre Dame, even before the fire, had been an architectural mishmash - some parts original, but many parts added or replaced. "This is going to be a fateful event in the story of a non-authentic building, a sort of laboratory," Sgarbi said. Even as the fire still burned, France was making plans to rebuild the church. Experts predicted that reconstruction could take a decade or longer - in contrast to Macron's goal of five years. The effort was supported by Pope Francis, who on Tuesday called the fire a "catastrophe" and described on Twitter a desire that the damage be "transformed into hope with reconstruction." On Tuesday morning, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo floated the idea of an "international donor's conference" that would unite philanthropists and restoration experts in Paris to raise money for targeted purposes in rebuilding Notre Dame. Many philanthropists needed little prompting. French luxury magnate Francois-Henri Pinault declared that his family would dedicate about $113 million to the effort. The family of Bernard Arnault, chief executive of the LVMH conglomerate and the richest man in Europe, pledged $226 million. The Bettencourt Meyers family behind L'Oreal matched that offer. Companies including Apple and the French oil giant Total also made pledges. "I am not religious myself; I'm an atheist," said Charles Gosse, 23, a business school student who launched an online funding campaign and quickly raised $27,000. "But this is beyond religion. It is a national monument like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe." In their account of the fire and the rescue effort, firefighters told local media that after the first call came in, they had to get through rush-hour traffic clogging streets along the banks of the Seine. The flames quickly spread from the top level of the nave, eating up one beam, then another, in a portion of the roof called "the forest" because each massive support was shaped from an entire tree. The 750-ton spire, which was originally constructed in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 19th out of oak covered with lead, toppled shortly before 8 p.m. At the height of the battle against the blaze, which raged for about nine hours, firefighters trained 18 hoses on the church, according to local media accounts. They pumped water straight from the Seine, the grand river that traverses Paris and flows near Notre Dame. A number of the people who came to see the building on Tuesday said their faith prompted them to come. France, though officially secular, remains predominantly Catholic, and even many nonbelievers are still baptized and married in churches. "I've been a Parisian for 62 years," said city native Alix Constant, a medical secretary. "When I saw the images of the fire, I had the need to see it with my own eyes. And even more so because I'm a practicing Catholic." Longtime Paris residents said they had a hard time comprehending the destruction. "I'm a believer," said Carine Mazzoni, 48, a lawyer who said her son was confirmed at Notre Dame. "It's Easter week. It's a symbol of Paris and a Catholic symbol. It's the history of the world that's united in this building." - - - Birnbaum reported from Brussels. The Washington Post's Griff Witte and Quentin Aries in Paris and Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report. Yes! We all should. Citizens ought to have comprehensive financial information about our president and major-party presidential nominees. This is why showing tax returns has been a norm for some 50 years and why several recent polls have shown that roughly 2 in 3 Americans want Trump to disclose his. Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community drove through the night to Detroit - his next fundraising stop. He felt sick en route and saw a doctor when he got there. But the doctor, who had never seen measles, misdiagnosed the man's fever and cough as bronchitis. Over the next two weeks, the traveler would become Michigan's Patient Zero, spreading the highly contagious respiratory virus to 39 people as he stayed in private homes, attended synagogue daily and shopped in kosher markets. His case offers a cautionary tale about how easily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet spreads within close-knit communities - especially those whose members live, work and socialize outside the mainstream. "Every one of our cases has had a link to the initial case," said Leigh-Anne Stafford, health officer for Oakland County, a Detroit suburb where all but one case was reported. 'PARENTS CALL THE SHOTS': Group rallies to demand vaccine choice in Texas In the past five years, 75 percent of measles cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention occurred in various insular communities, among them the Amish in Ohio, the Somali community in Minnesota, Eastern European groups in the Pacific Northwest and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York. In the current outbreak, the New York contagion has spread through Patient Zero and other travelers to predominantly ultra-Orthodox communities in Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York; Oakland County in Michigan, and Baltimore County in Maryland. On Friday, Connecticut officials said an adult contracted measles while visiting Brooklyn in late March. New Jersey officials are investigating possible links between 11 cases in the Ocean County area and those in New York. CHILD STILL RECOVERING: Child still deals with polio-aftermath after disease spikes in U.S. "What's similar about all of these communities is that they live in proximity to each other and spend a lot of their time interacting with each other," said Daniel Salmon, a professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the school's Institute for Vaccine Safety. "That's what matters. Measles doesn't care what your cultural heritage is." Many of these communities are wary of government, avoid television and the Internet, and often rely on their own clinicians for medical care. In such a void, anti-vaccine misinformation has sometimes gained a foothold, deterring parents from fully vaccinating their children. The traveler had come from Israel last November to Brooklyn, the epicenter of a measles outbreak, and stayed for about two months before going on to the Detroit area in early March, said Russell Faust, Oakland County's medical officer. The man, whom Michigan health officials are not identifying, told them he was visiting ultra-Orthodox communities in the United States to raise money for charity. Feverish and coughing after his arrival, he saw a doctor, who prescribed antibiotics. When the man called back to complain of a rash the next day, the doctor thought he was having an allergic reaction. But after the doctor thought more about it, he worried about the possibility of measles and decided to leave a voice message for the health department with the man's cellphone number. Health officials jumped on the case - but couldn't reach the man because of a problem with his cellphone. EDITORIAL: Texas is risking a public health calamity They turned to Steve McGraw, head of Oakland emergency medical services and longtime member of the Detroit-area Hatzalah, the ultra-Orthodox community's emergency medical response group, an all-volunteer effort with deep ties to many families. McGraw alerted rabbinical leaders, then jumped in his car and drove to the area the traveler was supposed to be staying to look for the man's rental car, a blue sedan, knowing it would stand out among the minivans used by virtually every family. Hatzalah members and rabbinical leaders also mobilized to search for the traveler, who was staying in a neighborhood guesthouse. When they found him a few hours later, the traveler was stunned. He told McGraw and the rabbi who found him that they had to be wrong since he believed he had had the measles. "There is only one disease, and you have it," McGraw recalled saying, as one rabbi translated into Hebrew. "He put his head down and was very emotional. I could tell from the look on his face that he was devastated. He was doing the math in his head," counting all the people he had been in contact with, McGraw said. The traveler, as it turned out, had had hundreds of contacts with community members that health officials needed to trace. He had stayed mostly in private homes in the areas of Oak Park and Southfield. He had visited synagogues three times a day to pray and study and frequented kosher markets and pizza parlors, among 30 locations in one week. "This guy was walking around all over the community and contagious," McGraw said. "We knew we had a really significant exposure." Measles virus is so infectious that if an unvaccinated person walks through a room up to two hours after someone with measles has left, there's a 90 percent chance the unvaccinated person will get sick. People can spread measles for four days before and four days after the telltale rash. Because measles is so infectious, at least 96 percent or more of a community need to be vaccinated to prevent risk of outbreak. On March 13, blood tests confirmed the traveler's measles. The strain matched the genetic fingerprint of the New York City outbreak, McGraw said. The same day, health officials alerted the public. To get information out to the ultra-Orthodox community, health officials used its internal messaging system known as a calling post. Recorded voice messages ring on about 1,200 mobile phones. McGraw recorded a message that rabbinical leaders approved for delivery, the first of several that provided information about the disease and vaccination clinics. Over the next few weeks, Janet Snider, a pediatrician for many ultra-Orthodox families, and Gedalya Cooper, an emergency medicine doctor, both members of the Hatzalah, visited people in their homes to diagnose and test them for measles. The Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit issued an unequivocal statement, saying Jewish law obligated every community member to be "properly and fully vaccinated" according to the CDC. The agency recommends children get two measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) doses, starting with the first dose at age 12 through 15 months and the second dose at age 4 through 6 years. "In order to protect and safeguard each and every individual within the larger community, every individual, family and institution must take the necessary precautions against anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated," the statement said. The Hatzalah and rabbinical leaders helped the health department set up three clinics at one synagogue, immunizing nearly 1,000 people in one week. As of early April, health officials have given more than 2,100 vaccinations. Vaccine refusal does not appear to be a major factor in the Oakland County cluster, officials said. In Michigan, at least, the close collaboration between health officials and the religious community appears to have controlled the spread of the disease, which can cause severe complications including deafness, pneumonia, brain damage and death. Now, with 555 measles cases in 20 states - the highest in five years - other localities are looking at that model. Hatzalah groups in other parts of the country are reaching out to county officials for advice on boosting vaccination within the ultra-Orthodox community, Faust said. Oakland County had something else going for it: Measles outbreaks typically start with children. But Patient Zero had spent most of his time with adults, and most of the 39 cases are in adults. Many adults who got sick had believed they were immune, as some had been told they had the disease as children or were vaccinated. "There are a fair number of nonimmunized or under-immunized adults," said Faust, the medical officer. Some of the adults infected also were born before 1957, when most people caught measles and are thought to have natural immunity. Officials said that the risk remains high for those who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated and who travel to communities here or abroad where measles cases are raging. Gaps in vaccination coverage have led to a 20-year high in measles cases in Europe. Major outbreaks also are taking place in parts of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan. More than 1,200 people have died in Madagascar. With spring break and summer vacations approaching, travelers visiting European countries with outbreaks, such as France and Italy, have a much higher chance of bringing infections back to "islands or pockets of vulnerability," said Saad Omer, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. "Measles is a very unforgiving disease," he said. "Even if most people are vaccinated, that number may not be high enough." In a federal indictment the following year, prosecutors said Goodwin and an employee, Phillip L. Jones, were part of a kickback plot with the St. Louis medical lab to split profits from Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for medically unauthorized tests. Goodwin and Jones acted as marketers for the owners of the lab, collecting blood, saliva and urine specimens in 2014 and 2015 from large public fairs and churches in Indiana and Illinois, according to the indictment. Texas prison officials are investigating allegations that some of its officers penned Facebook posts apparently promoting inmate mistreatment as part of a social media fad called the "Feeling Cute Challenge." It's not clear where the challenge originated, but the posts feature men and women taking selfies in state, federal and county employee uniforms with captions ranging from tongue-in-cheek to inflammatory, accompanied by the hashtag #feelingcute. "Feeling cute, might just gas some inmates today, IDK," one poster captioned a selfie of a woman wearing what appears to be a Texas Department of Criminal Justice uniform. "#feelingcute my (sic) gas the whole wing later," another poster wrote next to a selfie showing a man wearing a uniform featuring a TDCJ patch. Both posters' names match up to current prison employees, though neither responded to the Chronicle's request for comment and the department stressed that officials have not yet authenticated the posts. Inmate families began emailing department officials Monday with names and screenshots of posts, demanding immediate action. READ MORE: Its a crisis: Nearly one in three guards left the Texas prison system last year "The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is aware of the so-called feel cute challenge currently on social media," prison spokesman Jeremy Desel told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday morning. "A handful of correctional officers employed by this agency are under investigation for on and off-duty conduct violations as a result of the alleged posting of inappropriate photographs on social media." It's not clear how many employees are being investigated. "These officers in no way represent the thousands of TDCJ employees who go to work every day taking public safety seriously in all ways," Desel added. "If any of these allegations prove correct then swift disciplinary action as severe as termination of involved employees will occur." The "challenge" already raised eyebrows elsewhere in the country, after a water employee apparently joked about shutting off customers' utilities. "Feeling cute, might cut your water off later, IDK," wrote a man whose uniform identified him as a water worker in Georgia. That post sparked some backlash, and Columbus Water Works responded in a statement to the local paper there. "Although Columbus Water Works received very few comments on this post from customers," a spokesman told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, "CWW certainly understands that continued discussions with our employees on social media usage and its potential impact is important." But the trend continued elsewhere, eventually popping up on a Facebook page titled Correctional Officer Life, where some posts from Texas started appearing last week. The page has more than 29,000 members across the country and has since been set to private. As of Tuesday morning, the page still boasted numerous "Feeling Cute" posts from men and women wearing correctional officer and sheriff's office uniforms, though many of the images offered inoffensive captions. "Good morning from Texas," wrote one woman sporting a prison worker uniform. "#feelingcutechallenge." But others from across the country included more eyebrow-raising captions. "San Diego BOP #feelingcutechallenge feeling cute may spray my partner to keep interesting," read the caption on one post. READ MORE: Texas prison too understaffed to take inmate to hospital for flesh-eating bacteria infection "Felt cute... might wrestle an inmate later," read the caption next to a selfie of a man in a sheriff's office uniform from Williamson County. The poster did not respond to a message from the Chronicle, and a sheriff's office spokeswoman did not immediately offer comment. Though the Texas prison system is investigating posts allegedly involving its employees, prisoner advocates and inmate families said the incidents raise concerns about the agency culture and the need for independent oversight, and some pushed for the termination of any employees found to be participating. "The families are enraged, this is a 'gotcha' moment for them," said Jennifer Erschabek, executive director of Texas Inmate Families Association. "So many times they have reported these types of incidents in these memes only to be told that there was no evidence." The posts, she said, are indicative of a problematic culture at the agency - one that she believes could be addressed through the creation of an independent oversight office, like what already exists in the juvenile prison system. Currently, there are two proposed bills up for consideration during the ongoing legislation that, if passed, would create an independent ombudsman to oversee the state's 104 prisons. "If TDCJ starts to realize where these issues are coming from they can start to be more preventive with hiring or education or training," she said. "We're just not getting what we need from the prison administration." Michele Deitch, an attorney and criminal justice expert who teaches at University of Texas-Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs, said she hoped the department would see the alleged postings as more than "simply" a disciplinary matter. "I hope the agency is asking itself tough questions about what in its culture would allow any staff members, however small in number, to think that such sentiments are acceptable," she said. "That is the value of independent oversight it takes an outside entity to identify cultural issues that might fester and cause unhealthy dynamics between staff and prisoners." A spokesman for the correctional officers' union did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but former union chapter president Lance Lowry stressed that most corrections officers stayed out of the social media fray. "Out of the 25,000 state correctional officers in Texas, I've only seen a few violators," he said. "They don't represent the majority of the officers." Each Monday at YES Prep Thrive, the states only disciplinary alternative education program operated by a charter school, a couple dozen children gather in a circle inside a windowless, fluorescent-lit classroom, celebrating graduates returning to their home campuses. One by one, each student offers words of encouragement. Most deliver a quick good luck, slouched in their plastic blue seats. Some giggle for a moment before uttering a few platitudes. Following staffers leads, several students describe favorite traits of their new friends curiosity, dedication, a sharp sense of humor. Dont do what you did again, one student told Eric, a popular graduate with a wide smile, on a recent Monday morning. Take this as a chance to move forward. Before YES Prep Public Schools opened Thrive last September, its first foray into running a disciplinary alternative education program, students sitting around the circle likely would have not gotten a second chance at the charter. YES Prep students who engaged in serious misconduct often were forced to leave school, resulting in the states highest expulsion rate 6 per 1,000 students over the past five years. FINAL TEST: Students at a Houston high school battle extraordinary odds for one last shot at graduation With the debut of Thrive, the 11,400-student charter district is changing its ways. Rather than banishing its most unruly children to other school districts, the charter now sends the vast majority to Thrive, located inside one of its middle schools on Houstons north side. Each day, roughly 30 YES Prep students, many of whom were caught possessing or selling drugs, are bused from across Greater Houston to the Thrive campus. There, they spend half the day focused on core academics through an online-based curriculum, with the second half dedicated to conflict management, coping strategies, drug prevention and other behavioral needs. Two teachers, two licensed mental health counselors and a program director monitor students progress. District officials hope their new approach will result in better academic outcomes and fewer disciplinary actions, while also dispelling perceptions that charter schools shirk responsibility for students with behavioral challenges. YES Prep officials said expulsions are projected to decline by about 80 percent compared to last year, a direct result of Thrive. For YES, I hope it does send a message that we want to serve all students and provide a great educational opportunity for rigorous educational experience, that puts them on a pathway to college, said Philip Wright, the networks chief schools officer. Unlike traditional independent school districts, which are legally mandated to operate disciplinary alternative education programs, charter schools have no such requirements. Nor do charters contract with Texas juvenile justice alternative education programs, where the most serious student offenders are placed for several weeks or months before being returned to their home districts. All traditional school districts in counties with populations exceeding 125,000 people must make such accommodations. Instead, charter schools have handled discipline by suspending students or expelling them without placement, meaning they must enroll in another district. As a result, six Texas charter school districts combined to expel nearly 400 students without placement last year, with more than half of those occurring at one suburban Dallas district, Texas College Preparatory Academies. Only five traditional districts expelled more than 10 students without placement last year. Conversely, traditional districts sent more than 2,000 students to juvenile justice programs and placed about 75,000 students in disciplinary alternative education programs last year. Both types of schools use out-of-school suspensions at similar rates, while students in traditional districts are twice as likely to receive an in-school suspension, according to state data. About 6% of Texas students are enrolled in charter schools. Over the past several years, no district has expelled students without placement at a higher pace than YES Prep, a distinction the charters leaders wanted to reverse. We just recognized thats exactly why we had to get Thrive started, Wright said. Before opening Thrive, district officials toured disciplinary programs in several other districts, including Aldine, Houston and Spring Branch ISDs. They sought and received state approval for their program, opening it in four vacant classrooms in an unused corner of the networks Northline campus. The program serves students in grades 6 through 12, busing them from five pick-up hubs located throughout Greater Houston. YES Prep North Central freshman Juan Jose Mata Jr., who spent about 30 school days at Thrive last fall, said moving to a disciplinary program initially made him nervous. I thought there was going to be a whole bunch of mean students that were going to attack me or something, cause a bunch of problems, Mata said. They were actually really welcoming. As soon as I got there, everybody got close to me. Mata said his time at Thrive involved one-on-one counseling that focused on decision-making and controlling his emotions. One day, parents of Thrive students joined their children in class, opening a dialogue that Mata said helped build a better relationship with his mother, Nancy. Me and my mom really never had a straightforward conversation, Mata said. When I first entered (Thrive), of course she was upset. But while I was going through the program, she would see that I would be more close to her. As soon as we wake up in the morning, its Hey, Mom. Starlee Coleman, CEO of the Texas Charter School Association, said the states charter operators have not opened disciplinary programs due to the cost and what she terms inequitable funding allocated to charter schools. While charter schools receive more revenue per student from the state, they cannot levy local taxes that comprise nearly half of all Texas public education funding. As a result, charter school revenues are roughly 5% to 20% lower than traditional independent school districts. You cant have a DAEP (disciplinary alternative educational program) going on in a regular classroom. They have to be physically separated, and not all charter schools are able to accommodate that, Coleman said. There is a certain scale that some charter school networks reach that allows them to have the space required for something like that. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said charter schools should make it a priority to carve out space and staff to operate disciplinary programs. Hinojosa has introduced two bills under consideration in the Texas Legislature that would put charters and traditional districts on equal footing when it comes to student discipline laws. Even the tiniest, poorest school districts in this state have to have a DAEP, Hinojosa said last week during a House Public Education Committee hearing. Often, they will use just a separate classroom for a DAEP. Theres no reason why a charter school cant do the same. YES Prep officials said they plan to continue operating their disciplinary program beyond this year, hoping to move into a separate facility closer to downtown eventually. They also want to continue developing a curriculum centered on students social and emotional well-being, while putting more structures in place to help students once they graduate from Thrive. Once a student has been through an intensive program like Thrive and transitions back, theyll always need support, because this has been an important part of their journey, said Amanda Rawlings, Thrives school director. We do get these little vignettes of kids actually using their skills they learned when they were here at Thrive, which is very powerful. jacob.carpenter@chron.com U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced her support for 11-year-old Laura Maradiaga who was ordered deported without her family. The news came as Silvia Mintz, Lauras lawyer, turned in a motion to re-open the girls deportation case on Monday, which came about due to a clerical error within immigration court, Mintz said. Laura, who is seeking asylum along with her mother and older sister, attended a scheduled court appearance March 12 when a translator told the family Laura was not listed on the days docket. The girl was then issued a deportation order for failing to appear in court. Mintz is hopeful the judge will re-open the case but is otherwise prepared to go to the Board of Immigration Appeals if needed. In the meantime, FIEL, a local immigration advocacy group, started a fundraiser to financially support the Maradiaga family. RELATED: Fundraising effort launched for 11-year-old girl ordered deported without family This is so unjust because Laura is 11 years old and if she were to be deported to her native El Salvador, she would not have anybody waiting for her in her country, said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL. Jackson Lee, D-Houston, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security, received a privacy form from FIEL at a press conference Monday which will allow her to look into the girls case. I think people are rightly outraged to even suspect that our process would deport an 11-year-old by herself, Jackson Lee said. The congresswoman noted that the Maradiaga family is just one of the numerous cases of mothers and children from Central America fleeing violence as they seek asylum in the United States. She recounted the death threat Lauras family faced in their hometown. That threat, said Lauras mother, Dora Alvarado, has grown now that the gangs in their hometown-turned-war zone in La Paz are aware of the familys case. RELATED: Migrant families at border surge to record highs Alvarado, 15-year-old Adamaris Alvarado and Laura were all taken into custody by immigration officials at the southern border late last year. They were then processed and released and later met every appointed court date. Legally they have the right to seek asylum, Jackson Lee said. Jackson Lee added that the current state of immigration courts in Houston and across the country is largely to blame for Lauras deportation order. Those of us who are fighting to have a real comprehensive immigration solution have indicated to the president that rather than walls, what we need are more judges and more clerks, she said. Those working now are heavily burdened because of the lack of resources to do their job. At Mondays press conference Laura said she feels happy that people are coming forward to help her and her family. As of Monday afternoon the FIEL fundraiser for her had collected more than $10,600. Yet the threat of being taken away from her mother and sister remains. Im still afraid, she said. ileana.najarro@chron.com twitter.com/IleanaNajarro Deputies have filed charges against a driver accused of drag racing and crashing into two pedestrians, severely injuring them back in late March. Ronald Gray Pace III, 28, is facing two felony charges after allegedly racing along Houston Oaks Drive near Sam Houston Parkway late March 29, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. He crashed into two pedestrians after losing control at high speeds, Gonzalez said. Pace is the son of Ronnie "Barefoot" Pace, who's best known for his role on the Discovery Channel street racing show "Street Outlaws," according to Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Division. Now Playing: Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced charges against a driver accused of crashing into two onlookers and severely injuring them during an illegal street race in northwest Harris County. Video: Jay Jordan, HCSO, Metro Video Pace has yet to be arrested but faces two second-degree felony counts of racing causing serious bodily injury, Gonzalez said. The driver competing against Pace who won the race without crashing could also face charges, detectives announced at a press conference Tuesday morning. "(We're) hoping that street racers will get the message and stay off our roads," Gonzalez said. "(We want) to send the message that illegal street racers will be held accountable for their crimes in Harris County." The crash happened the same weekend as the legally sanctioned TX2K19 racing event in Baytown, which drew hundreds of racers from the area onto Houston streets. Just days before the crash, deputies with the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office arrested four drivers accused of racing along the Katy Freeway. Pace is facing up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. Both victims are expected to survive. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message A Houston police investigator was involved in a crash early Tuesday while he was on the way to a fatal robbery shooting near NRG Stadium, police said. He suffered only minor injuries, police said. Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Houston fire union Monday he would provide it with financial data leaders requested, a sign of progress at a critical point in negotiations between the mayor and union to phase in Proposition B raises for firefighters. Officials from the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association have asked Turner to open the citys books, allowing firefighters to verify that the mayors offer to phase in the pay raises over multiple years honors the terms of the charter amendment, which requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police of corresponding rank and seniority. Turners refusal to do so has been a key sticking point preventing a deal, union President Marty Lancton said. The development comes two days before Houston city council is scheduled to consider a measure to lay off 220 Houston firefighters, which Turner has said is necessary to offset the cost of pay raises if Prop. B is not phased in over multiple years. Councilman Dwight Boykins said Monday he would use a procedural maneuver to delay a vote on the layoffs if the fire union has not received the citys underlying financial data by then. The meeting was the second in four days between Turner and representatives from the fire union. On Friday, Lancton said he would seek union members approval of Turners offer to phase in raises over three and a half years if the city meets certain conditions. Turner spokesman Alan Bernstein said the mayor provided information Monday the union had requested last week. The union asked for additional details at Mondays meeting, he said. That information is being gathered and will be provided, as well, Bernstein said in a statement. Discussions are ongoing. Fire Chief Sam Pena said he was encouraged by Mondays talks, even if they did not produce immediate results. Anytime we're sitting at the table and having a conversation is progress," he said. Pena said he was not sure whether Wednesdays scheduled council vote would be delayed, but the department is moving ahead with implementation of Prop B anyway. The process needs to move forward, because the books do need to be balanced by the end of the fiscal year in June, he said. Among the biggest changes Pena has sought is a switch from a four-shift work schedule for firefighters to three. Currently, firefighters work 20 24-hour shifts every 72 days, with occasional extra shifts for which Pena has said there is a high absentee rate. The new, three-shift model would give firefighters regular days off. Pena said he was considering that switch even before Prop Bs passage as a way to save money that could be reinvested in fleet upgrades, among other things. Now, he said, it is about maintaining public safety while confronting HFDs roughly $25 million share of Prop Bs annual costs. The proposal headed to council on Wednesday shows that most of the staff reductions would come from firefighters, engineers and captains, though Pena said that absent any phase-in agreement, some employees could be demoted instead of having their positions absorbed through attrition. Lancton and the union have decried the move and said it will negatively impact public safety. The unions terms for taking the mayors offer to a union vote include a guarantee that no firefighters would be laid off "before, during or after implementation of Proposition B." The city on April 4 issued 60-day layoff notices to 67 fire cadets. The administration also sent pink slips last Friday to 47 municipal employees across four departments: Administration and Regulatory Affairs, Health, Library and Parks and Recreation. Union officials also said any phase-in agreement would have to be ratified through a collective bargaining agreement, and that the Turner administration must provide firefighters with "complete access to city financial and budget information and implement "complete parity," including base and incentive pay, with Houston police officers. Turner would also need to agree not to reduce fire and EMS services, Lancton said. In a letter sent to Lancton Monday, Turner wrote that he is committed to working out a collective bargaining agreement. That will require the parties sitting down to negotiate terms that are not covered by Prop B, the mayor wrote. At the same time, the city must move forward with balancing its budget before the end of June. If the parties can reach an agreement on Prop B, it can subsequently be included in a future collective bargaining agreement. Turner added that he considers Prop B very vague and ambiguous on parity. Having said that, Turner continued, the city looks to the requirements a police officer must meet to attain a certain position and pay and applies the same requirements to a firefighter in the same or similar position. Other departments across the nation have faced similar dilemmas, according to Mike McEvoy, an expert on emergency management services. McEvoy said Monday that there is a negligible effect on public safety when departments switch from three to four shifts, the latter of which he described as a luxury for better-financed departments. Lancton, meanwhile, has pointed to a city-commissioned study that concluded a switch to three shifts could not produce appreciable cost savings. Pena has said he disagrees with the reports conclusion because it lacks evidence, while Turner commonly cites a second report commissioned by the city that recommended a reduction in the number of firefighters. More worrisome than the shift change, McEvoy said, are any changes in response time for HFD firetrucks. Any time you make a reduction theres going to be a little bit longer response time, he said. jasper.scherer@chron.com twitter.com/jaspscherer PARIS -- The soul of France went up in flames Monday, as Notre Dame de Paris cathedral was swallowed by a blaze just a few days before Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Notre Dame is much more than just a church -- it's the epicenter of the history and identity of France, and never more critical as a symbol than right now. Notre Dame is where Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor on Dec. 2, 1804, at a time when France was a world power and he was conquering the globe on its behalf. It's also where, exactly a year later, after winning the Battle of Austerlitz against the Russian and Austrian armies, he ordered the enemy's captured battle flags to be put on display. Right in front of the cathedral is "Point Zero," from which all the national roads leaving Paris emanate. Today, Notre Dame represents the cultural and historical roots of a people who feel adrift in a globalized world where they are expected to melt into a European supra-national identity while also acquiescing to a migratory tsunami and its accompanying cultural heterogeneity. The cathedral is a mainstay in a country that has watched as other crown jewels symbolic of French savoir faire have been absorbed by foreign competitors. The threats aren't just external. Paris has been a powder keg since last fall, when the "yellow vest" movement began -- middle- and working-class French taking to the streets to protest a carbon tax increase that raised the cost of fuel. The French government's attempt to shake down workers for a few more centimes under the pretext of some abstract scheme while so many were already struggling to make ends meet was seen as the last straw. Saturday yellow vest protests have become a weekly event ever since. In January, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a "great debate," with town halls across the country, in an attempt to appease protestors. It hasn't worked. Macron was supposed to give a televised address about the yellow vests in the moments after the Notre Dame fire had broken out. He postponed. Theoretically, TV networks have ways to handle simultaneous breaking news stories. But perhaps a split screen showing Notre Dame going up in flames alongside Macron going up in flames by spewing more tone-deaf institutional rhetoric to viscerally fed-up French citizens would have been too much. French elites are fluent in the language of appeasement. They're taught this oratory art in all the highly regarded academies from which French presidents ascend to power. They're experts in high-level rhetoric -- mostly as cover for non-action or for bad action. It may be the result of a generational shift, or simply the fact that people have been waiting far too long for unfulfilled promises to materialize as their situations worsen, but multiple polls now show that the French have barely more than zero faith in their leaders. It's precisely into this breach -- this total lack of faith in authority -- that Notre Dame's toppled steeple has fallen. Macron and the French government are now at a crossroads. As of Tuesday, all we knew about the cause of the blaze was that a police investigation had been opened for "involuntary destruction by fire." This labeling will no doubt spark another fire under those convinced that the authorities are being less than transparent, particularly after the Saint-Sulpice cathedral, located not even a mile away from Notre Dame, was gutted by fire just last month. At the time, a police source told the French newspaper Le Parisien: "The fire started from a pile of clothes, and clothes do not ignite alone." In February, the same newspaper reported a string of at least five attacks on Catholic churches in France in a single week. Father Pierre-Herve Grosjean of the diocese of Versailles wrote on Twitter: "Of all the violence that is shaking our society right now, there are also these: the desecration of our churches, many these days." That was on Feb. 10. It's entirely possible that Notre Dame, the crown jewel of Catholicism, simply caught fire by some fluke accident a few days before one of the most symbolically important periods in the Catholic faith. It's also entirely in the government's best interest that this indeed be the case, given the current tension between the public and French authorities. What's important now is that the French government be completely honest about the cause of the fire. Because if there's one thing that could start an even larger blaze than the one that gutted Notre Dame, it's the perception among the French people that their government is being anything less than completely honest with them. ( Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of an independently produced French-language program that airs on Sputnik France. Her website can be found at www.rachelmarsden.com.) (c) 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the man who was fatally shot by a trooper after leading authorities on a chase that ended near Boerne on Wednesday afternoon. The trooper was attempting to pull over Marcus Mcvae, 34, on a traffic stop on I-10, according to a news release from the department. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Mcvae and a female passenger pulled over, but the driver fled on foot into a wooded creek bed, according to the news release. The trooper allegedly gave Mcvae multiple commands, but Mcvae allegedly ignored them and tried to fight the trooper. The trooper fired his gun during the fight, and Mcvae was pronounced dead at the scene. Mcvae's criminal record includes an aggravated robbery conviction in Howard County and a conviction for engaging in organized criminal activity in San Angelo, records showed. The woman in the car with Mcvae, identified as Elizabeth Norton, allegedly tried fleeing the scene in the car. Troopers arrested Norton after tracking her down near Mile Marker 545. She is being charged with evading detention with a vehicle, according to the news release. The Texas Rangers are still investigating the incident and will submit their findings to the Kendall County District Attorney's Office. 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 plan to limit how much local governments can raise property taxes on homeowners lurched to life on Monday in the Texas Legislature after a 14-week stalemate. The Texas Senate passed a plan along mostly partisan lines that would bar school districts from increasing property tax collections by more than 2.5 percent without an election and block cities and counties from collecting more than 3.5 percent year-over-year without a vote. Currently, cities and counties can grow by 8 percent before voters have even a chance to fight the increase at the ballot box. But while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick acknowledged the plan still has a long way to go to clear the Legislature, he said it still represents a major step in fulfilling his promise to help homeowners struggling under the burden of ever-increasing property taxes. The average Texas homeowner pays 2.18 percent of his homes value each year, the third-highest rate in the U.S., according to a study by property data warehouse ATTOM. What they want is tax relief and my job as lieutenant governor is keeping my promise to people, Patrick said. And thats what we did today. The Legislature is exploring other ways to address property taxes, too. One alternative calls for a $2 billion reduction in Texas school taxes, which make up more than 50 percent of property tax bills. Yet another proposal would cut property taxes but increase the sales tax by a percentage point, pushing it from 8.25 percent in most communities to 9.25 percent. For subscribers: Gov. Abbott, top lawmakers push to raise sales taxes in swap Local governments say the plan the Senate approved provides minimal property tax relief, but still jeopardizes critical city services such as police and fire protection. The proposal does not actually cut current tax bills, and the caps would not apply to all local governments. Those with $15 million or less of tax revenue collections would be exempt from the cap, though the bill that passed the Senate offers voters in those places a chance to opt in. In February a more ambitious plan to limit all local governments to 2.5 percent annual increases without an election passed a key Senate committee. But Patrick could not get the bill to the full Senate because he did not have the required 19 votes in the 31-member chamber. But on Monday, leaders in the Senate revised the bill to raise the cap on local governments to 3.5 percent. State Sen. Kel Seliger, a Republican and former Amarillo mayor, announced that he would no longer block the bill. The bill passed the Senate hours later on an 18-13 vote, with Seliger joining the 12 Democrats in opposing the bill. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox While the bill passed the Senate, it is far from done. Next up is the Texas House, which has yet to pass a property tax reform bill. The House version exempts school districts from the annual property tax revenue caps, which likely would not fly in the Senate. The House bill also does not exempt cities and counties with less than $15 million in tax collections from the caps. The House and Senate must pass identical bills to change the law. On Friday, the House was expected to vote on its plan but pulled the measure at the last minute. For subscribers: High property taxes are the epicenter of Lt. Gov. Patricks re-election campaign Despite the uncertainty of how the House will respond to the bill, members of the Senate framed it as a historic victory. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, talked about how it had been 16 years since he and Patrick before either of them was in elected office started pushing the Legislature to pass property tax reforms. Ultimately, Patrick, a former TV broadcaster and radio talk show host, won a seat in the Senate and, in his 2014 campaign for lieutenant governor, promised to cut property taxes if he were elected. Two years ago, the Senate tried to pass a plan to lower the so-called rollback rate on cities and counties from the current 8 percent to 4 percent. The Texas House refused to back that plan, both in the regular session and in a subsequent special session. At the start of this year, Abbott called for a more aggressive cap of 2.5 percent, which seemed a tall order given the lack of consensus for a 4-percent limit two years ago. The caps on property tax increases are a critical component of the Senates plan, Bettencourt said. He said property values, particularly in high growth counties, have been skyrocketing to the point people cannot afford to stay in their homes. Their tax bills have been growing at two to three times faster than their ability to pay, Bettencourt said. Patrick said the multiple approaches to tackling property taxes is based on the states dubious history in providing relief for homeowners. In the past attempts, savings would disappear into thin air because local government grew too fast, he said. Hence, the push for caps on annual property tax revenue growth. Im focused on leaving here with real property tax relief and reform, Patrick said. 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. WASHINGTON -- Nearly 18 years ago, my wife and I were in Versailles, about to tour that iconic palace, when French television showed the infamous destruction of New York's Twin Towers skyscrapers by two hijacked commercial aircraft. All of Paris was plunged into mourning for the tragic death of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans. We raced to the Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris in quest of a return flight. There, a moment of silence was declared, as travelers of all nations froze in place in remembrance of the victims, with some travelers offering individual condolences to recognizable Americans at the airport. Unsuccessful at first in our dealings with sympathetic French airline clerks, we returned to Paris and attended a long and solemn Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. French and American Catholics, along with hundreds of other Parisians and visitors to the City of Light, shared their grief as the magnificent cathedral organ filled one of the world's greatest architectural and religious edifices with music, along with voices of compassion and shared loss. The long and close alliance of our two countries, forged in the fires of two horrible world wars survived by Paris, manifested itself in the outpouring of sympathy and support from our Gallic brothers. On Monday, long back home safe and sound, we watched American television bring a comparable view of shock and despair with the massive fire that was bringing down the famous spire of that same Notre Dame Cathedral, also decimating some of the rest of it. Its age and wooden construction scaffolds provided ready tinder for a rampage of flame against firefighting men and equipment inadequate to the gigantic task of bringing the colossal tragedy to heel. For hours, French authorities were at a loss to determine the cause, though many rumors rose and fell about the destruction, from allegations of carelessness among construction workers to unfounded speculation of arson or even sabotage. Inevitably, the existing political climate of suspicion fanned rumors of terrorism or religious antagonism threatening to take hold in some quarters. But the only sensible course was to await responsible investigation into the cause. Hours after the fire began, French officials began to report the likelihood that it probably was a case of carelessness or unintended accident. That tentative conclusion came to the huge relief of many who may have feared it the result of a diabolical plot that could feed further divisive suspicions of radicalism and organized chaos. There was one obvious difference between the 9/11 catastrophe and the Notre Dame tragedy. The collapse of the Twin Towers occurred in plain sight, as two of the hijacked planes crashed into the two building, a third did the same at the Pentagon, and a fourth apparently was headed for another Washington target before being averted by courageous passengers. The Notre Dame fire delivered no such clues of massive conspiracy. It may take some time to establish with certainty the exact cause of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. In the meantime, there are ample reasons to deplore and mourn as a civilized society the destruction of this magnificent global treasure. It may not rank with the pyramids of ancient Egypt or the ruins of Pompeii, but it can be restored, as French President Emanuel Macron has already pledged. That said, there is only a limited list of physical structures regarded as universal symbols of the greatness of the civilized society across the globe. The destruction of any of them is a loss not only to the country in which they are located and cherished, but wherever beauty and majesty are esteemed for their own sake. When the Twin Towers disappeared from the Manhattan skyline, private enterprise swiftly rebuilt in their place the new Freedom Tower, a tribute as much to American resilience as to the memory of the victims of 9/11. The restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral will also be a recognition of its place in the heart and pride of France, and that of the wide civilized world itself. ( Jules Witcover 's latest book is "The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power," published by Smithsonian Books. You can respond to this column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.) (c) 2019 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC. iciHaiti - Security : A businessman shot dead in the capital Thursday mid-day in Port-au-Prince, at the corner of Alley Chavannes and Magloire Ambroise in Port-au-Prince, unidentified armed individuals aboard a motorcycle shot dead Dupre Derifonce a businessman owner of a gas station in the city center and the Club "Casa blanca" in the neighborhood of Juvenat Petion-ville). The murderers fled after their crime, without being worried. Rushed to hospital, the businessman died as a result of his injuries. For the moment one not known the reason for this crime. TB/ iciHaiti New diseases threaten aquaculture by Lorena Guzman Hormazabal The emergence of new diseases is threatening aquaculture development, the fastest growing food production sector in the world, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The farming of fish, crustaceans, and other aquatic organisms provides a source of income for around 20 million people, and is a growth industry in many developing countries. But diseases such as Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) typify the global plight of aquaculture, warns the OIE, which focused on the issue at a recent summit in Santiago, Chile (April 2-4). Although little is known about the disease, it has spread rapidly throughout the world. Currently, more than 200 aquatic species are cultivated in the world and although today we have genetics as a tool to study the pathogens that affect them, it is a relatively new science, OIE deputy director-general Matthew Stone told SciDev.Net. Aquaculture already supplies almost 50 per cent of fish for human consumption globally, with that figure expected to rise. In many of the least developed countries of Africa and Asia, fish accounts for more than half of the total animal protein intake, according to the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Tilapia is the second most highly farmed fish worldwide, based on volume, and is recognised by the FAO as a good source of protein. However, experts say the industry is under threat from the emergence of TiLV, which has become a major epidemic since it was first detected in Israel in 2009. Acknowledged by the FAO as a new disease in 2014, it is now present in countries on four continents, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Egypt, and Thailand, last appearing in Africas Lake Victoria at the end of 2018. With a mortality rate that varies between 10 and 90 per cent, advances in its control are pressing, say experts. Ruben Avendano, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR) and a professor at Andres Bello University, both in Chile, told SciDev.Net: Much less is known about TiLV than any other emerging viral pathogens that have economically impacted industries such as salmon. Fish infected with TiLV often display sluggishness, lesions of the skin, eye abnormalities and lens opacity. However, there are still knowledge gaps, such as whether passive carriers of the infection can transmit the virus. Although the first case of TiLV was reported in 2014, studies are still limited because the countries affected do not always have the scientific capacities or the necessary infrastructure for research, explained Avendano. The case of TiLV would likely not be an isolated one, warned Avendano, highlighting the need for more research into diseases affecting tilapia and other aquatic species. Such new diseases spread rapidly in different geographical areas with similar environmental temperature parameters, he said, adding that climate change could be a contributing factor. Controlling risk in aquaculture, and looking at ecosystems and sustainable production, is part of the OIE's remit and was central to the agenda in Santiago. 2019 SciDev.Net Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture. Pakistan Navy launches mangroves plantation campaign April 16,2019 | Source: Dawn The Pakistan Navy on Monday launched its Mangroves Plantation Campaign 2019 by planting saplings at the Bin Qasim port. Commander Coast Vice Admiral Fayyaz Gillani, chief guest on the occasion, inaugurated the campaign, which entails an effort to plant two million mangroves in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan in line with the governments vision of a Clean and Green Pakistan. During his address, Vice Admiral Fayyaz Gillani highlighted that the campaign offered a tremendous opportunity to strengthen the peoples unique relationship with nature. Mangroves have been instrumental in fending off adverse effects of coastal hazards spurred by climatic changes, he said. 2019, DAWN Theme(s): Others. From emergency to recovery: Mozambique one month after Cyclone Idai As the storm that was to become Cyclone Idai gathered force over the ocean east of Mozambique, the Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) team in the port city of Beira began preparing for the worst. Medications were stacked high on the shelves so they would not be destroyed by flood waters, and sand bags were placed around supply containers to keep them safe and dry. These measures were taken in the pharmacy, warehouse, offices, and staff living quarters just in case. We asked our Mozambican staff to take the same precautions at hometo stack their belongings high up on the shelves, protect the windows, and make plans to evacuate if needed. But none of us really had any idea what was coming, recalls Gabriele Santi, MSF project coordinator in Beira. Cyclone Idai swept through Beira and surrounding districts on March 14 and 15. High winds and heavy flooding killed at least 602 people in Mozambique, according to official figures, and left many more injured. In Beira alonea city of half a million peoplethousands of homes, schools, and health centers, as well as essential infrastructure like roads, were damaged or destroyed. News of the devastation began to emerge days later, once mobile phone service was partly restored. Only then did MSF international staffwho had been evacuated from Beira only to be trapped by high flood waters in Chimoio, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) awaystart to receive delayed messages that had been sent during the cyclone by their Mozambican colleagues. One local staff member had spent the night on top of a plastic table with his whole family as flood waters rushed through their home, another had her roof blown away, and a third was stuck in the capital, Maputo, afraid that his family in Beira had died. One month later, MSF has nearly 1,000 staff on the ground to respond to the disaster800 of them from Mozambique. We are supporting a massive cholera vaccination campaign led by the Ministry of Health to contain the spread of the outbreak. So far, almost 750,000 people have received the vaccine. But many families are still struggling to find food, shelter, and health care services. While this disaster has not received sustained international media attention, it is critical that people in the areas hardest hit are not forgotten. People remain at risk of illnesses like malaria and malnutrition, which are common after natural disasters, and the local health system will take some time to recover. MSF Theme(s): Communities and Organisations. Argentina requests international arrest warrant for Chinese vessel by Juan Delgado April 12,2019 | Source: Dialogo In early March, the Argentine Naval Prefecture (PNA, in Spanish) chased a Chinese-flagged ship that fished illegally in Argentinas southern Patagonia waters. The Chinese fishing boat managed to flee the scene, leading the Argentine justice system to request an international warrant for its arrest, PNA reported. The naval institution notified the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) on March 13, requesting the Chinese vessels arrest for resisting or disobeying authority. The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship also required from the Peoples Republic of China information related to home port, crew, and ship owner or company for which the vessel worked, PNA indicated in a press release. Illegal fishing is a global problem, Rosendo Fraga, an Argentine political analyst who specializes in military issues, told Dialogo. The argument of each countrys maritime border limits is a subject that hasnt been fully resolved, because some countries have different views. On the night of March 1, PNA personnel aboard the coast guard GC-24 Mantilla detected the Chinese ship Hua Xiang 801 within Argentinas Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), 199 nautical miles off the coast of San Jorge Gulf. The Chinese vessel didnt emit satellite positioning information. It was a dangerous operation that lasted more than three hours, PNA told Dialogo in a release. Mantilla started sailing toward the fishing vessel and determined it was using its fishing equipment and had its working lights on, so we activated the protocol to prevent illegal fishing. The Mantilla's crew attempted repeated calls in Spanish and English to the fishing vessel and sent sound signalsall were ignored. The Chinese vessel proceeded to raise anchor and sail toward international waters, while jettisoning its fishing equipment. During the escape, the vessel made dangerous maneuvers and attempted to crash into the coast guard ship. PNA responded with warning shots. With a maritime territory extending more than 43,000 square kilometers, Argentina has an abundance of marine wealth, due to the biodiversity of the Argentine Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. During high seasonfrom January to Julydozens of international fishing vessels, mostly Chinese and South Korean, come close to the Argentine maritime border to benefit from the high concentration of commercial species, such as squid (migratory), hake, ray, and shark, among others. 2019 Dialogo Americas Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods. Taiwanese fishing vessels not worth the headache, says PM of of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines April 12,2019 | Source: Searchlight The revenue which Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains from registering Taiwanese fishing vessels is not worth the headache. So, the government is discouraging the registration of these vessels and now, the number of Taiwanese fishing vessels flying a Vincentian flag has dwindled to fewer than 20. Prime Minister Dr Gonsalves spoke about this issue on Wednesday during a press briefing at the Argyle International Airport (AIA) at which a contract was signed with Rainforest Seafoods for the establishment of a fish processing facility in Calliaqua. Gonsalves said the country discourages the registering of Taiwanese fishing vessels as we are unable to monitor their catches and this negatively affects us in relation to the International Convention on Atlantic Tuna. In May 2017, the government received official communication from the embassy of the European Union (EU) in Barbados informing that this country was listed as a non-cooperating state as it pertains to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The listing by the EU does not relate to Vincentian fishermen but to 33 vessels owned by Taiwanese companies that were registered in SVG and therefore flew the Vincentian flag. Despite discouraging the registration of Taiwanese fishing vessels, this country remains the 19th largest ship registry in the world with a maritime commission in Geneva and offices in Monaco and Dubai. We are a maritime country and we have a good maritime administration and we have good shipping laws, said the Prime Minister. He also added that the money brought in yearly from fisheries is in excess of $15 million but the figure could be more as there are fishermen who sell their catch at sea to vessels from Martinique and Guadeloupe while there is another country that fishes in our waters. Interactive Media Ltd. Theme(s): Others. Indonesian govt to issue diplomatic protest to Malaysia over surveillance interference April 12,2019 | Source: Tempo Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP) urged the Foreign Affairs Ministry to issue a diplomatic note to the Malaysian government. The letter is the form of protest against Malaysian maritime boat meddling the ministrys surveillance vessel on duty in Malacca Strait this week. Earlier on April 3 and 9, 2019, Panggalang 13 speed boat owned by the neighboring countrys maritime enforcement agency (APMM) hindered the ministrys vessel, Hiu 08 and Macan Tutul, while arresting two Malaysian illegal fishing boats in the strait. The KKP's acting director general for marine and fisheries resources surveillance (PSDKP), Agus Suherman, opined the incident was quite serious since the intervention was committed by a state institution under Malaysia administration. The boat belongs to APMM, a counterpart of Indonesian Maritime Security Board (Bakamla), said Agus during a press conference, the KKP building, Gambir, Central Jakarta, Thursday, April 11. Agus explained that the case was not a trivial matter and so his ministry demanded Ministry of Foreign Affairs follow it up. He said that the neighboring country has violated Indonesian sovereignty, committed obstruction of justice act, and often entered Indonesian waters and practiced illegal fishing as well. Tempo Media Group Theme(s): Others. EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement: Polisario Front to file complaint before European Court of Justice April 14,2019 | Source: Sahara Press Service Sahrawi Coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) Mhamed Kheddad said that a complaint against the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement will soon be filed before the European Court of Justice (CJEU), noting that a "very solid" case was prepared to reject the agreement in question. Speaking to Russian agency Sputnik, in Moscow, Mhamed Kheddad said that the Polisario Front intends to file a complaint before the European Court of Justice, against the fishing agreement concluded illegally between EU and Morocco in disregard of CJEU judgments dating from 2016 and 2018. We are convinced that we have a very solid case and the Court will utterly reject its agreements because they are illegal," said the Sahrawi Coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Kheddad recalled, on this occasion, that CJEU had already ruled on "the inapplicability of EU-Morocco agreements to occupied Western Sahara which is considered as a separate territory that doesn't fall under the Moroccan Sovereignty, in addition to "the prior consent of the Saharawi people to any agreement on the exploitation of its natural resources. The Polisario Front's complaint before the Court of Justice of the European Union comes in response to the adoption, by the European Parliament last February, of the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement and its implementation protocol involving illegally the Sahrawi territorial waters. The Polisario Front strongly opposed this illegal agreement which violates the Saharawi people's fundamental right to self-determination and which only feeds the pursuit of the conflict in Western Sahara. 2016. Sahara Press Service Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture. 1653 W. Grace St., Chicago: $1,875,000 | Listed: Oct. 18, 2021 This six-bedroom home has four full baths, two half baths, six outdoor decks and an in-ground heated resistance pool. The kitchen is equipped with a Thermador double oven with a custom stainless steel hood, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, a wine refrigerator and a breakfast island with a vegetable sink. The first floor also has a dining room, a family room with a fireplace, a living room, two built-in pantries and deck access. The second floor has four large bedrooms and an office with custom built-ins. The third floor has a bathroom with a skylight, double sink, large soaking tub, and separate shower. The primary bedroom suite, also located on the third floor, has his and her walk-in closets with custom built-ins and a reading nook. A full basement with radiant heated floors, a wine cellar, a three-car garage and a catwalk from the house to the garage deck complete this home. Agent: Nicole Duran, @properties, 773-905-9472 *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. Despite recent indications they may still be alive, more than six years after they were first seized, British and American journalists John Cantlie and Austin Tice are still missing. The IFJ has now renewed its calls on their respective governments not to forget them and to make every effort to find and free the journalists. John Cantlie is a photojournalist from Hampshire. He was captured by the so-called Islamic State (IS) in November 2012, together with the reporter James Foley who was subsequently beheaded. He was last seen in a propaganda video released by IS in 2016. Austin Tice is an American freelance journalist who collaborated among others with the US McClatchy news organization and The Washington Post. He disappeared in August 2012, when he was captured at a checkpoint in Syria. In both cases, there have been hopeful signs in the past few months. The UK Home Office declared in February that John Cantlie was still alive, without releasing any further information. In December Austin Tices parents held a press conference to announce they had information that bolstered their confidence that their son was alive. The IFJ expresses its solidarity and support for the missing journalists and their families.IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "We call on the British, American and Syrian authorities to make every effort to find them and bring them back safe as quickly as possible. This should be considered a priority given their detention constitutes a grave violation of human rights." Imperial Valley News Center WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy Washington, DC - Julian P. Assange, 47, the founder of WikiLeaks, was arrested Thursday in the United Kingdom pursuant to the U.S./UK Extradition Treaty, in connection with a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer. According to court documents unsealed, the charge relates to Assanges alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States. The indictment alleges that in March 2010, Assange engaged in a conspiracy with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, to assist Manning in cracking a password stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a U.S. government network used for classified documents and communications. Manning, who had access to the computers in connection with her duties as an intelligence analyst, was using the computers to download classified records to transmit to WikiLeaks. Cracking the password would have allowed Manning to log on to the computers under a username that did not belong to her. Such a deceptive measure would have made it more difficult for investigators to determine the source of the illegal disclosures. During the conspiracy, Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Mannings transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect Assange actively encouraging Manning to provide more information. During an exchange, Manning told Assange that after this upload, thats all I really have got left. To which Assange replied, curious eyes never run dry in my experience. Assange is charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBIs Washington Field Office made the announcement after the charges were unsealed. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kellen S. Dwyer, Thomas W. Traxler and Gordon D. Kromberg, and Trial Attorneys Matthew R. Walczewski and Nicholas O. Hunter of the Justice Departments National Security Division are prosecuting the case. The extradition will be handled by the Department of Justices Office of International Affairs. An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court. Imperial Valley News Center Washington-Based Lawyer Indicted on Charge of Making False Statements to the Department of Justice Washington, DC - A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging Gregory B. Craig, a Washington-based lawyer, with making false statements and concealing material information about his activities on behalf of Ukraine from the Department of Justice, National Security Divisions Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit (FARA Unit). The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBIs New York Field Office. Craig, 74, of Washington, D.C., was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for willfully falsifying and concealing material facts from the FARA Unit, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(1), and for making false and misleading statements to the FARA Unit, in violation Title 22, United States Code, Section 618(a)(2). An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty. The maximum penalties for the charged offenses are, respectively, five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, and five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. The maximum statutory sentence for federal offenses is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Craig is to be arraigned at a date to be scheduled by the Court. This case is being investigated by the FBIs New York Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez and Molly Gaston of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Jason McCullough of the Justice Departments National Security Division. Martin used that same gun to kill Trevor Wehner, 21, a Northern Illinois University student working the first day of his human resources internship; Clayton Parks, 32, the human resources director at the company who had a wife and young son; Vicente Juarez, 54, the stockroom attendant and forklift operator at Henry Pratt and patriarch of his family; Josh Pinkard, 37, a married father of three and plant manager who had arrived in the Aurora area less than one year before the shooting; and Russell Beyer, 47, a longtime employee, father of two children and proud union chairman. Imperial Valley News Center Romanian Cybercriminals Convicted of All 21 Counts Relating to Infecting Over 400,000 Victim Computers with Malware Toledo, Ohio - A federal jury Thursday convicted two Bucharest, Romania, residents of 21 counts related to their scheme to infect victim computers with malware in order to steal credit card and other information to sell on dark market websites, mine cryptocurrency and engage in online auction fraud, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio. Bogdan Nicolescu, 36, and Radu Miclaus, 37, were convicted after a 12-day trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit service marks, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit money laundering and 12 counts each of wire fraud. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 14, 2019 before Chief Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the Northern District of Ohio. According to testimony at trial and court documents, Nicolescu, Miclaus, and a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty, collectively operated a criminal conspiracy from Bucharest, Romania. It began in 2007 with the development of proprietary malware, which they disseminated through malicious emails purporting to be legitimate from such entities as Western Union, Norton AntiVirus and the IRS. When recipients clicked on an attached file, the malware was surreptitiously installed onto their computer. This malware harvested email addresses from the infected computer, such as from contact lists or email accounts, and then sent malicious emails to these harvested email addresses. The defendants infected and controlled more than 400,000 individual computers, primarily in the United States. Controlling these computers allowed the defendants to harvest personal information, such as credit card information, user names and passwords. They disabled victims malware protection and blocked the victims access to websites associated with law enforcement. Controlling the computers also allowed the defendants to use the processing power of the computer to solve complex algorithms for the financial benefit of the group, a process known as cryptocurrency mining. The defendants used stolen email credentials to copy a victims email contacts. They also activated files that forced infected computers to register email accounts with AOL. The defendants registered more than 100,000 email accounts using this method. They then sent malicious emails from these addresses to the compromised contact lists. Through this method, they sent tens of millions of malicious emails. When victims with infected computers visited websites such as Facebook, PayPal, eBay or others, the defendants would intercept the request and redirect the computer to a nearly identical website they had created. The defendants would then steal account credentials. They used the stolen credit card information to fund their criminal infrastructure, including renting server space, registering domain names using fictitious identities and paying for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) which further concealed their identities. The defendants were also able to inject fake pages into legitimate websites, such as eBay, to make victims believe they were receiving and following instructions from legitimate websites, when they were actually following the instructions of the defendants. They placed more than 1,000 fraudulent listings for automobiles, motorcycles and other high-priced goods on eBay and similar auction sites. Photos of the items were infected with malware, which redirected computers that clicked on the image to fictitious webpages designed by the defendants to resemble legitimate eBay pages. These fictitious webpages prompted users to pay for their goods through a nonexistent eBay Escrow Agent who was simply a person hired by the defendants. Users paid for the goods to the fraudulent escrow agents, who in turn wired the money to others in Eastern Europe, who in turn gave it to the defendants. The payers/victims never received the items and never got their money back. This resulted in a loss of millions of dollars. The Bayrob group laundered this money by hiring money transfer agents and created fictitious companies with fraudulent websites designed to give the impression they were actual businesses engaged in legitimate financial transactions. Money stolen from victims was wired to these fraudulent companies and then in turn wired to Western Union or Money Gram offices in Romania. European money mules used fake identity documents to collect the money and deliver it to the defendants. The FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the Romanian National Police. Senior Counsel Brian Levine of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Duncan T. Brown and Brian McDonough of the Northern District of Ohio prosecuted the case. The Office of International Affairs also provided assistance in this case. Imperial Valley News Center Is government bad for business? Study shows investors with political agendas hurt shareholders and firms West Lafayette, Indiana - Privately owned businesses are more efficient and profitable than governments. So goes the prevailing thought among financiers in the United States and many other countries. The general conclusion is government ownership has a negative influence on firms, said Kateryna Holland, an assistant professor of finance in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. Thats why announcements of investments by certain government entities ones with possible political motivations were met with skepticism among shareholders in publicly traded firms, resulting in shareholder losses of $14 billion over a 25-year period, according to research published online in the Journal of Corporate Finance. The findings show the shareholders were on to something: Several performance factors, including size, profitability and efficiency, declined among these companies five years after being targeted by government investors. Political goals conflict with shareholder wealth maximization, said Holland, the author of the study. When this type of an entity purchases an equity stake, shareholders believe its going to bring some political influences that will not benefit the firm in the long run. Holland analyzed changes in stock prices from 1987 to 2013 at the announcement of government investments in companies from 70 countries, including the U.S. She found government investors with potential political agendas were met with significantly more uncertainty among shareholders, compared with the general market, than those with financial or industrial objectives, especially in countries where checks and balances existed to ensure accountability. The results show that, contrary to popular belief, governments are a large and growing class of investors, despite most research being focused on divestment and privatization. In Hollands sample, for example, overall shareholder wealth increased on average by more than $50 million at the announcement of government investments. Companies targeted by financial or industrial government investors, however, were much better off five years down the road compared to beneficiaries of political government investors. Only a few studies in the finance literature have looked at government investment, she said. Theres this misperception that when governments do invest, they invest in a financially distressed firm; its a bailout. On average, thats not true; they invest in companies that outperform the market. In the study, Holland grouped government investors by their perceived objectives: political, such as national and regional governments; financial, such as state-owned banks; and industrial, such as state-owned energy companies, utilities and other enterprises. She also analyzed the robustness of regulations, shareholder protections, accounting standards and media in each country. These are all monitoring mechanisms: strong institutions, strong media, strong regulatory quality, she said. If somebody is monitoring these governments and they invest, the target shareholders are less worried, but if the monitoring is weak, target shareholders are really worried. She found shareholders tended to be wary of government investors who were domestically located or who purchased large stakes in a company, or when a company had easy access to funds elsewhere, making a government investment seem less attractive. Investors know, and they are very sophisticated, she said. "Theres people who think about this day in and day out, and it shows in the announcement reaction and then follows through in the long-term performance of the firm. Imperial Valley News Center PACFLT Commander Talks Winning High-end Fight with Hawaii-based Navy Leadership Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - Navy leadership triads from Hawaii-based units gathered with Adm. John C. Aquilino, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, for a conversation about readiness and winning a high-end fight, if called to do so. Aquilino met April 12 with commanding officers, executive officers, and command senior enlisted leaders for a frank, face-to-face discussion about their expectations and the urgency behind building winning teams. "I need your help to execute three objectives win the high-end fight, win without fighting, and build and sustain fleet readiness," Aquilino said. "Take those objectives back to your teams and build battle-minded, confident and capable Sailors. Make sure they are ready." Aquilino stressed the need for feedback from the fleet about obstacles to effective warfighting. "I need leaders to tell me what's not working," Aquilino said. "If there's something preventing you from doing your jobs, I want to know right away so I can fix it and you can focus on generating lethal combat power." Aquilino said that the Navy has several asymmetric advantages, the most important of which is people. "Sailors want to be on winning teams," Aquilino said. "As leaders, you have to build, train, and execute a winning team. There are no points for second place." Aquilino and Pacific Fleet Master Chief James Honea held a similar discussion with San Diego triads earlier this year. They plan to continue these face-to-face conversations with leadership throughout the Pacific Fleet area of responsibility. Nicolas Maduro: Corruption and Chaos in Venezuela Washington, DC - Maduro usurped power; hes not the duly elected president. Juan Guaido is the person that the Venezuelan people chose. America and now 54 other nations simply have ratified that, have said, Yep, we recognize thats what Venezuelans want. ~ U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 2019. Venezuelas former regime, led by Nicolas Maduro, has consistently violated the human rights and dignity of its citizens, plundered the countrys natural resources, and driven a once prosperous nation into economic ruin with his authoritarian rule and socialist economic policies. Maduros thugs have engaged in extra-judicial killings and torture, taken political prisoners, and severely restricted freedom of speech, all in a brutal effort to retain power. MADUROS UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTS: In 2015, pro-democracy opposition parties resoundingly defeated the Maduro regime in legislative elections. Shortly thereafter, Maduro began dismantling various branches of government. Lame-duck National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello rushed to stack the countrys courts with unqualified party hacks to serve as Maduros guarantors of power. On January 11, 2016, when the National Assembly proceeded to seat three legitimately elected deputies, the Supreme Court declared the National Assembly in contempt, rendering all subsequent legislation approved by this democratically elected body null and void. Maduro has deliberately sidelined this constitutionally legitimate Assembly ever since. Maduros National Electoral Council (CNE) cronies oversee the conduct of all elections and declare the winners. Since 2015, they have tilted the playing field to ensure that Maduro cant lose. They have disqualified every major opposition party and most opposition candidates since 2017. In 2017, acting on Maduros orders, the CNE organized widely contested elections for the National Constituent Assembly, whose primary objective was to draft a new constitution. Instead, Maduro used the Assembly to usurp the powers of the legitimate National Assembly, ratify his orders, and enact laws, many of which vilify and disparage opposition figures and their policy proposals. This sham electoral system culminated in the May 20, 2018 presidential elections. With most opposition figures arrested, exiled, or banned from running, Maduro faced a weakened field of candidates in a rigged election. To drive pro-Maduro turnout, the regime bribed voters with desperately needed food and other subsidies in exchange for their votes. On January 10, 2019, Maduro unlawfully assumed the presidency at a ceremony deemed illegitimate by many Venezuelans and more than 50 countries, including most of Venezuelas neighbors and the majority of the European Union. In this context, Juan Guaido, elected on January 5, 2019, as President of the National Assembly, the only remaining democratically elected and legitimate institution in the country, invoked relevant articles of the Venezuelan constitution and became Venezuelas Interim President. MADUROS CORRUPTION: Maduros most egregious corruption scheme involved embezzlement from the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA). In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a finding under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act. A European bank accepted exorbitant commissions to process approximately $2 billion in transactions related to Venezuelan thirdparty money launderers, shell companies, and complex financial products to siphon off funds from PdVSA. In 2018, a $1.2 billion money-laundering scheme involving Matthias Krull, a German national and Panamanian resident, and Gustavo Adolfo Hernandez, a Colombian national and naturalized U.S. citizen, exploited PdVSA and took advantage of the corruption in Venezuelas foreign currency exchange systems by trading U.S. dollars for Venezuelan bolivars at market rate and then back again. In 2016, Maduro declared approximately 12% of the country to be a part of an Orinoco Mining Arc and awarded himself broad authorities to oversee the exploitation of resources for personal gain. In 2017, the regime ejected legitimate foreign companies doing business and replaced them with unregulated miners who operate with the backing of senior Venezuelan military officers. In 2017, after a seven month investigation, Venezuelas National Assembly uncovered instances where the regime spent $42 for a box of food, which it then distributed in exchange for votes, at a time when the food items cost less than $13. Maduros inner circle kept the difference, which totaled more than $200 million dollars in at least one case. Venezuela ranks 169 out of 180 countries on the Transparency Internationals 2017 Corruption Perception Index. MADUROS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: Over the weekend, a saga unfolded that should serve as a reminder to clean up your inbox and shore up your passwords regularly. On Friday night, an unknown number of users were notified by Microsoft that its webmail client, Outlook.com, was hacked in what the company dubbed a months-long security breach, which was confirmed by TechCrunch on Saturday. The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant sent emails detailing the scope: Hackers could access subject lines, folder names, and contact lists but not email content or user passwords. On Sunday, Microsoft admitted to Motherboard that roughly 6 percent of affected accounts did suffer hacks allowing access to email content. Motherboard also reported that the nature of the breach meant enterprise or business accounts were unaffected--only normal consumer accounts were hacked. Microsoft hasn't yet responded to a request for comment from Inc. regarding the extent of the attack. Still, the episode is a valuable reminder for entrepreneurs to shore up their email security, as 70 percent of cyber attacks target small businesses. A recent Lifewire ranking listed Switzerland-based ProtonMail, a free encrypted email provider with an $8 per month business plan, as one of the world's most secure email services. For comparison, Google's cheapest G Suite plan is $6 per month. There are plenty of resources online to protect yourself and your business from email scams, including free email systems tests from many internet security companies. Security experts also recommend setting clear conduct policies for all employees, especially regarding any personal devices they bring into the office. Of course, the standard advice always applies: If you think your account has been breached, change your password. And if your account still gets hacked after that, ditch the account and start a new one. On Monday, Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya offered an exceptional argument in the opening talk for the first night of TED 2019, this year's TED talk conference in Vancouver. In short, most CEOs are leading their companies wrong. Here are four secrets to how the Turkish immigrant turned Chobani into the most successful yogurt brand in recent memory. 1. Be grateful to your employees. "Don't worry about your shareholders, but your employees." His take is like Richard Branson's: "Take care of your employees and your employees will want to take care of your customers." For Ulukaya, he gave a share of the company to his 2,000 employees. According to him, people thought he was insane. But Ulukaya knew that the investment in his company would give a serious return--and an intense loyalty. 2. Respect the community. "The biggest businesses today ask, 'What kind of tax breaks can you give to us?" when, in reality, we should go to the community and ask, 'What we can do for them?'" For the second major Chobani factory, Ulukaya asked the local community what support they needed. In his words, Chobani asked for permission. The company then trained locals to create yogurt and strategically helped build up the economy in a way that empowered locals. 3. Take responsibility. "Don't stay out of politics, but you must pick a side." Ulukaya is a well-known advocate of immigrant support--30 percent of Chobani's employees are immigrants. He considers this decision not only personal, since he is from Turkey, but also political, as he believes in supporting new Americans. Despite his previous arguments, at TED he shared, "Business, not government, will be the main social change agent in the world." 4. Be accountable. "Today, the CEO reports to the board, but in my opinion, the CEO reports to the consumer." For years, Ulukaya put his personal number on each Chobani container. It allowed him to get feedback from those he served. It directly influenced his business decisions, he says, and helped change the direction of the company. Companies that solve real problems make for compelling investment opportunities on Shark Tank--particularly when the problem is a health crisis. On Sunday's episode of the ABC show, founder Eric Roy pitched Hydroviv, a line of personalized water filters he developed in response to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Hydroviv makes consumer filters based on the water quality in customers' cities--which they identify before purchasing--and removes harmful substances like lead and arsenic. Roy, who worked as a chemist at the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C., told the Sharks he expects to generate $325,000 in sales this year and reach $1.7 million next year. He came to Shark Tank seeking $400,000 for 10 percent equity and made a strong impression on Mark Cuban, who immediately saw promise in a product that could help address a serious health issue. "Your product is not a water filter; your product is trust," Cuban told Roy during his pitch. "I'm interested because I love products that do well by doing good." While other filter companies like Brita promise to deliver cleaner water, they aren't developed specifically for water in certain areas and therefore cannot remove all the necessary toxins, Roy told the Sharks. "If you're trying to do everything all at once you don't really do anything very well," he added. Roy came up with the idea after learning about the water crisis in Flint, which in 2014 switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, leading to dangerously high levels of lead. Roy created filters that catered to Flint's specific purification needs in his studio apartment and donated them to the city. Eventually, he developed a business plan wherein he would assess a city's drinking water based on local water quality data, then build a custom-made filter. Customers install the filters under their sinks and receive replacement filter cartridges through Hyrdoviv's subscription service every six months. The company sells the filters for $249 and replacement filters for $55 for subscribers and $65 for non-subscribers. The Sharks liked Roy's business but were nervous about his plans for growing the company. When guest Shark and marketing expert Rohan Oza asked how he would spend the $400,000, for example, Roy said he wanted to hire senior-level marketing people to boost the company's profile. The Sharks disagreed with the strategy, adding that they would rather see Roy focus on raising awareness about the company's mission. "What I've heard is that your customers have come from an authentic belief; they believe in your product and that you will protect them," Cuban said. "We want to get you out there scaring the hell out of people and getting onto shows and saying, 'I'm here to answer all your questions.'" Cuban offered $400,000 for 20 percent of the company, which Roy accepted without negotiating. "Now that we have [Cuban] on our team, I'm just speechless," he said. Facebook today got a damning portrait, through a batch of its own documents acquired by British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell and shared with multiple outlets, in this case NBC News reporters Olivia Solon and Cyrus Farivar. (Disclosure: I regularly write for NBCNews.com, though generally on economics and finance.) Here's a telling paragraph (although read the whole thing): The documents, which include emails, webchats, presentations, spreadsheets and meeting summaries, show how Zuckerberg, along with his board and management team, found ways to tap Facebook's trove of user data -- including information about friends, relationships and photos -- as leverage over companies it partnered with. And yet, at the same time, Facebook developed a strategy to claim that it was actively protecting user privacy. That Facebook might indulge in bare-knuckle fights while trying to cultivate a different public persona should hardly come as a surprise at this point. The company's history is replete with personal data and privacy issues. The difference here is documentation that apparently shows intent. I've asked Facebook for comment and will add it when I get something. There are always some CEOs who garner criticism for the way they handle business. But Facebook has grown into a category of itself, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg potentially doing more long-term harm to the company and its brand than Elon Musk ever has to his during a Twitter rant on a bad day. Facebook has fundamentally undercut the trust consumers want in a company and that other businesses want in a partner, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. At this point, 60 percent of Americans don't trust Facebook with their personal information. So far, the social media giant has been able to do what it wants because users don't walk away in high volume and government fails to take significant action. But that seems to be changing. Here are just some of the most recent actions and revelations affecting Facebook: Facebook had to change its terms of service in the EU so people know it makes money off their data. Which would suggest--I know, big shock--that it makes money off everyone's data. The EU has strengthened copyright protections so Facebook will have to filter out protected content when it doesn't have a paid license for material passed around. The U.K. has proposed social media regulations that could require companies like Facebook to protect users from a variety of problems, including suicide encouragement, disinformation, and terrorism. Apparently, Facebook did know about the Cambridge Analytica data use months earlier than it has previously said. More governmental bodies have demanded that Facebook and some other companies like Google testify about their practices. And still Facebook's revenue and user numbers have continued to grow. But, increasingly, shareholders have begun to criticize the amount of power held by Zuckerberg, who holds 57.7 percent of voting rights. The amount of control Zuckerberg exerts is nothing new and was baked into Facebook's IPO paperwork. That may have been fine when everything seemed to run smoothly, but apparently isn't under the negative attention the company is getting. The stock dropped sharply between a record high in July and December 2018. Shares have seen a comeback but remain down 17 percent from the peak. That's the type of action that grabs the attention of investors. Technically, Zuckerberg can bat away any demands placed on him because of the votes he controls. Technically, so could Travis Kalanick of Uber--until things got so bad that board members finally convinced him to step down from his official role. I won't pretend to know the type of pressure brought to bear that finally worked, but suspect it was significant and, who knows, could be brought to bear in this case. European politicians should "panic over climate change, according to a teenage environment activist and founder of the school strike movement. I am 16 years old, I come from Sweden and I want you to panic, Greta Thunberg told MEPs at the European Parliament. I want you to act as if the house was on fire. I have said those words before and a lot of people have explained why that is a bad idea." She added: A great number of politicians have told me that panic never leads to anything good and I agree. To panic, unless you have to, is a terrible idea. But when your house is on fire and you want to keep your house from burning to the ground then that does require some level of panic. Parliamentarians gave the teenager a standing ovation. Ms Thunberg became emotional as she warned about species extinction, deforestation and ocean pollution in her remarks. Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Show all 29 1 /29 Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 EPA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Brighton on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Referring to the international fundraising effort to rebuild Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, she told politicians to use cathedral thinking to fight climate change. The schoolgirl who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last month for her work fighting against climate change, started to skip school to protest against climate change outside the Swedish Parliament last August. She did not return for three weeks, documenting her demonstration on Instagram and Twitter, where it soon gained global attention. Thunbergs #FridaysForFuture movement has since grown, with students using the weekday to protest outside of parliaments and city halls around the world. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events A global climate strike on 15 March was inspired by the movement. Schoolchildren in nearly 100 countries participated in the protest, demanding more action to save the environment. A recent United Nations report stated that global temperatures could rise by 1.5C a threshold scientists believe the planet cannot surpass without experiencing damaging effects of climate change. The report said that temperatures had already risen 1C and the planet could reach the 1.5C threshold as early as 2030 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate. Additional reporting by agencies Almost 300 people have been arrested during the second a day of climate protests in London which shut down roads in Westminster, the West End, Parliament Square and Waterloo Bridge. The demonstrations, led by British climate group Extinction Rebellion, also took place in Oxford Circus and Marble Arch. The activists are calling for action to address the escalating global climate crisis. In the UK the group is demanding the government declare a climate and ecological emergency and to act to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025. Londons Metropolitan Police said 500,000 people had been affected by Tuesdays protests. International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Show all 38 1 /38 International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists make some noise at the occupation of Oxford Circus in London Reuters International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied A climate activist is arrested after spray painting a demand for climate laws on the entrance to Bristol Magistrates Court Bristol Live /SWNS International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters in New York stage a "die-in" near City Hall in New York on April 17 Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home as activists have glued themselves to the fence outside on April 17 SWNS International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied An activist waters the plants at the occupation of Waterloo Bridge in London PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists sit in a boat on the River Thames in London on April 16 Reuters International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Two activists stand atop a DLR train while another has superglued his hand to the carriage in Canary Wharf DLR station in London Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied An activist sits in a hammock while occupying Oxford Circus in London AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters form a road block on the North Bridge in Edinburgh on April 16 PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters dance as a DJ plays at Oxford Circus in London on April 17 Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Police remove a protester from the roof a DLR train at Canary Wharf station in London AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters at the "Temple of Peace & Quiet" occupy Waterloo Bridge in London PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Police remove a protester from the roof a DLR train at Canary Wharf station in London AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters in New York stage a "die-in" near City Hall in New York Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters set up atop a lorry blocking Waterloo Bridge PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied An activist walks past the camp on Waterloo Bridge early in the morning of April 17 in London Reuters International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters on the Shell building in London during the protests PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied An activist halts a train by superglueing his hand to it Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists take part in a protest in Berlin on April 15 Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists lie under a lorry on Waterloo Bridge in Central London during the protest PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied A demonstrator is arrested on Waterloo Bridge during the second day of protests PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists carry a skeleton along the North Bridge in Edinburgh Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists sit in the protests by Parliament Square in London EPA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters stand on Waterloo Bridge in Central London during the protests AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters carry giant wasp puppets in the protest by Parliament Square in London Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied A protester is arrested on Waterloo Bridge in Central London Reuters International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists take part in the second day of protests on Waterloo Bridge PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Activists wait under a float in the protest in Central London Reuters International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Waterloo Bridge is covered in graffiti after the protest in Central London Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied APRIL 15: Environmental campaigners block Oxford Circus during a coordinated protest by the Extinction Rebellion group on April 15, 2019 in London, England. With demonstrations blocking a number of locations across the capital, the group aims to stop traffic for up to five days Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Demonstrators lay Ruby the rhinoceros during a Extinction Rebellion protest in Parliament Square in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday April 15, 2019. Activists have pledged to block five central locations in a non-violent act of resistance and rebellion that campaigners say could go on for weeks PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Environmental campaigners walk across Waterloo Bridge as they take part in a coordinated protest by the Extinction Rebellion group on April 15, 2019 in London, England. With demonstrations blocking a number of locations across the capital, the group aims to stop traffic for up to five days. Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Environmental protesters from the Extinction Rebellion group stage a demonstration in Parliament Square London on April 15, 2019. - Environmental protesters from the Extinction Rebellion campaign group started a programme of demonstrations designed to block five of London's busiest and iconic locations to draw attention to what they see as the "Ecological and Climate Emergency" of climate change. AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Environmental protesters from the Extinction Rebellion group stage a demonstration in Parliament Square London on April 15, 2019. - Environmental protesters from the Extinction Rebellion campaign group started a programme of demonstrations designed to block five of London's busiest and iconic locations to draw attention to what they see as the "Ecological and Climate Emergency" of climate change. AFP/Getty International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Demonstrators take part in a 'Funeral Procession' during a climate protest in Parliament Square in London, Monday, April 15, 2019. Extinction Rebellion have organised a nationwide week of action, they are calling for a full-scale Rebellion to demand decisive action from governments on climate change and ecological collapse. They plan to engage in acts of non-violent civil disobedience against governments in capital cities around the world. AP International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Protesters erect eco-friendly toilets to accompany the growing number of tents around Marble Arch. International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Demonstrators during a Extinction Rebellion protest in Parliament Square in London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday April 15, 2019. Activists have pledged to block five central locations in a non-violent act of resistance and rebellion that campaigners say could go on for weeks. PA International climate protests enter fourth day: London sites occupied Demonstrators during a Extinction Rebellion protest in Oxford Circus in London PA Activists caused serious disruption to public transport and local businesses, with 55 bus routes forced to close. By Tuesday evening the Metropolitan Police said 290 people had been arrested in connection with the demonstrations. Most were detained on Waterloo Bridge for Public Order Act offences. A police spokesperson confirmed a number of further arrests had been made near Oxford Circus in central London. No further details were given. The police force imposed a restrictive condition on Monday evening, telling protestors at Waterloo Bridge and Oxford Circus to leave and continue further protests at Marble Arch. We are taking positive action against those who are choosing to ignore this condition and are continuing to demonstrate in other areas across London, a spokesperson said. Officers are out on the ground engaging with protesters and local communities to ensure proportionate policing plans are in place. There is a need to ensure the right balance is struck between allowing the right to peaceful protest, while disruption to communities is kept to a minimum. Tents littered the roads at Oxford Circus with some activists huddled beneath a pink boat with the words Tell the Truth daubed across its side. One placard read: Rebel for Life. Police said five of those arrested had been detained after the Shell building near the River Thames was targeted. The force warned that further disruption is likely to continue throughout the coming weeks. On Monday protesters from the same group occupied part of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Activists unfurled banners reading: Make ecocide law, and formed human chains. Dutch police later arrested 22 of the protesters. On Tuesday demonstrators from a Canadian branch of Extinction Rebellion occupied news channel CBC Edmontons offices in Canada. Meanwhile in Scotland 300 activists blocked the North Bridge road in Edinburgh. Police officers arrested 29 people, after traffic on the busy road was brought to a standstill. The Edinburgh protesters were joined by dozens of cyclists, who converged on the city centre, causing travel disruption. Similar demonstrations were also held in Hamburg, Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna and other cities. In London two protesters scaled up scaffolding writing Shell Knows! in red paint on the front of the building and three protesters glued their hands to the revolving doors at the entrance. Extinction Rebellion said it aimed to cause more than 6,000 of damage so they could be tried by a jury in a Crown Court. The campaign group said many brave rebels had been arrested, some willingly. Writing on Twitter, the group said: Conventional approaches of voting, lobbying, petitions and protest have failed because powerful political and economic interests prevent change. Our strategy is therefore one of non-violent, disruptive civil disobedience a rebellion. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Agencies contributed to this report South Africa: Land handed over to N Cape communities Deputy President David Mabuza says government is working hard to restore the dignity of all South Africans through the Land Reform Programme. As government, we want to restore human dignity. We must be at the forefront of transformation, the Deputy President said at a land handover ceremony in Seoding, Northern Cape, on Tuesday. The GaMopedi and Seoding handover forms part of governments restitution and land reform programme, in line with the Constitution. The beneficiaries include the Dukathole community, which consists of residents who moved to Germiston between 1920 and 1927 to look for job opportunities in the mining sector. Both the GaMopedi and Seoding communities have received about 9 000 hectares of land, which will be utilised for agricultural production. At the handover ceremony, Northern Cape Premier Silvia Lucas said government is committed to ensuring that people get back their land. We want to restore the dignity of our people by restoring the land back to them. Now that you have your land back, you will be able to contribute to food production, the Premier said. Community leader Atho Niemand told SAnews that it has been a long journey to this day. Some of the people with whom we started this journey are no longer alive. It would have been nice if they were here to witness this day, but we thank our government for finalising the process. We are going to use the land productively, Niemand said. The handover comes at a time when the National Assembly is still dealing with a proposed amendment to the Constitution on expropriation without compensation. The Draft Expropriation Bill was published on 21 December 2018 for public comment. The restitution programme has provided redress to a large number of victims of land dispossession who lodged claims with the government. Government is prioritising claims that were lodged no later than 31 December 1998 and are yet to be finalised. Approximately 80 000 land claims were received before 31 December 1998, of which 78 750 have been settled. The remaining backlog is primarily the result of competing claims that have been lodged or untraceable claimants. Government has programmes to empower claimants to use land productively for job creation, food security and attracting young people to farming. Other support is provided through various state programmes such as Letsema, the Recapitalisation and Development Programme, and through funding agency Mafisa. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. I have been so incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn so much from so many administrators, staff, former students and the wonderful students I had the opportunity to serve over the many years, Herget said at the boards Monday night meeting. I am eternally grateful to all of you for enriching my life in so many ways. Alexa Chung has partnered with Barbour to design a collection for the British heritage brand just in time for festival season. The TV presenter-turned-fashion designer has created seven jackets, three tote bags and one bucket hat, all of which will be released in early June. Chung, who runs her own eponymous label, has been an avid supporter of Barbour for some time, having worn the labels signature bottle green jackets with aplomb at several Glastonbury Festivals over the years. The It author revealed she relished in the opportunity to delve into the 125-year-old brands archive to find inspiration for her collection. Some of my happiest memories have unfolded in a Barbour, the 35-year-old said of the partnership, which is a collaboration between the label and her own brand, ALEXACHUNG. Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Show all 27 1 /27 Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 British designer Alexa Chung acknowledges the crowd after presenting her 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 A model presents creations from British designer Alexa Chung during their 2019 Autumn / Winter collection catwalk show at London Fashion Week in London on February 16, 2019. AFP/Getty Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans Alexa Chung London Fashion Week 2019 Backstage at the Alexa Chung AW19 show at London Fashion Week Jason Lloyd Evans The smell of the wax alone makes me feel like Im home. For me Barbour has been part of my childhood, my coming of age and I am extraordinarily proud that it is now part of my future. Chung pictured wearing a Barbour jacket backstage at Glastonbury Festival in 2014. (Rex Features) In a statement, Barbour revealed the collection would explore tradition, craftsmanship, modernity and character to create a collection that is both timeless and energised, adding that the brands aesthetic would be reimagined through an Alexa Chung lens. Recommended Alexa Chung announces first ever sunglasses collection Paul Wilkinson, global marketing and commercial director at Barbour, added: We are delighted to be working with Alexa Chung on this exciting collaboration. It combines Barbours classic tradition with the fashion, style and wit of the Alexa Chung brand to create a very special collection that is practical, alluring and fun to wear, designed for festivals and a life outdoors. The collection will be priced from 229 to 429 and will be socked on Barbour.com and Alexachung.com, as well as select retail partners (Net-a-porter, Selfridges, Liberty). Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave access to sensitive user data to dozens of app developer friends, according to thousands of leaked documents. Zuckerberg reportedly used the data as a reward to third party companies and developers who either had a favourable relationship with company executives or spent considerable amounts on ads. Companies were also incentivised to share their data with Facebook, while those that did not were shut out and denied access. These methods helped to consolidate Facebooks position as the leading social network platform between 2011 and 2015, the leak suggests. The trove of documents obtained by investigative journalist Duncan Campbell included emails, presentations, meeting summaries and internal webchats from within the company. Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Show all 15 1 /15 Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook is born On 4 Feb, 2004, 19-year-old Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched a website called 'TheFacebook' from his dorm. Within 24 hours the college social network had more than 1,000 users Wikimedia Commons Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Winklevoss twins sue Zuckerberg Within one week of launching, fellow Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. It would be four years later when the resulting lawsuit was finally settled Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Open for business The social network finally opened it platform to everyone on 26 September, 2006. The move proved the catalyst in supercharging the site's already explosive growth PA Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Billion-dollar bid Yahoo offered $1 billion to buy Facebook in September 2006 but Zuckerberg turned it down. 'I dont know what I could do with the money,' Zuckerberg reportedly said. 'Id just start another social networking site' Reuters Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network In the money In September 2009, almost five years since the site launched, Facebook turned a profit for the first time Getty Images/iStockphoto Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Taking the lead Facebook overtook MySpace in 2010 to become the worlds most popular social network Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Taking on the tech giants In 2011, Google launched its own social network that it hoped would knock Facebook from its perch. Despite its initial success, Google+ ultimately failed and will be shut down completely in 2019 Getty Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook goes public On 18 May, 2012, Facebook went public. The initial public offering raised $16 billion the third largest in US history Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Gobbling up the competition Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for $1 billion, consolidating its position as the world's leading social network Reuters Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network One billion users On 4 October, 2012, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had hit 1 billion users. 'If youre reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honour of serving you,' he wrote in a blog post Getty Images Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Expanding its empire In February 2014 Facebook acquired the messaging app WhatsApp for $19.3 billion REUTERS/Dado Ruvic Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Two billion users In June 2017, Facebook passed the 2 billion user milestone REUTERS/Dado Ruvic Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Privacy scandal On 17 March 2018, news broke that UK firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from around 87 million Facebook users for the purpose of political profiling in the build up to the 2016 US presidential elections Shutterstock Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Record profits Despite the scandals and subsequent #DeleteFacebook campaign, Facebook posted record profits just before its 15th anniversary, the equivalent of $7.37 from each of its 2.32 billions users iStock/Independent Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Unhappy users A study found that people are happier when they dont use Facebook, adding to mounting evidence surrounding the impact social media has on mental health Rex Features Around 4,000 pages shared with NBC News, Computer Weekly and Germanys Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper revealed the extent of the data sharing collaborations. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent but a statement provided to NBC News said the documents were authentic but misleading. The set of documents, by design, tells only one side of the story and omits important context, said Paul Grewal, vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook. We will stand by the platform changes we made in 2014/2015 to prevent people from sharing their friends information with developers... The facts are clear: weve never sold peoples data. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Facebook did not provide additional documents to support its claim the documents had been cherry picked. Nine out of 10 people who challenge healthy-looking individuals for using accessible toilets in the UK think theyre helping society, according to a new study. A survey on behalf of Crohns & Colitis UK charity found that 93 per cent of people think that by challenging a healthy-looking person for using the toilet, they are standing up for the rights of disabled people or because they believe it is not fair on the rest of society. While the publics intentions may be sincere, the charity claims it can lead to extreme suffering and devastating consequences for people with invisible disabilities. The survey found that 12 per cent of the public admitted they would directly confront someone who didnt show any visible signs of a disability if they were using a disabled toilet. Men were found to be significantly more likely (15 per cent) to challenge an individual fitting such a description than women (eight per cent). The world's healthiest and happiest airports Show all 8 1 /8 The world's healthiest and happiest airports The world's healthiest and happiest airports Therapy dogs at Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport employs therapy dogs to assist with anxious and stressed passengers Vancouver International Airport The world's healthiest and happiest airports The rooftop swimming pool at Changi Airport, Singapore This airport also includes its own cinema Changi Airport, Singapore The world's healthiest and happiest airports Green space at Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport scored top marks for outdoor and green space Vancouver International Airport The world's healthiest and happiest airports The outdoor terrace at San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the seventh busiest airport in the US San Francisco International Airport The world's healthiest and happiest airports Fancy a dip? A pool at Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest airport and number three in the ranking Dubai International Airport The world's healthiest and happiest airports Frankfurt Airport With an open-air roof terrace, dedicated silent chairs, a quiet room and peaceful leisure facilities, Frankfurt International Airport came top in the ranking Frankfurt Airport The world's healthiest and happiest airports Work out The transit lounge gym facilities at Changi Airport's Terminal 2 Changi Airport, Singapore The world's healthiest and happiest airports The spa at Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport came seventh in the ranking Vancouver International Airport Meanwhile 19 per cent of men admitted they would say no if someone asked to jump the toilet, in comparison to 14 per cent of the opposite sex. Modern disabled toilet sign (Getty Images/iStockphoto) (Getty/iStock) Crohns Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are two of the main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and are lifelong diseases of the gut, according to Crohns & Colitis UK. Crohns is a chronic condition that causes inflammation in the digestive system, leaving sufferers with myriad symptoms that can severely inhibit their daily lives if not treated with the right medications. Colitis is similar in terms of symptoms and treatment, but one key difference is that it only affects the large intestine, whereas Crohn's can affect any part of the digestive tract. According to the charity, there are at least 300,000 Britons diagnosed with an IBD and while symptoms are treatable, there are currently no known cures. In a related survey of 1,771 people living with Crohns or Colitis, 61 per cent of sufferers had experienced verbal and/or physical abuse for simply using the toilet facilities they needed, and nearly two thirds (65 per cent) had been refused after asking jump the toilet queue in an emergency. In addition, 70 per cent of sufferers said they have experienced an accident or unpleasant health issues because a member of the public wouldnt let them jump the queue. Almost half said they had felt prevented from going to restaurants (49 per cent) and pubs (43 per cent) due to a fear of discrimination. Furthermore, eight in 10 people (81 per cent) thought the public have little understanding of the conditions' symptoms and are quick to judge those living with them. Sarah Sleet, CEO at Crohns & Colitis UK says: We know that if the public better understand the devastating symptoms of these conditions, they will be more considerate and supportive of people who feel too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about their Crohns or Colitis. The charity's award-winning campaign "Not Every Disability is Visible" aims to change sings on accessible toilet doors to help people with invisible conditions feel more confident using them and stop the stigma surrounding the health issues. Nearly 2,500 supermarkets, 150 retail areas and 15 major travel hubs in the UK have installed the signs to date, with 80 per cent of people living with Crohns or Colitis saying they felt more at ease visiting places where the signs are in use. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Reflecting on the findings, Ceri Smith, policy manager at disability equality charity, Scope says: Disabled people shouldnt face questioning or outright abuse for using these facilities, and its important we all bear in mind that not all impairments and conditions are visible. Improving access to accessible toilets and increasing awareness with the public would be positive steps towards a genuinely inclusive society for disabled people. The survey comes days after research by charity Parkinsons UK found that nine out of 10 people with the condition say they have been harassed or discriminated against. Meanwhile, one in five (22 per cent) said slurred speech or balance issues have led to accusations that they must be drunk, with some being sworn at or labelled a drug addict. McFly drummer Harry Judd has discussed the struggles of being a father in a bid to open up honest conversations about parenting. The musician and his wife Izzy welcomed their son Kit in August 2017, but Judd admits that he struggled to bond with his son when he was born. "I didn't feel an instant connection with my son as well when he was born and I've spoken to quite a lot of parents who've felt that and the feelings that come with that are quite strange,he said. "Don't get me wrong I'm completely besotted with Kit now, but the first six months of his life were some of the trickiest months for us as parents and on our relationship and everything because it's really challenging and it adds new pressures to everything. Judd added that while he and his wife consider themselves as incredibly lucky to have two happy, healthy children, that doesnt mean that they are immune to the common stresses that face parents. Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Show all 11 1 /11 Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 14 January 2019 In an unusual style choice for the Duchess, who traditionally favours neutral hues, this ensemble offers a vibrant twist on the colour-blocking trend with a red Sentaler coat, matching heels and a bright purple Aritzia dress. It was a playful choice for the royal couple's visit to Birkenhead Town Hall. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 30 January 2019 The Duchess wore head-to-toe blush for her visit to the National Theatre, where she is now a patron. The ensemble is by US designer Brandon Maxwell but the suede shoes are Aquazurra. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 1 February 2019 Oscar de la Renta can do no wrong when it comes to flirty patterned dresses. This theatrical bird and rose-covered number was an apt choice for the Duchess; visit to Bristol Old Vic. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 7 February 2019 This Givenchy skirt offers some pizzazz thanks to its knee-high slit and its flattering waistline. Markle paired the look Aquazzura mules and a white collared shirt. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 12 February 2019 Who said you couldn't wear all-white everything? Markle paired her turtleneck Calvin Klein dress with an Amanda Wakeley coat for a gala performance at the Natural History Museum. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 23 February 2019 The Duchess was a lady in red for her visit to Casablanca, Morocco in this bespoke Valentino midi-dress, which she paired with nude court heels and a matching clutch. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 24 February 2019 Markle arrived at a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco in this full-coverage caped gown by Dior, which came in an opulent shade of champagne. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 25 February 2019 This billowing Carolina Herrera dress was the perfect choice for the Duchess' outing to brace the balmy climes of Rabat, Morocco, where she'd been visiting King Mohammed VI of Morocco with Prince Harry. This hypnotic sea blue gown was a custom-made number, obviously. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 8 March 2019 Proving that maternity hemlines needn't be restricted to one's ankles, Markle stepped out in this 1960s-inspired shift dress by high street label, Reiss. Paired with a black blazer and a pair of matching Manolo Blahnik pumps, it was a classic but delightfully retro look. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 The Duchess has a penchant for rich emerald green hues, and this ensemble exemplifies just how suited the shade is to her complexion. The outfit was designed by Erdem, which was a symbolic choice given she wore the Canadian designer's pieces to a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House in London. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 For the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, the Duchess wore a cream chain-print dress by Victoria Beckham, which made its runway debut just a few weeks ago at London Fashion Week. The look was topped off with a matching pillbox hat, emerald green stilettos and a satin clutch. Getty Images "It's okay to talk about it and say it's not easy, the 33-year-old said in the interview in The Mirror. The pair are also parents to Lola, three, but while Judd and his wife who is a former violinist for Britain's Got Talent electronic string quartet Escala havent ruled out the possibility of having more children in future, the Obviously hitmaker said the prospect isn't currently on the cards. "At the moment, we barely have time to discuss the option, he added. You get into bed and you're so exhausted and we need to talk about the other things in life, like bills or admin so actually finding time to have a conversation about a third child is not really doable. "We're both working as well and our schedules are so random. In light of his experience as a father-of-two, Judd urges parents not to succumb to the pressures of striving for perfection. He noted that the reality is that no one is going to achieve perfection and you can only do the best job you can do as parents or as individuals and the reality of parenthood is often very different to how it's portrayed. "It's a beautiful privilege to be a parent and it's the most incredible thing that's ever happened to me but it also comes with some very tough and challenging times. "It's the most important job in the world so projects like this can only have a positive result." Over the years, Judd and his wife have been open about choosing to undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to conceive their first child in 2016. After conceiving their second child naturally, Judds wife previously revealed she felt guilt for finding motherhood tough, given her experience with fertility issues. When you experience IVF or fertility problems, so much of your focus is on getting pregnant that you dont give that much thought to how your life is really going to change when you become a mum, she told The Metro in 2017. I think having gone through IVF, you sort of have a guilt. You dont want to complain about anything related to being a mum because its desperately what you want, and what so many other women want. If youre having a tough day you almost feel guilty for finding it tough, she added. Especially when Lola was first born, I did struggle with it a little bit why wasnt I in this complete blissful bubble? But its overwhelming when youre responsible for this tiny little being your life changes completely. More women aged 30 and above in England and Wales are getting pregnant than those in their 20s for the first time since records began, the latest figures show. According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) covering England and Wales in 2017 the most recent years for which figures are available there were 395,856 pregnancies among women in their 20s and 398,284 among women aged over 30. For the second year running, women aged 40 and over were the only group to see an increase in their pregnancy rate, rising 2.6 per cent. The ONS credits this with factors including women's increased participation in higher education and employment, rising opportunity costs of childbearing, and housing. While the rate of pregnancy in women aged under 20 years continued to decrease in 2017 by the 3.8 per cent from the previous year, marking the smallest decrease for this age group since 2008. Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Show all 11 1 /11 Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 14 January 2019 In an unusual style choice for the Duchess, who traditionally favours neutral hues, this ensemble offers a vibrant twist on the colour-blocking trend with a red Sentaler coat, matching heels and a bright purple Aritzia dress. It was a playful choice for the royal couple's visit to Birkenhead Town Hall. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 30 January 2019 The Duchess wore head-to-toe blush for her visit to the National Theatre, where she is now a patron. The ensemble is by US designer Brandon Maxwell but the suede shoes are Aquazurra. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 1 February 2019 Oscar de la Renta can do no wrong when it comes to flirty patterned dresses. This theatrical bird and rose-covered number was an apt choice for the Duchess; visit to Bristol Old Vic. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 7 February 2019 This Givenchy skirt offers some pizzazz thanks to its knee-high slit and its flattering waistline. Markle paired the look Aquazzura mules and a white collared shirt. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 12 February 2019 Who said you couldn't wear all-white everything? Markle paired her turtleneck Calvin Klein dress with an Amanda Wakeley coat for a gala performance at the Natural History Museum. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 23 February 2019 The Duchess was a lady in red for her visit to Casablanca, Morocco in this bespoke Valentino midi-dress, which she paired with nude court heels and a matching clutch. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 24 February 2019 Markle arrived at a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco in this full-coverage caped gown by Dior, which came in an opulent shade of champagne. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 25 February 2019 This billowing Carolina Herrera dress was the perfect choice for the Duchess' outing to brace the balmy climes of Rabat, Morocco, where she'd been visiting King Mohammed VI of Morocco with Prince Harry. This hypnotic sea blue gown was a custom-made number, obviously. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 8 March 2019 Proving that maternity hemlines needn't be restricted to one's ankles, Markle stepped out in this 1960s-inspired shift dress by high street label, Reiss. Paired with a black blazer and a pair of matching Manolo Blahnik pumps, it was a classic but delightfully retro look. AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 The Duchess has a penchant for rich emerald green hues, and this ensemble exemplifies just how suited the shade is to her complexion. The outfit was designed by Erdem, which was a symbolic choice given she wore the Canadian designer's pieces to a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House in London. Getty Images Meghan Markle's best pregnancy looks 11 March 2019 For the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, the Duchess wore a cream chain-print dress by Victoria Beckham, which made its runway debut just a few weeks ago at London Fashion Week. The look was topped off with a matching pillbox hat, emerald green stilettos and a satin clutch. Getty Images But a representative from the sexual health charity Family Planning Association (FPA) suggests the disparity between the age groups may also come as a result of issues surrounding maternity pay for younger generations. "Maternity pay is complicated by insecure employment considering that you usually need to be employed for a year before becoming eligible," an FPA spokesperson tells The Independent. "This could apply across the 'gig economy' with self-employment, freelancing and contracted work becoming more common." The spokesperson added that a lack of resources to support younger families, such as affordable childcare, "could also make the decision to have children at a younger age more difficult". "However, with shifting attitudes, its also possible that many people simply feel less pressure or desire to start a family," they noted. In an a report published by the Trades Union Congress in 2017, the UK was found to be the third worst ranking country in Europe in terms of paid parental leave. The ONS figures which only account for conceptions and abortions, not whether pregnancies end in birth or miscarriages also show that the number of teenage pregnancies in 2017 decreased for the 10th year running, with almost 18 teenagers aged 15 to 17 out every 1,000 becoming pregnant. In addition, the estimated number of pregnancies of women aged under 16 fell to 2,517 in 2017, compared with 2,821 in 2016, a decrease of 10.8 per cent. Improved sex and relationship education, better access to contraceptives and increased participation in higher education were noted to be possible causes for the decrease, according to the ONS. The news comes months after the education secretary Damian Hinds said children from the age of 15 will be able to opt into sex education classes against the wishes of their parents from 2020. Women aged under 16 years were the only age group where the percentage of pregnancies leading to a legal abortion decreased from 2016. Despite the decrease, the percentage of legal abortions for women in this age bracket remained higher than all other age groups. Last week, health watchdog the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published new draft guidelines to make it easier for women to access abortion services and have greater choice. The guidelines, which were developed with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), state that women should be given the choice of a medical or surgical abortion, be able to refer themselves to have their pregnancy terminated, and be given an appointment with a week of requesting one. The author John Boyne has deleted his Twitter account and written a robust response after being criticised by online activists for comments he made about the trans community. Boyne is about to release a young adult novel called My Brothers Name is Jessica, which follows a young boys experience after his older sibling comes out as transgender. Writing in The Irish Times at the weekend, Boyne - who is gay, and frequently includes LGBT characters in his novels - said he was apprehensive about how the book will be received by the trans community but that he hoped people would see he had treated the subject with care. However, he also wrote that he rejects the word cis (a non-transgender person), adding: I dont consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term onto another. Following the publication of the article, Aoife Martin of Transgender Equality Network Ireland wrote a response piece in which she said: Whether Boyne likes it or not, he is a cis man and he has cis privilege. Its just a pity he cant seem to recognise it. Criticism of Boyne was more strident on Twitter, with some calling for a boycott of the novel. They pointed out issues such as the title's misgendering of the main character (who identifies as female), and that the novel depicts the physical assault of a transgender woman. One commentator wrote, John is not trans therefore this isn't his story to write. "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Show all 10 1 /10 "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents, children and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Child protesters hold signs against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching A sign outside the Parkfield Community School reads "we are a UNICEF gold rights respecting school" Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching A child protester holds a sign against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parents, children and protesters outside of the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where the 'No Outsiders' programme teaches children about LGBT rights Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Child protesters hold a sign against the 'No Outsiders' programme Getty "No to No Outsiders" - protests against LGBT rights teaching Parkfield Community School in Birmingham where protests are being held against the 'No Outsiders' programme which teaches children about LGBT rights PA Responding to the criticism, Boyne said in a statement that he was appalled by the abuse and threats he has received, and has decided to delete his Twitter account. Ive been called vulgar names, mocked for my appearance, my looks, my weight, my sexuality, and even for the crime of being bald," the statement reads. "Any responses Ive made have been unfailingly courteous. The breaking point was Monday night when, within a few minutes of each other, I received one tweet simply saying F**k John Boyne and another, from a freshly set-up account, using a fake name, telling me to Be careful when Im out in public. I have always tried to write with consideration and empathy and I will continue to do so," he added. "But removing myself from the toxic atmosphere of social media seems right to me now. Boyne did make clear that he was not blaming the trans community for the social media attacks on him. For the record, I do not believe that the trans community bears any relationship to, or any responsibility for, the actions of online trolls. As a gay man, I stand 100 per cent behind all trans people. I respect them as brave pioneers, I applaud their determination to live authentic lives despite the abuse they also receive, and I will always do so. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Since this statement was released, many people on Twitter have come out in defence of Boyne, pointing out that he is a good person, an LGBT ally and that the abuse he has received is unacceptable. RTE broadcaster Rick OShea wrote: I'm a lifetime radical leftie liberal and even I am afraid to express opinions here in some areas in case I get the next pile on. Based in Dublin, John Boyne is the author of six young adult novels, including the 2006 hit The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was made into a film in 2008. He has also written 11 novels for adult readers, including The Hearts Invisible Furies and A Ladder To The Sky. My Brothers Name is Jessica is released on 18 April. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unveiled a campaign to stop the spread of misleading anti-vaxx information and to increase the number of children receiving jabs following a rise in measles cases. The number of cases of measles in the first three months of 2019 more than quadrupled in comparison to the same period last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed in April. During the first quarter of 2019, there were 231 cases of measles in the UK. Britain has lost its measles-free status with the WHO three years after the virus was eliminated. Parents will be offered new evidence-based advice to address their concerns about vaccinations and to correct false information about the dangers of vaccinations, the prime minister will announce. Mr Johnson has called for health leaders to renew their efforts to ensure 95 per cent have had both doses of the MMR vaccine. The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Show all 7 1 /7 The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Charlie Sheen Sheen fought a legal battle against ex-wife Denise Richards to try and block her from vaccinating their children. Richards of course won and Sheen was reportedly so bitter that he paid the paediatrician bill entirely in nickels Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Gwyneth Paltrow Paltrow's "health and wellness" company Goop hosted a notorious anti-vaccine speaker at their 2018 Goop Summit Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Rob Schneider Schneider demanded the freedom to decline vaccination Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Jenny McCarthy McCarthy has claimed that "people are dying from vaccinations", believes that her son caught autism from a vaccine and has pushed her opinions on the topic publicly for many years AFP/Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Bill Maher Maher has long spoken against vaccines sating on Larry King live that "a flu shot is the worst thing you can do." His stance appears to stem from a distrust of government AFP/Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Alicia Silverstone In Silverstone's book The Kind Mama, she wrote that "there is increasing anecdotal evidence from doctors who have gotten distressed phone calls from parents claiming their child was never the same after receiving a vaccine." Getty The famous faces of the anti-vaccine movement Andrew Wakefield Godfather of the anti-vax movement, disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield famously published a report in the medical journal Lancet claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in 1998. The Lancet retracted the report in 2010 and Wakefield was struck off the medical register PA Here, we take a look at everything you need to know about measles, from signs and symptoms to treatment options. What is measles? Measles is a highly infectious viral illness that if left untreated can lead to serious complications, the NHS states. Anyone can get measles if they have not been vaccinated or havent had it before. However, it is most common in young children. What are the symptoms? Symptoms of measles develop between six and 19 days after contact with the infection, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) states. The first symptoms, which usually last two or three days, include feeling generally unwell and having a runny nose, cough, sore eyes, and a fever which may be as high as 40C. Children may also complain that bright light hurts their eyes. Some children develop Kopliks spots tiny white spots on a red background inside the mouth a day or two before a blotchy red-brown skin rash may appear This usually starts on the head or upper neck before spreading outwards to the rest of the body, the NHS states. What is the meningitis glass test? The meningitis rash test is a way of telling if blood poising (septicaemia) has occurred as a result of meningitis. If a rash does not fade when pressed against a glass, the NHS states you should seek medical advice right away. Meningitis Now the first meningitis patient group in the world say the best way to perform the glass test is to: Press the side of a clear glass firmly against the skin Spots/rash may fade at first Keep checking Fever with spots/rash that do not fade under pressure is a medical emergency However, the organisation does advise that you should not wait for a rash to appear to seek medical help. If someone is and suffering from symptoms thought to be as a result of measles, get medical help immediately. How does measles spread? According to the NHS, the measles virus is contained in the millions of tiny droplets that come out of the nose and mouth when an infected person coughs or sneezes. This means you can easily catch measles by breathing in these droplets or by touching a surface the droplets have settled on and then placing your hands near your nose or mouth. People with measles are infectious from when the symptoms develop until about four days after the rash first appears. Can measles be prevented? The most effective way of preventing measles is through the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, GOSH states. Most children in the UK receive the MMR immunisation; the first dose is offered at 13 months and the second at three years and four months. Adults and older children can be vaccinated at any age if they haven't been fully vaccinated before. For more information about the vaccination, the NHS advises to consult your GP. You can find out more about the dangers of unvaccinated children here. How is it treated? The NHS states that there are several things you can do to help relieve your symptoms and reduce the risk of spreading the infection. These include: taking paracetamol or ibuprofen to relieve fever, aches and pains (aspirin should not be given to children under 16 years old) drinking plenty of water to avoid dehydration closing the curtains to help reduce light sensitivity using damp cotton wool to clean the eyes staying off school or work for at least 4 days from when the rash first appears In severe cases, especially if there are complications, you or your child may need to be admitted to hospital for treatment. How common is measles? In April, the WHO revealed that initial figures showed that 112,163 cases of the highly infectious disease were reported across 170 countries since January, compared to 28,124 in the same period in 2018. During that time period, health officials confirmed that 555 measles cases had been confirmed in the US alone. And while 20 states had reported cases, New York was been the epicentre, accounting for two-thirds of all cases. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The organisation stated that there had been a 300 per cent rise in cases reported in Europe which last year saw the highest number of cases for a decade and a nearly 700 per cent rise across Africa. In Madagascar, the infection had killed more than 1,200 people. The country is facing its largest measles outbreak in history, with the number of recorded cases growing beyond 115,000. Outbreaks have also been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sudan, Thailand and Ukraine. For more information, visit the NHS website here. A feminist organisation has won its campaign calling for the media to change the way it reports on fatal incidents of domestic violence. The UKs two leading press regulators, IPSO and IMPRESS, are set to adopt guidelines in a bid to combat irresponsible reporting that campaigners say exacerbates the trauma for families of domestic homicide victims. The guidelines, set out by feminist organisation Level Up, instruct journalists how to report on domestic abuse in the safest and most sensitive way possible. They were written by a coalition of academics, survivors families and representatives from domestic violence charities. There are six tips included, all of which emphasise the need for sensitive journalism that is neither sensational nor speculative and preserves the dignity of the deceased. This, Level Up states, is primarily achieved by avoiding certain language and imagery. Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Show all 4 1 /4 Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta with her son, William, in hospital recovering from the shooting Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta shared a picture of her home after her ex-husband shot her and her father, Robert Ranta Kate Ranta Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Kate Ranta in hospital recovering from the shooting Forgotten Women: Domestic abuse and gun violence in America Gun violence and domestic abuse activist Kate Ranta The guidelines are as follows: 1. Accountability: Place responsibility solely on the killer, which means avoiding speculative reasons or triggers, or describing the murder as an uncharacteristic event. Homicides are usually underpinned by a longstanding sense of ownership, coercive control and possessive behaviours: they are not a random event. 2. Accuracy: Name the crime as domestic violence, instead of tragedy or horror, and include the National Domestic Violence Helpline at the end of the 3. Dignity: Avoid sensationalising language, invasive or graphic details that compromise the dignity of the dead woman or her surviving family members. 4. Equality: Avoid insensitive or trivialising language or images 5. Images: Avoid using stock images that reinforce the myth that its only a physical crime. Level Up was founded in 2016 by a group of feminist campaigners and aims to tackle sexism in the UK through activism and education. Janey Starling, campaign director for Level Up says: In a country where two women a week are murdered by a partner or ex-partner, its in our national interest to make sure these deaths are reported on accurately and sensitively. Too often journalists report on crimes of control as crimes of passion, now there is no excuse for bad reporting. Starling said that IPSO and IMPRESS adopting Level Ups guidelines is a huge step towards greater public awareness of the risk factors of domestic homicide. Donna Covey CBE, chief executive of the charity AVA (Against Violence and Abuse) added: Perpetrators of domestic abuse seek to belittle and control their partners, and domestic homicide is the ultimate expression of that control. Far too much media coverage cloaks this, she added, by selling the myth of the good guy who loses control. Cover continued: For family and friends who have lost a loved one this adds insult to the injury of the loss they feel, as well as underplaying the deadly intent of domestic murders to the wider public. If you have been affected by any issues mentioned in this article, you can contact the Domestic Violence Helpline for free on 0808 2000 247 or any of the following organisations: Womens Aid Refuge White Ribbon ALICAS Students who miss school for climate change protests should escape detentions and exclusions, teachers have said, defying calls from a headteachers union leader for pupils to be punished for skipping class to strike. Delegates at the annual conference of the National Education Union (NEU) have backed a motion calling on school staff to stand in full solidarity with all students striking against climate change. The vote came after thousands of students across the country walked out of school for the third time on Friday last week to demand politicians take urgent action on climate change. Delegates have called on the NEU executive to lobby the government to do more against climate change including prioritising the global issue in the school curriculum. Speaking at the conference in Liverpool, Daisy Maxwell, a geography teacher from Tower Hamlets, said she was proud of her sixth-form students who missed three hours of lessons to take part in the strikes. "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Show all 38 1 /38 "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Magdeburg, Germany on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in New York on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Madrid on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Quezon City, Philippines on March 15 Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Vienna on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Dublin on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on march 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Erfurt, Germany on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lisbon on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Edinburgh on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Florence, Italy on March 15 Sign reads: there is no future without a planet, let's not sell it for money EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Vienna on March 15 Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Brighton on March 15 Reuters "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cambridge on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Students protest in Bangalore, India on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change Students protest in Bangalore, India on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change A student protests in Lucerne, Switzerland on 15 March EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 AFP/Getty Images "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Milan, Italy on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 AFP/Getty "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Lund, Sweden on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change A poster with Greta Thunberg, who began the current children's movement at the protest in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15 AP "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Cape Town, South Africa on March 15 EPA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in London on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest in Canterbury, Kent on March 15 PA "Act now or swim later" - Children worldwide protest climate change School children protest outside Holyrood in Edinburgh Getty She said climate change was one of the most important issues to educate future generations about, but she warned too many were missing out on lessons. Increasingly children are being made to pick their GCSE options in year 8, which means a significant number of students are not getting that level of education and knowledge about an issue which is going to affect them all and that is not right. Every student should have that, Ms Maxwell added. Tony Buttifint, from Islington, added: Young people wrapped up in their Xbox, reality TV, social media why dont they care about stuff? Do something? Well they do and they are. We should be alongside them and I dont mean in the detention room. It comes after Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said headteachers should consider issuing lunchtime detentions to students who miss school for the protests. Skipping school to protest against the Iraq war was not acceptable, and walking out of class for climate change protests should not be condoned either, Mr Barton said. He added that sanctioning protests opened the doors to more pupil absences over other issues such as knife crime and homelessness, and he said students should instead be in school learning about climate change. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Speaking in Liverpool on Monday, Simon OHara, from Warwickshire, said: There are going to be many of us in this hall that probably wont directly experience the murderous consequences of climate change. But our children and our childrens children certainly will and we must support everything they do because they are seeing further ahead then many people of my generation. Speaking on the topic last week, Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: We support the cause, absolutely, but we have to say we cant support young children walking out of lessons and walking out of school. One in four NHS wards routinely operates at staffing levels so low that patient safety is threatened, experts have warned. Researchers have found that a national shortage of nurses and a failure to increase their numbers sufficiently has not been addressed. They pointed to a dilution in skills on hospital wards as healthcare assistants were being used to shore up staff numbers. The University of Southampton researchers also said lessons learnt from the Mid Staffordshire scandal had been somewhat lost because of a lack of investment in staffing and the nurse shortages. A 2016 study by the university found that, for every 25 patients, substituting just one nurse with a lower qualified member of staff was linked with a 21 per cent rise in the odds of patients dying. NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, addresses demonstrators following the march AFP/Getty NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary Reuters NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary EPA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary REUTERS NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary PA NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images NHS at 70: demonstration and celebration march to mark anniversary AFP/Getty Images The latest study said the number of full-time-equivalent nurses employed in NHS trusts had increased by 10 per cent since 2013, while numbers of healthcare assistants and support staff had grown by 30 per cent. The disproportionate increase in support staff numbers has resulted in a slight lowering of skill mix, the study said. Registered nurses (RNs) account for 66 per cent of nursing staff in 2017 compared with 69 per cent in in 2013. Following the Francis Inquiries, which examined the scandal at Mid Staffs where neglect contributed to patient deaths, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended that a level of eight patients per registered nurse trigger a review of staffing. But the latest study, which included questioning 91 directors of nursing, found a quarter of NHS wards regularly worked at this unsafe staffing level. The researchers pointed to an average vacancy rate of 10 per cent for registered nurses, with some trusts reporting rates of up to 20 per cent. Nurse numbers have increased since the 2013 Mid Staffs inquiry, but growth in patient numbers means there has been no improvement in staffing levels. It is time for ministers and the NHS to get a firm grip on the situation Patricia Marquis Professor Jane Ball, lead author of the study, said: One of the biggest challenges has been the national shortage of registered nurses. The ongoing national shortage of RNs, and failure to increase supply sufficiently, has not been addressed. This failure has prevented safe staffing levels from being achieved. She said a lack of investment meant trusts had a clear vision of safe staffing but without the sufficient means in terms of registered nurses to deliver on it. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursings director for England, said: Now that there are 40,000 unfilled nurse jobs in England, it is time for ministers and the NHS to get a firm grip on the situation before it deteriorates further. The legacy of the Francis Report was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to increase nurse staffing levels but any short-term progress in hospitals has fallen away. Rising patient numbers are outstripping small nurse increases. Sitting across from Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, I begin to discern a pattern to his thought. Things are bad, catastrophic even, but never in the way we understand. The #MeToo movement failed, not because it alienated moderate supporters, but because it didnt go far enough in creating an authentic solidarity. Chinas creeping totalitarianism is horrifying, because it disguises similar developments in the west. Favelas in Latin America are bad, because the impoverished cant even afford to live in them anymore. They said that the Rwandan genocide was linked to colonialism and one of my black friends exploded, you white people are so patronising, you dont even allow us to be evil on our own. Zizeks radical Marxist philosophy can only be described as pessimistic absurdism. The 70-year old thinker is explaining to me that the liberal left in the west has failed to understand identity. In creating a culture of victimisation, they have succeeded in patronising and alienating minorities: Of course, immense injustices were done to them, but we shouldnt say so now we should show our great liberalness and give them charity, we should empower them. On why only black people can use the n-word: It is extremely racist and humiliating because it implies that blacks are like spoilt children, they are not adults like you and me, where an adult is someone who can control himself and follow certain ethical rules. Two Fox News anchors were forced to abruptly end interviews with guests spouting conspiracy theories about the Notre Dame fire. Shepard Smith and Neil Cavuto each cut off right-wing commenters who suggested without evidence that the inferno at the famous Paris cathedral was started deliberately. Although the cause of Mondays blaze was not yet been established, French officials believe it was an accident possibly linked to restoration work which was being carried out on the 800-year-old architectural masterpiece. That did not stop Philippe Karsenty, a controversial right-wing politician in France, from describing the fire as a French 9/11 during a live phone interview with Fox News. The deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, a western suburb of Paris, told Mr Smith: You need to know that for the past years, weve had churches desecrated each and every week in France, all over France. So, of course, you will hear the story of political correctness which will tell you its probably an accident, but... Notre Dame burns: in pictures Show all 45 1 /45 Notre Dame burns: in pictures Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 15 April 2019. A fire started in the late afternoon in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures This general view taken from Montparnasse Tower shows flames and smoke as they billow from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April, 2019. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People cry and pray as they look at flames burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Sparks and flames are seen through a destroyed stained glass window as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Montmartre in the east on 15 April, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures An onlooker uses a telescope to film the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A man watches the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burn, engulfed in flames, in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures The landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billow and flames burn from the roof of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch from a bridge as smoke billows from Notre Dame Cathedral during a fire in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burns in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke rises as people watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire PA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images He was quickly shut down by Mr Smith, who said: Sir, were not going to speculate here of the cause of something which we dont know. If you have observations or you know something, we would love to hear it. Mr Karsenty protested he was just telling you something, we need to be ready, prompting the Fox News presenter to end the interview. We are not doing that here, not now, not on my watch, Mr Smith declared. The anchors decisiveness in shutting down the conspiracy theory won him praise from some on social media. But others criticised Fox News for inviting Mr Karsenty to take part in the interview in the first place. In 2006, he was successfully sued for libel by France 2 after falsely accusing the French television channel of faking footage of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy being shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a gun battle in the Gaza Strip. Mr Karsenty was a known conspiracy theorist who has been convicted of defamation related to said conspiracy theories, tweeted Huffington Post journalist Andy Campbell. You dont get kudos for inviting a corn cob as your expert and then saying who let this corn cob in? Mr Cavuto later cut off another guest who said he was suspicious about the cause of the Notre Dame fire. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, a conservative American organisation, told the presenter: Well, Neil, if it is an accident, its a monumental tragedy, but forgive me for being suspicious. Just last month, a 17th-century church was set on fire in Paris. We have seen tabernacles knocked down, crosses have been torn down, statues have been smashed. The anchor responded: We dont know that, we dont know, so if we can avoid whatever your suspicions might be. Notre Dame fire: What we know so far He added we cannot make conjectures about this. After ending the interview, Mr Cavuto told viewers: Were not trying to be rude to our guests here there is so much we do not know about what happened here. We do know that about four hours ago, something started here. There are incidents that have been raised against the Catholic Church on popular tourist sites in and around Paris, no stranger to attacks, but another leap to start taking views like that when we dont know. Mr Donohue later responded indignantly on social media, writing on the Catholic Leagues Twitter account: Fox News asks me to be available by phone to discuss the Notre Dame fire with Neil Cavuto. I explicitly say it may be an accident and then say it may not be. I try to give examples of recent attacks by thugs destroying churches, and then I am cut off. What has happened to Fox? Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The interviews came as right-wing provocateurs attempted to seize upon the Note Dame inferno to spread conspiracy theories designed to fuel anti-Muslim hate. Neo-nazi figurehead Richard Spencer said he hoped the fire would spur the White man into action, while French far-right troll Damien Rue and British InfoWars contributor Paul Joseph Watson both claimed without evidence that Muslims were celebrating the ruin of the Catholic cathedral. The ancestors of the Britons who built Stonehenge were farmers who had travelled from an area near modern Turkey, arriving around 4000BC, and who rapidly replaced local hunter-gatherer populations, according to new research. Scientists investigating the origins of farming in Britain have said they have found overwhelming support for agriculture being introduced to Britain by a surge of continental migrants from Anatolia, bringing farming techniques, pottery and new religious cultures and beliefs. The team examined DNA from 47 Neolithic farmer skeletons dating from 6,000 to 4,500 years ago and six Mesolithic hunter-gatherer skeletons from the preceding period, around 11,600 6,000 years ago. From the DNA analysis the researchers were able to reveal that most of the hunter-gatherer population of Britain were replaced by those carrying ancestry originating on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey. Natural History Museum postdoctoral researcher Dr Tom Booth said: We looked at the genetic ancestry of human remains from both before and after 6,000 years ago so some dating to the Mesolithic and some to the Neolithic to see if we can characterise any changes. Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Show all 6 1 /6 Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed A new scientific research collaboration is, for the first time, revealing who built Stonehenge. The cutting-edge study sheds a remarkable light on the geographical origins of the Neolithic community that first constructed the ancient site. Complex tests carried out on 25 Neolithic people who were buried at or following the time of the initial construction of the now world-famous monument, have revealed that 10 of them lived nowhere near Stonehenge, but in western Britain, and that half of those 10 potentially came from southwest Wales (where the earliest Stonehenge monoliths came from). AFP/Getty Images Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Three of the cremated cranial fragments used in the study Up until now, it has always been assumed that it was not possible to carry out place-of-origin tests on burned bones but recent research at Oxford University by Belgian scientist, Dr Christophe Snoeck of the Free University of Brussels, has now discovered that the act of cremation actually crystallises a bones structure and prevents the crucial origin-indicating isotope evidence from being contaminated by isotopic signals in the surrounding soil. Christie Willis, UCL Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Aubrey Hole 7 during excavation in 2008 Although the geographically intermediate examples hint at there being a well-worn prehistoric land route between west Wales and Stonehenge, nobody yet knows exactly how the stones (and the cremated remains) were transported. Sea and land routes are both possible. Christie Willis, UCL Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Aubrey Hole 7 following excavation in 2008 Geologically, previous research has shown that the stones (so-called bluestones or dolerite, used for the early phase of Stonehenge) also came from western Britain (in this case, the Preseli mountains in southwest Wales). Archaeological investigations have now pinpointed the quarries they actually came from and when they were quarried (some time between the 34th and the 32nd century BC). Christie Willis, UCL Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed Excavations at one of the recently identified bluestone quarries, at Carn Goedog, Pembrokeshore, west Wales. The recent scientific analysis of the Stonehenge cremated bones (that appear to have been buried adjacent to the newly re-erected stones) is now helping to reveal the origins of the community, which appears to have actually built the earliest version of the monument. It is the strontium and carbon isotopic signatures in the cremated bone material that suggest a western British origin for the 10 individuals and definitely not from the Stonehenge area. The carbon signal, absorbed into the bones from the timber used in the funerary pyre, also suggests a Western or non-local origin. Adam Stanford, Aerial-Cam Ltd Stonehenge: Origins of those who built world-famous monument revealed The ever-increasing body of evidence suggesting Stonehenge and the original Stonehenge communitys western British origins has substantial implications for our understanding of British prehistory. Christie Willis, UCL As soon as these Neolithic cultures start to arrive, we see a big change in the ancestry of the British population. It looks like the development of farming and these Neolithic cultures was mainly driven by the migration of people from mainland Europe. Professor Ian Barnes, ancient DNA expert at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the study, said: Because continental farmer populations had mixed to some extent with local hunter-gatherers as they expanded along both the Mediterranean and Rhine-Danube corridors, as well as later, we expected to see some mixing in Britain as well. But this was not the case. Unlike other European Neolithic populations, we detect no resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry at any time during the Neolithic in Britain, the authors said. Dr Booth said despite the findings, the DNA analysis doesnt necessarily give the full picture, particularly as numbers of hunter-gatherer individuals in Britain may have been relatively small compared to incoming European farmers. He said: The best explanation now is that the hunter-gatherer Mesolithic population of Britain just wasnt very high. So the newly arrived farmers could have mixed entirely with the native population but because this was quite small, the hunter-gatherers left little genetic legacy overall. Professor Mark Thomas from UCL, an author of the study, added: The transition to farming marks one of the most important technological innovations in human evolution. It first appeared in Britain around 6000 years ago. Prior to that people survived by hunting, fishing and gathering. For over 100 years archaeologists have debated if it was brought to Britain by immigrant continental farmers, or if was adopted by local hunter-gatherers. Our study strongly supports the view that immigrant farmers introduced agriculture into Britain and largely replaced the indigenous hunter-gatherers populations. The research team used DNA taken from inside the tiny ear bones of the remains of a Mesolithic man found in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, known as Cheddar Man. The skeleton is about 9,000 years old, making it the oldest near-complete human skeleton found in Britain. Dr Selina Brace, ancient DNA researcher at the Natural History Museum and lead author of the study said despite earlier doubts, said Cheddar Man was continuing to provide exciting scientific information. She said: After extracting DNA from Cheddar Mans inner ear bone, we were delighted at the preservation of his DNA. Its likely that the cool dry burial conditions in Goughs Cave were a key factor in keeping his DNA preserved. Stonehenge was built around 3000BC, meaning the genetic identity of the Britons responsible was mostly descended from the influx of Mediterranean farmers who began arriving 6,000 years ago. Last year it was revealed some of the cremated remains of neolithic people found buried close to the site had come from west Wales, close to where the stone used in the structure was quarried. Others had reportedly lived more locally, in Wiltshire. A jury has failed to reach verdicts on whether a man committed terror offences by fighting against Isis, in the first case of its kind. Aidan James, from Formby in Merseyside, was one of several British volunteers who joined the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. The group, which is not classed as a terrorist organisation by the UK, was supported by the British military and US-led coalition to drive Isis out of its former territories. While other YPG volunteers have been investigated by counterterror police, Mr James was the first man to be put on trial for terror offences related to fighting against Isis. He was charged with preparing acts of terrorism, which has previously been used against would-be Isis militants and terror attack plotters. Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa atop of military vehicles REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces march past destroyed buildings as they celebrate victory REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the "V" sign in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces evacuate a civilian from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A civilian prays after she was rescued by fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters ride atop of military vehicles as they celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis in pictures A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrates in Raqqa Reuters But the judge at his Old Bailey trial said Mr James had no case to answer and directed the jury to acquit him. Jurors then failed to reach a verdict on two remaining charges of attending two locations while terrorist training was given by Kurdish groups. Justice Edis discharged the jury after 14 hours of deliberations on Monday and prosecutors said they would be seeking a retrial. The case was adjourned until 1 May, for a hearing to set a new trial date. Mr James denied all offences, saying that his activities did not have a terrorist purpose and his aim was to fight Isis. But prosecutors argued that his activities with the YPG fulfilled the definition of terrorism in British law, which is activity for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause. Mark Heywood QC told the jury Mr James had planned in an amateurish way to take part in violence in the Syrian civil war. He claimed that his aim was to combat Islamic State, he added. In reality, it was not just that there was much more to it. Mr Heywood said: The prosecution case against him is that he went as an individual to Syria to fight with guns and explosives. Foreign volunteers join the Kurds on the Turkey-YPG frontline in Syria In doing so, he set out to advance a political and ideological cause. Because his intended use or threat of active violence was of that kind and for those purposes, the law says that what he wanted to do was terrorism, even if his eventual fighting was against other terrorists. The 28-year-old father, who was previously rejected by the British Army and has a history of mental illness, was approached by officers from the Prevent counter-extremism programme before leaving the UK and warned that he could be prosecuted. The road to Rojava [northern Syria] starts here, few weeks from now will be in Syria fighting side by side with brothers in arms against the sick regime and ideologies of the so-called Daesh [Isis] and other Islamic extremists, read a Facebook post in April 2017. I dont care for peoples opinions, this is what I want to do and need to do. Recommended Former British soldier who fought against Isis attacks terror charge The court heard that Mr James was arrested and had his passport seized, but the investigation was closed with no further action and the document was returned. He travelled to Iraq in August 2017 and went on to fight against Isis with the YPG in Syria. Prosecutors accused Mr James of attending places where terrorist training was given in the Iraqi district of Makhmour, and later in Syria. The court heard that he met fighters from the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), which is a Kurdish terrorist group with links to the YPG, in Makhmour but Mr James denied anything other than an incidental association and said he did not fight for the banned organisation. Mr James underwent a month-long YPG training course before being deployed to fight against Isis in Deir ez-Zor, taking part in battles to regain occupied towns. The YPG has driven Isis out of its former territories in Syria (EPA) The court heard he decided to leave Syria in December and returned to the UK via Erbil, Baghdad, Jordan and the Netherlands. He was arrested when he landed at Liverpool Airport in February 2018, after just over five months abroad. The YPG, which is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition, has been backed by the British military and US-led coalition over years of battles to drive Isis out of its former territories. Several British people who joined the YPG have been arrested and questioned by counterterror police, with some having their passports and phones seized, but faced no further action. Eight British volunteers with the group seven men and one woman, have been killed in action. One volunteer, former soldier James Matthews, was also charged with attending a place used for terrorist training but the case was dropped before trial last year. A third YPG volunteer, Joshua Walker, was acquitted of an unrelated terror offence after police found a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook while searching his home. On Friday, new terror laws came into force that make it an offence for anyone to enter designated areas abroad, but it cannot be applied retrospectively. On 16 April 2018, Amber Rudd then home secretary stood up in the House of Commons to formally acknowledge the Windrush scandal for the first time. The treatment of immigrants by her departments hostile environment was appalling, she said, vowing to deal with cases within two weeks and put things right. But exactly one year later, the suffering goes on. Many are yet to receive a response to their application to the taskforce, leaving them in a state of limbo with little or no information about how their case is progressing. Others who were made homeless or forced into large debts after being wrongly targeted by officials are still waiting for financial help to put their lives back together. Edward Bromfield, who came to Britain from Jamaica in 1972, was told by the Home Office he was not entitled to be in the UK. That meant he couldnt work or access benefits, leading to his eviction from his north London home. With nowhere else to go, the 63-year-old had to move into a friends shed. After his MP, David Lammy, assisted him in applying under the Windrush taskforce, Mr Bromfield had his immigration status resolved and was given a council flat but he has no money to buy basic furniture. Its not furnished. Its very bare no carpet, no curtains. I lost all my things when the bailiffs came to evict me, says Mr Bromfield. Im having to rely on friends for a bit of food and things like that. Im trying to find work but its hard because once youre over 60, with warehouse work, they dont want you. Im grateful for what Mr Lammy has done, but I need some support to get my life together again. Mr Broomfield applied for the Windrush hardship fund, which was set up in December, at the start of the year. But four months on, he still hasnt heard anything, despite a deadline of 10 working days. Less than two weeks after Ms Rudd made her speech to the Commons, she resigned for inadvertently misleading MPs. While she told them that there were no targets for removals of illegal immigrants, it was revealed that she had written to the prime minister setting out an ambitious but deliverable aim of increasing deportations by 10 per cent. Her replacement Sajid Javid pledged to do right by the Windrush generation. But the revelations over the Home Offices mishandling of the crisis have continued. Though many of those affected came to Britain from the Caribbean, people from across the Commonwealth have been hit by the policy including India, Ghana and Pakistan. Though about 2,500 people have been given documentation confirming their status, the slow response by the government has brought repeated criticism. As well as taking eight months to set up the hardship scheme, ministers did not announce a compensation scheme until just two weeks ago. Its launch was hit by a breach of data protection as the Home Office sent out details in a way that meant Windrush migrants could see each others email addresses. Euten Lindsay: They dont seem to realise that peoples lives have been ruined (Euten Lindsay) Jamaican national Euten Lindsay says his life fell apart when he was forced to close his catering business in 2013 after the government claimed he was an illegal immigrant despite having lived in the UK for 40 years. He was granted UK status by the Windrush taskforce, but says he is now at a loss as he has received no financial support five months after applying for the hardship scheme. The 55-year-old fell into 20,000 of rent arrears and was 2,000 behind on his water bills. Unable to pay for dental treatment, he lost four teeth. It was so stressful. I was unable to even clothe myself, unable to maintain a home with proper heating and bedding, he says. Britain is my home, my county. For me to actually be able to play my part in my community, I need assistance and I need the government to rectify the wrongs that theyve caused. The 55-year-old applied for the hardship fund in December and was initially told it had been refused on the grounds that he was self-employed, but after contacting the Home Office to query the decision, he was told he could reapply. He did so in January, but is still waiting for a response. They want you to just walk away. But I decided sorry, Im not that kind of person. The debts Ive incurred I should not have incurred. I am fighting for my right and also for the rights of others. If we all give in and throw the towel in weve lost, he says. They dont seem to realise that peoples lives have been ruined. Lindsay had to close down his catering business in 2013 (Euten Lindsay) Grace, 61, a Nigerian national who didnt want to use her full name, is one of those still waiting for their initial Windrush applications to be processed. The grandmother, whose mother, daughter and grandchildren all live in the UK, applied in November, and has received no response since. Im feeling anxious. I dont know why its taking so long. What are they looking for? What other information do they require? Ive given them photographs of my youth, my holy communion, my secondary school testimonial. It looks like theyre digging deeper, but they arent telling me, she says. They dont give me a timeframe. The first time I called in November said it would probably take four to six weeks eight weeks at the most. That gave me hope. But Im neither here nor there. I dont have the funds, I dont have a place that is mine. Im drifting. Im placing a burden on people. The Home Office said ministers were determined to right the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation, but some applications to the taskforce and hardship fund took longer due to their complexity. Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty Immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie says she regularly comes across Windrush victims who had been waiting more than six months and in one case over 10 months for their cases to be resolved, and that too few applications for the hardship fund had been processed. She added that she was also very concerned about whether the Home Office was doing enough to reach people affected by the scandal and those affected had been treated with utter contempt. There has been no major promotional campaign or effective outreach into communities targeted, at people who might be affected, and the Home Office has shunned working with community groups and organisations working with those affected, says Ms McKenzie. Amnesty yesterday called for fundamental reforms of the immigration system, including the citizenship fees that make a profit for the Home Office but many applicants struggle to afford. Steve Valdez-Symonds, from the charity, said: A year on, this scandal is far from over. Its causes remain to be fully recognised, let alone addressed. In the meantime, for Edward Bromfield, Euten Lindsay and Grace not to mention many other Windrush victims the pain goes on. Theresa May must appoint a powerful deputy with agreed aims for the next stage of the Brexit negotiations to avoid the blunders of the first phase, a major study says. The government is in danger of stumbling into future trade talks with the EU without a plan, it warns even if the divorce deal is eventually approved by the Commons. The warning comes as compromise talks between the government and Labour stalled, casting fresh doubt on the prime ministers hopes of passing her deal and avoiding a long Brexit delay. Unless the agreement is ratified by 22 May, the UK will have to take part in next months European parliament elections threatening the Conservatives with huge losses. Now the Institute for Government (IFG) has highlighted the risk of repeating the mistakes that have led to the Brexit stalemate when the much tougher trade talks are eventually reached. In particular, the think tank urges Ms May or whoever is prime minister to reach cabinet agreement early on the objectives for the future relationship with the EU, while avoiding absolute red lines. The cabinet failed to even discuss its aims for the end state deal with the EU for the first year or more of the May premiership, undermining the Brussels talks, the IFG says. Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Show all 24 1 /24 Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent Put It To The People march: Best of The Independents pictures Angela Christofilou/The Independent The report recommends the appointment of a deputy, based in the cabinet office, to oversee the day-to-day negotiations, supported by all big-hitting departments. The government should also engage parliament and the devolved administrations early and consistently, to avoid a further mistake of the first phase. Negotiations on our future relationship with the EU will be much more complex than the divorce, said Tim Durrant, the lead author of the report. The time available for negotiations is short and the government must not waste time by failing to prepare. Jill Rutter, the institutes programme director, said Ms May had created completely foreseeable problems for the exit negotiations by setting up new, separate departments in 2016. The errors were compounded by the inability of the cabinet to reach an agreed position on the key future economic relationship. Whoever is prime minister for the second phase of the negotiations needs to ensure that they avoid similar mistakes next time round, Ms Rutter added. Meanwhile, in fresh evidence that the cross-party talks are in trouble, Downing Street was unable to confirm that any face-to-face meetings would take place this week. Three working groups have been set up to discuss stumbling blocks covering worker and consumer rights, environmental protections and security but there are no firm dates for meetings. Strikingly, there is no working group for the biggest controversy, Labours demand for a customs union, creating widespread scepticism that any agreement is possible. Asked when the two parties would next sit down together, the prime ministers spokesperson said only that the public could expect those conversations to be taking place. Theresa May has no chance of passing her Brexit deal in time to pull the UK out of the European parliament elections and avoid a likely devastating defeat, experts have concluded. Time has already effectively run out on attempts to ratify the agreement by 22 May, they say despite the prime minister insisting talks with Labour can still deliver a compromise before the deadline. The verdict puts the Conservatives on course to lose most of their MEPs, polls suggest, as Leave voters protest at the failure to deliver Brexit, a disastrous result that would trigger huge pressure on Ms May to resign. The staging of the elections will also be a personal humiliation for the prime minister, who repeatedly told MPs they should not take place, three years after the Brexit referendum. More talks with Labour are planned, as No 10 claims the complex (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill required to ratify EU withdrawal can clear parliament before voters go to the polls on 23 May. Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Nigel Farage speaks at the launch of his new Brexit Party's campaign for the European elections Reuters Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Brexit Party candidate Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, speaks at the launch AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures A supporter waits for Farage to speak AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Supporters wait for Farage to speak AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage's socks Reuters Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Farage and prospective candidate Annunziata Rees-Mogg wait at the launch AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Supporters listen as Farage speaks AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Free T-shirts for all attendees AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures Posters on the seats for supporters of the Brexit Party AFP/Getty Farage launches his new Brexit Party: in pictures A safety sign is pictured AFP/Getty But two respected think tanks have told The Independent the timetable is a fantasy, with one suggesting it will take several months to approve the legislation, which could involve up to 100 votes. Unlike the simple meaningful vote, the full legislation will trigger lengthy and gruelling parliamentary trench warfare, with echoes of the bitter battles over the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. Approval of Maastricht took 41 days in 1993, while Lisbon required 25 days in 2008 but there are only 17 sitting days planned before 22 May. Joe Owen, programme director at the Institute for Government, said: It looks highly unlikely the government will be able to pass the (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill by the end of May, given the political challenge facing the prime minister. Recommended Rudd could back Johnson for leader despite previous attacks Pointing to huge controversies surrounding the Brexit divorce bill, the Irish backstop and protecting EU citizens rights, he added: All of these things will be open to amendment by backbenchers. Dr Alan Wager, a researcher for the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, said: Its likely to take several months to pass the bill, given how long comparable legislation has taken to pass historically. Looking at the window before the European elections which is three weeks maximum [after the Easter recess] there is no way MPs are going to agree to that, no chance of that whatsoever. Dr Wager predicted a flashpoint prompted by Remain MPs over a Final Say referendum, as well as Brexiteer anger over the deal, saying: The government is going to be squeezed from both sides. Addressing MPs last week, after a late-night Brussels summit agreed a further Brexit delay until 31 October, the prime minister insisted a rapid passage of the deal was still possible. Let us then resolve to find a way through this impasse so that we can leave the European Union with a deal as soon as possible, so that we can avoid having to hold those European parliamentary elections, she said. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, argued the predicted disaster for the Tories of asking voters to elect MEPs could still be averted. I think the absolute priority for Theresa May is to get Brexit over the line before 23 May, so that we dont end up fighting the European parliament elections, he said. But Dr Wager pointed out the government had lost a staggering one-third of Brexit votes since last summer, with a further 60-100 likely when the bill arrives. And Mr Owen warned the bill could end up so badly amended that it contradicted the deal itself, leaving the European parliament unable to ratify it. Two polls have put the Tories on 16 per cent and 17 per cent for the May elections far adrift of Labour on 24 and 29 per cent respectively. The party has never sunk so low since the 1832 Great Reform Act expanded the franchise, prompting Mr Hunt to admit the prime minister could be forced out of No 10 by such a result. A government sourced admitted to The Independent that Labour will be tempted to allow the talks to run into the sand because of the predicted heavy losses for the Conservatives. Ministers have floated bringing forward the bill before a further meaningful vote to allow agreed changes to be legally embedded, but this tactic also brings huge risk. If the legislation is voted down before the stage of debating amendments, Ms May would be forced to prorogue parliament and start a new session, threatening the fracturing alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party. The cross-party talks remain on the brink of collapse, having failed to resume this week between the politicians because of a lack of progress made by officials. Jeremy Corbyn said his team had pressed very robustly for a customs union, but Ms May was dithering under pressure from her partys right wing. The government doesnt appear to be shifting the red lines because theyve got a big pressure in the Tory party that actually wants to turn this country into a deregulated low-tax society which will do a deal with Trump, he said, on a visit to the northwest of England. The president of the European Council has warned opponents of Brexit not to give in to fatalism and accept Britains departure from the European Union. Speaking in the European parliament on Tuesday, Donald Tusk said Europe and Britain needed dreams and dreamers to keep the idea of a united Europe alive and the UK in the EU. During the European Council, one of the leaders warned us not to be dreamers and that we shouldnt think that Brexit can be reversed, Mr Tusk told MEPs in Strasbourg. I didnt respond at the time. But today in front of you I would like to say at this rather difficult moment in our history that we need the dreamers and dreams. We cannot give in to fatalism. At least, I will not stop dreaming about a better and united Europe. Mr Tusk said he accepts the result of the EU referendum and that the decision on whether to leave is for the British people, but he has made no secret of the fact he would rather see the UK stay in the bloc. EU leaders last Wednesday agreed to give Britain an extension of Brexit until 31 October, after Theresa May requested a longer deadline to pass her deal. Mr Tusk defended the length of the extension, which he pushed for in part because it would give the UK time to rethink Brexit. In my view it has a few advantages. Only a long extension ensures that all options remain on the table, such as ratification of the current withdrawal agreement or extra time to rethink Brexit, if that were the wish of the British people, he said. Second, it allows the EU to focus on other priorities that are at least as important, such as trade with the US or the new EU leadership. I know that some have expressed fear that the UK might want to disrupt the EUs functioning during this time. But the EU did not give in to such scaremongering... in fact, since the very beginning of the Brexit process the UK has been a constructive and responsible EU member state. So we have no reason to believe that this should change. 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 Third, the flexible extension delays the possibility of a no-deal Brexit by six months. Thanks to this, millions of people and businesses have gained at least some certainty in this unstable time. But Mr Tusks counterpart in the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, struck a less optimistic tone. If the UK has not ratified the withdrawal agreement by [31 October] then there will be a hard Brexit, which we would like to avoid. Of course the UK can request to revoke Article 50 that is something thats been made very clear. But that is not my working hypothesis, and its not my working hypothesis either that beyond the 31 October we will see another extension. Both leaders stressed their preference not to speak about Brexit for a few months. Mr Juncker told MEPs: We are on a Brexit break, we are focusing on the very many other issues for our union. With that in mind I want to be very brief. We have made sure that we do not need to discuss Brexit every other week and have given the United Kingdom the time and space to find a way out of the impasse. In all likelihood, Britain will be taking part in the European parliament elections at the end of May. But why should you care who your MEP is? MEPs scrutinise, amend and block laws that the European Commission proposes meaning their decisions affect European Union law, and thus British law. As a large member state, Britain has 73 MEPs around 10 per cent of the total, which means collectively they are a huge voting bloc. But with the UK set to leave the EU, this influence wont last long, and MEPs may only sit for a couple of months at most not long enough to pass legislation. Close Jean-Claude Juncker: 'We're ready for a no deal Brexit but our Union has nothing to gain from great disruption in UK' Donald Tusk has told MEPs a long extension to the Brexit process allows for all options to remain on the table, including the possibility of a second referendum. In reference to claims from Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg in recent weeks, Mr Tusk added: I know that some have expressed fear that the UK might want to disrupt the EUs functioning during this time. But the EU did not give in to such scaremongering... in fact, since the very beginning of the Brexit process the UK has been a constructive and responsible EU member state. So we have no reason to believe that this should change. The European council president also warned those opposed to Brexit not to "give in to fatalism" by accepting the UK's departure from the bloc, as he said both Europe and Britain needed "dreams and dreamers". During the European Council one of the leaders warned us not to be dreamers and that we shouldnt think that Brexit can be reversed, Mr Tusk told MEPs in Strasbourg. His remarks came as Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said the EU had "nothing to gain" from the disruption a no-deal Brexit would bring to the UK. He said he had adopted the "necessary contingency measures", but said only those who seek to undermine the global legal order would benefit from such an exit. "We have adopted the necessary contingency measures and we are ready for a no-deal Brexit," he told MEPs. "But our union has nothing to gain from great disruption in the United Kingdom. The only ones who would benefit are those who resent multilateralism and seek to undermine the global legal order." Mr Juncker made the comments as he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on last week's European Council summit at which Theresa May was offered a six-month Brexit delay. Elsewhere, it also emerged that more than 3,000 people had applied to stand as candidates for Change UK during the European Parliament elections on 23 May, as it was officially registered as a political party by the Electoral Commission. This liveblog has now closed, but you can see Tuesday's updates below The Independent Group of former Labour and Conservative MPs has successfully registered as a political party named "Change UK" to take part in next month's European Parliament elections. The party will launch its election campaign next week and said it had already received more than 3,700 applications from people wanting to stand as candidates. It is currently short-listing and interviewing people to whittle the number down to 70 candidates who will contest the elections on 23 May. The government has said it does not want the UK to take part in the EU elections and insists it can still get a Brexit deal approved by parliament in time to cancel the polls. But with cross-party talks on Brexit deadlocked and parliament having rejected Theresa May's plan on three occasions, political parties are gearing up to take part in the contest. Recommended Independent Group applies to be political party for EU elections Heidi Allen, Change UK's interim leader, asked members of the public to donate money to the party's campaign. She said: This is a fight for Britains voice in Europe and we have been overwhelmed by the thousands of people wanting to roll up their sleeves and join our campaign from every walk of life and every corner of the country. Change UK The Independent Group have a clear message in the European elections: we demand a Peoples Vote and, if it is held, all our MPs will campaign to remain in and reform the European Union. We will announce our MEP candidates at a launch event Tuesday next week. But we need more help to fix our broken politics, so well be setting up our European Election Fighting Fund on our website to give us a chance to compete with the big established political parties. We are David, and they are Goliath - but we can do this together. Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Show all 12 1 /12 Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Change UK Details on the individual MPs are in the following photos Reuters Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Heidi Allen Anti-Brexit MP for South Cambridgeshire resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chuka Umunna MP for Streatham since 2010 and prominent People's Vote supporter PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Anna Soubry The prominent anti-Brexit MP for Broxtowe resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Luciana Berger MP for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010, resigned from the Labour Party over bullying and anti-semitism PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Sarah Wollaston Anti-Brexit MP for Totnes resigned from the Conservative party on February 20 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Joan Ryan MP for Enfield North resigned from the Labour party on February 19 citing its tolerance of a "culture of anti-Jewish racism" PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Ann Coffey MP for Stockport since 1992 Chris McAndrew / UK Parliament Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Gavin Shuker MP for Luton South since 2010 Getty Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Chris Leslie MP for Nottingham East since 2010 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South since 1992 PA Which MPs defected to form Change UK? Angela Smith MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge since 2010 However, the new party's campaign got off to a faltering start when its proposed logo was rejected by the Electoral Commission. The watchdog said the design was "likely to mislead voters" and "contains a link to online material". It means the European Parliament election ballot papers will have an empty space next to Change UK's name. The logo the party had submitted had the letters "TIG" in white text on a black background, with #Change written underneath. An Electoral Commission spokesperson said: The emblem contained a hashtag, and we cannot assess the material linked to a hashtag, which will change over time, against the legal tests. The emblem also contained the acronym TIG, which we were not satisfied was sufficiently well known. The party can submit another design but it will come too late for this to appear on next month's ballot paper, meaning there will be a blank space next to Change UK candidates' names, the Commission said. Julian Assange will not face the death penalty if he is extradited to the US, the British government has said. In newly revealed letters sent to Ecuadors president Lenin Moreno, both current foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and his predecessor Boris Johnson said an extradition would not be ordered unless the home secretary has first received an adequate assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed. You have expressed concern that, should Julian Assange be extradited from the UK, there would be a risk that he could be subject to the death penalty, said identically-worded letters sent to and obtained by The Guardian. Under UK law, a persons extradition cannot be ordered if the person concerned will be subject to the death penalty. Dated on 7 March and 10 August 2018, they said that if the home secretary accepts an assurance against capital punishment as adequate, the person concerned may also seek leave to appeal to the High Court, which will examine the assurance given. The government has not demanded assurances against the death penalty in other cases, including two alleged Isis Beatles militants from the UK last year. Key moments for Julian Assange Show all 9 1 /9 Key moments for Julian Assange Key moments for Julian Assange The situation today Assange was arrested after Metropolitan Police officers were invited into the Ecuadorian embassy on April 11 2019. How did it come to this? Ruptly TV Key moments for Julian Assange The break Assange shows the front page of the Guardian on July 26 2010, the day that they broke the story of the thousands of military files leaked by WikiLeaks AFP/Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Wanted A warrant for Assange's arrest was issued in August 2010 for counts of rape and molestation in Sweden AFP/Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Ruling The UK's Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face trial Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Sanctuary Following the ruling, Assange was given asylum by the Ecuadorian governement over fears that his human rights would be violated if he were extradited, he has since remained in the embassy in London Getty Key moments for Julian Assange A friend in Pam Friend Pamela Anderson delivers lunch to Assange at the embassy in October 2016. She has since spoken against his arrest Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Arbitrarily detained A UN panel found in 2016 that Assange had been arbitrarily detained and that he had not been able to claim his full right to asylum. It urged Sweden to withdraw the charges against him Getty Key moments for Julian Assange The cat ultimatum Last year, the Ecuadorian embassy threatened to revoke Assange's internet access unless he stopped making political statements online and started taking better care of James, his pet cat. Assange accused Ecuador of violating his rights Reuters Key moments for Julian Assange Arrest Assange was arrested on April 11 2019. Ecuador revoked his asylum status and invited the Metropolitan Police in to the embassy to arrest him. Reuters The home secretary handed the US information on Alexander Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh for a federal prosecution last June, after they were caught by Kurdish forces in Syria. Lawyers representing El-Sheikhs mother accused home secretary Sajid Javid of giving up on death penalty assurances because of anticipated outrage from Donald Trumps administration. But the High Court found the decision was legal, ruling that there was no general, common law duty on HM government to take positive steps to protect an individual's life from the actions of a third party. The letters on Assange were sent before the WikiLeaks founder was stripped of his political asylum and Ecuadorian nationality. The countrys ambassador formally invited London's Metropolitan Police to remove Assange from its London embassy last week. Mr Moreno said the patience of Ecuador has reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange, but his lawyers denied outrageous allegations regarding his personal hygiene including that he had smeared faeces on the embassy walls. The discourteous and aggressive behaviour of Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declaration of its allied organisation [WikiLeaks] against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable, Mr Moreno added. Julian Assange's lawyer denies the WikiLeaks founder spread faeces on Eduadorian embassy walls In all cases, the relevant judicial authorities have validated Ecuador's position. In line with our strong commitment to human rights and international law, I requested Great Britain to guarantee that Mr Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty. The British government has confirmed it in writing, in accordance with its own rules. Assange had been living at the Ecuadorian embassy for almost seven years, after losing a court battle against extradition to Sweden over rape allegations. That investigation was dropped in 2017 but the British police warrant for skipping bail remained, and was the reason initially cited for arresting Assange. After arriving at a London police station, he was re-arrested under a US extradition warrant. The US Department of Justice said he had been with one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion with Chelsea Manning, over the military leaks that exposed war crimes in 2010. Assange faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted, though he may yet be charged with other offences. His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said the charge sets a dangerous precedent for all media organisations and journalists in Europe and around the world. Assange also faces jail for breaching bail by fleeing to the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012, and could be remanded in British custody for the duration of his legal battle against extradition. Labour shadow cabinet minister Richard Burgon is facing calls to apologise after footage emerged of him claiming that "Zionism is the enemy of peace" - a comment he had previously denied making. Asked about the reported claims last year, the shadow justice secretary told the BBC that it "was not my view" and that the reports were false, adding: "I didn't make those comments." But footage has now emerged showing that the Jeremy Corbyn ally did indeed make the claims at an event in 2014. He said: "The enemy of the Palestinian people is not the Jewish people, the enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people. "We need to be loud, we need to be proud in support of a free Palestine." In another speech, in 2016, he said: "False accusations fly as soon as you support the people of Palestine and I myself was accused of a false and outrageous slander by a very well-connected supporter of the Israeli government." The revelation prompted anger from Jewish community groups, who called on Mr Burgon to apologise. Amanda Bowman, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "These comments were shameful. "Richard Burgon's denial and the subsequent revelation of his 2014 incitement against Zionists encapsulate the total sham of Labour's approach to antisemitism. "At the very least he should apologise for his comments and for his denial of them." "The Jewish community has been consistently gaslighted by the Labour Party and they continue to abdicate their responsibility to deal with antisemitism in their ranks." Protests against Labour antisemitism Show all 14 1 /14 Protests against Labour antisemitism Protests against Labour antisemitism Protesters clashed during the demonstration Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Members of the Jewish community hold a protest against Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism in the Labour Party AFP/Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism Protesters hold placards and flags during a demonstration, organised by the British Board of Jewish Deputies for those who oppose antisemitism, in Parliament Square Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Hundreds of people gathered in Parliament Square to protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party EPA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour MP Luciana Berger speaks during the protest PA Protests against Labour antisemitism A protester blows through a shofar during the demonstration Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism Members of London's Jewish community protest in support of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn outside parliament EPA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour MP John Mann speaks during a protest against antisemitism PA Protests against Labour antisemitism People protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party as Jewish community leaders have launched a scathing attack on Jeremy Corbyn, claiming he has sided with antisemites again and again PA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour politicians Stella Creasy and Chuka Umunna leave after attending the demonstration Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism A pro-Jeremy Corbyn protester holds a placard during a counter-protest Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism A support of the Labour Party hold up a placard during the demonstration Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Jeremy Corbyn supporters during the demo Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism A protester holds up a sign reading For the many, not the Jew AFP And in a letter to Mr Burgon, Jewish Leadership Council chair Jonathan Goldstein asked the MP to issue "a full apology and a clarification as well as a pledge to use responsible language henceforth". He wrote: "In your interview with [BBC journalist] Andrew Neil last year, you denied referring to Zionists as the enemy of peace. Indeed, you went on to say that this was not your view and therefore you would not have made those comments. "Footage of you showing that you did indeed make such comments as recently as 2016 is shocking not just for the content but because of your unequivocal denial. You assertion that this was not your view appears to indicate that you recognise such comments would not only be factually incorrect and offensive but also risk sowing divisions. He added: "The language used in politics is more important than ever, especially from someone who seeks to have a leading role in this country's government. With polling showing that the vast majority of British Jews identify as Zionists - supporting the Jewish people's right to self-determination - your words are a slur on British Jews and others." Following the emergence of the footage, Mr Neil wrote on Twitter: "Wish I'd had that clip from 2014 when I interviewed Mr Burgon." Margaret Hodge on Jeremy Corbyn's 'inner circle' accused of interfering in cases of antisemitism in Labour's ranks: 'What is so awful about this is that Jeremy always proclaims zero tolerance of antisemitism' During an interview last year, the MP had told him: "I didn't make those comments...It's not my view and if it's not my view I wouldn't have made those comments." Responding to the latest row, Mr Burgon expressed "regret" for claiming that he had not made the comments. He said: When it was put to me in August 2016 that I had made these remarks I did not recall doing so and therefore asked for the full quotes to be provided to me, and asked when and where I had said it. I received no reply, so I believed it was inaccurate to have claimed that I had used that phrase. It is now clear that I did and I regret doing so. As I have subsequently said on numerous occasions when asked about this, I do not agree with that phrase. I recognise that such a phrase fails to distinguish between those seeking a peaceful solution in line with international law, and those, such as the current Israeli government, which is undermining efforts towards peace." He added: The terminology has different meanings to different people and the simplistic language used does not reflect how I now think about this complex issue and I would not use it again today. It is being reported that I made those remarks in 2014, which was before I was elected as an MP." The MP said he was criticising the "aggressive expansionist policies" of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and not speaking about Jewish people. The flagship Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York City is reportedly dealing with a bed bug infestation. The store, a tourist destination as much as a retail store, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but according to The New York Post, reportedly closed for six hours last week to deal with what an employee said they were told was a water leak. However, according to employees who spoke to the news outlet, the issue was bed bugs - which forced staff to double-wrap their belongings in plastic during their shifts. The infestation reportedly began nearly a month ago when a homeless visitor entered the sprawling store. At the time, a bed bug was found on one of the stores tables - which was subsequently cordoned off. Apple unveils the iPhone X Show all 10 1 /10 Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone X during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone X during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 Reuters Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, shows Animoji during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, speaks during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam Apple unveils the iPhone X Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, speaks about the iPhone X during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 REUTERS/Stephen Lam After weeks of sightings and a visit from a bed-bug-sniffing beagle, an employee reportedly filmed a video of a bed bug crawling on their sweater. One of the extremely small insects was also found in the managers office, according to The Post, prompting preventative spraying by an exterminator and the brief store closure. It was just mayhem, an employee said. There was a mass exodus employees were freaking out that they felt really unsafe and management kept giving them the runaround. According to the news outlet, employees have since been informed by management that the threat is over. Bed bugs are insects that typically come out at night and bite. Although the bites are not dangerous, they can cause itching. The bugs themselves can be extremely difficult to get rid of because they are small and expert hiders. Bed bug infestations usually require help from a pest control firm. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The Independent has contacted Apple for details. US immigration authorities deported the husband of a woman solider killed in Afghanistan, forcing him to leave the couples 12-year-old daughter. Jose Gonzalez Carranza was arrested at his home in Phoenix, Arizona, by agents from the immigration and customs enforcement agency, commonly as ICE, and taken to Nogales, Mexico. The agents deported the 30-year-old, despite him having permission to live in the country after his wife, Barbara Vieyra, was killed in 2010 by a rocket propelled grenade in Afghanistans Kunar Province, according to Mr Carranzas lawyer. After ICEs actions were highlighted by The Arizona Republic, Mr Carranza was permitted to return to Phoenix. I feel so bad, Mr Carranza told the newspaper about his daughter, who lives with her grandparents. Im thinking about, I might never see her again. 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 Mr Carranza said said he came to the US illegally from Veracruz, Mexico, in 2004, when he was a teenager. He said he and his late wife married in 2007. His lawyer, Ezequiel Hernandez, said Mr Carranza had been granted so-called parole-in-place, which allows immigrants in the country illegally to remain in the US without the threat of deportation, after his wife was killed. There are plenty of people you can go after but not a guy whose wife died in Afghanistan, said Mr Hernandez. Department of defence records confirm Ms Vieyra, 22, died after suffering injuries following an attack on her unit in September 2010, involving a rocket-propelled grenade and a improvised explosive device. She was assigned to the 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, the records say. CNN said ICE refiled a deportation case against Mr Carranza last year despite the parole-in-place designation. However, a notice for Mr Carranza to appear in court was sent to an old address, Mr Hernandez said As a result, Mr Carranza did not show up to court and a judge ordered him to be deported. Donald Trump declares national emergency to release funds for border wall The government never revoked the parole, Mr Hernandez said. They detained him because of the order of removal done due to the court hearing my client did not go to because he did not know. As of today, we do not know why the client was removed. On Monday, Mr Hernandez wrote on his law firms Facebook page: Our client is back in Phoenix!! Thank you all! ICE did not respond to specific questions on Tuesday. In a statement, it said an immigration judge will determine if proceedings should be reopened, and whether Gonzalez-Carranza has legal basis to remain in the United States. Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on immigration to the US and has repeatedly positioned himself as a hardliner on the issue. He has claimed the US faces an invasion of migrants, despite figures showing the number of illegal immigrants in the country is falling, and has declared a national emergency in order to try and get funding for a border wall. He has also claimed to be a champion for military veterans. The parents of a Swedish programmer who was an early ally of Julian Assange and Wikileaks and who has now been accused of trying to blackmail Ecuadors president, is facing threats in jail, his parents have claimed. Ola Bini, 36, was arrested last Thursday in Ecuador, hours after Mr Assange was detained by police in London who entered the Ecuadorian embassy. Mr Assange was charged with skipping bail by a London judge, while the US charged him with conspiring with whistleblower Chelsea Manning to hack a US computer. Defenders of Mr Assange say the US is trying to punish the Wikileaks founder for exposing embarrassing and damaging information about Washingtons actions, including the behaviour of its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prosecutors in Ecuador, have said they intend to charge Mr Bini, a longtime Wikileaks defender, with seeking to blackmail Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno, who turned against Mr Assange and invited the British authorities to enter the embassy last week and arrest him. On Tuesday, Mr Binis parents, Dag Gustafsson and Gorel Bini, professed their sons innocence and said they would remain in Ecuador until he was released. Key moments for Julian Assange Show all 9 1 /9 Key moments for Julian Assange Key moments for Julian Assange The situation today Assange was arrested after Metropolitan Police officers were invited into the Ecuadorian embassy on April 11 2019. How did it come to this? Ruptly TV Key moments for Julian Assange The break Assange shows the front page of the Guardian on July 26 2010, the day that they broke the story of the thousands of military files leaked by WikiLeaks AFP/Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Wanted A warrant for Assange's arrest was issued in August 2010 for counts of rape and molestation in Sweden AFP/Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Ruling The UK's Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face trial Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Sanctuary Following the ruling, Assange was given asylum by the Ecuadorian governement over fears that his human rights would be violated if he were extradited, he has since remained in the embassy in London Getty Key moments for Julian Assange A friend in Pam Friend Pamela Anderson delivers lunch to Assange at the embassy in October 2016. She has since spoken against his arrest Getty Key moments for Julian Assange Arbitrarily detained A UN panel found in 2016 that Assange had been arbitrarily detained and that he had not been able to claim his full right to asylum. It urged Sweden to withdraw the charges against him Getty Key moments for Julian Assange The cat ultimatum Last year, the Ecuadorian embassy threatened to revoke Assange's internet access unless he stopped making political statements online and started taking better care of James, his pet cat. Assange accused Ecuador of violating his rights Reuters Key moments for Julian Assange Arrest Assange was arrested on April 11 2019. Ecuador revoked his asylum status and invited the Metropolitan Police in to the embassy to arrest him. Reuters We want to say that Ola is not feeling safe, because of some threats inside, Mr Gustafsson told reporters. His wife added: Right now, hes ok. But hes worried. Julian Assange filmed riding a skateboard in the Ecuadorian embassy Last week, Ecuadors interior minister Maria Paula Romo, told local media the Swedish coder, who has long worked with social justice groups, had been arrested for investigative purposes. For several years now, one of the key members of this WikiLeaks organisation and a person close to Mr Julian Assange has lived in Ecuador, and we have sufficient evidence that he has been collaborating with the destabilisation attempts against the government, she said. According to the Associated Press, she added: Its up to the justice system to determine if he committed a crime. But we cant allow Ecuador to become a centre for piracy and spying. That period in our history is over. Ms Romo said Bini had travelled at least 12 times to meet with Assange at the London embassy. She said he was also in Venezuela earlier this year at around the same time as a close aide to Mr Morenos former mentor turned arch enemy, Rafael Correa. Mr Correa, a former president who frequently criticised the US, had initially offered asylum to Mr Assange. A local newspaper in the US has been awarded a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for coverage of a mass shooting in its own newsroom. The Capital Gazette, based in the city of Annapolis, Maryland, won a special citation for the courage of its staff in reporting the massacre in which five colleagues were killed. The paper published on schedule the day after the atrocity believed to be the worst mass attack on journalists in US history. Employees John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen all died during the incident last June. A reader said to have had a long-standing grudge against the paper has been charged with five counts of murder. Jarrod Ramos will stand trial in November. Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Show all 10 1 /10 Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police respond to the shooting in Annapolis, AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Pat Furgurson, staff reporter of the Capital Gazette, reports outside the scene of a shooting EPA/JAY FLEMING Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police and first responders attend the scebe EPA Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted A member of the FBI responds to the shooting in Annapoli AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Authorities work at the scene AP Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Emergency personnel outside the Capital-Gazette newspaper Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Capital Gazette reporter Chase Cook, right, and photographer Joshua McKerrow, left, work on the next days newspaper while awaiting news from their colleagues. AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted AFP/Getty Images Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted "This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette," William Krampf, the Anne Arundel County acting police chief, said Thursday evening during a press conference, referring ot the joint name that appears at the office to describe the two papers that work inside. "This person was prepared today to come in. This person was prepared to shoot people. His intent was to cause harm, and as I've stated before, the investigative part of this is going to be thorough, and it's going to take some time," EPA Maryland shooting: Capital Gazette newspaper staff targeted Police secure the scene AP Speaking shortly after the $100,000 prize was announced on Monday night surviving staff said the recognition was bittersweet. Reporter Chase Cook said: Since its so connected to something so tragic, there was no euphoric pop-off of excitement. Editor Rick Hutzell added: Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings. No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends. Its very difficult when you are reporting in some ways on yourself. Thats not what we do. Were behind the camera, not in front of it. He said the newspaper had submitted entries for the Pulitzers in five categories Although it did not win in any of those, judges awarded the special citation in honour of the Capitals courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in US history in their newsroom and for an unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Prizes also went to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal for investigations of Donald Trump, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for its coverage of last Octobers Pennsylvania synagogue attack in which 11 people died. Two months ago, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shook Washington politics when she unveiled her ambitious environmental plan to combat climate change and she now says that effort was a mistake. The so-called Green New Deal set out a plan to tackle the climate crisis that threatens the entire earth, but the message was quickly hijacked by detractors who claimed wrongly that the deal would eliminate planes, cars, and cow farts. She lost control of the narrative, she now recognises. It was done in a way that it was easy to hijack the narrative around it, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said recently during an interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery. She continued: It was too fast. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Ms Ocasio-Cortez said that many of the critiques she received since announcing the resolution alongside senator Ed Markey in February are false, and still argues that the effort that failed last month in the Senate is itself very solid. But, she acknowledges that the message was muddied by things like an accompanying FAQ that contained false and outdated information, which hurt the overall message as she tried to redefine climate change as a major issue to rally around and embark on an ambitious new legislative agenda around. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events None of those things are in there, she said of the claims that cows would be outlawed, or planes be banned. It was just frustrating intensely frustrating. Ms Ocasio-Cortez said that she is learning from the mistakes she has made during the first four months of her time in Congress, however. I feel like I'm fine-tuning, she said. So I'll have to dial things back a little bit to get that pressure closer to where I want it to be ... but I don't feel like there was anything major that it was like, I really wish I didn't do that. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose rapid and agenda-setting rise to political prominence was fuelled in a large part by her social media savvy and vast following, has said she is cutting back on the use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, for the benefit of her health. Speaking about the potential for harm to peoples mental health by spending too long on social media, the 29-year-old said she planned to reduce the amount of time she devoted. I personally gave up Facebook, which was kind of a big deal because I started my campaign on Facebook. And Facebook was my primary digital organising tool for a very long time. I gave up on it, she told listeners, according to the New York Post. Social media poses a public health risk to everybody. Speaking on the podcast Skulldudgery, she added: There are amplified impacts for young people, particularly children under the age of 3, with screen time. But I think it has a lot of effects on older people. I think it has effects on everybody. Increased isolation, depression, anxiety, addiction, escapism. Ive started to kind of impose little rules on myself. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty When the 29-year-old was elected last year to represent New Yorks 14th Congressional district, she did so with a grassroots campaign that was in part driven by her skills on social media. Since, moving to Washington, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who has 3.9m Twitter followers, has used most social media platforms to rebut critics, and reach out to supporters. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ignored Paul Ryan's 'Little Tips' For Congress Live streams on Instagram of her putting together furniture or cooking dinner while chatting to people, have become an art form on their own. Like every once in a while, youll see me hop on Twitter on the weekends, but for the most part, I take consumption of content, when it comes to consumption and reading, I take the weekends off, she said. And so Im not, like, scrolling through trying to read everything online that journalists are writing on weekends. I try to do that during the workweek. Bernie Sanders became a millionaire in 2016, putting him in the top 1 per cent of earners in the US, according to the long-anticipated release of the senators tax returns. The release confirms Mr Sanders income crossed the $1m (764,000) threshold in 2016 and 2017, although he reported less earnings in his most recent return. In the Vermont senators 2018 return, he and his wife, Jane Sanders, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in books sales. The Sanders campaign said he paid 26 per cent effective tax rate in 2018. The release comes as Mr Sanders faces criticism that his newfound wealth contradicts his political message of democratic socialism in his 2020 presidential campaign. 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 During a Fox News town hall meeting on Monday, the senator said his increased income came from the publication of his book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. At the televised meeting, Mr Sanders said he would not apologise for his recent wealth. That money in my case, and my wifes case, came from a book I wrote, a pretty good book, you might want to read it, he said. It was a bestseller, it sold all over the world, and we made money. So if anyone thinks I should apologise for writing a bestselling book, Im sorry Im not going to do it. He also challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns. I guess the president watches your network a little bit, right? Mr Sanders said to moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Hey, President Trump. My wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same. Mr Trump broke from decades of presidential tradition by refusing to show voters his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign. In 2016, Mr Sanders released just one year of his tax returns and faced criticism from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for refusing to release multiple years of tax documents. Mr Sanders tax returns show he is among the top 1 per cent of earners in the US, which some critics have argued undermines his calls for an economy and government that works for everyone, not just the 1 per cent. According to the Economic Policy Institute, families in the US earning $421,926 or more a year are part of this group. Bernie Sanders mocks Donald Trump's 'wind turbines cause cancer' comments These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate, the senator said in a statement. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American dream to all people. The release also disclosed $36,300 of charitable contributions by Mr Sanders and his wife in 2017, although the return does not detail their individual contributions. In 2017, the couple announced that they had donated $25,000 as a grant to launch the Sanders Institute, a non-profit educational organisation aligned with the senators political and ideological beliefs. Jane Sanders was a co-founder of the non-profit, along with her son, David Driscoll. However, the institute was put on hiatus last month amid criticism that the organisation blurred lines between family, fundraising and campaigning. Ms Sanders said the non-profit would cease operations beginning in May so there could not even be an appearance of impropriety. The release of Mr Sanders returns follows a number of Democratic presidential candidates who have released tax records, including senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar. Fellow candidate Beto ORourke also recently released a decade of tax records, which showed he and his wife paid $81,000 in taxes on an income of $366,000 in 2017. Agencies contributed to this report St. Andrew United Methodist Church: 18550 Riegel Road A Living Last Supper dramatization will be at 7:30 p.m. April 18. Thursday, April 18, 7:30 pm. Good Friday service will be at noon April 19. Easter Sunday service will be at 9 a.m. April 21. The annual Salad Luncheon/Fashion Show will be at noon May 4. The theme is Picnic Time. The event includes homemade salads and desserts. Tickets are $16. Reservations are required by May 2. Tickets can be purchased at the church office after 1:30 p.m. weekdays or call for a reservation. Information: 708-798-8904 or www.homewoodsaintandrew.org. Information: 708-798-8904 or www.homewoodsaintandrew.org. A former governor of Massachusetts has announced he is running for president, becoming the first prominent Republican to break rank and challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary. Bill Weld, who served as governor of the northeastern state in the 1990s, announced his candidacy on Monday. Mr Weld is a long shot for actually beating Mr Trump in the primary season next year, and is gearing up for a fight against not only Mr Trump, but a Republican Party that has considered ways to make it difficult for a drawn out and damaging primary season in 2020. "Ours is a nation built on courage, resilience, and independence. In these times of great political strife, when both major parties are entrenched in their 'win at all cost' battles, the voices of the American people are being ignored and our nation is suffering," Mr Weld said in a statement. Before his announcement on Monday, Mr Weld had formed an exploratory committee dedicated to analysing whether a campaign was at all viable. 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 "It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag. It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln -- equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight," his statement continued. Melania Trump had some choice words for Anna Wintour after the Vogue editor-in-chief reportedly vowed the first lady would never find herself on the cover of the fashion magazine again. Ms Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement on Monday that being on the cover of Vogue doesnt define Mrs. Trump, shes been there, done that long before she was First Lady. Her role as First Lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than some superficial photo shoot and cover, she added. This just further demonstrates how biased the fashion magazine industry is, and shows how insecure and small-minded Anna Wintour really is. Last week, Ms Wintour appeared in an interview with CNN where she subtly revealed that the magazine is not impartial when it comes to politics. I believe and I think that those of us that work at Conde Nast believe that you have to stand up for what you believe in and you have to take a point of view, Ms Wintour said. Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Show all 18 1 /18 Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The 12th-century castle dominates Sevnica old town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The old town has a beautiful riverside setting Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town 'White House' slippers in Sevnica castle Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The annual salami festival, the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica was a nondescript town before Melania hit the big time AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica butchers take their sausage-making skills seriously Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Only men are allowed in the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town As American as.... a Sevnica apple pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town There are no plans to make a Donald pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The slippers featured in a recent fashion show AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The castle is one of the top tourist sites in town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melanija cake has gone down a storm AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The smart house still owned by Melania's parents Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town They live in America but visit occasionally Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The communist block of flats in which Melania grew up Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melania skin cream, for a presidential complexion Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town First lady chocolates, dusted with gold Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Even locals can't get enough of the Melanija cake Nick Redmayne Former first lady Michelle Obama has appeared on the cover of Vogue three times throughout her husbands presidency. The magazine also featured New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and former first Hillary Clinton. Obviously these are women that we feel are icons and inspiring to women from a global perspective, the Vogue editor said, referring to Ms Obama, Ms Ardern and Ms Clinton. While Ms Wintour did not explicitly mention Ms Trump in the interview, she said hint that she feels passionately about taking the right political stance. I also feel even more strongly now that this is a time to try and I think that one has to be fair, one has to look at all sides but I dont think its a moment not to take a stand, Ms Wintour added. I think you cant be everything to everybody. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Ms Trump, a former model, has not yet been asked to appear on the cover of the magazine since her husband won the 2016 election. The first lady, however, did appear on the cover in February 2005 after wearing her wedding dress after marrying Donald Trump. Close Michelle Obama compares Donald Trump to 'divorced dad' in O2 Arena President Trump has pledged his support to the people of France after the iconic Notre Dame cathedral suffered a devastating fire last night. On Twitter, the president noted it was horrible to watch the scenes from Paris, and suggested flying water tankers could be used to put it out. It was confirmed this morning that the fire had been entirely extinguished. The White House said it will offer France assistance in the rehabilitation of this irreplaceable symbol of Western civilization. The United States stands with French citizens, the city of Paris, and the millions of visitors from around the world who have sought solace in that iconic structure, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said. Closer to home, Trump is also facing his first Republican challenger for the 2020 presidential election in the form of Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, although is it deemed unlikely that anyone will seize the partys nomination from the incumbent. I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff weve had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy, and I would fear for the Republic, Mr Weld told CNNs Jake Tapper on Tuesday. I would be ashamed of myself if I didnt raise my hand and run. It was also announced late yesterday that the Mueller report into Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election, and any links to the Trump campaign, would be released in a redacted form to the public this Thursday. The president also defended his attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar despite an onslaught of death threats the Muslim congresswoman received recently. Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Show all 13 1 /13 Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Thesupermat/CC-BY-SA Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Getty Images/iStockphoto Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Rose windows Among the most famous architectural features of the Gothic masterpiece, the stained glass rose windows are treasured artworks. The three rose windows, which date back to the 13th century, adorn the north, south and west facades. There were hopes the windows had escaped being destroyed by the fire after firefighters stopped its spread. Photos the following morning suggested the circular window of the nave had remained intact. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Destroyed: Irreplaceable wooden roof Crowds of tourists and Parisians watched in horror as the spire and roof of Notre Dame cathedral came crashing down to the ground. EPA Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Descent from the Cross The cross and statue on Notre Dame's high altar - sculpted by Nicolas Coustou in 1723 - were believed to have survived in tact despite being surrounded by smoke and debris. Reuters Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Great Organ With nearly 8,000 pipes, some dating back to the 1700s, Notre Dame's master organ is one of the largest in the world. The monumental instrument, the largest in France, was fully restored in 2013 with each pipe cleaned. Paris' deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the instrument remained intact following the fire. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Bells Housed in the two western towers, Notre Dame's bells have rung out at key moments in France's history. Emmanuel, the largest bell, was lifted into the south tower in 1685 and weighs over 23 tonnes. The fire was prevented from spreading to the bell towers. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Crown of Thorns Believed to be a relic of the wreath of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, the object was stored in the cathedral's treasury. French King Louis IX brought the relic, which is contained in an elaborate gold case, to Paris in 1238. The Crown of Thorns was saved and has been taken into safekeeping. AP Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Tunic of Saint Louis The tunic allegedly worn by Saint Louis IX as he brought the Crown of Thorns to Paris was kept inside the cathedral. It has been saved. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Statues on the roof The week before the fire, religious statues set atop the cathedral were removed for the first time in over 100 years as part of the restoration project. A 100-metre-high crane lowered the copper statues representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists onto a lorry. AFP Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Destroyed: Spire Crowds of tourists and Parisians watched in horror as the spire and roof of Notre Dame cathedral came crashing down to the ground. EPA/I Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Unknown: Choir screen It is not known what happened to the detailed choir screen at Notre Dame cathedral. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Some of the artworks from Notre-Dame sheltered as the fire devastated the cathedral AFP/Getty In an interview with a local news station in Minnesota, Mr Trump continued to disparage Ms Omar. Its unfortunate, he said. Shes got a way about her thats very, very bad, I think, for our country. I think shes extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country. Read The Independents updates as they happened below. Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load The director of the CIA reportedly used photos of dead ducks to urge Donald Trump to take on a tougher stance with Russia, following a chemical nerve agent attack in Britain against former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March 2018. In response to the poisoning in Salisbury, England, British officials urged the White House to expel suspected Russian operatives responsible for the attack. President Trump, however, remained sceptical. He doubted poisoning as a legitimate tactic used in spy games. Some White House officials told the New York Times said they thought the president had some sympathy for the Russian government coming after someone they viewed as disloyal or a traitor. Then-deputy CIA director Gina Haspel was tasked with persuaded the president to take the strong option of expelling 60 Russian diplomats from the United States. To convince the president, Ms Haspel tried to show evidence that Mr Skripal and his daughter were not the only victims of Russias Novichok chemical poisoning. Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Show all 23 1 /23 Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Russian passports belonging to (top row) Oleg Sotnikov (left), Aleksei Morenets, (bottom row) Evgenii Serebriakov (left) and Alexey Minin, who have been named as the four GRU officers who tried to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot On April 13 the officers parked a car carrying specialist hacking equipment outside the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Specialist equipment intended for the alleged hacking of WiFi networks of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Russia's military intelligence service has been accused of trying to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot The Dutch counter-terrorism officers intervened to disrupt the operation and the four GRU officers were ordered to leave the country Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Mobile phones and a camera recovered from four GRU officers who were alleged to have hacked the WiFi networks of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot The four Russians arrived on diplomatic passports Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Alexey Minin, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers who tried to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog which is investigating the Salisbury nerve agent attack PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot A car carrying hacking equipment used by GRU officers, travelling on official Russian passports, parked near the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Oleg Sotnikov, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Hacking equipment belonging to four Russian officers Dutch Ministry of Defence/AP Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Evgenii Serebriakov, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Equipment found in possession of four Russian citizens Reuters Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Photos of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its surroundings taken on the 11 April, found on the phone of GRU officer Alexey Minin Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Equipment found in possession of four Russian citizens REUTERS Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Aleksei Morenets, who has been named as one of the four GRU officers PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Dutch Ministry of Defence/PA Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot A combo of a taxi bill and a map, with a ride from a street next to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, GRU, to Sheremyetevo airport in Moscow, found in possession of one of four GRU officers AP Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Yevgeny Serebryakov, an alleged Russian agent AFP/Getty Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry Dutch security services expel Russian spies over cyber plot Netherlands Defence Ministry She reportedly showed photos of young children who were hospitalised after being exposed to the Novichok nerve agent, the same one that poisoned the Skripals. She also showed photos of dead ducks that British officials said were killed by the sloppy work of Russian operatives during the poison attack, the New York Times reported. It seemed to work. Mr Trump was reportedly fixated on photos of the sick children and dead ducks, which prompted him to take on the tougher stance of expelling 60 Russian diplomats. President Donald Trumps personal lawyer on Monday urged the Treasury Department not to hand over Mr Trumps tax returns to House Democrats, warning that releasing the documents to lawmakers he accused of having a radical view of unchecked congressional power would turn the IRS into a political weapon. It was the second such letter written on behalf of Mr Trump since representative Richard Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, formally requested six years of the presidents personal and business tax returns earlier this month. Mr Neal on Saturday gave the IRS until April 23 to provide him with the tax returns after Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said last week that he could not meet an earlier deadline because he needed to study the lawfulness of the request. The fight over Mr Trumps tax returns is expected to turn into a protracted legal battle that will likely make its way to the Supreme Court. Mr Trump, who declined to provide his tax returns while running for president, continues to cite an ongoing audit as the reason he cannot release the documents, despite no rule or law that prevents him from doing so. Mr Neal used an obscure provision of the tax code to request the returns, which he said his committee needs in order to evaluate the policy of automatic audits of presidential tax returns. Mr Trump and his defenders argue that the request is being driven by politics and represents presidential harassment. Mr Neal argued in his letter Saturday that the administration has no authority to question how the committee would handle the information or the validity of its legislative purpose. Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty Mr Trumps lawyer, William Consovoy, said Monday that the legal rationale behind Mr Neals dismissal of the Treasury Departments concerns was wrong. The little known tax code provision employed by the Democrats in demanding Mr Trumps returns says that the IRS shall furnish the information. But Mr Consovoy, echoing an argument that Mr Trump administration officials have made privately, said that in this case the intent of the law is more important than the letter of the law. Congresss motives do matter under the Constitution, Mr Consovoy wrote, arguing that the request for Mr Trumps tax information does not serve any legislative purpose. The presidents lawyer, whose views have no direct bearing on the case, went on to cite Republican senators who have said Mr Neals request was not made in good faith. He noted that House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee concluded that a request for Mr Trumps tax returns was not a legitimate use of their oversight powers. Chairman Neals request is nothing more than an attempt to exercise constitutional authority that Congress does not possess, Mr Consovoy wrote. President Trump says Notre Dame cathedral 'might be greater than almost any museum in the world' Mr Neal has previously said that Mr Consovoys concerns lack merit. Mr Mnuchin, who as Treasury secretary oversees the IRS, is personally supervising the response to the request. While he has said that he will follow the law, he made clear to lawmakers last week that he believes releasing Mr Trumps tax returns would be a violation of privacy and would politicize the tax collection agency. Treasury Department lawyers conferred with White House lawyers before the request and Mr Mnuchin said that his staff is consulting with the Department of Justice. He did not say if he would comply with Mr Neals latest deadline. This isnt an issue just about the presidents tax returns and congressional oversight, Mr Mnuchin said on the Fox Business Network on Monday. This is an issue about protecting Americans. He added: I want to make sure that the IRS is not weaponized like it was in the Nixon administration, and you can imagine how dangerous it would be if the IRS was weaponized. The New York Times Mike Pompeo attacked a journalist for his supposed incredible lack of understanding about the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela during his trip through South America last week. The US secretary of state lambasted the Washington Posts John Hudson for asking the foreign minister of Peru about the potential implications surrounding severe sanctions against Nicolas Maduros government in Venezuela. Mr Hudson, who posted the exchange on Twitter, asked the foreign minister if his country might consider changing strategies and other diplomatic tactics including the potential to engage with the Maduro government if the sanctioning begins exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and creating more refugees in Peru. Mr Pompeo ridiculed the journalist immediately after the foreign minister responded during the joint press conference, accusing him of blaming the refugee crisis on recent US actions. Your question showed an incredible lack of understanding to have suggested that somehow the policies that Peru has taken or that the Lima Group has taken or that the United States has taken have driven these refugees, the secretary of state said. Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Show all 5 1 /5 Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators push a bus that was torched during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators are seen through the cracked windshield of a torched bus AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine A woman moves away from the flames of a burning bus AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine A bus that was torched during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators push away a bus that was torched during clashes AP The journalist was instead asking whether Perus stance in the region could increase the number of refugees not whether it already had. But Mr Pompeo seemed frustrated by the line of questioning, telling the journalist: You shouldnt ask questions like that. The secretary of state went on to note the responsibility for these refugees lies squarely with Nicolas Maduro, not any policies that any Democratic nation has taken with our deep intent to make lives better for the Venezuelan people". A hundred per cent of the refugee challenge that is faced by Peru and Columbia is the direct result of the Russians, the Cubans and Nicolas Maduro, he added. Tweeting a transcript of the exchange, Mr Hudson wrote: I asked Perus foreign minister what he might do if sanctions against Maduro start negatively impacting the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. Pompeo stepped in & said I shouldnt ask questions like that & accused me of blaming the crisis on the US. I didnt, but you decide. Tensions have risen in recent months after the US and many other nations recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the next interim president of Venezuela, demanding the immediate ousting of Mr Maduro, whose re-election has been called fraudulent by the international community. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events The US and other Democratic countries have spearheaded an effort to severely weaken the nations economy with restrictive sanctions, while Russia, China and several other nations have stood by the Maduro government. When Pete Buttigieg officially announced his presidential candidacy this weekend, he had already achieved something most candidates can only dream of. Just months ago, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana was a relatively unknown figure whose major accomplishment to present to American voters was the revitalization of a mid-sized city in the midwest. But, now, months into his first major foray into national politics, Mr Buttigieg has surged into third place in several key states against an impressive find of seasoned competitors, raised a startling amount of money, and has even forced the vice president of the United States to respond to his critiques. If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade, Mr Buttigieg said recently at an event in his home state of Indiana, a reference to the issue that has pit him against Mike Pence and brought him glowing headlines. And thats the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: that if youve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. 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 If elected, Mr Buttigieg would be the first openly gay president of the United States, and his husband Chasten would be Americas first first gentleman. But, at 37, Mr Buttigieg is also hoping to become the youngest president in American history, and the two term mayor has repeatedly framed his age as an asset for the job many of the issues facing the United States and the world, he says on the campaign trail, are ones his generation has and will shoulder more than the generations his presidential competition belong to. I take that long view because I have to, Mr Buttigieg said during his announcement on Sunday, referring to the perspective he has as the only millennial in the race. I come from that generation that grew up with school shootings as the norm, the generation that produced the bulk of the troops in the post-9/11 conflicts, the generation that is going to be on the business end of climate change for as long as we live. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Mr Buttigieg is graduate of Harvard and Oxford, where he attended Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. After graduation, Mr Buttigieg worked at the management strategy consulting firm McKinsey and Company, before later joining the US Navy Reserves as an intelligence officer in 2009. He ran for and became mayor of South Bend in 2011, and was later deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 on a 7-month deployment. His two terms as mayor of South Bend have been his top resume line, however, and he has sought to highlight that work on the campaign trail in numerous ways, including by choosing a former abandoned auto factory that was converted into office space during his tenure to launch his presidential ambitions this past weekend. The building highlighted a broader trend in the city, which was once ranked among the worst cities in decline and which has seen a resurgence in its downtown area (even if several recent studies have kept it in the lower echelons of cities to live in in the US). As for policies, Mr Buttigieg has remained somewhat vague, purposefully stating that he wants to focus on message and story at this point in his campaign, instead of on long and detailed policy papers. In spite of that lack of clarity or because of it Mr Buttigieg has seen considerable success on the campaign trail so far. At the end of the first three months of the year, he announced that he had received $7m in donations, a surprisingly high figure for a candidate who was little known three months prior. He as also surged in the polls, with at least one national survey showing him in third behind former vice president Joe Biden and senator Bernie Sanders. Other polls have shown him in third place in Iowa and New Hampshire, too, the two states that are first to vote in the presidential primary season next year. Indonesia heads to the polls on Wednesday in the largest single-day democratic election in the world, as voters face a choice for president between an everyman incumbent and his strongman ex-general challenger. President Joko Widodo is hoping for a repeat performance of the 2014 election in which he beat the same contender, former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, by a six percentage point margin. At the same time as the presidential election, voters will also be asked to choose from candidates for the countrys 560-seat national parliament, the People's Representative Council. With more than 192 million eligible voters and 245,000 candidates vying for selection, it makes for what experts have described as one of the most logistically challenging elections in human history. Who are the presidential candidates? Joko Widodo, more commonly known as Jokowi, is a former furniture salesman whose victory in 2014 was seen as finally breaking the hold on power of Indonesias deeply entrenched military and political elites. Mr Jokowi is seen as a progressive figure and has delivered a solid 5 per cent economic growth during his term in power, while launching major infrastructure projects including new ports, airports, toll roads and a first mass transit network for congested Jakarta. Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Show all 10 1 /10 Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers transport ballot boxes to Bonto Matinggi village, South Sulawesi AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Army and police guards guide the delivery of ballot boxes in remote East Java AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Election officials deliver ballot boxes to a remote village in Southern Aceh AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers deliver ballot boxes to Bandung in West Java amidst heavy flooding AP Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers deliver ballot boxes to villages outside the city of Bogor EPA Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Election officials load ballot boxes for delivery to a remote village in Southern Aceh AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers deliver ballot boxes to remote villages in Papua province AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers deliver ballot boxes by boat to remote villages in Papua province AFP/Getty Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Workers load ballot boxes onto a lorry in North Sumatra AP Delivering ballot boxes to Indonesia's hard to reach places Army and police guards guide the delivery of ballot boxes in remote East Java Reuters But he has received criticism for dropping a pledge to clamp down on human rights abuses, while at the same time being accused of opening up Indonesia to foreign - particularly Chinese - influence in the name of economic advancement. Mr Jokowi, a moderate Muslim, has struggled to bring on board the increasingly vocal hardline Islamic groups that hold some sway in the country. Though it has a secular constitution, Indonesias population is about 80 per cent Muslim, making it the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world. Prabowo Subianto is very much a part of the elite which voters were seen as rejecting in 2014. His father was a prominent economist and served in the cabinet of both the countrys long-reigning dictatorial leaders of the 20th century, Sukarno and Suharto. It was in the aftermath of Suhartos deposition as president that Mr Prabowo was dismissed from the military, after soldiers under his command kidnapped student activists, 13 of whom were never seen again. Mr Prabowo has cultivated a strongman image and ties with hardline Islamist groups in the hope of boosting his chances. He has stoked nationalist sentiment, mostly by suggesting Indonesia will break apart or fall under foreign control if it doesnt have a powerful figure at the helm. What are the polls saying? Most pollsters expect Mr Jokowi to return for a second term, although there are concerns that - as with the 2016 US election and the UKs vote to leave the EU, surveys may not be capturing the true state of affairs on the ground. Polls have been giving Mr Jokowi a double-digit lead, with a recent survey suggesting he might win by 20 percentage points. But there is anecdotal evidence that some Prabowo supporters are not declaring their real intentions, said Alexander Arifanto, a researcher at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Hard-line Islamic groups that were behind massive 2016 street protests against Jakarta's Jokowi-allied governor have campaigned effectively for Mr Prabowo for months, Arifanto said. And there is anecdotal evidence, he said, that some Prabowo supporters are not declaring their true voting intentions in surveys. [Prabowo] Subiantos campaign has had more zeal and spirit than Jokowi's side, he said, adding that the polls haven't been able to capture the grassroots dynamics. Incumbency is ultimately expected to play the biggest factor in voters decision. Mr Jokowi has emphasised his achievements so far - but there has been a drop in real income for nearly 40 million farmers, who account for a third of the labour force. Mr Jokowi, 57, is a manifestation of the new Indonesia, of the land of opportunity in which democratic opening has made it possible for anyone to come up to the top, said Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a politics expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "If Jokowi wins again, clearly that is a continued reaffirmation of that as well as an endorsement of his track record for the past five years," she said. How have their campaigns played out? Mr Jokowi and Mr Prabowo have chosen to spend their final days of campaigning in very telling ways. The incumbent, facing accusations of not being Muslim enough, travelled to Saudi Arabia over the weekend and met with King Salman, a popular figure among ordinary Indonesians. Dressed in white robes, Mr Jokowi also performed a minor pilgrimage to Mecca, and expressed his personal gratitude to the kingdom for allotting an additional 10,000 spaces for Indonesians to attend the annual haj. Meanwhile, Mr Prabowo - accused of having an explosive temper and presiding over human rights abuses - attended an exhibition of cat photos by a Dutch photographer. According to a statement from his campaign team, the 67-year-old presidential candidate giggled as he was presented with a portrait of his own cat Bobby, who has 36,000 followers on Instagram. Wow is this the photo of Bobby? It's very nice, Mr Prabowo apparently said, again according to the statement. When is the vote? Polling stations will open at 7am (10pm on Tuesday in GMT) in the east and close at 1pm (6am GMT) in the west. Nearly 350,000 police and military personnel, in addition to 1.6 million paramilitary officers, will fan out across the archipelago of 17,000 islands to safeguard the vote, alongside more than 10,000 people who have volunteered to crowd-source results posted at polling stations in a bid to reduce the opportunities for fraud. The opposition has already said it has uncovered data irregularities affecting millions on the electoral rolls and has vowed to take legal action if its complaints are not resolved. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events But the biggest issue of corruption in Indonesias politics, and one that wont be resolved in time for this election at least, is the matter of money-politics. The country is one of the worst offenders in South Asia, experts say, with the envelopes of cash commonly handed out to voters over the course of the six-month campaign amounting to huge figures. These expenses then lead to rampant corruption once candidates are in power, activists say, as the victors seek to recoup the money they and their backers paid out. The price of a successful run for one of the 560 national assembly seats is about 10 billion rupiah, or 540,000, according to the former deputy chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission. Exit polls will be issued about two hours after polling ends on Wednesday, followed by a series of unofficial quick counts, and the winning presidential candidate will likely be known by the end of the day. The General Election Commission will release the final official results in May. Additional reporting by agencies For us in Kosovo, we would like to see Britain in the European Union definitely the EU cannot be the same without Britain, says Hashim Thaci, the countrys president. We cannot continue to pretend that nothing has changed, nothing is happening, this is a very, very big thing. He stresses: Without Britain, the European Union will lose a lot of substance. It is not a good situation, for the EU or for us in Kosovo. The president was speaking about these troubled times from the viewpoint of his part of the continent. He is on a rocky road to ensuring that there is not a return to the Balkan wars a conflict of death, atrocities, mass rapes and ethnic cleansing. The violence shocked Europe, which thought such savage strife was stuff of the past. Now the former adversaries, Serbia and Kosovo, are being urged by the west to draw a line under a simmering feud that has threatened to reignite. The leaders of the two states Thaci and Aleksandar Vucic both viewed in the past as fiercely unbending nationalists, have held talks, most recently at the annual Munich Security Conference. Another round of negotiations is expected to be held in the near future. There is a general agreement from both sides that membership of the European Union is pivotal to achieving long-term peace and, in the case of Kosovo, joining Nato too. The circumstances we face in Kosovo, the only future, the only way forward, is membership of the European Union, there is no doubt about that, maintained Thaci during a visit to London. As Kosovo we will do all our duties, tasks, to deserve to be a Nato member and an EU member. We want eventually to see open borders within the EU, with Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, everywhere in the region. Regarding Nato, I think we are talking about a five to 10 year time frame, or perhaps even less, to join. Sitting in the breakfast room of a hotel in Kensington, Thaci looks relaxed and urbane in a white and blue checked shirt and jeans. He was in combat fatigues the first time I met him, 20 years ago, drained and pale after a difficult military operation by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which he led at the time. Britain will always remain a partner for Kosovo, whether it is a member or not. It was a key contributor to freedom and independence of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, president of Kosovo It was a time of ferocious fighting in Kosovo, and Nato bombing of Serbia, amid bitter recriminations between Russia and the west. Natos Kosovo Force (KFOR) headed by British Major General Mike Jackson, went into Kosovo, while Moscow sent in their own military contingent. Both sides were racing to secure the airport in the capital, Pristina, and the strategic advantage that went with it. There was a tense standoff, which I and other journalists witnessed in an evening of stormy rain, during which Jackson refused the order from his superior, the American General Wesley Clark, to block the runway to the Russians. Jacksons response is now part of the history of the conflict: I am not going to start the Third World War for you. Recommended Serbia threatens military action after Kosovo votes to create army Jackson had his way and a potentially incendiary confrontation was averted after the dispute reached the White House and Downing Street. They backed the British General over Clark, who was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (Saceur). The Russians landed their flights, their troops went on a few symbolic joint patrols with Nato troops, and then withdrew. General Sir Mike Jackson went on to become the head of the British Army. Thaci had dinner with Jackson a few evenings before our meeting. It was good to catch up and talk about old times but also whats going on now, he says. Britain will always remain a partner for Kosovo, whether it is a member or not. It was a key contributor to freedom and independence of Kosovo and we will always be grateful for this. The Balkan wars led to bitter divisions within Europe, with countries taking sides as Yugoslavia was dismembered: one example of the acrimony was that early German recognition of Croatian independence was widely portrayed as payback for the support given to Germany by the Ustashe during the Second World War. Sceptics have been saying that Trump would not care about the Balkans. In fact he has been very attentive, very supportive Hashim Thaci A number of EU member states Greece, Spain, Romania and Cyprus have yet to recognise Kosovar independence. Thaci says: There is disunity among some EU members on some things as we know, and there is disunity over Kosovo as well. International unity would really help with the dialogue we need to achieve an agreement (with Serbia). No doubt it would speed up the process. Donald Trump has, rather unexpectedly, taken an interest in the issue, urging both sides to continue negotiating. Sceptics have been saying that Trump would not care about the Balkans, says Thaci. In fact he has been very attentive, very supportive, but really he was following the policies of other presidents over Kosovo and the Balkans, Bush senior and junior, Clinton and Obama. Trump has sent two letters in two months, both to me and President Vucic of Serbia, with a very clear message to reach an agreement this year. While Thaci was leading the KLA in Kosovo, and Nato warplanes were over Serbia, Vucic was minister for information in the government of Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade, railing against what he saw as victimisation of the Serbs by the west. He was also consumed by what the regime saw as treachery within, bringing in the draconian Vucic law to muzzle opposition media. Vucic is now viewed as a man the west can do business with and has been credited with reforming Serbian politics. He is facing some internal opposition, but was seen, for a long time, as the power-broker in his country. He remains the most influential politician. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says Albanians 'didn't want to compromise' over Kosovo army I recall a dinner Vucic, then deputy prime minister, hosted six years ago in Belgrade for a small group of journalists on a day the Serbian government fell. He made a series of calls on his mobile phone in between courses, and, highly impressively in our view, had formed a new coalition administration by the end of the meal. Mr Vucic definitely has changed, mainly because he has gone through difficult times because of his own mistakes, says Thaci. The regime he belonged to once was evil, a regime that did a lot of harm not only to Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia, but even to Serbia itself. In 1998 and 99, Vucic and I were in opposition. We won, he lost. Nevertheless, he is a legitimate leader, in Kosovo and Serbia, leaders that were voted by the citizens. We have all changed in a positive way, weve had to evolve. Now we dont speak of war and conflict but speak of how to reach peace. There have been recent demonstrations in Serbia, and there is a danger they might scare Vucic away from reaching an agreement, but we hope not. Unfortunately, there will always be those who are opposed to peace. Vucic is a very difficult person to negotiate with, to have dialogue with. But I did not choose him as my counterpart, he didnt choose me as his own counterpart, its the reality of these two sovereign countries. Thaci faces his own problems. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutors Office, set up in the Hague in 2017, is investigating allegations of war crimes against a number of senior figures in the KLA, including the Kosovar president. Thaci insists he has nothing to fear. As always, we will not run away, we will not shy away, we will face it and I am convinced we will overcome it with dignity and integrity, he says. I am personally very proud that I was one of the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. There will always be voices that try to denigrate Kosovo or accuse Kosovo, smear Kosovo and me personally. But this doesnt mean that I have any hesitation on whats our way forward and how we should proceed forward. I believe in justice. What we should not allow to happen is for the history to be rewritten. Of course the biggest hurdle is the past. But I think now really is our turn to reach a peace agreement Hashim Thaci The Kosovar president accuses the international community of double standards: We still didnt even see trials, convictions for the genocide in Serbia carried out in Kosovo. And for us, it is a matter of concern, this silence of the international community towards these crimes. We have had as many as 15,000 civilians killed. Up to 20,000, its estimated, victims of sexual violence. There were around 200 massacres against civilians in Kosovo, all around Kosovo. International justice has failed to convict those responsible for these crimes. But Thaci is also very aware of the burden of history in the Balkans. Of course the biggest hurdle is the past, he says. But if we look now broadly at the region, in particular after the recent agreement between Macedonia and Greece, the main issue, I think now really is our turn, Kosovo and Serbia, to reach a peace agreement. After all, dialogue has no alternative. Its the only solution. He adds: Those of us who fought in the war need to think of a peaceful new future for the coming generations, that is important for us and for Europe. FAST Unloaders will be coming to Walmart stores in Lansing, Bedford Park, Orland Hills and Evergreen Park. The FAST system will be added to store backrooms to speed up the unloading process and allow store associates more time helping customers on the sales floor. Fifty stores will be getting the new technology this year. One of the most affecting scenes in cinema history comes at the end of the 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where Charles Laughton, playing the hunchback, reflects to a gargoyle on seeing Esmeralda leave with Gringoire: Why was I not made of stone like thee? That sense of permanence was denied to the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris on Monday, as the fire raged. It seemed as if, when the spire fell, that the very world was falling in. Parisians wept in the street; indeed, the world wept. To watch its devastation is excruciating, said the curators for The Met Cloisters in New York, finding the mot juste. It is deeply jarring to see an important historic building go up in flames. In 1992, Windsor Castle was one such calamity, but the scale of Notre Dame eclipses that. Not for nothing does this edifice attract more than 30,000 visitors daily. The western front is the absolute world-beater, the bucket-list photograph with those two 13th century towers framing that fateful spire a symphony of line, geometry and proportion rising from Parvis Notre Dame or place Jean-Paul II. Inside are the three rose windows; many fear the stained glass windows will melt. Behind are the 14th century flying buttresses, like muscles holding it from behind. The Architecture of the Notre Dame Show all 16 1 /16 The Architecture of the Notre Dame The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows a funerary monument to Archbishop Jean-Baptiste de Belloy at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame In this file photo taken on April 14, 2017 shows a priest wiping the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ- at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. - A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in sheer horror. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame interior columns, Paris. Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame Cathedral interior statue of Mary and baby Jesus Paris France Europe EU Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Stained glass depicting Sainte Genevieve's life, cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of Notre Dame, Paris, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior view of Notre Dame Paris France. Image shot 08/2008. Exact date unknown Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral with many stained glass windows and a hanging chandelier in Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame, Interior, Rose Window, Strasbourg, Alsace, Bas-Rhin Department, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Nave, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame France. Paris. Cathedral of Notre- Dame. Inside. Alamy Stock Photo Then there are the multifarious gargoyles, so hard at work in the various films and a magnificent cast of characters designed originally to ward off evil spirits but also, one suspects, to add a note of humour and high camp. As a visitor up in those vertiginous walkways, one could really start to commune with these spirits particularly the famous Styrga or Strix, the churchs most famous and sinister mascot with beak, wings and horns. Perhaps it helped to see off the threat to the cathedral by the Nazi invasion, when Parisians feared the stained glass would be destroyed. Some of those demons may now be consumed by the conflagration, just as others were razed by the French Revolution. Recommended Drone images show full horror of Notre Dame fire Then the cathedral was in massive disrepair and was even to be demolished, only to be saved by Napoleon who saw its potential as a great venue in which to be crowned emperor in 1804. Even by 1831, the edifice remained in disarray and its said that Victor Hugos book was partly written to motivate its restoration. Then the fanciful French Gothic revivalist Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc undertook a 25-year restoration including that spire, making it into the perfect Romantic-Gothic blend. It is praise indeed to point out that Notre Dame is the only cathedral in an animated Disney film. Its not just the building itself. Notre Dame occupies what has to be one of the most picturesque locations in the world on the Ile de la Cite in the river Seine, a medieval survival in a planned 19th century city. It is terrible that, despite being surrounded by water, this very situation has made it hard for the pompiers to access the blaze. As French president Emmanuel Macron lamented: Our lady of Paris is in flames. The theories will start to flood in. At Windsor, the fire started in banal fashion in the Queens Chapel when a curtain too close to a spotlight caught fire. Or perhaps the fire is a problem arising from the current 5m-plus renovation project. Lets hope that the Notre Dame fire has as innocent a cause. That there has recently been a spate of vandalism and arson in French churches doesnt bode well. But while we pray that the devastation is contained, we know that this eternal building will return. Oliver Bennett is the author of Amazing Architecture: A Spotters Guide (Lonely Planet 7.99) To many Christians, and Catholics in particular, the collapse of the spire of Notre Dame cathedral in those neon-bright traceries of flame would have had a shock-value commensurate with the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 2001. But wasnt something like this also felt by most people, religious or not, who witnessed the fire on their TV screens or handsets? What is it about some ancient churches and cathedrals that resonates in us in a way that most historic buildings dont and, in passing, humiliates our gurning, pouting, selfied reactions to so-called contemporary iconic architecture? We exist in what the great Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas describes as the violent surf of information. Since 2005, the volume of data has grown by a factor of more than 200, to roughly 40 zettabytes thats 21 zeros, incidentally. According to the International Data Corporation, less than 1 per cent of this digital ejaculate is analysed. And just as we begin to realise that we know virtually nothing about virtually everything, the Notre Dame fire startles us; and then its images mutate and offer an ironic insight. It seems that, in our horror vacui zeitgeist, we depend at some primal level on powerful symbols or presences that we expect to be both permanent and mysterious, rather than ephemeral and hi res. Notre Dame de Paris is a medieval cathedral, and its original structure was designed and built in the Gothic manner between 1163 and 1355. The spire and some other parts of the cathedral were rebuilt by the eminent Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in the mid-19th century. Notre Dame before and after Show all 19 1 /19 Notre Dame before and after Notre Dame before and after The cathedral with the spire standing tall (left) and (right) after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower after the fire AP Notre Dame before and after The heart and transept before and one day after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral before the fire Alamy Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The rose window in the cathedral before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after After the fire a hole has been exposed in the roof above the window Twitter Notre Dame before and after The cathedral from the Seine before and after Reuters Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral before the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The burning roof has left a hole in the nave Reuters Notre Dame before and after The nave after the fire was extinguished AP Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after A view from the Seine of the cathedral before and after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame during the fire shows the wooden roof burning and collapsing AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after Tourists gather near the cathedral and then seen afterwards Reuters Notre Dame before and after The spire of the cathedral is shown before and during the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after A scorched section of the exterior after the fire Reuters Part of our religious or secular fascination with great cathedrals and churches is to do with their often extraordinary atmospheres and perhaps particularly in Gothic architecture. Unlike earlier Romanesque churches, Gothic cathedrals create extraordinary qualities of light. The ex-chancellor of York Minster, Edward Norman, captures this ingredient perfectly when he speaks of the way the quest for bigger windows and more internal light produced structures that seemed to dematerialise: As the style developed, the amount of glass increased, the stone supporting structure became more slender, so that eventually the Gothic church became a kind of skeleton of stone. We get a sense of the almost hallucinatory impact of cathedral architecture in the brilliant opening passage of William Goldings 1964 novel, The Spire, set during the construction of a medieval cathedral. The most solid thing was the light, says the narrator, Jocelin. The fire broke out on Monday afternoon and quickly spread across the building, causing the famous spire to collapse (Getty Images) It smashed through the rows of windows in the south aisle, so that they exploded with colour, it slanted before him from right to left in an exact formation, to hit the bottom yard of the pillars on the north side of the nave. Everywhere, fine dust gave these rods and trunks of light the importance of a dimension. He blinked at them again, seeing, near at hand, how the individual grains of dust turned over each other, or bounced all together, like mayfly in a breath of wind. He saw how further away they drifted cloudily, coiled, or hung in a moment of pause, becoming, in the most distant rods and trunks, nothing but colour, honey-colour slashed across the body of the cathedral. Where the south transept lighted the crossways from a hundred and fifty foot of grisaille, the honey thickened in a pillar that lifted straight as Abels from the men working with crows at the pavement. William Goldings brilliantly poetic vision isnt fanciful. Dont most of us get some sense of this extra level of architectural and personal existence if we walk into, say, Ely cathedral, or gaze up at the spire of Salisbury cathedral? Our interest in cathedrals might be based on religious faith, or a profound interest in history or it might have no decodable basis whatsoever. The only constant is the effect of these remarkable buildings on our perceptions and imaginations. We might even recall the moment, in 2009, when the Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi, was struck in the face with a small metal replica of Milan Cathedral by a protester. Why did this seem both hilarious, yet also eerily and anciently meaningful? The awesomely facetious architecture of todays iconic buildings can never be as truly awesome as Notre Dame, or any great church. Why would you want to look down on London from the tumescent bulbous tip of Norman Fosters proposed 350 metre high Tulip Tower in the City of London when, not far from its proposed site, you could bask in the exquisite effects of light, shadow and form inside St Stephen Walbrook church, Christopher Wrens tiny 17th century masterpiece? Inside view of the cathedral, in 2012. Its original structure was designed and built in the Gothic manner between 1163 and 1355 (Reuters) The Tulip Tower is implicitly, and commercially, transient. St Stephen Walbrook seems implicitly permanent; which means that the fire at Notre Dame reminds us of something more than the near-ruination of an important physical or religious object. Our shock, to whatever degree, is to do with the sudden and gaping loss of something we assumed was permanent; it exposes a dramatic crack in deep historical time that we rarely think about. When the 13-ton Emmanuel Great Bell in the cathedrals south tower is rung, its vibrations speak of the past at a point, now, when even time has become a retail option. Odd, isnt it, how our watches are getting bigger and more fatuously elaborate in an age where, as the architect-provocateur Constant Nieuwenhuys predicted in 1956, people would be constantly travelling. There would be no need for them to return to their point of departure as this in any case would be transformed. I cant help wondering if someone watching the collapse of Notre Dames spire was checking the precise time on his 5,000 U-Boat Chimera 46 Carbon/Titanium watch, which has a personalised silver rotor with blue screws, and a flip-back winder-cover with U-BOAT stamped on it. Moving video shows crowd singing Ave Maria amid Notre Dame fire as sun goes down in Paris The burning of Notre Dame is tragic, but it confirms that truly great architecture and not just cathedrals have meanings that endure and that transcend their origins. Will the desperately iconic museums and art galleries built in the last 40 years still mean something in 50 or 100 years time? As Richard Rodriguez, the prescient American cultural commentator said of San Franciscos then brand-new Museum of Modern Art in 1995, buildings like these take on the status of a cathedral, our Chartres, our Notre Dame, our marble museum of the soul. The fire at Notre Dame resonates because the cathedral is beyond questions of status, and it is proof against the ephemeral coatings of breaking news. In his novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo wrote: The greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society; rather the offspring of a nations effort, than the inspired flash of a man of genius. French president Emmanuel Macron promised that Notre Dame will be renovated within five years and will be even better than before after the devastating fire that ravaged much of the building. Investigators have already begun assessing the damage and questioning people to try to establish what started the blaze that consumed the roof and spire of the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece. More then 600m (518m) has already been raised for rebuilding and restoration and the UK has said it stands ready to help. Firefighters battled for 14 hours to extinguish the flames, as onlookers feared the entire structure would be wrecked. But Parisians breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear the twin medieval bell towers had been spared and later when fire investigators revealed that most precious treasures have been saved. Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Show all 13 1 /13 Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Thesupermat/CC-BY-SA Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Getty Images/iStockphoto Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Rose windows Among the most famous architectural features of the Gothic masterpiece, the stained glass rose windows are treasured artworks. The three rose windows, which date back to the 13th century, adorn the north, south and west facades. There were hopes the windows had escaped being destroyed by the fire after firefighters stopped its spread. Photos the following morning suggested the circular window of the nave had remained intact. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Destroyed: Irreplaceable wooden roof Crowds of tourists and Parisians watched in horror as the spire and roof of Notre Dame cathedral came crashing down to the ground. EPA Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Descent from the Cross The cross and statue on Notre Dame's high altar - sculpted by Nicolas Coustou in 1723 - were believed to have survived in tact despite being surrounded by smoke and debris. Reuters Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Great Organ With nearly 8,000 pipes, some dating back to the 1700s, Notre Dame's master organ is one of the largest in the world. The monumental instrument, the largest in France, was fully restored in 2013 with each pipe cleaned. Paris' deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the instrument remained intact following the fire. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Bells Housed in the two western towers, Notre Dame's bells have rung out at key moments in France's history. Emmanuel, the largest bell, was lifted into the south tower in 1685 and weighs over 23 tonnes. The fire was prevented from spreading to the bell towers. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Crown of Thorns Believed to be a relic of the wreath of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, the object was stored in the cathedral's treasury. French King Louis IX brought the relic, which is contained in an elaborate gold case, to Paris in 1238. The Crown of Thorns was saved and has been taken into safekeeping. AP Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Tunic of Saint Louis The tunic allegedly worn by Saint Louis IX as he brought the Crown of Thorns to Paris was kept inside the cathedral. It has been saved. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Safe: Statues on the roof The week before the fire, religious statues set atop the cathedral were removed for the first time in over 100 years as part of the restoration project. A 100-metre-high crane lowered the copper statues representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists onto a lorry. AFP Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Destroyed: Spire Crowds of tourists and Parisians watched in horror as the spire and roof of Notre Dame cathedral came crashing down to the ground. EPA/I Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Unknown: Choir screen It is not known what happened to the detailed choir screen at Notre Dame cathedral. AFP/Getty Notre Dame fire: What was lost and what was saved Some of the artworks from Notre-Dame sheltered as the fire devastated the cathedral AFP/Getty They included the Crown of Thorns, a relic venerated by Christians and believed to have been worn by Jesus Christ, as well as the cathedrals 18th-century organ and a number of artworks. European Council president Donald Tusk called on the European Unions member countries to help, saying the site in central Paris is a symbol of what binds Europe together. The fire, which began on Monday evening, is thought to have been caused by an accident rather than arson, the Paris public prosecutor said. Architects warned repairs could take decades but in a televised address to the nation Mr Macron said: We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautifully, and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it. It is up to us to change this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project. Pope Francis and the Queen joined global expressions of sorrow for the cathedral. Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the Pontiff called Mr Macron and tweeted: During the exchange the Holy Father expressed his solidarity with the French people after the blaze that ravaged the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. (AP (AP) Notre Dame was undergoing restoration, having been damaged by earlier renovation efforts. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into what caused the fire would be long and complex. (Statista (Statista) Fifty investigators working on it would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedrals wooden-beam roof, where the flames first broke out, he said. A police official said investigators had already questioned nearly 30 people. Interior minister Christophe Castaner said the structure was now under permanent surveillance because it could still budge. It is up to us to change this disaster into an opportunity to come together Emmanuel Macron The hundreds of tons of scaffolding that had been around the spire have heightened the risk from more parts falling. Notre Dame is part of a Unesco world heritage site and the organisation has offered its expertise in renovations. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece also offered to send experts. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Frances richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, of luxury goods group LVMH, pledged 200m (173m) for reconstruction. Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, said they were giving 100m (86m) their company, Artemis, the holding company owning auction house Christies and main shareholder of Gucci. French companies Total and lOreal each pledged 100m. World leaders have responded to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire with sympathy and prayers for the city of Paris. Taking to Twitter, leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Theresa May have acknowledged the fire and its impact as it ravages the historical landmark, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Our Lady of Paris (Notre-Dame de Paris) in flames. Great emotion for the whole nation. Our thoughts go out to all Catholics and to the French people. Like all of my fellow citizens, I am sad to see this part of us burn tonight, the French president wrote in both French and English. Mr Trump also shared his sympathies over the destruction of the cathedral - and encouraged firefighters to act quickly. So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the US president wrote. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Notre Dame burns: in pictures Show all 45 1 /45 Notre Dame burns: in pictures Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 15 April 2019. A fire started in the late afternoon in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures This general view taken from Montparnasse Tower shows flames and smoke as they billow from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April, 2019. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People cry and pray as they look at flames burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Sparks and flames are seen through a destroyed stained glass window as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Montmartre in the east on 15 April, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures An onlooker uses a telescope to film the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A man watches the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burn, engulfed in flames, in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures The landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billow and flames burn from the roof of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch from a bridge as smoke billows from Notre Dame Cathedral during a fire in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burns in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke rises as people watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire PA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton extended her support to the country as well, writing on Twitter: My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purpose - to build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own. I wish France strength and shared purpose as they grieve and rebuild. As the fire continues, former US president Barack Obama posted a photo of his family visiting the cathedral and reminded people that it is in our nature to rebuild. Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost - but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can, he wrote. Ms May, from the UK Prime Minister Twitter account, said: My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral. Devastating moment Notre Dame cathedral spire topples over into bed of flames during huge fire The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was praying for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps as he expressed his condolences on Twitter, writing: Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone and France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ. On behalf of the Brazilians, I express deep regret at the terrible fire that plagues one of the greatest symbols of Christian and Western spirituality and culture, the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. In this gloomy moment, our prayers are with the French people, Brazilian president Jair M Bolsonaro tweeted. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Also among those sharing their heartbreak over the fire were celebrities, including Dua Lipa, Cher, Idris Elba, Ellie Goulding, and William Shatner, all of whom expressed their dismay and sadness over the destruction of the cathedral. A priest entered the burning Notre Dame cathedral with firefighters to help rescue relics including the Crown of Thorns. Jean-Marc Fournier, the chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, insisted on being allowed to access the Gothic building with firefighters on Monday. Once inside, he played a role in rescuing the Crown of Thorns, according to Philippe Goujon, mayor of Paris 15th district. The centuries-old relic is widely regarded as the churchs most precious treasure. It is made of reeds and gold and said to have been worn by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The Architecture of the Notre Dame Show all 16 1 /16 The Architecture of the Notre Dame The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows a funerary monument to Archbishop Jean-Baptiste de Belloy at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame In this file photo taken on April 14, 2017 shows a priest wiping the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ- at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. - A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in sheer horror. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame interior columns, Paris. Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame Cathedral interior statue of Mary and baby Jesus Paris France Europe EU Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Stained glass depicting Sainte Genevieve's life, cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of Notre Dame, Paris, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior view of Notre Dame Paris France. Image shot 08/2008. Exact date unknown Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral with many stained glass windows and a hanging chandelier in Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame, Interior, Rose Window, Strasbourg, Alsace, Bas-Rhin Department, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Nave, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame France. Paris. Cathedral of Notre- Dame. Inside. Alamy Stock Photo The relic was stored at the end of a nave in the cathedral and around 13m people visit Notre Dame each year to view it. Mr Fournier also helped to save the Blessed Sacrement, the items used during Mass, according to KTOTV. The priest had previously won acclaim after the November 2016 Bataclan attack, when he entered the venue, tended to the injured and said prayers for the dead. On Monday firefighters, police officers and some municipal employees formed a human chain at Notre Dame to rescue its treasures. They saved most of the cathedrals relics and artwork, including a tunic believed to have been worn by Louis IX of France in the 13th century. Firefighters worked through Monday night to secure the cathedrals structure and facade. The blaze destroyed the Gothic buildings roof and toppled its spire. But some works of art remain inside the church. Christophe Castaner, Frances interior minister, said state employees would need to wait 48 hours to enter the building and take care of the remaining artworks. Some are too big to be transferred safely out of the building but Mr Castaner said some risks remained to the cathedrals structure. He told reporters that the church was under permanent surveillance because it can still budge. We will be standing at Notre Dames bedside, he added. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Additional reporting by agencies The devastating fire that partially destroyed Paris Notre Dame cathedral and shocked the world has provoked widespread mourning and calls for answers. Official have been cautious about speculating on the cause of the fire, but Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said there is no evidence of arson. An investigation has been opened into involuntary destruction by fire after the cultural and historical landmarks spire and much of its roof were consumed in the blaze. Le Bras Freres, the company carrying out the cathedral's restoration, have said it will cooperate fully with the investigation and police have already begun questioning workers. All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures," Julien Le Bras, a representative for the firm, said. Notre Dame burns: in pictures Show all 45 1 /45 Notre Dame burns: in pictures Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 15 April 2019. A fire started in the late afternoon in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures This general view taken from Montparnasse Tower shows flames and smoke as they billow from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April, 2019. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People cry and pray as they look at flames burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Sparks and flames are seen through a destroyed stained glass window as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Montmartre in the east on 15 April, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures An onlooker uses a telescope to film the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A man watches the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burn, engulfed in flames, in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures The landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billow and flames burn from the roof of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch from a bridge as smoke billows from Notre Dame Cathedral during a fire in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burns in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke rises as people watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire PA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images This is what we know so far about the fire: How did the fire start? At 5.20 pm (UK time), calls was reportedly sent to emergency services referring to a fire in the attic of the cathedral. However, no fire was found after checks. Just before 6 pm, a second alarm was triggered with a fire found under the roof. The fire spread quickly across the roof and shortly before 7 pm, the cathedrals spire toppled. Early on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for the Paris fire service announced that the fire had been completely extinguished. The exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined. No-one was killed but a firefighter and two police officers were injured, according to officials. Jonathan Barnett, a fire safety expert, told The New York Times that once these massive timber structures start to burn, they almost never can be stopped. Other safety experts have noted that cathedrals like Notre Dame are particularly at risk of fires, due to large sections being made of flammable material which are often difficult to reach. The Notre Dame is also located on a small island, Ile de la Cite, in the centre of Paris. This could have made access more difficult for the 500 or so firefighters who tackled the blaze. Why were there renovations? The Notre Dame was undergoing a 5.2m renovation on the church's central spire at the time of the fire. (Statista) Renovations were announced after cracks began appearing in the cathedral's stone, raising concerns that the structure could become unstable. The cathedral's buttresses had been weakened by years of rain, snow and pollution, and officials worried the whole building was at risk of collapsing. What was damaged in the fire? The cathedrals structure, including its two front towers, has been mostly saved but two-thirds of its roof was destroyed in the fire. The central spire was also destroyed. Devastating moment Notre Dame cathedral spire topples over into bed of flames during huge fire However, the Notre Dames stained glass windows and church organ appear to have been left undamaged, according to officials from the cathedral. The most sacred artworks and artefacts stored in the building, including the Crown of Thorns, were largely salvaged and have now been transferred to the Louvre Museum. What is going to happen now? French president Emmanuel Macron announced last night that the Notre Dame would be rebuilt with an international fundraising campaign. Hundreds of millions of pounds have already been pledged. Billionaires Francois-Henri Pinault husband of Hollywood star Salma Hayek and Bernard Arnault have said they will give 100m (86m) and 200m (173m) respectively to fund the rebuild. However, the restoration process will take years. The cathedral required an estimated 130m for repairs before the fire and early estimates suggest it could take decades to return the Notre Dame to its former glory. Peter Fuessenich, the chief architect for Cologne cathedral in Germany, told broadcaster RTL: "It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired." Fundraising has already begun in the wake of the fire that engulfed Pariss Notre Dame, as the French president Emmanuel Macron invited the world to work together to rebuild the cathedral. The first images after dawn in Paris showed the extent of the damage wrought to the 800-year-old structure, with the roof and central spire completely gone but much of the central scaffolding still in place. The citys fire chief said late on Monday that the blaze had been brought under control and the stone facade of the building was saved, thanks to the efforts of 500 firefighters - one of whom was injured. No one was killed in the fire. Mr Macron said France would be looking beyond our borders for help to restore the masterpiece of Gothic architecture. In an emotional speech at the scene of the fire on Monday night, he said: I am solemnly telling you tonight: this cathedral will be rebuilt by all of us together. Notre Dame burns: in pictures Show all 45 1 /45 Notre Dame burns: in pictures Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 15 April 2019. A fire started in the late afternoon in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures This general view taken from Montparnasse Tower shows flames and smoke as they billow from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April, 2019. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People cry and pray as they look at flames burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Sparks and flames are seen through a destroyed stained glass window as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Montmartre in the east on 15 April, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures An onlooker uses a telescope to film the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A man watches the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burn, engulfed in flames, in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures The landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billow and flames burn from the roof of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch from a bridge as smoke billows from Notre Dame Cathedral during a fire in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burns in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke rises as people watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire PA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Describing Notre Dame as our history and the epicentre of our lives, he added: It's probably part of France's destiny and it will be our project for the years to come. That's what the French expect, because it's what our history deserves, he said. He called the fire a terrible tragedy. Some high-profile pledges have already been made. French billionaires Francois-Henri Pinault and his father, Francois, said they would be giving more than 100m (86m) to help with the complete reconstruction of what was lost. Francois-Henri is chairman and CEO of the Kering group which owns the Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion brands, president of the company that owns the Christies auction house, and is married to the actress Salma Hayek. Japan's government expressed sympathy with France early on Tuesday and said it would consider sending support to the French government. Its damage is a loss to the world and our hearts ache, said Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary. Firefighters (L and R) continue work to extinguish the fire at Notre Dame in Paris as dawn breaks on 16 April (AFP/Getty Images) Firefighters assess the damage to the centre of the structure where, until yesterday afternoon, the cathedral's main spire stood (PA) While the French government is yet to give details of the international fundraising scheme promised by Mr Macron, an appeal has been launched by the charity Fondation du Patrimoine, a private organisation working to protect French cultural and natural heritage. The charity issued a call for donations to help rebuild Our Lady of Paris, Notre-Dame cathedral after what it called the brutal fire. Speaking to the AFP, the foundation said no fees would be charged on donations at its website. The US-based French Heritage Society said it too was establishing a restoration fund. A page has been set up on its website to receive donations, saying: The hearts of all of us go out to the city of Paris and all of France in the wake of the terrible fire. A number of unofficial fundraisers have sprung up on websites such as gofundme and JustGiving, and while no individual appeal has yet taken off, collectively they have raised thousands of pounds. Meanwhile, French fire officials said it would take several days to completely extinguish all remaining pockets of fire, dampen down hotspots and secure the world-famous edifice. Attention is beginning to turn to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored, to fall victim to such a disaster. The Paris prosecutors' office said police will carry out an investigation into "involuntary destruction caused by fire", indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident for now. Arson, including possible terror-related motives, was earlier ruled out. The first harrowing images from within the fire-ravaged cathedral began to emerge as firefighters brought the blaze under control. A smouldering pile of what appeared to be the charred remains of the roof and spire lay smoking in front of the altar, while a cross that had escaped destruction glowed from within the gloom. Gilded candlesticks, artworks and furnishings were among the treasures seen being rushed from the cathedral by a "human chain" before being bundled into trucks by police officers. Some of the cathedral's most precious objects, including a relic purported to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, were whisked away to a secure facility. Franck Riester, the French culture minister, tweeted that "Major parts of the treasure NotreDame are now safe at the Paris City Hall". Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo added: "The Crown of thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place." Despite fire racing through Notre Dame's roof, firefighters were able to prevent the blaze consuming the cathedral's main structure, including its two bell towers. There were hopes that the three famous rose windows, which date back to the 13th century, avoided catastrophic damage, while the bells that have rung out at key moments in France's history were thought to be safe. The Paris prosecutors office is treating the Notre Dame fire as an accident and has ruled out arson and terror-related motives. Paris police department will now investigate any involuntary destruction caused by fire, a spokesperson said. The news came as Emmanuel Macron, the French president, pledged to rebuild the iconic cathedral and said he would seek international help to do so. Notre Dame continued to burn behind Mr Macron as he spoke late on Monday. The worse has been avoided although the battle is not yet totally won, he said. The Architecture of the Notre Dame Show all 16 1 /16 The Architecture of the Notre Dame The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows a funerary monument to Archbishop Jean-Baptiste de Belloy at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame In this file photo taken on April 14, 2017 shows a priest wiping the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ- at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. - A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in sheer horror. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame interior columns, Paris. Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame Cathedral interior statue of Mary and baby Jesus Paris France Europe EU Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Stained glass depicting Sainte Genevieve's life, cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of Notre Dame, Paris, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior view of Notre Dame Paris France. Image shot 08/2008. Exact date unknown Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral with many stained glass windows and a hanging chandelier in Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame, Interior, Rose Window, Strasbourg, Alsace, Bas-Rhin Department, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Nave, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame France. Paris. Cathedral of Notre- Dame. Inside. Alamy Stock Photo Notre-Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives. Notre-Dame is burning, and I know the sadness, and this tremor felt by so many fellow French people. But tonight, Id like to speak of hope too, The French president said a national fundraising campaign to restore the cathedral would be launched on Tuesday. He called on the worlds greatest talents to help with the effort. Lets be proud, because we built this cathedral more than 800 years ago, weve built it and, throughout the centuries, let it grow and improved it. So I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together, he said. Mr Macron also praised the courage of firefighters who worked through Monday night, trying to save the landmark. The fire began on Monday evening, with first reports emerging of smoke in the cathedral shortly before 6pm. Visitors were evacuated and the Paris Fire Brigade began to fight flames which had emerged from the cathedrals roof. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Notre Dames spire has collapsed in flames but firefighters are optimistic that its two iconic towers have been saved. Additional reporting by agencies The inferno that has engulfed the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris has been seized upon by far right provocateurs to spread anti-Muslim hate and conspiracies, even as officials said they have ruled out arson as the cause. Even before the blaze brought the centuries-old steeple and roof crashing to the earth on Monday, conspiracy-minded conservatives on Twitter began declaring the cause to be terrorism and using the world-renowned landmark as a symbol to push western Christian rhetoric. The comments online came as authorities in Paris ruled out any terror-related motives as the cause of the blaze, as firefighters continued to battle the fire that was expected to burn the entire church to the ground, leaving just the stone walls behind. "If the Nortre [sic] Dame fire serves to spur the White man into actionto sieze [sic] power in his countries, in Europe, in the worldthen it will have served a glorious purpose and we will one day bless this catastrophe," wrote Richard Spencer, an alt-right commentator. As mourners gathered in Paris singing hymns, Jack Posobiec an alt-right troll and conspiracy theorist likened the flames to a 9/11 attack for Catholics, in spite of a lack of evidence that the blaze was set intentionally, let alone as an attack on Catholicism. Notre Dame burns: in pictures Show all 45 1 /45 Notre Dame burns: in pictures Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, 15 April 2019. A fire started in the late afternoon in one of the most visited monuments of the French capital. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures This general view taken from Montparnasse Tower shows flames and smoke as they billow from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 15 April, 2019. AFP/Getty Notre Dame burns: in pictures People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in the French capital. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People cry and pray as they look at flames burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. EPA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Sparks and flames are seen through a destroyed stained glass window as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral on fire as seen from Montmartre in the east on 15 April, 2019 in Paris, France. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures An onlooker uses a telescope to film the fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A man watches the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burn, engulfed in flames, in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures The landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral is engulfed by flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billow and flames burn from the roof of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch from a bridge as smoke billows from Notre Dame Cathedral during a fire in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Bystanders look on as flames and smoke billow from Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burns in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. AP Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. - A major fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky, the fire service said. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year, where renovations are currently underway. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures People watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke rises as people watch the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral burning in central Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky. The flames and smoke plumed from the spire and roof of the gothic cathedral, visited by millions of people a year. A spokesman for the cathedral told AFP that the wooden structure supporting the roof was being gutted by the blaze. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said.Images posted on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke billowing above the roof of the gothic cathedral, the most visited historic monument in Europe. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out, in Paris, France REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019. REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work, in Paris, France, April 11, 2019 REUTERS Notre Dame burns: in pictures Handout photo taken with permission from the twitter feed of @slopezserra of smoke pouring from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which is on fire PA Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Smokes ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019 afternoon, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame burns: in pictures Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A fire broke out at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, potentially involving renovation works being carried out at the site, the fire service said. AFP/Getty Images Many Catholics are saying Notre Dame feels like 9/11 did. Of course they don't mean there is a literal comparison, but to many of us, the images of beloved icons engulfed in flames and falling draws the same visceral emotions of loss and anger, Mr Posobiec wrote. Paul Joseph Watson, an alt-right media personality known for his work on YouTube and with the conspiracy site InfoWars, followed suit by amplifying a tweet from French far-right troll Damien Rue, who posted a video appearing to show Facebook users with names commonly used by Muslims responding to video of the fire with laugh and smiley emojis. A brief summary of who is responding to the tragic Notre Dame fire with 'smiley faces' on Facebook. Appalling, Mr Watson wrote. The attempt to capitalise on these events by the likes of these individuals and others on Twitter with fewer followers, but potentially massive reach illustrates a common tactic used by far right provocateurs who use major news events to spread their messages of hate. Platforms like Twitter have become common grounds for internet trolls to spread disinformation, and tech companies have received frequent criticism in recent years for what has been frequently viewed as lacklustre attempts to address the problem. That perceived indifference was seen again on Monday, too, when a CNN executive noted that an imposter account for his news network had tweeted to say that CNN had confirmed the cause of the Notre Dame fire to be terrorism. Twitter, however, refused to take down the tweet. Get this: @Twitter says they wont take action against this account bc its bio says parody so the account has 48-hours to comply with the parody policy. Can someone please explain to Twitter how their platform works?!, wrote Matt Dornic, the vice president for communications and digital partnerships, wrote. Kashmiri farmer Yusuf Malik learned that his son Owais, a 22-year-old arts student and apple picker, had become an armed militant via a Facebook post. Days after Owais disappeared from his home in this picturesque valley below the Himalayan ranges, his picture appeared on the social network, posted by a user the family did not recognise. The short, thin, curly-haired young man in casual jeans and a T-shirt stared resolutely at the camera, both hands clutching an AK-47 rifle. In blood red font on the photo was scribbled his new allegiance: the Hizbul Mujahideen, or The Party of Warriors, the largest of the militant groups fighting to free the mostly-Muslim Kashmir from Indian rule. He was a responsible kid who cared about his studies, says Yusuf, 49, staring down at the carpeted floor of his brick home where he sat on a recent winter morning, clasping his folded hands inside his traditional pheran cloak. The family has not heard from Owais since. Owais is one of a rising number of local militants fighting for independence of Kashmir an insurgency being spread on social media amid Indias sustained, iron-fisted rule of the region. Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops and armed police are stationed in this lush region at the foot of the Himalayas. India and rival Pakistan have always disputed the area and in the past three decades, an uprising against New Delhis rule has killed nearly 50,000 civilians, militants and soldiers, by official count. Historically, that insurrection has largely been led by militants from Pakistan, who have infiltrated into the valley. But now, an increasing number of locally-born Kashmiris are picking up arms, according to Indian officials. About 400 local Kashmiris have been recruited by militants since the start of 2016, nearly double the number in the previous six years, according to government data. India says Pakistani groups continue to provide training and arms a claim Islamabad rejects. Just a month before Owais Malik showed up on Facebook, another young man, Adil Ahmad Dar, left his home in a nearby part of Kashmir to join a militant group. This February, his suicide attack on a paramilitary convoy killed 40 Indian policemen, and took India and Pakistan to the brink of war. After Dars attack, Indian security forces launched a major crackdown, searching Kashmiri homes and detaining hundreds of supporters, sympathisers and family members of those in armed groups. At least half a dozen gunbattles broke out between Indian police and militants. The families of Dar and other young militants, as well as some local leaders and political experts, say run-ins between locals and security forces are one of the main reasons for anger and radicalisation. After the recent crackdown, they expect more young people to take up arms. Indian paramilitary troopers next to closed shops during a one-day strike in Srinagar (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) Freedom, martyrs Outside the narrow lane that leads to the Malik family home in Kulgam in southern Kashmir, children walk to school past shuttered shopfronts and walls spray-painted with the word azadi, the local word for freedom. The graveyard at the end of the lane has an area for militants, who are remembered as martyrs. Dars family claims hed been radicalised in 2016 after being beaten up by Indian troops on his way back from school for pelting stones at them. Since then, he wanted to join the militants, says his father Ghulam Hassan Dar, a farmer. Indias home and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment on this story. In news conferences since the suicide bombing, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, Indias top military commander in Kashmir, has dismissed allegations of harassment and rights abuses by Indian troops as propaganda. He says the recent crackdown by security forces has resulted in the killing of the masterminds of the attack, and militant recruitment has dipped in recent months. In the past five years we have seen that the government of India has only spoken to Kashmiris through the barrel of the gun, thats it Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muslim spiritual leader Syed Ata Hasnain, a retired army general who has served in Kashmir for over 20 years, says the rise in homegrown fighters does not surprise him. Those who were born in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the conflict started, have now come of age, he says. This is a generation that has only seen the jackboot. The alienation of this generation is higher than the alienation of the previous generation. A 17th-century Mughal emperor called Kashmir paradise on earth. But violence has ebbed and flowed in the valley since the subcontinent was divided into predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan after independence from Britain in 1947. The question of Kashmir, Indias only Muslim-majority state, was never resolved, and it has been the catalyst for two wars and several violent clashes between the countries. Tensions have risen after prime minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in New Delhi in 2014. Modi promised a tougher approach to Pakistan and gave security forces the license to retaliate forcefully against the insurgency. An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard as Kashmiri residents pass during a shutdown (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) Cult following Around that time, many young Kashmiris started rallying around Burhan Wani, who had left home at the age of 15 to join the insurgency. Wani had a large following on social media, where he appeared in videos dressed in military fatigues and armed with an assault rifle, calling for an uprising against Indian rule. He and his brother were beaten by security forces when they were teenagers, his family told local media. Wani was 22 when he was killed by security forces in 2016 and thousands attended his funeral despite restrictions on the movement of people and traffic. The United Nations said in a report last year that in trying to quell mass protests in Kashmir since 2016, Indian security forces used excessive force that led to between 130 and 145 killings, according to civil society estimates. DNA testing to identify Kashmir's 'disappeared' Show all 3 1 /3 DNA testing to identify Kashmir's 'disappeared' DNA testing to identify Kashmir's 'disappeared' 650133.bin AFP/ GETTY IMAGES DNA testing to identify Kashmir's 'disappeared' 650135.bin AFP/ GETTY IMAGES DNA testing to identify Kashmir's 'disappeared' 650134.bin AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Thousands were injured, including around 700 who sustained eye injuries from the use of pellet guns by security forces, it said. Thousands of people had simply disappeared since the insurgency began, it said. The Indian government has rejected the report as false. Indian forces have long been accused of rights abuses and torture in custody in Kashmir, but officials routinely deny the charges. Instead, India points the finger at Pakistan. Officials say the rebellion in Kashmir is being funded and organised by Pakistan and if they cut off those resources, the insurgency will weaken and it can then focus on building Kashmirs economy. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which was the deadliest in the insurgency. Pakistan says it only provides moral support to the Kashmiri right to self-determination. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Muslim spiritual leader of Kashmir who is considered a moderate separatist, contests that India has true plans to engage politically with the people of Kashmir. In the past five years we have seen that the government of India has only spoken to Kashmiris through the barrel of the gun, thats it. There is no political approach, he says. Nobody is dying in Kashmir for lack of roads, electricity and water. Kashmiri protesters clash with Indian government forces in Srinagar on 19 March (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) Losing another son A few miles south of Owais Maliks home in Kulgam lives Masuma Begum, who says her son and brother had been called in to an army camp two days after the latest bombing and have been held since then. A military spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Behind the glass panes of a wall shelf above her were photos of a smiling young man, an assault rifle slung on his shoulder. Thats my other son, Tausif, Masuma Begum says. The 24-year-old had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in 2013 and been killed by the army the same year, she says. I dont want to lose another son. But Adams, the voice of Raceway Park from 1947 through 1989, was nearly at a loss for words after the ceremony at the junction of Atlantic Avenue and Parkway Drive now also Wayne Adams Way a couple of blocks from his Dolton home of 56 years. The fire that raged through Notre Dame has made us all look at this great cathedral differently. Theres no getting around it. If you have ever been to Paris, chances are youre furiously ransacking your memories, digging back into past sensations and worrying about what lies ahead. In 1914, months before the outbreak of a catastrophic war, Henri Matisse was doing the same. That year, the artist and his wife, Amelie, abandoned plans to go to Morocco and moved instead into a modest apartment with a view of Notre Dame, on the Quai Saint-Michel in Paris. Matisse was 44. He had lived in the same building, one floor up, for years, beginning in 1899. In fact, apart from seven years of family life, he had spent his whole adult life living with this same view over the River Seine towards Pariss most famous cathedral. Back then, at the turn of the century, he had painted Notre Dame in broken impressionist brushstrokes (thinking, perhaps, of Monets great paintings of the facade of Rouen Cathedral) and as a ghostly, mauve silhouette under a light blue sky. The Architecture of the Notre Dame Show all 16 1 /16 The Architecture of the Notre Dame The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows a funerary monument to Archbishop Jean-Baptiste de Belloy at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame This photograph taken on November 9, 2019, shows the choir screen at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. - Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists -- some crying, others offering prayers -- watched on in horror in central Paris on April 15, 2019, as flames engulfed the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted at 7:50 pm (1750 GMT) when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down into an inferno that has spread to the entire roof. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame In this file photo taken on April 14, 2017 shows a priest wiping the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ- at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. - A colossal fire swept through the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists watched on in sheer horror. AFP/Getty Images The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame interior columns, Paris. Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Notre Dame Cathedral interior statue of Mary and baby Jesus Paris France Europe EU Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame 14th Century Painted Wood Carvings of the life of Jesus on a Choir Screen inside Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Stained glass depicting Sainte Genevieve's life, cloister of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of Notre Dame, Paris, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior view of Notre Dame Paris France. Image shot 08/2008. Exact date unknown Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Interior of the Notre Dame Cathedral with many stained glass windows and a hanging chandelier in Paris France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame, Interior, Rose Window, Strasbourg, Alsace, Bas-Rhin Department, France Alamy Stock Photo The Architecture of the Notre Dame Nave, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Paris, France, Europe Alamy The Architecture of the Notre Dame France. Paris. Cathedral of Notre- Dame. Inside. Alamy Stock Photo No details in that one. It was a strangely casual way to treat so grand a building. Matisse was acting with the heretical nonchalance of a radical painter, yes, but also with the nonchalance of a lover, of someone who knows something intimately and can treat it as a given, a birthright, without a tourists self-conscious reverence. More than a decade later, the artist returned to the subject, with results that remain indelible and haunt the psyche on a day like today. A Glimpse of Notre-Dame in the Late Afternoon, Henri Mattisse, 1902 (Alamy) Matisse was happy to be back in a part of Paris he loved. His chronic insomnia had shown signs of abating. He wanted, wrote his biographer Hilary Spurling, to strip his life back to essentials. First, in oil paint so thin it reads as watercolor, he painted the same view, from the same position on the Quai Saint-Michel and with the same diagonal strip of the Seine cutting across the lower half of the canvas. Then, he did something so radical he didnt understand it himself. In fact, he refrained from exhibiting this second View of Notre-Dame, 1914, for 35 years, when his fears were confirmed. It was regarded as an unfinished sketch to which Matisse had unaccountably signed his name. Matisse had reduced the cathedral to a shell, a linear scaffolding. He drew and redrew this shell, as if teaching himself its basic structure. He left evidence of his erased lines as he put down new ones, as if the painting were less a picture than a palimpsest, piled up layers of memory and sensation. He then lightly smeared blue paint across not only the buildings facade, but also across the entire canvas. Apart from black, the only other colour he allowed was an oval-shaped patch of green, representing a tree or large bush in front of the cathedral. All over the canvas, but especially around the building, you can still see evidence of scratching and scraping and incising lines. Notre-Dame, Henri Matisse, 1914 (Alamy) Was it a painting of Notre Dame? Not exactly. But neither was it abstract. A painting, Matisse saw, was something, like memory itself, that was hard-won, boiled down, licked by fire. It needed to be built and rebuilt, and it was always changing in the minds of those who saw and loved it. Everything must be constructed, Matisse told collector Sarah Stein built up of parts that make a unit a human body like a cathedral. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events Above all, you could say, Matisse was attempting to represent in paint a process were all involved in now, as we contemplate a triumph of human faith, community, genius and sublime beauty that no longer exists as it did just yesterday. What was that process? The overflow of remembered sensations into present ones. In that overflow, surely, there is hope. Washington Post In celebration of World Art Day (15 April), here are the worlds best art cities both old and new. Cape Town, South Africa Cape Towns sunsets are also a thing of wonder (iStock) Africas modern art scene has flourished over the last five years, and nowhere is this more true than Cape Town. The city was already on connoisseurs radars due to its thriving gallery district, Woodstock, and the annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair (14-16 February 2020), the largest event of its kind in Africa. But the 2017 opening of the 100,000-square-foot Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art at the Waterfront transformed it into a real artistic heavyweight. Housed in the citys historic grain silo and designed by British architect Thomas Heatherwick, its the biggest public art space to open on the continent for more than a century, plus the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world. Current exhibitions include One Thousand Voices, a collection of audio testimonies of FGM survivors from around the world, and Five Bhobh Painting At the End of an Era, an exhibition of contemporary pieces from Zimbabwean artists. Hotel to book: The Stock Exchange is conveniently located in the arty Woodstock neighbourhood, offering bright, trendy apartments and an on-site pool and gym. Amsterdam, the Netherlands The Dutch Golden Age birthed a slew of talent and theres no better city to get up close and personal with the masters than Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum alone boasts a collection of more than 2,000 18th-century paintings by artists including Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. Indulge your inner Rembrandt fangirl/boy further at the Rembrandt House Museum, where you can visit the studio in which the artist created many of his most famous works and see his living quarters. Meanwhile, the Hermitage displays rotating selections of works and artefacts from the Hermitage collection in Russia, plus hosts special events such as art talks; the Van Gogh Museum tracks the beloved artists journey from his early work to the sunflowers; and the Stedelijk is the largest Dutch museum dedicated to contemporary art and design. Hotel to book: For a stay with a difference, check into SWEETS hotel 28 bridge houses that have been transformed into independent hotel suites on Amsterdams canals. Mexico City, Mexico Mexico Citys Palacio de Bellas Artes (Getty/iStockphoto) (Getty Images/iStockphoto) An artsy stay in Mexico City wouldnt be complete without a visit to Casa Azul, the blue house in the Coyoacan neighbourhood that Frida Kahlo shared with her husband, muralist Diego Rivera. Its peppered with traditional earthen pottery, Kahlos brightly decorated plaster corset that she had to wear following multiple surgeries, and her death mask, which sits on top of her four-poster bed. Head to the southern suburb of Xochimilco to La Noria, the former home of a wealthy businesswoman and patron of the arts thats been converted into a museum housing the largest single collection of both Rivera and Kahlos work. Come for the Frida Kahlo, stay for the citys 150 museums: theres a thriving contemporary art scene typified by two annual art fairs, Zona Maco and Material Art Fair. Be sure to head Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, which is hosting an Ai Weiwei exhibition until 6 October 2019. Hotel to book: Hotel Carlota near the lively Roma district channels urban cool and is full of Mexican artworks. Bristol, UK Bristol, a great place for wannabe graffiti artists (iStock) Starting place of Banksy, Bristol packs a street art punch that the city takes full advantage of. Works include: The Grim Reaper; Mild Mild West; The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum; and Well-Hung Lover. There are a number of graffiti walking tours, and even a Banksy Trail app so you can guide yourself around the more iconic spots. Theres also the option to get stuck in yourself, with Graft and Where the Wall both offering street art workshops to wannabe taggers. Prefer your art indoors? The second floor of the Bristol Museum and Art gallery is dedicated to works from Bellini, Cranach, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Bomberg and Hepworth. Hotel to book: New urban resort, the Village Hotel Club Bristol, opened last year, offering cool and colourful design, a virtual concierge, flexible work space and start-of-the-art gym. Vienna, Austria Vienna is not short of classic works of art (Getty) The home of Gustav Klimt, Adolf Loos and Egon Schiele, the Austrian capital has plentiful galleries to explore. Big-name Austrian artists are best viewed at Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier, which houses more than 5,000 pieces valued at 575m. If Klimt specifically does it for you, Belvedere Museum is home to the worlds largest collection of his work, the highlight being The Kiss. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien features fine art from the 16th and 17th centuries; MUMOK focuses on modern pieces and pop art. But for an edgier take on Viennas contemporary art, head for the Danube Canal, which has been transformed by an explosion of colourful street art over the past 15 years. Hotel to book: Hotel Altstadt is part hotel, part gallery, part museum, and even offers guided tours to provide design inspiration for guests. New York, US New Yorks wealth of galleries means youre never far from inspiration (Getty/iStockphoto) (Getty Images/iStockphoto) There are around 1,500 art galleries in Americas most swaggering city, including some seriously big-ticket ones: The Met, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Whitney Museum of American Art to name just three, each with world-famous pieces to their name. If you to do just one, make it MoMA: this autumn the gallery adds 40,000 square feet of extra gallery space, with the extension designed by the same architect responsible for the High Line. MoMAs fifth floor is where youll find Van Goghs The Starry Night, Mondrians Trafalgar Square, one of Monets Water Lillies and The Dream by Henri Rousseau. Also keep your eye out for Andy Warhols Gold Marilyn Monroe. Add to this smaller contemporary galleries in the edgy Lower East Side, gilded townhouse galleries in the Upper East Side or converted warehouses turned art hubs in Brooklyn. Plus, many of the worlds greatest contemporary artists have lived or worked in New York. Hotel to book: Plush luxury bolthole The Surrey is perfectly positioned for wandering up museum mile, plus it has a killer roof terrace. Tokyo, Japan The artistic side of Tokyo is worth exploring (Getty/iStockphoto) (Getty) Minimal, pared-back Japanese design has long been admired by those in the know, but its the citys artistic side that is increasingly worth a look. Theres the Mori Art Museum atop the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills, which alongside the rotating exhibitions of architecture and photography also comes with a smasher of a view across southern Tokyo, or the landmark National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. Then theres the immersive art of teamLab, the collective that was founded in Tokyo almost two decades ago. The group has a permanent exhibition in Tokyos Mori Building, as well as a Planets Tokyo, running until autumn 2020: expect to be engaged by flashing lights and swirls of colour. Hotel to book: The high-rise Ritz-Carlton Tokyo is walking distance from the Mori Art Museum. Paris, France The Paris Louvre by night (Getty) Where to start? Perhaps by figuring out which bit of the Louvre you want to visit. There are more than 35,000 pieces of art inside this landmark art gallery: if you spent a minute looking at each, all day every day, it would take more than two months to see them all. Best divide and conquer. Theres the Mona Lisa, but also soaring corridors filled with pieces from Da Vinci, Rafael and Titian. Or cross the Seine to find the vast Musee dOrsay, featuring modern(ish) European artwork in a former railway station. Paris also does new art too: in the west theres the Palais de Tokyo which is a riot of contemporary art; who can forget the industrial Pompidou Centre; or just wander around the so-hip-it-hurts 13th arrondissement to find brightly coloured murals. Those under 26 get free admission to Paris museums as long as the UK remains in the European Union. Hotel to book: Urban-chic Brach, in the 16th arrondissement, is a 1970s sorting office turned design hotel by Philippe Starck. Norwegian Air has told its female staff that they must carry a doctors note at all times if they want to wear flat shoes. The airline, which has been fiercely criticised, told its women employees that they must wear heels which are at least two centimetres tall in a 22-page dress code. Women are required to have a doctors note at all times and update it every six months if they want to wear flat shoes. Norways largest airline has been accused of being trapped in a Mad Men universe a reference to a popular US period drama which portrays the sexist and patriarchal attitudes of the 1960s. It is almost comical that we face these issues in 2019, Ingrid Hodnebo, a womens spokesperson for the countrys Socialist Left Party, told Norwegian newspaper VG. Airlines that went bust Show all 12 1 /12 Airlines that went bust Airlines that went bust Air Berlin Air Berlin, which operated flights to and from Berlin Tegel, went bankrupt in 2017 Getty Airlines that went bust Small Planet Lithuanian airline Small Planet filed for insolvency at the end of 2018 Igor Dvurekov Airlines that went bust Monarch Airlines The airline ceased operations in October 2017 AFP/Getty Airlines that went bust VLM Antwerp-based VLM went bankrupt in September 2018 Flo Weiss Airlines that went bust Germania German airline Germania filed for insolvency in February 2019 Getty Airlines that went bust Kingfisher Founded in 2005 ceased flying in October 2012 AFP/Getty Airlines that went bust Cobalt Cobalt, based in Larnaca, Cyprus, stopped flying in October 2018 Steve Lynes Airlines that went bust Mexicana An airline that had been in operation since 1921, went bust in August 2010. It was Mexico's largest airline AFP/Getty Airlines that went bust WOW Air Icelandic Wow Air ceased operation in March 2019 Getty Airlines that went bust Primera Primera, known for its cheap transatlantic fares, went bust in October 2018 Getty Airlines that went bust Transaero A privately-owened airline founded in Russia, 1990 lasted until October 2015 Getty Airlines that went bust Malev After 66 years, Hungary's national airline went stopped flying in 2012 AFP/Getty While the rest of society has moved on, Norwegian is stuck in the Mad Men universe from the 1950s and 60s. The document, obtained by the paper, tells female employees to wear eye makeup and light foundation, a tinted moisturiser, or powders. However, men are banned from wearing any makeup, unless it is to cover up acne or bruises. Women are only allowed to wear two rings per hand, and none on their thumbs, and all jewellery has to be made from gold or silver-coloured metal. No necklaces or jewellery with religious motifs are allowed. Uniform requirements are one thing, but to impose heels and makeup is going too far, the Norwegian Labour Partys womens spokesperson Anette Trettebergstuen said. The year 1950 rang and it wants its rulebook back. This is super embarrassing and they should have progressed further. Recommended Aer Lingus scraps makeup and skirts for female cabin crew Norwegian Air told The Independent its staff are allowed to wear flat shoes while in the cabin and the doctors note refers to female footwear when worn outside the aircraft cabin. A spokesperson for the airline said: Like all global airlines, Norwegian has a comprehensive set of uniform guidelines to ensure that our flying crew represent our brand in a smart and consistent manner. The guidelines were drafted with input from our pilot and cabin crew colleagues and have been well received, sharing many gender commonalities in addition to some specific male and female requirements. Last month, Aer Lingus announced it will not require female cabin crew to wear makeup or skirts anymore. The flag carrier airline of Ireland said it had made the decision in response to feedback sessions with staff across many departments. This came after Virgin Atlantic revealed makeup and skirts would cease to be mandatory for female staff days earlier. The airlines female flight attendants, famed for their red uniforms, will be given trousers as standard, instead of having to specially request them. UK visitors to Sri Lanka can get a free visa from 1 May 2019. The South Asian country is rolling out free visas on arrival for citizens of 36 countries in total. The scheme will initially run for six months, but could continue if the move significantly boosts tourist numbers. A 30-day double-entry visa for British tourists currently costs 27. Before the new rules come into play, visitors can only get a free transit visa if they pass through Sri Lanka and stay for no more than two days. The top 10 most powerful passports Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 most powerful passports The top 10 most powerful passports 10. Hungary, Czech Republic, Iceland (Visa-free access to 167 countries) Henley & Partners' Visa Restrictions Index, released on 24 February 2016, ranked 199 countries according to the travel freedom each offers its citizens out of a possible 218 countries, using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). According to the index, the IATA holds the largest database of travel information. Nationalities were awarded points based on the number of other countries their citizens could travel to without a visa, as of 1st of January The top 10 most powerful passports 9. Malta Visa-free access to 168 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 8. Australia Visa-free access to 169 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 7. Greece, New Zealand Visa-free access to 171 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 6. Canada, Ireland (Republic of), Korea (Republic of, South), Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland Visa-free access to 172 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 5. Austria, Japan, Singapore Visa-free access to 173 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 4.Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, United States Visa-free access to 174 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 3. Finland, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom Visa-free access to 175 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 2. Sweden Visa-free access to 176 countries The top 10 most powerful passports 1. Germany Visa-free access to 177 countries In addition to the UK, citizens from the 27 other EU countries, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea will also be eligible for a free visa upon arrival at Sri Lankas Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. Sri Lanka has already enjoyed a tourism boost over the last decade, with visitor numbers jumping from 448,000 in 2009 to more than 2.1 million in 2017. The Sri Lankan government aims to double this figure by next year. Recommended How to spend the weekend in Sri Lanka However, there is an annual lull from May to August during Yala monsoon season the hope is that the introduction of free visas may help to combat this. We will start granting a free visa period for six months from 1 May 2019 for some selected countries during our off-peak period, said the Sri Lankas minister of tourism development, John Amaratunga. In the next phase of this programme, we plan to set up a permanent system at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to issue visas on arrival, as is the practice in many countries. This will be a major step forward in attracting more visitors this year. He added that he hoped to extend the free visa scheme to Chinese tourists and citizens of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan. So, last week Theresa May agreed another new Brexit date with EU leaders. It delays the UKs departure until 31 October. Whether or not this proves to be a trick or treat for the prime minister is unclear. The reality is that even if this flextension is enough for May to get MPs to finally back her withdrawal agreement, the PMs biggest challenge is yet to come and her Brexit nightmare could continue long after Halloween has passed. Unfortunately for May, overturning historic defeats on withdrawal by breaking parliaments current deadlock is possibly the easy part. May must ultimately win support for an EU withdrawal agreement implementation bill that has not yet been seen by MPs. This legislation is required to implement the terms of withdrawal. If it isnt passed, no Brexit happens even if May can finally get support for the deal that we know about. Angry disagreement over whether to support a customs union or the Irish backstop pale in comparison with what is understood to be in the implementation bill. Brexit culture: film posters reimagined Show all 5 1 /5 Brexit culture: film posters reimagined Brexit culture: film posters reimagined The Hunchback of Notre Dame with a Brexit spin Jeff Moore / Rooftop Film Club Brexit culture: film posters reimagined Les Miserables reimagined Jeff Moore / Rooftop Film Club Brexit culture: film posters reimagined A Room with a View of Britain's future Jeff Moore / Rooftop Film Club Brexit culture: film posters reimagined Roman Holiday relocated Jeff Moore / Rooftop Film Club Brexit culture: film posters reimagined The Sound of Music reimagined Jeff Moore / Rooftop Film Club For one thing it would formally approve the 39bn divorce bill, which could still rise depending on how long Britain is stuck in a transition period agreeing a new trade agreement still to follow. This figure is likely to come under intense scrutiny by friends and foes of Brexit alike. Whats more, if we are to have a transition period after we initially leave the EU, parliament must legislate for the temporary supremacy of EU law during the entirety of this process. According to the withdrawal agreement, this process could continue potentially far beyond 2020 as originally agreed between May and the EU, it could run until 31 December 2099. It is non-negotiable insofar as we would be bound by EU law during that period it is contained in the implementation bill too. This leaves May sitting on a ticking political time bomb whose flames could turn her plans for Brexit to ash. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events It is far from clear she can get MPs to eventually support her deal, but even if she could, imagine the enormity of the task she faces next. In order to make good on promises made in a referendum to take back control from EU, MPs must vote to pay billions to the EU, entrench EU law into our legal system for possibly more than half a century and keep the UK under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. If the withdrawal agreement isnt too politically toxic for Mays pro-Brexit backbenchers, the required terms of implementing the agreement surely are. Yet both must be approved for Brexit to happen and before any talks over future trade deals can start. So what next for the prime minister? She might now want to stand down, call a snap election or consider holding a public vote. However, none of these options makes Brexit any easier to achieve. In fact, its never looked more unlikely and difficult. Thom Brooks is dean of Durham Law School and advised the Electoral Commission on the EU referendum Liberals are freaking out about sanctuary cities, said Twitter today, through the typed fingers of hundreds of Trump supporters. Trump got the entire Democrat party to admit sanctuary cities are dangerous, One America News host Jack Posobiec crowed. Act For America, a self-described grassroots national security organisation hoping to make America safe again, added that Democrats had said they want illegal immigrants in our sanctuary cities but responded with outrage when told by Trump, OK, here they come! This was a great move, said a Trump supporter whose tweets are still raking in the likes, and why Trump is a smart businessman. Call their bluff Well played, Mr President. Of course it plays well for Donald Trump to frame a liberal idea as hypocritical. They know that illegal immigrants are dangerous really, the argument goes. They just like to say they back open borders because they live in huge houses in gated communities and dont have to deal with wage depression, rising crime rates, and oversubscribed schools and hospitals. They want everyone else to deal with the repercussions of immigration so they can claim the moral high ground from their mansions in LA or their cushy apartments on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. All of this would be fantastic for the Republican Party especially its pro-Trump section if it were true. The actual truth is that immigration makes communities stronger, richer and better places to live. Sanctuary cities are safer than comparable cities without sanctuary policies; immigrants are less likely to offend than their US-born counterparts; and no one has ever been able to conclusively prove that immigrants depress wages in the jobs market, but Nobel Prize-winning economists from across the political spectrum have all agreed that the presence of immigrants is better for the economy overall. An easy way to prevent wage depression from happening is to institute a proper minimum wage or a living wage, of course, but Ivanka Trump doesnt think people want that. The economic policies which favour the rich and fail to build infrastructure or invest in public services belong to the right wing, not the left. I could say all of that until I was (liberally) blue in the face and not win over lifelong Republican voters; Ive accepted that already. But what I do find interesting is the way in which Trump marked out his base so explicitly with his on-again/off-again threats to release detained immigrants into sanctuary cities. After all, there are Republican voters in New York City, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco. There are certainly Republican voters in the state of California, about which the president tweeted over the weekend: We hereby demand that [illegal immigrants] be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the state of California, which is well known for its poor management & high taxes! At this point, Republicans living in sanctuary cities or even certain states known to be majority liberal have become Democrat by association for Donald Trump. He doesnt even want to try and win them over, much less engage with swing voters. He doesnt want to accept that they are part of the country he leads; they are, instead, dumping grounds for bad hombres, outside the boundaries he has decided to acknowledge. I think we can say with some certainty now that he has no plans to widen his appeal in 2020. 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 What we learnt in the past couple of days is that Donald Trump does not govern America; he presides over a fandom. High on retweets and rallies populated with thousands of bright red MAGA hats, hes decided that his America is his business and the rest of the country can be somebody elses. If youre not a paid-up member of his base, or you live somewhere where most of the people arent Trump enthusiasts, then thats your problem and you can deal with the consequences. This is exactly why Trump cant understand liberal thinking when it comes to migration. When youre addressing the issue of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict and hardship at your countrys border, your solution has to be a nationwide solution, and your belief system has to be based on a vision for America. You have to speak to people with varying opinions about how many people can enter, how they should be housed and supported, and where they should settle. You have to assume that every area should be treated fairly and equally, for the good of the country as a whole. You have to accept that the majority of voters have spoken, but governance has to be undertaken for the benefit of everyone. This is the antithesis of playing to a singular base as if they are your employees in a Trump-branded organisation. When youre reading from such different playbooks, how can you possibly go head-to-head in an election together? The problem is that Donald Trump isnt going to war with the Democratic Party or a specific Democrat candidate any longer; hes going to war with Americans themselves. Brand Trump versus Blue State America isnt going to be pretty to watch. And, if the president would think about it for a second, he might also realise it probably isnt going to work. The world watched in horror as one of the greatest symbols of civilisation burned. The cathedral of Notre Dame was a remarkable flowering of the Gothic style, with its high arched roofs and flying buttresses. It is a monument to the ambition, piety, technological advance and splendour of the high middle ages. One estimate suggests that building the cathedral absorbed about one-fifth of the economic resources of the Paris basin for a century and a half, 1100 to 1250. It was built to last forever, and it was heartbreaking to watch such ancient grandeur consumed by the flames. Despite many of us knowing that the spire was a 19th-century addition, it was still terrible to see it fall. Even as we know today that most of the structure has survived, along with most of the treasures within, the world joins Paris and France in mourning. The pain of witnessing the destruction must be a goad to us all and a reminder of our obligation to protect what we have inherited and to pass it on in good condition to those who come after us. Notre Dame before and after Show all 19 1 /19 Notre Dame before and after Notre Dame before and after The cathedral with the spire standing tall (left) and (right) after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower after the fire AP Notre Dame before and after The heart and transept before and one day after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral before the fire Alamy Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The rose window in the cathedral before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after After the fire a hole has been exposed in the roof above the window Twitter Notre Dame before and after The cathedral from the Seine before and after Reuters Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral before the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The burning roof has left a hole in the nave Reuters Notre Dame before and after The nave after the fire was extinguished AP Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after A view from the Seine of the cathedral before and after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame during the fire shows the wooden roof burning and collapsing AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after Tourists gather near the cathedral and then seen afterwards Reuters Notre Dame before and after The spire of the cathedral is shown before and during the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after A scorched section of the exterior after the fire Reuters For the British, our eyes are bound to turn first to Westminster Abbey, a similar building influenced by Notre Dames architecture, with the same spireless two towers at one end part of our common Norman French heritage. Fires in historic buildings are unfortunately common, said Ptolemy Dean, surveyor of the fabric at the abbey. In recent years, we British have had fires at York Minster (1984), Windsor Castle (1992) and the Glasgow School of Art (2014 and 2018). Mr Dean was confident in the abbeys precautions against fire, noting it has more stone and less wood than Notre Dame. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events But then we have to look across the road to the Houses of Parliament. Most of the Palace of Westminster is rather recent, built in the 19th century after another great fire in 1834. Modern as most of it is, it stands as a global symbol of democracy and the estate includes, in Westminster Hall, a monument as old and precious as Notre Dame. The hall was the largest in Europe when it was built in 1097, and yesterdays tragedy ought to induce a sense of urgency in making sure it is safe. The threat to it, paradoxically, comes from the later buildings around it: Charles Barrys palace in the Gothic revival style, completed in 1870. The Houses of Parliament have been due an expensive refurbishment for decades, but MPs have repeatedly put off making decisions that are bound to lead to accusations of spending money on themselves. As a result, the parliamentary estate has become, instead, a metaphor for the failures of our political leaders, with a sitting of the House of Commons suspended this month when rainwater started to cascade into the chamber. The estate is a known fire risk, and it is now high time our legislators decanted to temporary premises to allow the buildings to be made safe. After the terrible warning in Paris, MPs should delay this necessary preservation of our national heritage no longer. It seems the cruellest of ironies: an edifice constructed over the span of centuries, consumed by flames and streamed in real time to an audience of hundreds of millions. The fire at Notre Dame de Paris is out, with much of its treasures saved. The roof is gone but efforts are already underway to fundraise for its replacement, and steps being taken to prevent such a calamity from happening again. Now, perhaps, we can pause for a moment and consider just how essential cathedrals and historic parish churches, for that matter are in providing a space apart and a place of perspective in a distinctly unsettled world. First, there is the comfort and inspiration they give believers. It seems an odd comparison to make but cathedrals are built like a coral reef, layers of devotion and decoration laid down by successive generations. They are a reminder of the constancy and power of faith. Yet you dont need to be religious to appreciate and take in the healing power of a cathedral. Stepping in through the great doors can be a lesson in history, one that echoes with the trials and tribulations around us. Notre Dame before and after Show all 19 1 /19 Notre Dame before and after Notre Dame before and after The cathedral with the spire standing tall (left) and (right) after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after As viewed from the Montparnasse Tower after the fire AP Notre Dame before and after The heart and transept before and one day after the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral before the fire Alamy Notre Dame before and after The nave of the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The rose window in the cathedral before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after After the fire a hole has been exposed in the roof above the window Twitter Notre Dame before and after The cathedral from the Seine before and after Reuters Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral before the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after The burning roof has left a hole in the nave Reuters Notre Dame before and after The nave after the fire was extinguished AP Notre Dame before and after Inside the cathedral after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after A view from the Seine of the cathedral before and after the fire Reuters Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame before the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after An aerial shot of Notre Dame during the fire shows the wooden roof burning and collapsing AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after Tourists gather near the cathedral and then seen afterwards Reuters Notre Dame before and after The spire of the cathedral is shown before and during the fire AFP/Getty Notre Dame before and after A scorched section of the exterior after the fire Reuters Arriving with the Normans, cathedrals such as that in Norwich were built not only to honour God but as a show of force and supremacy over the conquered. Indeed, much of Norwich cathedrals stone was brought from Caen local materials, perhaps, not worthy. As time went on, and a new sort of English identity arose, the cathedral became a place of pilgrimage. The relics of saints, sometimes obtained in dubious circumstances, were a huge drawcard, creating an entire ecosystem of hoteliers, guides, trinket vendors and healers surrounding them. At St Albans Abbey there was introduced a strict system of guiding pilgrims by the shrine, ensuring a constant flow and thus more coin for the coffers. It was perhaps the opulence and wealth evident in these spaces that nearly caused their destruction as first the Reformation and then, a century later, the civil wars swept through Britain. Across the British Isles, windows were smashed (some by a distant ancestor, Im appalled to say), statues destroyed and magnificent wall paintings whitewashed over. It has only been in the past few centuries that many of these paintings such as those at Winchester Cathedral have been uncovered for our enjoyment. In subsequent centuries, a new sense of confidence and might emerged enabled, it must be said, by imperialistic ambitions and exploitation abroad. There is no greater example of this than the baroque splendour of St Pauls Cathedral, quite literally emerging from the ashes of a devastated London. In its gleaming interior, we see tomb after tomb honouring men travelling across the world to subjugate and conquer. Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events After many being refreshed by well-meaning restorers in the 19th century, cathedrals faced their greatest challenge during the years of the Second World War when Nazi bombs fell during successive bombing campaigns. Luckily, most of our cathedrals were saved. The stark exception, and the great reminder of the horrors of war, are the ruined remnants of Coventry Cathedral left so that we may remember. Through almost a millennia, our cathedrals and great parish churches have remained among us. Some are so familiar we barely notice them as we go about our daily business others, such as Canterbury or Lincoln, cant help but impress us with their size and beauty. The important thing is they are still there. Theyve weathered the storms of a turbulent past and still provide a focus for the community. They remained filled with reminders of lives, both joyful and tragic, that mirror our own. Now, more than ever, we need a reminder of the constant things in our lives, the spaces in our community that have remained open as places of worship, celebration and shelter for centuries. Something we cant help but look up from our phones to pause, and enjoy. Paris and Parisians will rebuild Notre Dame. They will restore their beloved church, and ensure that successive generations will be able to take comfort in it. For me, at least, that is an incredibly comforting thought. On a recent trip to Bolivia, while in the picturesque Lake Titicaca, I saw an indigenous child, no older than six years of age, looking after a white llama. He was quietly observing a group of Australian guys in their twenties who kept taking pictures with him. After a few photos, the child became uncomfortable as he kept covering his face, and when one of them attempted to go on top of the llama, the child shouted something in Aymara, clearly distressed. I confronted the group, asking how they would like it if an indigenous Bolivian man went to their home town and took pictures of Australian babies and children to post on the internet. Instead of reasoning, they got angry and, of course, kept clicking away. For the travellers, this child did not deserve the respect and consideration that they afford the children back home. He was a tourist attraction, providing them with the perfect image to brag about on their social media accounts. This encounter has only confirmed my view that western travellers should stop taking pictures of children in developing nations and posting them on their social media accounts. The fact that there are no laws stopping them from taking pictures of children in poverty-stricken nations, without permission, doesnt mean it is right to do so. It is quite hypocritical, considering they wouldnt do that in their own countries without the parents consent. We cant allow the double standards when it comes to photographing children. Celebrities can be the worst offenders when it comes to posting pictures of babies in third-world nations to show their fans that they are doing good work helping others. However, by doing this, they are perpetrating the white-saviour stereotype. This was in the news recently when Labour MP David Lammy criticised Stacey Dooley for posing with black children on Instagram for a recent trip for Comic Relief. Stacey Dooley criticised for 'white saviour complex' Comic Relief trip to Uganda Regardless of how pure the intentions are, there is no justification in uploading pictures of children and babies to promote a charity or organisation. What happened to doing things quietly? We can change the world without telling social media. It has been done since ancient times. Contrast this with photojournalism as a responsible example of how a picture can be worth a thousand words. Photojournalists are trained professionals whose work tells us what is happening in the world via photography, and there is nothing self-serving or promotional about what they do. The 2019 winner of the prestigious World Press Photo Award was a poignant photo taken near the US-Mexico border. A two-year-old girl was shown crying while the border police searched her mother. This picture touched the hearts of many the world over, and even made president Trump sign an executive order ending migrant family separations. The photojournalist did his work and effectively so. However, celebrities and western travellers are not photojournalists on assignments, and they must take responsibility for their own actions. In the west, if someone were to take random pictures of children, that person could be in trouble. The same principle should apply when westerners and their charitable organisations go to other countries too. For those who truly want to help children in war-torn nations, there are ways of doing this without showing photos of minors on social media. If your aim is to help them, you should want to protect them and this starts with protecting their privacy. For the tourist travelling the world thinking it is his or her oyster, its time to get a fine if caught photographing children without consent. Bring back memories of the landscape, food and culture, but leave the children alone. An Irishman has warned tourists heading to the Spanish island Tenerife to be vigilant after he was sprayed with a date rape drug and forced to empty his bank accounts. David Nelson (27) was on a break away with friends in March and has shared his "horrible experience" to help raise awareness about a dangerous drug known as "Devil's Breath". Mr Nelson, an engineer from Bray, Co Wicklow, who is currently working in Switzerland, was staying in Adeje and went out for drinks in the Playa de las Las Americias area on March 23. At the end of the night he lost the group and went to get a taxi back to his apartment when he was approached by a woman. Expand Close The incident happened in Playa de Las Americas / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The incident happened in Playa de Las Americas He claims she tried to seduce him and when he pushed her away, he was "sprayed in the face with a substance". "I was later informed by police it was the date rape drug 'Devil's Breath'," he told Independent.ie. "I remember very few things after being sprayed. My phone was taken, gold watch, bracelet, 600 from my wallet and I was then taken to a ATM and the girl proceeded to take what money she could from my Irish and Swiss bank accounts until the cards declined. This drug turns you into a zombie." The police report described the woman as being between 20 and 30 years old with curly hair. He said the police told him that tourists are regularly attacked with the drug scopolamine, more commonly known as Devil's Breath. The substance has been blamed for thousands of crimes in South America and has now become a problem in European countries. The United States's Overseas Security Advisory Council has issued many warnings about the drug, which it says can "disorient the victim and cause prolonged unconsciousness and serious medical problems". "I had never heard of this drug before as I'm sure many others haven't either," Mr Nelson said. "Even on the first night of my trip a man pursued me and was very persistent that me and my friend smell the weed that he was trying to sell. It wasn't until after what happened on me that I realise he may have been getting me to try inhale the smell that comes from Devil's Breath." The Department of Foreign Affairs says that while it doesn't comment on individual cases, it acknowledged Spanish authorities have warned of date rape drugs being used. "Don't inadvertently lower your alertness to these risks simply because you are on holiday," an advisory note on the DFA website reads. Meanwhile, a candlelight vigil was held over the weekend for another Irishman who was reported missing in Tenerfie in the same week that Mr Nelson was robbed. Dad-of-two Peter Wilson (32) was last seen on the Canary island on March 23. He travelled there from Dublin Airport on March 22 and was staying in the Malibu Park Hotel. His family and friends have appealed on social media for anyone who may have seen him to get in contact. He is believed to have been in the Costa Adeje and Playa de las Americas areas. Expand Close Missing Irishman Peter Wilson / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Missing Irishman Peter Wilson The 32-year-old is around 5ft 8'' in height, has hazel eyes, dark brown hair and distinctive tattoos of a clock and roses on his arm. "Please contact the police, in Tenerife or in Ireland, if you have any memory of seeing Peter from March 22nd onward," the appeal on Facebook said. "Any sighting is important, your help is vital." A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs says it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance to the family. Tanaiste Simon Coveney and US House of representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi pictured at a reception in Iveagh House, Dublin. Photo: Gerry Mooney THE third most powerful politician in the United States has warned Donald Trump and the Brexiteers not to even think about a US-UK trade deal if there is any threat of a border in Ireland. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker in the House of Representatives, said a trade agreement that damages peace in Ireland just cant possibly happen. Addressing a small gathering in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ms Pelosi said the Good Friday Agreement is not just a peace agreement but something that resolved hundreds of years of conflict. She said America, including President Bill Clinton and former senator George Mitchell, had worked hard to ensure people on this island could live in harmony. This isnt for us an issue or an agreement. Its a value. Ms Pelosi, who regularly clashes with US President Donald Trump, went on to say that while speaking with UK politicians in recent days she made clear the position of the Democratic Party. Expand Close Tanaiste Simon Coveney and US House of representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi pictured at a reception in Iveagh House, Dublin. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tanaiste Simon Coveney and US House of representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi pictured at a reception in Iveagh House, Dublin. Photo: Gerry Mooney She said the UK people had voted to leave the EU and politicians must facilitate that. But she added: And as they work that out, not to think for one minutes that theres any comfort for them that if they leave the EU they will quickly have a US-UK trade agreement. Thats just not in the cards if there is any harm done to the Good Friday accords. Dont even think about it. Ms Pelosi said that US politicians were not taking sides. Were just holding to our values. Its an ideal that is a model for the world. Other place copy so that they can make peace and find common ground. Tanaiste Simon Coveney told the same lunch gathering that Ireland respects the UKs decision to leave the Uion. We have no desire to make life difficult for the UK, he said, adding that Ireland would be the strongest voice in the EU when it comes to support a close relationship in to the future. We want our nearest neighbours to thrive and to prosper. Mr Coveney said Britain will make its own decisions about the future but they don't have the right to determine ours. The fall in the pound since the Brexit referendum was not a major driver of foreign investment in Britain, it said. Photo: PA The United Kingdom has defied uncertainty over Brexit to land the number one spot in a ranking of how attractive countries are for business investors over the coming year, according to a survey published yesterday. It overtook the United States, holder of the top spot since 2014, which was followed by Germany, China and France, according to advsiory firm EY which conducted the survey. "While the UK's position may surprise some, given current uncertainty, mergers and acquisitions activity during the period since the 2016 EU referendum has remained strong," EY said. Nearly three years after voters decided to take the country out of the European Union, the terms of Brexit remain unclear. The threat of a no-deal shock to the economy was averted, at least for the time being, when Prime Minister Theresa May last week secured a Brexit delay until October 31. British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday to try to reassure him that Brexit should not affect Japanese investments in the country which employ hundreds of thousands of workers. The EY survey showed China returned to the top five investment destinations despite concerns about its trade war with the US. The US was a top destination for nine of the 10 most active cross-border investors, including China, EY said. The fall in the pound since the Brexit referendum was not a major driver of foreign investment in Britain, it said. Reuters Figures from Bord Bia show that for the year to May 18 the total kill for steers, heifers, young bulls and cull cows is running 30,057hd ahead of the same period last year. A further Irish beef plant has now been approved by the Chinese authorities and listed by GACC, the Chinese General Administration of Customs, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has announced. The Minister said that the approval will mean that there are 12 Irish plants able to export to China- seven beef plants and five pigmeat plants. This announcement follows on from the beef market opening in 2018 and the six Irish beef plants that had already been approved for export. It comes in advance of the Ministerial Trade Mission to China in May. "The geographic spread of these plants, with knock on benefits to our farmers all across the country, is also notable. My focus is now on getting additional beef plants approved and I will also try to progress sheepmeat access to China as part of the Trade Mission there next month. The Minister said that the announcement is a testament to my Departments work in pursuing market access through technical, diplomatic and political channels. Increasing market opportunities for our exporters is a key component of the Food Wise 2025 strategy and our response to Brexit. This news follows the Department of Agriculture's announcement that it has agreed three updated health certificates with Egyptian authorities for live exports. In January this year, Minister of State at the Department of Trade, Pat Breen discussed the issue of animal health certificates with the Egyptian Deputy Minister for Agriculture. At the meeting, the Egyptian authorities indicated a willingness to consider amending existing health certificates and putting a new certificate for breeding stock in place. The Department of Agriculture's Chief Veterinary Officer wrote to his counterpart on January 18 with three proposed health certificates for the export of fattening, slaughter and breeding cattle with the aim of re-establishing live exports as soon as might be possible. It has now confirmed that the updated health certs have been agreed. A farmer who spoke out on how the delay in implementing the three-year cap on farm assets under the Fair Deal scheme may result in him having to sell his farm has said that the government is bleeding elderly people to death because they view them as a soft touch. Speaking at an IFA protest at the Department of Health in Dublin today drystock farmer Joe Carroll explained that he is facing selling his farm in Kilcormac, Co Offaly to pay for nursing home care for his wife Jane who has MS. He called on Minister for Older People Jim Daly to commit to the promise made last July to implement the three year cap and save farmers livelihoods from becoming unviable due to the cost of nursing home care. Expand Close Lifes work: Joe Carroll on his farm near Kilcormac, Co Offaly. Photo: Kyran O'Brien / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lifes work: Joe Carroll on his farm near Kilcormac, Co Offaly. Photo: Kyran O'Brien Expand Close Caroline ,IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chairwoman at the IFA Fair Deal protest at the Dept of Health in Baggot St . / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Caroline ,IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chairwoman at the IFA Fair Deal protest at the Dept of Health in Baggot St . Im overwhelmed by the turnout here today. I knew I wasnt alone. If the Minister is listening he needs to move the legislation on and take the stress out of it for people. I've been under tremendous stress but I try to stay positive and stick with it. It will happen but the financial stress it is hitting me terribly, he said. Huge finance has gone to the nursing home. It cant go on. We need to keep the pressure on. Why drag it out, it isnt fair, the government is bleeding us to death. There seems to be an idea with the government that it can use the old folk because we are a soft touch. IFA president Joe Healy stated that he said it is now nearly nine months since Cabinet approved the proposal to introduce a three-year cap on farms and small businesses assets, where a family successor commits to continue to farm the asset for a period of six years. He called on the government to live up to its commitment because farmers are living in fear that they will have to sell their farm to cover mounting nursing home fees. The money is running out for farmers in some cases and the fear and the threat of having to sell some or all of their land is causing huge stress on those farms and causing huge difficulties in relation to identifying a successor, said Mr Healy. No young person wants to be burdened with the level of debt that this puts around the farm. IFA Family Farm Chair Caroline Farrell added in the time since Cabinet approved the proposal, it has cost individual farm families an estimated 40,000 in nursing home costs and that IFA will keep fighting until the legislation gets over the finish line. Its an issue for all farmers, nobody knows then an illness could strike where we will need nursing home care. The delay is creating anxiety and uncertainty for farm families that the viability of their farm will be undermined with the cost of nursing home fees, explained Ms Farrell. This is a clear message that farm families want action and the turn out here today during a busy time on farms shows the frustration and the exasperation of the ongoing delay introducing these changes. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has moved to allay fears that the scheme is not going to run out of money. Mr Varadkar was replying to Dail questions from Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin, who said he knew one case where funding was approved for an elderly person. But six weeks later the money still had not materialised. It suggests, Taoiseach, that the allocation has already been used up, Mr Martin said. On Tuesday the Irish Independent reported that the HSE were acknowledging that demand for the elderly care fund scheme was significantly increased and at higher than expected levels. The HSE said they were monitoring the spending on a weekly basis. But the Taoiseach said that the fund had almost 1bn for 2019. I can assure you it has not been all used up, the Taoiseach told the Fianna Fail leader. Mr Varadkar said he could not comment on an individual case with which he was not familiar in detail. When Joe Carrolls wife was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis a few years ago, the family never thought they might have to sell their farm to pay nursing home bills. Today Joe is protesting outside the Department of Health with the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) to highlight what he says is a huge injustice to farmers in the Fair Deal nursing home scheme. Ive always paid my bills. More than that, when we had good years milking cows, I made sure to have some savings. They were to help my other two children, the ones not getting the farm. Now, the Offaly farmer says none of his children will be left with much as his life savings are whittling away as he pays thousands of euros every month in nursing home bills for his wife. Jane was diagnosed with MS in 2013 and Joe tried to look after her at home, but the burden got too much and four years ago the family made the decision she would be better off in a nursing home receiving full-time care. The home help offered amounted to a half hour, two or three mornings a week. It wasnt enough to do anything, according to Joe. Now Joe is paying over 20,000 a year in nursing homes fees and says his savings will soon be gone. Then we face a sign being put up outside the farm to pay the fees, he said. Under the Fair Deal Scheme the State can only claim 22.5pc of the value of the family home, under a three-year cap on the asset. However, farm families and small businesses owners face 7.5pc of the value of their land being used annually to pay nursing home fees. There is no cap on this, meaning an entire farm could have to be sold to pay the bills. Read More It had been expected that legislation would be changed in the last Budget, but farm families are still waiting. Unless legislation is changed soon to allow a three-year cap on farm assets, Joe says there may not be a farm to leave his son as promised. I was saving my whole life on the farm and for the family. There was not that much savings and it is just dwindling away and now there may be no farm left either. After surviving prostate cancer 13 years ago, Joe had to give up dairy farming and rely on a drystock income on the 70 acre farm outside Kilcormac. But this, he says, is not enough to pay all the bills. The stress on Joe over the years has seen his health deteriorate. He recently ended up in hospital after he felt tightness in his chest while checking his stock on the farm. I was out checking the bulls and the tightness in my chest meant I had to stop walking. After going to the doctor, he ended up in hospital getting a stent fitted and he faces a knee operation in a couple of weeks. Finance is terribly stressful but you have to be positive. I couldnt manage without the kindness of others the local vet, agri-merchants and contractors are always waiting to be paid. They know I have to keep the funds handy every month to pay the nursing home bills. Ive always been able to pay. Now Im dependent on the generosity of others, but that debt is always in the background. The Central Bank of Ireland is seeking approval from the Minister for Finance to be allowed to impose new rules that would enable it to force banks to hold more capital, Governor Philip Lane said on Tuesday. Speaking to students at University College Dublin, Lane also warned of the risks of running a loose budgetary policy at a time when the economy was getting close to its capacity limits. Expand Close Philip Lane / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Philip Lane The idea of adding another capital holding requirement for banks is likely to go down badly with the private sector as it will increase their costs and comes at a time when European bank profitability is much weaker than that in the United States for example. Our plan now is to examine the potential additional contribution of the systemic risk buffer in ensuring that the banking system would be resilient in the event of a structural shock to the Irish economy, Dr Lane said. Ireland was one of two European Union countries that did not impose such a measure in 2012. The measures are implemented in different across the EU, but the rates are set at 0.5-3.0pc of bank exposure and can target either domestic exposure or all exposure. The advantage of the systemic risk buffer is that extra capital would improve loss-absorbing capacity if a systemic risk event occurred. Furthermore, credit supply could be further protected by switching off the systemic risk buffer under such circumstances, Dr Lane said. Banks here already face strict rules on the amount of capital they must hold and the central bank has introduced tough mortgage rules to prevent a repeat of the lending bubble of the 2000s that led to the State bailing out the banks when the financial crisis hit. The way is now clear for Intel to get approval for its planned $4bn (3.53bn) facility at its Leixlip plant after it replied to all the queries that Kildare County Council had placed regarding its ambitious plan last month. In a sign of the urgency that Intel is attaching to its planning application, the US multinational took just seven days to issue its response to the various queries over the manufacturing fabrication (FAB) plan. This is in contrast to other applications for large industry where replies for further information can take months. However, even if the chip giant secures planning permission next month, the decision is open for third parties to appeal to An Bord Pleanala which would put a final decision back towards the final quarter of this year. Local farmer Thomas Reid has lodged an objection against the plan, the seventh Intel Leixlip application the farmer has objected to since 2012. The previous objections were brought before An Bord Pleanala by Mr Reid. The country's most high-profile planning activist, Peter Sweetman, has also lodged a submission on the plan. Mr Sweetman has previously declared "I am a Nimby (Not In My Back Yard) and Ireland is my back yard." In 2016, Intel secured planning permission for the first phase of its 'Fab' facility valued at $4bn. The new application, which is an extension of the original plan, represents an additional investment of $4bn. In total, the $8bn investment - which will employ 6,000 construction workers at peak and 1,600 full time jobs on completion - will represent the largest single private investment in the history of the State on one project if given the go-ahead by Intel globally. Consultants for Intel have told Kildare County Council that the firm has already invested $12.5bn its site at Leixlip and the firm is seeking a 10-year planning permission for its new application. The primary aspect of the council's further information request last month concerned an Eirgrid connection. The council asked Intel to set out the cumulative effects of the plan and a new 220k sub-station to provide the electricity for the proposal. However, in its further information response, Intel stressed that a new 220k sub-station is not required. Intel said the new plant will be powered via existing Intel site grid infrastructure until such time as the EirGrid project is implemented and connected to the entire Intel facility. Intel stressed that the EirGrid project is an improvement to an existing supply to facilitate secure and reliable supply to the Intel site and the wider community. On the concerns expressed by Mr Reid, of Hedsor House, Blakestown, Carton, Maynooth, and other third parties to the development, consultants for Intel said the information it has provided in the application shows "that the legitimate concerns of agencies and of our neighbours have been anticipated and comprehensively addressed in the application". 'Any concession to British threats would be enormously damaging to our fishing industry but also to the wider Irish national interest.' Stock image PROFITS at the main firm of fish distributor HJ Nolan increased by 81pc to 2.17m last year. New accounts show that HJ Nolan (Dublin) Ltd recorded the sharp increase in profits as the owners paid themselves a 750,000 dividend in the 12 months to the end of March last year. Last January the firm announced that it was merging with Co Mayo-based Carr & Sons Seafood Ltd. Separate accounts for Carr and Sons Seafood Ltd show that it is also profitable - its most recent accounts for 2017 show that its profits increased by 47pc to 313,650. At the end of December 2017, accumulated profits at Carr & Sons Seafood Ltd stood at 979,961 and the numbers it employed stood at 72. In a year of considerable change for the family-owned HJ Nolan, the directors said that since the end of the year, the business has taken the decision to sell the lands and building at its Dublin headquarters. Plans were lodged last October by NTM ROI Seed Capital LP with An Bord Pleanala for 289 units of student accommodation at the HJ Nolan site on Dublin's Rathdown Rd. In February, the appeals board gave the plan the go-ahead in spite of some local opposition concerned at the scale of student accommodation planned for the area. Nolans is still a family affair with George Nolan, the grandson of founder Harry James, its chairman. At the end of March 2018, the firm's accumulated profits totalled 5m. The company's shareholder funds totalled 5.4m, including 2.89m in cash. The profit at the company last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of 144,668. The numbers employed fell from 48 to 44. Pay to directors decreased from 329,225 to 278,156. Pay last year was made up of remuneration of 176,837 and pension contributions of 101,319. A: Europe was absolutely incredible. I had never been to Europe before this. So, the trip was an entirely new experience for me, as well as many other students. Being able to go to three different cities was interesting, as well. We were able to see the cultural differences not only between Europe and the United States, but also the differences between Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Each city had beautiful and unique architecture that was so unlike anything I've seen in the U.S. Being able to explore these cities with some of my best friends is something that I really will never forget. One in three bank staff say they have wanted to raise concerns at work in the past year - mainly over their own banks not acting in the best interests of customers or clients. A survey of employees across the five main retail lenders found that of those who wanted to raise a concern, 59pc spoke up, while one in four didn't do so. The main reasons employees did not speak up were fear it would be held against them, and/or that nothing would happen anyway. And it appears their fears were justified, with 42pc of staff who did raise issues saying they were not listened to or not taken seriously. The results of the survey were unveiled at the launch of the Irish Banking Culture Board (IBCB) an initiative aimed at rebuilding shattered trust in the banking sector in the wake of scandals including the bank bailouts and the tracker redress scheme. The IBCB is "the last chance for banks to restore trust", Minister of State Michael D'Arcy said at the launch in Dublin yesterday. The financial crisis and tracker mortgage scandal had done "terrific damage for your (banking) institutions", he told industry representatives at the launch event. There was a "real need to promote a sustainable banking sector that adheres to the highest standards of professionalism in its treatment of customers", he said. Costs of the IBCB are being funded by the five Irish retail banks; AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC Bank Ireland, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank. Senior executives from those banks, most notably including Ulster Bank CEO Jane Howard, will also hold five of the 14 seats on the IBCB. IBCB's chairman Mr Justice John Hedigan said the fact that the banks were paying for the new structure did not mean it would "be dancing to anyone's tune". "The alternative to the banks financing it is that the taxpayers finance it and that's unthinkable in the circumstances in which we find ourselves," Mr Hedigan said. "The banks own the problem and the banks have to own the solution as well." He added that "great care" had been taken to ensure that the consumer interest was represented. Financial adviser Padraic Kissane, a leading advocated in the tracker restoration cases, is the consumer representative. Sue O'Neill, from the Small Firms Association, and Martin Stapleton, of the Irish Farmer's Association, will also represent customers of banks. Bank staff are represented by Gareth Murphy of the Financial Services Union (FSU). Bankers on the board will not be paid, including Gareth Murphy, although the other members will be paid 30,000 per year. Mr Hedigan said the aim of the IBCB is to shift the culture that determines behaviour within financial institutions. "It's culture that you need in the background to ensure that proper regulation and proper behaviour is maintained by the banks," he said. He added that it's all about embedding in the staff a culture "in which ethical behaviour is inevitable and where, in future, leadership that want to behave in a way that isn't appropriate will not find a compliant staff behind them ready to go there". Read more: Charlie Weston: 'A massive imbalance in favour of bankers means that this initiative looks doomed from the start' Damage: Google said protecting content would hurt the digital economy Google will have to pay publishers for use of news snippets and Facebook must filter out protected content under new EU copyright rules aimed at ensuring fair compensation for creative industries. EU governments yesterday backed the move launched by the European Commission two years ago to protect Europe's creative industries, which employ 11.7 million people in the bloc. "When it comes to completing Europe's digital single market, the copyright reform is the missing piece of the puzzle," the Commission's president Jean-Claude Juncker said. Under the new rules, Google and other online platforms will have to sign licensing agreements with musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work. The European Parliament gave a green light last month to a proposal that has pitted Europe's creative industry against tech companies, internet activists and consumer groups. Wikipedia blacked out several European sites in protest last month, while the change was opposed by Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. But 19 countries, including France and Germany, endorsed the revamp, while Belgium, Estonia and Slovenia abstained. Under the new regime Google-owned YouTube, Facebook's Instagram and other sharing platforms will have to install filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials. Google said the new rules would hurt Europe's creative and digital economies, while critics said it would hit cash-strapped smaller companies rather than the tech giants. Poland said the overhaul was a step backwards as the filter requirement may lay the foundation for censorship. The European Magazine Media Association, the European Newspaper Publishers' Association, the European Publishers Council, News Media Europe and independent music labels lobbying group Impala welcomed the move. European Union countries have two years to transpose the copyright directive into national laws. Reuters A situation that saw prospective buyers sleep in their cars while queuing in an attempt to buy a new home has been branded a "'Hunger Games' for housing". Critics of the scene said it was a worrying throwback to the Celtic Tiger era and questioned why this was the reality for young families in modern Ireland. More than 100 cars parked overnight in the Cork town of Ballincollig as first-time buyers with young families competed to buy the 27 properties - all of which sold out within an hour. The buyers were desperate to secure properties at the new Heathfield estate in Ballincollig. The houses - priced at 325,000 for a three-bed and 375,000 for a four-bed semi - subsequently sold out within 60 minutes. Two previous phases of the Heathfield scheme also sold out. Ciara Kennedy, a Labour Party candidate in the area, said the scenes were astonishing - and were unacceptable. "It is like a 'Hunger Games' for housing," she said. Ms Kennedy said that while people were excited at being able to secure their first home, there was also a sense of outrage at the extreme lengths families had to go to just to get a deposit in place. "It is a throwback to the Celtic Tiger," she warned. Savills agent Catherine McAuliffe acknowledged she had never seen anything like it before in Co Cork. Ms McAuliffe, director of residential sales in Cork, said: "We didn't expect the turnout ourselves, certainly not people queuing overnight. "But it's about location - this is Ballincollig, on the edge of city, with access to the ring road around the city, so basically that's access to everywhere quickly. "All 27 properties sold out in an hour on Saturday. Demand is obviously driven potentially by the fact the Help-to-Buy Scheme is coming to an end. "We don't have many first-time buyer houses in Cork city, or close to the city, so I think this was really driven by demand. A lot of people are loan-approved and are just waiting for that type of product to come along, especially in that particular area." Ms McAuliffe said she felt the houses were a "good price", which was reflected in the high demand they generated. "You can certainly buy cheaper than that but I think it was the location that has really driven it. A lot of buyers are living locally. The buyers were young families, first-time buyers, probably 70pc were first-time buyers. "The next release of houses [in this development] will be in the summer this year but the houses selling now won't be ready until next year." Derry Canty, Fine Gael councillor for Ballincollig, said: "I saw the cars there myself. Buyers wouldn't be on the site [overnight] unless they were able to afford the properties, so it's fair enough. "Ballincollig is a growing town, we're near Cork city and there's good schools and amenities and great city access." US President Donald Trump has urged Boeing to fix and "rebrand" its troubled 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes even as US regulators continued to work with the planemaker and airlines over the grounded aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration has met representatives from American Airlines Group, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines over the next steps after more than 300 Boeing 737 MAXs were grounded worldwide. FAA officials have also convened a joint review with aviation regulators from other countries, while federal prosecutors, the US Department of Transportation inspector general's office and a blue-ribbon panel are reviewing the plane's certification. In an early-morning post on Twitter, Mr Trump, who owned the Trump Shuttle airline from 1989 to 1992 and is an aviation enthusiast, weighed in with advice. "What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?" The plane's grounding has also threatened the US summer travel season, with some airlines removing the 737 from their schedules through August and cancelling flights. American Airlines is cancelling 115 flights a day through mid-August. The cancellations represent 1.5pc of its total flights each day of summer. The US grounded the 737 Max plane in mid-March after two deadly plane crashes, involving Ethiopian Airlines and Indonesia's Lion Air. Boeing aims to finish fixing the planes in late April, and changes would have to be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration and foreign regulators for approval. American has 24 Max jets and says by extending cancellations through the summer it can plan more reliably for the peak season. It says it will work with customers to manage their travel plans. Reuters/AP More than 50 new acts have been announced for the tenth anniversary of Body & Soul festival. Among the new additions to the line-up are Mashrou Leila, The Black Lips, King Kong Company, Confidence Man, TPM, Chymera, Moxie, FEET, Molly Sterling, and Junior Brother. Also announced today are Proper Nicro NV, Sing Along Social, PrYmary Colours, Kitt Philippa, Mak, Just Mustard, happyalone, EMBRZ, and more. They join the previously announced Modelselektor (Live), The Blaze, Santigold, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Princess Nokia, Kate Tempest, Mano Le Tough, Talos. The independent festival, which takes place annually on the summer solstice weekend (June 21-23) at Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath, prides itself on its holistic and sensory offerings as much as its eclectic line-up. There will be hidden art installations, immersive theatre experiences and outdoor spoken word performances in the woods. Soul Kids will also have activities for children while some of Ireland's most celebrated artisan gourmet food producers will provide sustenance at Food on Board. The Sanctuary also has a programme of world music, performance, spiritual reflections, activists and discussions with massage therapists, leading yogis, sound healers and more as ewll as the Spa where you can indulge in seaweed baths, wood-fired hot tubs, Baloinese steam treatments and more. Last year the sustainability-friendly festival became the first ever Irish festival to receive a HighLY Commended from the Greener Festival Awards. Weekend tickets for Body & Soul are on sale via Ticketbooth on www.bodyandsoul.ie. Limited spring release tickets are now on sale for 199.50 plus booking fee. A limited number of Campervan passes are currently on sale priced 70. Video of the Day Family Tickets are available for those wishing to stay in the dedicated Family Campsite with children aged 12 and under. Check out the website for more information. Jack Hanna from Downpatrick in County Down pushes his hand built R2D2 replica into position for the opening of the R2D2 road at Malin Head, County Donegal. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire A road in Donegal has been renamed the R2D2 in tribute to one of the most famous characters in 'Star Wars'. New signs were unveiled on what was the R242 near Malin Head to mark where scenes from the most recent instalment of the saga, 'The Last Jedi', were filmed. A replica R2D2 droid joined other 'Star Wars' characters on the country's most northerly point to celebrate the novel tourism initiative. The name-change on a road that runs through the scenic Inishowen peninsula has been approved by Donegal County Council. It was initially agreed on a temporary basis but the switch is now set to become permanent. Jack Murray, a local councillor who also works with tourism organisation Explore Inishowen, first proposed the rebrand. "Hopefully for a long time tourists will come and get their photo taken with the R2D2 sign and see the beautiful location where 'Star Wars' was filmed," he said. Education Minister Joe McHugh, a TD for Co Donegal, formally cut the ribbon at the ceremony. The signage has been erected ahead of Inishowen's first May The Fourth Be With You festival next month. A New Jersey high schools stage production of Alien is coming back with help from the 1979 films director Ridley Scott. Alien: The Play was performed last month at North Bergen High School, which sits about two miles from the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. Images of the productions elaborate sets and special effects drew a huge response online, and Scott wrote a letter to the school praising the students creativity. Sigourney Weaver played the character Ellen Ripley in the movie that spawned a franchise. She taped a YouTube video in which she called the production incredible. The plays director, teacher Perfecto Cuervo, said in an email that Scotts production company provided 5,000 US dollars (3,800) so the school could put on an encore performance on April 26. Dearbhla and Tommy get a shock when a surprise visitor arrives at the door Dublin actor Peter Corboy has found a new home on the streets of Carrigstown as he joins Fair City tonight. The Trinity graduate, who has a BA in Drama and Theatre, has been cast as Tommy Dillon's son Zak, and is set to turn a few heads as he arrives in Dublin from Kilkenny. The new arrival proves to be a bit of a charmer, flirting with both Hayley (played by Rebecca Grimes) and Jane (Rachel Pilkington) in tonight's episode. However, Peter reckons that while Zak appears to be a smooth operator there is no malice behind his womanising ways. Expand Close Peter Corboy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Peter Corboy "Zak has found himself in hot water back in Kilkenny. He's a bit of a charmer, and unfortunately this time his charms have broken up a wedding," said Peter. "The father of the bride isn't too happy with him, so he heads to Dublin for a bit to lie low while the dust settles. It also gives him a chance to catch up with his sister Dearbhla (Maria Oxley Boardman) who has returned from Canada, and of course his dad, Tommy." "Zak might be mischievous, but he's not malicious, which makes him really fun to play. He's quick to find the humour in situations, which I enjoy," he added. Peter also told how Zak would like to put the pieces back together with his dad, Tommy, played by Geoff Minogue, who he fell out with when he found out about Tommy's infidelities. Zak then upped sticks and moved to Kilkenny to live with his aunt. "He's a very independent guy, he doesn't take life too seriously, and it's this mischievous nature that often lands him in trouble," he said. Video of the Day "Initially, I think he's just looking for somewhere to hide out, but as he begins to re-establish his relationship with his father, sister and the residents of Carrigstown, he proves that there's more to him than just troublemaking. "He puts up a certain facade, but underneath, I think part of him does genuinely want to reconnect with his family, especially his dad. "There's certainly a big rift there to heal. Zak sees himself as different from his father in many ways, but he's also very much cut from the same cloth. "It's not always an amicable relationship between the two." Fair City airs tonight on RTE One at 8pm. The leader of the association representing 2,200 Garda supervisors has said it will support its member at the centre of allegations of being involved in security consultancy work contrary to the force's regulations. Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) general secretary John Jacob said any member facing an investigation into allegations in the past had been given its backing. He expected that would also happen on this occasion. Two high-ranking members of the association have opted to stay away from its annual conference, which began in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, yesterday, because they were not satisfied at the way the allegations were being handled. Vice president Paul Wallace and deputy general secretary Antoinette Cunningham both decided not to attend the three-day event. An apparent rift within the leadership widened after the controversy became a public issue at the weekend. The issue totally dominated a four-hour meeting of the association's national executive on Sunday evening, where most members agreed that the conference should be held as planned. But Mr Jacob said that he did not agree that the controversy had cast a cloud or a shadow over the conference. He said he was not sure it had been clearly articulated by those who had stayed away whether their absence was related to that specific issue, and he was not able to speak on their behalf. There were 140 delegates attending to listen to the debates and presentations. "The delegates that have spoken to me are not concerned about those allegations and they want to get on with the agenda," Mr Jacob added. "The person at the centre of the allegations should be entitled to the anonymity that is given to anybody else facing other allegations. "Due process should be allowed to take its course and Garda management allowed to investigate these allegations. "In the past the association has supported any of its members facing allegations and that will happen on this occasion, too." President Cormac Moylan said everyone was innocent until proven guilty, but he admitted that the timing of the publication of the allegations and the Garda investigation was "not wonderful". Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan later called on the association to resolve the controversy that has created divisions in its leadership. Mr Flanagan told AGSI members they needed a strong association, in which they could have confidence. He added that as minister he needed a strong association, which he could trust to represent them. "And, as a country, we need a Garda leadership which we know adheres to the highest standards," he said. Addressing its annual conference, Mr Flanagan said: "I know that this year you are having some difficulties and that some of your senior members have felt unable to attend. "I am looking forward to the resolution of these issues". Brendan Keogh died four months after being hit by a police vehicle A CANADIAN police officer involved in a crash in which an Irish pedestrian was killed has been cleared of any wrongdoing by a police watchdog. Brendan Keogh (29) passed away at Dublin's Mater Hospital. Mr Keogh, who was originally from the village of Mullinalaghta in Co Longford, was walking along the busy intersection of Highway 99 and Garibaldi Way in Squamish town in Vancouver, British Columbia at around 10.30pm local time on March 13 last year when he was struck by an on-duty officer with the Lower Mainland Integrated Police Dog Services, who was driving an unmarked SUV. Mr Keogh was cared for in Vancouver General Hospital, before being transferred to the Mater Hospital last summer. Sadly, he never regained consciousness and died in August. The British Columbia police oversight agency has now said it will not be recommending charges against the officer. The evidence collected does not provide grounds to consider any charges against any officer, Ronald MacDonald, the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office, said. I do not consider that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment and therefore the matter will not be referred to Crown counsel for consideration of charges. His comments are reported in the Squamish Chief newspaper. The report found that he officer was driving in the slow lane under the speed limit - and went through the intersection on a green light. The officer hit the brakes before the collision, he said. There is nothing in the evidence collected that suggests [the officer] was driving in a manner that would appear to a reasonable person to be way dangerous or without proper care and attention, Mr MacDonald wrote. To the contrary, all the evidence shows she was driving as a reasonable driver would. Mr Keogh was sober, and Mr MacDonald suggested that the Irishman's vision may have been affected by the weather conditions. "[He] made a tragic error when he crossed the highway, against the traffic signal, on a dark and rainy night, in dark clothing, Mr MacDonald said. This placed him in front of [the officers] vehicle. The collision was unfortunately unavoidable. Concern is mounting over the rising cost of funding the Fair Deal for nursing home care, as demand for the scheme soars. State spending on the scheme is expected to hit 1bn this year and the HSE has acknowledged it is monitoring it on a week-by-week basis. Over 23,200 people are availing of the Fair Deal, which is above expectations, and its budget was increased by 24.3m to 985.8m this year. If Fair Deal exceeds its allocated budget, it is expected the Minister for Older People Jim Daly will be forced to seek emergency extra funding from the Department of Health. Mr Daly said demand for the scheme was outside of expectations in the year so far and he has requested more data. In response to queries from the Irish Independent, the HSE last night confirmed that it "is currently experiencing increased demand for the Fair Deal scheme". It added: "Activity levels are being monitored on a weekly basis and the HSE is in ongoing contact with the Department of Health." It comes as farmers take to the streets today, saying the lack of fairness in the scheme for them is costing them up to 40,000 a year in nursing home fees. Alan Kelly TD is greatly concerned about funding Fair Deal and warned over timelines being "pushed out". "I am concerned at year-to-date spending compared to the total allocation and I believe this is causing real issues as [to] how Fair Deal is being administered," said the Labour TD. Mr Kelly warned that any fresh applications to the Fair Deal scheme must not be delayed in the face of rising costs. He also questioned whether concern over cashflow was contributing to delay of promised reforms of the scheme that would benefit farmers and small businesses. Figures from Minister Jim Daly show that the Fair Deal scheme was expected to support an average of 23,042 people in 2019. With this in mind, the budget for 2019 is 985.8m, which is an increase of 24.3m over its 2018 budget. But he said the latest available HSE performance reports indicated there were already 23,228 people supported in the scheme at the end of February this year. Mr Daly said: "The HSE have noted that the number of residents in nursing homes whom are supported by the NHSS to be ahead of forecast for the year to date," said the minister. "The Department of Health is engaging with the HSE and will continue to do so over the next few weeks to fully assess the situation, including a detailed analysis and validation of this data and to understand if specific trends can be identified. "This will help to inform a view on the scheme activity and financial projections for the remainder of 2019." Read More The Fair Deal scheme offers support for people who require long-term residential care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means - while the State pays the balance. The aim is that nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone. Under the Fair Deal Scheme the State can only claim 22.5pc of the value of the family home, under a three-year cap on the asset. However, farm families and small businesses owners face 7.5pc of the value of their land being used annually to pay nursing home fees. There is no cap on this, meaning an entire farm could have to be sold to pay the bills. Hundreds of farmers are protesting outside the Department of Health in Dublin today over the slow progress introducing the three-year cap on farm assets. IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Caroline Farrell said it was now nearly nine months since Cabinet approved the proposal to introduce a three-year cap on farm and small businesses assets, where a family successor commits to continue to farm the asset for a period of six years. "In the time since Cabinet approved the proposal, it has cost individual farm families an estimated 40,000 in nursing home costs. That is the equivalent of losing four acres of their farm enterprise," she said. The minister has said that his department is working on the development of draft Heads of Bill while considering a number of complex ancillary policy and operational matters which may need to be addressed in the proposed legislation. "However, subject to legal advice, I expect to bring the Heads of Bill to Government in May. The changes to the scheme will come into effect in 2019 subject to the legislative process," he said. The HSE has asked the High Court for orders compelling a man who it says has been fit for discharge for some time to leave one of its medical facilities. Lawyers for the man told the court that he is prepared to leave the facility, but he has nowhere to go and is seeking suitable accommodation from the relevant local authority. Neither the man nor the HSE facility can be identified for legal reasons. Last year the man, who is aged in his 30s, was admitted to a hospital and required surgery due to a very serious medical condition. Since then he has undergone various medical treatments, has made a relatively good recovery and for the last number of months has been staying in a single room at a HSE-run facility. The HSE claims that given the improvement in his condition there is no clinical reason for him to remain at the facility, and he has been clinically discharged. However, due to an inability to obtain any alternative accommodation, the man has refused to leave the facility, the HSE claims. It says the local authority did offer the man accommodation, but he turned it down. Efforts were also made to see if the man could stay with family members, but these have not proven successful, it said. The HSE claims that other patients are being prejudiced by the man's unlawful occupation of the room, where there is a significant waiting list. He has no lawful entitlement to be there, and is a trespasser, the HSE further claims. Late last week, Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds granted the HSE permission to serve short notice of the proceedings on the man. The judge adjourned the matter to later this week. Some of Mary Lowry's evidence at the Tipperary murder trial has been described as the "most devious, devious poison" heard by the Central Criminal Court for many years. Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC made the claim after telling jurors the widow changed her account of seeing murder accused Patrick Quirke on the morning his alleged love rival Bobby Ryan went missing. Mr Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan (52), a part-time DJ known as 'Mr Moonlight', on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013. Mr Ryan stayed the night of June 2, 2011 with his girlfriend Ms Lowry at her home in Fawnagown, Co Tipperary, but left before she got up to take her children to school. He was missing until his body was found 22 months later in an underground tank on her farm, which was being leased by Mr Quirke. The court was told Ms Lowry gave a statement to gardai six days after the disappearance saying she saw Mr Quirke in the farmyard around 8.30am on the morning of the disappearance. Expand Close Patrick Quirke arrives at court with wife Imelda. Photo: Damien Eagers/INM / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Patrick Quirke arrives at court with wife Imelda. Photo: Damien Eagers/INM At the time she said she believed he was doing some work early in the day as he was heading away with his family for the weekend. The defence barrister said that after the body was found, Ms Lowry "introduced" a new detail into her account, that Mr Quirke was "hot, sweaty and bothered looking" when she saw him that morning. Mr Condon said that in court, Ms Lowry suggested there was something odd about Mr Quirke being there at that time of the morning. He said this was an attempt to suggest Mr Quirke, her former lover, was up to no good. "This was a piece of the most devious, devious poison that has been delivered across the face of the Central Criminal Court for many a year," he said. Yesterday was the second day of Mr Condon's closing speech in the trial. Much of his address to jurors was focused on the evidence of Ms Lowry. The barrister claimed she was manipulative, told lies, put a spin on her evidence and attempted to rewrite history. Ms Lowry was "a person prepared not to tell the truth when it suits her", the barrister said. He claimed she was "able to bald faced sit here and say black is white". Mr Condon also attacked the prosecution case against his client, saying it was "a forensically barren wasteland". The prosecution alleges Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle his affair with Ms Lowry. But Mr Condon told the jury of six men and six women it should not look at the quantity of the evidence, but the quality of it, and that a lot of the inferences they were being asked to draw had nothing to do with the murder. The defence barrister said there was uncertainty over the events of June 2 and 3, 2011. "When you have uncertainty over those events, then you have a difficulty," he said. Mr Condon said it was alleged Mr Ryan was murdered some time after leaving the house at 6.30am. He said the windows were open, yet neither Mary Lowry nor her mother-in-law Rita Lowry heard anything. The trial has heard Mr Quirke leased Ms Lowry's 60-acre farm and had an affair with Ms Lowry, which she described as "sordid" and "sleazy". However, she was in a relationship with Mr Ryan when he disappeared in June 2011. Mr Condon highlighted a number of aspects of Ms Lowry's evidence where he said she was "prepared to revise history". He said it was suggested Mr Quirke was not a good friend of Ms Lowry's late husband Martin Lowry. Mr Condon said all of the evidence would not support that suggestion. He also focussed on her evidence about a night away she and Mr Ryan spent in Bundoran, Co Donegal, just days before his disappearance. The trial heard she was annoyed when she found Mr Ryan dancing with another woman and that she "gave out" to him for five hours on the journey home. Mr Condon said that in fact what happened was that they broke up on the journey home. The trial heard they reconciled two day later. Mr Condon said Ms Lowry subsequently told gardai Mr Ryan was dancing with a woman in Bundoran he met the night before. But when she was quizzed in the witness box, she said this was a woman Mr Ryan had known years before and they were just catching up on old times. Mr Condon also said Ms Lowry had invented a claim she asked Mr Ryan if it was OK for her to dance with another man on the same weekend away. Mr Condon said the jury had to be careful about placing undue weight on Ms Lowry's evidence. He said that while the visit to Bundoran was not of consequence to the case, what was of consequence for the jury was whether it could take her evidence as "gold standard". In her evidence, Ms Lowry said her relationship with Mr Quirke became a sexual one in January 2008. She claimed he "crossed the line", that she found him "overpowering" and that she was "very vulnerable at the time". But Mr Condon asked if this was just Ms Lowry talking in hindsight about a relationship she now regrets. He pointed to evidence given by her brother Eddie Quigley in which he told Mr Quirke: "Mary will make up her own mind and you and me won't change that." The barrister said this gave a different view of Ms Lowry to the naive and vulnerable person she portrayed herself as. THE alleged killer of a retired civil servant who was found bound, gagged and stabbed to death in her own home denied her murder today. Catherine Burke (55), who was originally from Galway, was found dead at her 700,000 (810,000) north London home after police forced entry to the property shortly after 7pm on 16 November 2017 after concerns about the mother's welfare. Ms Burke had lived at the property in Hill Road, Muswell Hill, north London, for around 20 years. Scotland Yard launched a murder probe after a post-mortem gave a cause of death as stab injuries. Expand Close Kasim Lewis denies murdering Catherine Burke / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kasim Lewis denies murdering Catherine Burke Kasim Lewis (32) of no fixed address, appeared in court this morning via video link from prison. Wearing a grey sweatshirt, he spoke only to confirm his identity and enter a not guilty plea to the single charge of murder, said to have been committed between November 14 and 17 2017. The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Richard Marks QC, remanded him in custody ahead of his trial, estimated to last up to three weeks, at the same court on July 15. CCTV still issued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Richard Wakeling, 52, (left) from Brentwood, Essex, as he talks to a builder prior to driving off in a white Audi car Photo credit: National Crime Agency/PA Wire Undated handout CCTV still issued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Richard Wakeling, 52, (left) from Brentwood, Essex Photo credit: National Crime Agency/PA Wire Organised crime group boss Richard Wakeling is facing an 11-year jail term for trying to import drugs Photo credit: National Crime Agency/PA Wire CCTV images have been released of a one-legged drug dealer who has been a fugitive for more than a year and is now believed to be on the run in Ireland. Richard Wakeling (52), from Brentwood, Essex, attempted to import 8m (9.25m) of liquid amphetamine into the UK in April 2016. He is said to have family on both sides of the border. Wakeling fled before his trial in Essex began and was sentenced to 11 years in his absence at Chelmsford Crown Court on April 9 last year. Yesterday, the UKs National Crime Agency (NCA) released CCTV footage of him leaving his home on January 5 last year as investigators continue to try to track him down. The clip shows him chatting to a workman and getting into his white Audi Q3, which has the registration number EF66 ZWR. He left Essex that day and travelled through Iver in Buckinghamshire, before catching a bus from Heathrow to Glasgow and taking a ferry from Stranraer to Belfast. The NCA said he has family in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Thailand. A week after he disappeared, his car was driven back to his home in Essex. Wakeling has been on the run for well over a year now and knows we are still looking for him, said NCA operations manager Paul Green. He should also know we will do everything in our power to bring him back to serve his sentence. Expand Close Undated handout CCTV still issued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Richard Wakeling, 52, (left) from Brentwood, Essex Photo credit: National Crime Agency/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Undated handout CCTV still issued by the National Crime Agency (NCA) of Richard Wakeling, 52, (left) from Brentwood, Essex Photo credit: National Crime Agency/PA Wire I would urge him to hand himself in. Ive no doubt someone seeing this appeal will have information about his whereabouts. Anyone helping Wakeling or actively frustrating our efforts to find him could be arrested for assisting an offender. A story time event for children presented by drag performers has been cancelled after receiving a backlash from the public. Performance group Glitter Hole, a "DIY drag collective", was scheduled to deliver a storytelling event for children aged three to seven at Deansgrange Library, in Dublin. The event, which said it would provide families with "glamorous, positive and unabashedly queer role models", was due to take place as part of a summer series at the library on June 26. However the event was scrutinised on social media, with users calling for a review on the "age appropriateness" of the event. The drag group, which said it has performed the children's event three times before with an "entirely positive" response, said it was disappointed to hear of the cancellation. "It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that our upcoming Drag Story Time event has been cancelled," a spokesperson for Glitter Hole said. "We were contacted by DLR (Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown) last month and asked to put on one of our drag storytelling performances to celebrate Pride and I wasn't aware that it had been announced by them yet." The spokesperson said they were subject to "extremely violent homophobia" on social media as a result, but they were determined to continue presenting the event. "Over the weekend we have been inundated with extremely violent homophobia from a frighteningly large group of bigots who believe that a few drag queens reading books to children amounts to child abuse. "The library decided that the event was a safety risk, which we accepted given the scale and gravity of the vitriol that was being spewed on Twitter." DLR library service posted a cancellation notice of the event on its website, citing a review of the age criteria as the reason behind the cancellation. However it later clarified the cancellation was due to "significant concern at the high level of degrading, inappropriate comments on social media about the performers and library staff". When Joe Carroll's wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) a few years ago, the family never thought they might have to sell their farm to pay nursing home bills. Today he is protesting outside the Department of Health with the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) to highlight what he says is a huge injustice to farmers in the Fair Deal nursing home scheme. "I've always paid my bills. More than that, when we had good years milking cows, I made sure to have some savings. They were to help my other two children, the ones not getting the farm." Thousands Now, the Offaly farmer says none of his children will be left with much as he pays thousands of euro every month in nursing home bills for his wife. Jane was diagnosed with MS in 2013 and Joe tried to look after her at home, but it became too much and four years ago the family made the decision she would be better off in a nursing home. Now Joe is paying over 20,000 a year in nursing homes fees and says his savings will soon be gone. "Then we face a sign being put up outside the farm to pay the fees," he said. Unless legislation is changed soon to allow a three-year cap on farm assets, Joe says there may not be a farm to leave his son as promised. "I was saving my whole life on the farm and for the family. There was not that much savings and it is just dwindling away and now there may be no farm left either." After surviving prostate cancer 13 years ago, Joe gave up dairy farming and relies on a drystock income on the 70-acre farm near Kilcormac. "Finance is terribly stressful but you have to be positive. I couldn't manage without the kindness of others," he said. "I've always been able to pay. Now I'm dependent on the generosity of others, but that debt is always in the background." Yvonne Shannon has spoken about how her daughter Ruby was diagnosed with a brain tumour aged just two-and-a-half after she told her she had an "ouchy" in her head. Ms Shannon, from Pimlico, Dublin, has shared her child's cancer treatment journey at Crumlin Children's Hospital and called for more investment into research. She said that the first time she realised something was wrong was when Ruby vomited up her bottle of milk one morning in 2017. "I took her to the GP and we thought it was a viral infection. She wasn't herself - even her eyes looked dull. Ruby has big brown eyes and I knew they were off," she said. The little girl was tested for suspected meningitis but the tests came back negative. "Ruby had started complaining of a pain in her head at this point," Ms Shannon said. Expand Close Her mum wanted to share her journey in Crumlin Hospital after her brain tumour diagnosis / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Her mum wanted to share her journey in Crumlin Hospital after her brain tumour diagnosis Three days later, she had a seizure at home and they were rushed to Crumlin. The next morning Ruby was still complaining about the pain. "Ruby would say 'Mammy, there's an ouchy in my head!'" she said. "She was taken for a CT scan and that's when they told me the worst news I have ever heard: my little girl had a brain tumour." On February 14, 2017, Ruby went for surgery in Temple Street Hospital. Ms Shannon said that she received the "greatest Valentine's gift" when doctors told her they had removed the entire tumour. Even though it was removed, because it was a grade-four tumour she needed to have seven months of chemotherapy. Every scan since then has been clear. Expand Close Ruby Shannon (4) from Pimlico, Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruby Shannon (4) from Pimlico, Dublin "Ruby is the toughest little girl and I'm so proud of her," she said. "I hope she lives a long and healthy life. I don't care what she wants to be when she grows up. I just want her to be healthy and happy." Visit www.cmrf.org/donate to donate to the hospital. A tribunal of compensation is to extend to women outside the 221 group who were caught up in last years CervicalCheck crisis. The Government today approved the general scheme of the proposed legislation which will establish a tribunal to hear legal claims brought by women and families affected by the last years smear test controversy. These include the 221 group who developed cervical cancer after getting a wrong smear test result. Health Minister Simon Harris said it will also extend to women outside this group whose smear tests are currently being examined in an independent review by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. All the women who bring cases will need to prove the wrong smear test result was due to negligence and was not just due to the limitations of screening. The tribunal to be heard in private is meant to be an alternative to court but women will still be able to go to court if that is the route they want to take. The proposed legislation arises from recommendations made by Mr Justice Charles Meenan in his report on an alternative system for dealing with claims arising from CervicalCheck, he added. He said that as well as the proposed tribunal, work is advanced on an ex-gratia scheme for women affected by the non-disclosure of the CervicalCheck audit and this will be open for applications shortly. Serpico noted he graduated from Proviso East High School in 1970, then Illinois State University and received a juris doctorate from DePaul University College of Law in 1977. He said his next goal is to try and keep Westlake Hospital open. The new owners of the hospital announced plans for it to close. Fed-up commuters are losing patience after learning that upgrades to one of the busiest motorways are to continue for at least another three months. Roadworks on the M7 were originally expected to be completed by early 2019. But in January the estimated completion date was changed to April. Following a meeting at Kildare County Council yesterday, local Labour councillor Mark Wall confirmed the project's estimated completion date has now been pushed back to the end of July. "I'm getting a lot of frustration today," he said of the reaction by local constituents and commuters yesterday. "Everyone was looking forward to the end of April. A lot of commuters are very frustrated." The project will see the M7 widened from Naas to the M9, along with the bypass of Sallins and a new interchange at Osberstown, Co Kildare. The road carries almost 61,000 vehicles every day and is the main network connection to Waterford, Cork and Limerick. The council's director of services Niall Morrissey told 'Newstalk Breakfast' yesterday that work crews are making 'great progress' but the job is a daunting one. "It's a difficult job, a tight site of 14km long. Motorists can see that sections are getting completed, we are making great progress and what you will see is the first phase from Johnstown J8 to Naas south, we're aiming to open that up sometime next month. "People will see a huge improvement in that first section of the journey. As that gets finished, you'll see the crews from that site moving onto the next section and joining up with their other colleagues from Naas south onto the merger," he said. As for the delay, he said: "Back in December we projected we might get it done by April or May, but it's a difficult site, every metre of excavation is a challenge. Two major challenges we faced were demolition of the bridge and construction of the new bridge last weekend, which both went down very well. We're trying not to put out too many dates, but we do see that we're making great progress." The roadworks mean that motorists must slow down to 60kmh from the maximum motorway speed of 120kmh. Drivers were also advised to slow down to 25kmh last weekend following the demolition of an overpass. The ensuing bottlenecks mean that motorists can expect to add at least half an hour onto their journeys, Mr Wall said. The upgrade project began in January 2018 when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described it as "a vital motorway for commuters and freight transport, which is prone to congestion at peak times". Conor Faughnan, director of consumer affairs for AA Ireland, said that while it is understandable for commuters and other motorists to be frustrated by the delay, it will be worth the wait in the long run. An officer on an exercise in Donegal Employers are being urged to give jobs to members of the Reserve Defence Force and harness the skills and training acquired by them during their military service. An employers' information booklet was launched today to highlight the benefits that can be gained by bosses from having a member of the RDF working for their companies. The aim of the booklet is to build on the relationship that already exists between the military authorities and employers who facilitate employees to take part in in RDF training. Its also focused on other employers to encourage them to consider what their companies could gain from taking on reservists. Its part of a campaign by the Defence Forces, who are actively seeking to develop a partnership with as many companies and institutions as possible. The booklet was launched by Minister with responsibility for defence, Paul Kehoe at a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the RDF. He said the RDF had a long and proud history and a special place in the hearts of people right across the country. Through its various forms since 1929, the State had always reaped the benefits from the contributions of RDF members. He said military training for members of the Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve equipped them gain experiences that were unique to the military but which also built up into an adaptable and transferable skillset. Throughout their careers, reservists exercised leadership, management, task orientated focus, working under pressure, teamwork, physical endurance and mental agility. He encouraged employers of reservists to support them by facilitating their training obligations and suggested others might consider the benefits of having reservists in their ranks. Membership of the Reserve could also be used as a means of sampling military life as a full-time career. File photo: Brothers Luke and Josh Monaghan play in the water at Portmarnock Strand in Dublin in weather set to be repeated this weekend Photo: Damien Eagers FLOODS have hit much of the country as storms crashed into the west coast over the weekend. However, the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde-like weather will take another wild swing, with torrential rainfall and cold conditions set to be replaced by sunshine and balmy temperatures for Easter. The weekend will be pleasant and dry, with spells of sunshine and temperatures ranging from 20C to nearly 22C. Saturday and Sunday will be fine and dry. Temperatures will soar from the drab 8C experienced last weekend to 17C tomorrow and a glorious 22C on Friday. Met Eireanns John Eagleton said that while Easter Monday could see the return of showers, the coming week will prove a welcome contrast to the past 48 hours. A total of four weather warnings were in place across Ireland yesterday, with Cork bearing the brunt of the torrential downpours and resultant floods. Expand Close Stock photo / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock photo The prospects are very good indeed for the Easter weekend, Mr Eagleton said. Things will definitely start to improve after the rainfall and cold temperatures of last weekend. The Easter Monday showers will be nothing like the torrential rainfall that prompted a status orange alert across Cork and Waterford. Nearly 70mm of rain had fallen in some parts of the south-west since Saturday night, with motorists facing road surface flooding and pedestrians getting a drenching. Drains and culverts in some areas of Cork were unable to cope with the deluge, with mini-rivers sweeping across some roads. Roads in Cork city around Blackpool, Tivoli and Cork harbour by Pairc Ui Chaoimh were particularly badly affected. Roads around Dunmanway and Bandon had to be closed due to flooding. Challenging driving conditions were experienced on the Dublin to Cork motorway. Irish Water Safety urged people to take extreme care near streams. Fears over how to justify the spiralling cost of bringing high-speed internet to the most remote parts of the country have seen the Government stall on a decision yet again. Ministers had been set a deadline of today by Taoiesach Leo Varadkar for approving the National Broadband Plan (NBP) - but the project is not even on the agenda for the last Cabinet meeting before the Easter recess. With just one bidder left for the valuable tender, officials are undertaking what sources described as an "exceptional evaluation process" to ensure that the price paid for rolling out fibre broadband to more than 500,000 homes and businesses is appropriate. The final bill for the taxpayer is set to be many multiples of the original 500m predicted. It is believed the costs could mount to between 2bn and 3bn. Government sources said they are concerned that the NBP will be perceived as having runaway costs like the National Children's Hospital. As a result, the assessment of the tender bid is much more "invasive" than normal. Communications Minister Richard Bruton said that "due diligence" is close to completion, but it's a "significant decision" and "time and space" is needed for it. However, the delay has been described as a "betrayal" and "farcical" by the Opposition. The NBP has been beset with delays and difficulties, including two bidders dropping out. National Broadband Ireland, a consortium led by US businessman David McCourt, is the only remaining bidder. Fianna Fail communications spokesman Timmy Dooley has called on Mr Bruton to clarify when he intends to bring proposals for the NBP to Cabinet. He said that the minister had indicated last November that a recommendation would be brought "within weeks". He added: "Fast forward five months and there is still no movement - it is deeply frustrating." Mr Dooley also pointed to Mr Varadkar's target of Easter and claimed that the fresh delay is "a disgraceful betrayal of the people who have been waiting for so long and who depend on this roll-out". Sinn Fein's Brian Stanley hit out at what he called "the latest delay in an increasingly farcical process". He added: "The people of rural Ireland have waited long enough and I do not believe that this Fine Gael Government is treating this situation with the appropriate urgency and seriousness." A spokesperson for Mr Bruton declined to offer any time-line for when he will bring the NBP to Cabinet. The Department of Communications said that he will "bring a recommendation to Government shortly". Mr Bruton said there is "no intention to drag out this process". He said there was a "determination to reach a decision in a timely way, but it is an important decision and it is one that we're determined to get right". Tanaiste Simon Coveney last night insisted the NBP is "not on the long finger", but there was "some more work to do" before Mr Bruton could lay out proposals to Cabinet. Mr Coveney added: "We are not talking about months here, we are talking about weeks." Firefighters are continuing to work at the cathedral (AP) The devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris means Government will consider a major review of fire precautions at Irish historic buildings, the Taoiseach has said. Mr Varadkar said such a review could be a good idea and he would consult the Housing and Heritage Ministers about such a move. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old Notre-Dame cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. (PA Graphics) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old Notre-Dame cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. The Taoiseach was replying to Labour leader, Brendan Howlin, who raised the issue. Mr Varadkar said a fire precautions review had taken place on apartment blocks following the Grenfell tower fire tragedy in London last summer. Mr Howlin asked if, following the Notre Dame fire if there were plans for an audit at heritage buildings such as Dublin Castle, Christchurch or St Patricks Cathedrals, or at similar buildings around the country. He said this could ensure these places are equipped with the latest fire protection systems. The Labour leader said what happened in Paris should be a wake-up call for Irelands heritage property managers. He suggested a fund for both private and public sectors to ensure we take preventive measures in advance. Mr Varadkar said there were no plans at present but it was a helpful suggestion and he would take it up with the relevant Ministers. It could be a good idea. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Flames and smoke are seen as the interior at Notre Dame cathedral (AP) The catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of the Gothic cathedral (AP) The Notre Dame Cathedral the day after the blaze (Gareth Fuller/PA) Notre Dame Cathedral appears in several films and novels (Francois Mori/AP) Sunrise on the morning after the fire (AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flames and smoke are seen as the interior at Notre Dame cathedral (AP) Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told the Dail that all Irish people extend their sympathy to France and to Catholics across the world after Mondays devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Mr Varadkar said the fire was particularly devastating because it came during Holy Week which is a prelude to Easter, the feast of hope and re-birth. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin extended sympathy to the people of France on the damage to the iconic and historic cathedral. Many of us experienced the joy of visiting it and we extend our sympathy to the French people, Mr Martin told the Dail. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The spire and parts of Notre Dame cathedral on fire (AP Photo/Dominique Bichon) Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP) Horror: A woman reacts as she watches flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: AFP/Getty Images People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) Parisians kneel and pray as flames engulf Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Devastated: Flames engulf the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Bystanders look on as flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images The cathedral is on an island in the Seine. Photo: REUTERS Smoke ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Most Gothic of churches: Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris as it looked before renovation work started and a fire took hold. Photo: AFP/Getty Images The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday Photo credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The spire and parts of Notre Dame cathedral on fire (AP Photo/Dominique Bichon) Sinn Fein leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said she had no doubt that the historic cathedral will be rebuilt, as she added her partys expressions of sympathy. The world looked on with horror at the inferno at Notre Dame Cathedral, Ms McDonald said. Labour leader, Brendan Howlin, also extended sympathy to the people of Paris and France following the devastating fire. "It's a world heritage site that we hope can be restored," the Labour leader told the Dail. And so we come to the Easter holidays, when we pause and reflect on the greatest martyr of all - the average parent. I would have written this column several weeks ago if I had known the Easter break was coming, but like most people I had no awareness of it until I noted my kids were at home all day and no truancy officer was knocking on the door to ask where they are. No school holiday is as slippery as the Easter midterm, suddenly jumping out of the school year when we least expect it, like a panto villain. Oh no! It's the midterm break! Now I have to spend time with my children rather than forcing them on some poor teacher who thought their job would be more like Dead Poets Society and a lot less like The Shawshank Redemption. The Easter midterm is able to sneak up because it is based on the Paschal lunar calendar, because obviously a busy family will always have time to follow both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, despite the fact we can't remember to attend dental appointments. But Easter is here now and we have to deal with it in the best way we can - by trying to farm out our children to some manner of activity camp. Naturally, there are people out there who do track the ebb and flow of the moon, because all the camps were booked up. Googling to no avail, you start to wonder if there is even a local terror cell that might be looking for recruits to bring on manoeuvres in the woods; but there were no options left, so we were stuck doing that most dreaded of tasks - entertaining our kids. So we turn to history. All of Ireland has been a battlefield at some point, so there are plenty of sites to visit where my kids can learn about decapitations, sieges and plague. Our most recent trip through Ireland's bloody past was at Cahir Castle, a sort of hipster outing for those of us who see the Rock of Cashel as too mainstream since the British queen visited it. Cahir castle offers a full, immersive historical experience from the get-go by only accepting cash. Apparently, they are getting a card reader soon, but as the castle has been there since the 13th century, I could see why they might not have a sense of urgency about such matters. Our tour guide walked us through the castle's history, with plenty of gore-soaked facts to keep the kids engaged. Afterwards, we were free to roam the buildings, and this is where it became such a great day out. The site is like an MC Escher etching, all hidden corridors, machicolations, murder holes and winding stairs. Best of all, there was only one way in and one way out. So I could then let them go free range, scampering off into high towers, dungeons and battlements, safe in the knowledge that if Cahir Castle could survive centuries of attack, it would probably survive my children, and if one of them made a break for it I could just drop the portcullis. In 1650, Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army - the original British stag party - arrived in Cahir, and sent a note requesting that the occupants, the Butlers, leave forthwith, which they duly did, only to retake it a little over a decade later. The Butlers know, as all parents do, that when you are outnumbered and facing your gaf getting wrecked, simply head out for a while. It gives me a warm glow to find places like this, not because it instils a love and understanding of Irish history in young minds, but because it is both cheap (entry for us all was less than a tenner) and it tires them out, the main goals of any trip with kids. The park next to the castle even has a sword stuck in a stone, which they spent a good 20 minutes attempting to extract, as I sat back, sipping a coffee, saying, 'Oh you nearly had it there, give it another try and really put some effort into it now'. Everyone was asleep by 7pm that night. Who needs activity camps when you have the OPW? King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands leaves the Royal Palace after the annual gala diner for the Diplomatic Corps on April 09, 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrive at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrive at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrives at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) Dutch King Willem-Alexander (L) and Queen Maxima pose as they arrive for the traditional King's Day Concert in Amersfoort on April 15, 2019. (Photo by patrick van katwijk / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrives at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) The Netherlands' Queen Maxima is long established as one of the most experimental royal style icons in Europe. Since marrying into the Dutch royal family in 2002, Maxima has displayed a distinct sartorial sense, with a penchant for bold colours, chunky accessories and big hats; so, the occasions during which she opts for understated attire are newsworthy for royal watchers. On Monday, she and husband King Willem-Alexander celebrated Kingsday in Amersfoort, her choice of a blush pink fit and flare dress by Dutch designer Claes Iversen was a notable departure from her usual looks. The long sleeve midi dress featured a gradient effect of sequins into silk with a chunk belt to add definition. There was no hat to distract, instead accessorising with a chain knot Bottega Veneta clutch, a pair of Ferragamo heels with ribbon detail and some diamond disc earrings. The last 12 months have been particularly difficult for the 47-year-old, who previously worked in international finance, as her sister Ines took her own life last June and last month, she returned to work after taking some time off due to surgery. Last year, she was ordered to rest by her doctors over a suspected intestinal infection and missed a planned trip to Tanzania for her work as the UN Secretary-Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. Expand Close King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrive at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands arrive at Theater De Flint for the Kingsday Concert on April 15, 2019 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images) Earlier this month, Maxima was back to her best, debuting a white asymmetric Stella McCartney gown for a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, with the Antique Pearl Tiara, one of her favourites. The teenager behind the school climate strikes has told the European Union to spend less time worrying about Brexit and focus on the future of the planet. Greta Thunberg, 16, delivered a speech to a collection of MEPs and EU officials in Stasbourg, telling them our house is falling down but political leaders are not acting with the necessary urgency to deal with an upcoming climate crisis. Expand Close Greta Thunberg told MEPs it was time to panic (Jean-Francois Badias/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Greta Thunberg told MEPs it was time to panic (Jean-Francois Badias/AP) She said: If our house was falling apart, you wouldnt hold three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and environment. You wouldnt be arguing about phasing out coal in 15 or 11 years. If our house was falling apart you wouldnt be celebrating that one single nation like Ireland may soon divest from fossil fuels. In a forthright and wide-ranging attack on humanitys response to the problem, she chided the media, politicians and business leaders for failing to give the issue the prominence it merits. She told a special meeting of the European Parliaments Environment Committee it was time to panic and called on politicians to unite behind the science ahead of next months EU elections. As she outlined the scope of the problem, Thunberg choked up as she said: The extinction rate is up to six times faster than what is considered normal, with up to 200 species becoming extinct every single day Erosion of fertile topsoil, deforestation of the rainforest, toxic air pollution, loss of insects and wildlife, acidification of our oceans these are all disastrous trends being accelerated by a way of life that we here in our financially fortunate part of the world see as our right to simply carry on. The statement, like many others in her 10-minute speech, was met with loud applause from the gathered officials. Expand Close Greta Thunbergs speech was warmly received by gathered MEPs and EU officials (Jean-Francois Badias/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Greta Thunbergs speech was warmly received by gathered MEPs and EU officials (Jean-Francois Badias/AP) Thunberg was the spark for a global movement of school strikes when, last year, she cut class to protest alone in front of the Swedish parliament building. Since then she has spoken at a host of high profile occasions and venues, including the UN climate change summit and the World Economic Forum. Next week she will be in London to address MPs at a special parliamentary reception in Westminster. A woman prays next to Notre Dame Cathedral after it suffered heavy damage from a fire. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Smoke ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images The heart of Paris was torn asunder last night as a fire ripped through Notre-Dame cathedral and gutted Europe's most loved historic monument. Bystanders from around the world cried out as the 13th-century Gothic masterpiece's beloved spire - one of the highest points of the capital - came crashing to the ground in flames. Tears were shed as burning ash fell over the Ile de la Cite, the original island that housed the earliest Parisian settlement. Crowds of stunned Parisians could do little but offer prayers from the banks of the Seine, singing 'Je vous salue, Marie', the French equivalent of 'Hail Mary', as the flames raged higher. Victor Hugo helped save the cathedral almost two centuries ago by immortalising the edifice in his novel 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'. Last night, the French deputy interior minister said saving it was "not certain". Some 400 firemen appeared powerless to prevent the blaze spreading after it broke out at 6.50pm local time. Despite reaching the scene within 10 minutes, their hoses could not reach the highest parts of the cathedral from 30m-high ladders that were dwarfed by a tower three times that size. Last night, Jean-Claude Gallet, the fire chief, said they were not sure they would be able to stop the fire from spreading, after it engulfed the roof and spire, and one of its towers. Expand Close Bystanders look on as flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bystanders look on as flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images One Parisian bystander, Fred, said: "People are just in a state of total shock. It's almost like a cultural September 11." Nobody was hurt in the blaze. In a tragic twist, it appears the blaze began on scaffolding near the top of the building as major renovation works, intended to save the building from collapse, got under way. Last week, footage showed workers removing 16 copper statues from the spire. Christine Moreau, a Parisian, choked back tears as she said: "It's tragic. Notre-Dame is part of the heart of Paris and part of our hearts too. Why couldn't more have been done to put out the blaze?" "This is really sad - the saddest thing I've ever stood and watched in my life," said Sam Ogden, a British tourist. "It looked tiny to begin with, then within an hour it all came down." Expand Close The cathedral is on an island in the Seine. Photo: REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The cathedral is on an island in the Seine. Photo: REUTERS Anne Hidalgo, the Paris mayor, said: "No words can described the pain I feel in seeing Notre-Dame ravaged by flames. Tonight, all Parisians and French mourn this emblem of our common history." She said that Paris, however, would find the force to rebuild the edifice from its motto: "Fluctuat nec mergitur" (Tossed by the waves but does not sink). "Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame," Notre-Dame spokesman Andre Finot said. The majority of the cathedral's artefacts, including the Crown of Thorns - a relic believed by some to be the crown worn by Christ at the Crucifixion - and the Holy sacraments, were reportedly saved from inside the main building. Expand Close Parisians kneel and pray as flames engulf Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Parisians kneel and pray as flames engulf Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images But as the flames failed to abate, it appeared that the cathedral's famous stained glass windows had melted. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, cancelled a television address to the nation last night and instead , he rushed to the scene with Edouard Philippe, the prime minister, and Christophe Castaner, the interior minister, to see the "terrible fire ravaging Notre-Dame". People know that the Lions Club is an organization out there that is willing to help with no questions or no judgment, he said. Organizations such as the Lions Club are vital for a productive society. President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday that France would rebuild the fire-devastated Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, saying he hoped the work would be done in five years and the French people would pull together to repair their national symbol. Macron devoted a brief prime-time televised address to Monday's catastrophic blaze in the heart of the capital, again postponing planned remarks on his response to months of anti-government protests. "We will rebuild Notre-Dame even more beautifully and I want it to be completed in five years, we can do it," Macron said. "It is up to us to convert this disaster into an opportunity to come together, having deeply reflected on what we have been and what we have to be and become better than we are. It is up to us to find the thread of our national project." "This is not a time for politics," added Macron, who had cancelled a speech planned on Monday evening on the response to the "yellow vest" protests. He visited the site of the fire late on Monday and promised then to rebuild the cathedral, parts of which date to the 12th century. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Notre Dame Cathedral appears in several films and novels (Francois Mori/AP) Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame (Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP) The spire and parts of Notre Dame cathedral on fire (AP Photo/Dominique Bichon) The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday Photo credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday evening Photo credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire Devastated: Faithful pray as they watch Notre-Dame Cathedral destroyed by fire. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Horror: A woman reacts as she watches flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Smoke ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Bystanders look on as flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images The cathedral is on an island in the Seine. Photo: REUTERS Devastated: Flames engulf the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Parisians kneel and pray as flames engulf Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) People pray as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) A still image taken from a video shows flames at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 15, 2019. REUTERS TV/via REUTERS Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that shows a cross inside the Notre Dame Cathedral as a fire continues to burn in Paris, France, April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer People watch as fire fighters douse flames of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Fire fighters douse flames of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Firefighters use hoses as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Firefighters use hoses as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Notre Dame Cathedral appears in several films and novels (Francois Mori/AP) The cathedral spire was destroyed and its roof gutted but the bell towers were still standing and many valuable art works were saved after more than 400 firemen worked to contain the blaze, finally quelling it 14 hours after it began. As the city and the country grieved for a potent national symbol, billionaires, companies and local authorities were quick to offer donations. Some 24 hours after the fire started, more than 750 million euros ($845 million) had been pledged, including 500 million from the three billionaire families that own France's giant luxury goods empires: Kering, LVMH and L'Oreal. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation, officials said. The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's oak roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire's timber-framed supports. Police began questioning the workers involved, the prosecutor's office said. One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt, with the fire starting at around 6:30 p.m. after the building was closed to the public for the evening. Firefighters examined the facade, with its spectacular 10-metre filigreed stained-glass rose window still intact. They could be seen walking atop the belfries as police kept the area in lockdown. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. "Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything," said Sister Marie Aimee, a nun who had hurried to a nearby church to pray as the flames spread. "CATHEDRAL OF THE PEOPLE" Messages of condolence flooded in from around the world. Pope Francis was praying for those affected, the Vatican said, adding: "Notre-Dame will always remain - and we have seen this in these hours - a place where believers and non-believers can come together in the most dramatic moments of French history." Britain's Queen Elizabeth expressed deep sadness while her son and heir Prince Charles said he was "utterly heartbroken". Chancellor Angela Merkel offered German help to rebuild a part of "our common European heritage". Considered among the finest examples of European Gothic architecture, Notre-Dame is visited by more than 13 million people a year. It sits on an island in the Seine, overlooking the Left Bank hangouts of Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. "Notre-Dame de Paris is the cathedral of the people, of the people of Paris, of the French people, of the people of the world. It is part of those references of our history, of what we have in common, of what we share," said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. It was at Notre-Dame that Henry VI of England was crowned "King of France" in 1431, that Napoleon was made emperor in 1804, and Pope Pius X beatified Joan of Arc in 1909. Presidents Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand were mourned there. HUMAN CHAIN The cathedral is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a dispute between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should finance restoration work to collapsed balustrades, crumbling gargoyles and cracked facades. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said the heritage charity Fondation du Patrimoine. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace of the fire's spread had been stunning. "We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said. The company carrying out the renovation works when the blaze broke out said it would cooperate fully with the investigation. "All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures," Julien Le Bras, a representative of family firm Le Bras Freres. Many relics and artworks were saved. At one point, firefighters, policemen and municipal workers formed a human chain to remove the treasures, including a centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France. Gold, silver and gem-inlaid chalices, candelabras and many other artefacts survived the blaze. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday evening Photo credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire A still image taken from a video shows flames at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 15, 2019. REUTERS TV/via REUTERS A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that shows a cross inside the Notre Dame Cathedral as a fire continues to burn in Paris, France, April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer Bystanders look on as flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) The cathedral is on an island in the Seine. Photo: REUTERS Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) Firefighters use hoses as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) People pray as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) Smoke ascends as flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Flames illuminate the night sky as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Horror: A woman reacts as she watches flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Photo: AFP/Getty Images A woman prays next to Notre Dame Cathedral after it suffered heavy damage from a fire. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building on Monday Photo credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire Man makes a drawing of the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris. Experts are assessing the blackened shell of Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral to establish next steps. Photo: AP Photo/Christophe Ena THE fire that tore through Notre-Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins overnight. More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to bring the fire under control some 14 hours after it began. Expand Close Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old Notre-Dame cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flames that began in the early evening burst rapidly through the roof of the centuries-old Notre-Dame cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof. "We are favouring the theory of an accident," Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said, adding that 50 people were working on what was expected to be a long and complex investigation. One firefighters was injured; no one else was reported hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening. From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls, with their vast flying buttresses, still stood firm, but the insides and the upper structure were eviscerated by the blaze. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its stone walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. Television images showed firefighters atop the towers. "The fire is fully extinguished," fire service spokesman Gabriel Plus told reporters. "Our job today is to monitor the structure and its movements." The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's timbered roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to collapsed balustrades and crumbling gargoyles, as well as the spire's wooden frame. Expand Close Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into "involuntary destruction by fire". Police on Tuesday began questioning the workers involved in the restoration, the prosecutor's office said. Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the Seine river late into the night as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmony as they stood in vigil. "It's a symbol of our country that risked being destroyed," Culture Minister Franck Riester said. Firefighters who entered the burning building saved many of its treasures, Riester said, although some paintings remained inside and risked smoke and water damage. MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DONATIONS President Emmanuel Macron promised France would rebuild Notre-Dame, considered among the finest examples of French and European Gothic architecture and visited by more than 13 million people annually. Expand Close Devastated: Flames engulf the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Devastated: Flames engulf the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Notre-Dame is owned by the state and has been at the centre of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should bear the brunt of costs for badly needed restoration work. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said Bertrand de Feydeau of the Fondation du Patrimoine, a charity which works to protect French heritage, but it is likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two of France's wealthiest men, Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of the Kering group which owns brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and Bernard Arnault, the main shareholder of luxury group LVMH, said they would donate 100 million euros ($113 million) and 200 million euros respectively. The city of Paris pledged 50 million euros. Other campaigns were launched in the United States as well-wishers around the world pledged contributions via social media. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace at which the fire spread through the cathedral had been stunning. Expand Close A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. A catastrophic fire engulfed the upper reaches of Paris' soaring Notre Dame Cathedral as it was undergoing renovations Monday, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) "We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said. A centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France, were saved, Notre-Dame's top administrative cleric, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, said. Copper statues representing the Twelve Apostles and four evangelists were removed by crane last week as part of the restoration work. American tourist Susan Hargrove said she'd been left breathless by the scale of devastation. "We are talking of world history, of our Western culture but also of something that is truly universal," Hargrove said. "Notre-Dame means something to everybody." The Ukrainian presidential race took a surreal turn when what was supposed to be a debate between the two candidates featured President Petro Poroshenko discussing his country's future with an empty lectern bearing the name of his rival, a comedian. Volodymyr Zelensky (41) had made clear beforehand that he would not attend the debate because of a quarrel over timing. But the president, struggling to revive his flagging re-election campaign, went ahead anyway, assailing his opponent as an unserious "virtual candidate". The one-man "debate", held in a stadium complex in Kiev, the capital, and broadcast live on television, came just a week before the second and decisive round of the election. Mr Poroshenko (53) seized on Mr Zelensky's absence to press his campaign pitch that voters should not trust Ukraine's future to an untested comic at a time of war. The Kremlin has confirmed preparations are under way for a historic first summit between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. On Sunday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported the North Korean leader would travel to Vladivostok as early as next week. The Russian president is due in Beijing for high-level meetings on April 26-27, and it is believed that a summit could happen in the days immediately before. The reports fell in line with earlier comments made by a group of Russian parliamentarians, who had intimated such a visit was planned in the spring. Speaking at his daily conference with journalists, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to name a date and time for the meeting but did confirm that the presidential administration was actively preparing for such a scenario. "As soon as there is complete clarity over the timelines and place of the meeting, we will inform you," Mr Peskov said. With negotiations about sanctions relief at an impasse between North Korea and the US, the Kremlin hopes Mr Kim is ready to pivot its way. But it remains to be seen whether Moscow has the leverage to deliver on what the North Korean leader needs. "Kim wants gradual sanctions relief in exchange for limited denuclearisation moves," said the former diplomat and foreign relations expert Vladimir Frolov. "And here Vladimir Putin is more than happy to step in and present himself as the world's elder statesman. But if there isn't major progress, Kim may well change tack and start doing bad stuff." A meeting between the two leaders has long been touted. Some had speculated it would happen at Russia's flagship Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok last September. Meanwhile, US Attorney General William Barr has told Congress he hopes to release the nearly 400-page Special Counsel Robert Mueller report this week. It looks into Russia's role in the 2016 US election, with many details expected to emerge when the document is finally released. But portions will be blacked out to protect certain types of sensitive information. ( Independent News Service) A New Zealand nurse kidnapped by Isil in Syria more than five years ago may still be alive, says her employer the Red Cross, breaking its silence in attempts to find her. Louisa Akavi (62) was abducted with two Syrian colleagues in October 2013 while delivering aid in rebel-held Idlib in the north-west. The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) had been in intermittent contact with Isil jihadists holding her, but communication dried up by late 2014. The 'New York Times' has reported the Red Cross has reason to believe Ms Akavi is alive, because at least two people described seeing her in December at a clinic in Sousa, one of the final villages to be held by Isil jihadists. There have been other credible sightings, officials said. 'The man said that he noticed his porn collection was missing after he moved to Indiana and his parents dropped off some of his belongings he had left at their home in November 2017' Stock image A man who was living with his parents is suing them for allegedly throwing out his collection of pornography worth nearly $29,000 (25,000), according to court documents. The rift between the family started in October 2016 when the unnamed man moved back into his parents' home in Michigan after a divorce, court documents say. He was then asked to leave their house, where he had carried out housework instead of paying rent, after 10 months when police were called over a reported domestic incident. The man said that he noticed his porn collection was missing after he moved to Indiana and his parents dropped off some of his belongings he had left at their home in November 2017. He said his parents told him that they had destroyed 12 boxes of porn films and two boxes of sex toys worth $28,940. The man allegedly called the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office and filed a police report but prosecutors refused to press charges. He then launched a $86,822 (77,000) civil lawsuit against his parents over the alleged destruction of his porn collection. According to court documents, the man's father said in an email to his son: "Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health. I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand." Staff members, former staff, and friends of the Capital Gazette pose for a photo after it won a special Pulitzer Prize citation (Josh Davisburg/The Baltimore Sun/AP) Capital Gazette staff members stayed silent and somberly exchanged hugs when the Maryland newspaper won a special Pulitzer Prize citation for its coverage and courage in the face of a massacre in its newsroom. Before the announcement, newspaper employees gathered in their newsroom to remember the five staff members who were shot and killed last June in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in US history. Its definitely bittersweet, said reporter Chase Cook. Since its so connected to something so tragic, there was no euphoric pop-off of excitement. Expand Close Editor Rick Hutzell, centre, gives a speech to his staff including Chase Cook, Nicki Catterlin, Rachael Pacella, Selene San Felice and Danielle Ohl at the Capital Gazette (Ulysses Muoz/The Baltimore Sun via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Editor Rick Hutzell, centre, gives a speech to his staff including Chase Cook, Nicki Catterlin, Rachael Pacella, Selene San Felice and Danielle Ohl at the Capital Gazette (Ulysses Muoz/The Baltimore Sun via AP) The Capital Gazette, based in the Maryland state capital of Annapolis, published on schedule the day after the shooting attack. The man charged in the attack had a longstanding grudge against the newspaper. Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell said the paper had submitted entries in five categories, including a joint entry with The Baltimore Sun for breaking news. Although the Capital Gazette did not win in any of the five categories, the Pulitzer board awarded the citation with an extraordinary 100,000-dollar grant to further its journalism. The Pulitzer board said the citation honours the journalists, staff and editorial board of the newspaper for their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in US history in their newsroom and for an unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief. Mr Hutzell said he thought the Pulitzer board handled its decision admirably. Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings, Mr Hutzell said. No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends. He also said the paper was aware it would be facing stiff competition. Its very difficult when you are reporting in some ways on yourself, he said. Thats not what we do. Were behind the camera, not in front of it. It's very difficult when you are reporting in some ways on yourselfCapital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell Employees John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen were killed in the attack last June 28. The shooting did not stop other workers from covering it and putting out a newspaper the next day, with assistance from colleagues at The Baltimore Sun, which is owned by the same company. Joshua McKerrow, a photographer for the newspaper, said the staff remained stone silent for about a minute after learning about the citation. It lets you know that the additional stress you've endured going back to work has been worth it and appreciatedReporter Rachael Pacella Capital Gazette reporter Rachael Pacella said the citation provided a big sense of validation for the staff. Its been a challenge returning to work, she said. It lets you know that the additional stress youve endured going back to work has been worth it and appreciated. Features reporter Selene San Felice said she had to compose herself in a bathroom before the prizes were announced. She initially was not sure how to react to the special citation. At first, I thought that meant they just feel bad for us. And thats not true, because there are a lot of people you can feel bad for right now. Weve really earned this, she said. Jarrod Ramos, the man charged in the newsroom shooting, had a history of harassing the newspapers journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The suit was dismissed as groundless. Ramoss trial is scheduled to start in November. He pleaded not guilty last year to first-degree murder charges. April 29 is the deadline for lawyers to change his plea to not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. Royal Bank of Scotland investors have been urged to vote down chief executive Ross McEwans 3.6 million pay packet, which has been branded excessive. Shareholder advisory firm PIRC said elements of Mr McEwans pay award are inappropriate, and pointed to the fact he is paid 46 times more than the average bank employee. The ratio of CEO to average employee has been estimated and is found unacceptable at 46:1, PIRC said in a report issued ahead of the banks annual general meeting next week. PIRC also took issue with Mr McEwans total variable pay, which it calculated at 211.1% of salary, describing it as excessive as it is over the recommended limit of 200%. Expand Close Ross McEwan (Andrew Milligan/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ross McEwan (Andrew Milligan/PA) As a result, PIRC is recommending shareholders reject the 62.4% taxpayer-owned banks remuneration report when votes are cast next week. The New Zealanders pay packet last year consisted of a 1 million basic salary, a 1 million fixed share allowance and another 1.1 million as part of a long-term incentive award. Pay awards for top bosses at several companies are expected to come under close scrutiny over the coming months, with Lloyds and Barclays also set to hold their AGMs. Investor advisory groups Glass Lewis and ISS are recommending shareholders vote in favour of RBSs remuneration report. Mr McEwan has presided over a return to profit at RBS, which in February reported its second successive year in the black and announced a 1.6 billion final dividend, resulting in a near 1 billion windfall for the taxpayer. The lender saw bottom-line profits more than double from 752 million last year to 1.62 billion, a 116% increase. Full year pre-tax operating profit rose 50% to 3.4 billion. It marked the banks second year in the black following a decade-long run of stinging losses, during a period marred by crisis-era legacy and conduct charges. Frode Berg is accused of spying on Russia (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) A Moscow court has found a Norwegian man guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 14 years in a high-security prison. Retired Norwegian border inspector Frode Berg was arrested in Moscow in December 2017. He was accused of collecting information about Russian nuclear submarines for Norwegian intelligence. Prosecutors asserted that Berg was caught with documents he had received from an employee of a military facility who was shadowed by Russian intelligence. He denies the charges and his lawyer has called him a victim of a set-up. For years, the 63-year-old Berg had been a well-known figure in the Russian-Norwegian border area, taking an active role in cultural and humanitarian exchange projects. Expand Close Vladimir Putin says he will wait for a verdict before considering a presidential pardon (Nick Potts/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Vladimir Putin says he will wait for a verdict before considering a presidential pardon (Nick Potts/PA) Bergs lawyer, Ilya Novikov, told the Interfax news agency that he and his client do not see any point in appealing the verdict but instead would submit a plea for a presidential pardon. Bergs trial came up in talks between President Vladimir Putin and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in St Petersburg last week. Asked about a possible pardon, Mr Putin said he would wait for the verdict before weighing pleas for one. Taliaferro said he will work with residents who are interested in pursuing resident-restricted parking on streets near the projects, and will meet with Chicago Transit Authority representatives in the future to discuss any potential changes to CTA routes near the developments. Loughlin's not guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering is her first substantive response in the case. Prosecutors say she and Giannulli paid $500,000 to a fake charity to get their two daughters accepted into the University of Southern California, falsely designating them as crew recruits. The actress' decision to plead not guilty has already had several repercussions, where another actress Felicity Huffman plead guilty last week. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors said they will recommend incarceration at the "low end" of the sentencing range and will not bring further charges against her. But those who did not plead guilty, including Loughlin and 15 other parents, were charged a day later with a count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Legal experts said this is part of the prosecution's "carrot and stick" approach intended to pressure defendants to plead guilty or face further charges. Loughlin and Giannulli appeared in federal court in Boston two weeks ago, but they had not publicly indicated how they planned to plead until now. Each of the two charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison. According to a report in CNN.com, They also waived their right to appear in court for an arraignment on a money laundering charge, according to the signed documents. Arizona tribes role in drought negotiations marks turning point for inclusion, experts say Cronkite News SACATON Sprouting through the cracked floor of the Sonoran Desert, tepary beans thrive in the dry heat and carry with it centuries of resilience from the indigenous Pima people of southern Arizona. We have our water. Its our life. Its our livelihood, and its our culture, said Ramona Button, owner of Ramona Farms Ramona Button and her husband, Terry, have been farming traditional native foods on the Gila River Indian Community for more than 40 years, including the tepary bean, a staple of native dishes for centuries. And were experts in dealing with drought, Terry Button said. Cronkite News Video by Lillian Donahue: Arizona tribes included in drought contingency plan With more than 4,000 acres under cultivation, the Buttons have had to draw their nearly 20,000 acre feet of water needed every year from a variety of sources. They get water from the San Carlos Irrigation Project, ground wells and the Colorado River hundreds of miles away. Commingle all these water resources to ensure us to have enough water to keep this agricultural industry thriving here, Terry Button said. But after nearly two decades of drought in Arizona and waning water levels in the Colorado River Basin, the seven states that make up the basin, including Arizona, California and Nevada, have had to negotiate potential cuts to the water to make sure theres enough water in Lake Powell, which straddles the Utah-Arizona line, and in Lake Mead, to supply water throughout the Southwest. The Drought Contingency Plan , also known as the DCP , is a multistate agreement that includes Arizona. The plan aims to keep water levels in those reservoirs above critical lows, and should reservoirs dip below certain levels, state including Arizona will have to cut back on the amount each takes from the Colorado River system. From crop selection to leveling the fields, Terry Button says the first line of defense against drought starts by conserving water on the farm. Photo by Oskar Agredano / Cronkite News After months of negotiations on the state level, Sen. Martha McSally, a Republican, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat, introduced DCP legislation in the House and Senate, which Congress sent to President Trump to sign last week ( H.R.2030 ). This is about the livelihood and the safety of 40 million Americans, McSally said on the Senate floor. The Colorado River DCP Authorization Act puts sound water policy over partisan politics. However, before even getting to Capitol Hill , Arizonas tribes played a critical role in the negotiation of the DCP Without the communitys participation, we dont see how the DCP can be done, Stephen Roe Lewis, Gila River Indian Community governor, said in March before Arizona had agreed to the plan. We call ourselves the people of the river, Ootham. We have that generational knowledge that goes back centuries if not a millennium, Lewis said. Like the resilient tepary bean they harvest, the Buttons have learned to adapt, despite water challenges over the past two decades. Photo by Oskar Agredano / Cronkite News If cuts are made due to drought, the Gila River Indian Community would keep a portion of their water in Lake Mead for compensation. But other tribes are contributing to the drought plan. Chairman Dennis Patch of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, CRIT, said the community plans to provide 50,000 acre-feet of water every year from 2020 through 2022. The benefit for us is that we would be getting some income off it, Patch said. The benefit for Arizona and its users is that it would get more water. Water is power, and in the Colorado River Basin, tribes hold a significant amount of water claims. If water at Lake Mead drops below 1,075 feet above sea level, more that 30 percent of the Central Arizona Project water from the Colorado River will be cut, according to the Drought Contingency Plan. Photo by Oskar Agredano / Cronkite News Ten tribes, including the Colorado River Indian Tribes, have rights to more than 2.8 million acre-feet of water yearly from the Colorado River, according to the Tribal Water Study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Native American communities in the basin. But only half of that water is currently being used, the study said. Daryl Vigil, water administrator at Jicarilla Apache Nation, who worked on the study, said its relatively new for local and federal lawmakers to include tribes in national water policy conversations. That conversation and that opportunity wasnt available before, Vigil said. But now with the conclusion of this DCP and the inclusion of tribes in that dialogue, I think that sets the stage for that to happen. Despite facing drought, the Buttons at Ramona Farms said they are more optimistic now than decades before when water was diverted away from the Gila River Indian Community as the population grew outside the reservation. The hardest part was when the water was diverted to other areas up east of us. That was a part of what we called our drought also, Ramona Button said. The Gila River Indian Community regained its water claims in a 2004 settlement As the Buttons walk through their barley fields, they know none of it could be possible without the work of those who came before them, and the water that gives the desert around them life. Right now, were enjoying the opportunity and the responsibility to maintain this tradition, Terry Button said. To utilize the resources of the communities agricultural land, its water, and the people. This story is part of Elemental: Covering Sustainability, a new multimedia collaboration between Cronkite News Rocky Mountain PBS and PBS SoCal . It originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license Join the Conversation Exciting, unexpected, challenging and rewarding: Peggy Flanagans first 100 days First Native woman as Minnesotas lieutenant governor says, 'Its an honor and humbling to be able to demonstrate a path and space forward for young Native women Indian Country Today Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan of the White Earth Nation shoulders a uniquely Native responsibility when it comes to governing. Unlike most of the United States elected officials, Flanagan must answer to the auntie burden. My aunties will come for me if I dont do the work, she said. Flanagan said her first 100 days in office have been exciting, unexpected, challenging and rewarding. Weve done quite a bit of work in these first 100 days, said Flanagan, the first Native American woman to serve as Minnesotas lieutenant governor. Her work with Governor Tim Walz has included hiring 24 state agency commissioners and creating a state budget. Flanagan said the pairs work began even before they officially took office. We met with our One Minnesota Transition Advisory Board made up of leaders across the state who helped us identify priorities for commissioners we were hiring and help in putting a budget together and helping us lay the groundwork for community engagement, she said. Our advisory board looks like the state of Minnesota and includes small family farmers, tribal leaders, members of the Black and Hmong communities, Flanagan said. We are doing our work while looking through a lens of equity and inclusion; we believe that people directly affected by policy should have a seat at the table, she said. Today I had a great time visiting the Minneapolis American Indian Center a space dedicated to building a healthy community for Indigenous Minnesotans. We are a committed partner in helping MAIC receive the funding needed to continue building on this inclusive community space. pic.twitter.com/PhVcCfEumV Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (@LtGovFlanagan) April 2, 2019 Having a tribal member as lieutenant governor also adds an increased level of accountability towards the states Native American tribes and community according to Flanagan. Notably, Minnesotas executive order regarding tribal and state consultation expands those of past administrations. Executive order 19-24 requires each state agency to identify a tribal liaison and create a timeline for tribal consultation. Past orders exempted some agencies. During a speech at White Earths State of the Nation address on April 4, Flanagan described the executive order. It is time for policy being done to Indian people to stop, and for policy to be done in partnership with Native Nations to begin and continue. That order changes that. Walzs proposed budget includes many of Flanagans priorities such as education, health, and community prosperity which ensures families access to affordable child care and other social services. As a Native woman and child advocate, my fingerprints are all over our budget, she said. The proposed nearly $50 billion Walz/Flanagan budget includes the following points: The use of traditional healers and the work being done in the Native community to provide traditional, rehabilitative, and restorative services. Invests in training at the Minnesota Department of Transportation that support our commitment to respect treaty rights and tribal sovereignty across all levels of state government. Stabilizes and equalizes funding for American Indian tribal schools for the first time to ensure our state better serves American Indian students. Supports culturally specific reentry programs for Indigenous people who are incarcerated, so that they have the tools they need to successfully reenter communities and reconnect with families. Funds the formation of a task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women to address the growing crisis facing our Indigenous communities across our state and country. Provides full funding for investments in tribes child welfare delivery system to support the costs of out-of-home placements, helping to ensure more American Indian children are placed with people they know and trust. Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (D), center, embraces Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) as Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) looks on. A reception in Washington, D.C., on February 12, 2019, marked the first time the three elected Native women had been in the same room together at the same time. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Paid for in part by raising the states gas tax by .20 per gallon, the budget includes raising the Minnesota Family Investment Program by $100.00 per family. MFIP is Minnesotas version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and provides families with financial assistance for food, clothing, rent as well as job training and finding employment. The family investment program hasnt seen a raise since 1986 when I was in first grade and my family used the program. If we want to get serious about making sure everyone in the state who needs it has an opportunity to lift their families out of poverty we need to increase funding for social programming, Flanagan said. The work of her administrations first 100 days is only the beginning. Now she and Walz must get buy-in for their budget from a divided state legislature. Although we are fairly aligned with the House of Representatives, a lack of leadership among Senate Republicans is preventing them from meeting us even halfway on many issues, Flanagan said. For instance, despite Republican support, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womens bill first introduced in 2018 by Democratic Representative Mary Kunesh-Podein of the Standing Rock Nation failed to move to the Senate. The bill would create a task force that would report to the legislature about the causes and extent of victimization of Indigenous women and girls in the state as well as offer strategies to reduce and end violence. There is no excuse not to move forward with this bill. In the grand scheme of the overall budget, it wont cost much. Native women and girls are worth the investment, Flanagan said. My hope is that the MMIW bill wont be used as a bargaining chip at the end of the session. No one should play politics with the bodies of Native women and girls. One of the most rewarding aspects of Flanagans first 100 days has been hearing from Native women and girls. Its really been an honor and humbling to be able to demonstrate a path and space forward for young Native women, she said. In February, Flanagan was invited by Senator Tina Smith, Democrat-MN to attend the presidents state of the union address in Washington D.C. It was so hopeful and exciting to join Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland in that space, she said. Davids, D-Kansas is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Rep. Haaland, D-New Mexico is a member of Laguna Pueblo. All three Native women were elected to office during the 2018 midterm elections. Mary Annette Pember has covered Indian Country for several years for Indian Country Today, and other publications. She has won numerous industry awards and fellowships including the Clarion, Native American Journalists Association Photographer of the Year, Medill Milestone Achievement Award, Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Fellowship, USC Annenberg National Health Journalism and others for her coverage of sex trafficking, missing and murdered indigenous women, sexual assault, impact of historical trauma and other topics. She is an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe. This story originally appeared on Indian Country Today on April 15, 2019. Join the Conversation Despite so many efforts from Disney, just a couple of weeks ahead of its release, sadly, some important and spoiler-heavy footage from Avengers: Endgame has been leaked online. If you are an ardent Marvel fan, we are sure, you dont want to see the spoilers. And so, we suggest you go off social media for sometime because photos, clips and videos are all over the internet. It is said that the quality of the video isnt good but a major chunk, which has many important moments from the much-awaited movie has been leaked. However, it doesnt reveal the ending of the movie. It is said that the leaked footage has confirmed some of the major fan theories. So, fans are suggesting going off social media for some time, because once you see the footage, there is absolutely no way of going back. You dont want the movie ruined for you, right? A big Video leak of Avengers Endgame is going around from a special screening in South Korea. Its almost 5 minutes and please avoid it if you dont want spoilers. Saw only a minute of it by accident and now I... https://t.co/je5hqoiVwA Jose Saul Nieves Rayuta (@Rayuta) April 16, 2019 Stop with the #AvengersEndgame leaks. This is ridiculous. Also, don't watch a pirated version of this movie on your sad little computer. This film deserves to be watched in a theater not in your mom's basement. BJ The Web Guy (@BJtheWebGuy) April 16, 2019 10 Day Away from #AvengersEndgame and spoilers and leaks are flying around... We have prepared for this people...BLOCK, MUTE, Shut Social Media DOWN if you have to!!#ThanosDemandsYourSilence pic.twitter.com/zn4N4p3naU Chad Hoschka (@ChadHoschka) April 16, 2019 i am sutting down all the social media for 10 day..INSTA.FB.TWITTER...all of it#belikedrstrange#AvengersEndgame#AvengersEndgameleak vipin patel (@vipinpa37700567) April 16, 2019 If you dont want to be spoiled stay off all major social media. Someone has leaked Avengers Endgame. #AvengersEndgame #leak #spoilers Gonzo (@SmugFac3Ac3) April 16, 2019 I heard someone leaked avengers endgame footage, and Im terrified to stumble upon it here.. Mauricio Galvan (@Steelfold10) April 16, 2019 Guys we need to get off of Twitter for the next 11 days. Massive leaks for Avengers: Endgame are on this site!!! This will be my final post for a while until the movie is out. See ya on April 27th. Issac the King (@IssacFl94852488) April 16, 2019 Disney had kept the film so shrouded that even journalists and critics were not shown the movie. Only 10 minutes of Avengers: Endgame was screened for the press in Los Angeles. Furthermore, 20 minutes of the movie were screened for select members of the press in South Korea. It is said that the 5-minute video that has leaked is reportedly from the screening in South Korea. However, nothing can be confirmed as of now. But Marvel fans, beware of social media! Like a true fan, we suggest, you should watch Avengers: Endgame in the theatres on April 26. It survived revolutions and multiple wars. For about 800 years, Notre Dame Cathedral stood tall. The historical church in Paris, however, was engulfed in fire on Monday and it was heartbreaking for everyone to see it burning to the ground. As the colossal fire swept through the historical monument causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks, most of the people were in tears some others offering prayers. Twitter The cause of the fire is unknown as of yet but officials say it could be linked to renovation work at the heritage structure, the BBC reported. No deaths have been reported so far. However, to see the house of worship being engulfed in flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky, it was startling and sad for the onlookers. Bollywood celebs also expressed sadness on Notre Dame Cathedral fire! Heartbreaking. #NotreDame is burning. Pray there are no casualties. Hope they can stop the fire and restore the monument. What a sad day:( https://t.co/OBcVkrjezt Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) April 15, 2019 Omg . Terrible . Terrible . This is a horrible loss to history and ancient heritage. https://t.co/E2HPc6OgkO Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) April 15, 2019 This is a world tragedy #NorteDame -I have no words to express my sadness. To every Notre Dame lover - am so so sorry. pic.twitter.com/FcCQaN6qhI Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) April 15, 2019 The Notre Dame tragedy is hard to watch. The people of France must be devastated. We hope and pray that its restoration will serve to heal.#NotreDame #Fire#NotreDameCathedral Boman Irani (@bomanirani) April 16, 2019 Many Bollywood movies have given a tour of the beautiful Paris church. From Befikre (the scene in which Vaani Kapoor threw a challenge at Ranveer Singh) to movies like London, Paris, New York and London Dreams' song 'Mann Ko Ati Bhaave' was shot there. In a worrying trend, the number of measles cases worldwide nearly quadrupled in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 against the same period last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, citing provisional data. Higher rates of the preventable but contagious disease - which can kill a child or leave it blind, deaf or brain-damaged - have been recorded in all regions, the United Nations agency said in a statement, appealing for better vaccination coverage. Fresh outbreaks have hit the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sudan, Thailand and Ukraine, "causing many deaths - mostly among young children", the WHO said. It gave no figures for fatalities but noted it estimates that only one in 10 cases is reported globally. "Over recent months, spikes in case numbers have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States of America as well as Israel, Thailand, and Tunisia, as the disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people," the WHO statement said. U.S. federal health officials said on Monday the number of confirmed cases of measles in the United States this year jumped by nearly 20 percent in the week ended April 11 - the country's second-worst outbreak in nearly two decades. Reuters/Representational Image A growing and vocal fringe of parents in the United States oppose measles vaccines in the belief, contrary to scientific evidence, that ingredients in the vaccines can cause autism or other disorders. Increasing vaccination coverage maximises a population's protection, the WHO said. Global coverage with the first dose has "stalled" at 85 percent, against 95 percent needed to prevent outbreaks, while 25 countries still do not include a second dose in their national programmes, it said. (With inputs from agencies) If numbers are necessary for you to believe in a story, here they are. The official government data has revealed that as many as 926 crimes against women take place every day in India. This includes at least 106 cases of brutal sexual assault on women. In just a few words, here is the story of women security in India. Every politician vows to make cities safer for women, every incumbent representative promises security to 'sisters and daughters'. What happens at the end? They all become just a data. As elections are underway across the country, you will once again here such promises, but you need to keep in mind certain harsh realities before voting for the candidate who makes promises for women security. Rape, the most horrendous crime against women too have seen a surge as a total of 38,947 rapes were reported in 2016, compared to 34,651 in 2015. 10 most unsafe states according to NCRB The crime statistics rolled out by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2016 (after that no data has been released) once again states the obvious that India - rural and urban alike - is becoming unsafe for women. A total of 338,000 incidents of crime against women were recorded in 2016 against the total of 329,000 crimes against women in 2015. The states which have maximum political might to take decisions that can bring a sea change in the state of women safety in India are most unsafe for women. INDIATIMES A total of 38,947 rapes were reported in 2016, compared to 34,651 in 2015. Here are 10 states with most rape cases registered. 1. Madhya Pradesh With 4,882 rape cases registred in the state in 2016, MP is the most unsafe state for women and when it comes to justice, the victims of rape and sexual assault or any other crime for that matter have to wait for year to get justice. For instance, in 2016, the courts in MP convicted a total of 6199 people who were accused of crime against women where 16,168 were acquitted from the charges. 2. Uttar Pradesh With 4,816 cases registered in the state, women in UP do feel unsafe. But there is another thing which should worry the police, as well as the families and the women, that majority of the rapes, were allegedly done by people known to the victims. Out of 4816 rape cases, in 4803 cases, the accused were known the victim. 3. Maharashtra AFP Despite 4189 rape cases in 2016, COnsidered to be one of the safest places in India for women to go out after Maharashtra too has a bad reputation to fight. The state has two cities in top ten cities with most rape cases registered in Mumbai (712) and Pune (354). Both Pune and Mumbai are considered to be extremely safe when a parallel is drawn against other major cities. 4. Rajasthan bccl/representational image With 3656 rape cases registered in 2016, Rajasthan is at the fourth spot. The state is known for its history and culture can get extremely difficult for women to come out and register a complaint. In three years of 2014, 2015 and 2016, the state police registered 31216, 28224, and 27422 respectively and on crime rate rank, it was fifth. 5. Odisha Odisha police registered a total of 1983 cases of rape in 2016 and justice here elude women more than their counterparts in other states as the state has one of the worst conviction ratios in the country. In connection to the crime against women, only 918 people were convicted in Odisha in 2016 whereas 10,627 accused were acquitted which speak a lot about how difficult it 's for women in Odisha to get justice. BCCL/ Representational Image 6. Assam With 1779 cases of rapes registered in the state, Assam is among the most unsafe states for women. But it's one of the state where kidnapping of women is highest in India. For instance, in 2016, Assam police registered a total of 5339 cases of kidnapping with 5342 victims. 7. Kerala With 1656 rape cases in 2016, Kerala which is considered to be one of the most prosperous states in India also falls in the list of unsafe states. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Kerala witnessed 11451, 9767, 10034 crime against women respectively. 8. Karnataka reuters/representational image Karnataka is also in the list with 1655 rape cases in 2016. It's one of the most unsafe states for young girls as there were a total of 735 victims of crime against women who were between the age of 16 and 18. 9. Chhatisgarh With the state police registering a total of 1626 rape cases in 2016, Chhatisgarh is among the states where rapes happen. After Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, it is third state where maximum cases surfaced in 2016 where a crime was committed against women by promising marriage to the victim. 10. Telangana With 1278 rape cases registered in 2016, Telangana is also among the state where women victim to crime more frequently in comparison to other states. It's capital Hyderabad is one of the most advanced cities in India but it also falls in list with cities where maximum rapes took place in 2016 as a total of 170 rape cases were registered in Hyderabad in 2016. Lets join hands and work towards an environment where women in India feel safe and sound. #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 I was able to complete the first two years of college without going into debt, Sherwin said, and his classes transferred to Northeastern Illinois University after graduation. If someone knows they want to go to college but doesnt know what they want to do, its a way to find your way. Flyers can heave a sigh of relief after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a meeting with representatives of all domestic airlines, who said they have removed higher fare buckets for sale and are offering air tickets to passengers from lower buckets. The development came as Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu directed Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to review air ticket prices following cancellation of flights by Jet Airways. Reuters "Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc. Asked him to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety; to work with all stakeholders for their well being," Prabhu tweeted. The aviation regulator has been monitoring domestic air fares on a daily basis, particularly on high density routes and connecting remote regions where alternate mode of transport is not available. The airlines were advised to keep the fares in check and provide information to the DGCA on regular basis. Jet Airways is battling for survival and has yet to receive a loan of about Rs 1,500 crore as part of a rescue deal with government-owned lenders. Reuters "The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far, and as a result of this, we have extended cancellation of international operations through Thursday, April 18," Jet Airways Chairman Vinay Dubey said in a statement on Monday. A consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India took over the debt-ridden airline after Founder Chairman Naresh Goyal stepped down on March 25. (With ANI Inputs) Politicians of different parties rarely get along with each other, at least on camera. Political bickering is a norm these days given the election season. Congress leader and candidate Shashi Tharoor was injured on Monday during a religious ritual at a temple in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. A day later, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid a visit to the Congress leader and this gesture proves there is life beyond politics. Touched by the gesture, Tharoor posted the image of the defence minister greeting him in the hospital. Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example! pic.twitter.com/XqbLf1iCR5 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 16, 2019 "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!(sic)," wrote Shashi Tharoor. Netizens were impressed by the bonhomie between the two senior political leaders despite their politicial differences. Twitterrati shared their messages on their respective social media accounts. Thats my @INCIndia leader who calls a spade a spade....may this tribe increase in Indian Politics. Netta D'Souza (@dnetta) April 16, 2019 Humanity above politics can only be found in our @BJP4India leaders sir..Get well soon.. pic.twitter.com/XmKTzzKa8w Sapna Mishra (@ISapnaMishra) April 16, 2019 Get well soon, rare gesture of civility indeed in the political times we live in. S lrfan Habib (@irfhabib) April 16, 2019 Tharoor is engaged in a tough three-way electoral battle for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat with former Mizoram Governor K. Rajasekheran of BJP and CPI's C. Divakaran, a sitting legislator and former state Minister. Kerala will vote in the third phase for its 20 seats on April 23. Kerala is one of the 22 states and UT's that'll vote in a single phase. The 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark in Paris, the Notre Dame Cathedral was swept by a massive fire as it was undergoing renovations on Monday. The inferno collapsed its spire and threatened one of the world's greatest architectural treasures as tourists and Parisians looked on aghast from the streets below. A devastating fire that engulfed the Notre Dame, was brought under control on Tuesday, while the Cathedral's main structure as well as its two towers has been saved, the city's fire brigade has confirmed. Notre Dame, Paris, is on fire and it feels like the end of the world. pic.twitter.com/qYYk7ewipq Shiv Malik (@shivmalik) April 15, 2019 "The fire is completely under control. It is partially extinguished, there are residual fires to put out," the Guardian quoted a fire brigade spokesman as saying on Tuesday morning. AP Some 500 firefighters worked to prevent one of the bell towers from collapsing, according to fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet, adding that several invaluable artefacts had also been rescued from the burning cathedral. The fire began at around 6.30 p.m., on Monday and quickly caused the collapse of the Cathedral's spectacular Gothic spire and the destruction of its roof structure, which dated back to the 13th century. Consumed by flames, the spire leaned to one side and fell onto the burning roof as horrified onlookers watched. Parisians raised their voices in song on Monday night outside the burning Cathedral which is one of the city's most revered historic sites. AP French President Emmanuel Macron praised firefighters for saving the Cathedral's iconic facade and towers, saying "the worst has been avoided", CNN reported. Yet he lamented the damage already done to "the Cathedral of all French people". He asked the country to commit to rebuilding Notre Dame together, announcing an international fundraising campaign to raise money for the repairs. "Notre Dame is our history, it's our literature, it's our imagery. It's the place where we live our greatest moments, from wars to pandemics to liberations... This history is ours. And it burns. It burns and I know the sadness so many of our fellow French feel." A site taking online donations has been launched. AP The cause of the fire is not yet clear. Officials have said that it could be linked to the renovation work that began after cracks appeared in the stone, sparking fears the structure could become unstable, the BBC reported. Paris prosecutor's office said it had opened an inquiry into "accidental destruction by fire". Several churches around Paris rang their bells in response to the blaze, which happened as Catholics celebrate Holy Week. The Vatican said the Holy See learned with "shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, symbol of Christianity, in France and in the world". German Chancellor Angela Merkel has offered her support to the people of France, calling Notre-Dame a "symbol of French and European culture". UK Prime Minister Theresa May said in a tweet: "My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral". My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre-Dame cathedral. Theresa May (@theresa_may) April 15, 2019 US President Donald Trump said it was "horrible to watch" the fire and suggested that "flying water tankers" could be used to extinguish the blaze. UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres said: "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century... The Notre Dame's foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III, and the Cathedral was completed in the 13th century. Today, with its towers, spire, flying buttresses and stained glass, Notre Dame is considered a feat of architecture as well as a major religious and cultural symbol of France. It is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year. AP It was the site of Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation as Emperor in 1804. The central spire was built in the 19th century amid a broad restoration effort, partly buoyed by the success of Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" in 1831. The Cathedral also houses the grand organ, one of the world's most famous musical instruments, as well as the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ. (With inputs from agencies) Earlier this month, the Madras High Court directed the central government to ban the app TikTok, claiming it "encourages pornography". Now it seems the Supreme Court has refused to put a stay on the order, so the app is officially expected to be taken offline. An SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi posted the matter for an April 22 hearing as it will be heard in Madras High Court today. In the meantime, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has asked both Apple and Google to take the app down from their platforms. TikTok has been all the rage lately, both across the world and in India. Of its approximately half a billion users, at least 119 million are estimated to be Indian. And those are all mostly kids and teenagers. At its core, TikTok is an app that lets you share short videos. The idea is to use dance or lip sync to background music or movie dialogues to create the most viral clip. Lately though, the app has faced backlash for exposing younger audiences to sleazy content and being "inappropriate". Mostly though, because of the unusually high number of older men on the app in India, it's been accused of being an idyllic breeding ground for pedophiles. But whether or not a ban would even fix this problem is a different question entirely, one we've written about before. For its part, TikTok doesn't agree with the accusations or the ban, calling it "disproportionate, discriminatory and arbitrary." Without really accepting blame for the controversy, the company says it's been working on stepping up its content filters and moderation, and has removed "over 6 million videos that violated the ToS in India." According to the Journal of American Cardiology, 34 people die every minute to cardiovascular disease. Additionally, at least 1,300 Indians die of cancer each year according to the National Cancer Registry Programme. Early detection of these deadly diseases is crucial to their treatment and saving lives. And cutting edge technology is helping us do just that. The problem is, it's not always humanly possible to notice the signs linked with a particular disease or condition. That's exactly where artificial intelligence comes in. Siemens Healthineers, the tech company's AI research arm, are working on a new technique for MRI analysis powered by AI, specifically where cardiac MRI's are concerned. The idea is to develop an AI that can independently segment a scan and identify objects (like heart chambers and ventricles) and abnormalities. This of course requires a form of image recognition as well as other factors, all of which need to be maintained simultaneously. That's why Siemens has just advanced to Intel's latest 2nd-generation Xeon Scalable processors, to improve their workload efficiency for this massive amount of image processing and intelligence gathering. But aside from a computer possibly being able to spot abnormalities a human can't, there's another benefit to Siemen's AI. For one thing, it can be extensively used in rural hospitals where, even if they have MRI machines nearby, are usually understaffed with radiologists. "There is a growing workload for a shrinking population of radiologists who can interpret the images the devices generate," says Dr Thoomas Friese, Senior VP of Data Architecture & Technology Platforms at Healthineers. . With this Healthineer's AI however, the idea is to have the algorithm generate an inference in almost real time. It's just another example of what AI developers are most excited about; edge computing. Where data is analysed and processed eight at the source, instead of sent back and forth between a server. This kind AI can also speed up and improve the efficiency of clinics on average workdays. To that end, H2O.ai also provides an artificial intelligence service, just of a very different kind. Instead of a dedicated medical AI or the like, H20.ai basically provides companies and small ventures with an AI quick-build. Using their AutoML template, a new startup for instance can quicker and more effectively set up analytics of their own. Whether that's eventually for gauging sales trends or tracking customer buys is up to you. The idea here, all three companies say, is to democratize AI. Prakash Mallya, Vice President and Managing Director for Intel India, insists that all kinds of ventures should be able to reap the benefits of AI, whether tiny startups or a mega-corporation. But for that we need more than just cheaper AI-focused processors. He understands that we also need manpower. And in a specialized field like AI development, the only manpower you get at a nascent stage is what you train. So far, Mallya says Intel has trained 112,000 people in the AI ecosystem, some as part of school programs, some in partnership with companies, and others on its own. "Adoption of AI is only limited by the complexity of the tools. So if we simplify tools usage we simplify adoption, and more youngsters in the industry ultimately means more AI innovation for everyone." And all that new talent is crucial to innovation, and AI being applied to advance industries like healthcare. Our methods of detection and treatment haven't really changed in decades, only our tools have improved. But if we can apply AI to early detection systems, patients formerly undiagnosed with serious conditions could be treated early enough to make a difference, thereby reducing the stress on both hospitals as well as indirectly making the drugs needed for these treatments cheaper and therefore more accessible. Even more importantly, the addition of what's essentially a robotic workforce in hospitals and clinics could help make healthcare itself more accessible for people in poor and remote communities, especially in India. ALSO READ: Future Of Tech: AI Isn't A Danger To Society, You Can Train & Get A Job Without Degree Says IBM If you're in the habit of taking a lot of photos of nature, this one is right up your alley. NASA wants you to please point your camera at trees, lots of them. Whoever else you can get to do this would be great too. After all you're not just snapping for Instagram, it's for science. PxHere The US space agency is currently on a mission, using its ICESat-2 satellite to estimate the height of trees from space. The satellite carries an instrument called ATLAS that shoots 60,000 pulses of light at the Earth every second as it orbits us. Sensors on board measure how long it takes those beams to bounce back from the surface and, combined with the satellite's position, angle, and orbital speed, can let scientists measure elevation at any point. This includes the elevation of ice, water bodies, and mountains, but most importantly the trees on Earth. That's because knowing how tall the trees are is a good way to estimate how healthy a forest is and how much carbon dioxide it's capable of soaking up. So you pointing your smartphone at the trees with NASA's app allows them to confirm the readings from the ground. If citizen scientists help out this way, the researcher will know just how accurate their height readings are from orbit, meaning they can monitor the world's greenery health from a macro level. To help out, all you need to do is download the NASA GLOBE Observer app, and choose from the different tools like recording cloud observations, mosquito habitats, and nearby landscape around you. GLOBE Trees is what lets you measure tree height, and there's an easy tutorial as soon as you open the app for the first time. Once in the app, just select a tree that's not broken or bowed over and find a spot about 25 to 75 feet away with line of sight. Then hold the phone in front of your face and angle it to measure the base and then the top. After that, take a picture of the whole tree and count your steps to it. When you input that last bit of data, the app spits out the tree's height NASA The research team say they've received about 700 measurements from 20 different countries since the app launched, but they'd love to get even more. And hey, if you live in a house with trees nearby and wonder if they might come down on you in a storm, this is a great way to see if they're tall enough to need pruning. People all over the world are mourning the destruction of history that took place when a massive fire broke out at Notre Dame in Paris. The fire is said to have destroyed two-thirds of the roof of the Cathedral. It also harmed the various relics and artworks that are of great historic value and have been preserved in the Cathedral for centuries. The good news is, however, that one of the most iconic relics known as Crown of Thorns has been saved from the fire, as informed by the rector of the cathedral, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet. The piece is believed to have been worn by Jesus Christ at the time of his crucifixion. reuters The relic obviously is one of the most precious pieces when it comes to preservation of history and one can only imagine how important it is to save such a piece. reuters There are reports that the police and firefighters formed a human chain in order to protect the artworks and relics found inside the Cathedral. Another person people have been thanking is Jean-Marc Fournier, Chaplain of the Paris Firefighters who was one of the first people to rush into the burning monument without fearing for his life so that he could do damage control. Were glad the authorities of the city came together to save such an important part of history in this time of distress. Indian American actress Shunori Ramanathan has been signed for a role in What Is Life Worth, which is based on the memoir of Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who was put in charge of the 9/11 Fund. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival) The body of Shalvinesh Shalvin Sharma (left), whose tow truck plummeted into the Sacramento River March 26 after a collision, was found April 11. Sharmas wife, Roselyn, was with him in the tow truck; a womans body believed to be that of Roselyn was found inside the truck April 14 after three days of search and rescue operations. (photo via Roselyn Sharmas Facebook page) Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has released 15 years of tax returns, including her returns for 2018. The Indian American U.S. senator (D-CA) is seen here speaking during the North American Building Trades Unions Conference at the Washington Hilton April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images) 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... More than 40 leaders in the banking industry in West Africa region will gather in Lagos, Nigeria between the coming 23 -24 April, to discuss efforts aiming to increase financial inclusion across West Africa region by 2020 in the Future Banking Tech West Africa Summit. The first of its kind event focuses on the future of digitizing banking services is front and center for Central Banks. Leveraging off experiences of similar regions can aid in the adoption of best financial inclusion practices, as it is becoming incumbent on banking stakeholders to be rapid yet savvy in incorporating disruptive mobile money platforms, automated banking systems, tailored credit facilities and crypto-currencies for this dynamic market. The Future Banking Technology Summit will address over two days of panel discussions and case studies showcasing, the full value chain of the regions banking and financial sector to best achieve financial inclusion and sustainable banking sector growth. The summit brings together under one roof; ministries of finance, central, commercial, investment, and microfinance banks, along with telecommunications FinTech and E-Commerce operators in West Africa countries to exchange visions on ways of achieving progress in financial inclusion, that is becoming highly sought for recently to cater the demand of population, and the rapid penetration of latest telecommunication technologies by customers. A 2018 survey conducted by McKinseys found that nearly 40 percent of all African banking customers preferred digital channels for transactions Africa is the global leader in mobile money. Africa has emerged as the worlds No. 2 banking market in terms of both growth and profitability. Commenting on holding the Future Banking Tech West Africa Summit Umar EL Farouk, Chief Information Officer, Ghana Commercial Bank said: the summit represents a platform to converse about risk, rewards, security and transparency. How are you coping as a financial services provider with the Board of Directors, with Regulators, with Cyber-security, with Technology integration, with internal Auditors and Compliance, with internal stakeholders and customers, with Market and Competition?. He added the following call to action: Surfing The Digital Transformation Waves Of Financial Services. Are You A Leader Or A Follower? Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO)- members include Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Togo- is distributing digital currencies and interoperability between e-money payment systems in francophone West Africa. Stanley Jacob, the chairman of the eBusiness Industry Heads committee in Nigeria (CeBIH) and Head of Consumer Distribution, Ecobank Nigeria, said: Technology in Banking & Payments has evolved significantly and Nigeria as a major actor has become the key factor to be considered in setting the pace for digital ideation, innovation and the application of enterprise payment systems to transform businesses and lifestyle. Jacob added: We expect this event to provide a direction on we can enhance our technologies and systems to facilitate a digital economy and most importantly achieve our targets on financial inclusion. I encourage experts, investors and key industry stakeholders to join this gathering of thought leaders and lets make it happen. Besides the Dr. Mudashiru Olaitan, Director, Development Finance Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, the list of speakers at the summit include, Niyi Ajao, the executive director of Nigeria Inter-Bank settlement systems, Stephen Ambore, head of digital financial services at the central bank of Nigeria, Sampson Akligoh, the director of financial sector division at the ministry of finance in Ghana, and Onyebuchi Akosa, Group, Chief Information Officer, United Bank for Africa Plc, among others. The two days summit tackles several paramount topics including, innovation in regulation- Overcoming gaps in rural banking strategies, supporting innovative financial institutions to improve financial inclusion, improving credit facilities to underbanked and SMEs, throughout main panel discussions and networking breaks. About the Future Banking Tech West Africa Summit; With mandates to achieve financial inclusion across West Africa by 2020, the future of digitizing banking services is front and centre. The regions Central Banks are adopting policies to meet the requirements of the next generation banking customer by examining the challenges and successes of countries that have improved financial inclusion. In turn, the sector must efficiently incorporate disruptive mobile money platforms, automated banking systems, tailored credit facilities and crypto-currencies for this dynamic market. In light of this, the Future Banking Technology Summit will address the full value chain of the regions banking and financial sector to best achieve financial inclusion and sustainable banking sector growth. President Muhammadu Buharis aide on new media, Bashir Ahmad has come under severe attack from Nigerians for being disrespectful to Nollywood veteran actress, Omotola Jalade who spoke up against the president and his vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Omotola had described the life of an average Nigerian under the present government as hellish. The actress said the lack of circulation of money coupled with the fervent attacks and assaults on innocent Nigerians, have made life under Buhari/Osinbajo hellish. However, Ahmad in his response said that the people who work arent complaining and will never refer to the country as hellish. Many of those who roasted Bashir said theres no correlation between his response and the points that the actress raised Adding that being a presidential aide, doesnt give him the right to insult people especially people like Omotola, who built a career from nothing. He wrote: Madam Omotola those who are working for CLEAN money are not complaining and will never refer our dear country as hellish. In Kano State alone, from 2015 to 2018, no fewer than 200 medium and small scale rice milling centres emerged. For that, billions circulated among millions. https://t.co/nWprKIgpLC Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 15, 2019 See reactions " Recalibrate and live within your means "~Buharists " We are a little pissed "~ Buharists " People who are making CLEAN money are not complaining "~ Buharists Dignifying misery Sanctification of poverty Romanticization of deprivation What a miserable mob nafiiu (@nafeezi) April 16, 2019 We must rise to the occasion & stop the likes of Bashir, Gbenga Gold & other Buharists from using government position to harass critics of the administration. They're setting a dangerous process which we must never condone. They were not appointed to be stupid & irresponsible. Sir.Ariyo-Dare Atoye (@AriyoAristotle) April 16, 2019 https://twitter.com/TheNParody/status/1118078427435806720 https://twitter.com/Ody_johnson/status/1118081395241431041 Dear Omotola, dis man gets paid 2 defend a clueless, ruthless, insensitive n murderous Govt. Murderous in its sense condoling d high level of killings n Poverty. D North where Bashir is frm is worst hit but of course he Bashir is cool cz he is living d life wit free funds #FreeDadiyataNow SAN (@Dadiyata07) April 16, 2019 https://twitter.com/iSlimfit/status/1118085795204796416 Everyday I come on Twitter the TL keeps on screaming leave Nigeria. What if the Buharists are deliberately chasing us out of the country so that they won't have anyone to challenge them? Dr Uche (@nnabros) April 16, 2019 The drama between President Muhammadu Buharis personal assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmad and Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde does not seem to be coming to an end any time soon. The drama started when Omotola described Nigeria as hellish under President Buhari. Ahmad replied her by indicating that businesses are booming in Kano and across Nigeria and that only people without a clean source of income were complaining about the economy. Ahmad has fired a new shot again at Omotola by asking whether she pays tax. Read his tweet below; Canada has debunked reports that Justin Trudeau, its prime minister, begged President Muhammadu Buhari for one million Nigerian immigrants. According to the report, because of its new employment and migration programme, pleaded with the Nigerian president for one million Nigerians to migrate to its country. Owner of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu had shared the report, which has now been dismissed as false, on social media on Sunday. The programmes website will be launched next week and all available jobs will be listed. Currently, there are over 6 million vacancies and we are hoping that Buhari allows at least one million people from Nigeria Nigeria, he quoted. However, the Canadian embassy in its response to Momodus tweet asked Nigerians to open their eyes whenever they see immigration offers that sound too good to be true. If you see a story online about moving to Canada that seems too good to be true shine your eyes well-well o!!! Over 4,200 Nigerians were approved for permanent residency in Canada in 2017, which is almost double the number from the year prior. Nigerians in Canada make important contributions to both countries. If youve seen this link on your social media timeline, dont fall for it. This story is not true. This particular story is FALSE. Nigerians are welcome to apply to immigrate to Canada. For the real information on how to apply, go to https://t.co/nvOkvSQzt4 Canada in Nigeria (@CanHCNigeria) April 16, 2019 Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, has stated that he is tired of being state governor after spending just a term in office. He made this known while receiving his certificate of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) member further called for peace and cooperation in the state by asking all aggrieved members and Parties to join hands with him in his second term. In his words: With the incessant killing so innocent citizens by security agents in Nigeria, a Nigerian man by the name Akinbusola Babatunde has revealed a list of ways people can avoid being killed by these security officers. Read his post below; Members of the public are strongly advised to take note of the following as u kindly share it as well: 1. For your own good, whenever law enforcement agents ( whether in uniform or not) stop a vehicle you boarded, stay calm, avoid hissing and grumbling. Whether you are a man or a woman, respect them. 2. Please take the receipts of your electronic equipment, laptop or other bulk gadgets (original or photocopy), anywhere you go if you must carry them. 3. If you dont have means of identification from your school or workplace, get at least a national ID card or drivers licence. It is crucial. 4. Delete all your bank alerts, and transfer sensitive information into a flash drive or memory card. Keep your financial transactions away from your phone. 5. Carrying more than one ATM card may bring serious problem for you in our present-day Nigeria : be warned !!! 6. If you must move at night no matter how close to your house, take your ID card and let someone go with you. 7. Dress responsibly it will save you. Looking rugged and wild may earn you serious trouble. 8. If you are given a vehicle to go for an errand, make sure all documents are complete and up- to- date. Also, your drivers licence must be complete before you hit the road. 9. When your car is being searched, dont just look away in anger ; they are doing their job. Just pay close attention to whats going on, to avoid had I known. 10. If you are not sure of what someone is carrying in a bag, pack, or sack, please ask politely before accepting to give the person a ride. You may be arrested for what you know nothing about. 11. After any stranger you decide to give a lift comes down, move forward a little, park and search your vehicle very well before you continue so as to avoid harbouring any incriminating objects left behind. 12. It is mandatorily necessary you dont keep this message to yourself alone TO BE FOREWARNED IS TO BE FOREARMED !!! I will offer free legal advice to Atiku live on air in the hope that they will use it because it is obvious Atiku won the election and APC are deploying all instruments of coercion at the disposal of the Nigerian state to deny him his mandate. Between Atiku and the man occupying Aso Rock, only Atiku is a Nigerian, the other is Sudanese. Buhari died in 2017 and should not be contesting any election in 2019. There was a gentlemans agreement amongst Fulani cabals of which Atiku is privy to, that the death of Buhari should not be made public lest IPOB take full advantage of it to break Biafra away from Nigeria. Atiku played along believing that Jubril and APC wont put up much resistance when it comes to presidential elections. He was wrong. The cabals have now refused to give up power. Jubril is their poster boy. APC is counting on the fact that Atiku wont fight dirty in public because that means authenticating the claims of IPOB and confirming what world leaders already know, that Buhari is dead. The only people who have refused to believe it are Nigerians. The only option left for Atiku is to remind the tribunal that he is an authentic Nigerian citizen whereas Jubril is not. No part of Sudan ever joined Nigeria as a result of referendum, at least not yet. Atiku should demand for a DNA test result to ascertain if Jubril is Buhari or not. Out of the two contestants, one is a Nigerian by choice not birth but the other is neither a Nigeria by birth nor by choice. Atiku became a Nigerian by referendum at the age of 15 but Jubril in his mid 50s is not a Nigerian, does not hold Nigerian citizenship and is from Sudan. What Abba Kyari and his gang have done is worse than a military coup. Their role in inflicting hardship on long-suffering people of Nigeria and by extension Biafrans, is unpardonable. They should be tried for high crimes and misdemeanours. They are supposed to be stoned according to Sharia Law. Ibrahim Wala, popularly known as I G Wala, was on Wednesday jailed by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for falsely accusing a public official of corruption. The human right activists accused the head of a pilgrim commission of corruption and went on to march against the official. In delivering judgment, Justice Yusuf Halilu found the accused guilty on three of the four charges filed against him by the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation and ruled that I G Wala will serve the sentence in Suleja prison. According to Premium Times, the complainant, Mukhtar accused Wala of using his Facebook page to incite the public against him and defame his integrity and that of the commission he heads. The judge found him guilty on three charges including unlawful assembly, public incitement and criminal defamation of character. He was again found guilty of using his organisation, the Citizens Action To Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN), to form an unlawful assembly. Where is the document proving N3 billion made by chairman hajj commission? Why has the accused person failed to tender such document now that he has been dragged before a court of law? This was after Wala wrote on his Facebook page that he has documents to prove the allegation. The judge sentenced him to 7 years in prison. Lagos State House of Assembly member and Nollywood actor, Desmond Elliot took his Instagram account to react to the recent trend of the killing of innocent people by the police officers. The police force has been on the tongues of many Nigerians in recent days over the extra-judicial killings across the nation. He shared this photo on his page with a caption saying; A former presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria,ACPN and a former minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili has called out popular human rights activist, Segun Awosanya aka Segalink as being a fraud. Ezekwesili said this while reacting to Segalinks response to President Muhammadu Buharis aide on New Media, Bashir Ahmads attack on Omotola Jalade, Nollywood actress Over her statement calling out the present administration on the state of the nation. Segalink in his response took a swipe at Bahsir for the statement for insulting Omotola and Ezekwesili wasnt pleased. According to the former minister, Segalinks behaved just like that to her in 2015, when she led a protest demanding that government brings back the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. What she wrote in a few tweets on Tuesday It is the degree of damage that hideous partisan politics of the worst variant has done to some of our youths. Was it also not here that Segalink when attacking us years ago because of BBOG hurled similar trash at me who was prevailed on to go into government? # Sick When weak men strike at women for using their Voice they do great damage to society. You cannot project you want a decent society and then manufacture slut-shaming against a woman whose Voice disagrees with your Politics. Integrity is not complete until it is consistent. Just a few years ago, because of our BBOG advocacy a young man manufactured the most offensive filth & kept hurling at me, accusing me of the IMPOSSIBLE. Yet, today I saw the same young man showing faux outrage that one of his kind threw Vulgarity at yet another woman. A crowd is hailing you on but you know in the deep recesses of your heart that you are a congenital liar who acted dishonorably when you hurled malicious lies & vulgarity at me for no reason but BBOG Campaign right here on Twitter. Same behavior we all condemn today. Releasing screenshots of Segalinks private messages to her, Ezekweaili described him as an extremely dark soul, young man. Here you are Segalink denying a public slander privately. I have no word for you. You are the worst of the species that hurl slurs at women. Just so everyone knows that the rubbish today is perpetrated by your type. Have a good evening. See screenshots below Cattle Mixed for Midday Barchart - Thu Dec 16, 11:45AM CST So far through Thursday, front month fat cattle futures are trading mixed within 20 cents of UNCH. December and February contracts are in the black, while the deferred months are weaker. Cash cattle trade... LEZ21 : 135.275s (+0.20%) LEJ22 : 140.950s (+0.02%) GFF22 : 162.575s (-0.52%) GFH22 : 164.325s (-0.09%) Triple Digit Rally for Cotton Barchart - Thu Dec 16, 11:45AM CST The midday cotton futures market is trading at the highs for the day so far, after rallying triple digits out of the Export Sales report data. Quotes show midday gains of 139 to 201 points for the nearbys,... CTK21 : 89.48s (+3.77%) CTK22 : 107.93s (+3.41%) CTZ21 : 111.55s (+0.25%) Wheat Market Bouncing Back Barchart - Thu Dec 16, 11:45AM CST Midday wheat prices through Thursdays session are bouncing from the sharp losses on Wednesday. SRW is 7 to 9 1/2 cents higher so far. KC HRW is back up by double digits through midday gaining 11 1/4... ZWH22 : 770-4s (+1.92%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.2519 (+2.04%) KEH22 : 803-6s (+2.32%) KEPAWS.CM : 7.8157 (+2.39%) MWH22 : 1026-6s (+1.73%) UK raises interest rates as central banks focus on inflation AP - Thu Dec 16, 10:50AM CST LONDON (AP) The United Kingdom's central bank on Thursday became the first in a major advanced economy to raise interest rates since the coronavirus pandemic began, as banks controlling monetary policy... $SPX : 4,657.22 (-1.12%) $DOWI : 35,814.31 (-0.31%) $IUXX : 15,818.85 (-2.89%) Northlake police are handling the investigation and have assured the district that the area is secure and there is no immediate threat to the school, Bresnahan said. Thank you all for your support during this difficult time. Our students and staffs safety is our number one priority. As part of his appointment, Hottinger will be made part of AXISs reinsurance leadership team. He will also report to AXIS Re CEO Steve Arora. A release said that he will assume his new responsibilities on July 01, 2019, following Ekbergs retirement. Andy has a deep understanding of our companys strategy and values, as well as opportunities for future growth. He is a respected leader who has continually delivered high-quality results. His mix of technical expertise and people leadership skills will serve AXIS Re well as he assumes leadership of our important EMEA and LatAm reinsurance business, said Arora. Hottinger most recently served as EMEA head of property at AXIS Re. Prior to that, he was head of engineering and property risk and has held a variety of underwriting managerial roles within the company. AXIS Capital president and CEO Albert Benchimol also issued a statement regarding the retirement of Jan Ekberg, thanking him for his tremendous contributions to the company. Jan has played a significant role in helping our reinsurance business grow from a start-up into a global player. Jan is a talented leader and a consummate professional, and he will always be a part of our family at AXIS, the chief executive said. In addition to helping Michigans economy, the study also noted that insurers contributed almost $60 million to charities across the state that same year. Michigan insurers can be proud of the tremendous impact they are having toward continued job growth, community development and philanthropy across our state, commented Insurance Alliance of Michigan executive director Tricia Kinley. Kinley added that the insurance industry is one that truly cares about the lives and livelihood of all residents in Michigan. The report also went into specifics, noting that P&C insurance companies employ 17,000 individuals in Michigan, and work with tens of thousands of local independent agents. The P&C industry has contributed over $16.5 billion to Michigans economy. Insurance agencies and brokerages in Michigan directly employed some 30,000 people statewide, the report said. This helped drive a total employment of nearly 47,000 in 2017. Agencies and brokerages also generated almost $6.2 billion in economic output that year. Some insurers operating in the state have responded favorably to the report. The Insuring More for Michigan report helps quantify the amazing work done by insurance companies across the state to grow the economy, provide good paying jobs and give back to our communities, commented AF Group government affairs manager Arthur J. Miller III. Were proud to play a role in the continued growth and success of Michigans insurance sector. World Insurance Associates LLC, an independent insurance agency headquartered in Tinton Falls, N.J., merged with Professional Insurance Associates Inc. (PIA) of Carlstadt, N.J., on March 1, 2019. Professional Insurance Associates has been meeting the insurance needs of both commercial and personal lines clients, as well as public entities, for more than 60 years. In addition to benefits and financial services, the company also specializes in providing its contractor clients with a range of contract surety bonding services. PIA President James V. Gardella and his team will continue to support clients from the same location in Carlstadt, N.J. World Insurance Associates LLC offers personal and business insurance in 50 states. The company specializes in transportation, hospitality, self-storage facilities, construction (surety), manufacturers and law firms. World Insurance Associates also provides group benefits and property and casualty insurance to companies of all sizes in a variety of industries in addition to insurance services for individuals, focusing on coastal properties and high net worth clients. Source: World Insurance Associates LLC Topics New Jersey A Massachusetts construction company and its owner will pay $123,430 in restitution and penalties to settle allegations that it violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced. The AGs Office issued two citations against WCP Construction Corp. (WCP) and its owner, Weder C. Pereira, for failing to pay overtime and failing to keep true and accurate records. When companies dont pay overtime, they cheat their workers and gain an unfair advantage, said Healey in a press release issued by her office. We are pleased that through this settlement, WCP will pay its workers the wages they earned. The AGs Office began its investigation into WCP after receiving a complaint from the New England Regional Council of Carpenters alleging that while engaged as a subcontractor for National Lumber, WCP did not pay its employees overtime. The complaint alleged that workers were paid through two different companies so that each of their paychecks reflected less than 40 hours worked per week, allowing WCP to avoid paying overtime. The AGs investigation revealed that WCP had underpaid 56 workers who were owed overtime and that WCP also failed to keep accurate payroll records. This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Amy Goyer and Investigator Eduina Butts of the AGs Fair Labor Division. Source: Office of Attorney General Maura Healey Topics Massachusetts Construction Marco Royer has been named head of Liability for Zurich Canada. Royer will be responsible for leading the underwriting teams in Zurich Canadas liability portfolio, including casualty, energy casualty, construction liability, environmental liability and commercial automobile. Royer will also oversee Zurich Canadas Alternate Risk Transfer team and will be responsible for the growth of the healthcare and public sector industry verticals. Royer will be a member of the Zurich Canada Executive Team and will report to Zurich Canada CEO Saad Mered. His first day at Zurich will be July 1. Royer joins Zurich with more than 30 years of experience in the European and Canadian insurance marketplaces. He has a technical casualty underwriting background and has held ascending levels of leadership responsibilities, including 18 years at Gen Re where he led teams in Paris, London and Montreal. Following Gen Re, he joined Aon Benfield as vice president and casualty specialist, then Quebec regional manager and head of Facultative Operations, reporting directly to the CEO. In this most recent position, Royer was the head of the Canadian-London team, responsible for all Canadian reinsurance placement in the London market. Topics Canada London Frances luxury-goods tycoons are among the countrys wealthiest individuals and companies to pledge at least 600 million euros ($678 million) to help in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame cathedral a day after the Paris landmark was ravaged by fire. Kicking off a wave of donations in response to a call from President Emmanuel Macron for a fund-raising campaign, Francois-Henri Pinault, the chairman and chief executive officer of Gucci owner Kering SA, and his father, Francois Pinault, said Tuesday they would donate 100 million euros from their Artemis investment company. Their archrival, the Arnault family, responded minutes later with a pledge of 200 million euros and the architectural and design resources of their LVMH fashion conglomerate. Cosmetics company LOreal SA and its principal shareholder, the Bettencourt Meyers family, will give 100 million euros, while the familys charitable foundation will chip in another 100 million euros, the company said. This tragedy is striking all the French people, and beyond that, all those attached to spiritual values, Francois-Henri Pinault, 56, said in a statement. Faced with this tragedy, everyone wishes to give life back to this jewel of our heritage as soon as possible. Corporate and individual gifts poured in, along with offers of technical assistance, from France and abroad. Macron, who vowed to rebuild the 850-year-old Gothic monument, called for contributions and said he would draw on the worlds best talents for the task. Its unclear how much it will cost to repair the cathedral. Windsor Castle in England was hit by a fire in 1992, and restoration work cost 37 million pounds ($48 million) by the time it was completed five years later, according to the Royal Collection Trust. Restoration of Notre Dame was already under way before the fire, with a budget of about 150 million euros, Michel Picaud, of the fund-raising group the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, said in an interview on BFM TV. That may need to be tripled after the fire, he said. Luxury fortunes dominate the upper reaches of Frances wealth landscape and are already behind some restoration projects in the city. The elder Pinault, 82, is the worlds 23rd richest person, with a fortune estimated at $37.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bernard Arnault, 70, is the main shareholder of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and ranks third globally and first in France with a $90.4 billion fortune. LOreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the countrys second-wealthiest and the worlds richest woman with a $53.5 billion fortune. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is considering convening in the coming weeks a conference of international donors to raise the money needed for the restoration, she said Tuesday on Twitter. Germany stands ready to help in the closest friendship, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. We are united in mourning, he added. Oil producer Total SA, Frances biggest company by sales, will contribute 100 million euros to the private non-profit Fondation du Patrimoine for the project, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said. Martin Bouygues and Olivier Bouygues, the brothers who run construction and telecom company Bouygues SA, committed 10 million euros in personal funds and the company said it also would donate. Technology consulting firm Capgemini SE pledged 1 million euros. In the U.S., private-equity titan Henry Kravis and his wife, Marie-Josee Kravis, will give $10 million, they said. Construction company Vinci SA, the Duval family that owns property developer Groupe Duval, and banks BNP Paribas SA, Societe Generale SA and Credit Agricole SA also said they would give. Vinci suggests all building companies in France should join forces to rebuild Notre Dame in an industry-wide skills sponsorship drive, the company said in a statement, noting that the 13th-century wooden beams holding up the roof can never be replaced, while the remaining structure must be safeguarded. Authorities on Tuesday were still assessing the damage from the fire and werent saying how much it would cost to restore the cathedral, which lost large swaths of its roof. Today we must look at the extent of the damage, Culture Minister Franck Riester said on LCI television, adding that only then can the cost of restoration be determined. Clearly money is important, but there will be many donations and money wont be the thing thats missing, Antoine Arnault, Bernard Arnaults son, said in an interview on BFM TV. What will be needed is something more intangible extremely competent people with good ideas. LVMH has architectural and artistic savoir faire, as well as expertise in art preservation because of its Louis Vuitton foundation, he said. Related: Copyright 2021 Bloomberg. Topics France Major European insurers expect France to bear the bulk of the cost of rebuilding the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire tore through the eight-centuries-old Paris landmark on Monday. The cost of a likely multi-year restoration project could itself take a year to become clear, industry experts said. It is really going to be up to the French state and benefactors to help to restore and rebuild this, Robert Read, head of art and private client at Lloyds of London insurer Hiscox told Reuters, adding it could take up to 20 years to restore the cathedral. The scaffolding costs are going to be enormous, actually securing the building is going to be enormous. The cost of renovating the (British) Parliament is a similar sort of number, Read said. The cost of repairs and upgrades to the neo-Gothic fronted parliament building on the banks of the River Thames has been estimated at up to $8 billion. French President Emmanuel Macron has said France would launch a fundraising campaign to rebuild Notre-Dame, which ranks among the finest examples of French Gothic cathedral architecture. The government owns the cathedral. Several of Frances business elite have already pledged money to help, including a 200 million euros ($226 million) donation from Bernard Arnault and 100 million from Francois Pinault, heads of luxury goods groups LVMH and Kering respectively. Rebuilding would be very tricky as some of the craft required to rebuild, the stone-masonry craft, would probably have to be relearnt, Hiscoxs Read said. Reinsurer Swiss Re said works of art in buildings such as the cathedral are generally not insured because they are often priceless. Any art works on loan from third parties would, however, be insured, Read added. While some of the large paintings at Notre-Dame could not be taken down in time, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said at the scene of the fire that a number of the many artworks in the cathedral had been rescued and were being put in safe storage. Contractor Liability Notre-Dame was in the midst of renovations and industry sources said the contractor would have its own liability policy. Typically that would be for tens of millions of euros. But effectively that is going to be a drop in the ocean compared to what the actual cost of restoring the cathedral is, Read said. If they are deemed to be liable they would be carrying some cover, but its not unlimited and its definitely not going to be enough to rebuild the Cathedral. ($1 = 0.8848 euros) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Paul Arnold in Zurich Additional reporting by Inti Landauro in Paris Editing by David Holmes) Photo credit: Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on April 15, 2019. Photographer: Fabien Barrau/AFP/Getty Images Related: Tweets by France24_en Topics Carriers France The owner of a Mansfield, Ohio, freight hauling and trucking company convicted on four felony charges related to workers compensation fraud, has been ordered to pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) $144,400 in restitution. The BWC reported that Robert Tate, owner of Elite TNT Enterprises, also was ordered to serve two years of probation. He was convicted on two counts of workers comp fraud, fourth-degree felonies, and two counts of tampering with records, third-degree felonies. A Richland County judge also ordered Tate to bring his BWC policy into compliance with state law and pay the agency $137,447 in unpaid policy premiums and $6,953 for the costs of its investigation. BWCs special investigations department discovered in 2017 that Tate was operating his business without BWC coverage. After several attempts to work with Tate, agents subpoenaed bank records and audited his business, finding Tate under-reported his payroll over several payroll periods in an attempt to lower the amount he owed the agency. They also found he falsified new applications for BWC coverage by failing to list previous policies with the agency and he under-reported the number of workers he employed. Source: Ohio BWC Topics Workers' Compensation Fraud Ohio Trucking The land is owned by the Delta Hotels and is used for storm water detention and open space, Owen said. Within the approximately 2 acres of land area, the hotel granted the Glenview Park District a conservation easement, or an agreement that the land wouldnt be developed but conserved as open space. The open area adds a buffer of land between the tollway and The Grove the Park Districts nature conservancy. AAdvantage Insurance Group in Glen Carbon, Illinois, has hired Alexis Hutt as an account executive and Ana Reyes as a sales agent. Hutt will assist agents in procuring new business, as well as serving existing clients, while maintaining accuracy and exceeding client expectations. Prior to joining the agency, Hutt served in managerial positions in the health and hospitality industries. Reyes will generate prospects, develop new relationships, and handle existing accounts in order to maintain client satisfaction. She will be responsible for creating custom insurance plans in order to meet each clients needs. Reyes has 13 years of insurance industry experience including managerial, sales and underwriting. Founded in 2009, AAdvantage Insurance Group specializes in farm, commercial, home, auto and life insurance. The agency serves clients in the Metro-East/St. Louis area, as well as throughout Illinois and Missouri. AAdvantage Insurance Group is a member of Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a cohesive family of over 120 independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Illinois. Source: AAdvantage Insurance Group Topics Illinois 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. Topics California Workers' Compensation Commercial Lines Business Insurance An Oklahoma judge has ruled that he, not a jury, will decide the states case against several drug manufacturers for their alleged role in the nations deadly opioid crisis. The attorney generals office says Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman made the decision at an April 11 hearing that a jury wont hear the case. At least one of the defendants, Johnson & Johnson, had sought a jury trial. Attorney general spokesman Alex Gerszewski says Balkman also decided not to move the trial to a larger courtroom at the University of Oklahoma. The trial is scheduled to begin May 28. Oklahoma settled with Purdue Pharma for $270 million in March in the first such agreement following a wave of nearly 2,000 lawsuits against the company that had threatened to push it into bankruptcy. At the April 11 hearing, Balkman denied a request by Teva Pharmaceuticals to remove several of its subsidiaries and affiliates from the lawsuit. Related: Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Oklahoma Insurance companies owned by a big-money donor accused of trying to bribe North Carolinas top insurance regulator for easy treatment are on the sales block and under review by at least one rating agency. Entrepreneur Greg Lindberg was indicted earlier this month in what federal prosecutors said was a plot to bribe state insurance commissioner Mike Causey. Days later, Lindberg-owned Global Bankers Insurance Group said it is pursuing buyers for its U.S. life insurance companies. A Global Bankers spokesman said the company had no comment Thursday. Global rating agency AM Best said April 10 it is reviewing two insurers under the Global Bankers umbrella. AM Best said its reviewing with negative implications the financial strength ratings of Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Co. and Bankers Life Insurance Co., both based in Durham. Related: Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Trends North Carolina Georgias governor and other state leaders are blasting Congress over its failure to approve a package of disaster relief measures. The $14 billion aid package is desperately needed by farmers and others who suffered losses when Hurricane Michael swept across the state in October, Gov. Brian Kemp said recently. Kemp said the lack of action by Congress shows we have reached a low point as a nation. Some Georgia farmers might have to declare bankruptcy, sit out the upcoming planting season, sell off land or leave agriculture altogether, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Members of Congress have been feuding over funding for Puerto Rico as they consider the federal aid package, the newspaper reported. The political fight is seen as a reason that a bipartisan deal on the funding has not been approved. This gridlock exposes the rotten core of some in Congress, Kemp said. They would rather crush an entire industry destroying the livelihood of countless Americans than do something that the opposition party wants. This dire situation highlights the brokenness in Washington. U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican whose district spans parts of South Georgia, said on the U.S. House floor last week that his calls to White House staff have gone unheeded and but for one tweet on April 1, it seems the president has moved on. Agriculture is Georgias largest industry, bringing in $73.3 billion a year and employing 1 in 7 workers, according to UGAs Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development. As a result, disruptions to farm incomes ripple across the states economy, making an impact on local restaurants, hardware stores and shopping centers, the Journal-Constitution reported. In southwest Georgia, farmer Ken Hickey had already mortgaged three pieces of land to keep operations afloat on his familys 3,400-acre cotton and peanut farm, he said in a recent interview. Then, Hurricane Michael wiped out about 90 percent of his cotton crop. That forced him to make one last move, one he calls a Hail Mary. This is it, said Hickey, who recently put up a fourth, 250-acre piece of land as collateral so he could obtain financing for his 2019 crops. I will not and Im not going to mortgage every piece of property that my daddy and my grandparents have worked so hard to obtain, to keep going, he said. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Agribusiness Georgia Hurricane Montanas insurance commissioner says a Tennessee man is peddling unauthorized car insurance policies. Commissioner Matthew Rosendale sent a cease-and-desist letter last week to Mervin Graber of Whiteville, Tenn., after about 20 people bought policies, most of them in the Flathead Valley area. Rosendale says Grabers Tennessee Christian Mutual Motorist Aid is an unlicensed company whose polices arent backed with the ability to adequately pay claims. His letter warns Graber to stop or be fined up to $25,000 per additional violation. Rosendale spokesman Kyle Schmauch says the agency will seek fines for previous violations. Rosendales counterpart in Michigan sent Graber a cease-and-desist letter for selling policies in that state in 2013. Schmauch says Graber has sold policies in 18 other states, too. A phone number listed for Graber at his Tennessee address was disconnected. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Tennessee Montana This content is from: Singapore Singapore has been agile in refining its support for companies investing in the acquisition, development, enhancement and exploitation of intellectual property rights, which is the key to innovation in the digitalised economy of the future. Entrepreneur Daniel Mulcahy's company RideShair has been named as Best Business Opportunity and Overall Winner of the Rubicon Centre's 2019 New Frontiers programme, sponsored by Enterprise Ireland. Daniel Mulcahy was chosen from 12 ambitious startups at a high profile breakfast event in Cork Institute of Technology this morning. He'll be hoping to follow in the footsteps of past participants, including successful businesses such as Abtran, Aspira, Cully and Sully, Crest Solutions, Treemetrics and Radisens Diagnostics. RideShair is a software platform that connects airline passengers and event attendees who can share taxis to and from 3,000 airports globally. Daniel joined the New Frontiers programme six months ago having returned from Australia, where he was the founder and CEO of a successful sales and distribution company. We are in advanced talks with a number of airlines, travel technology companies and global taxi companies, said Daniel. We are working on our app and developing our website. As I am just back from Australia, the programme has been great to give me access to expert advice and to build networks. It helped me create a strategic business plan and conduct market research. Other prize winners included: Stephen Fleming, Voxxify, Best Trade Stand; Ryan O'Neill, Legit Fit, Best Business Plan; Loretta Kennedy, Mama Bear Foods, Best Video; and Sean Barni, Masqt, Best Peer Participant. The other participants were: Christina O'Dwyer, Everywhere Medical; Dave Jeffery, ToDesktop; Marian Kennedy, PPR Healthcare; Michael O'Neill, RiiConnect; Nora Irwin, Arona; Padro DaSilva, AtDaLitho; and Tara Zuluaga Dorgan, Gut.Instinct. All of the New Frontiers participants have progressed their businesses towards a formal launch, some already having paying customers, while others have significant deals pending. Several will also go on to future Enterprise Ireland scaling up programmes. The New Frontiers Phase 2 Programme winners, Best Peer Partnership, Sean Barni from Masqt, winner of best Trade Stand, Stephen Fleming from Voxxify, Overall Winner Dan Mulcahy from Rideshair, winner of Best Video Loretta Kennedy from Mamma Bear Foods and winner of Best Business Plan Ryan ONeill from LegitFit at the CIT Rubicon Centre New Frontiers Showcase in the CIT Bishopstown Campus. Pic: Darragh kane. The event's keynote speaker was Peter Coppinger, founder and CEO of project management software company Teamwork, winner of EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 and formerly a CIT student. He told guests that SaaS (software as a service) is a great business model for any startup as it brings in revenue even as you sleep. So committed is he to the concept that Teamwork's stylish campus in Blackpool, Cork, offers free incubation space to SaaS startups. New Frontiers participant Dave Jeffery of ToDesktop can certainly attest to the truth in Peter Coppinger's SaaS message. After my first week in business, I am already profitable, said Dave. Our SaaS company converts your web app to a desktop app in two minutes. We launched last week and we have 63 new customers paying $49 a month. For our first week, that's very encouraging. Only two of those customers are Irish. We're aiming for an international customer base. The main thing the programme has brought me was learning how to understand our customers. And as a sole company founder, it has been good to get feedback and engage with the people around me on the programme. Enterprise Ireland hosts New Frontiers programmes in 14 institutes of technology nationwide. Participants come from a very broad range of backgrounds. The 2019 Rubicon graduates came from sectors including software, food, med-tech, natural cosmetics, life sciences and IOT. Awards at the CIT event were presented and chosen by an independent panel of expert stakeholders from AIB, EY, RDJ Solicitors, The Irish Examiner Cork Institute of Technology. Several of the companies have secured investment in addition to sales and distribution channels in Ireland and overseas so exciting times ahead for the entrepreneurs, said Alison Walsh, programme manager of the CIT-based programme. Participants also benefitted from access to expertise across the CIT campus, collaborating with colleagues in the Nimbus Centre, the Health Innovation Hub and Cappa to progress their ideas, in addition to securing student intern placements and support on marketing and media projects with MA students. Alison Walsh said she would welcome any expressions of interest for would-be participants in the upcoming New Frontiers Programme. Those interested can visit www.rubiconcentre.ie or call 021 4928900 for an informal chat. The winners from the 12 ambitious entrepreneurs in the New Frontiers programme will be unveiled at an awards ceremony in the Rubicon Centre (Cork Institute of Technology) running from 7:30 to 9:00 this morning. These 12 new businesses range from healthcare and software solutions to innovative food products and an airline passenger taxi share service. Previous programme participants included successful businesses such as Abtran, Aspira, Cully and Sully, Crest Solutions, Treemetrics and Radisens Diagnostics. Alison Walsh, New Frontiers programme manager, said: Supported by an expert team of trainers, mentors and advisers coupled with on-going one-to-one support from my colleagues at the Rubicon Centre and Enterprise Ireland, this vibrant cohort of innovators developed their skills, researched and validated their business ideas in a supportive environment whilst raising their entrepreneurial aspirations. Today they have all successfully launched start-up companies which can grow and scale internationally. Several of the companies have secured investment in addition to sales and distribution channels in Ireland and overseas so exciting times ahead for the entrepreneurs. THE 12 NEW FRONTIERS 2019 PARTICIPANTS: Christina O'Dwyer, Everywhere Medical Ltd: Developing a user-friendly ostomy appliance with an effective seal in a global market due to reach US$3.5bn by 2026. Many users of current ostomy devices report leakages and discomfort. Dan Mulcahy, RideShair: A ridesharing solution for airlines, global distribution systems and travel technology companies and conferences. In advanced talks with leading global airlines and global taxi groups. Dave Jeffrey, ToDesktop: A self-service SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform that allows businesses to convert their Web App to a Desktop App quickly and easily. It is an online builder which guides businesses through the process of designing a desktop app from their existing web app. Loretta Kennedy, Mama Bear Foods: Offering range of healthy, nutritional and tasty functional family foods. A producer of great tasting high tech foods. All of the products in the Mama Bear range are free from refined sugar and gluten and are high in functional ingredients. Already stocked in leading Irish retail chains. Loretta Kennedy Marian Kennedy, Post Partum Relief Healthcare: A range of hygiene products for new mothers, including a comfort spray, bath wash and shower gel. Products being developed with involvement of leading obstetricians and gynaecology services. Mike O'Neill, RiiConnect: A digital detox app focused on helping employees increase productivity as a team, by managing the distracting elements of their digital life. Currently beta testing with leading companies focused on team development and productivity. Nora Irwin, Arona: Travel-sized, flight-friendly solid perfumes and colognes made using organic beeswax, natural pure essential oils and absolutes, and sold in 7ml containers, suitable for travel without checked luggage. Its unique selling points are already attracting retailer interest. Pedro Dasilva, AtDaLitho: Developing services for smart charging devices with self-powering sensing technology, creating energy from vibrations. Its target market is the Internet of Things (IOT) industry with its demand for smart charging solutions and low power management services. Ryan O'Neill, Legit Fit: An online platform that supports independent health and fitness professionals to manage and grow their business. An online platform that manages booking and scheduling, billing and payments. Already gaining market traction in Ireland and UK. Ryan O'Neill Sean Barni, Masqt: A digital shield, it helps people protect their personal and financial data, safely and easily, both online and off, by providing users with masked email addresses, phone numbers, and payment cards functional, disposable alternatives to use in place of their own. Steve Fleming, Voxify: An IT Experience Management (ITXM) platform for the Enterprise, helping companies measure the effectiveness of the IT platforms and services they use. It systematically gathers candid feedback from employees, and translates that into measurable action plans for IT organisations. Tara Zuluaga Dorgan, Gut Instinct: A developer of functional health foods, notably award-winning bone broths newly launched on the Irish market, with very positive feedback. Delicious broths made using 100% Irish grass-fed beef and local botanicals, the company is entering a highly valuable global functional health food market. The past week saw a major breakthrough in world science, with the first picture of a black hole in space. We now have a clear picture of what a black hole looks like, even though it is 53m lightyears away. By contrast, we still have no idea what Brexit will look like, even though it will come back into orbit in six months or sooner. It is important to note the new Brexit deadline of the end of October is not a fixed date. The UK could leave at any time before then. However, we would not be that confident that the UK parliament will be able to ratify the withdrawal agreement in the next six months, paving the way for Brexit, or indeed, agree on an alternative way forward. Given the ongoing delays, Brexit is now in danger of disappearing into its own black hole, never to be seen again. There are only so many times the EU will be prepared to grant the UK extensions to Article 50 before forcing it to decide between remaining in the EU or leaving, with or without a deal. Indeed, the UK parliament could decide later this year that, if it still cannot resolve the Brexit impasse, then it has no alternative but to put the issue back to the people in a new referendum. Remaining in the EU is likely to be an option in any such referendum, together with at least one option on leaving the EU. Overall then, ongoing Brexit delays, amid a continuing political logjam in Westminster, increase the prospects of the UK remaining in the EU. Sterling has taken the chaotic events of the past month in its stride, with the EUR-GBP rate largely confined to a narrow 85p-87p range since mid-February. It could continue to mark time in the next couple of months, amid ongoing efforts to get the withdrawal agreement. The upcoming elections in the UK do present some event risk for the currency. We only see sterling making gains when remaining in the EU becomes a growing probability, most likely through a new referendum. On the other hand, the currency could start to edge lower as the new Brexit deadline approaches. Even if the deal is ratified and the UK departs the EU, there are still likely to be choppy waters ahead for sterling as difficult talks will follow on the future relationship between the UK and EU. Meanwhile, a hard Brexit could still arise. The currency could fall by 10% to 15% in such circumstances. Oliver Mangan is chief economist at AIB In that ruling, Berrones contended that Deerfield overstepped its authority in April 2018 when it enacted a ban on assault weapons after the Illinois legislature had declared such regulations to be the exclusive power of the state. The village said the ban was an amendment to an earlier ordinance. Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, said a further Irish beef plant has been approved by the Chinese authorities and listed by GACC, the Chinese General Administration of Customs. This brings to 12 the number of Irish meat plants approved for export to China, seven beef plants and five pigmeat plants, all since China reopened its beef market to Ireland in 2018. Carbon tax hikes every year will be considered after an energy report warned that a third of all electricity demand here in future is set to come from data centres and large energy users. Energy Minister Richard Bruton said he is open to considering annual hikes in carbon taxes and confirmed upward changes to the levy will be considered for the 2020 budget. He said it was a matter for the minister for finance but that it was a trajectory that he and the Taoiseach had said should be put in place. That wont happen this year but that it will be one of the issues considered in the 2020 Budget, he said. Mr Bruton was speaking as a review of the countrys energy needs by the International Energy Agency (IEA) called for annual increases in carbon taxes. It called for an automated upward adjustment of the tax when preset sectoral emission targets are not met. Mr Bruton said he was open to considering this proposal. The IEA also proposed that carbon taxes differ for sectors. However, Mr Bruton does not favour this approach. It is clear a price increase on carbon should impact on all sectors where carbon is used as an energy source, he said. And that should be uniform. The IEA said Ireland needs to develop a roadmap for decarbonising the residential heating sector, as 90% of homes still rely on fossil fuels. More government-driven policy changes should support switching fuels, the IEA said, particularly for the rental sector. Ireland would be miles off reaching a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions targets by 2020, said IEA deputy executive director Paul Simons. It would also be a challenge to cut emissions by 30% by 2030, he said. While gas supplied half of all Irish electricity, more security of that supply was needed, the report said. Particularly if Ireland continues to plan to phase out electricity supply from coal by 2025 and from peat by 2030. The IEA report says that electricity demand from large data centres and other large energy users will make up almost a third of electricity used by 2027. Both Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and Friends of the Earth criticised IEA recommendations to prioritise gas infrastructure and security in future years. While noting that around a quarter of the countrys energy needs currently come from wind power, the IEA said this will rise in the coming years. The IEA also noted that, with a rising population and therefore increasing energy demands in the coming years, we would need to meet future needs increasingly through low-carbon and energy-efficient solutions. Building on this success, we advise the Government to urgently implement additional measures and monitor their progress to get the country back on track to meet its long-term climate targets, Mr Simons added. Ireland became a founding member of the IEA when it was set up in 1974. The IAE is an agency of the OECD. Meanwhile, People Before Profit launched a minority report on the Oireachtas Climate Action review, opposing carbon charges on households. Brid Smith said there should be a carbon tax on the profits of fossil fuel companies, food production companies and industries that release large CO2 emissions and that her party opposed a carbon tax on ordinary people who have no alternative to the use of carbon. The solicitor for a civilian Garda employee who was the subject of a criminal investigation over the production of sick notes at work has called for a full and impartial inquiry. The trial of Lynn Margiotta and her brother, Tony Margiotta, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court collapsed last month after a judge ruled her rights have been abused. Ms Margiotta had been accused on over a dozen occasions of using a false instrument in 2014, and her brother with making a false instrument. The prosecution case was that Dr Margiotta had provided his sister with medical certs to say she was not fit for work. The gardai did not dispute that she was unwell at the time, but claimed the medical certs were obtained by deception. The certs were signed by Dr Margiotta, but bore the stamp of other doctors who worked or had worked in the practice where he was working. The trial heard that an expert had given an opinion that locum doctors using the stamp of another doctor in a practice is not unusual. Ms Margiotta was first arrested in August 2014; the case took four and a half years to reach trial. Three weeks before her arrest, she had made a complaint of bullying against a Garda member. Ms Margiottas solicitor, Yvonne Bambury, said the case was unprecedented. The circumstances of the case warrant a full and impartial inquiry, she said. These were unprecedented circumstances and it is disturbing that somebody can be investigated by colleagues and treated in a criminal fashion for something that was a HR issue. Among the unusual features in the case were: Ms Margiotta was investigated for an alleged crime by her employer rather than being referred to human resources about any issue concerned with sick notes; The investigating gardai did not ask for permission to access the sick notes which contained private medical details; Ms Margiotta was arrested early in the investigation without any notice; The investigating gardai were all based in the same station where she had worked without incident for the previous 14 years; The judge at the trial ruled she was denied access to a solicitor while in custody; She was arrested a second time over a year later and presented with evidence that should have been available to the gardai at the time of her first arrest; She has not been contacted by her employer, An Garda Siochana, since her first arrest; She was never informed whether the bullying complaint was dealt with. The whole thing had a huge impact on my family, including my 91-year-old father, Ms Margiotta told the Irish Examiner. I would like somebody to be held accountable. There should be an inquiry as to why this happened, why it went on for four and a half years, and how it actually ended up in court. A number of questions about the case submitted to the Garda Press Office last Wednesday had not received any reply by last night. The weir on the River Blackwater in Fermoy is crumbling - and threatening the economic livelihood of a North Cork town, according to local councillors who have asked for remedial works to halt the damage. Cllr Frank O'Flynn asked assistant county manager, James Fogarty, about plans to repair the weir on the River Blackwater in Fermoy. Large sections of the weir recently fell into the river and fears have been raised that little or nothing of it will remain by the time Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) and various government departments finally agree to fund a 3m project to reinstate it. Cllr O'Flynn pleaded with council officials at a meeting of the local authority's Northern Division that some remedial works be carried out on the structure before it all falls away, he said if this isn't done the results will be catastrophic in the medium term for revenue coming from salmon anglers, as fish will be hampered from getting to spawning grounds upstream. In the shorter term, he said the water level could be lowered to such an extent it is likely to see the end of the local rowing club's very successful 100-year-old regatta. Cllr Noel McCarthy, who lives in the town, also made the same appeal: It's time Inland Fisheries see the importance of the weir. The council have done everything we can to speed up the work, but it's no good. We need to do something fast." Mr Fogarty ruled out any temporary works. He said the council has sought consultants to draw up plans for its restructuring, which would cost in the region of 300,000. He said the council has committed to funding half of the cost of this itself, but despite 'positive noises' from government departments he has still not received a firm commitment for the other half of the funding needed. Mr Fogarty said in the meantime the council is prevented legally from going into the river and making temporary repairs: The Government may cover the cost of European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs) for people in Northern Ireland after Brexit. The plastic gives citizens access to state medical treatment while travelling in the EU. A sister of father-of-two Jason Corbett, who was murdered by his wife and father-in-law, has thanked family, friends and the public for their support following news of a major US TV network documentary. Jason, 39, was found with fatal head injuries at the home he shared in the US with his second wife, Molly Martens Corbett in Walburg, North Carolina on August 2, 2015. Ms Martens Corbett, 35, and her father Tom, 68, a retired FBI agent, were convicted of the second-degree murder of the father of two at his home at Panther Creek 19 months ago. The American woman first met Jason when she moved to Limerick as his childrens nanny following the death of his first wife, Mags Fitzpatrick. She subsequently married Mr Corbett in 2011 in the US following the businessmans relocation there. The Martens pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed self-defence. They have since appealed their convictions and are currently awaiting the outcome of the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling which is not expected for a number of months. If the father and daughter fail to win a retrial with the Court of Appeal, their only option is the North Carolina Supreme Court. In a post on her Facebook page, Jason's sister Tracey Corbett Lynch revealed that several more documentaries were made about her brother and what happened to him. She and her family have participated in the award-winning programme, 48 Hours to be aired by US TV network giant, CBS. Tracy, who is now the legal guardian of her late brothers two children Jack and Sarah, said: Thank you everyone for always being there with your endless support in the most difficult of times and decisions. This is what Jasons parents, friends, sisters, twin and children decided upon and wanted (taking part in the documentary). For anyone who knows Jason knew this would be what he would want. There is no ambiguity here. This is the reason those who loved and knew him participated. She added: This and other documentaries are being made whether his loved ones participate or not. We collectively decided we would no longer leave the Martens (Molly and Toms family) continue to disrespect Jason or Mags (Jasons first wife and mother of his children) memory without challenge again. Just because someone is dead, you never stop defending them. In fact you must stand up for them when they cannot. Be brave and speak out for those who have no voice. In a statement on the Facebook site, Jasons Journey, she said that she and other family members have sworn to fulfil three solemn vows to their brother, son and father. Firstly, to do everything in our power to assist the US authorities to deliver justice on those responsible for my brother Jason's cruel and senseless killing. Thanks to the professionalism of Davidson County prosecutors and the courage of the good people of North Carolina, Tom Martens and his daughter, Molly, were convicted in August 2017 of the second-degree murder of Jason. They are now serving 20-25 years in North Carolina prisons.They have never shown one ounce of remorse for beating a helpless father to death as he slept. Jason's wife and father-in-law, two people he should have been able to trust implicitly, took his life in the most appalling circumstances. They left his adored children, Jack and Sarah, orphaned. The statement added that their second solemn vow was to protect Jason's good name. Mr Corbett and his two children. "Our third vow was to provide Jason's children, Jack and Sarah, with all the love, care and protection that he would have wanted as a proud Irish father. Tom and Molly Martens did not seek just to kill our brother - they also sought to destroy his good name and reputation. Even before their 2017 trial, they had given an interview to a US TV channel in which they levelled unfounded and scurrilous allegations against Jason. These appalling allegations caused enormous hurt and upset to Jason's family, friends and work colleagues both in Ireland and the US. It speaks volumes of the type of people that Tom and Molly Martens are that they never once raised those same allegations during their murder trial. The decision taken by family members and friends of Jason to participate in the award-winning '48 Hours' programme by the US TV channel CBS is part of our ongoing commitment to fulfil that second solemn promise to Jason - to challenge every lie and scurrilous allegation levelled against his good name by those who will resort to anything in their bid to evade justice for their crimes." We felt the allegations levelled by Tom and Molly Martens needed to be publicly challenged in the US - and that is the reason for our involvement with the CBS programme.We will never falter in our campaign to ensure that Tom and Molly Martens serve the full sentence handed down by a North Carolina court for their terrible crime. Ms Corbett Lynch added that they will also never tire of defending the good name and honourable reputation of a dearly loved father, brother, son, uncle, friend, as well as a proud Limerick native and Irishman. She also pointed out that no payment was received for any participation in the documentary and that it is endorsed by their parents Rita and John Corbett. The most senior roads engineer in Co Cork doubts there will be any change in the route previously chosen for the Cork-Limerick motorway (M20), despite consultants being paid 15m to revisit it. Padraig Barrett, Cork County Council's director of roads, also said he is pushing to have the northern relief road in Mallow treated as a separate project after councillors expressed fears the M20 might not be completed until at least 2027. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) recently awarded a 15m contract to consultants to design a route between the two cities, even though one was drawn up in late 2010, before the government decided to mothball the project due to the recession. Members of the council's northern division have questioned why the new design was costing so much when one was already gathering dust for the 100km motorway, expected to cost 900m to construct. Cllr Ian Doyle said businesses and landowners along the route were also querying the amount being paid to the consultants. A house you designed 10 years ago is now out of date, environmental and planning regulations have changed so we are legally obliged to do this (revisit the original plans). "The route determined the last time was found to be the best route based on the information available. It's too early to say if it will be the same route, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't, Mr Barrett told a meeting of the council's northern division in Mallow. He said council engineers had recently met with the newly appointed consultants and provided them with all the original reports. Mr Barrett said he hoped the chosen route would be known by the end of next year. Cllr Gerard Murphy maintained that as most of the paperwork and research was already completed, the tender price given to the consultants should have been much lower. There was a substantial amount of work done on route selection previously. But it was specific for that route. That information was supplied to the consultants, so they have that bank of data which will be updated. They would have priced (their tender) knowing that information was available, Mr Barrett said. Cllr Gearoid Murphy said he hoped Mr Barrett was right about the route because there was concern the two cities would be linked by building a new motorway connecting to Limerick off the M8 at Cahir, Co Tipperary, which he said would be an absolute disaster. Cllr Gerard Murphy said that was not an option as it would have a serious economic consequences for the North Cork region. He added he was glad to hear Mr Barrett say the council wants to plough ahead with building the Mallow relief road as an independent entity, as the town and the North Cork region could not wait until 2027 for it. Mr Barrett said the council is preparing plans and an economic assessment aimed at convincing TII that it is vital the Mallow relief road is viewed as a separate project from the M20 and as such should be fast-tracked. Nancy Pelosi has warned British authorities there will be no US-UK trade deal post-Brexit if there is any damage to the peace process in Ireland. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives emphasised the US was a guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. She said her views and those of a US congressional delegation were made known at the highest level during a visit to London this week. Everyone we met with, we made clear. The Good Friday [Agreement] accords are not just a peace agreement, that would be justified enough for us to want to work very hard to protect. But it is something so elevated because of the numbers of hundreds of years of conflict that it resolved. The US had a vested interest in Irish peace, Ms Pelosi said, adding: We made clear to them that while we want the best possible outcome, the people have spoken, they want to leave the EU, that's a decision their country is making and has made and as they work that out, not to think for one minute that there is any comfort for them in the fact that if they leave the EU, they would quickly have a US-UK trade agreement. "That's just not on the cards if there's any harm done to the Good Friday accords. Don't even think about that." Westminster has failed to agree with voters' EU exit, risking the threat of a no-deal Brexit and possible fresh violence in the North. Ms Pelosi was speaking at a lunch hosted by Tanaiste Simon Coveney at Iveagh House. Mr Coveney said Ireland must ensure the troubled and tragic past must not come back to haunt us. Trade between Ireland and the US was worth half a trillion dollars, he said, and Washington had put over 540m in peace funds into helping transform the island of Ireland. Ms Pelosi also met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night at government buildings and will today make a special address in Leinster House, before visiting the border region tomorrow. Concerns have been raised by nursing homes and farmers over the governments Fair Deal scheme. The plan supports people who need to pay for residential care, with participants contributing to the cost based on means, and the State paying the balance. Nursing Homes Ireland has expressed their concerns over the rising cost of the scheme as well as the demand for it. The Irish Independent reports that the schemes cost could reach 1bn this year. Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly says it shows the governments lack of planning for Irelands ageing population "There is independent living, there is day-care, meals on wheels, home care and residential nursing home care. "All of those services, there will be an increase required in all of those services over the coming years - we need to plan appropriately and resource adequately. Meanwhile, the IFA says some farmers could be forced to sell their land to help pay for the scheme, unless a promised three-year cap is implemented. At the moment, 7.5% of a farmers land is helped to pay for the scheme every year, if they require it. Dingle heroes Walking on Cars tell Ed Power how they got past second-album syndrome, and why the band are turning their Cork gig into a sort of homecoming. A few years ago the exclusive club of Irish bands capable of selling out Dublins 3Arena welcomed a new member in the form of Dingles Walking On Cars. With tunes that blended folk and pop they were hailed a bit lazily as the homegrown Mumford and Sons. They certainly knew their way around an anthemic pop song, and were soon taking their seat at the top table of Irish rock. It was in many ways an unlikely success story. The group, all from rural Kerry, were childhood friends whod started playing together as a lark. In 2015, with minimal promotion or industry fanfare, their single Speeding Cars became a top 20 hit across Ireland and the continent. Twelve months later, before they had quite taken it all in, they sold out 3Arena. And then the wheels came off. Before we started our second album people were saying oh thats going to be the tough one, recalls Patrick Sheehy, who fronts the five-piece alongside Sorcha Durham. We didnt know what they meant. And then we dived into it. And we definitely felt the pressure. The problem was that while their 2016 debut Everything This Way had been half a decade in the plotting, its follow-up had to be put together in less than 18 months. That was huge change and initially it seemed to the group that they were being asked to become a musical production line. Knocking out track after track didnt come naturally. They grew a bit fed up and then slightly anxious. Theyd already scaled the mountain once. Could they do so all over again? We went into it with the wrong psychology, says Sheehy. We had the wrong aim. Too much time was spent focusing on the sound of the instruments rather than digging deep and being honest and real and creating something that was authentic. DRAWING BOARD After weeks of pained mucking about they sat back and listened to what they had done. It sounded, to them, like a bland facsimile of Everything This Way. So they scrapped it and started over. What we realised is that we had to be honest, says Sheehy. On the first record we were writing for the sake of writing for the love of it. So we stepped back and tried to recapture that. Sheehy, if anything bares his soul even more on the new LP, Colours. He croons wrenchingly about his difficult relationship with alcohol on the single Coldest Water. Hes far from an addict but came to realise that he was in certain social situations using drinking as a crutch. All his pain, regret, confusion and even shame, he poured into the lyrics, which are immensely powerful. Hes aware that Coldest Water has been doing well. But Sheehy is nonetheless taken aback when the Irish Examiner informs him that its headed for half a million streams on Spotify an indication that its poised to become a major hit. When you put yourself out there and people accept and appreciate it thats a good feeling. The sentiments can apply to a lot of things. People have all kinds of addictions: whether its food or drink or drugs or social media. It could be anything. Still, there were moments, he says, when the band feared that theyd said all they had to say and that a second album might never be forthcoming. There is a theory in the music industry that some artists peak to quickly and have nowhere else to go. What if Walking On Cars had stumbled into that trap? There are always those times you are totally uninspired, say Sheehy. You think, have I done my best work is that it? But then the following day you go back to the studio and theres a different energy and its all happening. So we just kept showing up and gradually we got there. Were delighted with the album now and cant wait for people to hear it. BIG IN GERMANY One surprise is how well the band are doing on the Continent. Germany, in particular, has embraced Walking On Cars. On their upcoming tour of the country they will be playing Vicar Street and Dublin Olympia scale venues a sign of how fast their fanbase has grown there. Even more impressive is the loyalty Germany has shown. In the three years since Everything This Way, the fanbase has patiently waited to hear what else the group has up its sleeves. People focus on the UK and American markets. Germany is absolutely huge, says Sheehy. Radio there latched on to Speeding Cars very quickly. And when you have a hit in Germany it just lingers on the radio for six to nine months. So that song got a crazy amount of action. There are acts in Germany who are huge stars but nobody else has heard of them. Theres a guy from Tralee, Rea Garvey, who weve toured with. He plays arenas in Germany and is a judge on The Voice there. Hes absolute massive. And he could walk down the street here and nobody would recognise him. Its mad. MUSGRAVE PARK Walking On Cars return to 3Arena on May 23. However, if theres a concert that the band are really looking forward to its their Musgrave Park show in Cork on June 21. Just up the road from Dingle its the closest to a homecoming for Sheehy and company, with more than 12,000 expected to attend. The day is also mushrooming into a mini-festival. Recent UK chart-topper Tom Walker is on the bill as is new Adele Lewis Capaldi, whose own Ireland and UK tour is a straight sell-out. Its going to be awesome, says Sheehy. To get Lewis Capaldi on the bill is ridiculous. The last time we did 3Arena a lot of Kerry people travelled up. I think theyll go to Cork on this occasion it will save them a bit of money on the petrol! Colours is out now. Walking On Cars play 3Arena, Dublin on May 23; and Musgrave Park in Cork on June 21 Many curious features exist in the investigation of Lynn Margiotta for suspected fraud in connection with how she obtained medical certs for days she was absent from work, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford LYNN Margiotta answered the door to her home in Navan, Co Meath, early on the morning of August 11, 2014, to be met by familiar faces. The three gardai were from Store St station in Dublin, where she worked as a civilian member of the force. She thought something was up, perhaps bad news related to her elderly father. Instead, they told her she was under arrest for suspected fraud. The fraud was in connection with how she had obtained medical certificates to cover for days she was absent from work. She was perplexed. If there was any issue over sick notes she would have thought it was a matter for her direct line manager and then human resources. She had had no communication on the matter from the human resources department in An Garda Siochana. She addressed the arresting gardai by their first names, and they all called her Lynn. She asked could she have a shower and they consented. Then they brought her to Navan Garda Station, where she was interviewed. So began a four-and-a-half year journey that ended on March 26 last in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The trial had opened the previous week but had been largely confined to a trial within a trial in the absence of the jury, known as voir dire. This is conducted to determine whether particular evidence is to be admissible. Following that, Judge Patricia Ryan ruled that Ms Margiotta had been denied access to a solicitor while in custody and her privacy had been breached by accessing medical records without consent. The case against her, and her brother Tony, who is a doctor, was dropped. Ms Margiotta was relieved that the case had ended but utterly dismayed that it had occurred at all. It had a huge impact on me, my family and particularly my elderly father. In the Autumn of his life he had to see his two adult children under criminal investigation. I would like somebody to be held accountable, she said. There should be some inquiry as to why this went on for four-and-a-half years out of our lives. Disturbing questions do arise from the case. The investigation had many curious features. There is an issue over whether Ms Margiottas employment at Store St had any bearing on how the matter was investigated. She has not been contacted by her employer since her arrest in August 2014. The role of the DPP is also curious. As of now, the Garda commissioner has not ordered any investigation into the case. The first arrest Lynn Margiotta grew up, one of two children, in Finglas on the northside of Dublin. She joined the civil service in 1994. Five years later she transferred from the Department of Justice to the district office in the Store St station in the city centre. Over the following 14 years she worked there without incident. She never complained about a colleague or garda, she was never the subject of any disciplinary issue. In 2013, Lynns mother became ill, but her death in January 2014 was sudden. Lynn had lived at home and was very close to her mother. A garda escort was provided at the funeral. Afterwards, Lynn suffered a form of depression. She was absent for work on over a dozen occasions between January and July 2014. Later, in a cautioned interview, she explained how she had been affected. Nothing in life prepares you for the death of a parent. My mom died very suddenly in hospital and I was there. I witnessed it and it had a serious affect on me and as a result I took a bit of time off work. I went back for maybe a day or two but just didnt feel I was giving my full potential to the job. I didnt feel I was able for it. The doctors certs to cover her sick leave were signed by her brother Tony, a general practitioner, who worked in the Boroimhe medical centre in Swords, where Lynn was a patient. He also worked as a locum in a practice in Ratoath, Co Meath, from where he also signed certs. These certs had the stamp of other doctors who worked, or had worked, full-time in the two practices. Colin Bradley, a professor of general practice at UCC, stated to gardai that it was not unusual for locums to use another doctors stamp while filling out sick certs. The practice, he said, was unregulated. At the trial last month, Supt Des McTiernan told the court that he believed Ms Margiotta when she said she was sick. He said he was investigating whether the certs were used to obtain sick leave by deception. Whether she was sick or not was irrelevant, he said. In July 2014, six months after her mothers death, issues arose between Lynn Margiotta and a garda member in the station. On July 24, Ms Margiotta lodged a complaint of bullying against this garda member. A few weeks later, on August 11, the three gardai showed up at her Navan home to arrest her. There were curious features to the arrest. In the first instance, the arresting gardai had worked with Lynn Margiotta, some of them for a number of years. One of them had shared a house with another member with whom Lynn had had a relationship. Ordinarily, if a garda had been arrested it would be regarded as bad practice for the investigation to be conducted with colleagues from the same station. Yet, for some reason, this did not apply in the case of Lynn Margiotta, a civilian employee of the force. The timing of the arrest was also curious. Supt McTiernan (he was an inspector in 2014) stated that he became aware of the issue sometime before August 11. He didnt state how long before he had become aware. Prior to August 11, 2014, I was in receipt of information to the effect that one Lynn Margiotta was submitting medical certificates that may have been falsified, he said in a statement. In any event, the arrest must have occurred early in the investigation. Typically, a police investigation gathers all the evidence before an arrest. The evidence is then put to the suspect in an interview. Ms Margiotta received no advance notice of it. In considering whether to arrest a suspect, the police must take into account issues like legality, proportionality and necessity. The arrest appears to have been legal. Whether it was proportionate or necessary is another matter. Lynn Margiotta was held for nearly 12 hours, including a six-hour extension on her original detention. The reason given in applying for the extension was to establish a motive for the alleged crime. Ms Margiotta didnt return to work. She felt she couldnt under the circumstances, even though she was not suspended. Her bullying allegation was not dealt with. For most of the last four-and-a-half years Ms Margiotta has been without an income. The second arrest Following her arrest on August 11, 2014, Lynn Margiotta was left in a form of limbo. Her solicitor, Yvonne Bambury, made repeated attempts to find out what was going on. Then, over a year later, on September 18, 2015 she was arrested for a second time. On this occasion, she did receive advance notice as, under the circumstances, she would be entitled to expect. During this interview she was shown a number of the doctors certificates. She refused to say anything under legal advice. This arrest was also curious. Ordinarily, a suspect is only arrested on a second occasion if fresh evidence comes to light. The doctors certs placed before her were all available to the gardai at the time of the first arrest. Why they had not been produced then and why it took a further year to actually assemble them, is curious. The evening of her second arrest a front page story was splashed across The Herald newspaper. The headline on the piece stated: Dublin based garda employee arrested for using fake sick certs. A source was quoted in the story. She was putting in sick certs for days that is it suspected she was not sick at all. The source obviously provided inaccurate information as Supt McTiernan told Dublin Circuit criminal court last month that he believed she was sick. The piece also noted that a lengthy investigation into the matter had been conducted. Lengthy investigations tend usually to involve suspected crimes like intricate financial dealings in banking, organised gang crime, or murder. This lengthy investigation was concerned with the means by which a sick Garda employee had acquired a sick note. The front page article went on: If a prosecution does happen, it is understood that it will be the first time in the history of the State that an employee will be hauled before the courts for allegedly providing fake sick notes to their employer. Lynn Margiotta was released from custody later that day. Her brother Tony Margiotta was also interviewed by gardai on number of occasions between June and August 2015. He attended in a voluntary capacity in the company of a solicitor and he was not arrested. Tony Margiotta, from Hollystown, Dublin 15, leaving court after the case. Picture: Collins Courts The charge Around 8am on the morning of June 10, 2017, Lynn Margiotta answered the door of her fathers home in Finglas. Another visit from the gardai. She was told she was to be taken to court to be charged. The date was a Saturday. This is highly curious. Lynn Margiotta was not the subject of a warrant. She was not considered a flight risk nor had she been recently extradited to this country. She presented no danger to anybody. The investigation against her had gone on for nearly three years. Her solicitor had requested that she receive advance warning of any charge. Yet Ms Margiotta was being taken from her home to be charged on a Saturday morning without any notice. The only court sittings on a Saturday are for emergency cases and most solicitors who would normally frequent the courts are not present. In such a milieu, Lynn and Tony Margiotta were brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice building and charged with seven offences of using a medical certificate as a false instrument. The Irish Examiner understands that the DPPs direction was that the matter could be dealt with summarily in the district court if guilty pleas were agreed. This is curious. A guilty plea ensures a conviction, and also a lighter sentence than might be the case before a jury in the circuit court. It would be entirely possible, if not probable, that the defendants could avoid any prison sentence. This would also ensure that offences were admitted. One outcome would be to justify the pursuit of the case by the gardai. Another would be that the evidence would not be entered into in any detail as a trial would be avoided. That a case involving a lengthy investigation, running into years, could be disposed in the district court is highly unusual. The Margriottas chose to take their chances before a judge and jury of the circuit court. Another 21 months elapsed before the case was brought to trial. The trial before the jury never advanced beyond the opening day before moving into the voir dire. Following that, the case collapsed and the Margiottas walked free. The judges ruling that Lynn Margiottas privacy was violated in particularly curious. She had a medical condition which she was entitled to keep private. If she had worked anywhere else the gardai would have required either her consent or a warrant to access the records. But for some reason such avenues were bypassed because she was an employee of An Garda Siochana. Whether her employment status had anything to do with the many curious features of this case would be a matter for the commissioner to explore. If there had been a trial, much of this would have emerged in open court. Simply because a trial was avoided is no reason to ignore the curious features of the investigation and prosecution. I am flummoxed that it actually arrived in court, Lynn Margiotta says. That should be part of any inquiry. While it was all going on I was left completely out in the cold. For nearly 14 years I worked there and there wasnt a cross word with anybody, including any line manager. And then this. I have not been contacted since it began. Somebody should be held accountable. Lynn Margiotta has never been informed about any investigation or outcome to her complaint of bullying against the garda member, lodged less than three weeks before she was first arrested. Peadar Toibin, founder of new political party Aontu, says his call for a debate on immigration was criticised unfairly and misrepresented THE Aontu political party is only three months old. We have held 40 public meetings around the country attended by 6,000 people. Last Saturday week, we had our national launch. Some 600 people heard three hours of debate on housing, health, education, Irish unity, Brexit, the right to life, and regional development. We also profiled 60 local election candidates on the day. This is phenomenal grassroots growth. There was no reference made to immigration by any speaker. In response to a journalists question on immigration, I said that if a person is fleeing war, violence or famine, that we, as a country, under international law, should provide refuge to them. I said that there needs to be a link between resource capacity and the numbers of people coming to Ireland. If there is not, there will be hardship for both Irish people and immigrants. I said that we, as a people, should be able to have a respectful, responsible debate on the issue. I said that the pressure on services and resources was not the fault of immigrants, but was due to the lack of government investment. I said the solution was to build adequate housing and to provide health and education for everyone in society. 600 people in attendence at the #Aontu National Launch. 3 months in existence, these people are sending a message to the political cartel of @fiannafailparty #FineGael. It's clear that the political system is broken. Now help us fix it. pic.twitter.com/UhWeCRH5oV Aontu (@AontuIE) April 6, 2019 Aontu believes that migration is a part of modern life, that without it our health service, and many industries, would grind to a halt. We recognise the valuable contribution that migrants have made to Ireland. Aontu is a pluralist movement. We believe that everyone in Irish society should be able to fully be who they are, without fear or favour. Last week, a reputable consultancy firm stated that the population of Dublin may rise by 150,000 in the next three years. William Hynes, director of Future Analytics Consulting, said: The findings, to date, have really brought to light the importance of understanding migration as a key component of population change, particularly given Ireland, by its nature, is a small, open, but globally connected economy. Any government that fails to prepare for this is not doing its job. Politics is robust, especially if you stand against the establishment view or stand up for what you believe in. Defending your policies can be a challenge, but when you start to get attacked on policy that you dont have, it gets bizarre. In the past week, the surreal nature of herd mentality was in full view. A truncated quote was misinterpreted by many. Untrue motivations were attributed. Each tweet became more divorced from what was actually said and each article further away from actual policy. After the initial interview, at no stage did any journalist or commentator call to check the facts. Heavy words such as xenophobe, racist, and dogwhistle are lightly thrown. This is both dangerous and grossly irresponsible. And censorship is the point. Ireland is fiercely orthodox and uniform. The politics of Ireland has radically changed over the last 30 years, but the intolerance of differing views is as it always was. For example, last week, a female Aontu candidate was banned from a Women in Politics debate in Galway because of her pro-life views. This translates to we are liberals, who welcome a broad spectrum of opinion and views, provided they conform exactly to ours. Four Aontu candidates, picd with Aontu leader Peadar Toibin, at a well attended just launch now in Galway: Cormac Corcoran, Galway Centre Ward, Nuala Nolan, Galway East Ward, Joe Campbell, Loughrea and Martin Ward, Tuam. pic.twitter.com/QMyLLvvxyF Sean O Domhnaill (@sodomhnaill34) April 11, 2019 This is far from a liberal democracy. In a liberal democracy, there should be no censorship; there should be no issues that cannot be debated. Respectful and reasonable debate is a valve to real frustrations. Supressing that valve does not dissipate the views, but pushes them underground and into the open arms of those on the extremes. The illiberal manner in which so-called liberals deal with issues such as this helps to create the monster that they most fear. That is the irony. Open and respectful debate is also critical in rigorously holding the establishment to account. Open and honest debate is not the enemy of democracy: It is a pivotal part of every democracy. None of this is accidental. Compare the words used by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on January 12 and the establishment reaction to it. He said: Migration .but it does need to be managed. We need to manage it right and see the picture as a whole. They have concerns about the increasing impact migration has on housing, for example, the impact on the health and education systems, particularly when there are a lot of kids in school who do not have English as a first language. They have concerns about security and crime. Whats was the response to these words by the establishment? Nothing. The self-appointed champions of woke said nothing at all. The craw-thumping TDs attacking Aontu for suggesting a debate on immigration are the same ones who are responsible for the disgraceful shame of direct provision. This is news now because of the growth and momentum of Aontu. We are not here to fiddle around the edges of the political system. We are not here to rearrange the chairs of a sinking political culture. We are here to build a new political movement that will positively change the face of Ireland for generations. Aontu will not shirk from any debate. We will not hold the finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. We will not accept the censorship of group mentality. We will robustly and respectfully represent Irish society in all of its diversity. Aontu seeks a migration plan that meets our obligations as a people, and which is humanitarian and sustainable. Peadar Toibin is a TD and founder of the new political party, Aontu Civilianisation. Training. Repossessions. Staffing. Investment. These are the issues that should be dominating the agenda at the three-day annual conference of frontline garda supervisors in Co Cavan, which started yesterday. And Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan should be on the receiving end of the ire of middle-ranking officers. Given that today will be the commissioners first address to a Garda staff conference since he was appointed last September, that should be, in normal circumstances, the focus of both delegates and the media. Putting the commissioner and the minister under the spotlight should be the officers and representatives of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI). But this time, it is the association that is under the spotlight and senior officials are most definitely not enjoying the experience. Allegations erupted just days before the conference began and have been aired and reported extensively in public. They include allegations that a Garda investigation is under way regarding a member of AGSI involved in doing private consultancy work behaviour prohibited by gardai. Further allegations have also been made, all of which are detailed under protected disclosure legislation. The garda against whom the claims have been made has said he was not informed that any investigation involving him was under way. The national executive of the association held a lengthy meeting on Sunday to discuss the matter and said the investigation should be allowed to take its course. The controversy reflects deep and serious divisions within what has traditionally been a relatively stable and unified Garda staff association executive. Internal disputes and grievances have been a feature down the years of the Garda Representative Association, which represents rank and file members. Underlining the scale of the problem at the AGSI conference is the absence of two senior association members, absences that have sent ripple effects among delegates and a clear message to the media. The fact that all of this is happening in public at the AGSIs landmark gathering one attended by the justice minister yesterday evening and the commissioner today is deeply embarrassing and worrying for the body. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris One senior delegate, in the association a long time, told the Irish Examiner the conference had been ruined by the controversy. He said the problem had been rumbling for a long time and said the way it had emerged in the run-up to the conference was terrible for the association. It is unclear how these allegations are going to play out and what is the truth of them. The investigations into the garda are at an early stage. Minister Flanagan made very pointed comments about the controversy and its impact on the association in his address. He stressed that he needed to know he could trust that the association represented its members. Thats as fundamental as it gets for a representative body. And thats not the end of it. Today, the commissioner arrives and he may have something further to say. Ireland and Malta will be the only EU countries that drive on the left-hand side after Britain departs the bloc in October, writes Fergus Finlay I KNOW well the road between Dublin and Cork. I could drive it blindfold, I reckon; the old route or the new route. But I wonder how were all going to cope when we have to drive it the wrong way round. I know the route so well because, way, way back, I commuted once a week between Dublin and Cork. Thats a posh way of describing a complicated set of family arrangements. For a good deal of my Leaving Cert year, my family lived in Dublin, my father worked in Cork City, and I went to school in Cork. Every Friday, Dad and I would pack dirty laundry into the boot of his Austin A40, and set off on the journey to Dublin. When the car was going well (which wasnt every weekend), wed make the trip in around four hours, door to door, from the Western Road in Cork to Novara Terrace in Bray. Nowadays, its about two hours from one end of the motorway to another, but you can often add another hour and a half to that for city traffic. What slowed us down was Dads unfailing habit of stopping for refreshments. A pint and a sandwich in Daverns of Cashel; then another drive of an hour, for a pint in Egans of Portlaoise, before completing the journey home. The two pints wouldnt take more than 10 minutes each to consume, but if he fell into conversation about the politics of the day, an hour could pass easily enough. And one pint could become two. What passed for safe driving back then, in a rickety old car, would be unthinkable now. And those conversations, and extra pints, could happen frequently. Strangers could become friends or foes in Daverns or Egans. Sean Lemass, our Taoiseach at the time, picked the occasion of one of our journeys to announce his retirement, and I can still remember the argument, in the pub on our way home, about who should succeed him. I thought I would never get home that night. Im telling you all this so that youll believe me when I say that I know the road to Cork like the back of my hand. Those first journeys, more than 50 years ago, were almost the only ones I ever took as a passenger. Ive been driving that road through every change made to it for a half-century now. I remember when it frequently took more than an hour to get through Naas. I remember when Horse and Jockey was the single most dangerous part of the road, because it had both a hairpin bend and a humpbacked bridge, and that was on the main road to Dublin. I remember the feeling of celebration when you hit the only two pieces of dual carriageway on the entire road: Dunkettle and the Naas dual carriageway (for a couple of miles at either end). So, Im no stranger to that road. In fact, I love it. Setting out on the road to Cork, for me, is like saying hello to an old friend. So, whats it going to be like, I wonder, when we have to do that journey while driving on the other side of the road? Because that will be one of the inevitable consequences of Brexit. We know now, dont we, that Britain is going to leave the EU this year, with or without a deal. They wont get any more extensions after Halloween, especially not if they take part in the European elections, and Nigel Farage whips up enough bile to win seats for his Brexit party. Then, nobody in Europe will want them using those seats to disrupt as much as they can. So the latest deadline is almost certainly the last. And when they go, we will be the only market in the EU (apart from Malta) for cars, buses, and lorries that drive on the wrong side of the road. I chatted at the weekend to a man who is in the business of supplying public transport vehicles. Already, he said, its becoming harder and harder to find suppliers who are interested in a market as tiny as ours. We benefit, right now, from the fact that there is a 20-times bigger UK market next door, but, soon, that will be a third country market, with its own export-and-import arrangements. Of course, there are complicated and expensive arrangements we could make to ensure that we continue to drive on the wrong side of the road. But, sooner of later, were going to have to switch. Imagine the chaos that would ensue. The Swedes did it in 1967. But Sweden is a disciplined place, and Swedish drivers arent like us. Even then, it took Sweden four years to prepare, and cost a huge amount. Now, they are reprogrammed, and they get as confused as anyone else when they have to drive here. Whats more, there was no motorway in Sweden when they switched. I drove from Cork to Dublin on Sunday, using the motorway, and tried to imagine what it would be like on the other side of the road. Going up the down ramps especially that one that joins the M7 to the M50 could be the stuff of nightmares, if we dont figure out how to do it correctly. AND the signage, on every road in the country, is all pointing the wrong way. Our buses have all their main doors on the wrong side. One-way streets will have to change direction. Speed limits will have to be reduced, at least until we get used to the new way of driving. And thats before you take into account the unique characteristics of the Irish driver. We are a country of bad habits on the road. We tend to regard traffic lights as a way of urging us to speed up, and speed limits as a sort of personal affront. If were not safe enough drivers now, what will we be like when we have to switch to the other side of the road? Especially as were going to end up with a mix of cars, some right-hand drive, some left-hand, for years to come. But were going to have to do it, and the sooner we start a discussion about it, the better. Post-Brexit, the choice will become a stark inevitability. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but sooner or later, if we want affordable cars, were going to have to conform to European driving norms. But well get there. We always do in the end. The road to Cork might never be the same, but it will still be an old friend, just with a new look to it. Were going to end up with a mix of cars, some right-hand drive, some left-hand, for years to come Ziegler said if Foxconn is completed as planned with no change in how stormwater is handled at the site, it would likely result in about a 6-inch rise in river flow, and that if the development corridor near Foxconn is also built out, it could mean a water level rise of 10 inches or more, according to the report. Police in Canada are searching for a man who dressed up as a delivery man and shot a woman with a crossbow. The attack, which happened in Ontario, is being investigated as attempted murder. After a short chat on the doorstep of a house, the suspect shot the woman in the chest. Heather Ramore from the Peel Police Department explains what happened: She said: "The suspect posing as a deliveryman and carrying a large box attended the front door of a house. "When the victim answered the door, they had a brief conversation. Seconds later, the suspect shot an arrow at the victim from a crossbow that was concealed inside the box he was carrying." Emergency services were called to the house on Bayberry Drive in the city of Mississauga and found a 44-year-old woman suffering from life-threatening injuries who was taken to hospital. Officers said the arrow used is "designed to hunt large game such as moose and deer" and "inflict the maximum amount of damage possible". They have since found the arrow that is believed to have been used in the crime as well as surveillance footage of the incident which you can watch below. Latest: The structure of Notre Dame has been saved after a huge fire destroyed parts of the famous cathedral, according to a fire chief in Paris. The update came after officials earlier warned that firefighters may not be able to stop the huge blaze which tore through the cathedral. Speaking outside the cathedral, fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet had told reporters he was not sure we are capable of stopping the spreading to Notre Dames second tower and belfry, but he later said they had been successful in stopping it spreading to the northern belfry of the 850-year-old Gothic building. Speaking at the scene, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild Notre Dame, and said he will seek international help to do so. I say to you very solemnly this evening, this cathedral will be rebuilt. He thanked the fire fighters who worked "with extreme courage" over the course of the evening to fight the blaze and who would continue to do so. He said that "the worst has been avoided but the battle hasn't been won yet". The fire began on Monday evening, with first reports emerging of smoke in the cathedral shortly before 6pm. The last visitors of the day were evacuated and the Paris Fire Brigade began to fight flames which had emerged from the cathedrals roof. A French official said that while the source of the fire was unknown, it could be linked to renovation works to fix Notre Dames historic stone walls and buttresses. The fire first brought down the cathedrals 315ft (96m) spire, and has spread to one of its two towers, which form its famed frontage. Notre Dame is one of the citys oldest and most recognisable buildings, and work began on it in 1163. The original structure was completed nearly 200 years later, in 1345, and its name literally translates to Our Lady of Paris. Some 13 million people now visit the Catholic landmark every year more than 30,000 every day on average according to its official website, and it is believed to be the most visited structure in the French capital. The renovation works were estimated to cost around 150 million. (PA Graphics) Notre Dame fire: Fire chief 'not sure' they can stop blaze from spreading Update 9.30pm: The Paris fire chief said it is unclear if city firefighters will be able to keep the blaze at the Notre Dame cathedral from spreading and causing more destruction. Earlier this evening, a catastrophic fire engulfed the world-famous cathedral, toppling its spire and threatening the entire wooden frame of the building. Firefighters douse flames rising from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral. Picture: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images Jean-Claude Gallet, speaking outside the cathedral, said "we are not sure we are capable of stopping the spreading" to Notre Dame's second tower and belfry. He said: "If it collapses, you can imagine how important the damage will be." French President Emmanuel Macron is at the scene of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, and is meeting senior police officers. A firefighter tackles the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) 'Our Lady of Paris in flames': World reacts as fire engulfs Notre Dame cathedral Update 8.30pm: A catastrophic fire has engulfed the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, toppling its spire and threatening the entire wooden frame of the building. French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived at the scene of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, and is meeting senior police officers. He tweeted earlier: "Our Lady of Paris in flames. Emotion of a whole nation. Thought for all Catholics and for all French. Like all our countrymen, I'm sad tonight to see this part of us burn." Video of the collapse of #NotreDame Cathedral while burning in fire. The iconic Gothic structure in the heart of Paris had millions of visitors every year. (@ZelinskyAdam) https://t.co/QGP1UqZL38 Negar Mortazavi (@NegarMortazavi) April 15, 2019 The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, said the cathedral had suffered "colossal damages", and the emergency services were trying to salvage the art and other priceless pieces stored in the cathedral. A cathedral spokesman said the entire wooden interior was burning and likely to be destroyed. Officials said the fire may be linked to renovation work at one of the world's most famous tourist attractions, French media reported. Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into the blaze as the fire was still burning out of control, and the authorities said no-one had been hurt. Hundreds of people on bridges around Notre Dame in Paris, watching in shock as fire engulfs the famed cathedral. Photos and videos on social media show the roof of the 850-year-old Gothic building covered in flames, issuing a plume of smoke above the city. The Paris fire brigade can be seen in videos dousing the blaze with water. A church spokesman said all of the cathedral's frame was burning after the spire collapsed. The emergency services were trying to salvage the priceless artwork stored in the cathedral. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo described it as a "terrible fire" and urged people at the scene to stay safe. Picture: AP Photo/Thibault Camus President Michael D Higgins said that the building is "part of a shared global cultural heritage". "I would like to express the feelings of solidarity of the Irish people with the people of France at the catastrophic damage to one of the most iconic buildings in Europe - a building which the people of Paris have shared with millions from all over the world." The Notre Dame Cathedral has suffered many instances of catastrophic damage over the centuries, and it is my hope that it will survive this latest terrible catastrophe. World leaders, politicians and other famous figures have taken to social media to express their upset at the fire. So sad to see the images of the burning #NotreDameDeParis. I hope that the Paris fire brigade will get the fire under control as soon as possible. My thoughts are with the people of France as a masterpiece of European gothic is at risk of being destroyed. Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 15, 2019 Notre-Dame de Paris est Notre-Dame de toute lEurope. We are all with Paris today. Charles Michel (@eucopresident) April 15, 2019 My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purposeto build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own. I wish France strength and shared purpose as they grieve and rebuild. Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 15, 2019 The Met and the collective cultural community are watching in shock and horror at the fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral. We are sending all of our support and strength to the people of Paris and stand ready to provide any and all resources we can. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (@metmuseum) April 15, 2019 Famous Notre Dame spire collapses as fire engulfs the Gothic cathedral Update 6.40pm: The spire at Notre Dame Cathedral has collapsed after a fire broke out at the famous Gothic cathedral this evening. The fire broke out at the famous cathedral in the French capital, Paris, shortly after 6pm. Heres the video of Notre Dame cathedrals spire collapsing amidst the flames.https://t.co/uR2LWrIFGJ Jerry Christmas (@JerryDunleavy) April 15, 2019 Pictures circulating on social media showed flames coming out of the Gothic cathedral and plumes of smoke billowing from its roof. Footage showing its famous spire collapsing also emerged online. The cause of the fire is said to potentially involve the renovation works being carried out at the site, the Parisian fire service said. Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images. US President Donald Trump suggested on Twitter that the fire was put out with flying water tankers. So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, he wrote. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, this evening. Massive plumes of yellow-brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. Photo: AP/Lori Hinant. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo described it as a terrible fire and urged people at the scene to stay safe. Un terrible incendie est en cours a la cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Les @PompiersParis sont en train de tenter de maitriser les flammes. Nous sommes mobilises sur place en lien etroit avec le @dioceseParis. J'invite chacune et chacun a respecter le perimetre de securite. pic.twitter.com/9X0tGtlgba Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 15, 2019 Ashley Huntington, 21, an American university student studying in Paris, said: Our class ran what was supposed to be 30 minutes walking but we probably got here in 20 running. You could just get close and see the smoke. The smoke is everywhere in the sky. It seems like more pieces of the scaffolding are currently falling. The back roof has collapsed, the two towers are still intact but the middle part is totally up in flames and you can start to see the scaffolding. The top scaffolding has all gone now. There is a complete emptiness in the middle section. It just looks like its out of control. Ive never seen a fire in real life but the flames keep getting bigger and bigger. I dont think its getting better at all. The police right now are definitely making sure the public is cleared away. We keep getting pushed further and further away. Smoke billowing from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. pic.twitter.com/mvx4jN19fH David Almacy (@almacy) April 15, 2019 Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris. Photo: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images. Picture: @slopezserra/PA Wire Additional reporting PA Officials in Beach Park, Winthrop Harbor and Zion have been working collectively for a few years with an eye toward economic development, Kindseth said. Other groups that also include the cities of Waukegan and North Chicago have also been working on projects, including a unified building code for the region. Burma State Counselor, Military Chief to Skip Was 30th Anniversary Celebration UWSA chief Bao Youxiang inspects the troops during a military parade rehearsal on Monday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy PANGHSANG, Wa Self-Administered ZoneMyanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing will not attend the United Wa State Armys 30th anniversary celebrations despite having received invitations from Myanmars largest ethnic armed group. The UWSA is gearing up to celebrate the event on a grand scale on Wednesday in Panghsang, the Wa capital on the Chinese border in northern Shan State. The Wa army will mark its 30th anniversary with a military parade of 7,600 troops before more than 3,000 visitors, including leaders of other ethnic armed groups, Beijings Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang, and officials from Chinas Yunnan province across the border. Founded on April 17, 1989, the UWSA signed a ceasefire with Myanmars then military governmentthe State Law and Order Restoration Councilin 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 has not yet signed the governments 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 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. According to UWSA liaison officer U Nyi Rang, the government will be represented at Wednesdays event by eight officials including Union Minister for Labor, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe, Peace Commission Vice Chair U Thein Zaw and President Offices spokesperson U Zaw Htay. Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun of the Myanmar militarys information team told The Irrawaddy that Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing would not attend the celebration. We are not sure if we will send any representative, he said. However, U Nyi Rang said Shan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Hla Oo would join the UWSAs celebration. Government and top military leaders rarely accept invitations to attend commemorative events held by ethnic armed groups, especially those that have yet to ink peace deals such as the NCA with them. Their decision not to attend, especially Daw Aung San Suu Kyis, has disappointed the UWSA leadership, according to some Wa officials. Given the State Counselors tours to other ethnic regions, they said, they had hoped she would attend their commemorative event and had even prepared special accommodations for her. While many were invited, foreign ambassadors and representatives of international NGOs will not be making the trip either, as the Wa Self-Administered Zone is officially off-limits to foreigners. Myanmars 2008 Constitution acknowledges Wa areas in Shan State as self-administered, but Wa leaders have been lobbying the government to recognize their region as a state like other ethnic regions in the country. On This Day Daw Khin KyiWife and Mother of National LeadersWas Born 107 Years Ago Today Daw Khin Kyi (left), with Prime Minister U Nu and his wife on their visit to England in 1950. Today would be the 107 birthday of Daw Khin Kyi, the widow of Myanmars national hero General Aung San and mother of Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Born in Irrawaddy Regions Myaungmya, she married Gen. Aung San, who was three years her junior, while working as a nurse at the Burma Defense Army (BDA) Hospital during Japanese rule. She went through thick and thin with her husband on his tough political path during Japanese rule and after World War II. Less than five years into their marriage, she became a widow with two children when Gen. Aung San was assassinated. After the death of her husband, she took an active part in the political, social and health sectors of Myanmar. When the Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League established by her late husband split into two, she supported the Clean Faction led by U Nu. In May 1960, Daw Khin Kyi was appointed ambassador to India, becoming the countrys first woman to serve as the head of a diplomatic mission. She later concurrently served as ambassador to Nepal. She retired as an ambassador in 1967 and refused to accept a pension, as the country was facing economic hardship. She died in December 1988 at the age of 76 after suffering a severe stroke. She was entombed beside Supayalat, the chief queen of Myanmars last monarch King Thibaw; Thakhin Kodaw Hmaing, the father of Myanmars nationalist and peace movements; and U Thant, who served as the third United Nations secretary general, on Shwedagon Pagoda Road in Yangon. At the centenary of Daw Khin Kyis birth in 2012, her daughter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi established the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which provides assistance to the social and health care services of Myanmar. Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 (11:56 am) - Score 1,469 Cityfibres 30m project to roll-out a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband network in the town of Southend-on-Sea (Essex) has been given a boost after the operator, which is being supported by UK ISP partner Vodafone, appointed Aideen Sadler to be its dedicated City Manager. The town already has an existing 90km+ Dark Fibre network (here), which for the past few years has been serving local public sector and business sites. Under the new plan this network will be extended to cover nearly every home and business within the town and work is expected to begin during this autumn 2019. All of this forms part of the operators wider 2.5bn investment (details), which aims to deploy Gigabit capable full fibre broadband infrastructure to cover around 1 million premises in 10 UK cities by the end of 2021 (phase one costing c.500m), before rising to 5 million premises across 37 cities and towns by the end of 2024. Aideen Sadler, Cityfibres City Manager for Southend, said: A state-of-the-art digital infrastructure plays a crucial role in growing and protecting local economies, so Im delighted to be joining an organisation that is doing everything it can to transform cities across the country. Theres a great entrepreneurial spirit in Southend. I am proud that CityFibre is investing in our town; it really is a beacon of hope for our thriving start-up culture. This investment will contribute to making Southend a Gigabit City which means that both businesss and residents of Southend can avail of the fastest broadband in the UK. Technology is changing the way we do business and how we live our everyday lives, having this infrastructure in place will future proof our local economy. The benefits of full fibre connectivity are huge, not only to businesses but also residents. Im looking forward to working in partnership with stakeholders from across Southend-on-Sea to ensure that we maximise all opportunities. At the same time, Im determined to engage with our local communities and ensure that they are with us every step of the way and understand the difference that full fibre broadband can have now and in the future. End. Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 (10:21 am) - Score 2,923 A new study has examined the impact of network-level filtering (Parental Controls) from the largest UK broadband ISPs, which are enabled-by-default and help to protect children from seeing adult content. Unfortunately theyve also blocked access to many safe sites too, including charities, school and social support services. Currently all of the markets largest broadband ISPs (BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk etc.) are required, as part of a semi-voluntary agreement with the Government, to adopt network-level filtering through a system called Active Choice Plus. The intention is to prevent children from seeing unsavoury online content and customers may also be given options to filter by age, time and across various different content categories. The system can optionally be disabled, although this may soon become a moot point as the Government are increasingly moving toward a culture of censorship by default (e.g. the Online Harms White Paper and Age Verification for Porn Sites plan). Due to all this its becoming vitally important to remind people of just how dangerous it can be, to freedom of speech and access to vital information, when you entrust such tools to dumb automation by commercial companies, which will always err on the side of overblocking in order to protect themselves from liability. In this case the Open Rights Group and Top10VPN conducted an analysis of 35 million unique domains to see which seemingly legitimate and safe sites may have been wrongfully caught by such filters. The study found that 760,000 websites have been blocked in the last 2 years alone, albeit with lots of small businesses and charities being unwittingly caught in the crossfire. Number of safe sites blocked in different categories since 2017 Sites relating to these keywords Total blocked domains identified through search Total domains still blocked Total number of ISPs that are blocking a domain Addiction, substance abuse support sites 35 14 48 Charities and non-profit organisations 91 17 24 Counselling, support, and mental health 104 70 177 Domestic violence and sexual abuse support 7 7 25 LGBTQ+ sites 27 7 25 School websites 143 13 28 A lot of the aforementioned sites include those that provide support for overcoming issues such as drug and alcohol addiction, mental health support, as well as sexual and domestic abuse. The study also found that only a little over 1,300 blocks had been reversed in the last 2 years, which is just a small fraction of incorrectly blocked sites. Similarly the study noted that 27.6% of unblock requests to ISPs from 2018 are still unresolved today, with TalkTalk and Virgin Media being the worst offenders. Jim Killock, ORG Executive Director, said: Filters are fundamentally bad products, that block too much and too little. Our report shows that website publishers are suffering the consequences. The only decent solution is to be very cautious about using filters. People should only use them if they are clear that they are necessary. Unfortunately, many filters are opt-out, so too many people and homes are using them needlessly. ISPs are using out-of-the-box solutions from third parties and so tend to pass the buck on queries about filtering. What we need is greater transparency into how ISPs are blocking sites. It should not be down to the volunteer efforts of donation-driven services such as Blocked.org.uk to deal with the problems that this government policy has created. Many sites end up being incorrectly blocked because of simple context confusion over similar keywords. For example, a website that promotes drug use and self-harm may share many of the same words and context as those that do the exact opposite and try to help people with such problems. Over 400 UK charities, social support and school websites were found to have been caught by these filters in the past two years alone, while at least 120 sites are still affected, thus depriving these largely third sector entities from carrying out their mission. Likewise in the past weve even seen online shops that coincidentally sold antique tobacco pipes or beer glasses being blocked for a similar reason. Even Drainage companies have been caught up in ISP filters for using terms like unblock, possibly under the just plain dumb assumption that they are censoring web-based anonymisers and proxy server services (used to easily circumvent such blocks). Just to make matters worse its not always immediately clear to those who run the websites that an ISP is blocking them and often the first youll learn of it is when a reader points the problem out, which may come a long time after the problem first hit. Trying to get the site unblocked, as suggested earlier, can then become very hit-and-miss. We can only imagine how bad this could get once the Government starts targeting even more ambiguous speech by the same back-door style approach to mass censorship via third-parties. Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 (10:50 am) - Score 3,469 In a slightly comical twist Vodafone has boosted their 4G mobile network coverage around part of Cornwall (i.e. the popular seaside resorts of Polzeath and Sennen Cove) by installing radio kit inside disused telephone boxes, which just so happened to once belong to arch rival BT. More of this will soon follow across the UK. Extending modern 4G and future 5G mobile technologies into more remote areas is often a challenging task for UK operators, not least due to issue of local topography, gripes against related planning applications, the lack of power and an absence of high capacity fibre optic cables to link up their masts. As such an operator sometimes has to get a little innovative in order to fill in the gaps. So what better way to boost your coverage, while at the same time sticking two fingers up at a long-time rival, than to use some of their now largely disused phone boxes (kit gets installed right at the top of the phone box, naturally). Scott Petty, CTO of Vodafone UK, said: Improved mobile coverage in rural areas helps the local economy, keeps people connected, and above all, offers reassurance at times when you just have to make that call. But it can be challenging to deliver. That is why we are in the final stages of presenting to Government our industry-wide blueprint for improving mobile coverage. It is also why we are looking at innovative ways of extending coverage, such as making use of phone boxes. Vodafone doesnt actually name drop BT in their announcement of the new so-called 4G from a phone box service, but there can be no doubt about what theyre saying from the accompanying picture. Apparently each box should deliver a boost to signal coverage within approximately a 200-metre radius. People nearby can also make use of Vodafones range of connected devices, including the V-Pet Tracker. The operator sees all of this as helping to support the Governments ambition for extending mobile coverage to 95% of the UKs landmass by 2022. Vodafone are also testing 4G in phone boxes in busy shopping areas across Edinburgh, Oxford and soon in London too. At their technology headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, theyre also oddly trialling housing 4G on the underside of manhole covers (here). Meanwhile the Cornish 4G-enabled phone boxes are equipped to cope with the increase in mobile usage over the Easter break and over the summer months. During the heatwave in 2018, their network in Cornwall carried nearly 90% more mobile Internet traffic than the previous year and this Easter break is looking to be another hot one. Global digital transformation company Schneider Electric has announced a tie-up to supply Australia's biggest electric vehicle charging infrastructure installer JET Charge with charging equipment for car dealer Nissan Australia. Charging stations will be installed at 89 metropolitan and provincial Nissan dealers before the arrival of the new Nissan LEAF model in August, creating Australia's biggest EV sales network, Schneider and JET said in a statement. Charging stations for the home will be installable by JET Charge for private buyers of the Nissan LEAF. The statement said internal Nissan research had shown that most LEAF owners charged their cars as they did their mobile phones overnight at home. While retail sales of EVs were low right now, the statement said a spike in sales was expected over the next 5 to 10 years. In the ongoing Federal Election campaign, the Labor Party has announced a target of 50% of vehicles sold being EVs by 2030. Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester said: The new Nissan LEAF has the ability to transform the way we drive and live. The increase in power and particularly torque make this vehicle a lot of fun to drive, surprising many who get to experience it. A view of the charging station. Photos courtesy Schneider Electric and JET Charge "In fact, electrified vehicles will represent a third of Nissan volume in Australia during our mid-term plan. By introducing more electric alternatives on several of our key models, we will make mass market electrification a reality. "I have no doubt electric vehicles will be a success here, and sooner than many think, and Nissan is planning for this now to ensure we meet the future needs of the buyer. JET Charge chief executive Tim Washington said: Working with Schneider Electric to provide reliable, world-class charging technology enables us to install the best charging solutions for Australian consumers. "Driven by increasing charging infrastructure and car model availabilities, the Australian electric vehicle industry is soon to leapfrog over other markets, and is already well ahead of other markets. "Partnering with leading car and technology manufacturers will enable us to accelerate this growth further, and set Australian EV uptake soaring. Schneider Electric Power Products and Solutions vice-president Farokh Ghadially said: The automotive industry has been electrified with possibilities this year, with new vehicles, greater charging solutions and innovative technology setting the path for enthusiastic customers across Australia. "Working with JET Charge and Nissan at the leading edge of EV design and solutions, we are proud that our technology is bringing EV charging solutions to more Australians than ever. If hunting for Easter eggs isn't as exciting as it once was, how about AirPods for $1, A Samsung Galaxy S10 for $20, a Google Home Hub for $5, a 50-inch 4K TV for $10, and iPhone XR for $20 or a Dyson V8 for $10? Like the sound of a 50" Smart TV for $10 or Google Home Hub for $5? All this and more could be yours if you find a hidden code in the Easter edition of The Great Kogan.com Treasure Hunt! Opening at 9am today, 16 April, Kogan says it will be "be dropping exclusive hints and clues" via its regular daily deal emails, which you can sign up for here. Apple AirPods for $1 Swann Smart Home Alarm System for $1 Google Home Hub (Charcoal) - Australian Model for $5 KitchenAid Classic Food Processor - Onyx Black for $5 Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 (Ice Blue) for $1 Kogan SmarterHome 4.1kW Portable Smart Air Conditioner for $10 Kogan 50" Smart HDR 4K LED TV (Series 8 LU8010) for $10 Dyson V8 Absolute Vacuum Cleaner for $10 Apple iPhone XR (64GB, Black) for $20 Samsung Galaxy S10 Dual SIM (128GB, Prism Black) for $20 As Kogan notes, "prices only valid for those who find and redeem the special code for this item", with "only one unit available at the specified prices". So, how does it all work? Well, at 9:00am (AEST) today, 16 April, just "get online and head to Kogan.com, where 10 unique discount codes will be hidden throughout the website. Look for the magnifying glass with a unique code next to it. Well be dropping location hints via email, so make sure you sign up to our daily deal emails above. "If you find a code, high-tail it over to that product page on Kogan.com and add it to your cart. Apply the discount code and check out to secure it! For more information on how to insert a discount code, click here." Kogan says "Remember to be quick! Even if you find the code, its a race to the checkout to secure the deal, and therell only be one of each special deal available." A live tracker above showing which treasures have already been found and redeemed is here. Almost half of all Australian small and medium business are under-prepared and potentially exposed to significant financial loss and crippling reputational damage, according to a newly published report on cyber risks. According to Mark Mantakoul, general manager of Allcom Networks, securing against cyber crimes needed to be among the business communitys top priorities, yet for many it was not even a consideration. In todays digital age, every business in any industry is vulnerable as cyber-crimes like hacking steadily increase, Mantakoul said. Internationally, we are seeing an increase in the level of sophistication in cyber-attacks, including cases where hackers have intercepted emails, manipulated invoices and redirected payments to their own accounts. It is no different here - we are increasingly hearing from companies that have been compromised by ransomware or data breaches. And unfortunately, most companies take a reactive approach to security, usually only thinking about it after a cybercrime or data breach has occurred which could see them exposed financially and reputationally. The message is simple If they dont start to take preventive action, Australian businesses are putting themselves at risk. Mantakoul pointed to recent data from the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and the reports released by the Office of the need for action. The ASBFEO reports that 44% of Australian businesses are not fully equipped to deal with data breaches, while the OAIC reports that since February last year they have received 812 notifications of data breaches occurring. The OAIC report shows 57% of the cyber attacks on businesses were of malicious or criminal nature, versus, 37% that were human error and 6% system faults. Other OAIC statistics highlight just how simple it can be for fraudsters and thieves to steal and manipulate an individuals or companys information, with 85% of data breaches reported containing contact information, 45% containing financial information, 35% IDs and 22% including tax file numbers. Mantakoul said in addition to the potential reputational and financial impact of a cyber attack, the recent amendments to the Privacy Act around notifiable data breaches should prompt businesses to think about the issue before it happens. Recent amendments to the Privacy Act include an increase in penalties and requirements around notifiable data breaches, which should see businesses introduce measures to not only protect personal information, but focus on those directly affected, he said. Not only could ill-prepared businesses unwittingly release sensitive information but could also face irreparable brand reputation damage and financial penalties if they dont comply with the mandatory data breach notification requirements. With the amendments to the Act, these penalties will increase from the current maximum penalty of $2.1 million for serious or repeated breaches to $10 million, or three times the value of any benefit obtained through the misuse of information, or 10 per cent of a company's annual domestic turnover. Today, every business sector is vulnerable as criminal hacking steadily increases across all industries including financial, law, manufacturing, construction, marketing, IT, health and logistics, Mantakoul said. Based on the data available, our recommendation for businesses is to improve the security of their systems and technologies, increase cyber security awareness throughout the organisation and be prepared to act immediately in the event an attack occurs. Ninety percent of the Australias credential abuse attacks are delivered from within Australia via local ISP networks, according to a new study which also found that a growing number of internationally-based cybercriminals are routing attacks via homegrown networks. The study Bots Down Under An Australian Market Threat Report by Web security company Kasada also revealed that 90% of the countrys top websites were unable to differentiate a customer from a bot on login pages, which leaves bots free to attack, consume bandwidth, spike server costs and slow page loading. The study analysed two specific actionable issues for businesses. Bot geography, with Kasada deciphering how credential abuse attacks are delivered to companies through customer data and, bot visibility, which saw the company investigate whether Australias top websites can differentiate between browsers (real humans) and bots. Kasada chief executive Sam Crowther said, Bots Down Under is designed to educate Aussie businesses on the local threat landscape distinct to Australia. Attacks, particularly credential abuse, have the capacity to comprise everything from a customers personal information to business, and even national, security. As many aspects of our lives are global and much of our information now lives online this shift places tremendous emphasis on businesses to protect and defend against potential threats, Crowther said. According to Kasada, the economic impact of bot attacks on businesses is well documented a cost equating to an average of $2 million across time, compensation and customer churn. And Kasada also notes that in 2018, credential abuse attacks represented the third-largest source of reported data breaches which are not only damaging to any company's reputation, but they impact customers and business operations long after the attack has taken place. Not only damaging to a companys reputation, Kasada says data breaches impact customers and business operation long after the attack has taken place. Chip manufacturer Qualcomm and Apple have announced an end to all litigation between the two companies, in a surprising development on a day which was expected to mark the beginning of a long and brutal fight over Qualcomm's patent-licensing practices. In identical, short media statements issued on Tuesday US time, the companies said the agreement also included a payment from Apple to Qualcomm, the amount of which was not disclosed. Apple and Qualcomm also said they had reached a six-year licence agreement, effective from 1 April, which included a two-year option for extension and a multi-year chip supply deal. The stoush between the two companies has prevented Apple from making any plans to release a 5G-enabled iPhone this year. In the interim, Apple has started sourcing chips from Intel but the latter will only put out a 5G chip in 2020. Capitalising on Apple's problems, the Chinese vendor Huawei, offering to sell its 5G chips to the Cupertino giant. Huawei is expected to unveil a 5G-enabled smartphone by June. Tuesday was expected to mark the start of a lawsuit in San Diego, Qualcomm's home city, with Apple looking to obtain up to US$27 billion in damages. On its part, Qualcomm had alleged that Apple forced some of its business partners to stop paying royalties and wants US$15 billion as damages. The lawsuit was filed by Apple in 2017, with Qualcomm having spent the last two years counter-suing the iPhone maker and winning bans on the sale of some iPhone models in some markets for patent violations. In March, for example, Qualcomm was awarded US$31 million by a jury in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, which found that the iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X infringed two patents, and the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X infringed a third. Qualcomm charges its customers for the chips themselves and also adds on patent licensing charges. It asks customers to sign an agreement before supplying any products. Apple has termed this "no licence, no chips" policy a way of charging twice for the same thing. Along with its business partners, Apple is seeking an end to this practice and a refund of something in the region of US$9 billion. This amount could have been tripled if the jury had come to the conclusion that Apple's anti-trust allegations against Qualcomm were correct. Apple had claimed Qualcomm's practices kept rivals like Intel from competing in this sector for a long time. Optus has switched on a new mobile tower in the Queensland town of Gympie as it continues work on undertaking its mobile black spot program. Optus say the new tower in the suburb of Southside will help improve 4G mobile coverage across the Gympie region. Optus Territory general manager for Wide Bay, Mungo OBrien, said, Optus remains committed to providing fast and effective mobile and internet coverage for customers across Wide Bay. In the past 12 months, we have built new sites in Garapine, North Monkland, Goomeri, Cooloola Cove, Widgee Crossing South and have just switched on a new tower in Southside. Optus has invested $1.3 million across region last financial year and these new sites will provide improved indoor and outdoor mobile coverage and increase downloads speeds for locals and visitors to the Gympie area as well as motorists travelling along the Bruce Highway. In addition to these new sites, Optus says it has plans to invest a further $500,000 in the Wide Bay region where Gympie is located in this financial year by building a new site in Tin Can Bay central. We understand its important that our customers have strong mobile coverage when they are working and living in regional Australia, which is why we are continuing to invest in regional Queensland and across Wide Bay, OBrien added. Local Optus franchisee Ricky and Libby Manthey said the completion of the new mobile tower in Southside would help strengthen mobile coverage in the suburb and surrounds. Optus is continuing to invest in its mobile network across the Wide Bay region and as the local franchisee here in Gympie, its great to know our customers are continuing to see an improving Optus network in the region, said Manthey. Hardware reigned supreme in the networking world until the emergence of software-defined networking (SDN), a category of technologies that separate the network control plane from the forwarding plane to enable more automated provisioning and policy-based management of network resources. SDN's origins can be traced to a research collaboration between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley that ultimately yielded the OpenFlow protocol in the 2008 timeframe. OpenFlow is only one of the first SDN canons, but it's a key component because it started the networking software revolution. OpenFlow defined a programmable network protocol that could help manage and direct traffic among routers and switches no matter which vendor made the underlying router or switch. In the years since its inception, SDN has evolved into a reputable networking technology offered by key vendors including Cisco, VMware, Juniper, Pluribus and Big Switch. The Open Networking Foundation develops myriad open-source SDN technologies as well. "Datacenter SDN no longer attracts breathless hype and fevered expectations, but the market is growing healthily, and its prospects remain robust," wrote Brad Casemore, IDC research vice president, data center networks, in a recent report, Worldwide Datacenter Software-Defined Networking Forecast, 20182022. "Datacenter modernization, driven by the relentless pursuit of digital transformation and characterized by the adoption of cloudlike infrastructure, will help to maintain growth, as will opportunities to extend datacenter SDN overlays and fabrics to multicloud application environments." SDN will be increasingly perceived as a form of established, conventional networking, Casemore said. IDC estimates that the worldwide data center SDN market will be worth more than $12 billion in 2022, recording a CAGR of 18.5% during the 20172022 period. The market generated revenue of nearly $5.15 billion in 2017, up more than 32.2% from 2016. In 2017, the physical network represented the largest segment of the worldwide datacenter SDN market, accounting for revenue of nearly $2.2 billion, or about 42% of the overall total revenue. In 2022, however, the physical network is expected to claim about $3.65 billion in revenue, slightly less than the $3.68 billion attributable to network virtualization overlays/SDN controller software but more than the $3.18 billion for SDN applications. We're now at a point where SDN is better understood, where its use cases and value propositions are familiar to most datacenter network buyers and where a growing number of enterprises are finding that SDN offerings offer practical benefits, Casemore said. With SDN growth and the shift toward software-based network automation, the network is regaining lost ground and moving into better alignment with a wave of new application workloads that are driving meaningful business outcomes. What is SDN? The idea of programmability is the basis for the most precise definition of what SDN is: technology that separates the control plane management of network devices from the underlying data plane that forwards network traffic. IDC broadens that definition of SDN by stating: Datacenter SDN architectures feature software-defined overlays or controllers that are abstracted from the underlying network hardware, offering intent-or policy-based management of the network as a whole. This results in a datacenter network that is better aligned with the needs of application workloads through automated (thereby faster) provisioning, programmatic network management, pervasive application-oriented visibility, and where needed, direct integration with cloud orchestration platforms. The driving ideas behind the development of SDN are myriad. For example, it promises to reduce the complexity of statically defined networks; make automating network functions much easier; and allow for simpler provisioning and management of networked resources, everywhere from the data center to the campus or wide area network. Separating the control and data planes is the most common way to think of what SDN is, but it is much more than that, said Mike Capuano, chief marketing officer for Pluribus. At its heart SDN has a centralized or distributed intelligent entity that has an entire view of the network, that can make routing and switching decisions based on that view, Capuano said. Typically, network routers and switches only know about their neighboring network gear. But with a properly configured SDN environment, that central entity can control everything, from easily changing policies to simplifying configuration and automation across the enterprise. How does SDN support edge computing, IoT and remote access? A variety of networking trends have played into the central idea of SDN. Distributing computing power to remote sites, moving data center functions to the edge, adopting cloud computing, and supporting Internet of Things environments each of these efforts can be made easier and more cost efficient via a properly configured SDN environment. Typically in an SDN environment, customers can see all of their devices and TCP flows, which means they can slice up the network from the data or management plane to support a variety of applications and configurations, Capuano said. So users can more easily segment an IoT application from the production world if they want, for example. Some SDN controllers have the smarts to see that the network is getting congested and, in response, pump up bandwidth or processing to make sure remote and edge components dont suffer latency. SDN technologies also help in distributed locations that have few IT personnel on site, such as an enterprise branch office or service provider central office, said Michael Bushong, vice president of enterprise and cloud marketing at Juniper Networks. Naturally these places require remote and centralized delivery of connectivity, visibility and security. SDN solutions that centralize and abstract control and automate workflows across many places in the network, and their devices, improve operational reliability, speed and experience, Bushong said. How does SDN support intent-based networking? Intent-based networking (IBN) has a variety of components, but basically is about giving network administrators the ability to define what they want the network to do, and having an automated network management platform create the desired state and enforce policies to ensure what the business wants happens. If a key tenet of SDN is abstracted control over a fleet of infrastructure, then the provisioning paradigm and dynamic control to regulate infrastructure state is necessarily higher level, Bushong said. Policy is closer to declarative intent, moving away from the minutia of individual device details and imperative and reactive commands. IDC says that intent-based networking represents an evolution of SDN to achieve even greater degrees of operational simplicity, automated intelligence, and closed-loop functionality. For that reason, IBN represents a notable milestone on the journey toward autonomous infrastructure that includes a self-driving network, which will function much like the self-driving car, producing desired outcomes based on what network operators and their organizations wish to accomplish, Casemore stated. While the self-driving car has been designed to deliver passengers safely to their destination with minimal human intervention, the self-driving network, as part of autonomous datacenter infrastructure, eventually will achieve similar outcomes in areas such as network provisioning, management, and troubleshooting delivering applications and data, dynamically creating and altering network paths, and providing security enforcement with minimal need for operator intervention, Casemore stated. While IBN technologies are relatively young, Gartner says by 2020, more than 1,000 large enterprises will use intent-based networking systems in production, up from less than 15 in the second quarter of 2018. How does SDN help customers with security? SDN enables a variety of security benefits. A customer can split up a network connection between an end user and the data center and have different security settings for the various types of network traffic. A network could have one public-facing, low security network that does not touch any sensitive information. Another segment could have much more fine-grained remote access control with software-based firewall and encryption policies on it, which allow sensitive data to traverse over it. For example, if a customer has an IoT group it doesnt feel is all that mature with regards to security, via the SDN controller you can segment that group off away from the critical high-value corporate traffic, Capuano stated. SDN users can roll out security policies across the network from the data center to the edge and if you do all of this on top of white boxes, deployments can be 30 60 percent cheaper than traditional gear. The ability to look at a set of workloads and see if they match a given security policy is a key benefit of SDN, especially as data is distributed, said Thomas Scheibe, vice president of product management for Ciscos Nexus and ACI product lines. "The ability to deploy a whitelist security model like we do with ACI [Application Centric Infrastructure] that lets only specific entities access explicit resources across your network fabric is another key security element SDN enables," Scheibe said. A growing number of SDN platforms now support microsegmentation, according to Casemore. In fact, micro-segmentation has developed as a notable use case for SDN. As SDN platforms are extended to support multicloud environments, they will be used to mitigate the inherent complexity of establishing and maintaining consistent network and security policies across hybrid IT landscapes, Casemore said. What is SDNs role in cloud computing? SDNs role in the move toward private cloud and hybrid cloud adoption seems a natural. In fact, big SDN players such as Cisco, Juniper and VMware have all made moves to tie together enterprise data center and cloud worlds. Cisco's ACI Anywhere package would, for example, let policies configured through Cisco's SDN APIC (Application Policy Infrastructure Controller) use native APIs offered by a public-cloud provider to orchestrate changes within both the private and public cloud environments, Cisco said. As organizations look to scale their hybrid cloud environments, it will be critical to leverage solutions that help improve productivity and processes, said Bob Laliberte, a senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, in a recent Network World article. The ability to leverage the same solution, like Ciscos ACI, in your own private-cloud environment as well as across multiple public clouds will enable organizations to successfully scale their cloud environments. Growth of public and private clouds and enterprises' embrace of distributed multicloud application environments will have an ongoing and significant impact on data center SDN, representing both a challenge and an opportunity for vendors, said IDCs Casemore. Agility is a key attribute of digital transformation, and enterprises will adopt architectures, infrastructures, and technologies that provide for agile deployment, provisioning, and ongoing operational management. In a datacenter networking context, the imperative of digital transformation drives adoption of extensive network automation, including SDN, Casemore said. Where does SD-WAN fit in? The software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a natural application of SDN that extends the technology over a WAN. While the SDN architecture is typically the underpinning in a data center or campus, SD-WAN takes it a step further. At its most basic, SD-WAN lets companies aggregate a variety of network connections including MPLS, 4G LTE and DSL into a branch or network edge location and have a software management platform that can turn up new sites, prioritize traffic and set security policies. SD-WAN's driving principle is to simplify the way big companies turn up new links to branch offices, better manage the way those links are utilized for data, voice or video and potentially save money in the process. SD-WAN lets networks route traffic based on centrally managed roles and rules, no matter what the entry and exit points of the traffic are, and with full security. For example, if a user in a branch office is working in Office365, SD-WAN can route their traffic directly to the closest cloud data center for that app, improving network responsiveness for the user and lowering bandwidth costs for the business. "SD-WAN has been a promised technology for years, but in 2019 it will be a major driver in how networks are built and re-built," Anand Oswal, senior vice president of engineering in Ciscos Enterprise Networking Business, said a Network World article earlier this year. It's a profoundly hot market with tons of players including Cisco, VMware, Silver Peak, Riverbed, Aryaka, Fortinet, Nokia and Versa. IDC says the SD-WAN infrastructure market will hit $4.5 billion by 2022, growing at a more than 40% yearly clip between now and then. A poll from Gallup for the Business-Higher Education Forum shows that by 2021, 69 percent of employers expect to give preference to candidates with data science and analytics skills. However, the same report also revealed that only 23 percent of colleges and universities expect to graduate students with those skills in the next few years. That gap may eventually close, but it will take time that businesses dont have. Theyre eager to hire now so they can capitalize on data, with postings for data science positions expected to reach 2.72 million in 2020. You dont need to enroll in a four-year college to take advantage of the market for data science skills. Certificate programs can help get you up to speed on the latest data science concepts, techniques and tools. Other programs are designed for seasoned professionals who already have experience or degrees but want to stay on top of industry trends. Here are 15 professional development certificate programs that can help launch or boost your data science career. Top 15 data science certificate programs Advanced Data Science Certificate Program, Northwestern Professional Studies Big Data Certification, UC San Diego Extension School Certification in Data Science, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies Certification of Professional Achievement in Data Sciences, Columbia University Certificate Program in Data Science, UC Berkeley Extension Data Mining and Applications graduate certificate, Stanford Center for Professional Development Data Science A-Z: Real Life Data Science Exercises, Udemy Data Science Certificate, Harvard Extension School Data Science Certificate programs, eCornell Data Science for Executives, Columbia University Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics, Boston University Metropolitan College MicroMasters Program in Statistics and Data Science, MIT Mining Massive Data Sets graduate certificate, Stanford Center for Professional Development NYC Data Science Academy Springboard Introduction to Data Science Advanced Data Science Certificate Program, Northwestern Professional Studies The Advanced Data Science certificate program from Northwesterns Professional Studies school offers courses that come directly from the schools master of science in Data Science program. These include analytics management, analytics and modeling, data engineering and artificial intelligence. This is a course designed for those who already have a graduate degree in data science or a similar field and who want to get up to speed on new technologies or trends in the industry. Prerequisites: A graduate degree in data science, predictive analytics or a similar field. Complete two fundamental courses through Northwestern or have equivalent knowledge and skills. Tuition: $3,015 per course Location: Online Duration: Two to four months on average Big Data Certification, UC San Diego Extension School The Big Data Certification offered through UC San Diegos Extension School offers online and in-person courses, workshops and bootcamps. Courses focus on data mining, analyzing special data with GIS, building predictive models, and using machine-learning algorithms. You can opt for a more specialized data certification with the Data Mining for Advanced Analytics or Machine Learning Methods certificates. Others include Python Programming, Business Intelligence Analysis and data science certificates focusing on specific tools and skills like SAS, R and TensorFlow. Prerequisites: Varies by certification and course Tuition: $4,735 Location: Online Duration: At least one year; one year and three months is average Certification in Data Science, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies Georgetowns Certificate in Data Science will teach you everything you need to know to collect, clean, model and present data. Students use the Python programming language and get hands-on experience creating and presenting visualizations, predictive models and analytics, which will prepare you for working with data in a business setting. By the end of this program, Georgetown says students will be able to apply the data science pipeline to analytical workflows, use effective programming practices, utilize and query relational and NoSQL databases, find deeper insights in data, create predictive models and create effective visualizations. Prerequisites: Basic programming experience Tuition: $7,496 estimated total cost Location: On campus Duration: Eight courses over six months Certification of Professional Achievement in Data Sciences, Columbia University Columbia University offers a certification of professional achievement in data sciences, which is a non-degree part-time program. However, if you complete this certification program, the credits can apply towards a master of science from Columbia. The courses focus on the foundations of data science, including algorithms, probability and statistics, exploratory data analysis and visualization and machine learning. Each course also has its own prerequisites regarding programming, math and science skills, so be sure to check that you have the right background for each individual course. Prerequisites: Undergraduate degree, prior quantitative and introductory programming coursework Tuition: $1,936 per credit Location: Online or on-campus Duration: 12 credits; most students complete the program within one year and it must be completed within five Certificate Program in Data Science, UC Berkeley Extension The Certificate Program in Data Science from UC Berkeley Extension requires one core course, one programming course, one machine learning course and up to four electives. UC Berkeley Extension promises to help you gain the skills to perform advanced data wrangling, data mining, statistical modeling and machine learning on data sets that may be very large and complex. Courses cover the fundamentals of data science, programming with R and Python, data analysis and scientific computing, machine learning with tools like TensorFlow, Spark and R, among other subjects. Prerequisites: Knowledge of statistics from a first semester undergraduate course or higher; the ability to program in at least one high-level programming language like Python, Java, Ruby, JavaScript, C or C++ Tuition: $5,100 (estimated cost not including course materials or registration fees) Location: Online Duration: 10 semester units, about 150 hours of instruction; must be completed within three years Data Mining and Applications graduate certificate, Stanford Center for Professional Development The Stanford Center for Professional Development offers a Data Mining and Applications graduate certificate program. The three-course program covers using statistical methods to extract meaning from large datasets, developing and using predictive models and analytics and how to use strategic decision-making applications. Its best suited for data scientist, strategy managers, scientific researchers, medical researchers, social sciences researchers, data analysts and consultants and advertising and marketing professionals. Prerequisites: Youll need a conferred bachelors degree with an undergraduate GPA of 3.5 or better and introductory courses in statistics or probability, linear algebra and computer programming Tuition: $11,340 $12,600 (9-10 units) Location: Online Duration: One to two years on average; program must be completed within three years Data Science A-Z: Real Life Data Science Exercises, Udemy If you prefer to teach yourself on your own time, or if you want to test the waters before investing thousands in tuition, you might be interested in the Data Science A-Z class offered through Udemy. Students get access to step-by-step instructions through data mining, modeling, tableau visualizations and more. It includes 21 hours of on-demand videos, lifetime access to the content and a certificate of completion; theres also a 30-day money back guarantee if you arent satisfied. Prerequisites: None Tuition: $199, but currently on sale for $10.99 Location: Online Duration: Self-paced Data Science Certificate, Harvard Extension School To earn a data science certificate from the Harvard Extension School, youll need to complete and earn at least a B grade in four certification courses within three years. You will choose two electives from a select group, one required data science course from another select group and both an entry-level and advanced-level statistics course. This certification is best for those who already have knowledge of programming specifically Python and those looking to pursue graduate credits. Prerequisites: Prior knowledge in statistics and basic programming, including prior knowledge of Python Tuition: $11,000 total, on average Location: Online and in person Duration: Must be completed within three years Data Science Certificate programs, eCornell Cornell University offers multiple data science certificates through eCornell, which is the universitys online education department. You can choose from tailored certificates that include business analytics, business statistics, machine learning, data analytics, data analytics 360 and data-driven marketing. Each program has different requirements, but you can take a free pretest for each certification program to see if you have the right experience and background. Prerequisites: No prerequisites but you can take a pretest for each certification to see if youre qualified Tuition: $1,260 $9,800 depending on the course Location: Online Duration: Self-paced Data Science for Executives, Columbia University Columbia Universitys School of Engineering offers a Data Science for Executives certificate program through EdX. Its geared toward executives who want to learn more about statistical thinking, machine learning and how data will impact businesses in the future. It addresses the unique information that executives need to know as data becomes fundamental in the enterprise. The courses are taught by professors at Columbia University through EdXs online platform. Prerequisites: None Tuition: $347 Location: Online Duration: Five weeks per course Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics, Boston University Metropolitan College The Boston University Certificate in Data Analytics is offered through the Boston University MET. The program includes four courses or 16 credits and can be completed part-time on-campus or online. The courses include foundations of analytics with R, data analysis and visualizations with R, web analytics and mining and data mining. The program covers probability theory, statistical analysis methods and tools, data visualization, data mining theories and techniques, text mining and web mining. Youll finish with a solid knowledge of concepts and techniques in data analytics as well as a solid exposure to the methods and tools for data mining and knowledge discovery, according to BU. Prerequisites: Bachelors degree from a regionally accredited institution and the equivalent to BUs MET CS 546 course, Introduction to Probability and Statistics. Tuition: $465 per level 100-599 course; $880 per level 600 courses and above Location: On-campus or online Duration: Two months per course MicroMasters Program in Statistics and Data Science, MIT The MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science from MIT consists of four online courses that cover the foundations necessary to understand the tools and methods used in data science. Youll receive hands-on training in data analysis and machine learning, experience with machine learning algorithms and also cover the basics of probability and statistics. The credential can also be applied towards a PhD in Social and Engineering Systems (SES) through the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS) or it can also help you get ahead on a masters degree from another university. Prerequisites: No prerequisites, but its recommended that you complete the Multivariable Calculus course on MIT OpenCourseWare before you start the program; youll also need proficiency in Python Tuition: $300 per course and for the capstone exam Location: Online Duration: 12-18 months, on average Mining Massive Data Sets graduate certificate, Stanford Center for Professional Development Stanfords Center for Professional Development offers a graduate certificate program in Mining Massive Data Sets. Its a four-course program that focuses on the growing need for businesses to transform large quantities of information into intelligence that can be used to make smart business decisions, according to Stanford. Its best suited to software engineers, statisticians, predictive modelers, market research and analytics professionals and data miners working with large amounts of raw data. Prerequisites: Knowledge of basic computer science principles and skills, ability to write non-trivial computer programs, understanding of algorithms, data structures, basic probability theory and linear algebra; youll also need a conferred bachelors degree with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better Tuition: $18,900 Location: Online Duration: 1-2 years on average; program must be completed within 3 years NYC Data Science Academy NYC Data Science Academy offers a 12-week immersive bootcamp that promises to prepare you with everything you need to land a job as a data scientist. The course promises to offer over 440 hours of education and hands-on experience with R, Python, machine learning, Hadoop and Spark, GitHub and SQL. Youll build four projects throughout the program that will help build your portfolio these projects include visual and statistical analyses to supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms and big data technologies. Prerequisites: Candidates should have a masters or PhD degree in science, technology, engineering or math or equivalent in quantitative science or programming; bachelor degrees will also be considered Tuition: $17,600 Location: On-campus or online Duration: 12 weeks Springboard Introduction to Data Science Springboards Introduction to Data Science covers all the foundational topics youll need to start a career in data science. It focuses on R programming, statistics, organizing datasets, making data-driven decisions, communicating data findings with stakeholders and career guidance. Students will walk away with a portfolio that will help them land a job in data science or to start doing freelance work for companies. Prerequisites: Some background in programming will be helpful, but not required Tuition: $499 per month Location: Online Duration: Two to four months on average Alhough manufacturers are automating, someone still needs basic STEM understanding to run the machines, Foster said. They dont need to know how to program the machine, he said, they need to know how to make sure the machines are working to their maximum potential. From day one, Guy has been grateful for the compassion and generosity of Patty Gallagher and her children, that they have shown for Guy and his family and their future, Maras defense attorney Michael F. Hart said. The profound effects of the enormity of the tragedy have not been lost on Mr. Maras, and he is appreciative of the thoughtful and appropriate sentence by Judge OMelia. The feeling of loss and sadness that he has for the Gallagher family is real and genuine. VANCOUVER, April 16, 2019 /CNW/ - IsoEnergy Ltd. ("IsoEnergy" or the "Company") (TSXV: ISO; OTCQX: ISENF) is pleased to announce assay results for the last drill holes from the winter 2019 drilling program. Drill hole LE19-12 was collared 75m to the west of the discovery section and intersected 8.5m of 3.2% U 3 O 8 , 2.1% Ni and 0.2% Co, including 1.0m of 14.3% U 3 O 8 and 1.1% Ni. The final drill hole of the program, LE19-13, was collared 75m east of the discovery section and intersected 2.5m of 0.6% U 3 O 8 , 0.2% Ni and 0.5% Co, including 0.5m of 1.6% U 3 O 8 , 0.4% Ni and 1.1% Co. Highlights Drill hole LE19-12 intersected 8.5m of 3.2% U 3 O 8 , 2.1% Ni and 0.2% Co of 3.2% U O , 2.1% Ni and 0.2% Co The mineralization at Hurricane remains open along strike and on each section drilled to date The company is fully funded for an aggressive follow-up drill campaign this summer The Hurricane zone is a new discovery of shallow (330m below surface), high-grade uranium mineralization on the Company's 100% owned Larocque East property (the "Property") in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan (Figure 1). The Company recently completed the first follow-up drilling program after the discovery intersection in July 2018. Eleven of the twelve drill holes in the follow-up winter campaign intersected significant uranium mineralization. Hurricane now measures 150m (long) x 38m (wide) x up to 8.5m thick. The zone is open on all five sections drilled to date and along strike in both directions. The Company, having raised $5.5 million in December 2018, remains fully funded for a follow-up drilling campaign that is planned for the summer. Craig Parry, Chief Executive Officer commented: "I am impressed by the continued growth of our Hurricane discovery. The thicknesses and grades of these intercepts are consistent with other high-grade deposits in the eastern Athabasca Basin. It is worth noting that Hurricane is in an excellent location, at a relatively shallow depth, not covered by any bodies of water and is within 40 km of the modern, high-grade McClean Lake uranium mill that currently has excess capacity. The team has done a tremendous job in making this discovery and advancing the project and are now eagerly preparing for our summer drill program. Given our strike rate to date twelve of the thirteen holes we have drilled have hit mineralization and the nature and extent of the discovery, we are optimistic about being able to deliver more positive news flow in the coming months." Steve Blower, Vice President, Exploration commented: "These 50m step-out intersections confirm the substantial size of the Hurricane zone. We're about to kick off a program of ground DC-Resistivity geophysics that covers the Hurricane zone plus over five km of high-potential strike length extending to the east. These results will be used to help with targeting for a 14-hole, 6,000m follow-up drilling campaign in the immediate Hurricane area planned for this summer and will also aid future exploration efforts further afield." LE19-12 Vertical drill hole LE19-12 was drilled on section 4485E, 75m west of the discovery section and 76m east of the property boundary. The drill hole intersected an 8.5m interval of fracture controlled, disseminated, replacement and breccia fill styles of pitchblende uranium mineralization that averages 3.2% U 3 O 8 , 2.1% Ni and 0.2% Co. This long interval includes a 1.0m section that averages 14.3% U 3 O 8 and 1.1% Ni, plus another 0.5m section that averages 12.8% U 3 O 8 , 15.0% Ni and 0.4% Co. The results are summarized in Table 1. Figure 2 shows the location of the drill hole in plan-view and Figure 3 shows the location relative to contoured grade X thickness values. Figure 4 shows the location on a cross-section. Note that the only other drill hole on this section, LE19-11, is located 28 metres to the north of LE19-12 and is also mineralized. The mineralization can be seen in the core photos of Figure 5. LE19-13 Collared on section 4635E, 75 metres east of the discovery section, drill hole LE19-13 is the furthest hole drilled to the east on the Hurricane zone. It intersected uranium mineralization 50 metres east of previously disclosed drill hole LE19-06 (Table 1). Extensive faulting in the basal sandstone suggests that the optimal location on this section was overshot. The main intersection consists of 2.5m of fracture controlled, disseminated and replacement styles of pitchblende uranium mineralization that averages 0.6% U 3 O 8 . This includes a 0.5m section that averages 1.6% U 3 O 8 , as summarized in Table 1. Figure 6 shows the location of the drill hole on a cross-section. Next Steps A 53 line-km ground DC-resistivity survey will begin shortly on the Larocque East property. The survey will cover the Hurricane zone area and approximately 5.5km of highly prospective graphitic conductors that extend to the east of the zone. The results of the survey will be used to help target a planned follow-up drilling campaign in the immediate Hurricane zone area expected to begin in July, 2019. Larocque East Larocque East consists of 6 mineral claims totaling 3,200 hectares and was purchased in May, 2018. The Property is owned 100% by IsoEnergy and is not encumbered by any royalties or other interests. Larocque East is immediately adjacent to the north end of IsoEnergy's Geiger property and is 35 kilometres northwest of Orano Canada's McClean Lake uranium mine and mill. The Property covers a 15-kilometre-long northeast extension of the Larocque Lake conductor system; a trend of graphitic metasedimentary basement rocks that is associated with significant uranium mineralization at the Hurricane zone, and in several occurrences on a neighbouring property to the southwest of Larocque East. The closest of these to Larocque East are the Larocque Lake and Larocque North zones, which are located 6.5 kilometres and 0.4 kilometres, respectively, to the southwest of the western Larocque East property boundary. Drilling at the Larocque Lake zone has returned historical intersections of up to 29.9% U 3 O 8 over 7.0 metres in drill hole Q22-040. Drilling at the Larocque North zone has returned intersections of up to 2.05% U 3 O 8 over 0.6 metres in drill hole Q22-16. Like the nearby Geiger property, Larocque East is located adjacent to the Wollaston-Mudjatik transition zone - a major crustal suture related to most of the major uranium deposits in the eastern Athabasca Basin. Importantly, the sandstone cover on Larocque East is thin, ranging between 140 metres and 330 metres in previous drilling. In addition to the Hurricane zone discovery, four historical drill holes have intersected weak uranium mineralization at other locations on the Larocque East property to date, including drill hole KER-07 (0.12% U 3 O 8 over 0.1 metre), located 400 metres east of the discovery section. Table 1 Hurricane Zone 2019 Drilling Radioactive Intervals Hole-ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Radioactivity1,2 (CPS) Chemical Assays Location U 3 O 8 (%) Ni (%) Co (%) LE19-023 316.5 320.0 3.5 >1,000 0.2 0.1 0.2 Section 4560E and 326.5 330.0 3.5 >1,000 10.4 0.8 0.0 incl 328.5 330.0 1.5 >20,000 23.6 1.6 0.0 incl 329.0 329.5 0.5 >50,000 38.2 1.5 0.1 LE19-033 324.0 324.5 0.5 >1,000 0.2 0.1 0.0 Section 4560E and 326.5 329.5 3.0 >1,000 2.7 2.3 0.0 incl 328.5 329.5 1.0 >5,000 7.6 6.6 0.1 incl 329.0 329.5 0.5 >20,000 13.3 11.8 0.1 LE19-043 329.0 329.5 0.5 >1,000 0.1 0.0 0.0 Section 4560E 333.0 333.5 0.5 >1,000 0.4 0.2 0.0 LE19-053 No significantly elevated radioactivity Section 4560E LE19-063 328.0 330.0 2.0 >1,000 0.4 0.1 0.1 Section 4585E and 332.0 336.0 4.0 >5,000 3.8 1.1 0.0 incl 333.5 335.5 2.0 >10,000 5.5 0.7 0.0 incl 333.5 334.0 0.5 >20,000 13.7 1.2 0.0 LE19-073 325.0 331.0 6.0 >1,000 0.4 0.8 1.4 Section 4585E incl 328.0 328.5 0.5 >5,000 1.0 4.9 9.3 LE19-083 326.5 327.0 0.5 >1,000 0.4 0.1 0.1 Section 4535E and 333.0 336.5 3.5 >1,000 0.8 1.5 0.4 incl 335.5 336.0 0.5 >10,000 3.7 8.3 1.3 LE19-093 325.0 329.5 4.5 >1,000 4.2 1.1 0.8 Section 4535E incl 327.0 329.0 2.0 >20,000 6.8 1.9 1.3 LE19-103 331.5 333.0 1.5 >1,000 0.6 1.7 1.9 Section 4535E LE19-113 333.0 333.5 0.5 >5,000 2.1 0.1 0.1 Section 4485E LE19-124 320.5 329.0 8.5 >1,000 3.2 2.1 0.2 Section 4485E incl 326.0 327.0 1.0 >20,000 14.3 1.1 0.0 and incl 328.5 329.0 0.5 >20,000 12.8 15.0 0.4 LE19-134 320.0 320.5 0.5 >1,000 0.2 0.0 0.0 Section 4635E and 321.5 324.0 2.5 >1,000 0.6 0.2 0.5 incl 322.5 323.0 0.5 >10,000 1.6 0.4 1.1 Notes: 1 Radioactivity is total gamma from drill core measured with an RS-125 hand-held spectrometer 2 Measurements of total gamma cps on drill core are an indication of uranium content, but may not correlate with chemical assays 3 Radioactivity and chemical assays previously disclosed 4 Radioactivity previously disclosed Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC Pink: MXROF) (FSE: M1D1) ("MAX" or the "Company") is pleased to report surface assay results from its ongoing exploration on the Company's 1,757 sq. km "Choco Gold and Platinum Project", located 100km SW of Medellin, Colombia. The concentrates of sample 001 graded 340.84 g/t gold and 111.03 g/t platinum and sample 002 graded 222.06 g/t gold and 113.83 g/t platinum, both samples were located within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone (refer to location map). Sampling detail can be found in the accompanying table. Further analytical results will be reported as received. Production figures the 8 districts: Upper San Juan, Condoto Flats, Condoto Big Flat, Bebedo, Liorento, Cajon, El Tamana & Bajo Tamana a resourced from R.J. Fletcher & Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration & production in Choco Province, Colombia. Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd. "The assay results from Samples 001 and 002 are impressive and confirm the presence of noteworthy amounts of gold and platinum on our Choco project," said Brett Matich, President and Chief Executive Officer, MAX. "We continue to enhance our analytical procedures to ensure optimal recovery of fine gold samples, and we look forward to continuing our exploration program within the 1,000 sq. km exploration zone and will now expand to the north." Sample 001 and 002 were taken from surface within the same area as the hard rock conglomerate. The gold and platinum are of a coarser nature than the finer gold in the conglomerate. Test work is on-going on the conglomerate samples, with analytical procedure focused on optimal recovery of the fine gold. MAX's on-going exploration will continue to target enrichment zones within and outside the current 1,000 sq. km exploration area. Sampling of conglomerates and overlying surface deposits will continue to locate zones of gold enrichment within the conglomerates. The Company also continues to review and explore additional areas with the 1,757 sq. km Choco Gold and Platinum Project. Sample Concentrate Tailings Partial Grade * Number Weight (g) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Weight (g) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) Au (gpt) Pt (gpt) 001 26,800 57.99 340.84 111.03 26,742 No assay No assay 0.74 0.24 002 22,800 39.39 222.06 113.83 22,760.61 No assay No assay 0.38 0.20 * Sample grade is partial as the gold and platinum content of the tailings has not been determined. Assay Methodology MAX continues to work with the CIMEX Mineral Institute at the Medellin Mines Faculty of the National University of Colombia (CIMEX) in Medellin. CIMEX is independent of MAX and carries out all of the processing and testing of the samples. The surface samples are delivered to the CIMEX. Each sample is panned to concentrate by MAX's Colombian specialist panner under the direct supervision of CIMEX personnel. The entire sample is first weighed, then panned. The resulting concentrate is photographed, dried, weighed and then analyzed at CIMEX. The entire concentrate is leached in aqua regia for 48 hours to dissolve the gold and platinum. The leachate is then analyzed on an atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The tailings of the concentrate from the leaching process are fire assayed in their entirety with the resulting button dissolved by aqua regia and analyzed on the atomic absorption mass spectrometer for gold and platinum. The final gold and platinum values for the concentrates are calculated utilizing the leachate and fire assay values. CIMEX is currently in the audit process to receive its ISO certification. About Max Resource Corp. MAX is a mineral exploration company focused on the development and acquisition of prospective projects in the rich mineral belts of Colombia. The Company has established significant exploration infrastructure and local community support for the Choco Gold and Platinum Project, located 100 km south of Medellin, which covers or is adjacent to historic production of 1.5Mozs gold and 1.0Mozs platinum. The Company's Gachala Copper Project, is 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. Source: R.J. Fletcher and Associates (2011) Review of Gold and Platinum Exploration and Production in Choco Province Colombia Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Ltd.) MAX cautions investors it has yet to verify the historic information. For more information visit: https://www.maxresource.com/ For additional information contact: Max Resource Corp. Tim McNulty E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: (604) 290-8100 For Max Resource's French inquiries: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom Inc. E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: (888) 585-MARI Tim Henneberry, PGeo (British Columbia), a member of the Max Resource advisory board, is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release on behalf of the company. 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 In order to develop the site as presented, several waivers to the villages zoning ordinance must be approved by the Village Board, commissioners were told. According to the proposal shared with the plan commission, the apartment building will stand 75 feet high, which is 30 feet higher than allowed under the ordinance, and it will contain a density that is more than double what is allowed. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trevali Mining Corporation (Trevali or the Company) (TSX: TV, BVL: TV; OTCQX: TREVF, Frankfurt: 4TI) announces that the operating and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, will be released on Monday, May 6, 2019 prior to the Toronto Stock Exchange market open. The Company will host a conference call and presentation webcast at 11:00AM Eastern Time on Monday, May 6, 2019 to review the operating and financial results. Participants are advised to dial in five minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the call. A presentation will be made available on the Companys website prior to the conference call. Conference call dial-in details: Date: Monday, May 6, 2019 at 11:00AM Eastern Time Toll-free (North America): +1 (877) 291-4570 International: +1 (647) 788-4919 Webcast: http://www.gowebcasting.com/9946 2019 Annual Zinc Treatment Charges 2019 annual zinc treatment charges (TC) have increased significantly since the Companys 2019 cost guidance was set, resulting in increased off-site costs at Trevalis operations. Additional information will be provided in the first quarter financial results. ABOUT TREVALI MINING CORPORATION Trevali is a zinc-focused, base metals company with four mines: the wholly-owned Santander mine in Peru, the wholly-owned Caribou mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick, the 90% owned Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia and the 90% owned Perkoa mine in Burkina Faso. The shares of Trevali are listed on the TSX (symbol TV), the OTCQX (symbol TREVF), the Lima Stock Exchange (symbol TV), and the Frankfurt Exchange (symbol 4TI). For further details on Trevali, readers are referred to the Companys website (www.trevali.com) and to Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Contact Information: Steve Stakiw, Vice President - Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: (604) 488-1661 / Direct: (604) 638-5623 The International Criminal Courts chief prosecutor Tuesday warned she would not hesitate to broaden her investigation into Libya war crimes amid intensified fighting near the capital Tripoli which killed at least 174. Fighting broke out on April 4 when military strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take Tripoli, the seat of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). I will not hesitate to expand my investigations and potential prosecutions to cover any new instances of crimes falling within the courts jurisdiction, Fatou Bensouda said in The Hague. No one should doubt my determination in this regard, Bensouda said in a statement. Bensouda called on all parties and armed groups involved in the fighting to fully respect the rules of international humanitarian law including commanders. At least 14 civilians were among those killed and 36 among the 758 people wounded in the fighting between pro-government forces and Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. Fighting in the southern outskirts of the capital has also displaced more than 18,000 people, according to the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. Bensoudas office in March 2011 launched a probe into war crimes committed during the uprising which saw the toppling of long-time Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. His son, Seif al-Islam, 46, is being sought by the Hague-based ICC, with judges ruling earlier this month that a crimes against humanity case could be brought against him. Set up in 2002, the ICC is the worlds only independent tribunal to prosecute the worst crimes when countries are unable or unwilling to do so. But the court has suffered several setbacks over recent years. This including seeing some of its most high-profile suspects walk free and judges recently ruling against a request by Bensouda to probe war crimes committed in Afghanistan, including by US forces. Protests have rocked Sudan for nearly four months, resulting in the ouster of president Omar al-Bashir last week after three decades of iron-fisted rule. But in less than a week, the initial jubilation has turned into anger against Sudans new military rulers as protesters remain camped outside the army complex. At first they pressed the army to back their calls to oust Bashir. Since his departure, they have called on the ruling military council to meet the demands of their revolution. On Monday, they hardened their position, demanding the military rulers simply exit. Below are key demands which the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) and the umbrella group Alliance for Freedom and Change say must be met for the sit-in to end: * Dissolving the transitional military council immediately and replacing it with a civilian one with the army also represented. * An immediate transfer of power to a transitional civilian government to govern for a four-year term, followed by elections. * The dissolution of Bashirs National Congress Party, with its top leaders brought to justice including the ousted president. * The confiscation of NCP properties. * The re-instatement of the countrys 2005 constitution, which the military council suspended shortly after ousting Bashir on April 11. * The release of all civilians arrested in connection with the protest movement, as well as soldiers and police detained for refusing to shoot at protesters. * An end to the state of emergency Bashir imposed on February 22. Several of the demands have been presented by The Alliance for Freedom and Change to the military council. The SPA, a grouping of teachers, engineers and doctors that initially spearheaded the campaign, has urged protesters to keep up the sit-in. The chief of the military council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has vowed to uproot Bashirs regime. The council says the ousted president is in custody, but has not specified his whereabouts or of other senior regime leaders. However, it has said it will not extradite Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Bashir has denied the charges. Sudanese protesters have hardened their stand, demanding a transitional military council be scrapped and immediately replaced with civilian rule as Tuesday they refused to end a days-long sit-in outside army headquarters. Organisers fear the army is seeking to hijack the revolution on the streets which saw veteran president Omar al-Bashir, whose three-decade reign was toppled on Thursday by top commanders after four months of nationwide demonstrations. On Monday, activists accused commanders of launching an abortive attempt to clear the sit-in outside army headquarters, ending the relative calm that has reigned since Bashirs overthrow. Witnesses said several army vehicles had surrounded the area and that troops were seen removing the barricades which demonstrators had put up as a security measure. Activists voiced fears that the army would make a new attempt on Tuesday. Several vehicles carrying paramilitary forces deployed on a bridge that connects the protest site with north Khartoum, a witness said. Not going anywhere The army will try to make another attempt to disperse the protesters because it is under huge pressure, said protester Ahmed Najdih. But we are not going anywhere. We will not lose our patience. We know what happened in Egypt and we dont want that to happen to us. In neighbouring Egypt, the so-called Arab Spring revolution of 2011 toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak and replaced him with elected Islamist Mohammed Morsi only for him to be overthrown in 2013 by then army chief, now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Protest laders have gradually toughened their approach towards the transitional military council, as policy announcements from its uniformed officers have multiplied. Amid widespread anger at the number of faces from the old regime, the protesters secured the replacement of its first chairman, a longtime Bashir loyalist after just 24 hours last week. But the honeymoon of his successor, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, lasted just days. As weekend talks on the transition failed to make headway, protest leaders who initially demanded a swift handover to civilian rule, began demanding first an immediate handover then the military councils dissolution. We want the military council to be dissolved and be replaced by a civilian council having representatives of the army, said Mohamed Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded the protests. Wooing world opinion Both sides in the standoff have sought to woo international support. The protesters have highlighted their sacrifices in murals painted outside army headquarters of some of the more than 60 of their comrades killed in clashes with the security forces. The military council has pledged that individuals implicated in killing protesters would be held to account and that demonstrators detained under a state of emergency imposed by the president during his final weeks in power would be freed. It has held briefings with Western diplomats and sent an envoy to the African Unions headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa before it met on Sudan on Monday. But the 55-member African Union stood by its longstanding opposition to all military coups, giving the military council just 15 days to hand over to civilian rule or face suspension from the body. The foreign ministry said the military council was committed to having a complete civilian government and urged foreign governments to back it in order to achieve the Sudanese goal of democratic transition. The council said Sudan would continue to provide ground troops to a Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen. Sudan has taken heavy losses in the unpopular war but grew heavily dependent in the last years of Bashirs rule on credit from the oil-rich Gulf Arab states to prop up the collapsing economy. In a bid to woo Western opinion, the military council has also backtracked on its position towards longstanding warrants for Bashirs arrest issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Having initially refused to deliver Bashir or any other Sudanese abroad for prosecution, a member of the council said Monday that the decision would be up to a civilian government. Protest leaders say Bashir must face justice, along with officials from his feared National Intelligence and Security Service whose chief Salih Ghosh resigned on Saturday. Dutch police on Tuesday arrested around 20 climate change protesters from the Extinction Rebellion movement after they staged a demonstration at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, officials said. The protest at the tribunal, which is more used to dealing with war crimes and genocide, came a day after the same grassroots environmental group blocked key roads in London. A number of persons entered the premises of the ICC today, as general visitors to the court. After that, they grouped and started demonstrating outside the ICC building, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told AFP. They were evacuated by the Dutch police in a peaceful way. A picture tweeted by Extinction Rebellions Dutch branch showed the protesters unveiling banners inside the ICCs premises on a bridge between the security gate and the main court building. The group said that 25 rebels were involved and that they wanted to get the ICCs 122 member countries to recognise ecocide as an international crime. We can confirm that around 20 demonstrators of this action group have been arrested in the ICC today. They had invaded the building and were arrested on the basis of trespass, a Dutch police spokesman said. The Extinction Rebellion group was established last year in Britain by academics to attract attention to the slow response of governments around the world to rising temperatures and sea levels caused by greenhouse gas emissions. On Monday over a thousand protesters blocked central Londons Waterloo bridge and choked off key streets. More than 100 were arrested. Uganda would consider granting asylum to ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, a state minister said Tuesday. If Uganda is approached to grant asylum to Bashir it is an issue that can be considered at the highest level of our leadership, state minister for foreign affairs Henry Okello Oryem told AFP. He said that as a result of Bashirs key role in mediating a peace deal in neighbouring South Sudan, his asylum in Uganda is what the government of Uganda can consider. In the meantime, Uganda is keenly following the developments in Sudan and we ask the new leadership there to respect the aspirations of the Sudanese people among them peaceful transfer of power to the civilian rule. Bashirs three-decade reign was toppled last week by top commanders after four months of nationwide demonstrations. Protest leaders say Bashir must face justice, however the transitional military council currently leading the country has said it will not extradite the ousted leader. The council says Bashir remains in custody, but has not specified his whereabouts or that of other senior regime leaders. Uganda is one of several African nations which have hosted Bashir in the past without handing him over to the ICC, despite being signatories of the tribunal. Bashir faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the conflict in Darfur. The war in Darfur broke out when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashirs Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN Security Council asked the ICC in 2005 to investigate the crimes in Darfur, where the UN estimates at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. JUSTICEINFO.NET: Was the decision to reject the prosecutors request for investigation a surprise to you? JULIAN ELDERFIELD: Yes. The Chamber took nearly 18 months to get back to the office of the prosecutor (OTP) on this decision, which is already an exceptional period of time. It was always going to be a more difficult decision than for previous similar requests. Yet, when the decision came out, it was a surprise. And that was because of the strength of the information presented in the request on all sides: the widespread crimes allegedly committed by the Taliban and affiliated armed forces, the alleged torture in detention by the Afghan government, and the information about crimes allegedly committed by the CIA in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The OTPs interpretation of the interest of justice, which is the final limb of the provision in the Rome Statute that must be satisfied to go ahead with an investigation, was strict, minimalist. I was confident that the request would be granted. The information about alleged crimes by the CIA was very strong. Were you equally confident that it could lead to effective trials? Lets say first that the information about alleged crimes by the CIA was very strong. Torture in U.S. detention has been acknowledged by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in its detailed report in 2014 and by the former U.S. President Barack Obama. Crimes alleged to have been committed by the Taliban are equally well documented by a lot of U.N. and human rights reports. And indeed, the Chamber itself accepted that the information was sufficient. But were you conscious of the difficulties to investigate? Certainly. People were asking serious questions about the OTPs ability to investigate and eventually to prosecute. The pre-trial chamber picked up on some of those difficulties and ultimately that was the reasoning behind refusing the request. Those difficulties include the near impossibility, at this stage, of conducting investigations in the country due to the security situation. There is also the likely resistance to ICC involvement from both the Taliban and the Afghan government, and from the regional and international actors who are involved in the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan. On the U.S. side, the government has strongly condemned any external investigation into the acts of its forces, so there would quite clearly be no cooperation on that side and no support in terms of prospects of arrests, at least with the current administration. Who knows if that pressure would undermine the willingness of allied states to the U.S. to cooperate in the event of an arrest warrant. The prosecutors position was: this is going to be difficult, but we have to try. The court was founded in the belief it would stand up to powerful forces and to act as a court of last resort when prosecutions at the national level failed. This sounds like an impossible investigation. Why ask for it? My take on the office of the prosecutors position was: this is going to be difficult, but we have to try. We have to do this for the victims, and also because the court was founded in the belief it would stand up to powerful forces and to act as a court of last resort when prosecutions at the national level failed. That was how I believe the OTP interpreted its mandate and that was the reason for the request. Was the pre-trial chamber more pragmatic? Indeed. It took almost the opposite view, with a logistical and in some ways strategic decision that seemed to be founded on the short-term viability of the court. What it said was: due to financial, logistical, practical considerations including the prospects of cooperation, this investigation is likely not to succeed, and so were not going to allow it to proceed. Its possible, strictly legally, that this sort of reasoning falls within the interest of justice test in the Rome Statute, but it is certainly an innovative interpretation and its a widening of the scope of the interpretation by the office of the prosecutor and by many of the academics who comment on the work of the ICC. I think in this case it was also the wrong call. Although the court would face the prospect of little cooperation and of the U.S. following through on its threats and hostility, through innovative investigative activities and behind-the-scenes diplomacy there was a path to success here for the OTP, and for the Court. There are many possible cooperation partners, and there are many ways of investigating from outside, which the OTP has done and is doing in other situations. And cooperation is a fluid concept today you dont have it, tomorrow you do. The pre-trial chamber obviously decided that it wasnt worth going down this road, though, and refused the request. Is it the result of recent pressure from the U.S.? I think the answer has to be: in part, yes. Although its not explicit in the decision it makes sense that given the reference to prospects of cooperation they were referring, among other things, to the OTPs ability to obtain cooperation from the U.S. and allied states with respect to the CIA investigation. Its problematic in the sense that it encourages the notion that justice can be sacrificed in difficult cases. Ultimately, the pre-trial chamber may be entitled to make that interpretation but again its problematic in the sense that it encourages the notion that justice can be sacrificed in difficult cases. Thats not an attractive legacy [for] any court. Its essentially sending the message that if alleged perpetrators of crimes cover up or deny or delay justice, they will get away with it. And for the international community, which set up a court to do exactly the opposite, it sends a message at best contradictory and at worst deeply problematic. Can it be seen as a lesson learned from previous cases, such as in Kenya, where judges knew cooperation was going to be difficult, went for it, and eventually saw the case collapse? Its a good point. The difficulties the office of the prosecutor and the court have had in the past with cases in which no cooperation has been obtained could have informed the pre-trial chambers decision. There is no reference to that in the decision, but it makes sense. In the latter stages of the Kenyan cases, all cooperation dried up. Without it, neither was able to proceed to the judgment stage. Weve also seen it in two situations referred by the U.N. Security Council Libya and Sudan. With no state cooperation those cases havent been able to proceed. Weve seen at other tribunals where cooperation hasnt been obtained for example at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where the Rwandan government essentially prevented it from investigating the Rwandan Patriotic Front [a victorious army whos been in power in Rwanda since 1994] that cases didnt proceed. On the flip side, we saw at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, when there was cooperation from the former Yugoslavian states and from powerful actors, a court that succeeded. This decision may be a reorientation of the ICCs perspective on where it needs to go from here and accepting the realities of international justice and try to move forward as best as it can albeit in my opinion in a flawed way. So, again, cooperation seems to play an important role in international courts and tribunals and perhaps this decision is just the chamber finally saying: look, we didnt create the conditions, we are accepting them. And this decision may be a reorientation of the ICCs perspective on where it needs to go from here and accepting the realities of international justice and try to move forward as best as it can albeit in my opinion in a flawed way. Going back to Afghanistan, what are the prospects for appeal? I expect the OTP to seek leave to appeal this decision. If granted, it could take up to a year. The appeals chamber may even want to solicit the views of a broader range of actors, victims but also states. So, it will be interesting to follow that process and ultimately it will be up to the appeal chamber to decide or to impose its view of the future of the Court. It could reverse the decision and could impose limits on the investigation as it sees fit, or it could send it back to the pre-trial chamber for a fresh look. It will be a hotly contested issue and one that will be closely followed by the victims, by NGOs, academics, and obviously states, because of the political implications. If the ICC closes its doors to Afghanistans victims, what are their remaining options for justice? For me, this is the hardest part of the decision. Unfortunately, if the ICC closes its doors, for Afghanistan victims its a difficult route to justice. Maybe well see one materialize through an eventual peace agreement that includes a mechanism for accountability and reparations. There being, lets say, not a long history of meaningful justice for victims in similar post-conflict peace agreements. On the U.S. side, again and most disappointedly we may see a situation where alleged criminal activity under international law that has been acknowledged by the U.S. government and documented by other courts, governments, NGOs and victims go unprosecuted. The U.S. government has taken a decision not to prosecute former senior officials of the CIA and of the executive branch of the government for acts committed during their intervention in Afghanistan. So, the hundred-odd victims of alleged torture at the hands of the CIA in Afghanistan and in black sites around the world may never see justice done. When it comes to music, "we want to know what they are interested in," Lahera said, so that each student can feel ownership of their learning. "They're finding the music inside of themselves," not just reproducing music. With the current makeup of the House and Senate, I dont really know what it will take for them to change because they just dont have to, he added. The same people that have been bad for education and have controlled education policy for a decade are still being voted in every election. After voters rejected a school tax hike in November, Lake Ridge school district officials said Monday the Hosford Park Elementary School will be closed and more than 20 jobs will be cut. Within three years, it could also lose its school bus routes. MEDFORD, Ore. -- The Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport and the Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport are getting a $500,000 funding boost. It comes from the Rural Oregon Aviation Relief (ROAR) grant funded by the Oregon Department of Aviation established to help smaller communities keep air service. Right now The Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport has a handful of airlines that fly directly to a few cities. "It would be nice if there were a few more flights in and out of our small airport but it's nice that we have two [to Salt Lake City] a day," said flier Rawlings Lyle. "There aren't many options but it is what it is," added Jennifer Baker Flier Kapali Kiaha said Medford is "getting bigger so there's more people coming in and out and it would be nice if there were more flights." Airport Director Jerry Brienza hopes to change that with the ROAR grant money. "We're looking at bigger cities like Dallas and Chicago that on paper make a lot of sense for us but it's still a little difficult for the airlines to pull the plug because they have other major cities that they could be putting this equipment in," added Brienza. "[The grant is] dangling the carrot out there." Brienza said the airport is looking to add more cities to its flight list and more airlines. He said the grant will allow the Medford Airport to pay those airlines if that service to a specific city doesn't make as much money as planned. "We're hoping not to spend a dime of it but it's really nice to have it in our own back pocket to present to them when they are considering possibly two cities similar in size and which city they are going to go to. We can say we have this money for you to mitigate your risk," added Brienza. Along with that $500,000, Brienza said local businesses and the community have come together and put in $50,000. The airport is also asking for $200,000 in its budget. That hasn't been approved yet. While the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport got the $500,000 grant to try to expand services, the Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport wants to use that money to restore commercial air service. Airport Business Manager Linda Tepper said the airport used to have commercial flights until PenAir filed for bankruptcy in 2017. She believes getting another commercial airline would be great for the Klamath Basin, not just for leisure travel but for business and economic growth as well. "It certainly helps our community when it comes to economic development recruitment so those companies that might be looking to locate in Klamath Falls would certainly find air service a convenient bonus to have here in the community, added Tepper. MEDFORD, Ore. Former public works director Michael Faught is $150,000 richer after stumbling into a huge Powerball win from a ticket purchased at Food 4 Less in Medford. "As a former public works director, Michael Faught can tell you the Ph of municipal wastewater, or the perfect angle a roadway needs to be to deal with stormwater run-off. After winning $150,000 playing Powerball, he can also tell you what a Power Play is," the Oregon Lottery said in a statement. Faught and his wife now live in Lebanon, but they were on a road trip with their travel trailer when they stopped to pick up some Powerball tickets at Food 4 Less. The customer service clerk wanted to know if I wanted to purchase the $3 per line ticket, Faught said. I had no clue what she was talking about as we rarely purchase lottery tickets, so I just said yes. That decision ended up tripling our win from $50,000 to $150,000! Faught ended up matching four numbers and the Powerball for the drawing on Saturday, March 23. Since he purchased the "Power Play" multiplier option, and the multiplier drawn was three, Faught tripled his prize for the $1 extra he paid. The winning numbers were 24-25-52-60-66 with a Powerball of 05. The jackpot for that drawing was $625 million. Faught said winning $150,000 was surreal he checked the ticket at a gas station on his way home and couldnt believe his luck. My wife and I were excited, elated, giddy and soooo happy! Faught said. We feel so blessed that we were able to pay off some major bills as a result of the win. Faught and his wife have talked to a financial advisor and are planning to put new wood floors in their Lebanon home. He also hopes to do some minor upgrades to his motorcycle. The family had already planned a trip to Disneyland, and Faught told the Oregon Lottery that they used some of the prize money to enhance the trip. Charbonneau said Indiana has agreements with hospitals in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky for reimbursement, but when a patient chooses to go to one of those facilities, the payment made for services is a standard rate. Charbonneau said the reimbursement for Riley is higher because of an assessment fee. Cambodian authorities have arrested a 37-year-old Nigerian man, Shehu Bello Akharuku and his Cambodian wife, Kim Sreykouch, 24. The couple were last week and detained in Prey Sar prison, Cambodia on fraud charges. Their arrest were allegedly ordered at the request of US Embassy staff. Information from the Phnom Penh Court, on the morning of April 3, states that a complaint from the US Embassy in Cambodia, led the Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime Department of the Ministry of Interior, to deliver the Nigerian man and his Cambodian wife to appear before the court. The Phnom Penh court judge, Koy Chao, issued a detention order for the two suspects who are now held at Prey Sar prison on charges of fraud. For Pamela Hunters first birthday in heaven, the family got together in July to celebrate her, Camille Hunter said. They had a barbecue with food and cake and provided games and a bounce house for the children to play in, she said. Balay was one of a few gay people I know to reach out to me after Buttigieg kissed his husband on stage and later posted an image on his campaign website of them holding hands. They interpreted this as an act of public defiance that often results in ridicule, violence or harassment for many same-sex couples in todays America. EUGENE, Ore. -- Is mobile banking secure, and how long does it take to get the funds in your account? KEZI 9 News talked to Ron Green and Vicki Gray with Oregon Pacific Bank on KEZI 9 News at 4 p.m. Mobile banking has never been easier, Gray said. Its safe, and anyone with a smartphone can log into their accounts, take a picture of the check theyd like to deposit, endorse it to mobile banking on the back and take another picture and submit the transaction. Gray said you should have access to your funds the next business day. If you have a banking or finance question for Green, click here. KALAMA, Wash. (AP) -- A man who authorities say shot and killed a sheriff's deputy in southwest Washington state last weekend was the half-brother of the man who killed an Oregon police chief eight years ago. Thirty-three-year-old Brian Butts was shot to death by law enforcement Sunday following a manhunt. Investigators say Butts killed Cowlitz County deputy Justin DeRosier on Saturday night. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Butts was the half-brother of 29-year-old Daniel Butts, who pleaded guilty last month to killing Rainier, Oregon, Police Chief Ralph Painter in 2011. He is serving a life sentence with parole possible after 49 years in prison. RELATED: Man pleads guilty to killing Oregon police chief The news outlet says Daniel Butts' father, Mikel Butts, confirmed the relationship. He says Daniel and Brian shared the same mother. Mikel Butts said he hadn't seen Brian Butts in years. EUGENE, Ore. -- Catholics and lovers of history in Lane County are devastated by the scenes of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris up in flames. KEZI 9 News spoke with members of the Catholic Church community who said the timing couldn't be worse. RELATED: Catastrophic fire engulfs Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris The week before Easter is Holy Week, and if the circumstances were different, the cathedral would be getting ready to display its holy relics on Good Friday. Father Bryce McProud from St. Mary Catholic Church said Notre Dame is a symbol of faithfulness in the Catholic Church. Notre Dame means "Our Lady," representing the Virgin Mary, which is central to the Catholic faith. "It's very sad, I could cry," said Nancy Nau, a Springfield resident. "I can't imagine it being gone. We've been there a couple different times. I can't imagine that it's gone." Nau said seeing the cathedral in person is breathtaking and said it's a sense of history you can feel but can't explain. Fire officials said the vaulted ceiling helped prevent much of the altar from burning. French President Emmanuel Macron said a fundraising campaign to restore the cathedral will be launched on Tuesday. BANDON, Ore. -- Oregon Department of Transportation officials announced Monday night that a single lane of Highway 42S is open to traffic. The highway had been closed five miles east of Bandon since April 10 when flooding in the area caused 50 feet of paved highway to collapse. RELATED: Road collapse closes Highway 42S east of Bandon ODOT said over the weekend crews installed a 4-foot diameter culvert 25 feet below the road surface, filling the hole with 1,800 tons of rock. They said the new culvert will not only make it less likely to get blocked by storm debris than the previous pipe, it will also allow fish to pass through. The repair is expected to cost $118,000, and it's expected to be done by later this week. Flaggers are going to be in the area helping with traffic control until the second lane gets fully paved. Peggy said every time her mom visited the physician, the doctor told her she was lucky to take the expensive blood thinner instead of the other stuff which he called rat poison implying a cheaper drug was inferior, even dangerous. Peggy said at every visit he told her that she was fortunate to be taking something better. Then a family member discovered openpaymentsdata.cms.gov a database maintained by the Medicare program that reveals the amounts of money pharmaceutical companies pay to doctors in speaking and consulting fees, in research fees and for food and drink expenses. Her moms cardiologist had received nearly $80,000. Trump claims that the countries from which asylum-seekers and economic migrants are fleeing are not sending "their best" people, and says entry should be based on "merit," not on family connections. That would be a complete departure from the immigration policies that allowed Trump's and Miller's forebears to come to this country, but it sounds debatable until you take into account Trump's other remarks. He has reportedly disparaged non-white countries with a vulgar epithet and expressed a preference for immigrants from places like Norway, which happens to be one of the whitest countries on the planet. In the context of immigration policy, he has regaled crowds with the story likely apocryphal of his friend "Jim," who used to go to Paris all the time but doesn't anymore because "Paris is no longer Paris." (Updates with closing prices) By Peter Hobson LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Zinc prices fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday as a big inflow into London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses fanned expectations that a supply deficit will soon end. Benchmark zinc on the LME closed down 3.1 percent at $2,809.50 a tonne, the biggest daily fall since August, after hitting a three-week low. The metal used chiefly to galvanise steel has risen around 14 percent this year thanks to a supply shortfall that drove LME inventories to record lows. Prices reached a 9-1/2-month high of $2,958 a tonne on April 4. However, analysts expect a recent rise in mined zinc production to feed through to the refined metal market from the second quarter of this year. This increase in supply will drag prices to around $2,300 by the year-end, Capital Economics analyst Ross Strachan said. He said zinc would perform worse than other industrial metals. ZINC STOCKS: Headline zinc stocks in LME-registered warehouses jumped by 10,350 tonnes to 66,475 tonnes, rising from a record low of around 50,000 tonnes earlier this month. Stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose sharply during a seasonal lull in Chinese manufacturing in the first quarter, but have slipped in recent weeks to 101,000 tonnes. ZINC SPREAD: The premium of cash zinc over the three-month contract on the LME fell to $89 from more than $100 on Friday, but remains far above usual levels, pointing to a shortage of immediately available metal. COLUMN: Zinc is coming under sustained attack from bearish funds, writes columnist Andy Home. CHINA ECONOMY: Positive economic data in China, the largest consumer of metals, has supported the demand outlook. China's fiscal spending increased 15 percent during January-March from levels a year earlier and local governments quickened bond issuance for key projects, the finance ministry said. Data shows new home prices in China grew slightly faster in March and new bank loans rebounded last month far more than expected. CHINA OUTLOOK: But the OECD said China's stimulus may undermine the country's drive to control debt and worsen structural distortions over the medium term. U.S. FACTORIES: U.S. manufacturing output suffered the largest quarterly decrease in production since 2017. STEEL: Growth in global steel demand will weaken to 1.3 percent in 2019 and 1 percent next year, the World Steel Association said. Zinc and nickel are used in steelmaking. OTHER METALS: LME copper ended up 0.2 percent at $6,495 a tonne, aluminium fell 0.5 percent to $1,856, lead slipped 1.7 percent to $1,920 and tin finished down 0.4 percent at $20,500. Nickel did not trade in closing rings, nor were there any bids or offers. In electronic trading, prices were down 0.3 percent at $12,955 a tonne at 1614 GMT. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Dale Hudson and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) LME price overview COMEX copper futures Base metals news All metals news All commodities news Metals diary Foreign exchange rates SPEED GUIDES )) * Mobile firms up as Docomo unveils smaller-than-feared price cuts * Retailers remain weak on tax worries, 7&i hits 5-year low By Tomo Uetake TOKYO, April 16 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei edged up to a fresh four-month high on Tuesday, propelled by gains in the big three mobile carriers after market leader NTT Docomo announced smaller-than-feared price cuts, soothing concerns about a price war. The benchmark Nikkei rose 0.24 percent to 22,221.66, hitting a fresh four-month high but the broader Topix ended down 0.09 percent at 1,626.46. The information and communication sub-index was by far the strongest among the Topix's 33 industry groups, gaining 1.7 percent. NTT Docomo jumped 3.6 percent, while rival and one of the Nikkei heavyweights KDDI Corp surged 5.9 percent and SoftBank Corp advanced 3.1 percent. After market close on Monday, NTT Docomo said it would cut carrier fees by up to 40 percent. Yet, many of its users will not see reductions of that scale and the new price plans, widely seen as complex, do not include handset fees. "We don't see a large negative impact on (NTT Docomo's) earnings and see a low probability of other companies responding with large price cuts," SMBC Nikko analyst Satoru Kikuchi wrote in a note. Japan's big three telcos, which have a combined market cap of about 20 trillion yen ($178.7 billion), have been under government pressure to reduce carrier fees to help stimulate consumer spending in other parts of the economy. Stripping out their gains, the market was soft with sentiment hardly cheerful. Retailers were particularly weak, amid worries about the planned consumption tax hike in October, with Seven&i slipping 1.2 percent to five-year lows. "The ongoing rally in the Nikkei is not supported by broad economic growth or fundamentals, but rather by ample liquidity and speculation," said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Fujito said the benchmark Nikkei had been buoyed over the past few weeks by a couple of heavyweight stocks, namely Fast Retailing and SoftBank Group. "If you look back, some speculative hedge funds apparently pushed up the Nikkei artificially by buying up heavyweights Fast Retailing and SoftBank Group. If they decide to take profit, it can reverse course anytime soon - unless the markets see solid hard data to back up a further run-up." In a sign of the market distortion, the Nikkei/Topix (NT) ratio edged up to 13.66, the highest close this century. ($1 = 111.93 yen) (Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) * Chinese data soothes investors nerves, focus turns to GDP* European stock volatility falls to its lowest since Jan 2018* Lufthansa delivers bigger-than-expected Q1 loss * Zalando rallies after upbeat profit forecast (Updates to close, adds details) By Agamoni Ghosh April 16 (Reuters) - European shares ended at an eight-month high on Tuesday, bolstered by banking and financial stocks, upbeat data from China and the improving economic mood in Germany. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose for a fifth-straight session led by the Swiss index and Germany's trade-sensitive DAX . The index of STOXX 50 volatility , the main gauge of market anxiety in Europe, fell to its lowest since mid-January 2018 helped by a shortened trading week for the Easter holidays. The banking , financial and insurance sectors provided the major boost, mostly drawing from earnings of big Wall street banks, with JPMorgan Chase & Co kicking off U.S. earnings on a strong note last week. Bank of America Corp's earnings also topped expectations but Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Citigroup Inc disappointed with revenue misses, although both lenders beat quarterly profit estimates. "We saw a sort of a selloff in Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but if you look at the bank earnings, you can clearly see they were really really strong," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd in London. "This optimism is feeding into the European banking sector as well. When they start to announce their earnings, the expectations are high that we are going to see some good numbers coming out of European banks after a long time." Italy's top bank, UniCredit SpA , rose over 3 percent after it and two subsidiaries agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle investigations of violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries. Italy's FTMIB however, barely scraped through into positive territory as the Bank of Italy's warning of the country's deficit possibly breaching European Union regulations in 2020 weighed on the bank-heavy index. APPRAISING INDICATORS Aiding sentiment was better-than-expected home price numbers from China for March and a ZEW survey showing that mood among German investors improved in April. All eyes are now on Chinese quarterly GDP data due on Wednesday as firmer data in the world's second-largest economy may imply an improvement in the global export picture, benefiting export-oriented economies in the region like Germany. Among individual stock movers, Zalando took the spotlight, rising more than 10 percent and emerging as the best performer on the STOXX after the e-commerce company said it expected to post an operating profit for the first quarter. Steel pipe maker Tenaris rose over 3 percent after an Argentine court reversed a decision against the company's chief executive and chairman. Germany's biggest airline Lufthansa had fallen earlier in the day after posting a loss in the first quarter hurt by rising fuel costs and over-capacity in Europe. The carrier reversed losses to end about 1 percent higher with traders saying the bad news ailing the airline and the broader industry was priced in after easyJet's warning last week and WOW airline's bankruptcy in late-March. Among the biggest drags on the index were oil stocks including BP , Total and Royal Dutch Shell tracking declining crude prices. On London's FTSE 250 , Galliford Try slumped 20 percent after the house-builder said it was undertaking a strategic review of its construction business which would reduce its size and lead to a fall in annual profit. If the firm ditched its infrastructure arm and focused on house-building alone, it might do better, since the record over the past year for the division has been grim, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, wrote in a note. (Reporting by Medha Singh, Susan Mathew and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew Cawthorne) Messaging: Agamoni.Ghosh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Earlier this year, Africa's second largest copper producing country increased royalties and introduced a new 10 percent tax on miners when the price of copper exceeds $7,500 per tonne, prompting warnings it could tip many producers into the red. Lumwana, a unit of Barrick Gold, also said on Tuesday it expected its copper output to rise to 107,000 tonnes in 2019, up from 101,000 tonnes last year, and that it planned to ramp up output even further in 2020. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Emma Rumney; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) David Seymour points out: If people werent allowed to make stupid and historically inaccurate statements, wed have to close down Parliament, says ACT Leader David Seymour, but that is what Justice Minister Andrew Little seems to be suggesting in his response to a One Law for All pamphlet this weekend. Mr Little is not claiming that the pamphlet incites or threatens violence, is defamatory, or is even a nuisance. Those would be legitimate reasons to curtail speech, but Mr Little is claiming the Government needs the power to shut down speech that is foolish. The greatest fear the liberal snowflakes have is how well the country is doing under president Trump and his booming economy. And with the death of the Mueller investigation coming out Thursday, there fears will become even greater. And as far as white nationalists are concerned, were you referring to Kathy Griffin and a severed head of the president, or Madonna wanting to blow up the White House? Or was it Joe Biden wanting to take the president out behind the wood shed and put a good ole country whipping on him, or Robert De Niro on The View wanting to punch the president in the face. There's some crazy white people around for sure, and their hate for the president is on display on just about every channel we watch, late night, liberal media, local news, SNL, and on and on. Scary times for sure. You are here: Arts Russian ballet "Swan Lake" will hit the stage at the Beijing Century Theater from April 27 to May 1. "Swan Lake" is a classic Russian tragic romance, replete with haunting music and exquisite dance, with an evocative score from well-known composer Tchaikovsky. It tells a fairy tale about a prince saving Princess Odette from an evil curse that turns her into a swan. It is to be performed by the Russian State Ballet, which conserves the tradition of classic ballet and is committed to the renaissance of fine Russian ballets. The ballet has captured the imagination of many generations, and its fairy-tale mystery and romance continues to fascinate audiences worldwide. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, wearing a bright-red classical Chinese Qipao dress, joined the Chinese community here on Sunday to kick off the annual Fourth San Francisco Qipao Culture Month. Breed said the traditional Chinese Qipao dress, or cheongsam, which was once part of many Chinese women's daily wardrobes, highlights the beauty, elegance and empowerment of women in the city of San Francisco that stands for equality and diversity. "Tonight is about feeling beautiful ... about celebrating not only fashion but the history of fashion, because we know that Qipao originally started as men's attire and transformed into what we see today," she told hundreds of people, including women who were wearing various styles of Qipao, a fashionable and elegant traditional Chinese form-fitting dress. "Women took over. We took over the power of fashion, and we elevated and created something absolutely beautiful," Breed said about the evolution of the Qipao. The San Francisco Qipao Culture Month, which was established by Sunny Shen, founder of Qifengtang, a San Francisco-based organization advocating Chinese Qipao culture in the United States, has been held for the fourth year in a row since 2016. The late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee proclaimed April 14 the San Francisco Chinese Qipao Day in 2017. Shen said Breed is the first African-American female mayor of San Francisco who wore a Qipao to showcase the elegant beauty of the traditional Chinese dress, as well as the inclusiveness of San Francisco as an international metropolitan city advocating harmony among communities of diversified cultures. "We as Chinese Americans want to share the soft power of the Chinese heritage with the unique Chinese dress as a language of communication," she said. Chinese Deputy Consul General in San Francisco Ren Faqiang said the centuries-long history of the Qipao demonstrated the openness, inclusiveness and mutual respect among various ethnic groups in the "big family" of the Chinese nation. "We hope all other countries in the world, including the United States, would show their respect for the Chinese nation and the diversified forms of their culture such as dress and cuisine, as well as China's political system and its path of development," Ren said. This year's Qipao culture month aligned its celebration with the theme of promoting Chinese state banquet-style food and cuisine culture among the American public. David Smith, mayor emeritus of Newark City in Alameda County, Northern California, said he has been involved with Chinese restaurant undertakings for many years. He said the combination of celebrating the Qipao Culture Month with Chinese food works. "It can be a theme of many banquets and gatherings in the future ... I think that would be a very healthy link, and a very good positive link actually going forward," Smith said. The Qipao Culture Month will also launch a week-long campaign to shoot the Global Chinese Cheongsam Images Scroll (Long Scroll) for 2019, a long banner featuring stylized calligraphy-like images of women around the world wearing the elegant Qipao dress. In 2019, over 48,000 women from the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand participated in the Long Scroll program and the scroll's length has now grown to more than 20,000 meters, said Liu Bing, founder and chief producer of the Long Scroll program. The Film Carnival of the 9th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) opened on April 14 at the Film & Television Industry Park in Beijing's Huairou district, attracting well-known filmmakers, directors, and actors, as well as a huge number of visitors. Hosted by the BJIFF organizing committee, and co-organized by Beijing TV Station and the Huairou district government, the carnival is a major film event for the general public, with six categories covering film technologies, film-inspired cuisines, and other themes. A total of 27 activities will be rolled out during the carnival, including film screenings, movie-themed concerts and exhibitions, cosplays, and VR films. "This is my third year to visit the carnival event," said Xiao Hongcheng, a first grader at a primary school in Huairou, who said he loved the 4D photography area in the carnival. Another carnival visitor, a fourth grader named Li Xiaoxi, said she enjoyed the treasure-hunting activity the most, and that she had participated in the carnival for about four or five years. At the carnival, visitors also have the chance to act in a play. Zhang Jiang, a college student from Beijing Geely University, cosplayed as the monkey in the 1995 film "A Chinese Odyssey" and tried out one of the movie's most classic scenes. "This was my first time doing this and it was quite an experience," Zhang said. The film carnival will run for 19 days from April 14 to May 4, with closing days on April 20 and 27. Leo Morris, columnist for The Indiana Policy Review, is winner of the Hoosier Press Associations award for Best Editorial Writer. Morris, as opinion editor of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, was named a finalist in editorial writing by the Pulitzer Prize committee. Contact him at leoedits@yahoo.com China's biggest online travel agency Ctrip is seeking wider inroads into the Japanese tourism market by inking a partnership with a local railway operator. Ctrip and East Japan Railway (JR-East) have a comprehensive strategic partnership to tap tourism resources in northeast Japan and woo more tourists to visit the island country. As part of the cooperation, the digital transport pass JR East Pass will be promoted on Ctrip platforms to enable tourists to prepare travel in advance. JR East's railway tickets can also be bought in advance on Ctrip online platforms. The services will be available from May, according to Ctrip. Japan is one of the most popular overseas travel destinations for Chinese tourists. Data from the Japan tourism authority shows that Chinese made 8.38 million trips to Japan in 2018, up 13.9% year on year. Ctrip has been stepping up its presence in Japan in recent years. The company established a Japanese branch to better serve travelers to Japan in 2015. It last year launched Trip.com, an independent brand primarily serving clients in Asia Pacific markets, in Tokyo to offer timely travel-related services. Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma, chief of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has provoked a viral online debate in China with his controversial views on the culture of overtime work. In a speech to Alibaba employees on Wednesday, Ma defended the "996 work culture," which refers to working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. "It's a great honor to be able to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, because many companies and people have no chance to do so, even if it is their wish to do so," he said. He also called working overtime a "blessing" for younger workers. To explain his views, Ma wrote a post on Sina Weibo, a micro-blogging platform, the following day. "No company should or have the right to force employees to work overtime," he said, but emphasized that "a happy life comes from hard work." Many Chinese business leaders shared their views on this issue. On the same day, Liu Qiangdong, CEO of Alibaba's chief rival JD.com, posted an article on Wechat in support of Ma. "Every JD.com employee must be hard-working," he said. "Should I be responsible for the 180,000 workers and their families, or should I keep the 1% who have no interest in work and be responsible for them? However, Li Guoqing, founder of another Chinese e-commerce company Dangdang, held an opposite view. In his Weibo post on the same day, he said he was totally against the "996 work culture." "It's more meaningful for managers to improve their decision-making efficiency rather than to ask employees to work overtime," he said. Over the weekend, Ma wrote another post on Sina Weibo. "I think it's necessary to have a serious discussion on the issue since it's become so highly debated," he said. "The real 996 is not simply working overtime. It's not just physical work. It has nothing to do with being exploited," he said. "Those who can stick to the 996 schedule must have their own motive. They must be motivated by things other than money. They must enjoy the process of study, thinking and exploration after the eight working hours." The Chinese public held divided views on the "996 work culture" and shared their views on Ma's Weibo accounts. "A worker must follow the company's rules when he chooses to join it. Otherwise, he can choose not to work there," Weibo user Chendaqian'er said. "I don't think there is anything wrong with the 996 culture. The problem is that some companies force workers to do so, and many without pay. You shouldn't make the 996 schedule a routine or expectation," Weibo user Aijianshende Xiaopangzi said. "Ma is too idealistic. Not everyone is like him. They don't want to change the world and are unable to do so. For common people, survival comes before running a country," Weibo user Jiaolianxishang Shuantoulv said. Business leaders and executives of chambers of commerce around the world gathered in Beijing on Sunday, April 14 for the 5th China and Globalization Forum. A roundtable discussion was hosted at the forum on the impact of the recently-passed Foreign Investment Law (FIL) on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China. Forty years after reform and opening up, China updated its laws on foreign investment this March, signaling its continuous effort to increase its openness to the world. During the roundtable discussion, representatives had in-depth exchanges of views concerning critical issues such as relaxing restrictions on market access, ensuring impartial regulation as well as permitting the accorded national treatment to foreign capital. Representatives on both sides shared about the promising prospects of FDI in China due to the FIL's role in addressing regulatory barriers, promoting economic growth, and protecting IPR. Regarding the upcoming rules of implementation of the FIL, Allan Gabor, president of Merck China, expressed his hope for a more transparent and implementable legislation. He also recognized the rapid development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry in China, and the role AI plays in contributing to Chinese innovation. During the discussion, controversial issues such as the different interpretation toward mandatory transfers of core technology and trade secrets, as well as the concern over national security from foreign investment were also addressed. Tim Stratford, chairman of AmCham China, talked about improving the mechanism for dispute settlement and suggested that there should be experts to solve technical problems, and administrative decisions to be based on those experts' professional opinions. He also emphasized that the consensus between China and foreign countries should build on, in the first place, the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of it. Zhou Yanli, former vice chair of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and CCG advisor, replied to this issue saying that "the lack of respect for IPR has its historical roots in China, and this is what the FIL is for - to help Chinese businesses stand in line with international practices." In response to the question on the bottom line of both Chinese regulatory bodies and foreign investors, Fang Fang, partner of Waterwood Investment Holdings and CCG vice chair, noted that "China, of course, needs foreign investment but China also needs to realize the importance of providing a business environment with fair competition. Since the majority of Chinese investment still goes to U.S. today, the Sino-U.S. relationship in this regard must be based on the principle of mutual benefit and fair trade." Yang Xiaoping, president of BP China, added that foreign investment is contingent on how it improves the lives of people for "as long as people's lives are improved and pollution is reduced, any foreign investment should be received cordially and welcomed in China." You are here: China Yu Xue, a young college student from Henan province, is helping to bring a traditional handcraft of her hometown to the world stage. You are here: China A total of 246 cases involving ivory smuggling have been investigated and more than 20 kg of ivory and ivory products have been seized in the first quarter of the year, said customs authorities in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Over the period, Chengdu Customs has investigated 417 smuggling cases involving endangered animal and plant species amid its intensified anti-smuggling efforts, according to a press conference held by customs authorities on Monday. On March 26, customs officers at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport found 18 ivory items smuggled by a passenger with the help of a CT scanner. The items weighed over 1.7 kg in total. China banned all domestic ivory trade at the end of 2017 as part of its commitment to protecting wild animals. Some are calling this the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while others say we are entering the Second Machine Age. Whatever you call it, the consensus is that artificial intelligence (AI), powered by big data, is gaining greater importance when it comes to productivity. The new generation of information technology is taking many forms: robotics, the internet of things, big data, cloud computing, mobile internet, and more. However, AI is standing out and leading the current scientific revolution it has even been called the oil of our time. The U.S. government has developed a plan to build the next generation AI, as has the Chinese government. Development of AI has now become a consensus priority. In recent years, AI increasingly complements human labor in the workplace, as well as in our daily lives. A study by the management consultancy firm McKinsey suggests between 400 million and 800 million jobs will be automated by 2030. There are worries that AI will replace human workers, which may result in many lost jobs, and that AI will jeopardize young people and alienate them from the society. If AI may steal our jobs and destroy society, then why on earth would we be developing it? To see it another way, advancements in AI technology have generated value and proved to be an effective aid in repetitive tasks and predictable processes, such as data collection and management. According to the Big Data Executive Survey 2018 carried out by the data-driven innovation consulting company NewVantage Partners, an overwhelming 97.2% of executives report that their companies are investing in building or launching big data and AI initiatives. According to Xi Weihang, vice president of Ctrip, China's leading travel service provider, the company previously had as many as 15,000 service staff. They typically process 1 million calls and more than 1 million emails and other messages daily across platforms. Many of the enquiries are the same, and each one costs the company in customer service labor. The average cost of manually handling the return of an air ticket, to take one example, is 13 yuan. Although the company has moved its call centers to third-tier cities, the cost of customer service is still high. With the introduction of AI into some service procedures more than two years ago, such enquiries are now dealt with more efficiently. The vice president predicted that 70% to 80% of the company's calls may be processed by AI in the future. AI is applicable in more scenarios than we could imagine. In the medical field, with assistance from AI, researchers can understand how a cell works and better understand genes and genetic sequencing. They can also use AI to personalize medicines. In the field of computer science, 5G, cloud computing and others, communications and computing power are being enhanced with limitless potential. When historians look back at the first Industrial Revolution, they can say that people's way of life was initially disrupted. They were deprived of jobs as many tasks previously done by hand were replaced by machines. But over time they came to keep pace with the changes to society, and learned to get along with these new machines. Now we may make the same point for AI. From the internet to AI, the development of science and technology is an irreversible trend, one that demands we all adapt. We need to face up to the fact that 30% of repetitive labor is being replaced by AI. Rather than responding with complaints or fear, we need to adjust so that we can reap the benefits of this change. Talk about AI is often confined to the science and technology aspect of it. But in fact, science and humanity are both indispensable parts of society. We human beings are able to care for others, and when a certain task is done, we get a sense of fulfillment, while AI will never have that. That's our advantage. Some concerns are justified, of course. For instance, we are all afraid of our personal data being shared improperly. However, AI is not the key factor in this issue, but human monitoring. We need to be aware of where data comes from and how it will be used. The government of today and tomorrow will surely be forced to take on ever more responsibility for the supervision of AI and data use. As humans, we have the right and the responsibility to choose. Technology empowers humanity so that humanity is forever chasing after technology. No one knows precisely where we will be led. What we can do now is to take control and develop it proactively with our own irreplaceable intelligence. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn. Flash Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and some other cabinet ministers who are here to attend the fifth high-level economic dialogue between China and Japan in Beijing, capital of China, April 15, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua] Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Monday met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and some other cabinet ministers who were in Beijing to attend the fifth high-level economic dialogue between China and Japan. Li said China and Japan are important neighbors. Since last year, through joint efforts, bilateral relations have returned to the right track and achieved new development. On the basis of the principles enshrined in the four China-Japan political documents, the two sides should promote the long-term, healthy and stable development of bilateral relations in the spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking into the future. He said since China and Japan are two of the world's major economies, strengthening cooperation is not only in the interests of the two countries but also conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and world. As both sides support free trade and abide by the rules of the World Trade Organization, they should work together to create a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory business environment for each other's companies, said Li. The Chinese side will unswervingly deepen reforms and expand opening up, and welcome Japanese companies to expand investment in China, Li added. China and Japan successfully held the first meeting of the China-Japan Innovative Cooperation Mechanism this April, said Li, expressing the hope that the two countries further enhance cooperation in the area of innovation and expand cooperation in the areas of finance, third-party market and tourism. The premier said China stands ready to work with Japan and other relevant parties to promote the negotiation of the China-Japan-Republic of Korea free trade agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to create more opportunities for regional countries. China supports Japan in hosting the G20 Okasa Summit this year, Li said, adding that China is willing to jointly promote the reform of global economic governance to inject new impetus into the world economy. Hailing that Japan-China ties returned to normal last year and the high-level economic dialogue yielded fruitful results, Taro Kono said Japan-China relations in the new era were greatly intensified. Japan is willing to enhance cooperation with China in areas such as innovation, finance, environmental protection, hydrogen-energy, tourism, youth, smart city and the third-party market, deepen coordination in multi-lateral areas and promote the RCEP negotiation to achieve new progress this year. You are here: World Flash Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will pay an official visit to Russia on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday. On Wednesday, Putin and Rahmon will discuss "key issues of bilateral relations and measures to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation in political, trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other fields," it said. The parties will also exchange opinions on current regional issues, the statement said, adding that a series of joint documents will be signed during the visit. Russia and Tajikistan are close allies, with the Central Asian republic hosting a Russian military base. Flash Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called on Britain to minimize the negative impact of its exit from the European Union (EU) on Japanese corporations and the world economy in a broader sense. "We respect the efforts made by Prime Minister (Theresa) May" to avert a no-deal Brexit, Abe said in a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in Tokyo. "It's our hope that the negative impact of Britain's exit on Japanese companies and the world economy will be minimal," he told Hunt. Abe said his country is glad that a "no deal" Brexit was avoided as Britain and the EU agreed last week to postpone the deadline for Brexit once again from April 12 to Oct. 31. Britain is "very determined" to avoid a no-deal Brexit, said Hunt, adding that Britain wants the cooperation with Japan in the manufacturing industry to continue. During their meeting, Abe also asked for Britain's support for the Group of 20 summit to be held in Osaka, western Japan, in June. Tokyo plans to hold discussions on an array of global issues at the summit, including innovation and free trade as drivers of economic growth, Abe said. Dhaka, April 16: After nearly 10 days of confusion, the row over the Shab-e-Barat 2019 dates in Bangladesh has ended. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, in consultation with the National Moon Sighting Committee, has agreed to observe the night of April 21 as Nisf-e-Shaban or the middle of Shabaan when practicing Muslims pray throughout the night and visit graveyard. The festival is observed on the 15th night of the Islamic month of Shabaan. On April 6, the moon sighting committee in Bangladesh said the crescent moon has not been seen, thus pushing the date of observance to April 21. Shab-e-Barat 2019: Date in India, Significance And Other Key Facts to Know. In neighbouring India and Pakistan, however, the crescent was spotted, with an announcement being made by the respective Hilal Committees fixing the night of April 20 as Shab-e-Barat. Subsequently, a group of Muslims in Bangladesh, under the aegis of Islamic Foundation, claimed to have spotted the crescent on April 6. As per the sharia or Islamic law, they are duty bound to record their statement of spotting the crescent by personally appearing before the designated authorities. The claims being made on phone or internet is not accepted. The Moon Sighting Committee had convened on Monday, and had issued calls to the members of the said Foundation to appear before the panel and record their testaments. However, no member of the group turned up, thereby, forcing the authorities to announce that the earlier date of Shab-e-Barat remains unchanged. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2019 08:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Toronto, April 16: The Chinese government has deployed a powerful artificial intelligence tool against its own population it is using facial recognition software powered by AI to track Uighur Muslims in public spaces. It is the first known example of a government intentionally using artificial intelligence for racial profiling, experts said according to the New York Times. The facial recognition technology has been integrated into the governments surveillance networks which have been deployed specifically against its Uighur population a Muslim population from the autonomous Xinjiang province of China. China has been accused of mass detention and abuse of human rights against the Uighur population but this is the first report that highlights the extensive network deployed against them by the Chinese state. The NYT reports that this technology has been deployed in other parts of China apart from Xinjiang province including cities like Hangzhou, Wenzhou, and the province of Fujian. The software tracks the movement of Uighurs and converts it into data points to maintain a record of their movements over an extended period of time. Read: China Legalises 'Re-education' Camps for its Uighur Population The report says that Chinese police departments and technology companies described the practice as minority identification, though the phrase is understood to be a euphemism for a tool that sought to identify people belonging to Uighur ethnicity exclusively. The Chinese A.I. companies behind the software include Yitu, Megvii, SenseTime, and CloudWalk, which are each valued at more than $1 billion. With Chinas Uighur monitoring tool, the country has positioned itself at the forefront of facial recognition technology powered by machine learning. The NYT quoted Chinese tech investor Kai-Fu Lee on the leaps and bounds made in this segment. Lee said, China has an advantage in developing A.I. because its leaders are less fussed by legal intricacies or moral consensus. We are not passive spectators in the story of A.I. we are the authors of it, Lee wrote last year. That means the values underpinning our visions of an A.I. future could well become self-fulfilling prophecies. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2019 02:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Judging from the proxy statement issued by Facebook last week in advance of its May 30 annual meeting, the companys shareholders are starting to get fed up with its leadership by co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg. Four shareholder proposals on the proxy ballot call for slicing away at Zuckerbergs authority over Facebook. Facebook operates essentially as a dictatorship, observes the supporting statement for one of those proposals. Shareholders cannot call special meetings and have no right to act by written consent. A supermajority vote is required to amend certain bylaws. Our Board is locked into an out-dated governance structure that reduces board accountability to shareholders. One of the four proposals would establish an independent chair, rather than leaving the chair and CEO positions both in Zuckerbergs hands. Another would require majority votes for directors, so they couldnt skate into their board positions purely on Zuckerbergs say-so. The third would call for all shares, whether Class A or Class B, to have a single vote. A fourth calls for the board to consider strategic alternatives, such as breaking up the company. Advertisement Facebook operates essentially as a dictatorship. Facebook shareholder proposal, 2019 Heres my prediction of how these votes will go: Every one will be overwhelmingly defeated. This requires not a crystal ball, but merely a working knowledge of arithmetic. Zuckerberg owns or controls 88.1% of Facebooks Class B shares, which each have 10 votes at the annual meeting 3.98 billion votes overall. There are only 2.4 billion Class A shares, which are the only shares ordinary investors can buy. So any proposal Zuckerberg doesnt like will fail by nearly a 2-1 margin, assuming all Class A investors vote together, which never happens. (Zuckerberg owns 0.5% of the Class A shares.) And thats how all previous proposals like these have fared. Facebook observes in its opposition statements to the four proposals that our stockholders rejected the voting change at each of the last five annual meetings and the chair/CEO split at last years. This statement is a model of corporate cynicism, if its meant to imply (as it is) that Zuckerberg is loved and admired by the entire shareholder base similar to the claim of a Third World dictator that his citizens adore him because he regularly racks up 90% majorities on election day. There are indications that most outside shareholders would like to see a change in the management structure. According to the support statement for the proposal to split the chairman and CEO posts by its sponsor, Trillium Asset Management, a similar proposal received 51% of the votes, not counting board members and other insiders such as Zuckerberg. Nevertheless, Facebook gives all the governance proposals the back of its hand, advocating a no vote on all four. We believe that our capital structure is in the best interests of our stockholders and that our current corporate governance structure is sound and effective, the company stated in opposition to the proposal to equalize share votes. The vision and leadership of our founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has guided us from our inception, the company added, sounding like the officiant at a church service. None of this, of course, can come as a surprise. Zuckerbergs unassailable control of Facebook has been in place since even before its 2012 initial public offering; the IPO merely cemented that control into the by-laws. As I advised investors who managed to snag a few shares during that much-touted IPO, Congratulations. Youre now married to Mark Zuckerberg. That seemed to be an ideal marriage for much of the following few years, but its hardly unusual for even the most heavenly marriages to burst a seam after a time. In corporate governance, the issue is usually money (as in real-life marriages). Facebooks shares consistently have produced a handsome return for shareholders, which keeps their grousing to a minimum. This year, the shares have gained about 33%. But theyre also trading at about 18% below their 52-week high, which evidently makes some holders wonder if their investment is in the best hands. To justify installing an independent chair, Trillium lists some missteps Zuckerberg has overseen during his monarchical reign. They include facilitating Russian meddling in U.S. elections, allowing the personal data of 87 million users to be accessed by Cambridge Analytica, allowing the proliferation of fake news and propagating violence in Myanmar, India, and South Sudan, and allowing advertisers to exclude black, Hispanic, and other ethnic affinities from seeing ads. Thats a partial list. Zuckerbergs arrogance, an offshoot of his unassailable position, is palpable. It accounts for Facebooks chronic insensitivity to its users privacy needs, and the trouble the company has gotten into with the Federal Trade Commission and European regulators. Checks on Zuckerbergs whims almost never arise. One teachable moment came in 2016, when Facebook proposed creating a third class of stock, with no voting rights whatsoever. Zuckerberg pretended that this idea had been cooked up by the board of directors so he and his wife could give away their Facebook shares to charity without losing voting control, but of course the board of directors is effectively him. The shareholder vote at the 2016 annual meeting came in overwhelmingly in Zuckerbergs favor, but he eventually abandoned the plan anyway, thanks to the furious reaction from outside shareholders and a shareholder lawsuit over the plan that was about to go to trial when Zuckerberg bailed. But thats an outlier. In almost every other particular, Zuckerbergs position wins. One can admire the persistence of the shareholders who fight every year to defeat him at the annual meeting, but their efforts are a modern-day definition of quixotic. Of course, they knew that when they bought their shares, so what do they really have to complain about? 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. Flash State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Beijing Monday. While noting the improvement process of China-Japan relations is still in its initial stage, Wang said that under the guidance of the principles affirmed in the four China-Japan political documents and important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, it's necessary for both sides to strengthen exchanges at all levels and continuously enhance political mutual trust to ensure bilateral ties will always run on the right track. China welcomes the Japanese side to send a high-level delegation to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing in late April, Wang said. For his part, Taro Kono said the Japanese side will adhere to and abide by the four China-Japan political documents and take concrete actions to implement the political consensus of being cooperative partners rather than make threats to each other. They also agreed to resume the travel study program for Japanese students to China. In naming Corie Barry to the chief executive job, Best Buy Co.s board is handing the reins to the architect of the retailers current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the industrys most remarkable turnarounds. Barry, chief financial and strategic transformation officer, will replace Hubert Joly in June after almost seven years at the helm. In her outgoing role, Barry oversaw the companys expansion announced in 2017, a rare consumer success story in the age of Amazon. The plan found new revenue streams, including an in-home advisory program to help customers with any tech-related issue. The Barry-led push into services has helped Best Buy buck the trend of legacy retailers succumbing to the shift online. During the holiday-shopping season, the chain again topped expectations when many peers struggled. Selling more services, warranties and accessories around a gadget, such as smart-home lighting, increases margins, which has been key to Best Buys revival, said Craig Johnson, president of retail researcher firm Customer Growth Partners LLC. Advertisement They make as much money around the product as the product itself, Johnson said. Theyve done an excellent job on that. Barry, who will turn 44 this week, has spent nearly her entire career at Best Buy, working her way up the finance side of the business. She replaces Joly, who will remain with the company as executive chairman and maintain an office across the hall from Barry, whom he has mentored for several years. The transition makes sense at this point because its good to do this from a position of strength, said Jonathan Matuszewski, an analyst for Jefferies. Its also a positive that Huberts not going anywhere. Still, investors showed some caution about the change, with Best Buy shares falling as much as 1.2% to $72.70 on Monday. Through Fridays close, the stock had advanced 39% this year, more than double the S&P 500s gain over the same period. Joly, 59, arrived at a chaotic Best Buy in 2012 when the retailer looked headed for irrelevance, or worse. Former Chief Executive Brian Dunn had resigned after having a relationship with a subordinate. Meanwhile, founder Richard Schulze was sparring with the board and trying to buy the company as Amazon.com Inc. was stealing market share. In walked Joly, an outsider from the hotel industry. He and his team revived the worlds largest electronics chain with a focus on improving customer service and strengthening relationships with key vendors including Apple and Samsung. The company also promoted Mike Mohan, another veteran whod also been considered a leading candidate to replace Joly, from U.S. chief operating officer to president and chief operating officer. Best Buy will search to fill the role of chief financial officer. Barry will also join the board, giving the retailer a majority of female directors. Despite early hiccups and a sagging stock price, Joly maintained a long-term view. He wanted to cut costs and invest in technology. He also rewired the companys culture to focus on customer service. In conference calls with investors, hed talk as much about gains in shopper satisfaction as revenue growth. By 2017, Joly declared the turnaround was over and the company would shift toward ramping up growth, a task he charged Barry with seeing through. Best Buy was on a descent unless someone applied the brakes, turned it around and applied the accelerator, and thats exactly what he did, Johnson said. Almost everything he did was spot-on. U.S. health regulators ordered two medical device companies to stop selling surgical mesh used in pelvic repair surgeries, saying there isnt enough evidence that the product embroiled in thousands of lawsuits is safe or effective. The Food and Drug Administration told Boston Scientific Corp. and the Danish company Coloplast to stop selling and distributing their products in the U.S. immediately. They were the last two companies selling surgical mesh for use during minimally invasive repair of pelvic organ prolapse, a common condition in women that develops when the muscles holding in the bladder and uterus weaken and the organs start to protrude from the vagina. Vaginal mesh, which helps hold in the organs, was once made by 31 companies, including Johnson & Johnson, C. R. Bard and Endo International. The mesh was clouded by safety complaints after doctors started implanting it through the vagina in 2002, with complications including pain, infection and even death on rare occasions. The FDA re-categorized mesh as a high-risk device in 2016 and required the companies to prove its benefits in order to keep the product on the market. The FDA has determined that the manufacturers, Boston Scientific and Coloplast, have not demonstrated a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness for these devices, the agency said in a statement. Advertisement Vaginal mesh generates about $25 million in annual sales for Boston Scientific, said Larry Biegelsen, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., who said the effect on the company should be manageable. Vijay Kumar, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said the setback could lead Boston Scientific to lower its 2019 revenue estimates. Boston Scientific shares slid 4.3% to $36.17, while Coloplasts American depositary receipts fell 2.5%. Coloplast has settled the lawsuits brought against it by women who said they were harmed by the devices. Boston Scientific has set aside more than $900 million for legal liabilities, with most of it tied to mesh lawsuits. The companies have 10 days to submit their plans for withdrawing their devices, the agency said. Boston Scientific decried the decision and said it would work with the agency to determine its next steps. We are deeply disappointed by the FDAs decision, said Kelly Leadem, a spokeswoman for the Marlborough, Mass., company. The inaccessibility of these products will severely limit treatment options for the 50% of women in the U.S. who will suffer from pelvic organ prolapse during their lives. Vaginal mesh accounts for about 0.2% of group revenue for Coloplast, said company spokeswoman Lina Danstrup, who declined to comment further. The company generated $2.6 billion in sales last year. Although some mesh makers such as Coloplast have settled all their cases, Boston Scientific still faces about 18,000 suits over the controversial implants. Most of those cases are in settlement negotiations, company officials said in a February filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Other device makers, such as J&J, still face more than 34,000 claims their mesh devices damaged womens organs and left them in severe pain, according to a February SEC filing. Unlike Boston Scientific and Endo, J&J hasnt announced a settlement program. Instead, it is resolving suits on a case-by-case basis. Harris Ranch Beef Holding Co., Californias largest cattle-raising operation, is being sold. The companys 800-acre Central Valley feedlot, which can hold up to 250,000 cattle, and its slaughterhouse and processing facilities are being sold to Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. but will operate independently under the combined ownership of Central Valley Meat Holding Co., according to an announcement by the two companies. The price and other details werent released. The beef operations are part of Harris Farms Inc. of Coalinga, Calif. Founded in 1937, the family-owned agribusiness also has a thriving farming operation that produces more than 30 crops, from lettuce and garlic to pistachios and wine grapes; breeds thoroughbred horses; and runs a popular inn and restaurant, according to the company website. Advertisement The business has more than $400 million a year in sales. Only its cattle operations are being sold. The Central Valley has long served as the home of some of the finest beef sold around the world. Todays announcement cements a future for two family-owned beef operations to continue to thrive, Harris Farms owner John Harris said in the April 9 sale announcement. Central Valley Meat Co. was founded in 1993 and markets beef to retailers and food-service companies. The company has faced difficulties in recent years, including a 2013 recall of more than 29 tons of ground beef destined for school lunches because of concerns that it may have contained plastic pieces, the Fresno Bee reported. The processing plant also was briefly closed by federal regulators in 2014 for unsanitary conditions, the paper said. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote Wednesday to draft an ordinance that would bar landlords from establishing blanket bans on tenants with Section 8 vouchers. The law would extend protections against so-called source-of-income discrimination to people who pay with vouchers so they have a better chance to get off the streets or end their crushing rent burdens. A growing number of municipalities, including San Diego and Santa Monica, have passed such laws as tenants increasingly cant find landlords who accept the vouchers. Experts say the federal rent subsidies have not kept pace with rising rents that higher-income tenants are willing to pay. Although the proposed law does not directly address the problem of soaring rents, it does prohibit landlords from refusing to consider Section 8 tenants and outlaws common advertisements that state vouchers arent accepted. A recent Urban Institute study found that 76% of Los Angeles County landlords with units affordable to Section 8 tenants refused to accept vouchers. Advertisement Its one thing to provide Section 8 certificates to low-income people, said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, but if they are not able to use them and the landlord shuts the door on them, its meaningless. Its like going to shop at the supermarket and the shelves are empty. Among the reasons landlords cite in not accepting Section 8 vouchers are concerns over government red tape or a belief that people who need the subsidies are problem tenants, according to the Urban Institute and other studies. Housing advocates say those beliefs are inaccurate and can reflect negative stereotypes of low-income households, as well as racism against people of color, who make up the majority of voucher holders. The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, which represents mom-and-pop landlords, has come out against the proposed ordinance. Daniel Yukelson, the groups executive director, said many landlords would rent to Section 8 tenants, because the government guarantees payment. But he said the program can be cumbersome and difficult to navigate, particularly in Los Angeles. The program requires landlords to have units inspected before they can be rented with the federal subsidy. Yukelson said landlords can wait weeks for an inspection and can then be dinged for minor violations that dont put tenants at risk, further delaying move-in and collection of rent during a time of high demand. Its not a discrimination issue, he said. Its a huge hassle and administration burden issue. Instead of a source-of-income ordinance, the association has urged the city to focus on improving program administration and incentivizing participation. Eric Brown, a spokesman for the citys Housing Authority, said that inspection wait times typically are just a week and that the authority is working to reduce that to two days. The ordinance also would prevent landlords from denying housing to Section 8 tenants simply because of the wait times, according to a spokeswoman for Councilman Paul Krekorian, who proposed the legislation. Section 8, which gets its name from a section of the federal Housing Act, was launched in the 1970s as an alternative to costly public housing projects, which were criticized for segregating poor families in neighborhoods with low-quality schools. However, low subsidy levels and negative stereotypes, advocates say, have restricted the ability of families to move into neighborhoods with more opportunities. In addition to banning source-of-income discrimination against Section 8 tenants, Los Angeles proposed ordinance would stop landlords from rejecting tenants outright who pay through other subsidy programs, including those specifically designed to house homeless individuals. If the proposal moves forward Wednesday, the city attorney would draft an ordinance, which would then need to come before the council for a final vote, which is often a formality. If the ordinance becomes law, Los Angeles would join 11 states and nine cities with policies in place to outlaw blanket Section 8 bans, according to a city report. A pending state bill, Senate Bill 329, would extend those protections across California, and in January, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to draft an ordinance that bans source-of-income discrimination in unincorporated areas. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Follow me @khouriandrew on Twitter Medicare for all received a shot of adrenaline the other day as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wants to be president, reintroduced legislation intended to provide health coverage to all Americans and put private insurers out of business. As usual, conservatives responded by mischaracterizing and outright lying about the proposal, and by framing the debate by asking the wrong question: How will you pay for it? Thats an important consideration, to be sure. But its not where the conversation needs to begin. A more appropriate question to start things off is: How many people will it cover? Advertisement The failure of U.S. policymakers to use this as the basic premise of healthcare reform is why tens of millions of Americans remain uninsured, and why this country pays more for healthcare than any of its economic peers. A productive debate would focus on the pros and cons of any proposal versus the alternatives, said Martin Gaynor, a healthcare economist at Carnegie Mellon University. Scare tactics and slogans, such as calling single-payer proposals a government takeover or saying the current system is a moral outrage, move us farther away from figuring out how to best reform our healthcare system, he told me. There are tradeoffs and hard choices, and it does no good to pretend there are simple answers. Sanders latest bill would establish universal coverage by opening the Medicare insurance system to all. It would expand current benefits, including long-term care at home. It also would prohibit private plans from competing with the government program. There are a number of provisions in the legislation that, for me, make it a non-starter. The biggest is its total rejection of a role for private insurers. While that might be satisfying on a karmic level payback for all the denied claims and acts of greed it discards the potential benefits of competition. We know from the example of some other developed countries that private insurers can bolster and supplement a state-run insurance program. The most successful international models take a hybrid approach, said Dana Goldman, director of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Singapore, for example, has excellent outcomes at reasonable cost, he said. While the Ministry of Health has overall responsibility for total spending, care is delivered by the private sector. Im partial to whats known in healthcare circles as the single-payer Bismarck model (after Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who originated the idea in 1883). This is the system used by Germany, France and Japan. Under this approach, funds are pooled by the government, and heavily regulated private insurers compete by offering more affordable coverage to younger people, or additional benefits for those willing to pay more. This wouldnt be that far from the Medicare Advantage plans that are now part of the U.S. system. Agree or disagree with that proposal, the significant thing is that it starts with a goal of universal coverage and fills in the blanks from there. Anyone with an alternative approach would have to walk the same road. The White House and congressional Republicans immediately attacked Sanders plan as being unrealistic, unreasonable and downright un-American yet once again offered no proposals of their own to expand coverage or address market dysfunction that results in sky-high costs. Self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders is proposing a total government takeover of healthcare that would actually hurt seniors, eliminate private health insurance for 180 million Americans, and cripple our economy and future generations with unprecedented debt, the White House said in a statement. Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, amped up the scare tactics by telling Fox News that with the government takeover, we can see from other countries that were going to have long wait times and rationing of health care. First, Medicare for all wouldnt be a government takeover of healthcare. It would be a state-run insurance program intended to lower coverage costs by spreading risk through the entire population. Second, the rationing and wait times for elective procedures seen in Canada and elsewhere dont necessarily have to be imported to the United States. We can learn from the examples of others and design our system accordingly. As Ive proposed in the past, we could establish a sort of Federal Reserve of healthcare, an independent body of experts that would oversee the macroeconomics of treatment and ensure a more efficient and effective marketplace. Republicans routinely zero in on the biggest weakness of all Medicare-for-all plans, the scarcity of detail about how theyd be funded. They cite estimates that Sanders plan could cost the federal government $32 trillion over the first 10 years. That sounds frightening, even for conservative voters who would happily increase the national debt by trillions of dollars to cut taxes for corporations and rich people. It is, however, a red herring. Single-payer cost estimates typically dont reflect the fact that current healthcare spending topping $3 trillion a year would be incorporated into the new system, so were not talking about $32 trillion in new spending. Many economists predict that overall healthcare spending gradually would decline under a single-payer system as efficiencies take hold and bureaucratic overhead is reduced. Peoples taxes would go up under Medicare for all, conservatives counter. Thats true. Taxpayers fund government programs. What critics always forget to mention is that higher taxes would replace the nearly $11,000 that every American currently pays in average premiums, co-pays and deductibles. The reality is that, according to most estimates, people ultimately would pay less in taxes than they now pay for annual coverage and treatment costs. People often talk about how many additional billions the government will spend but dont compare it to how much less individuals and employers would spend on premiums, said Matthew Lewis, an associate professor of economics at Clemson University. They often discuss how much your taxes would have to go up to fund this, but not how this compares to the decrease in spending on premiums, or increase in salary people would get to compensate for no longer receiving employer-sponsored care, he said. Reforming the U.S. healthcare system requires mature discussion and a willingness to act in the best interests of the American people. What it doesnt need is fear-mongering and blatant falsehoods. Sanders Medicare-for-all plan isnt perfect. Nor are most other proposals being floated by Democratic candidates. But at least theyre trying. Which is a damn sight better than claiming to be the party of healthcare and then doing everything possible to screw things up. David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com. Bodyguard and Game of Thrones actor Richard Madden dropped by the Los Angeles Times video studio and answered questions about wearing too much and too little. I think its quite often you find yourself reading scripts that have got I mean, I think nearly every script I read has some kind of nudity from the leading male or female characters, he said when The Times Mary McNamara asked him about his recent comments in British Vogue about the pressure the increasing prevalence of onscreen nudity places on men. Its a topic we often hear about in the context of female actors, but Madden acknowledged the unrealistic body images projected on male actors as well. WATCH: 2019 Emmy Contenders video chats Im aware of the pressures put on actors and actresses all the time to kind of bulk up or slim down, he said. If Im playing a soldier whos a bodyguard, then my body needs to be a certain way, and I understand that. And then other times its not as relevant, but its just what the norm is were used to seeing in magazines and television. Thats something I dont want to feed into but you find yourself doing. Advertisement The external aside, Madden has spoken before about delving into the core of Bodyguards former soldier David Budd, a PTSD sufferer who takes on the job of protecting a top British politician. In the video chat, he talked about many aspects of the character, chiefly the fragile sides of his humanity that are sometimes not addressed in hero-centric thriller television. He has enjoyed wide acclaim (including a Golden Globe Award) for his portrayal, as has the show. Perhaps that has something to do with how he internalizes his circumstances whether traumatic flashbacks, dealing with his characters divorce, or, yes, nudity. Sometimes its really relevant, he allows. You know, you talk to someone very differently when youre naked, lying in bed, then when youre fully clothed, sitting in a cafe. So theres times when it can be necessary because theres a certain intimacy that comes through the dialogue from being naked with someone. Then theres other scenes where its just thrown in that the character takes off his shirt and takes a shower. You kind of go, This is not relevant; this is just to take a characters shirt off theres lots of other ways you can show a person getting ready in the morning. Why dont we watch them boiling the kettle, making the coffee or something? The Bodyguard star Richard Madden shares what its like wearing a real bulletproof vest. Though Maddens Robb Stark was famously killed off on Game of Thrones years ago, he still follows the show closely and insists he doesnt know how it ends. Perhaps the runaway success of Bodyguard (its one of the most-watched shows in England in years) has taken the sting out of comparisons between the two series or at least regarding the relative weight of appearing in either. Or perhaps the relative weight of the costumes. The actor traded in his Game of Thrones battle armor for similarly restrictive gear. I mean, I cursed it at the time, but now I look back on it and think it was great I wore a full Kevlar vest, a bulletproof vest. Youre strapped in tight and it kind of acts like a back brace, so you do end up being in this bodyguard posture that actually works really well for the character and gives you that kind of stature and size that helps, says Madden. Its so heavy. With Bodyguard, it was good because it was actually much lighter than the Game of Thrones stuff. The Game of Thrones stuff could end up a bit of a nightmare some days. Youd see all these men on set looking brave, and then when they call Cut, everyone collapses and throws the cloak off and drops their sword. You know, not everyones so brave all the time when the cameras go off. To see the entire interview, click on the video below. For more Emmy Chats, go to www.latimes.com/emmychats Leaked footage of Marvels highly guarded Avengers: Endgame has prompted spoiler-averse fans to retreat from social media. It also prompted the directors to issue another letter asking that fans stay mum about spoilers. The long-awaited superhero film is due in theaters in 10 days and has already been breaking box-office presale records. Disney has made painstaking efforts to obscure Endgames content, but the leak undercut those efforts as spoiler-heavy footage made its way online this week, just before the April 26 release date. Fans tweeted that they were terrified to read any spoilers online, and others wrote that theyd be leaving social media until they watched the movie the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has been more than a decade in the making. Others criticized the person who leaked the footage, or they muted keywords and names on Twitter to avoid major revelations. Some clips have already been removed or disabled because of copyright infringement. Advertisement Representatives for Disney have not yet commented on the leak. The source of the leak was unclear, but some footage appears to have been filmed off a large screen in a screening room. Images and GIFs generated from that footage then loomed large online, and Reddit threads have been devoted to discussions of the plot and character reveals seen in the leak. Anticipation for Endgame has been building since last years game-changing Avengers: Infinity War, a billion-dollar blockbuster that saw many of the franchises beloved superheroes disappear in a genocidal snap of the finger. This weeks leaked Endgame footage and subsequent discussions revealed the fate of many of them, which had been suspected but not yet confirmed. Journalists had not been allowed to screen the Disney-distributed film before interviewing its stars earlier this month. Those stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson and Chris Evans had been barred from providing any details on the Russo Bros.-directed film. (Though Karen Gillan might have accidentally given something away.) Ahead of Infinity War, directors Joe and Anthony Russo penned a letter asking moviegoers to keep the films secrets so as not to spoil it for other fans. It circulated under the hashtag #ThanosDemandsYourSilence. On Tuesday, after news of the footage was widespread, the filmmakers issued another statement also in the form of a letter to fans under #DontSpoilTheEndgame. They praised them for sticking around for the conclusion of the unprecedented narrative mosaic spanning eleven years and eleven franchises, but also beseeched them to stay silent. Please know that the two of us, along with everyone involved in Endgame, have worked tirelessly for the last three years with the sole intention of delivering a surprising and emotionally powerful conclusion to the Infinity saga, they wrote. Because so many of you have invested you time, your hearts and your souls into these stories, were once again asking for your help. When you see Endgame in the coming weeks, please dont spoil it for others, the same way you wouldnt want it spoiled for you. Remember, Thanos still demands your silence. Before were done, we still have one promise to keep. Marvel Studios #AvengersEndgame is in theaters in 10 days. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/speLNxCS9O pic.twitter.com/ggSKJGsySA Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) April 16, 2019 Before that, the brothers took part in a coordinated debut of yet another Avengers teaser that revisited every Marvel film and hero leading up to Endgame. If we cant protect the Earth, you can be damn sure well avenge it, the teaser says. The same could be said for movie spoilers. Follow me: @NardineSaad Bless This Mess, which begins its six-episode run Tuesday on ABC, finds Lake Bell and Dax Shepard as Rio and Mike, leaving New York City for the complicated simplicity of rural Nebraska. They are clueless cosmopolitans, ready to trade city life for farm living, without having given the matter much thought at all. Im a Midwesterner at heart, says Mike to Rio. Ive got farming in my blood. Youve seen me in Whole Foods: I always walk straight up to the right heirloom tomato, I know the best one, I grab it. I mean, youre from the suburbs of St. Louis, says Rio, suppressing her skepticism, but I understand what youre talking about. The series was created by Bell (who wrote, directed and starred in the 2013 film In a World ...) and Elizabeth Meriwether (New Girl). Only the pilot was available to review, but it is fully formed and funny, a dry contemporary comedy built on an old foundation. Advertisement Mike and Rio have been married a year a year in which they claim to have had no fights. That, obviously, will change. Mike, a music journalist, has inherited from his great aunt the farm where he spent what he recalls as idyllic childhood summers. (That he once wrote an article about [Terminator X], the DJ from Public Enemy who started a very successful ostrich farm is his idea of studying farming a quite a bit.) Rio, a therapist, believes, on the basis of an old photograph, that she will soon be living in a Pinterest page. Ed Begley Jr., left, and Pam Grier are Nebraskans with sexual chemistry in the new ABC comedy Bless This Mess. (John Fleenor / ABC) Must I tell you that the property they find, once they arrive to the accompaniment of Canned Heats cheery Goin Up the Country, is something short of pinworthy? (Guess it could use a coat of paint, says Mike, something warmer, like a light brown or a medium yellow.) Its state of disrepair allows for some good visual jokes, which have that flavor of being utterly expected and a complete surprise. Viewers of a certain age or those with an interest in television history may detect in the premise certain similarities to Green Acres, the great yes, great 1960s sitcom in which Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor, as Lisa and Oliver Douglas, leave Manhattans Park Avenue for the whimsical hamlet of Hooterville. There is also The Egg and I, the 1947 film in which Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert head off to the country to raise chickens. And to some extent, it is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, the 1948 film in which Cary Grant and Myrna Loy brave the wilds of Connecticut to make a mess into a mansion. And, for that matter, it is a little bit Schitts Creek. Just as the Douglases of Green Acres inherited a hired hand, Mike and Rio get Rudy (Ed Begley Jr., in a part, for a change, not playing off public perceptions of Ed Begley Jr.), who lives in their barn and sometimes uses their bathroom; they learn this while in the shower. Rudy has a lot of sexual chemistry (of a particularly nebulous kind) with Constance (Pam Grier), who in addition to running the local hardware store, is the sheriff too and I run the local theater, and we just did a production of Les Mis and I played a French ho. She is also a Voice of Wisdom. (Curb Your Enthusiasms Susie Essman, as Rios mother, who participates by phone, is another sort of voice a New York voice, frantic and loud. Her Put the cow on the phone, Rio! is comedys gift to you.). Though Bless This Mess mocks the pretensions of (not exactly) young urban professionals going country they have come to Nebraska toting biscotti, unsweetened ginger beer and ashwagandha tea this is not the Red State Comedy networks fretted theyd forgotten to make in the wake of the 2016 election. If the pilot is anything to go by, these characters will exist outside current events; clashes will be cultural or a matter of sense versus nonsense. ALSO: Lake Bell argues for the viability of traditional marriage in the comedy I Do ... Until I Dont Even the neighbors Beau (David Koechner) and Kay (Lennon Parham) and their fractionally oddball son Jacob (JT Neal), who want to buy Mike and Rios place and turn it into a meat locker, are no worse than ironically mocking of the newcomers. And, of course, they have a right to be: What do you mean youre farmers, just all of a sudden? says Beau. Weve been doing this all our lives. You dont just announce one day youre a farmer. I mean, my wifes a supermodel! Im Christie Brinkley! says Kay. Like most such stories, Bless This Mess privileges the country over the town, prizes the hicks above the slickers. (It is almost always the city people who are changed by the country, in our mythmaking, and the country people who bring change to the city, though there are signs the couple may be of value in their new community.) To the extent that Mike and Rio patronize their neighbors, its not that they look down on them but that they invest them with magical qualities. (That felt amazing; that was like a victory for me, says Rio after a nodding interchange with a local.) Where the Nebraskans just live their lives, Mike and Rio compulsively narrate theirs, to themselves and each other, because they dont know who they are yet. Dax Shepard as Mike, left, and Lake Bell as Rio in ABCs Bless This Mess. (John Fleenor / ABC) ALSO: Dax Shepard paves his own path, from CHIPS to a project with wall-to-wall cocaine This makes them likable; theyre confused but sincere and mean no harm. Bell shuffles facial expressions the way a magician riffles cards and can switch directions three times in a single sentence. Shepard pulls off a nice mix of leading man and dope; Preston Sturges could have put him to work. The show has a short order because its coming on at mid-mid-season. But a six-episode season was enough for Fawlty Towers to become a colossus of television. (And there were only two seasons.) We may not be rewatching Bless This Mess in 40 years, but its worth embracing now. Bless This Mess Where: ABC When: 9:30 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-PG-DLS (may be unsuitable for young children with advisories for suggestive dialogue, coarse language and sexual content) robert.lloyd@latimes.com Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd Dim Sum House Dim Sum House is now open in Westwood with a menu that includes pig-shaped custard buns and dim sum staples such as beef rice noodle rolls, steamed chicken feet and har gow. 1822 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 441-9651, DimSumHouseLA.com Advertisement L.A. Brisket L.A. Brisket, which has popped up around town since 2015, recently opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Chinatown. The tucked-away space serves brisket, chicken and pulled pork, offered by the pound and on sandwiches, rice bowls, salads and fries. 736 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, (562) 741-7700, LABrisket.com Bopomofo Cafe Bopomofo Cafe is now open in San Gabriel. The highbrow boba shops small menu includes youtiao doughnuts, mapo tots, and matcha carrot milk. Phil Wang of YouTube channel Wong Fu Productions is a co-owner. 841 W. Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel, facebook.com/bopomofocafe Haruchan Haruchan is now open in Santa Monica. A Japanese menu focuses on ramen, including a spicy soy jalapeno version. You can also get takoyaki, karaage and baby hotate scallops, as well as cocktails. 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica, (310) 328-0000, facebook.com/haruchanusa El Asado El Asado, a black trailer decorated with a skeletal pistolero, is open weekends at the Commerce swap meet. The star attraction is grilled elote, available on a stick or in a cup, with toppings that include bacon and cilantro, or crushed Flamin Hot Cheetos. For dessert: concha ice cream sandwiches and churro sundaes. 6541 Gage Ave., Commerce, instagram.com/elasadodesserts Grano Grano is now open in Duarte. The Italian wine bar and restaurant features handmade pasta including tagliatelle, gnocchi and seafood-stuffed ravioli, in addition to deep-fried pizza, hot pastrami panini and ossobuco. 1028 Huntington Drive, Duarte, (626) 357-3938, Grano081.com/restaurant Over Town Brewing Over Town Brewing opened in Monrovia in mid-March. The family-owned microbrewery includes a cozy taproom serving such beers as a honey tea ale, hibiscus IPA and vanilla-tinged stout. 227 W. Maple Ave., Monrovia, (626) 408-5814, OverTownBrew.com Birrieria el Patron 818 Birrieria el Patron 818 is serving birria de res in tacos, quesadillas, vampiros, mulitas and tacos dorados in Pacoima. The truck comes from owners of nearby Tacos El Patron and Mariscos El Patron. 9801 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Pacoima, instagram.com/birrieriaelpatron818 El Churro Panzon El Churro Panzon is popping up on weekends in front of Macks Liquor in La Puente. The Jalisco-style churro makers offer their titular pot-bellied churro a chubby, oblong version of the sugar-dusted classic along with traditional, caramel-filled and vegan churros. 13246 Valley Blvd., La Puente, instagram.com/el_churro_panzon Los Tacos Amigos Los Tacos Amigos opened April 6 in Anaheim. The restaurant offers a robust selection of meats including buche, tripas, carnitas and shrimp, offered in tacos, burritos, sopes and quesadillas. There are also hot dogs. 2235 W. Lincoln Blvd., Anaheim, (714) 833-5181, instagram.com/lostacosamigos Closings Good Luck Bar is closing in Los Feliz after nearly 25 years, most likely in early May, according to a manager. On Instagram, the bar said it was being evicted so the building could be redeveloped, before going on to quote Jonis Mitchells Big Yellow Taxi. 1514 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 666-3524, GoodLuckBarLA.com Extras Neal Fraser of Redbird is consulting on box suite and express dining menus for the Greek Theatre this season, allowing concertgoers to pre-order dishes including a 32-ounce Colorado porterhouse, fried chicken thighs and smoked tofu. 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, (844) 524-7335, LAGreekTheatre.com/food-drink Flash China on Monday urged U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to stop stirring up troubles between China and Latin America. Pompeo has reportedly made unfriendly remarks on China and China-Latin America relations during a visit to Chile and other Latin American countries. "It's utterly irresponsible and unreasonable for U.S. Secretary of State (Mike) Pompeo to recklessly slander China and wilfully stir up troubles over China-Latin America relations. We are strongly opposed to this," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang told a press briefing. Cooperation between China and Latin American countries, guided by principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, focuses on common development and has made significant contributions to the economic growth and improvement of people's well-being in Latin American countries, Lu said. For a long time, the United States has regarded Latin America as its own "backyard" and has frequently pressured, threatened and even overthrown other regimes, he added. "We believe Latin American countries will make the correct judgment about who is a real friend and who is a fake one, and about who disregards rules and spreads disorder." The spokesperson also pointed out that for a long time, a number of U.S. politicians had maligned China, fanning up flames worldwide and driving a wedge between China and other countries. Calling such actions "disgraceful," Lu stressed that lies will always be lies and that "Mr. Pompeo should stop making them." Sunnys Pop, the upstate New York lifestyle store created by Sunrise Ruffalo, is coming to Los Angeles. It is making its West Coast debut this month with a shop-in-shop inside the Zero + Maria Cornejo boutique on Melrose Place. Running for four weeks, the in-store residency will include a selection of the brands most popular items, including alpaca and cashmere throws, handmade ceramics (including a birdhouse), textiles and artisanal housewares. As a friend, I have always admired Sunrises style and amazing taste, said designer Maria Cornejo. It makes it easy to collaborate. Im excited to bring Sunnys Pop to our Los Angeles community. Sunnys Pop started as a summer pop-up store in 2017 in the tiny Catskills town of Callicoon, N.Y., near where Ruffalo and her husband, Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo, lived with their three children for more than 20 years. It was a return of sorts to her roots; the former model and actress owned a store called Kaviar and Kind in Los Angeles a little over a decade ago. (Sunnys Pop has since relocated to Narrowsburg, N.Y.) I always knew Id sort of find my way to retail. Its where I find my joy: being surrounded by beautiful things, Sunrise Ruffalo told WWD in 2017. My taste is pretty wide-ranging and eclectic, but I also know how to bring everything together so its cohesive. Advertisement The shop-in-shop runs Thursday through May 19 at Zero + Maria Cornejo, 8408 Melrose Place. Residents in a Chatsworth neighborhood made a gruesome discovery over the weekend, finding two small children inside a home with their dead parents. KTLA-TV Channel 5 reported that neighbors went inside the house in the 9100 block of Foster Lane on Sunday afternoon and found the children after police performed a wellness check at the couples home but no one answered the door. Los Angeles police who responded to the scene found the bodies of a man and a woman in the upstairs bedroom. Neighbors said they had heard the couple arguing Wednesday night. Authorities say the man fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. Advertisement According to police, the husband described only as a 46-year-old Persian man shot his wife, a 38-year-old Asian woman, while she was lying in bed. Their names have not been released. The couples two young children were found in the house, and although they appeared to be uninjured, they were taken to a hospital for observation, authorities said. The children, who were described as a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old boy by KTLA, are in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, police said. colleen.shalby@latimes.com @cshalby California Democrats this week stepped up their attacks on President Trump over his threat to send immigrants to so-called sanctuary cities, even as experts suggested the presidents plan could backfire and lure more migrants to the north. Gov. Gavin Newsom labeled the presidents proposed policy nonsensical, saying Trump campaigned on deporting more immigrants. But his latest plan looks as if he intends to allow some migrants to remain in the U.S. Which one is it, Mr. President? Newsom asked rhetorically, in an interview with The Times. That fundamental flaw in the logic needs to be considered. The governor insisted the federal government is already dumping people in California by processing migrants legally seeking asylum at the border and releasing them into California before they have time to connect with their sponsors in the U.S. Advertisement Several mayors also reacted. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted that immigrants are people, not pawns, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told Trump to stop fanning hate and division, and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo called for sensible solutions. L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis also said in a statement that the only way to address immigration in this country is through bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform. The back-and-forth marked the latest exchange between Trump and his favorite West Coast target. On Monday, Trump doubled down on his threat to send immigrants to sanctuary cities, a proposal first revealed by the Washington Post. He tweeted that illegal immigrants who can no longer be legally held (Congress must fix the laws and loopholes) will be, subject to Homeland Security, given to sanctuary cities and states! Trumps own aides have told him that such a policy on releasing migrants would likely be illegal and unfeasible an assessment backed by former immigration officials and legal experts. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from The Times about whether they were making plans to implement the presidents proposed policy. Its unclear what authority, if any, the administration would have to bus migrants from detention centers near the border and release them into sanctuary cities and other Democratic strongholds broadly opposed to Trumps efforts to crack down on immigration. Following the passage of Senate Bill 54, the law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown that limited cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration agents, the Trump administration sued California to nullify it and two other laws designed to protect immigrants in the country illegally. At least seven federal courts have ruled previous attempts by the Trump administration to cut off federal funding to cities and states, including California, for resisting cooperation with immigration authorities as unlawful. The U.S. Supreme Court also has ruled on several occasions that the federal government cant coerce states and cities into helping it implement federal immigration policies. The president has grown increasingly frustrated that, more than two years into his administration, his policies have failed to deter migrants from reaching the border or, for the most part, prevent their release from detention once inside the United States. Last month, U.S. authorities apprehended 92,607 people at the border, the highest monthly total in more than a decade. Last week, Trump ousted a slew of his top officials in Homeland Security, in part because of their opposition to such proposals as releasing migrants into cities and states whose representatives the president sees as political enemies. Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy at USC, called Trumps latest plan an ill-informed and self-defeating idea. There is no clear definition of a sanctuary city or state, but in general, jurisdictions that adopt the designation vow to offer political support or practical protection to people who are in the country illegally. The term dates to the 1980s, when Berkeley and a few other municipalities declared themselves as such to accept migrants from Central America. At the time, U.S. immigration policies allowed some Central Americans, but not others, to enter the country. Many sanctuary cities are big metropolitan areas that are accustomed to receiving newcomers, and have policies in place intended to help resettle asylum seekers while their cases are pending, Suro said. For instance, California law provides a number of benefits for people without legal status, including healthcare and drivers licenses. The states cities have robust immigrant rights organizations and an existing infrastructure to provide legal assistance for immigrants and asylum seekers. And, in a whooping irony, these metros are exactly the destinations that many, probably most, asylum seekers want to reach. These are the places where their kin and compatriots are concentrated, Suro said. Tell a Central American asylum seeker that her punishment is being sent to Los Angeles, and she might well say a prayer of thanks. OPINION: Trumps plan to release detained immigrants in sanctuary cities wont stand. Heres why Trump and California Democrats are appealing to their respective political bases by attacking one another. But posturing on both sides doesnt serve anyone well, said Louis DeSipio, a professor of political science at UC Irvine. The rhetorical battles in particular, President Trumps threats are supposed to antagonize and arent an effort to construct a solution to what is a challenge at the southern border, he said. David Dorsen, a public policy expert and legal scholar based in Washington, D.C., said Trumps threat to send migrants to sanctuary cities is a problem even if it doesnt become a reality because it might entice more people to make the treacherous trip north. Theyll say This is a new way of coming to the United States. Lets go. Staff writers Noah Bierman and Laura King contributed to this report. dakota.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @dakotacdsmith Minutes before Nipsey Hussle was fatally shot March 31 outside his clothing store, he sent his final tweet: Having strong enemies is a blessing. The message immediately became a key clue as police investigated his killing. Since then, authorities have arrested a suspect in the slaying, though some questions remain about the case and those swept up in the violence. Additional details are expected to emerge as prosecutors present their case in the coming months. Here are some key questions: Advertisement What was the motive in the shooting? Eric Holder, 29, was charged with murder, but authorities have said little about a motive in the slaying. Holder was captured in Bellflower on April 2, shortly after the LAPD released his photo to the public. He has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed in lieu of $5-million bail. RELATED: How Nipsey Hussle changed South L.A. LAPD Chief Michel Moore has said Holders motive was personal, but he declined to elaborate for fear of jeopardizing the investigation. Law enforcement sources have told The Times that Holder had been in a dispute with Hussle, possibly for some time. They got into an argument earlier that day at the store. Holder left, then returned and opened fire, the sources said. Holder was a gang member, police said, but authorities say the killing was not gang-related. On the day of the shooting, graphic video from a surveillance camera shows a gunman walking up to Hussle and two other men in front of the shop the rapper owned in a Slauson Avenue strip mall. The gunman opens fire, and Hussle falls to the ground as the other men run away. Why was one of the victims arrested? Kerry Lathan is one of two other men who were shot next to Hussle. He is now behind bars. Lathan, 56, was taken to Mens Central Jail on a parole violation, records showed. A Sheriffs Department spokesman could not say how Lathan violated his parole, but parolees often are barred from fraternizing with known felons or gang members as a condition of their release. Hussle was known to be affiliated with the Rollin 60s set of the Crips street gang in South L.A. Community activist Najee Ali called for Lathans release, saying his arrest sends a horrible message to parolees trying to integrate into society. Lathan said in an interview on YouTube that he was arrested for associating with gang members at Hussles store. I am in a wheelchair now, and they are trying to send me back for life for just being there gang association, Lathan told Big U, a gang interventionist in the territory of the Rollin 60s. I got shot in the back. Lathan said he was there with a peacemaker who was trying to make the community right. This is a straight injustice, said Lathan, who was released last year after 25 years in prison for murder. What about the getaway driver? In a video posted by CNN, a gunman later identified by police as Holder walks up to Hussle and two other men and opens fire. Then, police said, Holder got into a waiting car and sped away. There have been question about the person behind the wheel. The woman who allegedly drove the getaway car turned herself in to authorities and has cooperated with detectives, police said. She has not been arrested. According to two sources familiar with the investigation, the woman has insisted that she didnt know Holder intended to harm Hussle and was aware of the shooting only in its aftermath. But community activists have questioned why she has not been arrested. As Notre Dame burned in the heart of Paris, the news reached one of its sister cathedrals more than 5,000 miles away. The Grace Cathedral in San Francisco is the third largest in the United States. In 1906, it burned as fire consumed the city in the aftermath of one of the largest earthquakes in history. The cathedral was rebuilt over time in the French Gothic style of Paris Notre Dame Cathedral. And the spire that rests atop the building is nearly identical to the one that fell in France on Monday. We have the exact same architectural feature on our building thats seen from miles and miles around the city, the Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young, dean of Grace Cathedral, said. It symbolizes our longing for transcendence. Every cathedral is connected in a loose network, Young said. And those built in the Gothic style for which Notre Dame is known including the National Cathedral in Washington and St. Johns in New York, which was forced to offer its Palm Sunday services outside when a basement fire erupted this past weekend are bound in a sisterhood. Advertisement Their lavish designs make them impossible to ignore, and their roots typically intertwine with the history of their respective cities. Though they arent uniform in appearance, they mirror each other in stature. San Francisco grew up with Grace, Young said. Just as Paris grew up with Notre Dame. Grace Cathedral in San Francisco is a sister cathedral to Paris Notre Dame. (Courtesy of Grace Cathedral) Sunday marked the start of Holy Week, the holiest days of the year in Christianity, which culminates in the celebration of Easter Sunday. It was impossible to ignore the weight of time as onlookers watched Paris symbolic pinnacle melt centuries after it first stood. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the fire. But Notre Dames 850-year-old design may have aided the flames that nearly destroyed it. Victor Hugo once described the cathedral as a vast symphony in stone. Its also a structure made of timber and open spaces that lacks proper fire protections a combination that experts say left it vulnerable. San Franciscos Grace Cathedral is reinforced by steel, a lesson learned after the first church was destroyed. Still, Young is constantly aware of the possibility of its destruction. Its a human thing, and all human things can be destroyed and ruined. Grace Cathedral will have a service Wednesday that will include prayers for Notre Dame and the people of Paris. colleen.shalby@latimes.com Twitter: @cshalby The widow of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who was often dubbed Lady Macbeth of the Balkans because of the huge influence she had on her husband, died Sunday in Russia, where she had fled to avoid prosecution. She was 76. Serbian state television said Mirjana Markovic died in a hospital in Moscow. Milosevics Socialist party sent condolences to the family, saying it respected her as the wife of Slobodan Milosevic and as a scientist. There were no official details about the cause of death from Russia, where she had lived since 2003, but Serbian media said Markovic died of pneumonia and had undergone several recent surgeries. Markovic, who had been a sociology professor at Belgrade University, served as leader of a neo-Communist party during her husbands presidency in the 1990s, a coalition partner with a major influence on Milosevic. Advertisement Markovic, whose trademark was a plastic flower she often wore in her hair, was known for diaries she published in local newspapers that were widely read because they often predicted future political moves by her husband. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his wife Mirjana Markovic in 1996. (Darko Vojinovic / Associated Press) The former Serbian first ladys notes were written in a poetic, flowery style that contrasted with her often ruthless behavior toward her husbands political opponents. She fled Serbia in 2003 after Milosevics ouster from power in a popular revolt. He was handed over to a U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, where he faced a genocide trial for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He died in 2006 while jailed there before a verdict. After the political revolt that ended her husbands time as president, Markovic was sought for questioning in the killings of the couples political opponents during his autocratic rule. In 2005, Serbian authorities asked for her extradition, but Moscow refused, saying she had been granted political asylum. Though she was never formally charged, Markovic was widely suspected of playing a role in the 1999 assassination of prominent Belgrade newspaper editor Slavko Curuvija, who was gunned down during the NATO bombing of Serbia. Markovic had publicly accused him of supporting the Western military alliances attacks by calling for NATO bombs. A Serbian court recently convicted four former state security members of killing Curuvija, but the court did not reveal who ordered the hit on the editor. Pro-democracy officials who took over after Milosevics ouster also linked Markovic to the disappearance in 2000 of Milosevics former mentor and friend, Ivan Stambolic, whose remains were found in a pit in northern Serbia in 2003. Markovic fled Serbia with her son, Marko, who reportedly made a fortune in murky business dealings and smuggling operations while his father was president and Serbia was placed under international isolation for launching land-grabbing wars in neighboring countries after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. In Moscow, Markovic wrote an autobiography defending her husband and revealing details of their marriage. She described Milosevic as the leading political figure of the last decade of the 20th century, whose name was mentioned more often than those of the Russian, American and Chinese presidents put together. After his death in jail in The Hague, Milosevic was buried in the yard of his wifes family home in the central Serbian town of Pozarevac. Markovic was in Moscow and did not attend, fearing her arrest. Markovic is survived by her son and a daughter, Marija. Warren Adler, a prolific novelist who launched a long and lucrative Hollywood career with his classic story The War of the Roses the story of a hollowed-out marriage that became a runaway movie hit in 1989, has died of complications from liver cancer. He was 91. Adler, who continued to write until the end, died in Manhattan on Monday, his son Michael said. The War of the Roses was such a success that there was a bidding war for Adlers next book, Private Lies. TriStar ended up paying $1.2 million for the rights, in what was then an astonishing sum and among the largest paydays ever for a novelist at the time. He went on to option more than a dozen of his books during his career. It was also a victory for writers across America, who had generally toiled in near poverty while studios made money by the bucketful. Advertisement Michael Adler estimated that his father wrote 50 novels during his career, examining love, attraction, infidelity, aging and the tenuous, often frayed relationships between married couples. Some of his work was so convincingly bleak that he earned the nickname master of dysfunction. Adler said he found the inspiration for The War of the Roses at a dinner party when he bumped into a man who was there with his date. Suddenly, he said, the man looked at his watch and murmured I have to go home to my wife. Youre dating this girl and you have to go home to your wife? Adler replied. The man explained that he and his wife had continued to live together while getting a divorce. We hate each other, he said. But I have to protect my property. The novel charted the same unpleasant terrain and in 1989 was turned into a movie starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. It made more than $150 million. Adler was born Dec.16, 1927, and grew up in Brooklyn, where he went to school with future writers Mario Puzo and William Styron. He later earned a degree in English literature at New York University. During the course of his life he lived in Los Angeles, Washington and Jackson Hole, Wyo., before returning to New York. He served in the Army during the Korean War. He dabbled in radio, public relations and advertising, and for a while was a reporter at the New York Daily News. He also worked as an advisor to President Nixon during his first term. For a writer who seemed so adept at exploring the darkest corners of humankind, his own life was remarkably sunny. His marriage to wife Sonia spanned 67 years and life was generally good. The inspiration for his books, he said, could be attributed to being a good listener. I have trained myself to listen very carefully, like a journalist, he told the Associated Press in 1991. Lust, sexuality, lack of self-control, money, greed and self-destruction served as the seeds for dozens of his novels, essays, poems. His books included The Sunset Gang, The Children of the Roses, Random Hearts and a mystery series about an upper crust New York woman who becomed a homicide detective. In February, he wrote a personal and poignant essay on the unfathomable loneliness of living with someone who was losing their battle with dementia. His wife suffers from advanced dementia. Now I live alone in the home we shared, and I am trying to cope with the bruising experience of loneliness, he wrote for AARP. I am told it is a curable malady, and I am following the advice of others, he said. I made my living as an author and playwright, and I continue to write, exercise daily and force myself to socialize. I am told it will take time. I am 91. How much time? Adler is survived by his wife, sons David, Jonathan and Michael and seven grandchildren. When Tobias Tubbs was incarcerated in a state prison in Lancaster, he immersed himself in books to learn more about his religion, Islam. But it wasnt until a group of Muslim volunteers from Orange County more than 100 miles away started visiting him that Tubbs truly reconnected with his faith. Having a religious community, he said, brought the words he read in ancient texts to life. They brought connection, said Tubbs, who spent 26 years behind bars for murder before then-Gov. Jerry Brown commuted his two life sentences to 25 years to life in October last year. Were all so isolated at faraway places that its difficult for our families and our parents to come. When you dont have that kind of human connection, it tears at the human soul and personality of the individual. Advertisement We wanted someone to hear us out, to recognize our humanity and spirituality. The volunteers were part of Link Outside, a program affiliated with the Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim that for the past eight years has offered a variety of services to Muslim inmates throughout California and the nation including letter writing, prison and jail visits, correspondence and in-person, college-level theology courses, as well as reentry assistance such as housing and obtaining official documents. This year, the group started taking volunteers to Orange County jails and prisons. The idea is that connecting Muslim inmates to their broader religious community gives them the support and resources necessary to succeed behind bars and back in society. Were one of the few A-to-Z programs, meaning we have services that we offer from the time they get arrested and are in prison to when they get released, said Amin Eshaiker, program manager for Link Outside. But really, the biggest need, from my experience, is that they want to feel accepted, they want to feel part of a community. This need is particularly great, Eshaiker said, since many Muslim inmates convert in prison, and may have never met a Muslim before or stepped inside a mosque. Even though Islam is thought to be one of the fastest-growing religions in prison, many dont have access to Muslim chaplains or other religious resources while incarcerated. Even if thats all you offer, by responding to them or visiting them once in a while, thats more important than having a library full of books, or a course, so that they dont feel alone in this, and that there are people out there who support them, Eshaiker said. Thats part of the motivation, once they get released, to stay on the right path, to not get distracted and to not go back to their old ways. Its a form of rehabilitation. Were one of the few A-to-Z programs, meaning we have services that we offer from the time they get arrested and are in prison to when they get released Amin Eshaiker, program manager for Link Outside Prison ministry is not new to the American Muslim community. Perhaps the most famous American Muslim, Malcolm X, joined the Nation of Islam in prison and exchanged letters with the groups leader, Elijah Muhammad, for years while he was behind bars. Link Outside also grew from a letter-writing program. Eshaiker said the mosque would get several letters a day from Muslim inmates around the country, many of them explaining that they had been writing to different mosques for several years but never got a response. So Eshaiker decided to not only reply to each writer, but to digitize and archive each letter so that other volunteers could jump in and correspond when needed. I read Malcolm Xs autobiography, and I thought, This is so similar to what we do, said Eshaiker. He was getting these letters in the mail, and he had all these people to write to. It opened up his heart and his trust. Its the same thing today. In conjunction with the mosques college, Cal Islamic University which offers a bachelors degree in Islamic Studies Link Outside developed correspondence courses in topics such as Islamic theology and spirituality, and eventually, in-person classes as part of a statewide program in which course hours take time off a persons sentence. Jesse Maroney, an instructor and program coordinator for Link Outside, said the lessons arent just academic, but also give inmates spiritual tools for healing such as meditation and a set of traditional Islamic spiritual practices known as purification of the heart. Guys are able to utilize the Islamic teachings to deal with some of their personal issues at a higher level, such as post-traumatic stress, said Maroney, who was incarcerated for about 10 years. Some of the spiritual practices help them deal with some of their emotions or with some of the traumas they have from their childhood. Link Outside hosted an Eid event last summer for Muslim inmates at Ironwood State Prison. (CDCR, Ironwood State Prison) Gernay Quinnie Jr. attended Maroneys classes for a year and a half during his 19-year sentence. After he was released in 2017, he said Link Outside helped him find housing and gave him the support he needed to get through college. He graduated from Associated Technical College in Los Angeles and now works in telecommunications. It gave me an extended family, he said. There are times when Im down, there are times when I feel like giving up, but that family is the linchpin for succeeding out here. Quinnie said its not just inmates who benefit from the program. The volunteers are also changed once they see the humanity of their fellow Muslims behind bars, he said. When brothers begin to share their stories, it immediately dispels the criminal, non-criminal barrier, he said. They think, that could have been me. And thats where the healing is. There is maybe only a degree of separation between us and the visitor. Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil is a contributor to TimesOC. Ending more than 20 years of practice, the Trump administration will allow U.S. citizens to sue over property confiscated from them in Cuba after the 1959 revolution, with potential defendants including the Cuban government and major European and Canadian companies. President Trump will announce the decision on Wednesday, a senior administration official said Tuesday, and his national security advisor, John Bolton, will provide details in a speech in Miami to survivors of the failed CIA attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The administration official, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan, said the move is intended to increase pressure on Cuba and its communist-led government. Among other grievances, the White House accuses Cuba of propping up Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the administration is attempting to oust. Allowing the lawsuits against foreign companies to proceed in U.S. courts could unleash years of legal wrangling with limited chances of financial payoffs for the plaintiffs, experts said. Advertisement Until now, U.S. presidents issued waivers that suspended the lawsuit provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, a bill that strengthened the U.S. embargo against Havana. Trump, who is eager to reverse President Obamas overtures to Cuba, will discontinue the waivers and allow lawsuits to be filed in U.S. courts. The Justice Department has determined that 5,913 claimants have potential cases. The value of those claims, with interest, is estimated at $8.5 billion. This authorizes the lawsuits, but it doesnt mean money is going to flow overnight, the administration official said, adding that it sends a powerful signal. Some plaintiffs may decide suing is too expensive, and several claims were previously settled privately. Trumps goal is to discourage companies from doing business with and investing in Cuba. Scores of European, Canadian, Israeli and Asian firms work on the island, owning or running hotels, ports, utilities, transportation and other services. They include Melia, Mitsubishi, Nestle and similar conglomerates. Some of the businesses may have bought or leased property that the government of the late Fidel Castro seized in the wake of the revolution that brought him to power, as he nationalized oil refineries and confiscated homes and lands belonging to Cubans who fled leftist rule. In March, the Trump administration allowed a limited number of lawsuits to be filed against Cuban military officials who had confiscated American-owned property. The new step significantly expands the pool of potential defendants. Trump will also announce measures to make it easier to deny or revoke visas from people or firms using confiscated property. Anticipating Trumps move, the European Union warned the administration it will lodge a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization if European interests in Cuba are harmed. The EU will use all means at its disposal, including in cooperation with other international partners, to protect its interests, the groups foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo last week. The administration official accused the companies in Cuba of participating in 20 years of profiting in property stolen from American citizens. Boltons speech in Miami, in addition to discussing the new avenues of legal redress, is expected to detail another batch of sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. In a similar venue last year, Bolton designated the three leftist-ruled governments as a troika of tyranny. Twitter: @TracyKWilkinson This tech hub is booming as never before. Expedia is building a $900-million campus. Google, Facebook and Salesforce are expanding. And Amazon, closing in on Boeing as the areas largest private employer, is currently advertising 10,000 jobs. In seven years, Seattle saw its population swell from 609,000 to 725,000, making it the fastest-growing metropolis in the country. The boom is fantastic news if you happen to have real estate or a plum job at Amazon. But for many others, the once economical, laid-back city feels increasingly like a country club theyre not allowed to join. Even as developers add thousands of apartments, rents are up nearly 70% on average since 2010. Luxury apartments have been so hot that downtown leasing agents operate like futures traders, quoting prices that float daily. Advertisement Seattle could not in good conscience ignore its blue-collar roots and simply let gentrification happen. So last month, after years of political negotiations and legal wrangling, the City Council unanimously adopted a measure to build affordable housing. The experiment is being closely watched across the country as other boomtowns strive to protect low-income residents, retain a middle class, curb commutes and reduce racial disparities in housing. Randy Shaw, the author of a recent book about gentrification, called the plan the biggest upzoning reform any city has done. The Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle. Signs point the way to the citys South Lake Union and other neighborhoods. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press) The lingo refers to legal changes aimed at increasing the housing supply. Developers even commercial ones, exempted from less ambitious schemes elsewhere are now required to build affordable units into projects or pay into a city fund for the construction of low-income apartments. In exchange, the developers are allowed to exceed old height and density limits on buildings. But for all the fanfare, the measure has serious limitations that help illustrate why no city has managed to solve the problem. As City Council member Sally Bagshaw put it after casting her vote: I regard this as a very important drop in the bucket. Over the next decade, the law is expected to create 6,000 affordable housing units in Seattle. Thats 150,000 fewer than a county task force recently concluded the metro area needs right away. The measure applies to 27 neighborhood hubs, covering just 6% of single-family-zoned areas and sparing the vast majority of blocks with potential for home-building in those neighborhoods. To understand why the measure is no panacea, consider the Chateau, a squat 1960s-era apartment building in a gentrifying neighborhood not far from sleek towers containing Amazon headquarters, Google and Facebook. The 21-unit building is a godsend for families that were recently homeless as well as residents like Roselle Johnson, who has lived there for 11 years. She and her husband, Warren, a retired shoe repairman, pay $419 a month for their one-bedroom apartment, thanks to a federal Section 8 housing subsidy. Its nice and quiet here, and close to church and the hospital where my mom and dad have to go, Johnson said. Then in 2017, Cadence Real Estate bought the Chateau for $4.2 million, intending to tear it down and replace it with a four-story structure containing about 73 compact apartments. In todays rental market, each would go for between $1,500 and $1,900, said Chris Garvin, a Cadence principal. People gather on the roof of a Google building with a view of downtown Seattle and Lake Washington. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press) The new law will let the company build bigger. Now Cadence plans five stories and about 80 units. The company plans to pay more than $1 million into the affordable housing fund instead of building in low-income units, which developers often avoid including for marketing reasons. Garvin said paying the fee avoids the uncertainty of how regulations could change during the 50 years building owners are locked into keeping the units low-income. Current tenants will be allowed to stay until demolition begins it could take two years or longer to start but many will have no choice but to leave before then because Cadence is withdrawing the Chateau from the Section 8 program. The Johnsons said they were told their rent would jump to at least $1,300. Looking to get out, Warren Johnson, 69, found an apartment in a building for senior citizens. But then a manager learned that Roselle, disabled from a car accident, is 44. He said, Okay, you can come, but your wife cant, Johnson said. Other tenants fear becoming homeless. Waiting lists for subsidized housing in the area are often months or years long. The city is funding more affordable-housing construction, thanks to a levy passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2016. And Microsoft raised hopes in January with a $500-million pledge supporting affordable housing, mostly around its base in nearby Redmond, Wash. Central District residents last month at a party to mark the opening of this much-needed affordable-housing complex in the gentrifying neighborhood. (Richard Read / Los Angeles Times) But low-income housing developers note that Microsofts planned loans in Seattle merely match market rates. They say that to make real progress, the city would have to allow apartment buildings and other multi-unit building in residential neighborhoods that have long been zoned for single-family houses. Minneapolis recently became the first U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning. Portland is advancing a plan to allow fourplexes in areas long limited to single families. In Seattle, it was residents of single-family neighborhoods who most vigorously fought the affordable-housing initiative, filing a lawsuit that delayed the measure for a year. They are girding for battle against the threat of more extensive incursions should lawmakers ever muster the political will. Having a 3-story building five feet from your lot line, shadowing your house, and buildings that have no yards and very limited setbacks, has big impacts, said Frank Fay, a spokesman for an opposition group called the Seattle Coalition for Affordability, Livability and Equity. The issue will be a hot topic in City Council elections in November. Last year the council imposed an annual tax of $275 per worker on Amazon and other large employers to fund housing and services for homeless people. But council members, facing a backlash from Amazon and other companies, quickly repealed the head tax. Flash China and Burundi agreed to enhance bilateral ties during a senior Chinese legislator's visit to the central African country. China and Burundi enjoy profound traditional friendship and bilateral relations have entered the best period in history under the leadership of the two heads of state, Cao Jianming, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said while visiting Burundi. At the invitation of the National Assembly of Burundi, Cao led a delegation to Burundi from Sunday to Tuesday, during which he met with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza and acting Senate Speaker Spes-Caritas Njebarikanuye respectively, and held talks with President of Burundian National Assembly Pascal Nyabenda. China is willing to adhere to the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and uphold the values of friendship, justice and shared interests in working together with the Burundian side to implement the consensuses reached by the two leaders and the outcome of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Cao said. He stressed that China will synergize the eight major initiatives proposed at the Beijing summit with Burundi's national development agenda for 2018-2027, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all areas including legislature, so as to build a stronger community with a shared future between China and Burundi, China and Africa. The Burundian side spoke highly of the bilateral ties and the friendly cooperation between the two countries and sincerely thanked China for its long-term assistance and support for Burundi's efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty and developing its economies. Burundi is willing to further improve political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation and strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs with China, thus lifting the bilateral relations to a new high, the hosts said. William Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts who two years ago ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket, on Monday became the first Republican to challenge President Trump in the 2020 primaries. Weld, 73, said in announcing his candidacy that it is time to return to the principles of Lincoln equality, dignity and opportunity for all. He said, There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight. Weld has accused Trump of leaving the nation in grave peril and has said his priorities are skewed toward promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country. While Trumps overall approval ratings have been poor for much of his presidency, he remains popular with Republican voters. The Republican National Committee in January issued a nonbinding resolution to declare the partys undivided support for Trump. The move by Weld makes Trump the first incumbent president since George H.W. Bush in 1992 to face a notable primary challenge. Advertisement Primary challengers to incumbent presidents have never been successful at stealing the nomination in the modern era, but embarrassing intraparty contests have proved to be the making of one-term leaders, seeding weaknesses that were later exploited by a general-election rival. Trumps campaign has taken extraordinary steps in cementing control over the RNC and the broader nomination process as it seeks to minimize the risk of any potential challenger doing the same to the president. His campaign recently reported raising $30 million in the first quarter of this year, while Democrats are raising less money than in previous cycles. Fiscally conservative but socially liberal, Weld is known for an unconventional, at times quirky, political style and a long history of friction with the party he now seeks to lead. Weld endorsed Democrat Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain in 2008, later saying it was a mistake to do so, and has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with the Clintons, which began early in his career when he served alongside Hillary Clinton as a lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate proceedings. Welds nomination by President Clinton to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico touched off a bitter public spat with then-Sen. Jesse Helms, a conservative Republican from South Carolina who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Years earlier, Weld was among a handful of top Justice Department officials to resign in protest over alleged ethical violations by then-Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese, long a favorite of conservatives. With little in the way of organization or outside money, and at odds with a majority of GOP voters who solidly support Trump, Welds long-shot campaign will target disaffected Republicans and independents who share his disdain for the president and embrace libertarian values of small government, free trade and free markets, and personal freedom. Alternately a politician, federal prosecutor, investment banker, lobbyist and even novelist his political mystery called Mackerel by Moonlight was published to mixed reviews in 1998 the Harvard-educated scion of a prominent Boston family was a lifelong Republican before bolting the GOP to run on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson in 2016. Johnson and Weld received about 4.5 million votes, a little more than 3% of the national popular vote. Despite a pledge to libertarians that he would remain loyal to the party going forward, Weld on Jan. 17 walked into the clerks office of the Massachusetts town where he lives and re-registered with the GOP, adding to speculation that he would challenge Trump in the primaries. Weld has not won a political race since being reelected governor by a landslide in his heavily Democratic state in 1994. He was first elected to the office in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate, and quickly became one of Massachusetts most popular governors in recent history. While holding the line on spending and taxes, Weld as governor embraced liberal positions at odds with national Republicans on abortion and gay rights. His low-key style and sharp wit also seemed to play well with voters, as did his penchant for the unexpected: He once ended a news conference touting progress in cleaning up Bostons polluted Charles River by diving fully clothed into the waterway. After winning a second term, Welds attention appeared to drift away from the governors office and toward other political pursuits. He briefly entertained a run for president in 1996, before mounting an unsuccessful campaign that year to unseat Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry. He resigned as governor the following year after Clinton nominated him to be ambassador to Mexico, but it was a post he would never hold. Helms dug in his heels and refused to schedule a hearing on the nomination, claiming among other things that Welds support for medical marijuana and needle exchange programs for drug users disqualified him from serving in Mexico because of that countrys history of drug trafficking. Weld fired back at Helms, suggesting it was un-American for Helms to refuse to hold a public hearing on a high-profile ambassadorial nomination. Weld left the public arena but later moved to New York, where he would make a brief, unsuccessful bid to become the first person since Sam Houston to serve as governor of two different states. Some Catholics are irked by reaction to the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The airwaves and the internet have featured emotional testimonials to the importance of the medieval structure, which lost its spire and wooden roof on Monday. But many tributes to the medieval cathedral have emphasized its role as a cultural treasure, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture or a symbol of French nationalism. In an article for the Catholic Herald headlined Notre Dame is Not, and Never Should Be, Just a Museum, the Rev. Benedict Kiely suggested that even Pope Francis might be minimizing the damaged cathedrals religious significance. Kiely pointed out that the pope had referred to Notre Dame as an architectural jewel of collective memory, a statement that didnt explain why the cathedral was precious to the church. By contrast, Kiely noted approvingly, Michel Aupetit, the archbishop of Paris, made clear that the cathedral was a jewel because it housed the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Christ present under the appearances of bread and wine. Advertisement Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute (To be fair, although the pope did describe the cathedral as an architectural jewel and a national symbol, he also said it was a sign of the faith of those who built it.) Notre Dame de Paris is an object of world heritage, a thing of beauty appreciated by those of all faiths and none, Kiely wrote. Yet the purpose of the building also speaks, not only to the reality, ignored by the constitution of the European Union, of the massive contribution of Christian culture to the creation of Western civilization, but to the living faith without which the basilica would be just a museum. Perhaps some journalists who are not themselves devout or religiously literate may have overemphasized Notre Dames cultural and historical significance, while giving short shrift to the fact that it is first and foremost a house of prayer. But if, as Kiely rightly said, the cathedral reflects the contribution of the Christianity to Western civilization, why cant the many people who consider themselves part of that civilization even if they arent believers feel an affinity for Notre Dame and grieve over this weeks destruction? Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook President Trump is looking into giving a free trip to San Francisco, New Orleans or other great American cities to tens of thousands of refugees from Central America. All so he can own the libs. Owning the libs is one of those phrases that emerged over the last few years that vacillates between earnestness and irony. For people who use it earnestly, it means to do something, usually symbolic and petty, that infuriates liberals out of proportion to the deed to make fools of them. For instance, wearing a MAGA hat to a feminist poetry reading at a co-op bookstore in Berkeley. Its a form of taking the culture war to the enemy. The ironic form of the phrase is to engage in unwitting self-sabotage while making a political point. When pro-Trump internet troll and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec (now a correspondent at One America News) had his wedding rehearsal dinner catered by Papa Johns pizza then unpopular with the libs that was some righteous lib-ownage. Hence one Twitter users response to Posobiec catering choices: Eating horrible pizza at my wedding to own the libs. Trump is proposing fulfilling the final leg of the travel plans of every caravan working its way through Mexico. Advertisement (Theres even a Twitter account called Own The Libs Bot (@OwnTheLibsBot) which churns out made-up but often all-too-plausible examples of ironic lib-owning: Defending pederasty to own the libs. Getting a Confederate flag face tattoo to own the libs. Much of Trumps populist appeal stems from his willingness to go out of his way to own the libs. Give the president credit: He is a kind of savant at the genre, particularly in his preferred metier of Twitter. Tweeting footage of the 9/11 attacks while criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) last week is a good example, but his Colin Kaepernick tweets and calls to revoke media broadcast licenses are part of the canon. His defenders think this stuff is brilliant because it keeps the base riled up and, allegedly, produces gallons of delicious liberal tears. When you point out that such tweets offend more voters than they attract, Shut up, they explain. But no lib-owning tweet can hold a candle to Trumps announcement over the weekend that he is considering busing thousands of refugees to sanctuary cities. Many conservative commentators have celebrated this triumph of lib-owning, even as they concede in mumbled parentheticals, that it wont actually happen not least because its almost certainly illegal without congressional authorization, which will never materialize. But some conservatives continue to defend Trumps theatrics on the grounds that people should take him seriously, but not literally. But taken either way, the idea is nuttier than a squirrels preferred last meal. Stemming illegal and sometimes legal immigration is the presidents signature issue. Moving the thousands of refugees currently in detention to sanctuary cities is literally achieving the opposite of his goal. Moreover, the reason theres a refugee crisis at the border is that desperate Central Americans believe this is their now-or-never moment to get asylum in the United States. What will happen when video of buses depositing refugees in Colorado, Vermont or Oregon is broadcast across South America? Trump keeps asserting that these refugees are an army of invading murderers, rapists and drug dealers and apparently he thinks most Americans believe him. So of course, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other San Francisco liberals must be terrified that the president has called their bluff. Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute The thing is, most immigrants who are in the United States illegally end up going to these very localities. Sixty percent of them reside in just 20 metro areas, most of which have adopted sanctuary policies limited their cooperation with immigration enforcement. In other words, Trump is proposing fulfilling the final leg of the travel plans of every caravan working its way through Mexico. During the 2016 campaign, Trump made Kate Steinle, the San Francisco woman who was tragically shot and killed by a man whod been previously deported five times, into a martyr for his cause. Trumps logic suggests we need more Kate Steinles to own the libs. Trumps trolling could pay off if some Democrats, say Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, call on Pelosi and Congress to take the president up on his offer. Then Trump could say, See! The Democrats really do want open borders! That such a scenario is not unimaginable is further proof that our politics can always get dumber. To the editor: I couldnt disagree more with Virginia Heffernans takedown of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange was arrested and is being extradited not for any of the bad things he did, but for the one good thing: He collaborated with Chelsea Manning to expose U.S. war atrocities in Iraq. Assanges arrest is a warning to every aggressive reporter working to expose the U.S. dark side; its a direct attack on the 1st Amendment. Sometimes, defending press freedom requires defending creepy people, like Assange or the anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-black, and anti-labor scandal sheet editor Jay Near in Minnesota in 1931, who won a U.S. Supreme Court case cited as precedent for the New York Times and Washington Posts right to publish the Pentagon Papers. Mark Gabrish Conlan, San Diego Advertisement .. To the editor: Heffernan reaches a new low with her piece on Assange. She apparently could not care less about what used to be seen as the critical role of the press: shining a light on government misconduct. The single instance of Assange, having worked with Manning, releasing the video of the Baghdad helicopter strike in 2007 did more to advance democracy and truth than anything Heffernan has done. Assange did not seek asylum because of allegations of rape, but because he correctly discerned that those charges were being pursued to provide a basis to turn him over to the U.S. government for prosecution. Donald Norris, Oxnard .. To the editor: I dont condone everything Assange did, but I go with the perspectives of Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg and Noam Chomsky over Heffernan. Assange did service to the right of people in democracies to know the dark things their governments do and hide from them, and to the right of journalists to expose such things. Stephen Fischer, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: One readers letter defending Israel against charges of being an apartheid state demands a rebuttal. First, the apartheid claim rests not on the second-class citizenship of Arab residents within Israel proper (as un-fully democratic as this is), but on a half-century of egregiously discriminatory non-citizenship of Palestinians in the West Bank. Second, Israel has been flagrantly violating international law since 1967 through its colonizing West Bank settlements. Third, Palestinians have rejected Israels long-term peace proposals because they failed to deal equitably with the settlement issue. Advertisement Fourth, while Hamas hasnt helped its cause inside or outside Gaza, Israel has contributed to the missile crisis through its anti-humanitarian blockade. Finally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ultra-nationalist rhetoric and policies may not have caused the two-state solution to be moribund, but they may have hammered the final nails into the coffin. Vincent Brook, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook In our national politics, in which lies and distortions are the coins of the realm, the news media bear a heavy responsibility to avoid their propagation. Thats especially true of cable news networks, whose schedules seem to be filled almost exclusively with partisans determined to misrepresent what viewers should be able to see with their own eyes. That brings us to CNN and a debate the network staged Monday evening as a segment on CNN Tonight With Don Lemon. The topic was a speech given March 23 in California by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in which she made a reference to the 9/11 attacks that Republicans and right-wingers have grossly distorted so that she seemed to be minimizing the gravity of the event. CNN did almost nothing to correct that misimpression. Indeed, it allowed two of its debaters to exploit and magnify the distortion. Anyone with expectations that the cable network will play a useful role in the coming election had to come away with those hopes dashed. Lets examine the context, followed by Omars actual words, followed by how they were twisted on the air. Advertisement When Islam is mentioned, we are only talking about terrorists. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) Omar, plainly, has become a favorite target of President Trump and his fellow Republicans. Theyre trying to paint her as an anti-Semitic weight around the neck of the Democratic Party by demanding that Democrats disavow every word she says critical of Israel and its supporters. Omar, a Somali refugee, has not always expressed herself succinctly and clearly; she has apologized for some statements that she says have been misinterpreted, which is more than Donald Trump has ever done. Lets be clear: It is not anti-Semitic, as such, to be critical of Israels politics vis-a-vis its Palestinian neighbors and Palestinians in Israel. Many American Jews consider Israeli policies objectionable and obstacles to peace; so do many Israelis. Nor is it anti-Semitic, as such, to raise questions about the influence that Israel has on American politics. As for the notion that Omar is fomenting religious conflict and hatred, no one has done more to elevate ethnic hatred and racism to the level of a political instrument in the United States than Donald Trump. Nevertheless, Trump and his minions are determined to turn Omar into the face of the Democratic Party. Their goal is nakedly partisan, and truth is the first casualty. Now to Omars words about 9/11. They came late in a 20-minute speech she gave at banquet of CAIR California, the state branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Any viewer of the entire talk, which is available via YouTube, will know that Omars core theme was that Muslims in America have been the targets of systematic discrimination, tied to political efforts to depict them as terrorists and murderers. When Islam is mentioned, she said, we are only talking about terrorists. Thats not so of any other religion, she observed. She urged her listeners to stand up for their rights and to resist discrimination and efforts to minimize their standing in America. Omar spent considerable time discussing the manifestations of Islamophobic hatred and discrimination not only in the U.S. but around the world culminating in the attacks on Muslim worshipers one month ago in Christchurch, New Zealand, which took the lives of 50 people and wounded 50 others. She observed that whenever an act of violence is committed by Muslims, the entire Muslim community faces the consequences in terms of public reaction. That brought her to 9/11. She mentioned, erroneously, that CAIR was founded in the wake of the attack (it actually dates to 1994), but that was merely her way of making her point about how all Muslims have carried the stain of 9/11. CAIR recognized, she said, that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. Omar plainly was making a distinction between an act perpetrated by some Muslims, and the public and official response that unjustly punished all of us all Muslims for the act. Omar is not at all wrong. The 9/11 attack has been exploited for nearly two decades to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment. One doesnt have to go further than Trumps travel ban to see this process in action, since it was manifestly directed at purported Muslim terrorism. But for anti-Muslim right-wingers, this was the money shot. They extracted Omars reference to 9/11 as an episode in which some people did something to claim that she was minimizing 9/11 as just something. She did nothing of the kind. Trump tweeted a video mixing footage of 9/11 with her truncated comments, which is as close to an open incitement to violence against her as one would hope to emanate from the White House. Omar has said she is facing an increase in death threats since Trumps tweet. To chew over this moment, CNNs Lemon hosted Alice Stewart, a former campaign aide to failed GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz, and Max Boot, a conservative commentator on national security and foreign affairs. Sandwiched between them was Wajahat Ali, a progressive op-ed writer at the New York Times. Just before a commercial, Lemon aired the 23-second excerpt in which Omar mentioned 9/11. After the break, he brought on the debaters. CNNs format allowed Stewart to pretend that the excerpt represented the entirety of Omars comments. I mean, 9/11 is the worst terror attack in the world and she calls it, as you said, something that someone did, Stewart said. Stewart was challenged by Ali, who called her remarks shameful . You know this is wrong. Youve seen the video. You know its taken out of context. Look, Stewart replied, its hard to take something out on context when we played it from start to finish. We heard the words out from her mouth, so its just disingenuous to say that it was taken out of context. If Stewart actually watched the entire video that is, the entire speech she was either lying to say it was played from start to finish, or deliberately distorting the case for partisan gain. Either way, this is not a good look for CNN. Boot, to his credit, did not go as far as Stewart, but his gloss on the episode was almost as bad. In this particular case, he said, I dont think that [Omar] was justifying or defending 9/11, but she was certainly describing it in a way that is very peculiarly [sic], saying some people did something. That is not the right way to describe one of the worst days in American history. Boot seemed to be suggesting that every reference to 9/11 should include some ritual acknowledgment of its grievousness and gravity, and failing to label it thusly is a disqualification for participation in political debate. The horror of 9/11 is inescapable, but demanding that it be explicitly mentioned at every turn is a childish way to conduct national politics. Boot at least observed that Trump was politicizing 9/11, which should be a sacred day in our history. Its disgusting the way hes trying to use it for political advantage. But he went on to argue that, by not bowing to Trumps demand that they in effect excommunicate Omar, they play into Donald Trumps hands and let her define the party. Boot tried to have it both ways to condemn Trump for his bigotry and crassness, but suggest that the Democrats give in to it. This is why so many CNN panel debates have the sound of a truck spinning its wheels. CNN in this segment fed the fire of bigotry. No one really needed to hear Alice Stewart, Max Boot, and Wajahat Ali masticate Ilhan Omars words, especially when they were discussing a few seconds of a 20-minute speech. CNNs duty was to air enough of the speech to give its viewers the true flavor of Omars remarks. Omar closed her speech by reminding her audience of Islams true nature and its consonance with the principles of liberty and justice that are essential to America. Regardless of how hard Washington might get for me or your neighborhoods might get for you, she said, you have to always remember that we have a mission as humans to love one another, to care for our neighbors, to raise compassionate children and to fully every single day show up and make sure that we are furthering justice. Would anyone gain that sense of Omars point from the 23 seconds aired by CNN? Of course not. CNNs responsibility as a news organization is to inform and educate its viewers, not give them fuel for their misconceptions and make them worse. Will the network learn in time to play a constructive role in the presidential campaign? One can only hope. In a presidential race where almost every candidate claims to be supported by small donors and immune from the ills of big money in politics, the first round of campaign finance disclosure statements has made clear that some are much closer to the grass roots than others. While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders can boast that more than 80% of his hefty campaign account comes from donations of less than $200, other big-name candidates are nowhere close. Among others in the Democratic field, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker only managed to collect about 16% of the $5 million he raised from such small donors. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand hovered at around the same ratio. California Sen. Kamala Harris could claim just a third of the $12 million she raised came in increments of less than $200. Kamala Harris is the early favorite among Hollywood donors in the 2020 race Advertisement The reports were a reminder that even in this era where small donors contribute an unprecedented share of the money raised by candidates, the lifeblood for many campaigns remains big checks. And they continue to roll in. (Los Angeles Times) The disclosure statements also revealed two big reasons for candidates to continue to tap big donors: President Trump raised roughly $30 million in the first quarter not a record sum for an incumbent, but enough to build his war chest to a record size for an incumbent this early in the campaign. Thats a reminder that hell have huge resources to draw on in his reelection bid. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has disavowed high-end fundraisers and corporate cash, was able to raise only a third of the amount Sanders brought in. She has been burning through the cash at an unsustainable rate, spending $5.2 million of the $6 million she raised. Much of the money went to build the sizable infrastructure one of the biggest staffs in the field that Warren has put together in states with early contests. But she is lagging in the polls behind candidates who have spent dimes to every dollar she has invested. Most notable is South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has spent less than 10% of the $7 million his campaign raised in the first quarter. Buttigieg, the openly gay Navy veteran, has rapidly ascended from obscurity into one of the nations most buzzed-about politicians. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the hottest thing in politics. Can it last? He managed to raise nearly two-thirds of his money from under-$200 donors. Among those who wrote Buttigieg checks were actors Mandy Moore, Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Whitford. He also got a donation from a less expected source James Murdoch, the son of conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Susie Tompkins Buell, one of the Bay Areas biggest fundraisers, was so impressed by Buttigieg that she threw an event to raise money for the candidate even after announcing that she was supporting Harris. Harris kept her spending to about 35% of the money she has raised. Among her donors were Ben Affleck, Elizabeth Banks, Eva Longoria and Jeffrey Katzenberg. While Sanders had many more donors in California than Harris, the states junior senator took more big checks there than the Vermonter. Nearly a third of the money Harris raised came from Californians donating more than $200. Among the other candidates who are off to a relatively strong financial start is former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, who spent less than a third of the $9.4 million he raised during the quarter. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar raked in $5.2 million and spent $1.8 million. Other candidates are struggling. Julian Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, raised just $1.3 million; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, $2 million. The most an individual is permitted to contribute in the primaries is $2,800, but some candidates are asking big donors for double that amount setting half of it aside to be used in the general election, should the candidate win the nomination. At the same time that candidates are repudiating the corrosive effects of money in politics and disavowing donations from corporate political action committees, they are recruiting titans of industry to serve as bundlers for their campaigns, on call to tap networks of wealthy friends from the ranks of Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Law and Hollywood. 2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Whos running for president and whos not Warrens alternative approach still could work for her, if she can step up the pace of her fundraising. The senator will be buoyed, for now, by more than $10 million that was sitting in her Senate campaign account when she jumped into the race. She has transferred it over to her primary campaign. Gillibrand will also be falling back on cash from her Senate account to keep her operation moving forward. Sanders faces a different dilemma. He has to figure out where to spend his abundance of cash. At $15.7 million, Sanders ended the quarter with more in the bank than any of his rivals. More importantly, the fast clip at which he is raising money suggests the gap could grow rapidly as others spend down the reserves they had in other accounts. That money could prove crucial to competing in a state like California, where the cost of campaigning is immense. Candidates will face tough decisions about whether they can afford to invest in the Golden State at the same time they are making their final push to win over voters in the crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Early primary voting will begin in California next year just as Iowans head to their caucuses. It all could intensify pressure on some candidates to seek help in an unpalatable place: super PACs. Almost all of the candidates pledged to reject any help from these organizations, which can funnel unlimited money into electing them. But there is nothing in the law that prohibits their friends and supporters from launching PAC efforts, regardless of a candidates publicly expressed wishes. And veterans of presidential campaigns predict that is what may happen this fall. Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions Monday as part of investigations into President Trumps finances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process. Schiff did not name the other financial institutions or describe the subpoenas. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said in a separate statement that the potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern. She said her committee is looking into those matters, including whether they pertain to Trump. Advertisement It was unclear exactly what the committees asked for. The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the presidents personal and political life, and Schiff has said he is investigating whether foreign actors, including Russia, have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates. Eric Trump, the presidents son and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said in a statement released Monday that the subpoenas were an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the president and our family for political gain. As part of his investigation, Schiff has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trumps businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years. Deutsche Bank is a German asset management firm that has lent Trumps real estate organization millions of dollars over time. The two committees have been working with the bank for several weeks, and both Waters and Schiff have said officials have been cooperative. Schiff said in his statement that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank is a friendly subpoena, meaning he expects them to continue working with the committees. The request comes as a third committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, is sparring with the White House over Trumps tax returns. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) has set a deadline of April 23 for six years of returns. But Trumps acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said Democrats will never see the returns, nor should they, and they know it. Irie Mazas hands hovered over the boxes of bright red strawberries at the Adams & Vermont Farmers Market in Los Angeles. Mami! the 7-year-old called to Miriam Bautista, who was several steps behind. How much? Bautista asked the stall vendor in Spanish. Before the strawberries made it into a shopping bag, Irie was chomping on one, juice dripping onto her shirt. Her mother frowned at the stain. Then she smiled. A few months ago, Bautista worried shed never get her daughter to eat healthful food. Noticeably overweight since about age 4, Irie would devour salty snacks, fast food and candy but cry if her mom put so much as a carrot on her dinner plate. Bautista had shrugged it off. Her Mexican relatives proclaimed the tubbiness made her daughter even cuter. Then Bautista was diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant with her second child. It dawned on her that the familys food choices were hurting not just her own health, but Iries as well. Thats when I started to read labels, to be more aware of what I buy, she said. I realized that everything I was eating was harmful. I said, My daughter needs to learn this too. Bautistas struggles with her daughters weight are hardly unique. Early childhood obesity is one of the most intractable health issues facing Los Angeles County, where about 20% of 3- and 4-year-olds are obese. Among school-age children, 45% are overweight or obese by the time they reach fifth grade higher than the percentage of Californians as a whole. Miriam Bautista goes shopping for fruits and vegetables in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Miriam Bautista was diagnosed with gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with her son, Carlos, which led her to search for healthful solutions for her whole family. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Miriam Bautista goes shopping for fruits and vegetables in Los Angeles. Bautista was diagnosed with gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with her son, Carlos, which led her to search for healthful solutions for her whole family. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Obesity is particularly acute among young Latinos, a fact that alarms health officials because more than half of the babies born in Los Angeles County are Latino. Almost a quarter of 4-year-old Latino children in the county are obese, compared with 17% of whites, 15% of blacks, and 11% of Asians, according to federal data. The health consequences grow with age. Dr. Juan Espinoza, a pediatrician at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, said he regularly treats obese kids in elementary and middle school with 50-year-old man problems such as fatty liver disease, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes and joint pain. Most of those kids have been overweight for a long time, Espinoza said. Obese children are likely to remain obese as adults, increasing their risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer and premature death. Their offspring are also more likely to be obese, studies show. One of the biggest risk factors for childhood obesity is a mothers body mass index before she becomes pregnant. Bigger adults are going to have bigger kids, said Michael Goran, director of the Program for Diabetes and Obesity at CHLA. This is becoming a generational issue. Seeking help Bautista knew shed be fighting an uphill battle to improve Iries eating. Extra pounds are the norm in her husbands family, and Iries grandparents loved spoiling her daughter with pastries and other treats. After several attempts to make Irie eat vegetables ended in tantrums, Bautista sought help from the girls pediatrician. The doctor referred them to a seven-week obesity prevention program called BodyWorks. Run by CHLA and AltaMed, an outpatient care provider, BodyWorks uses games, exercise, videos and healthful snacks to steer kids toward a better path. Irie began to come around. She tried vegetables for the first time: lettuce, then broccoli, then carrots. She learned that her plate should look like a rainbow, and about the vitamins and minerals she needs to grow. Bautista learned about setting limits: no snacking before meal times, no eating fast food multiple times a week. She now offers Irie a healthful snack before leaving the house and brings along nuts and water so her daughter doesnt beg for junk food. She has the kids stay home with her husband when she goes to the supermarket so she doesnt have to contend with demands for chips, cookies and candy. And they walk to the farmers market each week instead of taking the car. With her husbands support, Bautista stood up to her in-laws, urging them not to give Irie unhealthful treats. Iries grandmother pushed back at first, Bautista said, but has complied with the request. On a recent checkup six weeks into the BodyWorks program, Irie was no longer overweight, Bautista said. It makes me feel good to see these changes, she said. Irie is happy too. She recounted with pride how she eats one helping of fruit and one of vegetables at every meal. Broccoli, which she first thought tasted weird, is now her favorite vegetable, she said. Irie leads participants in exercise at BodyWorks, a family-based lifestyle intervention program by Children's Hospital Los Angeles and AltaMed. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Licetz Montoya, a program coordinator with BodyWorks, talks with kids about possible benefits and detriments of screen time. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Fruits and veggies are served during the BodyWorks program. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) At top, Irie leads participants exercising at BodyWorks, a family-based lifestyle intervention program by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and AltaMed. Left, program coordinator Licetz Montoya talks with the kids about pros and cons of screen time. Fruits and veggies, right, make up the snacks served at BodyWorks. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Prevention efforts BodyWorks is just one of numerous initiatives aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood obesity in Los Angeles. Other efforts have included free family nutrition classes at community health clinics; an anti-obesity campaign run by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health that offered workshops and grocery store tours; a state law that sets milk and water as the default options for kids restaurant meals; and bans on selling soda in public schools. Yet experts are frustrated that childhood obesity rates remain so unacceptably high. Unfortunately, we are still at obesity levels comparable to peak rates in 2009, said Shannon Whaley, director of research and evaluation at the largest of the countys seven agencies that administer the federal nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children. And things could soon get worse, experts say. Families are dropping out of programs like WIC for fear that their information will be shared with immigration enforcement officials or will undermine their efforts to attain legal residency. Last fall, the Department of Homeland Security said it was considering a policy change that would deny permanent residency to immigrants who used government benefits such as WIC or Medi-Cal. Joy Ahrens, director of WIC for Northeast Valley Health Corp. in San Fernando, said patients have been asking to be dropped from the program, or they are not showing up to their appointments. Were trying to tell them its in the best interest of your child and of your pregnancy, she said. But theres definitely a lot of fear out there. Irie walks with her dad, Miguel Mazas, mom, Miriam Bautista, and brother, Carlos, near their L.A. home. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) A disease of poverty Poverty also contributes to obesity, pummeling families from multiple angles. Single moms working multiple jobs have little time to breastfeed or pump breast milk, cook healthful meals, or ensure their kids get enough exercise. Parents with little money are less likely to live near supermarkets, pushing them to shop at marts and liquor stores stocked with processed, calorie-dense foods. Even when fresh groceries are available, parents may have no way to prepare them. I have patients who live in garages, or live in places where they don't have access to a kitchen. Sometimes they dont have access to refrigeration, said Dr. Gina Johnson, pediatric medical director for Northeast Valley Health Corp., which operates 14 clinics that primarily serve low-income Latino families. The questions parents ask are revealing: Is it OK to sweeten milk with chocolate powder? Can I really only give my child one cup of cereal for breakfast? For this population, just having enough to eat is what theyre most worried about, said Victor Solano, a health educator at a clinic in San Fernando. So they focus on quantity of the food, not so much quality. Its not surprising, then, that kids in Los Angeles Countys lowest-income neighborhoods are far more likely to be obese than kids in wealthy communities, research shows. If you look at Malibu or Beverly Hills, the prevalence of childhood obesity is 5% or under, Goran said. But if you look at East L.A. or South L.A., it can be 30% or 35%. Estelita Sebastian, a single mother in MacArthur Park who works part time as a housekeeper, started buying fast food for her 11- and 5-year-old sons after they became too old to qualify for WIC. She doesnt own a car, so stopping for food on the way to and from school seemed more convenient than walking 15 minutes to her local Smart & Final and carrying groceries home, she said. Last summer, a doctor informed Sebastian that her children were overweight and that her oldest, Gustavo, had hyperglycemia and high cholesterol. She and her sons enrolled in BodyWorks, collectively lost several pounds and are no longer overweight. Through trial and error, she realized she could save money by cutting out junk food and cooking at home. But shes had to condense her work schedule and stay up an hour later every night to get everything done. It was hard, Sebastian said. But Gustavos diagnosis gave her the strength to persevere. I felt guilty and I thought, No, this has to change. When you stand outside Sardos Grill & Lounge in Burbank at about 7 p.m., the hum of vehicles driving down the nearby Ventura (134) Freeway fills the air. However, step inside the establishment two hours later and youll immediately hear someone singing hits such as Neil Diamonds America. The unassuming 49-year-old restaurant and bar is tucked away in a strip mall next to a Bank of America and a Vons on Pass Avenue. Dozens of patrons flock to Sardos during the week to grab a drink or two and summon the courage to sing their favorite song. Though there were people singing and cheering each other on Monday night, there was a somber undertone that evening because the owner of Sardos announced late last week he will be shutting down the establishment on Friday for financial reasons. Seymour Satin, who has been working at Sardos for 14 years, said the property owner raised his rent earlier this year to about $10,000 a month, which proved to be too much for him. Its too high for this area, with no drive-through traffic and no walking traffic, he said. Its a ridiculous rent, but the owners feel that they can get it. Satin, 59, of North Hollywood, said he has done everything he could to keep the bar afloat. He has tried promotional nights and refinanced his home to have enough money to pay the rent and his employees. However, it has come to the point where nothing is working. He has even tried finding a new location for the business, but Satin said he could not find a site that meets the citys requirements for a bar. The last decade has not been particularly kind to Satin. Though his first six years of owning the bar were fruitful, business started going downhill around 2007. During that time, Caltrans started an onramp project at Hollywood Way, which resulted in street closures along Pass and drove many of Satins customers to other bars. Satin said he barely recovered from the freeway construction, but it would not be the last thing to affect his business. In 2015, Sardos had to close for about three months after a fire destroyed the kitchen. The booths, liquor cabinets and bar stools were all damaged by smoke and had to be replaced. Even after getting Sardos up and running again, Satin said business never really recovered. It was never Satins goal to own the bar. As a former professional researcher, Satin said he was in between jobs and stumbled upon a managerial job at Sardos. After a few years, he had enough money to buy the restaurant and would soon fall in love with the establishment and the people who came in. I would have loved to keep this around until its 50th anniversary, which would have been in 2018, but I cant do it, Satin said. Though he would have liked to leave Sardos on better terms, Satin said that he is looking forward to spending time with all the current and former regulars he has met during the years during the bars final week. One of those regulars, Sunland resident Jim Sabo, has been paying visits to Sardos nearly every Friday for the last 12 years. Sabo, 47, said that he never would have visited Sardos over a decade ago had it not be for a friend who frequented the bar before he did. He was hesitant to go at first because singing karaoke in public was not something he thought he would like. But we came over, and I wound up having a good time, and before I knew it, I was coming in here every Friday, he said. On Monday, Sabo belted out his rendition of The Middle by Jimmy Eat World and was cheered on by friends and strangers alike. Later in the night, Burbank couple Janelle and David Polk each grabbed a microphone and sang Stop Draggin My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. The Polks met at Sardos nine years ago and married shortly after. The Polks said they were shocked to hear that Satin would be closing Sardos doors on Friday. Though they met each other at Sardos, the couple said that they have not gone to the bar as much as they used to and now regret not spending more time there. Ive met so many people here that feel like family, and I feel like we took it for granted a little because we live really close, Janelle Polk said. But the closing has brought a community of people that Ive known for a long time back together. anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio Flash Nearly 200 Taliban fighters have been killed in Afghanistan's northern provinces since the so-called annual offensive was launched by the outfit on Friday, an army spokesman in the northern region, Mohammad Hanif Rezai, said Tuesday. According to the official, the armed outfit has spared no efforts to overrun at least some districts or a city but so far failed to achieve the goal. Over a dozen foreign fighters are also among those killed in the counter-insurgency operations, the official added, but he didn't identify their nationalities. Taliban militants fighting the government to regain power announced the group's annual spring offensive codenamed "al-Fath" which means victory in Arabic on April 12, and since then have launched major offensives against government interests elsewhere including northern, eastern, western and southern provinces in the conflict-battered country. The militants were close to overrun Kunduz city, the capital of northern Kunduz province on Friday and Saturday, but their attempts have been beaten back and the militants retreated by leaving dozens of bodies behind, local officials said. Rezai also said that 15 key commanders of the Taliban were also among those killed in counter-offensives in the northern provinces. About 80 more militants have been injured in the ongoing fighting, Rezai said. However, Rezai admitted that seven security personnel had been killed and 15 others sustained injuries in the ongoing operations against Taliban outfit in the northern provinces. Meanwhile, Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit, in contact with media has claimed that the militants had gained grounds in the northern Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Baghlan and Faryab provinces, a claim rebuffed by security officials as groundless. More stressed-out Americans are seeking out spiritual retreats to decompress, unplug and reset, the Washington Post reports. Revenue for wellness tourism has increased by 14% in recent years, from $494.1 billion in 2013 to $563.2 billion in 2015. According to the Global Wellness Institute, thats twice as fast as overall tourism expenditures. Not everyone is able to access or afford to attend a spiritual retreat, but a growing body of research has found that a daily practice of mindfulness meditation at home can also help reduce anxiety and bolster good health, according to the Post. There are actual changes that take place in the brains of retreat participants, according to a study published in the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior. Preliminary test results studying 14 Christians who attended a weeklong retreat based on Jesuit teachings showed short-term impact on dopamine and serotonin functions, which are associated with positive emotions. Q. What are your thoughts on this trend? Do you believe spiritual retreats can provide long-lasting and meaningful benefits or does this seem more like a fad to you? Keep close to Natures heart ... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. John Muir The quest for inner peace is big business these days. Mindfulness in the form of meditation or prayer serves a positive purpose for many people. While assistance from clergy and other spiritual guides can be instructive, there are many ways to seek calm and contentment. As naturalist John Muir understood, enlivening the spirit within might be as simple as a taking quiet walk. We need not swell the bank accounts of self-help raconteurs to hear natures heart, which is so often drowned out by the din and clamor of modern life. David L. Hostetter, Ph.D. President Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills La Crescenta .. Prayer is positive thought. That is why it works, not because it achieves communication with any higher power. There is no magic or supernaturalism involved. Prayer is a form of mindfulness meditation and, in that capacity, affects the brain in positive ways to reduce stress and anxiety. This is being proven scientifically with numerous studies. Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk who holds a PhD in molecular genetics from the Pasteur Institute, and Sam Harris, a noted atheist and neuroscientist, are practitioners of mindfulness meditation and write extensively about its benefits. Many religious people will point to the success of these retreats as evidence of divine intervention, Cartesian dualism, or proof that their particular creation story is true. But specific doctrine or dogma is irrelevant, and directing prayer toward a specific deity or none at all makes no difference to the effectiveness of the meditative practice. Proficiency and effectiveness result purely from focus and commitment to the practice. However it is practiced, I think and hope mindfulness meditation is more than just a trend. Joshua Lewis Berg Humanist Celebrant Glendale .. Of course retreats have benefits! Retreats are amazing! Theyre wonderful! Everyone should do them! (Note that I call them retreats rather than spiritual retreats, since from my perspective, we religious folks were doing retreats long before the corporate world hijacked the term to use for their life-sucking weekends worth of team-building slogans and ropes courses.) Half the benefit of a retreat, of course, is the time itself slow time, time not spent working, driving or doing tourism things. My family used to go to a tech-free beach house for vacations, and the results of walking everywhere, napping on the sand and rock-hunting all day had similar results to a retreat. Not all retreats are created equal. The one cited in the study, based on Jesuit teachings, was probably both deeper and wider in spiritual content than your average mindfulness retreat. Ignatius of Loyola, 15th-century founder of the Jesuit order, is also considered the originator of the practice of retreats, and his 30-day model involves a deeply honest inventory of conscience which many current fad leaders would shudder to impose. As for long-lasting effects, its common for retreatants to refer to a mountaintop experience during their time away, and their return to daily life as coming down off the mountain. Its normal for the effects to wear off, which is why you should go on retreats often at least one full week, at least once a year, is a good rule of thumb. One bit of advice: If youre going to go on retreat, either go to a reputable monastery (Christian, Buddhist or otherwise), which charges a minimal amount and where people who have devoted their lives to this practice live, or do it yourself, with slow time and spiritual reading. Dont get sucked into the racket run by those who only want your money; go to the folks who genuinely care. The Rev. Amy Pringle St. Georges Episcopal Church La Canada Flintridge .. Call me a typical if it feels good, do it baby boomer, but the finding that enjoyable activity floods ones brain with happy juice is no big revelation. A devoutly religious person can have a similar result when she is enfolded in the warm embrace of belief. The modern twist is the large-scale commercialization of human happiness, of which wellness tourism is an example. Oh, sure, in a so-called primitive culture someone shown the right frog to lick and then guided safely through the resulting therapeutic trance might give the shaman a chicken or two, but we are talking now about a $500-billion-a-year industry. The Washington Post article reporting on the positive benefits of a meditation retreat to Ireland quotes a participant exulting that she no longer needs to go out drinking in bars until Im in a stupor. Ironic to go to Ireland of all places to learn this, and a shame she had no one in her life to suggest an insight so sensible. No operating heavy machinery of course, but lets hear it for the benefits of an occasional stupor. Drugs or alcohol are not even necessary. In fact, wake me when the impeachment proceedings start. Roberta Medford Atheist Montrose .. Its no shocker that spiritual retreats are lucrative, as human beings are spiritual creatures that generally indulge their material bodies to the starvation of their souls. When they actually focus on spiritual matters they find themselves centering and thinking deeper thoughts. Sometimes it takes an unfamiliar place with an unusual itinerary to stir us up and get us more balanced. Ive attended several retreats for the spiritual development of myself and kids, and of course the common experience strengthens our bond. Ive attended mens retreats that made us go deeper than men usually do, and returned to my regular life with greater depths of empathy and stronger resolve to pursue God. There have been denominational conferences which I attended having optional retreat days where various spiritual disciplines were explored, and I found some stimulating and others just weird. The just weird part I worry about when we broach this issue, because so many retreats are just about getting you away doing strange rituals. You may momentarily feel something inside for a change, but its often just a quick fix (like going for fast food rather than cooking your own meals) ending with the same regret. Daily spiritual practice is best, but retreating may be helpful. I often hear how meditation or doing certain physical postures, or reading poetry, ringing bells, lighting candles, etc. all contribute to changes in brain chemistry. Thats probably true and why churches have utilized these since the beginning, but mood-producing accouterments and meditative techniques will only stir up an appetite requiring the correct divine nourishment. Too often people replace God with spiritual stuff, activities that touch their inner being without addressing its purpose or destiny. Im not Christian, but Im spiritual many people say, which is little better than affirming Im alive. It doesnt say anything, since were all spiritual except maybe that they are more guilty of rejecting Christ because they are conscious of the spiritual realm yet satisfy themselves with only that awareness. Christianity is all about the whole person, body and spirit, because we believe both are meant to be everlasting. However, it doesnt matter how many retreats you attend if ultimately you reject the maker of your entire person. Cast you allegiance with God because there is none higher, and Dont be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Mat 10:28 NLT) Rev. Bryan A. Griem Tujunga In 1958, a Texas native named David Tallichet was managing a Long Beach hotel when he looked out onto the harbor and saw a spot he thought would be ideal for a restaurant. The site boasted a prime view of the whole waterfront scene, perfect for the Navy town Long Beach was back then. Tallichets dreams and that of his partners eventually became The Reef, whose Polynesian theme pulled hungry patrons away from the downtown. Tallichets Reef soon expanded to other ventures and into a company called Specialty Restaurants Corp., which was founded in Long Beach and since the 1980s has been based in Anaheim. The family-owned enterprise is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, a remarkable longevity for any Orange County company, especially one in the volatile hospitality world. Throughout its 60 years, it has owned and operated about 100 restaurants throughout the United States and Mexico. At one point, it ran 77 restaurants at once. It also went public for a period, trading on the American Stock Exchange. As it were, Tallichet never cared for Specialty Restaurants Corp. being a public company and later regained control of the operation to keep it in the family. Now the company has 19 distinct restaurants, said John Tallichet, one of Tallichets children who now heads the company as CEO. Tallichet, who died in 2007 at age 84, left behind a legacy as one of the pioneers of the themed restaurant. As if that werent enough, he was also well known as a collector and restorer of vintage aircraft, having as many as 120. During World War II, Tallichet was a pilot in the European theater. After his service, he continued flying, never losing his love for aviation even as his restaurant empire amassed. Specialty Restaurants maintains an aviation division perhaps one of the only hospitality companies anywhere to do so. Among its prized possessions is one of the B-17 Flying Fortresses used in the 1990 film Memphis Belle. John now uses his dads old office. It has various memorabilia about, some of it aviation-related. Particularly noticeable are the dark hardwood floors with nails pounded in by Tallichet himself. John likes to talk about his father and how Specialty Restaurants remains very much a family affair. At 15 years old, John himself started at the bottom: salad boy at the Reef. It was a notch above being a dishwasher. My dad used to pay us less than other people and expect us to work twice as hard, John said with a laugh, adding that he eventually became the general manager. The Reef was a place we all had to pass through in our leadership. It was proving grounds. In Southern California, Specialty Restaurants owns Whiskey Reds in Marina del Rey, Orange Hill in Orange and the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys. as well as The Proud Bird, a food bazaar and events center near LAX. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer) Tallichets Depression-era mentality meant everyone earned their way. Thats intertwined in the thoughts that go into the company today, John said. Its not about me or any one individual. Its really about what we do as a family, what we do as a company with our restaurants and how they play a role in the community. Much of the Tallichet family remains involved. Johns brother, William, is director of development and aviation. Davids first wife (and Johns mother), Cecilia, still makes her way around the company HQ. John and Williams children have had roles at the restaurants, which, in Southern California, include Whiskey Reds in Marina del Rey, Orange Hill in Orange and the 94th Aero Squadron in Van Nuys. The company also owns The Proud Bird, a food bazaar and events center near LAX. Specialty Restaurants employs as many as 2,000 nationwide during peak seasons. One aspect that makes the company unique is that all its restaurants are different and most are destinations unto themselves, boasting scenic views. Some are located on publicly owned properties that are leased. You have to be good enough to have people come out to you, John said. Specialty also does 40% of its business in hosting events. You could come for dinner for two and come back with 200, John said. He added that people are known to have their first date at a Specialty restaurant, get engaged there and also have their wedding there. There arent many places where you can go in and do all of those things in one place, John said. Specialty likes the number of restaurants it has now and plans to reinvest in all of them. Though it used to do design in house Tallichet loved that aspect to the extent that people wondered if he was really running a construction firm, not a restaurant group Specialty now relies on Costa Mesa-based Hatch Design Group. It also celebrated its 60th with 1958-themed specials. As for the companys future, John said its not necessarily trying to be a trend-setter, but it wants to stay current. It cant hold on too tightly to the past. You have to make room for the things that people like, he said. Change is just part of a restaurant. Sometimes its upsetting to some people, but if it works right, you dont upset too many people who go there. And you create an attractive restaurant for new people. For more information about the company and its nationwide portfolio, visit specialtyrestaurants.com. The Orange County Board of Supervisors is set to vote next week on planned enhancements to general aviation services at John Wayne Airport that would include a terminal and dedicated customs screening for non-commercial international flights. The county Airport Commission, which advises the supervisors, will consider endorsing the same plan when it meets Wednesday. The Board of Supervisors April 23 vote will be a milestone in a four-year effort to update JWAs general aviation operations and infrastructure, including buildings and airfield roads, to comply with current Federal Aviation Administration standards. A terminal for private flights and a few more departures per day are part of a plan endorsed by airport administrators. The proposed terminal the airport currently has terminals only for commercial service would house a separate, fee-based screening facility for international travelers flying privately. The proposed changes would stay within the airports existing footprint. General aviation covers smaller, nonscheduled, private aircraft, from single-engine turboprop planes to corporate jets. John Wayne Airport has about 50 general aviation departures a day. Under the countys preferred plan, known as Alternative 1, such departures would increase to 57 per day. Newport Beach City Council declines to endorse most of the countys plans for private aircraft The county, which owns and operates JWA, says the updates would provide facilities to serve an increase in the number of private jets at the airport. Leaders and residents in neighboring Newport Beach have firmly opposed most of the proposed enhancements. The City Council backed a plan in March that would allow for the FAA-required adjustments but keep the frequency of private aircraft departures the same. It would not add a new terminal. Residents fear that expanded accommodations for private jets would lead to an increase in traffic from the jets, which are nearly as loud as commercial airliners and are not held to the same time restrictions for flights. Potential general aviation updates at John Wayne Airport raise concerns in Newport Beach Wednesdays Airport Commission meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Eddie Martin Administration Building at JWA, 3160 Airway Ave., Costa Mesa. The Board of Supervisors meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Orange County Hall of Administration, 333 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana. UPDATES: This article was originally published at 5:30 p.m. April 15 and was later updated with a new Airport Commission meeting time. The meeting previously was scheduled for 5 p.m. An eight-person jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the city of Costa Mesa on Friday, wrapping up a month-long trial in federal court and a four-year legal battle over a claim by sober-living home operators that a city ordinance unfairly discriminates against people recovering from drug and/or alcohol addiction. The decision could have a sweeping impact on cities that impose regulations on group homes. The jury told us that it was fair and not discriminatory to put in place protections, said Jennifer Keller, a lawyer the city contracted in March to defend Costa Mesa against lawsuits from sober-living operators. On every single cause of action, Costa Mesa did nothing wrong, Keller said. However, the plaintiffs Yellowstone Recovery, Sober Living Network and Lynn House will appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to attorney Isaac Zfaty. To be sure, this is a battle over civil rights, Zfaty said. The case was tried in a Santa Ana courtroom before U.S. District Judge James Selna. The plaintiffs, all of which operate group homes in Costa Mesa, argued that Ordinance No. 14-13 blocks organizations from providing adequate housing for recovering addicts, who are considered disabled and protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal fair-housing laws. Just let us keep doing what weve been doing for 25 years, Zfaty said in closing arguments Thursday. The ordinance, adopted in October 2014, regulates group homes in the citys single-family residential zones and requires sober-living homes to apply for permits to operate in those neighborhoods. It caps the number of residents in a group home at six and prohibits sober-living homes from being within 650 feet of one another. It also regulates sober-living staff, or house managers, saying they cannot have records of violent felonies or drug, arson or sexual offenses in the past seven to 10 years. Yellowstone Recovery, which has had a presence in Costa Mesa dating to 1988, sued the city in November 2014. Yellowstones lawyers argued that sober-living homes shouldnt be classified any differently than other residential households. They called attempts to cap bed numbers, monitor parolees and determine who can work as house managers as excessive oversight. We are not a hospital, we are not treatment, we are just housing where disabled people live, attorney Christopher Brancart said in closing arguments. But the citys lawyers portrayed Costa Mesa as accommodating and working in the best interest of group homes residents as well as the wider community. Keller said in her closing argument Thursday that the city had formerly lovely, tranquil neighborhoods and they were suddenly under siege by hoards of people moving into sober-living homes, which she described as places with bunk beds in every room where residents are packed in like sardines. She said such homes triggered neighbors complaints about noise and needles and that some nearby residents had been motivated to leave the area. Fridays verdict sends a strong message, said Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley, who added that the city would not be bullied over. The fight came at a steep price. The city accumulated more than $1.8 million in legal fees and other costs through September. The final figure will be determined in January, Foley said. The City Council decided that the city of Costa Mesa would not be extorted, Keller said. Usually cities get scared and fold. Its courageous to be willing to spend that amount of money to get this far. But somebody had to stand up. Keller said the verdict will have a phenomenal impact all across California. Had the lawsuit prevailed in its argument, as she put it, that any regulation of any kind was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act, Costa Mesa and any other city trying to regulate group homes could be exposed to lawsuits, Keller said. Zfaty said the plaintiffs are obviously disappointed with the verdict today, but added that like every civil-rights battle that has been fought throughout the history of humankind, there are setbacks. During the course of this litigation, even the city of Costa Mesa acknowledged that the plaintiffs in this case have been reputable operators and forces for good, he said. Our clients mission will continue and we will hold out hope, in spite of todays outcome, [that] the city of Costa Mesa will demonstrate sympathy toward those battling alcoholism and drug addiction and will alter its course. julia.sclafani@latimes.com Huntington Beach officials are expected this summer to finalize a proposal to help expand two shelters in unincorporated Midway City to serve Orange Countys growing homeless population. The plan is a partnership among Huntington Beach, Westminster, the county and American Family Housing, a nonprofit that provides housing and other services to the homeless. The proposal would add 55 beds to the Midway City shelters, which currently have a total of 20. Huntington Beach City Manager Fred Wilson and Mayor Mike Posey declined to specify the shelters location. It isnt clear how much money Huntington Beach, Westminster and the county would spend on the proposal. The Huntington Beach City Council will vote on the plan before it moves forward, likely in July or August, Wilson said. We see it as a win-win situation, he said. American Family Housing did not respond to a call seeking comment. Officials from Anaheim and Santa Ana have proposed new shelter sites that, combined with the Huntington Beach proposal, would add about 700 shelter beds. Posey presented the Midway City plan to U.S. District Judge David Carter during a hearing last week. Carter is presiding over a lawsuit filed in January by homeless advocates who sought to halt the removal of an encampment along the Santa Ana River trail. Though Posey said problems associated with homelessness are much larger than any one city can solve, he said officials wanted to demonstrate a commitment to making some progress. Its a step in the right direction, he said Monday. Homeless people were moved off the river trail this year and temporarily housed in motels around Orange County, but vouchers for those rooms have expired. Now, officials are faced with finding adequate shelter options. Carter tasked Orange County cities during a hearing in April with identifying potential shelter sites after a plan to place temporary ones in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and a former landfill in Huntington Beach was scrapped amid loud protests from residents and city leaders. Carter has said he cant decide where shelters should go but that he could prohibit cities from enforcing laws that ban people from camping in public spaces such as parks and riverbeds. Posey said Huntington Beachs homeless task force, which began about three years ago and has grown to include seven city staff members, houses about 80 homeless people in the city each year. If we can help move people along that accept services and reintegrate them into society or reunite them with family, well put in the time and energy to help out, he said. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN Don the Beachcomber may be gone, but theres a new tiki lounge in Huntington Beach. The 2,000-square-foot slice of Surf City beach culture is called Jan & Deans Tiki Lounge, and its on the second floor of the Rubys Diner on the city pier. It officially opened for business Monday. The beach hut features bamboo walls, tiki-inspired totem poles, dim lighting and artwork from Disney contributing artist Jeff Granito. Visitors can order from Rubys standard menu along with a new collection of appetizers such as Huli-Huli Wings and Mini Ahi Tacos and tropical cocktails featuring Sabe Gold Rum or Sabe Yuzu Citrus Vodka. For dessert, theres the popular pineapple soft serve ice cream Dole Whip. The lounges name pays tribute to pioneering surf music duo Jan and Dean, which included Huntington Beach resident Dean Torrence and is known for hits such as Surf City, The Little Old Lady from Pasadena and Dead Mans Curve. Bamboo walls and tiki-inspired totem poles decorate the inside of Jan & Deans Tiki Lounge in the Rubys Diner on the Huntington Beach Pier. (Courtesy of Tad Belshe) Rubys Executive Vice President Tad Belshe said the restaurant chain known for its 1940s diner theme wanted to give a nod to surf culture and the historic Huntington Beach element that weve been very lucky to be a part of as long as we have. Construction on the lounge was completed in about a month, with guidance from a renowned tiki-bar builder known as Bamboo Ben. A lot of people have been peeping in, Belshe said. Were seeing a lot of people with smiles on their face. We didnt miss the mark. Jan & Deans Tiki Lounge is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella A decision to repaint Laguna Beach police cars with an image of the American flag running through lettering on the doors will return to the City Council on Tuesday night after some residents deemed it unfit for the artists community. Though most of the comments made by residents in recent months were about the squad cars new aesthetics, online reaction in recent days characterized the debate as pitting flag supporters against flag opponents. City officials say the matter is far more nuanced. Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow said Monday that the council is simply facing a very narrow decision about the brightness of the colors, but that the issue has devolved into a broader national conversation about patriotism. He said he has received hundreds of emails from people around the country, mostly in support of keeping the flag designs on the car. Clearly, the way it looks on the car is not what anyone expected it to look like, Dicterow said. I think its reasonable that were going to look at it again so that whatever we [approve] is exactly what we put on the car. He said he received about a dozen emails of concern from residents after the council approved the design and before it decided to rehear the issue. Some of the words people used was that they felt it was threatening, intimidating, harassing and a symbol of racism, Dicterow said. At a recent council meeting, local artist Carrie Woodburn said the design scheme on the squad cars looked aggressive. On Monday morning, Woodburn said she had received more than 150 messages via phone calls, texts, voicemails and emails from people who disagreed with her assessment. Woodburn, whose parents served in the military, said she wasnt objecting to the appearance of the flag, and perceived some of the missives as threats. I dont really care too much about the design, other than what I said its bad art, Woodburn said. Im being attacked for that because the narrative feeds a fire of division, which is what our culture has become. The Laguna Beach City Council in February approved proposed redesigns for police cars that included American flag lettering in light colors. But the actual graphic appeared brighter on the cars. (Courtesy of city of Laguna Beach) The new lettering also has plenty of fans. Attorney Jennifer Welsh Zeiter said at the last council meeting that she found the police cars exceptional and questioned the loyalty of anyone who objected to the American flag display. They are so filled with hatred toward this ... office of the president of the United States and the current occupant of that office, she said, that they cannot see through their current biases to realize that a police vehicle with the American flag is the ultimate American expression. A small group of demonstrators gathered near the beach Monday afternoon to show support for the new-look squad cars. The matter dates to February, when the council initially agreed to repaint its 11 mostly white squad cars, which are Ford Explorers, in black and white with the image of Old Glory running through the word police on the doors. The proposed graphic that the council unanimously approved then was a more muted version what City Manager John Pietig called a cloud-like look of the design that now appears on the cars, according to a city staff report. On Tuesday, the council will decide whether to continue with the logo or choose an alternative out of an abundance of caution to address questions that have been raised about the process, Pietig said two weeks ago. Nevertheless, the questions about process turned into an online debate about intent. People are screaming that the American flag on a police car is somehow or another ... hurting peoples feelings who might be immigrants or visitors, said Councilman Peter Blake. People are actually ridiculous enough to bring up comments about our cop cars having American flags on them. Emil Monda, president of the Laguna Beach Republicans, said he thought the conversation surrounding the car designs was bizarre. Its the flag of the United States of America, Monda said. Its not a Republican flag, its not a Democrat flag. Its our flag, and we cant lose that. Those driving the vehicles havent heard complaints. Every time I came to a stop sign, every time I came to a red light, somebody is telling me the car looks great, Laguna Beach police Cpl. Ryan Hotchkiss said at the March meeting. Every one of our members that drives the car loves it, and we look forward to keeping them the way they are. Tuesdays City Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 505 Forest Ave. Marilee Jackson was looking for a social organization to help her give to the community where she lives. Three years later, she feels like shes found a second home at the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge. The Newport Beach retiree is the volunteer secretary for Newport Harbor Elks No. 1767. Established in 1949, its a yacht club, social nexus and charitable organization all under one roof. Since its situated at Newport Harbor, you can visit by land or sea. The lodge is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, a social and charitable organization chartered in 1868 that now has about 800,000 members in more than 1,900 communities around the country. Marilee Jackson, secretary of the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge, and member Jay Zaiden attend an 80s Night charitable fundraiser. (Courtesy Newport Harbor Elks ) The Elks National Foundation, established in 1928, has contributed more than $429.6 million toward Elks charitable projects nationwide, according to its website. As long as there are those who need help, the Elks will remain ready to provide whatever aid is needed, Jackson said. What I found was a group of folks, all ages and personalities, who pretty much had the same idea. One credo the Elks emphasize is, The faults of our members we write in the sand, their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory. With a stated goal of building stronger communities through service and connecting with neighbors, the nonprofit provides assistance to veterans, Scouting, scholarships and services for those in need. Last month the Newport Harbor Elks added a new military support program to their traditional care packages for active personnel when they hosted a Socks for Heroes event. Veterans Committee Chairwoman Angela Anderson, left, and Cathy Armstrong stuff regulation military socks with goodies during a Socks for Heroes event at the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge. (Susan Hoffman) Gold Star parents Carla and Jim Hogan of San Clemente started the socks program to honor their son, Marine Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in August 2009. They had always sent him socks filled with goodies, and they continue to do the socks and now supply about 60 pairs which are stuffed with goodies donated by members, said Elks Lodge Veterans Committee Chairwoman Angela Anderson. The Elks filled them with small items such as beef jerky, cigarettes and hot sauce. The Elks care package program occurs four times a year, when boxes are filled with snack foods, toiletries and even treats for military dogs. The shipments rotate to various areas, with special consideration when a family member of an Elks member is deployed. The Elks Lodge at 3456 Via Oporto has become a Newport Beach landmark. (Susan Hoffman) Events for veterans and military families are scheduled throughout the year, and there are ongoing visits to the Long Beach Veterans Affairs hospital to deliver food, clothing and toiletries. With the vets and active military being a cornerstone of Elkdom, and my belief of how important these individuals are to our country, I volunteered to chair this important committee, Anderson said. The connection of charity and social activities also was apparent at Newport Harbor Elks during a recent 80s Night fundraising party that provided an opportunity to fill purple piggy banks. Tracy Burik, left, Jackie Kaczmarek and Rick Blake gather around a purple pig donation display at the Newport Harbor Elks Lodge. (Susan Hoffman) Plastic purple pigs are an enduring fixture on the lodge dining tables, reminding members to contribute on the spot or take them home and fill them with cash. The proceeds collected provide ongoing funding to help needy individuals and families. A recent recipient was a family with two babies with birth defects. The Elks stepped in and took care of medical bills. The Newport Harbor Elks Lodge is at 3456 Via Oporto. For more information, call (949) 673-6110 or visit newportelks.com. A science class mishap turned into a hazardous-materials incident at Sage Hill School on Monday, prompting a response from several agencies after mercury spilled during class, school and fire officials said. The Newport Beach Fire Department responded to the private Newport Coast high school at 9:40 a.m., assisted by the Orange County Fire Authority, Huntington Beach Fire Department and Orange County Health Care Agency. The spill occurred toward the end of a class period, Sage Hill spokeswoman Kelly Parker said. School officials evacuated the classroom and immediately called for assistance, she said. Mercury is an absorption and inhalation hazard, said Newport Beach Fire Department spokesman Kevin Tiscareno. Thats why the precautions of evacuation, denying entry and contacting a hazardous-materials team to properly collect and dispose of the mercury were necessary, he said. Tiscareno said about a palm-size amount of the substance spilled and scattered across about a 10-square-foot area. The cause of the spill wasnt clear. No injuries were reported. The building will remain closed until it is deemed safe, Parker said, though authorities expect the science facilities will be back in use Tuesday. Orange Countys first and only needle exchange program has shut down after Santa Ana city officials denied its permit application, a move some local advocacy groups and the states leading public health agency say could negatively affect public welfare. However, the city contends the move was necessary because of an increased number of discarded syringes in the Santa Ana Civic Center, for which it says the needle exchange was at fault. Kyle Barbour, co-founder and board member of the Orange County Needle Exchange Program, said the nonprofits permit application was denied by the city in mid-January. The group, which operated in the Civic Center, is working on how to get back up and running because it feels needle exchanges are a crucial public health service. People are going to die and get infectious diseases, Barbour said. Theres no ambiguity that needle exchanges are an effective strategy. Needle exchanges seek to provide drug users with clean needles to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, like HIV and hepatitis C, and other harm accrued through needles. The practice is endorsed by the American Medical Assn., the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. Santa Ana has the highest rate of HIV infection in the county, according to 2016 statistics from the Orange County Health Care Agency. There was a 201.2% increase in hepatitis C rates in Orange County from 2011 to 2015 since the last analysis from the California Department of Public Health. With the shuttering of the Orange County Needle Exchange Program, the county is devoid of a needle exchange. Syringe services programs are an essential component of preventive health care for people who inject drugs, said Matt Conens, California Department of Public Health spokesman who attributed the information to the agency, in an email. Scientific studies have consistently found that syringe services programs reduce HIV and viral hepatitis infection and are among the most cost effective tools available. While the California Department of Public Health cannot predict the specific results of closing Orange County Needle Exchange Program services, one could expect that it would negatively impact HIV, viral hepatitis, and opioid-overdose prevention efforts in Santa Ana and Orange County. The California Department of Public Health is the supervising agency for the Orange County Needle Exchange. The agency recertified the nonprofit on Jan. 12. Conversely, the city of Santa Ana felt the needle exchange posed a public health issue for visitors and the city and county employees who work nearby. Robert Cortez, Santa Ana deputy city manager, said by phone that syringe litter became a rampant problem since the needle exchanges inception. A lot of unintended consequences came with the program, Cortez said. There was needle debris everywhere in the center, to the point where some of the books at the Santa Ana library had needles inside of them. Cortez said employees had been pricked by needles lying around the center. When asked whether needle litter had been an issue at the Civic Center before the arrival of the needle exchange, Cortez said, not to the extent that you see now. Heather Folmar, Santa Ana Public Library operations manager, said syringe littering was a huge problem. Before the needle exchange opened, library staff rarely found syringes in the facility, but began to find 40 to 50 a month after it opened, she said. We found them on shelves, near planters, window sills, in books, Folmar said. A cleaning lady was pricked by one. She said theyve found fewer syringes since the needle exchange closed. The permit rejected by the city was required of homelessness service groups operating in the Civic Center under a city ordinance that became effective in November. Since opening about two years ago, the needle exchange had been operating under a memorandum of understanding with the city that was terminated, with a 30-day notice, in early December, citing syringe litter. When the needle exchange opened in February 2016, Santa Anas then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas told the Los Angeles Times that the Civic Center made the most sense as the site of the group. Its away from residential areas, he said at that time. We have a large homeless population there and a high concentration of IV drug users, so we saw this area as being more beneficial not only for the people who will be using the service, but also from a public safety aspect. A homeless man sets up his tent at a homeless encampment at the Santa Ana Civic Center. The Orange County Needle Exchange Program operated in the center before its permit application was denied by the city. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer ) Barbour said his group has made efforts over the programs lifespan to temper litter. The group educates each user on the importance of disposing of syringe litter and provides sharps containers to everybody for needles disposal despite not being legally required to do so, Barbour said. These containers are also provided to neighboring businesses and the needle exchange offers to pick up and dispose of the containers free of charge, Barbour said. The organization also seeks to encourage people to return used needles to the exchange by providing them with more needles in return. Barbour said the group, which has about 15 core members and about 100 volunteers, is willing to do whatever needs to be done to rectify the situation, but it needs help. What we are doing is pretty comprehensive, but if we are going to be more comprehensive, we need the city to stop fighting the program and work with us, Barbour said. The California Department of Public Health said the Orange County Needle Exchange was operating in a manner consistent with the expectations of syringe services programs supported by the State of California. When asked about the state agencys remarks, Cortez said he couldnt comment on anything other than the negative impact weve suffered here in our city. Cortez provided a document with dozens of photos of needles strewn about the public library and surrounding areas. Other homelessness advocacy leaders also said the closure of the needle exchange will cause negative health issues for the county. The loss of the needle exchange will be a public health catastrophe and people will absolutely die, said Aimee Dunkle, executive director and founder of the Solace Foundation of Orange County, which administers naloxone, a lifesaving overdose reversal drug, at the Civic Center. Syringes along the banks of the Santa Ana River were left behind after a large homeless encampment was evicted in November 2017. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times ) The Solace Foundation had been partnering with the needle exchange since it opened, which increased the impact of the foundation. Barbour said needle exchanges are generally considered to be the access point into communities of homeless drug users. Other advocacy and service organizations can be more effective in countering health hazards when partnering with them. The foundation, which started in 2015 after Dunkle lost a son to a drug overdose, recorded 12 overdose reversals before partnering with the needle exchange. In 2016, the foundation recorded 420 reversals and reached more than 1,000 last year, Dunkle said. She believes the foundations effectiveness and reach will be significantly diminished with the shuttering of the needle exchange. Dunkle said she also expects to see a rise in infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and sepsis. Garrett Dunbar of the Orange County Burrito Project, which feeds burritos to the homeless at the Civic Center, also said loss of the needle exchange would have a negative effect on the communitys welfare. Eliminating the needle exchange will only have negative public health implications and increase spending on health care long term, Dunbar said. The Orange County Health Care Agency declined to comment. The agency had listed the implementation of syringe services programs as a desirable strategy in its 2012-2014 Comprehensive HIV Plan to help lower HIV rates by 2015. Such programs, implemented as part of a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, have been shown effective in reducing HIV infection, the document stated. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter:@benbrazilpilot LAureole, a womens philanthropic and social organization, presented its Perennial Rose luncheon and fashion show to celebrate 52 years of caring and sharing. Two hundred supporters packed the ballroom at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale this past Saturday. Guests had lots to enjoy. An hour before lunch, there were opportunities to win raffle prizes, table centerpieces, a 50/50 drawing and silent-auction goodies. Just when guests were too pooped to pop, a salmon and veggie lunch was served. Emcee Tom Smith kept the action going by introducing Kathy Dupree, Laureole president. She, in turn, introduced her benefit co-chairs, Marlin Galvez and Sheri Gfeller. Students from the Salvation Armys Zone After School Program made a welcome appearance at Laureoles Perennial Rose Luncheon & Fashion Show. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press) The featured speaker was Katelin McPhee, coordinator of the Glendale Salvation Armys after-school program called the Zone. This popular program at the organizations headquarters has 80 elementary school students enrolled. Forty students come daily and are provided generous snacks and classes in subjects such as art, robotics and even knitting. Luncheon profits are earmarked solely for the Salvation Army and its outreach to community children. Laureole member Grace Sheldon-Williams models an ensemble from Magnolia Boutique. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press) Along with Salvation Army lieutenants Justin and Jennifer Shiflett, McPhee introduced seven of the children enrolled in the Zone program. Glendale resident Maria Melendez is mother of one of the seven in attendance, Cielo Martinez, 7. Maria Melendez said she appreciated the safe environment the program provides. The afternoon ended with a fashion show, featuring organization members wearing fashions from Magnolia Boutique in Arcadia. Boutique owner, Karen Crisci, was the fashion-show commentator. The 29 founding members of the Cabrini Literary Guild gathered in 1943 to share their interest in good books and current Catholic activities. Those members may never have dreamed that their good efforts would survive for over 75 years. One of the organizations efforts is an annual writing contest open to students attending all Catholic high schools in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. This years writing awards were handed out this past Thursday. Some 60 members and guests were at the Oakmont Country Club to honor three young female writers. Abigail Merkel, 18, from Bishop Alemany High School won first place; Kira Toal, 17, from Immaculate High School took home second place; and Grace Fontes, 16, of Mayfield Senior School received third place. All contestants were asked to submit original essays about an assigned topic. This years topic was What Challenge Do You See Your Generation Facing. Merkel wrote about the negative impact of social media. She titled her essay Generation Z: Plugged In, and she read it during the event. Toals E Pluribus Unum essay (Out of Many, One) discussed political extremism. Fontes wrote about climate change in her essay titled Climate Change in Our World. In total, the young writers received $2,250 in cash awards. Cabrini Literary Guild Writing Award winners are, from top, Grace Fontes, 16, Kira Toal, 17, and Abigail Merkel, 18. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press) Rev. John Terence OBrien, associate pastor at Glendales Church of the Incarnation, distributed the awards. He performed double duty as guest speaker. Cabrinis annual fundraiser in March helps generate money to support the writing awards and other philanthropic efforts. More than 100 essays were submitted from students at 40 Catholic high schools. Essay judges were Dennis Doyle, a Glendale Community College instructor; his wife, writer and editor, Paula Doyle, and Robert Lincoln, a retiree from Raytheon Co. Congratulations for a program well done must be given to Cabrini VIPs, Brenda Lantieri, president; and Mary Pallares and Marie Urrutia, event co-chairs. OBriens parting advice to his audience and, especially, to the winning, young authors Be open to Gods surprises. Ruth Sowby Rands may be reached at ruthasowby@gmail.com. The Rossmoyne Homeowners Assn. hosted the latest City Council candidate forum Thursday where eight of the 10 hopefuls once again debated Glendales issues less than a month from the April 4 election. Many familiar citywide topics led the discussion such as whether the candidates would temporarily halt major development and how each would retain or amend the current interim-ordinance on Accessory Dwelling Units, known as Granny Flats. Candidates Mike Van Gorder and Onnik Mehrabian were absent. Van Gorder said he was recovering from an illness. Join the conversation on Facebook >> In what was roughly a two-hour event, candidates were given 90 seconds to respond to questions, with most directed toward all candidates and some individually addressed. Asked if they would approve new development on the site of the current Sears building on Central Avenue which is rumored to be set for demolition in the future challenger Mike Mohill said he would like to see a regional park replace the structure, while incumbent Ara Najarian said hed like to register the property as a historic site for later adaptive reuse. Sears officials could not be reached Friday regarding possible closure of the Glendale store, and no word has been announced about its closure by the company. Rick Dinger said he thinks the Sears building is part of the city and should be saved. It would be a tragedy to tear that one down, he said. Regarding pension reform for city employees, all of the candidates conceded not to renege promised benefits for past and current workers. They all said they would instead address the rise of current California Public Employees Retirement System rates through new hires. Its not right to take a pension away from somebody who has made ... a commitment to service. On the other hand, what you have to look at is with new hires thats an entirely different ballgame, said challenger Mark MacCarley. Each candidate answered whether they would consider selling some of the citys major assets, including the former Rockhaven sanitarium site and Glendale Water & Powers Grayson Power Plant. All eight candidates opposed selling either of them, citing current plans to convert Rockhaven into a boutique commercial center and park and the independence provided to the city by owning the power plant. Reactions to the potential sale of the Glendale Civic Auditorium, however, were mixed, with incumbent Zareh Sinanyan saying it would be ideal to renovate the site, but he added that the city might have trouble finding enough resources. Civic has been bleeding money for the last probably two decades. Ten years ago, when I was [Parks, Recreation and Community Services] commissioner, we were losing about $400,000 [annually] on the [auditorium], Sinanyan said. We were able to take that down to the bone, and were still [taking a loss] every year. The next candidate forum will be a meet-and-greet format sponsored by the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sparr Heights Community Center, 1613 Glencoe Way, Glendale. -- Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffLanda A panel of four accomplished Armenian entrepreneurs discussed differing thoughts and pathways to success at an Armenian Business Series forum this past Thursday at Glendale Community College. The event, organized by William Lee, president of the Glendale Community College Business Club, featured David Gevorkyan, district manager of the L.A. County Economic Development Corp., as well as restaurateurs Sargis Kopushyan and Jack Torosian and businessman Armen Vartanian. Vartanian, a Glendale Community College graduate, said he was surprised to be speaking at such an event. The self-described poor high school student enjoyed a renaissance at the local college under the tutelage of Michael Ritterbrown, now the schools vice president of instructional services. My time here at GCC really shaped who I am, Vartanian said. From Glendale Community College, Vartanian moved on to UC Berkeley, where he earned a bachelors degree in business before eventually receiving an MBA from the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business. Just a little less than five years ago, Vartanian founded Oceanview Capital Partners Inc., a private equity firm that invests in entrepreneur-run businesses, after realizing he could not climb the job ladder any higher in Los Angeles. Rather than move to New York City, Vartanian founded his own firm. The real key part that was the transition for me was knowing that I didnt care about all the resume stuff that I built, because the market doesnt care where I went to school, what I did, Vartanian said. They couldnt care less. Its more about are you going to be able to fight your way to making your own dream a reality? he added. Clark Magnet High graduate David Gevorkyan also found his path to success at Glendale Community College, although, admittedly, his route took longer than he would have liked. I came to GCC for probably two or three too many semesters, he said. Although Gevorkyans entrepreneurial background includes playing an integral role in his familys small manufacturing business, he had other plans. Gevorkyan has worked most of his career in the public sector and takes pride in helping erect an Armenian Genocide monument in Pasadena. It came to a point where I realized, OK, what ... more can we do for society? Gevorkyan said. What can I do to help other people solve their problems and keep moving forward, focusing on their businesses and putting food on their table? Torosian, owner of Papillon Bakery and OG Wingz, had a different route to his business accomplishments and this country, for that matter. Torosian said he arrived in Glendale at the age of 13 with his brother and parents. My parents sold everything they had to come to America, Torosian said. My parents tried to save us from going to war and getting killed. After moving to Fresno and eventually studying biology at Fresno State, Torosian returned to Glendale and thrived at building businesses despite not having much experience. Just like my colleagues, were pretty much used to getting thrown into things and thats the real entrepreneur, he said. You just go along, and you know youre going to make it happen, and its going to work out. You pretty much jump in head first and you figure it out. While some panelists struggled in high school, Kopushyan was a dropout. Yet, that setback became a footnote rather than a defining characteristic for the 27-year-old entrepreneur, who said his first business was selling shoes at a swap meet when he was 16 years old. Every failure is a lesson, said Kopushyan, owner of a poke restaurant called Pokitomik. Once you give up, then thats failing. Kopushyan said being an entrepreneur requires long hours and discipline. With the freedom of being a business owner, no one can tell you when to leave, when to wake up, when to come to work, when to leave from work, Kopushyan said. However, that freedom is fueled by belief in yourself. Let no one ever tell you that you wont be able to do something, Kopushyan said. Constantly keep on going for it. andrew.campa@latimes.com Twitter @campadresports I was returning from a two-week road trip that took me to Austin, Texas, via New Mexico. It was my daughter Simones 21st birthday. Since I was with her for her first 20, I thought it important to be there for her 21st. When Im road tripping I often forget what day of the week it is. When youre retired, the weekends are no different from Monday through Friday. After camping two days in the Davis Mountains of southwest Texas, I happened upon a lonely pilgrim, Fabian. I knew hed gone bush and had left the world to bury himself in the despair of loneliness. He asked if I knew what day of the week it was. Since Simones birthday was on Thursday, I told him I was certain it was Sunday, April 14. Palm Sunday! he said. He explained he was making a pilgrimage to Chimayo, New Mexico, and had to be at the El Santuario de Chimayo on Easter Sunday. After packing up his camp, I proceeded to drive him to Alpine, Texas, where hed begin his pilgrimage to Chimayo. During our two-hour drive, Fabian spoke of Easters significance and the woes of the world. When we arrived in Alpine, he thanked me for the lift and asked what my plans were for Palm Sunday. I told him Id head to my favorite Alpine coffee shop and write my weekly column. What will you write about? he asked. No clue, I said. He suggested I write about the significance of Easter. After lunch at the Dairy Queen, I dropped Fabian off at the junction of highways 118 and 90. I told him 90 would take him to Northern New Mexico. From there its an easy trek to El Santuario de Chimayo. I left for Cedar Coffee Supply on 4th street to write on the significance of Easter. That coffee shop has a great vibe, and over the years, Ive written and edited various columns and chapters there. Each year some 300,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayo during Holy Week. Many of the pilgrims arrive on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Fabian told me he was making the pilgrimage to seek redemption and transformation. Thirty years ago, I drove to Chimayo during Holy Week and saw countless pilgrims trekking across the highways of Northern New Mexico. Some were entering the sanctuarys courtyard on their knees. Easter is more than chocolate bunnies and hunting for eggs. Theres something genuinely moving about the idea of resurrection and the spiritual belief that new possibilities and opportunities are possible even after spiritual or physical death. The Easter story is an example of redemption and transformation in the resurrection of Christ. Christians celebrate Easter because it reveals the heart of Christianity. It is the story of a God determined to rescue a planet that is out of control. C.S. Lewis tells us the Resurrection narratives explain, how a totally new mode of being has arisen in the universe. Something new had appeared in the universe: as new as the first coming of organic life. A new mode of being has arisen. That is the story. What are we going to make of it? We hardly need to be reminded that we live in a troubled world. You only have to watch the nightly television news to get a dose of the worlds woes. And so, Easter speaks to us of rescue, of renewal and of the way to peace. Dag Hammarskjold, former secretary- g eneral of the United Nations, said, Weve tried so hard and have failed so miserably that unless the world has a spiritual rebirth in the next few years, civilization is doomed. And thats what Easter is all about: spiritual rebirth. Joe Puglia is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us. I am not French. Perhaps you arent either, but if you love Paris, as I do, if you love art and architecture and history, you were staggered when you learned Monday that Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. Im also not Catholic, although my mother was. I remember her reading aloud to me a childrens illustrated edition of Victor Hugos The Hunchback of Notre Dame, probably a glorified comic book, illustrated with fanciful drawings designed to stimulate childish fancy. Later I read the complete novel, first in English and then in French. Then there were the movies: the 1923 version starring Lon Chaney as the hunchback Quasimodo; the 1939 film with Academy Award-winner Charles Laughton as Quasimodo; Disneys animation of 1996, this time with Tom Hulce as the voice of Quasimodo. The fire may have had special meaning for Catholics and French citizens, for readers and movie lovers, but you do not have to be any of these to have gasped at the news. For travelers, who are not of the city nor, in reality, part of its fabric, the near-loss induced the kind of panic that comes when they see a priceless work of art, a part of our cultural patrimony, in flames. Advertisement Beacons should not, must not be extinguished. Notre Dame is the most-visited cathedral in one of the most-visited countries in the world. Beyond its position as a place of worship, it is an artistic masterpiece, an inspiration for writers, artists, architects and anyone moved by grand human achievements, and a symbol of civilization that extends well beyond France. From the summer of 1971, when I first visited Paris, to a couple of weeks ago on my most recent trip, I always go to Notre Dame, if only briefly, just one of the 12 million or more who make the pilgrimage each year. If time allowed, I would wait in line and pay 8.5 euros, a little less than $10, to climb the south towers 380 steps. I did it for the view, of course, or perhaps to take a selfie with a chimera or two. And those chimeras! Scary winged creatures, some feline-featured, some simian-like, one gnawing ghoulishly on some prey. I hope they survived. Take heart: Survival seems to be encoded in Notre Dames DNA. In 1548, fanatical French Huguenots directed their puritanical ire at some of its statues, which they judged idolatrous. Then there was the what Michelin Green Guide to Paris bitterly calls successive mutilations and vandalism, wrought most notably by French architects Robert de Cotte and Jacques-Germain Soufflot in the 17th and early 18th centuries. The mobs of the French Revolution in the late 18th century were no kinder, smashing and beheading 28 statues of the Kings of Judea and Israel (some of their heads are on display in a Paris museum) and ransacking the interior. Thanks, too, to centuries of neglect, by the start of the 19th century it was nearly a ruin, its stonework crumbling, a victim of pollution and the elements, its magnificent stained-glass windows damaged or destroyed by time, renovation, revolution. By 1831, the year Hugos novel appeared to great acclaim, Notre Dame was in sad shape. Hugos great achievement was twofold: the book itself, which devotes whole chapters to describing Notre Dame in detail, and the cathedrals salvation, which he accomplished by lodging it in the publics imagination. A few years after its publication, King Louis Philippe I commissioned a full restoration, which took 21 years. To understand the devotion and dismay about Mondays events, note that six Twitter hashtags were trending that referenced Paris and the cathedral. Facebook was filled travelers fondest memories, now colored with an unexpected shade of sorrow. Some news reports were sensational. The Daily Beast tweeted that a symbol of France had burned to the ground. No. Its still standing. This world-famous work of art wasnt damaged beyond repair. And it will be repaired, as French President Emmanuel Macron quickly avowed. After my most recent visit to Paris in March I took the Eurostar to London and visited Lincoln College, Oxford, where I earned my graduate degree, and dined in its 15th century hall. I looked up at the soaring, ornate wooden ceiling and said to someone sitting near me that I wished I saw some sprinklers up there. After the total loss last year of the National Museum of Brazil, another building that had suffered from neglect and that lacked a fire-suppression system, I hope all of us must hope that one will be part of the cathedrals reconstruction. Already donations to restore this piece of world heritage are being solicited by the French Heritage Society, a charitable organization, and others. Donations may be made online or by mail to the French Heritage Society Inc., Notre-Dame Fire Restoration Fund, 14 E. 60th St., Suite 605, New York, NY 10022. As visitors, we cannot repay what Notre Dame has given to us nor what it has meant to us. We can make a nod, perhaps, to its heart. For now, that is enough. travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Fox News was the one hosting the Monday night town hall for Bernie Sanders in the Lehigh Valley, but it was the hosts who faced more backlash from the audience in Bethlehem than the independent senator from Vermont. Greeted with chants of Bernie! Bernie!", the 77-year-old Sanders mostly stood during the hour-long question-and-answer session at SteelStacks, as he addressed questions from Special Report host Bret Baier and The Story host Martha MacCallum, as well as from the audience. Not everyone thought I should come on this show, said Sanders, who made comments about the media in general throughout the night. Your network does not necessarily have a lot of respect in my world. The audience was not shy in letting Baier and MacCallum know what it thought of some of their questions, with yelling and booing during topics such as taxes and abortion. The audience broke out into applause when MacCallum said Sanders supported no one telling a woman what to do with her body, but then faced booing and jeers when she asked Sanders if he believed a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment of birth. At the end of the day, I believe that the decision over abortion belongs to a woman and her physician, not the federal government, Sanders said, to loud applause from the audience. Sanders said he planned to focus on the economy and his plans for U.S. job growth, and he circled answers back to his proposals of a $15 minimum wage and raising taxes on large, profitable corporations. American workers should not be competing against desperate workers around the world, Sanders said, because it creates " a race to the bottom." Trade is a good thing, but we need a trade policy that works for working families and not just the corporations," he said The show featured footage of the former Bethlehem Steel. While the Steel blast furnaces were the cameras backdrop through the windows, SteelStacks is part of a 10-acre campus that hosts indoor and outdoor concerts and festivals, movies, the PBS 39 station and the Hoover-Mason Trestle, in addition to being the neighbor of the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Sanders touched on education, taxes and healthcare, as more than once, people spontaneously shouted out their love for him. Healthcare is not free. Its going to be free at the point when you use it, he said. "Are people gonna pay more in taxes? Yes. But at the end of the day, a majority of people are going to be paying less for healthcare. Sanders was asked about being too old, after the network played a clip of fellow presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who at 37 is the youngest Democrat in the race, talking about a new generation. Follow me around the campaign trail, Sanders replied. Thank god my health is good. This wasnt Sanders first town hall for the 2020 presidential campaign cycle. In February, soon after he announced his second presidential campaign, Sanders held a town hall with CNN in Washington, D.C. But the Fox News town hall is after Democratic Committee National Chairman Tom Perez announced in March that the network wont host or televise any Democratic presidential primary debates. Perez reiterated his stance Monday on Fox News, hours before the Bethlehem town hall. And for all the questions about his primary challengers, Sanders repeatedly focused on President Donald Trump, and even directly commented to him during the town hall to release his tax returns. .@BernieSanders calls out Fox for not asking Trump what his tax rate is #BernieTownHall pic.twitter.com/VF7LRr5XYj People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) April 15, 2019 Bethlehem City Councilman Bryan Callahan asked if Sanders was worried that the focus on Trump would inflame the Democratic base and it would move too far left. If we spend all our time attacking Trump, you know what, Democrats are going to lose," Sanders said. Tony Nassar, of Whitehall, asked Sanders about the U.S. avoiding foreign affairs that dont directly affect Americans, specifically Syria and Venezuela. Sanders reiterated he voted against the Iraq war, and led opposition to it, then said the U.S. should get out of the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Nassar, who was born and raised in the Lehigh Valley, said afterward he didnt think America should intervene in foreign affairs unless it directly effects our national security. I do believe he is America first, Nassar said of Sanders. Nassar said he voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, and was open-minded coming into Monday nights event. He estimated about 70 percent of the audience was supportive of Sanders. A crowd of Donald Trump supporters gathered April 15, 2019, outside SteelStacks in Bethlehem, ahead of the Sen. Bernie Sanders town hall. (Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com)lehighvalleylive.com As attendees walked toward the SteelStacks building, Trump supporters greeted them with Trump 2020 flags and signs including Build the Wall and No Sanctuary for Criminals. Earlier in the day, Val DiGiorgio, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, held a phone conference with reporters about Sanders visit and his campaign platform. Touching on Sanders proposals of Medicare for All, free college tuition and a $15 per hour minimum wage, DiGiorgio said they were too extreme for Pennsylvania and for America. Its clear that Bernie Sanders and, frankly, the 2020 Democratic presidential field, have the wrong ideas for Pennsylvania and the wrong ideas for America, he said. DiGiorgio said he would look forward to a Sanders-Trump general election, if Sanders wins the Democratic nod. I think the president would handle him very well. Im more concerned that this agenda of Bernie Sanders, this socialist agenda, is now being picked up as mainstream in the Democrat Party which up until now has been a liberal party that wants to spend money to provide a strong social safety net, but now theyve gone off the rails with what is effectively a socialist agenda, government takeover of industry," he said. Sanders previously visited the Lehigh Valley a year ago, where he rallied for Democrat Greg Edwards bid to replace Republican Charlie Dent. Edwards lost the primary to Susan Wild, who would go on to beat Republican Marty Nothstein in the special election for the 15th congressional district and the general election for the newly drawn 7th congressional district, which replaced the 15th. The Bethlehem stop came after Sanders four-day swing state tour through Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, including a rally Sunday in Pittsburgh and a speech earlier Monday before the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals in Wilkes Barre. Trump won those four states in 2016 - - the first Republican to win the Keystone State since 1988. Democrats blue wall strategy is focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania as key for 2020, since Trumps win was narrow in those three states. Sanders ended the town hall with urging people to turn out and vote. I want to see our country have the highest voter turnout in the industrial world," he said. No matter what your views are, get involved in the political process. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Four men were indicted this week on charges they operated a drive thru heroin ring off Interstate 78 in Newark in which they sold drugs to motorists whod just exited the highway, the New Jersey State Police announced Monday. State Police allege that after months of surveilling the drug trade operating on Ridgewood Avenue, the men were arrested in December, when investigators say they seized large amounts of heroin, cocaine and weapons. The investigation spanned eight months and was dubbed Operation Drive Thru, State Police said. The men charged in the indictment are: Dashon Coleman, 37, of Kearny Lamon Thomas, 47, of Newark Quameer Elamin, 27, of Newark Hashawn Landrum, 39, of Newark The four alleged ring members are charged with conspiracy, weapons offenses, and various drug offenses, including possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and maintaining a narcotics production facility. The charges stem searches executed throughout multiple Newark locations on Dec. 12, 2018, the State Police said. Investigators allege they found and seized more than 100,000 individually packaged bags or decks of heroin, 13 firearms including two AR-15 assault rifles more than a kilogram of cocaine, more than a pound of marijuana, about $195,000 in cash and three vehicles. Keena Bryant, 28, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., also faces first-degree charges of possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to distribute after she was arrested at one of the homes where drugs were seized, police said. By dismantling this drive-through drug market off I-78, we stopped many thousands of potentially deadly doses of heroin from reaching users across the region and took dangerous guns off the street, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement. Keena Bryant, 28, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 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. A former Pennsylvania police chief and his friend are now facing trial on accusations they repeatedly raped a girl over several years. Brent Getz, 27, and Gregory Wagner Jr., 28, both of Lehighton, were in district court Monday, after being arrested last month by the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office. Wagner waived his preliminary hearing, sending rape of child and related charges to to Carbon County court. Getz opted to have his hearing, and his charges were also sent to county court. The men remain in prison, each in lieu of $250,000 bail. At the time of his arrest, Getz was the Weissport Borough police chief; he has since been fired. Prosecutors said the girl was 12 when she reported to a teacher that Wagner was sexually assaulting her. The teacher reported it to police in Franklin Township, a neighboring municipality of Weissport in the Lehighton area. After an investigation, no charges were filed at that time, the attorney generals office said. In 2015 the case was reassigned, and police filed a criminal complaint charging Wagner with various crimes, prosecutors said. The complaint was dismissed by a district judge due to a paperwork error and the charges were not refiled. Last August, a Franklin Township officer revisited the case and interviewed the victim. It was at that time the girl disclosed Getz, Wagners friend, had sexually assaulted her as well. The girl alleged Wagner repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted, starting when she was 4 until she was 11 years old. Getz would allegedly join in on the assaults. Agents raided Wagners residence on March 27 and reportedly found numerous electronic devices, including his cellphone that had Google searches of terms indicative of child pornography. Wagner was interviewed and reportedly admitted to sexually abusing the victim over the course of several years, prosecutors said. He also allegedly admitted that Getz sexually abused the victim, and that they would do so together. The Morning Call reported during Getzs hearing, an agent with the attorney generals office reported the girl was raped several times a month, from the time she was 4 until just before she turned 12. Attorney General Josh Shapiro believes the pair may have more victims, and set up a Carbon County Sexual Abuse hotline at 267-768-3957. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Michael Davis was coming home from a long day of work looking to relax, according to a prosecutor. Instead he got the surprise of his life, said Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen. On Nov. 21, 2016, two men wearing masks ambushed Davis outside of his Palmer Township home, according to police. One of the two men, Vaughn Felix, would later confess he told the 25-year-old victim to get in the back seat or things are going to get ugly, Mulqueen said. Felix wanted to take him back to the Verizon store where Davis worked in Forks Township so Felix and his accomplice, Gregory Lewis, could rob the store, Mulqueen said. When Davis refused, Felix shot him in the face, Mulqueen said. The ensuing investigation would take more than a year to unravel, with a drug-addicted cell phone store manager taking police down dead ends until they finally pieced together the evidence needed to charge Lewis, 28, of Wilson Borough, with second-degree murder, kidnapping and four robberies, Mulqueen said. Testimony in Lewis trial started Tuesday in Northampton County Court. Felix has agreed to testify against Lewis, Mulqueen said. In exchange, prosecutors wont seek the death penalty against him. Defense attorney Robert Eyer said too much of the prosecutions case relies on the testimony of Felix, whom Eyer claims is lying to save his own skin. Whats a life worth? Whatever it is, thats what they paid for that story that Vaughn Felix told, Eyer said. Hes the cold-blooded killer, Vaughn Felix. The trial is expected to last about two weeks. Vaughn Felix of Easton. (Courtesy photo) An early setback The night after Davis death, the manager of the store where Davis worked was abducted, Mulqueen said. Michael DeRose told police he was also ordered to get into a car and go to the store. DeRose was aware of news accounts of what happened to Davis, so he decided to make a break for it, grabbing the assailants gun, opening the car door and running for his life, Mulqueen said. DeRose failed to disclose his heroin addiction to police that night, Mulqueen said. He needed money to support his $150- to $200-a-day habit, she said. Police would also learn that he disabled the surveillance cameras at the store. DeRose later confessed he turned off the cameras so his boss wouldnt see him sleeping in the store, but these facts pointed suspicion at DeRose and away from the true perpetrators, Mulqueen said. She said the case remained unsolved as Felix and Lewis robbed an Easton jewelry store and a cell phone store in Bethlehem Township. Police caught a break after the pair robbed a cell phone store in South Whitehall Township, she said. They took a phone with a tracker, which led police to a home in Spruce Street in Easton, the home of Nadir Chandler, who was also charged in connection with the robberies, Mulqueen said. The pair robbed a Wind Gap Verizon store, and a surveillance camera showed Lewis answer a cell phone call. Police would later search out all phone numbers in that area that took calls at that moment. Lewis phone had received a call, Mulqueen said. Those pieces of evidence led police to search Lewis and Felixs homes, where they found zip ties similar to ones used to tie up victims in each of the robberies. They found stolen phones and clothes that matched those of the perpetrators, she said. She said Lewis cell phone can be traced to the vicinity of each crime scene at the times the crimes took place. Lewis and Felix were charged in December 2017. Later, Northampton County Prison inmate Samad McKoy would tell authorities that Lewis issued orders for the execution of three people connected with his case, Mulqueen said. One was a person who accidentally sold a stolen cell phone to a police officer. The second was Felix, who Lewis feared would cooperate with authorities, Mulqueen said. That third person was me, Mulqueen said. An ominous puddle Mulqueen said Michael Davis did not deserve to die for refusing to go with the perpetrators. Davis father, Russell Davis, testified Tuesday about finding his son dying on the front lawn on the night of Nov. 21. 2016. He went outside to take the trash to the curb. He saw Davis car door open and the light on inside. He saw a puddle near the car and thought his son may have dropped something or spilled something. Then he realized it was a huge puddle of blood. I started yelling his name. I did not see him at first, Russell Davis testified. Then he saw his son on the ground close to the porch. Fighting back tears as he testified, the father said he rolled his son over and saw blood coming from his nose. His heart stopped and EMTs tried to revive it, Russell Davis said. Michael Davis would later die at Easton Hospital, Mulqueen said. Palmer Township homicide victim Michael Davis. (Courtesy photo)EXT According to Vaughn Felix, he and Lewis followed three different employees home on different nights as they formulated the plan to rob the Forks Township Verizon store. They waited in the bushes one night for Michael Davis but never pounced because it was not a good time. Eventually they would attempt to abduct and instead would kill Michael Davis, Mulqueen said. Although Felix pulled the trigger, Lewis is charged with second-degree murder because he was involved in a felony crime, the robbery, which resulted in the incidental death of a victim. Mulqueen warned jurors to brace themselves for graphic testimony from Felix. The story will be difficult to hear. You will hear about Gregory Lewis and Vaughn Felixs callous disregard for the lives of their victims. It will be shocking, she said. Eyer said testimony from an unreliable witness, Felix, coupled with circumstantial evidence isnt enough to convict Lewis. He reminded jurors that prosecutors must overcome the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt. When they fail to do that because they bring you unreliable evidence, because they bring you tainted evidence when they do that they fail to prove the case, Eyer said. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Pennsylvania State Police on Tuesday morning identified the New Jersey woman who died Monday morning after a crash in Lower Mount Bethel Township. Clara G. Conley, 77, of Knowlton Township, died in the crash, state police said. Conley was the only person in a northbound red 2016 Chevrolet Malibu that about 10:15 a.m. crashed off the right side of the 8900 block of North Delaware Drive and struck a mailbox, an embankment and a tree, a trooper from the Belfast barracks said. Conley was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Conley died from injuries in the crash and her death was an accident, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said. Conley was wearing a seat belt in the car, police said. Police airbags deployed in the car. The road was closed for some time in that area. The state police Troop M Forensic Service Unit, the township and Portland fire departments and Suburban EMS also assisted at the scene. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Get your shorts out for the weekend as Met Eireann has predicted a rise in temperatures bringing a big change following a wintry weekend of weather warnings. Met Eireann forecaster Jean Byrne said in Monday evening's forecast that we are in for a dry and bright week. Friday and Saturday will see temperatures up to around 20C and 21C. "Wednesday through to Saturday should be dry and bright everywhere and temperatures will be on the up its going to become very mild by the end of the week. "Pressure building after that from Scandinavia once again which is pretty good news because it means dry settled weather and temperatures will improve because the wind will be coming from southern parts of Europe becoming particularly mild especially for western areas later in the week," she said. The Met Eireann forecast says in general, up until the end of Saturday, the weather over Ireland will be mild and largely dry. The nights will be frost-free. Wednesday night will be dry with patches of mist and fog. Lowest temperatures of 5 to 8 degrees. Thursday will be dry with good sunny spells developing after any mist or fog clear. Highest temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees along east facing coasts, but reaching between 15 and 18 degrees elsewhere, warmest in the west with moderate east to southeast breezes. Good Friday will be dry with sunny spells. It will be warm with light variable breezes and highest temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees. Saturday will continue warm and mainly dry with sunny spells. However, it will become cloudier in the northwest with perhaps some drizzle later in the day. Highest temperatures of 14 to 17 degrees in the west and northwest, but between 18 and 21 degrees for the rest of the country with light breezes. On Saturday night, rain and drizzle will move down over Connacht and Ulster. Easter Sunday will be mostly cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle. It will be cooler also with highest temperatures ranging from 12 degrees in the northwest to 17 degrees in the southeast and light to moderate southwest breezes. At the moment, it looks like our weather will become much colder and unsettled from Easter Monday onwards with rain or showers at times and with temperatures dropping back to around 10 or 11 degrees. Rooms are being booked at a guesthouse in a Laois town for asylum seekers to live in while waiting for space to open up in a direct provision centre. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told the Leinster Express a guesthouse in Rathdowney is being used to meet the demand for spaces in direct provision centres. The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) is currently booking a number of rooms at a guesthouse in Rathdowney on a short term, temporary basis until spaces become available in a centre. The premises is not a direct provision centre. The RIA is working actively to expand the number of centres available to meet demands and ensure Ireland adheres to its obligations, the spokesperson said. Direct provision is a means to meet the basic needs of food and shelter for asylum seekers while their claims for refugee status are being processed. There are two direct provision centres in Laois at the former Montague Hotel in Emo housing around 200 people and the former Hibernian Hotel in Abbeyleix housing 60 people. The centre opened in Abbeyleix last September. Between 55 and 60 asylum seekers, mostly made up of families, moved into the facility at the former Hibernian Hotel at Pembroke Terrace, Abbeyleix. The Montague Hotel in Emo was opened in 2007 and is still in operation. Residents live in the full board accommodation which includes light, heat and laundry services free of other charges, and are paid an allowance of 21.60 per person per week. They may also qualify for other Social Welfare payments as determined by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Six social action projects from Kildare took part in the Aldi Foroige Youth Citizenship Awards in the National Indoor Arena, Blanchardstown, in Dublin last Saturday, 13 April 2019. Balyna Foroige Club in Kildare, won Gold for their project callded A project to preserve local historical amenities. After the demolition of an old historical house in their community, the young people in Balyna became concerned about protecting other local landmarks for the future. They arranged a visit of the Historical Society to their club meeting to learn about the villages hidden history and decided that the unique stones in the Primary School, that go unnoticed daily, deserved some recognition. They cooperated with other local groups to fund raise, install and have an unveiling event for a plaque at the school. They also decorated storyboards about local history to display in the school. The unveiling event was covered by local media,it was a great success that brought over 120 people from the community together. The Positivity Pages, from Carrick an Suir, Tipperary was named the overall national winner at the Aldi Foroige Youth Citizenship Awards. Their Citizenship Project, which started a monthly youth newspaper to spread positivity and awareness about minding your mental health was chosen from over 220 social action projects developed by young people to change their communities for the better. This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Youth Citizenship Programme, which was first run by Foroige in 1969. 2019 has been the biggest year for the programme ever, with over 14,000 young people taking part. Other Kildare winners included Celbridge Youth Cafe, for A fundraising project for their Youth Cafe; Narraghmore Foroige Juniors, for An animal welfare awareness project and Making homes for birds to raise money for homeless people; Rathangan After School Group, DPEI, for An anti smoking video and Time to Sign Foroige Style, for Sign language summer camps for young people. SEE ALSO: Nurney estate will not be taken in charge this year The Labour party has selected a 30 year old trade union employee to run in the Celbridge/Leixlip Municipal District area in the local elections following the decision of long serving Cllr Kevin Byrne to step down for medical reasons. Former TD, Emmet Stagg, who plans to run for the party in the next general election and Celbridge native, Ciara Galvin, were expected to contest the selection convention held at Celbridge Manor last night. However Mr Stagg withdrew leaving the field open to SIPTU trade union employee, Ms Galvin, who went to school in Scoil Bhride in the Main Street, Celbridge, and lives at The Grove in the town. At the convention, which was attended by Mairead Beades, a candidate for the party in the Leixlip area, Labour party general secretary, Brian McDowell, told the convention that around 40 of the 108 candidates are new to politics and a lot of them are young women. Read also: Tense debate over Kildare Carton Avenue Ms Galvin, a graduate of Maynooth University, and the mother of three month old, Eabha, has a masters in public policy and works with SIPTU in advocating workers rights. She has just turned 30 but has been involved in politics for some time having worked in the Dail, the Seanad and the European Parliament over the last ten years. She has been involved in all referenda over the past 10 years and was director of elections for former Labour candidate Shane Griffin in the last local elections. Ms Galvin told the Leader her immediate aims for Celbridge would be to make the town better for cyclists, having cycled to and from Maynooth for her three years of college. She will also urged the Council to improve playground opening times in Celbridge as well as another one on the growing Hazelhatch side of the town. On housing, she said that there are 1,422 people on the Celbridge housing list but only 10% of new developments are being bought by the Council. At that rate, she argued, there would have to be 14,000 new houses built in a town which currently has 7,500 of them. The Council need to buy more of new developments, she said. A Newbridge man who punched a female taxi driver to the back of the head after refusing to get out of her taxi has been granted an appeal against a five-month prison sentence on condition he set up a weekly standing order to pay the victim compensation. Myles Moloney, Morristown Estate, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, committed the offence at the Dublin Road, Monasterevin, on May 7, 2017, and was sentenced to five months in prison at Portlaoise District Court in September, 2018. He subsequently appealed this sentence at Portlaoise Circuit Court. When his appeal first came before the court last December, Garda Sgt Dowling gave evidence that at 2.30am on May 7, 2017, the injured party was sitting in her car on the Dublin Road, Monasterevin, when the appellant jumped into her car with another man and demanded a life to Newbridge. The woman said no, so he grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the head. One of his friends pulled him out of the vehicle. The appellant had 14 previous convictions. Defence, solicitor Mr Philip Meagher said his client had handed in a letter of apology, which he said was a true expression of remorse and regret. He said the accused paid 500 as a token of remorse in the district court and he had a further 2,000 to offer. Mr Meagher told the court that the accused had just got married and his wifes parents paid for the wedding as every penny he had went towards the compensation. He has no explanation for his behaviour on the night, said Mr Meagher. Defence explained that the appellant had been out watching a match and he fell into company on the night. No one poured the drink down his throat, he was out of his mind on drink, said Mr Meagher. In ruling last December, Judge Keenan Johnson said this was outrageous behaviour and he completely concurred with the decision of the district court judge who had deemed the assault to be at the upper end of the scale. Judge Johnson said the 2,000 compensation was not nearly enough and that sending the appellant to jail would not do much good in getting the injured party more compensation. Adjourning the matter to March 20, Judge Johnson told the appellant to pay a total 7,500, with 1,000 to be in court on that date. He warned the appellant that if the money was not there on March 20 the full five-month sentence would be imposed. Hes very fortunate to be walking out of here, said Judge Johnson. When the case returned to Portlaoise Circuit Court recently, Mr Meagher said the appellant had a further 1,000 compensation, leaving a balance of 4,500. Mr Meagher said the accused was looking for two years to pay the balance and would be able to put aside 50 a week. Judge Johnson told the accused to set up a standing order of 50 a week for the injured party. If that was done, the judge said he would suspend the five-month sentence for three years A YOUNG man has received a lengthy prison sentence for his role in a violent incident in the city centre, after which he and an accomplice hailed a taxi to make good their escape. Jack Walsh, 19, who has an address at Woodlawn Park, Ballysimon, had pleaded guilty to a robbery charge relating to an incident which happened at William Street on July 18, 2016. During a sentencing hearing, Garda Dermot Cummins said the defendant and another young man approached a BMW car which had stopped at traffic lights near the junction of High Street shortly before 5pm. He told Judge Tom ODonnell the doors of the vehicle were opened and that the male driver was pulled from the vehicle and attacked on the street. The victim, aged in his late 20s, was kicked and punched by the culprits who then took his mobile phone and wallet. Garda Cummins said the culprits then attempted to flee but were followed into a nearby store by the victim while the other occupants of the car a woman and young child stayed in the vehicle. At the store, one of the assailants identified as Mr X threw shopping baskets at the victim while Mr Walsh remained near the entrance. Limerick Circuit Court was told the culprits then fled from the store and ran back towards the car where one of them punched the woman in the head. The youths then moved to the John Street area where they hailed a taxi and made their escape despite the victim's efforts to stop the taxi. Garda Cummins said having been alerted to the incident an investigation was launched and Jack Walsh was identified as a suspect on CCTV. He was arrested a week later and made some admissions during interview. John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said the incident, which happened in broad daylight, was very traumatic for the nine-year-old boy who was in the car. Garda Cummins confirmed no serious injuries were inflicted and that the victim declined the opportunity to make a victim impact statement. Jack Nicholas BL said there was some confusion as who did what on the day and he submitted his client was not the main instigator. He said Mr Walsh, who was 17 at the time, has had a difficult upbringing and has a troubled past. Judge ODonnell was told Mr X was prosecuted before the district court where he received a nine month prison sentence. Mr OSullivan said the DPP had directed trial on indictment in the case of Mr Walsh who has a large number of previous convictions some for serious offences. Having considered the matter, Judge Tom ODonnell imposed a three-year prison sentence which he back-dated to reflect the time which Mr Walsh has served in custody. SENIOR gardai support calls for a new garda station in Limerick, the Seanad has heard, writes Jess Casey. In recent months, there have been many calls for a new Garda station in Castletroy to serve the surrounding areas, which are currently covered by Henry Street. Henry Street Garda station serves not only city centre areas but also all the way out as far as Montpelier and Castleconnell, Fine Gael Senator Maria Byrne said. Realistically, the station does not have the resources or manpower to service those areas fully, she added. Recently there was a serious break-in, but, unfortunately, the people affected had to wait quite a while for assistance because there was no Garda car available to deal with the incident, she said, speaking in the Seanad. Local and national politicians in all parties and all of the residents' associations support the call for a new Garda station. I also understand it now has the support of senior gardai in Limerick. The initial response to the call for a new station in Castletroy was that it was not warranted, she added. Following the discussions with senior gardai, I understand the Garda is considering the question of whether a Garda station is warranted in the area. The gardai provide a wonderful service but this area is greatly expanding. In response, Minister of State Mary Mitchell OConnor said a new station for Castletroy is not included in the Garda Siochana building and refurbishment programme, which runs until 2021. The Minister (for Justice Charlie Flanagan) and I very much understand that people want to see a visible Garda presence in their own locality, she said. When appropriate, the work of local gardai is supported by a number of Garda national units such as the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the armed support units, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. An overall Garda workforce of 21,000 personnel is hoped to be achieved by 2021, Minister OConnor added. This includes 15,000 garda members, 2,000 reserve members and 4,000 civilians. A GOVERNMENT senator has called for the delivery of a 120 replacement beds at St Johns Hospital in order to alleviate pressure at University Hospital Limerick. Sen Maria Byrne questioned Minister of State Finian McGrath in Seanad Eireann if the replacement bed block, comprising four units of 30 beds each, would be included in this years HSE capital plan. The 642m capital plan, which has yet to be announced, will decide if a number of important infrastructure projects go ahead in the Mid-West, including the 60-bed modular block in Dooradoyle. While 60 modular beds have been started, it will be a while before they will be opened. We need to start planning for the future. Attendance numbers are up at both University Hospital Limerick and St John's Hospital. St John's Hospital is a minor injuries clinic but it does some day procedures and if it received 120 replacement beds on a permanent basis, it would be able to carry out more procedures and deal with more minor injuries. This would alleviate the pressure on University Hospital Limerick. The beds need to go ahead at the same time as in University Hospital Limerick because we need to alleviate the pressure. People come from all over the mid-west and Nenagh Hospital is now carrying out cataract operations but we need St John's Hospital and University Hospital Limerick to deliver at full capacity to meet the needs of the Mid-West, Sen Byrne said last week. Minister McGrath said the progress in relation to the project is subject to the availability of funding. The HSE capital plan will propose the projects that can be progressed in 2019 and beyond, having regard to the available capital funding, the number of large national projects under way, the cashflow requirements attaching to each project and the relevant priority. Projects that are currently under construction and contractually committed to will not be affected. Once the HSE finalises the capital plan for 2019, it will be submitted to the Minister for consideration. I will convey the Senator's considerations and concerns to the Minister. He said it is at an early stage of planning and appraisal, adding that he will raise the issue with Minister Simon Harris. Sen Byrne said: If we can get the small injuries clinic up and running properly, there can be more day procedures and it will take the pressure off UHL. HE worked for many years as a journalist with the Limerick Leader, but an indication of Fergal Keane's high-flying career in journalism was demonstrated last Thursday when he failed to make a high profile lecture on journalism at UL. The reason? Fergal, the Adjunct Professor of Journalism at UL, had to ditch his flight to Ireland at the last minute and instead head to the Sudan, to report on the military coup that had just taken place. The distinguished journalist, who is Africa editor with the BBC had to dash frantically to Sudan, but was able to talk to his audience at UL through a phone link. The topic was Journalism and Democracy under Siege: How can we combat the threat of fake news and the rise of populism. Journalism students and members of the public were able to question Mr Keane via a link to London Broadcaster Miriam OCallaghan did manage to make it and has told the audience there is reason to be positive about the future of the industry. I know it is a difficult time for journalism, certainly the financial model is broken and there is lots of fake news going around, to use that terrible term honed by Donald Trump, but I still think it is a brilliant time to be going into journalism, she said. It is a very exciting world, there is all the world of social media that can be used to our ends. The only advice I would give to all students is use all your social media, be enthusiastic, but facts are king, never ever run with a story until you know the facts are right. I work for a public service broadcaster and feel very privileged to do so, but I also think with that comes a lot of responsibility, which is why I am here today, because I think you should give back, but also because you need to always make sure your journalism is correct, fair, balanced and objective, she added. The conference also heard from successful UL graduates including Hilary McGann of CNN, Cillian Sherlock of RTE, Denise Calnan, Irish Independent, Andrew Roberts, The Journal, and Michelle Hogan, The Leinster Leader. There was also a panel discussion profiling ULs latest journalism and media academic research. The conference was sponsored by the UL President Dr Des Fitzgeralds UL Forum initiative, which was set up to engage public figures and academics of distinction in with the campus and external communities. Head of Journalism at UL Mary Dundon said: As we mark the milestone of 10 years of successful and well-regarded journalism programmes at UL, we are privileged to have these eminent speakers with us today. As a centre of exploration, analysis, learning and application, we want to address themes and topics of genuine public interest and we want to focus on issues of strategic importance. And there can be few more strategically important matters of concern to us in these challenging times than the role of the media and the need for ever-greater commitments by all those in the profession to speak truth to power and to ensure that our citizens are made aware of the truths that may be difficult and testing, but without which our societies will be gravely undermined, she added. ULs engagement with the wider world is a vital part of this institutions educational and research endeavours, she added. THE EVIDENCE against Patrick Quirke amounts to no more than suspicion and is not enough to convince a jury that he killed Bobby Ryan, a defence barrister has told the love rival murder trial at the Central Criminal Court. Bernard Condon SC also criticised the garda investigation and told the jury they had been given substandard evidence due to failures in the investigation. He asked them to imagine themselves or a person they love in his position, having done what he can to assist gardai and then having had everything he said interpreted in the worst possible way and be accused based on what Mary Lowry said and "a couple of internet searches". Mr Condon completed his eight-hour speech to the jury of six men and six women this Tuesday by asking them to acquit his client. The jury will return next Tuesday to hear the judge's charge from Justice Eileen Creedon before they begin their deliberations. Mr Quirke (50) of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, a part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight. Mr Ryan went missing on June 3, 2011 after leaving his girlfriend Mary Lowry's home at about 6.30am. His body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by the accused at Fawnagown, Tipperary 22 months later in April 2013. The prosecution has claimed Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry (52). Mr Condon reminded the jury that his client told gardai he was a "curious and inquisitive" person. He suggested that much of what the prosecution sought to use against him could be explained by these traits. You might say he is a "nosy parker," Mr Condon said, adding, "nobody would like to be called nosy but we all have flaws and personality quirks but that's not murder." He asked the jury to look fairly and with nuance at the evidence that Mr Quirke's computer was used to search for information on DNA and "human body decomposition" while Mr Ryan was still a missing person. You could not, he said, convict based on those searches. Mr Quirke told gardai he was "inquisitive by nature" and Mr Condon warned the jury of the "great risk" of making a leap based on those searches alone. He said: "If they move you, they will move you to no more than suspicion." They were general searches, he said, with no specific detail relating to this case, carried out in circumstances where Bobby Ryan was missing and Mr Quirke was following the disappearance in the news. There was, Mr Condon said, reference in the news to Trace Ireland and cadaver dogs having been used to try to find him. There is nothing in those searches to do with bodies decomposing in water or in an airtight container, which would be specific to this case. He asked the jury what weight they could place on the searches and whether they can be relied on. Counsel further reminded the jury of Mr Quirke's garda interviews in which he said that if he knew where Mr Ryan's body was and wanted to know what condition it was in all he had to do was open the tank and look. He noted that in interview Mr Quirke had referenced his deceased son when asked about the decomposition searches. Mr Condon said it may be "macabre" but people do the strangest things on their computers. "You are invited to weigh the evidence but you are not entitled to start and jump all the way to the end," he said. "You can't go straight to guilty on the basis of some searches on the internet over a couple of minutes in December." He described the prosecution as requiring "enormous leaps" and stated that the height of the prosecution case is suspicion. He told the jurors they don't know anything about what happened on June 3, 2011. All the jury has, Mr Condon said, is "this little piece which does not achieve what the prosecution wants it to achieve which is to convince you with certainty that this man, who has denied, denied, denied, actually killed Bobby Ryan." He said there is no hard evidence and this search alone is not enough to convict. Counsel called on the jury to start from the position that Mr Quirke is innocent and to imagine themselves or a person they love in his position having done what he can to assist gardai and having had everything he said interpreted in the worst possible way. To be accused based on what Mary Lowry said and a couple of internet searches. He concluded: "I ask you to acquit this man." Earlier Mr Condon criticised the garda investigation telling the jury they had been given substandard evidence due to failures in the investigation. He urged the jury to approach the prosecution's claims with "great care and skepticism". Mr Condon told the jury that gardai should have searched Mary Lowry's house at Fawnagowan, the last place Mr Ryan was reported alive in 2011. They should also have video taped the removal of Mr Ryan's body from the tank in 2013. They had failed to tell a pathologist that a concrete lid covering the tank cracked, dropping debris onto the body, he said. They should have used the garda sub aqua team to recover the body rather than the fire brigade. They had failed, he said, to record the finding of a hair clip in the tank beside the body, something Mr Condon suggested the prosecution was trying to "airbrush" out of the case. He said prosecution counsel Michael Bowman had "pooh poohed it". When senior investigating officer Inspector Patrick O'Callaghan was asked about the clip, counsel said he "jumped to" the suggestion that it could have belonged to the Lowry sisters who grew up on the farm. Mr Condon said the "more obvious" person would be Mary Lowry who had been living on the farm for the previous 15 years. Dr Khalid Jaber, the former deputy state pathologist, did not attend the scene where the body was found, something that Acting State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis and former Northern Ireland State Pathologist Professor Jack Crane said they would have done. Dr Jaber retained only one maggot from the body to be analyzed by an entomologist and did not note if it was alive or dead when he found it, Mr Condon said. He also failed to retain any of the adult flies seen on the body. Counsel said it was "extraordinary" that gardai emptied onto the ground the contents of the vacuum tanker which Mr Quirke said he used to draw water from the tank before discovering the body. A sixth class student, Mr Condon suggested, could have come up with the idea to empty the contents into buckets or bringing the tanker to another location to be measured and analysed. He said the prosecution was now seeking to draw inferences against Mr Quirke based on the assertion of one garda who estimated that only a small amount of water came out of the tanker. Mr Condon asked the jury if they were satisfied that gardai at the scene had maintained evidence with such "robustness" that they would have no criticism and no sleepless nights. He further asked if they could be satisfied that the hair clip had been excluded and does not amount to a reasonable doubt. The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has described electoral corruption as the worst form of corruption as it undermines the will of the people and invests power in illegitimate hands. According to Magu, a government that pays its way into power is hardly expected to be accountable; its priority upon assumption of office would be how to recoup its investment. That is the open sesame to corruption in public life, a phenomenon that has held us down as a nation. Magu who spoke through the Secretary of the Commission, Ola Olukoyede at the National Policy Dialogue on Eradicating Electoral Corruption (Vote-Buying) at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, described the timing of the dialogue as apt. He said the dialogue was critical to our collective aspiration to clean up the institutions and process of election management for the good governance of our nation. He said: It was in appreciation of the damage, which the incidence of vote buying does to the integrity of our electoral processes that we resolved to play a more active role in stemming the practice in the just concluded general election. The EFCCs intervention was moderated by our understanding of the pattern of vote buying in the elections that were held in two states, Ekiti and Osun states, in 2018. To stem the ugly practice, the Commission decided to employ a combination of preventive and enforcement strategies. Before the political actors became aware that the commission had become unusually interested in the electoral processes, the EFFC held sensitization meetings with critical stakeholders in the financial sector, impressing on them the need not to lend their institutions to be used as vehicles to subvert the will of the people. Some of the stakeholders included bankers and Bureau De Change Operators. Our engagement with them was informed by our knowledge of the roles which some of them played during the 2015 general election, helping politicians to move huge sums of money which were intended to be used to compromise election officials and other actors in the electoral process. He further explained that the Commission had to engage with law enforcement agencies with anti-money laundering mandate in neighbouring countries to check incidence of illicit financial flows before, during and after the general elections. He said: Additionally, we stepped up surveillance of financial system, to track suspicious cash movement which led to some arrests. These measures, we believe, helped to reduce the amount of cash available to politicians for vote buying. But the intervention that was most visible to politician actors and the electorates was the unprecedented step to physically police all the polling stations and collation centres to deter prospective vote buyers and sellers. From Birnin-Kebbi to Ilorin, from Sokoto to Awka, from Kano to Abeokuta, from Lafia to Port Harcourt, officers of the Commission were massively deployed across the country to polling units and collation centres to disrupt vote buying and arrest offenders. Some of the officers were kitted in customized EFCC jackets while many wore plain clothes." He said the officers made some arrests and seized money running into several millions of Naira. He said: While prosecution of a number of offenders are currently ongoing, we have secured the conviction of a local government councillor in Gombe State for vote buying and also finalizing arrangement to file charges against more offenders and those arrested for vote buying and others with large sums of money which purpose they could not explain. But beyond the arrests, the presence of EFCC operatives at polling stations and collation centres was a major deterrence to vote buyers. We believe that the fear of possible arrest by the commission dissuaded many who would have turned such voting centres into trading posts for votes. The EFCC acting chairman said the EFCC's intervention was driven by passion to do something to engender public confidence in our electoral process, drawing from our experience of financial infractions in previous elections. It was not the product of any structured blueprint or policy. This is why I welcome this initiative by the ICPC. He further said: No doubt, there is a lot that the law enforcement community in Nigeria can benefit from such a blueprint, which should also clearly spell out rules of engagement agencies in the electoral process. Such blueprint when formulated will, hopefully address some of the criticisms against the participation of security and law enforcement organisations in the electoral process." Justice I.M. Sani of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has convicted and sentenced Sata Owugha Clinton and Bolounmubofa Blessing Soroh to one year imprisonment for impersonation and using the identity of a petitioner to enrol in the Federal Government of Nigeria's N-POWER Social Welfare scheme. The convicts were arraigned by the Port Harcourt's Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on impersonation under Section 22(3) (a) of the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22(4) of the same Act. Clinton and Soroh got into trouble when they used the name and identity of Lovedy Chiamaka Uzor to enrol in the welfare scheme and in the process obtained the sum of N360,000 (Three Hundred and Sixty Thousand Naira only) from the scheme. They were able to open a bank account in the name of Uzor because she also applied for the scheme, but stopped her application mid-way, fearing that the scheme may be a scam. The convicts capitalized on this and completed the enrolment processes in the victim's name. The victim got wind of their fraudulent activities when she contacted her bank and found out that the convicts were already receiving payments from the scheme in her name. The charge reads: "That you, Sata Owugha Clinton and Bolounmubofa Blessing Soroh on or about the 10th of October, 2017 at Zenith Bank within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did fraudulently impersonate one Loveday Chiamaka Uzor with intent to gain advantage for yourselves thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(3) (a) of the Cybercrimes prohibition, Prevention Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22(4) of the same Act." They pleaded "guilty" to the charge. In view of their pleas, prosecuting counsel, Alao Rashidat, prayed the court to sentence the defendants for the offence of impersonation accordingly as contained in the Cybercrimes Prohibition, Prevention Act. Justice Sani, thereafter, convicted and sentenced them to one year in prison. Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has accused the National Assembly of towing with the nations security. Falana who was a guest on Channels TV's Sunrise Daily in Lagos, faulted the lawmakers for not creating state police. With profound respect, the members of the National Assembly are toying with the security of our country. How can the Senate in this stage and time be passing resolution asking for state police? Or the House of Representatives requesting the President to come and address the members of the National Assembly on the security situation in the country, he stated. Falanas statement follows a series of attacks and security threats in several parts of the country, notably bandits in some northwestern states and kidnapping for ransom. The learned lawyer, however, believes that the creation of state police would help address the numerous threats considering the shortage of police personnel for the teeming Nigerians. Why have they (the lawmakers) not moved the motion for the creation of state police? he asked. While lamenting the spate of attacks, Falana recalled that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was empowered by the President Olusegun Obasanjos administration to bear arms in addressing security challenges then. Jiji.ng - the largest classifieds marketplace in Nigeria has reached an agreement to redirect OLX users in Nigeria to Jiji and to acquire OLX businesses in four other countries, building a leading pan-African classifieds business. Jiji and OLX today announced that both companies have reached an agreement under which Jiji will acquire OLX businesses in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, pending certain regulatory approvals, and OLX users in Nigeria will be redirected to Jiji. Joining Jiji's family will allow OLX users in these countries to benefit from Jijis market-leading products and services. OLX reach, combined with Jijis own proprietary search and delivery algorithms, will create a beneficial combination, giving users a radically streamlined experience and making the buying and selling process more convenient. Anton Volyansky, CEO and co-founder of Jiji commented: Users will always come first for us. We warmly welcome OLXs customers to the Jiji family and we look forward to our new customers joining Jiji on its journey to empower the lives of its customers by providing a safer, more secure and enjoyable online shopping experience. Yuliy Shenfeld, Jiji Nigeria's country manager, said This acquisition is the next step to fulfill our promise in making the Nigerian economy thrive by helping each and every Nigerian take their business online. So far, thanks to Jiji, more than 300,000 businesses have increased their sales and improved their family fortunes. This was made possible by millions of customers who placed their trust in Jiji for the best prices and the widest range of products and services. In the wake of this transaction, the Jiji team of more than 500 people is excited to build a truly Pan-African classifieds empire with Nigeria being the epicenter. Sjoerd Nikkelen, General Manager of OLX in Africa, Middle East and Asia comments "We are proud of our achievements in Africa, including the sustainable businesses we have built in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. We continually evaluate our portfolio of classifieds businesses to ensure a disciplined approach to how and where we allocate capital and management time. With our focus on accelerating the growth of other markets, now is an opportune time to sell our interests in these markets. We are pleased that Jiji will continue to provide the exceptional quality of products and services that the customers in these countries have come to know and enjoy from OLX. Following closing of the transaction (which is expected to occur once certain regulatory approvals have been obtained), all users of the sell-and-buy classifieds websites of OLX Nigeria, OLX Ghana, OLX Kenya, OLX Tanzania, and OLX Uganda will be redirected to Jiji. The Jiji team will strive to make the transfer seamless and to provide a high-quality user experience across all geographies. In light of this expansion, Jiji is expanding its Sales team in Lagos. To apply, forward your CV to [email protected] with the subject Sales Dream Job. About Jiji. Jiji is a leading classifieds marketplace in Africa. Starting from Nigeria, the company expanded to four new geographies in 2019. The consolidated audiences of Jiji and OLX will reach by end of the year a single user base of more than 10,000,000 monthly unique users. Currently, more than a million ads are live on Jiji at any given time. In 2018, the Jiji app was #1 by downloads in the Shopping category for Android users in Nigeria, and it is currently the highest rated app in Nigerian e-commerce. About OLX. OLX is part of OLX Group, a global tech company which operates a network of market-leading online classifieds platforms across five continents. OLX Group is a Naspers company, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Around a fifth of the worlds population improve their daily lives by using the products and services from companies that Naspers operates and invests in. Actress Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has said that her recent tweet complaining about the bad state of the economy is not because she has stopped ''receiving money from politicians''. Recall that yesterday, Omotola via her twitter handle, called out President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, pointing out that Nigeria has become hellish under their watch as people are suffering and living in penury. Reacting to her outburst, President Buhari's aide, Bashir Ahmad, said that Nigerians that are making clean money are not complaining. ''Madam Omotola those who are working for CLEAN money are not complaining and will never refer our dear country as hellish. In Kano State alone, from 2015 to 2018, no fewer than 200 medium and small scale rice milling centres emerged. For that, billions circulated among millions. Omotola this morning took to her twitter handle to react to the insinuation that her outburst was because politicians in the Buhari-led government do not give her free money. She also tweeted when asked if she would reply Bashir again. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Buhari to tender his West African Examination Certificate, to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. The party stated this while reacting to the comment made by the spokesperson of the Buhari Campaign Orgnaization, Festus Keyamo, who in a recent interview with Channels TV, said having a WAEC certificate is not a prerequisite to run for President or Governor in Nigeria. In a statement signed and released by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party also called on Nigerians to note that in claiming that an aspirant does not need WAEC certificate, but the ability to speak English, to contest for the office of the President, the Buhari Presidency, through Festus Keyamo, has finally admitted that President Buhari does not have a WAEC certificate as he claimed in his INEC form. According to the party, it is completely inexcusable for President Buhari to swear to an affidavit to claim an educational qualification he does not possess. A military officer, his wife (also a soldier) and four others have been reported dead following Sunday's April 15 torrential rains in Accra, Ghana. The soldier, according to the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) was driving a military pickup when he skidded off the Tema Motorway and ran into a drain. There were two other passengers in the car with him including his wife and all of them are reported dead. Additionally, two other persons have been reported dead by NADMO. NADMO has announced retrieving one body so far in Accra while still searching for the rest of the bodies. The deaths occurred in Accra and along the Motorway after nearly three hours of rains. Two persons are also reported missing. A 37-year-old Nigerian man, Shehu Bello Akharuku and his Cambodian wife, Kim Sreykouch, 24, were last week and detained in Prey Sar prison, Cambodia on fraud charges, allegedly at the request of US Embassy staff. According to information from the Phnom Penh Court, on the morning of April 3, following a complaint from the US Embassy in Cambodia, the police of the Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime Department of the Ministry of Interior, delivered the Nigerian man and his Cambodian wife to appear before the court. Mr. Koy Chao, the Phnom Penh court judge then issued a detention order for the two suspects to be held at Prey Sar prison on charges of fraud. A four-year-old boy has had his entire arm ripped off by his grandmother' ... A view of the newly restored Holy Stairs (Scala Sancta), which, according to the Catholic Church, were used by Jesus on the way to his crucifixion. Over the past week, several news outlets have reported that the "Holy Stairs" said to have been climbed by Jesus on his way to face trial have been restored and reopened in Rome. Yes, the stairs are restored, the wooden casing covering them has been removed for the first time in nearly 300 years, and they will remain open until June 9. But experts told Live Science that it's highly unlikely Jesus actually climbed these stairs. The Holy Stairs (also known as the Scala Sancta or Scala Santa) consist of 28 marble steps that, according to legend, are from the praetorium in Jerusalem. That was a palace used by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea who presided over the trial of Jesus that ended in Jesus being crucified. Legend has it that Jesus walked up the steps on his way to trial and that Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine (who reigned from the year 306 to 337), brought the stairs to Rome after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. [Religious Mysteries: 8 Alleged Relics of Jesus] For centuries, it has been a tradition that visitors who wish to climb up the stairs do so on their knees. For the last 300 years, the marble steps have been covered with wood to protect them; however, the wood was removed during the restoration, allowing the stairs to be seen for the first time in April. Why Jesus probably didn't climb the stairs Archaeologists and historians contacted by Live Science said that the stairs are probably not from the palace used by Pontius Pilate. "From a scientific standpoint, I put the likelihood that these steps came from Pilate's palace in Jerusalem at about zero," said Jodi Magness, an archaeologist and professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Other experts noted some of the historical discrepancies that make this Jesus claim highly unlikely. [Proof of Jesus Christ? 6 Pieces of Evidence Debated] "Since very little marble was used in [Israel-Palestine] prior to the second century, there is very little chance, I am afraid, that the staircase is authentic," said Orit Peleg-Barkat, a lecturer at the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem. And the timeline doesn't really work. "Pilate's palace was destroyed with the rest of Jerusalem by the Romans in [the year] 70 and razed to the ground," long before Helena visited the Holy Land, Magness said. Also Pilate's palace would have originally been built by King Herod and neither Herod, nor anyone else in his kingdom, used marble for construction. "Marble is not found anywhere in Palestine and was almost never used in construction, certainly not in Herod's time or before 70 for that matter," Magness added. Analysis of the surviving palaces and other structures built by King Herod shows that "local materials covered with plaster or stucco in imitation of marble" were used, Magness said. "Even Herod's recently discovered mausoleum at Herodium is constructed of local white stone, not marble," Magness said. The Holy Stairs, on the other hand, "are clearly genuine marble, presumably from somewhere in the Aegean [Sea region] I assume that scientific analyses could determine the source," Magness said. Patrick Geary, a professor of medieval history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, said that "there is no reason to believe other than faith that these steps were from the Roman praetorium in Jerusalem." Geary has done an extensive amount of research and writing on medieval relics, including those linked to the historical Jesus. The legend that describes Helena bringing the stairs to Jerusalem also claims that she found a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, Geary said. Julia Smith, a professor of medieval history at the University of Oxford who has also researched medieval relics, agreed that the stairs are likely not those used by Jesus. "In popular legend, the steps were part of Pilate's palace in Jerusalem and then brought to Rome by Helena. It is precisely that a legend." Smith said that the stairs may have been an attempt to create a replica. "There are many aspects of the topography of Jerusalem which were replicated in Rome by being mapped onto existing structures in the city, and in my view, the Scala Sancta is one of them." While Jesus probably did not use these steps, "the tradition and not the archaeological truth is what matters" to many people, Peleg-Barkat said. Originally published on Live Science. This image by the Event Horizon Telescope project shows the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the M87 galaxy. DENVER Last week, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) released the first-ever image of a black hole's shadow cast against the hot gas of its accretion disk. That image, of the black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87), was front page news all over the world. Soon, the EHT will produce the first movie of that hot gas whirling chaotically around the shadow, said project leaders who spoke Sunday (April 14) here at the April meeting of the American Physical Society. The EHT isn't a single telescope. Rather, it's a network of radio telescopes all over the world making precisely timed recordings of radio waves all together, and these recordings can be combined such that the different telescope all act as one. As more individual radio telescopes join the EHT and the team updates the project's recording technology, the detail of the images should increase dramatically, Shep Doeleman, the Harvard University astronomer who lead the EHT project said in his talk. And then, the team should be able to produce movies of black holes in action, he said. "It turns out that even now, with what we have, we may be able, with certain prior assumptions, to look at rotational signatures [evidence of the accretion disk swirling around the event horizon]," Doeleman said. "And then, if we had many more stations, then we could really start to see in real time movies of the black hole accretion and rotation." [9 Ideas About Black Holes That Will Blow Your Mind] In the case of the black hole in M87, Doeleman told Live Science after his talk, making a movie will be pretty straightforward. The black hole is enormous, even for a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy: It's 6.5 billion times the mass of Earth's sun, with its event horizon the point beyond which not even light can return enclosing a sphere as wide as our entire solar system. So, the hot matter of this black hole's accretion disk takes a long time to make a single trek around the object. "The time scale over which [M87] changes appreciably is greater than a day. That's great," Doeleman said, because it means the EHT to shoot a movie of the object one frame at a time. "We can make our image. Then, if we want to make another one, or a time-lapse movie, then we just go out the next day or the next week. And we might do it seven weeks in a row and get seven frames of a movie and then kind of see something move around in that way," he said But the M87 black hole isn't the only supermassive black hole that the EHT is observing. The team is also looking at Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our own galaxy, and plans to release the first image of that object soon. And the EHT researchers also aim to make movies of that much nearer and better-studied black hole, but that project will be more complicated, Doeleman said. [11 Fascinating Facts About Our Milky Way Galaxy] SagA* is about 1,000 times less massive than the M87 black hole, Doeleman said, so the image changes 1,000 times more quickly. "So, what that means is it will change in minutes or hours," Doeleman said. "You have to develop a fundamentally different algorithm, because it's as if you have the lens cap off on your camera and something's moving while you're taking an exposure." To make a movie, he said, the EHT would not only have to collect all the data necessary to produce an image of the black hole, but also break up that data up into different chunks by time. Next, the team would compare those chunks to one another using sophisticated algorithms to figure out how the image changed even as it was being captured. "We have to figure out a way to look at the first little bit of data, and then the second little bit of data, and then to make a movie," he said. "So members of our team are working on what we call dynamical imaging." This approach uses models of how the image would be expected to move, comparing those models to the actual data to see if it fits. "You've got to be smart and figure out how data from this time slice is related to that time slice right after," Doeleman said. "So, for example, you could say, 'OK, you can move but you can't move that far.'" Using those sorts of constraints, he said, the team can convert even very limited amounts of data from any given minute into complete pictures of SagA* in motion. As a result, the team expects to make movies of the smaller black hole in a single night. Those movies, said Avery Broderick, an astrophysicist at the University of Waterloo in Canada who works on interpreting the EHT's images, should reveal new details about the behavior of accretion disks around black holes, including how they gobble up matter. "We'll be able to map space-times by looking at black hole cinema, not portraiture," Broderick said. Originally published on Live Science. DENVER You've seen the first close-up of a black hole. Now, get ready to see the faint wisps of matter surrounding the object. The international team responsible for the first-ever image of a black hole's shadow already has plans to take a better, more detailed image. And that image could reveal new details about the matter and magnetic fields wrapped around the supermassive, distant object at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87). More-detailed images, along with movies of the black hole that are already in the works, could help explain how black holes gobble up matter from the rings of hot gas swirling around them (called accretion disks) and how the objects produce bright jets of superfast matter on the scale of galaxies. That's according to researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team who spoke to a crowd of physicists here at the American Physical Society's April meeting. [9 Ideas About Black Holes That Will Blow Your Mind] To image the M87 black hole in more detail, the researchers need to alter their approach, said Shep Doeleman, the Harvard University astronomer who lead the EHT team. Specifically, the scientists need to increase the frequency of the radio waves they're studying and add new radio telescopes to the EHT network. Both projects are already underway, he said, and should sharpen the already remarkably sharp image. (The existing image really is remarkably sharp when you consider that the supermassive object in question is so far away that, as viewed from Earth, it looks no bigger than an orange on the surface of the moon.) In particular, the team hopes to image curling wisps of duller matter that simulations suggest should surround that bright ring already pictured, said Avery Broderick, an astrophysicist at the University of Waterloo in Canada who works on interpreting data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The shapes of those wisps should tell physicists whether a long-held theory of how matter gets knocked from a black hole's accretion disk into its throat is correct. "One of the stories that we tell our graduate students is that the 'magneto-rotational instability' drives accretion," or the process in which black holes suck in nearby gas, Broderick said. Physicists believe, he explained to Live Science after the talk, that as turbulence shakes the hot material of the accretion disk, its shaking particles magnetically tug on each other across vast distances. That magnetic tugging causes some of the whirling matter to slow down and fall out of orbit past the event horizon and into the black hole; this material forms the wisps that the researchers hope to study. "But that's largely a story born of ignorance and failed imagination," Broderick told the crowd at his talk, "because we don't know what else would do it, and we've tried" to find alternative explanations. A more detailed image could confirm or reject that theory, he said. "What those wisps would do is they would give you a way to directly test that, because you're looking at [the direct result of magnetic turbulence]," he said. Careful imaging of the wisps, combined with an effort to image the black hole in motion, would help physicists understand, in unprecedented detail, how black holes eat and grow, Broderick said. At the same time, better images of the fainter material around the black hole might reveal structures that would help the team explain those jets of matter, Doeleman told Live Science. The researchers hope to capture images of matter twisting away from the accretion disk and forward, almost in the direction of Earth, following the actual path of M87's bright jet. "We've opened a window, and we're not done looking through it," he said. "Stay tuned." Originally published on Live Science. Artist's concept of 'Oumuamua, an interstellar object that was discovered zooming through our solar system in 2017. A new study determined that a small meteor that hit Earth in 2014 came from interstellar space as well. The first meteor to hit Earth from interstellar space and the second known interstellar visitor overall may have just been discovered, a new study finds. Interstellar meteors may be common, and could potentially help life travel from star to star, researchers added. The first known visitor from interstellar space, a cigar-shaped object named 'Oumuamua, was detected in 2017. Scientists deduced the origins of the 1,300-foot-long (400 meters) object from its speed and trajectory, which suggests it may have come from another star, or perhaps two. Related: 'Oumuamua: Our 1st Known Interstellar Visitor Explained in Photos Avi Loeb, the chair of astronomy at Harvard University, noted that one would expect smaller interstellar visitors would be far more common, with some of them perhaps colliding with Earth often enough to be noticeable. Now Loeb and study lead author Amir Siraj, an undergraduate student at Harvard University, suggested they may have detected one such interstellar meteor, the solar system's second known interstellar visitor. The scientists analyzed the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies' catalog of meteor events detected by U.S. government sensors. They focused on the fastest meteors, because a high speed suggests a meteor is potentially not gravitationally bound to the sun and thus may originate from outside the solar system. The researchers identified a meteor about 3 feet (0.9 meters) wide that was detected on Jan. 8, 2014, at an altitude of 11.6 miles (18.7 kilometers) over a point near Papua New Guinea's Manus Island in the South Pacific. Its high speed of about 134,200 mph (216,000 km/h) and its trajectory suggested it came from outside the solar system, the scientists said. "We can use the atmosphere of the Earth as the detector for these meteors, which are too small to otherwise see," Loeb told Space.com. The meteor's velocity suggested it received a gravitational boost during its journey, perhaps from the deep interior of a planetary system, or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way. "You can imagine that if these meteors were ejected from the habitable zone of a star, they could help transfer life from one planetary system to another," Loeb said. The scientists analyzed about 30 years of data. In addition to the interstellar meteor they discovered, they also noted two other meteors that traveled at about the same speeds. However, Siraj and Loeb noted the orbit of one of these meteors suggested it was gravitationally bound to the sun, while it was uncertain whether the other was interstellar or not. Assuming Earth sees three meteors with potential interstellar origins every 30 years or so, the researchers estimated there are about a million such objects per cubic astronomical unit in our galaxy. (One astronomical unit, or AU, is the average distance between Earth and the sun about 93 million miles, or 150 million km.) This suggests each nearby star might gravitationally sling about 60 billion trillion such rocks from its system, equal to about 0.2 to 20 times the mass of Earth. Ten billion trillion is "roughly the number of stars in the observable universe," Loeb said. Siraj and Loeb noted that analyzing the gaseous debris of interstellar meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere could shed light on the composition of interstellar objects, about which much remains uncertain. In the future, astronomers may want to set up an alert system that automatically trains telescopes on meteors traveling at high speeds to analyze their gaseous debris, Loeb said. "From that, we could infer the compositions of interstellar meteors," he said. The scientists detailed their findings in a paper that has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters. You can read a preprint of it for free at arXiv.org. Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcomor Facebook. The voyage to Mars will expose astronauts to deadly levels of cosmic radiation. But a group of college students has a plan to shield spacecraft from radiation. DENVER A group of undergrad students is developing a magnetic shield to defend interplanetary astronauts from the intense cosmic radiation between Earth and Mars. The students, from Drake University in Iowa, presented their project in the poster session Saturday (April 13) at the April meeting of the American Physical Society. Their MISSFIT (Magneto-Ionization Spacecraft Shield for Interplanetary Travel) design uses a powerful magnetic shield that, like Earth's magnetosphere, protects the planet from high-energy particles. The defense system also incorporates "passive" shielding to mimic the ionosphere Earth's second layer of defense. [When Space Attacks: The 6 Craziest Meteor Impacts] With help from a small NASA grant through the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, experiments are already underway on the passive shielding, which could protect astronauts from high-energy gamma-rays that a magnetic shield cant stop. The hope, said Lorien MacEnulty, a junior at Drake and a member of the team, is to solve a key safety problem that's delayed an eventual NASA mission to Mars: long-term exposure to interplanetary radiation. Right now, the students are experimenting with a number of radiation-blocking fabrics that might be light enough to mount on a spacecraft. "We expose [the fabrics] to radiation," MacEnulty told Live Science. "Then we count how many particles make it through the layers of fabric." A long process of data collection, and statistical analysis, will help determine which fabrics might make most sense to coat the spacecraft with, said Doug Drake, a junior at Drake University who works on experiments and coding simulations of particle trajectories. But the fabrics aren't the whole story. The students assume that NASA's eventual Mars-bound spacecraft will be more or less a long cylinder, rotating to generate artificial gravity, MacEnulty said "At the ends of that capsule we'd have two superconducting magnets, powered by nuclear reactors," she said. Those magnets wouldn't divert gamma-rays. But they would cause charged alpha particles another component of cosmic rays that could strike the spacecraft and emit X-rays to move toward the ends of the spacecraft, which would be capped by two bubbles of material filled with a mixture of ionized gas that mimics Earth's ionosphere. As the alpha particles zoom through this ionized gas, they would lose energy in a process similar to the one that produces auroras in the ionosphere near Earth's own North and South Poles. A schematic of the MISSFIT team's nuclear-powered magnetic shield design. (Image credit: D. Atri-Schuller, S. Cusick, K. Finger, T. Johnson, A. Lyon, L. MacEnulty, D. Madison, M. McCord, G. Menning, A. Petridis (Mentor), M. Schnurr, W. Thomas) The students don't yet know how powerful these magnets would have to be. But the team thinks they could be powered with nuclear reactors that would fit on a spacecraft. Within the next one or two years, MacEnulty said, the group hopes to get its first paper published, and down the road to drive more funding toward their work. "This is going to be a multiyear project," she said. "We're only undergraduates, and we're doing this by ourselves [with the oversight of Drake professor and physicist Athanasios Petridis]." Originally published on Live Science. Matthew Busch, For The San Antonio Express-News / For The San Antonio Express-News San Antonio's Six Flags Fiesta Texas got a visit from one of Bravo's newest celebrities over the weekend. Paulina Madrazo, a cast member of the Mexico City-based Bravo series "Mexican Dynasties," visited the amusement park and posted multiple Instagram photos showing her jaunts around town. The series premiered in February and focuses on the "glam and complex" clans of the country's elite. The star, who is a part of the luxury car dynasty on the show along with her brother Oscar, posted a picture of herself with Fiesta Texas' waterfall, a popular photo opportunity for the park. RELATED: Instagram photos show what the 'Texicanas' have been up to since production wrapped up "What is life for if not to enjoy it," she captioned the shot. Other posts show her riding a roller coaster for a "Sunday Funday adventure" and basking in the "Texas sunset." Fans quickly replied to the posts, excited that the "Bravolebrity" was in San Antonio. "I'm glad you love San Antonio," one fan said, followed by another who asked if she'd stay for Fiesta. Other photos from the weekend show Madrazo at The Shops at La Cantera. "Love being here," she captioned one of the pictures. It's unclear if any filming for the show or the Padrazo's talk show, "Que Madrazo," happened during her visit. No other Mexican Dynasties cast members posted from San Antonio. 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 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. A man has been arrested for sexually assaulting two sisters, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Laredo police. Pedro Jimenez Gonzalez, 61, was served with an arrest warrant that charged him with aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact. He remained behind bars at the Webb County Jail as of Monday, according to custody records. READ ALSO: 'Sufficient evidentiary findings' in arrest of man accused of killing soldier at Laredo apartment In October, Laredo police responded to the local Child Protective Services office after a CPS investigator told LPD that he had received a call from Christen Middle School regarding a sexual assault report. A girl stated that Jimenez had touched her breasts on New Year's Day, police said. She told LPD that Jimenez was drunk when it happened, according to the affidavit. She also alleged that Jimenez would kiss her on the lips on multiple occasions. This made her feel uncomfortable, according to court documents. In another alleged incident, the girl's sibling, who is 17 years old, told police that she was on a trip in San Antonio for a Disney audition when she was about 14 or 15 years old. RELATED: Laredo man found guilty of sexually assaulting teenage girl, sentenced to 15 years She stated she was asleep in a hotel when she felt a hand touch her private part, the affidavit said. Jimenez was identified as the suspect, LPD said. He denied the allegations against him, according to police. The sisters underwent a forensic interview at the Children's Advocacy Center, where they provided more details of the sexual abuse, LPD said. When Toniette Brown moved to Texas two years ago, she never thought that she would be receiving any honors in her new community, but she was nominated and named the Liberty County Sheriffs Office Employee of the Month by command staff at their monthly personnel meeting. Brown was nominated by a colleague who said the night shift dispatcher possessed the hard-working skills, ethics and willingness to assist the public and anyone within the agency on any matter that might come her way. Brown moved to Texas from Birmingham, Alabama and was hired to work in March of 2016. She is no stranger to the judicial system having worked for an organization called Gateway, a non-profit organization dealing with children who find themselves in foster homes after some court action had placed them there. Being exposed to what the legal system does after court rulings is what drew Brown to law enforcement in order to see what takes place before cases find their way into the court system. This, along with a strong desire to be involved in a profession that requires a great deal of multi-tasking, could not have landed Brown in a more perfect setting than being a dispatcher, said Chief Deputy Don Neyland. It is not uncommon to see the LCSO dispatchers with a telephone up to both ears while talking to a deputy on the radio and running some type of record check on the computer all at the same time, he said. All this going on constantly for a 12-hour shift can have a tendency to drain the resolve of most people. When the flow of information that goes into and out of the dispatchers office is compared with a ten-year span from 2008 when the agency handled 15,361 calls for service to 2018 where that office handled an increased total to 44,931 calls for service, the personality and ability to function under such a work load speaks for itself. Yet, Toniette Brown has maintained a ready smile and what one would describe as a sunny personality which is one of her most obvious attributes when dealing with fellow co-workers or the public, the chief said. Has she ever had second thoughts about becoming a dispatcher? Perhaps, when she first started as a rookie dispatcher. An off-duty deputy attempted to assist the victim of an overturned vehicle when the driver, for no apparent reason, attack the deputy. The wife of the deputy called the dispatcher for an assist the officer response and the ensuing radio traffic became congested. Brown said, This freaked me out and made me wonder if this job was for me but also made me realize if I was going to do this job, I would have to get better. A single mom with a daughter in Liberty High School nearing graduation leaves little time for hobbies but her college background is quite impressive. Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from the University of Nebraska as well as a graduate certificate in geographical information from the Jacksonville campus of Alabama State University. Presently she is working towards a degree in public administration with a minor in environmental science. Her desire to advance her dispatcher classification to the Master level is certainly not unrealistic with her background in education. It is with appreciation and deep respect that LCSO personnel ask the public to join them in thanking this hard working dispatcher and to extend a hearty congratulation to Toniette Brown for being selected as the Employee of the Month for April 2019. dtaylor@hcnonline.com WASHINGTON - The Mueller report is expected to be released Thursday, but we may not learn that much. Attorney General William Barr has said he'll redact along four broad categories, meaning key information could remain undisclosed. As a result, congressional Democrats are gearing up to fight for the unredacted report. It's probably the only chance lawmakers and the public have to learn all that special counsel Robert Mueller found in his nearly two-year investigation into Russian collusion and how it intersected with the Trump campaign. Here's a guide to the coming, possibly lengthy legal battle over the Mueller report: - Congress subpoenas this report from the Justice Department This is the opening salvo from Democrats in Congress. And it will center on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Justice Department. Its chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., has said he has every intention of issuing a subpoena to demand that Barr hand over the full report to Congress - he already had his committee vote (along party lines) to authorize him to issue it. "Anything short of the entire report and underlying evidence would be inadequate," Nadler said. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has used his authority as head of the House Intelligence Committee to request any information in the report related to "the counterintelligence investigation" - which, translated, means anything tied to Russia's attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. (The top Republican on the committee backs him up on this request.) Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., chairman of a House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department's budget, hasn't ruled out withholding or putting conditions on the agency's budget until Barr complies. Don't expect Barr to hand over the full report now that it's subpoenaed. He's argued that it contains information that by law should remain secret, such as grand jury testimony, classified information, information related to ongoing investigations and information that could "unduly infringe" on people's personal privacy. That means much of it won't be readable, because most of the investigation centered around testimony before a grand jury. "My strong suspicion is a number of those phrases will read: 'by . . . the . . . of . . . therefore,' " said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola University. - Congress goes to court Once Barr ignores the subpoena, Congress can take the attorney general to court and ask a judge to weigh in. Nadler has said he's ready to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court, but legal experts are divided on whether that will work. The main sticking point here is grand jury information, which is how Mueller got much of his testimony. By law, grand jury testimony is supposed to remain secret save for a few exceptions. One notable exception is for related judicial proceedings. Could Congress convince a judge that it's conducting a related judicial investigation and thus needs the grand jury information in the Mueller report? Nadler told reporters he's considering arguing that the grand-jury material would be relevant to any impeachment proceedings Congress might want to undertake. Jack Sharman, a former counsel to Congress during the Whitewater investigation in the 1990s, is skeptical that will work. "Usually when Congress goes to court, it loses," he said. "Either because it somehow lacks standing, the legal right to be there in the first place. Or because the court punts, saying it's a political question." But Nelson Cunningham, a former federal prosecutor under Rudy Giuliani and a top lawyer in the Clinton White House, thinks Congress has a shot, since there's legal precedent for the Justice Department to hand this kind of information over. In the 1970s, Congress got the special counsel report for the Watergate investigation after asking a court for it. The catch for Congress: That 1974 decision allowed them to see the Watergate report, but they couldn't share it with the public. - Congress could ask for some information but not all If lawmakers decide they won't win the battle for the full report, they could try to argue in court that Barr was overzealous in his redactions and that he should have blacked out a paragraph, not a whole page. The problem for Congress is that they don't know what they don't know, Levinson pointed out. How can they argue that a blacked-out line is something that should be public when they don't know what that line says? "Congress is, in a way, flying without flight instruments to the extent they just don't know," she said. Barr could offer up something to try to avoid a legal battle Earlier this month, Barr told Congress he's willing to consider redactions on a case-by-case basis. That didn't satisfy lawmakers then and it probably won't now. But perhaps it's indicative of Barr's willingness to compromise to avoid a court battle. He could hold a closed-door session with just key lawmakers to see the full report. That's how the Justice Department already briefs Congress on highly classified information. - Trump or Barr could drag this out so long that the urgency for the report fizzles There's a ticking clock on all this: the 2020 election. It doesn't preclude any legal battle for the report, but it could make it politically difficult for Democrats in Congress to keep going. Trump could argue Democrats are laying the groundwork to ultimately impeach him rather than let an election take place. That's a politically potent argument the closer it gets to November 2020, so it's in Trump's favor for Barr to drag out judicial proceedings with bureaucratic end-runs. - Congress could begin impeachment proceedings against Barr Remember how Congress started all this by subpoenaing Barr to hand over the full report? If he doesn't comply, Congress could vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, and Democrats ostensibly have enough votes in the House of Representatives to do this, if most in the party agree. But would Barr's own Justice Department lawyers try to enforce that contempt vote, which would mean sending their boss to jail? Probably not. So the next step for Congress would be impeachment proceedings against Barr. Cunningham said something like this has only happened once or twice in U.S. history, but he sees a case for Congress to make that this is as important as it gets. "Since it's at the very heart of the congressional-executive battle, one could see the Judiciary Committee saying: 'The attorney general is meant to be the people's lawyer, not the president's lawyer. An attorney general who is refusing to comply with court orders flies in the face of everything an attorney general is.'" If the legal battle gets to this point, we're in uncharted territory. PARIS - There was little time to waste. The wood-and-lead roof was a crackling inferno overhead. The flames were now snaking down though the majestic woodwork inside the Notre Dame cathedral. Very soon - just minutes maybe - the fire would begin threatening the artwork, liturgical items and priceless religious relics tucked throughout the warrens and alcoves of the cathedral. Firefighters rushed in, looking for whatever they could grab and carry to safety, according to accounts by Paris officials and French media. The fire department chaplain - his glasses reflecting the orange flames - demanded to join them. Then a human chain took shape, Paris' deputy mayor for tourism and sports, Jean-Francois Martins, told "CBS This Morning." It included Parisian officials, church caretakers, and the Rev. Jean-Marc Fournier, the fire chaplain who, hours earlier, had been preparing events for Easter week. "We have avoided a complete disaster," said Maxime Cumunel, secretary general of France's Observatory for Religious Heritage. But he told the Reuters news agency that perhaps "5 to 10% of the artwork has probably been destroyed." "We have to face up to that," he said. Among the items they salvaged, said French Culture Minister Franck Riester, was the crown of thorns that many worshippers believe was worn by Jesus before his crucifixion. Also recovered was a tunic once donned by Saint Louis in the 13th century - while Notre Dame was being built. Both of those items are now in safekeeping at Paris cty hall nearby, and would ultimately join a convoy others soon to be taken to the Louvre Museum, Riester announced. Etienne Loraillere, the editor of France's KTO Catholic television network, said the chaplain Fournier had a key role in saving the crown of thorns and other items. Fornier had been a military chaplain who served in Afghanistan, and in 2015 comforted survivors after a rampage at the Bataclan theater and northern Paris in which 130 people were killed. Fortunately, Notre Dame was nearly empty when disaster struck. A fire alarm was first triggered at 6:20 p.m. Monday, but security officials at the cathedral could not locate a blaze. To be on the safe side, though, the cathedral called off an evening Mass and evacuated the complex. Twenty-three minutes later, flames were visible - high in the building's ancient wooden frame. In another twist of good fortune amid the ruins, 19th century copper statues of the Twelve Apostles and four other biblical figures had been removed by crane from Notre Dame last week to be cleaned as part of an overall restoration project at the cathedral. Sophie Grange, a spokesman for the Louvre Museum, told The Washington Post that it was not yet clear how many objects the Louvre would be receiving or how long they would stay. Other immovable pieces that made it through the flames - such as the 8,000-pipe organ originally built in 1403 - will be carefully assessed in place for water damage. The tally of what was lost, however, is already profound. It includes fragments of the remains of Saint Genevieve and Saint Denis, portions of which were installed in 1935 in architect Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc's 19th-century spire, which collapsed at the height of Monday's blaze. Historians emphasized that the cathedral itself was an emblem - and even a crucible - for a certain architectural style and the advancements that came with it. Notre Dame was perhaps the iconic gothic aspiration, said Samantha Herrick, a historian of medieval France. "A lot of features of this church, while not unique, were new at the time," she said. "Stained glass was new, flying buttresses were new, Gothic architecture itself was new. This was a site of innovation." For the moment, the most pressing question is the state of the cathedral's sprawling stained glass masterpieces - and particularly the three massive, multicolored rose windows originally installed in the 13th century and heavily restored 600 years later. Despite these subsequent restorations, the windows still contain some of their original medieval elements. Images showed that the rose windows technically remained intact, but the condition of the materials was far from certain. "Clearly, they were damaged, but to what degree we don't yet know," said Karine Boulanger, an specialist in stained glass at the Sorbonne University in Paris. "We can see they are still in place, but we don't know in which state they are in, at least in a detailed manner," she said. "Even if the fire didn't come all the way down into the cathedral itself, the heat itself was very intense. And the heat will have impacted the glass, as well as the material that keeps the glass panels together." The architect Jean de Chelles designed and constructed the northern transept between 1245 and 1260. De Chelles then began the construction of the southern transept in 1258, but it was achieved by Pierre de Montreuil in the 1270. For experts, what makes the monumental rose windows installed in the course of this construction unique is that there are few examples of medieval stained glass in Paris, at least outside of Sainte-Chappelle, a jewel box of a chapel in the shadow of Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cite. But particularly dazzling is the scale of the rose windows. The north rose, for instance, reaches more than 42 feet in diameter, and south rose roughly more than 62, taking account of its additional skylight. Herrick noted that the particular way in which portions of the cathedral collapsed were a testament to its Medieval identity, particularly vis-a-vis Notre Dame's lead roof. "Ironically there's something ironic about that, as Medieval sources were constantly complaining about cost of keeping up lead roof," she said. "Fires were constantly happening in the period, and the things most likely to fall in that period were the roofs." Late Monday, President Emmanuel Macron called for Notre Dame to be rebuilt. And almost immediately, some of France's wealthiest families pledged their support. Bernaud Arnault, Europe's richest man and the chief executive of the LVMH luxury conglomerate, pledged 200 million euros ($225.7 million); Francois Pinault, another luxury magnate, pledged 100 million euros. The estimated costs for renovating the cathedral are currently estimated at $180 million. But the donation pledges from wealthy private sources led to some criticism of the French state, which some felt should shoulder more of the burden to preserve such an important piece of national and religious cultural heritage. In the words of Olivier Gabet, the director of Paris's Musee des Arts decoratifs: "If Notre Dame is a symbol of France, of its history, of its art, it is also the property of the state. In that sense, if we can only rejoice in the generosity of great donors, we could only be proud that the State undertakes to finance this restoration fully, in these troubled times." After the flames were put under control, a cross was still standing alone - but intact - in the chancel surrounded by charred walls. The U.S.'s biggest health insurer sharply criticized the "Medicare for All" proposals being debated by Democrats, wading into a heated Washington political debate that's likely to dominate the 2020 presidential race and the conversation about the future of private health plans in America. For months, health insurers have kept mostly quiet about the proposal, the most-ambitious versions of which would replace privately financed health coverage with Medicare, the government program that covers about 60 million mostly elderly Americans. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group's chief executive officer said such proposals would amount to a "wholesale disruption of American health care." As a source of coverage, UnitedHealth is almost as large as Medicare itself. It provides health-insurance services to 49.7 million people, and last year recorded revenue of $226.2 billion. Along with insurance, it operates physician practices, sells consulting and data services, and administers drug benefits. It also covers millions of people in the private-sector versions of Medicare and Medicaid. Despite its immense size, the company has kept a relatively low profile with the wider public. Its quarterly earnings are typically buttoned-up events, treated as a financial indicator for other insurers who report later in the earnings season. Engaging in a political fight could turn it into a political target as Democrats look for winning issues. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth shares reversed their gains in pre-market trading after the company reported positive earnings. The shares were down 4.2% to $220.56 at 11:30 a.m. in New York after the earnings call concluded. Other health care companies declined as well. Health insurers including Anthem, Humana, and Cigna were down sharply Tuesday morning, as were hospitals HCA Healthcare Inc. and Community Health Systems Inc. Health insurance stocks have been rattled in the first few months of 2019 as Democratic presidential contenders have emerged to back variations of Medicare for All. The sell-off has sent the S&P 500 Managed Care Index to its lowest level in nearly a year, and managed-care stocks are now trading at a 15 percent discount to the broader market, based on price-to-earnings ratios. "The options are clear between a government-sponsored or government-run system and the one we have to offer," UnitedHealth CEO Dave Wichmann said on a conference call with investors Tuesday. Wichmann said the costs of Medicare for All would "surely have a severe impact on the economy and jobs -- all without fundamentally increasing access to care." Contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have called for government-run health care as a way of covering more people, calling it a "human right, not a privilege." Sanders discussed his plans at Fox News town hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Monday night. Fox anchor Bret Baier asked the audience at the event to raise their hands if they had private health insurance from an employer. "Now of those, how many are willing to transition to what the senator says, a government-run system?" Baier asked the crowd. There were cheers in the room as people raised their hands, and afterward Sanders posted a clip from the event, tweeting "raise your hand if you're sick and tired of your private health insurance company." And last week, Sanders specifically called out UnitedHealth, saying in an April 12 tweet "your greed is going to end." Sanders specifically referenced Steve Nelson, who is chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the company's insurance division. Sanders cited a Washington Post story about remarks Nelson made at a company meeting. According to the Post, Nelson answered a question from an employee about the insurer's role in the political discussion, saying, "the last thing you want to do is become the poster child during the presidential campaign." A spokesman for the company said UnitedHealth has long supported the expansion of health-care coverage. UnitedHealth's policy positions broadly align with moderate Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The company has said it favors preserving the employer-based health insurance system, and expanding coverage to uninsured people through public programs and financing. While there are many variations of the Medicare for All idea, in general it involves expanding the program from older Americans to the rest of the population. Some proposals would have Medicare as an option for people to buy into and compete with private insurers, while others would replace the entire private health-insurance system with Medicare. "The path forward is to achieve universal coverage and it can be substantially reached through existing public and private platforms," Wichmann said on the call, saying there should be a health system that "offers the access, choice and coverage protections people seek at a fair cost to the individual and society as a whole." - - - Bloomberg's Tatiana Darie contributed. David Brion Davis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar whose three-volume chronicle of international slavery demonstrated its centrality to Western history, laying bare its political, economic and cultural impact through prose that was rich in detail and moral power, died April 14. He was 92. His death was announced by Yale University, where he was a professor emeritus of American history and the founding director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition. The school did not say where or how he died. Slavery is now seen as a defining thread of American history - the subject of great literature and art, as well as of a heated political debate over reparations in the 2020 Democratic primary - in large part due the achievement of Davis, who wrote more than a dozen books and scores of articles in a half-century career. "No scholar has played a larger role in expanding contemporary understanding of how slavery shaped the history of the United States, the Americas, and the world than David Brion Davis," the late slavery historian Ira Berlin once said. In a phone interview, Eric Foner, a leading historian of the Civil War and Reconstruction, highlighted "the tremendous range and breadth" of Davis' research. "He covered centuries - millennia almost - of the history of slavery and anti-slavery thought," Foner said. "This enabled him to really put slavery at the center of the rise of the West, where previously historians more or less dealt with slavery as a kind of footnote to American or Western history. After Davis, you could not do that." Davis traced his interest in slavery, and in racial discrimination more broadly, to an incident in 1945, when he was an 18-year-old infantryman sailing toward Germany aboard a segregated Army troopship. A superior handed him a billy club and ordered him belowdecks, where he was charged with keeping black soldiers from gambling. "I had never dreamed there were any blacks on the ship," he later wrote. "But after descending a long winding staircase, I came upon what I imagined a slave ship would have looked like. Hundreds and hundreds of near-naked blacks jammed together, many of them shooting craps. After answering the question 'What you doin' down here, white boy?,' I hid in the shadows for four hours until relieved of 'duty.' " Davis went on to study at Dartmouth and Harvard in an era when most historians espoused the "moonlight and magnolias" myth, in which slavery was viewed as a paternalistic, mutually beneficial relationship between slaves and overseers. The Civil War was largely unrelated to slavery, most scholars said at the time, and the system was inefficient and marginal and would have ended on its own without a war. By the late 1950s, Davis had joined historians such as Kenneth Stampp in helping to dismantle those views. Slavery, he demonstrated, was an economic engine no less productive or efficient than a 20th-century Detroit factory line. It was also a horror to enslaved Africans and marked a vexing paradox in American life. "When teachers tell their students about the forming of 'a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,' " he wrote in one essay, "how many note that in 1775 the slavery of blacks was legal in all 13 colonies?" Davis' principal scholarly work was the "Problems of Slavery" trilogy. The series included "The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture" (1966), which won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction over Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"; "The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution" (1975), which received a National Book Award and the Bancroft Prize for American history; and "The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation" (2014), which won a National Book Critics Circle Award. His other major work, "Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World" (2006), was relatively concise but just as sweeping, hailed as a "tour de force of synthetic scholarship" in a New York Times review by Berlin. Among historians, Davis seemed to garner as much respect for his mentorship as his books, teaching legions of students who included the esteemed historians Edward Ayers, Karen Halttunen, T.J. Jackson Lears, Amy Dru Stanley, Christine Stansell, John Stauffer and Sean Wilentz. "To a really extraordinary extent, David Brion Davis' students dominate the history profession," said one former pupil, University of Texas historian Steven Mintz. "David elicited a kind of fondness and affection and loyalty that one rarely sees. He was very humble and very modest and deeply interested in ideas. He had a way of criticizing people's work that they only viewed as opening up new possibilities." Indeed, Davis viewed his work as a mentor and teacher not as a secondary job in service of his scholarship, but as an essential duty, even a privilege. "Other than the birth of my children," he told the Connecticut Post in 2014, "I would say that the greatest joy in my life has come from teaching." David Brion Davis was born in Denver on Feb. 16, 1927. His mother, the former Martha Wirt, was an artist and writer of mystery stories; his father, Clyde Brion Davis, was a journalist and novelist. The family moved frequently, and Davis attended five high schools before being drafted into the Army and trained as an infantryman. He was serving in the military police in occupied Germany when, in 1946, his interest in history blossomed. In the study of the past, he sensed, lurked an explanation - and perhaps a cure - for the discrimination he witnessed against black soldiers, and for the wreckage of cities that "smelled of death." "It strikes me that history, and proper methods of teaching it, are even more important at present than endocrinology and nuclear fission," he wrote in a letter to his parents. "I believe that the problems that surround us today are not to be blamed on individuals or even groups of individuals, but on the human race as a whole, its collective lack of perspective and knowledge of itself. That is where history comes in." Davis studied at Dartmouth College on the G.I. Bill, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1950. He was working toward his Ph.D. at Harvard, nearing completion on a dissertation about homicide in American fiction, when he met Stampp, a visiting professor who was completing "The Peculiar Institution," his influential book about slavery. Davis resolved "to do for the neglected subject of American antislavery what Stampp had done for slavery." Broadening his interests from the abolition movement to slavery as a whole, he embarked on his "Problem" trilogy and wrote books including "In the Image of God" (2001) and "Challenging the Boundaries of Slavery" (2006). Davis received his doctorate in 1956 and taught at Cornell before joining Yale in 1970. He served as president of the Organization of American Historians, cultivated a long beard that earned him comparisons with philosopher William James, and retired from full-time teaching in 2001. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal. Davis, Obama said, "has shed light on the contradiction of a free nation built by forced labor, and his examinations of slavery and abolitionism drive us to keep making moral progress in our time." His first marriage ended in divorce, and in 1971 he married Toni Hahn, later an associate dean at Yale Law School. She was Jewish, and Davis - long nonreligious, but influenced by the Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr - converted, planning his bar mitzvah at the age of 80. In addition to his wife, survivors include three children from his first marriage, two sons from his second marriage, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Although Davis spent much of his life studying one of the darkest chapters of human history, he eschewed cynicism, saying he believed that the study of the past could serve as a balm for the present. "I have long believed that what most distinguishes us from all other animals is our ability to transcend an illusory sense of now, of an eternal present, and to strive for an understanding of the forces and events that made us what we are," he wrote in a 2005 article for American Heritage magazine. "A frank and honest effort in classrooms to face up to the darkest side of our past, to understand the ways in which social evils evolve, should in no way lead to cynicism and despair or to a repudiation of our heritage," he added. "The development of maturity means a capacity to deal with truth. The more we recognize the limitations and failings of human beings, the more remarkable and even encouraging history can be." RICHMOND, Va. - Fundraising took a dive for Virginia's top three Democrats after they were mired in separate scandals early this year, but Democrats running in legislative races still raised substantially more than Republicans, according to first-quarter fundraising reports released Tuesday. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have raised $2,500 and $17,250 respectively since admitting in the first week of February that they had worn blackface as young men. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has raised no money at all since two women stepped forward that week to say he had sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s - accusations he has strongly denied. The reports show a stark drop-off in donations to the trio of statewide officeholders during the first three months of the year, compared with what their predecessors took in over the same period four years ago, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access project. But fundraising on the part of individual Democratic candidates for House and Senate does not appear to have suffered. In the House, where all 100 seats are on the ballot in November, Democratic candidates raised $2.4 million in the first quarter, compared with $1.7 million raised by Republican contenders. In the Senate, where all 40 seats are up, Democratic candidates raised $1.9 million while Republicans raised $1.1 million. House Democrats touted the fundraising advantage in an email sent late Tuesday afternoon - with the aim of raising more money. "We're winning," the subject line read. "These reports are hard, on-paper evidence that the will to win among Democrats is at an all-time high," the email said. "We have the momentum and we have the competitive edge." Some Democrats had been concerned they would not be able to count on fundraising help from Northam, Fairfax and Herring in this year's legislative elections, which could prove pivotal. Virginia is the only state with a competitive race for control of an entire legislature. Republicans have been playing up the scandals as they try to defend their two seat majorities in both chambers. And the GOP noted that more Democrats face primaries, which could burn up campaign cash before the general election fight. House Republicans also touted their hefty advantage in cash on hand - $6 million for the GOP, compared with $4.2 million for Democrats - created because Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, raised a record $2.4 million last year, his first as speaker. Republicans had a smaller cash-on-hand advantage over Democrats in the Senate, about $4.9 million versus $4.4 million. "House Democrats are playing catch up after the Speaker's strong year gave us a big head start, but we know that out of state donors and wealthy progressives will spend almost anything to buy a majority in the House," Cox spokesman Parker Slaybaugh said in an email. The reports cover the first three months of the year, a period that included the 46-day General Assembly session, when state officeholders are prohibited from raising money. Northam, Herring and Fairfax had just about a week to raise money at the start of the year before they had to pause for the session, and they had about a month after session before the quarter ended March 31. The scandals unfolded in the middle of that. Northam's first-quarter total was $207,500, while in 2015, then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, raised $822,586 over the same period. Herring, serving his second term, raised $18,000 in the first three months, compared with $137,879 in 2015. Fairfax raised $1,950 for the quarter, while then-Lt. Gov. Northam brought in $30,930 four years ago. Among legislative candidates, Democratic challenger Daniel Helmer was one of the biggest fundraisers, with $124,318 - right behind the man he'd like to unseat, Del. Tim Hugo, D-Fairfax, who raised $162,216. The only delegate who raised more - at least in a personal campaign fund - was Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, with $189,775. She raised an additional $25,683 through her Energized for Change PAC. Cox raised $222,933 through his Colonial Leadership Trust PAC. House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, raised $20,750 through his PAC. One of the highest fundraisers on the Senate side was Del. Debra Rodman, D-Henrico, who is challenging Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico. She raised $178,918, compared with $49,605 for Dunnavant. The only Senate candidate to raise more than Rodman was Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, with $185,665. In office since 1979, Saslaw faces his first primary challengers in 40 years in Yasmine Taeb, who raised $58,389, and Karen Torrent, with $360. Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, the state's first elected transgender lawmaker, raised $71,254 in the first quarter but has taken in a total of $280,200 toward her re-election campaign, nearly three times as much as the average hauls of the 14 other freshmen Democrats in the House. Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, who was elected in 2011, raised $63,995. She faces a challenge from the left from Nicole Merlene, a Democrat who raised $20,936. Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, his party's minority whip, raised $50,924. Liberals have targeted his past consulting work for ICA-Farmville, an immigrant detention facility in southern Virginia. He faces challenger J.D. Spain, a Democrat who is the president of the NAACP's Arlington branch; he raised $18,556. Del. Lee Carter, D-Manassas, a Democratic socialist elected in 2017, is facing a primary challenge from Manassas Democratic City Council member Mark Wolfe, a former Republican who switched parties after President Donald Trump's election. Carter raised $40,894 to Wolfe's $27,181. Sen. Majority Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City, raised $19,237 for his own reelection, while the Senate Republican Caucus's PAC raised $286,979. - - - The Washington Post's Antonio Olivo contributed to this report. As a conflagration spread through the ancient timbers of Notre Dame Cathedral's attic on Monday, a parallel fire was spreading on social media. This one was willfully set, a series of conspiracy theories neatly slotted into preexisting cultural biases. And soon enough, willing believers were aflame with hate. The conspiracy theorizing began almost as soon as the blaze did, right when people saw the shocking, transfixing video of the cathedral's spire toppling. While French authorities began to assert almost immediately that the fire was apparently accidental, the brief gap between the startling images' generation and their explication was enough for far-right figures to exploit with their own sinister insinuations. Their prevailing view was nearly identical and, apparently, completely false: that the fire was deliberate and most probably set by Muslims. Conservative gadflies on social media were among the first to leap to dark conclusions about the blaze, even as it raged: Matt Walsh, a conservative blogger who identifies himself as a "theocratic fascist" in his Twitter bio, wrote , "I don't understand how a fire of this magnitude could happen accidentally," accumulating nearly 9,000 likes. Infowars, a conspiracy-oriented outlet helmed by Alex Jones, immediately publicized unverified rumors claiming the fire had been "deliberately started" and linking the blaze to "anti-Christian attacks." Katie Hopkins, a racist British provocateur, was far more explicit , claiming that "Jewish and Christian Parisians" are being "hunted out of the city by Islamists, fleeing in their thousands," and affixing the hashtag #NotreDame. Many figures on the right took the opportunity to turn Notre Dame into a metonym for Western civilization as a whole, intimating that far more than a cathedral was in peril. Just as the fire hit social media, conspiracy theorist and brain-supplements salesman Mike Cernovich dramatically tweeted that "The West has fallen." Shortly thereafter, fast-talking far-right pundit Ben Shapiro called Notre Dame a "monument to Western civilization" and "Judeo-Christian heritage." Given the already-raging rumors about potential Muslim involvement, these tweets evoked the specter of a war between Islam and the West that is already part of numerous far-right narratives; it was also a central thread in the manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter. Richard Spencer, professional racist and coiner of the term "alt-right," openly advocated for such warfare, stating (and misspelling) his hopes that the fire would "spur the White man into action - to sieze power in his countries, in Europe, in the world," and declaring such an insurgence a "glorious purpose." And, as Buzzfeed's Jane Lytvynenko reported , other, more oblique figures managed to go even further, from provocation in the abstract to more concrete incitement. A "parody account" masquerading as Fox News fabricated a tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., that said, "They reap what they sow #NotreDame." Omar, under relentless attack by the right - including the president - became something of a totemic figure for those on social media already predisposed to see the fire as a Muslim conspiracy. Blogger David Futrelle, an expert on the worst of the Web, gathered dozens of tweets claiming that Omar was either celebrating the fire (variously "smiling inside," "happy as a muslim terrorist," "giddy and laughing") or, somehow, had caused it. Multiple accounts questioned whether Omar was in Paris and whether her relatives had set the fire or asserted falsely that she was affiliated with a Muslim group that had set it. While baseless, racist conspiracy-peddling is an unfortunate but constant feature of social media - the background noise to any unfolding event - more mainstream conservative media proved to be just as susceptible to a narrative of civilizational conflict. On "The News and Why It Matters," a video program and podcast on TheBlaze.com, former Fox News mainstay and current talk-radio host Glenn Beck floated the possibility of a coverup by France's government. "If this was started by Islamists, I don't think you'll find out about it, because I think it would set the entire country on fire," Beck told his co-hosts , adding that this was France's "World Trade Center moment." On Fox News, Tucker Carlson hosted far-right columnist Mark Steyn, who denounced France as "godless" and inveighed against the "post-Christian" country. As Carlson nodded along, brow furrowed, Steyn recounted a story of worshiping in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, which is now, he declared, "in a Muslim suburb," and asserted that rebuilding Notre Dame, as President Emmanuel Macron had promised to do, would be pointless. By Tuesday morning, French authorities had declared the fire extinguished. The structure of Notre Dame is intact, although its spire, a 19th-century addition, collapsed. But the conflagration of conspiracy, a corruption of the natural human tendency to assign meaning to events, rages through our information sphere unchecked. It should not take the imprecations of journalists to restrain this dangerous flow of misinformation. It is past time that those who stoke inflammatory rhetoric, knowing its potential to catalyze racist violence, were made to stop playing with fire - before it's too late to control the inferno. CJ Wallace has no memory of his larger-than-life father Christopher Wallace -- aka The Notorious B.I.G, aka Biggie Smalls. He was only five months old when Biggie was murdered on a Los Angeles street in 1997. For much of CJs early life, the picture he carried of his enigmatic father was the same as his public persona -- a hardened gangster, a drug dealer, and a legendary rapper. But as he got older and heard stories about his dad from his mother, R&B artist Faith Evans, and his grandmother Voletta, a new portrait of Big Poppa started to emerge. You wouldn't think about that just from the way he carried himself, but he was really a sweetheart. He cared about everyone around him. He was a loving guy, CJ says. I'm hearing so many stories from my mom and from my grandma about how much I'm like him. Among those many similarities was a deep appreciation for cannabis not as a party drug or street corner hustle but as a medicine and a means to tap into their abundant creativity. Last week, CJ, 22, along with his step-father Todd Russaw and entrepreneur Willie Mack, launched their cannabis company Think BIG in honor of Biggie Smalls. Their first brand, The Frank White Creative Blend, are limited edition pre-rolls made in collaboration with Lowell Herb Co. Think BIG has plans to expand into vapes, edibles, journals, apparel, sketch pads, and more. They will also focus on criminal justice and charitable causes. Both companies will donate a portion of the proceeds of the Frank White blend to the Prison Arts Project, which provides art education to incarcerated individuals. We caught up with CJ and Willie to get the skinny on Think BIG. Related: 23 Celebrities in the Cannabiz What inspired the idea for Think BIG? CJ: The origins of Think BIG began with my youngest brother, Ryder. He was diagnosed with nonverbal autism when he was around two years old. He's always struggled with coming up with phrases and words and figuring things out. Early on, the doctors wanted to prescribe him with pharmaceuticals like Ritalin, but my mom [Faith Evans] was against pharmaceuticals. She told me one time she went to one of his schools and saw a lot of the other kids who were on Ritalin and other drugs like that. She said they looked like they had lost their souls. We did our research and saw that there were so many other kids -- not only autistic children but those with other disabilities -- who had used cannabis to help treat their disability. It was really a no-brainer for us because we saw all of the benefits from cannabis and seeing how he had acted with us, it was immediate. No question that cannabis was helpful. He became a lot less frustrated when he wouldn't be able to come up with the words that he'd want to say. At what point did you make the jump from seeing benefits of cannabis to creating a business? CJ: We had been using different products with my brother since he was probably six or seven. Last year, me and my [step] father, Todd Russaw, started looking at other options, seeing who could help us get into the industry and put our ideas on paper to see what the reaction was. A mutual friend introduced us to Willie Mack Willie: When I first met CJ and Todd, it was more a question of, What do you guys want to do? I wasnt interested in just launching a celebrity brand like Biggie Blunts. We had an opportunity to do something else. The first thing out of CJs mouth was, "We don't want to do anything obvious. We want to help people." He told me the story of his little brother. At the time, I was the chief marketing officer for a company called Starling Brands out of Canada, and one of the products that we carry is Jaydens Juice, a CBD tincture created for a little boy named Jayden, whos one of my business partners son. Jayden had a thousand seizures a month from Dravet Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. Unbeknownst to me, CJ had also been researching Jaydens Juice and trying to find it for his brother. That was the aha moment for us, like okay, were on the same path. Related: Israeli Study Finds Marijuana Has Promise for Treating Autism Symptoms So what was the next step? Willie: I believe that a business is a reflection of who you are as a person and your personal goals. If we can find those passion points and use them to pull out the values and the goals that exist within your life overall, it becomes much easier to shape and build a business around that. With that as a framework, the questions became: What are your goals and wishes, hopes, dreams and fears as an individual, as a man, as an artist, as a creative, as a person, so that we can build this business and find those points that connect to who you are in the longer term. It would be easy to go the route of doing Biggie first, but CJs a young man. As he starts to grow in the next four years, what's his story? What's his narrative? What is he building? That's when we settled upon the idea of cannabis being looked at as a tool for curiosity, creativity, contemplation, healing, and criminal justice. Those five things are important to all three of us. CJ: The creativity definitely goes back to my childhood. Since I was little, I've always seen cannabis being used by my family and in the studios. We had a home studio when we lived in Atlanta (Bad Boy South), and there were so many different artists and people that would come to the house. Cannabis was always a huge part of the process. Hits were being made -- from Missy (Elliott) to Farrell to Timbaland. Willie: On the criminal justice side, we watched our communities and people of color be over-criminalized with this war on drugs, and especially the war on cannabis. Weve always believed that every cannabis business has a responsibility to address that, one, from a legalization standpoint so that we can move to federal and hopefully international legalization. Number two, how do we deal with all of the people who are locked up for nonviolent, illegal cannabis offenses? Related: This Is Non-Negotiable: Cannabis Legalization Must Include Restorative Justice CJ: Just hearing the early stories about all the struggles my father had to go through with cannabis, going in and out of jail. He got arrested eight or nine times. His longest actual charge was a cannabis charge. He was in jail for about nine months in Atlanta. Thats where he started his passion for writing and composing. Thats the story we want to tell in conjunction with, obviously, social justice and criminal justice. Getting people to honor cannabis and creativity and how they coexist. You didnt want to make this all about Biggie, but you did name the company Think BIG. Explain your thought process. CJ: I really just loved the phrase think big. That's really what the point of it is -- trying to get people to be more curious and more open, but also more accepting and aware of all of the different disabilities and challenges people are going through. Think BIG is definitely both a play on my father and getting people to think bigger about themselves. You were too young to know your dad before he died. When did you first learn who he was? I wasn't put on to my dad's music until I was like six or seven. I think one of the first songs my dad played me was Warning or something like that, and he said that it was a very scary moment for me. I was in the back of the car, and he said he was looking at me through the rearview mirror and my face was just like, Who is this? When did you find yourself really appreciating his legacy? CJ: Man. I think after I did Notorious. I was probably like 13 at the time. I actually played my dad as a kid in the movie. That was the first time it soaked in. We were in Brooklyn, on the same street where they had his funeral. I was inside his apartment where my grandma and he lived when he was young. It was a lot of emotion, a lot of stuff I had never felt before. That was the real eye-opener for me in realizing who he was. There were so many people on the street watching us film. What was your father's favorite strain? Lamb's Bread. That was Bob Marley's favorite strain, as well. My Uncle Dave told me about the first time he smoked with my dad in Jamaica. He was 15, and I was also 15 the first time I smoked. Just seeing that parallel right there -- we both were interested in it around the same time. For him, the first time he smoked was in Jamaica. I can only imagine the experience, the quality, the natural flowers. For people who don't know, explain where the name Frank White comes from. It's from the movie, The King of New York. Christopher Walken plays Frank White, who is a big-time gangster. Basically, my dad took that nickname from Christopher Walken because he felt like he was the King of New York. So that was his almost alter ego, almost like his shadow figure. I was always really against using my dads image. However, I could shape the brand around the idea of him, like Frank White. Why not just use your dad's image and sell millions of blunts? That was the easy way. My goal is how can I continue to be original, be myself, and tell my story as opposed to continuing my dads story thats been told over and over? I want to tell the new story from the side that people dont know about. Related: Indo for Weeks: Biggie's Son Launches New Cannabis Company Think BIG 4 Trends that Will Govern the Business World in & Beyond 2019 Five Reasons Small Organisations Should Invest in Social Listening Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Russia is preparing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's first summit with President Vladimir Putin, setting the stage for consultations between the long-time allies after Kim's nuclear talks with the U.S. broke down. Russian officials told a South Korean diplomatic delegation visiting Moscow this week that plans were being made for a summit but offered no details on a time or place, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper reported Tuesday that Putin and Kim's summit will likely take place April 24 in Vladivostok, before Putin's April 26-27 visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Maeil didn't say where it got its information. South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with Russian First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Titov. Cho told reporters both men thought the collapsed February summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Hanoi "was not a failure" and that denuclearization talks should be pursued, South Korea's Yonhap News reported. Russia, which wields veto power on the United Nations Security Council, has expressed repeated support for the reduction of sanctions that have crippled North Korea's economy. It would be Kim's first visit to Russia since taking power in 2011, as he calls for an end to the sanctions intended to punish North Korea for its nuclear arms program. The severity of those penalties was a major factor in the collapse of his summit with Trump, who wants Kim to make greater disarmament commitments before receiving economic rewards. The U.S. and its allies have balked at allowing the development of projects long sought by North Korea and currently blocked by sanctions -- including an energy pipeline that would extend into Russia and regular train service across the Russian-North Korean border -- until Pyongyang agrees to reduce its security threat. South Korean President Moon Jae-in's office said it wasn't its place to confirm the date and location of any upcoming summit between Putin and Kim. The far left's frustration with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the rise, as liberal advocates and lawmakers fume that she hasn't done enough to defend freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from attacks by President Donald Trump and other Republicans and has undermined their policies and leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Omar's allies over the weekend were upset by what they viewed as Pelosi's delayed response in standing up for one of the two Muslim women in Congress after Trump accused Omar of playing down the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Pelosi, whose initial statement criticizing Trump made no mention of Omar, said Monday that it was "beneath the dignity of the Oval Office" for Trump to have shared a video on Twitter of Omar spliced with footage of the burning twin towers. But liberals seethed that Pelosi (California) and Democratic leaders did too little, too late. They were equally baffled by Pelosi's quip seeming to dismiss Ocasio-Cortez during a CBS "60 Minutes" interview Sunday, suggesting her "wing" of the party included "like five people." "What we're seeing here is old-guard leadership trying to marginalize some of the big change agents who were elected in 2018 because they're afraid of what it means to their leadership in the future," said Charles Chamberlain, chair of the liberal group Democracy for America. Using Pelosi's oft-repeated phrase - "Diversity is our strength and unity is our power" - Chamberlain said that when the speaker "tries to marginalize some of the newest leaders who are fighting hard . . . it's not a good look and it's not a smart strategy." The tensions underscore Democrats' struggle to discern the best way to respond to Trump and the GOP's attacks on their far-left flank, criticism frequently centered on women of color. The president has made Omar and Ocasio-Cortez favorite foils, accusing all Democrats of becoming "socialists" like Ocasio-Cortez or "anti-Israel," as Omar frequently criticizes Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. Pelosi, eager to protect her newfound majority and looking ahead to the 2020 elections, has made it a point to put distance between her party and the policies espoused by some of her new, liberal members, including both women. Republicans have tried to use the liberal policy initiatives against all Democrats. Pelosi purposely has cast the proposals as aspirational, telling The Washington Post she was "agnostic" about Medicare-for-all compared with the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and calling Ocasio-Cortez's environmental Green New Deal "the green dream." Pelosi's allies say it's all to protect the House majority, a rationale Pelosi cited while taking questions during a Monday appearance at the London School of Economics. Asked about her "60 Minutes" comments about Ocasio-Cortez, Pelosi called the New York liberal "wonderful" but argued that the 43 districts Democrats flipped in 2018 were "right down the middle." "I share those values, but we must win," she said, arguing that the glass of water she was holding could carry a district like hers if it had a "D" for Democrat next to its name. Pelosi's office defended her response to Trump's attacks on Omar. A spokesman noted that Pelosi was traveling to Europe on Friday when Trump issued his tweet about a single phrase of Omar's that "some people did something" on 9/11 and that the speaker did express solidarity with the freshman lawmakerSaturday, writing: "The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence." "The president shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack," Pelosi tweeted. But Omar's allies said that wasn't good enough. The tweet, they said, didn't mention the Minnesota Democrat at all and could even be read as a rebuke of her. On Sunday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the other Muslim congresswoman, went so far as to accuse the Democratic leadership of using people of color to highlight diversity but ignoring them when it mattered - though she did not name Pelosi in the missive. "They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse," Tlaib wrote, retweeting messages claiming Democrats used women of color as "props." "However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us." Earlier this year, Pelosi appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with Tlaib, Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. Over the weekend, more than 200 outside groups signed onto a letter of support for Omar. One reason, said several group leaders who signed, was to show Pelosi and her leadership team that it was acceptable to defend Omar. "People are just frustrated with how weak the Democratic Party leadership's response has been on this," said Waleed Shahid, spokesman for the liberal group Justice Democrats that has talked about challenging Democratic incumbents. "The response has been so tepid and lackluster. . . . They seem to be running away from it because they're afraid of controversy and conflict." Shahid also criticized Pelosi on Twitter for her comments about Ocasio-Cortez, a lawmaker his group helped elect. On Sunday, Pelosi issued a statement saying she spoke with the House sergeant-at-arms to ensure that U.S. Capitol Police would keep Omar safe amid new death threats following Trump's attacks and Saturday conversations with law enforcement. Omar thanked Pelosi for her statement. On Monday, Pelosi called Trump's actions "wrong," saying, "I don't think any president of the United States should use the tragedy of 9/11 as a political tool." The level of outrage among liberals varies. While many lawmakers have privately criticized Pelosi about her response to Omar, few would go on the record - a sign of either deep respect for her long-held position or fear of reprisal. Even several of Omar's friends in Congress declined to give interviews on the topic Monday. Indeed, liberals in recent days have chosen not to fight Pelosi on a number of battles. While the congressional Progressive Caucus last week sank a leadership-backed budget bill, it's passage was not critical, allowing the left to send a warning to leadership without burning bridges or scuttling a must-pass bill. Liberals at the same time stood down after vowing to fight legislation benefiting the lucrative tax preparation industry last week. They also have yet to follow up their criticism of a recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee policy banning strategists who work for those challenging incumbents in primaries, what they've deemed a "blacklist." Pelosi, in the meantime, doesn't appear interested in changing her strategy. In a recent Washington Post interview, she spoke at length about how she doesn't think her caucus is any more liberal than it was before the 2018 election, despite the influx of lawmakers such as Ocasio-Cortez and Omar. The 2020 presidential candidates may be more liberal, she allowed, but "in our caucus we've always been progressive." "But our agenda is one that worked in all the districts," she said. "Lower health-care costs, bigger paychecks, cleaner government. So, no, I mean, there are a few people who are espousing a more progressive public position, it doesn't mean that other people support or oppose it. It's how to get it done." French citizens joined global leaders to rally behind Emmanuel Macron in the aftermath of a fire that ravaged the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, giving the French President an opportunity to quell the political volatility that's embroiled his government. Macron vowed on Monday night to rebuild the 850-year-old Gothic monument, an issue that's united the French population across the political spectrum, with national parties suspending their European election campaigns and leaders from around the globe lending their support. The fire prompted the cancellation of a planned speech by the 41-year-old leader meant to allay the concerns of citizens angered over economic disparities and by a lack of trust in the political system. The address was an effort to move past months of protests by the Yellow Vests movement and bolster Macron's popularity, which had taken a battering from a public perception that he's out of touch and that his policies favor the rich. "This is an opportunity for Macron to reach out to the opposition to create unity in a fractured, divided nation," said Bruno Cautres, a politics professor at Sciences Po institute, who cycles past the landmark every morning. "He can't be seen as using this moment of widespread grief, but at the same time, people will expect all politicians to start working together, first for Notre Dame and hopefully, beyond Notre Dame." The fire raged for about 12 hours, taking with it about two-thirds of the roof and its spire, and at one point late Monday night even the stone structure of the monument was at risk. The cause of the fire is still unknown but Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said nothing indicates it was started deliberately. Paris prosecutors opened a non-criminal investigation, a common step in such a major incident. The entire structure was a half-hour away from collapsing before firemen prevented the blaze from engulfing the bell towers, according to Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. Culture Minister Franck Riester said major treasures such as the "Crown of Thorns" and Louis IX's tunic were removed to City Hall, while other relics were taken to the Louvre. The altars weren't burned but will be removed to be treated for smoke damage, while the rose windows appeared to have escaped major damage, he said. The initial budget to restore the cathedral before the fire was about 150 million euros ($170 million), and may need to be increased to about 450 million euros now, according to Michel Picaud, president of the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris. Money has already started to arrive for a rebuilding that will take years if not decades. The Paris region has unblocked 10 million euros ($11.5 million) in emergency funding. The Pinault family of Gucci owner Kering SA announced it was giving 100 million euros and the Arnault family that controls LVMH said it pledged 200 million euros. In his canceled speech, Macron had been expected to announce middle class income tax cuts, indexation of small pensions and the abolition of the elite ENA school for civil servants, in an effort to assuage grassroots discontent, French media reported. The fire comes a a little over a month before France is due to elect its members of the European Parliament. According to Ifop's daily rolling poll, Macron's La Republique en Marche! party and Marine Le Pen's euro-skeptic National Rally are tied at 21.5 percent, with the Republicans in third place at 13 percent. In the latest Ipsos poll, Macron's approval rating fell 1 point to 27 percent. In the week leading up to Monday, political leaders from opposition parties were on television saying Macron's measures wouldn't be up to the task, even without knowing what he was due to announce. Hours later they were all expressing their sadness at France's incalculable artistic loss. "For two years, all we've had are tortured words that go around in circles, and when we get to the finish line there's nothing there," Laurent Wauquiez, head of The Republicans, the largest opposition party in Parliament, said Sunday on BFM TV. Monday night he wrote on Twitter that "it's a whole part of our history, of all of us, that burns tonight." He canceled an EU election rally he was due to attend in the southern city of Nimes Tuesday night. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party and one of Macron's most scathing critics, said "This building is like a member of our family. For at least 24 hours I can't feel and act like a politician." Macron will have to walk a fine line, and tragic incidents throughout Europe have proven to be pitfalls for leaders who miscalculated the political severity of the events. British Prime Minister Theresa May had to admit that her initial handling of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which killed at least 80 people in a London apartment block, was "not good enough" because she hadn't met victims on her first visit. Francois Hollande, who was president in 2015 when a terrorist rampage left 12 dead in France, saw his flagging popularity revive after the incident. Hollande oversaw a manhunt and brought international statesmen and millions of voters together in a show of political force, which earned him a temporary boost in his approval ratings. Leaders from around the world expressed their solidarity with Paris, including Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Macron will speak later Tuesday with Pope Francis, after having talked earlier with U.S. President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, whose populist government has been at odds with Macron, reached across the political divide. "A thought and a hug for the people of Paris," Salvini wrote on Twitter. "From Italy, all of our friendship and all the help we can give." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party officially called for a new election in Istanbul, raising the prospect of renewed political turmoil just as the government sought to shore up confidence in the economy and avert a showdown with the U.S. over missiles. The AK Party submitted an "extraordinary objection" to the election board on Tuesday while a partial recount of the votes in some districts was underway. It alleged irregularities tainted the results of the March 31 vote that put an opposition candidate ahead in the mayoral race. Erdogan held the post of Istanbul mayor at the start of his political career in the 1990s and his refusal to concede defeat has been condemned by political opponents as another attack on Turkey's democratic foundations. It's also rattled investors in the Middle East's biggest economy, with the lira down 0.3 percent against the dollar on Tuesday. "Even if the High Election Board rejects this request, the damage to Turkey's reputation is already done," said Tim Ash, senior strategist at BlueBay Asset Management in London. These are testing political and economic times for Turkey, and Erdogan is struggling to contain the fallout after 17 years in power. The economy entered its first recession in a decade following a currency crash last year and the International Monetary Fund predicts it will contract by more than 2 percent. Erdogan's position as leader is intact, but he unexpectedly lost control of Turkey's largest cities in local elections. Ties with the U.S., meanwhile, are at their worst since at least the 1970s in part because of Turkey's decision to purchase Russian missiles. The government in Ankara said it was forced to turn to Russia for protection against aerial attacks after Washington balked for years at selling it Patriot missile defense systems. The U.S. says the Russian missile shield was designed to shoot down American and allied aircraft. Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan's son-in-law, said Turkey has taken its case for buying a Russian air-defense system directly to President Donald Trump to defuse tensions between the NATO allies. He told reporters on Monday there was "quite positive feedback." Washington has threatened to impose sanctions and to expel Turkey from the F-35 allied defense program. U.S. sanctions would likely intensify market turmoil, as happened during a diplomatic standoff between the countries last year. While in the U.S., Albayrak also tried to bolster confidence in the economy, saying it probably emerged from its first recession in a decade. "We've come out of a difficult period with a minimum amount of damage," he said. "We'll take whatever steps necessary to meet our targets because there are no elections ahead of us. We will take those steps with great ease." The green shoots in Turkey's economy, though, are few and far between. The ranks of the unemployed swelled by 366,000 people in one month, pushing the jobless rate in January to the highest level in a decade. A continued weakness of domestic demand is weighing on Turkey's growth prospects following last year's depreciation of 28 percent in the currency. Now another election might loom. The latest tally shows Ekrem Imamoglu, the opposition's candidate for mayor of Istanbul, leading his rival by around 14,000 votes in the city of 16 million people. The AKP previously requested a separate new election in the Istanbul suburb of Buyukcekmece, citing irregularities in the registration of voters. The election board had denied the AK party's request for a full recount in the city. "There was an organized irregularity, a complete vote fraud," AKP Deputy Chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz told reporters on Tuesday. Nearly 17,000 votes cast for AKP were registered for other parties, he said. He didn't produce any evidence, though walked into the election board building with three black roller bags that he said were stuffed with evidence of fraud. Turkey's biggest cities turned against Erdogan for the first time since 1994 in a municipal election roiled by a raging recession and a recent run on the currency. The capital, Ankara, and cities along the Mediterranean coast slipped from the grasp of his nationalist alliance, which largely stood its ground across much of the country's rural interior. Less than 24 hours after a blaze tore through the Notre Dame Cathedral, donors have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to aid in restoration efforts. The donations come in as Paris officials are working to quantify the costs of the damages after the massive, devastating fire Monday that incinerated portions of the cathedral. President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he hoped the symbolic landmark could be reconstructed within five years. International grassroots fundraisers immediately sprang up online to aid in the rebuilding effort, supplemented by private pledges topping $700 million. Some of the families behind the most notable companies in France have offered hundreds of millions of dollars toward the rebuilding effort. Among them is the family of Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH luxury conglomerate and the richest man in Europe, who pledged $226 million. Before that, Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman of the french luxury group Kering, offered $133 million in aid. The Bettencourt Meyers family, which owns cosmetics company L'Oreal, said Tuesday that it would match its company's pledge of $113 million, totaling $226 million. In a tweet, L'Oreal called the rebuilding effort a "renaissance of a precious symbol of the French heritage and common history." Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, wrote Tuesday morning on Twitter that he was "heartbroken" for the French people and promised that his company would also help in the rebuilding efforts. His tweet did not specify an amount, and Apple did not immediately return a request for comment from The Washington Post. Donations have also come from groups such as Total, the multinational oil and gas giant, which tweeted that it would also give $113 million to help with reconstruction of the cathedral, which Total called "an architectural jewel." The University of Notre Dame in Indiana pledged to donate $100,000 toward the renovations, writing in a statement that the cathedral's "exquisite Gothic architecture has for centuries raised hearts and minds to God." These larger donations have been supplemented by smaller fundraising efforts. Among the givers is Charles Gosse, a 23-year-old business school student who launched an online funding campaign that had raised over $43,000 by Tuesday afternoon. "I am not religious myself. I'm an atheist," he told The Washington Post. "But this is beyond religion. It is a national monument like the Eiffel Tower and the Arch of Triumph." According to Reuters, an estimate on the cost of the cathedral's restoration could take up to a year. "It is really going to be up to the French state and benefactors to help to restore and rebuild this," Robert Read, head of art and private client at Lloyd's of London insurer Hiscox told Reuters. The restoration itself could take up to 20 years, he added. President Donald Trump said he has no regrets about sharing an incendiary video of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and called her "extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country," as the freshman lawmaker claimed an uptick in threats to her life. Trump made his comments on Monday to local television station KSTP during a trip to Minnesota for an event focused on taxes. He was asked if he had any regrets about a Friday tweet that included video of Omar spliced with images of the twin towers falling on Sept. 11, 2001, in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. "No, not at all," Trump said. "Look, she's been very disrespectful to this country. She's been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She is somebody that doesn't really understand, I think life, real life, what it's all about. It's unfortunate. She's got a way about her that's very, very bad I think for our country. I think she's extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country." Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and the first to wear a hijab, has drawn criticism from conservatives for a speech last month in which, they say, she downplayed the 2001 terrorist attacks. She was at the center of an earlier controversy over tweets and a speech criticizing the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, that some lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, found to be anti-Semitic. Omar, speaking at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations last month, was discussing Islamophobia and the treatment of Muslims after 9/11, when she said, "some people did something" that caused all Muslims "to lose access to our civil liberties." When the video was surfaced last week, conservatives seized on her vague description of the terrorists as anti-American. But it was the president's tweet that escalated the controversy and caused Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to call for increased security for Omar, her family and her offices. On Monday, Pelosi said Trump's tweet was "beneath the dignity of the Oval Office." But that hasn't stemmed the vitriol directed at Omar. Even a Trump official mocked the death threats to Omar, which only incited more threats. As first reported by Mother Jones, Lynne Patton, the highest-ranking black woman in the Trump administration, who serves as a regional administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Saturday, shared on her personal Instagram account an image that read: "Ilhan Omar is crying she's receiving death threats. They're not death threats. Just some people saying something." One cybersecurity expert took it upon himself to monitor all the threats made against Omar on Twitter. He found hundreds since Saturday. Egypt's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that would allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to remain in office through 2030, a decision widely seen as inevitable from the day it was floated. The change, which amends the presidential term to six years from the current four, must also be ratified through a national referendum. That step, too, is expected to easily pass in a country where the crackdown on Islamists has widened to include critics of el-Sissi's regime. The article is retroactive and effective immediately, Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal told lawmakers, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency. Even before Tuesday's vote, roadside billboards and posters, and half-page ads in state-run daily newspapers, had been exhorting voters to carry out their national duty and vote in the referendum. The extension of el-Sissi's potential tenure by eight more years has upset rights groups, activists and other critics who contend that Egypt has become even more intolerant under the former general than it was under ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Lawmaker Mohamed Anwar El Sadat, the head of the Reform and Development Party, urged Egyptians to vote "no" in the referendum. "We again echo our disagreements with such attempts that are considered a counterclockwise attempt and a return to the pre-Jan 25th revolution," El Sadat said in a statement. "Since the legislative authority and the state institutions do not grasp the dangers of violating the constitution and tailoring specific articles to fit only the president," Egyptians must turn out and vote against it, he said. The president's backers say he's the only one able to carry out the expansive economic program that's managed to revive an economy that stalled after the 2011 uprising against Mubarak. On a near-weekly basis, el-Sissi appears at conferences or events, grilling speakers about specific projects, timelines and costs. His hands-on style and command of details have resonated with many Egyptians, and stand in stark contrast to Mubarak, who was seen as largely out of touch with the nation, and his successor, Mohammed Morsi, who was viewed as a puppet of the Muslim Brotherhood group. The amendments would also deepen the military's role in the country by making it responsible for safeguarding the constitution, people's rights and civilian rule. Detractors have warned about further empowering an institution whose authority has grown significantly since el-Sissi's initial election in 2014. They would also tighten el-Sissi's grip on the judiciary by giving him the final say over judicial appointments and the naming of the country's top prosecutor. Other changes to the charter include: - The appointment of at least one vice president. - The re-establishment of parliament's upper house, which would be responsible for ratifying international agreements and economic and social development plans. - Ensuring 25 percent representation for women in parliament. WASHINGTON - Good news for scooter lovers. Uber, which operates the electric-bike-share service known as Jump, is introducing electric scooters in the District of Columbia most likely adding a few hundred more scooters to a city where a handful of other companies already provide the service. With the addition of scooters, Uber changed the usage fees for its popular Jump e-bikes, essentially replacing it with a pricing structure that applies to both scooters and bikes. Riders now can unlock the bikes and scooters for free and pay 15 cents per minute. The cost to rent the Jump scooter is more competitive than other scooter services in the region, including Lyft, Bird, Lime, Spin and Skip. All of those companies charge $1 to start a trip and charge a fee that ranges from 15 cents to 29 cents per minute, depending on the company. But for the loyal Jump e-bike users, the new pricing structure may not be such a sweet deal. Under the old pricing, users paid $2 for the first 30 minutes, then $0.07 per minute after that. Anyone who timed their trip to last 30 minutes would now pay $4.50 a trip - more than double what they used to pay. Uber officials say the new price structure, however, will benefit riders who make short trips, noting that while the minimum fare was $2 (up to 30 minutes), now the minimum is $0.15 for a minute ride. To save or break even at $2, a rider would need to complete a trip in less than 13 minutes. That's unlikely, many Jump users say. They say they embraced the Jump e-bikes because they provide that extra power to go on longer trips, and helped them replace commutes via car, subway or bus. Jump brought its e-bikes to the city in fall 2017 and almost immediately became one of the most popular private bike-share services. Uber acquired Jump a year ago. By essentially doubling the price of Jump bike trips, some users say, Uber may see declines in the usage of its bike fleet just as the company faces questions about the safety of its bikes. The company acknowledged Monday that it had modified some of its e-bikes recently after the company encountered a braking problem similar to the one that prompted rival Lyft to pull its own electric bikes in several cities over the weekend. But for regular Jump riders, the new pricing structure, announced a day before it was introduced, caught them by surprise. At $2 per 30-minute ride, some said, Jump was comparable to using Capital Bikeshare, the region's subsidized bike system that offers conventional bike rides for $2 per 30-minute trip. Or taking the bus, which costs $2 a trip. "I'd rather that you not increase the price of Jump bikes, a service I have enjoyed and relied on," Tucker Cholvin tweeted to Uber last week. An earlier version of this story misspelled Phillip Thompson's name, and misidentified him. He is the former head of the Loudoun County NAACP. - - - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who has faced calls to resign since he admitted to wearing blackface during a dance contest in the 1980s, dropped out of a planned appearance Sunday at a Democratic state lawmaker's fundraiser during which he would have faced protesters. He cited safety concerns as the reason for the cancellation. Northam, a Democrat, was scheduled to appear at an event for state Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, who is up for reelection this year, at a community center in Burke, Virginia, a quiet suburban enclave. But after the Fairfax County NAACP and the state Republican Party assembled protesters outside the center, the governor's office canceled. His spokeswoman said it was "due to concerns for the safety and security of everyone in attendance." Northam has faced calls to step down since February, when his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School personal yearbook page surfaced, featuring a photo of a man wearing blackface standing next to another person in Ku Klux Klan garb. He initially apologized for appearing in the photo, but he backtracked, saying it was not him. He then acknowledged that he had appeared in blackface that year while portraying Michael Jackson in a dance contest. Since then, Northam has resisted calls from high-ranking Democrats to step down, and in recent weeks has begun appearing with members of his party at public appearances. Some Democrats also have since backed off their calls for him to leave office, saying they were too hasty in their calls for his resignation. The fundraiser would have been his second since the blackface revelation. He did one Wednesday for Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, but the event had not been publicized and drew no protesters. And it may be a troubling sign for the state Democratic Party that the governor, who traditionally serves as a fundraising force for state lawmakers, was so coldly received in a critical election year, when the power of the state legislature hangs in the balance. All 140 state legislative seats are up in the fall. Northam's scheduled appearance drew about 60 people from the NAACP and another 30 from the state's Republican Party, with the two groups assembling on either side of an asphalt walkway on a muggy and gray afternoon. Both groups took Northam to task for his admission to wearing blackface, but Republicans also protested his pro-abortion rights stance. NAACP leaders said they sought to remind Democratic candidates that their association with Northam could alienate black voters. Kofi Annan, president of the Fairfax County NAACP, said he has been disappointed that prominent Democrats have ceased to call for Northam's resignation - and he worries that it "normalizes" his behavior. "We want to send a message to all the Democrats in Virginia that . . . Governor Northam is not OK with us," Annan said in an interview. Phillip Thompson, former head of the NAACP in Loudoun County, leaned on a cane as he spoke to the crowd. "No Democrat in this state wins an election without black and minority votes," he said. The governor's office said it extended an offer for Northam to meet with the Fairfax NAACP, but they declined. While protesters from both sides joined in on chants - "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Northam has got to go!" - they were hardly in lockstep on their reasons to call for him to step down. Republicans have seized on comments he made during a January radio interview about a bill that would have reduced restrictions on late-term abortions, arguing that he suggested killing live babies. Northam has called the notion that he had endorsed infanticide "disgusting," but he has refused to clarify his comments. Abortion dominated many of the signs Sunday. Still, many Democrats showed up to support Marsden, who declined to comment through a spokeswoman. Alan Krishnan, a Marsden supporter who lives in Fairfax County, said he still gave Northam the benefit of the doubt. "We are a country where we are innocent until proven guilty," Krishnan said. "Everybody . . . threw Northam before the bus, without really investigating what happened." - - - The Washington Post's Laura Vozzella contributed to this report. Washington The president isn't waiting. As Washington counts down the final hours until publication of the redacted special counsel report now expected Thursday Donald Trump stepped up his attacks Monday in an effort to undermine potential disclosures on Russia, his 2016 campaign and the aftermath. He unleashed a series of tweets focusing on the previously released summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions including a crucial one on obstruction of justice that Trump again misrepresented produced by Attorney General William Barr. "Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction," Trump tweeted. "These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!" Press Secretary Sarah Sanders repeatedly tried to make the same case on TV talk shows on Sunday. But the political battle is far from finished over the special counsel's investigation of Russian efforts to help Trump in 2016 and whether there was cooperation with his campaign. Democrats are calling for Mueller himself to testify before Congress and have expressed concern that Barr will order unnecessary censoring of the report to protect the president. The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, is poised to try to compel Barr to turn over an unredacted copy as well as the report's underlying investigative files. The Justice Department announced Monday that it expects to release the redacted version Thursday morning, sending the findings of the nearly two-year probe to Congress and making them available to the public. Mueller officially concluded his investigation late last month and submitted the confidential report to Barr. Two days later, the attorney general sent Congress a four-page letter that detailed Mueller's "principal conclusions." In his letter, Barr said the special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates during the campaign. However, contrary to Trump's false claim, Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Instead, Mueller presented evidence on both sides of that question. Barr said he did not believe the evidence was sufficient to prove that Trump had obstructed justice, but he noted that Mueller's team did not exonerate the president. Portions of the report being released by the Justice Department will be redacted to protect grand jury material, sensitive intelligence, matters that could affect ongoing investigations and damage to the privacy rights of third parties, the attorney general has said. The baby of a pregnant woman who was fatally shot at a South side apartment complex Tuesday has died, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. Bernadett Jean Quiroz, 18, and her mother, Janette Quiroz, 37, were both shot on Tuesday night at an apartment complex in the 100 block of Emerald Ash. Successful candidates in upcoming Southside Independent School District board elections may not get to immediately assume their posts. The Texas Education Agency took over the district two years ago, removed the seven-member elected board and appointed five trustees to take their place. The appointees serve at the pleasure of Education Commissioner Mike Morath. The education commissioner has yet to announce when the appointees will be relieved of their duties and when elected board members can take their place. Three of the 10 candidates seeking election in May were among the elected board members removed from office in May 2017 after a TEA investigation uncovered governance issues, board members acting individually on behalf of the board and failure to comply with state contract purchasing regulations. School districts are best served by elected representatives from their own communities, but it does not always work out that way. Unfortunately, in dysfunctional school districts with runaway school boards, trustees cannot work together as a team and suspected criminal activity sometimes requires state intervention. So, if the TEA is in charge, why vote for any candidates at all? Well, because the TEA will not always be in charge and when it is not, it is in the best interest of the students and taxpayers that the communitys voters cast ballots for candidates who have never been elected to this board. Moreover, a fresh slate of board members ready to take office will offer TEA incentive for expediting the removal of its appointed board of managers and replacing them with those elected by the community. So, for Position 1, we recommend Maggie Morales, 26, a cashier at Bill Miller BBQ. She is a Southside ISD graduate and has earned a bachelors degree from University of the Incarnate Word and a masters degree from Our Lady of the Lake. A former intern in the district, Morales would bring a fresh perspective to the boardroom on what students in the district need as they head to college. In Position 2, we recommend Mary Silva, 66, a retired Southside ISD employee. Silva spent 40 years employed by the district working as a classroom aide, librarian, attendance clerk and as administrative assistant. Her children and grandchildren attended Southside schools and she currently has a great-grandson enrolled in the district kindergarten program. Silvas familiarity with the inner workings of the district would be an asset in putting the district back on course after the TEA intervention is concluded. In Position 6, we recommend Brenda Nagelhout-Olivarez, 53, an information management specialist in Edgewood ISD. She went to school in Northside ISD, as did her children. Her husband is a Southside ISD graduate. She is among the few candidates who have experience with schools in other school districts. That is a plus. She is interested in what is going on in the classroom. Unfortunately, this is not always something we hear from school board candidates. We need more board members who are focused on academics. In Position 7, we recommend Katie Farias, 39, who is employed in the district office of state Rep. Roland Gutierrez. Her husband, Gabe, was on the districts board of managers, but resigned that seat in November due to job obligations. Farias has children in the district and is involved in their schools. Her employment in a lawmakers office and her volunteer work in the schools give her a unique insight on Texas public education and would come in handy when it comes to setting local policy. Auckland Council will no longer require Albert Kinnell to fell around 150 trees because some of them breach the allowable height on the approach path of Dairy Flat Aero Club (HM April 3). Council has been pursuing the Silverdale resident for three years, asking him to fell the trees at his expense, after the Aero Club drew the matter to Councils attention. Structures and trees that breach the height limit can pose a risk to safe take off and landing procedures. The trees in question include a plantation of pines and an orchard and the cost of the felling was estimated at around $70,000. However, after the story went to print, Mr Kinnell received a letter from Council saying that, following independent legal advice, it would be taking no further enforcement action in relation to the trees. In addition, it has come to light that the Aero Clubs approach path procedures were redesigned by Aeropath in 2017, effectively reducing the risks posed by the trees. Aeropath head Trent Clarke says that the report it provided to the Aero Club noted various obstacles in the vicinity of the aerodrome, including trees, as well as possible safety mitigations. He says these included increasing the angle of the approach path to clear the trees, and the addition of a caution note about the trees for pilots in the relevant aeronautical publications. North Shore Aero Club general manager John Punshon says that the procedures were redesigned so that the trees on the Kinnells property do not pose a risk to pilots until such time as the trees can be removed. Mr Punshon says the Council bylaws required the trees to be removed, and that it was therefore a Council matter, not a civil aviation matter. He says he is not able to comment on whether the club will pursue removal of the trees in due course, as that is a decision for its committee. Mr Kinnell says he is very relieved and thankful that the council has seen sense. Its a great weight off my shoulders, he says. The need for residents living near Shakespear Regional Park to keep domestic cats away from the park, as well as the Open Sanctuary within it, was highlighted this month. Their cats life could depend on it. Recently there have been a number of sightings of cats in the park at the end of Whangaparaoa Peninsula. As the paper goes to print, a cat is also at large within the pest proof fence. Many people are not aware that even microchipped cats can be euthanised if they are found in the regional park more than once. Auckland Councils northern principal ranger Scott de Silva says in recent months there has been a marked increase in the number of cats seen on the parks monitors, particularly at night. Five have been seen, mainly in the buffer zone just outside the pest proof fence, and one is being tracked within the sanctuary. In 2017, no cats were caught within the fence and last year a total of two were caught. Mr de Silva says cats can cause a lot of damage to vulnerable native species in a very short time, which is why Council is taking a relatively hard approach. Any cat that is trapped within the pest proof fence will be euthanised, he says, but in the regional park, there is a two-strikes policy. If a microchipped cat, or one that can be identified as owned via a collar, is caught in the park we will let the owner know and return the cat if possible. If we catch the same animal again, it will be euthanised, microchip or not. Mr de Silva says he appreciates many people may see a microchip as a safe bet, but it is not. He says while it is hard for owners to keep cats contained, especially during the day, residents near the park need to be aware that the sanctuary is a predator free place. There is an annual leaflet drop in the area 1.2km from the park, which is expected to happen soon. 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 The recent tragedy at Notre Dame cathedral has stirred up some past memories for Longford residents. On Monday evening at approximately 6:30pm, April 15, news broke worldwide of a fire in the cathedral at Notre Dame and the world watched on as over 400 firefighters battled to get the blaze under control. After fifteen hours, it was confirmed that the fire was finally extinguished and although the spire and wooden interior of the cathedral were lost late on Monday evening, the structure of the building remains mostly in tact. French authorities have confirmed that most of the valuable artwork which was contained in the 850-year-old cathedral has been saved and is stored away safely. Reports from French media suggest that the large stained-glass rose window, for which the cathedral is famed worldwide, has suffered minimal damage. Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild the structure and already many billionaires have pledged their cash to the cause. Among those is the family of Bernard Arnault, the owners of Louis Vuitton, who pledged 200m in total to the rebuild.The CEO of the Kering Group which owns Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, Francois Pinault, has also pledged 100m. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has pledged the support of Europe in helping France rebuild the cathedral. The rebuild which will take place on the banks of the river Seine has evoked some memories of the recent restoration of St Mels Cathedral, which was destroyed by a fire in December 2009. Cllr Seamus Butler said of the fire, It reverberated around Longford. Obviously it is on a much grander scale than the fire at St Mels, but the elements are all the same, the sudden fire of a beloved, iconic building. Notre Dame is not just an iconic building in Paris or France, but in the world, After five long years and 30m spent, the doors to St Mels Cathedral finally reopened in December 2014. Cllr Seamus Butler, who was a member of the committee behind the restoration of St Mels, offered some words of hope to the authorities in control of the Notre Dame rebuild. There is obviously some irreplaceable art which has been destroyed and will never be replaced, but there is a slight silver lining in that in Longford, we set a deadline to have a functioning cathedral within five years, which we were told was extremely ambitious, but we did it. We did it on time and on budget. We were lucky perhaps, but we worked hard on it. It was a demanding time and there were demanding negotiations, especially during the restoration. But they will have huge resources in France, far more than we had, and they have the state behind them, Cllr Butler also noted that the rebuild in St Mels allowed them to make improvements, which would not have been permitted otherwise. The order of cost of St Mels was 30m and that made it one of the biggest restorations of a cathedral in Europe at the time. This will obviously be dwarfed by Notre Dame. Every cloud has a sliver lining and they will, god willing, emerge with the original material restored. One of the ironies of our restoration is that we now have one of Europe's most modern cathedrals, because we used the trauma to make changes that may not have been allowed otherwise. The changes mentioned by Cllr Butler include the state of the art ventilation system now in place and underfloor heating. Cllr Butler advised, They can use it as a vehicle for certain improvements as well. Cllr Butler's sentiments about St Mel's were echoed by members of the Longford public. St Mels Cathedral Longford was gutted by fire in 2009. It took five years but it was rebuilt. Please God the world will respond #NotreDame pic.twitter.com/pV4azOoQi9 Brenda Drumm (@BrendaDrumm) April 15, 2019 Watching the devastating news from Paris about #NotreDame. The people of Longford know exactly what the Parisians are going through, after the Christmas 2009 fire at St. Mels Cathedral. We send them our sympathies. https://t.co/zQuMuksIxh LF Heritage& Archive (@LongfrdHeritage) April 15, 2019 It took #Ireland five years to rebuild St. Mels Cathedral in #Longford by 2015, after a devastating fire. And it cost 30 million. There is hope therefore for #NotreDame in #Paris, with 360 million already raised by #France. https://t.co/sLlffV4Pp8 pic.twitter.com/7nim5Goxkv Francis M. O'Donnell (@fmod1) April 16, 2019 Just when their legal battle was just beginning the trial phase, Apple and Qualcomm have ironed out their differences in a surprise settlement. The terms of the agreement include the dismissal of all litigation between the two companies as well as any pending cases brought by Apples global contract manufacturers, and basically returns the relationship to the way it was before the allegations started flying. Most notably, Apple has agreed to pay Qualcomm a one-time payment of an undisclosed sum, as well as royalties going forward. Both companies issued short press releases to announce the agreement, but its hard to find much good news in it for Apple. Qualcomm is getting paid and keeps Apple as a customer, and theres no indication that they will be changing their business practices. Why this matters: While the Qualcomm case has yet to have a material impact on iPhone sales or users, it was certainly a cloud hanging over Apples most popular product. The fact of the matter is, Apple needs Qualcomm, especially if Intel wasnt able to provide a solid roadmap for 5G. The settlement clears the deck for Apple to continue using Qualcomms chips and opens up a potentially quicker road to 5G adoption. A surprising about-face In the dispute, Apple claimed that Qualcomm charged too much for chips and licensing fees, and argued that Qualcomm has used its monopoly to set unfair prices and stifle competition and dictate terms to some of the biggest, most powerful companies in the world. In his opening statement early Tuesday, CNET reports that Apple attorney Ruffin Cordell argued that Qualcomm refused to provide processors unless a licensing agreement was signed, effectively allowing the company to double dip on fees. The other thing it does is allow them to charge patent royalties that are far in excess of that fair and reasonable level, he said. A few hours later, however, Apple changed its tune. Not only did it agree to write Qualcomm a check, Apple also entered into a six-year license with Qualcomm, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. That means future iPhones could and very well may return to using Qualcomm modems, which likely paves the way for a faster route to 5G. While it was never confirmed that Apple had settled on a specific supplier for its first 5G iPhone, Apple currently sources LTE modems in the iPhone XS from Intel. However, recent rumors suggest that Apple soured on its deal with Intel and was exploring other options. While its extremely unlikely that this years iPhone would have a 5G modem, next years likely will, and chip buys at Apples magnitude need to be made sooner than later. A deal with Apple would have been a major coup for Intel, but with friendlier relations between Apple and Qualcomm, thats seriously in doubt. And by in doubt, we mean never happening, since Intel announced hours later that it has abandoned its plans for a 5G smartphone modem. Still, the timing of this announcement is nothing less than shocking. Apple and Qualcomm have been fighting court battles for months and many more were presumably on the horizon. Just last month, an International Trade Commission judge ruled that iPhones infringed on a Qualcomm patent and should be banned from sale, while a second judge said the patents were invalid. Neither of those decisions matter now. Apple and Qualcomm have been battling in court since 2017, but Monday marked the first day of a high-profile jury trial. Qualcomm is being sued separately by the Federal Trade Commission over anti-competitive pricing. This content is from: Trademarks Following a request from Icelands government, the EUIPO has invalidated Iceland Foods trademark in a decision that shows how rights owners must give solid evidence to overcome an increasingly strict approach to descriptiveness We publish here a translation of an article written by Julien Arseneau, member of the editorial board of the Quebec Marxist journal and website, La Riposte socialiste. The long-awaited bill on secularism was finally tabled in the national assembly in Quebec. It contains, as planned, a ban on the wearing of religious symbols for many state employees, particularly for teachers. The MNA responsible, Simon Jolin-Barrette, says that Bill 21 is the logical continuation of the Quiet Revolution and the de-confessionalization of the Quebec school system. This statement is false from beginning to end. Despite the removal of the crucifix from the National Assembly, religious schools are left alone, which are largely subsidized by the state. Bill 21 is, first and foremost, an all-out attack on religious minorities who have been victim to so much racism since the debate on reasonable accommodation began 12 years ago. Attacking the right to employment of a few individuals wearing religious symbols has nothing to do with the heroic struggle of the 1960s against the influence of the Catholic religion in Quebec. In his speech published on Facebook on March 31, Quebec Premier Francois Legault said: Its time to put rules in place because in Quebec, thats how we live. The underlying message is clear: the we he is talking about is the French-speaking majority in Quebec, and religious minorities must abide by our rules. This is what the conservative right-wing columnist Mathieu Bock-Cote explained in an article in which he commented on these words: In other words: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. And in Quebec, we respect the way of life of Quebeckers. The Islamophobic far-right group La Meute also applauded the CAQs bill, saying that La Meutes demands are exactly the program of the CAQ and it is on this that [the CAQ] was elected. When questioned about what students wearing religious symbols studying to become teachers should do, Legault replied contemptuously, There are other jobs available. The CAQs measures will create a climate in which the marginalization of Muslim women in particular will be accentuated. Even the grandfather clause (which protects the few current employees wearing religious symbols), which is presented as a compromise, will create a climate of suspicion where anyone who wears a religious sign will be seen as breaking the law, even if it is protected by this clause. Who benefits from Bill 21? A question that is never posed in this debate on secularism is: what is accomplished with the banning of religious symbols? Who benefits from these measures? The working class and youth have no interest in depriving religious minorities of their rights. No worker gains from discrimination in hiring aimed at any section of the working class. Divisions on religious, ethnic or other lines undermine the class solidarity necessary to fight back against the bosses. The CAQ government, however, has every interest in promoting this so-called debate on religious symbols and imposing discriminatory measures. This government of the bosses, the most right-wing in Quebecs recent history, seeks to win the support of a section of the Quebec population by posing as the defender of Quebec identity and Quebec values. Legault wants to distract us and divide us so that we are weak and will more easily swallow austerity measures when the time comes. What better way to do this than to attack minorities over and over again? While the CAQ may say that the bill is aimed at the religious symbols of all religions, it is religious minorities, and Muslim women in particular, who suffer from the climate of racism and Islamophobia instilled by these measures. Since this bill was announced, there has been a lot of confusion over how the new rules will be applied. Nothing in the bill indicates that there will be sanctions for those who refuse to comply. However, on April 2, Genevieve Guilbault, minister of public security, said that it would be possible to file a complaint with the police. She was then rebuked by Francois Legault, who said, it is surely not (sic) the time to talk about the means that could be used! Therefore, the government has no idea how it will enforce the law. This is certainly not Legaults priority, since the bulk of the work is already done: create a climate of division to score political points, all on the back of the Muslim minority in particular. The labour movement must oppose with all its might this divisive discriminatory bill. The role of the media Fortunately for Legault and the CAQ, they have been able to count on their friends in the mainstream media to support their bill. And this is not new: for 12 years, the media have carefully nurtured this debate on secularism and religious symbols. A lot of small insignificant cases are used to make noise about nothing in order to instill the climate of a crisis. This was one of the main conclusions of the 2008 Bouchard-Taylor report which stated that the crisis of reasonable accommodation was primarily a crisis of perception. But who has maintained this perception that religious symbols are a threat to Quebec identity? Let the Bouchard-Taylor report speak for itself: The media frenzy and the phenomenon of rumours contributed to the crisis of perception. Columnists from the Journal de Montreal and the Journal de Quebec played a particularly reactionary role in this process. Almost every day, Mathieu Bock-Cote, Richard Martineau, Lise Ravary, and company scream in our ears about the so-called problem of secularism and religious symbols. They raise the specter of the return of the religious, and of Islam in particular. Bock-Cote, every week, nervously stirs the pot about the threat to Quebec identity, speaking of the disintegration of identity revealed by the multiplication of ostentatious religious symbols. He even went so far as to appropriate the term Catho-secularism, a term used to refer to those who supposedly defend secularism while accepting Catholic symbols in the state, such as the crucifix in the National Assembly. This hype is nothing new. In 2010, radio host and author Eric Duhaime said that Amir Khadir, the former Quebec Solidaire MP, had a hidden Islamic agenda. In June 2016, when racists left a bleeding pork head in front of the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec City, all that Duhaime could say is, How is this is hatred? Hundreds of similar examples could be easily provided. In addition to the incessant media propaganda, inflammatory statements from politicians have thrown fuel on fire. For example, Jean-Francois Lisee in November 2015 asked PQ activists if they would like to have hijabs everywhere in the daycare centres, and complained that because of the Liberals, there would be religious symbols around your child. During his bid to become PQ leader in 2016, Lisee proposed to open a discussion on banning the burkini, the burqa and niqab in public spaces! The zeal of the media and politicians has greatly contributed to maintaining a climate of Islamophobia for years, which has resulted in a rise in hate speech and Islamophobic acts in Quebec. The saddest example of these acts is the killing at the Quebec mosque on Jan. 29, 2017. However, throughout the onslaught of such absurd and reactionary remarks by the media, the PQ, the CAQ or the Liberals, there has almost been no clear opposition on the left. It is in this context that we must understand why a majority of Quebecers are in favour of some form of prohibition of religious symbols. Fortunately, many unions oppose the CAQs discriminatory plans. The central council of the CSN as well as the Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM-CSN) took a stand against any ban on the wearing of religious symbols. The Federation autonome de lenseignement (Autonomous Teachers Federation) and the Federation des enseignantes et enseignants du Quebec (Quebec Teachers Federation) are also opposed to Bill 21. The FTQ Greater Montreal Regional Council also participated in a press conference denouncing the bill. In addition, at its recent national council meeting, Quebec Solidaire, the only left-wing party in the province, had its delegates vote by a large majority to oppose any ban on religious symbols for state employees. QS becomes the first significant party in Quebec to take this position. Catherine Dorion, QS MNA, said in a speech on March 29: It is not the Muslims who are everywhere in the corridors with big sacks of cash influencing our governments, it is capitalism that that is in bed with our governments! This is exactly the type of message that we must be using. We must denounce discrimination and racism, and point to the real culprits of the problems in societythe capitalists and their system. This is the best way to cut across the divisions maintained by the capitalist parties and their media. For a mass movement of civil disobedience! Legault made it clear that he does not want to compromise. Its been 11 years that we have talked about this subject, I think everything has been said, pretty much everything has been said, in any case, the positions are clear for the four parties, I think it is time that we turn the page, he said. He even mentioned the use of the gag order to limit parliamentary debate on the issue. It is clear that this bill cannot be stopped in parliament. The fight will have to be carried out on another front: on the streets and in workplaces. There have already been protests against the bill on April 3, when protesters formed a human chain around a school in Westmount. Two school boards in Montreal, the English Montreal and Lester B. Pearson School Boards, have announced that they are not going to enforce the law. The Association of Suburban Municipalities (which includes 14 municipalities on the Island of Montreal) has also suggested that they could disobey the law. These initiatives are heading in the right direction. We must extend this movement of disobedience to all municipalities, school boards and unions. Every trade union which has taken a stand against the CAQs discrimination must now turn their words into action and mobilize in defense of religious minorities. We must develop a concrete plan to disobey any attempt to enforce this law. This can take the form of strikes in solidarity with targeted employees or even mass demonstrations. We must not let any of our fellow workers suffer discrimination based on religion or anything else. The main force which has the power to stop Bill 21 is the organized labour movement. It is time to use the immense resources and mobilizing potential of the unions to stop this first attack of the CAQ against the working class and the oppressed. An injury to one is an injury all! Fight racism, fight the CAQ! Provincial elections in a small country such as the Netherlands would normally be considered a rather boring event and not worth mentioning. However, the recent elections of 20 March led to the rise of the right-wing Forum voor Democratie (FvD) party, and the Rutte government lost its majority in the senate. This represents a turning point after a few years of relative stability. On 20 March, the Netherlands held its provincial elections. During those elections, people voted for the provincial councils. Indirectly, these councils elect the senate, in which the government needs a majority in order to rule efficiently. The Senate approves laws on merely technical issues after they have been passed by parliament, but in practice, no government can rule without a majority in the senate. It was known from the start that these were no normal provincial elections, as politicians from all parties were nervously campaigning on national issues. These were basically by-elections for Mark Rutte's third government. This is already a four-party coalition, which has to overcome many hurdles to pass laws. But without a majority in the senate, matters would become more complicated, as they would have to make agreements with at least one additional party. The shooting in Utrecht Two days before the elections, on 18 March, there was a shooting in a tram in Utrecht. Three people were killed in this random act of violence. The Dutch state for the first time initiated threat level 5, which presupposes a terrorist attack. Strategic points were guarded, schools were closed, and residents of Utrecht were urged to stay indoors. The perpetrator was a lumpen type with a past of criminal acts, involved in the drug trade and sexual abuse of addicted women; a criminal psychopath who was essentially a result of the incompetence of the state bureaucracy and cuts to mental health services. According to the government, a note was found, which supposed to be proof that this shooting was a terrorist act, but this has not been made public as of now. As the shooter had a Turkish name, this was used by the right-wing FvD and PVV parties to step up their dirty campaign against multicultural society, targeting Muslims and immigrants in general, two days before the elections. The rise of the FvD The result of the elections was that the Rutte government indeed lost its majority in the 75-seat senate. The government parties now only have 31 seats together (41 percent). Another shock for Mark Rutte was that his party, the 'conservative liberal' VVD, lost its position as the biggest party in the senate. Until now, Rutte could state that, in spite of all the unpopular measures he has taken over the years, the economy seems to be booming and the VVD is still the biggest party (although in an extremely fragmented political landscape). The biggest party in the senate now is the FvD, a party that went from 0 to 13 seats (17 percent) at once. This is a reactionary, right-wing nationalist party, which managed to present itself as "anti-establishment". Its leader, Thierry Baudet, is a third-rate pseudo-intellectual who behaves as a flamboyant showman to provoke the public with attacks on 'the political elite', immigrants, climate scientists (he is a denier of man-made climate change), journalists, left-wing teachers and everybody else he does not like. The FvD's Thierry Baudet is a right-wing, climate change denying, anti-migrant demagogue / Image: Elekes Andor Baudet has a history of flirting with right-wing extremist ideas. It is known he visited Jean Marie Le Pen in the past, and last year he dined with American white supremacist Jared Taylor. However, that does not mean, as some on the left say, that his party is a fascist movement and that there is a rise of fascism in the Netherlands. This party is a demagogic bourgeois party with links to an adventurist section of the ruling class, which prefers the FvD as a more controllable party than Geert Wilders' PVV. It has attracted businesspeople, former politicians of other right-wing parties, and other adventurers. Yes, fascist 'alt-right' elements have been active in the party and its youth movement, and it's clear there is a certain layer that is ready for a confrontation with left-wing activists. But this is proportionally a very small layer that can easily be stopped when the labour movement uses its power to mobilise. The real reason for people voting for FvD was to vote against Mark Rutte's government. This was partially (about a third) by former Geert Wilders supporters who sought a new way out and partially by right-wing voters whose trust in the Rutte government has been broken. It is a reflection of these layers (mostly home-owning workers and middle-class people in the suburbs and countryside) looking for a way out of the general impasse. An important issue driving the vote has been the Climate Agreement. Presenting itself as going green and thinking about climate issues, the Rutte government has come up with a climate agreement, which is basically a big subsidy package for polluting multinational companies like Shell (which had a net profit of 20 million in 2018), paid for by households and small businesses through higher energy taxes. The net result is that big companies get a yearly 450 million of subsidies, while households and small businesses pay 1450 million extra on taxes. Baudet demagogically attacked this agreement as hurting the ordinary Dutch people, using climate change denial and conspiracy theories in his message against the climate lobby. This was a distraction from the rest of his pro-business programme, through which he wants to lower taxes on profits and make it easier to fire workers. On the left, however, there was no real working-class answer to this: none of the parties could link the climate issue to the class struggle and expose the reactionary demagogy of Baudet. After it became clear the FvD had become the biggest party in the senate, big shock waves were sent through society. From the youth, there was a radical anti-racist reaction. The yearly anti-racist march, held on 23 March in Amsterdam, normally counted 1,000-2,000 participants. This year the number was 10,000, with clear slogans against the system. This shows positively that the situation is not one of a shift to the right, but increasing polarisation and radicalisation. GroenLinks and the climate movement GroenLinks (the green left), with its base of mostly urban middle-class people, received a lot of votes of mostly young people who are ready to fight climate change. It went up from four to nine seats (12 percent) in the senate. It has become a first point of reference for a new generation of youth that is getting politically active. As it declined to join the Rutte III government in 2017, there is still a lot of enthusiasm for the party, enhanced by the recent climate movement. The international movement of school student strikes for the climate also touched the Netherlands. 10 March saw a massive Climate March in Amsterdam, with 40,000 people marching through the heavy rain. This important issue of climate change has become very important for the new generation. When GroenLinks joins the government or sells out through agreements with Rutte and/or other bourgeois politicians, this will lead to a radicalisation of these young layers. GroenLinks has become a point of reference for a new generation that is politicising / Image: Flickr. groenlinks030 The decline of the Socialist Party Groenlinks is the only party on the left that managed to grow. The Dutch Labour Party, after its historic defeat in 2017, managed to recover slightly (if we compare the results with the general elections of 2017), but still lost a seat in the senate (where it got 9 percent of the votes). Almost half of its voters were older than 65, which shows there is no real recovery in the long term. That's the result of decades of playing the left foot of the Dutch ruling class. The biggest loser of the elections, however, was the Socialist Party. It went down from nine to four seats (5 percent). In the early 2000s, this party was hailed as a great example for the European Left. It was a point of attraction for the advanced layers of the working class and the radical youth. But it has now become a shadow of its former self. Since 2006, the party has been moderating its tone, in order to show that it is a serious, responsible political party. It has been joining municipal and provincial coalitions, even with right-wing parties. In the meantime, many critical left-wing members have been driven out bureaucratically. The bureaucratic centralist structure of the ex-Stalinist party stifles debate and real discussion about political issues. In the 2017 general elections, the party lost a seat, despite having spent years in opposition to a very unpopular government. The party does not connect with the new generation of radicalised young people. During these elections, the leadership stated that the main issue was climate change, with GroenLinks and FvD occupying polarised positions, while the SP was nuanced on this. On this issue, the Socialist Party had a vague reformist programme of climate justice, which involves dividing the burden of averting climate change differently through some tax measures. Instead, it should have come out with a clear, radical programme of expropriating Shell without compensation (as the company has been subsidised and de facto pays no tax), and lowering the energy prices for working people and small companies. In this way, it could at least have presented a socialist alternative to the false dichotomy of green liberalism vs. right-wing demagogy. It is up to the critical membership to save the party. The party's chauvinistic position towards migrants (they are in favour of labour migration controls in Europe and humanitarian asylum application centres in North Africa for migrants that want to enter Europe) has led to a lot of internal friction. There are many members that see the party has been going downhill over the years, but with the excuse of maintaining party unity, the bureaucracy has managed to stop a real internal political debate from taking place. The time is now more ripe than ever to argue for a radical change in course. The next two years for Rutte Rutte's government coalition now has to rule with the support of at least one extra party in the Senate. This can be either FvD, GroenLinks or the PvdA (Labour). The first two options would bring trouble for the coalition government. Getting into an agreement with FvD (on the basis of cutting down the climate agreement and/or implementing more policies against immigrants) would lead to problems with the liberal D66 party and the Christian Union. Meanwhile, GroenLinks could profit from this situation in the next elections. If Rutte makes an agreement with GroenLinks (on the basis of some amendments to the climate agreement), this would be seen as a big sell-out. Rutte's party, VVD and coalition partner CDA (the Christian Democrats) would protest, and FvD would profit from this situation. At the same time, young politicised people would start to see the nature of GroenLinks and radicalise. This would lead to further polarisation. It is not excluded that Rutte manages to make a deal with the PvdA, which has a history of joining together with the right-wing parties, to 'save the day' for the ruling class. However, as the party is still recovering from the dramatic 2017 elections, it might not be too eager to join at this point. With the Rutte government in a weaker situation, the labour movement must step up its battles / Image: PoR If no scenario works out, Rutte has to make a separate, ad hoc deal for every law to pass through the senate. This was the situation for his previous government, but it consisted of two parties rather than four. This shows that no scenarios are really favourable for Rutte and that the first two good years of Rutte III will now be followed by two worse ones. While there has been an economic recovery and unemployment is historically low, the situation is very contradictory. The unemployment figure of 3.5 percent is bettered in Europe only the Czech Republic and Germany. However, the Netherlands has the highest number of precarious 'flex contracts' in Europe after Spain. There is also a huge gap between older workers and young workers. There is an enormous property bubble, with a rise in house prices of 42 percent between 2013 and 2018, while real wages remained stagnant. Getting affordable housing is a constant struggle for working people and youth. When the housing bubble bursts, there will be many victims. According to the OECD, in 2015, the poorest 60 percent of households had negative net wealth, because their mortgage debts were worth more than their property. During the crisis years, there has been a huge attack on wages and working conditions. Now, the labour movement is slowly awakening and fighting back. Since the FNV trade union's offensive for higher wages started last year, there is a lot of talk about a labour shortage, which shows that the situation is now favourable to win concessions from the bosses. It is an economic struggle, but also a political one. The Rutte government raised the lower tax rate from 6 percent to 9 percent at the start of 2019, and that now comes with higher energy taxes. It wants to reform the pension system by taking steps towards the possible privatisation of pension funds. With the Rutte government now in a weaker situation, it is the task of the labour movement to step up its battles. On 15 March there was a huge teachers strike, with 40,000 teachers, from primary schools to university level, demonstrating in the Hague. Big actions against the attack on pensions were held on 18 March, combining demonstrations with strikes in certain sectors all over the country. There is a mood to fight, which should not be betrayed by having illusions in GroenLinks or PvdA making a deal with Rutte. A general day of action of all sectors against Rutte III should be called by the FNV union federation as a first step to further actions. There is a situation of increasing polarisation, as the Netherlands is preparing to join the European mainstream in terms of crisis and political instability. In these conditions, it is necessary to join and help build the Dutch Marxist Tendency, so we can prepare for more turbulent events in the future. Cambridge police said they are investigating after a person was stabbed on a busy city street on Tuesday afternoon. A person was stabbed near 600 Massachusetts Avenue and police quickly stopped a possible suspect, police wrote on Twitter. The victim is expected to survive, police said. Officers are in the area of the 600 block of Massachusetts Avenue in #CambMA following a reported stabbing," police tweeted just before 1 p.m. The victims injuries are believed to be non-life threatening. A possible suspect has been stopped by officers and is in custody. The suspect has not been identified. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has ordered flags at state buildings flown at half-staff on Thursday in honor of Sgt. Rachel R. McKay, a Marblehead native. The 23-year-old died unexpectedly at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. Her death remains under investigation. McKay was a graduate of Marblehead High School and went on to receive a degree in political science from William Smith College in Geneva, New York last spring. She enlisted in the Army and recently completed basic combat training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. She graduated second in her company within 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, and went on to attend the U.S. Armys Officer Candidate School. Rachel was a proud, fit, respected and tireless soldier, and a sought after battle buddy by her fellow officer candidates in the highly selective program, her obituary states. She was dedicated to live by and embody the Armys core values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Looking past her military, collegiate and high school accomplishments, Rachel was best at being a sister, daughter and friend," the obituary states. "She was a genuine and caring person with extra doses of empathy and admiration for the underdog, and was deeply rooted with a sense of fairness and selflessness. She will be missed more than words can express by the many people she touched during her far too short time with them. McKay is survived by her parents, David and Deborah, sister Halle, as well as a large extended family. Her body was returned to Massachusetts on Monday. Visiting hours will be held at Eustis and Cornell of Marblehead, 142 Elm St., on Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m.. Funeral services will be private. The governors order applies to all state buildings in the commonwealth from sunrise to sunset on Thursday, April 18. This includes the main administration building of each public institution including town and city halls, other state-owned or state-controlled buildings and all state military installations. As the tax deadline rolls around in Massachusetts, immigrants with temporary protections lobbying for a path to citizenship argued that their deportation could cost the country billions in the long term. We are not asking for charity. Temporary Protected Status families have already contributed to this country, said Jose Palma, coordinator for the National TPS Committee and a TPS recipient from El Salvador. Palma, other members and their children stood in the Boston Common Tuesday morning, a day before Massachusetts residents taxes are due, holding a large symbolic check in the amount of $4.6 billion symbolically made out to the federal government. A study published on Monday from the University of Southern California estimates thats how much immigrants with temporary protections contribute in federal, state and local taxes. The study suggests that the country could lose $35.2 billion in gross domestic product if immigrants with temporary protections leave the country. For the last 20 years, I have been doing my taxes every year, said Palma, a Lynn resident who works as a paralegal for Justice At Work. He arrived in the U.S. in 1998 and received temporary protections in 2001 after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck El Salvador. More than 12,000 Massachusetts residents have protections under TPS, a humanitarian program that offers a work permit to foreign nationals of countries marred by civil war, natural disasters, health epidemics and other crises. The U.S. grants TPS to eligible nationals of El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. TPS grants no direct path to citizenship, but some recipients have married U.S. citizens and become legal permanent residents. The Trump administration is trying to end the programs, which critics argue were always designed to be temporary. The administrations efforts have been stymied by lawsuits from advocacy groups challenging the wind-down. Federal judges in California have ordered the federal government not to end TPS for several countries while the lawsuits are heard in court. While the fate of the temporary program is determined in the courts, immigration activists are pushing for Congress to pass the American Dream and Promise Act, a bill that would offer immigrants with temporary protections a direct path to citizenship. Critics of the TPS program, however, argue that there are several other countries without TPS designation that are in much worse shape economically and politically than Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Art Arthur, fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, said in a Congressional hearing in March that the legislation would encourage other immigrants to enter the country illegally and put a strain on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes visa and citizenship applications. A Dream Act amnesty alone would be expensive from a fiscal point of view, and that cost would only be compounded by adding in an amnesty for TPS recipients, Arthur testified. Instead, Arthur suggested that TPS recipients sell their homes and other assets or leave them in the care of relatives. He also said that when the U.S.-citizen children of TPS recipients turn 21, they can petition for their parents return to the country as green card holders. They have already been the beneficiaries of a generous program that has protected them against hardship in their countries, Arthur said. Immigrant advocates argue that sending TPS recipients back to their native countries would not only endanger them, but hurt the economy. USCs Dornsife Center for Immigrant Integration partnered with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think-tank, and found that the bill could help nearly 1.3 billion people who have temporary protections or live with someone who does. The report released on Monday suggests that their sum of household income is about $17.9 billion and that nearly 26 percent, or $4.6 billion, goes to taxes. Massachusettss 5th congressional district, represented by Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark, had one of the highest tax contributions from these recipients. About 4,100 immigrants with temporary protections live in the district, according to the Center for Immigrant Integration. Doris Landaverde, a TPS recipient from El Salvador, has worked as a custodian at Harvard University since 2006. On Tax Day, she joined activists and politicians calling for a path to citizenship. Im paying taxes every year. I think thats a way to contribute to the community and to the government, Doris Landaverde, a custodian at Harvard University, said Tuesday at the Boston Common. Landaverde said she arrived in the country in December 2000, just a few months before a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck her native El Salvador. She received temporary protections a few months later. She was hired at Harvard in 2006, according to the university website. She raised her daughter alone until marrying her husband, a Moroccan national named Mohamed, in 2009. They had two daughters together. If she loses her protections under TPS, Landaverde said she would be sent back to El Salvador and be separated from her husband and daughters. Politicians who joined the TPS recipients on Tuesday called for a path to citizenship for immigrants with TPS. Its bad for our economy, its bad for our neighborhood, its bad for our businesses if we do not support TPS holders, said Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards. If we do not stand with them and make sure that they stay here, then it will actually be worse for us and worse for our economy. Edwards said these immigrants are contributing more than major companies such as Starbucks and Amazon. And yet here we are having this horrible conversation about whether they should stay here or not, and the fact is theyre everything that this country strives to be, she said. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said his family immigrated from Italy and built their life in the city in the 1950s. They built a better home and life for their family and their community, he said. Immigrants today are doing the same thing in Somerville and around the nation. Miami-based residential developer Crescent Heights plans to begin pre-leasing in May for NEMA Boston, the 414-unit luxury apartment tower going up now in the citys Seaport District. Crescent Heights launched its NEMA brand in San Francisco in 2013, and a Chicago tower will open next month. The first residents will move into the 21-story NEMA Boston tower, located at 399 Congress St., this September. The Seaport has evolved into a cultural innovation hub and a vibrant, creative community. The NEMA brand is locally inspired and powered by those same values, combining tech innovation, art, and lifestyle programming to curate meaningful living experiences, said Bruce A. Menin, managing principal at Crescent Heights, in a statement. Our NEMA Boston team is local, passionate and dedicated to the NEMA standards of personalized, predictive service. Apartment rents will range from $2,350 to $3,250 for studios; $2,950 to $4,250 for one-bedroom units and $3,950 to $5,950 for two-bedroom units. A Crescent Heights representative said three-bedroom rates are available on request for prospective residents. Crescent Heights expects that its 600-700 residents will have an average household income of $200,000 or higher and total monthly purchasing power estimated at over $1 million, the company said on its website. Stantec and Group One Partners designed the tower, which features 3,240 square feet of retail space. Features of the luxury tower include a rooftop amenity floor, with a heated outdoor pool; an arcade with bar, pool table and 98-inch television where residents can watch four games at once; a private movie theater and media lounge equipped for virtual-reality gaming; and a lounge with fireplace. From 24-hour concierge and maintenance staff to fitness instructors, the NEMA team is all about hospitality with a genuine smile and time-saving resources, Crescent Heights said in a press release. Partnerships with leading specialists further expand service options to include housekeeping, salon and spa services, dog walking, personal training and much more. The Boston City Council will have a serious conversation about the rising cost of housing in the city with all options on the table, including rent control, President Andrea Campbell said on Boston Public Radio Tuesday afternoon. We have an affordability problem or a crisis from some perspectives in the city of Boston, Campbell said. I was born and raised in this city and it is much harder now than it was 36 years ago. Last week, Boston City Councilor Althea Garrison offered a home rule petition that would address the need for rent control in the city. It would cap annual rent increases at 7 percent, among other things. If passed, the ordinance would need state approval. Massachusetts voters banned rent control in 1994, but this year a group of House members plan to introduce legislation that would allow cities and towns to protect tenants from eviction in several ways, including how much rent they have to pay. Current state law allows cities and towns to enforce a six-month rent control period, but after that it becomes optional for landlords. With approximately 65 percent of the city residents renting, Garrison, along with Boston City Councilors Lydia Edwards and Kim Janey, said the council must examine all tools available to them. On WGBH on Tuesday, Campbell promised to do that - despite pushback from other colleagues who say rent control will not work. Everything should be on the table, Campbell said. Its a conversation we absolutely should have and we will. Striking Stop & Shop workers who were picketing outside of the supermarkets Kingston store helped nab a pair of shoplifting suspects Monday. Boston 25 reported that 50-year-old Todd Robert and 52-year-old Amy Sullivan, both of Duxbury, left the store with two carts full of groceries they never paid for. A group of striking workers saw them and told police officers who were working a detail at the store. Both suspects were arrested and charged with shoplifting more than $250. Police told the television station that they estimated the stolen groceries were worth about $580. SPRINGFIELD Pride Stores will no longer provide single-use plastic bags after May 1. Instead, Pride will give away reusable bags and offer a 5-cent discount whenever a customer uses a reusable bag of any kind, said Pride CEO Robert Bolduc. The stores will also provide paper grocery bags to customers who ask for them. This is going to sound crazy for a boss to say I dont know if this is going to cost or if it is going to save us money, Bolduc said. I didnt even look at the cost. Its the right thing to do. Hes timing the move just before the Springfield City Council is expected to vote April 23 on a citywide single-use plastic bag ban. Bolduc said hed considered appearing before councilors to advocate in favor of the ban. Or I could just do it and send a message that way, which would be as stronger message, he said. The citys ban wouldnt take effect for a year to 18 months after its passage, depending on the size of the store. Bolduc said his family switched to reusable bags about 10 years ago and they tried to get customers in Pride stores to use them. Now is a good time to try again, he said. Meanwhile, Big Y Foods announced Tuesday that eight Big Y Express Gas and Convenience locations will be the first division in the 80-store company to eliminate single-use bags April 22. Currently, Big Y Express in Lee is the only location without these bags as part of that towns ban. Now, the other eight locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut will join in this pursuit just in time for Earth Day. Big Y Foods, which like Pride is headquartered in Springfield, announced in January that it would phase out single-use bags in 2020. The chain plans to promote reusable bags throughout 2019. Municipalities have instituted bag bans as a way of avoiding litter and waste and in helping the environment generally. Big Y said there are now bag bans in five of the Massachusetts communities where it has stores: Lee, Amherst, Great Barrington, Northampton and South Hadley. Adams, where Big Y had a store before selling it last month due to its small size, also has a ban in place. Massachusetts lawmakers are also considering a statewide ban. Single-use plastic bags create an inordinate amount of waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 380 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year. If not disposed of properly, this plastic can end up in waterways and forests where it can harm fish, birds and other wildlife. Bolduc said two of the towns where he has stores have the bans: Northampton and Hadley. Pride already strives to do its work in an environmentally friendly manner, Bolduc said. It uses efficient heating, cooling and refrigeration equipment, energy-saving fleet vehicles and offers electric vehicle charging at its locations in Hadley and Hartford, Connecticut. Pride is also switching the hand dryers in its restrooms to blow cool air to save electricity, Bolduc said. Pride has 33 locations in Western Massachusetts and in Connecticut, including a recently reopened location at Wilbraham Road and Breckwood Boulevard in Springfield. A new Pride will soon be under construction at 700 State St., the former River Inn site, which Pride purchased from DevelopSpringfield. Pride has fuel stops, convenience stores, and Pride Kitchens. All stores offer fast and fresh foods, freshly baked items, and in many cases full kitchens and drive-thru windows. SPRINGFIELD As an adopted family member growing up in New Jersey, Wendy Libowitz had little information to use for school assignments related to biological family history. Today, Libowitz can trace parts of that family tree back several generations and recently gathered for a meal with both her biological and adoptive mother all thanks to her dogged research aided by resources available today through social media and DNA testing. Libowitz will focus on the use of online DNA genealogical testing Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m. in a presentation, Finding Family: Searching for Answers, that is co-sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Jewish Genealogical Society, at the Jewish Community Center, 1160 Dickinson St. She will be joined in the presentation by Jeanne Gitsas who regards the use of such research as akin to applying a bit of magic to a difficult search. I will be talking that evening, using like a Cliff Note version by just summarizing how I found my biological family, Gitsas said. I used DNA and never would have learned how to spell my biological last name if it were not for DNA and a relatives tree with her grandmother and her maiden name. My adopted mom told me that my last name was Read, the social worker told her so. My mom never knew how to spell it so it was very difficult until DNA. Its an amazing thing and I love the true magic of DNA. The use of such research helped shortened the time it took Libowitz to find her biological mother a year ago. The problem to this day is that I am born in the State of New York which still has sealed records. I do not have an original birth certificate, and I have only non-identifiable information, said Libowitz of why someone like herself adopted five decades ago with a birth certificate that reflected her adoptive name might turn to online DNA research for help. She added, I have taken other steps over my lifetime that have helped me at the end of the search. I would say to anyone searching regardless of the reason that a lot of that other data you can find does help put the picture together, said Libowitz of records with information on military service, immigration, birth and death. My search - with the help of other people - included looking at passenger manifests from ships that came to the United States to figure out who this family was to build these family trees. Libowitz grew up much loved and accepted in her adoptive family, but knew young she wanted to know more about her biological roots and this feeling grew particularly in terms of finding her biological mother after having and raising two daughters. Libowitz said her entire adoptive and extended adoptive family as well as her immediate family and friends supported her effort. Libowitzs adoption when she was about a month old was arranged through Louise Wise Services, the New York City agency that become known to a wider audience after the 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers. The agency closed in 2004 with records sent to another adoption agency, Spence Chapin, from whom in 2007, Libowitz obtained general information that she called more of a narrative story about her birth and her biological parents without any identifying data. Libowitzs subsequent research revealed the inaccuracy of some of this information and she learned late in her search that her birth record last name does not match her biological mothers maiden name though it shares the same first letter. The given name on record is what her birth mother selected. I could have been calling all the people by that last name in New York City forever and there would have been a lot of them and I would never have found her, said Libowitz of the importance of adding DNA research as a tool in finding her biological mom. Libowitz had her own DNA tested through saliva samples sent to consumer genetic testing companies Ancestry and 23andMe out of a belief that she could connect with people I am genetically related to as well as because she had no idea ancestrally what I am made of. I had no close contacts from the testing, but I started communicating with the ones I had, said Libowitz who was also able to upload her results to other DNA databases to broaden the search for others with her DNA and in what amount that predicts closeness of biological relationship. A lot of people responded to me but it wasnt really useful information, so I turned to social media more and joined groups predominately on Facebook. Libowitz found particularly helpful a locator group called Search Squad that works with adopted individuals among others in their search. The groups genealogical volunteers are called Search Angels, Libowitz said, and two of them, one with a background in science, got her very far in predicting her close biological relatives in terms of amounts of DNA shared and other factors. I had done the testing, I had tried the communication with people and basically went to the organization saying, OK, here is my DNA testing, here is my non-identifiable information, here is everything I know and now I am stuck and I dont know how to get myself any further and can someone help me, Libowitz said. A months-long roadblock on her maternal side was overcome when Libowitz got a DNA hit one day from someone who would prove a link to finding out why Libowitz was unable to trace the person she believed was her grandfather after his graduation from high school he had changed his name. This was the breakthrough on the maternal side - I got the last name and took out the name I believed everybody used and put in the new name and bingo! I started finding obituaries and all kinds of information on this whole generation of the family and their children, Libowitz said. I get to the point where I said to myself, This I believe is my maternal grandfather. I am not sure who this woman is, but it turned out to be his wife. I think these women are related and I have looked them up in the birth index and I think this one is my mother that is where the non-identifiable information helped as I had the year of her birth. What Libowitz calls further sleuthing on social media through private messaging and fishing e-mails asking people about possible family relationships to those she was researching yielded a response last April 16 from the woman she believed to be her biological mother. Her reply said, Yes, he is my father, and that was my grandfather and how are you related?, recalled Libowitz of a moment of online intimacy in real time that transcended time. I sent the message I was born July 19, 1968 with some information and her immediate reply is, What hospital were you born at and can you send a picture of yourself? I was in shock but excited and five minutes after I sent an email with more information, I got a phone call from her at the end of which I said, If you are ever open to this, I would like to meet you and she instantly said, Yep and over the last year we have developed a very nice relationship. Libowitz cautions that such genealogy research takes persistence, patience and does not always yield all the desired confirmations on searched biological relationships. She is, however, appreciative of what she has found through DNA testing as well as the help of others. Its been a whirlwind year but I have learned a lot and I would like to share that with others when I do the presentation, Libowitz said. Genealogical research takes a village in that you need help from other people. You can also give help to other people. All little stepping stones and regardless of who you are looking for there is help out there if you want it and getting the help can make a difference in whether you are successful. I dont think I would have figured all this out by myself. The program, part of the JCCs Life Lessons series is free, but registration is suggested by emailing bnadler@springfieldjcc.org or calling (413) 739-4715. CHICOPEE Firefighters extinguished a blaze at the long-vacant Uniroyal factory complex on West Main Street Monday night. The fire was reported at about 8:30 p.m. in a vacant industrial building near the corner of West Main and Oak Streets, said Nathan Moreau, assistant to Mayor Richard J. Kos. The fire broke out on the third and fourth floors of one of the five-story massive buildings that can be seen from the street, he said. Firefighters fought the fire on ladder trucks from outside the building since it is considered too dangerous for anyone to enter. Much of the interior building had collapsed previously, Moreau said. The fire was relatively small and by 9:45 p.m. it was extinguished. Firefighters continue to work at the building to ensure the flames are out, he said. Im just glad they were able to put it out before it spread to one of the other buildings, Moreau said, adding the fire started in high winds. Springfield firefighters manned the fire station while Chicopee firefighters were on the scene of the blaze, he said. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Chicopee Fire Department with the State Fire Marshals office, he said. Oak Street and part of West Main Street are currently closed. The city took the complex by tax title at least a dozen years ago and have been working to remove the vacant buildings for at least a decade. The buildings are known to be filled with asbestos and other hazardous materials. The building where the fire occurred is one of five the City Council approved money for to tear down. A year ago the building was deemed too unsafe for workers to enter it to remove hazardous waste from it before it was demolished, making the project more expensive. City officials eventually hope to clean up the property and re-develop the land. CHICOPEE - Police are seeking the publics help in identifying a roving band of nuisance dirt bikers who police says have attacked two people in a car late month. Police spokesman Mike Wilk said the city has, as the weather has gotten better, seen an increase of dirt bike riders illegally taking to the streets and disrupting traffic. A group of them on the afternoon of March 30 got into a dispute with a man and a woman in a car, and it escalated into the group beating them and vandalizing their car, he said. The woman told police she was driving along Chicopee Street with a male passenger when their car was surrounded by the dirt bikers, Wilk said. They began taunting them and kicking at the car. And because they surrounded her car, she was unable to stop or get away, he said. A man without a helmet illegally rides a dirt bike on the streets of Chicopee. When the car stopped at McKinstry and Meadow, some of the bikers began hitting the passenger through the open window and dragging him out the car door. The woman got out to help her passenger, and she was struck multiple times, he said. She was injured and needed to be taken to the hospital for treatment, he said. Incidents where riders on dirt bikes take to the streets have increased, and Wilk says anyone who sees a cluster of them should call the police department immediately, he said. We need your eyes out there to assist us in putting an end to this extremely dangerous, and stupid game. If you encounter these bikers, do not engage them. Call 911 ASAP. A dirt bike may be driven legally on Massachusetts roads only if it is properly registered and passes inspection, just like any other vehicle. A dirt bike needs standard equipment, including a headlight, turn signals, a tail light, and a license place, and the driver needs to be wearing a helmet. Photos released by police show none of the bikes have license plates or headlines. In some, the rider has no helmet. SPRINGFIELD MGM Springfield reported $25.7 million in gross gaming revenue in March, up 19% from February. The numbers, released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, show two consecutive months of gaming revenue growth at the $1 billion casino now in its ninth month of operation. March was a very strong month for the property and represented our best slot month since opening, said Michael Mathis, MGM Springfields president and chief operating officer. We recognize in this early ramp up period that results will continue to vary month to month as our operation, programming and customer base stabilizes. March was the second time gross gaming revenue at MGM Springfield exceeded $25 million and its second-highest month ever. The casino generated $26.9 million in gross gambling revenue in September, its first full month of operation. The figures are still below the casinos pre-opening projections of $34.8 million in gross gambling revenue a month. The casino reported $21.5 million in gross gaming revenues in February, reflecting a 9.1% increase over Januarys total. The January figure of just $19.6 million was the lowest since the casino opened in August 2018. The Gaming Commission said gambling at MGM Springfield both in slots and at table games generated $6.4 million in tax revenue in March. All told, gross gaming revenue since MGM opened is $168.4 million, with $42 million in tax revenue. The state taxes gaming revenues at 25% from MGM Springfield. The Gaming Commission also reported that the Plainridge Park Casino had $16 million in March gaming revenues from its slots, compared to revenues of $12.6 million in February. Plainridge, which is taxed at 49% of its gross gaming revenue, generated $7.8 million in taxes in March. MGM Springfield says it drew 2.7 million visitors through the end of December. About half those visitors are from inside Massachusetts and about half are from outside the state. Attracting visitors to Springfield, taxes on gaming revenue and creating jobs were all goals used to sell voters on legalized casino gambling. MGM Springfield had 2,522 employees as of Dec. 31, including 568 part-time workers and 1,954 full-time, according to MGMs most recent quarterly report. To date, Massachusetts has collected approximately $346 million in total taxes and assessments from Plainridge Park Casino and MGM since the facilities opened. Plainridge opened in June of 2015. Encore Boston Harbor, the state's third casino, is scheduled to open in June. The Gaming commission issues monthly revenue reports on the 15th of each month or on next business day if there is a holiday. Rachael Bahal may have been one of the last people to view much of the priceless artwork, religious artifacts and the three famous stained glass rose windows at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris before a fire Monday heavily damaged the architectural landmark. Bahal, of Wilbraham, toured the famous cathedral while on vacation with her family and friends. She and her husband and twin 14-year-old daughters left Notre Dame at 6 p.m. local time, about a half-hour before the devastating fire started. "It is absolutely gorgeous. This is a very serious place, it is very historic," she said. "It is very religious and there is centuries of history there." At about 6:30 p.m. the fire broke out and spread through the cathedral, collapsing the famous spire and destroying two-thirds of the roof. Firefighters, who spent about five hours battling the flames, managed to stop the fire before it spread to the northern belfry and saved the exterior structure and twin bell towers. Some of the artwork also was saved. The line was long when Bahals family and three friends visited the cathedral, but it seemed to be moving fairly fast. So she, her husband and their daughters decided to wait and go inside. She said it was crowded when they walked out, so she was relieved to hear everyone escaped the fire safely. Despite the extensive damage the fire caused, the only injury came to one of the about 400 firefighters who battled the blaze. Im glad we went in," Bahal said. Im from France but I havent been back here since I was 9. The same long line dissuaded Stephanie Barry and her family, who are traveling with Bahal, from going inside Notre Dame Monday. The group had been walking around and visiting attractions all day and Barry, her husband Jeffrey Poindexter and their daughter Gabrielle, 17, were tired. They decided instead to just walk around outside the cathedral and return on Tuesday. It has been here for 850 years, it will be here tomorrow. I really said that, said Barry, a former reporter for The Republican. At about 7 p.m. the seven got on the Metro and headed to the Eiffel Tower. While they were on the subway, everyones phones started going off, alerting them to the news that Notre Dame was on fire. Although she doesnt speak French, Barry said she could tell there was a sense of disbelief over the fire. There were also immediate concerns that the fire may have been caused by arson or a terrorist attack, something that made her pause before heading up the Eiffel Tower. Investigators are already searching for a cause of the fire, but have ruled out arson. The Paris fire brigade has said it may be linked to a $6.8 million renovation project at the cathedral. Barry said they could see the flames from a distance while they were at the Eiffel Tower. A lot of people flocked to the cathedral to see the fire and there was a generally somber mood in the city about the destruction, she said. "It is tragic. We were at a beautiful historic place with so many artistic treasurers and an hour and a half later it was gone," she said. The fire was especially poignant since it occurred during the Catholic Holy Week preceding Easter. In Springfield, hundreds of people filled St. Michaels Cathedral to hear Bishop Mitchell Rozanski celebrate the traditional Chrism Mass that begins the week. Before the Mass, Rozanski offered his sympathy to the people of Paris, saying Notre Dame Cathedral is the center and a symbol of the city. Rozanski has visited Notre Dame in the past, and said it is tragic to think the stained glass windows and ornate woodwork that he so admired were likely destroyed in the fire. "I'm just thanking God amidst that huge conflagration that nobody was hurt or killed and I especially pray for the safety of the firefighters who fought that fire so bravely and really risked their lives," he said. Not a lot of people practice the Catholic faith in Paris, and he said he hopes the fire will help people realize what a treasure the faith is. It is the faith that is in our hearts that counts, so no matter what is destroyed physically here on Earth, it is the faith we keep in our hearts that really builds up the church, Rozanski said. The French billionaires behind some of the most popular designer brands in the world will donate to the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the 13th-century Catholic church in Paris that was destroyed in a fire on Monday. Bloomberg reports tycoons Francois-Henri Pinault, the chief executive officer of Gucci owner Kering SA, and members of the Arnault family, who operate the Louis Vuitton fashion conglomerate, have pledged a combined 300 million, or about $339 million, toward restoring the Notre Dame Cathedral. In a tweet, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the country will work to rebuild the famous cathedral, calling the new project a part of our French destiny. He suggested a national fundraiser would be launched Tuesday that would allow donations from far beyond the countrys borders. Cette cathedrale Notre-Dame, nous la rebatirons. Tous ensemble. Cest une part de notre destin francais. Je my engage : des demain une souscription nationale sera lancee, et bien au-dela de nos frontieres. Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 15, 2019 Gucci billionaire Pinault and his father, Francois Pinault, said they would donate 100 million from their Artemis investment company, Bloomberg reported. Francois Pinault, 82, is reportedly the worlds 23rd richest person with a fortune of nearly $37.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. "Mon pere (Francois Pinault) et moi meme avons decide de debloquer des a present sur les fonds d'Artemis une somme de 100 millions d'euros pour participer a l'effort qui sera necessaire a la reconstruction complete de Notre Dame", ecrit Francois-Henri Pinault William Plummer (@PlummerWilliam) April 15, 2019 Within minutes, the Arnault family of LVMH fashion reportedly responded with a pledge of 200 million toward the cathedral restoration. Bernard Arnault, 70, is the third richest person globally with a fortune of nearly $90.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. The financial news outlet reports other wealthy French companies, including oil producer Total SA, telecommunication company Bouygues SA, construction company Vinci SA and technology consulting firm Capgemini SE also pledged to donate toward the cause of reconstructing the Notre Dame. It is unclear how much money it will cost to repair the Notre Dame after a fire tore through the historic structure. The wooden beams used to hold up the roofing of the landmark can never be replaced because of a lack of similar raw materials, according to multiple reports. Authorities are still assessing the damage costs and investigating the cause of the fire. Two state senators are joining with advocates in raising concerns that a new rule proposed by President Donald Trumps administration will hurt Massachusetts seniors with Medicare coverage. The proposed change is part of a plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs. But a national group is warning it will have the unintended side effect of raising Medicare premiums. It trades guaranteed negatives in exchange for theoretical pricing benefits that are far from certain, said Jon Conradi, a spokesman for the national Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing, which includes physician and hospital groups, insurers and pharmacies. State Sens. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, and Ryan Fattman, R-Webster, wrote a letter to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, urging him to review the rule. We share concerns there may be serious negative side-effects of the rule that would hurt Massachusetts seniors, the disabled and taxpayers, they wrote. The senators said Massachusetts has 710,000 Medicare beneficiaries who could see their premiums rise by an estimated 25% or by as much as 40%, according to some reports. We hear from senior constituents regularly who are already struggling to afford the medications they need to survive and enjoy quality-of-life, the senators wrote. An increase to their Part D premiums would put many at risk of financial distress. A Neal spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Office of Health and Human Services on Jan. 31 proposed the rule change as a way to address the rising cost of drugs. Under current rules, drug manufacturers can set high list prices for their drugs, then give rebates to pharmacy benefit managers, who act as middlemen between pharmacies, insurers and drug companies. In exchange for the rebate, the insurer might provide better coverage for the drug, which encourages more people to use the drug. The proposed rule would bar drug manufacturers from offering these rebates in the Medicare Part D program. Instead, manufacturers would be allowed to offer discounts, paid directly to a pharmacy, when a drug is sold. The bill only affects Medicare, since the administration cannot change rebates given private plans without Congressional authorization. Advocates for the rule say rebates do not trickle down to consumers, but are pocketed primarily by pharmacy benefit managers and insurers which for Medicare means the federal government. The change would provide discounts directly to patients. However, the money saved by insurers through rebates is reflected in lower premium costs. So the rule change is also expected to increase premiums. According to an analysis by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, by 2024, households would save $4.1 billion on drugs under the rule change, with premium increases being more than offset by lower out-of-pocket drug costs. The federal government taxpayers would pay an additional $18.4 billion that year because of the loss of rebates. There would be little impact on state governments and private businesses. The cost shift would not be spread out equally. The Medicare program would shoulder virtually all the additional costs, while enrollees in private health insurance would save money. For individuals in the Medicare system, total spending on drugs would decline by $2.3 billion by 2024. However, most beneficiaries would pay more, between premium costs and out of pocket costs. A minority of beneficiaries, who use drugs that now have significant rebates, would see their spending decrease due to the new consumer-level discounts. The Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing disputes these numbers, saying the new rule will actually cost Medicare beneficiaries even more money. The CMS analysis assumes that drug manufacturers will keep 15% of current rebates for themselves, and apply 75% in discounts to consumers. But Conradi said there is no reason to think drug companies will give those discounts to consumers. He said the change will eliminate the rebates, then give pharmaceutical companies unilateral control to charge whatever they think they can get away with from an optical standpoint. Pharmacy benefit managers say the leverage they have in negotiating rebates keeps prices down. The Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing launched a national campaign with ads that accuse the administration of hiking Medicare premiums to provide more money to pharmaceutical companies. PhRMA, the trade organization that represents pharmaceutical companies, supports the rule change. PhRMA wrote in comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that there are misaligned incentives where insurers favor medicines based on the size of rebates. The association wrote that the rule change would result in savings to patients by more directly translating the benefits of competition to patients through lower cost sharing instead of allowing insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to benefit, and to take advantage of a medicines higher list price. Since Medicare is fully federally funded, there would not be a direct impact on state spending. But MassHealth director Dan Tsai wrote in comments to the federal government that he is concerned that to make up for the increase in federal drug spending, the federal government might try to collect more money from MassHealth for members who are eligible for both MassHealth and Medicare. The federal government is expected to spend an additional $196 billion on drugs over 10 years, according to the CMS analysis. This story was updated to include the full cost to the federal government. SPRINGFIELD A City Council committee plans to have a public meeting on Wednesday with representatives of Columbia Gas to ask for a progress report on the companys pledge to accelerate repairs of natural gas leaks in Springfield. The councils Sustainability and Environment Committee is scheduled to meet at 5:15 p.m., at City Hall, to discuss the repair program for hundreds of leaks across the city, said Jesse Lederman, committee chairman. In addition, the committee will ask for details about a proposal by Columbia to expand its pipeline network and related plans by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline company to build a metering station in Longmeadow. Lederman said he encourages the public to attend the meeting. In January of 2017, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts officials announced plans to expand the companys repair program for natural gas leaks, as urged by community activists. Steve Bryant, president of Columbia Gas, said at the time that the company, while continuing to address the most serious leaks first, would expand to go after the non-hazardous leaks found to have the highest emissions. Lederman, who was among the activists three years ago, said Tuesday he has been pleased with ongoing reports that show Columbia Gas following through on their commitment. However, Lederman said he has heard concerns regarding the companys other potential plans. I was proud to work together with residents and community organizations to hold Columbia Gas accountable for repairing these previously overlooked leaks, and I applaud them for following through on their commitments to the ratepayers and City of Springfield, especially with regard to the largest leaks, Lederman said. However I have already heard concerns from constituents regarding their proposal to expand their network of pipelines, and an affiliated project to build a metering station in Longmeadow - both in terms of the environment and public health and safety. I share those concerns with my constituents. In March, local officials and residents raised concerns about health, safety and environment regarding Tennessee Gas Pipeline Companys plans to expand a natural gas pipeline in Agawam and build a meter transfer station on the Longmeadow Country Club property. The hearing in Longmeadow was facilitated by members of the state Energy Facilities Siting Board and a representative from the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office. Lederman has called for the council committee meeting to receive more details on the proposal and how it might impact the city and surrounding towns. In 2010, former Speaker Paul Ryan wrote Unprecedented levels of spending, deficits and debt will overwhelm the budget, smother the economy... In 2012, current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was quoted as saying At what point do we anticipate getting serious here about doing something about deficit and debt? In 2015, Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming was quoted as saying According to CBO, our debt is expected to grow by $9 trillion over the next decadeIt is clear our $18 trillion debt is an anchor that will sink us if we dont change course. Notice a theme? Those were three prominent Republicans. I couldve listed hundreds of quotes by Republicans just like them. Republicans used to be the party of fiscal responsibility. They used to issue harsh critiques of the Obama Administration for reckless spending and failure to tackle our growing national debt. According to the CBO, the deficit this fiscal year will be $900 billion, more than 4.5 percent of GDP (compared with an average of 2.9 percent over the previous 50 years). In 2018, the deficit was $779 billion. In 2017, the deficit was $666 billion. Under President Trump, by the end of fiscal 2020, the debt will have increased nearly $2.4 trillion. That same CBO stated that the GOPs signature tax law is projected to increase the national debt by $1.9 trillion between 2018 and 2028. The issue has been a problem for both political parties. President George W. Bushs administration added nearly $5 trillion to the national debt. President Barack Obamas administration added nearly $9.5 trillion to the national debt which was more debt than in the entire 232-year history of the country prior to his taking office. However, Republicans used to at least talk about bringing down the debt and addressing entitlement spending. Republicans used to have a leg to stand on. They dont anymore. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed with solely Republican support. No Democrat in the House or Senate voted for the bill. Actions speak louder than words. Eric Noreen, East Longmeadow A Holyoke man was among the 16 people arrested Tuesday as a part of a multiple law-enforcement agency raid against a suspected heroin trafficking operation in the Brattleboro. In all, law enforcement from federal, state and locale agencies raided three residences and hotel room over 3 days, and seized more than 1,000 bags of heroin, and 70 grams of cocaine. The arrests were announced Tuesday in a press conference in Brattleboro. Twelve of the 16 are facing federal charges related to drug trafficking. Thirteen of those arrested are from Brattleboro. Among those charged in federal court is Luis Duprey, 24, of Holyoke. He is charged with using a communication facility to facilitate the commission of a drug felony, which is legalese for he is accused of arranging a drug deal over a telephone. The charge relates to his attempts to sell 500 bags of heroin in the Brattleboro area. Two other men from out of state, Daniel DeThomas, 37, of Hartford, and Rory Jackson, 35, of Queens were arrested. DeThomas is charged with distribution of a cocaine base, and Jackson is charged with possession of heroin and a cocaine base with intent to distribute. The operation involved a coordinated effort between local police, the Vermont State Police, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Department of Homeland Security, FBI and U.S. Marshals Service. Vermont lost 110 lives to drug overdose death last year, and the county with the most of those deaths was Windham County. This is an unacceptable tragedy," said U.S. Attorney for Vermont Christina E. Nolan. There is suffering from the drug crisis in every corner of Vermont, not least of all Brattleboro, in light of its geographic proximity to dealers based in the Springfield, Massachusetts area, she said. Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Thomas D. Anderson said Brattleboro has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths anywhere in the state. Our message must be clear: Stop selling, get into treatment, or get arrested, he said. "Our efforts to reduce the supply of drugs and the risk of overdose, and to bring offenders to justice, will continue. Addressing what they call issues of systemic racism in the Worcester Public Schools, students from the district on Tuesday called for a series of measures and asked that the superintendents contract not be renewed. Four youth organizations -- the Youth Civics Union, the HOPE Coalition, the Worcester Youth Movement and the Worcester Youth Cooperative -- organized the Tuesday press conference outside City Hall on the heels of weeks of discussion about race and the public school system. Among the conversation has been a disproportionate suspension rate for Latino students, who make up more than 40 percent of the districts more than 25,000 students. Under superintendent Biniendas administration, drastic disproportionalities within the discipline rates and suspensions amongst students of color, especially Latino students continue to exist, and English Learners dropout rates are extremely high, Amber Mora said, reading from a written press release. In a recent statement, youth organizations made up of Worcester Public Schools Students, the Youth Civics Union, the HOPE Coalition, the Worcester Youth Movement and the Worcester Youth Cooperative, said the district has failed to address the larger issues of systemic racism that are plaguing our schools. The students accused Superintendent of Schools Maureen Binienda of having a flawed perception of a school district free of racism. Allison Labrada said Biniendas view shows how disconnected you are from us as students of color. A call to Binienda went unanswered and her voicemail box was full. As of Tuesday afternoon, Binienda had not answered a text message seeking comment. The student groups have called for Biniendas contract to not be reinstated. They are also asking for the district to recruit and hire qualified staffers that reflect the student population, to hire a chief diversity officer as a part of senior leadership, to prohibit disproportionate disciplinary removals of students of color, for a thorough review of suspension rates as well as other demands. Students say they have experienced racism from teachers, including statements directed to Mexican students regarding a wall on the countrys southern border. Some students say they are afraid to speak publicly about their experiences for fear of retribution from teachers or administrators. Our voices will be heard, Sherlin Santillan said at the press conference, as more than a dozen people looked on and clapped. Racism is real and it is happening in the Worcester Public Schools and it needs to be addressed. Students from the Youth Civics Union recently participated in a research initiative on teacher diversity in the public schools system. The students were invited to Mayor Joseph Pettys Commission on Latino Education Equity to give a presentation, they said. During the presentation, the students claim Binienda made comments they consider culturally insensitive, including, Asian students dont want to be teachers because they only pursue careers as nurses and engineers. The students said Biniendas comments are recorded on video. MassLive has asked to review the video. In comments to Worcester Magazine regarding that statement, Binienda said she was making an example to point out what she saw as a flaw in the students research based on her experience as an educator Often, my past Asian students did not pick [education] as their number one choice, they picked different fields, she said to Worcester Magazine. Following the Commission on Latino Education Equity, the students said two of their Youth Civics Union peers were pulled out of class and asked questions about the research project, which was compiled out of school. If the superintendent was so concerned about our data, she could have contacted the mayors commission, instead of pulling students out of class and taking time away from their learning, Jonathan Mora said outside City Hall. Worcester Interfaith, the Worcester Coalition for Education Equity and the Rev. Nathan Pipho, pastor of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, have also called for the end of Biniendas service as superintendent, for the hiring of a chief diversity officer and for the prohibition of disproportionate disciplinary removals of students of color and students with physical disabilities. I am convinced these steps are necessary because of empirical data, supplemented by too many real life stories, showing racial disparities in the treatment of our students of color and students with physical disabilities, Pipho wrote in a recent statement. We need a new Superintendent with a proven record of leading a multicultural and multiethnic educational institution, Pipho continued. We need a Chief Diversity Officer for the Worcester Public Schools to ensure that issues of racial equity are kept in the forefront of the school system. We need to end inequitable treatments of students of color and students with physical disabilities in our schools so that all of our children are afforded the education they deserve. Binienda has been superintendent since 2016, following the departure of Dr. Melinda Boone, who was hired to be superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia. Data from the states Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates the majority of Worcesters 25,415 students are Hispanic. Hispanic students account for 42.9 percent of the districts enrollment in 2018-19, according to the data. Enrollment for other races and ethnicities are 29.6 percent white, 16.3 percent African American, 6.7 percent Asian, 4.3 percent multi-race, non-Hispanic and 0.2 percent Native-American. District employees are largely white, according to department data. With a full-time equivalent of about 3,412 employees, staffing at the Worcester Public Schools includes 2,878 white employees, 329 Hispanic employees, 122 African-American employees, 49 Asian employees, 29 multi-race, non-Hispanic employees, two Native-American employees and two native-Hawaiian, Pacific Islander employees. In a statement released earlier this month, Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty said while Worcester students are well served by teachers, staff and administrators, Simply put we can do better. Members of the Latino community have raised concerns over data that suggests a significant disparity in suspension rates and an uneven application of discipline, Petty wrote. Disparities in the application of discipline are always unacceptable; moreover suspension must be a last resort. The mayor called on the district to hire a diversity and equal opportunity officer, review suspension rates, incorporate training practices focused on understanding cultural differences, unconscious bias, and trauma informed care, among other measures. Hi-Tech Medical Devices Market Overview: The healthcare sector is enjoying strong support from technologies for quite a long time now. However, the sector has also experienced the dire need for constant monitoring due to which technological equipment are fast becoming necessary. Hi-tech medical devices are providing that sort of support where the constant monitoring with some wearable devices has become a reality and they deliver near-perfect results. These could save valuable time in detection and provide an extra edge in treatment. Get Premium Free Sample Report at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/6614 Several market factors are to impact the hi-tech medical devices market in the coming years. Sleek designs and popularity among the young generation are factors expected to promote the market substantially. Inclusion of IoT, integration of 5G technologies, and surge in demand to stay in shape by doing workout or cutting down sugar are going to provide the hi-tech medical devices market with unprecedented thrust. Emerging economies are also going to be of value in the upcoming strategic decisions for the important market players. Competitive Landscape: Influential market players are developing strategies to impact the hi-tech medical devices market considerably. Their tactical moves often include merger, acquisition, product launch, innovation, collaboration, and other methods. Companies influencing hi-tech medical devices market, as per MRFR report, are Apple Inc., Google Inc., Adidas AG, Nike, Sony Corporation, Sony, Xiaomi, Virtual-Realties Limited, and CAE Healthcare. In April 2019, the U.K. Space Agency donated more than USD 1.3 million to researchers to bring close two different technologies to detect cancer. Researchers were asked to develop a machine based on the model of stargazing in distant galaxies to find out traces of cancer in the body. They were asked to create 3D X-ray machine that would help in the detection. Experts are expecting that the Adaptix 3D X-ray machine would get an uplift in the process. Segmental Analysis: MRFR in their analysis of the global hi-tech medical devices market reported segmentation by products and application. The segmentation is quite extensive with figures both based on volume-wise and value-wise understanding of the market. By products, the hi-tech medical devices market can be segmented into tablets, smartwatches, smartphones, virtual reality sets, fitness trackers, and others. The fitness tracker segment is getting substantial traction due to growing health awareness and the sleek & attractive design of products. Application-wise, the hi-tech medical devices market can be segmented into headband, handheld, clip, strap, shoe sensors, bracelet, and others. The show sensors are becoming popular owing to several shoe manufacturing companies stepping in to revamp designs and reshape the way consumers are looking at shoes. Regional Analysis: MRFR, in an analysis based on regions, included, namely, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The detailed report targets growth pockets and attempts to unearth them for a better market expansion. The region to benefit the most from technological advancement is North America. Superior infrastructure, robust technological support, constant innovation from research & development, substantial boost from buyers who are quite ready to adopt any new technology are among many reasons that can guarantee substantial growth for the market. Browse Complete Premium Research Report at https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/hi-tech-medical-devices-market-6614 The APAC market is expected to gain remarkable thrust owing to several emerging economies opening their doors to innovations. In a bid to revamp the existing infrastructures, these countries are inviting in expert players to increase their market proliferation. Most of these devices are available at a reasonable price and rising disposable income is pushing people into buying products like that. The market is all set to gain from technologically advanced medical devices, rising demand for home healthcare, and surge in investment regarding healthcare sector. Europe is also going to enjoy significant traction owing to their investment plans chalked by both government and private investors. However, the MEA market would suffer more due to the lack of awareness, low penetration of advanced technology and poor healthcare facilities. But better healthcare system in the Middle East could steer away the regional market from any kind of long-time sluggishness. 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 Newspaper racks for Floridas daily Tampa Bay Times are getting an update: 24-inch video monitors that stream news and advertising spots, as part of a project called TimesVision to bring video content to print distribution racks. Tampa Bay Times claims it is the first newsroom in Florida to put these monitors in retail outlets. Roughly 53 select retail locations around Tampa Bay will get these new racks, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. The screens are on display at convenience stores and gas stations, like Shell and Rally, as well as coffee shops. The monitors play a seven-minute loop of news and information, including daily weather reports and quizzes on current events. Tampa Bay Times can also update the streaming video with breaking news in real-time. advertisement advertisement A team of the newspaper's journalists, led by staff writer Joshua Gillin, produce short videos to display on the TimesVision monitors. This is a prime example of the Tampa Bay Times putting resources into trying to reach and serve its audience in innovative, new ways, Gillin stated, per the Tampa Bay Times report. It's demonstrating a commitment to providing information to our readers in a fashion we would have never considered even five years ago. The video will be broken up by advertising and in-store promotions. Our aim is to have hundreds of stores participating in the next few years throughout the Tampa Bay market, stated Conan Gallaty, the newspaper's executive vice president-Chief Digital Officer. TimesVision promotes the stores that sell newspapers, so theres a great benefit to our retailers. The monitors are built with optical sensors that can detect when someone approaches the screen. It can track the length of time someone watches the videos, as well as estimate gender, age and facial expression. Data gathered by the sensors can tell partners how audiences are engaging with their ads. (The sensors do not capture photos or video, to protect audiences privacy.) According to the newspaper's information to advertisers on its website, the daily print product has a circulation of 205,201, with 896,700 Sunday readers. Its site reaches over 4.3 monthly unique visitors. by Wayne Friedman , April 15, 2019 AT&T has sold its nearly 10% stake in Hulu back to the company -- not directly to Walt Disney, as analysts expected -- in a deal valued at $1.43 billion. No other financial specifics were disclosed. AT&T said the transaction valued Hulu, the premium streaming video service, at $15 billion. AT&T has long looked to lower its overall debt -- largely from buying Time Warner at $85.4 billion. AT&Ts Hulu stake, under its newly named WarnerMedia Unit, was expected to be sold. WarnerMedia is expected to start its own premium digital video service. Disney owns 60% of Hulu. Comcast Corp. has a 30% stake; leaving AT&T at 10%. Analysts had expected AT&T to sell its stake to Disney, which previously added to its 30% stake with another 30% equity coming from 21st Century Fox, through its acquisition of about half of Foxs businesses for $71.3 billion. advertisement advertisement Hulu is forecast to pull in $1.8 billion in advertising in 2019, up from $1.5 billion a year ago. For all of Hulu in 2018, analysts say the subscription video-on-demand service took a net loss of $1.5 billion. Now a majority shareholder, Disney is expected to incur losses of $1.7 billion for Hulu in 2019, according to MoffettNathanson Research. AT&T says it will use proceeds along with additional planned sales of non-core assets, to reduce its debt. by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, April 15, 2019 The National Rifle Association filed a breach of contract lawsuit late last week against Ackerman McQueen, its main ad agency for nearly 40 years. The agency calls the suit frivolous and said it will aggressively defend itself. The NRA alleges in its suit that the agency violated the services agreement between the two organizations by failing to allow it to examine in-depth the agencys books pertaining to fees for services, including strategic marketing, media planning and buying, PR, digital media and website management and the operation of NRATV, a digital media content platform. The NRA states in its suit that by 2017, it paid the agency and a PR subsidiary Mercury Group more than $40 million annually. The gun-rights advocacy group noted that last year, it notified vendors of updated and strengthened procedures for documentation and verification of expenses related to vendor contracts. Subsequently, the group said it developed concerns that the agencys expenses and activities required greater oversight. Specific concerns included lack of proper documentation for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the agency and lack of transparency regarding its annual budgets for services provided to the NRA. advertisement advertisement There were also concerns that the agency was invoicing the NRA for the entire salaries of some employees that were doing work on the NRA account, and for other clients as well. There were also issues concerning the digital content platform, such as the agencys refusal to provide unique visitor, click-through rates and other data that would better help the NRA determine the return it was getting on its investment. Also at issue was a separate contract between the agency and NRA president Oliver North, who was the host of some of the content on NRATV. According to the NRA, Norths side deal with agency was defined as a third-party contract between the agency and the organization that would entitle the NRA to additional compensation if the broader agency services contract was terminated. The NRA argues in its suit that it sought details about the third-party contract the agency refused to provide. Word of the suit was first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier today. That story explored details beyond the specifics of the suit. For example, the piece stated that an outside NRA lawyer, William A. Brewer III, spearheaded the suit and that he had a hostile relationship with the agencys top two executives. The agency told the WSJ Brewers involvement constituted a conflict of interest. Brewer was not named as one of the lawyers filing the complaint, however. The NRA told the Virginia court where the suit was filed that it is seeking a judgment that the agency is in breach of contract. It also wants the court to force the agency to provide it with an array of documents, including all third-party contract between it and the agency, the agencys annual budgets for work related to the NRA for the past three years and other related paperwork. Ackerman McQueen issued this response: During a three-week review, an NRA forensic auditing firm received every single piece of information they [the NRA] requested. Further, the NRA has had consistent access to any and all documents regarding NRATV analytics. Despite the representation set forth in their lawsuit, the NRA had the personnel contract they claim AM withheld last week, before they filed their lawsuit. It was provided by the Williams & Connolly law firm. The transfer occurred as a result of a process for delivery of such highly confidential information. This flagrant misrepresentation, along with other false claims, serve as the foundation of malicious intent exemplified by this lawsuit. Months ago, legal counsel informed the NRA that 'Mr. Brewer himself has an irreconcilable conflict of interest. Mr. Brewer is the son-in-law of [agency Co-Chief Executive Officer] Angus McQueen and brother-in-law of Ackerman McQueens CEO, Revan McQueen. Mr. Brewer has demonstrated, in words and deeds, his animus for Ackerman McQueen and these family members and that animus pervades the Brewer firms dealings with Ackerman McQueen, whether dealing directly with Ackerman McQueen or through other members of his firm. Ackerman McQueen has served the NRA and its members with great pride and dedication for the last 38 years. The NRAs action is frivolous, inaccurate and intended to cause harm to the reputation of our company and the future of that 38-year relationship. This lawsuit affects not only Ackerman McQueen, but the members of the organization whose dedication to the Second Amendment is shared equally with the defendants in this case. Much like we have done for the NRA and the Second Amendment over the past 38 years, we too will defend our position and performance aggressively. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 16, 2019 Firing back at Canadian journalist Meghan Murphy, Twitter says it had the right to suspend her from its platform for violating a company policy against "hateful conduct" by misgendering -- or referring to transgender individuals by their biological gender at birth. This is not a case of [Twitter] discriminating against her 'political viewpoint,' Twitter argues in papers filed last week with San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman. This case instead is about harassment targeted at specific individuals on the Twitter platform on the basis of their gender identity. The company's papers come in response to a lawsuit filed in February by Murphy, who alleged in a class-action complaint that her ban amounts to a breach of contract between Twitter and users like herself. Murphy alleged that she was permanently banned by Twitter last November, after referring to a transgender woman as a man. She argued that this decision went against Twitter executives' well-publicized prior statements characterizing the state as the free speech wing of the free speech party. advertisement advertisement Twitters repeated representations that it would uphold the free speech rights of its users and not censor user speech were material to the decision of millions of users, like Murphy, to join, Murphy argued in her court papers. Twitter is now asking Schulman to throw out the case at an early stage for several reasons, including that it has a First Amendment right to decide what content to allow on its platform. A private sector communication platform's decision to decline to post content is protected expressive activity, Twitter writes in a motion to strike the complaint under California's anti-SLAPP (strategic litigation against public participation) law. That law, which aims to protect free speech about matters of public importance, provides for quick dismissals of some lawsuits. The company adds that Murphy's claims arise from -- and seek to both undo and prevent Twitter's attempt to combat online harassment. Such claims impermissibly target a quintessential editorial judgment protected by the First Amendment, Twitter argues. The platform also says its decisions about who to ban are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which immunizes online platforms from decisions to post or block content. In addition, Twitter says Murphy's court papers don't support her contention that Twitter violated its contract with her. Among other allegations, Murphy said in her complaint that Twitter only banned misgendering last October, and didn't give her 30 days' advance notice of the changes. (Twitter's terms of service say the company will notify users about some revisions at least 30 days before they take effect.) Twitter counters that even though it added targeted misgendering in October to a list of examples of speech that violate its hateful conduct policy, the company has long prohibited harassment based on gender identity. The policy does not, could not, and has never attempted to take on the Herculean task of listing every conceivable way in which one person might harass another on the Twitter platform, it argues. Instead, given the myriad forms that harassment can take online the policy sets forth broad standards prohibiting harassment base don a list of protected characteristics. Twitter adds that its terms of service also give it the right to suspend users at any time. The case is currently scheduled for a May 7 hearing in front of Schulman. Twitter recently prevailed in two similar battles. Most recently, a state appellate court in California ruled last August that white nationalist Jared Taylor couldn't proceed with a lawsuit alleging that he was wrongly banned from Twitter. The judges in that matter said the federal Communications Decency Act protects Twitter from lawsuits over decisions about what content to allow on the service. New research finds that one-third of people living with cancer use complementary and alternative therapies. Medical professionals raise concerns about the safety of these practices, suggesting that they may interfere with conventional cancer treatment. Share on Pinterest New research suggests that yoga may be one of the few nonconventional therapies that may help people living with cancer. In 2018, the National Cancer Institute estimated that 1,735,350 people in the United States would receive a diagnosis of cancer by the end of that year and that 609,640 people would die from the condition. Coping with the distressing news of a cancer diagnosis can be challenging. As Dany Bell, a specialist advisor on cancer treatment and recovery at Macmillan Cancer Support in the United Kingdom, put it, Being diagnosed with cancer can be a big shock, even if you already suspected you might have it. Once they receive a diagnosis, many people turn to complementary and alternative therapies in search of a cure. But new research cautions that such an approach may be misguided. Dr. Nina Sanford, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, led an analysis of data from a comprehensive national survey to find out exactly how many people living with cancer also use complementary and alternative medicines. Dr. Sanford an assistant professor of radiation oncology and colleagues published their findings in the journal JAMA Oncology. One-third of patients use alternative medicines Some have expressed concern that people who use complementary therapies such as yoga, meditation, acupuncture, herbal medication, and supplements do not inform their physicians. Dr. Sanford and colleagues refer to these concerns in their paper, as well as a study suggesting that a small subgroup of people who used complementary medicines had a poorer outlook than those who did not. In light of these worries, Dr. Sanford and the team analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The researchers carried out a cross-sectional study in an attempt to estimate the proportion of people with cancer who use complementary therapies. Dr. Sanfords analysis revealed that one-third of people with a cancer diagnosis take complementary and alternative medicines. Herbal supplements were the most popular alternative therapy. Chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation were a close second. Furthermore, Dr. Sanfords analysis revealed that 29 percent of those who use complementary treatments do not tell their physicians about it. Among the reasons that participants gave were that the doctor did not ask or that they thought their physician did not need to know. Younger patients are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicines and women were more likely to, but I would have thought more people would tell their doctors, comments Dr. Sanford. Why herbal supplements may be harmful You dont know whats in them, the lead investigator continues, referring to herbal supplements. Some of these supplements are kind of a mishmash of different things. Unless we know whats in [the herbal supplements], I would recommend patients avoid using them during radiation because [certain supplements] could interfere with treatment. Dr. Nina Sanford With radiation specifically, there is concern that very high levels of antioxidants could make radiation less effective, she adds. Dr. David Gerber, a lung cancer specialist and professor of internal medicine and population and data sciences at the university who was not involved in the study also comments on the clinical relevance of the findings. [Supplements] may interact with the medicines were giving them, and through that interaction [they] could alter the level of the medicine in the patient, he says, adding, If the levels get too high, then toxicities increase, and if the levels get too low, the efficacy would drop. Medill alumnus makes history with fourth Pulitzer New York Times writer David Barstow first to be honored four times in reporting categories April 15, 2019 Medill alumnus David Barstow (BSJ86) Northwestern University Medill School alumnus and The New York Times Senior Writer David Barstow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting today. It is Barstows fourth Pulitzer, making him the most decorated journalist in the reporting categories in one of the media industrys top honors. Barstow, who graduated from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications in 1986, was honored with his colleagues Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner for their investigative pieces in The New York Times of President Donald Trumps personal finances. The series detailed dubious tax schemes and outlined the millions the president inherited from his father. This incisive examination of the dubious sources of the Presidents wealth is a stellar example of Davids tremendous talent and ability to thoroughly analyze complex issues and explain the information in ways readers can understand, said Medill Interim Dean Charles Whitaker. We are very proud of David and honored that he continues his relationship with Medill. Barstow recently served on an advisory committee to strengthen Medills teaching of investigative journalism skills. He was inducted into Medills Hall of Achievement in 2015. Installation in the Hall of Achievement is the highest honor Medill bestows. Medill Associate Professor Emeritus-In-Service Roger Boye served as one of Barstows instructors while at Medill. As a student, David had a strong interest in public affairs and current events. In class he asked many thoughtful questions of the teacher and guest speakers, said Boye. He was inquisitive without being overbearing. And even then, as a college sophomore, he seemed quite serious about pursuing journalism as his life-long profession. Barstows fourth Pulitzer is historic, according to Medill alumnus, author and Pulitzer historian Roy Harris (BSJ68, MSJ71). "While luminaries Carol Guzy, Robert Frost, Eugene ONeill and Robert Sherwood have won four Pulitzer Prizes each in the areas of photography or arts and letters, the New York Timess David Barstow is the first to be named by the Pulitzers as sharing in four journalism prizes in the reporting category." Barstow was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with colleague Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab for their stories on Wal-Mart using bribery to dominate the market in Mexico. Barstow also won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2009 for his series about the Pentagons hidden campaign to influence news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2004, Barstow and colleague Lowell Bergman won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for articles about employers who committed workplace safety violations that resulted in the injuries and deaths of hundreds of American workers. In addition, Barstows works have won four George Polk Awards, a Goldsmith Prize, an Alfred I. duPont Silver Baton, a Peabody Award, a Loeb Award, an IRE Award and an Overseas Press Club Citation. Barstow was also a Pulitzer finalist as a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times). Barstow joined The New York Times in 1999 and became a member of its investigative team in 2002. An anonymous Marvel fanboy and clearly, a man with a knack for ruining all happiness in the world for his fellow MCU appreciators has once again returned to Reddit to spoil 'Avengers: Endgame' for us. Having successfully predicted the events of 'Avengers: Infinity War' last year, the Redditor's 'Endgame' theory not only seems legit but is also based on facts and evidence coming from sources like the official movie merchandise launched by Marvel Studios, statements given by the directors of the film, the Russo brothers and information given out by Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland, who are not too good at keeping secrets. Here it goes: The Avengers will go to fight Thanos near the beginning of the movie but will be easily defeated. Thanos uses the soul stone to drain Captain Marvel's powers but Thor saves her before Thanos kills her. Thor then uses Stormbreaker to transport everyone back to Earth where Banner is treating Tony Stark (who made it back to Earth with Nebula). Marvel Studios When Banner and Stark are analyzing Captain Marvel and her weakened state they are stunned to know that she's powered by the Tesseract (Space Stone). They then realize that they can replicate the Infinity Stones. Thor and Captain Marvel go off to find the remaining Asgardians, while Banner and Rocket try to figure out a way to time travel with the help of Antman, who's now out of the Quantum Realm. They do. The Avengers re-assemble and use the Quantum Realm to go back in time to each place they remember seeing the Infinity Stones. Nebula tells them that the Soul Stone is on Vormir and that in order to get it, they need to sacrifice someone they love. Captain America rejects that idea, saying "we've lost too much already.'' Banner, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor make a plan to fight "past Thanos" on Vormir. Thor almost defeats Thanos "again" before he can use the Power Stone. Iron Man is able to stun Thanos with the new Mark 85 so Banner can copy the Power Stone and they retreat back to the present via the Quantum Realm. "Present Thanos" now knows their plan and is waiting for them at the Avengers Headquarters with the Outriders by the time Thor, Banner, Captain America and Iron Man exit the Quantum Realm. Thanos attacks at Avengers HQ and Hulk finally comes out for his rematch against Thanos. Thanos uses the mind stone on Hulk to turn him against the Avengers but ends up merging Banner and Hulk, enter...Professor Hulk! Marvel Comics Armed with the knowledge that they can replicate the Infinity Stones, Iron Man has begun working on the "Stark Gauntlet". During the attack on Avengers HQ, Thor and Captain Marvel are tasked with defending the Stark Gauntlet. Thanos nearly defeats Hulk (Professor Hulk) again before Thor comes and saves him. The rest of the Avengers go on the attack before Thanos uses all six Infinity Stones to destroy Avengers HQ and stomps on their "A" logo. Thanos then begins to give an epic speech on why he did the finger snap, but is abruptly interrupted with a HUGE blast by War Machine wielding the Proton Cannon! A wounded Thanos is able to retreat using the Space Stone. With Avengers HQ and the Stark Gauntlet destroyed, Ronin tells Tony of another way they can forge a Gauntlet (this is the reason Hawkeye was in Japan, now known as Ronin). via GIPHY Iron Man is able to forge a new Gauntlet and Professor Hulk uses it (only Hulk and Thor are able to use the new Gauntlet) to bring back all the dusted, but in doing so, the Stark Gauntlet explodes and Professor Hulk loses his arm in the process. Now that all the dusted are back, Iron Man builds Professor Hulk a new arm and tells everyone that they must fight Thanos. Whatever the cost, "whatever it takes". Doctor Strange then teleports everyone to Thanos and everyone fights Thanos together at once. One of the most epic scenes in movies, EVERYONE (superheros) who got dusted are now all together fighting Thanos. Thanos is able to hold them off before Thor swoopes in with Stormbreaker and his able to cut off Thanos' left arm with the Infinity Gauntlet. Captain America then races over to the Gauntlet before Thanos can grab it and uses it to teleport Thanos away before he is killed due to wielding the Infinity Gauntlet. Only Thor and Hulk could use the Infinity Gauntlet without dying, though Hulk lost his arm. Captain America knew this but made the sacrifice and teleports Thanos away. Note: Thanos was not killed, similar to Red Skull in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'. Everyone is at Captain America's funeral. Iron Man gives Captain America's shield to Bucky Barnes, and now he takes over as the "New" Captain America. Ronin leaves with his family, leaving his bow and weapons behind. Banner takes off to learn more about "Professor Hulk". Natasha takes off saying she has "unfinished" business (leading into her solo movie). Thor leaves to be king of the "new Asgard" in Norway. Post Credit Scene: As the last people are leaving Captain America's funeral. The camera zooms "ground-level" to show someone coming in a wheelchair. As the camera pans up to waist-level the screen goes dark and you hear "good evening Mr. Stark, my name is Charles Xavier". via GIPHY Source: MiNDFuCKGoat Kunal Kamra, over the years, has gathered a good amount of fan following, with his edgy political stand-ups and his famous podcast 'Shut up ya Kunal'. The comedian has an authentic style that delivers content in the best satirical way possible, leaving the audience in splits of laughter. Recently, the comedian has gone on a spree of criticising PM Modi and how he shouldn't come back in to power and it's hilarious to say the least. Kunal has trolled the PM earlier too with various hilarious posts on his Twitter account. Main fakeer hoon Main chaiwala hoon Main Maa Ganga ka beta hoon Main majdoor hoon Main Swayam Sevak hoon Main chowkidar hoon... Haan par aap Pradhan Mantri bhi ho kabhi uska kaam bhi kar liya karo Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) 18 March 2019 Yeh chowkidar wala idea dekh ke toh BJP ki marketing se bhi bharosa uth gaya hai... Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) 19 March 2019 A month ago, Mumbai-based Kamra dropped a video suggesting that industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata replace political figures like Narendra Modi. While the video got hysterical laughs, there was an important point he made- that people in UP still don't use toilets. The video did really well, getting about 7 million views. Instagram Recently, a day before the first phase of polling Kamra posted a Tweet, holding a placard which said 'Don't vote for Modi'. He got hate-filled responses out of it, but surely enough the hilarity of it got enough attention, especially when he morphed an image of himself in one of the scenes in 'Game of Thrones', where Bran is supposedly staring at Kamra holding the placard which says 'don't vote for Modi'. Well, winter is certainly coming for the country too, or so Kamra believes and he took his opinion on Modi's campaign beyond the wall this time. Take a look! Don't vote for modi Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) 11 April 2019 *Haters will say these are Photoshopped* pic.twitter.com/VtAg0i8hH1 Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) 15 April 2019 Obviously, his Twitter handle was bombarded with both Modi lovers and haters alike. Well, we love you Kunal Kamra immensely & promise never to Cast our Vote for MODI! I have already made my choice & have one of my own personal favourite to share with you. Hope, you enjoy watching as much watching as we love ur pics. pic.twitter.com/38w1aT73EI Chowkidar CHOR Hai - PARI (@paree7861) 15 April 2019 After seeing Kunal's post Sodumb Patra: mujhe kya main toh bhukha hoon. pic.twitter.com/dYaTOi4bGw KARAN THAPAR DESI (@DesiStupides) 15 April 2019 No never it's real and rare.. pic.twitter.com/G5Q4iYyJQW KARAN THAPAR DESI (@DesiStupides) 15 April 2019 Dekho ye chand pe pauh gya pic.twitter.com/HBgSCZ4hgQ Shikho Ahmed. (@ShikhoAhmed1) 15 April 2019 already voted for him and also taken my 50 neighbours to vote for Modi ji. Chowkidar Manish Soni (@mksoni281) 11 April 2019 Most people were seen cheering for his campaign, while some took serious offence to it but the lad doesn't seem to care one bit. "I thought why are we hiding behind words like inclusivity and secularism, why leave anything to people's imagination" he said in an interview with ToI. Well, whether or not people vote for Modi is besides the point. What's absolutely funny and on-point is that Kamra's 'Don't vote for Modi' has finally reached 'Game Of Thrones' as well. There are so many people, way too many people in this world actually, who have more money than they can spend in like five lifetimes and this is something a lot of people are constantly talking about. People are critical of the fact that one single person shouldn't hoard so much wealth when there are people just struggling to survive. But, sometimes rich people can also surprise us. Everyone knows about the tragic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the catastrophe happening at such a huge historical site. Just a few hours after tragedy struck, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault made an announcement pledging 100 million euros towards rebuilding the Notre Dame Cathedral. He is the chairman of international luxury group Kering, which owns brands like Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent and president of the French holding company Groupe Artemis, which owns the fine arts auction house Christie's. He wrote in a statement, My father [Francois Pinault] and I have decided to release as of now from the funds of Artemis a sum of 100 million euros to participate in the effort that will be necessary for the complete reconstruction of Notre Dame. This is a huge and very generous contribution that will help in the restoration of the centuries old Cathedral, but that's not it. On top of this, French President Emmanuel Macron has also announced that they plan to launch a nationwide fundraising campaign. He said, We will rebuild. We will rebuild Notre Dame because this is what the French expect, because this is what our history deserves, because it is our destiny. God bless. The Apple Watch has some handy features that have helped save lives in the past. The Apple Watch Series 4 has a new feature called Fall Detection which basically detects when the user takes a hard fall. The feature taps the user's wrists and sounds an alarm so that it can catch a bystander's attention. Having said that, you're not always around people that can help which is why the fall detection feature can also notify local emergency services. Apple The way it works is that if after taking a fall a user does not respond or is unconscious for more than a minute, the Apple Watch directly contacts emergency services and sends your location to the authorities. This feature helped save a Norwegian man's life a few months ago. Apple The feature came in handy yet again when an 80-year-old woman fell in her apartment in Haidhausen, Munich. The woman fell and lost consciousness which in turn resulted in an automatic call being placed to Emergency Services. This is what the Munich Fire Department had to say: Last night, an 80-year-old woman fell into her apartment and, thanks to her watch, unconsciously dropped off a necessary emergency call. Her watch was equipped with a fall detection system and alerted the emergency services after the fall. A dispatcher in the integrated control centre accepted the emergency call. He heard a band announcement telling him that a person had fallen heavily. Likewise, the clock transmitted the coordinates of the scene of the accident. The police used the data to identify an address to which an ambulance had been alerted. The ambulance crew found that the door was locked and the retiree could not open it. Then they called for the fire department, which opened the apartment door by force. During this action, the smartwatch alarmed the son, who had deposited his phone number as an emergency number. Since the woman was not injured, the ambulance crew cared her only until the arrival of the son. He took over the further care. Apple Not only did the Apple Watch notify emergency services, but it also notified the woman's son who arrived in time to see her get treated. The woman did not require hospitalisation because of the timely response by the Emergency Services. Had there been no Apple Watch, the injuries could have been severe, as the woman was unconscious. Source: Appleinsider Deputy Foreign Minister Terens Quick visited Hungary on 14 April, where he gave a talk at the Budapest State University, as part of the celebrations for Philhellenism Day. The event was organised with the assistance of the Greek Embassy, the University's Department of Modern Greek Studies and the Byron Association, whose President, Mr Panos Trigazis, also attended the event. In Budapest, the Deputy Foreign Minister met with representatives of local Greek associations. In addition, he visited the Greek village Beloiannisz, where he met with the Mayor, Mr Kostas Papalexis, and was given a tour of the Greek school. He also laid a wreath at the monument of Nikos Beloyannis and the memorial located next to the church of St Constantine and Helen, at the entrance to the village. Before his departure, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs noted: It may have been a short, yet very substantial visit because I met with expatriates who have a passion for Greece; who ask nothing more from the motherland than its help in preserving the Greek language among their children. They have two demands: They need a Modern Greek language lecturer for their university seat and the chance for 15 of their children to attend summer camps in Greece. The second demand will be taken care of by the Greek Secretariat for Greeks Abroad, while I will bring the first issue which had also been raised during Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visit to Budapest in 2017 to the attention of the Greek Ministry of Education and the universities, and I am certain that there will be a proper response. I also commend the Self-government of the Greeks of Hungary for the excellent magazine they publish, entitled Hellenism, with Andreas Oikonomou as editor-in-chief. It may cover expat issues, but the passion for Greece is quite obvious. I would like to thank all those who honoured me with their presence, be it at the Greek Embassy, the University or the village Beloiannisz. I would also like to thank the President of the Byron Association, Mr Panos Trigazis, who came with me from Athens and accompanied me to all these events. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terens Quick, in the context of the working visit he is carrying out today to Skopje, was received by the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev. He also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrej Zernovski, as well as with Minister for Diaspora, Edmond Ademi. Upon conclusion of his contacts, Mr Quick made the following statement: Todays visit is additional proof that relations between the two countries have entered a new, very positive and productive period. The formal visit of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic to Skopje on 2 April, as well as holding of the First High-Level Cooperation Council, constitute landmark developments in our relations on a bilateral level, as well as a strong message of friendship and cooperation. The Action Plan, which was signed by the two Prime Ministers, is a road map for the development of political relations and our economic partnership. I would like to note that visits on a high political level are provided for in this Action Plan and are significant in this case. I had the pleasure of meeting and having productive talks with Prime Minister Zaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zernovski, and Minister for Diaspora Ademi. We had the opportunity to discuss recent key developments in our relations, as well as full implementation of the Prespa Agreement, upon which we place special significance. I would like to stress that progressive expansion and deepening of our economic partnership and the projects under way in the area of connectivity will create the very necessary jobs and incomes, particularly for young people. A new age of close and multilevel cooperation has arrived for the two countries, and we shall both reap the benefits of this partnership. HARTFORD Romelo Goss was 17 years old and had no money for phone calls home while being held as an adult in the Manson Youth Institution. At the time, my family was struggling, the Bridgeport resident, now 23, said. He recalled the prison environment was like a war zone. He contemplated suicide and since he was being investigated as a gang member, he was placed in security risk group status, which meant at times he would spend 23 hours a day alone in his cell. Close to a year after his release from a two-year prison sentence on a weapons conviction, Goss is now training to become a professional boxer. He also is a Justice Advisor with the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, speaking up about prison reform to help other juveniles and young adults. Youth dont belong in adult prison, Goss said Monday morning as he waited to tell his story to a crowd of dozens gathered at the Capitol. Im here to speak about my experiences. Goss was among the panel for Connecticut Youth in Adult Prison: Why and how other states have already ended this practice, a presentation hosted by legislators and juvenile justice organizations to present the reality that teens face every day while incarcerated. What Goss described is what Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, called the crib to coffin pipeline. People who look like me are born into the system and are dying in the system, Porter said. The system needs to be dismantled and rebuilt. The presentation comes as legislators are wrestling with a handful of bills designed to deal with what law enforcement and prosecutors say is a spike in juvenile car thefts that has led to serious crashes and in some cases, deaths. Most juvenile justice advocates oppose adding car thefts to the list of crimes that would allow juveniles to be transferred to the adult prison system. Thats for a good reason, according to state Child Advocate Sarah Eagan. Male juveniles held as adults in Manson are not getting enough mental health services, educational opportunities, rehabilitation services or family support, Eagan told the group. Children up to the age of 17 are spending 23 hours a day in their cells, with no contact from the outside world including family and friends, Eagan said. One male youth spent 70 days out of nine months in nearly total confinement, receiving no meaningful programming and no schooling, she said. However, that practice is supposed to have been banned for teens jailed in Connecticut. About half of the youth surveyed in the states adult prison system considered harming themselves or thought they would die in the next 12 months, according to an extensive study released by Eagans office in January. Mental health issues among the population of 15- to 17-year-old males held at Manson arent being addressed, she said. We found that no incarcerated youth (among males) receives regular mental health treatment while in custody, Eagan said. In fact, she pointed out, most were designated as not needing regular clinical support and more than half of the boys completed zero or one education or rehabilitation program while incarcerated. Juvenile females held at York Correctional Institution fared better: Eagan said they receive more mental health treatment and more programming opportunities. But there are less than a handful of female juveniles being held at the states only prison for women at any given time. The male juveniles sometimes are exposed to pepper spray, a chemical agent that is harmful to children, she said. Many are not receiving regular visits from their families and no family therapy is available to incarcerated juveniles, Eagan added. The roughly 50 juvenile males held at Manson are predominantly of color, mostly black, she said. Its a foundational problem, Eagan said. Studies cited by juvenile justice advocates concluded that juvenile males of color are held in prison at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts. Half are being held during pre-trial proceedings, the other half are being held on sentences, according to the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, one of the sponsors of the event, which is advocating the removal of everyone under the age of 18 from Manson and York by 2021. The states Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee is also recommending that all youth be taken out of adult prison facilities by Jan. 1, 2021, in accordance with a 2018 federal law. Connecticut ranks 6th in the nation in the number of juveniles being held in adult prisons during pre-trial proceedings, according to Jeree Thomas, policy director for the Campaign for Youth Justice. With no mental health services and no rehabilitation services, its unlikely that adult prison will have a good impact on juveniles or the community, Eagan said. If we want to improve public safety and we want people to get better, this is not the way to do it, Eagan said. The use of prison to change kids behavior has been an unequivocal failure. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Monday repeated his threat to bus migrants to sanctuary cities like Hartford and New Haven as congressional Democrats launched yet another investigation into his administration asking for all documents related to discussions of the controversial proposal. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D -N.Y., Government Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., on Monday gave the administration a deadline of May 3 to turn over information. The lawmakers are seeking emails and other documents related to discussion of the plan to send migrants who have been detained at the border most of them seeking asylum to jurisdictions that Trump says dont fully cooperate with federal immigration policy. These reports are alarming, the lawmakers wrote White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Department of Homeland Security officials. Not only does the administration lack the legal authority to transfer detainees in this manner, it is shocking that the president and senior administration officials are even considering manipulating release decisions for purely political reasons. Connecticut and several cities in the state have immigrant-friendly policies. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has singled out Hartford and New Haven under its definition of sanctuary cities. Those Connecticut cities fall under that definition because they dont honor detainers or federal requests that local authorities hold incarcerated migrants for up to 48 hours after their scheduled release so they could be picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or share certain information about detainees with federal authorities. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and New Haven Mayor Toni Harp have joined other leaders of sanctuary cities in a defiant response to the presidents plan. Donald Trump labels all immigrants criminals, but we arent afraid of families seeking asylum and a better life, and if it would keep kids out of cages, we would do everything we could to help just as weve welcomed thousands of refugees and asylum seekers decade after decade, Bronin said. Unparalleled Bronin also said there are responsible ways to address the increase in migration at the southern border, but Trump preferred to focus on retaliating against his political opponents, and he doesnt think twice about weaponizing women and children fleeing violence, poverty and instability. Harp, meanwhile, said, New Haven has a long, proud legacy as a welcoming, accepting community and embraces new residents no matter where they used to live. Given the continuing dearth of a lucid federal immigration policy, and for as long as Im mayor, New Haven will continue its open-arms tradition for those fleeing oppression in other countries and for those who seek a better life here, she said. While the White House initially tried to downplay the proposal, first reported by the Washington Post last week, on Monday Trump said hes prepared to distribute migrants who cant be held because the nations detention facilities are filled to immigrant-friendly cities run mostly by Democrats. Those Illegal Immigrants who can no longer be legally held (Congress must fix the laws and loopholes) will be, subject to Homeland Security, given to Sanctuary Cities and States! Trump tweeted. Trump also tweeted Congress should come back to D.C. now and FIX THE IMMIGRATION LAWS! Congress is on a two-week break for Easter and Passover. Grist Mill Market in East Haddam is in the process of posting signage noting that service animals will be welcome in the store after a settlement with the U.S. Attorneys office. The U.S. Attorneys office announced Monday it has reached the agreement with Grist Mill Market to resolve allegations that the store was not operating in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, according to a release. The settlement agreement resolves an ADA complaint filed by an person with disabilities alleging that the store required her to remove her service animal from the store as a condition of service, according to the release. The store will also implement a Service Animal Policy, which includes the types of legally permissible inquiries store employees may make of a customer who enters the store with a service animal, and training for employees regarding the policy, the U.S. Attorneys office said. Under federal law, private entities that own or operate places of public accommodation, including grocery stores, are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability, the release said. The ADA authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate complaints and undertake periodic reviews of compliance of covered entities. The Justice Department is also authorized to commence a civil lawsuit in federal court in any case that involves a pattern or practice of discrimination or that raises issues of general public importance, and to seek injunctive relief, monetary damages and civil penalties. During the course of the U.S. Attorneys investigation, the Grist Mill Market was sold to a new owner. U.S. Attorney John H. Durham Durham noted that the new owner and management of the Grist Mill Market has worked cooperatively with the U.S. Attorneys Office to promptly address the ADA issues without litigation. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that individuals are able to access and enjoy grocery stores and other places of public accommodation, Durham said in the release. Our Office is committed to enforcing the ADA, which requires businesses to appropriately serve the diverse populations of patrons who live, work, and visit Connecticut. We appreciate the Grist Mill Markets commitment to increasing access to its store for individuals with disabilities who require service animal assistance. Any member of the public who wishes to file a complaint alleging that any place of public accommodation or public entity in Connecticut is not accessible to persons with disabilities may contact the U.S. Attorneys Office at 203-821-3700. Additional information about the ADA is available by calling the Justice Departments toll-free information line at (800) 514-0301 and (800) 514-0383 (TTY). File photo MIDDLETOWN A group of Wesleyan University students will host a TEDx conference April 27, which will feature seven high-profile speakers from the worlds of government, medicine, literature, music, higher education and business. This years TEDxWesleyanU, which sold out within 12 hours, will take place in Beckham Hall inside historic Fayerweather at the heart of campus. The program starts at 1 p.m., and speakers include U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th, and state Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, according to a press release. DURHAM Residents are invited to a How to Grow Your Own Giant Pumpkin seminar hosted by Team-Pumpkin at the Durham Fair Grounds on Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m. The presentation will be held in the Public Safety Building on the fairgrounds off Main Street, Route 17, in the center of Durham. Learn from expert, award winning, growers the proven techniques to achieve gigantic results. This informative seminar is free and open to the public. Advance registration is not required; those who do register will receive free giant pumpkin seeds and possibly a free seedling supplies are limited to try growing a giant. Team-Pumpkin is a group of area growers who share education and seeds to continually strive to push the upper limits of achieving the largest pumpkin. New growers are always welcome and encouraged to enter their pumpkins in the Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off at the Durham Fair in September. To register, or if you have questions, send an e-mail to bart@team-pumpkin.org Additional information about Team-Pumpkin can be found on our website at www.team-pumpkin.org WESU to host anniversary lecture series MIDDLETOWN Established in 1939, WESU 88.1 FM is one of the oldest non-commercial radio stations in the United States. 2019 marks the 80th year anniversary for the station and a unique opportunity for the campus and broader community to revisit its history, impact, potential, and import to the socio-political landscape of the 21st century. Throughout WESUs history, there have been two constants: first, without interruption, Wesleyan students have continuously operated the station; and second, broadcasts have been focused on new, under-represented, or non-commercial programming aimed at students and the larger community. From now through the fall, JCCP and WESU will host a series of public events and activities to commemorate WESUs history and impact, and further engage our community. These events will start with a three part lecture series featuring special guest speakers and performers that WESU feels embody free form radio. The lecture series will be kicked off on April 18 from 7-8:30 p.m. with Professor Kehaulani Kauanui, presenting a talk on Independent Media and the Power of Community Radio. The second event will be held April 24, 6-7:30 p.m. with a talk and performance from Akua Naru, College Radio, Women in Hip-Hop, and Black Culture in Contemporary America. The series will be capped off by special guest Banning Eyre who will be giving a presentation on Bring Africa to American Public Radio, April 25, 5-6:30 p.m. All events will be held in the Ring Family Performance Hall, 287 Washington Terrace, Middletown. More information can be found at WESU 88.1 FM or on its Facebook page. WESU was one of the first student owned and operated radio stations in the United States. Currently, WESU broadcasts at the frequency of 88.1 FM at a power of 6,000 Watts from the stations terrestrial transmitter located atop the Wesleyan University Science tower in Middletown, with a potential audience of over a million listeners throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. WESU also streams audio online at www.wesufm.org , where listeners can also hear any program broadcast on WESU for up to two weeks after the initial broadcast. MARC to hold annual tasting event MIDDLETOWN MARC Community Resources, LTD a non-profit agency in Middletown, CT will be hosting its 8th Annual Tasting Event May 4. An agency that focuses on the empowerment of persons with intellectual developmental disabilities, MARCs theme for the event is Getting Down & Derby for disABILITIES; a clever play on the day which coincides with the Kentucky Derby. The tasting will be held at Glastonbury Riverfront Community Center, on 300 Welles St. in Glastonbury, 5-8 p.m. Guests can sample a unique variety of wine, beer and spirits from a plethora of distributors, coordinated by Buy Rite Liquors in Wethersfield. Attendees will also watch the Kentucky Derby live projected on a big screen. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door, and $15 for designated drivers. In keeping with Kentucky Derby tradition, there will be a contest for Best Derby Fashion with male and female categories. Also, a silent auction will be held throughout the event, with online bidding at https://www.32auctions.com/marcauction2019. Bidding has already begun. All proceeds from the event will benefit services at MARC Community Resources, LTD not funded through traditional sources. MARC Community Resources, LTD is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering those with living with physical and intellectual developmental disabilities-through housing employment, community involvement and advocacy. If you would like to buy tickets or learn more about MARC or the 8th Annual Tasting Event, please visit us at https://www.marccommunityresources.org/2019-tasting-event. Tri-Town to hold Drug Take Back day DEEP RIVER Tri-Town Youth Service and Troop F, are participating in the National Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 27. Residents can bring any unused, unwanted, or expired prescription drugs to the event. This event is free and anonymous, no questions asked. According to the Department of Public Health, during the first 4 months of 2018, 3,090 visits for suspected drug overdoses were made to the emergency departments at Connecticuts 27 hospitals. The majority of people who abuse prescription drugs obtain them from family and friends, this includes theft from home medicine cabinets. Bringing your unused prescription drugs to the drug take back eliminates the risk of them being stolen or abused. Residents can drop off at Tri-Town Youth Services, 56 High St, Deep River, April 27 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Prescription medication that is flushed down the toilet or tossed in the trash can potentially become a safety and health hazards for the environment and residents. Besides the annual Drug Take Back events, residents can safely dispose their unused medication 24 hours a day to the drop box located in the lobby of Troop F. For information, call Jennifer Buckley, Prevention Coordinator, Tri-Town Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, at 860-526-3600 or jennifer@ttysb.org. The Tri-Town Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition envisions the communities of Chester, Deep River, and Essex as safe, healthy and free of substance abuse and works with the community to reduce substance abuse primarily among youth through action, education, and collaboration. 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 Many assume the recreational marijuana market will surpass medical cannabis but there are many reasons to suspect they will be proved wrong. Medical marijuana could become the bigger of the two within a few years thanks to three factors. Heres what entrepreneurs should know about the difference between these two markets, and how the cannabis industrys astronomical growth could evolve differently than one might expect. The current state of the cannabis market. Global cannabis sales reached a new high of $12.2 billion in 2018, up from $9.5 billion in 2017, according to a report by BDS Analytics. More than half of that was recreational. Some examples: Colorado: Out of total revenue of almost $1.55 billion, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue, only $332 million was medical cannabis. California: Sales reached approximately $1.2 billion per state data, more than half of which was recreational. Canada: Statistics Canada reported total sales for October through December reached $115 million USD. At the same time, the number of medical marijuana patients grew in Canada. Sales in US states that have legalized weed appear to be moving away from medical cannabis and towards recreational, though this has not held true in Canada, though there are indications it will once the market matures and there is wider accessibility. Related: Move Aside, CBD: New Data Finds THC Is the Real Medicine in Medical Marijuana In the U.S., the legalization of recreational weed has meant a corresponding decline or stagnation in medical cannabis sales. This makes sense for a few reasons. Depending on the state, obtaining a medical marijuana card can be complicated with few doctors willing to prescribe and applications, and medical marijuana patients sometimes must pay a fee. In California, the biggest cannabis market to date, lenient laws created an artificially large medical marijuana market. Today, many of those patients are switching to recreational. The rise of recreational weed has lead to some panic about the future of medical marijuana. Will producers entirely shift their focus away from medical marijuana and to focus on the hottest cannabis products like concentrates vapes, and other high-THC options? Will patients have access to the product they need for target-specific conditions, rather than get you high? There are a few reasons why this will not happen. CBD will be bigger than recreational weed. The recreational market isnt just booming because people want concentrated THC. In fact, the products with the biggest sales increase in 2018 were high in CBD. The growing interest in medicinal and medical cannabis is a strong indication CBD market will explode in the upcoming years. CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is a compound in cannabis that does not produce a high. ThoughCBD is the second-most popular compound found in weed after THC, it can be found in hemp, too, which is non-psychoactive. This means that it cannot produce unwanted effects, by law. CBD can address a variety of conditions ranging from the severe to the preventative according to a growing body of research and anecdotal evidence. These include both physical conditions including seizures, pain, Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. CBD provides a much-needed, non-addictive alternative without negative side effects for pain management and epilepsy These conditions afflict millions of Americans who don't yet use medical marijuana. The potential market is enormous for all-natural products that can address these ailments. CBD edible sales grew astronomically in 2018. In one year alone CBD gummy sales went up 925 percent, sales of CBD chocolate market increased by 530 percent and CBD tincture, also known as cannabis oil, sales went up 111.5 percent. Most predict that the CBD market will eclipse the recreational cannabis market -- something that couldnt have been predicted at the beginning of the legalization movement. The most optimistic projection comes from the Brightfield Group, which says the CBD market could reach $22 billion by 2022, more is more than the projected recreational cannabis market. Related: New Poll Finds Highest Support Ever for Weed Legalization But is CBD medicinal or medical cannabis? Most people take CBD medicinally, not recreationally, with some replacing pharmaceuticals with CBD. Others use it to address conditions for which they never took a prescription, and a growing number use it as preventative medicine. In other words, the distinction between medicinal and medical cannabis is hazy. With more research demonstrating CBDs effectiveness, cannabidiol could soon be redefined. This is most likely to occur after national legalization -- and once Big Pharma becomes more involved. Big Pharma could change the cannabis industry. The American pharmaceutical industry is the biggest industry in the country and it continues to grow. It represents 45 percent of the global pharmaceutical industry, according to Statista. Big Pharma is investing in weed research, a second big reason why medical cannabis could surpass recreational sales. Because pharmaceutical companies are investigating cannabis medicine, CBD could become a more common form of medical marijuana, not just a supplement categorized as recreational. Pharmaceutical companies are putting more resources than ever into CBD research to satisfy the demand for cannabis-wellness. There has already been a breakthrough. Epidiolex in 2018 became the first FDA-approved cannabis-derived medication. It is prescribed to treat two types of epilepsy. FDA reclassified Epidiolex as a substance with a lower likelihood of abuse than recreational cannabis. Though just one drug, Epidiolex has opened the floodgates for other pharmaceutical companies to start exploring medical cannabis. Medical marijuana research is still in its infancy. But in 2018, pharmaceutical companies filed more cannabis patents than ever. Six of the top 10 cannabis patent holders are pharmaceutical companies, according to a recent report. Expect to see many more cannabis medicines available in coming years. Related: The UN Is Moving Toward Ending Decades of International Cannabis Prohibition Cannabis consumer demographics keep shifting. The U.S. baby boomers are the largest generation in American history. There are 76 million baby boomers in the U.S., according to Pew Research, ranging in age from 54 to 73. That is a large segment of the population that is either eligible for Medicare or soon will be. It isnt a coincidence that seniors are one of the fastest expanding cannabis users. Not only are seniors spending more on marijuana than ever before, but theyre accustomed to spending a lot on medication. A report found that brand name drug prices have almost doubled in nine years. As a result, seniors are more likely to look for less expensive alternatives, like cannabis. Pharmaceutical companies are incentivized more than ever to create medical cannabis products to appeal to their older demographic. An additional factor in coming years is that contemplated changes to global treaties could create an international medical cannabis market, with CBD specifically exempted from international prohibition. This creates the potential for eventually allowing cannabis producers, such as those in Canada projected to eventually glut domestic markets, to export to newly opened markets. The United Kingdom and Thailand recently legalized medical marijuana, and many European countries are in the process of relaxing their laws. For more developed markets with bigger producers, this translates to massive potential for medical marijuana overseas in markets that are far away from recreational legalization. Related: Why Will Health Insurers Reimburse You for Opioids but Not for Medical Marijuana? Will medical cannabis surpass recreational? Recreational cannabis will be huge but increasing interest in medicinal cannabis, global market growth and involvement from Big Pharma could make medical cannabis the larger of the two markets. For this to happen, however, there are a few things that have to change. Specifically, this would require better accessibility to medical cannabis -- more doctors, easier applications and more options when it comes to medication targeting specific illnesses -- and a better understanding of how we can use CBD medically. Lastly, for the market to really reach its potential, international expansion of the medical cannabis market needs to be legalized. One thing is for certain: The market for cannabis medications will continue to grow as baby boomers come of age, stigma decreases and continuing research confirms the effectiveness of cannabis for many common ailments. Related: Will Medical Cannabis Sales Eventually Surpass Recreational Sales? Famed Journalist and Cancer Survivor Tom Brokaw Reveals His Medical Marijuana Use Managing Medical Marijuana in the Workplace Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved HARTFORD Monday was the day of reckoning for Connecticut taxpayers already grappling with high property taxes to deal with the new nationwide limits on tax deductions. For first-term state Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, it meant she and her husband, now both retired, had to pay $10,800 more than last year. For up-to-date information on public policy issues, sign up for the CT Politics newsletter. And theres something wrong with that, Kushner said. The tax cuts that they made in Washington was the largest transfer of wealth in this country in probably a century, and we just didnt realize it. So many people had no idea how it was going to deeply impact our families. We know if you own a house you were hurt by it. We know if youre a renter you may think youre off easy for a little while, but youre going to be hurt by it in the end. According to the state Department of Revenue Services, extrapolating from 2015 tax data, more than 117,000 state filers may have to pay in excess of $10,000 in state and local taxes, or SALT, which is the new standard deduction. In 2015, 483,790 state filers claimed in excess of $10,000 in SALT deductions on their federal income tax return, but the DRS anticipates that most will change over their filing this year to the standard deduction. Were letting multimillion-trillion-billion-dollar corporations pay very little into what our society needs, said Sen. Mary Daugherty Abrams, D-Meriden, another first-term lawmaker who joined Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney in warning about the effects of the GOP tax scheme that was passed when Republicans still had a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Looney said Republicans claimed at the time that all businesses would benefit greatly from lower taxes, but in fact only large corporations have cashed in. During a news conference in the Capitol, Senate Democrats cited nonpartisan legislative research to estimate that Connecticut taxpayers could be hit with a $2.8 billion tax hike because of the 2017 tax law passed by President Donald Trump and Republicans. But Tony Cirone, a Bethel CPA, said in a recent interview that some businesses have it easier because the General Assembly last year passed legislation to allow so-called pass-through entities, including partnerships and S corporations, to take deductions for taxes owed to Connecticut. This is a lot of extra work for accounting firms and business entities, said Cirone, a member of the Connecticut Society of CPAs, anticipating that fewer people will now be itemizing their deductions. Looney, said the legislation was one way in which the General Assembly is dealing with the issue. Because they pay their business taxes, basically, as part of their personal income tax, theyve been helped by this quite a bit, Looney said. At least the larger ones have, the ones who have a significant infusion of money into their personal accounts. Looney said states most affected by the SALT limits include New York and New Jersey, which did not support Trump in the 2016 election. Looney has proposed a property tax surcharge on properties worth more than $5 million. Any tax change we make has to have some progressivity built into it, he said. Connecticut has joined several other states in challenging the Republican tax law in court. In reaction to the Democratic criticism, Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, termed it fake outrage coming from the very same people responsible for some of the biggest tax increases in Connecticut history and the same lawmakers who have been silent on the massive tax increase proposed by the governor this year. He said that Connecticut Democrats have virtually no control over what occurs in Washington, but they want to focus on Congress and Trump instead of what they have done at home. Scott D. Jackson, state commissioner of Revenue Services, said the agency expects more than 1.88 million income tax returns to be filed this tax season, with nine out of 10 filed electronically. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT The Marine Corps' Aging Amphibious Vehicle Fleet Will Be Kept Out of the Water Eight Marines and a Navy corpsman died when an AAV sank hundreds of feet into the ocean during exercises on July 30, 2020. Could the Air Force implement a new policy requiring troops to be ready for a physical fitness assessment at all times, pop-quiz style? It's one of several ideas proposed by the Air Force scientist instrumental in creating the current PFA. Dr. Neal Baumgartner, chief of the Air Force Exercise Science Unit at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, told Military.com he's interested in having in place the most reliable assessment of fitness -- and reducing pain and frustration wherever possible. He's gathering feedback on proposals aimed at making testing less of an ordeal, including randomized testing, longer time between tests for the super-fit, and measures to reduce anxiety around test-time. While Baumgartner said the current testing regime is generally working well, he's bothered by what he calls "five-and-a-half month wonders:" troops who don't worry about their health and fitness until their semi-annual PFA is right around the corner. One proposal Baumgartner believes could reduce testing resources while discouraging airmen from "cramming" fitness ahead of a scheduled test is randomization -- administering a lower number of tests to the force at random, forcing troops to remain ready. "Random testing has a big positive in that it enhances accountability," he said. "You never know when the policeman may come around the corner." Baumgartner added that troops could be exempted from being called up for random testing after a deployment, or within a certain time frame after taking a previous test. The objective, he said, it not to catch more airmen out, but to discourage those who spend most of the year out of regulations and then take unhealthy steps to prepare at the last minute. "[People say], 'I can't wait until the last two weeks of the year to start getting fit for the test,'" he said. "The goal is consistency." That said, the Air Force does not appear to have a significant percentage of airmen at risk. As of the end of March 2019, 98.2% of the active-duty Air Force had a passing score on the fitness assessment, Capt. Carrie Volpe, an Air Force spokeswoman, told Military.com. That means roughly 6,000 airmen, out of the active force of 332,800, did not pass, with more squeaking by on the margins. Fewer Tests for PT Stars For those at the other end of the spectrum, Baumgartner proposes letting top-scoring airmen go longer between PFAs. In feasibility testing is a proposal that would determine the time gap between fitness tests for airmen by their previous scores, with greater gaps associated with higher scores. This initiative would further a 2010 Air Force policy change that allowed airmen who scored a 90 or above in all fitness components to take the PFA annually, rather than twice a year, as an incentive to maintain a high rate of fitness. The thinking, he said, is that those who score in the highest percentages on the PFA are those who exhibit the healthy habits and behaviors the Air Force is looking for year-round; they don't need much evaluation or prodding. And even if a top-scorer did the unlikely, and started habitually gorging on Cheetos and beer immediately after finishing the PFA, Baumgartner reasons it would take some time before they found themselves at risk of failing the test. "What if one of those 96 [scorers] decided to become a couch potato?" he said. "How long would it take before they went from a 96 to a failing level? It's probably going to take more than a year." The current Air Force fitness assessment includes an abdominal circumference measurement, 1.5-mile times run, and times test to complete as many pushups and situps possible within one minute. All four components must be completed within a three-hour window in a single day. "Hey Airman John Doe, because you score a 95, how about you don't have to test for another 18 months," Baumgartner said. "They're incentivized by that idea." For those who do dread the test itself, Baumgartner is also proposing a change that may reduce testing anxiety. He suggested that airmen might be able to take a pressure-free pretest, scheduled in advance with designated proctors, ahead of their set mandatory PFA. Failure of this pretest would have no negative consequences; but a passing score would count for that testing cycle. "We know from the literature that when consequences are removed, people tend to do slightly better," Baumgartner said. "We bounced it off some airmen of all different scores, and the overall feedback is very positive." If airmen schedule pretests in coordination with other PFAs, he said, it won't require any additional labor or resources to facilitate them. Any improvements and changes, Baumgartner stressed, must be made with an eye to staying resource-neutral -- not increasing the time it takes to administer tests or the required equipment or manpower. He also emphasized that the current test works as-is, although his office is always seeking improvements. Right now, they're assessing feasibility and collecting feedback on the various proposals. "If a plane can fly from A to B and do its job, we're happy to consider one that can do it better," he said. "However, it doesn't mean the current plane is broken." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. The secretary of the Army said today that the service could not rule out future cuts to the service's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program -- a vehicle that he said was essentially designed for the last war, not the next. In March, the Army announced it would cut funding in the proposed fiscal 2020 budget for its new, high-performance JLTV to free up money for future modernization projects. The Army plans to buy only 2,530 JLTVs in the fiscal 2020 budget request, compared to last year's purchase of 3,393. "We will have a mixed fleet of Humvees and JLTVs; we know that, and we will buy a lot of JLTVs, we know that too. But I can't tell you today whether the cut we made in this budget is the last or not," Army Secretary Mark Esper told a group of reporters today at the Pentagon. The JLTV and the CH-47 Chinook Block II were among 93 programs Army senior leaders selected for cuts over the next five years to help free up billions of dollars for its bold modernization strategy. The Army had initially planned to buy 49,000 JLTVs, but Esper said it may now be more than a year before the service knows the total number of JLTVs it will purchase. The original 49,000-vehicle requirement was first decided before the new National Defense Strategy came out and shifted the U.S. military's focus away from the Middle East, Esper said. Likewise, the CH-47 Block II helicopters were designed to fly heavier payload in a hotter climate, Esper said. "And what was the heavier payload? JLTV," Esper said. "What drove JLTV? [Improvised explosive devices] in Afghanistan and Iraq, and because the MRAPs were too big and too heavy. "They were, in many ways, designed for a different conflict. It doesn't mean we won't use them in future conflicts, but now my emphasis has to be rebuilding my armor, rebuilding my fighting vehicles, having aircraft that can penetrate Russian and Chinese air defenses and shoot down Russian and Chinese drones and missiles and helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft." As the Army refines its new multi-domain operations doctrine, the service will run a series of wargames that will decide the total number of JLTVs and other systems it will need for the future, Esper said. "I think we will be finished in a year or 18 months; then we run all these numbers. And all these numbers tell you, to beat the Russians, you need X tanks and you need Y tankers and you need X number of JLTVs. And that is where I will have the final number," Esper said. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Marines weren't going to let Lance Cpl. James Stogner's heroism during a brutal Vietnam War battle go forgotten. Left only with his Ka-Bar knife when his company was ambushed by a battalion-sized enemy force, Stogner fought back. He was determined to save any Marine he could after his company was surrounded and nearly defeated by North Vietnamese fighters in April 1967. He was deployed with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. That was 52 years ago and, after years of pushing for his heroism to be recognized, Stogner was awarded the Navy Cross earlier this month. He was presented with the valor award, second only to the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony in northwest Montana. "I did what I could do to help save more people," Stogner said in a Marine Corps video about his actions that day. "All I had left was my Ka-Bar." The former lance corporal was with a machine-gun team at the time of the ambush. They took intense enemy fire from automatic weapons, grenades and mortars, according to Stogner's award citation. The lead platoon and company command group suffered devastating casualties, including the company commander. When Stogner's machine-gun team leader was severely wounded, four enemy soldiers grabbed the wounded Marine and took him to a nearby tree line, where they began torturing him. "At this point, Lance Cpl. Stogner showed his true mettle," former Capt. Wallace Dixon, the company commander, said at Stogner's award ceremony. "He could've crawled off in the dark and gotten away. But he did not." Despite his own painful wounds and with complete disregard for his own safety, Stogner pursued the enemy into the tree line to rescue his fellow Marine, his award citation states. "After his service rifle malfunctioned, he used his [Ka-Bar] fighting knife to kill the enemy soldiers, then picked up his machine gunner and the machine gun, and carried them back to friendly lines," the citation adds. Those actions were never recognized until now, Dixon said during the ceremony. His section team leader had originally written his actions down on a food ration box in the field, Marine Corps Times reported. But the unit was still in combat, and the paperwork was "lost in the shuffle," Stogner told the outlet. When the unit gathered for a reunion 13 years ago, Marines realized Stogner had never received recognition. He was initially put up for the Medal of Honor, according to Marine Corps Times, but the nomination lacked the number of eye witnesses required for that award to be approved. In an interview for a Marine Corps video, Stogner said he couldn't paint a pretty picture about that deployment. You either adapted or you died, he said. "You don't leave nobody behind -- you bring everybody out," he said. Stogner's bold and decisive action saved the life of his fellow Marine, his Navy Cross citation states. "And his undaunted courage and complete dedication to duty reflected great credit upon him and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service," it concludes. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. The last of the famed Doolittle Raiders will be honored with a memorial in Texas on Thursday, the 77th anniversary of their World War II mission. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" E. Cole died April 9 at the age of 103. Service leaders, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein and Secretary Heather Wilson, and Cole's friends and family will gather at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph to remember the final veteran of the famous "Doolittle Raid," Air Education and Training Command announced Friday. The ceremony, which will be held in Hangar 41 at 3 p.m., is not open to the public, officials said. Cole flew co-pilot to then-Lt. Col. James "Jimmy" Doolittle during the famed raid. Doolittle led the 16 B-25 bombers and 80 crew members from the aircraft carrier Hornet in the western Pacific on a strike targeting factories and military installations in and around Tokyo on April 18, 1942. The Raiders' success helped boost morale after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michelle Doolittle of Travis Air Force Base, California, will perform "America the Beautiful" at the memorial with Lackland's Band of the West and the Freedom Brass quintet. She is a second cousin, twice removed, to the legendary commander of the Raiders. "This will be very, very special," Doolittle said Monday in an interview with Military.com. She has served in the Air Force for five years, and sings with the service's Band of the Golden West at Travis. "Having the Doolittle name and serving in the Air Force especially has been very meaningful," she said. While she never met Cole, Doolittle said she was honored the Air Force asked her to be a part of his memorial service. Doolittle is especially inspired by the third stanza in "America the Beautiful," which she feels celebrates Cole and all of the Raiders in America's history: "O beautiful for heroes proved, in liberating strife; Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life." In addition to a static aircraft display, officials have also tentatively arranged for a "missing man" formation flyby, including an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a historic B-25 bomber and a T-38 Talon, AETC told Military.com on Monday. Hundreds of airmen will salute Cole and his family at the base before he is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Last week, Goldfein announced that Cole had died at Texas' San Antonio Medical Center. Related: Last of the Doolittle Raiders, Dick Cole, Dies at 103 "There's another hole in our formation," he told audiences at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado. "Our last remaining Doolittle Raider has slipped the surly bonds of Earth. He is now reunited with his fellow Raiders. And what a reunion they must be having." Cole received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in the bombing. "Those 80 intrepid airmen changed the course of history," Goldfein said. "They executed a one-way mission without hesitation against enormous odds." Cole spoke to Military.com about the raid in 2016. "The flight was designed to do two things: One, to let the Japanese people know that they could be struck by air; and the other thing was the morale, and we did that, so we were very proud of that," he told Military.com. AETC on Monday said the family has asked for scholarship donations in lieu of flowers, cards or gifts. "It was an honor and privilege to have him as our dad," said Rich Cole and Cindy Chal, Cole's children, in an AETC release. "Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. We ask that, in lieu of flowers or gifts, well-wishers consider a donation to The James H. Doolittle Scholarship Fund in his honor." "We're going to miss Colonel Cole, and we offer our eternal thanks and our condolences to his family," Goldfein said last Tuesday. "The legacy of the Doolittle Raiders will forever live in the hearts and minds of airmen long after we've all departed." Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the song whose lyrics are quoted. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa -- Japanese police have identified Tamae Hindman, 44, as the Okinawa woman stabbed to death in an apparent slaying-suicide on the island over the weekend. Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabriel Olivero, a 32-year-old Navy corpsman from North Carolina, may have killed Hindman inside a six-story apartment building in the Kuwae district of Chatan, according to Okinawa Prefectural Police. Olivero, who was attached to the 3rd Marine Division, then apparently turned the knife on himself. Autopsies showed both bled to death and that Olivero had multiple wounds to the groin area on both legs, a police spokesman said Tuesday. An autopsy on Hindman on Monday found stab wounds on her neck and defensive wounds on her hands. The pair's bloodied bodies were found in bed, along with a knife, after police were called at 7:26 a.m. Saturday. The woman's child was present when the incident occurred and called a relative, who then reported it to police. In October, the spokesman said, police had responded to a domestic disturbance after Olivero reportedly broke items in Hindman's home, but the incident was resolved after he agreed to compensate her for the damage. In January, Hindman reported to U.S. military police that Olivero sexually assaulted her at her off-base home during a breakup, police said earlier. Military authorities subsequently issued a protective order forbidding Olivero from contacting Hindman, said Marine Corps 1st Lt. David Mancilla in a statement Tuesday afternoon. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service cooperated with an investigation by Okinawa police, who had jurisdiction in that case, according to the statement. "Earlier this month, the Japanese Police closed their investigation due to lack of cooperation from the victim; however, [NCIS] continued with an active investigation into the alleged sexual assault," Mancilla's statement said. "At no time did the U.S. Military discourage the victim from talking with Japanese Police or filing an official complaint." A friend of the dead woman told the Okinawa Times newspaper Monday that Hindman called her child a "treasure" and was known as a cheerful, active person who enjoyed jogging and worked in the beauty industry. "She often told people around her that she is very proud to raise her child by doing what she loves," the friend said. Hindman recently became frightened after Olivero -- who was supposed to be about 18 miles away at Camp Hansen -- was spotted in her neighborhood, the friend told the newspaper. Olivero had a history of breaking into Hindman's home, the woman told the newspaper, saying he damaged items, confined Hindman and harassed her friends. "Hindman tried to reach MPs to solve this issue but Olivero did not stop harassing her and she was stressed," the friend said, according to the newspaper. "I know there are many kind servicemembers and U.S. bases aren't the issue here," the woman told the newspaper. "This tragedy happened because MPs and the local police did not do their jobs. They took her problem too lightly Why did they let the criminal out free?" Memorial for Last Doolittle Raider The Air Force has announced a memorial service to celebrate the life of retired Lt. Col. Richard Dick E. Cole, the last of the famous Doolittle Tokyo Raiders of World War II, who died April 9 at age 103. The service will be held at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, on April 18, officials said in a recent news release. Cole was the co-pilot for then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle in a B-25 Mitchell bomber during the April 18, 1942, mission by the U.S. Army Air Forces to strike the Japanese home islands. The memorial also marks the 77th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. Air Force senior leaders, family and friends are expected to attend. Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia will be Coles final resting place. Read more at AF.mil. Learn more about Lt. Col. Cole on Military.com. VA Struggles to Curb 'Parking Lot' Suicides at Its Own Facilities The VA's top health care official is asking Americans for help in addressing the crisis of veteran suicides. "I wish it was as simple as me saying I could do more patrols in a parking lot that would stop this," Dr. Richard Stone, the executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, said Wednesday of the department's efforts to curb veteran suicides and suicide attempts, which often occur at its own facilities. Stone made the remark in response to questions from the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee about three recent suicides: two in early March at Georgia VA facilities and one at an Austin, Texas, VA clinic. Read more about his remarks on Military.com. As a military spouse tax time can be a bit stressful, to say the least. There are regular tax questions: What are the new changes to tax law? What can I deduct? Who can I claim? Then there is an entirely new set of questions because you're a spouse of a service member: How do I file our joint return with my service member deployed? What state do I file my taxes in? What benefits are we allowed as military? To answer most of the commonly asked questions the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has an Armed Forces' Tax Guide available for download - IRS Publication 3, which summarizes many important military-related tax topics. Publication 3 may also be ordered by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676). Prior to 2009, there wasn't much relief for military spouses. They generally had to pay income taxes to the states where their spouses were stationed. Under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act signed into law on November 11, 2009, military spouses who earn income in the state where their spouse is stationed may be able to claim either the state they are located in or their spouse's legal residence (if they have established residence there as well) for tax purposes. This only matters if the spouse has an income of their own. That could generate big savings if their spouse's legal residence has lower tax rates or no income tax at all. Tax laws vary from state to state, so you and your spouse will need to weigh the tax and filing benefits before selecting the state that you will file. Some other factors that could also influence which state to pick; voter registration, auto registration, in-state college savings plans and in-state college tuition savings, car, home or other insurance, wills and estate plans, powers of attorney, and spouse's business/professional licenses. If your spouse is deployed, remember that you have 24/7 access to W2 and other pertinent tax information via MyPay. Additionally, typically joint returns must be signed by both spouses. However, if your service member is away from home, they can grant you power of attorney to file a joint return on their behalf. Fortunately, most military installations offer tax help to service members and their families through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). VITA's certified community volunteers are trained by the IRS and understand military-specific tax issues. Those services can be accessed for free via your local installation. Keep Up With Military Pay Updates Military pay benefits are constantly changing. Make sure you're up-to-date with everything you've earned. Join Military.com for free to receive updates on all of your military pay and benefits, delivered directly to your inbox. If you do not make lifestyle changes as you age, you may find yourself either broken from over-training or out of shape and... During a visit to Wrigley Field for todays Pirates/Cubs game, veteran right-hander Carlos Zambrano told reporters (including MLB.coms Carrie Muskat) that he has retired. He had been pitching in his native Venezuela last winter in the hopes of catching on with another Major League club, but it appears as though Zambrano has instead called it a career. The Big Z retires with a 132-91 record, 3.66 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 38.2 rWAR over 1959 innings in the bigs, with 11 of his 12 seasons spent with the Cubs and his final year (2012) spent with the Marlins. (Zambrano also made four starts in the Phillies minor league system in 2013.) He threw a no-hitter against the Astros in 2008 and his career achievements include three top-five finishes in NL Cy Young Award voting, three All-Star appearances and three Silver Slugger Awards. That last honor was particularly well-deserved since Zambrano was one of the better-hitting pitchers in recent memory, posting a .238/.248/.388 slash line and 24 homers over 744 PA. While slightly leaving the door open for a possible comeback attempt, Zambranos recent attempts at throwing didnt work out. I was telling one of the [Cubs] scouts that I was playing catch the other day after five months, and I felt like I was throwing a rock, Zambrano said. I think Im going to stay home, see what happens next year. God has the last word. Zambrano, 33, was no stranger to controversy over his career, known for several confrontations with umpires and twice getting into dugout altercations with teammates (Michael Barrett and Derrek Lee). The Cubs put him on the restricted list in August 2011, effectively ending his career in Chicago. According to Baseball Reference, Zambrano made just under $114MM over his career. We at MLBTR wish Zambrano a happy time in retirement. DETROIT -- A cab driver in Canada who is originally from Guatamala was sentenced to 16 months in a U.S. prison Monday for helping immigrants illegally enter the U.S. through a train tunnel connecting Canada and Detroit, according to the Associated Press. Juan Garcia-Jimenez, 53, made extra money by dropping the immigrants off at the entrance of the tunnel in Canada and telling them to walk the 1.6 mile track, where they would emerge on the other side. The walk was extremely dangerous, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Fairchild. The walkway in the tunnel is only 17 inches (43.1 centimeters) wide and in poor condition. They just walked right through the tunnel, which is a very dangerous thing, said Kris Grogan, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There is zero room. If a train would have come through there, they would have been killed. Border officers said nine people captured at various times last year after walking through the tunnel identified Garcia-Jimenez as the man who helped them get across the border. Due to the clandestine nature of this criminal activity, there is no way to be certain how many times he has smuggled aliens into the United States in the past, Fairchild said in a court filing. Countless aliens could have illegally entered the United States with his assistance. Garcia-Jimenez cried in court and apologized for what he did. I am sorry for what I have done, he told U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III. Along with the prison sentence, Garcia-Jimenez was also fined $8,680, the same sum that he received from six people who were captured last year after walking out of the tunnel on the Detroit side. SAULT STE. MARIE, MI - The body of a 64-year-old missing fisherman was found Tuesday morning, April 16 by the U.S. Coast Guard following an overnight investigation in Michigans Upper Peninsula. The Michigan State Police post in Sault Ste. Marie says that the Coast Guard will take the lead on the investigation. This update comes after police said they were fearful the missing Trout Lake man had fallen through the ice on Monday. Troopers were originally dispatched to calls of a missing man near Pendills Creek in Bay Mills Township at about 10:50 p.m. Monday night. During the search, police and officials on scene searched the area where he was known to fish and even located some of his property. MSP says that it in addition to the USCG, it was assisted with the investigation and search by the U.S. Border Patrol, Bay Mills Police Department, Chippewa County Sheriffs Department, Bay Mills Fire Department and Superior Township Fire Department. The 64-year-old man has not been identified by officials as of Tuesday morning. FLINT, MI -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent her 100th day in office sitting down with Flint residents last week, one step in what she calls a long, complicated journey to earn back the citys trust in the midst of the citys water crisis. I think we all know that once you lost someones trust, its very hard to earn it back, Whitmer said. She said her efforts start with showing up and listening to Flint residents -- something she did at multiple stops in Flint last week. Whitmer made the remarks at a citizen roundtable hosted by MLive and ABC12. It was in response to a question from Catrina Tillman, first lady of First Missionary Baptist Church in Flint. Tillman was one of several are residents who sat down with Whitmer for a free-form discussion on issues facing the city. She pointed out that throughout the Flint water crisis there had been a lot of miscommunication and mistrust between Flint residents and their government. Now, Tillman said, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is saying water is safe to drink but also recommending people use filters, which is a contradiction. Whitmer said the state hadnt done a good job of explaining is that once a population has been compromised, the standards change. Because people have been compromised, we have a higher standard for them, Whitmer said. Another panelist, Arthur Woodson, said the city kept bringing people in from the outside for water testing, when they had people from the city with expertise. I think by using people from Flint... I think the people would be more inclined of trusting them from than someone from the outside, Woodson said. Whitmer addressed the Flint water crisis and topics like education, public safety and economic development in the citizen roundtable last week. View the whole event here. AUBURN HILLS, MI - Oakland Community College says that a 30-year-old student died in the parking lot of its Auburn Hills campus Monday evening, April 15, in an isolated and unfortunate accident. The school identified the student as Justin Tucker of Ortonville, and said its public safety unit was being assisted by the Auburn Hills Traffic Investigation Unit. A cause of death or any other information concerning the incident has not yet been made available. In response, the school is offering counseling sessions to any of its students, staff or faculty members at all locations. It is with deep sadness OCC reports student Justin Tucker, 30, of Ortonville, Michigan, died earlier this evening in an isolated and unfortunate accident in Parking Lot 1 on the Auburn Hills Campus," the news release from the school reads. "No one else was involved and there is no foul play suspected. OCC Public Safety is investigating and being assisted by the Auburn Hills Traffic Investigation Unit. The family of Justin Tucker has been notified. DEVELOPING: Oakland Community College officials say a student died in a parking lot on campus Monday evening.https://t.co/Nrsc7MKbdM WWJ950 (@WWJ950) April 16, 2019 Parts of two Michigan counties have been designated as potential high-risk areas for bovine tuberculosis. Parts of Iosco and Ogemaw counties are affected by the designation made by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on April 12 after a free-ranging white-tailed deer in Alcona County tested positive for bovine TB, which is a bacterial disease. Anytime a positive deer is identified, all cattle and bison herds located within a 15-mile radius of the deer must be tested for bovine TB within six months. This designation testing excludes counties where annual testing already occurs, like Alcona County. Herd owners in affected areas are being contacted by MDARD to schedule testing. An informational meeting is scheduled at the Rose Township Hall, 3380 Lupton Road, in Lupton at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 2. According to the MDARD, cattle and bison herds are tested to ensure the disease has not spread from local deer to cattle or bison. This precaution protects Michigans cattle industry, but also helps reassure Michigans trading partners that all necessary steps are being taken to protect the health of the herds. Herd owners with questions about testing can call MDARDs Atlanta Office at 888-565-8626. A group of Republican lawmakers are sponsoring a resolution urging Congress to separate Chicago from the state of Illinois. Rep. Brad Halbrook filed House Resolution 101 on Feb. 7. If passed, it would make the nations third-largest city Americas 51st state, however, like similar proposals introduced in the past, theres very little chance it will happen. Sponsors of the resolution have admitted they dont actually want to see Chicago separated from Illinois in various interviews since it was introduced. The measure appears to be more of a way to air grievances held by much of the states delegation. I dont believe that Chicago and the state of Illinois should be separated, Illinois Republican Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, told The State Journal-Register. Its more of a frustration of the policies than the true belief that Chicago and Illinois would be better off as separate states. Lawmakers say they want to put a spotlight on long-standing and obvious cultural and financial differences between urban Chicagoland and the rural areas that make up most of Illinois. The case for it is the continued onslaught of attacks on our traditional family values, the right to protect ourselves, the right to the way we want to educate our kids, the ability to mine coal and draw oil out of the ground, Rep. Halbrook said in a TV interview with Capitol Connection, a broadcast covering Illinois state politics. Things that we think are very important are constantly under attack. The U.S. Constitution does allow for the creation of a new state from a portion of an existing state, but it requires approval from both the state legislature and Congress. Several other Illinois lawmakers have sponsored the bill since it was filed in February, but it appears unlikely to make it out of committee. There is no hearing currently scheduled on the resolution, according to ABC News. MASON COUNTY, MI -- An active shooter situation in Mason County that resulted in two people being shot has been contained. Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said police arrested the suspected shooter before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 16. The sheriff confirmed that two people were shot, but didnt provide status updates for the victims. Police expect the area of U.S. 31 between Hoague Road and Koenig Road -- on the border of Free Soil and Grant townships -- to be closed for several hours Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for Mason County Emergency Management. Around 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, the Mason County Sheriffs Office reported an active shooter situation along the one-mile stretch of U.S. 31, and advised the public to avoid the area. The area is a rural stretch of two-lane highway located north of Ludington in Mason County. The shooting remains under investigation, and the sheriffs office expects to share more information around 11 a.m. Tuesday. ANN ARBOR, MI -- Accessibility and attention to mental health care are the focus of The Ann Arbor YMCAs new Mood Lifters program. Mood Lifters help participants set goals and learn strategies to achieve those goals, according to Kit Kieser, Ann Arbor YMCA director of healthy living. The program is based on five areas of behavior: sleep, body, mood, mind and social, Kieser, said. Weve seen a very positive response so far from the community and the staff. Each class begins with a survey for participants to use as a baseline for progress, and a lesson module related to one of the five behavior areas, Kieser said. More than just a support group or a place for people to discuses their feelings, Mood Lifters is about breaking down social and financial barriers and allowing people to improve their mental health, she said. The 15-week program costs $75 for YMCA members and $200 for non-members 18 years old or older. Instead of ruminating about specific problems, youre talking in a group of your peers about strategies to meet your goals, Kieser said. Course participants may be dealing with stress, anxiety or depression, but Kieser said they do not need to be medically diagnosed to benefit from the program. Patricia Deldin, founder and CEO of Mood Lifter LLC and associate director of the University of Michigan Depression Center, said shes felt frustrated by a general continued lack of accessibility to mental health care. Deldin used personal experience with similar programs to design Mood Lifters, she said. The program is simple and realistic for participants to practice in their everyday lives, she said. Participants earn points for applying the module lessons in their daily lives, partaking in healthy activities and improving sleep habits. Its a paradigm shift, Deldin said. Im excited to be using science to make changes in destigmatizing mental health care and making it low-cost for everyone. The class at the YMCA is currently capped at 15 participants, but the program is currently taking new participants in other locations. Kieser and Deldin hope the pilot YMCA program will yield positive data that can be used towards offering it again in the future. Deldin also hopes to see the program grow nationwide, in other community organizations and online. To learn more about Mood Lifters, visit the program website or email info@mood-lifters.com. For more information about the program at the Ann Arbor YMCA, contact Kieser at kkieser@annarborymca.org. ANN ARBOR, MI - Bye bye, Bird. Spin is rolling into town. Ann Arbor does not plan to renew its contract with the Bird e-scooter company, but city council and the University of Michigan has approved an agreement with Spin, Inc. on Monday. I think the Birds have flown to a greener pasture because they didnt like being regulated, City Administrator Howard Lazarus said. Spin chooses to work with us. Bird came and worked in spite of us. The new scooter fleet will launch in early May, said Ariella Steinhorn, spokesperson for Spin, and 200 scooters will be deployed. The remaining flock of Bird scooters will be returned to that company, said John Fournier, assistant city administrator. Spins agreement with the city will require riders to follow ground rules, such as parking scooters upright and not obstructing pedestrian travel, ADA ramps or access points, fire hydrants, call boxes or other emergency facilities or equipment. Scooters seized by the city will cost the company $150 each, plus $15 for an additional day of impounded device, according to the agreement. Additionally, no more than 200 scooters can be deployed. The company is also required to share deployment locations with the city on a weekly basis or upon request. Bird deployed its scooters in Ann Arbor in September 2018, but the city was quick to warn users they would be ticketed if they did not adhere to local laws. Shortly afterward, the city confiscated dozens of scooters that were impeding public sidewalk traffic. A message seeking comment was left with Bird representatives. In November 2018, the city reached a deal with Bird to operate 200 dockless scooters for 90 days on several conditions. People are using these things like crazy, Fournier said in a November council meeting. Theyre enjoying using them, and theyre helping to create a modal shift, we hope, among Ann Arbor residents and helping to improve the access that we have to our business district, to campus, and to the various other locations in the city. MLive/The Ann Arbor News reporter Ryan Stanton contributed to this report. ANN ARBOR, MI -- More than 50 middle school students spent a weekend volunteering at local organizations in the second Annas Day of Kindness event earlier this month. Named for former Forsythe Middle School student Anna LeFort, who died of pneumonia in 2017, Annas Day of Kindness gives students the opportunity to give back and help those in need. Students boxed clothing donations at the Michigan Foster Care Closet, cleaned out stalls at Starry Skies Equine Rescue and played bingo with residents at Glacier Hills Care and Rehabilitation Center from Thursday, April 4, thought Sunday April 7. Anna was a passionate volunteer, actively involved in helping others, and loved to lift up others through her kindness and compassion," said her mother Fran LeFort, co-founder of Annas Kindness. "We want to provide opportunities to inspire service among middle school students. Since its establishment, the nonprofit Annas Kindness has organized 53 projects involving 483 students who have served an estimated 1,840 people, Fran LeFort said. The first Annas Day of Kindness last year organized more than 40 student volunteers and their families to participate in six service projects in Ann Arbor. Having previously lived in Rapid City, South Dakota, the LeFort family also organizes Annaa Day of Kindness at various service organizations there to broaden their outreach and impact on the community, Fran LeFort said. We are very grateful and were very blessed to have this opportunity to help plant seeds of love and kindness and service towards other, starting with students, she said. Michael LeFort, Fran Leforts husband and Annas father, spends the year reaching out to community organizations, both in Ann Arbor and Rapid City, and building relationships to foster service projects, she said. More about Annas Kindness here. For families and students interested in volunteering, email annaskindness@yahoo.com to join the email list for future opportunities. FLINT, MI-- The remaining $77.7 million in federal funding for water infrastructure improvements has been released to Flint by the state. The funds are from a $120 million federal and state loan granted to Flint in March 2017 by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016. The funds support several Flint water infrastructure projects. While we grateful for this funding its important to understand its not new funding, said Flints Director of Public Works Rob Bincsik. The federal government awarded this funding and is utilizing the MDEQs Drinking Water Revolving Fund as the mechanism to disperse it to the City of Flint. Projects funded through the loan include: completion of a secondary water source pipeline, Dort and Cedar streets reservoir and pump station improvements, construction of a chemical feed building, replacement of the Northwest transmission main, water main and water meter replacement, water quality monitoring panel and contingency service line replacement funding. These projects will help the short and long term sustainability of the water system in the city of Flint, but as stated in the Water Distribution Optimization Plan the water system needs in excess of another $300 million in capital improvements over the next 20 years, Bincsik stated. The remaining funds were released along with a $51.7 million loan to the city of East Lansing and a $10.2 million loan for Monroe County on behalf of Bedford Township for similar water infrastructure projects. FLINT, MI -- A Flint native and former Flint Northern High School teacher has won the Pulitzer Prize in History for his book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, a work thats being described as the definitive, dramatic biography of the most important African American of the nineteenth century. David W. Blight, a professor of American History at Yale University, was announced Monday, April 15, as the winner of the prestigious prize, which was endowed by the late Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the old New York World, and first given in 1917. Pulitzers in journalism and the arts are awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University on recommendation of an advisory board. In this remarkable biography, David Blight has drawn on new information held in a private collection that few other historians have consulted, as well as recently discovered issues of Douglasss newspapers, a posting about the award on the Pulitzers web site says. Blight tells the fascinating story of Douglasss two marriages and his complex extended family. Douglass was not only an astonishing man of words, but a thinker steeped in Biblical story and theology. There has not been a major biography of Douglass in a quarter century. David Blights Frederick Douglass affords this important American the distinguished biography he deserves. Blight said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal that he was born and grew up in Flint, living with his family in a mobile home park on Branch Road near what was the AC Spark Plug plants, where his father worked. His mother worked for the Flint Board of Education, and Blight said he attended Cook and Potter elementary schools, Lowell Junior High School, and Flint Central, graduating in 1967. He received bachelors and masters degrees from Michigan State University and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. Blight said he taught at Flint Northern from 1971 until 1978. All my roots are in Flint, his email says. According to a biography on the Yale web site, Blight is an American history professor who taught previously at Amherst College. In addition to Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, he is the author of a dozen books, including, American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Presenting climate stewardship as a choice between fossil fuels and renewables, or economic stagnation versus global warming, distracts from doable, practical actions The Paris Agreement on climate change might be cynically described as a dead man walking, given the US administration's reticence bordering on open hostility. Some foresee a gloom-and-doom scenario as the inevitable consequence, with economic and social disruptions, caused by violent weather patterns as the new global norm. Just recently, an analysis published in the journal Science reported that temperatures are rising at rates unprecedented in recorded history. The recent Green New Deal proposal led by US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a well-intentioned, but flawed attempt to energize the Paris agreement. However, the prospects for a climate wellness initiative are real and achievable, although admittedly complicated. What is needed is an energy-industry initiative that transcends international boundaries and which can leverage national and regional priorities in the fight against climate change. As a basic premise, it is the net emissions of all greenhouse gases, not just CO2, which drives climate change. Hence, the overriding goal should be the reduction and eventual elimination of net greenhouse gases emissions. Here the key operative words are "net greenhouse gases emissions", a distinction worth highlighting. This opens up numerous greenhouse gases management options, including CO2 capture and storage, utilization, and removal pathways such as afforestation and reforestation. This diverse portfolio enhances the ability of both market forces and new technologies to produce ever green solutions for reducing net greenhouse gases emissions. World energy demand is projected to double in 50 years. The notion of a carbon-free world energy model fueled solely by renewable energy sources is flawed. While renewables are an important part of the solution set for addressing climate change, they are nowhere near capable of replacing what oil and gas offers in support of modern lifestyles. And substantive lifestyle sacrifices, are unlikely at a global scale. There are no silver bullets in the fight against climate change. We need every bullet in our arsenal. Eliminating certain solution pathways, such as nuclear or fossil fuels, a priori, just makes a difficult task much more difficult and expensive. By the same token, if energy suppliers -including of fossil fuels - play an active role, it will only enhance the likelihood of achieving the ultimate goal - to have a positive, substantive impact on the anthropogenic component of the climate change. The potential consequences of climate change are many and varied, including rising sea levels, floods, droughts, wildfires and an increase in vector-borne diseases. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report 5,"continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems". The path forward must be apolitical, science-based, and pragmatic, that is accepting of reasonable yet imperfect compromises among technical, social, and economic factors to achieve substantial net greenhouse gases emission reductions. To present climate stewardship as a choice between fossil fuels and renewables or, for that matter, economic stagnation versus global warming, distracts from doable, practical actions that produce beneficial outcomes for nations and the global community alike. With that in mind, here is a potential framework to reduce net greenhouse gases emissions by 100 percent. Marginal goals will not cut it. Energy providers must lead the way in setting substantive targets and establish net greenhouse gases emission definitions and standards. Market forces, shaped increasingly by public perceptions, both global and regional, will determine future winners among the current energy providers. The role of government will be to ensure an even playing field among all forms of energy, and to formulate policies to incentivize net greenhouse gases emission reductions admittedly governed by their respective national and regional priorities and political realities. What mechanisms work best for China will differ than those for the United States, India or Japan. The point here is that the global green deal, to be successful, must have local passion and support. This may include tax credits, carbon pricing such as cap-and-trade or fee-and-dividend schemes, and R&D programs, so long as these policies are driven at the whole spectrum of solutions. That is, winners must earn their badges and should not be preordained by government policies as advocated by some of the sponsors of the US Green New Deal. The role of the private sector (including energy producers) will be to get the job done. A good starting point will be to dedicate a non-trivial portion of annual revenues toward tangible reductions in net emissions. Interestingly, multinational oil and gas companies, having an existential stake, will be motivated to do so. Climate change accelerated by anthropogenic factors is not a transient or a regional problem, and its solutions will require bold, fresh, and global thinking. The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s culminated in the Apollo 11 moon landing(whose 50th anniversary is on July 20, 2019) is a good reminder of terrific outcomes that benefit all of humankind derived from competition. China and the US account for 28 and 15 percent respectively of the global CO2 footprint at 37 gigatons. The race to slash those levels by half or more is a race worth winning by the globe's two pre-eminent industrial leaders. As Confucius noted, "when it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps". The time for action for a Global Green Deal is now. Nansen G. Saleri is chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Quantum Reservoir Impact, a leading advisory and advanced analytics firm in upstream. Christine Ehlig-Economides is the first-ever William C. Miller endowed chair professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston. Howard J. Herzog is a senior research engineer in the MIT Energy Initiative in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily. (China Daily 04/16/2019 page13) FLINT, MI - Two companies that have worked on Flints massive lead pipe replacement project are engaged in an ongoing dispute headed to trial next month, records show. A non-jury trial is scheduled in a lawsuit involving two firms - WT Stevens and Michigan Monk Inc. - for May 29 in Genesee County Circuit Court, records show. WT Stevens, which Flint contracted for $22.2 million to replace service lines between 2016 and 2019, is suing Michigan Monk Inc. for defamation. WT Stevens is a Flint construction company and Michigan Monk Inc. is a company specializing in site utilities, mass evacuations and water-main and service line replacements. Both are minority-owned businesses. The lawsuit, filed more than a year ago, claims representatives of Monk Inc. called city hall stating WT Stevens is unethical, does not pay its subcontractors, does not pay its bills on time and allows its employees to sell drugs on company time," according to court records. The suit did not elaborate about the alleged drug dealing. Attorneys for both the plaintiff and defendant could not be reached for comment. Michigan Monk Inc., however, denied the allegations in paperwork filed in response to the lawsuit, records show. In 2017, WT Stevens hired Michigan Monk as a sub-contractor to help acquire a $10.9 million service line replacement contract with the city of Flint, according to Ellis Monk of Michigan Monk Inc. Michigan Monk was supposed to get 2 percent of the contract for consulting services, but the company claims it was never paid, records show. Michigan Monk is pursuing legal avenues to receive the payment the company feels it deserves, according to the lawsuit. Rhonda Grayer, owner of WT Stevens, confirmed Monk consulted for WT Stevens in 2016, but not in 2017. Grayer did not want to provide further comment because the lawsuit is ongoing. Monk told The Flint Journal-MLive that he was asked to come to Flint first by subcontractor Veo Luster, Flint City Councilman Eric Mays and eventually Mayor Karen Weaver. Councilman Mays denied Monks comment. (Weaver) wanted to get a black company to get some of the work in there," said Monk, who is black. "They had no black companies in there that did this work, so they basically drafted me to come in there with my expertise and my experience to help a black company get a contract. While black-owned, WT Stevens did not have the experience with the kind of work Flint was looking to perform, Monk said. As a consultant, Monk said he provided WT Stevens with the credentials and experience needed to get the service line contracts. On April 28, 2017, Monk was notified his consulting services were no longer needed, but that his company would be used for its equipment and would be hiring Monk as an employee," records indicate. Monk said he stopped working for WT Stevens on Dec. 8, 2017 after not being paid. (WT Steven) was doing some little jobs around, wrecking and that kind of stuff, but they had no pipeline experience to that degree, Monk said. "By me having 45 years of experience in that thing, (the company) put my credentials in, plus my people that I brought to the table with them, to help get the contract. In July of that year, WT Stevens claims Monk said he was going to ensure that plaintiffs (WT Stevens) received no further contracts from the city of Flint." The suit claims Monk contacted other WT Stevens subcontractors - Gustafson HDD, Link Contracting Group, Kenny Hill and Max Isner - as well as the city officials, and told them they should not do business with plaintiffs (WT Stevens)," according to the lawsuit. The comments Monk is alleged to have made also lowered WT Stevens esteem in the community, according to the lawsuit. WT Stevens claimed the allegations have harmed WT Stevens reputation by accusing them of selling drugs and engaging in criminal activity. The civil suit lists counts of defamation, injurious falsehood, tortious interference with contractual relations and tortious interference with business expectations. It seeks injunctive relief as well as $25,000 or more for costs, incidental and consequential damages. Monk responded to the allegations in Genesee Circuit Court, denying all counts on April 15, 2018. A pretrial hearing took place on May 22, 2018 and a case evaluation was rejected by both parties on Feb. 22, records show. GRAND RAPIDS, MI The 24-year-old man who was punched 29 times in his left leg by a Grand Rapids police officer told officers he thought his leg was broken while he sat in the back of a patrol vehicle. My leg feels like its broken, Bronquel Brown, 24, told police after he was forcibly arrested March 17 for failure to obey commands from a police officer and not having a valid drivers license in his possession during a traffic stop for speeding on Grand Rapids Northwest Side. Someone stepped on my leg. My leg is broke. Interim Grand Rapids Police Chief David Kiddle said the driver did not report any injuries to police. A spokesperson for the department said Kiddle stood by his comments and declined to be interviewed Tuesday, April 16. MLive/The Grand Rapids Press obtained the body-cam footage from the arrest Tuesday via a Freedom of Information Act request. Previously, a cellphone video had been available to the public. The acting chief placed the officer on paid administrative leave a day after the incident. As of Tuesday, the officer remained on leave while the departments Internal Affairs Unit investigates to determine if his use of force was excessive. Police have declined to identify the officer who is on administrative leave. On March 18, Kiddle said footage of the incident would be released to the public once it could be fully redacted. A department spokesperson told MLive last week the video would not be released to the public unless it was paid for through a Freedom of Information Act request. MLive/The Grand Rapids Press paid for and obtained body-worn camera and in-car dash camera footage of the arrest on Tuesday, April 16. Grand Rapids Police released the video on its Facebook page soon after MLive paid the fee. The incident began around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17, when police stopped Browns vehicle for an alleged speeding violation. Brown pulled into the driveway of his mothers house, with his young child in the backseat of the vehicle. Brown didnt provide his full name to the officer upon request, and said he didnt have his drivers license on him because he was driving his girlfriends vehicle. An officer told Brown he was under arrest for not providing a valid license. Brown continuously failed to comply with repeated commands to step out of his vehicle, and instead began sounding his vehicles horn while looking to his mothers house. I knew I had a warrant (out of Walker), Brown later told police. I just wanted to make sure my son got up in the house with my mama. After threatening to do so, the officer broke Browns window and sprayed him with pepper spray. The officer forced the door open and pulled him out of the vehicle. A second officer used a Taser on Brown twice, and a third officer kicked Brown out of the vehicle from the passenger side, and came around the car to help detain him. One of the assisting officers punched Brown 29 times in the left leg while he was being detained. The punches, and his use of profanity, were what Kiddle said concerned him about the incident. After reviewing the videos and reading the reports, I have strong concerns over the actions of an assisting officer on scene, Kiddle said. "I do not doubt that the driver needed to be arrested and it is clear he would not willingly be taken into custody. But to that end, it appears that one officer was quick to escalate the situation beyond the point that was necessary to effect the arrest and gain compliance. Brown was handcuffed, helped to his feet, and brought to a police car to be searched. He told police I got seizures, to which the officers told him to calm down. Regardless of the individuals behavior or language, we have standards of professional conduct, which clearly were not upheld during this incident," Kiddle said. "I will not, nor will any member here at GRPD, accept or tolerate force used beyond what is necessary to safely make an arrest. The 24-year-old driver was charged with resisting, obstructing and assaulting a police officer and driving with a suspended license. Hes due back in court May 22 for a preliminary hearing on the first charge, and a settlement conference for the latter. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services opened its doors to a new Psychiatric Urgent Care Center on April 15. On its first day, 13 patients made use of the new urgent care center, which is designed to provide same-day assessment and treatment for people experiencing acute psychiatric symptoms who cannot wait for routine outpatient help. According to Pine Rest, there are no dedicated psychiatric urgent care services in West Michigan, forcing many patients into emergency departments. Normally, if patients would call Pine Rest to seek assistance, there would be a month-long wait because there isnt enough staff or therapists to go around for everyone, said Harmony Gould, a corporate director at Pine Rest. The pressure was on for emergency departments to board psychiatric patients before they could be assessed and referred to an appropriate facility or provider for treatment, according to a news release from Pine Rest. That would delay treatment and increase cost. There isnt really a service like this in this area," Gould said. "Our goal is to meet that community need because not everyone has access to it. In 2016, Grand Rapids area hospitals had 14,623 behavioral health visits to their emergency departments, according to the release. The Psychiatric Urgent Care Center is expected to significantly reduce wait times for psychiatric assessments and will provide much-needed clinical services in a safe and calm environment for those experiencing acute psychiatric distress, Pine Rest officials said. This center is part of our longstanding commitment to deliver services that meet the changing needs of our community, said Pine Rest President and CEO, Mark Eastburg, Ph.D. In the last five years, Pine Rest has been very focused on improving access to behavioral healthcare and providing a wide range of alternatives to hospitalization. Initially, the center will serve adults ages 18 to 65. Psychiatric symptoms assessed and treated include: Depression Anxiety Panic Attacks Disturbing thoughts Suicidal thoughts Acute grief reactions Trouble managing daily activities Substance use disorders The center is currently utilizing space in the Contact Center on the Pine Rest Cutlerville Campus, 300 68th St. SE. It will be open for assessments seven days a week. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Most commercial insurance, Medicare and Medicaid health plans cover the centers services. People with Medicaid coverage should call ahead because some plans require authorization for services. The Psychiatric Urgent Care Center is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team trained to provide psychiatric assessments. The organization anticipates serving an average of 40 people per day. The pilot program will serve adults 18 years and older and may expand to other age groups in the future. Pine Rest will use outcomes and data from this pilot to assess the feasibility of expanding services to children, adolescents and seniors. Weve had a few people already say that theyre so glad that we are doing this and weve received positive feedback thus far, said Gould. In the early stages we are trying to get things right and see what works and what doesnt work. My hope is we do expand in the future. For more information or to make an appointment, call the Psychiatric Urgent Care Center at 616-455-9200. Walk-ins are welcome as well. For more information about the center, go to www.pinerest.org/urgent. HOLLAND, MI -- A 61-year-old man broke into his ex-girlfriends Holland home early Tuesday morning and stabbed her to death, police say. Police arrested the man around 9:50 a.m. Tuesday, April 16, after a nearly eight-hour search. Investigators say he was hiding out in a storage facility on the south side of Holland. He is currently held on a charge of open murder and has not yet been arraigned. Holland Department of Public Safety officers responded to the womans home in the 500 block of W 24th Street around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday after receiving reports her ex-boyfriend broke in and stabbed her. At the home, police found a broken-out sliding glass door and the woman suffering from multiple stab wounds, according to the department. The 61-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not disclosed her identity. Detectives and officers, with the help of police dogs, spent hours tracking the man, interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence and investigating leads. Ottawa County Sheriffs Office deputies initially assisted the department. Around 9:50 a.m., officers arrested the man without incident. Anyone with information pertaining to the investigation is asked to call the Holland Department of Public Safety at 616-355-1150, or email investigators at policetips@cityofholland.com. Those wishing to make a tip anonymously can do so by contacting Silent Observer at 1-877-887-4536, texting OCMTIP at 274637, submitting a tip online at www.mosotips.com. KALAMAZOO, MI Kalamazoo City Commissioner Shannon Sykes Nehring said her final meeting as a commissioner will likely be next month, announcing her plans to step down from her role on the city commission early. She made the announcement at the Monday, April 15, Kalamazoo City Commission meeting, and said it is because she and her husband are preparing to close on a new house this week. She pointed to issues the city commission tackled during her time there as important ones for the city, such as working with a group of homeless residents who set up a camp at Bronson Park, and the way the city views immigration enforcement in Kalamazoo. She said her role on the commission is not the best way to get things done, but she is dedicated to carrying on to draw attention to the issues she has fought for as a commissioner. I am not running for higher office, she said, aiming to curb any rumors. She said the May 20 meeting will likely be her final meeting as a commissioner. She originally planned to serve through to November and planned not to seek re-election, she said, but the expected closing on a new home that is located outside the city means it looks like I will be taken off a little sooner than I originally planned." She thanked the citizens and commissioners for working with her and called her time on the commission a wild ride. She was elected to a four-year term to the commission in 2015. She is looking forward to setting up a new homestead, but will miss serving as a commissioner, she said. She said she will continue to be an activist and fight for what she believes. The backlash for fighting for what you believe in can be intense, she said, reflecting on her time as a commissioner. Commissioners thanked her for her service. Commissioner Don Cooney thanked Sykes for always being on the side of those who are disadvantaged and oppressed. KALAMAZOO, MI Police officers were justified in using deadly force during a fatal shootout with a gunman in Kalamazoo, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutors Office has announced. Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting announced the findings during a news conference on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 16, at his office at 227 W. Michigan Avenue in Kalamazoo. No charges will be filed related to the incident, Getting said. Brandon Stacey, 31, was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officers on Tuesday, March 12. A Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer was also shot Tuesday, March 12, after he and another officer responded to the Biomat USA donor center in downtown Kalamazoo for a report of a shooting and exchanged gunfire with Stacey. Stacey was a former on-call firefighter in Parchment from June 26, 2013, until Aug. 7, 2017, according to Parchment City Manager Nancy Stoddard. Stacey also worked at Life EMS Ambulance from February 2016 until he resigned in August 2017, according to a statement made on behalf of the company by public relations firm Seyferth PR. The gunman fired a single shot in the building and told people inside to call 911, Getting said. Officer Brendan Westrick, who was off duty at the time, and officer Emily Weston were the two KDPS officers who responded to the call and were first on scene, Getting said. After Westrick ordered Stacey to drop his gun and Stacey did not comply and raised his gun at the officer, Stacey and Westrick exchanged gunfire, Getting said. Westrick was struck three times, twice in the abdomen with bullets that hit his bulletproof vest, and a third bullet hit his empty gun holster. Weston saw Westrick go down and again ordered Stacey to drop the weapon. When the gunman did not comply, Weston engaged by shooting at the suspect. A total of 27 rounds were fired during the shootout with police, Getting said. Stacey shot four times at the two KDPS officers, while one officer shot 10 rounds, and the other officer fired 13 rounds. Getting did not release details of how many shots each officer fired that struck Stacey. Stacey was carrying a 9 millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun, Getting said. A family member of Stacey had been holding the gun, Getting said, and Stacey went over on the day of the shooting to retrieve the gun, saying he was going target shooting. The officers had reason to believe they and others were in immediate danger of serious injury and death and their actions were necessary to protect people from the threat, Getting said. The two officers acted without hesitation to protect everyone there, Getting said. Those officers exhibited incredible bravery, he said. More than a dozen law enforcement officials attended the announcement Tuesday. Getting extended condolences on behalf of law enforcement to members of Staceys family. He expressed admiration for the employees of the business where the shooting occurred. He played video clips showing portions of the incident. MUSKEGON, MI Muskegon resident Don Steigman has learned some of lifes most important lessons zig-zagging through city streets and half-pipes on an old skate board. And as the city of Muskegon begins to lay the groundwork to build a new skate park, Steigman hopes the would-be skaters paradise can help area kids forge their own life lessons, bruises and scrapes undoubtedly included. City officials have moved $2,000 from its Community Foundation for Muskegon County parks endowment to pay to survey property in the Nelson Neighborhood to construct a new skate park. The plan is to survey a property bordered by Ninth Street, Muskegon Avenue, Shoreline Drive and Webster Avenue, said Leighann Mikesell, Muskegons director of municipal services. Mikesell said the city needs about 15,000 square feet and likely would hire a company specializing in skate park construction to complete the job. However, the city would need to raise at least $500,000 to do so, which Mikesell said is imperative before the city seriously considers the project. There also are some land-use concerns, as one of the easements is owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation, which means the city would have to petition MDOT to push them back. But surveying the Ninth Street property is a step in the right direction. This map shows the proposed location for a new downtown Muskegon skate park, bordered by Shoreline Drive, Webster Avenue, Ninth Street and Muskegon Avenue.Courtesy of Google.com We want to be sure we have a property that will work before we start (designing) Mikesell said. Were working on how to approach (the design process) now. If the proposed site is unusable, the city has another property across the street in mind. The city dismantled its skateboard trick zone at Seyferth Park in June 2016 because the park fell into disrepair. Over the past few years, a few interested residents donated money to the project, and the city made an investment of $10,000 that is currently sitting in a project fund at the Community Foundation of Muskegon County. The Muskegon City Commission voted in February 2018 to move that investment and associated funds into an endowment focused on improvements at city-owned parks. Commissioners voted unanimously to create the endowment and transfer the $10,000 on Feb. 13, 2018. The commission on April 9 of this year approved the $2,000 withdrawal for surveying work. Mikesell, Commissioner Ken Johnson and one other city official met last week with Steigman to help consult on the project. Steigman, 43, is an avid skater who received his first skateboard when he was 5 years old. To this day, he has an armada of boards and skates regularly with his children, Steigman said. Hes also one of several people behind a recent push to encourage the city to either rebuild the Seyferth Park skate park or find a new location for a replacement park. Steigman said his conversations thus far have been about finalizing the site and fundraising, which he believes wont be too difficult. An online community survey asked residents to rank new amenities theyd like to see downtown. About 700 responses ranked a skate park as a top priority. This might be a road we might have to walk down for a while, but its a goal we can achieve, Steigman said. Theres going to be a lot of people who come out who have nothing to do with skateboarding and dont know skateboarding. But its fun to watch and its fun to be a part of, and I think there will be a lot of interest in this project. For Steigman, building a skate park downtown could help create a home for older, wayward skaters to shred the concrete, or disaffected local kids pining for a sense of belonging. Since the demise of the Seyferth Park skate park, Muskegon kids and adults have had to either ride in public spaces not designated for skating or at the nearby Grand Haven Skate Park, 16 Sherman Ave. Seyferth Park used to be a big hit, Steigman said. Skate parks in general end up being a home, or a community or sometimes even a church for the kid. So, a lot of people were hurt by (Seyferth going away), and a lot of community effort went into building it and funding it for community gain. The skate park was installed in 1999 and funded with a combination of city funds, private donations, fundraisers and grants from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County and Fun Inc., an organization that ran festivals. A committee of teens helped design the park and collected money for it, including by hosting a taco dinner and benefit concert. An estimated 300 young people gathered at the park in the days after the skate park first opened. Theres also the issue of safety, as grinding rails in public courtyards adds another a layer of danger in an already not-so-safe sport. If the city decides to move forward, Steigman said he hopes the new park will have something low maintenance and low cost but with enough flat concrete and bowls to make the ride interesting. It has to have a flow, Steigman said. And it has to be something that will last a long time. SAGINAW, MI A Reese man accused of defrauding fuel oil customers in a scheme that first came to light in 2013 has accepted a plea deal. Barry M. Marlow, 58, on April 9 appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello and, acting as a representative of Miles Petroleum Inc., pleaded no contest to one count of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony. As an individual, Marlow pleaded no contest to three counts of larceny by conversion less than $200, a misdemeanor. In exchange for his pleas, the Michigan Attorney Generals Office agreed to dismiss 13 counts of obtaining money by false pretense more than $1,000. By pleading no contest, Marlow did not verbally admit that he or the Miles Petroleum corporation committed any crimes, but Borrello will treat him as guilty for sentencing purposes. Marlow previously owned and operated, and served as the president and treasurer, of Miles Petroleum Inc., which closed in September 2013 after the Attorney General's Office received 51 complaints from the public. From March 2013 to June 2013, Marlow contracted with more than 100 customers to pre-buy and deliver more than $400,000 in fuel oil through his company's price protection and budget plans, prosecutors allege. Marlow executed these contracts with residential customers, farmers, and farm business operations, which concerned the 2013-2014 farming and heating seasons. In the contracts, Marlow specified the price and amount of fuel oil for subsequent delivery during that period. His customers then paid him and Miles Petroleum accordingly and anticipated delivery of their pre-bought fuel oil as promised. Marlow, however, didnt contract with any supplier to buy or deliver fuel oil as he promised, the Attorney Generals office alleged. Marlow pocketed the customers money and put it to his own use, prosecutors alleged. Not one of his residential customers received any fuel oil, and the farm operators/operations received but fractions of the fuel oil promised them, then-Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a previous statement. In late August 2013, Miles Petroleum was refused further access to fuel oil for purchase or delivery from Crystal Flash Energy, its principal supplier, due to substantial, long-term unpaid debt obligations owed to them exceeding $1 million. Marlow abruptly shuttered his business on Sept. 4, 2013, and mailed letters to his customers informing them he was ceasing operations. He continued drawing a salary until filing for bankruptcy on Dec. 3, 2013, prosecutors said. Weeks after Marlow closed his business, the Attorney Generals Office charged him with four counts of underground storage tank violation. In January 2014, Marlow pleaded guilty to two of the counts in exchange for the remainders dismissal. Marlows sentencing date in the latest case is pending. SAGINAW, MI Prosecutors expect police to submit an investigation for review this week of a Saginaw Correctional Facility inmate accused of killing his cellmate. Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner said Tuesday, April 16, that Michigan State Police detectives are likely to turn over their reports to prosecutors on Wednesday. Prosecutors are then to review the material and decide what charges to issue in the killing of Michael E. Anastasio. Anastasio, 44, had been incarcerated at the Freeland-area prison when authorities allege his 20-year-old cellmate killed him the afternoon of April 8. Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Chris Gautz previously said corrections officers had arrived in the duos cell to find Anastasio unresponsive but still alive. Anastasio was transported to an area hospital, where staff pronounced him deceased. Autopsy results indicate he died of blunt force trauma, Gautz has said. Anastasios cellmate was transported to another prison across the state. The suspects name is being withheld pending possible arraignment. Anastasio had been in the Freeland-area prison since Dec. 13. He has at least 12 felony convictions and has served time for armed robbery, home invasion, larceny, possession of contraband in prison, unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle, third-degree fleeing police, cocaine possession, assault with intent to rob while armed, and possessing a short-barreled shotgun, Gautz has said. Anastasio was most recently sentenced to prison in 2018 for crimes in Macomb and Wayne counties. The suspect on Feb. 13 was sentenced to 22 to 44 years in prison for two convictions of armed robbery and one of felony firearm. Those crimes were committed in Kent County, Gautz has said. CARROLLTON TWP, MI A special-needs teen is barred from attending prom with his girlfriend because of the school he attends. Phyllis Alexander said that officials from Carrollton Public Schools are denying her son because he is enrolled in the Covenant Academy, a new charter school in the city of Saginaw that caters to dropout students ages 16-22. It also provides special education for students up to age 26. First they said it was because he didnt have a high school diploma and now they say it is because he is in an alternative school, Alexander said. Carrollton district officials stand by their decision, according to Interim Superintendent Rachel Snell. The handbook policy states that if a student is enrolled in an alternative school outside of our district they are not allowed to attend the prom as a guest, Snell said. Carrollton has an alternative school, Omni High School, within the district and those students are allowed to attend prom as guests, Snell said. We follow policy, Snell said. Snell did not comment on how or why the policy was in place. Alexander met with Carrollton officials and argues that Covenant Academy is a high school that offers a diploma and is not an alternative school. The school is chartered through Grand Valley State University. Her son, Jomar Washington, 19, graduated with his Arthur Hill High School classmates last year and received a Certificate of Career Pathways instead of a diploma. The certification replaced the Certificate of Completion offered last year to students with learning complications. Washington was a cognitively-impaired student at the time. He wanted to obtain an actual diploma so he enrolled in Covenant Academy when it opened in November, Alexander said. When Washington applied to accompany his girlfriend, who attends Carrollton Schools, to her senior prom last week, he was denied. Local districts create their own policies for prom, according to Saginaw Intermediate School District Superintendent Kathie Stewart. The policy in neighboring Saginaw Public School District does not bar alternative school students, however, guests outside of the district hoping to attend prom must not be older than 20 years old and pass a background check. In Bay Citys school district, the policy mirrors Saginaw schools and also allows students who attend alternative schools outside the district to attend its proms. You can be home-schooled or attend an alternative school here, said Bay City School Districts Superintendent Stephen Bigelow. Alexander said her son met his girlfriend through the Saginaw Intermediate School District Transition Center, where they both attended classes, and she went to her sons prom last year with no issue. I understand about alternative schools and that some students could be problem students, but he graduated from high school, Alexander said. My son just wants to go to the prom with his girlfriend. Snell said that if Washington was a traditional high school student, policy wouldve allowed her to approach the issue differently. Alexander hopes that officials will change their minds and allow her son to attend Carrolltons prom, which takes place on May 3. LANSING, MI -- Michigan women and doctors will not be prosecuted for obtaining or providing an abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, Attorney General Dana Nessel said Tuesday. At an annual Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan summit at Lansing Center, Nessel said the landmark 1973 decision is likely to be overturned thanks to the confirmation of Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Michigan never repealed a 173-year-old law banning abortion, which means abortion would become a felony if the ruling is overturned. I will never prosecute a woman, or her doctor, for making the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy, the Democratic attorney general said. The law, modernized in 1931, makes it a felony to administer an abortion unless to protect the life of the mother. If the woman dies during the abortion, the doctor who performed it could be convicted of manslaughter. Nessel acknowledged people will question whether the attorney general can choose to not enforce state laws, but said her predecessor Bill Schuette made the same choice to not enforce environmental regulations. I think I can go four or maybe eight years without sending women to be butchered in back alleys," Nessel said. The GOP-led Michigan Legislature could repeal the existing state law for abortion to remain legal, but Nessel didnt hold out much hope for that option. She encouraged a crowd of activists, educators and state elected officials to fill the state House and Senate, Congress and the White House with pro-choice policymakers. If we can not and will not commit to make reproductive freedoms a priority in 2020 then we most certainly will lose them for the remainder of all of our lives and for those of future generations as well, Nessel said. Now that conservatives have a majority on the Supreme Court, Nessel said, Roe v. Wades days are numbered. When you realistically ask what the future will look like, from a jurisprudence standpoint, the honest answer is not so great, Nessel said. Nessel celebrated hiring more women in her office after being elected last year and withdrawing the state from several high-profile abortion cases, as well as other national cases regarding job discrimination based on sexual orientation and the separation of church and state. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addressed the mostly-female crowd next, saying she would veto bills outlawing abortions early in pregnancy, specifically naming a law recently passed in Ohio. Last week, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill making abortions illegal after at the first signs of a fetal heartbeat. Youve got a powerful backstop in my office, Whitmer said. Whitmer said she would not have been elected without the support of Planned Parenthood advocates. Attendees held signs reading Planned Parenthood stands with Whitmer greeted the governor as she entered the room. Whitmer celebrated Michigans support for Democrats in 2018 midterm elections, but cautioned Democrats not to rest on their laurels. She encouraged voters to keep the momentum going for 2020 elections. Whitmer and Nessel are part of an amazing badass triumvirate of women protecting the state of Michigan, said Planned Parenthood Michigan President Lori Carpentier. The West Michigan Whitecaps played Monday evening thanks to a big win by the groundscrew after five inches of snow fell at Fifth Third Ballpark. The Class-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers showed off its shoveling skills as heads groundskeeper Mitch Hooten and staff went to work Sunday night as the snow fell and then got back at it Monday morning. Aided by temperatures that climbed to near 50 degrees, most of the snow was gone by 1:30 p.m. "What a difference 4 hours and a killer grounds crew can make! the team posted on its Facebook page. Here is what it looked about about an hour into the removal Monday: This is about an hour after they started clearing the snow Monday. We got all the snow off the tarp and Mother Nature did her thing on the outfield - it was like watching a time-lapse in real time," said Jim Jarecki, Whitecaps vice president. The crew moved the tarp to the outfield to help the heating process before airing it out a couple hours before game time. By 6:30 p.m., the Whitecaps were ready for the first pitch against Lansing. How April baseball happens in West Michigan. #WCaps #AHootForTheGroundsCrew Posted by West Michigan Whitecaps on Monday, April 15, 2019 Ive learned you cant relax until after April 15, Jarecki said. Sure enough, April 15." While the Whitecaps lost, 6-2, they will get two more cracks at home against the Lugnuts - at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday and noon on Wednesday. Western British hunter-gatherers were not the forebearers of those that built arguably Britains most iconic prehistoric monument, Stonehenge, according to new research Researchers from the University College London say the ancestors of Stonehenges creators, which is as British as fish and chips, were in fact immigrants who traveled across the Mediterranean to Britain around 6,000 years ago. They compared DNA from Neolithic human remains found in Britain, with people alive at the same time in Europe. Details published in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal say that Neolithic inhabitants ostensibly traveled from Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal), before heading north and landing in Britain in 4,000BC. Located in Wiltshire, England, Stonehenge is thought to be a prehistoric temple aligned with the movement of the Sun. It has become a popular destination for pagan-style celebrations and is often graced with revelers dressed in druid robes and flower garlands for key occasions. 6,000BC was a time of mass migration out of Anatolia, which saw farming introduced to Europe, with Britain reaping the benefits. One group of early farmers traveled along the river Danube into Central Europe, while another moved west across the Mediterranean. DNA analyzed by researchers indicates that Neolithic Britons were mainly descended from those that took the Mediterranean route. DNA of early British farmers was found to most closely resemble Neolithic people from Iberia. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media wont tell you. The odds of an oil price spike this year are much higher than the prevailing consensus in the market, according to a new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The oil market has been tightening rapidly this year, due to OPEC+ cuts taking supply off of the market, outages in Iran and Venezuela, and a slowdown in US shale. But forthcoming regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) could provide an additional jolt, particularly as global inventories decline against the backdrop of a tightening market. Now, with distillate inventories at the low end of the range, we see an analogy to 2007/08 when the world run out of diesel refining capacity, Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note on April 12. Also on rt.com Russia replaces Venezuelan crude on European markets Back then, as Saudi Arabia lifted heavy crude production to meet rising global demand for distillates, diesel-to-bunker fuel spreads blew out and so did light-heavy crude spreads. A similar situation could develop over the coming months as ship owners temporarily up their distillate burn to transition out of high sulphur into ultra low sulpur bunker fuel due to the new IMO2020 rules. There are important differences between today and the price spike of 2008, Bank of America notes, including greater spare capacity in 2019, an additional 1.1 million barrels per day (mb/d) of refining capacity set to come online, and the expectation that US shale could quickly add supply in the event of higher oil prices. Still, unlike the gradual tightening in diesel markets of 2007/08, the world faces a major one-off jump in distillate demand, Bank of America argues, referring to worldwide regulations on marine fuels set to take effect at the start of 2020. Read more on Oilprice.com: The tipping point in Trumps quest for energy dominance The rules lower the limit of sulfur concentration in marine fuels from 3.5 percent to just 0.5 percent, which will force shipowners to switch away from heavy fuel oils. Instead, the alternatives include scrubbing technology and a greater use of low-sulfur fuels, including distillates. Bank of America says that the regulations could push up distillate demand by 1.1 mb/d year-on-year, which comes on top of the 0.5 mb/d annual trend growth rate, and also on top of the cyclical high during winter. Higher distillate demand could push up crude oil prices as refiners race to turn crude into distillates. About 60 percent of the average crude barrel can be turned into distillate with the right refining toolkit. But that figure drops below 50 percent for heavy oil, potentially curbing supply, Bank of America wrote. Also on rt.com Venezuela wants to sell gold reserves to shore up economy devastated by US sanctions reports The bottom line is that there is a chance that oil prices rise much higher this year. In our view, the risk of a Brent crude oil price spike is significantly higher than options markets suggest, Bank of America warned. There are plenty of factors that could head off a price spike, including higher US shale production, an economic slowdown, a decision by OPEC+ to abandon the cuts, a decision by the US to extend waivers on Iran sanctions, or a release of oil from the US strategic petroleum reserve, just to name a few. However, as shippers transition to IMO2020, a cyclical upturn led by trade combined with a cold winter could result in the largest ever surge in distillate demand. If we add a weaker dollar to the mix, we have all the ingredients for a spike in crude oil prices, Bank of America said. Read more on Oilprice.com: Trumps new ambassador scrambles to salvage relationship with Riyadh The investment bank was skeptical that US shale could fill the gap, at least in the short run. Capital discipline has already led to a slowdown, and the industry could need higher prices for longer-dated futures in order to really incentivize new drilling. In any event, it will also take time for the industry to respond, which means that rising oil prices today will only begin to affect oil production in 4Q19 and 2020, the bank noted. As such, while US shale could add new supply and keep global oil prices in check, it may arrive a little late to avoid a price spike. Bank of America said that the Brent options market only implies a two-percent chance that Brent spikes to $100 per barrel. The bank says everyone might be underestimating these odds. The massive surge in distillate demand later this year could potentially push oil prices above $100 per barrel, the bank concluded. This article was originally published on Oilprice.com Erdogans AK Party submits appeal for annulment, rerun of elections in Istanbul Erdogans AK Party submits appeal for annulment, rerun of elections in Istanbul Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans AK Party (AKP) has submitted its appeal for the annulment and rerun of municipal elections in Istanbul, broadcaster CNN Turk said on Tuesday. The move comes more than two weeks after the vote. Initial results showed the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) narrowly won control of Turkeys biggest city in the elections, seemingly ending 25 years of control of a key power center by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors, Reuters said. AKP Deputy Chairman Ali Ihsan Yavuz submitted the extraordinary appeal for the annulment and renewal of the elections to Turkeys High Election Board (YSK) with three suitcases full of documents, according to the report.Source : RT - Daily news A German government plane crash-landed in Berlin on Tuesday, blocking the runway and causing airport delays as a growing list of technical faults plagues the official fleet. The Luftwaffes Global 5000 jet reportedly experienced technical issues shortly after take off on Tuesday and had a traumatic landing at Berlins Schoenefeld airport. While no politicians were aboard, the crew was sent to hospital for unspecified injuries. A spokesman for the German Air Force told AFP that the plane experienced a malfunction and after it turned back the jet touched the ground with both wings and a controlled landing was no longer possible. The incident is the latest embarrassing aviation incident for the German government which has seen its planes grounded six times in four months. Merkels delayed arrival Last November, Merkel missed the opening ceremony of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, when the Konrad Adenauer Airbus A340, flying her from Berlin, experienced electrical problems and was forced to divert to Cologne. The chancellor instead flew to the summit the following day on a commercial flight. Also on rt.com Merkels plane breaks down, makes emergency landing on way to G20 summit Maas misfortunes The Konrad Adenauer was given an overhaul following the embarrassing incident but on its first fresh outing at the beginning of this month, it blew a tire while landing in New York with Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on board. It meant Mass missed several appointments with the UN. And that wasnt it for the ministers aviation woes as just weeks later Mass was left stranded in Mali due to a hydraulic problem with an Airbus A319s landing gear. A trio of tired travelers In January, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was stuck in Ethiopia thanks to more plane issues something that he has experienced an unbelievable three times in three months. Also on rt.com German president stranded in Ethiopia as plane breaks down again Development Minister Gerd Mueller had to cancel a trip to Namibia at the start of the year because of problems with his plane. Mueller, clearly put out by the inconvenience, went on to say the incidents were damaging Germanys reputation as a high-tech nation and ruining the Made in Germany brand. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz recently had to stop to refuel in Iceland, while on a trip to the US, because the Konrad Adenauer was once again undergoing repairs and he had to travel aboard a substitute smaller plane which is not equipped for long distance journeys. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! A Ukrainian political commentator drew the ire of the French ambassador in Kiev after joking that Mondays devastating fire at Notre Dame might be linked to the visit of the frontrunner in the Ukrainian presidential election. A staunch supporter of the incumbent Ukrainian president and frequent guest on president-friendly political talk shows in Ukraine seemed to cross the line when he tried to score a few political points for his patron amid the Notre Dame Cathedral fire. On Monday, while the world was watching the huge blaze destroy the iconic gothic cathedral in Paris, Taras Berezovets found some tongue-in-cheek words of encouragement for French President Emmanuel Macron: Well, Macron is lucky that after Zelenskys visit, only Notre Dame de Paris burned down. Elysee Palace could have caught fire too, he tweeted in Russian. The tweet remained for about a day before being taken down by Berezovets. Zelensky is a comedian-turned-politician who is slated to become the next president of Ukraine, much to the chagrin of the current leader, Petro Poroshenko. Like many other pundits, Berezovets has been busy these last two weeks, desperately trying to undermine Zelensky. The tactless joke drew the ire of Isabelle Dumont, Frances ambassador in Kiev, who retweeted it with a response in Russian: How dare you! Shame. She also tagged the Ukrainian foreign minister and the ministrys official Twitter account. The minister, Pavlo Klimkin, did find time to express his condolences to the French people over the damage done to the historic church, but is yet to respond to Dumont. However, one foreign ministry did react to the French ambassadors tweet Russias. Why are you surprised? Its your school, the @MID_RF account responded, posting a cartoon published by French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo after a plane crash killed most members of a Russian military choir in 2016. Ironically, Berezovets seems to have endorsed this assessment. After deleting the tweet, he posted an explanation on Facebook, citing Charlie Hebdos work in his defense. How is my right to free expression different from those of my French colleagues? he asked before seizing the opportunity to attack Zelensky again over jokes he made as a comedian and accusing him of unleashing a troll factory to hound him for the tweet. If you like this story, share it with a friend! The Notre Dame rebuilding effort will require plenty of money, so fundraising is gearing up in France as well as internationally to support it with hard cash. Russians will have a chance to join these efforts. Russias Culture Ministry said it will be organizing a Notre Dame fundraiser with national museums and caring citizens, who wish to help France restore the cathedral after its fiery destruction. Offering a helping hand to those who find themselves in difficult circumstances is in our genes, Vladislav Kononov, a ministry official heading its museums department, told Interfax. A calamity happened in France, a serious tragedy, and aiding in rebuilding this unique church is the right thing to do. Also on rt.com Its a bit of a miracle: Delight as Notre Dames iconic rose windows survive blaze (PHOTO) The French Embassy in Moscow also said it will soon provide details for people wishing to contribute on its website. People have been showing up at the embassy with flowers, and some left cash, a spokesperson for the embassy told the news agency Moskva. We want to turn it into a more centralized campaign. President Vladimir Putin offered to help France with knowledge and skills of Russian art restoration experts, should Paris accept them. Meanwhile, fundraising in France kicked into high gear on Tuesday. Luxury goods and art mogul Francois-Henri Pinault, who is also the husband of actress Salma Hayek, said his family will donate 100 million euros. Oil giant Total offered an equal sum. The Arnault family, which owns top fashion brands Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Celine through its business LVMH Group, said twice as much will be donated by it and its company. Several national governments said they would offer grants to help. An international donor conference is currently in the making. Like this story? Share it with a friend! NATO has made the embarrassing admission that one of their soldiers serving in Lithuania is at the center of an investigation into the drunk mugging of a local last weekend. The incident occurred on Sunday at around 4am, with a resident reportedly being robbed by five men who swiftly made off with a cool 1,000 (US$1,130) and two cell phones. Also on rt.com Military & civil cooperation between Moscow & NATO nonexistent Russian deputy FM According to local media, a spokesperson from the Lithuanian Armys Strategic Communication Department admitted that one of the suspects in the incident was a Norwegian soldier on active duty in NATOs international battalion. Upon arrest, a blood alcohol test indicated the suspect, aged in his mid-20s, was highly intoxicated. After being interrogated, he was released to continue his regular duties. Local police are still looking into the incident. NATO personnel seem to have a habit of keeping police busy in the Baltics. Just last month, two US soldiers in Latvia were arrested and fined $400 for disrespectfully relieving themselves on the Freedom Monument which honors soldiers killed in the Latvian war of independence. Also on rt.com Price of liberty: Sober US soldiers fined $400 for urinating on Freedom Monument in Latvia Last summer, American soldiers got into a brawl with some Azeris at a Lithuanian bar. It was an American serviceman that ended up on the losing end of the quarrel, taking a punch that landed him in the hospital. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Controversial satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was slammed after it ran a cartoon depicting the Notre Dame de Paris fire. Critics said it was surprisingly tame compared to the many times it joked about deadly disasters abroad. The latest cover shows a grinning French President Emmanuel Macron whose head is shaped like the facade of the iconic Gothic church engulfed in flames. The issue hit the shelves on Tuesday one day after Notre Dame Cathedral was partially destroyed in a heavy fire, with its spire and roof collapsing. The word Reforms was written on the cover, along with the grotesquely-depicted Macron saying: Ill start from the frame. It was a reference to a set of measures the president was due to announce in a televised address that day but had to promptly cancel due to the fire. Some commentators on social media were not amused by Charlie Hebdos latest cartoon. I love your paper. I read it almost every week, but for once it doesnt make me laugh, a French-speaking user wrote. Particular ire came from Italians who believed the cartoon was too tame compared to more crass caricatures it ran which satirized tragic events on Italian soil that, unlike the Notre Dame fire, claimed multiple lives. Among those were the deadly earthquake in 2016 (299 people killed and thousands left homeless), an avalanche in 2017 (29 killed), and the collapse of a high bridge in Genoa last August (43 killed). Hypocrites Where is the irony and humor now? one person from Milan wrote. A pity there were no deaths [in Notre Dame], eh? You could have come up with a much better irony. Thats Italian sarcasm, another user said, while others sarcastically agreed that the magazine could have done a much better job mocking the burning cathedral. You didnt find humor for this rubble? For the people who died in the earthquake you did, an Italian commentator noted, referring to the way Charlie Hebdo compared the hundreds of Italians killed by the quake to pasta and lasagna. Deep and sincere pain for the great monument lost, but for you only contempt, another added. Others replied to the magazine with the same dark humor the publication routinely uses. Excuse me, Charlie, do you have a light? Im in Italy, and want a smoke after coffee, a user wrote. Not everyone had an issue with the cover, though. I dont like this type of humor, but as long as its not hateful, why not? a French-speaking commentator suggested, while another thanked Charlie Hebdo for making me laugh, despite the great sadness I feel. Some found the choice of metaphor befitting the current state of affairs in France, where President Macron and other politicians are burning down the nations public services and its heritage. Charlie Hebdo is known for mocking politicians and other public figures, but also regularly draws criticism for publishing cartoons on religion, various disasters and terrorist acts, both at home and abroad. In 2015, two Islamist gunmen stormed the magazines office in Paris, killing 12 people inside, including some of its prominent cartoonists. The attack happened after the magazine ran caricatures on Islam Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! A retired Norwegian border guard was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison for gathering data on Russian nuclear submarines. His lawyer says he was played by the Norwegian side. Frode Berg was arrested in Russia in December 2017 by operatives of the FSB, Russias counter-intelligence and security agency. Few details are known about his case, which was heard by a Moscow court behind closed doors due to its sensitive nature. The FSB says it has been fully proven that Berg, acting under orders of Norwegian intelligence, gathered secret data, harming the defensive capabilities of the Russian Federation. The prosecution says Berg was harvesting data related to Russian nuclear submarines. Also on rt.com Suspected Norwegian spy arrested in Moscow, reportedly caught with Russian Navy classified docs According to leaks-based reports in the Russian media, Berg served as a courier between his nations intelligence and an employee of a Russian defense contractor. The latter, previously suspected of treason, was under FSB surveillance. Last year, Berg reportedly admitted he had traveled to Russia on the Norwegian spy services orders. The mans lawyer Ilya Novikov says Berg himself was kept in the dark about his real mission, acting as an unwitting agent. Berg, who is now in his early 60s, served as a guard on a checkpoint at the border between Russia and Norway before retiring in 2014. Over the years he accumulated a lot of contacts in Russia and later became involved in numerous cultural events in the country. He even served on the board of a Norwegian art curation agency. Also on rt.com Austrian spies, cut off by European colleagues over Russian ties, missed info on NZ shooter The 14-year sentence is exactly what the prosecution asked for, but is smaller than the maximum possible punishment for espionage, which is 20 years. According to his lawyer, he is not planning to appeal the verdict, but hopes for a pardon, possibly as part of a spy exchange between Russia and Norway. Norway arrested an alleged Russian spy in September 2018, apparently alerted by his strange behavior at an IT event in the Norwegian parliament. Moscow says the arrest was far-fetched and made under an absurd pretext. If you like this story, share it with a friend! The Chinese ambassador to Santiago called US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a hypocrite after he tried to dissuade the South American nation from dealing with Beijing, as the US and China remain locked in a trade war. Pompeo has lost his mind and gone too far, Beijings envoy to Chile, Xu Bu, said, slamming the attacks against Chinese economic activities in the region as malicious and absurd. Mike Pompeo earlier called Chinese investment projects in the South America debt deal traps during a visit to Santiago. Beijing often injects corrosive capital into the economic bloodstream, giving life to corruption, and eroding good governance, he said. Also on rt.com Belgian cybersecurity center finds no evidence of Huawei spying threat, despite US claims Firing back, Ambassador Xu said that economic ties between Chile and China brought tangible benefits to the development of the Chilean economy, and the cooperation remains mutually beneficial. He pointed out that Chiles trade with Beijing exceeded US$42.8 billion, which is nearly twice the size of the trade it has with Washington (US$24 billion). Mr. Pompeo is a hypocrite, he said, adding that it is the US that has not made substantial contributions to the economy of South American states. Historically, the United States has treated Latin America as its backyard, imposing frequent military interventions or sanctions. The US and China have been locked in a trade war since President Donald Trump slapped import tariffs on Chinese goods. In retaliation, Beijing did the same with a number of US-made products. Relations between the two nations were further strained as senior US officials accused Beijing of potentially using telecom giant Huawei to spy on Western states and ordinary citizens. Mike Pompeo has attempted to discourage American allies in Europe from using Huawei equipment, warning that reliance on Chinese technology will hamper their cooperation with Washington. The company denied the allegations. Meanwhile, Belgiums Center for Cybersecurity investigated Huawei and found no evidence that its equipment presents a spying threat. Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! Russia recognizes new authorities in Sudan deputy FM Russia recognizes new authorities in Sudan deputy FM Russia is maintaining contact with new Sudanese authorities and recognizes them, Russian special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, said on Tuesday. Answering a question whether Russia recognizes new Sudanese authorities, Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister, said Yes, of course, TASS reported. Sudans military ousted the countrys leader Omar al-Bashir on April 11 after months of protests. The parliament was dissolved, and the constitution was suspended. An interim military council was formed to oversee the transitional period for the next two years.Source : RT - Daily news Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on April 15th holds talks in Bucharest with his host PM of Romania Viorica Dancila. (Photo: VNA) At the talks, the two leaders expressed their joy at the fine development of the bilateral relations of traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation over the past nearly 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1950. The Romanian leader affirmed importance to the relations with Vietnam and stressed that the ongoing visit by PM Phuc is an important milestone in the bilateral relations. She also spoke highly of Vietnams socio-economic achievements and rising role in the region and the world over. The two leaders exchanged ideas on measures to further push up bilateral relations in the fields of great potential like politics, diplomacy, security and national defence, economy, trade, investment, education and training, labour, culture, tourism, agriculture and food processing. They spoke highly of the cooperation between the two countries localities over the recent past, taking this as a direction for the traditional cooperation between the two sides. The two PMs agreed to increase the exchange of high-level delegations and effectively implement existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms. The two sides should make active preparations for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations. The host PM said the Vietnamese community in Romania is small but quite trustworthy and integrating well, making contributions to the socio-economic development of the host country. Meanwhile, PM Phuc thanked his host and the Romanian government for the facilitation of the community. Besides bilateral issues, the two PMs also exchanged ideas on international and regional issues of mutual concern, sharing the vision on and commitments to the acceleration of bilateral cooperation at international forums and organisations. They affirmed the importance of the maintenance of peace, security and stability for cooperation and development, the solution of differences and disputes by peaceful means in line with the international law, the charter of the United Nations and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. PM Phuc invited the Romanian PM to pay an official visit to Vietnam. The invitation was accepted and will be arranged at a convenient time. Following the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a cooperation memorandum of understanding on agriculture, animal health and food safety, and chaired a joint press conference on the outcome of the talks./. Canada Carbon Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral properties in Canada. The company primarily explores for graphite. It holds interests in the Miller hydrothermal lump-vein graphite property that covers an area of approximately 100 square kilometers located to the west of Montreal in the Grenville Township; and the Asbury graphite mine property that covers approximately 119 hectares located in the Laurentides region of southern Quebec. The company was formerly known as Bolero Resources Corp. and changed its name to Canada Carbon Inc. in October 2012. The company was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada. Read More Representative image On the main shopping street in the tropical north Australian city of Townsville, dotted with "For Lease" signs, Chrissa Alexion is adamant a planned $4 billion coal mine should be shelved because of its contribution to climate change. "It's madness," she told Reuters, on holiday from the Queensland state capital. "Jobs are really important but... where I come from in Brisbane, no one wants the mine to go ahead." Some 380 km (235 miles) into the remote Outback, Ben Houlihan, who runs the pub in Einasleigh (population 37), is in favour of the Carmichael mine in the undeveloped Galilee basin, proposed by India's Adani Enterprises. "We need the jobs and the royalties... They're playing a political game with people's livelihoods," he said. The mine has become a lightning rod for voters ahead of next month's general election, dividing the country as well as Australia's major political parties - the conservative Liberal-National coalition government and the opposition Labor Party. Both Labour and the Coalition constituents on either side of the issue of climate change, which has rocketed up the agenda after a summer of debilitating drought, devastating bushfires and a once-in-a-hundred year flood. While opinion polls point to a victory for Labor, the acrimonious debate over coal and climate has driven some voters towards a growing number of independent candidates. "I think this is going to be a tight race," said Michael McMillan, strategy director for Townsville Enterprise Ltd, a group promoting investment in the biggest town in north Queensland. "I think what we've seen play out in relation to the Adani mine will have an influence through the election process. Every job counts. When you have potential parties opposed to mining, that will be considered come polling day." Queensland is set to be a major battleground in the election, with nearly half its seats on a knife's edge. Labor won Townsville's seat at the last election by just 37 votes. Unemployment in the city, a stepping off point for the Great Barrier Reef, is at 10 percent and youth unemployment is running at more than 20 percent. "We're beginning to join the dots between activity like mining and burning coal and the impacts on climate," said Peter Jones, a social work lecturer leading a Stop Adani campaign in Townsville, which was ravaged by floods in February. "Jobs shouldn't be coming at the expense of the environment." MAJOR PARTIES UNDER FIRE Far to the south, in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the ruling conservative Coalition is under fire for failing to do enough to curb carbon emissions. Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously brandished a lump of coal, Australia's second largest export earner, in parliament when he was treasurer, taunting the opposition over its renewable energy push. The Liberals last year lost the long-held seat of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to an independent who campaigned strongly on climate policies. Another ex-prime minister, Tony Abbott, also faces an independent looking to oust him from a seat he has held for 25 years, while Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is battling not one but two independents, both pushing for urgent climate action. Labor, the traditional workers' party, has its own issues. It is being torn between its allegiance to the mining union and losing votes to the Greens. "Tell me what my workers are going to do that pays the same wages and conditions and offers for their family?," trade union spokesman Stephen Smyth, a third generation coal miner, of the Construction, Forestry, Martime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) told Reuters. UPHILL BATTLE The Carmichael mine, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has been on the drawing board for nearly a decade, delayed by a long string of legal action from green groups and now held up by regulations under the federal Coalition government and state Labor government. "We just need the state government to stop shifting the goal posts and get behind us," Adani Mining Chief Executive Lucas Dow said. "What we are focused on is jobs for people here and in central Queensland. We are tremendously excited and our resolve has hardened if anything," he told Reuters. But the longer the delay, the more difficult the task for Adani. Worried about a backlash from customers and investors, all of Australia's major banks have declined to fund the project, which has been whittled down to a sixth of its original size. Both Labor and the Coalition have said the mine needs to stack up on its economic merits and have declined to offer government support. Last month, one of Australia's top insurers said it would not back any new thermal coal mines, and a judge ruled another coal mine could not go ahead, partly due to emissions targets under the Paris climate agreement. Meanwhile, Australian coal prices have slumped to $70 from $120 a tonne over the past seven months, raising further questions about whether the project can turn a profit. This week, Australia's environment minister gave the greenlight to Adani's groundwater management plan, but said the mine still needed nine more approvals. The lack of support from the capital could trigger a protest vote by those who feel Canberra's decisions do not take their needs into account, said McMillan of Townsville Enterprise. "We are seeing ourselves again in a two-speed economy. It's Melbourne and Sydney, and the rest of Australia. And I think you're going to see that come into play in this next general election." In a dramatic twist to the Jet Airways saga, founder Naresh Goyal filed an expression of interest (EoI) for a stake in the ailing carrier just in the nick of time before the deadline for submissions ended on Friday. Goyal was recently nudged to quit as chairman and director of Jet Airways so that a revival plan could be worked out. The lenders are clearly not happy with Goyals bid and have asked for legal advice on the matter. The issue raises an important question if Goyal had the money or access to money why did he not bail the company out in the first place. Reports say a Delaware entity, Future Trend Capital along with Adi Partners, a London-based firm, are willing to take a bet on Naresh Goyal. Now, why would anyone want to bet on Goyal who has run his airline to the ground? One reason is that the qualifying condition for bidders of Jet Airways is at least three years of experience in running an airline. But if Goyal had access to these funds, why did he wait to tap it till he was out of the company. Thats because he can re-enter his company at a much cheaper rate. Had he continued as the head of Jet Airways, lenders would have asked him to pump in money at a premium. But now with the airline almost grounded he has to compete with other bidders at rock bottom rates. Earlier, banks would have also expected Goyal to pay part of the dues, if not the entire amount, before the money could be used to run the airline. But banks are on the back foot now---having converted a part of their debt into equity, they are desperately in search of a player to run the airline. Since the time Goyal has quit the airline, its operations have plummeted and banks are completely clueless on funding the operations. Technically, Goyal is not on the wrong side of the law. He is well within his rights to bid for the company say, legal experts. Irrespective of the outcome, Goyal has a small window to bid and re-enter his airline. He may not be allowed to bid if the airline goes through the bankruptcy process, as he could be considered an errant promoter. The rate at which operations of Jet Airways are shutting down, the airline does not have too much time to survive. Goyal is clutching at straws in the hope of getting his company and salvage as much value as he can for his holding in the company. With a little over 31 percent of stake already pledged and Goyal agreeing to increase it to 41.1 percent of his 51 percent holding in the company, he naturally feels that if he does not get control of his company again, he may as well forget about getting any money back. Unfortunately, even if he does get control there is precious little he can do to revive Jet unless the line of credit from the private equity company that is backing him is a big one. No bank would touch him with a barge pole anytime soon. Goyal has probably used the last card left with him. Iran's crude oil exports have dropped in April to their lowest daily level this year, tanker data showed and industry sources said, suggesting buyers are curbing purchases before Washington clamps down further on Iranian shipments as expected next month. The United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers. Those sanctions have already more than halved Iranian oil exports, the country's main source of revenue. Shipments are averaging below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) so far this month, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and two other companies that track such exports and declined to be identified. That's lower than at least 1.1 million bpd as estimated for March. The latest drop deepens supply losses resulting from an OPEC-led global agreement to cut oil production and U.S. sanctions on another OPEC member, Venezuela. Supported by those moves, oil prices have risen 30 percent this year to $71 a barrel. "Collapsing Venezuelan oil output and sanctioned Iranian exports have put a big question mark over supply," Norbert Ruecker of Swiss bank Julius Baer said. While exports could rise later in the month, the drop so far suggests Washington is making progress towards its goal of curtailing shipments to below 1 million bpd from May. The United States, seeking to avoid an increase in oil prices, granted sanctions waivers to China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea that allowed them to keep buying some Iranian crude. Those exemptions expire in May and analysts expect a new round to be less generous. The U.S. government is considering more sanctions against Iran and has the ability not to give waivers at all, a senior Trump administration official said this month. "We think there are very high chances that China and India and perhaps Turkey will receive (fresh) waivers, but with further cuts," said Sara Vakhshouri of energy consultant SVB Energy International. There is no definitive figure on how much oil Iran exported in March. Shipments have become more opaque since sanctions returned, and Iran no longer reports its production figures to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. One of the two companies that tracks shipments estimated Iran exported 1.1 million bpd of crude last month, while the other company put the number at 1.3 million bpd. Kpler, another company that tracks Iranian exports, estimated March shipments of crude and condensate at 1.29 million bpd. Still, there is general agreement that crude shipments have dropped from at least 2.5 million bpd in April 2018, the month before U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal with Iran. Tehran has vowed to keep exporting oil despite U.S. efforts to reduce its shipments eventually to zero. A Chandigarh consumer forum has penalised retail brand Bata India Ltd for asking a consumer to pay Rs 3 for a paper bag. Apart from levying a fine of Rs 9,000 on the company, the regulator also censured the company for harassing customers. Dinesh Prasad Raturi, a resident of Chandigarh, wrote to the consumer forum that when he had bought a pair of shoes from a Bata store in Sector 22D in February, the store charged him Rs 402, including charges for a paper bag. But when he sought a refund of Rs 3 and also sought compensation for the deficiency in services, he was denied both. Raturi informed the regulatory body that despite levying charges on the paper bag, Bata was endorsing its brand on it, which is not fair, reported India Today. Although Bata junked all allegations of deficiency in its services, the consumer forum refused to exhibit any leniency and upheld the fact that forcing a consumer to pay for a paper bag was indeed a black mark in Bata's customer services. It also maintained that the store is duty bound to provide free paper bags to customers who purchase their products. Not only was Bata India then asked to refund the Rs 3 paid for the bag, but also had to pay litigation charges of Rs 1,000. The retail brand paid another Rs 3,000 as compensation to the customer for causing mental distress by deficiency in services; Bata was also asked to pay Rs 5,000 in the legal aid account of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. Going forward, Bata India has been asked to provide free paper bags to all customers. The forum has observed that if companies are really so concerned about the environment, they should provide environment-friendly bags to their customers for free. Jet Airways owes banks nearly Rs 8,000 crore. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More In a drama that moved from the boardroom of Jet Airways headquarters in Mumbai to the corridors of Ministry of Finance in New Delhi, the final act is yet to be played out in the airline's saga. Jet is yet to make a statement after its board met on April 16 to discuss the future course for the distressed airline. On April 15, the banks, after a meeting with Jet officials, had refused to provide interim funding to the airline. The airline was hoping to get about Rs 1,000 crore from the banks, and that would have enabled it to continue operations until a new owner came in. SBI Caps, which is overseeing the bidding process, is expected to announce the shortlisted candidates who can then present bids. Naresh Goyal, who had submitted an expression of interest, is said to have opted out of the race, after opposition from other suitors, including Etihad Airways. The Board had few options to consider, and thus may be forced to suspend, at least temporarily, operations of the airline. Jet is operating about 50 flights a day, with seven aircraft. It has suspended international flights till April 18. It needs immediate funds to pay its employees - including pilots and ground staff - lenders, lessors and vendors. The company on April 16 wrote to the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Civil Aviation, for help. Officials at the Finance Ministry said that lenders, led by State Bank of India, are working on a revival package. Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube also wrote to SBI for an emergency funding of Rs 400 crore. In a communication to employees later in the day, Dube said: "Subsequent to the meeting of the Jet Airways Board of Directors held earlier today, the Companys leadership continued its engagement with the Indian lenders (led by State Bank of India). The Company, under the guidance of the Board has reached out to our lead lender, State Bank of India yet again and stressed on the need for urgent funding requirements, critical to the continuation of the operations of our airline." "In the said communication, we have highlighted the specific areas that will be immediately impacted, should the funding not be forthcoming. It is our earnest endeavour to keep all lines of communication open with you, such that you continue to be updated on all critical developments," Dube said in the note. He assured employees that Jet continues to work proactively with the Indian lenders to provide all the required support, to help resurrect the airline, including working closely with the potential parties that are keen on bidding for the airline. A final decision will be taken once the company hears from the banks. Executives said an announcement could be made later in the evening. Shrinking fleet Industry regulator DGCA has got more requests to de-register aircraft that were earlier part of Jet Airways fleet. According to data from the regulator, de-register requests have come for 19 aircraft. Already, 28 aircraft have been de registered. Once de-registered from a country's regulator, a lessor can take the aircraft out of the country and lease it to another airline. At the same time, such requests for seven aircraft have been withdrawn. The airline is flying seven aircraft at the moment. It originally had 119. Jet Airways also stands the risk of losing its aircraft, if US Exim Bank withdraws the guarantees it gave to banks to provide loans to the airline. According to executives in the industry, the Bank is expected to withdraw the guarantees, and Jet Airways may risk losing 10 of its aircraft. "Once they (US Exim Bank) are no longer guaranteeing the loans, the banks have no interest in providing the funding, as it becomes too much of a risk (plus Jet is already in default)," said Nitin Sarin, Managing Partner of Sarin & Co, which specialises in aviation law. "So naturally, they will try and repossess the aircraft," he added. Election pitch A possible shutdown of Jet Airways could also boil over as an election issue. The second phase of polling is scheduled for April 18, and that is when Maharashtra also votes. Jet Airways is headquartered in Mumbai, and has a total employee strength of nearly 20,000. The Centre is also battling Opposition charge on lack of job opportunities in the country. The story has been updated to incorporate latest developments. Swedish telecom giant Ericsson said on April 16 that China's market regulator was investigating the company over licensing issues as countries around the world prepare to roll out the next generation of mobile networks. China's State Administration of Market Regulation is investigating the firm due to complaints against its intellectual property rights licensing in China, a spokesperson for Ericsson told AFP. The telecom gear maker earns about seven percent of its revenue in China, according to its 2018 annual report. China's market regulator dispatched roughly 20 investigators to raid Ericsson's Beijing office on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing a person familiar with the matter. "Ericsson is fully cooperating with the investigation and will refrain from further comments while it is ongoing," a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement. Ericsson and its US-based competitor Qualcomm own a large portion of patents connected to 3G and 4G mobile networks and devices and have come under fire for the high licensing royalties they charge. Qualcomm in 2015 agreed to pay a 6.1 billion yuan (nearly $1 billion) fine and said it would modify its business practices in China to end an official anti-trust investigation triggered after unnamed industry players complained the firm was abusing its market dominance to charge high prices. "At Ericsson, we license our industry leading patent portfolio on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms and conditions and have always been committed to these FRAND principles," a spokesperson for the company said. China's homegrown tech giant Huawei has earned a large number of patents that companies will need to license as they roll out next generation 5G mobile networks and devices. Huawei is the world's biggest producer of telecommunications gear and has been under fire in recent months after the arrest of a top executive in Canada and a global campaign by Washington to blacklist its equipment over security concerns. White goods maker Godrej Appliances has launched a portable cooling device for food and beverages. Called Qube, this device uses thermoelectric technology that is considered a greener alternative to traditional cooling. In FY20, this product is expected to add to the growth in the refrigerator business that contributes almost 57 percent to its Rs 4,300 crore revenue. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Kamal Nandi, Business Head & Executive Vice President, Godrej Appliances said they have been testing the product for the past six to eight months. The product, priced at Rs 7,000 has a 30-litre capacity and can be used for cooling purposes only and not freezing. Unlike traditional refrigerators, the product does not have a compressor or refrigerant. The company is looking to sell 50,000 products in FY20, 100,000 in FY21 and 200,000 in FY22. Revenue growth areas As temperatures soar, sales of products like air-conditioners (AC) and refrigerators would grow. Penetration of ACs is only 4 percent in India versus 30 percent of refrigerators. Hence, we believe that ACs will be a lead growth category, he added. ACs are currently under the 28 percent slab of goods and services tax (GST). Nandi said they are hopeful that the new government will reduce the GST rate on ACs to 18 percent, a factor that will boost its penetration further. In FY20, Nandi said the company is looking to grow its revenue by 20 percent. In FY19, the companys revenue stood at Rs 4,300 crore. Of this, the share of the AC segment was 18 percent that is expected to increase to 20 percent. The AC business will grow faster than our revenue. We are expecting ACs to see 25-30 percent growth in their revenue in FY20, he added. The new product Godrej Appliances new launch Qube is their initiative to reduce global warming. Most traditional refrigerators use chlorofluorocarbons as refrigerants that are said to deplete the ozone layer, leading to warmer temperatures across the globe. Nandi added they have taken efforts to reduce their energy consumption by 30 percent through their hydrofluorocarbon-free refrigerators and ACs. Qube has a stabilizer-free operation and is also compatible with home inverters. Since it is a cooling product, food and beverages do not need to be defrosted before consumption. The product can also maintain the cool temperatures for up to 3 hours after a power cut. Going forward, Nandi said the emphasis will be green, energy-efficient and technology-led products. The company is working on launching a refrigerator with remote sensing and preventive servicing features. Huawei Technologies, one of the world's biggest smartphone makers, has not had talks with Apple Inc about supplying it with 5G chipsets, Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said on April 16. Hu made the remark at the company's annual global analyst summit at its headquarters in Shenzhen in southern China. His comment come after founder Ren Zhengfei told CNBC that Huawei was "open" to selling its fifth generation (5G) chips to Apple. "We have not had discussions with Apple on this issue," Hu said, reiterating that Huawei does not plan to become a chipset vendor at this time. He also said he looked forward to Apple's competition in the 5G phone market. Hu said Huawei had secured 40 commercial contracts to build 5G telecommunications infrastructure as at the end of March, up from a previously disclosed tally of more than 30. Huawei's outlook has come under a cloud over the past year with the United States voicing concerns that its equipment could be used by the Chinese government for espionage. Washington has also urged allies to ban Huawei from building 5G mobile networks. Huawei has dismissed the security concerns as unfounded. Huawei is also the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker. Its inhouse semiconductor arm, HiSilicon, also designs chipsets that are used in its products. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with CNBC this week that the company is "open to" selling its 5G modem chips to Apple, without elaborating. His comments came after repeated denials from Huawei that it had any intention of becoming a chip vendor to compete against the likes of Qualcomm and Intel. Huawei in January launched its 5G modem Balong 5000, which it said is the industry's most powerful, as well as a 5G base station chipset dubbed Tiangang. The company last month reported a 25 percent rise in net profit in 2018 to 59.3 billion yuan ($9 billion), even as revenue from its network equipment business fell 1.3 percent to 294 billion yuan due to telecommunications industry investment cycles. File image USA approaching the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to seek a review of the 'developing country' status for countries like India and China is unlikely to get accepted as it is very difficult to get rid of special treatments offered to developing nations in agriculture the sector that the US is aiming for. The US has claimed that several members, including China and India, that have moved up fast on economic and social ladders since the formation of the WTO in 1995 are still enjoying special and preferential trade treatments by "self-designating" themselves as developing nations. The rise of China has led to the US and the European countries to have a less liberal attitude towards developing countries than what they had in the past. "In such a situation, the principle of self-election - every country decides for itself whether it is a developing country - will be contested more and more in future by developed countries," said Anwarul Hoda, professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). India, China and some other countries have refuted USA's claims in a separate paper presented at the WTO. These countries have stated that in various key indicators, ranging from per capita income and human development indices to agriculture, the gap between them and the rich nations is too stark to miss. In any debate on development, per capita income is the most crucial indicator of progress. In 2017, the per capita gross national income (as per Atlas method) of India was just $1,800, way below $54,530 in Singapore, $28,380 in South Korea and $8,690 in China, according to the World Bank data. "As far as exports subsidies were concerned, that was a big concession given to a number of developing countries. They were allowed to give export subsidies on manufactured goods which are banned for developed countries. But a number of developing countries, including India, were given the privilege to continue with export subsidies on manufactured goods. Export subsidies, subsidies contingent on exports, were banned by the WTO as a general rule but these developing countries were given the privilege of continuing with it," said Hoda. However, even for such subsidies, there was a provision of graduation. If the developing countries achieved a certain proportion of world exports in individual products, they would not be entitled to subsidise that specific product. Apart from this, if the developing country concerned was benefitting from that concession had acquired a share of 3.25% of all products, then it has to be graduated out of the concession. As part of special and differential treatment, developing countries get longer time frames to implement commitments and greater flexibilities in adopting measures to improve their presence in global markets. Developing countries can provide considerably larger input subsidies and minimum price support (they can offer product-specific farm subsidies up to 10 percent of the value of production, against 5 percent for developed countries, although the latter enjoy other flexibilities). Developing countries can also continue to provide indirect export subsidies until 2023, five years after the deadline for elimination of all forms of export subsidies. "It would be extremely iniquitous if India is to be treated on a par with the US (developed countries) at the WTO, given that the per capita income of the US is over 30 times higher than India's," said Abhijit Das, head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. USA is primarily aiming for concessions enjoyed by developing countries in agriculture since developing countries are generally given certain concessions there. "In agriculture, it is not just their status as developing country that counts. What counts is that in developed countries like US, agriculture is run commercially. In India and even in China and many other countries, it provides livelihood to millions. So there has to be a special treatment. It is very difficult to think of getting rid of that," said Hoda. USA's domestic support per farmer was $60,586 in 2016, 267 times of India's ($227). Beijing's support ($863) was almost four times of New Delhis. Massive subsidies have led to huge competitive advantage of farm products of developed countries in the global market. While agriculture accounts for less than 2 percent of the total employment in the US, it is as much as 44 percent in India and 20 percent in China, suggesting much lower level of industrialisation in these countries. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Shares of wires and cables manufacturer Polycab India had a stellar rally on April 16, the first day of trading on exchanges, amid strong market conditions and after healthy subscription. The stock surged 21.7 percent to close at Rs 654.80 on the National Stock Exchange, against issue price of Rs 538. It hit an intraday high of Rs 667.80 and low of Rs 630. At the BSE, shares closed at Rs 655, rising 21.75 percent after hitting a day's high of Rs 667.55 and low of Rs 633. The opening price was same at Rs 633 on both exchanges. On the traded volume front, 22.43 lakh shares of the company exchanged hands on the BSE and over two crore shares on the NSE. The company's market valuation on closing was at Rs 9,736.31 crore on the BSE. "We initiate viewpoint coverage on Polycab India with an upside of 18-20 percent from current levels," Sanjeev Hota, Head of Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas told Moneycontrol. He expects premium valuation to sustain led by Polycab Indias market leadership and brand advantage coupled with multi-product growth strategy. Being the market leader in W&C space and accelerated growth in FMEG (fast-moving electrical goods) space, it augurs well for growth visibility and is expected to deliver 22 percent profit growth over FY19-21E. The company will be net cash positive by FY21E, Hota said. Global investment firm Phillip Capital also initiated coverage on the stock with a buy call and target price at Rs 718, implying 34 percent potential upside from issue price. The brokerage said with improving cash flows and balance-sheet strength, valuations will trade at a premium with W&C peers (Finolex & KEI), but at a discount to FMEG companies (Havells, V-guard). Higher valuation is mainly due to its market leadership in W&C and transformation into a multiproduct electrical company over the next 24 months. The initial public offering (IPO) of Polycab India was subscribed nearly 52 times earlier this month. The price range for the Rs 1,345-crore IPO was fixed at Rs 533-538 per share. The deadline for Jet Airways corporate insolvency resolution process is October 21 live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The management of India's Jet Airways has proposed to suspend all operations of the debt-laden Indian airline at its board meeting, sources told ET Now on Tuesday. Sources also told ET Now that former Chairman Naresh Goyal had withdrawn from making a bid for a stake in the company. Jet Airways did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Gold slipped for a fourth straight session on Tuesday as optimism over the U.S.-China trade talks helped investors retain risk appetite despite dismal quarterly results from Wall Street. FUNDAMENTALS - Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,286.38 per ounce, as of 0120 GMT. In the previous session, the bullion dropped to $1,281.96, its weakest since April 4. - U.S. gold futures shed about 0.2 percent at $1,289.20 an ounce. - The U.S.-China trade dispute, signs of slowing global corporate earnings and business investment have all put pressure on riskier assets in the past year, so investors have been quick to lap-up positive news. - Asian stocks hovered below a nine-month peak on Tuesday after disappointing bank earnings dented Wall Street, though recent signs the global economy is likely to avoid a sharper downturn helped limit the losses. - MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had risen to a peak since July 2018 on Monday after strong data from China and expectations that Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators would strike a deal. - United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Fox Business Network on Monday that trade negotiations between the Washington and their Chinese counterparts were "making a lot of progress." - The United States was "going to win either way," irrespective of its trade negotiations with China, President Donald Trump said on Monday. - Major currencies remained confined to well-trodden ranges on Tuesday, as markets look next to European and Chinese data for more evidence that the worst may be over for the global economy. - A Reuters poll suggested China's first quarter economic growth likely cooled to the weakest pace in at least 27 years, with stimulus measures expected to lift the economic mood in the future. - SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.50 percent to 754.03 tonnes on Monday from 757.85 tonnes on Friday. - Kazakhstan raised gold holdings by 5.38 tonnes to 361.68 tonnes in March, data from the International Monetary Fund showed. - Canada's Lundin Mining Corp is looking to buy more mining assets, Chief Executive Marie Inkster told Reuters on Monday, after the company announced its purchase of a Brazilian copper-gold mine from Yamana Gold Inc for more than $1 billion. - India's gold smugglers have slowed their operations over worries their shipments will be caught up in seizures of cash, bullion, booze and drugs that are aimed at controlling vote-buying in the country's national elections, industry officials told Reuters. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More ICICI Bank spiked 3 percent intraday Tuesday after global research firm Goldman Sachs reiterate a buy call on the stock has raised the target to Rs 492 per share. The research firm is of the view that mobilisation and strength of retail franchise is central to investment thesis. It feels that with strong deposit franchise and lower cost of funds will put the company at an advantage. Goldman Sachs expects ICICI Bank to deliver ROAs of 1.8 percent and ROEs of 17 percent over FY20-21. At 10:55 hrs ICICI Bank was quoting at Rs 404.20, up Rs 11.45, or 2.92 percent. It has touched an intraday high of Rs 405.40 and an intraday low of Rs 396.60. Here are stocks that are in the news today: Results on April 16: Wipro, Mastek, 5paisa Capital, Den Networks, Asutosh Enterprises, Northern Projects Listing: Polycab India Hathway Cable Q4: Standalone net loss at Rs 55 crore versus profit at Rs 12.6 crore; revenue down 9.1 percent to Rs 132.4 crore versus Rs 145.7 crore YoY. Tata Metaliks Q4: Net profit rose 17% at Rs 64 crore, revenue was up 8.7% at Rs 593 crore. TCS: Zions Bancorporation unifies lending operations with TCS BaNCS. Jet Airways: Lenders are unlikely to extend any interim funding for company as of now and will weigh seriousness of bids received before firming up plans on funding. Prestige Estates: Company buys balance 51 percent share in Babji Realtors Private Limited through subsidiary company for Rs 364 crore. JM Financial's subsidiary has filed the Shelf Prospectus and Tranche I prospectus, with the Registrar of Companies and SEBI pertains to the public issue of Secured NCDs aggregating up to Rs 2000cr Syndicate Bank: Bank cuts MCLR rate by 5 bps across all tenures. Canara Bank appointed R.A. Sankara Narayanan as MD & CEO of bank Lakshmi Vilas Bank: Board to meet on April 22 to decide price of shares issuance. Bank is proposing to make preferential allotment to Indiabulls Housing Finance to extent of 4.99 percent and is expected that the relevant date could be by the end of April 2019. Deepak Fertilizers: Company commences commercial production of nitric acid plant at Dahej, Gujarat. Facility to cost approximately Rs 550 crore. Dr Reddy's Lab received Establishment Inspection Report (BIR) from USFDA, for its formulations manufacturing plant - 3 at Bachupally, Hyderabad Cipla: Company''s wholly owned subsidiary in USA i.e. Cipla Technologies LLC has signed the definitive agreement with Pulmatrix Inc for the development and commercialisation of Pulmazole, an inhaled iSPERSE formulation of the antifungal drug itraconazole for the treatment of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in patients with asthma. Dynamatic Technologies launched TEJAS MA|N FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY for Hindustan Aeronautics Suven Life Sciences: Board approved the enhancement of investment limits in subsidiary in USA Suven Neurosciences, Inc. from $25 million upto $50 million to undertake clinical trials on the molecules in the pipeline. Cyient: Company rolled out a portfolio of services and solutions that help communication service providers (CSPs) expedite 5G network rollouts globally. Majesco unveils Majesco P&C core suite version 11 Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings Indian Energy Exchange: Company will announce its March quarter earnings on April 26. Ramco System: Investor meet is scheduled on April 16, 2019 at Mumbai arranged by Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. with HDFC MF, Goldman Sach AMC, Reliance AMC, IDFC MF, UTI MF, Lucky Sec, ICICI Pru MF, MK Ventures, Edelweiss, Suyash, BNP MF, Ashmore. Nestle India: Board will consider declaration of interim dividend for the year 2019, if any, on April 25. Deepak Fertilisers: Board meeting is scheduled on April 22 to consider issue of foreign currency convertible bonds by the company & issue of compulsory convertible debentures by company's wholly owned subsidiary Smartchem Technologies Ltd. M&M: Company's officials will meet Theleme Partners on April 16 and Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company on April 17. Bulk Deals on April 15 (For more bulk deals, Click Here) Jet Airways owes banks nearly Rs 8,000 crore. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More With its domestic operations scaled down to 7 aircraft, international operations suspended and a perpetual power struggle at the top-level, Jet Airways has been stifled into an existential crisis. However, investors seem to not give up on the beleaguered airline as its stock price is a fair distance away from its 52-week low on the BSE. Jet Airways' share touched 52-week high of Rs 650.50 and 52-week low of Rs 163 on April 30, 2018 and October 1, 2018, respectively. The stock closed at Rs 261.80 on April 15, trading 60.61 percent above its 52-week low and 59.75 percent below its 52-week high. As on April 15, the stock had added 2.3 percent in the past two weeks and market capitalisation remained around Rs 3,000 crore. So how has the Jet stock managed to remain airborne despite its operations hitting rock bottom? According to market analysts, the hope that some company will eventually come to the rescue of the ailing carrier, whether it is the government or the lenders, has kept the stock price from mirroring Jet's dismal operations. "There is also some hope in investors given the takeover from SBI-led banks, that some buyer will emerge for the company," said Madhukar Ladha, Analyst, Institutional Research, HDFC securities. Intervention by lenders led by SBI has had a positive impact as the stock has gained 2.3 percent since March 25 when Naresh Goyal stepped down and the lenders pushed for a revival plan. The stock had fallen 10 percent in six months prior to the March 25th announcement. Another senior analyst, on condition of anonymity, said that the government will not give up on Jet as it has more than 20,000 employees on its payroll. While Naresh Goyal's expression of interest (EoI) and Etihad's reversal of stance has left the lenders fuming. Analysts believe that an understanding could be reached if Goyal keeps a fair distance from the managerial role, and returns solely as a stakeholder. Whatever might the case be, Jet has risen as an exception in an unforgiving market where stock prices react heavily to the daintiest of the bad news. Graham Tuckwell's ETF Securities has partnered with Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Company for managing the exchange-traded fund investing in India, two sources from the Indian mutual fund industry told Moneycontrol. However, Reliance Nippon Life AMC declined to confirm. Nippon Life, that owns 42.88 percent stake in Reliance AMC, has operations in Japan, Australia, the US, China, Europe, Thailand, and Indonesia. Australia's first India equities ETF is set for launch next month. ETF Securities is an asset management firm focused on exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded commodities and exchange-traded currencies with offices in Jersey, London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne. Founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Graham Tuckwell, ETF Securities offers funds ranging across local and international share markets and sectors including robotics, biotechnology and commodities. The passive ETF, named NDIA, will give Australian investors access to Indian companies such as Tata and Infosys along with basket of other stocks listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE). "The elections now underway in India underscore the huge numbers we are dealing with when it comes to the Indian economy, an investment opportunity we will soon be putting within easy reach of Australian investors," said Kris Walesby, Head of ETF Securities Australia in a press release issued in Sydney dated April 16. "Its transformation to a services-led economy has driven innovation and efficiencies and the rise of a wealthier consumer. Even with the challenges it now faces, we still think the Indian economy can register annual growth rates of as much as seven percent, putting it at the head of the pack among major economies," Walesby added. However, Walesby said Indian markets remain difficult to access for foreign investors. "Dealing with all the red tape probably explains why no-one else in Australia has attempted the sort of fund we are about to offer. This will be the first passive exposure to India available to Australian investors whether listed or unlisted," said Walesby. Naresh Goyal (Image: Reuters) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline, sources said on Tuesday. The full service carrier, which is currently operating less than 10 aircraft, is awaiting fresh fund infusion under a debt resolution plan. Airline sources said Goyal, who had stepped down as chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawn the bid for the airline. On April 12, sources said that Goyal had also put in bid for the carrier. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways' sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier. Last month, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal stepped down from the board of the airline, which has more than Rs 8,000 crore debt. On March 20, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) passed an interim order banning three individuals, Rishabh Jain, Ubaidur Rahman and G Kadar Hussain from offering any investment advice to anyone. It also directed them to remove all advertisements, banners, brochures and other forms of communication that spoke about their so-called investment advisory business. And it barred them from securities market. Their crime? Between the three of them, they defrauded several gullible investors. They offered investment advice for which they gobbled up fees totaling in excess of Rs 10 crore. Their investment advice was fake and many investors complained to SEBI that they didnt work; the advisors did not bother to pick up their phone calls, but instead kept on advertising their fake success. Whats worse, the fraudster troika also used genuine SEBI-registered investment advisors' (such as Mumbai-based Gaurav Mashruwalas and Pune-based Capmetrics Investment Advisors) licence numbers to appear genuine. SEBI has asked the troika to file any objections if they feel need to be filed and has asked them to present in SEBI office to give their response, pending a final order that SEBI is expected to come out with in a few months time. The final order will specify the penalty, if any, that SEBI may choose to impose on them. Many of us have got calls from assorted stock brokers, particularly those based in Madhya Pradesh and in the city of Indore who call and offer stock trading and advisory services. Moneycontrol gives you a cheat sheet on how to prevent being duped by fake investment advice. Does your advisor guarantee returns? Rishabh Jain and his associates used to make tall promises against its advertised products. As per the SEBI order, it had advertised two products on one of their website a Stock Option (Zero loss) Jackpot package and another Nifty Option (Zero loss) Jackpot package. Details of the packages that were listed on this website, as per SEBI order, used words like 95-99% accurate recommendation.., zero loss jackpot and such words to give an impression of bumper and assured returns. SEBI found out through its investigation that the fraudsters used to run 10 websites that used to offer investment advice and solicit subscription money, some of which were www.niftysureshot.com, www.newsbasedtips.com and www.optiontips.in. If your investment advisory firm contains such words that allude to a guarantee of returns by way of a promise or giving tips or relying on news to give tips, these are warning signs of speculative advice, instead of hardcore and solid research. SEBI Investment Advisor guidelines of 2013 and SEBI mutual fund regulations clearly specifies that no mutual fund, distributor or investment advisor is supposed to give any assurances or make promises about the sort of returns either of them could generate in future. It is a clear case of fraud if your advisor assures returns from market-linked instruments, such as shares or mutual funds. Nobody can make a promise. They can at best give a track record of their performance, but never promise future returns, says Vijay Krishna Kuppa, co-founder, Oro Wealth, an on-line investment advisory firm. Check for credentials This is tricky. The troika fraudulently advertised Mashruwalas and Capmetrics Investment Advisors RIA license number to try and pass of as genuine advisors. But how do you look through that to ascertain if your advisor is genuine or not? Theres a way. Ascertain- from your online firms website- whether it is a distributor or a SEBI-registered investment advisor. Then, visit the websites of Association of Mutual Funds of India (the mutual fund industrys trade body) if you want to validate a distributor. Visit SEBI if you want to validate a SEBI-registered investment advisor. Enter the name of the person or the website or the registration number and youll get more details. Most of the records have contact numbers and email IDs of a contact person associated with your advisor. Try getting in touch with them, ask questions and see what sort of responses you get. Then, try and see if the details match what you see on the website to ensure theyre the same set of people. Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder and COO, FundsIndia.com, one of Indias largest online mutual fund distribution firms points us at the bottom of his firms website, at its AMFI registration number (69583). If you click on this number, a scanned document pops up on your screen; the firms registration certificate. You can also see the firms actual name; Wealth India Financial Services Pvt Ltd. Now, go back to AMFI website at the link provided above. Enter its AMFI code (69583) and youll get the details of the firm Wealth India Financial Services Pvt Ltd. If there is a missing link here, or if you cannot find the registration number or if you find it but the name doesnt match, theres a problem, says Meenakshi. Avoid stock tips This is the most lucrative trap that most of us fall into. We feel that buying and selling equity shares swiftly- or what is popularly called as stock-trading- is a sure shot way of success. In reality, there are no short-cuts. Most reputed financial planner or investment advisors suggest a holistic financial advice. This involves not just your investments- of which equity shares is just a part- but also your expenses, earnings and even spending. SEBIs Investment Advisor guidelines 2013 specifies that investment advisors are supposed to do risk profiling of their customers and are meant to offer products that are best suited to them. Rishabh Jain and his associates had put themselves out to be a SEBI-registered advisory firm. And a SEBI-registered investment advisor is supposed to a detailed risk profiling. From the sample of complaints that Sebi quoted in its order, Jain and company never did any risk profiling nor did they ensure product suitability. But heres the most glaring hole in their offering. They offered just one product: stock tips. A registered investment advisor is supposed to offer you a bouquet of products like equity mutual funds, debt mutual funds, fixed deposits and so on. Nitin B. Vyakaranam, founder and CEO, Artha Yantra says that investors too should not go for quick bucks. This is a classic problem that exists where customers feel they want more and more returns. Some investors might be in a bad situation financially and they feel they can overcome it by making it somewhere else. Fraudsters are always around to take advantage.. Sharad Singh, founder and chief executive officer, Invezta.comsays that stock tips per se are not evil. Its when the advisor just offers derivative instruments in equities or fixed income is when the problem lies. If the advisor offers long-term stock advisory and ensures that only the right-minded people are offered equity shares, especially derivatives, then its okay. Testimonials Jains numerous websites not only put up a fake track record, consistently. They also put up testimonials; praises sung by its customers about the returns the websites tips helped them generate. The problem was; they were all fake. Says the SEBI order: It is understood that the Noticees (Jain and his gang) themselves post positive reviews and testimonials of getting unbelievable returns from the unregistered investment advisory websites on www.tradingtipscomplaints.com to promote subscriptions. The bigger problem is, there is not much you can do and separate the genuine from the fake testimonials, says Krishna Kuppa. Sanjiv Singhal, founder and chief operating officer, Scripboxsays that a better way to check testimonials is to search for it on the internet, elsewhere. A simple way is to just run a google search on the internet. If you find references of the website or the firm, or its key officials being quoted in the press or have written blogs, you atleast know that these people exist and are genuine. But, he adds, if you dont find any other reference of the firm other than its own website, it should raise a red flag. Online payments Remember those incidents where people ordered a mobile phone online and got a brick inside the package, instead? Thats the tricky part of ordering something online. This includes making a financial payment to an online advisory firm you have little knowledge about. Most experts we spoke to said that theres a risk here of your advisor running away after taking your money. Much like Jain and his gang who- as per many complaints documented in SEBIs order - simply stopped picking up calls once investors realised that their stock tips started to flop, one after another. Vyakaranam of Artha Yantra says that most credible online financial firms have a dedicated call centre. Once they take payments, they call you to confirm or get our Know-Your-Customer documents picked up physically. A good and professional call centre interaction inspires confidence, experts say. Ultimately, remember this: If its too good to be true, it is in fact too good to be true. If your advisor talks words like double your money, guarantee returns and sounds too enticing, run as far as possible from him. Anju Gandhi While we have discussed how a valid Will can be made and enforced, it is important to understand that the law also gives an option to seek a succession certificate for the estate of a deceased person. Succession Certificate A succession certificate is a document issued by a civil court to the legal heirs of a deceased person certifying a rightful person to be the successor of such deceased person. This certificate authorises the successor to realise the debts and securities of the deceased person. Its main objective is to facilitate the collection of debts on succession and offer protection to the parties paying debts to the representatives of the deceased person. This certificate cannot be obtained for the inheritance of immovable property. A succession certificate can be obtained in cases where: a. Probate or letters of administration are not required,b. When deceased is a Christian,c. Deceased is a Mohammaden,d. When a deceased is a Hindu who has left a Will; however, the probate is not compulsory under the applicable law, e. In case of a joint family property under Hindu Law. Place and Procedure for Application An application for grant of the succession certificate should be made before the district judge within whose jurisdiction the deceased person ordinarily resided at the time of his death or in case the deceased person had no fixed place of residence then this application can be made before the district judge within whose jurisdiction any part of the property of the deceased person is found. A person of sound mind, not being a minor and having an interest in the estate of the deceased can make this application. The interest may be in the form of a widow of the deceased, a person having a beneficial interest in the debt of the security etc. A succession certificate can be granted to a minor through a guardian. The petition should contain the following details: Time of death of the deceased; Residence or details of properties of the deceased at the time of death within which Judge the jurisdiction falls under; Details of family or other near relatives; Rights of the petitioner; Absence of any impediment to the grant of a certificate; Copy of the death certificate Debts and securities in respect of which the certificate is applied for. The court, after examining the petition, issues a notice to all concerned parties and specifies a time frame within which any person who has objections may raise them. If no one contests the notice and the court is satisfied, it passes an order to issue a succession certificate to the applicant. If there is more than one petitioner, then the court may jointly grant them a certificate but it will not grant more than one certificate for a single asset. When the district judge grants a succession certificate, he shall specify the debts and securities set forth in the application for the certificate, and may thereby empower the person to whom the certificate is granted (i) to receive interest or dividends on the securities; or (ii) to negotiate or transfer the securities; or (iii) both to receive interest or dividends or negotiate or transfer the securities. The Court levies a percentage of the value of the estate as its fees (as prescribed under the Court-Fees Act, 1870) which has to be paid in the form of judicial stamp papers. This court fee may vary from State to State in India. Effects of Succession Certificate The holder of the certificate has the right to: Claim over the property and assets of the deceased person. Represent the deceased in collecting debts and securities due to the deceased or payable in his/her name. Inherit the debts and other liabilities of the deceased person. Some general but important points to note on succession certificate 1. It can be granted even if there is a nomination in the accounts, insurance etc. as the nominee only acts as a trustee to the actual legal heirs of the deceased person.2. It can also be revoked/cancelled under certain specific situations such as a fraud, defective proceedings, where the certificate becomes useless due to circumstances etc.3. A legal heir certificate is not a substitution for the Succession Certificate.4. It is not granted for immovable property. 5. It can be extended, amended in accordance with the applicable law. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala The poor have not benefited from the bull-run in markets of the past four decades and we need to stand guard against populist moves like wealth tax, veteran investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said April 16. He said the poor, who have missed out on personal growth opportunities, decide governments through their votes and the leaders they choose to serve the core constituency. Citing the example of the US, where one of the nominees of the next presidential race has promised to impose a wealth tax, he said, similar moves will be implemented across the world if the trend continues. "We will have consequences which will not be good," Jhunjhunwala said, speaking at the launch of ITI Mutual Fund, the 41st AMC to have set up shop in the country. American president Donald Trump is also a product of such tendencies and is talking of making America great again, he said. Explaining the perils of wealth tax, he said in the absence of consistent dividends, he will have to sell down 2.5 percent of his holding every year to comply with the tax requirements. Domestically, even Congress president Rahul Gandhi is talking about a lot of populist policies, he said, underlining the need to be vigilant. In a departure from his earlier views, Jhunjhunwala said the ruling BJP will not get a clear majority in the ongoing polls. However, it will be a major partner in the next government, he said, adding from an economic perspective, there won't be any veering off the policies as they remained consistent with different governments since the 1990s. Even as markets breach new highs, he advised investors that this is not the best time to invest and recommended a cautious outlook as always the gains are limited when the expectations are high. "We shouldn't be aggressive till the election results," he said. Jhunjhunwala said another factor he worries about is a possible nuclear attack by Pakistan, adding there are enough rogue elements in that country who may not hesitate to use the N-button. Benchmark indices ended higher on April 15 with Nifty finishing just below 11,700 and Sensex ending 138 points higher at 38,905.84. Metal index has outperformed the other sectoral indices with over 2 percent gain followed by Auto (up 1.5 percent) and IT (up 1.2 percent). Midcap and Smallcap indices posted 0.5 percent gain. Here are 11 stock picked by three analysts that could give 2-15 percent return in short to medium term: Ride-share company Uber has filed for an IPO and is due to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange in May this year. Pictured: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (R), former CEO Travis Kalanick (C), and CTO Thuan Phan (L). Take a look at the company's largest shareholders who will benefit from the listing. (Image: Twitter/Ryan Graves, Uber board member) Benchmark | Number of shares owned: 150 million | The San Francisco-based venture capital company owns 11 percent of Uber. (Image: Company website) Thuan Pham | Number of shares owned: 5.4 million | Pham is Uber's Chief Technology Officer. (Image: Screenshot from Youtube video) Barney Harford | Number of shares owned: 105,211 | Harford is the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO). (Image: Reuters) Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund | Number of shares owned: 73 million. | The investment firm's Managing Director Yasir Al Rumayyan is a member of Uber's board. (Image: Organisation's website) Ryan Graves | Number of shares owned: 33.2 million | Graves was Uber's "first hire" and first CEO. (Image: Screenshot from YouTube ) SoftBank Corp | Number of shares owned: 222.2 million shares | The Japanese conglomerate has pumped in funds in the company through its investment arm Vision Fund. (Image: Reuters) Dara Khosrowshahi | Number of shares owned: 196,000 | Khosrowshahi replaced Kalanick as CEO in August 2017. (Image: Reuters) Garrett Camp | Number of shares owned: 82 million | Uber co-founder Garrett Camp continues to as a board member. Pictured Camp (2nd R) at a board meeting. (Image: Twitter) The AAP is digging in its heels on the issue of alliance and is not ready to give more than two seats in Delhi to the Congress if the alliance is limited to the national capital, sources said. A meeting was held at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Tuesday and was attended by senior party leaders of Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh and Satyendra Kumar Jain. Following the meeting, the party said it is ready to have further discussion with Congress and has appointed a representative to take the matter forward. AAP has appointed Singh to hold alliance talks with Congress but no representative has been hired by Congress yet. AAP sources said if Congress wants alliance only in Delhi then it has to be in the 5:2 ratio and if an alliance is sealed for both Delhi and Haryana then the ratio can be 4:3 in the national capital and 6:3:1 in Haryana. In the 6:3:1 ratio, Congress would contest six seats, Jannayak Janata Party three seats while AAP one seat, the sources said. "The talks of alliance between AAP and Congress are presently stalled," the sources said. "Alliance talks cannot be carried out on Twitter. It has to be discussed properly between the two parties and for that we have appointed our representative," said AAP's Rai. "It was decided (in the meeting) that we would convince Congress that contesting together on 18 seats of Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh would mean a definite loss for BJP," Rai added. Kejriwal has clearly said that the Modi-Shah duo "is a danger for the country and till the end, we will try to stop it," Singh told reporters after the meeting. "An alliance with Congress would send the message that Modi would not be becoming the prime minister again," he added. Amid a continuing blame game over seat-sharing in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal Monday engaged in a public spat, with the Congress president accusing the AAP of making a "U-turn" over alliance talks, prompting the Delhi chief minister to hit back at him. Gandhi had said while the doors of his party are open, time is running out, but Kejriwal slammed him, questioning what U-turn was he talking about as the talks were still on. The Congress has offered the AAP a 4:3 seat-sharing formula four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three for itself while the AAP has proposed 5:2 ratio( five for itself and two for the grand old party). The Congress said its proposal is based of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here. The Congress has accused the Kejriwal-led outfit of backing out on its commitment, as it is demanding seats in Goa, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh, besides Delhi for a pre-poll understanding with the Congress. In response to Gandhi's tweet, AAP's Singh said, "Congress is not giving even a single seat to AAP in Punjab where it has four MPs and 20 MLAs and in Haryana." "In Delhi, where the Congress has zero MPs and MLAs, it is demanding three seats. Is this how agreement happens? Why do not you want to stop the BJP in other states," he asked. The AAP has announced its candidates on the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi, while the Congress has finalised names of its candidates which could be announced soon. Meanwhile on Tuesday, AAP said its Lok Sabha candidates would file their nominations from Thursday. Rai said the party's west Delhi candidate Balbir Singh Jakhar would file his nomination on Thursday while Chandni Chowk candidate Pankaj Gupta, East Delhi candidate Atishi and North West Delhi candidate Gugan Singh would file their nominations on Saturday. On Monday, South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha, North East candidate Dilip Pandey and New Delhi candidate Brajesh Goel would file their nomination, Rai said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said Tuesday that the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra lacked both leaders and direction. The Sena-BJP alliance will win all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Thackeray said, addressing a campaign rally for sitting MP and Sena candidate Anandrao Adsul here. "Congress-NCP alliance is leaderless and rudderless... They even struggled to find candidates," he said. Saying that the strike carried out by the Indian Air Force on a terrorist training camp at Balakot taught a lesson to Pakistan, Thackeray asserted that for "a strong and safe nation", prime minister Narendra Modi must get another term in office. The steps taken by the NDA government for farmers' welfare were bearing fruit, the Sena chief said. Referring to alleged scams that took place during the Congress-NCP regime in the state, Thackeray said if these parties came back to power, the country would plunge into "darkness". Polling for the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency in eastern Maharashtra will be held on April 18. Among the 24 candidates in the fray, prominent ones are Adsul, independent candidate Navneet Rana who is supported by the Congress and NCP, Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Gunwant Deopare and BSP's Arun Wankhade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-nomination from Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh town that sent the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to Lok Sabha for the first time in 2014. Five years ago, the BJP announced then Gujarat Chief Minister Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Following this, he announced that he will contest from Varanasi, along with his bastion, Gujarats Vadodara. Modi secured a massive win from both seats with a margin of 3.37 lakh votes and 5.70 lakh votes in Varanasi and Vadodara, respectively. He later quit the Vadodara seat and retained Varanasi as his constituency. Entering the city of salvation, Modi had vowed to clean river Ganga. He further promised welfare of handloom weavers through technology upgradate, development of Kashi as spiritual capital of India, boost to tourism and other development projects. This was followed up with more project announcements after his victory. Five years have passed and PM Modi is once again in the fray from Varanasi. However, the journey to retain power is different this time. The people of this holy city, who elected him on the basis of his promises, will now vote after analyzing the work done. In talks with Moneycontrol, people discussed the hits and misses of the Modi government on the ground. Cosmetic changes The city, under the governance of PM Modi, has witnessed "cosmetic changes" that make it beautiful but bring minimal benefit for the public, said some of the people we talked to. "The administration has replaced old street lamp-posts with fancy ones, beautified platform number one of the Varanasi Cantt railway station, started a cruise on river Ganga, replaced high-voltage bulbs with LED lights. But these do not directly benefit the residents," said a professor of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) who did not wish to be named. Absence of local representatives Having PM Modi as its MP brought Varanasi on national and international platforms, but that can have a flip side too. "The PM is not reachable for the public. A local PM office was opened in the city, but it is of no use. People submit complaints and memorandums, but in most cases, they are disappointed as no action is taken," said the professor. However, the local BJP leadership feels Modi is doing everything in his capacity. "PM Modi has visited the city 18 times in five years and every time, he has brought a basket of welfare schemes for the city. In his tenure, he has sanctioned Rs 34,000 crore for the citys development," said Sanjay Bharadwaj, a local BJP leader. Experiment ground Many schemes introduced by the Modi government in Varanasi remained experiments which failed to benefit the people or the city. According to locals, the PM launched battery-powered e-boats to reduce pollution in river Ganga, brought the Kashi-Kyoto project to develop Varanasi on the lines of heritage city Kyoto in Japan, started a Trade Facilitation Centre to bring better exposure to weavers and some other schemes. However, the schemes could not run properly and remained on paper, giving no benefits to the people in the long run. Lack of sustainable development The netizens of Varanasi agree that after the Modi government came to power, the condition of roads, cleanliness, beautification of ghats (river banks) and more such changes have been done. However, they feel lack of work done as per the status of a PM, like bringing industries, creating jobs, opening up of institutions, development of infrastructure and others. Ring Road and Babatpur Airport road The PM, on November 12, 2018, inaugurated two important roads in Varanasi having a total length of 34 km and built at a cost of Rs 1,571.95 crore. It included the 16.55 km Varanasi Ring Road Phase-I, built at a cost of Rs 759.36 crore, and the 17.25 km Babatput-Varanasi road on NH-56, constructed at a cost of Rs 812.59 crore. While the Babatpur Airport highway reduces the travel time from Varanasi to the airport, the Ring Road lessens traffic congestion in the city. Also Read: Lok Sabha polls | How the states voted in 2014 Part 2: West India Kashi Vishwanath Corridor The Centres ambitious 'Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Vistarikaran-Saundarayakaran Yojana' (Kashi Vishwanath Temple Extension and Beautification Plan), or Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, is a Rs 600-crore project to decongest the area providing relief to devotees visiting Lord Shiva's shrine. The project has angered people who have either lost their shops and homes or stand against the demolition of temples constructed in the way of the project. "I want to vote for PM Modi considering his work done on the national level, but he betrayed the people of Varanasi by launching the KV Corridor project that destroys the ancient look of the city," says a shopkeeper in the Vishwanath lane. Modis popularity Hindu nationalist pm Narendra Modi (C), India's prime minister-elect from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), performs a religious ritual during evening prayers on the banks of river Ganges at Varanasi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, May 17, 2014. Modi will be the next prime minister of India, with early election results on Friday showing the pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party headed for the biggest victory the country has seen in 30 years. REUTERS/Stringer (INDIA - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) - GM1EA5I06GS01 The popularity of PM Modi in Varanasi cannot be overlooked. A big section considers him the best person to be elected. While many consider his performance on the local and national level as a reason to vote for him, some cited the lack of better options. Also Read | No decision yet on Priyanka Gandhi contesting from Varanasi: Rajeev Shukla Last time, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress local leader Ajay Rai were his main contenders. However, so far no announcement has been made by either of the two parties or the SP-BSP alliance regarding the nomination of the candidate against Modi. The city will vote in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 19. The results will be declared on May 23. Representative image The Maharashtra government is relying on office-bearers of housing societies to spread voter awareness and improve polling percentage in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The government, through its cooperatives department and collectorates, has reminded housing societies about its seven-year-old directive to make their presidents and secretaries "booth-level volunteers" to ensure 100 per cent voting on their premises. The department had issued a directive in 2012 to office-bearers of housing societies asking them to make audit of their respective society mandatory and furnish a list of shifted, dead and new voters before July 31 every year. "This directive is still very much relevant and we are reminding the office-bearers of housing societies to ensure 100 per cent voting in coming elections," an official told PTI Tuesday. However, Dharmin Sampat, honorary secretary, Co- operative Societies Residents, Users and Welfare Association, is not impressed with the government's move, saying it is simply passing the buck. "Authorities are trying to shift the responsibility to the office-bearers who render their services with zero pay. Instead, the government should devise another mechanism to ensure 100 per cent voting," Sampat said. D S Vader, honorary secretary, Mumbai District Co-op Housing Society Federation Ltd, said they have been approached by state government and election officials to ensure 100 per cent voting on their premises. The federation is the government-approved apex body of housing societies in Maharashtra. Vader said, "The department has approached us to raise the percentage of voting. We are going to publish a sankalp patra (document of resolution) which we have prepared in association with the election department." "The document will be pasted in front of every housing society building in Mumbai and other parts of the state. With this sankalp patra, all members of the society will take oath to cast their votes," he said. Social activist Mayank Gandhi has launched a campaign, "Ungli Dikha", urging voting to exercise their franchise. "For this cause, we are holding 1,000 street plays in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Besides we have tied up with 1.5 lakh dabbawalas (tiffin carriers) to spread awareness," Gandhi said. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde said, "Voting percentage has certainly improved and it seems our efforts have paid off. "Not only in urban areas, but in Naxal-hit areas like Gadchiroli, too, we witnessed higher voting (in first phase on April 11 that covered seven Lok Sabha seats in the state)." The first round posted over 60 per cent voting. Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, is voting in four phases. The first round is over and the next three phases will be held on April 18, 23, 29. Valay Singh and Niyati Singh Over the last few weeks, various political parties have feverishly appealed to the masses on nationalistic, communal and economic grounds; they have handed out promises and sops to an electorate made up of myriad castes, classes and religions. Touted as the most polarised election in Indias contemporary history parties have campaigned on a number of issues that are reflective of the prevailing national zeitgeist: Pakistan, democracy in danger, corruption, farm crisis, internal security, etc. At the same time, the ills plaguing the formal justice system, despite being crucial to the functioning of our democracy, continue to remain unattended to. While perhaps not an attractive issue to the general public at large, the virtually broken state of our justice infrastructure should be a cause for alarm to all citizens, irrespective of political leaning, and socio-economic status. The workings of the four pillars of Indias justice system i.e. judiciary, prison, police and legal aid, should not be thought of simply as being important to those who come in contact with these sub-systems, rather, we should widen our spheres of concern to include justice, as it is a public good that is essential to the fair delivery of every other public good. Across police, judiciary, and prisons, there is a perpetual high vacancy in essential positions. On average: 20% in police (2016-17), 30% in prisons (2015-16) and between 20-40% in judiciary (2016-17). Women are poorly represented. In police and prisons, their share in the workforce, across functions and hierarchies, ranges from 1% to 20% (2015-17). In 16 states across India, prisons held inmates above their sanctioned capacities, indicating overcrowding. Prisons in Chhattisgarh had an occupancy of 233.87% (2015-16). In 13 states, more than 20% of court cases have been going on for more than five years. This often translates into longer incarceration periods. Despite this, political parties, at the national and regional level, do not imbue this issue with the necessary attention it deserves, choosing often instead to pay lip-service that simply cannot affect the underlying systemic malfunction. The facts, over the years, are depressing. Data gleaned from a forthcoming report that assesses the state of Indias justice infrastructure shows that: Party manifestos and justice The BJP-led NDA government brought out its Sankalp Patrika (resolution document) which continues to make promises on temples, employment, and health among other issues. Their commitment to reforming the justice system extends to increasing the capacity of the legal system within five years in partnership/ co-ordination with the judiciary. The above promise, while welcome, is made in the narrow spirit of ensuring that commercial disputes are resolved more quickly. At first glance, the Congress much-publicised NYAY scheme, may mislead one into thinking it concerns itself with the justice system. However, while we cannot comment on the merits of the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme for the poor, the manifesto does mention that the party will work with state governments to increase the strength of police forces which includes the filling up of vacancies and equipping them. Further, the manifesto also speaks of undertaking comprehensive prison reforms to ensure that prisons are institutions of correction, ensuring that prisoners enjoy human and legal rights. This would help challenge the notion of prisons being full of convicted felons, when in fact India has a large population of inmates that are still under trial and have not been convicted. The manifesto goes on to make mention of releasing remand and undertrial prisoners who have served a period of detention. They have also promised to allocate sufficient funds to the judiciary, increase diversity and establish a National Judicial Commission, among other things. Perhaps most importantly, however, the party claims it would establish by law, an independent Judicial Complaints Commission to investigate complaints of misconduct against judges. While the partys own track record in improving accountability and undertaking reforms across the criminal justice system, which have been long overdue, is well known and criticised it is encouraging that it finds mention, more so than in other party manifestos. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has limited its reforms of the criminal justice system to the constitution of a National Judicial Commission to examine instances of commission/omission of judges and to ensure judicial accountability, reforming the judicial system to provide speedy relief at an affordable cost and the filling up vacancies in the judiciary. In states with worst performance on justice-indices such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar, key regional parties manifestos, instead of striving for systemic changes ('Law and Order' is on the Concurrent list) limit themselves to measures like fast track courts, womens police system and the death penalty. In doing so, they simply pander to populist wishes. The Samajwadi Party, for example, makes a casual reference to pending police reforms in its section on Internal Security with no elaboration. The Trinamool Congress, in its promise on judicial reforms, proposed the setting up of fast track courts. Numerous studies have identified the rule of law as a key factor affecting long-term economic growth and social stability; which also contributes to poverty reduction. For those political parties that have promised economic growth, development and sops to economically weaker sections, it would do to take note of the above. Valay Singh is a freelance journalist and Niyati Singh is a researcher working on Access to Justice. Views are personal. For more Opinion pieces, click here Harish Puppala | Rakesh Sharma Wipro approves Rs 10,500 crore buyback at Rs 325/share The sun has set on Dalal Street for the day. On this podcast, we take a look at some of the biggest stories that made the most noise in India Inc. Why stop at one story when we can have several. This is Stories of the Day, with me Rakesh Sharma on Moneycontrol. The board of Software services exporter and IT major Wipro Limited approved today the buyback of up to 32.3 crore shares worth around 10,500 crores. The companys board okayed a proposal to buy back up to 32,30,76,923 equity shares being 5.35% of the total paid-up equity share capital, at a price of Rs 325 per share, the company said in a release to the stock exchange. The buyback is at a premium of 15.4% to its closing price of Rs 281.6 on the NSE on April 16. Wipro reported a 38% rise in fourth-quarter profit, helped by a strong performance from its banking, financial services and insurance segment. Net profit rose to 2,484 crore in the three months to March 31, from 1,803 crore in the same period a year earlier. Revenue from its IT services business grew 11.1%, driving total revenue to Rs 15,038 crore. Wipro, of course, is not the first IT major to take the buyback route. In recent times, TCS, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys and Mindtree had announced share buybacks. Earlier this year, Infosys had approved an 8,260-crore share buyback. TCS had carried out a 16,000 crore share buyback last year. According to a report in Livemint, share buybacks improve earnings per share and return surplus cash to shareholders while also supporting share price during periods of sluggish market conditions. Wipro had previously conducted a buyback in November 2017 for shares worth Rs 11,000 crore at Rs 320 per share. As per SEBI guidelines, a company can buy back its shares only once in 12 months. The rules state that a company is not allowed to make any buyback offers within a period of one year from the date of expiry of buyback period of the preceding buyback offer if any. 2) Naresh Goyal opts out from bidding for ailing Jet Airways Sources told Moneycontrol today that Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline. The full service carrier is currently operating less than 10 aircraft. On April 12, sources claimed Goyal had also put in a bid for the carrier. Now, airline sources said Goyal has withdrawn the bid for the airline. Another report in Livemint, citing regulatory documents, claimed Goyal was planning a bid for Jet Airways as early as January. Jetair Pvt. Ltd, a Goyal-owned company that is a general sales agent (GSA) to Jet Airways, agreed to provide the airline 250 crore as loan collateral, and considered investing in the airline at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 14 January. In March, Naresh Goyal, and his wife Anita Goyal, had famously stepped down from the board of the airline which is Rs 8,000 crore in the red. SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for Jet Airways' sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of the domestic lenders to Jet. Meanwhile, Livemint reported that the management of Jet Airways has proposed a temporary shutdown of the struggling airline as it awaits promised funds from banks in a rescue deal. Over and above its bank borrowings, Jet also owes money to its lessors, staff and others, and has been struggling for weeks. It did not receive a stop-gap loan of about $217 million from its lenders as part of a bailout plan agreed in late March. Earlier today, Jet Airways shares fell as much as 18.3% to their lowest level since August 2015 following reports of the temporary shutdown. 3) Aviation regulator DGCA said it will continue to monitor airfare movements on a daily basis and engage with airlines for appropriate action, according to a senior official who spoke to The Economic Times. With Jet Airways drastically curtailing operations, there has been an adverse impact on the number of flights being operated on various routes. The official said that with concerns rising over higher air ticket prices, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation today held a meeting with representatives of airlines. Various airlines were advised to continue to monitor at their level and provide information to the DGCA to keep fares low as far as possible, he noted. According to ET, the official explained, Airlines representative also intimated DGCA that they have removed the few Higher Buckets from sale and offering tickets to passengers in lower fare buckets. DGCA will continue to monitor fare movement on daily basis and engage with airline for appropriate action. Polycab makes a blockbuster debut Livemint reported that the DGCA wants to ensure the liquidity crunch that curtailed the operations of Jet Airways does not turn into an industry-wide crisis. Airline representatives told the regulator they had shifted seat inventory from higher priced buckets to lower ones. Making a Hrithik Roshanesque market debut, shares of Polycab India closed Tuesday's session at Rs 655, up 21.75 per cent with respect to its issue price of Rs 538 per share. The scrip got listed at Rs 633 on BSE, a 17.66 per cent premium over the issue price. At the issue price, the largest manufacturer of wires and cables in terms of revenues demanded 21.6 times FY18 earnings. Peers Finolex Cables trades at 22.08 times and KEI Industries at 19.63 times FY18 earnings. The Rs 1,345 crore IPO, which was sold between April 5 and April 9, was subscribed 52 times. This was the largest response to an IPO since HDFC AMCs 82.99 times subscription last year. Polycab manufactures and sells a diverse range of wires and cables and its key products in the wires and cables segment are power cables, control cables, instrumentation cables, solar cables, building wires and flexible cables. Our own Sunil Shankar Matkar spoke to a number of analysts about the prospects of Polycab, and they all seem to indicate that the stock has legs, and is a good un considering the diversified business and strong fundamentals. File image The BJP is likely to revive its "Operation Kamala" to topple the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka after the ongoing general election, but it will not succeed in its effort, Coalition Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah has said. There is no "threat" to the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government, which is "very much stable" and functioning smoothly without hiccups, he told PTI on Monday. The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader further said "Operation Kamala 2.0" will not succeed as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is unlikely to return to power at the Centre. "Operation Kamala" (Operation Lotus) refers to the successful attempt of the BJP to engineer the defection of opposition legislators to ensure the stability of the BS Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka in 2008. It is widely believed that the saffron party is attempting "Operation Kamala 2.0" to form the government in the southern state by trying to lure the legislators of the ruling coalition. The BJP had tried to engineer defections soon after the May, 2018 Assembly polls when it emerged as the single-largest party with 104 seats but fell short of majority. However, the Congress-JD(S) coalition was on guard. "They may try Operation Kamala again and I do not think they will succeed," Siddaramaiah told PTI in an exclusive interview. He was responding to a query on the possibility of the BJP, if it returns to power at the Centre, reviving its "poach-all" operation to stake claim to form the government in Karnataka. "The BJP cannot come to power at the Centre as it will not win a good number of seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the 2014 (Lok Sabha) election, it had won 102 of the 120 seats in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Is it possible to win the same number of seats again? How can you say the BJP will come to power?," the former Karnataka chief minister said, adding that the saffron party may not get 50 per cent of the seats it had bagged in these two states five years ago. "In Gujarat, the BJP had won all the 26 seats and do you think it is possible this time? Where is the Modi wave? Why is the Modi wave created? I want to know what factors are contributing to the Modi wave," he said. Dismissing reports of any threat to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, he said, "We do not have any fear. It is the BJP which is saying the government is not stable. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also saying it." The Congress-JD(S) coalition has 117 MLAs, whereas the BJP has 104. The saffron party will have to get at least 13 legislators from the ruling alliance to resign from the Assembly in order to bring down the strength of the House, allowing it to stake claim to form the government in the southern state. The defecting MLAs cannot join the BJP straightaway as in that case, they will attract disqualification under the anti-defection law. Karnataka goes to the polls in the second and third phases on April 18 and 23. With the BJP led NDA trying to turn the Sabarimala issue into a major poll plank, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on April 16 said his party believes in allowing people to express their faith and sentiments and never stop them from "genuinely" expressing their belief. Addressing a massive poll rally in Pathanamthitta, where the famed Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple is located, Gandhi said his party wants an India "where people can express what is there inside their heart as long as those expressions are peaceful and non-violent. " However, he was cautious not to mention the name of Lord Ayyappa or the recent agitations witnessed by the state against the entry of young women there. Pathanamthitta was ground zero of the Sabarimala women's entry agitations last year. The entire Kerala, including Pathanamthitta, had witnessed frenzied protests by devotees and right wing outfits against the CPI-M-led LDF government's decision to implement the September 28 Supreme Court verdict, permitting women of allage groups into the hillock shrine. "The Congress party believes in allowing all people to express their faith, express their beliefs and express their sentiments," Gandhi said. "But theCongress will never take an action that stops people from genuinely expressing their faith," he said, adding that he leaves the matter to the "wisdom of the people of the state." The Congress chief also said he chose Wayanad in Kerala as his second constituency as the southern state respects other people's ideas. Pathanamthitta is witnessing a fierce tri-cornered fight between Anto Antony of the Congress-led UDF, Veena George of the CPI(M)-headed LDF and BJP-NDA nominee K Surendran. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, while addressing an election meeting in Kozhikode on April 12, also not mentioned the words like 'Sabarimala' or 'Lord Ayyappa'. But the Prime Minister had said that the BJP government would ensure that the centuries old beliefs of devotees would be protected. However during his campaign meetings in Tamil Nadu later,Modi had alleged that the communists, Congress and Muslim League were playing a dangerous game on the Sabarimala issue, which Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rubbished as "misleading" and "utter lies". Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrabab Naidu, key interlocutor among 21 opposition parties demanding verification of at least 50 per cent of polled votes against VVAPT slips, alleged the Election Commission was functioning under the 'guidance' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Opposition parties on Sunday had held a meeting to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning and said they will approach the Supreme Court again to demand that at least 50 per cent of paper trails be verified with EVMs. Naidu had met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora Saturday to raise the issue of alleged malfunctioning of EVMs. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also asked the people of Karnataka to vote in favor of the JD(S)- Congress coalition candidates in the coming Lok Sabha polls. "Yesterday I met the Election Commission. All of you are here and I want to tell you one thing. This Election Commission is working under the guidance of Narendra Modi and BJP," Naidu said, addressing a public meeting in Mandyas Pandavapura. Alleging that the independent functioning of all constitutional organisations is under threat,he said "We are all together to fight against EVMs...as of today EVMs are vulnerable." Demanding verification of VVPAT paper trails of 50 per cent of the EVMs, he said "...we all suspect that the government of India and also the Election Commission of doing some fraud in VVPAT." Naidu on Monday campaigned in Mandya,where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamys son Nikhil is the joint candidate of the ruling JD(S)-Congress alliance. Noting that this was a very important election for the nation and not just for Mandya or Karnataka alone, he said, "I'm appealing to all of you in Karnataka ...you have to vote for the JD(S)-Congress candidates. Naidu alleged that the current Prime Minister was the least accountable one in the last 70 years. "He never addressed one press conference...Democracy is in danger," he said, as he alleged that the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department, Reserve Bank of India, and the Election commission of India were being misused by Modi and BJP President Amit Shah. "Has Narendra Modi done anything for Karnataka in the last five years? We are paying taxes, nothing has been done for our states...even for Andhra Pradesh and other South Indian states and several parts of the country," he said as he hit out at Modi on various issues, including theRafale deal. Praising former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Naidu asked people of Mandya to vote for Nikhil and defeat BJP in the state. Interestingly, multi-lingual actress and widow of actor turned politician M H Ambareesh- Sumalatha, who is from Andra Pradesh and reportedly belongs to the Naidu community, is contesting as independent against Nikhil, for whom Naidu campaigned on Monday in the Vokkaliga bastion. With an intention to avoid large-scale damage to JD(S) with splitting of Vokkaliga votes as both Nikhil and Sumalatha hail from the community, a campaign is on in Mandya to project her as an outsider, with several party leaders questioning her identity and stating that she is not a "Gowdthi" (not Vokkaliga), pointing at her Telugu background. Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for strongly rebutting those talking about the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from the country, the Shiv Sena Tuesday said he must commit that the PDP, NC and the NCP won't be part of the NDA after elections even if it is short on numbers. The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, said while it is good that the prime minister has spoken against those attempting to divide the country, he needs to give people two assurances. "Tomorrow, whatever may be the case on the numbers required to form the government, there will be no relationship with those who talk of dividing the nation. And those who have ruined three generations of Kashmiris will not get a place in Modi's cabinet or the NDA," the Sena said. The Sena further said Modi's stand against Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, for "supporting" those who want to "divide" the nation, should remain the same even after polls. "Those dividing the country and those supporting them should not get a place in politics in future. If those supporting anti-nationals today sit with nationalists for political reasons, it will be an insult to our jawans," the Sena said. The Sena said while National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has spoken about Jammu and Kashmir having a separate PM, it will not be a reality even after 100 generations have passed. The Sena claimed Article 370 gives special privileges to the restive northern state, and the law of the country does not apply there, and therefore, there have been demands from many years to abolish the Constitutional privilege. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party sought to remind the BJP that Abdullah was a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and the NC was a part of the NDA, adding that his party's policy towards Article 370 and 35 (A), both of which give special status to J-K, was age old. "Yet we keep kissing their furry caps to achieve the numbers in Parliament. This is nationalism of convenience," it alleged. The Sena added that People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has a similar stand on the Constitutional provisions for Jammu and Kashmir and she has warned that the state will not remain with India if its special status is revoked. "Until yesterday, the same person was chief minister with support of the BJP. Even her anti-national mindset is old. Yet, the BJP got friendly with them while we kept opposing their alliance," it said. It said both these leaders are today speaking against abolishing of Article 370 and 35 (A) while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting back in his rallies. "Modi has spoken with grit - the way an Indian prime minister should have spoken. He has spoken about how three generations have been destroyed under Abdullah and Mufti's regimes," the party said. "Modi has also spoken about displacement of Kashmiri Pandits. However their ghar wapsi (return to roots) couldn't happen in the last 5 years," it said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple here and offered prayers on April 16, a day after the Election Commission barred him from electioneering for 72 hours for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. The chief minister who arrived in the temple to a rousing reception by his supporters amid slogans of "Jai Gorakhdham" and "Jai Bajrangbali ji" refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite "Hanuman Chalisa." Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. Owing to the poll panel's gag order, the chief minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's road show Tuesday before he filed the nomination paper by him for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. The chief minister also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the chief minister's visit to the temple "a personal one". The Election Commission on April 15 barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am on April 16 for his "divisive" comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP | The BJP Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was barred from campaigning for 72 hours with effect from 6 am on May 2 for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition. The Malegaon blast accused had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). She had also said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992. (Image: PTI) Yogi Adityanath, BJP | The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was barred from poll campaigning for 72 hours for his "Ali" and "Bajrang Bali" remarks, with effect from 6 am on April 16. The BJP leader had compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between 'Ali', a revered figure in Islam, and Bajrang Bali, another name of the Hindu god Hanuman while addressing a rally in Meerut. (Image: Reuters) Azam Khan, Samajwadi Party |The senior SP leader was barred from poll campaigning for 72 hours with effect from 6 am on April 16 for his alleged "khaki underwear" jibe against actor-politician Jaya Prada. BJP's Prada is Khan's rival candidate in Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Allegedly targeting Jaya, Khan had said at a rally, "...the underwear beneath is of khakhi colour". (Image: Reuters) Maneka Gandhi, BJP | The union minister was barred from poll campaigning for 48 hours with effect from 6 am on April 16 followed her remarks in which she asked Muslims to vote for her as they will need her once the Lok Sabha elections were over. "We are not Mahatma Gandhi's children that we keep giving and not get anything in return," she said in Sultanpur's Muslim-dominated Turabkhani area. (Image: Reuters) Representative image India's services exports rose 5.5 per cent to USD 16.58 billion in February 2018-19 from USD 15.71 billion in the same month a year ago, data from the Reserve Bank showed Monday. However, the exports during February 2019 were lower than January's USD 17.75 billion. Services imports in February 2018-19 declined by 3.3 per cent to USD 9.81 billion, compared to USD 10.14 billion in the year-ago month, as per the RBI data on 'India's International Trade in Services: February 2019'. The imports stood at USD 11.3 billion during January this year. The RBI releases monthly data on India's international trade in services with a lag of around 45 days. The monthly data on services are provisional and would undergo revision when the Balance of Payments (BoP) data are released on a quarterly basis. File image JNU students union presidents entering mainstream politics in Bihar is nothing new. For many who thought Kanhaiya Kumar, who shot to fame in 2016 after he was booked for sedition, was the only one to take the political plunge, there have been many more. Shakeel Ahmed Khan who is a Congress MLA from Kadwa in Bihar's Katihar district was the JNUSU President in 1992-93 and was also the union's Vice President in the preceding year. While Khan had contested student union polls as member of the left-affiliated Students Federation of India (SFI), he joined Congress as he moved out of the university politics. "JNU did shape my interest in politics which ultimately became my career for the rest of my life. I will not be dishonest to say that the move to join Congress was not opportunistic but it was almost two decades back, the political atmosphere of the country was different. "Making a political career with the grand old party was in my mind but I have stuck to the party I joined despite all odds," Khan told PTI. Khan had joined Congress in 1999 and was first elected as MLA from Kadwa constituency in 2015. Also in the league is Janata Dal (United) MLC, Tanvir Akhtar, a resident of Sherghati in Gaya, who was the JNUSU president in 1991-92 when Ahmad was the Vice President. Akhtar, contested the student union polls, on a ticket from the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI). He moved out of the campus but remained with the Congress and was made the party's member of legislative council. He was also the Vice-President of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee and President of Bihar Youth Congress. However, he joined JDU last year. "I did not switch my party in an opportunist move. Despite contributing a lot for the Congress, I was humiliated by party leaders and hence I took the decision. I started very young with NSUI which was almost negligible in JNU campus and still continues to be the that way," he told PTI. Kanhaiya, who shot to fame in 2016 after he was booked for sedition over an event on campus during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, is making his poll debut this year from his hometown Begusarai, which goes to polls on April 29. Contesting the election on a CPI ticket, he is pitted against BJP veteran Giriraj Singh and RJD's Tanveer Hassan in Begusarai. There were many more. Chandrashekhar Prasad, who was elected Vice-President of the student union in 1993, and eventually President, for two successive terms had returned to his hometown Siwan and was working for the Communist Party of India but could not make his electoral debut in mainstream politics as he was killed in 1997. Former Banka MP, Digvijay Singh, a native of Gidhaur in Bihar's Jamui district, who died in 2010, was also the general secretary of JNUSU in 1982 from the Students for Democratic Socialism (DYS) outfit. Nationalism and martyrdom of soldiers are as much an election issue as the death of farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, rejecting allegations that he was using the defence forces in his campaign speeches for winning the polls. In an interview to national broadcaster Doordarshan, Modi said the country is suffering because of terrorism for the last 40 years and there is no reason for people not being told about this. "If we don't tell them what our views are on this, then what is the logic in that? ...Can any country move ahead without the feeling of nationalism," he said. "In a country where thousands of its soldiers have been martyred, shouldn't that be an election issue? If farmers die, then it is an election issue, but when soldiers die then it is not an election issue? How can that be?" the prime minister added. Last week, Modi asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to those who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. He also also urged to dedicate their first votes to the security personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack. The comments created political furore with opposition parties accusing the prime minister of using the defence forces for winning the polls. The poll panel took notice and the remarks are currently under examination. The poll authorities in Maharashtra's Latur, where he made the speech, have told the Election Commission that prima facie the comments are violative of its orders, asking parties against using the armed forces in their campaigns. Modi in his interview also took a swipe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, alleging that he was raking up the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. "He has made the Rafale issue to wash the sins of his father. For the past six months, he has been making it an issue without any proof," he said. Modi further said that in the past five years his government has addressed the basic requirements of the people that should have been fulfilled within the first ten to twenty years of Independence. He said that his comments against the Gandhi family was against dynastic politics and his opposition was issue-based and not personal. "Dynastic politics is the most dangerous thing for a democracy," he said. Commenting on the Congress's 'NYAY' or minimum income promise, Modi said with the announcement of the scheme, the Congress has accepted that they have done "great injustice" to the people for the past 60 years. "Will they give nyay (justice)?," he asked, referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Talking about BJP's chances in the ongoing elections, Modi said there is an "unprecedented wave of support" for his party. "I have not seen this even in 2014," he said. Bharat Karnad The April 11 letter by some 150 senior retired military personnel, including eight services chiefs of staff, to the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, President Ram Nath Kovind, raises questions about whether legitimate credit is taken by a government for ordering cross border retaliation against terrorist outfits, and the rising political awareness and involvement by retired generals and the like in party politics, is not being mistaken for politicisation of the military. We refer, said the letter, to the unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes, and even going so far as to claim the Armed Forces to be Modi ji ki sena. It urges the President to take necessary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel, for political purposes to further their political agendas. Much should not be made of UP Chief Minister Adityanaths reference to Modijis sena. Adityanath is the average cowbelt politician who cannot be expected to do anything other than capitalise on a popular military action in a difficult election campaign. It is not unreasonable for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, in any case, to claim credit for reacting aggressively to terrorism for a change when the previous two PMs, Atal Bihari Vajpayee of BJP and Manmohan Singh of the Congress Party, lacking the stomach for a fight, failed to order retaliation in the face of more severe terrorist provocations than the suicide bombing of the CRPF convoy in Pulwamathe strike on Parliament, the symbol of Indian sovereignty, in December 1999 and the seaborne attack on Mumbai in November 2008, respectively. Surely, if hard military reaction and proactive or pre-emptive attack on adversary forces become the norm, as it should be, then there will be no political premium in crowing about it. The issue really is something elsethe civil-military tensions is rife since the dawn of the Indian republic. Ever since the military was partitioned along with the country in 1947, the carryings-on of the rump elementthe Pakistan Army, carved out of the Indian Army, has occasioned unease on this side of the border. The apprehension of the Ayub Khan virus infecting Indian generals and infusing them with ideas about taking over the government has worried the political leadership. The elite sections of the permanent secretariatthe colonial era Indian Civil Service and the follow-on Indian Administrative Service have in their bureaucratic self-interest subtly kept such paranoia stoked, leading to the loss of status and standing of the Indian armed services, for instance, in the warrant of precedence. At one time, Commander-in-Chief, India, ranked next only to Viceroy in importance; today armed services chiefs of staff are 11th or 12th in the rank of officers of state and coeval with Principal Secretaries to the Government of India. The fear-laced and deliberate institutional diminution of the armed forces led to the then Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon publicly belittling General KS Thimayya in the late 1950s, the latter resigning in protest, being compelled to withdraw his resignation by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and then being humiliated in Parliament when Nehru sided with his cabinet colleague. This was a systematic takedown of the army chief. It had echoes in the subsequent run-in General SMFJ Manekshaw had with Menon, again in the half-baked January 2016 story about an armoured column heading towards Delhi published by a set of hyperventilating journalists briefed by an obliging civil service-intelligence agency combo, and is today evidenced in Prime Minister Modis reported antipathy to the Anglicized officer cadre and the liquor-swilling Mess culture in the military. In the fin de siecle and the new millennium, however, theres a heartening trend of retired generals (BC Khanduri, VK Singh, and lately DS Hooda) seeking a second career in domestic politics, joining parties of their choice, and braving the heat and dust of electioneering rather than whiling away their retirement years in frustrated argumentation drenched in whiskey sours. Indeed, former military veterans elevated to cabinet posts (Jaswant Singh, Khanduri, VK Singh and RS Rathore) have comported themselves in office with enormous dignity, propriety and honour, and have impacted the countrys policies. Veterans cannot claim the armed forces suffer from the absence of military expertise and domain knowledge in the generalist civil servant-run government and turn around and deride the involvement of former uniformed personnel in politics under the rubric of politicization. The Indian military is a volunteer citizen force, and more soldiers, naval persons and air men joining politics, contesting polls, and rising up the political ranks is a welcome development, rendering the government progressively more sensitive to national security and armed services concerns. Hitting out at the BJP for repeatedly bringing up Pakistan in its campaign, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia says Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party must stop looking outwards and gaze inwards as jobs and agrarian distress are the key issues facing the country. Scindia, the Congress' general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (West), said he is very confident the party's strategy, the candidates fielded and the campaign in the state will result in it winning the trust of the people. The Congress is fighting the elections in UP on its own strength to rebuild the party, the senior leader told PTI in an interview. Asked about BJP leaders repeatedly talking about Pakistan in their election campaign, he said, The key issue in India is jobs, jobs and jobs. The key issue in India is about (the distress faced by) the kisan, the key issue in India is the maan (respect), samman (honour) and pehchaan (identity) of every citizen. Stop looking outwards Mr Modi and and the BJP, look inwards and resolve the issues of the country, he said. As far as terrorism and Pakistan are concerned, everyone stands together, there is no Congress and no BJP, only India and the tricolour, he said. Whether you are a Congressman or from any other party, the country always comes first, Scindia said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress' general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh (East), has also slammed the BJP over its repeated Pakistan references. Instead of speaking about India and what it had done for its youth, the ruling party was talking about Pakistan, she has said. Describing the party's minimum income scheme NYAY' as a game changer, Scindia said the party will raise funds to ensure that NYAY' is provided to the poorest in the country. Rs 72,000 in the bank account of specifically the woman member of every family that's below the poverty line is certainly a game changer not for UP alone but for the whole of India, Scindia said. It will cost Rs 3,60,000 crore. We will raise the funds to ensure that we provide that NYAY. This is a fight about samman (honour), this is a fight about maan (respect), this is a fight about pehchan (identity) of every single citizen. That is the statement that we are taking to the people of the country, he said. On whether the scheme will have an impact electorally, Scindia asserted that it is not the Congress strategy to do things for electoral impact. The Congress, in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, has said 'NYAY' or Nyuntam Aay Yojana will assure up to Rs 72,000 a year or Rs 6,000 a month income to 20 per cent of India's poorest families. Questioned on the possibility of a post poll tie-up between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD grand alliance, he said the Congress is fighting on its own might and the results will be there for all parties to see. "Let's see where the chips fall on the 23rd of May, he added. He also dismissed suggestions that a divided opposition had handed the BJP the advantage, saying we will speak on May 23 when the results will be out and the UPA forms the government at the Centre. MNS chief Raj Thackeray appealed to people to ensure "disappearance" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah from the political scene of the country for spreading "lies" and "causing" communal disharmony. Addressing a poll rally in Solapur district of Maharashtra, he called the prime minister "shameless" for seeking votes in the name of jawans without acknowledging their sacrifice. In controversial remarks, he asked the people gathered at the rally to accept money if offered to them by those who are "looting" the country. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections, but Thackeray has been addressing rallies in support of Congress-NCP-led alliance candidates, who are pitted against the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. "I am here to wake all of you up against the tactics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. "The kind of lies they have spread and caused communal disharmony, you should ensure they both get disappeared from the political horizons of this country," he said. In a veiled attack on the Shiv Sena, he said, "Those who are helping Modi-Shah should also not be spared. You should not vote for those who help Modi-Shah stay in power." Thackeray, however, did not mention the Shiv Sena, his former party, or any of its leaders in his speech. After showing a video of Modi, where he purportedly claims a trader takes more risk than a jawan, Thackeray said, "The prime minister seeks votes from people in the name of jawans, but makes such remarks about their sacrifice. I have so far not seen a more "shameless" prime minister than him." "They are trying to fool you by raising non-issues ahead of elections. If they distribute money, accept it. This is the right time to loot them. "You cannot imagine the way our country is being looted by these people, but accept their money and do not look back," Thackeray said. He claimed Modi and Shah are pushing the country on path of authoritarianism like the current regime in Russia where power is concentrated in the hands of 7-8 people. Thackeray also exposed the Maharashtra government's claim of a village in Amravati district - Harisal - being the first digital village in the country. However, a video procured by MNS workers shows no digital services such as Internet connection and card swapping for financial transaction, among others, are operational in the village, he said. "What Adolf Hitler did to Germany in 1930s is going to be replicated in India if Modi and Shah return to power," Thackeray warned. Solapur will vote on April 18. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is believed to have fully sold out its allotted India quota of CB300R performance bike for the year. Bookings of the bike costing Rs 2.41 lakh swelled to 500 units within two months of the launch, much higher than what the company had projected. However, HMSI, which is Indias second largest two-wheeler maker, is still accepting bookings for the bike. The cafe racer inspired model will compete against TVS Apache RR310, BMW G 310R, Bajaj Dominar, Yamaha R3, KTM Duke 390, the 350cc range of Royal Enfield (Eicher Motors), Kawasaki Ninja, Mahindra Mojo to name a few. Although some of these bikes cater to different customers, they all fall in the 300-400cc engine capacity range. As per the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the segment of bikes having engine capacity between 250cc and 350cc was flat with sales of 7.73 lakh during 2018-19 as against 7.68 lakh sold in 2017-18. The model is HMSIs maiden attempt at the unconventional motorcycle segment of street bike with a retro design theme, which is not gaining ground across brands. The CB300R is powered by a 286cc liquid cooled engine that generates peak power of nearly 31ps. The CB300R will feature full LED headlamps, LCD instrument display, runner mounted steel handlebar, two-channel ABS. The bike weighs 147 kg without fuel. The CB300R will be brought to India in kit format. Thereafter, it will be assembled at HMSIs factory in north India. This is also the third model (after CBR 650 and Africa Twin) that the company will assemble in India. HMSI retails the model through its limited 22 premium dealerships called Honda Wing World, which has outlets in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Cochin and Pune. It otherwise has a 'regular' network of 5,700 outlets. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More ACI Worldwide, a global provider of realtime electronic payment and banking solutions, announced that Canara Bank has successfully rolled out major new functionality to support EMV card acquiring across its ATM network and Aadhaar Authentication, leveraging ACIs UP Retail Payments solution to achieve market firsts. Canara Bank, one of Indias largest public sector banks with nearly 6,300 branches and a network of more than 10,000 ATMs, is the first public sector bank to shift to EMV chip and PIN for card present transactions across the countrys vast ATM network. The EMV shift, as in other major global markets, is aimed at reducing lost and stolen card fraud and making counterfeit card fraud more difficult. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had set a deadline of December 31, 2018 for the switch, mandating use of an embedded chip to replace the traditional magnetic stripe card. The bank has tapped into the extensive functionality of ACIs UP Retail Payments solution, which they have been relying upon as their core payments processing engine for 12 years, to be the first public sector bank in India to meet RBIs EMV mandate. This is a major achievement for the bank as it offers its retail banking customers improved authentication for card-present transactions at the ATM, thus ensuring even greater security and risk mitigation. In addition, functionality developed by ACI and Canara Bank also speeds up the process of Aadhaar number linking, which eases KYC compliance at the banks branches. ACI has played a central role in driving EMV rollouts across numerous countries over the years. That, coupled with our long and extensive footprint within India, enables us to effectively drive key initiatives for innovative banks like Canara Bank, a long-time ACI customer, said Kaushik Roy, Vice President South Asia, ACI Worldwide. Canara Banks successful rollout of EMV acquiring across its ATM network, and its implementation of biometric ID based on the 12-digit Aadhaar number, demonstrates that even the largest public sector companies can adopt a more agile approach and benefit from working with vendors such as ACI, which offer flexible, scalable payments technology. ClearTax, a Bengaluru-based fintech that offers tax, finance & compliance solutions, has launched a new GST Health Check tool. This tool generates a detailed report of a businesss GST health and provides data-backed GST insights to businesses which could be used to claim an accurate input tax credit, reduce the risk of penalties, avoid late fees and government notices. The tool was created to capture the markets need for a comprehensive GST compliance report and developed primarily to simplify the process of identifying gaps in GST returns for the financial year. The Health Check tool generates various reports that will help simplify the GST filing process. It will show the user the filing status of the GST returns for the previous 6 months. Apart from this exhaustive history, it will also provide a comparative analysis between the various reports such as GSTR-3B vs GSTR-1 (tax difference on monthly basis), GSTR-3B vs GSTR-2A (ITC difference for every month). With these comparative analyses, the user will be able to discover discrepancies and save valuable time and money. Commenting on the announcement, Archit Gupta, Founder, and CEO, ClearTax said, Awareness and education are critical to getting more businesses to comply with GST. That's why we have launched the ClearTax GST compliance health checker open to all for free. BMW Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said the Bavarian carmaker has no plans to develop a compact vehicle together with a rival German carmaker. "We have no plans to develop a smaller car together with a German competitor," Peter said at the Shanghai Autoshow on Tuesday, pouring cold water on rumours that BMW was about to deepen its alliance with Daimler. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will embark on his first ever official visit to Iran on April 21 as part of Islamabad's efforts to promote bilateral ties with the neighbouring nation. The two countries had recently witnessed downward spiral in their relationship after Tehran accused Islamabad of "harbouring terrorists" following a suicide attack in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan, bordering Pakistan, on February 13 that left 27 Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel dead. Iran and Pakistan share a nearly 1,000 km border. According to a Foreign Office (FO) statement, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani invited Khan for the visit. The two-day visit will include a brief stop-over in Mashhad before arriving in Tehran for bilateral talks with the Iranian leadership, it stated. During his trip, Khan will hold meetings with Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Rouhani. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers for Finance, Human Rights, Maritime Affairs, Inter-Provincial Coordination, and adviser on Commerce and Task force on Energy, and Special Assistant for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resources besides other senior officials. UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed horror and sadness at the devastation of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris as fire tore through the 12th-century symbol of faith and architectural brilliance, days just before the world will celebrate Easter. The colossal fire swept through the famed cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky. "Horrified by the pictures coming from Paris with the fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral - a unique example of world heritage that has stood tall since the 14th century. My thoughts are with the people and government of France," Secretary-General Guterres said in a tweet as images began to flash on television and social media of a burning Notre- Dame Cathedral. Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture also expressed her "deep emotion in the face of this dramatic fire at the cathedral." Azoulay said that UNESCO is closely monitoring the situation and is standing by the French people's side to "safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage." The Organisation elevated Notre-Dame, widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French gothic architecture, to world heritage status in 1991. Construction of the cathedral began in 1163, on the central Parisian island in the middle of the Seine, known as Ile de la Cite, during the reign of King Louis VII, and it was finally completed in 1345. The President of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa said in a tweet that she is "deeply saddened by the images of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the jewels of French and European cultural heritage, the cathedral was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. "I stand with the people and government of France," she said. The devastation came days just before the world will celebrate Easter on April 21. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Around 400 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly five hours. According to Paris City Hall, the fire started shortly before 7pm Paris time Monday. About 11 to 13 million visitors visit Notre Dame each year. The cathedral was undergoing much-needed renovations. While the cathedral's iconic spire and roof collapsed in the fire, the main structure of the Gothic cathedral was saved from total destruction. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency that issues Aadhaar, has been emphatic in its claim that Aadhaar data is protected by a 13 feet wall. And yet, UIDAI has registered a first information report (FIR) regarding data theft of 7.82 crore people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. How did this happen? The Cyberabad Police in Madhapur, on the request of UIDAI, had registered the FIR against Hyderabad-based IT Grids (India) Pvt Ltd. While there already is a complaint filed against IT Grids about using Aadhaar data for voter profiling, the new FIR, for the first time, asks for forensic investigation in the data breach, says Srinivas Kodali, an Internet researcher and alumnus of IIT Madras. FIR 278/2019 by Cyberabad Police in Madhapur on the request of @UIDAI against IT Grids Pvt Ltd. First time in a #Aadhaar case there is a forensic investigation which was missing in all other UIDAI security claims. pic.twitter.com/8gDI3LmpRt Srinivas Kodali (@digitaldutta) April 15, 2019 The FIR states, "...investigation so far has revealed that Seva Mitra application is suspected to be using stolen voter information along with Aadhaar data of the state governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for voter profiling, targeted campaigning and even deletion of votes." On 2nd and 3rd March, the Cyberabad police seized seven hard disks and other digital evidence during search on the premises of IT Grids. This evidence was sent to Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TSFSL) for forensic examination. The examination by TSFSL found that "the structure and size of the database is surprisingly similar to that of the databases that could have been originally owned by UIDAI". UIDAI supplied sample code shows they share around 44 parameters of #Aadhaar details to states governments from CIDR in csv files for building surveillance databases of citizens. https://t.co/hwbGSYK13C pic.twitter.com/bj08N0kbNI Srinivas Kodali (@digitaldutta) January 10, 2018 "The presence of enrolment identification number (EID_NUM) raises a strong suspicion that the data could have been obtained either from the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) or one of the state resident data hubs (SRDH) aligned to CIDR. Availability of such unique information of an Aadhaar number indicates that the accused (IT Grid) might have illegally accessed CIDR or SRDH and has used such information or data for wrongful gain," the FIR says, adding, "...the directors of IT Grids are suspected to have hosted databases related to Aadhaar number and related identity information in Amazon web service (AWS), which is in clear contravention of Aadhaar Regulations." "There is every possibility that sensitive data of Indian citizens could be accessed and used by countries hostile to India or international organised crime syndicates in a manner which could be seriously detrimental to the national security," the FIR registered on request of UIDAI states. Isnt all this contrary to what UIDAI's chief executive (CEO) Ajay Bhushan Pandey had told the Supreme Court when his presentation talked about 'sufficient safeguard mechanism' and 'almost fool proof public key infrastructure (PKI)-2048 encryption...virtually impossible to decipher'. The September 2018 judgement appears to have accepted this claim, but the action of filing the FIR and the data breach suggest otherwise. Over the years, Moneylife has been raising similar issues associated with the Aadhaar numbering scheme and role played by UIDAI. Dr Anupam Saraph, a renowned expert in governance of complex systems, had even warned on how benami voters and Aadhaar could be used to launder elections. In one of his articles, Dr Saraph had said , "The use of Aadhaar by governments fits the classical definition of electoral malpractice as it constitutes manipulation of electoral processes and outcomes so as to substitute personal or partisan benefit for the public interest. Such malpractice threatens the integrity of an election as it is extensive, systematic and decisive." "Unlike the Voter ID, that is certified by the registration officer in accordance with Rule 28(3)(d), the Aadhaar 'card' or the biometric or demographic data associated with any Aadhaar number is not certified by the UIDAI. Unlike the process of revising the electoral rolls, there is no process of revising Aadhaar database. In fact, there is no process for objecting to assigning an Aadhaar number to any combination of biometric or demographic data in the Aadhaar database. In the absence of such a process to clean the database, no verification or audit of the Aadhaar database has happened either," Dr Saraph says. IT Grids, which provides information technology (IT) services to Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is facing allegations of having stolen data of 37 million voters from the state government database through its Seva Mitra app. Calling Andhra Pradesh as "true digital nightmare, all thanks to Aadhaar", Mr Kodali says, the state government publishes Aadhaar everywhere from electricity bills to even in auto-rickshaws. Telangana Govt has everyone's Aadhaar with them, which was passed to EC. Voter id Aadhaar has already been linked of everyone in state and all the deletion are because of this stupid tech. So before you utter garbage, please do some homework. Those Hindu voters were deleted too pic.twitter.com/pHOPzyFRuu Srinivas Kodali (@digitaldutta) December 8, 2018 Coming back to the presentation in the Supreme Court by Mr Pandey, the CEO of UIDAI, the majority judgement seemed to have relied on the PowerPoint in its ruling. On 21 March 2018, requesting the five-judge Constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, to allow UIDAI CEO make a technical presentation, Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal contended that this would explain how security is protected at every step in CIDR. Many doubts and fears that have been raised (by the petitioners) will be clarified by the presentation (from the UIDAI CEO). There is also a four minute video showing the thirteen foot wall around the CIDR, the AG had told the bench. In the majority judgement, the five-judge bench (on page 242/567) stated... "153) After going through the Aadhaar structure, as demonstrated by the respondents in the PowerPoint presentation from the provisions of the Aadhaar Act and the machinery which the Authority has created for data protection, we are of the view that it is very difficult to create profile of a person simply on the basis of biometric and demographic information stored in CIDR. Insofar as authentication is concerned, the respondents rightly pointed out that there are sufficient safeguard mechanisms. To recapitulate, it was specifically submitted that there were security technologies in place (slide 28 of Dr Pandeys presentation), 24/7 security monitoring, data leak prevention, vulnerability management programme and independent audits (slide 29) as well as the Authoritys defence mechanism (slide 30). It was further pointed out that the Authority has taken appropriate proactive protection measures, which included disaster recovery plan, data backup and availability and media response plan (slide 31). The respondents also pointed out that all security principles are followed inasmuch as: (a) there is PKI-2048 encryption from the time of capture, meaning thereby, as soon as data is given at the time of enrolment, there is an end to end encryption thereof and it is transmitted to the Authority in encrypted form. The said encryption is almost fool proof and it is virtually impossible to decipher the same; (b) adoption of best-in-class security standards and practices; and (c) strong audit and traceability as well as fraud detection. Above all, there is an oversight of Technology and Architecture Review Board (TARB) and Security Review Committee. This Board and Committee consist of very high profiled officers. Therefore, the Act has endeavoured to provide safeguards." Refuting the contention of the petitioners on the use of Aadhaar by third parties or by the State for mass surveillance, AG Mr Venugopal and UIDAI counsel Rakesh Dwivedi had submitted to the apex court (as mentioned in the SC judgement on page 243/567) that "...given the architecture of the Aadhaar Act, there are no such possibilities and in any event, submission based on imaginary possibility do not provide any basis for questioning the validity of Aadhaar Act." The IT Grids episode of exposing data and profile of 78.2 million people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has brought forward a stark reality. This exactly is the scenario that the petitioners in the Aadhaar case were trying to point out. It is Official People. CIDR has indeed been breached and is stored in the USA using Amazon Web Services. It is not just AP and Telangana but other states as well. Fully busted!! Please read the communique from @UIDAI. Is there anything left? Link: https://t.co/iIUWaBlKJa V. Anand | . (@iam_anandv) April 14, 2019 In this case, there are a number of violations from the private entity such as data breach, storage of data on servers located overseas and exploitation of Aadhaar number holders by creating their demographic profile and using it for political means. As pointed out by Justice DY Chandrachud in his (dissenting) judgement, the Aadhaar Act, these violations also hampers right to privacy, as defined by the apex court, of the individual. When Aadhaar is seeded into every database, it becomes a bridge across discreet data silos, which allows anyone with access to this information to re-construct a profile of an individuals life. This is contrary to the right to privacy and poses severe threats due to potential surveillance, Justice Chandrachud had said in his judgement. (page 1043/1448) These revelations raise several serious and important questions on linking Aadhaar with everything under the sun by government and exploitation of the Aadhaar data by private entities. Important to note, when the Supreme Court in its order last year discarded Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act that allowed use of the UID by private entities, the Union government brought out an ordinance to allow such usage. This means, citizens will need to be on constant vigil and protect own personal data that is vulnerable and exploited through linking of Aadhaar with everything, either legally or illegally by almost anyone. Also under the new circumstances, where it is proved that Aadhaar data can be used to create demographic profile that can be exploited for profit, will the Supreme Court consider speedy hearing of review petitions filed by petitioners in the Aadhaar case? Dollar volume from Vancouver industrial sales continued to rise in 2018 as the number of deals completed declined with investors and developers increasingly challenging the historical dominance of owner-occupiers in terms of transactional volume. Vancouvers industrial dollar volume reached a historic high of $295.6 million, far above the previous record of $201 million back in 2017. This is despite the market seeing the second lowest number of completed transactions (47 deals) in a year since 2010. Earlier this year, CBRE Ltd. warned that at the current pace of activity, Vancouvers supply of industrial land will be virtually depleted by the next decade, with the burgeoning e-commerce sector cited as the main factor driving demand. There is a critical shortage of industrial land in Vancouver, CBRE Canada vice chairman Paul Morassutti told Bloomberg. It was our estimation that they could potentially, literally run out of industrial land by the early 2020s. Future industrial buildings in the city might also begin to go vertical due to the lack of usable land, Morassutti added. Scandal-plagued bank Wells Fargo has been accused in a new lawsuit of knowing participation in a real estate investment companys Ponzi scheme. the lawsuit arose from an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into a Florida firm called EquityBuild, according to the San Jose Mercury News. EquityBuild, run by Jerome Cohen, 63, and his son Shaun Cohen, 39, raised at least $135 million from more than 900 investors, the SEC said. Investors were allegedly falsely promised that their investments would be secured by income-producing real estate, and that they would receive returns of 12%-20%. Most of the properties involved were located in underdeveloped areas of Chicagos South Side, the Mercury News reported. The SEC claimed that the Cohens hid from investors that they skimmed 15 percent to 30 percent off each investment by taking undisclosed fees. They also told investors that the properties being purchased cost substantially more than what the Cohens actually paid for them. When the properties failed to achieve the promised returns, the Cohens began paying off earlier investors with funds from new investors. The Texas House has approved a bill that would allow the Midland County Hospital District to impose a sales-and-use tax if voters approve it in an election. State Rep. Tom Craddick told the Reporter-Telegram that the bill is on its way to the Senate, where it will be up to state Sen. Kel Seliger to work it through that legislative body. Craddick said House Bill 279 gives the hospital district another tool in the bag for the hospital to add to its general revenue and cover any costs while serving the communitys health care needs. State law does not give hospital districts the authority to call such elections without approval of the Legislature. Craddick said, should this bill pass, the hospital district would have that authority if it chose. Midland Health CEO Russell Meyers and Midland Mayor Jerry Morales approached Craddick before the current legislative session about the possibility of such a bill. There have been conversations in the community about the possibility of a sales tax election that would call for one-eighth of a cent to be collected by the city, and another eighth to be collected by the hospital district. The sales tax in the city currently is 8 percent. The cap on sales tax for a city in Texas is 8.25 percent. This legislation also allows the hospital district to call for an election to levy taxes in the entire county, according to the bill language and hospital officials. Since the hospital districts boundaries extend past city limits, such language is necessary. The current county sales tax outside the city of Midland is 6.75 percent. For almost 40 years, ad valorem taxes have been levied on the property owners in Midland County, representing the only local taxpayer support for our hospital district, according to a previous Midland Health statement about the bill. Rep. Tom Craddick has worked with Midland County Hospital District on an amendment to our enabling legislation that would allow us to ask our voters to approve a small sales tax to partially offset the increasing costs of health care now borne solely by property owners in Midland County. City officials have been vocal about their interest in the available sales tax. In 2017, the mayor led an effort to dedicate that quarter-cent to generate revenue for park development. That effort failed at the ballot box. Morales previously said the bill, as he sees it, is about providing options for moving forward. He said he doesnt have any issues sharing the remaining quarter-cent with the hospital district -- should voters approve it -- but he hasnt talked with other council members about it. Morales said he envisions the citys share of that tax income would be used for road and maintenance. Last year, a quarter-cent of city sales tax generated more than $12.5 million. Tree dens play a critical role in panda lifestyle In a paper recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, an international team of conservationists highlights the importance of tree dens for pandas raising infants in native habitats. The study, conducted in Fengtongzai and Foping Nature Reserves in China, analyzed the difference in microhabitats of cave dens and tree dens used by female pandas. The result of the research suggests that conservation efforts need to take into account key resources, such as large old trees that provide important microhabitats that support rare and endangered wildlife. "Pandas are found in different kinds of forests in China," said the study's lead author, Wei Wei, an associate professor at China West Normal University. "Old growth forests provide large tree cavities for den sites, but pandas living in forests without these large old trees must use cave dens instead. We studied the microclimates inside these den habitats, and found that tree dens were better at buffering against extremes of temperature and humidity than cave dens--indicating that tree dens provide a more stable microclimate for rearing cubs." The study was conducted with support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, and San Diego Zoo Global. "Current monitoring practices for giant pandas and their habitat do not include systematic surveys of large old trees, but our data points to the possibility that these trees are critical limiting resources used by denning maternal females, possibly facilitating offspring survival," said Zejun Zhang, professor and director of the Science Department at China West Normal University. "Future monitoring and management plans should emphasize this critical resource, so that we can better judge its importance for giant panda conservation." Findings of this study may help guide future giant panda conservation efforts--in habitat management and, where needed, in construction of artificial dens. "Management practices that preserve large old trees may increase capacity of reserves to sustain larger giant panda populations," said Ron Swaisgood, director of Recovery Ecology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. "Our data on preferred characteristics of dens also will provide important guidance for construction of artificial dens. Future experiments will evaluate whether building artificial dens that mimic the qualities of preferred natural dens will be a useful tool for improving den habitat while we wait for old growth forests to re-establish." ### The Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry of Education), China West Normal University is a leading institute in the protection of wildlife resources in southwestern China. The Key Laboratory conducts research to solve crucial conservation ecology issues by incorporating studies of evolutionary biology, population dynamics, life history and reproductive strategies for endemic wildlife species in China's southwest mountain ranges. To promote effective conservation measures, the laboratory studies endangered wildlife, including key species such as the giant panda, blue sheep, dwarf blue sheep, sika deer, golden takin and golden monkey. As an international nonprofit organization, San Diego Zoo Global works to fight extinction through conservation efforts for plants and animals worldwide. With a history of leadership in species recovery and animal care, San Diego Zoo Global works with partners in science-based field programs on six continents, and maintains sanctuaries and public education facilities in many places. Inspiring passion for nature is critical to saving species, and San Diego Zoo Global's outreach efforts share the wonder of wildlife with millions of people every year. Current major conservation initiatives include fighting wildlife trafficking and the impacts of climate change on wildlife species; broad-spectrum species and habitat protection efforts in Kenya, in Peru and on islands worldwide; preventing extinction in our own backyard; and expanding efforts to bank critical genetic resources and apply them to the conservation of critically endangered species. To learn more, visit sandiegozooglobal.org. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. At the MoU signing ceremony (Photo: LDO) The MoU was signed during Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs visit to Romania from April 14-16, and under the witness of the Vietnamese Prime Minister and his Romanian counterpart Viorica Dancila. Under the MoU, the two sides committed to increase strict cooperation in agriculture, veterinary and food safety, focusing on cultivation, plantation and breeding technologies, animal and plant quarantine, ensuring food safety and quality, training and research. They will also increase exchanges for mutual understanding and for promoting trade of agricultural products, as well as cooperating in agricultural investment, contributing to strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries./. The Texas Senate broke a logjam Monday that had paralyzed a piece of priority legislation for weeks, blunting a controversial provision in its property tax reform package and then advancing the bill without having to deploy a procedural nuclear option" to move it. A vote on Senate Bill 2, a top imperative for state leaders, had been expected last week. But an apparent lack of support stalled the vote in the upper chamber, where the backing of 19 senators is generally required to bring a bill up for debate. After Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened to blow past decades of tradition and bring the measure to a vote with a simple majority, state Sen. Kel Seliger, a vocal dissenter, relented, allowing the bill onto the floor for debate but insisting he ultimately would not support its passage. Seligers announcement came alongside a reworked bill that hit the floor Monday with a handful of technical changes and one notable concession. As updated, SB 2 will force cities, counties and other taxing entities to receive voter approval before raising 3.5 percent more property tax revenue than the previous year a change from the 2.5 percent trigger originally proposed. School districts would still face the 2.5 percent threshold under the version of the bill approved Monday. Only revenue generated on existing properties, not new construction, would count toward the threshold. And voters in small taxing units, with sales and property tax levies under $15 million annually, will need to opt into some of the SB 2 provisions in an election. Municipal leaders and lawmakers like Seliger, a former mayor, have called the 2.5 percent figure punitively low and said it would cripple local governments ability to provide public safety services. A 1 percentage point increase is unlikely to appease them; the Senate and House deadlocked at higher thresholds of 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively, in 2017. Still, a long-shot bid to replace the 3.5 percent trigger with one at 6 percent did not advance Monday. Other amendments authored by Democratic senators which would have exempted hospital districts, community colleges and certain municipal services from parts of the property tax legislation all quickly failed. One successful change came from Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, who proposed allowing the money counties spend on indigent defense to be partly excluded from the revenue growth calculation. After around three hours of debate, SB 2 was passed on an 18-13 vote. Legislative rules require that the measure be voted on a final time by the upper chamber before being sent to the House for further debate. The lower chamber, meanwhile, has postponed discussion of its property tax reform legislation until April 24. Unlike the Senates version, the House has exempted hospital districts, community colleges, emergency service districts and school districts from abiding by a 2.5% election trigger a move that has enflamed far-right lawmakers and activists, who say homeowners will feel scant relief if those entities are exempted. The "nuclear option" SB 2s progress Monday came after more than two months of stalemate in the upper chamber and after the Senate stalled again Thursday, when the measure was expected to hit the floor for the first time. That evening, after hours of closed-door negotiations, Patrick informed several Democratic senators that if no deal had been reached by Monday, he would take the nuclear option blowing past a tradition that requires three-fifths of senators to vote to bring a bill to the floor to pass the measure. That threat seems to have greased the skids for negotiations, which lasted through the weekend, and Patrick said Monday afternoon that he had been fully prepared to use the "nuclear option." The maneuver unheard of in recent memory was not necessary. In a lengthy speech Monday, Seliger, an Amarillo Republican who has clashed with Patrick in the past, said he would allow the bill to be debated and criticized Patrick for even floating the nuclear option. He suggested his vote to let SB 2 advance was at least partly driven by a desire to prevent the Senate from taking a procedural move that discredits this body. We have a way to do things that I think is important. It underscores that we must be willing to compromise, Seliger said. He added, This bills going to pass. Right now, nobody can get in the way. School districts Currently, taxing units can levy 8 percent more property tax revenue before voters can petition for an election to roll back the increase. SB 2 and HB 2 would make those elections automatic and would make a battery of widely-supported reforms designed to increase transparency and utility for taxpayers. Still, the legislation has proved contentious, met with opposition not just from Democrats, but also from far-right lawmakers who would like school districts to be reinserted into HB 2. House leaders point to another measure approved 149-1 in the lower chamber in early April that will reduce school districts tax rates by 4 cents per $100 of taxable property value. But the Senate has opted to keep school districts in their primary property tax legislation. The most recent draft of SB 2 reins in school district tax rate increases using language that appear similar to that in original version of the bill language Bettencourts office first referred to as a placeholder. According to the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, a business-backed association, the provision would actually allow school districts to increase their tax rates without voter approval, as long as the rate increase was less than 2.5%. Currently, school districts must go to voters if they raise taxes above $1.04 per $100 valuation up to the maximum $1.17. An initial attempt at a one-size fits all solution was included in HB 2 and SB 2 as introduced but however well-intentioned, the school language didnt work, Dale Craymer, the association's president, wrote in a critique of the bill. He has said the separate school finance legislation, which would lower school district tax rates statewide, would provide "both tax relief and tighter constraints on future tax increases. An attempt from Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to strip school district language from SB 2 swiftly failed Monday. SB 2 is not the place for the debate as it relates to school district taxes, he said. We were told the school district portion of SB 2 was essentially a placeholder. Seliger remains opposed to Senate Bill 2 Source: Kel Seligers Office AUSTINSen. Kel Seliger voted to suspend the Senate's rules to allow debate to take place on Senate Bill 2, but remains steadfast in his opposition to the legislation. This decision prevented the blocker bill, which ensures cooperative work in the Senate, from being removed from the order of business in the so-called "nuclear option." "I voted to suspend the rules today in an effort to preserve decades of collegiality and cooperation in the Texas Senate by preserving the procedural blocker bill rather than setting a precedent by moving forward with what the Lt. Governor threatened to hastily throw away by using the nuclear option." To destroy the history of Senate procedures to allow consideration of a bill that is destined to pass is a waste. I hope my action today keeps the Texas Senate from diminishing itself and its exemplary tradition," said Seliger. "On the matter of the legislation itself, I continue to oppose the passage of SB2 in its current form. I have a pair of bills that provide real relief and limit growth in appraisals without hamstringing our local governments and schools. Cities and counties must be able to have the ability to keep our citizens and streets safe. Our schools must be able to educate the next generation with world class instruction and institutions. I encourage my colleagues in the House to continue to advance a more compromised version of property tax reform in a way that will allow Texas to continue to grow a strong economy. As a legislature, we must provide real reform, not window dressing. SB 2 does not provide that relief." 3 1 of 3 Brett Coomer/Staff photographer Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Vice President Mike Pence will visit the Permian Basin Wednesday to tour an oil rig operated by Midland-based Diamondback Energy and attend a fundraiser in Midland. During the rig tour, Pence will speak to employees and discuss the administrations efforts to start a new energy revolution in the United States and to advance the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in Congress, according to a White House official. Manila (CNN Philippines Life) On the surface, the Christian faith appears ingrained in the lives of many Filipinos, with over 80 percent of the Philippine population identifying as Catholic. Every Sunday, families gather together and pack their local parishes; priests preach with conviction to a committed flock; and choirs sing with devotion within churches adorned with images of angels, saints, and a crucified God. Commemorating the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Holy Week in the Philippines naturally comes with rituals and observances practiced by millions of devotees. Visiting several churches on Maundy Thursday, performing the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, attending a solemn vigil on the night of Black Saturday: these are typical traditions that allow the faithful to reflect, repent, and remember the meaning of the sacrifice made by the God they worship every Sunday. But with most Filipinos born into the faith, one might wonder whether Holy Week is still truly sacred to those that call themselves Catholic. How do Filipinos really feel about a week filled with religious rituals that have been around all their lives? Do they indeed deepen the faith of the people, or are they met with indifference? Why do some people refuse to participate in these ceremonies and leave the faith they inherited altogether risking the disapproval of their families and communities? Engaging these questions, we asked a mix of believers and non-believers to share their thoughts on the meaning of Holy Week and the pervasiveness of religion in the Philippines. Ray Aguas, theology professor I dont think Holy Week is particularly sacred for people, especially the younger generations. If they go to church, I doubt its out of a sincere desire to pray or reflect. Its typically because parents make them go. Everyone thinks of it as more of a vacation, I think, rather than a genuinely serious encounter with the sacred. Maybe they never really grasped the real meanings because they were not taught well. Perhaps there are too many distractions now, like cellphones or Netflix. For a lot of people, religion is something inherited and is more a sociological fact rather than a conscious choice. I consider ordinary time more meaningful than Christmas or Easter. The start and end of Jesus life wouldnt be meaningful for us without the life he lived in between. Thats what defines Christianity for me how we are to live, rather than the fact that Jesus was born or died and rose again. Bianca Suarez, research associate The religious aspects of Holy Week dont matter to me because religion doesnt. I dont believe in religion because it doesnt make sense, and I believe it mostly does more harm than good. In the Philippines, religion is so important that it becomes blinding to those who believe it and suffocating to those that try to do things against it. It becomes another meter to judge people by. However, the cultural aspects to these religious events matter to me because they help me connect with people and identify with them. Idem Joson, law student For Catholics like myself, Holy Week is a sacred commemoration of the greatest and most radical form of love God offering his only Son out of love for all humankind. We cast our gaze upon Christ on the cross and remember that we are called to love as he did, to live our lives as a response of love to Gods ultimate sacrifice. Complicated as it sounds, reflecting on this truth during this time grounds me and helps me grasp my place in the greater scheme of things. This is why I think it remains to be a very meaningful time for many people. "I consider ordinary time more meaningful than Christmas or Easter. The start and end of Jesus life wouldnt be meaningful for us without the life he lived in between." Ray Aguas Therese De Silva, multi-disciplinary development worker For me, religious traditions feed our longing to cope beyond something that is inherently logical and can be a healthy tool to process our struggles. It has its cathartic purposes. Some traditions make sense, while some do not and do not have to. When violence and discrimination are present, and pressing issues are censored, thats when it becomes really problematic. I think that each spiritual belief, (whether its Christianity, Buddhism or Islam), has wisdom and love at the core of their teachings. However, as humans do, we misinterpret these core messages (by taking them too literally). We have constant misunderstandings with each other in our day-to-day conversations, what more with a scripture that preceded all of us? Growing up in a religious family gave me an insiders perspective on what is going on inside the church. There really are corrupted religious leaders and mass servers. Despite detaching from these kinds of people, I still believe in an uncontainable higher power, which can be experienced in the everyday. Reflecting, asking for forgiveness, and forgiving others dont have to be done for a single week only. Shyrelle Pizana, volunteer mentor As I grew up in a Catholic family, Holy Week is indeed sacred for me. I still remember my summers in the province where my grandparents would explain the importance of sacrifice and reflection. Honestly, I did not really comprehend it well until I reached my adolescent years, when I had to grapple with the meaning of all these traditions. What helped me most in college was reading the book Faith Explained. It deepened my faith by helping me understand the reasons behind the traditions. After learning the rubrics of the Catholic doctrine, one yearns for a more solid conviction about the faith that can only be sustained by personal prayer and reflection. With all these, I find Holy Week a more spiritually laden week than in any part of the year considering that it is an occasion to pray about one's sins, be truly sorry for them, go to confession and be prepared to receive Holy Communion on Easter Sunday. Alfonso Recto, visual artist Although I left Catholicism for many reasons, its rituals were a major factor. I had a Catholic upbringing, so I was always at masses, mandatory confessions, retreats, etc. I just didn't feel engaged in any of it. The rituals felt too empty to base a spiritual life on. It may be that I never left the religion since I never felt that I was actually ever in it. There are common beliefs that I think transcend religions. The important ones for me are the ones about how you treat other people. The rest I find either archaic or just absurd. I don't think that what people eat or when they eat it, who people sleep with or whether they believe in Jesus existence or divinity make them better people. Religion is especially problematic in the Philippine context because I think too many people are in it blindly. In a poor country like ours, people need something to cling onto for meaning. I think having religion as that thing curtails a lot of critical thought and personal reflection that people here so desperately need. It's also telling that some of the most devout people here tend to be the ones who are the most bigoted and close-minded. VL Cruz, videographer When anyone becomes an atheist, I think its only logical that they drop everything related to religion: the rituals, its tenets. Im a staunch supporter of historical and scientific studies, so its only natural that I stick to the facts. The reason why events like Holy Week weigh little to nothing to me is rooted in the questionable existence of its central figure: Jesus Christ. Aside from the Bible, I think there are barely any other historical records that prove his existence at all. Even the Bible itself has contradicting accounts on what kind of person Jesus was. So if Jesus isnt real, Holy Week seems pretty pointless, right? As for what I find questionable about religion, there are just too many. The Bible contains so many contradictions already regarding how to practice religion. The Church, though some members are legitimately good people, is also infested with pedophiles and other sexual predators. Yet, instead of giving justice to the abused, the Church has on many occasions absolved and protected their members. But whats really troubling about Christianity is the sole deity that it worships. They say it exists, yet where is the proof? Asking any member of their religion would only yield vague explanations or allegories that never really qualifies as a solid answer. "There are common beliefs that I think transcend religions. The important ones for me are the ones about how you treat other people. The rest I find either archaic or just absurd." Alfonso Recto Paolo Gonzalez, engineer Such religious traditions don't directly hold meaning to me, but they do to my family. I think I've gone past the point of criticizing their need to go to mass. Conversely, they also have evolved past shaming me for skipping mass. Our family's understanding on the subject of these big church events is that we may not necessarily have to believe everything about it, but we have to be together as a family. Annina Nakpil, catechist Holy week only became meaningful to me when I began going on evangelical missions in 2012. We were given the opportunity to accompany Christ in his passion, death, and resurrection through meaningful interaction with a community in Cabuyao. To love, to be loved, and to lead others to Christ this is what Holy Week means to us. Trevor Viloria, medical student I am indifferent to Holy Week simply because I am not Catholic. Just like Christmas, it's just another day off from work or school for me. The holiday is a celebration of religious freedom to me and nothing else. If it's not hurting anyone, then it's not a problem. However, the people participating in it and the religion itself is a whole different story. While I am (mostly) free to exercise my rights without having to abide by a religion, Filipino atheists are, more often than not, born into a religion, and then become atheists, as they get older. In addition to the already difficult disillusioning process and often traumatizing decision to leave the faith, we still have to face the scorn of family, friends, and the public. In this country, Catholics make up a huge majority of the population so it's unavoidable that their culture ends up being the dominant one having a near-total monopoly on things such as moral values (contraception, premarital sex, LGBT rights, abortion), media standards (censorship of themes that Catholics deem immoral), teaching standards in educational institutions (prayer and religious activities/subjects in public schools, most private schools and big colleges being Catholic), and even legislation (we are the only country besides Vatican City with no divorce, and we're proud of it). I have absolutely no problem with Catholics freely exercising their religious freedom by having a holiday to go celebrate the end of the Lenten season. But as long as religion has an overwhelming chokehold on the moral fabric of this country, it will forever be more than questionable to me. Serge Gabriel, teacher I still think Holy Week is sacred, but I have to explain. When people talk to me about my faith, I always tell them that mine (or my relationship with God, which I'm more comfortable saying) is a very personal one. I think God exists through good people (my family, friends, etc. are examples of good people and why I think God exists). So, since Holy Week gives me extra time to spend with my family, I really think I get closer to God. For example, one time we biked to different churches together for Visita Iglesia. I get that it's a privilege to say this, but I like how we're really given the time off work or school to reflect. Holy Week feels like a communal break, so it's nice that everyone's on pause for a while. If Holy Week (regardless of religion/belief) gives people the time to rest and spend time with each other, I really think it serves its purpose. Whether that's following the practices, going to the beach with friends, or just sleeping I think that's great. Three arrested on meth charges Three Jacksonville residents were arrested Monday morning after police found a methamphetamine lab in a vacant home on North East Street. Karl V. Miller, 37, of 920 N. East St. and Nicky D. Stevenson, 41, of 1005 King St. were arrested on charges of unlawful participation in methamphetamine production, possession of methamphetamine manufacturing materials and unlawful use of property for methamphetamine manufacturing. Shannan D. Miller, 42, of 605 Locust St. was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine precursor. The Jacksonville Police Department responded to a report of people inside a vacant residence in the 900 block of North East Street at 8:26 a.m. and officers discovered a methamphetamine lab inside, according to a police department news release. The Morgan County Sheriffs Department, Illinois State Police Central Illinois Enforcement Group and the Illinois State Police Methamphetamine Response Team assisted with the investigation. Jacksonville Police ACCIDENTS Clarence L. Watts, 70, of Jacksonville was cited for failure to yield after police say the vehicle he was driving failed to yield and hit a vehicle driven by Destiny A. Pygott, 24, of Winchester at the intersection of East Independence Avenue and North Main Street at 4:50 p.m. Monday. ARRESTS, CITATIONS Kellen D. Dixon, 30, of 924 Allen Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 2:11 a.m. Saturday on a charge of resisting a peace officer. Steven R. Holder, 28, of 802 S. Diamond St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 3:38 a.m. Sunday on a charge of resisting a peace officer after police said he resisted arrest on a out-of-county warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court on a contempt of court charge. Jennylee M. McMillen, 21, of 1910 W. Morton Ave. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 1:35 p.m. Sunday on a charge of making a false report of an offense after police say she made a report of someone making unauthorized charges to her debit card, which they say they determined she had made. Christopher J. Elmore, 33, of 1026 S. East St. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 1:08 p.m. Monday on charges of driving with a suspended or revoked license, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. BURGLARIES, THEFTS Several undisclosed items were taken from a garage in the 800 block of West Douglas Avenue between 10 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, according to a report filed at 5:37 p.m. Saturday. Several undisclosed items were taken from a yard in the 800 block of North Church Street overnight Saturday, according to a report filed at 3:54 p.m. Monday. A shed in the 300 block of Washington Street was broken into and items were removed overnight Saturday, according to a report filed at 3:59 p.m. Monday. Cass County Sheriff ARRESTS, CITATIONS Jonothon M. Huff, 32, of 2018 Newmansville Road, Ashland, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 12:49 p.m. Sunday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia and a warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended. Compiled by Rosalind Essig and Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree Children in Illinois would have to start kindergarten when theyre 5 years old under a plan moving ahead at the statehouse. Illinois lawmakers are a step closer to lowering the age to start school. The Illinois Senate last week approved a plan to lower the age to 5 years old. Many parents start their children at age 6. Existing state law says kids have to be in school between ages 7 and 17. Democrat Kim Lightford said lowering the school age will get kids a jump. Its time for them not to wait until theyre 6 years old to start school, Lightford said at the statehouse. If parents feel that their kids who turn 5 over the summer months (arent ready), then they have the extra year to make sure their kids are ready. Critics, like Peoria Republican Chuck Weaver, said parents should decide when kids are ready for school, not the state. Parents are very concerned about the state taking the decision away from them, Weaver said. A lot of kids arent prepared to go to school at age 5. This makes that mandatory, it takes that [decision] away from parents. In addition to lowering the school age, the plan would require every school district in the state to start kindergarten classes for 5-year-olds. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday hit the "mindless" statements of Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo which claimed the government has never shelved the 2016 arbitral ruling win against China. "The aforementioned as expressed by the presidential spokesperson is absolutely mindless," del Rosario said in a statement. "It is mindless as our presidential spokesperson appears to be in surrender without lifting a finger to peacefully defend what is ours." Del Rosario criticized Panelo's Sunday remarks which said the ruling was never shelved, and "only remains unenforceable because no foreign force seems persuaded to help us enforce it." Panelo added enforcing the South China Sea maritime ruling alone by force could only trigger a war. The former foreign affairs chief also listed down six instances in which the Duterte administration announced they would shelve the ruling. In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would set aside the award which Beijing welcomed. "The presidential spokesperson has declared that the arbitral ruling was never shelved. Our records would indicate otherwise," del Rosario said. Del Rosario hit Panelo for thinking that war is the only alternative to setting aside the arbitral decision. Duterte himself has repeatedly said that if Manila brings up the ruling with Beijing, there will be a war. "The thought that war is the only alternative to setting aside the Arbitral decision cannot possibly be serious in this modern world," del Rosario added. The former top diplomat also refuted allegations Panelo made, saying del Rosario was responsible for the Philippines' loss of control over Scarborough Shoal in the contested waterway during his time in office. "During the impasse at Scarborough Shoal with China in 2012, we were approached by the U.S., an honest broker for both China and the Philippines, to agree to a simultaneous withdrawal of ships from the shoal," Del Rosario explained. He added that around that time, China had over 30 ships while the Philippines had one. "We ultimately agreed to the U.S. proposal. At the appointed time, we withdrew, whereas China - acting with duplicity did not. When confronted with the non-withdrawal of their ships, Beijing's response was a denial of the existence of such an agreement," Del Rosario added. Del Rosario then questioned if this was the spokesperson asserting the Philippines' position against China's action. "Is the presidential spokesperson credibly asserting our rightful position against China? If he is not doing this, what in heaven's name is he doing?" he said. The tiff between the two began when Del Rosario called on the government to "unshelve" the ruling amid Chinese presence near Pag-asa Island in Palawan. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) Malacanang on Tuesday said President Rodrigo Duterte's veto of multibillion-peso budget insertions made by Congress hinged on the provisions' unconstitutionality. "Those are the so-called insertions, riders, they are not part of the program by the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) hence it violates the Constitution," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media briefing. Duterte on Monday finally signed the 3.757-trillion national budget for 2019, but vetoed 95.3 billion worth of items. It ended months-long delay which forced the government to operate based on the 2018 budget resulting in delayed projects that impacted growth targets. Panelo said the vetoed items included the 75 billion worth of programs and projects under the DPWH itemized by the House of Representatives after Congress ratified the bicameral conference committee report. Senators have denounced the amount as pork barrel, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 2013 in the wake of a multibillion-peso scam over fund misuse. "The decision of the Supreme Court was that if they are unprogrammed then it violates the Constitution... whether you call it pork, or beef, or meat, or fish," Panelo said. He did not confirm nor deny if the remaining 20 billion in the vetoed amount included insertions made by the Senate. Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier said Senate finance committee chair Loren Legarda may have inserted 23 to 25 billion to fund certain projects for Antique province. Malacanang has yet to release the President's veto message, which explains why he rejected a number of provisions. House Appropriations Committee Chairperson Rolando Andaya Jr., who first introduced the insertions in December 2018, said he will wait for the veto message to be released. He added the President might have placed the vetoed amount under "conditional implementation" or might have set requisites for the appropriations to be released. Panelo, however, said the rejection was final and not conditional. During the Democratic Weekly Address, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) discussed the court battle over the Affordable Care Act. Shaheen was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. A transcript was not provided. According to Shaheen, defending the Affordable Care Act law is only the beginning, and she stated that its time for Republicans in Congress to come together with Democrats to make health care more affordable. Shaheen said, Congress cant sit on the sidelines while the president tries to take away Americans health care. Thats why I led a resolution supported by every Senate Democrat that directs the Trump administration to reverse course and defend our healthcare law. But defending the law is only the start. Every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care. She continued by touting decreasing the amount patients pay out of pocket, reducing the cost of medication, and expanding access to care, so that Americans can afford to see the doctor who is trained to treat them, even if that doctor is out of network. Its also critical that every American woman has access to reproductive care. 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. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) A Manila court on Tuesday deferred the arraignment on the cyber libel case against online news agency Rappler Incorporated, its CEO Maria Ressa, and a former researcher. The new arraignment date was set on May 17. Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 deferred the arraignment to allow Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos to file a motion for reconsideration after the court junked their motion to quash the one count of cyber libel case on April 12. Arriving minutes before the scheduled arraignment, Ressa said she was surprised that the court denied their appeal to junk the case. "Really shocked that in one stroke they would turn one year into 12 years for prescription. That's huge. I guess this is a good test case (for cyber libel). They can prove whether judicial independence exists," the journalist said in a chance interview. The cyber libel charge stemmed from a story written by former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos and published by the news site, where it claimed businessman Wilfredo Keng lent a vehicle to former Chief Justice Renato Corona. It also alleged Keng was involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling. The article, titled "CJ using SUVs of controversial businessman" was published in May 2012 - four months before the enactment of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. However, the story was supposedly updated and republished in February 2014 due to a typographical error. The Department of Justice indicted Rappler, Ressa, and Santos in February 2019 citing the "multiple publication rule," saying the story is still covered by the law because the cyber crime law was already passed when it was updated. The Manila court upheld DOJ's earlier resolution that the prescriptive period for cyber libel is 12 years, contrary to the argument of Rappler that the one year period of prescription has lapsed. "The instant case was filed in Court on February 5, 2019, which is well within the period of 12 years, negating the assertion raised by the Accused that the offense already prescribed," Branch 46 Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa said in her order. Ressa posted bail for the cyber libel case on February 13 after the court ordered her arrest. This is only one of the 11 complaints and cases filed against her. The journalist said the fight is not hers alone, but it is for the millions of Filipinos who post on the internet. "This case is not just about Rappler. It's about anyone who posts on the web. Anyone who posts on Facebook. Any journalist who write anything online. That's why its incredibly important to look at it. And what we hope and pray for is judicial independence," she said. The same day Ressa faced her legal battle, international nongovernment organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted the "increasing levels of intimidation and a shrinking space for free press in the country." Representatives of the New York-based group are on a visit to the country. The group said it is "extremely concerned" about the various types of formal and informal pressure that journalists face. It cited Rappler's cases that for them appear politically motivated and cause fear in the media industry. "We are concerned that not enough is being done to protect journalists. Not enough is being done to preserve their ability, your ability to work without fear of government retribution, prosecution, attack and other dangers," CPJ Board Chair Kathleen Carroll wrote on CPJ website. But Malacanang dismissed the mission's finding, calling it "baseless." Ressa and Rappler are bringing the fight to the finish, but for the lawyer of Keng, the issue isn't about freedom of expression. "Freedom of expression has always been protected. What is not protected is libel. The situation is not similar to other situations now and the future basta meron lang tayong responsible journalism. Because again our case is unique kasi our client his side was not taken, walang basis 'yung mga ni-report sa kanya," lawyer John Banguis said. CNN Philippines justice correspondent Anjo Alimario contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) President Rodrigo Duterte is letting the Bureau of Immigration (BI) keep its power to issue special work permits (SWP), which has been blamed by some lawmakers for the influx of illegal foreign workers in the country. "The intricacies brought about by the influx of foreign workers and immigrants in the country require collaborative efforts of the (national government agencies) to regulate alien employment," Duterte said in vetoing a special provision in the 2019 budget. "Thus, it is but imperative that the regulation should be a shared responsibility of the BI and the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment,)" he added. The Senate introduced the special provision in the spending bill which sought to require the BI to coordinate first with the DOLE before issuing SWP. The DOLE will also vet foreign workers under the provision. Senate Labor Committee Chair Joel Villanueva said he is disappointed with the veto. "The lack of monitoring and the irresponsible issuance of work permits the past months by the Bureau only indicates incompetence and worse, corruption," Villanueva said in a statement. He said Senate inquiries into the influx illegal foreign workers into the country showed that the BI issued expedited work permits through under-the-table deals. An SWP allows foreigners to work in the country for three to six months and is issued by the BI. An Alien Employment Permit (AEP), on the other hand, is issued by the DOLE and allows foreigners to work in the country from one to three years. Requirements for an SWP are less stringent than what is needed for an AEP. For one, there is no need for foreign workers to have their application published to get an SWP, but this is needed to obtain an AEP. SWPs can also be issued in just three days and for a cheaper fee. DOLE previously told CNN Philippines that it is already reviewing its guidelines on the issuance of AEPs and is coming up with new guidelines with the BI on the issuance of SWPs. The DOLE has reported an upward trend in Chinese workers in the Philippines, issuing a total of 51,000 AEPs to Chinese nationals from 2015 to 2017. The BI also recorded a spike in Chinese arrivals in 2017 and 2018. Of the 393 arrested by the BI, 304 of them were Chinese nationals who were overstaying or working without permits. San Antonio athletes can receive the big league treatment with their very own action figure, thanks to a local business. 3D Me has not only been producing action figures of local athletes, but packaging them as they would be sold in stores. Owner David Escobar told mySA.com he started his business about two years ago, but relaunched about 3 months ago with the packaging offer. "It's astounding to watch people see themselves for the first time as an action figure," Escobar said, adding that customer reactions are the best part of the job. The process to have an action figure made of yourself or loved one starts with booking an appointment with 3D Me. RELATED: Kicks with 'pride': Custom Selena Converse Chuck Taylor All Star made for Fiesta de la Flor During the 3D photoshoot at Escobar's studio, located at 7440 FM 1560 in Helotes, about 3,000 pictures will be taken from all angles in about a minute. Escobar then edits the shots and uses a 3D printer to create the sandstone figurines. Customers are asked to submit a few of their favorite photos of the person being made into an action figure for the packaging. The owner said stats, records and other facts can be included on the box as well. The boxed 3D Me products start at $99, but Escobar fans can take advantage of deals promoted on the business Facebook page. Escobar can produce figurines ranging in sizes all the way up to 12 inches and occasions, like cake toppers, but said his main focus is sports. Action figures made sold with the packaging are just over 4 inches tall. See some of Escobar's work in the gallery above. 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 Katherine Bouman had a secret: An algorithm she'd developed had stitched together a picture of a black hole. She told nobody except her colleagues. Until last week. That's when Event Horizon Telescope team, of which Bouman is a member, unveiled the first image of a black hole. Bouman, 29, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, had been working on such an algorithm for almost six years, since she was a graduate student at MIT. She was one of about three dozen computer scientists who used algorithms to process data gathered by the Event Horizon Telescope project, a worldwide collaboration of astronomers, engineers and mathematicians. Telescopes around the world collected high-frequency radio waves from the vicinity of Messier 87, a supermassive black hole 54 million light-years away. But atmospheric disturbance and the spareness of the measurements meant "an infinite number of possible images" could explain the data, Bouman said. Well-designed algorithms had to crunch through the chaos. The image shared Wednesday, which has been likened to a molten doughnut or the Eye of Sauron or even a Rembrandt, is a composite of several such reconstructions. "We blurred two of the images and then averaged them to the other one to get the image that we showed today," Bouman said. The ring of material that surrounds Messier 87, which has the mass of 6.5 billion suns, "is something that we were incredibly confident about." The Washington Post spoke with Bouman after the picture was unveiled. The following is lightly edited for clarity. Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al. Q: You're not an astronomer. So how did you get involved with taking a picture of a black hole? A: I come from a computer science and electrical engineering background. I did my PhD in a computer vision group, where you try to understand images. And I heard about this project, this idea of imaging black holes. At the time I hardly even knew what a black hole was. But I tagged along to this meeting [where Shep Doeleman, the Harvard University astronomer who directs the Event Horizon Telescope project, was discussing black holes]. I had no idea what he was talking about, but when I left that meeting I knew that this is something that I wanted to work on. I have an interest in how can we see things or measure things that are thought to be invisible to us. And how can we come up with unique ways to merge the instrumentation and algorithms to get at measuring things that you can't measure with standard instruments. Q: What was the algorithm's role for this image, stitching together data from telescopes across the planet? A: We have telescopes distributed around the world. For every two telescopes in the telescope array, we measure a single spatial frequency, which tells you something about like how fast things are changing. We get this partial information. It's almost like seeing one pixel in an image (but it's in a different kind of domain). We have to come up with methods that take this really sparse, really noisy data, and try to find the image that might have caused those measurements. What we have to end up doing is imposing things called "regularizors" or "priors" that allow us to say, "OK, of all of the images that possibly could fit this data, this set of images is most likely." But the danger is we don't want to inject additional information into the problem, so as to bias our result toward something that we would expect to see. We have spent an enormous amount of time making sure that what we were seeing was actually real and not just something that, even subconsciously, we might have imposed on the data. (To remove the possibility of bias shared by the entire team, the project split its computer-imaging experts into four different groups, each working on a different sort of algorithm. They were not allowed to communicate.) Q: When did you know the black hole was, well, a hole? A: We were confident, at least, that we were seeing this ring-like feature. Still, we didn't know that other teams would get the same result. We all got together in a meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and on the second day of the meeting, we all revealed what picture we had reconstructed from the data. It was probably the most exciting moment I've ever had with the project. When I saw that we all had reconstructed this ring, then I knew that it was an incredibly robust feature. (For months afterward, the computer scientists tried to break their images. They developed new scripts or pipelines and trained those pipelines on data for disks; these astronomical structures don't have any holes. But when the scientists fed the real telescope data back through the pipelines developed for disks, they reconstructed a ring. The feature existed.) We didn't get a disk. We still got that hole. A Harris County court on Monday tossed out yet another drug case over links to the officers at the center of the botched Pecan Park drug raid that left a couple dead and five officers injured earlier this year. The dismissed felony charge against Xavier Womack hinged on claims that former narcotics officer Steven Bryant - who recently retired under investigation - spotted the Houston man going in and out of a supposed drug house. But Womack's defense attorney, Lisa Andrews, says she repeatedly told prosecutors that her client was never at the scene, and it wasn't until after the outcome in Pecan Park sparked broader questions about police handling of drug cases that the Harris County District Attorney's Office agreed to drop Womack's drug charge. READ MORE: 2nd drug case involving embattled Officer Gerald Goines dismissed in the 'interest of justice' "I knew the officers were lying," Andrews told the Houston Chronicle on Monday. "But for the unfortunate circumstances" that led to the officers' departure from the department, Andrews continued, "I would be hoping to convince a jury of these facts against the word of two police officers." The dismissal marks at least the fifth case dropped in the fallout from the Jan. 28 bust, which was unrelated to Womack's arrest and prosecution. In addition to Bryant, former Officer Gerald Goines is also under investigation and recently retired from the Houston Police Department. Lawyers for the two officers at the center of the investigation did not immediately offer comment on the dismissal, but Harris County District Attorney spokesman Dane Schiller weighed in late Monday. "As the investigation continues, we are proceeding thoroughly and methodically," he said. "We are still delving not only into the Harding Street shootings. but other cases in which certain officers were involved." The arrest that started Womack's case came in 2017, when police said they'd been surveilling a house and had seen the South Side man coming and going, Andrews said. Afterward, police searched the place and instead arrested someone else they believed to be Womack. "However, when they executed the search warrant, my client was not present at the target house, and they arrested someone else they believed was my client," Andrews said. "That told me they never really saw my client at the house." When prosecutors realized that, they dropped charges against the other man and instead collared Womack, saying he'd been at the scene. "I told the DA's office all of this from day one, and of course they chose to believe the officers' version," Andrews said. "Because of that, I set it for trial." Court records show the 2017 arrest was dismissed because of an "investigation pending against investigating officers." The charge was possession with intent to deliver between 4 and 200 grams of cocaine. The police involved in the arrest came under scrutiny earlier this year after investigators accused 54-year-old Goines of lying on the search warrant affidavit used to justify a no-knock raid at 7815 Harding Street. When officers burst in the home that evening in search of a heroin dealer, they kicked off a gun battle that left dead Dennis Tuttle, his wife Rhogena Nicholas, and a pit bull they'd been dog-sitting. READ MORE: FBI opens civil rights investigation into botched Houston drug bust, police chief says But the raid netted no heroin and only a small amount of cocaine and marijuana, and the slain couple's friends and neighbors have repeatedly maintained that they weren't drug dealers. Days later, as Goines lay in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck, investigators realized they couldn't find the confidential informant behind the alleged heroin buy that started it all. When asked for details, Goines first named one informant and then another - but, according to court filings, police couldn't find anyone who admitted acting as the confidential informant before the raid. Instead, all of Goines' informants said they'd never met the Tuttles. That revelation pushed the police department to retool policies around the use of no-knock raids, and also sparked investigations by police, prosecutors and the FBI. In addition to probing the possibility of criminal wrongdoing, prosecutors launched a review of more than 2,000 cases handled by Goines and Bryant - both whom retired under investigation. Almost as soon as prosecutors announced their case review, a Harris County judged signed off on the dismissal of a drug case against Courtney Jacobs. In the weeks that followed, at least three more drug cases against other defendants were dismissed. 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. For years, free Valero Corner Store coffee the morning after a Spurs playoff game kept fans alert throughout the day after cheering on the team late into the night, but the tradition is no longer. In June 2017, the Canadian parent company of Circle K, Alimentation Couche-Tard, became owner of San Antonio's Corner Store brands, which provided the free coffee offer Spurs fans looked forward to. The freebie still stood in 2018, but not this post-season, according to a tweet by the official Twitter account for the Circle K chain. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office identified the 19-year-old man police found Friday night at a Northeast Side apartment complex with multiple gunshot wounds. Benny Ray Odem III was found lying inside the doorway of a unit in the Villas at Ventana Apartments, police said Friday. He was rushed to the hospital, but died of his injuries. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Police have not released details about what led up to the shooting. After Odem was found dead, police conducted a search of the area with the help of a helicopter, but the search for suspects was unsuccessful. 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 Pleasanton police recently confirmed the arrest of man who allegedly admitted to being a general in the Latin Kings, an organized street gang. Jorge Tirado, 47, was arrested in a traffic stop in Pleasanton, police said. A 14-year-old girl is facing intoxication manslaughter charges after crashing a car into a tree and killing one of her passengers on Saturday, according to San Antonio police. Police said the teen was speeding down the street in a blue Ford Fusion when she lost control of the car and drove through wire fences before colliding into a tree. San Antonio police are still searching for suspects in a shooting Wednesday that took the life of a 23-year-old man, but a police report hinted at a potential lead in the case. At 11:44 p.m., police responded to a call at the Motel 6 parking lot, 126 Kenley Place, where they found Shawn Johnson. He had multiple gunshot wounds and was on the ground next to a yellow pickup. Democrat Beto O'Rourke on Monday became the latest 2020 presidential candidate to release his tax returns, revealing 10 years of personal financial information that show he and his wife, Amy, made more than $370,000 in 2017. The O'Rourkes paid about $81,000 in federal income tax that year, according to their returns. O'Rourke has yet to release his 2018 tax return, which he said would be forthcoming "as soon as possible" after he files it. The returns showed that the O'Rourkes underpaid their 2013 and 2014 taxes after erroneously taking certain deductions for their medical expenses, the Wall Street Journal reported. An O'Rourke aide told the paper an amendment would be filed to fix the error, which amounted to more than $4,000 in unpaid taxes. During the 10-year period, the O'Rourkes topped out at a total income of $496,280 in 2009, while their lowest annual sum came in 2012, when they reported $163,539 in total income. In 2017, the O'Rourkes reported a capital gain of $195,627 when they sold Stanton Street Technology, the El Paso internet company co-founded by O'Rourke in 1999. Presidential candidate Julian Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and U.S. housing secretary, said earlier this month that he would release 10 years of his tax returns, though he has not specified a date. O'Rourke also filed a campaign finance report Monday showing that he headed into April with $6.9 million cash on hand, a total that ranks seventh among the field of Democratic presidential candidates. O'Rourke joined the race March 14, however, giving him 18 days until the end of the filing period while others had been running for weeks or months. During that period, O'Rourke raised $9.4 million, a figure his campaign released earlier this month. U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand each took in more than O'Rourke, along with U.S. Rep. John Delaney, who loaned his campaign more than $11 million during the first three months of the year. Gilibrand, Harris, Sanders and Warren are among the candidates who have released tax returns. Castro raised $1.1 million during the first quarter of the race, heading into April with about $678,000 in cash on hand. We know that slaveholders in the American South used Scripture to justify keeping their fellow humans in bondage. They could find no words from Christ on this, for there are no words from him. Just a line in the New Testament from mere mortals presuming to speak for him. But perhaps it made those who tore apart families, who whipped insubordinates until they passed out, who sold children and cotton bales as similar commodities feel better to know that the monstrous crime of their daily enterprise could be a blessed act. These days, no less an authority than Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said recently that God wanted Donald Trump to become president. She offered no sourcing for this assertion, as is the case for vaporous claims that rise from the rot of the Trump presidency on a daily basis. But in blaming God for Trump, Sanders echoed a widespread Republican belief that the most outwardly amoral man ever to occupy the White House is an instrument of divine power. Mocking Sanders and the many Ned Flanders of the GOP team is unlikely to make much of a dent. Nearly half of all Republicans believe God wanted Trump to win the election. To them, secular snark is a merit badge on the MAGA hat. But there is a better way to sway the electorate of faith, as the rising Democratic stars Pete Buttigieg and Stacey Abrams have shown us. They apply something like a What Would Jesus Do? test to rouse religious conscience on the political battlefield. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., is a Navy veteran who served in Afghanistan, a Rhodes scholar, married to a junior high school teacher. Hes gay and, more surprising for a modern Democrat, he is an out Christian, as quick to quote St. Augustine as Abraham Lincoln. Like Abrams and Sen. Cory Booker, Mayor Pete says his faith made him a progressive. Scripture directs him to defend the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the societal castoffs. But Buttigieg goes much further than mere Bible-citing. Hes taking it directly to Trump and to Vice President Mike Pence, who flashes his piety like a seven-carat diamond on his pinkie finger. Its hard to look at the actions of Trump, Buttigieg said, and believe they are the actions of somebody who believes in God. The mayor calls Pence the cheerleader of the porn star presidency, and he wonders whether the vice president stopped believing in Scripture when he started believing in Donald Trump. Buttigiegs marriage to Chasten Glezman moved me closer to God, he said in a speech recently. To the Mike Pences of the world, he said, your quarrel is not with me your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. Abrams, who narrowly lost her race for governor of Georgia last year, also uses faith, part of a long African American tradition, to marshal Christian principles against the repulsive acts of man. The daughter of two Methodist preachers, she said in one of her television ads, My reading of the Bible says that Jesus Christ was a progressive. We should wince at any claim of providential partisanship. The founders were explicit about this in writing a strictly secular Constitution. George Washingtons Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the Senate, contains language stating that the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. But when a president is held up by his own spokeswoman as an extension of divine will, and that president is embraced by the evangelical community as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, its fine to use the source material to fight back. The best Christian argument against Trump comes from Christ. The essence of Christianity is his exhortation that people treat the sick, the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned as they would treat him. Whatever you did to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me. Trumps policies? Cursed are the meek, for under Trumps command, children have been put in cages, and the poor in red states are denied the health care that should be available to them under Obamacare. Trump is all about self. His bigotry, his boasting, his lies, his pride, his scams of the vulnerable, his worship of materialism, his insults of the dead, his turning a blind eye to refugees, his bragging of adulterous behavior, his treatment of the least among us all of this is antithetical to Christian philosophy. Buttigieg is right to call him on this. Hes right to attack Pences hypocrisy. But the moral high ground is a fragile perch, best visited on rare occasions. Hes thrown down a needed challenge. Now let Trump and Pence try to prove him wrong. Notre-Dame fire Agence France-Presse. Photos. Notre Dames medieval roof structure, known as the forest, has been lost to the massive fire, according to the rector of the cathedral. The frame featured trees cut down between 1160 and 1170, forming one of the oldest parts of the structure.https://t.co/sGKyk2xNGy pic.twitter.com/gL8G3bc4SY CNN (@CNN) April 16, 2019 No doubt there will be many articles and personal testimonies about the massive fire that has gutted Notre Dame. Even if the bones of the building survive, essential elements, some and perhaps many of its stained glass windows are almost certainly gone or terribly damaged. The reports are uncertain, with an awful heavy use of words like may. For instance, the Telegraph says the organ survived but is damaged. Other accounts say that at least one of the great rose windows is intact. Even if Notre Dame can be restored, the project is likely to take more than a generation, meaning even in best-case scenario, many people will never be able to see it properly again in their lives. Others who know Notre Dame more intimately, particularly Parisians, architects and historians, will be better able to provide elegies. I nevertheless feel compelled to write about this loss because it lays bare contradictions we manage to navigate in our daily lives and that have become more acute as humans are destroying the biosphere. The great medieval cathedrals, through their enormous scale and soaring vaults, with their narrow stained glass windows that help pull the eye upward, tell worshipers and later visitors of how small they are compared to God and his works. Yet their seeming solidity and scale also suggests the faithful can find refuge. All of our technological prowess hasnt found a way to create spaces that inspire the same sort of awe of these centuries-old houses of worship. Modern visitors were further humbled by the audaciousness of its accomplishment: a project executed across generations, reaching heights that seem daunting even now, marshaling the skills and hard work of many artisans and laborers. In other words, Notre Dame provided comfort and hope against that gnawing knowledge in the back of our heads of the certainty of death and the impermanence of human action. Even though all those who built Notre Dame were long dead, something of them lived on through the cathedral.or did at least till yesterday. Human existence is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, that we stare down inevitable defeat every day of our existence. I sometimes refer to a story in the Mahabharata, in which Yudhisthira and his brothers have been tasked to find a deer with mystical powers. They camp but are thirsty. Yudhisthira sends one of his siblings to find some water. When he does not return, another brother is dispatched, and again does not return. This process repeats until Yudhisthira himself goes looking for his missing brothers. He finds them all dead next to a pond. In despair, but still parched, he is about to drink, but a crane tells him he must answer some questions first. They are all metaphysical in nature. The last and most difficult: What is the greatest wonder of the world? Yudhisthira answers, Day after day, hour after hour, countless people die, yet the living believe they will live forever. The crane reveals himself to be the Lord of Death. After some further discussion, he revives the brothers. Most of us wont get off so well from an encounter with the Lord of Death. But on a daily basis, we derive comfort from our routines: our schedules, our interactions with familiar people, like family, co-workers, and other we see in our rounds, and the stability of our physical surroundings. I for one feel a sense of loss when buildings are torn down, even small groupings of modest old walks-ups that sat next to each other as gracefully as snaggle teeth. They were still part of an older Manhattan that being replaced with soulless glass towers. Some cultures seem to have reached a better accommodation with decay and loss. The Japanese, for instance, acknowledge the sadness of impermanence. The Grand Shrine at Ise, with its first building that is part of the modern shrine constructed before 700 AD, reflects a different idea of how to last across centuries. From Wikipedia: The old shrines are dismantled and new ones built on an adjacent site to exacting specifications every 20 years at exorbitant expense, so that the buildings will be forever new and forever ancient and original. The present buildings, dating from 2013, are the 62nd iteration to date and are scheduled for rebuilding in 2033. Some commentators have been quick to depict neoliberalism as the cause of Notre Dames demise, that the fire probably resulted from using restoration contractors working on a tight budget who skimped on safety. While that may prove to be true, we dont know what set off the blaze, and you can be sure there will be an investigation to find out how it started and why steps werent taken to protect the cathedral from the risks of its tinder-dry roof catching fire. But neoliberalism will be an obstacle to restoring the great church and creating other important public works. Neoliberalism is allergic to investing in the commons and initiatives that span across generations. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) Far from the country's victory at the Hague Tribunal on the South China Sea dispute being "shelved," the Philippines has actually invoked the international court's award that struck down China's sweeping claims over the waters in diplomatic protests filed against it, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. said. "Of course, [we can't] pretend it's not there? That will never happen because the culture in the Department of Foreign Affairs is really very legalistic and it is a part of them. When it was being downplayed, it wasn't taken well in the Department of Foreign Affairs," Locsin told CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday. He added that he had also raised the Hague ruling even when he was the Philippines' ambassador to the UN and again as the country's top diplomat in a meeting on the Belt-and-Road Initiative with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "I just don't wanna make a fuss about it because one, it should just be between us. And if ever it comes to a foreign tribunal, then I can say we never yielded, we never consented by silence," Locsin said. Malacanang said yesterday that President Rodrigo Duterte has "effectively" invoked the Hague ruling in telling China to "lay off" the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island, where hundreds of its vessels had been spotted in the first quarter of the year. This after the Palace also cited the Philippines' 2016 victory at the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the first time in responding to the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang's statement asserting their claims over South China Sea. Locsin said that he has "fired off a salvo" of diplomatic notes against the swarming of Chinese vessels near Pag-asa Island. Locsin said that since becoming Foreign Affairs Secretary, he has sent at least 10 notes verbale. Locsin said the notes verbale on the presence of Chinese vessels in Philippine territory told the East Asian giant that what they are doing is illegal, improper and against a so-called agreement that they would not move to other islands, after taking control of the Scarborough Shoal following a standoff in 2013. Meanwhile, a note verbale sent to China on the catching of giant clams in the West Philippine Sea, a part of the South China Sea claimed by Manila, said that China is violating conventions on environmental protection, according to Locsin. Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has said that the Philippines should routinely file diplomatic protests against China's incursions in its waters so that it could not be said that it consented to the East Asian giant's actions. However, Locsin admitted that the protests Manila have filed against Beijing have not been responded to. "Well, we wait them out, they wait us out, because we are not stopping," he said. The Malacanang said China should respond to the protests, but added that for now, negotiating with the East Asian giant is the only thing Manila can do. But another option on the Philippine's table is to turn to its "only military ally" the U.S. for aid in the sea row should tensions escalate. Locsin is banking on the statement of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to the Philippines in March that the 68-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila and Washington would cover attacks in the South China Sea. "Should there be an encounter and a Philippine Navy vessel is hit, that is a cause for invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty," Locsin said. However, he acknowledged that there is still a need to clarify the terms of the treaty, which provides that the Philippines and U.S. would aid each other should one of them be attacked or invaded by a foreign power. With the Palace saying that Duterte would still decide on whether to turn to the U.S. for help, Locsin said that for now, the sea row is better left undiscussed until tensions have cooled off. CNN Philippines Senior Digital Producer Eimor P. Santos contributed to this report. By Michael Baltensperger, a research assistant at Bruegel who previously worked for the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization and as an external collaborator for the International Labour Organization. Originally published at Bruegel Chinas current account is projected to be balanced within the next few years. Observers disagree whether this is due to structural factors or Chinese policy. We review their assessments of the Chinese saving and investment situation and what this implies for the future. A countrys current account balance can be seen from different perspectives. From a trade perspective, the current account balance is positive if the sum of net exports and net income from abroad is positive. The current account balance is positive also if a country saves more than what is spent on domestic investment. The IMFs spring edition of the World Economic Outlook projects the Chinese current account balance to be around 0.5% of GDP in 2019, enter negative territory in 2022, and stand at minus 0.2% by 2024. But during the last 15 years, the current account balance of China, the worlds manufacturing powerhouse, has been consistently positive and before the great financial crisis as high as 10% of GDP in 2007. As a result, there is a considerable debate whether and how quickly the Chinese current account will be falling below zero. A report by Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, argues that such projections are too conservative as Chinas current account will already be negative for 2019 and grow in the coming decade to reach 1.6% of GDP by 2030. The report notes that this deficit is relatively small, especially when taking into account Chinas large net foreign asset position. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that China should take steps towards opening up its financial markets to foreign investors to facilitate the inflow of foreign capital, which will be needed to finance the new normal of current account deficits. Two articles in The Economist take a closer look at the underlying forces and implications of a negative Chinese current account. The articles highlight that the negative drift in the current account is due to cyclical but also structural forces. The cyclical aspects are best seen from the trade perspective: the currently high prices of Chinese imports, for example oil and semiconductors, drag the trade balance downwards. Once these prices come down to their long-term average, Chinas import bill will shrink and the current account balance will increase again. The structural shifts are best seen from the finance side as they affect Chinese saving and investment rates. While investments in China have remained at around 40% of GDP for a while, the share of domestic income that Chinese households (and some firms) save has fallen from 50 to 40% of GDP. From that perspective, the current account balances should now be close to zero. There are several reasons for the observed decline in the (still high) Chinese savings rate according to The Economist. The first is that China is ageing: there are less young people saving for later days and more old people drawing from their savings. The second reason is that as Chinese residents are growing richer, they consume a larger share of their income. Importantly, from a trade balance perspective, consumption spending by Chinese tourists abroad (which counts as imports of goods and services) has skyrocketed since 2013. The Economist argues that current account deficits are the inevitable new normal for China given those two reasons. Very much in line with the report by Morgan Stanley, the authors conclude that China will need to attract net capital inflowsthe mirror image of a current-account deficit, which is only possible if China opens up its capital markets to foreign investors. Brad Setser sees the situation differently by pointing not only to the importance of savings, but also to investments. First, he disagrees that structural factors are pushing the current account into deficit. Drawing on an IMF study, Setser argues that ageing will reduce saving by a mere 6 percentage points of GDP by 2030, therefore saving rates will remain very high. Furthermore, he argues that Chinas level of investment, which is one of the highest among large economies, is likely to decline as well, which then balances the current account again. What, then, has caused the observable decline in the current account so far? Setser argues that [China has] the same level of national savings as Singapore. Singapore runs a 20% of GDP current account surplus. My guess is that without a 10% of GDP (or more) augmented fiscal deficit, China would also run a substantial surplus. Hence, if the Chinese government would stop directing investments to the extent it is doing currently, for example in the case it starts fiscal tightening, Chinas current account would bounce back into surplus territory. In fact, he argues that [t]he turn back toward stimulus in 2016 is the main reason, together with the partial recovery in the price of oil, why the surplus has come down in the past couple of yearsnot any structural change in Chinas savings. The second point where Setser disagrees is the urge to liberalise Chinas financial account. Setser argues that it is unclear whether a financial sector liberalisation would increase efficiency, since there are many implicit guarantees, and risky, under-capitalised financial institutions around. What seems more likely is that a more open financial account would lead to a more rapid reallocation of Chinese savings out of Chinae.g. more capital flight. Therefore, a reduction of capital controls would likely lead to capital outflows, which would then put downward pressure on the renminbi. Finally, a depreciated renminbi would immediately lift the current account balance back up. Zhang Jun evaluates the Chinese investment and saving rates from a future growth perspective. High investment rates, financed by a high domestic saving rate, have allowed for rapid growth in the last decades. However, Zhang argues that China has arrived at a point of development where it is necessary to reduce its high saving rates because investments are oversaturated. He argues, similar to Setser, that the current account balance is close to zero because of policy rather than structural factors. Due to pressure from trading partners over its large export surplus, China decided to expand substantially its spending on investment in domestic infrastructure and housing and let the renminbi appreciate. The higher investment rate lowered the current account balance but also reduced marginal returns on capital and total factor productivity. To avoid asset price bubbles and further deterioration of productivity, Zhang argues that Chinese saving rates have to fall, and the thus far protected service sectors should be opened to competition. Such a scenario implies a transformation of the Chinese economy from export-led growth to consumer-led growth, which is much more focused on the domestic market. Providing more consumption opportunities for the Chinese, especially domestic services, will reduce excessive saving. Zhang does not envision China opening its financial accounts, but rather envisions a purely domestic transformation of the economy. Nature has manufactured the perfect machines. Only the fastest, toughest, and most cunning creatures have endured. We examine how animals have evolved and how we can benefit from their evolution. Sundays from 8:30pm AEDT. Quantum technology will soon change our security landscape. While this technology could represent a ground-breaking solution to complex problems in a number of fields, its potential can also be disruptive. NATOs Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme is supporting two projects to secure our digital communications for the post-quantum era. Quantum technologies use the properties of quantum effects the interactions of molecules, atoms, or photons to create practical applications in many different fields. While these applications at present are limited to experimental set-ups in some specialised fields (metrology, time-frequency distribution, security, space, automation, etc.), in the future they may expand to cover a wide range of areas, such as computer science, satellite communications, automotive, medicine, etc. Quantum computers for instance can carry much more data than traditional computer systems. This huge computational power theoretically makes it possible for quantum computers to break the traditional cryptographic systems on which our current communications systems, such as online bank transactions or telecommunications, are based. To overcome this issue, the international community, and in particular NATO, is currently looking for post-quantum solutions, i.e. solutions designed to be secure against an attack by a quantum computer. In the areas of research and technological development of the future, projects in the field of cyber security and secured communications offer a great opportunity to foster collaboration among NATO and partner countries, stated Dr Deniz Beten, Senior NATO SPS and Partnership Cooperation Advisor. This is exactly what our two multi-year projects launched in 2018 with Malta are about, she added. Building quantum communications between Malta and NATO Allies The first NATO SPS project with NATO partner country Malta aims to establish and implement post-quantum cryptographic solutions and protocols. This project will be able to guarantee a secure solution for cryptographic computerised communications used to protect sensitive information. Experts from the University of Malta, the Slovak University of Technology, the Florida Atlantic University and King Juan Carlos University of Spain are leading this project. The second project aims to establish a communication channel between Italy and Malta over underwater submarine optical fibres. The link will be developed using existing telecommunications optical fibres with the addition of two portable quantum stations to be installed, one in Italy and one in Malta. In the long run, this project will help protect Maltese critical infrastructures and will pave the way for quantum communications to be used between Malta and Italy. In the future, quantum technology will be necessary to protect our critical infrastructures and services, said Professor Andre Xuereb, project director from the University of Malta. These SPS projects anticipate this trend and help Malta to prepare for future secure technology. Early April 2019, NATO experts met with Alfred Vella, Rector of the University of Malta, Christianne Caruana of the Maltese Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion and other Maltese professors and scientists to discuss potential avenues for strengthening scientific cooperation between NATO and Malta. We are proud that the University of Maltas researchers have the opportunity to be involved in two innovative projects in quantum technology within NATO SPS. These projects could reshape the security architectures of the future, stated Mr Vella. Between 7 and 11 April 2019, subject matter experts from NATOs Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) at NATO Headquarters and from Professional Military Education institutions of Allied countries conducted a week-long visit of Iraqs Defence University for Military Studies in Baghdad. The visit was in support of NATO Mission Iraqs commitment to help the further development of Iraqi professional military education institutions, as part of its broader efforts on the reform of national security structures. These experts met with representatives of the Iraqi Ministry of Defence Training Directorate, the leadership of the Defence University for Military Studies, and staff from the National Defence College, the War College, the Defence Language Institute, the Staff College, the Command College, the Military College, and the Centre for Strategic Studies and Research. Informal discussion between DUFMS officials, NATO DEEP Team members and NMI staff. The initial phase of the Defence Education Enhancement Programme for Iraq will be focused on three institutions under the umbrella of the Defence University for Military Studies, namely the War College, the National Defence College, and the Defence Language Institute. With them, the team of experts discussed plans on the development of academic curricula and the development of instructors and institutional capabilities. They will now complete an assessment report and take further steps in close cooperation with the Defence Universitys leadership. The Defence Education Enhancement Programme for Iraq is foreseen to be implemented in the course of 2019-2021. Staff Lieutenant General Jameel Al Shimari, DUFMS President, with the Commander of NMI Major General Dany Fortin, at the English courses graduation ceremony. The Commander of the NATO Mission Iraq, Major General Dany Fortin and the group of visiting subject matter experts also participated in the Defence Language Institute English Course Graduation Ceremony, which took place on 11 April. The Defence Education Enhancement Programme is a vehicle for reform, as it provides tailored practical support to individual countries in developing their own Professional Military Education institutions. Through faculty development, curriculum development and peer-to-peer consultations, this programme fosters defence capacity and institution building. In addition to the newly initiated programme in Iraq, NATO is currently running similar programmes in 14 countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, the Republic of Moldova, North Macedonia, Mongolia, Serbia, Tunisia, and Ukraine. For more information on DEEP, visit their website. (Natural News) Potential Party of Death presidential candidate for 2020 Stacey Abrams is upset that her states Republican governor is slated to sign into law a bill to protect the lives of unborn children whose heartbeats have reached the point of detectability. Speaking to fellow Leftist Joy Reid of MSNBC during a recent episode of AM Joy, Abrams, who failed in her attempt last fall to become Georgias governor, took aim at Governor Brian Kemp, who promised to sign the so-called fetal heartbeat bill to ban abortion once a babys heart begins to beat. In Abrams view, prohibiting the murder of unborn children at this point in pregnancy is both evil and abominable because she believes it directly interferes with the ability of women to decide for themselves to terminate the lives of their offspring at will. You should not have to worry about your ability to control your bodily autonomy because the governor has pushed such an abominable and evil bill that is so restrictive, Abrams snorted in disgust. Its not only bad for morality and our humanity, its bad for business, she added, referring to threats from Hollywood of a boycott in the event that the bill is signed into law. For more related news, be sure to check out Evil.news. Stacey Abrams and her fellow death-loving Democrats were prophesied about in Isaiah 5:20, I Timothy To those with active consciences, Abrams chilling verbiage about a bill that aims to protect human life using words like evil, abominable, and bad for morality to describe it echo back to the prophets of the Old Testament, and specifically the words of Isaiah in Chapter 5, Verse 20. In case youre not familiar with it, this verse reads as follows: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Even if youre not a Christian, theres no denying that this is precisely what Abrams is doing by calling pro-life legislation evil and abominable when, in fact, what shes pushing for is the thing thats truly evil and abominable. Derangement at best, and demonic at worst, Abrams contention that not allowing women to murder their unborn children at any stage of pregnancy is somehow a form of wickedness embodies yet another set of prophetic scriptures out of I Timothy, which explain that in the end times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. This passage goes on to explain that such people, which include Stacey Abrams since she grew up as a Methodist, speak lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. If ever there was someone with a seared conscience, based on her recent language, its Stacey Abrams, wouldnt you say? In a statement of response to Abrams words, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told Fox & Friends that he found it appalling that Abrams would try to argue that efforts to preserve human life are evil and abominable. Human beings have heartbeats, Gov. Huckabee is quoted as saying. Blobs of protoplasm do not. And for Stacey Abrams to make this comment that its perfectly okay to kill the heartbeat of a baby because its good for business. I find that appalling. I find that disgusting. Its sad, its sick. At least six different legislatures across the country are currently mulling the passage of heartbeat bills, which would prohibit abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. In Georgia, Gov. Kemp is expected to sign such legislation very soon, and by no later than May 12. Sources for this article include: Breitbart.com TownHall.com NaturalNews.com BibleGateway.com BibleGateway.com (Natural News) In the days before POTUS Donald Trump was inaugurated, a plot to unveil to the public what would come to be known as the most important document in an unprecedented scheme to depose a duly-elected president was first introduced into the public realm. On January 10, 2017, Buzzfeed published the entire contents of what was dubbed the Russia dossier, a collection of sometimes salacious but ultimately unverified claims and accusations assembled by a former British MI6 agent, Christopher Steele, that had actually made its rounds in Washington, D.C.s media circles during the summer of 2016. Because no news organization could verify what Steele had put in the dossier, other news organizations passed on its publication. But the day Buzzfeed News published it, CNN just happened to report that Deep State intelligence officials had briefed outgoing President Obama and incoming President-elect Trump about the existence of the dossier and its contents. I made the final decision to publish the dossier because I believed that the information reported in the CNN story made the Dossier itself, rather than the allegations therein, an important story, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith wrote in a statement filed in federal court on behalf of the publication, which was being sued for libel by Russian figures mentioned in the dossier. From there, news of the dossier spread to every other Washington establishment news organization because now, finally, it was out in the open. But a reporter for another media organization, the far-Left Mother Jones, disclosed elements of the dossier months earlier, only then, most Americans were unaware there even was a dossier let alone who wrote it (Steele), who commissioned it (Fusion GPS) and who paid for it (the Hillary Clinton campaign). According to a transcript of congressional testimony from former top FBI lawyer James Baker that was released last week by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the dossier made its way into Bakers hands via David Corn, a reporter for far-Left magazine Mother Jones in the fall of 2016, before the November election. (Related: BOMBSHELL: Christopher Steele admits he wrote Russia dossier so Hillary could challenge 2016 election results: PROOF Deep State is real.) The media really are enemies of the American people Corn wrote a story for Mother Jones that was published on Oct. 31 in which he quoted Steele, though he did not mention him by name and did not reveal the more salacious aspects of the Russia dossier. According to The Gateway Pundit, Corn would later say that he gave Baker the dossier after the election, but that doesnt jibe with Bakers testimony. During Bakers testimony, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked if he had talked to Corn about anything the FBI was investigating, and in particular the Steele dossier. Im sorry, Im going to cut not let him answer these questions right now. You may or may not know, hes been the subject of a leak investigation which is still a criminal leak investigation thats still active at the Justice Department, Bakers attorney said during the hearing. Baker did say that Corn, his very good friend, was anxious to get the dossier into the hands of top FBI officials. However, when Jordan asked the FBI lawyer if Corn mentioned how he got a copy of the dossier, Baker said he couldnt recall, but that there was a 302 filed of his interview with the bureau. There was more back-and-forth, but the fact was established in congressional testimony that another media source and another reporter published aspects of the dossier without ever having verified any of it. And as it turned out: None of it was true. It was bought-and-paid-for opposition research for a rival political campaign. It was used to justify obtaining FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign unprecedented in our countys history. POTUS Trump is right when he says that the establishment media is an enemy of the people. Read more about the fake news media being an enemy of the state at NewsFakes.com and NewsCartels.com. Sources include: CNN.com MotherJones.com TheGatewayPundit.com TheNationalSentinel.com (Natural News) Residents of Paris, France were horrified on Monday as one of Europes oldest Catholic symbols outside of the Vatican, the Notre Dame Cathedral built in the mid-to-latter 1100s, burned nearly to the ground. Early reports claimed that the fire was caused by, or linked to, renovation work, but authorities were still on the scene as of this writing trying to determine what had happened. Commentators and French newscasters were breathless in describing the scene as flames engulfed, and then collapsed the cathedrals iconic spire. The cause is not yet clear, but officials say it could be linked to renovation work, the BBC reported. #NotreDame The roof has completely collapsed. So tragic. pic.twitter.com/wXyuexniWz Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) April 15, 2019 That said, additional early reports and at this point, unverified, we should add claim that perhaps the burning of this historic Christian site was intentional. TIME columnist Christopher J. Hale tweeted around midday (U.S. time) on Monday: A Jesuit friend in Paris who works in #NotreDame told me cathedral staff said the fire was intentionally set, Infowars Paul Joseph Watson reported. After the tweet attracted a lot of attention, however, Watson noted that Hale deleted his tweet. Watson went on to note that the Saint Sulpice Church in Paris was intentionally set ablaze earlier this year, but as is often the case, the Leftist media downplayed those reports. Watson also noted the 800-pound elephant in the room, given that Frances Muslim population has soared in recent years to one of the highest, if not the highest, per capita throughout Europe: As we reported earlier, anti-Christian attacks in France are on the rise while attacks against Jewish symbols have also risen by 74 per cent. According to a group that studies hate crime attacks against Christians, February was the worst month for attacks on Christian churches since they began collecting data. According to Ellen Fantini, anti-Christian attacks are being minimized despite representing the largest share of hate crimes. Watson also pointed out that more than 1,300 people had posted smiley faces in reaction to the fire on that social media sewer known as Twitter. Appalling, he wrote; many had Islamic names. A brief summary of who is responding to the tragic Notre Dame fire with 'smiley faces' on Facebook. Appalling. pic.twitter.com/OBANPl9Wpv Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) April 15, 2019 This church withstood time and war: Now, suddenly, it burned? On Fox News, meanwhile, host Shepard Smith cut off a French official who merely speculated that the fire was no accident, The Gateway Pundit noted. Not on my watch, Smith scolded Philippe Karsenty, a French elected official who dared question the politically correct version that everyone already knows the fire was just an accident (if no one knows it wasnt intentional how can they know it was accidental?). Of course you will hear the story of the politically correct which will tell you it is probably an accident, Karsenty began. Karsenty then tried to bring up the reality that Christian churches throughout his country are being desecrated at an alarmingly high rate a weekly basis but apparently, such truths are not welcome on Smiths watch. Even the Nazis didnt dare destroy it [Notre Dame cathedral], Karsenty said. And you have to know for the last year weve had churches desecrated each and every week all over France so of course you will hear the story of the politically correct which will tell you it is probably an accident. Sir. Sir! Sir! Were not going to speculate here of the cause of something for which we dont know, Smith insisted. No, sir, not here, not on my watch! Noted The Gateway Pundits Christina Laila brilliantly: If only Fox News shut down people speculating about Russia collusion the way they cut off their guests speculating the Notre Dame fire was not an accident. True. And lets be clear, here: This church has stood the test of time and war for nearly 900 years. Suddenly, its aflame. Sources include: TheGatewayPundit.com Infowars.com (Natural News) Last weeks arrest of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange by the British government on a US extradition order is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the US Constitution. It is an attack on the free press. It is an attack on free speech. It is an attack on our right to know what our government is doing with our money in our name. Julian Assange is every bit as much a political prisoner as was Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary or Nelson Mandela in South Africa. (Article by Ron Paul republished from RonPaulInstitute.org) They, and so many more, were imprisoned because they told the truth about their governments. Repressive governments do not want their citizens to know that they are up to so they insist on controlling the media. We are taught, at the same time, that we have a free press whose job it is to uncover the corruption in our system so that we can demand our political leaders make some changes or face unemployment. That, we are told, is what makes us different from the totalitarian. The arrest of Assange is a canary in a coal mine to warn us that something is very wrong with our system. Whats wrong? The US mainstream media always seems to do the bidding of the US government. That is why they rushed to confirm Washingtons claim that the Assange indictment was not in any way about journalism. It was only about hacking government computers! As the New York Times said in an editorial, sounding like a mouthpiece of the US government, Julian Assange committed an indisputable crime. But was it? As actual journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote last week, what Julian Assange did in 2010, for which he is facing extradition to the US, is no different from what New York Times and other journalists do every day! He attempted to help Chelsea Manning shield his identity as he blew the whistle on US government crimes to a publisher. The information in question included a video showing US military personnel participating in and cheering the murder of Iraqi civilians. Why is it criminal for us to know this? The difference is that what Assange and Manning did embarrassed the US government, which was lying to us that it was liberating Iraq and Afghanistan when it was actually doing the opposite. Mainstream journalists publish leaks that help bolster the neocon or other vested narratives of the different factions of the US government. Thats why the US media wants to see Assange in prison, or worse: he upset their apple cart. The lesson is clear: when you bolster the governments narrative you are a brave journalist. When you expose corruption in government you are a criminal. Do we really want to live in a country where it is illegal to learn that our government is engaged in criminal acts? I thought we had an obligation as an engaged citizenry to hold our government accountable! As long as Julian Assange is in prison, we are all in prison. When the government has the power to tell us what we we allowed to see, hear, and know, we no longer live in a free society. Julian Assange will be extradited to the US and he will have dozens of charges piled on. They want him to disappear so that the next Assange will think twice before informing us of our governments crimes. Are we going to let them steal our freedom? Read more at: RonPaulInstitute.org (Natural News) In this study, published in the Journal of Essential Oil Research, researchers from Mexico examined the antimicrobial activity of volatile compounds derived from essential oils. They tested these compounds against nosocomial (hospital-derived) pathogens, including a multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii, which commonly affects people with weak immune systems. The minimum inhibitory dose (MID) of the tested compounds the lowest concentration that prevented the growth of bacteria was determined using gaseous contact assay. The researchers also performed pulse-field gel electrophoresis to select A. baumannii clones, and microdilution assay to build MDR profiles. They identified genes that conferred drug resistance using PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a method used to make multiple copies of DNA segments. They also used crystal violet method, which makes use of a dye that binds to DNA, to confirm the formation of biofilm that signaled the attachment of bacteria on a surface. From all of the compounds tested, the researchers considered carvacrol, a chemical that is effective against food-borne pathogens, as the most potent against A. baumannii. Carvacrol had the lowest MID against three strains of A. baumannii isolated from different specimens; all three strains had very high drug resistance profiles. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that compounds contained in essential oils, in particular, carvacrol, may have therapeutic potential as treatment for nosocomial infections, specifically those caused by the MDR bacteria A. baumannii. Naturopathy.news has the latest information about natural cures and more. Journal Reference: Alanis-Garza BA, Bocanegra-Ibarias P, Torres NWD, Salazar-Aranda R, Mendoza-Olazaran S, Perez-Lopez LA, Flores-Trevino S, Garza-Gonzalez E. ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS-DERIVED VOLATILE COMPOUNDS AGAINST SEVERAL NOSOCOMIAL PATHOGENS INCLUDING REPRESENTATIVE MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT A. BAUMANNII CLINICAL ISOLATES. Journal of Essential Oil Research. 25 July 2018;30(5):341346. DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2018.1483269 (Natural News) What was that you just read in your favorite health magazine? Has that fad failed you before? What health advice did you heed? Is it in the history books? Is it peer-reviewed research from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in some prestigious medical journal? Is it at the top of Google when you search it? None of that matters, by the way. The companies and corporations that want you sick while draining your savings account on medical bills and junk food are the same ones who publish all the lies, and have done so since as early as 1950. The historical health lies have been perpetuated for several generations now, so even our grandparents dont know how much conventional food, water, and medicine have become polluted. Its called historical lies, and they spread like facts. Sure, World War II may have ended on the battlefields in the 1940s, but the war on health and mind control raged on in the United States, where the elite went insane and promoted processed food, hoax vaccines, toxic pharmaceuticals, and all the literature (propaganda) to go with it. Whats worse than that? They also buried all information about natural cures and remedies. Today, theyre wiping out all news that organic food can help you live well past 100 years, without any medications, hip replacements, or nursing home care. HISTORICAL LIE #1. Vaccines are safe and effective No, vaccines are NOT safe and effective. Who told you that? Science proves theyre huge failures because the manufacturers tell you on their own products (see vaccine inserts) that they are not proven effective in clinical trials, nor are they safe, as billions of dollars have been paid out due to injuries and adverse events vaccines cause (including death). Do you think, for one second, that its safe to inject infected African Monkey kidney cells into your muscle tissue? What about a deadly pig virus thats wiping out millions of swine in China? Is that safe and effective in any way, shape, or form? How? Thats vaccine insanity. Thats chemical violence perpetrated on adults, teens, children, infants, and pregnant women. All vaccines, including the flu shot and the pneumonia vaccine, are highly experimental, dangerous, and not proven safe. Learn the truth before youre ever injected with foreign animal proteins, genetically modified bacteria, and cells from human abortions again. HISTORICAL LIE #2. The fluoride in tap water is good for your teeth Sometimes you can smell the chlorine chemicals in tap water while youre running it at your kitchen sink or bathroom faucet. Some days its stronger than others. Water your plants with tap water and watch them wither while the soil surface turns white and crumbly. Those are the chemicals that cause cancer, dementia, brittle bones and arthritis folks. Remember that. Every dentist who tells you fluoride is good for teeth strength is either an ignorant myth-spreader or an outright liar, or both. Do your homework and find out the truth. Its an historical lie and deadly fluoride was first put in American municipal taps in Michigan right after World War II. HISTORICAL LIE #3. Milk builds strong bones Nearly all milk sold in America is cooked dead and processed, ruining the nutrient content and adulterating the Vitamin D. American milk is pasteurized and homogenized to kill the mass amounts of bacteria and viruses that are carried forth from the tortured cows. Cows are artificially inseminated and suffer udder infections regularly, leaching pus into the milk. This must be treated heavily with drugs and factory processing (carcinogens and heat) to keep the humans from becoming deathly sick after drinking it. Those same chemicals make humans sick over time. Millions of cows in America are bred to produce unnatural quantities of milk due to artificial hormones, steroids, and antibiotics. Over 75 percent of all antibiotics in the USA are injected into animals to produce extra toxic food and beverages. Youre also drinking noxious pesticides from the GM feed the animals are given. Dont forget that part, as if the rest is not enough. Milk does NOT build strong bones, but rather causes chronic inflammation, excess mucus, and therefore drives other common diseases like diabetes, cancer, and dementia. That includes conventional cheese, ice cream, yogurt, you name it. Heres Mark Hyman, M.D., explaining six top reasons why you should avoid dairy at all costs. HISTORICAL LIE #4. Theres no cure for cancer Cancer happens when you consume chemicals, breathe them in, or put them on your skin repetitively for years. Your cells warp, divide uncontrollably, gang up and attack your good cells. They find damaged tissue in your body and take over, then spread through the lymph fluid to other vital organs, including the liver, kidneys, and brain. Theres no cure for the slow death that becomes you if you consume dozens of chemicals daily and then have doctors try to cut out the damage and bombard it with chemotherapy and radiation, which also cause MORE cancer by severely compromising your immune system. The cure for cancer is simple. Stop feeding it the chemicals it needs to survive. The Art of War says cut off the enemy supply line and you cripple them. Eat strictly organic food, mostly raw, drink only spring water, and make sure the air around you is clean. If these things are broken now, fix them. You cant cure cancer when youre injecting toxins regularly, drinking fluoridated tap water, sucking down hormone-laden dairy products, and taking chemicals to fight a chemically-driven disease. Think about THAT for a minute. Tune into Cancer.news and find out how to outsmart cancer without chemotherapy and radiation. This is a public service announcement. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com CDC.gov/vaccines NaturalNews.com TruthWiki.org Cancer.news NaturalNewsblogs.com (Natural News) Forget the college cheating scam. The biggest scam in America is the Democratic Party. Its platform is based on legalizing cheating. I have no idea why anyone in America should obey the law anymore. Just ignore any law you think is unfair just like Democrats do. (Article by Wayne Allyn Root republished from TownHall.com) Just days ago, 13 parents, including famous Hollywood actress Felicity Huffman, agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal. Now, dont get me wrong. I hate arrogant, rich, entitled jerks as much as the next guy maybe more. I went to Columbia University with hundreds of these liberals. It was clear from my first day at Columbia that many of my spoiled-brat classmates all of whom announced proudly how much they hated America got in because their rich parents greased the wheels. Nothing ever changes. I couldnt stand these kids. Nonetheless, if I were among those 13 cheating parents, Id have pleaded innocent. Their lawyers should have argued theyre innocent thanks to the standards set by todays Democratic Party. According to Democrats, laws no longer matter and cheating is legal as long as you think the law youre breaking is unfair. Exhibit A is illegal immigration. Democrats aggressively support open borders. They no longer think immigration law matters. They want to allow anyone, at any time, to break into our country. And Democrats think that once illegals are caught breaking in, they should be allowed to stay forever without penalty. Illegals have fake IDs and stolen Social Security numbers. Democrats dont think anyone should be punished for breaking those laws. Actually, its worse. Democrats want to reward criminals. They think anyone who breaks into our country deserves welfare checks, food stamps, housing allowances, aid to dependent children, free school and free medical. Thats massive theft from law-abiding American taxpayers directly to criminals. Democrats in New York and California insist these criminals must get Obamacare. Democratic presidential contenders say these illegal criminals must get Social Security even though this will further hasten the insolvency of the program for U.S. citizens who have paid in their whole lives. Democratic judges will no longer enforce the law. They refuse to turn felons over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democratic mayors warn felons that ICE is coming. Worse, Democratic presidential candidates support abolishing ICE. They dont even want a police force to defend our nation from foreign invaders or to take criminals into custody. Democrats create sanctuary cities and even sanctuary states. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has sworn to protect illegal aliens in his state. He believes he can choose to ignore laws and the Constitution simply because he doesnt like them. So, I ask: Why should the rest of us obey laws we dont like? Why should any of us pay our taxes if we dont like the IRS? Why should any of us obey the speed limit if we like to speed? Its clear its my choice to ignore any laws I dont like. You know what I call those college cheating parents who pleaded guilty? Suckers. They clearly needed better legal representation. They should have just pleaded innocent based on the Democratic Partys platform. Read more at: TownHall.com (Natural News) After learning Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election found neither collusion with the Trump campaign nor President Trump obstructing the investigation, anti-Trump editors on Wikipedia downplayed the investigations conclusions. (Article by T.D. Adler republished from Breitbart.com) Of particular focus was Mueller not exonerating Trump on obstruction, despite Attorney General William Barr and his deputy Rod Rosenstein agreeing evidence did not show obstruction. Some Wikipedia editors also went to articles related to the origins of the investigation to defend its pretext, including the Steele Dossier used as the primary basis for the collusion allegations. The problem was first picked up Newsbusters, a project of the Media Research Center, who criticized the fact many pages related to Trump and the investigation had not been updated with the result or didnt place it more prominently. While many articles were eventually updated to include the results or place them more prominently in the article, they also criticized an effort to downplay or misrepresent Barrs letter announcing the results. Editors noting how Trump stated the Barr letter exonerated him were quick to misrepresent the letter by pointing to Barrs quote of Mueller saying he did not exonerate Trump on obstruction. The cited sources for the claimed falsehood note that in the letter Barr stated he and Rosenstein evaluated the evidence and determined Trumps conduct was not obstruction after Mueller declined to make a recommendation. Many of the updates to Wikipedia about the investigation omitted the fact Barr and Rosenstein concluded Muellers evidence was not sufficient to claim obstruction. The page on Mueller himself excluded this detail when the investigations result was added. When the results were added to a timeline of events noting Barr stated there was not sufficient evidence to support claims of obstruction or collusion, another editor wrongly claimedthat Barr had not exonerated Trump. Articles on Trump also omit the critical detail about Barr and Rosensteins evaluation of the obstruction issue. In the article on Trumps presidency, it is only stated that Muellers report did not exonerate Trump on the issue. Even then, another editor sought to cast doubt on this by noting it was what Barr was stating, emphasizing that he was appointed by Trump. While Trumps page includes Barr and Rosensteins evaluation on obstruction later in the article, the intro again only notes Mueller did not exonerate him. Another editor had removed mention of Barr and Rosensteins determination from the intro. Despite the conclusion of Muellers report, some editors also continued to suggest there was collusion with Russia. Editor Volunteer Marek attempted to add to the intro of the article on Trumps presidency that Trump had advance notice of the DNC leaks citing his former lawyer Michael Cohen, failing to note this referred to Roger Stones dubious claims to have insider information at Wikileaks rather than a Russian connection. Another editor, BullRangifer, repeatedly argued over several discussions that Steeles dossier had not been debunked by the investigation yet also sought to minimize its role in the investigation. Wikipedias article on Spygate, a term that has become associated with allegations of improper surveillance of the Trump campaign, has drawn considerable attention as critics of the collusion claims have called for investigating the investigators. Marek and Rangifer have both been active in discussions at the article along with other anti-Trump editors. The Spygate article itself was locked to prevent editing as anti-Trump editors repeatedly fought to retain material claiming the Spygate conspiracy theory is false. Coverage of the investigation and criticisms of it on Wikipedia have largely fallen in line with the predominant mainstream media narratives, which have overwhelmingly treated allegations of treasonous collusion with Russia as credible and allegations of investigatory misconduct as baseless conspiracy theories. For nearly a year the article on the Special Counsel investigation has claimed allegations of misconduct were raised and almost immediately debunked citing, among other things, the Carter Page FISA warrant discussed by Representative Devin Nunes in a House Intelligence memo. The warrant reportedly relied heavily on the Steele dossier as evidence. Several commentators have noted FISA surveillance warrants often authorize access to past and present communications, not only of the ostensible target, but anyone with whom the target communicated and anyone with whom those people have communicated. These commentators also note that such access, if granted in the Page warrant, could potentially give investigators extensive access to Trump campaign communications. As large parts of the FISA warrant application remain redacted, it is not known whether this form of authorization was sought. Despite this, mainstream media claims that allegations of the Trump campaign being improperly surveilled were debunked are given priority on Wikipedia. Articles covering Trump-Russia collusion have been a major point of contention on Wikipedia since the investigation began, though partisan editors have typically succeeded in slanting articles in their favor, including by having sources critical of the Russia hacking narrative purged from articles. One Trump associate, Michael Caputo, went so far as to hire a paid editor to remove false claims of him being a consultant for Putin, but the claims were restored and the editor banned for violating policies on paid editing and using multiple accounts. Unbeknownst to Caputo, the editor who added the false allegations was using an account created to evade a ban on editing about living political figures. Wikipedias unreliable handling of the results of the Special Counsel investigation highlights problems, as noted by Newsbusters, with Big Techs use of Wikipedia to informtheir users. Such cases are typical of the political bias regularly demonstrated on Wikipedia. Read more at: Breitbart.com (Natural News) Lawsuits are beginning to fly following New York City (NYC) Mayor Bill de Blasios recent declaration of a state of emergency over measles infection, which was accompanied by an unconstitutional decree that all vulnerable people living in four Brooklyn zip codes be forcibly vaccinated with MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella). The Childrens Health Defense (CHD) fund has reportedly filed a legal challenge against this rogue edict, which it says violates the fundamental human right to informed medical consent a concept of which many politicians these days seem to be ignorant. CHD has publicly stated that, while NYC does have the authority to control disease outbreaks, it doesnt have the right to violate the bedrock principle of prior, free and informed consent to all medical interventions, including vaccines. The group further stated that NYC can legally quarantine, isolate, trace contacts and strongly urge vaccination, but in no way has the legal authority to impose such a draconian mandate without demonstrating necessity, reasonableness, proportionality, harm avoidance, non-discrimination, due process and equal protection under the law. I am shocked that Mayor de Blasio would resort to such police state techniques to control an outbreak of measles, stated CHD board member Mary Holland. I dont believe the Citys actions will withstand legal scrutiny. For more related news about the dangers of vaccines, be sure to check out Vaccines.news. Dont forget: Mercks MMR vaccine never should have even been approved, let alone mandated The case, which CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes will ultimately prevail, is about a whole lot more than just the freedom of Americans to refuse vaccination if they so choose. It also draws much-needed attention to the fact that, based on whats already been revealed in federal whistleblower litigation, Merck & Co., the vaccine corporation that manufactures the MMR vaccine, knowingly falsified safety data in order to get this controversial vaccine approved. According to reports, Merck lied about MMRs efficacy, fraudulently concealing the fact that the mumps component of the vaccine quickly wanes. The MMR vaccine has also been shown to be a cause of the very infectious disease outbreaks that politicians like de Blasio are blaming on the unvaccinated. 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, reports PJ Media. We are confident that no American court will allow government bureaucrats to force American citizens to take risky pharmaceutical products against their will. To keep up with the latest news about vaccines harming and killing children, be sure to check out VaccineInjuryNews.com. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo objects to de Blasios vaccine mandate, questioning its constitutionality While theres little good to say about him in most other regards, New York Governor Andrew infanticide Cuomo has taken a public stand against de Blasios emergency order, questioning its constitutionality. 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 stated during a recent radio interview with WAMC. 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? he added. Its a serious question that all Americans, having formerly been a truly free people, need to think long and hard about especially as some of them frighteningly call for virtually unlimited government authority to force vaccines on everyone. To learn more about why medical freedom is a fundamental element to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, visit HealthFreedom.news. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com PJMedia.com (Natural News) If you own a gun and happen to lose your temper, get into a fight, or some other random act of minor violence and you live in Colorado you just might find the police at your door in the near future demanding you turn over all your firearms until a judge says you can have them back. Thats right, Colorado once a solidly red, pro-Constitution state that has been hijacked by the authoritarian Left has become the latest state to pass a so-called red flag law that empowers courts to usurp due process and the Second Amendment to enforce gun confiscation based only on the word of one person. In other words, fiction has become reality. You may recall a 2002 film, Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell. According to the Internet Movie Database, the movie is based on a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes. The unit relies on three human-like pre-cogs, short for pre-cognizant individuals who, collectively, are able to see the future that is, until they make a mistake. In any event, this is the essence of how red flag laws work: Based on the testimony of an aggrieved person claiming to be concerned that a spouse, or a friend, or a relative, or some other associate may hurt themselves or others with a gun, a judge can order that persons guns confiscated by police and removed from the individuals home. (Related: Constitutional carry is the only REAL self-defense solution because Americans should never have to BEG government for the right to keep and bear arms.) And all without hearing a single word of defense from the individual the polar opposite of the founding American legal principle of innocent until proven guilty. Regarding the newly passed Colorado law, Fox News reports: Colorado became the 15th state on Friday to adopt a red flag gun law, allowing firearms to be seized from people determined to pose a danger just weeks after dozens of county sheriffs had vowed not to enforce the law, with some local leaders establishing what they called Second Amendment sanctuary counties. The law didnt receive a single Republican vote in the state legislature, and has led to renewed efforts from gun-rights activists to recall Democrats who supported the measure. These laws are clearly unconstitutional In a long and defiant statement on Facebook posted late last week, Eagle County, Colo., Sheriff James van Beek bashed the law as a perhaps well-intentioned but a nonetheless ludicrous reminder of the Minority Report film while detailing several objections from fellow law enforcement officers. Van Beek said the law treats any accused gun owner, automatically, like a criminal, while discouraging people from seeking out psychiatric help. He also said the law ignores a reality that a disturbed mind will not be deterred by the removal of their guns. Like other red flag laws, according to Fox News: Colorados law, approved by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, allows family, household members or law enforcement to petition a court to have guns seized or surrendered based on a showing that someone poses a danger under the preponderance of the evidence, a civil standard which means that the defendant is more likely than not to be a threat. Subsequent court hearings could extend police gun seizures up to 364 days. Also, under the law, gun owners must demonstrate clear and convincing evidence a higher legal standard if they want to keep their firearms. Two constitutional amendments the Fifth and the Fourteenth say that no one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Red flag laws clearly violate these; sheriffs are right to oppose them. Read more about unconstitutional red flag laws at SecondAmendment.news and Freedom.news. Sources include: FoxNews.com Law.Cornell.edu TheNationalSentinel.com (Natural News) The Left is fond of posing this straw man argument to POTUS Donald Trump regarding his tax returns: Hey, Mr. President, if you dont have anything to hide, why not show us your returns? Of course, the premise of the question is wrong to begin with; the president is under no legal or constitutional obligation to show Congress or the American people his private financial information, so its not really a matter of whether hes got anything to hide. He does; his privacy. But well play the Lefts game and apply it to a different situation social media censorship of conservative voices and independent media: If shadow banning isnt illegal, then why be dishonest about doing it? Because thats just what representatives from tech behemoths Facebook and Twitter were doing this week during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, an act that does have legal consequences if it is proven. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), asked both representatives point-blank if they engage in shadow banning, and both denied that their companies did so though, according to Breitbart News Allum Bokhari, the rep from Twitter went on to describe practices that mirrors [sic] the covert censorship almost exactly. Does Twitter or Facebook engage in shadow bans? Cruz, chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, which sponsored the hearing, asked Wednesday. Turning to the Twitter rep, Carlos Monje Jr., Cruz noted, You testified before, or you acknowledged that Twitter will downgrade a comment to make it less visible. Does Twitter notify a person if their comment has been downgraded? If we have signals indicating that a person is being a spammy, meaning they are using multiple accounts to do the same, if they are doing automated activity but were not 100 percent sure that they are breaking our rules, if theyre abusive then what we will do is make it harder for that content to be found in a couple of different places one is in search results, and the other is in conversations the replies, Monje said. (Related: New alternatives to Twitter, Google, Facebook rapidly emerging: These sites wont censor you.) Regulations are needed to deal with constitutional speech and interference with lawful commerce. He didnt say, however, whether the platform notifies users when their comments have been downgraded shadowbanned. I believe the answer is no, and if the answer is no, that, as far as I can tell, is all but indistinguishable from shadow banning, Cruz responded. Monje noted further, At no point, sir, is a persons followers unable to find what that person has tweeted. Really? Cruz returned fire: But if its downgraded so far fewer people see it, that is exactly what is being alleged on shadow banning. As for Facebook, its representative also denied that shadow banning occurred on the platform. I would like to state unequivocally that Facebook does not favor one political viewpoint over another, nor does Facebook suppress conservative speech, the companys public policy director told the Senate panel. It should be noted that there have been several studies and analyses done regarding censorship and shadow banning of conservative content by the social media platforms. And nearly all major conservative/independent publications over the past year and longer have reported substantial declines in traffic referrals from their social media accounts. Coincidence? Earlier this month in an interview with The Hill, Cruz said, Big tech behaves like the only acceptable views are those on the far left. And any views to the contrary are suitable for censorship and silencing. Normally, conservatives do not favor more government regulation. But these social media platforms are either taking marketing money from conservative/independent media while subsequently shadow banning them, or are denying them revenue from traffic. And that becomes a legal matter of interfering with legitimate commerce in addition to a huge free speech issue. Read more about how the tech giants are censoring conservatives at Censorship.news and TechGiants.news. Sources include: TheNationalSentinel.com TheHill.com Breitbart.com (Natural News) In a recent segment on the CBS series The Good Fight, a chaotic riot scene in which people are attacked, cars are overturned and burned, and police vehicles are smashed, a lone black man approaches the camera and begins to speak. Is it all right to hit a Nazi unprovoked? he begins. I was always taught to never throw the first punch, never instigate, defend but dont attack (because hes so virtuous, you understand). But then I saw a video of white nationalist Richard Spencer being punched in the face during an interview and I realized Spencer was in a pressed suit, wearing a tie, being interviewed like his opinion mattered, like he should be grouped into part of the conversation, like neo-Nazism is just one little point of view, the black man continued (as the viewer was treated to views of Spencer being interviewed and being punched). And then I realized theres no better way to show some speech is not equal, he said. Some speech requires a more visceral response. Its like Overtons Window that determines which ideas are tolerated in civil discourse. Well, Overtons Window doesnt mean s**t unless it comes with some enforcement, so yeah, this is enforcement. Its time to punch a few Nazis. Frankly, it is outrageous that CBS would broadcast something so grossly irresponsible, but there you have it: A blatant call for violence against whites, in general, is the not-so-subtle undertone: Richard Spencer is an avowed neo-Nazi and white supremacist. Hes not disavowed this and in fact, has proudly declared it. But for the record and we need to be crystal clear about this white supremacy is not the same thing as being a nationalist. The disgustingly dishonest Left has begun using the terms white supremacist and white nationalist interchangeably, as a way of portraying much of POTUS Trumps white base as racists and bigots (like him, you see which is also a lie). Watch: You may consider arming yourself, especially if youre white As the above video notes, correctly, nationalism in the Trumpian view is nothing more or less than patriotism, and patriotism applies to any one of us who loves our country first and foremost, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, religion, orientation, or any other factor. The fact that the insane Left has taken it upon themselves to decide what speech is and is not allowable in the public sphere is nothing short of the Nazi-like authoritarianism they claim to be opposing. Mind you, Spencer isnt the authoritarian here. Hes not calling on others who disagree with him to be punched into silence. Hes merely advocating a point of view that he has every right to under our Constitution to advocate, even if virtually no one else in our country agrees with him. Now, if thats not true, then imagine some tables being turned here: What if conservatives begin showing up at Leftist rallies and start punching Marxists and socialists? After all, the only ideology that killed more people than Nazism in the 1900s was Marxist-Leninist-socialist governments (the USSR, Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, etc.). Why is some speech acceptable under the principle of Overtons Window and other speech isnt? Well, obviously, it depends whos doing the deciding. (Related: Mainstream medias perpetuation of hate hoaxers like Jussie Smollett will lead to violence, war.) In the meantime, conservatives and especially whites had better get it through their heads that the Left is coming for us. They have deemed our speech and our points of view as no different from those of a Richard Spencer, though clearly conservatism is not neo-Nazism and nationalism isnt white supremacy. If you dont yet carry a concealed firearm, maybe you ought to get some training, get licensed, and get started. It seems like the time isnt far off when angry, brainwashed Leftists are going to attack us simply because we exist. Sources include: Mackinac.org NewsTarget.com TheBurningPlatform.com (Natural News) If youre the type of person who believes all of the hype about the mainstream medias latest flavor of the week, Pete Buttigieg, then you probably think hes the greatest thing since sliced bread the next Leftist savior who needs to be elected president in 2020 in order to resist Trump. But this joke of a candidate is just another run-of-the-mill, fake news-spreading blasphemer with absolutely nothing to offer Americans beyond the usual far-Left talking points and Trump-bashing quips a quintessential Democrat, in other words. Though the fake news brigade is working really hard to brand him as something supernaturally amazing, Buttigieg is basically just another carbon copy of the dozens of other Democrats currently vying for the Oval Office in 2020 except that hes a white man whos married to another man, which means hes the Leftist medias latest golden child to be worshiped and adored as a progressive political miracle. When Buttigieg isnt busying himself spreading long-debunked fake news about President Donald Trump on Twitter, he apparently keeps himself busy pretending to be a Christian and chastising real Christians for adhering to the tenets of the Word of God, unlike himself. You see, Buttigieg has convinced himself that being a homosexual is not only perfectly in-line with Biblical Christianity, but he also blames the Creator of the universe for supposedly making him that way. Ironically, Buttigieg has a very narrow view of what it means to be a Christian in 2019 and in his opinion, President Trump doesnt fit the bill. In casting his theocratic vision on numerous different occasions, Buttigieg has openly judged our Commander-in-Chief as a hypocrite, assuming the position of God himself in condemning our President as not truly being of the faith. Im reluctant to comment on another persons faith, but I would say it is hard to look at this presidents actions and believe that theyre the actions of somebody who believes in God, Buttigieg is quoted as saying, spewing the very same type of intolerance that he and other members of the LGBT Mafia accuse others of doing. I just dont understand how you can be as worshipful of your own self as he is and be prepared to humble yourself before God. Ive never seen him humble himself before anyone. For more related news, be sure to check out Libtards.news. Judge not, lest ye be judged right, Buttigieg? Its rather humorous to watch far-Left lunatics like Buttigieg pretend to occupy the moral high ground in their condemnation of not only President Trump, but also his supporters whom Buttigieg has also decided to judge as hypocrites for supporting both him and his policies. Twisting scripture out of context, as Leftists notoriously do, Buttigieg ranted about how President Trump and his supporters act in ways that he thinks are not consistent with anything I hear in scripture or church where it is about lifting up the least among us and taking care of strangers, going on to liken strangers to immigrants whom, like all other Leftist politicians, he deceptively lumps together with illegal aliens. This, of course, was part of Buttigiegs fake news tweet on Twitter, in which he falsely implied that President Trump once referred to all immigrants as animals when, in fact, he was actually referring to MS-13 gang members who violently assault and murder innocent Americans for sport. Heres a thought: When you are living a life in open defiance to God, you might not want to attack the faith of others, wrote John Nolte for Breitbart News, calling out Buttigieg for his open rebellion against God. heres a guy lecturing others about Christianity when he doesnt even understand the basics of the faith and when he supports the infanticide of abortion which violates nothing less than the sixth commandment, Nolte further added. See IdentityPolitics.news for more coverage of identity politics. Sources for this article include: Breitbart.com NaturalNews.com At the celebration of the Lao traditional New Year festival Bunpimay (Photo: VNA) This years programme includes two parts: a cultural exchange between Vietnamese and Lao students, and the festivals rituals. The annual Bunpimay festival often takes place from April 13th-16th, becoming a cultural custom that has been practised for long in Laos. Vice rector of the university Doan Duc Lan said the annual activity aims to forge connections between Vietnamese and Lao students, through which tightening the solidarity and friendship between the two countries in general. The Tay Bac University is a prestigious training centre of human resources, scientific research and technological transfer for Laos. Eight northern Lao provinces have friendly relations and signed comprehensive cooperation agreements with Son La./. The colors of France washed over San Francisco International Airport and San Francisco City Hall Monday evening as the city by the bay shared sympathy with Paris one of its sister cities following the devastating blaze at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral. San Francisco Mayor London Breed took to Twitter Monday night to share a photo of city hall lit up in French blue, white and red. "Tonight we light San Francisco's City Hall in solidarity with Mayor @Anne_Hidalgo and all Parisians," Breed tweeted. San Francisco's connection with Paris runs deep. In addition to the sister city link, San Francisco's Grace Cathedral is itself a sister cathedral to Notre Dame, and its own architecture was inspired by the landmark in Paris. The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Young, dean of Grace Cathedral, tweeted that the church community will continue its prayers for Notre Dame and Parisians during a service Wednesday evening. Footage showing flames devour Notre Dame Cathedral's spire and roof shocked people across the world, including those who first faced the news when they arrived in San Francisco from Paris Monday night. "It's so sad," Emily Agur said. "That's unbelievable. We were just there two days ago." A former Stanford University religious studies professor and medieval historian said the cathedral was the heart of Paris during the Middle Ages. "To see this devastation, it's just heart-rending," Hester Gelber, Ph.D., said. NBC Bay Area's Thom Jensen contributed to this report. A sign along a busy roadway with a blunt message directed at San Jose's mayor was getting a lot of attention Monday, especially on social media. Someone put up a banner on a soundwall along Almaden Expressway in South San Jose that essentially points blame at Mayor Sam Liccardo in the Feb. 28 homicide of Bambi Larson, who was killed in her own home by an undocumented immigrant with a long criminal history. NBC Bay Area The banner says "Mayor Liccardo has blood on his hands for what happened to Bambi Larson." City leaders say theyre not sure what the author is referring to, but the mayor took the issue head on. "I take my mandate very seriously, which is to make San Jose safer every single day," Liccardo said. "The most sensible response is to work harder and do more, to be smarter about how we can make San Jose safer." A sign along a busy roadway with a blunt message directed at San Jose's mayor was getting a lot of attention Monday, especially on social media. Damian Trujillo reports. The mayor said one murder is one too many in his city, and he will meet with the local community again to answer any questions. Police arrested Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza in Larson's slaying. Federal immigration officials have said Santa Clara Countys sanctuary policy kept Carranza from being deported years ago. The sign, which also added the phrase "junkies off our streets," certainly was sparking conversations. "I think everyone has their own opinion," resident Keith Fields said. "But I believe hes a good guy, so why?" On Monday, San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia came to the mayors defense and reiterated his stance on the immigration issue. "I was shocked to see it, quite frankly," Garcia said. "He is not the individual whose ire they should be on. We are in full support of immigrants coming into San Jose. What were not in support of is the shielding of convicted felons who cause harm to our communities, regardless of immigration status." No one knows who put up the sign or what specifically the author is referring to. Merchants across the street say they noticed it Monday. The DA's office is not ruling out the death penalty in the Larson murder case. The husband of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan was allowed to return to the United States Monday after immigration officials deported him last week and put their daughter at risk of losing another parent, NBC affiliate KNPX reported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 30-year-old Jose Gonzalez Carranza on April 8 in Phoenix, Arizona, as he was headed to work and then deported him to Mexico three days later, according to his attorney, Ezequiel Hernandez. Gonzalez Carranza's late wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed on Sept. 18, 2010, while serving in Afghanistan. She was 22. Gonzalez Carranza shares custody of the couple's 12-year-old daughter with Vieyra's parents. Hernandez said in a news release that his client who had entered the U.S. illegally in 2004 at the age of 16 had been granted a "parole in place" (PIP) in 2017 after his wife was killed. PIP authorizes certain undocumented family members of U.S. military personnel active and veterans to stay and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In 2018, an immigration judge had stopped deportation proceedings against Gonzalez Carranza because of his PIP status. Gonzalez Carranza told KNPX that he told the arresting ICE agents of his rights based on the PIP and claimed they replied, "I don't care." According to Hernandez, ICE refiled a deportation case against Gonzalez Carranza last year and after failing to appear in court for a hearing in December, a judge issued a deportation order. However, Gonzalez Carranza said he never received a notice of a court appearance from USCIS and Hernandez also contends in his news release that his office was not sent any paperwork. "I never received any kind of paper," Gonzalez Carranza told KNPX. "The first time this happened, the judge gave me an opportunity to be a United States legal and I do my best. I never missed anything, any kind of information, any kind of paper, any time I needed to be in front of an immigration judge, I was always there. Ill always be on time to renew my permits, everything. But I never received anything to tell me I have a new hearing." Hernandez said a Motion to Reopen (MTR) Gonzalez Carranza's case was filed the same day he was detained, "triggering an automatic stay" on his deportation proceedings. That's because the judge's deportation order was issued "in absentia," meaning the court made a decision on the case without the defendants presence during the proceedings. While filing a motion to reopen doesnt automatically stay deportation, in general, it does pause an exisiting removal order that was issued in absentia. The attorney said ICE's field office in Phoenix was provided with a copy of the pending MTR, but the agency deported him anyways. ICE acknowledged Tuesday that Gonzalez Carranza was deported while a hold on his removal from the U.S. was in place, but offered no explanation why. "On April 11, ICE removed Gonzalez-Carranza from the United States pending the motion to reopen while a stay was in place. On April 15, Gonzalez-Carranza was allowed to re-enter the United States pending adjudication of his immigration proceedings. An immigration judge with EOIR will determine if proceedings should be reopened, and whether Gonzalez-Carranza has legal basis to remain in the United States," ICE spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement to NBC News. Gonzalez Carranza's case sparked widespread outrage and attracted the attention of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. A spokeswoman for Sinema told the Arizona Republic that her office had reached out to help. On Monday, Gonzalez Carranza was told to go to the Nogales/Mariposa Port of Entry where he would be allowed to cross the border into the U.S. Citing several errors made by ICE, Hernandez believes that Gonzalez Carranza has a strong case for the court to rule on his client's motion to reopen the case. KNPX reported that if the court agrees, they will then have to again fight to terminate the deportation proceedings. "As it stands, [being a widower of an American soldier] is not enough to have legal permanent status in the United States," Hernandez told KNPX. Sinema spokeswoman Hannah Hurley told the Republic that the senator's office "is in communication with Mr. Carranzas attorney and we will assist the Carranza family in this process." Court documents reveal federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in late 2017, NBC News reports, more than two months earlier than the indictment disclosed when he was arrested last week. Assange was taken into custody April 11 after spending more than six years under the protection of Ecuador's embassy in London. A federal indictment unsealed after his arrest accused him of trying to help a U.S. Army private crack an encrypted password to hack into a Pentagon computer and steal classified documents. But charges for the same offense were actually filed in secret on December 21, 2017, in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The 26-page affidavit accompanying the charges listed what it said were hundreds of online exchanges between Assange and Chelsea Manning, the former Army private who provided hundreds of thousands of government documents to WikiLeaks, many of them classified. Despite filing the criminal charges, the Justice Department sought a grand jury indictment only a few months later in order to make a stronger case for extradition in the event Assange was arrested, an administration official said Monday. The Interior Department's internal investigators have begun probing allegations of conflicts of interest involving Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, they confirmed Monday, just four days after the Senate confirmed the former corporate lobbyist to lead the agency. Deputy Interior Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on Monday that her office had launched the probe to address seven separate ethics allegations leveled against Bernhardt, including one from Wyden. The allegations have centered on charges from Democratic senators, environmental groups and others that Bernhardt was violating ethics standards by involving himself in Interior Department deliberations with his former lobbying clients, including a politically influential California water agency. Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said in a statement that Bernhardt "is in complete compliance with his ethics agreement and all applicable laws, rules, and regulations." Vander Voort said the allegations had come from "Democratic Members of Congress and DC political organizations" and that the agency's ethics office already had looked into many of the allegations and absolved Bernhardt. Announcement of the probe came on Bernhardt's second full day as interior secretary. He won Senate confirmation to the post Thursday over objections of several Democratic lawmakers, who had urged fellow senators to wait to vote on his appointment until Interior's inspector general's office had addressed the various ethics allegations. Bernhardt had been acting secretary of Interior it oversees the nation's public resources, including oil and gas leases on public lands since President Donald Trump's first appointee as secretary, Ryan Zinke, announced his resignation amid separate ethics allegations in December. Trump initially appointed Bernhardt in April 2017 to serve as Zinke's deputy. Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, and other lawmakers in March had asked Interior's watchdog officials to look into allegations that Bernhardt and other agency officials were violating their written ethics pledges by involving themselves in regulatory matters concerning recent former clients. "The American public deserves to have the basic confidence that their Interior Secretary is looking out for their interests - protecting public land, species, the air and the water and not the interests of former industry clients," Udall said in a statement Monday. Bernhardt had been head of the natural resources division at the lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. He represented oil and gas companies, California's Westlands Water District and dozens of other clients, many with business before Interior. Westlands Water District, with ties to some of California's biggest corporate farmers, is seeking favorable decisions from the Trump administration on water contracts and other matters. Like Zinke before him, Bernhardt at Interior has been an active supporter of Trump's call to minimize regulations on businesses and open more public lands for oil and gas exploration and other resource development. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle spent more than $5.8 million in the three months leading up to the April 2 mayoral runoff election with Lori Lightfoot, state campaign finance records made public Monday show. The spending did little for Preckwinkle, who received just 26 percent of the vote and lost each of the city's 50 wards in a landslide defeat. Preckwinkle outspent Lightfoot from January 1 through March 31, records show, by more than $1.4 million. Preckwinkles Toni for Chicago campaign fund was fueled in large part by donations from the SEIU Illinois Council PAC and other related SEIU affiliated groups. At the end of March, Preckwinkle had spent all but $298,681 in her mayoral fund. A separate Preckwinkle for President political fund associated with her role as Cook County Board president had $38,249 at the end of March, records show. All westbound lanes of I-80 were blocked Tuesday in a stretch of Will County due to a crash, authorities said. The interstate was blocked at Richards Street in Joliet and traffic was backing to I-355, the Illinois Department of Transportation said. No other information was immediately available. Hours after a catastrophic fire tore through the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana pledged to help rebuild it. Rev. John Jenkins, president of the university, said the school plans to donate $100,000 toward the renovation of the iconic cathedral. We are deeply saddened to see the damage to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, a church whose exquisite Gothic architecture has for centuries raised hearts and minds to God," Jenkins said in a statement. "We join in prayer with the faithful of the cathedral and all of France as they begin the work of rebuilding." In addition to the donation, the school also planned to toll the bells of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the Notre Dame campus 50 times Tuesday evening, "representing the 50 Hail Marys of Our Lady's rosary" and marking "the start of the rebuilding process." The university isn't alone in its efforts to help rebuild one of the most iconic monuments in Paris. Billionaire luxury tycoons and two of France's richest men Bernard Arnault, 70, and Francois Pinault, 82 have also pledged massive donations. On Tuesday, it was announced Pinault, his son and their company Artemis would immediately donate 100 million euros ($113 million) to help finance renovations to Notre Dame. Hours later, Arnault shot back with an announcement that he, his family and his luxury company LVMH would pledge double that amount 200 million euros ($226 million) for the restoration of the church that was immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" an eternal story of obsession and jealousy. Along with commitments from other benefactors, at least 500 million euros ($564 million) have been pledged to the rebuilding effort, NBC News reported. Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Twitter that the tech giant would be donating to efforts as well, "to help restore Notre Dame's precious heritage for future generations." Notre Dame, the American university, announced Tuesday that it would donate $100,000 to repair its namesake in France. But the sudden outpouring of generosity has left the building's senior fundraising adviser frustrated, he told NBC News, since it's more than three times the amount that France's Ministry of Culture determined the building needed for renovation in 2014 an amount that the church was still fundraising for when the fire broke out. "The importance of restoring this cathedral is only in the full light today, which is frustrating because part of it has been burned in the fire and has now disappeared," Michel Picaud said. Nevertheless, Picaud is "quite grateful" to the donors stepping up now. Connecticut residents who are currently in Paris are reacting to the devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral. They say it's something they will never forget witnessing. What were the chances of being here when something so tragic happened? It was a moment youll never forget, said Plainville resident Maryellen Fillo. Her travel group was supposed to tour the Notre Dame Cathedral today. We literally checked in and somebody came in and said, Notre Dame is on fire and we thought it was a joke. Were staying less than a block from Notre Dame. And all of sudden, there were fire engines and police, she said. One of the worlds most beautiful treasures up in flames in front of her, the soot and the ash. it felt like it was snowing on us. Just Thursday, Wethersfield travel consultant Melissa Albright toured the cathedral. It was the highlight of her family trip. When I told my 10-year-old when I picked her up from school, she couldnt believe it. Its very disappointing because it was so close and exhilarating for us just a few days ago. While shes heartbroken by the news, she says its a reminder for all of us, What does it tell us? Get up and go because with anything you dont know whats going to happen. In France, Fillo says in the wake of watching the fire, shell soak up ever site she sees with even more appreciation. Im Catholic and it was Holy Week. What was God thinking? I mean you dont question it. Maybe it was to draw people together. We take so much for granted perhaps this will make you take less for granted in our lives, she said. With many school vacations underway, some Connecticut students are currently seeing the sights in Europe. Studying abroad is expected to be an immersive experience, but Quinnipiac University student Amy Thorpe didnt expect to bear witness to something this historic. Thorpe has been studying abroad in Paris since January. I immediately realized the gravity of the situation when I saw the smoke at the end of the street rising above the buildings, she said. The sophomore lives just blocks from the world-renowned cathedral. Its so beautiful. Such a beautiful cathedral. Its just such a shame that this happened to it, but luckily France just has some amazing firefighters who were able to put out the fire and save a lot of the important relics that were in the church. French students from East Catholic High School in Manchester toured the cathedral Thursday. We spoke to a group of juniors abroad over the phone. It was a lot bigger that I had imagined. I mean Id seen pictures, but seeing it in person all of the details it was really magnificent, said student Vanessa Polidoro. Their teacher, Chantal Gagne, cant believe her future students wont see the same site, Its just unbelievable. Especially now because of the tragedy that just happened, its even more of an opportunity to have seen it before it burnt down, said student Alexandra Parsons. While Thorpes study abroad program goes through May, shes already looking forward to the cathedrals future, what it looks like when its rebuilt. Theres a really strong atmosphere of hope, I recognized and I thought that was really powerful in the face of such a horrific event like that. Hartford has more female entrepreneurs than nearly any other metropolitan area in the country, according to a new analysis of census data from Seek Business Capital, a financial institution out of Los Angeles. The city ranks fourth in the nation behind only St. Louis, Missouri, Austin, Texas and Providence, Rhode Island, with nearly 500 startups owned by women employing over 3,000 workers. Hartford has seen the momentum that women entrepreneurs are gaining nationally, said Milena Erwin, the program manager at the University of Hartford Womens Business Center. I think its wonderful to get recognized for the activity thats building up. Erwin works with female entrepreneurs in the greater Hartford area every day. Shes excited, but not surprised to learn about Hartfords high ranking in the Seek Business Capital report. I think whats really helping is the recognition of the value in the Hartford area that women entrepreneurs bring, Erwin said, and the many resources that are here available at any stage and at any step of the way to help them along the way. Founder and CEO. of the Hartford-based company Bare Life, Ali Lazowski, says this was the perfect place to start her business. I was looking into where would be the best place, and Connecticut was top of the list. And it was so easy because I was there, said Lazowski. Ali was a junior in college at Johns Hopkins University when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Eventually, she was also diagnosed with IBS and Lyme disease. Her doctors told her she had to stop eating dairy, gluten and refined sugars. I was like what am I going to eat now? So, I started playing around in my kitchen and came up with our hot chocolate mix, which is our first product, said Lazowski. After starting with a crowdfunding campaign in 2017, Ali sold 1,400 units in the first two months of sales. The locally-produced product is made with just five ingredients: coconut milk, coconut sugar, cacao, vanilla bean and Himalayan salt. Its gluten-free, dairy-free, corn-free, soy-free, organicI mean, could list it for an hour, but Id sound like a weirdo, she said. Maybe a weirdo to the outside world, but Ali says she feels right at home in amongst the tight-knit army of female entrepreneurs in Hartford. Every time I run into a female entrepreneur, theyre like oh, let me help you with this, this is what I struggled with, have you looked at this? and its just such an incredibly giving supportive community, Ali said. She says its also thanks to specialized organizations and programs in the area that make the citys female entrepreneurs, like her, feel supported. Theres just a lot of institutions that are just dedicated to helping out startups, and especially women startups, she said, In addition to the community itself and entrepreneurs, those institutions are just incredible and so unique. Ali sells her clean hot chocolate online and at several locations across the state. Her goal is to someday sell it at every food store in the country. Police have arrested a man who is accused of leaving decapitated chickens outside a home in Westport, Connecticut. On Friday at approximately 11:30 p.m., a homeowner reported an illegal dumping complaint on Franklin Street to police. Officers said the homeowner's property had recently been the site of several illegal dumping incidents over the past year where someone had left boxes containing decapitated chickens. The homeowner told police that a suspect, later identified as 48-year-old Ajamu Obataiye, of New York City, just dropped a bag on his property and was running south on Franklin Street towards the Saugatuck Railroad Station. According to officers, the bag contained two decapitated chickens and one white pigeon. Police located Obataiye at the train station. The homeowner's home surveillance footage confirmed Obataiye was the suspect and he was taken into custody, police said. There's no known connection between Obataiye and the homeowner. Obataiye is facing charges including cruelty to animals, illegal dumping and breach of peace. He was released after posting a $7,500 bond and is due in court on April 23. The case wasn't listed in online court records and it's unclear if he has a lawyer. An iconic symbol of history and faith that survived more than eight centuries wound up vulnerable to fire on Monday. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burned for hours as French firefighters worked to contain the blaze. By Monday night, French authorities said the structure could be saved but not before fire caused the roof to collapse, destroyed a spire and spread to a portion of the cathedral's rectangular towers. Father Tom Cloherty watched news coverage of the fire from his post at the Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Plano. "Just feeling very heartbroken," Cloherty said. "I know it's such an icon for Paris, an icon for France, but it's an icon for the Catholic Church. It's an icon for the world." The Catholic priest's memories of Notre Dame are fresh in his mind. He'd just returned from a visit to the cathedral two weeks ago, snapping photos of a monument he imagined would stand for generations to come. "I think that's made the impact a little bit more sorrowful for me in that sense of just having been there," Cloherty said. "The pictures from it, of just knowing that future generations will never be able to enjoy that." Cloherty recalled his recent visit and watching tourists from all walks of life admire Notre Dame. "You could hear different conversations and people that you could tell were of different faith expressions, but they had come to see Notre Dame knowing that it is such an incredible representation of a sense of faith, regardless of what that faith may be," he explained. And while much of the landmark was damaged, Cloherty said the fire is a reminder to be grateful for what does remain. "One of the shots I noticed on the internet was people kneeling around the safe perimeter that was set up and praying," he said. "Something like this doesn't stop the gift of faith, doesn't stop people's belief." "It certainly is a moment that causes all of us to pause and to reflect, but it doesnt stop the action of God in people's lives," he continued. Officials say an Army sergeant has been charged with murder in the death of his wife on a West Texas military base. An Army spokesman says Staff Sgt. Amy Colbert died on April 6 at Fort Bliss, a base in El Paso. After an investigation, Sgt. Lance Colbert was charged with murder, threatening, stalking and using "indecent language" under military code on April 11. Details of the alleged killing were not released, and the Army declined to provide further information. Amy Colbert enlisted in 2011 and served combat tours in Afghanistan and Kuwait. She was posthumously promoted from sergeant to staff sergeant. Lance Colbert enlisted in 2012 and deployed to Afghanistan. He is being held in military custody and has not had a date set for his initial court hearing. The search for a man wanted in connection to a multi-state kidnapping and robbery spree ended in North Texas this week when he was captured by federal agents. According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the unnamed victim went to a car dealership in Chattanooga and dropped off his vehicle to be serviced. An salesman at the dealership, 42-year-old Daniel Clayton Bryant, then offered to give the unnamed man a ride home. But instead, the complaint said, Bryant held the man against his will and took him to several banks in both Tennessee and Georgia, demanding that he withdraw money. "Bryant threatened to kill the victim and his family if the victim did not withdraw money from the victim's account," the complaint reads. "As a result of this threat, the victim did withdraw money from his accounts ... totaling approximately $199,000 in cash and cashier's checks made out to Bryant." Authorities said the victim had recently been awarded a large financial settlement following an on-the-job accident that left him paralyzed on one side and resulted in one of his legs being amputated. During the kidnapping, the complaint reads, Bryant took the victim's mobile phone, credit cards and forced him to smoke crack cocaine before returning him to Tennessee. Police then tracked Bryant to Atlanta. "Despite repeated telephone contact with law enforcement, Bryant refused to turn himself into police, and told officers he would have his attorney contact them at a later date," the complaint reads. "Additional tracking information led to the location and apprehension of Bryant in Cedar Hill, Texas." Cedar Hill police said the FBI contacted them Sunday with information that Bryant may be in their city. Officers then assisted federal agents by setting up a perimeter around the Fairfield Inn and Suites on North Clark Road. "The suspect, Mr. Bryant, exited the hotel and turned himself into agents without incident," the department said in an email to NBC 5. Federal agents have since seized $288,000 in funds from Bryant's bank account. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas told NBC 5 how long Bryant remains in Dallas County depends on certain legal decisions he and his defense team make. But he will eventually be taken back to Tennessee, where he'll face multiple federal charges including kidnapping, bank robbery and extortion. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged Tuesday to rebuild Paris' beloved Notre Dame Cathedral "even more beautifully" after a raging fire destroyed its spire and its roof but spared most of the structure, including the church's twin medieval bell towers. Macron said he wanted to see the renovation of the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark completed within five years. "We have so much to rebuild," Macron said in a televised address to the nation. "We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize (to do so)." Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be "long and complex." Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedral's roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered on the roof. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. "Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works," said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride. Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil prayer across the Seine from the cathedral, singing and listening to music by a string quartet. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there were still some risks to the structure and that it was "under permanent surveillance because it can still budge." A plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action after the fire broke out. The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame's most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly transported after the fire broke out, said Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ's head during the crucifixion. Also saved was the tunic of St. Louis, a long, shirt-like garment from the 13th century, said Culture Minister Franck Riester. The cathedral's famous 18th century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes also survived. "The works of art, the most precious treasures were secured last night," Riester told reporters, thanking teams from city hall, the culture ministry, firefighters and the bishopric who worked to save the items. Some of the works were being transferred from City Hall to the Louvre, where they will be dehumidified, protected and eventually restored. The minister said the cathedral's greatest paintings would be removed starting Friday. "We assume they have not been damaged by the fire but there will eventually be damage from the smoke," he added. The 3-meter-tall copper statues that looked over Paris from Notre Dame's 96-meter peak already had been removed from the roof days ago and sent to southwestern France as part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. Much was saved in the interior too. The only major work damaged inside was the cathedral's high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. It was hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. "We have been able to salvage all the rest," said Prades, who watched the recovery overnight. "All the 18th century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels and the big organ are fine." The three large stained-glass rose windows, among the most famous parts of the cathedral, were not destroyed, but might have been damaged by the heat and will be assessed by an expert, he added. "The task is now the risk of fire has been put aside about the building, how the structure will resist," said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure. The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain "extremely fragile," notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO heritage site and UNESCO has offered its expertise. Pope Francis offered his prayers that Notre Dame, the "architectural gem of a collective memory," will once again be a shrine to the Catholic faith, a symbol of the French nation and a spiritual and architectural gift to humanity. In a condolence note to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, Francis said the fire was particularly devastating given that it came during the somber days leading up to Easter during which Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Repairing the cathedral, including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof, presents challenges. The roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because "we don't, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century," said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technology. Also of concern, Feydeau said, is the organ, "a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes." "It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored," he told AP. France's richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction. Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, said they were giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, the holding company owning auction house Christie's and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. French companies Total and L'Oreal each pledged 100 million euros. Offers of assistance flowed in from around the world to help restore the 12th century tourist attraction to its former glory. Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects, while major French businesses pledged financial assistance. In his speech, Macron thanked firefighters, police and those who pledged funds, although his goal of rebuilding the cathedral in five years seemed ambitious. Peter Fuessenich, who oversees reconstruction for the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, said it could take decades to repair Notre Dame. Cologne Cathedral was heavily damaged during World War II and work to repair it is still ongoing more than 70 years later. "It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired," he told broadcaster RTL. "When the last stone was set in Notre Dame, the first one was laid here in Cologne, and in this respect it affects us all very much." Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements Owen Garriott, Skylab and space shuttle astronaut, dies at 88 April 15, 2019 Owen Garriott, a Skylab and space shuttle astronaut who was the first to use amateur radio from orbit, has died at the age of 88. Garriott's death on Monday (April 15) was reported by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), an organization of international astronauts and cosmonauts that included Garriott as a distinguished member. "We've just received word from the family who asked us to pass along the sad news that Skylab and shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott has passed away at his home in Huntsville [Alabama]," the ASE posted to Twitter on Monday. "He will be sorely missed." NASA also recognized Garriott's death in a statement released Monday afternoon. "The astronauts, scientists and engineers at Johnson Space Center are saddened by the loss of Owen Garriott," said chief astronaut Patrick Forrester. "We remember the history he made during the Skylab and space shuttle programs that helped shape the space program we have today. Not only was he a bright scientist and astronaut, he and his crewmates set the stage for international cooperation in human spaceflight." A member of NASA's first group of scientist-astronauts selected in 1965, Garriott flew twice into space, logging a total of 69 days, 18 hours and 56 minutes off the planet. Garriott launched on his first spaceflight as the science pilot on the second crewed mission to Skylab, the United States' first space station. He and his two crewmates, Alan Bean and Jack Lousma, lifted off on July 28, 1973 atop a Saturn IB rocket and spent a then-record setting 59 days on board the orbital workshop conducting science experiments. "We could see the Sun in ways that simply were not possible before, for long periods, [at] ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths, and look at the corona, look at the mass ejections throwing material far out into the corona," said Garriott, referring to his and his crewmates' solar observations, in a 2000 NASA oral history. "Some of that [data] is actually still being used for research purposes today for comparisons with some of the more modern satellites, which can do things even better than we did." Garriott and his Skylab 3 (or Skylab II, depending on the chosen nomenclature) crewmates were also the subjects of physiological studies and biomedical monitoring to learn how the human body reacts to long durations in microgravity. "We learned the importance of exercise," explained Garriott. "If you have the appropriate amount of exercise, namely one to two hours a day, then you're going to come back in essentially as good a condition as when you left." Garriott also performed three spacewalks two with Lousma and one with Bean spending nearly 14 hours outside of Skylab to swap out film cartridges, retrieve experiments and, on his first extravehicular activity (EVA), to deploy a large solar shield to help compensate for damage that the space station had sustained during its launch. "The twin poles sunshade was important to bring the temperatures down to a more permanent 70, 75, 80-degree [Fahrenheit, or 21 to 26 degree Celsius] level," he described. In addition, Garriott had the unexpected opportunity to test fly a prototype jetpack inside of Skylab. Only Bean and Lousma were trained for the Automatically Stabilized Maneuvering Unit (ASMU), a predecessor to the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) later used on the space shuttle, but following the planned tests being completed, Garriott was given the chance to try it as a novice. "I remember Alan saying, 'Okay, Owen, you're on your way,' [and he] just turned it loose," recalled Garriott. "It [was] surprisingly intuitive. With just a modest amount of training in how to fly a spacecraft with a translation and attitude control thruster, you could fly around ... making turns all the way around." Garriott, Bean and Lousma splashed down aboard their Apollo command module on Sept. 25, 1973. Garriott returned to space a decade later, launching on Nov. 28, 1983, on board the space shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist on the STS-9 crew. The 10-day flight marked the first use of the European Spacelab laboratory module. "The whole mission was oriented towards making clear that the Spacelab, the laboratory that fit in the payload bay of the shuttle, was useful for the whole range of scientific disciplines," Garriott told NASA. "So not only a lot of biomedical work, but also astronomy, fluid physics, materials processing, atmospheric sciences, all were represented with differing experiments." Between his mission tasks, Garriott also had time to set another first, drawing on a license he obtained when he was a teenager. "It was my good fortune to take the first amateur radio into space," said Garriott. "In my spare time only, I managed to hold up an antenna to the window and to talk to amateurs on Earth." About 250 ham radio operators were able to connect with "W5LFL" Garriott's call sign becoming the first people to talk with an astronaut in orbit without the conversation being routed through NASA's flight control loops. "When in orbit over land, I could make a CQ, which is a general call, and see who responded," Garriott said. "Among others, I was able to speak with the amateur radio club in my hometown of Enid, Oklahoma, with my mom, with Senator [Barry] Goldwater, and with King Hussein [of Jordan], who was an avid ham." Owen Kay Garriott was born in Enid on Nov. 22, 1930. He received his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1953 and a Master of Science and Doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957 and 1960. From 1953 to 1956, Garriott served as an electronics officer while on active duty with the U.S. Navy. He then taught electronics, electromagnetic theory and ionospheric physics as an associate professor at Stanford until he was selected by NASA for its fourth group of astronauts. Prior to flying on Skylab 3, Garriott served as a capsule communicator, or capcom, in Mission Control for the Apollo 11 first moon landing mission in July 1969. "I was on the capcom's position while they [Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin] were all sleeping for the first night on the moon. So, not a lot of work on that one, but you have to be ready, of course," said Garriott. "You have to be prepared to handle almost any emergency that might come along. So you learned a lot in that role." "I hope I was of value to the Apollo 11 team in the conduct of the flight. I'm sure it was of value to me in preparation for the Skylab program," he said. After his space shuttle mission, Garriott served as a program scientist in NASA's space station project office, working with the scientific communities and advising the program's management on the early design of a new space station. Garriott left NASA in 1986 in the wake of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, when it became clear to him that he would not have another opportunity to fly into space. "If I'd have had a chance to fly in late '86 or '87, then I wanted to stay for another opportunity. But when that was clearly going to be delayed five years, I just decided that from a personal perspective it'd be better to leave that to somebody else," he said. From 1988 to 1993, Garriott served as the vice president of space programs at Teledyne Brown Engineering, which supported payload integration for the Spacelab missions and had a role in developing the U.S. lab for the International Space Station. In 1995, Garriott and his first wife founded Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse, a children's edutainment center in Enid. Later, Garriott joined the Laboratory for Structural Biology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he participated in research involving microbes that he returned from extreme environments such as deep sea hydrothermal vents. Twenty-five years after his second and last spaceflight, Garriott supported another history-making mission this time by his son, Richard. The elder Garriott helped design and organize the commercial science experiments that accompanied his son on an October 2008 self-funded flight to the International Space Station. The two were also able to connect via ham radio. For his service to the space program, Owen Garriott was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Robert J. Collier Trophy and Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (the latter two shared with his fellow Skylab crew members), among numerous other honors. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 1980 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997. Garriott wrote about the first U.S. space station with co-authors Joe Kerwin and David Hitt in "Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story," published in 2008 by the University of Nebraska Press. Garriott was preceded in death by his first wife, Helen Mary Walker, with whom he had four children, Randall, Robert, Richard and Linda. He is survived by his wife, Eve Long Garriott. Skylab 3 science pilot Owen Garriott is seen stationed at the Apollo Telescope Mount console aboard the Skylab space station. (NASA) Scientist-astronaut Owen Garriott reconstitutes a container of food at the Skylab crew quarters ward room table in 1973. (NASA) Owen Garriott performs the first of three spacewalks outside of the Skylab orbital workshop on Aug. 6, 1973. (NASA) Skylab 3 astronaut Owen Garriott retrieves an imagery experiment from the Skylab Apollo Telescope Mount in August 1973. (NASA) STS-9 mission specialist Owen Garriott uses a ham radio on space shuttle Columbia to contact radio operators on Earth. (NASA) STS-9 mission specialist Owen Garriott works aboard Spacelab-1 in the payload bay of space shuttle Columbia. (NASA) Owen Garriott (left) with his son, Richard, talks to the media prior to Richard's launch to the International Space Station in 2008. (NASA) 2021 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. Democratic presidential candidates raised about $75 million during the first quarter of the 2020 election, a lackluster sum spread out across more than a dozen campaigns that signals a drawn-out battle likely lies ahead. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders led the field by raising $18 million and California Sen. Kamala Harris came in second with $12 million. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke came in third with $9.3 million, followed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who capitalized on a flurry of publicity to raise $7 million. The rest of the field of more than a dozen candidates raised $6 million or less apiece. Fundraising figures submitted to the Federal Election Commission by Monday's reporting deadline show Democratic candidates not only lag behind President Donald Trump, who raised $30 million, but took in less than the party did during the same period in the 2008 election. That year eight candidates collectively raised over $80 million despite a maximum donation amount that was hundreds of dollars less than the current $2,800 cap. Part of the difficulty is many donors are staying on the sidelines, waiting for the field to thin. At the same time, low-dollar contributions from party's base, a source of money that helped Democrats retake the House last year, haven't made up the difference. "There is no question that the numbers are not at the level that they were with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008," said Tom Nides, a Clinton adviser and longtime fundraiser. "Am I worried? No, I'm not worried. But I'm a little bit concerned." The dynamic could change rapidly in the months ahead as Democrats participate in the first presidential debate of the cycle in June. Donors could look to those performances to decide where to direct their money. Former Vice President Joe Biden's expected White House campaign also could scramble the situation. "Biden is probably going to run, and he is going to raise a boatload of money. He just will. And then the overall numbers will start to look better," said Tim Lim, a digital strategist and fundraiser who worked for Obama and Clinton. Outside of the fundraising front-runners comes Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who raised $6 million, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar with $5.2 million and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who raised $5 million. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand raised $3 million, while Washington Gov. Jay Inslee raised $2.2 million, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper took in about $2 million and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard raised $1.9 million. Former Housing Secretary Julian Castro took in $1.1 million. A combination of factors has led to the candidates' cash quandary. Some of the donors who are getting involved in the campaign are cutting checks to multiple candidates but aren't bundling money by asking their friends, colleagues and acquaintances to give, too. Despite a large amount of hype surrounding online fundraising, it's also proven to be unreliable. Networks of online donors take time to build out, and the ability to raise money on the internet often can be tied to a fleeting viral moment that provokes a vivid emotional response from the party's base. "People are running slash-and-burn email programs. When you are trying to turn around these donations from your newly added-on activists in two months or less, it's only going to hurt you because nobody is going to want to deal with that many emails," Lim said. "To get the most successful (return on investment) you have to engage with your audiences over several months or more, and you can't make it all about money." Then there's the fierce intraparty debate over the propriety of relying on big-money donors to finance their campaigns. Warren, who has struggled to raise money, tried to force the issue by stating that she would forgo traditional fundraisers, a risky gambit aimed at getting the party's grassroots engaged. While Sanders, Buttigieg and O'Rourke raised significant sums on the internet, Warren has lagged, though most of her money came from online donors. Both she and Gillibrand spent nearly as much as they raised, though both have millions in their Senate campaign funds that they can tap to stay afloat. Some Democrats fear a campaign finance purity test will only hurt the rest of the field. "What's happening right now and I think this is a brilliant political strategy on Bernie's part is that no candidate can touch him by raising money the way he raises it," said Rufus Gifford, Obama's former finance director. "If this continues, you could see Bernie Sanders as the only candidate with a massive financial advantage. You've got to think that gives him a leg up over any other campaign. In my mind, the other campaigns are walking into that trap." Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg oversaw plans to consolidate the social networks power and control competitors by treating its users data as a bargaining chip, while publicly proclaiming to be protecting that data, according to about 4,000 pages of leaked company documents largely spanning 2011 to 2015 and obtained by NBC News. The documents, which include emails, webchats, presentations, spreadsheets and meeting summaries, show how Zuckerberg, along with his board and management team, found ways to tap Facebooks trove of user data including information about friends, relationships and photos as leverage over companies it partnered with. In some cases, Facebook would reward favored companies by giving them access to the data of its users. In other cases, it would deny user-data access to rival companies or apps. Facebook denied that it gave preferential treatment to developers or partners because of their ad spending or relationship with executives. The company has not been accused of breaking the law. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD (GCISD) is on a mission to make sure North Texas parent are equipped with the resources to keep kids safe in the ever-evolving world of technology. Parents from across North Texas are welcome to learn about apps they may see on their childs phone at a meeting Tuesday night. The Parent Tech Academy will meet at 6:15 p.m. at Heritage Middle School. "The big thing we are talking about this month are apps parents need to know," GCISD Chief Technology Officer Kyle Berger said. "There are a wealth of apps out there that students have on their devises and there are a lot of them that we need to talk about." For the past two years, the district has held the Parent Tech Academy. "We average over 150 parents every month on all sorts of topics," Berger said. "The key to Parent Tech Academy is to encourage conversation. So if you see an app like this on your students device, sit down and have a talk with them to see what they are doing with the device." The storm that injured over a dozen and damaged several buildings in Franklin on Saturday produced a tornado that left a 32.6-mile long trail of damage over a span of 55 minutes, the National Weather Service said Monday. The tornado formed just west of the Brazos River in Milam County and moved across State Highway 6, about four miles north of Hearne, according to the National Weather Service's report. At that point in the storm's development, the NWS classified it as an EF-1 tornado. The most significant damage was in Franklin, a small town in Robertson County, where the NWS concluded the tornado reached the strength of an EF-3 storm. Wind speeds peaked at an estimated 140 mph. Two people were hospitalized Saturday for injuries not thought to be life-threatening, while others were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak told the Associated Press. Some people had to be extricated from their homes. From there, the storm moved to the east-northeast into Leon County, where it decreased in strength. The NWS said damage at the tail end of the story was consistent with the intensity of an EF-0 tornado. A new plaza opened Monday to connect San Diego's transit system to the San Ysidro Port of Entry's Pedestrian East processing facility, adding convenience to foot travelers en route to Mexico. The newly constructed plaza and walkway are part of an ongoing construction project to ease travel for the tens of thousands of people who pass through the world's busiest land border crossing every day. The plaza is located immediately south of the Metropolitan Transit System's trolley and bus station, allowing travelers to walk along a pathway directly from the trolley plaza south into Mexico. Last August, 22 pedestrian processing lanes were opened at the Pedestrian East (PedEast) facility as part of the General Services Administration's (GSA) $714 million, three-phase port expansion project. With the completion of the pedestrian plaza, phase two of the massive project has been completed. The final phase of the expansion project includes adding north and southbound inspection facilities to Interstate 5. Once all three phases of the project are complete, in winter 2019, GSA said the port will have 62 northbound vehicle inspection booths and more than double the amount of southbound I-5 lanes that connect to Mexico's new El Chaparral facility. A California Highway Patrol sergeant who was struck and killed by a DUI suspect was devoted to his family and job, a significant part of which was stopping drunken drivers, family and friends said his memorial service Tuesday. During the service, brother Daniel Licon recalled watching their father struggle with alcoholism. His mother once asked Sgt. Licon what he would do if he caught his father driving drunk, and he responded that he'd cuff him right away. "How would I feel if I didn't do my job and somebody was hurt by own dad driving drunk?" Steve Licon said, according to his brother. It was during an April 6 traffic stop that Sgt. Licon, 53, was struck and killed by a suspected DUI driver as he issued a citation to another driver on the side of the 15 Freeway in Riverside County. He was just months away from retirement. Family members and colleagues recalled how passionate Licon was about his job, partially due to watching his father battle alcoholism until he got sober in 1982, according to Daniel Licon. Though it took a while, he said Steve eventually learned to trust and forgive his father, and the two grew close. In an emotional display of unity, a long line of motorcycle officers followed a hearse carrying the body of Sgt. Licon, a 27-year veteran of the CHP, from the funeral home to the memorial service. The procession passed under a U.S. flag suspended between two fire truck ladders. Along with Licon's family, friends and colleagues, representatives from law enforcement agencies attended Tuesday's service, where he was remembered as an exemplary CHP officer and a loving husband and father. Daughter Marissa Licon called her father her biggest fan. She remembered him at her soccer games, sometimes parking his motorcycle on the sidewalk to watch for a few minutes before he had to return to work. "When I would come home he would hug me so tight it would hurt," said Marissa, 22. The biggest lesson he taught her, she said, was how to be tough. "Anytime I'd fall on my motorcycle or fall on the field, he'd be right there telling me, 'You're OK, suck it up,'" she said, adding that nothing ever slowed down her dad. "To me, my dad was invincible. Never did I imagine that my dad would not be here to see me graduate college or walk me down the aisle ... I just want you to know that however proud of me you are, I'm prouder to have you as my dad." His wife, Ann Licon, wept as she said her husband showed and told her every day that he loved her. "He would hold my hand at church, at the movies, and when we'd go to bed at night, he would hold my hand until we fell asleep," she said. "My husband was my protector, my strength, my love, my heart." Flowers, candles and other items were left outside the CHP station in Riverside in the days following Licon's death. Colleagues described Licon as a exemplary law enforcement officer who loved his job. "I saw him as a mentor," said CHP Officer Mario Lucio. "I credit him for being where I'm at today. The guy really spent time developing the officers that he supervised." Licon is survived by his wife, daughter and step-daughter. The motorcycle officer was on the shoulder of the 15 Freeway April 6 when he was struck by a Toyota Corolla. Michael Callahan, 36, of Winchester, was traveling on the right shoulder of the freeway and collided with the CHP motorcycle, according to the CHP. The suspect was charged with second-degree murder. In a statement, the district attorney's office said the murder charged was based, in part, on a 2004 misdemeanor DUI conviction the defendant received in Orange County. He was sentenced to three years of probation, a condition of which require him to attend Mothers Against Drunk Driving classes. Licon was part of the saturation patrol deployed to Lake Elsinore and the Temescal Valley for weekend enforcement that began in late March in response to the "superbloom" crunch that brought traffic to a standstill and created numerous public safety hazards as visitors flooded Walker Canyon to view carpets of blooming flowers. A greater number of CHP officers and Riverside County sheriff's deputies were put on duty to contend with the dramatically increased traffic volume that prompted multiple road closures. Procession Route One year out from the start of the 2020 census, Census Bureau officials set out Monday to demonstrate the importance of the head count for all Americans. President Donald Trump offered a different message, saying the count will be "meaningless" if it doesn't include a citizenship question. In a tweet Monday, Trump blamed "Radical Left Democrats" for opposing the "all important" question on citizenship. The Trump administration wants to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census. But the idea faces court challenges from Democratic-leaning states and communities that argue it would make immigrants and their families less likely to respond to the constitutionally mandated tally and thus make the count less accurate. The official counting begins on April 1 next year. To mark the date one year out, Census Bureau officials held a briefing Monday to begin raising awareness and project confidence that they're up to the monumental task. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham declined to answer a question about the president's tweet, saying "we really want to restrict our comments to talking about the great job we're doing, where we are and how it's going to help this nation." Dillingham noted that the census for the first time will give people the chance to respond online. People can also respond by telephone and mail. He cited how easy it will be to provide requested information and to assure that the information will be secure and confidential. "But probably the message we really want to emphasize is how important it is," Dillingham said. "We now live in an information age where accurate data improves the quality of our lives and supports our thriving economy." The decennial census is used to help determine how about $675 billion in federal dollars is distributed each year. State and local governments use it to make decisions about where to locate schools and health clinics and provide social services and improve roads and bridges. The survey results are also used to distribute electoral college votes and congressional district seats. The citizenship question has been caught up in litigation in federal courts, where lower courts have ruled that the administration's haste to include the question violated federal law and the Constitution. Trump tweeted that without a citizenship question, the "Report would be meaningless and a waste of the $Billions (ridiculous) that it costs to put together!" Against the advice of career officials at the Census Bureau, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided last year to add the citizenship question to the survey for the 10-year headcount, saying the Justice Department requested the question to improve enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court is hearing the Trump administration appeal of a federal judge's ruling in New York that the decision violated federal law. Since then, a judge in California has said a citizenship question also would violate the Constitution. A resolution of the citizenship matter is needed soon to allow the government to start printing the census questionnaire. House Democrats are also investigating the decision by Ross to add the citizenship question. A congressional panel will consider issuing subpoenas on Tuesday if it doesn't get a commitment from the Commerce Department that it will provide certain documents and witnesses. A Commerce Department official asked Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, to hold off on considering or issuing the subpoena "while our good-faith dialogue continues." Cummings warned the department on Friday that his committee wanted to know by Monday whether it would produce the documents and witness interviews his committee has been seeking. Michael Platt Jr., an assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press the department believes "the rush to issue a subpoena is premature." Platt said the department's staff is working at full capacity on "both its normal business and its multiple Congressional engagements, and I believe your one-day response demand is inconsistent with your constitutional obligation to accommodate the department." "We respectfully request adequate time to consider your letter and requests," Platt wrote Monday. What to Know Its Tuesday, April 16th and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day. Its Tuesday, April 16th and NBC 6 has the top six stories you need to know for the day. Weather wise, comfortable and seasonable conditions and temperatures are in the forecast for the next few days thanks to the arrival of the latest front before warm weather and humidity make a return later in the week. No. 1 Hialeah Police are searching for a driver caught on camera in a hit and run crash with a man on a bicycle. In video you will see Only on 6, the car leaves the scene shortly after impact. The victim has since been released from the hospital. No. 2 - South Shore Hospital, which has been abandoned for over a decade, is set for demolition Tuesday morning. The demolition is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the 600 block of Alton Road. Crews will be using a small number of explosives to take down the structure, and city of Miami Beach officials are warning residents of the traffic impacts and more. No. 3 - Firefighters declared success Tuesday morning after more than 12 hours battling to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris' iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof but spared its bell towers. What remained was a blackened shell of the monument immortalized in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," a building that had survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated amid renovation works at the start of Catholic Easter week. No. 4 - A Miami high school student arrested after trying to perform a wrestling move on his principal is facing a new charge after police say he was recorded vandalizing a display alligator at a local shopping center. Gianny Sosa-Hernandez, 18, was arrested Monday on a criminal mischief charge in the March 30 incident at The Falls, Miami-Dade Police said. No. 5 - The CDC is reporting 555 measles cases in 20 states this year. The new numbers make it the second-highest level in the United States in 25 years. So far, Florida is not one of the outbreak states. No. 6 - Tax day has come and gone but crooks are still looking for consumers to steal from. The Federal Trade Commission says the number of complaints about robocall scams shoot up every April. For tips to avoid being scammed, click here. What to Know Sayoc wrote letters to the judge after the plea insisting that he never meant to say he knew the bombs could injure someone. A Florida man who pleaded guilty to sending pipe bombs to prominent critics of President Donald Trump will be sentenced in August rather than September, a judge said Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff set the Aug. 5 date to determine the penalty for Cesar Sayoc after his lawyer, Sarah Jane Baumgartel, said Sayoc was anxious about the sentencing. Sayoc, 57, could face life in prison for spreading terror in the days leading up to the midterm election last year. One charge carries a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. His March guilty plea to explosives charges was a deal with prosecutors that eliminated a charge that would have carried a mandatory life prison sentence. Sentencing was originally set for Sept. 12. He wrote letters to the judge after the plea insisting that he never meant to say he knew the 16 rudimentary pipe bombs could injure someone when he mailed them to addresses in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, California, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia. "The intention was to only intimidate and scare," he wrote in one letter, a sentiment he repeated Monday when questioned by Rakoff. He also admitted that he knew the devices he described as "sparkler fireworks" could injure someone if they caught fire or detonated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richman said prosecutors would present the judge with an FBI report longer than 100 pages to show the devices could have exploded if they were properly assembled. Baumgartel responded by saying the defense would show they were not properly constructed. Sayoc has been held without bail since his late-October arrest outside a South Florida auto parts store. He had been living in a van plastered with Trump stickers and images of Trump opponents with crosshairs over their faces. Authorities say he targeted numerous Democrats, including former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former vice President Joe Biden, several members of Congress and actor Robert De Niro. He also sent explosives to CNN. None exploded. Suicide prevention has become issue number one in the Parkland and Coral Springs community, since two teenagers died by suicide in recent weeks. Both deaths are considered fallout from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. The MSD Safety Commission raised the suicide prevention issue at last week's meeting, with some commissioners saying important tools are not getting enough attention. They were talking about free mobile applications such as SaferWatch and Fortify Florida. "Really, the powerful thing about SaferWatch is it allows people to take a photo or take a video and send that information in and that goes directly to law enforcement in real time," said SaferWatch CEO, Geno Roefaro. SaferWatch was introduced by the Broward Sheriff's Office last August, just before the school year started. "To have this app that allows somebody to have direct access to law enforcement, to be able to potentially save a life, to me it's a no-brainer," said Scott Brooks, the mayor of Coral Springs. Brook and MSD Safety Commission member Max Schachter, who lost his son, Alex, in the MSD shootings, say SaferWatch should be on every student's cellphone. "Broward County Schools has 240,000 kids in their school every day, they have the responsibility to make all their children understand that if they see something, if they hear something, this is the way to report it, this will save lives and prevent the next school attack," Schachter said. SaferWatch is prominently featured on the Broward County Public Schools' website in several places, with instructions on how to download the free app and how to use it. The school district has notified parents, students, and the general public several times about SaferWatch and Fortify Florida, which is the special incident reporting app introduced by the Florida Department of Education, and says it will continue its "see something, say something" push. The Broward Sheriff's Office says so far, SaferWatch has generated 325 total tips to BSO. Others have gone to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and to the Davie Police Department, which have recently joined SaferWatch. Of the 325 tips to BSO, 10 were for bullying, 11 were for school threats which led to five arrests, and three were for suicide threats, including, Roefaro says, one from the MSD community. "Fortunately, thanks to a student who submitted a tip, and thanks to the great work of the Broward Sheriff's Office, they were able to quickly make contact with that student and quickly get that person help that they needed," Roefaro said, claiming that tip saved a life. That's a powerful testimonial, and reason enough for people to download the app. Police say, however, that if an actual emergency is happening, everyone's first step should still be to call 911. A Florida jury on Tuesday found a man guilty of first-degree murder for dropping his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge four years ago. Jurors in Clearwater, Florida, deliberated for about seven hours over two days before convicting John Jonchuck. Jonchuck hugged his attorneys and said, "Yes, your honor," when asked if he understood that the verdict carries an automatic life sentence. He was then fingerprinted and taken out of the courtoom by bailiffs. No one disputed that Jonchuck, now 29, dropped his daughter Phoebe 62 feet into Tampa Bay in January 2015, and that he had a long history of mental problems. But prosecutors claimed his action was premeditated. Assistant state attorney Paul Bolan told jurors that Jonchuck was motivated by anger over worries that Phoebe's mother was going to take the girl away from him and his own mother's doting attention to her granddaughter when she had been inattentive to him growing up. "It was rage that drove him to it on top of that bridge," Bolan said. "Did he know what he was doing, and did he know it was wrong? The answer is clearly yes." But assistant public defender Jessica Manuele told jurors Jonchuck loved Phoebe more than anything else in the world and that there's no evidence he acted out of "unbridled anger." His delusions led him to believe Phoebe was possessed and that the archangel, Michael, was coming, Manuele said. He poured salt outside her window to keep spirits away, she said. At the moment he threw her off the bridge, "he thought he was protecting his daughter," Manuele said. "It will never make sense because it's insanity." Twelve hours before Phoebe's death, Jonchuck's divorce lawyer, Genevieve Torres, called a state child protection hotline, fearing for the girl's safety, authorities said. Torres told the Department of Children and Families operator that Jonchuck had driven to three churches in his pajamas with Phoebe in tow that morning, called Torres "God" and asked her to translate his stepmother's century-old Swedish Bible, which he carried and had become obsessed with. Jonchuck was also paranoid that Phoebe wasn't his child, Torres said. But the operator thought the attorney was more worried about Jonchuck's safety than the girl's and did not report the call to authorities, they said. Just after midnight the next day, Jonchuck's PT Cruiser raced past officer William Vickers, who was heading home from a shift in his patrol car. He started following Jonchuck, but never got close enough to read the license plate and didn't know Phoebe was inside, authorities have said. As they reached the bridge's crest, Jonchuck stopped and got out. Vickers, fearing an ambush, stopped behind him, pulled his gun and yelled at Jonchuck to show his hands. He saw no weapon. Jonchuck yelled at the officer, "You have no free will." He grabbed Phoebe from the back seat, held her over the side momentarily and then dropped her, according to police accounts. Jonchuck drove off but was soon arrested. Vickers scrambled down a ladder to a dock below the bridge but couldn't see Phoebe in the dark water. A marine rescue boat was summoned, and her body was found hours later. The battle between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the American government was always going to be epic, involving concepts like free speech, journalists' rights, national interests, even treason. As Assange settles in to his first night in British custody , his allies and enemies alike are gearing up for what promises to be a long, dogged legal slog, not only over his possible extradition to the U.S. but over how U.S. courts should view his actions, which sharply cleave public opinion. Yet in a way, Assange has been fighting this battle for much of the past decade. The struggle has taken him through a "mansion arrest" in the English countryside; a dramatic escape into the Ecuadorian Embassy in London; a multimillion-pound U.K. police siege of the embassy that has strained government coffers; and even a bizarre attempt to turn him into a Moscow-based diplomat. Whatever happens now, one thing is clear: Assange, who was dragged out of the embassy and arrested Thursday by British police after Ecuador withdrew his political asylum, is not going anywhere soon. Extradition to the United States could take years more. Assange's saga kicked off in November 2010, when his publication of 250,000 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables that month left American officialdom apoplectic. Joe Biden, then-U.S. vice president, compared Assange to a "high-tech terrorist." Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, called for him to be hunted down by U.S. troops like an al-Qaida operative. Tempers at the top eventually cooled Palin would later apologize to Assange after he began publishing material about U.S. Democrats. As a candidate, President Donald Trump startled many Americans by repeatedly praising WikiLeaks. But in the U.S. intelligence community, the rage against Assange lingered. On the sidelines of a conference a few years ago, a former senior National Security Agency official told an Associated Press journalist that all he wanted was a couple of minutes alone with Assange in a dark alley, grasping his hands together as if he were crushing a man's windpipe. Assange seemed to sense that the release of the diplomatic cables, which also enraged and embarrassed other countries around the world, were the point of no return. It's often forgotten that Assange once traveled easily to the United States, appearing at the National Press Club in Washington on April 2010 to present "Collateral Murder," the title he chose for the camera footage that captured American helicopter pilots laughing as they fired at a crowd of civilians they mistook for Iraqi insurgents. Shortly after his visit, his source for the video an American Army intelligence analyst now named Chelsea Manning would be arrested after an ill-advised online confession. Assange dropped out of sight, likely aware that the government now had spools of conversations between him and Manning, including the one that now forms the centerpiece of the Justice Department's newly unveiled indictment against Assange for conspiracy to hack into a U.S. government computer. For a while, Assange gravitated to the Frontline Club in London, the convivial journalists' hangout where he dropped one media bombshell after another in collaboration with the Guardian newspaper and other media outlets. But staying in Britain, a close ally of the United States, was risky. In a fateful move, Assange decided to scope out Sweden, a country with powerful press protections and where he had already located some of WikiLeaks' servers. The expedition would prove to be a disaster. Two women he stayed with there would soon go to the police with allegations of sexual assault and rape. The prosecution nearly tore WikiLeaks apart and threated the upcoming publication the U.S. diplomatic cables. With Sweden out of the question and "Cablegate" sure to enrage the Americans further, Assange looked to Moscow. A document published by the AP last year showed he considered the idea of getting a Russian visa through his friend and sometimes WikiLeaks collaborator, Israel Shamir. Assange would eventually get the visa, Shamir said later, but it came several weeks too late. Sweden had already applied for an Interpol Red Notice, something akin to an international arrest warrant, making travel all but impossible. That left Assange little choice but to turn himself in on Dec. 7, 2010, to British authorities. Things only got more surreal from there. Assange was granted bail at the country mansion of Frontline's founder, Vaughan Smith, receiving a stream of well-heeled and rebellious visitors in rural Norfolk while his London legal battle against extradition went all the way to Britain's Supreme Court. When that court finally turned him down, Assange dyed his hair, popped in colored contacts and skipped bail, fleeing to the Ecuadorian Embassy. From there, he carried on as before, albeit in a more constricted space. When the AP visited him in 2012, he occupied a back room in the embassy scattered with laptops, some marked "Do not connect to the internet." When discussing an upcoming leak, Assange took a reporter into the corridor between his office and the bathroom, speaking in a whisper in a bid to baffle the high-tech surveillance thought to be deployed against him. The embassy stalemate dragged on for years, costing the British government millions in policing costs. But it didn't stop Assange from publishing new material, notably in 2016, when his disclosure of U.S. Democratic Party documents stolen by Russian hackers hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential election campaign. But if Assange had hoped for leniency from America's new president, he would soon be disappointed. Twitter messages between WikiLeaks and Trump's eldest son, Donald Jr., showed the group lobbying him to get his father to suggest that Australia appoint its native son Assange to be its ambassador to the U.S. Instead, the Trump administration promoted him to public enemy; in a 2017 speech, then-CIA director Mike Pompeo described WikiLeaks as a "hostile non-state intelligence agency." Meanwhile, Assange wasn't getting much more satisfaction from his Latin American host, which was increasingly embarrassed by its houseguest's publications. The government of Ecuador tried all kinds of creative solutions to break the embassy impasse, including an abortive attempt to send Assange to Russia under diplomatic cover. When it became clear that the WikiLeaks founder wasn't leaving and that he wouldn't curb his publications to suit Ecuador's diplomatic interests the government looked for a way to wash its hands of him. Tensions had been building for more than a year, but the Thursday morning raid in London was still a surprise. WikiLeaks had issued one of its periodic warnings that Assange was at risk, but at a Wednesday press conference, his longtime lieutenant, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told journalists that Assange's eviction from the embassy had been averted. It's not clear what comes next, but it will almost certainly be complicated. The interactions quoted in the U.S. indictment are nothing new Assange's instant message exchange with Manning has been in the public domain ever since the latter's court-martial so Assange's high-powered legal team has had years to prepare their arguments. And Britain has generally tended to favor accused hackers fighting extradition to America. Lauri Love, a friend of Assange's who was accused of penetrating U.S. government networks, was last year spared extradition after Britain's high court ruled in his favor. British hacker Gary McKinnon, accused of breaking into U.S. military and space networks, won his fight against extradition in 2012 after a decade-long struggle. Assange's fight may not take a decade, but he's unlikely to see the inside of a U.S. courtroom anytime soon. The mayor of Maine's second largest city has resigned in the wake of a controversy over his leaked text messages, one of which included a racist remark. Republican Shane Bouchard stepped down as Lewiston's mayor, effective immediately Friday morning. Text messages made public by a woman who said she had an affair with Bouchard when he was a mayoral candidate revealed a remark in which he described elderly black people as "antique farm equipment." Heather Berube Everly said the two had an affair, and that she was the source of emails the Maine GOP used to attack Democratic opponent Ben Chin. Bouchard admitted making mistakes but also decried media reporting on "rumors." Everly said her affiliation with Chin and the Maine People's Alliance helped Bouchard's campaign. "I did work with Ben Chin as a recruiter with MPA," she said during a Lewiston City Council meeting. "I connected with Mayor Bouchard, where I had an affair with him, and he was able to retrieve emails from MPA's and Ben Chin's campaign." During his 2017 campaign against Bouchard, Chin said hundreds of his campaign signs were stolen. In 2015, when he was facing Mayor Robert Macdonald, a landlord posted signs reading "Don't vote for Ho Chi Chin," which Chin criticized as racist. In the intial November election of 2017, Chin's 4,239 votes led Bouchard's 2,979. A month later, Bouchard defeated Chin by a much narrower margin of 145 votes, with the Republican receiving 3,663 votes to the Democrat's 3,518. "The Republican Party has, through Mayor Bouchard, rigged the election," Everly said. "They interfered and affected results, and they were also able to influence the votes of people, especially in the ward that I was in." The attorney general's office confirmed Friday that it's assisting a Lewiston Police Department investigation into the matter. What to Know Someone was dumping headless chickens and pigeons outside a home in a wealthy Connecticut neighborhood Westport police say they got a call about the grisly discovery late Friday; it's apparently happened on random occasions for a year A 48-year-old NYC man was arrested in the case; there's no known connection between him in the Connecticut homeowner Police have captured a man they say has been leaving decapitated chickens outside a home in a wealthy Connecticut neighborhood. Westport police say a resident called at about 11:30 p.m. Friday to say someone had just dropped a bag containing two headless chickens and a headless pigeon on his property, then ran toward a nearby railroad station. Based on surveillance video, police found 48-year-old New York City resident Ajamu Obataiye at the station and charged him with breach of peace, animal cruelty and illegal dumping. Police say decapitated chickens have been left at the home on apparently random occasions over the past year. There's no known connection between Obataiye and the homeowner. He was released on $7,500 bond. The case wasn't listed in online court records and it's unclear if he has a lawyer. What to Know The wife of a former Texas police chief has accepted a plea deal in a New York double homicide Her husband has pleaded not guilty to first-and second-degree murder charges and was expected to be tried alongside her next month Prosecutors say the couple drove to Sodus in Wayne County in October and killed Amber Washburn and Joshua Niles The wife of a former Texas police chief has accepted a plea deal in a New York double homicide. Wayne County Assistant District Attorney Christine Callanan says the plea on Tuesday by Charlene Childers reduced her second-degree murder charge to first-degree manslaughter. She'll be sentenced June 27. Her husband, former Sunray, Texas police chief Timothy Dean, has pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder charges and was expected to be tried alongside Childers next month. Prosecutors say Dean and Childers drove to the town of Sodus in October and killed Amber Washburn and Joshua Niles. Friends and relatives say Niles had recently won custody of the two children he had with Childers. Defense lawyer Rome Canzano says Childers' expressions of remorse were considered in the plea negotiations. Earth's glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow compressed into ice are shrinking 18 percent 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 U.S. Lower 48 states, New Zealand and near the tropics. Glaciers in these places on average are losing more than 1 percent of their mass each year, according to the study in Monday's Nature journal. "In these regions, at the current glacier loss rate, the glaciers will not survive the century," Zemp said. Zemp's team used ground and satellite measurements to look at 19,000 glaciers, far more than previous studies. They determined that southwestern Asia is the only region of 19 where glaciers are not shrinking, which Zemp said is due to local climate conditions. Since 1961, the world has lost 10.6 trillion tons of ice and snow (9.6 trillion metric tons), the study found. Melted, that's enough to cover the lower 48 U.S. states in about 4 feet of water. Scientists have known for a long time that global warming caused by human activities like burning coal, gasoline and diesel for electricity and transportation is making Earth lose its ice. They have been especially concerned with the large ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. This study, "is telling us there's much more to the story," said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who wasn't part of the study. "The influence of glaciers on sea level is bigger than we thought." 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 show glacier melt is a bigger contributor than thought, responsible for about 25% to 30% of the yearly rise in oceans, Zemp said. Rising seas threaten coastal cities around the world and put more people at risk of flooding during storms. Glaciers grow in winter and shrink in summer, but as the Earth has warmed, they are growing less and shrinking more. Zemp said warmer summer temperatures are the main reason glaciers are shrinking faster. While people think of glaciers as polar issues, shrinking mountain glaciers closer to the equator can cause serious problems for people who depend on them, said Twila Moon, a snow and ice data center scientist who also wasn't part of the study. She said people in the Andes, for example, rely on the glaciers for drinking and irrigation water each summer. A separate study Monday in Environmental Research Letters confirmed faster melting and other changes in the Arctic. It found that in winter, the Arctic is warming 2.8 times faster than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. Overall, the region is getting more humid, cloudier and wetter. "It's on steroids, it's hyperactive," said lead author Jason Box, a scientist for the Danish Meteorological Institute. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Monday released 10 years of his tax returns, with the most recent filing showing that he and his wife earned more than $360,000 in income. Encompassing 2008 through 2017, the hundreds of pages of returns show that the former Texas congressman and his wife, Amy, had a total annual income of more than $330,000 from 2015 to 2017. His effective tax rate for 2017 was 22%. In 2008, their joint income was around $280,000. In a statement, O'Rourke's campaign said it would be making his 2018 tax returns public "as soon as possible after they are filed." In 2017, the O'Rourkes paid about $81,000 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of nearly $366,500. The couple did not give much of their income to charity, donating only about $1,200 in 2017 and less than $900 each in 2016 and 2015. O'Rourke joins Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and several other high-profile Democrats vying for their party's 2020 presidential nomination in releasing years of past tax information. That's in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has bucked longtime presidential tradition and declined to make his tax filings public. Sanders' release of 10 years of tax returns confirmed that his income crossed the $1 million threshold in 2016 and 2017. O'Rourke's father-in-law is a well-known developer in his native El Paso, Texas, and O'Rourke's past financial disclosure records filed during his three terms in the House had previously showed that he and his wife had sold real estate and other assets worth more than $1 million. That meant the onetime punk rocker was actually wealthier than Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican he challenged in deeply conservative Texas and nearly upset in November. What to Know A judge must decide if confession tapes in the Bucks County murders of four young men should be used in the trial for one of the suspects. NBC10 obtained recordings of Sean Kratz confessing to helping his cousin Cosmo DiNardo lure, murder and bury four men in Bucks County. Kratz's lawyers argue that the confession shouldn't be admissible in court because police didn't properly give him a Miranda warning. Nearly one year after NBC10 exclusively obtained confession tapes from a killer and his cousin, who has been charged as an accomplice, a Bucks County judge will decide whether those tapes will be admissible in court. Sean Kratz is one of two men charged in a 2017 murder spree on a sprawling farm that left four young men dead. His cousin, Cosmo DiNardo, pleaded guilty to murdering the victims. He received life in prison. Kratz is accused of helping DiNardo lure the men and hide their bodies. He remains jailed, charged with three counts of criminal homicide. Last year, Kratz rejected a plea deal and could now face the death penalty if convicted. The chilling murders and subsequent police investigation gripped the region and made headlines throughout the nation. Dean Finocchiaro, Mark Sturgis, Tom Meo, and Jimi Taro Patrick were brutally killed on a 90-acre farm near New Hope, Pennsylvania, in July 2017. The property was owned by DiNardo's relatives. DiNardo later admitted to carrying out the murders in a disturbing, hours-long confession recording, which was obtained exclusively by NBC10. In it, DiNardo and Kratz detail the murders and the cousins' attempts to cover their tracks. EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Hear Cosmo DiNardos and Sean Kratzs confessions about the murders of four men on DiNardos Bucks County, Pennsylvania, farm crimes that captivated the nation. Both men are serving life sentences. DiNardo said he and Kratz lured the men to the farm under the guise of a marijuana sale. Each drug deal turned into an ambush that ended with the victims shot, and in one case, run over by a backhoe. NBC10 On Tuesday, Kratz's attorneys argued in court that their client's statement should be thrown out. They claimed police didn't properly issue Kratz a Miranda warning before his confession and that he was unaware that his statement could be used against him. They also claimed Kratz's initial attorney, Craig Penglase, told him the statement would only be used if he took a plea deal. Kratz's mother, Vanessa Amodei, also testified Tuesday. She claimed Penglase told her and her son that the recorded statement would help him get a plea deal and save him from the death penalty and that if he didn't take the deal, it would not be used against him in trial. Penglase has not taken the stand and has not publicly responded to the comments from Kratz's current attorneys. The judge will spend the next few weeks deciding if Kratz's statement will be allowed in his murder trial. A trial date has not yet been set. Five rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel early Sunday, the Israeli military announced, following a day of mass protests that saw Israeli troops kill four Palestinians near the territory's border. The rocket attack threatens to undermine Egyptian-mediated efforts to cement a deal that the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers hope will ease a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockage of the crowded territory. No casualties were reported and no Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the rockets, though they appeared to be in retaliation for the deaths of the protesters. Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in the Gaza Strip on Saturday to mark the anniversary of their mass protests along the Israeli border. Most demonstrators kept their distance from the border, though small crowds of activists approached the perimeter fence and threw stones and explosives toward Israeli troops on the other side. The forces responded with tear gas and opened fire, killing four Palestinians and wounding 64. Hamas had pledged to keep the crowds a safe distance from the fence to avoid inflaming the political atmosphere during negotiations of a possible easing of the blockade. Hamas officials say that Israel is offering a package of economic incentives in exchange for calm along the volatile border. Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, said the group had received "positive signs" from the Egyptians. He added that the Egyptian team was to return to Israel on Sunday to continue the talks. "We will continue our marches until all our goals are achieved," he said. Saturday's protest came at a sensitive time, with Israel and Hamas, bitter enemies that have fought three wars and dozens of smaller skirmishes, both having a strong interest in keeping things quiet. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking his fourth consecutive term in April 9 elections, but is facing a serious challenge from a group of ex-army chiefs who have criticized what they say is his failed Gaza policy. With a lack of alternatives, Netanyahu has been forced at times to rely on Hamas to maintain stability along Israel's volatile southern front. In the final stretch of the campaign, Netanyahu needs to keep the Israel-Gaza frontier quiet, without seeming to make concessions to Hamas. Netanyahu took heavy criticism this week for what was seen as a soft response to renewed rocket fire out of Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile, faces growing unrest in Gaza as a result of worsening conditions after more than a decade of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. The two countries imposed the blockade in 2007 after Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel's destruction, seized control of Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The blockade has helped drive unemployment over 50 percent, led to chronic power outages and made it extremely difficult for Gazans to travel out of the territory. Earlier this month, Hamas violently suppressed several days of public protests, staged under the slogan "We want to live," over the dire conditions. Speaking on the group's Al-Aqsa TV station, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, praised the protesters. "With this big turnout, our people say, 'We want to live!" His use of the protesters' slogan appeared to be aimed at diverting the recent criticism of his group. Hamas blames the blockade and punitive measures by its West Bank-based Palestinian Authority for worsening the living conditions. The fence protests, which began exactly a year ago, have been aimed in large part at breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza, but haven't delivered major improvements. Saturday's demonstrations were held at five rallying points along the border with Israel. Dozens of volunteers in fluorescent vests were deployed to restrain demonstrators, and cool rainy weather also appeared to affect enthusiasm. But as the crowds swelled throughout the afternoon in response to Hamas' calls for a large turnout, dozens of protesters approached the fence, unfurling Palestinian flags and throwing rocks and explosives toward Israeli soldiers. The Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live fire. The Israeli military estimated 40,000 Palestinians were gathered at the marches. "The rioters are hurling rocks and setting tires on fire. In addition, a number of grenades and explosive devices have been hurled at the Gaza Strip security fence," it said in a statement. In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the army's preparation and performance in maintaining "calm." Gaza's Health Ministry said that a 17-year-old protester died immediately after being shot in the face in east Gaza City. In the evening, the ministry said another 17-year-old died hours after being shot in the chest in a different protest location. A third teenager, also aged 17, succumbed to his wounds and died in the late evening. A 21-year-old Palestinian also died around dawn after sustaining injuries in overnight protests before the main demonstration. While bloodshed was not avoided, it was far less than previous high-profile protests. Over 60 people were killed during intense protests on May 14, the day the U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem. As Saturday's protest was winding down, organizers vowed to continue the marches and said they would gather again as usual next Friday. The military released video footage showing large crowds of protesters gathered near the fence and hurling objects. In one scene, a group of activists went up to the fence and hurled stones at the other side. In another scene, a youth could be seen trying to pull apart barbed wire along the fence. The army also said it caught two young Palestinian children who had tried to cross the border with a knife. The children were returned to Gaza through a border crossing. Earlier on Saturday, Gaza health officials said Israeli troops shot and killed a 21-year-old Palestinian man near the perimeter fence, hours before the mass rally. The army said about 200 Palestinians "rioted during the night along the fence" and that the army used riot dispersal means against them. The marches near were initially organized by grassroots activists who were calling for a mass return to ancestral homes in what is now Israel. Hamas quickly took the lead in the protests, using the gatherings to call for an easing of the blockade. The border marches routinely ended in confrontations, with some of the Palestinian demonstrators burning tires, hurling fire bombs or setting off explosives and Israeli troops firing live rounds and tear gas. According to a Gaza rights group and a count by The Associated Press, 196 Palestinians were killed in the demonstrations over the past year, including 41 minors, and thousands were wounded by live fire. An Israeli soldier was also killed in the context of the marches. Israel says the army has been defending the border. The army accuses Hamas of using the large crowds as cover and encouraging demonstrators to hurl explosives, incendiary balloons and grenades across the border. But Israel has come under heavy international criticism for the large number of unarmed people who have been harmed. Egypt has repeatedly tried to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, stepping up efforts in recent days after a Gaza rocket struck a house in central Israel earlier this week, injuring seven Israelis and threatening renewed escalation. Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre contributed reporting. 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. 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." Some homeowners in Oceanside say they feel trapped because they cannot get approval to sell their mobile home units from the company that owns the land they lease. Linda Walshaw has lived in a mobile home for years. She said the owners are denying sales of mobile home units on her property to drive down the price. They end up selling to the park for pennies to get out from under the situation, Walshaw explained adding the property owner then rents the property for a much higher amount of money. Say rent control is $500 a month, she said. They're renting the newer ones out for around $2,000 a month. Hundreds of seniors and their families have contacted Walshaw because, for one reason or another, they need to sell their homes. She is the Vice Chair of the Oceanside Housing Commission. She said the problem is that approval of sales is up to people who own the mobile home park. A real estate agent told the San Diego Reader in March that prospective buyers are being denied by the company owning the land. Dunex, Inc. of Orange, California owns Cavalier Mobile Estates. The owner Brian Alex told NBC 7 his company follows state law. He said Walshaws comments are factually and legally false. The San Diego County District Attorneys Office said it is aware of the allegations against the park owners. However, the DAs office could not comment on any specific cases. Federal prosecutors in Virginia are preparing to file a criminal charge against a former NASA subcontractor suspected of fraud and linked to the failed 2011 launch of the NASA Glory spacecraft. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia has yet to publicly post the complaint. Justice Department court filings show an employee of the contractor has already admitted being part of a fraud scheme in a separate case. The unspecified criminal charge against Hydro Extrusions, formerly known as Sapa, will be filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The U.S. attorney declined to comment on the case. An internal NASA memo said the agencys internal inspectors investigated Sapa in 2015 for altering test results performed on the companys aluminium extrusions. According to the U.S. Justice Department, a company supervisor admitted to a fraud scheme in 2017 in a separate criminal case in Oregon. The Justice Department said the employee doctored test results to ensure the companys unreliable and inconsistent production practices would not prevent aluminum extrusions from being shipped to customers. The Justice Department said by doing so, the former Sapa employee and lab technicians altered the mechanical properties of aluminum extrusions over 4,000 times, allowing the manufacturing company to gross over $6.8 million in total sales based on altered test results. According to the Justice Department, Aluminum extrusions are manufactured for a variety of applications, including aeronautic uses such as rockets. Sapa worked as an aluminium subcontractor for NASA beginning in the 1990s, according to multiple reports. The internal NASA memo did not specify whether fraud by Sapa contributed to the failure of the 2011 Nasa Glory spacecraft launch. But the memo said fraud was a suspected cause of the doomed mission. NASA did not immediately return requests for comment. Upon learning of the misconduct, we immediately stopped it and reported the details to government officials," said a spokesman for Hydro Extrusions in a statement to the News4 I-Team. "Over the past several years we have undertaken aggressive remediation actions and have invested significant time and resources to completely overhaul our quality and compliance organizations. This includes the implementation of more than $14 million in state-of-the-art testing equipment across our North American operations that automates the tensile testing process. A Germantown, Maryland, man is charged with five counts of attempted murder after police say he held a family hostage at gunpoint inside a home on Monday. Montgomery County police say 29-year-old Zain Imdad broke into the house on Jump Drive with a BB gun and a knife and threatened to kill his wife and her family, including a 15-year-old boy. The family told police they thought the black BB gun was a real handgun. "The family was basically held there and threatened with murder, that he was going to kill them," Montgomery County Police Cpt. Tom Jordan said. Imdad and his wife were due in court Monday for a hearing ona protective order his wife says Imdad violated, according to court documents. Court documents say the domestic issues began last summer when Imdad asked his then-girlfriend to marry him. When she refused, he shot himself in a failed suicide attempt on July 3, the documents say. During his recovery, Imdad told his girlfriend that she must marry him or he would harm her and kill her family, court documents say. The couple then married at a courthouse on Sept. 14, but kept the marriage a secret for months. Imdad's wife said she finally told her family in March they were married out of fear for her own safety, according to the court documents. A judge then issued a court order requiring Imdad to stay away from his wife. According to his wife, Imdad violated the order at least two times, including once when she told the court Imdad sent her a suicide note. The wife and her family moved in the hopes that Imdad wouldn't find them. "He was told to stay away and he didnt stay away. In fact, he came to the house with extreme ill intent," Jordan said. Police say they found Imdad choking his wife and holding a knife to her throat when they responded to the hostage situation Monday afternoon. In addition to weapons, Imdad brought duct tape and five sets of handcuffs to the house, police said. At one point, a family member was able to call another relative who called police. "He had mentioned that to the family if police came he was going to shoot police and kill the family," Jordan said. According to charging documents, Imdad wrote a note to police saying he planned to drink poison after killing his wife and her family. Police said Imdad had four bottles of white liquid with him that he said was poison. A hazmat team removed the liquid, which was sent for tests. No one in the home was seriously injured during the hostage incident. Imdad is expected to make his first appearance in court on Wednesday. The world reacted with shock and prayers to the massive fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, united in grief and in solidarity with the people of France. As the flames tore through the 12th-century cathedral, Spain's prime minister offered France the help of his country in the recovery. The fire is a "catastrophe for France, for Spain and for Europe," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted Monday, adding that the flames are destroying "850 years of history, architecture, painting and sculpture." French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters near the scene that he will seek international help, including from the "greatest talents" in the world, to rebuild Notre Dame. President Donald Trump, speaking at an appearance in Minnesota, spoke of the "terrible, terrible fire" that devastated "one of the great treasures of the world." "It's a part of our growing up, it's a part of our culture, it's a part of our lives," Trump said of the landmark. The Notre Dame Cathedral, situated on an island in the Seine River in the heart of Paris, is one of the world's most visited tourist destinations, drawing some 13 million people each year. The fire's emotional impact was widely felt. People from all over described in Facebook posts how they cried when they heard about the fire. Nicolas Marang, 47, has lived in Paris for more than 25 years and told NBC News he was running along the Seine River when he saw the smoke, which looked like a "dark smog," coming from the Notre Dame. "Something just collapsed inside me. [It was] one of the worst things I've ever seen," Marang said. Former President Barack Obama posted an old photo of himself, his wife Michelle and their two daughters lighting candles in the cathedral. "Notre Dame is one of the world's great treasures, and we're thinking of the people of France in your time of grief," Obama said on Twitter. Michelle Obama, who was in Paris on Monday on a book tour, said "my heart aches with the people of France." "The majesty of Notre Dame - the history, artistry, and spirituality - took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be," she tweeted. She predicted the cathedral would rise again. Japan's government early Tuesday expressed sympathy and said it would consider sending support to the French government. "Its damage is a loss to the world and our hearts ache," said Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary. The Vatican said Pope Francis "has seen with shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire." As the flames spread, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, prayed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan for intercession. "God preserve this splendid house of prayer, and protect those battling the blaze," Dolan said in a statement. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said many works of art and holy objects inside the church had been saved, but the art world was distressed about what might have been lost. Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval Cloisters branch in New York, was desolate about damage to the cathedral, which she called "one of the great monuments to the best of civilization." "Civilization is just so fragile," Boehm told a reporter in a trembling voice. "This great hulking monument of stone has been there since 1163. It's come through so many trials." Jeff Ament, bass player for Pearl Jam, remembered spending hours at the cathedral in his first visit, in 1991, with record executive Michael Goldstone. "Thinking about Paris," Ament tweeted, with photos of the cathedral. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that he's "horrified," calling the cathedral "a unique example of world heritage." In Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church's secretary for inter-Christian relations Hieromonk Stefan called the fire "a tragedy for the entire Christian world and for all who appreciate the cultural significance of this temple," the state news agency RIA-Novosti reported: On Twitter, Trump suggested using planes to drop water on the flames. France's Civil Security agency said that wasn't feasible. "All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral," the agency tweeted. Associated Press reporters Jocelyn Noveck, Kiley Armstrong, Jim Heintz, Edith M. Lederer and Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report. President Donald Trump's reelection campaign is set to report that it raised more than $30 million in the first quarter of 2019, edging out his top two Democratic rivals combined, according to figures it provided to The Associated Press. The haul brings the campaign's cash on hand to $40.8 million, an unprecedented war chest for an incumbent president this early in a campaign. The Trump campaign said nearly 99% of its donations were of $200 or less, with an average donation of $34.26. Trump's fundraising ability was matched by the Republican National Committee, which brought in $45.8 million in the first quarter its best non-election year total. Combined, the pro-Trump effort is reporting $82 million in the bank, with $40.8 million belonging to the campaign alone. Trump formally launched his reelection effort just hours after taking office in 2017, earlier than any incumbent has in prior years. By contrast, former President Barack Obama launched his 2012 effort in April 2011 and had under $2 million on hand at this point in the campaign. Obama went on to raise more than $720 million for his reelection. Trump's reelection effort has set a $1 billion target for 2020. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement that Trump "is in a vastly stronger position at this point than any previous incumbent president running for re-election, and only continues to build momentum." Trump's fundraising with the RNC is divided between two entities: Trump Victory, the joint account used for high-dollar gifts, and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, the low-dollar digital fundraising operation known internally as "T-Magic." The campaign is set to launch a traditional "bundling" program which it lacked in 2016 in the coming weeks. Bundlers are mid-tier donors who bring in contributions from their associates. Together, the Trump entities have raised a combined $165.5 million since 2017. Trump is benefiting from the advantages of incumbency, like universal name recognition and his unrivaled position atop the Republican Party. Among Democrats, dollars are divided across a candidate field of well more than a dozen, while the Democratic National Committee remains in debt and has suffered from being dramatically outraised by the RNC in recent months. Bernie Sanders topped the Democratic field in the first quarter, raising slightly more than $18 million, followed by Kamala Harris with $12 million and Beto O'Rourke with $9.4 million. Trump is reporting a haul of $30.3 million. Republicans have trailed Democrats in online fundraising ever since the medium was invented roughly two decades ago. But Trump has closed the gap, driving small-dollar donors who make recurring donations to the GOP like the party has never seen before. According to RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump's campaign has already had eight seven-figure fundraising days this year, and has taken in money from more than 1 million new online donors since Trump's inauguration including 100,000 this year. The Republican committee said it is planning on spending $30 million on maintaining and growing Trump's email list alone, recently expanded its headquarters space to an annex in Virginia and will soon invest in developing an app. In 2015, Trump swore off outside money, declaring in his opening speech: "I'm using my own money. I'm not using the lobbyists'. I'm not using donors'. I don't care. I'm really rich." He quickly reversed course on high-dollar donations after he won the GOP nomination, bowing to the financial pressures of running a general election campaign, and he'd already raised millions online through the sale of merchandise like his signature red Make America Great Again hats. Trump gave or loaned $66 million to his 2016 campaign, but has yet to spend any of his own cash for his reelection effort. Aides don't expect that to change. U.S. Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex" Alles is leaving the Trump administration, the White House said, amid a shake-up in the upper echelon of the Department of Homeland Security. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump has selected career Secret Service official James Murray to lead the agency, saying he will assume the role next month. She added Alles will be "leaving shortly," though the agency later said he would leave in May. Alles' departure stems from a personality conflict within the agency, three officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the personnel matter. The officials said it was unrelated to the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and a recent security breach at the president's private club in Florida. Still, it comes amid a spate of turnover across DHS that began last week when Trump withdrew his Immigration and Customs Enforcement director's nomination to stay on permanently. After Nielsen's departure, an empowered Stephen Miller, the immigration hawk White House senior adviser, is also eyeing the removal of Lee Francis Cissna, according to two of the people. Cissna is director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which runs the legal immigration system. Alles, a former Marine general who had no prior ties to the Secret Service, was recommended to the post by former White House chief of staff John Kelly. He had been the acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. In a message to the agency's workforce, Alles said he was not fired, but that Trump had "directed an orderly transition in leadership for this agency." He expressed "regret" he was not able to address the department before the news broke. Confirmed in 2017, Alles inherited an agency that had been dealing with a series of security and personnel issues. Weeks before he was nominated, a man jumped the White House fence and spent 15 minutes roaming the grounds. His appointment was set to fulfill the recommendations of a group of former senior government officials that reviewed the Secret Service in 2014 and found that it was an "insular agency" in need of an outsider to lead it. But Alles' unfamiliarity with the agency led to conflicts, said the officials. Murray, the assistant director of the office of protective operations, had served as the special agent in charge of the agency's Washington field office. Sanders said Alles "has done a great job at the agency over the last two years," and that Trump is thankful for his service. New Hampshire health officials say a hepatitis A outbreak that has already claimed one life in the state is accelerating. The Department of Health and Human Services says they've seen 33 hepatitis A diagnoses in March alone. Since November of 2018, 79 people have been diagnosed with hepatitis A, compared to an average of six or seven people annually in recent years. Since November, 36 cases have been diagnosed in Hillsborough County, 17 in Strafford County, 10 in Rockingham County, 10 in Merrimack County, two in Cheshire County, two in Grafton County, one in Sullivan County and one in Carroll County. One person from Merrimack County has died. "Hepatitis A is spread by unknowingly getting the virus in your mouth after touching or eating items that are contaminated with small amounts of stool from an infected person. Hepatitis A can also spread from close personal contact with an infected person or caring for someone who is ill, said Beth Daly, chief of the state's Bureau of Infectious Disease Control. "Hepatitis A is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, which is vital to stopping this outbreak. People at high risk for infection should talk with their health care provider about getting vaccinated." The virus that causes hepatitis A is contagious and anyone can get it; however, health officials say the people at highest risk of contracting the virus are people with direct contact with someone with hepatitis A; people using injection or non-injection recreational drugs, including marijuana; people experiencing homelessness or with unstable housing; gay and bisexual men; and people with ongoing, close contact with high-risk individuals Hepatitis A causes inflammation of the liver. Severe infections can result in liver failure and even death. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored bowel movements, joint pain, and jaundice. There is no specific treatment for hepatitis A. Eighteen states have declared an outbreak of hepatitis A. More than 15,000 cases and 140 deaths have been reported in the U.S. For more information on New Hampshires outbreak, visit www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/hepatitisa/hepa-nh.htm. A couple of days of good drying and cooler weather in the higher locations should considerably slow the snow-melt induced flooding. Monday's storm, which caused wind damage and in some cases 2 inches of rain, is now powering through southeastern Canada. On the backside, we have a windy but dry day here in New England. The temperature is starting off colder, near freezing north, and 40 degrees south and the wind is still gusting past 30 mph adding a wind chill factor. So it is a jacket and gloves-kind of weather Tuesday morning. But at least the air is dry and the snow-melt has stopped due to the chill, but the larger rivers are still rising. Smaller rivers are slowly receding back within their banks. Its a pretty day, brisk with a high temperature in the 40s and 50s. Wind from the west will continue gusting 30 to 40 mph much of the day. High pressure settles closer Wednesday. That means after a clear night with a low again near freezing, we should have sunshine and less wind Wednesday, another day in the 50s to near 60 degrees. The next strong system in the Midwest likely generates severe weather in the lower Mississippi Valley starting Wednesday and will slowly work its way toward New England. I think we are still beautiful to start off Thursday, but clouds will increase and there could be a few showers before the day is over. High temperatures will be a little cooler and in the 50s. Strong low pressure will move into Michigan and Ontario Friday. That will push a warm front through here with some rain, probably tapering to fog and drizzle as it gets warmer and more humid during the day Friday. A long cold front is going to stall on the eastern seaboard this weekend with a chance of occasional rain. Hopefully, we can dry it out a little for Easter. Temperatures will probably stay on the warm side in the 60s for most before cooling late Easter or early next week. This will result in more snow-melt and further flooding issues. Stay ahead of it with our First Alert 10-Day Forecast. Former Vice President Joe Biden will visit Boston this week to speak in support of striking Stop & Shop workers. The United Food & Commercial Workers said on its website that the potential Democratic presidential candidate would join Boston Mayor Marty Walsh Thursday afternoon for a rally at the South Bay Center Stop & Shop location in Dorchester. Tens of thousands of Stop & Shop employees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut walked off the job last Thursday. Workers have been picketing outside stores ever since. "The men and women who make Stop & Shop a success have earned and deserve affordable health care, a good wage, and the ability to retire with dignity," union leaders said in a statement when the strike began. "They have earned and deserve a good job that allows them to do what they do best: provide the very best customer service for New England communities." Quincy-based Stop & Shop, a division of Dutch company Ahold Delhaize, says it is offering across-the board raises and "excellent" health care benefits that beat industry standards. The Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts sent a message to members urging them to attend the rally "to support the 31,000 UFCW members that are out on strike." Biden, mulling a run for the Democratic nomination for president, last week tweeted his support for Stop & Shop workers. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has already said she is running for president, met with striking workers on Friday in Somerville. Democratic presidential contender Cory Booker has also voiced his support via Twitter. Thursday's rally will take place at 2 p.m. at 1100 Massachusetts Avenue in Dorchester. The power country trio Lady Antebellum is heading to Connecticut this summer. The seven-time Grammy award winners, Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, will be performing perform at Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday, Aug. 2. The show starts at 8 p.m. and country artist Drake White will also be performing. Some of Lady Antebellums biggest hits include Need You Now, You Look Good and several others. Tickets are $69, $49 and $39. They will go on sale Friday, April 19. Learn more here. This band has been performing in Vegas and their Our Kind of Vegas residency at Palms Casino Resort's will continue into the spring with performances in May and August, but they will also be performing at some additional venues. See more concert dates here. Tuesday features bright sunshine and seasonable temperatures as an area of high pressure noses into New England. Gusty winds continue in response to a strong pressure gradient across the region. Snow showers and cloudy skies will remain across the mountains into the afternoon. High temperatures reach into the mid-50s to near 60 degrees south, mid to upper 40s across interior New England and the mid-30s to 40 degrees across the North Country. Mondays rains and resulting snowmelt has allowed various flood warnings to remain in effect for the Connecticut River, the Winooski River in Vermont and the Kennebec River in Maine. High pressure moves in Tuesday night, allowing winds to decrease and dry weather to continue. Expecting mostly clear skies with lows in the mid 30s south and mid to upper 20s to the north. Dry and bright weather continues into Wednesday with highs cresting into the upper 50s to low 60s south and 40s to 50s across the north. Sea breezes will likely develop given the relatively light winds over land. Wet weather returns to New England Thursday as our next storm system approaches from the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley. Cloud cover increases throughout the day with the threat of rain showers developing across Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Expect high temperatures to reach into the 50s south, 40s north. Widespread wet weather develops into Friday as warm and moist air mass continues to overspread the region. High temperatures reach into the mid to upper 60s both Friday and Saturday. Deep tropical flow entrenched overhead will result in renewed wet weather on Saturday as developing low pressure moves over New York State. High temperatures again crest into the mid to upper 60s. The heaviest rain will likely fall Friday night into Saturday morning. Rain becomes more scattered in nature on Sunday as the area of low pressure moves north of the region into Quebec. Looking ahead to the start of the work week, improvements come Monday into Tuesday on the exclusive First Alert Weather 10-day forecast on NBC10 Boston and necn after a racing weather system skirts off the coast. Columbia Gas is on scene in Monson for a possible overpressurization of gas lines in the western Massachusetts town, but says, "there are no current safety concerns at this time." Monson police said just after 5 p.m. that Columbia Gas had recently contacted them to report a possible overpressurization of gas lines. As a precaution, police said the gas company dispatched workers to the area to check their infrastructure. Columbia Gas reported everything had returned to "normal operation condition," at 6:10 p.m. They said a gas control monitor showed a reading slightly above normal at 1 p.m. The situation was corrected within six minutes, the utility said. Columbia Gas says they are conducting leak surveys on the gas mains and service lines in sections of Monson and Palmer until approximate 11 p.m., but want to note there are no safety concerns at this time. Gas meters at each home or building on the gas main line have a regulator which eliminates the possibility of over pressurization, according to Columbia Gas. As of 9 p.m., the company said, 75 percent of safety checks in Monson and Palmer had been completed with no findings. The company added that crews would continue the safety checks until all of them were completed. "We assure you the area is safe, and we will continue to provide you with updates," the company said on Twitter. Anyone who detects the smell of natural gas is urged to immediately vacate their residence or business and call 911. Specific questions about natural gas service can be directed to Columbia Gas at 1-800-688-6160 or 1-800-525-8222. Columbia Gas is still working to recover from a Sept. 13, 2018, incident where an accidental overpressurization of gas lines caused a series of explosions and fires that killed an 18-year-old, injured dozens of others, damaged hundreds of buildings and left thousands of customers without natural gas service for months. A woman was shot during a police-involved shooting in New Haven early Tuesday morning and the witnesses described a scene in which police officers surrounded a car and fired several gunshots. New Haven police said their officers were not involved. According to Connecticut State Police, who are leading the investigation, the incident began when Hamden Police received a report of a possible armed robbery of a newspaper delivery person at the Gas and Go gas station at 144 Arch St. in their town around 4:20 a.m. A Hamden officer found the suspect vehicle in the area of Argyle Street and Dixwell Avenue in New Haven. The Hamden police officer, assisted by a Yale police officer, made contact with the occupants of the suspect vehicle and police fired shots, according to New Haven police. State Police said multiple shots were fired by both officers on scene. A 22-year-old woman who was inside the vehicle was shot and suffered a non-life-threatening wound. She was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital and is currently in stable condition, according to State Police. According to a witness, a red car rammed police officers. The red car drove into the front of the cop car," said New Haven resident Michael Donorfio. Police say the suspect refused to follow orders, leading police to open fire. The suspected party exited the vehicle in an abrupt manner turned toward officers at which point officers fired at least one round at the suspect," said Trooper Josue Dorelus of the Connecticut State Police. Witnesses said they heard several gunshots and video from the scene shows police officers with weapons drawn surrounding a red car. They were just shooting. It was a crossfire. Bullets were coming from both sides, Joseph Smith, of New Haven, said. Police said a male was taken into custody in connection with the incident, but it is not clear what charges the suspect faces. Dorelus said investigators are trying to determine if the suspect was armed. At this point there is no weapon that was located." NBC Connecticut spoke with Rodney Williams, who identified himself as the suspect's uncle. When you realize its your family even though they claim this or that I just still see after you look at the video how they just jumped out the car and they just start shootin how theyre shootin. I dont feel like people respect people as human beings," he said. At the end of the day these officers got to understand that they got kids too and how would they feel if somebody shot theyre kids like that?" he added. Hamden's mayor said the officer involved has been placed on leave. State Police are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact them at 860-685-8190. Callers can remain anonymous. What to Know Thousands of Stop & Shop workers at 240 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island went on strike last week. Most stores are still open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but some have reduced services. Stop & Shop's president sent a letter to customers apologizing for the inconvenience the strike is causing. It is unclear when Stop & Shop and the union representing employees will come to an agreement to end their strike, but workers have already expressed concerns over the continuation of the protest. The Stop & Shop strike is continuing with a sixth day Tuesday, marking nearly a week since 31,000 employees in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island began to picket. The president of Stop & Shop sent a letter to customers apologizing for the inconvenience the strike is causing. "First, we want you to know, Stop & Shop recognizes the valuable role our associates play in creating a great experience for you," said Mark McGowan, president of the company's New England division. "They are a part of your lives, a part of our community, and key to our success. That's why it is so important to us to provide a fair contract to our employees who are members of the UFCW unions currently on strike." He said most stories are still open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but some have reduced services. They said bakery, customer service, deli and seafood counters will not be operational, and they currently have a limited meat selection. Its gas stations are also closed at this time. Stop & Shop employees from about 200 New England locations walked off the job Thursday, saying they are fighting for living wages, pensions and better health care. "We're all willing to stand here as long as it takes until we get a fair deal," employee Kristen Johnson told NBC10 Boston. The strike started after the union and company failed to come to an agreement, stalling negotiations. "They're losing people. And they'll be lucky to get some of them back after it," said Dan Deveau, who has worked for Stop & Shop for 14 years. "They're really gambling here." Politicians have chimed in on the strike, with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey joining striking workers in Quincy and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren joining workers in Somerville. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said he stands in solidarity with the employees. "We are committed to good faith bargaining and hope to reach new contracts as quickly as possible that both recognize and reward the great work of our associates and enable Stop & Shop to compete effectively in the rapidly changing New England grocery market," spokeswoman Jennifer Brogan said in an emailed statement Friday. "While Stop & Shop continues to propose drastically cutting worker benefits, shareholders voted on April 10 to give themselves an 11.1 percent raise in dividends over the last year," the United Food & Commercial Workers union said in an emailed statement. Democrats will "never" see President Donald Trump's tax returns, said White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Sunday, as a new front opened in the confrontation between the administration and Congress. Mulvaney accused Democrats of engaging in a "political stunt" and wanting "attention" after the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, asked the IRS to provide six years of Trump's personal tax returns and the returns for some of his businesses. "That is not going to happen and they know it," Mulvaney told "Fox News Sunday." Asked whether he believe Democrats would ever view the president's returns, Mulvaney replied: "Oh no, never. Nor should they." Last week, Massachusetts Democrat Neal, one of only three congressional officials authorized to request tax returns, requested Trump's personal and business returns in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. He asked for returns covering 2013 through 2018. He also asked for the documents in seven days, setting an April 10 deadline. An obscure 1924 statute includes no exceptions to Neal's authority to ask the Treasury Department for returns and says the department "shall furnish" them when requested. It does require that the review of an individual's return be conducted by members of Congress in "closed executive session" if the returns are provided without the taxpayer's consent. Still, Mulvaney claimed the law provides for lawmakers to review individual tax returns but "political hit job is not one of those reasons." His comments echoed those made by Trump's lawyers who argued the Democratic request "would set a dangerous precedent" if granted. Trump broke with precedent when he chose not to release any tax returns as a presidential candidate. Mulvaney tried to cast the issue of the president's taxes as old news, saying it was "already litigated during the election" and the American people "elected him anyway." Trump has said he won't release the information because he is under audit, something he reiterated again Friday while visiting the U.S-Mexico border. "I'm under audit. When you're under audit you don't do it," Trump said. IRS officials have said taxpayers under audit are free to release their returns. Trump claimed at a news conference following his election in November 2018 that the filings are too complex for people to understand. William Consovoy, whose firm was retained by Trump to represent him on the matter, said in a letter Friday to the Department of Treasury's general counsel that the tax code zealously guards taxpayer privacy. He said requests for tax returns "must have a legitimate legislative purpose." Neal has said he made the request to review the IRS policy of auditing the tax returns of all sitting presidents and vice presidents, saying, "little is known about the effectiveness of this program." "On behalf of the American people, the Ways and Means Committee must determine if that policy is being followed, and if so, whether these audits are conducted fully and appropriately," Neal said when unveiling his request for Trump's returns. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee who has been an occasional critic of Trump's, called Democrats' actions "moronic." He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he believes Trump should release his tax returns, but by demanding them, "I think the Democrats are just playing along his handbook." HARTFORD Monday was the day of reckoning for Connecticut taxpayers already grappling with high property taxes to deal with the new nationwide limits on tax deductions. For first-term state Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, it meant that she and her husband, now both retired, had to pay $10,800 more than last year. And theres something wrong with that, Kushner said. The tax cuts that they made in Washington was the largest transfer of wealth in this country in probably a century, and we just didnt realize it. So many people had no idea how it was going to deeply impact our families. We know if you own a house you were hurt by it. We know if youre a renter you may think youre off easy for a little while, but youre going to be hurt by it in the end. According to the state Department of Revenue Services, extrapolating from 2015 tax data, more than 117,000 state filers may have to pay in excess of $10,000 in state and local taxes (SALT), which is the new standard deduction. In 2015, 483,790 state filers claimed in excess of $10K in SALT deductions on their federal income tax return, but the DRS anticipates that most will change over their filing this year to the standard deduction. Were letting multi-million-trillion-billion-dollar corporations pay very little into what our society needs, said Sen. Mary Daugherty Abrams, D-Meriden, another first term lawmaker who joined Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney in warning about the effects of the GOP tax scheme that was passed when Republicans still had a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Looney recalled that Republicans claimed at the time that all businesses would benefit greatly from lower taxes, but in fact only large corporations have cashed-in. During a news conference in the Capitol, Senate Democrats cited nonpartisan legislative research to estimate that Connecticut taxpayers could be hit with a $2.8 billion tax hike, because of the 2017 tax law passed by President Donald Trump and Republicans. But Tony Cirone, a Bethel CPA, said in a recent interview that some businesses have it easier because the General Assembly last year passed legislation to allow so-called pass-through entities, including partnerships and S corporations, to take deductions for taxes owed to Connecticut. This is a lot of extra work for accounting firms and business entities, said Cirone, a member of the Connecticut Society of CPAs, anticipating that fewer people will now be itemizing their deductions. Looney, recalled that the legislation was one way in which the General Assembly is dealing with the issue. Because they pay their business taxes, basically, as part of their personal income tax, theyve been helped by this quite a bit, Looney said. At least the larger ones have, the ones who have a significant infusion of money into their personal accounts. Looney said that states most-affected by the SALT limits include New York State and New Jersey, all of which did not support Trump in the 2016 election. Looney has proposed a property tax surcharge on properties worth more than $5 million. Any tax change we make has to have some progressivity built into it, Connecticut has joined several other states in challenging the Republican tax law in court. In reaction to the Democratic criticism, Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, termed it fake outrage coming from the very same people responsible for some of the biggest tax increases in Connecticut history and the same lawmakers who have been silent on the massive tax increase proposed by the governor this year. He said that Connecticut Democrats have virtually no control over what occurs in Washington, but they want to focus on Congress and Trump instead of what they have done at home. Scott D. Jackson, state commissioner of Revenue Services, said the agency expects more than 1.88 million income-tax returns to be filed this tax season, with nine out of 10 filed electronically. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT The MOU was signed by ADB President Mr. Takehiko Nakao and UNDP Administrator Mr. Achim Steiner in Washington, DC. The agreement builds on an ongoing partnership between ADB and UNDP and sets the stage for greater collaboration at the country and regional levels, and stronger cooperation in accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific. ADB and UNDP have had a long-standing and productive partnership to support development progress in Asia and the Pacific, said Mr. Nakao. UNDPs support to countries on policy dialogue and technical capacity building can complement ADBs project implementation. Through the MOU, we will work together to realize a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific. UNDP Administrator Mr. Achim Steiner (left) and ADB President Mr. Takehiko Nakao (right) signed a 5-year memorandum of understanding on April 12th 2019. (Source: ADB) Under the MOU, priority areas for collaboration will be based on the needs and priorities of countries in the region and focus on supporting progress towards the SDGs. Forms of collaboration will include joint knowledge creation, exchange and dialogue, direct technical assistance, and project implementation in such areas as SDG implementation, innovative financing for the SDGs, disaster risk reduction, access to clean and affordable energy for all, and the promotion of regional cooperation and integration. We are pleased to renew UNDPs partnership with the Asian Development Bank. It signals our commitment to expand our collaboration on the ground in numerous countries in Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus, said Mr. Steiner. This partnership will reinforce our joint engagement with countries to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals in these regions. The MOU will supersede a 2007 agreement between ADB and UNDP, which was extended in 2014 and expires in 2019. Under that agreement, ADB and UNDP have been collaborating extensively at the country level throughout the region. In Bangladesh, for example, ADB and UNDP have been collaborating to provide skills training to indigenous people under the ADB Second Chittagong Hill Tracts Rural Development Project. In addition, ADB and UNDP have been working to coordinate external support for projects in Coxs Bazaar and strengthen effective donor coordination in response to the Rohingya situation. In addition, ADB and UNDP have been providing joint technical assistance to the government in Kazakhstan to establish institutions to coordinate SDG implementation, including a strategy for achieving the SDGs. ADB and UNDP are also partnering in the implementation of off-grid mini-hydro and mini-grid projects under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Power System Expansion Project. This initiative is aimed at expanding access to electricity in remote parts of Nepal. Finally, UNDP and ADB have been collaborating to review SDG implementation in ADB developing member countries. The insights from this collaboration can inform ADBs country partnership strategies, and support Asia and the Pacific in making progress on the SDGs./. Doctors know they're the sounds of lung problems, but it turns out they might be more than symptoms--crackling and wheezing could be the sounds of a disease progressing, a University of Michigan researcher has found. James Grotberg, professor of biomedical engineering at the College of Engineering and professor of surgery at the Medical School, recently published a study describing how the mechanics that produce those noises with every breath are likely a cause of injury and inflammation. His conclusion is based on evidence from experiments on microfluidic chips and on animal models. Exploring this in humans is a research goal. The findings could eventually change how lung diseases are treated, he says. And they represent a paradigm shift for how doctors understand what they hear through a stethoscope. He answered some questions about the research. When doctors pull out a stethoscope, what are they listening for? Grotberg: Two important organs being monitored are the heart and the lungs. For the lungs, typically the patient is asked to breathe in and out deeply. There are normal sounds of air movement, but also there can be abnormal sounds, like wheezes during expiration (breathing out) and crackles during inspiration (breathing in). Both are well-known signs of disease. These wheezes and crackles are signs of what diseases? Grotberg: Typically, wheezing is found in asthma and emphysema. Patients who wheeze can be so loud you can hear it standing next to them. Crackles, on the other hand, are only heard by a stethoscope and are a sign of too much fluid in the lung. Pulmonary edema is a common example, often a byproduct of heart failure. You've found that sounds could represent more than just the presence of a disease. Can you explain? Grotberg: Well, for a sound to be created, a mechanical event must occur, like clapping your hands. If you clap hard enough, your hands will hurt. Ouch! As an extreme example, the loudest sound a lung generates is a severe cough, which can cause, in rare instances, a pneumothorax (ruptured lung), i.e. tissue failure. The physical mechanisms that cause wheezing and crackling, while smaller forces than a cough, are similar. They make the sound, and that mechanical event is also pounding away on the lung tissue. The lung cells don't like that. Ouch again! The cells respond with inflammation, which, itself, is a disease. So wheezes and crackles actually "cause" disease. We've seen evidence of this in our experiments. That is a 180-degree thought reversal from interpreting them as only a "sign" of disease. Break this down for us a bit more. What exactly is happening when a sick patient wheezes as they exhale? Grotberg: Wheezing is very much like the sound from a deflating balloon when you make it squeal by stretching the outlet. An asthmatic lung airway is similar because it is constricted to a small narrow passageway. The pitch you hear is the frequency of oscillation of the balloon material, which for a lung would be the airway tube made of cells. And how is that damaging? Grotberg: Vibrating the lung cells makes them promote inflammation which damages the lung. Asthma already involves inflammation of the airway tubes in the lung, so wheezing likely just makes things worse. And what's going on when patients inhale and produce a crackling sound? Grotberg: Crackles are ruptures of liquid plugs in the smaller airway tubes that pop open during inspiration. The sound mechanism is very similar to drinking through a straw when you get down to the last sips at the bottom of the cup. The gurgling is a mixture of liquid and air with popping bubbles, just like a fluid-overloaded lung. The sequence is very damaging to the cells, and again they respond with inflammation and injury. How do you see this new understanding impacting diagnoses or treatments? Grotberg: Well, this is completely new territory. Since no one has ever viewed lung sounds as a cause of disease, they have not been investigating it. It's a paradigm shift for a field that has a 200-year history with the stethoscope. Experimental models need to be designed to include measurement of injury, from cellular to whole organ level, along with measurement of sound. Our research group in collaboration with Shuichi Takayama, a former U-M professor of biomedical engineering now at Georgia Tech, has done that for crackles in microfluidic platforms, but that is just a beginning. If lung crackle injury is found in congestive heart failure, therapy would likely change to treat both at the same time, perhaps adding an anti-inflammatory agent. Wheezing is often already treated with anti-inflammatory agents, but not always. In any case, the goal of stopping the sounds by more aggressive treatment may evolve. The United States Department of Justice says that annually around $3 billion is defrauded from seniors. Many of these tricksters use the telephone for their scams. What would not dupe a person with normal mental faculties often takes in seniors. A new study shows that elderly with mild cognitive impairment or early signs of dementia often fall prey to these telephone scams. Image Credit: SpeedKingz / Shutterstock The study reveals that old people with no apparent signs of dementia who fail to protect themselves from these phone scamsters by ending the conversation and hanging up may have early signs of dementia. In some cases failing to use good judgement could be an early sign of Alzhiemers disease say the researchers. The results of the new study titled, Scam Awareness Related to Incident Alzheimer Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Prospective Cohort Study, were published in the latest issue of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Lead author of the study, Patricial Boyle, neurological psychologist at Rush University's Alzheimer's Disease Center, said this study adds to our understanding of elder fraud in general. This work would suggest that, in fact, many cognitively intact older people also may be at risk of financial and other forms of fraud and abuse and really sheds new light on the scope of this problem. She explained that memory loss is usually preceded by poor decision making. The team of researchers recruited 935 older people living in and around Chicago. They had never been diagnosed with dementia and had no apparent symptoms of dementia. At the start of the study the participants were given a questionnaire on scam awareness. It contained five statements; I answer the telephone whenever it rings, even if I do not know who is calling. I have difficulty ending a telephone call, even if the caller is a telemarketer, someone I do not know, or someone I did not wish to call me. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Persons older than 65 [years old] are often targeted by con artists. When telemarketers call me, I usually listen to what they have to say. Following this, the participants were asked to complete traditional neuropsychological tests each year for around six years. During the study 255 (or 34.2 percent) developed mild cognitive impairment and 151 participants (or 16.1 percent) developed Alzheimers disease. During the study 264 participants died of natural and other causes. Their brains were donated for autopsy and research. Signs of dementia and Alzhiemers were noted in their brains. Results revealed that participants who had low scam awareness at the start of the study were at a greater risk of Alzheimer's, dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Similarly those that scored low on the fraud awareness test also had signs of Alzheimers in their brains on autopsy. Typically beta amyloid plaque was found in their brains. Boyle said, Social cognition -- social judgment -- involves a diverse array of functions. This complicated behavior involves and integrates multiple different abilities, including cognition, including emotion regulation, including making inferences and perceptions about others' behavior as well as of course regulating one's own impulses. Because it's a complex behavior, it likely involves distributed brain networks to support it, Boyle explained. Boyle added that families need to be vigilant about the problem of elder fraud, recommending the sites of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and AARP for guidance. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging. Children of mothers who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy could be at increased risk of type 1 diabetes themselves, according to a new study led by a team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) that was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Early detection of diabetes is important in children and youth, as many -- about 25 percent -- are diagnosed when seeking care for diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes that can occur when the body starts running out of insulin. "Although type 1 and type 2 diabetes in parents are well-established risk factors for their offspring to become diabetic, we show in this study that gestational diabetes may also be a risk indicator for type 1 diabetes in the mother's children. We found that a child or teen whose mother had gestational diabetes was nearly twice as likely to develop type 1 diabetes before the age of 22,'' says senior study author Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta, director and senior scientist of the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the RI-MUHC and an associate professor of medicine at McGill University. The study of 73,180 mothers compared data from Quebec (1990-2012) on randomly selected single births from mothers with gestational diabetes to births from mothers without gestational diabetes. The incidence -- the number of new cases -- of diabetes per 10,000 person-years was 4.5 in children born to mothers with gestational diabetes and 2.4 in mothers without. "Only a small number of children will develop diabetes before the age of 22, even if their mothers had gestational diabetes,'' says study co-author, Dr. Meranda Naklha, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and an assistant professor of pediatrics at McGill University. "However, parents and healthcare providers should consider the possibility of diabetes if children start showing signs such has frequent urination, excessive thirst, or weight loss, particularly if their moms had gestational diabetes.'' According to the authors, the reasons for this relationship need to be examined in future studies but the evidence of the link may help to accelerate the diagnosis of diabetes in young people. "This study is important, as we try to understand risk factors for type 1 diabetes," says Dr. Jan Hux, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada, which funded the research. "This research may result in a greater propensity for healthcare providers to promptly test children who present with typical diabetes symptoms and who are born to mothers with gestational diabetes, thereby reducing the likelihood of severe incidents like diabetic ketoacidosis. We look forward to improving the lives and outcomes of children through greater research in this area." Diabetes: type 1 versus type 2 (source: Diabetes Canada) Type 1 diabetes generally develops in childhood or adolescence, but can also develop in adulthood. People with type 1 diabetes aren't able to produce their own insulin (and can't regulate their blood sugar) because their body's immune system is attacking the pancreas. Roughly 10 percent of people living with diabetes have type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is most commonly developed in adulthood, although it can also occur in childhood. People with type 2 diabetes can't properly use the insulin made by their bodies, or their bodies aren't able to produce enough insulin. Roughly 90 percent of people living with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Male and female rats whose mother experienced a simulated viral infection during pregnancy display autism- and schizophrenia-like behaviors, according to a new follow-up study published in eNeuro. The researchers extended findings of their previous study of male animals to their female siblings. Maternal immune activation (MIA) is a risk factor for human psychiatric disorders that manifest differently in men and women. Preclinical MIA research has historically been conducted mainly in males, which may contribute to conflicting results in this research area. John Howland and colleagues at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada revisited their 2018 eNeuro study in which they observed behavioral abnormalities in the male offspring of rats who experienced an inflammatory event during pregnancy. The researchers report similar findings in their new study of these animals female littermates. This similarity highlights the limitations of this model for investigating the neural underpinnings of documented sex differences in mental illness. The Election Commission of India has sought a report from the district magistrate of Katihar ion Bihar after Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu appealed to Muslims not to vote for the BJP.An FIR has been registered against Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Satti for using an expletive against Congress president Rahul Gandhi while campaigning in Shimla yesterday. Satti had made the derogatory remarks while defending Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the Congress leaders Chowkidar Chor Hai remark.The Congress had filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Satti and demanded an apology from him. The BJP leader, however, had refused to tender an apology, saying he merely read out the contents of a message which was already viral on social media."I have narrated an incident while addressing a public meeting in Nalagarh tehsil of Solan district whereby a derogatory remark was made against Rahul in retaliation of using 'chor' word for PM in a viral social media message," Satti told PTI."The person who used the derogatory word and made such a message viral cannot be our worker. Even then I asked my workers to restrain from using such remark or sharing such messages," he said.He said the Congress leaders listened to only a part of his speech."They should hear my speech in totality and then they will come to the conclusion that I have not used any derogatory remark against Rahul Gandhi," Satti said.He said, "Our workers have their own sentiments for the PM. So, Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders should also apologise for using 'chor' word for PM in public meetings and should stop using that word for Modi".Talking to PTI, state Congress general secretary Rajneesh Kimta said he has filed a complaint against Satti with the Election Commission for the remarks.Kimta said he also filed an online complaint with Sadar police station and sent a copy of it to Shimla superintendent of police.When contacted, Shimla SP Omapati Jamwal said, "An online complaint has been received at Sadar police station. We are studying the contents of the complaint."Kimta said the Congress would hold protest rallies across the state on Tuesday at 11 am."If Satti does not apologise publicly for making the derogatory remarks, the Congress will not hesitate to gherao him," he added.In Delhi, Congress leader Kapil Sibal said one cannot expect anything better from the BJP as it is their culture to abuse, started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the 2014 elections. Spider-Man goes dark after he reads from the Darkhold in new Marvel special Spider-Man gets the Darkhold - what could possibly go wrong? (Spoilers: lots) (Newser) A New Jersey woman who hoodwinked GoFundMe donors with a fake story about helping a homeless vet faces up to four years in state prison after pleading guilty for a second time. Katelyn McClure, who pleaded guilty to a federal charge of wire fraud last month, pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court Monday to a charge of second-degree theft by deception, NJ.com reports. McClure, 29, told Burlington Superior Court that she and then-boyfriend Mark D'Amico concocted a story about homeless man Johnny Bobbitt giving her his last $20 to buy gas, CBS reports. They received more than $400,000 on GoFundMe after the story went viral. D'Amico faces state charges of conspiracy and theft by deception over $75,000 and both McClure and Bobbitt are expected to testify against him later this year. story continues below The state recommended she serve four years in prison, though her lawyer, James Gerrow, told reporters he hopes judges will show compassion when she is sentenced in June. He said D'Amico had orchestrated the scam and her motive was to help Bobbitt, "not to enrich herself or anybody else," CNN reports. She will also be sentenced in federal court in June, and the sentences will run concurrently. Bobbitt, 36, avoided prison time at a hearing in a state drug court Friday. He received a five-year special sentence that will require him to submit to drug treatment and testing and eventually get a job. He also pleaded guilty to a federal charge last month, and has yet to be sentenced. (The scheme fell apart after Bobbitt accused McClure and D'Amico of withholding money.) (Newser) "Allowing residents with terminal illnesses to make end-of-life choices for themselves is the right thing to do," says New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. And New Jersey is doing "the right thing." As of Aug. 1, medically assisted suicide will be available to irreversibly terminally ill adults in the state who have six months or less to live. The law contains what lawmakers call "safeguards" in place, reports the AP. It mandates that a psychiatrist or psychologist establish that the patient has the mental wherewithal to make the decision; that two doctors OK the request; that the patient twice ask for the medication, once in writing; and that the patient be offered the chance to change his or her mind. Those who qualify will be able to receive a prescription for life-ending pills that must be self-administered. story continues below CNN reports that New Jersey becomes the 8th state to permit this, joining California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana (which allows it but doesn't have a law on the books), Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, as well as Washington, DC. The group Death With Dignity notes that 20% of Americans now live in a location where medical aid in dying is available to them. Similar bills are being contemplated in 19 other states; New Jersey lawmakers have been trying to get its bill passed since 2012. The AP notes Murphy signed the bill Friday after agreeing to support it, but struggled with his Catholic faith in the process. "I have concluded that, while my faith may lead me to a particular decision for myself, as a public official I cannot deny this alternative to those who may reach a different conclusion," Murphy said in a written statement. (Read more assisted suicide stories.) (Newser) The South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday and were recognized along with the Capital Gazette of Maryland for their coverage of the mass shootings in 2018 at a high school, a synagogue, and a newsroom itself, the AP reports. The AP won in international reporting for documenting the horrors of Yemen's civil war, while the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were honored for delving into President Trump's finances. The Florida paper received the Pulitzer in public service for its coverage of the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The Post-Gazette won in the breaking news for reporting on the synagogue rampage that left 11 people dead. After the Pulitzer announcement, the newsroom in Pittsburgh observed a moment of silence for the victims. The Sun Sentinel's staff was somber. "We're mindful of what it is that we won for," said editor Julie Anderson. "There are still families grieving." The Pulitzer board also gave the Capital Gazette an extraordinary $100,000 grant to further its journalism. "No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends," editor Rick Hutzell said. story continues below The Pulitzers, US journalism's highest honor, reflected a year when journalism came under attack in other ways. Reuters won in international reporting for coverage of a brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims by security forces in Myanmar. Reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are imprisoned for violating the Official Secrets Act. Reuters also won the breaking news photography award for images of Central American migrants. Images of the famine in Yemen brought a feature photography award for the Washington Post, whose book critic, Carlos Lozada, won for criticism. The Los Angeles Times took the investigative reporting prize for revealing hundreds of sexual abuse accusations against a USC gynecologist, who has denied the allegations. The local reporting prize went to the Advocate of Louisiana for work that led to a state constitutional amendment abolishing Louisiana's practice of allowing non-unanimous jury verdicts in felony trials. ProPublica won in feature reporting for coverage of Salvadoran immigrants affected by a federal crackdown on the MS-13 gang. Tony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch received the commentary award for columns about poor people being thrown back in jail because they couldn't afford to pay the costs of a previous stint behind bars. The New York Times' Brent Staples received the editorial writing award for writing about the nation's racial history. (Read more Pulitzer Prize stories.) (Newser) The youngest member of Congress is known for being social media savvy, but she's decided to break her Facebook habit. "I personally gave up Facebook, which was kind of a big deal because I started my campaign on Facebook," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the Yahoo News "Skullduggery" podcast Sunday. "And Facebook was my primary digital organizing tool for a very long time. I gave up on it." The 29-year-old Democrat added: "Social media poses a risk to everybody," from young children to older people. "I think it has effects on everybody," she said. "Increased isolation, depression, anxiety, addiction, escapism." story continues below She said that while she has given up personal use of Facebook, her team still operates pages including a political account created two years ago and her official congressional account, CNN reports. Ocasio-Cortez is still active on Instagram and Twitter, and said she writes all her own posts on those platforms. She told the podcast she is trying to "impose little rules" to cut back on the time she spends on Twitter, especially on weekends, USA Today reports. "Im not, like, scrolling through trying to read everything online that journalists are writing on weekends," she said. "I try to do that during the workweek." (Read more Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stories.) (Newser) Democratic presidential candidates raised about $75 million during the first quarter of the 2020 election, a lackluster sum spread out across more than a dozen campaigns that signals a drawn-out battle likely lies ahead. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders led the field by raising $18 million and California Sen. Kamala Harris came in second with $12 million. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke came in third with $9.3 million, followed by South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who capitalized on a flurry of publicity to raise $7 million, the AP reports. The rest of the field of more than a dozen candidates raised $6 million or less apiece. story continues below Fundraising figures submitted to the Federal Election Commission by Monday's deadline show Democratic candidates not only lag behind President Trump, who raised $30 million, but took in less than the party did during the same period in the 2008 election. That year eight candidates collectively raised over $80 million despite a maximum donation amount hundreds of dollars less than the current $2,800 cap. Part of the difficulty is many donors are staying on the sidelines, waiting for the field to thin. At the same time, low-dollar contributions from party's base, a source of money that helped Democrats retake the House last year, haven't made up the difference. Analysts say the situation could change after the first debate in Juneor if Joe Biden enters the race and raises the expected "boatload of money." (Read more Election 2020 stories.) (Newser) A former Massachusetts governor is officially challenging President Trump for the 2020 Republican nominationand it's not Mitt Romney. Bill Weld, who was the Libertarian candidate for vice president in 2016, announced the longshot bid during a CNN appearance Monday, the Washington Post reports. The 73-year-old described himself to Jake Tapper as a Republican "who works across the aisle and gets things done. Donald Trump is not an economic conservative. He doesnt even pretend to be," Weld said. "The country deserves to have some fiscal constraint and conservatism." In a campaign video, he lists his achievements as governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997, including "cutting taxes 21 times." story continues below Weld's entry "changes the narrative of the entire race" because it means Trump will not run for the GOP nomination unopposed, ABC reports, but few expect him to make Trump the first sitting president to fail to win renomination from his own party since Chester Arthur in 1884. Polls show that Trump has the support of 89% of Republican voters. "Any effort to challenge the president's nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere," the Republican National Committee said in a statement. Weld, who is running under the slogan "A Better America Starts Here," might not be the only Republican to challenge Trump, the BBC reports. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich are also seen as potential challengers. Jeb Bush has also called for a Republican to defeat Trump in the primaries, though he is unlikely to seek a rematch himself. (Read more Bill Weld stories.) (Newser) Less than one week into his new job, the Interior Department chief is facing an internal ethics investigation. The department's inspector general announced the inquiry into David Bernhardt after receiving complaints from eight Democratic senators as well as environmental groups, reports the Washington Post. Bernhardt is a former gas and oil lobbyist who had been serving as deputy secretary of the department until his recent promotion. Critics say he's been putting policies into place that benefit his old clients, not the 500 million acres of public land, plus coastal waters, under the department's supervision, per the New York Times. A department spokesman says all this has been thoroughly vetted already, and Bernhardt came out clean. story continues below Inspector General Mary L. Kendall says her office launched the investigation after receiving letters "from a wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflicts of interest and other violations" by Bernhardt. "We are continuing to gather pertinent information about the complaints and have opened an investigation to address them." Under the Trump administration's "energy dominance" philosophy, the department has opened up more land for gas drilling, rolled back protections for endangered species, and eased up on rules governing oil-production platforms. (Bernhardt replaces Ryan Zinke as secretary, who left under a cloud of criticism that he characterized as "vicious and politically motivated attacks.") (Newser) The husband of a US soldier killed in Afghanistan was deported to Mexico last week, leaving the couple's 12-year-old daughter behind, before ICE reversed itself and brought the man back to Phoenix. Officers arrested Jose Gonzalez Carranza, 30, on his way to his construction job last week and deported him to Nogales, a city he's unfamiliar with, the Arizona Republic reports. While he was there, his lawyer sent a news release to the media about the case. Gonzalez Carranza said he was staying in a shelter for deported migrants in Nogales and worried about his daughter, a US citizen who lives with her grandparentsthe parents of his late wife. Gonzalez Carranza shares custody with them, per KPNX. His wife, Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010. She was 22. story continues below ICE hasn't explained its reversal yet. Gonzalez Carranza said he came here illegally as a teenager, per the Republic. He was granted parole-in-place status, allowing him to stay, after his wife's death, and a judge ended deportation proceedings, his lawyer said. But ICE refiled the deportation case in 2018, and he was ordered deported last December when he didn't show up for the hearing. His lawyer says the notice had been sent to the wrong address. On Monday, Gonzalez Carranza was allowed to reenter the US at the Arizona border. An ACLU official said he shouldn't have been deported in the first place: It's the height of cruelty for ICE to deport the father of a child whose mother died while serving in the US army in Afghanistan," she said. (Read more Immigration and Customs Enforcement stories.) (Newser) A meteorologist fired for appearing to make a racial slur on the air has sued the TV station over his dismissal. In referring to Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in January, Jeremy Kappell seemed to say "Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park." Kappell called it an accident, saying he had "jumbled a couple of words," the Democrat & Chronicle reports. The Rochester, New York, station's general manager apologized to viewers the next day for the "racial slur." The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, says WHEC reached that conclusion without investigating and without letting Kappell defend himself. It calls the on-air flub a "linguistic error." story continues below Kappell also says in the suit that the controversy has hurt him professionally, with his reputation "severely damaged by defendant's callous and reckless conduct." WHEC issued a statement defending its move. "We are disappointed that Mr. Kappell has taken this step, and are prepared to defend our decision to the fullest," it says, per WHAM. "Because this matter is now in the courts, we will have no further comment." When the controversy first surfaced, Martin Luther King's daughter was among those defending Kappell. (A St. Louis news anchor said the same thing on the air later that month.) (Newser) Say goodbye to Angelina Jolie Pitt. Say hello to Angelina Jolie. The actress legally dropped "Pitt" from her name on Friday and is officially single, as is Brad Pitt, reports People. All the details of the split aren't quite wrapped up yet, however. The couple opted for a bifurcated judgment, meaning they're no longer married but are still figuring out assets and custody, per the Blast. "California is one of the unique states that lets the parties get a divorce without resolving all of the other issues," a divorce attorney explains to CNN. Pitt, 55, and Jolie, 43, met in 2004, married in the 2014, and split in 2016. (Jolie is getting back in the acting groove.) Sorry! This content is not available in your region Dear Newsie Readers, Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019. Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one. Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures. With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day. Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles. Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight. The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions. We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news. The team at Newsie Washington: Boeing faces a wave of flight cancellations by US airlines and pressure from President Donald Trump to re-brand its top-selling 737 MAX aircraft, a month after the plane was grounded worldwide in the wake of deadly crashes. American and Southwest Airlines say the grounding will disrupt scheduled flights through the summer, during the peak travel season which helps generate corporate profits. American is cancelling all 737 MAX flights through August 19 while Southwest, which owns the largest 737 MAX fleet, with 34 planes, is cancelling them until August 5. United Airlines, which also ordered the 737 MAX 9, did not respond to an AFP query. In all, an average of 275 flights a day will be cancelled, which are likely to put a dent in airline profits and could cause the companies to raise airfares. American already cut a key industry revenue metric -- Total Revenue per Available Seat-Mile, or TRASM -- saying it will rise one percent in 2019, down from a prior estimate of two per cent. Southwest is allowing affected passengers to reschedule flights at no additional cost. "Neither Airbus nor Boeing like cancellations and there are stiff contracts which make this very difficult," said Scott Hamilton, managing editor of the aviation news site Leeham News and Analysis. "The companies will swap airplane types, however, if it comes to this." All 737 MAX aircraft have been banned from the world's skies since mid-March after suffering two fatal crashes less than five months apart: a Lion Air flight crashed in the Java Sea in October, leaving 189 dead, and the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, which killed 157 people. Crash investigators have zeroed in on the planes' anti-stall system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS. And Boeing, which has already ceased 737 MAX deliveries and slowed the pace of production, a buildup of delays could increase the penalties it must pay client airlines, Hamilton said. Trump tweeted early Monday that Boeing had to give its scandal-stricken aircraft a new image. "What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name," he said. But Hamilton said Trump was right to doubt his own expertise. "Trump is a boob. Boeing isn't going to rebrand the 737," Hamilton said, pointing to Boeing's log of more than 4,600 backorders, a key sales revenue driver, and adding that the order cancellations so far were "inconsequential." Aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group agreed. "Pretty much all of President Trump's pronouncements on aviation are safely and best ignored," he said. Boeing is finalizing software upgrades for the MCAS, which it has pledged to submit to regulators in the coming weeks so that the 737 MAX grounding order can be lifted. "We're focused on testing and implementing the software update and rebuilding the trust of our airline customers, pilots and the travelling public," a spokesperson told AFP. "We know we have a deep responsibility to everyone who flies on our airplanes to ensure that the MAX is one of the safest aircraft ever to fly." Rebranding the aircraft would impose additional costs on the airlines which would be required to fully retrain pilots, while an updated model involves less intense additional training. Flight cancellations show the airlines, that had hoped to have the planes back in the air by May, now expect it will be longer before the aircraft can return to service. Aviation analysts largely agree and expect the grounding to be lifted by the end of August. In the meantime, the industry is working to regain the trust of the flying public. The US Federal Aviation Administration, which must certify the 737 MAX's airworthiness, released a video last week in which its interim chief Daniel Elwell said the agency was working to keep pilots informed. The FAA also said the agency would not rush to get the 737 MAX flying again. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decided not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strapped airline, PTI quoted sources as saying. Goyal, who had stepped down as chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawn the bid for the airline. On April 12, sources said that Goyal had also put in bid for the carrier. According to a regulatory filing, Goyal had pledged 26 per cent stake in the airline as security for loans from Punjab National Bank. Last month, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal quit the board of cash-strapped carrier as part of a debt resolution plan. Goyal gave up the chairmanship of Jet Airways, which he founded more than 25 years ago, under a debt restructuring plan wherein lenders have taken control of the carrier. Meanwhile, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Tuesday said that the lenders are committed to the revival of crisis-hit Jet Airways and working on the plan over the Rs 1,500-crore emergency funds promised by the SBI-led consortium to the ailing airline. Lenders are committed to Jet Airways revival plan. SBI, SBI caps have started working on the plan. Revival plan has not been finalised yet, discussion is still on, said PNB Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta. The statement comes as a hope for the debt-ridden airline which has more than Rs 8,000 crore debt and is facing the threat of permanent closure. On Monday, the lenders had deferred a decision to provide emergency funds to the debt-ridden carrier. Jet Airways chief executive Vinay Dube in an internal communication said the lenders could not decide on the emergency funding and that the board of the airline will meet on Tuesday to take a call on the future. Meanwhile, the airline extended the suspension of its services on overseas routes till April 18 the decision was taken following the non-receipt of funds from its lenders, who have now management control of the airline following a debt-restructuring plan last month. On March 25, the airline's board had approved 'the debt resolution plan', under which SBI-led consortium would provide an emergency loan of Rs 1,500 crore and in turn acquire majority stake. But banks have so far disbursed only under Rs 300 crore and that too in small amounts, citing procedural delays. This left the airline cancelling hundreds of flights as the airline failed to pay the lease rentals. Currently it has just six-seven planes for operations, way below its peak of 123 planes in December. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: We have some important news for the candidates who are preparing for AEEE, the Amrita University has released the admit card for AEEE 2019 pen and paper-based test. The admit card has been released online at its official website, amrita.edu. For the CBT exam, the candidates can download the admit card after the slot booking. AEEE CBT is scheduled to be held from April 22-26, 2019 and for AEEE PPT, the exam is to be held on April 27, 2019. AEEE PPT 2019 will be held across 15 cities, namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Erode, Hosur, Karur, Madurai, Nagercoil, Namakkal, Pudukkottai, Salem, Thanjavur, Tuticorin, and Vellore. Whereas AEEE CBT 2019 is going to be held across 102 Indian cities. For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can download the AEEE admit card. Visit the official website of the University On the homepage of the website, click on the BTech Admission 2019 In the next screen, log in by entering Application Number and Date of Birth Click on the Download button to submit the details and then download it Finally, take a print out of the AEEE Admit Card to bring it on the day of the exam The AEEE contains detail like candidates name, registration number, application number, programme opted for, candidates address, district, pin code, mobile number, gender, date of birth, password, category, exam date, complete address of the exam center, photograph and signature, along with some general instructions. All the candidates are required to carry a copy of the AEEE 2019 Admit Card (be it of CBT/ PPT) on the day of the exam. No candidate is allowed to enter the exam center, without getting verified their identity with the help of the admit card issued. New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited a Hanuman temple in state capital Lucknow after the Election Commissions 72-hour gag order came into effect. With folded hands and silent prayer, Yogi was seen worshipping inside the temple. Yesterday, the Election Commission had barred Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister from Lok Sabha poll campaigning for next 72 hours. The development comes after the Supreme Court rebuked the poll panel for having limited power to act against such leaders A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had asked the representative of Election Commission to appear before it today. The poll panel barred the UP Chief Minister from holding public meetings, road shows and giving media interviews for 72 hours starting from 6 am on April 16. He (Yogi Adiyanath) being the CM of a state has an added responsibility to not only uphold the basic tenets, including secularism,of the Constitution, but also to display the same in his public appearances/speeches, the poll panel had said in its notice against UP Chief Minister. Last week, on Thursday the poll panel had issued a show cause notice to Yogi Adityanath for his "Ali" and "Bajrang Bali" remarks while addressing a rally in Meerut. Finding him prima facie guilty of violating the model code of conduct, the commission asked him to respond by Friday evening. Adityanath had compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between 'Ali', a revered figure in Islam, and Bajrang Bali, the Hindu god Hanuman. "Agar Congress, SP, BSP ko 'Ali' par vishwaas hai toh humein bhi 'Bajrang Bali' par vishwaas hai (If the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have faith in Ali, we have faith in Hanuman)," the UP CM had said. His statement came while referring to BSP chief Mayawati's speech at a rally in Deoband, where she urged Muslims to back the alliance. The gag order is a first for the poll panel in this General Elections. Last time during 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the poll panel had issued gag order against BJP chief Amit Shah and Samajwadi Partys Azam Khan. They were banned from campaigning for the remaining duration of the election after they failed to stick to the model code of conduct. New Delhi: Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, said he gave his consent to his wife and Congress general secretary (UP East) Priyanka Gandhi to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in Lok Sabha elections 2019, according to a report. Speaking to India TV, Robert Vadra said: People are voting for change today. Priyanka is ready to do anything the party leadership wants her to do." According to recent media reports, Priyanka Gandhi is likely to contest from Varanasi. However, the party is yet to announce the same. Modi is the sitting MP from Varanasi. He had won from the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. According to reports, Priyanka Gandhi is ready to take on PM Modi from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. However, she has left the final call on Congress president Rahul Gandhi. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said the party will wait for her to file nomination. "Let the Congress field her. The BJP is ready," she said at a press conference on Saturday. Interestingly, recently, posters urging Priyanka Gandhi to contest the coming general elections from Varanasi came up in the holy city. The local unit of the Congress too demanded that Priyanka, who has formally entered politics in January, and was appointed the general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, be pitted directly against Modi to galvanise voters of UP and neighbouring states. Priyanka Gandhi also dropped a hint about her contesting the elections. Recently, she suggested taking the poll battle to PM Modi's constituency. When party workers in Raebareli requested Priyanka Gandhi to stand for elections, she responded by asking if she should contest from Varanasi. Priyanka Gandhi's visit to Amethi and Raebareli has been timed to ensure that booth level workers remain energised from the start as she would be paying less attention to the high profile constituencies eventually. In the past, she has camped for weeks in advance to ensure emphatic wins for Rahul and Sonia. However, on April 7, senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla has said no decision was taken yet about Priyanka Gandhi contesting the election against Modi. Shukla claimed that under the leadership of Vadra, who is the party's incharge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, the Congress would do well in the Lok Sabha election and sweep the 2022 assembly election. Shukla said Vadra was getting a very good response from the public wherever she is going for campaigning. "In the past 20 years, the Congress has become very weak in Uttar Pradesh. The party has to be strengthened under her leadership for 2022." (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was ordered to leave the country immediately and his business visa cancelled, an official said Tuesday, two days after he allegedly campaigned for West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress that sparked a political row. West Bengal state BJP leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria also met the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab on Monday to register a complaint and urged him to take appropriation action over the alleged violation of the model code of conduct by the Trinamool Congress(TMC). A video showing Ahmed and Bengali actors Ankush and Payal participating in a roadshow on Sunday to seek votes for Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, the TMC candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, went viral on social media. "All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for didi (TMC chief Mamata Banerjee)," Ahmed was claimed to have told voters while sharing the dais with Agarwal. The Centre Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice and cancelled the business visa given to the actor. Ahmed has also been "blacklisted" by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the prospects of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh National, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a 'Leave India' notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a union home ministry official said in Delhi. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor over his alleged poll campaign. Majumdar, the state BJP vice president, wanted to know how a Bangladeshi national on a visit to the country could campaign for a candidate, and alleged that the actor was brought to polarise minority voters in the constituency. "We believe that it is a completely illegal move executed intentionally. This is a proof of the TMC's bankrupt politics," he said. When reached by PTI for comments, Agarwal said he had no knowledge of the actor canvassing for him. "I have no knowledge about this (Ahmed campaigning for him). I have only two star campaigners Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikary. I have participated in Mamata's two rallies and today I took part in a roadshow in Islampur where Suvendu Adhikary was present," Agarwal said. Senior TMC leader and former state minister Madan Mitra was dismissive about any violation of the model code because of a Bangladeshi national campaigning in an election in India. "I don't know whether the actor participated in the rally or was invited by the candidate. But I don't think there is any violation of the model code. The code says a foreigner cannot be a candidate but I think there is no harm if anybody participates in campaigning. I don't see any violation of the MCC," Mitra said. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a dissenting ally of the BJP, which decided to go alone in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday fielded candidates on 39 seats in the state. The party has fielded Surendra Kumar Rajbhar against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi constituency. Earlier, the party had announced Siddharth Rajbhar's name as SBSP's candidate to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls against PM Modi in Varanasi. But later, the party had to replace him due to his age. Addressing the media, SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said that his party is ready for alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections in the state but it will not contest on the latter's symbol, as offered by the saffron party. We fought the 2017 assembly polls with the BJP and got them votes on 125 seats in Purvanchal. I was made a minister in the government, we raised the issues of poor and underprivileged, he said. Today also, we want to fight the elections with the BJP. BJP gave Apna Dal two seats and not even a single seat to us. And they are asking us to fight on their symbol. But we will not do so to end our party, Rajbhar added. Rajbhar, who had on Monday said that his party will field 25 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, further said his party will field candidates from every section of society. Now we will field our candidates on 39 seats. SP, BSP and BJP did not give ticket to a single candidate from Rajbhar community. If it is about rights of the poor, not only resignation, we are ready to give our lives also. I am ready with the resignation, the chief minister doesnt have time. I will resign as soon as I meet him, he said. The SBSP had won four seats in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. For the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had proposed to field an SBSP candidate on its symbol, which was disapproved by Rajbhar. He insisted to use his party symbol even if the SBSP got just one seat to contest. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow in Bhubaneswar during his visit to Odisha today. He will address two rallies in Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will file his nomination from Lucknow. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will attend four election campaigns in Kerala --- Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Pathanapuram and Alappuzha. BJP chief Amit Shah will address rallies in Kerala and Karnataka. 22:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan gets another EC notice for inflammatory remarks. 22:26 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Amid cash-for-votes allegations, DMK leader Kanimozhi's Tuticorin house raided by I-T. 22:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Elections in East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency has been deferred from April 18 to April 23 owing to security reasons. 20:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress releases list of three names for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 , Acharya Pramod Krishnam to contest from Lucknow,Vinay Kumar Pandey from Kaiserganj (UP) and Pankaj Sanghvi from Indore (Madhya Pradesh). 19:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi in Bhubaneswar,Odisha: 2004 se 2014 tak remote control wali Congress ne aisa mahaul bana diya tha ki apni sanskriti aur parampara ki baat karna gunah ban gaya tha #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/ygCJaxwlB4 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 19:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Elections LIVE: PM Modi addresses massive public rally in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. 18:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Odisha: PM Narendra Modi waves to people on his way to Baramunda ground, Bhubaneswar where is scheduled to address a rally shortly. 17:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In HM Rajnath Singh on Poonam Sinha to contest against him from Lucknow as SP-BSP-RLD candidate: Yes somebody must contest, that is the beauty of democracy. We will fight elections with full dignity. 16:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Dr Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday filed nomination as a Congress party candidate from Madhubani Lok Sabha constituency. 15:52 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi in Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh: These people are crossing limits daily, according to them anyone whose name is Modi is a thief, what kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your 'chowkidar'. 15:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shatrughan Sinhas wife Poonam Sinha joined the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday. The party took to Twitter to make it official. The information was shared by the partys official Twitter handle along with a photo of Dimple Yadav and Poonam Sinha. 15:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav says that BJP is not coming back to power. 14:48 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mayawati's nephew Akash Anand makes debut at Mahagathbandhan rally in Agra. 14:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) releases a list of 14 candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana. 14:44 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer: Rs 135.41 cr in cash has been seized in the state since imposition of Model Code of Conduct; liquor worth Rs 37.42 lakh; drugs&narcotics substances worth Rs 37.68 lakh; 1022 kg gold, 645 kg silver; precious metals worth Rs 294.38 cr also seized. 14:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In A delegation comprising Congress' Sunil Jakhar and Tripat RS Bajwa and AAP's Harpal S Cheema and Nazar Singh met the Election Commission today requesting them to review transfer of IG, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh from the SIT probing sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and killing of 2 people in firing thereafter in 2015. 14:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka: BJP President Amit Shah offers prayers at Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru. The prayers were conducted for 'the electoral victory of PM Narendra Modi.' Karnataka: BJP President Amit Shah offers prayers at Siddaganga mutt in Tumakuru. The prayers were conducted for 'the electoral victory of PM Narendra Modi.' pic.twitter.com/iQmCPMw0fH ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 14:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has been far removed from ground realities. The party doesnt understand peoples sentiments, says PM Modi. 14:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In When I came here during assembly elections, I had brought the statements of Congress leaders to your attention. Congress was calling Naxals as revolutionaries. Today, incidents happening here are because of encouragement to Naxals by Congress, says PM Modi in Korba 14:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress is not just protesting the Naxals but also promoting the tukde tukde gang, says PM Modi. 14:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has announced in its dhakosla patra that it will end the sedition law, says PM Modi. 14:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has turned Chhattisgarh into a safe haven for Naxals, alleges PM Modi during a poll rally in Korba. 14:09 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Do you want landmines or you want power lines? PM Modi asks Chhattisgarh 13:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In K'taka CM HD Kumaraswamy:It's because of me that contribution of Ambareesh is being given recognition&she(Independent MP candidate from Mandya Sumanlatha Ambareesh)goes around Mandya saying JDS is a party of thieves.I'm CM because of no other person but you(audience) 'punyaatmas'. 13:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Election Commission flying squad checks luggage of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at helipad in Shivamogga, Karnataka. #ElectionsWithNewsNation | Election Commission flying squad checks luggage of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at helipad in Shivamogga, Karnataka Y: ANI Follow LIVE updates here: https://t.co/etslH78Xmh pic.twitter.com/guN1Z4kuJI News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 16, 2019 13:15 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Karnataka: Election Commission flying squad checks luggage of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at helipad in Shivamogga. Karnataka: Election Commission flying squad checks luggage of former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa at helipad in Shivamogga. pic.twitter.com/a5KCj2VY84 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 13:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: BJP delegation comprising senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jagat Prakash Nadda, will approach the Election Commission later today against the ban on UP CM Yogi Adityanath who has been barred from election campaigning for 72 hours. Delhi: BJP delegation comprising senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jagat Prakash Nadda, will approach the Election Commission later today against the ban on UP CM Yogi Adityanath who has been barred from election campaigning for 72 hours. (file pics) pic.twitter.com/h983iYrs70 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 13:14 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP President Amit Shah in Davanagere, Karnataka: JD(S) got the least number of seats in the recently held state Assembly elections, BJP got the most number of seats but the 'mahamilawat' made that person the CM whose party got the least number of seats. 13:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mumbai Lok Sabha poll: Rs 90 lakh cash seized in separate incidents. 13:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP may revive 'Operation Kamala' after Lok Sabha polls, but it will not succeed: Siddaramaiah. 13:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Rajasthan: Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore files his nomination from Jaipur parliamentary constituency for Lok Sabha Elections 2019. Yoga guru Ramdev and Rathore's wife Gayatri Rathore are also present. 12:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'All thieves have Modi in their surnames': I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court. Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname? He has referred to crores of people as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments. 12:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In For 20 years you trusted Odisha's government blindly but now the people of the state want change, says PM. For 20 years you trusted Odisha's government blindly but now the people of the state want change, says PM @narendramodi in Sambalpur.#ElectionsWithNewsNation Follow LIVE updates here: pic.twitter.com/LplvTLL2wR News Nation (@NewsNationTV) April 16, 2019 12:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress and 'Mahamilawati" group desperate to oust chowkidar because of BJP onslaught on corruption: PM Modi. 12:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sambalpur, Odisha: For 20 years you trusted Odisha's govt blindly but now the people of the state want change. Once we come to power in the state we will implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana. 11:58 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Discrimination on the basis of caste and religion are only the achievements of Congress, BJD: PM Modi in Odisha. 11:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In If voted to power, BJP will set up a fisheries ministry, come up with schemes for welfare of fishermen: PM Modi 11:51 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Government of Odisha against farmers: PM Modi in Sambalpur. 11:43 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sambalpur, Odisha: In such hot weather, such a huge crowd, such enthusiasm; pictures of these rallies are giving sleepless nights to others. People are supporting us because they want a strong government. 11:43 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Nation wants a strong PM, says Narendra Modi in Sambalpur. 11:52 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In After freedom, a corrupt government was in rule: PM Modi. Earlier, only 15 paise of a rupee reached the poor, BJP ensured people get entire amount, he added. 11:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Earlier there was corruption in the country, but no one to fight it: PM Modi in Sambalpur. 11:35 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi is addressing a public meeting in Sambalpur, Odisha. 11:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Prakash Raj, who is contesting from Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate, says, "I'm not fighting against anyone. I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose." Prakash Raj who is contesting from Bengaluru Central LS seat as an independent candidate,says,"I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy,if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose" pic.twitter.com/LYA1keGpT2 ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 11:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In As PM said 'Congress mukt Bharat', meaning we'll erase idea of Congress from India.What Congress says to Narendra Modi is we don't agree with you.We'll fight you to convince you, you're wrong. We'll beat you in e election but we won't use violence against you, Rahul Gandhi. 11:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In There is an ideological fight going on between the BJP and the Congress, says Rahul at an election rally in Pathanapuram. 11:21 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Our country currently under attack from BJP, RSS: Rahul Gandhi 11:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Because I wanted to give a message that India is not just one perspective, India is not just one idea, India is million & millions of different viewpoints, different perspectives and all of those are important to us, says Congress President Rahul Gandhi at Kollam in Kerala. 11:16 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No matter how many times you (BJP/RSS) attack us, we will use love and non violence to convince you are "wrong": Rahul Gandhi. 10:40 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Preparations underway for Lok Sabha elections in Ramanathapuram parliamentary constituency; District Collector says, "we are fully prepared to conduct free and fair elections." #TamilNadu: Preparations underway for Lok Sabha elections in Ramanathapuram parliamentary constituency; District Collector says, "we are fully prepared to conduct free and fair elections." pic.twitter.com/bpEsxdZDvT ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 10:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Tamil Nadu: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabhathe constituency, Dayanidhi Maran, campaigns in the constituency. All 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls on April 18. Tamil Nadu: DMK MP candidate from Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency, Dayanidhi Maran campaigns in the constituency. All 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to polls on 18th April. pic.twitter.com/QUDloBdA9N ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 13:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 4 railway employees have been suspended after tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station on Tuesday. ADM says, "On 13 April, when shift changes, the old roll was mistakenly used. Besides two reservation clerks, one Chief Reservation Supervisor and a Commercial Inspector have also been suspended." 09:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No order issued for cancellation of Lok Sabha polls in Vellore: ECI. 09:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Chhattisgarh: Villagers in Dokada have decided to boycott Lok Sabha Elections 2019 over no roads in the village. Locals say, No Road, No Vote. We will not go to cast our vote till our demand of road development in the village is fulfilled. Chhattisgarh: Villagers in Dokada have decided to boycott #LokSabhaElections2019 over no roads in the village. Locals say, No Road, No Vote. We will not go to cast our vote till our demand of road development in the village is fulfilled. pic.twitter.com/TCRa5e1uq5 ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2019 08:42 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In N Manjunath Prasad, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike commissioner and district election officer said that there is no fake voter ids. What we found is that survyes were done and people who even don't stay in a particular place but are registered in were given these voter slips thus making sure the polling percentage increases. This is was an initiative so that polling will be good. 07:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Lok Sabha polls in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu is likely to be cancelled over excess use of money power, sources aware of the development said on Monday. The Election Commission is learnt to have prepared a recommendation in this regard to be sent to the president. 06:55 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP chief Amit Shah will address rallies in Kerala and Karnataka. 06:55 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress president Rahul Gandhi will attend four election campaigns in Karela --- Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Pathanapuram and Alappuzha. 06:55 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will file his nomination from Lucknow. New Delhi: The Election Commission has decided to cancel the Lok Sabha election in Vellore constituency of Tamil Nadu over excess use of money power, sources aware of the development were quoted by PTI as saying on Monday. The Election Commission is learnt to have prepared a recommendation in this regard to be sent to the President. "It would be sent today itself," an official said on Monday. Since the president signs the notification for Lok Sabha elections, it is he who rescinds it. The decision came after a large sum of cash was allegedly seized from the DMK candidate's office a few days ago. On April 10, the district police had filed an FIR against DMK's Vellore candidate and two others in connection with the Income Tax raids held in the district recently. The FIR was filed against DMK nominee D M Kathir Anand under the Representation of People Act for giving "wrong information" in his poll affidavit filed along with his nomination papers. Anand is the son of senior party leader Durai Murugan. Incidentally, during the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, the ECI had rescinded the election to Thanjavur and Aravakurichi segments following complaints of large-scale money distribution. Earlier, I-T sleuths had on March 30 conducted searches at the premises owned by Durai Murugan in this district over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering and seized Rs 10.50 lakh of alleged "excess" cash. Two days later, the I-T officials said they had seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district. Searches were conducted at Durai Murugan's residence, where some printouts with ward numbers written over them had been found, but the "main person", indicating the assessee, had dismissed them as "junk", I-T officials had said. While a sum of Rs 19 lakh was found during the raid, Rs 10.50 lakh was seized as "excess" after allowing the cash declared in the election affidavit of Anand, they said. Durai Murugan had then said, "We did not conceal anything," adding that all his family members were income tax assessees. He alleged the raids were a 'conspiracy' by some political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena and also questioned the timing of the searches in the midst of a full-fledged election campaign. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: In a rather embarrassingA situation for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, senior party leader PJ Kurien on Tuesday while facilitating as the former's translator at Pathanamthitta rally in Kerala, faced serious issues in picking his address correctly, which led the Gandhi scion to repeat himself to Kurien again and again. Though Kurien blamed technical glitches and echo for his inability, Gandhi looked a little unhappy over the issue and had reportedly asked for his replacement.A In no time, the video of the duo struggling to address the massive crowd in Kerala went viral on social networking sites with different social media pages and websites adding a fun and comic fervour to it. Twitterati also went crazy over the video and started sharing it rapidly along with hilarious captions and some ludicrous remarks. Pathanamthitta, where all these messes took place this morning, is a keenly watched parliamentary constituency in the backdrop of Sabarimala Temple row last year. The translator PJ Kurian was former deputy chairman of Rajya Sabah... Its really nice comedy https://t.co/oO7xzDpPfP a Chowkidar Sunny Kavalakat (@SKavalakat) April 16, 2019 From Rafale scam to the Congress' much-talked about Nyay scheme, every time the Congress chief spoke about some crucial poll issues, Kurien failed to pick his address and ended up making a huge blunder with the amount of Nyay scheme. Kurien said every month Congress will put "Rs 72,000 crore" into 5 crore bank accounts across India. Gandhi, who lost his patience during the time, ended his speech, saying he will start learning Malayalam. The Gandhi scion, who arrived in Kerala last night on a two day visit, is scheduled to address rallies in several other places across the state. Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad district besides the Congress stronghold of Amethi, will be addressing meetings in his constituency on Wednesday. The Congress is contesting on 16 out of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala. The party has left four seats for its allies - two for Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and one each for Kerala Congress (Mani) and Socialist Party (RSP). New Delhi: Day after rebuke, the Supreme Court on Tuesday apraiseda the Election Commission for taking action against the erring politicians. Following the poll panelas multiple gag orders against leaders across all party lines, the top court on Tuesday said that, ait seems Election Commission has woken up to its power and taken action against politicians.aA A The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna made it clear that no further order was required for now. Following the Supreme Court nudge on Monday, the poll panel took action against uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by an NRI Yoga teacher based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking a direction to the EC to take "strict action" against political parties if their spokespersons make remarks based on caste and religion in the media in the run up to general elections. New Delhi: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Tuesday said that he will file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "all thieves have Modi in their surnames" remark. Accusing the Congress president of hurting the sentiments of crores of people with Modi surname, the BJP ledaer asked whether having the Modi surname was a crime. "I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court. Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname? He has referred to crores of people as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments," news agency ANI quoted the Bihar deputy chief minister as saying. Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi on Rahul Gandhi's statement 'All thieves have Modi in their surnames': I will file a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Patna court. Is it a crime to have 'Modi' surname? He has referred to crores of people as 'chor' and hurt their sentiments. pic.twitter.com/ijc7io38MK a ANI (@ANI) April 16, 2019 Refering to fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi, former IPL chairman Lalit Modi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi had on Monday said that all the thieves have a common surname. "...Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi...how come they all have Modi as common name. How come all the thieves have Modi as the common name?" Gandhi said addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Nanded Lok Sabha constituency. The remarks of the Congress leader irked several BJP leaders who termed them "undignified" and an insult to a particular section of the society.A "The statement of the Congress president is undignified and is also an insult to a particular section," saidA Rajasthan BJP chief Madan Lal Saini. New Delhi: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday defended party leader Azam Khan who has been facing severe criticism for his indecent remarks against BJP leader Jaya Prada. He was talking about someone else. We are Samajwadis, we never use foul language for women, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said. Meanwhile, Zee News quoted Yadav saying that the media has goofed up in this matter and is showing something else. Akhilesh Yadavs remarks came hours after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath condemned Khans below-the-belt remark, saying it indicated the leader's "mean mindset" and "shamed" BSP chief for their silence over it. "The mean and indecent remark against Jaya Prada reflects the mean mindset and personality of Azam Khan," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in tweet. "The silence of Akhilesh Yadav over it is shameful indeed," said Adityanath. After examining the remarks made at an election rally on Sunday by Khan, who has often stoked controversies with his speeches, the Election Commission on Monday night imposed a nationwide ban on him from campaigning for 72 hours, beginning Tuesday. During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the EC had imposed a ban on Khan from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh for his provocative speeches and had also lodged an FIR against him. Khan, however, remained defiant and said he did not name any person in his speech and if anyone proves that he had taken any name or maligned anyone then he would not contest the polls. Without naming the actor, Khan had told the election rally in Rampur "... You got represented (by her) for 10 years. People of Rampur, people of Uttar Pradesh and people of India, it took you 17 years to understand her reality. But, I could recognize it in 17 days that she wears a khaki underwear." Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in Lok Sabha after winning in 2004 and 2009 as a Samajwadi Party leader. Later she was expelled from the party, along with Amar Singh, following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Last month she joined BJP and has been nominated as the saffron party's candidate against Khan from Rampur, which goes to polls on April 23. Khan and some other SP leaders sought to suggest that Khan's comments were targeted at Singh, who is considered her mentor in UP politics. As the remarks drew a sharp criticism, with the BJP launching a scathing attack on him and other SP leaders including the party chief Akhilesh Yadav who was allegedly himself present at the rally, the police lodged an FIR against Khan. New Delhi: Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, son of late Congress leader ND Tiwari, who fought a prolonged battle for his mother's rights and his own legitimacy, on Tuesday brought dead to Max Saket hospital in New Delhi. Shekhar was residing in Defence Colony before he was rushed to the hospital this evening. Though there are reports that Shekhar was died of heart-attack, the police is yet to disclose the cause of his death. Investigations are on to ascertain the reason of his death. "Max Hospital received an emergency call from the residence of Mr Rohit Shekhar Tiwari at 04:41 pm this afternoon. An ambulance brought Mr Tiwari to Max Hospital, Saket, where he was declared "brought dead" at the hospital emergency. As per established procedure, we have informed the authorities," the Max Healthcare said in a statement. "We express condolences at the passing away of Mr Tiwari," it added. As Shekhar left for his eternal abode this evening, here we bring you some of the lesser known facts about his year-long battle against father ND Tiwari: - Rohit was born as an illegitimate child of an affair between his mother Ujjwala Sharma, a former Sanskrit Reader of Daulatram College, Delhi and Narayan Dutt Tiwari, one of India's most powerfull politicians, who breathed his last in last October. - In 1995, Shekhar, along with his mother tried to reach Tiwari but his security guards prevented them from entering the house. - In 2005, he made his last effort to contact Tiwari which gone in vain. Post that he had in 2007 moved the Delhi High Court and filed a paternity suit to prove that ND Tiwari is his biological father. - In 2007, Shekhar suffered another heart attack and a cerebral stroke which made gim partially paralised for a year. - After fighting the paternity suit against Tiwari for about seven years, Shekhar finally got his right in April, 2014, when the Delhi High Court announced him as Tiwari's biological son based on their DNA test. - During his childhood days, Shekhar lived with his mother and grandpaernts. Besides his mother, Shekhar has been also raised by his nanny - Jozie. - Shekhar was married to Apurva Shukla, a resident of Madhya Pradesh. Tiwari and Shulka tied knots on March 11, 2019. - Shekhar, who is also an avid music lover, also received in Indian classical music from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in New Delhi. - Though ND Tiwari was a prominent leader of the Congress, Shekhar had chosen to join the BJP after he setpped into politics. - Rohit also has an elder brother who was born to her mother Ujjwala Sharma and her ex husband BP Sharma. - Before 2014, Shekhar was known to be the son of BP Sharma as Tiwari refused to lend his name to the child, fearing a big blow to his political career. Even in the 21st century, India is still a feudal society and a very unforgiving place for women, where having a child without wedlock is a matter of shame and considered illegal. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, son of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, ND Tiwari, died on Tuesday. Rohit passed away in New Delhi less than six months after his father died at the age of 93 in October last year. Rohit Shekhar was brought dead to Max Hospital in Saket. DCP South Delhi Vijay Kumar issued a statement to confirm the death. He said, "Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, son of late former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand CM ND Tiwari, has been brought dead to Max Saket Hospital." It is not yet clear what led to Rohit Shekhar Tiwari's sudden death. However, hours later, his mother Ujjwala Tiwari said that her son died a natural death. She told reporters, "His death is natural. I have no suspicion but I will reveal later what circumstances led to his death." She, however, said she will later reveal the names of those pressured her son. According to Joint Commissioner, Delhi Police, Devesh Shrivastava, Rohit Shekhar Tiwari suffered a nose bleed, which his servants reported to his mother. Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was brought to Max Hospital, Saket, around 5 pm in an ambulance. His mother Ujjwala Tiwari was already in Max Hospital Saket for her personal treatment where she received a call from home that Rohit is unwell and bleeding from nose, and an ambulance call was also made by them. Upon this she reached her residence in Defence Colony along with an ambulance which brought him to the hospital. However, upon arrival, he was declared brought dead by the duty doctors at Max Hospital, according to the DCP South Delhi. The police have seized Rohit's Defence Colony residence. Investigators are searching the house to look for reasons behind the death. Rohit had fought a six-year-long legal battle to prove that he was N D Tiwari's "biological" son born of an affair between the former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister and his mother Ujjwala. Tiwari married Rohit's mother at the age of 89 in 2014 after Rohit won the paternity suit against him. ND Tiwari passed away in 2018. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Terrorist on Tuesday attacked the residence of National Conference (NC) leader Ashraf Bhat in Tral by firing UBGL grenade. At the time of attack, a number of NC leaders and activists had assembled for a poll meeting. The party's Anantnag Parliamentary seat candidate Hasnain Masoodi was adressing workers when the grenade was hurled. No loss or damage reported. The police said it is ascertaining the facts at the spot. This is a breaking news story. More details will be added soon. Please refresh the page for the updated version. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Mahavir Jayanti, also known as Mahaveer Janma Kalyanak, marks the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavir, the founder of Jainism. This year, Mahavir Jayanti will be observed on 17 April, 2019. The date of Mahavir Jayanti changes every year in accordance with the Hindu calendar as it is celebrated on the thirteenth day of the month Chaitra. According to mythology, Lord Mahavir was born to King Siddhartha and Queen Trishala. He was born in Kundalpur of Vaishali, which now lies in Bihar. As the story goes, the young prince left his possessions and home at the age of 30 to find spiritual awakening. If you want to send your wishes for the festive day to loved ones, here are a list of messages, wishes, greeting cards and Facebook statuses that could inspire you. 1. May the holy words show you the path to never-ending happiness. Sending you warm wishes. Happy Mahavir Jayanti. 2. Adopt the path of Truth, Knowledge and Non-violenceHappy Mahavir Jayanti! 3. Little keys can open big locks. Simple words can express great thoughts. I hope my simple pray can make your life great. Happy Mahavir Jayanti! 4. The Best way to observe such auspicious occasion is to strive for peace and strengthening the bonds of brotherhood. Happy Mahavir Jayanti! 5. May Lord Mahavir Bless you abundantly and fill your life with the virtue of truth, nonviolence & external compassion. Happy Mahavir Jayanti! 6. Lets Pray for Peace and Harmony for all the humankind on this auspicious day Happy Mahavir Jayanti. 7. Wish you a very Happy Mahavir JayantiMay Lord Mahavir Bless you on Mahavir Jayanti and Always. 8. I always ask Lord Mahavir to give you what you DESERVE, Not what you DESIRE!! It is because your Desires may be few! But you Deserve a LOT! Happy Mahavir Jayanti! For all the Latest Lifestyle News, Religion News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: NASA has awarded three teams from India as part of the US space agencys annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge which invites high school and college students to build and test roving vehicles for future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The team from KIET Group of Institutions in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, won the "AIAA Neil Armstrong Best Design Award", which recognises systems best designed to meet the Rover Challenge performance requirements, NASA said in a statement. The Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering from Mumbai, Maharashtra, won the Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Awardfor ingenuity and persistence in overcoming problems during the race -- as well as the System Safety Challenge Award. A team from Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab, won the STEM Engagement Award, presented to the team that best informed others about rocketry and other space-related topics. Nearly 100 teams took part in the competition, hailing from a record number of countries, including the US, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Morocco and Peru. Indian-American NASA astronaut and two-time spaceflight veteran Sunita Williams attended the second day of the event, interacting with teams and participating in the days activities. The International Space Education Institute of Leipzig, Germany, won first place in the high school division with 91 points; and a team from University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez won the college/university division with 101 points. Teams were awarded points based on the successful navigation of obstacles and completion of tasks. The competition, hosted by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and held at the US Space & Rocket Center, this year marked 25 years since the inaugural event, the statement said. We are so proud to congratulate this years winners, and every team that competed, said Bob Musgrove, Acting Manager of the Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. The creativity, skill and resourcefulness demonstrated each year on the rover course are the very traits that paved our path to the Moon in 1969, and the ones that will continue to carry NASA forward to the Moon again in 2024, said Musgrove. Rover Challenge provides learning opportunities to students who, someday, may be responsible for planning future space missions, including crewed missions to other worlds. After constructing their own rovers, teams attempt to traverse a nearly three-quarter-mile course with gruelling obstacles that simulate terrain found on Mars, as well as other planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system. In addition, they have to complete tasks, such as sample collection and instrument deployment. Teams had a six-minute window to navigate the course, gathering points and trying to complete 14 obstacles. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Conversations around elections kept Twitter buzzing over the last one month with over 45 million tweets being shared, the microblogging platform said Thursday. Prime Minister Modi emerged as the "most mentioned figure" during this first phase of the #LokSabhaElections2019 conversations on Twitter, it said in a statement. Interestingly, national security ranked ahead of topics like religion, jobs, agriculture, and taxes and trade in the election conversations. "Polling started on Thursday morning for 91 seats in 18 states and 2 union territories and the conversation on the platform reflected this. Twitter recorded 45.6 million tweets related to the Lok Sabha elections from March 11, 2019, the day elections were announced, until April 11, 2019," the statement said. Of the 45.6 million tweets recorded during this period, 1.2 million were tweeted on Thursday during phase one of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it added. Twitter said politicians and political parties have been using its platform to communicate with citizens all over the country throughout the campaigning period. "Campaigns, manifestos and announcements around policies and key social issues have accounted for some of the top-Tweeted moments as voters got ready to go to the polls," it added. Apart from Modi, other personalities like Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were top mentioned leaders. "Indians in India and across the world have been engaging in dynamic conversations around the elections with relevant hashtags, replies and retweets, to discuss the topics that matter most to them. In the past month, leading up to elections, national security has emerged as the most talked about election-related topic on Twitter," the statement said. New Delhi: A skyscraper in Madrid that houses the British, Dutch, Australian and Canadian embassies was being evacuated on Tuesday over a bomb threat, the police said.A "A bomb threat was received.... Evacuation has started, we have to work and do checks," a police spokesman told news agency AFP.A Spainas National Police tweeted to say the skyscraper had been aevicted for security reasonsa. YsAsLTIMA HORA La @policia trabaja en estos momentos en Madrid en el rascacielos Torrespacio, que estA siendo desalojado por motivos de seguridad. Por favor, que cualquier persona en el interior del edificio o las inmediaciones siga las indicaciones del personal de seguridad pic.twitter.com/1MlDhkGKny a PolicAa Nacional (@policia) April 16, 2019 aPlease, any person inside the building or in the immediate vicinity follow the instructions of the security personnel,a the force added. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: The IMF's bailout package to cash-strapped Pakistan could be delayed as the global lender is pressing it to be transparent on the CPEC projects and wants a written guarantee from Islamabad that its assistance will not be used to repay the loans to China, a media report said Monday. Pakistan is seeking USD 8 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail itself out from a severe balance-of-payments crisis that threatens to cripple the country's economy. Pakistan has so far received a total of USD 9.1 billion in financial aid packages from friendly countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE during the current fiscal year. Finance Minister Asad Umar said earlier this month that a mission of the IMF would visit Islamabad soon after the spring meetings of the World Bank Group, which includes the IMF, and an agreement should be signed by the end of this month. Pakistani daily Dawn quoting official sources said the visit of the IMF mission to Islamabad for finalising the bailout package may be delayed as both sides are still engaged in an "intense discussion" on the final details of the deal. "So, the IMF mission is now more likely to visit Islamabad in May, not April," the sources told the daily. But the IMF on Monday said it held "constructive discussions" with Pakistani authorities last week in Washington and that its mission will be visiting Pakistan "before the end of April to continue the discussions" on a bailout package. "The Pakistani authorities and IMF staff held constructive discussions during the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC towards an IMF-supported programme," the Office of the Resident Representative of the IMF in Pakistan said in a press release. "At the request of the authorities, an IMF mission will be going to Pakistan before the end of April to continue the discussions," Dawn quoted the statement as saying. Finance minister Umar during a press conference on Thursday said the two sides had "more or less, reached an understanding" on the bailout package and "in a day or two, we hope to reach a full agreement". An official familiar with the Pakistan-IMF talks said, "Islamabad still hopes to conclude the agreement before June, as they believe the bailout package would help budget prospects." If concluded, it would be the 14th IMF aid package for Pakistan. The sticking points, however, are the demands for market-determined exchange rates and sharing details of Chinese loans which Pakistan is reluctant to do so. The sources said that IMF officials were also seeking details of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), along with a written guarantee from both Pakistan and China that the IMF assistance will not be used to repay loans to China. The IMF insists on full disclosure of all financial cooperation between Pakistan and China, including assistance related to infrastructure development, nuclear power plants, joint manufacturing of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and procurement of submarines. The IMF is also demanding details of more than USD 6.5 billion of commercial loans Pakistan has received from China in the past two and a half years. In July, China also deposited USD 2 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan. The finance minister is likely to visit China on April 25 for talks on the IMF concerns over CPEC and IMF will wait to hear from him before it finalises the bailout package, the daily reported. Some of the other conditions proposed by the IMF include: making the State Bank of Pakistan independent, a market-oriented exchange rate, expanding the tax target by Rs 5,000 billion, ending income tax concessions, more taxes on salaries, narrowing the amount of taxable income from Rs12 lakh a year to Rs4 lakh, reducing electricity and gas losses, Rs140 billion electricity and gas revenue losses be recovered from consumers. Both sides are engaged in "fine-tuning" the details of the proposed IMF programme. Pakistan wants the IMF to review some of the "restrictive" conditions it has attached to the package while the IMF insists that those conditions are absolutely essential for a successful completion of the programme. Pakistan wants the IMF to focus on the long-term structural reforms that help revive its economy instead of attaching conditions that would be difficult to implement. Last week, three influential US lawmakers urged the Trump adminstration to oppose the proposed multi-billion bailout package being sought by Pakistan from the IMF arguing it could be used to repay the Chinese debt. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the bipartisan group of three lawmakers - Ted Yoho, Ami Bera and George Holding - expressed their "deep concern" over the likely use of IMF's bailout package to repay the massive Chinese debt that Pakistan has accumulated under the CPEC. China, they said, is investing USD 62 billion in Pakistan under the CPEC. "Its debt repayment and profit repatriation terms are not transparent and have understandably raised concerns inside Pakistan," the US lawmakers said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Paris: A massive fire swept through the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday, causing a spire to collapse and raising fear that the entire centuries-old masterpiece may be destroyed. However, French firefighters successfully battled for hours to save the main structure of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark. According to reports, the fire is said to be under control and has "partially extinguished" as of now. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that we will rebuild Notre-Dame and expressed relief that the worst has been avoided. The fire destroyed the roof of Notre-Dame, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed before the eyes of horrified onlookers on a previously pristine early spring evening. After some 400 firefighters battled for hours to control the fire, Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude said we can consider that the main structure of Nore-Dame has been saved and preserved, along with the two towers. "This is really sad -- the saddest thing I've ever stood and watched in my life," British tourist Sam Ogden, a 50-year-old onlooker, was quoted by AFP as saying. The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. "If Paris is the Eiffel Tower then France is Notre Dame. It's the entire culture, entire history of France incarnated in this monument," Bernard Lecompte, a writer and specialist in religious history told BFM TV. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he felt a "sadness beyond words" but added the fire services "were still fighting... Heroically, to save what can be saved". The Vatican on Monday expressed its "incredulity" and "sadness", expressing " our closeness with French Catholics and with the Parisian population." There was no immediate indication of any casualties in the blaze. US President Donald Trump in a tweet said it was "horrible" to watch the fire but caused controversy by offering advice on how to put it out. The cathedral was located at the centre of the French capital in the Middle Ages and its construction was completed in the mid-12th century after some 200 years of work. During the French Revolution in the 18th century, the cathedral was vandalised in widespread anti-Catholic violence: its spire was dismantled, its treasures plundered and its large statues at the grand entrance doors destroyed. (With inputs from agencies) For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New York: The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were awarded Pulitzer Prizes on Tuesday for their separate investigations of President Donald Trump and his family. The Times won the prestigious journalism award for a probe of the Trump familys finances that debunked his claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced during a ceremony at New Yorks Columbia University. The Journal won for its coverage of Trumps secret hush money payments to two women during his 2016 presidential campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel won a Pulitzer for its coverage of failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was honoured for its coverage of the October 2018 shooting at a synagogue in the city that left 11 people dead. The Associated Press won a Pulitzer for international reporting for its coverage of the war in Yemen. Reuters was honoured for international reporting for its coverage of atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. In other categories, The Overstory by Richard Powers won the Pulitzer for fiction and Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury won the prize for drama. Special citations were awarded to soul legend Aretha Franklin for her contributions to music and to the staff of the Capital Gazette newspaper of Annapolis, Maryland, which lost five employees in a June 2018 shooting. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The US terrorism label for Iran's Revolutionary Guard formally took effect on Monday, amid a battle between the Trump administration and some in Congress over waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions that are due to expire or be extended early next month. The Guard's formal designation as a "foreign terrorist organisation" the first-ever for an entire division of another government kicked in with a notice published in the Federal Register. The move adds a layer of sanctions to the elite military unit and makes it a crime for anyone in or subject to US jurisdiction to provide it with material support. Depending on how broadly "material support" is interpreted, the designation may complicate US diplomatic and military cooperation with certain third-country officials, notably in Iraq and Lebanon, who deal with the Guard. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step with great fanfare last week, opening a one-week consultation period with Congress during which members could have raised objections. Lawmakers were broadly supportive, but congressional Iran hawks are now expressing concern that the administration may extend waivers on oil and nuclear sanctions. Those sanctions, which are unrelated to the Guard designation, were imposed last November following Trump's withdrawal of the US from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal that May. They target major elements of Iran's economy, notably its energy sector, by hitting foreign companies and governments with so-called "secondary sanctions" if they continue to do business with targeted Iranian entities. A main goal has been to dry up revenue from Iran's oil exports, which the US says is the main driver of the country's funding of destabilising activities throughout the Middle East and beyond. In order not to shock oil markets with the sudden loss of Iranian crude, the administration granted several waivers that allowed some nations and Taiwan to continue their imports as long as they moved to reduce them to zero. Those waivers are due to expire in early May, and Iran hawks in Congress and elsewhere are urging the administration not to renew any of them. They say extending even some of the eight waivers would run counter to Trump and Pompeo's stated goal of keeping "maximum pressure" on Iran. US officials have been coy when asked about the waivers, leading to concern among hawks that some or all of them may be extended. The administration's point man for Iran, Brian Hook, has said that three of the waivers won't need to be extended as those countries have eliminated all Iranian oil imports. But he has remained silent on the other five. Pompeo has similarly refused to comment on the possibility of extensions. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Pompeo was pressed by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about whether the oil sanctions waivers, as well as waivers related to technical cooperation at Iranian nuclear facilities, would be extended. He suggested that some at the State Department were pushing for extensions. "Let me urge you and urge the department unequivocally not to grant the nuclear waivers and not to grant the oil waivers," Cruz said, "I think maximum pressure should mean maximum pressure." Pompeo demurred, but during a trip to South America over the weekend he bristled when asked if the Iran hawks had reason to be concerned. "It's ludicrous," he told reporters accompanying him. "It's ludicrous. Look, people want to tell stories, people want to sell newspapers. I've got it. Congressmen will grandstand, I've got that too. The State Department's going to get it right. We understand our mission." Cruz was not impressed. "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee needs to understand why some in the State Department think it's a good idea to keep enriching the Ayatollah with oil billions and to let Iran keep spinning centrifuges in a bunker that they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons," he said in a statement released by his office. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Global Alginate Market - Overview: The Alginate market is gaining popularity among various industries. Market Research Futures, a firm which specializes in market reports, food and beverages, others, recently forecasted in its report on the Global Market Research Report. Alginate is present in the cell walls of brown algae, as the calcium, magnesium and sodium salts of alginic acid. Alginates are refined from brown seaweeds. A wide variety of brown seaweeds of the phylum Phaeophyceae are harvested globally and converted into raw material, commonly known as sodium alginate. Sodium alginate is widely used in various industries including food, textile printing and pharmaceutical. Dental impression material utilizes alginate as its means of gelling. The use of the alginate in food & beverage industry is legalized by major regulatory agencies including FDA and European Commission which drives its demand. The growth of food & beverage industry in Asia Pacific owing to rise in population is anticipated to boost the demand of alginates in this region. Alginate is mainly used in the pharmaceutical industry for the production of controlled release drugs due to superior product performance. Therefore, the growth of pharmaceutical industry will have a positive impact on the growth of alginate market. Moreover, increasing application of alginate in bakery and confectionery will propel the growth of alginate market. A Free Sample Copy of This Report Is Available upon Request @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1581 Latest Industry Updates: Nov 2017 Algaia S.A. introduces Satialgine DVA, a next-generation seaweed extract ingredient for dairy and non-dairy desserts. This alginate line provides a unique rich and creamy texture in desserts such as low-fat dairy flans. May 2017 Algaia, S.A., and AIDP, Inc. announce their entry into a distribution partnership to market Algaia's alginates and other specialty marine-based solutions to customers in Canada, USA and Mexico. March 2017 DuPont acquired FMCs health and nutrition business and divested a part of their crop chemical business. The business of FMCs health and nutrition business included carrageenan, alginates, cellulose and other gums used as food ingredients. Jan 2017 Algaia has bolstered its growth in specialty marine ingredients by completing the acquisition of Cargills Alginate business and manufacturing plant. Global Alginate Market - Competitive Analysis: With the entry of industry players in the Alginate segment, a trend of solid, volume-driven growth has been observed in the market. Key players in the Alginate market are focusing on expansions, acquisitions, mergers and new product launches. Acquisition is the main focus of competitors in order to expand their business and increase their market base. R&D and product innovations are driving growth of the market. There is continuous efforts by the key players to innovate their product offerings in the market. The key players profiled in Alginate market are CP Kelco (US), Ingredients Solutions Inc. (US), Cargill (US), PL Thomas & Co. (US), Ingredion Incorporated (US), Foodchem International Corporation (China), Kimica (Japan) Global Alginate Market - Segments: The global Alginate market has been divided into type, form, distribution channel, and region. On The Basis Of Type: Laminaria, Macrocystis, Ascophyllum, Lessonia, Durvillaea, Ecklonia, and Others On The Basis Of Function: Thickeners, Emulsifiers, Stabilizers, Acidity Regulators & Others On the Basis of Application: Food and Beverages, Biofuels, Textile Industry, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceuticals and Others On The Basis Of Region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and ROW. Browse The Full Research Report At @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/alginates-market-1581 Global Alginate Market - Regional Analysis: The global Alginate market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (RoW). APEJ is expected to be the fastest growing region over the forecasted period. The key players in this market are dominantly present in Europe which is driving the growth of the market in this region. The richness of raw materials in Chile and Norway supports the production growth. The consumption of the product in Asia Pacific is expected to rise two to the rapid development of the textile and food & beverage industry. The penetration of the pharmaceutical industry in this region is currently limited to their low usage in the developing economies. However, this creates potential for market expansion. In Central and South America, the growth in the forecast period is expected to drive. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. April 16, 2019: The global Artificial Intelligence Chips market was valued at $XX million in 2017, and MAResearch analysts predict the global market size will reach $XX million by the end of 2028, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2028. This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Artificial Intelligence Chips from 2013-2018, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2018-2028 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales volume, price, revenue, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Artificial Intelligence Chips market. Leading players of Artificial Intelligence Chips including: AMD (Advanced Micro Device) Google Intel NVIDIA Download sample Copy of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/2013-2028-report-on-global-artificial-intelligence-chips-market/request-sample Baidu Graphcore Qualcomm Market split by Type, can be divided into: GPU ASIC FPGA CPU Market split by Application, can be divided into: HPC AI Chips Terminal AI Chips Complete Report Available @ https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/2013-2028-report-on-global-artificial-intelligence-chips-market Market split by Sales Channel, can be divided into: Direct Channel Distribution Channel 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.) About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. For More Information, Visit Radiant Insights Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Blog URL: http://ictmarketforecasts.wordpress.com Which country gets the most time off? If one of those advanced economies pops up in your mind, try giving it a second thought, as you might be terribly wrong here. Because, all those big names in Europe, and the US, simply lags behind Bahrain when it comes to ranking countrys workplace generosity, says a new statistics. In fact, the United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation. The ranking is based on an analysis of time-off policies in 196 countries by Resume.io, a resume writing service, using data from the World Policy Analysis Center, the International Labour Organization and Globalization Partners. What makes Bahrain outstanding is a combination of 30 annual paid vacation days and 19 paid public holidays allotted to employees per year. In total, Bahrain allows its more than 1.4 million residents 49 days off per year, which is also the largest amount of paid leave a person anywhere in the world is guaranteed. According to a report by Center for Economic and Policy Research, European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year, with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries. Australia and New Zealand both require employers to grant at least 20 vacation days per year; Canada and Japan mandate at least 10 paid days off. The report also states that the gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger if we include legally mandated paid holidays, where the United States offers none, but most of the rest of the worlds rich countries offer between five and 13 paid holidays per year. So, now it is clear why Bahrain shines and takes the crown in workplace generosity. And according to a CNBC report, only Azerbaijan and Cambodia give the same or more days. Bahrain also has plenty of friends in this regard in its neighbourhood in the form of the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Kuwait. Countries that grant workers zero paid leave include Sri Lanka, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Pakistan, the Philippines, and India, the CEPR report says. India, however, offers its employees 20 paid public holidays. This simply means that for the majority of the nations, each individual company operating there will have to set its own guidelines, when it comes to offering a vacation-time for their employees. Bahrain far ahead Here in Bahrain, the Civil Service Bureau have issued clear cut instructions. It states, The prescribed annual leave, with full pay, for all employees is 30 working days per annum which means 1.5 days per month. Employees may carry forward leave days into the following year however total leave days must not exceed 75 days. The bureau also states that weekends and official holidays are not included in the leave bank for employee annual leave. Upon the resignation of any employee, the outstanding leave days will be paid bearing in mind that the total annual leave balance does not exceed the permissible limit. The calculation will be based on the current salary, the bureau states. The bureau further clears that Employees cannot be on the job for more than two consecutive years without going out on annual leave not be less than 22 working days in total. The leave balance also includes sick days and a total of 30 days holiday of no pay. According to Salahuddin Ajlan, the Director General of Policies and Wages at the Civil Service Bureau, Vacations payable to employees vary by type and duration of employment. Where permanent staff are entitled to annual, sick and personal leave. While annual and sick leave and the death of a relative apply to temporary and contract employment. In addition, part-time employees are entitled to a close death leave and sick leave based on an approved medical certificate, according to the rules and conditions approved by the Civil Service for such leave; and in accordance with the provisions of the executive regulations of the civil service law, as well as limits and periods specified in these instructions. His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa stressed that boosting economic co-operation between countries promotes investment and entrepreneurship. The Prime Minister affirmed the Kingdoms keenness to bolster relations with Malaysia and enhance bilateral economic partnership, pointing out the promising capabilities of both countries given the location of Bahrain as a gateway to the Gulf region and an important regional financial and investment hub. He also underlined the need to take advantage of Malaysias capabilities and distinguished status in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) group. HRH the Premier was speaking as he received at Gudaibiya Palace yesterday Malaysian Entrepreneurship Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof and his accompanying delegation. The Malaysian minister conveyed to HRH the Prime Minister the greetings of his Malaysian counterpart Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad and his best wishes of more progress and prosperity to Bahrain. HRH the Premier asked the Malaysian Minister to convey his greetings to his Malaysian counterpart as well as his best wishes of more growth and prosperity to the Malaysian people. Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al Zayani, delivered the opening speech at the Ministerial Meeting of Countries of Emerging Institutions, which was held on the sidelines of the World Entrepreneurship Congress yesterday. The event was organized by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) and the World Bank Group. The minister welcomed all 48 delegations attending the World Entrepreneurship Congress. He reviewed Bahrains government diligent endeavor to support the emerging, small and medium enterprises sector that has witnessed a significant increase in contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He thanked the initiatives adopted by the government, led by HRH the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and the support of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, and First Deputy Prime Minister, to develop this vital sector. The minister touched on Bahrains experience in supporting emerging institutions by the formation of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Council, in addition to the adoption of a strategic plan aimed at raising the contribution to GDP, increasing exports and creating new employment opportunities. He noted Bahrains eagerness to be a center of emerging projects through the constant development of legislation and laws on providing a stimulating investment environment. Separately, Mr. Al Zayani met Polish Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology Tadeusz Koscinski. The Court of Cassation yesterday ordered a rights institution to reinstate a Bahraini employee who was arbitrarily fired when the administration of the establishment was changed. According to the plaintiffs lawyer, Dr. Mohammed AbuHussain, the man worked as a part-timer at the institution for fifteen months back in the years 2013, 2014. On August 17, 2014, the Secretary General of the institution appointed the man as a full-time employee due to his excellent performance. The decision was implemented on September 1 of the same year. Dr. AbuHussain explained that his client was given the choice by the officials at the institution to either return to his part-time job or leave the establishment. The lawyer said this happened eight months after the man was assigned his new job and shortly after the Secretary-General, who hired the man as a full-time employee, had retired. The administration also informed the Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) that the man was sacked as the head of the intuition didnt approve his employment. Finland's Center Party said it will likely seek to be in the opposition over the next four years after suffering a massive loss in Sunday's general election, making the coalition talks more difficult for election winner Antti Rinne of the Social Democrats. "The bar is high for the Center Party to join government after this election loss," the group said in a statement after voters punished the party for the center-right government's tough labor-market policies and failed healthcare reform. The decision to bow out of the talks gives more leverage to National Coalition leader Petteri Orpo, whose group came in third after the nationalist Finns Party. The Finns are seen as a long shot to become part of any coalition since its strident anti-immigrant rhetoric clashes with the values of the establishment parties. Rinne needs at least one of the three big parties in his coalition to reach a majority in parliament. Center Party leader Juha Sipila also said he intends to step down on Sept. 7 after the party has chosen a new leader. That could potentially mark an end to his political life after he abandoned a business career to lead the party to victory in 2015. He will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. Finland now looks set to get a more left-leaning government, with the likeliest coalition formed by the Social Democrats with the Greens, which achieved a record backing, the center-right National Coalition, and the Swedish People's Party. The 56-year-old Rinne has promised to end four years of policies that included wage cuts and longer working hours. Sipila, who had resorted to those measures in an effort to drag the euro zone's northernmost economy out of a deep recession, suffered a fatal blow to his popularity earlier this year when he failed to pass a vital package of bills needed to reform healthcare. While the Center Party didn't completely rule out joining the government, it set so many red lines that reaching any compromise will be difficult. The party's decision brings to mind its 2011 electoral defeat when it immediately announced a decision to spend the term in opposition. That made things harder for then-coalition builder Jyrki Katainen as other parties sought to extract large concessions. In the end, it took two months before a six-party government was formed. This time, Rinne has said he targets having a cabinet lined up by the end of May. Theyre fun and zippy to drive, cost about $1.40 to fill up for the day, and some models accelerate as fast as a twin-turbo BMW sedan. Just dont be surprised if a quarter of the gas tank disappears on a cold night. Meet the latest crop of electric cars or EVs, the abbreviated nickname bestowed to electric vehicles by their owners. The fact that the town has a charging station right outside [Town Hall] was a huge factor, said Social Services Director Tony Philips when asked why he made the switch. Phillips uses his 2017 Chevrolet Volt to commute 40 miles round-trip every day. He decided to lease the car after calculating that he was spending around $120 each month on gas, and applying that money to the lease for the Chevy made him feel like he got the car for $50 a month. Phillips said keeping the cars battery charged has given him a nerdy engagement with the car. He gets up several times a day to find an electric vehicle parking spot to charge up, or move to another space so other EV drivers can use the space. There are EV charging stations at the Bailey Avenue parking lot behind town hall, the Branchville train station, and the parking lot in front of the Playhouse. Chargers are also listed at the Bruce Bennett Nissan dealership and the BMW dealership both on Route 7, as well as in the parking lot of the Danbury Fair Mall. How many? Despite the enthusiasm of their owners, electric cars have not totally caught on with Ridgefield drivers. Of the 15,019 passenger vehicles registered in town, there are 77 battery-powered or plug-in electric cars fewer than the number of motorcycles registered in town, according to 2018 data provided by the town tax assessors office. That does not account for hybrid cars which rely solely on fossil fuels to generate electricity. Of the electric cars in town more than half are made by Tesla, the Californa-based automaker whose four car models have proven wildly popular. The tax assessor data shows 29 Model S registered in town, along with 11 Model X (Teslas SUV), and five Model 3s. There are no Tesla Roadsters registered in Ridgefield, according to the assessors data. The rest of Ridgefields electric car fleet is made up of Chevy Volts, 15 of which are registered in town, Nissan LEAF (5), Toyotas Prius Prime (4), Chevy Bolt (3), BMW i3 (3), and Hondas plug-in Clarity (2). The state has issued rebates for some 4,267 battery-powered electric cars and plug-in hybrids (cars that use both an electric and internal-combustion engine drivetrain with a plug to charge the batteries) since May 2015, according to statistics from the Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate (CHEAPR). The program gives money back to consumers who buy or lease a qualifying electric car or plug-in hybrid, to incentivize drivers to purchase more eco-friendly rides. Fifty-seven Ridgefielders have taken advantage of the program since 2015. The program excludes vehicles with a base price of $50,000 or more, which immediately rules out several of Teslas models, including the Model S ($75,750) and Model X ($80,450). The program applies only to cars, so electric scooters and motorcycles are also out. Not every electric car buyer takes advantage of the program, the CHEAPR website notes. According to the rebate data, the most popular model among EV drivers in Ridgefield is the Chevy Volt, at 14 cars. The Volt is followed by BMWs i3 (11), Chevys Bolt (10), the Tesla Model 3 (6), and the Nissan LEAF (5). Range and maintenance The maximum distance an EV can travel one of the most-commonly cited concerns about electric cars is a problem that can be fixed with enough preparation, according to several owners in Ridgefield. Geoffrey Morris, president of TownVibe, charges his 2015 BMW i3 at his home overnight. You can fuel your car when you sleep, he said. He said range anxiety is not an issue for him, because the car has a generator on board with a small fuel tank, which can give him an extra boost of about 40 miles. Phillips, whose Volt also has a small gas motor to extend his range, said he sometimes will plan ahead on longer trips to find places to charge up. I think every new EV owner has range anxiety when you first get the car, said Ridgefielder Chris Sierakowski, who waited two years to take delivery of his 2018 Tesla Model 3, after putting a deposit down the day the car was announced. Since then, hes used the car for commuting to Stamford, and a few longer trips up to Cape Cod. If I drive to the Cape, I usually stop once in Rhode Island for 20-30 minutes to top off the charge. By the time I grab a drink and a bathroom break, its ready to go, he explained, noting that the car feels like it accelerates faster than his last car a twin-turbo BMW sedan. Morris said he occasionally wakes up on cold mornings to find less juice in his cars battery than he expected. Sometimes, theres as much as a 25-30 percent drain, he said. Similar to Phillips, Morris said hes saving around $120 each month in fuel compared to his previous car. The maintenance costs are less, too, he added, and thats because theres so few moving parts... Even the brakes you use less. Regular, premium chargers Much like quick chargers for smartphones, what type of charger drivers use on their electric car determines how long it will take the electrical tank to fill up. Morris said that on a normal 110-volt charger from a home outlet, his car gets about three miles of range per hour of charging. A 220-volt charger the outlets that usually power home dryers and other large appliances yields about 25 miles per hour of charging. Fast chargers give about 100 miles of range per hour, but often come with a cost of around $15 an hour, Morris explained. Phillips said hes occasionally experienced other EV drivers pulling the plug on his car while it charges though he said it may be due to other drivers mistaking the green-flashing charge indicator as an indication that his car was finished charging. Theyre just so fun and zippy to drive, Morris said. I just think that they are the technology of the future, and Id just rather get in now. Sierkowski has no plans to go back to a gas-powered car for commuting. I dont think Ill ever buy a gas-powered vehicle again for a commuter car, he said. WASHINGTON Their elevation to the majority, and to powerful subcommittee chairmanships, have not given Connecticuts Democratic lawmakers a boost in campaign fundraising at least not yet. According to the latest reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Reps. John Larson, D-1st District, Joe Courtney, D- 2nd District, Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and Jim Himes, D-4th District have all started the new campaign cycle with healthy fundraising totals for the first quarter of this year. But the amount of money they have raised is not higher, and donations from political action committees are actually fewer, than the amount of campaign cash the lawmakers raised during the same period two years ago. Larson, who is the chairman of the Social Security subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, raised $104,000 from political action committees in the last quarter. In the first quarter of 2017, Larson raised nearly $117,000 from PACs. Still, Larson raised a total of about $170,000 in the first quarter and reported about $383,000 in cash-on-hand as of March 31. Both Larson and Courtney are spending part of a two-week break on a congressional delegation trip headed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Britain and Ireland. It was DeLauro who reported raising more money than any member of Connecticuts delegation to the U.S. House this year. She started the quarter with less than $17,000 in her campaign war chest, but raised $202, 587 in the first three months of the year, about $69,000 from PACs, and ended the quarter with nearly $140,000 in cash on hand. Like her Connecticut colleagues, DeLauro, who is now a cardinal or chairman of an Appropriations subcommittee, raised more money from PACs, nearly $86,000, during the same period two years ago. Courtney raised $82,167 in first quarter, $50,000 from PACs, and reported $779,055 in cash-on-hand at the end of the quarter. Joe is grateful for the strong support that has helped build one of the highest levels of cash on hand in the Connecticut House delegation, said Nick Boreen, finance director for Courtneys campaign. As we move into the next election cycle, we will continue to build on that record of support. Himes raised $107,338, nearly $50,000 from PACs, and had $2.4 million in his war chest at the end of the reporting period. Both Courtney, the chairman of a House Armed Services subcommittee, and Himes, the chairman of an Intelligence subcommittee, raised more money, from individuals and PACs, in the first quarter of 2017. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, who is starting her congressional career this year, raised $161,118. Although shes said shes been too busy to spend much time on fundraising, Hayes raised $70,000 from PACs, many of them from teachers unions and other labor groups. About half of the money that came from individuals, some $43,902, was donated by supporters who gave less than $50 and did not have to be identified individually under FEC rules. I could not be more pleased about our first quarter numbers, Hayes said in a statement. We raised over seventy-five percent of our contributions in just four days. Hayes received $27,000 in donations from fellow lawmakers, including Courtney, Himes and Sen. Chris Murphy. Hayes also received contributions from the top three Democrats in the U.S. House, Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., an indication the leadership seeks to foster good relations with this member of the freshman class. Hayes carried over more than $556,000 in campaign funds from last year and ended the quarter with more than $615,000 in cash on hand. NEW FAIRFIELD The neighborhood where a New Fairfield couple died in a murder-suicide was quiet Tuesday afternoon, and law enforcement officials were being tight-lipped about the incident. New Fairfield police directed inquiries about the murder-suicide to Connecticut State Police Troop A in Southbury. The dispatcher with Troop A said information would have to come from the state polices Public Information Office. The Public Information Office confirmed the murder-suicide Tuesday night, but didnt provide further details, including when or where it happened. The office said it could not release the identities of the people involved, citing a state statute protecting victims of family violence, but News 12 Connecticut identified the couple as Michael and Jennifer Ciorra. Michael Ciorra was stabbed, while his wife Jennifer Ciorra died from carbon monoxide, according to News12 reports. Voting records show Jennifer Ciorra was 47 and her husband was 51. Investigators believe, according to News 12, that Jennifer Ciorra beat and stabbed her husband before she killed herself. First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said Tuesday night that since Connecticut State Police are still investigating, she couldnt comment on the incident. Property records show the Ciorras lived on Cornell Road. On Tuesday, a neighbor on Cornell Road said she believed the murder-suicide happened Monday morning. Cornell Road is a dead-end street, with less than 30 homes lining both sides. A LinkedIn profile for Michael Ciorra said he was working at a company called Global Foundries. The profile said he had worked at the companys East Fishkill, N.Y., location for three years and 10 months. Manage a team responsible for all aspects of Business operations for Global Foundries Fab 9 &10, his LinkedIn job description said. Responsibilities include capital planning coordination, spending & resource management,monthly metrics reporting and forecasting/budgeting support. Neighbors told the television station that the couple left behind two sons. Although the ages of their sons werent clear, News 12 reported that the New Fairfield School District would have grief counselors available on Wednesday and Thursday. The towns last murder was May 1, 2017, when 32-year-old Steven Flood raped and murdered his roommate in a home they shared near Candlewood Lake. This story will be updated when more information is available. CORRECTION: An earlier version of the story said the Ciorras lived on Cornell Drive. The street name is Cornell Road. We have learned from numerous press reports that President Donald Trump may have repeatedly - not once, but repeatedly - pressured his top officials to break the law by walling out asylum seekers entirely. It is a measure of how low we've sunk that if this is all that occurred in connection with this demand - that is, if all Trump did was press his officials to break the law in this fashion - we should probably consider ourselves lucky. House Democrats are set to initiate an investigation that could illuminate this area of Trumpian misconduct in new ways. Unfortunately, administration officials could still drag their feet aggressively in response to Democratic demands, which could frustrate efforts to gather even the most basic facts about it. The other day, CNN reported that Trump may have offered a pardon to his acting Homeland Security commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, if he got in trouble for carrying out Trump's border-closing directive. Relying on two sources, CNN claimed that during a visit to Calexico, California, Trump privately told border agents not to let in any more migrants. Those agents then asked their higher-ups for help, but were informed that they have to follow the law. Trump also told McAleenan that he'd pardon him if he got in trouble for getting his border agents to do this, senior administration officials told CNN. The New York Times reported a similar story. It should be noted that Trump denied the claim, and that CNN and the Times both clearly stated that this might have been a joke. House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are not treating this as a joke. In a new letter, they demand that McAleenan make himself available to the committee for questioning about this matter. And they're also looking into reports that Trump also pressured his former DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, to close the border in violation of the law. Her refusal to do so was one reason that Trump ousted her. Democrats request the following information: "1. A list identifying all Department employees present for your meeting with President Trump in Calexico, California on or around April 5, 2019... "2. A list identifying all Department employees present for President Trump's April 5, 2019 meeting with border patrol agents, including but not limited to any DHS personnel instructed by President Trump to not let migrants into the country. "3. Documents and communications relating to Secretary Nielsen's meeting with President Trump on or about March 21, 2019 to discuss reinstating the zero-tolerance policy and closing the U.S. Mexico border at El Paso, Texas." The letter also demands that any of these others who might have witnessed these conversations should be prepared to testify as well. Now, it's true that a president's pardon power is near-absolute. But as the letter from Democrats points out, Trump has exhibited a "troubling pattern of conduct that has emerged over the past two years that appears to demonstrate" that he "views the pardon power as a political tool, or even worse, as an expedient mechanism for circumventing the law or avoiding the consequences of his own conduct." That is what might be at stake here. If the story about McAleenan is true, Trump didn't merely demand that he (or his border agents) break the law; he also dangled a pardon as a way for his subordinate to avoid accountability for it later, compounding the corruption. "It would certainly be an abuse of presidential power," Daniel Hemel, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who co-wrote a good paper on whether the pardon power can be abused, told me. "The Constitution requires the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. If Trump said what he is reported to have said to McAleenan, then he tried to use his presidential power to see to it that the laws aren't executed." To be clear, this really might have been a joke. Of course, one might ask whether a boss can really "joke" with a subordinate about such a matter without the latter wondering whether that "joke" was really a tacit command. After all, former fixer Michael Cohen has told us that Trump developed, shall we say, sophisticated ways of communicating orders (such as lying about his ongoing dealings with Russia) while maintaining plausible deniability about having done so. Still, let's put that aside for now. Notably, Democrats are also demanding that McAleenan and other officials testify to the question of whether Trump ordered subordinates to break the law by closing the border to asylum seekers, irrespective of whether any pardon was dangled. That alone would be a pretty grave act of misconduct. As the letter from Democrats points out: "The President's directive to close the Southern border entirely would also run counter to the executive branch's duty to faithfully execute the law. When Border Patrol Agents encounter 'aliens' who are crossing between ports of entry, they are already on U.S. soil. Under section 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, any 'alien' who is 'present in the United States' regardless of how they entered are applicants for admission and have the right to seek asylum." The letter adds that our obligations under international law require this, and that "to instruct DHS officials to do otherwise would explicitly violate these provisions and the law." Now, we know that Trump has little patience for international law and hates such constraints. He has openly mused about getting rid of immigration judges - that is, doing away with due process for asylum seekers entirely - and has regularly railed about the need to provide that due process. So it would not be at all surprising if he did command his top officials to break the law in this fashion. And once again, if this is all that happened, we might consider ourselves lucky that it wasn't worse. It is of course possible that this did not happen at all. In that case, you'd think these officials would be eager to tell Congress so. We will see if that is to be, and how eager the White House is to permit them to appear and clear all this up. Under the Thai constitution, parliament must convene its first meeting within 15 days after the official results of the counting of at least 95 percent of votes is announced on May 9th. According to EC Chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong, the commission has received 326 complaints in connection with prospective winners in 66 constituencies since the voting on March 24th. Thailand's election re-runs should be organised no later than April 28th. (Photo: Xinhua/ VNA) Earlier, the EC ordered re-elections at six polling stations in Bangkok, Lampang, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok and Yasothon provinces as the number of voters who turned up did not match the number of marked ballots, and the recounting of votes at two stations in Khon Kaen province because the first counts were inconsistent with the number of voters and marked ballots. Ittiporn Boonpracong said that the ECs decision to seek a Constitutional Court ruling on its method of calculating and allocating party-list seats will not affect the endorsement of official poll results on May 9th. Thailand held its general election on March 24th at more than 92,000 constituencies across the nation. The ECs preliminary results with over 95 percent of votes counted showed that the Palang Pracha Rath party that supports Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha won the most popular votes nationwide, followed by the Pheu Thai party./. Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels. A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements. Contributed Photo / Google Maps / Contributed Photo WILLIMANTIC A 43-year-old man who escaped from a federal facility in Georgia was taken into custody in Willimantic on Tuesday morning, according to U.S. Marshals. Around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force and the Willimantic Police Department took Israel Rodriguez-Zayes into custody. HAMDEN - Employees on strike at the Hamden Stop & Shop at 2335 Dixwell Ave. stood their ground on Day Five of the strike, garnering further support from other unions. AFT Connecticut and Council 4 AFSCME donated $2,500 from each organization to the employee strike fund, which will help pay workers UFCW Local 919 representative Jorge Cabrera said he's heard that Stop & Shop hiring temporary workers, but that the company is having trouble and several have quit. The organizations pledged they would donate $500 a week each until the negotiations end. "We're hoping that other unions see what we're doing and continue the support," AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel said. "We stand together and management needs to know that. Council 4 AFSCME Executive Director Jody Barr, whose idea it was to donate the money, said even though it's not much in the pockets of employees, but it's a blow to Stop & Shop to show that the workers won't be starved out because they have immense support. Barr said she called an emergency meeting last night to vote on donating the money and the board unanimously approved it. Fewer customers than on the first and second day of the strike showed up to shop Monday afternoon. Some who did walked away after meeting pleas from picketers to go to Shop Rite. The store inside was almost empty with only a a couple noticeable customers using the self checkout lanes. No temporary workers appeared to be in the store and all fresh foods -- breads, seafood, deli, produce -- were either empty or diminished. NEW HAVEN Gail Stokes was happy to share her feelings. Im looking for change in this election. Im not completely satisfied with the past mayor. Im looking for some change and some new ideas, she told Justin Elicker. Elicker, as he does most weekends, was stopping at the homes of registered Democrats as he campaigns to win the partys endorsement in the September primary. He told her he wants to see many things changed, such as having a city that is much more accessible and not putting people in positions because of their political connections. Next he ran by her his position on jobs. Elicker, who was executive director of the Land Trust for the past several years, said most job openings in Connecticut are in the trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and electricians, which pay good money. He said one training program, the Construction Workforce Initiative, which was run by Nichole Jefferson, has been dismantled, but it is the kind of offering that could train people in the city for the jobs that are out there. Asked what her concerns were, Stokes said she wanted it to be easier for children to get into the magnet schools, while she also wants more programs for seniors. Nodding toward a nearby senior center, Stokes said it is terrible. To me in New Haven it has gotten to the point where senior citizens are just a senior citizen and nothing else, Stokes said. We cant forget about them, Elicker offered. Stokes, who follows local news, said she was very upset, very upset with the process of how this current superintendent is in the school system. I attended a couple of meetings ... and I just think it was a favoratism-type situation. Stokes said there were a couple of candidates, one maybe from California, that I felt was more capable of really straightening up the school system. She said these kinds of decisions are not new in the city. New Haven has always been that way to me. You have to know someone to get this or that or the other, said Stokes, a lifelong resident of New Haven. The candidate said, in the end, the people who suffer because you dont have the right people with the right qualifications in the right positions, the people who suffer in the end are the people who dont have political connections. Elicker said often they are the people who dont have the time to advocate for themselves because they are working multiple jobs. That exactly is what needs to change about our system. We need more integrity with a lot of people who are running the city and I think it is time to change that. In the end she agreed to suppport him. Canvassing this way, it is hit or miss whether a resident will come to the door on a Saturday morning. If they dont, he will leave a brochure. But, if they answer, sometimes in their pajamas, they usually are ready for a conversation. Mignone Henderson had been up late tending to a sick relative, but she had time to talk. Asked how she felt things were going in New Haven, she answered: It aint going that good. Elicker then pitched her on how inclusionary zoning could guarantee more affordable units when builders come calling with development plans. He said this zoning, which the city is working on, would spread the benefits of new apartments that are more concentrated downtown and out of the price range of many. We need more deeply affordable housing, he told her. On jobs, Henderson said her son got some training in a CWI course before it was eliminated. We need some change, Henderson said before promising to vote for Elicker. Ebony McClease, a former corrections official, said the states Fresh Start initiative to help re-integrate the incarcerated back to society, needs some work. She was an employee under the alternative to incarceration program and remembers a 20-year-old with mental health issues who is on the sexual offender registry after being charged with statutory rape for sleeping with a 16-year-old when he was 19. She said there are people on the registry whom the public needs to be warned about. This individual is not one of them, she said, but his chances for employment have now been greatly reduced. McClease said there needs to be more nuance. We sensationalize everything to make people fearful, McClease told Elicker. Elicker at every stop would leave a brochure and tell the voter to call his cellphone if they had questions. Last weekend the candidate was in Newhallville, where residents happy to engage in a discussion at their doorsteps. One skeptical resident, however, asked whether Elicker would be returning to her neighborhood if he were elected. A former two-term alder in the 10th Ward, Elicker said he responded to every phone call, text and email while in office. I am not interested in being mayor just to be mayor. Im interested in being mayor so I can address the problems of the community. ... Too often the politically connected people are the ones who get the help and others who dont know somebody dont get their issues addressed. I think that is critical to the leadership in the city, he said. He was out with Jaywan Carter, who supported Elicker in his first run for mayor in 2013. Carter was in familiar territory having been raised in the area of Bassett Street and Shelton Avenue. Elicker, as he went door to door, took notes on his cellphone as to who needed a return visit. Krystle Stanley, who was just leaving her home, was interested in what Elicker had to say. She said her friends have problems getting information from the school administration as they try to get their kids into their school of choice. Transparency, right? At a minimum we should expect our government to give us an idea of what this lock box system is, Elicker said of the lottery for classroom placement. Stanley put her name on the email list and said she was interested in any meet-and-greets Elicker was planning. Jean Ashe, who lives across from Ashes Barber Shop on Shelton Avenue, where her son works at the business her late husband founded in 1987, chatted with the candidate on whether she should go back to work part-time as a hai dresser at Lady Ashe. You know what you should do. You should go over there and drink coffee. That would be my strategy, Elicker said pointing to the barber shop. Ashe told Elicker she has never missed an election since she turned 20. I walk right over there to the Lincoln Bassett Schoo, she said. Will she support Elicker in the primary? Sure, she told him. He asked that she remind her granddaughter, who is in the military, to vote by absentee ballot. Then it was to the next stop. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com;203-641-2577 In the aftermath of a massive fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday, which destroyed much of the church including its iconic spire, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault and his family, including his wife, actress Salma Hayek, have pledged 100 million euros (roughly $113 million) to help rebuild the monument. "My father and I have decided to release as of now from the funds of Artemis a sum of 100 million euros to participate in the effort that will be necessary for the complete reconstruction of Notre Dame," Pinault wrote in a statement. Read his words in French here: Pinault is a noted art collector and the chairman and CEO of the luxury group Kering, which owns fashion brands including Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Gucci. His generous donation is just one of many fundraising efforts to help rebuild Notre Dame that are making the news. When speaking with the media, French president Emanuel Macron said he will launch a campaign Tuesday. "We will rebuild this Cathedral together," he said. Those in the United States have also rallied around the monument. The French Heritage Society, an American non-profit dedicated to the "preservation, restoration and promotion" of the French heritage in the U.S. and France, has also launched a fund, raising money for Notre Dame's restoration. "Notre-Dame is obviously an architectural marvel and most certainly a monument that should be restored," the group's executive director Jennifer Herlein, told Reuters on the phone on Monday. She said all funds raised will be donated to the effort. The fire broke out at 7 p.m. local time, just as the Cathedral was closing to visitors. It is thought to have been started accidentally, though the official cause is still unclear. At this point, the fire is finally cooling and officials have said that "both towers of the cathedral are safe," but most of the roof was destroyed. As Macron put it, "The worst was avoided even if the battle has not been completely won." Brian Zahn/Hearst Connecticut Media NEW HAVEN The Board of Alders has approved Matt Wilcox to serve on the New Haven Board of Education. People have been making efforts to build trust and I want to help continue those efforts, he said after the vote, about his priorities. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media NEW HAVEN Six months after the Board of Alders rejected Sean Matteson as chief administrative officer, Mayor Toni Harp has submitted his name for the position again. Matteson, who has been acting CAO since September 2018 after serving as former Mayor John DeStefano Jr.s chief of staff for seven years was turned down by the alders in October 2018, with opponents seeing his appointment as rushed and tainted by politics. A 13-year-old South Carolina middle school student is facing charges after getting drunk at school and passing out mini bottles of whiskey to other students, according to the Union County Sheriffs Office. Deputies were called Friday morning to Sims Middle School in Union about a student who appeared to be extremely drunk. 3 1 of 3 CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Show More Show Less 2 of 3 CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Show More Show Less 3 of 3 NEW HAVEN Two people were injured Tuesday after their vehicle crashed into a Gateway Community College building, according to Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana. The building did not sustain structural damage in the crash, Fontana said. NEW HAVEN Nineteen Yale University undergraduates were charged with disorderly conduct Tuesday after blocking College Street for a half-hour in protest of the student effort required as part of Yales financial aid packages. Yelling slogans such as No more income contribution! Lets improve this institution! the members of Students Unite Now sat in a circle until they were taken away by police and given misdemeanor citations. Attorney Hugh F. Keefe, who was present to represent the students, said ultimately the charges likely would be dismissed. Hannah Lee, a junior biology major, said she wanted to take a research position but a lot of research positions here are unpaid so she ended up taking a paid job doing grunt work. I manage mice in order to earn money and stay on this campus while others were preparing data. They were doing research. I want to be part of a Yale that levels out the playing field, Lee said. This year she was able to take a paid position with the Science, Technology and Research Scholars II program, which, according to its website, is designed for Yale College women, minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and other historically underrepresented students to pursue studies and careers in the sciences and engineering. I appreciate the mentorship and for me its been a great way to do research and pay [the student income contribution], but SIC still exists, she said. If she didnt have to pay student effort, I would be able to take income home, Lee said. I support this. I think the student contribution places an unfair burden on students at Yale, said Rahul Nagvekar, a junior who is not on financial aid. I think Yale is being dishonest in its promises of full financial aid. Protests began Friday inside Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, where students sat in from 10 a.m. until 11:15 p.m., according to a release. They then set up an encampment Saturday outside the building at Prospect and Grove streets, sleeping in tents for two days, the release said. On Monday, five students were arrested after blocking the doors to the building. Yale states on its financial aid website that it admits students without regard to their ability to pay and meets 100% of demonstrated financial need. For all students. Without loans. It adds that 86 percent of the class of 2018 graduated with no student loan debt. Yales average need-based scholarship this year is $52,800 with a total budget of $140 million. Financial aid is based on the principle that paying for a college education should be a partnership between the student and his or her family and the college or university of the students choice. The decision to come to Yale is a decision to invest in ones education and future, according to the website. The opportunity for a student to contribute to the funding of his or her education is considered part of this investment a resource a family has available to help meet its contribution to a students education. The estimated total cost to attend Yale this year is $73,180, which will rise 3.75 percent in 2019-20 to $75,925, according to Yale. The student effort, formerly known as the student income contribution, is $4,450 for first-year students and $5,950 for sophomores and above. Those with high financial need, such as those on Pell Grants, who comprise 20 percent of the class of 2022, need only contribute $4,950 after their first year. High-need students also receive a $2,000 start-up fund in their first year and $600 annually thereafter to help cover one-time expenses such as a computer. The student effort may be met by taking a job, a personal loan or from outside scholarships, Yale states. Its financial aid website states, To meet the full estimated Student Effort through only term-time and summer employment, a student would expect to work 8-10 hours per week while on campus and earn $1,600 before their first year and $2,600 before subsequent academic years through summer employment. In an email, spokesman Thomas Conroy said, Thanks to its generous financial aid, Yale College is affordable for anyone who is admitted. Thats why Yale has so many students who are eligible for Pell Grants, and so many students who are the first in their families to attend college. All student financial aid is need-based. That is why some students and their families pay the full cost of attending, some pay a portion of that, and some only need to pay a small fraction of it. Whatever the cost, its up to the students and their families to determine how to meet it. Yale doesnt dictate that. He also said, We dont require a student to work or to raise money through a loan. It is up to the student and family to determine how to meet their net cost. Elea Hewitt, a sophomore, said Yale is not an equal-opportunity campus because the policy unfairly affects low-income students, who are more likely to be students of color. Many students ... come from backgrounds that allow them not to worry about money, she said. Yale is a great place with a lot of diversity and that means people come from different [income] levels. ... Yale does not meet them where they are. Hewitt works in a Yale library shelving books and in the Yale Office of Career Strategy helping to promote summer programs. She also is on the crew team. I have to work on top of my academic schedule and athletics to pay for my contribution and it doesnt improve any area of my life, she said. Julia Salseda-Angeles, a senior and organizer of Tuesdays protest, said students whose parents contribution is zero ... are still expected to come up with the student contribution. Nicolas DeRuiter, a junior, said, I hope we can get more students that arent directly affected by the student income contribution to participate to help those who are directly affected. Its something everybody has to pay one way or another. Some peoples parents can foot the bill and others cant. According to Yales website, In order to eliminate the student effort within the existing budget, Yale would need to reduce the size of the faculty by about 100, limit financial aid to approximately 360 fewer students than now, or increase tuition for all students not on financial aid by about $6,000, according to the website. Editors note: An earlier version of this story had an unofficial total of those arrested. edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com Sino-American Relations on the Eve of a New Cold War Rising trade tensions between the United States and China are just one facet of a high-stakes geopolitical fight for techno-hegemony, writes political scientist Tsuchiya Motohiro. The 55th Munich Security Conference, held in February 2019, bore witness to the rise of a bitter US-China rivalry as the defining force in twenty-first century geopolitics. The MSC, described by the Japanese Ministry of Defense as one of the most prestigious privately sponsored international security conferences in the West, began in 1963, during the Cold War years, as a low-key dialogue between the United States and what was then West Germany. Since then, it has grown into the largest gathering of its kind, drawing heads of state and other officials from around the world, together with representatives of academia, civil society, private industry, and the media. (Among the attendees last February were 52 members of the US Congress.) With its origins as a Cold War security forum, the MSC long focused on tensions between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the NATO-Russia standoff continued to dominate the conversation. (Indeed, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were among the featured speakers this year.) But this past February, the emphasis began to shift. Dire Warnings, Hollow Assurances It was US Vice President Mike Pence who trained the geopolitical spotlight on US-China tensions, spending a good portion of his speech attacking China. Going beyond the usual complaints about unfair trade practices, Pence took sharp aim at the rapidly expanding Chinese telecom industry, warning his listeners that Chinese law requires companies to share data with the nation's security apparatus. We must protect our critical telecom infrastructure, Pence declared, and America is calling on all our security partners to be vigilant and to reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security systems. The US government is particularly concerned about Chinese telecom giant Huawei, given the close ties between its founder, Ren Zhenfei, and the Peoples Liberation Army. As Washington sees it, the company would have no choice but to comply with demands from the Chinese government, the Communist Party of China, or the PLA. Such suspicion surely played a part in the arrest of Ren Zhenfeis daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, the previous December. Detained in Canada at Washingtons request, Meng has been charged with financial fraud in connection with transactions violating US sanctions on Iran, but the decision to arrest a high-ranking Chinese corporate officer gives evidence of more fundamental differences. Upon concluding his remarks, Pence immediately left the conference room without taking questions. No sooner had he exited than former Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China took the stage. As a member of the CPC Politburo (though not of the Standing Committee) and chief of the General Office of the partys Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Yang outranks current Foreign Minister Wang Yi and is widely regarded as Chinas top foreign policy maker. A former ambassador to the United States, Yang is an expert in US affairs and by no means an anti-American hardliner, but he could scarcely let Pences accusations go unanswered. After reading from prepared remarks, Yang spoke in English to address a question from the floor regarding US-China relations. Casting doubt on American motives in lecturing the Europeans, he insisted that Huawei . . . is cooperating very closely with European countries. In the fourth industrial revolution, we should all work together, and Chinese law doesnt require companies to install backdoors or collect intelligence. Yangs assurances were greeted with considerable skepticism, especially in the United States. The feeling there is that, even if Chinese companies have not been implicated in such collusion to this point, that is no guarantee it will not happen in the future. It is generally agreed that Chinese laws, including the National Defense Law, National Mobilization Law, and Cyber Security Law, empower the CPC, the government, and the PLA to gather personal data and other information from businesses for security purposes. A former senior US official I spoke to said that the Chinese government and the PLA were known to have pressured Chinese nationals in the United States to pass on sensitive information by threatening action against them or their families in China. One should assume that telecom companies are equally vulnerable to pressure from on high. Such suspicions have intensified under the administration of US President Donald Trump. Since the start of the Xi Jinping regime, China has shifted from a policy of biding its time to one of openly challenging US global leadership, and the current US administration is hitting back. Vice President Pence has delivered Washingtons cautionary message on more than one occasion. In remarks to the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2018, he enumerated a long list of Chinese government policies inconsistent with free and fair trade, including . . . intellectual property theft and industrial subsidies doled out like candy. He complained that Beijing now requires many American businesses to hand over their trade secrets as the cost of doing business in China and sponsors the acquisition of American firms to gain ownership of their creations. Worst of all, he said, Chinese security agencies have masterminded the wholesale theft of American technologyincluding cutting-edge military blueprints. He promised that Washington would continue to take tough action until such practices come to an end. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested two months later. Old and New Currents in Geopolitics The English term geopoliticscame into use around the time of World War II and later gained currency in the context of the fierce global rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. More recently, scholars have introduced such terms as geo-economics and geo-technology to emphasize the role of economics and technology in global power politics. The emphasis is particularly apt in the context of US-China relations. The current antagonism between the United States and China is of a different sort from that which persists between Washington and Moscow. During the Cold War, when the United States restricted technological exports to the Soviet Union via the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls and other mechanisms, the two countries stayed at arm's length economically, and even now US-Russia trade remains sluggishall the more so since the Department of State slapped economic sanctions against Russia for its intervention in the Ukraine. While Russia would certainly like to see the sanctions lifted, it places greater emphasis on trade relations with the European Union. With China, things are different. The United States has contributed greatly to Chinas economic development over the past few decades, notwithstanding the two countries ideological differences. One reason for this engagement was the existence in America of a substantial pro-China faction that believed China would eventually mature into a democratic state. Another reason was doubtless Beijings antagonism toward Moscow. (Such was the rationale behind US President Richard Nixons historic 1972 initiative to restore relations with mainland China.) But notwithstanding its breathtaking economic development, China has made almost no progress in the direction of democracy and human rights. Instead, it has embarked on a massive arms buildup and is now openly challenging Americas global leadership. Jockeying for Technological Supremacy This is also why Washingtons antagonism toward Beijing differs from the Japan-US trade friction of the 1980s and 1990s. It is true that Japan bashing reached a fever pitch at points. But while Japan was resented as an economic upstart, it remained a staunch security ally of the United States, with no military ambitions of its own. China, on the other hand, is challenging the United States militarily as well as economically. Furthermore, it is using underhanded and illicit means to appropriate American technology. That, at any rate, is how the Trump administration sees things. The intensifying technological friction between the United States and China calls to mind political scientist Yakushiji Taizos concept of techno-hegemony. According to Yakushijis theory, technology propels a states rise to hegemonic power. Upstart powers begin by emulating the technology of the hegemon but then add their own improvements and enhancements, eventually outstripping the established power. From the perspective of techno-hegemony, the United States and China are at a critical juncture. China is anxious to amass as much capacity as it can before demographic aging takes its inevitable toll on the nations economic resources and vitality. This is why China feels the need to establish its dominance over the United States in key growth areas, such as 5G and artificial intelligence. The United States, for its part, is doing everything in its power to blunt Chinas technological momentum and maintain its own techno-hegemony by keeping cutting-edge technology out of Chinese hands. Of course, technological capacity is inextricably tied to economic and military might. Although technology has taken front and center stage in recent months, all of these factors, inextricably intertwined, are driving and heightening the US-China rivalry that increasingly defines geopolitics in the twenty-first century. (Originally published in Japanese on March 25, 2019. Banner photo: The Huawei logo at an electronics shop in Beijing, China. The Chinese foreign ministry building is reflected in the window. Photograph taken on January 29, 2019. AP/Aflo) A judge in North Carolina sentenced Jonathan Sander on Monday to life without parole for the shotgun killings of three members of a family from Bergen County after they accused him of theft and child molestation. Sandy Mazzella, 47, his wife, Stephenie, 43, and Sandys mother, Elaine, 76, moved to Wake County, North Carolina, from New Milford several years ago. They were shot to death in their home March 25, 2016 one day after a judge dismissed a restraining order they filed against Sander, who lived next door. Sander, 56, was found guilty Monday following a three-week trial that began in March. Elaine Mazzella with Sandy and Stephenie Mazzella on their wedding day. The three family members from Bergen County were shot to death in North Carolina in 2016. (File) The murders took just two minutes, a point Judge Graham Shirley referenced several times during sentencing, which was streamed live on local television websites. The Mazellas had moved from New Jersey to North Carolina about eight years before the killings. When the lights go dark, I want you to lie in your bed and think (about) that two-minute period that was described in which you ruined the lives of not only your family but the Mazzellas, Shirley said. When you take your last breath, youre going to die alone and youre going to die forgotten. Get him out of my courtroom. Jonathan Sander, seated, is surrounded by bailiffs during one of several outbursts during his sentencing Monday for murdering three members of a family from Bergen County. (Photo courtesy of the Raleigh News & Observer) Earlier in court, the Mazzellas two surviving children spoke about how the murders affected them. Elaine Mazzellas husband, Sal, said he cannot understand why Sander attacked the family. Sandy Mazzella and Sander were partners in a landscaping business. I still cannot understand why you hated my son so much, Sal Mazzella said in his statement. It baffles me. Still, Sal Mazzella told Sander he does not hate him in part because his religion has taught him compassion. I have chosen to forgive you, Mazzella said. God has given me the strength to do the impossible. Before sentencing him to life without parole, Judge Graham Shirley told Jonathan Sander he had ruined the lives of not only the Mazzella family, but the lives of his children as well. (Courtesy of the Raleigh News & Observer) The hearing turned contentious at times, with Sander addressing the Mazzella family directly and blaming them for the accusations that led him to violence. When Sal Mazzella and other family members stood and to walk out of the courtroom as Sander spoke before his sentencing, he urged them to stay. Sal, I think you should really hear this, Sander said. Dont disappear because theres going to be a problem. Sandy Mazzella, left, with Jonathan Sander in a photo taken months before the murders. (File) In his statement, Sander blamed Sandy Mazzella for ruining their landscaping business. He lashed out at the Mazzellas, repeating his contention that he was falsely accused. I was getting set up on child molestation charges, Sander said, his voice raised. So, I was going to go to jail for something I didnt do? No. I was built up with anger, I was built up with paranoia, I was built up with anxiety, Sander said. I had the spirits around me saying These guys are bad. Theyre framing you. Sal Mazzella is comforted in a Raleigh, North Carolina courtroom Monday during sentencing of Jonathan Sander, who murdered Mazzella's son, wife and daughter-in-law in 2016. (Courtesy of the Raleigh News & Observer) In sentencing Sander, the judge said even if he had been convicted of a molestation charge, as a first-time offender, he would not have gone to jail. You more than likely would have been put on probation and never served a day in prison, Shirley said. By your acts, you destroyed not only the Mazzella family but you destroyed your own kids lives. Your acts were selfish and they were cowardly. Sandy Mazzellas brother, Rich Sussman of Elmwood Park, said he was in North Carolina for part of the trial but came back to New Jersey before the verdict and sentencing because he found Sanders behavior too distressing. He was allowed to disrupt the proceedings throughout the trial and babble on about anything he wanted, Sussman said. Now that this convicted murderer has been sentenced, I hope he never sees the light of day again. Sandy and Stephenie Mazzella. (File) 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 New Jersey police officer has been charged with trying to lure a 15-year-old girl to meet for sex in online chats he had with an undercover detective posing as the teen, the Bergen County Prosecutors Office said Tuesday. Ridgewood police officer Peter Tuchol Jr., 28, was arrested Monday at his home in Waldwick and charged with luring, attempted sexual assault, attempted endangering the welfare of a child, and three drug charges related to the possession of anabolic steroids, Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said in a statement. Beginning on Thursday, members of the Cyber Crimes Unit and Task Force had online conversations with Tuchol, who believed he was talking to a 15-year-old, Calo said. Detectives went to Tuchols home in Waldwick with a warrant on Monday after Tuchol arranged a meeting with the fictional teen, Calo said. At the home, they seized the steroids and hypodermic needles, Calo said. Tuchol, who earned an annual salary of $64,000 as a Ridgewood officer, is in the Bergen County jail pending a first court appearance in Hackensack. Tuchol is suspended from the Ridgewood force pending the outcome of the case, a department spokesman said on behalf of Chief Jacqueline Luthcke. She deferred other questions to the county prosecutors office. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. 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 massage therapist at a spa in Bergen County was arrested last week and charged with sexual assault of a client he was massaging, authorities said. Matthew Plotkin, 29, of Wyckoff, was arrested April 9. The alleged assault that occurred March 31, acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said in a statement. Plotkin allegedly engaged in sexual activity with an individual without consent while giving a massage at the Hand and Stone Spa in Allendale, Calo said. After an investigation, Plotkin was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault. He was released from the Bergen County Jail after a court hearing Friday. Public records show the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy issued Plotkin a license in October 2018. The license is active through next year. A woman who answered the phone at Hand and Stone Spa on Tuesday, refused to say whether Plotkin still works there. I cant talk about the situation, she said. 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. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Tuesday that his office has found probable cause that a Bergen County real estate agency failed to show and rent an apartment because the prospective tenant was not Korean and didnt speak the language. KayMax Realty Inc., the agency that handled the rental unit in Palisades Park, is named in a legal complaint, along with the couple who owns the dwelling. The couples names are redacted from the complaint released Tuesday. The couple and KayMax Realty are accused of violating New Jerseys Law Against Discrimination in 2018 by refusing to rent a four-bedroom apartment to Anna Ceylan, who was moving to New Jersey from New York City. Ceylan said she called KayMax agent Gina Seo, who told her she was busy and would call her back but never did. According to Ceylan, she called another agent who showed her the apartment. The agent told Ceylan the KayMax agent the one listed in the Zillow.com ad as the contact -- had confided that the owners would not rent to a person who was not Korean. Seo on Tuesday told NJ Advance Media she never had that conversation with anyone. Im not stupid. Ive been in the business 20 years and I have never said that, she said. Grewal, however, said an analysis by the states civil rights division showed the couple told KayMax of their desire to avoid renting to any person who did not speak Korean, and the agency went along with their wishes, according to Grewal. New Jersey law clearly prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin in rental housing, said Attorney General Grewal. There is simply no excuse for real-estate professionals to engage in or cooperate with such conduct tacitly or otherwise. In answering the complaint, broker Keun Joo said the previous tenants were not Korean and did not speak the language, which led to a problem involving law enforcement. The owners felt the issue could have been avoided if the tenants spoke Korean, the complaint states. In their answer to the complaint, the couple did not admit or deny the allegations. We are sorry for all that happened and also very sorry to what caused ... Anna Ceylan ... such humiliation, pain and suffering, the couple wrote in their answer. Ceylan sought help from the Fair Housing Council of Northern New Jersey. Four days after making her complaint, the council found the unit was no longer for rent. The council then referred the matter to the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, a division within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD then referred it to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights in keeping with a cooperative work sharing agreement between HUD and the Division under HUDs Fair Housing Assistance Program. Grewal said a finding of probable cause means the state has concluded its preliminary investigation and determined there is sufficient evidence to support a claim the states law against discrimination has been violated. According to the civil rights division, a finding of probably cause will result in a hearing where both parties try to work out the issue. If the division can work out an agreement with complainant and respondent, then the matter will be closed. If not, the case may be prosecuted in Bergen County Superior Court. The penalty for a first-time offense is $10,000, according to the division. 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. Friends, family and parishioners gathered at St. Mary of the Lakes Catholic Church Tuesday morning to remember and lay to rest Nicholas DiMona III, the 20-year-old soldier and Burlington County native who was killed during Army training in Alaska last month. The Medford Lakes resident sadly follows his father into remembrance for his service to his country. Nicholas DiMona II died in 2004 in an Army helicopter crash, also during training.During the Mass, Melissa DiMona told parishioners that when she was informed of her sons death, her faith faltered. Spcl. Nicholas DiMona III is brought out of St. Mary of the Lakes Church in Medford Lakes. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Med I took off my cross, she said through tears. "I was asking him for a sign." And then I was given his dog tags, and you know what on them? A cross, she said. So I put mine back on, and Im not taking it off again. She described her son as mischievous, handsome and fiercely loyal. He loved his family, his friends and his country, she said. The Camden County Emerald Society Pipes & Drums unit honors Spcl. Nicholas DiMona III. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Med DiMona, an Army specialist, was accidentally shot and killed in a live-fire training exercise March 30. He was assigned to the Armys 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, and was with his unit near Fort Greely when he died. Before the service, bagpipes filled the air on a bright, spring morning as servicemen and servicewomen honored DiMonas casket as he was brought into the church. I know hell be met with a greeting of, well done, good and faithful servant, " Rev. Daniel Swift told parishioners. Im sure that message will come from God and it will come from his own father. DiMonas father was 32 years old when he was in the 2004 crash. DiMona III graduated in 2016 from Shawnee High School, and the loss of his father inspired his decision to pursue a career in the Army, a statement released by the school said. Nick was playing in the big leagues, in the league of heroes," Swift said. The church is honored to bury a hero. Spcl. Nicholas DiMona III's mother, Melissa, is escorted out of the church. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Med DiMonas sister, Gianna, and his grandmother, Elma, read from the Gospel during the Mass. DiMona III will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington, D.C. in Virginia at a later date. 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. A version of this post was first published in March 2018. This story has been updated with information for holidays in 2019. The coming days bring two major religious holidays Easter and Passover. As in many years past, the two holidays will share calendar space in 2019. While dates for the holidays change each year, the first night of Passover 2019 April 19 lands on Good Friday, which is an important part of Easter observance during the Holy Week preceding Easter Sunday April 21. At the outset, Easter and Passover may seem far apart in purpose, ritual and imagery. But the common roots of the two holidays become overwhelmingly apparent when you discount any perceived chasm between chocolate rabbits and marshmallow chicks and matzo and gefilte fish. The Passover-Easter connection Passover marks the biblical story of Exodus, of the Jews and their leader, Moses, fleeing slavery in Egypt with the help of divine intervention. Easter, widely considered the most important day of the Christian calendar, commemorates the resurrection of Jesus as told in the Gospels of the New Testament. "Passover and Good Friday through Easter go together like a hand and a glove," says David Kraemer, librarian and professor of Talmud and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. "Theyre actually designed to go together." Still, if you think that simply means Jesus, a Jew, attended a Passover Seder just before he died, read on. The bond between the two springtime holidays manifests in a series of meaningful ways from the names of the holidays to when, how and why we celebrate them. The connections between Easter and Passover constitute a many-faceted bond.Patti Sapone | The Star-Ledger Its in the name First, let's take the names of the holidays. The actual origin of the name is unclear, but "Easter" has been associated with a pre-Christian Germanic goddess, Eostre (this is up for debate, as is the existence and origin of Eostre), or a word for "dawn" (that also contributed to the formation of the word "east"). But many other languages call the holiday some variation of Pasqua (Italian) or Pascua (Spanish). Youre actually hearing the closeness of the two holidays, says Gary Rendsburg, professor of Jewish studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Youre hearing the Hebrew word Pesach, he says, which is Passover in English. Kraemer says there was no Latin word for Passover, so the name came from "Pesach." Properly speaking, Pascua is Christian Passover, he says. Why Passover? Because as the story of Exodus goes, the angel of death passed over the homes of Israelites during the plague in which the first-born male of each family was to be killed, because the Jews had marked their doorposts with lambs blood. A Passover Haggadah.John Munson | The Star-Ledger Why is Easter sometimes on Passover, and sometimes not? In 2019, Passover and Easter converge, as they commonly do. This year, Good Friday falls on the first night of Passover, April 19, and Easter falls on the second full day of Passover on April 21. (Jewish holidays start the night before the first day. Passover, which is commonly celebrated with Seders ritual meals on the first two nights, lasts a total of eight days and ends on April 27.) But in 2016, the holidays were nearly a month apart because of a leap month in the Jewish (lunar) calendar. And in other years, the holidays were days or weeks apart. Theres a larger reason for that, one that speaks to Easters roots in the Jewish holiday. Originally, Passover and Easter would have been the same time every year, says Douglas Estes, assistant professor of New Testament and practical theology at South University in Columbia, South Carolina. From the second century through part of the fourth century, Easter was celebrated on the Sunday after Passover began (which is where it falls this year), says Bruce Morrill, a Jesuit priest and professor of theological studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "Christian churches around the Mediterranean only began celebrating Easter as a feast well into the second century," Morrill says, which grew out of a desire to have a Passover associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Passover is observed starting on the 15th of the month of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, during the full moon. But Morrill says that in the fourth century, it was determined that Easter should always fall on the Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (March 20). (Orthodox Christians in the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate Easter on April 28, just after the end of Passover week, because their observance is centered around the Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar.) The hallmarks of Easter would not be at home on a Passover seder table, but the origin of the two holidays' rituals is intertwined. Tony Kurdzuk | The Star-Ledger Jesus, Passover and the sacrificial lamb Many who claim basic knowledge of Passover and Easter may know that Jesus was a Jew who died during the time of Passover. The question of exactly when he died is laden with enduring symbolism. The period known as the paschal triduum (notice the Pesach reference) starts with the Thursday before Easter. Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper, the night before the death of Jesus. On Good Friday, the Gospel of John is read, in which Jesus is said to have been executed by the Roman authorities during the slaughter of the Passover lambs in the daytime, while the preparations for the holiday were underway. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, which are read on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, differ in their account, putting the death of Jesus the day after the Passover meal with his disciples (as depicted in the Leonardo da Vinci painting The Last Supper), Morrill says. It follows that Gospel of John is the source of the image Christ as the lamb who has been slain, he says. At that time, Jews would be going to the temple to get their Passover lambs after the animals were sacrificed. Today, the lamb shows up on the Passover Seder plate in the form of the zeroah, or shank bone (which is not eaten). A Passover seder plate. At the time Jesus died, Jews would traditionally go to the temple to get Passover lambs after the animals were used as sacrifices. Today the echo of that ritual can be seen in the shank bone on the Passover Seder plate.Saed Hindash | The Star-Ledger Was the Last Supper a Passover Seder? Its accepted that Jesus was executed around the time of Passover. But was Jesus really at a Passover Seder before his death? That, of course, depends on whether you subscribe to the Gospel of John or the other version of the story that does put Jesus at the Last Supper on the night before his crucifixion. Even if you assume the latter to be true, there is some room for debate. Especially if you make a distinction between Seder and Passover meal. Many people think that the Last Supper was a Seder meal, Rendsburg says. Im of that group that thinks not. Thats because the version of the Passover meal that we call the Seder wasnt developed until later, he says, pointing to evidence from the Gospels and Jewish literature that talks about Jews going to the temple for sacrifices and to celebrate holidays. By contrast, the Passover Seder we know today is an in-home affair. Kraemer disagrees. The Last Supper is obviously the Passover meal, later what we would call the Seder, he says. The Seder, which means means order and describes the procession of the ritual meal, with its plate of symbolic foods (matzo, bitter herbs, shank bone and more) and reading of the story of the Exodus in the Passover Haggadah (telling), evolved at a later time, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. But thats immaterial, Kraemer argues. Before the Seder developed, there was already the Passover eve meal, he says. It was clearly the Passover meal. Easter lamb. In the Book of Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus is referred to as "the paschal lamb."Mitsu Yasukawa | The Star-Ledger Freedom, redemption and salvation Regardless of when he actually died during the run-up to the Passover meal or after the image and symbol of Jesus as the lamb cuts to the heart of Easter. In the New Testament the Book of Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus is referred to as the paschal lamb, Kraemer says. His sacrifice through the crucifixion, like the slaughter of the lamb, is both what symbolizes and brings about deliverance redemption, he says. Estes says that for Christians, the idea of the resurrected Jesus as the sacrificial Passover lamb is the fulfillment of the Passover story, starting with what God did through Moses "and then even more so, what God did through Jesus." Early Christians celebrated Passover and Estes says he's seen an increase in awareness about the holiday among Christians. Passover and Easter are really intended to go hand in hand, he says. The Israelites saw Passover as the symbol or the sign that they were freed from pharaoh (in Egypt). Christians see Easter as the freedom from corruption or sin. ... As Christians we are rescued and Jesus is the rescuer." As part of Saturday night Easter vigil and Holy Thursday, Christians read the story of the Exodus that is found in the Passover Haggadah, which is read during the Seder, says Kevin Ahern, assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. The story of Easter is inextricably linked to Passover, but he also says the overarching themes are similar. The Passover Seder plate includes an egg, though it's not dyed or candy-colored like Easter eggs are.Tony Kurdzuk | The Star-Ledger "Both of those stories say to me that God's love is more powerful than any empire," Ahern says, whether the pharaoh or the Romans. "Love wins." "Both are celebrations of hope," he says. "Not of dour hope, but of joyful hope." Morrill says the messages of redemption and deliverance resound through both holidays: "These were life-changing and death-defeating events." The paschal candle, which is lit on the night before Easter Sunday, is about needing hope in the world, and light in the midst of darkness. This custom, carried out during the paschal vigil, may remind some of the Jewish custom of lighting candles at night during the Sabbath, Morrill says. "The symbolism is that the candle represents the light that is Christ," he says. The light and the fire thing took on a new sort of intensity because of St. Patrick of Ireland, Morrill says. The tradition of lighting a fire or bonfire during the Easter vigil on Saturday night is a custom originated by St. Patrick, who adapted the custom from the springtime bonfires of the Druids. Its just one example of Easters Christianization of a popular local tradition. The eggs and rabbits we associate with the holiday are thought to be another. There may be many parallels between Easter and Passover, but Peeps aren't exactly one of them. Kosher-for-Passover marshmallows are, however, an integral part of some celebrations not linked to religious ritual. Star-Ledger file photo Springtime, rabbits and eggs The legions of chocolate bunnies, Easter baskets and Easter eggs that are now symbols of the holiday? Those may not have existed in pre-Christian celebrations, but that may be where they come from. There is a hard-boiled egg on the Passover Seder plate, but its not dyed springy colors or used for a hunt (though children dohunt for a piece of matzo called the afikoman). The German goddess of dawn, fertility and spring, Eostre, who may or may not have existed and who some think gave us the name "Easter," is also connected with the emphasis on rabbits and eggs. Signifying life and fertility, both Easter accessories were adopted from existing springtime customs, Morrill says, in keeping Christianity's custom of melding existing traditions with its religious rituals. The Easter Bunny is also thought to be a German invention, originating with the character Oschter Haws, an egg-laying bunny. This emphasis on fertility, spring and life was only enforced by the story of Jesus being delivered from death. The Easter Bunny has been linked to Oschter Haws, an egg-laying rabbit of German tradition.Alex Napoliello | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Matzo, yeast and symbolism In the unleavened bread used for the Christian Eucharist, some see a likeness to matzo, the unleavened bread that Jews eat during Passover, to commemorate the Jews exodus from Egypt. In the usual telling, the Jews did not have enough time for their dough to rise before they had to flee the pharaoh. Another interpretation of the unleavened bread is that yeast is associated with haughtiness, or "puffiness," Rendsburg says. Jews rid their homes of chametz, or leavened products, before Passover, removing both physical and spiritual yeast for the holiday, he says. Thats a good Jewish metaphor, Rendsburg says. It gets, like many things, layers of interpretation. How the barley festival became the matzo holiday On the surface, you might not find matzo has much in common with Easter eggs and Easter rabbits. But like the symbols that came to be associated with Easter, the explanation that Jews didnt have time for their bread to rise in Egypt is also the product of reinterpretation, Rendsburg says. From about 1200 B.C. to 586 B.C., which was when the First Temple was destroyed, Jews celebrated a spring agricultural festival that served as a precursor to Passover, he says. In this festival, they marked the start of the barley harvest, since it was the first crop to ripen. In order to celebrate properly, the Jews did not want to contaminate their new barley with the yeast that came from old grain. "You dont want to take some of your old leavening agent and include it," Rendsburg says. Long before the development of the Passover Jews celebrate today, a spring agricultural festival was observed by eating unleavened bread made with barley.Noah K. Murray | The Star-Ledger So they observed the celebration by eating unleavened bread made with that new barley something that didnt look anything like the boxed matzo we eat today, but probably more like a tortilla, or naan or pizza dough without yeast. That perfect square of crunchy matzo? A reinterpretation of a reinterpretation. The core is unleavened bread for the celebration of the barley festival, which then gets written into the narrative, Rendsburg says. Religious symbols always get reimagined. People celebrate harvests, thats what they do, he says, but Passover was different because it was the first time such a festival was used to commemorate a historical event. The genius of ancient Israel was to give historical significance to the festival, he says. Some core element of Israelites came out of Egypt. That event took place at the time of the spring, so it was an easy association to make. 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. Its a tricky maneuver to fit international politics, religious diversity, budding love, family tension, and three round, complex characters all within one short play, but Gabriel Jason Deans new play, Heartland, now at Luna Stage in West Orange, manages to do it, and do it well. It is a play that folds complex matters of international diplomacy and Western imperialism delicately into a tender, fraught father-daughter story, doing impressive work to tell a big story coherently and in a small space. Under the direction of Ari Laura Kreith, the play features strong performances of considerable range. The play opens in Nebraska, where we meet Harold (Brian Corrigan), a retired scholar of Middle Eastern culture (but also of Hemingway, which is a curious detail) at the University of Nebraska, who lives alone. His adult daughter, Getee (Lipica Shah), whom Harold adopted when she was a young, orphaned Afghan refugee, has returned to her birth country to teach school and explore her roots. When the scene shifts from the cornfields of middle America around the globe to Afghanistan, we meet Nazurllah (Kareem Badr), a math teacher at Getees school who helps her work through her frustrations at adapting to a new culture. To say much more about the plot would be to say too much it is a short, tightly constructed play where almost all plot elements are significant to its development but as we would suspect, tensions rise as Getee learns more about herself, her father and her history. Over the course of the plays two hours, each of Deans three characters must face a moment of reckoning, as revelations force them to reassess themselves and the others in their lives. Although these moments arise abruptly, Dean writes them without haste, allowing these characters to evolve slowly and in some cases defensively in front of the audience. Each cast member manages this expectation well, allowing us to recognize how clarity however undesired and unsought after leaves a lasting impression that cannot be undone. The challenge facing each character is how to negotiate a life that is unalterably affected by these revelations. In this way, Deans play examines the frightening ways in which the evolution of important relationships tests the strength of the love and loyalty at their foundations. All these emotional pressures for the characters are ratcheted up in the play by housing them in a tenuous relationship between American ideals and Islamic identity. Dean treats the tense union sensitively, but critically, much of which emerges in Corrigans performance as the American scholar of the Middle East. He is a man who has dedicated his life to the academic study of Islam and Middle Eastern culture, understanding its contours much better than most. He also feared for his life during the Cold War, a time at which Afghanistan was frequently a proxy battlefield for the U.S. and Russia. But Heartland wonders openly about the degree to which the conditions of Harolds life and intellectual pursuits should be brought to bear when assessing him as a person and a father. Corrigan captures well the portrait of Harold that Dean crafts with sensitivity, but not sentimentality. Heartland is a two-hour family drama that is also a two-hour political critique, and a two-hour lesson in religious awareness and diversity. Thats a lot. But the Luna team succeeds in guiding Deans ambition into a warm, provocative production. HEARTLAND Luna Stage Company 555 Valley Road, West Orange Tickets available by phone: (973) 395-5551. Running through April 28. Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook. JUST ANNOUNCED: Congrats to Jackie Sibblies Drury on winning the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for drama for FAIRVIEW. We cant wait to share this challenging new work with audiences in June. #FairviewTFANA pic.twitter.com/sclMX9npbW Theatre for a New Audience (@TheatreforaNewA) April 15, 2019 Jackie Sibblies Drury, a playwright who grew up in Plainfield, has won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Drury, 37, receives the honor, announced on Monday, for her play Fairview. Fairview," which takes on race and privilege through preparations for a grandmothers birthday celebration, premiered off Broadway at Soho Rep in 2018, Playbill reports. The Pulitzer Prize Boards description of the winning play: A hard-hitting drama that examines race in a highly conceptual, layered structure, ultimately bringing audiences into the actors community to face deep-seated prejudices. The play will come to Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn from June 2 to 30 and will see its debut in the United Kingdom at the Young Vic in November. Drury, who studied theater at Yale and Brown universities, earning her MFA in playwriting in 2010, currently lives in Brooklyn. She also received the 2019 Blackburn Prize for Fairview." The playwrights other honors include the 2015 Windham-Campbell Literary Prize in Drama. Drurys most recent work, Marys Seacole," follows a nurse born in 1805 in Jamaica as she travels across the globe in a play that also traverses time. The show just completed a run at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center. The playwrights other work includes We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 18841915; and Social Creatures, a play about a zombie apocalypse. Finalists for the Pulitzer drama category were What the Constitution Means to Me, by Heidi Schreck, and Dance Nation, by Clare Barron. And congratulations to Jackie Sibblies Drury '10 MFA, who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama today for her play "Fairview"! https://t.co/KvPqSuykRI Brown Alumni Magazine (@BrownAlumniMag) April 15, 2019 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. Newark went back in time on Monday to the 1940s, the setting for Philip Roths The Plot Against America. Filming is underway in the city for the HBO adaptation of Roths 2004 novel, which presents an alternate history of America, one in which Charles Lindbergh, a Nazi sympathizer, wins the 1940 presidential election instead of Franklin Roosevelt. As a wave of anti-Semitism sweeps the country, Roth tells his story through a Jewish family living in Newark. Classic cars lined Commerce Street as actors in period-appropriate suits, hats, jackets and dresses milled around, waiting for the next scene. David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire) are helming the six-part series. The cast includes Winona Ryder, who plays Evelyn Finkel; John Turturro, who plays Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf; Anthony Boyle (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), who plays Alvin Levin; Morgan Spector (Homeland), who plays Herman Levin; and Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick), who plays Finkels younger sister, Bess Levin. A small crowd of onlookers stationed at Broad and Commerce streets took out their phones as Kazan, 35, stepped out in a coat, hat, dress and heels as part of a scene that saw several of the classic cars driving down the street. The series is expected to be filming at the same locations in Newark through Wednesday. A member of the crew said the show would continue filming in Newark through September. I love it, said Stephanie Guzman, 28, surveying the vintage scene. I think a lot of movies should be filmed here. I love the old cars. I actually want to buy a car like that, she said, pointing out a gold-colored ride further down Commerce Street. Extras walked in and out of the neoclassical-style National Newark Building, which opened in 1931 and would have been the tallest building in New Jersey at the time of the events in the series. Several store facades were made over to resemble businesses of Newark past, like Hahnes department store, a company that was defunct by the 1980s, and Howard Savings, which closed in 1992. The Market City Deli remained open, even as a sign was installed over its storefront that said Aldines Luncheonette in vintage lettering. A number of high-profile productions have recently filmed in Newark, including Joker, directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, for which Market Street was transformed into 1980s Gotham. The movie also filmed in Jersey City on Newark Avenue and at the Brennan courthouse. Two men in 1940s attire outside the National Newark Building. "The Plot Against America" is set to film in Newark through Wednesday. Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Local film and TV officials have praised the return of the states film tax credit program for restoring interest in New Jersey as a filming location. It is absolutely a product of the film tax credits and also a product of the mayors initiative to get more filmmaking in the city," said Kenneth Gifford, director of the Newark Office of Film and Television. "Hopefully it changes (Newark), said Anant Surti, 30, who has been working in the nearby Prudential building for eight years and took a break to watch as Kazan and other actors stepped out in their period costumes. From May 6 to 8, the Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark will also be filming in Newark. The characters in Roths story live in the Weequahic section of Newark, just like he did. I think thats the biggest thing, Gifford said. A Newark author getting his project filmed in town, thats huge. Roth, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for another novel, American Pastoral," died in 2018, at the age of 85. On April 10, The Plot Against America filmed at Temple Beth-El on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City. Passersby could recognize a ghost of Newark in one facade used for the production: Hahne's department store.Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Simon, the showrunner, shared a photo with John Turturro and Winona Ryder, saying the space held a special meaning for him. He said his own father, Bernard Simon, was bar mitzvahed at the same temple in 1933. Simons grandparents also owned a grocery store on Jackson Avenue in Jersey City, what is now Martin Luther King Drive. See more photos from the Newark set of The Plot Against America below. A vintage store display at "Hahne's."Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Classic cars lined Commerce Street. During some scenes, the cars were driven down the street.Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Women and men in period-appropriate dress walked the street for a scene in "The Plot Against America." Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com The Market City Deli was made over as Aldine's Luncheonette. Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Howard Savings was brought back to life on Commerce Street.Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com An advertisement for Vineland's Swanson Hardware Supply adorned one classic car. Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 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. A new federal health report has found another troubling trend for autism in New Jersey, a state already known for having the highest childhood autism rate in the nation. Between 2010 and 2014, the autism rate for 4-year-olds in New Jersey rose by 43% or 1 in 35 for that age group, according to the new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which used research by Rutgers University. Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who directed the New Jersey portion of the study, said the results were startling and unsettling. This is definitely a true increase thats part of a larger trend that has been going on continuously as long as I have been doing surveillance, Zahorodny told NJ Advance Media. Zahorodny said he had expected to see some sort of leveling off. Instead, he was alarmed that among the 4-year-old group the rate is continuing to rise. He expects the next autism survey in the coming years to find another increase. It seems intolerable to have so many children affected by a disorder as complex and as important as autism, and that were not sounding a call for better research and better use of resources to identify and screen children, he said. While the results of the study are not representative of the country, they are considered the benchmark for the rate of autism in the nation. The study put the national rate of autism at 1.7% of the childhood population, compared with 3% for New Jersey. But it wasnt only New Jersey that saw an increase. The study looked at six other states and found that in all of them, there was a nearly 30% rise in autism rates or 1 in 59 children. The six other states included Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. When it came to the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, Missouri had the lowest rate with 8 per 1,000 children, compared to New Jersey, which had the highest with 28 per 1,000 children. This put the average at 13 per 1,000 children in the U.S. The study comes just a year after another federal health report that found a massive spike among 8-year-olds in 11 states. That study found that 1 in every 34 kids in New Jersey was affected by autism a 19% rise from the previous two years. Its important to note that New Jersey is widely known for its clinical and educational services for children with autism. Therefore, its an ongoing question of whether families in New Jersey are more likely to have an autistic child or whether we are better at diagnosing the disorder than in other states. Nonetheless, the autism rate in New Jersey has risen roughly 200% since 2000. For Zahorodny, that jump is too dramatic to be solely attributed to better services and education. In my mind, what Ive been seeing since 2000, there is an unequivocal, unparalleled, linear increase in autism, Zahorodny said. Historically, the disorder is about twice as common in boys than girls. White children are known to be diagnosed with the disorder at a higher rate than black and Hispanic children. Early detection is critical, Zahorodny said. However, the study found that New Jerseys median early detection age went from 26 months in 2010 to 34 months in 2014. Zahorodny also found this troubling. It did catch me by surprise. I kind of thought we were still handling an influx of new children reasonably well," he said. Its clear that were slipping where we were in 2010. He implored parents to get their children screened as early as possible, preferably 18 to 24 months by an autism screener. Anyone seeking services can call Autism New Jerseys helpline at 1-800-4AUTISM or visit AutismNJ.org. 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 Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City will likely face the wrecking ball as a result of recent changes to the plans for a new justice complex, which will now include all of the courtrooms from the antiquated building, officials said Tuesday. Im happy that all court personnel will be relocated to the new courthouse as this building has outlived its usefulness back in the 80s, Assignment Judge Peter Bariso Jr. said. The entire infrastructure is essentially kept alive with Band-Aids. The original plans for the Honorable Frank J. Guarini Justice Complex, to be built across Newark Avenue from the Hudson County Administration Building, would have left the Hudson County Superior Court Family Division courts in the Administration Building, as well as some Civil Division courts and some offices. But on Thursday, the Hudson County freeholders approved a resolution to house the Family Court Division in the new Justice Center building and construct two additional civil courtrooms inside the nearby William J. Brennan Courthouse. The resolution authorized an additional payment of $5.1 million to Rafael Vinoly Architects for the added design work, bringing the architects bill to $9.5 million. Hudson County Freeholder Bill ODea said the acquisition of the land needed to build the Justice Complex cost about $23 million and demolition of buildings on the site cost about $2 million. The total cost of the project was to be between $250 and $270 million. The changes to the design will boost the total price tag of the project to around $300 million, ODea said. ODea and Bariso said when the courts are moved from the Administration Building, it will face a demolition crew. Every dime we have put into (the Administration Building) every year just to keep it running is a waste of money, ODea said Tuesday. Its like a money pit because we know someday the building has to come down. It should have come down already. Its past its useful life. The freeholder said he expects the land will be used for residential development with retail stores on the ground level. He said a portion of the land is expected to be used as green space. The Administration Building site is blocks from the Journal Square Transportation Center. Bariso also said he hopes the parcel will include a park. Opened in 1953, the Administration Building was to replace the Brennan Courthouse, which was closed in 1966 and slated for demolition. However, after an outcry from the public, the Brennan Courthouse was saved and eventually renovated and reopened in 1985 for use in civil cases. As far back as 1988, a study found that most functional areas of the Administration Building were unsatisfactory in terms of security control, control of light, sound, temperature and atmosphere. It found that it would be enormously expensive to remedy the buildings security, electrical wiring and asbestos problems. A 1993 study found that in order to upgrade the Administration Building to "the level of modern acceptability it would have to be entirely gutted and rebuilt from the existing structure." In September, Bariso, who became the county's top judge in 2012, noted that there are no holding cells in any of the Administration Building's courtrooms and prisoners are marched down hallways used by the public, judges, victims of crimes, witnesses in trials and any undercover officers who happen to be there. Inmates transported to court from the Hudson County jail in Kearny enter the Administration Building through the underground parking lot where judges and some prosecutors park. Although the building has central air conditioning, it is so inadequate that well over 100 window air-conditioners have been installed. In some courts, the air-conditioners run at full blast even in the winter, due to flawed temperature control in the structure. Bariso said the new Justice Center named after the former congressman and prolific philanthropist is expected to be five stories tall. The changes in design are expected to increase its footprint, but not its height. The Justice Complex site is bordered by Newark Avenue, Oakland Avenue, Hoboken Avenue and Cook Street. The project will eliminate Cook Street and connect Central Avenue from Newark Avenue to Hoboken Avenue on land just west of Cook Street where buildings have also been demolished. Work to relocate utilities on Cook Street is being done currently. The large parcel of land slated for the Justice Complex now occupied by a privately-operated parking lot. Another area is being used for jury parking and parking for Administration Building employees. ODea said that if the Family Court Division was moved to another location, it would probably cost $20 to $25 million just to by the land for a building to house the courtrooms. JERSEY CITY A group of Jersey City pastors and local activists are battling Mayor Steve Fulop over affordable housing requirements at the proposed Bayfront site, a massive development planned for the Hackensack River waterfront. The group, Jersey City Together, met on the City Hall steps Monday to demand Fulop recommit to a pledge of 35% affordable housing at Bayfront and warned if that goal is not met, the group would oppose a planned light rail expansion onto the site and would fight against any tax breaks for the development. Fulops spokeswoman told The Jersey Journal that the goal is for the entire city-owned Bayfront development, which could house up to 8,000 residential units, to include 35% affordable housing. Jersey City Together is skeptical, saying the citys unreleased plan to develop the first four Bayfront parcels will include a 20% affordability requirement. The lower percentage, according to the Rev. Willard Ashley, of Abundant Joy Community Church, would create a new Newport, LeFraks luxury residential and commercial district on the citys Hudson River waterfront. Do you prefer a community like Newport, driven by developers, or a neighborhood that looks like Jersey City? Ashley said. The activist groups Monday rally came as the city prepares to issue a request for proposals from developers seeking to transform the first segment of the vacant, 100-acre Bayfront property into a residential community. Bayfront is located west of Route 440 and north of the gated Society Hill community. The first portion the city intends to develop is adjacent to Society Hill. The RFP has not been issued yet, but a Jersey City Together spokesman said Fulop told the group it would require 20% affordability, not 35%. City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said the RFP will be consistent with the language of a resolution the City Council passed in June. That resolution says Bayfront will have a minimum of 20% and a goal of 35% affordable units. Members of Jersey City Together, who supported that resolution, are nervous that if the citys first attempt to develop Bayfront does not include the higher percentage of affordable housing, Bayfront as a whole might not, either. Wallace-Scalcione said the first developed parcels will be a test to the market and there is a risk to the taxpayer that we are navigating. The council in October approved $170 million in borrowing to purchase portions of the Bayfront site from Honeywell International the city already owned the other portions and develop the area. The goal for the entire site remains 35% and we are hopeful we can achieve that. Wallace-Scalcione said. In a statement, Jersey City together said anything less than a 35% affordability requirement at Bayfront makes no sense and demonstrates a severe lack of leadership. When Fulop first suggested to council members that the city should buy Bayfront and work with multiple companies to develop it piece by piece, he said the plan would allow the city to ensure as much as 35% of Bayfront would be classified as affordable housing. Council President Rolando Lavarro, a one-time Fulop ally whose relationship with the mayor has soured, said he has been concerned that the affordability requirement at Bayfront would get diluted. Im confident that folks like Jersey City Together and other council people with a conscience will stand up for the people of Jersey City and make sure we have affordable housing for many of our working families and middle-income folk, Lavarro said. Jersey City Together is a successor group to the Interfaith Community Organization of Jersey City, which for decades fought the owners of the property, now Honeywell, over the sites chromium contamination. ICO eventually sued Honeywell in federal court and won a victory in 2003 when a judge ordered Honeywell to clean up the site. Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. EDITORS NOTE: Entrepreneurs everywhere are eyeing the billion-dollar legal weed industry, an economic opportunity unrivaled in modern N.J. history. NJ Cannabis Insider features exclusive weekly content geared toward those interested in the marijuana industry. View a sample issue. WASHINGTON One of the highest-profile marijuana bills in the new Congress is the bipartisan Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act, better known as the States Act. That measure would prevent the federal government from enforcing its ban on marijuana in any state that has legalized cannabis, or any state planning to do so, such as New Jersey. Missing from the list of sponsors is one prominent advocate of legalization: U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who introduced one of the earliest comprehensive pieces of legislation on the topic, the Marijuana Justice Act. Booker, D-N.J., said he wont support legislation that does not address the impact of the war on drugs, which fell heaviest on minority communities. I really believe that at this point, it must contain justice components, Booker told NJ Cannabis Insider. Its not, Hey, just looking forward, suddenly lets give states the right to do what they want to do, Booker said. Weve got to correct for the absolute injustice of marijuana enforcement, the racial biases in marijuana enforcement, how its disproportionately affected poor and low income communities. Booker said he was working with the bills sponsors to add a criminal justice component to the legislation. His own bill has called for investing in communities hardest hit by the drug laws, and for expunging the records of those convicted of low-level marijuana possession offenses. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a co-founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and a lead sponsor of the States Act, agreed. No comprehensive reform is going to take place without speaking to equity and engagement, particularly with the minority communities, he said. In his home state, Booker said he is making his feelings about ensuring that past wrongs are addressed in any cannabis bill during his conversations with Gov. Phil Murphy, who is leading the effort to legalize marijuana for personal use. If were not doing anything to rectify that past injustice, I think that were allowing that injustice to cement in our country, Booker said. I feel that I have a role and a responsibility that every time someone is talking about legalization, if they dont talk about expungement, theyre not talking about restoring justice provisions by reinvesting tax dollars in those communities disproportionately impacted, we are not doing anything to address the injustices that are festering in our country. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. 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. Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider. Many onlookers pulled out their phones and snapped pictures as flames roared through the roof of the North End Pavilion on the Ocean Grove boardwalk Saturday. But some were firefighters, and they posed for selfies or group photos - some as flames continued to shoot from the historic building that was recently refurbished after surviving Superstorm Sandy. Other firefighters noticed, and called them out, like this Twitter post from a career firefighter in Mercer County: Im sure the owners of the businesses that burned at the NJ Boardwalk yesterday appreciate that you all had enough time to pose for these great pics of yourselves with their livelihood going up in smoke in the background. Very classy." If its one thing I love, its firemen that live for the social media attention more than the actual job. #GarbageHumans #AttentionWhores #GetOut https://t.co/UB5sZYgLJE Ryan Ziegler (@momedic9019) April 15, 2019 The pictures caught the attention of Dave Statter, a retired television news reporter in Washington, D.C. who once worked as a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Maryland. He runs the firefighting website, Statter911, and hes written about the issue before. Recently, after two firefighters posed at a Michigan blaze that turned out to be a fatal fire, Statter proposed that fire departments adopt his general order suggestion and ban selfies at fire scenes. If you want a group picture, do it back at the firehouse, he says. In a blog post Monday, Statter wrote: For those who think the Jersey Shore fire is okay selfie material because it wasnt a deadly fire, stop for a moment and think. Its very likely the owner of the business is way too busy right now to see or worry about these silly pictures and this may not be an issue for them. But what if they eventually do care and complain? How does a fire chief justify these actions? How do you explain to someone who lost their lifes work and the employees who lost their source of income that the firefighters are smiling because they like to go to fires and that its a pride thing? I absolutely get theres a great deal of satisfaction in fighting fires and saving lives and putting the wet stuff on the red stuff. You dont have to convince me. But the concept that you like going to fires and posing for pictures as buildings burn, or shortly thereafter, is likely a hard sell for the general public." Numerous Shore-area fire departments responded to the Saturday blaze, which was reported at about 11:30 a.m. and fire crews rotated in and out of the fire scene all day late into Saturday night. The chief of the Ocean Grove Fire Department did not immediately return a message requesting comment. Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, whose office runs countywide emergency management, and who was at the fire Saturday, was not immediately available for comment Monday. Nothing wrong with this picture from a 5-alarm Jersey Shore fire, but if they turn around & pose --as some firefighters did Saturday--they'd be in violation of the recent STATter911 general order. Details here-https://t.co/tFVtxblubC #firefighters #firegroundselfies #SMACSS pic.twitter.com/R6MpUeCjL6 Dave Statter (@STATter911) April 15, 2019 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. A man who murdered a Long Branch couple in 2013 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. Carlos I. Menjivar, 26, of Long Branch, was found guilty on Dec. 18, 2018 of murdering Maria Yolanda Catejo-Munoz, 35, and Fredis Orlando Ventura, 33. He was also convicted on weapons charges. Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman said during Menjivars sentencing that he did not simply murder the victims, he butchered them, according to a release from the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office. Ventura invited Menjivar, as well as a third man who was not named by prosecutors and Catejo-Munoz to his Sairs Avenue apartment in the early morning hours on Mar. 24, 2013, prosecutors said. After the third man left the apartment, Menjivar fatally stabbed Catejo-Munoz and Ventura. Catejo-Munoz was reported missing a few hours later and the Long Branch Police were called to investigate. The following afternoon police discovered the bodies of Catejo-Munoz and Ventura with multiple stab wounds at the apartment. On Dec. 16, 2014, he admitted to detectives that he stabbed Ventura in the neck with a knife, but told them he was forced to do it by other people who were involved with Catejo-Munozs murder, according to the release. However, DNA and forensic evidence found at Venturas apartment as well as his own phone records disproved Menjivars story that others were involved in the crime, officials said. 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. Dear Annie: My oldest sister has five grown children. Four live out of town, and one lives with his mother. My sister has never been able to stand up for herself very well. The out-of-town children have been trying to get her money. They have even somehow made the court send her a letter to appear for a 30-minute evaluation to see if she has dementia. My sister is fully functional and takes care of paying her bills, cleaning her home, cooking, etc. Shes not crazy or dysfunctional; shes just who she is. The out-of-town children have put together a letter of character assassination against her other son and the rest of the family (myself included). I have never seen such a blatant bunch of lies and have never heard of a story worse than this when it comes to children trying to get a parents money before they pass. Although, I did have a sister (we no longer have a relationship) who tried to get money from my mother as her inheritance before she died. The oldest child of my sister is the ringleader. He even went so far to say in the court letter that any and all expenses would be paid by his mothers investments. I dont have any lawyer friends to ask questions to. What say you, Annie? -- Bewildered in VT Dear Bewildered: It sounds as though there are a lot of issues here that may look one way or the other depending on ones perspective. Meanwhile, caught in the middle is a real person -- your sister. Perhaps its best for her to loop in an objective assessment by meeting with a medical professional on her own. Given that this is now heading to court review and legal intervention, there will be various sides of the story being submitted, and retaining a lawyer to deliver your side may be prudent. Accusations tend to go hand in hand with escalation, but sensible alternatives remain for those that are less interested in winning and more interested in ensuring your sister is safe and secure. Dear Annie: I lost my elderly mother recently. She had been in nursing home for a couple years. During this time, I was forced to make care decisions I never wanted to make and to sell her home of 60 years and most of her possessions. It was gut-wrenching and the most stressful time of my life. Someone I thought to be a very close friend did and said some very hurtful things during this time. I tried to talk to her about it, but she blamed me for everything so I walked away and we havent spoken since. I realize now she was never the friend I thought she was. Id like to tell your readers that if they have a friend dealing with elderly parents and they dont answer a text or return a call immediately, cut them some slack. They already feel guilty for decisions they have to make; they dont need more guilt from you. Theres no happy ending to their story. Please show them some kindness and understanding at possibly the most difficult time of their life. -- Missing Mom Dear Missing Mom: I am so incredibly sorry for the loss of your beloved mother. I am glad that you found out this supposed friends true colors and cut ties, though Im sorry you had to find out at such a trying time in your life. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for writing. Ask Me Anything: A Year of Advice From Dear Annie is out now! Annie Lanes debut book -- featuring favorite columns on love, friendship, family and etiquette -- is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com. Annie Lane grew up in California and headed east to graduate with honors from New York University, where she majored in English literature and specialized in psychology. She earned her Juris Doctor from New York Law School. Since July 2016, Annie has offered common-sense solutions to everyday problems in her column, Dear Annie. Her advice is unusually perceptive. She is firm, funny and sympathetic, echoing the style of her biggest inspiration, Ann Landers. Annie lives outside Manhattan with her husband, two kids and two dogs. When not writing, she devotes her time to play dates and Play-Doh. COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM A 39-year-old man accused of robbing a bank along the Jersey Shore in late March was caught Sunday afternoon in New York, authorities said. Kim Quoc Nguyen, 39, of Newton Square, Pennsylvania, was taken into custody around 3 p.m. after a short foot chase in New Hyde Park, according to Barnegat police. Three days after robbing an M&T Bank on March 29 in Barnegat, police identified him as a suspect. Investigators from several agencies pursued leads that placed Nguyen in South Jersey, Philadelphia and New York City before police located a vehicle linked to him in Queens, New York. Police put the vehicle under surveillance and eventually located Nguyen. He is being held at the Nassau County jail in New York to await extradition. Nguyen didnt show a weapon when he handed the teller at the North Main Street bank a note demanding money at about 4 p.m. on March 29, police said at the time. Barnegat police chief Keith Germain thanked other law enforcement agencies, including the Nassau County Police Department for help cracking the case. This is precisely the kind of collaboration and teamwork we strive for in law enforcement," Germain said. Over a dozen federal, state, county, and local agencies from three states worked together and leveraged their individual knowledge and expertise to safely bring this subject into custody. 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. Many of my fellow pundits are conflicted concerning the indictment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A typical assessment came from David Ignatius of the Washington Post: Assange wants to fight his case under the banner of press freedom. His problem is that the Justice Department has drawn its indictment carefully enough that the issue is theft of secrets, rather than their publication. That's why so many press advocates seemed to be distancing themselves from Assange after the news broke Thursday. I beg to differ. So does my fellow Jersey guy Andrew Napolitano, who is the Fox News legal analyst. I have to tell you, in my opinion Julian Assange is a hero, Napolitano said on Fox and Friends after the arrest was first reported last week. What he published was truthful information that the American public and the world had the right to see. Napolitano said the indictment makes a number of assertions that any journalist or any citizen who wants to read good journalism should find alarming. The mentality that drafted this indictment and orchestrated this kidnapping of Assange is a mentality that is profoundly at odds with the First Amendment and the Pentagon Papers case, Napolitano said when I phoned him. Its as if the Pentagon Papers opinion does not exist. In that 1971 case, both the New York Times and the Washington Post were given copies of a classified study of the Vietnam War. The leaker was Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst who had worked on the study. Computers were in their infancy then, so Ellsberg and a colleague had to photocopy all 7,000 pages of the study. When the Times and Post started running them, the Nixon administration got an injunction against further publication. The Supreme Court then lifted the injunction. Ellsberg was prosecuted, but the charges were dropped after a mistrial was declared. In this case, leaker Chelsea Manning was convicted for stealing the data. But the publisher is immune even if its stolen, Napolitano said. Perhaps thats why the Justice Department is not charging Assange with publishing the data. Theyre not even charging him with stealing it. The charge is that he conspired to steal even more data but failed to do so. In trying to prove the existence of this failed conspiracy, the government is making several assertions that should alarm all defenders of the First Amendment. One is a statement that Assange was not authorized to receive classified information of the United States. Well, no journalist is. Then theres the argument that It was part of the conspiracy that Assange encouraged Manning to provide information and records from departments and agencies of the United States So did the Times and Post journalists, Napolitano said. So why is this case different? Because this time around computers were used instead of photocopiers. The prosecution is charging that Manning was not merely a recipient of the material but he also helped Manning hack into the military computer system to get more. I ran that by former CIA agent and current blogger Larry Johnson, who has consulted with Napolitano on security issues. Julian Assange didnt hack the computers, said Johnson. He didnt need to. He had Manning do it. The indictment alleges that Assange aided in the hacking effort by helping Manning find a password to get even more data. It states, Assange had indicated he had tried to find the password but had no luck so far. Theres a good reason a guy sitting in England would have no luck trying to penetrate a computer network based in the United States, said Johnson. Its impossible, he said. The military computers were not connected to the Internet. It was not a matter of a hacker getting access over the internet. Assange would have had to be working on a secure computer in a secure facility to access any password information, Johnson said. So what was he up to? Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said that Assange was taking efforts to protect the identity of that source" Manning. But thats something journalists do all the time. Johnson called the conspiracy charge a contrivance. They had to come up with some reason to go after Assange because he was publishing information from a whistle-blower, he said. Maybe the government has something better up its sleeve in the event Assange is ever brought to trial. But its difficult to see how someone who was not even subject to U.S. law could conspire to commit a crime that couldnt be committed from where he was sitting. If this holds up in court, I would advise my fellow journalists to stop doing journalism. When government officials get embarrassed, they can always contrive some way to blame someone else. By Patricia Teffenhart and Marissa Marzano As women came forward and shared that former Vice President Joe Bidens behavior made them uncomfortable, questions in the media and on the morning shows swirled. Has #MeToo finally gone too far? Where do we draw the line? Despite what headline writers and Sunday show hosts would have you believe, none of the women who have come forward and talked about how Bidens behavior made them feel uncomfortable have equated the behavior with a sexual assault. In fact, all have gone to great lengths to state that while the behavior was inappropriate and uncomfortable, it wasnt a criminal assault and as such they arent advocating for Biden to be exiled from public life or even to necessarily face punitive consequences. Many of them did state wanting an acknowledgment; a clear I am sorry that is still yet to come. They wanted Biden, who stakes much his reputation on drafting and passing the 1992 Violence Against Women Act and championing campus sexual assault as one of his pet issues during the Obama presidency, to recognize his behavior is harmful. From our vantage point working at the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, we did too. Many people especially women, perhaps even more so women who work in male-dominated industries are uniquely angry about Biden because they recognize the behavior all too well. Its not an outright assault, but its uncomfortable, or paternalistic, or even misogynistic. Many women see these interactions and deeply identify with an experience they have had, where theyve confided their discomfort with others and been told he didnt mean it like that and hes just from a different generation and itll just end up hurting you if you say something, which of course all really means, His comfort is more important than yours. Still others, tongue in cheek, comment that the times are a-changing and how our interactions are held to a different standard now in this #MeToo era. But that simply isnt true these types of behaviors in the workplace and social settings were always uncomfortable and inappropriate and just plain wrong. Thats not new. The only thing thats a-changing is our readiness to hear and understand and validate these experiences. Its not lost on us that many men in politics and other male-dominated industries have responded to Bidens behaviors in ways that reaffirm this has always been business as usual. #MeToo is a big tent movement, providing opportunities for survivors to share how their lives have been impacted by a wide-range of entitled, toxic behaviors. Aziz Ansari. Joe Biden. Harvey Weinstein. These men, their behaviors, and the intentions behind them all vary, though they are born from the same root causes: oppression and toxic masculinity, The conversations we can have about the differences and similarities can help us identify ways to increase the safety and comfort for all of us, especially women who have been disproportionately impacted by these harmful behaviors for too long. Biden could have taken this moment to reflect and deeply apologize. Instead, he offered a mealy-mouthed statement that stopped short of Im sorry and then joked about the situation at a public event. It reflects a phenomenon weve seen over and over. As a society, were becoming better at addressing root causes of sexual violence in institutions we need not look further than the plethora of bills in the halls of Trenton and beyond looking to address sexual violence on college campuses or faith-based institutions or our school system. That is a good and necessary step forward, and were heartened by it. But we cant legislate our way out of this problem. The far more complex and difficult work happens in addressing situations like Bidens and the systemic power imbalances that make them possible. Sexual violence doesnt occur in a vacuum it exists in a pressure cooker of oppression, racism, misogyny, inequity. Lets have those nuanced conversations without dipping into hyperbole that tries to paint all disclosures into the same box. Until we begin to squarely face the microaggressions and day-to-day misogyny that permeates our culture, we will not make true progress to ending sexual violence. Patricia Teffenhart is executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA). Marissa Marzano is the coalitions communications manager. 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. By Linda Schwimmer All this month, Conversation of Your Life (COYL) has been organizing gatherings to support people who want to talk about their end-of-life care wishes. I joined one of these events last week at a Tenafly senior center, where Mayor Peter Rustin, along with a lawyer and a social worker, explained health care proxy forms, advance directives, and DNRs. As I listened at this and other events, one message kept coming through: give the gift of clarity to the people you love. Tell them what you want at the end of your life. Dont expect the medical system to figure out what you want it cant and dont wait for your doctor to bring up the topic. Polls show that patients seldom talk with their health care providers about their wishes for end-of-life care. At the Quality Institute, our New Jersey Health Matters poll with Rutgers Eagleton, released Tuesday, Health Care Decisions Day, found that only about half of New Jersey residents have talked to anyone about their end-of-life care preferences and just a quarter of those who talked to someone talked to their health care providers. Medicare, Medicaid and other insurers now pay doctors and other health care providers to have these conversations and still these discussions are not happening at high enough rates to ensure that New Jersey residents are having their wishes honored and respected. What is the answer? Patients, families, and communities must take control. Together we must change the culture around death and dying. Thats what the Quality Institutes COYL is trying to do. Were bringing communities together in local libraries, recreation rooms, and senior centers. Residents are talking with subject matter experts such as nurses, social workers, and elder lawyers. Theyre reading books, such as The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-Of-Life Care, by Dr. Angelo Volandes; watching movies, such as Frontlines Being Mortal, and learning about the documents they need to protect their wishes. We are making a difference, but not fast enough. New Jersey still ranks as one of the highest states (49 out of 50) in the nation in terms of intensive medical care at the end of life. According to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, New Jersey residents spend 44 percent more days in intensive care units in the last six months of life compared to the average American. New Jersey residents also spend 30 more days in the hospital, and are more likely to die in the hospital. People should know all their options, especially after Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Medical Aid in Dying legislation. We often hear people say they want everything for a loved one at the end of life. But most people dont understand what everything means. A leader in the field, Dr. Volandes educates patients about their options for life-prolonging care, limited medical care, and comfort care. He uses videos to show patients what aggressive care feeding tubes, dialysis, ventilators, for instance looks like for an elderly person in the ICU. He shares the videos in a neutral way and patients determine what options fit best with their values. Studies have shown the educational process enables patients to feel more comfortable with their eventual choice. The culture change must include our health care system, too. Progress is being made, but more can be done, such as provider training through simulated conversations with patients. We also know electronic medical records and other technology is making it easier for people to document and share their wishes. At the Quality Institute, we are not urging people to choose less or more care. But we do want people to know that in New Jersey if you dont document your wishes you likely will get the default option of aggressive care in a hospital in your final days. In Tenafly last week, the social worker, Naomi McDermott, told us how she often saw family members collide when an elderly loved one died without clear wishes established. One child wanted aggressive care for Mom or Dad while another didnt. The friction caused unnecessary pain during an already difficult time. Through COYL, were helping people give their loved ones the gift of clarity. Not talking about death will not stop us from dying. Linda Schwimmer is president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, the only independent, nonpartisan advocate working to promote quality, accountability and transparency in New Jersey health care. 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. President Trumps threat to release purported criminals here illegally into our cities, simply to punish the Democrats, tells us everything we need to know about his motives. He is not serious about the mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He just wants to use it as a political cudgel, to divide Americans for his own benefit. Assume, for the sake of argument, that Trump does exactly what he says he will: Dumps gang members, drug dealers, human traffickers, and criminals of all shapes, sizes and kinds onto our streets, then blames local policies for it. This is not even particularly new. It appears to have been his strategy all along. Perhaps this is why ICE routinely allows criminals to be released from our jails, rather than actually doing its job, getting a court order and picking them up for deportation. Look at how this is playing out right now in New Jersey. What Trump dubs a sanctuary policy the Immigrant Trust directive crafted by our Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal actually helps solve crimes, urban police chiefs attest. It says local cops should not ask about immigration status; this is the job of ICE. Because if youre being attacked on a dark street, you want a witness to feel safe enough to call 911, or testify later in court, without fearing that police will hand her over to ICE for deportation. Law enforcement needs community trust to bring bad guys to justice. Yet as Grewal made clear, anyone who commits a crime will still be arrested, regardless of immigration status. And New Jersey is ready to help the feds seize criminals, as long as ICE does its job and gets a court order to pick them up. Yet ICE routinely fails to do this. Even when it was told 51 days in advance that alleged domestic abuser Luis Perez was about to be released from jail, for example, ICE never took him into custody. He got out and reportedly committed a triple murder then, as usual, ICE slammed New Jersey as a sanctuary. Thats rich. Imagine if local cops didnt bother to get a warrant to search a suspects house for crucial evidence; then, after he went on to kill several people, blamed the judicial system for requiring a warrant in the first place. Wouldnt the relevant question be, why didnt you just do your job and get one? Its the same here. Courts have ruled it unconstitutional for jails to hold prisoners beyond their final date of release, so if ICE cant pick someone up right away, it needs a court order to authorize the added time in detention. Otherwise, jails are forced to assume all the legal risk, including big penalties paid for by our property taxes. Even jails in deep red states are shielding themselves from these potential lawsuits. If this were truly about public safety, Trump would ensure that ICE did its job, obtained the necessary court orders and deported the criminals. But hed rather just let them loose and slam the Democrats. The point is the political smear. What is supposed to be a professional agency has become a weapon for retribution against political enemies. This is because Trump doesnt actually care about ICEs mission, or the wall. Supervisors at his businesses knowingly accepted false papers from illegal laborers for decades until they got caught. No, what he wants is political Teflon: to work his supporters into such a frenzy that no matter what, theyll rush to his defense even at the expense of their own safety or higher property taxes. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Gov. Phil Murphy has requested the resignations of all the gubernatorial appointees to the troubled New Jersey Economic Development Authority, effective immediately, NJ Advance Media has learned. In a late day series of calls, at least five board members were asked to step down, two sources with knowledge of the moves confirmed. All were put on the board by former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. The Trenton-based authority has been under siege in recent months, since a scathing audit by the state comptroller was publicly released in January. The report criticized the EDAs oversight of a program it said had handed out billions in tax credit incentives with scant oversight. Murphy, a Democrat, said in response to questions about the appointments that he had accepted the resignation of Laurence M. Downes, the CEO of New Jersey Resources Corp., who currently serves as a board member and chairman of the EDA. As first a member and later chairman of the board of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Larry Downes has been integral to achieving the states economic vision. His knowledge of New Jerseys fiscal needs is unmatched and as one of the chief architects of our economic master plan, Larry was an essential component of the states economic growth throughout his tenure on the board, said Murphy in a statement. "I am grateful for not only his leadership of the NJEDA but also for his support and his friendship. I wish Larry well as he continues his stewardship of one of New Jerseys most trusted public utilities. Downes, in a statement, confirmed he had agreed to offer his resignation as EDA chairman after speaking with the governor. The EDA is now at a critical juncture, as the administration and legislature re-examine its function in line with the governors vision for economic growth and development, Downes said. The governor has expressed his belief that in the current climate, a new board will be more effective to carry out the EDAs mission, and I fully agree. I am proud of the work we have accomplished, and appreciate the dedicated efforts of the EDA staff." The EDA board is made up of eight public members four who are named by the governor, two recommended by the state Senate president, and two appointed upon recommendation by the state Assembly speaker. Five other administration officials also sit on the board, including the state treasurer, the banking commissioner and the labor commissioner. There is one alternate member as well, who was also appointed by the governor. All are unpaid. The EDA assists businesses looking to move to the state or expand with a portfolio of tax credits, grants tax-exempt and taxable bond financing, loans, and loan guarantees. The comptroller raised questions over how the EDA awarded tax credits to a number of unidentified companies, which could not verify they had created the jobs that were promised. It also said the agency could not evaluate whether its inventive programs generated any economic benefits to the state, and certified projects and released tax credits, in violation of the law even when projects did not meet the requirements. A 2015 lawsuit that recently came to light revealed as well that political pressure was put on the EDA by the Christie administration to approve hundreds of millions in subsidies. In that lawsuit, a whistleblower claimed he was ordered to change data to help some companies obtain state tax breaks. The agency is currently the focus of a special governors task force formed by Murphy after that audit. In its first of a series of public hearings, the task force opened with the testimony of a whistleblower who claimed that the company she had worked for had 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 task force last week also disclosed that it has uncovered evidence of "unregistered lobbying on behalf of special interests, and referred the matter to law enforcement. Officials would not provide any details on the nature of the alleged offense, who was being investigated, or where the matter had been referred for criminal investigation, saying only that unregistered lobbying had materially affected the legislation and regulations governing New Jerseys tax incentives granted to businesses. Critics of the authority a meeting of the EDA last week called for entire board to resign, charging that its members rushed through billions in corporate subsidies to profitable and politically connected corporations without adequate oversight or accountability. 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. The emergency department at University Hospital in Newark is simply inadequate and "is in desperate need of a renovation state lawmakers said Monday, urging Gov. Phil Murphys administration to approve the hospitals request for $10 million. Members of the state Assembly Budget Committee worriedly quizzed top Health Department officials on the status stability of New Jerseys only public hospital, which is also the states largest charity care provider for uninsured patients. Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, said her mother has been a frequent patient and theyve seen firsthand how the emergency department is packed to capacity, with not enough slots for the patients. The hospital has requested $10 million from the Murphy administration to reorganized the ER, which is in "desperate need of a renovation, Munoz said. If the state couldnt find that much money right away, she suggested coming up with $2 million to get the project started. The facility is simply inadequate, Munoz told Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal and his senior staff who testified about the departments $2.1 billion budget. Judith Persichilli, acting CEO at University Hospital, told NJ Advance Media the need is dire. Wait times can last six hours, and thats an improvement from two years ago when patients waited upwards of 10 hours. Some 7,500 patients a month flood the emergency department, which was built to serve half that amount, Persichilli said. The money would pay for a consultant and the construction of a rapid assessment center to lighten the load" in the emergency department," she said. The goal is also to create an urgent care center so the ER is treating only true emergencies, she added. The state already heavily subsidizes the hospital, which is located in the New Jerseys largest city. The current state budget supplies $135 million in various grants and aid an amount that would remain the same when the fiscal year begins anew in July if the Democrat-controlled Legislature approves Murphys budget as is. University Hospital is financially vulnerable in other ways, the chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee noted. The health commissioner will soon decide whether Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth should be recognized as a trauma center a designation that would divert a significant number of patients from University, which is fewer than 10 miles away. If Trinitas is given level 2 (status), it would impact on us greatly, Chairwoman Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Newark said. University Hospital predicts it would lose 250 of its 3,000 annual trauma patients to Trinitas, siphoning away as much as $20 million a year, Persichilli said. In January, senior state Health Department staff recommended the commissioner reject Trinitas request, saying the hospital could not demonstrate it would treat 350 trauma patients, the state minimum, and would not hurt neighboring trauma centers. But the state Health Planning Board, an advisory board to the commissioner, voted to approve the application. New Jerseys only has three Level 1 trauma centers one each in north, central and south Jersey which provide the most comprehensive care for people with critical and life-threatening injuries. A Level 2 regional trauma center is capable of treating most traumatic medical conditions, including surgery and critical care services 24 hours a day. Elnahal, the commissioner, declined to discuss the matter as he is in the midst of deliberations. A decision is expected in mid-May. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. WASHINGTON If you saw your taxes go up under the Republican tax law that limited your property tax break, you werent alone. In fact, 411,809 New Jersey households saw their taxes rise, the fifth highest number of any state, according to a report by the Center for American Progress, a progressive research group founded by John Podesta, who later chaired Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. Only California, New York, Texas and Florida saw a greater number of households paying more in taxes, according to the report, based on data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Far more New Jerseyans 3.5 million saw their taxes reduced. But Seth Hanlon, a senior fellow with the center, said a law that increased the federal deficit by $1.9 trillion over 10 years shouldnt have raised anybodys taxes. Nationally, 10 million Americans got a tax hike. What really rubs people the wrong way is there are 10 million people getting a tax increase when the very wealthy and corporate America are getting an enormous windfall, Hanlon said. If you were going to design a tax cut that would increase the deficit by almost $2 trillion, its easy to design a tax cut that would go to middle class people where no one comes out worse off. California, New York and New Jersey were among the states disproportionately affected by the legislations $10,000 cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes. New Jersey and New York also send billions of dollars more to Washington than they receive in services. Hanlon said the deduction cap was a big driver in giving millions of people a tax increase, along with the elimination of the personal exemption. The measure proved so unpopular that Democrats won several Republican-held congressional districts in those three states alone en route to winning 40 seats and a House majority. A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month said that almost half of Americans still disapproved of the law, 49 percent, with 36 supporting it. Tax Day is always a trying time for Americans," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., the only New Jersey member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. This year is especially hard for New Jerseyans because of the Republican tax scam law that capped the state and local tax deduction. In their returns this year, our citizens were robbed to give a kiss to the 1 percent of the GOP donor class. Republicans credited the tax law with helping to grow the economy. Jobs are up and unemployment is down. A majority of Americans in a CNN poll released last month, 51 percent, approved of the way President Donald Trump was handling the economy, while 42 percent disapproved. Trump touted the tax cut at a rally in Minnesota on Monday, and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California sang the laws praises in a statement issued to mark Tax Day. We have seen significant gains in job growth, wage increases, and historically low unemployment numbers that have positively impacted communities nationwide, McCarthy said. The current economic landscape indicates we have achieved desired results on behalf of the American people." The Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund super political action committee, which spent $5 million last year to try to protect Rep. Tom MacArthur after he backed the tax bill, went after his successor, Rep. Andy Kim, D-3rd Dist., on Monday, trying to tie him to several Democratic proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy. These attacks are as desperate as they are lazy," said Anthony DeAngelo, speaking for the Kim campaign. Kim and seven other House Democrats from New Jersey have co-sponsored Pascrells legislation to restore the full deduction for state and local taxes and pay for it by returning the tax rate for the highest earners to 39.6 percent. Now that weve reached Tax Day, Im hearing constantly from residents who have to dip into savings to pay their tax bill, or ask how they can even afford to live in our state anymore," said another co-sponsor, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist. who also flipped a Republican district last November. Pascrell, meanwhile, used Tax Day to renew his quest for Trumps tax returns. Trump is the only president in more than four decades to refuse to release his returns,. House and Ways Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who is entitled to obtain the documents under a 1924 law enacted after the Teapot Dome scandal, has given Trump until April 23 to turn over the returns. I want to know if the president is paying his fair share because I am paying my fair share, Pascrell said Monday on a conference call with reporters. Im not saying he did anything illegal but lets take a look at it. This morning, chairman @RepRichardNeal sent the following letter to IRS commissioner Rettig after the IRS missed the April 10th deadline to furnish six years of the presidents personal & business #taxreturns: pic.twitter.com/aHSNvEJwk3 Ways & Means Committee (@WaysMeansCmte) April 13, 2019 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump has been very clear in that he will not release his tax returns while theyre being audited. This is all about political partisanship, Sanders said on Fox News Sunday. I dont think Congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trumps taxes will be. Democrats in Congress arent smart enough to understand the Presidents tax returns and probably dont even understand how to do their own... https://t.co/wooGn3jVp8 Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) April 15, 2019 Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. When youre behind the wheel of a car with state government license plates, you probably shouldnt be blazing past the speed limit. Or weaving in and out of traffic like crazy. Or riding the tail of your fellow Jersey drivers. And giving someone the finger is a terrible idea. But some state workers are accused of doing all of this even though the cars theyre driving sport bright yellow bumper stickers with a hotline number urging people to call in if they catch them doing something wrong. A total of 298 complaints were filed through that state vehicle abuse hotline and online complaint website since the beginning of 2018, according to reports obtained by NJ Advance Media through an open records request. Motorists filled with road rage called out public workers who cut them off, blew through red lights or threw trash out the window. Some reported the presence of a state vehicle parked outside a shopping center on a Sunday, when no state business is likely being conducted. And yes, there were at least three complaints by drivers who say they were flipped the bird by somebody behind the wheel of a state-owned vehicle. Of the nearly 300 complaints motorists lodged, only two state workers lost privileges to drive a state car after officials reviewed and investigated the alleged infractions, said Jennifer Sciortino, spokeswoman for the Department of the Treasury, which manages the fleet. She wouldnt say which employees had their privileges revoked or how many workers received warnings. The complaint line is there for nearly the 5,718 state-owned vehicles spread across state departments. Just about all the New Jersey-owned vehicles are required to display state vehicle stickers, along with the abuse hotline for people to file complaints. Exceptions are made for vehicles assigned to members of Gov. Phil Murphys cabinet which have standard New Jersey license plates and are otherwise unmarked, according to Treasury guidelines. The names of motorists who file complaints and the drivers theyre lodged against arent public record. But the actual complaints are public and the scenes they paint are colorful. I could see through the drivers rear window that they were on their cell phone. When I put my hand up to wave and motion that they were on their phone, they gave me the middle finger, read a complaint lodged last May. The motorist went on to report they were given the finger a second time after they waved at them again about their cell phone. A complaint from September came from a state worker who accused another worker of speeding on the wrong side of the road to jump the line for a turn lane. "I am a state employee and am deeply offended by the lack of care this employee had for others while driving, it read. A driver in Camden said in September a Dodge Durango with state plates nearly hit their vehicle after it changed lanes without looking. Confrontation ensued, according to the complaint: After which the driver (of the state vehicle) rolled down the window and flipped me off and started yelling at me, followed me and tried to confront again. They could have killed someone, someone reported in August about a state vehicle they claimed passed at least 8-10 vehicles on the left and was traveling over 60 mph in a 35 mph speed zone. One driver claimed being run off the road by a state car. Another driver reported a state car speeding, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, being aggressive and on their cell phone. Passed me doing at least 90 mph, the complaint read. Dont much care about the speed, but doesnt everyone know by now about distracted driving? And one complaint claimed the sticker that tells people to report infractions hotline was tampered with to throw people off. (The) vehicle abuse hotline bumper sticker for this vehicle appeared to be altered so the 9s and a 6 were connected with a blue ink to look like 8s at quick glance." Some of the more frequent complaints were speeding (81), weaving/erratic driving (72), aggressive driving (66) and tailgating (54). Every complaint filed with the state is reviewed, Sciortino said. If there is enough information provided, they determine which department/agency that vehicle is assigned to and forward the complaint to that agency for investigation and response, she said. In most cases, we find there is no violation of the vehicle use policy or, if there is, the violation is a minor one or a first-time offense and the driver will receive a warning. Serious or repeat violators could lose driving privileges, be disciplined, or lose their job, Sciortino said. Of the more than 5,700 state vehicles, 2,000 are assigned to the Department of Children and Families, which investigates child abuse and neglect and provide family services. Most in this department are pool cars that workers dont take home. Instead, they stay parked at state offices when not in use and have multiple drivers. New Jerseys Department of Law and Public Safety has a little more than 700 vehicles and the Department of Corrections has 669, according to the records. The Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, has 566 and the Department of Human Services has just more than 400. Members of Murphys staff also have state vehicles, including director of communications Mahen Gunaratna, press secretary Dan Bryan, Schools Development Authority chief Lizette Delgado-Polanco, whos been accused of hiring friends and family at the agency she runs, and senior adviser Derrick Green. State department heads are eligible for state vehicles. Murphy spokesman Bryan couldnt say when asked how many commissioners opted to use state cars. The number of complaints represent a small percentage of those driving state cars, and Sciortino emphasized that the state motor fleet provides critical transportation so executive branch agencies can accomplish core missions. Including DCF case workers protecting the safety of children, Health Department employees inspecting hospitals or nursing homes, DEP employees responding to an environmental incident or (Department of Community Affairs) employees inspecting high-rise apartment buildings," she said. Records show the most popular model of state vehicle is a Dodge Journey, a mid-size crossover SUV. New Jersey has 766 purchased them at the contract price of nearly $18,000. That means the state paid about $13.8 million on those vehicles. There are 521 Dodge caravans (which cost about $11 million in total) and 431 Ford Fusions ($7.5 million worth), according to records. The state shelled out more than $9 million last fiscal year to fuel its fleet, Sciortino said. The vehicles subject to this complaint hotline dont include the more than 2,700 assigned to the State Police, the two SUVs used to shuttle Murphy around the state, two others offered to his chief of staff and chief counsel, as well as those assigned to the Senate president and Assembly speaker. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. State police arrested a man Tuesday evening who had barricaded himself in a Pittsgrove Township home for nearly four hours. The situation began around 1:30 p.m. and ended between 5 and 5:30 p.m., New Jersey State Police Trooper Alejandro Goez said. Nobody was injured during the incident which occurred in the area of Willow Grove Road near Willow Grove Lake, Goez said. Authorities have not confirmed if the man was armed and they dont know if anyone else was in the home. 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. People from across Union County packed into a Scotch Plains church to pay their respects to the beloved principal of Westfield High School, who died earlier this month from complications that arose during a bone marrow donation. At the first of two viewings at St. John Baptist Church, the parking lot and side streets were packed with people who came to honor Dr. Derrick Nelson. Nelson fell into a coma during the bone marrow donation for a sick 14-year-old boy in France whom he never met, and his selflessness has been at the fore of remembrances over the past eight days. Nelson served 20 years in the Army Reserves, and people in uniform were in attendance along with relatives, students, teachers and parents, and alumni. Latonya Dudley, the mother of Westfield alums Jade and Jamir Tankard, remembered meeting Nelson when he came to the district as a vice principal at Westfield Junior High. Later, she remembers multiple visits to his office as he helped Jamir, who later graduated in 2015. He was very encouraging, with both of my kids, Dudley said. He always had positive things to say. So when Nelson was promoted to principal of the high school, it was very well-deserved, Dudley said. Jade, who graduated in 2013, remembers a larger-than-life man who cared deeply about his students. And often could be seen in the halls saying hello to everyone. Never in his office, she said. Scotch Plains police were diverting traffic around the church. The side streets were filled with more cars. He was very well loved, as you can see by the turnout," Dudley said. Nelson will be laid to rest Tuesday after a funeral. Prior to that, a second viewing will be held at St. John at 10 a.m. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. 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 New York Yankees placed first baseman Greg Bird on the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a left plantar fascia tear. Bird debuted with the Yankees in 2015, and showed tremendous promise as the teams first baseman of the future, hitting 11 home runs in 46 games. Buy Yankees tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek, PrimeSport, Ticketmaster However, after four years in the majors, Bird has played in just 186 regular season games and has spent much of his service time in the trainers room. So for those keeping score at home, Bird has played in 140 of 501 regular season games since 2016. That means hes played in just 27.9% of the Yankees regular season games in the last four years. Back in spring training, Bird had a brief medical scare after taking a ball off his right elbow. X-rays came back negative and Bird quickly returned to the lineup. Bird joins a lengthy list of Yankees on the injured list, including outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks, catcher Gary Sanchez, shortstops Didi Gregorius and Troy Tulowitzki, third baseman Miguel Andujar, reliever Dellin Betances and ace Luis Severino. The only good bit of injury news for the Yankees in the last couple of weeks came from CC Sabathia, who returned from the injured list (offseason heart surgery) and made his season-debut on Saturday, throwing five shutout innings in a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Replacing Bird on the active roster is first baseman Mike Ford, who has been called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Lorenzo Conner was arrested in the 2600 block of First Street Oct. 27, 2011, a block away from the spot where 25-year-old Nelson Smith was gunned down at Magnolia and Philip streets in Central City. Police spotted him running, and took him down after a brief foot chase in the middle of the block. At the start of Conners second-degree murder trial Tuesday (April 16), defense attorney Danny Engelberg said Conner wasnt running to evade police. He was simply trying to get away from the gunfire, which he heard as he was walking to his house on Josephine Street three blocks away, Engelberg said. Assistant District Attorney Sarah Dawkins said two New Orleans police officers were on patrol at Clara and Philip Streets the night of Oct. 27 when they heard gunshots around 6:30 p.m. They drove toward the gunfire, Dawkins said, and saw Conner running. Before he was apprehended, Dawkins said the officers saw Conner throw a revolver toward a fence. The gun hit the fence and fell to the ground, she said. Ballistics tests show that weapon was the gun used to kill Smith, she said. Engelberg denied Conner had a gun. And physical evidence, he said, would show Conner did not kill Smith. He said Conners DNA and fingerprints werent found on the gun. Conners DNA also was not present on a bicycle police found near the shooting scene, which witnesses said Smiths killer rode up on before he fired the fatal shots, Engelberg said. Conners DNA also wasnt on a shirt found at the shooting scene, which Engelberg said was left there by the gunman. A gunshot residue test came back negative, he added. 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 NOPD Det. Timothy Bender, who was the lead homicide detective on the case in 2011, testified Tuesday the officer who performed the gunshot residue test on Conner at NOPD headquarters shook her head no after she did the test, indicating the results were negative. However, Bender said when he looked at the test results about 10 minutes later, he noticed blue particles indicating gunshot residue was present. Bender said he didnt document that in his report, and he wasnt able to secure funding to perform additional gunshot residue tests. Conner was indicted in Smiths slaying in March 2012, and he was charged with obstruction of justice and with being a felon in possession of a firearm in addition to second-degree murder. He has previous felony drug convictions, which prevent his from possessing a firearm. Conner, 28, was 21 at the time of his arrest. Court records show that since his indictment, he has had several defense attorneys, and several assistant district attorneys on his case. He was in a state mental hospital for more than a year between 2013 and 2015, according to court records. Criminal District Judge Daryl Derbigny found Conner incompetent in September 2013, and ordered he be sent to the state mental hospital for treatment based on the recommendation of court-appointed sanity commission doctors. Derbigny found him competent in April 2015. While in custody of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in 2015, authorities said Conner escaped from a transport van taking him to court for a hearing. He was arrested in Marrero three days later. Conners reported escape and other crimes hes been charged with since his 2011 arrest are not expected to come up at trial this week. A dog found swimming 135 miles from shore in the Gulf of Thailand was rescued by an oil rig crew last Friday (April 11). Vitisak Payaslaw, an offshore planner for Chevron Thailand Exploration & Production told NPR that the dog swam toward the rigs platform and clung to it while the crew tried to figure out how to save the animal. Payaslaw posted a video on his Facebook page April 12 showing the dog sitting in the platform up to his chest in water. His rescuers managed to pull him up on the platform using a rope tied around his body and gave him water and food. Photos posted Monday (April 15) on Payaslaws Facebook page show the dog wearing a necklace of orange flowers surrounded by the workers from the oil rig. Its unclear how the animal ended up so far from shore. Payaslaw said that the dog has been taken in by an animal protection group called Watchdog Thailand, adding that if the owner of the dog cant be found he would take him home. The lucky dog has been named Boonrod, which Payalaw told NPR means he has done good karma and that helps him to survive. A new private suite at Tulane Lakeside Hospital offers sexual assault survivors a safe and quiet space away from the emergency room where they can talk to forensic nurses trained to help victims of these types of crimes. While victims of sexual assault can go to any emergency room for medical treatment, this is the first and only designated space in Jefferson Parish where victims older than 15 years old can speak with a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. Patients younger than 15 have to travel to Childrens Hospital of New Orleans. SANE-certified nurses have to undergo more than 100 hours of training to provide compassionate care for victims of sexual assault, conduct forensic exams and collect evidence, provide courtroom testimony and coordinate sexual assault advocacy. The space at Tulane Lakeside is an expansion of the SANE-program the hospital operates in conjunction with the Jefferson Parish coroners office. In Louisiana, the coroners office in each parish is required to examine alleged victims of a sexually oriented crime. Elizabeth Marlowe, the coordinator for Tulane Lakesides SANE program, said a patient who has been sexually assaulted will typically go through the emergency room to be treated for any physical injuries before speaking with a nurse examiner. Before the suite at Tulane Lakeside became available, a nurse from the hospitals SANE program would have to talk to patients in the emergency room. The suite is comprised of three rooms: a private consultation room, an examination room, and a full bathroom. Marlowe explained that sexual assault victims cleared from the emergency room can be transferred to Tulane Lakeside to speak with a SANE-certified nurse about the assault. Based on that information, the nurse may collect DNA evidence, assess or photograph any injuries including taking scans or x-rays of injuries, and run lab work. Marlowe said the program also offers prophylactics to patients who want to avoid pregnancy and resources for local support groups. 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 Resources are available at anytime, Marlowe stressed, and it is up to the patient on how they want to proceed with their case. Forensic medical exams can be done up to five days (120 hours) after an assault occurred. Any evidence collected can be stored safely and confidentially for up to a year giving patients time to decide whether or not they want to pursue criminal charges after they are examined by a SANE-certified nurse, Marlowe said. Fear is a big barrier, but this is all patient guided. We will not make anyone do anything they are not comfortable with, she said. The SANE-program at Tulane Lakeside is just over a year old, and the Jefferson Parishs coroners office has trained eight forensic nurses who are available 24 hours a day at the hospital. While there is no ideal way to handle someone who has been victimized by sexual assault, we believe that setting up a quiet space dedicated to this work will make it easier for the patient, said Jefferson Parish coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich. Click here for more information about the SANE program and what to do if you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault. In New Orleans, for-profit bail companies and government actors collect millions of dollars every year following the arrest and detention of their own community members. In 2015, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, government actors in New Orleans collected about $4.5 million from bail, fines and fees from defendants and their families. For-profit bail bond agents earned another $4.7 million. These profits come at the expense of mostly low-income residents and their loved ones who are least positioned to bear these costs. At the same time, the profits create perverse incentives for government and private actors to extract as much money as possible from individuals and their families and to abuse their authority to make money. These abuses and their financial toll on our communities is only beginning to come to light. Earlier this year, for example, the Louisiana Department of Insurance ordered New Orleans bail bond companies and their insurers to repay nearly $6 million in illegal profits to as many as 50,000 residents and their families. The companies routinely overcharged arrestees and their families to underwrite a bail bond. Any bail bond company that fails to do so, the commissioner of insurance warned, could face criminal theft charges. The government is part of this racket, too. Last year, a federal judge ruled that Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell violated the Constitution when he set money bail as a condition of release. Thats because the criminal court financially benefited from fees assessed on every bail bond. The federal judge found that the Orleans Parish criminal court earned approximately $1 million each year from these fees, or approximately 25 percent of its discretionary judicial expense fund. The fees were used to pay for staff salaries and benefits, conferences and legal education, office supplies and until a few years ago supplemental health insurance for judges. These cases illustrate the moral, ethical and constitutional problems that are created when the government and private actors benefit from release and detention decisions. As Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson asked last year, Would you have faith in the system if you knew that every single actor in the criminal justice system including the judge and your court-appointed lawyer relied upon a steady stream of guilty pleas and verdicts to fund their offices? Would you doubt your ability to get justice? Youve got to concede that there is something about the system that does not feel right. Whats more, secured money bail does not make our communities safer, nor does it give people an incentive to return to court. Instead, it drains precious resources from communities and destroys the lives of those who are unable to pay for their freedom as pretrial detention often results in loss of employment, housing, health care and child custody. Research also shows that people who are jailed before their trials are more likely to receive a guilty verdict and harsher sentences than people who have been charged with the same crimes, but were released. New Orleans money bail system also disproportionately impacts the citys black residents. As the Vera Institute of Justice found, eight out of 10 people in New Orleans jails are black, in a city where black people make up only 59 percent of the population, and where the median income among black residents is 57 percent lower than the median income of white residents. Louisiana should pass comprehensive bail reform to eliminate the perverse incentives that motivate judges to set high bail, and for bail companies to exploit arrestees and their families for profits. Indeed, a working group of the Louisiana Supreme Court recently concluded that bail premiums associated with bonds are excessive and should be reviewed. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the bail bond industry and the criminal courts judges are resisting such efforts. Cantrell has appealed the federal judges decision, and the bail bond industry has filed a motion to block the commissioners directive. Legislation also has been introduced that would allow the bail bond industry to increase the premiums and fees charged to defendants. New Orleans residents deserve better than these self-serving efforts from private industry, and from judges who were elected to serve the people, not to line their own or government pockets. The integrity of our criminal justice system depends on it. Micah West is a senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center. 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 An ugly fight over an audit that found the city of Zachary paid two vendors $3.5 million without having contracts in place has died down some, but the city councilman most upset about the matter has made clear he is not giving up on his quest for North Augusta, SC (29841) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Conservative commentator Candace Owens spoke at the University of Pennsylvania on April 15 after being threatened by Antifa activists. Antifa, a far-left group rooted in communism that openly advocates violence against people its members disagree with, was among those who said Owens shouldnt be allowed at the school. Owens, who is black, is the communications director for Turning Point USA, a conservative group. An Antifa-affiliated Twitter account told followers to call the universitys president and other officials and urge them to cancel the talk. While less aggressive tactics continue, such as phone calls, emails, speaking with the staff, and spreading awareness on social media, it seems likely that a large-scale confrontation is inevitable. We consider TPUSA to be a threat to our city. Fellow Worker Gritty (@FellowGritty) April 11, 2019 Their adulation of free speech and patriotism just barely veil a neo-fascist organization working hand-in-hand with a soft white power movement to recruit 18- to 22-year-oldsa well-worn tactic of early fascists from the Blackshirts to the Hitler Youth, the user wrote in a series of tweets shared by Antifas Philadelphia chapter. The user added: While less aggressive tactics continue, such as phone calls, emails, speaking with the staff, and spreading awareness on social media, it seems likely that a large-scale confrontation is inevitable. We consider TPUSA to be a threat to our city. Other users issued threats, including one that said people should buy coyote urine at Walmart, put it in balloons, and throw them at Owens. Owens posted footage of when she arrived on campus on Monday for the speech. Protesters shouted various phrases at her, including [expletive] Candace Owens and [expletive] the police. Most of the protesters appeared to be white. Candace Owens is coming to Penn next week. 3 likes and I will attempt to throw an overripe tomato at her the motorist annoyer (@jamesgeso) April 12, 2019 According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, a student newspaper, about 20 protesters describing themselves as anti-fascist and wearing ski masks and bandanas to obscure their faces gathered on campus to shout at Owens. UMC chair and college sophomore Kevin Zhou said that six groups met before the talk to discuss how to react to Owens scheduled talk. We all know what shes been doing around here. A lot of mocking, a lot of racist statements, saying racism doesnt exist, mocking sexual assault victims, Zhou said. UMC was in full support of [the protest]. Once inside the venue, Owens approached protesters to ask what she had said that they were offended by, according to protester Kate Silva, a freshman. She was coming over and looking at a lot of the posters and then asking students who were holding posters to give her examples of when she had said things or done things, Silva said. Antifa is here!! Enjoy this video of the neo-KKK stalking and harassing me as I try to invite a group of peaceful black students into my event at UPENN. The Democrats domestic terrorist arm strike again! Too bad we will NEVER BACK DOWN. WE WILL BE FREE. #BLEXIT pic.twitter.com/qAps4vDNUZ Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) April 15, 2019 During her speech, Owens questioned the belief that all women who accuse men of sexual assault should be automatically trusted, linking the belief to racist beliefs in the past. The concept that we should just believe women is exactly what got my ancestors lynched, Owens said. Weve learned our lesson the hard way with that. Owens also said that black people should leave the Democratic Party, promoting her Blexit movement. Weve given our vote for the last 60 years to the Democrat Party and we have absolutely nothing to show in return, Owens said. Why the hell did Hillary Clinton get 89% of the black vote when it was her husband, while she was with him in the Oval Office, that locked up more black men than any president in the history of the United States with his Three Strikes act? A bird's-eye view of Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture is seen in the photo taken on April 14, 2019 in northwest China's Qinghai Province. Nine years after a catastrophic earthquake battered Yushu, which killed thousands of people, new schools, hospitals and squares have mushroomed out of debris, and the locals are rebuilding their new life. (Xinhua/Zhang Long) YUSHU, Qinghai Province, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Nine years after a catastrophic earthquake battered Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which killed thousands of people, new schools, hospitals and squares have mushroomed out of debris, and the locals are rebuilding their new life. Lodru Gyatso, 16, lost his father in the magnitude-7.1 quake, which hit Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai province on April 14, 2010 and left around 3,000 people dead or missing. "I was reading books in school when the quake struck," he said. "When I got back home, my brother told me our dad had been buried under the toppled house." Lodru Gyatso's mother passed away when he was young. He was admitted to a local orphan school after the quake. The school is now home to more than 460 students, many of whom lost their parents in the disaster. "After the earthquake, we have received many donations, which help to improve our infrastructure," said Nyima Rigzin, headmaster of the school. The school, humble with one-storey temporary houses, now has a classroom building, dormitory building, canteen and library. Lodru Gyatso likes to make robots in the classroom equipped with a 3D-printer. For 23-year-old Dawa Tsedin, takeout delivery is a bit boring. But it allows him to enjoy the beauty of Yushu's new cityscape, which has sprung up from a remote, backward town to a modern city over the past nine years. Dawa Tsedin chose to be a take-away food delivery man in Yushu after graduating from a vocational school in Xi'an, capital of neighboring Shaanxi Province. He said he returned because he had seen great potential in takeout delivery in the city. "In the past, I couldn't believe that takeout delivery was available in Yushu," he said. "Now as I pass by the landmarks such as the Gesar Square, I really feel that Yushu looks like a big city." New buildings with Tibetan characteristics, new business quarters and broad avenues have sprung up in the city, in sharp contrast to the scenes before the quake. Cai Chengyong, the city's Party chief, said Yushu has also been improving urban management and building a smart city with advanced technologies. To date, the city has invested over six million yuan (about 895,000 U.S. dollars) to build an intelligent urban management network covering all streets and communities. During reconstruction, Beijing has lent a hand, investing heavily in infrastructure construction and bringing talent of education, medicine, city planning and urban management. Pei Zhifei, a veteran gynecologist from a hospital in Beijing, has been working in the Yushu Prefectural People's Hospital since 2017, tutoring local doctors in complex surgeries. "Now many critically ill patients get treated in Yushu," said Pei. "And many patients from Sichuan and Tibet have come to our hospital seeking medical help." Official data show 163 experts from Beijing, including teachers and doctors, have worked in Yushu to assist the reconstruction. In recent years, Yushu has received a growing number of tourists from home and abroad as it has listed tourism as a pillar industry. Ashak Yumpon, director of Yushu prefecture tourism bureau, said the prefecture, home to the Hol Xil Nature Reserve and the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang (Mekong) rivers, boasts abundant tourism resources. "We will promote sustainable development of the tourism industry and build ourselves into an international tourism destination," he said. 9 1 [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] 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. A Michigan gallery that has had a long and lucrative relationship with the pop artist Peter Max sued his studio on Monday, alleging breach of contract and misconduct in the sale of several thousand works of art by Max for several million dollars. Park West Gallery, with sales of roughly $500 million annually, said it had an Oct. 31 contract to buy a trove of Mr. Maxs personal selections from ALP, the company that runs his studio and business. On April 5, the lawsuit alleges, ALP tried to rescind the sale of these works, a mix of paintings and collages that the artist had put aside because he was particularly proud of them. The studio was paid in full and shipped the artwork, but now is attempting to back out of a valid and binding contract, Park Wests lawyer, Luke Nikas, said in an emailed statement. A lawyer for ALP, Jeffrey M. Eilender, called the lawsuit meritless and said it was an attempt to pre-empt a lawsuit that ALP planned to file claiming that Park West stole artwork Mr. Max had specifically reserved for himself and his children. Heritage Radio Network a food-focused broadcaster that has its studio in a shipping container inside Robertas in Bushwick , Brooklyn is sponsoring an instructional session about mezcal. Lou Bank, the founder and executive director of Sacred (Saving Agave for Culture, Recreation, Education and Development), an American nonprofit organization that works to improve conditions for the people who make nonindustrial agave spirits in Mexico, will conduct a sampling and explain the spirits. So You Think You Know Mezcal: An Educational Tasting, April 26, 6:30 to 8 p.m., $25 plus fee, eventbrite.com, search 57991528070; El Cortez, 17 Ingraham Street (Bogart Street), Bushwick, Brooklyn. Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice. To the Editor: Re Monkey, Rat and Pig DNA: Vaccine Fears Drive a Measles Surge (front page, April 10): While the overwhelming majority of Orthodox Jewish children are vaccinated for measles, the spread of misinformation regarding the dangers of vaccines among certain segments is alarming. As the chief executive of North Americas largest Jewish childrens health support network, I am greatly concerned about the potential impact the outbreak may have on the most vulnerable in our community immunocompromised children who are unable to be vaccinated for a variety of reasons, such as chemotherapy or organ transplants. Exposure to the measles could result in severe or lethal danger for these children. There is a famous Jewish dictum about protecting ones health and the well-being of others. I plead with all anti-vaccination parents to consider the others when weighing their decision. (Rabbi) Simcha Scholar New York The writer is chief executive of Chai Lifeline. To the Editor: While the measles outbreak in Brooklyn is the worst in decades, its only the latest in a long line of crises that can be traced to a lack of science literacy and quality education. The Catholicism of today builds nothing so gorgeous as Notre-Dame in part because it has no 21st-century version of that grand synthesis to offer. The reforms of the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council and everything after, have left the church partially and unsuccessfully transformed, torn between competing visions of how to be Catholic in modernity, competing promises of renewal and reform, competing factions convinced that they are the firefighters inside Notre-Dame, and their rivals are the fire. I belong to one of these factions (or to a faction within a faction; who can keep track?); I am a conservative of some sort, who fears that liberal Christianities usually end up resembling a post-inferno cathedral, with the still-grand exterior concealing emptiness within. But I am also doubtful that anything so simple as a conservative victory will return the church to cathedral-raising vigor and make it feel, to outsiders, like something more than a museum whose docents all seem to hate one another. Especially given how often conservative Catholicism is in thrall to orthodoxies that are political rather than theological, how often especially as it reacts to the destabilizing style of Pope Francis its climate feels more like an airless bunker than a Gothic nave. And it is impossible, as a Catholic, to be writing about this subject while the Cathedral of Notre-Dame is literally burning on Holy Week and not feel that everyone engaged in Catholicisms civil wars is being judged, and found wanting, and given a harrowing lesson in what is actually asked of us. The cathedral will be rebuilt; the cross and altar and much of the interior survived. But all preservation is provisional. The real challenge for Catholics, in this age of general post-Christian cultural exhaustion, is to look at what our ancestors did and imagine what it would mean to do that again, to build anew, to leave something behind that could stand a thousand years and still have men and women singing Salve Regina outside its cruciform walls, as Parisians did tonight while Notre-Dame burned. What is the synthesis that could make that possible? What lies beyond the stalemates and scandal and anger of our strange two-pope era? Go ask the Catholics of 3019 A.D. Its for them to know, and us, if God wills it, to find out. PARIS I learned that Notre-Dame was burning on Monday night when a stranger an older man stopped me on the street. A shrieking ambulance had just sped past us. He pointed to a plume of smoke in the distance, and said: Its going to Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame is on fire. The French dont spend much time in churches. Though most of the population is nominally Catholic, France is one of the least religious countries in Europe. Urbane, intellectual Parisians often dismiss religion as archaic and unenlightened. A Parisian writer once assured me that God died in the late 1960s. And yet, the fire at Notre-Dame feels as if it has struck everyone here. Drone footage of the fire showed the cross-shaped building entirely in flames. When President Emmanuel Macron came on national TV around 11:30 p.m., with the still-burning structure behind him, he called it the cathedral of all the French, even those who were never here. Its partly that, at 856 years old, Notre-Dame has witnessed much of French history. Its where Henry VI was crowned, and Napoleon became emperor. A few hours into the fire, French TV news was running everything from clips of Francois Mitterrands funeral to scenes from a movie version of Victor Hugos Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, was supposed to be on a speaking tour of the United States this week, with stops at N.Y.U.s Washington campus and at Harvard. He was going to attend his daughters wedding in Texas. I had plans to interview him for The Argument, the debate podcast that I co-host, about B.D.S., the controversial campaign to make Israel pay an economic and cultural price for its treatment of the Palestinians. Yet when Barghouti, a permanent resident of Israel, showed up for his flight from Israels Ben Gurion International Airport last week, he was informed that the United States was denying him entry. When I spoke to him on Sunday, he still didnt know exactly why the country where he went to college and lived for many years wasnt letting him in, but he assumed it was because of his political views. If thats the case, Barghouti said, it was the first time someone has been barred from America for B.D.S. advocacy. He has proceeded with his public events, but hes been appearing at them via Skype. In recent years, the American right has presented itself as a champion of free expression. Conservatives are constantly bemoaning a censorious campus climate that stigmatizes their ideas; last month, Donald Trump signed an executive order on campus free speech, decrying those who would keep Americans from challenging rigid far-left ideology. The president said, People who are confident in their beliefs do not censor others. If that last line is true and, uncharacteristically for Trump, I think it is it says something about the insecurity of Israels defenders. There have indeed been illiberal attempts to silence conservative voices on college campuses, but they pale beside the assault on pro-Palestinian speech, particularly speech calling for an economic boycott of Israel. Around two dozen states have laws and regulations denouncing, and in many cases penalizing, B.D.S. activities, and the Senate recently passed a bill supporting such measures. According to the American Association of University Professors, some public universities in states with such laws require speakers and other contractors to sign a statement pledging that they do not now, nor will they in the future, endorse B.D.S. Its hard to think of comparable speech restrictions on any other subject. Mr. Cains vulnerabilities have already prompted four Republican senators Cory Gardner, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Kevin Cramer to announce that they would vote against him if he were nominated. Barring his winning Democratic support, this quartet would be enough to doom his chances. Republicans are still pondering a challenge to Mr. Moore, who has raised alarms on professional as well as personal grounds (the I.R.S. claims he owes $75,000 in back taxes). He admits knowing next to nothing about monetary policy, and his opinion writing over the years has drawn criticism from economists of diverse views. As Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan put it, More than possibly any other economist in modern America, he has a track record of getting the big issues wrong. Wall Street isnt crazy about him, either. Even more unsettling for Republicans has been the presidents spring cleaning at the Department of Homeland Security, spearheaded by his adviser Stephen Miller. Peeved that some of his policies have yet to be realized, like denying welfare benefits to legal immigrants and stripping child migrants of court-ordered protections, Mr. Miller has been targeting officials he considers insufficiently harsh. In recent days, the president has ousted a number of key officials, including Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, whom he had long scorned as weak on border security. To replace Ms. Nielsen, the White House has floated the names of such figures as Ken Cuccinelli, Virginias former attorney general, and Kris Kobach, Kansas former secretary of state. Both are immigration hard-liners. Mr. Kobach, who oversaw Mr. Trumps failed voter fraud commission, has a reputation so toxic that multiple Republican senators have rushed to head off his nomination. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of leadership, declared that he could not support Mr. Kobach. Pat Roberts, from Mr. Kobachs home state, proclaimed him unconfirmable Dont go there, he advised and even Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a chronic presidential pleaser, said this would be a tough one. Mr. Cuccinelli has drawn the ire of none other than Mr. McConnell. The majority leader is said to have reminded his troops at a closed-door lunch last week that Mr. Cuccinelli heads the Senate Conservatives Fund, an anti-establishment political action committee that Mr. McConnell sees as having cost his team seats in past elections by championing unpalatable candidates. In 2014 , the group backed a Tea Party challenger to Mr. McConnell, a transgression not likely to be forgotten by the leader. Ever. Last Thursday, Mr. McConnell told reporters that he had expressed his lack of enthusiasm for Mr. Cuccinelli. Shortly after he disclosed his tax returns for the last 10 years, Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday rejected the idea that his newfound millionaire status was a testament to capitalism and the American dream. Appearing on Fox News in a town-hall style event, Mr. Sanders defended his wealth as the honestly earned result of a popular book that he wrote. If anybody thinks I should apologize for writing a best-selling book, he said, Im not going to do it. But he did not directly answer the question, asked by an audience member, about whether he himself should pay more in taxes now that he is a member of the 1 percent, from whom he has spent years calling for greater contributions. WASHINGTON The bad blood started early. In 2008, Neera Tanden, then a top aide on Hillary Clintons first presidential campaign, accompanied Mrs. Clinton to what was expected to be an easy interview at the Center for American Progress, the influential group founded by top Clinton aides. But Faiz Shakir, the chief editor of the think tanks ThinkProgress website, asked Mrs. Clinton a question about the Iraq war, an issue dogging her candidacy because she had supported it. Ms. Tanden responded by circling back to Mr. Shakir after the interview and, according to a person in the room, punching him in the chest. I didnt slug him, I pushed him, a still angry Ms. Tanden corrected in a recent interview. Ms. Tanden now leads the Center for American Progress, Mr. Shakir runs Bernie Sanderss presidential campaign and the enmity between the two camps burst into the open last weekend. Mr. Sanders, angry about a video produced by ThinkProgress that ridicules his new status as one of the millionaires he has vilified on the campaign trail, sent a scorching letter to the centers board, accusing Ms. Tanden of maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas. The blowup is another reflection of the ideological divisions among Democrats, this time between a legacy Clinton organization and a liberal wing trying to move the party to the left to harness the energy of millennials. Mr. Sanderss team remains convinced that the Democratic establishment worked behind the scenes to deprive him of the partys nomination in 2016; his campaign has cast the group as beholden to corporate interests set on thwarting him in 2020. Most of these great cathedrals become destination points through the treasury, what they hold that you can come and worship or that you can come and see, said Nora Heimann, a professor of art history at the Catholic University of America. The rose windows The cathedral contains three rose windows whose stained-glass panes, shaped like flower petals, each tell a religious story, including scenes from the Old and New Testaments, stories from the lives of the Twelve Apostles, and the resurrection of Christ. The biggest of the windows is over 42 feet wide and has become a major tourist attraction. On Monday night, Benoist de Sinety, a bishop of the Archdiocese of Paris, said that high heat had damaged the windows, melting the lead that held their panes in place. But Mr. Riester, speaking at a news conference in Paris at midday Tuesday, gave a more optimistic prognosis. The large rose windows dont appear to have suffered catastrophic damage, he said. Aline Magnien, who leads the French governments Research Laboratory for Historical Monuments, said in an email on Tuesday afternoon that the oldest examples of stained glass seemed to be saved. But, she added, We dont know many things about the other ones from the 20th century. Relics of the patron saints of Paris The spire of the cathedral, which collapsed on Monday, contained the relics of St. Denis and St. Genevieve, the patron saints of Paris. Laurent Ferri, a curator in the Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University, said an archbishop placed them there in 1935 to protect the building. A devastating fire swept through Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris Monday evening, severely damaging one of the citys most storied landmarks and one of the Catholic worlds most sacred sites. [President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the cathedral. Read the news story here.] The blaze, which started Monday evening, caused the churchs spire to collapse and ruined two-thirds of its roof. By Monday night, firefighters said the churchs overall structure had been saved, and its two towers, perhaps its most recognized feature, would withstand the effects of the fire. The cause of the fire, in which no one was injured, was not yet known. Here are photos from the scene of the blaze: Notre-Dame has occupied the heart of Paris for the better part of a millennium, its twin medieval towers rising from the small central island wedged between the storied left and right banks. Now, France is burning. The fire at Notre-Dame happened on the day that the countrys troubled president, Emmanuel Macron, was supposed to explain how he intended to address the demands of the Yellow Vest movement. An anguished, restless nation has struggled to cope with the monthslong uprising and with the frayed social safety net that spurred the protests. Generations that had come to rely on this social safety net, as a matter of national pride and identity, see it going up in smoke. On Monday, so was the cathedral, which for centuries has enshrined an evolving notion of Frenchness. The symbolism was hard to miss. In early April, seven other women agreed to settle claims of defamation, which they brought against Mr. Cosby in federal court in Massachusetts after he accused them of falsely saying he had sexually assaulted them. A.I.G., as Mr. Cosbys insurer, also settled those claims. Mr. Cosby has said through his spokesman that he plans to continue pursuing counterclaims against the women, in the Goins case and the others. In 2016, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office declined to bring criminal charges in the Goins case, saying possible misdemeanor charges were barred by the statute of limitations and that there was insufficient evidence to pursue more serious charges. Mr. Cosby said his legal team had provided medical records to show that he was in New York recovering from eye surgery at the time that Ms. Goins said he assaulted her. Mr. Cosby in his statement accused A.I.G. of trying to destroy him and his family, and he urged other policyholders to drop this pathetic insurance company quickly. He said he had been a policyholder with A.I.G. for more than 20 years. Matthew Gallagher, a spokesman for A.I.G., declined to comment. As a matter of practice, insurance companies do not necessarily need a clients permission to settle a case. Mr. Gallagher has previously said that certain insurance policies provide insurers with the authority to resolve claims when the insured has been informed. That scholarship was everything, Mr. Stearns said between rehearsals last week. It gave me a professional career. Soon after graduating, he joined the Studio Company of American Ballet Theater, then rose into the main troupe, where he has been an acclaimed principal dancer since 2011. His is one of many success stories for Youth America Grand Prix, the worlds largest ballet scholarship competition, now celebrating its 20th anniversary. At Lincoln Center on Thursday and Friday, during the Stars of Today Meet Stars of Tomorrow gala performances, some of this years finalists will perform on a program with some of the biggest names in ballet, most of them former finalists, including Mr. Stearns. And this year, the shows get an extra dose of celebrity as another Youth America alum and Ballet Theater dancer, Melanie Hamrick who also happens to be Mick Jaggers girlfriend returns to choreograph (with Joanna DeFelice, yet another alum) a romp for some Ballet Theater colleagues set to Rolling Stones songs arranged by Mr. Jagger. (Mr. Jagger, who just underwent heart surgery, likely wont be in attendance.) By the time of the galas, though, the most significant phase of Youth America will already have passed. Over the last year, more than 12,000 ballet students, 9 to 19, have participated in a couple dozen regional semifinals mostly in America, with a few more in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. The finals in New York this week determine the winners, but the competition is less important than what it makes happen: connecting aspiring ballet dancers with the directors of top schools and companies, who give out far more scholarships than awards. Our formula is very simple, said Larissa Saveliev, Youth Americas founder and artistic director. You dont have to win to get the prize. The real prizes are the scholarships. And for those, you just have to be noticed by one director. With a libretto by the poet Bao-Long Chu, Bound opens with the humiliated Diane (the intensely expressive soprano Fang-Tao Jiang) enduring her sleepless night in jail. She plaintively calls to her absent mother, trying to understand how a good student struggling to support her younger brothers could have come to this moment. In Ashley Tatas effectively simple production, Stephan Moravskis set suggests the dry-cleaning store where Diane works, with an array of shirts on hangers dangling from above and a long blue table for conducting business. We see Diane at the store, berated by her gruff boss (the baritone Andrew Wannigman) and forced to choose between opening the store and a chemistry test. (Other girls, she observes, struggle with whether or not to kiss a boy, or what dress to wear for junior prom.) The story shifts back to her cell, where her mother (the formidable mezzo-soprano Guang Yang) seems to appear and sings a fitful monologue about ghosts that haunt: the parents and siblings she left in Vietnam, horrific memories of war, the ancient ancestors she feels shes betrayed. In the final scene, a by-the-book judge (the stentorian bass-baritone Daniel Klein) decides to teach Diane a lesson and send her to jail. The score is the strong point of Bound. Though many composers meld Asian and Western elements in their music, Mr. Huang does so with such confidence and elegance that you hardly notice the mingling. His is a distinctive voice, spiked by cluster-like harmonies, at once piercing and ethereal, and squiggly rhythmic riffs. Played here in an arrangement for 10 instruments, including Chinese pipa (conducted surely by Alex Wen), the instrumental sounds suggest the heaving, pummeling emotional subtext of the story, as the characters sing Mr. Huangs urgent vocal lines, shifting from dramatic exhortation to moments of poignant lyrical reflection. The creators of Bound seem to have wanted to keep the work a little vague and open to interpretation, and for Diane to seem emblematic of many young people from struggling immigrant families. But I wanted to know more. And as presented here, the mothers lament seemed self-indulgent. If shes so guilt-ridden about leaving her family in Vietnam, why is she not dedicating herself more deeply to her daughter? Diane mourns her mothers absence. But is this absence emotional or actual? PARIS For years, restoration experts worried that the fragile copper figures risked plunging to earth from Notre-Dame cathedrals 19th-century spire. Instead, in a miracle of timing, the sculptures of the Twelve Apostles and four New Testament evangelists escaped a fiery end when they were plucked by cranes and removed just days before the blaze in Paris on Monday. It was a small cause for celebration after the destruction of two-thirds of Notre-Dames roof and spire. People were also cheered to learn that crosses, a crown of thorns and the famous rose window also survived the flames. It was a relief not to contemplate the likely fate of the spires sculptures if they had stayed where they had been for the last 160 years. A cock the Gallic rooster that topped the spire, and the unofficial national symbol of France was found in the debris with significant damage. A British comedy about parenting hits BritBox. And a couple leave New York for the farming life in Nebraska on Bless This Mess. Whats Streaming THERE SHE GOES Stream on BritBox. David Tennant and Jessica Hynes star as the parents Simon and Emily in this dramedy about the joys and challenges of raising a child with a learning disability, based on the real-life parenting journey of the shows creator, Shaun Pye. The timeline jumps between the birth of Rosie (Miley Locke), the couples daughter, in 2006 and their daily life as parents in 2015, when a seemingly simple outing to the park can seem like a monumental undertaking. Pye based Rosie on his daughter, who was born with a chromosomal disorder, and used experiences from his familys life as inspiration, creating a heartbreaking and compassionate portrait of a modern family. PERFUME Stream on Netflix. This German crime thriller follows a detective as she investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman whose killer removed the scent glands from her body. The probe slowly begins to close in around the victims childhood friends, resurfacing past jealousies, traumas and secrets. The six-part series, loosely adapted from a 1985 fantasy novel by Patrick Suskind, is violent but compelling, and touches on issues of domestic violence and the ways women and men wield power. For his work on Lyndon Johnson, Robert and Ina went to live on the edge of the Hill Country to learn from ranchers and farmers about Johnsons boyhood and young manhood. Of course Caro could not stop asking questions about everything, every day of everyone. Image He had the tables turned on him by a taciturn woman whose exasperation with tomfool questions forced her to blurt out: Youre a city boy. You dont know how heavy a bucket of water is, do you? He had to understand what it meant in the 1930s and 1940s, when every day, for hand-washing clothes and cooking, the wives had to bring up water from a deep well a way down from the house. Then theyd have to stand over a hot wood stove to press the heaps of washing with heavy iron bars. So Caro took the womans old bucket with a long frayed rope, dropped it in the deep well and heaved it up again. Heavy, yes! Being Caro, he took his questions to a 1940 Agriculture Department study. It told him hed have to haul up 40 gallons a day for each person. He had to imagine a Hill Country family of five collecting 200 gallons a day, carried back to the house two buckets at a time, with the people yoked like cattle to a heavy bar of wood across the shoulder. Caro insists that the three years he and Ina spent in the Hill Country werent a sacrifice. Getting a chance to learn, being forced to learn really learn so that I could write about it in depth was an opportunity to explore, to discover, a whole new world when you were already in your 40s. It was a privilege, exciting. The two of us remember those years as a thrilling, wonderful adventure. The phrase Caro recited in his sleep (Im guessing) was Papers dont die; people do. So he had to get to the right people as soon as he could to know where to look for the papers. And the papers were all too often the only source for identifying the individuals who might have answers to his proliferating questions. The papers! Consider walking into the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin for the first time, past the presidential armored limousine, and the assault on your senses of thousands and thousands of boxes of papers, 40,000, each with a capacity of 800 pages. As the archivist said, yessir, thats 32 million pages awaiting your attention. France vows to rebuild Notre-Dame A day after a monstrous fire ravaged the roof of Pariss famed cathedral, investigators are looking for the cause. Already, more than $600 million has been committed to the reconstruction of the 850-year-old landmark. What we know: The cathedrals twin medieval towers survived, but its 300-foot spire collapsed and two-thirds of its roof was destroyed. No one was killed, officials said, but one firefighter and two police officers were injured. Heres a guide to the latest details and a look at how the fire spread. The treasures: The fire endangered Notre-Dames vast collection of Christian artworks and relics. Some significant items have suffered, but many were saved, including a relic of what many believe is the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. New automobiles are reaching dealerships with all manner of sophisticated lifesaving technology, like collision-warning systems and automatic braking. But older cars can be outfitted with similar systems, too, and a study suggests it can make driving safer for you or your teenager. This can be a great way to get the safety benefit of crash-avoidance technology at a reduced cost compared to a new car, said Ian Reagan, the author of the study and an official at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the insurance industry. Such technology could be particularly valuable for teenage drivers because mile after mile, the system would remind the driver of safe practices like using turn signals and not following too closely, Mr. Reagan said. They could learn early on, he said. Safer driving behavior from early on that could stay with them as they mature. Good Tuesday morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.) French billionaires vow to help rebuild Notre-Dame The catastrophic fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris yesterday badly damaged the 850-year-old building, but some of Frances richest moguls are stepping up to pay for repairs. Around 500 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly five hours, Adam Nossiter and Aurelian Breeden of the NYT write. By 11 p.m. Paris time, the structure had been saved and preserved as a whole, the citys fire chief, Jean-Claude Gallet, said. But two-thirds of the roof was destroyed and the main spire collapsed. So far, its unclear both how the fire started and how much survives of the interior, but nobody was killed or injured, officials said. We will rebuild Notre-Dame, President Emmanuel Macron said last night. Because that is what the French expect. So far 300 million euros, or $339 million, have been pledged for rebuilding, Bloomberg reports: Francois-Henri Pinault, the C.E.O. of the luxury goods conglomerate Kering, and his father, Francois Pinault, will donate 100 million from their investment company, Artemis. A University of Minnesota student accused Richard Liu, the billionaire founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, of rape in a lawsuit filed in Minneapolis on Tuesday, four months after prosecutors declined to pursue a criminal case. The lawsuit, which also names JD.com as a defendant, seeks more than $50,000 in damages. The student, Liu Jingyao, is identified in the complaint as an undergraduate who lives in Minneapolis. In the lawsuit, filed in Minnesota State Court in Hennepin County, she accused Mr. Liu of forcing himself on her in her apartment on Aug. 30 while he was taking courses at the university. He was later arrested but released within hours and allowed to return to China. On Dec. 21, the county attorneys office said it had not found enough evidence to charge him with sexual assault. TOKYO It was a simple plan. Renault and Nissan, two partners in a vast auto-making alliance, would pool their resources to build a new low-cost car in, and for, emerging markets. Each company, working from a factory near Chennai, India, would add its own branding and finishes, but the platform the vehicles bones would be the same. Carlos Ghosn, the alliances chief executive, believed that shared engineering was necessary for the French and Japanese companies to prosper in an increasingly competitive industry. But the two teams despite both being led by French engineers could not agree on a design, people familiar with the matter said. When Nissans cars hit the market in 2014 and Renaults in 2015, they were different, even at the chassis. Mr. Ghosn was frustrated and disappointed, one of the people said, and saw the companies as ignoring his direct instructions. Today, Mr. Ghosn sits in a Tokyo jail. And the two executives now at the top of the alliance must figure out how to overcome the fierce corporate pride that has fueled Renault and Nissans past rivalry and secure the companies successful cooperation. Uber and Lyft have been criticized for not sufficiently evaluating their drivers and not prioritizing passenger safety, prompting some cities to place temporary bans or restrictions on the services. Both companies say passenger safety is their top priority and have stood by their background-check processes. After the attack on Josephson, Uber re-upped its public safety awareness campaign called Check Your Ride, first introduced in 2017, urging users to take certain precautions: Match the license plate, car make and model to what the app displays, and check the drivers photograph before getting in. Of course, as critics put it: The onus should not be on women to vigilantly create safe spaces for themselves and yet often it is. Here are a few safety tips I always abide by. ______ Ask the drivers name. In addition to asking the driver for your name, ask your driver for his or her name and look closely to make sure the photo on the app matches. If the drivers phone is mounted on the dashboard, look to see if its displaying your name. ______ Share your status. Share your trip details with friends through the sharing option on the app. By adding your destination and sharing through a text, others can watch your ride, in real time, on a map. Uber and Via monitor drivers routes, sending alerts to their staff if the cars go off course. ______ Match the light. Some Uber and Lyft vehicles have illuminated windshield icons called Beacon and Amp that change color to match a hue on a passengers app. If this is available to you, make sure the color matches. Lawmakers in South Carolina have proposed a law, named for Samantha Josephson, that would require it in all such vehicles. Just to get it out there: Yes, bacon is on the list. The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List is a new book from Alana Newhouse and Tablet, the innovative and occasionally irreverent online magazine about Jewish culture. Ms. Newhouse, Tablets founder and editor in chief, said that she and a team of editors initially assembled this quirky collection of essays as a web feature, starting with a call-out to all the writers on food, Jewish identity or both that they could think of. (Sixty recipes were added for the book, published by Artisan in March.) They knew from the outset, she said, that just as not all the writers would be Jewish, not all the foods would be kosher. This is a list of cultural touchstones, the things that define Jewishness, she said. How could we not include the one thing that is the most taboo, the most charged? When Mr. Onwuachi opened the Shaw Bijou in 2016, backed by two investors who had approached him, he centered the menu on his life story, which he had carefully honed years earlier while he was trying to win the sympathy of his subway customers, or to become a fan favorite on Top Chef. The tasting courses were so tightly focused on that story that they included a Butterfinger mignardise , a small pastry inspired by the best-selling item from his days hawking candy, and a fishermans pie, the dish his mother used to make for him on his birthday, gussied up with charcoal-roasted madai and lobster foam. Mr. Onwuachi charged $185 for the experience, and in interviews proclaimed that the 32-seat restaurant, one of the citys most expensive, would also be its best. The food press zealously covered the run-up to the opening, even though the highest-level restaurant job Mr. Onwuachi had held before this was as line cook. He had begun writing his memoir. I thought it was going to end with me opening the Shaw Bijou and getting three Michelin stars like, this is it! he said. But after all the hype, his fortunes tumbled: The restaurant ran out of money, Mr. Onwuachi clashed with his investors and The Washington Post published a negative review that drew nearly 500 comments. Honestly, though, a real Butterfinger is better than the chocolate-robed salt lick served here, the review said. Mr. Onwuachi says he had become too caught up in his own vision. I think about what if I had asked more questions, if I were more experienced in business, if I had asked about the budget in the beginning, he said. We were on our way to making strides. But instead of asking the right questions, I was excited in the moment. The investors closed the restaurant, and Mr. Onwuachi considered leaving the city. I was 26 and experiencing this very public shaming, he said, an ordeal that he still recalls with some anguish. The F.D.A. should not have permitted this out-of-date approach to be used for medical purposes, Dr. King said. Misleading, falsely reassuring results from their incomplete testing can cost womens lives. How was the study conducted? The study, which was presented at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics annual meeting and has not been peer reviewed, was built around more than 100,000 patients who underwent breast cancer risk testing with Invitae, a diagnostic company. Despite the lack of peer review and Invitaes potential role as a business competitor, genetic medicine experts not affiliated with Invitae said in interviews that they found the work to be credible, particularly as the companys findings echo other, smaller studies. 23andMes test focuses on BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes involved in suppressing growth of abnormal cells. Specifically, it looks for three notorious genetic variants, known as founder mutations. Invitaes analysts expanded their search to include thousands of other variants. Dr. Susan Klugman, vice president for clinical genetics at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, likened it to a broader spell-check. Whereas 23andMe looks for errors in a few paragraphs, the Invitae analysts used more advanced genetic technology to search through 25 chapters. (Dr. Klugman was not involved in the Invitae study.) In about 5,000 subjects, analysts identified at least one variant known to significantly increase an individuals risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Among the Ashkenazi Jews in the positive group, 81 percent had one of the three founder mutations, suggesting that 23andMes test could be helpful for them. Among the rest, 94 percent carried variants that would have failed to be detected by 23andMe. Why create a test that misses so many people? One reason is purely technical: To return to the literary metaphor, 23andMe isnt set up to scan entire genetic books the way some labs are. So even if the company wanted to look for other variants, that would not be possible without changing its approach, said Dr. Robert C. Green, a professor at Harvard Medical School. Stanford University has cleared Stephen Quake, a bioengineering professor, of any wrongdoing in his interactions with a Chinese researcher who roiled the scientific world by creating the first gene-edited babies. In evaluating evidence and witness statements, we found that Quake observed proper scientific protocol, said a letter from the university to Dr. Quake, obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday. Referring to the Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, by his nickname, JK, the letter said that Stanfords investigators concluded that Dr. Quake did not directly participate in any way in JKs research, including in the conception or performance of the work. In fact, the letter said, Dr. Quake discouraged Dr. He from pursuing the project and urged him to follow proper scientific practices after he insisted on going ahead. A decade ago, much of the mud-brick old city was leveled and rebuilt. Authorities said it was to guard against earthquakes. Roads and alleyways were widened, making patrolling easier. The rebuilding continues today. At one of the only remaining original spurs of the old town, residents had been moved out and earthmovers chipped away at historic houses. This last island of old Kashgar will soon disappear. On the neighborhoods edge, I ran into a woman who appeared to be squatting in an abandoned structure. Her bereft expression said about everything there was to say about the tragedy of Xinjiang. Just after I took her picture, two Chinese tourists shouted at her in Mandarin, an attempt to get her to look at their cameras. When she turned her head away and hid it in her hands, they laughed. Eventually, my colleague Chris Buckley joined me. We hired a car and tried to explore the surrounding area. By early morning, a trip to a nearby village was stalled by a staged car accident. Three cars, all facing the same direction, their undamaged bumpers barely touching, blocked the road. The drivers stood around, mute until we remarked that they didnt seem to be upset. Suddenly tempers flared. They raised their arms, pointing at each other and shouting. We were advised that it would be a while and that we should turn around. In minutes, the road cleared. Another time, a police officer stopped us close to our hotel. Inspecting Chriss photos, he deleted a shot of a camel. When Chris asked why that photo was deleted, the man turned to Chris and said, In China, there are no whys. It was good advice. As we pulled down another road in search of a re-education camp, a car sped in front of us, cut us off, and stopped. Men jumped out unfurling a spike strip directly in front of our car. Roads closed, we were told. We didnt ask why. Each evening as we returned to our hotel, we would pass a boarding school surrounded by tall fences topped with barbed wire. Socializing in clusters in the twilight, the adolescent students looked very much like prisoners. It has to be something lightweight that will hold eggs and not fall apart, says Hunter King, a polymer-science professor at the University of Akron who studies the mechanical properties of birds nests. In the lab, King and his colleagues cut up hundreds of bamboo skewers, shape them into a nestlike jumble, push them around, run them through CT scans and create computer-simulated nests that can be investigated further in virtual form. Start with the most basic cup-of-twigs construction some birds like cardinals just shove filaments together and expect that the structure is going to hold, King says. Even scientists havent grasped how these simple nests work, so you have little chance of successfully replicating the more architecturally complex nests of, say, the baya weavers, which thread together intricate hanging baskets; or the white-nest swiftlets, which forge homes from their hardened saliva; to say nothing of the way black kites incorporate decorative bits of white plastic. (Be glad that your ability to attract a mate doesnt depend on your nest-building skills.) You might think you need branched twigs to interlock for structural stability. It turns out you can make even straight sticks hold themselves together, King says. A jumble of sticks possess special properties collectively that individual sticks dont: They appear to have cohesive, shock-absorbing qualities that come in part from the friction between sticks and their ability to bend. Birds often mold the nest around their torsos. Consider using a form, too, like your fist. Because King is only trying to figure out how a tangle of sticks works as a building material, he has not been concerned with which sticks go where. Real nests typically have some hierarchy of sizes, he says. Collect a wide variety of larger twigs and bark for the outside and more flexible, delicate materials like grass, lichen or cobwebs for the inside. Your nest will probably be a crude approximation. This spring, King intends to observe captive birds at the zoo in Akron to glean building tips. Dont be hard on yourself, King says. We havent even understood a birds nest yet. DENIS I had not a very easy youth. I got married. I ran away from home when I was 15. I did a lot of crazy things, but you know, 68 Europe was a sort of vast change. Nothing would be the same ever, so we thought. I became interested in photos. I met someone who told me maybe you should try to go to a cinema school. I spent there three years, and then I divorced. I had to find work, and the headmaster helped me to find a job, and thats how I became an assistant director. I adored that. People always ask me, were you frustrated to be an assistant? No, the opposite. It was great. I wanted so much to be useful. And once or twice, with Jacques Rivette, the French director, he urged me to do my own thing. And in the end, I was with Wim Wenders doing Paris, Texas, and suddenly, I knew my first film was going to be an evocation of my youth in Africa. Because I thought: If I dont start with Chocolat, I will be always unbalanced. Something I have to say, its me, and thats it. JENKINS Chocolat was the experience of having to express yourself? DENIS Yeah, but I was not expressing myself in the first person. I was trying to express a group of persons, black and white, living under the same roof. For good or bad reasons, I wanted to speak about that guilt, and that moment where this young domestic decides it was over for him to be serving white people. I remember very well some friend of Isaach de Bankole [a star of the film] told him, oh, Isaach, youre not going to play a domestic of white people, its so humiliating. And I said, no, its the main part. JENKINS There have been quite a few actors, black actors, in France, in Paris in particular, who have come to fame through your work, Isaach being one Alex Descas being another. Talk about working with those black men. I assume that feels no different than working with anyone else, but it is a very particular thing because, in French cinema, those actors dont typically get roles that are very central. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] New York and New Jersey are neighbors, but they have not always treated each other in a neighborly way. Their proximity and pride have led to plenty of fights over who can lay claim to Ellis Island (both actually), which state has the best pizza (still raging) and the proper way to get gasoline (solo vs. full service). But the latest chapter in this rivalry might be among the nastiest. New York recently approved congestion pricing, a plan to make it more expensive to drive into the heart of Manhattan. Officials in New Jersey are enraged and have griped, half-jokingly, that it will cost less to travel to California than to cross the Hudson River. And they are vowing revenge. The mayor of Jersey City suggested that New Jerseyans should toll New Yorkers entering their state. A congressman is calling for federal legislation to guarantee that drivers who already pay tolls to cross between the states are not charged twice. Others believe a lawsuit could be filed to stop the tolls. We are a little confounded about why suddenly New York would turn around and take a two-by-four to New Jersey, said Representative Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat who represents a slice of New Jersey suburbs near Manhattan and plans to introduce a bill he hopes will pressure New York to give his states drivers a break. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] For months, in two of New York Citys most politically progressive neighborhoods, parents debated what to do about their deeply segregated schools. Now, after adopting a series of initiatives last year following many spirited and emotionally charged discussions, these neighborhoods are starting to see swift changes in enrollment, according to city data released on Monday. Several schools in districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn will be more racially and socioeconomically diverse on the first day of school this fall than they are today as a result of these new measures. And the apparent success these districts are seeing could prompt other neighborhoods to consider their own diversity initiatives. Also, the strategies parents implemented, which included setting new enrollment rules and eliminating using academic screens to sort students for admission, could compel City Hall to take more forceful action to integrate one of the nations most segregated school systems. Part of why we did this is we felt very strongly that you couldnt improve just one school, said Kristen Berger, who helped create the plan for Manhattans District 3, which includes the Upper West Side and Harlem. Thats not very useful. Its really a system. We really wanted to see movement at high- and low-demand schools. Barbara Schultz, an adventurous television producer who showcased serious topical dramas at a time when the networks were preoccupied with sitcoms and variety shows, died on April 10 at her home in Manhattan. She was 92. Eileen Kaufman, a cousin, said the cause was complications of heart disease. Ms. Schultz, one of a very few women in televisions executive ranks at the time, oversaw CBS Playhouse in the late 1960s and the PBS series Visions in the 1970s. Both series were high-quality anthologies that featured original dramas, compelling writing and up-and-coming actors. Unusually for her era, she promoted ethnic and gender diversity both in front of the camera and behind it. Most prominently, she offered writers a platform free from interference by corporate sponsors in exchange for stories that explored contemporary American themes. We hope to win back the serious writers who have been turned off by television and to stimulate the new writers who have never considered the medium, Ms. Schultz told The New York Times in 1974 as she embarked on Visions. The whole idea is to try to discover what television can do in drama. Owen K. Garriott, one of the original scientists selected to explore the cosmos firsthand and the first astronaut to operate an interstellar ham radio station, died on Monday at his home in Huntsville, Ala. He was 88. His death was confirmed by his son Richard. Dr. Garriott flew into space twice. In 1973 he was the science pilot of Skylab 3, the record-breaking 59-day mission more than double the duration of any previous flight to Skylab, the first United States space station. He logged nearly 14 hours outside Skylab in three spacewalks, during which physiological and biomedical metrics were monitored to determine the bodys response to long periods spent in reduced gravity. We learned the importance of exercise, Dr. Garriott said. If you have the appropriate amount of exercise, namely one to two hours a day, then youre going to come back in essentially as good a condition as when you left. Stanley Plumly, an award-winning poet whose poignant narratives were inspired by the beauty and transcendence of John Keatss lyrical verse, died on April 11 at his home in Frederick, Md. He was 79. His wife, Margaret (Forian) Plumly, said the cause was complications of multiple myeloma. Mr. Plumly used rich language imbued with precise syntax in 11 volumes of poetry that often touched on aspects of his life, including growing up poor in rural Ohio; his alcoholic father, who became a muse; and the polio epidemic that struck some of his classmates after World War II. In Poliomyelitis one of several poems he wrote on the subject Mr. Plumly linked the children he knew with polio to the most famous person to have the disease, President Franklin D. Roosevelt: A man said Roosevelt, at the end, looked like the most dead man alive hed ever seen: the girl in the iron lung, too, resembling what children imagine death in the satin of its coffin looks like, her face roughed up with rouge, her soft brown hair straightened, the rest of her forgotten. Mr. Plumly admired many poets. But Keats, the 19th-century English Romantic who died at 25, was in some ways his spiritual guide. Keats, for me, represents the integrity of the mission of the poet, he said in an interview with The Atlantic in 2003, which is to say he represents the value of poetry itself. Indeed, such was the hostility of numerous parliamentarians rhetoric toward Islam that the head of Australias top intelligence organization advised them to moderate their language. Perhaps the governments most committed member on this score is the Home Affairs minister, Peter Dutton, who recently asserted that people in Melbourne were scared to go to restaurants at night because of an epidemic of African gang violence a supposed epidemic that even the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is located, says is overblown hysteria. By contrast, Mr. Dutton has argued that Australia should give special attention to white South African farmers, whom he regards as especially persecuted. He says they would abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard, not lead a life on welfare. He is not the only politician expressing these sorts of views. In October, senators voted in favor of a One Nation motion incorporating the white supremacist slogan Its O.K. to be white. The government later blamed an administrative error for the vote, after having initially trumpeted the move as evidence of its opposition to racism of any kind. The kindest interpretation of all this is that the coalition has been sloppy and inattentive to the problem of extremism, even under the previous prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who would frequently celebrate Australias success as a multicultural country, and contend that those peddling Islamophobia were helping the Islamic State. A more likely interpretation is that several of the coalitions members are prepared to play the politics of race, either cynically or as a matter of conviction, and that the rising prominence of One Nation has emboldened them. And given that the governments natural areas of political strength are around the issue of border protection (especially asylum-seeker policy) and national security, there is every reason to suspect that the coalition profits when politics skirts xenophobic themes. But the visceral reality of Christchurch has recast much of our politics in new light: not as straight-talking honesty about the threat of Islamism, but as contributing to a more polarized, extremist environment. When my sister called me a few months ago to say, a little breathlessly, that she had gotten back her results from 23andMe, I snapped at her, I dont want to know! She kept trying to share, but I kept shutting her down, before saying I had to go and hanging up. Afterward I felt a little shaky, as if Id narrowly escaped disaster. Ive never been interested in DNA tests. I have nothing against people discovering theyre 18 percent German or 79 percent Irish, but I think the tests are a fad that distracts us from the harsh realities of race and identity in America. They encourage us to pretend that in terms of shaping who we really are, individual narratives matter more than the narrative of the country as a whole. There is no test for separation and tribalism, and yet they are baked into our cultural DNA. But that didnt explain the panic I felt during that phone call. I was a little embarrassed that I couldnt take the news, whatever that news turned out to be. And then I realized that was it: I didnt want to turn out to be anything more than what I was. I didnt want my blackness divvied up or deconstructed any more than it has already been, not just in my lifetime but in the history of the Creole people of Louisiana I descend from. I dont need a DNA test to tell me that I come from everywhere. Creoles are the original American racial melange of black and European French and Spanish mostly and frequently Native American. But this melange has hardly been celebrated. Instead, it was the measuring stick for the limits to which Jim Crow laws had to go to police racial lines in Louisiana and the wider South (see one-drop rule, tragic mulatto, Plessy v. Ferguson). Creole multiracialism has been viewed not as quintessentially American but as something that undermines what quintessentially American should mean. Both blacks and whites viewed Creoles with special contempt and more than a little suspicion, as if we were trying to join a club we could never belong to, because of our color. It would be hard to build a more damning case against the cash-for-visas program than Hudson Yards. Manhattans gleaming new $25 billion development was financed in part through EB-5, a preferential immigration program that luxury developers have come to adore. This once-obscure category allows foreign nationals to purchase a family pack of visas by investing capital in job-creating businesses in the United States. The price is $1 million. But EB-5 offers a lower-cost option (for $500,000) to visa applicants who invest in projects in rural or distressed urban areas. Its meant as an incentive for investment in impoverished America. With its angular skyscrapers, luxury retailers and bizarre basket-shaped playground, Hudson Yards is the opposite of troubled financially although architecture critics have pounced on its placelessness. Yet New York State authorities enabled Related, the projects developer, to raise more than $1.2 billion in EB-5 financing at the lower-tier rate reserved for urban areas with severe unemployment. As I recently reported in CityLab, the state allowed Hudson Yards to qualify for this designation by gerrymandering a map that connects this elite West Side haven to public housing projects in Central and East Harlem. Much of the nation badly needs investment. And place-based incentive programs like EB-5 could lure capital and jobs to distressed areas that have yet to recover from the foreclosure epidemic after the 2008 housing crash if the program worked properly. Hudson Yards is emblematic of how the EB-5 visa program has been corrupted by developers and state authorities to divert capital from places that need it to those that dont. One of the reasons this happens is states draw the boundaries for Targeted Employment Areas, the economic zones with a lower threshold for investment visas $500,000 instead of $1 million. Investing in projects within these rural or low-resource urban areas is a good deal for visa applicants, since these visas cost less. Virtually all EB-5 investments are given at the discounted rate in targeted urban zones. Its supposed to help struggling places in America. But New York, Texas, California and most other states tilt the system in luxurys favor. Sometimes this means stringing together dozens of census tracts in long spaghetti-noodle maps to qualify luxury projects as falling within poor urban districts. The Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, the Resorts World Las Vegas and the Wharf in Washington are among the many projects that have raked in hundreds of millions in cash-for-visas financing. Earlier this year, the musician and Prabowo supporter Ahmad Dhani was sentenced to 18 months in jail for a series of tweets from 2017, including one thought to refer to that losing candidate in the 2017 race for Jakarta governor (anyone who supports the blasphemer is scum and deserves to be spat in the face). Mr. Dhani was charged under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law of 2008, which penalizes defamation online. But the opposition claims that the law has been used for political ends. Mr. Dhani has since gotten in trouble again, under the same law, for saying that opponents to a #2019ChangeThePresident rally he attended last summer were idiots. I find few records of arrests of people charged with slandering opposition figures. That could be because government supporters do less bad mouthing; more likely, it says something about the selective enforcement of the law. (Mr. Joko is known to have close ties to the police.) The president has also gone on the counteroffensive online. One campaigner for Mr. Joko made this case for resorting to disinformation to me last month: Michelle Obama said, When they go low, we go high. But it didnt work. Trump won. So here, when they go low, we go lower. Pro-Joko buzzers likely are behind hashtags like #PrabowoJumatanDimana (Where is Prabowo during Friday prayers?): Mr. Prabowo comes from a multidenominational family and is known for not being especially devout. Another trending hashtag is #ManaKeluargamu (Where is your family?), a reference to the fact that Mr. Prabowo is separated from his wife and his only son lives overseas. And then there are the allegations that Mr. Prabowos campaign is somehow affiliated with ISIS in various ways. It is extremely difficult to identify which claim or lie comes from the campaigns themselves, buzzers or outsiders, but together these messages have created a dangerous pattern: A political opposition lagging in opinion polls spreads misleading content online about the president, and he deploys state institutions to crack down on them even as his campaigners and supporters put out misleading material of their own. As much as Indonesias politicians have been warning the people about disinformation, it is largely they and their teams who are producing fake news. One result is an election campaign that has been more snide than substantive and that, in the name of differentiating two candidates who arent distinguishable enough, harps on supposedly deep social and political divisions this great disconnect, as one candidate for vice president put it that may not really exist. Another effect of these dirty tactics is to undermine the credibility of the system itself. Mr. Prabowos team has already questioned the legitimacy of the election, citing problems with voter lists and other irregularities it could be feeding a convenient line to fake-news peddlers. Meanwhile, the police arrested two people last week for claiming that the elections results had already been predetermined by the election commission and that Mr. Joko will be said to have won 57 percent of the votes. Mr. Jokos likely victory over Mr. Prabowo on Wednesday will come as a relief to many Indonesian liberals and minority groups. Yet they should be worried about the latest practices of a president once heralded as a democratic reformer. That Mr. Jokos government has chosen to respond to disinformation with disinformation signals a dangerous backsliding for democracy in Indonesia. Ross Tapsell is a researcher and Indonesia specialist at the Australian National Universitys College of Asia and the Pacific, in Canberra. 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. This article is part of David Leonhardts newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday. My father was a French teacher, in middle schools and high schools, and he took me to Paris when I was 11 years old, in 1984. Before that trip, Id never been more than a few hours drive from New York. We took an overnight flight from J.F.K. Airport and landed the next morning, exhausted. The best treatment for jet lag, my dad explained, was exercise. So after dropping off our luggage at the apartment of a friend of his, we went walking through Paris. I dont recall any stops on the walk except for our destination: Notre-Dame. We crossed one of the bridges leading to Ile de la Cite, the island where the cathedral sits, and I remember looking up and thinking it was the oldest thing I had ever seen. In this way, the concept of digital privacy shares similarities with weighty crises like climate change. Both are what the theorist Timothy Morton calls hyperobjects, a concept so all-encompassing that it is impossible to adequately describe. Dr. Mortons chief examples of hyperobjects are climate change and global warming, which invite skepticism because their scale is so vast and sometimes abstract. Heres another way to think of it: You are losing control over your life. When technology governs so many aspects of our lives and when that technology is powered by the exploitation of our data privacy isnt just about knowing your secrets, its about autonomy. Thats how Matt Cagle, a technology and civil liberties attorney at the A.C.L.U., described it to me recently. Privacy is really about being able to define for ourselves who we are for the world and on our own terms, he said. Thats not a choice that belongs to an algorithm or data broker and definitely not to Facebook. At its heart, privacy is about how that data is used to take away our control. Today, our control is chipped away in ways large and small. It may be as innocuous as using your listed preferences, browsing behavior, third-party information about your annual income and a rough understanding of the hours that youre most susceptible to make a purchase to nudge you toward buying a pair of shoes. Or it may be as potentially life-altering as the inability to get a loan or see a job listing. For survivors of abuse, privacy might mean the freedom to live safely without exposing sensitive location information to stalkers. For undocumented immigrants, digital privacy could mean the difference between a parent being able to drop her child off at school or rush a loved one to the hospital without fear of deportation. The president continued his attacks on Monday, attempting to disparage House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the process. Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made, he said on Twitter. She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy! Crenshaw may have sparked these attacks, but the presidents intervention has escalated the situation to something potentially dangerous, which is why after a slow start Democrats have begun to condemn the presidents actions, defending Omar by name. Ilhan Omar is a leader with strength and courage. She wont back down to Trumps racism and hate, and neither will we, said Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end. Likewise, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accused Trump of inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. That, of course, is the idea. Trump believes he benefits from the passions and anger stirred by racist demagoguery. It is easy to tie these attacks to Trumps history of anti-Muslim rhetoric. But anti-Muslim prejudice was common in Republican politics before he stepped on the political stage with his birther charges against President Barack Obama. It was an important force among Republican voters in one 2004 poll, for example, about 40 percent of self-identified Republicans said that Muslim Americans should be required to register with the government and 41 percent said that Muslim-American civic groups should be infiltrated by the government. Well before Obama was a household name and Trump a political figure, a 2006 Gallup poll found wide anti-Muslim prejudice with Republicans ascribing more negative political and religious qualities to Muslims, and being more opposed to having Muslims as neighbors than are Democrats and independents. It was an important force in conservative media. Conservative radio and television hosts frequently conflated all Muslims with the actions of extremists. In one 2006 segment on his radio show, Glenn Beck warned that if good Muslims arent the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head, then human beings might be forced into putting up razor wire and putting you on one side of it. Slaveowners felt entitled to and often received compensation from local, colonial and state legislatures, especially in times of crisis when enslaved women and men ran away, participated in rebellions or were executed for crimes. During the American Revolution, owners asked to be compensated when bondspeople had died while working in lead mines i n Virginia, for example, and when they sided with the British and ran away. After the revolution, as Northern states carried out gradual-emancipation plans, compensation was attractive to slaveowners seeking to ease their financial burdens. The 1804 Gradual Abolition Act in New Jersey, for example, did not free anyone immediately. It allowed children of enslaved women to be treated as apprentices (slavery by another name) until they reached a certain age and wo uld be freed. The law included a clause that allowed slaveowners to gain compensation by letting their bondspeople go free and then reclaiming them as bound out labor, which gave them access to state funds for their troubles. In a break from tradition in the 1850s, the abolitionist Elihu Burritt organized the National Compensated Emancipation Convention in Cleveland to advocate payments to slaveowners, as well as smaller sums to be paid to the people they had enslaved. Nothing came of his dual proposal, however. To be sure, the major benefactors of slaveowner reparations within the Atlantic slave system were Europeans. When England abolished slavery in its Caribbean colonies, it offered compensation to 46,000 slaveowners at the cost of around $26.2 million. France went further by penalizing Haiti for the revolution that abolished slavery in its former colony St. Domingue. It levied a huge sum on the island, which crippled it in decades of debt. Former slaves were forced to pay indemnities to former slaveowners in exchange for official recognition as the first black independent nation-state in the Western Hemisphere. The long and insistent coupling of compensation for slaveowners with emancipation is useful for consideration in current debates about reparations for the descendants of the enslaved. Critics and skeptics are fond of saying that enslaved people should have asked for recompense back then. African-Americans did precisely that, going back to the colonial era. They petitioned for freedom dues, they sued the estates of former masters for their unrequited toil, and they asked for land to restart their lives as free men and women. Relatively few of those efforts were successful. An overwhelming majority of white people believed that slaveowners, not enslaved African-Americans, deserved recompense for the benevolence of manumission. The only reward that was widely supported was colonization: a trip back to Africa. The act allocated $100,000 for the voluntary removal of the newly freed people (at $100 per person) to go to Liberia or Haiti, which rarely happened. Preserving sacred property rights and moving the Negro problem offshore meant that there was no justice for enslaved African-Americans. All of the candidates running for president must support the federal governments issuing of reparations to African-Americans who were economically affected by slavery. Justice requires this. Tera W. Hunter (@TeraWHunter) is a professor of history and African-American studies at Princeton and the author of Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century. 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. Eager to try New York on for size, Mary Norris spent the summer after her junior year at Rutgers in a sublet on Ninth Street between Avenues B and C. This was way back in the early 70s, and it was really rugged over there, recalled Ms. Norris, a former copy editor and proofreader at The New Yorker, and the author of the acclaimed 2016 memoir/language guide Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen. Her follow-up, Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen, was just published . But life in the East Village was apparently too much of an adventure for the future punctuation royal. It was a little test I gave myself, and I failed it, said Ms. Norris, 67, whose new book is an alpha-to-omega account of her passion for words and for the place that produced such glories as epics by Homer, ouzo and Kalamata olives (though not necessarily in that order). STOCKHOLM When Morgane Oleron and her partner parted ways after 11 years and one or both had to leave their shared condo one of the biggest logistical problems was finding a new place to live. Despite being repeatedly crowned as one of the most livable cities in Europe, Stockholm has a challenging rental market, especially for people who want to rent for longer than a year at a time. After a colleague nudged her, Ms. Oleron decided to move to K9, a former hotel shared by 50 professionals in the best part of Stockholm. The building takes its name from its street address. I didnt know if I would be up to it, but it turned out to work really well, Ms. Oleron, 32, said over lunch recently. Her roommates range in age from 21 to 54 and have included doctors, lawyers, professional dancers and teachers. When Sara Haines, a host on Good Morning America, ran into her rivals from the Today show on the red carpet, a frenzy of air kissing ensued, as if someone had sprinkled fish food into an aquarium. After the carpet, presiding on a folding chair atop the stairs, was Cindy Adams, the longtime gossip columnist at The New York Post. Chris Cuomo, the CNN anchor, knelt to buss her topaz earrings. Power means relevance in the moment, which is very fleeting in the media, Mr. Cuomo said. So make the most of it while you have it. There were some famous non-media types too, including Brooke Shields, Naomi Watts, Keegan-Michael Key, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Rowley and John Varvatos. So what does it take to be anointed to the list? Some lobbying doesnt hurt. Last year at this party, Joy Behar came up to me and said, Youre insane, The View should be on this list, said Matthew Belloni, the editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter. We looked at it, and it is a must-stop for all the presidential candidates, it is a news driver, and they are the leader in their category. So, they made the list this year, and Joy can thank her pushiness. Its hard to gauge the exact scale of the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan where most international design brands and studios debut their annual collections because it encompasses both the citys fairgrounds and also hundreds of nearby pop-up shows in galleries, retail spaces and even an abandoned panettone factory. But it certainly feels more ambitious each year, at least in terms of the work on view. Last weeks fair featured no fewer than five presentations by the Milan-based design firm Dimore Studio; a sprawling Kvadrat show with a restaurant, a flower field and two Jean Prouve cabins; and a major interactive interiors installation by Google developed in partnership with neuroscientists. Not to mention the ever-growing, ever-more-elaborate involvement of the worlds biggest fashion brands, which this year included Tods the company presented full-size yurts, huts and other archetypal shelters reimagined by the architect Andrea Caputo and Louis Vuitton, who debuted the latest collection from its Objets Nomades series of travel-inspired furnishings. Here, our 13 other highlights. [Coming later this spring: the T List newsletter, a weekly roundup of what T Magazine editors are noticing and coveting. Sign up here.] An Apple spokesman and a Qualcomm spokeswoman said no further details of the settlement were immediately available. Qualcomm said more information might be disclosed when it releases financial results on May 1. Apple may have been under pressure to strike a deal with Qualcomm because one of its current chip suppliers, Intel, said late Tuesday that it planned to stop selling wireless modem chips for smartphones including the chips with faster 5G connectivity that Apple had been expected to use next year. Qualcomm is already selling chips that can support 5G wireless technology to Apples rivals, such as Samsung Electronics. Samsung is expected to have 5G handsets using Qualcomm chips this year. An Intel spokesman declined to comment further. The battle between the two companies began in January 2017 when the F.T.C. filed a case against Qualcomm that partly leaned on Apples contentions. The F.T.C. alleged that Qualcomm was able to charge unfairly large royalties because handset makers had no leverage to negotiate, especially because Qualcomm supplied two key types of chips and could cut off shipments if the buyers balked at paying royalties. Three days after the F.T.C. filed its case, Apple separately sued Qualcomm. In its suit, Apple objected particularly to Qualcomms basing its royalties on a phones total price. That formula, Apple argued, meant that Qualcomm earned more money as handset makers added innovations like displays, touch sensors and data storage unrelated to wireless technology. The case dragged on with four Asia-based contract manufacturers that assemble iPhones and iPads, whose suits against Qualcomm were eventually merged with Apples. They argued that they had collectively overpaid Qualcomm roughly $9 billion in royalties over the years a figure that could have been tripled under antitrust laws to $27 billion. Apple also had said Qualcomm should repay $3.1 billion associated with patents whose rights Apple said have been exhausted. Qualcomm then sought to pressure Apple to settle by filing a series of patent suits, including cases in China and Germany and through the United States International Trade Commission. It also persuaded courts in some countries to ban sales of some iPhone models, though Apple was able to keep selling its handsets with tactics that included tweaking some of its software. Much of the world-spanning fight appeared to be coming to a head this week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, where a jury was selected on Monday for a trial on Apples lawsuit and Qualcomms counterclaims. Opening statements started Tuesday morning and were set to continue in the afternoon when the settlement was announced. It was designed to fight misinformation, but a relatively new fact-checking feature on YouTube sputtered on Monday as it displayed information about the Sept. 11 attacks alongside live streams of the fire that ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral. The mistake, attributed to a misguided algorithm, underscored the difficulties the sprawling video platform faces as it responds to criticism that it has allowed harmful, hateful and false content to flourish virtually unimpeded. On Monday, news organizations were quick to share live footage on YouTube of the fire as it ripped through Notre-Dame, deeply scarring one of the most recognizable landmarks in Paris. But some of those feeds were presented atop a gray box that, to some viewer confusion, presented information from the Encyclopaedia Britannica about the 2001 terrorist attacks. Update: The crowdfunding campaign surpassed its $1.8 million goal late Wednesday, April 17. The fire at Notre-Dame cathedral on Monday prompted immediate pledges of millions of euros to help rebuild it. On Tuesday, it spurred donations to do the same for much smaller places of worship thousands of miles away that were recently destroyed by arson. A crowdfunding campaign for three fire-ravaged black churches in Louisiana received more than $1.2 million after it was widely shared on social media on Tuesday. Many users noted that while hundreds of millions of euros had already been pledged to rebuild the famous cathedral, the small churches in Louisiana were still struggling. These communities need to know that people care about them and what theyre going through, Jessica Piombo, a professor who lives in Monterey, Calif., wrote on the campaigns page. Every little bit counts. The campaign was posted on GoFundMe last Wednesday by the Seventh District Baptist Association, which includes 54 Baptist churches in southwest Louisiana, including the three that were burned. The association noted that donations would go to rebuilding and replacing what was destroyed, from pews to sound systems and musical instruments. A man accused of setting fire to three predominantly black churches in a southern Louisiana parish was charged with hate crimes on Monday, adding to the three charges of arson that were filed last week. The man, Holden Matthews, the 21-year-old son of a deputy sheriff, was arrested last week, accused of setting fire to the churches in St. Landry Parish, north of Lafayette. He pleaded not guilty on Monday and was not granted bond. The three fires destroyed churches that had existed for more than a century and had been the spiritual homes of generations of black families, evoking the long history of racist crimes committed in the Jim Crow South. At a news conference last week, the authorities announced Mr. Matthewss arrest and the initial charges of three counts of simple arson of a church building. Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana said at the time that although he did not know the motivation behind the fires, these were evil acts. An independent senator known for his Brooklyn accent. Real change never, ever takes place from the top on down. Populist message. The level of wealth inequality in America is grotesque. And anti-establishment appeal. Establishment Democrats dont generate excitement. Bernie Sanders is jumping into the race for president, again. Hi, Im Bernie Sanders. Im running for president. In the 2016 primaries he pushed a democratic socialist message, and he found a big audience for it. He ultimately came up short. I accept your nomination. But many of his ideas have lived on. In a modern moral and wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. In 2016, he was the only challenger to the Democratic establishment, but this time around hell be up against a crowded and diverse group of opponents. Some have adopted ideas he made popular in 2016. How do you feel about Medicare for all? Medicare for all. Medicare for all. So what are the issues he made pillars of the progressive agenda? A $15 minimum wage, tuition-free public college and Medicare for all. ... health care is a right, not a privilege. But Sanderss liberal credentials may have taken a hit over his perceived failure to address claims of sexism during his 2016 campaign. He has since apologized. What they experienced was absolutely unacceptable. So how has Sanders taken on President Trump? Hes been one of his most outspoken critics. The most dangerous president in modern American history. Most people who observed him would agree hes a pathological liar. Trump has returned the insults. Crazy Bernie. You know hes always like complaining, complaining, hes jumping around, the hairs going crazy ... lunatic. So what are his chances? Hes near the top of the early polls. Hes got some big advantages over his opponents, including a small-donor fund-raising list, a 50-state organization and fervent supporters. He has major name recognition and knows how to electrify a crowd. We are going to take on the drug companies and their greed and lower the cost of prescription drugs. But he could be up against a base who are looking for a fresh face to take on Trump, even if its on a platform that Bernie built. His somber appearance at The Citadel, South Carolinas military college and Mr. Hollingss alma mater, was not the 2020 debut the former vice president and his aides were planning. But his eulogy underscored Mr. Bidens deep ties to this pivotal state with its high percentage of black voters and the promise and peril of his candidacy. [Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.] Mr. Biden once described Mr. Hollings as his best friend in the Senate. And as he recalled in strikingly subdued tones Tuesday, it was Mr. Hollings and his wife, Peatsy, who helped persuade him to remain in the Senate when his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident shortly after he was first elected in 1972. Aside from my family, the first people to bring me back from that black hole I was in were Fritz and Peatsy, thats not hyperbole, he said. That friendship is what first brought Mr. Biden to South Carolina, where Mr. Hollings would introduce him to many of his political allies. Eventually, Mr. Biden began vacationing in the state, usually staying on one of the barrier islands near Mr. Hollingss native Charleston. The relationships Mr. Biden developed here now form the nucleus of his support network in the first-in-the-South primary state. Those connections were on vivid display as the former vice president stood before hundreds of mourners in the cadet chapel. It was an audience that included scores of influential state and local Democratic officials such as Representative James Clyburn, a fellow eulogist and the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. The Democratic challengers to President Trump raised tens of millions of dollars in the first months of the 2020 presidential campaign, with Senator Bernie Sanders setting the pace for the field, with $18.2 million raised. As always, it is important to remember that winning the money race is not the goal itself but a means to an end: building a sustainable and effective campaign for the party nomination and, eventually, the White House. But the disclosures were the first peek at what kind of campaigns the leading Democrats are constructing, with fresh investments in digital advertising, big rallies (Senator Kamala Harriss campaign spent about $500,000 on her splashy kickoff in Oakland), and staffing nationally and in the early states. Senator Elizabeth Warren has amassed an eye-popping staff of more than 160 spending a higher share of what she raised than any other campaign. Whoever emerges will face a far more professionalized and better funded effort than the one that Mr. Trump led in 2016. In the first three months of the year, Mr. Trump raised more than $30 million and had more than $40 million in the bank. He and the Republican Party added another 100,000 small donors. WASHINGTON When President Trump tweeted an edited video portraying Representative Ilhan Omar as playing down the 9/11 attacks, it took less than three hours for Senator Bernie Sanders to rush to her defense and declare her a leader with strength and courage. But when a Fox News anchor described Mr. Sanders on Monday night as a staunch supporter of Ms. Omar, the senator balked. Hold it, hold it, hold it, Mr. Sanders insisted. Ive talked to Ilhan about twice in my life. His reaction reflects the broader Democratic Partys conflicted embrace of Ms. Omar. That struggle has especially been apparent in the House, where Jewish Democrats have tangled with Ms. Omar and Democratic leaders have grappled with how to handle the freshman Democrat from Minnesota, who is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. When Ms. Omar, 36, pushed for a House rules change to permit her to wear her hijab on the House floor, she was heralded as a powerful symbol of the Democratic Partys inclusiveness. But her support of the boycott Israel movement and her attacks on supporters of Israel have made her a complicated figure to defend. Democratic leaders, as well as many in the rank and file, are choosing their words with caution. Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced the president for invoking the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack without mentioning Ms. Omar, and waited until Sunday two days after Mr. Trumps tweet to issue a statement saying she had asked the Capitol Police to assess the congresswomans safety. Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the House Democratic leader, waited three days before calling on the president to apologize to Ms. Omar. Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill through the state House on Monday that would fine community groups that submit incomplete voter-registration applications, an unusual move that the bills opponents have denounced as voter suppression. Protesters swarmed the State Capitol to speak out against the Republican-backed bill, which has drawn condemnation from voting rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who say it would discriminate against minority voters in a state where overall turnout is already abysmal. Its clearly intended to have a chilling effect on voting efforts across Tennessee, John Ray Clemmons, a Democratic state representative, said of the bill. Tens of thousands of new black and Latino voters were registered in Tennessee in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, but thousands of applications in Shelby County were disqualified by state election officials for what critics say were frivolous reasons. Republicans have cited the dispute as rationale for passing the legislation. It can also be comforting for those who are grieving, allowing them to achieve some form of control following an event that can leave people feeling helpless. The sameness is a way to normalize the death. It is very important for people to say Im normal. Yes, I have lost a child. But Im normal. Stillbirth memorial videos have codified certain rituals in a relatively short time, compared to the centuries over which, for instance, the Catholic church influenced the funeral traditions still common in cultures influenced by Catholicism. Over the course of about 15 years, Dr. Bacque says, YouTube has become a kind of virtual cemetery for parents experiencing stillbirth. This is partly related to a greater openness to expressing grief publicly. Ten years ago, only women attended the support groups Dr. Bacque ran for bereaved parents. Now there are equal numbers of mothers and fathers. [Read more: A Device That Gives Parents of Stillborn Babies Time to Say Goodbye] Of course, not all parents experience stillbirth the same way. Posters of stillbirth memorial videos on English-language YouTube and Dailymotion tend to be white and North American, Dr. Bacque said. But black Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to give birth to a stillborn child. New Informal Rituals Though the majority of stillbirth memorial videos shared via social media follow the now-established conventions, some parents are creating their own forms of filmed tributes. Like Mrs. Franco-Pineda, Brian Fisher, a Michigan graphic designer, is used to documenting his familys life. His YouTube channel is full of vacation videos featuring him and his wife, Kaytee. Hed been collecting lots of footage during her pregnancy, when they learned that their daughter, Elliott Rose, had a lethal form of skeletal dysplasia that meant she would survive only a short period after birth. It was a painful decision, but the Fishers chose to carry Elliott to term. Ms. Fisher told me that now, two years later, Im so grateful for that time. We carried her for seven more weeks after the diagnosis before she was born and we fit a lot in to that time, and it allowed us to start grieving while she was still here. This included Mr. Fishers special project of recording each step of the process, to complete the video in time for the memorial service, two weeks after Elliotts birth and death. CARACAS, Venezuela After denying for years that Venezuelans were suffering a humanitarian crisis, the government allowed the Red Cross to send in 24 tons of medical equipment on Tuesday, marking the beginning of a large-scale relief campaign intended to ease malnutrition and the spread of disease in the crisis-stricken country. An airplane landed in Caracass international airport transporting the first in a series of planned shipments of medical supplies and power generators for hospitals that are intended to eventually help 650,000 Venezuelans, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The material is expected to be distributed in the coming days. Despite the enormity of the populations need, the delivery of humanitarian aid has become a political battle between the president, Nicolas Maduro, and Venezuelas opposition. On Tuesday, the president of the Red Cross in Venezuela said the aid should not become embroiled in a political dispute, and asked for the cooperation of politicians. JAKARTA, Indonesia Hammering a podium and railing against the rich and powerful, Prabowo Subianto, a former general now in the homestretch of Indonesias presidential campaign, whipped up the crowd of thousands. I am sick and disgusted with the evil elites in Jakarta! he bellowed, referring to the Indonesian capital as he harangued his troops like the general he once was. Disgusted! Always lie, lie, lie. Lie to the people! A microphone went flying as he hit the podium with his open hand. The crowd, at a rally last week in Yogyakarta, about 250 miles southeast of the capital, roared its approval, and he struck it again. His supporters chanted, Prabowo! Prabowo! The message was a strange one, coming from the scion of one of Indonesias most powerful and politically connected families. But making his fourth and perhaps final try for the presidency, and trailing in the polls by double digits, Mr. Prabowo, 67, is pulling out all the stops. The military is protecting our country and some people dont appreciate its value, he said. Thangyat performances are a form of role reversal in which the authorities permit ordinary people to say things that would not otherwise be tolerated, said Christina Fink, a Myanmar expert at George Washington University and the author of a 2009 book about survival under military rule in the country, which is also known as Burma. This type of ritual of reversal allows people to let off steam, but also communicates important information to those in power, if they are willing to listen, she said. The tradition dates to at least the time of Burmas penultimate king, Mindon, who ruled from 1853 to 1878, she said. For decades after the Myanmar Army, known as the Tatmadaw, seized power from a civilian government in 1962, the ruling junta allowed public thangyat performances, with restrictions. When the junta banned the performances outright in 1989, some thangyat performers moved to India and beyond, and CDs of their shows were occasionally smuggled back into their home country. Thangyat censorship eased a little bit under a government that ruled Myanmar for a few years before the landmark 2015 elections that brought Ms. Aung San Suu Kyis party to power, said U Thiha, 70, a composer of thangyat lyrics. Over all, Mr. Thiha said, censorship is looser under Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi than it was under the last government. For example, he said, her government censors words instead of entire paragraphs. I submit my lyrics for censorship because I believe they are written in my countrys best interests, he added. A 60-year-old man was arrested after allegedly killing four people in a targeted series of shootings on Monday, the police in British Columbia said. The gunman, whom the authorities had not named as of Tuesday morning, killed two men and two women in three locations within about three miles of one another in the city of Penticton, said Ted De Jager, superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The first shooting was reported at 10:30 a.m., and the suspect had turned himself in by 11:30, he said. The victims were not identified, pending notification of their families. But the police said they believed the gunman knew all of the victims. While the investigation remains active and ongoing, we do believe this was a targeted incident, Mr. De Jager said at a news conference on Monday. LONDON Of the various press rituals surrounding the British royal family, few are sillier than the vigil outside a London maternity ward, where squadrons of news reporters wait on the street, sometimes for hours or days, for a woman to go into labor. [Update: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to step back from royal family.] What follows is bedlam: Bookmakers with blackboards, updating the odds on names, tipsy monarchists, and, for a crowd of exasperated journalists, the opportunity to photograph a few inches of exposed royal baby before the child is whisked away to a palace. The only thing worse, it seems, is not being able to photograph the newborn at all. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, known more widely as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, last week announced that they were canceling the traditional photo opportunity, and that they would instead share their own photos of the newborn, known in the business as Baby Sussex, after they had had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family. This did not go down well with the press, which reported the decision as a departure from more than 40 years of tradition. But the appeal by Mr. Erdogans party, Justice and Development, may forestall that. After submitting the application for a do over, Ali Ihsan Yavuz, the partys deputy leader, told reporters outside the headquarters of the High Election Council in the capital, Ankara, that 85 percent of the mistakes detected in the voting were against his party. He added that the irregularities included 16,000 votes for Justice and Development having been erroneously recorded for other parties. There is complete organized irregularity and complete election corruption, he said. It shows us the will of the nation was snatched away. Officials from Mr. Erdogans party, Justice and Development, have been saying for several days that as a final resort they would lodge an extraordinary application for a rerun of the race because of what they called numerous and grave irregularities. A decision from the election council could come within days, and a new vote would be held on June 2 if the governing partys application were accepted, officials have said. Eleven judges sit on the board of the High Election Council, elected by judges of the Supreme Court and the State Council. The judiciary in Turkey has come under increasing government control in recent years as hundreds of judges, prosecutors and lawyers have been imprisoned or purged from their jobs since a failed coup. PARIS France, a fundamentally Roman Catholic country whose citizens rarely attend Mass, understands the story and the meaning of Easter. It is a story of resurrection and rebirth, of the transformation of something profane into something sacred. In a subdued Paris on Tuesday, as Parisians and tourists gathered to stare at the smoke-smudged stones of what is left of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, relieved that the entire structure had not collapsed, there was talk of resurrection and reconstruction, but also of anger and shock at the possibility of what many considered official malfeasance and negligence. While investigations continue into the cause of the blaze, there were questions about whether the refurbishment budget was too small, whether more fire protection and even sprinklers should have been provided, and how thoroughly an initial fire alarm was investigated before it was dismissed. The fire was not discovered until another alarm sounded 23 minutes later. PARIS Inside the cavernous cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, the last Mass of the day was underway on Monday of Holy Week when the first fire alarm went off. It was 6:20 p.m., 25 minutes before the heavy wooden doors were scheduled to close to visitors for the day. Worshipers, sightseers and staff were ushered out, and someone went up to check the most vulnerable part of the medieval structure the attic, a lattice of ancient wooden beams known as the forest but no fire was found, Remy Heitz, the Paris prosecutor, said on Tuesday. At 6:43 p.m., another alarm rang. It was just 23 minutes later, but when they returned to the attic, it was clear they had a major problem: It was on fire. Soon much of the roof and the delicate spire rising high above it were also engulfed in flames, fanned by a strong breeze. JERUSALEM An advocate for Human Rights Watch must leave the country by May 1, an Israeli court ruled on Tuesday, upholding a deportation order issued under a contentious law that bars entry to foreigners who have publicly called for a boycott of Israel or its settlements in the occupied West Bank. The deportation order against Omar Shakir, an American citizen and the organizations Israel and Palestine director, is the first application of the law against a person lawfully present in Israel. The case against Mr. Shakir comes as part of a broader Israeli clampdown against the international movement to boycott Israel, a campaign that the government, empowered by the staunch support of President Trump, says delegitimizes the country and smacks of anti-Semitism. Activists defend the movement as a nonviolent means to protest Israel and its policies toward Palestinians, along with its settlements, which most of the world considers to be a violation of international law. Last week, the United States barred entry to Omar Barghouti, one of the co-founders of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, also known as B.D.S., without explanation. Contributions From Individual Donors Circles are sized by the total amount to each candidate. Circles are sized by the amount raised by each candidate. Who has the most campaign cash on hand? Who spent about as much money as they raised? Who relied heavily on personal loans and past political accounts? Democratic presidential candidates on Monday provided the first broad look at campaign finances. Early fund-raising is no guarantee of votes in 2020, but it is a barometer of which Democrats are generating interest not an easy feat in a crowded field. [Here are the nine biggest takeaways from the 2020 money race so far.] We crunched the fund-raising numbers for 16 Democrats, and the revelations below are telling about how much money they can invest in staff and events in critical early-voting states. Democrats toward the rear of the pack are at a big disadvantage: Their ability to build campaigns to go the distance will be limited unless they improve their fund-raising. Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris have raised the most money from individual donors. Senator Bernie Sanders entered the race with a huge network of online donors from his 2016 presidential bid. Senator Kamala Harris also showed her fund-raising strength, as did former Representative Beto ORourke, who raised a mountain of cash in his unsuccessful Senate bid last year. Total Raised From Individual Contributions (in millions) + Show all candidates Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand transferred huge sums from their Senate campaigns. Several candidates supplemented their presidential fund-raising by transferring money raised in past federal races. Legally, money can be transferred only from federal campaigns, giving members of Congress an advantage over candidates who are mayors or governors, or those who have never held federal office. Candidates can also contribute their own money. Transfers and Candidate Contributions (in millions) Note: Mr. Sanders ended the quarter with roughly $11 million still available to be transferred, his campaign said. Representative Tulsi Gabbards transfer amount excludes a redundant transaction made for compliance reasons. Candidate contributions exclude amounts under $10,000. Sanders also has the most cash in the bank. The first nominating contests are not until February 2020, so campaigns need to be able to pay their bills for many months to stay afloat. Cash on hand includes loans from candidates and transfers from their previous committees. Cash on Hand (in millions) + Show all candidates Note: Figures are as of March 31. Many Democratic candidates are relying heavily on small donors. Mr. Sanders is counting on small donations to fuel his presidential bid, as is Ms. Warren, who has sworn off holding high-dollar fund-raisers. Ms. Harris has a strong base of online donors, but she has also raised significant sums from traditional donors. Some candidates, such as Ms. Gillibrand, Senator Cory Booker and former Gov. John Hickenlooper, relied heavily on larger donations. Percentage of Money From Donors Giving $200 or Less + Show all candidates Warren has spent about as much as she has raised. The new spending data offers a glimpse into how candidates are prioritizing their resources. Ms. Warrens sizable spending allowed her to quickly grow her campaign operation and deploy staff members in key states like Iowa, but she burned through almost as much money as she raised in donations. Total Spent (in millions) + Show all candidates President Trumps re-election campaign also reported its fund-raising. The campaign brought in about $30 million in the first three months of 2019 roughly equal to that of Mr. Sanders and Ms. Harris put together. [Some candidates have also released their tax returns in recent days. See how they compare.] Mr. Trump has his own powerful base of small donors. The campaign said its average donation was $34.26. Online donations of modest amounts will also play an enormous role in the Democratic primary race: many candidates are relying heavily on grass-roots donors to finance their campaigns. Money from small donors is a point of pride, showing that candidates are attracting support from regular people around the country. Heres a full look at how the Democratic candidates compare. Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs of China (GAC) Hu Wei (2nd L) speaks at a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, April 15, 2019. Chinese customs seized 7.48 tonnes of smuggled ivory during an operation on March 30, the GAC said in a press release Monday. It is the largest seizure of smuggled elephant tusks by Chinese customs in recent years. (Xinhua/Pan Xu) BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese customs seized 7.48 tonnes of smuggled ivory during an operation on March 30, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said in a press release Monday. It is the largest seizure of smuggled elephant tusks by Chinese customs in recent years, the GAC said. An international ivory smuggling criminal gang was destroyed during the operation. So far this year, Chinese customs has seized 8.48 tonnes of ivory and ivory products and 500.5 tonnes of endangered species in 182 smuggling cases involving 171 suspects, according to the press release. Meanwhile, police have strengthened efforts to crack down on the smuggling of endangered species. More than 200 items of smuggled ivory products and over 830 kilograms of other endangered species have been seized through border controls since 2018, said the Ministry of Public Security . Police have also intensified the hunt for fugitive smugglers overseas. So far this year, two fugitives involved in an high-profile ivory smuggling case, were arrested and repatriated from Nigeria and another in a separate case from Vietnam after fleeing overseas for eight years. In the past three years, police have assisted customs authorities in capturing 18 fugitives suspected of smuggling elephant tusks and other endangered species, the ministry said. China has imposed a complete ban on ivory trade for commercial purposes starting Jan. 1, 2018, as part of its commitment to protecting wild animals. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] A 42-year-old man in Shenzen, China, was recently hospitalized with a stroke after the staff at a local internet cafe noticed that he hadnt got up from his seat in 50 hours. According to CCTV footage, the unnamed man arrived at the internet cafe on the morning of March 31st and never once got up from his chair for the next 50 hours. It was only on the evening of April 2nd that the staff checked CCTV cameras and noticed that he had been there for over two days. When they checked on him, they found that he was paralyzed, unable to speak and suffering from incontinence. When he arrived at the Longhua District Peoples Hospital, he was barely conscious and couldnt move the limbs on the right side of his body. Doctors diagnosed him with massive cerebral infarction on the left basal ganglia and frontotemporal lobe, otherwise known as a stroke. Photo: CCTV Its unclear when the stroke occurred, but after checking the CCTV footage provided by police doctors deduced that it must have happened at least 24 hours before he was brought to the hospital. Apparently, the security camera video shows the man in exactly the same position, sitting in his chair, with his left hand resting on his temple for about 24 hours, which suggests he was left paralyzed long before anyone noticed there was something wrong with him. The mans doctors said that if he had been brought to the hospital within 3 to 6 hours after suffering the stroke, they could have prevented much of the damage to his brain with thrombolysis or interventional surgery. He is still recovering in the hospital, but its unclear if he will be left with permanent brain damage. While the cause of the stroke is still undetermined, doctors at the Peoples Hospital Department of Neurology said that sitting down for long periods of time and not getting enough sleep considerably increase the risk of strokes even among young people. G&S Business Communications has relocated its New York headquarters to 111 West 33rd Street, near the new Hudson Yards complex. The move follows the agencys August 2018 acquisition of CooperKatz & Company, which doubled its New York staff and broadened its roster of accounts and portfolio of services. The agency says its new headquarters are set up to facilitate collaborations among cross-functional teams of employees, who serve in corporate roles, manage national accounts, and consult on creative, digital, social, experiential marketing, and insights services. Antenna has rebranded and consolidated its parent company's subsidiaries including Beckerman, Eco Branding and Chicago Digital under the Antenna brand. The combined agency will provide integrated communications and marketing campaigns for companies in the cleantech, real estate, healthcare, mobility and B2B technology industries. A new logo, name, brand identity and website have been unveiled to highlight Antennas expanded offerings, which include public relations and communications, social media, digital marketing, influencer partnerships, website development, video development and creative services. The firm encompasses a team of over 80 professionals across offices in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and New Jersey. Julian Rea CitySavvy pro-Julian Rea has launched Liminal, which is focused on providing strategic communications support to financial services brands. Rea has acquired CitySavvys UK business, and the firms London team will remain in place at the new consultancy. The agency says it will work across traditional media and digital communications channels, as well as delivering training and content creation services for clients. Were not looking to reinvent the wheel, but we do want to really double down on the things we know are important to clients and contribute most to their success: quality of strategic thought, deep sector knowledge, proactive execution and a commitment to building long-term, trusted partnership, Rea said. AT&T has sold its 9.5 percent stake in Hulu back to the company for $1.43 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The sale is expected to allow AT&T to focus its attention on the streaming service it is launching later this year. It also puts Disney more firmly in the drivers seat at Hulu, adding to the 60 percent of the company that Disney currently controls (the rest is controlled by Comcast). While the sale price is more than twice the $583 million that Time Warner paid for its share of Hulu in 2016, it doesnt do much to lighten the $170 billion net debt load that AT&T has taken on in the wake of its Time Warner acquisition. While Hulu says it gained eight million subscribers in 2018 for a year-end total of 25 million, and has seen its valuation grow from $5.8 billion to $15 billion, it is still a distant second to Neflix, which has 139 million subscribers. Newsweek is enlisting the Poynter Institute for Media Studies to help the publication review and support newsroom standards, ethics and processes. Poynter senior vice president Kelly McBride will work with Newsweek editor-in-chief Nancy Cooper to ensure that its newsroom employees are educated in best practices. The collaboration is the first formalized ethics consulting project of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at Poynter. It comes following a year in which Newsweek has seen charges from editors that their reporting was being interfered with and an indictment against its former parent company in a fraud and money laundering case. At a time when the publics trust of the media is at an all-time low, its crucial for us to be transparent about our processes and explicit in our commitment to integrity, said Cooper. We look forward to working closely with Kelly to further support our dedication to quality journalism. Marc Benioff Time magazine is staffing up for its new life as an independent publication. Thanks to the financial backing of the magazines new owner, Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff, Time is investing in both its current employees (according to WWD, all those employees who made it through the transition process received $1,000 bonuses) and in new hires to expand its coverage. Tina Susman, formerly national editor at BuzzFeed, and Lori Fradkin, who was executive editor of cosmopolitan.com, have both been hired as senior editors. Sam Jacobs, who most recently served as digital director and executive editor, has been upped to deputy editor, overseeing reporting and content as well as managing the newsroom. Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said that hiring was necessary in order for the publication to grow. He also asserted that Time is solidly profitable, and that its growth will be largely dependent on driving consumer revenue in the form of both events and subscriptions. Offaly County councillors have given their support to a 41-unit social housing development in Tullamore following a Part 8 planning process and council recommendation. The support was given to the plans at the April meeting of Offaly County Council on Monday, April 15. Offaly County Council, in partnership with Oaklee Housing Association, an approved housing body, proposes to develop a 3.7-acre site at Kearney's Field. The site was sold to the housing body late last year for 315,000. The greenfield site to the north of Arden View will see the construction of 41 houses, consisting of two 4-bed two-storey units, 22 3-bed two-storey units, five 2-bed two-storey units, eight 2-bed single-storey units and four 1-bed single-storey units. The proposed development connects through the adjoining Arden View. A pedestrian link is also included at this location to facilitate easy access to local schools and amenities. The decision to proceed with the development comes after a Part 8 public consultation which saw the council receive just two submissions, one from Irish Water and another from a group of local Arden View residents. The residents raised concerns with traffic, both during the construction stage and following completion. They expressed concern that an existing cul-de-sac road at Arden View would see an increase in traffic as a result of the new houses. The council said in response that the cul-de-sac status would not be affected and that only traffic from the proposed development will be using the road for access. They said all new roads and footpaths would be designed to appropriate design standards. Residents were also concerned about the safety of children as a result of increased traffic but the council said, "safety and health plans and traffic management plans will be prepared to ensure the development constructed safely." Concerns about school capacity locally were rebuffed by the council. They said: "The proposed development will provide some much-needed housing for Tullamore town. The proposed houses will contribute to addressing the housing need in Tullamore by accommodating people from the current housing list. The majority of these potential tenants may already be accommodated in the area and may have children enrolled in Tullamore schools already. Additional school entrants can be considered for schools in the wider Tullamore area." Irish Water's submission did not object to the development. They simply stipulated that "where the applicant proposes to connect directly or indirectly to a public water/wastewater network operated by Irish Water, the applicant must sign a connection agreement with Irish Water prior to commencement of the development." OCC responded by saying this would be reviewed when the application for water services is submitted. A report signed by Offaly County Council's senior housing executive officer, senior planner, director of services for housing and chief executive proposed that the development "proceed without variations or modifications." It was proposed by Cllr Declan Harvey and seconded by Cllr Tony McCormack. In supporting the project, Cllr McCormack did urge management to "keep an eye on the traffic" in case of problems or the possible future need for further traffic management measures. Cllr Dervill Dolan praised the housing staff for bringing forward what he described as "an important development." Cllr John Leahy also welcomed this particular development but said: "we shouldn't dispose of too much of our public land to social housing." "We need to also look at affordable housing provision. A recent report shows Offaly has the second lowest disposable income in the country. They are people out working and getting nowhere and we need to provide for them as well with affordable housing." He suggested that a portion of the money made through the sale of this 3.7-acre site in Tullamore be "ringfenced" for such affordable housing developments. Director of Services, Tom Shanahan, said they were "cognizant" of the affordable housing shortage and that they were working on it with national channels and the Department. Fianna Fail TD for Offaly, Barry Cowen, has called on the Minister for Communications to immediately clarify when he intends to bring proposals for the National Broadband Plan to cabinet. Deputy Cowen was commenting following confirmation from Minister Bruton that he will not bring proposals before cabinet on Tuesday, as had been widely expected. Deputy Cowen explained, "In November of last year, the Minister for Communications indicated that he would bring a recommendation to cabinet on the National Broadband Plan within weeks. Fast forward five months and there is still no movement it is deeply frustrating." Only recently the Taoiseach said that there could be a decision made on the plan before Easter yet here we are, still without a plan. It is deeply frustrating and only serves to alienate the people of rural Ireland who are depending on the rollout. Thousands of households and businesses across Offaly and the Midlands are waiting for the Minister and the Government to get their act together on this long overdue project." There is no doubt about it; the constant delays are having a tangible negative impact across Ireland. Farmers are required to complete more of their applications for schemes online - impossible if they dont have broadband. Students are sitting in the local McDonalds or Town Centre to avail of the Wi-Fi there to complete their homework, and SMEs are unable to upgrade or expand their businesses online. Its nothing short of a farce at this stage, concluded Deputy Cowen. 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. Is the punishment on Azam, Maneka, Mayawati sufficient for poll code violation? Debates oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 16: Amid mounting pressure to act, the Election Commission banned Yogi Adityanath, Maneka Gandhi, Mayawati and Azam Khan from campaigning as a punishment for their highly objectionable remarks. The lowering standard of political discourse is a major cause of concern, as the leaders are seemingly paying no heed to the poll conduct and making communal statements and derogatory personal attacks openly. The poll body has imposed a restrict ban on these four leaders and this has called to question whether the severity of the punishment was enough. The punishment for such offences should be such that it prevents other leaders from repeating these kind of mistakes. The punishment should be so severe that it makes motormouth politicians really think before they speak. As an old adage goes, spoken words cannot be recalled. What is your say on the this? Do you feel the punishment is harsh enough that it would stop other from making hate speeches? Do you think they should have been banned from campaigning till the polls are over? Please express your views below UP CM warns Owaisi: Followers of 'abba jaan', don't try to inflame passions over CAA Yogi Adityanath didn't take dip in Ganga as he knows rivers are not clean: Akhilesh Amid poll panel's gag order, Yogi to visit Ayodhya India pti-PTI Lucknow, Apr 16: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adithyanath will visit the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, amid the 72-hour ban on campaigning imposed on him by the Election Commission. Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow and offered prayers on Tuesday, a day after the poll panel barred him from electioneering for three days for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. In Ayodhya, along with the makeshift shrine to Ram Lalla, the Chief Minister will also pray at the nearby Hanuman Garhi temple on Wednesday. Faizabad BJP district president Awadhesh Pandey told PTI, "The Chief Minister's programme is all confirmed, he will offer prayers at Ram Janambhoomi and Hanuman Garhi temple and will meet VHP religious leaders in Ayodhya on Wednesday." BJP urges EC to review decision banning Yogi from campaigning Adityanath will be meeting Ram Janambhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Digambar Akhara Mahant Suresh Das, he said. According to Mahant Suresh Das, the Chief Minister will spend on Wednesday in Ayodhya and will have lunch with prominent Sadhus of Ayodhya at Digambar Akhara. In the evening, he will go to Devipatan, a temple of goddess Durga in Balrampur district, where he would stay the night. The Chief Minister reached the Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow on Tuesday morning and got a rousing reception from his supporters amid slogans of "Jai Gorakhdham" and "Jai Bajrangbali ji". He, however, refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite the "Hanuman Chalisa." Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. The Chief Minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's roadshow, held on Tuesday before he filed his nomination paper for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Adityanath also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the Chief Minister's visit to the temple "a personal one". The Election Commission on Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am, Tuesday for his "divisive" comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name. PTI As Karnataka readies to vote, all parties have their share of troubles India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Bengaluru, Apr 16: Karnataka faces a crucial election on April 18 and the fates of several candidates in the southern region would be put to test. Amidst all the hectic campaigning, there has been some amount of bickering in the alliance between the JD(S) and Congress and this has been largely restricted to two crucial seats- Mandya and Mysore-Kodagu. This brings us to the question, whether the alliance chemistry has worked. Dr. Sandeep Shastri, leading psephologist tells OneIndia that the chemistry in general has worked, but in certain critical constituencies, there have been challenges. Will the BJP benefit from lack of alliance chemistry in Old Mysore region? If one looks at both Mandya and Mysore, it is clear that the chemistry did not translate into unity at the ground levels. Moreover these have been the most contentious seats. The only reason, why Tumkur did not become contentious was because Deve Gowda is contesting from there. The reason why the unity has not been visible on the ground level is because of specific factors. In Mandya the JD(S) decided to field the newest star of the family, Nikhil Kumaraswamy. This has in fact had a negative impact and the Congress feels that the JD(S) is out to liquidate it in Mandya. Further the Congress has also argued that the Chief Minister has not done enough to help the party in Mandya. On Sumalatha Ambareesh, Dr Shastri says that she represents a legacy, which we do know if it is the JD(S) or Congress. Her husband has represented both the parties in the past. These four states will decide BJP's fate in 2019 LS polls In Mysore, Siddaramaiah who lost the 2018 assembly polls is trying to salvage the situation. Several JD(S) workers would like Mysore to Mandya. The JD(S) would say that if the Congress is not backing them in Mandya, why should we back them in Mysore. Dr Shastri says that barring these two seats, he does not see any challenge to the unity of the alliance in any other constituency. In the case of the BJP, it must be noted that it did not replace a single candidate who had won the last elections. Going safe may have impacted the party in certain ways. For instance many are three time MPs and the anti-incumbency factor cannot be ruled out, he also says. Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying In the last election, it was the Modi factor that got them the seats and how effective is that factor, we need to watch out, he adds. Dr. Shastri also adds that the lack of unity in the party is also a factor that one cannot rule out. The leadership is not in sync and has the BJP worked on these limitations? This would be crucial, he also states. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 16:10 [IST] Why the rise of Sikh separatism in the United States needs to be flagged harder At Modis behest Khalistan movement Referendum 2020 banned in Pakistan claims SJF India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 16: Pakistan has banned the Referendum 2020 team run by the Sikhs for Justice, the group has claimed. The group said that its team was banned in Pakistan at the behest of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Legal adviser of SJF, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun claimed that the authorities in Pakistan had stopped the groups activists from putting up posters and banners of the Khalistan referendum campaign at the Gurudwara Panja Sahib in Hassan Adbal. It may be recalled that the SJF which is at the centre of the separatist movement had put up similar posters last year. The same was objected to by the Indian government. What is Referendum 2020? In June 2018, the Punjab police had busted a major plot known as Referendum 2020 which was hatched by Khalistani terrorists. Investigations revealed that the referendum was being promoted by some youth from Punjab at the behest of the ISI. Ban on KLF is a step forward on cracking down on ISI-SJF sponsored Khalistan movement Officials familiar with the probe said that this was an attempt at reviving terrorism in Punjab. The police said that the plan was to get all like-minded persons under one roof and make a major declaration. These persons had also planned on targeting a few IPL matches in Punjab before making the declaration. They were planning a mass movement and were inviting people for the same on Facebook, investigations also revealed. During the protest and declaration, the youth had also planned on setting buses and shops on fire. With this they proposed to begin a mass movement and they had fixed the 2020 deadline to declare Punjab as a Khalistan nation. The police also found that this plot was getting major traction from countries in Europe and Pakistan as well. The Khalistan call is not freedom of expression as termed by the United States The Facebook page 'Referendum 2020' was set up by an ISI agent who went by the alias Fateh Singh, the police also learnt. He had also roped in four youth to popularise the page. The main idea was to get a lot of people under one platform and then create terror before declaring Punjab as a separate nation. Who was MP Abani Roy? The senior RSP leader who passed away at 84 Bengal: Can Mamatas nephew Abhishek Banerjee retain Diamond Harbour this time? India oi-Shubham Ghosh Kolkata, April 16: 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. Constituency: DIAMOND HARBOUR Date of election: May 19 (Phase 7) The Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency is located in the South 24 Parganas district and comprises the following segments since the 2009 delimitation: Diamond Harbour, Falta, Satgachhia, Bishnupur (SC), Maheshtala, Budge Budge and Metiabruz. What happened in 2014: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of party supremo Mamata Banerjee, won this seat in 2014 and retained it for the party. Abhishek defeated CPI(M) Abdul Hasnat by over 71kvotes. The BJP's Abhijit Das finished third with just over two lakh votes and the Congress's Mohammad Qamaruzzaman Qamar ended up fourth with 63k votes. Bengal: Once a seat of VK Krishna Menon, Medinipur went to the TMC in 2014 Total electors in Diamond Harbour constituency in 2014 were 15.50 lakh. Vote share: The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 40.30 while the Left got around 34.67 per cent. The BJP received almost 16 per cent vote share while the Congress got around five per cent. History of Diamond Harbour constituency results: TMC won it in 2009 and retained five years later The CPI(M) had kept the seat under their control between 1967 and 2009, winning for 12 consecutive terms. In 2009, Somendra Nath Mitra, the current Congress chief in Bengal, won it for the first time for the TMC. In 2014, Abhishek Banerjee was nominated from this seat after Mitra returned to the Congress. Candidates contesting from Diamond Harbour in 2019: TMC: Abhishek Banerjee; Left: Fuad Halim; BJP: Nilanjan Roy; Congress: Soumya Aich Roy For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 6:40 [IST] Be present in Lok Sabha, RS says BJP in 3 line whip to its MPs BJP demands arrest of Bangladeshi actor who has been campaigning for TMC India oi-Vikas SV Kolkata, Apr 16: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday approached the Election Commission over the TMC using Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to campaign for upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Bangladeshi film star was seen seeking votes for TMC candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border, said reports. "We understand that foreign nationals can not participate in the electioneering process in India. When TMC is using Bangladeshi nationals (actor Ferdous) for campaigning, they are breaking the rules. He should be arrested for breach of visa rules," news agency ANI quoted BJP's JP Majumdar as saying after a delegation of the party met the EC in Kolkata. Lok Sabha elections 2019: In WB, Congress-CPI(M) breakup will help TMC The BJP had accused TMC of violating the model code of conduct for involving Ferdous Ahmed in campaigning. BJP alleged that it is a violation of the model code of conduct as the TMC is trying to woo the minorities. BJP Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh had asked if the TMC couldn't find anyone from India worthy enough to campaign. Taking a bitter jibe, Ghosh had said that the day is not far when Banerjee would invite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to campaign. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 14:06 [IST] Citizenship Bill issue could make it hard for Sushmita Dev to retain Silchar India oi-Vikas SV Silchar, Apr 16: Sitting MP from Silchar in Assam Sushmita Dev, daughter of the veteran Congress leader and a fiery debator, Santosh Mohan Dev, triumphed in 2014 Lok Sabha elections despite 'Modi Wave' sweeping the nation. The BJP won seven out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. Dev, one of the three Congress MPs from Assam in the Lower House, defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Kabindra Purkayastha by over 35 thousand votes. For Dev, it could be an uphill task to retain the seat in 2019, not only because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) issue, but also because BJP's chief strategist for the North East, Himanta Biswas Sarma, has given a clear signal that winning Silchar constituency is high on BJP's list of priorities. Not to mention that Dev is also battling anti-incumbency and Silchar happens to be a place where, many say, CAB has wide support along with Cachar and Karimganj districts. Priyanka Gandhi likens Silchar MP Sushmita Dev to Indira Gandhi Kabindra Purkayastha, who lost to Dev in 2014, is of the opinion that the BJP is gaining in Silchar because the Congress is opposing the CAB. Moreover, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP's key man for the North East, is leaving no stone unturned to make Dev "nervous". In Sarma's own words, "You can see that Sushmita Dev is very nervous. First, she brought Rahul Gandhi, and now Priyanka Gandhi." Priyanka was in Silchar on April 14 to campaign for Dev. Priyanka lauded Sushmita Dev's fighting spirit and even likened her to Indira Gandhi. Also, the BJP has been overtly vociferous about the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Silchar where there is an undercurrent of anti-refugee sentiment. Another reason to believe that Silchar is high on BJP's priority list is the fact that PM Modi has campaigned there twice since January. "We are committed to bring back the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill," Modi had said in Silchar a few days back. Strong wave in our favour, says PM Modi as India votes to elect new govt Despite opposition in other parts of Northeast, BJP has promised to bring in CAB with consultation and consensus. Many say there are takers for the CAB in some pockets of the North East and Silchar happens to be one of them. Though, Dev defeated BJP's Kabindra Purkayastha in 2014, the margin of victory was not that big. The contest was a close one with Dev bagging 42.07% of the votes and Purkayastha getting 37.66% of the total votes cast in the Silchar Lok Sabha constituency. AIUDF's Kutub Ahmed Mazumder ended up in third place by bagging 10.69% votes. The TMC candidate Wazid Reza Osmani was a distant fourth and got just 1.04% votes. We must take agriculture out of chemistry lab and connect it to lab of nature: PM Modi Does it behove Rahul to label all Modis as thieves? asks PM Modi India oi-Deepika S Korba, Apr 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and said it does not behove the chief of the grand old party to call "all Modis" thieves. "Is this the language to speak? We have to throw out such people. Abusive language is the norm. The Sahu community here would have been called Modi in Gujarat. Are they all thieves," Modi said while addressing a rally in Korba. Targeting the Congress, Modi said naxal influence in the area where BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed by them, had been considerably reduced. "Why did this happen now," he said, referring to the naxal attack which claimed Mandavi's life. Modi sa'ab installed cameras, will know if you vote Congress: BJP MLA "What kind of politics is this? On one hand, we are working towards the security and development of the country and its tribal and backwards areas. On the other hand, there is a conspiracy to push the state into violence. You need to beware of such people," he said. Mandavi and four security personnel were killed last Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. Modi claimed that the Congress was "hand in glove" with naxals. "Perpetrators of violence and terror are dancing with joy after Congress manifesto assurances. Will you allow Congress to compromise on your national security," he said. "The Congress is encouraging naxals in Chhatisgarh," Modi said. Encouragement to naxalism is seen in Congress manifesto which calls for scrapping of sedition law, he said. "Congress ka haath vikas ke saath ya vinash ke saath," he said. "Does Chhattisgarh want landmine or electricity and water pipeline," he added. Modi said the Ayushman Bharat scheme has been stopped in Chhattisgarh after the Congress government came to power in the state last year. Similarly, the state government had stopped sending list of farmers who will be beneficiaries of the PM Kisan yojana, he said. Modi said on May 23 when "Modi sarkar" will be re-elected, the PM Kisan yojana will be implemented and a host of other schemes for farmers would also be initiated including pension for farmers, farm labourers and small traders. Modi accused the Congress of doing a PhD in betraying people. "Its neeyat and niti (intention and policy) are not clean. Ek parivar ki gulami (slavery of one family) is the Congress party's identity," he said. The Congress poll manifesto will give an open license to those who misguide peaceful tribals in forests, Modi said referring to naxals. The Congress' panja (palm) wants our armed forces to be stripped of their special powers and weaken them, Modi said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 18:50 [IST] EC seeks report from Katihar DM over Navjot Singh Sidhu's remarks India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 16: The Election Commission on Tuesday has sought a report from the District Magistrate of Katihar over Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu's remarks during a rally in which he had appealed to the Muslim voters to vote as a bloc against the BJP. The actor-turned-politician had made a vote appeal on religious lines while addressing a rally in Bihar's Katihar. Despite the Election Commission's model code of conduct in place, politicians continue to polarise votes and latest example is Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu appealed to the muslim voters to vote for the Congress. "My muslim brothers and sisters, you must vote for the Congress. If you show solidarity, nobody can defeat your candidate. You are not a minority but a majority," he said. If we stay united, we can overthrow BJP in these polls: Navjot Sidhu appeals to Muslims The development comes after the EC took action against Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, BSP chief Mayawati and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi for seeking votes on communal lines and violating the model code of conduct. On Monday, the poll panel barred Adityanath from campaigning for three days, while Mayawati was awarded a similar ban for two days. At a recent rally in Deoband, Mayawati had asked Muslim voters not to "split" their votes between Congress and her BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Yogi, on the other hand, had commented that Congress, BSP, and SP had "Ali", BJP had the support of "Bajrangbali". Later, the EC also imposed a two-day ban on Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, while also imposing a ban on three days on Samajwadi Party's Azam Khan after he made objectionable comments against BJP candidate Jaya Prada. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 17:56 [IST] Gen Rawats chopper crashes: Those who were on board Tamil Nadu COVID-19 rules: No New Year gatherings on beaches, schools to resume 5 more in TN detected with s-gene drop raising suspicion of Omicron Lok Sabha polls in Vellore cancelled after huge cash haul India oi-Deepika S Chennai, Apr 16: President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted the Election Commission's recommendation to cancel the election in Tamil Nadu's Vellore over excess use of money power. With president's nod, Vellore becomes the first Lok Sabha seat to have had its elections countermanded over abuse of money power. "Accepting the recommendation of the Election Commission dated 14th April 2019, President has rescinded the election to Vellore parliamentary constituency, Tamil Nadu," the Election Commission said in a statement. The decision to cancel polling in Vellore came after a large sum of cash was allegedly seized from the DMK candidate's office a few days ago. Income Tax raids Kanimozhi's residence in Thoothukudi, finds nothing After the cash was seized, the district police had filed a complaint against the accused, DM Kathir Anand, as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. Anand was charged under the Representation of the People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, the police said. The other two, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, were booked under bribery charges. According to Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, the polling has been cancelled only for the Vellore Lok Sabha seat, as the by-elections to Ambur and Gudiyatham Assembly seats would be held as scheduled on April 18. On March 30, Income Tax officials had conducted searches at the residence of Anand's father Durai Murugan over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering, and seized Rs. 10.50 lakh in alleged "excess" cash. Two days later, they claimed to have seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district. Vellore is scheduled to go to polls with the rest of Tamil Nadu on April 18. Agree with Indian govt on need to safeguard citizens' privacy: WhatsApp State vs national issues: Key lessons for the BJP to learn in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana Elections at Vellore are on as of now says EC India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 16: Amidst reports of the elections in Vellore, Tamil Nadu being countermanded, the Election Commission has clarified that no such order was issued. ECI's official spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan said no such order has been issued yet. Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying There were reports suggesting that the poll panel was mulling cancelling the elections due to the alleged use of money to influence voters. It may be recalled that in 2017, the RK Nagar by-polls were countermanded. In the 2016 TN assembly elections, the EC had postponed elections in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur after huge seizures of cash were made. Government asks Apple & Google to take down TikTok from app stores India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bengaluru, Apr 16: Google and Apple have been asked by the government to take down popular Chinese short-video mobile application TikTok from their app stores. The order by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) reportedly comes just a day after the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay an earlier order by the Madras High Court to ban the app. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on April 3 passed an order directing the government to prohibit downloading of TikTok in the country. The matter was then taken to the Supreme Court, which refused to stay the order on the grounds that the matter was still sub-judice and that it would hear the matter on 22 April. 'You don't look powerless anymore': SC to EC over banning politicians for violating model code TikTok has come under heavy fire in India in recent months after reports surfaced earlier this year that the app was being used by the youth to mock and troll politicians and policemen. More recently, the app has been criticised for spreading pornographic and inappropriate content. The Madras HC has labeled the app "inappropriate for children" and has even prohibited media companies from telecasting videos posted on the app. Last week, TikTok owner ByteDance said that it had removed over 6 million videos that violated its terms of use and community guidelines. The company, however, maintains that it cannot be held accountable for content that third parties upload on the app. It has appealed stay against the ban, claiming it would cause irreparable damage to the company and that it would harm free speech in India. "We are committed to continuously enhancing our existing measures and introducing additional technical and moderation processes as part of our ongoing commitment to our users in India," TikTok said in emailed statement. EC bans Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours, Mayawati for 48 hours TikTok has been one of the most downloaded apps over the past few quarters with a large portion of new users coming out of India. According to market analysis firm Sensor Tower, India accounted for 88.6 million new users out of a total of 188 new users in the March quarter. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 15:45 [IST] If we stay united, we can overthrow BJP in these polls: Navjot Sidhu appeals to Muslims India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 16: Despite the Election Commission (EC)'s model code of conduct (MCC) in place, politicians continue to polarise votes and latest example is Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. At a rally in Bihar's Katihar, Sidhu appealed to the muslim voters to vote for the Congress. "My muslim brothers and sisters, you must vote for the Congress. If you show solidarity, nobody can defeat your candidate. You are not a minority but a majority," he said. Sidhu's appeal comes close on the heels of BSP chief Mayawati's call to the community, which earned her the ire of the EC and a 48-hour ban on campaigning. Is the punishment on Azam, Maneka, Mayawati sufficient for poll code violation? Earlier on Monday, the EC barred Mayawati and Maneka Gandhi from campaigning for 48 hours, while Yogi Adityanath and Azam Khan received 72-hour bans for violating the MCC. The bans came after the Supreme Court pulled up the EC on Monday for not doing enough to curb hate speech by politicians and questioned the authority it was exercising. The bench also recorded its satisfaction today on the EC's response detailing the prohibitory orders issued by it in the last 24 hours against these politicians. The court has kept the PIL pending but at the same time, noted that there is no need to pass further orders in the matter. With assurance of good behaviour, three J&K politicians to be released today Farooq Abdullah prevented from leaving residence to offer prayers, claims NC BJP is single largest party in Jammu, NC gets 25 of 140 Jammu native involved in NC leaders murder arrested in Delhi J&K: Militants hurl grenades at NC Leader in Kashmir India oi-Madhuri Adnal Jammu, Apr 16: Militants attacked a residence of National conference leader Ashraf Bhat by firing UBGL Grenade in Pulwama's Tral on Tuesday. The incident happened when NC's Anantnag Parliamentary seat candidate Hasnain Masoodi was adressing workers and the Grenade exploded outside the residence. J&K: Grenade diffused in outskirts of Srinagar At the time of attack, a number of NC leaders and activists had assembled for a poll meeting. However, no loss or damage has been reported so far. The police said it is ascertaining the facts at the spot. After Pak allows access, India says yet to decide on opening Kartarpur Corridor Kartarpur Sahib Corridor set to reopen for pilgrims from today: Covid report, vaccine certificates must Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi-led jatha to visit Kartarpur gurdwara today, Navjot Sidhu won't be part of it Kartarpur corridor: India, Pak discuss technical issues India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 16: India and Pakistan on Tuesday held a meeting on technical aspects of the proposed Kartarpur corridor linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Narowal with to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab, officials said. At the nearly four-hour-long meeting, which took place in makeshift tents at "Zero point" of the proposed corridor, experts and technicians from both the countries discussed "timing for completion of bridge, alignment of roads and engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points", they said. Official sources said India proposed the meeting to address outstanding technical issues for the corridor and Pakistan agreed to it, adding implementation of the project is progressing with "speed". While the meeting was on, civilians were not allowed access to a point on the Indian side from where they can have darshan of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib through binoculars. Various issues were discussed for speedy completion of the proposed project, the officials said. The Pakistani team included 8-10 delegates from the foreign ministry, and religion and federal works departments, while the 12-member Indian team comprised officials from the Land Ports Authority of India, National Highways Authority of India, Centre Public Work Department and Border Security Force. In November 2018, India and Pakistan had agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak, to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak.https://www.oneindia.com/india/kartarpur-corridor-india-pak-discuss-technical-issues-2879214.html The first meeting to finalise the modalities for the corridor took place on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on March 14. Technical experts of the two countries met on March 19 during which alignment, coordinates and several other engineering aspects of the proposed corridor were discussed. However, on March 29, India conveyed its strong concerns to Pakistan over the presence of a leading Khalistani separatist in a committee appointed by Islamabad on the Kartarpur project. India also postponed a previously agreed meeting on the project which was to be held on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side. India specifically sought response from Pakistan on presence of Khalistani separatist Gopal Chawla in the Kartarpur committee. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Lok Sabha elections 2019: Notification for Phase 6 of polls issued India pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 16: The Election Commission on Tuesday issued notification for the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on May 12 in 59 seats across seven states. The seven-phase elections began on April 11 and will end on May 19. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will head for voting in all the seven phases of the general elections. All the seven seats in Delhi will also go for polling in the sixth phase. Amid sparring between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter, sources claimed the two sides were "engaged" in taking the alliance talks forward and are likely to meet again on Wednesday over seat sharing between the two. The Congress chief said his party is willing to give four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to the AAP to ensure that their alliance defeats the BJP, which had won all the seven seats in 2014. The Congress has offered the AAP 4:3 seat-sharing formula, four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three seats for itself. The arrangement has been arrived at on basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here. The election will pit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance against mostly different opposition groupings in various states, including of Congress, the Left and regional forces which are continuing to work out a grand alliance to minimise a division of votes against the saffron party. [Factionalism within Madhya Pradesh may cost Congress dearly] The BJP has worked out a seat-sharing formula with some new allies and several old partners. However, opposition parties are yet to do so in several states. With the issuance of notification, the process of filing nominations has begun. The last date of filing nominations is April 24, while scrutiny will take place on April 24. [LoK Sabha elections 2019: Dharmendra campaigns for Hema Malini in Mathura] The last date of withdrawing from the electoral battle is April 26. The poll for the sixth phase will be held on May 12. Some of the constituencies gong to poll are: Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi are going for polls. Like Delhi, Lok Sabha elections will be held in a single phase in Haryana also. Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Chhindwara and Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh will also go for elections in the sixth phase. PTI Bengaluru: Railway official who hid her coronavirus positive son in guest house suspended Think before you book flight tickets now MCC violation: Two railways officials suspended over tickets with PM Modis photos India oi-Vikas SV New Delhi, Apr 16: At least two Railway employees have reportedly been suspended over the tickets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pictures on them which amounts to poll code violation. Even last month, the Election Commission (EC) had issued notices to both the Indian Railways and Civil Aviation Ministry to remove PM Modi's photos from tickets and boarding passes. MCC violation: EC issues notice to Railways, Civil Aviation ministries over Modi's picture Tickets with photo of PM Modi printed on them were issued to passengers at Barabanki railway station on Monday, said reports. A Railway official told ANI that the PM's pictures were in the old lot of tickets which were used by mistake. "On 13 April, when shift changes, the old roll was mistakenly used. Two employees have been suspended, departmental probe underway," a Railway Official told ANI. The EC had in March issued a show cause to the Railways over the use of paper tea cups with "main bhi chowkidar" slogan. Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying The ECI has also sent a notice to Ministry of Civil Aviation, seeking a reply on Madurai Airport matter where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture was seen on boarding passes. Earlier on March 27, the EC had questioned the Centre why Railway tickets and boarding passes carrying photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have not been withdrawn. Who was MP Abani Roy? The senior RSP leader who passed away at 84 MHA seeks report on Ferdous campaigning for TMC; Bangladesh distances itself India oi-Vikas SV Kolkata, Apr 16: Amid uproar over Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed campaigning for the TMC, the Mamata Banerjee-led party said that they did not invite the actor even as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked for a report from Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on the entire matter. Dhaka distanced itself from the issue and Bangladesh's Information Minister reportedly said, "It is for the Indian government to check", adding that the government was contacted on the matter. BJP demands arrest of Bangladeshi actor who has been campaigning for TMC The BJP has, meanwhile, approached the Election Commission with their complaint and sought Ferdous' arrest. The TMC, however, said they have not invited Ferdous. "No one invited him. He came for another programme in the area and decided to join the campaign. He is popular in the area," reports quoted the TMC as saying. The Bangladeshi film star was seen seeking votes for TMC candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border, said reports. The BJP had accused TMC of violating model code of conduct for involving Ferdous Ahmed in campaigning. BJP alleged that it is a violation of the model code of conduct as the TMC is trying to woo the minorities. Lok Sabha elections 2019: In WB, Congress-CPI(M) breakup will help TMC BJP Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh had asked if the TMC couldn't find anyone from India worthy enough to campaign. Taking a bitter jibe, Ghosh had said that the day is not far when Banerjee would invite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to campaign. We must take agriculture out of chemistry lab and connect it to lab of nature: PM Modi Modi sa'ab installed cameras, will know if you vote Congress: BJP MLA India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 16: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Gujarat's Fatehpura Ramesh Katara on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "installed cameras" and the people "should look for the lotus symbol" and press it. The MLA, Ramesh Katara, allegedly made the remarks while addressing a small campaign rally in support of BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Dahod, Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, in a village near Dahod two days ago. In the clip, the MLA from Fatepura, which comes under the Dahod Lok Sabha constituency, is purportedly seen claiming Modi will stop giving work to the village if its residents do not vote for Bhabhor, a Union minister. Lok Sabha elections 2019: BJP to come up with new campaign slogan, development gets top spot "Press the button (on EVM) having the photo of Bhabhor and lotus (BJP's) symbol. This time, Modi saheb has installed cameras (in polling booths). "While sitting there, he would know who had voted for the BJP and who voted in favour of the Congress," Katara is heard saying in the video. "If votes (to the BJP) will be less in your booth, you will be given less work. Modi saheb, while sitting there, would find out that you did something wrong. "Your photos are there on election card, Aadhaar card and even on ration card," said Katara, warning the villagers. As the video featuring Katara and his controversial speech went viral, Dahod collector and district election officer V L Kharadi Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to him. "We issued a show-cause notice to Katara today morning for the alleged breach of the model code of conduct. He is required to tender an explanation in a day," said Kharadi. Bhabhor, the sitting MP, has been renominated by the BJP for the Dahod (ST) seat. However, Katara has denied threatening voters and claimed facts have been "distorted" in the video. Claiming malicious intention behind circulation of the clip, the ruling party MLA said he was just making voters in the tribal-dominated village aware of polling process in their own language. Voting in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on April 23 and counting of votes will take place on May 23. Recently, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi told a gathering of Muslims in Sultanpur to vote for her or face the risk of not receiving her help. In a video clip, which was widely shared on social media, Maneka Gandhi was heard as saying, "This is important. I am winning. I am winning because of the love and support of people. But if my victory is without Muslims, I won't feel that good. Dil khatta ho jayega (Things will become sour). Then when a Muslim comes to me for work, I think let it be, how does it matter. It's all give and take, isn't it? We aren't all sons of Mahatma Gandhi, are we? (laughter). It's not that we keep on giving and then losing in the election. This victory will happen with or without you." Taking cognisance of Gandhi's speech, the Election Commission on Monday barred her from campaigning for 48 hours for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The commission earlier on Monday had also barred BSP chief Mayawati and Yogi Adiyanath, UP's BJP chief minister, for 48 and 72 hours for their controversial statements about Muslims For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 18:28 [IST] Naresh Goyal opts out from bidding process of Jet Airways; flight ops likely to shut down India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 16: New Delhi: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has opted out of bidding for stake acquisition in the ailing airline, said reports on Tuesday. The development came after Etihad Airways and TPG Capital threatened to walk out of the deal if Goyal was a part of it. The full service carrier, which is currently operating less than 10 aircraft, is awaiting fresh fund infusion under a debt resolution plan. Delaware-based firm named Future Trend Capital, London-based entity called Adi Partners, Etihad, TPG and Indigo Capital are some of the bidders who have submitted their expression of interest (EOI) for the same. SBI Caps will select the qualified bidders on Tuesday. State-run National Infrastructure and Investment Fund are expected to bid directly. Etihad owns at least 24 per cent of Jet Airways and has said that it wants to continue keeping it that way. Apparently, Etihad had two conditions: Goyal's complete exit from the airline and exemption from a capital markets rule that mandates companies to put an open offer of 20 per cent shares if it has acquired 25 per cent in a company. Jet Airways crisis: Suresh Prabhu calls for review of flight cancellations, increase in airfare Goyal had resigned as the chairman and board member earlier itself. Meanwhile, Jet Airways' top official refused to reply to any query. Both TPG and Etihad spokespersons said they wouldn't comment on rumours and speculation. Meanwhile, Jet Airways' board meeting is now over and it has been decided that operations is likely to shut down. However, a final call will be taken by the end of the day as the options remain limited. It is being said that all efforts are on to avoid the grounding of the airline. Earlier, Jet Airways had decided to cancel its services on overseas routes till Thursday, April 18. The same had been confirmed by the beleaguered airline's CEO Vinay Dube in a statement to employees on Monday. The decision was taken following the non-receipt of funds from its lenders, who have now management control of the airline following a debt-restructuring plan last month. Jet Airways shares, which opened the day on a weak note, further plummeted 18.56 per cent to Rs 213.20 in afternoon trade on the BSE. The carrier, which was founded more than 25 years ago, has already suspended international operations till April 18. (with PTI Inputs) Prakash Raj campaigns in Bengaluru, says 'I'm fighting for the people, not against any party or lead India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bengaluru, Apr 16: Actor-turned politician Prakash Raj who is contesting from the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate, on Tuesday said that he is contesting this election on behalf of the people and not against any political party or leader. On the campaign trail on Tuesday, Raj said, "I'm not fighting against anyone.I'm fighting for the people. It's we who are the majority. In democracy, if you choose the right leader,people win,if you choose wrong leader,people lose." 'Need people like Prakash Raj in Parliament', says Arvind Kejriwal He had earlier said that he will not join any party if he wins. Participating in an interaction jointly organised by the Press Club of Bengaluru and Bengaluru Reporters' Guild here, he said: "If I win the election, I will work for people and if I lose, I will make the elected representative work." Raj, hailing from Karnataka, has been a continuous opponent of Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was constantly criticising the government through his social media handles. He is contesting as an independent candidate in Bengaluru Central against PC Mohan of the BJP and Rizwan Arshad of Congress. Actor Vishal has expressed his support to Prakash Raj through a video. We must take agriculture out of chemistry lab and connect it to lab of nature: PM Modi Probe mysterious black trunk in Modi's chopper during Karnataka rally, Cong tells EC India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, Apr 16: The Congress has asked the Election Commission to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flagging a "mysterious box" that was moved from his helicopter to his car when he was campaigning in Karnataka's Chitradurga last week. In a litany of complaints to the Election Commission today, the Congress has accused both PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of hate speeches. The party has also brought to the poll commission's notice railway tickets with PM Modi's images. The Congress has also complained about Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti using an expletive for Rahul Gandhi at a public event yesterday. The Congress on Sunday demanded a probe into the alleged transportation of a "suspicious black trunk" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's helicopter during his visit to Chitradurga in Karnataka for poll campaign. Revealed: What was inside the mystery black trunk in PM Modi's chopper Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma asked the prime minister to come clean and said the Election Commission should inquire into the contents of the "trunk". He said the Congress' Karnataka unit has already filed a complaint with the Election Commission in this regard. "We saw there were three more choppers escorting the prime minister's helicopter. After landing, a black trunk was taken out and whisked away in a private car which was not part of the SPG carcade," he alleged. The prime minister had addressed an election rally in Karnataka's Chitradurga on April 9. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 19:36 [IST] Be present in Lok Sabha, RS says BJP in 3 line whip to its MPs Saffron leadership concerned over Digvijayas friendship with Chouhan, Tomar India oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi New Delhi, April 16: The saffron leadership is concerned over Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's friendship with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Narendra Singh Tomar, say sources. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Chouhan and Union Minister Tomar are also Thakurs like Digvijaya Singh. According to the sources, top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP leaders' concerns have deepened after the Congress has fielded Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal, a seat that has been a stronghold of the BJP for decades. These four states will decide BJP's fate in 2019 LS polls "Digvijaya Singh enjoys friendly relations with Chouhan and Tomar as they all are Thakurs. As an understanding, they don't create hurdles for each other on their respective seats during elections. Due to the politics within the Congress, Digvijaya is forced to fight from Bhopal and this has worried the RSS and the BJP leadership that the friendship of these Thakur leaders might cost the BJP in Bhopal," sources tell OneIndia. It's notable that Digvijaya Singh is fighting an election which will decide the fate of his political career. It's a matter of prestige for Singh to win Bhopal seat as he has been challenged by his party colleague and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath to fight from a tough seat and win to prove that he is really a tall leader. Singh wanted to contest from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat, which is considered as his bastion. Sources say that the RSS and the BJP leadership is not in a mood to sacrifice even a single seat in the name of friendship. "This is the reason that Chouhan is under pressure from the BJP to contest the Lok Sabha election against Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal so that the party should retain the seat at any cost," say sources. Cong not fielding candidate from Lucknow? Direct fight likely between Rajnath Singh and Poonam Sinha Chouhan, on the other hand, has openly said that he doesn't want to contest Lok Sabha elections and is seeking party ticket for his wife from Vidisha and not Bhopal. However, both the seats are considered safe for the BJP as it has not lost the seats from last three decades. Sources also say there are talks in the BJP to field Chouhan's wife from Bhopal, to which the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister is also not comfortable. Chouhan's reluctance has strengthened the concerns of the BJP and the RSS leadership, say sources. The BJP has still not announced its candidates from Bhopal, Vidisha, and Indore, another stronghold of the party. According to the sources, "The BJP and the RSS don't want to field a weak candidate against Digvijaya Singh. If Chouhan is not ready to face Digvijaya Singh then Tomar may be shifted from Morena to Bhopal to thwart any chances of a walk over to the Congress leader." Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying Tomar, sitting Gwalior MP, has been moved to Morena this time. On April 6, the Union minister told party workers in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, "I am not sure where from to contest this election. I don't know whether I will fight the election from Morena or not." Sources say that idea behind the whole exercise is to ensure 'friends' are fielded against each other in Bhopal as no one would throw away his seat no matter how strong his bonding with Digvijaya may be. Separatist Geelanis son gets second NIA summons in terror funding case India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 16: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has summoned for the second time, the son of S A S Geelani, in connection with the terror funding case. The NIA has Dr. Naeem Geelani to be present at its office in New Delhi. This is the second time that the NIA is issuing summons to Naeem Geelani in almost a week. He has been directed to appear on April 22 at 10.30 am. This has a reference of Case no NIA crime no RC- 10/2017/NIA/DLI. In his first summon he was asked to appear on April 9, 2019, at NIA Delhi, the NIA said. Terror sympathisers in govt offices: Monitoring group gets cracking Naeem a doctor by profession is presently posted at the JLNM hospital in Srinagar. He has been under the scanner for his role in the terror funding case. Naeem and his wife were living in Pakistan for ten years. They returned to India in 2010. His younger brother Naseem who works at the agricultural university in Srinagar has also been questioned in connection with the case. Sex on the pretext of marriage amounts to rape: Supreme Court India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Apr 16: Sex on the pretext of marriage amounts to rape, the Supreme Court has ruled. A Bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and M R Shah said that rape offends a woman's dignity and esteem. If for the fact the victim and her rapist have already settled in their lives and taking care of their families it could not be considered a ground to have the crime be null and void. Why did you lie and attribute it to SC: BJP fires at Rahul Gandhi Such incidents were on the rise in modern society. It tantamounts to a serious blow to the supreme honour of a woman and offends both her esteem and dignity, the court also held. The verdict was passed on a plea filed by a woman from Chhattisgarh, who had alleged that a doctor had raped her in 2013. She was familiar with the accused and had a love affair. She alleged that the accused had promised to marry her and their families were aware of this. She alleged that the accused was engaged to another woman, while he had the affair. He went on to break the relationship and married the other woman, she further alleged. An FIR was lodged and the accused was convicted for rape. The High Court too upheld the conviction and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. Will provide explanation to SC for Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Rafale case: Congress "Rape is the most morally and physically reprehensible crime in a society, an assault on the body, mind and privacy of the victim. While a murderer destroys the physical frame of the victim, a rapist degrades and defiles the soul of a helpless female. Rape reduces a woman to an animal, as it shakes the very core of her life," the Supreme Court observed. The court however reduced the sentence to 7 years. Terror sympathisers in govt offices: Monitoring group gets cracking India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Srinagar, Apr 16: Several agencies monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir have raised concerns about government officials who act as sympathisers of terror. The NIA has stumbled upon several instances where government officials have actively aided persons in terror funding. They help in moving the funds and also act as a perfect cover for the terror sympathisers an National Investigation Agency (NIA) official explained to OneIndia. In the midst of such allegations, a monitoring group has commenced its work to identify and weed out such elements in government offices. The group known as the multi disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group was constituted with an aim of taking coordinated action in all cases that relate to terror and terror financing. This group would identify all persons involved in terrorism. After these persons are identified, coercive action would follow. Monitoring group constituted to weed out terror sympathisers in govt offices The group comprises the ADGP, CID, J&K Police, representatives of the CBI, NSA, CBTD and CBIC. This group would meet on a weekly basis and submit an action taken report. An MHA official explained to OneIndia that the group would help identify not just terrorists, but sympathisers as well. A close watch would be kept on government employees and teachers as well, who have found to be sympathetic towards terror groups, the officer also explained. If found to be involved, the group would conduct a thorough investigation and then action would follow. While the security forces are busy with over ground workers and terrorists, there has always been a concern regarding the sympathisers, especially those who work in government offices. It is necessary that the cases against such persons need to be taken to a logical conclusion, the officer explained. This group would look into the minutest of details and help weed out terrorism in all forms, he further said. This action becomes all the more necessary in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate, National Investigation Agency and Income Tax Department probing terror funding cases. It has been noticed in several cases, that the funds are reaching separatists and terrorists through various sources. One primary source has been teachers and government officials. This had gone unnoticed for long explains the officer, while stating the need for such a group. Two Congress leaders link KPCC president DK Shivakumar to scam in viral video: What's in the leaked clip? The Acche Din never came says D K Shivakumar India oi-Oneindia Staff By Anuj Cariappa Mangalore, Apr 16: Criticising the sitting Dakshina Kannada (DK) MP Nalin Kumar Kateel for his irresponsible attitude towards the Lok Sabha constituency, Congress leader and state Irrigation Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday asked the people to vote for development and harmony in the district. Addressing a press meet here, Shivakumar, who is here to campaign for party candidate Mithun Rai, slammed the BJP for doing hardly anything for the constituency which had been represented by their MPs in the last 28 years. Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying The minister hoped that the educated and intelligent people of DK will give Mithun Rai a chance to fulfil their dreams of development. "The present MP is not aware of the problems faced by the people in the coastal district. The youth are leaving Mangaluru to other cities seeking jobs. No major development work had been done for the port, airport or other facilities in the city during the last ten years," he alleged. The sitting MP could not also raise a finger against the merger of Vijaya Bank with Bank of Baroda, which had hurt the people of DK, he said. The 'Ache Din' promised by the BJP had never come and the country was facing a crisis in almost all the sectors, including agriculture, he said. Farmers have been totally ignored by the Centre, he alleged. Shivakumar wanted the workers of BJP and RSS to set aside their political differences and support Mithun Rai in the elections. Congress-JD(S) will fight LS polls together: DKS He said the concept of Hindutva is unique in the world and everyone should respect the culture and tradition of the country. DCC president Harish Kumar, MLC, and party leader Ibrahim Kodijal were among those present. This election is about who will be Prime Minister of India: Rajeev Chandrasekhar India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Bengaluru, Apr 16: The election heat is at its peak and on May 23 the fate of several political parties will be decided. While the BJP is fighting the election on the development and corruption free government plank, the Congress has spoken about NYAY and also the Rafale Deal. NYAY is not a game changer says BJP Rajya Sabha Member, Rajeev Chandrasekhar. In this interview with OneIndia, Rajeev Chandrashekhar says that this election will be about who will be the Prime Minister of India for the next five years. Also Read | Do you vote on the basis of a manifesto? Check what the parties are saying What is your overall view of the elections. Will the numerous ties ups in the opposition hurt the BJP? Two negatives don't make a positive. Both these parties were rejected abysmally during the 2018 State elections. They are united only by a common shared desire to maximize looting and hanging on to power . They also share the common DNA of being dynasts trying to exploit the people. Do you feel that NYAY will be a game-changer? NYAY is no game changer. As a matter of fact - it reinforces the fact and reminds the voter of the abysmal failure of the Congress in tackling poverty over the last 65 years. As the leader of the Congress who himself has never held a job in his life - himself acknowledged yesterday that NYAY was inspired by the fake claim of the 15 lacs per citizen deposit. The country has already experienced from 2009 to 2014 how the Congress destroyed India's economy through reckless spending - creating much pain for middle class and poor. Has the BJP given enough emphasis to farmers and the economy in its manifesto? Yes. The poor and the Farmer and transforming their lives permanently and sustainably - is an article of faith for PM Modi and BJP. Will the tie up between the Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka be a stumbling block for the BJP? Two negatives don't make a positive. Both these parties were rejected abysmally during the 2018 State elections. They are united only by a common shared desire to maximize looting and hanging on to power . They also share the common DNA of being dynasts trying to exploit the people. The 'Acche Din' never came says D K Shivakumar Should BJP have gone ahead with Tejasvini's candidature instead of Tejasvi Surya in Bengaluru South? BJP has many excellent leaders - established and upcoming. It's not a zero sum issue for leaders and Karyakartas. Tejaswini Ananthkumar is a very highly respected leader and much admired. Tejasvi is a young up and coming Karyakarta. The party decided on Tejasvi's candidature and all in the BJP support that. Are the Lingayats still behind the BJP in Karnataka? Every Kannadiga - Lingayat, Vokkaliga, Kuruba, OBC, SC, ST, Brahmin, North Indian, Muslim, Christian who cares for a better future for India, Karnataka and therefore their families and their communities is behind Narendra Modi as the PM of the country. These elections are about who will be PM of India for next 5 years. The situation of the current Cong/JD(S) in state in untenable and must end. The development of Bengaluru and Karnataka can only move forward if there is BJP in center and in State The BJP's main plank has been national security. Will it work in an election? The BJPs main plank is development of India , to ensure that poor and farmers are given a new opportunity to a life of dignity and prosperity - and to make India a global Economic power. A prosperous India is only possible if we are a strong secure India and a National security doctrine that punishes those who terrorise us is part of that. Only Narendra Modi has delivered the political leadership for this . Do you agree with the allegation that the BJP has politicised the Indian Army? The Indian Army will not and cannot be politicized. The men of the Indian Army are warriors whose heart beat for all Indians. They serve the nation and not any Party. NOTA threatens to be a big factor. How do you see this playing out? It should not be. These are important elections where voters have to support and continue the progress of the last 5 years or go back to dark, corrupt days of the Congress. On Rafale, the Congress has hurled charges against the BJP? Is it helping their narrative? As I said, Rafale is another of Rahul's Shameless Lies. Suresh Prabhu predicts return of Modi Has the BJP picked up pace in Kerala? How many seats do you see the party winning? Yes the BJP will do very well in Kerala. As I predicted in 2016 - the Left in Kerala is on its last legs and will be close to being wiped out in these elections. The CPM after these elections may even cease to be a national party. Kerala's politics will now be a fight between Congress and BJP led NDA. Will the loss in the Hindi heartland in the assembly polls have a bearing on BJP in the Lok Sabha elections? As I said - every voter knows this election is about who will be Prime Minister of India. I think most voters have a clear idea about who is best for a corruption-free and dynasty free , Secure, development for all oriented Governance. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 12:29 [IST] You dont look powerless anymore: SC to EC over banning politicians for violating model code India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Apr 16: The Supreme Court has taken note of the Election Commission (EC)'s action against politicians over hate speeches. The top court has expressed satisfaction and said, "The Election Commission has got its power back. No interim order required". A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi expressed satisfaction over the actions taken by the EC in the matters of hate speeches. "It seems you have finally woken up to your powers. You have got your powers back. You don't look powerless anymore," observed the Justice. The court also declined to give a hearing to BSP supremo Mayawati, who has been barred for campaigning for 48 hours in view of her communal comments. EC bans Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours, Mayawati for 48 hours The Chief Justice Gogoi had on Monday inquired from the Commission about the course of action adopted to tackle these violations of the Model Code of Conduct. ECI had submitted that it was "powerless" to act against those violating mode code of conduct during campaign. "The power of the ECI in this behalf is very limited...we can issue notice and seek reply but we can't de-recognise a party or disqualify a candidate", the ECI had informed. Earlier on Monday, the EC barred Mayawati and Maneka Gandhi from campaigning for 48 hours, while Yogi Adityanath and Azam Khan received 72-hour bans for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The bans came after the Supreme Court pulled up the EC on Monday for not doing enough to curb hate speech by politicians and questioned the authority it was exercising. My constitutional rights being denied: Mayawati on poll panel gag The bench also recorded its satisfaction today on the EC's response detailing the prohibitory orders issued by it in the last 24 hours against these politicians. The court has kept the PIL pending but at the same time, noted that there is no need to pass further orders in the matter. 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: Poppy plants seized from a village in Shamli, one held Lucknow pti-PTI Muzaffarnagar (UP), Apr 16: Poppy plants were seized from a village in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh and a man was arrested in this connection, police said on Tuesday. According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajay Kumar Pandey, acting on a tip-off, the police seized 55 poppy plants, used in preparation of drugs, from the fields of Tisang village under the Jhinjhana police station limits on Monday. [J&K: 2 drug peddlers arrested; Poppy, cannabis seized] A case was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against one Daljit Singh, the officer said, adding that the accused was arrested. PTI Omicron 1st case in Maharashtra: What we know about it so, far? 12 facts BMC decides to reopen schools in Mumbai from this date Mumbai schools to reopen for Classes 1 to 7 from December 15 Maharashtra: Man gets life in jail for hacking to death minor girl Mumbai pti-PTI Thane, Apr 16: A man was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here for hacking to death a 14-year-old girl after she turned down his marriage proposal in neighbouring Palghar's predominantly-tribal Jawhar taluka. Dilesh Dinesh Somalya Kharpade, a labourer from Patarpada in Jawhar, was also fined Rs 10,000 by District Judge P P Jadhav, said additional public prosecutor Vivek G Kadu. Kharpade killed the victim with an axe on October 31, 2016 following an argument after the latter refused to marry him, the APP said. [SC confirms life term for Saravana Bhavan owner in 2001 murder case] He said a girl, who was with the victim at the time, narrated the incident in detail to the court, after which Kharpade was convicted. PTI Delhi: Karnataka mining dependents stage protest at Jantar Mantar New Delhi pti-PTI New Delhi, Apr 16: Mining dependents of Karnataka on Tuesday staged a protest here at Jantar Mantar to press for non-discriminatory practices in iron ore trade in the state and sought immediate action by the Centre in "rescuing their livelihoods from prejudiced policies" prevailing in the state. "Around 600 people of Karnataka Gani Avalambithara Vedike (KGAV), consisting of iron ore mining dependants from Bellary, Hospet, Chitradurga districts and surrounding mining belt gathered for a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today," KGAV, which represents mining dependents, said in a statement. The mining dependents have also made a plea to allow free trade, giving preference to local iron ore over imports and ensuring regular business for truckers and lakhs of other mining dependents, it said. Leading the protest, KGAV spokesperson Rajakumar S said in the mining belts of Karnataka which are also drought-prone areas, around 25 per cent of population depends on agriculture, whereas the remaining 75 per cent depends on mining. Despite this huge number, the lives of these mining dependants have become uncertain due to discriminatory policies and restrictions prevalent only in Karnataka, resulting in massive unemployment. [Sonia camp leaders not happy with Team Rahul's alliance strategy] "We have gathered here to make an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Centre, the concerned ministries and bureaucrats to save us from these biased trade practices and provide us an environment that ensures a secured future for our families and children," Rajakumar S said in a statement. In addition to the loss of livelihood, the stagnant production and inventory pile-up has disrupted the state's economic growth, causing a huge loss to the exchequer and contribution to District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and other welfare and developmental schemes, he added. After mining was banned in Karnataka, lakhs of people dependent on iron ore mining industry including truckers were the most affected as it resulted in large scale job losses. Their livelihood became highly uncertain even after the Supreme Court permitted to start mining but, production cap, e-auction and lots of other restrictions lowered the mining capacity that led to stagnation in iron ore industry. PTI U.S. Off-Road Vehicles Market Growth Rate, Key Facts | Arctic Cat, BRP, Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA, Suzuki Motor of America, Polaris Industries, KTM, Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., American Honda Motor Company, Caterpillar Inc https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/3074 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/3074 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/us-off-road-vehicles-market www.gminsights.com/ ATV holds substantial share in the U.S. off-road vehicles market share with its applications in sports & recreation activities. Presence of organizations including American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) promoting racing events such as Extreme Dirt Track National Championship Series and Motocross National Championship Series are continuously attracting participants for trailing activities.Get Sample Copy of This Report @Snowmobiles will witness over 4% CAGR till 2024 owing to the presence of multiple snowmobile trails. According to the ISMA, in 2017, snowmobiling contributed to over USD 25 billion in the U.S. recreational economy. Industry players are continuously upgrading the product portfolio to strengthen their foothold in the U.S. off-road vehicles market share. For instance, in August 2018, Ski-Doo announced upgrading of 2018 snowmobile models with an additional cooling system, ducting, and belt guard to enhance vehicle performance.In 2017, utility leads the U.S. off-road vehicles market with adadption of UTVs in public works and labor assistance. UTVs aid in facility operations such as waste management systems, electrical facilities, and surveying support. Rising infrastructure developments requiring equipment towing and labor transportation will drive segment growth in next six years.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. Arctic Cat2. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP)3. BMS Motorsports4. Caterpillar5. Hisun Motors6. Honda Motors7. Kawasaki Motors Corporation8. KTM AG9. KYMCO10. Massimo Motor11. Polaris Industries12. Suzuki Motor Corporation13. Yamaha Motor CorporationMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Arizona will witness over 5% CAGR till 2024 owing to continuous rise in the disposable income. According to the U.S. Census, in 2017, the disposable income in Arizona grew by over 5% as compared to 2013. The presence of organizations such as the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) is promoting tourism and recreational activities. In 2017, AOT entered into a partnership with Arizona State Parks and trails to organize a summer campaign, showcasing state parks to Arizona residents, propelling the U.S. off-road vehicles market share.Increasing injuries and fatalities arising from ORVs such as snowmobiles, ATVs, and UTVs will restrict the U.S. off-road vehicles market over the forecast period. Inappropriate maneuvering and negligence of safety is leading to accidents. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in 2016, there were over 335 fatalities and 101,200 injuries arising from ATV.Rising sports and leisure activities across the country are continuously attracting ORV participants. ORV sports events such as USSA Snowmobiling Racing, ATV Motocross Championship, register huge participation each year. Organizations such as Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) host regional competitions that stimulate innovative ORV designing and manufacturing. Such initiatives will further promote participation in the U.S. off-road vehicles marketplace over the forecast timeline.Browse Report Summery @Key participants in the U.S. off-road vehicles market include Polaris Industries, Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), Kawasaki Motors, Honda Motors, and Arctic Cat Inc. Industry players are introducing new products to serve larger consumer base.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: What's driving the Unified Communications & Collaboration Market growth? Key Players are:Microsoft, Cisco, NEC, ALE, Avaya, Mitel, Huawei, Unify, RingCentral, BT, West, 8x8, Orange, Verizon, Google, Nextiva, Genesys, Star2Star, Vonage https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/467684/?utm_source=Openpr.com&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/467684/?utm_source=Openpr.com&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com/securecheckout/paymenta/467684?msfpaycode=sumsf?utm_source=Openpr.com&utm_medium=SP https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/blog/ The newly released research at Market Study Report LLC titled 2019-2025 Global Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) Market Report provides data, information, brief analysis, company profiles, statistics for past years and forecasts for next few years.The Asia Pacific UCC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during the forecast timeline. The market growth is driven by the adoption of cloud-based UCC solutions and various government initiatives for modernizing ICT infrastructure. For instance, the South Korea Ministry of Science and ICT along with the major carriers in the country have drafted a plan to set up a nation-wide infrastructure by 2020. The huge penetration of low-cost smartphones in countries including China and Japan will also contribute toward market growth.Request a sample of this premium report at:Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) market is projected to surpass USD 60 billion by 2025. The market growth is attributed to factors such as penetration of smartphones and the growing need among organizations to streamline their business communication process flows. The rising usage of smartphones globally has compelled the UCC vendors to create mobile unified communications that will enable enterprises to access UC applications through a single interface. Moreover, the growing investments in 5G networks will also support the adoption of modern enterprise communication solutions.With the increase in digitization, organizations are now focusing on geographic expansion due to which managing business communication processes has become a difficult task. The need for the UCC system is to consolidate communication processes under a unified framework that can be managed easily. This reduces operational cost for organizations and their expansion globally. With the rapid adoption of cloud computing, they are constantly involved in modernizing their communication infrastructure to enable business communication across diverse geographical business units.Another factor driving the UCC market growth is the rising trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The trend has added to the complexity of handling different communication channels in enterprises. To address this challenge, UCC solutions are widely being deployed by organizations to streamline communication functions easily.The key players operating in the UCC market are focusing on various business growth strategies such as new product developments and partnerships. This enables them to expand their existing portfolio and help them to increase their geographical reach to offer solutions to the uncaptured market segments. For instance, in July 2016, Arkadin Singapore, an NTT Communications company, launched Arkadin Total Connect, a Microsoft Skype for Business hosted service. The UCC portfolio for an all-in-one cloud solution offers an integrated UCC ecosystem equipped with web/audio/video conferencing, Office 365, and contact center.Conferencing platforms are expected to witness the highest growth of over 12% during the forecast period. The platforms, such as audio and video conferencing, ease communication process among businesses and provide various benefits such as improved competitive advantage, improved productivity & employee satisfaction, and improving the demand for these platforms over the forecast period.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:In the telephony market, the IP PBX market is projected to witness the fastest growth rate with a CAGR of over 8% from 2019 to 2025. The major factor driving the market is its easy support and reduced network latency. The majority of the hosted IP PBX providers have already started offering customized services, allowing users to connect to other servers without getting disconnected.The on-premise deployment model held a dominant UCC market share of over 55% in 2018 and is expected to maintain its dominant share by 2025. As the on-premise model offers enterprises with the complete software and hardware service control, enterprises are widely using this model to have accessibility to equipment anytime for troubleshooting while managing disaster recovery.The BFSI market is expected to register the fastest growth rate from 2019 to 2025 with a CAGR of over 11% due to the rapid adoption of UCC solutions to improve their profitability and way of conducting business. The financial institutions are using tools, such as mobile messaging and video conferencing, to personalize their relationships with customers to improve customer satisfaction. The growing use of such tools to facilitate seamless communication process and benefit from multichannel communications internally & externally will foster the UCC market growth in the BFSI sector.Furthermore, in November 2017, Beijing 263 Enterprise Communications Co., Ltd., one of the leading providers of enterprise SaaS services in China, and Arkadin, a provider of cloud communications (including UCC solutions), entered into a partnership to provide improved cloud communication solutions in the Chinese market. By joining forces to combine their respective expertise, the companies offer high-quality services including video/audio/web conferencing, unified communications, and web events. In October 2017, Ricoh, a global unified communications provider, partnered with Videxio, a provider of cloud-based video conferencing solutions, to extend its ?Ricoh Unified Communication System (Ricoh UCS) Advanced? to the Japanese market.Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Methodology & Scope1.1. Methodology1.1.1. Initial data exploration1.1.2. Statistical model and forecast1.1.3. Industry insights and validation1.1.4. Scope1.1.5. Definitions1.1.6. Methodology and forecast parameters1.2. Data Sources1.2.1. Primary1.2.2. Secondary1.2.2.1. Paid sources1.2.2.2. Public sourcesChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. UCC industry 360 degree synopsis, 2014 - 20252.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Regional trends2.1.3. Platform trends2.1.3.1. Telephony trends2.1.3.2. Collaboration trends2.1.3.3. Unified messaging trends2.1.3.4. Conferencing trends2.1.4. Deployment model trends2.1.5. Application trendsChapter 3. UCC Industry Insights3.1. Introduction3.2. Benefits of UCC3.2.1. Single, flexible infrastructure3.2.2. Reduced costs3.2.3. Increased business productivity3.2.4. Enhanced customer satisfaction3.2.5. Improved mobility3.3. Industry segmentation3.4. Industry landscape, 2014-20253.5. Evolution of UCC technology3.6. Industry ecosystem analysis3.7. UCC architecture analysis3.8. Technology & innovation landscape3.8.1. Mobile-first models for UCC3.8.2. AI, AR, and IoT3.8.3. WebRTC3.8.4. Application and workflow integration3.9. Regulatory landscape3.9.1. Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)3.9.2. The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 20033.9.3. The Dodd-Frank Act3.9.4. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)3.9.5. The Protection of Personal Information Act (2013)3.9.6. Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 20023.9.7. Nigeria Communications Act (2003)3.10. Industry impact forces3.10.1. Growth drivers3.10.1.1. Rapid adoption of mobile devices3.10.1.2. Growing popularity of the BYOD trend3.10.1.3. Growing need for streamlining business communication process flows3.10.1.4. Growing popularity of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)3.10.1.5. Reduction in administration and maintenance cost3.10.1.6. Growing enterprise social media uptake3.10.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges3.10.2.1. Concerns regarding data security3.10.2.2. Interoperability issues with existing assets3.10.2.3. Limited in-house capabilities to execute and manage the roll-out3.11. Industry news3.12. Porter's analysis3.13. PESTEL analysis3.14. Growth potential analysisPrice of Report: $5150 (Single User License) Purchase Complete Report at:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email:sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: Crane Market Report 2019; Konecranes, Liebherr Group, Terex Corporation are top manufacturers Crane Market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2398 https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2398 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/crane-market https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2960 https://www.gminsights.com/ In the Crane Market, the oil & gas industry accounted for around 20% of the overall revenue and is anticipated to grow at a steady rate over the forecast timespan. The rise in the adoption of mobile Crane Market is expected to accelerate owing to the expansion in the cement plants and infrastructure development.Crane Market is expected to exceed USD 20 billion by 2024. Increasing construction spending across the globe is a major factor driving the crane market growth.Request for a sample copy of this report @Shifting focus of the government entities on infrastructure development coupled with growing consumer preference for aesthetic and luxurious constructions will drive the industry growth. Urbanization, environmental impacts, and population growth have surged the need for sustainable and smart infrastructure solutions.The construction and transportation sectors are the major segments contributing toward the adoption of mobile cranes with many on-going projects.Several major economies across the globe are contributing toward the industry growth, with construction and retrofit market growing at a significantly high pace. The crane market will witness a growing demand for the upgrading of mobile cranes in the coming years.Crane Market, By Product Mobile Crane Truck Loader Crane Rough Terrain Crane All Terrain Crane Crawler Crane Fixed Crane Monorail Crane Stiffleg Crane Tower Crane Gantry CraneMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Growing adoption of mobile and tower cranes for construction activities is accelerating the U.S. crane market growth. Increasing adoption of the cranes was owing to the rise in home construction, nonresidential building, and government construction activities. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the construction spending rose to 0.9 percent in November 2016 by 0.3 percent. The constantly-growing population in the region has resulted in increased investments in the infrastructure development sector. Rapid urbanization in the country is demanding the faster construction of facilities and buildings for the growing population. In addition, the rising government investments in infrastructural operations have provided a potential for the growth of the crane market.Public infrastructure and government utilities in North America will witness a high adoption of cranes owing to the construction of reservoirs, wastewater treatment plants, and power lines across the region thereby providing an impetus to the crane market.In Europe, the focus of the crane manufacturers is on implementing new safety standards relating to the assembly and dismantling of the machine. An important product development issue across the entire range of crane types is the reduction of diesel engine exhaust emissions in compliance with Stage V of the EU Regulation on emission limits for mobile machinery. Europe accounted for the second largest revenue in crane market owing to the growing usage of cranes across the construction and oil & gas industries. However, the European market was hurt by changes in subsidies in the wind power market in Germany, resulting in fewer crawler crane sales.Browse Report Summery @Key players participating in crane market include Palfinger AG Terex Corporation, Komatsu Ltd., Konecranes PLC, Liebherr Group, Tadano, Ltd., XCMG Group, Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and Manitowoc among others. The crane industry is highly fragmented and competitive in nature owing to the presence of several regional and international players, who are actively investing in R&D and developing technologically-advanced products to sustain in the industry. There is an inclination toward energy-efficient cranes as they help in reducing carbon emissions. Several players are ensuring new product development initiatives to foster the crane market growth.Browse Related Reports:Crawler Crane Market to reach US$ 3 bn by 2024Crawler Crane Market size is set to exceed USD 3 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. The shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4%.Increasing utilization of crawler cranes in the energy sector is anticipated to drive the crawler crane market growth. These machines offer heavy lifting operations at the nuclear and renewable energy sites and facilitate the operators in handling the materials efficiently. Several manufacturers have developed energy sector-specific machines that witness a high demand. For instance, Manitowoc has launched a wind power crane, Grove GTK1100, that is used for wind turbine operations such as erection and construction. Additionally, the crawler crane market is witnessing growth opportunities due to the increasing infrastructure projects across the globe.Request for a sample copy of this report @About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb: Vaccine 2017 Global Market Challenges, Drivers, Outlook, Growth Opportunities - Analysis to 2023 Vaccine Market https://www.infiniumglobalresearch.com/reports/sample-request/833 https://www.infiniumglobalresearch.com/healthcare-medical-devices/global-vaccine-market www.infiniumglobalresearch.com The Report in light of Global Vaccine Market is the latest extension to the database of Infinium Global Research. This exploration investigates in light of uses, advancement, geology, and sorts. The Report gives a clear Global Vaccine Market audit nearby the examination of the industry's gross edge, cost structure, usage esteem, and deal cost. The principle partnership of the Vaccine Market, makers, and dealers are profiled in the report close by the latest Industry change present and future examples. The report also deep dives into the sub-segments of Vaccine Market by type(DNA vaccines, conjugate, live attenuated, inactivated, toxoid, and subunit), by application(allergy, autism, cancer, and infectious diseases) through main geographies in the Global Market such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and RoW.The report covers market changing aspects including drivers, restraints, opportunities, and trends expected to encouragement the expansion of the Vaccine Market during the said period. The report also provides market attractiveness analysis, by geography, and market share analysis, by key players respectively. Some of the prominent participants in the Global Vaccine Market are Mitsubishi Tanabe, AstraZeneca, Merck & Co. Inc, GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), Pfizer Inc., SANOFI S.A, NOVARTIS AG, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharma Inc., and Emergent BioSolutions.For More Details Get Free Sample Pages of this Research Report@The vaccine also referred to as human vaccine, as defined by WHO, is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. It contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The human body has the natural ability to learn about eliminating all sorts of germs or microbes that cause diseases. Vaccine utilizes that ability of the body to enable it to protect itself, from those microbes, which have attacked it before. Typically, vaccines are administered through injections, orally and sprayed into the nose. Human vaccines are of two types such as preventable and therapeutic vaccines. According to the report the global vaccine market was sized over USD 29.17 billion in 2016. The global vaccine market is projected to grow with a CAGR 5.2% in terms of value during the forecast period, 2017-2023 and reach USD 41.87 billion by 2023.Market Insights:High prevalence of infectious diseases is the primary factor driving the growth in the global market for vaccines. Moreover, the government support for the development of vaccines is likely to augment the growth in the market over the next six years. Moreover, and increasing investments in the research and development of new vaccines is expected to accelerate the growth in the vaccine market over the forecast period. On the other hand, the high cost associated with the development of vaccines is the primary restraining factor hampering the growth in the market over the forecast period. Government initiatives in emerging markets and economic development in emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa to augment the healthcare expenditure per capita and new vaccines in the pipeline are likely to provide opportunities for the companies operating in the global vaccines market.Major Key Players mentioned in this Premium ReportThe report provides profiles of the companies in the global vaccine market such as, Mitsubishi Tanabe, AstraZeneca, Merck & Co. Inc, GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK), Pfizer Inc., SANOFI S.A, NOVARTIS AG, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharma Inc., and Emergent BioSolutions.Browse Detailed TOC, Description and Company Mentioned in this Premium Report@Report Highlights:The report provides deep insights on demand forecasts, market trends, and micro and macro indicators. In addition, this report provides insights into the factors that are driving and restraining the Global Vaccine Market. Moreover, IGR-Growth Matrix analysis given in the report brings an insight into the investment areas that existing or new market players can consider. The report provides insights into the market using analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis and DRO analysis of vaccine market. Moreover, the study highlights current market trends and provides forecast from 2017 to 2023. We also have highlighted future trends in the Vaccine Market that will impact the demand during the forecast period. Moreover, the competitive analysis given in each regional market brings an insight into the market share of the leading players. Additionally, the analysis highlights the rise and fall in the market shares of the key players in the market. This report will help manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors of the vaccine market to understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate their strategies accordingly.Infinium Global Research and Consulting Solutions is started with a single motto of being a business partner of the first choice. We at Infinium work on the strengths of our clients to ensure we help them consolidate their market position. We firmly believe in the fact that if you are able to develop newer opportunities then you find there is no dearth of opportunities for you. With our strategic research approaches and deep dive in the market segments, we try to find out new opportunities that our clients can encash with their existing resources. Our experts with over 100 years of cumulative experience in research offer the best in the industry services to our clients to ensure that they achieve their business goals.Infinium Global ResearchOffice No. 04, 06, Ganadhish Empire,Rahatani Corner, Pune, MH 411027Email: info@infiniumglobalresearch.comWebsite: Gel Electrophoresis System Global Industry Report - History, Present and Future 2025 Gel Electrophoresis System Global Industry 2025 https://www.research2reports.com/report-machinery-equipment/gel-electrophoresis-system-market/72560 https://www.research2reports.com/sample-report-machinery-equipment/gel-electrophoresis-system-market/72560 https://www.research2reports.com/enquiry-before-buy-machinery-equipment/gel-electrophoresis-system-market/72560 https://www.research2reports.com/category-machinery-equipment The global market size of Gel Electrophoresis System is $XX million in 2017 with XX CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2023.There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023. This report coverss following regions:*North America*South America*Asia & Pacific*Europe*MEA (Middle East and Africa)Access more details about this report at:The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Gel Electrophoresis System as well as some small players. The compnaies include:Life Technologies, Bio-Rad, Lonza, Hoefer, Cleaver Scientific, SigmaAldrich, Denville Scientific, Nova-Tech International, Thomas Scientific, Flinn Scientific, Edvotek, Agilent Technologies, Danaher, et al.Purchase a copy of this premium research report at:The information for each competitor includes:*Company Profile*Main Business Information*SWOT Analysis*Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin*Market ShareInquire 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 Europe And Asia Pacific Herbal Beauty Products Market Dynamics & Growth factors, Consumer Demands, Technology & Competitive Status by 2028 Herbal Beauty Products Market https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-eu-2375 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-the-analyst/rep-eu-2375 Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market in its upcoming outlook titled, Europe & Asia Pacific Herbal Beauty Products Market: Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. In terms of value, it is expected that the Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market will register a CAGR of 3.7% during the forecast period due to various factors, on which FMI offers vital insights in detail.Consumer preference for clean label beauty care products is shifting significantly due to increasing awareness regarding the benefits of herbal and natural ingredients. Consumers are increasingly opting for greener products owing to presence of toxic ingredients in synthetic cosmetic products, which are known to cause various adverse effects. Moreover, consumers are currently more informed regarding the benefits of using herbal products through promotions, advertisements and activities on various social media platforms. Herbal skin care products improve skin texture, tone and appearance owing to presence of nutrients required to enrich overall skin health. Increasing consumer demand for eco-friendly personal care products has prompted companies to enter into the herbal and natural personal care products market and develop new and advanced products. Manufacturers are continuously launching herbal personal care products with remedial properties and long-term benefits, which is resulting in addressing existing consumer requirements and aiding in expanding customer base.Get Sample Copy of Report @Segmentation analysisOn the basis of end-use, the Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market is segmented into male and female. Female segment is estimated to account for the largest share by 2016 end. Male segment is expected to account for substantial growth over the forecast period. Increasing inclination of male consumers towards personal grooming and outward appearance among is expected to support growth of the male segment over the forecast period.Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market is also segmented on the basis of distribution channel which includes supermarket, specialty stores, departmental stores, drugstores, online/direct selling, and beauty salons. Among all these segments, supermarket segment is expected to account for relatively higher value share during the forecast period. Specialty stores segment has been estimated to occupy the second largest share accounting for 21.1% value share in 2015.As far as the types of herbal beauty products are concerned, Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market is segmented into skin care, hair care, oral care, and fragrance. Among all these segments, skin care type segment has been estimated to represent 45.7% value share in 2016 and expected to remain dominant over the forecast period.Increasing acne issues owing to increasing humidity and pollution levels is expected to drive growth of the skin care type segment in the market during the forecast period. Skin care segment is sub-segmented into cream & lotion, cleanser & toner, facewash & scrub and others. Among these sub-segments, cream and lotion is expected to account for major value share over the forecast period.Hair care segment is expected to occupy second largest position on the pie in terms of revenue contribution. The Hair care segment is sub-segmented into powder, hair oil, conditioner, shampoo, and others. The Oral care segment is likely to represent substantial growth over the forecast period. The segment is projected to represent 3.1% CAGR in terms of value growth by 2026 end.Vendor insightsThis report covers detailed profiles of key players in Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market, which includes key strategies, key developments, product offerings and others. Key companies profiled in this report are Bio Veda Action Research Co., VLCC Personal Care Ltd., Surya Brasil, Dabur India Ltd., Himalaya Global Holdings Ltd., Lotus Herbals, Hemas Holdings Plc, Sheahnaz Herbals Inc., and Herballife International of America Inc.If You Have Any Query, Ask The Analyst @Regional analysisThis report discusses trends driving growth of each segment and offers analysis and insights of the potential of the Europe & Asia Pacific herbal beauty products market in specific region including Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe. Markets in APAC are expected to record high growth rates in terms of value between 2016 and 2026. Japan has been estimated to be the largest consumer of herbal beauty products followed by China in 2015 across the APAC region.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, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705 Next Generation Sequencing Market - Top Key Players Beijing Genomics Institute, Eurofins Scientific, Genomatix GmbH https://www.4arcresearch.com/request-sample-253 https://www.4arcresearch.com/request-sample-253 www.4arcresearch.com Key players in the market are identified through review of secondary sources such as industry whitepapers, annual reports, published reports by credible agencies, financial reports and published interviews of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from leading companies. During the primary interviews, KOLs also suggested some producers that are included under the initial scope of the study. We further refined company profile section by adding suggested producers by KOLs. KOLs include Chief Executive Officer (CEO), general managers, vice presidents, sales directors, market executives, R&D directors, product managers, procurement managers, export managers etc. During the research process, all the major stakeholders across the value chain are contacted for conducting primary interviews.Get Free Sample Copy of This Report @The study provides a detailed view of the next generation sequencing market, by segmenting it based on technology, product, application and regional demand. The rising investment towards R&Ds of drugs and treatment process coupled with increase in adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare sector across the globe propel the demand of next generation sequencing market. Additionally, the multi-functional development of Next generation sequencing fuels the demand of this market.The competitive profiling of the key players in the global market across five broad geographic regions is included in the study. These include different business strategies adopted by the leading players and their recent developments.The report provides the size of the next generation sequencing market in 2017 and the forecast for the next eight years up to 2025. The size of the global Next generation sequencing market is provided in terms of revenue. Market revenue is defined in US$ Mn. The market dynamics prevalent in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America has been taken into account in estimating the growth of the global market.Market estimates for this study have been based on revenue being derived through regional pricing trends. The Next generation sequencing market has been analyzed based on expected demand. Bottom-up approach is done to estimate the global revenue of the Next generation sequencing market, split into regions. Based on technology, product and application the individual revenues from all the regions are summed up to achieve the total market revenue (TMR) for Next generation sequencing. Companies were considered for the market share analysis, based on their innovation and application and revenue generation. In the absence of specific data related to the sales of Next generation sequencing several privately held companies, calculated assumptions have been made in view of the company's penetration and regional presence.Get Discount Coupon For This Report @The report covers a detailed competitive outlook that includes the market share and company profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include 454 Life Sciences Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Beijing Genomics Institute, Eurofins Scientific, Genomatix GmbH, Illumina, Inc., Macrogen Inc., Perkinelmer Inc., Qiagen N.V. and Thermo Fisher Scientific.4Arc Insights, Inc., is a pioneering market research and consulting firm based in Pune which is dedicated in providing reports on syndicated market research and customised market research. We leave no stone unturned while following smart study of the public demands, capabilities and the continuous growth of the working industry, interactive environment between the client-server, dynamic reporting, and high data protection services.Contact Us4ARC Insights, Inc.Email- sales@4arcresearch.comTel-+917498085685Website - Medical Tourism Market Trends Estimates High Demand By 2026 With Top Players Asian Heart Association, Apollo Hospitals, Prince Court Medical Centre, Gleneagles Hospitals, Min-Sheng General Hospital Medical Tourism https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-pdf/938 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/938 Medical tourism refers to people living in one country travelling to another country so as to acquire a particular medical treatment. This tourism is mostly motivated due to the unavailability, cost difference, quality difference or illegal practices of a particular treatment in ones own country.. The conventional medical tourism involved people living in developing countries travelling to developed countries so as to get high end treatments that were usually not available in their own country.Certain treatments are also not legally practiced in few countries leading to the migration of population interested in the treatment to travel to some other places so as to receive the treatment of medical procedure. Domestic medical tourism involves people travelling between different cities of the same country. This mainly involves surgical processes or similar treatments related to cosmetology or similar streams. Although, people are also indulged into dental and fertility tourism these days. Apart from the common treatments, the medical tourism services is available in all the fields of healthcare including psychiatry, convalescent care, burial services, and alternative medicines.Download Highly Informative PDF Brochure of This Business Report @Medical tourism as one of the fastest growing market of the healthcare sectorThe Nerd Wallet Health analyzed the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. census and Federal Court System in 2013 and came up with the facts suggesting that around 56 million Americans under the age of 65 years have trouble paying their medical bills. Additionally, over 25 million adults ranging from 19-64 years do not take their prescribed drugs, take less medicine than suggested or are involved in dose skipping practices for cost saving purposes. As per the Health-Tourism fact sheet and statistics, the medical tourism has generated a massive revenues between US$ 60,000 to US$ 70,000 in 2015 and expected to show almost double growth in a couple of years. These suggest the fast growing and expansion of the global medical tourism market giving an idea to the upcoming players of the market.Mediating agencies providing scope for expansion to the medical tourism marketSeveral private agencies offering medical tours worldwide includes France Surgery, MediCzech, Professional Beauty, ClinicAccess, BB Health Solutions, Revitalize in Turkey, Euromedical Tours, Doctour, Celsus Medical, and InLife. Certain private agencies also provide medical tourism facilities such as Medical Tourism Association which is a first non- profit organization created in the medical tourism industry. The government mediating agencies and brokers such as Joint Commission International (JCI) have assisted a number of patients by giving them relevant and necessary information about the presence of these services that results in the influx of patients towards other countries for better treatment options.Competitive AnalysisKey players involved in medical tourism market are Asian Heart Association, Apollo Hospitals, Prince Court Medical Centre, Gleneagles Hospitals, Min-Sheng General Hospital, Raffles Medical Group, Bangkok Hospital, Fortis Healthcare Ltd., Anadolu Medical Centre, and Wooridul Spine Hospital.Request Customization @Affordability without quality compromise resulting in influx of huge population in various countries fueling the global medical tourism marketThe lack of medical insurance is the primary reason driving the growth of global medical tourism market. With the broadening of internet facilities in the rural areas, it has been possible to help the patients to identify different destinations providing specialized treatments and low prices with the help of online advertisements. The respective governments are also assistive and supportive towards the medical tourism in the country by offering several visa policies to the patients and their companions.For instance, the liberal e- Visa policy by Indian government will boost the medical tourism of India with rising footsteps in the country opting solid organ transplants, cardiovascular treatments, orthopedic and cancer facilities at about 65%-90% cheaper to that of the U.S. prices as stated by an article published in Business Standard in 2016. However, the inability to deliver post- surgical care by the hospitals and the visa restrictions could hamper the market growth.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com Enterprise Collaboration Market 2025: Extensive Analysis of Key Driving and Restraining Factors - IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Slack technologies, Inc., VMware, Inc., Facebook, Inc. https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-toc-and-sample/2477 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/2477 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/enterprise-collaboration-market https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Enterprise Collaboration Market Statistics:Enterprise collaboration software enables employees within an organization to share information and work together on projects from different geographic locations. The increase in the need to simplify the communication process is expected to drive the enterprise collaboration market. Most enterprises plan for business expansion, which demands effective collaboration solutions such as document management, mobile collaboration, and social collaboration. The increase in the trend of BYOD and enterprise mobility across all major regions boosts the demand for such solutions.Download Sample PDF Brochure@The key drivers of this market include increased focus of organizations on improving collaboration and communication across several stakeholders that are located at different geographies, need to unify internal and external collaboration in a single space and widespread usage of social networking websites.The report segments the enterprise collaboration market on the basis of the component that is further segmented into solutions and services. According to the solutions, the market is divided into an enterprise social network, file sharing and synchronization, gateways and intranet platform, enterprise video, and others. Based on the services, the market is classified into professional and managed. According to the organizational size, the market is classified into small and medium businesses, and large enterprises. Based on the industry vertical, the market is categorized into banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, public sector, retail, hospitality, IT & telecom, energy and utilities, and others. Geographically, the market is studied across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Comprehensive competitive analysis and profiles of major market players such as IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Slack technologies, Inc., VMware, Inc., Facebook, Inc., Igloo, Inc., 8x8, Inc., Fuze Inc., Vonage Networks LLC, and Atlassian Corporation PLC are also provided in this report.Inquire more about this report@Key Benefits of Enterprise Collaboration Market Study: This report provides an extensive analysis of the current and emerging market trends and dynamics in the global enterprise collaboration market. In-depth analysis is conducted by constructing market estimations for the key market segments between 2016 and 2023. Geographically, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Enterprise Collaboration Market Key Segments:By Component Solutions ServicesBy Organizational Size Small and Medium Enterprises Large EnterprisesBy Industry Verticals Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Healthcare Public Sector Retail Hospitality IT and Telecom Energy and UtilitiesAccess 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: A patient suffers from the cholera epidemic and receives medical treatment at a health center in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 15, 2019. So far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported in Yemen, almost three times the same period last year, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said on Monday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian situation in Yemen is dire and the end is nigh for the Yemenis without more international support, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Monday. "The relief operation is running out of money. Barring changes, the end is nigh," Lowcock briefed the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen via video-link from London, picking up the passionate plea of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths for the international community to act now, to save countless Yemeni lives. Lowcock reiterated his earlier call for a nationwide ceasefire, adding that "all the men with guns and bombs need to stop the violence. We again remind the parties that international humanitarian law binds them in all locations and at all times." But "bullets are not the only risk to life and limb," he warned, citing that so far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported, almost three times the same period last year. "We see the consequences of the destruction of the health system elsewhere too. More than 3,300 cases of diphtheria have been reported since 2018 - the first outbreak in Yemen since 1982. Earlier this year, new measles cases surged to nearly twice the levels reported at the same time in 2018." "Looming over everything, the risk of famine continues," he warned, saying that the World Food Programme was upping the reach of support for the world's largest aid operation. Access to the vulnerable remains a key challenge, he said, making clear that grain that could feed 3.7 million hungry Yemenis in Hodeidah's Red Sea Mills, remained trapped due to conflict. Money was running out to save lives, he said, with only 267 million U.S. dollars received so far, out of 2.6 billion pledged. The World Health Organization, he said, "projects that 60 percent of diarrhea treatment centers could close in the coming weeks, and services at 50 percent of secondary care facilities, could be disrupted." "We remain keenly aware that a sustainable peace would be the most effective remedy for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen," Lowcock concluded. "Without peace, we will simply go on treating the symptoms of this crisis, instead addressing the cause." 4 1 [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] Explosion Proof Equipment Market Projected to Expand at a XX% CAGR BY 2022 : ABB Group, Rockwell Automation Inc., R. Stahl AG, BARTEC Group, Adalet, Siemens AG, Intertek Group Plc, Explosion Proof Equipment https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1728 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout/842554 https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Explosion Proof Equipment MarketReport, published by Allied Market Research, forecasts that the global market is expected to $8,217 million, registering a significant CAGR of 9.3% during the period 2016 - 2022.North America is expected to dominate the global market throughout the analysis period, registering a notable CAGR of 8.4%.The market is driven by factors such as increased safety concerns, growth in industrial sector, rise in automation sector, and stringent government regulations. However, lack of standardization restricts the market growth.The usage of spark-resistant devices, automated systems, monitoring and signaling devices among others prevents sparks in explosion-prone industries including oil & gas, manufacturing, and others. Therefore, some of the top-notch players, such as R. Stahl AG, BARTEC Group, and Extronics Ltd. among others have focused on manufacturing equipment using non-flammable materials for heavy industries to reduce sparks generated by friction.The explosion-prone industries based out in North America need to comply with the NEC standard, which defines the design and development of equipment on the basis of class, division, and group system. Similarly, ATEX or IEC standards are followed in Europe, which segregates an area on the basis of zone. These systems follow a similar modus operandi, and demarcate hazardous areas that are prone to explosive materials apart from assigning the category of equipment that need to be used in such locations. An ATEX-compatible HVAC system offered by Intertek ensures high safety of labor and automatic climate control system. The system is best suited for oil & gas refineries, petrochemical, and manufacturing plants, as it regulates the atmospheric pressure to prevent the entry of dust or gas.Download Sample Report:Exposure to flammable gases, contact with harmful substances, and release of hydrocarbon are some of the factors that make oil & gas industry one of the most hazardous sectors. Therefore, the oil & gas sector generated the highest revenue share of 18% in 2015, owing to high adoption of ignition-resistant products and equipment, and is estimated to grow at a prominent CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period.Industrial automated products, such as media converters, managed & unmanaged Ethernet switches, industrial monitors, programmable automation controllers (PACs), and automation computers are designed and installed to prevent accidental explosion in harsh conditions. Therefore, automation systems contributed more than 17% share of total revenue in 2015, and is projected to grow at a significant CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period.After a massive success of other ignition-resistant products, Larson Electronics launched an explosion-proof analog camera in September 2016 for use in a vessel or tanker to monitor internal operations. The camera features an infrared LED range that assures nocturnal visibility and remote maneuverability from a control room, to save time and money apart from providing safety at workstations.Protection methods including explosion containment, explosion prevention, and explosion isolation are implemented to permit safe operations of electrical apparatuses in ignition-prone environment. Explosion prevention or intrinsic safety segment is the leading revenue contributor to the global market, and is anticipated to grow with the highest CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period.Based on geography, North America generated the maximum revenue in the global market, accounting for over 31% share in 2015, owing to high adoption and production of ignition-proof automated solutions. However, the adoption of explosion-resistant devices in the Middle East has witnessed significant growth over the years, owing to the abundance of oil refineries in the region. Moreover, the use of cost-effective equipment in LAMEA region would create lucrative opportunities for the market. The region is expected to witness a notable growth with a prominent CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period.Flat 20% Discount on All License Type *Offer Valid Till 20th April 2019*Buy Now:Key Findings of the Explosion Proof Equipment Market: Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing region, in terms of revenue, registering a CAGR of 10.5% during 2016 to 2022. Oil & gas industry, being one of the most hazardous sectors, witnessed significant growth in 2014, and is anticipated to dominate the global market growing at the highest CAGR of 10.3%. Explosion prevention segment was the highest revenue contributor to the global market, accounting for around 46% share in the year 2014, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The automation system segment is expected to reach a substantial revenue of $1,598 million by 2022 due to the high cost of explosion proof automated products.Market players have focused on adopting various strategies, such as product launch, acquisition, and product expansion, among others to expand their market outreach. For instance, in August 2016, R. Stahl AG, an explosion-protected products specialist, launched an Ethernet connectivity with remote I/O system, ideal for Zone 1 and Zone 2 hazardous locations. This system ensures reliability of data transfer in an ignition-prone environment.The key market players profiled in the report include ABB Group, Rockwell Automation Inc., R. Stahl AG, BARTEC Group, Adalet, Siemens AG, Intertek Group Plc, Pepperl + Fuchs GmbH, and Cooper Industries (Eaton).Allied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1?855?550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb: According to Latest Report: MHealth App Market to Grow at a +40% of CAGR and to Reach Over US$ 111 Billion by 2025 | Abbott Laboratories, Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca PLC, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd MHealth App Market https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=83220 https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=83220 https://qyreports.com/enquiry-before-buying?report-id=83220 www.qyreports.com MHealth or mobile health refers to the use of mobile devices for medical services. mHealth includes a wide range of multimedia technologies and mobile communications within wireless and mobile healthcare delivery systems. mHealth apps are programs installed on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The mHealth app can be used for general health and fitness tracking, remote patient monitoring, counseling, and disease management.A new analytical research report has newly published by Qyreports to its extensive repository. The global MHealth App market has been compiled through a blend of primary and secondary research. Moreover, it offers detailed investigations based on latest market trends, regional outlook, top key players, industrial feedback, different rules and regulations of government, drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.Ask for sample pdf copy of this report @Leading players are profiled in this report: Abbott Laboratories, Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca PLC, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Novartis AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck and Co., Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi and more.MHealth App Market segment by Type, the product can be split into; Fitness Lifestyle Management Nutrition & Diet Women's Health Medication Adherence Healthcare Providers/ Payors Disease Management OthersMHealth App Market segment by Application, split into; Hospitals & Clinics Home CareAsk for maximum discount on this report @Across the globe, the global MHealth App market has been fragmented into several regions such as North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. To understand the competitive landscape of the global MHealth App market, various industries have been analyzed by applying industry-specific tools. This informative report offers informative data which helps to shape the future of the businesses. Rising needs and adoption of MHealth App are and will fuel the demand of global MHealth App market in the upcoming future. Additionally, it offers some significant restraining factors which help to understand the limiting factors in front of the businesses. Collectively, this research report offers recommendations to different industries, startups for strengthening their footprint in the global market.The report also includes a thorough overview of the competitive landscape and regulatory framework of the global MHealth App market. This will offer readers a perfect understanding of the state of competition, threats, major opportunities, and the major rules, regulations, plans, and policies impacting the market.Major Key questions answered through this research report: What are the top key players of the global MHealth App market? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the global MHealth App market? What are the highest competitors in the market? What are the different marketing and distribution channels? What are the global market opportunities in front of the market? What are the key outcomes of SWOT and Porter's five techniques? What is the global market size and growth rate in the forecast period?The prime objective of this market research report is to provide deep insight into the global market for MHealth App to the key market participants and assist them in making rewarding strategies to gain an edge over competitors.For more information, please visit @About QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Contact:QYReportsJones John(Sales Manager)+(1) 786-292-8164sales@qyreports.com Cancer Treatment Drugs market Growth Analysis on Roche, Novartis, Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Takeda, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Astellas, Merck & Co., Sanofi, Bayer https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1732973/?utm_source=OPEN.com&utm_medium=DC https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1732973/?utm_source=OPEN.com&utm_medium=DC https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-cancer-treatment-drugs-market-insights-forecast-to-2025/?utm_source=OPEN.com&utm_medium=DC www.marketstudyreport.com www.marketstudyreport.com/blog The report on Cancer Treatment Drugs market released by Market Study Report, LLC, depicts the current & future growth trends of this business besides outlining details pertaining to the myriad geographies that are a part of the regional landscape of Cancer Treatment Drugs market. The report further elucidates intricate details regarding the supply and demand analysis, market share, growth statistics and contributions by leading industry players of Cancer Treatment Drugs market.Cancer treatment drugs are widely used for blood cancer, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, prostate cancer, respiratory/lung cancer and other cancers. Amongst these different cancer types, blood cancer was the largest revenue generating segment in 2016, and the revenue market share is about 22%. The growth of blood cancer segment is majorly due to the high cost of the drugs used to treat blood cancer.Request a sample of this premium report at:Cancer Treatment Drugs are used to treat malignancies, or cancerous growths. Depending on the technology it cans classification into Chemotherapy, Targeted Therapy, Immunotherapy (Biologic Therapy), Hormonal Therapy and Others.The classification of cancer treatment drugs includes chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy and others, and the revenue proportion of chemotherapy in 2016 is about 51%.Europe region is the largest supplier of cancer treatment drugs, with a revenue market share nearly 47% in 2016. North America is the second largest supplier of cancer treatment drugs, enjoying revenue market share nearly 34% in 2016. Japan region is also holding the monopoly position around the world.North America is the largest consumption place, with the consumption market share nearly 43% in 2016, and North America market size reached 46 billion USD. China, India and Southeast Asia are the emerging markets, and enjoy higher grow rate.The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company:RocheNovartisCelgeneBristol-Myers SquibbAmgenJohnson & JohnsonPfizerTakedaEli LillyAstraZenecaAstellasMerck & Co.SanofiBayerBiogen IdecEisaiTevaOtsukaMerck KGaAIpsenAbbVieGilead SciencesThis report studies the global market size of Cancer Treatment Drugs in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Cancer Treatment Drugs in these regions.This research report categorizes the global Cancer Treatment Drugs market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global Cancer Treatment Drugs market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors.Market size by ProductChemotherapyTargeted TherapyImmunotherapyHormonal Therapy (Biologic Therapy)OthersMarket size by End UserBlood CancerBreast CancerGastrointestinal CancerProstate CancerRespiratory/Lung CancerOther CancersMarket size by RegionAmericasAPACEuropeMiddle East & AfricaRequest a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Cancer Treatment Drugs market size (value & volume) by company, key regions, products and end user, breakdown data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Cancer Treatment Drugs market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Cancer Treatment Drugs companies, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape and recent development.To project the value and sales volume of Cancer Treatment Drugs submarkets, with respect to key regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Cancer Treatment Drugs are as follows:History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025This report includes the estimation of market size for value (million US$) and volume (K Units). Both top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate and validate the market size of Cancer Treatment Drugs 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.For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2018 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Table of Contents1 Study Coverage1.1 Cancer Treatment Drugs Product1.2 Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Market Size Growth Rate by Product1.4.2 Chemotherapy1.4.3 Targeted Therapy1.4.4 Immunotherapy1.4.5 Hormonal Therapy (Biologic Therapy)1.4.6 Others1.5 Market by End User1.5.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Market Size Growth Rate by End User1.5.2 Blood Cancer1.5.3 Breast Cancer1.5.4 Gastrointestinal Cancer1.5.5 Prostate Cancer1.5.6 Respiratory/Lung Cancer1.5.7 Other Cancers1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Market Size2.1.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales 2014-20252.2 Cancer Treatment Drugs Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)3.2 Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.2.2 Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.3 Cancer Treatment Drugs Price by Manufacturers3.4 Cancer Treatment Drugs Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 Cancer Treatment Drugs Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers Cancer Treatment Drugs Product Type3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Cancer Treatment Drugs Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 Breakdown Data by Product4.1 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Product4.2 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Product4.3 Cancer Treatment Drugs Price by Product5 Breakdown Data by End User5.1 Overview5.2 Global Cancer Treatment Drugs Breakdown Data by End User6 North America6.1 North America Cancer Treatment Drugs by Countries6.1.1 North America Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Countries6.1.2 North America Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Countries6.1.3 United States6.1.4 Canada6.1.5 Mexico6.2 North America Cancer Treatment Drugs by Product6.3 North America Cancer Treatment Drugs by End User7 Europe7.1 Europe Cancer Treatment Drugs by Countries7.1.1 Europe Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Countries7.1.2 Europe Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Countries7.1.3 Germany7.1.4 France7.1.5 UK7.1.6 Italy7.1.7 Russia7.2 Europe Cancer Treatment Drugs by Product7.3 Europe Cancer Treatment Drugs by End User8 Asia Pacific8.1 Asia Pacific Cancer Treatment Drugs by Countries8.1.1 Asia Pacific Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Countries8.1.2 Asia Pacific Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Countries8.1.3 China8.1.4 Japan8.1.5 Korea8.1.6 India8.1.7 Australia8.1.8 Indonesia8.1.9 Malaysia8.1.10 Philippines8.1.11 Thailand8.1.12 Vietnam8.1.13 Singapore8.2 Asia Pacific Cancer Treatment Drugs by Product8.3 Asia Pacific Cancer Treatment Drugs by End User9 Central & South America9.1 Central & South America Cancer Treatment Drugs by Countries9.1.1 Central & South America Cancer Treatment Drugs Sales by Countries9.1.2 Central & South America Cancer Treatment Drugs Revenue by Countries9.1.3 Brazil9.2 Central & South America Cancer Treatment Drugs by Product9.3 Central & South America Cancer Treatment Drugs by End User10 Middle East and Africa10.1 Middle East and Africa Cancer Treatment Drugs by CountriesMore Details on this Report:About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC.4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog: Agency Main Content Funding for the Produce Safety Program at ODA is through a grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA funding for Oregons Produce Safety program is only for outreach, education and technical assistance. This means that in Oregon, ODA does not conduct inspections for the Produce Safety Rule, FDA does these inspections. The produce safety team offers the following resources for Oregons operations: Outreach and education Technical assistance Developing an inventory of covered farms in Oregon ODA has partnered with food safety and agricultural experts from Oregon State University Extension. This partnership expands our ability to educate on the Produce Safety Rule. Together, we offer Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training classes and technical assistance through pre-inspection visits called On-Farm Readiness Reviews (OFRRs). News and updates Rule summaries Biological soil Amendments of animal origin Updated at 9:07 p.m. A 30-year-old man accused of shooting a Milwaukie police officer during a shootout near a grocery store late Saturday remains held in the Clackamas County Jail Monday. Douglas J. Teter appeared in county circuit court on suspicion of attempted murder, second-degree assault, resisting arrest and unlawful use of a weapon. He was denied pretrial release by a judge and ordered to next appear in court for a hearing on April 22, court records show. Teter is accused of trying to kill Officer Daniel J. Duke, according to court documents. State records show Duke was hired by the Milwaukie Police Department last May and has prior law enforcement experience since 2009 outside of Oregon. Duke was released from a hospital Sunday after being shot several times in his left leg, said Officer Brad Walther, a Milwaukie police spokesman. He said Duke has not yet been interviewed by members of the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team, which is investigating the incident. While he is very sore, he is able to get around with the use of crutches, Milwaukie police said in a statement Monday evening. Officer Duke is expected to recover fully and is in good spirits. Milwaukie Police Officer Daniel Duke (photo courtesy of Milwaukie Police Department) According to police, Duke stopped Teter as he was walking near Southeast 42nd Avenue and Monroe Street around 11:20 p.m. because he matched a description of a man suspected of threatening another with a gun earlier. At some point, a Taser was used on Teter, but it didnt work, police said. Teter and Duke later exchanged gunfire two blocks north of where Teter was stopped, near the Safeway store at Southeast 42nd Avenue and Harrison Street, and the officer was injured, police said. Teter then ran away and was later found hiding under a truck and camper, police said. -- 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. TriMet, owner of the nations 11th largest bus fleet, said its first zero-emission vehicle is officially ready for primetime. For weeks the transit agency put its first battery-electric bus through test runs in Washington County and on Portlands west side. On Wednesday, the bus will be in service full-time on Line 62, which runs between the Sunset Transit Center and Washington Square Mall on a 13-mile loop. Putting the all-electric bus on Portland area streets represents a milestone for the transit agency as it hopes to convert its entire diesel fleet to zero emission vehicles by 2040, a blueprint TriMets board approved in September. On Tuesday, PGE and TriMet touted the bus as the first in the country powered by wind. There are no sails atop the bus itself, nor wind turbines, but TriMet will pay a premium to PGE to purchase renewable energy credits to give the demonstration project a greener profile. TriMet has four additional battery-electric buses on order from New Flyer, the Winnipeg-based bus manufacturer. A second battery-electric bus is on TriMets property and the remaining three will arrive sometime after April. Its unclear when they will be put in service. Doug Kelsey, TrIMets general manager, said in a statement that the agency was riding the winds of change. TriMets commitment to a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2040 and support of wind power put the agency and our region at the forefront of a cleaner future, he said in a statement. TriMet received a federal grant in August 2018 to help the agency buy an additional five battery-electric buses, and in September the board approved a plan to buy up to 80 additional buses during the next five or six years, paid for through $53 million from the Legislatures 2017 transportation funding package. Planners estimated TriMets plan to ditch diesel would cost roughly $500 million. Zero emission transit is Oregons best strategy to address greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector that are contributing to climate change, Brendan Finn, Gov. Kate Browns transportation adviser, said in a statement. He said the governor is pursuing every avenue to reduce carbon emissions while supporting long-term economic growth, and she applauds TriMet and PGE for this groundbreaking effort. Meredith Connolly, Director of Climate Solutions Oregon, said the initial bus is a step forward. Shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy is essential to addressing the climate crisis, and its exciting to see TriMet begin to phase out their diesel bus fleet, she said in a statement. These electric buses are a tangible step toward a cleaner, more sustainable future for our region. TriMet is plotting a course slower than at least one of its rival agencies. Washington states King County Metro has said it would have an entirely zero-emission fleet no later than 2034. Kelsey, TriMets leader, has said previously he would push to go quicker if possible. He left the door open to pursuing other zero-emission fuel sources like renewable natural gas or other options. The zero-emission buses would be deployed in predominately low-income and minority communities, TriMet said. All of the first five battery-electric buses will run on Line 62. Diesel vehicles are a large contributor to carbon emissions and TriMet buses, school buses and freight vehicles represent a significant slice of the polluters emitting deadly exhaust into Portlands air. TriMet uses about 6 million gallons of diesel every year, the agency said, emitting about 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the region's air, according to its own analysis. The battery-electric buses cut emissions by 100-140 tons per year, TriMet said, when compared to the fleets diesel vehicles. TriMet had just 8 hybrid diesel-electric vehicles in its fleet of roughly 670 buses as of January. The battery-electric buses reduce emissions by 75 tons annually compared to the hybrid buses. While TriMet acknowledges its diesel buses emit harmful pollutants, it estimates its riders eliminate roughly 210,000 car trips each year by choosing transit over personal automobiles. That offsets, the agency said, the diesel emissions of its fleet by roughly 21,000 metric tons each year. TriMet said it would pay $228.75 per month for the wind energy certificates through PGE. The agency said the energy provider buys those credits from a mix of local and national wind farms, with a minimum of one-quarter of those farms guaranteed to be sourced from Pacific Northwest wind farms. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. A draft of the long anticipated and hotly contested management plan for wolves in Oregon was released Monday, nearly five years after it was due. The plan would change current policy governing when a wolf can be killed for attacking livestock. Under the current plan, a wolf that attacks livestock twice or more over any period of time is deemed a chronic depredator and can be killed in the eastern third of the state, where wolves are managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The draft plan, which will be voted on June 7 in Salem, calls for wolves to be classified as chronic threats to sheep and cattle after two attacks in a nine-month period in Eastern Oregon. In the rest of the state, wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act and cannot be legally killed. Derek Broman, state carnivore coordinator, said the draft plan was the product of years of meetings with conservationists and ranchers across the state, though they were unable to reach agreement on all of the issues surrounding wolf management. Wolf management is a polarizing topic with strong views on all sides, so its tough to find consensus, Broman said in a statement. But regardless of peoples views on wolves, the wolf population in Oregon is growing in size, number of packs and packs reproducing, while expanding its range. The agency released its annual report on wolves last week, which showed a 10 percent increase in the canid population with the state hosting a minimum of 137 animals. Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cattlemens Association, said he saw the population increase as evidence that protections for wolves should be lifted in parts of Western Oregon. The first wolf management plan was implemented in 2005 and revised in 2010, just a year after wolves made their return to Oregon after decades of extirpation. The plan was supposed to be updated every five years, but the 2015 revisions became mired in argument and repeated delays ensued. Last year, the state hired a professional facilitator who presided over five meetings with stakeholders from August 2018 through early January. But just before their last meeting, scheduled for Jan. 8 in Clackamas, all four of the conservation groups Defenders of Wildlife, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and the Center for Biological Diversity announced that they would be pulling out of the talks. In an Op-Ed published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, representatives of the environmental groups called the process biased, superficial and unscientific. Jim Akenson, conservation director for the Oregon Hunters Association, recognized that negotiations had been heated at times, but said he felt the process had been fair. On Monday, conservation groups blasted the report. Sristi Kamal, from Defenders of Wildlife, said she was extremely disappointed by the draft plan because it included few, if any, of the suggested policy changes conservation groups had proposed during negotiations. Representatives from ranching industry groups did not immediately return calls for comment. The public will get its chance to weigh in before the commission votes on the draft, either by sending comments to the state at odfw.commission@state.or.us before May 23 or in person at the wildlife commissions June 7 meeting in Salem. -- Kale Williams kwilliams@oregonian.com 503-294-4048 @sfkale Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. The fire that engulfed Notre Dame in Paris on Monday, severely damaging a building that had stood for more than eight centuries, felt unprecedented. And in one sense, it was: How else can one describe the gutting of a building that stood witness to so much of Western European history? But in another sense, Notre Dame is one in a long line of cathedrals that have been ravaged by fire, war or worse. Fire is projected onto the Dome of St Paul's Cathedral in central London as part of the London's Burning festival of events commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London in London on September 1, 2016. Fires Ancient will light up the south and east sides of the dome of St Pauls Cathedral with a fiery projection echoing both the catastrophic impact of the Great Fire of London on the Cathedral itself and the birth of the building designed by Christopher Wren that emerged, phoenix like from the ashes. NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images)AFP/Getty Images 1. Old St. Paul's, London, 1135-1666 Construction began on Old St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England, (actually the fourth attempt at a church named for Paul in that spot, the previous three having been destroyed) in 1087, the same year much of the city was devastated by fire, and was delayed by a fire in 1135. It was then destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666, at which point the old structure was razed in favor of the new St. Paul's, which still stands today. 2. St. Martins Catheral, Utrecht, Netherlands, 1253 St. Martin's was originally established by Frankish clergy around 630. It was destroyed by Normans in the 9th century, rebuilt in the 10th - and then partially destroyed by fire in 1253. The cathedral in all its Gothic glory that exists today was put up in 1254. (That isn't to say the building was never tested again. Seven centuries later, in 1964, the central nave collapsed because of a storm.) The Cathedral of Reims in Reims, France, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2014. The war hit Champagne and it was hardly the wine industry alone where damage was obvious. In the regions major city Reims, the Notre Dame cathedral, one of worlds biggest Gothic treasures, was badly bombed in an act of cultural destruction that helped turn international opinion against Germany. AP Photo/Virginia MayoThird-Party-Submitted 3. Notre Dame, Reims, France, World War I In 1914, during World War I, more than two dozen German shells hit this cathedral. The wooden scaffolding was set on fire, which in turn lit the oak of the roof. The lead used to seal the roof melted, which in turn set, for example, the wooden pews on fire. Stained glass windows and pillars and statuary were destroyed. The building was hit again in 1917 and 1918. Reims was restored and fully reopened in 1938. Santa Maria Del Mar in Barcelona. September 2010. Julie Evensen/The Oregonian 4. Santa Maria Del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, 1936 In the late 14th century, the bishop of Barcelona, Pere Planella, consecrated this cathedral. While the basilica withstood different kinds of turmoil through the ages, nothing, per the cathedral's website, quite compares to July 1936, when Santa Maria Del Mar was set on fire. It burned for 11 days straight. The baroque altar, among other images and archives of historical significance, were destroyed. However, the walls, columns and some of the stained glass windows managed to outlast the flames. 1945: Soldiers crouching outside Cologne Cathedral. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)Getty Images 5. Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany. World War II The Cologne Cathedral was tested by multiple wars. In 1794, the Rhineland was occupied by French Revolution troops. The cathedral was used for, among other things, a detention center for prisoners of war. In 1797 and 1798, prisoners used the nave's wood furnishings for firewood. It wasn't until 1821 that the Archdiocese of Cologne was reestablished (although the building was used as a parish church beginning in 1801). Nevertheless, the two towers of the cathedral were completed in the 1860s and '70s. But the dark days for the cathedral were not over yet. During World War II, the cathedral was damaged by 14 high-explosive bombs and 70 fire bombs. But the medieval windows were removed in time, and other treasured items were protected by sandbags. What's more, the cathedral workshop managed to restore the choir and transept in time for the 700th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone - that is, by 1948. 6. St. Mel's Cathedral, Longford Ireland, 2009 St. Mels cathedral in Ireland was built in the 19th century. However, as the result of an accidental fire, it burned on Christmas Day in 2009. Five years later, in 2014, it reopened. Bystanders look over the rubble of the old Coventry Cathedral after it was destroyed by a German air raid in November 0f 1940. Third-Party-Submitted Bonus: Coventry Cathedral Coventry Cathedral was destroyed by a German air raid in November 0f 1940, during the Battle of Britain in World War II. Subscribe to get the Morning Briefing newsletter delivered to your email inbox weekdays at 7 a.m. Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier DEPUTYS KILLING: The suspect in a Cowlitz deputys slaying is the half-brother of the killer of Rainers police chief. Read more. SCHOOL DISTRICT SUED: A Salem-based construction firm is suing Portland Public Schools for $500,000. Read more. WORKPLACE FATALITY: A Pacific University student had a fatal fall on his first day working for a demolition company. Read more. CLOCK TOWER DEATH: A Portland woman attending college in New York has died after falling from a university clock tower. Read more. TIGARS WIN: Nike stood by Tigar Woods after his 2009 car crash and reports of extramarital affairs. After his win at the Masters, that choice could pay off. Read more. MILWAUKIE SHOOTING: A 30-year-old man accused of shooting a Milwaukie police officer during a shootout near a grocery store late Saturday remains in jail. Read more. WOLF PLAN: Environmentalists are not happy about the new wolf management plan for Eastern Oregon. Read more. SHRILL RENEWED: The Portland-set Hulu series, starring SNL standout Aidy Bryant, will have a Season 2. Read more. HE DID IT, JENNIFER: You may remember CJ McCollums Im trying Jennifer tweet that went viral following a back-and-forth with a fan over the summer, which became an instant meme and rallying cry for Trail Blazers fans. Well, after the Blazers playoff win last week, McCollum talked about Jennifer and called the woman who trolled him a legend. Read more. Snap of the day Studio One Theaters, a luxury movie theater located at 3945 S.E. Powell Blvd., Portland, offers, offers a studios with a variety of couches, love seats, recliners and chairs. In addition, there's full-sized gourmet restaurant and bar. CINEMA SMACKDOWN: Does Portlands newest luxury movie theater, Studio One, knock-out older competition? Read more. More news Woman convicted of 1990 stoning death of photographer dies in prison Sydney Parrish, nations No. 1 guard, commits to Oregon Ducks over Tennessee, UCLA, others Dear Abby: Differing political views end 20-year friendship and there doesnt seem to be any going back Ask Amy: Was this incident between cousins innocent childhood play? Or sexual assault? Carolyn Hax: If you dont deserve a good Cheetos and binge-watch, then no one does Todays comics Click here to see today's comics Todays obituaries Click here to find area deaths reported recently Today in history On April 16, 2007, in one of Americas worst school attacks, a college senior killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before taking his own life. On this date in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in which the civil rights activist responded to a group of local clergymen who had criticized him for leading street protests; King defended his tactics, writing, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Special To The Washington Post Talia Lavin Lavin is a writer and researcher based in Brooklyn. As a conflagration spread through the ancient timbers of Notre Dame Cathedrals attic on Monday, a parallel fire was spreading on social media. This one was willfully set, a series of conspiracy theories neatly slotted into preexisting cultural biases. And soon enough, willing believers were aflame with hate. The conspiracy theorizing began almost as soon as the blaze did, right when people saw the shocking, transfixing video of the cathedral's spire toppling. While French authorities began to assert almost immediately that the fire was apparently accidental, the brief gap between the startling images' generation and their explication was enough for far-right figures to exploit with their own sinister insinuations. Their prevailing view was nearly identical and, apparently, completely false: that the fire was deliberate and most probably set by Muslims. Conservative gadflies on social media were among the first to leap to dark conclusions about the blaze, even as it raged: Matt Walsh, a conservative blogger who identifies himself as a "theocratic fascist" in his Twitter bio, wrote , "I don't understand how a fire of this magnitude could happen accidentally," accumulating nearly 9,000 likes. Infowars, a conspiracy-oriented outlet helmed by Alex Jones, immediately publicized unverified rumors claiming the fire had been "deliberately started" and linking the blaze to "anti-Christian attacks." Katie Hopkins, a racist British provocateur, was far more explicit , claiming that "Jewish and Christian Parisians" are being "hunted out of the city by Islamists, fleeing in their thousands," and affixing the hashtag #NotreDame. Many figures on the right took the opportunity to turn Notre Dame into a metonym for Western civilization as a whole, intimating that far more than a cathedral was in peril. Just as the fire hit social media, conspiracy theorist and brain-supplements salesman Mike Cernovich dramatically tweeted that "The West has fallen." Shortly thereafter, fast-talking far-right pundit Ben Shapiro called Notre Dame a "monument to Western civilization" and "Judeo-Christian heritage." Given the already-raging rumors about potential Muslim involvement, these tweets evoked the specter of a war between Islam and the West that is already part of numerous far-right narratives; it was also a central thread in the manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter. Richard Spencer, professional racist and coiner of the term "alt-right," openly advocated for such warfare, stating (and misspelling) his hopes that the fire would "spur the White man into action - to sieze power in his countries, in Europe, in the world," and declaring such an insurgence a "glorious purpose." And, as Buzzfeed's Jane Lytvynenko reported , other, more oblique figures managed to go even further, from provocation in the abstract to more concrete incitement. A "parody account" masquerading as Fox News fabricated a tweet from Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., that said, "They reap what they sow #NotreDame." Omar, under relentless attack by the right - including the president - became something of a totemic figure for those on social media already predisposed to see the fire as a Muslim conspiracy. Blogger David Futrelle, an expert on the worst of the Web, gathered dozens of tweets claiming that Omar was either celebrating the fire (variously "smiling inside," "happy as a muslim terrorist," "giddy and laughing") or, somehow, had caused it. Multiple accounts questioned whether Omar was in Paris and whether her relatives had set the fire or asserted falsely that she was affiliated with a Muslim group that had set it. While baseless, racist conspiracy-peddling is an unfortunate but constant feature of social media - the background noise to any unfolding event - more mainstream conservative media proved to be just as susceptible to a narrative of civilizational conflict. On "The News and Why It Matters," a video program and podcast on TheBlaze.com, former Fox News mainstay and current talk-radio host Glenn Beck floated the possibility of a coverup by France's government. "If this was started by Islamists, I don't think you'll find out about it, because I think it would set the entire country on fire," Beck told his co-hosts , adding that this was France's "World Trade Center moment." On Fox News, Tucker Carlson hosted far-right columnist Mark Steyn, who denounced France as "godless" and inveighed against the "post-Christian" country. As Carlson nodded along, brow furrowed, Steyn recounted a story of worshiping in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, which is now, he declared, "in a Muslim suburb," and asserted that rebuilding Notre Dame, as President Emmanuel Macron had promised to do, would be pointless. By Tuesday morning, French authorities had declared the fire extinguished. The structure of Notre Dame is intact, although its spire, a 19th-century addition, collapsed. But the conflagration of conspiracy, a corruption of the natural human tendency to assign meaning to events, rages through our information sphere unchecked. It should not take the imprecations of journalists to restrain this dangerous flow of misinformation. It is past time that those who stoke inflammatory rhetoric, knowing its potential to catalyze racist violence, were made to stop playing with fire - before its too late to control the inferno. A Kalama resident accused of helping a suspect avoid capture after shooting a southwest Washington sheriffs deputy took the mans gun and led him to an abandoned barn, according to a report. Matthew Veatch, 25, told police that Brian Butts showed up at his home several minutes after Veatch heard an apparent gunshot on the night of the fatal deputy shooting, according to court records cited by The Daily News of Longview. Butts appeared dirty and stated he needed to get out of there, according to the news report. He also gave Veatch a handgun to get rid of, the newspaper reports. Veatch told officers he put the gun in a locked cabinet and led Butts, 33, through the woods for several hours. Butts allegedly told him he shot a law enforcement officer. Veatch led Butts to an abandoned barn, according to the news report, and the pair separated. Police found Butts on Sunday night after a lengthy manhunt. He was fatally shot by two police officers as he ran out of the woods with a gun in Kalama, authorities said. He is suspected of killing Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier after the deputy was sent late Saturday to check on a disabled vehicle blocking a road about 3 miles east of Interstate 5. The deputy died during surgery at a Vancouver hospital. Veatch was later arrested and jailed on suspicion of first-degree rendering criminal assistance. He was held in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to The Daily News. Jail records show he was released from the Cowlitz County Jail on Monday evening. Veatchs brother, 33-year-old Michael Veatch was also arrested on an unrelated warrant Sunday and remains in jail. Cowlitz County Prosecutor Ryan Jurvakainen told The Daily News his office hadnt filed charges connecting the elder Veatch to the deputy killing as of Monday afternoon. The brothers are associates of Butts, according to Sgt. Brent Waddell, spokesman for Clark County Sheriffs Office. Butts is also the half-brother of Daniel Butts, who last month pleaded guilty to fatally shooting Rainier Police Chief Ralph Painter eight years ago during a struggle at a car stereo shop. Butts was sentenced last month to life with the possibility of parole after nearly 49 years. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. It only took Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno four days to replace her predecessors representative on the state school board. Kim Sordyl, an education watchdog known for her aggressive criticism of Portland Public Schools, resigned her non-voting board position on April 11. On Monday, Clarno announced she had chosen state Rep. Cheri Helt, R-Bend, to take over. Former Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, who died of brain cancer in late February, appointed Sordyl to the board shortly after he was sworn in. Sordyl, a Democrat, was one of the plaintiffs behind a public records lawsuit that cost the states largest school district nearly $280,000. Shes also a vocal critic of the Portland school board, particularly on her Facebook page where Sordyl is known to publish stories and her own posts demanding accountability. In her resignation letter, Sordyl praised Richardson and his staff for crossing the aisle in their efforts to staff the state school board with a diversity of viewpoints. In particular, Richardson prioritized progress over party, she wrote. Sordyl also had sharp words for Clarno for dismissing Richardsons chief of staff and other senior members of his office. Your actions are not only disappointing, but they demonstrate your own lack of understanding of the value that he and his team brought to us, Sordyl wrote to Clarno. Sordyls departure from the state board is the latest in a string of high-profile dismissals and vacancies in the secretary of states office and of personnel appointed by Richardson. Helt, Sordyls replacement on the state school board, was elected to the House in 2018. She won the seat vacated by Knute Buehler, who pursued an unsuccessful bid for governor that year. Helt previously sat on the board for the Bend-LaPine School District for eight years. In a release, Clarno lauded Helt for work replacing outdated textbooks and to establish a performance-based compensation system. SALEM A national advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Oregon early Tuesday morning, seeking to force leaders to fix deep-seated problems in the states foster care system. Lawyers for the 10 plaintiffs, who range in age from 18 months to 17 years old and are all in Oregon foster care, accuse the state of consistently violating the childrens rights guaranteed by federal laws and the U.S. Constitution. The lawyers, who are seeking class action status so they can represent all of the approximately 8,000 children in Oregons foster system, point to evidence the problems are widespread and go back at least a decade. The lawsuit paints a picture of a system that, through its dysfunction, further traumatizes children who were taken from their families on the premise that the state would better care for them. They cite numerous examples, including: A 15-year-old transgender boy who the state has failed to find a supportive home and at one point, sent to an all-girls program. A 9-year-old girl who was sent to a program in Montana where she has been drugged to induce calming effects, and physically restrained by up to four staff at a time. A 17-year-old Native American boy who has lived in at least 50 different foster placements, none with tribal members, and is about to age out of the system without a stable living arrangement The New York City-based nonprofit A Better Childhood is bringing the lawsuit along with Disability Rights Oregon and lawyers from the firm Davis Wright Tremaine. In an interview, A Better Childhoods executive director Marcia Robinson Lowry said the group has been investigating Oregons system since last summer and was surprised to learn how bad it is. Lowry said the group has eight open cases and according to the groups website, it has campaigns in six states other than Oregon and the District of Columbia. Little kids are moved from place to place to place to place to place and often separated from each other, Lowry said. They subsequently develop serious emotional problems that require treatment, which is then unavailable. This system in Oregon is, in many cases, making kids worse, instead of trying to help make them better. The lawsuit names as defendants Gov. Kate Brown, the Oregon Department of Human Services, agency director Fariborz Pakseresht and Child Welfare director Marilyn Jones. The plaintiffs lawyers are asking the court to force Oregon to implement a long list of child welfare system improvements they say would bring the state into compliance with the Constitution and federal laws. Those improvements include hiring enough child welfare caseworkers to limit caseloads to 15 children and requiring thorough assessments of children within 30 days of the state taking custody. For specific groups of children, the lawyers are asking the court to enforce legally mandated levels of care and protections. As an example, the lawyers ask the court to ensure that LGBTQ children are not placed in homes or programs where a childs sexual and gender identity or expression are viewed as immoral, undesirable, or problematic. They are also seeking to recover their legal costs. A central argument in the case is that Oregon violates the childrens constitutional right to due process, including by failing to protect them from harm and failing to protect children with disabilities from discrimination and unnecessary institutionalization. Oregon has also failed to protect the rights of LGBTQ children to freedom from systemic discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, the lawyers wrote. Children who are aging out of Oregons foster care are entitled to support during the transition, but the lawyers said many are not consistently receiving those vocational, education and other services. Roughly half of the Oregon children in foster care have a physical, mental, cognitive or intellectual disability, the plaintiffs lawyers wrote. That means they are entitled by the Americans with Disabilities Act to equal services including access to stable, family-like foster care settings, something the lawyers said many foster children are not receiving. In a press release, Disability Rights Oregon managing attorney Chris Shank said she hopes the lawsuit will help curb the revolving door of foster placements and avoid children ending up in institutions because weve failed to meet their basic healthcare needs." Under the federal Child Welfare Act, states must provide written plans laying out how the government will meet the childs needs and ultimately reunify them with their families or find another permanent home. Children should also be kept as close as possible to their home communities and in the least restrictive setting necessary. Lawyers for the foster children claim Oregon is failing to meet those and other mandates in the law. In a statement issued Tuesday, Pakseresht wrote that the state shares the same vision of a foster care system where all children are safe, have the customized supports they need to heal, and are cared for in stable, loving families where they thrive. He listed several initiatives to address problems called out in the lawsuit, and said the government is "building the foundation needed to balance staff workload, so they can spend more time with children and families and add supports to serve children and families holistically in their communities. To illustrate how Oregons child welfare problems hurt children, the lawyers detailed the histories of the 10 young plaintiffs. The youngest are 18-month-old Noah F. and 3-year-old Wyatt B., brothers who have been through multiple foster homes and were separated, according to the lawsuit. The brothers and all other children identified in the lawsuit are referred to by pseudonyms. Wyatt has a congenital heart defect and while the brothers were being moved between multiple foster homes, a foster parent administered Wyatts heart medications to his infant brother. After baby Noah was hospitalized, child welfare workers allegedly cancelled the boys visit with their biological mother without telling her what happened. Kylie and Alec R. are 7- and 8-year-old siblings. Theyve been in foster care for less than two months, yet Kylie has been in five different placements and Alec in four, their lawyers wrote. Both children had lice when they entered state care and because caseworkers allegedly did not provide their health insurance information to foster parents, the children waited more than a month for treatment. Unique L. is 9 years old and has gone through a series of foster homes and institutional programs, including most recently a program in Montana after her mother was diagnosed with a significant mental health condition, was verbally abusive to her children and kept them out of school, according to the lawsuit. Although Uniques therapist had recommended against returning the child to her mother, state workers took her back to the mother and tried to get the case against the mother dismissed. Soon, the mother locked Unique out of the house and began leaving voicemails for professionals involved in the case, including one in which Unique could be heard in the background crying and screaming, mommy, please dont do this. Since the state sent Unique to the Montana program, she has been restrained by up to four people during tantrums and forced to take a range of medications including an anti-epileptic although she does not have seizures in order to chemically restrain her, the lawsuit says. She has received little to no therapeutic care at the program, lawyers wrote. Simon S., 13, and his sister were first referred to the state in 2010. Since then, the state has received 35 reports of physical, sexual and neglect about the children, including that Simon had black eyes, bruises on his face and body and cut and swollen lips, all of which Simon attributed to his father, according to the lawsuit. Staff at Simons school were at a loss for what more they could do when, despite reports that Simon was being sexually abused by another child at his home, state workers left Simon in the home. Simon began defecating in his pants at school in an attempt to protect himself form the other child, who was also a student. Although he began receiving therapy at school, the counselor stated, Its difficult to treat a child with these issues who lives in a home that is not safe, supportive and sanitary. Ruth T., 15, and her brother entered foster care after their mother died of an accidental drug overdose. Although children are supposed to be evaluated within 60 days of entering state care, Ruth did not receive a psychological evaluation for six months, according to the lawsuit. State workers repeatedly failed to arrange for Ruth to receive the treatment evaluators eventually said she needed, leading to problems at school. Ultimately, the state sent her six hours away from family to a Douglas County program operated in the former Roseburg police building. After growing up in a chaotic home, the lawsuit states, Ruth has poor social skills and operates at about a 6-year-old (level), if not younger, mentally. Douglas County is caring for teenage girls in foster care at its Creekside program located in Roseburg's former police department. This photo shows a room in the Creekside facility. State workers ultimately told Ruths court-appointed attorney, although her recommended treatment plan had never been implemented, there was no one in Oregon willing to care for her so she had to be sent to a program in Iowa for girls who have committed crimes, according to the lawsuit. Bernard C., 15, is transgender and the trauma he experienced likely while living with family is manifesting in occasional nightmares, depression and anger. According to the lawsuit, state workers have failed to arrange for Bernard to receive recommended therapy and find him the highly supportive, predictable, and loving home environment that a psychologist noted would allow him to bond with a care provider and experience long-term support and role modeling. In Douglas County, a wing of the county juvenile detention center has been repurposed as a program for teenagers in foster care including a transgender boy, Bernard. Instead, the state cycled Bernard through at least a dozen different foster homes and seven institutional programs, including a program for girls called Wildflowers even though he was transgender. He currently lives in a wing of Douglas Countys juvenile jail that has been converted into a behavioral rehabilitation program, where the lawsuit says children endure strip searches, doors to the rooms are locked at night, children attend an alternative school for a few hours a day and Bernards medical treatment has been disrupted. Naomi B., 16, currently lives at the Jackson Street Homeless Shelter. According to the lawsuit, Naomi was removed from her from fathers care in November so that she could receive therapy for depression and agoraphobia that he refused to allow. Yet as Naomi cycled between the homeless shelter and two residential programs, she never received that mental health treatment, the lawyers wrote. In January, Naomi was moved to a Klamath County residential program designed for girls at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. As The Oregonian/OregonLive has reported, the program also houses girls in the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority for committing crimes and as of last fall, had received the endorsement of Gov. Kate Brown to receive $12 million in funding to expand. One of the rooms in Klamath County's Youth Inspiration Program, a wing of the juvenile jail that was converted into a residential program for foster youth. At the Klamath Falls facility, Naomi and other girls were periodically locked out of their rooms for searches and Naomi was unable to maintain her education given the sparse 1.5 to 2.5 hours of online education provided each day, the lawsuit alleges. Norman N., 17, has been in and out of foster care since 2005 and currently lives at the St. Marys Home for Boys in Beaverton. Normans long journey through Oregons foster system, during which he moved at least 50 times, illustrates how trauma and lack of stability can compound inside that system. After Norman was removed from his father again in 2012, he was placed in a foster home with his two younger siblings who had never been in foster care before, the lawyers wrote. Norman felt very protective of them and did not trust the strangers that were now responsible for their care. Scared, Norman had a behavior outburst and was removed from the foster home and separated from his brothers. Despite identifying as a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Normal has never lived with any foster family who is a tribal member. He wants to grow his hair long in accordance with Native American tradition, but St. Marys rules require boys to keep their hair short, the lawsuit says. Child welfare workers have begun working with Normans mother to be a resource when he ages out of foster care. According to the lawsuit, she is still struggling with substance abuse and lacks stable housing. Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. SALEM Candidates for president and vice president would have to release their five most recent tax returns in order to appear on the general election ballot in Oregon under a bill being considered by Oregon lawmakers. The tax returns would have to be released at least 70 days before Election Day and would be posted publicly on the Oregon Secretary of States website. The Oregon Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 594 on Monday, the same day federal and state income tax returns are due. President Donald Trumps name was not mentioned during the hearing. But Trump has so far refused to release his returns, breaking a tradition for presidents that dates back to Richard Nixon. The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee has invoked Congressional powers and requested six years of Trumps tax returns, so far without results. Severalbut not allof the Democratic candidates seeking their partys nomination next year have released their returns while others have pledged to do so. This bill strikes me as one of those things that we never thought wed have to pass, said Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland. At the presidential level there was just kind of a convention and expectation that it would happen. Oregon is one of more than two dozen states where lawmakers have considered a similar requirement since Trump was elected in 2016. None of the bills have been signed into law, including in California, where then-Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the proposal in 2017. There are some legal questions about the bill, said Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee. Burdick wouldnt specify what questions she had, but she said she thinks the idea has a lot of support. Burdick did not call the bill for a vote on Monday, but the proposal could be brought back for consideration any time before the end of the legislative session. Similar measures have been introduced in the past two Oregon legislative sessions, but neither advanced to a vote. Some critics of the idea have questioned whether states have the authority to deny federal candidates access to the ballot. The Oregon Citizens Lobby, which generally supports conservative causes, wrote in an action alert that keeping a national candidate from the ballot is the same as denying a voter a complete ballot and the right to vote. Supporters of the proposal say requiring presidential candidates to release tax returns would give voters more insight into potential conflicts of interest. It would also allow people to see if candidates are bending the tax code to their advantage. The public has become concerned, and rightly so, that they are lacking information about our candidates, especially at the federal level, said Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend. I just think they should have more information. Knopp did not take a position on SB 594, but threw his support behind another measure, Senate Joint Memorial 11. Unlike the bill, SJM 11 would not place any requirements on candidates on the Oregon ballot. Instead, it would serve as a letter from state lawmakers to members of Congress, asking them to change the law at the federal level. Apple and Qualcomm announced Tuesday that they have settled their yearslong litigation over the use of Qualcomms chips in Apples iPhones. The agreement includes the dismissal of all litigation between the two companies worldwide and includes a six-year licensing agreement and a multiyear supply agreement. According to a statement from the companies, Apple will also make a payment of an unspecified amount to Qualcomm. Qualcomm shares jumped on the news, finishing the day up 23 percent at $70.45. The stock gained another $3.10, 4.4 percent, in after-hours trading. The agreement was announced after lawyers for Apple had made their opening argument in what was expected to be a three-week trial in a San Diego federal court. The case began in January 2017, when Apple said the chipmaker and wireless pioneer had a stranglehold on the market for wireless modem chips that, until recently, had been used in the iPhone. Apple contends that Qualcomm leveraged its position to overcharge for its patent licenses. Rather than bend to Apples demands, Qualcomm countersued. Apple sued back. There were more than 80 lawsuits between the two companies in Asia, Europe and the United States. The dizzying number of legal cases has turned acrimonious. Qualcomm has accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and handing them over to rival Intel, which has supplied wireless chips in recent iPhone models. Intel shares fell about 80 cents, about 1.5 percent, after news of the settlement. But Intels stock finished the day up 43 cents nonetheless. As the price of an iPhone has increased to levels once unheard of in the wireless market, Qualcomm has been able to command larger payments for its patent portfolio - a fact Apple finds particularly irksome. Unlike other handset makers, Apple managed to negotiate its fee to about $7.50 per unit, according to court filings and a person familiar with the matter. Thats a price Apple still believes is too high. Qualcomm says it bundles its patents to simplify the process. If contract manufacturers had to negotiate a license for each patent individually, every handset design would require hours of legal wrangling to come to an agreement. Some nations have taken a dim view of Qualcomm's licensing strategy. In 2015, the Chinese government fined the company $975 million for the way it bundles its licenses, forcing more favorable terms for Chinese manufacturers. In December 2016, South Korea fined Qualcomm $865 million for allegedly refusing to license competing chipset companies, an assertion Qualcomm denies. The two sides eventually reached a settlement. Then, in January 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission brought its own case against Qualcomm stemming from the same issues. Qualcomm defended itself in an 11-day trial in January, but the judge in that case has yet to make a ruling. The FTC case marked the beginning of a tough year for Qualcomm. Apple filed its lawsuit later that same month. Then, in November, Broadcom made its unsolicited offer. When Qualcomm's board rejected the deal, it turned into a hostile takeover bid. Apple, meanwhile, has stopped making royalty payments altogether, costing Qualcomm $7 billion so far and putting financial strain on the company. -- The Washington Post Connected microwaves, smart light bulbs, intelligent electrical outlets. Theyre on the frontier of the Internet of Things, or IoT, a catchall term for everyday devices with online connectivity built in to make them more convenient or useful. But like any online device, they can turn against their owners if hackers gain access. A bill moving forward in the Oregon Legislature would require such devices to have reasonable security features to guard against hacking and protect owners privacy. It echoes a similar bill that won approval from California lawmakers last September. The Oregon House of Representatives approved the bill 53 to 5 on Tuesday. It now heads to the state Senate. Oregon House Bill 2395 requires manufacturers to take steps such as giving each device a unique password, so hackers cant crack multiple devices by obtaining the password for one. Another suggested measure: requiring users create a new means to authenticate themselves before gaining access to the device. Thats another step that gives each device some individual security, which could prevent them from being used in a coordinated attack. In 2016, hackers compromised 100,000 connected devices and used them in a massive attack that disrupted a company that provides a key role in routing internet traffic. That resulted in many popular internet sites going offline for several hours. Stephen Ridley, chief executive of Portland online security startup Senrio, said the Oregon bill is a sensible first step toward improving security. He called it basic hygiene, analogous to a requirement that health professionals wash their hands before interacting with patients. Oregons legislation wont prevent all hacking, Ridley said, but will address the problems that are easiest to prevent and start a broader conversation about how to secure the emerging technology. A simple series of suggestions like the ones that are in this bill are probably best and constitute good forward momentum, Ridley said. Oregons Department of Justice made the bill a priority for the current session, arguing that it could help prevent attacks like the ones that took place in 2016. The features should protect information that the connected device collects, contains, stores or transmits from access, destruction modification, use or disclosure that the consumer does not authorize, Cheryl Hiemstra, the departments deputy legislative director, wrote in written testimony supporting the bill. Other backers include the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. Policy director Kimberly McCullough testified that the proliferation of connected microphones, cameras and other gadgets that can collect personal data will be intolerable without legal safeguards for consumers. This bill is a common-sense approach to ensuring that Oregonians can trust that the information collected by digital devices is secure from data breaches and hackers, she said in written testimony. GlobalAutomakers, a trade group of motor vehicle manufacturers, opposed the bill in its original version. The organization said the Oregon legislation lacked an exemption for automakers, which California had. GlobalAutomakers said its industry is already subject to federal regulation and has put in place its own measures to protect consumers. The trade group didnt immediately respond to a question Tuesday about whether subsequent amendments addressed automakers concerns. -- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699 A Beaverton-area man fired a shotgun outside his home Monday to scare away crows and ended up in handcuffs, authorities say. No one was injured in the shooting near Catlin Gable School. Deputies arrested Mark W. Mordini, 66, and booked him into the Washington County Jail on accusations of unlawful use of a weapon. A teacher at the school reported hearing a gunshot around 12:15 p.m. and seeing someone running into a nearby home with a shotgun, according to the county sheriffs office. Deputies soon arrived and found Mordini, who matched the shooters description. At some point he admitted to deputies that he fired one shot to scare away the birds, the sheriffs office said. Mordini was no longer listed as an inmate at the Washington County Jail as of 8:40 p.m. He did not immediately respond to a message left at a number listed in his name. -- 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 John Alden Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution celebrated its 97th Anniversary on April 5. The chapter was chartered on April 5, 1922. Grace A. Dow was the organizing regent. She chose the name John Alden to honor her husband, Herbert H. Dow, who was a descendant. This special celebration was sponsored by the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library and open to the public. Seven descendants of John Alden were present: Joan Rogers, Ruth Sarkozy, Ann Cotten, Karen Alden Quaderer, Thomas J. Alden, Marilynn Watkins, and Kathleen Ripley Leo. The guest speaker was Kathleen Ripley Leo a descendent of John Alden through his daughter Rebecca. She is a member of the Mayflower Society, has been in the Daughters of the American Revolution for more than 30 years and a member of several other lineage societies. Leo is also an award-winning novelist, poet, editor, educator and more. She was awarded the Woman in Arts Award from NSDAR for her lifetime achievements along with many other honors she has been given through the years. John Alden was born sometime between 1597-1598. He died Sept. 12, 1687. John hired onto the Mayflower in either London or Southampton as a crew carpenter or cooper. He was said to be the tallest of the men, handsome, blonde with light colored eyes. Upon arrival in the New World he was the youngest to sign the Mayflower Compact. He was the first male passenger to step on Plymouth Rock. John was good friends with Miles Standish, and they lived together for a time. He and Miles, with others would go into the woods on recognizance. Alden was one of only six or seven who did not get sick that first winter. By 1623, John Alden and Priscilla Mullens were married. They had 11 children, one of whom may have died. Dow was a descendent of their daughter Ruth who married John Bass. John Alden served his community for 43 years as the governor's assistant (occasionally was acting governor), 13 years as treasurer of the colony, eight years as a member of the Council of War. He served on many juries, including two witch trials, officiated marriage ceremonies and frequently travelled. Today, he has countless descendants. The chapter wishes to thank Samantha Engle, historian of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation for providing Herbert Dow's complete lineage to John Alden. We also thank Nancy Marshall, state librarian of the Michigan Society of the Daughter's of the American Revolution for joining us for the celebration. The last chapter meeting of this year will be May 4 at the Grace A. Dow Library Community Room. It will be the spring meeting and potluck. State and chapter awards will be given and include a business meeting. For information, contact Vice Regent Karen Miller at 989-387-0434 or jaldenpr5@gmail.com. A local company's job-boosting endeavors are helping bring much-needed road improvement dollars to Williams Township. Falcon Asphalt Repair Co., a onetime Midland company now making its home at 2600 W. Salzburg Road in Williams Township, brought 50 jobs with it when it built a new manufacturing facility and corporate headquarters on a 15-acre lot. And the company, considered a leader in the design of asphalt hot boxes, tack distributors and recyclers used for pothole repair and maintenance, has plans to create 50 more jobs in the next three years. Falcon's $4.7 million move from Midland to Williams Township in western Bay County has allowed it to consolidate two production sites and leaves space for expansion. The company's investment in Bay County has not gone unnoticed. Bay Future Inc. recognized Falcon's economic development efforts at its annual meeting Friday. Moreover, the Michigan Department of Transportation has approved a $518,000 grant for major road improvements to parts of Flajole and Salzburg roads. "It's been good for all parties involved," said Paul Wasek, Williams Township supervisor, of Falcon's relocation. "New industry that brings jobs with it allows us to leverage the state to provide road-funding money. We think it's the right move for Falcon." The company is within shouting distance of US 10 and M-47. Its transportation efficiencies will be bolstered further by converting 800 feet of a gravel Flajole road to an all-season road that will allow Falcon to safely and efficiently receive and produce products in their new production facility near the firms' entrance, Wasek said. "It's imperative that we have good roads to attract business and jobs," he added. Falcon's success was celebrated at Bay Future's annual meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton-Bay City-Riverfront. Attended by some 200 community leaders, the event highlighted the nearly $487 million in capital investment and more than 700 jobs that have been created during the economic development agency's three-year capital campaign, "The Future is Now." "We truly saw Falcon's move to Bay County as a chance to retain a growing manufacturer to the Great Lakes Bay Region," said Trevor Keyes, president and CEO of Bay Future. "We are proud to congratulate them on their investment along with 23 other companies that have expanded or moved to Bay County over the last three years." Other infrastructure projects are in the works, including one in the City of Auburn, another that will see Wheeler Road from 7 Mile Road repaved (costs not yet available) and heavily-traveled Garfield Road from Midland Road south to the US 10 overpass getting completely rebuilt. The city will have a stretch of sidewalk extended east from Moll Street to Stephanie Court, a distance of about a quarter mile. Estimated cost is $35,000. The Garfield Road project, at an estimated cost of $900,000, involves completely reconstructing the approximately one-half mile of roadway between Garfield and the expressway. "It's a huge project," Wasek said. "We're going to see a total reconstruction. The road surface will be totally rebuilt and we're also going to do storm sewers, curb and gutter and widen to a three-lane road. We need a left-hand turn lane on that road. There is a lot of traffic there." Crews will resurface Salzburg Road, from Carter Road west to the Bay/Midland County line. The project along with the road work slated for the corner of Salzburg and Flajole is estimated to cost about $1.3 million. "These projects are funded almost entirely with state dollars," Wasek said. "Garfield, Wheeler and Salzburg roads are considered primary roads that are funded by the state." Yet there remain other roads such as Union and Midland that are in dire need of repair. "Roads are a huge concern," Wasek said. "The funding is simply not there for local roads." The township plans to ask voters to pass a millage for road improvements as part of the 2020 election ballot. "If we ask for road millage monies, it will be used exclusively for roads," Wasek emphasized. "It's the only way we're going to be able to fix our local roads." The Michigan Center for Progressive Public Policy (MCP3) invites the public to an evening of discussion about "Health Care in Michigan -- Past, Present & Future" in the Community Room at Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, 1710 W. St. Andrews Road, Midland, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 24. The event will consist of three short talks. The first looks at where Michigan's and the U.S. healthcare models compare to other countries. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Friday, April 12 10:57 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash resulting in property damage in the area of Jefferson Avenue and Joe Mann Boulevard. 10:01 p.m. -- Officers responded to an assault in the 4000 block of Wellness Drive. 9:09 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a residence in Lincoln Township in reference to a verbal argument between a 63-year-old man and his 55-year-old male roommate. The 63-year-old said his roommate has overstayed his welcome and needed to move out. The roommate left prior to the deputies' arrival. The eviction process was explained to the 63-year-old. There had been no assault 7:55 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a possible drug overdose at an Edenville Township residence. After investigation, it was concluded a 40-year-old man took too many of his prescription pills. He was transported to MidMichigan Medical Center for treatment. His mother and sister believed it was intentional. A mental health petition was filled out by family and by the responding deputy. 5:31 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a residence in Lee Township in reference to a possible case of malicious destruction of property. The deputy made contact with a 27-year-old woman who said someone had carved vulgar language on her vehicle. She wished to have a report of the incident completed. 4:29 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash resulting in property damage in the area of West Buttles Street and Jerome Street. 3:06 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash on private property in the 1600 block of North Saginaw Road. 1:18 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a traffic crash in Midland Township. 11:35 a.m. -- Officers responded to a report of identity fraud in the 7400 block of Columbine Street. 10:59 a.m. -- A deputy responded to a Jerome Township school in reference to a 17-year-old student who made threats toward a teacher during a discussion with them. The student was suspended from school. 10:13 a.m. -- A tree fell onto a vehicle traveling southbound on North Waldo Road in Mills Township. 9:50 a.m. -- A deputy responded to a Hope Township residence to complete a car-deer crash report that occurred on East Shearer Road. 8:29 a.m. -- A deputy responded to a single-vehicle crash in Lincoln Township. To the editor: Our community is facing a major shortage of direct support professional staff. This shortage is directly correlated to the low wage offered for the job. Direct support professional staff are critical in enabling individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live productive and independent lives in our community. The job of a direct support professional can be very difficult work, not only including caring for people during their paid shifts but also often requires being accessible and available when problems arise outside the scheduled time with that person. The job as a support staff requires a personal relationship with the individual that they are serving. This relationship is best established and deepened over an extended period of time. Due to the near minimum wage pay, employees struggle with being able to support themselves and their families on this income, and it far too often results in high turnover. Direct support staff employees' wages are governed by laws and can only be increased through legislative action. As a community, we need to be aware of this important issue and be active in lobbying legislators to make these necessary changes. A pay increase will allow excellent staff members to work long term with the individuals that they have built relationships with. This benefits not only the staff member, but even more importantly this has a huge impact on people with disabilities. I am working to increase public awareness on this important issue through a civic engagement project for my politics class at Delta College. After collaborating with The Arc of Midland, I have become aware of how substantial an impact the support staff members have on our entire community and how this shortage is leading to many critical problems. Wage increases would allow these employees to provide for themselves and their families with their income, enabling them to stay longer term working the job they love and supporting the individuals that they have built close relationships with. LOUIS KEHR Midland Paducah, KY (42003) Today Cloudy. Some light rain will fall throughout the day. Thunder possible. High 52F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 43F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Some 370 Burundians returned to their country on Tuesday with logistical assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from neighbouring Tanzania, where they had fled, following the violence that marked the electoral crisis in 2015 in Burundi, the public radio reported Johannesburg, South Africa (PANA) - Community activists in mining areas in South Africa face harassment, intimidation, and violence, the Centre for Environmental Rights, groundWork, Earthjustice, and Human Rights Watch said in a joint report released on Tuesday Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisia and Libya will soon hold a working session between the technical services of their two ministries of social affairs to examine areas of bilateral cooperation in the social field, a statement from the Tunisian Ministry of Social Affairs said on Tuesday, This decision was taken at a meeting between Tunisian and Libyan Social Affairs Ministers Mohamed Trablesi and Al Mahdi Al Amin on the margins of the 46th Arab Labour Conference in Cairo (14-21 April), the statement said The schism in the Democratic Party isnt Bernie versus the establishment, its new versus old. New ideas. New very liberal millennial and Gen Z voters. New candidates. New grassroots. In a lot of ways, this is an exciting time to be a Democrat. The Party is changing pretty rapidly right now, and the old guard is starting to feel it. This is where Bernie comes in, as right now, he is the favored candidate of new. The Democratic establishmentdefined as senior party officials, major donors and their allies in the swamplands of D.C.is starting to feel the heat. They know they are losing their influence over the party by the day, and Bernie is the worst possible foe for them to go up against, as any attack from the establishment on Sanders further buttresses his credibility amongst a group of voters sick of the status quo. Todays report out of the New York Times is simply dripping with Democratic establishment fear. Mr. Brock, who supported Mrs. Clintons past presidential bids, said the Bernie question comes up in every fund-raising meeting I do. Steven Rattner, a major Democratic Party donor, said the topic is discussed endlessly in his orbit, and among Democratic leaders it is becoming hard to block out. It has gone from being a low hum to a rumble, said Susan Swecker, the chairwoman of Virginias Democratic Party. Mr. Gifford, who has gone public in recent days with his dismay over major Democratic fund-raisers remaining on the sidelines, said of Mr. Sanders, I feel like everything we are doing is playing into his hands. Everything major Democratic donors are doing plays into Bernie Sanders hands because most people are opposed to the conservative agenda of Democratic donors, and Bernie has tapped in to that emotion. What these major donors and establishment figures seem to be realizing is that Bernies appeal isnt just his policies, but his enemies. People are angry. For good reason. Capitalism is crumbling before our very eyes, and the neoliberal agenda espoused by major Democratic donors like Steven Rattner lost to Donald freaking Trump in 2016. Bernie practices a kind of combative politics that simply cannot be coopted or even copied by an establishment obsessed with West Wing-style civility politics. Panic is likely setting in with major donors because other candidates more closely aligned with the establishment, like Kamala Harris and Beto ORourke, have echoed Bernies us versus the one percent thesis. In many ways, Bernie has already won the 2020 Democratic primary. At its core, this drama isnt about Bernie. Its about the Democratic electorate, and the clear majority opinion on the left that the policies of the 1990s should be eschewed in favor of a return to the much more progressive Democratic politics of the 1960s and 1930s. Bernie is the main beneficiary of this majority opinion because the Democratic establishment has spent decades trying to subvert their progressive wing, and there simply havent been many (any?) nationally recognized candidates pushing the same ideas and critiques as him. To take a term from the market, Bernie has brilliantly exploited first-mover advantage. For the uninitiated, here is what that economic term means, per Investopedia: A first mover is a service or product that gains the advantage by being the first to market. Being first typically enables a company to establish strong brand recognition and customer loyalty before competitors enter the arena. Other advantages include additional time to perfect its product or service and setting the market price for the new item. That is a pretty spot-on description of Bernies success. He first gained notoriety in 2016 by simply being different from the Democratic establishment, and he established a strong anti-establishment brand while building a very loyal voter base. Since his loss, he has honed his message while infusing it with substancelike submitting legislation on Medicare for All that that doubles as public enemy number one for Democratic insurance donors. This further burnished his anti-establishment cred, while also gaining him mainstream viability when popular congresspeople like Kamala Harris co-signed his bill. What Bernie has done since 2016 is essentially put on a master class in branding, and now the Democratic establishment finds itself backed into a corner, because they are only just now realizing that his brand gains strength off the widespread opposition to their technocratic elite brand. Its checkmate. I am a good example of the problem the Democratic establishment finds itself in. I am not going to make a decision on what candidate I support until the debates start, but I know its going to be Bernie or Warren. My policy-focused educational background is extremely drawn to her policy-heavy platform, and Elizabeth Warren is probably the slight front-runner for my vote as of right now, despite the fact that she is a capitalist and I consider myself to be a Democratic Socialist. However, every single time any establishment Democratic figure takes a cheap shot at Bernie, I gravitate towards him simply because my strongest feeling for 2020 is that the Democratic status quo must deviate from this last 40-year neoliberal course, and a new state of affairs cannot arise without changing the establishment. Its unfortunate, but negative partisanship is a bigger factor in American politics than positive partisanship. None of us are immune to it, especially in a time where if youre not angry, youre not paying attention. Trump is a symptom of our larger structural issues, and while the desire to just get a dangerous man away from the nuclear codes is more than understandable, if that is the low bar for 2020, we will be dealing with a Trump-like figure again in the near future. That is the key lesson we all must take from 2016. We lost to a meat-filled bottle of spray tanner who couldnt stop telling everyone how badly he wants to date his daughter, and the only logical thing to do in the wake of that complete and utter humiliation is to change course. Which is why Bernie Sanders is the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination. He gained the all-important name recognition advantage in 2016 (if you doubt how big of a deal name recognition is, consider that we live in a country where Congress has about a 20% approval rating and roughly a 90% reelection ratethat doesnt happen just by gerrymandering), and he has branded himself as the change candidate. Two of the last three presidential elections were change elections, and had the Republicans not nominated the walking embodiment of Wall Street in 2012, we may be three for three right now. People have wanted dramatic change for some time, and there is a direct line between Obamas stunning rise in 2008 and Bernies anti-establishment crusade today.The Democratic establishment simply does not want dramatic change (as embodied by the fact that only 33% of Democratic Senators support Medicare for All, despite a majority of Republicans wanting it too). There is no way around that fundamental political reality, and the donor class is left with one realistic option in the wake of Bernies rise: shift to the left, or continue to lose power in the Democratic Party. Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. This is what the War on Drugs looks like. Mind-boggling. In an inordinate number of American counties, marijuana arrests are a significant portion of what the police do every day. https://t.co/5BIGxN8F3kpic.twitter.com/q7ZE3tKfWr David Menschel (@davidminpdx) April 16, 2019 This staggering figure comes from The Washington Post, in an article published today that details marijuana enforcement in America. Per WaPo: While drug war proponents often say they're going after kingpins, the reality is that the police nearly always goes after the lowest-hanging fruit: people who use drugs especially marijuana, which is easy to find or bit players in the drug trade, said Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports marijuana legalization. Diane Goldstein, a former lieutenant commander with the Redondo Beach Police Department in California, told the Post that The status quo allows law enforcement and their associations to profit in many ways. Marijuana continues to be an easy way to create probable cause for searches, arrests and civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture is when the cops can seize your money or assets without charging you with a crime (they charge your property with a crime), and it is incumbent upon you to prove your innocence in order to get your property back. There is a severe lack of reporting requirements about how much stuff cops take from citizens every year, but per Harvard Law Review, the Justice and Treasury departments received nearly $4.5 billion in forfeiture proceeds in 2014; individual states have taken in as much as $46 million in a single year from the practice. Here are some more depressing stats about the War on Drugs. The average wealth of a white American is 713% more than that of a black American. Median white wealth is 1,217% higher than median black wealth. The United States spends over $50 billion annually on the War on Drugs. Even though all races use drugs at the same rate, 57% of those incarcerated for a drug offense in state prisons are black or Latinx (both minority groups comprise 31.1% of the population). Of people charged by the federal government with selling powder cocaine in 2016, 30% were black, 62% were Latinx, and only 7% were white. Of people charged by the federal government with selling crack cocaine in 2016, 83% were African American. White people get tons of sympathy in the media for America's present opioid epidemic, but only 16% of offenders in federal heroin cases were white, compared to 40% black and 42% Latinx. 97% of people charged with drug crimes plead guilty. 41 U.S. states have higher incarceration rates than Vladimir Putin's Russia. The United States jails more of its people than anyone in the world, housing 22% of the globe's prisoners, yet only 4.4% of its population. Roughly half of our prisoners are non-violent drug offenders. With the national legalization of marijuana on the horizon, we have a serious opportunity to right some fundamental wrongs. Marijuana legalization has so far followed gentrification, as the number of articles detailing white folks' new marijuana ventures is seemingly endless. The black and Latinx communities have shouldered the undue burden of marijuana enforcement, and so they should be the first in line to benefit from its legalization. The more I read about the history of slavery in this country, the more convinced I am that we need reparations specifically for slavery with separate restitution for modern racism. If we concede in any way to the idea it was too long ago, we're never going to reckon with it. Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) April 16, 2019 The racism embedded into the fabric of this country is one continuous string, with different variations to meet the legal standards of its time. For example, after Jim Crow was defeated by the Civil Rights Act, a few years later, the War on Drugs arrived with Richard Nixon. Each of these periods have done immeasurable damage, and we must treat them as both era-specific evils and a legacy of slavery, because 2019 America has proven that if we do not learn from the mistakes of the past, we will repeat them in the future. If we are the country we claim to be, reparations must be paid out to those we have wronged, and giving the communities targeted by the War on Drugs a head start in the emerging billion-dollar marijuana market is a good starting point for a long overdue conversation that America needs to have. Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling. Music has always grounded the listener is space and time, sung about places real and fantastic, anchoring whoever hears it to a particular moment when the song struck them just so. But with Sad Planets Akron, Ohio, Sweet Apple/Cobra Verde leader John Petkovic and The Black Keys Patrick Carney unite to give you the exact place that inspires the feeling, exploring the familiar and the new of their hometown across the breadth of their musical knowledge. Just Landed opens the album with a vintage U2 sensibility and a guitar solo that grinds like plane wheels touching the tarmac. Its an easy landing that echoes with the latitude and longitude of Akron itself, the drive of the working-class country twang with a faint brush of that Midwestern punk sound. Later on, Want You To Want You reverses this sound, more The Replacements than Bono, and the results with a fantastic synthesizer added to keep things contemporary are not unlike the feeling of standing on an empty road and staring west, convinced you can see all the way to Nebraska, perhaps beyond. But the album doesnt shy away from electronic flourishes and avant-garde sounds. Not of This World takes its musical cues from The Who with a hammering guitar line and lyrics spit like typewriter keys before opening into a slow wash of synthesizers. Meanwhile, Bad Cells distorts Petkovic voice to a narcotic sneer, but unlike Not of This World, the song wears out its welcome by the three-minute mark. City Ghosts, muffles his vocals and marches the guitar to a rain-slick noir sound, complete with a synthetic Theremin effect. It might seem corny, but it works. For all of the wild stretches of sound that the album plays with, its remarkably cohesive, threaded with the endless-highway drive that peaks on the penultimate track, Heavens Devils. Its the albums wildest, most rollicking track, rubber on road, racing the ghosts and the girls that have populated the album up until now. Carneys drumming peaks here, deliciously threatening to thunder out of control. Take your headphones off after this track and you might just find that your hair has been blown back by the wind-sound of Petkovics layered guitars. Akron gave us Devo, Chrissie Hynde, The Cramps and Carneys own uncle, the late saxophonist Ralph Carney, all musicians who took wildly different sounds from the streets of their industrial city. Sad Planets continues this trend, updating and paying homage to the city that binds them. With muddy vocals pleading, Please say something Disappearing, leaves the listener homesick for a place they might never have been, but now, feels almost like home. If youre anything like me, you never simply have a crush. You dont riffle past it on the rack, pick it up and put it back; you dont treat it like that copy of Maurice you grabbed from a fling and left in his mailbox when it ended. You nurture a crush. You water it, expose it to sunlight and shade it when it threatens to burn. You develop it as if it were a photograph, testing certain compositions, saturations, temperatures, colors. You play out each of the infinite permutations of your feelings and theirs, alone and in combination, over a number of years, imagining kisses in an alley on an unseasonably warm evening, heartbreak over drinks at a candlelit bar, gray Sunday mornings spent tangled in bed, their inevitable marriage to someone taller, funnier, more sexy than you. If youre anything like me, you cannot simply have a crush. The crush is the prickling intensity that comes from its cultivation, so much larger than any one person could possibly be. And if youre anything like me, youll love Normal People, in which Sally Rooney replicates that feeling in the form of her second novel. Consider the night on which Mariannea social outcast born to a wealthy, abusive familylays against Connella popular lad whose mother works as a housekeeper for Mariannes parentsafter a man gropes her at the local pub, and Connell tells her for the first time that he loves her. Even at this early stage, some three months and 40 pages into the novel, the interaction bristles with their intertwined histories, with the evenings events, with the secret childhood friendship thats become a secret teen romance. Yet Rooneys rendering of Mariannes thoughts combines past and present with future, too: Even in memory she will find this moment unbearably intense, and shes aware of this now, while its happening. She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person. But she has a new life, of which this is the first moment, and even after many years have passed she will still think: Yes, that was it, the beginning of my life. Normal People, its chapters alternating between Marianne and Connells perspectives as the narrative leapfrogs through four years, suggests the scope of an epic. As the characters draw apart and thread togetherfrom their hometown in central Ireland to Dublin to outposts abroad, through moments of intimate friendship, feverish attraction, distance, disgustthe novel emerges most acutely as a reminder that even normal-sized lives can feel impossibly large. The excitement ascribed to Rooneys reputation as a Millennial writer might more reasonably be seen as a function of her (and my and Mariannes and Connells) age and not our generation. (Was anyone ever so young? Joan Didion asked in Goodbye to All That, the implied answer, of course, being Always.) In subtle turns of phrase and extended flashbacks, in sexual fantasies and self-castigating thoughts, Marianne and Connells relationshipIve already called it a romance, though the more precise phrase may be mutual crushcaptures the peculiar lesson of ones twenties: Its possible to be nostalgic for something as its happening, and at the same time to project a future in which that something doesnt stop. More than the class conflicts that threaten to overwhelm the pairs affections, more than the petty jockeying for social status or the major traumas that pepper the plot, its the almost unbearable fidelity with which Rooney describes the process of loving someoneromantic or platonic, requited or notthat defines Normal People and distinguishes it from similar fictions. The belief that other people, normal people, possess a template for relationships to which you arent privy; that the longing you feel and cannot shake is a function of your strangeness, and more so your shame; that no one else, least of all the person for whom youve allowed such yearning to flourish, could possibly suffer the same over you: Love, as opposed to a crush, requires abandoning these articles of faith, and it is their slow, painful unraveling that we call growing up. Its funny the decisions you make because you like someone, Connell says to Marianne, and then your whole life is different. I think were at that weird age where life can change a lot from small decisions. If Rooney is not a strictly Millennial writer, then, nor is she wise beyond her years, or any of the other euphemisms by which one might denigrate her chosen subject. The beating heart of Normal People is its refusal to dismiss the prickling intensity of being 18 or 21 by treating it, from the perspective of 28 or 32, as merely ridiculous. The novel never applies the benefit of hindsight to the topsy-turvy feeling of being young. That Marianne and Connells relationship is ambiguous explains why crush is as fitting a description of it as friendship or romanceand also why Normal People is so enthralling. Rooney constructs the story not from our uncertainties about the outcome, but theirsabout their families and lovers, about their upbringings and educations, about how to liveand in the end, unlearning their own vulnerabilities requires learning anothers. No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, Marianne wonders to herself, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not. That is the purpose of all the nurturing, the developing, the projecting, the cultivating. In your youthful passions, or crushesfor people, for political issues, for potential careers, for so much moreyou are practicing to become yourself in the context of others. So let yourself fall, even if it means falling hard. Why not? Matt Brennan is the TV editor of Paste Magazine. He tweets about what hes watching @thefilmgoer. In review, Apple continued to lead the global premium smartphone segment in 2018 by capturing more than half of the market in spite of one weaker quarter that got all of the headlines. The segment grew faster than the global smartphone market, according to a new Counterpoint Research report. The segment grew 14% year-on-year (YoY) in terms of sell-in and 18% YoY in terms of sell-through. Growth was driven by new iPhones and launches in a premium segment from Chinese OEMs like Huawei, OPPO, OnePlus. While competition is increasing competition in the premium segment with close to 40 OEMs now competing in this space, the top five players account for almost 90% of shipments. Premium segment contributed to one-fourth (22%) of the global smartphone shipments in 2018. Apple remained the market leader capturing 51% share of the premium segment, a significant lead over its nearest competitor Samsung which had a 22% share. The Premium Smartphone leadership Chart by Market: NAM (North America); MEA (Middle East & Africa); LATAM (Latin America); WE (Western Europe); CEE (Central and Eastern Europe); China; and APAC (Asia Pacific). In terms of regions, APAC was the fastest growing region for the premium segment with a growth of 27% YoY. Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomis performance in China drove this growth. In terms of countries, China and the US alone contributed to more than half of the global premium market shipments. Chinas premium segment grew 37% YoY while the US grew 10% YoY. Other countries where the premium segment grew fast include Indonesia (+54%), Russia (+28%), Canada (22%), Mexico (22%), Thailand (+20%), India (+14%), Brazil (13%), and Japan (10%). Counterpoint considers premium smartphones to be priced $US400 and higher. 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. The battle between Apple and Qualcomm could have been really ugly and the stakes were high. Before the trial really got started, it ended with Apple and Qualcomm having reached an agreement so both could go back to business. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm as well as a chipset supply agreement, suggesting that Apple will buy Qualcomm chips for future iPhones. The companies did not say how much the payment will be. The new agreement would suggest that Apple will be using 5G modems from Qualcomm, but the nitty gritty details were not made public yet. The question is timing. Will Apple be able to launch at least one iPhone with a 5G modem in September? While I think that it's possible, only time will tell as more details come to light in the coming days, weeks and months. Both Apple and Qualcomm put out the same press release here. Update 3:42 p.m. PST: Qualcomm's stock has soared after the deal with Apple was announced as you could see from the chart below. You could check it's current price here. Apple's stock on the other hand didn't move at all (AAPL). 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: Just a day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey found himself in hot soup following his sexist comment against former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, the women's wing of the BJP on Monday in Patna burnt the effigy of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan for making derogatory remarks against former film star and newly-inducted BJP leader Jaya Prada saying his remarks were insulting to women all across India. Ironically, the same allegation was made by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) camp following Choubey's demeaning comment against Rabri Devi. As reported, Azam Khan, an SP candidate from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, had reportedly said that even the color of Jaya Prada's panties were khaki apparently referring to the color of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) uniform. Jaya Prada, the star of dozens of Hindi and other regional language films, recently dumped SP in favor of the BJP that that wasted no time in fielding her against Khan from the Rampur seat. Outside BJP office in Patna, dozens of women burnt the effigy of Khan urging the Election Commission to take tough action against him. They also demanded from the SP candidate an unconditional apology to the women of India. "Khan's statements were not only insulting to Jaya Prada but also demeaning to women everywhere. This says all about Khan and the party he belongs to. People of Bihar and UP will teach them a lesson in the ongoing elections," they said. Meanwhile, for obvious reasons, the protesting women did not mention the comment of BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey who had on Saturday advised RJD leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi to 'remain within the confines of her 'ghoonghat' (veil)' instead of indulging in politics. His remark was deemed sexist and misogynist though Choubey refused to apologize for his comment despite demand for apology from the RJD camp. New Delhi: Nearly ten days after her husband and former film star Shatrughan Sinha ditched the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined Congress so he could contest Lok Sabha elections from his old seat of Patna Saheb, Poonam Sinha, for the first time in her life, jumped into the political foray by joining Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday. Poonam Sinha, also an ex-Bollywood star with limited success, joined the party at a function in Lucknow in the presence of Dimple Yadav, wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. Samajwadi Party (SP) made the announcement on its official Twitter page saying Poonam Sinha has joined the party in the presence of SP leader Dimple Yadav in Lucknow. Media reports have suggested in the past that Poonam Sinha could contest Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow where she would go against senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh. With Shatrughan Sinha himself now a likely Congress candidate from the much-hyped Patna Saheb seat where he would be going head to head with his former colleague and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, his wife's entry into politics and possibly contesting from Lucknow is seen by some as an 'insurance policy' for the former BJP leader to keep enjoying the perks that come with being a member of the Parliament particularly in view of the uncertainty of his own success at a seat that is highly divided on caste basis and is garnering national interest. People will go to polls in Lucknow on May 6 where nominations close on in two days for Lucknow, where voting will take place on May 6. A pistol-packing Pa. mayor is accused of pointing a loaded gun at a 15-year-old boy and later, three teen girls, ordering them to put down their phones in a park. UPDATES: * Pa. Mayor accused of pointing guns at kids resigns but disputes charges * Pa. mayors 55 guns seized after arrest for pointing pistol at kids in park As KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh reports, the original incident happened in Derry Borough, Westmoreland County, where Mayor Kevin Gross, 38, found himself in handcuffs after his alleged pistol-wielding in the park. Pa. State police tell KDKA Gross allegedly pointed a loaded revolver at a 15-year-old boy, ordering him to the ground at the park on Broad Street on Sunday night. He is also accused of pointing the gun at three teenage girls and ordering them to put down their phones. The incidents happened after Grosss son allegedly had a scuffle with some other teens and got a scratch on his arm, KDKA writes. That prompted Gross showed up at the park packing a loaded gun, state police say. Shocked parents tried to calm the situation as others called police, KDKA reports. (Story continues below) Derry Borough Mayor Kevin Gross arrested & charged for allegedly pointing a gun at a 15 year old boy after a scuffle in a park. PSP says the scuffle was over a marker and involved his son. We're live on @ 5 & 6 to break it down. You'll hear from a neighbor who saw it all. #WTAE pic.twitter.com/AzD72SUPOR David Kaplan (@DKaplanWTAE) April 15, 2019 When state police arrived, they say Gross admitted to what he had done and was arrested. The mayor now faces multiple charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment, KDKA reports. It was definitely over the top, Pennsylvania State Trooper Stephen Limani told KDKA of the mayors alleged actions. East will meet west at a new business in Swatara Township. Moms Momo & Deli will open in mid-May at a former Subway restaurant at 5550 Derry St. with sandwiches and Nepali cuisine. Co-owner is Subash Sharma, a partner at the nearby Nirvana Kitchen in Susquehanna Township, who said he was looking for another business opportunity in the area. When he saw the Subway had closed, he said he wanted to bring deli fare back. We want to have the same kind of food. In addition, we want the Nepalese food, the dumplings and all, he said. In 2017, he opened Nirvana Kitchen, serving Indian, Nepali and Bhutanese foods. It was one of the first restaurants on the East Shore serving food from Nepal, and has since been joined by others including Everest Spice and Bhojan Ghar. The Nepal population has grown on the East Shore in the past decade with a large concentration of families living in the Rutherford and Lawnton neighborhoods. Sharma moved here from New York City where he worked in delis. He is also a partner at Pints bar on Fourth Street in Harrisburg. He said Moms will be a new concept for the area. The restaurant will use Boars Head deli meats and cheeses for sandwiches and also serve Nepali specialties including momos, little purses of steamed dough accompanied by sauces. In addition, Sharma said they will sell a hard-to-find specialty item but customers will have to wait. Hes keeping it under wraps until the opening. Moms will be open Tuesday through Sunday. It will be closed on Mondays. The day of the viral furnace party is fast approaching, but before you turn yourself into a steel statue be sure to grab a pint from Crime and Punishment Brewing Company. That sentence may sound super confusing if you dont remember the infamous anonymous letters that were delivered to residents of the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia in February. The typewritten letters inform readers that all the food theyve eaten since first grade is still alive in their body and the only way to avoid being burned alive (from all that alive food, we assume) is to turn yourself into a solid steel statue. Dont worry about all the pain involved though, as the letter states: Of course, youll be sedated first. The letter concludes that therell be a meeting to discuss building a steel furnace for this purpose at noon on April 27 at a lot at 27th and Girard Ave. in Philadelphia. The last words are do attend. Those also happen to be the working name of the new beer coming from Crime and Punishment Brewing Company, Philly Voice reports. The brewing company is located close to the aforementioned lot. Itll release the Jalapeno Double IPA on April 27. Do Attend will sell for $6 a pint, according to Philly Voice. Part of the proceeds will go to Minds Matter Philadelphia, a mentoring program for high school students. Itll be available starting at 11 a.m. on April 27. Crime and Punishment Brewing Company is located at 2711 W. Girard Ave. in Philadelphia. You can learn more about the brewery at crimeandpunishmentbrewingco.com. The person responsible for the furnace letter is still unknown. However, the resulting letter has become an internet gem and spawned multiple memes. We collected some of the best in the link below. Macys customers are being flooded with color at two Pennsylvania stores. A mini store-within-a-store is open at the Ross Park Macys in Pittsburgh and Center City Macys in Philadelphia. Called Story, this isnt your usual Macys section. Instead of being dedicated to a set product type, like clothing or home goods, Story is curated around a theme thatll change every few months. The first theme is Color, which means customers will be greeted with gift ideas that range from books on the science of luck to wine night kits to MAC lipsticks. There are more than 400 curated products that fit the theme and they come in an array of shades, from vibrant greens to tranquil blues to hot pinks. The whole idea is to get customers to experience and explore color. The STORY at Macys experience feels a lot like a real life version of scrolling through Instagram, said Rachel Shechtman, who founded the original standalone Story store in New York City, in a press release. Shechtman is now Macys brand experience officer. You discover things you werent looking for, but are inspired by all the fun finds the second you see it, you need it! she continued. We aspire to create that feeling with the breadth of the narrative-driven merchandise edit we are bringing to life with the launch of Story at Macys across the country." There are unique opportunities for customers to connect with brands as well, including a special Make your Own palette station with MAC, hands-on workshops with Crayola and previews of the Levis Kids and Crayola collaboration. These experiences are available at select Macys Story locations. The Ross Park and Center City Macys arent the only stores to get a Story addition -- the department store launched the concept mini shop in 34 other stores across the nation, including ones in Ohio, New York, California and Washington, D.C. The Ross Park Macys is located at 1004 Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, while the Center City Macys calls 1300 Market St. in Philadelphia home. Story at Macys will have the color theme through June 26. You can learn more about Story, as well as see a complete list of Story-themed events going on at macys.com/STORY. An early-morning barn fire in Lancaster County killed a large number of turkeys. Emergency crews in Lancaster County were dispatched at 2:50 a.m. Tuesday to the barn on Hickory Road and Pine View Drive in West Cocalico Township, FOX43 reports. The fire was under control by 4 a.m., but crews remained on scene to put out lingering hot spots. A fire chief told a reporter with WGAL that 1,000 turkeys perished in the blaze, and that the cause of the fire is believed to be accidental. UPDATE: Fire Chief says 1000 turkeys died in this mornings two alarm fire near Denver, Lancaster County. The turkey house is destroyed. Cause is believed to be accidental. @WGAL Shannon Murphy (@ShannonWGAL) April 16, 2019 (New Holland) A Lancaster County school district has adopted a new student privacy policy one the superintendent said could lead to a lawsuit. If implemented, it would end the practice of allowing a transgender boy to use the locker room that matches his gender identity. The policy includes an amendment that says students are to use the facilities based on their biological sex or single-user facilities. No attorney for the district reviewed the addendum. I think a lawsuit potential certainly exists, Superintendent Robert Hollister said after a more than three-hour meeting Monday night. For the past few months, some people who live in the Eastern Lancaster County School District have objected to the districts practice of allowing a transgender boy to use the boys locker room and bathroom at the high school. Administrators and the board are considering a renovation project estimated to cost about $1 million to get rid of gendered locker rooms. Instead, the district would build private showers and changing stalls for its high school students. Construction could begin in the fall. But some people had concerns about what the district will do before then. After disagreement among the board at last nights meeting, the majority of the board approved the policy with the biological sex addendum. More than 200 people were in attendance. Board member Rodney Jones unsuccessfully tried to table the policy. He suggested the people who have objected to the districts practices represent a relatively small number of residents. He noted the new policy opens the district up to legal liability and the addendum doesnt comply with court cases across the country. The minute we vote on this, we open ourselves up to a lawsuit, Jones said. The absolute minute. Amid the discussion about legal concerns, board members decided to delay the implementation date until after they meet again in May. Jason Landau Goodman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, attended the meeting. His organization has been involved in transgender rights cases in Pennsylvania, including Doe v. Boyertown Area School District. In that case, the Pennsylvania Youth Congress supported the districts policy of allowing students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. Jason Landau Goodman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, attended the Eastern Lancaster County school board meeting on April 15, 2019. Landau Goodman criticized the biological sex addendum. It puts the trans students in this school district at a very special and unfortunate point of vulnerability, he said. And so this is something that we are talking with students and their families in this district about how theyd like to proceed, which may include litigation. The Eastern Lancaster County School District has more than 3,000 students. Stu Martin, a 55-year-old father of two children in the district, said he grew up in the district. Stu Martin, 55, attended an Eastern Lancaster County school board meeting on April 15, 2019. I would call it an extremely conservative, Christian community. I call it the Bible Belt of the Bible Belt, Martin said. Martin opposes allowing transgender students to use locker rooms that match their gender identity. He sees the fight as a clash of civilizations. He said he has many gay friends that he works with. Sometimes they disagree, Martin said, but they can remain friends. This feels a lot different, Martin said. This feels like were being forced into complying into a belief system. Harrisburg School District didnt rehire James Ellison as the school systems in-house solicitor. But that doesnt mean his opportunity has passed. Minutes after Monday nights votes were cast 5-to-4 against rehiring the local Harrisburg attorney, school board member Lionel Gonzalez said he wanted to change his vote. But that should have happened immediately after board members voted, current solicitor Sam Cooper said. Cooper, who was also nominated as the districts in-house school board solicitor, explained Gonzalez would need a unanimous consent of the assembly," which would allow him to change his vote to a yes in favor of hiring Ellison. The school board didnt take another vote. Gonzalez originally voted no, along with school board members Brian Carter, Carrie Fowler, Judd Pittman, and newly appointed school board member Joe Brown. Cooper, who Pittman nominated, declined. He said he wanted his name removed from consideration. That meant the nine school board members had to vote either yes or no to hire Ellison. Ellison, a private practitioner with 20 years of history in city politics and government, was supported by several residents who attended the meeting. Among reasons his supporters said he should be hired is that his family attended Harrisburg School District, he has provided many in the community with pro bono work, and his race is the same as a majority of the students who attend the districts schools. There were others in the crowd who were as equally supportive of the district not hiring the Harrisburg attorney. And, they said the exact opposite is true: where Ellisons children attended school, the pro bono work hes offered, and the color of his skin shouldnt matter. Ellison most recently worked for the Coatesville Area School District, which didnt end well. Ellison was named over 200 times in Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogans grand jury report. It was published Dec. 3, 2014. Less than two years later, Ellison and Rhoads & Sinon, his former law firm, agreed to pay the school district $420,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged he provided flawed advice and overbilled the district when he worked as the solicitor. The grand jury report spelled out Ellisons billing practices. Not only was he paid more than previous board solicitors, but he also consistently invoiced the district the same amounts regardless of hours worked, the grand jury report showed. The school district also paid for Ellisons electronic devices, which the district attorney noted were also used for Ellisons other clients. Harrisburgs school board tabled the subject last month. President Danielle Robinson said restructuring the districts legal fees could be a cost-savings. Ellison previously worked for Harrisburg School District. Another vote to consider hiring Ellison will most likely be on Mays school board agenda. A former Newport Borough councilman who admitted stealing more than $316,000 in military veterans benefits from his ill brother will be spending 19 months in federal prison. U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner hit Jason Ehrhart, 48, with that penalty five months after the Thompsontown man pleaded guilty to a charge of health care fraud. He also ordered Ehrhart to make full restitution. Investigators Ehrhart was supposed to be the financial caretaker for his brother, Michael, who was afflicted with multiple sclerosis and died in the Lebanon VA Medical Center in July. Instead, they said, Jason Ehrhart siphoned off his brothers government payments and allowed the mortgages on Michaels and their mothers homes to go into foreclosure. Jason Ehrhart didnt use any of the government money to repair his brothers wheelchair-accessible van when it broke down, either, authorities said. Jason Ehrhart had been appointed as his brothers legal custodian in 2006. Investigators said some of the stolen money was used to finance vacations to Disney World. Assistant Federal Public Defender Monica D. Cliatt sought a prison term of no more than 1 year to 18 months for Jason Ehrhart and urged Conner to consider having him serve part of his sentence under house arrest. In court filings, Cliatt noted Jason Ehrhart, a longtime cook at the Red Rabbit Drive-In, had once served on Newports council and volunteered with the Newport Fire Company and other civic organizations. No one would have predicted this moment in his life based on his good deeds and lifes work. No one seems to be able to explain it, Cliatt wrote. She said her client became overwhelmed at the task of caring for his brother and was tempted by the money. His insidious slide into criminality began when he loaned family members money from his brothers benefits, she said. He expected them to pay him back, but they did not, Cliatt wrote. Jason Ehrharts ex-wife Laurie, 48, of Newport, also pleaded guilty in the case and is to be sentenced by Conner in June. Swatara Creek in Dauphin and Lebanon counties is at or nearing its flood stage, the National Weather Service warns. In Hershey, flood waters were at 7 feet as of 7 p.m. Monday, the NWS said. Seven feet is the flood stage at Hershey, and the creek is forecasted to rise a little more tonight. The NWS predicts that the river will crest at 7.1 feet, and fall below the flood stage overnight. Right at 7 feet, the northern bank of the creek begins to overflow, and several roads upstream are affected by high water. Derry Township Police reported that Bindnagle Road was closed at Laudermilch Road due to high water, as of 4:45 p.m. Monday. Bindnagle Road is closed at Laudermilch Road due to water across the roadway ... avoid the area Derry Township (@DerryTownshipPD) April 15, 2019 As of 8 p.m. on Monday, Harper Tavern, Lebanon County, the creek was at 10.7 feet and falling, the National Weather Service reported. This puts the creek above its flood stage of 9 feet, so minor flooding is forecasted. In the event of flooding, high water could affect several houses, the NWS warns. The NWS said the water will fall below the flood stage overnight. The NWS reminds people to never drive cars through flooded areas, because the water may be too deep to allow for safe passage. Most deaths that occur during flooding are related to vehicles trying to cross flooded roadways, the NWS said. Police are using cameras inside the Monroeville Mall and at nearby intersections to piece together the chain of events in Fridays shooting at the western Pennsylvania mall and to close in on the suspects. And along with tracking the movements of the person accused of firing at least 10 shots towards the mall, Monroeville police hope this will lead to an arrest, WTAE is reporting. The mall was evacuated Friday night after a fight between two groups of males in which someone fired at least 10 rounds. Mall officials say one person was injured, but its not clear if the injury was the result of gunfire. On Monday, Monroeville police Chief Doug Cole told WTAE a combination of cameras and tips are aiding the investigation. "We're lucky now to have a lot of the technology that we didn't have in previous years -- the technology being at the Monroeville Mall itself, as well as the DA's cameras at the intersections that includes license plate readers -- so with that technology and with the help of the public, we have been receiving tips and we're continuing to investigate," Cole told the station. Those videos show the fight starting near some kiosks before spilling outside into the parking lot where a man in a black coat with yellow striping pulled out a gun and fired at least 10 shots into the mall near Macys, reports indicate. Two police officers were working in the mall when the shots were fired, and they immediately called for backup, according to reports. Security has been increased this week, and police expect to have added patrols at the mall over the weekend. Anyone with information should call the police, 412-856-1111. LOCK HAVEN A man high on bath salts who thought fireflies were green lasers from aliens or people coming after him has been sentenced to three to six years in state prison. Clinton County Judge Michael Salisbury on Monday imposed the sentence on Jesse Shields, 31, who had pleaded guilty in March to charges of criminal trespass and possessing a firearm without a license. The charges stem from an incident that begin late last June 29 in the Loganton area in which Shields fired a shot into the air to scare off whoever was messing with them and broke into two homes. His girlfriend and co-defendant Katherine McCloskey, 23, who is from Mill Hall like Shields, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled substance and disorderly conduct. She was sentenced Nov. 8 to six days to six months in county prison. A state police affidavit provides the following account of what occurred: Timothy Neff was getting ready to go to bed when he heard yelling and loud talking. He went to the door and a man asked him to call 911. While doing so he heard the glass in the storm door break and the man came into the house. A woman with him was crying. After waiting 20 minutes, the man walked and the woman drove a pickup truck to the nearby Log Run Road home of Gary and Glenna Emel. The Emels were awakened by screaming in the living room and when Gary Emel went to investigate he encountered a man holding a revolver pointed at the floor yelling he had been attacked and to call 911. Emel grabbed the gun. The male claimed there was something on his skin that was burning and asked to take a shower, which he did. The first trooper on the scene found Shields naked, covered by a blanket siting on the front steps. After being taken into custody Shields told a trooper that McCloskey and he had spent the day riding around in her fathers pickup truck with plans on having sex. After parking the truck, both started seeing green laser lights in the sky and hearing voices. When the truck began to shake he grabbed the pistol belonging to McCloskeys father and fired a warning shot into the air. McCloskey was on state parole at the time and was not to have contact with Shields, with whom she has a child that was 10 weeks old then. A crystal-like substance was found on a spoon where Shields had been sitting in the truck, investigators said. Legislation that would cost public officials and public employees their pension if they are convicted of committing a sexual offense involving a victim with whom they have a connection through their office or employment passed the state House of Representatives on Monday. By a vote of 198-0, the House sent the bill to the state Senate for consideration. State law currently limits pension forfeiture as it relates to sexual offenses including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault to school employees who commit a sexual offense against a student. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendi Thomas, R-Bucks County, widens that to make it apply to any public official or employee. We hold our teachers and our administrators to a very tight guard. If they are convicted of sexual abuse with a child, they lose their pension, Thomas said. All this bill does is hold the people in this chamber and all public officials and public employees to the same thing. In her memo circulated to seek support from her House colleagues, Thomas offered examples of a daycare worker who uses the position to molest children or a youth detention center employee who rapes a child under his or her care would lose their pension under her bill. This legislation comes on the heels of another change to the pension forfeiture law that Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law on March 28. That measure, sponsored by Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, broadened the list of crimes that can cost public officials and employees their pensions to include a job-related felony offense or one punishable by more than five years in prison. It also closed a loophole that allowed individuals charged with a forfeiture crime to dodge the forfeiture law by pleading guilty to a non-forfeiture crime that allowed them to keep their pension. When Harrisburg School Districts school board unanimously rejected a Pennsylvania STEAM Academy application in February, the charters leader said the denial was only a minor setback. Carolyn Dumaresq, president of the charter, said her team has collected 1,600 signatures from supporters of the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics charter school. Most of them are signatures of parents, relatives of children in the district and concerned citizens, she said. "We have over 1,600 signatures and we only need 1,000, Dumaresq said. Pennsylvania Charter School law requires the school board to approve or deny an application. But it also allows for the applicant to appeal a denial. Dumaresq had 60 days from the denial to collect the signatures, which now go to the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. That action triggers the appeals process. "We are currently gathering all outstanding petitions and are working with legal council to file with the court and serve the district with notice of our action, Dumaresq said. The charter school appeals process allows the Harrisburg School District to respond. Dumaresq anticipates the district will challenge the charters signatures. That means her team would have a hearing before the court, she said. The district would need to find over 600 invalid signatures in order for her appeal to end, she explained. Once signatures are validated, the final decision of charter approval is up to the state Department of Education and the Charter School Appeal Board. Harrisburgs school board directors denied the Pennsylvania STEAM Academy charter application in February. No explanation was given. Dumaresq said she wanted a fair appeals process, so she chose to appeal to the state instead of a second round with the district. The charters doors will open at 1500 N. 3rd Street, where Harrisburg Area Community College is currently located, in September, she continued. HACCs lease expired, which is why Dumaresq sought after the space. We are moving forward to a September 2019 opening, thus we are beginning recruitment for teachers, social worker, office staff, classroom aides, and a principal, she said. "As a by-product of talking to residents in the district, and explaining our program, we have also received more pre-enrollment forms for children. We will have no problems filling those seats. For the past two-and-a-half years, the former Pennsylvania Secretary of Education for 18 months said she has been looking for the best programs for the charters curriculum. A few of the members on her teams roster working on the academys development include, former Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis, Jenny Gallagher-Blom of the Salvation Army, Kirk Hallett of the Joshua Tree, and Doug Neidich of Greenworks Development. If the Pennsylvania STEAM Academy charter application is approved at the end of the appeals process, Harrisburg School District students in kindergarten, first and second grades would be considered first for enrollment. A lottery system would be used to determine who attends the charter. If the 120 seats arent filled by Harrisburg students, then the lottery system would be used again to fill any remaining seats by interested students enrolled in nearby districts. Although he is already charged with indecent assault of a patient, police in Lancaster County are seeking more information about William R. Vollmar. Court documents indicate Vollmar, 55, of Willow Street, assaulted the man during an after-hours appointment that the man requested due to an ankle injury on March 24. Vollmar worked as a medical doctor at Stephen G. Diamantoni & Associates Family Practice in Quarryville. LancasterOnline reported that Vollmar had left the practice, retiring immediately. After the exam, Vollmar offered to perform chiropractic work, as well as a soft tissue massage on the man. It was during the massage that Vollmar began touching the man inappropriately, according to police. When he spoke to officers on April 9, Vollmar admitted to inappropriately touching the man and added it was something he was not very proud of in terms of inappropriate relationship between a physician and patient, according to police. Vollmar also served as the Middletown Area School Districts physician since the 2013-14 school year, and conducted medical evaluations of students who were not examined by their family doctors. Superintendent Lori A. Suski announced Thursday that Vollmar was removed from that position. Police ask anyone who may have information that law enforcement should be aware of regarding Vollmar to contact their local police department or submit information via CrimeWatch. Abortion is a hot topic. Nobody likes abortion, not even its defenders. They call themselves pro choice, not pro abortion. But the passions that form around this topic have led to an impasse. Arguments seem to go nowhere practical but to signal to your own side how virtuous you are. We call this virtual signaling. A more productive conversation would include the condition requiring abortion: The unwanted pregnancy. Very few wanted pregnancies are aborted. To attack abortion, and keep in mind that nobody likes abortion, we should attack the reasons why women who dont want to be pregnant are pregnant. The easy answers are first in mind. Violence or being dumb and horny could explain unwanted pregnancy. But in this article I would like to make a coherent contrast between ourselves and a land with a very low rate of abortion, the Netherlands. It will help shed light on a much deeper issue about youthful sexuality that we Americans have. I will also apply the very old and fine sociological concept of anomie. In our highly sexualized culture, there are two ways of preventing unwanted pregnancy. Abstinence works 100%. But it requires a powerful and cohesive social structure such as a strong church group. When applied without that powerful social structure, it fails. This is why abstinence works, but abstinence programs willy nilly in schools tended to not work. Years ago the abstinence director at our local high school asked my opinion. Mother Jones magazine requested an interview with her. The liberal magazine was no doubt looking for a poor Appalachian community to mock over its evangelical culture and teen pregnancies. I flatly advised her to accept the interview. I thought transparency was best. I think she declined the request. However, the other way is to develop a normative structure around young peoples sexuality. Sociologist Amy Schalet compares the United States and the Netherlands. The Dutch see young peoples sexuality as healthy and normal. Parents seek control of children through connection with them and discuss sex openly. Sex education includes discussions of passion, pleasure and prevention. There are even sleepovers between teens. As a result, young people develop the ability to manage sexual feelings and navigate sexualized cultures. For many in America, there is little sense of what is normal. In our society, where sex sells and the media drives it up our noses, parents have a fighting posture against youthful sexuality. Sociologists call this type of condition anomie. It is a powerful engine of tension, depression and anxiety for the individual. Parents here speak of not ever going to be ready and raging hormones. T shirts read DADD; dads against daughters dating. American parents seek connection through control. As a result, there are abrupt forces between which young Americans slide. Obsessions about sex and fear of sex coexist in the same person and they develop little sense of mastery or control over sexuality. Sex is a force outside of them and it just sort of happens. It is a mistake to assume sex among the young is planned or pleasurable. I hate to say it because we need a bad guy, but this anomie helps explain the gray areas surrounding consent and coercion. At this point we almost expect our youth to stumble into a mess of parenthood. It seems the stumble is how most American babies are made. Getting pregnant and having children should be an enormous decision and for the sake of the future, we need to take the process very seriously. But many young American parents did not really choose their partners. Pregnancy comes first and then something like commitment. Parents raising children they were not prepared for or did not want has already articulated into schools, workplaces and criminal justice systems in disastrous ways. The conservative approach of abstinence works for devotees. Cohesive churches can counsel couples together in the face of a sexualized culture. The Dutch approach works, too. The society can own sex and train its youth effectively. What most of us have here and now, are much as we would like to think differently, is neither one. One abortion is too many. Yet one unwanted child is too many too. The conversation needs to change. Amy Schalets Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens and the Cultures of Sex is available at Stevenson Library at Lock Haven University. Greg Walker is a sociologist who lives in Lock Haven. You can reach him at gwalker@lockhaven.edu. Eggs are being decorated, chocolate bunnies purchased, and baskets prepared for Easter. Later this week the Easter Bunny will hop into homes to hide eggs and deliver baskets filled with candies and goodies. This might come as a surprise, but Pennsylvania plays a role in the Easter holiday in more ways than one. The states Pennsylvania Dutch heritage combined with its legendary candy manufacturing gives the state plenty of Easter cred. Here we share four Easter traditions with ties to the Keystone State. Doc Hinkle's Original Paint-On Easter Egg Dye Coloring Kits are made in Wrightsville by John Wright Company. Most Easter egg dye is mass produced in China. So, its refreshing to know theres a made-in- America product with roots in Pennsylvania. Doc Hinkles Original Paint-On Easter Egg Coloring Kits hail from central Pa. The colorful bottles of vibrant dye have a long history dating back more than 120 years when Samuel Hinkle, a Columbia, Lancaster County pharmacist, developed the simple paint kits. Today, the kits, packaged in retro purple packaging, are sold at stores such as Weis Markets and online at Amazon. Each box contains small plastic bottles of red, blue, yellow and purple dyes along with cotton swabs. (They also sell a cast iron Vintage Doc Hinkle Egg Twirler with a crank handle to make decorating easier.) Unlike other dyes you dilute for dipping, Doc Hinkles is designed to be painted onto hard boiled eggs. Certainly, Doc Hinkle wanted to simplify the art of egg decorating for Easter baskets. In the beginning the dye was available only at the pharmacy but word quickly caught on and sales expanded up and down the East Coast and to the Midwest. At one point, Hinkles moved production out of the pharmacy but by 1984 the company was sold to Life Like Products in Baltimore. By 2002 John Wright Co. in Wrightsville purchased Hinkles and brought the dye back to Pennsylvania. Today, the dye is made in small batches at John Wrights headquarters. Unfortunately, the dye often sells quickly and once its gone, its gone until next year. Marshmallow chick and bunny Peeps. 03/22/2013 Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com PENNLIVE.COMPENNLIVE.COM Pennsylvania is proud of its Peeps. Next to chocolate rabbits and jelly beans, Peeps are one of the most recognized Easter candies and have been a staple in Easter baskets for more than 65 years. The fluffy marshmallow peeps and chicks also have a cult following, if not for all the oddball things people do with them, from topping them on pizzas to blowing them up in the microwave. The colorful sugar-coated candies were born in Pennsylvania where they are produced by Just Born Quality Confections in Bethlehem. They have rolled off the assembly line there since 1953. Peeps might not have grown into the phenomenon they are today had Just Born not acquired Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster. Rodda was best known for its jelly beans and had also developed a line of marshmallow products. But the small chicks were made by hand, a process that took nearly 27 hours and involved shaping them through a fluted steel tip. Thankfully for Peeps lovers everywhere, Just Born figured out how to mass produce the candies, reducing the process to a mere six minutes. Today, you no longer have to stockpile the candies at Easter. Just Born has expanded Peeps beyond Easter to marshmallow candies in a variety of shapes for Easter, Halloween, Christmas and Valentines Day. Its a full-time gig for the company, which also makes Mike & Ike and Hot Tamales and cranks out enough Peeps in one year to circle the earth twice. Dozer, a Chihuahua owned by Bret Sheldon of Mechanicsburg, visits the Easter bunny at Capital City Mall, April 8, 2019. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM Easter Bunny Whats Easter without the Bunny? After all, hes the one who does all the heavy lifting delivering baskets and hiding eggs. Turns out, according to some sources the Easter Bunny, much like fastnachts and the Belsnickel, is linked to German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1700s. Their folklore included an egg-laying rabbit, called the der Osterhase (Easter Bunny). Children would make nests, where der Osterhase would lay colored eggs. The eggs were boiled with various flowers, wildflowers and other plants materials to produce the colors. And much like the tradition of leavin milk and cookies for Santa, the children sometimes left carrots out for the rabbit. The chocolate, other candies, gifts and brightly decorated baskets came to the holiday as it was commercialized and spread across the country, and beyond. We have Robert L. Strohecker to thank for spreading the popularity of chocolate rabbits. He featured a 5-foot tall chocolate rabbit as part of an Easter promotion at his Pennsylvania store. PennLive file photo Harrisburg Patriot-News Chocolate bunnies Those chocolate bunnies that hop into Easter baskets date back to 19th century America and were borrowed from Germany. But did you know its all thinks to a Pennsylvania man that the molded bunnies spread in popularity here in the United States? Drugstore owner Robert L. Strohecker featured a 5-foot tall chocolate rabbit as part of an Easter promotion at his store, according to Smithsonian Magazine. It worked so well other shops copied his idea, and before long chocolate bunnies became a mainstream Easter tradition. In fact, Strohecker is credited as the father of the Easter bunny business. Today, Harbor Sweets Handmade Sweets of Salem, Massachusetts calls its chocolate bunnies Robert L. Strohecker in honor of company founder Ben Stroheckers grandfather. The dark and milk chocolate rabbits are filled with caramel. pecans, almonds and buttercrunch toffee for a surprise in every bite. According to the company, the original rabbit was constructed at the Ludens factory in Reading where Robert Strohecker was connected with William H Luden in the manufacture of candy. Thousands experience outages in Northern Michigan after wind event Great Lakes Energy and Consumers Energy both reported tens of thousands of customers without power statewide. Skip to main navigation Youth Hunt For Wild Turkey The Youth Wild Turkey Hunt weekend will be held April 23-24, 2022. The Youth Wild Turkey Hunt is an excellent opportunity for junior hunters (ages 12-15) to spend time afield with experienced adult hunters gaining the necessary knowledge and skills to become safe and responsible members of the hunting community. We look forward to the great stories and pictures we receive from young hunters and their adult companions and wish everyone a safe and enjoyable hunt. Program Locations The Youth Turkey Hunt is open throughout upstate New York (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) and in Suffolk County. Some conservation organizations host specific events during the Youth Turkey Hunt weekend. Other details of the youth turkey hunting weekend are as follows: Eligible hunters are youth 12, 13, 14, or 15 years of age, holding a hunting license and a turkey permit. All youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult, as required by law for a junior hunter. Youth 12 or 13 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or person over 21 years of age, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian. Youth 14 or 15 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or person over 18 years of age, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian. The accompanying adult must have a current hunting license and turkey permit. S/he may assist the youth hunter (including calling), but may not carry a firearm, bow or crossbow, or kill or attempt to kill a wild turkey during the youth hunt. Crossbows may not be used by licensees who are under 14 years of age. The youth hunt is for spring turkey hunting only and is a two-day weekend hunt. The youth hunt will always precede the start of the regular season by at least 3 days. Check the turkey season page or the Hunting and Trapping Regulations Guide for season dates. The youth turkey hunt is open in all of upstate New York (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) and Suffolk County. Shooting hours are from 1/2-hour before sunrise to noon. The bag limit for the youth hunt is one bearded bird . This bird becomes part of the youth's regular season bag limit of two bearded birds. A second bird may be taken in upstate New York (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) beginning May 1st. . This bird becomes part of the youth's regular season bag limit of two bearded birds. A second bird (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) beginning May 1st. All other wild turkey hunting regulations remain in effect. Philadelphia Theatre Company, one of the anchors on Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts Read more Philadelphia Theatre Company producing artistic director Paige Price met separately Monday with both of the authors of last weeks open letter demanding no more all-white seasons at PTC. The letters writers, theatrical writer-producers Elaina Di Monaco and Haygen-Brice Walker, had posted the letter on Facebook on April 9 to criticize PTCs recently announced 2019-20 season of three plays, all by white authors. The letter called for greater diversity on PTCs staff and more transparency in the theaters selection process. Nineteen people from the local theater community signed it. Both Price and Di Monaco confirmed separately that this Mondays meetings had happened, but neither would describe what was discussed. The theater and its critics plan to post a joint statement later this week. Di Monaco and Price both said another meeting will take place in the next two to three weeks between the PTC staff and a few of the 19 people who signed the letter. No firm date is set. I dont believe the meeting will be especially large ... maybe 10 to 12 people, Di Monaco said. It will not be open to the public. Kate Tarker last week on the set of her new play, "Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man," opening at the Wilma Theater April 23 Read more For Kate Tarker, its the realization of a young playwrights dreams. For starters, the Wilma Theater commissioned a play from her: Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man, which has its world premiere April 23-May 12. Shes first in a glittering series of commissions Jacqueline Goldfinger, James Ijames, Christopher Chen for HotHouse, the Wilmas resident company, an incubator for exploring experimental and physical theater. Tarker, based in New York, who did much of her growing up around here the family seat was around Wallingford, she says is now in Philly. Shes working with the company she wants in the red-hot HotHouse gang, and the director she wants in French physical-theater master Dominique Serrand. I self-identify as a comic writer, Tarker, 34, said one recent morning at the Wilma. But until fairly recently, she didnt identify primarily as a writer. Tarker started as a painter, and a few years ago, she went to Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of the Congo to make paintings of monkeys. Except her paint didnt come. For a long time. She was stuck in the remote refuge, with lots of monkeys and no paint. I didnt have my normal creative outlet, she says, so I kept a journal and started writing down things I heard people say verbatim. I think thats when I developed my ear for dialogue. I came away feeling, I have a play to write. Although that first effort was probably bad, in her words, she kept at it, and her star has quickly risen with plays such as Thunderbodies and Laura and the Sea. The New York Times listed Thunderbodies among its unforgettable theater moments of 2018. In Dionysus, a shepherd family near the city-state of Corinth learns that one of their own, a guy named Oedipus, is to become king. Its party time with far-reaching consequences. Theirs is the ultimate in dysfunctional families. Theyre not a royal family, Tarker says. Im kind of reclaiming tragedy. Its not just the province of the high-born. Whenever someone has power, theres an enormous potential for that person to abuse the power. "This family has a patriarch. And he messes up but everyone in the play messes up. Which can be funny. Tarker saw the debut of the HotHouse company in its 2015 production of Antigone. That inspired her to approach the stuff of tragedy through comedy and physical theater. Physical theater involves movement, acrobatics, and clowning. Philadelphia is internationally renowned for it, with physical theater troupes that include Pig Iron Theatre, Lightning Rod Special, and Tribe of Fools. Tarker is exquisitely versed in it. Her teacher at the Yale School of Drama was Christopher Bayes, a student of Serrand, who has influenced companies (including Pig Iron) in many countries. Tarker asked for Serrand to direct Dionysus and got him. She says its thrilling to work with HotHouse. Five HotHouse members are in the cast: Ross Beschler, Taysha Marie Canales, Keith J. Conallen, Melanye Finister, and Matteo Scammell. Theyre willing to try things physically first when theres such a tradition of theater being psychological first, she says. Were working on telling the story in ways that are both grounded and playful. Our first wave was playful, the second was grounded, and the third wave is building the playfulness back in. As for Serrand, Tarker says, Dominique understands both the rigor and playfulness. Im so grateful for his understanding of both depth and joy. Her vision of comedy encompasses both the funny and the tragic. Asked to speak about clowning as it stands in 2019, Tarker takes a minute or two to think, saying, Its important to me to get this right. When she lifts her eyes finally, her answer is beautiful. What excites me, she says, is that, if done right, clowning is not ironic, not parody. Its a state of incredible vulnerability. Actors must open themselves in an incredibly raw, devastating way. It takes so much courage. Clowning, she says, makes us all a little more capable of accepting that vulnerability in ourselves. That is the labor Tarker and Hothouse and Serrand are doing as they prepare to stage Dionysus. Im living the dream, she says, and doing a lot of very hard work. THEATER Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man April 23-May 12 at the Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. Tickets: $33-$53. Information: 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org The Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y. Holtec International has agreed to acquire the three nuclear reactors at the site from Entergy Corp. for decommissioning after the plant retires. Dismantling old reactors has become big business for Holtec, which has offices in Camden. (Entergy Corp.) Read more Holtec International announced Tuesday that it will take ownership of the Indian Point Energy Center near New York City to decommission the plants three nuclear reactors, doubling the Camden companys growing portfolio of reactors headed for the scrap heap. The privately owned Holtec will acquire Indian Point reactors from Entergy Corp. after the last unit retires in 2021. Holtec plans to demolish, dismantle, and restore the Buchanan, N.Y., site much more quickly than the industry-standard 60-year plan proposed by many reactor operators. The sale of Indian Point to Holtec is expected to result in the completion of decommissioning decades sooner than if the site were to remain under Entergys ownership, said Leo Denault, chief executive of Entergy, which is based in New Orleans. With its deep experience and technological innovations, Holtecs ability to decommission Indian Point will benefit stakeholders in the surrounding community. The decommissioning of nuclear power plants has become a big business as few new reactors are being built, and the industry is struggling economically to compete with low-cost natural gas generators. Exelon Generation announced this month that it plans to start decommissioning its Three Mile Island reactor this fall, unless Pennsylvania policy makers approve a rescue. Its one of the few growth areas in the nuclear industry right now, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Indian Point is the fourth nuclear power plant that Holtec has acquired for decommissioning. Holtec last year agreed to take over Exelons Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township, N.J., which shut down in 2018. Holtec is also acquiring two other Entergy reactors, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts and the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. The Indian Point sale includes the transfer of the licenses, spent fuel, decommissioning liabilities, and Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts for the three units. Entergy says the value of the trusts is $1.85 billion. The Indian Point reactors have long been the target of protests from activists concerned about their location on the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of New York City. New York State fought Entergys plans to renew the licenses of the two operating reactors, and Entergy agreed to shut them down rather than continue to fight resistance. Indian Points two reactors generate 2,144 megawatts of electricity, and produce about 12 percent of New York States power. Unit 2 is scheduled to shut down in 2020, and Unit 3 will retire 2021. Unit 1 operated commercially for 12 years until 1974. Its fuel was removed, and it remains dormant until the two other units retire. Holtecs core business is spent-fuel storage, including the manufacture of the heavy steel dry-cask canisters used to store highly radioactive spent fuel. The company, based in Jupiter, Fla., employs 400 at a factory and technology campus in Camden. Holtecs subsidiary that dismantles nuclear plants, Comprehensive Decommissioning International LLC, is based in Camden and is jointly owned with SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian engineering firm. Entergy and Holtec said they would file a detailed plan in the fourth quarter of 2019, including a timetable for decommissioning and cost estimates. Under the agreement, Holtec will transfer all of the used nuclear fuel to its dry fuel storage cask systems to be stored at on-site reinforced concrete pads, which will remain secured until the U.S. Department of Energy removes the fuel for disposal in accordance with its legal obligations. Alternatively, Holtec could move the waste containers to its proposed interim storage facility in New Mexico. Holtec will execute the decommissioning of Indian Point with the same culture of excellence that has undergirded our companys ascent to a first-tier nuclear technology firm, Kris Singh, Holtecs chief executive, said in a statement. Under the agreement, Holtec would take permanent ownership of the retired power plants and its employees, and Entergy would make a clean break from the nuclear business. The Indian Point generators are Entergys last reactors. Two other companies have entered the decommissioning market. Like Holtec, NorthStar Group Services Inc., which has taken over the closed Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, assumes ownership and responsibility for the reactor it decommissions. Another nuclear services company, EnergySolutions of Salt Lake City, is decommissioning Zion Nuclear Power Station in Illinois and a nuclear plant in La Crosse, Wis., but ownership of the plants will remain with the operators once the decommissioning is completed, the NRCs Sheehan said. Nicholas Diaz, a 21-year-old with autistic and seizure disorders, acted out last summer when staffers at Woods Services in Langhorne denied him a snack. The result was a beating that left the young man with a black eye and other injuries to his face, neck, and arms, according to a federal lawsuit against Woods. Woods denied the allegations. Read more Nicholas Diaz acted out last summer when staffers at the group home for the intellectually disabled in Langhorne where he was staying denied him a snack. Diaz, a 21-year-old who has autism and suffers seizures, was beaten up by the caretakers, who left him with a black eye and other injuries to his face, neck, and arms. Patricia Legare, another resident under the care of Langhorne-based Woods Services, had a shoe print on her back after an assault by a staffer in May 2017. Legare, 15 at the time, has autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Those allegations are part of two lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect at Woods, which claims to serve 4,000 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral problems, and brain trauma. A kid has a shoe print on her back. This is clearly a major problem at the facility, said Michael D. Shaffer, a Center City lawyer who is representing Diaz and Legare. These kids are defenseless. This shouldnt happen to any kid, especially kids this vulnerable. The complaints on behalf of Diaz and Legare, both New York residents, allege that the victims now have post-traumatic stress disorder and have become fearful of mental health workers. The Legare lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is Shaffers fourth against Woods, which had $134 million in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2018, not including affiliated nonprofits located away from Langhorne. Woods dismissed the Diaz and Legare complaints as just the latest effort by the same attorney to market meritless claims against Woods. He repeatedly chooses to 'serve the media before actually properly serving the complaints in a court of law in an attempt to influence the public and paint a very inaccurate picture of Woods to support his false claims. In a statement, Cheryl Kauffman, Woods spokesperson, said, "Woods Services categorically rejects the plaintiff attorneys allegation that Woods has a culture of mistreatment and non-reporting, as nothing could be farther from the truth. T "The fact is our organization is based on a closely supervised, comprehensive protocol of responsibility, accountability, and devoted care. This is a high standard that every employee is expected to uphold. Additionally, we work very closely with all our funders and regulators as we have shared responsibility for the individuals we serve. Simply put, if anything happens that is not according to an individuals care plan, it must be and is reported. " Woods is known for accepting individuals with extremely difficult conditions. Some parents have said no other organization would care for their child. But Shaffer and some advocates for the disabled contend that Woods has a culture of abuse and neglect that goes unreported because Woods promotes a culture and environment that discourages reporting abuses by its employees, as Shaffer notes in his latest lawsuits. Shaffer has been working on Woods cases since at least 2017. In January 2018, he sued Woods in Bucks County Court on behalf of a youth whose nose was broken in an alleged December 2016 assault by a Woods staffer. In that case, Woods did not deny that the assault happened. The worker acted solely on his own, he did not comply with Woods standards, Woods immediately dismissed him, and Woods called the police who arrested him, Woods said in a statement in response to the lawsuit. Shaffer filed a lawsuit last August, also in Bucks County, alleging that two boys who also were residents at Woods Langhorne campus sexually assaulted a mentally incompetent 20-year-old woman during a 2018 Valentines Day dance. In response to that lawsuit, Woods said, Hospital records, the police investigation, and Woods own investigation provide clear evidence that categorically refutes the allegations. Disability Rights New York, an advocacy group, included the assault on Legare in an October 2017 report alleging that individuals with disabilities at Woods are at risk of serious injury, death, psychological harm, and trauma. Woods then filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York nonprofit, asking a federal judge to order DRNY, formally known as Disability Advocates Inc., to retract the report, apologize, block DRNY from visiting Woods with the consent and supervision of a neutral third party, and award compensatory and punitive damages. That suit remains active in U.S. District Court. As Philadelphians know all too well, important buildings are destroyed all the time. But they usually disappear when no one is looking. There was something about seeing flames lick at the roof of Paris Notre Dame Cathedral in real time Monday, on television and on social media, that drove home how easy it is to lose the great accomplishments of our civilization. Notre Dame isnt just any old religious building, of course. The Gothic cathedral, whose first stone was laid by a king and a pope in 1163, is the most important building in France, a defining fixture on the Paris skyline and among the greatest works of architecture the world has produced. Even people who have never stood in awe before its twin black towers, as Victor Hugo called them, know the building from his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or the many film versions based on the story of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. But the church is really the books main character. Hugo was an early preservationist who wrote his novel in 1831 primarily as a call to action. At the time the book came out, Notre Dame was falling apart from neglect, and on its way to becoming a full-fledged ruin. The church had taken a beating in the French Revolution when insurgents attacked the building as a symbol of the oppressive regime, beheading the statues of biblical kings that decorated the facade and damaging its interior. Hugo wanted to convince the French that the cathedral was an integral part of their identity, whether they were Catholics and believers, or not. He was determined to goad them into doing something to save Notre Dame. His main point was that the products of our cultural heritage are worth cherishing, even when they no longer perform their original function, and even when society has moved on. Great buildings, like great mountains, are the work of centuries, Hugo observed in the novel. They deserve respect. His mission succeeded, and the French state began a major preservation effort in 1844. Not only did the architects, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, carefully restore many of the original features; they came up with some of their own innovations. One of those was the delicate spire that glowed red hot on Monday before disintegrating in full view of the world. Notre Dame has survived so many calamities over the last century World Wars I and II specifically that it is painful to learn another restoration may have been what led to the blaze. Its not clear whether the medieval building was protected by modern fire-suppression systems. If there were none in the building a major tourist attraction the French government owes the world an explanation. Despite the availability of such protections against the ravages of fire, governments around the world have been slow to demand them. Only last September, the National Museum of Brazil burned to the ground after decades of official neglect and underfunding. That fire destroyed some of the greatest anthropological and artistic treasures of South America, deleting much of Brazils cultural record. Philadelphia lost a key piece of its early mercantile history last year while not nearly of the same importance when fire ravaged a warehouse at Second and Chestnut that had been built in 1856 to store wine and spirits arriving at the citys Delaware River port. The ragged gap that occupies the spot now has greatly diminished the integrity of the row of cast-iron facades on Chestnut Street. Perhaps more important, it has wiped out a piece of the citys cultural memory, from a time when Philadelphia was Americas dominant commercial center. One good to come out of that tragedy is that the Department of Licenses and Inspections has adopted new rules requiring sprinklers in similar kinds of interconnected buildings. The fire at Notre Dame will inevitably be compared to the attacks that ravaged the World Trade Center towers in 2001. Their destruction was also watched in real time. But those office towers didnt become so meaningful until after they became the targets of terrorists. Unlike most American cities, Philadelphias identity rests on the fact that much of the historic fabric here remains largely intact. That patrimony is one of the citys strongest assets. But in the rush to develop and modernize, Philadelphia is thoughtlessly letting go of many significant buildings that played a role in the citys formation and that are part of our common heritage. While there are frequent public protests, like the one against the planned demolition of five buildings on Jewelers Row, what would the outcry be like if we were glued to our screens watching the destruction play out in real time? The same question can be asked about climate change. Would we respond with greater urgency if we could see the warming of the Arctic take place in a 30-second clip on Twitter? Most of our cultural losses occur too slowly to provoke the emotional response we felt watching Paris burn. Notre Dame was destroyed, but the soul of France was not, Michel Aupetit, the archbishop of Paris, assured the French in a radio interview. French President Emmanuel Macron assured the country that the cathedral will be restored, again. In Philadelphia, the Kenney administrations preservation task force has just produced a report suggesting ways to help the city think strategically about retaining its common cultural inheritance. Because the city doesnt even have a list of the buildings that are meaningful and worthy of protection, the task force proposed creating an architectural inventory. But assuming funding can be found for the effort, that process could take years. Meanwhile many more worthy structures will be lost. Philadelphia isnt burning, but we need to treat it as if it were. And people all over the world were watching. Camren Bicondova as the young Selina Kyle and David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne in a scene from the Thursday, April 18, episode of Fox's "Gotham," which sets up the "Batman" prequel's April 25 finale. Read more When he signed on to play the young Bruce Wayne in Foxs Batman-prequel Gotham, David Mazouz wasnt focused on the day he might be expected to step into the Batsuit, something hes expected to do in a fashion in the DC Comics-inspired dramas April 25 finale. I was thinking of the fact that most shows never go past the pilot, Mazouz said in an interview in February in Los Angeles. (After a few weeks on hiatus, the show returns for its next-to-last episode on Thursday.) Earlier in the day, at press conference for the show, Gotham showrunner John Stephens had addressed the question of whether it would be Mazouz whom viewers would see as Batman as the finale fast-forwards 10 years. This is going to sound evasive, but Im going to say yes and no, Stephens said. David is a strapping young man, but our Batman suit is for someone who is 6-4. And yet the face that you see under the cowl is a hundred percent David Mazouzs face. And well hear Davids voice as well, in his own Batmany growl, I would say. Mazouz, who turned 18 on Feb. 19 (and who said he learned the growl from costar Ben McKenzie), was only 12 when he auditioned to play the future Batman. But he already knew that TVs a chancy business, having spent two seasons playing the mute, mysteriously gifted son of Kiefer Sutherlands character in the drama Touch before that show was canceled. "When you sign a seven-year contract, youre not thinking where youre going to be seven years from now. Because it almost never is relevant, said Mazouz, whos from Los Angeles and who ended up spending most of his adolescence filming the series in New York. Hes OK with that. Because Im around so many amazing role models, so many cool, smart, talented and dedicated, passionate people. Although there was a while there when I had a really hard time adjusting to the move and I felt like I was living half a life," he said. Every hiatus, I would come back and spend three months at home. And whenever I spent a significant amount of time at home, I would say to myself, I would be so bored if I was only doing high school. " Gotham was developed for television by Bruno Heller (Rome, The Mentalist), whose next project, for Epix, is Pennyworth. An even earlier Batman prequel, it stars Jack Bannon as the young Alfred Pennyworth, a former Special Forces officer who works for Thomas Wayne (Ben Aldridge), wholl eventually become Bruces father, in 1960s London. Thats the wonderful thing about the DC Universe and the Gotham universe ... Its kind of infinitely expansive, Heller said. And theres always a new way of looking at it every generation. In part because of the constraints reportedly placed on it by DC Comics, which wants to reserve certain characters for big-screen projects, Gotham has kept its viewers guessing about some of its rising villains. You would think that you know the story and you would think that Gothams not an interesting show to watch because youre like, Oh, I know that that guys not going to die. So this scene isnt suspenseful, Mazouz said. But we trick you. We do kill those characters sometimes. And we do bring [in] other characters to do things that [different] characters in the comics have done." The writers perfectly mix kind of the best of canon with [their] own interpretations on things, he said. Bruce Wayne in the comic books is not really who Bruce Wayne is on Gotham, in terms of how young [he is when] he starts his journey becoming Batman, and in the fourth season, Mazouz said, he kind of fell off the deep end and gave into kind of all teenagers deepest temptations. And we see him make mistakes, and thats part of growing up. And I think that is something the show has always taken seriously. Ive always really tried to bring my own personal experiences into it for that reason, so it is relatable for people who are my age, watching this character grow up. Gotham. 8 p.m. Thursday, Fox. On National Health Care Decisions Day, you can help yourself and your family avoid uneasy healthcare dilemmas with no clear answer by communicating your healthcare wishes. Read more You may feel you have plenty of time to think about and plan for important end-of-life healthcare decisions. Even when you read this, you may think this article isnt meant for you, but it is. While it may seem daunting or even frightening, proper end-of-life planning allows you to be intentional and in control during the final chapters of your life. On National Health Care Decisions Day, you can help yourself and your family avoid uneasy healthcare dilemmas with no clear answer by communicating your healthcare wishes. Recently, an 82-year-old patient at our hospital suddenly went into cardiac arrest, which resulted in a severe brain injury and left him unable to express his healthcare wishes. He lacked an Advance Directive, which is a written document informing healthcare providers what care and treatment protocols he would like to receive or not receive. When the patients daughter, his only living relative, arrived at the hospital, she insisted her father would not want to be kept alive by machines in this condition. Although the patient had a signed Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order from his nursing-home physician, Pennsylvania law requires DNRs to be reconfirmed by patients each time they transfer to a new care facility. While his condition was serious and left him unable to communicate, he was not diagnosed with an end-stage condition, which would have allowed a designated representative to make important healthcare decisions for him. The hospital was legally obligated to continue CPR and try to resuscitate him. Unfortunately, this familys experience is all too common. The patients wishes could have been honored had he completed an Advance Directive, which could be in the form of a Living Will, a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare or both. Pennsylvania law requires an Advance Directive be signed by you and two witnesses. You can revoke or change your Advance Directive at any time. A Living Will is a written document stating your choices regarding life-sustaining treatment. A Living Will only takes effect when: your physician or hospital has a copy of it; you have an end-stage condition or are permanently unconscious; your physician declared you to be incompetent a clinical term meaning you are unable to understand the risks and benefits involved in a proposed treatment option, or you are unable make or clearly communicate a decision. A Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare is a document naming another person or healthcare agent to be a medical decision maker on your behalf. A Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare becomes operative when a copy is provided to your physician and you are declared incompetent. In the absence of an Advance Directive or designated representative, the following persons may act as your health care representative (in descending order): A spouse, unless action is pending for divorce, and the adult children of the patient who are not the children of the spouse An adult child A parent An adult sibling An adult grandchild An adult with knowledge of your preferences and values Advance Directive forms can be found online or at your local hospital. You and your loved ones can work with hospital care coordinators, chaplains, case managers and other clinicians to obtain and complete these important documents. Like retirement, the earlier the better when planning your Advance Directive. In the end, you will want to ensure ahead of time that your wishes are honored. Thomas J. Chirdo, BCC, is director of mission and spiritual care at Nazareth Hospital. The event aims to introduce the image of the land, culture, people and cuisine of Vietnam to international friends, particularly Russians. The programme feature numerous pavilions showcasing various traditional Vietnamese foods, such as pho (noodle soup), nem cuon (spring rolls), tea, banh nep (sticky rice cake) and fruits. Visitors to the programme also had a chance to join in folk games, including rope jumping, lion and dragon dance, drum dance and nhay sap (bamboo pole dance). On April 13, an art show featuring traditional songs and dances imbued with Vietnamese cultural identities attracted a large audience. The programme was organised by Vietnamese students at the Russian State Social University, contributing to enhancing the solidarity between Vietnamese and Russian people. Various Vietnamese traditional food are introduced to international visitors. CHESTER On Friday, a group of male students at Widener University found out what most women already know. Its not so easy to walk in high-heeled shoes. A group of 75 students took part in Walk-a-Mile in Her Shoes, an international mens march aimed at highlighting the causes, effects and remediation to mens sexualized violence against women. The event hopes to raise awareness about the seriousness of rape, sexual assault and gender violence. This is the fourth year students took part in the program which encourages men to have an impact, while walking or hobbling around the campus in high-heeled shoes, something women do everyday. One of the speakers was Erica Webster, a former MP in the U.S. Army and founder and CEO of Dub Fitness, a womens fitness center in King of Prussia. She expressed her sympathy for the men as they prepared for the walk. I wont make you stand there in those heels, women feel that pain every day, Webster said. I was a former MP and when they had incidents of sexual assault, what the woman was wearing was not important. Im proud to be represented by someone like you that will help diminish the stigma of sexual asset and harassment, Webster said. Webster sits on the board of directors of the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network and consults with local businesses on employee health and wellness, womens empowerment in the workplace, and leadership development. She called to on students to find empathy for women issues and to recruit more people to be aware of these concerns. Im having trouble on uneven pavement. I have to think about every step,what foot goes where, said Mark Simunov, a sophomore from Glen Mills who was one of those taking part. I cant imagine going out in them at night. Simunov said he was proud that the all male organizations on the Widener campus were taking part in the walk. One passing student, not taking part in the walk commented that the group sounded like a stable of horses. Im not used to the pressure on my toes and calves, said sophomore Joe Caromano of Collegeville as he limped along using a rail to steady him. It hurts. The Interfraternity Council, in collaboration with the Office of Student Life, Pride Recreation Center, College Panhellenic Council, Intercultural Greek Council, Club Sports, and the Title IX Office, hosted the annual walk. Amid the cheers Monday night for Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a single-payer health care system and his verbal jousting with Fox News interlocutors over his tax returns, Bryan Callahan sounded a note of caution. My concern is that President Trump has so inflamed the Democratic base that we will shift too far left and overreach like the Republicans did with the tea party in 2010, Callahan, a Bethlehem, Pa., city councilman and self-described lifetime Kennedy Democrat, told Sanders at a town-hall style forum in Bethlehem. Sanders (Ind., Vt.) said issues once dismissed by some as extreme when he ran for president four years ago, like raising the minimum wage and investing $1 trillion in infrastructure, are being accepted by the American people in his current campaign. The question looms over Sanders 2020 bid, as some Democrats wonder whether his nomination would scare off the kinds of suburban voters who helped deliver the party a resounding House majority in last years midterm elections. Those doubts help explain why Sanders spent the weekend campaigning in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan three states that hadnt voted for a Republican presidential nominee in a generation until Donald Trump shocked the country in 2016. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has recognized a need to show that he can win in a general election against Trump and that far from alienating the center, his ideas resonate with the masses and maybe some viewers of the presidents favorite television network. Even the venue Monday night was symbolic, set against the backdrop of the old Bethlehem Steel plant in Northampton County, which supported Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump four years later. I think what hes trying to do is symbolically convey, without explicitly saying it all the time, that he can win the critical states that Hillary Clinton lost, said Bob Shrum, a former longtime Democratic strategist who advised the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry. He added, I think his campaign probably understands that the bottom-line question for a big majority of Democrats will be, who has best chance to beat Trump? And hes trying to get some traction on that question. Of course, merely showing up in Bethlehem doesnt mean Sanders would actually have crossover appeal. And there isnt a whole lot of evidence that Democrats need to nominate a fire-breathing populist to win Pennsylvania. After all, Trump won by less than 1 percent of the vote against a deeply unpopular Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama, John Kerry, and Al Gore all carried the state. Sanders swing through Pennsylvania came amid signs that the primary is heading toward a redux of the 2016 primary fight between Sanders and center-left allies of Hillary Clinton. Sanders sent a scathing letter over the weekend to the Clinton-aligned think tank Center for American Progress, accusing the group of smearing his campaign and questioning whether it had been taking cues from corporate donors. If any kind of Stop Sanders movement were to emerge on the left, the senator on Monday foreshadowed how he might respond. When a Fox News moderator noted that independent think tanks had questioned whether Sanders could pay for his broad transformation of the federal government, the senator hinted at a vast network of special interests that were bent on crushing his candidacy. I understand were taking on corporate America, were taking on Republicans, were taking on the Democratic establishment, Sanders said to thunderous applause without taking a breath. Were taking on the drug companies, taking on the insurance companies, taking on the military-industrial complex. We dont need you, he declared, adding that voters are ready to deal with justice in America economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, racial justice. Mirroring national polls, a majority of Pennsylvania Democrats say they would vote for the candidate they believe has the best shot at beating Trump, even if they disagree on most of the issues, according to an Allentown Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey released last week. Just 30 percent of registered Democrats prioritized policy ideas over the ability to beat Trump, the poll found. Pennsylvania Democrats top pick right now is former Vice President Joe Biden (28 percent), who grew up in Scranton. He is expected to announce his 2020 plans in the coming weeks. Hes already making the case that a center-left Democrat like him is best positioned to win in the areas that handed Democrats the House last year. Show me the really left, left, left-winger who beat a Republican, he told reporters this month. It remains to be seen whether Pennsylvania will continue to get attention from Democratic presidential candidates. Most have focused their travels on the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. But with about 20 candidates running or likely to run in a primary that awards delegates on a proportional basis, Pennsylvania could play an important role when voters cast ballots in April 2020. I think Pennsylvanias position in the process may actually render it more relevant, not less, depending on what happens in earlier primaries, Shrum said. Last week, the Pennsylvania agency that oversees the Glen Mills Schools pulled its licenses, closing the nations oldest existing reform school amid findings of child abuse and cover-ups by staff and school leaders. On Tuesday, Glen Mills filed an appeal of the revocations by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) in a bid to keep open the nearly 200-year-old school for court-ordered boys. In its petition a copy of the document submitted April 4 to the state appealing an emergency removal order for all boys on campus Glen Mills leaders again argued that its staff never abused children, and that the school has been scrutinized by too many inspectors to have hidden such violence. Glen Mills has offered its students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to get an excellent education and learn to live in society without resorting to violence or delinquency, the appeal states. On a campus that was green and rich with opportunity, Glen Mills has offered its students a path to a future filled with promise and success. A recent Inquirer investigation exposed how for decades, Glen Mills staff routinely and severely beat the boys in their care, then kept them from reporting their abuse by monitoring their phone calls, restricting their family visits, and threatening them with longer sentences. One boy was knocked unconscious for mouthing off. For making a crude joke, another teen had his face stepped on by counselors, breaking his jaw. DHS also investigated Glen Mills and corroborated the newspapers findings. A few weeks after the Inquirer report was published, the state issued an emergency removal order, evacuating the boys remaining at the Delaware County campus. The state notified Glen Mills it was pulling the schools licenses on April 8. In the appeal, Glen Mills argues that too many people from state and city officials to lawyers, clergy, and psychiatrists visited the school over the years for violence and intimidation to have gone unnoticed. To believe that foundation exists would be to accept that all of the following people who actually visited, toured, and inspected the campus were completely and utterly duped into believing that it was a safe place," the schools attorneys argued. Ali Fogarty, a spokesperson for DHS said, We stand by our decision to revoke the license for the reasons stated in the notice of revocation and are prepared to defend the action in the schools appeal. As noted in the Inquirer investigation, at least 13 Glen Mills staffers over the last five years have been fired, and dozens more have been retrained or reprimanded over assaults on 15 students at the school, according to DHS inspection reports. Part of the reason DHS decided to close Glen Mills was the schools failure to fix these problems cited over the years, Deputy Secretary Cathy Utz told The Inquirer last week. We started to look at trends in the incidents that had been brought to our attention," she said. The problems she saw "continued to surface ever after plans of correction. In fact, DHS leaders are facing scrutiny for not acting sooner in a class-action lawsuit filed last week by the Juvenile Law Center, Education Law Center PA, and law firm Dechert LLP. In light of the incidents flagged over the years, the complaint accuses Utz, along with Secretary Teresa Miller and former Secretary Theodore Dallas, of callous disregard for the safety and well-being of boys at Glen Mills. The failure of officials at PA-DHS to provide sufficient oversight of Glen Mills and their continued licensing of the facility despite Glen Mills continued violations of the minimum standards of [state regulations] placed plaintiffs and all class members perpetually in harms way, the complaint reads. But its likely the incidents found by the state comprise a fraction of the systemic violence at Glen Mills, where boys said staff members hid them until their bruises disappeared, or told them to lie and say their injuries came from playing sports. Last summer, after two counselors brutally attacked a Philadelphia teenager identified by his initials, A.W. staff told him not to report the abuse, saying he would end up at a less desirable placement than Glen Mills. One supervisor even told me that it would be worse because the food wouldnt be as good, A.W. told The Inquirer. Glen Mills is under investigation by the state inspector general and the Pennsylvania auditor general, as well as the Delaware County district attorney, who arrested two former Glen Mills staff members in connection with the assault on A.W. The school is also facing a second lawsuit from local civil-rights attorney David Rudovsky, in partnership with Berger Montague, a national class-action law firm based in Philadelphia. In both complaints, multiple former students accuse their former counselors of beating and threatening them. Marsha Levick, chief legal officer for Juvenile Law Center, said she expects the suits to join. Glen Mills held 14 licenses with the state for its various school buildings; all have been revoked and are included in Glen Mills appeal. DHSs Office of Children, Youth and Families will forward the appeal to its Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, which schedules a pre-hearing conference to hash out schedules and other logistics within 30 days. The appeal hearing is typically scheduled for four to six weeks from this meeting, Fogarty said. The department bears the burden of proof with regards to licensing actions and allegations. Both DHS and Glen Mills then have 30 days to file post-hearing briefs. There is no time limit on how long the hearings bureau can take to reach its decision. DHS officials said they were not aware of a Pennsylvania juvenile facility that had successfully appealed its license revocation. A federal lawsuit filed this month accuses Philadelphias largest charter-school operator of mishandling an investigation into an alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by another student. The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the 13-year-olds grandmother, accuses Mastery Charter Schools of failing to employ even the most basic of safeguards to protect students. It refers to previous instances of sexual assault and harassment at Masterys Pastorius-Richardson Elementary before the May 2016 incident that spurred the suit, as well as a federal civil rights investigation. Mastery leaders said that one of the prior incidents mentioned in the suit did not happen, and that the others occurred before Mastery took over Pastorius-Richardson. According to the lawsuit, first reported this week by WHYY: The 13-year-old student was sexually assaulted in the Pastorius-Richardson auditorium by a 15-year-old student, who video recorded the girl without her knowing, and the recording then circulated among students and staff. School leaders callously dismissed the incident as consensual, though the girl was only 13 and said she had told the boy no. Jason Pearlman, a lawyer for the grandmother, said the school suspended the girl and the boy after the incident. Now in 10th grade at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, the girl has suffered post-traumatic stress and major depression, and has required emergency treatment, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. The manner in which Mastery handles sexual assault and harassment at its schools is outrageous and fails to provide even the most basic of protections for young girls," Pearlman said. "The students, parents, and the community deserve and should demand much better of Mastery. In 2017, a dean at one of Masterys schools was charged with statutory rape involving a 14-year-old girl. Mastery CEO Scott Gordon said Tuesday, I completely disagree that Mastery which operates 24 charter schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with 14,000 students has a systemic problem with sexual assault protections. Mastery does a wide variety of training with our staff regarding sexual discrimination, youth development, race and identity, Gordon said. Pearlman said that at the time of the May 2016 incident, Mastery was "wholly deficient in its Title IX procedures. The federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs that receive federal funding. A federal Office for Civil Rights investigation found that both the sexual encounter between the students and the nonconsensual video recording should have triggered an investigation under Title IX, including determining whether the video created a sexually hostile environment for the girl. Neither the principal nor the assistant principal followed such procedures, according to the office. Mastery said it did not invoke Title IX because it had determined the encounter was consensual, based on the video and information obtained from the students and family members. It noted the Civil Rights Offices finding that the school conducted a prompt and equitable investigation of the incident." The office reached an agreement with Mastery in December 2017 to bring the charter operator into compliance with Title IX. Gordon said Tuesday that Mastery had fully implemented the agreement. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with a supporter as he arrives to speak at an assembly for religious schools, in Istanbul, Saturday, April 13, 2019. Erdogan's ruling party still appealing the results of the local elections in Istanbul, where the opposition has a razor-thin lead and Erdogan said Wednesday election results in Istanbul should be canceled over irregularities.(Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool) Read more WASHINGTON (AP) Turkey "expects" the Trump administration to grant it waivers from U.S. sanctions related to its purchases of Iranian oil and Russian air defenses, a top aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman and senior adviser Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference he couldn't be certain that the waivers would be granted. But, he said Turkey had made a strong case that should be heeded. Turkey is seeking an extension to a waiver that allows it to import Iranian oil without U.S. penalties that were re-imposed in November after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The waiver expires early next month. "We are expecting an extension for Turkey," Kalin said. "We have made it clear we would like to continue to buy Iranian oil. People should not expect Turkey to turn its back on Iran just like that." The administration granted waivers to seven countries, including Turkey, and Taiwan, allowing them to continue to buy Iranian crude provided they pledged to move to cut their imports to zero. Those waivers expire on May 2. U.S. officials have said that three of the eight waivers won't require extensions because they have eliminated Iranian oil imports. But they have refused to say whether any of the other five will be extended. The lack of clarity has angered Iran hawks in Congress and elsewhere who say that any waiver extensions will hurt the administration's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran to press it to end what the U.S. terms its "malign activities" in the Middle East and beyond. Kalin also said Turkey wants a waiver for sanctions that will likely be triggered should it take delivery of Russia's advanced S-400 missile defense system over Washington's objections. Turkey's purchase of the S-400 has created a deep rift between the NATO allies, with U.S. officials warning of significant consequences if it is finalized and Turkish officials saying it's a done deal that won't be cancelled. Kalin said Erdogan and other Turkish officials have been pressing Trump to use a presidential exemption to spare Turkey from sanctions under legislation known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which is aimed in part at Russia's defense industry. The exemption allows Trump to bypass the mandated sanctions should he determine it is in U.S. national security interests to do so. "If it comes to it, of course we would expect President Trump to use his waiver," Kalin said. He stressed that he could not speak for Trump or other U.S. officials but said that Trump had promised Erodgan that he would personally look into the situation. Kalin said he expected delivery of the S-400 system to be completed within 2 to 3 months. In addition to the sanctions, the Pentagon and State Department have said the S-400 purchase will jeopardize Turkey's participation in the U.S. F-35 fighter aircraft program. U.S. officials say Turkey's use of the Russian surface-to-air missile defense system would be a threat to the F-35 program and have already suspended some aspects of Turkey's participation. Kalin said Turkey was hopeful the U.S. would agree to a Turkish proposal to set up a technical committee to review possible security threats posed by the S-400. Kalin spoke to reporters at the Turkish Embassy as he wrapped up a trip to Washington with other senior officials in Erdogans government, including the ministers of defense, finance and trade. In addition to their meetings with U.S. officials including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trumps senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, the officials all spoke at the American-Turkish Councils annual conference on U.S.-Turkey relations. The conference was held at the Trump International Hotel. Sean Kratz (left) and Cosmo DiNardo were charged in the Bucks County slayings of four young men in July 2017. Read more Will a jury be able to hear Cosmo DiNardos alleged co-conspirator, Sean Kratz, describe how the pair killed three young men? That question was at the center of pretrial hearings on Monday and Tuesday, proceedings that are expected to be the last before Kratzs trial. Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey L. Finley will decide whether to allow the statement in the coming weeks. Kratz, 22, of Northeast Philadelphia, is charged with first-degree murder and related crimes in the grisly case that brought national attention to Bucks County in July 2017. Prosecutors say Kratz helped DiNardo kill and bury three of his four victims on the DiNardo familys Solebury Township farm. Kratz balked at a plea deal last spring, the same day DiNardo accepted one and was sentenced to life in prison. Kratzs attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr., who was retained this fall, said his client didnt fully understand the conditions of the deal which came with a 59- to 118-year prison sentence for third-degree murder and other charges, and required him to tell authorities what happened. Peruto contended that a jury should not be allowed to hear what Kratz told investigators as part of a deal he didnt fully comprehend. He has to be told, It could be used against you even if you dont reach a deal, Peruto said. Prosecutors argued that jurors should be able to hear Kratzs confession. In order to determine Kratzs understanding of the deal, they attempted to call his former attorney, Craig Penglase, who was removed from the case last year after leaking tapes of the confessions of Kratz and DiNardo. But Finley would not allow that because of an ongoing disciplinary board investigation into Penglases conduct. Instead, the judge suggested that prosecutors subpoena Kratzs mother, Vanessa Amodei, who was present during a discussion about the plea deal with her son and members of his defense team in April of last year. On the stand, Amodei said Penglase misled her and her son by saying Kratzs statement to authorities could not be used in court if the plea agreement fell apart. "Making a statement could help him accomplish a deal, Amodei said the lawyer told her, but her understanding was that the statement couldnt hurt him. First Assistant District Attorney Gregg Shore pointed out inconsistencies in Amodeis accounts. He said she had told prosecutors on Monday that she didnt remember what happened at that April 2018 meeting. Between then and Tuesday morning, her recollection changed, he said, and that happened after she spoke with her son and his attorneys. Im not a liar, she said, and Im not here to lie about anything. In a yellow prison jumpsuit and orange coat, Kratz looked at his mother as he was walked into the courtroom in shackles. She teared up. The victims families, who have sat through every proceeding in this case, filled two rows behind prosecutors. Kratzs confession tapes have been the source of much drama over the past year. After Kratz turned down the plea deal in May, former attorney Penglase admitted to leaking the recordings of DiNardo and Kratz, and parts of them were aired on NBC10 and later Fox29. Kratzs trial was originally scheduled to start this week. A new trial date has not been set. Nearly two years ago, authorities descended on the DiNardo farm, searched for days in rain and summer heat, and eventually found the remains of four missing men Jimi Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township; Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township; Thomas Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg. DiNardo, now 22, of Bensalem, said he lured the men to the farm by telling them he had marijuana to sell, then shot and killed them. He ran over one with a backhoe and tried to burn three of the bodies before burying all four on the 90-acre property. He said he killed Patrick on his own, but Kratz helped in the murders of Finocchiaro, Meo, and Sturgis. While Finley has yet to rule on several issues, including the confession tape, he denied a defense request to have the case heard by an out-of-town jury. If it proves to be too difficult to select an unbiased jury of Bucks County residents, he said, he will reassess that decision. A gag order bars prosecutors and defense attorneys from speaking publicly about the case outside of court. A resident walks to the microphone Monday, April 15, at a public meeting at Abington Senior High School, where many urged state officials to work faster to regulate PFAS chemicals in drinking water. Read more Pennsylvania will work to create its own regulations for chemicals that have seeped into drinking water in nearly two dozen towns in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and will test about 360 drinking water systems across the state to determine whether the contamination is more widespread than is known, state officials said. Our approach on this had been wanting to see action at the federal level, Patrick McDonnell, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said Monday before meeting with residents at Abington Senior High School. But the place we are today is that we dont want to wait anymore. But those regulations long requested by residents worried about their water and their health could take at least a few years to come to fruition. Many of the dozens of residents who gathered for Mondays public meeting voiced frustration with the states response and the slow pace of the bureaucratic process. We just want speed, we want urgency, and we want results, Gregory Nesbitt, president of the Horsham Township Council, told state officials. His remarks drew applause from the audience. Pennsylvanias steps to deal with drinking water contaminated by PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, come as several other states are in the process of regulating the chemicals. New Jersey unveiled a proposal this month for regulations for two PFAS chemicals that would set one of the most stringent enforceable limits in the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in February that it will work toward a nationwide drinking water limit for types of PFAS, but that process will take years and has been criticized by some activists as not moving quickly enough. PFAS were in firefighting foams used for decades on military bases in Willow Grove and Warminster. At least 22 towns in Bucks and Montgomery Counties have some level of contamination in their drinking water from PFAS. The chemicals are also found in everyday items such as nonstick cookware and pizza boxes, and have been linked to cancer, reproductive issues, and other health problems. Residents of Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster have been dealing with water contamination for years, and blood tests found that residents of those towns had elevated levels of PFAS in their blood compared with the general U.S. population. To determine how many other Pennsylvania communities may be affected, officials will test about 360 drinking water systems across the state, said Lisa Daniels, director of the states Bureau of Safe Drinking Water. Those systems were selected for their proximity to military bases, fire training schools, airports, landfills, and manufacturing facilities where PFAS could have seeped into soil and water. The first phase of testing could begin as early as May and will really help us figure out how big of a problem we might have in Pennsylvania, Daniels said. Chris Crockett, chief environmental officer for Aqua Pennsylvania, which supplies water to several towns in Southeastern Pennsylvania, urged officials to sample every water system in the state, not just those closest to potential sources of contamination. There is no simple and accurate way to determine a vulnerable system, Crockett said. All systems statewide need sampling. Rick Rogers, associate director of drinking water and source water protection at the EPA, told residents at Mondays meeting that the agency intends to move forward with a federal maximum contaminant level for PFAS and would make an official determination to move forward in 2020. After that, it would take another several years of input and process before regulations were final, Rogers said. Pennsylvania has never set its own state maximum contaminant level for a substance in drinking water, McDonnell said. The state is working to hire a toxicologist to advise the state on this process by reviewing scientific research and other states regulations. The sampling plan results will also affect the regulations, McDonnell said. The regulatory process itself, once we have those data sets, is typically around two years, he said. Were hoping we can do it more quickly than that, but thats the benchmark we would look at. For each of the several residents who had a chance to speak to state officials Monday night, that timeline is not fast enough. I guess what Im asking for tonight is more expediency in the process, said Michael Thompson, an Abington Township commissioner. How can we streamline the process? Dr. Sharon Watkins, Director of the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Pennsylvania Department of Health (left) helps an unidentified man with his questions after a December public meeting at Upper Dublin High School about blood test results for residents exposed to chemicals that seeped from military bases into drinking water.. The Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster residents tested had blood levels of the chemicals that are higher than the national average. Read more Contaminated groundwater and storm water are still seeping off two former military bases in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, and the toxic chemicals that leaked from the bases and contaminated drinking water in adjacent neighborhoods for some 50 years have since been detected in drinking wells farther from the bases. At least 22 other towns have joined the list of places with some level of contaminated water since residents in Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster learned in 2014 that their water was tainted by chemicals used in firefighting foams at the bases, according to interviews and a review of information shared by area municipalities and water companies. At meetings this month, residents learned new details about community health testing that revealed above-average levels of chemicals in their blood and were told that the Navy has not finalized its plan to treat the contaminated soil and water that could still threaten drinking water. Meanwhile, the community of affected people has grown beyond the original 70,000 in towns bordering the Naval Air Station and Horsham Air Guard Station in Willow Grove and former Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster. Everybodys just thinking its our problem, but maybe its other peoples problem also, one unidentified Warminster resident told the crowd at Wednesdays state Health Department meeting in Fort Washington. Her husbands blood showed significantly higher chemical contamination than hers, she said, even though they had lived together in their house for 35 years. They wondered if he might have also consumed tainted water growing up in nearby Churchville. >> READ MORE: After water contamination, elevated chemical levels in Bucks, Montco residents blood The chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were in firefighting foams used at bases and other airport sites nationwide but are also present in many modern-day products and have been linked to cancer, fertility problems, liver damage, high cholesterol, and other health problems. As contamination has spread in communities across the country, so has fear about its effects often with a lack of answers for the questions residents most want answered. At meeting after meeting, public officials have said they cant predict exactly how or whether the chemicals may impact individuals health. Compounding the concern is that the military continues to formulate its treatment plan, even as the plume of tainted groundwater continues to move. Once [the chemicals] are in the groundwater its really hard to stop the spread, and treating them is even more difficult, said Christopher Higgins, a leading researcher on PFAS and a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. He predicted that PFAS will keep showing up in water supplies over time as groundwater and surface water move. Upper Dublin, Bensalem, Cheltenham, and Northampton are among the area towns with wells that at some point have been sampled with levels of PFAS at least 20 parts per trillion. In Vermont, which has the strictest water-safety regulation in the country, that level would be deemed unsafe. But the 20 parts per trillion figure is slightly less than one-third the amount deemed potentially harmful by the Environmental Protection Agency, which set a health advisory level for the chemicals of 70 parts per trillion in drinking water. Given the prevalence of the chemicals in everyday items, pinpointing the sources for all contamination is likely impossible. Other, nonmilitary sources of contamination have been detected across the country. One national study revealed that 28 percent of water systems surveyed had PFAS at 5 parts per trillion or higher. The military has taken responsibility for contamination in Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster, where it has been working to address the problem. Those sites are among nearly 400 military bases being tested for contamination an effort that will take years and will cost millions. When the groundwater was sampled at the Air National Guard base in Willow Grove in March, PFAS was significant at 92 percent of the spots sampled. In a few places, the levels were astronomically high. And for storm water, the military has installed a filter that has lowered the chemical level in Neshaminy Creek but it only treats a portion of the water coming off the base, said Chris Crockett, chief environmental engineer for Aqua Pennsylvania. Aqua sampling has shown that some water pouring out is still high in PFAS, something military officials acknowledged this month. Until we see those major sources cleaned up and remediated, Crockett said, and see that there is nothing that the groundwater around the base is being pumped and treated and not being allowed to spread anywhere and that the water running off or coming out of the ground and leaving the base is contained we will always have a high level of vigilance. At the Willow Grove base, the Navy plans to start pumping and treating groundwater next year as part of a test program, said Willie Lin, base environmental coordinator with the militarys Base Restoration Advisory Council. The Navy is set to release a draft report this month detailing whats known about groundwater contamination, and is preparing to make recommendations to address storm water systems, he said. The Navy remains focused on ensuring the drinking water supply in the communities impacted by our use of PFAS is below the EPAs health advisory and will comply with any future limits set by state or federal environmental regulators, Lin said. The Pentagon has pledged to take care of contamination where it exceeds the EPA advisory level, but treatment of the chemicals isnt required by any federal regulations. Pennsylvania is catching up to other states that have taken independent steps, including sampling water systems and setting drinking water standards. It hopes to unveil a plan to sample water systems around the state early next year. In New Jersey, which has more restrictive water-safety guidelines than the EPA, officials found 48 public water systems that tested above the states maximum contaminant levels for three types of PFAS compounds. This week, a state panel in New York recommended making its already-strict drinking water standards even stricter. Until Pennsylvania acts, water utilities and municipal officials here are left with unexpected decisions about how to respond. In Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster, officials decided to make sure the two types of PFAS originally found there were undetectable in all water supplies. But that came at a cost to consumers reflected in their water bills and isnt something all towns can afford. The highest level of contamination found in any of the Ambler Water Departments nine wells was 17 parts per trillion still safe to drink, by both Vermont and EPA standards. But if the borough wanted to get that number to zero, it would cost more than $5 million, Borough Manager Mary Aversa wrote in a letter this fall to Upper Dublin Township, which relies on Amblers water supply to serve some of its residents. Upper Dublin, like other eastern Montgomery County towns, also gets water from Aqua Pennsylvania, which this summer shut down two wells with contamination below the EPA guideline that had been identified as early as 2016. Abington, Cheltenham, and Springfield Townships were also in the affected area. The health of our people is at stake, state Sen. Art Haywood (D., Montgomery) wrote to federal regulators in an August letter. Now is the time for all those who are responsible to end the release of the PFAS contamination from the [Willow Grove base] to protect the health and safety of residents and our environment. In other towns, the same issues have sprung from different sources. State officials have identified two nonmilitary sites in Bucks County one affecting East Rockhill and West Rockhill Townships and another affecting Doylestown, Plumstead, and Buckingham that caused water contamination. Wells have been shut off as officials investigate the causes of contamination. Mark Cuker, an environmental lawyer, was already working on lawsuits against the federal government and firefighting foam manufacturers on behalf of Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster residents when he learned in 2016 that his own water in Upper Dublin was contaminated with PFAS. Now its me, its not my clients. Its me, he said. He recalled the thought that went through his mind: Is this really happening? Ryan Pownall, left, a former Philadelphia police officer, and District Attorney Larry Krasner, right, who decided to charge Pownall with murder over an on-duty shooting that killed David Jones after a traffic stop in North Philadelphia in 2017. Read more Lawyers for ex-Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall, the first former city cop to be charged over an on-duty shooting in two decades, want a judge to let them pick jurors from another county if the case reaches trial, arguing that an avalanche of inflammatory media attention has made it impossible for Pownall to receive a fair trial before a panel of city residents. In a hearing Tuesday before Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott, lawyers Fortunato Perri Jr. and Charles Gibbs renewed claims they had made in a motion this month that described coverage of Pownalls case as sustained, pervasive, inflammatory" and inherently prejudicial. The attorneys also presented McDermott with a binder of media clips, including Inquirer stories, in a bid to support their claims. But Assistant District Attorney Tracy Tripp argued that merely the existence of media coverage would not make it impossible to select impartial Philadelphians. In a court filing to the judge, she wrote that Pownalls attorneys had made a series of bald assertions regarding the extent, nature and impact" of the media coverage of the case. McDermott did not rule on the issue Tuesday, but whatever she ultimately decides is likely to resolve one of the major trial issues in a case closely watched by members of the citys criminal justice system. The prosecution, announced last year by reform-oriented District Attorney Larry Krasner, marks the first time since 1999 that a city cop has been charged over an on-duty shooting. Pownall, 36, is accused of fatally shooting David Jones, 30, after a North Philadelphia traffic stop in June 2017. His lawyers have insisted that Pownall who was fired over the shooting in September 2017 was legally justified in his decision to pull the trigger. His trial is scheduled to begin in January. The idea of empaneling an out-of-county jury is not unheard of: Earlier this year, an Allegheny County judge overseeing the homicide case against former East Pittsburgh officer Michael Rosfeld ruled that jurors should be selected from elsewhere due to the attention the case had received in Pittsburgh. And in 2017 jurors in Bill Cosbys first sexual-assault trial in Montgomery County were selected from Allegheny County after his defense lawyers at the time successfully argued that Cosbys prosecution had received outsize local attention, in part because it had become an issue in the election for Montgomery Countys district attorney. McDermott on Tuesday asked both sides to file additional legal arguments on the issues, including whether they believed the court should poll unrelated jury-duty participants before a possible trial to see how many have heard about Pownalls shooting of Jones. The judge in Rosfelds case conducted similar polls before deciding to enlist an out-of-county jury. McDermott is expected to rule on the questions by next month. The last Philadelphia officer to be charged for using a weapon on the job, Christopher DiPasquale, was arrested in 1998 and 1999, but he was never tried because judges twice threw out manslaughter charges. Krasner, sworn in last year, charged Pownall with murder in September, a decision leaders of the police union immediately called an absurd disgrace." The back-and-forth was just the latest example of fallout from the incident, which also led protesters calling for Pownalls prosecution to disrupt city events and, at one point, march outside the ex-officers Bustleton home. Krasner formerly a career defense attorney who specialized in suing police over alleged misconduct initially charged Pownall with a general count of murder, prohibiting his release on bail and allowing prosecutors to potentially seek a conviction that would require a mandatory life sentence. But a judge later downgraded the charges against Pownall to third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime, and reckless endangerment. Pownall has been free on bail since October, according to court records, and the decision to downgrade the charges eliminated the possibility of him serving a life behind bars. On July 4, 1914, President Wilson came to Independence Hall and addressed, the meaning of liberty. He said, one of the most serious questions to address in the United States is this: what are we going to do with the influence and power of this great nation? Are we going to play the old role of using that power for our aggrandizement and material benefit only? Without foreseeing the scale of the calamity of the Great War, no one hearing the presidents questions that day could have known the true measure of their urgency. But after World War II, community and civic leaders founded the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, on April 14, 1949. By then, everyone involved knew the urgent answer to the question of the purposes of American power: that this country must lead a world order in which there would never again be a world war. The founders of this organization wrote, The purpose of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia shall be to create and sustain, through study, discussion, and public debate, an intelligent interest on the part of citizens in world affairs and the foreign policy of the United States. And they offered a credo In a democracy, agreement is not essential; participation is referencing the philosopher of representative government, John Stuart Mill, who said that a free society is based on a marketplace of ideas. Mill wrote the only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinions. For the past 70 years, the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia has stood for this that the future of humanity depends in no small measure on the thoughtfulness of the policies of the United States in the world and that the sound decision-making behind those policies depends on civil discourse within our democracy at home. We have pursued this mission with a podium from which presidents and cabinet secretaries, world leaders, and thought leaders of all kinds have addressed every issue of the day. Additionally, weve educated hundreds of thousands of middle and high school students about the wider world, innovating in this space as few other institutions ever have: pioneering the model United Nations; founding the William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs, the first public/private partnership school of its kind in the nation; mentoring some of Philadelphias most underserved middle schoolers; and offering Pennsylvanias first commonwealth-wide program for high schoolers to add the credential of global scholar to their diplomas. We have led study tours on every continent, including historic early and extraordinary opportunities for Americans to visit China, Cuba, and Iran. And we have elevated the quality of the content of our live programs through national public television, online streaming, and podcasting. We can now offer the same thoughtful exploration of issues to millions of people around the world that those who attend our programs experience in person. Our goal is to offer the nation an antidote to the present hyper partisan and sensationalized media environment. Seventy years ago, prominent Philadelphians, mindful of the heritage of the city in which the principles of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights had been proclaimed to the world, created an organization whose work has impacted history and whose mission has remained as current as todays headlines. Just as it did seven decades ago, today, democracy demands discourse. Craig Snyder is president and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. csnyder@wacphila.org Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross leaves a news conference after announcing that Officer Ryan Pownall, a 12-year veteran of the force, would be fired. Read more Citing a host of departmental violations, Ross said Officer Ryan Pownall, a 12-year veteran of the department, displayed "poor judgment" in firing his gun at David Jones, who had been riding a dirt bike and illegally carrying a gun when Pownall pulled him over in North Philadelphia in June. Ross said surveillance video showed that Pownall unloaded shots when Jones had his back turned to the officer and was between 10 and 35 feet away. Although Pownall clearly thought he was in danger, Ross said, he had an obligation to reassess the chaotic situation on a busy street as Jones, 30, who had dropped his gun, began to run. "There were serious policy violations that were committed ones that were on video," Ross said during a news conference at Police Headquarters. "It's not even a question of what someone's perception was vs. another's. I saw it. The shooting investigators saw it. And that's where it starts and stops." The dismissal is the latest development in the months-long fallout from the shooting, one of three incidents this year in which Philadelphia police fatally shot someone. A small group of protesters who drew the ire of the police union for staging a profanity-laced demonstration outside Pownall's Bustleton home last month vowed Thursday outside Police Headquarters to continue their provocative tactics unless Pownall is arrested. "This is a good step," said Isaac Gardner during an impromptu demonstration after Ross' briefing. "But [Pownall] needs to be charged with murder." The state Attorney General's Office is overseeing a criminal investigation into the incident. A spokesman said Thursday that the probe was continuing. Attempts to reach Pownall were unsuccessful. John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, did not return requests for comment. At a rally at FOP headquarters last month, McNesby blasted protesters for their actions outside Pownall's house. One of McNesby's comments in which he called the activists, many of whom are black, a "pack of rabid animals" drew criticism from Mayor Kenney this week. City Council President Darrell L. Clarke said in a statement Thursday that he supported Ross' decision to fire Pownall. "I thank Commissioner Ross and Philadelphia police administrators for their serious and thorough consideration of the shooting death of David Jones," Clarke said. Ross said Pownall's first attempt to shoot at Jones was justifiable under department policy, because it took place immediately after the struggle over the weapon and with reasonable belief that Pownall's life was in danger. But Pownall's gun jammed, Ross said, and he had to fix it to fire it again. During that time, Jones, who had dropped his gun, was able to get at least 10 feet away and had his back turned to Pownall, the commissioner said. That interval should have allowed Pownall to determine whether using a gun was appropriate, Ross said. He also faulted Pownall for failing to call for backup when he made the stop, and for escalating the danger of the situation as witnesses sat in his car. "Just because you had an opportunity and you had the right to fire at one point during an encounter does not mean you have that same right to do so throughout the encounter," Ross said. "There's an obligation to reassess the situation." While the department investigated this summer, activists calling for Pownall's firing and arrest disrupted city offices and news conferences, and staged the protest outside his home. That demonstration led the FOP to sue the city in an attempt to prevent the department from releasing the names of officers involved in shootings. Ross said Thursday that the protest outside Pownall's home was "out of bounds" and crossed a line. Gardner and fellow activist Asa Khalif said they would not rule out returning to the block to demonstrate again if Pownall is not arrested. Pownall was involved in another shooting, in 2010, which activists often cited as further reason he should have been dismissed. In that case, Pownall and other officers fired at Carnell Williams-Carney, who also ran from police after being stopped with an illegal gun. Williams-Carney was struck in the back by a bullet that Pownall later said he fired. Williams-Carney was paralyzed from his injuries. Pownall and the other officers remained on the job. In a federal civil suit filed by Williams-Carney, a jury ruled in 2013 that the officers were justified in opening fire. CHESTER Five- to six-hundred lawn signs and a United States Air Force veteran asked Widener University students to Live Your Courage Thursday. Student organizers and volunteers for the universitys third annual Courage Day blanketed the campus with signs, asked students fill out prompts on personal courage, and welcomed former United States Air Force Maj. Heather Lucky Penney, the universitys Oskin Leadership Institute Beideman Visiting Scholar, for an address. Penney was one of two fight pilots deployed during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to find and take down United Flight 93. Without time to arm their jets, it amounted to a suicide mission by having to ram the plane. Her address and the Courage Day materials around campus prompted students and faculty to find courage in their daily lives and form a habit of making courageous decisions. Theres a lot that we do every day that you dont realize is courage but it is, said Michaela Mertz, principal student organizer for the event. Today is all about motivating people to choose that harder right, and to make a difference in their own lives, as small as may be. The passengers on Flight 93 were the true heroes, Penney said after recounting her mission with Col. Marc Sass Sasseville to take down the plane. The mission came after a recent return from Exercise Red Flag training at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., with expectations for a day of catching up on paperwork and returning to normal routine. In the time since Ive come to realize that heroism isnt something unique or possessed only by a chosen few. Penney described heroism as being three primary qualities bravery, service and belonging. Theyre not nouns to me theyre verbs which means we can choose to be brave, to serve, to belong, she said, encouraging the audience to make the actions daily habits. I believe heroism is like a muscle we all have the potential for the strength, but unless we practice it, cultivate it, exercise it, all it will ever be is potential. Speaking with the Times following her address, Penney referenced the Greatest Generations actions during World War II as exemplary of the courage of everyday people. They answered the call to save the free world and they were plumbers, and school teachers, and local businessmen, she said. On in those moments on (Sept. 11) as we were waiting for authorization to launch, I thought about George Welch, one of two pilots to get airborne during the attack on Pearl Harbor. I thought this is my Pearl Harbor moment, I thought if they could do it, I could do it,' she said. The event showcasing everyday courage was the culmination of planning since the start of the fall semester by its main sponsors, the Apogee Scholars of Wideners Oskin Leadership Institute. The group is made up of recipients of the institutes High School Leadership Award presented to students around the Delaware Valley who then elect to attend Widener. Mertz said she and fellow organizers implemented several changes to this years event based on student feedback during the planning process. Formerly held on a surprise date, the 2019 Courage Day was promoted in advance to the campus with a Courage Rocks kickoff three weeks ago. Students painted rocks and pictures with encouraging messages to give to others or leave throughout campus. A group of students signed a courage pledge, with those completing it honored by Penney following her address. While the event is no longer a surprise, a portion of the events 50 student volunteers were still active at 5:30 a.m. blanketing the campus with signs asking Do you have to the courage to followed by questions including to forgive?, to get out of your comfort zone? The community behind me I love it, its really great, said Mertz of fellow organizers and volunteers. I always (anticipate) the worst, but today has gone so well. Im very proud of everyone. Its great to see how how people are still inspired to show courage, said Theresa Kash, a third-year organizer for the event and courage pledge honoree. You would think (students) who have lived through multiple Courage Days would say oh, its happening again I dont feel like doing it. You still see people consistently wanting to show courage. Freshman volunteer Eliza Meals, joining Kash at a student prompt table, said it was inspiring to see the event be well-established on the campus in its third year. People are looking forward to it, she said. I remember last year as a freshman stepping out of my dorm and there were just signs everywhere, said Leon Mopecha, a courage pledge honoree and organizer. Seeing the enthusiasm (participating) students had just put me on a course for a better week. I was looking forward to it this year and was determined to help out. Penney spoke highly of the Generation Z students now in universities and what she sees as their willingness to make a difference in the world. I think the Oskin Leadership Institute and Courage Day are particularly relevant to these young people, she said following her address. In some ways I feel as I look at my generation, we have a lot to live up to in order to be able to provide the shoes for the Gen-Zs and Millennials to fill. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks during a press conference to announce the charges being brought against former Philadelphia Police Officer Ryan Pownall at his office on 3 S. Penn Square on Tuesday, Sept. 04, 2018. Read more For the first time in nearly two decades, a former Philadelphia police officer was charged Tuesday in an on-duty shooting, and the city's reform-minded top prosecutor characterized the case as an example of police accountability that was long overdue. District Attorney Larry Krasner said that after a yearlong investigation, a grand jury had determined that Ryan Pownall formerly an officer in the 15th District should face counts of murder and related offenses for unnecessarily firing his weapon at 30-year-old David Jones when Jones ran from a traffic stop in June 2017. Jones later died from two gunshot wounds to the back. Pownall was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on charges of murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and reckless endangerment, and was denied bail, according to court records. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 19. At a news conference, Krasner described the charges against Pownall as "applying justice even-handedly," and added that it was "regrettably unusual" that officers in Philadelphia have infrequently faced criminal consequences for questionable or problematic conduct. "This is a city, like many other American cities, where there has not been accountability for activity by police officers in uniform, especially when that activity involves violence against civilians," said Krasner, who spent three decades as a defense attorney and specialized in police misconduct cases before being elected district attorney. Hours after Krasner's announcement, a police union official called the case against Pownall an "absurd disgrace," saying the union would seek to have the charges downgraded and get Pownall released on bail. "Today's meritless indictment clearly illustrates a district attorney who has an anti-law-enforcement agenda," John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, told reporters and about 100 supporters at the union's Northeast Philadelphia headquarters. Joining him on stage were Pownall's wife, Tina, and brother, Edward. The case illustrates how the relationship between the city's police force and top prosecutor has been marked by bouts of tension and disagreement. It also provides the first example of Krasner's acting on a campaign promise which he reiterated after being sworn in that he would pursue cases against police officers if the evidence supported it. The decision to charge Pownall was a measure of relief for Jones' father. "It doesn't bring him back," Thomas Jones, 48, said, "but hopefully [we] continue to get justice." It also drew immediate praise from activists who last year staged near-daily protests and disruptions after the shooting, as well as other Krasner supporters. Isaac Gardner and Christopher Norris, two of the most visible protesters, hailed the decision outside the District Attorney's Office as soon as Krasner's news conference ended, with Gardner saying Krasner was "stepping up and doing the right thing." Asa Khalif who had been arrested while demonstrating for Pownall's arrest tweeted: "Good job Larry Krasner!" Pownall, 36, was dismissed from the Police Department last year over the shooting, with Commissioner Richard Ross citing a host of departmental violations and saying Pownall displayed "poor judgment" during the altercation with Jones. According to a grand jury report detailing Pownall's arrest, Pownall had been transporting a father and two children to the Special Victims Unit for an interview on June 8, 2017, when he spotted Jones riding a dirt bike near Whitaker and Hunting Park Avenues. "Look at this motherfr," Pownall is quoted as saying. He then drove across traffic and sought to stop Jones while the three witnesses remained in the back seat of his police SUV, the report says. The report says Pownall cursed at Jones, and then frisked him and felt a gun. A struggle ensued, but Jones broke free and ran away, according to the report. Pownall tried to fire his service gun but it jammed. He fixed it and fired at least three shots, the report says, striking Jones twice in the back. Jones' weapon which he was barred from legally owning because of his previous felony convictions was later found on the ground "roughly 25 feet from where Pownall was firing, in the opposite direction of Jones' flight," the report says. "[Jones'] death was not necessary to secure his apprehension an apprehension that would never have been necessary if Pownall had not incited the confrontation," the report says. Fortunato Perri Jr., Pownall's lawyer, said Tuesday that Pownall was "legally completely justified in his actions, and he will be exonerated of all charges. " The last on-duty officer charged for a shooting in Philadelphia Christopher DiPasquale in 1999 did not go to trial because two judges dismissed the charges against him. Pownall, who is white, was involved in 2010 in another on-duty shooting of a black man from behind. In that case, Pownall was one of several officers who fired at Carnell Williams-Carney, who had run away from police in Frankford. Pownall later testified that he believed he fired the shot that struck and paralyzed Williams-Carney, although ballistics tests could not be conducted because the bullet remains lodged in his back. Last month, Philadelphia Weekly and City & State PA published a joint investigation reporting that Pownall had been the subject of 15 civilian complaints between January 2013 and March 2018, the third-highest total of any officer on the force. Earlier this year, the out-of-work Pownall was hired by the Philadelphia Parking Authority as a maintenance employee. He quickly resigned after colleagues raised concerns about it. 88 year old Mary Holloway waits with her daughter Brenda Jeffries to vote at her polling place on North Broad Street near Elser Street in North Philadelphia in 2016. Read more Less than seven months after the November midterm, Philadelphia voters will be back at the polls May 21 to cast their ballots in, yes, another election: the Pennsylvania primary. The votes an important one, too, as Philadelphians will vote on the council members, mayor, sheriff, city commissioners, and judges making decisions in their daily lives. Here are the dates youll want to mark in your calendar and what to expect when you get to your polling place. What are the primary elections? When are they? Primary elections are held so voters can select nominees in each party, who will then face off in the general election in the fall. This year in Philadelphia, voters will decide on the mayor, city council, county sheriff, register of wills, and judges amid a crowded pool of candidates. Voters in the suburbs will cast ballots to select party nominees for county offices, municipal positions, and judges. The 2019 general election will be held Nov. 5. Where do I vote? What are my polling places hours? Polling places can change, so be sure to check where youre going ahead of time. Pennsylvania polling places are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Go to the Department of States website to find your polling place. Does it matter whether Im affiliated with a party? Yes. Pennsylvania is a closed primary state, meaning you can only vote under the party you affiliated with when you registered to vote. All voters, including those not affiliated with a party, can weigh in on ballot measures. In Novembers general election, however, all voters will be able to cast ballots, regardless of party affiliation. What is the deadline to register to vote? None of this will matter if youre not registered. April 22 is the deadline to register to vote in the Pennsylvania primary. Can I vote absentee in the primary? Yes. Voters have until May 14 to apply for an absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are due May 17. Some Pennsylvania voters who live outside the country, however, have previously been blocked from accessing absentee ballots on the states website. If youre an overseas voter and cant access the site, contact the Pennsylvania Department of States Help Desk by calling 1-866-472-7873 or emailing STSVCSURE_Helpdesk@pa.gov. Do I need an ID to vote? In Pennsylvania, you only have to show your ID if its your first time voting in a precinct. What do I do if Im having problems at the polls? Campaign materials being handed out a little too close for comfort? Voting machine broken? You can report that. Voter intimidation, coercion, threats, and anything else that hinders a person from voting fairly is considered a civil rights violation of federal election law, according to the U.S. governments explanation of voting and election laws. You can report problems through the Department of Justices election complaint report site or by contacting your state or local election office. In Pennsylvania, you can report election complaints to the Department of State through an online form or by phone at 1-877-VOTESPA. The Philadelphia City Commissioners has a list of go-to numbers to contact if youre experiencing things like voter machine or polling place issues. Contact information for other election offices throughout Pennsylvania can be found through the Votes PA website. What are my voting rights? As a registered voter, you have rights protected under federal and state laws. When you walk into your polling place or if you're mailing that ballot in you are entitled to be able to make your decision free from harassment and intimidation, no matter your race, color, or creed. If you have a disability, you're entitled to fair access. Pennsylvania has a guide on its Votes PA website outlining all your rights as a voter, from language to disability issues. Pennsylvania polling places need at least one accessible voting system, according to Votes PA, but if thats not the case, you are able to choose someone to come with you into the booth. Who will be on my ballot? Check out our Philadelphia voters guide to the primary election, complete with whos running in your district and the candidates stances on key issues. You can also view a sample ballot here. How do I cast a write-in vote? If you have a candidate in mind whose name doesnt appear on your official ballot, choosing to write in the candidates name could be an option. Pennsylvania allows voters to name anyone as a write-in candidate in fact, thats pretty much how Phillip Garcia of Manayunk became an election overseer with a single write-in vote in November 2017. Former deputy city commissioner Tracey Gordon demonstrates how to cast a write-in vote in Philadelphia in the video below. Dont see the answer to your question on the 2019 Philly primary election here? Ask it below. Bookmark our Elections page for the latest updates leading up to the May 21 primary. President Donald Trump speaks at Nuss Truck and Equipment in Burnsville, Minn., Monday, April 15, 2019, during an event to tout the 2017 tax law. ( Read more WASHINGTON Attorneys for President Donald Trump on Monday told an accounting firm working for the president that it would be improper to turn over tax documents to a House committee that is expected to issue a subpoena for the material. Last week, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., announced his intention to subpoena Mazars USA after the company refused a March request to hand over Trumps financial documents, citing laws and rules that require a subpoena for such documents. Cummings said the company had requested a friendly subpoena before it would comply with the request for information related to the Trump Organization, the presidents revocable trust and other entities. On Monday, lawyers for the president and the Trump Organization wrote in a letter to the accounting firm's counsel that a committee subpoena "would not be valid or enforceable." The presidents lawyers William Consovoy and Stefan Passantino wrote that a subpoena from Cummingss panel would be invalid because it would have no legitimate legislative purpose. They said that the real reason that Chairman Cummings wants our clients financial information is to advance the Democrat Partys agenda of politically attacking President Trump The Democrats fervor has only intensified after the Special Counsel squelched their Russia collusion narrative. In a statement, Mazars USA said that the firm "believes strongly in the ethical and professional rules and regulations that govern our industry, our work and our client interactions." "As a matter of firm policy and professional rules we do not comment on the work we conduct for our clients," the firm said. "Mazars USA will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations." Cummings did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The pressure on the accounting firm to resist the looming House subpoena comes after the Treasury Department missed an initial deadline to hand over Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which then set another deadline of April 23. Democrats in the House expect the Trump administration to take the battle over the tax returns to the courts, so they have sought other avenues to learn about Trump's business practices. The House panel told Mazars that it is seeking the documents to corroborate testimony of the president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who told a congressional hearing recently that Trump artificially inflated and deflated the reported value of his assets for personal gain. At the time of his testimony, Cohen gave the committee financial statements that he said Trump provided to Deutsche Bank during a 2014 attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills. The documents showed Trump's net worth soared from $4.55 billion in 2012 to $8.66 billion in 2013 because of the addition of a line item for $4 billion worth of "brand value"- essentially the value Trump placed on his name. The Oversight Committee sent a letter to Mazars on March 20 requesting information on how those financial statements and other disclosure documents were prepared. Consovoy and Passantino wrote Cummings on Monday that Mazars is required to decline the committees request under federal law, New York law, and the ethical rules that govern accountants duties to their clients. Further attempts to obtain that information (by subpoena or otherwise) would be improper for many reasons. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reflects on her the first 100 days of the new Democratic House majority, the presidency of Donald Trump, and her power as the highest-ranking elected woman in United States history, during an interview with The Associated Press in her office at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Read more The far left's frustration with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on the rise, as liberal advocates and lawmakers fume that she hasn't done enough to defend freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from attacks by President Donald Trump and other Republicans and has undermined their policies and leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Omar's allies over the weekend were upset by what they viewed as Pelosi's delayed response in standing up for one of the two Muslim women in Congress after Trump accused Omar of playing down the tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Pelosi, whose initial statement criticizing Trump made no mention of Omar, said Monday that it was "beneath the dignity of the Oval Office" for Trump to have shared a video on Twitter of Omar spliced with footage of the burning twin towers. But liberals seethed that Pelosi (California) and Democratic leaders did too little, too late. They were equally baffled by Pelosi's quip seeming to dismiss Ocasio-Cortez during a CBS "60 Minutes" interview Sunday, suggesting her "wing" of the party included "like five people." "What we're seeing here is old-guard leadership trying to marginalize some of the big change agents who were elected in 2018 because they're afraid of what it means to their leadership in the future," said Charles Chamberlain, chair of the liberal group Democracy for America. Using Pelosi's oft-repeated phrase "Diversity is our strength and unity is our power" Chamberlain said that when the speaker "tries to marginalize some of the newest leaders who are fighting hard it's not a good look and it's not a smart strategy." The tensions underscore Democrats' struggle to discern the best way to respond to Trump and the GOP's attacks on their far-left flank, criticism frequently centered on women of color. The president has made Omar and Ocasio-Cortez favorite foils, accusing all Democrats of becoming "socialists" like Ocasio-Cortez or "anti-Israel," as Omar frequently criticizes Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. Pelosi, eager to protect her newfound majority and looking ahead to the 2020 elections, has made it a point to put distance between her party and the policies espoused by some of her new, liberal members, including both women. Republicans have tried to use the liberal policy initiatives against all Democrats. Pelosi purposely has cast the proposals as aspirational, telling The Washington Post she was "agnostic" about Medicare-for-all compared with the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and calling Ocasio-Cortez's environmental Green New Deal "the green dream." Pelosi's allies say it's all to protect the House majority, a rationale Pelosi cited while taking questions during a Monday appearance at the London School of Economics. Asked about her "60 Minutes" comments about Ocasio-Cortez, Pelosi called the New York liberal "wonderful" but argued that the 43 districts Democrats flipped in 2018 were "right down the middle." "I share those values, but we must win," she said, arguing that the glass of water she was holding could carry a district like hers if it had a "D" for Democrat next to its name. Pelosis office defended her response to Trumps attacks on Omar. A spokesman noted that Pelosi was traveling to Europe on Friday when Trump issued his tweet about a single phrase of Omars that some people did something on 9/11 and that the speaker did express solidarity with the freshman lawmaker Saturday, writing: The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground, and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. "The president shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack," Pelosi tweeted. But Omar's allies said that wasn't good enough. The tweet, they said, didn't mention the Minnesota Democrat at all and could even be read as a rebuke of her. On Sunday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the other Muslim congresswoman, went so far as to accuse the Democratic leadership of using people of color to highlight diversity but ignoring them when it mattered though she did not name Pelosi in the missive. "They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse," Tlaib wrote, retweeting messages claiming Democrats used women of color as "props." "However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us." Earlier this year, Pelosi appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with Tlaib, Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. Over the weekend, more than 200 outside groups signed onto a letter of support for Omar. One reason, said several group leaders who signed, was to show Pelosi and her leadership team that it was acceptable to defend Omar. People are just frustrated with how weak the Democratic Party leaderships response has been on this, said Waleed Shahid, spokesman for the liberal group Justice Democrats that has talked about challenging Democratic incumbents. The response has been so tepid and lackluster. They seem to be running away from it because theyre afraid of controversy and conflict. Shahid also criticized Pelosi on Twitter for her comments about Ocasio-Cortez, a lawmaker his group helped elect. On Sunday, Pelosi issued a statement saying she spoke with the House sergeant-at-arms to ensure that U.S. Capitol Police would keep Omar safe amid new death threats following Trumps attacks and Saturday conversations with law enforcement. Omar thanked Pelosi for her statement. On Monday, Pelosi called Trump's actions "wrong," saying, "I don't think any president of the United States should use the tragedy of 9/11 as a political tool." The level of outrage among liberals varies. While many lawmakers have privately criticized Pelosi about her response to Omar, few would go on the record a sign of either deep respect for her long-held position or fear of reprisal. Even several of Omars friends in Congress declined to give interviews on the topic Monday. Indeed, liberals in recent days have chosen not to fight Pelosi on a number of battles. While the congressional Progressive Caucus last week sank a leadership-backed budget bill, it's passage was not critical, allowing the left to send a warning to leadership without burning bridges or scuttling a must-pass bill. Liberals at the same time stood down after vowing to fight legislation benefiting the lucrative tax preparation industry last week. They also have yet to follow up their criticism of a recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee policy banning strategists who work for those challenging incumbents in primaries, what they've deemed a "blacklist." Pelosi, in the meantime, doesn't appear interested in changing her strategy. In a recent Washington Post interview, she spoke at length about how she doesn't think her caucus is any more liberal than it was before the 2018 election, despite the influx of lawmakers such as Ocasio-Cortez and Omar. The 2020 presidential candidates may be more liberal, she allowed, but "in our caucus we've always been progressive." But our agenda is one that worked in all the districts, she said. Lower health-care costs, bigger paychecks, cleaner government. So, no, I mean, there are a few people who are espousing a more progressive public position, it doesnt mean that other people support or oppose it. Its how to get it done. FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke speaks at EPA headquarters in Washington. Zinke has landed a more than $100,000-a-year job with a Nevada gold-mining firm. Zinke confirmed by phone Tuesday, April 16, he has accepted a consulting and board position with U.S. Gold Corp., a company with business before Zinke's former agency, the Interior Department. Read more BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is quickly parlaying his time in President Donald Trump's cabinet into a lucrative private career. Hes landed a more than $100,000-a-year post at a Nevada mining company and is pursuing involvement in natural gas exports that have surged under Trump, Zinke told the Associated Press Tuesday. The rapid transition from the highest levels of the executive branch to the corporate boardroom is raising questions about possible conflicts of interest. It comes fewer than four months after Zinke left a Cabinet position overseeing the countrys oil and gas, coal, and other natural resources and those companies that profit off their extraction. Zinke told AP that his work for Nevada-based U.S. Gold Corp., which focuses on mining exploration and development, would not constitute lobbying. But the company's CEO cited Zinke's "excellent relationship" with the Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department in explaining his hiring as a consultant and board member. "We're excited to have Secretary Zinke help move us forward" on two pending mining projects, in Nevada and Wyoming, Edward Karr, head of U.S. Gold Corp., said by phone. The Nevada project, known as Keystone, is on bureau land. A 2017 executive order from Trump said executive-branch appointees cannot lobby their former agency for at least five years after leaving their government post. Separately, criminal statutes impose one and two-year bans on various kinds of communications between senior federal officials and their former agency, said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit ethics-watchdog. Zinke, who left Interior in January amid ethics allegations, said he sees no conflict in his new role and will have no direct contact with his former colleagues at the agency. "I don't lobby," he said. "I just follow the law, so I don't talk to anybody on the executive side or influence" anyone. Zinke described the inside knowledge he gained at the helm of Interior as an asset as he moves into the corporate world. I understand the process. Theres very few former state senators, congressmen, and secretaries that know more about the process than I do, said Zinke, who served in the Montana Legislature and the U.S. House before being appointed to lead Interior. The purpose of federal lobbying freezes by recently departed senior officials is to make sure theres a cooling-off period so the former agency is not subject to the influence of their former head, Canter said. Given the restrictions, she said Karr's comment on Zinke's good relationship with Interior "just raises questions about what he meant." Zinke previously took two other jobs since leaving Interior: a consultant for Artillery One, a North Carolina-based private investment company, and an adviser to the Washington lobbying firm Turnberry Solutions. At U.S. Gold, Zinke will receive a total of $114,000 a year in cash and stock as a board member and under a one-year consulting contract, Karr said. He will also receive up to $120,000 a year in expenses, according to a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Zinke has a degree in geology from the University of Oregon. He never worked professionally in the field, instead becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL. But he said his education and political involvement in Montana mining projects would be useful at his new company. Regarding natural gas exports, Zinke described his interest in the industry only broadly and declined to disclose any company or entities he's working with. Demand for the fuel has surged in the past two years, driven in part by rising consumption in China and South Korea. Meanwhile, domestic markets are being saturated by the huge amounts of fuel coming out of the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, Zinke said. So were looking at overseas markets for LNG [liquefied natural gas], he said. With LNG, its better to ship products made in America with our environmental regulations than watching it get produced overseas with none. He added that hes involved in some wind [energy] as well. I think the energy piece, made in America, is important. As Interior secretary, Zinke in 2018 floated the prospect of using U.S. military bases or other government installations on the West Coast to facilitate the export of coal and natural gas to Asia. The idea was denounced by Democrats and environmentalists and never appeared to gain much traction within the administration. It's uncertain if it's still alive. During Zinke's time at Interior, the agency's inspector general investigated his decision to stop a major study into the health effects of coal mining, as well as his travel and other issues. Jim Dutton with Path to Justice, his first novel in a trilogy. Courtesy When it comes to authentic narrative, Jim Dutton is the real deal. This longtime Del Mar resident had an impressive career as a lifelong prosecutor. He retired five years ago from that profession and has now started a new career as a professional novelist, creatively incorporating many of his past experiences into his fiction. As an attorney in the Special Prosecutions Unit of the California Attorney Generals Office in San Diego for 24 years, Dutton tried some major cases in federal court, including the first Richard Tuite trial where 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe was the victim. National television shows including Cold Case, 48 Hours, and Forensic Files have featured his murder trials. Dutton was also Chief of the California Attorney Generals Money Laundering Program for 20 years and has written money laundering and financial investigation legislation that is currently California law. He was also the human trafficking representative for the San Diego Office of the California Attorney Generals Office for 20 years and testified before Congress several times on that subject. News photo from the San Diego Union-Tribune, on April 28, 2004, showing Jim Dutton at the Tuite trial. Courtesy Dutton decided to use all that real-world knowledge as creative fodder for a trilogy of legal thriller novels hes been working on since retiring. His first, Path to Justice, has been published and is available on Amazon. His second, Path to Revenge, has been written but not yet published. His third novel, Path to Redemption, is still being written. His publisher is AuthorHouse, a self-publishing company. The main character in his novels, a crusty prosecutor named Nick Drummond, is an amalgamation of Dutton himself and a collection of the prosecutors hes worked with in the past. Path to Justice exposes the harsh realities and necessary sacrifices to build a case against a ruthless Mexican drug cartel, Baja Norte Familia, from the investigation to the trial. Path to Revenge begins with Drummond facing a grand jury indictment for murder for his role in the death of the escaped cartel leader. And the third in the trilogy, Path to Redemption, will focus on human trafficking of victims from India and East Africa both areas in which Dutton has traveled extensively. During his legal career, Dutton had a front-row seat to justice and uses that in his writing. Many of the legal anecdotes or incidents in the novels are derived from personal experience--either in the courtroom or during investigations, Dutton says. The dialogue flowed because I have been around prosecutor and police interaction and banter for most of my legal career. The investigative and trial strategies are based on my personal experience and judgment. Readers will find local references to San Diego and Del Mar woven throughout his writing as well, including Jakes in Del Mar, Opening Day at the Del Mar Racetrack, Point Loma and the beaches of North County. Dutton has also traveled extensively, visiting more than 60 countries in his lifetime, and he includes references to places hes been throughout his novels. Dutton tends to be drawn to adventure when traveling hes climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, stepped over a deadly coral snake in the Amazon jungle, and skied the Himalayas in Kashmir, India. Dutton just finished a trip to Yellowstone National Park where he shot photos of wolves in the Lamar Valley. Dutton lives with his wife, two sons, and their dog, Wylie Coyote. Fatima Farheen Mirza made a deal with her father - she could go to college if she studied medicine. She enrolled in pre-med courses, but a creative writing class captured her imagination, and gave her a true focus for her studies. In the class, at age 18, she began sketching out the scenes that would eventually form the heart of her 2018 novel, A Place for Us, which became a NewYork Times bestseller. A few months into her freshman year at UC Riverside, Mirza switched her major to creative writing with a minor in journalism. I knew I wanted to dedicate my time to (writing). You cant do it half-heartedly, she said. Mirza was the featured speaker at the April 11 meeting of the Rancho Santa Fe Literary Society, held at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar Resort. Her book was the first to be published by SJP for Hogarth, the new imprint of actress and producer Sarah Jessica Parker. In an interview before her talk, Mirza said she worked on the book for about eight years, through both college and graduate study at the Iowa Writers Workshop. Along the way, she worked at a variety of jobs, including waitressing, babysitting and tutoring. After Iowa, she moved to New York City, and now lives in Brooklyn. Mirza was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, of an Indian father and British-Indian mother. Her grandparents lived with the family when she was growing up, teaching Mirza and her three younger brothers both the Urdu language and the familys Muslim religious beliefs. The novel centers around the wedding celebration for the oldest daughter of an Indian-American family, and the return home of the brides brother for the first time in three years. Mirza said the family dynamics, culture and religion were drawn from her own childhood experiences, but the characters were entirely fictional. She said she began by imagining her characters, and the story grew around them. I became a writer because I wanted to write this novel, she said. I wanted to do justice to their story, she said of her five main characters, the two parents and three children in her fictional family. I was subconsciously trying to understand the place Id come from. As the novel opens, the hall is filling for the wedding. Amar, the familys estranged son, greets the arriving guests. There, beneath the golden glow of the chandeliers and surrounded by the bright colors of the womens dresses, Amar thought maybe he had been right to come. He could convince them all the familiar faces, his mother who he sensed checking on him as she moved about, his father who maintained his distance he could even convince himself, that he belonged here, that he could wear the suit and play the part, be who he had been before, and assume his role tonight as brother of the bride. Among her motivations for writing the novel, said Mirza, is that she wanted to explore the relationships between the three siblings. While much in literature examines romantic love, she said, there are fewer examples of books that focus on the love between siblings. Mirza said she has kept busy in recent months in the classroom -- she teaches creative writing at New York University, and reading to middle school students along with traveling both in the U.S. and in Europe to promote her book. Im ready for it to quiet down, she said. I need quiet space to begin writing again and Im looking forward to that. Mirza said she hasnt yet started on a new novel, although she recently published a piece in a collection of essays. I want to wait until I feel I really have something to say, and not just because I like speaking, Mirza said. 10 Players Will Win Free Trips to Las Vegas in the WSOP Vegas Guest List Promotion for the WSOP 50th Anniversary April 15, 2019 Matthew Pitt The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has a fantastic social poker site that allows you to play poker cash games and tournaments. Until Apr. 20, players at the WSOP social poker site have the chance to win a luxury, all-inclusive free trip to fabulous Las Vegas and attend the WSOP Main Event! Check out the 2019 WSOP Vegas Guest List Sweepstakes promotion today and see if you can win yourself a free trip for two to Las Vegas during the upcoming WSOP festival. Vegas trip winners will have flights and transportation paid for by WSOP, get to stay in the world-renowned Caesars Palace, get to meet WSOP champions and the legendary commentators Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, and gain backstage access to the WSOP Main Event! The luxury all-inclusive package includes and allows you to: Two-night weekend stay for two guests at the world-renowned Caesars Palace Flights, meal and transportation expenses for two guests provided Backstage access to the WSOP Main Event Hang out with WSOP champions Meet legendary commentators Norman Chad and Lon McEachern Players from the 50 United States and the District of Colombia, plus all of Canada except for the Province of Quebec are eligible to enter the WSOP Vegas Guest List Sweepstakes. Once you've headed to the WSOP Guest List website, you are invited to fill in some personal details and confirm you are a resident of the US or Canada and are 21-years of age or older. Once these few details have been entered, you will receive a sweepstake entry. The way to earn entries is by playing on the Play WSOP social poker site. You can earn more entries by ranking up, clubbing up, or purchasing more chips. The more entries you have in the sweepstake, the better your chances are of winning a Las Vegas trip! The sweepstakes takes place over the course of 10 days, with a draw at the end to determine the 10 winners, one for each day of the event. Do not miss out on the chance to win your way to Las Vegas, it is completely free after all and who wouldnt love a free trip to the wonderful place they call Sin City? Unibet Open Heads to London From May 23-26; Paris Confirmed April 15, 2019 Matthew Pitt The second stop on the 2019 Unibet Open tour takes place a The Poker Room above the iconic Grosvenor Victoria Casino in the heart of London from May 23-26. If previous editions of this popular event are anything to go by, those competing in the Unibet Open London Main Event are in for a treat. This will be the eighth time that the Unibet Open has stopped off in London. Thanh Doan won the inaugural Unibet Open London Main Event in 2009, topping a field of 266 players to get his hands on 187,000. That event had a 2,750 buy-in, but the Unibet Open tour is now more affordable and accessible to players with a buy-in of 990. Andreas Wiborg is the reigning champion having triumphed in 2018, outlasting 348-opponents to secure a 56,807 first-place prize and a place in the Unibet Open history books. Unibet Open London History Year Buy-in Entries Prize Pool Winner Prize 2009 2,750 266 584,910 Thanh Doan 187,000 2010 1,650 273 255,000 Paul Valkenburg 109,550 2012 1,320 315 378,000 Pratik Ghatge 85,050 2014 1,100 399 319,200 Iaron Lightbourne 70,000 2016 825 418 313,500 Dave Shallow 62,000 2017 990 419 377,100 [Removed:158] 71,950 2018 990 349 314,100 Andreas Wiborg 56,807 Unibet Open Malta and Unibet Open Paris The Unibet Open heads to sunny Malta from Sep. 11-15 for the penultimate leg of the 2019 tour and the organizers have just announced the fourth and final stop will take place in Paris between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1. Paris has hosted a Unibet Open Main Event once before, back in 2012. Polands Jarosalw Barglik emerged victorious on that occasion, defeating Swedens Kent Lundmark heads-up to lock up the title and an impressive 140,539 first-place prize. Win Your Way to the Unibet Open Events You can qualify for all Unibet Open Main Events online at Unibet Poker. Download Unibet Poker via PokerNews and you will receive a welcome bonus worth up to 200. The bonus is released into your account when you hit specific rake amounts as shown in the table below: Level Rake Cash reward Reward % 1 2 1 50% 2 10 4 40% 3 50 15 30% 4 150 40 27% 5 588 140 25% Also part of the welcome package are entries to four weekly 500 freeroll tournaments, which run on Sundays, an 8 cash game ticket and four 4 Unibet Open tickets. 614 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Ari Melber busted Donald Trump and attorney general William Barr on Monday for using the holiday weekend to distract from the release of special counsel Robert Muellers report. As Jason Easley wrote earlier, the redacted version of the Mueller report is set to be released this Thursday just before Good Friday, Passover and Easter. According to the MSNBC host, Barr knows exactly what hes doing by releasing the report when he is because its something hes done for a previous president. Burying controversial moves around the holidays is a go-to Washington move because it works, Melber said. It works even if you get called out for it, because while youre getting called out for it, many people are understandably busy with the holiday so they hear less about you getting called out for it. Video: Ari Melber points out the questionable timing of the release of the redacted Mueller report. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/OfsOCylSmZ PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 16, 2019 Melber said: Any one of those moves in isolation you might dismiss, just like you might dismiss this apparently obviously curious announcement that hes going to drop the report on the eve of major holidays. Alone, you might dismiss that. You might give it benefit of the doubt. Take it all together, though, and the scrutiny intensifies, because burying controversial moves around the holidays is a go-to Washington move, because it works. It works even if you get called out for it, because while youre getting called out for it, many people are understandably busy with the holiday so they hear less about you getting called out for it. That was the case when President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio on a Friday night, heading into a hurricane, if you remember. And that was the case when President Bush pardoned six people for Iran-Contra on Christmas Eve in 92. People knew what the move was, but that was the timing, because that stuff does work. Now that was ultimately President Bushs call, a call that he was advised on by then-attorney general Bill Barr. Bill Barr knows exactly what hes doing As Ari Melber pointed out on Monday, the attorney general knows exactly what hes doing because hes done it before. In 1992, he advised then-President George H.W. Bush to hand out half a dozen pardons related to the Iran-Contra scandal. The longer Barr holds this post under Donald Trump, the more he looks not like the nations top law enforcement officer, but the presidents most loyal political shield. And its important to remember that the attorney general is making these extraordinary efforts to distract from the redacted version of the report. In other words, whats being released on Thursday isnt even the full thing. If this is what Bill Barr is willing to do to keep public attention away from what is essentially his version of the Mueller report, just imagine how damaging the unredacted document must be. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter 1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a decade of personal tax returns, and they show that the presidential candidate is in the top 1% of earners. Sen. Sanders said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate. I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity. That is why I strive every day to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life, including a livable wage, decent housing, health care and retirement security. I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people. The 2016 presidential campaign made Sen. Sanders a millionaire, but he also paid more in taxes: NEW: @BernieSanders releases ten years of tax returns. Adjusted gross income & effective tax rate took a jump after his presidential campaign: 2018: $561k | 26% 2017: $1.13m | 30% 2016: $1.06m | 35% 2015: $240k | 15% 2014: $205k | 13.4% Adam Kelsey (@adamkelsey) April 15, 2019 There are 2 political reasons for Sanders to release his tax returns. First, the millionaire Bernie criticism was picking up traction and undercutting some of Sanderss message. The campaign is clearly trying to deal with Sen. Sanderss wealth in a head-on way because questions about his wealth go to the heart of the credibility of his populist message. The Sanders campaign went out of their way to explain that their candidate pays his fair share and is nothing like the people who he criticizes on the campaign trail. Secondly, Sanders doesnt want to give Trump any cover. As high profile Democrats like Kamala Harris release 15 years of tax returns, it was important for Sanders not only to keep up with his competition for the Democratic nomination but also to make sure that Trump cant use Sanders as an excuse not to release his own returns. Bernie Sanders is a one percenter, but does it matter? Sanderss tax return do hurt the myth of the ragtag populist warrior, but lots of Democrats who were liberal have been rich. FDR was rich, but he is the founding father of the modern Democratic Party. LBJ was rich and he gave the country Medicare. John F. Kennedy was rich. Democratic primary voters will decide if Sanderss income matters to them. Sanders is a polarizing figure on the left, so minds were made up long ago before his tax returns were ever released. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 2.9k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Experts are warning that Attorney General William Barr is expected to censor and not make public 50%-70% of the Mueller report. Barr expected to censor more than half of Mueller report Frank Figliuzzi said on MSNBC, We should be looking back at his statements that give us a clue as to what were in for. He has used the phrase, this first pass in reference to what he is going to first give Congress. That implies this will not be a good faith first effort. He is prepped for a kind of battle of back and forth negotiations. Lets look for what percentage of the so-called 400-page report has actual redaction through it. Experts have been saying look for anywhere from 50% to 70% to be redacted. I will be focussed on any evidence of intentions. Will we see a memo, a legal brief from a report that says I think this should go to Congress? Im looking for that as we flip through the pages on Thursday. Video: Barr is about to Easter news dump a report with most of the information missing William Barr is dumping the report on the day before the Easter weekend holiday. However, Barr isnt likely to be content with dumping the report when fewer people are paying attention. The Attorney General is also going to censor the report so that what the public and Congress actually get on Thursday may have the most important pieces of information missing. The president couldnt ask for a better burying of the report. It would be wise to not be disappointed if the Barr redacted report contains few bombshells. Democrats are going to sue to get the full report, as what William Barr and Trump are trying to pull is not going to cut it with congressional investigators and the American people. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 23.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whose company was recently granted sanctions relief by Trump and Mitch McConnell is now planning to invest $200 million in McConnells home state of Kentucky. Russian Oligarch To Invest In Mitch McConnells Home State The Wall Street Journal reported, Russian aluminum giant United Co. Rusal plans to invest $200 million in a Kentucky rolling mill that would be the largest new aluminum plant built in the U.S. in nearly four decades. The plant, which startup Braidy Industries Inc. plans to open next year in Ashland, Ky., is the largest project being pursued in the domestic aluminum industry under the Trump administrations 10% duty on imports of the metal, imposed a year ago. It would also draw more imports into the U.S. because the mill would roll aluminum slabs from abroad into thin sheets for the auto industry. Watch Sarah Jones discuss McConnell and Russia on Politicus News: As investigative journalist Julia Davis noted: Rusal Oleg Deripaska's company that was recently granted sanctions relief by Treasury plans to invest $200 million in a Kentucky rolling mill that would be the largest new aluminum plant built in the U.S. in nearly four decades. #Russia https://t.co/r3w80hG72Y Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) April 15, 2019 Mitch McConnell helps Russia, and Kentucky gets investment In January, McConnell barely was able to stop a Democratic effort to reimpose the sanctions on Deripaska that Trump had rolled back. Mitch McConnell kept the sanctions from being reimposed and now he is getting his payoff. This is one of the easier forms of Russia/Republican corruption that one will ever see. McConnell enabled the Russian attack on US democracy in 2016 by refusing to stand with Obama in denouncing Russian efforts to manipulate the presidential election. It isnt just Donald Trump. The Russians have bought themselves a political party, and the Senate Majority Leader is getting rewarded for his loyalty to mother Russia. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 3.6k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard As if any of us needed another reminder of just how unsuited Donald Trump is to hold the presidency, he gave us one on Monday as a fire was ripping through the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. In response to the devastating blaze, Trump didnt offer words of sympathy or grief. Instead, he appointed himself fire expert and lectured French first responders. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out, the president said in a tweet, as if he just discovered that water is used to put out fires. Must act quickly! So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 While the world has become accustomed to Trumps harebrained responses to major international events, its still important to repeatedly point out just how bizarrely inappropriate they are. It may no longer be surprising that Trump behaves this way on a day-to-day basis, but we should never stop acknowledging just how abnormal and unpresidential it is. Meanwhile, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stepped up Even though the pundit president in the Oval Office left much to be desired in his initial reaction to the tragic blaze in Paris, former President Barack Obama and should-be-President Hillary Clinton stepped up to the plate to fill the leadership vacuum. In his response, Obama shared a picture of one of his visits to Notre Dame, and said, [W]ere thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. pic.twitter.com/SpMEvv1BzB Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2019 Striking a similarly presidential tone, Hillary Clinton said her heart goes out to Paris, adding that the cathedral is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purposeto build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own. My heart goes out to Paris. Notre Dame is a symbol of our ability as human beings to unite for a higher purposeto build breathtaking spaces for worship that no one person could have built on their own. I wish France strength and shared purpose as they grieve and rebuild. Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 15, 2019 What happened in Paris on Monday is devastating not just for the people of France but for the entire world. While the current U.S. president is unwilling and unable to rise to such occasions and deliver an appropriate message of unity and empathy and grief, it was reassuring that his predecessor and Democratic opponent in 2016 the woman who won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes were able to fill the void. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter 1.9k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) suggested that there might be an indictment waiting for Donald Trump as soon as he leaves office. The House Intelligence Committee chairman told Newsweek: I presume the only reason the Justice Department didnt take action against Individual 1 is that he is the president of the United States, and he is not subject to indictment. That is not going to be the case when he leaves office. One of the arguments I have been making is that the Justice Department needs to reconsider the policy against indictment of a sitting president in circumstances where the statute of limitations may toll prior to that person leaving office. It may be wise to stay the prosecution or trial. I have been making that argument publicly. Most of the OLC [Office of Legal Counsel within the Justice Department] opinions of the past analyzed the question of whether you can encumber the presidents time by putting him through a trial. Theres been very little talk about whether you can postpone a trial. The only argument against that would be whether you place a stigma over a president before they leave office. But that ship has already sailed. Federal prosecutors in New York already identified an Individual 1 who was known to be the president of the United States. So whatever the additional stigma of formally naming the president in an indictment is, weighed against the interest of justice that no one escapes the law because of holding office, I think militates toward indictment and staying prosecution. Rep. Schiff has been advocating that a president should not be able to use his office to run out the clock on the statute of limitations, which is a point that Sarah Jones has been making on her Politicus News show: Schuff is suggesting that there may be a potential indictment waiting for Trump as soon as he steps foot outside of the White House as a private citizen. Schiff is right. No president should be able to escape justice, and if the voters do their jobs in 2020, Individual 1 could go from the White House to the big house. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Faceb 667 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard House Judiciary Committee Democrats have called acting DHS Secretary McAleenan to testify about being offered a pardon by Trump in exchange for breaking immigration laws. The Washington Post reported: In a new letter, they demand that McAleenan make himself available to the committee for questioning about this matter. And theyre also looking into reports that Trump also pressured his former DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, to close the border in violation of the law. Her refusal to do so was one reason that Trump ousted her. Democrats request the following information: 1. A list identifying all Department employees present for your meeting with President Trump in Calexico, California on or around April 5, 2019 2. A list identifying all Department employees present for President Trumps April 5, 2019 meeting with border patrol agents, including but not limited to any DHS personnel instructed by President Trump to not let migrants into the country. 3. Documents and communications relating to Secretary Nielsens meeting with President Trump on or about March 21, 2019 to discuss reinstating the zero-tolerance policy and closing the U.S. Mexico border at El Paso, Texas. The letter also demands that any of these others who might have witnessed these conversations should be prepared to testify as well. Democrats see a pattern of Trump using pardons or offers of pardons as a way to get around the law. The behavior goes beyond immigration. Trump has consistently floated pardons in the Russia scandal and other scandals to buy the silence or cooperation of others. In the case of the border, the president told border patrol agents to violate the law and then lie to a judge. The White House claims that Trump is joking, but this president has a consistent habit of joking about letting people off the hook who commit crimes for him. Democrats are investigating whats really going on because abuse of pardon power to encourage or cover up crimes is an impeachable offense. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 257 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Last Friday, the president of the United States waged war on the First Amendment unlike anything Ive witnessed. It gets more twisted because Trumps weapon of choice was an abuse of the First Amendment. Its the sort of thing we saw happen in the Balkans during the 1990s and read about happening in the Soviet Union. It resembled the rhetoric of dying authoritarianism I remember seeing in Poland, ironically, while I was taking a course on human rights. We saw it when Andrew Breitbart edited a speech by Shirley Sherrod to the point of distorting the content and intent of her words. But, this is the first time in my recollection that a president incited hatred against a member of Congress. Personal attacks yes, spin yes. But this video was one long deception. Everything from the mischaracterization of CAIR, to the way Omars comments were taken out of context was intended to incite hatred, against Omar and her family. But its even more sinister than that because Trump used this video to expand on an Islamophobic narrative about Muslims and 9/11 that he has been exploiting for years. And more broadly, he used it to expand on his desperate attempt to portray the Democratic Party as Anti-Jewish. Before we go any further, this is the same Donald Trump who described the white supremacists in Charlottesville as very fine people. He is the same Donald Trump who has used anti-Semitism tropes on more than one occasion and whose party had several neo-Nazi candidates in 2018. Jews dont need the likes of Donald Trump to tell us who our friends are, or which party is sympathetic to us. You may have heard about the video Donald Trump tweeted that interspersed extracts of a speech by Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with the horrific images of 9/11 in a manner that portrayed Omar as insufficiently outraged. The fact that Trump was willing to exploit 9/11 already says volumes about his character but, there is no way he didnt have some level of anticipation the video wouldnt outrage his volatile base. Here is the unedited version of Omars speech: The specific sentence that Trump used to manipulate public opinion was: 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. Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler walks us through the anatomy of contemporary propaganda techniques that were used to target Congresswoman Omar for death threats and abuses that Trump has long conditioned his supporters to engage in against anyone who questions his power, his authority or his warped perception of reality. Omars speech became a thing because a self-described Imam of peace in Australia tweeted, Ilhan Omar mentons 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. 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. Imam Mohamad Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) April 9, 2019 He got several facts wrong. CAIR is an civil rights group, founded in 1994 and modeled to be like the ADL. It is not a terrorist organization and any suggestion that it is really amounts to an attack on the civil liberties of people whose rights the organization was established to protect. That got retweeted by Republican member of Congress Dan Crenshaw who added the following comment, just to get those peace juices flowing: First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as some people who did something. 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 And the rest, as they say, is history. Like most of Trumps scams, he did succeed in inspiring his base. The death threats against Omar have increased since Trump released the video. Ill be the first to admit that, while the comment Trump excited his base about was taken out of context, the Congresswomen did, I think, make some offensive comments in the past. Omars speech may upset and offend, but it is protected speech. This makes Trumps attempt to inspire his followers to terrorize Congresswoman Omar all the more disturbing, especially given some of his other activities last week like offering a bribe to officials to break the law. And while it is true that Trump is attacking the freshman class of representatives, especially women of color, that isnt his endgame. Ilhan Omar serves a dual purpose to Donald Trump. Throughout his political career, Donald Trump exploited peoples fears and hatred of Muslims. By taking Omars speech out of context in the name of presenting her as insufficiently respectful of the horror of 9/11, Trump abused the First Amendment. In reality, this was as much Trump waging war on the First Amendment. True, Omar isnt the most sympathetic character. She offends Islamophobes by her very being, as a Muslim woman of color. This is the latest in a string of controversial remarks, including some that have been characterized as anti-Semitic. Hoping to distract from the latest in many years of racist comments by Steve King, Republicans welcome the opportunity to use Omar to drag Democrats down in the xenophobic muck with them. While this is awful enough, the concern goes beyond Trump stoking the fires of Islamophobia. By attacking Omar as he did, the way he did, Trump is exhibiting yet another aspect of authoritarianism. Namely, the idea that he and he alone decides who deserves civil rights like the right to free speech and who doesnt. Trump is counting on us being less concerned about Omars civil liberties by painting her as an unsympathetic character. Ironically, he uses an over-inclusion fallacy to justify taking rights away from a person and a group he has portrayed as unsympathetic. In short, Trump is using deceit to incite hatred. As Greg Sargent observed on the Plum Line: As Peter Beinart argues, Omar is urging American Muslims to be citizens, that is, to be politically active in resisting discrimination and in their defense of their rights as Americans. I want to take this a step further and argue that its this idea that Trump and his allies really object to. Crenshaw, oozing a slimy trail of bad faith and phony sanctimony, claims the charge of incitement is meant to silence critics of Omar. Omars life is at greater risk, as are the lives of her young children, because of Donald Trumps tweet than it was before that tweet. Perhaps for Trump this is all about distracting attention from the redacted version of the Mueller Report, which is expected to be released on Thursday. Its Congresswoman Omar and her young family who woke up to increased security because of the increased death threats inspired by Donald Trump. Speaker Pelosi assessed the situation as dire enough to warrant increased security for the Congresswoman and her family. Speaker Pelosi urged the president to take the tweet down, given that the president is not supposed to threaten American citizens, including his critics and members of Congress who are in the opposing party. But, the excitability of people Trump incites with his Islamophobic rhetoric is another factor. The Islamophobic component of Trumps motive to tweet that propaganda video is supported by Trumps rhetoric over the years and his policies including his Muslim ban. Ill concede that theres a speculative component to my assertion that Trump is using Omar to wage war on the First Amendment. But if we look at the examples of growing authoritarianism, it begins with taking rights away from unsympathetic people and groups and expands until the only people with rights are the dictator and to a lesser degree his family. It means reacting to Trumps actions will not be enough to stop our descent into tyranny. We must get ahead of his actions to have any hope of stopping him. 976 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Mayor Pete Buttigieg has seen his national support grow for the fourth straight week as he is moving closer to the top tier of Democratic candidates. Pete Buttigieg has growing momentum Morning Consults Political Intelligence: The State Of The Democratic Primary Report found now at 7% of the national vote. This marks his fourth straight week of growth. In the last six weeks, Pete Buttigiegs vote share among Democratic primary voters earning more than $100k has risen from 1% to 11%. Buttigieg is the only Democratic candidate to see his support grow over the past week by more than one point. Mayor Pete is now tied with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). He is one point behind Beto ORourke (8%) and two points behind Sen. Kamala Harris (9%). Buttigieg came into the campaign lacking the platform and name recognition of the candidates that the is keeping company with, which is what makes his rise all the more impressive. The rest of the Democratic field is flat Former vice president Joe Biden hasnt announced his candidacy yet, so it will be interesting to see if he gets a bounce by officially entering the field, but he remains the leader at 31%. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seems to have a ceiling on his support, as he is in second place at 23%. The study also shows that Sanders would be greatly helped by Biden not running. Without Biden, Sanders would be the clear frontrunner. The rest of the Democratic field doesnt have much momentum. The first Democratic debate is still months away, and Iowa is even further off. Mayor Petes momentum is real, and his next big opportunity will come in late June at the debate. Buttigieg still has a long way to go to catch Biden and Sanders, but he is definitely the out of nowhere contender on the rise in the Democratic field. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook 279 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) The U.S. Interior Departments inspector general office has opened a probe into recently-confirmed Secretary David Bernhardt on several allegations, including conflict of interest, it said in a letter to lawmakers on Monday. Mary Kendall, the Interior Departments deputy inspector general, told Senator Ron Wyden in a letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, that it received seven complaints from a wide assortment of complainants alleging various potential conflict of interest and other violations when he was deputy secretary of the department. Kendall said her office had opened an investigation and was continuing to gather information about the complaints. She did not detail the other complaints against Bernhardt, a Republican. Wyden and Senator Mazie Hirono, both Democrats, had urged the inspector general in separate requests to investigate allegations that Bernhardt had inappropriately blocked a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assessment of the effect of pesticides on several endangered species. The service is an office of the Interior Department. Bernhardt, a former energy lobbyist, was confirmed by the Senate last week in a 56 to 41 vote. He replaced Ryan Zinke who resigned under a cloud of ethics investigations. Wyden, who had pushed for a delay in Bernhardts confirmation vote, had also asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Bernhardt was in violation of lobbying disclosure laws. We now have an Interior Secretary who has been on the job for one full business day and is already under investigation, Wyden said. With Bernhardts track record and the number of allegations against him, its no surprise. At least now, the American people will finally get the answers they deserve. Bernhardts critics, including environmental groups, have said his previous work as a lobbyist could risk conflicts of interest, unless he recuses himself from certain issues, because he worked for companies that could benefit by opening up lands to development. The Interior Department, which employs more than 70,000 people and oversees more than 20 percent of the U.S. land surface, has been central to President Donald Trumps energy dominance policy of boosting energy production. Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said Bernhardt is in complete compliance with his ethics agreement and all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Vander Voort also said that the ethics office at the department had already reviewed many of the accusations at Bernhardts request and determined that he was in compliance with his ethics agreement and all laws. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Bill Berkrot) Charleston, SC (29403) Today A few clouds. Areas of patchy fog. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight A few clouds. Areas of patchy fog. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chloe Johnson covers the coastal environment and climate change for the Post and Courier. She's always looking for a good excuse to hop on a boat. Sen. Chip Campsen speaks to the crowd at a rally against off-shore drilling held at the Statehouse in Columbia on February 13, 2018. File/John A. Carlos II/Special to The Post and Courier 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. Political Reporter Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work. Apart from the day being one of the most significant in the Christian calendar, Easter brings all sorts of additional trappings church services, of course, but add to that Easter egg hunts, jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, Peeps, Easter baskets and brunches. Aside from the sweets, there has always been a close association with certain foods eggs, lamb and ham among them. The significance of these goes back hundreds if not thousands of years, for some as far back as Pagan rituals. More recently, Easter morning also means a special bread on the table, likely from a family recipe that has been passed through generations, often steeped in the culinary and religious traditions of different ethnic groups. These are far more than just good things to eat. In many countries, Christian symbolism is attached to the making and shaping of the dough. Bread in the shape of a dove is popular in southern Italy and potica is served on Palm Sunday in Poland. Whether Italian, Greek, Russian, German or Polish, these breads have much in common. All are made with yeast, are sweet and full of eggs, butter, fruits, nuts and spices. They also require kneading the dough and several rises, usually two. Some are baked in molds or round pans, others are formed into shapes like a wreath or a braid. The different flavors and shapes are what distinguish them and set them apart. A tasty example is the Greek tsoureki, which calls for a spice called mahleb, the ground kernel of the wild cherry stone. (In recipes, I saw nutmeg was suggested as a substitution, though mahleb is available online). The Polish babka is sometimes laced with a rum syrup. What caught my eye were the breads with colored eggs, usually red, baked into the top of the dough. ADVERTISEMENT In our country, hot cross buns are the most common now. Nearly every grocery store and bakery has its own version. A sweet dough usually studded with currants, candied citrus, spices and topped with an icing cross, of the specialty breads these may be the easiest to bake. (Even I have made them with tasty results.) They are an English import, where they are served on Good Friday. Many of the breads also come with special traditions. In Ukraine, Paska is brought to church the night before Easter to be blessed by the priest, then served the next morning to break the fast. The Russian Kulich is one of the first foods to be eaten to break the Lenten fast as well. A nice superstition associated with hot cross buns is that those baked on Good Friday will not go moldy, and if you share one with a friend, the friendship will grow stronger over the years. For those not inclined to bake, there are delicious options: Great Harvest Bread (706 N. Broadway) has a sweet bread called Easter Ambrosia that is filled with candied pineapple, almonds, raisins and craisins and topped with a glaze. There are also Honey Bunnies, Great Harvests famous honey wheat bread baked in the shape of a bunny. In a special partnership, a portion of the proceeds from the Honey Bunnies goes to Paws and Claws. Youll also find hot cross buns there. Daubes (1310 5th Place NW) also has many Easter temptations, including the buns, Fattigman, and Dresdener Stollen. Interestingly they also will be baking Potica next week for the Orthodox Easter celebrated then. New to the scene is Fresh Thyme Farmers Market at Miracle Mile. They, too, have hot cross buns but also are baking a braided Challah. Each of the breads require time and patience to make. They are, however, worth every second you put into them because they are delicious and a worthy reward if you were fasting during Lent. And even if you werent. ADVERTISEMENT Babka 1/2 cup lukewarm milk 3 eggs, room temperature 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 4 tablespoons softened butter 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons instant yeast ADVERTISEMENT 1/4 cup golden raisins or currants 1/4 cup candied mixed fruit, mixed peel or mixed dried fruit, chopped Rum syrup: 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup water 1-2 tablespoons rum Put everything except the fruit in a mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed until it sticks together, then increase speed to high and beat 2 minutes. Add the fruit, beating gently just to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let batter rest for about an hour. Then scoop into a greased 10-cup Bundt pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake babka 40 minutes or until an instant thermometer inserted reads at least 190. While it's baking make the syrup. Put sugar, water and rum into a small saucepan and bring to a boil, swirling in the pan until the sugar dissolves. When babka comes out of the oven using a skewer, fork or toothpick slowly pour over the surface. When it is absorbed, about 20 minutes, carefully loosen the edges and turn out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Drizzle powdered sugar icing over: 1 cup powdered sugar, pinch salt, 2 tablespoons milk. Mix all together until smooth. Easter egg bread 1/2 cup sugar 2 packages active dry yeast 1-2 teaspoons ground cardamom 1 teaspoon salt 6 to 6-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1-1/2 cups whole milk 6 tablespoons butter, cubed 3 eggs (plus one more for later) 3 to 6 hard-boiled eggs, not peeled Egg dye Canola oil (for dyed eggs) 2 tablespoons water In a large bowl combine the sugar, yeast, cardamom, salt and 2 cups flour. In a small saucepan heat milk and butter just to lukewarm (120 degrees). Add to the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Add the 3 eggs and beat on high for 2 minutes. Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough (may be sticky). Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put into a well-greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until dough is doubled, about 45-60 minutes. Meanwhile dye the hard-boiled eggs. Let them stand until they are totally dry. Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into thirds and roll each into a 24-inch rope. Place on a greased baking sheet and braid. Bring ends together to form a ring, then pinch ends together to seal. Lightly coat the dyed eggs with the oil. (This keeps the dye from going onto the dough). Arrange on braids, tucking carefully between the ropes. Cover and let rise again until doubled, about 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl whisk the remaining egg and water and brush over the dough, but NOT the eggs. Bake 30 minutes until golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Can you eat the eggs? Yes, they'll just be very cooked. More for decoration than for eating. Hot cross muffins An easy variation on those made with sweet yeast dough. 2 tablespoons rum or water 1 cup golden raisins 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoons baking powder 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1/2 cup candied citron or mixed candied fruit (optional) 2 eggs 1-1/2 cups whole milk 8 tablespoons butter, melted Preheat oven to 400. In a small bowl pour rum over the raisins and set aside. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Make a well in the middle and add soaked raisins and peel or citron. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs and milk, add the melted butter and add all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir until everything is evenly combined. Scoop into greased muffin cups, about 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Make frosting: 1-1/4 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons soft butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoons m ilk or cream. Mix until combined and smooth. When muffins are cool, frost the tops, making a cross. At 26, Allyson Lynch thought she was finally past the uncertainty of young adulthood. Shed landed a job at a new salon, built up a solid client base as a hairstylist, and was renting a house with friends. Then, in April 2014, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. No longer eligible for her parents insurance plan, Lynch applied for Medicaid. It covered most of the cost of her bilateral mastectomy, 16 rounds of chemotherapy, and breast reconstruction surgery. But the chemo compromised her immune system, and after being rushed to the hospital multiple times for infections, Lynch stopped working. Being in close contact with clients was risky, her doctor advised. With no income and little savings, Lynch had to move back in with her parents. She deferred a car loan shed recently taken out. And being away from work for nine months, she lost the client base shed been building. ADVERTISEMENT "It felt like I almost had to restart my career," said Lynch, now 31. Growing problem Cancer treatments take a financial toll on most patients, but research shows that the impact can be especially devastating for young adults who are just beginning their careers. With a lack of savings to cushion the blow and, frequently, the burden of student loans the cost of treatment or the inability to work can set them back years, studies show. It may delay their ability to live independently, buy cars or homes, and start a family. As the rates of some cancers rise among 20- and 30-year-olds, the problem is growing, experts say. "Many people do move on and make a life for themselves," said Linda A. Jacobs, director of the cancer survivorship program at the University of Pennsylvanias Abramson Cancer Center. "But it can be very difficult. It often comes down to money." A recent study on cancer survivors diagnosed between the ages of 18 and 39 found that 14 percent borrowed more than $10,000 as a result of the illness or treatment. About 1.5 percent said they or their family filed for bankruptcy. Jacobs was a co-author on the study, which included 872 participants from seven medical centers across the country. More than half of the participants said cancer treatment impaired their ability to fulfill the mental or physical demands of their jobs. "Its like pausing your life when youre in treatment," Lynch said. Five years later, shes just starting to feel like shes back on track with her career and finances. ADVERTISEMENT Others take longer, Jacobs said. "I have a number of patients who are well into their 30s and are still living at home with their parents." Lost income Young adult cancer survivors earn less than their peers and lose about $2,200 a year in productivity costs due to illness, the study authors wrote. Copays for treatments, follow-up scans, and prescription medications can rack up thousands of dollars in bills, Jacobs said. Some patients may qualify for disability pay, but thats rarely enough to live on, especially if the person has a family to support. Jamil Rivers knows that firsthand. Rivers was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 39. Over the next year, she had surgery and went through nine rounds of chemotherapy. But she never took time off work. She had three kids to support, and her husband was on disability pay after having a liver transplant nine years earlier and surviving colon cancer three years after that. "I thought it would be best for my family if I kept working," said Rivers, now 40 and a board member for Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a nonprofit. Rivers had just become chief financial officer for an education nonprofit six months before her diagnosis. She hadnt accrued leave, and was reluctant to ask for special treatment. ADVERTISEMENT The decision to stay at work helped her cover copays for scans, which ranged from $150 to $500, and prescription medications. But the family delayed any big expenses such as replacing old cars or buying a house. "It kept us in a limbo of not being able to take that next step toward independence," said Jamils husband, Fredric Rivers Jr. Reimagine your life In addition to the financial burden, experts say, one of the most jarring consequences for young adult cancer survivors is being forced to reimagine the rest of their lives. Allyson Lynch always knew she wanted to be a mom. When her doctor said cancer treatment could affect her ability to have kids, "it was crushing," she said. Chemo and radiation can cause infertility, and insurance doesnt cover the cost of harvesting or freezing eggs, which can run upward of $10,000. Lynch was able to afford the procedure only with the help of a GoFundMe page set up by her sister. She knows shes lucky. Still, Lynch said, cancer has changed her perspective on motherhood. "If Im lucky enough to have a child someday, how do I know Im not going to get cancer and die before I see them grow up?" she said. With "Game of Thrones" drawing to a close, streaming networks and cable outlets are racing to produce the next pop culture-defining blockbuster. Some echo the formula of the HBO series by drawing from existing fantasy or sci-fi novels while others draw from established franchises from the big screen. Details on most of these shows are scarce but they share a couple common traits. Like "Game of Thrones," all of these shows hope to bring the sensation of a summer movie spectacle into our living rooms, and they all bear the production price tags to match. But like the series they hope to emulate, only time will tell which of these shows is the true heir. Game of Thrones prequel Odds of winning the crown: 2/1 Network:HBO ADVERTISEMENT Premiere date:TBA Whats it about?Possibly titled "The Long Night" (at least according to George R.R. Martins Twitter feed), the series is set thousands of years before "Game of Thrones" and promises to get into some of the dark histories of Westeros as well as the origin of the White Walkers and a few past mythologies the current series has only touched upon. Whos in it?A host of British actors including Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson and Josh Whitehouse. Pros:People seem to like the source material, and this is co-created by Martin himself. Cons:People really like the source material if this doesnt hit that high bar, how long will audiences stick around? But if "Game of Thrones" doesnt stick its landing a la "Lost," its possible this show will have to do extra legwork to win fans back. Star Wars: The Mandalorian Odds of winning the crown: 3/1 Network:Disney+ ADVERTISEMENT Premiere date:Late 2019 Whats it about?Executive produced by Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"), this much-anticipated series is the first live-action spinoff from the "Star Wars" universe to come to the small screen. True to "Star Wars" tradition, little is known beyond it being set somewhere between the events of "Return of the Jedi" and "The Force Awakens" and following "a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy." Whos in it?Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell of "Game of Thrones"), Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Werner Herzog as a villain. Pros:With a new franchise release every year and a new theme park world about to open, Disney is betting audiences cant get enough "Star Wars" and it hasnt been wrong yet. Cons:Yet another monthly subscription fee for streaming audiences to go along with yet another "Star Wars" spinoff, and last years "Solo" proved that not everything "Star Wars" touches is a phenomenon. Lord of the Rings Odds of winning the crown: 4/1 Network:Amazon ADVERTISEMENT Premiere date:2021, maybe Whats it about?Hobbits, elves, orcs and the rest of J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle-earth, but details are otherwise scarce. The series is set in the Second Age, before the trilogy that began with "The Fellowship of the Ring," when evil Sauron persuaded the elves to make 16 rings to split between the rulers of men and dwarfs while Sauron created that ring that caused so much trouble later on. Whos in it?No one is saying, but given what we know about how elves age, Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett from Jacksons movies have potential for cameos. Pros:Peter Jackson proved theres a big audience for Tolkiens world, and much of the universe-building legwork is already done for the show. Plus, with Amazon reportedly projected to spend close to a billion dollars on the series production its already spent $250 million just for the rights. Cons:The prequel premise holds promise, but with two expensive and possibly definitive Tolkien trilogies already released, there is a question of whether yet another ring can unite them all. His Dark Materials Odds of winning the crown: 5/1 Network:HBO co-produces with BBC, which started work on the show in 2015 Premiere date:2019w Whats it about?Adapted from a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman, the series involves a woman named Lyra searching for a kidnapped friend. Whos in it?Dafne Keen ("Logan"), James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda Pros:The series has blockbuster-quality star power, and HBO has a bit of experience with building anticipation and buzz around a book series with a lot of clout in the fantasy community. Cons:Introducing audiences to a whole new world isnt easy, and the first book of "His Dark Materials" was already tried once with the 2007 film "The Golden Compass," which despite the star power of Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig flopped. 1994 25 years ago Amber Hall of the Rochester Mayo softball team pitched a perfect game as the Spartans dumped Albert Lea 7-0 in the teams opening Big Nine game. Hall is a senior and she struck out nine. Schools throughout Rochester took part in tornado drills in conjunction with Tornado Awareness Week in Minnesota. Since 1950, 288 tornados have touched down in Olmsted County. 1969 50 years ago Dike watching is on a 24-hour basis at Wabasha. A flood bulletin was distributed to residents asking for volunteers for dike work. ADVERTISEMENT Mrs. Thomas King, the governors daughter, will speak at the 11th annual luncheon of the Olmsted County Republican Workshop next week. Women are asked to come and meet Mr. Napoleon, the new hair stylist at Donaldsons Beauty Salon on the second floor. Napoleon will give you a Swedish Cold Perm for $8.95. 1944 75 years ago Austin Sheriff Arnold Eckhardt said that 16 well known Austin citizens were free on $10 bail each following a raid last night of the American Legion clubrooms. All of these men were playing poker. The Elks clubrooms were also raided but no shady shenanigans were found there. Pfc. John Feller, Jr., of Rochester, has been made a member of a B-24 air crew. The co-pilot of the bomber, Lt. Walter Garbisch, is also of Rochester. 1919 100 years ago Rochester music lovers are thrilled to hear that Enrico Caruso, the world famous Italian operatic tenor, will be performing in the auditorium at St. Paul. This will be Carusos only appearance west of Chicago. The funeral of little Jean Balfour will be tomorrow afternoon. The body will arrive here tomorrow accompanied by the bereaved parents. ADVERTISEMENT The Austin School Board and Superintendent Wheeler of Austin schools visited Rochester schools today. They praised the system as one of the best in the state. From news services Five years ago More than 300 people, mostly students, died when a South Korean ferry, the Sewol, sank while en route from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju; 172 people survived. One year ago: The New York Times and The New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal with reporting that galvanized the #MeToo movement. American pastor Andrew Brunson went on trial in Turkey in a case that strained ties between that country and the United States; he denied accusations that he aided terror groups or spied against Turkey. Adalid Zavala had been receiving regular paychecks for months for construction labor when, toward the end of the job, the checks stopped. Zavala had experienced this before, but held out hope this job, working for a subcontractor at River Glen Apartments in Rochester, would be different. "They said, just finish this, and well get you your pay," Zavala said through an interpreter. He worked for more than a month and the pay never came. About 39,000 Minnesotans miss out each year on nearly $12 million in compensation from employers who do not pay them for their work, according to Minnesota Department of Labor estimates. That includes overtime, withholding paychecks or, like in Zavalas case, misclassifying employees as independent contractors. ADVERTISEMENT Zavala was working for a subcontractor on the construction project. He was hired through a third party and classified as an independent contractor, he said. His crew leader withheld money from his first few pay checks to pay for tools. The tools disappeared when the job was nearing completion. Zavala suspects the subcontractor collected the tools despite the fact that workers had paid for them. Zavala picketed Monday outside another construction site in Rochester. About two dozen people demonstrated outside the site to protest wage theft and tax fraud. Hiring workers as independent contractors and not as laborers, especially workers from vulnerable groups, such as migrants, abuses workers and rewards low bidders for contracts, said Nick Wille, representative at the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters. "It creates an unlevel playing field," he said. "Contractors doing the right thing cant compete with that." The carpenters union and Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha Center of Workers helped stage a rally outside the construction site at Sixth Street Southwest and Third Avenue Southwest where Zavala says the same contractor is working on a project there. Two other laborers identified the same contractor as withholding pay from them. "We have bills to pay to maintain ourselves," Zavala said. "Some of us have families to provide for." Johanna Jobel said she was recruited by that company from a commercial project to help build a residential garage in Rochester and wasnt paid for any of that work. Maximo Gutierrez said he is still owed by the same company for work he did at a Northfield senior living center. ADVERTISEMENT Wille said local and state laws need to be strengthened to protect businesses, collect lost tax revenue and protect workers. Current fines arent enough of a deterrent, he added. "A $1,000 fine thats just the cost of doing business if you do get caught," Wille said. Attorney General Keith Ellison announced he will create a new labor division to help the office address economic crimes. Minnesota legislators from both parties have supported measures to increase penalties for wage theft in Minnesota, strengthen employer record keeping requirements and give the state Labor Department subpoena powers to investigate employers accused of wage theft. "Im here because I want justice," Jobel said. "If I pay my taxes, so should they." Gutierrez said its an issue of dignity. "Myself, as a worker, Ive contributed a lot to these communities," Gutierrez said. "I want to be treated with respect for contributing to this community." A four-day exhibit designed to bring awareness of genocide wraps up today. The Rochester-Olmsted Youth Commission partnered with St. Paul-based human rights group World Without Genocide to bring "Tents of Witness: Genocide and Conflict" to Rochester. The exhibit was housed at the Olmsted County Fairgrounds, building 35. The traveling displays show how intolerance, violence and hate have led to genocide. They include information on the Holocaust, the American Indians, Armenians, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, Congo, Argentina, and North Korea. The tents feature accounts from survivors or descendants of survivors of the conflicts and violence. ADVERTISEMENT Most of the people who have gone through the exhibit have been teens, said Mary Gorfine, Rochester-Olmsted Youth Commission program coordinator. "Many of these students dont learn about these events," Gorfine said. Students also seem to be more resilient to seeing a darker part of history. "Theyre eager to make the world a better place," Gorfine said. "They learn from things like this and theyre not overwhelmed whereas sometimes adults are." The exhibit uses tents to give the impression of a refugees experience. Ten tents were on display at the building. For students and adults, it shows how tribalism and hate can lead to widespread violence. "We have tribes in this country right now and sometimes people take advantage of that tribalism," Gorfine said. Bringing the exhibit, which is based at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, was co-sponsored by Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist; First Unitarian Universalist Church of Rochester; Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association; Olmsted County Human Rights Commission; Rochester Public Library; RNeighbors and Sisters of St. Francis. ADVERTISEMENT The display is open through 4 p.m. today. An Arizona man was given a stayed prison sentence Monday on a conspiracy charge. Marco Antonio Sanchez, 25, was sentenced in Olmsted County District Court by Judge Christina Stevens to 78 months in prison stayed for 20 years, during which time he will be on supervised probation, according to court records. Sanchez, of Tucson, Ariz., was also sentenced to 365 days in jail in Olmsted County. He will receive credit for 281 days already served. He was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community work service. Sanchez pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit drugs-first-degree sale. As part of the plea, five other felony charges were dismissed, including racketeering, first-degree aggravated controlled substance crime and importing drugs across state borders. Sanchez was one of four men arrested as a result of a year-and-a-half investigation. Juan Gerardo Sanchez Jr., 26, Jessy Alexandro Aguilar Garcia, 25 and Brandon Peter Ormsby, 25, all of Arizona, were all arrested as part of the conspiracy. Charges against Aguilar Garcia were dismissed, according to court records. ADVERTISEMENT Law enforcement discovered that the men were involved in a series of cross-country transports of methamphetamine. They moved the drugs from locations across the country, to a Rochester "stash apartment" on the 1500 block of Sixth Avenue Southeast, according to the criminal complaint.{div class="subscriber-only"}Juan Gerardo Sanchez Jr. pleaded guilty in June 2018 to a charge of racketeering and was sentenced by Judge Lisa Hayne to 94 months in state prison. At that time, he received credit for 192 days already served, according to court records. Five other felony charges were dismissed. Ormsby pleaded guilty in November 2018 to a felony second-degree drug sales charge and was sentenced in February by Judge Pamela King to 41 months in state prison with credit for 21 days already served. Four other felony charges were dismissed. The mess in Washington got stereophonically worse last week, as the sounds of the capital citys Tweeter and the Woofer reverberated through the corridors of power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. And once again we learned the lesson that Washington has failed to learn: Be wary of Reformers. In their rush to reform, even the best-intentioned of the bunch often make a bad situation worse. On the White House South Lawn, Americas Tweeter-in-Chief kept his smartphone in his pocket and went old-school. President Donald Trump used the news medias electronic megaphone to broadcast to the world his latest top-decibel frenetic description of special counsel Robert Muellers team and its motives. He called them all Democrats: "... 18 angry Democrats ... people that truly hated Donald Trump ... It was an illegal investigation... Everything about it was crooked ... dirty cops ... bad people. This was an attempted coup. ...an attempted takedown of a president.... Hopefully the attorney general ... (is) getting started on going back to the origins of exactly where this all started. Because this was an illegal witch-hunt...what they did was treason..." Sixteen blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue, virtually simultaneously, Trumps new Woofer, Attorney General William Barr, stunned a Senate hearing by implying the feds spied on Trumps 2016 campaign. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr testified. "... I think its important to look at that." ADVERTISEMENT Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) gave him a chance to un-dig his hole: "Youre not suggesting that spying occurred?" Barr hesitated, stumbled, mumbled, and then went all in, big time: "I think spying did occur, yes. I think spying did occur." "Spying." Barr deliberately chose NOT to say the FBI "investigated" in response to intelligence reports about low-level Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page making questionable foreign contacts. And didnt add that all monitoring of Pages communications was court authorized. Just called it "spying" delighting his boss. Barr is redacting portions of Muellers report before giving it to Congress. He can do that because of a myopic 1999 reform in response to then-independent counsel Kenneth Starrs sexually graphic report about President Bill Clintons extracurriculars. Now were stuck with a non-independent "special" counsel who must submit his report to the attorney general, who will decide which bad stuff we can see about the president who hired him. Absurd. During John F. Kennedys presidency, would we really want Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy deciding what potentially damaging info about his brother Congress could see? In Richard Nixons first term, pre-Watergate, would we really want The Decider to have been Nixons pal, Attorney General John Mitchell? In 1999, I considered that special counsel reform absurd. In 2019, were seeing why. Heres a far better solution: Require special counsels to redact their own reports to comply with legal and security concerns. Then require special counsels to submit their full reports and redacted reports to the attorney general plus the chair and ranking minority member of all appropriate congressional committees. Permit any of them to make the redacted reports public. Let them view the full reports in secure facilities. EPILOGUE: Watching last weeks mind-boggling POTUS-AG duet, I found myself thinking it might have been impossible if only those 1999 reformers who made the AG our Ultimate Decider had been with me during a vivid moment that occurred a few political eons earlier: Late one Sunday night, I was in line at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport waiting to board a shuttle flight back to Washington. It was months after the Watergate scandal shattered Richard Nixons presidency. And I was lost in thought, debating whether to start Monday morning at the federal courthouse, where one of the last big Watergate trials was wrapping up. Or, after two years of investigating the Nixon teams high crimes and cover-ups as Newsdays Washington bureau chief, why not just put Watergate behind me? ADVERTISEMENT In my mid-debate, I was startled to hear a deep, familiar voice behind me: "Hi, Marty!" I turned and, four persons behind me, I saw a very familiar face, semi-smiling around his familiar unlit pipe clenched in his teeth John Mitchell. Nixons ex-attorney general and campaign chairman knew all about our investigative efforts. He also knew his ex-boss viewed me as not just another media enemy but something worse: In an Oval Office tape, Nixon refers to me as one of "those Jews" who are investigating him. Now Mitchell is heading to that Washington courthouse for the conclusion of his trial. I walked back to where he was standing. We were both bemused at our chance encounter. "How are you holding up, Mr. Attorney General?" I asked. "Well, pretty good," he replied paused, then added: "Considering Im headed for the slammer." The memory of Americas former top law enforcement official referring to his upcoming imprisonment in the script cliche of a Hollywood gangster flick remains, indelibly, an all-time incongruity. I wished him good health. He wished me good luck. We boarded, sat separately. Mitchell would serve 14 months for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. I didnt attend his sentencing. Ukrainian-Dutch poultry farm to build new processing facility PrJSC Volodymyr-Volynsky Poultry Farm (Volyn region) will invest 38 million euros (~US$43 million) in the construction of a new poultry processing facility, which will allow doubling production, director general of the company Alina Sych told Interfax-Ukraine. According to her, the capacity of the new workshop will be 13,500 broilers per hour. Construction is to be completed in a year or two. The Epikur brand of products, where poultry is "grown without antibiotics and growth stimulation", would be produced at the facility. "The monthly increase in the sales of Epikur poultry is about 43%. We grow 4.6 million birds. As the demand for our products is growing, we start building new facilities to raise production. Within the total production by the factory, the share of Epikur is more than 30%, the rest is grown according to the standard technology," Sych adds. PrJSC Volodymyr-Volynsky Poultry Farm is part of the Openmind group of companies. The company's infrastructure includes 100 poultry farms, a processing workshop, and a feed mill with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per month. It was 1996. A 13-year-old girl who had just relocated with her family to Guam from the Philippines was looking forward to starting the seventh grade at what was then called Dededo Middle School. "We just got here. That was my first year attending school at DMS," the victim said. "It was a good move for us." Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. At the request of the victim, who is now 37, The Guam Daily Post will not be releasing her identity for her family's protection. It was more than two decades ago when she first came face to face with Paul Santos Mafnas Jr. "I was approached by him. He asked me what time the school starts. I was on my way to school walking to the bus stop," she said. Her bus stop was located in the Liguan area of Dededo. "I told him I'm not sure and then I keep walking and I keep walking, and the next thing I know he basically was behind me and told me to go inside the car," she said. "I don't know if there was a gun or a knife, but I felt something on my side. "The only thing I could think of is remember stuff that I could tell somebody. I had mixed emotions like, 'Am I going to be dead?' 'What does this guy want?'" She was forced to get into his car. Her classmates waved from her bus stop, as Mafnas drove by. "I was so afraid that I just waved back. I didn't know how to react." Mafnas drove her to a jungle area near Two Lovers Point. "I can still remember exactly what happened that day. Like it was just yesterday," she said. "I remember he took my planner and he kept telling me he knows all my friends. He told me my whereabouts after school. He said if I told anyone he would go after my friends next." And then Mafnas raped her. "He forced himself on me and while he was doing that he said I'm a b---- now and nobody would want to go out with me." The entire incident, she said, was horrifying. "I was crying. I was scared because I didn't know and all I was thinking about is if I am going to survive. I wanted to be alive," she said. "I wanted to go home and get through what was happening at that moment." She said Mafnas then dropped her off at school, and that's when she immediately told her friends she had just been raped. She was taken to the school nurse and a police investigation was launched. The victim identified Mafnas in a photo lineup provided by police. After she reported the rape, three others two 14-year-old girls and an 18-year-old later spoke out. She said each of them shared similar stories of their encounter with Mafnas. At the 1999 trial, she said she had to face Mafnas again. "He said that he was molested when he was younger and that's why he did what he did," she said. "I was so mad because he doesn't have the right to do that to anyone. He knows how it feels, then he shouldn't have done anything." Mafnas was sentenced to 27 years in prison. "It wasn't enough. He should've just stayed in there." The victim has since relocated to the states. In 2014, Mafnas was let out on early parole. PQ "(The Guam Parole Board) failed by releasing him early. Of course he is going to show good behavior while he is in there because he is in there." 1996 victim of Paul Santos Mafnas Jr. The victim's family appeared at the 2018 parole board hearing on her behalf, as she said they fought to keep Mafnas on parole. "We had to move on, but again it shouldn't give them a reason to release him early because he is going to do it again," she said. "It's not about the closure. It's about him, he is sick in the head. He should stay in there." His five-year parole was cut short by a year, and Mafnas was back out in the community. Parole board: 'We do our very best' Guam Parole Board Chairwoman MiChelle Taitano stated she is "heartbroken" that the child sex predator has been accused in the recent kidnapping and rape involving a 10-year-old victim. On Saturday, Mafnas, 53, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping. He's accused of kidnapping a student on her way to school and sexually assaulting her in a vehicle in an abandoned parking lot while threatening her with a gun. Mafnas told investigators that "sexually assaulting female minors is an addiction of his that he can't resist," according to court documents filed by the prosecution. "I am way heartbroken this has occurred. This man did well on parole, and prior to his release, our parole reports, interviews had positive outcomes of a changed life," Taitano stated. "Unfortunately, I/we are unable to guarantee the actions of individuals on parole status or beyond that. We do our very best to ensure folks avoid re-offending." Taitano said, "I've been praying for the victim, her family, this situation, for her healing, our community's healing and the improvements of our processes. Please pray for them and us. Thank you." Sen. Amanda Shelton, chairwoman of the legislative committee on the advancement of women and youth, in a separate statement called for a legislative oversight hearing into the parole board. Shelton asked Sen. Therese Terlaje's committee, which has oversight over the justice system, to hold the oversight hearing to discuss the parole board's processes. Shelton also said she will consider legislation to ensure that predators with "self-described addictions to sexually assaulting children are never put back on our streets again." Terlaje, in an email to Post, stated she had already set aside a date to hold a stakeholder meeting or roundtable on May 6 prior to Shelton's letter. Terlaje stated she believes "a formal review of sentencing, parole, and treatment guidelines for sex offenses is in order and will ask stakeholders to give input." 'They failed,' victim says "They failed by releasing him early," the 1996 victim said. "Of course he is going to show good behavior while he is in there because he is in there. He had no contact with little girls or minors." She was upset to hear that he allegedly victimized another little girl. "I was mad. This is bull----. He ruined another person's life." The victim said she remains troubled over what happened to her but has since worked on taking back control of her life. Prior to leaving Guam, she volunteered with Victim Advocates Reaching Out and earned a degree in criminal justice at Guam Community College. 'Just keep him in there' She said she hopes the justice system is tougher this time. "Whoever the judge is should consider what occurred with the four victims and consider what happened right now, and they should just keep him in there." As for her message to her attacker's alleged latest victim, she said, "I'm sorry that it happened to her. I hope she is strong enough to get through this. Hopefully, she can get the support." Mafnas is scheduled to appear back in court for a preliminary hearing on April 25. Forty-three locations throughout Montgomery County will be collecting unwanted, unneeded and expired medications as part of Drug Take Back Day. The event is organized by the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office and the Police Chiefs Association of Montgomery County. It runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Saturday, April 27. While most locations are police departments and municipal buildings, two Wegmans and two Giant Food Stores are also participating by serving as drop-off locations. All locations are staffed by police officers. This springs Take Back Day which coincides with the DEAs nationwide Take Back Day is a chance for Montgomery County residents to clean out their medicine cabinets of unwanted, unused and expired prescription medications and dispose of them easily in a safe, environmentally friendly way. Ridding medicine cabinets of these medications is an important step in combatting the opioid and heroin epidemic, which often begins with prescription medicines taken from a home medicine cabinet. It is also a way to make sure our water supply remains safe and healthy by keeping unwanted medicines from being flushed into the water supply or disposed of through trash collections. Last fall, we collected a record 9,056 pounds of prescriptions and over-the counter medications an amount that even surprises me, said District Attorney Kevin Steele. But it means that Montgomery County residents are getting the message: make your home safer by getting rid of unneeded medicines. Collecting unwanted medications is just one way the District Attorneys Office and the law enforcement community in Montgomery County are working together to combat drugs and decrease overdose deaths. The participating sites are: Abington Township Police Department, 1166 Old York Rd., Abington, PA 19001 Bridgeport Borough Police Department, 65 W. 4th St., Bridgeport, PA 19405 Cheltenham Township Police Department, 8230 Old York Rd., Elkins Park, PA 19027 Collegeville Police Department at the Municipal Building, 491 E. Main St., Collegeville, PA 19426 Douglass Township Police Department at the Giant Food Store, 173 Holly Rd., Gilbertsville, PA 19525 East Norriton Township Police Department, 2501 Stanbridge St., East Norriton, PA 19401 Franconia Township Police Department at Franconia Elementary School, 366 Harleysville Pike, Souderton, PA 18964 Hatboro Police Department, 120 E. Montgomery Ave., Hatboro, PA 19040 Hatfield Township Police Department at the Administration Building, 1950 School Rd., Hatfield, PA 19440 Horsham Township Police Department at the Giant Food Store, 314 Horsham Rd., Horsham, PA 19044 Jenkintown Borough Police Department, 700 Summit Ave., Jenkintown, PA 19046 Lansdale Police Department, 35 Vine St., Lansdale, PA 19446 Limerick Township Police Department, 646 W. Ridge Pike, Limerick, PA 19468 Lower Gwynedd Township Police Department, 1130 N. Bethlehem Pike, Spring House, PA 19477 Lower Merion Police Department, 71 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, PA 19003 Lower Moreland Township Police Department, 640 Red Lion Rd., Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Lower Pottsgrove Township Police Department at Sanatoga Fire Company, 2222 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464 Lower Providence Township Police Department, 100 Parklane Dr., Eagleville, PA 19403 Marlborough Township Police Department, 6040 Upper Ridge Rd., Green Lane, PA 18054 Montgomery Township Police Department at Wegmans at the Montgomeryville Mall in North Wales Narberth Borough Police Department 100 Conway Ave., Narberth, PA 19072 New Hanover Township Police Department, 2943 N. Charlotte St., Gilbertsville, PA 19525 Norristown Municipal Police Department, 235 E. Airy St., Norristown, PA 19401 North Wales Borough Police Department, 300 School St., North Wales, PA 19454 Plymouth Township Police Department, 700 Belvoir Rd., Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 Pottstown Borough Police Department, 100 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464 Rockledge Borough Police Department, 1 Park Ave., Rockledge, PA 19046 Royersford Borough Police Department, 300 Main St., Royersford, PA 19468 Souderton Borough Police Department, 31 West Summit St., Souderton, PA 18964 Springfield Township Police Department, 1510 Paper Mill Rd., Wyndmoor, PA 19038 Towamencin Township Police Department, 1090 Troxel Rd., Lansdale, PA 19446 Upper Dublin Township Police Department, 801 Loch Alsh Ave., Fort Washington, PA 19034 Upper Gwynedd Township Police Department, 1 Parkside Place, West Point, PA 19486 Upper Merion Township Police Department, 175 West Valley Forge Rd., King of Prussia, PA 19406 Upper Moreland Township Police Department, 117 Park Ave., Willow Grove, PA 19090 Upper Perk Police Department, 88 W. 6th St., Pennsburg, PA 18073 Upper Pottsgrove Police Department, 1420 Heather Place, Pottstown, PA 19464 Upper Providence Township Police Department at Wegmans in Providence Town Shopping Center, 600 Commerce Drive, Collegeville, PA West Conshohocken Police Department at the West Conshohocken Borough Hall, 112 Ford St., West Conshohocken, PA 19428 West Norriton Township Police Department, 1630 W. Marshall St., Norristown, PA 19403 West Pottsgrove Township Police Department, 980 Grosstown Rd., Stowe, PA 19464 Whitemarsh Police Department, 616 E. Germantown Pike, Lafayette Hills, PA 19444 Whitpain Township Police Department, 960 Wentz Rd., Blue Bell, PA 19422 Take Back Day locations will accept prescription and over-the-counter tablets and capsules, inhalers, creams and ointments, nasal sprays and pet medications. Not accepted are liquid medications, intravenous and injectable solutions and needles. Prescription medicines can be in their original prescription bottles with the label removed/blacked out or can be placed in zippered plastic bags. Since the Take Back program began in 2010, more than 60,000 pounds of medicines have been collected and safely disposed of. The last two Take Back Days have continued to set new records: On Oct. 27, more than 9,000 pounds (9,056) were collected and on April 28, 2018, nearly 8,000 pounds (7,981 pounds) were collected for a record total of 17,037 pounds in one year. Beyond Take Back Day, unwanted medications can be dropped off and disposed of throughout the year at more than 50 permanent prescription drug disposal boxes, some of which were sponsored by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and some by Pennsylvania American Water in an effort to help keep our water supply safe. The complete list of participating locations for the upcoming Take Back Day as well as the permanent MedReturn box locations can be found on the District Attorneys Office website at www.montcopa.org/da. The trial of Mohamed Noor for the murder/manslaughter of Justine Ruszcyk continued yesterday before Judge Kathryn Quaintance in Hennepin Country District Court. The prosecutors called nine Minneapolis Police Department officers as witnesses as well as one Minneapolis Fire Department officer. A few observations: I think the prosecution is methodically calling all of the Minneapolis Police Department officers who arrived at the scene. The prosecution has the burden of proof and it is going to put in the available evidence. Yet not all of these officers have cooperated with the prosecution. There is an underlying tension that is occasionally manifested in the direct examination of the officers. Some of the officers have refused to meet with prosecutors to prepare for their testimony. I doubt that the jury has any idea of what is happening. It must be confusing. The Star Tribune frames this aspect of the case in the blue wall of silence related to another case in which another officer was prosecuted. This is an excellent article that addresses an issue implicit in this case from early on. MPRs Jon Collins and Riham Feshir have a good story on what we learned about this aspect of the case yesterday here. The linked Star Tribune story quotes MPD lieutenant and police federation president Bob Kroll. Outside the hearing of the jury yesterday Judge Quaintance remarked that Kroll was in contempt of court for violating her sequestration order preventing witnesses from sitting in on the trial. Kroll had apparently attended in the overflow courtroom last week. The first witness called by the prosecution yesterday was Chief Mediaria Arrodondo. At the time of Justines killing he was the acting chief. Arrodondo came to the scene on the evening of the killing in that capacity. The prosecution made the point with Arrodondo that the departments bodycam policy would have required Harrity and Noor to activate their bodycams as they drove down the alley behind her house if they anticipated an adversarial situation. The Star Tribune takes up yesterdays testimony addressing bodycam evidence in this story. Arrodondo has not heard about ambush in connection with the case. The first time Arrodondo heard about ambush in connection with Justines killing was in the courtroom. Arrodondo was on the scene for eight hours. He did not hear anything about a slap on the car or other startling noise. Arrodondo used the term sanctity of life in his testimony. My notes are poor on this point, but that phrase stuck out. Justines killing is inexplicable. On his cross-examination of Arrodondo, Peter Wold made the point that Arrodondo observed some of the officers using flashlights. He also explored concerns about the ambush of officers. I thought this part of his cross was a dud, but the jury may see it otherwise. We saw a few more bodycam videos yesterday. They dramatically depict the officers driving to the scene with lights and sirens on. They depict CPR on Justine. They help jurors visualize the scene. Beyond that, they are deactivated or not particularlry useful. Among the MPD officers called yesterday was one Sergeant Jarrod Kunze. He seemed to have arrived from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest or Twilight Zone . He sported a bushy beard. His testimony was set on a 10-second time delay. He was weird. Out of the hearing of the jury, Judge Quaintance described his testimony as odd. Kunze had earlier described the scene as like a desert. What did he mean? He meant it was quiet, there were no bystanders, there were no houses with lights on in the neighborhood. Kunze testified that he wrote a report of his investigation at the scene. If it ever existed, however, Kunzes report on his investigation at the scene has been lost or been sucked into a time warp. The tension between the prosecutor and Kunze was palpable. On cross, Peter Wold elicited the observation that Noor appeared to be slightly detached. Kunze was followed by Officer Ty Jindra. Jindra makes a good appearance as a witness; he looks like a choir boy. He is one of the guys who refused to meet with the prosecutors. He also refused to meet with defendants counsel. Given the noncooperation of key police witnesses, the Hennepin County Attorney used a grand jury to subpoena officers and take their testimony. Officer Matthew Harrity was Noors partner. He is a crucial witness. He was called before the grand jury. He is one of the noncooperators. I am not doing justice to the case in my hot takes here. If you seriously want to follow the case, please add the Star Tribune and MPR reports to your reading. They do a good job of summarizing events day by day. House Democrats say they want White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller to testify about a plan to release illegal immigrants into sanctuary cities. The plan reportedly has been discussed, but only as one option. It has not been implemented. Getting Miller to testify before a congressional committee is a non-starter. Officials appointed by the president testify before Congress. Aides dont. Thus, as the Washington Post acknowledges, two aides to former president Obama refused to testify when House Republicans sought their appearance. One was David Simas from whom GOP members wanted information about White House political activity. The other was Ben Rhodes, a top foreign policy adviser. Neither appeared before Congress. The Obama White House cited executive privilege, as Trump no doubt will do if the Democrats insist on taking testimony from Miller. The basis for the privilege is the need for aides to talk freely to the president about policy. Presidents have a legitimate need for a candid back-and-forth with their advisers. Without the privilege, aides might well be inhibited from providing it. But Miller would have an additional reason for declining to testify the fact that the policy Democrats want to interrogate him about hasnt been implemented, only discussed. Thus, there is no legitimate oversight justification for quizzing Miller. Congress oversees the actual implementation of its laws, not internal White House discussions about various options for implementing them. Here, then, there is no tension between the presidents need for the free flow of advice and Congress need to oversee executive action. The action Democrats want Miller to testify about has not occurred. There is nothing to oversee. Even if there were, Trump should still assert executive privilege, just as Obama asserted did. Since there isnt, the Democrats call for Miller to testify about sending illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities is absurd. I have written a few times about Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has moved rapidly from complete unknown to third place in a poll among Democratic contenders for the presidency. This weekend, Buttigieg formally announced his candidacy. There are two areas of significant controversy regarding Buttigieg that I havent mentioned so far. The first is doubts some African-Americans have about him. The second is his dispute with Vice President Pence. Robert Costa discusses Buttigieg and race in a report for the Washington Post. Buttigieg has a troubled city to run and, in running it, he upset some blacks in two ways: first through his efforts to knock down blighted housing in South Bend, housing that was home mostly to African-Americans, and second by firing South Bends first black police chief, who happened to be under investigation by the feds. On its face, these two actions trying to renew housing in blighted areas and firing a seemingly corrupt police chief dont seem like legitimate concerns. However, it depends on the details, which I havent yet examined. But legitimate or not, if Buttigieg has a problem with black voters, then he has a problem. One can imagine him gaining buzz through good showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, but then getting clobbered when states with large numbers of black primary voters, e.g., South Carolina, vote. And even if Buttigieg gets a pass for his actions as mayor of South Bend, where is the appeal to black voters of this gay, preppy-looking young mayor? To the extent that black voters are going to support a white candidate, why wouldnt that be Joe Biden, Barack Obamas sidekick (assuming Biden enters)? The Pence-Buttigieg dispute centers on Pences views on gay rights. Buttigieg has ripped Pence for supporting a law banning gay marriage and for backing Indianas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In turn, David Horowtiz rips Buttigieg for his attacks on Pence, noting that, as governor of Indiana, Pence was good to Mayor Pete. Horowitz calls Buttigieg a shameless liar, a calculating character assassin and an anti-religious/anti-free speech bigot. And thats just for starters. Frankly, I dont blame Buttigieg for holding it against Pence that he wants to ban gay marriage. If someone viewed my marriage as sinful or simply wanted to prevent me from marrying the person I love, I would be quite displeased, too. Mike Pence might be the nicest guy in the world. His views on gay marriage are still sufficient reason for Buttigieg to attack him. However, thats not the end of the story. Buttigieg has also ripped Pence for being Donald Trumps vice president. He calls this administration the porn star presidency and questions how Pence can be a true Christian and still serve as the VP. Buttigiegs porn star presidency barb is a cheap shot. The fact that Trump had sex with a porn star many years ago doesnt make this a porn star presidency. More importantly, Buttigieg seems to be questioning whether working for Trump is consistent with being a good Christian. During one interview, he wondered whether Pence stopped believing in scripture when he started believing Donald Trump. He thus tried to make opposition to a particular politician a litmus test for being religious. This is unacceptable. It smacks of religious-based authoritarianism and goes a ways towards justifying Horowitzs attack on Buttigieg. I also think Buttigieg is being quite disingenuous when he claims Im not interested in feuding with the vice president. What could be more beneficial to Buttigieg as he tries to enhance his name recognition and his leftist bona fides than a feud with Mike Pence? Of course, he wants that feud, one that he started. Youd have to be hopelessly naive to think otherwise. It says something about the Democratic Party that Buttigiegs religious-based authoritarian line enhances his political prospects, while his desire to rebuild slums and have a clean police chief may hurt them. First quarter fundraising numbers for the field of presidential candidates are in. President Trump leads the way, having raised $39 million. In total, his campaign and affiliated committees have raised $168 million, the most ever by an incumbent president at this stage, according to the Washington Post. Among Democrats, Sen. Bernie Sanders had the largest haul, $18.2 million. He was followed by Sen. Kamala Harris at $12 million. Beto ORourke and Pete Buttigieg were next, raising $9.4 million and $7 million respectively. Further down the list we find Sen. Elizabeth Warren ($6 million), Sen. Amy Klobuchar ($5.2 million), Sen. Cory Booker ($5.1 million), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ($3 million). In the $2-3 million range were, in order, Andrew Yang, Gov. Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Finally, the total amount raised by Democratic contenders in the first quarter was less than the amount raised by Dem contenders in the first quarter of 2007. What do these numbers tell us? Not a lot, but more than a little. A president should be able to raise huge amounts of money. A president who doesnt is probably dead in the water. A president, or presumptive nominee, who does cant count on parlaying the funds into victory. Hillary Clinton raised massive amounts of money in 2016 and still lost. Its true that Trump almost certainly will not face a serious primary challenge. Thus, the money he has raised so far will be of substantially more use than the money raised so far by his Democratic rivals. But the Democratic nominee wont be short of funds once he or she is selected. I dont read much into the fact that Democratic candidates raised less in the first quarter of this year than Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards did in the first quarter of 2007. I think it means that donors havent yet figured out whom to back, in part because Joe Biden might well enter the race but hasnt done so. I dont think it signals a diminished commitment to recapturing the White House. As to these the totals of specific candidates, the most surprising number is Buttigiegs, given his obscurity. But the number becomes less surprising when one remembers that hes the darling of a great many LGBT voters. What his fundraising success tells me is that he will have both the wherewithal and the enthusiastic backers to be a factor in the race. Sanders number tells me that Bernie-mania persists. The Vermont socialist will certainly be a factor in the race. I think I already knew that. The fact that Harris has raised more money than Warren and Booker combined is interesting and a bit surprising, at least to me. So is Klobuchars ability to outraise both Booker and Gillibrand. In the absence of Joe Biden, Ms. Minnesota (not so) Nice may be the go-to candidate of wealthy, non-gay donors looking for an establishment candidate to back. However, current polling suggests that Sens. Harris and Klobuchar are doing better at fundraising than at attracting early support from voters. By contrast, the fundraising success of Sanders and Buttigieg corresponds to good showings in the polls. Believe it or not, were only a little more than two months away from the first Democratic presidential debate. Thats when things will become truly interesting. All the fundraising in the world is unlikely to overcome poor showings in the debates. Like Paul Im overwhelmed by the sight of Notre Dame in flames. I dont know how many times I have visited, but one of my favorite things to do in Paris is to linger outside the Shakespeare & Company bookstore right across the Seine and gaze at the cathedral especially in the changing afternoon and early evening light, much as Cezanne and Monet must have done to inspire some of their impressionist studies. I have sat Sunday Mass at Notre Dame on a few occasions, but my own most vivid memory goes back over 35 years, to one extended European trip when I was becoming something of photography nut. I dragged along to Europe a (then) fancy film camera, multiple lenses, and a tripod so I could shoot my own photos of stained glass windows (especially the rose windows) and other church architecture. Ive never digitized these, and may try to find them in a box somewhere this weekend when I return from my current road trip. I spent hours sitting in Chartres (which has the most intact medieval stained glass I believe), Notre Dame, and the smaller Sainte Chapelle, located on Ile de la Cite not far from Notre Dame, which has some of the most spectacular stained glass around. (See below.) That was back in my pipe-smoking tweed jacket and beret-wearing graduate school days (perhaps it was the trip when the photo above was taken in London), and sitting around I was sometimes mistaken for a native, as I had tourists come up to me and try to ask me a question in broken French. As my French isnt even of the broken variety, my very American disclaimers often evoked considerable surprise. One late September day at Notre Dame I managed to climb the interior stairs to and get out to the highest outside locations in the towers open to the public, where I shot a lot of closeups of gargoyles in black and white, which is the best way to render those pickets against evil spirits. A receding late afternoon rain shower had left a broken cloud cover allowing in beams of light onto the cityscape. I ended up taking more photos of the Parisian panorama that unfolded than the gargoyles, but gargoyles we have in abundance. Some of our living gargoyles turned up on Twitter yesterday, unable to contain their hatred and contempt for Western Civilization: Stay classy, liberals. (Incidentally, Im pretty sure that Roman Catholicism is a majority-minority faith, so that whole white people thing is more than merely repulsiveits also ignorant.) For now Ill leave to others like Rod Dreher to speculate on the theological meaning and significance of this. There is no question that the cathedral will be restored, though I suspect there will be a fair bit of difficulty with this, and not just technical difficulty. No doubt there will be recommendations to install a fire-prevention system in the restored roof, and other modernizations. Maybe these will be good ideas, but I wouldnt count on it. My mind runs back to Churchills argument on why England should restore the bombed out House of Commons in 1944 rather than build a more functional modern parliamentary chamber. It was this speech where Churchill offered his frequently recalled line, We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. This is never more true than with a cathedral like Notre Dame. Heres an extended portion of Churchills speech: I beg to move, That a Select Committee be appointed to consider and report upon plans for the rebuilding of the House of Commons and upon such alterations as may be considered desirable while preserving all its essential features. On the night of 10th May, 1941, with one of the last bombs of the last serious raid, our House of Commons was destroyed by the violence of the enemy, and we have now to consider whether we should build it up again, and how, and when. We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. Having dwelt and served for more than 40 years in the late Chamber, and having derived fiery great pleasure and advantage therefrom, I, naturally, would like to see it restored in all essentials to its old form, convenience and dignity. I believe that will be the opinion of the great majority of its Members. It is certainly the opinion of His Majestys Government and we propose to support this resolution to the best of our ability. There are two main characteristics of the House of Commons which will command the approval and the support of reflective and experienced Members. They will, I have no doubt, sound odd to foreign ears. The first is that its shape should be oblong and not semi-circular. Here is a very potent factor in our political life. The semi-circular assembly, which appeals to political theorists, enables every individual or every group to move round the centre, adopting various shades of pink according as the weather changes. I am a convinced supporter of the party system in preference to the group system. I have seen many earnest and ardent Parliaments destroyed by the group system. The party system is much favoured by the oblong form of Chamber. It is easy for an individual to move through those insensible gradations from Left to Right but the act of crossing the Floor is one which requires serious consideration. I am well informed on this matter, for I have accomplished that difficult process, not only once but twice. Logic is a poor guide compared with custom. Logic which has created in so many countries semi-circular assemblies which have buildings which give to every Member, not only a seat to sit in but often a desk to write at, with a lid to bang, has proved fatal to Parliamentary Government as we know it here in its home and in the land of its birth. . . The First Commissioner of Works has submitted a scheme which would enable the old House of Commons to be reconstructed with certain desirable improvements-and modernisations affecting the ventilation, lavatories, accommodation for the Press, the ladies gallery and other prominent features. This scheme would take only 18 months, but it would be prudentand those concerned with building houses would, I think, feel that it would be prudentto count on double that period, because everything must be fitted in with war needs and also because it is the habit of architects and builders usually to be more sanguine when putting forward their plans than is subsequently found to be justified by the actual facts. The last House of Commons, the one which was set up after the fire in 1834, was promised in six years and actually took 27 years. . . I think if the authorities can determine that the walls and stone ceiling of Notre Dame are not in imminent danger of collapse, Notre Dame should celebrate Sunday mass this week as usual. P.S. Some architects did something. . . JOHN adds: Not sure what colonies France had in the 12th century, either, but history was never the strong suit of leftists. Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Maryland the bastion of leftism and Trump hatred I call home have dismissed charges against the woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway in a restaurant where Conway was celebrating her birthday. The woman, Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, age 63, grabbed Conway from behind and shook her. Thats clearly a misdemeanor assault. So why have charges against the assailant been dropped? Prosecutors say that even if they could prove their case, Inabinett would not deserve the type of punishment that might flow from a conviction. Theres no legitimate question that prosecutors could prove their case. Inabinett certainly committed an assault when she grabbed Conway and shook her. Indeed, she has apologized for doing so. And why doesnt Inabinett deserve the punishment a court would impose? The sentence would be within the range of punishment prescribed by law and, presumably, would be informed by any mitigating or special circumstances such as the womans apology and the fact that she has no prior convictions. The prosecutor would, no doubt, recommend leniency. Theres little doubt that a Montgomery judge would be sympathetic to Inabinett. The penalty for Inabinetts crime is imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding $2,500 or both. At a minimum Inabinett should be fined for assaulting Conway. In short, Montgomery County prosecutors have usurped the role of lawmakers who criminalized assault and determined the range of penalties for it, and of judges who evaluate mitigating factors. Consider the statement of Montgomery States Attorney John McCormick: Was this woman rude? Yes. Did she violate Ms. Conways space and try to embarrass her? Yes and yes. Is this a case where criminal sanctions would have been appropriate? No. But wait! This woman did more than violate Conways space and try to embarrass her. She physically assaulted Conway. Thats a crime and should be treated as such. The message sent by McCormick is clear: Montgomery County residents can assault conservatives and Trump administration officials with impunity here. There has been a wave of confrontations by leftists of such figures in the Washington, D.C. area. Montgomery County is saying that its okay during these confrontations to grab and shake the target. Meanwhile, many Montgomery County residents, probably including some of its prosecutors, complain that President Trump and his administration are undermining civility. I wonder what would happen to me if I grabbed and shook my ultra-leftist congressman Jamie Raskin. I know what would not happen. Prosecutors wouldnt let me off the hook completely. Id be lucky if I didnt serve time. But because Inabinett assaulted a political figure who is unpopular here, rather than a leftist pol or an ordinary citizen, she walks. Thats justice, Montgomery County style. Power outages often result from devastating naturally occurring events, like hurricanes, heavy snow storms, floods, and such. Or, they may be the result of man-made events, like car accidents, or they may happen when animals or even sailboats come into contact with energized lines. Of course, theres also equipment malfunction, and any other number of potential reasons power might go out. For utility customers, it really doesnt matter what caused an outage. What matters is how long power will be out and how well prepared they are to handle an outage. Homeowners are often fairly well prepared, with many owning generators to power parts or entire homes, plenty of firewood during colder months, surge protectors for sensitive electronics, handy flashlights, and other common preparations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Federation an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has come up with a power outage preparedness checklist for businesses to help ensure they are perpared for an outage. Lets face it, the question is not if, but when will a business experience a power outage. The majority of the list is applicable to nearly every business, though a few of the items are specific to food service businesses, which certainly are at risk of revenue loss without power. Understand what aspects of your business would be most critically affected due to a power disruption. Would it be the ability to process e-commerce orders? Would it be the loss of documents in progress? The loss of the ability to communicate or ring up customer sales? Talk to your business insurance provider to see how your coverage protects you in the event of a power outage. Update your preparedness strategy if needed. Have a hard copy of your policy stored in an easily accessible place that doesnt require power to open. Set your computer systems to frequently auto-save and perform server back-ups. If you work in a cloud-based system such as Google (News - Alert) Drive, tasks in progress are likely already being auto-saved. Invest in uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units at key stations so you can, for example, print customer bills or your current inventory list quickly. UPS units allow you to quickly complete electronic tasks in progress and properly save and shut down. They dont have a long power life, but they can provide you some much-needed time in an emergency. Have surge protection at each computer station. Some UPS units may come with surge protection. Either way, protect your electronics from the risk of damage and destruction. These last couple of points are important because they ensure PCs, laptops and other electronics are protected. For network equipment servers, switches, communications systems, firewalls, etc. a separate power protection solution is a worthwhile investment. While protecting individual PCs makes a lot of sense, protecting the infrastructure that is the core of a business is even more necessary. Power protection systems function much like surge protectors and UPS units. They are designed to regulate line voltage before power reaches the equipment to flatten any spikes to could damage the equipment and send business operations into a costly tailspin. They may also include UPS elements to allow IT teams to manually either on-site or remotely shut down systems to prevent data loss once power is restored. The costs of replacing laptops or PCs in one thing. The cost of replacing network components and software that has been damaged is exponentially greater and can take weeks or even longer, putting entire businesses at risk. Power protection systems ensure that doesnt happen and the length of and outage is the extent of business disruption. Now back to the list. Have a commercial generator and know how to use it. Know how long it will last when its full. Have a backup supply of fuel ready. Test it every six months to ensure its ready to work for you and run it with a full load to make sure it meets your power needs. Back up key data daily. Export key reports such as sales, customer data, vendor orders, accounts payable/receivable, and employee timesheets to a cloud-based system. Keep a listing of important telephone numbers near a landline. Landlines will sometimes work even if mobile phones are down depending if you work through a PBX (News - Alert) system. Employees, vendors, key customers, the insurance company, your bank, and the regional Small Business Administration (SBA) office are all useful phone numbers to have access to in an emergency or disruption. Keep the mobile phones of key personnel fully or nearly fully charged during each shift. A good habit is to have them charging any time theyre not in use for business purposes. Have an emergency mobile phone charger stored for emergency use. If you operate with POS revenue, such as a brick-and-mortar retailer or a restaurant, set up your business on Google Wallet, Paypal, Square, Venmo, or another mobile commerce platform. Use this platform as a backup for customer payment in case of an emergency. If you operate a business that has perishables, move refrigerated items to a freezer and keep the door closed to prevent loss. If it is safe to operate and you can continue to receive payments, consider a flash sale of limited services or items that could spoil unless sold, for example, salads or mixed drinks with ice. Keep accurate records of your sales and your losses during the outage. Even if you initially have to document this data on paper, you can plug it into your typical platforms later. Your insurance provider and any recovery-loan provider will need accurate data. Keep an emergency kit large enough to assist more than one person at a time. For example, flashlights or headlamps could help employees as they safely escort customers to the door, or they can be set around your space to illuminate a path to the door. Your kit should also include extra batteries, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, a battery-powered or hand-cranked AM/FM radio, and safety gear like gloves and masks. Include a small toolbox that could assist if the gas main valve needs to be shut off or if doors or windows are hard to open once the power is out. Edited by Erik Linask The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 09:02:52 Press Information Fact.MR Office: Dublin 2 Suite 9884 27 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Sudip Saha Head of Marketing +353-1-4434-232 email http://www.factmr.com # 572 Words Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232 According to the latest market report published by Fact.MR , growing penetration of air springs in luxury passenger vehicles continues to open new growth opportunities for manufacturers. Traditionally limited to heavy commercial vehicles, end-user preference for comfort, glide ride, and suspension adjustment are impacting where the revenue is going in the air springs landscape. Stakeholders in the air springs market must consider the evolutions in this marketplace if they are to rapidly adapt to the new status quo. Fact.MR Survey Finds Weight Reduction and Flex Cracking Mitigation as Key Focus Areas for ManufacturersThe air springs market remains fragmentally consolidated, with a large number of America, Chinese, and Indian suppliers/distributors vying for increasing their market penetration and share. A majority of market participants covered in the market have a sizeable presence in APEJ and North America two key air springs markets globally. Sensing the untapped opportunities in this marketplace, leading manufacturers, including BWI Group, Continental AG, Dunloop Systems and Components, Firestone Industrial LLC, Hendrickson LLC, Mando Corporation, Tata AutoComp Systems, ThyssenKrupp AG, VB AirSuspension, and Wabco Holdings Inc. are focusing on reducing weight and mitigating flex cracking as key focus areas.Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=716 Although air springs offer a better ride quality than steel and coil springs, vulnerability to wear and tear, and high maintenance costs continue to impede widespread adoption. Manufacturers who are able to scale up without compromising on quality will have a better shot at market consolidation. Whereas luxury car manufacturers equip air springs as an additional feature, these are steadily gaining traction as standard features in heavy vehicles, says lead automotive analyst at Fact.MR End-Users List High Upfront Cost and Relatively Lower Lifecycle as Key Barriers to AdoptionAccording to the analysis carried out by Fact.MRs automotive research team, high upfront costs and relatively lower lifecycles remain the key barriers to widespread adoption of air springs for end-users. Although the analysts have a bullish long-term outlook, the mantra for success is to mitigate high OEM upfront costs when compared to the aftermarket.Browse Full Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/716/air-springs-market OEMs Accounted for 52% Volume Sales in 2017, Aftermarket to Reign Supreme by 2026Sales of air springs are evenly spread out in both OEM and aftermarket channels, however the former accounted for a higher volume and lower revenue share in 2017. The prevailing scenario in the sales channel is likely to be transformed during the assessment period on account of competitive offerings by aftermarket players. By 2026, aftermarket is likely to reign supreme both in terms of value and volume.Global Air Springs Market Suspending on the Performance of Asian MarketsA direct correlation of vehicle production, sales, vehicle parc and demand for air spring is evident. Its apparent that the Asian economies are leading in terms of vehicle production as well sales, thus equating to preeminence in the global air springs market during the assessment period 2017-2026, according to a new business intelligence study by Fact.MR . Manufacturers must prioritize ASEAN and GCC in their long-term strategic plans to consolidate their position.You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.factmr.com/checkout/716/S Fact.MRs research study projects the global air springs market to surpass US$ 4 Bn in revenues by 2026. In terms of volume, over 33,000000 units of air springs are likely to be sold by the end of the forecast period. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 22:41:03 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 381 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Annual General Meeting 2019ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / At the Annual General Meeting of Conzzeta AG on April 16, 2019, the shareholders approved all motions of the Board of Directors by a large majority. Taken together, 75.1% of the votes were represented.Ernst Bartschi, Chairman of the Board of Directors, began the meeting by commenting on the topic of digitalization. Group CEO Michael Willome spoke about the Group's business performance and progress made in implementing the strategic priorities.After the presentations, the shareholders approved a 12.5% dividend increase to CHF 18.00 per class A registered share and CHF 3.60 per class B registered share. The dividend payment date will be April 24, 2019.The shareholders confirmed Ernst Bartschi as Chairman of the Board of Directors and the members of the Board of Directors and the Human Ressources Committee who were proposed for re-election. Werner Dubach was no longer available for re-election after a tenure of more than 25 years. Thanking Mr. Dubach as representative of the Board of Directors, Jacob Schmidheiny paid tribute to his contribution to Conzzeta's development over the past decades, especially the strategic and staff realignment of recent years. Michael Konig was newly elected to the Board of Directors.The Annual General Meeting also approved the 2018 compensation report, the compensation to be paid to the Board of Directors for the period of office until the Annual General Meeting 2020, and the compensation for the Executive Committee for the 2020 financial year.The next Annual General Meeting will be held on April 22, 2020 in Zurich.The following documents are available on the website www.conzzeta.com: - Invitation to the Annual General Meeting, including agenda- Presentation by Ernst Bartschi, Chairman of the Board of Directors (in German)- Presentation by Michael Willome, Group CEO (in German)- Minutes (as soon as they are available)InquiriesMichael Staheli, Head Investor Relations & Corporate Communications;Tel. +41 44 468 24 49; media@ conzzeta.com About ConzzetaConzzeta is a broadly diversified Swiss group of companies. It stands for innovation, market orientation and an entrepreneurial approach. Conzzeta strives for leading positions in its target markets, above-average growth and long-term value creation. Over 5,200 employees at more than 60 locations worldwide work in the Sheet Metal Processing, Foam Materials, Graphic Coatings and Outdoor segments. Conzzeta AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX:CON).SOURCE: Conzzeta AG PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 16:40:27 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 572 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 PORTLAND, OR / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / For thousands of Oregonians and their families, a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been an important step toward living their fullest life. During Autism Awareness Month, Footprints Behavioral Interventions ( www.autismfootprints.com) , a leading provider of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, is working to spread the word about the importance of early diagnosis and timely intervention."Research has found that early diagnosis of autism at age two to three and interventions at or before preschool age are more likely to have major long-term positive effects on symptoms and later skills," said Corey Stump, MA, BCBA, clinical director of Footprints Behavioral Interventions who oversees team members in Oregon and Washington. "It is unacceptable that the average age of autism diagnosis in America is still four to five years of age. We see every day how earlier diagnosis can lead to positive outcomes later in life by maximizing the lifelong impact of intervention.'' The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be screened with an ASD-specific instrument during well-child visits at ages 18 and 24 months in conjunction with ongoing developmental surveillance and broadband developmental screening. A person with ASD might:Not respond to their name by 12 months of ageAvoid eye contact and want to be aloneHave delayed speech and language skillsFlap their hands, rock their body, spin in circles, or engage in other repetitive behaviorsHave unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look or feelFootprints Behavioral Interventions focuses on ABA therapy, which helps children with ASD improve social interactions, learn new skills and maintain positive behaviors. In 2013, the Oregon legislature passed a law requiring that ABA therapy be covered by insurance, including the Oregon Health Plan, with certain limitations. Based on data from the CDC, approximately 1.7 percent - more than 700 - of the babies born in Oregon annually will be diagnosed with ASD by the time they are eight years old.''The Behavior Analysts at Footprints design ABA programs with the ultimate goal of improving the child's quality of life,'' said Stump. ''We involve families every step of the way, tailoring programs that address functional skills, reduce and replace challenging behaviors and apply natural language strategies to improve communication and social skills. There can be challenging days, but it is very rewarding work.'' During Autism Awareness Month, Footprints is supporting families who will participate in the Autism Society of Oregon's upcoming 17th Annual Autism Walk in Portland on April 28th as well as the 1st Annual Autism Walk in Albany later in the spring. The autism walks raise funds for the Autism Society of Oregon to send autistic children to camp, fund educational workshops for parents of autistic children and provide a lending library of books on autism. Additionally, the Footprints Team is hosting a free play group for families affected by Autism in Albany, Oregon on Saturday April 27th at Albany Splatterbox for a day of family fun.About Footprints Behavioral InterventionsEstablished in 2004, Footprints Behavioral Interventions is an ABA service provider in for children with ASD in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Michigan. Our positive behavior support services are provided in the home, school, community and vocational settings. At Footprints Behavioral Interventions, we are committed to your child's growth and development every step of the way. To learn more, visit www.autismfootprints.com Contact:Ms. Julia Nguyen714.855.8895jnguyen@ autismfootprints.com SOURCE: Footprints Behavioral Interventions The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 09:03:30 Press Information Fact.MR Office: Dublin 2 Suite 9884 27 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Sudip Saha Head of Marketing +353-1-4434-232 email http://www.factmr.com # 552 Words Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232 Heavy equipment designed today for industrial applications have a unique design and exceptional quality. However, challenges still arise due to the environment and situation it is being operated in. Most of the heavy equipment are equipped with basic accessories. Hence, there has been a growth in the demand for lighting accessories that can be mounted on the equipment and can run on its own electrical system. The manufacturers of heavy equipment lamps are focusing on providing lighting depending on the use of equipment with the focus on safe operation. One of the challenges in the heavy equipment lams is fragile nature of the standard lighting system. Hence, manufacturers are focusing on introducing the bulbs and lighting system that can operate in wet, dusty and other conditions. Heavy equipment and machinery are using LED lights as it offers several benefits such as brightness, zero maintenance, and durability. Multiple size and mounting options are also offered to ensure that light can be attached to very large or small equipment. Governments around the globe are also passing stringent regulations on the energy efficiency requirements, thereby boosting energy-efficient lighting technologies.Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=365 As per the new report by Fact.MR , the global heavy equipment lamps market is anticipated to witness moderate growth. The market is projected to increase to 4.9% CAGR. The global heavy equipment lamps market is also projected to bring in US$ 9,065.3 million revenue towards the end of 2026. Increase in the number of infrastructure projects globally is one of the factors resulting in the increasing use of heavy equipment lamps to ensure efficiency and safety. Below are some of the insights on how the global heavy equipment lamps market will perform in the future.5 Key Insights on Global Heavy Equipment Lamps MarketAsia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is projected to remain the largest region in the global heavy equipment lamps market during the forecast period. Rapid urbanization and development of various infrastructure projects including railroads, highways, etc., are some of the factors contributing to the growth of the market in APEJ. Increasing use of heavy equipment in industrial and residential construction in China and India are also leading towards the growth of the market in the region.Browse Full Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/365/heavy-equipment-lamps-market North America is also projected to witness growth in the heavy equipment lamps market. Increasing construction of airports, bridges, roads in the U.S. is resulting in the market growth.Signal lamps are expected to witness steady growth during the forecast period. By the end of 2026, signal lamps are projected to bring in more than US$ 2,900 million revenue.HID lamps are expected to account for maximum revenue share. HID lamps are projected to surpass US$ 3,400 million revenue towards the end of 2026.The construction industry is expected to be one of the largest end use industries. By the end of 2026, the construction industry is projected to surpass US$ 3,500 million revenue.You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.factmr.com/checkout/365/S The report also offers a detailed profile on some of the prominent companies in the global market for heavy equipment lamps, Companies that will play a major role in the market through 2026 are Catepillar, Inc., General Electric Company, OSRAM GmbH, Stanley Electric, Koito Manufacturing Co Ltd. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 14:36:41 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 666 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 INCLINE VILLAGE, NV / ACCESSWIRE / April 16 , 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 Advisor Joe Salvani was recently interviewed by Proactive Investors, a UK-based online investor services company that provides analytics, market reports, and company and industry profiles.Advisor Joe Salvani tells Proactive Investors that the lithium miner is excited about an upcoming electric vehicle supply chain strategy meeting in early May, which will include U.S. government officials, with automakers and lithium miners like Livent Corp.Salvani says as LithiumOre has already begun drilling at its property in Railroad Valley, Nevada, he believes there could be a 'tremendous amount of incentives coming from trying to develop domestic lithium.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 Informationp775-434-4744info@ lithiumore.net SOURCE: LithiumOre PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 11:02:01 West Africas Mobile Economy Valued at More Than $50 Billion in 2018 New GSMA Study: Mobile Powering Economic Growth and Job Creation Across West Africa Media Contacts: David Ntwampe Maila + 27 72 015 4702 dmaila@webershandwick.com Beau Bass +44 79 7662 4962 beau.bass@webershandwick.com GSMA Press Office pressoffice@gsma.com West Africas mobile ecosystem generated more than $50 billion in economic value last year equivalent to 8.7 per cent of the regions GDP1, according to a new GSMA study. The 2019 West Africa edition of the GSMAs Mobile Economy report series is published at the Mobile 360 West Africa event being held in Abidjan this week. The study finds that rising mobile phone ownership and the ongoing migration to mobile broadband networks and services across the region will see the mobile ecosystems economic contribution continue to increase over the coming years, forecast to reach almost $70 billion (9.5 per cent of GDP) by 2023. Todays report underlines the vital role the mobile ecosystem is playing in contributing to economic growth, social development and job creation across West Africa, said Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at the GSMA. To harness the power of a new generation of mobile users and mobile networks, we urge governments and policymakers in West Africa to develop regulatory frameworks that encourage innovation and investment in the sector, enabling the provision of mobile-powered digital services to citizens across the region. The new report reveals that: The number of unique mobile subscribers 2 across West Africa reached 185 million at the end of 2018, equivalent to 48 per cent of the regions population. This number is forecast to rise to 248 million by 2025, 54 per cent of the population. across West Africa reached 185 million at the end of 2018, equivalent to 48 per cent of the regions population. This number is forecast to rise to 248 million by 2025, 54 per cent of the population. Future subscriber growth will largely be driven by young consumers owning a mobile phone for the first time; more than 40 per cent of the regions population are under 18 years old, according to the report. 3G will overtake 2G to become the leading mobile technology in West Africa this year, supporting about half of the regions mobile connections 3 . 4G momentum is also building: ten new 4G networks have recently launched in West Africa, including the first ever 4G networks in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Togo. . 4G momentum is also building: ten new 4G networks have recently launched in West Africa, including the first ever 4G networks in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Togo. Local mobile operators are increasing investment in their networks and are expected to spend $8.5 billion (capex) on network infrastructure and services over the next two years (2019/2020). West Africas mobile ecosystem directly employs around 200,000 people, supports 800,000 jobs in the informal employment sector, and a further 600,000 jobs across the wider economy. Mobile is the primary platform for accessing the internet in West Africa; at the end of 2018, there were around 100 million mobile internet users in the region, up almost 20 million year-on-year. The new report The Mobile Economy, West Africa 2019 is authored by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA. To access the full report and related infographics, please visit: https://www.gsma.com/r/mobileeconomy/west-africa/ -ENDS- About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators and nearly 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA. 1 GDP contribution comprises mobile operators (1.8% of GDP); related industries (0.5%); indirect contribution (0.5%); and productivity improvements (5.9%). 2 A unique mobile subscriber represents an individual that can account for multiple SIM connections. 3 There were 328 million SIM connections West Africa at the end of 2018, excluding cellular IoT, forecast to rise to 442 million by 2025. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005 The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 09:02:26 Press Information Fact.MR Office: Dublin 2 Suite 9884 27 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Sudip Saha Head of Marketing +353-1-4434-232 email http://www.factmr.com # 620 Words Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232 Quality-constructed to impart economical yet strong packaging, laminated polypropylene woven bags and sacks continue to dwarf their non-laminated counterparts. 60% of polypropylene woven bags and sacks sales converted worldwide are laminated, according to a recent Fact.MR study. The study foresees the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market to record a moderate 4.0% volume CAGR through the period of forecast, 2018 to 2028.Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1203 Palpability of polythenes environmental hazards has emphasized the use of sustainable alternatives in the packaging sector, thereby entailing adoption of polypropylene woven bags and sacks. Rapid inroad paved by the retail industry in FMCG sector, which has resulted in proliferation of retail outlets, will continue to bode well for growth of the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market.Countries worldwide are passing prohibitions and taxes on plastic bags to offset environment impacts resulting from their production and disposal. Single-use plastic bags that have a thickness of less than 35 microns or 50 microns fall under the prohibition, and the thickness varies from country to country; primary agenda behind this being their zero reusable value and exhausting landfill sites.Browse Full Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/1203/polypropylene-woven-bags-and-sacks-market Following ban on plastic bags, polypropylene non-woven bags are in rigorous demand, albeit their composition of plastic as a part with cloth was frowned upon in their infancy. Despite materials used in polypropylene woven bags and sacks are not completely biodegradable, they can be reused & recycled, thereby illustrating a greener alternative. In fact, polypropylene woven bags and sacks manufacturing is emerging as a lucrative small-business idea, in light of their steadily surging demand, says a lead analyst at Fact.MR Sensing evolving requirements of consumers and end-use industries alike, manufacturers of polypropylene woven bags and sacks have introduced a wide range of products. Open mouth bags and valve bags continue to subjugate the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market, collectively accounting for over 50% market share, in terms of both value and volume. This will be complemented by steady demand from block bottom bags and gusseted bags.You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.factmr.com/checkout/1203/S Preeminence of Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) in the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market will persist, led by fast growing FMCG sector in the region that coattails the surging middle-class demographic. Most of the APEJs polypropylene woven bags and sacks market will remain concentrated in China and India, following plastic ban initiatives that have gained widespread acceptance across these countries.With rising demand for packaging products, key players have shifted their focus toward production of polypropylene woven bags and sacks, to become most reliable manufacturers of custom-driven woven fabric. Some companies based in emerging nations such as China and India, being export-oriented unit (EOU), have over half of their output exported to nations including the U.S., Canada, UAE, Australia, Germany, and Britain. These players are fast foraying East European nations and South Africa, according to the analyst.Leading players in the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market are custom designing and developing solutions that are client requirement-specific, meanwhile conforming to international quality & safety guidelines. These players are also taking strategic steps forward for expanding their market reach and gaining a competitive edge in the polypropylene woven bags and sacks market.According to the study, end-use of polypropylene woven bags and sacks continues to remain robust in the food and building & construction industries. However, sales rate of polypropylene woven bags and sacks in agriculture & allied Industries is foreseen to overshadow sales in food and building & construction industries during the period of forecast. Revenues from polypropylene woven bags and sacks sales in retail & shopping sector will continue to observe a sluggish rise through 2028. mrrse PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 12:29:51 Press Information mrrse State Tower 90, State Street Suite 700 Albany, NY - 12207 alok kumar manager +1-518-730-0559 email http://www.mrrse.com # 802 Words State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207manager+1-518-730-0559 In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the overall market Hydraulic Fracturing, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Market to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future. Readers can access the regional as well as segment-wise analysis for acquiring precise information about the global market structure.Request for Free Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.mrrse.com/sample/16167 The shale gas hydraulic fracturing markets in Canada, US, and China are expected to individually register impressive growth over a 10-year forecast period. While US is anticipated to remain the global leader, China is foreseen to be a lucrative region thriving at the fastest CAGR value. In terms of volume, the US market that represented a production volume of 18,059 BCF in 2017 is estimated to grow at a 9.8% CAGR through to 2027, whereas the 317.6 BCF Chinese market is likely to witness a stellar CAGR of 21.2%. Canadas shale gas hydraulic fracturing volume was 213.3 BDF in 2017, which is expected to reach up by a CAGR of 8.4% over 2017-2027.The world today is dependent more on unconventional energy resources, including shale gas. It is presumed that by the end of 2027, the development of shale gas in the top regions across the world, i.e. North America and China, will gain robust traction in the coming decade, reaching a peak level. The US is likely to bring in innovative opportunities and promising circumstances for players, owing to increasing use of relatively cheaper energy resources. This region is projected to lead the global industry for shale gas in terms of sales and currently holds over two-third of the market in terms of value and volume. Dominance of the US in shale gas hydraulic fracturing thus revolutionizes North Americas overall energy scenario and also holds a strong impact on the global energy domain. In terms of technology, exploration, development, production, and export of shale gas, the US will be the global leader throughout 2017-2027.Browse Complete Research Report with List of Tables and Key Figures @ https://www.mrrse.com/shale-gas-hydraulic-fracturing-market Shale gas hydraulic fracturing is a popular shale gas production process that involves extraction of trapped natural oil or gas by fracturing the shale rock, eventually enhancing the flow of natural oil or gas that needs to be recovered. Although the prices of natural gas have been seeing an affordable decline since the recent past, the real boost to the market in the US is being provided by greater convenience of shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing compared to that through the conventional method. However, heavy consumption of water during shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing may turn out to remain a major challenge to growth of this process. Moreover, both production and transportation of shale gas tend to release a heap of toxic pollutants in underground water, which is another factor that will continue to hold a strong negative impact on growth of market in near future. Plug & perforation poised for robust growthBy technology, plug and perforation segment covered maximum volume share of the US market and is expected to continue dominance through to 2027. This dominance is attributed to indispensable benefits that this process has brought to the US market for shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing. The plug and perforation segment recorded a volume of 13,088.4 BCF in 2017, which will possibly expand at a CAGR of over 10% by 2027-end. Sliding sleeve segment will however thrive at a relatively lower CAGR of over 8% during 2017-2027. Technological innovations such as novel water treatment and management solutions, a major shift from vertical (conventional) vertical drilling to more profitable and eco-friendly horizontal drilling, and emergence of pitless drilling technology are looked at as significant boosters to US market growth in shale gas hydraulic fracturing.As far as key players in the shale gas hydraulic fracturing industry is concerned, a majority of global key players are based on the US, contributing to the region's fostering growth over the years.Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on report @ https://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/16167 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. Dung, who is also Vietnamese Ambassador to Uruguay, paid a courtesy visit to Uruguay Vice President Lucia Topolansky and had working sessions with President of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) Javier Miranda, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Uruguay Juan Castillo, and Deputy Foreign Minister Ariel Bergamino. Dung and the Uruguayan leaders exchanged views on orientations and solutions to boost the bilateral relations in the coming time based on the agreements reached at the first meeting of the Vietnam-Uruguay joint committee on economic, commercial and investment cooperation in October 2018. They agreed to consider economy and trade a foundation for the bilateral relationship and the two countries will expand affiliation to culture and education. The two sides discussed the possibility of parliamentary diplomatic cooperation and shared information on the situation of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) as well as the possible signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the bloc. During the working sessions with leaders of the FA and the Communist Party of Uruguay, the two sides agreed to boost diplomatic ties through the Party channel, while continuously supporting each other at multilateral forums and international organisations. President of the FA Javier Miranda expressed his hope to visit Vietnam and further tighten relations with the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern and agreed on some measures to strengthen ties between the FA and the CPV in the coming time, including delegation exchanges, as well as bolster cooperation in culture, education and tourism. PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 14:37:38 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 408 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2019 / StockNewsNow.com , The Official MicroCap News Source, today published an SNNLive Video Interview with Patrick Lu, Ph.D., President & CEO of Sirnaomics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics against cancer and fibrotic diseases, according to the company's website (see here: www.sirnaomics.net) . The video interview was recorded at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2019 in New York, NY.Click the following link to watch the SNNLive Video Interview on StockNewsNow.com: Sirnaomics, Inc. - RNAi Therapeutics Company Provides Company Overview, Discusses Clinical Development and Growth Drivers for 2019You can follow Stock News Now on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKEDIN, YOUTUBE, and STOCKTWITSPlease review important disclosures on our website at: http://stocknewsnow.com/legal.php#disclaimer About Sirnaomics, Inc.Sirnaomics, Inc., a leading privately held biopharmaceutical company for discovery and development of RNAi therapeutics, is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, with subsidiaries in Suzhou and Guangzhou, China. The company's mission is to develop novel therapeutics to alleviate human suffering and advance patient care in areas of high unmet medical need. The guiding principles of the company are: Innovation, Global Vision with a Patient Centered focus. Members of the senior management team have a great deal of combined experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, financial, clinical and business management in both the USA and China. The company is supported by funding from institutional investors, corporate partnerships and government grants. Sirnaomics has developed a strong portfolio of intellectual property with an enriched product pipeline. The therapeutic areas of focus include oncology and anti-fibrotic therapeutics. Learn more at www.sirnaomics.net About StockNewsNow.com StockNewsNow.com is a microcap financial news portal that features news and insights from the microcap and emerging growth financial community. StockNewsNow.com is a multimedia destination hub for information about microcap and emerging growth public and private companies, market events, news, bulletins, stock quotes, expert commentary and company profiles that feature SNN-produced video like SNNLive CEO video interviews, as well as their latest news and headlines. Users can engage directly and share the information provided through social media.Follow the companies YOU want to know more about; read and watch content from YOUR favorite microcap, emerging growth financial experts; register to attend financial conferences of YOUR choosing; find microcap and emerging growth financial professionals that YOU may be looking for - all here on StockNewsNow.com info@ stocknewsnow.com SOURCE: StockNewsNow.com Digitization and workflow specialist to show SAP-integrated business processes, high-speed archive system, and new cloud-based vendor portal for SAP PR-Inside.com: 2019-04-16 16:02:34 Press Information xSuite Solutions Inc. xSuite Solutions Inc. Danny Schaarmann CEO & President +1 (617) 800 0980 Ext:101 email http://www.xsuite.com # 730 Words xSuite Solutions Inc.CEO & President+1 (617) 800 0980 Ext:101http://www.xsuite.com Sapphire Now 2019, to be held in Orlando on May 7-9, explores, practical options for companies to achieve meaningful business outcomes for user satisfaction and organizational growth. At Booth 255, xSuite Solutions Inc. will demonstrate how its SAP-integrated software, archiving and folder technology, and cloud-based solutions improve business processes.At Sapphire 2019 experts, customers, and partners meet for an in-depth look at how compa-nies in high-growth industries are achieving global results using SAP S/4 HANA, the SAP Cloud Platform, and new developments like machine learning and IoT. At Booth 255 this year, xSuite Solutions Inc. will demonstrate its high-speed archive as an on-premises or cloud-based solution, a vendor portal run on the SAP cloud platform, and an SAP-integrated and -certified P2P solution. Bill Farrell, Director of SAP Technology & Governance at Dole Packaged Foods, LLC, will hold an ASUG presentation on Tuesday, May 7 from 3:00 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. in room 330B, speaking on the topic How Dole Packaged Foods Optimized Its AP Process within SAP S/4Hana.The xSuite archive solution shown at Sapphire 2019 meets all standards in controlled long-term information storage. Available on premise and in the xSuite Cloud, it offers tested audit security, centralized information storage, and top speed in data access. This highly performant archive solution integrates with all environments and forms the foundation of xSuites digital information management solutions within SAP, also to be presented at Sapphire 2019. These practical Fiori-based folder solutions include Vendor File, Customer File, Contract Management, and a solution to manage files connected to legal claims.Also to be officially introduced is the brand-new xSuite vendor portal, which operates on the SAP cloud platform and integrates with other A/P solutions. Supplier documents, data, and processes become clear, coherent and easy to track with this solution dedicated to the needs of the U.S. market. It is easy to flip purchase orders to order acknowledgement, invoice, credit notes, and more. Intelligent workflows based at the supplier process, check, code, and approve invoices with full SAP integration.xSuite Solutions Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of the Germany-based software developer WMD Group (Workflow Management and Document Consulting). With its xSuite 5.2, WMD is a leader in SAP-integrated solutions. xSuite is SAP-certified for integration with SAP S/4HANA and as powered by SAP NetWeaver. Developed to expedite business processes and assure full technological interactivity, xSuite solutions support document-based processes entirely within SAP. The xSuite solution for accounts payable offers rule-based workflows for digital coding and approval of vendor invoices in MM and FI. With full authorization control, efficient workflows funnel documents from entry in paper and various digital source formats on through all stages until they have been given their final stamp of approval. The xSuite procurement solution is the optimal enhancement to the invoice solution, filling the needs of the purchasing department at companies using MM. Users can access xSuite solutions from the SAP GUI, Fiori or the web portal.Location:Sapphire, May 79, 2019Orange County, Convention Center (OCCC)P.O. Box 691509Orlando, FL 32869-1509For more information and registration: https://events.sap.com/sapandasug/en/homeAbout xSuite Solutions Inc. and the global WMD Group (Workflow Management & Document Consulting)Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, xSuite Solutions Inc.is the U.S. subsidiary of the WMD Group. xSuite Solutions serves the entire North American market with SAP-based workflow solutions for accounts payable automation, e-procurement, order-to-cash, information management, and and archiving. Services include consulting, implementation and maintenance of SAP-based software solutions and document-centric business processes for finance, procurement, and sales. xSuite Solutions is a software company with a strong focus on services for the delivery of high-quality solutions to its customers. All xSuite business processes are geared toward fulfilling unique customer demands.Founded in 1994, the WMD Group has optimized operations at SMEs and Fortune-500 companies globally in over 1,100 installations. Sustained, mutually rewarding relationships with customers continue to foster the development of reliable software that addresses real needs in operations from data capture to archiving. The company delivers high-quality results across sectors. The comprehensive range of services includes analysis, consulting, implementation, delivery of hardware and software components, training and support. The companys xSuite 5.2 is SAP certified for integration with SAP S/4HANA and as powered by SAP NetWeaver. Based in Germany, the global WMD Group has subsidiaries in Denmark, Benelux, Singapore, Spain, Slovakia and the U.S.A. The company has a multinational staff of 190 to serve its customers worldwide. Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has started marketing a five-year dollar sukuk, or Islamic bond, a document issued by one of the banks showed. The Jeddah-based triple A-rated institution gave initial price guidance in the high 40 basis points over mid swaps area, the document showed. IsDB has appointed Credit Agricole CIB, Emirates NBD Capital, Gulf International Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Natixis and Standard Chartered as joint lead managers and book runners. Sukuk is the Arabic name for financial certificates, also commonly referred to as sharia compliant bonds. Sukuk is defined by Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) as securities of equal denomination representing individual ownership interests in a portfolio of eligible existing or future assets. Islamic bonds is structured in such a way as to generate returns to investors without infringing Islamic law (that prohibits riba or interest). Sukuk represents undivided shares in the ownership of tangible assets relating to particular projects or special investment activity. (Reuters/NAN) The Nigerian government says it saved over N37 billion by identifying and correcting the improper actions of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). These actions include misapplications, deliberate mistakes and non-compliance with the approved template for settlement of claims by the MDAs. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, said the amount covered the period from May 2017, when President Muhammadu Buhari approved the setting aside of N10 billion every month to offset backlog of promotion arrears, to date. He said the fraud was uncovered by an in-house committee inaugurated in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) following the presidential directive to verify MDAs claims and submissions. A statement by the spokesperson of the OAGF, Oise Johnson, did not provide further details of the MDAs culpable in the scandal. The statement quoted Mr Idris as saying the committee has so far paid about N42 billion out of the N55 billion released by the government for the settlement of MDAs claims, with about N13 billion in cash still outstanding. Mr Johnson said a total of N35 billion is yet to be released to the office by the government. Mr Johnson said the accountant-general reassured civil servants in the country of the commitment of OAGF to the continued payment of promotion arrears owed federal civil servants in line with President Buharis directives. Mr Idris gave the assurance in Abuja when he received the National Executive of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in his office. He also promised to raise the concerns of the association to the supervising minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, and the Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze. Apart from ensuring that the government continues to keep its part of the agreement with the association, he said this will ensure continued industrial harmony in the country. He commended the leadership of the association for their understanding and support in the implementation of the governments plans and programmes. According to him, without industrial harmony, no meaningful development can be achieved in the economy. Mr Idris also commended the OAGFs arm of the association for its understanding and support. He assured the civil servants of the continued commitment of his office to the improvement of the welfare of the staff through the implementation of people-oriented programmes. In his remarks, the National Vice President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Bola Innocent, who represented the president, extolled Mr Idris for his professionalism in handling workers welfare. He said the association is proud of Mr Idriss achievements and contributions to nation-building. He said their visit was necessitated by recent developments over the payment of outstanding promotion, salaries, and other arrears owed civil servants. He said the failure of the government to continue to honour the agreement signed in May 2017 may lead to industrial unrest. The Nigerian government says it has begun the process of restructuring and recapitalising the Bank of Agriculture. On Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, led other key players in the sector to the Kick-off meeting of the Financial Advisory Service for Restructuring and Capitalisation Project of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA). The meeting was called to deliberate on how BOA can become a strong instrument that will strengthen the Nigerian agricultural sector. The bank was established in 1972 to provide small credit to farmers. Mr Ogbeh said if the restructuring project is successful, farmers will become co-members of the BOA and have easy access to loans. We want to create a bank for farmers and they will become co-members and this will be an opportunity to make the BOA the largest bank in the future. It will be like the ones in China and the Netherlands, he said. Speaking at the event, the Director Public Enterprise (BPE), Alex Okoh, said the BOA performed poorly in the past due to inadequate funding, poor risk management strategy, and non-performance of credit facilities, amongst others. He said there is a need to recapitalise the bank to give it a new face and make it attractive for investment. Mr Okoh said the bank will provide basic financial services to farmers in both rural and urban areas and also create employment opportunities for the people. He said the restructuring will take place over a period of 90 days beginning from Tuesday, April 16. The Federal Government will retain only a minority share of the bank, while farmers and cooperatives will be the majority stakeholders. It will be a farmers bank, he said. Mr Ogbeh said poor management on the part of BOA has contributed to the failure in the agriculture sector. He also decried the failure of high profile farmers to repay loans. He said this has become a major problem in the Nigerian agricultural sector. It is because they lack agronomic skills that will enable them to have a high yield of products after harvest, Mr Ogbeh said about the difficulties of the farmers to operate profitably. NAN reported last year BOA saying farmers take loans and refuse to pay. As at the time of this report, it had an outstanding loan of N60 billion. The failure of agriculture has been because farmers fail to do certain things before going into agriculture, the minister said. For example, a farmer in Nigeria plants maize one metre apart, but another farmer in Europe will plant six inches apart and will end up producing higher than the Nigerian farmer, he said. The minister said the federal government was working hard to ensure that good agronomic practices are observed by farmers to produce quality outputs. We are ensuring that there is an improvement in seed supply, soil testing and also a new agricultural extension programme in all local government areas of Nigeria, he said. We will also ensure the security of farmers and their farms so that farmer will work safely on their farms, he said. Ibrahim Abdumalik, a Deputy Director in the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) says over 37 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are offering over 59 million jobs in Nigeria. Mr Abdumalik, who is in charge of Enterprise Development and Promotion in the agency, said this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of a capacity building workshop for young business owners, orgnaised by SMEDAN in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa State capital. He, however, regretted that the global recession had adversely affected so many enterprises with MSMEs as the worst affected. He said the challenges posed by the recession should serve as a catalyst for innovative enterprises. Mr Abdumalik, who represented the Director-General, Diko Radda, at the event, said the training was designed to curtail the mortality of small businesses in Nigeria. He said, MSME is for sure the most viable instrument for diversifying our economy and tapping into the rich but largely dormant resource deposits across the length and breadth of Nigeria. The stiff competition in the global markets have tended to further stifle the operations and growth of our MSMEs that can rightly be classified as endangered species. The fatalistic state of the majority of these enterprises is as a result of either environmental or endogenous constraints. This intervention is essentially to reinforce my agencys commitment towards ensuring the easing of the harsh operating environment especially for MSMEs. Also, Chibuzo Osuoha, a Deputy Director at SMEDAN, who was a resource person at the training, said the programme was simultaneously going on in Ogun and Kaduna. According to her, the training was packaged to address the problems identified by SMEDAN to be responsible for the failure of small businesses. We have taken time to groom young businesses and we noticed some deficiencies and lapses, so, we created a curriculum that would enhance their management skills, Ms Osuoha said. She said the participants were selected and put through a sensitisation programme on how to manage small businesses profitably. She said the 104 beneficiaries, who run existing businesses were divided into two groups and would be assisted with a grant for operational space for one year. Chris James, one of the beneficiaries, lauded SMEDAN for the training, saying that he had been exposed to new ideas. The sessions so far are so interesting, and will help us to remain in business profitably and the nuggets from the resource persons are very useful. I believe it will take care of business failures and make young businesses to thrive, Mr James said. (NAN) Sudanese protesters demanding that the military hand over power held a sit-in at army headquarters in Khartoum for an 11th day on Tuesday. The AU also warned that Sudan had 15 days to install a civilian government or risk expulsion from the bloc. Sudans longtime President Omar al-Bashir was deposed and arrested on Thursday after months of anti-government protests. One day later, interim military council head Awad Auf resigned after demonstrators said he was too closely connected to al-Bashirs regime. In Khartoum, thousands of protesters remained outside army headquarters, chanting, No going back until our demands are met! and We want a civilian government! The interim military councils members have stressed that they are trying to deliver on the peoples demands. One demand was fulfilled on Tuesday, when SUNA news agency reported that the head of state media was sacked. Protesters have also stipulated that the attorney general be fired. The Transitional Military Council has met many demands of the protesters, but some of the demands of the protesters need time, council member, Gen. Jalal al-Sheikh said after a meeting with Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa late Monday. Mr Al-Sheikh vowed the protesters would not be dispersed from outside army headquarters and appeared to change the councils position on al-Bashirs extradition to The Hague. The decision whether to extradite al-Bashir to the (International Criminal Court) will be made by a popularly elected government and not the transitional military council, he said at a news conference in Addis Ababa. The council had previously said al-Bashir who was arrested after Thursdays military coup would not be extradited to the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and genocide in Dafur. While Western nations have urged the military council to hand over power as soon as possible to a civilian government, Ethiopias Abiy has recognised the new Sudanese authorities. On Tuesday, Russia did so as well. Yes, of course, Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said when asked by a reporter if Russia supported the Sudanese authorities, according to state news agency TASS. (dpa/NAN) Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has said that although a senator, Ali Ndume, is his kinsman, he would not defy the All Progressives Congress choice of Ahmad Lawan for the position of Senate President. Messrs Lawan and Ndume are two major contenders for the position of Senate President. Mr Ndume is from Borno State while Mr Lawan represents neighbouring Yobe State in the Senate. Messrs Ndume and Shettima are political allies in Borno State. Mr Shettima made his stance known at his Abuja residence, shortly after the Ahmad Lawan for Senate President Group paid him a courtesy visit. He said that as a loyal party man, he had chosen to abide by the partys decision. Mr Shettima said that most APC members, particularly from the North, won their elections based on their alliance with President Muhammadu Buhari and should not work against the presidents choice. I am the first citizen of the state and I have consulted widely with our leaders from Borno before resolving to back Sen. Ahmad Lawan. Most importantly, let us be honest. Muhammadu Buhari is the single candidate in the country that most of us from the North won our election by aligning with him. I have very little to say, ordinarily I am not even supposed to come here because there are three things to be combated. I hail from the same state with the Distinguished Sen. Ali Ndume and I appreciate the fact that politics is local. But politics is also national. I believe the blood that binds us together supersedes whatever we might harbour. But I fully align with the aspiration of my party, and by the grace of God we are going to mobilise all our goodwill to see that we are fully on board, he said. The governor, who is also Senator-elect in the 9th Senate, stressed the need for APC members to maintain discipline by respecting the partys decisions. He said such was necessary because there was no provision for independent candidates in the law books. We are for Senator Ahmad Lawan. We are for Femi Gbajabiamila and all other senators and other House of Representatives members endorsed by the party. We are for the party that allowed everyone to aspire to political offices. We believe that we must respect the party. There is no provision for independent candidates. I dont know whether anyone has won under an independent platform, except maybe Senator-elect Ifeanyi Ubah, who brought in an anonymous party and won. So, I feel honoured by the visit, but honestly this visit is unwarranted. I am fully onboard. I am for Sen. Ahmad Lawan for Senate President, Mr Shettima said. He further said: President Buhari has endorsed some of the best hands we have in the system, and where we hail from, Sen. Ahmad Lawan is one of the best hands we have. It is a reality. He has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He has the experience, exposure, pedigree, and intellect to redefine the process. He is the best amongst equals. He is level headed, calm, mature and we need such quality of leadership to drive the 9th Senate. The senator-elect assured the party that he and other elected citizens of Borno would prevail on Mr Ndume to drop his ambition. Advertisements We, the elected representatives of the people of Borno are not at war with Sen. Ali Ndume. He is my kinsman, but we will continue to prevail on him to align himself with the aspirations of the party. We are not at war. We belong to the same paternity, he said. Mr Ndume has insisted on running for Senate president despite the stance of the APC which has publicly backed Mr Lawan. Mr Ndume criticised the stance of the APC saying it was undemocratically done without consultations. He said he enjoys the support of many senators-elect including those of the APC for his ambition. An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday struck out the corruption suit the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed against Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, a dismissed judge of the Federal High Court, and Godwin Obla, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Delivering the judgment, Justice Hakeem Oshodi held that based on the judicial precedent set by the case of Justice Nganjiwa V. FRN, the High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit as the EFCC jumped the gun in filing the first amended charge. He noted that in spite of the anti-graft commission being aware of the decision in Mr Nganjiwas case, regarding the proper procedure to discipline erring judicial officers, the EFCC still went ahead with the trial by calling more witnesses. As at Monday, December 11, 2017, the EFCC was aware of the decision reached by the Court of Appeal in Nganjiwa vs FRN. As at that date, the amended information was yet to be filed and the 12th prosecution witness was still giving evidence. The prosecution persisted like a bull running amok and still called two more witnesses and precious judicial time was wasted. We have not found a way in the judicial atmosphere to discipline or penalise an agency of government through fines or costs. In conclusion, the court has no jurisdiction to hear the first amended charge of February 21, 2018 of 31 counts. This suit is hereby struck out. NAN reports that while delivering his judgment in the Nganjiwas case, Justice Obaseki Adejumo of the Court of Appeal held that the EFCC does not have power to investigate and prosecute serving judicial officers. Mr Adejumo said that the National Judicial Council (NJC) must first strip the appellant (Hon. Justice Nganjiwa) of his judicial standing before he could be charged. The Court of Appeal judge had further stated that serving judicial officers can only be prosecuted for offence like murder, stealing etc done outside the discharge of their duties. It said once the offence was committed in the discharge of their duties, they must first be tried by NJC. During proceedings on January 25, Rotimi Oyedepo, the lead prosecuting counsel for the EFCC via a written address dated December 13, 2018, urged the court to strike out the charge because the EFCC did not charge Ofili-Ajumogobia in line with the NJC guidelines. Robert Clarke, the defence counsel to Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia, in an application dated Nov. 27, 2018 had said the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, and had urged the court to discharge and acquit his client. Ifedayo Adedipe, the defence counsel to Mr Godwin Obla, Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobias co-defendant, urged the court to separate the joint charges of the defendants. Addressing the issues raised in the submissions of the defence counsel on Jan. 25, Justice Oshodi in Tuesdays ruling, said court cannot discharge Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia, neither can the charges against Mr Obla be severed. The order of discharge for the first defendant cannot hold. The court cannot also serve a charge as proposed by the counsel to the second defendant. The charge has to be amended and the second defendant has to retake his plea, he said. Previously, on September 14, 2018, the EFCC had closed its case against the embattled former judge. In proving its case of corruption against her, the EFCC had presented 14 witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court. The anti-graft commission in an amended charge dated Feb. 23, 2018, had alleged that Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia had illegally received a sum of 793,800 dollars in several tranches from different sources between 2012 and 2015. On his part, Mr Obla was alleged by the EFCC to have offered a sum of N5 million as gratification to Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia, so as to pervert the course of justice.(NAN) The anti-graft agency, EFCC, has said that it acted legally by rearresting a former judge who was discharged by the court on Tuesday. PREMIUM TIMES reported how Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia was re-arrested at the premises of an Ikeja High Court after she was discharged of corruption charges by Justice Hakeem Oshodi. Mr Oshodi, in his ruling, struck out the 31-count charge filed by the EFCC against Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia and a lawyer, Godwin Obla, on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit. The judge ruled that based on the judicial precedent set by the court of appeal, the EFCC had jumped the gun in filing the first amended charge against the former federal high court judge. Mr Oshodi noted that the anti-graft commission had not followed the procedures set by the National Judicial Council (NJC) in disciplining erring judicial officers. In its statement on Wednesday afternoon, the EFCC said it re-arrested Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia to enable it to prefer a fresh criminal charge against her. It said it had since taken Mrs Ofili-Ajumogobia to the NJC which had ruled on her matter. Read the full EFCC statement below. Why We Re-arrested Ofili-Ajumogobia-EFCC The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, re-arrested Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia to enable it to prefer a fresh criminal charge against her. The Commission re-arrested Ofili-Ajumogobia in line with the decision of the Appeal Court, Lagos Division, in a case involving Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, where it said that a judge could not be prosecuted until he or she had either been dismissed or compulsorily retired by the National Judicial Council, NJC. Consequent upon the fact that the Commission had presented Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia before the NJC for disciplinary action and that the NJC had taken a position, the Commission would now approach the court to prefer fresh charges her. The Commission had first arraigned Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla, SAN, on a 30-count charge on Monday, November 28, 2016, on offences bordering on perversion of the course of justice, graft, unlawful enrichment, providing false information and forgery. They were, however, re-arraigned on an amended 31-count charge bordering on an alleged perversion of the course of justice, unlawful enrichment and forgery. They pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them, thereby setting the stage for the trial. Having presented 12 witnesses and tendered several documents that were admitted in evidence by the court in the course of the trial, counsel to Ofili-Ajumogobia, first defendant, Robert Clarke SAN, in an application dated November 27, 2018, said the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and urged the court to discharge and acquit his client. However, Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, counsel for the second defendant, Obla, on January 25, 2019, told the court that the charges preferred against his client could be entertained. He, therefore, urged the court to separate the charges so that his client could continue with his trial. After listening to both parties, Justice Oshodi ruled that the issue of substantive jurisdiction must be cleared before the issue of no-case submission could be heard. The Judge further directed both parties to make their submissions based on the application on the jurisdiction of the court. In his ruling at todays sitting, Justice Akeem Oshodi stated that, based on the judicial precedent set by the case of Hon. Justice Nganjiwa V. FRN, the High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit as the EFCC jumped the gun in filing the first amended charge. The Judge further held that As at Monday, December 11, 2017, the EFCC was aware of the decision reached by the Court of Appeal in Nganjiwa vs FRN. As at that date, the amended information was yet to be filed and the 12 prosecution witness was still giving evidence. In view of todays ruling by Justice Oshodi and having complied with the NJC procedure, the Commission is set to prefer fresh criminal charges against the first defendant, Ofili-Ajumogobia. Advertisements The management of Lagos State University (LASU) has denied it diverted N198 million from the pension fund of its staff to purchase luxury vehicles, despite multiple official memos issued by the universitys Governing Council, its highest decision-making body, clearly showing it did. The university management was reacting to a PREMIUM TIMES investigation which revealed that it illegally withdrew a total of N689 million in March and October from a staff pension/escrow account purportedly to bankroll two accreditation exercises but diverted N198 million to purchase luxury vehicles for some of the top staff. The university management had ignored multiple attempts by PREMIUM TIMES over two weeks, prior to the publication of the story to explain the withdrawals. In fact, a week before the story was published, the management pleaded for an additional 48-hours to react to the findings of the investigations but still did not send any reaction. In a statement released on Monday evening, the university spokesperson, Ademola Adekoya, said at no time did the university borrow from the staff pension to finance its accreditation expenses. Mr Adekoya claimed that the N474 million used for the accreditation was from its 2018 budget. The statement was however curiously silent about the source of the N215 million it withdrew in March for the first accreditation exercise in June. But official memos from the universitys governing council and its bursar, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, show that Mr Adekoyas claim is false. A March 8, 2018 memo with reference number LASU/CM/R.102 signed by the former registrar of the university, Akinwunmi Lewis, clearly said that money for the June accreditation was a temporary borrowing from the university pension/escrow investment. In view of the pending accreditation exercise and the time constraint, the university sought and obtained the executive approval of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council for temporary borrowing of the sum of two hundred and fifteen million naira [N215,000,000.00] from the universitys pension/escrow investment in order to cover the expenses of the forthcoming accreditation exercise which would be paid back from the approved grant from the Lagos State Government, when paid to the university, the internal memo stated. Another memo by the governing council dated October 5, 2018, signed by one Mustapha R.M for the school registrar also described the N474 million used for the October accreditation as temporary borrowing. The internal memo was titled: Decision of Governing Council on Ratification of the pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Councils Executive Approval on Temporary Use of Invested University Pension Fund for 2018 Accreditation Exercise. In view of the impending Accreditation Exercise and time constraint, the university sought and obtained the Executive Approval of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council for temporary borrowing of the sum of Four Hundred and Seventy-Four Million naira (N474,000,000.00) from the university Pension Investment Fund in order to cover the expenses on the forthcoming accreditation exercise which would be paid back together with the interest which ought to accrue, immediately upon receipt of fund from the State Government. PREMIUM TIMES also obtained three different memos written by the school bursar showing how the N198 million used to purchase the luxury vehicles was released. We also have an invoice with a description of the vehicles purchased. Working with the state government Mr Adekoya said he sought approval from the Office of the Special Adviser on Education, who is in charge of tertiary education in the state. But when reached by PREMIUM TIMES prior to the publishing of the investigation, Obafela Bank-Olemoh, the special adviser, declined comment and actually encouraged this reporter to go ahead with the story. I am not going to respond to that. I dont work in LASU, he said. My brother write your story. I am not going to respond to anything. You are writing a story about LASU, reach out to LASU and let them respond to you, said Mr Bank-Olemoh. The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has said that lawmakers of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives will not be appointed as chairmen of committees in the next parliament. Speaking at a dinner hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari for elected APC lawmakers on Tuesday, Mr Oshiomhole said the decision is because the APC has learnt from the mistake of 2015 when members not loyal to the party were allowed to assume leadership positions in the National Assembly. The dinner held inside the Banquet Hall of the State House Presidential Villa, Abuja. Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara emerged against the wish of the APC in 2015. Both men, elected on the APC platform in 2015, had the support of PDP lawmakers and appointed some of them as committee chairpersons. Both men defected to the PDP in 2018. Mr Oshiomhole on Tuesday said even as APC members, Messrs Saraki and Dogara were hostile to the APC administration led by Mr Buhari. He accused the duo of creating tension in the system, delaying budget needlessly and creating all sorts of obstacles to frustrate the government. In life, mistakes are permitted. But it becomes a problem if the mistake is repeated twice. We are determined not to repeat the mistakes of 2015 in 2019, we have learnt our lesson. Out of 223 APC elected members, 67 were re-elected, the rest are new members. In other climes, you dont go into coalition when you are in the majority, you do so when you dont have the numbers. We have the numbers, out of 360, Nigerians elected 223 APC members because they dont want Mr President to face the trauma of 2015, he said. The APC chairman said the House of Representatives has 96 committees and that all re-elected members will chair strategic committees, adding even new members will chair committees this time around. He said the decision is sequel to the fact that most of those who decamped from the APC were rejected by Nigerians during the election and even those who led it were uprooted by the Otoge movement in Kwara State. We cannot as a party which has a comfortable majority, entrust critical committees in the hands of the PDP or opposition. If Nigerians wanted them, they could have voted them. In the days of PDP, every committee were chaired by PDP members, he said. Mr Oshiomhole also said Mr. Buhari and the leadership of the party do not expect the National Assembly to be a rubber stamp. He said, however, that they will operate like a typical African family where issues are discussed in closed door. The good news, he said, is that there is a role for everyone. Both the re-elected and new members are entitled to heading committees We have asked our people not to share what belongs to us with other party members. I dont have apologies against forces of retrogression, Mr Oshiomhole said. The party chairmans stance comes a day after the APC said its elected lawmakers consulting with the PDP were right to do so. Femi Gbajabiamila, the Lagos lawmaker favoured to be the next House speaker by APC leaders, is one of those consulting with PDP members. Some protesters from varying communities are currently at the main entrance of the National Assembly complex. The protesters are demanding justice for reported extra judicial killings by the army in some communities in Abuja. The protest left journalists and other staff of the national assembly stranded outside the complex as the main entrance has been blocked. The FCT senator, Philip Aduda, had raised a point of order on the floor of the Senate demanding immediate investigation into the recent army invasion as well as killings by soldiers. He said there have been reports of killings in Tunga Maji community in the federal capital, allegedly caused by soldiers. Sunday Rabo, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, said the residents have on several occasions, called on relevant authorities to intervene to no avail. According to him, all the residents do is hustle for their daily bread. He said the soldiers, on different occasions, troop in with guns and start to shoot sporadically. Abuja communities protesting at the National Assembly Abuja communities protesting at the National Assembly Abuja communities protesting at the National Assembly Abuja communities protesting at the National Assembly Abuja communities protesting at the National Assembly Mr Sabo also said last week, two residents were killed and just yesterday, a man, Haruna, was killed in their community. As at the time of this report, workers were seen stranded outside the entrance and no one has come to address the protesters. The Nigerian government has been urged to develop its own indigenous plant variety protection laws that are suitable for the countrys environment. This demand was made as part of a resolution after a conference on Seeds, Food and Biosafety organized by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) on Thursday in Abuja. Farmers, academics, researchers, government officials, medical professionals and representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs) were among some of the 100 delegates who attended the event. Making their demands in the resolution they jointly signed, the group urged the government not to join the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV 1991) but, instead, design a law to protect seeds, plants and farmers right that will be relatively indigenous to the countrys farming system and environment. There should be stronger engagements among all stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Council on the implications of joining UPOV. It further demanded an amendment of the National Agricultural Seed Council Law to ensure that all seed breeders, formal or informal, private small or large corporations ensure full disclosure of information relating to improved varieties; and Informal seed breeders are harmonised and empowered to sustain our indigenous varieties. Agricultural research institutions should be well funded by the government to produce wholesome foods and to proffer sustainable, consumer-friendly solutions to challenges of agricultural productivity. There is need for rigorous training for small scale farmers on the implications of modern biotechnology, seed treaties and the threat to farmers rights. Information and terminologies on genetic engineering technology and seeds issues should be simplified to aid thorough understanding. Besides supervised seed extension villages where seed saving, research, seed exchange/sharing will be facilitated, farmers should be carried along in the formulation of policies and legislations concerning agricultural seeds and systems, it resolved. UPOV: Back story Nigeria currently does not participate in the multibillion-dollar global seed trade as a result of the lack of a Plant Variety Protection law in the country. There is also the need to provide legal intellectual property rights to plant breeders who develop new and improved seeds for increased crop production. With the foregoing, the government began drafting a law known as the Plant Variety Protection Act. Nigerias Federal Ministry of Justice is currently reviewing the draft law for possible adoption. Through the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), together with AGRA, the Rockefeller Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID has been collaborating with the Nigeria Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) to support the enaction of legislation that will provide a plant variety protection system that will incentivise national and multinational agribusiness investments. At the global level, both AGRA and USAID are collaborating with the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) in Geneva, Switzerland to secure new seed systems and varieties of high-performance seeds for Nigerias agricultural transformation. UPOV was established by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The Convention was adopted in Paris in 1961 and revised in 1972, 1978 and 1991. The objective of the Convention is the protection of new varieties of plants by an intellectual property right. As at 2015, 74 countries were members of UPOV, including the US and many developed countries in Asia and Europe such as China and the United Kingdom. No country in West Africa is yet to join the convention. The UPOV has been updated several times to reflect changing technology and increased understanding of how plant variety intellectual property protection must work. The last revision was in 1991, and genetic engineering was specifically mentioned only insofar as it is a method of creating variation. Under the UPOV Convention, intellectual property rights for genetically modified crops are no different from that of traditionally bred varieties. Nnimmo Bassey, the director of HOMEF, argued that Nigeria was never part of the negotiation from the inception of the UPOV in 1991, hence the need for the country tp tread with caution in joining the convention. At the conference, Francois Meienberg, a German seed expert, stressed the need for Nigeria to develop an indigenous law of its own that will prohibit farmers to exchange seeds and sale seeds in the local markets without proper regulation. The UPOV convention is good and aimed at protecting the agricultural system butt Nigeria have the capacity to develop their own law which would suit their circumstances because the UPOV convention is not negotiated locally and they (Nigeria) were not in the table when the law was created. Some young female candidates who contested in the just concluded 2019 general elections have narrated their experiences while contesting for the different political offices. The candidates said the lack of funds, poor party structure, and stereotyping were among some of the challenges they faced. They urged the incoming 9th National Assembly to work on the gender equality bill. They spoke at a programme organised by the Centre of Legislative Engagement of YIAGA Africa on Monday in Abuja. Favour Tomomewo, an elected member of the Ondo State House of Assembly under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and representing Ilaje Constituency 2, said her emergence was as a result of hard work and the assistance of the men in her constituency. I worked hard morning and night. I broke the protocols. I related with the men in my constituency, and I happen to be the first female to be elected in the history of my local government, Ms Tomomewo said. The culture and traditional belief are not suitable for women but with the help of God and young men, (it is possible) for the idea of women inclusion. Some of my challenges were my fellow women, financial issues, power tussle and the game of the influential, she added. Onyechere Adaora, 35, a TV host and gender activist, is also an elected member of the Imo state House of Assembly. Representing Okigwe consistency under the platform of Action Alliance, she urged women to look out for alternative parties, not the big parties. For the campaigns, a lot of women had difficulties in presenting what exactly the vision was even though they had the intentions and we saw that. I urge them to go back to reorganise, she said. At the end of the day, we might have 12 million women running, and 12 of them might not emerge. What I would charge women with is how we can profile within an organised body so the best of the best can come out, she added. She said the gender policy is still lacking, most of the women do not understand this. Alfreda Ato, a female candidate representing Ekeremor 3 Constituency, in Bayelsa State, contested but lost in the State House of Assembly elections. She said the issues of vote buying and election interference by religious and tradition rulers marred the electoral process. My challenges are all about the riverine area, she said. There are a lot of issues that surround the area. When going there, you would have to take a boat and these communities are off different locations, not located one place and that was one major challenge. Also, those places are still far behind. There is no light, no good education, health centres. Its like dealing with people in their world. Most times, when it comes to politics, the politicians forget those in the creeks and concentrate on those who live in the city, she said. Ms Ato faulted the roles traditional and religious rulers played during the electoral process. She said their influences affected the decisions of the electorates on the day of the election. I also had another challenge of community rulers and religious leaders as they would just come out on the day of the election and decide that this is who we are going to be working for and it becomes final, she said. She also said vote-buying marred the process. Umar Zainab, 26, from Kombotso Constituency contested for a seat in the Kano State House of Assembly on the platform of the New Progressive Movement (NPM). She, however, lost. I once contested for councilorship in 2017 and 2019 under the platform of New Progressive Movement NPM, but I lost the elections, Ms Zainab said. But I can say the experience was very tough and sometimes you go into something just to get other things such as going into the pool as one of the youngest that contested in the 2019 general elections. I ran at the age of 26 years old. Advertisements In my constituency, there has never been a female representative. I was one of the first females to run, she said. In her address, Yetunde Bakare, the senior programme officer for YAIGA Africa, urged the incoming 9th National Assembly to pass the Gender Equality Bill. I think the National Assembly must also ensure that the affirmative action is implemented by the executive. We have the national gender policy that said 35 per cent (of leaders) must be women, Ms Bakare said. And the National Assembly must also hold the executive to account to ensure that gender equality (bill) must be passed by the incoming 9th assembly And we also think that every political stakeholder must take intentional steps to ensure that there is an enabling environment for women to thrive, she added. The Court of Appeal in Lagos has affirmed the conviction of a Congolese, Kutumisana Blaise, and the forfeiture of $551,225 to the federal government. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) had arraigned the convict on April 21, 2015 before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos. The lawyer to the EFCC, Abba Muhammed, had urged Justice Buba to convict Mr Blaise, following his failure to declare the said $551,225 in his possession to the men of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the point of entry into Nigeria. According to Mr Abba, Mr Blaises action is contrary to Section 2 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended by Act No 1 of 2012. In his judgement on July 7, 2015, Justice Buba upheld the argument of the EFCCs lawyer and sentenced Mr Blaise accordingly. The judge further directed that the said $551,225, which Mr Blaise failed to declare, be forfeited to the federal government. Dissatisfied with the verdict of Justice Buba, the convict approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos, for intervention, asking the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the lower court. But in a unanimous judgment by three justices of the Court of Appeal: Mohammed Garba, Tom Yakubu and Jamilu Tukur, the appellate court affirmed the verdict of the lower court. The appellate court further concurred with the decision of the lower court over the forfeiture of the undeclared money, saying that the said amount be forfeited to the federal government. On why the judgment of the lower court was affirmed, Justice Yakubu, who read the lead judgment of the appellate court, said, I have myself perused the pieces of evidence proffered by the witnesses at the court below vis-a-vis the findings made by the learned trial judge which ultimately culminated in the conviction of the appellant (Blaise). I am satisfied that those findings are clearly borne out of the evidence placed before his lordship. The findings are, to my mind, unassailable. I have no reason whatsoever to tamper or interfere with them. I affirm them accordingly. In the end, I resolve the sole issue in this appeal against the appellant. The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abuja, on Tuesday demolished structure belonging to Daar Communications, owners of African Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM. The structure, located at Kpaduma Hill, Asokoro District of Abuja was brought down by bulldozers early Tuesday. DAAR Communications, a private broadcasting organisation in Nigeria, was founded by Raymond Dokpesi in 2007. A statement signed by the coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Umar Shuaibu, said only a portion of a fence was demolished. It added that the purpose of the demolition was not to upset the Management of DAAR Communications but to remove a portion of a fence around the AIT premises that legally belongs to other citizens of the country. He said the demolished fence was causingobstruction to neighbours. Mr Shuaibu said the demolition came after the Council failed to reach an amicable agreement with Mr Dokpesi. He said the firm failed to voluntarily remove the illegal fence and other structures. He explained that Mr Dokpesi visited the FCT Minister in November 2018 to resolve the dispute regarding the actual size of land legally allocated to DAAR Communications as against the area covered by their perimeter fence after which both parties at the end reached an agreement. The (was an) illegal encroachment into plots of lands belonging to many Nigerians and the refusal by the Management of DAAR Communications to abide by the agreement reached between it and the FCT Administration. Officials from the Department of Development Control of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council led by the Director, today removed a portion of the fence around the premises of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) in the Asokoro District of Abuja. It is important to let the public know that this removal was not intended to inflict any pain on the owners of the property but rather to enable other citizens to have access to their legitimate properties. It is also a culmination of a series of meetings between the Management of DAAR Communications, owners of AIT, and the Federal Capital Territory administration to end many years of misunderstanding. Specifically, in November last year, the Management of DAAR Communications led by High Chief Raymond Dokpesi paid a courtesy visit to the FCT Minister and they were received on his behalf by Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Bashir Mai-Borno, who led the FCTA team made up of relevant directors and others in the discussions. The purpose of the discussions was to resolve the protracted dispute regarding the actual size of land legally allocated to DAAR Communications as against the area covered by their perimeter fence. The whole idea was for both parties to mutually agree to reach a settlement that would bring about a permanent solution and forge ahead for the development of the FCT and the nation at large. The FCT Administration was therefore left with no other option than to do the needful by removing the illegal structures. With this removal, other allottees are now free to access their plots of land, the official said. When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Dokpesis spokesperson, Bayo Bodunrin, he confirmed the report. He, however, said he could not speak on the issue. He said only the companys Group Managing Director, Tony Akiotu, is authorised to comment on the matter. Efforts to reach Mr Akiotu for comments were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text messages sent to his known phone number. Mr Dokpesi, the owner of Nigerias first private radio station, is facing trial for alleged diversion of N2.1 billion received from the office of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. He denies the allegations against him. He has also accused the federal government of defamation of character. A presidential aide has reacted to Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeindes criticisms. PREMIUM TIMES reported how Omotola described the quality of life of Nigerians under President Muhammadu Buhari as Hellish in a series of tweets on Sunday. The Country Under your watch is Hellish! @ProfOsinbajo @MBuhari @NGRPresident The lack of Money in circulation,Now coupled with the Continuous Assault n Killings by Uniformed menll make this Country implode!!!Its Unbearable! Do something!Insecurity!Fear n Desperation everywhere Dr Omotola .j. Ekeinde , MFR (@Realomosexy) April 14, 2019 In response, the Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, engaged the actress in a debate on Twitter on Tuesday. Madam Omotola those who are working for clean money are not complaining and will never refer to our dear country as hellish. In Kano State alone, from 2015 to 2018, no fewer than 200 medium and small scale rice milling centres emerged. For that, billions circulated among millions, Mr Ahmad wrote on Twitter. Madam Omotola those who are working for CLEAN money are not complaining and will never refer our dear country as hellish. In Kano State alone, from 2015 to 2018, no fewer than 200 medium and small scale rice milling centres emerged. For that, billions circulated among millions. https://t.co/nWprKIgpLC Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 15, 2019 Responding to his tweet, Omotola wrote, As long as youre not insinuating that I am not working clean for my money I hear you. Its good that there is some progress. Do you truly want to say you dont see all thats really wrong? Can we fight for our future in truth for once? Without being partisan? Some other social media users also slammed the actress asking her to open up on her non-partisan criticism. The exchange of tweets went on between the pair who took turns to argue their earlier points. The screen star was quick to shut down the allegations of collecting money and asked her accusers to carry out their research and also think deeply before typing or risk getting blocked. The award-winning actress also stressed the fact that she is an activist who does not play partisan politics. A former presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, and the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, declared support for the stance of the actress. Omotolas view reflects the views of millions of poor Nigerians;throwing mud on her cannot not twist the reality. Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) April 16, 2019 The latter said Omotolas views are a reflection of what millions of poor Nigerians go through and throwing mud on the actress will not change reality. Ezekwesili, on the other hand, urged Omotola not to worry herself in the debate, due to the level at which governments in the world ignore the cries of its people. The 41-year-old actress remains one of the few Nollywood stars who have been vocal about the state of the nation. Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, on Tuesday expressed satisfaction that Nigeria was now producing 90 per cent of the rice it consumed locally. Mr Ogbeh disclosed this at the 2019 Annual Research Review and Planning meeting held at the newly commissioned Balarabe Tanimu Conference Hall at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, Kaduna State. The theme of the meeting is: Harnessing the Potential of Agricultural Export in Nigeria: The Role of Key Stakeholders. Mr Ogbeh, who was represented by Karima Babangida, the Director, Extension Services of the ministry, said the support of the present administration had triggered a visible shift to eating what we grow rather than eating imported food. One very good example that we see today is the locally home grown Nigerian rice, hitherto, Nigeria has been a major and largest importer of rice from Thailand and this implies largest importer in the world. But today, we have been able to achieve a paradigm shift in the right direction and we are now producing 90 per cent of the rice we eat in the country, I think we should appreciate our farmers here. Nigeria does not only have the capacity to feed itself, it also becomes a major actor in agricultural exports to other African countries, Europe and American countries, including the Far East, especially China, he said. According to him, the same thing is happening in other sectors of the agricultural economy, with collective efforts of stakeholders, Nigeria will have a favourable balance of trade in food items. Mr Ogbeh stressed the need for all stakeholders, researchers, extension service providers, farmers groups, policy makers, development partners, input suppliers, agro-based NGOs among others must all synergise to continue to harness the enormous potential in the country. He minister called for improved crop varieties, both arable and tree crops, livestock and fisheries, adding that it was the only way to improve comparative and competitive advantages and become self-sufficient in food and agricultural production. The National Agricultural Extension System also needs to strongly adopt best piracies in the cultivation of the various commodities to ensure high quality farm outputs that in turn determines the quality of the final product. The extension system has a critical role to play in ensuring famers adherence to processes that assure quality and traceable of farm produce, he said. Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Ibrahim Garba, observed that the future of Nigerian economy depended on agriculture. Mr Garba, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics, Ezra Bako-Amans, said the Nigerian agricultural export potential were enormous. Nigeria has all it takes to lead the African trains-border trades in food and fibre. It can cut its global share too in a number of crops it has comparative advantages in their production. The worlds cotton economy for instance, is about 1 trillion dollars. Needless to say is that cotton used to be one of the most important fibre crops in Nigeria, but down the line, we lost relevance on this crop. With the current renewed focus on agriculture, this glory can be reclaimed and Nigeria can have her fair share in the global cotton industry, he said. The VC requested on behalf of the IAR and other research related units of the university the federal government to return the mandate of the institute to contribute toward the improvement of some horticultural crops to which the institute had relative advantage to handle. He also appealed to the ministry to consider mechanism that would make industries fund and support developmental research. (NAN) The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has assured the international community that President Muhammadu Buharis new administration will be more determined in the fight against corruption. Mr Mohammed, who gave the assurance in Washington D.C., in an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), said the president will not compromise his anti-corruption programmes and policies. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the minister is in Washington to engage international media and think tank, promote and reiterate the successes of the President Buharis administration. In the interview anchored in English by Aliyu Mustapha of the VOA Hausa service, the minister said that the anti-corruption fight would be frontal in the agenda of the government because corruption is one of the major causes of poverty and underdevelopment in the country. He recalled a saying by President Buhari that if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill us and reiterated the governments commitment to the fight. The president is committed to the fight against corruption and the administration will continue with it. For example, the Treasury Single Account has instituted accountability in governments earnings and spendings and the whistle blower policy has led to the recovery of billions of naira. It takes more than four years to clean a country endemic in corruption. However, it is on record that this administration has driven corruption under the carpet in four years. In the next four years, therefore, the government will consolidate on the achievements recorded particularly in the fight against corruption, he said. Pervasive insecurity Speaking on insecurity, the minister said that the administration would apply multi-dimensional approach besides deployment of forces. He said the government was not unaware of other remote causes of the crises in the affected areas including economic and social reasons, non-inclusiveness, lack of infrastructure and job opportunities. The minister noted that the administration had performed well in addressing insecurity and the country is safer than it was in 2015. Specifically, he said the government had successfully secured the entire territory of the country from the Boko Haram while the farmers/herdsmen clash in Benue had been curtailed. Mr Mohammed said the fight against banditry, killings and banditry in Zamfara and Kaduna has been put under control in the last two weeks because of the synergy among the security forces. He assured that the government will continue to strengthen partnership on the regional and international levels in addressing the challenges. The minister also said that the administration has made progress in economic recovery with deliberate programmers of diversifying the economy through agriculture and other sectors, as well as developing infrastructure. Well deserved electoral victory Speaking on the general elections, the minister said President Buharis victory was well deserved and represented the triumph of the ordinary Nigerians over the elite. He said having delivered on his electoral promises, the people voted for Mr Buhari and he won the elections fairly and squarely, with about four million votes. He also said with the wide margin of winning, the government did not envisage any attempt to delegitimise the will of the people. Mr Buharis main challenger at the polls, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party is already in court seeking to upturn the outcome of the elections. (NAN) The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received another batch of 136 stranded Nigerians from Libya. Idris Muhammed, Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office of NEMA, confirmed the development to journalists on Tuesday in Lagos. Mr Muhammed said the Nigerians arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 11.50 p.m on Monday aboard a chartered Al Buraq Air aircraft with registration number DMG-MJI. According to him, they were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and European Union under the Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVR) Programme. He said: The returnees are made up of 59 adult females, four female children and five female infants. Also, there are 63 adult males, two male children and three infant males. Mr Muhammed said the returnees were welcomed by NEMA and other agencies, including the National Refugees Commission, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons as well the Nigeria Immigration Service. One of the returnees, Kehinde Fatukasi, from Ekiti State, while narrating his experience said he deeply regretted embarking on the journey to the volatile North African country. The 42-year-old man said he left Nigeria in 2016 accompanied by his wife and six-year-old son. Mr Fatakusi said upon getting to Libya, the family was kidnapped and sold into slavery but fortunately, his wife managed to escape. According to him, he later found out that those in captivity were being sold to organ traffickers which prompted him to escape from the camp with his son. I was there (Libya) with my wife who had returned to Nigeria. I believe she would have thought that we are dead. The Arabs treated us like slaves. You work without being paid and so many of us were killed while watching the killings. All of us here dont fear death; we have seen what is more than hell. The Libyans dont care if you are black or not, the treatment given to us (blacks) is same they give to their Arab neighbours from Tunisia or Algeria. Once they need someone to work, those chosen must follow them. Any refusal not to follow will be to kill that person instantly, he said. Mr Fatakusi, while thanking God for bringing him and his son safely back to Nigeria, said he intended taking up farming as a means of survival. He added: Libyans are great farmers in spite of the fact that their country is in desert. I came back to Nigeria with irrigation tools like water sprinkler which will aid me to start afresh. I will work very hard to see that my son gets very good education and give my wife a restful life to enjoy our marriage. If I had adequate information about the lies of better life outside, I would not have tried to leave Nigeria. I wanted to travel to Germany. A friend assured me of better life but immediately we got to Niger Republic I began to regret my decision, and I didnt know that what I experienced in the desert was just a childs play. Mr Fatakusi advised Nigerians to be patient and struggle to make better use of resources available in the country instead of risking their lives in Libya or trying to cross the deadly Mediterranean Sea into Europe. (NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari is hosting members of the House of Representatives elected under the platform of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC). The dinner is holding inside the Banquet Hall of the State House Presidential Villa, Abuja. Tuesdays dinner is the second time the president will be hosting members of the House this year. He had in February hosted them alongside candidates of the party vying to represent their federal constituencies. Tuesdays dinner is holding amid highwire politicking ahead of elections in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Key positions are the Senate president and House speaker. Top on the list of members seeking to emerge as the Speaker of the House is the current House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and the member representing Plateau Wase federal constituency, Ahmed Wase. The others are the spokesperson of the House, Abdulrazak Namdas, who represents Jada/ Ganye constituency, Adamawa state; and Ahmed Bago, the member representing Chanchaga constituency, Niger state. A resident of Numan-Chuko in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Maiwuya Bahago, on Monday narrated how she lost a pregnant daughter and three other children to suspected herdsmen attack. Ms Bahago said the unfortunate incident occurred on Sunday when her children were attending a naming ceremony in the neighbourhood. According to her, at about 9 p.m., some persons suspected to be herdsmen invaded the vicinity, shooting sporadically. She said, four of my children were killed by herdsmen yesterday. One was pregnant, another one was a mother of three and two others were unmarried. They came for the naming ceremony and that was how they met their demise. Bahago called for assistance from the government and well-meaning Nigerians to cater for the children left behind by the deceased. How do I take care of these children they left behind. I do not have anyone to help me bring them. I need prayers and help from well-meaning Nigerians, she said. In the same vein, some survivors who were receiving treatment at the Akwanga General Hospital narrated their ordeal. One Maikasuwa Ngila, a young man, who sustained injuries on the leg, said he was shot at while trying to escape from the scene. I attended the naming ceremony in the town yesterday evening and the next thing we saw was an attack on us. We ran looking for a safe place to hide but before I knew what was happening, I was shot in the leg. I saw the attackers. They were herdsmen, he said Another survivor, an elderly man, who sustained bullet wounds in the face, Ayuba Maikano, said it was an unfortunate incident. He said he was hit when he stood up to leave the venue of the naming ceremony. Mr Maikano said, I was at the naming ceremony. I stood up to leave because it was getting late and the next thing I heard were sporadic gunshots. I was hit by a bullet in the face. I did not see the faces of the persons that carried out the attack but bullets were flying everywhere. It happened between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday night. The Medical Director of Akwanga General Hospital, Gonji Thomas, told journalists that 15 persons were brought to the hospital dead while some persons sustained different degrees of injury. He said:15 corpses were brought in here while four persons were brought in with bullet injuries and were placed on admission. The family of one of the victims took his corpse for burial. So we have 14 left corpses in the mortuary. Some of the victims came as outpatients. So, in all, we have treated eight injured persons. Reacting to the incident, the Paramount Ruler, Chum-Mada Akwanga, Samson Yare, urged the federal government to equip the security agents with proper information gadgets for proper surveillance. He said, these attackers do not live in the moon. If we can spend resources to trace solid minerals under the ground, it should not be a difficult thing to trace where they live. Advertisements I plead for urgent measures to be taken to forestall a repeat of this incident. It is quite unfortunate and strange because we have never had any form of clash in this community. We have been living harmoniously for a long time, he noted. The paramount ruler urged the people to remain calm, saying security operatives had commenced an investigation into the matter. He pointed out that from on the spot assessment I carried out when the incident happened, they said their attackers interacted with them before they suddenly resulted to sporadic shooting. There are witnesses who can identify some of the attackers. This thing happened in the night and the terrain was not so accessible and before we could inform the police, the damage had been done. Commiserating with victims, Senator Philip Gyunka (PDP-Nasarawa) urged the people to remain calm while an investigation was carried out by relevant authorities. He called for relief materials for victims to cushion the effect of the attacks. Confirming the incident, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Nasarawa State Police Command, Inusa Mohammed said, It is quite unfortunate what happened. However, trying to shift the blame on the security agency is another unfortunate one. Actually, police need information to work. If information is not passed to the Police, there is no how we will know. For instance, the wee hour it happened and the location it happened is far from the police. So, we only got to know when it had happened. He assured residents that investigation had commenced into the matter. (NAN) Trade unions and civil society groups on Tuesday mounted pressure on members of the Plateau State House of Assembly to expunge privatisation clauses from a bill on the water sector. The groups had earlier staged a protest outside the premises of the assembly complex before entering the building where they presented their memoranda. The public hearing on the Bill for a law to provide for the Plateau State water sector law and for other matters connected, was presided over by Godfrey Landip (Langtang North), the chairman of the House Committee on Water and Energy. In their memorandum, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), canvassed support for public control and sustainable budgetary allocation to the water sector. The group listed some of the effects of privatisation to include a hike in water tariff, water corporations workers retrenchment, lack of transparency in PPP transactions, compromising water quality for profit-making, and reluctance to extend water access to the poor. It also criticised the gender composition of members of the governing board and recommended 4 5 women on the board instead of one. We call on the Plateau State House of Assembly to note that PPP (public-private partnership) is not in the best interest of the government and people of Plateau State in view of its inherent dangers, said Emmanuel Ayeoribe, who read out AUPCTREs position. Privatisation impugns on the human right to water and places profits above the common good which we expect honourable members of the Plateau State House of Assembly to stand for. We, therefore, demand that all sections relating to privatisation, concessioning, and other anti-people initiatives contained in the draft bill should be expunged. A section of the draft bill empowers the states water corporation to enter into an agreement, joint venture, performance contract, or PPP for the provision, distribution supply or sale of water and sewage management services. Philip Jakpor, head of media at the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said such binding contracts would force the government to, using taxpayers money, continue paying corporate entities even when faced with more pressing issues. PPP in the water sector is known to have failed in countries where they were introduced due to rate hikes, poor service delivery, and corruption in many cases, Mr Jakpor said. Another group, the Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, also rejected the inclusion of PPP in the bill. Aluko Daniel, the convener of the group, said any law that opens the door to privatisation would ultimately place a heavy burden on Plateau residents. In the interest of justice, fairness, equality, sustainability and human rights, we implore the Plateau State House of Assembly and indeed the Plateau State government to resist and reject the entrapments of PPP in the water sector and encourage instead, high quality, publicly-funded, democratically-controlled water sector. Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, has directed all political appointees in the state to submit their letters of resignation by April 30, 2019. He said all resignation letters should be properly addressed to his Principal Private Secretary. According to the directive, each notice of resignation must be submitted along with a handover note, signed by the political appointee on behalf of the Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA) or office to which he or she had been appointed. The governors spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, said this in a statement issued to journalists on Tuesday. He explained that the governor will exercise his constitutional prerogative to decide on re-appointments while giving the Kaduna State Ministry of Finance adequate time to compute severance payments and reconcile any liabilities. A government notice issued in Kaduna State stated that Malam Nasir El-Rufai has thanked all political appointees for their contributions and service to the state during his first-term. As he constitutes the team that will assist him in his second-term, the governor said he expects the process to be enriched by the handover notes from the political appointees, and the report of the Transition Committee headed by the Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe. The governments notice specified that the following appointees are expected to comply with the directive- all Commissioners in the State Executive Council, All Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers, Directors-General, Executive Secretaries, Managing Directors, General Managers and other Heads of Agencies, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants and Technical Assistants to the Governor, other than the Kashim Ibrahim Fellows,. Those excluded from compliance with the directive are full-time Commissioners of certain State Executive bodies who retain their tenure appointments in the following agencies: Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Civil Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission, Assembly Service Commission and the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM). Others are the Peace Commission, Public Procurement Authority, and Water Regulatory Authority. He also said due to recent adjustments in roles within the government, the occupants of and recent appointees into the following offices are also exempted from the directive to resign. They are the Commissioner of Finance, Principal Private Secretary, Accountant-General, Special Adviser, Intergovernmental Relations, Managing Director, Kaduna Markets Development Company, Managing Director, Kaduna Investment and Finance Company, and any other political appointee sworn-in or appointed to their current role within the last six months, the statement highlighted. The Zamfara State Government on Tuesday said it spent N35 billion to provide logistics, allowances for security agencies, and assist attack victims in the state. Secretary to the Zamfara Government (SSG), Abdullahi Shinkafi, said this in Gusau, the state capital while distributing relief materials to the victims of the attacks. Mr Shinkafi said the relief materials were donated to the state by the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari. He expressed appreciation to Mrs Buhari for the gesture of the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammad Buhari. According to him, since the unfortunate trend began, the state government has not relented in its collaborative efforts to support security agencies in their quest to address the menace. He said the Zamfara government, in complimenting the efforts of the federal government, had provided befitting office accommodation and other structures worth more than N10 million to the Nigerian Army. We have been supporting by providing logistics and allowance to security agencies, we have spent over N20 billion in this regard. We also provided 570 brand new Hilux and Range Rover Ford vehicles to the security agencies, he said He added that Governor Abdulaziz Yari had set up a Relief and Damage Assessment Committee headed by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji, to cater for the affected communities. He said the committee would assist the victims of banditry activities in the state. This committee is giving assistance in two forms, whenever there is attack they visit the affected community and render assistance to the victims. Each of the families of the deceased, received N500, 000 and N250, 000 for each of the injured person, In addition to this, the committee offer N250, 000 to those who lost any form of property, either building or silos among others, so under this committee we spent about N5 billion. We appreciate the efforts of President Buhari in the last four years by ensuring presence of adequate security which is a critical elements to addressing the problems. As of 2013 we had only 27 men from the military, now we have about 4,000, before, we had only one Battalion Ammunition Depot later the federal government established 223 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, 207 Quick Response Unit, 1 Brigades of the Nigerian Army and later a GOC unit. Currently, we have about 4,000 military personnel; we are cooperating with them strategising to see how we can put this problem to rest, he said. Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Sanusi Kwatarkwashi, said the state recorded 37,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the state as a result of banditry. Mr Kwatarkwashi noted that the IDPs comprised 4,634 males, 9,269 females, and 23,172 children. It is disheartening to note that most of the victims were women and children, he added. He said records available with the agency indicated that since November 2018, 586 persons were killed, 267 injured, and 338 kidnapped. Many houses, silos, farmlands, and other properties worth millions of naira as well as dozens of cattle and sheep were destroyed within the period. This figures could be higher because many cases have gone unreported, he said. (NAN) Advertisements The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has charged Corps members serving in the state not to succumb to intimidation or inducement by any politician or political party during the gubernatorial election in the state scheduled for November 2, 2019. Mr Dickson stated this at the closing ceremony of the 2019 Batch A National Youth Service Corps Orientation Course at Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday. In a press release by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, the governor recalled that some opposition parties in the state allegedly took corps members on electoral duties hostage, and forced them to write and sign fake results sheets out of desperation during the last election. His words: Because I have the responsibility for your safety and wellbeing, later this year the governorship election will be holding in this state. Though I will not be directly participating I want to advise that with what we know, there are politicians and parties who will intimidate you as you go out to perform electoral duties. Some will go as far as kidnapping, holding you hostage and forcing you to do things against the procedures and against the laws. I want to urge you to prepare to do what is right, give a face to the wishes of our people as they may feel free to exercise. Never be cowed or intimidated by anyone no matter how highly placed, you have our support. We provided emergency lines which have been given to you. Please acquaint yourself with them. The security investment in this state is as such that, if there is an incident, within three/four minutes, security operatives will get to you. The governor advised the corps members to be safety conscious and urged those who lack the capacity to swim among them to travel to riverine communities only with life jackets. He also urged the corps members to acquire the skill of swimming which he described as a vital skill for safety. A number of you who cannot swim like us, I strongly recommend that you acquire the skill of swimming. Until you know how to swim very well, I want to advise that you acquire your mandatory life jacket before going to any of the communities in this state which is largely riverine. He described the corps members as Nigerias greatest resource, stressing that his government prioritises human capacity building and had invested in the youths, education and future more than any other government in the country. Governor Dickson charged the corps members to take advantage of the huge investments made by his administration in key sectors to render selfless service to their host communities. Also, the Bayelsa governor announced that the next orientation exercise for corps members would hold at the permanent site of the camp where construction work was ongoing. In her closing remarks, the State NYSC Coordinator, Loto Bolade-Omolayo appreciated Governor Dickson and key members of his administration, including the Secretary to the State Government, Kemela Okara, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on NYSC Matters, Suoyo Appah, for their unprecedented support towards ensuring a successful orientation programme. She advised corps members to shun cultism, drug abuse, prostitution and armed robbery. She encouraged them to initiate, execute and inaugurate viable projects that would positively impact on their host communities. She said the orientation exercise was hitch-free and urged the corps members to take their posting as the will of God, report for duty where they are posted, imbibe diligence, obedience, respect and hard work as virtues. The Police in Anambra State say they have arrested 151 suspected criminals and cultists following raids on criminal hideouts in the state. SP Haruna Mohammed, a superintendent of police and the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Anambra State Command, made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka, the state capital. According to him, the police raid took place between April 1 and April 16, 2019, and the command recovered weapons and substances suspected to be cannabis sativa. He explained that the raid was part of the commands strategy to stamp out cultism and ensure safety of lives and property in the state. The PPRO further explained that the commands Special Anti-Cultism unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and Divisional Police headquarters carried out the coordinated raids. Between April 1 and April 16, the State Command has arrested 151 suspected cultists from various parts of the state. We arrested 16 suspected cultists at Okija, 12 arrested at Nanka, 11 suspects at Nkwelle and nine arrested at Ogidi area. Our men equally arrested eight suspects in Awka, 14 suspects from Ajali /Oko, 18 suspects were also caught from Enugwu Ukwu /Nimo/Nise, 12 suspects arrested at Fegge/Awada. The command also arrested 13 suspects from Inland Town in Onitsha, seven from Achalla, four suspects from Urum and three from Ogbunike while 15 were arrested at Amawbia and nine from Ukwulu /Ukpo respectively, he added. Mohammed stated that the some exhibits were recovered including three machetes, four axes, two berets and some quantities of dry leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa. He noted that out of the 151 suspects arrested, 40 suspects have confessed to the crimes and charged to courts, 62 suspects were screened and released. He said 20 suspects were underage and placed under supervision while 29 others are undergoing investigations. The commands image maker appealed to the public to report any suspicious persons or movements to the nearest police station or call the emergency number 07039194332 for prompt response. (NAN) The President General of Nimo Town Development Union (NTDU) in Njioka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Anthony Igboka, has been assassinated. He was killed on Tuesday night. Mr Igboka was reportedly shot dead inside his private car by the gunmen who fled the scene after the incident. The deceased recently bagged the award of Hero of Njikoka at a colourful ceremony which took place at Njikoka Local Government Secretariat, Abagana, on January 26. He is a former member of the Anambra State House of Assembly. Mr Igboka was among various individuals who were honoured by the Njikoka local government for their contributions to the development of the area. When contacted, the Anambra State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Haruna Mohammed, said investigations into the killing have commenced. He said the details of the killing were not yet available. A nursing mother, Folorunsho Janet, and her two-year-old daughter, Folorunsho Ifeoluwa, are among 10 workers of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, currently being detained by the Lagos State police command. However, the police spokesperson in the state, Bala Elkana, has denied the allegation, saying it is not correct to speculate about the two-year-old being detained. How can a two-year-old be detained? Even if a pregnant woman is arrested, she would not be kept in the cell. But hold on, let me find out if a two-year-old is being detained. Mr Elkana said he would issue a statement on the matter, saying various individuals had been calling to know what transpired. But individuals can misinterpret the issue, so it is better I release a statement to avoid misinterpretation, he said. He said the alleged crime committed by the workers is a serious one, and that it goes beyond the issue of unionism. The police had arrested the workers over a petition signed by the LASPOTECH chief security officer, Mike Ogunlade, who accused the workers of being responsible for the reported attack on the institutions director of ICT- Adegoke Sikiru and two staffers of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). PREMIUM TIMES had on Sunday reported the invitation of four members of the polytechnics chapter of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU). They were; Muinat Ogunbambi-Ibrahim, Rauf Ayanda, Tobi Oremule, and Olalekan Tiamiyu. However, on Monday, the number increased to 10 when the union leaders accompanied their invited colleagues to the Ikorodu-Sagamu road police station where they were moved to the state police command in Ikeja. According to their lawyer, Adewale Okuwobi, of Akin Bajepade and Company, he had approached the police station, in company of the workers, to find out the grounds for their invitation. Mr Okuwobi said; But the DPO, Mr Adekunle Omisakin, addressed all of us, saying the police commissioner, Mr Zubairu Muazu, wanted to meet the workers just for dialogue. But, on getting to the commissioners office in the afternoon, he was not on ground. The matter was later referred to the CIB department, where the officers-in-charge changed the tone and insisted on detaining them including the baby. As Im talking to you, they are yet to be arraigned. They told me they are still perfecting their papers. He listed other arrested workers to include the chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic (SSANIP), Abiodun Awoyemi; his vice, Seye Ero-Phillips, and NASU chairman, Semiu Fasasi. Others are Salami Olugbenga of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) and Alawada Abimbola. JAMB had on April 1 accused the workers of attempting to set two of its workers ablaze while they were getting the schools CBT centre prepared for the UTME mock examination. According to JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, the development led to suspension of the polytechnic from taking part in its ongoing 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. But in its response to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry, the leaderships of both SSANIP and NASU had described the allegation as blatant lie. They accused the college management of attempting to frame them up, especially in the face of the three-month-old industrial action on the campus. The workers downed their tools in January over what they described as the highhandedness of the polytechnic management and the non-implementation of CONTISS 15 migration. JAF Kicks Meanwhile, the Joint Action Front, a labour rights group, has kicked against what it described as the harassment of the workers by the institutions management. A statement issued by the group and signed by its chairperson and secretary, Dipo Fashina and Abiodun Aremu respectively, urged JAMB to steer clear of the crises rocking the polytechnic. The statement reads in part; The Joint Action Front (JAF) deplores the arrest and continued detention by the Lagos State Police Command of eight (8) Union leaders of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) Ikorodu, which was effected yesterday afternoon, April 15, 2019. The union leaders who are members of Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) were arrested on trumped up charges of alleged attack against a staff of JAMB in the course of the ongoing strike action by the three unions over disregard and undermining of collective agreements on staff salaries and owed allowances by the highhanded LASPOTECH authority. JAF accused the polytechnic management of illegally militarising the institution, and that despite outcry by the staff and students, the Lagos State government refused to act. Advertisements We demand that the Lagos Government has a responsibility to arrest the degenerating violent reign of terrors in LASPOTECH now before more staff and students become victims of framed up attacks, the statement added. Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, on Tuesday approved the appointment of Ayodeji Ajayi as the new Head of Service. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olayinka Oyebode, in Ado-Ekiti, said the appointment followed the recommendation of the Civil Service Transformation Strategy Committee after a selection process. Mr Ajayi, who until his appointment was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, is to take over from the Acting Head of Service, Peju Babafemi. The new Head of Service is to be sworn in on Wednesday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Civil Service Transformation Strategy Committee, which recommended Mr Ajayi, is an advisory body of experienced technocrats under the chairmanship of Ladipo Adamolekun. Other members of the committee are Goke Adegoroye, Modupe Adelabu, Philip Amujo and Afolabi Ogunlayi. Meanwhile, the Acting Head of Service has been commended by Mr Fayemi for her diligence and professionalism which, he said, helped in stabilising the present government in its early days. She is to proceed on an overseas programme as a Senior Research Fellow at the African Leadership Centre, School of Global Affairs, Kings College, London, United Kingdom. During the programme, Mrs Babafemi will also undertake study visits to the Royal Institute of Public Administration (RIPA), Royal Institute of International Affairs, (Chatham House), Houses of Parliament, Cabinet Office in Whitehall, Westminster Foundation, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in the UK, among others. (NAN) 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. Based in Greece, Genepharm develops, manufactures and out-licenses high-value generic pharmaceutical products. The Company retains a strong portfolio of products and an extensive network of over 223 customers across 70 countries worldwide. Genepharm combines strong R&D capabilities with manufacturing capacity in conventional solids, sterile liquid (oncology) and oncology oral solids. This acquisition will expand MS Pharma's geographic footprint, allowing the company to reach more patients and customers in Europe and the rest of the world. It will also complement MS Pharma's existing chronic disease portfolio with the addition of several important products in cardiovascular, CNS and oncology. The acquisition will allow Genepharm to access MS Pharma's manufacturing facilities and products portfolio and be part of a group employing over 2000 employees. Genepharm's portfolio will be strengthened with sterile injectable products and biotechnology candidates and plans are in place to significantly increase the development resources in Athens. Mr Ghiath Sukhtian, Chairman of MS Pharma said: "This acquisition is highly complementary and synergistic to our business, and marks an important milestone in our growth plans. Genepharm's management team has built a successful business, and we look forward to supporting them in growing the Genepharm business. We believe this acquisition will enable Genepharm to offer a wider range of products and technologies to its customers in Europe and around the world." Genepharm said: "We are excited to be entering into a new phase of growth with MS Pharma. This acquisition will help accelerate Genepharm's growth plans and will enable the company to offer a wider range of products to its partners and customers". About Genepharm Genepharm, based in Athens and founded in 1967, is focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of quality generic pharmaceuticals. The company is active in more than 70 countries and among its customers are the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. www.genepharm.com About MS Pharma MS Pharma is a leading pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions provider and partner of choice in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. The company has over 2000 employees, a presence in 12 countries and exports to over 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The company has the capability to manufacture branded generics in oral, topical and injectable form. The company is headquartered in Jordan and has manufacturing facilities in Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872499/MS_Pharma_Turkey_Factory.jpg) For more information: www.mspharma.com https://www.facebook.com/mspharma1 https://www.linkedin.com/company/ms-pharma PR Agency: BMC Bashir Mraish +962796020000 Related Links http://mspharma.com/ SOURCE MS Pharma "I have always been an admirer of TIM and the opportunity for Nucleus195 providers to have access to their platform is a huge value add," said Scott Duxbury, Nucleus195 Co-Founder. "With independent and broker dealer providers from across the globe, the partnership with TIM is a great chance for them to increase their exposure and potentially monetize their trade ideas." "Nucleus195 has a broad and unique range of providers from developed, emerging and frontier markets that will increase our trade idea network and provide investors with even more innovative trade ideas," said Colin Berthoud, Founding Partner for TIM, An Acuris Company. Mehdi Sunderji, Nucleus195 Co-Founder, added: "The Nucleus195 platform has continued to evolve since its launch last year with free tools for the buyside like our recently launched budget setting capabilities and watch list function. We are much more than just an online research marketplace. We have more tools and promotion campaigns that we are rolling out through 2019 that the buyside is looking forward to seeing." About Nucleus195 Nucleus195 provides investment professionals with comprehensive access to in-depth global research and content, across developed, emerging and frontier markets. With a strong global infrastructure of on-the-ground local experts, there's no better platform for gaining knowledge, information, and unique insights for making investment decisions. Nucleus195 allows users to efficiently search for, notate, import, file, and archive relevant content, serving as a comprehensive research management and budget setting tool. Founded in 2017 by investment and financial technology experts and built by experienced engineers, the platform is simple to navigate, offers transparent pricing, and is MiFID II compatible. For more information visit www.nucleus195.com . About TIM, An Acuris Company TIM, an Acuris company, is the world's largest trade ideas network. We connect financial industry professionals through our proprietary network and technology, revolutionizing how broker intelligence is distributed, analyzed and monetized. TIM's network and analytics help the buy-side to extract the value from trade idea data, providing insights that achieve market-beating returns. TIM offers sell-side contributors a compliance-friendly platform that aggregates and conforms broker intelligence to be consumed by systematic investors. Media Contacts Scott Duxbury Natalie Large Nucleus195 TIM, An Acuris Company +1 203 520 7365 tim_marketing@acuris.com scott.duxbury@nucleus195.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/870684/Nucleus195_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/870716/TIM__Logo.jpg Related Links https://nucleus195.com SOURCE Nucleus195 LLC Launched in 1919 at the Padua International Fair, Aperol was created by the Barbieri brothers, Luigi and Silvio, who coined the name 'Aperol', having taken inspiration from the French term for aperitif, ' Apero '. Made with citrus oil infused with precious herbs and roots to create a perfectly balanced combination, the original recipe has remained unchanged and is a secret to this day. Aperol Spritz, the drink's signature serve, is known and enjoyed the world over, single-handedly creating and globally leading the spritz category, earning its rightful place in the International Bartender Association's list (IBA), as the key defining ingredient of the Spritz Veneziano . As much as it is today, Aperol Spritz has traditionally been consumed all over Veneto, in Venetian bars called the 'bacari, which epitomise the 'Venetian way of life' promoting the culture of staying together, enjoying bite size snacks such as the traditional ' cicchetti' and enjoying an aperitif moment. To mark the centenary milestone, Aperol is commencing a series of celebrations internationally throughout 2019, to spark joyful connections, using universal languages such as art, music and Aperol Spritz that brings people together wherever they are. APEROL LIMITED EDITION Over time, Aperol has showcased a real understanding of modern aesthetics which is reflected not only in the bright orange colour of the drink, but also through its iconic bottle. To mark the momentous year, Aperol is launching limited-edition labels to sit on their bottles, that will each be truly unique, thanks to an advanced chromatic formula, that will recreate infinite single variations on an iconic design by Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti (1990), portraying a young couple dancing holding an Aperol bottle and two glasses full of the unmistakable liquid. GRAZIE VENETO (Thank you Veneto) Coining the operation 'Grazie Veneto', Aperol wants to thank the region that contributed to the global spread of this social Italian ritual 'par excellence', by placing three inimitable pieces of urban art in the Central Cavour Square in Padova, due to be unveiled on the 28th of June in the place where it all began 100 years ago. Symbolising how the Veneto ritual has transcended borders, three artists from Italy, England and USA, have come together to interpret the brand's role in sparking joyful connections through modern art and illustrations on an everyday object, a sofa. The sofas will not only represent Aperol's history and heritage but also shed light on the strong values of sharing in the brand's mantra, 'Together We Joy'. Leading design company Kartell, founded in Italy 70 years ago, and who equally spreads Italian flair around the world, has joined forces with Aperol, providing each artist with their iconic Bubble outdoor sofa to work on. The finished products will be placed outside for fans to enjoy, aiming to spark joyful connections between members of the public as they share memorable moments, side by side. GRAPHIC NOVEL Aperol has collaborated with renowned comic book author Tito Faraci, illustrator Sergio Gerasi and (Italian) Publishing House Gribaudo, to create a bespoke illustrated book filled with wonderful stories bringing to life scenarios of joyful connections since the brand first emerged 100 years ago. Telling the story of Aperol in a contemporary way, the graphic novel is comprised of seven comic-strip style stories set in different decades and parts of the world, from Padova to New York, where the artists have created a mosaic of tales, from comedy to suspense with a touch of romance, with orange as leitmotiv to capture the magic of human connections over the course of a hundred years. Orange Chronicles, published by Gribaudo, will be available for purchase from July at the Feltrinelli chain and independent libraries across Italy, online at Amazon and the Gribaudo website from EUR 16.90 in Italian and English. THE APEROL SUMMER TOUR Over the course of the summer, Aperol will be conducting The Aperol Summer Tour across Italy and countries of the European Coast, including Greece and Malta, where they will surprise consumers with a classic aperitif on the beach as orange Amphibious vehicles are used to create unique bars that will sit half on land, and half in the sea. The activity will kick off in Tel Aviv, Israel, this May. These spontaneous pop-up bars will also host DJ stations, the perfect medium to spark joyful connections. Spreading the contagious orange hue far and wide and conquering palates of new Aperol lovers internationally, thousands of people will be joining in celebration. Sergio Giordani, the Mayor of Padova said; "It is fantastic to have a brand that is so deeply rooted in our city and region's heritage being so eager to give back to its home town. We're really looking forward to unveiling the artistic creations that Aperol are placing in Padova to bring crowds together all set for a wonderful summer of joyful connections ahead of us. We are pleased that this wonderful celebration will coincide with the centenary of the the Padua International Fair, where Aperol was first launched by the Barbieri brothers 100 years ago." Andrea Neri, Managing Director Italian Icons at Campari Group, commented: "Aperol is a brand that aims to bring people together from all over the world using its universal language. In such a special year, we are so pleased to be working on a global project of this scale that will echo in ears of Aperol fans and new consumers alike at the four corners of the globe. As a real Italian icon, Aperol is successfully spreading its philosophy and way of life across borders we see an orange summer ahead!" Earlier this year, Aperol has also launched their new campaign, 'Together We Joy', projecting the 100 year old brand into the future, with a video showcasing the connectivity of Aperol and the transmissible joyful spirit of the brand. https://www.aperol.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AperolSpritz/ @aperolspritzofficial #aperol100 #aperolspritz [1] https://drinksint.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/8115/The_World_92s_Best-Selling_Classic_Cocktails_2019.html?current_page=5 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871974/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871975/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871976/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871977/Aperol.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871978/Aperol.jpg Related Links http://www.aperol.com/ SOURCE Aperol MINNEAPOLIS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Law, a global legal network that includes more than 70-member firms and approximately 2800 lawyers worldwide, is pleased to announce two new members: TVC Law Firm based in Denmark, and Aljabal Consultancy WLL, based in Bahrain. TVC Law Firm's 40+ lawyers assist Danish and international companies and private individuals in a wide variety of legal matters in the following areas: intellectual property and technology; corporate and commercial; construction and real property; employment; competition; insurance; and taxation, among others. Founded in 1988, TVC has offices in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Roskilde, and boasts one of the leading tax departments in Denmark. The firm has particular depth in counseling manufacturers, importers, distributors, dealers and agents, and companies and organisations handling personal data on behalf of customers and employees. TVC Partner Jrgen Lykkegard, comments, "We are pleased to become part of this esteemed group of law firms. Expansion of our international footprint through Ally Law membership will afford clients legal and business resources at the highest levels around the world." Founded more than 25 years ago, Aljabal Consultancy is a full-service, 7-lawyer firm that serves a variety of clients in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE and beyond, primarily in the areas of real estate, banking and finance, labor, telecom, technology, IP, corporate law and commercial arbitration. The firm also has experience in aviation and maritime law. Aljabal counsels a variety of clients including: Alsalam Bank, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, American Express, HSBC, Diners Club and Gulf Business Machines and Elite Rental Car, We Rental Car and Prestige Rent-a-Car. Managing Partner Ali Aljabal says, "Our firm values and excellence in client service align seamlessly with Ally Law. Our clients can continue to receive focused attention and top-tier service while gaining access to the resources and expertise of lawyers almost anywhere in the world." About Ally Law Ally Law, a Chambers and Partners Band 1 Global Law Firm Network, provides sophisticated legal services to major corporations, with a sharp focus on value and efficiency. Our 70+ firms include more than 2800 lawyers in 100 business centers worldwide. For more information, visit www.ally-law.com. Press contact: Wendy Horn Ally Law [email protected] 612-770-6046 SOURCE Ally Law Related Links http://www.ally-law.com SEATTLE, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bardy Diagnostics, Inc., ("BardyDx"), a leading provider of ambulatory cardiac monitoring technologies and custom data solutions, announced today it has raised $35.5 million in Series B funding, led by River Cities Capital Funds with participation from new investors HealthQuest Capital, Aperture Venture Partners, Aphelion Capital, Lumira Ventures, and Rex Health Ventures. Existing equity investors, SV Health Investors, Health Enterprise Partners, and Ascension Ventures also joined the round. The funds will be used to further accelerate growth of its innovative P-wave focused cardiac monitoring platform through expansion of BardyDx's sales force and monitoring services, and to support advanced development programs, including augmented intelligence and visualization technologies. "The caliber of our new investors in addition to our exceptional existing syndicate of financiers underscores the exciting opportunity before us," said Gust H. Bardy, MD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BardyDx. "With these funds, we will grow our business by refining and expanding our primary goal of revealing to patients, and their physicians, the full complexity and meaning of their cardiac rhythm." BardyDx's Carnation Ambulatory Monitor ("CAM") is the industry's only P-wave centric ambulatory cardiac patch monitor and arrhythmia detection device. The genesis of the CAM is a result of Dr. Bardy's frustrations with the fundamental flaws rooted in the development and evolution of cardiac monitoring. "For nearly 60 years, standard ECG engineering practices have over-processed the heart's electrical message to make machines' 'lives' easier at the expense of losing details in the ECG," added Dr. Bardy. "In essence, such legacy engineering doesn't listen to what the heart is trying to tell us but rather tells the heart what we are willing to hear. At BardyDx, our pioneering technology focuses on revealing the cardiac rhythm message fully, and in so doing, allows for precise and meaningful patient management predicated on cardiac truth." BardyDx's footprint within the cardiac monitoring industry continues to expand with growing recognition of the innovative P-wave centric technology. The company was recently selected winner of the Impact Pediatric Health Competition at SXSW, Children's National Health System Pediatric Medical Device Innovation Competition, and 2018 Fierce Innovation Life Sciences Award for Medical Device Innovation. "Our Series B capital will continue to fuel the technological innovation that Dr. Bardy has always insisted on and for which BardyDx has come to be known," said Mark Handfelt, BardyDx's Chief Operating Officer. BardyDx also announced that Rik Vandevenne, Managing Director of River Cities Capital Funds, and Garheng Kong, Managing Director of HealthQuest Capital, will join the company's board of directors. "It's not every day you have the opportunity to partner with such a groundbreaking serial entrepreneur and innovator as Dr. Gust Bardy and the team at BardyDx," said Vandevenne. "The company has a clear focus on putting the patient first and they have developed a clinically-superior ECG platform that is revolutionizing heart monitoring. We are excited for the opportunity to help further drive growth for the company while positively impacting the lives of thousands of people every week." About Bardy Diagnostics: Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. is an innovator in digital health and remote patient monitoring, with a focus on providing the most diagnostically-accurate and patient-friendly cardiac patch and other monitors to the industry. The company's CAM patch is a non-invasive, P-wave centric ambulatory cardiac monitor and arrhythmia detection device that is designed to improve patient compliance for adults and children weighing more than 10kg (22lbs) through its lifestyle-enabling design. Designed to be worn comfortably and discreetly, the female-friendly, hourglass-shaped CAM patch is placed on the center of the chest, directly over the heart for optimum ECG signal collection. The proprietary technology of the CAM patch provides optimal detection and clear recording of the often difficult-to-detect P-wave, the signal of the ECG waveform that is essential for accurate arrhythmia diagnosis. For more information, please visit www.bardydx.com. About River Cities Capital Funds: River Cities is a growth equity firm investing in high-potential healthcare and information technology companies. A consistent, cohesive team has honed its strategy over six funds with compelling performance. River Cities seeks to be a business partner first and a capital provider second, investing significant human capital to leverage its domain expertise and a network of thought leaders assembled over the last 25 years. With $750 million of capital raised and a consistent track record of success, River Cities has established itself as a preferred source of growth capital. The firm, located in Cincinnati, OH and Raleigh, NC, is actively seeking new investments for its Fund VI. For more information, please visit www.rccf.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Wu Director, Marketing Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. 1-844-422-7393 [email protected] SOURCE Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. Related Links http://www.bardydx.com "This Bud's for those who challenged the odds and made the impossible, possible," said Ricardo Marques, VP of Marketing Core & Value Brands at Anheuser-Busch. "Budweiser Discovery Reserve is our tribute to this epic moment in history, one that will certainly continue to inspire generations of present and future explorers." Budweiser Discovery Reserve not only commemorates the pioneering American spirit that brought us to the Moon, it also recognizes future frontiers and is a nod to the United States Air Force, which worked in great partnership with the space program of the 1960s. For the eighth consecutive year, Budweiser is partnering with Folds of Honor to support those who serve. For every case of Budweiser Discovery Reserve sold, Budweiser will donate $1 to the Folds of Honor Foundation1. Since 2011, Budweiser and its partners have donated nearly $16 million toward educational scholarships, amounting to more than three thousand scholarships for military families across the country. "I salute Budweiser and their life-changing donations and continued commitment to Folds of Honor over the last eight years," said Major Dan Rooney, founder and CEO of Folds of Honor. "We are proud to stand with them as they release Discovery Reserve, further illustrating their commitment to our armed forces." The design of Budweiser Discovery Reserve is inspired by the past while recognizing the future; the 11 stars represent the Apollo 11 mission and the alternating bottle caps represent both our footsteps on the Moon and our next frontier, Mars. The historic Anheuser-Busch A & Eagle has also been updated to reflect the red planet with the Earth in the background. Finally, each bottle features wings and stars inspired by the original Budweiser cans. Budweiser Discovery Reserve is the newest addition to the popular Reserve Collection, preceded by Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager - the most successful Reserve Collection variant to date - Budweiser Freedom Reserve and Budweiser Repeal Reserve. Launched in September 2017, Budweiser's Reserve Collection was first created to develop and debut new recipes and packaging tied to premium and relevant moments in time. The Reserve Collection has seen strong performance since launch; it is a top 10 market share gainer2 and shows a positive halo effect back to core Budweiser, helping drive total Budweiser brand quality perception.3 Budweiser Discovery Reserve is supported with a full 360-degree campaign, including in-store displays, digital advertising and social marketing programming along with new national TV creative that starts airing this week. Discovery Reserve will be available through September, or while supplies last. For more information on Budweiser Discovery Reserve, check out Budweiser.com or follow Budweiser on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook . About Budweiser Budweiser, an American-style lager, was introduced in 1876 when company founder Adolphus Busch set out to create the United States' first truly national beer brand brewed to be universally popular and transcend regional tastes. Each batch of Budweiser stays true to the same family recipe used by five generations of Busch family brewmasters. Budweiser is a medium-bodied, flavorful, crisp and pure beer with blended layers of premium American and European hop aromas, brewed for the perfect balance of flavor and refreshment. Budweiser is made using time-honored methods including "kraeusening" for natural carbonation and Beechwood aging, which results in unparalleled balance and character. About Folds of Honor Folds of Honor is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization, rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator and platinum on Guide Star, that provides educational scholarships to the families of military men and women who have fallen or been disabled while on active duty in the United States armed forces. Our educational scholarships support private educational tuition and tutoring for children in grades K-12, as well as higher education tuition assistance for spouses and dependents. Founded in 2007 by Major Dan Rooney, a PGA Professional and F-16 fighter pilot in the Air Force Reserves who served three tours of duty in Iraq, the Folds of Honor is proud to have awarded nearly 20,000 scholarships in all 50 states and some US territories, including approximately 4,000 in 2018 alone. For more information or to donate in support of a Folds of Honor scholarship, please visit foldsofhonor.org. For more information, contact: Jenna Knoll [email protected] Chris El-Dabh [email protected] 1 Donation up to $100k from 4/1/19 9/1/19 2 IRI MULC, Total US, Avg Weekly Vol Per Store Selling, P13W Data (ending 3/24/2019) 3 AB Insights via Infoscout SOURCE Budweiser Related Links https://www.budweiser.com AURORA, Colo., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cerebral Therapeutics, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing specialty medications for uncontrolled neurological diseases, announced today the appointments of Lisa Shafer, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer, and Eric Distad as Vice President of Clinical Development. "Lisa and Eric bring decades of leadership experience in successfully developing specialized drug-device combination therapies to Cerebral Therapeutics," said Dan Abrams, M.D., President and CEO. "Drug-device combination therapies play a vital role in the healthcare landscape; but adds complexity to the regulatory process. Both Lisa and Eric are uniquely experienced in successfully navigating this development and approval pathway. They join Cerebral Therapeutics at a critical juncture as we advance our therapy for severe refractory epilepsy patients, prepare for regulatory filings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and enroll more patients in our clinical studies." Dr. Shafer's technical and leadership experience in R&D, strategy, product and business development spans the medical device, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to her experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Shafer spent more than 10 years in the medical device industry. While at Medtronic Inc., Dr. Shafer held various roles in neuromodulation research, drug-device combination product development, and management. Dr. Shafer's foundational research and leadership resulted in seminal publications regarding mechanistic, proof-of-concept and clinical evidence for a portfolio of translational and clinical research programs to advance targeted drug-delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). Dr. Shafer began her career at 3M in the Pharmaceutical and Drug Delivery Division, and she holds a B.S. in Genetics and Cell Biology and a Ph.D. in Neuroimmunology. "I am thrilled to be joining the company at this time in its development," said Dr. Shafer. "Cerebral Therapeutics' therapy has the potential to change patients' lives and offer a new modality to a disease in desperate need of new treatments." Mr. Distad, Vice President of Clinical Development, has more than 24 years' experience in medical device and combination product clinical development. Mr. Distad has been responsible for the development and management of more than 40 investigational device exemption (IDE) studies from protocol development through final submission resulting in numerous global product approvals. Mr. Distad has focused his efforts on Class III devices and drug-device combination products in the therapeutic areas of movement disorders and epilepsy. Prior to joining Cerebral Therapeutics, Mr. Distad's experience included Global Program Management at Medtronic in the Cardiac Rhythm Management and Neuromodulation Divisions, start-up and early commercial orthopedic companies, as well as leadership roles at two large Clinical Research Organizations within their Global Medical Device and Combination Product Divisions. In addition, Mr. Distad has served in advisory positions for Medical Technology Angel Funding groups, International Medical Device and Combination Product Regulatory Panels and Therapeutic Advisory Panels. "Since joining Cerebral Therapeutics, I have seen firsthand the tremendous impact this therapy has demonstrated in patients' lives during our early-phase study," said Mr. Distad. "I am very excited to contribute to this potentially life-changing therapy through clinical development and on to the U.S. and global markets." Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological problem in the world. Approximately three million people in the United States are living with epilepsy, with one million people experiencing uncontrolled seizures; medications and surgery have not been an option for the majority of these patients. Cerebral Therapeutics' therapy uses a specialized implanted, refillable catheter pump infusion system to deliver a continuous micro dose of its proprietary formulation of valproic acid called CT001 for which Cerebral Therapeutics has an exclusive license agreement from the University of Colorado. About Cerebral Therapeutics Cerebral Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company dedicated to improving the lives of patients living with severe refractory epilepsy. Founded by experts in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery and drug delivery, the Company is pioneering the development of drug-device combination therapies that enable precise targeted delivery to the central nervous system. The goal of this novel approach is to maximize efficacy while greatly reducing systemic drug exposure and enhancing drug regimen compliance. Cerebral Therapeutics' infusion therapy may offer a more efficacious and reliable approach to treating neurological diseases for which oral and I.V. infused medicines are not able to achieve adequate control and/or are limited by systemic toxicities. For more information please visit www.cerebraltherapeutics.com. For Investors: Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc. Tirth Patel 212-375-2694 [email protected] SOURCE Cerebral Therapeutics Related Links http://www.cerebraltherapeutics.com ST. CLOUD, Minn., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ProcessPro, leading ERP software solution company, is pleased to announce the successful implementation of their ERP solution with Zumbro River Brand, Inc., a Minnesota-based contract food manufacturer. "ProcessPro has provided Zumbro River Brand, Inc. the tools it needs to streamline processes, discontinue many manual processes and integrate all of our systems into one ERP solution," stated Ashley Osmund, Plant Controller. "During our implementation, Zumbro River Brand, Inc. also implemented the Warehouse Management Solution that allowed our company to move to a barcoded inventory and location system." ProcessPro's ERP solution is the choice for many mid-sized food manufacturers and co-packers because it addresses several industry-specific requirements that help companies remain competitive in the marketplace. ProcessPro has provided a comprehensive ERP solution for Zumbro River Brand, Inc. to streamline their manufacturing processes throughout their multiple facilities. By utilizing the solution, the company is experiencing efficient lot tracking functionality, greater visibility into inventory control and real-time automation throughout the warehouse. ProcessPro's Advanced Analytics solution has provided Zumbro River Brand, Inc. with increased insight into the company's key performance indicators with interactive dashboards, reporting and analysis of their data. Also, Advanced Analytics has provided the company with the capability to drill-down into critical business information, helping Zumbro River Brand, Inc. make data-driven decisions. "Our partnership with Zumbro River Brand, Inc. utilizes ProcessPro's industry-specific expertise to expand the success of their growing company," stated Molly Caron, Director of Delivery Services. "We're pleased with their successful implementation and look forward to continuing to provide them the tools they need to grow well into the future." Zumbro River Brand, Inc. is a contract food manufacturer that specializes in Agglomeration and Extrusion technologies. In addition to contract manufacturing, Zumbro River Brand, Inc. is pleased to offer their own line of high protein crisps called Z-Crisps. The company's experience in contract food processing, product development and quality programs assures that their products are manufactured to the highest standards. Zumbro River Brand, Inc. is dedicated to providing an environment that promotes growth, goodwill and success for all parties involved. For more information, visit www.zumbroriverbrand.com. ProcessPro, a division of Open Systems, Inc., is a leading ERP software solution for the process manufacturing industry. Designed specifically for manufacturers that combine batches of mixtures, ProcessPro seamlessly integrates all aspects of plant operation, from beginning order entry through manufacturing, packaging, shipping, inventory and accounting. ProcessPro has been serving the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, nutritional supplement, cosmetic, cannabis and specialty chemical industries for more than 30 years. More information about ProcessPro is available at http://www.processproerp.com/. Contact: Kate Orbeck, Marketing Manager Phone: (320) 252-0234 Email: [email protected] SOURCE ProcessPro Software Related Links http://www.processproerp.com STOCKHOLM, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to incorrect numbering of the proposed agenda, a correct version of the press release regarding the notice is announced below. [COMPLETE CORRECT NOTICE] The shareholders in RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ), corporate identity no. 556322-6157, are hereby invited to the Annual General Meeting, to be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., at the company's offices at Sveavagen 44, 7th floor, Stockholm, Sweden. Registration will start at 5:00 p.m. and light refreshments will be served. RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE AND NOTICE Shareholders who wish to participate in the Annual General Meeting and to have the right to vote, must: - be recorded in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, and - notify the company of their intention to participate in the Annual General Meeting by mail to RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ), P.O. Box 3297, 103 65 Stockholm, Sweden; by telephone +46 (0)8 510 530 00; by fax +46 (0)8 510 530 30; or by email to [email protected], no later than Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. Assistants may accompany shareholders to the Annual General Meeting only if the shareholder has provided notice of the number of assistants, a maximum of two, in the manner described above for notification of participation. Notification should include the shareholder's name, personal or corporate identity number, shareholding, address and telephone number; and - at the Annual General Meeting be able to produce an ID-card valid in Sweden (e.g. passport, driver's licence, national ID-card). Also, proxies and/or assistants must be able to produce an ID-card valid in Sweden (e.g. passport, driver's license, national ID-card) as the case may be. Shareholders who have trustee-registered shares through a bank or broker, must request to temporarily register the shares in their own name with Euroclear Sweden AB to be entitled to exercise their voting rights at the Annual General Meeting. Such shareholders must inform the trustee of this request in adequate time prior to Wednesday, May 15, 2019, when such registration must have been completed. POWER OF ATTORNEY ETC. If a shareholder intends to be represented by proxy, the shareholder must issue a written power of attorney, duly dated and signed. For practical reasons, the power of attorney should be submitted to the company in advance. Please note, however, that the original of any power of attorney must be presented at the Annual General Meeting and that it is therefore not sufficient to send it by fax or email. A power of attorney template is available on the company's website, www.raysearchlabs.com, and will be sent at no cost to shareholders who request it and provide their postal address or email address. A power of attorney is valid no longer than one year from its issuance, unless a longer period of validity is expressly stated; however, in no event longer than five years. Representatives of legal entities must present a copy of a registration certificate or corresponding authorization document that indicates the authorized signatory. PROPOSED AGENDA 1. Opening of the Annual General Meeting. 2. Election of a chairman of the Annual General Meeting. 3. Preparation and approval of the voting list. 4. Election of one or two minute-checkers. 5. Approval of the proposed agenda. 6. Determination whether the Annual General Meeting has been duly convened. 7. Address by the CEO. 8. Presentation of the Annual Report and the Auditors' Report as well as the consolidated financial statements and the Auditors' Report for the consolidated financial statements for the 2018 fiscal year. 9. Resolutions concerning a) the adoption of the income statement and balance sheet and the consolidated income statement and consolidated balance sheet; b) the disposition to be made of the company's profits or losses as shown in the balance sheet adopted by the Annual General Meeting; and c) the discharge of the members of the Board and of the CEO from personal liability. 10. Resolution on guidelines for remuneration to senior executives. 11. Determination of the number of members of the Board and deputies. 12. Determination of the fees to be paid to the Board and auditors. 13. Election of the members of the Board (including Chairman) and deputy member(s) of the Board. 14. Determination of the number of auditors and deputies. 15. Election of auditor. 16. Closing of the Annual General Meeting. PROPOSED DECISIONS Election of a chairman of the Annual General Meeting (item 2) Shareholders representing approximately 67 percent of the total number of votes in the company propose that Carl Filip Bergendal should be appointed chairman of the Annual General Meeting. Disposition of earnings (item 9 b) As the company is currently in a phase of rapid expansion that requires access to capital, the Board and the CEO propose that no dividend be paid to the company's shareholders. The accumulated profit of SEK 214,991,997 is proposed to be brought forward and balanced in the new accounts. Guidelines for remuneration to senior executives (item 10) The Board proposes the Annual General Meeting to adopt the following guidelines for remuneration to senior executives to apply for the period until the close of the Annual General Meeting of 2020. Salary and other remuneration The CEO shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to 2.0 per cent of the Group's earnings before tax after allocations to the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation, though not more than 12 months' salary. In addition, the CEO may have other benefits of a common nature, such as a company car. The CEO's salary shall be reviewed annually. This shall take place through negotiations between the CEO and the Chairman of the Board, after which the Chairman shall present a proposal to the other Board members. The CEO shall not be present when the Board discusses and resolves on this issue. The other senior executives are the Deputy CEO, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Director of Research, Director of Development, Director of Sales and Marketing, Director of Sales for the Asia & Pacific region, Director of Service and the General Counsel. The other senior executives shall, as all other employees in RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) except the CEO, be covered by the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation, and thereby receive a variable remuneration. Furthermore, the following shall apply with regard to remuneration to the other senior executives. The Director of Sales and Marketing shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to a certain percentage of the sales of RayStation and RayCare in Europe. The Director of Sales for the Asia & Pacific region shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to a certain percentage of the sales of RayStation and RayCare in the Asia & Pacific region. The Deputy CEO, CFO, Director of Research, Director of Development, Director of Service, and the General Counsel, shall receive a fixed salary but no variable remuneration, other than being covered by the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation in accordance with the above. The salaries of the other senior executives shall also be reviewed annually. This shall take place in negotiations between the CEO and each individual. Incentive programs There are no incentive programs intended specifically for senior executives and none is proposed. However, the senior executives, except the CEO, may participate together with the other employees in such option programs and profit-sharing programs as the company may apply. Pensions All pension undertakings are defined-contribution plans. The retirement age for the CEO and the other senior executives is 65 years and the pension premiums correspond to the Swedish ITP plan. Period of notice If the CEO terminates his employment, his period of notice is 6 months, and if the company terminates the CEO's employment, the period of notice is 12 months. In both cases, the CEO is entitled to salary during the period of notice. In respect of the other senior executives there is a mutual period of notice of 3 months during which salary shall be paid. Severance pay Neither the CEO nor the other senior executives shall be entitled to any severance pay, in a formal sense, should their employment cease. However, as described above, the CEO and the other senior executives shall be entitled to salary during the period of notice. Deviation The Board proposes that the Board be entitled to deviate from the above guidelines if there are special reasons for such deviations. Number of members of the Board and deputies (item 11) Shareholders representing approximately 67 percent of the total number of votes in the company propose that the number of Board members be six, with no deputies. Fees to the Board (item 12) The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they intend to revert with proposals regarding fees to the Board. The company will disclose the proposals as soon as they are received. Board, etc. (item 13) The above-mentioned shareholders propose that Carl Filip Bergendal, Johan Lof, Hans Wigzell, Britta Wallgren and Johanna Oberg be re-elected as Board members in the company. The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they intend to revert with proposals regarding election of a new Board member and election of the Chairman of the Board. The company will disclose the proposals as soon as they are received. Determination of auditor fees, number of auditors and deputies and election of auditor (items 12, 14 and 15) The Board proposes that there should be one auditor with no deputies, that the auditing firm Ernst & Young shall be re-elected as auditor until the close of the Annual General Meeting 2020 (with authorized public accountant Anna Svanberg as auditor in charge) and that the auditor's fees shall be paid in accordance with approved invoicing. The above proposals are submitted by the Board as the company do not have a nomination committee, and the Board fulfils the duties that are to be performed by an audit committee. The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they support the Board's proposals. NUMBER OF SHARES AND VOTES AND INFORMATION ON HOLDING OF OWN SHARES The total number of shares in the company at the date of this invitation is 34,282,773, of which 8,454,975 are Series A shares and 25,827,798 are Series B shares, which means that there is a total of 110,377,548 votes in the company. The company holds no own shares. AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS AND OTHER ISSUES The Annual Report, the Auditor's Report in accordance with Chapter 8, Section 54 of the Swedish Companies Act and the Board's complete proposals in accordance with the above will be held available at the company's offices and on the company's website no later than from and including April 30, 2019, and will be sent to those shareholders who have provided notice that they wish to receive such information from the company. THE RIGHT OF THE SHAREHOLDERS TO REQUEST INFORMATION The shareholders have the right at the Annual General Meeting to request that the Board and the CEO provide information about facts that can affect the assessment of an item on the agenda and facts that can affect the assessment of the economic situation of the company. Such information shall be provided if it can be done without substantial harm to the company. The obligation to inform also applies in respect of the company's relationship to other Group companies, the consolidated financial statements and facts according to the above in respect of subsidiaries. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA For information on how your personal data is processed, see https://www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf. Stockholm, April 2019 Board of Directors Johan Lof President and CEO RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) Telephone: +46(0)8-510-530-00 [email protected] Peter Thysell CFO RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) Telephone: +46(0)70-661-05-59 [email protected] Beth Kaplan Public Relations Director Accuray +1(408)789-4426 [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/raysearch-laboratories/r/correction-of-press-release-on-invitation-to-annual-general-meeting-in-raysearch-laboratories-ab--pu,c2790351 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/1102/2790351/1027059.pdf PDF https://news.cision.com/raysearch-laboratories/i/linkedin-pressrelease-rsl,c2611346 LinkedIn PressRelease RSL SOURCE RaySearch Laboratories RICHMOND, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy has donated $1.7 million through its charitable foundation to support major renovations at three museums that focus on the early history of Virginia and the nation. In Williamsburg, the company is helping to fund a major renovation and expansion of two art museums to give visitors a fuller understanding of the lives of American colonists. In Richmond, the company will help unveil a new American Civil War Museum this spring located adjacent to company headquarters at Historic Tredegar. "These renovated museums will offer a fresh perspective and compelling look at the early history of our nation for visitors and residents alike," said Hunter A. Applewhite, president of the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation. "They also support regional tourism and encourage community vitality and diversity." In Williamsburg, Dominion Energy is the largest corporate donor for the expansion of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Major renovations on a facility housing the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum will continue this year, with a full public unveiling in 2020. The renovated museum space will feature eight new galleries, a dedicated street entrance, advanced climate-controls to protect collections, as well as a new cafe, auditorium and special events space. Collections will highlight the lives of colonists, African Americans and Native Americans. Watch two videos showing construction and final design for the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. "The expansion of Colonial Williamsburg's two world-renowned art museums is essential to our mission of connecting guests with our shared American story," said Colonial Williamsburg President and CEO Mitchell B. Reiss. "The project is funded entirely with philanthropic support and would not be possible without the generosity of Dominion Energy. The museums remain open during construction and, once complete, will better showcase our outstanding collections as we aim to engage and inspire more guests than ever before." In Richmond, the new American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar will house extensive collections in a 29,000 square-foot modern facility built around the historic ruins of Tredegar Iron Works. The new museum will house combined collections of two former Richmond museums in a climate-controlled building designed to protect artifacts such as photographs, garments, maps and letters for future generations. The museum will broaden the narrative of the Civil War by presenting its legacies from multiple viewpoints and perspectives: Union and Confederate, enslaved and free African-American, soldier and civilian. The grand opening is set for May 4, 2019. "From its design to its furnishing, the new building will reflect our mission and vision to be both welcoming and accessible to all," said Christy S. Coleman, CEO, American Civil War Museum. "Thanks to generous donors like Dominion Energy, we will use better design, technology and narrative to give visitors a fuller understanding of how the social, political and military impacts of this war were chaotic to millions." Watch a Breaking Ground video about the American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar. About the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation Nearly 7.5 million customers in 18 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D). Through its Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, as well as EnergyShare and other programs, Dominion Energy contributed nearly $35 million in 2018 to community causes. The Foundation supports nonprofit causes that meet basic human needs, protect the environment, promote education and encourage community vitality. Please visit www.DominionEnergy.com to learn more. SOURCE Dominion Energy Related Links http://www.dominionenergy.com CLEARWATER, Fla., April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Agency Network (FAN) is joining forces with Total Title Solutions (TTS), a company with multiple locations in Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando Counties. This merger aims at expanding each organization's footprint into key Florida markets. TTS was established in 2009 and their number one goal was to provide great customer service. Their owner, Abe Moussa, built a team with experienced title veterans and created cutting edge technology to help streamline the title process for the TTS staff, and their clients. TTS couldn't be a better match for FAN. Between the two companies the resources are vast, and capitalizing on those resources will create an improved experience for the clients. "As a team, we are excited about the services and products that FAN has to offer. We all believe that the TTS way is already above and beyond the standards of the Title Industry," says Angie Haddon, Chief Operating Officer of TTS. "However, the merger with FAN will make a superior experience! Anyone involved in the real estate transaction will continue to be in GREAT hands." FAN will take control of TTS' operations. Angie Haddon will become a Division Manager for FAN, while Lisa Jahr will be promoted to Regional Manager and will oversee offices throughout the Tampa Bay Area. The merger will add five new locations for FAN, which include two in Pinellas, two in Pasco, and one in Hernando County. "At an earlier point in our careers, Chris LaChance, our Sales Manager, and I enjoyed a good relationship with Abe and Angie on both a personal and professional level. We've maintained that relationship over the years, and knowing them and how well they ran their organization gave us the confidence to pursue this opportunity seriously. TTS has great people and a great reputation, and we couldn't picture a better strategic fit for both of our companies," stated Mike LaRosa, Esq., Chief Operating Officer for FAN. "We are so excited to have TTS become part of FAN and continue to grow our footprint in the Tampa Bay Area. Abe, Angie, and the team have a like-minded culture to FAN, and we are grateful for the opportunity to service our clients together," stated Amy Gregory, President of Title Operations for FAN. About Florida Agency Network The FLORIDA AGENCY NETWORK (FAN) is a conglomerate of independent title agencies, settlement service providers, and innovative technology companies within the State of Florida. FAN has formed a strategic alliance amongst members and vendors, in addition to creating proprietary technologies, to better serve its clients, allowing it to provide customized solutions to protect and streamline the closing experience. Members share back-office services, pooled resources, access to industry-leading technology, improved efficiencies, and the ability to offer their clients greater geographic coverage throughout Florida with SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 security compliance solutions available. For more information, please visit http://www.FLAgency.net. SOURCE Florida Agency Network Related Links https://flagency.net BROOKFIELD, Conn., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenfield Global Inc., Canada's largest producer of alcohol and fuel ethanol, and one of the largest alcohols and solvents companies in North America, has announced plans to establish a new EU manufacturing headquarters in Portlaoise, Ireland. The new 40,900 square feet manufacturing facility in Portlaoise will be constructed in the IDA Ireland Business and Technology Park and is expected to be operational in Q2, 2020. The project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA and is expected to create 75 high-quality jobs over the next five years. "Greenfield is an ambitious company that understands the strength of diversification, be it our products, the markets we serve, or in our operations and supply chain capacity," said Howard Field, Greenfield President and CEO. "Our commitment to building a world-class GMP manufacturing facility in Portlaoise is our first foray into manufacturing outside of North America. This new facility will ensure we can meet the increasing demand from our life science customers throughout Europe and the region." Greenfield, which has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada, has operations in 12 locations across North America. The company's extensive portfolio of products is trusted by hundreds of customers in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, life science, personal care, and food, flavor and fragrance markets in over 50 countries. "Our focus is on improving quality and reliability for our customers," said Greenfield's Ken Finegan, Managing Director, Ireland. "By adding this manufacturing facility, Greenfield's European life sciences customers will get the certainty they want and need. We will be able to offer them a local source of their critical raw materials to avoid disruption in their supply chain so that they can continue to scale and grow. Sold under the Pharmco brand, these raw materials will initially range from high-purity ethanol blends and solvents, to GMP buffer solutions such as sodium hydroxide and ethanol with water for injection, made in varying concentrations." Greenfield welcomes the opportunity to expand its manufacturing operations into Europe and looks forward to contributing to the strong and growing life sciences ecosystem in Ireland. About Greenfield Greenfield Global provides high-value, mission-critical raw materials, ingredients and additives that are vital to businesses, improve people's lives, and preserve the health of the planet. Greenfield is the largest ethanol producer in Canada and owns and operates four ethanol distilleries, three specialty chemical manufacturing and packaging plants, and three next-generation biofuel and renewable energy R&D centres across North America. Since its beginning in 1989, Greenfield continually develops more efficient and sustainable technologies and products while shrinking its own carbon footprint. From start-ups to the largest brands in the world, customers trust Greenfield's extensive portfolio of premium products, regulatory expertise, and industry-leading service. Under its Pharmco and Commercial Alcohols brands, Greenfield delivers hundreds of products to thousands of Life Science, Food, Flavor, Fragrance, and Beverage customers in more than 50 countries worldwide. To learn more, visit www.greenfield.com. Media Contact Andrea Kent, Vice President, Government and Public Relations +1 613-698-0116 [email protected] Inquiries Augustine Ullmann 203-740-3471, x6948 [email protected] SOURCE Greenfield Global Related Links http://www.greenfield.com HONOLULU, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HEI) (NYSE: HE) will announce its first quarter 2019 financial results on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. In addition, American Savings Bank, F.S.B. (American), a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of HEI, will announce its first quarter 2018 financial results on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. HEI also announced that it will conduct a webcast and teleconference call to discuss first quarter 2019 consolidated earnings, 2019 earnings per share (EPS) guidance, and regulatory and other matters on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 7:30 a.m. Hawaii time (1:30 p.m. Eastern time). Parties within the United States may listen to the conference by calling (844) 834-0652. International parties may listen to the conference by calling (412) 317-5198. Parties may also listen to the conference by accessing the webcast on HEI's website at www.hei.com under "Investor Relations," sub-heading "News and Events Events and Presentations." HEI and Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (Hawaiian Electric) intend to continue to use HEI's website, www.hei.com, as a means of disclosing additional information; such disclosures will be included in the Investor Relations section of the website. Accordingly, investors should routinely monitor the Investor Relations section of HEI's website, in addition to following HEI's, Hawaiian Electric's and American's press releases, HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's SEC filings and HEI's public conference calls and webcasts. Investors may also sign up to receive e-mail alerts (based on each investor's selected preferences) by visiting the "Investor Relations" section of the website, sub-heading "Email Notification." The information on HEI's website is not incorporated by reference into this document or into HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's SEC filings unless, and except to the extent, specifically incorporated by reference. Investors may also wish to refer to the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Hawaii (PUC) website at dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms in order to review documents filed with, and issued by, the PUC. No information on the PUC website is incorporated by reference into this document or into HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's SEC filings. An on-line replay of the May 7, 2019 webcast will be available on HEI's website beginning about two hours after the event. Audio replays of the teleconference will be available approximately two hours after the event through May 21, 2019, by dialing (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088 and entering passcode: 10129956. HEI supplies power to approximately 95% of Hawaii's population through its electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc. and Maui Electric Company, Limited; provides a wide array of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses through American, one of Hawaii's largest financial institutions; and helps advance Hawaii's clean energy and sustainability goals through investments by its non-regulated subsidiary, Pacific Current, LLC. Contact: Julie R. Smolinski Telephone: (808) 543-7300 Director, Investor Relations & Strategic Planning E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. Related Links http://www.hei.com NEW CITY, N.Y., April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Helena Jasna Kukla, MD is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in the field of Psychiatry in recognition of her role as a Psychiatrist at Helen Jasna Kukla MD. Helen Jasna Kukla MD is the owner of her own private psychiatric office that has dedicated their practice to providing quality healthcare services to those they serve. With over forty years of experience in the field of Psychiatry, Helena Jasna Kukla, MD is revered for her outstanding contributions to the medical profession. Well versed in all facets of mental health services, Dr. Kukla offers a combination of drug management and therapy to solve a comprehensive array of mental diseases, including long term depression. Providing psychotherapy to treat neuroses, Dr. Kukla is known for her extensive and strong rapport with clientele. Over the course of her career, Dr. Kukla has become well versed in the areas of Psychopharmacology. Dr. Kukla is an adamant believer that this field has always been great for her. She believes that she can "help people based not only on environmental factors but on genetic factors as well." For the newcomers entering the field, Dr. Kukla advises, "Psychiatry is a very rewarding profession." Attributing her successful, longstanding career to her ability to "employ a combination of insight into biological and environmental causes of natural healthcare issues," Dr. Kukla has established herself as a trusted name in the medical profession. Board-certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, while pursuing her educational endeavors Dr. Kukla obtained her Medical Degree from Charles University. Thereafter, Dr. Kukla would go on to complete her internship at New York University-Valhalla. To further enhance her professional development, Dr. Kukla is an esteemed member of several prominent organizations including holding hospital privileges at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, New York. Dr. Kukla is a distinguished fellow of the American Medical Association, Catholic Health Services of Long Island and the American Psychiatric Association. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com "We are proud to partner with the Fisher House Foundation again this year to help provide a delicious meal for veterans, service members and their families to celebrate together," said Stephanie Postma, Hormel Cure 81 brand manager. "This is the sixth year that we have been able to donate care packages to Fisher Houses across the country. We know that the dinner table allows families and friends to gather together, build connections and find comfort, and are thrilled to help be a part of their holiday celebration." The donation, totaling more than 6,000 pounds, was packed by members of the Hormel Military Veterans Engagement Team (HMVET) and included the following Hormel Foods products: Hormel Cure 81 boneless ham, Jennie-O oven ready turkey breast, Hormel Black Label bacon, Hormel Natural Choice bacon, Jennie-O turkey bacon, Hormel Gatherings party trays, Hormel homestyle mashed potatoes, Hormel cinnamon apples, SKIPPY peanut butter and SPAM classic. "Fisher Houses are built on partnerships. And partnership begins with community," said Dave Coker, president of Fisher House Foundation. "My deepest thanks to Hormel Foods for your kind donation of Easter dinners to Fisher Houses across the country. It's what we do together that makes the greatest impact. Thank you for being part of that solution and your support to our military, veterans and their families." The Fisher House program provides "a home away from home" for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. The homes provide temporary free lodging, so families can be close to their loved ones during a medical crisis. Hormel Foods was the first company to donate food on a national basis and this year marks the sixth consecutive year of the partnership. ABOUT HORMEL FOODS INSPIRED PEOPLE. INSPIRED FOOD. Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenues across 75 countries worldwide. Its brands include SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Columbus, Wholly Guacamole, Hormel Black Label and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the tenth year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. In 2016, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary and announced its new vision for the future Inspired People. Inspired Food. focusing on its legacy of innovation. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and https://csr.hormelfoods.com. ABOUT FISHER HOUSE Fisher House Foundation is best known for a network of comfort homes where military and veterans' families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide, and in Europe, close to the medical center or hospital it serves. Fisher Houses have up to 21 suites, with private bedrooms and baths. Families share a common kitchen, laundry facilities, a warm dining room and an inviting living room. Fisher House Foundation ensures that there is never a lodging fee. Since inception, the program has saved military and veterans' families an estimated $451 million in out of pocket costs for lodging and transportation. Fisher House Foundation also operates the Hero Miles Program, using donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members as well as the Hotels for Heroes program using donated hotel points to allow family members to stay at hotels near medical centers without charge. The Foundation also manages a grant program that supports other military charities and scholarship funds for military children, spouses and children of fallen and disabled veterans. For more information, visit www.fisherhouse.org. SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation Related Links http://www.hormel.com SEATTLE and PORT ORCHARD, Washington, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Reck Law, PLLC is pleased to announce it hired injured worker, Robert Biddix, to join their team. After completing retraining through his workers' compensation claim at Tacoma Community College, Mr. Biddix graduated from the paralegal program with exemplary grades. Mr. Biddix had a nearly 20 year career as a garbage truck driver prior to his work injury in 2011. With the help of the Washington State Workers' Compensation system, Mr. Biddix successfully received treatment for his injuries, completed retraining for a new career that accommodates his permanent physical limitations, and returned to full-time employment. Over the course of his career, Mr. Biddix worked for several employers in waste management as a garbage truck driver. In 2011, while on his route in Poulsbo performing daily work duties for Waste Management, Inc., he severely injured his back. His colleagues finished his route, while he went to see a doctor who opened a workers' compensation claim on his behalf. Shortly after, he performed light duty work and returned to full-time regular duty, resulting in worsening of his injury. Washington State employers are obligated to carry industrial insurance, under a system that benefits both employees and employers when work injuries occur. Employers can subscribe to the state-funded program administered by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) or maintain their own insurance if they are certified to be Self-Insured. Either way, the treatment of injured workers is governed by the Washington State Industrial Insurance Act, RCW Title 51. Despite insurance coverage, claims do not always proceed as smoothly as they should. "After going back to light duty work, I tried to get an MRI. The insurance company refused it. To make things worse, they sent me to an IME and I received a letter from my claim manager wanting to close my claim. I realized something wasn't right and hired an attorney that handles Workers' Compensation cases" said Mr. Biddix. His MRI was approved quickly after the attorney got involved. Under his claim, Mr. Biddix attended physical therapy and underwent two back surgeries to get to Maximum Medical Improvement, meaning the point where his injury would not improve any further. While his treatment was considered successful, he was left with permanent physical limitations that preclude him from ever returning to work in physically demanding jobs. The vocational expert assigned to Mr. Biddix's claim determined that for him to return to work, he should be retrained. After exploring his options, Mr. Biddix decided he wanted to obtain an Associates Degree so that he could return to work helping injured workers just like him. If approved for retraining, injured workers in Washington State can select Option 1 or Option 2. Mr. Biddix chose Option 1, which means he received time-loss compensation and tuition coverage while he attended the Paralegal Program at Tacoma Community College. Near the completion of his college retraining program, he was offered internship at Reck Law, PLLC, a law firm that represents injured workers. Upon the successful completion of his program, Mr. Biddix was extended an offer of full-time employment. On April 1, 2019 he began working as a salaried member of the Reck Law, PLLC legal team. "It is a privilege to bring Mr. Biddix onboard. As a Workers' Compensation law firm entirely dedicated to representing injured workers in Washington State, we adhere to our principles and we practice what we preach, which is to help injured workers" said Ms. Tara Reck, managing attorney at Reck Law, PLLC. She added: "We are lucky to live in Washington State, where the rights of injured workers can be upheld and protected. The system is not perfect. There are many fights to fight on behalf of injured workers that are mistreated or fall between the cracks, and that's what we are here for. For over a decade I have helped injured workers with so many aspects of their claims, but this is the first time I get to be the person providing an injured worker with a new job. I'm thrilled to have Mr. Biddix on my team. He has experienced first-hand what happens after a severe injury at work, and I know he's eager to put all he's learned to work helping other injured workers". Reck Law, PLLC is a Workers' Compensation law firm dedicated to representing injured workers in Washington State. Ms. Tara Reck is the founder and managing attorney at Reck Law, PLLC. Since 2006 she has been a very active and vocal advocate for injured workers in Washington State. She is a regular speaker at national and in-state conferences regarding workers' compensation issues. If you would like more info, please contact Ms. Reck, managing attorney at Reck Law, PLLC at (360)-876-4123 or (206) 395-6141, via email at [email protected], through her blog https://tarareck.com/contact or her company website at https://recklaw.com/contact. Contact: Tara Reck, Managing Attorney at Reck Law Workers' Compensation Attorneys Seattle office: (206) 395-6141 Port Orchard headquarters: (360) 876-4123 https://recklaw.com | https://tarareck.com | [email protected] SOURCE Reck Law, PLLC Related Links http://recklaw.com The biennial congress brought together more than 1,600 specialists from nearly 70 countries to present research, debate scientific ideas and spur discovery for the sake of one tireless goal: to improve patient success rates. The congress is the first of its kind organized by a fertility care provider IVIRMA Global, the biggest infertility network in the world and most of the presented research originated from IVIRMA doctors and scientists. Congress highlights included presentations on embryo gene editing, the influence of metabolism on reproductive outcomes, male factor infertility and the discovery of a potential new embryo selection biomarker: extracellular vesicles. "Bringing together the best researchers allows us to debate the latest trends in this field and push the limits of reproductive medicine in the name of our patients," said Dr. Juan Garcia Velasco, Director of IVI Madrid and the congress's scientific director. "Every time we meet, we are on the cusp of more powerful and exciting innovation, and this year was no exception." One of the most promising pieces of research presented at the congress was on the power of extracellular vesicles to act as a biomarker for reproductive success. The ongoing research, presented by Diego Marin, a genetics PhD candidate conducting research at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey (RMANJ), IVIRMA Global's flagship U.S. practice, unveils a possible non-invasive embryo selection route that, if proven effective, could be used in tandem with Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy (PGT-A) to improve implantation and live birth rates. With the oversight of IVIRMA Global CEO Dr. Richard Scott, Mr. Marin is looking into whether extracellular vesicles, which can be found inside an embryo's culture medium and serve as the communication channel between the embryo and uterus during implantation, can predict a successful implantation. While there are studies on the relationship between these vesicles and their application in the treatment of kidney disease, the vesicles have only recently been applied in the field of reproductive medicine. "Embryonic extracellular vesicles offer an encouraging and non-invasive opportunity to assess the viability of the embryo that could help improve embryo selection," said Dr. Garcia Velasco. "However, more studies are needed." Further research will include identifying these vesicles, isolating them from the culture medium and analyzing them to predict their biomarker potential. While PGT-A testing identifies chromosomally-normal embryos a fundamental milestone in embryo selection about a third of chromosomally normal embryos still fail to implant in the uterus, pushing researchers to search for biomarkers, such as the vesicles, that help predict implantation of normal embryos. Dr. Dagan Wells, Director of the IVIRMA Innovation Basic Research Center in Oxford, UK, gave another key presentation at the congress: genetic editing of embryos. While genetic editing of embryos, done through a technology called CRISPR, is controversial, it also holds great promise because it allows researchers to target specific mutations known to cause disease and 'edit' these genes. "This type of progress generates great controversy," Dr. Wells said about advances in gene editing, "but events such as the IVIRMA Congress act as a platform for debating benefits and problems, including the ethical ones, and in this sense, the participation of the scientific community is vital." "For the time being, we will study this technique, not because we contemplate its clinical application in the immediate future, but because it will allow us to answer basic questions about the biology and development of human embryos." About IVIRMA Global IVIRMA Global was founded in 2017 when the Valencian Infertility Institute (IVI) merged with Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey (RMANJ). Together, the companies comprise the largest group dedicated to assisted reproduction in the world. IVIRMA Global currently has more than 70 centers in 11 countries, with clinics in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom, Panama, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and the UAE. For more information visit: IVI-Fertility.com. RMANJ is the organization's flagship U.S. practice, and currently has 25 physicians and 10 locations across New Jersey: Basking Ridge, Eatontown, Englewood, Freehold, Princeton, Morristown, Somerset, Springfield, West Orange, and its newest location in Marlton, New Jersey. For more information visit RMANJ.com. Media Contact: Melissa Drake U.S. Marketing & Communications Director 973-871-1266 [email protected] SOURCE IVIRMA Global Related Links www.ivirma.com SAN ANTONIO, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The GPA Midstream Association today honored MPLX with the Environmental Excellence Award during the association's 98th annual GPA Midstream Convention. The award is in recognition of MPLX's outstanding initiative and leadership in environmental affairs for implementing the ZEVAC system, an alternative to using a flare. The company deployed it as a portable system for pigging operations in Ohio where significant reductions in emissions have already been achieved. Results show the system can reduce VOC and methane emissions from pigging operations by up to 99 percent. The findings are a significant improvement over the allowable emissions levels when using venting or flaring. MPLX continues to work in collaboration with TPE Midstream, the company that developed the ZEVAC system, toward further optimization of system efficiency for pigging operations and also with the goal to reduce de-inventory costs. Additionally, MPLX is working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to show that this process reduces emissions beyond what a portable flare can do. Full details of the MPLX project featuring the ZEVAC system will be shared with other convention attendees later this week. The Environmental Excellence Award is determined through an application process. GPA Midstream's Environmental Committee reviews applications and selects the winner. More information about the award, including the application, can be found at GPAMidstream.org. GPA Midstream Association represents over 80 corporate members of all sizes; most are U.S.-based companies, but the organization does have members across the globe as well. GPA Midstream members are engaged in the gathering and processing of natural gas into saleable pipeline gas, which are commonly referred to as "midstream" activities in the energy industry. As the primary advocates for the midstream industry, the association enhances the viability of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil through research, technical, environmental, safety and advocacy activities. SOURCE GPA Midstream Association KINGSPORT, Tenn., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global specialty materials provider Eastman, the maker of sustainably sourced Naia cellulosic yarn, announces its participation in the 10th anniversary Copenhagen Fashion Summit, May 15-16. Naia is a supporting sponsor of the world's leading business event on sustainability in fashion, where the brand will feature and share news about custom fabrics from partner mills. Naia is also sponsoring the Pitch Stage, where innovators will present sustainable fashion business solutions as part of Copenhagen Fashion Summit's Innovation Forum. Naia gives designers a sustainable design choice with fabrics that are both beautiful and versatile, said Ruth Farrell, Eastman global marketing director of Textiles. "Naia gives designers a sustainable design choice with fabrics that are both beautiful and versatile," said Ruth Farrell, Eastman global marketing director of Textiles. At the summit, Naia will demonstrate the yarn's texture versatility with a Naia, MicroModal and elastane blend from partner mill Wing Yue. It's a two-tone double face knit with a super-soft hand, according to Farrell. Naia will also feature a luxurious, satin-back crepe-woven fabric made of Naia and viscose by Yilmazipek and a printed, lightweight satin-woven Naia/silk blend from Haiyan Jiayuan that renders a wholly sustainable fabric with a silk-like hand. The fourth featured fabric is made of 100 percent Naia by Nishiyama for a lightly crinkled satin weave with shine. Farrell describes it as having a "beautiful surface effect that demonstrates the luxury possible with a sustainable fabric." The Summit's CEO Agenda 2019 outlines eight core priorities for fashion leaders: supply chain traceability, combating climate change, sustainable material mix, circular fashion system, efficient use of water, energy and chemicals, respectful and secure work environments, promotion for better wage system and the fourth industrial revolution. Eastman, the creator of Naia, proves its commitment to these transformational priorities via its closed-loop production process in which safe solvents and water are recycled and reused, ensuring a low tree-to-yarn carbon and water footprint. Listed on the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, Naia has a smaller environmental impact than generic modal, triacetate, and viscose. In developing the yarn, Eastman considers the entire life cycle, from responsible sourcing to end-of-life disposal. Made with wood sourced from sustainably managed pine and eucalyptus plantations and forests, Naia is certified as biodegradable in fresh water, having received the OK biodegradable WATER conformity mark from TUV AUSTRIA. Naia recently joined C.L.A.S.S. (Creativity Lifestyle And Sustainable Synergy) to support the fashion industry's shift toward the circular economy, empowering businesses to be competitive and socially responsible. "We continue to work with NGOs, industry partners and certifying entities to shape the future of sustainability and circularity in fashion and textiles," said Natalia Allen, Eastman sustainability leader of Textiles. Naia will be exhibiting at Copenhagen Fashion Summit's Innovation Forum Studio 1 Stand No. 10. About Eastman Chemical Company Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company's innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,500 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2018 revenues of approximately $10 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com. Editorial Contact: Laura Mansfield, APR The Tombras Group +1 (865) 599.9968 [email protected] SOURCE Eastman Related Links www.eastman.com SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Platform9 ( https://platform9.com/ ), the leader in SaaS-managed hybrid cloud, today announced Klusterkit a set of three open source Kubernetes tools that enable organizations to easily deploy and operate production-grade Kubernetes clusters in air-gapped, on-premises environments ( http://klusterkit.platform9.com/ ). Each of the three tools comprising Klusterkit fills a gap in the Kubernetes community toolchain, and can be used independently or in tandem: etcdadm adopted by Kubernetes Cluster Lifecycle SIG, etcdadm is a kubeadm-like command-line interface (CLI) that simplifies the operation of secure, highly-available, etcd clusters. highly available ( https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/etcdadm ). nodeadm is a command-line interface node administration tool to complement kubeadm by deploying the dependencies that kubeadm requires, such as the kubelet binary. nodeadm makes it simple to deploy a Kubernetes control plane or nodes on any machine running Linux ( https://github.com/platform9/nodeadm ). cctl a cluster lifecycle management tool that is based on the Kubernetes community's Cluster API spec, and uses nodeadm and etcdadm to easily manage highly-available Kubernetes clusters on bare metal, on-premises, air-gapped environments ( https://github.com/platform9/cctl ). The combination of these three tools enables the deployment and operation of a highly-available etcd cluster and Kubernetes control plane in air-gapped, on-premise environments. Klusterkit also allows recovering a completely failed cluster control plane from an etcd snapshot. Additionally, it packages all the artifacts required to deploy Kubernetes in an air-gapped environment allowing teams to operate Kubernetes clusters where remote, cloud-managed clusters are not feasible. "Klusterkit presents a powerful, yet easy-to-use Kubernetes toolset that complements community efforts like Cluster API and kubeadm to allow enterprises a path to modernize applications to use Kubernetes, and run them anywhere -- even in on-premise, air-gapped environments," said Arun Sriraman, Kubernetes Technical Lead Manager at Platform9. Some of our customers have been using Klusterkit at scale for the past year, to power dozens of mission-critical Kubernetes applications that operate in highly secured, isolated, air-gapped environments. It has allowed them to standardize their cloud-native efforts on open source, while simplifying support for Day-2 operations, at scale, across a complex matrix of deployment targets." "Platform9 is committed to the open-source Kubernetes cluster lifecycle tools. Etcdadm began its life as part of Klusterkit and ended up a community project. We are proud to open source the rest of Klusterkit and will continue to enhance it for Kubernetes users everywhere," said Daniel Lipovetsky, Kubernetes Technical Lead at Platform9. To learn more about Klusterkit: Visit http://klusterkit.platform9.com/ Read the tutorial blog post to learn how to use the different tools: https://platform9.com/blog/introducing-klusterkit-an-open-source-toolkit-to-simplify-kubernetes-deployments-on-premise-air-gapped-environments/ Join the CNCF-hosted webinar today, 4/16 for a deep-dive into etcdadm - one of the tools included in Klusterkit. Register at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/3015537990985/WN_NygzWrojRe69zNSDS2cDww In this webinar, Daniel Lipovetsky , Kubernetes Technical Lead at Platform9 will explain the etcdadm design in depth, and discuss how Platform9's experience running etcd clusters in production informed that design. Daniel will also demonstrate deploying a highly available etcd cluster using etcdadm, recovering the cluster from both partial and complete failures. In the process, he will cover important etcd runtime parameters and caveats of dynamic cluster reconfiguration. To learn more about Platform9's hybrid cloud and managed Kubernetes offerings, visit https://platform9.com/ Share This: Platform9 announces new #opensource project Klusterkit to simplify deployment and operation of production-grade, highly-available, multi-master #Kubernetes clusters in on-prem, air-gapped environments https://platform9.com/press/platform9-open-sources-klusterkit-to-simplify-the-deployment-and-operations-of-production-grade-kubernetes-clusters-on-on-premises-air-gapped-environments/ #etcd #kubeadm About Platform9 Platform9 ( platform9.com ) delivers a SaaS-managed hybrid cloud solution that turns existing infrastructure into a cloud, instantly. We help enterprises drive digital transformation by enabling them to manage VMs, Containers and Serverless Functions on ANY infrastructure on-premises, in public clouds, or at the edge with a self-service, simple and unified experience. Customers such as Cadence, Autodesk, Veritas, Nanometrics, EBSCO, Bitly, LogMeIn, and Aruba see upwards of 300 percent improvement in IT efficiency, 33 percent faster time to market, and 50-80 percent improvement in data center utilization and cost reduction. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and is backed by Redpoint Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Canvas Ventures, and HPE. Media Contact: Jeremy Douglas Catapult PR-IR 303-581-7760 [email protected] SOURCE Platform9 Related Links https://platform9.com DUBAI, UAE, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights: Acquisition follows a $120 million investment by General Atlantic in Property Finder in November 2018 investment by General Atlantic in Property Finder in Decision comes close on the heels of Property Finder increasing its stake to circa 40% in Turkish property portal Zingat Property Finder also announced the acquisition of competitor JRD Group in the UAE, this time last week Property Finder, the leading real estate portal in the MENA region, has recently acquired Bahrain Property World, a pioneering property portal in Bahrain. The Group has been operating through Propertyfinder.bh in the Bahrain market for over five years, making its foray into the country in 2013. This acquisition comes a few months after Property Finder raised $120 million in funding from private equity firm General Atlantic in November 2018. Michael Lahyani, CEO and Founder of Property Finder Group, said: "This is one of three high-powered strategic moves since closing our latest round of investment led by General Atlantic. The first being the increase in our share in Turkish portal Zingat, and our recent acquisition of UAE competitor JRD Group. We are very happy to further instill our confidence in the Bahrain region and continue to invest in a market in which we see a lot of potential and have been present since 2013." Lahyani said the acquisition would provide an opportunity to promote Bahrain property to Middle Eastern investors. ''It is also a testament of the potential growth that we expect from the country, where we want to continue to bring the best real estate listings and data to Bahrain citizens and residents.'' Lahyani added that this was another milestone that would help the Property Finder Group to further expand its footprint in the Middle East and North Africa. "Property professionals in Bahrain will have the opportunity to introduce their inventory in multiple markets where Property Finder Group has on-the-ground operations and a large audience of investors," the CEO and Founder said. Steven Filipowicz, Founder of Bahrain Property World, will continue to play a role and be involved in the day-to-day operations of the combined entity. "This is an exciting new chapter for my family and I. As a company, we are happy to join the Group and benefit from the vast experience, knowledge, extensive MENA network, advanced technology guidance and expertise that the Group of portals will provide to us. We look forward to an exciting future of synergies with Property Finder in Bahrain," said Filipowicz. About Property Finder www.propertyfinder.ae Property Finder is the leading digital real estate platform in the Middle East and North Africa region that facilitates the house hunting journey for both buyers and renters. Founded in 2007, the website has evolved over the years as the go-to platform for developers, real estate brokerages and house hunters to make informed decisions on all things real estate. A UAE-born startup, Property Finder has branched out of the country's shores and operates in a total of seven markets, including Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco, and has a significant stake in the second largest property portal in Turkey, which has over 6 million monthly visitors and more than 18,000 real estate agents. US private equity firm General Atlantic led Property Finder's latest round of investment of a total of $120 million in 2018. This is being used to hire further exceptional talent and investing in its technology and product capabilities. The property portal employs over 450 employees globally, of which 204 people work out of its Dubai office, and generates over six million monthly visits as a Group. In April 2019, Property Finder announced acquisition of JRD Group, following an increased investment in Turkish portal Zingat in April 2019. In 2014, Property Finder acquired eSimsar.com, the top property portal in Saudi Arabia, while in 2013, the Group bought out realestate.com.lb , the number 1 property portal in Lebanon, and lastly, the acquisition of Selektimmo, a Moroccan portal, to pad out sarouty.ma, Property Finder's Moroccan offering, in 2016. SOURCE Property Finder Related Links https://www.propertyfinder.ae/ BERWYN, Pa., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RM LAW, P.C. announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased Conagra Brands, Inc. ("Conagra" or the "Company") (NYSE: CAG) between June 27, 2018 through December 19, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period") to specifically include legacy Pinnacle Foods, Inc. ("Pinnacle") common stock holders who received Conagra common stock in exchange for their Pinnacle shares on October 26, 2018 upon completion of the Company's acquisition of Pinnacle (the "Class Period"). Conagra shareholders may, no later than April 23, 2019, move the Court for appointment as a lead plaintiff of the Class. If you purchased shares of Conagra and would like to learn more about these claims or if you wish to discuss these matters and have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights, contact Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire toll-free at (844) 291-9299 or to sign up online, click here. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Conagra, based in Chicago, Illinois, 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. On June 27, 2018, Conagra announced the acquisition of Pinnacle, in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $10.9 billion (the "Transaction"). Pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, Conagra was to pay approximately $5.1 billion in cash and issue approximately 77.45 million Company shares out of the Company's treasury to former holders of Pinnacle common stock. Upon closing of the Transaction on October 26, 2018, Pinnacle common stock holders received $43.11 in cash and 0.6494 shares of Conagra common stock in exchange for each share of Pinnacle held. The implied consideration price for each share of Pinnacle was valued at $68.00 per share. At the time of the Transaction and throughout the Class Period, Conagra represented the merger as a combination of two "growing portfolios" 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. Unbeknownst to shareholders, however, Conagra and its management were aware or recklessly disregarded that the Transaction would not result in anywhere near 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, continuing to fall precipitously over the following two trading days for a total decline of approximately 30%. If you are a member of the class, you may, no later than April 23, 2019, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff of the class. 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 RM LAW, P.C. or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action. For more information regarding this, please contact RM LAW, P.C. (Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire) toll-free at (844) 291-9299 or by email at [email protected] or click here. For more information about class action cases in general or to learn more about RM LAW, P.C. please visit our website by clicking here. RM LAW, P.C. is a national shareholder litigation firm. RM LAW, P.C. is devoted to protecting the interests of individual and institutional investors in shareholder actions in state and federal courts nationwide. CONTACT: RM LAW, P.C. Richard A. Maniskas, Esquire 1055 Westlakes Dr., Ste. 300 Berwyn, PA 19312 484-324-6800 844-291-9299 [email protected] SOURCE RM LAW, P.C. Related Links http://www.rmclasslaw.com Instant moisture results allow Olam Cocoa to disintermediate and source directly from smallholder cocoa farmers based on the quality they produce, hence raising efficiency, quality and traceability at supplier farms. In addition, tracking and collecting scans across thousands of smallholder farms provide valuable insights on the cocoa processing at grass root level, that enable Olam Cocoa to track trends over time, and across different geographies. Vijay K. Karunakaran who is the Olam Cocoa Indonesia business head said, "Olam Cocoa has been working with smallholder farmers across the value chains it operates in, for years. Due to the scale of transactions and complexity of field analysis of the produce, traditional intermediaries have had a role to play. But with technological developments, including IoT, Olam Cocoa is now leveraging its digital platform to directly reach the first mile of the cocoa supply chain. SCiO, a NIR based pocket spectrometer is one such key initiative enabling Olam Cocoa's ambitions of capturing advanced data at farm-gate. This helps in timely, correct and on the spot quality assessment therefore allowing Olam Cocoa to make deeper inroads in its cocoa value chain, while giving the smallholder farmers a fair price through accurate quality assessment." "We are proud to have been chosen by Olam International and it is rewarding to see SCiO used by frontline smallholder cocoa farmers," said Dror Sharon, CEO and Co-Founder of Consumer Physics, the makers of SCiO. "This is an exciting example of fulfilling our vision for the global democratization of digital material sensing. Adoption of our enterprise solutions has expanded rapidly and sales have grown over nine-fold since the first launch over a year ago, with customers in diverse industries and geographies. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is impacting every single enterprise and SCiO enables our customers to expedite their use of advanced digital tools. By providing ten to a thousand times more data points, our sensors put science and AI at the hands of farmers and agronomists all over the world, with benefits accruing to the entire food and agriculture supply chain." About Olam International Limited Olam International is a leading food and agri-business supplying food, ingredients, feed and fibre to over 22,000 customers worldwide. Our value chain spans over 60 countries and includes farming, processing and distribution operations, as well as a sourcing network of 4.7 million farmers. Through our purpose to 'Re-imagine Global Agriculture and Food Systems,' Olam aims to address the many challenges involved in meeting the needs of a growing global population, while achieving positive impact for farming communities, our planet and all our stakeholders. Headquartered and listed in Singapore, Olam currently ranks among the top 30 largest primary listed companies in terms of market capitalisation on SGX-ST. Olam is a leading originator of cocoa beans, a globally leading cocoa processor, and the world's foremost focused supplier of cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients (cocoa powder, cocoa butter and cocoa mass), Olam Cocoa is a fully integrated cocoa business. As one of the world's leading suppliers of sustainable cocoa, Olam Cocoa is accelerating progress towards the goal of 100% traceable cocoa volumes from its direct origination supply chain by 2020. Cocoa beans are sourced from all major origins across Africa, Asia and South America from a network of 650,000 cocoa farmers. Olam Cocoa's portfolio of ingredient brands is led by deZaan, with its heritage of more than 100 years of excellence, as well as African origin brand Unicao, South American origin brand Joanes, the regional Macao and Husyman cocoa powder brands, the Britannia confectionery and specialty fats brand and the recently added BT Cocoa brand. Olam Cocoa has a global cocoa bean grind capacity in excess of 820,000 metric tonnes, and a refining and milling presence of over 80,000 metric tonnes in, or adjacent to, primary consumption markets in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. For more information, visit www.olamgroup.com . About Consumer Physics Consumer Physics' mission is to empower people and organizations with a better understanding of our physical world using SCiO the world's only pocket-size NIR spectrometer (Near Infrared) that is cloud-connected and smartphone-operated. SCiO enables real-time decision making by transferring material analysis out of the lab and into the field, production line, or distribution center. SCiO's connected lab-grade analysis, affordable price, and ultra-portability enables enterprises to track, monitor, and optimize supply-chain efficiency at every stage, exactly where needed. Consumer Physics was founded in 2011 and it is backed by Khosla Ventures, OurCrowd, Spruce Capital Partners, and other leading investors. For more information, visit http://www.consumerphysics.com/business. SOURCE Consumer Physics Related Links https://www.consumerphysics.com Available exclusively on SocialEras.com, the SocialEras x Jaclyn Johnson Collection is a curated assortment of Johnson's favorite items for work, home, and play. Aimed at the Millennial career woman, the collection includes activewear, tailored separates, and decor accents for home and office, and reflects SocialEras' commitment to offer premium products priced below traditional retail. The product lineup features items made from 100% cashmere, luxury vegan leather, and natural fibers - all under $200.00 USD. "I'm always looking for outfits that fit my lifestyle as a modern working woman. I love that SocialEras offers different items for my personal and professional life, and this collection reflects what I'm currently living in from the office, to all my different events," Johnson said. In addition to collaborating on the collection, Johnson will also advise on strategic social media programming, editorial content, and overall brand direction for SocialEras. Supporting the brand's ethos was an important consideration for Johnson: "I'm so excited to work with SocialEras to uphold their strong mission statement. They are taking social eCommerce to the next level, creating a connection between their consumers and their partners (the factories and brands)." While vetting potential partners, Johnson's trademark presence as the empowering, style-savvy voice of Create & Cultivate caught the eye of SocialEras' President, Court Petrie. "As a newer marketplace, we knew it was essential to align ourselves with a respected industry thought-leader to prove our concept. Jaclyn is the true embodiment of today's career woman, mastering tremendous achievements in business while maintaining an elevated, effortless style," stated Petrie. "She brings a unique point of view to our editorial and brand partnerships teams, and we're thrilled to be working with her." Shop the SocialEras x Jaclyn Johnson Collection, available now - June: http://socialeras.com/JaclynJohnsonCollection ABOUT SOCIALERAS SocialEras is an e-commerce platform that curates premium fashion and lifestyle products from direct to consumer brands, at fair pricing, marketed through the lens of social media influencers and celebrities. SocialEras currently reaches consumers in 30+ countries throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. For more information, visit www.socialeras.com and follow @social.eras on Instagram. ABOUT JACLYN JOHNSON Jaclyn Johnson is the CEO and Founder of Create & Cultivate, the beloved online platform and offline conference for Millennial working women. She is also the author of WorkParty, a book for the modern Millennial woman. Having worked in the marketing and brand building space for the past 12 years, Jaclyn is one of the most sought-after marketers in the US. She launched her first company at the age of 23, a creatively-driven marketing, influencer, and events agency called (No Subject). After (No Subject) was acquired, Jaclyn introduced Create & Cultivate as a means to spark a 365-day conversation around entrepreneurship and being a woman in the modern digital world. The conference continues to gather hundreds of thousands of the next generation of curious creatives and entrepreneurs, with discussion panels that range from influencer marketing and brand building to raising capital. Jaclyn is a Forbes "30 Under 30" alumna, and was named an Ad Week Disruptor and a Woman of Note by the Wall Street Journal, among other accolades. ABOUT CREATE & CULTIVATE Create & Cultivate is the leading online platform and nationwide conference for women looking to create and cultivate the career of their dreams. Led by CEO and founder Jaclyn Johnson, Create & Cultivate has been bringing women together since 2012. The one-day conference gathers the best in the business including CEO's, content creators, and celebrities like Jennifer Hudson, Meghan Markle, Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman. Through their online platform, curated events, and partnerships, Create & Cultivate offers a 365-day conversation around entrepreneurship and works to advance inclusive conversations to empower women. PRESS CONTACT Ashley Proud Envieh E: [email protected] SOURCE SocialEras Related Links https://www.socialeras.com LONDON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Optical Coatings Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Anti-reflective, Reflective, Conductive), By Application (Consumer Electronics, Architecture, Solar), And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025 Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5763827/?utm_source=PRN The global optical coatings market size is expected to reach USD 25.64 billion by 2025 It is projected to register a CAGR of 9.0% during the forecast period. Growing solar industry and investments in aerospace and defense industry are the key market drivers. Wide usage in scientific and medical devices for screen displays is anticipated to augment the demand over the forecast period. Medical equipment industry was valued at nearly USD 6.7 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach around USD 8.6 billion by 2020. Therefore, rising demand from solar, electronics, and medical sector is expected to drive the optical coatings market over the forecast period. Rapid growth of consumer electronics sector in Canada, China, and India is expected to propel the demand for optical coatings over the forecast period.Owing to the presence of numerous large and small producers, Asia Pacific is one of the largest markets for consumer electronics. The fast track task force in India, which is a body of Ministry of Electronics and IT, has planned to achieve about 500 million mobile phone production by 2019 worth about USD 46 billion. Moreover, shifting consumer preference toward smart technologies and smart touch displays is expected to propel the growth over the forecast period. Extensive R&D and development of material and fabrication technologies are expected to have a positive impact on the industry. Growing demand for optical coatings for genetic analysis, biomedical, micro-optical systems, and sensors is expected to further drive the market. Rising prominence of optical systems in defense sector is also anticipated to be a key driver for the growth in the forthcoming years. Increasing military spending by countries, such as U.S., India, and China is expected to bolster the product demand. For instance, U.S. allocated military budget worth USD 824.6 billion from October 2017 to September 2018. Therefore, steady growth in the military spending is likely to positively influence the optical coating market. Further key findings from the report suggest: In terms of revenue, anti-reflective coatings product is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 8.6% from 2017 to 2025 In terms of revenue, reflective coatings segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 9.9% over the forecast period Consumer electronics application led the global optical coatings market with a global market share of 31.5% in 2017 Europe is anticipated to reach 659.9 kilotons by 2025 In terms of revenue, Central and South America is projected to witness a CAGR of 8.6% over the forecast period. Rising construction activities owing to the recovery from economic recession are expected to propel construction industry in the region Some of the key market players are Alluxa; Cascade Optical Corporation; Chroma Technology Corporation.; Inrad Optics; Optical Coatings Japan; PPG Industries, Inc.; VIAVI Solutions Inc. ; Schott AG; and Abrisa Technologies Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5763827/?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 RICHMOND, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hilb Group, LLC ("THG") announced today the acquisition of Arkansas-based Walker Brothers Insurance, Inc. ("WBI"). The transaction became effective April 1, 2019. Formed in 1932, WBI is a full-service retail agency primarily focused on commercial property & casualty insurance for small to medium sized businesses. WBI's employees, including Agency Leader Mike Luttrell, are joining THG and will continue to operate out of their office located in Springdale, Arkansas. "Joining THG will allow us to continue WBI's passion of helping businesses and communities prosper," said Luttrell. "Now with the resources of a national organization, we will be able to further our long-standing commitment to our region." "THG is committed to building a distinguished network of nationwide agency partners. WBI's strong Arkansas presence supports the growth of our organization's footprint," said Ricky Spiro, THG CEO. "We are extremely pleased to welcome Mike and his colleagues to our expanding team at THG." About the Hilb Group: The Hilb Group is a leading middle market insurance agency headquartered in Richmond, Virginia and is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm, Abry Partners. The Hilb Group seeks to grow through targeted acquisitions in the middle market insurance brokerage space. The company now has 75 offices in 18 states. Please visit our website at: http://hilbgroup.com. Media Contact: Margaret Clary 804-205-1209 [email protected] M&A Contact: Ryan Havermann 804-414-6508 [email protected] SOURCE The Hilb Group, LLC Related Links http://www.hilbgroup.com WASHINGTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Hispanic Corporate Council (NHCC), the premiere resource for corporate America on maximizing the Hispanic market opportunity, announces its 2019 NHCC Annual Meeting in Columbus, OH on Thursday, May 16 at The Westin Great Southern. The National Hispanic Corporate Council is a "collaborative community for Fortune 1000 members that provides access to Hispanic talent and consumer resources to optimize corporate performance." Our organization is comprised of Hispanic and non-Hispanic executives and associates that are responsible for Hispanic and/or multicultural strategies. The 2019 NHCC Annual Summit is important gathering of our organization's Fortune 1000 corporate members aims to highlight the latest corporate best practices in HR/talent, supplier diversity, marketing, community relations, and executive leadership. Subject-matter experts (SMEs) and participants share insights centered on why and how companies that strongly champion diversity and inclusion initiatives, help to better position their respective companies to compete in the U.S. Hispanic talent and consumer market. Themed, "Technology Influencers: A Look at Virtual & Digital Trends in Corporate America," the program will offer two tracks featuring workplace and marketplace sessions. Learn more via bit.ly/NHCCColumbus19 Given the growing accessibility to both technology and digital platforms, Hispanic talent and consumers are at the forefront in embracing new technologies to better maximize their corporate performance. As a young and increasing educated demographic group, U.S. Hispanics are not just digital savvy, but is the one demographic group that leverages the power of social media platforms in all aspects of their daily life. For example, Hispanic millennial and Gen Z now account for over half of the entire U.S. Hispanic population and now have one of the highest engagement rates on social media with over 36% active users within this age group. This presents new opportunities for Fortune 1000 companies to consider in both consumers marketing and hiring of Latino talent. The U.S. Census Bureau indicates the U.S. Hispanic population is rapidly growing. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Ohio has a Hispanic population of 395,000 with the median age of Hispanics 25. 100,000 Hispanic students are enrolled in K-12. A company that embraces diversity and inclusion initiatives results in grow their talent, consumers, suppliers, and enhances community relations. Our sponsors; Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Marriott, Shell, Coca-Cola Company, and Williams Companies are examples of how Fortune 1000 companies leverage NHCC for insights on the latest corporate best practices to effectively compete in the growing Hispanic market. Membership: Ahold Delhaize, America Red Cross, BASF Corporation, BB&T, Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo, Cox Enterprises, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Darden, Froedtert Health & Medical College of WI, GlaxoSmithKline, Hallmark Cards, Herman Miller, Marriott International, Northwestern Mutual, Cision/PR Newswire, Quanta Services, Shell, State Farm, The Boeing Company, The Coca-Cola Company, The TJX Companies, Wells Fargo, Williams Companies, and other Fortune 1000 corporations. MEDIA CONTACT: Octavio Hinojosa, 202-5287229 | [email protected] SOURCE National Hispanic Corporate Council Related Links http://www.nhcchq.org PORTLAND, Maine, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tilson, an award-winning national network deployment and IT professional services firm, is proud to announce new and enhanced benefits for specialty leave circumstances, including an industry-leading parental leave policy for both primary and non-primary caregivers regardless of gender. Tilson has also introduced a Gradual Return-to-Work after a long absence leave, paid Military Leave and a provision of Caregiver Leave to support all its employees through the various stages of their careers. "We strongly believe our improved leave policies will afford current Tilson employees the valuable time they need with their families at critical times in their lives," says Joshua Broder, Tilson CEO. "Tilson is committed to providing the flexibility to team members while continuing to support dynamic career opportunities and development." The new policies were announced internally on Monday, March 18, 2019, but were backdated for all employees to January 1, 2019. "Tilson is modernizing benefits to better align with the needs of an ever-evolving and high-performing workforce," says Adria Horn, Tilson's Vice President of Workforce. "We strongly believe that our new leave policies will provide more meaningful support to our incredible teams working across the country as they juggle growing families, varied work schedules, continued military service to our Nation and the ongoing demands of work-life integration." The revised and new policies include an expanded Parental Leave Policy, Gradual Return-to-Work after a long absence, a paid Military Leave and a provision of Caregiver Leave: Parental Leave: The expanded policy will provide equal benefits to new parents, regardless of gender. Tilson offers up to 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for primary parental caregivers and up to 4 weeks of fully paid intermittent leave for non-primary parental caregivers. This includes biological births, surrogate births, foster or adoption events. Gradual Return to Work: A new benefit in 2019, Tilson will provide a fully paid gradual return to work for up to 3 weeks for employees who have experienced long absences in excess of 12 weeks due to parental leave or return to work from a disability approved situation. Military Leave: Tilson's military leave policy will now allow for paid military leave to increase its recruiting and retention of currently serving members of the Reserve and National Guard. Military leave will be offered in a full paid status for up to 15 days of leave with accompanying orders per year. Caregiver Provision: A new benefit in 2019, Tilson will include a caregiver leave of absence provision for non-FMLA eligible employees that allows EEs in their first year of employment, 2 unpaid weeks of leave to care for an immediate family member. About Tilson: Tilson is on a mission to build America's information infrastructure. Recognized eight consecutive years on the Inc. 5000, Tilson provides network deployment and information system professional services to telecom, construction, utility and government clients. With over 550 employees and 23 offices nationwide, Tilson builds high-performing technology project teams who take on the largest and most impactful information infrastructure projects in the country. For more information: www.tilsontech.com SOURCE Tilson PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This month, WealthKeel LLC, a financial planning firm based in Philadelphia, is celebrating four years of serving busy, high-income Generation X and Generation Y professionals around the country. In April of 2015, WealthKeel LLC opened its doors in Philadelphia. Today, WealthKeel advises a wide range of clients, including several of the nation's up-and-coming physicians and attorneys. WealthKeel serves 75 households on an ongoing basis, and 10-20 on an annual, one-time basis, to help pursue their goals of financial independence by becoming their family CFO. WealthKeel prides themselves on not only serving high-income families and individuals, but also offering advice to others in need of financial services. "Our company not only takes pride in tackling complex planning issues common for our client base, but for the community," said Chad Chubb, CFP, Founder and Director of Navigation at WealthKeel LLC. "We offer gratis advice to young physicians with their student loans via The White Coat Investor Form. We also offered complimentary consultations to furloughed workers during the government shutdown." WealthKeel's client base includes several prominent physicians and attorneys, who often come to the company with complex planning issues due to extreme student loan debt. "At WealthKeel, we craft simple, actionable financial plans for our clients," Chubb said. "We know that these high-income professionals can be overwhelmed by the complexities of their finances. What we want to do is free up their time and energy to focus on their families and what they love most." For media inquiries, please contact Gabrielle Meunier at (866) 225-0920 ext. 104 or [email protected] Advisory services offered through Vicus Capital, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Chad Chubb is a Registered Representative offering securities through Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Cetera is under separate ownership from any other named entity. Gabrielle Meunier is not affiliated or registered with Cetera Advisor Networks LLC. Any information provided by Gabrielle is in no way related to Cetera Advisor Networks LLC or its registered representatives. Branch address: 601 WALNUT ST, STE 1200, #38, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 About WealthKeel: WealthKeel is a flat fee, fiduciary, financial advisory firm in Philadelphia. We craft actionable financial plans for busy professionals with ongoing guidance. To learn more about the company, visit their website at wealthkeel.com or follow on Twitter @WealthKeel. Gabrielle Meunier Flackable 866-225-0920 ext. 104 [email protected] SOURCE WealthKeel LLC Related Links http://www.wealthkeel.com Cancer (47%) and heart attack (38%) remain the top two health concerns in the Middle East for both life and critical illness claimants. Cancer is the primary cause of critical illness benefits paid to women (81%) while heart attack is the primary cause of critical illness claims from men (56%). Accidents are among the primary causes of death among men in the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar (12%). Notable age trends Against the backdrop of the Middle East's relatively young population, health eventualities are occurring at a relatively young age. The average age of Zurich customers claiming critical illness benefit is 48 years, while life claimants are aged 50, highlighting the need for early protection and preventative measures. Increasing health risks vs. insufficient protection Zurich Middle East has paid out USD 102 million (AED 375 million) in customer benefits over the past three years, a 27.5% increase compared to the previous period. There is a prevalence of health risks within the region and they are occurring at an increasing rate. As this reflects the growing importance of protection, the right amount of cover must be considered. Many claimants are underinsured, as 88% of customers who suffered a critical illness had coverage of USD200,000/AED735,000 or less. With critical illness claimants being only 50 years on average, this amount is not enough to cover key needs such as family income replacement and post-operative care expenses, highlighting the importance of having adequate levels of financial protection at the outset. Zurich's commitment to the region "As the region remains underpenetrated, it is key for insurance providers to take ownership to raise attention, and build consideration about the prevalent health risks in the region," says Walter Jopp, CEO of Zurich Middle East. "Financial protection is paramount, particularly in a region like the Middle East with a significant proportion of working families with dependents. The financial impact must be considered if the key income earners are unable to work." "Our role at Zurich is to make people in the region aware of these facts. It's also important for us to listen to our customers, share their claims stories and create solutions and services based on their needs. Our website, social media and blog content emphasise the importance of both protection and prevention as we are passionate to spread this important message to our community." "You can rely on Zurich to honour our customer commitment. Zurich continues to be the only life insurance provider in the Middle East to issue yearly claims statistics specific to the region. We are proud to report that we paid out 93% of life cover customer benefits and 94% of critical illness customer benefits. At Zurich Middle East, we have been committed to the cause of helping our customers protecting their financial futures and being Ready For Life for over 30 years." Take control and be ready for life No one knows what the future holds, but with adequate protection in place one can be better prepared to deal with the unexpected. Consider the health risks, seek advice from a financial professional and make a well-informed decision about the protection needs. Empower to be Ready For Life. One can't predict the future, but can protect it. Chyira is a Zurich Middle East customer, mother, wife, cancer survivor, and now a thriver: "You get up every morning and think you get another day let me make the best use of it. Spend more time with family and those you love because you don't know what tomorrow will bring." Watch as Chyira shares her inspiring story. Zurich's 2019 Customer Benefits Paid Report is a must read for all people residing in the Middle East. Follow Zurich Middle East on social media: @ZurichMiddleEast 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 https://www.zurich.com/en About Zurich International Life Limited is a part of Zurich Insurance Group and fully authorised under the Isle of Man Insurance Act 2008 and is regulated by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, which ensures the company has sound and professional management and provision has been made to protect plan holders. Zurich International Life Limited in the Middle East is registered in Bahrain under Commercial Registration No. 17444, is licensed as an Overseas Insurance Firm Life Insurance by the Central Bank of Bahrain and in Qatar authorised by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (Registration no. 00067). In the UAE it is registered (Registration No. 63) under UAE Federal Law Number 6 of 2007, and its activities in the UAE are governed by such law. SOURCE Zurich Middle East Related Links https://www.zurich.com HILLSBOROUGH, N.C., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Adam & Eve and adameve.com, America's most trusted source for adult products, is never shy when it comes to asking questions about current sexual trends. This month, they are back with new results from their annual sex survey, where they asked over 1,000 adults if using condoms interferes with sex and the responses may surprise you. Over half of the adults polled (55%) said that the use of condoms interferes with sex, while 45% said it did not. In fact, 59% of the males and 51% of the females acknowledged that condom use interferes with sex, while 41% of the males and 49% of the females stated it did not. Dr. Jenni Skyler, resident sexologist at Adam & Eve, encourages adults to sample different sizes, styles and brands of condoms to find one that works for them. "Condoms are still a necessity for most people who engage in sexual activities. With the wide variety of styles, designs and materials available in condoms today, I recommend couples explore the different options until they find one that suits their needs." "Adam & Eve supports safe sex practices," says Chad Davis, Director of Marketing for Adam & Eve. "We started as a condoms-by-mail company in 1971, and we continue to provide condoms in an array of sizes, materials and designs." The web-based survey, conducted by an independent third party survey company, of over 1,000 American adults age 18 and up, was sponsored by Adam & Eve to study sexual preferences and practices. For more information about Adam & Eve, visit their website, https://www.adameve.com . For additional information on Adam & Eve, please contact Adam & Eve Director of Public Relations Katy Zvolerin at 919.644.8100 x 3121 or [email protected]. SOURCE Adamandeve.com Related Links https://www.adameve.com After a successful career in the technology sales field, Amanda decided to explore the hospitality industry. She started as a local sales manager in the Chicago area for a global corporate housing provider and earned a promotion to the Global Sales team as a Global Sales Manager. She worked on major accounts with worldwide footprints and often partnered with her EMEA counterparts to achieve cohesiveness. Amanda was chosen to be part of an important group known as the Sales Leadership Team, where she consecutively achieved her revenue performance goals. Amanda's passion for learning and staying up to date with industry trends in the relocation world led to obtaining her Real Estate license. She has her status in referral to help guide transferees in need of a Realtor anywhere across the globe. Amanda was promoted to Senior Account Executive at Brooksource where she led the Chicago office by example--commended for her solid work ethic, competitive spirit, and her drive to succeed. Amanda Peterson stated, "Joining a global company known for innovation firsts; such as ReloQuest, during a time of rapid change within the Relocation Industry--is very exciting. It will present numerous opportunities for me to impact and support our clients ongoing success, and partner together to create exceptional relocation experiences for their assignees." An Indiana University graduate, Amanda earned a degree in Communications and Business. She has participated in committees for Chicago BTA, Chicago Relocation Council, and the Columbus & Cincinnati Relocation Councils, OVBTA, and SHRM. Amanda also volunteers her time for the Ronald McDonald House as a Family Ambassador. Jeff Mahoney, ReloQuest COO, stated, "We are delighted to welcome Amanda, who brings many strengths; such as, her ability to deliver the client-centric service ReloQuest is known for. Amanda will share ReloQuest capabilities and maximize benefits for our clients and their assignees'. Her career accomplishments prove her expertise in delivering solutions to best meet complex relocation needs." About ReloQuest ReloQuest is a business solution that allows companies and employees to search, compare, and book corporate apartments and hotels around the world. Multi-award-winning ReloQuest provides forecasting data, measurement criteria, metrics and actionable insight to minimize corporate risk. The technology streamlines the relocation process, and connects clients and employees directly to a global network of Verified Suppliers in over 85 Countries. Media Contact Jeana Giordano [email protected] SOURCE ReloQuest Related Links https://reloquest.com PISCATAWAY, New Jersey and CHENNAI, India, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AmeriTrust Group, Inc., a leading specialty commercial insurance company based in the U.S., has chosen Xponent Underwriting Workstation from Intellect SEEC for underwriting transformation. Intellect Xponent, a big data and AI-based underwriting workstation, will be deployed to improve the company's underwriting efficiency and boost profitability. AmeriTrust wanted to improve efficiency, replacing multiple legacy systems and manual processes. In addition, it was looking to enhance the ease of doing business with its agents by increasing collaboration. To improve its risk selection and pricing, AmeriTrust sought a solution that could assess risks holistically. AmeriTrust joins a growing group of carriers who are moving away from core replacement projects in favor of modern technology (big data, AI, and cloud-based) solutions. Intellect SEEC is an early proponent for the deployment of a dedicated workstation for driving underwriting outcomes. Intellect Xponent leverages big data and machine learning, and wraps around an existing PAS, extending the system's capabilities as well as the life of legacy assets. The product provides access to thousands of third-party data sources which, when combined with internal data, generates a well-rounded risk profile of the client. It makes underwriting account-centric, giving an underwriter complete visibility into an insured, across all business lines and products. And most importantly, it enables underwriters and agents to seamlessly collaborate in real time. John Baird, AmeriTrust's President of Admitted Carriers commented, "We cannot expect underwriters and agents of today to be burdened with paperwork, while trying to develop optimal solutions for the end client. We chose Xponent to provide a common platform for our agents and underwriters. It will enable enhanced collaboration to improve the underwriting process, while accelerating turnaround time for our common clients, the insureds. This tool increases our ability to use predictive analytics, generating assessments of expected losses based on customer demographics and internal data, within minutes." Pranav Pasricha, CEO of Intellect SEEC said, "We are thrilled to sign on AmeriTrust as our client and are encouraged by their decision to use big data and AI to underwrite risks. Our underwriting platform automates the workflow and enables underwriters and agents to operate at their productive best. It does the heavy-lifting of generating a comprehensive risk profile by integrating with big data sources and allows the underwriter to concentrate on high-value tasks of risk evaluation, rating and pricing." About AmeriTrust Founded in 1955, AmeriTrust Group, Inc, (formerly Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc.), is a nationally recognized specialty, niche-focused commercial insurance underwriter and insurance administration services provider within the commercial property and casualty insurance industry. AmeriTrust is comprised of four distinct distribution segments of the specialty insurance marketplace: admitted carrier operations, excess & surplus lines carrier operations, wholesale MGU/MGA and third-party administration operations, and retail insurance agency operations. AmeriTrust offers a broad range of insurance solutions to select industry, trade and professional associations, affinity groups, governmental entities, and independent agents. Carrier operations include five insurance companies which are licensed on both an admitted and non-admitted basis in all 50 states. AmeriTrust Group, Inc. operates as the U.S.-based insurance holding company for Fosun International Limited. www.ameritrustgroup.com About Intellect SEEC Intellect SEEC leverages next generation technologies to solve complex insurance problems and create intelligent solutions that deliver results. We have been working with insurers across the globe for over 20 years, delivering value through core systems. However, we still consider ourselves as challengers. We work with established industry players and game changers alike to achieve a confluence of purpose and capabilities that questions the status quo and delivers exponential results to our network of stakeholders. Insurance is complex, but our solutions leverage big data, AI and conversational technologies to make it intuitive, engaging and insightful. We have the vision of working with our clients and partners to deliver intelligent software that redefines insurance with speed, simplicity and sheer grit. For more details, please visit www.intellectseec.com For Media related info, please contact: Nachu Nagappan / Arti Rai Intellect Design Arena Ltd Mob: +91 89396 19676 / +1 (732) 690 4770 Email: [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Intellect SEEC Related Links http://www.intellectseec.com DUBLIN, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenJaw and ANA (All Nippon Airways) collaborate to create a new state-of-the-art booking platform. All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest and only 5-Star airline for seven consecutive years, has selected OpenJaw Technologies to provide its New Distribution Capability (NDC) platform. This advanced travel retailing platform will allow ANA to connect with multiple distribution partners, personalise fare offers, and provide consumers with a consistent retailing experience across all channels. The OpenJaw t-Retail NDC Platform will help ANA grow its global business by enabling the airline to use the platform to connect, distribute and consistently merchandise its award-winning products using IATA's NDC standard. The objective for the platform is to enable distribution partners to link directly to ANA's reservation system in the second half of fiscal year 2019. The airline has also selected the OpenJaw t-Data Platform for its analytics capability to give real-time insight. "OpenJaw is a perfect partner for ANA since both companies place an emphasis on setting the standard for excellence in their respective industries," said Akihiko Miura, Executive Vice President of ANA. "As we collaborate to streamline the booking process, ANA is proud to have a partner that shares its values." "ANA always strives to innovate and bring the latest technology to passengers to improve safety, convenience and efficiency," said Mitsuo Tomita, Senior Vice President of ANA. "NDC will enhance flexibility and have the potential to improve sales. We are planning to integrate the NDC platform in an intuitive way so that ANA will become Japan's NDC leader." "We are proud to have been chosen as ANA's preferred technology partner for NDC," said Kieron Branagan, CEO of OpenJaw Technologies. "The IATA Airline NDC standard will enable airlines to transform the way air products are retailed by addressing the industry's current distribution limitations. OpenJaw is an IATA NDC and IATA ONE Order Strategic Partner with Level 3 NDC Certification. We are committed to transforming airline retailing through the use of NDC standards to create a community of NDC enabled airlines. OpenJaw is looking forward to our collaboration with ANA to deliver a leading-edge airline NDC solution." The new ANA NDC platform will represent a shift in how ANA tickets will be purchased through distribution partners and will set the standard for convenience, while also delivering wider opportunities for consumers to purchase optional services such as lounge access. ANA will also provide the latest in-flight seat and service content, allowing passengers to make more informed choices. Once the ANA NDC platform has been launched, ANA will add further well-known airfare aggregators to expand access to more distribution partners, such as travel agents and service providers. About ANA Following the "Inspiration of Japan" high quality of service, ANA has been awarded the respected 5-Star rating every year since 2013 from SKYTRAX. ANA is the only Japanese airline to win this prestigious designation six years in a row. Additionally, ANA has been recognized by Air Transport World as "Airline of the Year" three times in the past 10 years - 2007, 2013 and 2018, becoming one of the few airlines to win this prestigious award for multiple times. ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 80 international routes and 118 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual-hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in metropolitan Tokyo, NARITA and HANEDA, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same-day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities. ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999 and has joint venture partnerships with United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines. Besides the full service and award winner carrier ANA, the ANA Group has two LCCs as consolidated subsidiaries, Vanilla Air Inc. and Peach Aviation Limited. The ANA Group carried 53.8 million passengers in FY2017 and has approximately 39,000 employees and a fleet of 260 aircraft. ANA is a proud launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Visit http://www.ana.co.jp/group/en/ About OpenJaw Technologies OpenJaw Technologies is reimagining the future of travel retailing with new platforms, new products and new partnerships. OpenJaw customers include the world's biggest travel brands: All Nippon Airways (ANA), British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Comair, Iberia, Aeroplan, Loyalty One, Asia Miles, Kulula.com, Shenzhen Airlines, Four Seasons, Avis, Color Line, Tibet Airlines, China United Airlines and Hong Kong Airlines. OpenJaw has three platforms designed to create and capture value right across the new customer journey: OpenJaw t-Retail, OpenJaw t-Data and OpenJaw t-Social, creating a unified platform ecosystem: OpenJaw t-Retail is the most powerful retailing platform in online travel. t-Retail delivers dynamic bundling of flights, seats, bags, hotels, car hire, lounge, attractions, insurance and transfers to create an unlimited combination of offers presented seamlessly across all distribution channels OpenJaw t-Data is a Big Data platform that delivers end-to-end personalised retailing, on demand and in the cloud, and empowers travel retailers to successfully create individualised experiences for customers wherever and whenever they engage OpenJaw t-Social fuses social messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger & WeChat with artificial intelligence (AI) to automate customer servicing at scale, capture additional revenue and reduce costs. OpenJaw is a subsidiary of TravelSky Technology Limited, the dominant provider of information technology solutions for China's aviation and travel industry. OpenJaw has its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with offices in Galway (Ireland), Madrid (Spain), Krakow (Poland), Hong Kong and Dalian (Greater China). Visit www.openjawtech.com SOURCE OpenJaw Technologies Related Links http://www.openjawtech.com AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Arrive Logistics, a technology-powered transportation service provider, announced it has expanded its deep leadership bench by welcoming two key additions to its team: Chief Financial Officer, Richard Shields, and Executive Vice President of Product, Michael Senftleber. Both will be instrumental in advancing the company's growth-focused initiatives. "As we continue to aggressively scale, we are committed to adding strong leaders to our executive team. We are thrilled to be able to welcome Richard and Michael," said Matt Pyatt, co-founder and CEO of Arrive Logistics. "Richard comes to us with extensive experience as a four time public CFO and Michael is a notable talent, having led the Product department at one of the top tech companies here in Austin. Their addition to our team brings a diverse range of experience and they will both play an integral part in our organization as Arrive continues its accelerated growth." About Richard Shields, Chief Financial Officer With over 20 years of experience in high growth companies, Shields joins Arrive Logistics from YETI, bringing with him international operating experience and a strong background in technology, manufacturing, branded consumer products and multi-location retail. Shields holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and is a certified public accountant. As a proven leader with strong business and financial expertise, Shields will drive the company through its next phase of financial growth as the new Chief Financial Officer of Arrive Logistics. About Michael Senftleber, Executive Vice President of Product Previously with Spredfast, Senftleber is a seasoned product executive with 20 years of experience in product strategy, vision and leadership. Senftleber holds a degree in computer science from the University of Florida, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to overseeing Product at Arrive Logistics, Senftleber managed a SaaS product suite and led product operations functions, enterprise platform strategies and development and delivery of next-generation technology solutions. For more information about Arrive Logistics, visit www.ArriveLogistics.com . About Arrive Logistics Co-founded in 2014 by Matt Pyatt and Eric Dunigan, Arrive Logistics is a technology-powered transportation service provider that delivers superior brokerage experiences to carriers and shippers. Since its inception, Arrive Logistics has doubled in size and revenue every year. In 2018, the company celebrated another successful year with revenue reaching $370 million and they are projected to reach over $600 million in 2019. Headquartered in Austin, Texas with offices in Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn., Arrive Logistics has redefined what it means to be a modern broker through dedication to both shippers and carriers, giving partners more by putting proprietary technology, unprecedented operations, and customer service at the forefront of their business. Find out more about working with Arrive Logistics here . In addition, their impressive growth and vibrant culture have lent themselves to numerous accolades, including two consecutive years as an Inc Magazine best workplace. If you're ready to join a winning team, you can learn more here . For more information about one of the fastest growing logistics company in the U.S. visit www.arrivelogistics.com . SOURCE Arrive Logistics Related Links http://www.arrivelogistics.com Strengthens Execution of Aurora's Global Hemp and CBD Strategy TSX | NYSE: ACB TSX/V: HEMP EDMONTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Aurora Cannabis Inc. ("Aurora") (NYSE: ACB) (TSX: ACB) (Frankfurt: 21P; WKN: A1C4WM) and Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. ("Hempco") (TSX-V: HEMP) today announced that the companies have entered into a binding letter agreement (the "Letter Agreement") in regard to the basic terms and conditions upon which Aurora will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Hempco ("Hempco Shares") not already owned by Aurora. In consideration of the transaction, Aurora has agreed to pay $1.04 per Hempco Share, payable in common shares of Aurora ("Aurora Shares"), reflecting a valuation of approximately C$63.4 million on a fully diluted basis. Strategic Rationale For more than 12 years Hempco has been a trusted and respected pioneer, innovator and provider of quality, hemp-based foods, hemp fiber and hemp nutraceuticals. Hempco produces and markets the brands PLANET HEMP and PRAISE, hemp-based foods and nutritional supplements for people and animals. Hempco has developed multiple international distribution channels, selling through highly visible platforms, such as Amazon.com, Well.ca and Metro Inc. Through its combined hemp assets, Aurora is well positioned to drive growth through the sale of hemp products to more than 100 countries around the globe. Hempco is in the process of commissioning production at its new, state-of-the-art Nisku facility, a 56,000 square foot, 2.9 million kg per year hemp processing facility. The Nisku facility adds further processing capacity, while at the same time enabling the company to expand its product portfolio across different industry verticals. Hempco provides Aurora with low-cost, high-volume access to raw material (hemp) for the extraction of CBD, which has been increasingly recognized for its therapeutic benefits across a wide range of medical indications and wellness applications. Aurora identified this potential early on, completing its first investment in Hempco in 2017, and has subsequently expanded its hemp-based infrastructure through the acquisitions of Agropro, Europe's largest producer of organic hemp and hemp-based products, Borela and ICC Labs. The full integration of Hempco into this infrastructure adds further capacity, brands and distribution channels to capitalize on the global CBD wellness opportunity, which is anticipated to grow to $22 billion by 20221. Furthermore, Hempco delivers additional differentiation in the industrial hemp market, with a range of hemp and hemp-based derivative products. These products fuel a global market that offers more sustainable alternatives in production and processing for the textiles, agriculture and agri-food and nutraceutical industries. The industrial hemp market is expected to reach US $10.6 billion by 20252. With Aurora's growing portfolio of hemp-focused brands and commitment to innovation in product development and industry research, the company's acquisition of Hempco Shares is leveraging its substantial early mover advantage to meet and lead response to global demand for both hemp and CBD products. Management Commentary "This transaction will enable us to fully integrate Hempco and its new Nisku processing facility into Aurora's global hemp operations including Agropro, Borela and ICC," said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora. "Our goal is to strengthen our CBD-from-hemp supply chain as well as our hemp business of hemp-based superfoods, nutraceuticals and fibers. With vertical integration, product innovation expertise, and global reach, we are well positioned to extend our market share in these potential multibillion-dollar industries. We look forward to executing with the Hempco team on our global hemp and CBD strategy, and we invite the Hempco shareholders to join us on this exciting journey." Joel Watson, Chairman of Hempco, added: "The assets, capabilities, networks and resources that Aurora can mobilize to drive and accelerate growth once Hempco is fully integrated will, we believe, result in significant long-term value for Hempco shareholders, and consequently our board recommends this transaction be approved at our upcoming special meeting." Transaction Details Hempco's Board of Directors have determined that the proposed Transaction is in the best interest of shareholders, having taken into account advice from its financial advisor and the recommendation of the special committee of the Board of Directors, and have approved the Transaction. Hempco's Board of Directors recommend that their shareholders vote in favour of the Transaction. Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, the proposed Transaction is expected to be effected by way of a court approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) or by way of an alternate structure as determined by Aurora and Hempco based upon tax, securities and corporate law and other relevant considerations. Aurora has agreed to pay $1.04 per Hempco Share, payable in Aurora Shares at a deemed value of $12.01 per Aurora Share, being the volume-weighted average trading price of Aurora Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the five trading days immediately prior to the date of the Letter Agreement (the "Transaction"). Hempco's outstanding options and warrants will be adjusted in accordance with their terms such that the number of Aurora Shares received upon exercise and the exercise price will reflect the Exchange Ratio. As Aurora owns approximately 52% of the issued and outstanding Hempco Shares, it is expected that the Transaction would constitute a "business combination" for the purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Shareholders in Special Transaction and that Hempco will obtain a formal valuation and a fairness opinion from an independent valuator. The proposed Transaction will require shareholder approval from two-thirds of the votes cast by the holders of Hempco Shares at a shareholder meeting to be held to consider the proposed Transaction. In addition to shareholder approval, the proposed Transaction will be subject to applicable regulatory and court approvals and the satisfaction of other customary conditions. Upon completion of the Transaction, Hempco will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Aurora and Hempco's shares will be de-listed from the TSX Venture Exchange and it is expected that Aurora will apply to cause Hempco to cease being a reporting issuer under applicable Canadian securities laws. It is currently expected that, subject to receipt of all regulatory, court, shareholder and other approvals, and the satisfaction or waiver of all conditions, the Transaction will be completed in the second quarter of 2019 or such other date as the parties may agree. The parties expect to execute a Definitive Agreement on or before May 15, 2019. About Aurora Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with funded capacity in excess of 625,000 kg per annum and sales and operations in 24 countries across five continents, Aurora is one of the world's largest and leading cannabis companies. Aurora is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding and genetics research, cannabis and hemp production, derivatives, high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and retail distribution. Highly differentiated from its peers, Aurora has established a uniquely advanced, consistent and efficient production strategy, based on purpose-built facilities that integrate leading-edge technologies across all processes, defined by extensive automation and customization, resulting in the massive scale production of high quality product at low cost. Intended to be replicable and scalable globally, our production facilities are designed to produce cannabis of significant scale, with high quality, industry-leading yields, and low per gram production costs. Each of Aurora's facilities is built to meet EU GMP standards, and its first production facility, the recently acquired MedReleaf Markham facility, and its wholly owned European medical cannabis distributor Aurora Deutschland have achieved this level of certification. In addition to the Company's rapid organic growth and strong execution on strategic M&A, which to date includes 15 wholly owned subsidiary companies MedReleaf, CanvasRX, Peloton Pharmaceutical, Aurora Deutschland, H2 Biopharma, Urban Cultivator, BC Northern Lights, Larssen Greenhouses, CanniMed Therapeutics, Anandia Labs, HotHouse Consulting, MED Colombia, Agropro, Borela, and ICC Labs Aurora is distinguished by its reputation as a partner and employer of choice in the global cannabis sector, having invested in and established strategic partnerships with a range of leading innovators, including: Radient Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RTI), Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. (TSXV: HEMP), Cann Group Ltd. (ASX: CAN), Micron Waste Technologies Inc. (CSE: MWM), Choom Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO), Capcium Inc. (private), Evio Beauty Group (private), Wagner Dimas (private), CTT Pharmaceuticals (OTCC: CTTH), Alcanna Inc. (TSX: CLIQ) and High Tide Inc. (CSE:HITI). Aurora's common shares trade on the TSX and NYSE under the symbol "ACB", and are a constituent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index. For more information about Aurora, please visit our investor website, investor.auroramj.com About Hempco For more than 12 years Hempco has been a trusted and respected pioneer, innovator and provider of quality, hemp-based foods, hemp fiber and hemp nutraceuticals. Hempco produces and markets the brands PLANET HEMP and PRAISE, hemp-based foods and nutritional supplements for people and animals. Hempco is expanding its processing ability to meet global demands in a 56,000 sq. ft. facility located at Nisku, Alberta. Hempco's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "HEMP". Forward looking statements This news release includes statements containing certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to statements with respect to accretive earnings, future financial position and results of operations, anticipated benefits and costs synergies associated with the Transaction, internal expectations, estimated margins, expectations for future growing capacity, costs and opportunities, liquidity of Aurora Shares, effect of the Transaction on the combined company and its future strategy, plans, objectives, goals, targets and future developments, expectations for receipt of licenses to process or distribute cannabis in legal markets, the completion of any capital projects or expansions, the anticipated timing for the closing of the Transaction, the anticipated consideration to be received by Hempco shareholders, the satisfaction of closing conditions including: (i) required Hempco shareholders approval; (ii) necessary court approval in connection with the Transaction; (iii) certain termination rights available to the parties under the Letter Agreement; (iv) Hempco obtaining the necessary approvals from the TSX-V; (v) Aurora obtaining necessary approvals from the TSX and NYSE for the listing of the Aurora Shares issuable under the Transaction; and (vi) other closing conditions, including, without limitation, the operation and performance of the Hempco business in the ordinary course until the closing of the Transaction. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Neither Aurora nor Hempco are under any obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. Neither TSX, NYSE , TSX-V or their applicable Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 1 Bright Field Group, Cannabidiol Report, September 2018 2 Grand View Research, Industrial Hemp Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Seeds, Fiber, Shivs), By Application (Textiles, Personal Care, Animal Care, Construction Materials), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 2025, June 2018 SOURCE Aurora Cannabis Inc. Related Links http://hempcocanada.com/ At a working session with Prahovas governor Ioana Madalina Lupea, the Vietnamese PM highlighted the ties between several pairs of localities of the two countries, such as the memorandum of understanding signed between Hoa Binh and Prahova, Ben Tre and Tulchea, Da Nang and Timisoara, and Lao Cai and Hunedoara. Phuc said there is great potential for cooperation between Prahova and Vietnamese provinces, particularly in fields where the Romanian locality is strong in, such as tourism, education-training, oil and gas, agriculture and forestry, which coincide with the priorities in Vietnams cooperation with Romania. Governor Ioana Madalina Lupea welcomed the Vietnamese PM to the county, and informed her guest that the countys authorities have coordinated with the Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnamese Embassy in Romania to organise business workshops and meetings to introduce Prahovas strength and opportunities for economic, tourism, education partnership as well as cultural exchange to Vietnamese firms and localities. She affirmed that Prahova wanted to expand its cooperation with Vietnamese localities. PM Phuc is making an official visit to Romania from April 14 at the invitation of Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. DALLAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AVIO Consulting , a Texas-based technology consulting company, today announced it is joining the HashiCorp Partner Program for Systems Integrators at the Bronze tier to help AVIO clients accelerate the implementation of digital transformation initiatives. By working with HashiCorp, AVIO will help customers significantly reduce the amount of time and overhead associated with adopting modern IT practices. Utilizing HashiCorp's multi-cloud automation products, such as Terraform and Vault , clients can rapidly deploy secure applications to cloud-based and on-premise environments with full visibility and audit capabilities to know who and how users are accessing the systems. "We're excited to announce the partnership with HashiCorp as we continue to help our clients in the faster deployment of their digital transformation strategies," said AVIO Consulting President, Brandon Dean. "We utilize HashiCorp tools internally and know first-hand the value their products will bring to our clients as they increasingly move to cloud platforms." HashiCorp's industry-leading tools, combined with AVIO's wealth of process experience and app development skills, enables clients to implement consistent workflows to successfully adopt cloud-native products, and deliver business value in a rapid timeline. AVIO plans to combine its MuleSoft based API led strategy and HashiCorp products to provide clients the ability to provision cloud-based environments, increase the creation of internal and external APIs, and have full audit capabilities to ensure significant business value and a strong ROI. About AVIO Consulting Since 2007, AVIO Consulting has focused on enabling clients to transform their business. AVIO'S singular focus on digital transformation has enabled AVIO to build an unmatched level of expertise. AVIO's client-first approach and deep technical knowledge have resulted in AVIO being recognized as one of the most respected names in digital consulting. AVIO's reputation is built upon their legacy of assisting clients in defining a vision, delivering innovative projects, and enabling business growth. AVIO's projects have spanned the globe as a result of their reputation for delivering success. Visit www.avioconsulting.com for more information. Media Contact Kelly Hardwick TruePoint Communications [email protected] 972-388-5526 SOURCE AVIO Consulting Related Links https://www.avioconsulting.com FORT WORTH, Texas, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AZZ Inc. (NYSE: AZZ), a global provider of metal coating services, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment and highly engineered services, today announced it has completed the purchase of Tennessee Galvanizing Inc., a privately held company, based in Jasper, Tennessee. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. AZZ expects the facility, which will operate as AZZ Galvanizing Chattanooga to be accretive to earnings within the first year of operation. About Tennessee Galvanizing Inc. Founded in 1991 Tennessee Galvanizing Inc., located in Southeast Tennessee, is a leading regional provider of galvanizing services. The Company operates four distinct galvanizing lines in its Jasper, Tennessee location, including centrifuge, rod, conveyor, and traditional hot-dip galvanizing. About AZZ Inc. AZZ Inc. is a global provider of metal coating services, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment and highly engineered services to the markets of power generation, transmission, distribution and industrial in protecting metal and electrical systems used to build and enhance the world's infrastructure. AZZ Metal Coatings is a leading provider of metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot dip galvanizing to the North American steel fabrication industry. AZZ Energy is dedicated to delivering safe and reliable transmission of power from generation sources to end customers, and automated weld overlay solutions for corrosion and erosion mitigation to critical infrastructure in the energy markets worldwide. Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements herein about our expectations of future events or results constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as, "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and management's views and assumptions regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and investors must recognize that actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, changes in customer demand and response to products and services offered by AZZ, including demand by the power generation markets, electrical transmission and distribution markets, the industrial markets, and the metal coatings markets; prices and raw material cost, including zinc and natural gas which are used in the hot dip galvanizing process; changes in the political stability and economic conditions of the various markets that AZZ serves, foreign and domestic, customer requested delays of shipments, acquisition opportunities, currency exchange rates, adequacy of financing, and availability of experienced management and employees to implement AZZ's growth strategy. AZZ has provided additional information regarding risks associated with the business in AZZ's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2018 and other filings with the SEC, available for viewing on AZZ's website at www.azz.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These statements are based on information as of the date hereof and AZZ assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Contact: Paul Fehlman, Senior Vice President Finance and CFO AZZ Inc. 817-810-0095 Internet: azz.com Lytham Partners 602-889-9700 Joe Dorame, Robert Blum or Joe Diaz Internet: lythampartners.com SOURCE AZZ Inc. Related Links https://www.azz.com WELLESLEY, Mass., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Babson College will host its fourth annual Babson India Symposium on April 19, 2019, with the theme, "Gearing for Growth." Scheduled speakers include: Anurag Kashyap - Indian film director, writer, editor, producer and actor who will be conducting an interactive session - Indian film director, writer, editor, producer and actor who will be conducting an interactive session Gururaj Deshpande - Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, founder of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation - Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, founder of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at and the Deshpande Foundation Deepak Ohri - Hotel mogul, founder and chief executive of Bangkok -based Lebua Hotels - Hotel mogul, founder and chief executive of -based Lebua Hotels Yash Dongre - Business head, House of Anita Dongre , one of India's largest fashion label brands - Business head, House of , one of largest fashion label brands Aashni Shah - Founder and creative director at Aashni & Co - U.K.-based luxury fashion retailer Niharika Singh Shekhawat - Creative director at Sunita Shekhawat, a signature jewelry brand from Jaipur - Creative director at Sunita Shekhawat, a signature jewelry brand from Jaipur Sanjay Sachdev - Former chairman of ZyFin Holdings, asset management and economic research firm - Former chairman of ZyFin Holdings, asset management and economic research firm Jayam Vora - Entrepreneur and co-founder of Fitternity, India's largest marketplace for fitness services - Entrepreneur and co-founder of Fitternity, largest marketplace for fitness services Saket Modi - Co-founder and CEO of Lucideus, Cisco-backed information security platform and services that monitors and reactively responds to cyber threats - Co-founder and CEO of Lucideus, Cisco-backed information security platform and services that monitors and reactively responds to cyber threats Karan Tanna - Forbes 30 under 30. Yellow Tie Brands, India's first scalable restaurant incubator - Forbes 30 under 30. Yellow Tie Brands, first scalable restaurant incubator Suhani Jalota - CEO and founder, Myna Manila Foundation, Padwoman of India - CEO and founder, Myna Manila Foundation, Padwoman of Zubin Sharma - Founder and CEO at Project Potential, which enables rural youth to grow into conscious leaders. Moderators include Babson Professors Anirudh Dhebar and Srinivasa Rangan. Akshaye Rathi - film exhibitor & distributor - will moderate the fireside chat with Anurag Kashyap followed by an interactive director session. The conference will take place at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The Babson India Symposium is organized by students, staff, and faculty to promote Babson and India by engaging and interacting with Indian leaders from various disciplines. The symposium aims at reflecting on what unique factors have allowed India to thrive on the competitive global landscape. Participants aim to learn and communicate how India, the fastest growing economy in the world, is gearing up for the future. Babson India Graduate Club The Babson India Graduate Club is a student-run graduate organization committed to celebrating India and generating awareness and educating our community about Indian culture, business, economics and politics in an entrepreneurial way. About Babson College Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader of Entrepreneurship of All Kinds (r). The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. Media Contacts: Michael Chmura Public Relations Director [email protected] Phone: 781-239-4549 Provided by Newswise, online resource for knowledge-based news at www.newswise.com SOURCE Babson College Related Links http://www.babson.edu OAKLAND, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Leesa Sleep and Baron Davis donate 300 mattresses to the Oakland Public Education Fund, in hopes of providing a comfortable place for the children to rest and dream big. Inspired by Leesa's commitment to provide a more restful environment for children and families in need, Baron has been a long-time Leesa partner after learning about their mission and commitment to provide better rest for children and families in need across the United States. Leesa is proud to add the Oakland Public Education Fund to their network of giving partners, making them one of over 1,000 giving partners across the US, Canada and Europe, committed to providing a safe place to rest for families and children. The Oakland Public Education Fund is devoted to raising money and providing aid to the children of the Oakland school system and has raised over $60 million in the last five years alone. "I decided to partner with Leesa because they get the importance of giving back to those who need help the most," says Davis. "I'm especially moved today, because I get to see their work make a difference in the Oakland community that's near and dear to my heart." Leesa sees a bed as more than just a place to sleep, it is a place to rest your head and your heart; to feel safe, and to heal. The company believes that a well-rested world is a better one and that rest is not a privilege, but a right. This is why Leesa has chosen to build the company around a social mission to help provide beds to kids across the United States, so they can wake up healthy and happy. "It's a privilege to support the selfless work of extraordinary organizations like OPEF, and Leesa is proud to be a part of their impact," notes Jen-Ai Notman, Head of Social Impact at Leesa. "Leesa's mission is to provide deeper rest for everybody, and with this partnership with OPEF we are making that possible for hundreds of kids today." For more information on Leesa, visit https://www.leesa.com/ About Leesa Sleep, LLC Based in Virginia Beach, Va., Leesa is a direct-to-consumer online luxury mattress company that offers American-made mattresses delivered directly to consumers' doors. From its start, Leesa has measured its own success not just by the bottom line, but by the company's overall social impact. To date, Leesa's One-Ten program has provided more than 33,000 mattresses to those in need. Leesa offers a 100-night risk-free trial, free shipping and no-hassle returns. In 2016, Leesa was recognized as a certified B Corp, joining forces with more than 2,100 companies using business as a force for good. The company currently offers free shipping to the U.S., U.K., Canada and Germany. For more information, visit www.leesa.com . Event Details: April 16, 2019 11:00 AM 2:00PM PST Acorn Woodland Elementary School 1025 81st Ave. Oakland, CA 94621 Media Contacts: Tess Nellis [email protected] 203.856.3425 SOURCE Leesa Sleep Related Links http://www.leesa.com ZURICH and BOSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management and analytics, today announced that it has formed a partnership with Qatar Biobank. BC Platforms will provide a Research Collaboration Management System (RCMS) and Researchers' Portal for Qatar Biobank to support the integration of genomic and phenotypic samples, enable secure and streamlined data access, and optimize resource quality and utilization. Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF) and part of QF Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI), collects data and biological samples from the local population in an effort to develop customized medical solutions to the various diseases and health issues prevalent in the country. Dr. Nahla Afifi, Director of Qatar Biobank, said: "As the Qatar National Research Strategy strives to improve the health and well-being of Qatar's population, scientific research collaborations enabled by Qatar Biobank are the key to impacting the future of personalised healthcare in Qatar and the region." "We are delighted to partner with BC Platforms to access their multi-omics technology capabilities to leverage our data for research and ultimately to bring benefits to patients. Through our efforts, we will enable researchers to discover how the health and genetics of Qatar's population are affected by their lifestyle and environment." BC Platforms has over 20 years of experience in building tertiary analytics tools enabling scalable phenotypic and genetic data exploration, applied by customers in over 25 countries. Recent developments include ontology browsing and data visualization dashboards which provide users with a visual and contextual overview of massive datasets, customizable to researchers' needs. Tero Silvola, CEO of BC Platforms, stated: "One of the big focus areas in technology related development work is associated with available capabilities to analyse all different types of data together. Qatar Biobank is a globally unique resource and is considered to be one of the leading personalised medicine programs globally. We are delighted to support Qatar Biobank in achieving its goals in biomedical research both regionally and globally." Qatar Biobank has incubated Qatar Genome Programme (QGP), another member of QF and part of QF RDI, which is a national initiative aiming to map the genome of the local population. QGP uses a collection of samples and data from Qatar Biobank participants to identify genotype-phenotype associations relevant to the Qatari population. About BC Platforms BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic data management and analysis solutions. Our high performing genomic data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. The company has launched and opened a global network of biobanks, known as BCRQUEST.COM, to provide genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry by 2020, providing access to diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5 million subjects consolidated from a global network of biobanks. Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and sales and marketing in London, Boston, and Vancouver. For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms. About Qatar Biobank Qatar Biobank, a long-term health initiative, was launched by Qatar to reduce the number of chronic illnesses in the population and improve the health of future generations through medical research on the causes of prevalent illnesses. This is done by gathering biological samples and information on the health and lifestyle of Qatar's people. In the next few years, research based on the samples and information gathered by Qatar Biobank will reveal the effect of lifestyle, environment and genetics on Qatari population. It will also provide insight into the reasons why certain individuals develop specific illnesses. Qatar Biobank is a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and works in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Hamad Medical Corporation. To learn more about Qatar Biobank and how to become a contributor, please visit: www.qatarbiobank.org.qa Contact information: BC Platforms: Tero Silvola BC Platforms AG [email protected] Katja Stout Scius Communications [email protected] SOURCE BC Platforms SAN DIEGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BioAtla , LLC, a global clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of Conditionally Active Biologic (CAB) protein therapeutics for the oncology market, today announced that Himalaya Therapeutics SEZC, a Cayman Island corporation and majority owned subsidiary of BioAtla, has the exclusive license from BioAtla to develop and commercialize several specific, differentiated product candidates for the Greater China market of the PRC, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The Himalaya Therapeutics portfolio includes two CAB candidates, CAB-AXL-ADC and CAB-ROR2-ADC, each currently in Phase 1/2 clinical trials conducted by BioAtla at sites in the United States. In addition, Himalaya Therapeutics will participate in BioAtla's potential Greater China derived returns from the recently announced BioAtla and BeiGene, Ltd. global co-development and collaboration agreement for the development, manufacture and commercialization of CAB-CTLA-4 (BA3071). Himalaya will also support BioAtla's global clinical trials effort in Greater China. "We believe that Himalaya's product development and business related activities directly addressing Greater China will maximize the strategic opportunities for both BioAtla and Himalaya in the world's second largest pharmaceutical market," stated Carolyn Short, General Manager of Himalaya Therapeutics. "The access to clinical development capabilities in China can accelerate the global development and potential commercialization of the BioAtla product portfolio and effectively address markets with strong growth potential and high unmet medical need," added Scott Smith, President of BioAtla. Recent sweeping changes to the China regulatory processes for the development of pharmaceutical products now closely align them with those in the United States and broadens the use of clinical data for regulatory purposes between the two nations. Consequently, close coordination of clinical development in the U.S. and China of a pharmaceutical candidate is highly desireable and more efficient. Furthermore, the access to capital markets for early-stage biotechnology companies in China has recently been greatly enhanced especially with the revision to the stock listing requirements on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Himalaya Therapeutics is expected to fund its operations independent from BioAtla. These were primary motivating factors for Beijing Sinobioway Group Company and its related investor groups to contribute all of their rights to certain and any future CAB candidates that were part of their 2015 collaboration agreement with BioAtla in exchange for a minority equity position in Himalaya Therapeutics. About Conditionally Active Biologics (CABs) Conditionally Active Biologics are proteins generated using BioAtla's proprietary protein discovery, evolution and expression technologies. These proteins can be monoclonal antibodies, enzymes and other proteins designed with functions dependent on changes in micro physiological conditions (e.g., pH level, oxidation, temperature, pressure, presence of certain ions, hydrophobicity and combinations thereof) both outside and inside cells. Studies have shown that cancerous tumors create highly specific conditions at their site that are not present in normal tissue. These cancerous microenvironments are primarily a result of the well understood unique glycolytic metabolism associated with cancer cells, referred to as the Warburg Effect in aerobic cancer cells. CAB proteins are designed to deliver their therapeutic payload and/or recruit the immune response in specific and selected locations and conditions within the body and to be active only in the presence of a particular cellular microenvironment. In addition, the activation is designed to be reversible to repeatedly switch 'on and off' should the CAB move from a diseased to a normal cellular microenvironment and vice versa. CABs can be developed in a variety of formats, including antibodies, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bispecifics, chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-Ts) and combination therapies. About BioAtla, LLC BioAtla is a global clinical-stage biotechnology company with operations in San Diego, California, and Beijing, China. BioAtla develops novel monoclonal antibody and other protein therapeutic product candidates designed to have more selective targeting, greater efficacy, and more cost-efficient and predictable manufacturing than traditional antibodies. BioAtla has two programs currently in Phase 1/2 clinical testing in the United States, BA3011, a novel conditionally active AXL-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-AXL-ADC), and BA3021, a novel conditionally active ROR2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-ROR2-ADC). Contact: Richard Waldron Chief Financial Officer BioAtla, LLC [email protected] 858.356.8945 SOURCE BioAtla, LLC OAKLAND, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick-off their new branding, packaging and website, Black Rain is participating in the DJ Snoopadelic, aka Snoop Dogg and Berner 420 events in San Francisco as part of A Smoker's Dream Weekend with VIP Events April 19th and 20th. "We're excited to sponsor Snoop Dogg and Berner," says Black Rain Founder Claude Allen, "and we are proud to be a part of 420 eve and 420 day festivities with all the great talent involved." LiveBlackRain.com supporting amazing artists at their 420 celebration events with VIP concert and after-party tickets. L-R Other Black Rain Warriors: Photo 1: Lisa A., Photo 2: Claude Allen, Yvonne Chatman, Cherish Allen, Photo 3: Yvonne C. photo credit: Green Eyed Media It's a core belief at this family-run business that hemp makes a difference in people's wellbeing. While medical studies are lagging, Black Rain has built a passionate following of those attributing strong health outcomes because of their products. "Our hemp extract products provide safe, legal, homeopathic support for health and wellness," says Mr. Allen. "I created Black Rain to help my family deal with wellness it worked for us. I'm glad to have my family here today." Living an Empowered Life Black Rain Hemp Extract CBD Enhanced Water, natural and other exciting flavors are produced at fully-certified facilities using lab-tested potent extracts. All batches are tested for safety, quality, and correct dosages. If you're ready to join the ranks of the veterans, survivors, and other Black Rain warriors who are living empowered lives, start incorporating CBD into your life. The new site is ready for business with its flagship product, hemp extract CBD infused 8.5 pH alkaline water. About the Brand Re-Launch "The Black Rain Team were outstanding to work with. Their strong sense of mission and purpose really shines through in the quality they bring to their products. We're excited to gather more stories of hemp extract wellness through our Black Rain Warrior Stories campaign," says Susan Rust CEO of 4Blooms.Guru , a boutique branding and marketing agency in the cannabis space who spearheaded the rebrand and relaunch of Black Rain's new ecommerce site. About Black Rain Black Rain is a local Oakland family-owned producer of Hemp CBD infused products. Their products are independent lab-tested to ensure safety, quality, and purity. Their hemp extract softgels are pharmaceutical grade quality, and the production facilities hold the highest quality control certifications. The entire product line is organic, free of microbes and pesticides, and labeled in compliance with government regulations. The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute for or alternative to information from healthcare practitioners. Please consult your healthcare professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product. Required notice by Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Contact: Susan Rust, John Olchak 866.420.6464 SOURCE Black Rain Related Links http://liveblackrain.com NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Spero Theodorou and Dr. Christopher Chia at bodySCULPT NYC introduce AccuTite, the smallest minimally-invasive radio-frequency assisted lipolysis tissue remodeling device. AccuTite is the newest addition to InMode's innovative medical technologies. AccuTite aims to revolutionize in-office procedures by offering a solution for tissue remodeling without excisional surgery, thereby providing a solution to patients who do not want extensive downtime, but still looking for significant results. These patients, often referred to as "treatment gap" patients, did not have a solution in the past. Responding to the growing demand of patients, AccuTite, is a quick treatment that can be done under local anesthesia, with little or no visible scarring. "As leading investigators in InMode's BodyTite Radio-Frequency Assisted Lipolysis technology, we are pleased that the AccuTite is launching, providing further solutions to physicians as they look to meet patient demands for minimally-invasive solutions", says Dr. Spero Theodorou. "I appreciate the versatility, safety and efficacy that the AccuTite is able to provide in just a single treatment. In addition to patients not yet ready for more invasive surgeries, this is ideal for the patients who are looking for touch ups to facelifts or surgeries they have had in the past", says Dr. Christopher Chia. Learn more about InMode technologies by visiting www.inmodemd.com/accutite. bodySCULPT is located at 128 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019. For more information, call (212) 265-2724 or visit www.bodysculpt.com. About bodySCULPT bodySCULPT is an AAAASF-accredited plastic surgery practice with a state-of-the-art surgical center is located on Central Park South in Manhattan, New York City. The facility is lead by two leading plastic surgeons, Dr. Spero J. Theodorou and Dr. Christopher T. Chia. These plastic surgeons are inventors of the Scarless Arm Lift procedure as well as the first to perform the Brazilian Butt Lift under Local Anesthesia. Dr. Theodorou received his training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at RUSH St. Luke's Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Upon completion he underwent an additional year of training in Cosmetic Plastic Surgery at the prestigious Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital's Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship Program Affiliated with New York University (NYU). Dr. Theodorou is presently teaching faculty at MEETH and at the prestigious ASAPS (American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery), where he instructs plastic surgeons on the latest advancements in body contouring surgery. Dr. Christopher Chia completed his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and then obtained his Medical Degree from the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He completed his surgical residency at Hospital of Saint Raphael in, New haven, Connecticut. Following this his post-graduate training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was completed in University of Louisville. Upon completion he underwent an additional year of training in Cosmetic Plastic Surgery from the prestigious Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital's Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship Program Affiliated with New York University (NYU). Dr. Chia was the previous director of the MEETH fellowship. SOURCE InMode Related Links http://www.bodysculpt.com ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Month of the Military Child in April, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is celebrating the half a million military-connected youth they serve each year at 484 affiliated youth centers by hosting several events throughout the month with the culmination celebration on Purple Up Day, April 25. "Military youth face unique challenges like moving from place to place and Boys & Girls Clubs seeks to provide them with a welcoming and familiar environment," said Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "We are honored to have the U.S. Armed Services as a partner, as we celebrate the incredible resilience of our nation's military youth." Boys & Girls Clubs of America-affiliated Youth Centers across the nation and abroad will use this time to raise awareness of the needs and the programs offered to military youth. Programs like Raytheon's STEM Centers of Innovation positively influence the overall well-being, resiliency, and academic success of military kids. Three new Raytheon STEM Centers of Innovation will open this month at the Los Angeles Air Force Base, Fort Gordon and Fort Meade and a fourth will be opening this June at Langley Air Force Base. As a part of Raytheon's $10 million pledge to support military families and veterans, the STEM Centers of Innovation are fully supported by Raytheon's $5 million, multi-year commitment to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Boys & Girls Clubs of America is excited announce a new partnership with Blue Star Families. Through this partnership, the two organizations will work together to empower military families by connecting them with civilian organizations, creating a stronger community of support. These initiatives, along with many more not mentioned, are all part of Boys & Girls Clubs of America's larger initiative of expanding military outreach to provide support to more military-connected youth. "If I could describe my life as a military child, I would say its "fun" and a struggle sometimes," said Ryan Walker, Boys & Girls Clubs of America's 2018-19 Military Youth of the Year. "Although I changed schools often, one thing remained consistent in my life. No matter where we moved, there was always a Boys & Girls Club. The Club was full of military kids who were just like me. It was a safe space where I could find my passion, give back to my community and just be myself." The public is invited to help raise awareness of military kids and teens and their resiliency by wearing purple on April 25th. Also, join in on the conversation on social media by using the hashtags #BGCPurpleUp and #BGCMOTMC. For more information about Month of the Military Child, visit www.bgca.org. About Boys & Girls Clubs of America For more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,300 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun and friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Club programs promote academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at Facebook and Twitter. SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America Related Links http://www.bgca.org NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global consulting firm Berkeley Research Group (BRG) announced today that Kenny Grant has joined the firm as a managing director based in Boston. He is an energy economist who provides advisory services, privileged consulting and expert witness testimony for energy clients in the oil and gas and electric power sectors. He specializes in matters concerning competition, antitrust, regulatory and marketing design, and valuation. "We are very pleased to have Kenny join BRG," said Chris Goncalves, a BRG Managing Director and Chair of the firm's Energy practice. "He adds substantial policy, regulatory and economic expertise to the firm's extensive advisory capabilities in relation to energy market fundamentals, strategy and transactions." "We are delighted to welcome Kenny to BRG," said Santiago Dellepiane, a BRG Managing Director and Co-Chair of its Economics & Damages practice. "He brings significant energy expertise, expanding BRG's already strong acumen across the energy value chain in both advisory and disputes matters." Grant has provided written and oral testimony before international tribunals and US authorities. He has submitted testimony on behalf of major oil and natural gas companies related to the value of hydrocarbons; refining, processing and transportation assets; and damages stemming from contractual disputes. He has managed efforts in complex energy-related matters, including mergers and acquisitions, regulatory proceedings and multi-client disputes. His recent work has focused on the public policy and market implications of the increasing integration of renewables into the domestic energy supply portfolio, the impact of regulatory actions on wholesale electricity and natural gas prices, and the assessment of the market value of energy and power-related assets. "I'm excited to join BRG and leverage the firm's deep network of disputes and investigations experts to address our clients' challenges," said Grant. Previously, Grant was an economist with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation in Washington, DC. Working in the Investment Development division, he conducted market analyses and researched capital requirements and economic effects of proposed projects. As an instructor for the Harvard Institute for International Development, he taught cost-benefit analysis, project analysis and microeconomics to officials from utilities, regulatory agencies and economic development banks in the developing world. Grant received an MPP from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA in economics from Middlebury College. About BRG Berkeley Research Group, LLC (BRG) is a global consulting firm that helps leading organizations advance in three key areas: disputes and investigations, corporate finance, and strategy and operations. Headquartered in California with offices around the world, we are an integrated group of experts, industry leaders, academics, data scientists, and professionals working beyond borders and disciplines. We harness our collective expertise to deliver the inspired insights and practical strategies our clients need to stay ahead of what's next. Visit thinkbrg.com to learn more. SOURCE BRG Related Links https://www.thinkbrg.com SANTA ANA, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cal/OSHA has issued more than $300,000 in serious citations to two employers after a temporary worker lost two fingers cleaning machinery at a food manufacturing facility in Los Angeles. On October 2, 2018, the employee for Priority Workforce, Inc. was assigned to JSL Foods, Inc., a maker and distributer of noodles, pasta and baked goods. The worker was cleaning a dough rolling machine when his left hand was partially pulled into the moving rollers and two of his fingers were amputated. Cal/OSHA's investigation found the machine had not been adequately guarded to prevent fingers from entering pinch points, or de-energized and locked out to prevent movement while the worker was cleaning it. Neither employer had trained the worker to follow lockout/tagout procedures before cleaning the equipment. Lockout involves isolating a machine from its power source and using a device to prevent machinery from being restarted, while a tagout device on a machine shows it is prohibited to operate. "Lockout/tagout procedures are required to protect employees who maintain powered equipment with moveable parts," said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. "Employers must ensure the procedures are in place and are followed." Cal/OSHA cited JSL Foods Inc. $276,435 in proposed penalties for seven violations, including one willful repeat serious violation and one willful repeat serious accident-related violation for failing to follow lockout/tagout procedures. JSL Foods, Inc. was cited twice in 2015 for the same violations. Cal/OSHA also cited Tustin-based Priority Workforce Inc. $29,250 in proposed penalties for three serious violations for failure to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program, failure to ensure employees were effectively trained, and failure to ensure the machinery was adequately guarded. Cal/OSHA offers an eTool to help employers understand lockout/tagout requirements and how to develop effective safety procedures. A serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious harm could result from the actual hazardous condition. Violations are classified as accident-related when the injury, illness or fatality is caused by the violation. A willful violation is cited when the employer is aware of the law and violates it nevertheless, or when the employer is aware of the hazardous condition and takes no reasonable steps to address it. Cal/OSHA helps protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace in California. Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers to improve their health and safety programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services. Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR's Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). The California Workers' Information line at 866-924-9757 provides recorded information in English and Spanish on a variety of work-related topics. Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices. Members of the press may contact Peter Melton or Luke Brown at (510) 286-1161, and are encouraged to subscribe to get email alerts on DIR's press releases or other departmental updates. The California Department of Industrial Relations , established in 1927, protects and improves the health, safety, and economic well-being of over 18 million wage earners, and helps their employers comply with state labor laws. DIR is housed within the Labor & Workforce Development Agency . For general inquiries, contact DIR's Call Center at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734) for help in locating the appropriate division or program in our department. https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDIR https://twitter.com/CA_DIR http://www.youtube.com/CaliforniaDIR http://www.dir.ca.gov/email/listsub.asp?choice=1 SOURCE California Department of Industrial Relations; Cal/OSHA Related Links http://www.dir.ca.gov TORONTO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Canopy Rivers Inc. ("Canopy Rivers") (TSXV: RIV) and High Beauty, Inc. ("High Beauty") are pleased to announce the completion of an investment by Canopy Rivers in High Beauty, creator of industry-leading cannabis beauty brand high. Canopy Rivers has subscribed for US$2.5 million of shares in High Beauty, representing 18.4% of the company on a fully diluted basis, including additional warrant coverage. "Being supported by Canopy Rivers enables us to collaborate within the Canopy Rivers ecosystem and to focus our energy and passion on the creation of a robust new product line using cannabis-derived extracts," said Melissa Jochim, a highly successful formulator and Founder of High Beauty. "Cannabis sativa seed oil is an untapped ingredient resource with amazing skincare benefits. This partnership will allow us to scale High Beauty's business much "higher" in a short time frame." Management believes that High Beauty has a competitive advantage in the global beauty market through its distribution partnership with Sephora (EPA: MC), an established leader in global prestige omni-channel retail. Defined by its unique, open-sell environment, Sephora's curated assortment of brands includes trusted classics, indie and emerging favorites, and their own brand, Sephora Collection. The brand and beauty experts at Sephora have been involved in the evolution of high from concept to shelf, and the products have been specifically developed to meet "Clean at Sephora" standards a "free of" designation that meets consumers' needs for products free of questionable and unwanted ingredients. High is expertly formulated to deliver cannabis sativa seed oil in combination with certified organic plant oils, high-potency antioxidants and pure plant essential oils for healthy, beautiful skin. High helps calm inflammation, balances all skin types with adaptogens, protects with potent antioxidants, and hydrates and replenishes. High Beauty's High Five Cannabis Facial Moisturizer, a moisturizer containing cannabis sativa seed oil and potent plant actives, is used in the morning like a daily skin vitamin. And for nighttime routines, High Beauty's High Expectations Cannabis Facial Oil helps provide intensive repair, hydration and replenishment. "We have been actively pursuing opportunities in the health and beauty industry, guided by a growing consumer trend of brand new, innovative and functional beauty products. Enter high," said Narbe Alexandrian, President of Canopy Rivers. "Led by Melissa Jochim, a repeat entrepreneur, preeminent formulator and brand developer coming from the natural, organic segment of the beauty industry, high has already captured mindshare and awareness of consumers - it has all the makings to continue to be a prominent brand in the cannabis-infused beauty market." About High Beauty: high is a revolutionary beauty brand powered by cannabis sativa. high is formulated using only cannabis sativa seed extracts and is legal and free of psychoactive substances including THC and CBD. Founded and formulated in Northern California by renowned organic beauty pioneer, Melissa Jochim, high is expertly formulated to deliver cannabis sativa seed oil in combination with certified organic plant oils, high-potency antioxidants and pure plant essential oils for healthy, beautiful skin. About Canopy Rivers: Canopy Rivers is a unique investment and operating platform structured to pursue investment opportunities in the emerging global cannabis sector. Canopy Rivers works collaboratively with Canopy Growth (TSX: WEED,NYSE: CGC) to identify strategic counterparties seeking financial and/or operating support. Canopy Rivers has developed an investment ecosystem of complementary cannabis operating companies that represent various segments of the value chain across the emerging cannabis sector. As the portfolio continues to develop, constituents will be provided with opportunities to work with Canopy Growth and collaborate among themselves, which Canopy Rivers believes will maximize value for its shareholders and foster an environment of innovation, synergy and value creation for the entire ecosystem. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of Canopy Rivers with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and includes information regarding: the growing consumer trend of brand new, innovative and functional beauty products; the prominence of High Beauty's brand in the cannabis-infused beauty market; High Beauty's competitive advantage in the global beauty market through its distribution partnership with Sephora; the health benefits of High Beauty's products and cannabis sativa seed oil; High Beauty's ability to collaborate within the Canopy Rivers ecosystem; the impact that the partnership between Canopy Rivers and High Beauty will have on High Beauty's future focus and ability to scale its business quickly; and other expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although Canopy Rivers believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of Canopy Rivers. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: regulatory and licensing risks; competition in the cannabis-infused beauty market; changes in consumer trends; the popularity and effects of High Beauty's products; a change in High Beauty's distribution partnership with Sephora; the ability of High Beauty and Canopy Rivers to collaborate; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; the global regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, including political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; risks relating to anti-money laundering laws; compliance with extensive government regulation; public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry; and the risk factors set out in Canopy Rivers' final short form prospectus dated February 21, 2019, filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on Canopy Rivers' profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Canopy Rivers has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Canopy Rivers does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable 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. SOURCE Canopy Rivers Inc. LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Carbon Lighthouse, a clean energy services company, has opened a regional office in Los Angeles. The initial staff includes engineering, sales and marketing roles who will focus on enhancing the company's technical and business development capabilities to scale Efficiency Production to more commercial and industrial building owners in Southern California. This includes an emphasis on Los Angeles, which is the number one market in the Americas for real estate investment, according to CBRE . This is the fourth Carbon Lighthouse office, after San Francisco, New York and Honolulu. "We are inspired by Los Angeles' leadership in supporting the success of the historic Paris Climate Agreement through aggressive clean energy goals," said Brenden Millstein, CEO and Co-founder at Carbon Lighthouse. "One of the best ways to achieve net zero emissions in Greater Los Angeles is by making it very profitable for building owners to eliminate carbon emissions from wasted energy." Los Angeles continues to lead the nation on its dedication to climate change with Mayor Eric Garcetti putting the city on track to achieving a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, becoming the number one solar city in the United States and committing to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This makes it an ideal locale for increased Efficiency Production Carbon Lighthouse's unique, data-driven approach to turning building energy waste into guaranteed revenue, which boosts net operating income to increase overall asset value. Since 2014, Carbon Lighthouse has worked in nearly 100 buildings from Los Angeles to San Diego, including commercial office buildings, hotels and K-12 educational institutions. Some local clients include Rising Realty Group, Kilroy Realty Corporation , Ohana Real Estate Investors and Aspire Public Schools , among others. To date, Carbon Lighthouse has eliminated the equivalent carbon emissions of 1.5 million gallons of gasoline while driving significant guaranteed financial value for clients. "When we acquire a building, one of the first things we do is assess its overall efficiency financially, technologically and environmentally," said Chris Rising, Co-Founder & CEO of Rising Realty Partners , which currently is engaged in a pilot project with Carbon Lighthouse at a large commercial property in downtown Los Angeles. "By partnering with Carbon Lighthouse, we're able to collect data and analytics on an asset's energy usage, identify hidden inefficiencies and potential solutions and implement the best solution to improve and drive real financial value while improving environmental performance." Across the United States, Carbon Lighthouse estimates the value of Efficiency Reserves at up to 55 percent of each building's energy, which is worth over $100 billion every year more than twice the cash value of the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve. The company helps building owners tap into these reserves through Efficiency Production by deploying dozens of sensors throughout a building to collect thousands of original thermodynamic data points from air and water temperature and flow rates in HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment), to lighting and occupancy. Supplementing this with utility, weather and other available data, Carbon Lighthouse uses its proprietary CLUES software recently honored by Fast Company as a "World Changing Idea" to model thousands of energy scenarios and optimize existing equipment to arrive at the most financially and environmentally beneficial solution. Carbon Lighthouse guarantees the real dollar value of its estimated energy savings by continuing to stay engaged with the property and its on-site teams and ensure the energy efficiency measures persist in the long term. This translates into sustained building financial value and increased tenant comfort. About Carbon Lighthouse Carbon Lighthouse is on a mission to stop climate change by making it easy and profitable for building owners to eliminate carbon emissions caused by wasted energy. Their unique approach to Efficiency Production goes deep into buildings to uncover and continuously correct hidden inefficiencies that add up to meaningful financial value and carbon elimination that lasts. Since 2010, commercial real estate, educational, hospitality and industrial customers nationwide have chosen Carbon Lighthouse to enhance building comfort, increase net operating income and achieve their sustainability goals. For more information visit: www.carbonlighthouse.com. SOURCE Carbon Lighthouse Related Links https://www.carbonlighthouse.com QINGDAO, China, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The agreement aimed at establishment of China-Russia Arctic Research Center (CRARC) was signed on April 10, at the International Arctic Forum held in St. Petersburg. The Agreement is to document the development of bilateral cooperation between the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) (QNLM) and P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS) targeted at Arctic research and preservation of its indigenous natural wealth. "The intensive development of Arctic shelf endangers its ecological system thus dictating the necessity for profound investigation into natural processes happening therein. Being the Great Oceanic Powers, Russia and China boast vast experience and competences to address comprehensive fundamental challenges associated with the Arctic region. The newly established Center will take China-Russia scientific cooperation to a new level. Jointly we will be able to initiate and implement major projects, including joint Arctic expeditions, to foster innovative dialogue as related to exploration of ocean mineral and biological resources to preserve unique subsea ecological systems. This year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and China, and the establishment of China-Russia Arctic Research Center will be the best contribution to the development of partnership between our countries," noted Aleksey Sokov, Acting Director of the Institute of Oceanology. "Our cooperation carries great importance for deepening the understanding of the region and identifying the Arctic's effect on global climate change. It will benefit peoples of our two sides and of the rest of the world, as well. I'm confident that our cooperation will bring the Arctic research a great prosperity," stated Prof. PAN Kehou, Secretary General of QNLM Academic Committee. The activities of the Center are aimed at joint research in Arctic, including full-scale measurements onboard the Institute's research vessels, analysis of climatic, geological, biogeochemical processes and trends of ecosystem changes in the Arctic region. The obtained results will contribute to accurate prediction of ice conditions at the Northern Sea Route and providing recommendations for environmentally sound development of the Arctic region being intensively developed. Also, the Center will involve outstanding scientists from the major research institutions of Russia and China. According to Prof. WU Lixin, Director of QNLM Executive Committee, "QNLM has put forward an international cooperation strategy to develop close and efficient research cooperation and partnership. We have established the International Center for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research (CSHOR) collaborated with CSIRO in Australia. The signing of the agreement to establish CRARC marks an important step forward for QNLM in the process of developing a worldwide collaborative innovation network. After establishment, CRARC will focus on major scientific issues and strengthen researches in such fields as physical oceanography, marine geology and geophysics, marine biology, marine chemistry, and air-sea interaction in the Arctic by pooling in advantageous research resources and teams in China and Russia. Joint efforts will be made in Arctic marine science research, which will promote the construction of 'Silk Road on Ice'. In future, QNLM looks forward to more fruitful and efficient partnerships worldwide to contribute to the sustainable development of the world oceans and a shared future for mankind." SOURCE The Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) (QNLM) EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CIS (Center for Internet Security, Inc.) today announced the availability of its CIS Hardened Images on Shielded Virtual Machines (VMs) in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Marketplace. CIS Hardened Images are virtual machine images that have been preconfigured according to the security recommendations of the CIS Benchmarks. A CIS Hardened Image incorporates the security recommendations outlined in the CIS Benchmark applicable to the operating system. "Bringing CIS Hardened Images to Shielded VMs on the Google Cloud Platform provides protection against rootkits," said Curtis Dukes, CIS Executive Vice President, Security Best Practices & Automation Group. "Together, CIS and Google are delivering a secure platform in the cloud customers can trust to protect their critical applications." Shielded VMs ensure organizations are only using trusted, supported images. Shielded VMs on Google Cloud are beneficial because they: Protect VMs against advanced threats; Ensure workloads are trusted and verifiable; Protect secrets against exfiltration and replay; Offer live migration and patching. There is no additional cost for a Shielded VM on Google Cloud, and bring your own (BYO) image licensing is supported as well. CIS Hardened Images available on Shielded VMs include: Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter Level 1 and Level 2 Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Level 1 and Level 2 CentOS 7 Level 1 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Level 1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Level 1 More information is available at: https://www.cisecurity.org/blog/cis-hardened-images-built-on-google-shielded-vms/. About CIS CIS (Center for Internet Security, Inc.) is a forward-thinking, non-profit entity that harnesses the power of a global IT community to safeguard private and public organizations against cyber threats. The CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks are the global standard and recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data against the most pervasive attacks. These proven guidelines are continuously refined and verified by a volunteer, global community of experienced IT professionals. Our CIS Hardened Images are virtual machine emulations preconfigured to provide secure, on-demand, and scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to both the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the go-to resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which supports the cybersecurity needs of U.S. State, Local and Territorial elections offices. To learn more, visit CISecurity.org or follow us on Twitter: @CISecurity. Media Contact: Barbara Ware [email protected] (518) 266-3460 SOURCE CIS Related Links http://CISecurity.org "At a time when our environment and health are being attacked by elected officials and the government, the Run for Clean Air gives me hope," said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Clean Air Council's Executive Director and Chief Counsel. "Clean Air Council is seeing overwhelming support from the public and companies like Toyota Hybrids. This race confirms how important it is for us to lead the fight against polluters and to protect everyone's right to clean air and a healthy environment." "Toyota and the Tri-State Toyota Dealers are very proud of our six year partnership with the Clean Air Council and to be the Presenting Sponsor for a 5th year, at the 38th annual Run for Clean Air. With Toyota's ongoing commitment to the development of vehicles that help reduce carbon emissions and as a leader in the alternative fuel segment, we are thrilled to once again support the Clean Air Council through this year's Run for Clean Air," said Paul Muller, President of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association. "Toyota is committed to helping play a role in delivering cleaner air and environmental sustainability to our customers. With a portfolio of nine Toyota hybrid models, including the fuel cell vehicle (FCV) Mirai, we are the leader in alternative mobility and have a large selection of both hybrid sedans and SUV models to fit our customers' diversified needs. The newest editions to our hybrid line-up, the Corolla Hybrid and the Prius AWD-e, will be onsite for event goers to check out in this year's Toyota Hybrid display as well as the exciting all-new 2019 RAV4 Hybrid. Also at the Toyota display, the Toyota Mirai, an FCV with a range of over 300 miles per tank and emissions that consist only of water vapor," Muller added. For more information, visit cleanair.org/runforcleanair. Contact: Katie Edwards, (215) 567-4004 ext. 102, [email protected] SOURCE Clean Air Council Related Links cleanair.org PHL's renewal as part of CCA's robust airport portfolio will help brands reach travelers in over 260 airports across 80+ DMAs and up to one billion passengers annually. PHL is the only major airport serving the nation's sixth largest metropolitan area. More than 30 million passengers pass through annually with over 82,000 travelling through daily. The diverse passenger-base covers a broad range of origins and purposes for their travels, including business travelers visiting for conventions and tourists descending on the city for its rich historical attractions and trendy culinary scene. PHL is one of the largest economic engines in the region, generating $15.4 billion to the economy and accounting for 96,300 full-time jobs annually. "Advertising on PHL's airport media has been a significant component of our branding strategy for the Haub School," said Joseph DiAngelo, Dean, Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph's University. "It's had a significantly positive impact on our graduate programs and our corporate outreach." Additionally, Visit Philadelphia , the region's official tourism marketing agency tasked with building image, driving visitation and boosting the economy has an ongoing campaign running on 53 digital PHL displays. "Our ads inside PHL enable us to welcome visitors to Philadelphia and help them plan what to see and do while they're here," said Jeff Guaracino, president and CEO, VISIT PHILADELPHIA. "They also build civic pride among the region's residents who see the ads during their travels. We look forward to working with Clear Channel Airports and PHL to ensure our messaging continues to be as effective, innovative and impactful as possible." CCA's renewed partnership with PHL underscores the company's significant outdoor advertising presence in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. CCO reaches 94 percent of the Philadelphia designated marketing area (DMA) on a weekly basis with its OOH assets, including over 4,100 roadside displays in 13 counties. "Advertisers and business owners want to reach the audiences who matter most to them, at the right time and in the right place throughout the increasingly complex consumer journey," said Morten Gotterup, president, Clear Channel Airports. "Our roadside and airport media presence in Philadelphia complements a brand's drive, walk, fly consumer engagement strategy by allowing them to connect with audiences travelling to, and through, the market. We look forward to working with PHL to bring this opportunity to life for advertisers in an aesthetically pleasing way that creates an overall all first-impression worthy of the Philly region." PHL serves 25 airlines, including all major domestic carriers, offering nearly 500 daily departures to more than 120 destinations worldwide. As of summer 2018, PHL served 133 total destinations, including 97 domestic and 36 international destinations. PHL's new ad program with CCA will achieve the airport's goal of providing an aesthetically pleasing environment that reflects state-of-the-art advertising concepts and uses space to optimize advertising effectiveness and revenue generation. Some of the key details of the new program include: Eight (8) 360 digital column surrounds Comprehensive, head-on digital network that spans all concourses and bag-claim areas; Fully developed stage area that will surprise and delight passengers while offering valuable sponsorship opportunities; Fly PHL Selfie Station that will engage passengers and generate revenue; Two (2) state-of-the-art, large-format LED video walls; Illuminated tension fabric displays; Multiple custom brand experiential zones; Garage sponsorship; Custom designed free-charge workstations with wireless charging; Integrated and energy efficient custom fixtures that complement architecture and passenger flow. About Clear Channel Airports Dedicated to airport advertising for close to 45 years, Clear Channel Airports is the premier innovator of contemporary display concepts. The Company, a brand division of Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (NYSE:CCO), one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies, currently operates more than 260 airport programs across the globe and has a presence in 28 of the top 50 U.S. markets with major airports. More information can be found on Clear Channel Airports and Clear Channel Outdoor by visiting www.clearchannelairports.com and www.clearchanneloutdoor.com Follow & Like: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Read our award-winning blog: http://blog.clearchanneloutdoor.com/ SOURCE Clear Channel Airports Related Links http://www.clearchannelairports.com HOUSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery automation software provider CloudNine has awarded administrator certification for CloudNine LAW to LDM Global, solidifying the relationship between the two companies. LDM Global is an information management, data solutions and litigation support firm with offices around the world. Continuing its commitment to streamline the discovery process and offer multiple eDiscovery tools for its clients, LDM Global pursued certified administrator training with CloudNine LAW for members of its litigation support team. LAW is a robust software used to process and produce millions of print and digital documents, with speed and efficiency. LDM Global's core focus includes growing its team members' expertise through continued educational training. Partnering with other software providers such as CloudNine ensures a well-rounded knowledge of many eDiscovery tools to ensure clients are offered the best support by subject matter experts regardless of the tool chosen. "LDM Global considers itself to be technology-neutral, and we offer and support a number of top eDiscovery tools to ensure our clients are offered the best resources for their needs," said LDM Global CEO Conor Looney, "As an experienced software provider, CloudNine offers a robust and effective training program to ensure attendees have the knowledge needed to support the LAW software efficiently." Administrator certification is offered only after the successful completion of two prerequisite courses totaling 8 hours of hands-on, instructor-led training. CloudNine LAW 301 is a rigorous, 4-hour training course during which students engage in a virtual environment to run experimental test data and demonstrate their expertise in complex, troubleshooting scenarios. The web-based training is delivered through a live, scheduled session moderated by an instructor for immediate interaction and support. The CloudNine LAW certifications were issued to Trilok Singh Rawat, Operations Manager, with more than a decade of eDiscovery experience; Nagaraju Kshirasagar, a senior associate with three years experience in eDiscovery and litigation support; Vignesh Kamalakannan, a Project Manager with six years of eDiscovery experience; and Kiran Kumar, an Assistant Manager with 12 years of eDiscovery experience. Trilok specializes in eDiscovery domain knowledge and ESI trends. Nagaraju is a keen learner of technologies. He is well versed in Nuix and ViewPoint and is a certified Relativity One Pro and certified Relativity User. Vignesh also is certified as a Relativity Certified Administrator, Processing Specialist and Relativity One Pro. In addition to eDiscovery, Kiran has experience in ViewPoint as well as legal coding. CloudNine CEO Brad Jenkins remarked, "As both our industry and technology have evolved, the expectation for immediate results parallels the progress. Success in litigation support means processing data fast but also thoroughly to minimize risk. LDM Global is a strong service provider with an impressive list of clients, and we are thrilled to have LDM Global team members certified in expert-level LAW administration and able to support more clients across the world in the tool. For more information about CloudNine Training and Certification, visit: https://ediscovery.co/software-training/ About CloudNine, The eDiscovery Company Founded in 2002 and based in Houston, CloudNine is a discovery technology company with expertise in simplifying and automating data discovery for audits, investigations, and litigation. CloudNine's product line includes CloudNine LAW, Concordance, Explore and Review. Offering both live and web-based training, the CloudNine Training & Certification program offers certified credentials at User and Administrator levels. Used by more than 1,000 legal and business customers worldwide including over 100 of the top 200 Law firms and many leading corporations, CloudNine's on and off-premise software provides customers with insight and intelligence on electronic data. CloudNine has been highlighted by numerous industry experts and also publishes the eDiscovery Daily blog, a popular, trusted source for legal industry information. About LDM Global Founded in 1996, LDM Global is an information management, data solutions and litigation support firm. The company is an international provider of eDiscovery, Digital Forensics, Document Review and Cybersecurity services to law firms and corporations. Clients are supported 24 hours a day, seven days a week from four secure global data centers, in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and the Caribbean; operations hubs and solutions consultants in the United States, Australia and India; and certified consultants in key international locations. Contact: Salana Yarger CloudNine 713.904.1379 [email protected] Media Contact: [email protected] 7134626464 Photo(s): https://www.prlog.org/12764586 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE CloudNine Discovery NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- COLLINS , the strategy and brand experience design company, was named " Design Agency of the Year " at the Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards gala last night. The coveted Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards honor the forward-thinking leaders, top agencies, and creative innovators in the industry today, and this is the first year that Ad Age has recognized Design as its own discipline. The recognition reflects game-changing creativity, bold leadership, and the ability to point the industry in new directions. COLLINS was awarded "Design Agency of the Year" due to its hard-working team, outstanding partners, and impressive year-over-year growth. In his acceptance speech at the Awards gala, COLLINS Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) Brian Collins said, "I'd like to thank our team for continuing to push boundaries and challenge what it means to design. None of this would be possible without them. At COLLINS, we believe that the purpose of design is to make something useful. Indeed, design is not what we make at COLLINS; design is what we make possible for others. COLLINS will never stop its pursuit of that possibility." The past three years have been particularly explosive for COLLINS, fueled by work for leading brands including Spotify, Target, Dropbox, Microsoft, Mailchimp, Facebook, Coca-Cola, and Bose. The company has tripled in size since 2016 and has opened an office in San Francisco to cater to increasing demand. COLLINS' global reach now includes extensive engagements across Asia and Europe, as it creates behavior-changing brands across industries from technology to fashion. Perhaps most critical to COLLINS' success in recent years has been the burgeoning expansion of its strategy, campaign, and digital design disciplines, challenging what it means to be a design partner today. The company's approach to creating engaging creative work has expanded beyond well-known brands to startups, leveraging COLLINS' reputation for storytelling and design to launch businesses that redefine categories. With its recognition on the Ad Age A-List, COLLINS is more emboldened than ever to continue to break with the mundane and pursue the extraordinary. For more information about COLLINS, please visit www.wearecollins.com . About COLLINS COLLINS is an independent brand experience strategy and design company with offices in New York and San Francisco. The firm creates communications, products, and environments, which transform brands, drive business, and improve people's lives. Clients include Spotify, Coca-Cola, Nike, Dropbox, Microsoft, Target, and Equinox, among others. COLLINS was named " Design Agency of the Year " by the Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards in 2019, and was selected by Working Not Working alongside Pixar, Google, and Apple as one of " The Top 50 Companies Where Creatives Want to Work Next ." For more information, please visit www.wearecollins.com , or follow COLLINS on Instagram , LinkedIn , and Twitter . SOURCE COLLINS Related Links http://www.wearecollins.com CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) today announced that its board of directors approved a quarterly dividend payment of $0.2125 per share of CAG common stock to be paid on May 31, 2019, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 30, 2019. About Conagra Brands Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), headquartered in Chicago, is one of North America's leading branded food companies. Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, Conagra Brands combines a rich heritage of making great food with a sharpened focus on innovation. The company's portfolio is evolving to satisfy people's changing food preferences. Conagra's iconic brands, such as Birds Eye, Marie Callender's, Banquet, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, and Vlasic, as well as emerging brands, including Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP, Duke's, Earth Balance, Gardein, and Frontera, offer choices for every occasion. For more information, visit www.conagrabrands.com. For more information, please contact: MEDIA: Mike Cummins 312-549-5257 [email protected] INVESTORS: Brian Kearney 312-549-5002 [email protected] SOURCE Conagra Brands, Inc. Related Links http://www.conagrabrands.com LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global private investment firm Skyview Capital, LLC (www.skyviewcapital.com) has added to its Continuum Global Solutions Contact Center platform with the acquisition of Brooklyn, NY-based King TeleServices from AST Financial. Terms were not disclosed. Continuum Global Solutions, LLC (www.continuumgbl.com) is an omni-channel contact center platform with more than 15,000 employees in 15 countries worldwide comprising customer care assets recently acquired from Conduent Incorporated (NYSE: CNDT). King TeleServices will operate as a separate subsidiary under Continuum Global Solutions. A long-term provider of state-of-the-art contact center services to enterprise and local government customers throughout the United States, King TeleServices employs over 300 trained professionals delivering high quality customer care services 24/7. In addition to such prestigious corporate clients as Publisher's Clearing House, King maintains a long-standing relationship with the City of New York. King provides services to NYC311, which delivers access to non-emergency City services and information about City government programs to residents. Beyond contributing incremental revenue and EBITDA to the Continuum Global Solutions call center platform, the King TeleServices acquisition provides an entree into working with government entities and municipalities. While Continuum Global Solutions will continue to service Fortune 500 corporate clients, King TeleServices will concentrate on the municipal sector. "We are excited to announce this acquisition, and we are looking to forward to growing the relationship with the City of New York," said Alex Soltani, Chairman and CEO of Skyview Capital. "Millions of residents in New York City rely on 3-1-1, and we are proud to support this essential public service. By having Continuum and King in our Skyview Portfolio, we can leverage the best call center technologies to serve the call center needs of both corporate and municipal customers." Jerry Kinnick, President of Continuum Global Solutions, said, "We are excited to have King TeleServices join Continuum. They have a keen understanding of how to successfully serve the government and municipal sectors. We look forward to sharing best practices between Continuum and King that will further benefit our current and future clients." "We see a lot of opportunity to make investments in new technology that improves call efficiency and accuracy," said Rick Bigelow, Senior Vice President of Skyview Capital. "We are eager to work with King's current management team to implement a go-to-market strategy focused on both organic and inorganic growth." "While King TeleServices has been an important part of our company for many years, this acquisition represents a positive next step in its evolution. As part of Continuum, King can deepen its work in the municipal sector, while AST can focus on its core businesses, including tech-enabled ownership data management and advisory services," said Marty Flanigan, President & CEO, AST. "Skyview has the vision and operational experience to grow King into a major call center services provider," said Rajesh Bajaj, President of King TeleServices. About Skyview Capital, LLC Skyview Capital, LLC is a global private investment firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that specializes in the acquisition and management of mission critical enterprises in the areas of technology, telecommunications, business services and niche manufacturing. By leveraging its operational capabilities and financial acumen, Skyview systematically enhances the long-term sustainable value of the businesses it acquires. The Los Angeles Business Journal recently recognized Skyview as one of the top 25 private equity firms in Los Angeles. To date, Skyview has successfully completed over 25 transactions within its target market verticals. For further information, please visit www.skyviewcapital.com. About King TeleServices, LLC King TeleServices is a leading call center business based in Brooklyn, NY. King has a team of over 300 professionals, providing 311 and other call center services to corporate and municipal clients in the United States. King TeleServices is a subsidiary of Continuum Global Solutions, LLC. More information can be found at https://www.continuumgbl.com/king-teleservices. About Continuum Global Solutions, LLC Continuum Global Solutions "CGS" customer care services and call centers have been embraced by top companies worldwide. The company's Fortune-500 clients rely on its vast expertise in customer care management. CGS customer care and call center solutions leverage world class voice, chat, email, and social technologies. Continuum has more than 15,000 employees in major international markets and serves tier-1 clients across multiple industry verticals. More information can be found at www.continuumgbl.com . CONTACT: SSA Public Relations Steve Syatt [email protected] / (818) 222-4000 SOURCE Skyview Capital, LLC Related Links http://www.skyviewcapital.com AMSTERDAM, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Supervisory Directors of Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: "CLB US" and Euronext Amsterdam Exchange: "CLB NA") has announced a cash dividend of $0.55 per share of common stock payable in the second quarter of 2019. This second quarter dividend would mean a total payout of $2.20 per share of common stock, if maintained for the entire year. The quarterly $0.55 per share cash dividend will be payable on Tuesday, 21 May 2019, to shareholders of record on Friday, 26 April 2019. Dutch withholding tax will be deducted from the dividend at a rate of 15%. Any determination to declare a future quarterly cash dividend, as well as the amount of any such cash dividend that may be declared, will be based on the Company's financial position, earnings, earnings outlook, capital expenditure plans, ongoing share repurchases, potential acquisition opportunities, and other relevant factors at the time. The Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss Core's first quarter 2019 earnings. The call will begin at 7:30 a.m. CDT / 2:30 p.m. CEST on Thursday, 25 April 2019. To listen to the call, please go to Core's website at www.corelab.com . Core Laboratories N.V. (www.corelab.com) is a leading provider of proprietary and patented reservoir description and production enhancement services used to optimize petroleum reservoir performance. The Company has over 70 offices in more than 50 countries and is located in every major oil-producing province in the world. This release includes forward-looking statements regarding the future revenues, profitability, business strategies and developments of the Company made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Federal securities law. The Company's outlook is subject to various important cautionary factors, including risks and uncertainties related to the oil and natural gas industry, business conditions, international markets, international political climates and other factors as more fully described in the Company's 2018 Form 10-K filed on 11 February 2019, and in other securities filings. These important factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations of the Company's performance and are subject to a variety of factors, some of which are not under the control of the Company. Because the information herein is based solely on data currently available, and because it is subject to change as a result of changes in conditions over which the Company has no control or influence, such forward-looking statements should not be viewed as assurance regarding the Company's future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release. SOURCE Core Laboratories N.V. Related Links http://www.corelab.com ARLINGTON, Va. and AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreMedia, developer of the content management and experience orchestration platform, CoreMedia Content Cloud, announced today an exciting initiative with digital consultancy and systems integrator, Zilker Technology, to provide existing IBM WebSphere Commerce customers with a package of software and services designed to increase the value and ROI of their current eCommerce infrastructure. At the core of this initiative is a free three-hour consultation called "So, what now?", designed to help customers evaluate the best growth options for their platform. "As long-term partners of IBM, we know customers have made a good investment with WebSphere Commerce. But we're also aware that the recent divestiture of the platform to HCL has raised some questions," said Jim Stirewalt, General Manager of North America for CoreMedia. "We've launched this partnership with Zilker to demonstrate to IBM customers that their platform provides the perfect foundation for orchestrating all their brand assets and facilitating next-generation customer experiences." The offering combines Zilker's extensive experience solving complex technical challenges with CoreMedia's advanced content management capabilities and pre-built integrations with IBM's eCommerce and Marketing platforms. This combined solution increases the value of current WebSphere Commerce platforms by adding a wide range of omnichannel brand management capabilities, including in-store displays, websites, mobile apps, and digital billboards. "We believe our combined solution with CoreMedia has the potential to be a game changer for the IBM Commerce community," said Rob Thomas, Zilker Technology Managing Partner and CEO. "This offer is designed to give them complete control over the future success of their brands, allowing them to augment an already powerful IBM stack with powerful new tools for innovation and competitive differentiation." The offering begins with a consultative three-hour workshop to help customers evaluate strategic options, both long- and short-term. A key outcome of this workshop is a customized Content and Customer Experience (CX) maturity model to help IBM customers plan their digital future. The goal is to help companies accelerate time to market by up to 99%, allowing marketers and merchandizers to roll out compelling global campaigns in hours rather than weeks and enabling developers to quickly integrate any best-of-breed platform, touchpoint, or technology. Companies seeking more information can visit the CoreMedia-Zilker landing page: https://l.coremedia.com/sowhatnow About CoreMedia CoreMedia is the strategic content management and experience orchestration engine behind today's most iconic online brands. Leading global B2C companies (Deckers, Luxottica, PVH Corp, Finnair, T-Mobile) and B2B firms (Continental, Claas, Emerson, DMG-Mori) create world-class digital experiences powered by CoreMedia. A company of visionaries, trusted advisors, and passionate experts, CoreMedia takes brands to the next level of digital experiences. We're all about dialogue, so let's talk. For more information or to set up a demo, visit www.coremedia.com or follow us on Twitter @contentcloud. About Zilker Technology Zilker Technology is an expert digital consultancy and systems integrator that combines the agility of a start-up with the experience and expertise of a global consulting firm. Zilker specializes in unlocking the value of client data and delivering it to new digital platforms. With a team of highly trusted industry experts, Zilker can create powerful digital solutions for customers, with the skills to integrate with very complex backend systems both on-premise or in the cloud. For more information, visit www.ztech.io. Contact: Doug Heise, VP Marketing Phone: +1 415-794-0964 Email: [email protected] SOURCE CoreMedia Related Links http://www.coremedia.com SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Curtail, Inc. announced it has raised $3.25 million in funding, led by Tarus Capital along with other investors. The funding will be used to build the company, particularly the engineering, sales and marketing teams and initiatives. Curtail is changing how IT is implemented for government agencies, financial institutions, service providers and enterprise organizations that are developing and launching new software and services, especially in DevOps and cloud environments. Curtail's network traffic analysis solution, ReGrade, helps customers release software updates faster with higher quality, enabling software and DevOps team to: Verify quality of software upgrades and patches using real production traffic, thereby bridging the gap between continuous integration and continuous delivery Prevent costly rollbacks and cumbersome staging Regression test in development, quality assurance and production using breakthrough network traffic comparison analysis Compare open source alternatives to achieve best application performance and security Quickly report on software and web services differences including content, metadata, and application behavior and performance The Curtail continuous security tool, ReCover, helps teams to mitigate zero-day attacks and prevent servers from being compromised with its ability to: Detect and reduce the impact of zero-day attacks, increasing operational system efficiency and productivity Isolate compromised servers without risk of downtime and negate false positives by switching traffic over to clean systems, eliminating the blocking of legitimate traffic Frank Huerta, CEO of Curtail, said: "Traditional tools to find bugs in code are outdated in today's rapid DevOps cycle times. While flaws in software can also be exploited by attacks, it's most often the risk of unplanned downtime that causes the bigger risk for DevOps teams. It costs four to five times as much to fix a software bug after release, rather than during the design process." Chris Kane, partner, Tarus Capital, said: "System downtime is the enemy of every business. Despite the risks of unplanned downtime, many organizations that develop software and services often push them live without knowing how the software will perform against production traffic. The industry needs new software testing methods to keep up with rapid DevOps cycles. Curtail's approach is a game changer helping customers to develop stronger applications and to eliminate the risks of software update differences and defects that impact quality as well as application security." About Curtail, Inc.: Curtail, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is changing how IT is implemented for government agencies, financial institutions, service providers, and enterprise organizations that are developing and launching new software and services, particularly in DevOps environments. By accelerating development while stopping vulnerabilities before they occur, Curtail keeps systems protected and running in the face of unplanned downtime, attacks or equipment failure. Website: www.curtail.com PR Contacts: Jessica Pasko Nadel Phelan, Inc. 831-440-2412 [email protected] SOURCE Curtail Related Links http://www.curtail.com In recognition of the efforts of the Ajman Economic Development Department, Sharjah Economic Department and Dubai police, Danfoss Intellectual Property team conducted three appreciation ceremonies in the Dubai, Ajman and Sharjah Emirates. The authorities had been working hand-in-hand with the Danfoss IP team to impose a major crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods and to overcome illegal trading activities for the benefit of the UAE economy and the safety of its citizens across the country. A series of successful raids against warehouses have already taken place in Sharjah and Ajman industrial area and free zone in the past 12 months, claiming and destroying thousands of fake Danfoss products, including compressors, filter driers, sight glass and expansion valves. His excellency Brigadier Jamal Salem Ali Al-Jalaf, Director General of Criminal Investigation Department said that the protection of Danfoss products against counterfeits is a direct protection to the consumers from the danger that would lead to terrible accidents. The protection of the brand owners supports the foreign investment. Dubai Police confirms full support and continue strict legal actions and procedures against the counterfeiters. His excellency Sultan Abdullah Bin Hadh Al Swaidi, The President of Sharjah Economic Development Department, confirmed that the Sharjah Economic Development Department is always keen to put practical plan in the field and to organize continuous proactive raids in the UAE market. These raids are conducted around the year by professional team of inspectors from the Consumer protection section in Sharjah Economic Department to make sure that all the business transactions are legally done and to raise awareness between the traders and the consumers. In addition to that fighting each aspect of the commercial fraud and stop the illegal trade which some people do. These actions are supporting the strategy for the Economic growth in Sharjah to reach the leadership in investment and economic growth in order to have a competitive economy with big diversity based on innovation and knowledge. His excellency thanked Danfoss for their appreciation to Sharjah Economic Department inspectors. His excellency praised Ms Sally Hansen's speech (the Global Brand Protection Senior Manager) in which she thanked Sharjah Economic Department for the great support and work. She praised Sharjah resources in economic stability and safe environment for the brand owner which will lead to more investment and joint project with Sharjah. His excellency confirmed that Sharjah Economic Department is very keen to have the best practice and procedure to provide the best Customer service in line with the Consumers protection law. His excellency emphasis that the Economic Department is committed to work with the traders and the consumers to have fair and professional relationship between them. His excellency the president of Sharjah Economic Department thanked the inspection team for their continuous efforts in fighting commercial fraud. His highness Shiekh Abdullah Bin Naser Al Nouaimi, the president of Ajman Economic Development Department appreciates the great cooperation between Danfoss and Ajman Economic Development Department which lead to big seizures of counterfeit Danfoss products. These counterfeit products are dangerous and may cause high safety issues and possible horrible accidents. His Highness added, we seized these dangerous counterfeit products before they reach consumers. His Highness added that the great cooperation between Danfoss and Ajman Economic Development Department supports Danfoss investment in UAE in a safe environment by the protection of their trade marks. His Highness emphasis on providing a continuous support to Danfoss, the brand owner and take all the legal actions against the infringers to protect the consumers and the right holders. "Danfoss products are developed with years of experience and an impressive platform of knowledge and expertise. The products we use and the technology we apply is of the highest quality, and our products go through a stringent and thorough approval process to ensure they are safe for installation and use. Counterfeit products on the other hand are dangerous, and using fakes products in the HVACR industry can lead to grave consequences," commented Abier Wasouf, Regional Anti-counterfeit Counsel for the Middle East and Africa at Danfoss. The use of fake products lead to a much greater risk of fire and other hazards that compromise safety. Counterfeit products also require greater maintenance, have increased energy consumption, have a shorter life span and can ultimately damage the reputation of the company using them. Danfoss is continuously supporting the UAE authorities in a bid to lead the charge through providing training to inspectors in the Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman Economic Departments & police, as well as conducting regular meetings to share knowledge and experiences in the fight against counterfeits. Customers who are in doubt or come across a fake product, are urged to come forward to the UAE authorities or Danfoss representatives in order to create a safer and more efficient environment. About Danfoss Danfoss engineers technologies that enable the world of tomorrow do more with less. We meet the growing need for infrastructure, food supply, energy efficiency and climate-friendly solutions. Our products and services are used in areas such as refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, motor control and mobile machinery. We are also active in the field of renewable energy as well as district heating infrastructure for cities and urban communities. Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933 and today Danfoss is a world-leader, employing 25,000 employees and serving customers in more than 100 countries. We are still privately held by the founding family. Read more about us at www.danfoss. Danfoss FZCO Dubai, UAE Tel.: +971 48123000 Fax: +971 4 8872221 SOURCE Danfoss Related Links http://www.danfoss NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Now in its 70th year, the Day Care Council of New York (DCCNY) launched its "Early Education, Better Care" campaign to promote awareness about community-based early childhood centers for parents with children ages birth5 years old. The campaign celebrates the DCCNY as a leading authority on resources for parents seeking nurturing educational environments for the youngest members of their families. The campaign highlights a series of public programs throughout the five boroughs in partnership with other community-based organizations. For many women who went into the workforce seven decades ago, the birth of the child care center was a huge boost towards their own financial independence and contributions to their households. "We're excited to launch an awareness campaign that focuses on the vital work our member child care programs perform every day in our communities. Parents appreciate our work and we are dedicated to nurturing and educating our youngest citizens," stated Andrea Anthony, Executive Director of DCCNY. "As an early community-based childcare and education provider in the Harlem community for over fifty years, we know the important learning that is happening in community-based centers on a daily basis from emotional and social development to age-appropriate academics," said Kelly Haley, Executive Director, East Harlem Block Nursey, Inc. The campaign engages prospective parents with a number of touch points that include "Early Education, Better Care" banners, which are slated for display outside CBOs across the City with the intention of communicating DCCNY's messaging to families throughout a cross-section of neighborhoods the DCCNY serve. DCCNY also invites parents to drop in and tour one or more of its 200 community-based child care facilities or visit their new microsite at family.dccnyinc.org . The site features upcoming events related to the DCCNY 70th Anniversary celebration, as well as a searchable database of its community-based child care programs across the city. Scheduled Community Events The Day Care Council of New York, in partnership with its community-based child care members, will host monthly events at local child care centers throughout New York City. The first event kicks off with a dance workshop at Rena Day Care Center, 639 Edgecombe Avenue in Manhattan on Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 1 pm 3 pm. About DCCNY The Day Care Council of New York, Inc., is the federation of 91 non-profit sponsoring boards that operate more than 200 publicly-funded child care centers and family child care programs in New York City. It is a diverse membership organization of child care and family service providers, consumers and advocates. The Council's mission is to seek support for and assist in the development of quality child and family care services. The organization works with its members to maintain high standards of child developmental, educational and social services SOURCE The Day Care Council of New York Related Links http://www.dccnyinc.org DENVER, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG; TSX: URE) ("Ur-Energy") and Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels") are pleased that on April 14, 2019 the U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") submitted a report to the White House on DOC's investigation into the effects of uranium imports on U.S. national security. The president now has up to 90 days from April 14 to act on the DOC's recommendations. We have not seen the DOC report, which is expected to remain confidential, but we believe the facts are clear. Uranium imports, increasingly from state-owned enterprises in adversarial countries like Russia and its allies, created a stark national security crisis. More than 60 percent of newly mined uranium around the world now comes from state-owned enterprises that unfriendly nations control. The once robust American uranium mining industry is disappearing because a flood of state-subsidized imports has made fair competition impossible. The U.S. is the world's largest consumer of uranium. It is a vital element in the fuel for our nuclear Navy and the nuclear power plants that provide 20 percent of our electricity and nearly 60 percent of our clean, carbon-free electricity. Yet, in 2019, our domestic industry is expected to produce less than 1 percent of the uranium U.S. utilities need to generate electricity. The rest will come from other countries and increasingly from our adversaries. While uranium imports from our adversaries increase, production from our allies is plummeting. Uranium mining companies in other free market countries like Canada and Australia are also suffering because of state-subsidized production. Only one mine still operates today in Canada and production in Australia is declining. The world knows that Russia weaponizes its natural resources and energy industries. We must not allow the U.S. to be a target for Russia's geopolitical warfare by placing 20 percent of our electricity in the hands of oligarchs and state officials who wish to diminish American influence and power. Meanwhile, China is purchasing uranium mines around the world that were previously reliable, free market suppliers. China National Uranium Corporation is purchasing the Rossing mine, meaning that China will dominate uranium production in Namibia, a historic and important supplier to the U.S. In the Petition, we propose that President Trump implement two common-sense remedies that will preserve U.S. national security and help the domestic uranium mining industry recover. This includes a quota that, in effect, reserves 25 percent of the domestic market for U.S.-mined uranium and a "Buy American" policy for U.S. government entities that use uranium. We believe that President Trump will recognize the danger of imported uranium and act before it is too late. About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading US-based uranium mining company, supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities. The Company also produces vanadium from certain of its projects, as market conditions warrant. Its corporate offices are in Denver, Colorado, and all of its assets and employees are in the United States. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery ("ISR") Project in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today, has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, and has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is in operation and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR Project is currently on standby. In addition to the above production facilities, Energy Fuels also has one of the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium resource portfolios in the U.S., and several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages of permitting and development. The primary trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "UUUU", and the Company's common shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR". Energy Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com. About Ur-Energy: Ur-Energy is a U.S. uranium mining company with corporate and operations offices in Denver, Colorado and Casper, Wyoming. Ur-Energy operates the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. Ur-Energy has produced, packaged and shipped more than 2.5 million pounds from Lost Creek since the commencement of operations. Applications are under review by various agencies to incorporate our LC East project area into the Lost Creek permits, and to construct and operate at our Shirley Basin Project. Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing activities in the United States, including the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of uranium mineral properties. The primary trading market for Ur-Energy's common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "URG;" Ur-Energy's common shares also trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's website is www.ur-energy.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information contained in this statement, including any information relating to: the impacts of our geopolitical rivals and adversaries, including Russia and China, on national security and uranium supply in the U.S.; the potential of the U.S. to be unable to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle and to become 100% dependent on foreign parties; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation as set forth in the report to the White House, including whether the Secretary of Commerce has made one or more recommendations to the President and the nature of the recommendation(s); whether the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; whether the U.S. will be able to rely on allies in the future for the supply of needed uranium for our nuclear fuel cycle needs; and any other statements regarding Energy Fuels' or Ur-Energy's future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects; constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "expects," "does not expect," "plans," "anticipates," "does not anticipate," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "scheduled," "forecast," "budget" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's ability to control or predict. A number of important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements, including without limitation factors relating to: the impacts of our geopolitical rivals and adversaries, including Russia and China, on national security and uranium supply in the U.S.; the potential of the U.S. to be unable to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle and to become 100% dependent on foreign parties; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation as set forth in the report to the White House, including whether the Secretary of Commerce has made one or more recommendations to the President and the nature of the recommendation(s); whether the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; whether the U.S. will be able to rely on allies in the future for the supply of needed uranium for our nuclear fuel cycle needs; and other risk factors as described in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly financial reports. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy assume no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's filings with the various securities commissions which are available online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and plans of the management of Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, that speak only as of the date hereof. SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc. Related Links http://www.energyfuels.com NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EY announced today the launch of EY Smart Contract Analyzer, a smart contract testing and security service for the public Ethereum blockchain. The service, now entering a private beta test, will allow users to monitor smart contracts and tokens for known security risks. As companies and investors increasingly turn to blockchain-based tokens and assets, it is becoming crucial to understand the risks involved. Investors in digital tokens face unique risks because both tokens and contracts are software designed to represent certain business and legal commitments. EY research has found that, in the past, digital tokens may not have accurately reflected claims made in prospectuses or white papers and may not be updated in ways that are agreed by investors. Built by the EY Blockchain Security Lab in Israel, the EY Smart Contract Analyzer is designed to test and monitor tokens and contracts both prior to their release and once available on public blockchains. EY has developed a list of more than 250 standard tests that cover aspects ranging from known malware and coding errors to standard tests that confirm for investors that tokens are behaving according to accepted industry standards. EY is developing and deploying these tests into the system in categories ranging from known security flaws to efficiency concerns. The EY service also allows for the development of customized token tests and continuous monitoring for changes. Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation Leader, Blockchain, says: "Our clients are increasingly entrusting key enterprise business processes and valuable investments to software code. We don't run enterprise computing systems without anti-virus tools and it only makes sense to run blockchain-based investment systems with smart contract and token testing tools." In addition to monitoring tokens and contracts for expected performance, EY has developed patent-pending simulation software that allows organizations to test token behavior against likely transaction scenarios using real data from the public Ethereum blockchain. Brody says: "It's not enough to test static code, we need to see how contracts and tokens perform under real transaction conditions. The simulator allows many different transaction scenarios to be tested using the full Ethereum blockchain, without changing its state. This includes all kinds of standard activities like code updates, lock-up rules and transfer restrictions." The EY Smart Contract testing service will be integrated into EY Blockchain Analyzer, the organization's blockchain analytics, tax and monitoring platform later in 2019 for general availability. In addition to EY Smart Contract Analyzer, EY has announced a suite of blockchain solutions and upgrades at the EY Global Blockchain Summit including the release of the first generation of EY Ops Chain Public Edition into the public domain, as well as the second generation of EY Ops Chain and EY Blockchain Analyzer. Notes to Editors About EY EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities. EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com. This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients. Kailyn Smigelski EY Global Media Relations +1 973 715 3624 [email protected] SOURCE EY Related Links http://ey.com PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Feldman Shepherd attorney Peter M. Newman filed a lawsuit on March 25, 2019, as co-counsel with the Public Interest Law Center against Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on behalf of a job applicant who was turned away from two caseworker positions after the county learned that she had two old misdemeanor convictions in her past. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 56-year-old Kara Gannon in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, contends that the county violated Pennsylvania's Criminal History Record Information Act. Gannon had years of experience in social services, but was turned away from the positions in one instance after a start date was set after the county learned of her convictions from eight and 10 years ago that were completely unrelated to the positions. The convictions arose from Gannon's past struggle with alcoholism, and she was upfront with the county about her criminal record. Gannon has been sober for many years and is in long-term recovery. She provided the county with a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services demonstrating that her record did not prohibit hire for the position. Gannon's qualifications included a psychology degree, a certification in drug and alcohol counseling, and experience as a case manager for families of children with severe social, emotional and behavioral disorders. "An insignificant misdemeanor should not disqualify someone like our client from employment so many years later, particularly where her resume and references demonstrate that she turned her life around and obtained a college degree. We must break down barriers to employment faced by people with insignificant convictions in their past," Newman said. "Our client was well-qualified to serve as a caseworker for Montgomery County and the county agreed," added Public Interest Law Center staff attorney Claudia De Palma. "For the county to nevertheless bar her from employment based on old convictions that have nothing to do with her suitability for the job is not only unfair, it is unlawful. We hope that this case will lead more employers to adhere to the laws that protect job applicants like our client from discrimination based on mistakes that they have long-since paid for," De Palma said. Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig LLP has handled cases producing some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and many other states around the country. The firm represents plaintiffs in significant personal injury, class action, and other complex civil litigation. Clients include victims of medical malpractice, birth injury, defective products, unsafe workplaces, motor vehicle accidents, legal malpractice, and insurer misconduct. SOURCE Feldman Shepherd RICHMOND, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Time is running out to enroll in a program to prepay tuition at Virginia public colleges and universities. The final enrollment period for Prepaid529 ends April 30, 2019, with the program in its current form then permanently closing to new enrollees. Prepaid529 provides Virginia families the opportunity to guard against escalating tuition costs by purchasing up to 10 semesters of undergraduate in-state tuition and mandatory fees at two- and four-year Virginia public colleges or universities. Students may use Prepaid529 at any eligible educational institution across the country, although payouts will differ. Prices and payment options vary by the age of the child, length of payment term, and number of semesters purchased. The deadline to enroll is Tuesday, April 30, 2019. For more than 20 years, Virginia529 has helped hundreds of thousands of Virginians prepay tuition for their loved ones through Prepaid529. Tuition and mandatory fees are typically the most expensive part of higher education, and increasingly families are shouldering the majority of the cost to go to college. With that in mind, Virginia529 leadership will be creating a newly structured program that would address families' savings needs amid changing college tuition and fee models and unpredictable tuition growth, among other factors. Legislation unanimously passed in the Virginia General Assembly House and Senate and in March, Gov. Ralph Northam signed the proposal into law that would authorize Virginia529 to change the benefit structure for future accounts. These changes are still being finalized. There will be no changes to existing Prepaid529 contracts, and current contracts will retain the Prepaid529 benefit structure in effect at the time of purchase. Individuals who later decide they prefer the new benefit structure may transfer a Prepaid529 contract to the new program. A Prepaid529 calculator available at Virginia529.com illustrates the full array of price and payment options for a 2019 contract. Families can try out various scenarios before deciding what works best for their goals and budget. Visit Virginia529.com to enroll, learn more about the tax deduction and review the Prepaid529 Program Description & Master Agreement. About Virginia529 College Savings Plan: Virginia529SM makes education more accessible and affordable for families and individuals. With more than $71 billion in assets under management and 2.7 million accounts as of February 28, 2019, Virginia529 is the largest 529 plan available. Three flexible, affordable, tax-advantaged programsPrepaid529SM, Invest529SM and CollegeAmericaand early commitment scholarship program SOAR Virginia assist students of any age in reaching their education goals. For more information on Virginia529's college savings options, visit Virginia529.com or call 1-888-567-0540 to obtain program materials. These include information on Virginia529 programs, investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important information; read and consider them carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Virginia529 encourages prospective participants to seek the advice of a professional concerning any financial, tax or legal implications related to opening an account. For residents of states other than Virginia: before investing, you should consider whether your or the beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other state benefits such as financial aid, scholarship funds, and protections from creditors that are only available for investments in that state's qualified tuition program. 2019 Virginia College Savings Plan. All Rights Reserved. For more information, contact Devon Copeland Senior Communications Associate 804-225-2452 [email protected] SOURCE Virginia529 ORLANDO, Fla., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The nation's community colleges serve more than 40 percent of all U.S. undergraduates, providing a pathway to the American Dream for 12 million students. Five community colleges were honored for their work advancing access and success for students on April 15 at the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Awards of Excellence Gala, part of AACC's 99th Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Community College of Aurora (CCA) took home the award in the Advancing Diversity category. The college, led by President Betsy Oudenhoven, is one of the most diverse colleges in Colorado. CCA has focused on diversifying its workforce and embedding equity work throughout the college, with the goal of improving overall student success and closing the equity gap. The college has developed a community-based Hispanic Advisory Committee to inform its work with its Latinx students and families. And it received a Lumina Talent, Innovation and Equity (TIE) grant from the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide equity training to its adjunct instructors. In addition, CCA offers the Equity in Instruction Leadership Academy (EILA). In the past five years, CCA has increased its faculty of color by 3.4 percent (to 16.9 percent), instructors by 6.9 percent (to 22.1 percent) and staff by 10.1 percent (to 49.2 percent). In the Community College Safety, Leadership, and Planning category, Southwest Tennessee Community College, led by President Tracy Hall, was recognized for its efforts to keep students safe. The college's Police Services/Public Safety Division plans for responding to disastrous situations and has developed training programs for officers, employees and students. The creation of the Southwest Emergency Response Team (SERT), which is comprised of faculty and staff members, is an ongoing safety program developed to incorporate employees' assistance with safety drills and activities. Southwest also has a relationship with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and worked with the MPD to address potential civil unrest in the city when it came to light that a confederate rally was scheduled to occur across the street from Southwest's Union Avenue Campus. Michigan's Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) led by President L. Marshall Washington and partners Bronson Healthcare and Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (KCMHSAS) received the award in the Outstanding College/Corporate Partnership category. In 2013, the three organizations came together with the ambitious goals of urban revitalization, community health and workforce development through sustainable food education and training. Bronson donated land adjacent to its main hospital for the new Bronson Healthy Living Campus (BHLC), with a Culinary, Nursing and Allied Health Building, a Food Innovation Center (including a food hub and growing spaces) and an integrated health services clinic for KCMHSAS, which serves about 9,000 annually. This collaboration is meeting the increasing demand for sustainable, holistic approaches to food education and health. The winner in the Outstanding CEO/Board Relationship category was Maryland's Howard Community College (HCC). The seven-member HCC Board is single-minded in its commitment to the community college and the individuals, communities and businesses it serves. The board of trustees and President Kathleen Hetherington have made continuous quality improvement a priority, with ongoing self-assessment and evaluation for the board and CEO. They conduct an annual retreat and a new trustee orientation that promote servant leadership among trustees, and trustees participate in monthly board development sessions focusing on college programs and services. Hetherington and trustees engage in national, local and statewide advocacy efforts that promote sustainable community colleges. They also engage the community in the life of the college, including visioning and strategic planning, resource identification and leveraging partnerships to foster student completion and workforce development. Paul Allen of Lee College (Texas) was honored in the Faculty Innovation category. Allen, chair and professor of business management in the Lee College Huntsville Center, teaches business classes to male offenders in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's prison units. Because of the restrictive environment, with no connection to the outside world and no Internet access, Allen has developed innovative strategies, including curriculum that encourages open dialogue and discussion, simulations of real-world systems such as the stock market, and hosting motivational speakers from among business leaders and ex-offenders. He also creates opportunities for students to engage in activities, such as student success celebration LeeLapalooza, debate tournaments and attendance at the Texas Correctional Education Conference. Allen's innovative efforts have not only led to success in courses, but also have provided priceless life lessons and skills that help students become successful employees and entrepreneurs upon their release from prison. This year's award recipient in the Student Success category is California's Citrus College, led by Superintendent/President Geraldine Perri. The college created and promoted an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) to state universities and introduced a two-year, completion-oriented Promise Program, which provides financial assistance. The result was increased completion and transfer rates. In fact, transfers to universities have risen by 38 percent from 2014 to 2017. In 2014, the college had 691 graduates transfer to UC/CSU schools. In 2018, that number climbed to 956. Citrus College also implemented the I Will Complete College (IWCC) program, which includes academic advisement and completion counseling to students as they enter the college. IWCC participants receive priority registration privileges for up to the first three years at the college and qualify for the Citrus College Promise. The graduation rate for the first three cohorts of IWCC students tracked since 2012 is 8 percent higher than the rate of non-IWCC students. There has been a steady increase from 399 ADTs awarded in 2014 to 1,027 in 2018. Award winners were selected by a committee of the AACC Board of Directors. Finalist colleges also were recognized at the Awards of Excellence Gala. As the voice of the nation's community colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), delivers educational and economic opportunity for 12 million diverse students in search of the American Dream. Uniquely dedicated to access and success for all students, AACC's nearly 1,000 member colleges provide an on-ramp to degree attainment, skilled careers and family-supporting wages. Located in Washington, D.C., AACC advocates for these not-for-profit, public-serving institutions to ensure they have the resources and support they need to deliver on the mission of increasing economic mobility for all. SOURCE American Association of Community Colleges Related Links http://www.aacc.nche.edu BOSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global cybersecurity leader, Forcepoint, today announced the opening of the company's new Cyber Experience Center in Boston, which will serve as a cyber innovation and development center for the company as it responds to the accelerated demand for human-centric security worldwide. Located in the heart of the Boston Seaport Innovation District, the new Cyber Experience Center eight-figure investment is a major step in further establishing Forcepoint as the most trusted cybersecurity partner sought after by large enterprises and global governmental organizations to enable their future. The decision to expand into Boston was driven by the city's reputation as a premier technology hub, its history of computer science technology development, and the area's many world-class universities, which produce some of the nation's top technology talent. The 53,000 square foot facility is Forcepoint's first location in the greater Boston area. "Our Administration is committed to supporting the growing cybersecurity sector of the Commonwealth's innovation economy," said Charlie Baker, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. "By supporting a high-tech workforce and creating a competitive environment where companies like Forcepoint can drive further innovation, we will continue to do our part to ensure Massachusetts remains a national leader in this space." Cyber Experience Center Showcase and Global Executive Briefing Center Forcepoint's new Cyber Experience Center will feature a state-of-the-art Global Executive Briefing Center showcase that offers an innovative, interactive and immersive experience of how a human-centric approach and converged security solutions cultivate a safe and trusting environment in which employees, businesses, and organizations can thrive. Visitors to the showcase, including senior executives from many of the world's largest and most innovative organizations, can learn firsthand from Forcepoint's executives, behavioral-analytics architects, engineers and product leaders how approaching security through a behavior-centric lens is the differentiator needed today to mitigate cyberattacks before they happen. In the race to take advantage of digital transformation, a $100 trillion competitive advantage opportunity according to the World Economic Forum, every organization is struggling with rapid innovation which is resulting in breaking security architectures. As digital transformation reshapes industries, organizations of all sizes and across industries are rethinking their approach to innovation and how technology can help them compete more effectively. Forcepoint's Cyber Experience Center showcase helps bring this opportunity to life, enabling organizations to visualize their security challenges in an immersive environment while dynamically mapping tailored Forcepoint security solutions to their unique business needs. "Reimagining cybersecurity through the lens of human behavior is absolutely critical to securing today's digital enterprise. The old world of putting up walls or moats around your infrastructure is not suited for today's world of cloud and mobility. Both the industry and security buyers need to shift their mindset and put people and data at the center of modern security design thinking," said Matthew Moynahan, CEO, Forcepoint. "The new Forcepoint Cyber Experience Center will put on display Forcepoint's unique behavior-centric approach to solve customers' most complex security issues as they race towards digital transformation. It is the first-of-its-kind to provide an immersive experience for customers to truly understand today's evolving threat landscape through the lens of their specific business challenges." Global Center of Excellence for Behavioral Analytics The new Cyber Experience Center will also serve as the inaugural Forcepoint Global Center of Excellence for Behavioral Analytics, which will focus not only on product development to deliver the best possible tools for every business, but also offer state-of-the-art services to every Forcepoint customer. The new global Center of Excellence will innovate and modernize existing applications and solutions while also creating new ones in partnership with the Forcepoint X-Labs behavioral-science research division. Leading the new Center of Excellence for Behavioral Analytics is Forcepoint Vice President for Analytics Engineering Toby Ryan. In this strategic role, Ryan will operationalize analytics by fusing data science with cybersecurity domain expertise. Using this high-fidelity approach, the Analytics Engineering team will deliver cutting-edge detection methodologies across the Forcepoint portfolio, from endpoint to cloud, helping customers catalyze innovation and solve business challenges in an accelerated fashion. Cyber Experience Center Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Forcepoint will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new Cyber Experience Center in Boston's Seaport District on Tuesday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Distinguished speakers at the event will include U.S. Senator Edward Markey, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Charlie Baker, Raytheon Chairman and CEO Tom Kennedy, and Forcepoint CEO Matthew Moynahan. Media interested in attending the event should contact [email protected] for further details. Media assets, including photography and b-roll, can be accessed at the following link: https://links.f2t.co/forcepoint-cec. Today's announcement is the latest significant milestone achievement for the company in delivering on its commitment to transform the fundamental approach to cybersecurity by understanding the behavior of users as they interact with critical data and intellectual property across global IT systems. Today's news closely follows Forcepoint's most recent research and product innovation announcements including its new X-Labs behavioral-science research division, Converged Security Platform, Dynamic Edge Protection and global technology partner ecosystem at the RSA 2019 Security Conference in March. About Forcepoint Forcepoint is the global human-centric cybersecurity company transforming the digital enterprise by continuously adapting security response to the dynamic risk posed by individual users and machines. The Forcepoint Human Point system delivers Risk-Adaptive Protection to continuously ensure trusted use of data and systems. Based in Austin, Texas, Forcepoint protects the human point for thousands of enterprise and government customers in more than 150 countries. www.forcepoint.com Join Forcepoint on Social Media Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForcepointLLC/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/forcepoint Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/forcepointsec Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forcepoint Media Contact Rachael Lyon (512) 664-1724 [email protected] SOURCE Forcepoint Related Links https://www.forcepoint.com PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Goldman Scarlato & Penny investor rights lawyers have filed claims in arbitration on behalf of clients of former licensed securities broker Jon Pariser in connection with the transfer of their accounts to the alleged masterminds of a fraudulent investment scheme, Chris Parris, John Piccareto, and Perry Santillo. The claims were filed against the broker-dealer firm that employed Pariser as its agent. According to the claims, Pariser approached his customers in 2017 and told them he was planning to retire, and transfer his securities business to two investment professionals, Chris Parris and John Piccarreto, who would take over Pariser's clients' accounts. Unbeknownst to Pariser's clients, in 2015 Parris' securities license was indefinitely suspended for misconduct and in 2017 Piccarreto's license was suspended for selling unregistered securities. Also unbeknownst to Pariser's clients, Parris and Piccarreto were running a fraudulent investment scheme designed to victimize elderly investors. Parris and his accomplices convinced investors to invest their savings in fraudulent entities called First Nationle Solutions, Percipience, and United RL. In June 2018, Parris, Piccarreto, and their accomplices were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for perpetrating a $102 million investment scheme. Investor rights attorney Alan Rosca has filed claims on behalf of Pariser's former clients seeking compensation for their losses from the stockbrokerage firm that employed Pariser. Attorney Rosca and his colleagues are continuing to investigate and would like to speak with Pariser investors whose accounts were transferred to Parris, Piccareto, and/or Santillo. What Pariser Investors Should Do If you lost money through your investments with Jon Pariser, you should call attorneys Alan Rosca, Paul Scarlato, or Doug Bench, to provide useful information or for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your options, at 888-998-0530 or via email at [email protected]. The Goldman Scarlato & Penny law firm represents investors who lose money as a result of investment-related fraud or misconduct. The firm takes most cases of this type on a contingency fee basis and advances the case costs. There are no fees or costs if no recovery. For more information about the Goldman Scarlato & Penny attorneys and disclosures about their areas of practice and admissions, visit https://investorlawyers.org/. Attorney advertising. Goldman Scarlato & Penny 2019. Related Links https://investorlawyers.org SOURCE Goldman Scarlato & Penny, P.C. Related Links http://www.investorlawyers.org NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Health Fund (CHF), which brings high-quality healthcare to some of the country's most disadvantaged children, is pleased to welcome Donald H. Layton , the outgoing CEO of Freddie Mac, to its board of directors. Since 2012, Don has presided over one of the largest sources of mortgage financing in the United States. He will be retiring from Freddie Mac on June 30 after having spent more than 40 years in the financial services sector and as a corporate leader. He worked for nearly 30 years at JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors, starting as a trainee and rising to vice chairman and member of the three-person Office of the Chairman, retiring in 2004. Don was chairman, and then CEO, of E*TRADE Financial from 2007 through 2009 and he served as a senior advisor to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association from 2006 to 2008. He also serves as chairman emeritus of the board of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing homelessness in New York City, after having been its chair for nearly a decade. Don received simultaneous Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. "I am excited to take on this leadership role at Children's Health Fund," said Don. "I view one of the great promises of America is that children can rise to realize their full potential, and providing them with good healthcare is a key part of making that happen." "Children's Health Fund supports 26 programs across the country and works in partnership with its network of individuals committed to bringing care to children who need it most," said Dennis Walto, Chief Executive Officer of Children's Health Fund. "Don's joining the board of directors is a valued addition to the team in pursuit of this mission." "Children's Health Fund is committed to expanding its services to more children in more locations," said Herve Sedky, Chairman of the Board of Children's Health Fund. "It is only fitting that this dedication to expansion extends to our leadership. Being able to add Don's experience, knowledge and network enables us to have greater and deeper strategic insight to the health sector and the U.S. economy, which will increase the impact we have on the lives of children." About Children's Health Fund Children's Health Fund (CHF) envisions a future where all children in the United States get the care and support they need to thrive. Because healthcare is a critical component of that vision and inequities in access exist, CHF's mission is to ensure access to high-quality healthcare for America's most disadvantaged children. CHF also works to reduce health barriers to learning, brings the voice of children to local and national policy debates, and in times of disaster, activates care for those in need. Since 1987, CHF has been delivering high-quality, comprehensive healthcare to children in some of the most impoverished and underserved communities in the country. From South Los Angeles to the Mississippi Delta, from the South Bronx to southern Arizona, every year our 26 national programs and fleet of 50 mobile medical clinics provide care to more than 100,000 children and their families living in poverty. We deliver this care at more than 400 service sites, including fixed-site clinics, schools, Head Start centers, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and community agencies. SOURCE Children's Health Fund LAS VEGAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX), a partner in GB Sciences Louisiana, LLC, is announcing that all cultivation operations at LSU Agricultural Center are now open. This will allow a continuous harvest for patients by increasing GB Sciences Louisiana's production capacity 500%. "Our expansion is important for Louisiana's therapeutic cannabis patients," said GB Sciences Louisiana President John Davis, "Full-scale operations mean a consistent and continuous supply of therapeutic cannabis across the state." GB Sciences Louisiana's two previous successful harvests, in the smaller proof-of-concept facility, passed state testing requirements allowing GB Sciences Louisiana to start final product formulations immediately. These formulations will be submitted to Louisiana's state regulator for continuous testing and ultimately distributed to the nine licensed pharmacies around the state. The new production facility is equipped with modular clean-room technology for use in the production of plants and formulation of final products. GB Sciences Louisiana was selected by LSU Agricultural Center as its cannabis cultivation partner thorough a competitive public bid and presentation process in 2017. GB Sciences Louisiana was approved by Louisiana's state regulator in August 2018 to grow, extract, and formulate cannabis in the smaller proof-of-concept facility on site while construction on the main production facility was underway. GB Sciences Louisiana completed the construction of the main production facility in October 2018. Since that date, the facility has received the "certificate of occupancy" from the state regulator and their Standard Operating Procedures have been approved. About GB Sciences, Inc. GB Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: GBLX) is a diverse cannabis company, focused on standardized cultivation and production methods; as well as biopharmaceutical research and development. The Company's goal is creating safe, standardized, pharmaceutical-grade, cannabinoid therapies that target a variety of medical conditions. To learn more about GB Sciences, Inc., go to: http://gbsciences.com . About Louisiana State University Agricultural Center The Louisiana State University Agricultural Center ("LSU AgCenter" or "AgCenter") is an institution under the supervision and management of the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (the "LSU Board of Supervisors"). The AgCenter's mission is to provide the people of Louisiana with research-based educational information that will improve their lives and economic well-being. The LSU AgCenter includes the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, which conducts Agricultural and Renewable Natural Resource-based research, and the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, which extends the knowledge derived from research to the people of the state. The LSU AgCenter plays an integral role in supporting agricultural industries, enhancing the environment, and improving the quality of life through its 4-H youth, family and consumer sciences, and community development programs. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware. Note: Although the Company's research and development activities are not illegal, the production and sale of cannabis products violate federal laws as they presently exist. Contact Information Corporate: GB Sciences, Inc., 3550 West Teco Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89118 866-721-0297, or Liz Bianco, [email protected] SOURCE GB Sciences, Inc. Related Links http://gbsciences.com/ EAU CLAIRE, Wis., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Wachs, Partner at Gingras, Cates & Wachs (GCW), has been appointed to the Judicial Selection Advisory Committee for Governor Tony Evers. The committee, responsible for interviewing and recommending candidates to the governor for consideration when he fills judicial vacancies, consists of 15 attorneys from across the state of Wisconsin. "I am extremely honored to be named to Governor Evers' Judicial Selection Advisory Committee," said GCW attorney, Dana Wachs. "I'm excited to be a part of this esteemed group of attorneys and look forward to working together to get the right candidates in office." Wachs has practiced law for more than 33 years in Wisconsin and has always been an advocate for people. Having represented Eau Claire on the Wisconsin State Assembly for six years, he fought for issues that were important to consumers, as well as affordable healthcare. As committee member, he will help ensure the Wisconsin court system remains fair and honest through the governor's judicial appointments. "Wisconsin has a long and proud tradition of an independent judiciary that respects and preserves our state's Constitution," said Governor Evers. "By tapping into the experience of attorneys from around the state, this committee will help ensure that we appoint judges who are knowledgeable, thoughtful, and fair." GCW Lawyers and Wachs have sought justice for clients across the state, with notable casework such as the sexual assault case against Lawrence University and a civil rights lawsuit for two Milwaukee pastors who were allegedly racially profiled in Waukesha County. About GCW Lawyers: Gingras, Cates & Wachs brings power, fight and heart to outthink, out-strategize and outwork the competition to right the wrong. The law firm has offices in Eau Claire , Madison, Milwaukee, Waukesha, and serves all of Wisconsin in the areas of personal injury, civil rights, employment, medical malpractice, and family law including LGBTQ families. SOURCE Gingras, Cates & Wachs Related Links https://www.gcwlawyers.com/ RICHMOND, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) today announced it would issue its earnings release containing first quarter results after the market closes on April 30, 2019. A conference call will be held on May 1, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss the quarter's results. At this time, the company will report on business results and provide an update on strategic objectives, including the pending transaction with China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. Genworth's earnings release and first quarter financial supplement will be available through the company's website, http://investor.genworth.com, at the time of their release to the public. Genworth's conference call will be accessible via telephone and the Internet. The dial-in number for Genworth's May 1st conference call is 888 208.1820 or 323 794.2110 (outside the U.S.); conference ID # 5793696. To participate in the call by webcast, register at http://investor.genworth.com at least 15 minutes prior to the webcast to download and install any necessary software. A replay of the call will be available at 888 203.1112 or 719 457.0820 (outside the U.S.); conference ID # 5793696 through May 15, 2019. The webcast will also be archived on the company's website for one year. About Genworth Financial Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a Fortune 500 insurance holding company committed to helping families achieve the dream of homeownership and address the financial challenges of aging through its leadership positions in mortgage insurance and long term care insurance. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth traces its roots back to 1871 and became a public company in 2004. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth's publicly traded subsidiaries, Genworth MI Canada Inc. and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited, separately release financial and other information about their operations. This information can be found at http://genworth.ca and http://www.genworth.com.au. SOURCE Genworth Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.genworth.com HERNDON, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Geospark Analytics, has secured a second research and development contract from the United States Air Force to continue development of Hyperion's threat and risk assessment APIs for integration into Command, Control, Communication, Intelligence and Networks (C3I&N) systems. Hyperion is a cloud-based platform designed to provide analysts and operators unprecedented situational awareness of political, economic and social risk at country, region and city levels. Geospark Analytics was one of 51 small businesses awarded a contract during the inaugural United States Air Force Pitch Day held in Time Square, New York City. The Pitch Day program provides a fast track for innovative companies to work with the Air Force. More than 400 companies throughout the country submitted applications to participate in the Pitch Day program to compete for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding. Incorporating Hyperion's APIs into C3I&N systems will directly and immediately increase the global, regional, and local operational understanding for the Air Force utilizing Artificial Intelligence algorithms that automate risk and threat intelligence forecasts. Using data from news, social media, satellites, and other sources, Hyperion's applied machine learning (ML) models are continually assessing risk and activity at the global, country, region, and city levels in near real-time. Hyperion's AI analyzes the content of data feeds, calculates stability, makes forecasts, and builds summaries to display and forecast global events that impact stability, threat, activity, and risk levels "Hyperion's advanced threat and risk assessment APIs can be a game changer for Air Force operations." said Geospark Analytics CEO and Founder Omar Balkissoon. "We are excited to be working with the Air Force to bring the power of Hyperion to their networks and global systems helping to ensure the safety and security of airman across the globe." About Geospark Analytics Geopark Analytics was founded in July 2017 to help our clients make better decisions faster by identifying and forecasting emerging events on a global scale to mitigate risk, recognize threats, and leverage opportunities. Hyperion enable humans to understand inhuman amounts of information by combining sourced data from space, social media, news reporting and IoT together with machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language generation to deliver insight needed to make informed decisions. Geospark Analytics has received funding from Zero Gravity Capital and is currently backed by General Catalyst. The company is based in Herndon, Virginia. More information can be found at www.geospark.io. SOURCE Geospark Analytics Related Links http://www.geospark.io LAS VEGAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GNCC Capital, Inc. (OTC: GNCP) ("The Company" or "GNCC") has received a number of requests for clarification on various subjects. We address these key subjects as follows: Extraction of value for shareholders on Company's Mining Exploration Portfolio; and Urgent completion and the filing of our outstanding Quarterly and Annual Reports; and Pending and imminent completion of transactions by the Company. We continue to evaluate various options relating to the Company's Mining Exploration Portfolio. Only options that deliver value to our shareholders are under consideration. Once a decision has been reached, it will be communicated to our shareholders immediately. The finalization and the filing of our outstanding Quarterly and Annual Reports is our top priority at this time. The Company is in active discussions to secure an extremely valuable Licensing deal and this transaction is now only subject to the Company being restored to that of a Current Filer on the OTC Markets. These Filings are being prepared in line with the recently introduced revised guidelines from the OTC Markets and will include the Quarter ended March 31, 2019. Shareholders should now expect to see the commencement of these Filings and without further delays. The existing "STOP" sign is very clearly an impediment to our consummation of transactions and this is being rectified as a matter of urgency. As we stated previously and we now reiterate, that following our acquisition of Colombian based BioCann Pharm S.A.S., a distributor of pharmaceutical grade Cannabis CBD Oils in Latin America; we elected to fairly aggressively add to our interests in the Cannabis and related Sectors. This will include outright purchases of companies, acquisition of minority interests, Joint Ventures, Licensing Agreements and Service provision. The two M & A Consultants retained to seek out suitable targets and to negotiate with the vendors of businesses currently being offered for sale and that meet our criteria, remain in ongoing negotiations and are conducting due diligence; with a fair number of parties based in both Canada and in the USA. Due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations and with our having signed extensive Non-Disclosure Agreements on each transaction, we are not in a position to provide guidance as to the nature of these transactions. We are reasonably confident that one of these transactions will be consummated and announced as early as next week. This transaction is considered to be material and is in the Cannabis Sector. Due to the technical complexity of this business, we will compile an extensive data presentation pack on an OTCIQ Filing and providing web site links. This is in order for our shareholders to fully understand that company's business. The other transaction will be announced as soon as the outstanding Quarterly and Annual Reports have been filed and the "STOP" sign removed by the OTC Markets. That transaction is now solely contingent upon this being remedied. The financing for that transaction is in place. We will continue to evaluate our shareholders requests for information and will address these additional issues. This will be post our consummation of additional transactions under final review and upon the removal of the "STOP" sign annotation on the OTC Markets. We have been made aware of numerous rumors circulating. We are not in a position to comment further at this time. Forward-Looking Statements:- This press release may contain forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "should," "intend," "estimate," "projects," variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file with the OTC Markets Group. SOURCE GNCC Capital, Inc. ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GROUNDFLOOR, an investing and lending platform that allows anyone to invest fractionally in real estate, is today announcing its Q1 results and momentum. Despite the government shutdown of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 35 days, GROUNDFLOOR still experienced 123% percent non-GAAP Q1 revenue growth compared to the prior year Q1. In addition, the company won numerous awards based on its product innovation and business results. To date, GROUNDFLOOR remains the only company qualified by the S.E.C. to offer direct real estate based debt investments to non-accredited investors. Additional Q1 momentum for GROUNDFLOOR includes: Achieving a 166% increase in unit volume for loans closed in Q1 '19 vs. Q1 '18 More than doubling loan application volume for Q1 '19 vs. Q1 '18 (121% increase) Selling more than $14.5M in real estate investments to retail investors on the platform in real estate investments to retail investors on the platform Surpassing more than 60,000 registered users Eclipsing $100MM in loans to real estate developers to-date in more than two dozen states Expanding product offerings, such as new construction loans and a fixed annualized notes product returning 5 percent on a 90-day term Launching a second online public offering to purchase stock in GROUNDFLOOR directly Lastly, GROUNDFLOOR was recognized for several awards based on its innovation and company growth including: Received a "Top Deal" stock buy designation from Equity crowdfunding rating service, KINGSCROWD , a distinction reserved for deals selected into the top 10% of companies in their due diligence funnel , a distinction reserved for deals selected into the top 10% of companies in their due diligence funnel Recognized as a TAG Top 40 Georgia -based technology company for innovation and financial impact -based technology company for innovation and financial impact Honored as the best crowdfunding platform with the Fintech Breakthrough Award Won the Technology Association of Georgia's Fintech ADVANCE Award for having demonstrable results that helped the financial industry move forward through innovation Fintech for having demonstrable results that helped the financial industry move forward through innovation Named an Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Award Finalist as one of the top 100 Georgia companies demonstrating rapid financial growth based on annual revenues as one of the top 100 Georgia companies demonstrating rapid financial growth based on annual revenues Both CEO Brian Dally and the company were listed as one of Atlanta Inno's 50 on Fire recipients for contributing to the Atlanta innovation ecosystem GROUNDFLOOR's 2019 stock sale remains open to the public. Any GROUNDFLOOR account holder can still invest in the online public offering by visiting groundfloor.com/stock . About GROUNDFLOOR Founded in 2013 by Brian Dally and Nick Bhargava, GROUNDFLOOR opens private capital markets to all. GROUNDFLOOR was the first company qualified by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to offer direct real estate debt investments via Regulation A for non-accredited and accredited investors alike. Today, it remains the only product offering a customizable real estate debt portfolio for short-term, high-yield returns. For real estate entrepreneurs, GROUNDFLOOR offers borrower friendly loan terms like a deferred payment option to give developers more control over their cash flow. The company is headquartered in Atlanta and has raised $13.8M in equity capital. While anyone in the country can invest in GROUNDFLOOR with as little as $10, the company focuses its lending in 30 states. MEDIA CONTACT: Hela Sheth GROUNDFLOOR [email protected] SOURCE GROUNDFLOOR Related Links http://groundfloor.com BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- HANRO (HanroUSA.com) celebrates beauty in its finest forms. From the exquisite design and meticulous fit of its intimates' collection to the luxurious fabrics of its loungewear, the brand is known for excellence. Later this month, HANRO will transform its Beverly Hills store into a work of art with the installation of a one-of-a-kind mural by contemporary artist Blanda (@blahblahblanda) Blanda shared her vision for the piece, "Inspired by shape, form and movement the mural strives to create a visual composition that harmoniously flows with the fabrics, colors and textures of the HANRO garments. The two-dimensional image works in perfect synergy with the room and is rendered three-dimensional by the architecture." She continued by highlighting the connection between the art and shoppers, "HANRO x BLANDA is inspired by the space it lives in and the individuals who are moving through that space. The trilogy of store, product and artwork is closely connected and each element is harmoniously elevated by the other two." Similar to HANRO, Blanda was born in Switzerland but also lives in both New York and California. In 2007 Blanda moved to New York to enroll in the School of Visual Arts (SVA) where she received the Silas H. Rhodes scholarship. Her style, a melange of collage, printmaking, drawing and painting, drew the attention of her professors and after graduating 2010, she was snapped up by The New York Times for a coveted Art Director position. On April 24th, HANRO will host a special event to unveil her latest masterpiece. Unique artwork will live amongst the timeless collection in the Santa Monica Boulevard storefront. Well-known artist collaborations are a continued tradition for HANRO. A supporter of the arts, the brand has previously commissioned two murals in the New York store. Blanda's work will be the first for the Beverly Hills location. Jan Snodgrass, President of HANRO in the USA commented on the mural, "We are honored to have Blanda transition our space. Her work is unparalleled and highlights the fusion between art and fashion. This collaboration will mark the first art campaign in our new store." HANRO opened its Beverly Hills location in the fall of 2018. The store offers styling guidance, custom fittings, special orders and same day delivery service in Beverly Hills. Press Contact: Denise Weaver Pistol & Stamen [email protected] 310-721-6710 ABOUT HANRO: HANRO products are pure luxury on the skin. Experience the finest luxury collections for both women and men. Less, but only the best is what characterizes HANRO as a brand. The vision of quality can be found in every detail: the best materials, the perfection of the cuts and the exquisite finishing. This is what has made HANRO so unique and contemporary for 135 years. HanroUSA.com is the official website for orders in the United States. ABOUT BLANDA: Blanda is a Swiss, contemporary artist living and working between New York and Los Angeles. In 2007 Blanda moved to New York to enroll in the School of Visual Arts (SVA) where she received the Silas H. Rhodes scholarship. Her style, a melange of collage, printmaking, drawing and painting, drew the attention of her professors and after graduating 2010, she was snapped up by The New York Times for a coveted Art Director position. Since her move to LA in 2014 she has been focused on her studio work, exhibitions and art-driven brand collaborations. SOURCE HANRO Related Links http://www.HanroUSA.com The campaign was inspired by today's growing need to address the dangers of driving distracted. Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that one in three parents read text messages and one in seven use social media while driving their children between the ages of four and ten. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, each day in the United States more than 1,000 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. 2 "By making children and teens the catalysts for change, Honda's distracted driving campaign takes a nontraditional approach in parent-child dynamics to capture true human emotion and encourage safer driving," said Jessica Fini, social media manager at American Honda Motor, Co., Inc. "For the past six years, we have used our social media platforms to promote safer driving during National Distracted Driving Awareness month, and we hope having the text talk will inspire a crucial conversation between teens and parents beyond the month of April." Distracted Driving Campaign Details Honda's distracted driving campaign features a long-form video (Honda.us.distracted) broken up into three pivotal parts: Introduction: each video opens with a montage of teenagers sitting down for individual interviews, discussing their and their parents' phone behavior. Revelation: the video then shows the director asking each teen a series of questions related to their parent's driving habits. The director asks why they haven't discussed the dangers of their parents texting while driving, and how they'd feel if they had the talk with them now. Change: the families reunite to have #TheTextTalk. Each emotional parent-child conversation ends with a heartfelt commitment from the parent to stop texting while driving. The long-form video will live on Honda's YouTube channel with cut-down versions of the video featured on Honda's social media channels, including Twitter (@Honda), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Honda/), and Instagram (@Honda), throughout the month of April. The campaign also features a pledge to drive distracted-free: The families featured in the video sign a pledge, a physical reminder of their heartfelt discussion, on how they will stop driving while distracted for the sake of their loved ones. The pledge will also be featured on Honda's Instagram and website. Honda is encouraging people to share the pledge by tagging their loved ones on social media. Alternatively, a link to the online PDF version of the pledge is available at Honda.us.pledge and can be printed, signed, and shared among friends and family as a physical reminder of their commitment to no longer text and drive. For More Information Consumer information is available at automobiles.honda.com. To join the Honda community on Facebook, visit facebook.com/honda. Additional media information including detailed pricing features and high-resolution photography of all 2019 Honda models is available at hondanews.com. About Hond a Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles with advanced safety technologies sold through over 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Fit, Civic, Insight, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V, Passport and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan. Honda has been producing automobiles in America for more than 35 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2018, more than 90 percent of all Honda brand vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts. About Honda Safety Honda is pursuing its vision for a zero-collision society through advanced technologies such as Honda Sensing, already deployed on nearly one million Honda vehicles on U.S. roads today. These technologies can significantly reduce the likelihood or severity of a collision and also serve as a bridge to highly-automated vehicles of the future. All Honda vehicles also feature the company's Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure for improved collision safety, and have helped all tested 2018 model Honda vehicles achieve the highest available 5-star Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration. 1 McDonald et al, "Factors Associated with Cell Phone Use While Driving in a Survey of Parents and Caregivers of Children ages 4-10 Years," Journal of Pediatrics, online July 12, 2018. Source: https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/live/news/1147-new-research-finds-about-half-of-parents-use-cell. 2 National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2018, April). Distracted driving 2016. (Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. Report No. DOT HS 812 517). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Source: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812517. SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Related Links http://www.honda.com GREENWICH, Conn., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Scanlon Media is convening 300 private equity and venture capital talent leaders in San Francisco on Sep 26 to discuss a range of leadership issues facing the sector's portfolio companies. Hundreds of chief talent officers, portfolio company operating executives and executive recruiters are attending. This is the second installment of Hunt Scanlon's 'Private Equity Talent Summit' series focused on the link between talent and value & growth. "Our first installment on May 1 in New York City sold out months in advance," said Michael S. Hawkins, director of marketing and brand management at Hunt Scanlon. "We are now seeing identical interest in San Francisco," he said, where the platform is expanding to include venture capital talent concerns. Hunt Scanlon is once again drawing on the expertise of more than 20 top talent and recruitment leaders from across the PE, VC and executive recruiting sectors. These include: Hellman & Friedman, Korn Ferry, TPG Growth, Accel, Khosla Ventures, Russell Reynolds Associates, True Search, Francisco Partners, Hogan Assessments, Bessemer Venture Partners, Wilton & Bain, Kleiner Perkins, FFL Partners, Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, Norwest Venture Partners, JM Search, Opus Advisors, Signal Partners and a host of others. "Securing the right leadership for portfolio companies is a sensitive and complex process," said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon. In the most successful circumstances, he said, it often fuses the needs of a 'commercial' operating partner and a human capital professional. "We will examine how to put that collaboration to work in the most effective ways." Another hot topic of interest among PE and VC talent leaders is how talent is being valued and paid. "Our research suggests that as companies scale over longer periods of time, profound changes are underway in equity management strategies that better enable attracting and retaining talent," he said. "We will explore the best ways to align the interests of investors, founders, and employees for the long game." Other topics: The Critical Link Between Science and Hiring; Creating Better Pay Equity Levers to Retain Talent; Maximizing Partnerships with Search Firms; Finding Talent and the Race to Fill the Void; Building Future Leaders; Recruiting Nuances Between PE & VC Environments; Challenges of High Growth in a Competitive Market; and a Holistic Talent Approach to Value & Growth Creation. "We cover it all in one day with plenty of networking opportunities in between to meet and greet the experts," said Mr. Hawkins. VIP passes are now available to the Hunt Scanlon Media 'Private Equity and Venture Capital Recruiting: Linking Talent to Growth' conference. To purchase a ticket to the event, click here. To sponsor the event please contact Michael Hawkins at [email protected] Hunt Scanlon Media has been informing the senior talent management sector for 30 years. Our global news and intelligence data comes in many forms, including daily newswires, talent leadership reports, newsletter briefings and social media alerts. The privately-held company is based in Greenwich, Conn. CONTACT: Michael S. Hawkins, (203) 496-2009, [email protected] www.huntscanlon.com SOURCE Hunt Scanlon Media SOURCE Hunt Scanlon Media Related Links http://huntscanlon.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Improvado , the leading marketing middleware platform, announced today that it has raised $8 million total in Super Seed funding. Venture capital participants in the round include Bullpen Capital, Cabra.vc and IAdata. Angel investors include Google and Oracle executives, and founders from many of the most recognizable brands in the marketing world, including: Auren Hoffman (LiveRamp founder), Joe Zawadzki (MediaMath founder), Omar Tawakol (BlueKai founder), Rajeev Goel (Pubmatic founder) and more. A full list of investors is available here . Improvado Raises $8M to Automate Full-Stack Marketing Analytics Through 60 Silicon Valley Investors Meet the Improvado Investors: 60 Silicon Valley Martech Influencers Improvado Collects Marketing Data Into One Centralized Hub Improvado is positioned to disrupt the marketing technology industry with their platform that was built to connect and consolidate data from different sources into one central repository, without engineering support. Integrations include 150+ marketing platforms, such as Facebook, Google, Linkedin, and Salesforce, and visualization tools such as Tableau and Looker. Both marketers and engineers love that this turnkey solution does not require developers to build and maintain APIs, yet it can handle complex data types at scale. The additional capital will build on the company's triple-digit year-over-year growth, support continued product development and fuel go-to-market expansion. Improvado customers rely on the platform to extract data from various marketing execution platforms into one central hub, reducing their manual reporting time by up to 90%, bridging data gaps across teams and fueling predictive modeling. "Improvado's sustained and rapid growth is proof of its ability to manage the scale of data that leading brands are utilizing in today's digital ecosystem," said Paul Martino, Managing Partner at Bullpen Capital. "With one unified view of key metrics and insights, enterprises can make smarter decisions across the entire customer journey, uncover data blind-spots and increase organizational transparency." "There are now over 7,000 marketing technology platforms, up 20x in the last 10 years, and the average marketer uses at least 12 different platforms while managing ads, email automation, web analytics, social media, search, SEO and more," explains Daniel Kravtsov, Founder & CEO of Improvado. "Every leader in the space agrees that this creates a huge problem when it comes to data aggregation. Salesforce, IBM and Talend all raced to acquire middleware companies in 2018. Marketing middleware is the glue that brings this fragmentation together." About Improvado Improvado enables marketing and analytics leaders to collect all their marketing data in one place, in minutes empowering them to work smarter, not harder. Based in San Francisco, California, Improvado provides a flexible and scalable marketing middleware solution to brands like Ancestry, Intercom, RingCental and Perdue, and agencies like Havas, WPP and OMD. Venture capital investors include Bullpen Capital, Cabra.vc, Nimble Ventures, and IAdata. Angel investors include Google and Oracle executives as well as founders from many of the most recognizable brands in the marketing world, including: Auren Hoffman (Liveramp founder), Joe Zawadzki (MediaMath founder), Omar Tawakol (BlueKai founder), Rajeev Goel (Pubmatic founder) and more. A full list of investors is available here . To learn more, visit Improvado . Contact: Hailey Friedman 628-867-3551 [email protected] SOURCE Improvado Related Links http://improvado.io From now through the end of May, visitors to the contest website will be able to submit a brief story and/or photo about their mom (or any woman in their life who holds a special role) to describe how she inspires them. At the conclusion of the contest, three winners will be chosen at random to receive a free TRELAWEAR pendant, as well as emergency monitoring system (with service) for one year. "Our moms are the source of so much inspiration, and we're excited to honor that not only with this contest, but with the new TRELAWEAR collection," said Rob Flippo, CEO of MobileHelp. "The new product line underscores our commitment to extend the definition of what emergency response looks like. We want our customers to be able to access help when and where they need it, with no compromise to personal style." Offered in both silver and gold finishes, the TRELAWEAR pendants pair wirelessly with MobileHelp emergency response devices. If a user needs help, they can simply press the discreet "T" button on the back of the TRELAWEAR pendant, and the signal is communicated through the MobileHelp base station or mobile device to the company's 24/7/365 central monitoring station for emergency dispatch to the user's location. For more information on the line of TRELAWEAR pendants or to enter the contest, consumers can go online to the company website for more details. About MobileHelp: Headquartered at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC) in Florida, MobileHelp is a leading provider of mobile Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and health management solutions. MobileHelp's PERS devices are integrated with nationwide wireless voice, data and GPS technology to provide real-time medical alert monitoring services and expedited personal emergency assistance. In addition, MobileHelp offers proactive health management services such as activity tracking, medication reminders and a telehealth platform, MobileVitals, for both consumers and healthcare providers. For more information about MobileHelp, please call 1-800-989-9863 or visit the company website at www.MobileHelp.com. Please direct inquiries to: Liz Kohler, 414-828-6198 [email protected] SOURCE MobileHelp Related Links http://www.MobileHelp.com WOODBURY, N.Y., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lustgarten Foundation announced today the appointment of Elizabeth M. Jaffee, M.D., the immediate past president of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), as its new Chief Medical Advisor. Dr. Jaffee is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology, with specific expertise in preclinical and early clinical development of immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee "We are at a pivotal time in the Foundation's history where we need to expand our platform for moving innovative discoveries from our laboratories into multi-center clinical studies across the country," said David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D., the Foundation's Chief Scientist and director of its dedicated research laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and director of the Cancer Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "Dr. Jaffee, who has extensive experience building translational models at Johns Hopkins, is the ideal person to oversee this incredibly important and complex work." Dr. Jaffee is the Dana and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli Professor of Oncology, and Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. A pioneer in pancreatic cancer vaccine development, Dr. Jaffee is also the co-director of the gastrointestinal cancer and diseases program, and co-director of the Skip Viragh Center for Pancreas Cancer Clinical Research and Patient Care at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Jaffee will focus on the following key priorities: Expanding the clinical research program to translate Lustgarten Foundation sponsored scientific findings for patient benefit Utilizing personalized medicine approaches and new therapies for patients with pancreatic cancer Establishing Lustgarten Foundation Centers of Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Excellence Developing a national pancreatic cancer database that integrates data from sponsored clinical and preclinical trials "I am thrilled to be taking on this new role for the Foundation," Dr. Jaffee said. "Advances in science and technology have never been greater. We have the potential to move these advances rapidly into real treatments and preventative strategies for pancreatic cancer patients, which will result in meaningful patient outcomes faster." Dr. Jaffee holds six vaccine patents. Part of her role as Chief Medical Advisor will be to further develop these vaccines. This work is especially meaningful for the Lustgarten Foundation as Marc Lustgarten, one of the Foundation's co-founders, was one of the first patients Dr. Jaffee treated with a vaccine. "We have come a long way since Dr. Jaffee treated Marc," said Kerri Kaplan, the Foundation's President and CEO. "It's exciting to see the momentum and to have Dr. Jaffee now leading our clinical research program. Early in her career, she was one of our first grant recipients. Today, she is one of the world's eminent scholars and scientists working on vaccines and immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer. She is an integral part of our history and our future." About the Lustgarten Foundation The Lustgarten Foundation is America's largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research. Based in Woodbury, N.Y., the Foundation supports research to find a cure for pancreatic cancer, facilitates dialogue within the medical and scientific community, and educates the public about the disease through awareness campaigns and fundraising events. Since its inception, the Lustgarten Foundation has directed $165 million to research and assembled the best scientific minds with the hope that one day, a cure can be found. Thanks to separate funding to support administrative expenses, 100% of every donation goes directly to pancreatic cancer research. For more information, visit www.lustgarten.org. SOURCE The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research Related Links http://www.lustgarten.org AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) has selected Aurigo Masterworks Cloud through a competitive selection process, and will use the enterprise cloud software via a six-year contract to stream line their processes for all highway, right of way and capital construction projects between 2019-2023. As part of the six-year contract, Aurigo will implement, and support the Aurigo Masterworks cloud software that will also integrate with AASHTOWare, Workday ERP, TPPMS (Transportation Project Management System) and the FHWA FMIS systems. "Aurigo is honored to partner with the state of Iowa to realize its mission of safe mobility and drive economic prosperity for the residents of Iowa," said Balaji Sreenivasan, CEO of Aurigo Software Technologies Inc. Over eight state DOTs in North America have come to rely on Aurigo Masterworks Cloud software to plan and deliver their multi-billion-dollar programs on time and within budget. Aurigo provides the breadth of functionality required for states and cities to streamline their entire project lifecycle across the Plan, Build, Maintain and Operate phases. About Aurigo Aurigo Software is America's leading provider of modern cloud software to help infrastructure owners plan, build, maintain and operate their multi-billion-dollar capital investments safely and efficiently. Aurigo Masterworks Cloud is a comprehensive suite of enterprise software products that automates the entire lifecycle of capital programs, including planning, forecasting, budgeting, bid & estimation, project management, contract administration, scheduling, right of way, permitting, materials testing, field inspection, civil rights, and document control. The system has powerful reporting and dashboard capabilities, a native mobile application and is investing extensively to harness Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies. Aurigo helps over 200 customers plan and deliver over $300 Billion of capital programs safely and efficiently. Aurigo is a privately held US corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas, with wholly owned subsidiaries in Canada and India. Visit www.aurigo.com for more information. SOURCE Aurigo Software Technologies, Inc. Related Links https://www.aurigo.com NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IrisVR, the premier virtual reality (VR) software for architecture, engineering, and construction, announced today it was awarded Technological Innovation of the Year for 2019 by the New York City Construction Awards (NYCCAs). The NYCCAs, which take place yearly at the Build New York Expo, aim to recognize achievements within New York's construction industry by awarding solution providers, contractors, architects, developers, and local authorities. IrisVR received Technological Innovation of the Year for Prospect, their VR software for immersive design review and collaboration. Other companies that were considered for the award included PlanGrid, Assignar, and Reign Maker, among others. The judging panel for the award featured industry experts from top AEC firms - such as HOK, Stantec Inc., and AECOM. Building a VR Tool for the Construction Industry Prospect unlocks VR for decision making by instantly processing 3D models into VR experiences, allowing BIM (building information modeling) and VDC (virtual design and construction) teams to walk through models in an immersive, 1:1 environment. In 2018, IrisVR specifically focused on building and improving construction industry use cases for the software - including Multiuser VR Meetings and a BIM-friendly Navisworks to VR plugin. The NYCCAs recognized IrisVR in light of these advancements. IrisVR officially released Multiuser VR Meetings last February, after unveiling the technology at AIA in 2017. IrisVR's Multiuser technology creates a workflow that is new to the building industry - offering a real time virtual reality environment with voice audio and motion feedback accessible to anyone. Now, construction industry professionals can host guided walkthroughs of a space pre-construction, extending the concept of in-person client meetings and design review to the VR world. 2018 also saw the release of IrisVR's first-ever Navisworks integration. Navisworks is one of the primary project review programs used by the construction industry. With the ability to step into Navisworks models in VR, VDC and BIM teams can bring important parts of their virtual design workflows - such as coordinating trades, running QA/QC, and detecting clashes - into a more productive setting. Additionally, IrisVR added the ability to access BIM data in VR for Navisworks and Revit files. With this addition, construction professionals can review materials, manufacturer data, budget, construction phasing information, and all the other data drawn from their original BIM file in VR for the first time. "Prospect has been a tremendous addition to Gilbane VDC's tool belt," says Rawle D. Singh of Gilbane Building Company, one of IrisVR's customers. "[The software] helps our project teams better understand installation and sequencing requirements for complex spaces - and our designers can understand the impact of coordination issues and time constraints." About IrisVR IrisVR is an easy-to-use VR software for the architecture, engineering and construction industry. With IrisVR, architects, engineers, and preconstruction teams can instantly bring any 3D model into virtual reality for design review, collaboration, and model coordination meetings in 1:1 scale. IrisVR empowers AEC firms to catch more errors, speed up approvals, and ultimately streamline the design process. IrisVR works with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows MR headsets and supports 3D models from Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, Sketchup, Navisworks, FBX, and OBJ files. IrisVR offers annual and monthly subscriptions starting at $50 per month. To learn more, or to start a free trial of Prospect, visit irisvr.com . SOURCE IrisVR Related Links http://irisvr.com NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar Inc. (NYSE: STAR) announced today that it will release its financial results for the first quarter 2019 on Thursday, May 2, 2019, prior to the opening of the market. The Company will host an earnings conference call reviewing these results and its operations beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. This conference call will be broadcast live and can be accessed by all interested parties through iStar's website, www.istar.com, in the "Investors" section. The dial-in information for the live call is: Dial-In: (800) 230-1096 International: (612) 332-0228 A replay of the call will be archived on the Company's website. Alternatively, the replay can be accessed via dial-in from 12:00 p.m. ET on May 2, 2019 through 11:59 p.m. ET on May 16, 2019 by calling: Replay: (800) 475-6701 International: (320) 365-3844 Access Code: 466493 * * * iStar Inc. (NYSE: STAR) is focused on reinventing the ground lease sector, unlocking value for real estate owners throughout the country by providing modern, more efficient ground leases on all types of properties. As the founder, investment manager and largest shareholder of Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE), the first publicly traded company to focus on modern ground leases, iStar is helping create a logical new approach to the way real estate is owned, and continues to use its historic strengths in finance and net lease to expand this unique platform. Recognized as a consistent innovator in the real estate markets, iStar specializes in identifying and scaling newly discovered opportunities and has completed more than $40 billion of transactions over the past two decades. Additional information on iStar is available on its website at www.istar.com. SOURCE iStar Related Links https://www.istar.com Anthony Bourdain #4 By Michael Moriarty At the end of minute 24, in Anthony Bourdains examination of Russia, you have, inevitably, our hosts bitter criticism of Ronald Reagans trickle down Capitalism. His Russian companion awards Tony with, Tony, I think you know what youre doing in life! So honored by a witty but bitter Putin apologist, our Tony then commits suicide somewhat later than this program. For most of the program, Mr. Bourdain has criticized Vladimir Putins Russia with an indisputably accurate look at Vladimir Putins homicidally tyrannical rule. What does Anthony Bourdain really think is the best solution for keeping The World from a suicide he himself couldnt resist? He hasnt affirmed any existing or even possible, governing prescription with certainty so far, certainly not American Capitalism, but I suspect Denmarks racially uniform socialism might be one of his suggestions. The racially uniform, New-Communism of Russia, however, doesnt sit well with him. That is comforting. However, as most, I assume, might agree, Tonys suicide is increasingly disturbing. What he suggests for The World, as now, an eternally traveling host of a food series, I am fairly sure he suggested for himself. He has, so far, in now, the 3rd of his television series, proven to be utterly incapable of criticizing the food in any of the many locations he has already visited, from Tokyo to Myanmar, Mississippi to Russia. Its all delicious! The New World Order Palate! Hes apparently grateful to nothing for his individual freedom to disown a Higher Being or Divine Intelligence and, at the same time, look down on and patronize his own nations most common description as Capitalist. His Neo-Soviet train ride, while imbibing dangerous quantities of vodka, and, as always, praising the food he consumes between shots of Smirnoff, then sharing a comfortable cabin with his Russian companion, the two mention the unmentionable: homosexuality. Despite the seriousness of the generally Slavic prejudice toward gays?! The brief conversation is actually one of the lighter moments in this series and Anthony Bourdains increasing contradiction-in-terms! My explanation? New World Order thinking. They arrive in St. Petersburg, where the subject of homophobia continues. So? The New World Order is not only committed to branding the names of Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as similarly tyrannical brothers-at-heart, it must also accuse the names of such men with the crime of homophobia. Only Putin qualifies for the indictment! We are then shown gays and lesbians being persecuted in the land of well-known homosexual, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tony then talks with what appear to be two, very attractive Russian lesbians. By their conversation, in the context of this LGBT theme, we assume they are gay. One is a Russian filmmaker, Zhenya, and, as Tony describes her, openly gay. Apparently there are Few prosecutions for the Skinhead crime of assaulting and beating up gay men and women. Dasha, the local and equally attractive translator, says simply, You can get killed for this. For being gay. A new law prohibits gay propaganda amongst minors. However, and basically, you can go to jail for any kind of anti-Soviet propaganda. Gay families with kids?! They are under maximum pressure. Their families might be ruined. As Zhanya says, Its not about Russia or the Church. Its about power! According to her, there are two Russias: The Big, Powerful and Unsophisticated Bear versus the Russia of intelligent people. As Zhanya says, We should never give up! After comparing Putin to the previous Czars, the program ends its examination of Russia with a look at Czarist Russia. In this, our host, Tony, brags about being a man who would, without any encouragement from elsewhere, hurl all of the Czars of Russia into the sea tomorrow! Ah!!!! In this portion of the Bourdain visit to Russia, our host even disowns simple Socialism! So my bet that he would love Denmarks governing system? Possibly an entire misconception about our unquestionably tragic host. As he himself proclaims proudly, in mid-winter Russia, I share my toilet with no man! What follows is a brief but easily remembered and very short version of Russian History. Its violent transition from The Tsars to The Reds?! Thence to Vladimir Putin?! At the end of this episode, Tony proclaims Putin the villainous winner. Then, rather like the Russian people, he ends his own, personally advertised American privileges and freedoms with suicide! By capitulating to his own, unrelenting belief that nothing can be done to change Evil, he aids and abets Evil in the most sophisticatedly and irreversibly middle-finger-to-Life possible: SUICIDE!! Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home DALLAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:JEC), the managing partner for CCPRS a joint-venture between CH2M (now Jacobs) and CDM Smith was awarded a Public Assistance Technical Assistance Contract IV (PA TAC IV) for continued support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mission. Through the PA Program, FEMA provides supplemental federal disaster grant assistance for debris removal, emergency protective measures and the repair, replacement and restoration of disaster-damaged, publicly owned facilities and the facilities of certain private nonprofit organizations. The program also encourages protection of damaged facilities from future events by providing assistance for hazard mitigation measures during the recovery process. "Our highest priority under PA TAC IV is to serve FEMA, the disaster recovery community and our small business partners," said Jacobs Global Environmental Solutions Senior Vice President and General Manager Jan Walstrom. "We will support the post-disaster response and recovery mission with a highly experienced team and a strong track record of successfully delivering projects with FEMA." The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, which has an estimated ceiling value of $610 million, encompasses professional services for engineering, architecture, cost estimating, accounting, commercial property insurance, project management, construction management and inspection. With a one-year base contract period and up to four individual option years, the work includes supporting disaster operations in FEMA Region II: New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands; Region VII: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska; Region IX: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands; and Region X: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Under the previous PA TAC III FEMA contract, Jacobs was awarded more than $500 million to provide public assistance, recovery operations, construction and project management and technical services, including recovery support to Puerto Rico in response to Hurricane Maria. Additionally, Jacobs provides support to FEMA under the Logistics Housing Operations Unit Installation, Maintenance and Deactivation (LOGHOUSE) contract and the Individual Assistance Services Contract. Under LOGHOUSE, Jacobs is providing temporary housing installation and maintenance recovery services and overall project management to house families displaced by Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle region. Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2018 revenue and a talent force of more than 80,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 - Business, 1A - Risk Factors, 3 - Legal Proceedings, and 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein. For press/media inquiries: Kerrie Sparks 214.583.8433 Brian Morandi 720.286.0719 SOURCE Jacobs Related Links http://www.jacobs.com Consumers often go to Pinterest for visually engaging inspiration or to educate themselves on new products, and there is ample opportunity for key opinion leaders to tap into the consumer journey using Pinterest. As such, the platform offers fertile ground for influential creators to convey a brand's message in an impactful way. "We're always looking for ways to help businesses extend their reach on Pinterest," said David Temple, Head of Content and Creator Products, Pinterest. "We're excited to make it easier for brands to discover and collaborate with influencers, as well as track their performance on third-party platforms. Creators are essential to Pinterest and we're thrilled to provide additional tools and resources for them to leverage as they build relationships with businesses." Julius is a robust end-to-end influencer marketing solution that lets marketers discover, research, procure, contract, and manage influencers. Customers can filter over 250 million pieces of influencer content by platform, hashtags, keywords, and brand mentions. Brands and agencies use Julius to easily find and engage a variety of influencers to fit their needs, minimizing the need for manual searching and ensuring an efficient path to an authentic match. Working with Pinterest, Julius subscribers can now find influencers on Pinterest based on richer insights and better understand Pinterest reporting. Marketers will now be able to tie human intelligence with Pinterest to create more meaningful opportunities for influencer integration. "We are delighted to partner with Pinterest and excited about the benefits this will offer our customers," said Steve Oriola, CEO, Julius. "People often visit Pinterest with a specific goal in mind be it decorating a house, making travel plans, or trying a new recipe and Pinterest users display high purchase intent. We see brands seeking out longer term relationships with influencers, a trend Pinterest is well suited for due to the longer shelf life of Pins." To learn more about the Julius influencer marketing platform, please visit www.juliusworks.com . About Julius Julius is an end-to-end influencer marketing software solution, offering influencer search and discovery, campaign management and a robust reporting suite. It prioritizes brand safety by manually vetting and curating every influencer profile before allowing influencers onto the platform. Access the most in-depth database of micro and macro digital influencers, bloggers, and celebrities, with coverage across Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch. Use more than 50 search filters on Julius to identify influencers that align with your brand, with the ability to reach your target audience. To find out more, visit www.juliusworks.com and sign up for a demo of the easy-to-use platform today. Contact: Caroline Pickett Julius Works Inc. 646-517-2710 [email protected] SOURCE Julius Works Inc. Related Links http://www.juliusworks.com See the Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program's 2019 Annual Report Click Here "Our founder Burt Morgan was a big believer in the power of mentoring to help entrepreneurs navigate startup pitfalls and challenges," said Burton D. Morgan Foundation President and CEO, Deborah Hoover. "Throughout his memoirs he references individuals who helped him 'start businesses from scratch' and he routinely paid it forward, helping hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs figure out how to move forward successfully. Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program honors our founder and strengthens the capacity of our ecosystem by linking the expertise of experienced mentors to startups in the throes of solving tough problems for their ventures." Launched in 2012, the program has served more than 200 companies to date with its 180+ mentors having volunteered more than 10,000 hours to help entrepreneurs. The companies served by the program have gone on to raise $74.9M in capital and generate $109.6M in revenue, and they currently employ nearly 200 people across the region. "Support from Burton D. Morgan Foundation has allowed us to build a large, connected entrepreneurial community with direct impact on entrepreneurs' success and the economic future of Northeast Ohio," said Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program Director, Bill Nemeth. "From high school students to 60+ year-old entrepreneurs, we see the impact the program has on peoples' lives every day and we hear 'I could not have done it without my mentors' on a weekly basis." "Ultimately, these mentors are giving the most valuable resource they have time," added Nemeth. "When you consider the time donated in relation to the amount of capital and revenue generated, this program has generated an hourly return of $18,450 for each mentor hour. That is an impressive return on investment." With funding from this latest Burton D. Morgan Foundation grant, the mentoring program will not only provide ongoing assistance to entrepreneurs, but also work to engage entrepreneurs in the community in new ways, including: Engaging with more student entrepreneurs by holding office hours at local universities. Creating easier access and greater visibility for the program across Northeast Ohio by introducing new office hours at partner locations and by increasing the number of "ask a mentor" panel events throughout the community to reach more entrepreneurs. To learn more about JumpStart's Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program, visit www.jumpstartinc.org/mentoring About JumpStart JumpStart Inc. is a nationally recognized investing, entrepreneurial support and economic development organization dedicated to unlocking the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities. For more information, visit www.jumpstartinc.org and follow @JumpStartInc on Twitter. About Burton D. Morgan Foundation Founded in 1967 by visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist Burt Morgan, the mission of Burton D. Morgan Foundation is to champion the entrepreneurial spirit, contribute to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, and serve as a leader in the field of entrepreneurship education. Morgan Foundation pursues its mission through grantmaking in support of Youth, Collegiate, and Adult Entrepreneurship; through regional ecosystem building to provide strong networks for startups and scaleups; and through knowledge sharing bolstered by its research arm, the Entrepreneurship Education Experiment. To find out more, visit at www.bdmorganfdn.org. SOURCE JumpStart Inc. Related Links http://www.jumpstartinc.org Karma's New Dawn Features "Shanghai Big Three" The luxury electric vehicle automaker punctuated its design, customization and high-tech engineering capabilities by presenting three new products, a trio Karma calls its Shanghai Big Three: A new 2020 Karma Revero GT luxury electric vehicle: it's fast, smart, stunning in design, and will be available for sale during the second half of this year. The new car offers improved technology, performance, interior and exterior options and customization capability. It features a TwinPower Turbo three-cylinder in-line engine supplied by BMW AG to power an on-board electric generator and enhance overall vehicle performance. Karma engineers created a world-class electric drive system that alongside a series of other technological advancements enables the new 2020 Revero to be as fast as it looks. luxury electric vehicle: it's fast, smart, stunning in design, and will be available for sale during the second half of this year. The new car offers improved technology, performance, interior and exterior options and customization capability. It features a TwinPower Turbo three-cylinder in-line engine supplied by BMW AG to power an on-board electric generator and enhance overall vehicle performance. Karma engineers created a world-class electric drive system that alongside a series of other technological advancements enables the new 2020 Revero to be as fast as it looks. The Karma Pininfarina GT coupe: the first result of a partnership with Pininfarina, the iconic Italian design and engineering house. The Pininfarina team took a new 2020 Revero GT, retained the fundamental engineering parameters and then crafted a new body style, panels and interior, offering an alternative design interpretation. Typically, Pininfarina reserves the GT (Gran Turismo) designation for only in most exceptional in-house creations; this is the first time in its history that Pininfarina graced a collaborative project with its GT. coupe: the first result of a partnership with Pininfarina, the iconic Italian design and engineering house. The Pininfarina team took a new 2020 Revero GT, retained the fundamental engineering parameters and then crafted a new body style, panels and interior, offering an alternative design interpretation. Typically, Pininfarina reserves the GT (Gran Turismo) designation for only in most exceptional in-house creations; this is the first time in its history that Pininfarina graced a collaborative project with its GT. The Karma SC1 Vision Concept: a signpost to Karma's future one that recognizes and embraces full electrification. The roadster reimagines Karma design language for tomorrow and soon-to-come customization options, and shows the brand's future direction based on full BEV offerings at the company's core. The Karma SC1 Vision Concept features the best of some of tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies with Karma's distinctive take on integration. At the core of SC1 Vision Concept's technological suite is a new infotainment architecture with 5G connectivity as well as a humanized communication system, which integrates touch, voice, eye, and graphical interfaces to enable seamless interaction with the roadster. "Taken together, our Shanghai Big Three shows what Karma is today, what Karma can be tomorrow, and where Karma is heading in the future," Zhou said. Karma Is More than Just a Car Company As part of its Value Forward business strategy, Karma is pursuing an "open-platform" philosophy to attract partners, technology and know-how, create efficiency and enhance long-term brand value. Karma's luxury electric vehicle niche and in-house engineering resources offer innovators an excellent test bed to incubate, grow and prove their emerging technologies, creating opportunities for the company to generate new revenue streams for its customization and technology expertise. "We are agile, nimble, and can move fast with a deep sense of urgency; that's Karma's big advantage," he explained. "We will use partnerships with like-minded collaborators to accelerate our progress by acquiring and developing key technologies important to connectivity, performance, artificial intelligence, shared mobility platforms and electrification." Zhou's plan is fueled in part by partners like Pininfarina whose design expertise helps the company accelerate product development, differentiation, and personalized customization that allows every Karma to be special. Pininfarina is attracted to Karma, Zhou added, because its luxury electric vehicle platform can help advance their growth strategy in North America, especially after opening a new design center in Los Angeles. "This kind of collaboration illustrates Karma's open-platform philosophy," Zhou said. "Partners can use our product platform as an incubator to test and prove their new innovations, and likewise, our engineering and design resources can be offered to help other partners advance their needs. So, yes, Karma is a car company but Karma is not just a car company." Growing Good Karma The Karma Automotive story started in 2014 when The Wanxiang Group, a multinational automotive components manufacturing company with headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, founded the business. Today, Karma employs nearly 1,000 people across four sites: Global Headquarters: Irvine, Calif. Karma Innovation & Customization Center: Moreno Valley, Calif. Detroit Technical Center: Troy, Mich. Karma China Design & Engineering Center: Hangzhou, China "We have the advantage of private equity backing from extremely supportive owners who are allowing us to grow the business progressively and smartly," Zhou said. "We are focused on a gradual, but progressive rollout strategy aimed at putting the building blocks of a car company in place a growing dealer network, committed supply chain, craft center and a talented workforce." By establishing Karma in the U.S. first the world's most demanding luxury market Zhou said he believes the company can succeed anywhere. "Karma will be live in Europe and the Middle East next year and then Asia," he added. "We will be in China by 2021. By gradually expanding our presence this way I am confident our company and our products will be well prepared for the discerning Chinese luxury buyer of the future." The Karma Innovation and Customization Center (KICC) Karma chose to headquarter and build a craft production facility just 60 miles from its global headquarters in Irvine, Calif., to purposely and meticulously build one-of-a-kind cars.. Representing a total investment of more than $100 million, Karma's innovation and customization hub first came to life in 2015 and now comprises the very latest in automotive technology and tooling over a sprawling 556,000 square feet under one roof in Moreno Valley, Calif. "The name, Karma Innovation and Customization Center, reflects our future focus and growing skillset centered on innovation, customization and technology integration," Zhou said. "KICC's skilled workforce take great pride in delivering distinctive luxury electric vehicles with world-class design, technology and personalization." Karma's exclusive design and craftsmanship allows it to take customization to a new level enabling every Revero to be special, and supports a fundamental commitment to unrivaled customer treatment. KICC will also house a VIP Customer Experience Center offering every Karma owner a personalized look into the company's focus on luxury, high technology, customization and special treatment. California's Shining Star With the Shanghai Big Three, especially the new 2020 Revero GT, Karma seeks to firmly establish itself as an authentic and credible player in the luxury electric vehicle segment the only automaker, Zhou notes, who is actually designing, engineering, marketing and handcrafting vehicles in Southern California. "While many other business have left our region in search of less regulation and easier paths, Karma chose to do business in California for the long term," Zhou said. "Karma and California are united in spirit. This is home to innovators, entrepreneurs and big thinkers; a land where anything is possible and where the next generation of luxury will come from. That's why I want Karma to become California's shining star." Editor's Note: The larger design, customization and engineering story behind the new 2020 Karma Revero GT, Karma Pininfarina GT and Karma SC1 Vision Concept can be found at the Karma Newsroom: www.karmanewsroom.com Meet Karma Automotive and Karma Revero Karma Automotive designs, engineers, and markets luxury electric vehicles, all from its Southern California base of operations. Founded in 2014 and employing nearly 1,000 people worldwide, Karma Automotive is committed to elevating and growing the luxury mobility experience for its customers and draws on global relationships and technology partners to achieve this. The Karma Revero is a luxury electric vehicle powered by dual electric motors that embodies Karma's goals of offering leading automotive design, technology, customization and an outstanding customer experience. Every Revero is created with great individual care and world-class craftsmanship at the Karma Innovation and Customization Center in Moreno Valley, Calif. Learn more about Karma Automotive and Revero at www.karmaautomotive.com or visit the password-free Karma Newsroom at www.karmanewsroom.com for the latest press releases, videos and images. SOURCE Karma Automotive Related Links www.karmaautomotive.com AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Le Macaron French Pastries, an elegant French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries, recently announced plans to introduce more than 10 locations in targeted communities throughout Texas. The community-focused brand will ignite growth through strategic franchise partnerships and aims to open the new locations within the next five years. Le Macaron French Pastries currently has more than 50 locations across the nation and is looking to ramp up growth through a selective strategy, focusing on a solid foundation of smart franchise partnerships and tactical site selection. Three Le Macaron French Pastries franchises are currently open in the Houston and San Antonio area, and each of them have found success with a loyal customer following. "Texas has proven to be the perfect market for our business the community has been incredibly supportive and the community appreciates the elevated flavors our pastries have to offer," stated Mervis Ruiz, owner of Le Macaron in Cypress. "From the locals to the millions of visitors that flock to the city every year, we've developed a loyal-fan base with our authentic macarons that are unparalleled in the market. I look forward to watching Le Macaron French Pastries further expand its presence throughout Texas as we have become a household name across the State." The dedicated customer base Le Macaron French Pastries secures makes the brand a reliable franchise concept for those beginning their professional careers or individuals looking to take a new step in their professional journeys. Jonathan Hanley, owner of Le Macaron in Frisco, held executive roles in a variety of multi-national tech and consumer goods companies. Hanley and his two daughters fell in love with the product of Le Macaron when trying it for the first time, and felt there needed to be a location in their own community. Launched only two years ago, Hanley and Le Macaron in Frisco have earned a dedicated customer following and well recognized online presence. "Our store has seen success in the Frisco community because we are able to create authentic French experiences," said Hanley. "Many other macaron brands have gone out of business, but the quality of Le Macaron's product has helped make the brand a distinguishable one." Founded by France natives and mother-daughter team Rosalie Guillem and Audrey Saba, Le Macaron French Pastries provides an authentic French experience for Americans nationwide. Upon entering, guests are greeted with brilliant colors and a modern interior complemented with traditional music playing throughout the cafe. Offering more than 20 flavors of macarons, as well as seasonal flavors, the menu extends to include pastries, gelato, coffee, cakes, eclairs, and more. Whether in a metropolitan city or municipal town, Le Macaron French Pastries offers a new franchise opportunity which aims to lean into the growing quick-serve and snack brand trend of kiosks, mobile carts, and express locations. As consumers' on-the-go lifestyle continues to accelerate, Le Macaron French Pastries seeks to capitalize on these captive audiences at malls, airports, sporting events, festivals and other gatherings. Franchisees can expect an investment ranging from between $91,750 to $127,000 for a mobile cart and $146,000 to $375,500 for a traditional cafe. All of Le Macaron French Pastries products are made in the kitchen headquarters, eliminating the need for a full kitchen space. Interested parties should have a strong desire to own a business, as well as a passion for the dessert space and success. "The thriving economy and diversity of cultures in Texas makes the state an optimal place for Le Macaron French Pastries to grow," said Rosalie Guillem, CEO and co-founder of Le Macaron French Pastries. "We are confident our versatile mobile cart franchise opportunity will give local entrepreneurs the opportunity to invest in the brand while reducing the high overhead costs that are often associated with opening a business. We look forward to working with franchise partners in cities like Austin, El Paso and Dallas to help give all Texas residents access to our little bites of heaven known as macarons." For more information on the Le Macaron French Pastries franchise opportunity please visit http://lemacaronfranchise.com/. About Le Macaron French Pastries Founded in 2009 by Rosalie Guillem and her daughter Audrey, Le Macaron French Pastries is an elegant French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries. Headquartered in Sarasota, Fl., the brand began franchising in 2012 and has since grown to more than 50 locations across the U.S. Le Macaron French Pastries is ranked on Inc. 5,000 2016, #17 on the 2019 Top Emerging Franchise List as well as ranking on the Top 100 Food and Beverage category by Entrepreneur and holds a No. 9 ranking in the baked goods category. For more information, visit http://lemacaron-us.com/. SOURCE Le Macaron French Pastries Related Links http://lemacaron-us.com VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQX: LDSYF), (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") announces that its flagship product, CannaStrips, will be featured at two separate cannabis events over the 4/20 Cannabis holiday weekend. Every year April 20th is considered an unofficial cannabis holiday. High Times will be holding an event at the Cal Expo in Sacramento, CA and Kushstock will be holding a separate event at the Adelanto Stadium in Adelanto, CA. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, CSPA Group, Inc., has reserved 10x20 booths at both events and has entered its THC and CBD CannaStrips into the High Times competition. CSPA Group will be partnering with a retailer for both events, which will allow CSPA Group to sell its products at the shows. Casey Fenwick, President of LDS, stated, "CannaStrips will have a store presence in both geographical locations which will be great for building the brand. Events surrounding the cannabis industry's biggest holiday (4/20) normally draw large crowds. The previous month's High Times Dope Cup Event was a great success, and the upcoming High Times and Kushstock events are expected to be the largest in the state. There should be a great turn out." The Company's CEO, Brad Eckenweiler, stated, "CannaStrips have generated significant momentum, and we feel that having a presence at both Northern and Southern California events will keep that momentum going. It is noteworthy that at the High Times Dope Cup Event last month the CannaStrips inventory sold out completely during both days." The Company will continue to update the market as relevant developments occur. About CSPA Group Inc. CSPA Group, Inc. is located in Adelanto, California and is a City-Permitted and State-Licensed manufacturer and distributor/transporter in the California cannabis industry. CSPA Group manufactures extracted oils and distillates and produces CannaStrips under a license agreement with Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. a British Columbia corporation. About CannaStrips The proprietary CannaStrips true Transmucosal Delivery System is superior to any other sublingual product. CannaStrips are formulated from extracts reduced to microparticulate size and homogenized into a lipid encapsulation. This allows the active cannabinoids and terpenes to enter the bloodstream quickly through the buccal membrane of the mouth and remain in the bloodstream until receptors in the body are available. This formula allows the dosage to be more effective for a much longer duration without dips and spikes in dosage effect and little or no degradation from the liver. The result is a consistently precise, safe and effective method of medication. About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. is a technology company that licenses its technology to a state-of-the-art production and packaging facility located in Southern California. The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to any other form of delivery but also allows for the inclusion of a wide spectrum of ingredients from over the counter medications to homeopathic, nutraceutical, vitamins and supplements. The technology provides a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the selected product. From start to finish, the production process, based on the Company's technology, tests for quality and composition of all the ingredients used in each and every strip which results in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective. On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. Brad Eckenweiler CEO & Director FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: [email protected] 1-866-347-5058 Cautionary Disclaimer Statement: The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. In addition, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Although Congress has prohibited the US Justice Department from spending federal funds to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, this prohibition must be renewed each year to remain in effect. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. Related Links https://www.lifestyledeliverysystems.com/ To further celebrate dynamic mothers who embody the meaning of PowerMom across the nation, the brand is hosting a corresponding digital contest, "Loacker PowerMom Awards . " Loved ones can nominate an impactful matriarch from April 8 th 22 nd for consideration within one of the following PowerMom categories: the community-focused "Village Leader," the career-focused "Corporate Disrupter" and the entrepreneurial-focused "Maker Mom." Awarding a grand prize winner in each category, the winners will be announced live during "Loacker's Afternoon With Maggie Gyllenhaal," and will each receive a "PowerMom Essentials Kit," which includes: School Year Supply of Loacker products $250 Spa Finder Gift Card Spa Finder Gift Card $500 Grubhub Gift Card Grubhub Gift Card $1,000 Task Rabbit Gift Card Task Rabbit Gift Card PowerMom Engraved Award $500 Donation to a charitable organization in the winner's name "Through PowerMom, Loacker continues to foster a community that not only celebrates working mothers but also provides a support system and opportunity to openly discuss shared experiences," shares Crystal Black Davis, Executive Vice President / Vice President of Marketing, Loacker USA. "As a working mother myself, I'm honored to be joined by Maggie Gyllenhaal and PowerMoms across the United States to empower one another as we all navigate the balancing act of motherhood and careers." The third annual PowerMom celebration, Loacker continues to bring to life the brand's mission to empower those that embody their company motto, "Goodness, Without Compromise." With a longstanding dedication of advocating for mothers that make an impact in their communities and careers, Loacker's PowerMom provides a platform to support the woman who does it all. "The Loacker name represents generations of caring through our commitment to quality moments of happiness, healthiness, and togetherness," shares TJ Rooney, President Loacker USA. "We care for consumers as if they were family, and celebrating moms is a natural extension of this commitment." To nominate a mom for "Loacker PowerMom Awards," please visit www.loackerlove.com/powermom2019 to submit from April 8th 22nd. To view the "Loacker's Afternoon With Maggie Gyllenhaal" Facebook Live on May 11th from 1 1:30PM EST, please follow @LoackerUSA and join the conversation with #PureGoodPowerMom. For full contest details, rules and conditions visit www.loackerlove.com/powermom2019 . To learn more about Loacker, please visit www.loackerusa.com. ABOUT LOACKER The #1 global wafer cookie brand, the name Loacker has become an internationally sought-after brand, on store shelves in more than 100 countries. Combining a love of nature with a passion for the art of baking, Loacker selects the best untreated and unmodified raw ingredients with precision and an uncompromising eye. Ingredients consist of the finest Italian hazelnuts that are freshly roasted by Loacker, real "Bourbon" vanilla pods, luxurious aromatic cocoa and the finest quality milk. This results in delicious crispy wafers and chocolates created with love and family tradition. It was over 90 years ago that the Loacker brand started in the little confectionery shop of Alfons Loacker in Bolzano, Italy. In manufacturing their products in the heart of the Italian Alps, 1000 meters above sea level, Loacker focuses precisely on the most important element: pure quality products. SOURCE Loacker Related Links http://www.loackerusa.com ALBANY, New York, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to TMR, the global medical imaging phantoms market is assessed to expand at a CAGR of 3.6% over the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. With this robust CAGR, the market is expected to attain a value of US$180.0 mn by 2026-end from a value of US$131.2 mn in 2017. Based on device type, the segment of X-ray/fluoroscopy phantoms accounted for the leading share in the market based on the revenue and demand followed by the ultrasound phantoms. This is attributable to the high usage of X-ray equipment mainly in the numerous health care facilities. Based on the region, North America dominated the global medical imaging phantoms market by accounting for the leading share in 2017 and is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. However, Asia Pacific is estimated to expand with the most lucrative CAGR over the forecast period owing to growing investment in the healthcare sector. Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=45042 Need for Effective Screening to Aid Market's Growth The medical imaging phantoms market is expected to gain traction due to the growing incidences of chronic diseases such as HIV and cancer. These incidences of the diseases are creating a need for advanced and efficient screening methods for the early detection of these diseases. Owing to this factor, the adoption of medical imaging phantoms is rising substantially. The imaging phantoms or the test phantoms are intentionally developed for use in the field of medical testing, valuation, and calibration of imaging devices. The phantom is the artificial tissue-alike material that is generally used for replacing the human tissues. These test phantoms are available easily and efficient in the estimation of the proper working of the body. Request a Sample of Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=45042 Additionally, in the current market, the medical imaging phantoms are available in the form of the mammography test phantom, CT test phantom, ultrasound test phantom, MRI test phantoms, and radiation oncology test phantom. These tests have wide applications for examining the internal injuries or presence of diseases. Growing incidences of the accidents and mishaps along with the need for advanced screening is boosting adoption of the medical imaging phantoms and in turn, driving growth of the medical imaging phantoms market. Furthermore, growing advancements in the technologies offer convenience of suggesting line of treatment. This is encouraging applications of the global medical imaging phantoms and likely to drive growth of the market. Request For Discount On This Report - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=45042 Continuous Product Advancement to Offer Opportunities for Growth Growing research & development (R&D) activities in imaging technologies globally and especially in the developing region is widening its use across numerous healthcare facilities. This is one of the key factors propelling growth of the global medical imaging phantoms market. However, cost concerns coupled with complicated maintenance and human resource & time constraints are restraining growth of the global medical imaging phantoms market to some extent. Nonetheless, the factors such as a large pool of underserved patients, presence of favorable insurance policies, and rise in the proportion of the urban population are offering support to the growth of the global medical imaging phantoms market. Additionally, factors such as speedy clinical trials, accurate results, and faster results are expected to play a key role in the growth of the medical imaging phantoms market in the coming years. Request For Custom Research - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=45042 The global medical imaging phantoms market has a consolidative vendor landscape, the analysts of Transparency Market Research (TMR) estimates based on a detailed investigation. Some of the prominent players including PTW Freiburg GmbH, Kyoto Kagaku Co. Ltd., Gold Standard Phantoms, Dielectric Corporation, and Pure Imaging Phantoms are accounting for the leading share in the global medical imaging phantoms market. Browse Press Release - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/medical-imaging-phantoms-market.htm This information is encompassed in the report by TMR, titled, "Medical Imaging Phantoms Market (Device Type - X-ray and Fluoroscopy Phantoms, Ultrasound Phantoms, CT Phantoms, MRI Phantoms, Nuclear Imaging Phantoms; End user - Hospitals, Academic and Research Institutes, Diagnostic and Reference Laboratories, Medical Device Companies) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026." Popular Research Reports by TMR: Veterinary Pain Management Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/veterinary-pain-management-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/veterinary-pain-management-market.html Ozone Therapy Units Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ozone-therapy-units-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ozone-therapy-units-market.html Ophthalmic Microscopes Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-microscopes-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-microscopes-market.html Mobile Health Care Devices Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/mobile-health-care-devices-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend 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. TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Mr. Rohit Bhisey Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Research Blog: https://cmfenews.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research NEW ORLEANS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past several months, Hancock Whitney Bank's regional New Orleans headquarters has moved from its historic building on St. Charles Avenue to the new Hancock Whitney Center at 701 Poydras Street. The upcoming renovation of the historic facility has made available surplus furniture, equipment and other office items to be sold at online auction. Bidding continues through the auction closings on April 25th and April 30th. Thousands of items are available at the 250,000 sq. ft. complex. The auction is open to the general public. Worley Auctioneers, a Cincinnati-based national auction firm specializing in corporate asset recovery, is conducting the online auction at worleyauctioneers.com. To view the complete catalog, obtain additional information and to bid now online, visit http://www.worleyauctioneers.com Point of Contact : Penny Worley (513) 310-2596 [email protected] SOURCE Worley Auctioneers Related Links http://www.worleyauctioneers.com This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MENDIX WORLD Mendix , a Siemens business and the global leader in no-code/low-code application development for the enterprise, today announced Mendix Data Hub, a low-code approach to leveraging data and digital resources that virtually eliminates the complications and expense of conventional data integration. Through Mendix Data Hub, business users and developers alike have seamless, self-service access to the data resources they need to create transformative applications that drive new product strategies, operational efficiency, and increased customer engagement all from within the Mendix no-code/ low-code development platform. Derek Roos, Mendix founder and CEO, made the Mendix Data Hub and Spring '19 Release announcements today at Mendix World 2019, the world's premier low-code conference that has drawn over 4,500 attendees from 1,100+ companies to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "Mendix Data Hub will break down a barrier that has stymied digital progress for decades," Roos said. "Low-code was just the beginning. The 'discoverable enterprise' is the other half of the equation. Enterprises are navigating a flood of potentially valuable data and a complex web of applications and digital services. They can't move forward if essential data is siloed in one place, APIs in another, and some other critical asset in a corner where nobody even knows it exists. And current data integration solutions many times just add to the complexity. Imagine how powerful it will be when everyone working on an application has access to the data and resources they need, wherever they are, right at their fingertips, with no friction or barriers. That's the environment we're creating." Data integration continues to be a massive bottleneck to building software solutions quickly across the enterprise. Traditional approaches to integration are typically centralized, complex, and require experts who know how to use them. Mendix Data Hub aims to change all of that and democratize integration while preserving governance and control just like Mendix has done in the application development domain. Mendix Data Hub is designed to abstract data and systems into a data virtualization layer that spans the entire enterprise. Users will discover the assets they need through a data catalog, whether those assets are data, events, APIs, functions, or even other apps. Then they simply drag-and-drop them into the applications they are building inside the Mendix application platform. There is no need for additional integration middleware Mendix Data Hub automates the process. To ensure sound governance and adherence to best practices across the enterprise, the data catalog will be curated by experts in the specific data and resources, who will control permissions for access and usage. "It's hard to overstate how important this is," Roos said. "We did it with low-code, abstracting coding and creating a visual environment that is energizing software development on every level. As enterprises digitize their operations, their big limitation continues to be access to data and resources, and now we are abstracting that as well." Out-of-the-box, Mendix Data Hub will catalog and provide access to any and all data assets created using the Mendix low-code platform, and enable the discovery and governed use of virtually any data throughout the enterprise. Plus, administrators and architects will have visibility into where and how any and all data is used across their application landscapes. Enterprises adopting Mendix Data Hub can expect to see immediate gains in productivity as teams short-circuit the time needed to find data and resources. And as they discover new assets now visible to them, they can create applications that unleash the tremendous value of those data and resources to bring true digital innovation and transformation to the way they do business and serve customers. For more information about Mendix, please visit www.mendix.com . Learn more about the Mendix Platform and Pricing and Availability . About Mendix Mendix , a Siemens business and the global leader in no-code/low-code application development for the enterprise, is fundamentally reinventing the way applications are built in the digital enterprise. With the Mendix no-code/low-code platform, enterprises can 'Make with More,' by broadening an enterprise's development capability to conquer the software development bottleneck; 'Make it Smart,' by making apps with rich native experiences that are intelligent, proactive, and contextual; and 'Make at Scale,' to modernize core systems and build large app portfolios to keep pace with business growth. The Mendix platform is built to promote intense collaboration between business and IT teams, and dramatically accelerate application development cycles, while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and governance in short, to help enterprises confidently leap into their digital futures. Mendix's 'Go Make It' platform has been adopted by more than 4,000 leading companies around the world. Press Inquiries Katie McGovern Senior Account Manager, SHIFT Communications [email protected] (617) 779-1867 Dan Berkowitz Senior Director, Global Communications [email protected] (415) 518-7870 SOURCE Mendix Related Links http://www.mendix.com TYSONS, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MicroTech announced today that it has been named as one of the 30 Most Valuable Companies to Watch 2019 by CIO Bulletin. Founded by Anthony "Tony" Jimenez in March of 2004, MicroTech underwent a meteoric rise to become one of the premier Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) in the Nation, delivering innovative technology to its Federal, State and Local Government and commercial clients and customers. Mr. Jimenez has once again proven to be an unwavering trailblazer in Information Technology (IT), Telecom and Network Infrastructure and Integration, and Technology services-based solutions. Over the last 18 months, through his leadership, MicroTech has won nearly $100 billion of new multiple-award type contracts, including the $50 billion, 15-year, General Services Administration's Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract, which has a $75 million guarantee, the $5 billion Veterans Technology Services 2 Government-Wide Acquisition (VETS 2 GWAC) contract, the $192 million U.S. Army Rapid Acquisition for Materials and Prototyping (RAMP) contract and the $37 billion Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services (RS3) contract with the United States Army. The company now holds more than 20 multiple-award type contracts, with dozens of Federal, State and Local Government Agencies providing Telecommunications, Services, Solutions and Integration, Cyber Security Solutions, Cloud Computing, Technology and Professional Services, Network Systems Integration, Research and Development (R&D), and Financial Services to the Public Sector, as well as commercial enterprises. MicroTech also holds numerous patents for its On-Premise and Hybrid Private Cloud solutions and its team of professionals can boast more than a decade and a half of experience in the Federal space, in the Information Technology realm. Solving complex business challenges is our passion and our Quality Management Systems standards have always been a top priority. Through this commitment to quality, MicroTech reached an elite, international QMS level. MicroTech is ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015 certified, and is CMMI Maturity Level 3 rated in both CMMI Services (CMMI-SVC) & CMMI Development (CMMI-DEV). That level of quality is translated over to the professional services that MicroTech is able to provide and the solutions MicroTech is able to make available. "I'm often asked how it is that MicroTech was able to win so many prestigious and valuable Contracts especially a $50 Billion, 15 year, Full and Open Contract like the GSA EIS contract and the answer is simple," says Tony Jimenez, Founder, President and CEO of MicroTech. "We have great people who are not only talented, hardworking and dedicated, but they are also willing to go the extra mile every single day to ensure we not only get out front, but that we stay out front." According to CIO Bulletin, MicroTech was selected based on its customer retention health, employee centered management approach, openness to innovation, collaborations, financial status, ability to forecast future technology trends, and commitment to excellence. With a proven track record of success, Mr. Jimenez is extremely proud and humbled by the contributions made by MicroTech and its diverse employee base. For more information on the article and CIO Bulletin, visit www.ciobulletin.com/magazine/microtech-taking-technology-further-with-a-commitment-to-excellence About MicroTech: MicroTech, a Certified and Verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), is certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) as a Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs). Described as the "hottest Hispanic business in the nation," MicroTech ranked as the #1 Fastest Growing Hispanic Company in the Nation for three consecutive years by Hispanic Business Magazine and has been repeatedly listed on Washington Technology's annual list of the Top 100 Government Contractors. MicroTech provides IT, Telecom and Network Infrastructure and Integration Services & Solutions, Cybersecurity and Cloud Management Solutions, Financial Services, and Value-Added Resale to Federal, State and Local Government Agencies and Fortune 500 Companies. MicroTech is ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015 certified, and is CMMI Maturity Level 3 rated in both CMMI Services (CMMI-SVC) & CMMI Development (CMMI-DEV). Follow MicroTech on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Contact: Jennifer Berman, 703-637-3235, [email protected] SOURCE MicroTech Related Links http://www.microtech.net NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- N-Hance Wood Refinishing, the leading nationwide franchise specializing in hardwood floor and kitchen cabinet refinishing, has announced plans to add four new territories to New York state, secured through strategic partnerships, by year's end. This 2019 expansion is folded into the brand's overarching goal to add more than 20 locations throughout the state over the next five years. Kickstarting these aggressive development goals are newly signed agreements in Nassau County and Suffolk County. Entrepreneurs Michael and Carole Gangadeen will debut N-Hance's services throughout Floral Park, New Cassel, Plain View, Elmont, Uniondale, and Rockville Centre areas. Additionally, new franchise owner, Andrew Saulino will service the Melville, Amityville, Brentwood, Brightwaters, Bayport, Calverton, Blue Point and Tiana areas. Finally, John Polkwoski will launch the N-Hance brand in markets including Binghamton, Ithaca, Cortland, and Oxford, in central New York. These three new groups will build on the momentum N-Hance has already paved with 21 franchise locations currently operating throughout the state. To meet the rising demand in the market, N-Hance is actively seeking franchise partners in the cities of Binghamton, Albany, Long Island, Bronx, Manhattan, and Syracuse. As of June 2018, New York comes in at third of highest home improvement spending states, 11.6 billion dollars, just behind California and Texas. The surge in home improvement spending is spearheading N-Hance's efforts to continue growth in the already successful New York area. "The area, economically, is ripe for a concept like N-Hance with our array of offerings for wood refinishing and renewal," said D'Wayne Tanner, Senior Vice President of Franchise Sales. "We've had resounding successes introducing franchises in this eager market and look forward to continuing this legacy as we create innumerable opportunities for entrepreneurs statewide." Trevor Kaftan, Owner of an N-Hance location in the Poughkeepsie area, who was also N-Hance's 2018 Franchisee of the Year, joined the franchise system in 2012 after being attracted to the company for its market opportunity, "I had been selling refacing and kitchen remodeling services on my own for three years, and I kept getting pushback from customers. When I found out about N-Hance and what they offered to consumers, I knew there would be a market for the services that N-Hance provides." N-Hance sets the industry standard for hardwood refinishing. Supported by Harris Research, Inc., N-Hance is the only wood refinishing company, working with more than 1,200 Home Depot locations across the nation. Also helping lead the company's growth is its one of a kind "Lightspeed instant curing system" for hardwood cabinets and floors which saves customers time and money over the traditional refinishing, refacing or replacing alternatives. The innovative process provides one day hardwood refinishing without the hassle of dust, mess or odor. For more information about franchising in the New York area and N-Hance Wood Refinishing, please visit https://nhancefranchise.com/ or call (435) 799-7651. ABOUT N-HANCE WOOD REFINISHING Founded in 2001, N-Hance Wood Refinishing is based in Logan, Utah and is a trusted partner of the Home Depot, with a presence in more than 1,200 locations. N-Hance Wood Refinishing has more than 500 franchises across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and is backed by Harris Research, Inc., the same company that grew Chem-Dry into the world's largest carpet cleaning company. SOURCE N-Hance Wood Refinishing Rep. Palazzo has a first-hand understanding of the unique challenges housing authorities face. A former CFO of the Biloxi Housing Authority, he has fought for legislation to help public housing authorities run their programs more efficiently, particularly small agencies. NAHRO's Legislator of the Year Award honors members of Congress who are strong advocates for housing and community development programs and for the NAHRO members who administer them. "NAHRO and its 20,000 members are grateful to Representative Palazzo and Representative Price for their commitment and leadership," said NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman. "We need leaders and advocates on the Hill who understand the importance of housing and community development programs and the transformative effect they have on communities nationwide." Contact: Sylvia Gimenez About NAHRO The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) is the leading housing and community development advocate for the provision of adequate and affordable housing and strong, viable communities for all Americansparticularly those with low- and moderate-incomes. Our members administer HUD programs such as Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, CDBG and HOME. SOURCE National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials Related Links http://www.nahro.org WASHINGTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning is working to strengthen the financial planner workforce with the publication of Financial Planning Career Paths: Building More Sustainable and Successful Businesses, a new guide to help firms with financial planner recruitment, onboarding, training, career development and retention. "Firms of all sizes and business models will benefit from these best practices to better engage and develop professionals, and prepare the next generation of financial planners," said CFP Board Chief Executive Officer Kevin R. Keller, CAE. "This guide is an essential step in advancing the transition of financial planning from an 'industry' that delivers products and services to a 'profession' that is an integral part of society through improving consumers' lives." The comprehensive workforce development guide, developed with support from the guide's Signature Sponsor BNY Mellon's Pershing a leading provider of clearing and custody solutions highlights the importance of clear and transparent career advancement to attract and retain the next generation of financial planners and advisors. The guide is designed to help firms structure and effectively communicate career path opportunities. It identifies and closely examines five rungs of the financial planner career ladder: analyst associate advisor service advisor lead advisor partner The guide elaborates on the requisite skills, experience and responsibilities necessary to achieve each rung. It also provides a framework for compensation and organizational advancement so that professionals can manage their expectations and be well rewarded for their efforts. Leaders from thirty firms representing different types of businesses that employ and provide careers to financial planners and advisors contributed to the guide, which also incorporates data from various research studies of compensation and career development. The Center's Workforce Development Advisory Group provided key input on the development of the guide, under the leadership of Mark Tibergien, Chief Executive Officer of Advisor Solutions at BNY Mellon's Pershing, a nationally recognized expert in workforce development in the financial planning profession and financial services industry. The group is composed of experts on talent acquisition and retention, leaders from financial services firms, heads of academic institutions with a CFP Board Registered Program, and CFP professionals advancing innovative workforce development initiatives. "Developing clear career paths is crucial to the continued growth and development of the financial planning profession," said Tibergien. "This publication will be an important resource for employers and a game-changer for the advancement of the financial planner workforce." This publication is aimed at guiding firms in fostering career paths that offer: a systemic plan for skill development a logical progression of responsibilities a sense of fairness across the organization clarity for advancement decisions help with identifying top performers who have leadership potential Professionals can also utilize the guide as a roadmap for navigating the multifaceted career of a financial planner. The guide provides information on what to expect through each career rung, direction for self-development efforts, and a step-by-step progression of skill development that ensures the right skills are learned at the right time. "Top firms in the profession are utilizing career paths to secure a lasting competitive advantage and build sustainable organizations," said CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Executive Director Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis. "They are important frameworks for developing the skills of professionals with various levels of experience so that they can progress in their careers, serve their clients well, and contribute to their firms at the highest level." In addition to the support from BNY Mellon's Pershing, the Center is thankful for the support of the Center's Lead Founding Sponsor TD Ameritrade Institutional, and Founding Sponsors Northwestern Mutual, Envestnet and Charles Schwab Foundation, in partnership with Schwab Advisor Services. ABOUT THE RESEARCH The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning commissioned The Ensemble Practice LLC to conduct research that captures the experiences and best practices of financial services firms. Thirty firms of all sizes and business models that employ financial advisors were interviewed. The research also examined data from InvestmentNews magazine's 2017 Adviser Compensation & Staffing Study and 2018 Study of Pricing & Profitability, capturing the compensation and business practices of nearly 400 firms. ABOUT CFP BOARD Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board sets standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CFP certification one of the most respected certifications in financial services so that the public has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board, along with its Center for Financial Planning, is committed to increasing the public's awareness of CFP certification and access to a diverse, ethical and competent financial planning workforce. Widely recognized by firms and consumer groups as the standard for financial planning, CFP certification is held by more than 83,000 people in the United States. ABOUT the CFP BOARD CENTER FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning seeks to create a more diverse and sustainable financial planning profession so that every American has access to competent and ethical financial planning advice. The Center brings together CFP professionals, firms, educators, researchers and experts to address profession-wide challenges in the areas of diversity and workforce development, and to build an academic home that offers opportunities for conducting and publishing new research that adds to the financial planning body of knowledge. More about the Center and its initiatives can be found at www.CenterforFinancialPlanning.org. SOURCE CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Related Links https://www.centerforfinancialplanning.org Mr. Tripodi brings more than 30 years of experience in marketing, customer, commercial, and general management leadership to Newman's Own with a background as the Chief Marketing Officer for global brands, such as Subway, Coca-Cola, and MasterCard. Throughout his career, he was responsible for developing and launching numerous products, services, and memorable advertising and sponsorship campaigns. "We are delighted to have Joe join the Newman's Own Board of Directors. His distinguished career and expertise in marketing and product innovation at major global brands will be tremendous assets to our organization," said Bob Forrester, Co-Chairman of Newman's Own, Inc. and President and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation. "Joe joins our board with great enthusiasm to provide insight and help us continue Paul Newman's commitment to high quality products and contributing 100% of the profits to charity. He is strongly aligned with our purpose bringing a lifetime commitment to philanthropy." Mr. Tripodi recently retired from Subway where he was Chief Marketing Officer from 2016-2018. At Subway, he was primarily focused on the stewardship of the Subway brand globally, Innovation/R&D, Corporate Social Responsibility, PR, Food Safety and Quality, Subway Digital, and Advertising and Communications. Prior to Subway, Mr. Tripodi was Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of The Coca-Cola Company from 2007-2014. He also held Chief Marketing Officer positions at Allstate Insurance, The Bank of New York, and Seagram's Spirits & Wine Group. At MasterCard from 1989-1999, he rose to be the Executive Vice President, Global Marketing, Products and Services. Mr. Tripodi was inducted in the American Marketing Association Hall of Fame in 2014. "It is a tremendous honor to join the Newman's Own Board of Directors and assist, in some small way, in advancing the mission of Paul Newman to engage in 'shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good,'" said Mr. Tripodi. "I look forward to supporting the management team in their quest to drive incremental sales and new partnerships to continue to 'feed' Newman's Own Foundation so they can expand their charitable contributions worldwide." Mr. Tripodi has a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Economics (cum laude) from Harvard College. He also has a Master of Science Degree, Management and Industrial Relations, from The London School of Economics. He is a member of the Board of VOYA Financial. About Newman's Own Newman's Own, Inc., founded by Paul Newman in 1982, offers great tasting, high quality food and beverage products for people and pets. Products include salad dressings, pasta sauces, frozen pizza, salsa, refrigerated drinks, cookies, barbecue sauce, and snacks as well as dog food, cat food and pet treats. Newman's Own Foundation continues Paul Newman's commitment to use all royalties and profits that it receives from the sale of its food products for charitable purposes. Over $540 million has been given to thousands of charities since 1982. For more information, visit NewmansOwn.com . SOURCE Newmans Own, Inc. Related Links http://www.newmansown.com DUBLIN, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "North America Blood Glucose Monitoring Market (2012 - 2024)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The countries in the North American region show a high prevalence of diabetes. According to WHO in 2015, approximately 1.6 million deaths were attributed directly to diabetes on a global scale. Approximately 2.2 million deaths were caused due to high blood glucose in 2012. According to the ADA (American Diabetes Association), the total assessed cost for diagnosed diabetes in 2017 was USD 327 billion, which is inclusive of USD 237 billion in direct medical costs and USD 90 billion in augmented productivity. For the cost categories analyzed, care for people with diagnosed diabetes adds up to USD 1 in every USD 4 spent for healthcare in the United States, and more than 50% of that expenditure is directly accountable to diabetes. The self-monitoring blood glucose systems market has increased more because diabetic people have to test their glucose levels throughout the day. As studied in several clinical trials, diabetic patients with T1DM have been shown to have better glycemic control, in comparison to when glucometer was used for routine self-monitoring blood glucose. Scope of the Report The North American blood glucose monitoring market has been segmented into glucometer devices, test strips, and lancets. The glucometer devices segment is further segmented into hospital use and home use. North America BGM report also covers the Continuous glucose monitoring market, and it is segmented into the receiver and sensor. In the report, North America is segmented into the United States, Canada, and Rest of North America. Key Market Trends - The Blood Glucose Test Strips Revenue Consists of up to 83% Share in the Self-monitoring Blood Glucose Market Type 1 diabetic patients should test their blood glucose at least three times a day, based on which the administered insulin dosages alter accordingly. The test strip is a one-time use entity, and therefore, the volume of the test strip sold per year is high, as compared to the self-blood glucose meter. The test strip market held 83.3% of the self-blood glucose monitoring market in 2018. CGM proves to be an instrumental tool for patients relying on insulin pumps or multiple daily injections (MDI) therapy, as it helps in the improvement of glycemic balance without aggregating the danger for severe hypoglycemia. The United States Leads the Blood Glucose Monitoring Market In 2018, the United States held the largest share in the blood glucose monitoring market, due to the large patient pool and broader acceptance of advanced technologies. The Increase in the blood glucose monitoring market is due to the rise in diabetes population in all age groups. The market value in the United States is expected to cross USD 11 billion by 2024. Diabetes-related complications are mostly due to poor glucose control. In the United States, the BGM Market is expected to record an approximate CAGR of 13% till 2024. Glucometers are now portable and accurate to use. Also, other factors, such as technological innovations and advances, give much convenience in measuring blood glucose levels. One such advancement is in monitoring the blood glucose levels established with continuous glucose monitoring devices. Competitive Landscape The North American blood glucose monitoring market was dominated by few major players in 2018, like Dexcom, Abbott, and Medtronic. It is expected that a new player may enter the market during the forecast period. In the United States, Dexcom holds more than 65% of the market. Key Topics Covered: 1 INTRODUCTION 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 MARKET DYNAMICS 4.1 Market Overview 4.2 Drivers 4.3 Restraints 4.4 Porter's Five Forces Analysis 5 Market Segmentation 5.1 Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose Devices 5.1.1 By Component (Value and Volume, 2012 - 2024) 5.1.1.1 Glucometer Devices 5.1.1.2 Test Strips 5.1.1.3 Lancets 5.1.2 By End User 5.1.2.1 Hospital (Value and Volume, 2012 - 2024) 5.1.2.1.1 Glucometer Devices 5.1.2.1.2 Test Strips 5.1.2.1.3 Lancets 5.1.2.2 Personal (Value and Volume, 2012 - 2024) 5.1.2.2.1 Glucometer Devices 5.1.2.2.2 Test Strips 5.1.2.2.3 Lancets 5.2 Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring 5.2.1 By Component (Value and Volume, 2012 - 2024) 5.2.1.1 Sensors 5.2.1.2 Receivers 5.3 Geography 6 MARKET INDICATORS 6.1 Type-1 Diabetes Population (2012-2024) 6.2 Type-2 Diabetes Population (2012-2024) 7 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE 7.1 COMPANY PROFILES 7.1.1 Abbott Diabetes Care 7.1.2 Roche 7.1.3 Johnson & Johnson 7.1.4 Dexcom 7.1.5 Medtronic 7.1.6 Arkray 7.1.7 Ascensia Diabetes Care 7.1.8 Agamatrix Inc. 7.1.9 Bionime Corporation 7.1.10 Acon 7.1.11 Medisana 7.1.12 Trivida 7.1.13 Rossmax 7.2 COMPANY SHARE ANALYSIS 7.2.1 Roche 7.2.2 Johnson & Johnson 7.2.3 Abbott Diabetes Care 7.2.4 Dexcom 7.2.5 Medtronics 7.2.6 Others 8 MARKET OPPORTUNITES AND FUTURE TRENDS For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/a0r6da 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 SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Gigamon Inc. (" Gigamon "), the essential element of network and security infrastructure, providing pervasive visibility to network traffic across physical, virtual, and cloud environments, today announced the notice of dismissal of a Delaware class action lawsuit. On October 26, 2017, Gigamon Inc. ("Gigamon") announced that it had entered into an agreement with entities affiliated with Elliott Management Corporation ("Elliott") to be acquired for $38.50 per share (the "Transaction"). On November 30, 2017, two actions were filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware on behalf of a putative class of Gigamon stockholders against Gigamon, its Board of Directors (the "Board"), Elliott, and certain entities affiliated with Elliott. The lawsuits, which were consolidated into a single action (the "Action"), challenged, among other things, Gigamon's public disclosures about the Transaction. Plaintiffs in the Action identified information that the plaintiffs contended should have been, but was not, disclosed to Gigamon's stockholders in the proxy statement related to the Transaction. On December 12, 2017, and in response to the Action, Gigamon made supplemental disclosures (the "Supplemental Disclosures") within a Form 8-K that it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Supplemental Disclosures made the disclosure claims asserted in the Action moot. Therefore, plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the Action. The defendants deny that the Supplemental Disclosures contained any additional material facts that were required to be disclosed, and deny that any claim asserted in the Action is or was ever meritorious. On April 12, 2019, the Court of Chancery entered an order dismissing the Action and the claims asserted in the Action with prejudice only as to all named plaintiffs individually, and without prejudice as to any actual or potential claims of members of the putative class. Gigamon has agreed to make a fee and expense payment to plaintiffs' counsel in the Action of $500,000.00 to resolve any application for an award of attorneys' fees and expenses to be made by counsel for plaintiffs in the Action for the alleged benefit conferred on Gigamon stockholders through the issuance of the Supplemental Disclosures detailed above. The Court of Chancery has not been asked to review, and will pass no judgment on, the payment of fees and expenses or its reasonableness. If you have any questions regarding the litigation, please contact any of the attorneys below: MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC Juan E. Monteverde The Empire State Building 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4405 New York, New York 10118 Tel.: 212-971-1341 Fax: 212-202-7880 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI P.C. David Berger 650 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304 650-320-4901 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Gigamon Inc., Corey M. Mulloy, Paul A. Hooper, Michael C. Ruettgers, John H. Kispert, Paul J. Milbury, Ted C. Ho, Robert E. Switz, Joan A. Dempsey, Dario Zamarian, and Arthur W. Coviello, Jr. GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP Brian M. Lutz 555 Mission Street Suite 3000 San Francisco, California 94105-0921 (415) 393-8379 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Elliott Associates, L.P., Elliott Management Corporation, Elliott International, L.P., Elliott International Capital Advisors Inc., The Liverpool Limited Partnership, Evergreen Coast Capital Corp., Ginsberg Holdco, Inc., and Ginsberg Merger Sub, Inc. About Gigamon Gigamon is the recognized leader in network visibility solutions, delivering the power needed to see, secure and empower enterprise networks. Our solutions accelerate threat detection and incident response times while empowering customers to maximize their infrastructure performance across physical, virtual and cloud networks. Since 2004 we have cultivated a global customer base which includes leading Service Providers, Government Agencies as well as Enterprise NetOps and SecOps teams from more than 80 percent of the Fortune 100. For the full story on how we can help reduce risk, complexity, and cost to meet your business needs, visit our website, follow our blog, and connect with us on your favorite social channels Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. SOURCE Gigamon Inc. Related Links http://www.gigamon.com ARLINGTON, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Across the globe, people are in shock over the fire that severely damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Now that the fire is out and there are only a few injuries to emergency personnel, thoughts have turned to repair and renovation of the magnificent and historic building. The cathedral was declared "structurally sound" after an inspection on Tuesday, and the president of France and mayor of Paris have both vowed to rebuild the landmark. French corporations and billionaires have already pledged millions to aid in the effort, and companies in other countries are starting to promise contributions, as well. However, the Better Business Bureau is warning individuals to "wait to donate," to make sure donations are going to the official Notre Dame rebuilding fund and not into the hands of scammers. "Scammers are opportunists, and they will take advantage of whatever is in the news," said Art Taylor, president and CEO of BBB Wise Giving Alliance (Give.org). "We expect to see Notre Dame fundraising appeals on social media and crowdfunding sites. Some will be from well-intentioned people who are not directly involved with the cathedral, but some may be from scammers. BBB Wise Giving Alliance is urging people to 'wait to donate' until an official rebuilding fund is established." Taylor also reminded donors in Canada and the United States that donations are more likely to be tax-deductible if they "wait to donate" through a charity based in their own country rather than contribute through another individual, a crowdfunding site, or a foreign entity. "The rebuilding will take some time," he added. "It's best to wait until we have more details about which official entities are raising funds to assist the rebuilding." NOTE: BBB will update this report as more information becomes available on the official fundraising efforts. Bookmark BBB.org/NotreDame and check back for updates. For more information: If you see a scam aimed at raising funds for Notre Dame (or any disaster), please report it to BBB Scam Tracker at BBB.org/ScamTracker. For more information on giving to trustworthy charities, go to Give.org. For tips on avoiding scams, go to BBB.org/AvoidScams. ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. In 2018, people turned to BBB more than 173 million times for BBB Business Profiles on nearly 5.4 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, as well as home to its national and international programs on dispute resolution, advertising review, and industry self-regulation. SOURCE Better Business Bureau Related Links http://www.bbb.org CINCINNATI, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Patient engagement leader PatientPoint and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) today announced a partnership to bring empowering blood cancer education and coping tools to patients and caregivers in more than 600 oncology practices nationwide. Through their partnership, PatientPoint and LLS will deliver interactive blood cancer education and information about free LLS resources via exam-room touchscreens and digital screens in the physician back office. Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. More than 174,000 Americans received a blood cancer diagnosis in 2018. As the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer, LLS aims to improve the quality of life of patients and families navigating blood cancer until researchers end the disease for good. By joining forces, PatientPoint and LLS will reach more patients, families and physicians with best-in-class education and direct access to LLS support programs in the moments they need it most. "Partnering with PatientPoint helps us fulfill such a critical part of our mission: to bring hope, guidance, education and support to patients during and after their diagnosis and treatment," said Elisa Weiss, senior vice president of patient access and outcomes for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. "By extending our message to the point of carewhere important conversations are taking place between doctors and patientswe can ensure patients have access to the help and care they need." In the exam room, the organizations collaborated on touchscreen mantle cell lymphoma education and eye-catching banner ads to promote LLS's Information Specialist services and financial support programs. The interactive platform, called PatientPoint Interact, features videos, 3D anatomicals and other multimedia learning tools designed to help patients better understand their diagnosis, support patient-physician discussions and reinforce key steps for treatment compliance. Mantle cell lymphoma content joins a wealth of best-in-class education on blood cancersas well as more than 20 additional cancer typesavailable on the platform. The partnership also promotes LLS support programs in the physician back office. Bulletins on LLS services, clinical trials, continuing medical education programs and more are highlighted via the PatientPoint Access physician medical news program designed for the oncology back office. The digital screens keep busy oncology practices informed throughout the day with digital "at-a-glance" medical news and practice updates. "We're honored to partner with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to work toward our common goals of educating patients and caregivers, informing them of critical resources and empowering them to make the best possible healthcare decisions," said PatientPoint Founder and CEO Mike Collette. "Through our partnership with LLS, we look forward to connecting patients, caregivers and physicians with this critically important organization at the point of careand beyond." 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. About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to fighting blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Rye Brook, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org. Patients should contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. For additional information visit lls.org/lls-newsnetwork. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SOURCE PatientPoint Related Links http://www.patientpoint.com WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PCF Insurance Services ("PCF" or the "Company") has completed the acquisition of Grosslight Insurance, Inc., headquartered in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. Peter Foy, Chief Executive Officer of PCF, said, "We are excited to partner with such an iconic agency in the Los Angeles area as well as the broader insurance community. Our presence in Southern California is now one of the largest by any privately-held brokerage." Grosslight Insurance, with offices in Westwood and Rancho Cucamonga, was founded in 1950 by Gil Grosslight who built the agency into one of the top twenty brokers in Los Angeles. Gil will remain active proudly servicing his clients and the Grosslight brand will continue under PCF's stewardship as one of the preeminent insurance brokerages in Southern California. The combination of Grosslight's property & casualty expertise with PCF's strong employee benefits practice has enhanced the Company's overall product offering. In February 2017, PCF partnered with BHMS Investments, LP to accelerate the Company's growth through a series of retail agency acquisitions. BHMS is a private investment firm located in New York with a track record of success in aggregation strategies, including insurance brokerage. About PCF: Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA, PCF is a full-service insurance brokerage firm which provides complete risk management solutions with a broad array of property & casualty, life and health, employee benefits and workers' compensation insurance products. Additional information can be found at www.pcfoy.com. About BHMS: BHMS Investments, LP is a private investment firm focused on the North American middle market. The firm was founded in 2010 and is based in New York City. Additional information can be found at www.bhmsinvestments.com. For further information contact: Peter C. Foy Dani Goldsmith PCF Insurance Services PCF Insurance Services Chief Executive Officer Chief Operating & Financial Officer 818.703.8057 747.234.3171 SOURCE PCF Insurance Services Related Links https://www.pcfoy.com TORONTO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Peak Power Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Diamond Generating Corporation ("DGC") to provide software services for a behind-the-meter energy storage system (1MW/4MWh) to be installed in San Diego, California. "DGC has been excited to work with Peak and has a high expectation with Peak's software and overall capabilities." said Yuichiro Matsui, Assistant Director, Diamond Generating Corporation. "We were looking for the best solution to maximize the value of our energy storage asset in California." Peak, using it's AI-powered SynergyTM platform, will optimize the operation of the energy storage system for both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter value streams. In addition to increasing resiliency and reducing greenhouse gas, the system will provide relief to the CA electricity grid. The project is expected to reach commercial operation in 2019. This represents Peak's 4th ISO region in the past 6 months demonstrating the adaptability of the SynergyTM platform across jurisdictions. "Peak Power is excited to work with DGC to enter the California market which is a leader in North American energy storage market", said Peak Power CEO, Derek Lim Soo. "California's leadership in energy storage policy and aggressive renewables targets make is a natural fit for market expansion for our company." About Peak Power Inc. Toronto-based Peak Power provides intelligent software and technology solutions for the evolving energy marketplace. Through their SynergyTM platform, Peak Power empowers building and business owners to achieve long-term savings by targeting expensive moments of peak demand. The Synergy platform uses forecasted and real-time data to optimize operation and adjust real-time asset schedules to changing market and weather conditions. Furthermore, these solutions help companies reach sustainability goals and increase onsite resiliency, while aiding utilities in addressing aging infrastructure. About Diamond Generation Corporation DGC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation and is a developer, owner and operator of privately owned power generating assets in the United States and Mexico. It currently has ownership interest in 13 operating power generating facilities, having total output capacity of approximately 7,800MW, with net equity of 3,400MW. SOURCE Peak Power Inc. Related Links peakpowerenergy.com In this episode, photojournalist Mikkel Aaland, author of the 1978 classic, "Sweat," returns after 44 years to Turkey, home of the Turkish bath, or hammam . His guide /co-host for this episode is Elizabet Kurumlu, a local hammam devotee. "I arrived in Istanbul in 1975," says Aaland. "I was young, and broke, and I stayed at a youth hostel near the Blue Mosque for a dollar a night. I was here to study the hammam, the Turkish form of the sauna used for centuries all over the Middle East. I am excited to see what has changed since then." With roots that go back to the ancient Roman and Greek times, the hammam is known throughout the Middle East as a place to clean body, mind and spirit. Its name means "spreader of warmth" and it is in the center of many important social rituals and customs. In this episode we will participate in a traditional pre-wedding henna ceremony newly popularized by Turkish millennials held in the magnificent 16th century Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hammam, located midway between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. We will witness an increasingly popular "Pledge" hammam ritual in the newly renovated Cukurcuma Hammam in the hip Cukurcuma neighborhood. We will help send an enlisted soldier off to the army with a party in the Cemberlitas Hammam, one of the oldest functioning hammams in Istanbul, designed by the great Renaissance architect Sinan. We will see the contemporary Turkish artist Tarik Cengiz (known as the Picture Tailor) at work crafting typical hammam implements such as clogs and dipping bowls. We will visit the historic city of Bursa, famous for its hammam textiles and clothing and in the Kervansaray Thermal Hammam we will learn how to wash with intent from Nail Dede, a Sufi Master. And finally, we will meet Belgin Aksoy, the inspirational creator of Global Wellness Day and hear from her how Turkey and the world is moving wellness programs from luxury spas to everyday life. About the series: The Perfect Sweat Throughout recorded human history, the sweat bath has comforted, healed, and strengthened the social bonds between rich and poor, young and old, strong and the weak. In Finland and much of the modern world, the sweat bath is known as the sauna. But the sauna is only part of the picture. In the Middle East the sweat bath is known as the hammam, in Mexico the temescal, in Russia the banya, among Native Americans, it is known as the sweat lodge, and in Japan the kara-furo and mushi-buro. Each bathing culture has its passionate devotees, unique history, rituals, and architecture. Now, in this documentary series, sweat bathing guru Aaland teams up with local guides and retraces his steps in search of the perfect sweat. What he finds is an explosive rebirth of the ancient bathing traditions, traditions which include community rituals that are meant to revive the human spirit and change the world. So sit back and relax, and travel with us on this amazing and unique adventure! www.perfectsweatseries.com Bray's Run Productions Bray's Run Productions is a Seattle-based independent film production company founded by Greg Moga that specializes in exploring culture, history and travel through the prism of charismatic people across the globe. We open doors into aspects of culture that traditional media has overlooked. Mikkel Aaland, producer / host Mikkel Aaland is an award-winning photojournalist and the best-selling author of fifteen books. Aaland's best-known book is the 1978 classic best seller 'Sweat, the illustrated history and description of the Finnish sauna, Russian Banya, Islamic Hamman, Japanese mushi-buro, Mexican Temescal and American Indian & Eskimo sweat lodge.' Elizabet Kurumlu, co-host/guide Turkey Elizabet Kurumlu (Liz) has worked in productions for TV channels such as National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, BBC, CNN, Channel 4, ZDF, ORF, and hosted such well-known people as Kofi Annan, Michael Portillo, and Boris Johnson. She has guided and accompanied Michelin starred chefs, and international journalists from such prominent publications as Food Travel, The Times, and Vogue Gourmet. Liz became a hammam devotee when she first discovered that the traditional Turkish baths are about surrender, always good for the soul, the mind and the body. From a 2,000-year-old hammam to private home hammams, from luxury hotel spa hammams to hole-in-the-wall local hammams, she has experienced more than 100 during her travels throughout Turkey and beyond, continuing her search for the perfect 3H historic, hygienic, halcyon hammams where she can surrender. SOURCE Bray's Run Productions Related Links http://www.perfectsweatseries.com Pahygiannis has over 32 years of aviation experience and over 18,000 flight hours, including supervising over 800 professional pilots for a large national airline. He was a Sergeant in the US Air Force and had the distinction of working as Maintenance Operating Instruction Manager for Air Force One during his service. In addition to flying for major airlines and air carriers, he is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, University of Maryland College Park and Montgomery College. Zwebner was previously a Captain at Trans States Airlines on the Embraer 145, Chief Instructor of the Washington International Flight Academy, and a Captain for Openair. Between 2009 and 2015 he ran his own business ferrying aircraft all over the world to destinations as far as Cape Town, South Africa and Tel-Aviv, Israel. GrandView Aviation GrandView Aviation operates a fleet of Phenom 300 charter jets in Maryland & Texas. The company has offices at Martin State Airport and Austin-Bergstom International Airport. GrandView Aviation is a FAA Part 135 certificated aircraft operator & carries the elite Wyvern Wingman safety rating. For more information about GrandView Aviation, please visit www.flygv.com. SOURCE GrandView Aviation Related Links http://www.flygv.com HAMILTON, N.J., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- P&R Dental Strategies, LLC, the premier dental insights company delivering customized, actionable business intelligence to support a variety of dental payer objectives, today proudly announced that it has been named one of Insurance CIO Outlook Magazine's Top 10 Insurance Analytics Solution Providers for 2019. Insurance CIO Outlook Magazine presents the latest news on new technology and innovations that are changing the insurance industry, plus profiles on transformative organizations and industry leaders. A distinguished selection panel comprising CEOs, CIOs, VCs and Insurance CIO Outlook's editorial board selected the list of the top insurance analytics solution providers. Featured companies are those that leverage innovative technologies and strategies to enhance today's insurance industry analytics solutions. P&R's inclusion in this distinguished group demonstrates to the industry that it is at the forefront of adapting data-driven technologies to meet the evolving needs of the dental market. As the dental industry continues to grow, trusted sources of data and analytics will only become more critical to business success. "We are proud to announce P&R Dental Strategies as one among the Top 10 Insurance Analytics Solution Providers - 2019," says Pamela Morgan, Managing Editor of Insurance CIO Outlook. "We chose P&R as they have built a reputation in the dental industry as the premier provider of data, analytics and business intelligence. Through the use of their advanced data solutions, they're helping dental insurance payers become more optimized, efficiently-run organizations and enabling them to provide better oral healthcare to their plan members." Featured in the latest issue, the article titled Bringing Big Data to Dental is a comprehensive profile of P&R Dental Strategies and a look at how their dental claims database and analytics solutions are changing the dental payer industry. Paul T. Sheils, CEO of P&R Dental Strategies, said "It is a great honor to be recognized for our relentless commitment to providing the dental industry with comprehensive data and actionable business analytics and insights. By informing and advising our dental payer clients with precise, actionable data and analytics, we believe we can make every aspect of their operations more efficient. Making Insurance CIO Outlook's Top 10 List validates how far we've come as a company and the world-class reputation we've established within the dental insurance community." For more information about P&R Dental Strategies, our utilization review services, multi-payer database DentaBase, and our other payer business solutions visit www.pandrdental.com. For more information about Insurance CIO Outlook Magazine visit www.insuranceciooutlook.com. For business inquiries, please contact P&R Dental Strategies Business Development at +1.856.986.6216 or email [email protected] About P&R Dental Strategies, LLC P&R Dental Strategies is the premier dental insights company delivering customized, actionable business intelligence powered by DentaBase, our national multi-payer claims database. P&R Dental Strategies' flexible, cutting-edge technology platform provides an enterprise-level suite of quality measurement, claim review and utilization management, provider profiling, fraud and abuse prevention and network development solutions to customers seeking to contain costs and maximize efficiency across their businesses. P&R Dental Strategies customers can depend on the support of an industry-leading team of dentists, consultants and statisticians to focus on their unique challenges. Website: http://www.pandrdental.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pandrdentalstrategies Twitter: https://twitter.com/PandRDental About Insurance CIO Outlook Published from Fremont, California, Insurance CIO Outlook is a print and online magazine that gives insights about the latest news and updates on new technologies that are transforming the ways insurance industries work. A panel of experts, professionals, and technology leaders including board members of Insurance CIO Outlook have finalized the list of "Top 10 Insurance Analytics Solution Providers of 2019" and shortlisted the best companies. For more info, visit: https://www.insuranceciooutlook.com Joe Mann Vice President of Marketing P&R Dental Strategies, LLC (609) 783-9011 [email protected] This release was issued through WebWire. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com. SOURCE P&R Dental Strategies, LLC Related Links http://www.pandrdental.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Presidio Trust Board of Directors elected William Ellison Grayson, Esq. as Board Chair, replacing John W. Keker whose term as Chair has ended. Marie Louise Hurabiell, Esq. will assume the role of Board Vice Chair replacing Mr. Grayson, both effective on April 24, 2019. Says Mr. Grayson, "I am honored to assume leadership of the Presidio Trust Board of Directors. It is an exciting time for the Trust as we continue to steward this incredible national park and bring to life important projects like the opening of the Presidio Theatre and create new parklands at the Tunnel Tops." Mr. Grayson was appointed to the seven-member board in May of 2017. He is the National Director Family Offices at Bernstein Private Wealth Management in San Francisco. Previously, he was a senior executive at financial service firms, including J.P. Morgan and Montgomery Securities, and practiced law for ten years in law firm, corporate and government settings. Mr. Grayson also has history in public service, including the President's Commission on White House Fellowships and as the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army in Washington, D.C. While at the Pentagon, he oversaw the Army's 2,700 civilian and military lawyers and focused on regulatory law, mergers and acquisitions, and Army base realignments, including the Presidio. A San Francisco native, Mr. Grayson holds a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara, and graduated from San Francisco's St. Ignatius College Preparatory. He has served on the boards of the Bay Area Discovery Museum, U.C. Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies, the University of Hawaii Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Ms. Hurabiell was appointed to the board in March of 2018. She is an eighth generation San Franciscan, and a founder and board member of Ellipsis Health, Inc., a technology company using speech analytics to gauge the behavioral health of patients in real-time. Says Ms. Hurabiell, "I am excited to step into this new role and expand my service to the Presidio as the park continues to evolve into a destination that truly welcomes everyone." Both Ms. Hurabiell and Mr. Grayson were active in the opening of the new Lodge at the Presidio in June 2018, and the process to consider proposals for the rehabilitation of Fort Winfield Scott. About the Presidio Trust and Board of Directors The Presidio Trust is a federal agency that manages the Presidio of San Francisco, a national park at the heart of the 82,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In partnership with the National Park Service and the non-profit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the Presidio Trust brings alive the park's historic, natural, and recreational assets for the inspiration, education, health, and enjoyment of all people at no cost to taxpayers. The Presidio Trust is governed by a seven-member board of directors. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States. The seventh is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior or his or her designee. Board terms are four years and may be renewed once. For more information visit www.presidio.gov. Media Contact: Lisa Petrie (415) 561-5424 [email protected] SOURCE Presidio Trust Related Links http://www.presidio.gov LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Monero's global community this week celebrates five successful years with meetings and celebrations. Privacy-focused Moneroknown for financial transactions hidden by encryptionis a fungible cryptocurrency. Monero amounts by default don't have a knowable history or origin, so any Monero is exchangeable for any other, like with cash. Individuals and businesses that want to buy and sell with cryptocurrency as they do with cash and other private payment methods often choose Monero. "Monero gives you control over the privacy of your digital financial transactions," said binaryFate, member of Monero's core team. "This privacy is a fundamental human right for individuals and a competitive essential for businesses." Just five years ago, on April 18, 2014, at 6:50 am Eastern Time, the first Monero was mined. It was created as a fork of Bytecoin, an early cryptocurrency based on the CryptoNote protocol. In a parallel with Bitcoin, CryptoNote's creator, Nicolas van Saberhagen, is unknown and mysterious. From its obscure background, Monero grew with an obsession on private transactions combined with openness in the protocol and source code. The commitment to maximum privacy maintains Monero's dominant position among private cryptocurrencies. Transactions with Monero are secret by default, and the secrecy is cryptographic and trustless. Yet the source code for Monero and the funding mechanisms for its continual improvement are transparent, enabling selfless commitment by the many programmers, contributors, and enthusiasts supporting it. With its maximum-privacy goal and vibrant community, Monero is positioned today as a leading cryptocurrency. Monero's over 500 developers place it third in developer count among cryptocurrencies. The highly regarded Monero Research Lab invents and develops improvements and provides audits. Monero has a mission. It protects the privacy and rights of people across the globe, serving mankind as the digital equivalent of cash. People every day spend and receive Monero, feeling confident, protected, free, and unwatched. Planned events for the anniversary celebration include educational and fun activities. The Monero community will have a meetup in Toronto. There will be live video conferences. And the Vienna-based institute RIAT will hold all-day activities on April 18, opening their doors as a place to celebrate, discuss, and learn about privacy. "Monero has a great and warm community," said Luigi, Monero core team member. "This collaboration, our friendship, and the ongoing success of Monero will be celebrated this weekplease join us for the festivities and stay with us for the cause." For additional information, contact Justin Ehrenhofer at [email protected]. About Monero Monero was launched in April 2014. It was a fair, pre-announced launch of the CryptoNote reference code. There was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward goes to development. Since launch, ongoing improvements have provided better security and privacy and made Monero easier to use. Monero continues to develop with the goals of privacy and security as uncompromised priorities. Monero Outreach is a semi-autonomous workgroup separate from Monero's Core Team. SOURCE Monero Outreach Related Links https://www.monerooutreach.org STOCKHOLM, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The shareholders in RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ), corporate identity no. 556322-6157, are hereby invited to the Annual General Meeting, to be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., at the company's offices at Sveavagen 44, 7th floor, Stockholm, Sweden. Registration will start at 5:00 p.m. and light refreshments will be served. RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE AND NOTICE Shareholders who wish to participate in the Annual General Meeting and to have the right to vote, must: - be recorded in the share register maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, and - notify the company of their intention to participate in the Annual General Meeting by mail to RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ), P.O. Box 3297, 103 65 Stockholm, Sweden; by telephone +46 (0)8-510-530-00; by fax +46 (0)8-510-530-30; or by email to [email protected], no later than Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. Assistants may accompany shareholders to the Annual General Meeting only if the shareholder has provided notice of the number of assistants, a maximum of two, in the manner described above for notification of participation. Notification should include the shareholder's name, personal or corporate identity number, shareholding, address and telephone number; and - at the Annual General Meeting be able to produce an ID-card valid in Sweden (e.g. passport, driver's licence, national ID-card). Also, proxies and/or assistants must be able to produce an ID-card valid in Sweden (e.g. passport, driver's license, national ID-card) as the case may be. Shareholders who have trustee-registered shares through a bank or broker, must request to temporarily register the shares in their own name with Euroclear Sweden AB to be entitled to exercise their voting rights at the Annual General Meeting. Such shareholders must inform the trustee of this request in adequate time prior to Wednesday, May 15, 2019, when such registration must have been completed. POWER OF ATTORNEY ETC. If a shareholder intends to be represented by proxy, the shareholder must issue a written power of attorney, duly dated and signed. For practical reasons, the power of attorney should be submitted to the company in advance. Please note, however, that the original of any power of attorney must be presented at the Annual General Meeting and that it is therefore not sufficient to send it by fax or email. A power of attorney template is available on the company's website, www.raysearchlabs.com, and will be sent at no cost to shareholders who request it and provide their postal address or email address. A power of attorney is valid no longer than one year from its issuance, unless a longer period of validity is expressly stated; however, in no event longer than five years. Representatives of legal entities must present a copy of a registration certificate or corresponding authorization document that indicates the authorized signatory. PROPOSED AGENDA 1. Opening of the Annual General Meeting. 1. Election of a chairman of the Annual General Meeting. 1. Preparation and approval of the voting list. 1. Election of one or two minute-checkers. 1. Approval of the proposed agenda. 1. Determination whether the Annual General Meeting has been duly convened. 1. Address by the CEO. Presentation of the Annual Report and the Auditors' Report as well as the consolidated financial statements and the Auditors' Report for the consolidated financial statements for the 2018 fiscal year. 1. Resolutions concerning a) the adoption of the income statement and balance sheet and the consolidated income statement and consolidated balance sheet; b) the disposition to be made of the company's profits or losses as shown in the balance sheet adopted by the Annual General Meeting; and c) the discharge of the members of the Board and of the CEO from personal liability. 1. Resolution on guidelines for remuneration to senior executives. 1. Determination of the number of members of the Board and deputies. 1. Determination of the fees to be paid to the Board and auditors. 1. Election of the members of the Board (including Chairman) and deputy member(s) of the Board. 1. Determination of the number of auditors and deputies. 1. Election of auditor. 1. Closing of the Annual General Meeting. PROPOSED DECISIONS Election of a chairman of the Annual General Meeting (item 2) Shareholders representing approximately 67 percent of the total number of votes in the company propose that Carl Filip Bergendal should be appointed chairman of the Annual General Meeting. Disposition of earnings (item 9 b) As the company is currently in a phase of rapid expansion that requires access to capital, the Board and the CEO propose that no dividend be paid to the company's shareholders. The accumulated profit of SEK 214,991,997 is proposed to be brought forward and balanced in the new accounts. Guidelines for remuneration to senior executives (item 10) The Board proposes the Annual General Meeting to adopt the following guidelines for remuneration to senior executives to apply for the period until the close of the Annual General Meeting of 2020. Salary and other remuneration The CEO shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to 2.0 per cent of the Group's earnings before tax after allocations to the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation, though not more than 12 months' salary. In addition, the CEO may have other benefits of a common nature, such as a company car. The CEO's salary shall be reviewed annually. This shall take place through negotiations between the CEO and the Chairman of the Board, after which the Chairman shall present a proposal to the other Board members. The CEO shall not be present when the Board discusses and resolves on this issue. The other senior executives are the Deputy CEO, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Director of Research, Director of Development, Director of Sales and Marketing, Director of Sales for the Asia & Pacific region, Director of Service and the General Counsel. The other senior executives shall, as all other employees in RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) except the CEO, be covered by the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation, and thereby receive a variable remuneration. Furthermore, the following shall apply with regard to remuneration to the other senior executives. The Director of Sales and Marketing shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to a certain percentage of the sales of RayStation and RayCare in Europe. The Director of Sales for the Asia & Pacific region shall receive a fixed salary and a variable remuneration. The variable remuneration shall amount to a certain percentage of the sales of RayStation and RayCare in the Asia & Pacific region. The Deputy CEO, CFO, Director of Research, Director of Development, Director of Service, and the General Counsel, shall receive a fixed salary but no variable remuneration, other than being covered by the profit-sharing foundation RayFoundation in accordance with the above. The salaries of the other senior executives shall also be reviewed annually. This shall take place in negotiations between the CEO and each individual. Incentive programs There are no incentive programs intended specifically for senior executives and none is proposed. However, the senior executives, except the CEO, may participate together with the other employees in such option programs and profit-sharing programs as the company may apply. Pensions All pension undertakings are defined-contribution plans. The retirement age for the CEO and the other senior executives is 65 years and the pension premiums correspond to the Swedish ITP plan. Period of notice If the CEO terminates his employment, his period of notice is 6 months, and if the company terminates the CEO's employment, the period of notice is 12 months. In both cases, the CEO is entitled to salary during the period of notice. In respect of the other senior executives there is a mutual period of notice of 3 months during which salary shall be paid. Severance pay Neither the CEO nor the other senior executives shall be entitled to any severance pay, in a formal sense, should their employment cease. However, as described above, the CEO and the other senior executives shall be entitled to salary during the period of notice. Deviation The Board proposes that the Board be entitled to deviate from the above guidelines if there are special reasons for such deviations. Number of members of the Board and deputies (item 11) Shareholders representing approximately 67 percent of the total number of votes in the company propose that the number of Board members be six, with no deputies. Fees to the Board (item 12) The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they intend to revert with proposals regarding fees to the Board. The company will disclose the proposals as soon as they are received. Board, etc. (item 13) The above-mentioned shareholders propose that Carl Filip Bergendal, Johan Lof, Hans Wigzell, Britta Wallgren and Johanna Oberg be re-elected as Board members in the company. The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they intend to revert with proposals regarding election of a new Board member and election of the Chairman of the Board. The company will disclose the proposals as soon as they are received. Determination of auditor fees, number of auditors and deputies and election of auditor (items 12, 14 and 15) The Board proposes that there should be one auditor with no deputies, that the auditing firm Ernst & Young shall be re-elected as auditor until the close of the Annual General Meeting 2020 (with authorized public accountant Anna Svanberg as auditor in charge) and that the auditor's fees shall be paid in accordance with approved invoicing. The above proposals are submitted by the Board as the company do not have a nomination committee, and the Board fulfils the duties that are to be performed by an audit committee. The above-mentioned shareholders have informed the company that they support the Board's proposals. NUMBER OF SHARES AND VOTES AND INFORMATION ON HOLDING OF OWN SHARES The total number of shares in the company at the date of this invitation is 34,282,773, of which 8,454,975 are Series A shares and 25,827,798 are Series B shares, which means that there is a total of 110,377,548 votes in the company. The company holds no own shares. AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENTS AND OTHER ISSUES The Annual Report, the Auditor's Report in accordance with Chapter 8, Section 54 of the Swedish Companies Act and the Board's complete proposals in accordance with the above will be held available at the company's offices and on the company's website no later than from and including April 30, 2019, and will be sent to those shareholders who have provided notice that they wish to receive such information from the company. THE RIGHT OF THE SHAREHOLDERS TO REQUEST INFORMATION The shareholders have the right at the Annual General Meeting to request that the Board and the CEO provide information about facts that can affect the assessment of an item on the agenda and facts that can affect the assessment of the economic situation of the company. Such information shall be provided if it can be done without substantial harm to the company. The obligation to inform also applies in respect of the company's relationship to other Group companies, the consolidated financial statements and facts according to the above in respect of subsidiaries. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA For information on how your personal data is processed, see https://www.euroclear.com/dam/ESw/Legal/Privacy-notice-bolagsstammor-engelska.pdf. Board of Directors For further information, please contact: Johan Lof, President and CEO, RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) Telephone: +46(0)8-510-530-00 [email protected] Peter Thysell, CFO, RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ) Telephone: +46(0)70-661-05-59 [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/raysearch-laboratories/r/invitation-to-annual-general-meeting-2019,c2790252 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/1102/2790252/1026992.pdf PDF https://news.cision.com/raysearch-laboratories/i/linkedin-pressrelease-rsl,c2611211 LinkedIn PressRelease RSL SOURCE RaySearch Laboratories GALLUP, New Mexico, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHCS) CEO David Conejo has been distinguished as a national rural health care CEO. The honor was bestowed on Conejo by Becker's Hospital Review, which inaugurated him into the group of "60 Rural Hospital and Health Systems CEOs to Know in 2019." https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/50-rural-hospital-and-health-system-ceos-to-know-2019.html "We welcome David Conejo to the '60 Rural Hospital and Health System CEOs to Know in 2019'," said Scott Becker, CEO, Becker's Healthcare. "Mr. Conejo brings tireless health care leadership to the residents of Gallup New Mexico and greater McKinley County daily. His services to the area's homeless and his quest to eradicate addiction in the community through behavioral health care innovation are testaments to being named a member of our rural CEO list." Conejo, who also serves as president of the New Mexico Rural Hospital Network and is a board member of the New Mexico Hospital Association, was cited by the publication and noted for his outstanding achievements: "Mr. Conejo oversees the 69-bed, acute-care Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services. With a staff of 500, including 70 providers, the hospital sees an estimated 150,000 people living in northwest New Mexico and eastern Arizona. Mr. Conejo has received several honors throughout his career, including the Torch Essence of Leadership Award and the American Hospital Association's Foster G. McGaw Prize." Becker's Healthcare accepted nominations for this list and is considered a leader making a positive impact on its organizations. The CEOs featured lead hospitals consistently recognized by the National Rural Health Association, American Hospital Association and HIMSS as top institutions. Others sit on local chamber of commerce boards and serve state hospital associations. "I am honored to be selected as one of the recipients for this national award," said David Conejo, CEO, RMCHCS. "Rural hospitals are not just the lifeblood of health care across many parts of the U.S., but hope for better, healthier families and a tomorrow filled with promise of a brighter future." Conejo has also been selected by the National Association of Rural Mental Health to conduct a workshop entitled "Fixing the Behavioral Healthcare Fix: Treating 22,000 Addicts" at its annual conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Aug. 26-29. He previously spoke on data integration at the IT Expo in Boston. In addition, Conejo was nominated by RMCHCS hospital board chairman David Dallago for the American Hospital Association's Rural Mental Health Hospital Leadership Award and the National Cooperative of Health Networks Association Outstanding Network Leadership Award. Under Conejo's leadership, RMCHCS is the first hospital in New Mexico honored with a "Patient Safety Excellence Award" for five consecutive years and ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation's hospitals for patient safety. Media Contact: William Madaras ( [email protected] ) Related Images david-conejo.jpg Related Links Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services SOURCE Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services Related Links http://www.rmch.org To meet the growing demand from travelers worldwide, Rocky Mountaineer partnered with the Swiss rail car company Stadler to engineer and then build the new equipment at its facilities in Germany, keeping guest comfort and experience at the forefront throughout. This project marked the largest capital investment in Rocky Mountaineer's history. The remaining three cars will join the fleet in 2020, bringing the company's total to 26 bi-level GoldLeaf rail cars and 16 single-level SilverLeaf rail cars to mark Rocky Mountaineer's 30th anniversary as a luxury tourist company. "These new GoldLeaf rail cars will allow us to welcome even more guests on board our trains and offer increased availability across our most popular dates and routes," said Steve Sammut, president and chief executive officer, Rocky Mountaineer. "We were intentional in designing these new cars to offer the same exemplary guest comfort across the entire fleet, while also making numerous engineering enhancements behind the scenes that reflect our goal of constantly enhancing both the experience and efficiency of our service." The new GoldLeaf rail cars feature: Dimmable domed windows : The upper level windows use a suspended particle device layer, which can be dimmed to moderate the intensity of incoming sunlight. This is similar technology to what is used in luxury yachts and business jets. : The upper level windows use a suspended particle device layer, which can be dimmed to moderate the intensity of incoming sunlight. This is similar technology to what is used in luxury yachts and business jets. Redesigned galley kitchens : The galleys feature upgraded ovens and stovetops, electrical grills, eco-friendly dishwashers, and optimal preparation spaces for meal preparation. : The galleys feature upgraded ovens and stovetops, electrical grills, eco-friendly dishwashers, and optimal preparation spaces for meal preparation. Custom-designed seats : The heated composite-leather seats recline without impacting the guest seated behind and can spin 180 degrees to create more social seating. : The heated composite-leather seats recline without impacting the guest seated behind and can spin 180 degrees to create more social seating. Enhanced ride quality: The cars feature other technical features that enhance the overall guest experience, including improved suspension design. Each GoldLeaf rail car seats 72 guests. The new cars will be added to the trains traveling on two of Rocky Mountaineer's routes: First Passage to the West , a two-day rail journey between Vancouver and Lake Louise or Banff; and Journey through the Clouds , a two-day rail journey between Vancouver and Jasper. For more information on booking a journey, please contact Rocky Mountaineer at 1-877-460-3200 or www.rockymountaineer.com ; or contact a travel agent. For the latest news, follow on Twitter or Instagram , tune into YouTube , and connect on Facebook . About Rocky Mountaineer Rocky Mountaineer is the world's largest privately owned luxury tourist train and, since 1990, has welcomed more than two million guests to inhale the mountain air and let nature take their breath away. Guests can choose from more than 50 vacation packages and four unique rail routes, which travel through iconic destinations such as Seattle, WA, Vancouver, B.C., and the majestic Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The unparalleled experience onboard the all domed fleet offers rich, historic storytelling, world-class cuisine, and a first-hand look at the vast and untouched wild beauty of Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. *Access to Rocky Mountaineer's photo library is available upon request. SOURCE Rocky Mountaineer Related Links www.rockymountaineer.com WASHINGTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced the following 2019 National Small Business Week resource partners as national winners for their impact on local economic development and support of small business creation and growth in the U.S.: Montana Women's Business Center Business Center Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University Veterans Business Outreach Center at Gulf Coast State College SCORE Portland Maine The awards will be presented to the winners in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, May 5, 2019, to kickoff National Small Business Week celebrations that are taking place across the nation. The D.C. award ceremonies will be livestreamed on the SBA's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sbagov at 6:00 p.m. (EDT). Each year, the SBA counsels, trains and advises more than one million entrepreneurs and small business owners with the help of its resource partners. Together, SBA Resource Partners provide business consulting, access to capital, mentoring services, specialized trainings and the expertise for each stage of a business's lifecycle. Their outstanding efforts have supported the growth of small businesses that have helped drive the nation's economy. Entrepreneurs receiving resource partner assistance are more likely to start a business and successfully obtain financing necessary for business growth. The SBA congratulates the following 2019 Resource Partner national award winners: Women's Business Center of Excellence Award Montana Women's Business Center (WBC) Suzi Berget White, Director Bozeman, Montana The Women's Business Center of Excellence Award honors an SBA WBC for its excellence and innovation in assisting women entrepreneurs by providing diverse training and counseling. Since 2009, the Montana WBC has provided outstanding business counseling and training services to women entrepreneurs and has served as a critical resource to underserved women in the state of Montana, giving them the opportunity to excel in business and contribute to the economic growth of the state. Small Business Development Service Excellence and Innovation Award Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Youngstown State University Patricia Veisz, Director Youngstown, Ohio For over 30 years, the Ohio SBDC at Youngstown State University has helped accelerate small business growth and job creation. It has contributed to northeast Ohio's economic development by providing specialized consulting and high-impact programs and services, which have resulted in new business startups and capital infusion. Veterans Business Outreach Center Excellence in Service Award Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) at Gulf Coast State College Brenton Peacock, Associate Director Panama City, Fla. The Florida VBOC's staff serves a state with one of the largest number of military installations in the U.S. The VBOC provides free entrepreneurial training and business consulting to veterans, active duty military, military spouses, National Guard and Reservists in an area spanning 832 miles. In addition, its clients were awarded 77 government contracts totaling $22 million despite being temporarily closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. SCORE Chapter of the Year SCORE Portland Maine Nancy Strojny, Chapter Chair Portland, Maine SCORE Portland Maine has a proven track record of results and the ability to create sustained community impact. With more than 70 skilled mentors and added educational workshops, the chapter has helped Southern Maine's small businesses to start and grow. In addition to national awards ceremonies in Washington, D.C., SBA offices in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam will celebrate National Small Business Week May 5-11, 2019, with additional events for small business owners and entrepreneurs. For more information on National Small Business Week, visit www.sba.gov/nsbw. About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov . Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2019. The SBA's participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA/SCORE programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Contact: [email protected] (202) 401-3059 Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Blogs & Instagram Release Number: 19-19 SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- WeissLaw LLP is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the Board of Directors of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation ("APC" or the "Company") (NYSE: APC) in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Chevron Corporation ("CVX") (NYSE: CVX). Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders of APC will receive 0.3869 shares of CVX and $16.25 in cash for each share of APC they own. This represents consideration of $62.58 per APC share, based on CVX's April 12 closing price. If you own APC shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact: Joshua Rubin, Esq. WeissLaw LLP 1500 Broadway, 16th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 682-3025 (888) 593-4771 [email protected] Visit our website http://www.weisslawllp.com/anadarko-petroleum-corporation/ Or follow us on Twitter @MarketsAlert WeissLaw is investigating whether APC's Board acted to maximize shareholder value prior to entering into the agreement. Notably, APC shares traded for $70.90, or $8.32 above the per share consideration, as recently as October. In addition, the Company recently announced a dividend increase from $0.05 to $0.30 per share. Given these facts, WeissLaw is concentrating its investigation on whether APC's Board conducted a fair process in agreeing to the proposed acquisition, whether the proposed acquisition undervalues the Company, and whether all material information related to the proposed acquisition is fully and fairly disclosed. WeissLaw LLP has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [email protected] SOURCE WeissLaw LLP Related Links https://www.weisslawllp.com HOUSTON, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Former astronaut and long-duration spaceflight pioneer Owen Garriott, 88, died today, April 15, at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. Garriott flew aboard the Skylab space station during the Skylab 3 mission and on the Space Shuttle Columbia for the STS-9/Spacelab-1 mission. He spent a total of 70 days in space. "The astronauts, scientists and engineers at Johnson Space Center are saddened by the loss of Owen Garriott," said Chief Astronaut Pat Forrester. "We remember the history he made during the Skylab and space shuttle programs that helped shape the space program we have today. Not only was he a bright scientist and astronaut, he and his crewmates set the stage for international cooperation in human spaceflight. He also was the first to participate in amateur radio from space, a hobby many of our astronauts still enjoy today." Garriott was born in Enid, Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. Garriott served as an electronics officer while on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1956, and was stationed aboard several U.S. destroyers at sea. He then taught electronics, electromagnetic theory and ionospheric physics as an associate professor at Stanford. He performed research in ionospheric physics and has authored or co-authored more than 40 scientific papers and one book on this subject. He was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965, and then completed a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. He logged more than 5,000 hours flying time -- including more than 2,900 hours in jet and light aircraft, spacecraft and helicopters. In addition to NASA ratings, he held FAA commercial pilot and flight instructor certification for instrument and multi-engine aircraft. Garriott was the science-pilot for Skylab 3, the second crewed Skylab mission, and was in orbit from July 28 to Sept. 25, 1973. His crewmates were Commander Alan Bean and Pilot Jack Lousma. The crew accomplished 150% of mission goals while completing 858 revolutions of the Earth and traveling some 24.5 million miles. The crew installed replacement rate gyros used for attitude control of the spacecraft and a twin pole sunshade used for thermal control, and repaired nine major experiment or operational equipment items. They devoted 305 hours to extensive solar observations and completed 333 medical experiment performances to obtain valuable data on the effects of extended weightlessness on humans. The crew of Skylab 3 logged 1,427 hours and 9 minutes each in space, setting a world record for a single mission, and Garriott spent 13 hours and 43 minutes in three separate spacewalks outside the orbital workshop. On his second and final flight, Garriott flew as a mission specialist on the ninth space shuttle mission and the first six-person flight. He launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia for STS-9/Spacelab-1 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Nov. 28, 1983. His crewmates were Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, Jr., fellow mission specialist Robert Parker, and Payload Specialists Byron Lichtenberg and Ulf Merbold of (ESA) European Space Agency. This six-person crew was the largest yet to fly aboard a single spacecraft, the first international shuttle crew and the first to carry payload specialists. During STS-9, the first human amateur radio operations in space were conducted using Garriott's station call, W5LFL. After 10 days of Spacelab hardware verification and around-the-clock scientific operations, Columbia and its laboratory cargo landed on the dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Dec. 8, 1983. Garriott held other positions at Johnson Space Center such as deputy and later director of Science and Applications, and as the assistant director for Space and Life Science. For Garriott's official NASA biography, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/garriott_owen.pdf NASA Johnson Space Center news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [email protected] In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the email address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail. SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov DALLAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Milestone Management, one of the nation's largest residential property management firms, announced today the rebranding of the company to Highmark Residential in order to better reflect its commitment to delivering unmatched levels of service across all channels. The rebranding will take place in stages throughout the course of 2019, with a full transition expected across all systems in early 2020. Taking a cue from its name, Highmark Residential will continue to build upon the company's legacy of dedication to providing the highest level of service to residents, associates and investors focusing on hitting the "high mark" with every interaction. The rebranding to Highmark Residential will be accompanied by a redesigned website, logo, graphics, communications and correspondence. Highmark Residential will continue to be owned by an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, a leading global private investment firm, which acquired the multi-family management platform in 2017. "At the core of real estate management is the willingness and ability to work and cooperate with others and develop a solution that benefits both parties," said Steve Lamberti, President of Highmark Residential. "Highmark Residential's corporate rebranding is another step in the direction of reinforcing those ideals and serving as a reminder that our job is to collaborate with others to ensure that the service provided is reflective of the name, Highmark." "As industries evolve and we continue to trend towards a service-focused economy, it is imperative that a company's branding is reflective of its ideals and values," said Mark Deason, Managing Director and Head of U.S. Asset Management at Starwood Capital Group. "For that reason, it is incredibly fitting that today, we announce the rebranding of Milestone Management to Highmark Residential to reinforce our commitment to serving our customers and providing the highest quality service in the industry." About Highmark Residential Highmark Residential is the property management division of Starwood Capital Group providing management services for approximately 60,000 multifamily units throughout the US. It ranks as the 19th largest multifamily manager by the trade association National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC). It has a commitment to excellence and service at the highest levels to our residents, associates and investors. Additional information can be found at highmarkres.com. About Starwood Capital Group Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on global real estate, energy infrastructure and oil & gas. The Firm and its affiliates maintain 12 offices in five countries around the world, and currently have approximately 4,000 employees. Since its inception in 1991, Starwood Capital Group has raised $45 billion of equity capital, and currently has in excess of $60 billion of assets under management. The Firm has invested in virtually every category of real estate on a global basis, opportunistically shifting asset classes, geographies and positions in the capital stack as it perceives risk/reward dynamics to be evolving. Over the past 27 years, Starwood Capital Group and its affiliates have successfully executed an investment strategy that involves building enterprises in both the private and public markets. Additional information can be found at starwoodcapital.com Media Contact Melanie Stiles Vice President of Marketing, Highmark Residential [email protected] 214-561-1200 SOURCE Highmark Residential Related Links http://starwoodcapital.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Using data from trips organized by MBA students on its platform since 2015, WeTravel released 3 key statistics on the travel behavior of MBA students from top US schools. The cost of an MBA is not cheap. Students at any of the top US schools can spend more than $200K to get their degrees1. Moreover, one must add the expense of travel on top of that because globetrotting around the world has been an essential part of life for MBA students in top US schools2,3. Group travel planning tools used by MBA trip leaders for every planning aspect MBA trips can be divided into two categories: (a) career-focused group travel; e.g. a 35-person trip organized by MBA Technology Club to the Bay Area to visit tech companies; (b) social-focused group travel; e.g. a 100-student trip to Cancun, Mexico to celebrate graduation. Originally starting in 2015 as a platform for MBA students at UC Berkeley to organize social-focused trips, WeTravel has since evolved to become a booking software for multi-day, small tour operators. However, it remains popular among MBA students, especially those from Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, and NYU. Analyzing the aggregated data from hundreds of MBA trips on WeTravel in 2018 and interviews with 30 student trip leaders, the WeTravel team identified three main findings: (1) An MBA student at a top US school spends $21,295 over a two-year period for social-focused group travel. There are five times throughout the school year when these group trips usually happen: before the program starts (pre-MBA), winter break, spring break, summer break (between first and second year), and graduation. Additionally, students also go on three long weekend trips with smaller groups throughout the year. A trip can be as large as 250 people at almost $4000 per person, including airfare. Group size Duration (days) Average cost 2-year cost Pre-MBA (1x) 10-250 8 $3,898.61 $3,898.61 Winter break (2x) 15-50 7 $2,728.69 $5,457.38 Spring break (2x) 20-180 9 $2,849.42 $5,698.84 Summer break (1x) 5-20 7 $2,515.78 $2,515.78 Graduation (1x) 10-250 4 $950.38 $950.38 Long weekends (6x) 4-15 3 $462.50 $2,775.00 $21,295.99 (2) Japan, Israel, Colombia are the most popular destinations for MBAs; Morocco, Puerto Rico are on the rise. International travel is very common in top US business schools. Students who come from overseas usually lead trips to their home countries. Japan and Israel trips are annual traditions in many schools, while Colombia is popular due to its warm weather and lively atmosphere. Over the past few years, more and more students are also traveling to Morocco and Puerto Rico. In the US, New York City, San Francisco, and Las Vegas are the most popular destinations. (3) On average, an MBA trip leader uses seven planning tools to manage a group trip. For every aspect of trip planning (registration, payment collection, organization, and communication), there are a number of tools available for an MBA trip leader to use. Because there is no single tool that covers all aspects, trip leaders use an average of seven planning tools. Google products (email, spreadsheet, forms) and WeTravel are included in the Top 3 most popular tools in three out of four trip planning aspects. MBA students see their own travel behavior and spending as a business opportunity. In recent years, a few MBA-founded travel companies were launched to capture this market, such as Modo Travel from Chicago Booth and Bschool Travel from Michigan Ross. Zaky Prabowo, CMO/co-founder of WeTravel, explained this trend, "MBA students want travel companies that can create personalized, custom-made trips and they have group buying power to ask for the best travel experience. After all, nobody knows how to serve MBA students better than former MBA students themselves." Source: https://www.wetravel.com/stories/mba-travel-statistics/ 1 https://poetsandquants.com/2018/12/24/cost-of-an-mba-program/ Ethier, Marc. Poets & Quants, December 24, 2018. 2 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/business/in-b-school-is-that-a-syllabus-or-an-itinerary.html Seglison, Hannah. The New York Times, May 17, 2014. 3 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/at-business-school-networking-can-cost-18-000-a-year Kitroeff, Natalie. Bloomberg, February 12, 2015. Media Contact: Zaky Prabowo [email protected] 415-968-3033 SOURCE WeTravel Related Links https://www.wetravel.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --The global sustained release excipients market size is expected to reach USD 1.6 billion by 2026 at a 7.1% CAGR during the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing focus on novel drug delivery R&D and rising adoption of extended release formulations for treatment of chronic diseases are major factors driving the market.. Key suggestions from the report: Polymers formed the largest revenue grossing segment by product type in 2017 and is anticipated to grow at a lucrative rate during the forecast period. This is due to its high adoption in sustained release formulations as they provide greater strength and improved shelf-life In terms of route of administration, the oral segment held the dominant share in 2017 and is projected to witness steady growth to retain its lead throughout the forecast period Transdermal technology is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to its escalating usage. It minimizes various limitations associated with oral and parenteral route of administrations North America dominated the overall market in 2017 due to well-developed research infrastructure and presence of leading pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies Asia Pacific is spearheading revenue growth, with Japan , China , and India at the forefront Some of the key companies in the market are Coating Place, Inc.; Depomed, Inc.; Corium International, Inc.; Capsugel; Aradigm Corporation; Orbis Biosciences, Inc.; and Alkermes plc. Read 147page research report with TOC on "Sustained Release Excipients Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Polymers, Gelatin), By Route of Administration (Oral, Transdermal), By Technology (Targeted Delivery), And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2026" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/sustained-release-excipients-market Use of sustained release drug formulations provides patients relief from these symptoms and helps maintain desired therapeutic drug levels in the body. In comparison to conventional drugs, sustained drug release technologies provide a wide range of benefits. Reduced dosage frequency, improved patient compliance, maintenance of constant level of drug in blood plasma, lower instances of toxicity due to overdose, and higher cost-effectiveness in the long run are some of the major advantages of using this technology. Global rise in incidence of chronic and infectious diseases has also resulted in antibiotic resistance, which negatively affects the market for conventional dosage forms. Thus, alternative methods to manage and treat these diseases are being implemented. Use of sustained release formulations has been widely accepted among physicians in order to combat antibiotic resistance. Since these formulations create desired therapeutic drug levels in blood plasma and reduce dosage frequency, they are the preferred choice of formulation among physicians, which increases their demand. Grand View Research has segmented the global sustained release excipients market on the basis of product, route of administration, technology, and region: Sustained Release Excipients Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) Gelatin Polymers Minerals Sugars Alcohol Chitosa Sustained Release Excipients Route of Administration Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) Oral Intramuscular Subcutaneous Transdermal Vaginal Ophthalmic Intravenous Others Sustained Release Excipients Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) Targeted Delivery Micro Encapsulation Wurster Technique Transdermal Implants Coacervation Others Sustained Release Excipients Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2026) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. Asia Pacific Japan China India Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa South Africa Find more research reports on Pharmaceuticals Industry, by Grand View Research: Hereditary Angioedema Therapeutics Market Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a type of rare genetic disorder that is often characterized by recurring episodes of angioedema or severe swelling owing to dysfunction or deficiency of C1 inhibitor in the individuals' blood. The recurrent episodes of the condition are caused due to triggers such as anxiety, dental procedures, surgery, medications and illnesses. Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a type of rare genetic disorder that is often characterized by recurring episodes of angioedema or severe swelling owing to dysfunction or deficiency of C1 inhibitor in the individuals' blood. The recurrent episodes of the condition are caused due to triggers such as anxiety, dental procedures, surgery, medications and illnesses. Anti-Tumor Drugs Market The market growth may be attributed to increasing demand and continuous development in the field of medicine. However, high cost and the side effects associated with these drugs may act as a challenge to the companies The market growth may be attributed to increasing demand and continuous development in the field of medicine. However, high cost and the side effects associated with these drugs may act as a challenge to the companies Biopreservation Market Global bio-preservation market is expected to witness a lucrative growth rate over the forecast period owing to expansion of both bio-preservation media market and the bio-preservation equipment market. 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: [email protected] Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc. SALT LAKE CITY, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TazWorks, the leading solutions-driven technology provider for the background screening industry, today announced Background Connect API. This forward-thinking solution is an advanced development tool that allows integrators to seamlessly share background reports. The current version of this tool is intended for clients and partners with in-house development capabilities. In the coming months, additional releases will make Background Connect generally available with no need for in-house development. Background Connect API adds identity verification to the integrator's existing platform. This feature can be embedded into an existing platform with minimal development time and resources, enabling the end user to interact with and confidently share their reports. This dynamic solution equips the integrator with a simplified process while providing a robust solution for their background needs. "Background Connect API is a complete game-changer for the background screening industry. Being able to verify a consumer's identity and provide secure viewing and sharing of a report is a major leap into the future of screening technology," said Jordan Blasdell, the Director of Strategic Alliances. "This powerful tool not only saves integrators time and money, but also allows for independent growth so they can focus on other areas of their business." In addition to this advancement, TazWorks is committed to continue adding innovative features and enhancements to its already robust platform. To learn more about this new feature, visit www.tazworks.com ABOUT TAZWORKS TazWorks is a SaaS-based software and technology platform that powers the largest number of background screening companies in the nation. TazWorks offers end-to-end technology solutions and revenue-generating strategies to Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) who provide background screening as a service. TazWorks delivers the most comprehensive network of integrated data providers, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), Property Management Systems (PMS), drug screening, and other related services. TazWorks was founded in 2002 and is based in the Greater Salt Lake City area of Utah. Learn more about TazWorks at www.tazworks.com Media Contact: Edina Beganovic 801-572-7401 x147 [email protected] SOURCE TazWorks Related Links www.tazworks.com NEW YORK, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The D. E. Shaw group, a global investment and technology development firm, announced today that it has been granted a license to develop and market onshore investment products to investors in China. The Private Securities Investment Fund Manager (PFM) license is issued by the Asset Management Association of China. The D. E. Shaw group was among the first alternative asset managers to trade Asian markets and has been active in mainland China since the early 2000s. It opened its current Hong Kong office in 2007 and its Shanghai office in 2010. "The D. E. Shaw group has extensive experience in mainland Chinese markets, and we are honored to receive PFM registration to deepen our presence in China for the long term," said Eddie Fishman, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Committee member, the D. E. Shaw group. "We look forward to working closely with Chinese investors to pursue opportunities in the nation's dynamic capital markets." The D. E. Shaw group combines rigorous analysis and scientific research with a robust infrastructure built over thirty years, investing across a number of discretionary, systematic, and hybrid strategies. About the D. E. Shaw group The D. E. Shaw group is a global investment and technology development firm with more than $50 billion in investment capital as of March 1, 2019, and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. Since our founding in 1988, our firm has earned a reputation for successful investing based on innovation, careful risk management, and the quality and depth of our staff. We have a significant presence in the world's capital markets, investing in a wide range of companies and financial instruments in both developed and developing economies. This press release is provided for the reader's information only and does not constitute investment advice or convey an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities or other financial products. Please also note that this press release has not been updated since its dateline for any information contained in it that may have changed, including any beliefs and/or opinions. In addition, no assurances can be given that any aims, assumptions, expectations, and/or goals expressed or implied in this release were or will be realized or that the activities or any performance described herein have continued or will continue at all or in the same manner as described in this press release. Contacts for The D. E. Shaw group: Randall Whitestone (212) 403-8119 [email protected] Amanda Ely (212) 403-8601 [email protected] SOURCE D. E. Shaw group CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Robert R. McCormick Foundation will join Student Veterans of America (SVA), the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), and Chicagoland higher education leaders and veterans on April 17, 2019, for a unique program to raise awareness of the crucial contributions of student veterans to Chicagoland colleges and universities. The April 17 program, "Student Veterans: Good Mission, Good Business," will begin with a keynote speech by Jared Lyon, president and CEO of Student Veterans of America (SVA), highlighting research findings showing that veterans excel in higher education and gravitate to majors that support growth industries needed for Chicago's economy. President Lyon's speech will be followed by panels on important veteran-related topics, including best practices for assisting veterans in higher education and building connections to local employers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 727,000 veterans live in Illinois, many of them residing in the Chicagoland area. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation is dedicated to making Illinois one of the best states for veterans to live and work. "Illinois is fortunate to have so many higher education institutions committed to serving our returning veterans, and we are honored to support them in this important work," said David Hiller, president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. To better meet their civilian learning and employment needs, CAEL President Marie A. Cini said that businesses and educators need to recognize the skills, knowledge, leadership experience, and perspectives that veterans bring to the classroom and the workplace. "Student veterans can greatly benefit from educational opportunities that are specifically designed to help them transfer the skills and knowledge they gained during their service into credits, degrees, and credentials," said Cini. "Student Veterans: Good Mission, Good Business" will be attended by college and university presidents and their veterans teams from throughout Chicagoland. This event builds on the partnership that the McCormick Foundation and CAEL have undertaken over the past seven years to support veterans services staff at Chicago-area postsecondary institutions through the Veterans Higher Education Affinity Group. The McCormick Foundation, CAEL, and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago also support the work of the Commercial Club's Veterans Working Group, which supports efforts by Chicago-area employers to hire and retain veterans. About the Robert R. McCormick Foundation The Robert R. McCormick Foundation's mission is working with communities in Chicagoland and across Illinois to develop educated, informed, and engaged citizens. Through philanthropic grantmaking and Cantigny Park, the Foundation works to make life better in Chicagoland. The McCormick Foundation, among the nation's largest foundations with more than $1.5 billion in assets, was established in 1955 upon the death of Col. Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. Find out more at www.mccormickfoundation.org. About Student Veterans of America (SVA) Student Veterans of America (SVA) is the country's premier organization for student veterans. SVA supports all veterans through their transition from the military, educational advancement, and career growth. SVA represents a network of 1,500 chapters on campuses in all 50 states and four countries representing over 700,000 student veterans at those colleges and universities. SVA is Gold Certified by Guide Star and was named Non-Profit of the Year by HillVets. For more information visit www.studentveterans.org. About the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Established in 1974, The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) is a Strada Education Network affiliate and national, nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to partnering with educators, employers, and workforce and economic developers. Together we reimagine how education and employment fit together, and we create lifelong pathways that integrate learning and work. Our aim is to support the engaged participation of adults in thriving talent pipelines and robust economic development in the 21st century economy. Visit www.cael.org to learn more. SOURCE Robert R. McCormick Foundation Related Links http://www.mccormickfoundation.org CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As retailing continues to evolve, it's not enough to have a digital commerce strategy. Digital commerce has shown that it has a language and a life all of its own. Recognizing these changes, creative commerce agency TPN announced today the unveiling of VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP (VCG), a new consultancy that mirrors the rapidly evolving needs of today's omni-channel brands, but also emerging brands and direct-to-consumer (DTC) organizations. "Today's brands should no longer question whether they should be present on digital commerce platforms. They should be asking how to maximize business potential on platforms that matter most to them," said Sharon Love, Chief Executive Officer of TPN. "We created VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP to address tomorrow's challenges for brands, not just those of today. Having a dedicated team to solve these problems and create solutions based on their expertise and execution will improve clients' top and bottom lines, while representing brands properly in this new world." "According to industry reports, global e-commerce will reach $4.5 trillion by 2021. Amazon grabs headlines, but it isn't the only game in town. Jet, Alibaba, DTC companies, and others across the globe are expanding their presence, changing algorithms and technologies," said Joe Scartz, Chief Digital Commerce Officer of VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP. "VCG was created with the sole intent of helping brands and manufacturers become smarter about how to optimize their digital commerce efforts. When time is scarce, learning on the fly won't get the job done." The Velocity Difference Unlike creative/digital agencies, VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP has structured its practice to mirror and solve the needs of today's retailing models. Pure play. VCG can address needs of brands that sell their products through online-only retailers, recommending different approaches to showcase brands. VELOCITY.PRIME. VCG has a team dedicated to addressing the myriad challenges that come with Amazon, whether it be as vendor, or a third-party seller, or (increasingly) as an advertising vehicle. Direct-to-consumer . Increasingly, brands are launching products that forego traditional intermediaries and are sending products directly to the consumer. VCG's team has analyzed different logistics, supply chain and marketing channels and can recommend the most optimal solutions for specific challenges while managing brand's complete ecommerce ecosystem efficiently. Omni-channel retail. VCG recommends and executes different solutions to support online and in-store purchases and transform a consumer's experience at retailers like Walmart and Target where and when she shops in-store, online or both. Among VCG's solutions is its Product HealthScoreTM, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of specific SKUs sold on Amazon, providing recommendations on how to optimize awareness, sales and search activity using a variety of internal factors driven by Amazon. Its analysis reviews in-depth levers that e-commerce managers use to build their businesscreative assets, inventory management, third-party reselling analysis, SEO and merchandising. "VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP wants to create a new standard of reporting for products and brands. We have found that not having the right assets at one's disposal puts Amazon success at risk," said Rami Odeh, VP Digital Commerce at VCG. "VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP works with retailers, manufacturers and brand managers to ensure they appreciate how a shopper sees and conducts commerce on Amazon so they can properly and systemically navigate the platform's rigorous demands." ABOUT VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP (www.velocitycommercegroup.com) Headquartered in Chicago, VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP is a consultancy born out of TPN, an Omnicom Group creative commerce agency. The team works with brands and manufacturers to manage their relationship with digital commerce. ABOUT TPN (www.tpnretail.com) TPN is a creative commerce agency that exists to Make the Buy Happen for some of the most iconic retailers, technology and CPG brands in the world. We specialize in all things commerceleveraging the agency's core practice areas of Retailer, Shopper, Consumer and Digital Commerce to create connected experiences that drive sales and build brand commitment. TPN is a part of the DAS Group of Companies. The agency has nine offices located across the U.S. and the U.K. and is celebrating more than three decades of delivering creativity and results. About the DAS Group of Companies The DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (www.omnicomgroup.com), is a global group of marketing services companies. DAS includes over 200 companies in the following marketing disciplines: specialty, PR, healthcare, CRM, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. Operating through a combination of networks and regional organizations, DAS serves international, regional, national and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries. Media Contact: Michael Shmarak 312.919.9222 Stephanie Meyer [email protected] SOURCE VELOCITY COMMERCE GROUP Related Links http://velocitycommercegroup.com CINCINNATI, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Institute & University was recently ranked by Washington Monthly as among the nation's best. Union ranked second among Best Bang for the Buck Colleges (page 44), and scored #11 for Best 4-year Colleges for Adult Learners (page 32). Union also ranked #54 as a higher education model in Washington Monthly's 2018 College Rankings (page 76). Washington Monthly ranks schools that welcome low-income students and focus on the opportunity to transform their lives and communities. The researchers look at social mobility as a priority, and factor in price and percentage of students receiving Pell Grants. Union's founding in 1964 was a result of presidents coming together from 10 colleges to create a new institution that could break down barriers to higher education and better serve working adults and others seeking to find alternatives to traditional higher education. "This new ranking underscores and validates Union's commitment to its social justice mission by removing barriers that so many experience as they strive to attain a college degree," said Union President Dr. Karen Schuster Webb. "We are committed to equity of access to educational excellence around the country and the world. In addition to degree completion programs that offer high transferability rates and accelerated learning paths, we are working to improve pathways for stackable certificates and seamless bridges from one degree level to the next. Union is the right partner to solve the need for higher education degrees due to its more than five decades of identifying and refining ways to structure and deliver education to meet the needs of online learners," said Dr. Webb. According to Washington Monthly's September/October 2018 College Ranking publication, "The rankings are often listed alongside (or above) U.S. News. We rate schools on three equally weighted criteria: social mobility, research, and public service. Instead of rewarding schools that reject 95 percent of applicants, we give high marks to colleges that enroll lots of low-income students and help them graduate and earn a good living without too much debt. We factor in pure research spending and the number of undergraduates who go on to earn PhDs. And we give extra weight to colleges that send their graduates out into the world to serve the community at large." (Carey, Page 15). Mollie Miller, M.B.A., Director of Institutional Research & IRB Coordinator, in Union's Office of Institutional Effectiveness said, "Washington Monthly provides a unique perspective within the higher education ranking landscape. Rankings such as these demonstrate Union's global standing compared to peer institutions and universities." Founded in 1964, Union has perfected the adult delivery model: Specialized distance-learning programs that combine online and classroom coursework with high-touch faculty attention, designed for students regardless of where they live and work. UI&U academic services include small classes, dedicated faculty who are practitioners in their fields, one-on-one program advising, writing and math tutoring services, access to its renowned 100 percent online library, and career services. Union Institute & University undergraduate students achieved a successful outcome measure (graduation rate) of 70% at 4-years (according to IPEDS Outcome Measures Winter 2018). To learn more about Union Institute & University and its career pathways designed for the working adult, click here. About Union Institute & University Union Institute & University is a non-profit, regionally accredited university specializing in providing quality higher education degrees for adults nationwide. Founded in 1964, Union's academic programs and services are the result of more than five decades of identifying and refining ways to structure and deliver education to meet the needs of adults. Distinguished as the pioneer in adult education, Union perfected the concepts now common in higher education such as the hybrid model, a blend of online and traditional classroom instruction, interdisciplinary studies, and student centered education with socially relevant and applicable learning outcomes in its undergraduate, master's and doctoral degree programs. The university is guided by its core mission to educate highly motivated adults who seek academic programs to engage, enlighten, and empower them to pursue professional goals and a lifetime of learning, service, and social responsibility. Union is a national university with academic centers located in: Ohio, Florida, and California. For more information about Union Institute & University, visit www.myunion.edu or call 1- 800-861-6400. SOURCE Union Institute & University Related Links https://myunion.edu SAN FRANCISCO and RESTON, Va., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Valimail , the world's leading provider of anti-phishing solutions to stop fake email and restore trust to communications, today announced that it has been named to the Internet Society's latest Online Trust Alliance (OTA) Audit and Honor Roll . The Audit and Honor Roll is the de facto standard for recognizing website excellence in consumer protection, security, and responsible privacy practices for the world's top companies. "We're honored that the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) has again noted Valimail's commitment to the most stringent privacy and security practices," said Seth Blank, director of industry initiatives, Valimail. "As a cybersecurity company focused on defending enterprises from BEC, phishing, and other fraudulent email practices, we would be remiss if we did not hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of protection and transparency. We applaud the OTA for constantly raising the bar and driving industry adoption of crucial standards. Importantly, by including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC as a critical component of the Trust Audit, the OTA has made it abundantly clear how important these standards are for protecting organizations from brand spoofing and impersonation-based phishing attacks." Valimail has always placed security and privacy foremost in its product design and operational principles. The company's application does not extract, process, or store any personally identifiable information (PII), such as the contents of email messages. In addition, Valimail's strict security and process controls have enabled the company to achieve SOC 2 Type 2 Certification, and the only company in this space to achieve FedRAMP Authorization. As the only comprehensive, independent online trust benchmark study, the OTA Online Trust Audit evaluates websites in three main categories: domain, brand and consumer protection; site, server and infrastructure security; and privacy, transparency and disclosures. Based on a composite weighted analysis, sites that scored 80 percent or better overall, without failing in any one category, received the honor roll designation (read the entire methodology here ). "In this age where many companies are accused of putting profits ahead of customers, the websites that made the Honor Roll should be commended for their commitment to online trust," said Jeff Wilbur, Technical Director of the Online Trust Alliance initiative at the Internet Society. "This designation shows that you can be one of the world's most successful businesses without sacrificing consumer privacy, protection, and security." OTA audited more than 1,200 of the top consumer-facing websites spanning banking, consumer services, U.S. government, healthcare, news and media, retail, Internet Service Providers, mobile carriers, email providers, and web hosters. It found that 70 percent of analyzed websites qualified for the honor roll. The Federal government category surged to the front with 91 percent of sites placing on the honor roll. Healthcare, a new sector this year that includes pharmacies, testing labs, insurance companies, and hospital chains, had the lowest overall honor roll placement at 57 percent. More details about the 2018 OTA Online Trust Audit and Honor Roll is at https://otalliance.org/2018HonorRoll . About Valimail Valimail is an anti-phishing company that has been driving the global trustworthiness of digital communications since 2015, with the only complete platform for stopping fake email, protecting brands, and helping ensure compliance. Valimail has won more than a dozen prestigious cybersecurity technology awards and authenticates billions of messages a month for some of the world's biggest companies, including Uber, Fannie Mae, WeWork, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Valimail is based in San Francisco. For more information visit www.Valimail.com . About OTA The Internet Society's Online Trust Alliance (OTA) identifies and promotes security and privacy best practices that build consumer confidence in the Internet. Leading public and private organizations, vendors, researchers, and policymakers contribute to and follow OTA's guidance to help make online transactions safer and better protect users' data. The Internet Society is a global nonprofit dedicated to ensuring an open, globally connected, trustworthy, and secure Internet for everyone. MEDIA CONTACT: Dylan Tweney, VP Communications, Valimail 650-605-3348 [email protected] SOURCE Valimail Related Links https://www.valimail.com TORONTO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - VERDEMED HOLDINGS INC. ("Verdemed" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has succeeded in raising a total of US$12.7M to fund its business plan for building the brand of choice for medical cannabis in Latin America. Verdemed secured US$650,000 in seed funding in late 2018. In March 2019, the Company confirmed the successful completion of a first round of financing, after raising US$12M from qualified Latin American private investors. This investment is to be completed in two stages: an initial capital instalment of US$6M in convertible debt, and a second instalment of US$6M in equity investment. Verdemed will use the proceeds to complete the acquisition of strategic assets in Colombia and Brazil announced on October 2, 2018, and to continue the development of its business plans in Chile and Mexico. Verdemed holds a significant interest in Greenfarma, a fully integrated Colombian licenced producer (LP) operating in Cali, with indoor growing and industrial extraction facilities totalling 3,000 square feet. The Company also holds an option to purchase the remaining interest in Greenfarma in the near term. Greenfarma is operational and fully licensed to plant, grow, extract, formulate and sell medical cannabis products. Verdemed plans to use the capital it has raised to acquire 435,000 square feet of ready-to-plant land adjacent to its extraction facilities in Cali. Greenfarma will build outdoor cannabis greenhouses with a total area of 60,000 square feet for the growth and extraction of THC/CBD oil, with a first crop planned in late 2019. Plans for further expansion in 2020 include another 60,000-square-foot facility for the cultivation of hemp and extraction of CDB oil. Greenfarma expects to generate revenues of US$3M in its first full year of commercial operation, with annual revenues of US$12M on an ongoing basis from operations at its existing industrial facilities and the planned expansion of outdoor production. Verdemed plans to use its share of these revenues to acquire a pharmaceutical laboratory with import licenses and quality control facilities that will be ready to commercialize controlled substances in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In late January 2019, Verdemed had a successful formal meeting with Anvisa (the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency), at which it presented its regulatory strategy. Verdemed discussed its drug development plans for CBD and THC/CBD-based products and its clinical trials protocols for testing a proprietary THC/CBD formulation intended as a treatment for sleep disorders. Verdemed has senior management in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Canada. The Company business plan includes building management teams and pharmaceutical regulatory affairs partnerships in Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Verdemed intends to establish an extensive business footprint for medical cannabis and cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals covering all of the largest jurisdictions in Latin America. For more information, please visit www.verdemed.com Jose Bacellar President and CEO About Verdemed Verdemed is a Canadian medical cannabis company working to improve the health of millions of patients in Latin America. Based in Toronto, Verdemed's multi-level and multi-market approach seeks to bridge the gap between the pharmaceutical and medical cannabis landscapes in Europe and North America and the clinical needs of patients and doctors in Latin America. The Company's international footprint provides strategic access to both familiar and effective cannabis therapies and novel and innovative new products. Verdemed plans to offer a wide range of cannabinoid-based medications to Latin America in the coming years, and expects these products to be fully approved by the regulatory agencies in the region, such as ANMAT, Anvisa, COFEPRIS, DIGEMID, Invima and ISP. With its Canadian-based products, Verdemed is uniquely positioned to address the high Latin American regulatory hurdles. The Company aspires to become the platform of choice for global innovators seeking to enter Latin America with new medical cannabis products. Verdemed combines Canadian cannabis industry expertise with smart Latin American capital, general pharmaceutical business knowledge, superior regulatory affairs capabilities and top-tier medical experience. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws or forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analysis made by the Company and the opinions and estimates of management as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actual 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 and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, forward-looking information or financial outlook that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE Verdemed Holdings Inc. Related Links https://www.verdemed.com/ TORONTO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - VERDEMED HOLDINGS INC. ("Verdemed" or the "Company") proudly announces its sponsorship of the 3rd Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, taking place on April 17 and 18, 2019, at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is the premier gathering of cannabis entrepreneurs and investors in North America, connecting entrepreneurs hoping to build billion-dollar cannabis enterprises with investors whose capital can help make that happen. Jose Bacellar, President and CEO of Verdemed, will participate in the April 17 opening remarks at the Regional Spotlight A Look into Latin American Opportunities session. In addition, the Company would like to invite investors interested in becoming better acquainted with Verdemed to attend its April 18 presentation at 1:40 pm in the British Columbia Room. For more information, please visit www.verdemed.com Jose Bacellar President and CEO About Verdemed Verdemed is a Canadian medical cannabis company working to improve the health of millions of patients in Latin America. Based in Toronto, Verdemed's multi-level and multi-market approach seeks to bridge the gap between the pharmaceutical and medical cannabis landscapes in Europe and North America and the clinical needs of patients and doctors in Latin America. The Company's international footprint provides strategic access to both familiar and effective cannabis therapies and novel and innovative new products. Verdemed plans to offer a wide range of cannabinoid-based medications to Latin America in the coming years, and expects these products to be fully approved by the regulatory agencies in the region, such as ANMAT, Anvisa, COFEPRIS, DIGEMID, Invima and ISP. With its Canadian-based products, Verdemed is uniquely positioned to address the high Latin American regulatory hurdles. The Company aspires to become the platform of choice for global innovators seeking to enter Latin America with new medical cannabis products. Verdemed combines Canadian cannabis industry expertise with smart Latin American capital, general pharmaceutical business knowledge, superior regulatory affairs capabilities and top-tier medical experience. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws or forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analysis made by the Company and the opinions and estimates of management as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actual 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 and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, forward-looking information or financial outlook that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE Verdemed Holdings Inc. Related Links https://www.verdemed.com/ LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Honor Yoga known for being an eco- and beginner-friendly yoga studio, is excited to announce the first-ever VibeWell HONORS Yoga Festival. The all-day festival will take place on Saturday, May 11, 2019 and is dedicated to the practice of yoga with a focus on teaching the importance of physical and mental wellness. All proceeds from the festival will be directly donated to Honor Yoga Foundation, the non-profit organization established by Honor Yoga that works to support well-being in communities by providing yoga-related programs to under-represented populations. "The idea of a festival is to make the practice of yoga less formal, and to create a fun environment where people won't feel shy trying a warrior pose for the first time," expressed CEO and founder of Honor Yoga, Maria Turco. "It can be nerve-racking to walk into a studio and sign up for a class, especially when you're new. We created the festival to bring yogis of every experience level together." The VibeWell HONORS Yoga Festival will be hosted at the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds, where two main stages will feature different key note speakers, yoga and meditation practices, and panel discussions. "The festival also serves as a platform for us to have an open conversation on the importance of taking care of our health in all aspects, especially our mental health," Turco added. "Not only do we have certified yoga teachers, but we also have professional keynote speakers and panel discussions throughout the day." The festival will also feature a family-focused area where a tailored program is created to keep families and children entertained and educated. As part of Honor Yoga's philosophy that yoga is for all, there will be an EveryBODY Area that is specifically curated for all individuals, regardless of injuries, body type and skill level or otherwise to enjoy practicing yoga. While the day is dedicated to yoga and wellness, there will also be a vendor village with tents filled with food, clothing and other shopping activities. "The VibeWell HONORS Yoga Festival is going to be a fun day for everyone of every age," Turco said. "We've taken the time to really think about how to create a day that will be centered on self-love, education, healing and growth while trying to make it exciting. In addition to our amazing instructors, speakers and vendors we're excited to announce that Ubme is a sponsor. The company offers a live chat feature that will allow our guests to interact throughout the entire event and post to their social media." More information about the VibeWell HONORS Yoga Festival, plus an opportunity to purchase tickets may be found on their website. The festival can host up to 600 individual ticket holders, and currently more than 300 tickets have been sold. All ticket proceeds will directly benefit Honor Yoga Foundation and support its continuing efforts. "Honor Yoga Foundation believes that the practice of yoga results in a greater feeling of community, connectedness and gratitude," said Kathi Szabo, Honor Yoga Foundation president. "We work at bringing these beliefs to life through our yoga related programs, supporting new and established yoga teachers through scholarships and our lovingly prepared healing retreats. We couldn't be more excited for the VibeWell HONORS Yoga Festival and the community we will cultivate that day." About Honor Yoga Founded in 2013 by health and wellness veteran Maria Turco, and franchising since 2016, Honor Yoga is an eco-and beginner-friendly yoga studio and community that welcomes and nourishes every yogi through their practice. Revolutionizing the yoga industry, Honor Yoga offers a variety of classes, retreats, workshops and hosts a non-profit arm, Honor Yoga Foundation. With 10 locations open and operating in New Jersey, the brand has 25 additional locations in various stages of development in North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, California, Florida, Ohio and New Jersey. For more information, visit http://www.honoryoga.com/. SOURCE Honor Yoga Related Links http://www.honoryoga.com Walker & Dunlop played an important role in the transactions, utilizing its deep expertise in Fannie Mae financing to ensure the lending documents were consistent and compliant with Shari'ah law, which has implications on the payment and receipt of interest. This laid the foundation for a timely and efficient closing process of just 40 days. The Walker & Dunlop team was led by Managing Director, Stuart Wernick , alongside Jeff Ringwald and Bill Jackson , who specialize in senior housing properties. Each of the three assets was refinanced with a ten-year, fixed-rate loan that included interest-only for a portion of the term. Mr. Wernick commented, "Working with our partners at Fannie Mae, we were able to tailor Fannie Mae's program to meet our client's unique needs. These complex transactions required diligence, attention to detail, and coordination among several Walker & Dunlop teams to facilitate a smooth process." "As baby boomers continue to age, communities like MorningStar at Jordan, Mountain Shadows, and Bear Creek are becoming increasingly critical to offering housing and care to our most vulnerable citizens," added Mr. Ringwald. "These properties have a lot to offer for both residents and the surrounding community, and we are honored to have played a role." Managed by MorningStar Senior Living, each of the three senior housing communities is well-located and outfitted with best-in-class community amenities such as beauty salons, theaters, chapels, wellness centers, activity/craft rooms, a computer center, and walking paths surrounding the property. Built in 2014, MorningStar at Jordan is a three-story, 84-unit assisted living and memory care facility located in Centennial, Colorado. The property is adjacent to Cherry Creek State Park, and just 16 miles from Denver's central business district. MorningStar at Mountain Shadows was built in 2013 and comprises one two-story building with 64 assisted living and memory care units. MorningStar at Bear Creek is a one-story property with 48 units and specializes exclusively in Alzheimer's patients. Mountain Shadows and Bear Creek are both located in scenic neighborhoods on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. Walker & Dunlop is a leader in financing senior housing properties and closed nearly $800 million of seniors housing and healthcare transactions in 2018 alone. The firm is also ranked the 2nd largest Fannie Mae DUS multifamily lender, 3rd largest HUD MAP lender, and 4th largest Freddie Mac OptigoSM multifamily lender for 2018. To learn more about Walker & Dunlop's ability to lend on seniors housing and healthcare properties, read our latest press releases: About Walker & Dunlop Walker & Dunlop (NYSE: WD), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States. The company provides a comprehensive range of capital solutions for all commercial real estate asset classes, as well as investment sales brokerage services to owners of multifamily properties. Walker & Dunlop is included on the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and was ranked as one of FORTUNE Magazine's Fastest Growing Companies in 2014, 2017, and 2018. Walker & Dunlop's 700+ professionals in 29 offices across the nation have an unyielding commitment to client satisfaction. SOURCE Walker & Dunlop, Inc. Related Links http://www.walkerdunlop.com DALLAS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of financial advisors recently left UBS Financial Services to launch a new full-service independent wealth management firm in Dallas named Wealth Partners Alliance. Led by founding partners John Saalfield and Rick Lima, along with team member Lindsay Heyman, the alladvisor led startup was formed specifically with advisors in mind to leverage technology, resources, and strategic partnerships to deliver superior client experience and financial outcomes. In addition, the founders wanted to create a better culture for advisors and clients to do business, which they feel has eroded over time since the financial crisis. "We believe this can be achieved through alliances of shared resources and unique networks that will ultimately best benefit the client," added Founding Partner, John Saalfield. The recent departure adds to the growing market share in the independent space at a time when assets are leaving the traditional banks and brokerages, according to research firm Cerulli Associates. "The Dallas market is ready for something new," said Rick Lima. "Technology is the great equalizer allowing us to provide proven practice management and succession planning. That resonates with clients and forward thinking advisors." The advisors at Wealth Partners Alliance are registered with Raymond James Financial Services' independent channel. "I am very excited about the growth opportunity with our new firm supported by Raymond James and their focus on female advisors with The Network For Woman Advisors," said Lindsay Heyman. About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 7,800 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $785 billion. Investment Advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Wealth Partners Alliance is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. For more information on Wealth Partners Alliance, visit www.wealthpartnersalliance.com. SOURCE Wealth Partners Alliance Related Links https://www.wealthpartnersalliance.com MINNEAPOLIS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- If your product or service has value in agribusiness and you have a women-owned business, the place for you to be is at IGNITE, the just-announced expo that shines a light on women-owned businesses with offerings to the ag sector. Hosted by Women in Agribusiness, IGNITE will take place during opening day September 25, 2019 of the 8th annual Women in Agribusiness (WIA) Summit here at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, September 25-27. From accounting services to agtech innovations to business planning and promotional expertise, women-owned businesses from all sectors will benefit from direct placement in front of some of the largest multinational companies in the world, such as Cargill, Land O' Lakes and Wells Fargo. Additionally, IGNITE will include strategies and tactics on how to complete the certification process of being a women-owned business, which creates more opportunity to work with these global giants. With hours from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the expo includes opportunities to meet potential customers, demonstrate products or services, and support peers and colleagues in the sector. Two special presentations will be featured at the expo: Today's Tips for Small Businesses and The Importance of Being Certified. "Supplier diversity is a key issue for most food industry giants," said Joy O'Shaughnessy, chief operating officer of Women in Agribusiness and director of the annual Women in Agribusiness Summit. "At the same time there is a bevy of women looking to advance the prospects for their businesses. We are thrilled to introduce this platform to bring these two groups together to address their critical goals in one setting, facilitating face-to-face communication for the ease of doing business." About IGNITE Who Should Exhibit: Women business owners who want to showcase their service, product or business offering in support of the agribusiness sector Who Should Attend: Ag and food companies, supplier diversity professionals, procurement professionals Where: Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, Minnesota When: WIA Summit opening day, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Why: To support and highlight women-owned businesses, provide guidance with certification efforts, and facilitate the introduction to multiple international corporations seeking services, as well as increase awareness of internal supplier diversity programs Local procurement professionals may attend the showcase for free (business card required), while local women-owned businesses may exhibit for a fee. Admittance is free for those who are registered for the Women in Agribusiness Summit, and there is a nominal fee for Summit attendees to exhibit. All participants free or not must register to attend IGNITE. Learn more about the expo and the annual Women in Agribusiness Summit, which brings together nearly 800 women to learn about current industry outlooks and trends, develop valuable professional skills in an interactive and innovative forum, and network with influential executives in the sector at womeninag.com. About Women in Agribusiness Women in Agribusiness is a business unit of HighQuest Group, a global agribusiness consulting, events and media firm. The Women in Agribusiness initiative took root in 2012, with the first conference held in Minneapolis. WIA initiatives have grown to include the WIA Membership, WIA Demeter Award of Excellence, Student Scholarships, and the WIA Quarterly Journal . Learn more at womeninag.com. CONTACT: Michelle Pelletier Marshall +1.978.887.8800, x117 [email protected] SOURCE Women in Agribusiness "We believe Drew Las Vegas is set to usher in the next generation of Las Vegas resorts. It will be unlike anything on the Strip today a truly integrated resort that brings together a unique take on Las Vegas and curated set of experiences from around the world," says Steven Witkoff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Witkoff. "We are thrilled to be working with such a prestigious and visionary firm as Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Our organizations share a commitment to challenging convention by seeking out original, transformative outcomes." Charles Renfro, Diller Scofidio + Renfro Partner and lead designer of the Drew, adds, "The team's design approach was inspired by the multiple ecologies of Las Vegas itself the dynamic and rugged beauty of the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas' early adoption of modern architecture, and the city's enthusiastic embrace of spectacle. The Drew will weave these seemingly contradictory conditions into a new quixotic environment." Drew Las Vegas will be DS+R's first Las Vegas concept and among its first forays into hospitality. DS+R's work has been recognized with WSJ Magazine's 2017 Architecture Innovator of the Year Award, the American Federation of the Arts 2018 Cultural Leadership Award; the National Design Award from the Smithsonian and the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Their international portfolio of work includes the High Line, the redesign of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Campus, and The Shed in New York; The Broad contemporary art museum in Los Angeles; Zaryadye Park in Moscow; and the Museum of Image and Sound in Rio de Janeiro. "We are incredibly excited about being part of the Las Vegas landscape. Robust demand drivers continue to create an imbalance of hotel inventory supply and demand. The Drew is poised to not only capitalize on this imbalance, but also offer visitors a new marquee luxury resort with a distinctive, compelling concept. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our team and our partners," shared Witkoff. With a confirmed opening date in the second quarter of 2022, Drew Las Vegas has also kicked off its sales efforts to group customers. The initial response to the 3,780-room resort has been overwhelmingly positive as groups look for new ideas and a fresh perspective. About Witkoff Group Witkoff Group is a privately held, global real estate development and investment firm headquartered in New York City. Founded by Steven Witkoff in 1997, the firm is a market leader in the ownership and development of premier residential, hospitality, office, retail, and mixed-use projects in major cities both in the United States and abroad. Witkoff specializes in identifying and acquiring undervalued properties in key central business district locations as well as assets with strong repositioning potential in gateway markets. Leveraging a vertically integrated, operationally focused approach to project development, with in-house teams focused on acquisitions, financing, design, development, construction, sales and marketing, and asset and property management, Witkoff has consistently executed creative strategies across diverse asset classes. About Drew Las Vegas Ushering in a new era of world-class hospitality, Drew Las Vegas the 67-story integrated resort and casino at 2755 Las Vegas Boulevard South will see the debut of Marriott International's EDITION brand in Las Vegas, mark The Strip's first JW Marriott hotel as well as the premiere of its proprietary brand, The Reserve by Drew. Anticipated to open in early 2022, the resort will feature 3,780 rooms and suites as well as more than 550,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, with multiple retail, spa, nightlife, pool, and culinary experiences. Drew Las Vegas will tower over the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, creating a seamless connection with the planned Las Vegas Convention Center expansion. About Diller Scofidio + Renfro Founded in 1981, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. With a focus on cultural and civic projects, DS+R's work addresses the changing role of institutions and the future of cities. The studio is based in New York and is comprised of over 100 architects, designers, artists and researchers, led by four partnersElizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin. For more information, visit www.dsrny.com. SOURCE Witkoff Climate change threatens endangered sparrows A new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications finds that some sparrow species will go extinct within the century due to climate change. Seaside (Ammospiza maritima) and saltmarsh (A. caudacuta) sparrows are closely related species and among only five bird species that are almost completely restricted to coastal salt marshes for their entire life. These sparrows' nests are predominantly destroyed by predators or flooding. Salt marshes are globally limited to about 30,000 square miles (45,000 square km), with one-third of the total on North American coasts. Of the 25 species or subspecies limited to tidal wetlands worldwide, 15 are restricted to the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Given rapid climate changes and other threats to salt marsh ecosystems, many of these species are in serious danger. The global breeding range of the saltmarsh sparrow extends from Virginia to Maine, with a population estimate of 60,000 birds. Sea-level rise can negatively impact breeding seaside and saltmarsh sparrows by reducing the amount of available habitat, and by increasing nest flooding rates. Furthermore, the high human population densities of Mid-Atlantic states also make it difficult for sparrows to thrive in the region. This study aimed to estimate population trajectories for seaside and saltmarsh sparrows within Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, identify the primary drivers of those trajectories, and explore potential management strategies to prevent declines. The researchers found that seaside sparrows persisted under a 1 ft (0.35 m) rise in sea level scenario and also under a sea level rise of almost 2.5 ft (0.75 m). Saltmarsh sparrows survived in neither scenario. With a 1 ft rise in sea level, the seaside sparrow population experienced a compound decline of .35% a year. Under the 2.5 ft sea level rise scenario, this decline increased to .56% a year. The saltmarsh sparrow median time to quasi-extinction was 20 years under both scenarios. The results indicated that seaside sparrows are likely to persist, while saltmarsh sparrows are likely to become locally extinct in the next 30 years. "Given the projected increases in sea level over the next few decades and threats from predators, we will need to implement timely and creative actions to avoid extinction of saltmarsh sparrows," said the paper's lead author, Samuel Griffith Roberts. ### The paper, "Preventing local extinctions to tidal marsh endemic sparrows in Eastern North America," is available (at midnight on April 16) at: https:/ / academic. oup. com/ condor/ article/ 121/ 1/ duy024/ 5393601 Direct correspondence to: Samuel Griffith Roberts Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology University of Delaware 250 Townsend Hall Newark, DE 19716 samuelgroberts@gmail.com To request a copy of the study, please contact: Daniel Luzer daniel.luzer@oup.com Sharing on social media? Find Oxford Journals online at @OxfordJournal This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. The Government leader expressed his delight at the development of the Vietnamese community in Romania, noting that they are highly appreciated by the local authorities. The PM highlighted the importance of solidarity among the Vietnamese community in Romania, hoping that they will continue to unite and help each other while preserving the cultural identity, mother tongue and fine customs of Vietnam. PM Phuc noted that Vietnam will develop more policies to facilitate overseas Vietnamese and that the Party and State always pay due attention to overseas Vietnamese, considering them an inseparable part of Vietnam. He said that the Government is making efforts to send more Vietnamese workers to Romania while expressing his belief that the cooperation between the two countries will be increasingly strengthened. The Government leader asked the Vietnamese Embassy in Romania to pay more attention to community related work and to take the role as a bridge in the friendship and cooperation between the two countries. EVERETT, Wash., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, drivers at Durham School Services in Everett, Wash. voted by more than a three-to-one margin to join Teamsters Local 38. The 127 workers are part of a growing movement of drivers and monitors who are organizing with the union because of the representation and benefits that come with a Teamster contract. "The solidarity that Durham drivers maintained from start to finish in this organizing campaign is something to be very proud of," Local 38 Secretary-Treasurer Steven Chandler said. "Local 38 and the Durham drivers worked countless hours to ensure that our organizing plan worked. Our efforts paid off for the betterment of these new Teamsters." Durham driver Dan Jones is a member of the organizing committee at the Everett school bus yard. He worked very closely with Local 38 Business Agent and Organizer Mike Raughter, along with many others, to ensure that the campaign was a success. "I am proud of my fellow co-workers and the results of this election," Jones said. "This wasn't just a 'yes,' this was a resounding yes! This is the way we want to move forward with Local 38." "This Durham organizing campaign was driven by the commitment and perseverance of the committee," Raughter said. "They want a voice in their workplace for themselves and their co-workers, and they delivered that message overwhelmingly. I couldn't be more happy for our new Teamster sisters and brothers." Teamsters Local 38 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Snohomish County, Washington. Contact: Galen Munroe, (202) 624-6911 [email protected] SOURCE Teamsters Local 38 NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The inaugural Global Sanctions Summit was held in New York City on April 8. More than 250 participants attended the event to hear expert opinions from financial crimes compliance professionals and thought leaders from global financial institutions and law firms, current and former senior government officials and C-suite executives. The Summit covered the evolution, legal considerations, and business impact of sanctions at a time when the increasing use of sanctions and associated regulatory expectations have created both new challenges and opportunities for international business. The first panel of the day was moderated by MSNBC Anchor and NBC News Business Correspondent, Ali Velshi, and brought together former Deputy Director of the CIA David Cohen, former Deputy National Security Advisor Juan Zarate, and former US Treasury Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Janice Gardner. The trio debated the just-announced US designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. David Cohen stated, "Fundamentally, the Trump administration's plan is to achieve regime change [in Iran] through sanctions pressure. It's not going to work." However, Juan Zarate offered a different perspective. "A foreign terror organization designation is a powerful tool, if just symbolic," he commented in the exchange of views. The panel featuring CEOs from top financial institutions, including Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat, HSBC USA CEO Patrick Burke, and Mubadala Investment Company CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak, discussed how sanctions affect global business decision-making with moderator, Michael Milken, Chairman of the Milken Institute. Speaking on a panel that focused on efforts to wield sanctions in the pursuit of democracy, anti-corruption, and human rights, and what those efforts mean for corporate social responsibility, Ambassador Daniel Fried said, "Companies need to do a better job of due diligence and have risk factors, including human rights violators, baked into their standard model." Ambassador Fried was joined on the panel by former US Treasury Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin, Columbia University research scholar and former State Department Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy Richard Nephew, and Enough Project Founding Director and Co-Founder of The Sentry John Prendergast, with foreign affairs journalist Elise Labott moderating. Other panels featured global bank representatives to discuss the intersection of sanctions and anti-money laundering in the control framework, and global standards, best practices, and key challenges for international financial institutions in managing sanctions-related risk. Bank risk management leaders discussed their programs, how they keep up with regulatory expectations, trends in enforcement actions and how innovative technologies are transforming the control framework. Bob Werner, CEO and Founder of Green Hollow Consulting and Head of Kharon's Strategic Advisory Board, stated, "The days of rule-based compliance are over. They're never coming back...Without advancements in technology, [financial institutions and global corporations] will end up in harm's way." One panel discussion focused on the question of illicit finance in cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and related financial technologies. Panelists discussed the level of sanctions evasion risk posed by these platforms and how the private sector can adequately address related threats. Following the Summit's conclusion, Kharon CEO Matthew Epstein said, "We had the unique opportunity to hear from global industry leaders and practitioners who offered insightful perspectives on a wide range of sanctions-related issues. With the expanding use of sanctions, encouragement by regulators for industry to take risks in adopting new technologies, and the increasing globalization of commerce and finance, this Summit was the opportune time for high-level reflection and discussion. What is clear is that industry leaders have moved beyond simple government list screening and recognize the need for programs that look strategically at identifying and managing sanctions-related risk." For more information, visit www.kharon.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Kharon is a leading provider of research and data analytics on the networks, activities and jurisdictions targeted by global sanctions programs. Kharon's clients include first tier international financial institutions, global corporates, and professional services firms. Kharon is headed by former senior officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. SOURCE Kharon Related Links https://kharon.com IRVINE, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Zymo Research announced its support of seven new pilot projects at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where it will be one of the sponsors of the 2019 UCI Microbiome Initiative. According to its website, the Initiative began on the premise that current microbiome research was not well coordinated among scientific disciplines. The goal is to create cross-discipline collaborations to discover universal principles about microbiomes across all systems. UCI researchers are bridging this gap by opening new possibilities for improving the health of the Earth and its inhabitants. Zymo Research will be sponsoring projects that will investigate the role of microbiomes for human health and natural ecosystems. Zymo Research will be funding a UCI Microbiome Initiative Project led by UCI student Desiree Chase, shown above. Photo Credit: Patricia DeVoe / UCI. The first funded project was awarded to Ph.D. student Desiree Chase and her advisor Dr. Jessica Borelli, associate professor of psychological science, who will be studying the "Connections Between Psychological Stress, Social-Bonds and Gut Microbial Composition in the Parent-Child Dyad." The study will focus on the gut-brain connection and how psycho-biologists conceptualize this system. The research will explore whether these connections are present and how the parent-child bond may alter the nature of the stress-microbiome connections. The research will further look at the commonalities and differences in the microbiome within families. Zymo Research will be providing its microbiomic line of products (ZymoBIOMICS) for all seven pilot projects. ZymoBIOMICS is a complete microbiomics workflow solution, from sample collection/preservation to unbiased NGS-ready libraries. Besides providing kits, Zymo Research will handle the complete process from raw samples to Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) data generation for the Desiree Chase project. Additionally, Zymo Research is offering ten free samples of their ZymoBIOMICS DNA or RNA Purification Kits and Microbial Standards as well as a discount for future runs to any 2018 Microbiome Initiative Pilot Project awardees. "We are committed to supporting efforts like the UCI Microbiome Initiative to further microbiome research," said Dr. Marc Van Eden, Vice President of Business Development at Zymo Research. "This program will assist researchers who are doing incredibly important work in this area. We are honored to work with such a prestigious institution like UCI which is at the forefront of leading-edge science." "The UCI Microbiome Initiative seeks to facilitate new microbiome research on campus. This year we are supporting seven new pilot projects that are investigating the role of microbiomes for human health and natural ecosystems. We are very excited to partner with Zymo Research who will be helping to support these projects," explained Dr. Jennifer B. H. Martiny, Chancellor Fellow in ecology & evolutionary biology at UCI. For more information about Zymo Research's microbiomics portfolio of products, go to their website. About Zymo Research Corp. Zymo Research Corp. is privately owned and has been serving the scientific community with state-of-the-art molecular biology tools since 1994. "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple" is their motto, which is reflected in every Zymo Research product from their epigenetics to their DNA/RNA purification technologies. Historically recognized as the leader in epigenetics, Zymo Research is breaking boundaries with its novel solutions for microbiomic measurements. Zymo Research is the first company to develop microbiomics solutions, from collection to conclusion, based on new rigorous standards for microbiomic measurements. They have been leading the initiative to improve reproducibility and accuracy in this field by developing the first commercially available microbiome (mock microbial community) standards. Follow Zymo Research on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. About the University of California, Irvine Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It is located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu. Trademarks: All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Zymo Research Corp. trademark, with its design elements including the stylized three-shaded ovals (budding yeast), and the words "The Beauty of Science is to Make Things Simple," is a registered trademark of Zymo Research Corp. SOURCE Zymo Research Corp. Related Links http://www.zymoresearch.com Paris, April 16 : A major fire has engulfed the medieval Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, one of France's most famous landmarks. The 850-year-old Gothic building's spire and roof have collapsed but the main structure, including the two bell towers, has been saved, the BBC reported on Tuesday citing officials. Firefighters are still working to contain the blaze as teams are trying to salvage the artwork stored inside. President Emmanuel Macron called it a "terrible tragedy". The cause of the fire is not yet clear. But officials say it could be linked to the renovation work that began after cracks appeared in the stone, sparking fears the structure could become unstable. The Paris prosecutor's office said it has opened an inquiry into "accidental destruction by fire". Visiting the scene, Macron said the "worst had been avoided" and that an international fundraising scheme to rebuild the cathedral would be launched. The fire began early on Monday evening and quickly reached the roof of the cathedral, destroying its stained-glass windows and the wooden interior before toppling the spire. Firefighters worked for hours to prevent one of the main bell towers from collapsing. But the main structure had been "saved and preserved" from total destruction, Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet said. Deputy Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said the cathedral had suffered "colossal damages", and teams were working to save the cathedral's remaining valuable artwork. Speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV, historian Camille Pascal said "invaluable heritage" had been destroyed, adding: "Happy and unfortunate events for centuries have been marked by the bells of Notre Dame. We can be only horrified by what we see". Thousands of people gathered in the streets around the cathedral, observing the flames in silence. Some could be seen openly weeping, while others sang hymns or said prayers. Several churches around Paris rang their bells in response to the blaze. Macron, who cancelled an address to the nation because of the fire, said the cathedral was a building "for all French people", including those who had never been there. "We will rebuild Notre Dame together", he said as he praised the "extreme courage" and "professionalism" of the firefighters. Washington, April 16 : A US local newspaper has won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of a mass shooting in its own newsroom. But there was no celebration as the Capital Gazette in Maryland learned on Monday it had won the most prestigious prize in American journalism, the BBC reported. The staff quietly hugged in memory of five colleagues slain when a gunman burst into their office in June 2018. Pulitzers also went to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal for investigations of US President Donald Trump. The Capital Gazette in Annapolis won a special Pulitzer Prize citation for its coverage and courage in the face of one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in American history. The Pulitzer board awarded the citation with a $100,000 grant to further the newspaper's journalism. Employees John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen died in last summer's attack. But the staff still managed to publish a newspaper on schedule the next day. A man with a longstanding grudge against the Capital Gazette is charged with the attack. He pleaded not guilty last year. Coverage of mass shootings netted Pulitzers for two other local newspapers. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette received a breaking news award for its "immersive, compassionate" reporting of last October's attack at a Pennsylvania synagogue that left 11 people dead. And the South Florida Sun Sentinel won a Pulitzer for its reporting on the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead. It received the public service award for "exposing failings by school and law enforcement officials before and after the deadly shooting rampage". The New York Times won a prize for explanatory reporting of Trump's finances and tax avoidance and another for editorial writing. The Wall Street Journal won the national reporting prize for uncovering the president's secret payoffs to two alleged former mistresses during his campaign. The Washington Post also won two Pulitzers for photojournalism in Yemen and for criticism. United Nations, April 16 : The UN owes India $30 million for its contributions to the peacekeeping operations, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Peacekeeping operations "face frequent cash constraints that force the organisation to postpone the settlement of its obligations to troop- and police-contributing countries", he said in a report released on Monday to the General Assembly on UN's financial situation. He blamed the failure of member nations to pay their budget dues on time, in particular the US, for the arrears to India and other countries that send personnel to the peacekeeping operations. At the end of the last budget year for peacekeeping 2017-18, there were arrears of almost $2 billion, he said. Without mentioning the US by name, he said: "The overall level of unpaid peacekeeping contributions is also affected by the decision of one member state to contribute at a level approximately 3 per cent below its applicable rate of assessment." Under President Donald Trump's budget belt-tightening, the US, which is the largest financial contributor to the UN, has said that it would cap its dues to the peacekeeping budget at 25 per cent instead of the 28.47 per cent assessed by the UN. In January, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin told the Security Council that the arrears were an "enormous burden for a TCC (Troop-Contributing Country) to bear, in addition to what they are doing in terms of providing people and personnel, equipment, etc". He noted that the arrears owed to one TCC amounted to the financial contribution it would have to make in 200 years and in the case of another 100 years. The General Assembly sets the annual assessments for each country to the general and peacekeeping budgets as a percentage of the total budget using a complex formula that takes into account how rich the country is and other factors. The current year's peacekeeping budget is $6.7 billion and India's contribution will be about $11 million on an assessment of 0.167 per cent, which is higher than the previous year's 0.147 per cent. With its fast-growing economy, China is the second highest financial contributor to the UN. Its assessment for the peacekeeping budget is 10.25 per cent and for the general budget, 12.05 per cent. India's assessment for the general budget is 0.834 per cent, and it paid the full amount of $23.25 million in January. Guterres warned about "the deteriorating financial health of the organisation". "At the end of 2018, the UN truly reached bottom when it experienced the deepest deficit in a decade, one that completely eroded all its available liquidity reserves. "The level of arrears at the end of 2018 was $529 million, equivalent to more than 21 per cent of that year's assessments and nearly 150 per cent of the liquidity reserves", and as a result the UN started this year with only $30 million in cash reserves instead $353 million. He added the trend must be urgently halted and reversed with "common-sense solutions that will address the present unsustainable situation". (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) Mumbai, April 16 : The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange touched a fresh record high of 11,763.20 on Tuesday as investor sentiments were boosted by a "near normal" monsoon forecast and a positive trade data. Its previous high was 11,761.00, recorded on April 3. At 9.51 a.m., it traded at 11,762.65, higher by 72.30 points or 0.62 per cent from the previous close of 11,690.35 points. The Sensex was at 39,194.83, higher by 288.99 points or 0.74 per cent from the previous close of 38,905.84 points. It had opened at 39,040.30 and so far touched a high of 39,198.23 and a low of 39,038.81 points. The Indian Meteorological Department on Monday said that the south-west monsoon rains in 2019 will be near-normal with an expected rainfall of 96 per cent. Rise in exports from the country, also boosted the investor sentiment. India's merchandise exports grew 11.02 per cent, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in March, to $32.55 billion from $29.32 billion reported for the corresponding month of last year, official data showed on Monday. Lucknow, April 16 : With the Election Commission's ban against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath coming into force from Tuesday for the next 72 hours, barring him from campaigning, Adityanath started his day by offering prayers at a temple. New Delhi, April 16 : Western Uttar Pradesh will be a test case in the second phase of the general elections on April 18 when polling will be held for 97 Lok Sabha seats. There are serious farmers issues at stake there, yet they could be subsumed by the discourse on nationalism. Across the country, there are other constituencies where farm distress will be a factor, like the Marathwada region, or backward Raiganj in West Bengal, where agrarian crisis is a reality. The question in Srinagar will be about keeping the separatists at bay. In the 2017 bye-elections, which former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah won, the voting percentage was an abysmal 7.2 per cent, the lowest ever recorded till then for a Lok Sabha election. The big story will be in Tamil Nadu -- polls to all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats will be held in a single phase. Right now, it is a bipolar election -- between the AIADMK and DMK. The subtext will be provided by the election results -- to see whether either the UPA or the NDA has been able to get a toehold in the state. The following are some of the key constituencies that will go to the polls in the second phase. Amravati (Maharashtra) Sitting MP: Anandrao Adsul, Shiv Sena Key candidates: Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena) and Navneet Kaur Rana (Yuva Swabhiman Party), supported by the Congress-NCP alliance. Number of voters: 16.11 lakh. Main issues: Farm distress, farmers' suicides and water scarcity. This is a reserved constituency in which Buddhist Dalits wield significant influence. Nanded (Maharashtra) Sitting MP: Ashok Shankarrao Chavan, Congress Key candidates: Ashok Chavan (Congress), Chikhalikar Pratap Govindrao (BJP), Abdul Samad (Samajwadi Party) Number of voters: 16.87 lakh Main issues: This is an economically backward portion in the Marathwada region, where farm distress and water scarcity are main issues. Even though this is not a reserved constituency, the Scheduled Castes population has a significant vote base. Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh) Sitting MP Bhola Singh, BJP Key candidates: Bhola Singh (BJP) and Yogesh Verma (BSP), who will be the candidate for the SP-BSP-RLD mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh, and Bansi Lal Pahadia (Congress) Number of voters: over 17 lakh Main issues: This is a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Castes. Farm-related issues have a major role here. However, Bulandshahr is also a communally sensitive area and a campaign that focuses on this could find takers among the voters. Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) Sitting MP: Hema Malini, BJP Key candidates: Hema Malini (BJP), Narendra Singh (RLD) who is a candidate for the SP-BSP-RLD mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh and Mahesh Pathak (Congress) Number of voters: 17.99 lakh Main issues: The strong nationalistic narrative associated with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi finds resonance in this constituency. It got a fillip following the Balakot air strike. However, that does not overshadow issues related to farmers -- the problems of the sugar mills are well known -- unemployment, cleaning the Yamuna and infrastructure development. Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) Sitting MP: Satish Gautam, BJP Key candidates: Satish Gautam (BJP) and Ajit Balyan (BSP), who is the candidate for the SP-BSP-RLD mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh and Brijender Singh (Congress) Number of voters: 17.9 lakh Main issues: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a factor in the election but so are caste and development issues. Balyan is a Jat and his was a thoughtful candidate selection since the constituency has a significant Jat population. However, development issues have typically held sway in this university town. For the record, Gautam had created a stir last year over the presence of a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in Aligarh Muslim University. Over 20 per cent of the population is Muslim but Aligarh has never had a Muslim Lok Sabha MP. The Lodhs, an OBC community, is influential in the constituency and former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's village of Atrauli falls within the Aligarh constituency. Singh is a Lodh. Pollachi (Tamil Nadu) Sitting MP: C. Mahendran, AIADMK Key candidates: C. Mahendran (AIADMK), K. Shanmugasundaram (DMK) and A. Ganesha Moorthy (BSP) Number of voters: Over 15 lakh Main issues: The Pollachi sex scandal, which exploded in February, and the political fallout from it, would rank as the key factor in the elections. The scandal had first hit the ruling AIADMK but then scarred the DMK as well. Contrary to what many analysts had suggested, the Pollachi sex scandal will be a major election issue. Karur (Tamil Nadu) Sitting MP: M. Thambi Durai, AIADMK Key candidates: M. Thambi Durai (AIADMK) and S. Jothimani (Congress) Number of voters: 13.66 lakh Main issues: This is a textile hub but suffers from poor industrial development and an absence of good road connectivity. Industrial pollution is caused by textile dyeing units. Problems are added by water scarcity. Bangalore North (Karnataka) Sitting MP: D.V. Sadananda Gowda, BJP Key candidates: D.V. Sadananda Gowda (BJP) and Krishna Byre Gowda (Congress) Number of voters: 28.46 lakh Main issues: Development issues take centre stage in this constituency with a large number of electors -- infrastructure, public transport, sanitation and drinking water. The issue of job opportunities is also likely to play a part in the election. Hassan (Karnataka) Sitting MP: H.D. Deve Gowda, JD-S Key candidates: Prajwal Revanna (JD-S) and A. Manju (BJP) Number of voters: 15.8 lakh Main issues: BJP candidate A. Manju joined the BJP from the Congress party recently which makes the contest interesting. The constituency is dominated by Vokkaligas, who will be looking for support from other communities. Hassan is located along the Cauvery basin and is rich in cash crops. Naturally, the politics of the region is also determined by water availability. Udupi Chikmagalur (Karnataka) Sitting MP: Shobha Karandlaje, BJP Key candidates: Shobha Karandlaje (BJP) and Pramod Madhwaraj (JD-S) Number of voters: 14.98 lakh voters Main issues: Nationalistic issues get some traction but workaday issues like jobs and infrastructure are the primary election issues. The constituency is important because state BJP chief and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa takes special interest in it. Two main occupations for people here are fishing and bidi rolling. Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) Sitting MP: Farooq Abdullah, National Conference Key candidates: Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Sheikh Khalid Jehangir (BJP) and Agha Syed Mohsin (PDP) Number of voters: Over 12 lakh Main issues: The issue on test here will be democracy and India. A bypoll in 2017 -- following the resignation of Tariq Ahmad Karra -- had registered a mere 7.2 per cent voter turnout to elect Farooq Abdullah, the lowest ever for an election. At least seven people had died in poll-related violence. Chennai South (Tamil Nadu) Sitting MP: J. Jayavardhan, AIADMK Key candidates: J. Jayavardhan (AIADMK), R. Kumar (BSP) and Sumathy (Alias) Thamizhachi Thangapandian (DMK) Number of voters: 17.96 lakh Main issues: Apart from development, this election will also be about legacy -- of AIADMK's Jayalalitha and DMK's M. Karunanidhi. Issues of corruption and governance will be among the issues that voters are likely to consider in a muddled political scenario that is witnessing efforts by the BJP to gain a toehold in the state. Purnea (Bihar) Sitting MP: Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, JD-U Key candidates: Santosh Kumar Kushwaha (JD-U) and Uday Singh alias Pappu Singh (Congress), who is the candidate for the Congress-RJD combine in Bihar Number of voters: 15.82 lakh Main issues: Issues of development like roads, public transport, water and sanitation could be overshadowed by caste and nationalism issues. At one point the contest could see a clash between the Hindutva politics of the BJP and the Muslim-Yadav vote bank of the Congress-RJD candidate, who is a Rajput. Silchar (Assam) Sitting MP: Sushmita Dev, Congress Key candidates: Sushmita Dev (Congress) and Rajdeep Roy (BJP) Number of voters: 10.60 lakh Main issues: Despite the large number of Muslims in this constituency, it had generally stayed away from polarisation. That has now changed. The NRC was one factor in this. The rise of the BJP in the state is another. However, this narrative has also served to mute some of the anger on development issues that could have been used by the BJP to put Dev on the defensive. Her father, Santosh Mohan Dev had represented the constituency but was said to not have been successful in bringing development to the area. Raiganj (West Bengal). Sitting MP: Mohammad Salim, CPI-M Key candidates: Mohammad Salim (CPI-M), Deboshree Chaudhury (BJP), Deepa Dasmunshi (Congress) and Kanaialal Agarwal (Trinamool Congress) Number of voters: 13.87 lakh Main issues: The constituency has nearly 50 per cent Muslim population and there is the possibility of communal polarisation. However, CPI(M)'s Salim is keen to keep the political discourse on development and agrarian issues. Kolkata, April 16 : Ten people have been arrested in connection with violence after a Ram Navami rally in Asansol, the city with the second largest population in West Bengal, police said on Tuesday. Two police vehicles were vandalised and set on fire in the violence on Barakar Station Road, Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Laxmi Narayan Meena told IANS. He, however, said the situation was now "completely peaceful" and "under control". "Yesterday (Monday) there was unrest in the area after Ram Navami rally. Two police vehicles were vandalised and set on fire. We have arrested 10 people for vandalism," said Meena. The police were probing whether all of them took part in the rallies. "Their political affiliation is yet to be ascertained," he said. Viswa Hindu Parishad spokesman Sourish Mukherjee claimed that trouble erupted after stones were pelted at the Ram Navami rally. "This sort of situation happened last year also. Unfortunately, police and the administration never take action against these miscreants," he said. He said several people sustained injuries when they were beaten up by the police. Meena said the exact cause of violence was being probed. Mukherjee said more rallies will be taken out in and around Asansol on Tuesday. Shenzhen, April 16 : Chinese telecom major Huawei Technologies on Tuesday raised the market demand projection for 5G services and forecast the figure of 2.8 billion 5G users by 2025 and 58 per cent global coverage by this ultra-fast spectrum based services. "The 5G subscriber base will touch 2.8 billion by 2025 and 58 per cent of population will be covered by this technology based services. A whopping 6.5 million base stations will be in use for supporting such huge subscriber base by the same time", Huawei Technologies Deputy Chairman Ken Hu said, delivering the keynote address of the two-day Huawei Global Analysts Summit 2019 here. He also said that Huawei had made rapid inroads into markets across the world and it already has 40 contracts on 5G, till date, from various countries. Ken pointed out that 5G has been well accepted, and more quickly, in comparison with ther earlier generation 3G and 4G technologies. He quoted from report by Huawei which says it took 10 years for 3G-based telecom firms to get 500 million subscribers, and 5 years for 4G service providers to achieve this figure. However, 5G technology can make it possible for telcos to acquire 500 million users by just three years from now, the Huawei official said. Another area where 5G has taken a march over the earlier technologies is that there are four manufacturers currently developing 5G chipsets for fast processing, whereas there were no chipsets for 4G in the initial years of its rollout. The Huawei Deputy Chairman said there are 40 5G handsets already in the market, even before any large scale launch of 5G services. The summit is being seen as a Huawei exercise to showcase its 5G technology prowess as operators across the world start buying spectrum in government-controlled auctions to start services during later part of 2019 or in early 2020. (Anjana Das is attending the Huawei Global Analysts Summit 2019 at the invitation of the company. She can be contacted at anjana.d@ians.in) Mumbai, April 16 : Aiming to better embrace digital transformation, online beauty major Nykaa.com on Tuesday announced it is partnering with software major Adobe in order to expand its focus on Customer Experience Management (CXM). The partnership announcement was made at the Adobe Symposium 2019 here. "Led by its increasing digitisation focus, mobile-first customer behaviour and vast millennial population, India is well on its way to becoming a trillion-dollar economy," Adobe Managing Director (South Asia) Kulmeet Bawa told reporters here. "Today more than ever, businesses are rapidly evolving to become Experience Businesses, and this quest for transformation is pervasive across the C-suite. Customer Experience Management (CXM) unlocks digital transformation and Adobe is leading the way with continuous innovation on its Adobe Experience Platform," he added. Nykaa is leveraging Adobe Experience Cloud solutions - Adobe Media Optimizer and Adobe Analytics - to power its approach towards customer acquisition and experience management. With Adobe Media Optimiser, the company is able to prioritise and differentiate communication directed towards diverse customer segments. "Nykaa.com was conceived with a vision of approaching beauty as an experience, rather than a commodity, and through the years, we've made strategic investments in digital to deliver on this goal. With Adobe's long-standing partnership, we look forward to adding thrust to our focus on delivering relevant, real time experience to our customers," said Nykaa Founder and CEO Falguni Nayar. Washington, April 16 : Bill Weld, the former Governor of the US state of Massachusetts, has announced that he was officially entering the 2020 presidential race, becoming the first Republican to challenge President Donald Trump who he thinks "mocks the law". "Ours is a nation built on courage, resilience, and independence. In these times of great political strife, when both major parties are entrenched in their 'win at all cost' battles, the voices of the American people are being ignored and our nation is suffering," CNN quoted Weld as saying on Monday. "It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag. It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln -- equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight." In 2016, Weld was the Vice Presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. He previously served two terms as the governor of Massachusetts in the early 1990s. Weld ran for the Senate in Massachusetts in 1996 and lost against John Kerry. He later moved to New York and in 2005 unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor. Weld told CNN that it would be a "political tragedy" and he would "fear for the Republic" if the country had six more years of Trump as President. "I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff we've had out of the White House the last two years that would be a political tragedy, and I would fear for the Republic," he said. "I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run," he added. Weld said he will not run as an Independent if he does not win the Republican nomination. Trump enjoys a nearly 90 per cent approval rating among Republicans, according to Gallup. When asked about the President's historically high approval rating and whether he believes he can beat him in the primary, Weld said: "Yeah, I do. Particularly in New Hampshire, where I'm spending a lot of time, it's one vote at a time and one voter at a time..." He added that he feels Trump "mocks the rule of law". "I spent seven years in the Justice Department trying to keep the politics out of law enforcement, he's trying to put it in," Weld said. Weld also slammed Trump's attitude toward climate change and his confrontational style toward the press. While Weld sees blame on both sides of the aisle for the divisiveness coming from Washington, he said Trump is the "grand master" of the problem. "I've never seen such bitterness in this country." New Delhi, April 16 : Facebook and the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) -- a consortium of public and private organisations -- on Tuesday announced a partnership to train entrepreneurs and create jobs across India. Phase one of this partnership, to be rolled out this year, will cover 10 states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra, among others. The partnership is in line with Facebook's commitment to train five million people with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2021, the social networking platform said in a statement. Women currently constitute 23 per cent of Internet users and six per cent of mass entrepreneurs in India. "When you give women and youth the skills and technology to improve their lives, we can equip them to unlock economic and social value for themselves and their communities," said Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook - India, South and Central Asia. GAME and its partners will assist small entrepreneurs build their businesses using digital platforms like Facebook and Instagram to aggregate demand, market products and acquire customers. "Imagine the power of a platform that can bring together communities of artisan clusters, agri-entrepreneurs or homepreneurs in the thousands to learn, collaborate and succeed," added Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME. GAME and Facebook will kick-off their engagement with a project empowering local communities of rural entrepreneurs -- using digital and physical modes, a landscape review and identification of solutions for women entrepreneurs and a grand prize challenge for innovative models that spur new business creation. With its ongoing programmes, Facebook has already trained over one million people across 150 cities and 48,000 villages with support from 50 partners. New Delhi, April 16 : Staff sentiment at crisis-hit Jet Airways has hit the lowest as the endgame nears for the airline. With no interim funds coming from the lenders and suspension of all its operations imminent, they have lost all hopes and are bracing for tough times ahead. "We are going to approach the Labour Commissioner for recovering our dues. We can no longer hold on any further," said an engineer who has taken a loan against his LIC policy to meet his daily expenses. Airline sources told IANS that a few hundred pilots would move from Jet Airways in the next few days as they no longer believe airline would be saved. "Jet Airways shares have suddenly dropped so much. It signals there is nothing for the airline now and it will suspend all its operations," the engineer said. Jet Airways shares dropped 12.47 per cent to Rs 229.05 on the BSE on Tuesday afternoon. While technical personnel are likely to get jobs as most private carriers including IndiGo and GoAir hiring, the non-technical staff are heading for tough time. Even, pilots and engineers are taking heavy pay-cuts to get a job. The salary cut ranges from 30 to 50 per cent. "We are unlikely to get our dues from the airline. The future remains bleak. The only ray of hope is that the traffic growth continues which means job opportunities would come," an executive said. Captain Asim Valiani, Vice President, National Aviator's Guild (NAG), said that employees of all rank and file were facing financial hardship. "We are not sure how to tide over this financial stress. Children's education, EMIs and even mediclaims are at stake. Not to mention losing four months' pay, bonus and gratuity," Valiani said. The Jet employees know that the industry does not have the capacity to absorb all of them. "Many pilots and (executives in) other ranks will be jobless. The future of 20,000 employees is in jeopardy," the Captain noted. New Delhi, April 16 : Prices of telecom services are likely to rise in the second half of the current financial year (2019-20), an Edelweiss report said on Tuesday. The probability of price hike can be attributed to the fact that the penetration in mobile broadband services has increased significantly and is nearing a saturation point. "We estimate telecom operators to raise prices in H2FY20 as mobile broadband subscriber penetration reaches 65 per cent," said the report titled "Telecom-Daylight Again". "Typically, in a market characterised by low penetration of services, providers' quest for market share to gain economies of scale drives down prices, fuelling price wars. However, as investment requirements mount and relative attractiveness of balance market wanes, weaker players consolidate and participants start favouring pricing over incremental market share." On Reliance Jio, the Edelweiss report said that after 10 quarters since its launch and achieving 30 per cent of the revenue market share (RMS), "it is important to pause and take stock where the company stands now versus its objectives". "We believe that after achieving one of its key goals -- 400 million subscribers in H2FY20 -- Reliance JIO (RJIO) will hike prices to improve return ratios," it said, adding that, JIO's management, during its launch, had stated that one of its target is to achieve 400 million subscribers. Regarding Bharti Airtel, the report observed that, with a strong balance sheet and adequate network investments, it is well placed to capitalise on industry recovery. On the merged entity of Vodafone Idea, it said: "Although Vodafone Idea has higher operating and financial leverage from India's telecom industry revival, we maintain our cautious stance considering underwhelming capacity expansion plans and weak data volume traction." "We continue to believe that RJIO will become India's largest telecom operator led by the network's high data capacity driving mobile broadband subscriber market share." Another report by UBS said that customer engagement and willingness to pay for the mobile apps is selectively increasing. "Survey results also shows that about 55-60 per cent of Jio's smartphone users engage with Jio's app versus 35 per cent for Airtel and 25-30 per cent for Vodafone and Idea," it said The report, however said that advertisement rather than subscription might be the main revenue source from the content investments of the telecom operators. Shenzhen, April 16 : Chinese telecom equipment major Huawei on Tuesday said that India should address the constraints in the spectrum availability to make 5G technology-based services a success in the country. Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the Huawei Global Analysts Summit 2019 here Huawei Executive Director David Wang, who is also the company's ICT strategy head, also pointed out that the Indian telecom market is currently faced with excess competition. "Huawei would like to see India become more attractive in terms of 5G. We hope to see more changes in the Indian market..there is lack of spectrum for 5G operators which could affect the services. If the constraints present in the 4G is there in 5G as well, then these constraints might hamper growth," Wang said. Huawei Deputy Chairman Ken Hu said some of the growth irritants of 4G in India should not be repeated. These problems had made it difficult for telcos to make profits with the 4G spectrum in the face of excessive competition in the telecom services market. "If operators are struggling to make profits under 4G, I wonder how will they become profitable in 5G. Competition in Indian market is overheated", Ken said. "My personal view is that for a very long time after 4G deployment, eMBB will be the main scenario. If operators are already struggling to gain profits on eMBB scenario under 4G, then I wonder how do they make profits under 5G"", he added. eMBB, or enhanced Mobile Broadband, is one of the three sets of used cases defined for 5G. Huawei which has faced security concerns in some parts of Europe and in the US, said that it is already in the Indian government's invitee list for 5G trials, as and when these take place. "We were invited by the Indian government last year to conduct field trials for 5G and also participated in used cases and researches with operators in India. Huawei is deeply engaged with the Indian market on 5G," Wang said. "India is similar to China and other growing markets in terms of requirements and ICT and is an important market for us", he added. Huawei has undertaken 5G demo trials, alongwith Airtel and Reliance Jio, at the Indian Mobile Congress. India's Department of Telecom so far has not taken any decision on the time period for 5G trials as the telecom operators have differences over the quantum of spectrum to be allotted and the duration of the field exercise. While the operators demand a one-year minimum period for trial, the government says it only allot spectrum for 90-day trials. The Indian telecom services market is facing severe competition, with a tariff war unleashed by Reliance Jio already affecting telcos' bottomlines. They are already complaining about the high high reserve price of the next spe4ctrum auction slated to take place later this year. Huawei has been present in India since the last decade in the telecom equipment business and has so far worked with Airtel and BSNL. It faces completion from fellow Chinese rival ZTE, Korean major Samsung, and the European firms Ericsson and Nokia. (Anjana Das is attending the Huawei Global Analysts Summit 2019 at the invitation of the company. She can be contacted at anjana.d@ians.in) Patna, April 16 : Former RJD MP and former Union Minister Ali Ashraf Fatmi on Tuesday resigned from all the posts of the party and announced he will contest as an Independent from Madhubani in Bihar. Addressing a press conference here, Fatmi, a four-time RJD MP from Darbganga, said he will, however, remain with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Fatmi said the RJD had earlier assured him the ticket to contest from Madhubani after the party fielded senior leader Abdul Bari Suddiqui from Darbhanga. "Now it is for the party to give me symbol to contest from Madhubani. I will wait till April 18." Congress leader and former Union Minister Shakeel Ahmad on Monday said he will contest the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate from Madhubani. Ahmad was unhappy after his traditional seat of Madhubani went to ally VIP under a seat sharing formula of the Grand Alliance. As per the seat sharing formula of the Grand Alliance announced on March 22, the RJD will contest 19 of the 40 seats and the Congress nine, while smaller parties will be in contention in the remaining constituencies. The seven-phase election in Bihar is scheduled from April 11 to May 19. New Delhi, April 16 : A court here on Tuesday granted bail to lawyer Gautam Khaitan in a money laundering and black money case. Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed Khaitan's bail plea asking him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 25 lakh and two surety of like amount each. The court directed him not to influence witnesses or hamper the investigation in the case. It also directed him to join the investigation in the case whenever required. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed Khaitan's bail plea. It was the second bail plea moved by Khaitan. On March 12, the court had rejected his first plea for bail. Khaitan was arrested on January 25, a week after the Income Tax Department searched his offices and other properties in Delhi and the National Capital Region. On March 25, the ED filed a chargesheet in the money laundering case. The agency said Khaitan was "controlling" the modus operandi and was responsible for routing money, misusing his connections and clients, including the ones inherited from his father, to launder money through a variety of accounts in Dubai, Mauritius, Singapore, Tunisia, Switzerland, the UK and India. The ED officials said that the accounts included those belonging to his undisclosed shell companies outside India. The ED had filed a money laundering case against Khaitan and others based on a case lodged by the I-T Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act. Khaitan was arrested in September 2014 for his alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. He got bail in January 2015 but was again arrested along with Sanjeev Tyagi, another accused in the case, on December 9, 2016, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He later secured bail. The CBI chargesheet had described Khaitan as the brain behind the AgustaWestland deal. New Delhi, April 16 : The Congress on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "omitted" certain details about his property in his affidavits filed during previous elections and wanted the Election Commission to take "thorough cognizance" of it. Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Modi was "hiding something" about a property in Gandhinagar. Khera alleged that Modi, soon after becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, got a property allotted and in his election affidavit in 2007, he declared to be the "sole" owner of "plot 411" (measuring 326.22 square metres) in Sector 1, a prime property in Gandhinagar. "Based on the market rates prevailing in Gandhinagar, this plot is presently worth about Rs 1.18 crore. Modi was the then CM of Gujarat and had also declared in his affidavit that he had spent Rs 30,363 to carry out some construction on the piece of same land," he said. The Congress leader added that in all subsequent affidavits filed by Modi, he "omitted" any mention of this plot but listed "plot 401/A" of the same size and in same location, and declared himself a quarter owner. He claimed that the same plot was also listed in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's 2014 affidavit who also declared to be a quarter owner. "He (Modi) did not show any sale of the earlier plot, although it was an allotted plot that can't be sold or transferred. You need permission even to rent or lease it out," Khera added. Khera said the Election Commission should take "thorough cognizance of the seemingly deliberate omissions" in the Prime Minister's affidavits and take appropriate action. He said a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday on some "interesting questions" on Modi's property. "It is interesting because sahib (Modi) has been hiding something about it... He keeps saying that he is a 'fakir' (one who owns nothing) and after May 23, he will just pack his 'jhola' (bag) and leave. But now we are finding out what is in his jhola," Khera said. Asked if it could just be a typing error, Khera said the Prime Minister should then come clean about it and clarify which plot he owned and if he was the sole owner or quarter owner of that plot. Khera went on to add, "The plot number changes, ownership share changes while the location and the size remains the same. Affidavits say one thing and land records tell another. The BJP has been running the government in Gujarat for last 28 years. Are they saying that land records are not complete and clear in the Gujarat model?" He said under Section 125A of the Representation of People Act 1952, falsifying an election affidavit carries an imprisonment of six months or with a fine or both. "In the light of the above discrepancies, the Congress party demands that the Election Commission, takes thorough cognizance of the seemingly deliberate omissions in PM Modi's affidavit and take appropriate action under the Representation of People Act," Khera said. Hyderabad, April 16 : The transport of EVMs in Telangana's Jagtial district created a flutter as the video went viral on social media but the poll officials clarified on Tuesday that the machines were used only for training the personnel. Ten Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were transported in an auto-rickshaw from the Jagtial Tehsildar's office to a warehouse in Mini Stadium on Monday night but as the warehouse was locked they were brought back in the same vehicle. The video of this went viral on social media with some people raising doubts about the safety of the EVMs used for polling. The timing of the transportation created suspicions. Jagtial is part of Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, where as many as 185 candidates contested in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Telangana's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar, however, allayed the apprehensions and clarified that the EVMs which were being transported were used for training the polling personnel before the voting on April 11. Kumar told a news conference in Hyderabad that the EVMs in the video were of M2 version machines while M3 EVMs were used for polling in the entire Nizamabad constituency. Jagtial District Collector S. Sharath sought an explanation from the concerned officials on why the EVMs were being transported at night. Stating that some old videos were also being circulated on the social media to create doubts with political motives, the CEO said that criminal cases would be registered against those posting such videos. He said a video in which an EVM was allegedly found at a home in Rajasthan in 2018 was being circulated by some people. He said a polling agent who clicked the picture in a strong room in Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency was arrested and sent to judicial custody. Kumar said polling was conducted in a transparent manner as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. He dismissed the doubts being expressed by some parties and candidates about the increase in the poll percentage a day after the polling. The CEO said it was a normal practice to give an approximate polling percentage after the end of polling but the final figures were announced the next day. He said the signatures of the polling agents of all parties were taken on prescribed forms at the end of polling in each booth and there was no room for any discrepancy. Imphal, April 16 : Campaigning ended at 4 p.m. on Tuesday for the Inner Manipur constituency, which goes to the polls on April 18. The BJP and the Opposition Congress are the major players in the multi-cornered poll battle in Inner Manipur. Polling for the Outer Manipur constituency, reserved for the tribals, was held on April 11 and recorded over 82 per cent voting. Chief Minister N. Biren has demanded repolling in 196 polling stations in Outer Manipur alleging rampant proxy voting. However, Returning Officer H. Rosita has recommended repolling in only 19 polling stations. Chief Electoral Officer P.K. Singh said that police and central forces deployed in the Outer constituency will be redeployed in the Inner constituency. "Police are conducting cordon and search operations across Imphal to round up insurgents. There will be no law and order problem during the April 18 polls," he said. Singh also assured that there will be no repeat of the April 11 incident, when reporters with EC authorised letters were not allowed to enter the polling booths in Tengnoupal and Kangpokpi districts. New Delhi, April 16 : Naresh Goyal may not be able to re-board Jet Airways with some of the prospective investors objecting to his entry, informed sources said on Tuesday. In view of the opposition from other bidders, Goyal is said to have withdrawn from the race. According to the industry sources, Etihad and TPG Capital could consider pulling out of the race if Goyal is allowed to submit his bid for the crisis-hit airline. Seeking to take pilot's seat after he was nudged by the lenders to quit, Goyal had placed his bid through Jetair Pvt Ltd and backed by two foreign enntities. Lenders of Jet Airways led by the State Bank of India (SBI) are currently in the process of selling their stakes in the airline to recover the dues to the tune of over Rs 8,400 crore. SBI Caps, the merchant banking arm of SBI, is currently shortlisting investors who would then be able to submit their proposals by April-end. In a statement, SBI had on Monday said that prospective bidders would be selected shortly as SBI Caps' legal team is working on the Expressions of Interest (EoI) received from the investors. "The proposed equity conversion by banks, if any, will be undertaken as a transitory mechanism to facilitate the bidding-cum-sale process," SBI said in a statement. SBI is acting on behalf of the group of lenders as part of the bank-led resolution process. Chennai, April 16 : Former Chief Ministers J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi are be no more but it is still them that their parties - AIADMK and DMK respectively - invoke and rely on to seek votes in the Lok Sabha battle. The ruling AIADMK's long-time leader Jayalalithaa died in December 2016 but it is her old electoral speech urging people not to waste their votes on any other party and only cast their ballot in her party's favour that is telecast as part of the party's campaign. In his rallies, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, apart from attacking DMK President M.K. Stalin, also seeks to leverage Jayalalithaa's legacy, recalling the various schemes that she had implemented in that part of the state as well as across Tamil Nadu. "It is part of the ruling AIADMK's narrative that theirs is the government of Amma (Jayalalithaa) and the schemes are that of Amma," AIADMK spokesperson Avadi Kumar told IANS. At all AIADMK rallies, Jayalalithaa figures prominently on hoardings and is shown towering over Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing his rallies here, began his speech praising Jayalalithaa and AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran. On the other side, DMK's Stalin and other leaders talk about the various schemes brought in by the late Karunanidhi when he was Chief Minister. While mounting a strong attack on the AIADMK government and Palaniswami, the DMK President also says that he will not speak without proof as he is the son of Karunanidhi. Similarly, other DMK speakers also stress the schemes implemented by the earlier Karunanidhi government. Mumbai, April 16 : Financially-challenged Jet Airways' Board meeting here on Tuesday ended inconclusively as the airline awaits the lenders' decision on its plea for interim funds to stay aloft, sources said. A day before, the financially-struggling airline presented a plan for interim funding to its lenders. "The Board meet was inconclusive. We are awaiting for the lenders reply. It is of paramount importance that we receive a clarity on interim funding," an airline source told IANS here. The development assumes significance as the airline has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. Industry insiders says that without extra funds, the airline might have to temporarily suspend operations. It has folded up most operations due to grounding of over 80 per cent of its fleet by lessors, and is running just 7 aircraft, barely enough to save its air operating permit. Awaiting the outcome of lenders' meet with the government, the cash-starved airline has extended cancellation of international flights till April 18 (Thursday) after last week suspending them till April 15 (Monday). Airlines CEO Vinay Dube wrote to staff, saying the management would seek guidance from the board on the next steps. In his message, he said the airline has been working with lenders to secure interim funding for its operations. "The interim funding has not been forthcoming thus far and as a result of which we have extended cancellation of international operations through Thursday, April 19," he wrote. "We will keep you updated on all critical developments," he added. Late on Monday evening, the State Bank of India (SBI), which leads the consortium of Jet's lenders, said merchant banker SBI Caps' legal team was working on the expressions of interest (EoIs) received from investors, and bidders will be selected soon. "The proposed equity conversion by banks, if any, will be undertaken as a transitory mechanism to facilitate the bidding-cum-sale process," the SBI said in a statement. SBI Caps is acting on behalf of the group of lenders as part of the bank-led resolution process. Necessary support to facilitate the process is being extended by other banks in the consortium. "Cooperation and support from all other stakeholders will be the key to success of the process," the SBI said. Even the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started giving the airline's slots to other carriers suggesting Jet's closure is just a matter of time. Jet's woes has intensified as the airline that once operated around 120 aircraft is now left with just a 16 plane fleet. It owes over Rs 8,000 crore to the SBI-led consortium of lenders. Its only ray of hope is an immediate injection of interim funding and the completion of the stake sale process, initiated by lenders. Chennai, April 16 : Loudspeakers blaring political message turned silent on Tuesday evening as the curtains came down on the high-voltage electoral campaign for the 39 Lok Sabha seats and Assembly by-polls in 18 constituencies in Tamil Nadu, to be held on April 18. The campaign saw heated exchange of views including personal accusations by the leaders of the contesting parties. The Lok Sabha and the Assembly by-elections will witness four-cornered contests. However, the major contest will be between the ruling AIADMK-led alliance comprising of PMK, BJP, PMK, TMC, PT and PNK, and the opposition DMK-led alliance consisting of Congress, MDMK, CPI, CPI(M), IUML, VCK, KMDK and IJK. Both AIADMK and DMK will be contesting in 20 seats in Tamil Nadu while sharing the remaining 20 -- including the lone Puducherry seat -- with their alliance partners. Also in the fray are Kamal Haasan's MNM and T.T.V. Dinakaran's AMMK. The ruling AIADMK led by Chief Minister K.Palaniswami campaigned listing out the government's populist schemes, stressed the need for strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nation's security and criticised the DMK on various counts. On its part, the DMK led by its President M.K. Stalin spoke about the ill-effects of demonetisation, Goods and Services Tax (GST), job losses, Central government usurping the state's rights, strong attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, water woos and others. Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi too visited Tamil Nadu couple of times for campaigning. While one view is that the fight seems to be between the DMK and the BJP, with the ruling AIADMK relegated to the background, the second view is that the AIADMK is deliberately keeping the BJP in the forefront as a strategy. "The Lok Sabha poll core issue has turned out to be the DMK versus the BJP. The BJP wants to make an entry into Tamil Nadu," Ramu Manivannan, a Professor of Political Science at University of Madras, told IANS. He said the DMK is mobilising all its forces against the BJP and Stalin has been strongly criticising Prime Minister Modi as "facist" in his rallies. Former AIADMK MP K.C. Palanisamy maintained that all these years, the election fight in Tamil Nadu had between the AIADMK and the DMK. But "this time around, the AIADMK leadership has failed to maintain that line, giving prominence to the BJP", he said. Another AIADMK leader, however, held that if the DMK is targeting BJP, "it is good for the AIADMK". "The BJP is not a major force in Tamil Nadu now. There is no point in targeting that party to gain politically," the AIADMK leader, who did not want to be named, told IANS. Be that as it may, for now, the parties are hoping that their campaigning strategy pays off with over 5.9 crore voters casting their vote in their favour on April 18. Srinagar, April 16 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday summoned a prominent Kashmiri businessman in connection with a terror funding case being investigated by the agency. Yasin Khan, President of the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF), was told to be present at the NIA's Delhi office on Thursday. NIA questioned senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq for three days last week in connection with the same investigation. New Delhi, April 16 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, the Central Waqf Council and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on a plea seeking the entry of women in mosques. A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and S. Abdul Nazeer asked if Right to Equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution could be invoked by an individual against another individual - a non-state actor. "All those present in the mosque are individuals and they are not cast in concrete. Where the State comes here? Is mosque a State, is temple a State, is Church a State?" Justice Bobde asked. An unimpressed court said that it may examine the issue in the light of its verdict in the Sabarimala case where the court lifted the bar on the centuries old ban on the entry of menstruating women in the age group of 10 to 50 years in Sabarimala temple. The court had held the prohibition on the entry of menstruating women as unconstitutional. "We may hear you because of our judgment in Sabarimala case. We don't think you are giving satisfactory answers to our question," Justice Bobde said issuing notice on the petition. As lawyer Dubey urged that the bar on the entry of Muslim women in mosque was discriminatory, Justice Bobde said: "You are reading Article 14 of the Constitution which we have not read". They asked the lawyer to read it. "Can you invoke Article 14 asserting equality of treatment against another citizen?" Justice Bobde asked pointing that Article 14 says that "the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India". In a series of posers, the court inquired about the prevailing practices on the entry of women in mosques abroad. As lawyer Ashutosh Dube, appearing for the petitioner Yasmeen Zuber Ahmed Peerzade, said that women are permitted in Mecca, Justice Nazeer said that the congregation of men and women were separate. New Delhi/Agartala, April 16 : The CPI-M on Tuesday held demonstrations in New Delhi and Agartala demanding repoll in 464 of the 1,679 polling booths in the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency, and free and fair poll in the Tripura East seat on April 18. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday visited the Election Commission and submitted a memorandum with videos and photographs in support of their demand. He was accompanied by party candidate for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat Sankar Prasad Datta and other leaders. The full Election Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, later held video conference to review poll preparedness in some constituencies of West Bengal and Tripura going to polls in the second and third phases. Addressing a rally in Agartala, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said it was now up to the EC to ensure that democracy was protected in India. "The Left parties have given the EC specific evidences -- a large number of videos and photographs -- to prove how polling was turned into farce on April 11," said Sarkar, also a member of the CPI-M politburo. Tripura Left Front convenor Bijan Dhar, who led a five-member delegation to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti to submit a memorandum on Sunday, said the CEO said he had received over 800 complaints from Tripura West, which were being scrutinised by the Returning Officer. Dhar, a CPI-M central committee member, said, "Since the first parliamentary elections in 1952, Tripura had never seen such a farcical and violent polling as was witnessed on April 11. "Even during the Congress rule (before 1978 and 1988-1993), there was never such a mockery of polling. BJP goons drove out polling agents of the Left and other parties' from hundreds of polling stations and prevented thousands of opposition supporters from casting their votes." Demanding effective deployment of central and state forces for the second phase of polling, CPI-M state Secretary Gautam Das said the governments at the Centre and in Tripura kept the security forces away from poll duties on April 11 to ease rigging by BJP workers. Leading a demonstration near the poll panel office in Delhi on Tuesday, Yechury said democracy was being killed and rights of the people were being trampled under the BJP regime. "I did not see a single central paramilitary force jawan in Tripura on April 11. The entire central force sent to Tripura for election duty and the state forces were kept in barracks by the BJP governments to facilitate rigging," Yechury said. He said the EC didn't listen to the Left parties' demand for action against poll code violations. "It woke up following the Supreme Court order on hate speeches by various leaders in UP. Both secularism and democracy are being attacked under the Narendra Modi-led government," he said. Abu Dhabi, April 16 : A 23-year-old Indian sailor aboard a ship stranded off the coast of Dubai has been reported missing since March 9, the media reported on Tuesday. Jagadeeswara Rao disappeared from a vessel that was anchored 3.5 miles off Port Rashid in Dubai, said D. Ramu, the health and safety manager at a Dubai company where the sailor's father Srinivasa Rao works as a welder. Ramu who helped the family report the matter to the authorities told Gulf News on Tuesday Jagadeeswara Rao came to the UAE as a seaman in September through Oasis Maritime Shipping Agency in Ajman on a visa sponsored by Emirates Shipping Company LLC. "On March 9, his (the sailor's) friend Dileep Kumar called up Srinivasa's home in Andhra Pradesh and informed that Jagadeeswara is missing from the ship, where they worked together," Ramu was quoted as saying by Gulf News. Citing Dileep Kumar, Ramu said Jagadeeswara Rao was on duty on the day he disappeared. "When his reliever went to take over the shift, he (Dileep Kumar) didn't find Jagadeeswara on the ship's deck where he was supposed to be working. He immediately informed ship authorities and Coast Guards." "We only came to know about this on March 10. We collected the details from his hometown and found that the shipping agency in Ajman had received Jagadeeswara on a 96 hours' visa and sent him to a private owner's ship. They said they don't know what happened later," Ramu said. He told Gulf News that after talking with other sailors, he got to know that all of them were unpaid for several months and had to depend on nearby ships at times for food. "That day also they had visited another ship and shared the dinner. It was after dinner that Jagadeeswara went to the deck while others slept near the captain's cabin." Ramu said after pursuing the issue with the agency and the ships' owner, a complaint was registered with the Ports Police. The police said they searched for five days in the water underneath the vessel's location but didn't find anything about Jagadeeswara Rao. Ramu has been following the case through the Indian Consulate in Dubai as well, according to the report. The mission said it had taken up the matter with the local authorities and was pursuing it. "We had taken it up with the foreign office, the police and the Federal Transport Authority. We have been pursuing the matter. However, they have not been able to find him," the Consulate said. New Delhi, April 16 : India's civil aviation regulator on Tuesday advised airlines to keep air fares in check as Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu took stock of the situation in wake of Jet Airways' troubles. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) met airline representatives on the spurt in air fares as Jet Airways struggles to stay afloat. "... airlines were advised to continue to monitor at their level and provide information to the DGCA to keep fares low as far as possible," it said in a statement, adding that airlines' representatives intimated it about some seats from higher price buckets being removed to lower fare buckets. "DGCA will continue to monitor fare movement on daily basis and engage with airline for appropriate action," the regulator said. Earlier in the day, Prabhu directed his Ministry officials to review issues related to high air fares, passenger rights and safety. "Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc. Asked him (Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola) to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety; and to work with all stakeholders for their well being," he said in a tweet. New Delhi, April 16 : Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said the Congress, which has sought "proof of martyrdom" of the armed forces, should not teach nationalism to his Bharatiya Janata Party. Hitting back at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who had attacked the BJP on Monday for building a narrative around nationalism, Prasad claimed it was her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi, who had supported "tukde tukde gang" and sought proof of the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot. "Priyanka had said that their nationalism and ours is different. When slogans like 'desh ke tukde, inshallah' were raised in the JNU, Rahul had gone there to address them. Was it nationalism?" he said. Never in the history of independent India, doubts were raised on the sacrifices made by armed force personnel, he said. "Congress should not give us advice on nationalism. Rahul and the Congress had asked for proof to check if the Balakot airstrike happened," he said. Stressing the BJP's thinking was to strengthen nationalism as it opposes those trying to infiltrate into the country, Prasad said the BJP was "proud" that the nationalism had become an electoral issue. "Nationalism, national security, national self-confidence and national self-respect have come to the centre of the discourse of the electoral campaign due to opposition seeking evidence of sacrifices and valour of armed forces," he said. New Delhi, April 16 : Researchers with cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab have uncovered a sophisticated spying platform, TajMahal, that has been active for more than five years now and appears to be unconnected to any known threat actors. The TajMahal framework features around 80 malicious modules and includes functionality never before seen in an advanced persistent threat, such as the ability to steal information from printer queues and to grab previously seen files from a USB device the next time it reconnects, the researchers said. Kaspersky Lab has so far seen only one victim, a foreign-based central Asian embassy, but it is likely that others have been affected. "It seems highly unlikely that such a huge investment would be undertaken for only one victim. This suggests that there are either further victims not yet identified, or additional versions of this malware in the wild, or possibly both," said Alexey Shulmin, Lead Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab. "The distribution and infection vectors for the threat also remain unknown. Somehow, it has stayed under the radar for over five years. Whether this is due to relative inactivity or something else is another intriguing question. There are no attribution clues nor any links we can find to known threat groups," Shulmin added. The name "TajMahal" comes from the name of the file used to exfiltrate the stolen data, Kaspersky Lab said. The TajMahal framework is believed to include two main packages, self-named as "Tokyo" and "Yokohama". Tokyo is the smaller of the two, with around three modules. It contains the main backdoor functionality, and periodically connects with the command and control servers. Tokyo leverages PowerShell and remains in the network even after the intrusion has moved to stage two. Stage two is the Yokohama package: a fully armed spying framework. Yokohama includes a Virtual File System (VFS) with all plug-ins, open source and proprietary third-party libraries, and configuration files. There are nearly 80 modules in all, and they include loaders, orchestrators, command and control communicators, audio recorders, keyloggers, screen and webcam grabbers, documents and cryptography key stealers. TajMahal is also able to grab browser cookies, gather the backup list for Apple mobile devices, steal data from a CD burnt by a victim as well as documents in a printer queue, the researchers said. It can also request the theft of a particular file from a previously seen USB stick, and the file will be stolen the next time the USB is connected to the computer. The targeted systems found by Kaspersky Lab were infected with both Tokyo and Yokohama. This suggests that Tokyo was used as first stage infection, deploying the fully-functional Yokohama package on interesting victims, and then left in for backup purposes. Srinagar, April 16 : National Conference (NC) Vice-President Omar Abdullah on Tuesday thanked Mehbooba Mufti, his political rival and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, for her concern about a grenade attack on NC's poll meeting in Tral town earlier in the day. Militants hurled a grenade at the meeting. But it exploded without causing any damage. The meeting was being attended by Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi, the NC candidate against Mehbooba Mufti in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. The meeting was being held at local NC leader Muhammad Ashraf Bhat's house, which has been attacked by militants in the past as well. Hearing about the attack, Mufti tweeted, "Very sorry to hear about a grenade attack on NC's Anantnag parliamentary candidate. Relieved to know that he is safe & no other casualties/damage was reported. Allah sabko salamat rakhay." Appreciating her concern, Omar wrote back on Twitter, "Thank you for your concern. Allah was kind, thankfully the programme had concluded & Masoodi Sahib & other colleagues were in a nearby home when the grenade fell. Sadly, this is the umpteenth time Ashraf & his family have faced this sort of attack in recent years." Mathura : , April 16 (IANS) In the birthplace of Lord Krishna, it's one's 'karma' that matters. So, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did well to retaliate against Pulwama terror attack -- almost all voters agree -- and it's something BJP candidate Hema Malini would sure depend on, on April 18 when Mathura votes in the second phase of polling. Yet, what else would the 'dream girl' of yesteryear bet on? The farmers aren't too happy and the general impression is that she has not done much for rural areas, where Jats (4.5 lakh) heavily outnumber others. For effect, BJP supporters even project her as a Jat (she is from Tamil Nadu) owing to her marriage with Bollywoood icon Dharmendra. In rural areas, all this has little meaning. "The government increased the wheat procurement price. But the cost of fertilizer too went up. Everything else relating to farming is under the GST. Diesel cost too is raised. There are more issues, but no one is ready to hear us," says Jagpal Singh, a farmer from Phenchari village. The Mathura Lok Sabha constituency is part of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh and comprises five assembly segments -- Chhata, Mant, Goverdhan, Mathura and Baldev -- where polling is due in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 18. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections Hema Malini defeated Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary by 3.30 lakh votes. Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) stood third with 1.73 lakh votes. According to Election Commission 2009 reports, the parliamentary constituency had over 13.40 lakh voters. An unofficial data said the constituency's current vote bank is around 18 lakh. Besides Jats, there are around 3 lakh Brahmins and as many Thakurs. Agarwal and Muslim voters are estimated around 1.5 lakh each. Dominent local issues are health, education, roads and agrarian crisis. Many people whom IANS spoke to said the focus is to elect a person who will represent the Central government in taking the country forward, and that they find "no option other than Modi." For that, they can ignore who the BJP candidate is. Others say the RLD, an ally of Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party, has an edge as Hema Malini has support base only in the city, not in rural areas which she "ignored" in the last five years. They say 'Modi magic' will not help much as most people in the constituency are dependent on farming which she had avoided during her tenure. Prembir Singh Chawla, Resident Welafare Association chariman Omaxe Intercity in Vrindavan in Mathura where Hema Malini built a house recently, told IANS: "I have been living here for over five years. Hema Malini was elected as an MP from Mathura after I came here. We helped the BJP in winning her last elections, but she has no time for us. Now I don't support the BJP." A real estate businessman, Ram Raghv, said: "Politics is based on good behaviour and faith. In this election, most of the people are voting BJP in the name of Modi because they don't have a better option". Raghav, who also lives in Vrindavan and has projects in Omaxe Intercity, said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has changed the scenario in Uttar Pradesh's politics. "She should have joined politics earlier. Priyanka's presence will not help the Congress, but the vote percentage of the party would increase," he said. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) Seoul, April 16 : South Korea on Tuesday commemorated the fifth anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster that had left 304 people dead in 2014, most of them high school students, who were on an end-of-course trip. The main ceremony, which was attended by 5,000 people, was held in a park in the Ansan locality - 80 km south of Seoul - where most of the students had lived. In a separate ceremony, a group of 24 families of students of the Danwon High School, who had died in the tragedy, travelled to the place where the ferry sank, some 70 km away from the southern island of Jindo, Efe news reported. They called out names of the victims and offered flowers into the sea in remembrance, according to Yonhap news agency. Another ceremony in Incheon - south of Seoul - was held in memory of 41 other victims of the tragedy. On Jeju island, where the ferry was headed when it sank, a memorial ceremony was held, and later a procession of mourners walked to the port where the ferry should have been moored. "I renew my commitment to preventing the same tragedy from being repeated again. Thorough efforts will be made to ascertain the truth about the tragedy and punish those responsible," South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a message that was later tweeted by his office. An investigation committee in 2014 had said that the accident took place due to an illegal redesign of the 6,825 tonne vessel along with overloading of the cargo and human errors. The investigation also stressed that the poor response of the crew, whose captain was sentenced in 2015 to life imprisonment, had prevented a greater number of passengers from being rescued. However, many families of the victims claimed that the committee was influenced by then President Park Geun-hye's administration. They had also accused the committee of avoiding a rigorous investigation to protect those responsible for the tragedy. Later reports had shown that the South Korean presidential office had tampered with protocol to inform Park about the incident, who took several hours to make a public appearance after the incident. The former President was ousted due to corruption charges and is currently serving a 32-year prison term on two charges. New Delhi, April 16 : The West Bengal government on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to vacate its two "ex-parte" orders restraining the state from taking any coercive action against former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh and seeking to bar her from entering the state. The government has sought the vacation of the earlier orders restraining the state police from taking any action against Ghosh, who is now the BJP candidate for Ghatal Lok Sabha seat in Midnapore district, and barring her from entering the state contending that she may tamper with evidence. As senior counsel Kapil Sibal urged the top court to vacate the orders as they were coming in the way of its investigations in other cases, the bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K.M. Joseph said that "we can clarify that former police cop would co-operate with the investigation." The court said that its order did not mean that the police can't investigate the cases. The SC by its October 1, 2018, order had said that Bharati Ghosh "shall not be arrested in connection with any of the cases" at that point of time and by its February 19, 2019 order, it said: "Without prejudice to the contentions of the parties, we are of the view that till the next date of hearing no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner (Bharati Ghosh) in any of the cases." Sibal, appearing for West Bengal government, told the court that there were four categories of cases against the accused that were rooted in certain acts in the wake of demonetization, possession of disproportionate assets, recovery of cash to the tune of Rs 2 crore among others. Senior counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for Bharati Ghosh said that the move to keep Ghosh away from the state was politically coloured as she was contesting the Lok Sabha election as a BJP nominee. Sibal said that she was welcome to come and file her nomination papers but that can't be a ground for asking the state police to hold its hands from investigating the cases against her - a point court agreed with observing that this could not be a ground to thwart the investigation. The court also noted that most of the cases against the former cop were much before she charted on the political path. At one point, Justice Joseph observed how an officer of impeccable record would do so. Sibal drew the attention of the court towards the evidence, including transcripts of intercepts of telephonic conversation and the observation of the High Court in the case. Since the arguments were inconclusive, they would continue on April 25. Chandigarh/New Delhi, April 16 : Project implementation of the Kartarpur corridor proposed for Indian pilgrims to visit the revered Sikh shrine in Pakistan is "progressing with speed", sources said on Tuesday after officials of the two countries held a meeting to discuss technical and security issues. The officials of the two countries met in Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district on Tuesday after India made the proposal to address the outstanding technical issues, the sources said. The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, is a highly revered Sikh shrine as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and is his final resting place. The two sides discussed issues such as the alignment of the corridor, which will be around 5 km long, of which nearly 4.5 km will fall in the Pakistan territory, sources said. The officials also discussed security arrangements for the corridor which is expected to cater to hundreds of pilgrims from India who are eager to visit the Sikh shrine inside Pakistan through a visa-free arrangement. The sources said project implementation on the ground is progressing with speed. The corridor is expected to be completed before November this year to enable pilgrims to travel to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The governments of India and Pakistan are trying to facilitate the travel of pilgrims to offer prayers at the gurdwara -- a demand made by the Sikhs for the past over 70 years. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been demanding visa-free "khule darshan" at the gurdwara for Indians of all faiths, from India and overseas, all seven days a week. New York, April 16 : The two aspirants for the party nominations for the 2020 presidential elections from the two extreme ends of the electoral spectrum, US President Donald Trump and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, are leading the race in poll fund-raising. According to their campaign finance filings for the first quarter, Trump's war chest is about $30 million, while Senator Sanders, vying for the Democratic Party nomination, has collected $18 million. Senator Kamala Harris is behind them with $12 million, followed by Beto O'Rourke with $9.4 million, Pete Buttigieg with $7.1 million and Senator Elizabeth Warren with $6 million. O'Rourke, a former Representative, was defeated in his Senate run from Texas last year, while Buttigieg is Mayor of a small university town in Indiana state. But they have received a lot of positive publicity in the media. Fund-raising is considered a sign of popularity and is one of the markers for selecting participants for the Democratic Party's televised debate among candidates starting in June. Former Vice-President Joe Biden, leading the opinion polls for the Democratic nomination, is yet to officially announce his candidature and has not raised funds. The 16 Democratic Party candidates, for whom the filings are available, have together collected about $80 million, which is far higher than Trump's election haul. But they suffer a serious handicap against Trump. The Democratic candidates will be using most of their funds till the middle of next year to fight each other during primaries to be anointed the party candidate at the convention in July 2020, rather than Trump. About 20 candidates are vying for the Democratic Party nomination. Trump has a huge advantage because he does not have a serious challenger for the Republican nomination -- and, if none emerge, he will not have to spend funds on the primary, leaving him with a larger pool for re-election campaign. Whatever he spends during primaries will, in effect, also contribute to building his image for re-election. His fundraising also displayed his continuing attraction among middle class and working class Americans. Although Trump is perceived to be aligned with big business, he got nearly 99 per cent of his funds from individuals contributing $200 or less, with the average being under $35. Like Trump, Sanders had a strong showing with his base that is almost similar if politically polar opposite. He has received 84 per cent of his funds from people sending less than $200, with the average being $20. The average size of Harris' donation was higher than the other two at $55. She is from California and is a favourite of Hollywood, according to Politico. She received $2,800 from Ben Affleck, $5,600 from Elizabeth Banks and $5,400 from Eva Longoria Baston, according to Politico. Under the US laws, the maximum contribution a person can make to a candidate is $2,700 for each election and it is likely that the actors' contributions include donations for previous elections. Among candidates hoping to run in the 2020 elections, billionaire Trump is the richest, although the extent of his wealth is not known. He has claimed to have assets worth $10 billion, while other estimates have put it at $3 billion. Since he has refused to release his income tax returns, the real numbers are not known. Harris is the richest, according to her tax returns, which showed an income of $1.9 million last year. Senator Elizabeth Warren came next with $846,000 and Sanders with $516,000. Sanders, however, crossed the million-dollar mark in 2016. He made most of the money from royalties for his book, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In", earning $2 million over three years. Sanders, who promotes himself as a socialist and the common man's candidate, was unapologetic about his wealth. He said on Monday on a Fox TV programme: "If anyone thinks I should apologise for writing a bestselling book, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that". Harris also made money off her book, "The Truths We Hold", a memoir. She reported earning $733,000 from it last year. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) Mumbai, April 16 : Financially-challenged Jet Airways has reportedly requested lenders for an interim funding of Rs 400 crore to stave off a temporary closure, even as its current operational fleet further shrunk to five aircraft. According to the Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, the airline on Tuesday operated only five aircraft down from seven yesterday. Under the current regulations, the airline is required to operate five aircraft to save its air operating permit. He said Jet's airport slots are vacant and that they being re-allocated to other airlines on a temporary basis. The ministry is expected to meet airport operators and airlines to sort out the slots issue. However, the airline's lenders said they remain committed to its revival. Punjab National Bank (PNB) Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta said discussions were on to provide interim funding. "Lenders are committed to Jet Airways' revival. SBI and SBI Capital are working on a package but it has not been finalised," he said. Earlier in the day, industry insiders said that Jet has asked lenders to provide an immediate interim funding of Rs 400 crore else the airline might be forced to temporarily suspend overall operations. Earlier in the day, the airlines' board meeting ended inconclusively as the airline awaited the lenders' decision on its plea for interim funds to stay aloft. A day before, the airline presented a plan for interim funding to its lenders. "The Board meet was inconclusive. We are awaiting for the lenders' reply. It is of paramount importance that we receive a clarity on interim funding," an airline source told IANS in Mumbai. The development assumes significance as the airline has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. Industry insiders says without extra funds, the airline might have to temporarily suspend operations. It has folded up most operations due to grounding of over 80 per cent of its fleet by lessors. Awaiting the outcome of lenders' meeting with the government, the cash-starved airline has extended cancellation of international flights till April 18 (Thursday) after last week suspending them till April 15 (Monday). Jet's woes have intensified as the airline that once operated around 120 aircraft is now left with just a 16-plane fleet. It owes over Rs 8,000 crore to the SBI-led consortium of lenders. Its only ray of hope is an immediate injection of interim funding and the completion of the stake sale process, initiated by lenders. Chandigarh, April 16 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has been accused of showing a political bias in the ongoing feud in the Chautala family in Haryana. The Kejriwal government has allowed Ajay Chautala to come out of Tihar prison on a 21-day furlough right in the middle of the heated up political season before the May 12 polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. The furlough has been allowed unconditionally - including no specified bar on political activity or campaigning. Ajay Chautala, who along with his estranged father Om Prakash Chautala is serving a 10-year prison term in the JBT (junior basic teacher) recruitment scam since January 2013, is father of Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala. Dushyant, along with his legislator mother Naina Chautala and younger brother Digvijay Chautala, had floated the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in December last year after a split in the Chautala family and its Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) party. The Kejriwal government's benevolence towards Ajay Chautala being allowed the furlough is not hard to understand. The AAP and JJP last week announced an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. The JJP will contest seven seats and AAP three seats. INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who is the younger brother of Ajay Chautala, has cried foul over the move by the Kejriwal government. He has pointed out that INLD supremo O.P. Chautala's request for parole was opposed by the Kejriwal government saying that he was seeking it for political purposes. Chautala senior, 84, had sought the parole to attend to his ailing wife. Abhay has further alleged that the Kejriwal government had earlier also shown its bias in the matter. "When AAP extended support to JJP in the Jind bypoll in January this year, the Kejriwal government refused the furlough for Chautala (senior) and he was put in jail after taking him away from a hospital in Delhi in the middle of the night. When he was allowed parole, it was on strict condition that will will not participate in political activities or campaign for the INLD," Abhay pointed out. The Kejriwal government and AAP, which talks of transparency and probity in public life, seems to have a definite bias in dealing with the Chautalas. New York, April 16 : The Bangladesh government should thoroughly investigate the murder of a madrassa student and fairly prosecute all those responsible, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. The murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was killed after she filed a complaint of attempted rape, should spur the authorities to take concerted action to combat sexual violence in the country. The police said that Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 18, was tricked into going to the rooftop of a cyclone shelter at her madrassa in Feni on April 6 where at least four people grabbed her, doused her in kerosene and lit her on fire. The attack came after she refused to back down from pursuing her March 27 complaint of attempted rape against the madrassa principal, Siraj-Ud-Daula. She died from burns covering 80 percent of her body on April 10. The attack led to nationwide protests calling on the government to reform and enforce Bangladeshi laws and practices concerning sexual assault. "The horrifying murder of a brave woman who sought justice shows how badly the Bangladesh government has failed victims of sexual assault," said Human Rights Watch. "Nusrat Jahan Rafi's death highlights the need for the Bangladesh government to take survivors of sexual assault seriously and ensure that they can safely seek a legal remedy and be protected from retaliation." New Delhi, April 16 : Every third person above 40 years in India suffers from lack of libido due to testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS), finds a study. The study, conducted on 745 patients by a team of researchers from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, showed most commonly reported symptom by these patients was lack of energy followed by poor erection and loss of libido (decrease in sexual drive), as per a statement. Dr Sudhir Chadha, the author of the study, said there is significant co-relation between testosterone deficiency syndrome, Vitamin D deficiency, diabetes and coronary heart disease. "TDS is a real phenomenon with a prevalence of 28.99 per cent in our study population which means that every third person above the age of 40 years is suffering from testosterone deficiency," the statement quoted him as saying. New Delhi, April 16 : Emphasising on the repayment of dues to small creditors including provident and pension funds, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday observed that IL&FS should distribute funds to small creditors, in a manner that 80 per cent of their entitled amounts are paid. As IL&FS submitted the a chart with details of four "amber" companies, the NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson, Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay asked the government to provide details on the rest of the nine "amber" companies. The IL&FS filed details on the Hazribagh Ranchi Expressway, Jharkhand Road Project Implementation Company, Moradabad Bareily Expressway and West Gujarat Expressway. Under the resolution plan, the government has categorised IL&FS group companies into green, amber and red categories based on their financial position. Firms classified as "green" would continue to meet their payment obligations, while "amber" companies can meet only operational payment obligations to senior secured financial creditors. The "red" firms are the entities which cannot meet their payment obligations at all. Thousands of crores of money of more than 15 lakh employees of both public and private sector companies have exposure to IL&FS bonds. As these investments were classified as unsecured debt, the funds feared that all money would be lost if all market-related risks fell on them. The bench, headed by Chairperson Mukhopadhya, on April 9 had directed the new management of the debt-ridden firm to submit details of investment made by pension and provident funds in its four group firms along with details of and financial liabilities of those entities. The tribunal would next hear the matter on April 29. Paris, April 16 : Hundreds of millions of euros were pledged to help rebuild the partially destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral, the 850-year-old Unesco world heritage, as flames that ripped through the Paris landmark were extinguished on Tuesday. The fire was extinguished some 15 hours after it began on Monday evening, but emergency services said they were still working to douse the hot spots. "The fire has been extinguished," fire services spokesperson Gabriel Plus said, adding that around 100 fire-fighters were still at the scene making sure that embers and hot spots were under control and "surveying the movement of structures and extinguishing smouldering residues". The blaze ravaged the iconic building's roof and caused the collapse of the Cathedral's spectacular Gothic spire and the destruction of its roof structure. However, the fire-fighters who worked through the night managed to save the Paris landmark's main stone structure, including its two towers. As the cause of the fire was not clear, the police began questioning workers who were carrying out renovations at the cathedral. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an inquiry into "involuntary destruction by fire", indicating they believe the cause of the blaze was accidental rather than criminal, the Guardian reported. While French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reconstruct the historic building, two French business magnates pledged about 300 million euros. Offers of help with the reconstruction also poured in from around the globe, with European Council President Donald Tusk calling on EU member states to rally around. "I'd like to say words of comfort and solidarity with the French nation, also as a citizen of Gdansk, 90 per cent destroyed and burnt, later rebuilt," said Tusk. "You will also rebuild your cathedral," he added, calling on all 28 member states of the EU "to take part in this task." Macron described the blaze as a "terrible tragedy" and pledged to raise funds worldwide. "Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives. I solemnly say tonight: we will rebuild it together." Emergency teams managed to rescue valuable artwork and religious items from the blaze, including what is said to be the crown of thorns worn by Jesus before his crucifixion. A tunic King Louis IX is said to have worn when he brought the crown of thorns to Paris was also saved. The works of art that sustained smoke damage were being taken to the Louvre where they would be dried out, restored and stored. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the city would make 50 million euros available and propose holding an international donors' conference to coordinate the pledges to restore the building. French billionaire Bernard Arnault announced that he and the LVMH luxury conglomerate he controls would donate 200 million euros for the reconstruction efforts. The pledge came after the rival fashion group Kering, founded by the billionaire Francois Pinault, offered 100 million euros to help "completely rebuild Notre Dame". Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to Macron, offering Russian experts to help in the restoration project. The UN's Paris-based cultural agency Unesco also promised to stand "at France's side" to restore the site. "We are in contact with experts and ready to dispatch an urgent mission to evaluate the damage," Unesco's Secretary General Audrey Azoulay said. Britain's Queen Elizabeth expressed her "deep sadness" and sent a message of support to the people of France in the wake of the fire. UK Ambassador to France Ed Llewellyn said the British government was also looking into what it can do to help. Chinese President Xi Jinping said: "China firmly believes that restoration will be carried out smoothly and Notre Dame will regain her splendour under the efforts of the French people and with support from the international community." US President Donald Trump termed it a "terrible, terrible fire", while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Notre Dame a "symbol of French and European culture". The Notre Dame's foundation stone was laid in 1163 by Pope Alexander III and the Cathedral was completed in the 13th century. It is one of Paris' most popular attractions, drawing an estimated 13 million visitors a year. Shillong, April 16 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday said the state government will appeal to the Supreme Court to call off the rescue operation to evacuate bodies of 13 coal miners trapped inside an illegal 370-ft coal pit for 125 days now. Of the 15 people trapped, Indian Navy divers have retrieved two bodies so far, while three more bodies have been detected by the Navy's Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle. "We are still trying, but it looks very difficult, and we will approach and see if Supreme Court allows us to discontinue with the operations. But right now, since the matter is in court, it won't be right for me to make any comments," Sangma told journalists. However, the Chief Minister said the government will appeal to Supreme Court to call off the rescue operation. The labourers got trapped when they broke a wall of a mine and water gushed inside. The tragedy came to light after five coal miners escaped from the coal pit. The disaster took place despite an interim ban on rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya by the National Green Tribunal since April 17, 2014. New Delhi, April 16 : The Delhi Police have arrested a criminal who had been on the run for the last five years after killing his neighbour in the national capital, said an officer on Tuesday. Laloo Yadav, 26, a native of Bihar, had killed his neighbour Arvind with the help of his friend Anil in 2014 following an altercation over parking issue. "Although the police team managed to arrest Anil, Laloo Yadav had been absconding to evade his arrest ever since. He was later declared proclaimed offender by Tis Hazari Court. A reward of Rs 25,000 was also announced for his arrest," DCP G. Ramgopal Naik said. "A team of Special Investigation Unit headed by ACP Sandeep Lamba on Sunday arrested Laloo Yadav from Begusarai in Bihar on a tip-off," Naik added. Chennai, April 16 : Income Tax officials and the Election Commission's static surveillance team on Tuesday carried out a joint search at the house of DMK Lok Sabha candidate K. Kanimozhi in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukodi on Tuesday, an official said. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is contesting against the BJP's state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan in the Thootukodi Lok Sabha constituency. Polling to all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu is slated for April 18 in the second stage of the Lok Sabha polls. However, on Tuesday, the President rescinded the election in Vellore parliamentary constituency on the recommendation of the Election Commission after a huge haul of cash was found there. New Delhi, April 16 : The Indian government on Tuesday cancelled the visa of the Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed after he campaigned for a Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha candidate in Bengal. The government has also asked him to leave the country and blacklisted him, a Home Ministry statement said. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by Bangladesh national Ferdous Ahmed, MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has cancelled his business visa and issued him a leave India notice. He also has been blacklisted. FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," the statement said. The action comes two days after Ahmed campaigned for Trinamool's Raiganj candidateKanaia Lal Agarwal, who faces stiff competition from Congress's Deepa Dasmunshi and CPI-M's Mohammad Salim. Voting in Raiganj during the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 18. The counting of votes of the seven-phased polls will be held on May 23. New Delhi/Chennai, April 16 : Polling in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu was cancelled on Tuesday, two days after Income Tax officials seized Rs 11.5-crore cash from a warehouse in the district "Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated April 14, 2019, the President is pleased to rescind election to Vellore Parliamentary Constituency, Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha," an official statement said. The seizure was made by the Income Tax Department during a search operation at a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK official. Reacting to the development, DMK President M.K. Stalin said it has been done to defame the party. DMK treasurer Duraimurugan, whose son D.M. Kathir Anand is the party's candidate from the Vellore constituency, said it is murder of democracy. On the other hand senior AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, demanded that the Election Commission disqualify the candidate indulding in such malpractices. In all, 23 candidates are in fray from the Vellore constituency. The IT officials had found bundles of cash stuffed in cartons and gunny bags in a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK man considered close to the party treasurer. A senior IT official told IANS that the cash, amounting to about Rs 11.5 crore, was for distribution ward wise, with the packets having division and ward numbers written on them. According to Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, the polling has been cancelled only for the Vellore Lok Sabha seat, as the by-elections to Ambur and Gudiyatham Assembly seats would be held as scheduled on April 18. Bhubaneswar, April 16 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the opposition Congress and its allies saying they have lost their credibility and faith of people. "The Congress and its allies have lost their credibility. They have lost people's faith in the country," said Modi while addressing an election rally here. He said the people now believe that for the first time such a government is sitting in Delhi, which is sincerely working for the development of the country. "The Opposition is making false accusations every day and night. They have no vision for carrying the country forward. They have no vision, no mission, no policy and no leader as well. The opposition has only one agenda 'Modi Hatao'," said the Prime Minister. He alleged that Congress has conspired to destroy the faith of people by linking the Hindus with terror for their vote bank politics. "Congress has hatched a conspiracy for the destruction of our faith and our tradition. The conspiracy was to link the Hindus of the country with terror," he added. "Congress can go to any extent for power. The history of Congress has it that it can divide the country for power, Vande Mataram can be broken into pieces for power and it can split states for power," said Modi. He said the 'Chowkidar' stands as a wall against every conspiracy of Congress. The Prime Minister also talked about how the world stood with the country during the attack on terrorists on Pakistan soil. He also took potshots at the earlier government for not teaching a lesson to Pakistan, even though the terrorists had attacked India several times. "A person can talk about peace, whose muscles has strength. Who listens to the dead people? We have seen the government talking about peace, the world has not listened to us. When we showed strength, the world is standing with us today," said Modi. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Earlier on Tuesday, Modi held a public meeting at Sambalpur. Both Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituencies will go to the polls in the third phase on April 23. Elections are being held for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the state in four phases. New Delhi, April 16 : As 95 Lok Sabha constituencies go to the polls in the second phase of elections tomorrow, AIADMK has the maximum number of 35 seats to defend, followed by the BJP, which has 26 at stake. In the second phase, which will cover 13 states, Congress has 11 seats at stake while Shiv Sena has to defend 4, BJD 3, RJD, JD(S) 2 each, CPI(M), JD(U), TMC, NCP, National Conference, AIUDF, PMK and AINRC one each. Of the 95 seats going to polls Thursday, 38 are in Tamil Nadu, 14 in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three in West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir, one each in Manipur, Tripura and Puducherry. The first phase on April 11 saw voting in 91 constituencies spread across 20 states. In Tamil Nadu, where all the 38 Lok Sabha seats will see balloting tomorrow, it is the first major election without the stalwarts - late AIADMK leader Jayalaithaa and late DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state were swept by the AIDMK under Jayalalithaa's leadership, winning 37 of the total 39 seats. In the by polls later, the party lost one seat and now has 36 seats to defend in a changed political situation after Jayalalithaa's death. The party faces a strong challenge from the DMK-led alliance. The BJP, which had won one seat in the state in the last elections, is trying to emerge as a player in the southern state. It has sought to forge a "formidable alliance" led by AIADMK and is contesting five seats in the state. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan's party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is also in the fray for the first time. Congress, which drew a blank in 2014, is contesting nine seats as part of the front led by DMK. Among the state's constituencies going to the polls is Pollcahi, where sexual abuse-cum-blackmail case had created a political furore. DMK has been raking up the issue in the hope that it will hit the ruling AIADMK. After Tamil Nadu, the biggest chunk of 14 seats going to polls tomorrow is Karnataka. In the state, key constituencies to be watched out for include Tumkur from where former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda is in the fray. He has left his traditional Hasaan seat for his grandson Prajwal Revanna, where BJP has fielded A Madhu. His other grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting from Mandya where he is locked in a tough contest with Sumalatha, actor and wife of late Kannada actor and former Union Minister M.H. Ambareesh. The Congress, which used to be a strong rival of JD-S in southern Karnataka, is now its ally. In the last elections, the BJP had won six of the 14 seats going to the polls in the second phase. In Maharashtra, where polling will be held in 10 seats tomorrow, the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena will have to defend four seats each, which they won last time. This time, the NCP-Congress combine is giving them a tough fight by highlighting issues like farmers' distress and unemployment. Eight seats of politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh will also go the polls in the second phase. Of the total 80 seats, balloting has already been held on eight seats in the first phase in the state. The BJP, which had won all the eight seats in the last elections, this time has to face a formidable challenge from the coalition of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. The BJP is hoping for a repeat of its performance, relying on popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the impact of schemes such as Ujjawala, Ayushman Bharat on the ground as also the houses and toilets built in rural areas in the last five years. Of the five seats of Assam going to the polls in the second phase, the BJP and Congress had won two seats each in 2014 and one had been won by AIUDF. The BJP's promise of Citizenship Amendment Bill has traction in Barak Valley seats of Silichar and Karimganj and the party will be hoping to improve its performance. In Bihar, the BJP, in the last elections, had not won any of the five seats going to the polls tomorrow. Most of these seats are in Seemanchal region of the state which is a difficult territory for BJP due to high Muslim population. However, in the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was contesting alone in Bihar while this time it has an alliance with JD(U). In Chhattisgarh, where the BJP had last time won all the three seats going to polls tomorrow, has changed its candidates this time to beat the perceived anti-incumbency. In West Bengal, the three seats going to the polls in the second phase are Jalpaiguri, Raiganj and Darjeeling. Raigarh seat was among reasons for the CPI-M and Congress not being able to forge an alliance in the state as both wanted to contest from there. It is held by CPI-M's Mohammad Salim. In Darjeeling, where the BJP fielded Jaswant Singh and S.S. Ahluwalia in the previous two elections, the contest this time appears triangular. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has struck an alliance with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) faction led by Binay Tamang while the GNLF and the GJM led by Bimal Gurung are supporting the BJP. Congress candidate Shankar Malakar is an MLA from an assembly segment in the constituency. In Odisha, the only seat BJP won in 2014 elections was Sundargarh, which will go to the polls in the second phase along with four other seats. The ruling BJD had won 20 of 21 seats in 2014 and the BJP is hoping to turn the tide in this election. It had 21.5 per cent votes in 2014. In Jammu and Kashmir, union minister Jitendra Singh had emerged as a giant killer in 2014 by defeating senior Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad. He is facing Vikramaditya Singh, son of former union minister Karan Singh in this election. Former state Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is in fray from Srinagar as National Conference candidate, with tacit support of the Congress. (Prashant Sood can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in) Chennai, April 16 : Income Tax officials and the Election Commission's static surveillance team on Tuesday carried out a joint search at the house of DMK Lok Sabha candidate K. Kanimozhi in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukodi on Tuesday, an official said. "It is normal verification procedure," the IT official said. Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is contesting against the BJP's state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan in the Thootukodi Lok Sabha constituency. Reacting to the development, DMK President M.K. Stalin said that fearing a defeat at the polls, the raid is being conducted to target his party. "The Election Commission is trying to show that it is part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance," he said, terming it "murder of democracy". Polling to all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu was slated for April 18 in the second stage of the Lok Sabha polls. However, on Tuesday, the President rescinded the election in Vellore parliamentary constituency on the recommendation of the Election Commission after a huge haul of cash was found there. New Delhi, April 16 : The Income Tax department has notified changes in Form 16 that requires more details about deductions under tax saving schemes, investment in tax saving schemes and income from other sources. The amended form will come into effect from May 12, 2019. The move is aimed at stricter scrutiny of claims made by assessees to check tax avoidance or evasion. The Income-tax Act, 1961 requires every employer to issue a certificate giving details of salary along with the tax deducted at source (TDS) of each its employee in Form 16. "Earlier, where the disclosure of various deductions were mentioned in a consolidated manner, ranging from 80C, 80CCD, 80E, 80G would now be required to be disclosed separately," said Sanjoli Maheshwari, Director, Nangia Advisors. These specific disclosures would provide ease to the tax authorities in understanding the various components of income of the taxpayer and thereby, facilitating the conduct of scrutiny more precisely. Maheshwari said that Form 16 and TDS return Form 24Q have been amended with an intent to make them more elaborative and informative. New Delhi, April 16 : The Election Commission (EC) has barred Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan from campaigning for 72 hours starting 10 a.m on Wednesday for making objectionable comments during the the ongoing election campaign. Restrictions were imposed on Khan after he was found guilty of violating the Model Code of Conduct by making objectionable remarks against actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who is contesting against him in Rampur on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. He has been barred from holding public meetings, processions, rallies, road shows and interviews, and making public utterances in the media for three days. The poll panel in a notice issued on Tuesday said that as per the "General Conduct" section of the "Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates", parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life, not connected with public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Also, criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided. Azam Khan had also been censured before the 2014 general elections. The EC in the notice said: "...the Commission is prima facie of the opinion that you have violated the aforesaid provisions of the MCC, the relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and also wilfully disobeyed the aforesaid order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court by making the highly objectionable and provocative aforesaid statements." On Monday, the poll panel had also barred Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati from campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for varying durations. While Yogi Adityanath was barred for 72 hours for calling Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a "virus", Mayawati was barred for 48 hours for asking Muslims to vote for their coalition in Uttar Pradesh and "not split votes between the BSP and the Congress". The EC has sought Khan's explanation within 24 hours of the receipt of the notice. Chennai, April 16 : Police on Tuesday night fired in the air in self-defence to disperse members of AMMK party who tried to prevent the officials from searching the party office in Andipatti in the district. The AMMK is floated by expelled AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran. A police officer said four rounds were fired in the air as a warning as the AMMK members turned violent and tried to attack the police. He said no one was injured in the incident. The police had gone to the AMMK office on receipt of information about distribution of money to voters. In Theni, AIADMK's P. Raveendranath Kumar, son of Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, is locked in a electoral battle against Congress leader E.V.K.S. Elangovan and Thanga Tamil Selvan of the AMMK. New Delhi, April 16 : Crisis-hit Jet Airways on Tuesday made another plea to its lead lender State Bank of India (SBI) for urgent release of funds to avoid shutdown of operations. Jet Airways has been awaiting Rs 1,500 crore interim funding from banks. The airline's management has reportedly asked the bank to at least release Rs 400 crore, but could not get any firm assurance. This has forced it to further extend the suspension of international operations. In a late evening letter to employees, CEO Vinay Dube said the airline had highlighted specific areas that would be immediately impacted if the funding was not provided. "Please be assured that we continue to work proactively with the Indian lenders to provide all the support that may be required to help us resurrect Jet Airways, including working closely with the potential parties that are keen on bidding for the airline," the CEO wrote. According to the Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, the airline on Tuesday operated only five aircraft, down from seven on Monday. Under the current regulations, the airline is required to operate five aircraft to save its air operating permit. The development assumes significance as the airline has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. Industry insiders say without extra funds, the airline might have to temporarily suspend operations. It has folded up most of its operations due to grounding of over 80 per cent of its fleet by lessors. Rome, April 16 : A humanitarian aid flight left from the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Tuesday carrying 40 tonnes of essential human aid for victims of the flash floods that have afflicted much of Iran over the past month, the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The items include relief supplies and hygiene and sanitary kits that have been donated to the Iranian Red Crescent, the statement said. More than 4,400 villages across Iran were affected by the floods in recent weeks, and 725 bridges have been totally destroyed, according to the Iranian government. The flash floods have hit 25 of Iran's 31 provinces since mid-March, killing 76 people and causing over $2.2 bn in damages by ravaging infrastructure and inflicting heavy losses on the agricultural sector, according to officials. Iran has received aid from neighbouring countries and from further afield including France, Germany, Russia and several Gulf states. Strasbourg : , April 16 (IANS/AKI) Amid a deadly military escalation in Libya's capital this month, the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday called for the country's warring factions to swiftly resume talks. "A rapid return to the negotiating table is essential and is still possible," Mogherini said in an address at the European Parliament here. "We believe more than ever that the United Nations and the (planned) National Conference track are the only real opportunities for a peaceful solution," she added. Mogherini warned against "the multiplication and proliferation of various initiatives" aimed at ending the chaos that has gripped Libya since late dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. Over 170 people have been killed and 750 have been injured in fighting between eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces and those loyal to the United Nations backed government since Haftar ordered an assault on the capital nearly two weeks ago, while some 18,000 have fled their homes, according to the UN. Italy favours a political solution to the conflict and opposes military intervention in Libya. Mumbai, April 16 : Jet Airways, which is on the verge of collapse, on Tuesday reportedly requested lenders for Rs 400 crore interim funding of to stave off temporary closure, even as its operational fleet shrunk to five aircraft. According to Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, the airline on Tuesday operated only five aircraft, down from seven on Monday. Under the current regulations, the airline is required to operate five aircraft to save its air operating permit. In a BSE filing, the airline said in view of the critical liquidity position, its operations have been severely impacted. "The company is awaiting emergency liquidity support from the consortium of the domestic lenders, led by SBI," the filing said. "The company's leadership, in consultation with its board of directors, is engaged with lenders in connection with the said emergency funding request to arrest a further deterioration of its services and minimise inconvenience to its guests," it said. A meeting was also held at the Civil Aviation Ministry to review the spurt in air fares in the wake of Jet Airways' troubles. Earlier in the day, the airlines' board meeting ended inconclusively as the airline awaited the lenders' decision on its plea for interim funds to stay aloft. "The board meet was inconclusive. We are awaiting the lenders' reply. It is of paramount importance that we receive a clarity on interim funding," an airline source told IANS in Mumbai. In a late evening letter to employees, the airline CEO Vinay Dube said the company had highlighted specific areas that would be immediately impacted if the funding was not provided. "Please be assured that we continue to work pro-actively with the lenders to provide all the support, which may be required to help us resurrect Jet Airways, including working closely with the potential parties that are keen on bidding for the airline," the CEO wrote. However, the airline's lenders said they were committed to its revival. Punjab National Bank (PNB) Managing Director and CEO Sunil Mehta said discussions were on to provide interim funding. "Lenders are committed to Jet Airways' revival. SBI and SBI Capital are working on a package, but it has not been finalised," he said. Jet Airways has almost run out of funds to pay for fuel and other operational expenses. If extra funds don't come through then the airline might have to temporarily suspend operations. Currently, it has folded up most operations due to grounding of over 80 per cent of its fleet by lessors. Besides, it has also extended cancellation of international flights till April 18 (Thursday), after last week suspending them till April 15 (Monday). It owes over Rs 8,000 crore to the SBI-led consortium of lenders. Its only ray of hope is immediate injection fund and completion of the stake sale process, initiated by lenders. The airline's scrip on the BSE declined by Rs 19.95, 7.62 per cent, to Rs 241.85 on Tuesday from its previous close of Rs 261.80. New Delhi, April 16 : The Congress on Tuesday filed several complaints with the Election Commission (EC) with regard to "surrogate advertising" with Prime Minister Narendra Modis picture, a "suspicious black box" transported in Modi's helicopter and "hateful speeches" made by top BJP leaders The party sought directions to authorities to initiate probe into a "suspicious black box removed" from Modi's helicopter and "shipped off in a private car", not part of his convoy, after he landed in Chitradurga on April 9 for campaigning. It also sought investigation in another incident on April 3 in Arunachal Pradesh, where "cash worth crores was seized from Modi's convoy" shortly before his rally. In another representation, the Congress called for intervention by the EC against Modi's "continued and brazen" violation of model code of conduct and "hateful and divisive" comments made by him and BJP chief Amit Shah. The party said no one was above law and the "matter should be taken with utmost seriousness". The party also alleged that "unnecessary hindrances were being created" by the ruling AIADMK MP from Karur in the Congress candidate's campaign and said directions should be given to election officials to stop this. The party alleged Indian Railways issued tickets in Barabanki with details of rural housing scheme and a picture of Prime Minister. It asked the EC to issue "urgent and necessary directions" to the Railway Board to remove all surrogate advertising. The Railways on Tuesday suspended four officials for the incident. Agartala, April 16 : Polling to Tripura East parliamentary constituency, slated for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 18, has been deferred, a top official said late Tuesday night. Polling will now take place in the tribal reserved seat on April 23, in the third phase of the polls, the official said. Elections to the northeastern state's other Lok Sabha seat - Tripura West - was held in the first phase on April 11. "To create conducive situation and (arrange) deployment of adequate additional security forces, the polling was deferred by the Election Commission. We would make all efforts to improve the situation in the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti told IANS. "We would undertake all possible confidence building measures before April 23. We would try to plug the loopholes, if any, in the poll preparedness in the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat," the official said. The CEO also said that the Election Commission has also transferred Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Rajiv Singh, a senior IPS officer. "Another senior IPS officer V.S.Yadav has been appointed as Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) in place of Singh," Election Commission Secretary Arvind Anand in a letter to the CEO communicated the EC decision about the transfer. EC Under Secretary Santosh Kumar Dubey in a letter to the CEO, which is available with IANS, said the Commission has directed to re-publish a notification about the deferment of the election. Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress welcomed the EC decision and separately claimed their allegations about the "malpractices and rigging in the elections to the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat on April 11, were vindicated". The ruling BJP, however, is yet to react. New Delhi/Chennai, April 16 : Polling in Tamil Nadu's Vellore Lok Sabha constituency was cancelled on Tuesday in wake of the seizure of a huge haul of cash by Income Tax officials from a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK functionary earlier this month. "Accepting the recommendation of Election Commission dated April 14, 2019, the President is pleased to rescind election to Vellore Parliamentary Constituency, Tamil Nadu to elect a member to Lok Sabha," an official statement said. Reacting to the development, DMK President M.K. Stalin said it has been done to defame his party, while DMK Treasurer Duraimurugan, whose son D.M. Kathir Anand is the party's candidate from the Vellore constituency, called it a "murder of democracy". On the other hand, senior AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar demanded that the Election Commission disqualify the candidate indulging in such malpractices. The IT officials had found bundles of cash stuffed in cartons and gunny bags in the cement warehouse belonging to a DMK man considered close to the party treasurer on April 1. A senior IT official told IANS that the cash, amounting to about Rs 11.5 crore, was for distribution ward wise, with the packets having division and ward numbers written on them. According to an Election Commission statement, search and seizure operations were carried out on March 29-30 at the residence of Duraimurugan and his son Anand and at Kingston Medical College, run by the Duraimurugan Educational Trust. It, however, said that the search team observed that evidently there was removal of material including the control panel of the CCTV as well as hard disks of computers. "Further discreet surveillance resulted in the confirmation that a large amount of cash and other incriminating material had indeed been shifted out of the college premises while the teams were being denied entry," the statement said. Citing a report submitted by the IT Department, the poll panel said based on the intelligence gathered during the surveillance, certain premises of close associates of Anand and their relatives were identified. Fresh searches were carried out on April 1 at the residence and other premises of Damodaran, brother-in-law of DMK functionary Srinivasan, at Katapadi in Vellore and the money found. Apart from the money, loose sheets with details of ward-wise breakup of voters and documents related to Kingston Engineering College were found. Srinivasan claimed the ownership of the Rs 11.48 crore and in his statement to Income Tax officials, said that the cash was meant to influence voters in favour of DMK's candidate. The poll panel said that the fact that the claimant does not have any explained source of income and that the documents found with the cash pertain to an institution run by the family of the DMK candidate lays bare the nexus. Special Expenditure Observer, Madhu Mahajan, in her report, said the searches had unearthed a systematic design to influence voters through inducements and that such activities come under the ambit of "corrupt practices" as per Section 123 of the Representation of People Act. She was of the opinion that the situation is not conducive for the conduct of free and fair elections, the Election Commission said. Tamil Nadu's Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, in his report on April 12, also said that the cash seizure along with evidence in the form of computer printouts detailing proposed assembly segment, ward and booth wise money distribution suggests a clear-cut pattern and design to induce the electors at a large scale vitiating the electoral environment. The Election Commission said that based on all this, it was "fully satisfied" that the current electoral process in Vellore "has been seriously vitiated on account of unlawful activities on behalf of the candidate, Anand, and some members/ workers of the political party in question". "In the Commission's considered opinion, allowing the current electoral process to proceed and conducting the poll in the constituency on April 18, 2019, as scheduled, in such a vitiated atmosphere would have severely jeopardised the conduct of free and fair election," the statement said. CEO Sahoo, however, noted that polling has been cancelled only for the Vellore Lok Sabha seat and the by-elections to Ambur and Gudiyatham Assembly seats would be held as scheduled on April 18. Rome, April 16 : The risk of foreign fighters arriving in Italy among an influx of refugees from Libya is alarming the populist government, which is seeking to halt the escalating warfare in the chaos-hit North African country, Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday. "We are very worried about the Libyan crisis. We will continue trying to avoid a humanitarian disaster that could also expose Italy to the threat of foreign fighters entering our and other European countries. "This is why we absolutely must forestall this (military) escalation," Conte said. Some 400 Islamic State fighters currently detained in Tripoli and in the northwest city of Misrata may take advantage of the turmoil in Libya and flee to Europe, Libya's United Nations backed government's Deputy Premier Ahmed Maitig told the foreign press here on Tuesday. Conte and Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi met Maitig and Qatar's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Thani for talks in Rome on Monday aimed at a truce in the deadly fighting this month in Tripoli between eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar's militia and forces loyal to the UN-backed government. Conte called for an immediate ceasefire and urged Haftar to withdraw his self-styled Libyan National Army forces from Tripoli while Thani tweeted that Haftar's offensive was "the principal obstacle to international efforts towards national dialogue". IS-linked fighters are among some 800,000 refugees set to head to Italy from war-wracked Libya, its UN-backed premier Fayez al-Sarraj told Corriere della Sera newspaper on Monday. A total 174 people have been killed and over 750 wounded since Haftar ordered his LNA to enter Tripoli earlier this month, while some 18,000 have fled their homes, according to the UN. New Delhi, April 16 : Senior BJP leader Vijay Jolly has complained to the Election Commission (CEC) against alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct by a Pune-based cleric, Abdur Rashid Miftahi, through a video uploaded in social media that "spreads false and communal propaganda" against the BJP and Hindus. In his complaint filed on Monday, Jolly told Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) Sunil Arora that false and malicious campaign is being run against the Hindus by Rashid Miftahi through a video, which is against the spirit of Indian Constitution. It calls for action under Section 125 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, he wrote, adding: "This is with a malicious and mischievous intent to mislead and communalise the Muslim brothers and sisters against the ruling BJP in India." A former Delhi legislator, Jolly said: "It is against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s 'Sankalp Patra' (election manifesto) for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections released by BJP President Amit Shah, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and other senior leaders, last week in Delhi." This video appeals to the Muslim community to join hands on religious lines and vote against the ruling party, and therefore, this video violates the model code of conduct, he added. It may be noted that the BJP manifesto does not make explicitly or obtrusively make any promise to turn India into a "Hindu Nation", he said and added that such false propaganda is a nefarious design to disturb communal harmony and spread hatred on religious lines at the time of elections in India. "We demand immediate action including penal process under IPC against the culprits and also ban public circulation of such malicious videos circulating in social media channels such as WhatsApp, etc.," he said. New Delhi, April 17 : The BJP on Tuesday hit out at the Congress over its accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi about "omitting" certain details about his property in his affidavits, saying there was bankruptcy of issues in the opposition parties and the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers. The party accused the Congress of falsehoods and said there was a limit to trivialisation. "The caravan of falsehood moves on. There is a bankruptcy of issues in the Congress party. Today's election issue was that the number of plot owned by the PM (his only asset) is now shown differently numbered from what was shown earlier. "Similar charge is made against the Finance Minister. There is a limit to trivialisation. Four plots purchased by four different persons were amalgamated into one on 25.4.2008. Obviously, the number of the amalgamated plot is different from the separate individual numbers," the party said in tweets. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had alleged at a press conference here that Modi was "hiding something" about a property in Gandhinagar. Khera said the Election Commission should take "thorough cognizance of the seemingly deliberate omissions" in the Prime Minister's affidavits and take appropriate action. BJP leaders said that "false and misleading" allegations were being levelled against Modi who was working on the principle of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" and noted that he had donated Rs 21 lakh from his personal savings to the corpus fund for the welfare of sanitation workers of Kumbh Mela. They said he had also contributed prize money of Seoul Peace Prize and that amount received from auction of mementoes during his tenure as prime minister to Namami Gange mission and had made contributions earlier as chief minister of Gujarat for education of girl child. Baghdad, April 17 : Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Tuesday said he will visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to promote bilateral relations. "I will go to Saudi Arabia with a large number of businessmen, as we are in front of a major shift in our relations with Saudi Arabia," Mahdi told a press conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, Xinhua reported. "The visit will witness discussing new agreements, in addition to raising the level of economic cooperation between the two countries," he said. "The economic agreements will be complementary to the understandings of the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council," he added. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister revealed that he will pay official visits to France and Germany before the holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin in early May. On April 2, Mahdi said that he "will make an official visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss issues of trade exchange, customs tariff and the development of relations between the two countries". The relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have improved since Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad in 2016 after 25 years of closure. Purpose built student accomodation (PBSA) is being driven by the influx in international students, according to Savills Australia Student Accomodation Q1 2019 Report. International students increased by 94,630 over the past five years. There were 10,850 new PBSA beds enter the market in time for the 2019 academic year. Nationally there are now over 87,000 purpose built student accomodation beds. Savills pipeline predicts there will be around 115,000 beds by 2020. 46% of the future pipeline is through Melbourne. Victoria's general population is set to close on New South Wales by 2022. By 2022, the full-time international student to all bed ratio is projected to measure 3.75, significantly higher than more mature global markets such as the UK. Compound annual growth in full time students across Australias Greater Capital Cities recorded 4.3% over the past five years, and 4.5% over the 10 year period. The growth in full-time students has been driven predominantly in Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and Canberra. Click here to enlarge. Paul Savitz, the director of student accomodation at Savills Australia said the expansion of the student accomodation sector is playing catch-up in order to support demographic changes Savitz, who wrote the Australian Student Accomodation Q1 Report, added that by the start of the first semester of 2019 there were 87,052 PBSA beds varying by quality, price, location and amenity across the eight capitals. Our projections show there could be 114,755 operational beds by the end of 2022, a 32% uplift to todays number," Savitz said. "Peak delivery will be 2021 when an estimated 11,800 beds will enter the market, 57% to be completed across the Melbourne market. Conal Newland, director of student accommodation at Savills Australia, said international student growth has been even stronger, recording a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% since 2012, and 5.7% over 10 years. Between 2012 and 2017, Australias full time international student presence grew by 41%.," Newland said. "With Melbourne and Sydney the premier destination for international students, growth has been significant across these two capital cities recording an annual increase of 8.7% (Melbourne) and 11.3% (Sydney) over the past five years he said. The Vaucluse house owned by the alleged mastermind behind Australias largest tax fraud, Adam Cranston, is up for mortgagee sale. It seems set to be sold for a loss on its $2.4 million purchase in 2015 by Cranston and his nominated company. He awaits trial for his role in the Plutus Payroll syndicate accused of misappropriating more than $130 million owed to the Australian Tax Office from pay-as-you-go payments. The three-bedroom Vaucluse house has a swimming pool and ocean views from the second level. It is listed mortgagee-in-possession with a $2.1 million guide though LJH. It was originally bought in a company name of Harmon International Holdings, set up by Cranstons sister Lauren, in 2014, and later transferred to Four Macdonald Pty Ltd. Title records show the NSW Supreme Court ordered the sale of the property following the Federal Police applying for a court order under the proceeds of crime legislation. Cranston was arrested two years ago, and his assets seized and finances frozen. At the time Cranston was arrested at the Bondi Beach townhouse he shared with his wife Elizabeth Rouhliadeff. It was bought for $1,222,000. It sold earlier this year for $1.3 million. 1SEO I.T. Support & Digital Marketing is immensely proud to announce that Friday, April 19 of 2019, the company will be marking the 10th anniversary of its founding. 1SEO has grown leaps and bounds in its decade-long history and has no intention of stopping any time soon. Having begun with just a handful of employees working around-the-clock, the business has grown into an award-winning agency with recognition from the US Search Awards, Inc. 5000, and the AVA Digital Awards, and has emerged as a thought-leader in the digital marketing world. Their team of more than 100 passionate staff members is incredibly humbled and honored to have reached this milestone in the companys history, and is deeply grateful to their clients in Philadelphia and Bucks County, as well as Salt Lake City and around the country, who have helped make 1SEO the amazing success and force that it is. We couldnt have gotten this far without the support of our clients, said Lance Bachmann, CEO. They have always been, and will continue to be, our number one priority. We hope to see our current clients and many more continue to grow alongside us. To show their gratitude, the company will be celebrating this milestone on Saturday, April 27, from 7:00 PM - 2:00 AM with the entire 1SEO family at Ems Place Tavern in Philadelphia. All clients are invited to attend this event. As the company reflects upon their past with pride and gratitude, 1SEO is also looking ahead to what the future will bring. The agency is continuing to grow as never before, reaching new frontiers with a swelling client base, as well as a growing agency team that is continuously honing its skills to stay at the forefront of industry trends. 1SEO I.T. Support & Digital Marketing collectively thanks their clients and community for an incredible ten years, and eagerly looks forward to what lies ahead. To learn more about how they can help grow businesses and keep them protected, visit https://1seo.com. About 1SEO I.T. Support & Digital Marketing 1SEO I.T. Support & Digital Marketing is a Philadelphia, PA-based digital marketing firm and managed I.T. service provider offering end-to-end solutions for their clientele, which is comprised of hundreds of businesses in countless industries that operate in several sectors, from the niche to the mainstream. With a full range of services, including social media optimization, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), web development, pay per click (PPC), proactive I.T. support, and managed I.T. services, 1SEO I.T. Support & Digital Marketing helps their clients win online and maximizes the efficiency and security of their I.T. infrastructure. For more information, please visit https://1seo.com/. Or check them out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/1seoitdigital/ and on Twitter @1SEOITDigital A UK court recently concluded that even when theres ample evidence demonstrating connections to another state, UK courts may nonetheless affirm their own jurisdiction, if there are at least some connections providing a basis to do so. On March 27, 2019, the High Court of England & Wales rendered a decision addressing such a case in Tugushev v Orlov (2019), which involves a bitter battle between two Russian fishing magnates, Alexander Tugushev and Vitaly Orlov, in connection with the $1.5 billion business known as The Norebo Group. In the underlying case, Tugushev alleges he owns a one-third interest in The Norebo Group as a result of participating in its founding with Orlov, but is the victim of a complex conspiracy to misappropriate or deny such interest perpetrated by Orlov. Initially, on July 23, 2018, Tugushev successfully obtained a without notice order freezing $350 million of Orlovs assets worldwide, and permission to serve the order on Orlov outside of the England. In doing so, Tugushev argued that the court had jurisdiction because Orlov was domiciled in England. However, having learned of the worldwide freezing order, and while incurring legal costs of $5.2 million, Orlov strongly challenged whether the court had jurisdiction over Tugushevs claims at all. In short, Orlovs position was that he is not domiciled in England but instead in Russia, and that the dispute is otherwise almost entirely Russian, involving Russian individuals and relating to Russian companies operating under Russian law. According to the court, while the jurisdiction dispute generated a depressingly vast amount of material and clearly left no stone unturned, the evidence was sufficient for Tugushev to successfully resist Orlovs challenge and demonstrate a good arguable case that Orlov was domiciled in England and, in turn, that the court had jurisdiction to hear Tugushevs claims. While the court found that Orlov spends the majority of his time in Russia, it nonetheless concluded that England is a settled and usual place of abode for Orlov on the basis of evidence that, among other things, Orlov owns two flats in England, had recently made significant payments in respect of the properties (although had spent just 56 days in England in 2017, and 25.5 days in England up to the July 23, 2018 freeze order). This approach is conceptually consistent with that adopted by a Canadian court in Wide v Toronto-Dominion Bank (2012), where it was concluded that there would seem to be no a priori reason why any plaintiff should not be allowed to sue in the jurisdiction seen as most favorable to advancing its claim, assuming of course that the locale chosen has a recognized basis in accordance with accepted normative principles of law for assuming jurisdiction over the claim. More recently, Canadian courts have confirmed their willingness to assert jurisdiction in novel circumstances, including to issue injunctions with worldwide effect (Google LLC v Equustek Solutions Inc (2017)) and freezing orders even where the defendant has no assets in the jurisdiction (SFC Litigation Trust v Chan (2017)). Going forward, the approach taken to jurisdiction by the English and Canadian courts may drive claimants towards those jurisdictions where there are adequate connections and advantages to having their disputes heard by those courts. It remains to be seen whether other jurisdictions will adopt such a claimant-friendly approach to jurisdiction choices, and the extent to which novel grounds to disputes such choices may arise in the future. _____ Lincoln Caylor, pictured above right, is a litigator at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto and focuses on on cross-border financial crime disputes. He is recognized by peers and clients as the top asset-recovery lawyer in Canada. He is co-founder of The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators. Nathan Shaheen, above left, is a litigator at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto and focuses on on cross-border financial crime disputes. AdventHealth Tampa is on the forefront of leading-edge innovation and technology, said Brian Adams, President and CEO of AdventHealth Tampa. This lab expansion allows us to continue to set the standard in our community to provide exceptional service to every patient, every time. AdventHealth Tampa is leading the way as the first hospital in the Florida to go live with the innovative cobas 8100 Roche automated system. AdventHealth Tampa performs more than five million lab tests per year and with the innovative cobas 8100 system, the laboratory team provides an industry leading turnaround time of less than 30 minutes for a lab test. The fully automated system allows hospital staff to cut down on the time it takes for doctors and patients to receive diagnostic and blood work results. AdventHealth Tampa is on the forefront of leading-edge innovation and technology, said Brian Adams, President and CEO of AdventHealth Tampa. This lab expansion allows us to continue to set the standard in our community to provide exceptional service to every patient, every time. In addition to providing convenient diagnosis for doctors and patients, the automated system by Roche also allows staff to simplify and streamline lab operations and prioritize emergency lab tests, if needed. Roche is one of the largest biotech companies in the world, creating innovative medicines and diagnostic tests that help millions of patients globally. AdventHealth, formerly Florida Hospital, is committed to providing the community with our unique brand of compassionate whole-person care. About AdventHealth West Florida Division (Formerly Florida Hospital) The West Florida Division of AdventHealth has some of the nations brightest medical minds making lifesaving breakthroughs with surgical pioneers, scientists and researchers using leading edge technology and innovation to deliver our brand of whole-person care. Our network of care includes AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Connerton, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Ocala, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wauchula, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills, as well as three freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including AdventHealth Central Pasco ER, AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER and AdventHealth TimberRidge ER. We are more than hospitals, as we have a robust system of care including specialty acute care, over 200 primary care and specialty employed physicians, Express Care at Walgreens clinics, urgent care centers, wound care, physical therapy and home health care. AdventHealth is a faith-based not-for-profit health care system with a mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. AdventHealth has hundreds of care sites and nearly 50 hospitals across the United States. For more information about AdventHealth, visit AdventHealth.com, or Facebook.com/AdventHealth. Everlasting Capital, a leading provider of growth capital solutions and equipment financing to small businesses and middle-market companies nationwide, today announced the appointment of Justin Rasch to be part of the business development team, as finance manager. In this role, Mr. Rasch will focus on adding new clients, vendors, and partners to our already growing company. Mr. Rasch will work at the companys headquarters in Rochester, New Hampshire. We are pleased to have Justin join our team, said Josh Feinberg, President of Everlasting Capital. He is well known and well respected in the commercial financing industry. His hiring shows our focus on adding top talent to help us continue our outstanding growth and solidify our company as an industry-leading independent financing company. I couldnt stop thinking about the potential and how much I wanted to be a part of it, said Justin Rasch. I have been in the industry for about 8 years now. I first started at Direct Capital and was a part of the Franchise segment for about 5 years. In 2017 Beacon Funding opened up a new office in Portsmouth and I started employment there. Beacon funds in a specific industry and although it was great development in my career, I wanted to do more. Over the past few years I had heard about Everlasting but it really started to peak my interest once I started noticing their videos on Linked In. I did some research and reached out to someone within the company. A few days later I was called in for an interview and was instantly sold. Josh told me about his past, how he got started and where he wanted to take the company. Ive been with the company for 2 weeks now and none of those feelings have changed. Everyone has been very welcoming and I look forward to finishing my career here at Everlasting. Mr. Rasch has more than 8 years of experience in franchise, vendor, and direct to client commercial financing. Prior to joining Everlasting Capital, He had successful tenures at Direct Capital, and Beacon Funding. With this new collaboration, were doing something thats never been tried in the industry before, said Juan Pablo Segura, Co-founder and President of Babyscripts. Babyscripts, the leading virtual care platform for managing obstetrics, announced today that they are entering into a strategic partnership with AmeriHealth Caritas DC, the largest managed care organization in Washington DC, to deliver pregnancy care solutions to all populations regardless of socioeconomic status at partner sites in the District, including George Washington University Hospital. This unique partnership begins to solve some of the structural difficulties in coordinating care between insurance companies and doctors for the patient. It will focus on increasing access to a new model of pregnancy, fueled by Babyscripts, that allows all patients, regardless of socioeconomic risk, to receive the benefits of remote monitoring and virtual care. The goal of this partnership is to improve outcomes and decrease the total cost of care through innovative interventions and care models. With this new collaboration, were doing something thats never been tried in the industry before, said Juan Pablo Segura, Co-founder and President of Babyscripts. Were leveraging the expertise of all the stakeholders in this space to impact real change on the maternal outcomes in this city and make sure that the Medicaid population is getting the care it deserves. With AmeriHealth Caritas DCs use of Babyscripts, the platform will be deployed to support women through the many aspects of their pregnancy journey; including care navigation to identify social determinants of health, and remote monitoring to manage gestational diabetes and blood pressure. In concert with health system partner GW-MFA, this partnership will coordinate care between the provider, patient, and the plan to improve access to care and identify risk factors with Medicaid populations in the District of Columbia. AmeriHealth Caritas DC is invested in creating an engaging maternity experience supported by our various programs that address social determinants, and Babyscripts represents a sustainable, scalable solution, said Karen Dale, Market President of AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia. Babyscripts has spent the last four years building a clinically-validated, virtual care platform to allow OBGYNs to deliver a new model of prenatal care. Using internet-connected devices for remote monitoring, Babyscripts offers risk-specific experiences to allow providers to manage up to 90% of pregnancies virtually, allowing doctors to detect risk more quickly and automate elements of care. About Babyscripts Babyscripts is a new model for prenatal and postpartum care that is transforming the way expectant mothers use technology to work with their OBGYN practice. Its the first mobile, clinical solution to provide remote monitoring of an obstetricians patient population while directly improving patient satisfaction and practice reimbursement. About AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia, a member of the AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies, is a Medicaid managed care health plan dedicated to helping members get care, stay well and build healthy communities. Headquartered in the District, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia addresses social risk factors impacting health, leverages robust member engagement strategies to increase rates of preventive care, and utilizes programs to support health and wellness for the vulnerable populations it serves. For more information, visit http://www.amerihealthcaritasdc.com. A leading provider of biometrics-based human identification systems, applications, and technology The solution from Fulcrum Biometrics is the best way for us to verify identities while giving our customers an effortless experience to access our services. Fulcrum Biometrics, a leading provider of biometrics-based human identification systems, applications, and technology, today announced that Bank South Pacific (BSP), the largest regionally owned bank in the South Pacific, selected Fulcrum Biometrics through a competitive RFP process. The bank awarded Fulcrum a contract to deliver a fingerprint-based Know Your Customer (KYC) banking solution that is being rolled out in early in 2019. The real-time identity verification system will help protect the bank from financial crimes, reduce risk with KYC due diligence and comply with KYC and anti-money-laundering (AML) legislation. The new system is based on fingerprint identification using a combination of Fulcrum Biometrics FbF Rapid Biometric Enablement Suite and some customized web applications. The solution from Fulcrum Biometrics is the best way for us to verify identities while giving our customers an effortless experience to access our services, said Paul Thornton, Group General Manager Retail for Bank South Pacific. Fulcrums solution ensures we prevent ID-theft-driven fraud and meet regulatory requirements and KYC for safe and secure transactions. We needed software and hardware that could integrate with our existing & future systems and we needed a vendor who could walk us step by step through the solution implementation, a pilot program and a full-scale rollout and who offered training and ongoing support at reasonable prices. Fulcrum has been an excellent partner in this project and we are confident in the solution they have provided us, Thornton added. How it works: BSP customers will enroll into the KYC Biometric System during their routine visits to bank branches. After providing verifiable identification documents, the customer scans two fingers index and middle simultaneously. This process is repeated for both left and right hands. The KYC Biometric System will automatically enroll the customer after checking the database for duplicate fingerprints or account identifiers. Thereafter, the customer can verify their identity by simply scanning their enrolled fingers. Our company thrives on developing trust relationships with our customers and consistently providing affordable, quality biometrics solutions, said Ken Nosker, President, Fulcrum Biometrics. We are excited that Bank South Pacific has selected Fulcrum Biometrics as the vendor of choice for implementing their new KYC biometric solution. Historically, our sales focus has centered around the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa. Being invited into the South Pacific by such a well-known financial institution is a real honor. Bank South Pacific plans to roll out the new KYC Biometric System across Papua New Guinea first, then it will begin rolling the system out to the surrounding islands in the region later in 2019. About Bank South Pacific Bank South Pacific (BSP) is an iconic and unique bank in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, recognized for its strong commitment to the region. BSP is a major commercial banking and finance group with assets of approximately US$5.73 billion (PGK23.050 billion). BSP has the largest branch network in Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu with sub branches and agents in rural locations. The BSP Group employs 4000+ people across the Pacific and Cambodia and proudly supports the communities that it operates in, through Community Projects, Sports, Education, Health, Culture and Financial Literacy. For more information, see: http://www.bsp.com.pg/About-Us/Welcome-to-BSP About Fulcrum Biometrics With over 16 years in the global biometrics industry, Fulcrum Biometrics has become a trusted and leading provider of biometrics-based human identification systems, applications, and technology. Fulcrum Biometrics serves customers in commercial, non-profit, civil, law enforcement, and military markets with customers in over 100 countries. For more information, see: http://www.fulcrumbiometrics.com. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BSP CONTACT: Stephanie Waide | Manager - PR & Communications| Email: swaide (at) bsp (dot) com (dot) pg or Email: PR (at) bsp (dot) com (dot) pg Gorethy Semi | Head of Marketing and PR | Email: gsemi (at) bsp (dot) com (dot) pg FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FULCRUM CONTACT: Shelley Luster | Marketing Specialist | Email: Shelley.L (at) fulcrumbiometrics (dot) com or Email: Marketing (at) fulcrumbiometrics (dot) com Louisville, Mississippi Comunity Storm Shelter The Louisville safe room is a terrific combination of functional multi-use space, visual enhancement for the city, and a necessary safe refuge for the community. - Andrew South, GM South Industries In a response to the tornado that took ten lives in 2014 South Industries has teamed up with JBHM Architecture, Burks Mordecai Builders, The City of Louisville, and Broaddus & Associates to construct a FEMA safe room and community storm shelter. The 12,000 square foot building will provide shelter for more than, 2000 people during a storm event. The community is also developing an app based alert system to inform community members when threats exist. Due to the important purpose of the community storm shelter FEMA and the state level counterpart, MEMA provided about 85 percent of the funding for the construction of the building. South Industries is pleased that the community is receiving such a beautiful structure. The Louisville safe room is a terrific combination of functional multi-use space, visual enhancement for the city, and a necessary safe refuge for the community. This type of development and building approach truly delivers value, and the people of Louisville are directly enjoying those benefits. - Andrew South, GM South Industries The success of any project starts in the planning phase, assembling a great team that meets the expectations of the owner, and providing the owner with a product that they are proud of, and within budget is the top priority. The team that worked the Louisville Safe Room/Community Center project is a prime example of this commitment. All team members are to be commended on an outstanding job. The City of Louisville and Mayor Will Hill is to be commended for their foresight on having a safe place for their residents during a storm event for the protection of life. Gregg Kennedy, Broaddus & Associates Construction started on the Louisville community storm shelter during August of 2018. Due to the use of cutting-edge construction methods by South Industries the project will be completed in less than a year. South Industries specializes in the construction of concrete monolithic domes. Domes are a great low-cost option for school districts building new facilities and gymnasiums. Communities should consider domes for projects where capital and operational costs are key considerations. A monolithic dome requires less energy to heat and cool than other options as well as less maintenance. South Industries is a design and build contractor of monolithic domes. Descending from the inventors of the monolithic dome South Industries has built domes across the world and in nearly every state. Through continuous innovation, South Industries has built structures that satisfy, amaze and have continually moved the industry forward. More information can be obtained by visiting southindustries.com. Premium Farmhouse Feast At Bob Evans, we want to offer families a new tradition by offering a fully cooked, heat-and-serve homestyle meal so you can spend more time on what matters making memories together. Easter is less than a week away and busy families everywhere are looking for a stress-free way to celebrate without sacrificing an affordable, family-style experience. This Easter, Bob Evans invites guests to enjoy the holiday, hassle-free, by enjoying a complete meal at home with a Farmhouse Feast. The holidays are a time of celebration and spending time with family and friends, said Robert Fradette, vice president of marketing communications at Bob Evans Restaurants. Its no secret that the perfect Easter feast can take hours of planning, preparation, and post meal clean-up. At Bob Evans, we want to offer families a new tradition by offering a fully cooked, heat-and-serve homestyle meal so you can spend more time on what matters making memories together. The Premium Farmhouse Feast is packed cold and comes complete with both a slow-roasted whole boneless turkey breast and sliced hickory-smoked ham, bread and celery dressing, homestyle mashed potatoes, buttered sweet corn, green beans with ham, cranberry relish, gravy, dozen rolls, macaroni and cheese, a whole apple pie, a strawberry supreme pie, and a loaf of banana nut bread. Theres something for everyone to enjoy! This meal can feed a family of 10 for only $114.99. Order, pick-up, reheat and serve its that simple! Guests can order the Farmhouse Feast at any Bob Evans Restaurant or http://www.bobevans.com and schedule their own pick-up date through Easter Sunday. The meals are fresh and made-to-order, but quantities are limited, so ordering early is highly recommended. The Farmhouse Feast allows families to enjoy a wholesome, delicious meal without the fuss and time-consuming preparation of a holiday meal, said Fradette. And most importantly, its a great value for families who would rather spend time with each other than in the kitchen during the holiday. In addition to offering this to-go feast, Bob Evans also will be open on Easter during their normal hours of operation for families looking to dine in. On Easter, Bob Evans will open at 6 a.m.* and will offer brunch menu items all day featuring guest favorites, such as the Fruitful Farmer and the Border Scramble Omelet. Bob Evans also will offer a special Easter meal in all restaurants on Sunday, April 21. For $14.99, guests can enjoy hickory-smoked ham, slow-roasted turkey & dressing, choice of two sides, and freshly-baked bread. For more information and restaurant locations, visit http://www.BobEvans.com. About Bob Evans Farms, Inc. Bob Evans Restaurants is a chain of family style restaurants founded and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, which owns and operates 481 family restaurants in 18 states, primarily in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the United States. Bob Evans believed in treating strangers like friends and friends like family; and those principles are alive today at every Bob Evans Farms Restaurant. As a private company owned by Golden Gate Capital, Bob Evans Restaurants is focused on providing quality food and hospitality to every guest at every meal, each and every day. For more information and restaurant locations, also visit http://www.BobEvans.com. BountyJobs and ExactHire Partnership Our partnership with BountyJobs offers ExactHire clients a streamlined approach to engaging with recruiters and sourcing exceptional candidates." BountyJobs, Inc., leading provider of third-party recruiting platform for collaboration between employers and search firms with over $2 billion in placement fees to recruiters and the worlds largest recruiter marketplace, today announced a strategic partnership with applicant tracking and employee onboarding platform, ExactHire. This strategic relationship with ExactHire is the latest in the fast growing BountyJobs partner network, seeing 500% growth in 2018 and resulting in the largest partner network of any recruitment marketplace. This network connects innovative technology providers focused on improving the way companies recruit, attract and retain talent. This mix of partners has been hand-selected to help support the key constituents of the 2-sided BountyJobs Marketplace; employers and recruiting agencies. The BountyJobs solution can be integrated within any ATS and values the relationships and expertise that partner agencies bring to the table. ExactHire helps businesses improve HR outcomes with integrated applicant tracking and employee onboarding platforms. Tools for automated job posts, applicant management, and custom reporting dovetail with a platform that eliminates paperwork and task redundancy for employers and new hires alike. And now, through ExactHires partnership with BountyJobs, clients can extend the candidate search beyond traditional job boards with convenient access to a network of over 10,000 third-party recruiters. The result is a fully optimized hiring and onboarding process that produces better applicants and enhances the employee experience. The recruiting, candidate assessment, and employee onboarding software offered by ExactHire is a scalable yet robust platform for SMB and mid-size organizations, said Jerry Aubin, CEO at BountyJobs. This cloud-based resource optimizes HR processes into a simple solution for both hiring and succession planning. We are always looking to improve candidate sourcing for our clients, and we realize that sometimes using a third-party recruiter is necessary, said Harlan Schafir, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at ExactHire. Our partnership with BountyJobs offers ExactHire clients a streamlined approach to engaging with recruiters and sourcing exceptional candidates. Were excited about the partnership for ExactHire, but more so for our current and future clients. This is a valuable addition to our services. It differentiates us from other HR software providers. The new relationship, which marries data-driven hiring solutions and traditional talent acquisition, creates an innovative approach for employers when making critical hires. About ExactHire Founded in 2007, ExactHire is a software company that develops and supports solutions for applicant tracking and employee onboarding. It seeks to help organizations improve HR outcomes by transforming manual, paper-based processes into automated, digital workflows. Learn more at http://www.exacthire.com. About BountyJobs Sometimes sourcing talent for business-critical positions requires a little help. Our web-based platform features a marketplace of over 10,000 highly-qualified agencies and a performance-based matching algorithm that helps hiring teams of all sizes find and engage the recruiters for each of their roles. All this inside our simple yet effective platform designed to keep you in control of the entire recruitment process. Help makes hiring happier. Learn more at http://www.bountyjobs.com. It is a great honor to be distinguished with the Channel Partner's Next-Gen Solutions Provider award for the third successive year CallTower, a global leader in delivering cloud-based enterprise-class unified communications and collaboration solutions, has been awarded Channel Partners' Channel Maker Award 2019 for Next-Gen Solution Provider. CallTower is thrilled to receive this award for the third consecutive year. CallTower was the first provider to be honored with Channel Influencer award for Next-Gen Solution Providers in 2017. The Channel Partners program recognizes IT and telecom channel leaders who help their partners create business value for customers with their vision, innovation, and advocacy of the channel during transition and convergence. "It is a great honor to be distinguished with the Channel Partner's Next-Gen Solutions Provider award for the third successive year," says CallTower Chief Revenue Officer, William Rubio. "As a result of being one of the first hosting providers to launch native hosted Skype for Business platform, and Microsoft Teams Direct Routing, we have further enhanced our offering with key business integrations with contact center, CRM, CT Cloud Boost, UC Analytics and workforce optimization. We are the only organization that can deliver a voice-enabled Microsoft phone solution which is native to Office 365, a full UC solution powered by Cisco and our own full-featured, cost-effective, CT Cloud Suite UCaaS solution." About Channel Partners Channel Partners is the undisputed leader in providing news and analysis to alternate distribution channels serving the communications industry. About CallTower CallTower exists to enable people to easily connect to transact business communications. Since its inception in 2002, CallTower has become a leading provider of cloud-based, enterprise-class Unified Communications solutions for growing organizations worldwide. CallTower provides, integrates and supports industry-leading, cloud-based, Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions, including Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Native Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, CT Cloud UCaaS Suite, CT Cloud Boost, Office 365 and CT Cloud Meeting, powered by Zoom Video Communications for business customers. CallTower enhances our clients strategic and operational capabilities by integrating VoIP service, mobile applications, email hosting, unified messaging, instant messaging, audio, web and video conferencing, collaboration tools, contact center, cloud services and global networks solutions into one reliable platform. Our mission at CardFlight is simplewere committed to making payment acceptance fast, dependable, and effortless for business owners in todays fast-evolving digital world. Bringing our SwipeSimple product to smart terminals as the next step in that mission just made sense. CardFlight, the leading SaaS payment technology company, today unveiled SwipeSimple Terminal, the expansion of their signature software to the smart terminal payment space. Designed to change and enhance the way small businesses process payments and handle other key related services, SwipeSimple Terminal will bring simple, reliable payment acceptance to even more small businesses than before. By integrating CardFlights industry-leading software, SwipeSimple Terminal offers the payment acceptance and software management tools that over 50,000 small businesses already rely on, via an enhanced, intuitive and easy-to-use format that resellers are familiar with and can trust. Todays launch expands our tested, state-of-the-art payments software to a new medium, making it easier than ever for small business owners across America to build and grow their companies, said Derek Webster, CardFlight Founder and CEO. Our mission at CardFlight is simplewere committed to making payment acceptance fast, dependable, and effortless for business owners in todays fast-evolving digital world. Bringing our SwipeSimple product to smart terminals as the next step in that mission just made sense. With SwipeSimple Terminal, merchants can rely on the basic functions of traditional payment terminals that they and their customers are used to, while gaining access to a sleeker, more modern form factor that consumers prefer, along with SwipeSimples intuitive user interface that is loved by merchants today to accept payments on the go, in their store and at their computer. Merchants can access all the capabilities of a traditional terminal... EMV chip, contactless, and magnetic stripe payment acceptance Rugged, compact form factor with built-in receipt printer Wired and wireless connectivity plus the power and simplicity of SwipeSimple. Easy-to-use touchscreen interface On-screen tip prompts Customizable digital receipts via SMS and email Searchable transaction history on the device Item catalog and inventory management Powerful business insight tools at SwipeSimple Merchant Web Dashboard CardFlight is proud to partner with Merchant Acquirers and Independent Sales Organizations around the country to help empower small business owners. Small businesses nationwide now have the ability to securely accept payments anywhere through CardFlights technology, and by using SwipeSimple Terminal, resellers can now serve a wider universe of customers and potential merchants, including those in the retail goods/services, specialty food/beverage, medical/dental/professional services and nonprofits/educational space. Were grateful that our reseller partners have brought SwipeSimple to more than 50,000 small businesses across the United States, said Marla Knutson, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at CardFlight. Introducing SwipeSimple to the smart terminal market enables us and our reseller partners to support even more merchants across new business categories and to do so at a deeper level, making it easier than ever before for our partners to support their customers with our technology. SwipeSimple Terminal will initially be available on the PAX A920 and PAX A80, enabling CardFlight to work with Merchant Acquirers and Independent Sales Organizations to meet diverse merchant needs. PAX A920, a sleek, sophisticated model featuring a 5 high-resolution display, long-lasting battery, and SwipeSimples revolutionary payment acceptance capabilities PAX A80, an entry-level solution offering all the same SwipeSimple capabilities in a more traditional terminal device, for about the same cost as basic terminals currently on the market The SwipeSimple Terminal is scheduled for release later this quarter. Merchant Acquirers and Independent Sales Organizations interested in distributing it can apply to join a private beta now to be among the first to resell SwipeSimple Terminal. It will also be on display at this years ETA TRANSACT conference, taking place in Las Vegas from April 30 May 2. To learn more about SwipeSimple Terminal, please visit here. About CardFlight CardFlight is a leading SaaS payment technology company making payment acceptance effortless and simple, by creating cutting-edge solutions designed to help small businesses grow. SwipeSimple, a signature CardFlight product, reaches businesses through a sales channel of financial institutions, independent sales organizations, and merchant service providers. Used by more than 50,000 small businesses in the U.S., across all 50 states, SwipeSimple empowers entrepreneurs to accept payments on the go, in their stores, and at their computers. CardFlight takes pride in building forward-thinking solutions defined by reliability and driven with the end-users goals in mind. For more information, visit cardflight.com. "With over $4 million deployed through 27 investments since 2014, we focus on being both accessible and helpful to early stage companies." Entrepreneurs seeking investment capital have an opportunity to present their early stage businesses to Cascade Angels. Cascade Angels Fund V, LLC (Cascade Angels Fund V or the Fund) has opened up its first application period for 2019, which runs from April 16-May 17, 2019. Entrepreneurs interested in applying can do so via Gust. The Fund anticipates investing in 5-7 companies in 2019. Typical investments are made in early-stage companies from any industry and investments are anticipated to range from $150,000 to $250,000 per company. Cascade Angels Fund is now investing out of its fifth fund. The Funds mission is to create regional opportunities for investors and businesses to drive economic growth and fuel prosperity. The Fund is managed by 44North Ventures, under the leadership of Julie Harrelson and Robert Pease. Harrelson, an entrepreneur, investor and leader in Oregons startup community, founded Cascade Angels fund in 2014. Pease has over 20 years of experience as an investor, founder, operational executive, and consultant. In addition to his current role as Fund Manager, he serves as a Venture Partner to the previous Cascade Angels Funds. "With over $4 million deployed through 27 investments since 2014, we focus on being both accessible and helpful to early stage companies," said Robert Pease, Managing Director of 44North Ventures, Fund Manager for Cascade Angels Fund. "We look forward to meeting with more great entrepreneurs from Oregon and the broader Pacific Northwest as part of this application period." About Cascade Angels Fund Founded in 2013, Cascade Angels is a professionally managed, investor driven collaborative seed fund that creates opportunities for investors and businesses with connections to Oregon to drive economic growth and fuel prosperity. The Funds investors include prominent business leaders, exited entrepreneurs and institutional investors who are committed to contributing to a sustainable economy and building Oregon's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Since 2014, Cascade Angels Funds have invested over $4M in 27 early-stage companies that cumulatively employ over 200 people. For more information, visit http://www.CascadeAngels.com, Gust.com/organizations/cascade-angels-fund or http://www.twitter.com/CascadeFund. Participation in the Cascade Angel Fund is by referral and invitation only. Angel and venture investments involve a high degree of risk. Participation is limited to "accredited investors," as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, AND to investors who have such knowledge and experience in financial and business matters that they are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of prospective investments. EverlyWell, an Austin, Texas-based digital health company, raised $50m in financing. The round was led by Goodwater Capital with Highland Capital Partners joining. Next Coast Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, SoGal Ventures and others participated. The company will use the funding to expand its digital platform and scale existing partnerships with leading brands like CVS and Humana. Led by founder and CEO Julia Cheek, Chief Technology Officer Nick Parker, CMO Jenifer Dasho and Executive Medical Director Dr. Marra Francis, EverlyWell offers 35 validated lab tests that start at $49 and include Food Sensitivity, Fertility, Cholesterol, STDs, Thyroid and more. Its digital platform connects consumers with existing, independent, certified labs for at-home collection tests that are ordered and reviewed by board-certified physicians. Once the sample is submitted, online results with evidence-based insights, suggestions and next steps are provided to consumers within days. In addition, the company has launched an end-to-end care model for consumers, now offering an independent physician consult and prescription, if appropriate, for select STDs and Lyme Disease testing. All of this is included in an upfront price before purchase. As part of the announcement, EverlyWell has appointed Dr. Robert Langer as the head of its Scientific Advisory Board. FinSMEs 16/04/2019 Theora Quik Alert and Theora Connect wearable for instant wandering notification We will continue to bring new, innovative technology solutions to busy caregivers and care recipients in our mission to provide a complete solution for the entire continuum of care. Clairvoyant Networks, LLC, a leading provider of remote monitoring technology for caregiving, announced today that the Companys Theora Care line has expanded with the introduction of two new monitoring solutions. Supporting more peace of mind for caregivers and more independence for care recipients, the new Theora Quik Alert for wandering and Theora Rest sleep monitor will be shown alongside the complete Theora family in Booth 602 at the Aging in America Conference in New Orleans this week. Last month, Clairvoyant announced that its Theora Connect wearable for care recipients and Theora Link smartphone app for caregivers was chosen by Texas A&M University for a pioneering research project focused on reducing Alzheimers caregivers burden. The new products are complementary to the currently shipping line. Theora Quik Alert Indoor and Away Wandering Alert for Caregivers. Like all Theora solutions, Theora Quik Alert keeps caregivers connected with loved ones, but within a shorter perimeter. Theora Quik Alert has increased accuracy and reliability, instantly notifying caregivers when wandering has occurred. Ideal for people with Alzheimers, dementia, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or other conditions requiring additional oversight Immediately sends caregiver(s) smartphone text notification when care recipient is out of range Ideal for most living arrangements, including apartments, shared or assisted living Unobtrusive, coin-sized sensor for home covers up to 1500 square feet, and multiple sensors can extend coverage Works in conjunction with Theora Connect wristwatch-style wearable for care recipient Theora Rest is an intelligent, predictive smart sleep monitor that lies comfortably under the sheet to measure, monitor and notify caregivers when care recipients get in and out of bed, when falls often occur. Unobtrusive under-the-sheet sensor is comfortable yet very sensitive to track sleep data Breathing rate, movement and activity monitoring cover small movements as well as larger tossing and turning to understand the quality and class of sleep Event notifications sent to caregivers smartphone for review and intervention if needed Long-life battery last 20 days, and low battery alert notifies caregiver before battery needs recharging We will continue to bring new, innovative technology solutions to busy caregivers and care recipients in our mission to provide a complete solution for the entire continuum of care, commented Steve Popovich, Clairvoyant President and Chief Executive Officer. Theora Quik Alert can help solve a monitoring issue we run into frequently - a person living with Alzheimers in an intercity apartment or multi-unit living facility. Family and professional caregivers need to know as soon as possible when a care recipient leaves their apartment in case its a wandering event - and in this instance, sometimes GPS is not enough. Our new Quik Alert allows caregivers to receive instant text alerts for potential wandering, with greater location accuracy than GPS safe zones can reliably support. GPS is solid technology for many outdoor use cases, but in buildings its not as time sensitive or provides precise location. Using Quik Alerts instant notification, and solutions such as our Theora Connect wearable with the feature-rich Theora Link smartphone app, caregivers have more peace of mind for indoor, outdoor and away scenarios. Knowing the current status of a care recipient is critical, but historical information, along with sensor-driven streaming analytics, help caregivers understand the subtle changes in activity and other non-clinical behaviors over time. These actionable insights can help target when intervention is needed, prevent unwanted and costly hospital stays, or help recognize when a condition is progressing and may require additional care options. Jeff Gottesman is a caregiver for his wife who was diagnosed with Alzheimers. His wife wears the Theora Connect wristwatch-style wearable, and Jeff can monitor her current location, use Safe Zones to set up boundaries for her regular outings, and be able to contact her using the cellular capabilities of the wearable. One of the things we like about Theora Care technology is that it is a complete solution. Unfortunately, my wife doesnt know how to use a cell phone anymore but because one is integrated into the watch, I can use the 2-way audio feature to get in touch with her and she can reach me with only the push of a button. Since the watch acts like a speakerphone, all she has to do it talk and listen and I know she is alright. I love that she can contact me, instead of an emergency call center which may not always be appropriate and using the GPS function I can always see where she is and where she has been. The cell phone was pre-activated when we received it, so I never have to deal with the cellular carrier, it is all handled by Clairvoyant. I look forward to expanding our current Theora Connect solution with these new wandering alerts. Popovich and Chief Marketing Officer, Shelley Symonds, will be presenting the workshop, Caregiving in the Digital Age at Aging in America at 10:30 a.m. CT, where they will review the evolution of caregiving technology. Theora Quik Alert is $49.00 USD, with a $5 USD monthly service fee. Theora Rest is $199.00. Both are shipping in Q2 2019, and can be purchased through the Theora Care website at http://www.theoracare.com. About Clairvoyant Networks, LLC Clairvoyant Networks, LLC has developed the Theora Care remote monitoring suite of IoT devices and SaaS applications to provide family and professional caregivers with better condition information, communications, and location services for care recipients. Recognized by Caregiver.com and Austin Inno for its innovative technology, our solutions deliver situational awareness not only for the caregiver, but also for the home, medical and care management professionals that are involved in the care team. Our customers range from family and professional caregivers to technology leaders, as well as our ongoing participation in research studies with government health organizations and academia. Clairvoyant Networks, LLC, has offices in Austin, TX, and Raleigh, NC. For further information and to see how we can help you, please reach us at http://www.theoracare.com, support(at)theoracare.com, or follow us on Twitter @Theora_Care and @ClairvoyantUWB, on Facebook at facebook.com/theoracare and on YouTube at youtube.com/theoracare. Contact: Clairvoyant Networks, LLC Melanie Guthrie Melanie.Guthrie(at)clairvoyantnetworks.com 512-371-6164 2019 Clairvoyant Networks, LLC. Theora, Theora Connect, Theora Link, Theora Quik Alert, Theora Rest are all registered or trademarks of Clairvoyant Networks, LLC. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. The composition of the contracts included in this transaction reflect the industry and equipment composition of CCGs portfolio and provides investors a great degree of industry and equipment diversity. Commercial Credit Group Inc. (CCG), an independent commercial equipment finance company, today announced the closing of a 144a privately-placed term asset-backed security (ABS) transaction (the 2019-1 transaction). The $302,732,000 financing was placed with a broad group of institutional investors. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. served as Structuring Agent and Lead Bookrunner for the placement. The financing contracts supporting the security consist of a diverse pool of CCGs customer contract originations in the transportation, construction, manufacturing and waste equipment segments. The multi-tranche placement carried the following ratings: Notes S&P Fitch DBRS Dollar Amount Class A-1 A-1+ (sf) F1+ (sf) R-1(h) (sf) $ 89,000,000 Class A-2 AAA (sf) AAA (sf) AAA (sf) $175,280,000 Class B A (sf) A (sf) A (h) (sf) $ 30,236,000 Class C BBB+ (sf) BBB (sf) BBB (h) (sf) $ 8,216,000 This is our tenth transaction since 2011, and our offerings total approximately $2.2 billion. We are appreciative of the continued support of the institutional ABS investor community. In a busy week of ABS placement and sales activity, our 2019-1 transaction received significant oversubscription in all classes and we were able to welcome several new investors to our 2019-1 transaction, stated Roger Gebhart, SVP and Chief Financial Officer. The composition of the contracts included in this transaction reflect the industry and equipment composition of CCGs portfolio and provides investors a great degree of industry and equipment diversity. About Commercial Credit Group Inc.: Commercial Credit Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Commercial Credit, Inc. is an independent, commercial equipment finance company that provides secured loans and leases to small and mid-sized businesses in the construction, fleet transportation, machine tool and manufacturing and waste industries. The companys sales force is located throughout North America and sources transactions through end-users, equipment vendors and manufacturers with typical transaction sizes ranging from $100,000 to $2,500,000. Since its inception in 2004, CCG has originated over $4 billion of finance receivables. CCG is headquartered in Charlotte, NC and operates full service offices in Buffalo, NY and Naperville, IL. CCG Equipment Finance Limited services the Canadian Provinces of Ontario, west to British Columbia, from its Canadian headquarters in Hamilton, Ontario. Division Manufacturers Capital provides financing for the manufacturing and fabricating industries. For more information, please visit http://www.commercialcreditgroup.com. As part of our celebration and growth strategy, this expansion into Nashville provides a great opportunity to bring more than 35 years of overall experience, a successful group of trial attorneys, our history of success, and financial resources to our clients in Tennessee, said Ernest Cory. Cory Watson Attorneys, a national personal injury law firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, is celebrating 24 years of business this April. They are also announcing that the firm has opened a second office in Nashville, Tennessee. Our firm has experienced tremendous growth in the last 24 years, said Ernest Cory, managing shareholder and co-founder of Cory Watson Attorneys. Weve compiled great resources and built a team of more than 25 accomplished attorneys and 96 talented staff members to help clients across the country in complicated mass torts, class actions, pharmaceutical, medical device, product liability and personal injury cases in Alabama and Tennessee. As part of our celebration and growth strategy, this expansion into Nashville provides a great opportunity to bring more than 35 years of overall experience, a successful group of trial attorneys, our history of success, and financial resources to our clients in Tennessee, explained Cory. Cory Watsons second location is located in the heart of Music Citys Gulch neighborhood at 1033 Demonbreun Street, Suite #300 in Nashville, Tennessee. The office provides the same exceptional legal services and commitment to justice that clients have come to expect from Cory Watson Attorneys. The firm continues to actively assist their clients from their main office in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Our focus has always been on helping clients after a traumatic injury or accident, said Leila H. Watson, co-founder of Cory Watson Attorneys. That focus will not change as we welcome new clients to our Cory Watson family through this expansion to Tennessee. About Cory Watson Attorneys Cory Watson Attorneys is a nationally recognized personal injury law firm with offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and Nashville, Tennessee. The firm has recovered more than $2.7 billion for clients across the country. Attorneys are frequently at the forefront of major class actions and multidistrict litigations involving dangerous pharmaceuticals and product liability, and are often appointed to leadership positions in national cases. Firm practice areas include Personal Injury, Product Liability, Class Action, Asbestos, Business & Commercial Litigation, Dangerous Pharmaceuticals, Defective Medical Devices, and Environmental/Toxic Torts. To learn more, visit CoryWatson.com. Its apparent that Donnas passion is for delivering solutions to her clients that enable their employees and channel partners to reach their full potential Creative Group, Inc., a full-service meeting, incentive and recognition company, announced today the hiring of Donna Dorsey-Travisano as Account Executive, Business Development, effective immediately. This is a new position, created to support the continued growth of the company. Dorsey-Travisano joins the business development team, focusing on expanding the companys presence on the East Coast. She has a passion for maximizing sales and profits by optimizing the performance of her clients sales and channel partners through award-winning meetings, events, and incentive programs that deliver results. Its apparent that Donnas passion is for delivering solutions to her clients that enable their employees and channel partners to reach their full potential, says Scott Tarnoff, Vice President, Business Development, Creative Group. Having spent years in the incentive industry, and having run her own company, gives her the experience clients need. Creative Group embodies my desire for client service, says Donna Dorsey-Travisano. Im excited to begin working with Creative Group and delivering business-changing experiences to help drive my clients success, while helping its employees and channel partners thrive! About Donna Dorsey-Travisano Dorsey-Travisano comes to Creative Group with over twenty-five years of industry experience prior to starting her own meeting and incentive travel company, HMS Global Solutions in 2014. About Creative Group Creative Group is a full-service meeting, incentive and recognition company that delivers business results by inspiring people to thrive. An industry leader, Creative Group has been honored with the CMI 25 Award, which recognizes the top 25 most influential meeting and incentive management companies in the U.S. and has received the award every year since its inception in 2007. Creative Group was founded in 1970 and has served clients in financial services, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, retail, technology, automotive and hospitality. Employing over 220 people, the company is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois and maintains offices in Detroit, Denver, San Francisco and Appleton, Wisconsin. Creative Group was acquired by Direct Travel in 2015. For more information about Creative Group, please visit http://www.creativegroupinc.com Dallas Metro Working with Lone Star has given us the ability to finally put numbers behind our initiative and effectively measure the impact of the work we have done in the community over the last three decades. Dallas Metro, an inner city childrens ministry and nonprofit, has completed a study measuring the impact of its efforts on the city of Dallas. The organization partnered with Lone Star Analysis, a predictive and prescriptive analytics provider, to quantify the impact it has had on childrens lives. After a few months of attempting to measure the effects of our work on the community despite our lack of resources, Lone Star approached us with a great analytics solution, said Chris Kraft, Board Member, Dallas Metro. Working with Lone Star has given us the ability to finally put numbers behind our initiative and effectively measure the impact of the work we have done in the community over the last three decades. This research is a game changer. The study, The Analytics of Hope and a Major Need, found Dallas Metros impact to be sizeable, targeting families in the city with the second-highest child poverty rate. A combination of statistics, government data and the science of hope, a measureable predictor of improved lives and outcomes, led to quantitative outcomes resulting from Metros mission. Lone Star concluded Dallas Metro has reduced the frequency of 21 types of adverse life outcomes by helping more than 40,000 people improve their English, raising grades for over 23,000 students and encouraging 5,000 kids to stay in school. For over 30 years, Dallas Metro has been serving Dallas youth through programs such as Metro Kidz, Dallas Metro Youth, summer camps and mobile food banks. Metro Kidz, one of the organizations longest standing programs, takes place every Saturday. Staff and volunteers travel to the citys most challenging neighborhoods to play games, visit with the kids, build relationships and spread positive messages. At Lone Star, we want to make a difference for organizations, especially when we think the organization contributes to a better society, said Steve Roemerman, chairman and CEO, Lone Star Analysis. Dallas Metro focuses on serving the local youth, which aligns perfectly with our community-centric views. Dallas has more than its fair share of children at-risk, and this study shows Metro is making a lasting difference in their lives. Lone Star Analysis provides a wide-range of analytics for industrial markets, including aerospace and defense, manufacturing, and oil and gas. In addition to taking on industrial clients, the company periodically provides organizations with pro bono analytics. Previous efforts include partnering with the House Armed Services Committee to complete a study on public policy. To learn more about Dallas Metro or donate, visit: http://dallasmetro.net/. To learn more about Lone Star, visit: https://lone-star.com/. About Dallas Metro Dallas Metro is an inner city childrens ministry and nonprofit organization meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of children in the inner-city. For 30 years, Dallas Metro has served as a haven for troubled youth, providing programs for all age groups in order to combat negative influences, home life and upbringing. About Lone Star Analysis Lone Star Analysis is a Dallas-based predictive and prescriptive analytics specialist enabling customers to make smarter decisions faster by leveraging data and insights to provide foresight and enhance the decision-making of its customers. Lone Stars TruNavigator and AnalyticsOSTM software programs provide transparent, auditable and explainable solutions for clients. Additionally, Lone Star applies the right combination of data, people and processes to get results with its 15 years of experience and more than 1,000 subject matter experts, across several industries, including aerospace, defense, energy, logistics, manufacturing and transportation. For more information on Lone Star, visit http://www.Lone-Star.com. Media Contact: Elle Glatz MCC for Lone Star 972-480-8383 ext. 217 Elle_glatz(at)mccom.com Attorney Dion Davi, Principal, and Founding Attorney at Davi Law Group It is an honor to be recognized as a Super Lawyer for the fifth year in a row, Davi said. It says a lot about the commitment to client service we have at Davi Law Group and the favorable results we achieve for our clients. Davi Law Group, LLC is proud to announce attorney Dion U. Davi has been named to the 2019 Super Lawyers list as a top-rated family law attorney in Wheaton. Davi has now earned the designation for five consecutive years. He also previously received the Rising Stars honor from 2010-13. Super Lawyers, a nationally recognized rating service, annually chooses the best attorneys in every state based on independent peer evaluation. Selected Super Lawyers are among the top 5 percent of attorneys nominated in their state. It is an honor to be recognized as a Super Lawyer for the fifth year in a row, Davi said. It says a lot about the commitment to client service we have at Davi Law Group and the favorable results we achieve for our clients. DuPage County lawyer Dion U. Davi formed Davi Law Group, LLC in 2012 after successful stints as a solo practitioner, DuPage County States Attorneys Office prosecutor, and associate attorney with a long-standing local law family firm. Davi serves clients through offices in Wheaton, Chicago, Naperville, and Joliet. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from DePaul University in 2000, Davi earned his Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School as a member of the deans list in 2003 and achieved admission to the Illinois State Bar Association that same year. A Leading Lawyer honoree each year since 2015, Davi has held various positions with the Illinois Bar Association, Illinois Bar Foundation, DuPage County Bar Association, Kane County Bar Association, Robert E. Jones Inns of Court DuPage County, and the Justinian Society of Lawyers of Cook and DuPage counties. He is third vice president of the Justinian Society of Cook County and will assume the role of chapter president in 2021. About Dion U. Davi Through settlement negotiations and litigation, Wheaton, IL attorney Dion U. Davi helps clients settle difficult family law matters, including divorce, child custody, child support, and spousal support. He is also a skilled adoption, paternity, and guardianship attorney, and helps domestic violence victims receive orders of protection. He is also adept at estate planning, contracts, motorsports, and bankruptcy law. Davi also serves as a criminal defense attorney for traffic violations, drug charges, DUI, juvenile offenses, retail theft, violent crimes, weapons charges, and white-collar allegations. For more information or for a free consultation, call 630-580-6373 or visit https://www.dupagefamilylawattorneys.com/, http://www.dupagecountycriminallawyers.com or http://www.willcountyfamilylawyers.com. Edsby Capture allows me to record learning without disrupting the flow of student work, said Mr. Christopher Robertson, teacher at Near North District School Board. Edsby, the most comprehensive learning and analytics platform available for K-12 education, now offers a mobile device application to help educators document student progress and achievement. The Edsby Capture app, available via the App Store and Google Play, gives educators a simple way to record, tag, share and report on evidence of learning. Edsby Capture gives students and teachers the ability to easily capture photographs and video of their work, and create evidence items within the Edsby platform. After a record is uploaded, its automatically added to the Edsby evidence stream and associated with relevant students. Teachers and students using the app will find Edsby Capture convenient, as students are identified with a unique QR code that can be scanned to associate evidence with their Learning Story stream. Evidence can be tagged with relevant expectations, standards or outcomes, or ad hoc local or regional distinctions (e.g. global competencies of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada). It can also be shared with parents at the teachers discretion. Once learning evidence is associated with a regions curriculum standards, expectations or outcomes, Edsby enables teachers to chart student progress against the curriculum over extended periods, said John Myers, Edsby co-founder and president. This is in contrast to many free education apps available today that are simply shared photo albums between a teacher and the student and/or parent. Edsby Capture allows me to record learning without disrupting the flow of student work, said Mr. Christopher Robertson, teacher at Near North District School Board, a district with 10,000 students, their parents and staff on Edsby. I can capture a wealth of pedagogical documentation in the moment without having to frame an unauthentic shot after the learning has occurred. To learn more about Edsby Capture, visit https://www.edsby.com/help/edsby-capture/. About Edsby Edsby is an award-winning digital learning SaaS platform that engages students, parents and teachers on all of their devices. It enables personalized learning experiences and gives school districts, states and provinces or national governments powerful new ways to facilitate their digital transformations. The Edsby team has been building scalable, reliable software systems for education organizations around the world for 30 years using latest technology and standards. Edsby is a registered trademark of CoreFour Inc. To learn more about Edsby, please visit http://edsby.com/. OrCAD is ideal for companies starting out because its easy to learn, yet offers a professional toolset used by electronics companies around the world, and because OrCAD is a highly scalable, it will help set startups up for sustained success as they evolve into the tech giants we hope they become. EMA Design Automation (http://www.ema-eda.com), a full-service provider and innovator of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) solutions, today announced a partnership with Berkeley SkyDeck. This partnership provides OrCAD software to SkyDeck startups for use in the design and development of printed circuit board (PCB) electronics within their innovative products. OrCAD is ideal for companies just starting out because it is easy to learn, yet offers a professional level toolset used by leading electronics companies around the world, said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA. And because OrCAD is a highly scalable solution for PCB design, it will help set these startups up for sustained success as they evolve into the tech giants, we hope they become. Since EMAs inception, they have been committed to helping provide future engineers and startups with the tools they need to be successful. EMA supports the student community by providing universities with the OrCAD software students require to not only complete course work and labs, but also prepare them for academic and career success. Using the OrCAD software provides engineering graduates with knowledge of state-of-the-art tools and techniques, giving them the foundation required to be successful in this competitive landscape. As an accelerator program within UC Berkeley, Berkeley SkyDeck combines the consulting know-how of traditional accelerators with the vast resources of its research university, creating a powerful environment for startups. Berkeley SkyDeck hosts over 200 startups each year and works hand-in-hand to help with product strategy, team building, and customer introductions. Skydecks mission is to help startup ventures bring new and innovative products to market, said Bree Cahill, director of partnerships at Berkeley SkyDeck. partnering with companies like EMA gives these startups access to the tools and expertise they need to make their ideas a reality. Due to its popularity, OrCAD is a common teaching tool in universities so many of these startups will already be familiar with the toolset and capabilities, added Marcano. This partnership with SkyDeck will extend that into the product development phase, providing access to professional-level design tools for these startups. For more information about EMA, go to http://www.ema-eda.com or call 585.334.6001. About EMA Design Automation, Inc. EMA Design Automation is a trailblazer in product development solutions offering a complete range of EDA tools, PLM integrations, services, training, and technical support. EMA is a Cadence Channel Partner serving all of North America. EMA develops Ultra Librarian, TimingDesigner, CircuitSpace, CIP, EDABuilder, and a host of custom solutions to enhance the OrCAD products, and all are distributed through a worldwide network of value added resellers. EMA is a privately held corporation headquartered in Rochester, New York. Visit EMA at http://www.ema-eda.com for more information. EMA Design Automation, TimingDesigner, CircuitSpace, EDABuilder, Ultra Librarian and the EMA logo are registered trademarks, and Component Information Portal is a trademark of EMA Design Automation, Inc. Cadence, Allegro, and OrCAD are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks in this release are the property of their respective owners. Words matter, and words from Johns Hopkins staff carry even more weight. Pushing back against Johns Hopkins to better guard their words in a press release is a daunting task, but most caregivers face daunting tasks before breakfast each day. In a recent study on caregivers published on March 2019 in the Gerontologist, Dr. David Roth of Johns Hopkins Medical Center detailed the impact of caregiving on inflammation as well as the immune system. The study revealed that immune and/or inflammatory biomarkers of caregivers differ only slightly from non-caregivers. While the science of the study is not up to debate, as the work at Johns Hopkins is meticulous and respected, the tone of the news statements about that scientific finding was disconcerting at best, callous at worst. Although clearly not his intention, it was as if Dr. Roth was lecturing all caregivers, saying, "Toughen up and shut up. You have no quantifiable justification to complain." Dr. Roth stated in a news release issued on April 10, 2019, Were not saying that family caregiving cant be stressful, but theres a notion that its so stressful that it causes deteriorating health and increased mortality.Its a whisper of an effect, not nearly as large as what people have been led to believe." Some might categorize this as a careless whisper. If looking at biomarkers as the indicator for better health, caregivers around the world can rest easier tonight as they see the headlines of articles that picked up Dr. Roth's press release. How comforting it must be for millions of caregivers to discover that their inflammation and immune issues remain similar to non-caregivers in this study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. But just because they now know it, doesn't mean that their billions of nerve endings received the memo. It is unclear if such a study sponsored by chronic pain, autism, addiction, traumatic brain injuries, or mental illness associations would reveal similar results. It is also unclear if biomarker data existed on the test subjects prior to their caregiving journey. Furthermore, the press release did not seem to include the median timeframe of caregiving nor the average age of the test subjects. Caregiving intersects a wide variety of impairments and is not limited to caring for the elderly. Nor is the health and wellbeing of a caregiver limited to the biomarkers indicated in this study. If a caregiver loses themselves in depression and isolation so much that they fail to see their own physicianas 72% reportthen those whisper of a difference biomarkers may not be as positive when a caregiver reaches the end of their emotional rope. When faced with the gut-wrenching daily heartache of caring for someone in extreme intractable pain or severe mental illness, ones biomarkers are not always on the tip of the tongue when discussing needs. Ones physical health may be in great condition, but in the presence of relentless heartache, even the best of health cant compete with the desire for relief. Bio-markers aside, a particularly troubling 'unintended consequence' of the Johns Hopkins report is that it evidently provided the impetus for Dr. Roth to coldly conclude that caregiving, if "done right," can actually be an extremely beneficial, healthy activity that enhances your life because youre engaging in pro-social behavior. Speaking on behalf of 50 million caregivers on my talk show syndicated to more than 100 radio stations, I can emphatically state that what may have been intended to be backhanded compliment was actually an outright insult. How many caregivers now look at their own challenges and scratching their heads wondering whether they are 'doing it right' in their newly discovered 'enhanced' lives. While the whisper of a difference in the biomarkers may now be 'proven, the deafening cry of millions of broken-hearted caregivers is also present. Where is the follow-up study on that? Admittedly, some of them may not be doing it right" but at least they are doing it. Why? Because someone has to do itand for mostthey do it without training, resources, or support. They are doing it from the heart. They do it out of love. Biomarkers dont reveal broken hearts, especially those newly broken ones in exhausted caregivers who may have prior hereto suspected they didn't measure up, but now have had those fears confirmed. Now that Dr. Roths comments in publications across the U.S., one cant help but wonder when a crusty patient receiving care will hurl Dr. Roths words at a weary caregiver, If you were doing it right, this would enhance your life. You should thank me! Words matter and words from Johns Hopkins staff are particularly heavyweight. Pushing back against Johns Hopkins to better guard their words in a rebuttal release is a daunting task, but most caregivers face daunting tasks before breakfast each day. About Peter Rosenberger... Peter Rosenberger host a national weekly radio program, "Hope for the Caregiver," syndicated on more than one hundred radio stations. For thirty years, Peter has cared for his wife, Gracie, who lives with severe disabilities and chronic pain. His newest book is 7 Caregiver Landmines and How You Can Avoid Them. http://www.hopeforthecaregiver.com @hope4caregiver The IdentityMind platform offers us the tools to make sure our customers and their payments are protected and compliant with all required AML regulations. Having IdentityMind as a partner to monitor transactions greatly facilitates our day to day operations. IdentityMind, Digital Identities You Can Trust, announced today that nanopay, a Toronto-based payments technology company offering domestic and cross-border business-to-business payments and liquidity management products, has selected its digital identities platform. nanopay will leverage IdentityMinds platform to prevent fraud and facilitate the monitoring, investigating and reporting of anti-money laundering (AML) activities. nanopays cross-border payments solution is currently expanding into multiple geographies. The nature and ubiquity of real-time payments requires a fraud prevention solution that can adequately support users worldwide. With a focus on mitigating the potential abuse from bad actors, nanopay will leverage the automated platform to deal with the regulatory requirements of the multiple jurisdictions where it operates. One of the biggest challenges in a faster payments environment is security. said Carlos Garcia, nanopays VP of Operations. The IdentityMind platform offers us the tools to make sure our customers and their payments are protected and compliant with all required AML regulations. Having IdentityMind as a partner to monitor transactions greatly facilitates our day to day operations. The IdentityMind platform through its core patented Electronic DNA( eDNA) technology and its third party ecosystem can proof identities and track behaviors through their transactions, identifying in real time potential rogue actors and the abuse of the accounts for nefarious purposes. The global nature of the platform ensures that activities are consistent with regulatory requirements across jurisdictions where nanopay operates. A very large percentage of the global payments volume is cross borders, said Garrett Gafke, IdentityMinds President and CEO. We have been helping the Money Service Business and the Payments industries protect the actors and the ecosystems involved in these real-time transactions. It is exciting to work with nanopay to help them strengthen their platform and ecosystem as they expand into new geographies. Further Resources: Guide: ATO White Paper Guide: Digital Identity Evaluation Guide Blog: Digital Identities and the Power of a Corroboration Hub About IdentityMind IdentityMind, creator of Trusted Digital Identities (TDIs), offers a SaaS platform for online risk management and compliance automation. We help companies reduce client onboarding fraud and transaction fraud, and improve AML, sanctions screening, and KYC. IdentityMind continuously builds, validates and risk scores digital identities through eDNA technology to ensure global business safety and compliance from customer onboarding and throughout the customer lifecycle. We securely track the entities involved in each transaction (e.g. consumers, merchants, cardholders, payment wallets, alternative payment methods) to build payment reputations, and allow companies to identify and reduce potential fraud, evaluate merchant account applications, onboard accounts, enable identity verification services, and identify potential money laundering. For more information, visit IdentityMind on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google My Business. For inquiries, please contact: pr(at)identitymind.com. About nanopay Founded in 2013, nanopay is a payments technology company based in Toronto offering business payment and liquidity products. We offer businesses a cost-effective and secure way to send cross-border payments, and offer banks and their corporate clients a real-time intercompany liquidity solution to free trapped capital. Built on Centralized Ledger Technology (CLT), our platform delivers a high level of performance and resilience improving the visibility and security of payments. nanopays long term goal is to deliver simple and accessible payments to all people by digitizing money for central banks and offer whats more commonly known as Central Bank Digital Cash (CBDC). To learn more about nanopay, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. For inquiries, please contact: pr(at)nanopay.net. Howamigoing, a London, UK-based HRTech startup, raised an additional 890k in seed funding, bringing their total financing to date to 1.1m. The round was led by angel investors Chris Hadley (founder, Quadrant Capital) and Richard Elmslie (CEO, Rare Infrastructure). Existing investors Andrew McGill (professional director, co-founder Crescent Capital), Alister Jordan (CEO of Coles Express, Chief of Staff to former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd) and Jason Weeks (CEO of Vendorable.com) also participated in the round. The company will use the investment to build out their Sales, Marketing and Customer Success functions in light of their international pipeline. Founded by ex-J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs investment banker Julian Cook, Howamigoing provides a platform that allows employees to transparently and confidently manage their year-round feedback and performance plans. The company leverages technology, psychology, and user-friendly design to allow employers to gather feedback so that individuals, as well as businesses, can grow. Part of the North-East Ignite Accelerator, Howamigoing now works with companies in the UK, US, Hong Kong and Australia. FinSMEs 16/04/2019 "The World Is Our Classroom" is a complement to Franklin County's Spring Into History month. The World is Our Classroom is a perfect fit for Franklin County because it inspires everyone to take a fresh look and see the wonder around them, said Janet Pollard, FCVB executive director. Join the Franklin County Visitors Bureau and author Cindy Ross in taking the road less traveled on Saturday, April 27, 1 to 3 PM, at the Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center. Ross, travel writer and author of The World is Our Classroom, is a modern adventurer, who with husband Todd, consciously chose to connect their children with the knowledge, culture, and beauty of the world around them. She will share her world travels and inspire families and individuals to take advantage of the opportunities close to home to shape an education. The world around is an every-day opportunity to live a fuller, bigger life. Franklin County Visitors Bureau (FCVB) celebrates April as Spring-into-History month. Franklin County was the American frontier, a vital part of Pennsylvanias breadbasket, and the gateway and retreat of the Gettysburg Campaign. It offers three hundred years of American history and culture, the beauty of the Tuscarora and South Mountains, the two oldest state parks in PA, plus 36 local parks and three environmental centers. A visit to Franklin County is taking the road less traveled-- to see and do in four-seasons of beauty, explore trails of history, refresh with a reflective walk, peddle an invigorating climb, or taste plenty of local foods and spirits. The World is Our Classroom is a perfect fit for Franklin County because it inspires everyone to take a fresh look and see the wonder around them, said Janet Pollard, FCVB executive director. The event, held in the second floor Great Room of the new Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center, is free and open to the public. A post-presentation walking tour of downtown Chambersburg is also being offered at no charge. Register for the presentation and walking tour here. The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore history, arts and architecture, recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods and the warm hospitality of communities like Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. Franklin County PA is located just north of the Mason Dixon Line and is an easy drive to Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Plan a visit at ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com, contact 866.646.8060, or stop at the new Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center in downtown Chambersburg. This award shows how government and private industry can work successfully together. We are proud to carry the torch because this system has such a broad value. Clean, safe water is critical to everybody. - Terry Collins, Co-founder & CEO, Blue Sources On April 24th, the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) will honor Blue Sources and their project partner, the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research (USACEHR), with an award for their cooperative effort in Exemplary Retransfer of Aquatic Biomonitor Through Combined In-Licensing/Out-Licensing. Blue Sources, a veteran-owned company located at the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc. (FITCI) on Metropolitan Court, is on a mission to protect drinking water and the environment with the help of the humble bluegill fish. Serving water and wastewater treatment facilities, Blue Sources technology detects toxic chemicals in water by monitoring the naturally-occurring electric field emitted by live bluegills while breathing water. The fish act like a canary in a coal mine. The core technology originated in an army lab nearly 2 decades ago. In 2015, Blue Sources acquired an exclusive patent license from the USACEHR as part of a technology transfer initiative. The FLC is a formally chartered, nationwide network of over 300 federal laboratories, agencies, and research centers. A total of 30 awards will be presented to 27 laboratories representing 11 federal agencies at their national meeting in Orlando, Florida. Kathie Callahan Brady, CEO of FITCI, says tech transfer opportunities are especially important to emerging companies. As an incubator and accelerator, we see the magic that happens when creative, passionate minds get behind innovative ideas. Tech transfer is really about the best use of resources, connecting both sides of the equation and ensuring that important breakthroughs dont just sit on the shelf gathering dust. Blue Sources Co-founder & CEO Terry Collins is encouraged by the FLCs announcement. This award shows how government and private industry can work successfully together. We are proud to carry the torch because this system has such a broad value. Clean, safe water is critical to everybody. The biomonitors are active at several water utilities as well as one wastewater facility on the East Coast. Two devices at nearby Fort Detrick monitor for toxic chemicals in the Monocacy River. Collins says, There are 50,000 public water systems and countless wastewater facilities in the country, and all of them acknowledge one undeniable reality: there is no life without water. For more information on Blue Sources system log onto bluesources.com. For award news, go to federallabs.org. 2019 Women of Achievement Luncheon Honorees (left to right): Yafa Hakim, 2019 Marjorie Pressman Legacy Award Recipient and Rosalie Zalis, 2019 Women of Achievement Award Recipient Thanks to our hardworking Luncheon Committee and the support of our community, Friends of Sheba is making a significant impact in the lives of thousands of children, not only from Israel, but around the world. On Thursday, April 4th, Friends of Sheba Medical Center hosted its annual Women of Achievement Luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. The luncheon brought together members of our community in support of Israels Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer and benefitted the medical centers new pediatric laser treatment center. More than 360 guests attended this sold-out event, which opened with a reception and silent auction, and was Emceed by Brittney Hopper, reporter for CBS 2/KCAL 9 in Los Angeles. The luncheon featured a keynote presentation by Prof. Josef Haik, Director of the National Burn Center at Sheba Medical Center. Prof. Haik spoke about Shebas vision for the pediatric laser treatment center a state-of-the-art facility that will use advanced laser technology to treat severe burn scars that cause children from all over the world physical and emotional pain. Advanced research and pediatric laser application will also be taught to all dermatologists and plastic surgeons throughout Sheba Medical Center. The unique combination of research, treatment, and teaching makes the pediatric laser treatment center at Israels National Burn Center the first of its kind in the world. The luncheon honored two outstanding community leaders, Rosalie Zalis and Yafa Hakim. Rosalie Zalis was presented with the 2019 Women of Achievement Award for leadership in her remarkable career and philanthropic endeavors. Yafa Hakim was honored with the 2019 Marjorie Pressman Legacy Award for her longstanding service and dedication to Israels hospitals, including Sheba Medical Center. It was an honor to hear from Prof. Haik, who flew in from Israel to speak about Shebas incredibly innovative pediatric laser burn treatment center, which has the power to save the lives of children suffering from severe, painful and disfiguring burn scars, said Luncheon Co-Chair Lynn Ziman. Thanks to our hardworking Luncheon Committee and the support of our community, Friends of Sheba is making a significant impact in the lives of thousands of children, not only from Israel, but around the world. In addition to Luncheon Chairs Judy Shapiro and Lynn Ziman, the event was led by Decor Chair Beverly Cohen and Honorary Chair Carrie Sherman. The luncheon committee included Marianne Berman, Helene Boston, Jennifer E. Cohen, Sorelle Cohen, Parvin Djavaheri, Judy Flesh Rosenberg, Aviva Harari, Adrian Miller, Melody Pakravan, Jeannine Sefton, Ruth Steinberger, DeeDee Sussman and Inna Tuler. Notable attendees included: Governor and Mrs. Pete Wilson, Friends of Sheba Vice President and longtime Sheba supporter Marilyn Ziering, Founder of the Y&S Nazarian Foundation Soraya Nazarian, Philanthropist and Community Builder Dr. Gitta Nagel, Former AIPAC Vice President and the Founder of Citizens Organized PAC Barbi Weinberg, Friends of Sheba Board President Parham Zar and his wife Shoshana Djavaheri Zar, LAPD Commissioner Steve Soboroff, Jewish Journal Publisher and Editor-in-Chief David Suissa, Dean and Founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Marvin Hier, Rabbi Kalman Topp of Beth Jacob Congregation and Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple. The 2019 Women of Achievement Luncheon highlighted the need for our community's next generation of leaders to support Israel and Israels flagship institutions, such as Sheba Medical Center, said Friends of Sheba Medical Center Executive Director Molly Soboroff. "As Rosalie Zalis declared, now is the time for future leaders to show up, support Israel and invest in the future of global medicine with Sheba Medical Center." Later that same evening, Prof. Haik delivered an intimate keynote presentation at the Hidden Hills home of Stacy and George Shakiban, providing an in-depth presentation on the pediatric laser treatment center and his cutting edge research before an audience of 40 community leaders. Recently named one of the Top 10 Best Hospitals in the World by Newsweek Magazine, Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East. About Friends of Sheba Medical Center Friends of Sheba Medical Center is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and philanthropic support for Sheba Medical Center in Israel. Friends of Sheba Medical Center is dedicated to raising awareness and philanthropic support for Sheba Medical Centers compassionate clinical care, cutting edge research and comprehensive educational training. To learn more, visit: http://www.friendsofsheba.org. About Sheba Medical Center 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: https://eng.sheba.co.il/ 59th Annual Meeting They bring incredible energy and ideas to the table and are critical to furthering our mission of understanding and, ultimately, preventing birth defects. Some of the worlds leading scientists will be recognized for their research on birth defects, including potential environmental causes, risk factors for deformities of the lower fetal spine, as well as cancer risk in children with congenital heart defects. The special lectures and awards will be presented June 2226 at the Teratology Societys Annual Meeting, hosted at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California. The Teratology Society is an international and multidisciplinary group of scientists including researchers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health professionals from academia, government, and industry who study birth defects, reproduction, and disorders of developmental origin. Through its 2019 awards and special lectures, more than a dozen scientists will be recognized for advancing research in their fields. From examining the possible link of birth defects to childhood cancer risk, to applying cutting edge technologies to the study of birth defects to more fully characterize genetic and environmental factors in birth defect risk, our honorees showcase the innovative and impactful progress being made in this field, said Dana Shuey, PhD, DABT, Teratology Society President. In addition, 34 travel awards will be given to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to attend the Annual Meeting and present their work. Our trainees are an important, integral part of the meeting. They bring incredible energy and ideas to the table and are critical to furthering our mission of understanding and, ultimately, preventing birth defects, she added. Bringing these scientists together at our Annual Meeting creates a truly interdisciplinary platform for dynamic collaboration in the field. Other scientific accomplishments being honored at this years Annual Meeting include a Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) award for which Lauren Walker, BS, a student member of the Teratology Society, earned a spot to participate in scientific advocacy efforts in Washington D.C. Walker will be recognized for her participation in FASEBs Capitol Hill Day last month, which included a coalition of 58 scientists from 30 states whose objective was to remind representatives and senators of the importance of biomedical research. The travel funding for Ms. Walker was provided by the Teratology Society. The 2019 Teratology Society award recipients and special lecturers include: Edward W. Carney Distinguished Service AwardThomas B. Knudsen, PhD, National Center for Computational Toxicology, US EPA F. Clarke Fraser New Investigator AwardKembra L. Howdeshell, PhD, National Toxicology Program, NIEHS Scheduled Presentation: Environmental Chemicals and Developmental Effects: Translating Bench Science to Public Health Josef Warkany LectureBarbara D. Abbott, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency (retired) Scheduled Presentation: Developmental Toxicity of Perfluorinated Compounds: A Voyage from Animal Studies to Transfected Cells Robert L. Brent Lecture Cheryl Maslen, PhD, Oregon Health Sciences University Scheduled Presentation: Congenital Heart Defects Research: Finding the Hidden Crossroads between Genetics and Environment James G. Wilson Publication Award R. Thomas Collins II, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine Congenital heart disease complexity and childhood cancer risk; Birth Defects Research 110.17:13141321 (2018) Agnish FellowshipBarbara F. Hales, PhD, McGill University Scheduled Presentation: Healthy Gametes for a Healthy Life Patricia Rodier Mid-Career Award for Research and MentoringTerry C. Hrubec, DVM, PhD, E. Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine Scheduled Presentation: From Neural Tube Defects to Environmental Contaminants Birth Defects Research Distinguished Scholar Awards: Bengt Kallen, MD, PhD, Lund University (retired) Janet Uriu-Adams, PhD, University of California, Davis Teratology Society Innovator Award Finalists: Katherine O'Shaughnessy, PhD, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, US EPA Abstract Title: Bypassing the Brain Barriers: Identification of Serum microRNAs Reflective of Developmental Neurotoxicity Thomas B. Knudsen, PhD, National Center for Computational Toxicology, US EPA Abstract Title: Computational Synthesis and Integration: Reconstructing Complex Systems for In Silico Testing James L. Mills, MD, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH Abstract Title: Exome Sequencing Identifies ID1 As a Possible Risk Factor for Sacral Agenesis Edward W. Carney Trainee AwardSubham Dasgupta, PhD, University of California, Riverside FASEB Howard Garrison Public Affairs FellowshipLauren Walker, University of California, Riverside Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Travel Awards: Kian Afsharian, University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy Kathryn Beauchamp, PhD, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Luisa Bertotto, PhD, ORISE, US Environmental Protection Agency Bevin Blake, National Toxicology Program, NIEHS Desire Buckley. PhD, University of Texas at Austin Hao Chen, PhD, University of California, San Francisco Vanessa Cheng, University of California, Riverside Harlie Cope, National Toxicology Program, NIEHS Maelle Dandjinou, CHU Ste-Justine Research Center Subham Dasgupta, PhD, University of California, Riverside Elizabeth Dawson, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine Maya Deyssenroth, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Danielle M. Drake, University of Toronto Mariah Emily, Emporia State University Omar Daniel Cortes Enriquez, School of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon Shaza Gaballah, ORISE/US Environmental Protection Agency Jessica Gorgui, University of Montreal Rivka Green, York University Yfke Huber-Mollema, Stichting Epilepsie Instellingen Nederland (SEIN) Erica Lachenauer, Cornell University Maxim Lemelin, University of Montreal Amanda Mahnke, PhD, Texas A&M University Health Science Center Jamie McCall, PhD, West Virginia University Elizabeth McCuistion, Emporia State University Xia Meng Howey, US Environmental Protection Agency Katherine O'Shaughnessy, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency Juyoung Park, PhD, University of Washington Georgia Pitsava, PhD, National Institutes of Health NICHD Kristal Rychlik, PhD, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health Ariana Schanzer, New York University School of Medicine Prarthana Shankar, Oregon State University Alfire Sidik, University of Texas at Austin AtLee Watson, PhD, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Yanmin Zhu, PhD, Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School For a full list of Teratology Society awards, please visit: https://www.teratology.org/meetings/2019/am-awards.asp About the Teratology Society The Teratology Society is an international and multidisciplinary group of scientists including researchers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health professionals from academia, government and industry who study birth defects, reproduction, and disorders of developmental origin. The Teratology Society is made up of nearly 700 members worldwide specializing in a variety of disciplines, including developmental biology and toxicology, reproduction and endocrinology, epidemiology, cell and molecular biology, nutritional biochemistry, and genetics as well as the clinical disciplines of prenatal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, neonatology, medical genetics, and teratogen risk counseling. Scientists interested in membership in the Teratology Society are encouraged to visit http://www.teratology.org. More information on the annual meeting program may be found on the 59th Annual Meeting website. The societys official journal, Birth Defects Research, is published by John Wiley & Sons in partnership with the Teratology Society. Media Contact: Nicole Chavez, 619-368-3259, nchavez(at)teratology.org Digital Diesel enables carriers to convert their largest variable expense into a known fixed cost. The Digital Diesel service adds a layer of convenience and cost savings, and were happy to extend these benefits to SAPP BROS customers. Genesis Fuel Corporation today announced a discount agreement with SAPP BROS to utilize the Genesis Fuel Card and Digital Diesel at all 17 SAPP BROS locations nationwide. This partnership enables carriers, owner operators and drivers to take advantage of Digital Diesels fixed diesel costs whenever they fuel up at SAPP BROS. SAPP BROS is a collection of 17 full-service, friendly travel centers located primarily on Interstate-80 from Salt Lake City, Utah to Clearfield, Pennsylvania. SAPP BROS is also a leading petroleum wholesale distributor partnering with nearly all petroleum manufacturers to ensure that SAPP BROS travel centers offer competitive pricing to customers. Digital Diesel is a dynamic and interactive diesel fuel service that allows trucking companies to digitally lock-in current diesel prices, store Digital Diesel on the Genesis Fuel Card (or multiple cards) and convert it to actual diesel fuel at more than 9,800 fueling locations nationwide whenever they wish. The combination of SAPP BROS and Digital Diesel is a natural fit that extends both companies benefits to customers. Were thrilled to partner with SAPP BROS and to be able to pass discounts on directly to our customers, states Genesis Fuel Corps COO Bruce Dean. The combination of SAPP BROS discounts and locked-in diesel costs gives carriers a competitive advantage today, and provides an added benefit should fuel prices rise in the future as expected. Our goal is to offer customers the highest-quality experience at our facilities, and we pride ourselves on cleanliness, service and competitive prices at the pump, said Chris Scorti, SAPP BROS Director of Fleet Sales. The Digital Diesel service adds a layer of convenience and cost savings, and were happy to extend these benefits to our customers. For more information on Genesis Fuel Corporation and Digital Diesel, please visit http://www.genesisfuel.com or call 475-234-3735. About Genesis Fuel Corporation Genesis Fuel Corporation is a privately held business support company based in Northbrook, Illinois - providing competitive advantage services to the transportation industries. The companys flagship product, Digital Diesel allows trucking companies to lock in fuel prices at a fixed cost when prices are favorable, store it digitally using the Genesis Fuel Card and utilize the card (or multiple cards) to purchase actual diesel fuel whenever they wish at more than 9,800 locations nationwide. For more information, please visit: http://www.genesisfuel.com, email at info@genesisfuel.com or call at 475-234-3735. Our Boot Camp this past March was a SOLD-OUT EVENT. Because so many people couldnt be accommodated, we are expecting this event to sell out fast due to demand Social media sensation and New York Times bestselling author, Grant Cardone, will host an exclusive three-day sales and marketing training workshop the weekend of July 12-14 in South Florida. This ultra-exclusive event is geared for business owners who want to increase sales and scale their business. The interactive experience will include small group sessions, live question and answer opportunities, role play, and hands-on curriculum designed to show individuals how to build their business and income. Our Boot Camp this past March was a SOLD-OUT EVENT, and we are expecting this event in July to sell out fast due to demand. This three-day workshop will give you insights and knowledge to grow your business. I will be presenting material that grew my business massively and shows participants how to do it for themselves with actionable and instantly implementable methods and strategies every minute of the conference. Grant Cardone Grant Cardone has developed a multi-million-dollar online sales training platform called Cardone University which provides sales organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, with sales training, sales motivation, and sales solutions. This proprietary material will be made available to 10X Business Boot Camp attendees. The event will be held at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Isles in Aventura, Florida. Seating is extremely limited but still available. All details and booking information can be found at https://grantcardonebootcamp.com/ About Grant Cardone: Grant Cardone is a New York Times bestselling author, international social media influencer, the number one sales trainer in the world, and an internationally renowned speaker on leadership, real estate, investing, entrepreneurship, social media, and finance. He owns five companies with annual revenues exceeding $100 million. He is a regular guest on Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, and MSNBC. He also is a contributing writer for Forbes, Success Magazine, Business Insider, Entrepreneur.com and the Huffington Post. Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP Shareholder Erick Hernandez Gallego participated as a panelist in the 9th Latin America China Investors Forum, held Mar. 26, at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang Hotel. The event was hosted by Latin Finance, and co-sponsored by Greenberg Traurig. Shareholders Jose Raz Guzman, Juan Delgado, and Dawn Zhang were also in attendance. According to Latin Finances website, this forum provides a platform for policymakers and corporate leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean to come together with their Chinese counterparts to discuss how best to take advantage of new trade and investment opportunities in a rapidly changing world. As panelist of The Build Out: Chinese Capital in LatAm Infrastructure & Natural Resources session, Hernandez Gallego emphasized why Mexico is an interesting market for Chinese investors, and talked on important elements to make projects successful. A local partner is key for successful investments, Hernandez Gallego said. You must work with a local company that is familiar with the countrys market, with the regulatory framework and the business practices; including services providers, such as lawyers, tax advisors and contractors. This will minimize risks and is crucial for the projects prosperity. Fellow panel members included Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDEs) Secretary General, Edgardo Alvarez; Sinopharms Chief Engineer, Fu Qiang; HK New Energy Investment Holdings Managing Director, Ruyi Chen; and Greenberg Traurig client Envision Energys Head of M&A for LatAm and the Caribbean, Nina Chen, who agreed that a success factor in their Mexican operations has been to partner with local companies and work with local advisors. The forums keynote session was addressed by Mexicos Undersecretary for North America, Mr. Jesus Seade Kuri, with additional special presentations addressed by members of the Government of Brazil and Panama. About Greenberg Traurig Mexico: Greenberg Traurigs Mexico City office has more than 60 bilingual attorneys who have been contributors to major national projects in Mexico, and who have held positions in Mexican government offices and regulatory agencies. The Mexico City office is an integral part of the firms award-winning Latin American and Iberian Practice, and has recently been recognized with leading banking, infrastructure, real estate, privacy, administrative litigation, and competition practices in Mexico. About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law. Health iPASS provides a patient revenue cycle solution to medical practices seeking to collect more patient payments, establish price transparency, and accelerate cash flow. Partnering with athenahealth is an exciting opportunity for practices looking to proactively address the rise of patient as a payer." -- Rajesh Voodiraju, CEO and Founder, Health iPASS Health iPASS a provider of medical practice patient revenue cycle solutions, today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through athenahealths Marketplace program. As part of the athenahealth Marketplace, this newly integrated patient revenue cycle solution is now available to athenahealths growing network of 120,000 healthcare providers to help optimize up-front patient payment collections, establish price transparency through cost estimates at the point-of-service, capture a card-on-file to reduce accounts receivable (A/R) and days in A/R, and automate back end processes such as payment posting and demographic write-backs. Health iPASS delivers a valuable service for medical practices using athenahealth, said Rajesh Voodiraju, Health iPASS CEO and Founder. Partnering with athenahealth is an exciting opportunity for practices looking to proactively address the rise of patient as a payer. Our patient revenue cycle solution includes the ability to offer smart appointment reminders, pre-arrival check-in and payments, a kiosk-based check-in/check-out solution at the point of service, the ability to capture a patients card-on-file, and automated eStatements to help practices reduce bad debt, collect from patients sooner, and optimize up-front collections. athenahealth is a network-enabled, results-oriented services company that offers medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services for hospital and ambulatory clients. The companys vision is to build a national health information backbone to help make healthcare work as it should. As a Marketplace partner, Health iPASS joins a network of like-minded healthcare professionals who are looking to disrupt established approaches in healthcare that simply arent working, arent good enough, or arent advancing the industry and help providers thrive in the face of industry change. To learn more about the Health iPASS new patient revenue cycle integrated application, please visit the Health iPASS product listing page on the Marketplace. About Health iPASS Health iPASS is redefining the patient revenue cycle by improving the healthcare consumer experience from appointment to payment. The solution has enabled double digit increases in operating income for providers in a true pay-for-performance approach. Health iPASS helps providers promote price transparency, build trust, and increase their operating income by simplifying the check-in process and streamlining both time-of-service and residual balance patient payments through an innovative, multi-channel software solution. Our patient friendly system supports 850+ payers, 90+ practice management systems and is payment processor-agnostic. Many providers have realized 97% patient net collection rates, slashed denials by over 50%, and have significantly reduced cost and time to collect. Contact Info Contact: Imran Ahmad, COO Phone: 708-843-1372 Email: imran(at)healthipass(dot)com With Matt Glatting as EVP, we bring aboard someone with integrity, strategic vision and a wealth of experience in the field of capital raising and socially responsible investing," said Anne McCulloch, HPETs President and Chief Executive Officer. The Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET) today announced the appointment of Matt Glatting as its new Executive Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. HPET provides social impact investors the opportunity to be part of a solution to the nations growing affordable housing crisis, said Anne McCulloch, HPETs President and Chief Executive Officer. With Matt Glatting as EVP, we bring aboard someone with integrity, strategic vision and a wealth of experience in the field of capital raising and socially responsible investing. HPET is a national, social-purpose real estate investment trust (REIT) founded by nonprofits to raise capital for affordable housing. One in four U.S. families spends more than half their income on rent, said McCulloch. Meanwhile, the U.S. is losing 75,000 to 125,000 affordable rental apartments every year. Housing affordability is a major challenge across this country, especially for lower income and working families, the CEO said. HPET creates ways for investors to attack the problem and make a positive difference with their investment dollars. I am excited to be part of HPET as we grow the business to serve the needs of social impact investors and improve the lives of families by acquiring and preserving affordable rental housing, Glatting said. Prior to joining HPET, Glatting was Treasurer at Capital Impact Partners, Arlington, VA, where he managed the treasury department of an institution with $1 billion in assets under management. Previously, he served as a financial strategy consultant and as a senior officer for Calvert Impact Capital, Bethesda MD. Housing Partnership Equity Trust (HPET) is a national, social-purpose real estate investment trust created by nonprofits to raise capital for affordable housing. HPET works with its partners to acquire and preserve affordable rental housing in opportunity neighborhoods with the components critical to household success, including good schools, public transportation, anchor institutions and access to jobs. HPET investors include Citi, Morgan Stanley, Prudential, Charles Schwab Bank, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. HPETs members are AHC Inc., Aeon, BRIDGE Housing Corporation, Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc., Community Preservation and Development Corporation, Eden Housing, Inc., Hispanic Housing Development Corporation, Homes for America, Housing Partnership Network, LINC Housing Corporation, Mercy Housing, Nevada HAND, Inc., NHP Foundation, NHT Communities, and POAH. For More Information: http://www.hpequitytrust.com Engaging Millennials Panel Discussion Last year was a tremendous success. There were opportunities to learn best practices and share among professionals, ways in which to improve employee engagement and retention...I cannot wait to attend this year's event and be part of panel presentations." HR Maximizer, a subscription-based recruitment services firm that specializes in the delivery of interested, available and qualified registered nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, and physician candidates, announced today it will partner with the Houston Healthcare HR Association (HHHRA) to host the 2nd annual HHHRA | HR Maximizer Conference in August. Rollis Fontenot III, President of Ascend HR Corp says that "Healthcare organizations all over the United States are experiencing difficulties in attracting, engaging and retaining both providers and clinical staff. This conference will maintain a laser focus on this topic for the 2nd year in a row, which addresses a needed gap in the continuum of conferences available today. The Houston Healthcare HR Association (HHHRA) is the right partner for this conference and we look forward to the event." The conference, which will be held on Aug. 8 and 9 2019, will take place at the Hilton Americas Houston and its theme will be Positive Disruption in Healthcare. Designed to provide insightful discussion and thought leaders addressing the current state of recruiting healthcare providers and clinical staff, the conference will cover a range of topics. "With over 50 million square feet and 106k employees, Houston is the home of the largest medical center in the World. This makes Houston a great home for a conference focused on healthcare providers and clinicians," says Leah Ramsey, Board Member & Secretary of the HHHRA and Vice President of HR Maximizer, Inc. "Last year was a tremendous success," says Dr. Elsie Crowninshield, RNP, DNP, CCRN, NE-BC, Healthcare consultant for DrElsieCrowninshield.com. She continues, "There were opportunities to learn best practices and share among professionals, ways in which to improve employee engagement and retention. The prestigious professional connections that I made from across the country were amazing and I cannot wait to attend this year's event and be part of panel presentations." Presenters and speakers include c-level executives, human resources staff, recruitment directors, hospital executives, and more. Executives, Clinical Staff, as well as HR and Recruitment Leaders from several organizations are confirmed to present at the conference including: Houston Methodist, Memorial Hermann, CHI St Luke's Health, NightLight Pediatric Urgent Care, Atrium Health (North Carolina), Harris Health, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Beaumont Health (Michigan), Valley Baptist Health System and more. Several providers from Texas, California, and Louisiana have already confirmed their attendance as well. Examples of guest presenters include Dr. Scharmaine Lawson, FNP, FAANP, FAAN, CEO of Advanced Clinical Consultants, who helped New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina by being the first medical provider to make house calls in the area (Watch YouTube Video). Now known as 'Americas Favorite House Call Nurse Practitioner,' Dr. Lawson will offer inspiration as well as practical insight on what it takes to keep providers and support staff engaged. Dr. Lawson says "this conference will give me an opportunity to share my story with HHHRA | HR Maximizer conference attendees, and inspire them to see how they can make a difference in the communities they serve." Also, Kim LaMontagne, MBA Contributing Author, Consultant and Survivor, will be presenting on the topic of mental health, with the part entitled, Im at Work, but Im Not OK: Mental Health and Presenteeism in the Workplace. LaMontagnes message is, Its ok to not be ok. We just need to feel safe enough in the workplace to speak up and ask for help. Oprah Winfrey agrees that we need to open up the conversation on mental health, she wrote in a recent article that so many people live in shame, hiding their struggles, not seeking help. We, as a culture, have not fully acknowledged how much help is needed. The only real shame is on us for not being willing to speak openly...We need to start talking, and we need to start now. LaMontagne says its an honor to address the topic of mental health in the workplace. By sharing mental health statistics along with my personal journey of navigating a corporate position (as an award-winning, consistent high performer), while living silencing with mental illness and alcohol use disorder. Also scheduled to be interviewed at this years conference are social media influencers Alexis Correa and Fatima Francesca, two registered nurses whose YouTube channels have 250k subscribers and 11 million views. They will share insights on what it takes to engage Gen Y and Millenial staff members. Attendees will be from hospital systems, physician practices, ASCs, retail health and more. HR Maximizer produced a 1-minute video that highlights feedback from attendees. In order to watch additional feedback from attendees and speakers from the 2018 event, visit: https://hrmaximizer.com/feedback.php For a comprehensive list of speakers and panelists, visit https://hrmaximizer.com/speakers.php. For more information on the conference or to register, visit the homepage and click on the conference button. ### About HR Maximizer Inc: HR Maximizer has been dubbed a leader in the healthcare talent acquisition space as subscription-based (flat-fee) recruitment support services and recruitment advertisement for provider and clinical based roles. Their cohesive team focuses on helping clients enhance their internal processes and assist at any step within the talent acquisition process. As HR Maximizer continues to grow their image as industry leaders within talent acquisition consulting and recruitment process enhancement, their latest development, the MaxBot AI Chatbot, surely has potential to expand to most healthcare facilities and other organizations throughout the United States. About HHHRA: HHHRA (Houston Healthcare Human Resources Association) is a subchapter of ASHHRA (American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration). As part of the largest medical center in the world, HR executives and professionals within healthcare will have a place to network and have opportunities to receive continuing education specific to healthcare. To become an exclusive Founders Sponsor of the newly formed HHHRA, which is a subchapter of the American Society of Healthcare HR Administration, please visit: https://hhhra.org/sponsorship.php Speaking before hundreds of business delegates and investors, the PM hailed the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Romania Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnamese Embassy in Romania for holding the event. The PM informed participants about the outcomes of his talks with his Romanian counterpart, which he said will open up economic, trade and investment cooperation opportunities for the two nations. He said despite annual growth, the two-way trade, which stood at US$218 million last year, remains modest compared to their potential. While the two governments have continuously worked to improve business climate, firms themselves must strive to expand their scale and adopt new ways of doing business, he said. According to him, Vietnams membership in 12 free trade agreements and the European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in the near future will open up opportunities for both sides to boost ties. He also took the occasion to urge the two countries chambers of commerce and industry to step up ties between firms. Highlighting Vietnams advantages in foreign direct investment attraction, he particularly underlined the socio-political stability, improved competitiveness and innovation, a 100-million population and the goal of attracting 50 million tourists. The Government leader wished that Romanian enterprises would push for the signing and ratification of the EVFTA. He suggested the two sides enhance science-technology collaboration, launch direct flights, and facilitate the import of quality farm produce and pharmaceuticals. Romanian business representatives wished that the two governments would further facilitate cooperation opportunities, especially in labour export, industry, culture and education. They expressed willingness to partner with Vietnamese firms, particularly small and medium-sized ones. They backed the signing of the EVFTA, saying that it will make it easier for EU and Romanian to do business in Vietnam. Salary Finance, a London, UK- and Boston, MA-based global provider of financial education and salary-linked savings and loans for employees, raised $32.8m in Series C funding. The round was led by existing investors Blenheim Chalcot and Legal & General. Led by Co-founder and Global CEO Asesh Sarkar, Salary Finance is an Employee Financial Wellness platform operating in both in the US and UK, and partnering with over 150 employers with over a million employees, offering financial education, salary-linked loans, savings and advances. The company intends to use the funds to support its growth plans in the UK and US, and to develop and scale new products and services. In the US, it plans to build out its savings product offerings, partnerships and US team. The company also announced that SoFi co-founder Dan Macklin will be joining as CEO, Salary Finance Inc. (the US arm of the group). FinSMEs 16/04/2019 The emphasis of the new site is on helping customers solve challenges in productivity, safety, and health. Industrial Scientific, the global leader in gas detection, is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. The new website features numerous updates to improve user experience including faster load times, a mobile-first design, full product catalog search, and robust quote building functionality. Available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese, the new site offers enhanced browsing and content for global audiences. In addition to usability upgrades, the site offers new content to help customers understand the gas hazards within industrial applications as well as a full library of training videos and blog content to answer common gas detection questions. The emphasis of the new site is on helping customers solve challenges in productivity, safety, and health, said Justin McElhattan, president of Industrial Scientific. Not only is it easier to find or build the product youre looking for, its easier to access critical safety information. Visit the new Industrial Scientific website at http://www.indsci.com. About Industrial Scientific Corporation As the global leader in gas detection, Industrial Scientific provides gas detection products and services that keep workers safe in hazardous environments. The companys 800 employees in 21 countries are committed to preserving human life and have dedicated their careers to eliminating death on the job by the year 2050. Established in 1985 and headquartered in Pittsburgh (USA), Industrial Scientific also has operations based in Arras, France and Shanghai, China, and provides technical services to customers from local service centers around the world. Industrial Scientific is the parent company to Predictive Solutions Corporation (http://www.predictivesolutions.com). For more information, visit http://www.indsci.com. Stuart Long, CEO of InfoBionic, discusses the reception of Frost & Sullivan's Technology Leadership Award. Were very excited to be helping transform the cardiac monitoring industry, and look forward to helping providers implement this potentially life-saving technology into their own work flows. Boston-based InfoBionic, developer of the MoMe Kardia remote cardiac monitor and software, won this years Technology Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan. The award is presented to the technology firm that best embodies commitment to innovation and creativity, serves as an incubator and developer of new technology, and demonstrates a track record of commercial success.[1] InfoBionics MoMe Kardia, is the only full-disclosure remote monitor currently on the market that allows doctors immediate and 24/7 access to cardiac data on demand. It captures a clinical-grade electrocardiogram (ECG) and provides true continuous cardiac monitoring in near real time, which the doctor can access on their tablet, smartphone, or on any Internet-connected computer in the world. Were grateful and honored to have received this years Technology Leadership Award, said Stuart Long, CEO of InfoBionic. Were very excited to be helping transform the cardiac monitoring industry, and look forward to helping providers implement this potentially life-saving technology into their own work flows. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents Best Practices Awards to companies that are expected to encourage significant growth in their industries, have identified emerging trends before they became the marketplace standard, and have created advanced technologies that will catalyze and transform industries in the near future. This years awards were presented on March 27, 2019 at a gala event at the Hyatt Regency in La Jolla, California. Arrhythmia MoMe Kardia is designed to help doctors detect and diagnose cardiac arrhythmia, which is characterized by irregular electrical activity in the heart that causes it to beat too rapidly, too slowly, or erratically. Benefits of the MoMe Kardia InfoBionics innovations in data analytics, in artificial intelligence, and in secure, HIPAA-compliant telecommunications enabled it to bring a device to market that is poised to transform the entire cardiac monitoring industry. MoMe Kardias documented benefits include: The physician has access to all data at any given point of time. Full data disclosure sets MoMe Kardia apart from market competition because all other devices only share event triggers with the patient. Full data has to be requested, and even then it may take time to receive. By giving physicians complete access to patients health data, InfoBionic empowers them with true 24x7 monitoring and faster intervention. It has vast improvements in data retention. In the past, 95% to 99% of cardiac data is lost in transmission. Independent diagnostic and testing facilities servicing monitors may send a 20 or 30 second tape of a detected arrhythmia. However, doctors too often missed critical onset and offset data in the minutes prior to the cardiac eventthis data is vital to diagnosis. The time-to-diagnosis cycle is improved, and in some cases by days. Doctors do not have to get bogged down in faxes, emails, and phone calls from third-party monitoring services vendors. They can easily access the digital ECG tape itself, and scroll forward and backward to any part of the day to verify arrhythmia data and view onset and offset information. The physician can conveniently gain access to monitoring data any time of the day and can remotely switch between testing modes (MCT, Holter, or Event) as needed. The systems remote transition capability eliminates the need for patients to visit a hospital and the physician can decide the treatment based on the arrhythmia detection relevance. This effectively replicates the practice of in-hospital monitoring, making patients unencumbered while they are studied in their natural state of activity. Doctors using the MoMe Kardia can bill globally for both clinical and technical services. No Patient Self Diagnosis Requirement Among the most important innovations: The MoMe Kardia provides a continuous data feed for up to 30 days, and it does not rely on a patient clicking a button to indicate they are feeling symptoms. This is a significant improvement over legacy technology because with this, patients either have to manually activate monitors after they begin experiencing symptoms or they just do not activate the monitor when there is an arrhythmia they do not feel. This causes doctors to miss important onset data and makes it much more difficult to assess and treat arrhythmia properly. The MoMe Kardias continuous feed, coupled with on-demand 24/7 access to every heartbeat, makes it much easier for physicians to capture critical data, analyze it, diagnose it, and initiate treatment. Clinical Impact Dr. Michael Mazzini, MD, a cardiologist who uses the MoMe Kardia in his own practice, describes his experiences: Last week I put Mobile Cardiac Telemetry (MCT) on a patient on a Friday. It picked up 10 to 14 second asystolic events the following morning, and I was able to get a pacemaker in him that morning, relates Dr. Mazzini. No hospital telemetry stay, no emergency department visit, no unnecessary workups, no delay in diagnosis Less than 24 hours from MCT hookup to definitive treatment. Thats tremendous value to patients, clinicians, hospitals, and payers, he said. Patients and physicians are now equipped with greater control over heart monitoring for improved outcomes, said Frost & Sullivan in a release announcing the award decision.[2] About InfoBionic InfoBionic is a digital health company transforming the efficiency and economics of ambulatory remote patient monitoring processes by optimizing clinical and real-world utility for the users that need it mostphysicians and their patients. The Massachusetts-based team of seasoned entrepreneurs have had successful careers in healthcare, IT, medical devices and mobile technology, and bring specific expertise in remote monitoring and cardiology. They have seen first-hand the complexities of traditional cardiac arrhythmia detection and monitoring processes and designed the transformative MoMe Kardia platform to remove the roadblocks hindering faster, more effective diagnosis and decision-making. Frost & Sullivan bestowed the 2019 North American Remote Cardiac Monitoring Technology Leadership Award upon InfoBionic. For more information visit http://www.infobionic.com About MoMe Kardia The companys flagship product, MoMe Kardia, is the first non-invasive remote cardiac monitor to offer truly full disclosure, heartbeat-to-heartbeat data over the cloud, allowing doctors 24/7 real-time access to hospital telemetry-level data. With the MoMe Kardia, doctors will be able to eliminate third-party monitoring data services and take full ownership of their cardiac monitoring service line. MoMe Kardia is not intended for use as an emergency medical response system. Call 911 if you feel you are having a medical emergency. Sources: 1. Frost & Sullivan, Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Industry Leaders at Excellence in Best Practices Awards Ceremony. March 28, 2019, Web. 2. Frost & Sullivan, Technology Leadership Award The Remote Cardiac Monitoring Industry, North America. 2018. Given todays shortage of mainframe professionals, conferences like these are incredibly important to keep the mainframe industry thriving with the latest education and technology advancements. Infotel a leading global software vendor of data performance and optimization solutions for z/OS, today announced its sponsorship of the 2019 IBM Systems Technical University Atlanta Conference together with partner company zCost Management of Paris, France. The conference, taking place from April 29 through May 3, is designed for IT professionals to learn about IBM systems and solutions from the most distinguished leaders and educators in the field. Were excited to attend this conference and to help educate attendees on Db2 and z/OS cost optimization, said Carlos Almeida, business analyst at Tampa, Florida-based Infotel Corp. Given todays shortage of mainframe professionals, conferences like these are incredibly important to keep the mainframe industry thriving with the latest education and technology advancements. As one of the fastest growing technology hubs in the country, Atlanta will provide an excellent location for IBM professionals across the southeastern U.S. The conference, according to IBMs website, will include more than 700 technical sessions delivered by top IBM developers and experts. Infotel will attend the week-long event with zCost and give live demos of their mainframe software products, DB/IQ, and iDBA-Online, along with zCosts DINO Explorer from booth #46. zCosts Director of Alliances Carlos Ramirez will give a talk titled Is all that z/OS log data valuable? Ramirezs session will focus on how to use massive amounts of data, what to do with it, and how to determine what is useful and what is not. The session will help those looking to gather data in real-time, filter for the useful bits of decision support and analyze it for improved cost efficiency. The learning sessions throughout the week will focus on how to plan, architect, install, configure, migrate, operate and tune IBM infrastructures. The 700+ sessions available will span the three topics, IBM Power Systems; IBM Z and LinuxONE; and IBM Storage and SDI. Software Demos From Booth #46 Infotels live demos will focus on their software solutions designed to help optimize IBM systems data management and application performance. Their products DB/IQ and iDBA work to automate SQL code quality assurance for IBM Db2 and automate Db2 maintenance schedules with artificial intelligence technology respectively. zCost Management will join Infotels live demos with their DINO Explorer solution, a big-data oriented platform that gathers data from z/OS into a single distributed repository for strategic decision support. As solutions providers for IBM z/OS users, and z/OS users ourselves, we find TechU to be an invaluable experience for our team, said Almeida. Throughout the conference, we will learn from mainframe professionals about their biggest obstacles and pain points, all while continuing to educate ourselves in a system that is ever evolving in highly complex environments. This knowledge is critical to providing our customers with the best possible solutions and support. The IBM Systems Technical University Atlanta 2019 Conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency at 265 Peachtree St. NE in Atlanta, Georgia. More info about this event can be found here. To learn more about Infotel and their data performance solutions, visit infotel.com/us or reach out directly at software@infotel.com. To learn more about zCost Managements solutions visit https://www.zcostmanagement.com/. To learn more about the IBM Skills Gateway, visit www-03.ibm.com/services/learning. About Infotel Infotel Corp., based in Tampa, Florida, is a software vendor and IT consulting firm specializing in data performance and optimization solutions for the Mainframe z/OS platform. For more than 40 years, Infotel has delivered proven solutions to help clients improve their data management systems. For more information on Infotel Corp., please visit https://www.infotel.com/us/. About zCost Management zCost Management is an ISV specialized in cost control and capacity planning on System Z. Created by engineers and project managers with strong experience in behavior and the constraints of the complex systems, zCosts goal is to develop software products and to manage projects that allow companies to optimize their z/IT resources while reducing, controlling and following their z/IT budgets. Generally available since 2005, zCosts Dino Explorer Suite addresses capacity and performance management IBM z/OS. Moving For Purpose: You Have All You Need: a powerful journal of a woman and her husband in a life of constant moving to where God leads them. Moving For Purpose: You Have All You Need is the creation of published author Janice Jenkins, a teacher who began her working career as a nurse; then received her BA degree in Anthropology, and was certified to teach Social Science. She assisted students from all over the world in speaking English as a second language, and she also teaches in Bible studies to encourage people to follow Christ Jesus. Jenkins shares, After growing up in California and living in Pennsylvania for over twenty years, we found that the changes in environment and culture were exceptionally exciting and challenging. Experiencing some culture shock, we understood the importance of adapting to the new culture, rather than thinking that we could simply change the Belizean people to suit their own preconceptions and living habits. Some of our experiences were indeed shocking and challenging: enduring encounters with scorpions and other insects, experiencing enervating heat and humidity, learning about the time schedules and money systems of the Belizean people and government workers, as well as trusting God to meet our needs in miraculous ways. My story, therefore, is engaging and uplifting, and my desire is that others may find similar purposes in their lives, regardless of their conditions. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Janice Jenkins new book is an uplifting and moving life story that will ignite ones trust in the Lord that He is the Provider, and He will support His believers in achieving a life of victory. View a synopsis of Moving For Purpose: You Have All You Need on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Moving For Purpose: You Have All You Need at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Moving For Purpose: You Have All You Need, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Jasper is honored to have been selected for the Owens Corning growth award for our commitment and success within the Platinum Preferred Contractor Network." Jasper Contractors has been recognized among a distinguished group of Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractors and honored for outstanding achievement with the largest year-over-year growth, as measured by purchases of Owens Corning roofing squares. Owens Corning, a global leader in roofing products, releases four Top Performer Awards per year: Volume, Growth, Platinum Warranty, and MVP. Recognized by Owens Corning as a Top Performer in the growth category, Jasper Inc. is one of only five Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractors to receive the title this year. Jasper is honored to have been selected for the Owens Corning growth award for our commitment and success within the Platinum Preferred Contractor Network, says CEO and President of Jasper Contractors Brian Wedding. We credit our tremendous growth to the caliber of our knowledgeable and personable team who are dedicated to delivering top quality products paired with excellent customer service for our homeowners, Brian Wedding states. Owens Corning Roofing Platinum Preferred Contractor network members are chosen based on their proven market and industry leadership. This industry recognition reflects our continued focus on bringing a results-oriented, customer-driven approach to running our company and delivering trustworthy, dependable work for our homeowners throughout our multiple Florida locations, says Wedding. Wedding concludes, we understand that this is a significant achievement and we are thankful not only to Owens Corning but also to our loyal homeowners who continue to trust us to deliver the high-standard of service expected from us at Jasper Contractors. About Jasper Contractors Jasper Contractors, a high volume roofing company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, has offered roofing services since 2004. Company offices are located in Atlanta, Fort Myers, FL, Lake Mary, FL, Lakeland, FL, Melbourne, FL, Orlando, FL, Sanford, FL, Tampa, FL, and are in the process of opening branches in Naples FL, Tallahassee, FL and Panama City FL. Jasper Contractors is an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor and is BBB accredited. Jasper Contractors, Inc. is a subsidiary of EX Capital, LLC. Kaiser Permanente is the headline sponsor of the 30th Anniversary conference of the Professional BusinessWomen of California (PBWC) on April 23, continuing its deep commitment to the professional development and advancement of women in the workplace and its long affiliation with PBWC. Kaiser Permanente is the largest integrated health system in the United States and an organization rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the conference, Kaiser Permanente and PBWC will bring together more than 7,000 women of all backgrounds at San Francisco's Moscone Center South to inform, empower, inspire and catalyze professional advancement. Thousands of California women attend the PBWC conference each year to network and be inspired, including hundreds of Kaiser Permanente employees seeking to excel in all stages of their careers. At Kaiser Permanente, we celebrate equity and inclusion as core strengths in our organization, said Rita Ng, MD, Physician in Chief, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. In order to successfully deliver on our mission to provide exceptional quality and affordable health care, we embrace and nurture diversity in our team and in our members. As one of the largest women's organizations with a diverse community of more than 45,000 professionals worldwide, PBWC fosters professional development that breaks down silos, bridging seniority, specialty, gender, race and identity. This year's conference theme, Unstoppable, is a celebration of the resilience of women who, in the face of challenges, choose courage and, when things dont go as planned, find strength along another path, said Dominica Anderson, PBWC Vice Chair. The conference experience is designed to give attendees the tools, inspiration and networks to grow their careers, ascend to the C-suite, strengthen corporate boards, lift their colleagues and give back to their communities. Kaiser Permanente's extensive involvement with the conference will include a hosted exposition area with educational health and wellness resources along with a breakout session on health and fitness. Kaiser Permanente employees will lead a KP Wellness Break, a dynamic mindfulness exercise designed to strengthen resilience, focus, and self-awareness through focused breathing and movement. During PBWCs 30th Anniversary event, Yvette Radford, Vice President, External and Community Affairs, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, will be recognized for her commitment to mentoring and advancing women. She will receive PBWC's Industry Leader Award. Both PBWC and Kaiser Permanente have sustained impact and longevity in supporting professional development and wellness in women, and the 30th Anniversary conference will highlight their shared legacy in the Bay Area and California. Learn more: #PBWC #Unstoppable #UnstoppableWomen About PBWC The Professional BusinessWomen of California was founded in 1989 by U.S. Congresswoman Jackie Speier to provide skill development, networking opportunities and inspiration to women at all career levels to achieve their own ambitions and collectively advance gender equity in professional settings. Community events, monthly webinars and an annual conference provide forums for womens professional and personal growth and development with tools, training workshops, resources, mentoring and motivation. The organization also presents an annual academic scholarship to a minimum of three California women who are high school seniors. PBWC is headquartered in Northern California and is one of the largest womens organizations, with a diverse community of over 45,000 professionals worldwide and dozens of corporate sponsors and media partners. Media partners include KCBS, Alice 97.3 and Q102. Learn more at pbwc.org. For more information, contact: Jonathan Bair Jonathan.Bair(at)kp.org (510) 987-3900 Laura Ruark Bospar for PBWC PRforPBWC(at)bospar.com (540) 599-7886 Related Links http://www.kaiserpermanente.org http://pbwcconference.org/ Bank of America Plaza With an eye towards the future, this completely modernized space and cutting-edge amenities are critical to support our continued growth. -Ray Kane Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC today announced that the law firm has signed a long-term lease to relocate its Dallas headquarters to a completely renovated multi-floor space containing approximately 45,000 square feet in Bank of America Plaza. Located at 901 Main Street, Bank of America Plaza is one of the most iconic buildings in downtown Dallas, well-known as the tallest building in Dallas and the most recognizable silhouette on the skyline. The full-service law firm, which celebrated its twenty-seventh anniversary in January 2019, has operated for the last 26 years in Thanksgiving Tower. The new space at BOA Plaza will provide the firms attorneys and staff with cutting-edge work areas designed to facilitate efficiency and communication while providing the Firm with the additional space it needs to accommodate its current and future growth plans. KRCL plans to move into the new premises by August 1, 2019. This move represents an exciting development for our Firm, said Raymond Kane, Co-Founder of the Firm and Director of the Real Estate Group. With an eye towards the future, this completely modernized space and cutting-edge amenities are critical to support our continued growth. Our move to Bank of America Plaza enables us to maintain our commitment to the Dallas CBD, and provides our attorneys, staff and clients with covered parking at above-market parking ratios, dining, wellness and other high-quality amenities available only in buildings with significantly higher rental rates. Our move to BOA Plaza will not only permit us to continue to provide our services at a competitive cost advantage, but to match or exceed the amenities offered by much more expensive buildings. The other compelling attractions of Bank of America Plaza are a superior building infrastructure and related management practices, which are essential features for long term tenants like KRCL." Mike Logan, Co-Founder and Lateral Recruiting Partner, added "We are excited that this new, updated space and the surrounding amenities will help bolster our continuing efforts to recruit exceptional talent to the Firm, and enable us to continue to provide exceptional value and superior service to our clients. Our office space is being designed with the future in mind, to provide the type of space and amenities that the "next generation" wants in their workspace environment." Kane Russell Coleman Logan is a full-service law firm with offices in Dallas and Houston. Formed in 1992 with 5 lawyers, today KRCL employs more than 70 attorneys. The Firm provides professional services for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to medium-sized public and private companies to entrepreneurs. KRCL handles transactional, litigation and bankruptcy matters in Texas and throughout the country. We are very pleased to play a role in this important study and firmly believe that the adoption of better building practices will not only save the homeowners money but reduce pollution, carbon emissions and make the home a more comfortable and healthier place to live. Lantern Energy has been awarded a contract by Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) to conduct a United States Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Code Compliance Field Study on behalf of the State of Connecticut, Eversource, and United Illuminating. The Study focuses on the energy components of newly constructed single-family homes and townhomes throughout the State of Connecticut. The aim of the Study is to: Identify best practices in residential construction and code compliance statewide. Understand the potential for increased energy savings and reduction of carbon emissions from future and more rigorous code adoptions. Refine utility efficiency programs to assist design professionals, builders, and homeowners to go beyond code efficiency. Collect information to create a training curriculum to strengthen building energy code compliance in the State of CT. We are very pleased to play a role in this important study and firmly believe that the adoption of better building practices will not only save the homeowners money but reduce pollution, carbon emissions and make the home a more comfortable and healthier place to live. said Craig Frenkel, Principal of Lantern Energy. Certified Teams from Lantern Energy will conduct field inspections and diagnostic testing of new homes throughout the State comparing building practices to the IECC residential codes. Residential construction companies will not be identified in the study. This offers a terrific opportunity for contractors to have a professional energy efficiency firm benchmark their construction techniques in relation to new building codes at no cost to them. Lantern Energy will be contacting local building departments and residential contractors to take part in the study. If you are a builder and would like to participate, please contact Craig Frenkel at Lantern Energy (860) 324-6696. About NEEP The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) was founded in 1996 as a non-profit accelerating energy efficiency in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. It is one of six national Regional Energy Efficiency Organizations (REEOs). Through direct technical assistance to states and municipalities, NEEP assists thirteen states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region to reduce building sector energy consumption three percent per year and carbon emission 40 percent by 2030. NEEP envisions the region's homes, buildings, and communities transformed into efficient, affordable, low-carbon, resilient places to live, work, and play. http://www.neep.org About Lantern Energy For the last 10 years, Lantern Energy, has been helping homeowners and businesses to save money on energy costs and to limit their impact on the environment. One of the only multistate companies providing both residential and commercial energy efficiency services, Lantern Energy has developed a transformative brand not seen in the industry. The companys success is driven by a commitment to a seamless assessment and installation experience for all their customers, including small and large businesses, single and multifamily homeowners. Lantern Energy embraces energy efficiency as a growth catalyst for business customers, an increasingly necessary choice for residential customers, and the basis of all its investments. Lantern Energy is based in Norwich, CT and has improved the energy efficiency of more than 25,000 homes, apartments and businesses in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For more information, visit: http://www.lanternenergy.com or email: info(at)lanternenergy(dot)com. Media contact: Jeanne Yurman Lantern Energy dctmedia127(at)gmail(dot)com "Our expansion into Georgia with Lenbrook reinforces our mission to improve the lives of older adults across the country through technology. Lenbrook is a cutting-edge community with a clear focus on providing the best in care and hospitality for their residents." - F. Scott Moody, Co-Founder, CEO, Think smart home technology is just a future dream or too complicated for seniors? A new partnership between K4Connect and Lenbrook is about to change that. As the first Smart Senior Living Community in Georgia, Lenbrook will implement K4Community, K4Connects smart solution created specifically for residents, staff and operators of senior living communities. The secure solution features several ways to keep Lenbrook residents, families, and staff safely connected. K4Connect is a purpose-driven technology company that creates solutions that serve and empower older adults and those living with a disability. The new partnership with Lenbrook, Atlantas premier Life Plan Community, will establish K4Community as the foundation for the senior living communitys expanding technology offerings. With K4Community, residents will be able to access real time information about life at Lenbrook, control their smart living environments, monitor their health and wellness, access community concierge services, and securely connect with loved ones, staff and fellow residents by using their smartphone, tablet or, in time, simply their voice. The purpose of bringing this technology to Lenbrook is to provide a platform to support more healthy, independent, and engaged lives for our residents, said Dan Dornblaser, Vice President of Finance, CFO, and IT Leader. At Lenbrook, we look for every opportunity to help our residents enjoy life to the fullest, creating connections among the community, and providing timely and accurate information. Were excited that the future of senior living technology is now available at Lenbrook! Lenbrook will roll out K4Community in phases. The first phase will include K4Communitys content creation, management, publishing, and digital signage platform, along with K4Communitys resident and family application that provides access to community content, community services and a private social network. The second phase includes expanded smart capabilities, which will be available at the upcoming Kingsboro at Lenbrook community opening in 2022. Once the phase-in is complete, Lenbrook residents and staff will have access to: Smart Home: Residents will be able to control their smart living environments (smart lights and thermostats, etc.). Smart Wellness: Residents will be able to monitor their health and wellness with fitness trackers, connected smart scales or blood pressure cuffs. Smart Living: Residents will securely connect with loved ones, fellow residents and community services using technology. Content Creation and Digital Signage: The industrys most advanced digital signage will automate Lenbrook staff workflows and simplify the way they create, manage and share content. This provides increased opportunity for resident engagement with access to real-time information and events, all while streamlining the creation and publishing process for staff members. In addition to providing multiple conveniences to residents, K4Community equips Lenbrooks staff with the tools and advanced analytics to provide the best in care and hospitality. K4Community drives overall efficiencies and cost-savings for community managers through operations and workflow automation and energy management. Our expansion into Georgia with Lenbrook reinforces our mission to improve the lives of older adults across the country through technology. Lenbrook is a cutting-edge community with a clear focus on providing the best in care and hospitality for their residents. Were thrilled to be working with them on their journey to a true Smart Community, said F. Scott Moody, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Member Advocate of K4Connect. Our solution enables Lenbrook to modernize experiences for current residents and staff, as well as prepare for the future by offering the flexibility to seamlessly add new smart technologies as they come to market. About K4Connect K4Connect is a purpose-driven technology company that creates connected-life solutions that serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that support them. K4Connects solutions integrate the latest in Smart Home, Smart Wellness and Smart Living technologies into single easy-to-use solutions designed specifically for and with those they serve. The Companys premier solution, K4Community, is currently being used by thousands of senior living residents and staff across the country. For more information, please visit http://www.k4connect.com. About Lenbrook Lenbrook is the first and only Life Plan Community in Atlanta to achieve national accreditation by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities). Founded in 1983, this not-for-profit senior living community in the heart of Buckhead enables its residents to enjoy the gifts of independence, good health and personal fulfillment through engaging programs and services. Its award-winning facilities also offer the security and convenience of excellent on-site, Medicare-certified healthcare services. Visit http://www.lenbrook-atlanta.org or call 404-264-3386 for more information. For specific information about Kingsboro at Lenbrook, visit https://kingsboroatlenbrook.org. Media Contacts: Lindsay Hull Zer0 to 5ive for K4Connect Lindsay(at)0to5(dot)com (508) 963-1356 Pat Check Latitude 34 PR for Lenbrook pat(at)latitude34pr(dot)com (770) 789-6051 LEVERTON The new solution enables any organization to automate the extraction of structured data from corporate and legal documents, saving countless man hours while revealing opportunities that would be impossible to find using manual processes. LEVERTON the premier provider of proprietary AI-powered technology for data extraction and contract analytics, announced today, the launch of LEVERTONs Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS). The new solution enables any organization to automate the extraction of structured data from corporate and legal documents, saving countless man hours while revealing opportunities that would be impossible to find using manual processes. Built using LEVERTONs patented deep learning algorithms, the AIaaS solution enables businesses with complex, voluminous documents and contracts, to benefit from automation by training their own AI models. Where most deep learning algorithms require thousands to millions of manually-created annotations to be established before the system can extract the necessary information, LEVERTON AIaaS takes as little as 250 annotations to achieve high performance. In beta testing since 2018, LEVERTON AIaaS has been proven effective at extracting data from an array of document types including insurance contracts, invoices, procurement documents, credit card bills, shipping manifests, credit agreements, loan documents, case laws, and more. A true deep learning-based solution, the algorithms continue to get faster and smarter with each new implementation and use case. When we started building LEVERTON in 2012, deep learning was a completely new concept. Even companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook were just starting to explore its power, stated Florian Kuhlmann, LEVERTONs founder and CTO. It took us years to perfect our technology, and once we did, we wanted to help every business use it to unleash the power of their data even without a team of data scientists. While everyone is aware of the benefits of AI, the underlying technologies like deep neural networks and natural language processing are so complex that few organizations have the time, talent, and financial resources to implement it. Thats what LEVERTON is changing, said Abhinav Abe Somani, LEVERTONs Global CEO. We want people to stop spending hours manually scrubbing scanned PDFs, and instead, leverage automation so they can spend that time finding insights from that data. LEVERTON AIaaS will be offered as a SaaS solution for organizations who wish to create extraction templates and annotations themselves for new document types that are not currently available in the LEVERTON library. LEVERTON also offers an Assisted solution that will enable users to define their extraction needs and leverage LEVERTONs third-party network to provide the annotation services. About LEVERTON LEVERTONs AI-powered data extraction and contract analytics platform helps businesses around the world uncover actionable insights in their contracts and documents. Trusted by 200 of the Fortune 1000, the companys secure platform includes pre-trained, proprietary OCR and machine learning algorithms that accelerate data discovery and extraction, speeding time to ROI. With support for 25 languages and offices in Berlin, London, New York, and New Delhi, LEVERTON is equipped to meet the needs of the largest global real estate, accounting, consulting and financial organizations. For more information, visit http://www.leverton.ai. Welendus (PTP Funding Limited), a London, UK-based peer to peer (P2P) lending platform focusing on short term loans, raised funding from the Unicorn Ascension Fund. UAF has participated in this round as a co-investor alowng with Pontaq. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and expand into India. Led by Nadeem Siam, Co-founder & CEO, Welendus is a peer-to-peer short-term lending platform authorised and regulated by the FCA. The company offers lenders an opportunity to lend (as short-term loans) to a large pool of borrowers. Investors have the ability to choose the risk profile of their borrowers, which in turn determines the annual return on their investment. Borrowers can choose to borrow money starting from 50 and up to 500 with instant decision and same day funding. FinSMEs 16/04/2019 Military rebates are offered at Lexington Toyota Lexington Toyota wants to give back to veterans and other military personnel in its community. With Memorial Day coming up next month, Lexington Toyota is promoting its military rebate to the public. This rebate applies to many people and can help them get money back on their next Toyota vehicle purchase when they buy one at Lexington Toyota. Members of the community who may be eligible for this military rebate include U.S. military personnel, household members of eligible U.S. military personnel, U.S. military retirees and U.S. military veterans within two years of discharge. They may claim the rebate when they purchase a new Toyota vehicle at Lexington Toyota using Toyota Financial Services to make the purchase. The rebate is $500. In order to claim this rebate, eligible customers must provide verifiable proof of their military status. The proof can come in the form of a Leave and Earning statement, a Military ID Card or DD Form 214. Eligible customers must also receive a qualifying salary and receive credit approval through Toyota Financial Services. All eligible community members are encouraged to take advantage of this rebate. To learn more, potential customers can contact the dealership through its website, lexingtontoyota.com. A complete list of the eligibility can also be found on the dealership's website under the Specials drop down menu on the Military Rebate page. Potential customers can also use the site to view the dealership's current inventory of new Toyota vehicles. They may also call the dealerships sales team at (781) 861-7400. Lexington Toyota is located at 309 Massachusetts Ave in Lexington, MA. Attorney John Castro I am thrilled to join such a respected team of lawyers at Ligori & Sanders. I intend to offer my extensive knowledge, skill and courtroom experience in helping our Tampa Bay area clients who have been wrongfully injured due to the negligence of others, says John Castro. Ligori & Sanders Attorneys at Law welcomes attorney John Castro to their Tampa practice. Mr. Castro holds extensive knowledge of criminal law, personal injury and litigation, which represents a valued contribution to the Tampa firm. Mr. Castro joins a team of well-seasoned personal injury lawyers, including Keith Ligori, Timothy Sanders, Alyssa Katz and Meaghann Ligori, who share his commitment to providing exemplary customer service and excellence in the practice of law on all matters of personal injury. With offices in Tampa and Lakeland, Ligori & Sanders Attorneys at Law handles a wide variety of personal injury and insurance claims, including those involving auto accidents, truck accidents, property damage, storm damage, wrongful death, negligence and more. The practice was established with a mission to provide, personalized attention for your personal injury while leveraging resources and experience to help them obtain fair compensation for their loss. I am thrilled to join such a respected team of lawyers at Ligori & Sanders. I intend to offer my extensive knowledge, skill and courtroom experience in helping our Tampa Bay area clients who have been wrongfully injured due to the negligence of others, says John Castro. Mr. Castro began his law career in Florida in 2005 and has gained valuable experience as a litigator in both State and Federal Courts on matters of personal injury, insurance defense and wrongful death. His extensive litigation and courtroom experience put him in a very elite class of litigation lawyers. Mr. Castro is highly regarded by his colleagues and clients for his reasonable yet confident demeanor as a knowledgeable, persuasive and skilled litigator. More About Attorney John Castro: John Castro attended Florida State University for his undergraduate studies where he graduated with honors earning a B.S. in Psychology. Upon graduation, he was accepted to The University of Florida College of Law. As a student, he was an active member of the John Marshall Bar Association and was accepted into the schools study abroad program in Montpellier, France. He received his Juris Doctorate in 2004 and immediately passed the Florida Bar exam. Mr. Castro has worked as an insurance defense attorney, prosecuted as a Hillsborough County State Attorney and worked for other well-respected law firms throughout Florida before joining Ligori & Sanders in 2019. He continues to be an avid volunteer in the Tampa Bay community, serving with organizations such as First Tee of Tampa Bay and Lawyers for Literacy. For more information about Attorney John Castro or the legal services offered at Ligori & Sanders Attorneys at Law, please visit http://www.callmeonmycell.com or call the Tampa office directly at (813) 254-7119. "I am extremely excited and blessed just to be chosen, then, to be nominated, is amazing and Im thanking all the judges". - Darrin Charles Darrin Charles, a music artist from the New Port Richey Florida Area, first single "What Have I Done" was nominated for a Best Songwriter award among 11 other finalists, following the Film and Music Festivals voting on March 16th. Originally, Darrin was chosen from thousands of competing entries where he had to compete against a host of other artists, producers, and musicians. Using lyrics that touch on spiritual themes along with everyday situations of life, if he wins at the next level he will take his place among the rarefied air of songwriters who possess that uncommon knack for probing into both secular and spiritual themes. Charles was first recorded in 2003 in a mall recording booth in New Port Richey, Florida. In a time when most new artists are less than 25 years old and living at home, Darrin is over 40 and currently works hard as cabinet maker while providing for his family. The song will be released his within a few months. In a late-night phone call from Joseph A. Camerieri, owner manager of his independent record label, Charles said: I am extremely excited and blessed just to be chosen, then, to be nominated, is amazing and Im thanking all the judges. In his first song What Have I Done Darrin asks his audience the vital question almost everyone ponders in their heart, How could God love such an imperfect being like me? And how can any of us ever deserve such kindness from the Creator of the Universe. CEO of Independent label David and Goliath Publishing, LLC., an executive producer of the song, discloses, In my circles, people agree with my analogy that its a Spiritual prequel or point of view to the most successful Christian song I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me. I am a huge fan of that song and it brings tears to my eyes all the time as with Darrins song too. In 2003, when I heard first heard the song I knew Darrin had talented songwriter skills. I asked if I can be the one to release it on his behalf Mr. Camerieri commented. I hired the best studio I know of in Florida with Jim Beaman as producer and Chief engineer and mixer, recording engineer was Mark Parfitt at Big 3 Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida Last few years its been heavy trials for Darrin, and this selection and nomination is a huge blessing, a light for Darrins path set before him, as Camerieri replies. "First to thank Jesus the Christ, who opened doors and hearts of people to make this song a reality. Thank you to all his band mates and musicians and those judges of International Christian Film and Music Festival who selected our song for the festival. I think all people should listen to it." Chicago's Full Service, Discount Real Estate Broker Home buyers and sellers have begun to realize that paying more for a service does not translate into a better experience. On Thursday Lucid Realty was honored for the fifth consecutive year by The Chicago Association of REALTORS for ranking in the top 1% of Chicago area real estate teams in 2018. With $52 Million in closings, Lucid Realty was one of only three teams recognized at the Silver Level based upon these most recent rankings. Lucid Realty has also been recognized as a top Chicago REALTOR team for nine consecutive years. Chicago REALTOR Magazine states that the 2018 Sales Awards "honor the achievements of our Top Producers, in addition to the collective efforts of our members to bring the highest level of professionalism, ethics, commitment and service to buyers and sellers in Chicagoland." Gary Lucido, President of Lucid Realty, noted how hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding is pouring into the disruption of the traditional real estate industry and this is helping propel Lucid Realtys growth: Increasing skepticism of high cost, obsolete business models have transformed the real estate business in recent years and enabled us to grow our business by 27% in 2018. Home buyers and sellers have begun to realize that paying more for a service does not translate into a better experience so they are actively seeking superior alternatives. In addition, former clients who have had success with our business model are returning and/ or referring their friends to take advantage of our innovative discounted commission, buyer commission rebate, and hourly fee models. The writing is on the wall for entrenched players who overcharge for their services. Never before have so many alternatives been available to home buyers and sellers. As an independent brokerage Lucid Realty has the flexibility to employ a unique real estate team structure. The entire brokerage operates as a single team, with all real estate agents working together instead of competing against each other. The team now includes highly experienced agents fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, and Bengali, who cover much of Chicago in addition to the northern and western suburbs. In the aggregate they have saved both home buyers and sellers hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions. Despite Lucid Realtys top producer status Gary believes the label is often overvalued by the consumer. In reality, high sales volume can actually hinder good customer service without the right people and process in place. Home buyers and sellers would be well advised to focus on exactly what agents do for their clients and what the cost of those services are. Then, once hired, a real estate agent should be held accountable for delivering what they promised. Consumers should be highly skeptical of vague claims that you get what you pay for and look beyond the slick sales pitches. Online ratings found on sites like Yelp, Angie's List, Google, Trulia, and Zillow are a great place to start. Midwest Real Estate Data, which operates the multiple listing service in the Chicago metro area, provides the data for the 2018 C.A.R. sales rankings. About Lucid Realty, Inc. Lucid Realty, Inc. was founded in 2007 as the Chicago areas full service, discount, real estate brokerage which distinguishes itself from traditional brokerages by providing a better value to the consumer. Despite discounting their commissions for sellers and providing commission rebates to buyers they are able to deliver a comprehensive suite of real estate services while their professionalism and high standards of customer service consistently earn them outstanding customer reviews. Mallory Safety and Supply, the largest independent safety distributor in the Western United States, today announced the company has introduced advanced new ISO9001-Certified Telecommunications at-height safety training to the companys ENSA facilities in North America. The new programs will now be offered at Mallorys ENSA training facilities in multiple locations, including Mukwonago, WI, Raleigh, NC, Denver, CO, and Amarillo, TX. Mallorys ENSA training facility is the first and only non-manufacturer -operated ISO 9001-certified training institution under the NATE CTS Tower Climber Fall Protection Training Standard in North America. The new ENSA telecommunications courses are designed to train industry workers and supervisors on the hazards they or their teams will encounter while working at height, as well as safe use and limitations of industry-specific personal protective and fall rescue equipment. Mallorys ENSA training also addresses dynamic risk assessments, situational awareness, and decision-making through the adoption of a preventative safety culture. The new Telecommunications at-height safety training courses are available now from ENSA North America. ENSAs new telecommunications training courses include: TC0001 Supervised Climber This one-day introductory training course focuses on telecommunications work at height fall protection and rescue equipment and the need to fully understand and identify the potential task-based hazards. TC1002 Authorized Climber with Rescue This two-day course provides training for technicians who need to access telecom structures using personal fall protection and fall rescue equipment. During the course, students are taught the hazards of working at height on a telecom tower and how to work safely within this environment. TC2002 Competent Climber with Rescue The course is designed for technicians with at least 90-days of work at height experience in the telecommunications industry. During the course, students demonstrate their existing ability to assess the hazards of working at height on a telecom tower and to work safely within this environment. TC2003 Competent Climber and Rescuer Specifically designed for managers and workers who work at-height in telecommunication, are in a position of responsibility, and must be able to respond to emergencies or coordinate and/or implement written rescue procedures for their organization. The ENSA Telecommunications at-height safety training courses are available now from ENSA North America. Telecommunications operations that are interested in obtaining more information or scheduling training courses for their workers can contact their local Mallory Safety office or regional sales manager. For more information and to download course information, visit http://www.ensa-northamerica.com/training/open-enrollment-calendar/ New Facility Meets the Demands for At-Height Worker Safety Climbing to work on a telecom structure, where the only access is via a vertical ladder or step pegs, is a demanding activity that requires task-specific safety education and training. The unique demands of the work environment necessitate comprehensive understanding of the safety requirements and incident response strategies and techniques. With the recent expansion in the telecommunications market to 5G, telecoms industry leaders have turned to higher-value training in an effort to reduce risk, incidents and liability, and improve worker safety. Mallorys new Mukwonago, WI-based ENSA training facility is the largest at-height safety training facility in North America, and is centrally located near both Milwaukee and Chicago. The new ENSA indoor site uses a training model that follows a skills-based evolution process. This evolution model helps students gain confidence and achieve success through both classroom learning and practical skills in a layering approach where each skill builds upon the previous through repetition and confirmation. Once a knowledge and skills foundation are established, additional practical skills are added, and the students are gradually exposed to increasing complexities of working and rescuing at-height. This unique learning philosophy works to ensure maximum retention, comprehension and application by all students Todays telecommunications employees require an increased level of technical training for the higher, more remote, and more hazardous structures where they work. Previously, the line and antenna workers and requirements were separate but now, telecoms workers must climb higher and scale more remote broadband cast towers and self-supported structures, said Tim Loy, President of Mallory Safety and Supply. In partnership with telecoms companies, Mallorys ENSA training operation has developed new techniques and training curricula to give these workers and supervisors the hands-on skills and awareness needed to work safely and develop a focused safety culture in their changing environment. About the NATE CTS Tower Climber Training Standard The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) CTS Tower Climber Fall Protection Training Standard was developed to establish the minimum requirements to which all tower climbers should be trained. The NATE CTS outlines individual standards for varying levels of tower climber expertise: Authorized Climber, Competent Climber, Authorized Rescuer and Competent Rescuer. For more information, visit: https://natehome.com/regulations-standards/standards/nate-tower-climber-fall-protection-training-standard/ About Mallory Safety and Supply and ENSA Training ENSA is the industry-focused training division of Mallory Safety and Supply, LLC. ENSA has more than over 50-qualified instructors who have trained more than 10,000 technicians since 2007. ENSA provides industry-centric, technical training for: wind energy, telecommunications, confined space, rope access, responder rescue, and general industry and construction applications. Mallory Safety and Supply LLC is the largest independent safety distributor in the Western United States, with more than 350-employees, and 22-locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Wisconsin. For more than 30-years, Mallory has provided industrial organizations with safety expertise and supply chain efficiency with a broad array of worker safety protection products. Mallory provides Industrial, Defense and Aviation, Municipalities, Oil and Gas, Responders, Ethanol, Wood and Pulp, Wind Energy, Telecommunications, Roofing and Construction, Marine Repair, and other industries with advanced safety solutions. These solutions include: safety equipment, staffing, training, vending and VMI systems, plant turnaround, rentals, product service, consulting, gas detection, abrasives, cutting tools, clean room and construction supplies, hoist repair and other equipment that exceed customer expectations. For more information, visit http://www.malloryco.com/. Adding simple portals between two cat cages can reduce stress, keep cats healthier, boost adoption rates, and allow shelters to save more cats over the course of the year. Stress-related illnesses such as URI dropped and the cats seemed livelier with less scratching and biting. We did not anticipate seeing such an improvement so quickly and were thrilled we proceeded. Cats can get sick in animal shelters, but the cure probably isn't a vaccine or an antibiotic; it's better cat housing. That's the message the Million Cat Challenge is driving home in an interactive cat housing exhibit at Animal Care Expo, the world's largest animal shelter conference being held through April 18 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Launched in 2014, the Million Cat Challenge set out to save the lives of one million shelter cats in North America within five years. When the 1,075 participating shelters met and exceeded that goal a full year early, the Challenge then turned its attention to an initiative dubbed #allthecats, which seeks to provide the right outcome and care for every cat, every day, in every shelter. Due to limited resources and a lack of awareness, many shelter cats are kept in inadequate housing. Multiple studies have looked at the effect of poor housing on cats, and have linked it to a high incidence of stress-related illness, particularly upper respiratory infections (URI), said Challenge co-founder Dr. Julie Levy, Fran Marino Endowed Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Shelters frequently assume this condition is simply being spread from cat to cat like the flu, but whats really happening is the cats are so stressed out they become ill. That in turn makes it harder for the cats to find an adoptive home, which extends their stay in the shelter and triggers a vicious cycle of stress and illness. It can even lead to euthanasia. There are many types of adequate feline housing, ranging from good to better to best. Levy and her Million Cat Challenge co-founder Dr. Kate Hurley, director of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, wanted to use the platform at Expo to demonstrate what good housing can look like and educate attendees about the real consequences of bad housing. When people enter the exhibit, theyll find themselves in the Bad Cat Housing room, a human-scale immersive experience complete with sights, sounds, and smells, said Hurley. Having survived the bad, participants will emerge into life-size examples of good cat housing configurations for both individual and multiple cats. The whole experience adds up to IKEA showroom meets cat sheltering. The power of shelter housing improvements to save cats' lives can't be overstated. When Calgary Humane Society upgraded their cat housing by installing porthole-like passages known as "portals" between two cat cages, doubling the space for each cat and allowing them to sleep and eat in a separate space from the litter boxes, they saw an immediate benefit to cat health. Once the portals were done we were quite amazed at how quickly we saw improvement in the cats overall well-being. Stress-related illnesses such as URI dropped, the cats seemed livelier with less scratching and biting. We did not anticipate seeing such an improvement so quickly and were thrilled we had proceeded with the portals. Such improvements also help get more cats adopted. "Kitties who spent their days hiding in a litter box all of a sudden got to move into the penthouse suite," said Kathy Pitman-Feltham of Oshawa Animal Services. "It often allows cats to come out of their shell, and definitely increases their adoptability! It has also allowed for great conversations with the public around the importance of enrichment and proper housing. Our adopters come into the space and see happy and playful kitties." This first-of-its-kind educational experience was made possible by the outstanding generosity of the animal welfare community. The exhibit was designed pro bono by Animal Arts Design and the housing was provided by the Mason Company, Shor-Line, TriStar Vet, Crijo, Kuranda, Snyder Manufacturing, Kitty Kasa, and Tomahawk Live Trap. The units will be donated to local animal shelters when the conference is over. The space was donated by the Humane Society of the United States, the organization behind the annual conference. The exhibit was sponsored by Petco Foundation, which works with and supports thousands of local animal welfare groups across the country and helps find homes for more than 400,000 animals every year, and Vetoquinol, a family-owned, global leader in animal health since 1933. Additional sponsorship was provided by the Michigan Pet Fund, an education and advocacy organization working to improve lifesaving and care in Michigan animal shelters. The Million Cat Challenge is a joint project of the Maddies Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida and UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program. It was made possible by the financial support of Maddie's Fund, a national foundation established by Dave and Cheryl Duffield to revolutionize the status and well-being of companion animals. Additional information and high-resolution images are available in the Million Cat Challenge Newsroom. If you happen to be present, do meet our MSP Sales & Marketing Enablement expert, Eric Weber at the show. To learn more about the Mindmatrix MSP Advantage Program, meet us at any time during the Summit, or reach out to eric.weber@mindmatrix.net for an appointment. Leading MSP marketing and sales enablement solution provider, Mindmatrix, is presenting at the ASCII IT Success Summit 2019 in Washington, D.C., this month. The Summit will be held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel on April 24-25. Since 1999, ASCII Success Summits have been bringing together nearly 1,500 IT solution providers, dozens of technology vendors, and key industry leaders in a two-day format that incorporates extensive peer networking, education and training. This year, Eric Weber, Director of Sales, Mindmatrix, is one of the technology speakers at the Summit. Erics presentation, titled, Helping MSPs sell more, will focus on the key marketing and sales challenges faced by MSPs, VARs and other IT service providers and discuss solutions to assist them. Eric says, Im excited to be a part of and speaking at the ASCII Success Summits this year. My presentation will focus on the key sales and marketing challenges faced by MSPs and discuss how they can overcome it with sales and marketing enablement tools. The Success Summits are a great way for members and vendors to come together, share ideas, and learn best practices for their businesses. I very much look forward to it! To learn more about the Mindmatrix MSP Advantage Program, meet us at any time during the Summit, or reach out to eric.weber@mindmatrix.net for an appointment. (ASCII members qualify for a special discount.) For more information on ASCIIs IT Success Summits, please visit http://www.asciievents.com. About MSP Advantage Program & Mindmatrix Mindmatrix provides a complete marketing and sales enablement solution for Managed IT Services Providers and other Hi-Tech channel partners including VARs, integrators, consultants, and ISVs helping them sell more. Through its MSP-IT Advantage Program, Mindmatrix works with hundreds of MSPs, integrators, and VARs to make their marketing easy and effective. The MSP Advantage Program lets MSPs focus on what they do best: Managing Services by offering them all the tools, strategies, content, and marketing and sales support they need to pursue and close leads effectively. About The ASCII Group, Inc: The ASCII Group is the premier community of North American MSPs, VARs and solution providers. The group has over 1,300 members located throughout the U.S. and Canada, and membership encompasses everyone from credentialed MSPs serving the SMB community to multi-location solution providers with a national reach. Founded in 1984, ASCII provides services to members including leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, marketing assistance, extensive peer interaction and more. ASCII works with a vibrant ecosystem of major technology vendors that complement the ASCII community and support the mission of helping MSPs and VARs to grow their businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.ascii.com. The NACHA Payments Awards are very competitive, and each Award draws an excellent turnout of candidates every year. It is our honor to recognize the best of the best. NACHA announces the finalists for its 2019 Payments Awards, which celebrate proven accomplishment and leadership in the payments industry and recognize and reward the payments innovations defining the future. The NACHA Payments Awards include the NACHA Excellence in Payments Award and the ACH Network Challenge 2019. NACHA appreciates the participation from solution providers, financial institutions, and industry strategic thinkers, all of whom have found innovative ways to further advance electronic payments, said Jane Larimer, Chief Operating Officer of NACHA. The NACHA Payments Awards are very competitive, and each Award draws an excellent turnout of candidates every year. It is our honor to recognize the best of the best. The payments community will have an opportunity to help determine the winners of the 2019 NACHA Payments Awards through online and mobile app voting. Winners of the Awards will be announced on Tuesday, May 7, during the 2019 NACHA Payments Awards Luncheon, which is sponsored by TD Bank, during PAYMENTS 2019. The conference will take place May 5-8 in Orlando, Florida. Online registration for PAYMENTS is available here. NACHA Excellence in Payments Award The NACHA Excellence in Payments Award honors an organization that has shown superior leadership and accomplishment in the development, implementation or advancement of domestic or international electronic payments. The finalists are: Bill.com Bill.com is a leading digital business payments company that helps automate, streamline, and control the payments process. The company helps financial institutions navigate their evolving relationships with small business customers by providing digital business payment tools. The company is currently focusing its offerings on international payments, emerging tech, and fraud prevention. Dwolla Dwolla has developed a business-first platform model using an API that allows businesses to build payments into their own applications through the ACH Network. The company which strives for improved processes, experiences and outcomes offers subscription-based electronic payments, with a focus on bank transfers through the ACH Network. Early Warning Early Warning was a pioneer in payments and deposit validation solutions back in the 1990s. Today it is best known for creating Zelle, a person-to-person payment system. The company continues to work with financial institutions to balance the need for new approaches to security to reduce the risk of fraud, without adding unnecessary friction to the customer experience. All industry participants will have an opportunity to help determine the winner for this award through online voting now through Saturday, May 4. Vote now. ACH Network Challenge 2019 The ACH Network Challenge 2019 is a team competition designed to foster new ways to enable usage for Same Day ACH capabilities within the payments ecosystem. This years ACH Network Challenge invites teams to submit original ideas on how one would use, or enable others to use, Same Day ACH to pay or be paid faster. Finalists are competing to win up to $25,000 in prize money. Finalist teams are: Team Aliaswire In a two-pronged solution, Aliaswire operates a multi-tenant biller direct platform that allows billers (for rent, homeowners association dues, insurance, and other consumer finance payments) to configure Same Day ACH for bill payments done using a DDA account. Separately, merchants (especially small businesses) would have the ability to move funds between their card and DDA account using Same Day ACH. Team ExCheQ ExCheQ has designed an application that allows a secure transaction between the payer's financial institution and the recipients financial institution with no third-party holding accounts or credit cards involved. Depending on the time of the transaction, the transaction can be near real time using Same Day ACH processing. Notification is instant with text and email, and settlement can be minutes later with Same Day. Team Today Payments Today Payments proposes targeting real estate-related transactions. While millions of homes and commercial property are sold each year in the U.S., almost no sales occur directly between a buyer and seller. Instead they involve the use of third-party brokers, escrow, lenders, and others. Currently personal checks, corporate checks, wires and cashiers checks dominate the real estate Industry. However, Same Day ACH would eliminate the involvement of third parties in many of these payments. ACH Network Challenge finalists will present their proposals on Monday, May 6, at PAYMENTS 2019. All conference attendees are welcome to attend. Voting will take place on site via the NACHA PAYMENTS 2019 Mobile App, sponsored by Transactis. Visit payments.nacha.org to further explore what PAYMENTS has to offer this year in Orlando. The conference hashtag is #PAYMENTS2019. About NACHA NACHA is a nonprofit organization that convenes hundreds of diverse organizations to enhance and enable electronic payments and financial data exchange within the U.S. and across geographies. Through development of rules, standards, governance, education, advocacy, and in support of innovation, NACHAs efforts benefit the providers and users of those systems. NACHA leads groups focused on API standardization, authors the Quest Operating Rules for EBT and is the steward of the ACH Network, a payment system that universally connects all U.S. bank accounts and facilitates the movement of money and information. In 2018, 23 billion ACH payments valued at more than $51 trillion moved across the ACH Network. Visit nacha.org for more information, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Create Real Impact: Students Can Win Prizes for Safe Driving Messages The objective of the Create Real Impact Contest is to allow young people to engage, educate and empower their peers with strategies to stop the number one killer of teens car crashes particularly those caused by reckless and distracted driving. Students and schools across the country have won educational grants from the 2019 Spring Create Real Impact Contest, sponsored by Impact Teen Drivers and California Casualty. A total of $12,000 was awarded for creative efforts to address the dangers of distracted driving aimed at teenagers. The following students were chosen for $1,500 grand prize educational grants: Ashlee Walkowiak, Franklin, WI, in the writing category for her work titled, Be Different Everen Graves, San Diego, CA, in the music category for the song So Much to Live For Caden Turner, St. Louis, MO, in the video category for Listen Up Lindsey Sanchez, Richmond Hill, GA, in the art category for the poster Camera Filter The schools with the most entries were Village Academy of Film and in Pomona, California; University City High School, San Diego, CA; and South Forsyth High School, Cumming, GA. Each school was awarded $1,000. The contest encourages peer-to-peer messages and creative expression from students to help stem the tide of distracted and reckless driving, the number one killer of young drivers. Preventing inattentive driving, especially among teens, is one of the top priorities of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and safety groups across the nation. The objective of the Create Real Impact Contest is to allow young people to engage, educate and empower their peers with strategies to stop the number one killer of teens car crashes particularly those caused by reckless and distracted driving, said Kelly Browning, Ph.D., Executive Director, Impact Teen Drivers. The contest meets teens in a space where they are comfortable online. It is about the solutions to ending distracted driving, #EndDD, #WeHavethePower. Students ages 14-22 were invited to offer their artistic solutions to this critical teen driving danger through essays, artwork, videos and music. More than 1,300 submissions were received and winners were determined by a panel of judges and by online voting for prizes ranging from $500 to $1,500. The winning entries can be viewed at http://www.createrealimpact.com. Impact Teen Drivers has reached more than two million teens since 2007 and the Create Real Impact contest began in 2009. California Casualty is a founding partner of the nonprofit and continues to provide support for the contest. California Casualty representatives will help present checks to the winning schools and awardees. The importance of this contest cant be overstated, said California Casualty CEO Beau Brown. While insurance can replace a mangled vehicle, we cant replace a teenagers life. In a split second, everything for that family changes forever; its a terrible tragedy that no one should endure. The 2019 Fall Create Real Impact contest will kickoff in August. Entries will be taken at http://www.createrealimpact.com. For more information on how to get schools and students involved, please contact info@impactteendrivers.org. Founded in 1914, California Casualty provides auto and home insurance to educators, firefighters, law enforcement and nurses across the country. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, with Service Centers in Arizona, Colorado and Kansas, California Casualty has been led by four generations of the Brown family. To learn more about California Casualty, or to request an auto insurance quote, please visit http://www.calcas.com or call 1.800.800.9410. By learning more about consumer preferences, we can ultimately pave the way for our impressive roster of global retail clients to better craft their international sales strategies. - Rob Keve, co-founder and CEO of Flow Flow, the global e-commerce solution for cross-border brands and retailers, today announced the release of its Cross-Border E-Commerce Trends: Global Research Report, the result of a two month long study of international consumer e-commerce behaviors. This research was conducted across 11 countries, aiming to gain insight into consumer purchasing behaviors to further expand sales and revenue of Flows clients in these international markets. The report provides insight into trends among consumers purchasing across borders, including the barriers of cross-border shopping, expectations of online shopping, and other data points. Some key findings include: Over 80% of shoppers in Brazil, Australia and Canada make cross-border purchases. In Japan and South Korea, where cross-border shopping was lowest, site security, language barrier and currency exchange rates were cited as important reasons for not shopping cross border. 52% of the respondents said they were somewhat or very unlikely to purchase goods cross-border if the website is not in their local language. Cross-border shoppers in Australia, Canada, India, Japan, South Korea and UK list the USA as the #1 country from which they shop. Through conducting this survey, were able to get an in-depth look into exactly what customers are looking for when shopping cross-border, said Rob Keve, co-founder and CEO of Flow. Our goal is to make cross-border e-commerce frictionless. By learning more about consumer preferences, we can ultimately pave the way for our impressive roster of global retail clients to better craft their international sales strategies. Flows Cross-Border E-Commerce Trends: Global Research Report is free of charge and can be downloaded here. A printed version is also available upon request. About Flow Most e-commerce businesses struggle with the complexities of selling their products internationally. The problem is they dont have the tools nor the flexibility they need to sell cross-border, and existing solutions are missing the mark. At Flow, we believe theres a better way and that global e-commerce should simply work. We have first-hand experience with cross-border challenges from our days working at well-known global brands, which is why we built a next generation engine to power global growth for ambitious e-commerce businesses. Our solution automates and simplifies every aspect of the international e-commerce process for our customers. We remove the barriers of cross-border commerce by offering benefits such as multi-currency pricing, cost efficient and rapid shipping, international payment options, well-defined taxes and duties, and simple returns. Now global brands like MVMT Watches, MZ Wallace, Outerknown, Charles & Colvard and others can increase their customer conversion and grow international revenue starting today. Let it Flow. Deciding if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant helps women to pursue the future they want. Launching today, The Right Time initiative is making it easier for Missouri women, including those who are uninsured or underinsured, to receive quality contraceptive services. When women get pregnant on their own terms, they face fewer challenges in achieving their educational and career goals and are better prepared for the demands of parenthood. This leads to healthier women and babies, substantial savings to Missouris health system, and reduced health disparities. The Right Time is a six-year initiative working with a variety of health centers in targeted regions across the state to provide training, technical assistance, and funding to expand access to the full range of contraceptive methods. Seven health centers are joining the initiative in its first year, with two more sets of seven added the following two years, leading to a peak of 21 in 2021. The goal of The Right Time is to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy in Missouri by 10 percent by 2024. Currently, more than half (51 percent) of all pregnancies to women of all ages in Missouri are described by women themselves as unintended. Although there have been broad declines in unintended pregnancy, both nationally and in Missouri, large disparities remain. Low-income women are nearly six times more likely than women of greater economic means to experience an unintended pregnancy, and rates also remain disproportionately high among women of color and those in rural areas. The Right Time is focused on addressing these disparities by improving information about contraception, removing barriers to quality contraceptive services, providing more women with access to the full range of contraceptive methods, and helping women find the method that works best for them. The first seven health centers selected to participate are: Fordland Clinic, Fordland and Kimberling City Betty Jean Kerr Peoples Health Centers, St. Louis Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri Contraceptive Choice Center, St. Louis Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, Columbia AIDS Project of the Ozarks, Springfield Jefferson County Health Department The Right Time is led by the Missouri Family Health Council (MFHC) and is an initiative of Missouri Foundation for Health. MFHC is a private nonprofit organization that champions access for every individual to culturally sensitive, quality, sexual and reproductive health education and services. MFHC supports systems of care throughout the state, with particular emphasis on safety net providers, in delivering patient-centered reproductive health care to all those who seek services. MFHCs programming is focused on removing cost barriers, specifically for the uninsured, and supporting health centers through quality training, analysis, and collaboration. About The Right Time: The Right Time is a six-year initiative that is based on the simple belief that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue the future they want, including if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant. The initiative seeks to empower individuals to take control of their own health by improving information about, and removing barriers to, contraceptive services, recognizing that decisions always rest with the patient. With a goal of reducing Missouris unintended pregnancy rate by 10 percent, The Right Time is committed to addressing persistent health disparities that exist around unintended pregnancy and marginalized populations. ODU, a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing high-performance connector solutions and cable assemblies, is announcing its strategic partnership with Mouser Electronics, Inc. Mouser Electronics is now an authorized distributor for ODU-USA products, able to sell the entire connector solution portfolio worldwide. The ODU-USA product portfolio is now available and distributed by Mouser Electronics, including the advanced Push-Pull circular connectors: ODU MINI-SNAP, ODU MEDI-SNAP and ODU MINI-MED. Offering more than 80,000 combinations of product that continues to grow through custom specific designs, ODU-USAs connectors are found in a variety of challenging application environments including medical, industrial, test and measurement, military and security, eMobility and energy. ODU-USAs continuous commitment is to ensure the highest level of quality and customer satisfaction to all our customers. We are proud to announce this agreement with Mouser Electronics, a company renowned for its worldwide distribution and support system, said Thomas Mittermeier, President and CEO, ODU-USA Inc. By partnering with Mouser, we can capitalize on their customer service and logistics expertise to expand our customer base around the world. ODU-USA advanced connector solutions can be purchased from Mouser Electronics at: https://www.mouser.com/odu/. About Mouser Electronics Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on rapid New Product Introductions from its manufacturing partners for electronic design engineers and buyers. The global distributors website, Mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5 million products from over 750 manufacturers. Mouser offers 23 support locations around the world to provide best-in-class customer service and ships globally to over 600,000 customers in more than 220 countries/territories from its 750,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.mouser.com. ODU Group: Global Representation with Perfect Connections The ODU Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of connector systems, employing 2,300 people around the world. In addition to its company headquarters in Muhldorf am Inn (Germany), ODU also has an international distribution network and production sites in Sibiu/Romania, Shanghai/China and Tijuana/Mexico. ODU combines all relevant areas of expertise and key technologies including design and development, machine tooling and special machine construction, injection, stamping, turning, surface technology, assembly and cable assembly. The ODU Group sells its products globally through its nine subsidiaries in Denmark, England, France, Italy, Sweden, the US, China, Korea and Japan, as well as through numerous international sales partners. ODU connectors ensure a reliable transmission of power, signals, data and media for a variety of demanding applications including medical technology, military and security, eMobility, energy, industrial electronics, and measurement and testing. Openbay, the award-winning and industry leading marketplace for automotive services and provider of SaaS solutions for the automotive aftermarket, today announced the launch of Otis. Openbay Otis is an automated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning application designed to serve as a powerful and knowledgeable virtual automotive service advisor. Otis supports the needs of vehicle owners interacting with automotive aftermarket businesses and automotive dealership service departments, delivering important intent-matching capabilities and information about a business. It also simulates the knowledge and natural language of an automotive service advisor, able to perform tasks central to an automotive services business or automotive service department business. Openbay Otis is the first-of-its-kind application for the automotive service and aftermarket industry. Otis operates 24/7 and is integrated into the online presence of an automotive services business. Otis understands and responds in natural language via a messaging communication platform, engaging in conversations that are two-way, private and personalized. With its deep knowledge in automotive and an understanding of millions of mechanical services for a variety of import and domestic vehicle year-make- models, Otis is positioned to uniquely answer questions and deliver information to consumers seeking to repair or service their vehicle. The Challenge According to Gartner, by 2020 85% of consumers will engage with a business without interacting with another human being. Furthermore, 60% of Millennials currently interact with businesses using virtual messaging platforms, with 70% reporting positive experiences. Todays automotive service businesses remain unaligned with the buying behavior characteristics of younger Millennial and Generation Z consumers, who represent over 69 million drivers. These generations expect an instantaneous, personalized connection to their service provider and access to services, specific to their needs. Until now, there was no cost-effective way to improve online engagement with, and increase loyalty from, these powerful segments without adding significant resources and operational costs. The Solution: AI-powered Openbay Otis With Otis, vehicle owners have around the clock access to an intelligent virtual service assistant that can respond to their information needs and deliver it on their favorite messaging platform quicker than using other forms of communication or information platforms. Openbay Otis provides an amazing experience to our website visitors and customers, said Barry Steinberg, CEO of Direct Tire and Auto Service. It streamlines the process of directing client needs from start to finish. Whether its scheduling, tire pricing or mechanical repair, Otis handles it all. After installing Otis customer appointments have increased across all four of our locations that we can attribute to Otis, continued Bob Lane, VP Operations and General Manager of Direct Tire and Auto Service. Additionally, Otis is working outside of business hours handling more than 20% of daily inquires reaching a customer segment we would not have otherwise been able to reach. Joe Panichella, Automotive Service Manager of Honda Village, a leading Honda dealership serving the greater Boston, MA area, Openbay Otis installed on our website resulted in material growth in the number of service appointments booked online and an increase in customers representing the millennial market segment. We attribute the customer growth to Otis ease of use and how it performs on mobile devices. Openbay Otis personifies an automotive service business. Otis can: become the virtual assistant of online web presence, delivering information in real-time during and after business hours deliver information on types of vehicles serviced and services offered deliver price estimates for automotive service based on a vehicle year-make- model allow vehicle owners to book a service appointment at time slots dictated by the business deliver automated vehicle recall information capture vehicle owner information that can be used for demand generation campaigns communicate with a consumer based on their platform preference (e.g. text, email, phone) deliver multiple personalized simultaneous private conversations with consumers at scale monitor and take action on Otis activity using Openbay ASP mobile app for automotive service professionals "Recent results from a survey taken by more than 300 vehicle owners using Otis show that more than 90% had a positive reaction to having an online conversation with the automotive service business with Otis in production," said Rob Infantino, founder and CEO of Openbay. "Openbay Otis is industry-changing technology aimed to modernize the way automotive service businesses interact with the behavioral characteristics of the modern-day vehicle owner." Pricing and availability Openbay Otis is currently operating on leading automotive service websites and marketing solution providers such as Net Driven, TCS, MechanicNet, Kukui, and others. Openbay Otis is available as a subscription service having multiple tiered plans to meet the needs of a variety of businesses from single location, multi-location and enterprise. Each plan offers a full-access free trial period. To learn more about Openbay Otis, OpenbayASP and Openbay Marketplace, please visit: http://www.openbay.com/solutions/openbay-otis About Openbay Openbay, an award-winning online marketplace for automotive repair and services and a provider of SaaS based solutions for the automotive care industry, is transforming the experience for automotive repair and services for consumers and the way that automotive care businesses acquire and service customers. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Openbay is privately held. Its investors include Shell Global Commercial, Stage 1 Ventures, Boston Seed Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), a16z seed, and several individual investors. Openbay holds an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We are looking forward to attending an event of this magnitude and support the South Florida technology and start-up ecosystem. -Jim Ryan, CEO OutPLEX, an international digital and customer contact management service provider, announced today that they will be exhibiting in booth 333 at eMerge Americas. The event will be held April 29 30, 2019 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. eMerge brings together global enterprises, leading startups, and government leaders who are driven to create innovative digital solutions to change industries. OutPLEX has always been deeply committed to being at the forefront of digital contact management technology. The re-branding of the company is a direct reflection of the complex omnichannel systems many companies are challenged with as they attempt to support their customers. OutPLEX plans to showcase solutions to help bring companies into the digital age of customer engagement management. We are looking forward to attending an event of this magnitude and support the South Florida technology and start-up ecosystem, said Jim Ryan, CEO. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, OutPLEX has been servicing global brands for over 19 years. OutPLEX is a highly respected organization in the rapidly changing contact management technology landscape and is deeply committed to improving the customer experience. In addition to traditional call center services, OutPLEX is paving the way for future advancements in consumer engagement with its SMS Messaging, Call to Messaging, Live Chat, and Chat Bot services. OutPLEX clients include retailers, technology and healthcare companies, as well as other vertical markets. One of the most important technology events of the year, this years eMerge event is a two-day event attended by thought leaders from around the world. This event will includein addition to global enterprises, some 100 leading startups, and government leaderscorporate executives and investors. These key personnel will come together to share their knowledge, jointly create solutions, and facilitate opportunities for todays societal and market challenges. OutPLEX serves some of the worlds most trusted brands coupling U.S. and nearshore contact center operations with highly skilled talent utilizing digital technology that enhances the customer experience. For more information visit OutPLEX.com. Ideal for VCSEL and photodiode packaging assembly - Palomar 6532 HP Die Bonder The photonics market is exploding and for companies with little to no experience in assembling photonics device packaging or the equipment capabilities, they face a high risk of successfully launching their product. Palomar Technologies, a global leader in delivering total process solutions for advanced photonics and microelectronic device packaging, announced today it has expanded its Innovation Center in Singapore to further meet the growing demands of photonics companies designing and launching new high-performance packages that enable the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and 5G wireless networks. The expansion has provided the opportunity for Palomar to add their latest die bonder designed for the demanding assembly needs of advanced photonics packages the 6532HP Die Bonder which exceeds industry standards for placement accuracy and production speed. Recently opened last November in partnership with the Lux Photonics Consortium and DenseLight Semiconductors, Palomar Technologies Innovation Center Asia addresses a vital market need from global new product introduction (NPI) teams: process development, device package prototyping, test and measurement, process maturation and low-volume production. It also creates a path for customers to enable a seamless transfer to high volume production, usually done in Asia. The photonics market is exploding and for the many companies with little to no experience in assembling photonics device packaging or the equipment capabilities, they face a high risk of successfully launching their product most will die in the proverbial Valley of Death because they simply dont understand how to manufacture their device cost-effectively. By partnering with the Palomar Innovation Center, customers have the advantage of easily bridging from NPI to high volume with significantly lower costs, said Mr. Rich Hueners, VP of Global Sales and Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Palomar Technologies. Palomar has over 40 years of deep industry experience in the design and assembly of photonics and microelectronics devices. Companies new to this market gain exponentially from our experience. The value of light-enabled products and services is estimated to be between $7 and $10 trillion annually, which means the science of light called photonics represents roughly 13% of the worlds economy. With the push towards smart cities, autonomous vehicles and 5G, the demand for connected devices and higher capacity networks is steadily growing, thereby increasing the need for light-enabled products and services, ushering photonics into a position of prominence in the world economy. About Palomar Technologies Palomar Technologies makes the connected world possible by delivering a Total Process Solution for advanced photonic and microelectronic device assembly processes utilized in todays smart, connected devices. With a focus on flexibility, speed and accuracy, Palomars Total Process Solution includes Palomar die bonders, Palomar wire and wedge bonders, SST vacuum reflow systems, along with Innovation Centers for outsourced manufacturing and assembly, and Customer Support services, that together deliver improved quality and yield, reduced assembly times, and rapid ROI. With its deep industry expertise, Palomar equips customers to become leaders in the development of complex, digital technologies that are the foundation of the connected world and the transmission of data generated by billions of connected devices. Palomar solutions are utilized by the worlds leading companies providing solutions for datacom, 5G, electric vehicle power modules, autonomous vehicles/LiDAR, enhanced mobile broadband, Internet of Things, SMART technology, and mission-critical services. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, Palomar offers global sales, service and application support from its offices in the USA, Germany, Singapore, and China. For more information, visit: http://www.palomartechnologies.com An innovative new app for parking spot owners to rent out their privately-owned parking spots in Seattle "With year-round events, Austin is a sought-out destination with traffic and parking challenges for the residents and event attendees."- Ben Frost, CEO & Founder of Parqueo The mobile parking app, Parqueo, has announced their official launch in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, April 16, as the citys Spring festival season ramps up. Parqueos platform allows parking space owners to rent out their spaces to locals and visitors, who then may reserve the parking space ahead of time. The space owner sets up a profile with location and price and the renter searches for spaces that match their preferences using GPS. Parqueo is designed to pair up the perfect parking space with a matching renter, said Parqueo founder and CEO, Ben Frost. Our app utilizes empty parking spaces in homeowners driveways, so drivers in the area can easily find parking through our mobile app. Parqueos Austin launch is intended to assist the Austin community during festivals like Eeyores Birthday, Austin Food and Wine Festival, and Austin Reggae Festival, since parking options for those events are limited. With year-round events, Austin is a sought-out destination with traffic and parking challenges for the residents and event attendees, said Frost. However, the neighborhoods and event locations are intertwined throughout the city, making any available driveway a perfect parking spot. The app is currently available for free download in iTunes and Google Play. About Parqueo: Ben Frost is a Seattle resident and the founder of Parqueo, the revolutionary parking app that makes renting privately-owned, off-street parking easier for renters and owners alike. Since 1997, Frost and his team have worked in the internet technology space, including software development, systems IT, and business development. He was inspired to create Parqueo by his own struggles with parking in his hometown of Seattle. Seeing locals and visitors struggling to find limited street-side parking in neighborhoods when 35% of available off-street parking spaces go unused made him realize the need for parking and the lack of resources available to space owners for renting their spaces. For more information, visit Parqueos official site and follow their social media channels. Evaluation board for Newsite Imaging High Performance CMOS Sensors from Phase1Vision.com. High performance CMOS sensor products are available for short-range, pulse-based LiDAR (light detection and ranging) applications. Now representing high performance CMOS sensors from Newsight Imaging, premier distributor Phase 1 Technology is proud to be expanding its sensor solutions for a variety of machine vision, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and automated vision applications. We are pleased to be representing Newsight Imagings high-performance line scan CMOS sensors, said Rusty Ponce de Leon, CEO of Phase 1 Technology. Products are available for short-range, pulse-based LiDAR (light detection and ranging) applications, including autonomous vehicles and ADAS, as well as robotics, barcode scanners that read 1D and 2D, AR (augmented reality)/ VR (virtual reality), and a wide variety of Industry 4.0 factory automation applications. An outstanding feature of the NSI3000 is the effective use of large pixels and small pixels. Composed of 8 rows of 2048 pixels each, of which 4 rows are of 4m x 8m pixels and 4 rows are of 4m x 4m pixels, the sensor achieves ultra-high sensitivity and an effective resolution of 8192 pixels with low power dissipation, all in a compact size. The sensor also achieves high frame rates and processing capabilities. For OEMs and engineers looking to test the sensor for their specific applications, an Evaluation Board is also available. To learn more about Newsight Imaging CMOS sensors and Evaluation Board from Phase 1 Technology, please visit Phase1Vision.com. About Phase 1 Technology Established in 1986, Phase 1 Technology Corp. is one of the oldest and most respected distributors of industrial vision and automated imaging cameras and components in the United States. A vertically integrated distributor of customer-tailored solutions with an extensive inventory of the industry's premier manufacturers of CCD and CMOS cameras, sensors, cables, image acquisition boards, lenses, lighting and software products, Phase 1 Technology offers all of the vital components used in the design and development of high-performance automation imaging systems. In addition to providing value-added programs that support engineering and manufacturing environments, Phase 1 Technology maintains an extensive network of highly-trained application specialists to ensure immediate response and consistent technical support for the duration of each project. Serving a wide range of industrial and commercial applications such as machine vision, microscopy, factory automation, robotics, agriculture, medical, pharmaceutical, UAV/drones, autonomous vehicles, ADAS, intelligent traffic systems, and others, Phase 1 Technologys customers include OEMs, system integrators, end-users, researchers, developers, and scientists. Visit http://www.phase1vision.com/ or call (888) 431-7941. About Newsight Imaging Newsight Imaging develops advanced CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensors featuring products for both short range and long range LiDAR applications including automotive, robotics, 1D and 2D barcode scanners, and AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality). Headed by veteran semi-conductor professionals, Newsight has its main offices in Ness Ziona, Israel, with additional offices in Jiashan Science Park, near Shanghai, to support and develop its business in China. Rigaku will also be hosting an afternoon users' meeting featuring talks on both single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction topics. Rigaku Corporation is pleased to announce its attendance at the British Crystallographic Association Spring Meeting (BCA 2019), Monday, April 15 to Thursday, April 18, 2019 at the Jubilee Campus of University of Nottingham. The meeting addresses current and future developments in single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) and features a diverse range of talks, posters, workshops and exhibitions. Rigaku Oxford Diffraction is presenting information about its current portfolio of macromolecular and small molecule crystallography instrumentation. Rigaku - a key sponsor of the event is showing the new Rigaku HyPix-Arc 150 curved Hybrid Photon Counting (HPC) X-ray detector for single crystal diffraction applications. The detector has the highest 2 range at a single position available for the home lab, enabling the collection of more data in a single exposure with less reflection profile distortion. Rigaku will also be hosting an afternoon users' meeting featuring talks on both single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction topics, the latter presented by Scientific and Medical Products, Ltd. (SciMed). The meeting will start at 2pm on Thursday, April 18th in Meeting Room 5, following the conclusion of the main BCA meeting, and will cover the latest developments at Rigaku in single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, providing an opportunity to discuss users research, experiences, and issues. Registration information for the European Users' Meeting is available at https://www.rigaku.com/mailers/eum2019/. Single crystal X-ray diffraction is performed by analyzing the pattern of X-rays diffracted by a single crystal - an ordered array of identical molecules. It is the most common experimental method of obtaining a detailed structure of a molecule that allows resolution of individual atoms. About Rigaku Oxford Diffraction (ROD) ROD was formed as the global single crystal business unit of Rigaku Corporation after the acquisition of the former Oxford Diffraction organization from Agilent Technologies in 2015. ROD is a leader in the field of single crystal analysis, both in the field of chemical crystallography as well as well as macromolecular crystallography. Formed in 1951, Rigaku Corporation is a leading analytical instrumentation company based out of Tokyo, Japan. For further information, contact: Michael Nelson Global Marketing Coordinator Rigaku Corporation michael.nelson(at)rigaku(dot)com Community-based bank ad, designed by Shark Communications. "The new bank branding print ads not only enhance the bank's overall brand image, they underscore its commitment to the communities it serves." Shark Communications, an award-winning brand, web, and digital marketing agency has designed a new series of print ads for Bank Rhode Island's community-based initiatives. BankRI's support for the communities it serves naturally brings the bank to deliver a wide variety of community-based activities including direct giving, charitable support, grants, and involvement with organizations that support housing development, area revitalization, job training, local and small business development and more. As Shark Creative Director, Peter Jacobs notes, "The new print ads feature a series of elegant images of the arts, environment, community and more with inspiring large scale headlines that include words such as 'Roots' for the environment, 'Create' for the arts, and 'Honor' for the bank's support for military families." Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, BankRI provides an array of personal, business, commercial and investment services with a strong focus on personalized customer service and the convenience of 20 bank branches and more than 50 ATMs across Rhode Island. Shark Communications is a Burlington, Vermont-based, branding, web, SEO, and digital marketing agency founded by award-winning Creative Director, Peter Jacobs. Shark serves clients in a wide variety of industries with a strategically-planned mix of creative and digital marketing solutions. From award-winning work for the 1998 US Winter Olympic Trials, to numerous creative, design and marketing awards for clients large and small, Shark receives consistent creative recognition. More information about Shark Communications can be found on the agency's website at http://www.sharkcomm.com. Lloyd is a mission-driven leader who will thrive in Epic Sciences' high-intensity culture that is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. says Tara Kochis-Stach, President of Slone Partners. Slone Partners, North Americas leading executive search firm for life sciences and diagnostics companies, announces the placement of Lloyd Sanders at Epic Sciences, Inc. as Chief Executive Officer. With headquarters in San Diego, California, Mr. Sanders is responsible for all strategic and business aspects of the oncological diagnostics company. Epic Sciences develops novel diagnostics to improve and personalize the treatment and management of cancer with a mission to extend patient lives. The companys focus is to offer greater certainty for doctors to make correct decisions for patients at pivotal points in treating cancer and to rapidly pivot away from therapies that are no longer clinically effective. Currently working with 65 top pharmaceutical partners and 45 academic cancer hospitals, including the National Cancer Institute, Epic Sciences technology is being used in over 200 clinical trials and has tested over 10,000 patient samples. Utilizing its rare-cell detection engine technology, the company has the worlds leading pipeline of personalized, predictive and proven tests to guide therapy selection across the most impactful drug classes in oncology. For example, Epic Sciences has partnered with Genomic Health to commercialize the first predictive liquid biopsy test for prostate cancer. The company is building a strong pipeline of additional tests for breast, lung, and bladder cancers. Prior to joining Epic Sciences, Mr. Sanders served as President of Myriad Genetics Oncology division overseeing the oncology, urology and dermatology commercial organizations. While at Myriad, he was responsible for the sales, marketing, medical affairs, customer service and laboratory operations for numerous market-leading commercial products. Previously, Mr. Sanders served as Chief Operating Officer at Dey Pharma, a division of Mylan, overseeing sales, marketing and medical affairs, including the EpiPen flagship brand. Prior to Dey Pharma, he held several leadership positions at Sanofi-Synthelabo, subsequently Sanofi-Aventis, where he led the successful restructuring and integration of the two companies sales forces. Mr. Sanders earned a Bachelors degree in business with an emphasis in marketing from Memphis State University. In the rapidly-escalating and competitive landscape of precision medicine, Epic Sciences required their new CEO to have substantial depth and breadth of oncology industry experience. Lloyd is a mission-driven leader who will thrive in Epic Sciences' high-intensity culture that is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. says Tara Kochis-Stach, President of Slone Partners. ABOUT SLONE PARTNERS Slone Partners delivers the leaders who build amazing scientific healthcare organizations People Are Our Science. Since 2000, Slone Partners specializes in delivering world-class C-suite leadership, executive, and upper management talent to the most promising and established life sciences, diagnostics, precision medicine, CRO, and laboratory services companies. With coast-to-coast presence in the most active healthcare industry hubs of Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, Research Triangle Park NC, and Washington DC, Slone Partners uniquely and precisely provides an array of executive search and advisory services to innovative scientific healthcare companies. To learn more about Slone Partners value proposition and processes, visit http://www.slonepartners.com or call 888.784.3422. ABOUT EPIC SCIENCES Epic Sciences, Inc. is developing novel diagnostics to personalize and advance the treatment and management of cancer. Epic Sciences' mission is to enable the rapid and non-invasive detection of genetic and molecular changes in cancer throughout a patient's journey. The company was founded on a powerful platform to identify and characterize rare cells, including circulating tumor cells. Epic Sciences No Cell Left Behind technology helps match patients to therapies and monitor for drug resistance, so that the best treatment path can be chosen at every clinical decision point. Epic Sciences has partnered with Genomic Health to commercialize the Oncotype DX AR-V7 Nucleus Detect test, which helps with therapeutic decisions between taxane chemotherapy or androgen-directed therapeutics in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer. Today, we partner with leading pharmaceutical companies and major cancer centers around the world. Epic Sciences' goal is to increase the success rate of cancer drugs in clinical trials and improve patient outcomes by providing physicians real-time information to guide treatment choices. Epic Sciences is headquartered in San Diego. Further information is available on the Company's website http://www.epicsciences.com. *1 - Credit to Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration *2 - BakerSCI Results -(c) Baker Street Scientific Space imagery has always been exciting for us because we tend to reveal interesting things that help aid our space pioneers in their discovery processes. -Dr. Tim Naddy, founder and CEO of BakerSCI The moment the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT) refocused the worlds attention on the heavens with their image of a black hole in the M87 galaxy, the innovative Rome, Georgia-based team at Baker Street Scientific (http://www.bakersci.com) quickly deployed an array of proprietary algorithms and processes exposing and discovering unknowns inside the cosmic giant. Their results, processed in a matter of seconds on a laptop (while sitting in Colorado Springs Broadmoor Hotel lobby), were so surprising they were compelled to share two of their many images with the greater space and science communities. One would expect such revelations to come from Silicon Valley, Boston or Austin. Not anymore. Its this kind of novel science and processing efficiency that has this small-town American start-up turning the heads of industry giants, government agencies and scientific organizations. Over the past five years BakerSCIs forensic technology has been disrupting conversations in healthcare, energy, financial, military and intelligence communities: consistently revealing previously indiscernible data behaviors, features and events in land, sea, air, space, human tissue, and more. Industry captains and global thought-leaders are appreciating anew the power in their own data and finding answers to long sought-after questions. According to Admiral Tom Zelibor, CEO of the Space Foundation, BakerSCI represents a new wave of small American companies rapidly innovating and deploying new science and technologies that are coming alongside the traditional players. They are providing critical mission and research support that allows us to engage in even more ambitious space pursuits. Coming off a fast-paced week at the Space Foundations 35th Annual Space Symposium where BakerSCI presented at NASA iTechs Ignite the Night (as one of their top ten innovators), Dr. Tim Naddy, BakerSCI Founder and CEO, described his teams excitement at their latest discovery, Our forensic technology is unique in that it consistently reveals information within data that no one expects. By the handful of conversations weve had over the past couple of days it appears our latest results will not disappoint. Is it a black hole? A space corridor? A wormhole? Perhaps a string or fold in space itself? Maybe remnants of stars or planets trapped in its unyielding grasp? Not sure yet, but in the words of one retired General to BakerSCI, Keep those bags packed! Always thought there had to be something in there, even if [it was] just the bones of all that was devoured. With Earth Day rapidly approaching (April 22nd) Dr. Naddy commented, EHT showed the world how a selfless global science community can accomplish great feats to take that next step for our global citizenry. Thats the kind of cooperative community that will take us further and BakerSCI is excited to be a part of it. What a great time for scientists, academics and the casual stargazer to engage in intelligent debate. Visit http://www.bakersci.com/industries/space/ to view images and join the conversation. About Baker Street Scientific Baker Street Scientific is a data and intelligence science and technology (S&T) company headquartered in Rome, Georgia. For more information please contact press(at)bakersci.com. We also invite you to visit us at http://www.twitter.com/BakerSCI or https://www.linkedin.com/company/baker-street-scientific/about/ . SMBHD has been named one of the 2019 Best Places to Work in Chicago. Crains Chicago Business has partnered with Best Companies Group to identify companies that have excelled in creating quality workplaces for employees. This survey and awards program is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best companies to work for in Chicago. The list is made up of 100 companies. The full Best Places to Work in Chicago list will be featured in the April 15th issue of Crains Chicago Business and is available online at http://www.chicagobusiness.com. To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements: Publicly or privately held business For-profit, not-for-profit business or government entity Facility in Chicago (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake (Ill.), Lake (Ind.), McHenry, or Will County) Minimum of 25 full-time or part-time employees working in Chicago In business a minimum of 1 year Determining the Best Places to Work in Chicago involved a two-step process. The first step consisted of evaluating each participating companys workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of employee surveys aimed at assessing the experiences and attitudes of individual employees with respect to their workplace. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the best companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final ranking. "We strive to create a diverse, happy, and productive environment for our employees, and we're constantly looking at new and creative ways to make the employee experience fulfilling and exciting. Our team members need to be given every opportunity to be able to reach their personal and professional goals. Our vision has always been to be a company unlike any other. Matthew Cleaver, CEO SMBHD is an award-winning, diverse team of engineers, developers, and experienced consultants who specialize in transforming businesses with an extensive set of best-in-class digital solutions. We focus on a consultative, business first approach in everything we do, to solve challenges for mid-market companies. We strategically enhance our clients environments with the right digital solutions, diverse expertise, compassion, and a deep understanding of the clients vision. Our core capabilities include Managed IT Services, Infrastructure and IT Consulting, and Salesforce/Pardot Consulting. Were headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with additional locations in Austin, Texas and Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information on the Best Places to Work in Chicago program, visit http://www.bestplacestoworkchi.com. In addition to now offering security solutions to the small to medium business market, Sonitrol is the leader in verified electronic security, offering Impact Activated Audio Detection, Video Verification, Managed and Cloud Access Control, Video Surveillance, and Fire. Sonitrol Launches TotalGuard Smart Hub & Wireless Devices to Expand Alarm Capabilities the TotalGuard Solution Brings to the SME Market Sonitrol, the leader in verified electronic security, announces the launch of TotalGuard Smart Hub & Wireless Devices that offers a more robust security solution to the small and medium business markets. This new offering includes a variety of wireless sensors that connect to the new TotalGuard Smart Hub, expanding reach and alarm capabilities. Sonitrols TotalGuard solution, launched in 2018, targets the small to medium business market by offering affordable, professional security. TotalGuard is an all-in-one, edge-based device that acts as a standalone IoT panel. Each TotalGuard device includes the Sonitrol impact activated audio detection, glass break analytics, video verification and surveillance, motion and wireless connectivity that is all professionally monitored by a Sonitrol Central Station. Including many features, the solution was needed for the ability to easily connect with other alarm points as each business has different security needs. Watch an actual TotalGuard apprehension here! The TotalGuard Smart Hub & Wireless Devices are simple, scalable and secure. These devices are easy to deploy and have a streamlined infrastructure, which reduces wire pulls and terminations and can easily be setup with a Mobile App by the installer. With the TotalGuard Smart Hub, you can enroll up to 32 wireless devices. These Zigbee devices operate over AES 128-bit encryption, are supervised and tamper protected. TotalGuard can also be paired with exterior thermal imagers for added outside protection and exterior cameras and Sonitrol Cloud Access Control. Working with various customer needs, Sonitrol offers integrated security solutions and is a one stop shop for small to medium businesses. In addition to now offering security solutions to the small to medium business market, Sonitrol is the leader in verified electronic security, offering Impact Activated Audio Detection, Video Verification, Managed and Cloud Access Control, Video Surveillance, and Fire. Sonitrols ability to verify intrusion, through patented technologies in real-time, offers unrivaled credibility with law enforcement. Sonitrol provides for some of the fastest police response times, lowest false alarm rates and the best apprehension record, over 179,000, in the security industry. Sonitrol is celebrating its 55th Anniversary this year and the company displayed TotalGuard and the Smart Hub with Wireless Devices at ISC West booth #22015 in Las Vegas, NV, April 10-12th. For media inquiries or press interviews: Kaleigh.Burton(at)sbdinc(dot)com For more information on Sonitrol or TotalGuard: Call 1-888-SONITROL or Visit sonitrol.com. 100% of the Stertil-Koni Distributor base was represented at its Annual Distributor Meeting, with business attendees pictured here in historic Annapolis, Maryland Our success is truly a collective achievement one in which we have prospered together by offering superior heavy duty vehicle lifting systems, all backed by the most knowledgeable and dedicated distributor team in the industry." Heavy duty bus lift and truck lift leader Stertil-Koni recently celebrated record results at its 23rd Annual Distributors Meeting, held in historic Annapolis, Maryland. There, at a four-day event themed Together We Prosper, the company showcased product enhancements, new technologies and spotlighted major accomplishments of its extensive Distributor Network, which spans North America. In an address before the gathering, Stertil-Koni President, Dr. Jean DellAmore, noted, Our success is truly a collective achievement one in which we have prospered together by offering superior heavy duty vehicle lifting systems, all backed by the most knowledgeable and dedicated distributor team in the industry. DellAmore added that the average tenure of a Stertil-Koni distributor is 14 years, and in that way, he noted: We can deliver world-class engineering coupled with top-shelf local expertise. It is an approach without parallel in our sector. The gathering also featured the latest product updates, hands-on training with all equipment, break-out sessions and even advanced courses on the installation and servicing of Stertil-Konis product line which includes the broadest range of ALI-certified heavy duty vehicle lifts in the entire industry. Stertil-Koni also reported that 100% of its distributors were in attendance at the meeting including the companys long-standing distributor principal of Syosset, New York-based D.L. Carr Associates, Ed Carr, who is a very youthful, active and successful octogenarian. From a broader perspective, explained DellAmore, this was an extremely energized meeting that reinforced our core expertise the heavy-duty vehicle lifting space. In that way, our Stertil-Koni team and dedicated distributors, each of which has an exclusive territory, is laser-focused on this essential and growing business sector across North America. The company also noted there was tremendous excitement among the attendees regarding multiple ground-breaking advances Stertil-Koni will be introducing over the next 12 months including its award-winning Mobile Column Lifts. Concluded Dr. DellAmore, It has been an exciting year of growth, innovation and product development and we know there is much more for us to accomplish in the months and years ahead. About Stertil-Koni Stertil-Koni is the market leader in heavy duty vehicle lifts, notably bus lifts and truck lifts, and proudly serves municipalities, state agencies, school bus fleets, major corporations, the U.S. Military and more. Stertil-Koni's breadth of products meets all ranges of lifting needs and includes portable lifts such as Mobile Column Lifts, 2-post, 4-post, inground piston lifts, platform lifts, and its axle-engaging, inground, scissor lift configuration, ECOLIFT. The companys innovative, inground telescopic piston DIAMONDLIFT is now available with an optional Continuous Recess system, ideal for low clearance vehicles. Stertil-Koni USA is headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland with production facilities in Europe, The Netherlands, and in Streator, IL. Contact: Paul Feldman, Paul.Feldman(at)Stertil-Koni(dot)com, 410-643-9001 SWAROVSKI Forges Brilliant Future with Centric Software Centric PLM will help to manage the complexity of designing, manufacturing and retailing 1,000 new Stock Keeping Units per year across different segments. SWAROVSKI, the world-renowned jewelry brand, has selected Centric Softwares Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals. Founded in Wattens, Austria in 1895, Swarovski is a family-run, independent company which designs, creates and markets high-quality crystal, genuine gemstones and created stones, as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories, crystal creations, watches and lighting. Headquartered in Switzerland, Swarovskis Consumer Goods Business (CGB) required a new solution to replace two existing PLM systems and streamline its fashion jewelry, watches and accessories collection development. We were working with one system for our technical side and another for our creative side, which proved to be complex and inefficient, says Martin Buchbauer, Director Marketing Operations at SWAROVSKI. Over-customization also had a negative impact. We investigated the possibility of merging both systems but soon realized it wouldnt work with any of our existing PLM systems. We approached Centric to see how they would handle our defined use cases and help us take our collection development process to the next level. Convinced by Centric PLMs performance and the expertise of the Centric team, SWAROVSKI opted to implement Centric 8 PLM for internal users across jewelry, home, watches and accessories, as well as selected external suppliers in Asia. As Buchbauer explains, Centric offers great out-of-the-box functionality, and the Centric team are very competent. They engage and challenge us on ways to improve our systems and processes. Our key users immediately embraced the intuitive and modern interface, which convinced us we were on the right path. Centric PLM will help to manage the complexity of designing, manufacturing and retailing 1,000 new Stock Keeping Units per year across different segments. Were also working on an innovation partnership with Centric on the next Centric PLM releases. Its great to work with a partner who takes our needs into account, Buchbauer concludes. We are thrilled to announce that SWAROVSKI has chosen Centric PLM, says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. This cements our expansion into the jewelry vertical in partnership with one of the worlds most respected jewelry brands. We look forward to partnering with SWAROVSKI now and for years to come. Request A Demo About SWAROVSKI (http://www.swarovskigroup.com) Swarovski delivers a diverse portfolio of unmatched quality, craftsmanship, and creativity. Founded in 1895 in Austria, the company designs, manufactures and markets high-quality crystals, genuine gemstones and created stones as well as finished products such as jewelry, accessories and lighting. The Swarovski Crystal Business is run by the fifth generation of family members and has a global reach with approximately 3,000 stores in around 170 countries, more than 27,000 employees, and revenue of about 2.7 billion euros in 2017. Together with its sister companies Swarovski Optik (optical devices) and Tyrolit (abrasives), Swarovski Crystal Business forms the Swarovski Group. In 2017, the Group generated revenue of about 3.5 billion euros and employed more than 32,000 people. A responsible relationship with people and the planet has always been an integral part of Swarovskis heritage, and is embedded today in the companys well-established sustainability agenda. In addition, the global Swarovski Waterschool education program has reached 500,000 children on the worlds greatest rivers, and the Swarovski Foundation, set up in 2013, works to support culture and creativity, promote human empowerment and conserve natural resources to achieve positive social impact. About Centric Software (http://www.centricsoftware.com) From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centrics flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM, including innovative technology and key industry learnings, tailored for small businesses. Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM in 2018 and Frost & Sullivans Global Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2016 and 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. (end) Media Contacts: Centric Software Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com Europe: Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com In a fair contest, the American ideal is that talent ought to rise to the top. A record number of women are competing for the presidential nomination in 2020, but gender bias stands to affect their chances of election. A new analysis from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), May the Best Woman Win?: Education and Bias against Women in American Politics, shows that women who run for office start 13 percentage points behind men in judgments of whether they are emotionally suited for office. While this gap has narrowed in recent decades by 37 percentage points, it could be the decisive factor in elections. The CEW researchers explored how sex, age, income, race, political affiliation, and education level might relate to opinions of womens emotional suitability to be president, and found that education level strongly predicts the degree of bias. Americans with less than a high school diploma are almost twice as likely as those with a bachelors degreeand nearly three times as likely as those with a masters degree or higherto doubt womens emotional suitability for politics. At the same time, since the 1970s, this doubt has decreased across all education levels. In a fair contest, the American ideal is that talent ought to rise to the top, said Anthony P. Carnevale, director of CEW and lead author of the report. But gender stereotyping could sway voters from electing the most capable and qualified leaders. Differences in bias by age were much smaller in 2018 than in the past, particularly when comparing older and younger women. In 1974, 55 percent of older women (over age 35) voiced bias against women in politics, compared to 34 percent of younger women (age 35 and below). In 2018, that gap had closed substantially, with 16 percent of older women and 13 percent of younger women indicating that men were better suited emotionally for politics. Researchers found generally small and inconsistent differences by race. Since the 1970s, Blacks generally have been slightly more likely than Whites to say that men are better suited emotionally for politics than women. However, that hasnt always been true: Whites were more likely than Blacks to say men are more suited emotionally for politics than women as recently as the early 2000s. Men and women dont yet have a level playing field in politics, but a future in which a womans suitability for political leadership is not called into question may be within reach said Nicole Smith, chief economist at CEW and co-author of the report. The correlation between lower levels of bias and higher levels of education suggests that education could play a role in further reducing intolerance. Other Key Findings: Nineteen percent of Americans with less than a high school diploma said that men are generally better suited emotionally for politics than most women, compared to 7 percent of respondents who had a masters degree or higher. In the 1970s, older women (those over age 35) were the most likely to express bias against women in politics, followed by older men, then younger men (age 35 and below), and, finally, younger womenbut the differences between groups have shrunk over time. Income level does not generally predict tolerance of women in politics. Those with annual family incomes below $75,000 used to express more bias against women in politics than those with annual family incomes above $75,000, but those differences have largely disappeared since about 2002. For the full research brief, visit cew.georgetown.edu/womeninpolitics. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce is an independent, nonprofit research and policy institute that studies the link between individual goals, education and training curricula, and career pathways. CEW is affiliated with the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. For more information, visit cew.georgetown.edu. Follow us on Twitter @GeorgetownCEW, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. From left to right: James Perry (VP of Business Development, Utilis), Texas State Representative Phil King, Elly Perets (CEO, Utilis), and Gadi Kovarsky (Director National Accounts, Utilis). Pro-Israel legislation such as this makes us want to prioritize doing business in Texas and help save Texas taxpayer dollars by bringing our innovative technology to this market, Elly Perets, CEO of Utilis Utilis participated in a Texas state legislative committee hearing on April 9th and was subsequently recognized on both the Senate floor by Senator Brandon Creighton and on the House floor by Representative Phil King. Utilis CEO, Elly Perets, spoke before the Senate Committee of Business and Commerce to advocate for a bill that seeks to prioritize and strengthen the relationship between Texas and Israel. We are truly honored to have the opportunity to speak before the Senate Committee in support of this important legislation. CEO Elly Perets expressed when asked for comment. Pro-Israel legislation such as this makes us want to prioritize doing business in Texas and help save Texas taxpayer dollars by bringing our innovative technology to this market. Texas Senate Bill 491 further clarifies and strengthens Texas state law which prohibits the State of Texas from contracting with and investing in companies that boycott Israel. Were here to stand with Israel. And were going to continue to stand with Israel, businesses are allowed, with the passage of this bill, to continue to discriminate against Israelbut not with Texas taxpayer dollars. Senator Brandon Creighton of Texas stated in response to an opponent of the proposed law. About Utilis Utilis is the only patented technology using satellite microwave technology to penetrate soil in the search for drinking water associated with leaking pipes. As the worlds only drinking water leak detection provider, their algorithm brings remote sensing technologies to the forefront of protecting the earths resources. Headquartered in Israel, with a United States subsidiary in San Diego, CA, Utilis currently provides innovative solutions for utilities around the globe. For more information on Utilis and to learn more about our technology visit https://utiliscorp.com/ Visit Albuquerque Debuts New Trip-Planning Tools This new tool is designed to optimize experiences around travelers interests, preferences, budget, and other relevant factors... enabling visitors to effortlessly plan trips and make the most of their time in this one-of-a-kind destination. For those looking to travel to New Mexicos largest city, planning that vacation just got a lot easier. Using Visit Albuquerques newly debuted trip-planning tool, visitors will be able to design a personalized itinerary with a few clicks of the mouse. This new tool is designed to optimize experiences around travelers interests, preferences, budget, and other relevant factors, said Tania Armenta, President & CEO of Visit Albuquerque. Leveraging advanced algorithms, the online platform automatically sorts through hundreds of Albuquerque points-of-interest at the click of a button, enabling visitors to effortlessly plan trips and make the most of their time in this one-of-a-kind destination. The system builds customized itineraries based on several variables, including interests, season, length of stay, budget, type of trip, and more and provides suggestions for each day, from breakfast to dinner, which attractions and activities are a must-do, and everything in between. Once an itinerary is generated, users can further personalize it by swapping, adding or deleting any items, and sharing the final product with friends or family members. Check out this informational video for a more in-depth look at how it works. While the itinerary-building tool helps visitors craft a customized itinerary, Visit Albuquerques newly released interactive version of the 2019 Official Albuquerque Visitors Guide helps travelers learn more about Albuquerque and all there is to do here. We are thrilled to release the interactive version of the 2019 Official Albuquerque Visitors Guide, which allows for a convenient and entertaining way to access this go-to resource for those looking to visit Albuquerque, said Audrey Johnson, Director of Marketing for Visit Albuquerque. We were proud to partner with a local publisher and local writers to produce a guide packed with one-of-a-kind experiences, events and photos of the Albuquerque area that offers travelersand localsa change of perspective. Those that prefer the hardcopy version can request a free 2019 Visitors Guide to be delivered via mail. Locally, guides can be picked up at either the Old Town Information Center in Plaza Don Luis or the Sunport Information Center (near baggage claim), as well as at many Visit Albuquerque partner businesses throughout the city. By encouraging travelers to plan for vacation, Visit Albuquerque is underscoring the importance of taking time off. According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2018, more than 705 million vacation days went unused by American workers. Research shows that individuals who take the time to plan their next vacation are more likely to use all of their time off, and report greater levels of happiness at work and at home. By committing to planning for vacation, Americans can reap the benefits of taking a break while giving themselves something to look forward to, and Albuquerque is the perfect destination to visit in 2019, said Armenta. From soaring above the city in the hot air ballooning capital of the world to indulging in our famous traditional New Mexican cuisine, ours is a destination that truly offers something unique and genuine for a myriad of interests. About Visit Albuquerque The mission of Visit Albuquerque is to stimulate economic growth by marketing Albuquerque as a visitor and convention destination. For more information, go to http://www.VisitABQ.org. ### If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. The fifth annual North Texas Teen Book Festival and Educator Day took place March 2223 at the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Tex., drawing more than 15,000 attendees. The events featured a lineup of approximately 75 authors who participated in panels and small breakout sessions, signings, and other opportunities to connect with teen readers and teachers. Weve gathered a selection of festival highlights. Author Julie Murphy gives her Instagram feed some love with a snapshot from the NTTBF Film Fest, during a screening of the adaptation of her novel Dumplin. Photo: Ian Pearce. More than 750 educators participated in Educator Day @ NTTBF, where they visited publisher booths to collect teaching materials and learn about forthcoming middle grade and YA books. Ed Day @ NTTBF was sponsored by Sam Houston State University. Photo: Robbie Aleman. The Many Stories, Many Worlds session at Educator Day, featuring YA authors (from l.) Beth Revis, Tahereh Mafi, and Alex London in conversation with former Politics and Prose bookseller Somaiya Daud. Photo: Robbie Aleman. A young reader checks out the panels and publisher activities taking place on Festival Day. Photo: Chantel Martin. (From l.) authors Max Brallier, David Bowles, Suzanne Crowley, and Alicia D. Williams discuss their approaches to writing books for tweens, during the Stories for the Middle panel. Photo: Robbie Aleman. Multiple Eisner Award-winning author Raina Telgemeier with hundreds of young fans at the conclusion of the middle grade keynote. Photo: Chantel Martin. Teachers attending Educator Day show off their haul of ARCs provided by publisher sponsors. Photo: Robbie Aleman. Naya Perkins (NayaReadsandSmiles) answers a fans questions following the Booktuber panel. Photo: Chantel Martin. Earlier this month, childrens author Lee Wardlaw drove a trailer loaded with more than 5,300 books from Santa Barbara to Paradise, Calif., delivering 1.5 tons of literary donations from more than 240 authors, readers, librarians, and publishing professionals. Last November, the Camp Firethe most destructive wildfire in Californias historydestroyed 90% of this town. The fire burned through more than 153,000 acres, killing 85 civilians, and injuring three firefighters; nearly 14,000 residences were destroyed along with thousands of other structures. The kids really needed books, said Wardlaw, author of numerous books, including 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher!, Dinosaur Pizza, and Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Childrens Poetry Award and Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award. Books bring a sense of familiarity, family, and normalcysomething thats not chaotic in their lives, she explained after returning from her 1,000-mile road trip to share the donated books with kids and school libraries. Around 93% of the children in the Paradise Unified School District lost their homes in this inferno, and Wardlaw brought the books to help both families and school libraries rebuild their collections. Nearly every school in Paradise has moved to a new location: an intermediate school is now held in the warehouse-like expanse of a former Orchard Supply Hardware, and one high school is in an office building near an airport in Chico. At charter schools displaced by the fires, teachers held classes at home and some now rent classroom space at nearby churches. California wildfires have been at the heart of Wardlaws career since she published her first childrens book, Coreys Fire in 1990 (read the PW review). That book began with real-life experienceswhen the author was away at college, her family lost their Santa Barbara home to a wildfire. At the time, my brother was 14 and I saw the after-effects going on with him, said Wardlaw. Nobody was paying attention to the kids after the fire. Everybody was really focusing on interviewing adults, the parents, and other people who'd lost their businesses and homes. But people were ignoring the kids. So she wrote a novel about a 14-year-old girl who loses her home and neighborhood to a wildfire, showing young readers how the heroine rebuilds her life after the natural disaster. Wardlaw sends copies to kids when a destructive wildfire displaces California communities. After the Camp Fire in Paradise, Wardlaw helped one young victim rebuild his Harry Potter collection. The boys mother was a teacher at a local school, and Wardlaw soon realized that many more kids could use her help. She told me how the school had burned down and they had lost their house, and how they needed to start collecting books for their library, Wardlaw said. She emailed a few other childrens authors asking for donations, only expecting to collect a few hundred books for the school. However, her request quickly spread on social media, and thousands of books started to pour in from around the country. The author spent four months collecting and sorting the books, titles filling her living room. Then she borrowed a trailer and drove the books more than seven hours north to Paradise. After delivering the books to her contacts in Paradise, the author visited three community schools that had been affected by the disaster, meeting with around 600 students and sharing a presentation about recovery after a wildfire. You need to tell your story over and over and over again to as many people who will listen, Wardlaw told students. Because the more you tell your story, the more it becomes just a story. Youll get some distance from it and become a little bit more objective. This is what happened to you. It's an important story. Some of the teachers who watched the presentation promised to incorporate daily journaling into their curriculum, helping students write about and process how the disaster changed their lives. This September, the libraries and schools of Paradise will move into more permanent sites, and Wardlaw is already planning a book drive to help these new school libraries restock. Authors, readers, and publishing professionals interested in contributing to this effort to rebuild school libraries in Paradise can contact Wardlaw directly, using the subject line Books for Paradise. I remember after the fire that I went through that reading was just this fabulous oasis for me, Wardlaw said. I would re-read some of my favorite books at that time, because it just felt so safe and comfortable being with characters that I knew. It gave me a sense of control. I know that getting these kids reading and having a library again would be really important to them. Princeton Architectural Press has reached an agreement with Italian lifestyle brand Moleskine to become the licensed publisher and distributor of its book like, Moleskine Books, effective this past January. Under the terms of the agreement, PAP will handle all editing, production, design, distribution, and sales responsibilities for Moleskine Books titles. The first titles to be published under the new partnership will be Paul Rudolph: Inspiration and Process in Architecture and Paul Rand: Inspiration and Process in Design, both to be published in October. Founded in 1981, Princeton Architectural Press specializes in titles on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture. In recent years, the house has expanded the range of its list, adding a childrens book line and stationery products. PAP keeps offices in Hudson, New York. Founded in 1997, Moleskine specializes in reviving the little black notebook often used by artists and writers. Moleskine offers a variety of paper products including smart notebooks, apps, writing tools, and travel accessories. Princeton Architectural Press publisher Kevin Lippert described Moleskine as the best known maker of journals for artists, architects, designer, and writers. He added: we will build the Moleskine Books series on the foundation theyve laid, with books on inspiration, process, and projects from among talented creatives. BRIAN CHRISTOPHER TBI INVESTIGATION CONCLUDES The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed to PWInsider.com that they have concluded their investigation in the July 2018 death of former WWE star Brian "Christopher" Lawler last year while incarcerated following an arrest for DUI. "Our investigation has concluded and all findings have been turned over to District Attorney General Mark Davidson. I will have to refer any questions to his office," TBI's Keli McAlister told PWInsider.com. PWInsider.com inquries to Davidson's office have not yet received a replay. Attorneys representing Jerry Lawler and the estate of his son Brian Lawler filing subpoenas demanding the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and The Hardeman County Sheriff's Office provide them with information on the ongoing investigation into Brian passing back in Janauary The TBI investigation was opened the same day Lawler passed away after being taken off life support after he allegedly hung himself while incarcerated in Bolivar, TN. We were tired of waiting. This family has waited for over six months for the Hardeman County Sheriff Department to provide them with detailed explanation and the documentation as to what happened to their son and we decided to take the into our own hands, Attorney Jeff Rosenblum told Memphis ABC affiliate channel 24 back in January. In August 2018, Jerry Lawler explained why he did not believe his son killed himself in an interview with WMC-TV, explaining that his family was told that Brian hung himself with his shoelaces, but photos taken of Brian at the hospital show marks on the sides of his neck but not the front of his throat. Lawler explained that the area that did not feature any marks would be the size of his sons hand, which leads him to believe Brian was trying to use his hand to try and keep the pressure off his throat. "We've received literally countless calls, text messages from people, actual eyewitnesses, that were in the jail and saw things that happened on the actual day that Brian died that now has opened up a new can of worms," Lawler told WMC-TV in January. "It just doesn't seem like it was suicide." Lawler said the same day his son allegedly took his life, they had spoken that morning via the telephone at 11 AM and Brian talked perfectly normal, perfectly rational." Later, Lawler's fiancee received a phone call around 2 PM informing them Brian had been in a fight with another inmate, even though he was supposed to have been kept away from other prisoners. Lawler stated that his son had requested medical attention as he was bleeding from the head but apparently did not receive it and several hours later, was found dead in his cell. Lawler stated that the Sheriff had previously given him personal assurances that Brian would be OK while incarcerated. Lawler also alleged that twenty security cameras in the County Jail were not operating the day his son died. While the official, announced cause of Brian Lawler's death is suicide by hanging, Jerry Lawler commented that doesn't pass the smell test and promised in 2018 that he was not going to stop pursuing the issue until he had answers. Lawler also stated that Brian's fellow inmates have told him they don't think his death was suicide, and there's still no medical examiner's report. The TBI and The Hardeman's Sherriff's office were told in January they needed to provide information to the Lawler family and estate by February 26th. With the investigation turned over to the District Attorney's office, there is no word if or when the findings of the investigation will be made public. Again, a PWInsider.com request to District Attorney General Mark Davidson's office has not yet received a reply. If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here! Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK The U.S. Army's major Pacific-area exercise in 2020 will focus on China-based scenarios in the South and possibly East China Seas. The Commander of U.S. Army forces in the Pacific, General Robert Brown, explained the outlines of the 2020 Defender Pacific exercise at a conference in March. While the army focuses on partner-building throughout the Pacific, the high-end combat scenarios it prioritized have generally focused on a conflict on the Korean peninsula. The exercise will deploy a division-sized force to the South China Sea to augment army forces already stationed forward in the Western Pacific and operate in traditional U.S. partner-nations like the Philippines and Thailand, but also may go to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Air Force F-35As deployed to the Middle East for the first time on Monday, arriving in the United Arab Emirates for combat operations across the region. An undisclosed number of F-35s, assigned to the Active Duty 388th and Reserve 419th Fighter Wings at Hill AFB, Utah, are operating from Al Dhafra Air Base, the same location that recently hosted F-22s. These were missions central to the U.S. approach during Operation Enduring Freedom. The International Security Assistance Force, in and of itself, was not decisive in Afghanistan, but it did buy strategic space for the United States to fight two simultaneous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq simultaneously as part of the Freedom Agenda.[14] Americans should keep these events in mind and look to strengthen the Alliance in this emerging period of great power competition. Doing so would assure Americas NATO allies, help deter Russia, and preserve a vehicle to further American interests. The United States can strengthen the Alliance by demonstrating a renewed commitment to regional security. No one suggests a return to the U.S. military footprint of the Cold War or the 1990s, but augmenting the rotational forces in Europe with permanently stationed capabilities may serve this purpose. Increasing the capability to expand the U.S. presence is a sound option to strengthen U.S. ties to NATO. Returning a land command and control capability, like that of the Armys V Corps, which inactivated in 2012, would signal greater U.S. capacity for contingency operations in Europe.[15] The United States maintains a similar capability for air assets in Europe, and restoring a land capability would be a reassuring step.[16] Additional land-based fires capability would support deterrence. A land-based fires capability would speak to the potential for a greater U.S. military presence, if necessary, in Europe. Russia has a significant artillery capability that would challenge NATO forces in a crisis, and a U.S. artillery capability in Europe to counter Russias tactical advantage would further reassure U.S. allies and support deterrence.[17] Stationing a fires capability in Europe also enables the U.S. military to have an intermediate-range fires capability on the ground once the United States completes withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.[18] This is important, because, in a crisis, the United States may not be able to deploy adequate forces to Europe without increasing the risk of miscalculation and inadvertent escalation given the danger of these weapons and the fear they instilled prior to the INF Treaty in 1987.[19] U.S. allies in Europe may also balk at the option to deploy a missile deployment during a period of increased tensions.[20] Placing these capabilities forward is a way to reinforce NATO and posture the United States to compete in the latest period of great power competition. The NATO alliance has been a key element of U.S. foreign policy since its founding in 1949 and has enabled U.S. foreign policy throughout its 70 years of existence. Given a return to great power competition, a strengthened NATO can be a decisive advantage for the United States in Europe and elsewhere. Neither Russia nor China have an alliance or partnership that rivals NATO, which has been a decisive advantage for the United States in pursuit of foreign policy ends. NATO has been key to U.S. national security and self-interest suggests the United States should strengthen and enhance the Alliance. Facing great power competition, NATO may just be the strategic advantage the United States needs to be successful in this emerging period of competition. Introduction Russias growing employment of non-linear forms of warfare (including private military contractors) has long historical traditions. This paper seeks to discuss the main milestones of historical evolution of Russias use of mercenary and irregular forces from Tsarist Russia to the final days of the Soviet Union. Specifically, this paper will explore: Key ideas/motivations that guided the Russian state in employing these groups prior to 1917; The evolution of the Soviet approach toward irregular forces and their use within the scope of (para)military operations; Participation of Soviet military advisors in regional conflicts and zones of instability as part of the geopolitical power play against the West (primarily the United States); The phenomenon of special forces (Spetsnaz) as a means to achieve specific tasks. The research is built on a broad range of Russian sources and presents a combination of chronological and thematic approaches. Russias Use of Irregular Forces in the pre-Soviet Period (16121917) As described in the first paper in this series, War, Business and Ideology: How Russian Private Military Contractors Pursue Moscows Interests, Russias use of private military contractors dates all the way back to the Livonian War (15581583) and reflects Russias traditional weakness in the realm of naval operations.[i] During the same period, Cossack ataman (leader) Yermak Timofeyevich, hired by the powerful Stroganov merchant family, undertook a raid against the Muslim quasi-state of the Khanate of Sibir. Conceived as a means to gain economic profit, this expedition, which lasted from 1581 to 1585, would become a crucial milestone in Russian history. In particular, it resulted in a dramatic enhancement of Russian state boundaries and paved the way for Russias ultimate conquest and colonization of all of Siberia and the Far East. Another significant episode occurred during the Time of Troubles (15981613), when initial heavy reliance on Swedish mercenaries during the war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eventually underwent a profound change in strategy. By 1610, the employment of foreign mercenaries would give way to a unique mixture of military contractors and partisan/guerilla fighters (combining ethnic Russians and non-Russian peoples)the so-called Peoples Militia (narodnoye opolcheniye)[ii]which ousted Polish forces from Moscow (1612) and gave rise to the Romanov Dynasty (1613). Subsequently, the process of active inclusion of irregulars in the architecture of the Russian armed forces owed to a combination of two interrelated processes/aspects: Active east- and south-ward expansion of the Russian Empire, which required constant surveillance, control of the territory and protection of the rapidly changing frontier; as well as The necessity to integrate the conquered non-Russian peoples within the architecture of the Russian state with their minimal distraction from traditional activities.[iii] Thus, at the height of pre-1917 Russias power, the backbone of the Imperial irregular forces consisted of the following major groups: Cossacks,[iv] who, by 1853, comprised of, among others, the Don, Black Sea, Ural, Caucasian, Astrakhan, Danubic, Orenburg, Azov, Siberian, Baikal, Bashkir-Mesher and Buryat hosts. Non-Russian troops (inorodcheskiye voyska)in particular, the Kalmyk Army, the Dagestani and the Tekin Horse Guards Regiment, the Albanian Army (composed of Greeks and the Arnauts), the Valakh Hussar Regiment, and the Kengerlin Mounted Police. During the First World War (19141917),[v] perhaps, the most exotic project pertaining to the use of irregulars that emerged was the idea to create the Euphrates Cossack Army (composed of Armenians, Assyrians and Yezidis living in the Middle East) as a means to confront the Ottoman Empire and distract its forces from the Caucasian Front.[vi] That said, in Imperial Russia the above-mentioned forces primarily performed auxiliary functions, which, in addition to providing border security, included military operations against militarily weak forces as well as territorial defense in potentially unstable areas.[vii] On top of that, Cossacks were extensively used to confront (in todays parlance) hybrid threats, including suppressing protest movements as well as rendering physical protection to the Emperor.[viii] Furthermore, so-called plastun[ix] Cossacks (part of the Black Sea and then later the Kuban Cossack Host) were employed as prototypical special operations forces (Spetsnaz) in major military conflicts fought by the Russian Empire between 1842 and 1917. The plastuns operated in small, highly maneuverable groups, capable of penetrating enemy lines with ease.[x] At this point, it is also worth referencing General Alexander Roediger, a member of the Imperial Russian State Council and minister of war of the Russian Empire (19051909), who noted that in some areas of military service, irregular troops are handier than regular forces.[xi] This idea received new impetus in recent years, following the outbreak of a series of regional conflicts (primarily, the Syrian Civil War and the Ukrainian crisis) and Russias growing fear of hybrid threats posed (in Russian discourse) by the West, in the form of Western support for colored revolutions.[xii] Pre-1917 Russian history also witnessed one curious episode that might have served as a prototype for the military advisors who would later be employed in the Soviet periodthe Persian Cossack Brigade. Formed in 1879 (training was conducted by Russian military instructors), reportedly at the request of Nasir-ed-Din Shah, the Brigade became the most effective military formation within the Persian armed forces and was extensively utilized (among other tasks) for suppression of public protests.[xiii] The Great Transformation: From Irregulars to Spetsnaz (19171968) During the Civil War (19171922) the territory of the former Russian Empire became an arena of intense armed conflict, with irregular military operations (frequently replacing conventional war) actively employed by all sides. The ways these forces were used differed considerably[xiv]: Sub-Type 1: Army-Type Irregular Forces Although initially showing undisputed advantage (due to their highly qualified military specialists and a high level of unit maneuverability on the battlefield), the army-like structure used exclusively by the White Movement ultimately proved to be counter-productive. Their rigid structure, coupled with ineffective patterns of mobilization, eroded the advantages of this model. Sub-Type 2: Guerilla-Style Irregular Forces The so-called Green Armies[xv] (primarily, the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, led by Nestor Makhno), whose operational theater covered huge landmasses, employed tactics utilizing small highly maneuverable groups (520 and later 6070 men), which allowed the Ukrainian forces to conduct rapid raids (up to 100 kilometers per day) in the enemys rear. The main drawbacks to these types of forcesaside from a lack of coordinationwas their rigid territorial attachment, inadequate economic resources, and lack of a unifying ideology. Sub-Type 3: Irregulars of the New Type The Red Army, which had to maintain control over a vast area with a front stretching for almost 8,000 km, extensively relied on irregulars that were integrated into the structure of its armed forces. This move allowed the Soviet side to deny the opponent valuable human resources (via mass mobilization) and maintain steady control of the territory, while simultaneously operating behind the enemys frontlines. The Soviets profound strategic success stemmed from their ability to successfully adopt their opponents inherent advantages, which they complemented with a fervent ideological component (virtually non-existent among the Greens). From an operational prospective, the Redsunlike the Whites who futilely used irregular forces in frontal attacks (or operations against the enemys flanks)relied on irregulars already located in the enemys rear. Moreover, the role of Soviet authorities, including that of Vladimir Lenin, was essential because they emphasized the necessity to introduce specialization among irregular formations. One example was the bomber school (shkola podryvnikov), which produced individuals specially trained for subversive actions.[xvi] By merging military and paramilitary functions with strong ideological indoctrination, the Soviet authorities de facto started to implement elements of what today is popularly referred to as hybrid warfare; these tactics were then extensively tested during the Soviet-Polish war (19191921). The vast bulk of subversive operations on the territory of Poland were carried out by the so-called Illegal Military Organization (Nelegalnaya Voennaia Organizatsiia), created at the end of 1919 (at the initiative of Iosif Unshhtit), and later comprised of 300 groups/cells.[xvii] Its actions turned out to be so successful that its operative principles would comprise the backbone of active measures (aktivnyie meropriiatiia) against the Soviet Unions ideological enemies.[xviii] During 19191925, similar groups were also active in Romania, Bulgaria and even Montenegro, with Soviet advisors providing the locals with essential knowledge on subversive/terrorist activities.[xix] At this juncture, an important message was voiced (agreed to by Lenin, yet not feasible from an economic prospective) by Leon Trotsky, who, in August 1919, proposed to start sending paramilitary and conventional military groups to India as a means to inflame a Socialist revolution in this country and diminish the British position in the Greater Middle East and Southeast Asia.[xx] Adoption of Irregulars by the Soviet State It would not be an understatement to say that these methods created the foundation for the emergence of the Soviet special forces (Spetsnaz). Interestingly enough, this merger between foreign and domestic experience in terms of non-linear military operations would be used in the Soviet Unions western areas (Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv became the main training bases) during 19281933, as a part of Moscows general preparation for a much-anticipated war with the West.[xxi] At this point, however, the Soviet side made a fateful blunder by dismissing partisan formations as unfit for the countrys military doctrine, which rejected defensive war and claimed that in case of military conflict the Soviet Army will be the most offensive army among all existing in the world.[xxii] This attitude turned out to be a dire mistake with terrible consequences for the Soviet Union. In particular, the outward rejection of non-linear warfare during the interwar period profoundly contributed to Nazi Germanys rapid advance into Soviet territory in World War II, during Operation Barbarossa. Yet, the Soviet authorities again realized the importance and necessity to apply non-linear forms of warfare following the first few months of hostilities with the German army. On August 8, 1941, Lavrentiy Beria (a member of the Soviet State Defense Committee) sent a letter to Joseph Stalin arguing for greater consolidation of the partisan movement. He also praised the effectiveness of non-linear warfare against regular German troops. Therefore, despite the pre-war skepticism, the Great Patriotic War (19411945) arguably became a critical milestone in the formation of Soviet special operations forces. It is important to note that the experience of the Soviet partisans of the 1920s was used extensively in the Soviet Unions armed struggle against Nazi Germany. During the period of hostilities on Soviet territory (19411945), the overall number of partisans reached 1,000,000 people.[xxiii] Leaving aside the debate about the actual effectiveness of these partisan formations (which remains a matter of incessant debate),[xxiv] two aspects should be highlighted. First, German counter-partisan operations were largely unsuccessful.[xxv] Second, for the Soviet side, experience in the war proved useful in its post-war military reforms. In 1951, on the basis of the experience of covert and non-linear operations gained by the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, sabotage and reconnaissance units (diversionno-razvedovatelnaia gruppa) emerged as a part of the armys structure.[xxvi] By 1964, the overall number of forces of special operations in the Soviet Armed Forces included ten brigades, two battalions and six companies.[xxvii] In essence, the Soviet attempt to delegate more powers and integrate nascent Spetsnaz into the architecture of the Armed Forces owed to two interdependent processes: the emergence of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) and their means of delivery as well as the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in 1949. According to Soviet military thought, special forces were to be tasked with intelligence collection, reconnaissance and, if necessary (prior to the escalation of an armed conflict between the Warsaw Pact and NATO), physical destruction of NATO sites with tactical nuclear weapons.[xxviii] The international debut of Soviet Spetsnaz ensued in 1968. In May, the Soviet group of special operations forces (10 members) carried out an attack (which lasted 25 minutes) on US facilities located in Cambodia (30 km from the Vietnamese border), targeting American Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. As a result, three helicopters were destroyed and one was taken to Vietnamese territory. The second episodeOperation Danube (a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact countries)saw Soviet special forces tasked with taking under their control the Prague airport. Otto Skorzeny (a former German SS lieutenant colonel, one of the most well-known Nazi specialists in subversive operations) characterized it as brilliant.[xxix] Soviet Tourists: State-Owned, Proto(Private) Military Contractors As a counter-measure against the perceived American expansionism worldwide, the Soviet Union extensively relied on economic (credits, loans, large infrastructural project, knowledge transfers) and military-technical support rendered to Third World countries. During the Cold War, Moscow concluded treaties on military cooperation with more than 120 countries, agreeing to the deliveries of weaponry and training, which included the dispatching of Soviet military personnel as advisors/instructors. The most conservative estimates of Russian analysts suggest that no fewer than 60,000 Soviet military advisors, including 523 generals and admirals of the Soviet military, served at various times in different friendly countries, including Algeria, Angola, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Yemen, Cambodia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Syria and Ethiopia.[xxx] Moreover, out of 44 military conflicts between 1945 and 1991 involving Soviet military personnel, 22 featured extensive use of partisan and counter-partisan warfare. In effect, this Soviet approach was first formulated in November 1919 by Lenin, who, in declaring the victory of the Russian revolution, stated that now, our Soviet republic should concentrate on raising up the nations of the East, to wage war against international imperialism together.[xxxi] Experience of the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War had equipped the Soviet regime with the essential theoretical and practical skills to attempt this. In the postWorld War II period, the first Soviet attempt to apply non-linear/hybrid measures to influence external developments occurred in 1947, when Moscow played a decisive role in the training of Kurdish militants. Mustafa Barzani (the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party), upon obtaining necessary skills in sabotage and diversionary techniques at the Frunze Military Academy, was sent to Iraqi Kurdistan, in 1957, to conduct operations.[xxxii] With the Soviet Unions growing involvement in various international conflicts, Moscow sought legitimacy for its actions by adopting a concept known as the Internationalist Obligation (Internatsionalnyii Dolg). This facade to justify Soviet covert presence in regional conflicts was first maintained in the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine (1968), and later became engrained in the countrys 1977 constitution.[xxxiii] And though spread across a broad operational theater (three continents), these Soviet actions collectively bore certain general patterns: Pursuit of Legitimacy In pursuit of legitimacy, virtually every instance of involvement in the affairs of another country was preceded by an official request from the target country/leader/government that was allegedly under an imperialist attack and incapable of dealing with the peril on its own. And though it was little more than a mirage, this request was, nevertheless, ardently used by the Soviet side as a lighting rod (for domestic and external purposes) to grant the necessary legitimacy to Moscow.[xxxiv] Incidentally, quite similar arguments (with exactly the same emphasis on legitimate government) were used more recently by the Russian Federation in its actions against Ukraine (2014) and in Syria (2015). Fear of International Exposure Fear of international exposure was (and still is) premised by a desire to portray the United States (and its allies) as aggressors. This was first explicitly voiced by Stalin prior to the outbreak of the Korean War, when he abruptly ordered the withdrawal of all Soviet military advisors from North Korea. Speaking to Nikita Khrushchev, he noted that they could be imprisoned. We do not want the facts of our participation in this affair to become public. This is [North Korean leader] Kim Il Sungs business.[xxxv] From this point on, Soviet military involvement in other countries took the shape of either a) a proxy war with foreign participation (the Korean War, Angolan Civil War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the War in Lebanon); b) a proxy war with clandestine employment of Soviet military personnel; or c) a combination thereof. The threat of international exposure resulted in extremely high levels of secrecy. When sent on a foreign mission, Soviet military advisors or irregular forces (notoriously identified by Moscow as tourists, if discovered) were not allowed to take any items related to their true identity. In March 1970, the Soviet minister of defense, Marshal Andrey Grechko, reportedly told Soviet pilots: Comrades, in case you are shot down beyond the Suez Canal and taken hostage, we do not know you; get out by yourself.[xxxvi] Moreover, on many occasions, the Soviet specialists (while departing from the port of Nikolayev) were unaware of their final destination. In his later accounts, the head of the Soviet forces in Egypt, Major General Aleksey Smirnov, noted that the people had some ideas about where they were going, but our special services would squelch any talk on the subject. Upon arrival in Odesa or Sevastopol, Soviet soldiers and officers were met by groups of military men, put under tight quarantine, and prevented from making calls to any relatives until they had gone through a series of instructive talks. From that point forward, they were explicitly prohibited from mentioning anything related to their activities abroad.[xxxvii] The atmosphere of secrecy and opaqueness surrounding Moscows clandestine Cold Warera foreign operations persisted well after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[xxxviii] Standardized Patterns of Para-Military Preparation The pattern of Moscows surreptitious foreign activities exhibited extensive reliance on the Soviet experience of the Great Patriotic War. Specifically, the Soviets tried to impose some common military structures on the armed forces of partner countries based on the Soviet army model. Notably, North Koreas first leader, Kim Il Sung, once stated that our peoples army was organized on the basis of principles of the Soviet army and with reliance on its rich experience.[xxxix] Exactly the same point was made by Lieutenant General V. Budakov, who served as the head military advisor of the Soviet Union in Syria (19771980). Specifically, he underscored the decisive role of the Soviet World War II experience in the formation of the Syrian armed forces.[xl] It is critical to note that, in pursuit of this imposed uniformity, Moscow actively relied on its military advisors clandestinely sent to the country in question and tasked with organiz[ing] and prepar[ing] local armed forces for actions against a specific enemya thesis put forth, in 1980, by the marshal of the Soviet Union and chief of the General Staff, Nikolai Ogarkov.[xli] This pattern was used by the Soviet side in all theaters and with limited consideration of local particularities (climate, geography, mentality, local culture). Although initially successful, that generalized approach showed multiple flaws in the long run, owing to at least four main reasons. First, while pushing post-colonial countries to integrate the Soviet Unions World War II experience, the Soviet Armed Forces themselves failed to fully adopt these lessons. The age of nuclear euphoria in the 1960s led to an impasse in Soviet military thought.[xlii] This was reflected in excessive dogmatism and inability to follow new trends in the changing nature of warfare. A hugely negative consequence included a visible lack of attention by the political-military leadership to various non-standard fighting techniques. Second, the one-size-fits-all approach disregarded obvious local differences in mentality and determination. For instance, as noted by Nikolay Kolesnik, the chairperson of the Soviet Vietnam War veterans organization, the Vietnamese troops demonstrated an outstanding level of patriotism, fighting spirit and diligence in learning.[xliii] At the same time, Arabs generally did not demonstrate the same level of zeal and resolve. The latter tended to either blame the Soviet weaponry for their defeats or outwardly demanded that Soviet troops be sent in to fight on their behalfan aspect that frequently infuriated the top-level Soviet military command (in particular, Marshal Dmitry Ustinov, the minister of defense of the Soviet Union) and perplexed the political leadership (such as Yuri Andropov).[xliv] Third, a growing technological gap emerged, stemming from excessive dogmatism. The lessons of the Arab-Israeli conflict were misconstrued (or not taken seriously) by the mainstream of the Soviet military-political leadership, which (with very rare exceptions) continued to try to convince the Politburo that Soviet military technologies were unparalleled in their qualities. Voices claiming that our weaponry is inferior to US- and Israeli-produced pieces[xlv] were hushed up. Moreover, the Soviet military-political leadership, while justifying the growing number of failures by blaming the Arab as unfit for fighting, missed the key point.[xlvi] Mainly, the Soviet military advisors, who were taking an increasingly large part in the fighting, were waging an old-type war, while the adversary [US-backed Israel] was conducting a war of the new type.[xlvii] This unpleasant reality (already apparent toward the final phase of the war in Vietnam[xlviii]) was dismissed by Moscow, even though it became fully obvious during the Arab-Israeli warsincluding in such Soviet-prioritized areas as Electronic Warfare (EW).[xlix] Fourth, the Soviet Union consistently failed to catch up with the changing nature of war/warfare. As noted by Marshal Ogarkov in the early 1980s, mobility and offensive preventive operations (in addition to other aspects) would constitute the backbone of future military operations.[l] Yet, those ideas did not receive practical implementation in the Soviet army. As experience of regional conflicts (especially the war in Afghanistan) explicitly demonstrated, Soviet troops were ill-prepared for:[li] counter-insurgency operations (in the majority of instances)[lii]; information confrontation of the new type (including, the changing nature of strategic deception); night-time fighting and ambush; reconnaissance in an unfamiliar terrain. Additionally, the Soviet military was unable to adjust to a growing list of new/atypical tasks increasingly expected of regular armed forces, such control over communications, protection of critical infrastructure, or the supervision of cargo deliveries[liii]functions increasingly delegated in the West to private military companies (PMC). Moscows covert presence in regional conflicts abroad turned out to be unsuccessful due to the imposition of Soviet military patterns on its client states, reflected in the following categories/trends: A push for the creation of Military Districts (with potential to use these as main operative fronts), which were utterly unfit for smaller countries, leading to additional economic expenditures and growing external debts; Emphasis on heavy armored equipment, which was totally impractical in jungles and tropical rainforests; A request to introduce a General Staff of the Armed Forcesan idea misunderstood by leaders in post-colonial countries, for whom such a structure was associated not with upgrading military effectiveness but a rival institution headed by (frequently lacking loyalty) the armed forces. Emphasis on priority branches that included: anti-aircraft warfare (PVO); EW and Radio-Electronic Surveillance; pilot training; sabotage-subversive/reconnaissance operations. It is crucial to note that Soviet technical-military support (as a combination of arms deliveries and expertise) became one of the Kremlins main tools to promote its geopolitical ambitions[liv] in far-flung regions. When it comes to Soviet military advisors/consultants abroad, one case studySoviet/Russian- military cooperation with Libya (19731992)is of particular interest. Aside from purchasing Soviet weaponry (approximately $20 billion worth), the Libyan side also paid for the deployment of the Soviet military specialists on its soil (Tripoli transferred to the Soviet Union $30,000 per month for this purpose). Locally, they were treated as mercenaries,[lv] which, in effect, was not that far off from the actual state of affairs: toward the end of the 1980s, Soviet military specialists were extensively employed in all major armed conflicts fought by Libya, including border skirmishes with Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Niger, Tanzania and Tunisia.[lvi] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many (at this point former) Soviet military advisors opted to stay in Libya and continue their service in this country as private contractors. Supporting Insurgent MovementsTraining Terrorists Between 1959 and 1971, the outstanding Russian military thinker Evgeny Messner wrote three books that de facto predicted the nature of future conflicts. The key thesis emphasized by Messner was reflected in the following postulate: Wars will not be waged with forces of regular armies future wars will take the form of a mutiny partisans, saboteurs, terrorists, propagandists will become the main driving force. Violence (intimidation and terror) and partisans will become the main weapons in this war.[lvii] Many Western and some Russian sources ascribe tactics chosen by Moscow in its support for the nascent radical movement in the Middle East to ideas presented by Messner. This might be partially true; however, these Soviet methods should be primarily attributed to the personality of Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov,[lviii] who, almost a decade prior to Messner, argued that in order to successfully compete with the West (primarily the US), the Soviet Union had to render support for national-liberation movements in so-called Western zones of influence. This was to be done via training local terrorists, saboteurs and partisansforces that could become the Kremlins fifth columns in case hostilities with the West were to erupt. Such training was to consist of theoretical (ideological work) and practical (planning of non-linear military operations) elements.[lix] Though largely ignored at the time, this idea would start to be implemented after Stalins death in 1953. For instance, the former element was actively developed through various youth exchange programs: in 1957 (prior to the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students), the KGB pointed out to Khrushchev that this event could be used as a good opportunity for ideological purposes; similarly, Patrice Lumumba University (now, The Peoples Friendship University of Russia), which opened in 1960 and was coordinated by the KGB, became one of the main centers of Soviet recruitment of radical neophytes from around the world (international terrorists such as Ilich Carlos the Jackal Ramirez Sanchez studied there). The practical aspect of training radicals from abroad was coordinated by the Soviet Ministry of Defense (MoD) and apparently the KGB. One of the most well-known examples was a base located on the 21st kilometer of the SimferopolAlushta highway, in the village of Perevalnoye, where the classified 165th Training Center was located. Coordinated by the MoD, the center existed from 1965 to 1990, and prepared approximately 18,000 foreign fighters. The first group (75 persons) arrived from Guinea-Bissau[lx] in the summer of 1965.[lxi] Russian sources claim that students from the following countries/territories received practical training at the 165th Training Center: Ethiopia, Guinea-Conakry, Madagascar, Cuba, Afghanistan, Mali, Vietnam, Laos, the Peoples Republic of Kampuchea (PRKCambodia), Nicaragua, Yemen, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, India, Zambia, Tanzania, Kongo, Benin, Grenada, and Sao Tome and Principethe main theaters of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist efforts.[lxii] It is important to note that training was done by Soviet military cadre officers, all of whom had fought in the Second World War, whereas the main areas of military preparation (aside from standard tactics) included rendering general and specific knowledge on bombing/sapper tasks.[lxiii] Russian sources have also claimed that, in a single year (19771978) another training center located in the village of Privolnoye (Mykolaiv Oblast) hosted 400 Palestinians (from Syria and Lebanon), 200 Angolans, 200 Namibians, 60 militants from South Africa (African National Congress) and 20 militants from South Yemen.[lxiv] Aside from the above-mentioned cases, it is worth mentioning[lxv]: The Higher Officer Courses Vystrel (Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Oblast); Special schools coordinated by the KGB and military intelligence, or GRU (Balashikha, Moscow Oblast); The Totskoye military polygon (Orenburg Oblast); Mary (Turkmenistan); Frunze (now Bishkek). It is also important to emphasize that the Soviet side actively employed proxies: for instance, Soviet support for the Palestine Liberation Organization (initially agreed upon by Moscow in 1970) would be maintained via the German Democratic Republic (GDR) after a meeting that commenced between Erik Honecker and Yasir Arafat in East Berlin. Those talks subsequently led to the German side providing the Palestinians with weaponry and military instructors. Some of the contacts were also maintained via the Soviet diplomatic representation in Tunisia.[lxvi] Frequently referred to as freedom fighters and insurgents by Soviet propaganda, alumni of these Soviet training centers were, in effect, taught tactics widely employed by various terrorist organizations. Starting from the 1972 Summer Olympics (the Munich Massacre), a spree of terrorism, in many ways implicitly boosted by Soviet efforts, paralyzed the Western world. Yet, although the Soviet Union built up this experience of training foreign militants to wage non-linear warfare, the Soviet Armed Forces Moscow appeared entirely unprepared when faced with the same tactics against them in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the Soviets started experimenting with anti-insurgency forces (primarily, the Kaskad group, under the umbrella of the KGB, which would become the most well-prepared unit for anti-insurgency operations in Afghanistan). Aside from specific preparation techniques, these units were taught local languages and traditions.[lxvii] Nevertheless, those measures proved largely insufficient. Conclusion From 1558 to 1990, the Russian/Soviet use of irregular forces and military contractors underwent a number of profound transformations. But it was the combination of experiences gained in the first half of the 20th century, during the Civil and the Great Patriotic War, that gave rise to a qualitatively new, multilayered phenomenon combining: Asymmetricity and promptness in actions (a thesis promulgated by Lenin), which resulted in the emergence of forces of special operations such as Vympel and Alpha Groupa tradition that continued under post-1991 Russia; Military-political confrontation with the West, by igniting and supporting national-liberation revolutionary forces abroad; Geopolitical confrontation with the West and proliferation of Soviet geopolitical interests abroad. The aftermath of the Six-Day War (1967) added a new wrinkle to the Soviet strategy: the previously practiced transfer of partisan methods of war was mixed with a state-sponsored anti-Jewish component (with the decisive role of the KGB)[lxviii]a combination that would be extensively employed in the Middle East, resulting in a growing wave of terrorism and breakdown of regional security. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union found itself poorly prepared for counter-insurgency operations and non-linear methods of war used against it by militants in Afghanistan. And simultaneously, the Soviets (to their great and barely concealable astonishment[lxix]) found themselves confronting non-linear war in the Middle East. Moscows forces suffered a heavy blow in Syria, where, starting from the summer of 1981, radical Islamistsmerging elements of Soviet partisan tactics and suicide bombingslaunched a series of attacks against Soviet military personnel in major Syrian cities. As a result of one such operation (October 5, 1981), Colonel General Grigori Yashkin, the head of the Soviet Military Advisors in Syria, was seriously wounded, while five advisors were killed on the spot and close to 300 were wounded.[lxx] Those historical deficiencies apparently have not discouraged the contemporary generation of Russian military thinkers. On the contrary, as Russias chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, stated in 2013, future conflicts would be characterized by elements such as a no-fly zone and naval blockades. This template, he noted, was tested in Libya, in 2011. And in preparing for such eventualities, extensive employment of Private Military Companies in conjunction with armed groups of local opposition forces would have to become commonplace. According to Gerasimov, when reflecting about new forms of warfare, Russia must remember its own experience, including the employment of partisan units during the Great Patriotic War, [and] confrontation with irregular forces in Afghanistan and the North Caucasus.[lxxi] Thus, toward the end of 2013 (in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis), the Russian side had largely re-considered the importance of non-linear forms of warfare. This was primarily influenced by the nature of regional conflicts in the Middle East (although the general discussion on this had started much earlier). Importantly, the Russian side was planning to rely not only on experience of Western PMCs, but also on its own (vast and frequently successful) achievements in the realm of non-linear confrontation. Dr. Sergey Sukhankin is a Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation and an Associate Expert at the International Center for Policy Studies (Kyiv). He received his PhD in Contemporary Political and Social History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), with his thesis discussing the transformation of Kaliningrad Oblast after the collapse of the USSR. His areas of scientific interest primarily concern Kaliningrad and the Baltic Sea region, Russian information and cyber security, A2/AD and its interpretation in Russia, as well as the development of Russia Private Military Companies (PMC) after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. This article appeared originally at The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Dialy Monitor. Notes: [i] For more information, see Sergey Sukhankin, War, Business and Ideology: How Russian Private Military Contractors Pursue Moscows Interests, The Jamestown Foundation, March 20, 2019, https://jamestown.org/program/war-business-and-ideology-how-russian-private-military-contractors-pursue-moscows-interests/. [ii] Ivan Zabelin, Minin i Pozharskiy: Pryamye i krivye v smutnoe vremya (Moscow: Agraf, 1999). [iii] The non-Russian people remained a source of perpetual instability and danger, frequently becoming a key factor in various popular uprisings on the outskirts of the Russian Empire throughout the 18th century, and the 19th century, especially after the outbreak of the First Caucasian War (18171864). [iv] Cossacks are militarized and initially ethnically non-Russian people, first mentioned in official correspondence between Russian Grand Duke Ivan the Terrible and the Nogay Count Yussuf, in the year 1550. Throughout Russian history, until 1917, this group was actively employed by the Russian Imperial government for mainly paramilitary services. [v] Russia de facto pulled out of the war in 1917. [vi] Ilya Polonskiy, Samye neobychnye I ekzoticheskie voyska Rossiyskoy imperii, Voyennoe obozrenie, August 23, 2018, https://topwar.ru/145903-samye-neobychnye-i-jekzoticheskie-vojska-rossijskoj-imperii.html. [vii] Vitaliy Maryutkin, Bashkiro-meshcheryakskoe voysko na sluzhbe Rossii, Nezavisimoe Voyennoe obozrenie, October 27, 2017, http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2017-10-27/14_971_bashkir.html. [viii] It is important to mention that this function was vested on so-called non-Russian people. Aside from Terek and Kuban Cossacks, Cherkes, Nogais, Stavropol Turkmens, Tatars, Georgians and Crimea Tatars were actively employed. For more information, see: Nikolay Plotnikov, Sobstvenny Ego Velichestva konvoy, Voyenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal, a??5 (1991), http://gosudarstvo.voskres.ru/army/convoy.htm. [ix] The term plastun derives from the Russian (and Ukrainian) word plast, which means sheet, via the expression to lay like a sheet or, in other words, to lay low. [x] Plastuny: kazachiy spetsnaz, Russkaya semerka, September 25, 2016, https://russian7.ru/post/plastuny/. [xi] Irregulyarnye voyska v Rossiyskoy imperii, Mvd.prav-ussr.su, Accessed on February 2, 2019, http://mvd.prav-ussr.su/?N?N???N???N??N??-??????-?-N??????????-???/ [xii] Sergey Sukhankin, Russia to Use Irregular Forces Against Hybrid Threats: The Case of Kaliningrad, Eurasia Daily Monitor, Volume: 15 Issue: 110 (July 24, 2018), https://jamestown.org/program/russia-to-use-irregular-forces-against-hybrid-threats-the-case-of-kaliningrad/. [xiii] Igor Zakharin, Na sluzhbe u persidskogo shakha, Chasovoy, a?? 629 (1981): 1416. [xiv] Anatoly Taras, Malaya voyna. Organizatsyaya I taktika boevykh deystviy malykh podrazdeleniy (1998). Available at: https://litresp.ru/chitat/ru/?/taras-anatolij-efimovich/malaya-vojna-organizaciya-i-taktika-boevih-dejstvij-malih-podrazdelenij. [xv] These semi-organized armed peasant groups fought against all government forces during the Civil War. [xvi] O voyennoy deyatelnosti V.I.Lenina v period inostrannoy voyennoy interventsii, in Lenin vel nas k pobede (Moscow: Gospolitizdat, 1962). Available at: https://leninism.su/memory/4127-lenin-vel-nas-k-pobede49.html?start=3. [xvii] Iosif Unshlikht, Sozdatel spetsnaza, Zen.yandex.ru, November 13, 2018, https://zen.yandex.ru/media/nashi/iosif-unshliht-sozdatel-specnaza-5beac2f4684fe000b389d998. [xviii] Alexander Kolpakidi, D.P. Prokhorov, Imperiya GRU, Book 2 (Olma-Press, 2000), https://www.e-reading.club/book.php?book=28594. [xix] Partizanskoe dvizhenie v Zapadnoy Belorussii (Polsha) 1921-1925. Sovetskaya aktivnaya razvedka, Hronos, accessed February 10, 2019, http://www.hrono.ru/sobyt/1900war/1921pol.php. [xx] Arkhiv Trotskogo. Kommunisticheskaya oppozitsiya v SSSR. 1923-1927, ed. Y. Felshtinskiy, ? 1 (?oscow: Terra, 1990) [xxi] Kolpakidi, Imperiya GRU. [xxii] Yuri Veremeev, Krasnaya Armiya I Vtoraya Mirovaya voyna. Uchilas li Krasnaya Armiya oboronyatsya, in Anatomiya armii, accessed February 1, 2019, http://army.armor.kiev.ua/hist/obor-ne%20umel.shtml. [xxiii] Partizanskoje dvizhenije w Velikoii Otechestvennoii vojne // Sovietskaya vojennaja entsiklopedija. T. 6. Glav. red. N.V. Ogarkov. Moskva, Voejenizdat, 1978, pp. 230234. [xxiv] Vladimir Kvachkov. Spetsnaz Rossii. Moskva, Russkaja panorama, 2006. [xxv] Ivan Kovtun. Okhotniki: spetspodrazdelenija vermakhta po borbe s partizanami, http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2009/2/2009_2_12.php. [xxvi] It is worth mentioning that the idea of creating units of special operations was put forth in the early 1950s by Georgy Zhukov. For more information see: Den podrazdeleniy spetsialnogo naznacheniya (Den spetsnaza) v Rossii, Ria.ru, October 24, 2016, https://ria.ru/20161024/1479707398.html. [xxvii] Igor Vetrov, Istoki: spetsnaz GRU: istoriya s prodolzheniem, Bratishka, October 2008, http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2008/10/2008_10_5.php. [xxviii] Taras Repin, Chem GRU otlichalos ot KGB SSSR, Russkaya semerka, October 16, 2018, https://russian7.ru/post/chem-gru-otlichalos-ot-kgb-sssr/. The U.S. Army is poorly deployed to assist NATO in deterring Russian conventional aggression against the Alliance. The U.S. Army is essentially based in the Continental United States (CONUS), while the likely place for conflict with Russia is on NATOs eastern border. Recognizing this, over the past several years, the Army has been increasing its force structure in Europe. It has done so by rotating individual units, including Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs) into the continent. While a good first step, this may not be sufficient to deter Russia. Rather, what is required is the permanent stationing of U.S. and NATO forces, particularly heavy armored formations, in Poland. Russian conventional forces are capable of conducting a rapid, high-intensity campaign against the states on its immediate western periphery. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all NATO members are particularly vulnerable to a conventional coup de main or surprise attack. But a move against Ukraine, Poland or Romania cannot be ruled out. The RAND Corporation has intensively analyzed the military balance in the Baltic region. The conclusions of this effort are, to say the least, sobering: As currently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members. Fortunately, even after a decade of modernization, Russian conventional forces are a one-trick pony, capable only of limited offensive operations in areas immediately beyond their borders. The Russian concept of operations for conventional war is highly dependent on an initial surprise attack on opposing forces at the outset of hostilities. The Kremlins efforts to organize a national mobilization capability, which would be required in the event of a conflict with NATO, have been largely unsuccessful. Thus, the Russian military is designed to support a smash-and-grab strategy similar to what we saw in Crimea. For deterrence of Russia to work, as the former head of U.S. Army forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, observed, you have to have real capability the capability to compel or to defeat. The outgoing Supreme Allied Commander, General Curtis Scaparrotti, stated that the deployment of additional U.S. troops and airborne ISR platforms in Europe would help me do a better job of deterring Russia and set us in a better place to understand how Russia operates. The decision to send American ABCTs to Europe on heel-to-toe rotations is a good start. In 2017, two ABCTs were simultaneously rotated into Poland. One advantage of rotational deployments is the ability to employ these units continuously in presence and training missions. Another is the avoidance of the inevitable installation and transportation costs involved with creating permanent facilities to house soldiers and their families. However, there are clear and important advantages to establishing a permanent and significant U.S. Army presence in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland. First, such a force would complicate Russian planning for aggression, reducing the chance of a successful smash-and-grab attack. Second, a heavy U.S. deployment in Eastern Europe would be able to respond rapidly and effectively from the outset of hostilities while CONUS-based forces move to reinforce them. Mobile formations employing long-range fires, advanced aviation and layered air and missile defenses would disrupt the Russian ground offensive and disintegrate its integrated air defense system. Third, it is going to take U.S. expeditionary forces a long time to move from the middle of the U.S. to Eastern Europe, if European ports and airfields are even available. Finally, by attacking U.S. forces, the Kremlin would face the risk of escalating the conflict. The U.S. should permanently station a strong Army presence in Poland. Initially, it would make sense to base a divisional headquarters and associated units there while continuing to rotate ABCTs into the theater. Once an adequate command and control structure is in place, the U.S. government should move to permanently base at least an armored division in that country. If the Armys new concept for Multi-Domain Operations is to be successfully implemented, a full Army headquarters will be required in Europe to coordinate land with air and naval forces and direct advanced long-range fires, offensive electronic warfare, cyber operations and theater air and missile defenses. The Polish Government proposed that the U.S. deploy a full armored division to Poland and offered to contribute up to $2 billion to support it. Warsaw also would invest in the infrastructure to support the presence of U.S. forces and their families. The presence of such a force would help improve the quality of Polish forces through joint exercises and personnel exchanges. What NATO requires most of all to deter rapid Russian aggression is a sturdy iron curtain consisting of sufficient heavy land forces backed up by long-range precision fires and air and missile defenses. The permanent stationing of U.S. ground forces in Poland is the key to creating a credible and capable deterrent capability. Once the U.S. makes the move, it is likely that other NATO members will also base troops in Poland. Confronted by a unified Alliance that demonstrates its commitment to collective defense, Russia can and will be deterred. 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 The last time I walked by the presidential palace in Kabul and headed back to my NATO base, in 2011, I wondered whether I had made any difference during my year as a NATO advisor to the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense. I was one of about 20 Canadian and American senior military advisors working in partnership with Afghan generals and their staff. We advised the Ministries of Defense and Interior on the manning, training, and equipping of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Amongst ourselves, we advisers wondered what was in fact the right path to bring security to Afghanistan. I was in Afghanistan during a time when the United States had 100,000 military personnel deployed in the country. These troops led much of the fighting, but they worked side-by-side with the National Army and Police while these grew in capacity and capability. Today, the United States has less than 15,000 personnel deployed in Afghanistan. While I am neither a diplomat nor an economist, I am a retired military officer who cares deeply about our men and women in uniform. I also care deeply about peace and stability in Central Asia, because the region is critical to Americas broader strategic interests. We cannot fight our way to peace and stability in Afghanistan. If we have learned anything after 40 years of continuous war there, it is that a myopic focus on military solutions will not lead to peace. The path to stability does not depend on the number of U.S. troops in the field or the number of Taliban leaders killed. Sustainable peace in Afghanistan requires an economy that can satisfy the needs of its people. While Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, it cannot harvest them to the fullest without the stability and good governance required for business to grow and thrive. U.S. strategy for Afghanistan must look beyond near-term military concerns, and it cant revolve around negotiations with the Taliban that do not include Afghan government representation. We must take the long view, and if we want to end a seemingly endless war, we must use all elements of U.S. national power. We must better harness our diplomatic relationships in the region while also tying strict and achievable benchmarks to our economic assistance. We need to start thinking about how the United States can use the full extent of its national power to bring others to the table that have the interest and ability to help Afghans develop their economy. Afghanistans long-term security is not an American problem meant to be solved by Americans alone, but one shared by countries as diverse as Germany, Russia, and Pakistan. Not only does China need to be included, but Beijing should be encouraged to take on a far more proactive role in Afghanistans national development. As a nearby state and an emerging superpower eager to expand its access to natural resources, China has both an economic and security interest in becoming a major player in the country. The United States, Afghanistan, and their partners should press Beijing to contribute to the difficult developmental work that is still needed. Others need to be at that table as well, particularly those like the European Union, Russia, and Pakistan who possess the financial largesse or political relationships to create the kind of stability Afghanistan needs for a better economy. By taking a longer strategic view and pulling in other partners to work with Afghanistan and the United States, I believe progress is achievable over the long-term -- although it will still be a difficult road. When I advised the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, several of the generals I worked with most closely helped me appreciate what life was like in Afghanistan before the Taliban, then during the Taliban occupation, and the gradual but important progress that occurred since 2001. I learned many lessons from them, and my faith in Afghanistans ability to survive and grow is placed in the younger generations of Afghans. They have already done so much, starting with the hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers who have fought and sacrificed on behalf of their country. I feel an urgency to end this military conflict that has already surpassed in length any war the United States has fought in its history. The U.S. must engage a long-term strategy endorsed with international endorsement and support -- a plan that helps Afghanistan prosper as a strong, sovereign, independent country. We have developed these kinds of strategies before. Let us do it again. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Lower Half (Retired) Sandy Adams is a fellow of the American College of National Security Leaders. The views expressed are the author's own. 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, 04/16/2019 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. : What Now? has revealed new details about the events that led up to Jonathan Rivera and Fernanda Flores ' break-up and confirmed Jonathan has filed for divorce.Jonathan, 33, confirmed he is divorcing Fernanda after disclosing in March he was trying to prevent his estranged wife from receiving U.S. residency by canceling the affidavit of support they had initially filed.While Jonathan has said his relationship with Fernanda, 20, didn't work out because she wanted to pursue a modeling career and had a change of heart about their life together, he never revealed many additional details about what exactly went wrong between them, and Fernanda has largely declined to talk about the matter either.However, : What Now?'s newly-released third season includes three episodes which shows Jonathan and Fernanda's relationship unravel, and then Jonathan -- who confirmed their separation on social media in early January 2019 -- share his side of the story on why their marriage failed.The major point of contention between the former happy couple was living in Lumberton, NC, where Jonathan works as a real estate agent.Fernanda admitted the town in which she grew up in Mexico was small but Lumberton is "10 times smaller."Fernanda, a self-declared "big city girl," felt lonely, bored and "trapped" in her home with Jonathan because, due to her immigration status, she still lacked independence and couldn't yet drive or work for her own financial stability.In addition, Fernanda revealed on : What Now? she wanted to take acting classes in order to become an actress as well as a model -- and she felt such opportunities didn't exist in Lumberton."This is frustrating because I left my family and everything in Mexico. I would prefer Jonathan sacrifice some things in his life to have the things I prefer," Fernanda told the cameras, before telling Jonathan she simply wasn't happy in his town and never would be.Fernanda therefore had her heart set on moving to Chicago -- where Jonathan's family lives, and Fernanda and Jonathan had already previously visited to spend time with his family -- to pursue her acting and modeling dreams.However, Jonathan was reluctant to uproot their lives since his connections were in Lumberton and he had already established a good reputation there."I would be sacrificing my dreams for yours," Jonathan told Fernanda on : What Now?."That's something that I consider selfish," Fernanda argued."I will not live here forever. I know that I can, but I don't want to. I want opportunities to do what I've always dreamed to do... I don't like it here. End point."Fernanda's mom also appeared to disagree with Fernanda's desire to relocate to Chicago and pursue her acting and modeling dreams, reminding her daughter that the "point" of Fernanda's move to America was for her to marry Jonathan and start a family with him.Instead, Fernanda's mother urged her to be more patient and wait to move to Chicago until Jonathan had accomplished some of his goals and felt more comfortable relocating.In one joint interview with producers, Jonathan also claimed one of Fernanda's issues with Lumberton was she believed the area's residents were close-minded."I'm dying in this town. I'm sorry, but I'm not staying here," Fernanda told Jonathan. "I'm not living here. I don't like it. I'm sorry.""Fernanda, you haven't given it a try. Have you given it a chance?" Jonathan replied, urging her to be honest."No. I don't want it.... no, because my mind is closed to [being] here," Fernanda said."But that's part of the reason you don't like it here -- because people have closed minds -- but you're doing the same thing," Jonathan responded.Fernanda appeared to continue to push Jonathan to move to Chicago, which the couple was already planning to visit for Christmas with his family.But since Jonathan wasn't budging and insisted Fernanda wasn't giving Lumberton a fair chance, they were fighting constantly and at a standstill in their relationship."I think in a couple of months, the right way is for me to be gone first and I start to work and have my own apartment," Fernanda told the cameras."I think Jonathan knows how much I care for him and he [won't] feel that until I move and then he's alone here. Trust me, once that I'm gone, he will miss that.": What Now? then transitioned into Jonathan saying he and Fernanda had separated. (Jonathan previously alleged the last time they spoke was December 22, 2018)."Fernanda chose not to share her side of the story about the end of their relationship," the episode showed in an on-screen graphic.Jonathan therefore was the only person who opened up about the demise of their marriage."At my friend's Christmas party [before Christmas], there were several times Fernanda was trying to embarrass me in front of my friends. She even went as far as flirting with another guy to get my attention," Jonathan claimed."I just wasn't having it. I went back home and she shows up an hour-and-a-half later, and she is packing some of her things. She goes, 'You're not my husband; I regret ever meeting you.'"Jonathan alleged, "The night literally ended with me running from my house because I couldn't fight with her anymore. I decided it was time to separate shortly after that."Jonathan said he decided to end things immediately rather than drag their relationship out for another five years or more."She's like, 'I want to fix this, I'm sorry.' But by then, I was already like, 'No, this is not going to work,'" Jonathan alleged.According to Jonathan, Fernanda moved to Chicago after the couple split and they didn't talk at all.Jonathan said he and Fernanda saw new sides of each other while living together and they never would have gotten married so quickly had it not been for the K-1 visa requirements of bringing Fernanda to America.Jonathan said divorce was the couple's only option, and once he informed Fernanda of his decision to file, she allegedly agreed but demanded half the income he had earned during their marriage."She said, 'Okay,' and then followed up with a text message two days later saying, 'I'm going after what's mine. I want 50 percent of everything you earned from the day we were married to the day we get divorced,'" Jonathan claimed, revealing they had never signed a prenup."I think the thought of her losing her visa is why she's acting out now... If we get divorced, she can't become a U.S. citizen. I think she's doing everything she can to try to stay in this country."Jonathan was also shown meeting with an attorney on : What Now? to figure out his options following the separation.Jonathan learned he must withdraw the affidavit of support immediately in order to not be responsible for Fernanda financially for 10 years.Her application for a green card would likely be denied, and she may be deported back to Mexico as a result.As previously mentioned, Jonathan ultimately made the decision to try to cancel Fernanda's green card and file for divorce with the understanding he could not change his mind or take any of it back.Jonathan wanted to protect his assets and financial interests, but the attorney pointed out Fernanda will be able to fight for alimony in the divorce proceedings given they had never signed a prenup."I want this [divorce] to happen rather quickly so we can both go our separate ways. I can't control what she does. I can only control my actions," Jonathan told the cameras."And I'm going to do it professionally and handle it with class, but I will keep what's mine, and that's my business."Jonathan and Fernanda starred on Season 6 of . , We're sorry, this article is not currently available If Walmart is spinning success stories of Indian manufacturers in global markets, Amazon is taking 'Make in India' to the world, bolstered by its 'Global Selling Programme' Mumbai-based Indo Count Industries is one of the fastest-growing suppliers of home textiles in the US and European markets. The Indian textiles maker has forayed into 49 foreign markets and nurses ambition to become a global leader, thanks to retail major Walmart. A partnership forged with Walmarts home brand Canopy over a decade ago helped the company to expand globally. Being a Walmart supplier has not only helped the company elevate its position to a trusted supplier but also allowed it to invest smartly in the business to increase its market share globally. Indo Count Industries is not a case study in isolation. Hordes of home-grown Indian manufacturers and sellers are profiting from the business models and facilitation offered by India-focused multinationals such as Walmart and Amazon. Walmart, with its sourcing model, and Amazon, by offering a Global Selling Programme, are raising the aspirational bar on small Indian businesses, elevating them to earn the coveted tag of global entrepreneurs. Walmart has set up a global sourcing centre in Bengaluru, which sources an array of India-made products - textiles, apparel, pharmaceuticals, and handicrafts - for catering to 14 foreign markets. India is an important sourcing market for Walmart. Not only do we procure over 95 per cent of the goods sold in our Best Price stores from local companies, including SME (small & medium enterprises) and women entrepreneurs but also we have a global sourcing centre in Bengaluru. "We work closely with and engage our suppliers to understand and meet our responsible sourcing and compliance standards, said Marilee McInnis, director of corporate affairs, Global Communication, Walmart. Ashish Kapoor, director at Panipat-based Kapoor Industries, recalls how a partnership with Walmart in 2006 fashioned the growth in the company. He claims the company registered a growth of 33 per cent in 2016 and 50 per cent in 2017. The firm grew from manufacturing 1.2 million pieces per month (600 tonnes) in 2015 to 2.4 million pieces per month (1,200 tonnes) in 2017. Our plan is growing the production assets by 33 per cent per year that will expand our business by 100 per cent in less than three years, he says. As the leading producer-cum-exporter of bath, beach, and kitchen towels, Kapoor Industries accomplished annual export (to the US) turnover of $125 million in 2017. If Walmart is spinning success stories of Indian manufacturers in global markets, Amazon is taking Make in India to the world, bolstered by its Global Selling Programme. Saroj, a global seller on Amazon from Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), started selling copperware online with modest sales of Rs 2,000 per month. He then evaluated the customer feedback and reviews on the global marketplace and repositioned his products. The strategy helped Saroj considerably and his earnings rocketed from Rs 24,000 to Rs 2 crore per year. Amazon said it is empowering sellers from small towns in India by scaling up their businesses and leveraging the digital economy. Today, we have over 50,000 Indian sellers as part of the global selling programme, 80 per cent of them are from tier 2 and below cities. "Sellers and manufacturers in India are producing great quality products and there is an opportunity to connect this supply to hundreds of millions of loyal customers on Amazons various marketplaces. "The aim of this programme is to encourage and empower more and more exporters to come online, reach out to a global customer base and grow and scale their business, said Abhijit Kamra, head, Global Selling Programme, Amazon India. Rohit Mehrotra, co-founder of California Design Den, credits it to Amazon for launching and building his own brand in the US. After 10 years of manufacturing and exporting to US retailers, we wanted to launch our own brand there, but it was so competitive that our efforts did not yield good results. "Then we got on Amazon platform through the Global Selling Programme, whose continuous support made sure we focused on quality and were giving value to customers. "It has also been instrumental in helping us become one of the bestsellers in our category. "Another milestone for us has been the participation in various sale events in the US such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas and last year itself we saw a growth of 200 per cent, he said. Making ready for world Walmart sets up global sourcing centre in Bengaluru that sources India-made products for catering to 14 foreign markets It procures over 95 per cent of the goods sold in Best Price stores from local companies Amazon takes Make in India to the world, bolstered by its Global Selling Programme It is empowering sellers from small towns in India by scaling up their businesses and leveraging the digital economy Photograph: Reuters While a do-it-yourself approach in direct plans will help you save money, there is the risk of making poor investment decisions and suffering loss of capital, says Devang Kakkad, head of research, Equirus Wealth Management. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com The Securities and Exchange Board of India had introduced direct plans of mutual funds five years ago. However, the rate of adoption of these plans has gathered pace only in the past two-three years. The introduction of direct plans has made it even more crucial for investors to select the right financial advisor, who can help them build a sound mutual fund portfolio. When Sebi had introduced direct plans, its vision was to offer a lower-cost option to knowledgeable and sophisticated investors, both institutional and non-institutional. Investors who use direct plans do not have to pay the distribution fee that is built into regular plans. Institutional and knowledgeable investors with nuanced understanding of products and markets are capable of doing their own research and due diligence, and selecting the right schemes. These are the investors that direct plans are best suited for. Regular plans of mutual funds have distribution commission embedded in them, hence their expense ratios are higher than those of direct plans. Investors opting for regular plans do not have to bear any advisory or distribution fee as the distributor is compensated by the product manufacturer, in this case the asset management company. Closer alignment of interest The idea was that when retail investors invest in direct plans, they would seek independent and unbiased advice from professionals, both in the matter of selecting funds and building their portfolios. It was expected that they would compensate professional advisors by paying them a separate fee. Since these advisors would depend on fees from investors, they would align their interests more closely with that of the latter. When sellers are compensated by the product manufacturer, as in the case of regular plans, their incentives get skewed. They tend to push those products that pay them a higher commission, instead of those that are in the investor's interest. It is this trap that the investor can avoid when s/he opts for the combination of direct funds and a professional advisor. The underlying idea was not so much to help investors save cost, but to eliminate advisory biases and ensure the generation of truly client-centric advice and recommendations. Through its guidelines on Registered Investment Advisors, Sebi set high standards for investment advisors by specifying the necessary qualifications they should have. Retail adoption of direct limited but rising According to a release issued by the Association of Mutual Funds in India, about 12% of retail investors have invested in direct plans. A much higher proportion of high net worth individuals, 21%, have opted to invest directly. Altogether, 42% of the mutual fund industry's asset under management is managed through the direct platform. A large portion of these investments is in non-equity schemes made by institutional investors. Interestingly, the proportion of direct investments in equities to total assets held by individual investors was approximately 8% in February 2019. Going direct, but for wrong reasons It is indeed true that more retail investors are now opting for direct plans. However, in most cases the reason for adopting them is to save cost. This approach is fraught with risks. Investors who invest on their own do not do any risk profiling, which essentially means gauging how much risk they can take and then investing in funds that have a level of volatility suited to their appetite. These investors also do not undertake asset allocation, which ensures that their portfolio is well diversified and hence capable of weathering various kinds of market situations. Retail investors are often not able to select quality funds, nor are they able to do the due diligence on the asset management company. The Do It Yourself model works well when the markets are in a bull phase and equities are giving above-average returns. However, as soon as the markets enter a bearish phase, or move only sideways, the lack of sound advice takes a toll. Without proper advice, investors react in a knee-jerk fashion to short-term corrections and redeem their investments at a loss. In the pursuit of lower cost, they sometimes end up losing their capital. Choosing right funds is not easy There are many complexities in choosing the right mutual fund scheme. For example, according to the recent Sebi categorisation norms, there are 16 sub-categories of debt funds. Each of them carries a specific level of risk (credit and duration related) and requires a certain minimum investment horizon. Thus, making the rate choice is no mean task in debt funds. The same holds true for both equity and hybrid categories. To offer an analogy, when a person falls sick, s/he needs professional advice from a doctor. Self-medication may not work and could even prove dangerous. Similarly, when retail investors are investing for either the long- or short-term, they should seek unbiased professional advice. A simple google search of historical returns of various categories or rankings provided by online portals does not qualify as research. Inadequate research and poor-quality investment decisions without factoring in a person's detailed risk profile can lead to losses and an unpleasant experience for the investor. Identifying the right advisor Choose an advisor who adopts the financial planning approach and develops an asset allocation strategy based on your financial goals. Be wary of one who does not follow this approach but only suggests a list of mutual funds for investing in. The asset allocation strategy should be developed after comprehensive risk profiling and identification of investment goals, instead of being driven by one asset class or investment horizon only. While building a long-term portfolio, investors should ensure they opt for multiple asset classes, and a diverse range of products within each class. The advisor should have the ability to guide investors across different asset classes and provide a holistic financial solution. Increasingly, more financial advisors are opting for RIA certification to be able to provide holistic financial advisory, instead of having expertise only in mutual funds. In an advisory-focussed model, the onus is on investors to compensate professional advisors appropriately. In India, financial advisory is often perceived to be free of cost. This needs to change. Investors, on their part, should focus more on the performance of the investment professional, instead of fixating only on fees. Popular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was ordered to leave the country immediately and his business visa cancelled, an official said on Tuesday, two days after he allegedly campaigned for West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress that sparked a political row. West Bengal state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria also met the state's Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab on Monday to register a complaint and urged him to take appropriation action over the alleged violation of the model code of conduct by the TMC. A video showing Ahmed and Bengali actors Ankush and Payal participating in a roadshow on Sunday to seek votes for Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, the TMC candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, went viral on social media. "All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for Didi (TMC chief Mamata Banerjee)," Ahmed was claimed to have told voters while sharing the dais with Agarwal. The Centre on Tuesday issued a 'Leave India' notice and cancelled the business visa given to the actor. Ahmed has also been 'blacklisted' by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the prospects of his future travel to India. "After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh National, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a 'Leave India' notice. He has also been blacklisted. "The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders," a Union home ministry official said in Delhi. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor over his alleged poll campaign. Majumdar, the state BJP vice president, wanted to know how a Bangladeshi national on a visit to the country could campaign for a candidate, and alleged that the actor was brought to polarise minority voters in the constituency. "We believe that it is a completely illegal move executed intentionally. This is a proof of the TMC's bankrupt politics," he said. When reached by PTI for comments, Agarwal said he had no knowledge of the actor canvassing for him. "I have no knowledge about this (Ahmed campaigning for him). I have only two star campaigners Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikary. I have participated in Mamata's two rallies and today I took part in a roadshow in Islampur where Suvendu Adhikary was present," Agarwal said. Senior TMC leader and former state minister Madan Mitra was dismissive about any violation of the model code because of a Bangladeshi national campaigning in an election in India. "I don't know whether the actor participated in the rally or was invited by the candidate. But I don't think there is any violation of the model code. "The code says a foreigner cannot be a candidate but I think there is no harm if anybody participates in campaigning. I don't see any violation of the MCC," Mitra said. Photograph: Kind courtesy @SuPriyoBabul/Twitter Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, amid the 72-hour ban on campaigning imposed on him by the Election Commission. Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow and offered prayers on Tuesday, a day after the poll panel barred him from electioneering for three days for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. In Ayodhya, along with the makeshift shrine to Ram Lalla, the chief minister will also pray at the nearby Hanuman Garhi temple on Wednesday. Faizabad BJP district president Awadhesh Pandey told PTI, "The chief minister's programme is all confirmed, he will offer prayers at Ram Janambhoomi and Hanuman Garhi temple and will meet VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) religious leaders in Ayodhya on Wednesday." Adityanath will be meeting Ram Janambhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Digambar Akhara Mahant Suresh Das, he said. According to Mahant Suresh Das, the chief minister will spend on Wednesday in Ayodhya and will have lunch with prominent Sadhus of Ayodhya at Digambar Akhara. In the evening, he will go to Devipatan, a temple of goddess Durga in Balrampur district, where he would stay the night. The chief minister reached the Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow on Tuesday morning and got a rousing reception from his supporters amid slogans of 'Jai Gorakhdham' and 'Jai Bajrangbali ji'. He, however, refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite the 'Hanuman Chalisa'. Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. The chief minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's roadshow, held Tuesday before he filed his nomination paper for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Adityanath also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the chief minister's visit to the temple 'a personal one'. The Election Commission Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am Tuesday for his 'divisive' comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at the supporters during his election campaign road show for the Lok Sabha polls, in Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo Campaigning ended on Tuesday for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 18 for 96 seats spread across 12 states and the Union Territory of Puducherry that was marked by acrimony with the Election Commission barring several leaders from electioneering for their controversial remarks. Polling will be held in 38 seats in Tamil Nadu, 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipura and Puducherry. Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha. Election was scheduled to be held in one seat in Tripura but the Election Commission in a late night order postponed polling till April 23 citing law and order situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and a host of Union ministers among others canvassed for their party candidates in the past few days, undertaking whirlwind tours of constituencies. Among the key contestants in the fray are Union ministers Jual Oram, Sadananda Gowda and Pon Radhakrishnan, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Congress leaders Verappa Moily and Raj Babbar, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, BJP's Hema Malini and DMK's Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and Kanimozhi. After the Election Commission Monday barred Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Maneka Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from campaigning for varying periods over violations of the moral code of conduct, the leaders stayed away from the campaign but marked their presence in other ways. Mayawati's nephew Akash Anand delivered his first political speech in Nagina, where she was initially scheduled to address a joint opposition alliance meeting. Khan's son Abdullah addressed a press conference in Rampur, criticising the EC order while Adityanath prayed at a Hanuman temple in Lucknow, a day after the EC issued the order frowning at his 'Ali-Bajrang Bali' remark. In Odisha, besides the five Lok Sabha seats, polling will also be held for 35 assembly constituencies. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is contesting from his home turf Hinjili in Ganjam district and Bijepur in Bargarh. While there are five women candidates in the Lok Sabha seats, 25 women are in the fray for the assembly segments. In Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, contesting as part of the National Democratic Alliance. The alliance comprises among others BJP, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and Tamil Maanila Congress of former Union minister G K Vasan. The DMK has formed a 'Secular Progressive Alliance' comprising the Congress and Left parties, among others. The electoral battle in the state is largely among the two fronts led by the Dravidian majors and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam led by T T V Dinakaran, an AIADMK rival, though parties such as the fledgling Makkal Needhi Maiam of actor-politician Kamal Hassan are also testing their fortunes. Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu are the first ever after the demise of Dravidian stalwarts J Jayalalithaa of AIADMK and M Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Allegations of use of money flew thick and fast in the run up to the polls with poll authorities seizing over Rs 127 crore cash and gold and other precious metals with a total value of Rs 284 crore in various parts of the state. The EC in an order on Tuesday evening cancelled the poll in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency over allegations of excess use of money power. Authorities had seized over Rs 10 crore cash from a premises of an associate of a DMK leader recently. The district police had filed a complaint against DMK candidate Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. It was a relatively low key campaign in Srinagar with only Farooq Abdullah, who is seeking a fourth term in the lower house of Parliament from the seat, making his presence felt as a candidate. Abdullah is pitched against political greenhorns Aga Moshin of the PDP, Irfan Ansari of the People's Conference and Khalid Jehangir of the BJP. An election official said there were only 46 rallies in Srinagar district, a city of over 12 lakh residents, during the campaign period. The Lok Sabha polls are being held in seven-phases for 543 seats on April 11, April 18, April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19, and counting will be on May 23. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the supporters during Vijay Sankalp Sabha, an election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, in Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo Amid claims of 'misusing' the armed forces for electoral gain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the strength of 'one vote' had enabled the surgical strike and air strike in Pakistan. Addressing a poll rally in Bhatapara in Chhattisgarh, Modi said the India of today carries out surgical and air strikes across the border and shoots down satellite in space due to the strength of 'one vote' of the people. The Election Commission last week sought a report from poll officials in Maharashtra after Modi's remarks at a rally in Latur, where he asked first-time voters to dedicate their vote to those who carried out the Balakot air strike. The report was 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. Modi also stepped up attack on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying it was the mindset of the 'sultanate' of the 'Naamdar' to abuse the deprived and treat them as slaves. Modi's barb came a day after Gandhi made the 'how come all Modis are thieves' remark. Modi attributed Gandhi's comment to frustration among the Congress and its 'maha milvati' allies caused by the 'BJP wave' being witnessed across the country. "These people are crossing limits daily. According to them, anyone whose name is Modi is a thief. What kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your 'chowkidar'," Modi said. "I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modi's will come out," Gandhi had said, addressing a rally in Maharashtra Monday. "The Congress and its mahamilavati allies are unable to sleep during night. Now they are abusing me in frustration, are insulting me. The voters of India are seeing this," Modi said. "It is naamdar's sultanate mindset which sneers at the exploited, deprived and treats them as slaves," he said. The Congress labelled honest tax-payers as selfish, Modi said. The naamdars are faced with cases of income tax theft of crores of rupees, he added. "They are having fun after committing scam following land allotment to bring out a newspaper...they are out on bail," Modi said, without naming the National Herald case. "They seek commission in deals relating to national security," Modi said, in a veiled reference to the Bofors scam, in which late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's name was dragged by the opposition. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday called on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is in hospital after suffering head injuries while performing a ritual at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram. Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP and party candidate in the April 23 Lok Sabha polls, was injured when the hook of a weighing scale came off and its iron panel hit his head during the "Thulabharam" ritual. He was admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital Monday, and is expected to be discharged on Tuesday. The former Union minister later tweeted, "Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala.Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics - great to see her practice it by example!". 'Thulabharam' is a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is offered as donation. Monday being the Malayalam new year day, Vishu, Tharoor performed the ritual by offering sugar equal to his weight in the morning before embarking on his poll campaign. Sitharaman had reached Kerala on Monday night and held a road show at Thiruvananthapuram along with BJP candidate Kummanam Rajashekaran along the coastal stretch, besides addressing a campaign meeting at Attingal for Shobha Surendran. C Divakaran, the Communist Party of India and left front candidate, who is opposing Tharoor, also visited him at the hospital. "Very gracious of my LDF rival C Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being.Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok," Tharoor said. Divakaran asked Tharoor not to be demoralised,. "I'm not: I'm more determined than ever to see this through!," Tharoor said. The Thiruvananthapuram constituency is witnessing a fierce triangular fight among the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front, opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. 'We will be voting keeping in mind the brunt we bore because of demonetisation and high GST rate' Demonetisation locked their destiny into airless rooms where they do double the work for less than half the pay, say daily wage workers in Aligarh, western Uttar Pradesh town's famous 'Tala Nagri'. Aligarh has been synonymous with locks since the Mughal era but the once thriving lock industry, employing more than one lakh people, has been brought to its knees with demonetisation and GST dealing it a body blow. So, Shanti, who spends nine hours a day with four others making locks in 'Tala Nagri' (lock town), finds herself earning dramatically less than she did before November 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised high value currency notes. Four machines around her lie vacant. They have been lying vacant for the past three years since demonetisation. Now I do the work of two at Rs 150 per day, she said. Before November 2016, she said she earned Rs 400 per day. Her colleague Jamal said his vote in the elections on April 18 will be for the candidate that can help them improve their lives. These are poll issues for us. We will be voting keeping in mind the brunt we bore because of demonetisation and high GST rate, he said. Jamal and Shanti are among the semi-skilled labourers not eligible for minimum salary because the company she works for has less than 20 employees. The minimum salary for workers like her in a cottage industry with over 20 employees is Rs 324 per day. You get nothing from Rs 150 per day. My house is three kilometres away and I have to walk because e-rickshaws take Rs 20 one way. I tried getting a job elsewhere but the lock companies are so badly hit by GST that they cannot afford more workers like us, Shanti said. The legendary lock industry of Aligarh, about 150 km from the national capital Delhi, accounts for almost 75 per cent of the production in the country, earning the city the sobriquet 'Tala Nagri' and making the 'Aligarh lock' a byword for quality and also a distinct brand. We don't have automation in our industry despite the talk of make in India and digitisation and we are dependent on labour intensive machines. The end result is that we are not able to compete with China. "On top of that, policies like demonetisation and high rate of GST are pushing us on the brink of closure, said Zafar Alam, manufacturer of Link Locks and a former MLA of Samajwadi Party. He said manufacturers will become traders if the government does not give incentives for automation and impose anti-dumping duty on Chinese products. According to Prakash Sharma, owner of the Rajput Locks on Shahjamal Road which has over 40 lock industries, locks were made at every house in the area. But half the houses stopped making locks after GST was implemented at 18 per cent. Earlier we were paying 4 per cent in taxes, he said. So we were hit by both -- on the one hand facing competition from China and, on the other, high GST rates, he added. Hameed, who owns a unit on the same street, said China's import duty for locks is 23 per cent. We sell our lock at Rs 27 while the same Chinese product is sold at Rs 18. Shopkeepers have stopped buying our products as they say that our locks do not sell anymore because of high price, he said. Unable to face competition, industry insiders said many smaller manufactures were forced to shut shop. Our worlds crashed in the past four years. We want a government that would reduce the GST rates and bring automation technology too, said Girish, a lock industry owner. Workers said they want a government that will respect their skills and give them proper training to help them upgrade. The upcoming elections in Aligarh will be fought between incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MP Satish Kumar Gautam, Congress candidate Birendra Singh and mahagathbandan candidate Ajit Baliya. Aligarh goes to the polls on April 18 in round two of the seven-phase elections. The constituency has a total of 18,73,993 voters. Khair, Baroli, Atroli , Kol and Aligarh city are assembly seats in the constituency. Contributed Photo / Department of Justice WILLIMANTIC A Willimantic teen pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to a charge connected to him offering to sell guns to people throughout Connecticut, according to the state Department of Justice. Mohammadreza Reza Kamali, 18, of Willimantic, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to one count of dealing in firearms without a license. MILFORD-Police arrested a former Boscovs employee for using customers credit to purchase items during the Christmas season. Natassia Blackwood, 30, of Alba Avenue, was arrested Monday on a warrant charging her with sixth-degree larceny. She was released on a prtomise to appear in Milford Superior Court on May 14. The state Medical Examining Board Tuesday suspended the license of a Shelton doctor for two years and placed his license on probation for four years after accepting a hearing panels finding that his paranoid behavior is affecting his ability to safely practice medicine. The first two years of the probation runs at the same time as the suspension, which will be followed by two years of probation, the boards memorandum of decision states. During the probation, Dr. Nami Bayan must see a therapist. After the suspension ends, Bayan will not be allowed to have a solo practice and must practice medicine in a setting with other physicians during the probation, the order said. In July, the state Department of Public Health had ordered Bayan to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after he had sent emails to the department alleging corruption and organized crime in the U.S. medical system, law enforcement and DPH, the memo said. He also made anti-Semitic comments in emails, the memo said. Dr. Arturo Morales, a Hartford psychiatrist, examined Bayan and testified at a hearing in January that Bayan was loud, threatening, overbearing, paranoid and not responding to logic, the memo said. Morales said medication Bayan has been on following a head injury in 2011 may be affecting his condition, the memo said. At Tuesdays meeting, Bayan accused the hearing panel members, the board and DPH of treating him unfairly and damaging his career without evidence. Theres something wrong here, he said. There is a strong bias against me. He added Im not an anti-Semite and you are making trouble for meyou should have proof for everything. The board also reprimanded Dr. David Polke, a Naugatuck obstetrician and gynecologist, for failing to meet the standard of care when he failed to retain a patients non-stress test monitoring strips as part of her medical record, state records show. He had treated the patient in 2014 and 2015. DPH began an investigation of Polke in 2017 when the patients attorney filed a complaint. In signing a consent order with the board, Polke chose not to contest the allegation. The board also ordered Anita Mir, the owner of Spa Dior in Waterbury, to stop practicing medicine or surgery without a license. In May, DPH received a complaint that Mir performed cosmetic medical procedures, including laser hair removal and cavitation - a non-invasive alternative to liposuction, without a license, a consent order she agreed to said. Mir also referred to herself as medical director of the spa, the order said. She agreed to the order while not admitting any wrongdoing and said she did not intentionally refer to herself as the medical director. She said her staff made a mistake when ordering her business cards that included that title. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting. TORRINGTON The topic of how best to curtail the habit of vaping by adolescents drew more more negative comments than positive ones at a public hearing before the City Council meeting Monday night. A proposed ordinance that would raise the age to legally purchase e-cigarettes and tobacco products to 21 then was tabled after Ordinance Committee Chairman Gregg Cogswell requested more time to discuss the issues mentioned in the hearing. The council voted to revisit the proposal at its May 6 meeting. Based on the feedback on some of the provisions and comments today, Cogswell said, hed like to consider what was discussed and further review the proposed regulation. Much of the opposition to the proposed ordinance centered on the concern that the new law would increase taxes and hurt business owners. We could lose expensive inventory if cited by the state, for selling to underage customers, said Alfonse Buddy Milo. It could hurt much needed revenue as well, he added. Milo said his family has owned a business in the area for over 50 years. But Fred Johnson, from the local American Cancer Society, said the organization supports raising the age to 21 for buying tobacco products. E-cigarettes have surpassed combustible cigarette use, he said. Another speaker, whose name was not available, said he sees the government do the job of parents. Its not the job of business owners to regulate the use of tobacco products. The decision to propose the regulation came from a presentation made by members of the Mayors Committee on Youth at a recent city council meeting. The students asked the council to adopt an ordinance to make it harder for those younger than 19 to buy tobacco products. Andrew Lyon, the McCall Center for Behavior Healths Prevention facilitator , joined the youth committee at that council meeting to share his concerns and he returned Monday night to comment at the public hearing. Lyon said he wouldnt take a position on whether the ordinance should be approved or not. Rather, he talked about relevant information for making a decision. Tobacco is as addictive as heroin, he said. Lyon has also voiced his concern at a number of meetings this year with elected officials. He said there is extensive information on how national companies are marketing vaping products to teenagers. Flavors such as bubblegum, candy cane and popcorn, are added to the liquid cartridges of e-cigarettes. Lyon said to target adolescents and younger populations. He said that information showed that tobacco product marketing saturates youth driven platforms, such as Instagram feeds, SnapChat and YouTube channels. During the councils comment portion of the meeting, councilor Anne Ruwet noted that the state is considering increasing the legal age to 21 as well. We need to give (the city ordinance) some teeth. Lets see what the state does, Ruwet said. The city is not allowed to pass regulations, that would lead to criminal charges, Cogswell said at the April 1 meeting. But the state has that ability. Bills being considered by state lawmakers, according to the CT Mirror, are stricter than Torringtons proposal in that the legislation would ban all flavored vapor products and add a tax on vapor delivery systems and related goods. No one argues that vaping is not a problem, Cogswell said. He said tabling the vote will let the councilors thing about it. Were not trying to penalize anyone. Cogswell referred to a comment made by Milo during the public hearing who said nothing would stop someone who is 18 from driving to another town to buy tobacco products. We should consider the town by town, concern of retailers, Cogswell said. He added that Milos business is not even a five-minute drive from the next store in Harwinton. File photo Your article about Israeli settlements contains one serious error. The article suggests that our long-overdue 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital, legally required under the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, damaged our efforts to mediate an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The reality, however, is that Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki had already declared in February, 2016, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Oslo Accords, that the PA would never again negotiate directly with Israel. This explicit rejection of the agreed-upon peace process is consistent with the Palestinians rejection of offers of a two-state solution in 2000, 2001 and 2008, long before President Trump recognized Jerusalem. Although other presidents had failed to implement the 1995 Act in a vain effort to appease Palestinian leadership, it was clear by the time of the Presidents 2017 declaration that, for all practical purposes, the negotiations could not resume under existing Palestinian leadership and within the culture of hate that the leadership had fostered. A digital challenger to Canadian banks has announced a merger than will help it accelerate its growth. Vancouver-based Mogo Finance Technology will combine with Difference Capital Financial with the combined entity expected to be named Mogo Inc. It will focus on its aim to become the leading fintech platform in Canada, offering a range of banking and financial products including a digital mortgage experience. "This transaction enables Mogo to continue to invest in new products and innovation, building on our leadership position in the Canadian fintech space," said David Feller, Mogo's Founder and CEO. "We are excited by the opportunity that the Transaction presents for shareholders of Mogo and Difference and are very pleased to have the support of the Difference board. We look forward to working closely with the leadership team at Difference to complete the Transaction." Additional resources The combination will give Mogo immediate access to approximately $9 - $10 million in cash, which reflects proceeds from Difference's two recently announced monetizations. "The merger with Difference strengthens our financial position and represents a significant opportunity to create value for shareholders of the combined entity," added Greg Feller, Mogo's President. "Difference has invested in many of Canada's leading technology companies and Mogo has built a valuable distribution platform. Shareholders of both companies will benefit from improved financial flexibility as we execute on our strategy of partnering to bring best-in-class products to our more than 800,000 members." The Transaction is subject to Mogo shareholder approval, regulatory approval, and satisfaction of other customary conditions. The Transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019. He made the statement while hosting Vice President of Seychelles Vincent Meriton in Hanoi, during which he congratulated the Seychelles Government and people on their impressive socio-economic progress which has turned the country into a leading one in Africa in terms of per capita income and an attractive tourism destination. Dam said with delight that 2019 marks the 40th founding anniversary of the Vietnam Seychelles diplomatic relations. The ties have grown continuously, he added. According to the official, among the African investors in Vietnam, Seychelles is now operating the highest number of projects. However, their value remains modest and falls short of bilateral cooperation potential. The Deputy PM suggested the two nations focus on improving the effectiveness of their signed agreements in trade, culture-tourism, and training. Praising Seychelles role in and contributions to the African Union and United Nations (UN), Dam urged both countries to step up their exchange of delegations at all levels and people-to-people exchange, as well as to support each other at international forums. He asked the African nation to back Vietnams bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure. For his part, Meriton affirmed Seychelles wants to become a gateway connecting economies, including Vietnam, to Africa. Table of Contents 1 Global Market Overview 1.1 Scope of Statistics 1.1.1 Scope of Products 1.1.2 Scope of Manufacturers 1.1.3 Scope of Application 1.1.4 Scope of Type 1.1.5 Scope of Regions/Countries 1.2 Global Market Size 2 Regional Market 2.1 Regional Production 2.2 Regional Demand 2.3 Regional Trade 3 Key Manufacturers 3.1 Hirano Mushroom LLC 3.1.1 Company Information 3.1.2 Product & Services 3.1.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.1.4 Recent Development 3.2 Delftree Mushroom Company 3.2.1 Company Information 3.2.2 Product & Services 3.2.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.2.4 Recent Development 3.3 Mitoku Company, Ltd. 3.3.1 Company Information 3.3.2 Product & Services 3.3.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.3.4 Recent Development 3.4 Banken Champignons 3.4.1 Company Information 3.4.2 Product & Services 3.4.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.4.4 Recent Development 3.5 Agro Dutch 3.5.1 Company Information 3.5.2 Product & Services 3.5.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.5.4 Recent Development 3.6 Bonduelle Fresh Europe 3.6.1 Company Information 3.6.2 Product & Services 3.6.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.6.4 Recent Development 3.7 Drinkwater's Mushrooms Limited 3.7.1 Company Information 3.7.2 Product & Services 3.7.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.7.4 Recent Development 3.8 The Mushroom Company 3.8.1 Company Information 3.8.2 Product & Services 3.8.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.8.4 Recent Development 3.9 Weikfield 3.9.1 Company Information 3.9.2 Product & Services 3.9.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.9.4 Recent Development 3.10 Modern Mushroom Farms 3.10.1 Company Information 3.10.2 Product & Services 3.10.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.10.4 Recent Development 3.11 Hughes 3.11.1 Company Information 3.11.2 Product & Services 3.11.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.11.4 Recent Development 3.12 Scelta Mushrooms 3.12.1 Company Information 3.12.2 Product & Services 3.12.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.12.4 Recent Development 3.13 Costa Group 3.13.1 Company Information 3.13.2 Product & Services 3.13.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.13.4 Recent Development 3.14 Greenyard NV (Lutece) 3.14.1 Company Information 3.14.2 Product & Services 3.14.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.14.4 Recent Development 3.15 Monterey Mushrooms Inc. 3.15.1 Company Information 3.15.2 Product & Services 3.15.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.15.4 Recent Development 3.16 Monaghan Mushrooms Ireland 3.16.1 Company Information 3.16.2 Product & Services 3.16.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.16.4 Recent Development 3.17 Kunming Tairao Commerce & Trade Co., Ltd. 3.17.1 Company Information 3.17.2 Product & Services 3.17.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 3.18 Shanghai Detan Mushroom & Truffles Co., Ltd. 3.18.1 Company Information 3.18.2 Product & Services 3.18.3 Business Data (Capacity, Sales Revenue, Volume, Price, Cost and Margin) 4 Major Application 4.1 Retail 4.1.1 Overview 4.1.2 Retail Market Size and Forecast 4.2 Food Process 4.2.1 Overview 4.2.2 Food Process Market Size and Forecast 4.3 Food Services 4.3.1 Overview 4.3.2 Food Services Market Size and Forecast 5 Market by Type 5.By Wild Type 5.1 Wild Type 5.1.1 Overview 5.1.2 Wild Type Market Size and Forecast 5.2 Cultivated Type 5.2.1 Overview 5.2.2 Cultivated Type Market Size and Forecast 6 Price Overview 6.1 Price by Manufacturers 6.2 Price by Application 6.3 Price by Type 7 Conclusion List of Tables Tab Regional Production 2013-2018 (Million USD) Tab Regional Production 2013-2018 (Volume) Tab Regional Demand and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Tab Regional Demand and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Tab Regional Demand Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Tab Regional Demand Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Tab Regional Export 2013-2018 (Million USD) Tab Regional Export 2013-2018 (Volume) Tab Regional Import 2013-2018 (Million USD) Tab Regional Import 2013-2018 (Volume) Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Hirano Mushroom LLC Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Delftree Mushroom Company Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Mitoku Company, Ltd. Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Banken Champignons Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Agro Dutch Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Bonduelle Fresh Europe Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Drinkwater's Mushrooms Limited Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of The Mushroom Company Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Weikfield Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Modern Mushroom Farms Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Hughes Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Scelta Mushrooms Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Costa Group Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Greenyard NV (Lutece) Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Monterey Mushrooms Inc. Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Monaghan Mushrooms Ireland Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Kunming Tairao Commerce & Trade Co., Ltd. Tab Sales Revenue, Sales Volume, Price, Cost and Margin of Shanghai Detan Mushroom & Truffles Co., Ltd. List of Figures Fig Global Shiitake Mushrooms Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Global Shiitake Mushrooms Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Global Shiitake Mushrooms Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Global Shiitake Mushrooms Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Fig Retail Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Retail Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Retail Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Retail Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Fig Food Process Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Food Process Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Food Process Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Food Process Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Fig Food Services Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Food Services Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Food Services Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Food Services Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Fig Wild Type Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Wild Type Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Wild Type Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Wild Type Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Fig Cultivated Type Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Million USD) Fig Cultivated Type Market Size and CAGR 2013-2018 (Volume) Fig Cultivated Type Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Million USD) Fig Cultivated Type Market Forecast and CAGR 2019-2025 (Volume) Ethnic Mongolian writer O. Sechenbaatar stands in front of the Genghis Khan Statue Complex on the bank of the Tuul River in Tsonjin Boldog, east of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, in an undated photo. Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia are holding an ethnic Mongolian writer and teacher under criminal detention, a U.S.-based rights group said on Tuesday. O. Sechenbaatar, 68, was detained along with a herder named Baldan at a protest near Lake Dalainuur in the region's Heshigten Banner, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a report on its website. The two were handcuffed and taken to the Heshigten Banner police department, it said. Sechenbaatar has been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of "obstructing officials in the course of their duty," it said. He is currently being held at the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. "What worries us is that this is a criminal detention, not an ordinary administrative detention," fellow herder and activist Bao Guniang said via the social media platform WeChat. "This means the authorities have already prepared criminal charges for Mr. O. Sechenbaatar." Baldan was released after 10 hours, but Sechenbaatar remains in detention, SMHRIC said. The detentions came after more than 200 local residents gathered outside government offices in Heshigten Banner's Darhan-uul Sum, or village, on April 12, in protest over changes in the management of grazing lands on nearby Dalainuur National Nature Reserve. Local authorities had imposed a grazing ban on herding communities that cut off their access to traditional pasturelands, despite local herders saying they could use their indigenous knowledge to protect the land. We have lived on this land for hundreds of years and kept the perfect balance of man and nature without having the ignorant and profit-chasing Chinese to teach us, Baldan said via WeChat following his release. What we are asking for is, leave us alone and let us manage our own environment," he said. Local herders say Chinese companies and nonprofits have done far more ecological destruction than herding ever could. "The government must withdraw these fishing companies and so-called nature reserve entities that killed our wild life, depleted our water, and destroyed our land for profit, Baldan said. Just an excuse Sechenbaatar is the author of several books, including Spring Blossoms, Autumn of Tsunkh, Story of A Bald Thief, Heshigten Folklore, and Collection of Southern Mongolian Folklore Arts. A former teacher at the Darhan-uul Hight School, he has also published hundreds of essays, poems, and lyrics in Mongolian language journals and magazines. Sechenbaatar also hosted a number of WeChat groups to provide local Mongolian herders with a venue to discuss the pressing issues in their communities, including mining, environmental destruction, pollution, and herders protests, SMHRIC said. "Obstructing official business is just an excuse," a relative of Sechenbaatar said in an audio recording after his detention. He said the initial charge is likely just to hold him on, while the authorities gather evidence for more serious charges, including leaking state secrets and "sabotaging national unity." Sechenbaatar's detention comes after police in the regional capital Hohhot detained three protesting herders from Tongliao city after they petitioned the authorities there over access to traditional grazing lands and other disputes. Haaserdun, 53, Tegshibayla, 46, and Oobuuren, 37, from Chabutut Sum in Zaruud Banner were escorted home by local police and placed in administrative detention, fellow protesters told RFA earlier this month. They were held for eight days for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." Calls to the complaints department of the Zaruud Banner government rang unanswered at the time. Exile ethnic Mongolian activist Xi Haiming said such detentions are common in land disputes where herders are trying to stand up for their traditional way of life in the face of exploitation by Chinese-backed companies. "These herders aren't rebelling, but using the petitioning system of the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party," Xi told RFA. "They want the Communist Party to resolve these issues because their survival is at stake." "They are now under a brutal colonial occupation and suppression," he said. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. President Xi Jinping talks to poor villagers during a trip to the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, April 15, 2019. Authorities in the southwestern Chinese megacity of Chongqing held dissidents and rights activists under surveillance ahead of a visit to the region by President Xi Jinping this week, RFA has learned. Xi "inspected" Chongqing on Monday, generating images in state media of an avuncular president shaking hands with joyful schoolchildren and visiting ethnic minority villages. "He learned about the progress of poverty alleviation and in solving prominent problems, including meeting the basic needs of food and clothing and guaranteeing compulsory education, medical services and housing," according to identically worded reports in all state media outlets. Local police had begun placing dissidents and rights activists under surveillance several days ahead of the presidential visit, activists told RFA. Chongqing-based rights activist Zhao Anxiu said she was beaten up and held under house arrest by "stability maintenance" officials from her neighborhood committee from Saturday to Tuesday. "Because Xi Jinping visited, we were all under surveillance at home," Zhao said. "Many petitioners were forced to stay home. Most of us here in Chongqing have been shut down; some of them are incommunicado." "The stability maintenance people watching me treated me roughly, yelling and swearing at me, and my blood pressure went sky-high," Zhao said. "I still have a lot of pain all over ... I am lying in bed right now." A Chongqing resident surnamed Huang, who is pursuing a complaint against local officials, said she had been watched at home on Monday by four or five plainclothes police and local "stability maintenance" officials from the neighborhood committee. "They didn't say anything about Xi Jinping coming, but they told me I had to stay home and couldn't go out for a few days," Huang said. "They said if I needed food, they would get it for me. I stayed in for two days." Xi's rivals purged The cell phones of several rights activists in the Chongqing area were disconnected on Tuesday. An officer who answered the phone at the Chongqing municipal police department declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Tuesday. "Sorry, this isn't a press office," the officer said. "We don't know much about it. You can ask the propaganda department." The trip is Xi's first since taking office as president, and comes after he changed the constitution to allow him to serve an indefinite term in office. Two Chongqing party chiefs and Politburo members have fallen from power since Xi rose to be party general secretary in November 2012: Bo Xilai and Sun Zhengcai. Both were seen as potential rivals to Xi, and had both been the focus of rumors of coup attempts. A senior official has said that the investigation into Sun was sparked after authorities discovered his involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow President Xi Jinping. The chairman of China's securities regulator Liu Shiyu told a meeting of top finance officials during the 19th party congress in October 2017 that the once-rising political star had plotted to seize power from the current leadership. The leadership transition that eventually led to an indefinite term in office for Xi as president was finalized at the 18th Congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party on Nov. 8, 2012, the same day that Bo Xilai was expelled from the ruling party. The ouster and trial of Bo, 63, was the most serious upheaval in the highest echelons of China's leadership since Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was purged in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Bo went on to receive a life sentence in prison on bribery charges, a 15-year jail term for embezzlement, and seven years for abuse of power in September 2013. Sun Zhengcai was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tianjin No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in May 2018 for bribery. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Used buses in China are finding new life in North Korea as trade companies in the North are smuggling them across the Sino-Korean bordersecretive transactions done to skirt U.S. and U.N. sanctions, sources say. The sanctions, aimed at depriving Pyongyang of resources that could be used in its nuclear and missile programs, explicitly prohibit heavy machinery and vehicles. The buses formerly served the city of Dandong, on the Chinese side of their Yalu River border. About four or five years ago, bus companies here in Dandong replaced their diesel buses with natural gas-powered buses, said a source from the city in an interview with RFAs Korean Service. [They] left the diesel buses in their garage, and now they are being sold one by one to North Korea, said the source. The switch in fuel type came much earlier than the diesel buses life expectancy. Theyve only been used for about four or five years. [Bus companies] didnt want to just junk them so they have been sitting idle in storage all this time. Now North Korean trade companies smuggle a bus or two into North Korea, the source said. Since they havent been running for a long time, it costs about 20,000 yuan [about $3,000] to refurbish the buses including their interiors and repaint them. Then they can be sold for about 70,000 yuan [about $10,000], said the source. The source said that smugglers are having trouble filling the tall North Korean order. [Someone in] North Korea has ordered a large quantity of the buses, but only five can be smuggled across the border per week, because [the traders] are trying to dodge sanctions, the source said, adding, Chinese maritime customs [officials] have become stricter recently, so it is getting harder and harder to avoid falling victim to a crackdown. The source said that smugglers stand to gain 20,000 yuan (about $,3000) for each bus they can successfully bring into North Korea. But they dont like [trying to] smuggle a huge bus because they have a higher chance of being caught, the source said. It is not clear why, but China is enforcing smuggling crackdowns along the [popular route] at the mouth of the Yalu river, the source said, adding that further inland a new route has opened near Supung (in Chinese, Shuifeng) dam. But smugglers still play hide and seek with Chinese maritime customs officers, the source said. Another source, from across the river in Sinuiju, said that the North Korean citys bus system needs replacement buses badly. Buses here in Sinuiju have longer intervals these days, said the source, adding, Its probably because they are so old. There are many broken buses that cant be repaired because the parts cant be imported. I heard that they were smuggling neat looking Chinese buses over here, but I havent seen them here running in Sinuiju, said the source. They might be in other cities. During and shortly after the Cold War, North Korea imported buses, trains and trolley cars from the Soviet Union and eastern European countries. The Pyongyang Metro famously uses subway cars that were formerly in service in East Berlin. The sanctions against North Korea make smuggling the Chinese buses a necessity, as importing the vehicles or their parts legitimately is now a near impossibility, the sources said. Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Three U.S. citizens held in Laos since last week for disseminating religion without government approval had their passports seized and are being kept in a guesthouse in the provincial capital of Luang Namtha, RFAs Lao Service learned from a local police officer on Tuesday. Identified by their organization, Vision Beyond Borders, only by their given names, Wayne, Autumn and Joseph were picked up by police in the Sing district of Luang Namtha province on April 8, after handing out religious materials to villagers, a district policeman and a witness told RFA. They didnt get approval from the relevant departments. Their activity of disseminating religion was wrong, the Sing district policeman said. Usually this kind of activity must go through many steps to get approval. You cant do whatever you want, said the officer. A villager told RFA that he had observed three foreigners distributing written materials to villagers. Shortly afterward, five police officers from Sing district came and picked them up and they were taken away in a police car, he said. Although it initially appeared that the three were released without their passports to a local guesthouse in the Sing district, the police officer said they were taken to the provincial capital, the town of Luang Namtha, on the day they were apprehended. After some interrogation, we sent them to the province because this case is a big case, the officer told RFA. Luang Namtha is about 60 kms (36 miles) southeast of Sing, a town that lies near the Lao borders with Myanmar and China. Eric Blievernicht, Operations Manager of Vision Beyond Borders, confirmed the policemans account of their movements in an email exchange with RFA. They were first detained in the village, then transferred to police headquarters in Luang Namtha, and then released to the guesthouse after confiscating passports, he wrote. So far as I know today has been quiet with no new developments, added Blievernicht. On Monday, he told RFA he was concerned that the three church members would get caught up in the week-long Lao New Year holiday, when offices are closed and very little official business is conducted. A State Department spokesman told RFA on Tuesday We can confirm the temporary detention and subsequent release from custody of three U.S. citizens in Luang Namtha, Laos. The Casper, Wyoming-based Vision Beyond Borders says on its website that it has carried over 1 million Bibles and 15,000 hand-wind tape players containing the Gospel into closed countries." "With donors' support, we have also provided for over 800 children (and) nearly 200 native pastors in Gospel-resistant nations," said the group. It also has administered humanitarian aid and medical care to refugees from Burma, Syria, and Iraq, and provides vegetable seed packets to poor villages. While the constitution of Communist-run Laos technically protects freedom of religion, conflicts between Christians and local authorities often flare up because authorities in the traditionally Buddhist nation consider Christianity a foreign religion. Asked whether missionary activities were permitted in Laos, an official of the Phin district in Savannakhet Province in southern Laos told RFA: You have to respect the authorities. For example, the Christians have to contact us before having any celebration. In December, seven Lao Christians were arrested for attending an illegal church service. They were later allowed to return home. In a 2017 report, the U.S. State Department said that Lao local authorities often arrested or detained members of minority religions during the year, with a district-level official in Houaphan province expelling 26 Hmong Christians from their village, advising them they could return only if they renounced their faith. Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert. Myanmar women perform a traditional dance during a ceremony marking the Buddhist New Year festival Thingyan at the presidential palace in Naypyidaw, April 12, 2016. Authorities in Myanmar have formally charged four leaders of a traditional satirical performance team for failing to submit their script to censors prior to performing at traditional Buddhist New Year celebrations. The charges were filed Monday at Mayangone township police station against Zeyar Lwin, Paing Ye Thu, Dee Yay, and Yadanar Myint, under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Act. Their troupe, Peacock Generation Thangyat, had taken satirical shots at the countrys powerful military. The performances, called thangyat, have been described as similar to modern slam poetry. Their roots lie in the 19th century, but they were banned for about two decades in 1988, when the ruling military junta crushed a pro-democracy protest and instituted two decades of harsh rule. The ban was lifted in 2016 when Aung San Suu Kyis government took control of the country after winning general elections in late 2015, raising expectations of a more liberal system that have largely caused disappointment three years into her rule. The four of us were summoned to the police station. They asked us our names and biographies and wanted to discuss the charges with us, but we wanted to continue performing. They let us go, but asked us to come back when we were done, said Yadanar Myint. A police officer confirmed they were charged under Section 66(d), but refused to answer any other questions about the case. Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law prohibits use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to two years. Myanmar journalists and domestic and international rights groups have called on the civilian-led government to repeal vaguely worded laws such as Section 66(d), which have increasingly been used by those in power, including the military, during the current administration to silence their critics. There have been 53 cases filed under Section 66(d). The dispute over the censorship of the thangyat emerged the same day a Pulitzer Prize was awarded to two Myanmar journalists employed by Reuters news agency, who have been jailed for 490 days for their role in uncovering mass killings of Rohingya Muslims in the countrys western Rakhine state. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced last September to seven years in prison for violating the countrys Official Secrets Act. Spoofing society, politics Prior to this years performance competition, the regional government of Yangon instructed thangyat troupes to submit their lyrics ahead of the holiday. Four groups scheduled to perform during a competition at a pandal (temporary stage) in North Okkalapa township on Monday night failed to comply, and were told they would not be allowed to perform. Political activists, however, believe that the censorship goes against the spirit and purpose of thangyat and invited them to perform anyway. Thangyat is a chance for young people to voice their opinions during the New Year, said Tin Htut Paing, a political activist, in an interview with RFAs Myanmar Service. [They] make satire, and ridicule and spoof our society and politics from the previous year, the activist said. But this is more about freedom of expression, which is a democratic right, he said. The authorities are trying to silence these young people from proceeding with their performances. Thats why we have invited these four Thangyat groups to perform at our pandal, and we will take a stand together with them. In previous years, thangyat groups that did not submit to the censorship rules were not allowed to join in any competitions, but they were allowed to perform in other pandals in the neighborhood. This year, however, the government forbids the performances entirely unless the group complies. This year we cant perform at the pandals that give prizes, but unlike last year, we are not allowed to perform in other neighborhoods, said Kyaw Ko Ko of the Doe Athan thangyat team. [The government] made a threat that if any of the pandal owners allow a noncomplying team [to perform], they would shut them down and forbid them from building pandals in the future. Even when individual households invited us to perform in front of their homes, the authorities stopped us and asked for the IDs or registration numbers of the host families for their records, he said. The authorities are intimidating local residents so that nobody in the neighborhood will dare have us perform for them, he said. Meanwhile Paing Ye Thu of the Daung Doe Myo Set thangyat team said the performers were banned from performing in all townships. When we got to a pandal to perform, the local authorities showed up, accompanied by police. They said we couldnt perform because we didnt submit our lyrics beforehand, the performer said. After we had an intense debate with them, we performed anyway, Paing Ye Thu said. We have had so many similar experiences in every township we went to today. Censorship of thangyat is not only the domain of local government officials. The military has also filed charges against a thangyat team. On Tuesday, three teams that failed to comply with the censorship rules and another team led by workers unions were slated to perform in Tharkata township, despite pressure from the authorities Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Chinese authorities have detained a Tibetan student after an essay he wrote for his civil service exam lamenting a declining number of government job opportunities for Tibetans in Tibetan regions of China went viral on social media, according to sources. Sonam, a Tibetan masters degree candidate at Northwest Minzu University in Gansu provinces Lanzhou city, was hauled out of classes earlier this month, according to a source inside Tibet, speaking to RFAs Tibetan Service on condition of anonymity. In the beginning of April, the Tibet Education Bureau in China forcefully took Sonam away from the school, the source said. Chinese officials have held him since then, he added. RFA could not independently verify whether officials from the Tibet Education Bureau, under Chinas Ministry of Education, or authorities acting on their behalf had arrested Sonam. A second source told RFA that Sonam was targeted because of the content of the essay he wrote for his civil service exam. Tibetan university student Sonam wrote the essay in Chinese about the annually declining number of seats [for Tibetans] for the Chinese government civil service exams, said the source, who also asked to remain unnamed. His essay was widely shared on social networking sites, including WeChat. The source added that Tibetan students at Northwest Minzu Universitya school formerly known as Northwest University for Nationalities which was the first minority institution for higher learning founded after the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949who maintain contact with Tibetan exiles in India are particularly under surveillance by Chinese authorities. The sources noted that Tibetans in Tibetan regions of China have increasingly expressed frustration over a lack of coveted government jobs in recent years, despite claims by local officials to have increased employment opportunities. Although the Chinese government claims to have created many [government] jobs in Tibet, only 210 [Tibetan] graduates were selected out of 70,000 to sit for the entrance test for the civil service exams this year, one source told RFA. Many Tibetan university graduates say it is increasingly difficult to find jobs in Tibet, and many of those who graduated in 2018 are still left without jobs. Increased competition In February, sources told RFA that Tibetan university graduates are facing increasing difficulty finding jobs in Tibetan regions of China, with Han Chinese flooding job markets and civil service exams slanted more and more toward Han applicants. The sources said that in 2018, there were 40,000 applicants in the Tibet Autonomous Region alone who sat for the entrance exam for positions in the Chinese civil service, but only about 3,000 passed their exams to become eligible to be considered for government positions. With more Chinese university graduates now coming into Tibetan areas to compete for jobs, they said, ethnic Tibetans are allowed fewer opportunities and have lost their competitive edge. The majority of Tibetan applicants are unable to find work in private companies and corporations, including high-tech firms or industry, in Tibet, making well-paying jobs in the civil sector a top priority. But in addition to competing with an increased number of Chinese applicants, requirements for proficiency in Mandarin Chinese in testing and consideration for employment have further disadvantaged Tibetan students, as China seeks to promote the dominance of Chinese culture and language in Tibetan areas, sources say. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses typically deemed illegal associations, and teachers subject to detention and arrest. Reported by Lobsang Gelek for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Nguyen Bac Truyen stands at the right as Brotherhood For Democracy members are shown at their sentencing in Hanoi, April 5, 2018. A group of 21 international and Vietnamese human rights groups have written top European Union officials to ask for help during trade negotiations between Hanoi and Brussels in winning the freedom of political prisoner Nguyen Bac Truyen, who is serving am 11-year jail term for legal and pro-democracy advocacy. Nguyen Bac Truyen, a former political prisoner and member of the online Brotherhood for Democracy group, was arrested July 30, 2017 by authorities in central Vietnams Quang Binh province in a way that his relatives described as a kidnapping. On April 5, 2018 Truyen received an 11-year term and three years of house arrest for carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government. Nguyen Bac Truyen is a legal expert who has been targeted for his peaceful defence of human rights; the charges against him are completely without foundation, the rights groups said in an April 15 letter to Federica Maria Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The letter called on the Italian politician, who is also vice-president of the European Commission, to take all necessary measures to secure his immediate and unconditional release. Truyen has a long history of defending and promoting human rights including the right to freedom of religion or belief for religious minorities in Vietnam, said the letter, also copied to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, and commission first-vice president Frans Timmermans. Signatories included Amnesty International, the Association for the Advancement of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Vietnam, Campaign to Abolish Torture in Vietnam, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Front Line Defenders and Human Rights Watch. As the EU and Vietnam move towards the conclusion of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, it is imperative that human rights concerns are at the forefront of negotiations, said the letter. The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), is expected to be signed in the summer of 2019. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is visiting Romania and the Czech Republic to win support for the trade deal. In line with the EU Guidelines on human rights defenders, we strongly urge you to lead EU efforts, taking all necessary measures to urge Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release Nguyen Bac Truyen, and ensuring his safety and that of his family. We further urge you to call on Vietnam to end all violations and reprisals against human rights defenders, and to demonstrate its commitment to improving its human rights record, it said. Truyen, who is in his early 50s, was first arrested in 2006 for violating article 88 of the Vietnam Penal Code and sentenced to four years in prison. After his release, Truyen was routinely followed and harassed for his work. Whenever there is a gathering of civil society groups, plainclothes policemen are assigned to watch me, threaten me, and prevent me from going out, Truyen told RFA in an earlier report. After I was freed from prison, they followed me 24 hours a day, but for the last two months they have only watched me from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. However, they are very aggressive, he said. Despite the intimidation, Truyen continued working towards democracy and human rights for the Vietnamese, writing about fellow political prisoners and the hardships they face in their daily life. He received the Hellman/Hammett Award from Human Rights Watch in 2011 for his commitment to free expression and their courage in the face of persecution. Nguyen Kim Binh of Vietnam Human Rights Network said in December that Vietnam, a one-party communist state, is currently detaining more than 200 political prisoners. Several Afghan opposition politicians say they will boycott a planned meeting of nearly 2,500 Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders aimed at reaching national consensus on future peace talks with the Taliban. Former national security adviser Hanif Atmar, ex-intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil, and Ahmad Wali Masud announced their decisions on April 15. The three prominent politicians said they had not been consulted by the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who is organizing the gathering, known as a consultative Loya Jirga. The announcements came just a day after Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said Ghani had not consulted him about the April 29 event. Ghani has alienated much of the country's political elite, who say they have been sidelined from the government's peace efforts. The United States has pushed for a peace settlement with the Taliban, with a new round of talks scheduled later this month in Qatar. The Taliban has long refused to speak officially with Kabul, calling the government a "puppet" of the West, although a government delegation is expected to meet Taliban negotiators in Qatar on April 19. The push for a peace settlement comes ahead of Afghanistan's presidential poll scheduled for September. Based on reporting by Tolo News and dpa 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. Amnesty International has urged Ukrainian authorities to provide better protection to the country's Roma minority and to bring to justice to the perpetrators of last year's attacks which resulted in the deaths of two people. We heard strong condemnatory statements from senior officials and they committed to provide justice to the victims, but where are we a year on?" Oksana Pokalchuk, Amnesty International Ukraines Director, said in a statement on April 16. There have been at least six reported attacks on Roma camps in western Ukraine since April 2018, allegedly by members of right-wing extremist groups. On 21 April 2018, members of the right-wing ultranationalist group Sich-C14 armed with knives and hammers attacked a Roma camp in Lysa Hora park in Kyiv. They set fire to tents in the camp and chased out men, women, and children. The group boasted about the attack on social media, with one of its leaders threatening further attacks. In late June, a 24-year-old Roma man from a village in western Ukraine was killed in an attack by a group of masked men on a Roma camp in a forest outside the city of Lviv. Four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured. Police arrested seven people in connection with that attack. On July 2, a 30-year-old Roma woman was killed in the city of Berehove, with local authorities saying unidentified attackers slashed her throat. On July 18, a court in Kyiv's Holosiv district placed Serhiy Mazur, a coordinator for Sich C-14, under two months of house arrest in connection with the April attack on the Roma camp. Mazur, who was charged with hooliganism, was released in November after a court decision which found procedural violations by police. "The authorities have failed to identify any further perpetrators and bring them to justice," Amnesty said in its statement. "What the Ukrainian authorities have done over the past 12 months falls far short of an effective investigation, and they have done little to help the victims of this brazen hate crime, the statement said. "Even where perpetrators of these crimes have been identified and remanded in custody, justice has not yet been done. "Those responsible must be brought to justice in fair trial proceedings that ensure the discriminatory motive is central to the prosecution -- contrary to common practice in Ukraine which fails to do so -- and the victims of the attack must be compensated, Amnesty said. The Council of Europe has estimated that there are 260,000 Roma in Ukraine out of a population of 48.5 million. The Migration Policy Institute estimates there are 8 million to 12 million Roma in Europe. KABUL -- Torrential rains and flooding have swept across much of Afghanistan, killing at least five people, destroying and damaging hundreds of houses, and sweeping away livestock, officials say. Hashmat Bahaduri, a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), said that heavy rains and flooding have hit 16 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces in the past 24 hours. In the western province of Herat, five people were killed when their houses collapsed, according to Jilani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Hamid Mubarez, the disaster and humanitarian affairs director in Herat, said that 17 other people are missing. They were last heard from while traveling in a van in the Obey district on April 15, Mubarez said. The floods affected other areas in the province, including the districts of Kohsan, Karrokh, Shindand, and Guzara. In the capital, the Kabul River burst its banks in places and swamped surrounding neighborhoods. Bahaduri said that more than 110 houses have already been partially or completely destroyed in the city. Authorities have warned residents living along the river to be prepared to evacuate their homes as water levels surged. The highway between the cities of Herat and Kandahar has been closed to traffic due to damage caused by flash floods. More than 110 people have been killed due to flooding in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the ANDMA. This winter saw heavy snowfall across parts of Afghanistan, cutting off many areas and leading to flash floods in the spring melt. With reporting by AP, AFP, and TOLOnews A Bahraini court has convicted 139 people on terrorism-related charges in a mass trial involving 169 defendants, and sentenced them to prison terms of between three years and life in prison. The public prosecutor's office said on April 16 that 138 of those convicted were stripped of their citizenship and a further 30 were acquitted. The defendants, of which 109 are in custody and 60 were tried in absentia, can appeal. Charges against the group included forming a terrorist cell inside Bahrain with help from mainly Shiite Iran for the purpose of carrying out attacks in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. Amnesty International said it was the second "flagrantly unfair mass trial" in Bahrain since February, when 167 people were convicted, primarily for "participation in a nonviolent sit-in." Mass trials became commonplace in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, after a failed uprising in 2011 that was led by members of the Persian Gulf island nation's Shi'ite Muslim majority. Since the uprising, Bahrain has seen periodic clashes between protesters and security forces, who have been targeted by bomb attacks. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters, MOSCOW -- Russia's communications watchdog has given social media companies Twitter and Facebook nine months to move Russian users' data onto servers in Russia, the Interfax news agency reports. Interfax on April 16 quoted Roskomnadzor head Aleksandr Zharov as saying he hoped the companies would comply with Russian data law and that the country's authorities will not end up having to block the sites. "The court has met, and the companies have been fined. They've been given time to comply with Russian laws," he told reporters. Russia and many other countries have enacted "data-must-stay" legislation to varying degrees, requiring the personal data of their citizens to be located in their home countries, an action U.S. social media giants have pushed back on. A Russian law adopted in September 2015 requires domestic and foreign companies to store the personal data of Russian citizens on servers in Russia, and allows Roskomnadzor to fine or block violators. In November 2016, Roskomnadzor blocked the professional-networking website LinkedIn, saying it failed to comply with the law. And in January this year, the Russian regulator launched administrative proceedings against Twitter and Facebook for allegedly failing to comply with the legislation. In separate proceedings earlier this month, a Moscow court fined the two companies 3,000 rubles ($46) each, the minimal fine envisioned by the law, for failing to tell authorities where it stores Russian users' data. Under the administrative proceeding, companies can be fined and assigned a deadline of from six months to one year to demonstrate their compliance with the law. Though the fines were relatively small, Zharov has not ruled out larger fines or other measures to get the companies to comply, state-run TASS news agency has reported. With reporting by Reuters, USA Today, and Interfax As investigators comb through the debris to find the cause of the fire that gutted the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, two Serbian tabloids claim to know the real cause of the blaze in the 12th century Gothic church: a fluttering Kosovar flag. The Alo and Informer tabloids -- which are closely linked to the Serbian government -- posted reports on their websites on April 15 saying the tragic fire was "Gods punishment" for the flying of the Kosovar flag along with several others during a November ceremony at the cathedral to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Notre Dame displayed the "fake state Kosovo's" flag and therefore "is now being destroyed by a disastrous fire," a report on the Informer website said, showing a photo with smoke billowing from the cathedral along with an inset photo of the vestibule with several flags, including Kosovos, hanging from it. The Informer website later withdrew the report without explanation. The Alo website added that the flag display last year at Notre Dame was like "spitting on Serbian victims" from the brutal war in Kosovo during the 1990s' breakup of Yugoslavia -- thus the fire was punishment for flying Kosovo's flag. Alo later also took down its story without explaining why. A former province of Serbia, Kosovo declared independence in 2008, nearly a decade after the 1998-99 war that ended with NATO air strikes on Serbia that forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops from Kosovo -- ending a conflict that killed some 13,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Kosovo's 1.8 million population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian with about 5 percent ethnic Serbs, and parts of the country are deeply divided along ethnic lines. Western powers are hoping Kosovo can mature into a stable, multiethnic state. To that end, there are some 5,000 NATO troops still stationed in Kosovo, which is recognized by more than 115 countries but not Serbia, Russia, China, or five of the European Union's 28 members. At the time of the flag furor, officials at Notre Dame said the choice of flags that were flown at the ceremony was based on a list of invited officials drawn up by the French government. Many Serbs were further enraged by the commemoration when Kosovar President Hashim Thaci was seated near Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was positioned far away on the opposite side in a less prominent position. Russia is a traditional ally of Serbia and refuses to acknowledge Kosovo's independence. Vucic himself tweeted support for France as the fire raged on April 15, saying all Serbs are saddened by what happened at the church, which is visited by an estimated 13 million people each year. "We are with our French friends and we are ready to help the renewal of this symbol of French and world civilization," he wrote. French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the monument described as the soul of the nation and voiced relief that "the worst had been avoided" in a blaze that had at one point threatened the entire building. Although the spire and much of the roof of the 850-year-old medieval structure -- one of the world's most visited landmarks -- collapsed, the main structure, including the two bell towers, was saved, and most of the treasured artwork and religious artifacts were safely taken away from the fire. With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service Many Iranians are upset by the presence of Iraqi paramilitary forces sent to help with flood relief efforts as they try to cope with a natural disaster called the worst to hit Iran in more than 15 years. Several weeks of heavy rain have created torrential flood waters in nearly all of Iran's 31 provinces, killing more than 70 people, displacing hundreds of thousands, and causing more than $2 billion in damages as the state strains to provide humanitarian aid. Critics say the move to bring Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd al-Shaabi) from Iraq is a show of force by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) amid discontent over what is seen as the state's poor response to the destructive floods. The popular criticism appears to highlight a level of distrust for the IRGC, which has also been accused in the past of using Lebanese militia to crack down on domestic protesters. "If this is to demonstrate solidarity between the two countries [Iran and Iraq], then Iraq's Red Crescent forces should have come, not an armed force," Iran-based journalist Abolfazl Abedini said on Twitter. Abedini noted that Hashd al-Shaabi and the Iranian establishment have "common interests," while adding that "bringing the armed groups of another country for relief is wrong." Through the IRGC's elite Quds Force -- which is responsible for operations outside of Iranian borders -- the IRGC is said to have close ties with powerful groups in Hashd al-Shaabi, an umbrella organization of more than 40 groups that has between 45,000 and 142,000 fighters. The group was also involved in the fight against the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq. 'Depth Of Sympathy' Iranian media report that Hashd al-Shaabi's forces will help with relief efforts in the Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces where towns and villages have been hit with high waters that have destroyed infrastructure and crops while flooding homes. Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi was quoted as saying on April 13 that hundreds of Iraqi tribal leaders and other elites -- including members of Hashd al-Shaabi -- have obtained Iranian visas and gone to Khuzestan and Lorestan to help flood victims. Masjedi said the move demonstrated "the depth of sympathy and ties between the two countries." The neighboring countries fought a bloody war against each other from 1980 to 1988 that was driven by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and led to hundreds of thousands of Iranians and Iraqis being killed. Baghdad-Tehran relations have vastly improved since Hussein's Sunni-led government was overthrown by U.S.-led forces in 2003 and replaced by Shi'ite leaders. Iranians adhere predominantly to Shi'a Islam. Many people on social media have questioned the arrival of the Iraqi paramilitary forces just weeks after the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfar-Abadi, suggested that the government could use foreign militia groups -- including Afghans and Pakistanis recruited by the IRGC to fight in Syria -- to put down potential protests inside Iran. "If we do not help the revolution, the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi, the Afghan Fatemiyoun [brigade], the Pakistani Zeynabiyoun, and Yemeni Huthis will come and help the revolution," Ghzanfar-Abadi was quoted as saying last month in a meeting with religious students in Qom. "Helping during floods is different than a 'show of power' -- one is based on empathy, the second fear," journalist Maziar Khosravi wrote on Twitter earlier this week. Some dismissed the concern, including journalist and former political prisoner Bahman Amouee, who suggested on Twitter that the Islamic republic has "enough" repressive forces that there is no need to accuse Afghans and Iraqis of playing a role in state repression. "Do not create hatred towards our neighbors," Amouee said on Twitter. 'It Looks Bad For Us' Some of the resentment appeared to highlight the open wounds of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq during which Khuzestan became a frontline where tens of thousands of people were killed and many cities were left in ruins. In a video shared widely, including by popular actress Mahnaz Afshar, a young man who introduced himself as an Iranian Arab suggested that the presence of Iraqi forces in Iran was damaging to the country. "We should help ourselves -- why have foreigners entered our country? They want to prove themselves and say; 'Look I went to [this] village or [that] village and gave them blankets.'" "It looks bad for us, not for them," the young man added angrily. In an apparent reaction to the sensitivities, lawmaker Ali Sari of Khuzestan's capital, Ahvaz, was asked in parliament by the official government news agency IRNA whether the Iraqi groups who had traveled to Iran carried military equipment. Sari who said he had not seen Hashd al-Shaabi's forces but that he had been informed that they were in Iran to help the flood victims, declined to comment. "I cannot comment on this because I do not have any information," he said. The lawmaker also said he wasn't aware which state body had coordinated the presence of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in Iran while adding that "usually" such decisions are made by IRGC's Quds Force. Demonstrating Reach And Influence? The semiofficial Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, posted a video of "50 trucks" carrying aid by Hashd al-Shaabi that had crossed the border and entered Khorramshahr, in Khuzestan Province. Fars said the trucks were carrying food, clothing, and electrical generators. Fars also reported that members of the Fatemiyoun -- which reportedly consists of mainly Afghan refugees from the Hazara Shi'ite minority recruited and trained by the IRGC to fight in Syria -- were involved in flood relief efforts, too. The deployment of IRGC-backed foreign forces could also be a signal to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which earlier this month designated the powerful Islamic Guards as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Journalist Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the move to bring Iraqi paramilitaries to Iran is aimed at demonstrating the IRGC's reach and influence in the region. "I think the message [the IRGC] is sending to Washington is that we have a large network of ideological, paramilitary, armed, and militia groups in the Middle East and we can react extensively," Mahdavi-Azad, who is based in Germany, said. A Russian court has convicted a Norwegian man of espionage and sentenced him to 14 years in a high-security prison. Frode Berg, a retired former inspector on the Norwegian-Russian border, was found guilty and sentenced on April 16 after a trial held behind closed doors at the Moscow City Court. Berg, 63, was detained in Moscow in December 2017 by the Federal Security Service (FSB), and accused of seeking classified information relating to Russian nuclear submarines. He pleaded not guilty to charges of espionage on behalf of Norway. At a hearing on April 9, prosecutor Milana Digayeva alleged that Berg was caught red-handed with documents he had received from an employee of a military facility -- Aleksei Zhitnyuk -- who was being shadowed by Russian intelligence. Zhitnyuk was found guilty of high treason in December 2018 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. 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 and thought he was only carrying money. The 14-year prison sentence was in line with the punishment recommended by prosecutors. The maximum penalty for espionage is 20 years. A lawyer for Berg, Ilya Novikov, said on April 16 that his client will not appeal the sentence but will submit a plea for pardon after it comes into force. Asked about a possible pardon for Berg, President Vladimir Putin said last week that he would wait for the verdict before assessing a possible plea. Novikov said ahead of the hearing that he was expecting a guilty verdict and a lengthy sentence, and that the defense was hoping diplomatic talks could lead to Berg's release. "The question is how successful diplomatic efforts will be to secure his release," Novikov said. With reporting by AP, Reuters, Interfax, TASS, and Meduza A raid by security forces on a militant hideout in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar has triggered a 17-hour firefight in which a police officer and at least six suspected militants were killed. The Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail sent to RFE/RL and said six of its fighters were killed during the shoot-out. Shaukat Yousafzai, a government spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, said on April 16 that police and commandos on April 15 surrounded a house in the Hayatabad area of Peshawar, after being tipped off about planned attacks. Yousafzai said the suspects opened fire on security forces when asked to surrender. The suspects also threw grenades, which killed an officer, police said. The operation ended when the three-story residential building collapsed. Shafqat Malik, chief of Peshawar's bomb disposal squad, said that the militants had planted a motorcycle bomb at the entrance of the house and linked it to explosives throughout the building. A controlled detonation of the motorcycle device carried out by the bomb disposal squad triggered the explosives inside, which brought the building down, Malik said. During the stand-off, local residents were evacuated with the help of security personnel and rescuers. Peshawar is the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan. With reporting by AP, AFP, and Dawn A Russian court has ordered the release on parole of Aleksandra Ivanova, a former university student who was convicted of trying to join the extremist group Islamic State (IS). The city court in Vologda, northeast of Moscow, issued the ruling on April 16, lawyer Sergei Badamshin told Ekho Moskvy radio. He said Ivanova should be freed in 10 days if prosecutors do not appeal the decision. Ivanova was detained in Turkey in June 2015 while allegedly trying to cross into Syria, where IS fighters had seized swaths of territory the previous year and were seeking to create a caliphate. The former Moscow State University student, who changed her name from Varvara Karaulova while in custody, was convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison in December 2016. She was 20 years old at the time. Ivanova's lawyers contend that she never planned to join IS and was manipulated by an IS recruiter. The court ruling followed a plea by Russia's human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, for Ivanova's release on parole. Prison authorities opposed it. A substantial number of Russians from Muslim ethnic minorities are believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside militant groups including IS. Ivanova's case attracted attention in part because she was a student at a prestigious university and come from a non-Muslim family. Islamic State is banned in Russia, where it is designated as a terrorist organization. Russia has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government throughout the eight-year-old war in Syria and stepped up its involvement in 2015, starting a campaign of air strikes against his opponents, including IS. With reporting by Ekho Moskvy, TASS, and RTvI The lower chamber of Russia's parliament has passed a controversial bill that critics say is part of efforts by President Vladimir Putin to expand government control over the Internet. In a 307 to 68 vote on April 16, lawmakers in the State Duma gave their final approval to the legislation that critics fear could herald a new era of widespread censorship. The bill now heads to the upper house, the Federation Council, which is expected to approve it and send it to Putin for his signature. The so-called "sovereign Internet" bill would require providers to install equipment that could route Russian web traffic through points controlled by the state, and for the creation of a domestic domain-name system. Backers of the bill say it will make what they call the Russian segment of the Internet -- known as the RuNet -- more independent. They argue it is needed to guard Russia against potential cyberattacks. Critics say the bill will deal a major blow to Internet freedom in Russia. The proposed move sparked protests of several thousand people in Moscow last month. The equipment that the bill requires to be installed would make it easier for the government to block websites it has banned. Last week, the chief of Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor said the bill would in fact target a popular messaging app. Aleksandr Zharov told the TASS news agency on April 9 that the bill "prevents the spread of banned information." "It's obvious that one of the elements of this prevention will be fighting against" online resources including the Telegram messaging app, Zharov was quoted as saying. At least four online news outlets, including the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily, deleted his remarks, according to a Telegram channel monitoring efforts by Roskomnadzor to block the messaging app. In April 2018, Russia blocked Telegram after the popular messaging app refused to comply with a Russian court order to give security services access to users' encrypted messages. Amnesty International said that blocking Telegram -- used by senior government officials and Kremlin foes alike -- would be "the latest in a series of attacks on online freedom of expression" in Russia. Many Russians took to the streets to protest Kremlin efforts to silence the messaging app. With reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and Meduza Respect among Russians for Josef Stalin rose sharply in the past year and hit its highest levels since at least 2001, according to an opinion poll that could fuel concern that President Vladimir Putin's government is rehabilitating the Soviet dictator blamed for the deaths of millions of his own country's citizens. A total of 70 percent of the Russians surveyed said that Stalin played a completely positive or relatively positive role in "the life of our country," a jump from the 54 percent recorded in 2016, according to results released by independent pollster Levada Center on April 16. Only 19 percent said Stalin played a relatively negative or sharply negative role, compared to 30 percent in 2016. Answering a separate question, more than half of the respondents -- 51 percent -- said they had a positive personal opinion of Stalin. That figure -- including 4 percent who felt admiration, 41 percent who had respect, and 6 percent who voiced a "liking" for the late autocrat -- was up from 40 percent a year ago and was the highest recorded by Levada since it began conducting such surveys in 2001. Infographic: Favorable Views Of Stalin On The Rise Levada, the only major independent opinion pollster in Russia, questioned 1,600 adults nationwide on March 21-27 for the survey, which was one of several indications that Stalin's popularity has been rising in recent years. The poll had a margin of error of up to 3.4 percentage points. 'Human Casualties' Vs. 'Great Goals' Asked whether the "human casualties suffered by the Soviet people in the Stalin era" were justified by "great goals and the results that were achieved in a short period of time," a total of 46 percent of those polled said they were justified completely or to some degree, up from 36 percent in a poll two years ago. Forty-five percent said they could not be justified, down from 49 percent in 2017. Historians and Kremlin critics say that under Putin, who has been president or prime minister since 1999, the Russian authorities have sought to play down Stalin's crimes. While he has criticized Stalin at times, Putin praised the dictator at least once in the past as an "effective manager" and said in June 2017 that the "excessive demonization" of Stalin is "one way of attacking the Soviet Union and Russia." Hundreds of thousands of people were summarily killed during Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s and millions were sent to the gulag -- camps notorious for their harsh conditions and brutal treatments of prisoners -- under his rule. Three years after his death in 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin's cult of personality and his crimes, which have been documented in more detail and scope since the glasnost era of the late 1980s and the Soviet collapse of 1991. 'Mythological Image' In October 2017, at the opening ceremony for a Moscow monument called the Wall of Sorrow, Putin said that the "horrific past" of Soviet-era government oppression must not be forgotten and cannot be justified. Last year, he skipped a ceremony there and made no statement marking the annual Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions. Arseny Roginsky, an activist who was chairman of the respected rights group Memorial and died in December 2017, accused the authorities of trying to push the memory of Stalin's abuses -- which Memorial has doggedly sought to document -- "to the distant periphery of the consciousness." Remarks by sociologist Leonty Byzov suggest that enthusiasm for the Soviet leader may not be good news for Putin and his government, even though it is based on a "purely mythological image of Stalin," because it appears to reflect disaffection with those in power now. "Stalin is seen in society as a defender of the oppressed. The population now feels increasingly abandoned," Russian news outlet RBK quoted Byzov, a researcher at the Sociology Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, as saying. "The figure of Stalin is starting to be perceived as a symbol of justice and an alternative to the current authorities, who are judged to be unfair, cruel, and uncaring about the people." With reporting by RBK and the Moscow Times Russia President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon have vowed to continue their countries' security cooperation. Following talks in Moscow on April 17, the Kremlin released a statement saying the two leaders agreed to continue joint efforts to "fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and the illegal trade in weapons." Rahmon is in the Russian capital on a two-day official visit. He and Putin were due to sign a raft of documents, including one on increasing Tajik agricultural exports to Russia. Ahead of the talks on April 17 with Putin, Rahmon said at a meeting with the members of the Tajik community in Moscow that regulation of labor migration and protection of rights and interests of Tajik citizens in Russia will top the agenda of his meetings with the Russian leadership. Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry, in turn, said agreements on cooperation in the migration sector are also to be signed. During a meeting with State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in Moscow on April 16, Rahmon said that they will include an agreement on "organized recruitment of migrant workers from Tajikistan." There are hundreds of thousands of labor migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus living and working in Russia. Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS KYIV -- Ukraine's militaristic, far-right Azov movement and its various branches have used Facebook to promote its antidemocratic, ultranationalist messages and recruit new members since its inception at the start of the country's war against Russia-backed separatists five years ago. The American social-networking giant has also been an important platform for Azov's global expansion and attempts to legitimize itself among likeminded American and European white nationalists. Facebook has occasionally taken down pages and groups associated with Azov when they have been found to be in violation of its policies on hate speech and the depiction of violence. The first Facebook removals occurred in 2015, Azov members told RFE/RL. But after continuous, repeat violations Azov -- which includes many war veterans and militant members with openly neo-Nazi views who have been involved in attacks on LGBT activists, Romany encampments, and women's groups -- is now officially banned from having any presence on Facebook, the social network has confirmed to RFE/RL. Despite the ban, however, which quietly came into force months ago, a defiant Azov and its members remain active on the social network under pseudonyms and name variations, underscoring the difficulty Facebook faces in combating extremism on a platform with some 2.32 billion monthly active users. 'Organized Hate' Not Allowed For years, Facebook has struggled with how to deal with extremist content and it has been criticized for moving too slowly on it or behaving reactively. The issue was put front-and-center in August 2017, when the platform was used to organize a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly. The issue was raised most recently in the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre that left 50 people dead. The shooter livestreamed the killing on his Facebook page. The company said it had "quickly removed both the shooter's Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video," and was taking down posts of praise or support for the shooting. Joe Mulhall, a senior researcher at the U.K.-based antifascist organization Hope Not Hate, told RFE/RL by phone that Charlottesville brought a "sea change" when it came to social media companies and Facebook, in particular paying attention to extremists. For instance, he praised the company for its "robust" action against the far-right founder of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, who had repeatedly violated Facebook's policies on hate speech. But Mulhall said Facebook more often acts only after "they're publicly shamed." "When there is massive public pressure, they act; or when they think they can get away with things, they don't," he added. This may explain why it took Facebook years to ban the Azov movement, which received significant media attention following a series of violent attacks against minorities in 2018. Facebook did not specify what exactly tipped the scale. But responding to an RFE/RL e-mail request on April 15, a Facebook spokesperson wrote that the company has been taking down accounts associated with the Azov Regiment, National Corps, and National Militia the group's military, political, and vigilante wings, respectively -- on Facebook for months, citing its policies against hate groups. The spokesperson did not say when exactly the ban came into force. In its policy on dangerous individuals and organizations, Facebook defines a hate organization as "any association of three or more people that is organized under a name, sign, or symbol and that has an ideology, statements, or physical actions that attack individuals based on characteristics, including race, religious affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, serious disease or disability." Defending 'Ukrainian Order' Azov and its leadership consider themselves defenders of what they call "Ukrainian order," or an illiberal and antidemocratic society. They are anti-Russian and also against Ukraine's potential accession to the European Union and NATO. Their ideal Ukraine is a "Ukraine for Ukrainians," as Olena Semenyaka, the international secretary for Azov's political wing, the National Corps, told RFE/RL last year. Azov's symbol is similar to the Nazi Wolfsangel but the group claims it is comprised of the letters N and I, meaning "national idea." Human rights groups such as Freedom House have warned that Azov's increasing visibility and impunity is a cause for concern. "Far-right political forces present a real threat to the democratic development of Ukrainian society," said a recent Freedom House report, referring to Azov and similar groups. That threat is not due to political support -- polls show its political party, National Corps, is supported by less than 1 percent of Ukrainians but because the far-right is "aggressively trying to impose their agenda on Ukrainian society, including by using force against those with opposite political and cultural views." Last month, Group of Seven (G7) ambassadors in Kyiv sent a letter to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, urging him to act against the groups which it said threatened to disrupt the country's election and usurp the role of the Ukrainian National Police. The ambassadors asked the minister to also consider outlawing the groups down the road. Avakov is tied to Azov through his control over the National Guard, of which the group's regiment is a part. The G7 letter came after the Central Election Commission granted permission for the National Militia to serve as election monitors and hundreds of Azov members in separate instances in Cherkasy and Kyiv clashed with police while protesting President Petro Poroshenko at reelection campaign events over a corruption scandal involving his close ally. More than 20 police officers were injured in Cherkasy; in Kyiv, the group hurled stuffed toy pigs toward police guarding the presidential administration. Earlier in March, the U.S. State Department referred to the National Corps as a "nationalist hate group" in its annual human rights report. Azov has inducted thousands of militant members in recent years in torchlight ceremonies with chants of "Glory to Ukraine! Death to enemies." The movement claims to have roughly 10,000 members in its broader movement and the ability to mobilize some 2,000 to the streets within hours. A large part of its recruiting has been done using slickly produced videos and advertisements of it fight clubs, hardcore concerts, and fashion lines promoted on Facebook and other social networks. Still On Facebook, But Moving Elsewhere Many of those may no longer be found on Facebook after the ban. But some are likely to stick around, since many Azov factions and leaders remain on the platform or else have opened fresh accounts after original ones were removed, RFE/RL research shows. For instance, the Azov Regiment, whose official page under the Polk Azov name was removed months ago, has also opened a fresh page with a new name: Tviy Polk (Your Regiment). Its leaders have reacted similarly, as have the National Corps and National Militia, opening dozens of new accounts under slightly altered names to make it more difficult for Facebook to track them. A simple search on April 16 brought up more than a dozen active accounts. Semenyaka has had at least two personal accounts removed by Facebook. But two other accounts belonging to her and opened with different spellings of her name -- Lena Semenyaka and Helena Semenyaka -- are still open, as is a group page she manages. In a post to the Lena account on April 11, Semenyaka wrote after the takedown of her original account that Facebook "is getting increasingly anti-intellectual." "If you wish to keep in touch, please subscribe to some other permanent and temporary platforms," she continued, adding a link to her Facebook-owned Instagram account. Then, highlighting what's become a popular new destination for far-right and other extremist groups, she also announced the opening of a new National Corps International account -- on the messenger app Telegram. KYIV - Ukrainian lawmaker Nadia Savchenko has been released from jail unexpectedly but still faces trial over allegations that she plotted a terrorist attack on parliament, authorities say. Savchenko, who returned from Russia a hero following two years in prison there but was arrested in her home country in March 2018, was freed overnight by a court order after a hearing that began on April 15. A judge at the Brovary district court outside Kyiv ordered the release of Savchenko and alleged co-conspirator Volodymyr Ruban because the term of their pretrial detention expired at midnight and had not been extended. Savchenko plans to return to work soon at the Verkhovna Rada, the single-chamber parliament that stripped her of her immunity from prosecution before her arrest, defense lawyer Oleksandr Shadryn said. But Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the accusations against Savchenko and Ruban remain in place. He said her release suggests that Ukraine's court system is "gravely ill." Another lawyer for Savchenko, Dmytro Loyfman, also said that her release from pretrial detention would not affect the conduct of the case against her. The Unian news agency reported that the next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 7. The abrupt release came five days before the presidential runoff between incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and comedian Volodymy Zelenskiy. It was the latest twist in a dramatic series of events for Savchenko, who for a time was a hero of the war that has killed some 13,000 people in the eastern region known as the Donbas since Russia fomented unrest and backed separatists after pro-European protests drove Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014. Savchenko says she was abducted in the combat zone later that year and taken to Russia. She spent two years in prison there, defying the Kremlin with a series of hunger strikes, and returned to a hero's welcome in Kyiv when she was released as part of a prisoner swap in May 2016. Elected to the Rada while still in Russian captivity, she had declared her intention to run in this year's presidential election. But she was stripped of her parliamentary immunity on March 22, 2018, a week after Lutsenko accused her of plotting to destroy the Radas roof cupola with mortar shells, kill surviving lawmakers with assault-rifle fire, and overthrow the government. Savchenko has maintained her innocence. She said in March 2018 that undercover agents attempting to discredit her encouraged her to plan to overthrow the government, and that she pretended to go along with the conspiracy in a bid to embarrass the authorities and expose what she said was their duplicity. Before her arrest Savchenko had drawn fire from several political camps, facing criticism for holding talks with the separatists without government consent and for comments nationalists said indicated she advocated accepting Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Ruban was detained in March 2018 while crossing into government-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, allegedly with large amounts of weapons and ammunition hidden in a shipment of furniture. Courts had extended pretrial detention periods for both Ruban and Savchenko at the request of prosecutors several times before their release. With reporting by the Kyiv Post, Unian, nv.ua, and TASS The UN Security Council has condemned the Taliban's announcement of a spring offensive, saying in a unanimous statement that it will only "result in more unnecessary suffering and destruction for the Afghan people." The Taliban launched its annual spring offensive on April 12, even as the UN lifted travel bans on 11 of their senior leaders to facilitate peace talks with the United States. U.S. and Taliban negotiators have held several rounds of peace talks in Qatar and an Afghan delegation is expected to meet this week with the militants. The Security Council "called on all parties to the conflict to seize the opportunity to begin an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations that result in a political settlement," in a April 15 statement. The Taliban launched attacks near the northern city of Kunduz and in Kabul on April 13, hours after announcing the start of the spring offensive. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy who is spearheading Washington's push for a peace settlement, called the Taliban announcement "reckless." The Taliban has long refused to speak officially with Kabul, calling the government a "puppet" of the West. But the Taliban is expected to meet an Afghan delegation that will consist of government officials, opposition politicians, and civil society in the Qatari capital, Doha from April 19-21. Based on reporting by AFP and Xinhua By COMMAND POST April 15, 2019 The government of Kenya has reportedly expelled Rwandan ambassador James Kimonyo, this website has learnt. This website could not independently verify this information. Efforts to get a comment from both the ministries of foreign affairs of Kenya and Rwanda were futile by press time. According to a diplomatic source who did not want to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the media, Kimonyo was thrown out of Nairobi on charges of espionage and supporting subversive activities. He was reportedly expelled with the Rwandan embassy first secretary in late January 2019, on the ground that the two were supporting subversive activities. Both countries kept quiet on the expulsion. Since early February 2019, Rwanda hasnt been having an ambassador to Kenya A source said. Up to now, Rwanda has quietly been negotiating with Kenya for Ambassador James Kimonyos re-admission in the country through refuting all allegations forwarded by Kenya. Rwanda has been accused of carrying out assassinations against its opposition in different capitals across the world. For the past years, Rwandas DMI agents have been expelled from Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Sweden, Belgium, U.K, DR Congo and Malawi in the hunt against those who question to Paul Kagame high handiness. On March 9, 2019 in front of his entire nomenklatura, 21 years after the assassination of the late opposition leader Seth Sendashonga killed in Nairobi on May 16, 1998, Kagame confessed to the political murder and expressed fresh death threats towards his key opponents. It was not the first time he is bragging about his own reasons to kill his opponents. He said that the kiss of death was decided after he knew of a meeting between late Sendashonga with President Musevenis brother General Caleb Akandwanaho in Nairobi. Seth Sendashonga died because he has crossed the line and am not apologetic. But he did not mention that, even two years before, his first hit man, an Embassy staff Francis Mugabo, missed the head and shot him in the shoulder almost at close range on 26 February 1996. His critics say the fact that Kagame continues to claim, without accountability, some of his political assassinations shows his arrogance towards the Rwandan society as well as the international community which continues to shine with its inaction towards the Rwandan genocide, war crimes, massacres and assassinations of opponents. We very seriously consider the death threats towards the opposition leaders and take this opportunity to express again our disappointment at the indolence of the international community in relation to crimes committed by General Paul Kagame and his entourage Tanzania while expelling DMI agents in 2013 also expelled more than 10 thousands Rwandans who were living in the Country in what Tanzanias Internal intelligence agency termed as cleaning up operation. The Newport Princess, a 77-year-old, 61.5-foot-long Mississippi-style paddleboat that toured Newport Harbor, has sunk about a mile off of the coast of Long Beach. 30 veiled chameleons rescued by officers Guadalajara, Jalisco Environmental officials in the state of Jalisco have rescued 30 veiled chameleons from being shipped to Mexico City via a parcel company. Officers from the Federal Procurators Office for Environmental Protection were called to the parcel company after federal police officers inspected a package and made the discovery. Inside, 30 chameleons were found wrapped in three blankets. All were found to be in poor health, suffering from dehydration and lack of food. All 30 were transferred to medical facilities at a wildlife shelter for proper care and shelter. The veiled chameleon is listed on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is a protected species. Mexican officials intend to investigate the shipment of the reptiles, noting that the container used for transportation threatened the dignified and respectful treatment of the chameleons. Gold Mines In The United States Since the discovery of gold at the Reed farm in North Carolina in 1799, gold mining in the United States has continued. The first documented occurrence of gold occurred in Virginia in 1782. Some minor gold production took place in North Carolina as early as 1793, but did not create excitement. The discovery on the Reed farm in 1799 which was identified as gold in 1802 and subsequently mined marked the first commercial production. Gold production on a large scale began in 1848 with the California Gold Rush. In the autumn of 1942, the War Production Board Limitation Order No. 208s closure of gold mines during World War II was a major impact on production until the end of the war. Alabama Around 1830 in Alabama, gold was discovered shortly after the Georgia Gold Rush. The main districts were Cleburne Countys Arbacochee district, mostly from placer deposits, and Tallapoosa Countys Hog Mountain district, which produced 24,000 troy ounces (750 kg) of schist veins. Alaska In 1848, Russian explorers discovered gold placer in the Kenai River, but gold was not produced. Gold mining began from placers southeast of Juneau in 1870.[7] From 1880 to the end of 2007, Alaska produced a total of 40,300,000 troy ounces (1,250,000 kg) of gold. In 2015, 873,984 troy ounces (27,183.9 kg) of gold were produced by Alaskan mines, 12.7 percent of US production. Fort Knox mine, a large open pit and cyanide leaching operation in the mining district of Fairbanks, is the largest gold producer. Fort Knox produced gold in 2015 at 401,553 troy ounces (12,489.7 kg). The gold mines of Pogo (283,000 ounces) and Kensington (128,865 ounces) and the polymetallic mine of Greens Creek (60,566 ounces) accounted for the rest of the gold production in 2015. Arizona More than 16 million troy ounces (498 tons) of gold were produced by Arizona. It is reported that gold mining in Arizona began in 1774 when Spanish priest Manuel Lopez ordered the Indians of Papago to wash gravel gold on the flanks of the Quijotoa Mountains, Pima County. Gold mining continued until 1849, when the California Gold Rush lured the Mexican miners away. Other gold mining under Spanish and Mexican rule was carried out in the Santa Cruz County district of Oro Blanco and the Pima County district of Arivaca. California Spanish prospectors found gold about ten miles north-east of Yuma, Arizona, in the Potholes district between 1775 and 1780, along the Colorado River, in present-day Imperial County, California. The gold from dry placers has been recovered. Other placer deposits were quickly found on the west bank of the Colorado River, including the districts of Picacho and Cargo Muchacho. Placer gold deposits were found in 1828 in San Ysidro County, 1835 and 1842 in Los Angeles County, San Francisquito Canyon and Placerita Canyon. Californias gold production peaked at 3.9 million troy ounces (121 tonnes) that year in 1852. But in the early years, the placer deposits worked were quickly exhausted, and production collapsed. Hardrock mining (called quartz mining in California) began in 1849 and hydraulic mining of placer started in 1852. Colorado During the Peak Gold Rush in the vicinity of present-day Denver in 1858, gold was discovered, but the deposits were small. In January 1859, the first major gold discoveries in Colorado were in the district of Central City-Idaho Springs. Only one Colorado mine is still producing gold, the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine in Victor near Colorado Springs, a Newmont Mining Corporation-owned open-pit heap leach operation that produced 360,000 troy ounces (11,000 kg) of gold in 2018. Florida During the late 19th century, at the site where Mike Roess Gold Head State Park is today, small amounts of gold were mined commercially in North Eastern Florida. There are no records of the amount of gold produced, but the finding was insufficient to keep the operation running commercially, and within a matter of months the small amount of pay dirt has been depleted. Georgia Georgia has a total historical production of gold from 1830 to 1959 of 871,000 troy ounces (27,100 kg). Although the state is not a gold producer at the moment, historically important. Idaho In 1860, at the juncture where Canal Creek meets Orofino Creek, Gold was first discovered in Idaho, in Pierce. The leading historic gold-producing district is Boise Basin in Boise County, discovered in 1862, producing 2,9 million troy ounces (90,2 tonnes), mostly from placers. The French district of Idaho County Creek-Florence began in the 1860s, producing about 1 million troy ounces (31 tonnes) from placers. The district of Silver City in Owyhee County started producing in 1863 and produced over 1 million troy ounces (31 tons), mostly from lode deposits. The district of Coeur dAlene in Shoshone County produced 44,000 troy ounces (1,400 kg) of gold as a by-product of silver mining. The Silver Strand mine and the Bond mine were active gold mines in Idaho in 2006. Maryland Gold was reported as early as 1830 in Maryland, but the result was no production. Placer gold was discovered by California Union soldiers at Great Falls near Washington, DC in 1861 during the American Civil War. A number of mines were opened in Montgomery County on gold-bearing quartz veins after the war. Since 1951, there has been no gold production reported. There were about 6,000 troy ounces (190 kg) of total production. Michigan From the Ropes gold mine northeast of Ishpeming in Marquette County, Michigan, about 29,000 troy ounces (900 kg) of gold were produced. Originally operating from 1880 to 1897 and reopened from 19831989, the underground mine extracted gold in peridotite from quartz veins. Montana Gold was first discovered in 1852 in Montana, but mining did not start until 1862, when gold placers were found in 1862 in Bannack, Montana. The resulting gold rush resulted in more placer discoveries, including in 1863 in Virginia City, and in 1864 in Helena and Butte.[28 ] The Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode was located in 1867. The Montana Tunnels mine and the Golden Sunlight mine are currently active hardrock gold mines. The Browns Gulch placer and the Confederate Gulch placer are active gold placers. The Stillwater igneous complex also produces gold from three platinum mines: the Stillwater mine, the Lodestar mine, and the East Boulder Project. Nevada Nevada is the nations leading gold producing state, producing 5,467,646 troy ounces (170,06 tons) in 2016, accounting for 81% of US gold and 5.5% of world production. Much of Nevadas gold comes from large open pit mining and recovery from heap leaching. Some of the major mining companies in the world, including Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold, and Kinross Gold, operate state-owned gold mines. Cortez, Twin Creeks, Betz-Post, Meikle, Marigold, Round Mountain, Jerritt Canyon and Getchell are active major mines. New Mexico Gold was first discovered in the Old Placers district of the Ortiz Mountains, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in New Mexico in 1828. Following the discovery of placer gold, a nearby lode deposit was discovered. Two prospectors collected float in 1877 near Hillsboro, New Mexico in the area of the future Opportunity Mine, which was tested at $160 per ton in gold and silver. In the nearby Rattlesnake vein, ore was soon discovered and a placer deposit of gold was found in the Rattlesnake and Wicks gulches in November. Before 1904, total production was about $6,750,000. All gold production in New Mexico in 2007 (13,000 troy ounces (400 kg)) came from two large open pit mines in Grant County as a by-product of copper mining. Two primary gold mines are being prepared for production, however: the Rio Arriba County Northstar mine and the San Lorenzo Claims mine in Socorro County. North Carolina After the discovery of a 17-pound (7.7 kg) gold nugget by 12-year-old Conrad Reed in a stream at his fathers farm in 1799, North Carolina was the site of the first gold rush in the United States. The Reed Gold Mine in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, southwest of Georgeville, produced about 50,000 troy ounces (1,600 kg) of gold from deposits of lode and placer. Gold was produced in 15 districts, nearly all of them in the states Piedmont region. The total production of gold is estimated at 1.2 million ounces of troy (37.3 tonnes). Oregon Although gold mines are spread across much of Oregon, nearly all the gold produced comes from two main areas: the Klamath Mountains in southwestern Oregon, including Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson and Josephine counties ; and the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon, mostly in Baker and Grant counties. Illinois prospectors discovered placer gold in southwest Oregons Klamath Mountains in 1850, beginning a rush to the area. Deposits of Lode gold have also been discovered. Travelers bound for the Willamette Valley along the Oregon Trail are said to have discovered gold in northeastern Oregon in 1845, but earnest mining did not begin until 1861. Pennsylvania Approximately 37,000 troy ounces (1,200 kg) of gold were produced five miles south of Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania from the Cornwall Iron Mine. Although since 1742 the deposit produced iron, no gold from the mine was reported until 1878. South Carolina There were lode gold mines along the Carolina Slate Belt in South Carolina. The Haile deposit was discovered in Lancaster County in 1827, and between that time and 1942, at least 257,000 troy ounces (8,000 kg) of gold were intermittently extracted when the gold mine was ordered to be closed as non-essential to the war effort. The deposit was mined for associated sericite at the beginning of 1951, which was used as a white filler. Gold is associated with silicon, kaolinite, and pyritic alteration of felsic metavolcanics of greenschist grade. The mine reopened in the 1980s as an open pit, operating until 1992. OceanGold Corp. restarted mining at the Haile deposit 2016. The company expects to produce an average of 126,700 ounces of gold per year for 13.25 years. From 1828 to 1995, the Brewer mine was operating and is now a federal Superfund site. From 1988 to 1999, Kennecott Minerals operated the Ridgeway open-pit gold mine, and Kennecott is now reclaiming the land. Between 1990 and 1994, the Barite Hill mine operated. South Dakota South Dakotas only operating gold mine is the Wharf mine at Lead, a Coeur Mining open pit heap leach operation that produced 109,000 ounces of gold in 2016. Tennessee In 1827, on Coker Creek in Monroe County, Tennessee, Placer gold was discovered. Some 9,000 troy ounces (280 kg) were produced by the district. Approximately 15,000 troy ounces (470 kg) of gold were recovered from Ducktown, Tennessees massive sulfide copper ores. Texas Some prospects were excavated on the central Texas Llano Uplift for gold. Gold prospects include the Heath mine and the Babyhead district in both Llano County and Gillespie Countys Central Texas mine. There is no known production of gold, if any. Historically, Texas may have been home to the Lost Nigger Gold Mine. Utah Most gold produced today in Utah is a by-product of Salt Lake Citys huge Bingham Canyon copper mine. In 2013, 192,300 troy ounces (5,980 kg) of gold were produced by the Bingham Canyon mine. Bingham Canyon has produced over 23 million ounces (715 tons) of gold over its lifetime, making it one of the largest gold producers in the United States. The Salt Lake County Barneys Canyon mine, the last primary gold mine operating in Utah, stopped mining in 2001, but is still recovering gold from its heap leaching pads. The production of Utah gold in 2006 was 460,000 troy ounces (14,000 kg). Virginia Most of Virginias gold mining was concentrated in the Virginia Gold-Pyrite belt in a line running north-east to south-west through Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford, Fauquier, Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, Goochland, Cumberland, and Buckingham counties. There was also some gold mining in counties like Halifax, Floyd, and Patrick. Washington Gold was first discovered as a placer deposit in the Yakima Valley in Washington in 1853. State production never exceeded 50,000 troy ounces per year until the mid-1930s, when large hard rock deposits were built near the deposits of Chelan Lake and Wenatchee in Chelan County, and the Republic deposit in Ferry County. Production is estimated at 2,3 million ounces through 1965. Wyoming Gold was found in the present Fremont County in 1842 in the South Pass-Atlantic City-Sweetwater district. The placers were intermittently worked until 1867 when the first important gold vein was discovered and the area was rushed by prospectors and miners. The miners were served by the cities of South Pass City, Atlantic City, and Miners Delight. By 1875, the district was almost deserted and only intermittently subsequently worked. The total production of gold was approximately 300,000 troy ounces (9,300 kg). The district became a major iron mine site in 1962. TRANSPORT police are appealing for information after a man was assaulted on board a train at Meadowhall station. The incident happened at 8.12pm on Saturday, March 9, when the man was travelling on the Doncaster to Sheffield service. "A man is reported to have been verbally abusive to passengers. He then attacked a man. The victim and the suspect were known to each other," said a British Transport Police spokesperson. A 31-year-old man from Sheffield was arrested in connection with the offence but has since been released while officers conduct further enquiries. Officers are keen to establish the full circumstances behind the incident and wish to speak to any witnesses. The assault is understood to have been witnessed by several members of the public. Witnesses are asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 and quoting reference 1900018881. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Pictured is Andy Foster receiving a certificate of participation from Chris Watson from the MCVC. MILITARY veterans in Dalton benefited from advice about fraud, internet scams and finance crime at their latest meeting. Andy Foster, fraud protect officer for South Yorkshire Police, was contacted by the chairman of the Military Community Veterans Centre (MCVC) and attended their meeting at Silverwood Miners Welfare Club on Friday along with a representative from NatWest Bank. We covered a wide range of subjects from postal, telephone and courier fraud to internet-based scams," Mr Foster said. We also focussed on banking protocol - the way that banks work with partners to identify vulnerable people at risk of becoming victims of fraud. Working with partners like NatWest is important and helps with raising awareness of the issues we face around fraud and scams. Mr Foster said it was "an honour" to address the veterans and he was "suprised and humbled" to receive a certificate from them. MCVC was set up to offer friendly help and advice on a wide range of issues for military personnel in and around Rotherham. She was visiting the Arkansas forest as part of a class activity. She fell approximately 100 fee while posing for a photo. The area is known to be dangerous. The spot is one of the most photographed areas but several people have met the same fate in recent years. Hawksbill Crag This is the second callout to the area this year that involved a serious fall, and the season is just beginning, Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said. Norton, who was from Hot Springs, South Dakota, was on the universitys volleyball team. She was described by the University a passionate environmental science major, exemplary student and dedicated athlete. She lived BCUs values in everything she did from the classroom to the court and everywhere she went. In addition, she inspired those who knew her to be the best version of themselves, helped them reach their own goals and had such compassion for everything, the tweet said. On April 21, Easter Sunday, after almost ten months of being out of the Lonsdale United Methodist Church building, the congregation will finally be returning. The People's Congregational Church was gracious enough to welcome the displaced congregation of Lonsdale into their fold while many changes were taking place at the original building. Lonsdale United Methodist Church has been a mainstay in Sidney for over 100 years. Since 1899, the church's members have been learning and growing in their faith. The church started with a humble beginning in a small building that still stands on the 100 block of East Holly and is owned by Gurney Electric. Over the period of the next twenty-four years, the congregation continued to grow to the point where they needed a new building. It was at this time that the church made it's home in the current location on 3rd Ave SE in Sidney. Forty years later, in 1963, classrooms were added to the current building. Fifty-five years later, in 2018, change was once again happening to the congregation of the Lonsdale United Methodist Church. The change began as a conversation in 2017 between members of the church and Elaine Stedman and the board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the MonDak - Richland Unit. The Club was going to lose its current location due to growth within the school system and the church was looking to make some changes as well. The church is located directly across the street from Central School, which makes the building easily accessible for the children. After several months of discussion, it was decided that the church would donate the building to the Club and the Club would buy the parsonage to convert into office space until they could move into their permanent home. In June of 2018, construction began to transform all of the rooms within the church building, except the Sanctuary and the Heritage room, into a modernized, usable facility for the Boys and Girls Club. In July of 2018, the Club moved into the parsonage as its temporary office and in August of 2018, Pastor Sione Fungalei began his journey as the new leader for the Lonsdale United Methodist Church. Pastor Sione Fungalei grew up in Tonga, a country in the Polynesian Islands. There, he grew up in a Christian household. As he grew up, Sione decided that he wanted to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. In 1993 he became a United Methodist preacher. He came to the United States and lived and ministered in Utah for several years. He said, "While there, I told God, 'Here I am'" Then, the United Methodist Conference, a cooperative organization of Methodist churches that provides a means for consultation and cooperation on an international level, contacted him. They informed him that the District of Sidney was looking for a pastor and offered him the job. August 1, Sione moved to Sidney and every Sunday gets up early to drive to Richey, Montana to do a service at 8:30 a.m. and then travels back to Sidney for the service at 11 a.m. When asked about the Montana winters, he said, "When I trust God, God can do anything." When asked about the area in general, Sione told me, "I love and enjoy it here in Sidney and Richey. I love the people." Sione's wife is still in Utah but will be joining him in Sidney in January. Pastor Sione Fungalei is the new pastor for Lonsdale Methodist Church. (Photo by Jaymi Loobey) On Easter Sunday, as the congregation of the Lonsdale United Methodist Church makes their way back into the building, they will see some very big changes. The offices, hallways, bathrooms, storage rooms and classrooms have all been remodeled. The Club and the church have some shared space so that both can take advantage of certain areas within the building, for example, the kitchen, the fellowship hall/dining room, and a board room. Rhonda Folstad stated that the members of the church have made some minor facelift changes to the sanctuary itself by painting, cleaning and reorganizing. The Lonsdale United Methodist Church is so very grateful to the People's Congregational Church for welcoming them for the past several months. The Lonsdale United Methodist Church is located at 205 3rd Ave SE in Sidney, MT and will now be holding regular church services every Sunday at 11 a.m. A new law has passed the North Dakota legislature that is designed to fund infrastructure projects throughout the state and maintain current funding guidelines that assist the needs in McKenzie County. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, signed the legislation that will help oil-producing regions in the state, from whence comes a great deal of state revenue. House Bill 1066 was called, Operation Prairie Dog, and intends to use revenue from oil and gas production to give more than $250 million to various products statewide. The Prairie Dog Law is presumed to be a great help for McKenzie and Williams Counties in particular, because it will maintain their Gross Production Tax and keeps 30 percent of oil and gas revenue in Bakken counties coming back to the area to help maintain infrastructure. Projects designated by the new funding bill include city, county, and township improvements, along with airport infrastructure. Most of this money will not be available until 2021 however. The split of revenue mandated by the bill includes up to $250 million total, which is dependent upon oil tax revenue, with $115 million designated to North Dakota cities, $115 million designated to counties and townships, and $20 million designated to airport infrastructure. The Roundup spoke to Watford City Community Development Director, Vawnita Best, who was enthusiastic about the legislation, in spite of projects not being earmarked in the region. Best said, None of that money will go to McKenzie County. That will go to non-oil producing counties. The oil producing counties and their cities and the hub cities of Minot, Dickinson, and Williston are in a different part of that formula. But McKenzie County will continue to receive their 30 percent, which is what they receive now. Best asserted that even though McKenzie County wont benefit directly from the infrastructure money, the law was still a major win for the area. When asked why local residents should be excited in spite of not having infrastructure projects earmarked in the bill, she explained that it provides a few other benefits the region needed. Best explained, This is good bill because maintaining the current percentage is a win. There are individuals in the legislative body who think the percentage should be reduced. So between the last session and now, the West Dakota Energy Association commissioned an interim legislative study to evaluate the needs of impacted communities and so that study showed there were still expensive infrastructure needs in the studies. Prairie Dog continued that 30% redistribution to continue to help with those infrastructure needs. She continued, Its not too terribly long ago that counties were receiving only ten percent, like back in the early 2000s. Best was very optimistic regarding the law and said there wasnt much negative to complain about. Furthermore, the greatest advantage of the law was abrogation of a sunset clause on the revenue formulation that would allow McKenzie County to be more stable in their long-term planning. Best said, There arent really downsides. Another part of Prairie Dog for oil and gas impact communities is the removal of the sunset clause. Historically, whatever bill the gross distribution tax was in had a sunset clause. Every biennium it might change and there was no predictability in what it would be going forward. To clarify, Best explained that the 30 percent designation of revenue return isnt precisely accurate, as the state takes a portion off the top for their own budget. Best added, Last year in 2018, McKenzie County received 78 million in gross production tax return, but it produces 40 percent of the oil revenue. Twenty percent is taken off the top for state budget needs, and that 78 million represents then thirty percent of eighty percent of McKenzie County oil revenue. When asked if removing the sunset clause on that formula would better allow the county to plan for the future with certainty, Best responded, Yes, absolutely. Supreme Court makes observations to EC Year 1977 is considered to be a blot on Indias democratic system, when blinded by the drug of power, Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in the country. The political leaders of that time still recall when they were put behind bars. But even in those dark days, there were such people and institutions who did not bow down in front of the reckless use of power, neither did they lie low, in wait of better times to come. They kept on waging their war never batting an eyelid. Raj Narain filed a case in Allahabad High Court against Indira Gandhi, for the misuse of power in the previous elections of 1971. The court found her guilty and disqualified her candidature in 1975, and barred her from contesting elections for 6 years. Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency instead of leaving her seat. When the Emergency was lifted in 1977, and fresh elections were held, Indira Gandhi lost to Raj Narain from Rai Barreily. Advertisement Today, it's being said that there is an Undeclared Emergency in the nation. The arrogance, pride in power, and misuse of the same power entrusted by people of India in the hands of a few elected ones is no less than what Indira Gandhi did. There were tall and strong leaders like Jai Prakash Narayan and Raj Narain, who raised their voices valiantly for the sake of democracy, and under whom people of India banded to fight against the injustice. Such a figure is missing today. Such a leader is missing. Recently, BJP Union Minister, while canvassing for the upcoming election, has threated a gathering of people from Muslim community. She has threatened them to vote for her. Very confidently, she has claimed her win even before the polling, and has said that once the results are out, she would get the voter record of every booth and will analyse from where she has received what mandate. This way, she can easily recognise the response of Muslim majority booths, and would then decide whether she would serve the Muslims or not. After a lot of hue and cry, Election Commission served her a notice, but despite that she repeated her threat a day later. Meanwhile, Union Minister Smriti Irani has been screaming like a rooster about her educational qualification. But now it has come to everyones notice, that all her claims were false. Advertisement From being an Arts graduate and a degree holder from Yale University, Smriti Irani has come a long way to being a Commerce drop out, and a six-day crash course certificate holder from Yale. Essentially her highest education completed is of class 12th. And she has been in charge of deciding policy matters related to the highest and esteemed educational institutions, and involved in changing the curriculum of schools all over the country. Our country is known for having politicians who have not even cleared class six, but it is the blatant lies which is worrisome. It has lowered the character of political discourse to a new level. Varun Gandhi has served jail time for a night in the past for speaking against Muslims, but he holds his fort high as a politician. Model code of conduct prohibits using army for political benefit, but our Prime Minister has been doing the same. Not only that, Modi has even used a tragedy which happened 100 years back and led to ignite the flame of Indian Freedom Movement, The Jallianwala Bagh shooting, for his own benefit. The question here is, what purpose is fulfilled by serving a mere notice, to a leader who has already threatened? Would the notices served to Yogi Adityanath, Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi and others help in bringing the faith of the minority community of Muslims back? Advertisement After the polls, the Election commission will have no role to play. Who is going to keep a check on the dangerous rhetoric started by these leaders of the nation? This is the dreaded fruit of the current Undeclared Emergency which is a matter of concern. A candidate whose intention of spreading hate, giving threats and taking benefit of the weaknesses of others is as clear as a glass, would never stop on being served a mere notice. The Election Commission must look at its past. An Election Commissioner like TN Seshan, who is known to have conducted the cleanest elections in the living memory of this country when nobody dared to violate the law, is an excellent example to be followed and learnt from. The conduct of Election Commission today is a complete opposite to the precedence set by a CEC like TN Seshan. Today the EC is acting under the whims and fancies of the political bosses. The misuse of freedom attained after sacrificing generations would dig a deeper pit for ECs reputation. Supreme Courts following observation seems relevant and worthy of thought today for the EC, Is the Election Commission aware of the powers it holds? Advertisement Nimrat Kaur (Translated by Ravijot Kaur) Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions Monday as part of investigations into President Donald Trumps finances. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process. Schiff did not name the other financial institutions or describe the subpoenas. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a separate statement that the potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern. She said her committee is looking into those matters, including whether they pertain to Trump. Advertisement It was unclear exactly what the committees asked for. The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the presidents personal and political life, and Schiff has said he is investigating whether foreign actors, including Russia, have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates. Eric Trump, the presidents son and executive vice president of The Trump Organization, said in a statement released Monday that the subpoenas were an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the President and our family for political gain. As part of his investigation, Schiff has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trumps businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years. Deutsche Bank is a German asset management firm that has lent Trumps real estate organization millions of dollars over time. The two committees have been working with the bank for several weeks, and both Waters and Schiff have said officials have been cooperative. Schiff said in his statement that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank is a friendly subpoena, meaning he expects them to continue working with the committees. The request comes as a third committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, is sparring with the White House over Trumps tax returns. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has set a deadline of April 23 for six years of returns. But Trumps acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said Democrats will never see the returns, nor should they, and they know it. __ Associated Press writer Chad Day contributed to this report. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles City Council has come out against a plan by a San Francisco-based state senator to lift restrictions on higher-density housing near rail stations, major bus routes and areas with high concentrations of jobs. On a 12 to 0 vote Tuesday, council members authorized the citys lobbyists to oppose Senate Bill 50 authored by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener one of a handful of bills targeting the states housing crisis. Councilman Paul Koretz, who represents part of the Westside, called the bill a handout for developers that would result in the destruction of historic districts and single-family neighborhoods. Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district includes coastal neighborhoods, warned that SB 50 would lead to the displacement of renters in lower-income sections of his district. Ive got a neighborhood, Del Rey mainly low-income, mainly Latino community that would be ravaged by this, said Bonin, whose district stretches from Los Angeles International Airport to Pacific Palisades. Theres not enough protection in there. Advertisement SB 50 would allow developers to build four- to five-story residential projects near rail stations and major transit stops. In neighborhoods with frequent bus service, and areas designated as job rich, cities and counties would be forced to relax their zoning requirements and allow the construction of smaller apartment or townhouse projects. The council voted to oppose a similar housing measure, Senate Bill 827, last year. Since then, Wiener has taken steps to address concerns about gentrification and the displacement of tenants, putting language in SB 50 that would allow implementation to be delayed until 2025 in higher poverty neighborhoods. SB 50 would require affordable housing in projects with 11 or more units that rely on the bills development incentives, such as increased height. The bill would bar real estate companies from demolishing a home if a renter has lived on the site in at least the previous seven years if they want to use the new incentives. The councils resolution opposing SB 50 would allow the citys lobbyists to support the bill if Los Angeles is removed from it entirely and lawmakers add certain wage guarantees for construction workers. Asked about the councils vote, Wiener said he plans to keep working to fix a broken status quo that is resulting in real pain for millions of Californians. The status quo isnt working, and its not helpful to ask for an exemption for L.A. or any other city, he said. Were one state, and when it comes to fixing our housing problem were all in this together. Council members argue that L.A. already has its own housing initiative, known as the Transit Oriented Communities program, which allows larger residential projects to go up near bus and rail routes if they include affordable housing. The bill seeks to exempt areas covered by L.A.s program. Wiener has said he plans to tighten up that language in the bill in future amendments. But the measure would still increase density in single-family neighborhoods near L.A.s public transit routes, something the Transit Oriented Communities program doesnt do. Wieners bill has drawn support from an array of housing advocates, environmental groups and business organizations, including the downtown-based Central City Assn. That group argued that SB 50 would lead to more affordable housing in some of our most exclusionary communities. Koreatown resident Richard Bourne, a proponent of SB 50, told council members that the bill would take aim at suburban cities that have been blocking the construction of much needed apartments and condominium projects much more than Los Angeles has. It will affect the bad-actor cities around L.A. that are using local control to keep themselves wealthy and free of minorities, he said. The citys chief legislative analyst, who advises the council on policy matters, said in a memo last month that the bill would transfer much of the citys control of land use decisions to Sacramento and to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has power to decide how frequently buses run on major transit routes. L.A. neighborhood groups in locations such as Westwood, Sunland-Tujunga, Pacific Palisades and South Los Angeles have come out against the bill, with many arguing that it would shift planning decisions to Sacramento. David Gregg, a resident of the Crenshaw Manor section of South Los Angeles, said he is not reassured by the offer of a delay in implementation of SB 50 in higher poverty neighborhoods. In an email to council members, Gregg said the bill would lead to incredible land flipping as developers buy and demolish residential homes, potentially wiping out the entire Crenshaw Corridor community. Greggs neighborhood is bordered by two light rail lines one on Exposition Boulevard, one slated to open next year on Crenshaw Boulevard. david.zahniser@latimes.com Twitter: @DavidZahniser Euroskeptic populist parties formed a new and expanded right-wing alliance on Monday that aims to become the strongest faction in the European Parliament and seeks to radically transform European Union policies on migration, security, family and environment. Italys hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-migrant League party, told a news conference in Milan that the goal of the new movement in the EU-wide elections next month was to win and change Europe. He was joined by representatives of populist parties from Germany, Finland and Denmark. At the top of their common agenda, the right-wing euroskeptics demanded a halt to all illegal migration, stronger European borders, restoring political sovereignty to EU nations and protecting what they called European culture. Advertisement Salvini rejected any characterizations that the movement, which includes far-right parties, is made up of political extremists flirting with Europes totalitarian history. Today at this table there are no nostalgic extremists, Salvini said. The only nostalgics are in power in Brussels. Today, we look ahead with a clear memory of what happened in the past, but the tired debate of right, left, fascist, communist, is not what makes us passionate. Political experts say the May 23-26 European Parliament vote could prove to be a tipping point in post-war European politics, if traditional political powerhouses lose support and extremist, populist parties gain more clout. The vote, which involves 705 seats this year, is run as national ballots in each of the blocs states. National political parties with common ideology then unite in EU-wide groups, like the center-right EPP, the center-left S&D Socialists or the liberal, pro-business ALDE. The new euroskeptic alliance, launched under the banner Toward a Europe of common sense, expands on the parliaments four-year-old Europe of Nations and Freedom Group (ENF), which already includes Frances far-right National Rally, Austrias Freedom Party and the Netherlands Party for Freedom. Salvini was joined Monday by the far-right Alternative for Germanys co-leader Joerg Meuthen, Olli Kotro of the euroskeptic populist party The Finns, and Anders Vistisen of the right-wing, populist Danish Peoples Party. Those parties now come from other parliamentary groups, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD). Salvini met last week in Paris with National Rally leader Marine Le Pen to cement their long-time alliance before the expansion announcement. He said the participation of the other ENF parties wasnt planned for Monday. Instead, they were expected at a rally in Milan on May 18. Also missing from the meeting was Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, whose party has been suspended from the main center-right alliance in the EU parliament over values and policies. Despite the tensions, any move from Orban to join the new populist group might be seen as a provocation within the European Peoples Party. Salvini identified Islamic extremism not political extremism as the main threat to security in Europe. As interior minister for 10 months, the No. 1 risk in Italy and Europe is Islamic extremism, Islamic fanaticism, Islamic terrorism, Salvini said. There are extreme-right and extreme-left minorities in Italy and in Europe, (but) they fortunately are controlled and of limited numbers. The leaders said their invitation was open to all like-minded parties to join the new bloc, which will be formed after the parliamentary election. That included any parties from Britain if Brexit hasnt happened by the time European elections roll around. Salvini also said the new group, if it wins a European parliamentary majority, would cancel for good the process of inviting Turkey, a Muslim majority nation, to become an EU member. That process has been already stalled for years, much to Turkeys anger. Salvinis move to solidify the populist movement in Europe, meanwhile, was criticized by his coalition partner at home, 5-Star Movement leader, Luigi Di Maio. Di Maio, in a letter to Corriere della Sera, wrote that Salvini was aligning with parties that influence policies in countries that have refused to help Italy with the migrant crisis. Despite the fact that two governing parties will be competing for votes in Italy that could well rebalance power in the coalition, Salvini denied that the European elections would impact the government. Because I dont comment on what my allies do, said Salvini said, who then made a sideways reference to Di Maios meetings in Paris with yellow vest activists seeking to run for European Parliament, creating diplomatic tensions with France. ___ Jan M. Olsen contributed from Copenhagen and Pablo Gorondi from Budapest, Hungary. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu is to be tried for crimes against humanity for his role in the countrys bloody 1989 anti-communist uprising, Romanias top prosecutor said Monday in announcing the conclusion of a judicial investigation. Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar said files documenting the events of 30 years ago, commonly referred to as the Revolution File, will be submitted to a court now that the investigation is done. He called completing the process paying a debt of honor to history and our country. Iliescu is the most prominent figure to face trial, along with Gelu Voican-Voiculescu, a former vice premier, and former Air Force Chief Iosif Rus. They are all accused of crimes against humanity. The charges refer to a five-day period when Iliescu seized power after former Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu fled Bucharest on Dec. 22, 1989. Ceausescu and his wife were summarily tried and executed on Dec. 25. Some 1,100 people died during the revolt, the vast majority after Ceausescus ouster. Advertisement Military investigators who reopened the Revolution File in 2016 said the new political and military leadership that took control was directly involved in spreading fake news via the state broadcaster in order to create a state of panic regarding a possible terrorist threat. This also set the stage for a simulated trial that ended with the execution of the Ceausescus. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis saluted the announcement in a statement, saying that finalizing the judicial investigation into the Revolution events, 30 years since Communism collapsed, is a necessary act and honors our heroes. He concluded that the crimes of the Revolution cannot go unpunished. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The parents of a Swedish programmer suspected of plotting to blackmail Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno over his abandonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made an anxious plea Tuesday for authorities to release their son. Dag Gustafsson acknowledged that his son, Ola Bini, had a friendship with Assange but said his ties with the hacker who lived in Ecuadors London embassy while evading U.S. and British authorities for nearly seven years ends there. Ola is a friend of Julian Assange, nothing more, he said, sitting before a screen with an image of his son, dressed in cap and smiling slightly. The 36-year-old was arrested last Thursday at the airport in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito as he prepared to board a flight to Japan. The arrest came just hours after Moreno evicted Assange from the embassy, ending a prolonged ordeal over what do with one of the worlds highest-profile fugitives. Advertisement Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo contends that Bini traveled at least 12 times to meet with Assange at the London embassy. She said he was also in Venezuela earlier this year around the same time as a close aide to Morenos ex-mentor turned arch enemy, former President Rafael Correa, who granted Assange asylum in 2012. Prosecutors have said they intend to charge Bini for hacking-related crimes and had him ordered detained for up to 90 days while they compile evidence. Relatively little is known about Bini. Friends and loved ones have described him as a computer geek who felt most at ease solving complex programming problems. Though he had defended the WikiLeaks founders free speech rights in an online blog, his Ecuadorian girlfriend couldnt recall him ever expressing strong support for Assange. Gustafsson said his son works as a software developer for a non-profit organization and has a burning passion for freedom of speech and online personal integrity issues. He said he is convinced his son is innocent and will remain in Ecuador until he is released. For us, its surreal to think Ola is involved in these things, these accusations, he said. Carlos Soria, Binis lawyer, said several of his clients judicial rights had been violated. He said authorities failed to swiftly notify the Swedish embassy of his detention, provide access to a lawyer or a translator. He said Bini also spent his first night of detention without access to food or water. That are a lot of irregularities that happened in his detention, he said. Moreno moved to swiftly end Assanges asylum as relations between the silver-haired Australian and the South American nation grew increasingly tense. Ecuadorian authorities have accused Assange of creating conflict by meddling in international affairs, harassing staff and even smearing feces on the embassys walls. Assange is in custody in London awaiting sentencing in Britain for skipping bail to avoid being sent to Sweden as part of an investigation into a rape allegation. The U.S. is also seeking his extradition after charging him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Red Cross volunteers distributed the first shipment of badly needed emergency supplies in Venezuela on Tuesday after months of feuding between the government, which has denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis, and opponents who have been seeking to use the delivery of aid to force President Nicolas Maduro from power. In the working class neighborhood of Catia near downtown Caracas, government supporters fired a half dozen gunshots in the air as a van arrived to distribute water purification tablets and empty plastic jugs, creating a small commotion on a major avenue during rush hour. Were very happy, Sergio Guerra, a motorcycle taxi driver, said nonchalantly as the sound of the shots cracked overhead. With these tablets we can defend ourselves a little better by drinking cleaner water. A small contingent of police showed up to restore order, and volunteers in blue vests agreed to close the van doors from which they were running the slow-moving distribution operation. Elsewhere, trucks carrying the aid snaked through a Caracas highway, the drivers of several vehicles jubilantly honking in support. Advertisement The delivery of international humanitarian aid has become a focal point in Venezuelas power struggle, now in its third month, after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president. Both the opposition and the government have been accused of politicizing the aid issue as hospitals struggle to provide even basic care. Guaido has rallied the international community and amassed several hundred tons of aid, primarily from the United States, at Venezuelas borders with Colombia, Brazil and the Dutch Caribbean. But Maduro has steadfastly refused to allow it in, blocking opposition activists who in February organized a caravan to deliver the shipments. We arent beggars, Maduro said at the time. On Tuesday evening, Maduro sought to claim credit for the arrival of the first batch of Red Cross aid, saying on national television that his government coordinated it in line with international protocols. As large crowds have taken to the streets to protest his rule this year, Maduro has been pressed to address the nations shortages of essential goods like food and medicine. Hes selectively chosen to accept aid from allies like China, framing it as a necessary measure to confront U.S. economic sanctions. The delivery of any aid is tacit recognition that his country is in a humanitarian crisis, a notion he has long dismissed as opposition propaganda to pave the way for a foreign military intervention. In recent years, an estimated 3.7 million people have fled the South American nation for neighboring countries like Colombia, some seeking health care for everything from minor infections to cancer treatment they can no longer obtain. Hospitals in Venezuela often operate without essential supplies, asking patients to bring in surgical gear and medicine. A recent report by Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded Venezuelas health system is in utter collapse. It cited increased levels of maternal and infant mortality, the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and high levels of child malnutrition. In late March, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced it would soon begin delivering assistance to an estimated 650,000 people and vowed that it would not accept interference from either side of the polarized country. Federation President Francesco Rocca said Red Cross workers would focus on the medical needs of hospitals, regardless of whether they are state-run or not a pledge repeated Tuesday. It will be distributed in conformance with the fundamental principles of our movement, especially neutrality, impartiality and independence, said Mario Villarroel, president of the Venezuelan Red Cross. Nonetheless, both sides made not-so-subtle inferences seeking to claim the upper hand in the aids arrival. Health Minister Carlos Alvarado, speaking from the airport where the aid landed, said a total of 24 tons was delivered Tuesday, including 14 generators which have become vital as the nation suffers from consistent blackouts. Guaido, meanwhile, lashed out at Maduros government for letting Venezuelas health crisis spiral out of control. Aid is entering because they destroyed the health system, he said. It entered because we demanded it. Villarroel said the aid will be distributed to various hospitals around the country and thanked both state and private institutions for their help. Our mandate is to help save lives, he said. ___ Associated Press writer Chris Torchia reported this story in Caracas and AP writer Christine Armario reported from Bogota, Colombia. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Notre Dame, a survivor of wars and revolutions, has stood for centuries as not merely the greatest of the Gothic cathedrals and a towering jewel of Western architecture. It has stood, in the words of one shell-shocked art expert, as one of the great monuments to the best of civilization. And so it was that across the globe Monday, a stunned and helpless art world wept alongside the people of France as a massive fire ravaged the beloved cathedral. Civilization is just so fragile, said Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts medieval Cloisters branch in New York, her voice shaking as she tried to put into words what the cathedral meant. This great hulking monument of stone has been there since 1163. Its come through so many trials. Advertisement Its not one relic, not one piece of glass its the totality, she said, struggling to find words expansive enough to describe the cathedrals significance. Its the very soul of Paris, but its not just for French people. For all humanity, its one of the great monuments to the best of civilization. Boehm spoke shortly before the Paris fire chief announced that firefighters had been able to finally save the structure, including its two main towers. Much of the roof was destroyed. The exact cause of the blaze wasnt known, but French media quoted the fire brigade as saying it was potentially linked to a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the churchs spire and its 250 tons of lead. The Paris Prosecutors office, which was investigating, said it was treating it as an accident. Construction on Notre Dame French for Our Lady began in the 12th century and continued for nearly 200 years. It sustained damage and fell into neglect during the French Revolution, but received renewed attention following the 1831 publication of Victor Hugos novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. This led to two decades of restorations, including the cathedrals famous flying buttresses and a reconstructed spire. While most kings were crowned elsewhere, Napoleon Bonaparte made sure he was crowned there in 1804, and married there in 1810. Experts note that Notre Dame is an aesthetically smooth synthesis of different centuries. It all blends together so harmoniously, said Nancy Wu, a medieval architecture expert and educator at the Met Cloisters. She said she was struck by delicacy of the structure, as well as that in the three stunning stained-glass rose windows, and the elegant exterior carvings. There are a lot of details that remind one of intricate lace, she said, even though its a building of cold hard stone. Aside from the structure, art experts were concerned about the fate of countless priceless artworks and artifacts inside, including relics like the crown of thorns, which is only occasionally displayed. This cathedral has a number of elements that are not just famous but religiously significant, said Julio Bermudez, professor at the school of architecture and planning at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. One of course is the crown of thorns ... the faithful believe this is the crown that the Savior put on his head. Its kept in a very safe place. But you know the fire is tremendously damaging. He also expressed concern about the beautiful stained-glass windows, which he called really irreplaceable. Those worried about the cathedrals durability could, perhaps, take solace in one of Notre Dames more fascinating survival stories. In 1977, workers demolishing a wall in another part of Paris discovered 21 heads belonging to 13th-century statues from the cathedral. The kings of Judea, which were a prime example of Gothic art, had been taken from Notre Dame during the French Revolution and guillotined by antiroyalists who mistakenly thought they represented French kings. The heads, which were thought to be lost, are now displayed in the capitals Cluny Museum. The mourning was not limited to the art world. Religious leaders, too, expressed deep sorrow over the devastation. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said he was praying for Notre Dame, which he called second maybe to St. Peters Basilica, (in) ... the ability of a church to lift our minds and hearts back to the Lord. For the French, my God, for the world, Notre Dame Cathedral represents whats most notable, whats most uplifting, whats most inspirational about the human project, he said. Boehm, at the Cloisters, found herself thinking about how the cathedral is at once of the past, and of the present a living, vibrant building, despite its age. When you step inside it, you have at once the sense of everything that came before, and everything thats still current, she said. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. "President Sisi stressed Egypt's support for the efforts of counterterrorism and fighting the extremist groups and militants to achieve security and stability in Libya," Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in the statement. The meeting came as the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Haftar, has been carrying out a military campaign over the past 10 days to take over the Libyan capital Tripoli. Sisi expressed Egypt's keenness on restoring security and stability in Libya and starting the country's reconstruction to realize the aspirations of the Libyan people. Tripoli is home to internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, Haftar's rival. On Saturday (April 13), the LNA announced the launch of eight airstrikes as part of its campaign to "liberate" Tripoli, noting that 28 LNA soldiers were killed in the raids, while the GNA, whose forces started a defensive operation against Haftar's troops, said 35 were killed in the battles. The World Health Organization announced late Saturday evening that 121 have been killed and 561 others wounded since the confrontations near Tripoli started on April 4. Since the ouster and killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libyan factions have been engaged in a civil war that escalated in 2014, resulting in splitting power between two rival governments in the northwestern city of Tripoli and the northeastern city of Tobruk respectively. Officials say a new rental car facility at the airport serving Ohios capital city will free up considerably more garage parking for travelers. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Wednesday at John Glenn International Airport for the ten-acre facility allowing passengers to drop off and pick up rental cars from a centralized location. The Columbus Regional Airport Authority says 40% more garage parking will open up once rental car companies move from the airport garage to the new location in two years. The $140 million project, one of the airports biggest projects ever, is paid for with rental car user fees. Advertisement The airport served more than 8.1 million travelers last year, a record, with passenger numbers up about 21% over the last three years. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released 10 years of his long-anticipated tax returns as he campaigns for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. His 2018 return reveals that he and his wife, Jane, earned more than $550,000, including $133,000 in income from his Senate salary and $391,000 in sales of his book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. The filings show that Sanders, who throughout his career has called for an economy and government that works for everyone and not just the 1%, is among the top 1% of earners in the U.S. According to the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, families in the U.S. earning $421,926 or more a year are part of this group. During his first presidential bid, Sanders released just one year of his tax returns his 2014 return and it was not a major issue in the Democratic primary contest. But this year, as President Trump has continued to refuse to release his full tax returns and House Democrats are forcing the issue, tax transparency has grown in prominence. Advertisement Sanders status as a millionaire, which he acknowledged last week, was cemented in his 2017 statement. That year, Sanders disclosed $1.31 million income, combined from his Senate salary and $961,000 in book royalties and sales. In a statement accompanying the release, Sanders said that the returns show that his family has been fortunate, something he is grateful for after growing up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country. I will continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people, Sanders added. Sanders, 77, has also listed Social Security payments for each year of the decade of tax returns he made available on Monday. By 2018, his wife, 69, was also taking Social Security, providing the couple with nearly $52,000 for the year. RELATED: Once the site of Bernie Sanders last stand, California now is pivotal to his 2020 prospects Sanders and his wife disclosed $36,300 in charitable contributions in 2017, but their return does not detail each individual contribution. A number of Sanders rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have released tax records to varying degrees. Gillibrand was the first candidate to release her 2018 tax returns, and her campaign released a video in which she called on other candidates to join her. Warren, who has also already released her 2018 tax returns, made public 10 years of tax information last year. Harris released 15 years of tax returns over the weekend. Klobuchar released her 2018 tax return on Monday and said in a campaign video that she hoped Trump, who campaigned Monday in Minnesota, would release his on his trip to the state. (He didnt.) Congress has passed just 12 new laws since January. One modifies pay for podiatrists working for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Another renames a vets center in North Ogden, Utah. A third revises the charter of the National Future Farmers of America Organization. Democrats, who control the House, blame Republicans who control the Senatenamely Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for not considering the bills the House sends over. Leader McConnell has turned the Senate into a legislative graveyard for priorities the American people care about, Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. Advertisement McConnell grinned at the characterization that House bills were going nowhere in the Senate. I think thats pretty accurate, yeah, he told The Times. Theyve been busy here in the first part of the Congress sending us things that have shall I say no potential in the Senate. And I understand that theres a new majority. They want to lay out, you know, how they feel about things. Democrats flush with a new House majority after nearly a decade in the minority are sending over a rash of bills most political watchers believe have little chance of passing the Senate, such as universal background checks for gun purchases, net neutrality, climate change, congressional ethics, expanding voter access, raising the minimum wage and more. Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said shes optimistic. Public sentiment will weigh in, and the Senate will see that many of the pieces of legislation that we have passed or [are] about to pass are 70% to 80% bipartisanly and nonpartisanly supported by the American people, Pelosi said. And [Republicans] will either act upon the legislation or be accountable to the public for why they do not. She noted that both chambers were essentially at a standstill in January during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Of the more than 4,000 bills filed before Congress left for a two-week spring recess, the House has passed 188. The Senate has passed about 100, including many Republican priorities that the House wont likely take up. President Trump vetoed one, which would have overridden his executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border. In total, just 12 bill have passed both chambers and been signed into law. Two of the largest-scale bills that have become law include a major lands package that has been in the works for years, and pay for federal workers not paid while the government was shut down in December and January. Meanwhile, historically bipartisan issues that have been considered by the Senate, like billions of dollars in disaster aid including for California fire victims have failed. The Senate has been largely focused in the last few months on approving nominees to fill vacancies within the Trump administration, something that doesnt require input from the House. Since the beginning of the year, they have confirmed more than 200 nominees to positions in the executive branch, circuit courts and district courts, including confirming Californian David Bernhardt to be the new Interior secretary Thursday. McConnell called confirming the nominations, especially the judicial positions, part of his legacy. The impact on the courts has been enormous and positive for the country young men and women that weve been confirming as rapidly as possible who believe the job of a judge is to follow the law, McConnell said. Senate Republicans accused Democrats of dragging their feet on nominations by requiring the full 30 hours of available debate time to pass for each, and they recently changed the chambers rules to reduce the time senators get to consider many positions. He is hanging his entire hat on putting all these judges in, Schumer said, and I dont think history is going to look kindly on either the way hes changed the rules to do that [or], more importantly, how the Senate has done so little on the major issues of the day when the American people are crying out. Its not unusual for legislative action to slow down when congressional power is divided between the parties. In 2011, when Republicans took control of the House and Barack Obama was president, only nine new laws had passed by April 15. Both McConnell and Pelosi indicated they saw areas for common ground ahead. Well find a way to do some business together, McConnell said. Pelosi said shes heartened by talk of bipartisan agreement on infrastructure and lowering prescription drug prices. For years, legislative leaders have said those two topics could be a place the two parties could work together, but actual movement on both has been difficult. McConnell said he, Pelosi and Trump have begun talking about a deal to raise discretionary spending limits. McConnell also said that Congress needed to address immigration in a meaningful way, another topic that has proved to be intractable in Washington for years. The American people have given us divided government again. They do that frequently. As all of you probably know, weve had divided government more often than not since World War II, so we need to get used to the fact that the power is divided, McConnell said. Were working our way toward having rational bipartisan discussions of things that can only be solved together. The latest from Washington More stories from Sarah D. Wire 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. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. A new state-of-the-art American Red Cross bloodmobile, to serve the eastern New York region, is now fully funded following a gift from the Mitzen family of Saratoga Springs. It is currently being manufactured at a cost of $375,000 and is scheduled for use by early 2020. Everywhere you turn during times of disaster, the Red Cross is there, said Ed Mitzen, founder of Fingerpaint, a health and wellness advertising agency. Our family feels so grateful to the organization for all they do for our communities. Its an honor to be in a position to contribute for such a worthwhile cause. The new bloodmobile will feature improved climate control and advanced technology to enhance the blood donor experience. With greater fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs, this vehicle will increase the number of possible mobile blood drives across the region. Over the course of its expected 10-year lifespan, the bloodmobile will collect approximately 30,000 units of blood, helping an equal number of patients. The Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nations blood and nearly all of the blood used by hospitals across the eastern New York Region. The bloodmobile that currently serves our region is well beyond its expected life span at 12 years old, said Gary Striar, Red Cross regional CEO. Now, thousands of blood donors in our community will have access to a brand new, modern bloodmobile where they can give the gift of life to patients in need. On behalf of those donors, and the countless patients they will help, we express our deepest thanks to the Mitzen family. If I told you there was a movement to create a navy or an air force, you might respond, Dont we already have those? If I said we need a movement to persuade bears to relieve themselves in the woods, you might say, Wait. Isnt that happening already? But if I said we needed to tax the rich, a lot of peoples first reaction would be, Yes! Its about time! In fact, theres an astroturf movement based on precisely this notion. There was just a big conference, fittingly named the Tax the Rich! conference, hosted by a group called Patriotic Millionaires. Tax the Rich. Save America. Yes, it really is that simple, they explain in their mission statement. This slogan is simply dishonest; rich people do, in fact, pay taxes. Just under half (48 percent) of federal revenue comes from income taxes. If you define the rich as the top 1 percent which is probably too narrow, depending on the region of the country the rich pay a big chunk of that. In 2016, according to the Tax Foundation, the top 1 percent accounted for 37.3 percent of all income-tax revenue, a share that was greater than the bottom 90 percent of all payers of income tax combined. The top half of taxpayers paid 97 percent of income taxes. The Tax Policy Center estimates that 44 percent of Americans wont pay any federal income taxes for 2018. That doesnt mean they dont pay any taxes, of course. Payroll taxes eat up a big chunk of many Americans paychecks a fact we all learn the first time we shout, Who the hell is FICA!? But the income tax is remarkably progressive. Once again citing the Tax Policy Center (a joint project of two left-of-center think tanks: the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute), Americans in the top 20 percent paid an estimated 87 percent of income taxes for 2018. This was up from 84 percent in 2017, which means that the Trump tax cuts actually made the tax code more progressive. The folks shouting Tax the rich! know this, which is why, when they move beyond sloganeering, they say that what they really want is for the rich to pay their fair share. This is a more debatable claim because fair is in the eye of the beholder. Its not preposterous to argue that the rich, however defined, should pay a few percentage points more in income tax in the name of fairness. But its also not preposterous to say that when 1 percent of the people provide more than a third of income-tax revenue, theyre already paying their fair share and suggesting that people who dont want to pay even more are unpatriotic is bullying nonsense. While were on the topic of fairness, theres another common argument for hiking income taxes for the wealthy, or for even simply taxing wealth itself: The rich deserve it. Or, to be more generous, the super-rich dont deserve their money, while the rest of the country does. The New York Times Farhad Manjoo recently argued for abolishing billionaires outright. Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Beto ORourke say we should make the rich less rich because income inequality is bad. Candidate Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (and many others) think that everything from Medicare for All to the Green New Deal can be financed largely or entirely by pillaging the bank accounts of the rich. This is populist insanity masquerading as public finance. According to the Manhattan Institutes Brian Riedl, doubling the top tax brackets (from 35 and 37 percent to 70 and 74 percent) would close just one-fifth of the long-term Social Security and Medicare shortfall. Even seizing all annual income earned over $500,000 would not come close. You could literally confiscate 100 percent of the wealth of the entire 1 percent and not come close to paying for Sanderss version of Medicare for All (price tag: $32 trillion). This points to my real problem with all of this tax the rich talk. It works from the assumption that the problems of ordinary Americans are the result of a tiny group of people selfishly refusing to do their part. Not only does this assume that the wealth of people who have paid considerable taxes still belongs to everyone, its also simple scapegoating. By my lights, it would be no less outrageous if the math added up. But it doesnt, which makes it even more irresponsible. Jonah Goldberg holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty at the American Enterprise Institute and is a senior editor of National Review. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international research team, led from Uppsala University, discovered kin relationships among Stone Age individuals buried in megalithic tombs on Ireland and in Sweden. The kin relations can be traced for more than ten generations and suggests that megaliths were graves for kindred groups in Stone Age northwestern Europe. Agriculture spread with migrants from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9,000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4,000 BCE. Starting around 4,500 BCE, a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic facade. These constructions have been enigmatic to the scientific community, and the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. The international team sequenced and analysed the genomes from the human remains of 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the widespread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe. The team collected human remains of 24 individuals from megaliths on Ireland, in Scotland and the Baltic island of Gotland, Sweden. The remains were radiocarbon-dated to between 3,800 and 2,600 BCE. DNA was extracted from bones and teeth for genome sequencing. The team compared the genomic data to the genetic variation of Stone Age groups and individuals from other parts of Europe. The individuals in the megaliths were closely related to Neolithic farmers in northern and western Europe, and also to some groups in Iberia, but less related to farmer groups in central Europe. The team found an overrepresentation of males compared to females in the megalith tombs on the British Isles. "We found paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring over and over again," says archaeogeneticist Helena Malmstrom of Uppsala University and co-first author. "However, female kindred members were not excluded from the megalith burials as three of the six kinship relationships in these megaliths involved females." The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths. A likely parent-offspring relation was discovered for individuals in the Listhogil Tomb at the Carrowmore site and Tomb 1 at Primrose Grange, about 2 km distance away from each other. "This came as a surprise. It appears as these Neolithic societies were tightly knit with very close kin relations across burial sites," says population-geneticist Federico Sanchez-Quinto of Uppsala University and co-first author. The Ansarve site on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea is embedded in an area with mostly hunter-gatherers at the time. "The people buried in the Ansarve tomb are remarkably different on a genetic level compared to the contemporaneous individuals excavated from hunter-gather-contexts, showing that the burial tradition in this megalithic tomb, which lasted for over 700 years, was performed by distinct groups with roots in the European Neolithic expansion," says archaeogeneticist Magdalena Fraser of Uppsala University and co-first author. "That we find distinct paternal lineages among the people in the megaliths, an overrepresentation of males in some tombs, and the clear kindred relationships point to towards the individuals being part of a patrilineal segment of the society rather than representing a random sample from a larger Neolithic farmer community," says Mattias Jakobsson, population-geneticist at Uppsala University and senior author of the study. "Our study demonstrates the potential in archaeogenetics to not only reveal large-scale migrations, but also inform about Stone Age societies and the role of particular phenomena in those times such as the megalith phenomena," says Federico Sanchez-Quinto. "The patterns that we observe could be unique to the Primrose, Carrowmore, and Ansarve burials, and future studies of other megaliths are needed to tell whether this is a general pattern for megalith burials," says osteoarchaeologist Jan Stora of Stockholm University. Geologic time is supposed to be slow, and the most solid object should be bedrock. But new University of Washington research upends both concepts: Effects of logging show that human activity can significantly erode bedrock, causing geology to fast forward. The study, published April 15 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on the Teanaway River, a picturesque river in central Washington state. "In the last century, we have more river incision in this area than expected. Something caused these rivers to start eroding a lot more," said lead author Sarah Schanz, a former UW doctoral student who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University. "We know the Teanaway River has eroded into bedrock before, naturally -- it has some terraces that are 1,800 years old. But this current cycle is anthropogenic, or human-driven." Results show that practices related to logging caused bedrock incision of up to 2 meters (6 feet) along the riverbed. As much as a half of what had been a floodplain was transformed into a new terrace abutting the river. "This is the first time that we've been able to pinpoint erosion into bedrock due to human action," Schanz said. "Most rivers are eroding at about a tenth of a millimeter per year. This is about 100 times that amount." The discovery means this beautiful riverbank resulted from human action, not natural forces. It could change how geologists think about landscapes in other parts of the world, such as Taiwan, with its long history of intense human activity. advertisement The study began 20 years ago when co-author Brian Collins, a UW senior lecturer in river geology, was curious why there was so much exposed bedrock in the Teanaway. Collins also noticed unusual river terraces, the stepped structures along the river bank resulting from cycles of the river flooding and then running more quickly, cutting a new channel deeper into the sediment. He led a 2016 study that calculated short-term changes in the Teanaway's western fork and suggested logging may have caused the river to cut a new channel. This site in a community forest offered good access for regular visits by the research team and undergraduate assistants to all three forks. By combining newspaper records, material from the UW Libraries Special Collections, Central Washington University and the local Kittitas County historical society, the researchers were able to piece together and confirm the full history. Before logging roads existed, companies built temporary "splash dams" high up on the slope with all the logs and then broke up the dam with tools or explosives. Released water helped send logs shooting down to the mills. "It was such an event that schools closed, and newspaper records show it really well," Schanz said. "People who are still alive today, some of their earliest memories are of going to see it." Key to the process is that loggers would clear away debris to give the logs a clear shot down the river. This removed barriers that held back sediment and cleared out much of the gravel from the riverbed. Such events, the authors believe, caused the erosion to change dramatically. advertisement "If you have too much sediment, you're basically protecting the river from erosion. But if you have not enough sediment, as that sediment is moving along, it starts to hit the bedrock and erode it," Schanz said. David Montgomery, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences, and the other two co-authors used many techniques to analyze the four youngest terraces on the river's edge, including LIDAR maps, carbon dating of rocks and computer models. In 1999 the team even hammered nails into the bedrock and measured the erosion rates directly. Many rivers, including the Teanaway, have individual features that show evidence of human impact on areas of bedrock. But this is the first time an entire river basin is found to have been transformed by human activity. "This is a direct topographic signature of the Anthropocene, the 'age of humans' that we now live in," Montgomery said. "The finding that terrace surfaces in the Teanaway are recently-abandoned floodplains suggests that similar landforms around the world may also reflect the influence of human activity." The UW team recently published an overview paper looking at where river terraces have formed worldwide over the past 4,000 years. The authors showed that in many cases, river terrace formation coincided with deforestation. "It's sort of a hand-wavey linkage at this point, but I think this could be prevalent worldwide," said Schanz. "It's just not a signal that we've known to look for before." Schanz will start a faculty position in August at Colorado College, where she plans also to explore what the finding means for how river canyons form through natural processes. "I think the human part is really interesting, but what has broader implications, for me, is the proof that if you change how sediment moves through a river, you can change erosion rates," Schanz said. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. Patients who regularly use cannabis may require more than two times the usual level of sedation when undergoing medical procedures, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. Researchers in Colorado examined medical records of 250 patients who received endoscopic procedures after 2012, when the state legalized recreational cannabis. They found patients who smoked or ingested cannabis on a daily or weekly basis required 14% more fentanyl, 20% more midazolam, and 220% more propofol to achieve optimum sedation for routine procedures, including colonoscopy. "Some of the sedative medications have dose-dependent side effects, meaning the higher the dose, the greater likelihood for problems," says lead researcher Mark Twardowski, DO, an osteopathic internal medicine physician. "That becomes particularly dangerous when suppressed respiratory function is a known side effect." A lack of research, due to cannabis's status as a schedule 1 drug, combined with its sudden widespread legalization, makes Dr. Twardowski concerned about other unforeseen issues. "Cannabis has some metabolic effects we don't understand and patients need to know that their cannabis use might make other medications less effective. We're seeing some problematic trends anecdotally, and there is virtually no formal data to provide a sense of scale or suggest any evidence-based protocols," says Dr. Twardowski. He says colleagues in nearby emergency departments have noticed more patients reporting with complaints of chronic nausea, a symptom that can occur from regular cannabis use. He also says that colleagues in anesthesiology have noted patients requiring much higher dosages for general anesthesia and higher rates of post-op seizures. advertisement These types of recurring stories prompted Dr. Twardowski and his colleagues to gather real data. Potential for more insight Cannabis use in the United States increased 43% between 2007 and 2015. An estimated 13.5% of the adult population used cannabis during this period, with the greatest increase recorded among people 26 and older, according to the study. As more states legalize medical and recreational cannabis, there is also greater potential for meaningful data collection. Not only are more patients using cannabis, but more are also now willing to admit cannabis use than in the past, which increases the likelihood that they will be forthcoming when questioned by a medical professional. Adding specific questions regarding cannabis use to patient intake forms is the first step to acquiring useful information that influences patient care, according to researchers. "This study really marks a small first step," says Dr. Twardowski. "We still don't understand the mechanism behind the need for higher dosages, which is important to finding better care management solutions." Dr. Twardowski's team is developing a follow-up study on differences in requirements for sedation and anesthesia as well as post-procedure pain management for regular cannabis users versus non users. A vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, a major cause of childhood illness and mortality in the developing world, sharply reduced the incidence of serious pneumococcal disease among children in a large Kenyan community after it was introduced in 2011, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published online in The Lancet April 15, is the first to evaluate the effect of the vaccine, called PCV10, on a large scale in Africa. The researchers examined two time periods, 1999-2010, before the vaccine's introduction and 2012-2016, after its introduction, and found that the average annual incidence of serious pneumococcal disease caused by S. pneumoniae strains that the vaccine is designed to prevent dropped by 92 percent among children under five years of age. The incidence of disease among older, unvaccinated age groups also dropped sharply, suggesting that the vaccine produced an added "herd immunity" benefit. This occurs because children who have been vaccinated no longer transmit the disease in the community. S. pneumoniae infection can cause many serious conditions, which are broadly termed "pneumococcal disease" and include pneumonia, meningitis, ear and sinus problems, and sepsis (blood infection). Children are especially vulnerable to pneumococcal infection and while pneumococcal vaccination programs in wealthier countries have greatly reduced the burden of pneumococcal disease, access to pneumococcal vaccines lagged behind in lower-income countries. As recently as 2015, pneumococcal disease still annually claimed the lives of more than 300,000 children age five and under around the world. "There is evidence of the substantial impact of pneumococcal vaccines in the U.S. and other wealthy-country settings, and it's really exciting to now show a powerful population-level benefit of PCV10 vaccination in Africa, where most deaths from pneumococcal disease occur," says study lead author Laura Hammitt, MD, associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health and clinical epidemiologist with the International Vaccine Access Center and the Center for American Indian Health at the Bloomberg School. advertisement Kenya until 2011 did not have a pneumococcal vaccine in its national childhood immunization schedule. In that year, though, with assistance from a global health organization called Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, it introduced PCV10, also called Synflorix, which is designed to protect against 10 common strains of S. pneumoniae. The Kenyan program provided for a three-dose schedule of PCV10 vaccination in infants at six, 10 and 14 weeks of age, with initial "catch-up" vaccination in 2011 for children who were less than a year old. Additionally, in the study community, the Kenyan Ministry of Health extended catch-up vaccination to children up to age five years. This helped to accelerate the population-level effects of the vaccine program. The study population included people living in and around Kilifi, a town on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast. The research was a collaboration involving the Bloomberg School, Oxford University, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Kenya's Ministry of Health, Kilifi County Hospital and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Program in Kilifi. The researchers calculated the incidence, or annual rate per capita, of serious ("invasive") pneumococcal disease cases involving the ten PCV10 strains in children less than five years old at the hospital during the years 1999-2016. They then compared the average incidence during the 1999-2010 pre-vaccine period to the average incidence in 2012-2016 after the vaccine was in routine use. Comparing these before and after periods, they found that the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in children under five, involving those ten pneumococcal strains, declined 92 percent. The number of cases of invasive pneumococcal disease involving the PCV10 strains in children younger than five fell from an average of 25 per year in the pre-vaccine era to just one per year in the vaccine era. The study also found that pneumococcal disease caused by non-PCV10 strains did not increase to fill the gap left by the vaccine. "There are many different strains of pneumococcus so it is important to monitor whether strains not included in the vaccine begin replacing those that are. This could potentially erode some of the benefit of the vaccine through so-called replacement disease," Hammitt says. "Fortunately, we haven't seen any evidence of significant replacement disease now six years after the introduction of PCV10 in Kenya." For invasive pneumococcal disease involving any S. pneumoniae strain, the average incidence dropped by 68 percent and there was also an 85 percent reduction in pneumococcal pneumonia among children younger than 5 years. advertisement The study revealed an added benefit from "herd immunity," in which vaccinating children led to reductions in disease in older, unvaccinated age groups by reducing the spread of infection in the community. The researchers found that the incidence of pneumococcal disease involving PCV10 strains among infants younger than two months -- those too young to be vaccinated -- declined from 173 per year per 100,000 population in the pre-vaccine period to zero after the vaccine was introduced. Similarly, the researchers saw declines in incidence of 74 percent and 81 percent, respectively, among children between five and 14 and those who were older than 14 -- groups that were not vaccinated. Herd protection is what makes the vaccine cost-effective in high-income countries but it has not been observed in tropical Africa until now. "The herd immunity provided by PCV10 is important not only because it improves the health of the population as a whole, but also because it makes the vaccine more cost-effective," Hammitt says. In addition to monitoring invasive disease, the study team also conducted "carriage surveys" in which they tested for pneumococcal bacteria in the noses of more than 4,000 Kilifi-area residents. These surveys showed declines in carriage of the PCV10 strains for all age groups from the pre-vaccine period to the post-vaccine period, which aligns with the observed declines in invasive disease. However, among children, carriage of the vaccine strains of S. pneumoniae remained higher than in wealthy-country settings (6 to 8 percent in Kilifi compared to less than 1 to 2 percent in the U.S.). "Persistent carriage of vaccine strains could lead to rebound disease if vaccine coverage levels do not remain high," Hammitt says. The study team plans to continue surveillance to monitor for any shifts in carriage and disease. "We have demonstrated a strong operational impact of PCV10 use in Kenya," Hammitt says. "Policymakers face difficult decisions about how to best use limited financial resources. Data like these provide critical evidence to support investment in childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccine programs to improve the health of the population." Only a few years ago, the astronomy and heliophysics communities were skeptical about whether CubeSats could reliably obtain scientific data. But these breadloaf-size satellites have proven their ability to return useful data. During the American Physical Society's April Meeting 2019, being held April 13-16, in Denver, Colorado, Christopher S. Moore, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the Solar and Stellar X-ray Group, will describe how the twin Miniature X-ray Solar Spectometer (MinXSS) CubeSats measure soft X-rays from the Sun. These were the first solar science-oriented CubeSat missions flown for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. As he will describe at the meeting, Moore was one of several dozen graduate students who contributed to MinXSS over its lifetime. He worked on the MinXSS CubeSats as part of his doctoral research at the University of Colorado Boulder. "This work demonstrated that these small, relatively cheap -- ranging from $1 million to $2 million for MinXSS -- CubeSats can collect data that fills a specific niche and is consistent with large satellites, which are much more expensive, and contribute to major science investigations," said Moore. MinXSS-1 was launched in December 2015 on the Atlas-V Cygnus OA-4 Launch, Orbital ATK resupply mission to the International Space Station, where it was deployed for an approximately 12-month orbit around Earth. The second version, MinXXS-2, was launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express in December 2018 and deployed for a four- to five-year orbit and operation. Science-oriented CubeSats are low-cost, short-lifespan satellites built to take specific scientific observations and measurements. MinXSS, for example, features cost-saving components such as an extendable tape measure that serves as a radio antenna. advertisement Its science payload consists of a soft X-ray spectrometer that was modified for compatibility with the harsh environment of space. MinXSS is also carrying silicon-based photometers onboard for other soft X-ray and visible light measurements. The NASA-funded MinXSS-1 (the first of the twin satellites) was the initial test of the Blue Canyon Technologies XACT, which is a miniaturized attitude determination and control system. The success of MinXSS-1 and XACT resulted in the SmallSat 2016 Mission of the Year award. "MinXSS measures solar soft X-rays between 0.5 to 12 kiloelectron volts at moderate spectral resolution, which includes the sparsely observed 0.5- to 2-keV bandpass," explained Moore. "This spectral region is highly informative of the solar atmospheric plasma conditions for temperatures greater than 2 million kelvin present in solar flares and during quiescence (dormancy)." The data collected by MinXSS has been consistent with inferences from large satellites. "MinXSS data will help us understand the physics behind solar flares," Moore said. "The soft X-rays carry information about the temperature, density and chemical composition of material in the Sun's atmosphere, which allows scientists to trace how events like flares and other processes during calmer times heat the surrounding material in the corona, the Sun's atmosphere." Variations of the solar X-ray emission strongly correlate with large-scale magnetic features called active regions. "These active regions appear as bright loops in soft X-rays, but appear as dark spots at the solar surface (the photosphere), so they're called 'sunspots.' MinXSS data can help directly constrain the plasma temperature of these relatively quasi-static features," Moore said. CubeSats provide "excellent opportunities to train future leaders in technology and science, as undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs commonly have pivotal roles in design, development, testing, mission operations and science analysis," said Moore. "More than 40 graduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder contributed to MinXSS over the project's lifetime." Due to recent CubeSat successes, NASA and the National Science Foundation now offer new funding opportunities to directly fund science-oriented CubeSats. BEIJING -- The last of the female Yangtze giant softshell turtle has died, leaving only three of its kind on Earth. The Chinese State Media has released the news and has expressed that the incident has left its kind dooming of extinction. The female turtle was believed to be 90 years old was declared dead on Saturday, more than 24 hours after the local staff of the zoo, as well as international experts, attempted to put her under artificial insemination. The local paper, Suzhou Daily, released this fact in their report. Although experts said there was no form of complication during the procedure of artificial insemination, a research team composed of both domestic and international experts were commissioned to conduct an autopsy to get to the bottom of what caused its untimely death. The procedure that the turtle underwent was part of the efforts of the Chinese government and other non-government organizations to save the species. The artificial insemination was to help the female turtle to produce more of its kind. When it lays more eggs, more hatchlings would be expected, thus helping in the efforts to keep them from total extinction. According to the report released by the Suzhou Daily, the experts also plan to collect samples of ovarian tissues "for future reference." The goal is not only to study the Yangtze giant softshell but to also understand how we can help it survive in captivity and perhaps eventually in the wild too. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has announced that the Yangtze giant softshell turtle is the most critically endangered among the species of turtles in the world. Most of them have been killed because of hunting practices while many also died because their natural habitat was destroyed. According to the news published in Suzhou Daily, there are only three of its kind left in the world. All three are kept in captivity. The government of China remains hopeful that there are more of them surviving in the wild. The Suzhou Zoo houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtles, while the other two are in Vietnam. However, the gender of those turtles in Vietnam still remains to be unknown. In fact, those softshell turtles in Vietnam reportedly live in the wild, according to a report published in the New Yorker in December of 2018. CHICO, Calif., April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northern California National Bank (OTC markets: NCNB) reported net income of $742,000 for the three months ending March 31, 2019. This is a 40% increase in net income from the $530,000 earned in the first three months of 2018. Financial Highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 Total assets were $260.0 million at March 31, 2019, an 11% increase from the March 31, 2018 balance of $233.7 million. Gross Loans totaled $101.0 million, up 12% from $90.4 million a year ago. Deposits increased 11% to a balance of $236.7 million at March 31, 2019 versus a balance of $213.3 million in 2018. Total shareholders equity increased from $19.9 million at March 31, 2018 to $22.9 million in 2019. The book value per common share was $15.98 at March 31, 2019 compared to $14.03 at March 31, 2018. The Allowance for Loan Losses was $1.615 million at the end of the first quarter in 2019 and $1.326 million at the end of the first quarter in 2018. The Bank continues to have extremely good asset quality, is considered to be well capitalized and exceeds the minimum regulatory capital requirements. We are very pleased with our operating results in the first quarter of 2019. The Bank continues to have large increases in income, deposits and total assets year over year. Northern California National Bank will continue to support our community as we focus on recovering from the Camp Fire. We are proud of the work we have done in the community and will continue to support our schools, businesses and individuals of Butte County and the surrounding areas. These financial results are a direct result of the great employees, Board members, shareholders and customers of the Bank. We are very excited with the progress of the Bank and look forward to a successful 2019. Located at the corner of 7th Avenue and Mangrove, Northern California National Bank is a locally owned and operated bank servicing the needs of the businesses and individuals in Northern California since March 2006. The Bank has a full service branch in Chico, CA and a Loan Production Office in Sacramento, CA. For more information call (530) 879-5900 or visit the website at www.norcalbank.com . NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia, April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UFCW 1518 is pleased to welcome its newest members 170 workers employed at Mountain Equipment Co-op (Broadway location). Workers voted to join UFCW 1518 last week after a successful union organizing campaign. Workers are their strongest when they stand together to fight for fairness. We are thrilled to represent MEC employees and work with them to achieve improvements in wages, benefits and job security, said President Kim Novak. UFCW 1518 has a long history of working productively with co-ops to ensure they are successful while also providing effective representation for workers. We have a lot of experience with co-ops and we are excited to add MEC to that group, said President Novak. The co-operative movement shares much in common with the labour movement, and that values alignment makes for a good fit. We look forward to working constructively with MEC to achieve their core belief of fairness for workers. UFCW 1518 represents 22,000 members working in the community health, retail, industrial and professional sectors across British Columbia. SOURCE: United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1518 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, April 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (CSE: CHV) (Canada House or the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment to its Board of Directors of Gaetan Lussier and Shawn Graham. Mr. Lussier was a deputy-minister for 18 years of which 12 years were in Ottawa with Agriculture-Canada and Employment and Immigration. He was also President of Weston Bakery (Quebec) and CEO of Culinar, both food companies. Mr. Lussier has extensive Board experience having sat as a Director on various boards including Shoppers Drug Mart. Presently, Mr. Lussier is Chairman of the board of 3 Sixty Secure Corp., a logistics and security company dealing primarily in the field of cannabis. Mr Lussier received the Order of Canada in 1981 and brings various expertise to the Board of Canada House. Mr Lussier holds a B.S.A, M Sc, PhD and O. C. Mr. Graham served as the 31st Premier of the Province of New Brunswick, Chair of the Council of The Federation, Co-chair of the Northeastern Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, and Co-chair of a Pan-Canadian Trade Mission to China. Currently, Mr. Graham is President and CEO of G&R Holdings Inc., a company that assists in the development and implementation of international projects and business alliance strategies, with a special focus on globalizing with China. Mr. Graham was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of New Brunswick and was named Visionary of the Year Award by the Global Intelligent Community Forum in New York City, NY. At present he is a national director for Ducks Unlimited (Canada) North Americas leading wetlands conservation organization and serves as an advisor to the University of New Brunswicks Faculty of Business Administration. Concurrent with the appointment of Mr. Lussier and Mr. Graham, Mr. Mike Southwell tendered his resignation as a Director of the Company. Mr. Southwell will continue to be involved with the Company in the capacity of strategic advisor. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Mike for his commitment to the Company over many years and look forward to continuing to benefit from his extensive industry knowledge and unique experience. At the same time we are thrilled to welcome Gaetan and Shawn to the Board. They bring tremendous experience and strong skill sets to the Board which we anticipate will contribute further the Companys maturation and growth, commented Dennis Moir, Chair of the Board of Directors. In connection with the appointment of Mr. Lussier and Mr. Graham, an aggregate of 1,000,000 stock options were issued at an exercise price of $0.15, expiring on April 15, 2024. Canada House Wellness Group Inc. Canada House is the parent company of Abba Medix Corp, Canada House Clinics Inc. and Knalysis Technologies. The Company's mission is to become the leading cultivator of premium craft cannabis and provider of cannabinoid therapy, targeting the medical cannabis markets globally For more information please visit http://www.canadahouse.ca or www.sedar.com . For further information, please contact: Boom Capital Markets Steve Low 647-620-5101 steve@boomcapitalmarkets.com Canada House Wellness Group Inc. Chris Churchill-Smith CEO 514-313-0102 chris.smith@canadahouse.ca Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information. This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to, among other things, the Companys clinic, production and technology businesses, its future plans, the Companys markets, objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as may, will, could, should, would, likely, possible, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, plan, objective and continue (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Material assumptions used to develop forward-looking information in this news release include, among other things, the regulations related to cannabis use under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations and the act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts, passed by the Canadian Federal government, making cannabis legal for recreational use by October 17, 2018; Company liquidity and capital resources, including the availability of additional capital resources to fund its activities; level of competition; the ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; the ability to attract and retain key executives; and the ability to execute strategic plans. Additional information about material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations and about material factors or assumptions applied in making forward-looking statements may be found in the Companys most recent annual and interim Managements Discussion and Analysis under Risk and Uncertainties as well as in other public disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The well-publicized detention and interrogation of a high-level Silicon Valley tech worker at San Francisco International Airport by Border Patrol agents, and their demands that he unlock and surrender his cell phone and laptop computer, raise a legal question that probably is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court: How much evidence do officers need to search electronic devices carried into the country? The answer, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is little or none. At least thats how its agents responded in November when Andreas Gal of San Mateo, former chief technology officer of Mozilla Corp., arrived in San Francisco after a business trip to Sweden for his current employer, Apple Inc. Gal, 42, said three armed agents held him for an hour and questioned him aggressively about his trip, his job and his past work for Mozilla. The questions, he said in an interview, were very pointed, direct, surprising, and focused on his views favoring online privacy and stronger encryption, which happened to be contrary to the governments view. The agents, he said, searched his belongings and ordered him to unlock his smartphone and provide the password to his laptop, both of which came from Apple and contained confidential information he had promised not to disclose. Gal said he asked to speak with a lawyer, but the agents refused. They eventually released him, but not before threatening him with criminal prosecution under a law that prohibits forcibly resisting or interfering with law enforcement though he said he never refused their demands directly and merely asked to consult a lawyer first. The agents also took away his Global Entry card, which had allowed him to bypass airport lines and use electronic kiosks when returning from his frequent business travels. Bob Moss/Courtesy Bob Moss If the government intended to scare me, they certainly succeeded, Gal said in a recent online posting. Ever since, I travel in fear. Ive reduced my international travel and my heart pounds every time I go through U.S. customs. I will, however, not be silent. The American Civil Liberties Union has also spoken up, asking the Department of Homeland Security to investigate U.S. Customs and Border Protections practices and its treatment of Gal. It has filed a Freedom of Information Act request, often the forerunner of a lawsuit. Such electronic searches are on the rise, said ACLU attorney William Freeman. We believe there are tens of thousands of them every year. Their legality will likely be determined by a Supreme Court that has ruled on related issues but has not yet decided where to set the boundary between electronic privacy and the promotion of national security through searches of personal data involving travelers coming into the U.S. In 2014, the court ruled unanimously that police need a judicial warrant to search cell phones which, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, hold for many Americans the privacies of life. But that case involved searches conducted inland and not at an airport or the U.S. border, where the courts have traditionally placed few restrictions on inspections of incoming travelers. Balancing those interests, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in 2013 that the Border Patrol needed reasonable suspicion evidence of criminal wrongdoing to search the contents of cell phones. A warrant wasnt necessary, the court said in the ruling, which the Supreme Court later left intact. Last year, in light of the Supreme Courts 2014 ruling, two more federal appeals courts considered whether Border Patrol agents need reasonable suspicion to use electronic equipment to conduct forensic searches of cell phones to obtain the information they contain. One court said yes, the other said no. Its complicated, said Hadar Aviram, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco. And she said the usual liberal-conservative divisions among Supreme Court justices dont necessarily foretell the results. Before Roberts salvo in the 2014 ruling, she noted, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, wrote a 5-4 decision in 2001 joined by Justice Clarence Thomas that required police to obtain a warrant before installing a device to monitor heat emitted from the home of a suspected marijuana grower. Another Scalia ruling in 2012 said, for a unanimous court, that police needed a warrant to attach a GPS tracking device to a motor vehicle. Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by President Trump to succeed Scalia, actually tends to be pro-privacy ... for (cases involving) government overreach, in contrast to his support for broad government authority on other issues, Aviram said. Stanford Law Professor Robert Weisberg, co-director of the schools Criminal Justice Center, said the court might well find a middle ground in a case like Gals, requiring reasonable suspicion of a crime before searching his devices. Agents were pretty heavy-handed in their treatment of Gal, Weisberg said, threatening him with prosecution, revoking his Global Entry status and forcing him to change his future travel plans. Since the November incident, Gal said he has made sure to wipe his cell phone of personal contents, and have lawyers on standby, before traveling abroad. 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. Customs and Border Protection has not commented on Gals case, but issued a statement defending searches of electronic devices at borders and airports. Such searches can reveal an individuals intentions upon entry and are critical to the detection of evidence relating to terrorism and other national security matters, human and bulk cash smuggling, contraband, and child pornography, the agency said. The agency announced a policy in January 2018 requiring agents to have reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing before using electronic equipment to conduct an advanced search of cell phone contents. But the ACLU, in its complaint to Homeland Security, said the policy has loopholes that leave agents free to rifle through sensitive personal information contained on electronic devices with no suspicion and no limitations on the scope of their search. The policy apparently did not apply to the demand for Gals devices, and Customs and Border Protection has not indicated whether its agents suspected any wrongdoing, saying only that it was entitled to lawfully examine anything brought into the United States. Gal said the federal agency seems not to understand the intrusiveness of such searches. Every message Ive ever sent, every book Ive read my entire life was on this smartphone, 10 years of my life, day by day, he said. I hope the courts will step in. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Bay Area Legal Aid is threatening to sue to compel the San Francisco Police Department to provide timely copies of incident reports to victims of domestic violence, as mandated by state law. The reports are critical for victims seeking restraining orders against their attackers. And for victims attorneys, theyre key to building their clients cases. Delaying timely access to peoples own police reports can put victims and children at risk, the organization argues. A 20-year-old state law requires police departments to hand over copies of incident reports to domestic-assault victims or their attorneys no later than five days after a request is made. If police can show why a report isnt immediately available, they can have up to 10 days. BayLegal staff attorney Fawn Jade Korr said her office has seen delays ranging from 40 days to 128 days, and in some cases SFPD has improperly denied victims access to the records. Korr said the organization has tried and failed several times to work with the Police Department to get the city to comply with state law. San Francisco, she said, is an outlier among California cities in its struggles to meet the five- or 10-day deadlines for providing reports. We have a responsibility at this point to both clients and domestic-violence survivors in the city and county to finally hold the San Francisco Police Department accountable, she said. In a demand letter sent Tuesday to San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, BayLegal gave the city until the close of business April 29 to present a plan to get the department on track. Without one, BayLegal plans to sue in San Francisco Superior Court. The San Francisco Police Department is committed to quickly and efficiently providing survivors of domestic violence with incident reports so victims can seek necessary legal protections, SFPD spokesman David Stevenson said in a statement. We will continue to work closely with survivor advocates to provide incident reports in a timely manner so that the department can be in full, documentable compliance with state law. SFPD top brass was working directly with BayLegal last year, and Korr said Scott had given the organization assurances that the department would be fully in compliance by the end of July 2018. 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. Delays persisted. The group then went to the SFPDs oversight body, the Police Commission, which agreed to form a working group last December to address the issue. By last month things seemed to be moving ahead. The group agreed on language for an implementation plan, but Korr said SFPD has since cut off communication. Weve waited a really long time for them to come in compliance with the law, and we really cant wait any longer, Korr said. Dominic Fracassa Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @dominicfracassa The Trump administration is expected to submit a plan by Thursday to process applications for nearly 3,000 children living in Central America to reunite with their families in the United States, following a settlement reached last week. The settlement, announced Friday, applies to beneficiaries of the Central American Minors or CAM program, which allows immigrants living in the U.S. legally to apply for refugee status or humanitarian parole on behalf of their children aged 21 or under, spouses and grandchildren living in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. Its unclear how long it will take for all applicants to be processed but attorneys expect that the first children could travel to the United States as early as this summer. A San Francisco judge in March ordered the Trump administration to resume processing the 2,700 applicants who had been conditionally approved to enter the U.S. before the government quietly ended the program more than two years ago. Its a huge victory, said Kate Meyer, a litigation staff attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project in New York, which represented six families in a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration filed in San Francisco last year. Our clients will finally have the opportunity to be fairly processed in the CAM program. The program, created in 2014 under the Obama administration following the mass migration of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central America, aimed to provide a safer route across the border. But the Trump administration ended the program in January 2017 seven months before the action was publicly announced leaving an estimated 2,700 young people in limbo. The effects were devastating for the thousands of families seeking new, safer lives for their children in America, according to advocates. Some migrants had already cleared the rigorous application process and were approved to relocate by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Their parents, under the programs requirements, had paid for their medical exams, DNA tests verifying their family relationship, and in some cases their plane tickets. USCIS on Tuesday said it was unable to comment on the settlement, as a matter of policy. 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. One of the plaintiffs expected to reunite with her child later this year, identified as S.A. in court documents, is a 52-year-old legal immigrant from Concord. She said she fled extreme violence and poverty in El Salvador, leaving her children in the care of family members. S.A. applied for refugee status for her youngest daughter and grandson in August 2015. After a rigorous application process that included medical exams, a DNA test and hours-long interviews with immigration authorities, the two were approved to fly to the U.S in February 2017. S.A. sent $2,500 for plane tickets. But soon after, the program ended. The womans daughter, identified as J.A., fled with her baby from their home in El Salvador for several months after she received serious threats from a gang member. The daughter was under 21 at the time and is now 24. Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez The Rules Committee recommended against San Francisco Mayor London Breeds recent appointment of Reese Isbell to the Rent Board, after tenants rights activists questioned his aptitude for the job compared to his predecessor, an attorney and 35-year veteran of the board. Dozens of tenants rights activists spoke out against Isbell during nearly three hours of public comment Monday. Breed appointed him to replace Polly Marshall last month. Isbell served as an aide to Mark Leno during his time in both the state Assembly and Senate. He was also a member of Breeds transition team last year. The appointment inflamed tenants rights activists, who had long-standing relationships with Marshall. Critics also worried about the lack of tenants rights experience on Isbells resume. But Isbell, and the several people who spoke in favor of his appointment Monday, said the challenges he confronts as a renter in San Francisco should qualify him for the position. Im not the same as everyone else on the Rent Board, but I want to use those different experiences with my own 25 years of expertise on policy and advocacy on the federal and state level ... to find my own ways of keeping renters in their homes, Isbell said. But the committee ultimately voted 2-1 to recommend that the full Board of Supervisors reject the appointment, with Supervisor Shamann Walton in the dissent. Walton said his colleagues should at least consider Isbell, as he has government policy experience and is a renter himself. Mr. Isbell is a human being, hes a renter, Walton said. His only sin is that hes new. But Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who voted against the appointment, said she was skeptical about Isbells ability to grasp dense legal concepts in the citys tenants rights laws given his lack of experience doing so. If it were almost any other commission in the city, I would agree that the ability to learn on the job is completely possible, she said. But this is one of those rare circumstances where I feel like it is incumbent upon us to thoroughly vet this candidate. The Board of Supervisors will consider Isbells appointment at next weeks board meeting. While the full board wasnt required to approve Isbells appointment, it may revoke it with a supermajority, eight-member vote. But removing Isbell from the position does not mean Marshall will get the position back. Trisha Thadani Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle Safe in their cars: The city could create a safe haven for people who live out of their RVs and cars under an ordinance passed by the Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday. 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. The legislation, sponsored by Supervisor Vallie Brown, would create a triage center, where people living in vehicles could access services like showers and bathrooms without fear of their vehicle being towed. This location would also have city services to help people living out of their cars or RVs find other means of housing. The pilot program called the Overnight Safe Parking Pilot Program would also require the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and Municipal Transportation Agency to come up with a way to waive fees related to parking citations and towing for those who qualify for the program. Living in a car or any vehicle is a thin veil to living on the streets, Brown said. This ordinance seeks to provide a safe and cost-effective solution by giving a location for the vehicularly housed to tend to their vital needs. The legislation unanimously passed the committee Monday, with Supervisors Ahsha Safai, Sandra Lee Fewer, Catherine Stefani, Rafael Mandelman, Matt Haney and Gordon Mar as cosponsors. It will move to the full board for a vote next week. Trisha Thadani Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani San Franciscans, rest easy. If youre hit by a car, shot, fall off a roof or suffer any other major injury, you can now receive top-notch medical care at the citys only trauma center without risking bankruptcy. After months of intense media coverage of its unfair billing system, San Francisco General Hospital officials on Tuesday announced major changes aimed at protecting patients financial health as well as their physical well-being. Patients will no longer be balance billed for the difference between what the hospital charges and what their insurance companies will pay. That system resulted in huge bills for hundreds of privately insured patients each year. The new policy affects any patient treated in the future, as well as any patient whose account was open as of Feb. 1 or who received care after Feb. 1. Patients whove already paid their bills will not receive any compensation. The hospital will also create an out-of-pocket maximum for patients, depending on income. The poorest patients would owe nothing, while those earning at least $121,400 for an individual or upward of $251,400 for a family of four would owe a maximum of $4,800. The Department of Public Health, which operates the trauma center, estimates the changes will reduce revenue by $1.9 million to $2.2 million annually. Thats a tiny fraction of the hospitals $1 billion annual budget, which raises questions about why the hospital held on to these unfair billing practices for so long. The hospital will continue to wring as much money as possible out of private health insurance companies last year that was $135 million. Amy Osborne / Special to The Chronicle Above all, we care about people, Dr. Grant Colfax, the new director of the Public Health Department, said in a statement. We believe that the insurance industry should pay its fair share for the care patients deserve and we provide, and that neither patients, nor taxpayers, should be made to pick up the slack. Most of the hospitals patients are poor and on Medicare, Medi-Cal or have no insurance. But for years, S.F. General has had no fair way of billing those privately insured patients who show up in its emergency room seeking care or who are whisked there in an ambulance after a major trauma. Thats because the hospital has no contracts with private insurance companies, meaning those companies can pay whatever portion of the bill they like, and the hospital has been sticking patients with the rest. Last year, that practice left an estimated 1,700 unsuspecting patients at S.F. General with big bills. After media reports, Mayor London Breed directed the hospital to stop balance billing patients and come up with a fair alternative. Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle One patient stuck with a big bill was Kayvon Tehranian, who passed out at his gym on Sept. 10 and hit his head on the floor. Another gym member drove him to S.F. General, where he had two CT scans and estimates he talked to a doctor for five minutes. He was diagnosed with a concussion and sent home. The hospital billed his insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross, $12,393. The company paid $5,209.64 and told Tehranian he owed the hospital $7,183.36. Tehranian called the hospitals billing procedures cold, faceless and unfair, and said he was concerned that his family couldnt rely on the hospital, which is just a couple of blocks from their home, without facing exorbitant bills. On Tuesday, told of the hospitals new practice and that he should see his bill reduced dramatically, Tehranian called it great news that makes sense. I knew the hospital could do better, and it looks like they came up with something they thought through, and I applaud them, he said. They were clearly putting people in financial distress, and it just didnt feel right. Your stories captured that. People wouldnt be sharing these things in such a public way if they werent shocked at what was happening. Not everything related to the hospitals billing practices has been resolved. S.F. General has hired a consultant to study whether its charge master the list of prices for all services, supplies and procedures is in line with other local trauma centers and teaching hospitals. Jessica Christian / The Chronicle The charge master prices have long risen across-the-board by 6 to 10 percent every year, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and mayor, who now admit they didnt really understand what they were voting for. These prices have resulted in some enormous bills, including three simple appendectomies described in Chronicle columns that left stunned patients on the hook for bills ranging from $54,908.35 to $92,470. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who called a February hearing into the hospitals billing practices, said Tuesday he was glad to see the changes announced so far by the hospital. 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. Its high time that the city finally take the patient out of the middle, and thats what this long-overdue policy change will effectuate, he said. All thanks to the media, who shone a bright light on this horrific practice that drove people crazy. He added that moving forward, the Board of Supervisors will take a much closer look at the charge master rates theyre asked to approve, including during this summers annual budget process. He said that hospitals skyrocketing charge master rates contribute to insurance companies skyrocketing premiums. Just because insurance companies are paying it does not justify having unreasonable rates, Peskin said. Thats what makes the entire health care system in our country less than optimal. One way or another, the consumer pays for it. Leigh Honeywell, who went to S.F. General in 2014 after falling and injuring her arm, was X-rayed and seen by a doctor for, she estimates, 30 seconds. Her arm wasnt broken, and she went home. She received a bill for $3,004. She paid a $300 deductible, and her insurance company paid $1,257.27. The hospital insisted she pay the remaining $1,446.73 and sent the bill to collections when she didnt come up with the money. On Tuesday, she called the news of the hospitals billing changes so cool. As a Canadian, one of my big anxieties about the American medical system is the lack of transparency, she said. When you go to get medical services, particularly when its out of network, theres no digital price book as a consumer. The Health Commission is expected to approve the changes. Health department officials are working with the city attorneys office and tax collectors office to implement the changes and are expected to appear at a follow-up hearing at the Board of Supervisors to further explain their new billing system. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight usually appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf English Swedish Press release Malmo, 16 April 2019 Doro to present its interim report for January - March 2019 report via audiocast and telephone conference Doros interim report for the period January March 2019 will be published on Friday, May 3 at 08:00 CET. At 09:00 CET the same day, analysts, investors and media are invited to attend an audiocast of the report. The audiocast and the presentation material can be accessed via https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/qfih5y7d The presentation can also be followed via a telephone conference accessible on the numbers given below. Please call about five minutes before the scheduled starting time so that the conference can begin on time. Following the presentation, those attending the conference will be given the opportunity to ask questions to Robert Puskaric, Doros President and CEO, and Carl-Johan Zetterberg Boudrie Doros CFO. Approximately one hour after the presentation has ended, an on-demand version will also be made available on the website https://corporate.doro.com/investors/reports-and-presentations/presentations/ . Phone numbers for the telephone conference, calling from: Sweden, +46 (0)8 505 583 52 United Kingdom, +44 (0)333 300 9272 France, +33 1 707 507 18 United States, +1 646 722 4902 For more information, please contact: Robert Puskaric, President and CEO Doro Group, +46 (0)70 519 34 07 Carl-Johan Zetterberg Boudrie, CFO Doro Group, +46 (0)70 335 84 49 ir@doro.com About Doro Doro develops telecom products and services for seniors to lead full and rich lives: to do things they want to do more easily as well as the things they thought they might never do. The global market-leader in senior mobile phone, Doro offers easy-to-use mobile phones and smartphones, mobile applications, fixed line telephony with loud and clear sound. Within Doro Group, Doro Care offers social care and telecare solutions for elder and disabled persons for independent and safe living in their own homes. Doro AB is a Swedish public company and its shares are quoted on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm exchange, Nordic List, Small Companies. Net sales of SEK 1,906 million (EUR 186 million) were reported for 2018. www.doro.com Attachment Two subsidiaries of Advantage/EZ Rent a Car, an Orlando company, agreed to pay $4.6 million to California authorities and consumers Monday to settle allegations that they overcharged customers who damaged vehicles. Advantage, which acquired EZ in 2015, sometimes receives discounted rates at the auto shops where they repair their cars, the San Mateo County district attorneys office said. California law bars rental car companies from billing customers who damage rental cars more than the actual cost of repair. The complaint, which was filed in Alameda County Superior Court Monday, alleged that EZ and Advantage did not pass on the discounts they received for car repairs to customers. Instead, they often billed car renters amounts based on third-party repair estimates, which were higher than the discounted rate the companies received, according to the statement. We all know how frustrating it is to accidentally damage a rental car, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley said in a statement. If you happen to do so, you should not be charged an excessive amount to repair the car or need to worry about whether the cost of repair work is being used to generate revenue. The complaint also alleged that the companies didnt disclose material damage to rental cars when they were sold or disposed of or include specific necessary language when they sold customers damage waivers. The alleged practice of overcharging for repairs began at EZ and was adopted by Advantage when the companies combined in 2015, according to a complaint the California attorney generals office filed Monday. The companies changed their practices to comply with the law after they were contacted by state and local officials, according to a statement from the San Mateo County district attorneys office. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes EZ and Advantage will pay $1 million in restitution, and the companies agreed to stop trying to collect some unpaid bills from customers. About half of the restitution will be used to refund customers. The companies, which did not admit liability, also agreed to pay $3.3 million in civil penalties and $300,000 to reimburse authorities for the cost of the investigation. Advantage/EZ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sophia Kunthara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia.kunthara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophiaKunthara A Rohnert Park high school student posted a picture on Snapchat showing a replica assault rifle that looked like the real thing on someones lap with the message: Dont go to school tomorrow. It was supposed to be a joke, the 17-year-old boy told investigators who showed up to his home with a search warrant and arrested him. He was booked into Sonoma County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of making criminal threats. As of Monday afternoon, he remained in custody. Officials did not identify him because he is a juvenile. Police said they were alerted to the Snapchat post on Sunday after an investigator from Snapchat saw the posting and called the Federal Bureau of Investigation within hours of the posting. Investigators tracked the IP address to the suspect, a student at Rancho Cotate High School. Rohnert Park detectives got a search warrant for the house and confronted the suspect, who told them the airsoft pistol belonged to his friend, a 16-year-old boy at the school. Detectives tracked down the friend and confiscated the fake rifle. The Snapchat post featured an airsoft gun, designed to look like an assault rifle. The student told investigators he thought it wasnt that big of a deal, said Aaron Johnson, deputy chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. By the pictures, one wouldnt know thats an airsoft gun versus a real rifle, and especially in such a sensitive area like school violence it alarms everyone, Johnson said. Theres no humor in that. 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. The teenagers and their parents were cooperative with investigators, and the student realized it was a poor choice, not a funny joke, Johnson said. Nothing good can come from fashioning a fake rifle to look real, Johnson said, especially for law enforcement who have to make split-second decisions. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov Inside SFs new chocolate wonderland With a new culinary attraction, the citys most prominent chocolatier is betting big on expansion and education. Will it work? Inside SFs new chocolate wonderland With a new culinary attraction, the citys most prominent chocolatier is betting big on expansion and education. Will it work? As soon as Todd Masonis opened Dandelion Chocolates doors on Valencia Street, he realized hed need to build another, bigger factory. Almost instantly, we were maxed out, said Masonis, CEO and co-founder of Dandelion, San Franciscos most prominent bean-to-bar chocolate company. Now, after about five years of permitting and construction, Dandelion Chocolates new 28,105-square-foot factory on the edge of the Mission is ready to debut on Friday, April 19. Its a beautiful, gleaming mass of a factory, designed by Gensler, the same architecture firm behind Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park and Shanghai Tower in China. Not only does the new factory allow for Dandelion to make a lot more chocolate potentially 10 times its current 300,000 bars a year once its fully up and running but it also features a small cafe, chocolate salon and classroom. Opening this factory is not the end, even though it feels like it because weve worked on it for so long, Masonis said. Its really the beginning of a whole new chapter. Todd Masonis, co-founder and CEO of Dandelion Chocolate, on the viewing path around the factory floor at the new factory, retail shop, cafe, and Bloom Saloon in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. The Mission chocolatier is set to open their brand-new chocolate factory in mid-April. less Todd Masonis, co-founder and CEO of Dandelion Chocolate, on the viewing path around the factory floor at the new factory, retail shop, cafe, and Bloom Saloon in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, March 27, ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close San Franciscos Dandelion Chocolate unveils a giant new factory in the Mission 1 / 14 Back to Gallery The cafe will be more to-go-oriented than Dandelions current Valencia Street space, which will remain open, but will offer a similar selection of bars, drinks and treats. The salon, meanwhile, will encourage guests to linger over hot chocolate, laminated pastries and intricate desserts via Dandelion executive pastry chef Lisa Vega, formerly of Gary Danko. Its modeled after chocolate salons and chocolate-focused tea rooms in Paris. Theres almost none of that in America, Masonis said. We want this to be a destination. Dandelions stunning new factory at 298 Alabama St. fits into todays San Francisco, where tourism has hit a record high and wealthy locals are always looking for new experiences think Instagram-bait spaces like the Museum of Ice Cream. Between the salon, factory tours and classes, Masonis hopes Dandelion becomes a major draw for both locals and international visitors, a place where someone could easily spend a full day. A Disneyland for chocolate. Even as a functioning industrial factory, it carries Dandelions distinct aesthetic: sleek and modern with black furnishings and gold accents against exposed brick walls. In a nod toward transparency, glass walls divide the cafe, salon and main factory floor. Guests can nibble on a chocolate croissant while gazing at a huge yellow roaster, or they can stroll along a catwalk, hot chocolate in hand, for a closer look at the grinding process. But for Masonis, its not all about the Willy Wonka-esque fun of the factory. He wants Dandelion to be the de facto place in the United States to learn about American craft chocolate. Most American chocolatiers buy their chocolate from one of a few large companies and then melt it down into bars, truffles and other confections. Dandelions chocolate, for example, is made of only cacao and sugar, while milk, vanilla and emulsifiers are common ingredients in other chocolate bars. When Dandelion launched, Masonis counted only a handful of American bean-to-bar makers. Now he counts more than 200. This new generation of American bean-to-bar makers has led the movement against industrial chocolate, crafting their own wares, developing relationships with cacao farmers and coaxing out the nuanced flavors of cacao beans. That comes at a cost: Dandelions 2-ounce bars go for $8.50 to $12. If someone sees our chocolate bar on the shelf, theyre like, Why is your chocolate bar so expensive? I could go buy something else for a third of the price, he said. Its really important we educate and explain why chocolate of this style is different. At the existing Valencia Street cafe, Dandelion has for years hosted public classes about tasting and making chocolate, but it has lacked an ideal space for such events. There might be one class a night in the cramped office space, and the classes would often sell out months in advance, according to marketing director Jennifer Roy. The new factory, however, has a dedicated classroom, equipped with chocolate-making stations, adjustable tables and plenty of space for larger presentations. Already, the April calendar is packed with new classes, and a wider range of them: an exploration of ingredients, a crash course in sourcing, the history of chocolate, plus sessions geared toward kids and families. Tours with samples of chocolate and cacao sprinkled throughout are on offer multiple times a day. The standard ($15) covers Dandelions entire chocolate-making process, while a family-friendly version ($5) moves at a slower pace. In a sense, the classes and tours most of them aimed at regular people who love chocolate are the kinds of things that Masonis wishes were around when he began tinkering with chocolate in a friends suburban garage a decade ago. After selling his tech company in 2008, he started Dandelion in 2010. This focus on education is one reason Masonis wants to carefully control the growth of Dandelion. New machinery a mix of vintage and state-of-the-art, like an optical sorter that uses a neural network will slowly be rolled out, allowing Dandelion to make millions of bars per year, in a few years. Hes interested in adding more wholesale accounts, but not too many. Hed rather open more Dandelion storefronts perhaps some smaller cafes like the existing Dandelion kiosk in the Ferry Building or outposts that sell only bars and gift items. When people are able to come into a store and try samples and talk to someone who is knowledgeable, thats a really great experience, he said. Up until now, we just didnt have enough chocolate. No new shops are confirmed yet, but Masonis is eyeing major American cities like New York and Los Angeles. Given the success of the four Dandelion locations in Japan, he also foresees a bigger expansion in Asia. And maybe across Europe, too. Itd be easy to look at the trajectory and think Masonis will look for a big corporation to purchase Dandelion, in the same way that Hershey Co. bought former Berkeley chocolatier Scharffen Berger. Acquisitions of Bay Area craft companies have become increasingly common: In 2017, for example, Nestle bought Blue Bottle Coffee, Heineken took over Lagunitas and New Belgium purchased Magnolia Brewing. But thats not the case here. After all, Masonis has already had his big payday. He and his business partner Cameron Ring also a co-founder of Dandelion sold their tech company Plaxo to Comcast in 2008 for a reported $150 million to $170 million. Dandelion is Masonis passion project. If all we do is become industrial chocolate, then theres no point, Masonis said. If we got bought, I guess Id have to start another chocolate company. Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker Its early in the 2020 campaign, and on Thursday, April 11, a few days before Mayor Pete Buttigieg formally entered the presidential campaign the announcement would come on Sunday, April 14, from his hometown, South Bend, Ind. Susie and Mark Buell, supporters of Kamala Harris, invited folks over to get acquainted with him. Theyd first planned this howdy-do for their apartment, but within five or six hours after invitations were sent to the people on Susie Buells mailing list, it was sold out. They moved the venue to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Fundraising was two-tiered: Seekers paid $250 to be there; Believers paid $2,800, the max allowed. Tom Horn, lawyer, civic and cultural institution leader and publisher emeritus of the Bay Area Reporter, was there to learn about the candidate and his positions, and many in the crowd expressed similar sentiments. Full disclosure, said Horn. Im all-in for Kamala. Ive known her forever, given her the maximum amount. But I think its very exciting to have a credible, energetic, young, exciting, gay candidate. I came here in the 70s because I couldnt be gay where I was. Mayor Pete is showing that you can be gay, proud and competent and not leave South Bend. Nancy Peterson, who lives in Palo Alto, said she was listening to an audio version of Buttigiegs book, Shortest Way Home: One Mayors Challenge and a Model for Americas Future, because shed been unable to procure a hard copy. Books Inc. in Palo Alto had told her it is back-ordered everywhere. We were standing in a comfortable room with a postcard view of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, the city at its best. But no San Franciscan is unaware of its current crises. Horn seemed to be referring to that when he talked about the message in the candidacy of a gay man from the Midwest. Its progress, he said, that gay people dont have to go to San Francisco and get chewed up and spit out. They can stay in South Bend. They can stay in Albuquerque. ... And hes showing that you can be a person of deep faith and be gay. The moment they entered the room, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Glezman, were surrounded by selfie-seeking well-wishers. Mayor Pete, boyish, wore a shirt and tie with no jacket. Hes not tall, so its easy for him to lean forward a bit and look people in the eye. What comes across visually is earnest and fresh, Tom Sawyer on the campaign trail. What came across when he started speaking, however, was something else entirely: a self-assured grasp of the issues, even after his prepared remarks, when questioners hit him from all sides. He began by talking about the importance of politics in personal lives (his having gone to war for the country, for example, or his marriage). When his parents had health crises, it was the Supreme Court vote for gay marriage that allowed his husband to be at the bedside. The mood of the room was upbeat, particularly because a poll of Iowans released that morning had put Buttigieg in third place in that state. I can officially say, said the then-almost-candidate, we have had the flavor of the month status. ... We are looking for support, and hoping to find more seekers who become believers. After his speech, there were questions on immigration. I dont know why the president thinks this country is full. South Bend has room for 30,000 more, Buttigieg said. Sewers and roads are in place, he added, and if 30,000 immigrants were to arrive, the taxes theyd pay could support those services. 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. Entrepreneur Chip Conley, self-described modern elder immersed in issues about personal growth as one ages, noted that there are four generations of Democratic candidates, and he asked how their goals could be connected. We need a national project to unite us, said Buttigieg. If we do get it right, climate change can be that national project, ... give us a source of national purpose. ... Whats not going to work is finding a smoking gun to prove this president is not a nice guy. A Kamala and Mayor Pete ticket would be great, said Horn, though he didnt say which one would be in the Oval Office. You heard it here. Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, 415-777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik PINECREST, Fla. The Underwater Homeowners Association sounds like a sad joke about the future of real estate in flood-prone Miami. Its actually an earnest, block-by-block effort to turn neighbors into climate change activists. Starting in his affluent suburb of Pinecrest, artist Xavier Cortada hopes his concept will spread, helping people nationwide understand that melting polar ice is no abstract threat. Cortada repurposes for sale signs, painting partially submerged numbers that announce exactly how many feet above sea level each property is, for people to plant in their front yards. A growing number of members have signed on at underwaterhoa.org since Cortada launched the idea in December. Cortadas signs show his home is on relatively high ground: 6 feet above sea level. His studio is at 8 feet. Rising seas will spare no one concerned about quality of life in Pinecrest, a village of 19,000 not far from Biscayne Bay. Like the rest of southern Florida, its trapped between the ocean and the swampy Everglades. Water also rises through Floridas porous bedrock, making seawalls and levees less effective. If your neighbor sees a number 6 in front of your house, your neighbor knows that you, too, are a number 6, Cortada said. So you are no longer a Democrat or a Republican, or an anti-science or pro-science person. Youre both literally standing at the same elevation. Cortadas signs feature his swirling paintings of melting Antarctic glaciers. Other neighbors have made their own. Students also painted the elevations of four intersections 6, 7, 9, 11 feet along the citys two-lane main road, which Cortada dubs Elevation Drive. It runs along what constitutes high ground in southern Florida a narrow coral ridge that appears to stay dry when models of sea level rise show much of the region inundated. Some residents arent happy about the art installations, warning on a community newspapers website that the painted signs could devastate property values. Does anyone seriously want this in front of the expensive homes in Pinecrest? Maybe they wont be so expensive once they convince the world they will be under water in a few years, one wrote. Whether people like their neighbors politics, global warming is already affecting home buyers here, where average seas could rise 6 to 10 inches by 2030, and 14 to 26 inches by 2060, compared with 1992 levels, according to the most recent data from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says local activism was key to persuading voters to approve a $400 million bond initiative to strengthen Miamis infrastructure against climate change effects. Jennifer Kay is an Associated Press writer. KYOTO, Japan, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nidec Corporation (TSE: 6594; OTC US: NJDCY) (the Company or Nidec) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a resolution to acquire OMRON Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd. (OMRON Automotive Electronics) from OMRON Corporation (OMRON) (the Stock Acquisition). Accordingly, Nidec entered into a stock purchase agreement on April 16, 2019 (Japan time). 1. Purpose and background of the Stock Acquisition Nidec positions its automotive motor business as one of the Companys key strategic businesses, and is engaging in active efforts in the business for automotive motor market which is expected to grow rapidly in coming years. Nidec is particularly focusing on module products with electric power steering (EPS) motors, electric brake motors, etc. and electronic control units (ECU) in accordance with the current trends towards electrification and autonomous driving in the automotive industry, as well as EV traction motor systems, etc. for which significant future market growth can be expected. The Company anticipates that the electrification trend will accelerate further in response to the global environmental and energy related problems and will continue to engage in research and development with Elesys, an ECU manufacturer which joined Nidec group in 2014, to create more electrification products going forward. OMRON Automotive Electronics engages in research and development, manufacturing, and sales of automotive electronics products as a subsidiary of OMRON Group, which has strengths in control equipment, systems, and electronic components based on its sensing and control technologies. In particular, OMRON Automotive Electronics has produced many high-quality control products for body control system, ECUs for motor control systems, power control systems, and other areas to address the markets electrification needs. Through the Transaction (as defined under 2. Overview of OMRON Automotive Electronics), the Company will be able to create new module and systems products by combining Nidec groups motors, pumps, gears, etc. with OMRON Automotive Electronics products including ECUs and other electronics products. Furthermore, Nidec Elesys and OMRON Automotive Electronics have a complementary relationship in the area of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), creating high expectations for significant synergies. In particular, Nidec Elesys has strengths in wave radar and camera-related products, while OMRON Automotive Electronics has strengths in laser radar and driver monitoring systems, which will allow two companies to collectively provide a full spectrum of sensors required for autonomous driving in the future. Following the Transaction, the Company expects that both companies will cooperate within the Nidec Group to provide a wide variety of sensor products which support autonomous driving technologies. 2. Overview of OMRON Automotive Electronics (1 ) Company name OMRON Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd. (2 ) Headquarters 6368, Nenjozaka, Okusa, Komaki, Aichi, Japan (3 ) Representative Katsuhiro Wada (President and CEO) (4 ) Business description Manufacture and sale of automotive electronics components and systems (5 ) Capital JPY 5,000 million (as of September 30, 2018) (6 ) Date established May 6, 2010 (7 ) Major shareholders and ownership OMRON Corporation (100%) (8 ) Relationship with Nidec Capital None Personnel None Business None (9 ) Three-year financial summary (JPY in millions) Fiscal year end March 2016 March 2017 March 2018 Net assets 25,176 24,067 26,480 Total assets 38,921 37,314 40,357 Net assets per share (JPY in thousands) 252 241 265 Net sales 39,208 36,727 36,327 Ordinary income 2,834 685 1,092 Net income 552 769 3,610 Net income per share (JPY in thousands) 6 8 36 (Reference) Three-year financial summary of OMRON Automotive Electronic Components Business (JPY in millions) Fiscal year end March 2016 March 2017 March 2018 Net sales 140,546 132,562 133,186 Segment income 7,342 7,127 5,816 Total assets 76,421 81,024 89,048 Through the Stock Acquisition, Nidec will acquire OMRON Automotive Electronics subsidiaries. At the same time of the Stock Acquisition, Nidec and its subsidiaries will acquire OMRONs subsidiaries, OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (OAX) and OMRON COMPONENTES AUTOMOTIVOS LTDA. (Target Foreign Subsidiaries), and automotive electronic components business of OMRON VIETNAM CO., LTD., PT. OMRON MANUFACTURING OF INDONESIA and OMRON HONG KONG LTD. (Target Overseas Businesses). The Stock Acquisition, acquisition of Target Foreign Subsidiaries and acquisition of Target Overseas Businesses are collectively defined as the Transaction. (Reference) Overview of OAX: The Company describes the overview of OAX since OAXs net sales are larger than those of other OMRON Automotive Electronics subsidiaries. (1 ) Company name OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V. (2 ) Headquarters Av. Paraiso No.344 Parque Industrial y de Negocios Las Colinas Silao, Guanajuato C.P. 36270 Mexico (3 ) Representative Randy Wara (President and CEO) (4 ) Business description Manufacture of automotive electronic components and systems (5 ) Capital MXN 1,115 million (6 ) Date established February 25, 2008 (7 ) Major investors and capital contribution ratio OMRON Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (99%) OMRON Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd. (1%) (8 ) Relationship with Nidec Capital None Personnel None Business None (9 ) Three-year financial summary (MXN in millions) Fiscal year end December 2015 December 2016 December 2017 Net assets 219 688 1,166 Total assets 403 1,649 1,798 Net sales 488 2,959 3,767 Ordinary income 18 10 130 Net income 14 (50 ) 119 3. Overview of OMRON (1 ) Company name OMRON Corporation (2 ) Headquarters Shiokoji Horikawa Higashi-iru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan (3 ) Representative Yoshihito Yamada (President and CEO) (4 ) Business description Research and development, manufacture and sale of control equipment, FA system, electronic components and healthcare products (5 ) Capital JPY 64,100 million (as of December 31, 2018) (6 ) Date established May 19, 1948 (7 ) Consolidated total equity JPY 515,837 million (as of December 31, 2018) (8 ) Consolidated total assets JPY 732,983 million (as of December 31, 2018) (9 ) Major shareholders and ownership (as of September 30, 2018) Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (trust account) (5.85%) The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (trust account) (4.44%) STATE STREET BANK AND TRUST COMPANY 505223 (3.37%) The Bank of Kyoto, Ltd. (3.37%) MUFG Bank, Ltd. (2.45%) Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (trust account 5) (1.98%) JP MORGAN CHASE BANK 385151 (1.95%) MOXLEY AND CO LLC (1.95%) JP MORGAN CHASE BANK 385632 (1.83%) Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (trust account 7) (1.80%) (10 ) Relationship with Nidec Capital None Personnel None Business None Related party relationship None 4. Number of shares to be acquired, acquisition price, and shares held before and after the acquisition Under the stock purchase agreement, Nidec will acquire all shares of OMRON Automotive Electronics (number of shares held after the acquisition: 100,000, number of voting rights: 100,000, ownership: 100%), and all shares of Target Foreign Subsidiaries including all equities of OAX owned directly and indirectly by OMRON and OMRON Automotive Electronics. Acquisition price (total consideration of the Transaction including the consideration for Stock Acquisition, acquisition of Target Foreign Subsidiaries and acquisition of Target Overseas Businesses) is expected to be JPY 100 billion (1). Note: (1) The acquisition price would be finalized subject to the condition described in the stock purchase agreement including the financials. 5. Schedule (1 ) Board of Directors resolution April 16, 2019 (Japan time) (2 ) Contract signed April 16, 2019 (Japan time) (3 ) Closing Expected around the end of October 2019 (The Transaction may be deferred with the status of approval of antitrust authorities) 6. Future Outlook Nidec intends to make appropriate disclosures regarding the impact of the Transaction described herein on its consolidated financial performance for the current fiscal year and announce any changes to its financial performance in accordance with the applicable rules of the Tokyo Stock Exchange once such details are determined. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the intent, belief, strategy, plans or expectations of the Nidec Group or other parties. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the risks to successfully integrating the acquired business with the Nidec Group, the anticipated benefits of the planned transaction not being realized, changes in general economic conditions, shifts in technology or user preferences for particular technologies, whether and when required regulatory approvals are obtained, other risks relating to the successful consummation of the planned transaction, and changes in business and regulatory environments. The Nidec Group does not undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein or the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements except as may be required by law. Contact: Masahiro Nagayasu General Manager Investor Relations +81-75-935-6140 ir@nidec.com Dublin, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Drug Eluting Stents Market 2018-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Drug-Eluting Stents Market is Expected to Witness a CAGR of 5.4% During the Forecast Period to Reach Revenue of $5,614.6 Million by 2024 Drug-eluting stents refer to the metal stents that have a coating of drugs such as paclitaxel, everolimus, and also antiproliferative drugs to widen the narrowed blood vessel. The first-generation DES has raised safety issues due to a higher incidence of stent thrombosis, which has further given rise to biodegradable DES to provide better treatment. The ability to release an antiproliferative drug that avoids neointimal proliferation, which reduces the incidence of stent restenosis and prevent the need of restenting. These benefits contributed to the domination of DES in 2016. However, thrombosis, along with vasomotion, is the major issue that needs to be addressed in the DES market. Drug-eluting stents find importance in cardiovascular complications as it is a minimally invasive surgical procedure, broadens the constricted blood vessels, and is useful in prolonging the life of the patient. Increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, rising aging population, growing acceptance for minimally invasive endovascular surgeries, and good reimbursement facilities are few of the factors driving the growth of the DES market. Increasing healthcare spending, rise in the number of outpatient procedures, and market expansion opportunities in emerging nations are providing an opportunity for the growth of the market. However, alternatives for drug-eluting stents, lack of skilled healthcare professionals, and stringent regulatory approval process are hampering the growth of the market. Regional Analysis The regions covered in the report are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). Europe accounts for the largest share of the drug-eluting stents market, followed by Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. More than 60% of the market is occupied by Europe, with Germany being the major contributor to the market growth. Coating Type Analysis Based on the type of coating, the market is segmented into polymer-based coating and polymer-free coating drug-eluting stents. Non-biodegradable and biodegradable polymer are the two types of polymer-based coatings. Microporous surface, microstructured surface, slotted tubular surface, and nanoporous surface are the types of polymer-free coating. Application Analysis Based on applications, the market is segmented into coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease. Approximately 90% of all percutaneous interventional surgeries use a coronary stent of all stenting procedures is done with drug-eluting stents (DES). Therefore, the majority of the market is occupied by coronary arterial intervention. End-users Analysis The major end-users in the drug eluting stents market are cardiology centers, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), and hospitals. The advantages such as availability of surgery specialists, reduced hospital stay duration, and less charge of surgery have made ambulatory surgical centers the most preferred mode for the treatment. This has made them the largest segment among end-users. Key Players Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic PLC, Biotronik SE & Co. KG, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Terumo Corporation, Biosensors International Group, Meril Life Science, Stentys SA, Cook Medical Inc., and Lepu Medical Technology. Currently, many manufacturers are outsourcing research to clinical research organizations, which is indirectly boosting the growth of the drug-eluting stents market. Competitive Analysis New product development, geographical expansion, collaboration, mergers & acquisitions, and pricing strategies are vital undertakings of players in this space. For instance, in May 2018, MicroPort, a Chinese company, acquired the cardiac rhythm management segment of LivaNova, which has made MicroPort a prominent player in the market. In January 2017, St. Jude Medical, one of the major players in the market, was acquired by Abbott Laboratories for a total of $25 billion. In August 2018, Boston Scientific Corp. signed an agreement to acquire Veniti Inc. Recently, the prices of coronary stents in India have been slashed by around 70%, making it affordable to lower-income people. As a result, Abbott and Boston are withdrawing their most advanced products Absorb and Synergy & Promous Premier, respectively. This has helped MicroPort to establish its market easily in India with the targeted drug-eluting stents. The technology of MicroPort is proved to be no less than Abbott and other products by market leaders. This is expected to strengthen its market in India. Benefits The report provides complete details about the usage and adoption rate of drug-eluting stents in various regions. With that, key stakeholders can know about the major trends, drivers, investments, and vertical player's initiatives. Moreover, the report provides details about the major challenges that are going to impact on the market growth. Additionally, the report gives the complete details about the key business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture the revenue in the specific verticals to analyze before investing or expanding the business in this market. Key Topics Covered: 1 Industry Outlook 1.1 Industry Overview 1.2 Total Addressable Market 1.3 Industry Trends 2 Report Outline 2.1 Report Scope 2.2 Report Summary 2.3 Research Methodology 2.4 Report Assumptions 3 Market Snapshot 3.1 Market Definition 3.2 Segmented Addressable Market 3.3 Industry Trends 3.4 Related Markets 3.4.1 Cardiovascular Drugs 3.4.1.1 Trends of cardiovascular drugs market 3.4.2 Aortic Aneurysm 3.4.2.1 Trends of Aortic Aneurysm Market 3.4.3 Coronary Stents Market 3.4.4 Cardiovascular Diagnostics 4 Market Outlook 4.1 Reimbursement Scenario 4.2 Market Segmentation 4.3 Porter 5(Five) Forces 4.4 PEST Analysis 5 Market Characteristics 5.1 Market Dynamics 5.1.1 Drivers 5.1.1.1 Increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases 5.1.1.2 Increasing Aging Population 5.1.1.3 Growing acceptance for minimally invasive endovascular surgeries 5.1.2 Opportunities 5.1.2.1 Increase in healthcare spending 5.1.2.2 Increase in the number of outpatient procedures 5.1.2.3 Market expansion opportunities in emerging nations 5.1.3 Restraints 5.1.3.1 Stringent regulations for approval process 5.1.3.2 Alternative treatment for the drug eluting stents 5.1.3.3 Lack of skilled healthcare professionals 5.1.3.4 Stringent Regulatory Approval Process 5.2 DRO - Impact Analysis 5.3 Key Stakeholders 6 Types: Market Size and Analysis 6.1 Overview 6.2 Polymer Based Coating 6.3 Polymer free Coating 7 Technology: Market Size and Analysis 7.1 Overview 7.2 Coronary Artery Diseases 7.3 Peripheral Artery Disease 8 End-users: Market Size and Analysis 8.1 Overview 8.2 Hospitals and clinics 8.3 Ambulatory Surgical Center 8.4 Cardiac Centers 9 Regions: Market Size and Analysis 10 Competitive Landscape 11 Vendors Profiles Abbott Laboratories Biosensors International Group Biotronik, Inc Boston Scientific Corp Cook Medical Inc Johnson & Johnson Lepu Medical Technology Co., Ltd Medtronic Plc Meril Life Science MicroPort Scientific Corporation STENTYS S.A. Terumo Corp. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hpx546/global_drug?w=12 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Lieutenant General Abu Bakr Mustafa will replace Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, known as Salah Gosh, as chief of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Shams El Din Kabbashi Shinto said. Shinto also announced the sacking of Sudan's ambassadors to Washington and Geneva and said all army and police officers who participated in street protests which led to the ousting of former President Omar al-Bashir last week would be released. * Sudan's main protest group on April 14 called for the immediate handover of power to a civilian transitional government and said it would maintain street demonstrations to push for its aims. Such a transitional council should be protected by the Sudanese armed forces, the Sudanese Professionals Association said in a statement. "The Sudanese Professionals Association affirms the continuation of the sit-in and the exercise of all forms of peaceful pressure to achieve the objectives of the revolution," it said. PRESS RELEASE GLOBAL GRAPHICS: NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Cambridge (UK) 16 April 2019: Global Graphics PLC (Euronext: GLOG) announces details of its Annual General Meeting. Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Global Graphics PLC (the Company) will be held at the Sheraton Brussels Airport Hotel, 1930 Zaventum, Belgium on Wednesday 15 May 2019 at 14:00 hrs (CEST). A copy of the notice, including explanatory notes, is available on the investors section of the Companys web site at https://www.globalgraphics.com/investors/shareholders-annual-general-meeting . All proxy voting will be conducted electronically via the Companys share registrar, Link Asset Services. Details of which have been provided to registered shareholders. For shares held in nominee accounts please contact the nominee. About Global Graphics Through its operating subsidiaries, Global Graphics PLC (Euronext Brussels: GLOG) is a leading developer of platforms for digital inkjet printing and type design and development. Customers for digital inkjet technology include press manufacturers such as HP, Canon, Durst, Roland, Hymmen and Mark Andy. Those for font design include numerous international brands, from manufacturers such as Mercedes Benz and Siemens, to digital media and epublishing companies. Global Graphics PLC is headquartered in Cambridge UK. Its subsidiary companies are printing software developers Global Graphics Software ; the type foundry, URW Type Foundry , and the industrial printhead driver solutions specialists, Meteor Inkjet . Contacts Question: Where would you want to build a luxury-housing tract if you were the mayor of Richmond? Answer: On an isolated natural headland between a crowded bridge and an accident-prone oil refinery. If Richmonds latest plan for the long fight over the public lands and waters of Point Molate seems odd, Mayor Tom Butt will tell you this is no time for debate. Hes pushing to keep to a timeline designed to expedite a bad legal settlement he agreed to last year that is being challenged in federal court. The city is now looking to sell Point Molate to a major Southern California real estate corporation SunCal that was recently chased out of Alameda. But there is another timeline the mayor and his supporters do not want people looking at: the traffic and air quality concerns timeline. On Feb. 7, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was partially closed after an 8-inch chunk of concrete roadway fell on a motorists car, backing up traffic into Richmond and beyond. Michael Macor / The Chronicle 2017 A month later, Chevron issued a warning about a March 6 flaring incident at its Richmond oil refinery. On March 17, a plume of black smoke had floated over the Point Molate headland as Chevron issued a community warning. People get freaked out about it, and the answers they are getting are becoming less and less credible, the mayor complained to the East Bay Times. Two days later, on March 19, in a closed-to-the-public session, the mayor and the Richmond City Council voted to accept Irvine-based SunCals bare-bones proposal to build expensive housing at Point Molate. Has it been mentioned Point Molate is publicly accessible only by a narrow two-lane road that lets out at the eastern toll plaza of the bridge? Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2016 On April 5, 17 days after the City Councils vote, the bridge shut down again after a chunk of concrete fell off it the second time in two months. Bridge traffic has increased 13 percent since 2013. But with a new community (Buttville, perhaps?) of 5,000 to 10,000 people and several thousand cars being developed next to the bridge, rush-hour traffic not to mention evacuation in case of an emergency could become an even bigger nightmare. In August 2012, there was a major fire at Richmonds 117-year-old Chevron refinery located just over Point Molates ridgeline. It sent more than 14,000 people to area hospitals complaining of burning eyes, nausea and respiratory problems. In 2018, there were eight flaring incidents at the refinery the most to occur in a single year in more than a decade, according to the regional air quality regulator. That number might be surpassed by this years repeated unplanned releases five to date. Point Molate is rated as a Very High Fire Severity Zone on City of Richmond fire maps. Along with citizen groups such as the Point Molate Alliance, which is concerned with the environmental, safety, economic and equity risks associated with the planned housing tract, Chevron cant be too thrilled with the idea of a new refinery fence line community made up of wealthy people who have lawyers. Before the city moves ahead with selling off Point Molate for development, it really needs to answer unresolved questions questions that require real consideration and open debate none of which has happened to date: What is the evacuation plan in case of a major wildfire, refinery explosion or earthquake? What are the traffic and safety issues? When will we have an Environmental Impact Report? Michael Short / Special to the Chronicle 2012 When will Point Molates unique habitats be called out for protection in an Environmental Impact Report, including the San Francisco Bays most intact eelgrass beds and their fish and Dungeness crab nurseries? What will the annual property tax benefit be, if any (if the city backs an expected bond for infrastructure, it may not see any additional revenue for 40 years or more)? What will fire and police protection and other city services cost annually for a new neighborhood? Will high-income families want to spend a $1 million or more each to live there? Whats the citys worst-case financial risk from this development? Michael Macor / The Chronicle 2016 Point Molate could be a world-class public park, with recreational, cultural and commercial jobs and opportunities based around its historic Winehaven district. Or it could be an isolated, upscale private-housing tract. Neither option should be pursued however before we have definitive answers to these unanswered questions. David Helvarg is a Richmond author, executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean conservation organization, and co-chair of the Point Molate Alliance. The Cow Palace will no longer host gun shows after this year, but the move has not quelled a legislative effort to replace the leadership at the arena and potentially redevelop the property. Following years of community activism against the gun shows, which bring thousands of buyers and sellers to the Daly City event center five times a year, the governing board of the Cow Palace voted Tuesday not to hold shows after 2019, when a contract with the exhibitor Crossroads of the West expires. Lori Marshall, chief executive officer of the Cow Palace, said in a statement that the decision was mindful, although not necessarily governed by, bans on gun shows in surrounding cities and counties. This action in no way shall be taken to indicate that the board has found there to be any improprieties on the part of the promoters of past gun shows, she said. Gun-control groups ramped up their protests against the events after the February 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that killed 14 students and three staffers. Activists argue that the gun shows glorify violence for children, who receive free admission until age 12, and that state agencies should not facilitate or profit from the proliferation of firearms. The Cow Palace, which was built in 1941 to provide a pavilion for livestock exhibitions, operates under the California Department of Food and Agriculture and its board is appointed by the governor. All seven current directors were named to the panel by former Gov. Jerry Brown. Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2018 The Cow Palace board has also been under pressure because of a bill to prohibit gun and ammunition sales at the venue, which is moving through the Legislature this session. Similar proposals have been vetoed three times in the past decade, but Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed a ban in 2007, when he was mayor of San Francisco. Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, still intends to pursue his measure, SB281, which would also transfer control of the Cow Palace to a joint powers authority consisting of San Francisco, Daly City and San Mateo County. The new agency would be charged with redeveloping the 68-acre property for housing and commercial space, though it could leave the arena in operation. Victor Ruiz-Cornejo, a spokesman for Wiener, said it was important to replace the board to prevent future officials from going back on the ban. It shouldnt take this kind of action to get the board to listen to the local community, Ruiz-Cornejo said. Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez will be tiptoeing through a minefield until his party nominates someone for president. Not only does he have to navigate the needs and whims of 19 candidates and counting he has to make sure the partys progressive and moderate wings dont cannibalize each other. Plus, one of the races early front-runners, Sen. Bernie Sanders, registered as an independent for his 2024 Senate re-election but as a Democrat for president in 2020. That means Perez often dances around giving definitive answers. There are too many potential land mines to detonate. Heres Perez on some of the many challenges when he appeared on The Chronicles Its All Political podcast during a recent fundraising trip to San Francisco: Should Joe Biden apologize to the women who accused him of inappropriately invading their personal space? He takes these allegations very seriously. I think the voters are going to listen to what he has said. And they are going to judge him on what he has said and also going to judge him, as they will every candidate, on the entire body of their lifes work. So should he apologize? I think if the vice president were here, he would acknowledge that he needs to change his behavior. He has acknowledged that he is a very warm individual, and sometimes his warmth is misinterpreted and sometimes he needs to reflect the realities of todays world. A candidate must be at 1 percent in the polls or get donations from 65,000 donors in 20 states to participate in the first two DNC debates. Did the DNC set the bar too low? I dont think so. I think the message of 2016 is that the voters should decide who the nominee is, not the Democratic National Committee. I took that feedback to heart. We need to return that power back to the grassroots. The 65,000 donor threshold, he said, is incentivizing (candidates) to talk to people who are not just millionaires. It looks like up to 20 candidates could make the cut for debates. Is that too many? Nope, Perez said. If that happens, the field will be divided into two groups of 10 and randomly assigned to appear at one of two debates. There will be no junior varsity debate stage, Perez said. And then he name-checked the 2016 GOP primary debate in which Donald Trump and Marco Rubio made oblique references to their manhood. One thing Im certain: None of the Democratic candidates for president will be talking about hand size. Theyre going to be talking about health care. Most of the Democratic candidates refuse to accept corporate PAC donations. Why does the DNC still accept them? Thats a conversation weve undertaken, and hope to resolve at the 2020 convention, Perez said. One lesson that I learned from 2016 is that you dont change the rules in the middle of the campaign cycle. Is Bernie Sanders a Democrat, even though he has registered as an independent for his Senate re-election? Hes fighting for issues that are at the center of what its like to be a Democrat. What it means to be a Democrat. I welcome him into the race. Roughly 40 percent of Democrats are people of color. When will two largely white states, Iowa and New Hampshire, no longer have an outsized influence over more diverse states like California? Its already changing, Perez said, noting that early voting in California will begin on the same day as the Iowa caucuses are held. Primary election day in California and Texas is one month after the Iowa caucus, he noted, so that voters who reflect the broad quilt of this wonderful nation will have an opportunity to weigh in earlier. It will put a premium on candidates who can speak to the values, hopes and dreams of every voter across this country. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli San Francisco officials signaled a willingness Monday to compromise slightly with residents of Rincon Hill, South Beach and other waterfront neighborhoods who are staunchly opposed to a plan to bring a Navigation Center to the Embarcadero. After more than a month of divisive, sometimes vitriolic debate, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Haney jointly announced changes to the citys proposal meant to make the centers arrival less jarring for its future neighbors. Its unlikely that the revised plan will do much to assuage the projects detractors, who broadly believe that a Navigation Center will turn the tourist-heavy Embarcadero into a dirty, dangerous place. City officials informed the South Beach-Rincon-Mission Bay Neighborhood Association at a meeting Monday night. Now Playing: San Francisco Mayor London Breed is struggling to find support for her latest navigation center near the Embarcadero. KTVU's Rob Malcolm reports. Video: KTVU Breed isnt budging on the physical size of the shelter. But rather than open the center with 200 beds as was initially proposed, the facility would start with 130 beds. More would be added gradually, eventually getting to 200 over a six-month span. Instead of operating the site for four years, as originally proposed, the city is seeking a two-year lease with the Port of San Francisco and an option to renew for another two years if the center is working as intended and well-integrated into the neighborhood. And to placate concerns about public safety, officials have also promised to have uniformed police officers patrol the center and the surrounding area seven days a week. I am committed to opening 200 new beds at this site, so we can bring shelter and services to those struggling on our waterfront and throughout our city, Breed said in a statement. With these updates to our proposal, we can deliver on that commitment and make the opening of this center a success for both our unsheltered residents and those living in the surrounding neighborhood. Many opponents believe that a residential facility for the homeless will become a magnet for crime, particularly injection-drug use. At recent public forums about the center, some described harrowing, sometimes violent altercations with people they believed were homeless. Few were swayed by assurances by officials that homeless people were more likely to be the victims of crimes, not the perpetrators. The updates are totally non-responsive to the community's concerns about open drug use and crime, said Wallace Lee, a waterfront resident affiliated with Safe Embarcadero, a coalition of residents thats sprung up to contest the proposed shelter. Lee attended Monday nights community meeting. City homelessness officials estimate there are more than 4,000 people living on San Francisco streets, and more than 1,100 are on the citys shelter waiting list each night. One recent count on the waterfront by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing found 179 people sleeping outdoors. The 2.3-acre parcel where Breed and Haney want to build what would become San Franciscos largest Navigation Center is owned by the Port of San Francisco. The five-member Port Commission will consider the new revisions to the plan before voting on whether to lease the plot to the city on April 23. The site, known as Seawall Lot 330, is currently used as a parking lot across from Piers 30-32. The centers opponents have raised more than $100,000 to fund a legal challenge to the center if the city moves forward. A rival fund supporting the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, which backs the center and similar initiatives, raised more than $176,000. Its not the first time the Port Commission has considered a proposal to locate homeless services on its land. The commission voted in 2016 to lease a parcel on 25th Street to build the Dogpatch Navigation Center, which is widely considered to be a success. Breed has championed the proposal as an essential part of the citys immediate efforts to bring homeless people off the streets. She has set a goal of opening 1,000 shelter beds by the end of 2020. Just 212 beds have been made available since she announced that pledge. Navigation Centers are homeless shelters that allow for round-the-clock stays and provide intensive on-site services like addiction treatment and housing counseling meant to guide people toward more stable living conditions. Compared to traditional overnight shelters, Navigation Centers are also more permissive, allowing residents to bring more belongings, partners and pets. Opposition to the center has drawn intense criticism from many who see the shelter as a moral imperative for the city. Haney, who represents District Six where the center would be built, supports the shelter. District Six contains by far the highest number of homeless people and, as a result, the largest concentration of shelters, Navigation Centers and services. To get the rest of the city to shoulder more responsibility for housing the homeless, Haney plans to introduce legislation Tuesday that would compel each district that doesnt already have a Navigation Center to open one in the next 30 months. Finding affordable, viable sites for shelters in San Francisco has been notoriously difficult and it remains unclear how Haneys ordinance would enforce the 30-month deadline. The mayors office and Department of Homelessness have committed to me and to the community that this center will be well-run and safe, and be a true navigation center, which effectively transitions people from homelessness into services and housing, Haney said. These changes reflect that commitment, and they come as a result of dozens of community meetings and collaboration with neighborhood leaders and service providers. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa President Trump sought to sharpen what he views as a threat aimed at sanctuary cities and states the other day, tweeting that undocumented immigrants who can no longer be legally held would be given to such jurisdictions. The president didnt single out any of the Californias sanctuary cities and counties, although he did take a swipe over the weekend at Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for calling the idea an abuse of power and public resources. It also wasnt clear what he meant by his latest tweet Monday or how it would be carried out Chronicle Washington correspondent Tal Kopan reported that there are several potential legal and practical obstacles to such a plan, which might be self-defeating for Trump anyway. But Trumps style isnt necessarily to carry out his tweet threats in some cases, he seems mainly to be trolling the other side. Heres a brief history of Trumps tweets at California and what, if anything, they have led to: The tweet: California now wants to scale back their already failed fast train project by substantially shortening the distance so that it no longer goes from L.A. to San Francisco. A different deal and record cost overruns. Send the Federal Government back the Billions of Dollars WASTED! Feb. 20, 2019. Background: California Gov. Gavin Newsom had just declared in his State of the State speech that there simply isnt a path to build a high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, as has long been planned, and that California needed to concentrate on a Central Valley leg. Trump was demanding that California return the money the federal government has contributed toward the project. Whats happened: In February, the Federal Railroad Administration said it intended to cancel $929 million in high-speed rail funding and that it was exploring all available legal options to claw back $2.6 billion thats already been spent. The state responded in March that Newsom had not, in fact, killed the original plan and that pulling federal funding and abandoning the partially built train line would be disastrous. Californias High-Speed Rail Authority says it has not heard back from federal officials since then. The tweet: Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money! Jan. 9, 2019. Background: As deadly wildfires burned in California in 2018, Trump said the states environmental laws were getting in the way of sound forestry management and making the disasters worse. Some forestry experts said Trump was oversimplifying a complex issue. Most of that back-and-forth played out in the fall, and it was never clear what prompted this dead-of-winter tweet. Whats happened: Nothing, in more ways than one. The president never actively tried to cut off California disaster aid, but the $7 billion to $9 billion that the state would receive in a wide-ranging package is trapped in the Senate over objections by Trump and other Republicans it contains too much money for hurricane-racked Puerto Rico. The tweet: Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy up to 400 National Guard Troops to do nothing. The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Browns charade. We need border security and action, not words! April 19, 2018. Background: Trump had asked California and other several other states to deploy their National Guard troops in response to an increase in asylum-seeking migrants at the southern border. Brown agreed to send California troops but said they wouldnt enforce federal immigration law. Whats happened: The day after Trump issued the tweet, the California National Guard said the Pentagon had approved federal funding for the mission as Brown described it. In March, new Gov. Gavin Newsom ended the California Guards deployment. The tweet: I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved. Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed. OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY! Feb. 28, 2018. Background: Trump issued this tweet in response to a judges ruling that the administration could waive environmental laws for construction of border-wall prototypes. It was never clear which sections California supposedly wanted built; politicians in the state are not exactly clamoring for its construction. Whats happened: The wall remains a subject of fierce debate. The tweet: If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view NO FEDERAL FUNDS? Feb. 2, 2017. Background: Trump tweeted out this threat one day after right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos attempt to appear before a conservative group at UC Berkeley was cut short by a riot outside the campus venue. Whats happened: The administration has made no effort to limit the $400 million-plus that UC Berkeley receives in federal research funding. In March, Trump signed an executive order directing public universities to uphold the First Amendment, which they already must do to receive federal student aid or participate in other U.S. Department of Education programs. Trapper Byrne is The San Francisco Chronicles politics editor. Email: tbyrne@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @trapperbyrne RIO DE JANEIRO The administration of President Jair Bolsonaro plans to auction seven offshore oil fields in the northeast despite contrary advice from analysts of Brazils main environmental body, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. Environmentalists say its the latest example of how Bolsonaro, who campaigned on promises to revive Latin Americas largest economy by cutting red tape, is pushing aside warnings and scientific evidence in the name of progress. It comes at a time when Brazil, one of the worlds largest oil producers and energy consumers, is moving toward the privatization of several industries. There is no need to explore these areas, said Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of environmental group Climate Observatory. This decision is in line with a government that sees the environment as an obstacle. Brazils environment institute, called IBAMA, enforces legislation and aims to promote the sustainable the use of natural resources. IBAMA analysts recommended against the exploration of oil in seven out of 42 offshore fields originally offered for auction in March by regulating body Brazilian Petroleum Agency. Three of the fields to be auctioned in October are in the Jacuipe Basin and four in the Camamu-Almada region, both in the waters off the coast of the northeastern state of Bahia. Appointed by Bolsonaro, the new head of the institute, Eduardo Bim, rejected its analysis, which warned that exploration of highly sensitivity areas could lead to spills. The study, dated March 18, also said spills could lead to the destruction of the Abrolhos islands, an area of 353 square miles. Four of Abrolhos five islands are home to a marine national park with rare coral formations, tropical fish, whales, seabirds, turtles and dolphins. The dispute within IBAMA was first published by daily O Estado de S. Paulo. The documents were obtained and verified by the AP. 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. IBAMA analysts also wrote that a spill could get to the coast and the island chain within two days, and authorities would not be prepared to respond quickly or adequately to protect marine life. Add to that the fact the impact of a spill of large proportions over mangroves and corals are in general irreversible, harming the local economy and health, the document said. In response, Bim said in a letter to the environmental ministry, dated April 1, that he doesnt see the need of exclusion of the (seven) fields as suggested by technical information. He did not explain his decision. Peter Prengaman and Mauricio Savarese are Associated Press writers. Australian media are reporting a man charged in the attempted kidnapping of a boy in San Francisco is a "prominent Perth DJ and community radio presenter." Roscoe Bradley Holyoake, 34, was arrested Friday after police say he grabbed a 2-year-old boy from his mother's arms near Market and 17th streets. Bystanders said he ran half a block with the boy until good Samaritans tracked him down. One witness told KTVU that after Holyoake drew a crowd, he allegedly "gave the boy back to the mom and then he turned and smiled at us and took off running down the street." NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CPhI North America, an industry-leading event that brings together the complete North American pharma supply chain, today announced its keynote speakers for 2019: Former United States Senator Jeff Flake, and Numerate Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Dr. Brandon Allgood, Ph.D. Senator Flake will present his keynote address, on Tuesday, April 30 from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., and Allgood will present his keynote during the same time slot on Wednesday, May 1. CPhI North America will take place from April 30 to May 2 at Lakeside Center, McCormick Place, Chicago. Both keynotes feed into the shows central theme of Fostering Innovation in Drug Development and Manufacturing in a New Era of Regulation. With nearly two decades of experience on Capitol Hill in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Senator Jeff Flake is renowned for his bravery in speaking out against the current administration, his principled stands on spending and free trade, and his shrewd negotiations and bipartisanship on complicated issues such as immigration. During his keynote, Senator Flake will share his views on pharma manufacturing, healthcare innovation and the direction of healthcare as he sees it under our current structure of divided government, as well as scenarios as he sees them for beyond 2020. This discussion comes at a time when healthcare is one of the key and most contentious focal areas of American politics, particularly in the run-up to the 2020 Presidential Election. Both political parties understand the potency of healthcare as a campaign issue, but in the short term we can expect both parties to play to their base with no significant policy changes especially in an era of divided government, said Senator Flake on the current state of the industry. And in the long-term, the pharmaceutical industry will likely continue its efforts to find new wonder drugs while policymakers grapple with impatient constituents struggling with high prescription drug costs. As the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Numerate, which uses drug discovery data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to accelerate and optimize the drug discovery process, Brandon Allgood currently leads research and development for Numerates AI platform. He has 15 years of experience in AI, mathematical modeling, and large-scale cloud and distributed computing. In Dr. Allgoods presentation, he will discuss innovation from a technology perspective. He will introduce the topic of AI and discuss how it is already being used in the pharmaceutical industry. He will then share his opinion on where the industry needs to head, what organizations need to consider for the increasing implementation of AI and what the industry is currently doing to get there. AI is changing the way pharma performs research and conducts business, but most within pharma still don't have a good grasp of what AI is (and isn't) and how it can be applied effectively, said Allgood. During my keynote, I will introduce the topic in a grounded way because those organizations and people that don't come up to speed on AI will likely be left behind. We are thrilled to have two diverse keynote speakers this year in Senator Flake and Dr. Allgood, commented Joseph Marks, Brand Director for CPhI North America. With healthcare remaining a significant and divisive political issue, Senator Flakes take on this subject in the current climate promises to be fascinating. Dr. Allgoods vision to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in drug development will provide key insights onto what we can expect to see as these technologies start to gain significant traction. Both speakers will no doubt provide attendees with talking points well beyond the event itself. Both keynote presentations will be open to all CPhI North America pass types. To register to attend CPhI North America, go to https://chemical.connect.ubm.com/2019/ . Media interested in arranging interviews with the keynote speakers should contact Alyssa Salela at CG Life at asalela@cglife.com . To learn more about CPhI North America, please visit https://CPhINorthAmerica.com . About CPhI CPhI drives growth and innovation at every step of the global pharmaceutical supply chain from drug discovery to finished dosage. Through exhibitions, conferences and online communities, CPhI brings together more than 100,000 pharmaceutical professionals each year to network, identify business opportunities and expand the global market. CPhI hosts events across Europe, Asia and, now, North America and co-locates with iCSE for contract services, P-MEC for machinery, equipment & technology, InnoPack for pharmaceutical packaging and Bioprocessing for biopharma. CPhI provides an online buyer & supplier directory at www.CPhI-Online.com . For more information, please visit www.CPhI.com . CPhI is organized by UBM, which in June 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information, visit www.ubm.com and www.informa.com . About UBM Americas UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc, delivers events and marketing services in the fashion technology, licensing, advanced manufacturing, automotive and powersports, healthcare, veterinary and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Through a range of aligned interactive environments, both physical and digital, UBM Americas increases business effectiveness for customers and audiences through meaningful experiences, knowledge and connections. The division also includes UBM Brazil's market leading events in construction, cargo transportation, logistics & international trade, and agricultural production; and UBM Mexico's, construction, advanced manufacturing and hospitality services shows. For more information, please visit www.ubmamericas.com . Media Contacts: Mark Button CG Life mbutton@cglife.com 408-310-2168 Jessie Meehan Marketing Director CPhI North America jessie.meehan@ubm.com 203-523-7036 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d88a4a21-390c-4a10-af82-935fc2c0d8fe http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/24bc3e93-3790-451a-87ab-6424baf7784e While critics and fans continue to weigh in on Kim Kardashian West's announcement that she is studying law to take the California Bar exam in 2022, the TV personality is buckling down with a study plan she outlines on her Instagram account Monday. In a post, Kardashian West explains that she registered with the State Bar of California last year to follow an uncommon, lesser-known route to become a lawyer. RELATED: Kim Kardashian West is apprenticing at a San Francisco law firm Kardashian West is pursuing an apprenticeship, in which she will work a certain number of hours per week for a law firm. It's a path generally pursued by those who attempt to avoid taking out excessive student loans often required by traditional universities. It was also actually the same route taken by Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. "For the next four years, a minimum of 18 hours a week is required, (and) I will take written and multiple choice tests monthly," she writes. "As my first year is almost coming to an end I am preparing for the baby bar, a mini version of the bar, which is required when studying law this way." RELATED: Trump commutes the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson Kardashian West had previously announced in a Vogue Magazine cover story that she would be pursuing legal studies under Jessica Jackson, a former mayor of Mill Valley and a co-founder of #cut50, an Oakland-based organization that works towards prison reform. On Monday, she posted a picture sitting next to Jackson and the latter's colleague Erin Haney. She also addressed criticisms, saying that though she'd seen comments saying her privilege or wealth are what got her to this point, "that's not the case." "For anyone assuming this is the easy way out, it's not," she continues. "My weekends are spent away from my kids while I read and study. I work all day, put my kids to bed and spend my nights studying. There are times I feel overwhelmed and when I feel like I can't do it but I get the pep talks I need from the people around me supporting me ... It's never too late to follow your dreams." Kardashian West's move to follow her father's steps in becoming a lawyer was inspired in part by her role in the release of Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who had been handed an excessive sentence for a nonviolent offense. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. For more than 30 years, the Cow Palace in Daly City has hosted some of the largest gun shows on the West Coast. At some, parents could also bring their kids along for free, if they were under the age of 12. That will no longer be the case beginning January 1, 2020, when a decision made on Tuesday to stop hosting gun shows takes effect at the state-owned venue. RELATED: Cow Palace gun show draws crowds and protesters The Cow Palace's Board of Directors voted to approve a statement banning all future gun shows in the space; according to KPIX, "no one" at the meeting voted in favor of continuing to host such events. The conclusion comes as the result of a long battle. San Mateo County lawmakers, as well as Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Phil Ting, have long been pushing a ban on the events through a state bill for years, with the latter saying in 2018 that "(Residents) don't want gun shows in their neighborhood." Then-Governor Jerry Brown, however, vetoed their bill in 2018. Earlier this year, the two politicians put forth another effort at a bill, SB 281, which would both ban gun shows and transfer the control of the Cow Palace from the state to a joint powers authority made up of Daly City, San Mateo and San Francisco officials. Furthermore, it would open the door to the possibility of developing land around the arena for housing, but potentially also the possibility of the Cow Palace being torn down completely. That bill is currently under review. RELATED: Cow Palace gun show gets boost from Obama's firearms sales rules Tuesday's vote, however, takes care of at least one part of Wiener's bill by doing away with the gun-themed events. And one person celebrating is San Mateo County Supervisor David J. Canepa. "This is a battle that's been brewing for over two decades. The communities surrounding the Cow Palace earned a big victory today as its board voted to cease gun shows at the venue," he told KGO. "The state should not profit off the sales of guns and now it no longer will at the Cow Palace." Gun shows like the traveling Crossroads of the West event at the Cow Palace historically attract more than 1,000 attendees. But onsite protests have increased following the February 2018 massacre in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students and faculty members died and 17 more were injured. Gun shows advertised as taking place Cow Palace through the end of 2019 are still scheduled. Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira. Portland, OR, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the global Topical Pain Relief market garnered $7.48 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $13.27 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 7.4% from 2018 to 2025. It offers a detailed analysis of changing market dynamics, top player positioning, market size & forecasts, regions, and key segments. Request Report Sample at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/4663 Surge in geriatric population, growing prevalence of arthritis, high demand from athletes, and lesser side effects as compared to conventional oral medicines drive the growth in the topical pain relief market. However, side effects such as skin irritation restrain the growth in the market. On the other hand, growth of online pharmacy and untapped potential in emerging nations offer new opportunities in the industry. Non-opioids accounted for nearly three-fourths of the total market share in 2017 and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Moreover, this segment would register the highest CAGR of 7.6% from 2018 to 2025. Over-the-counter pain relief contributed more than half of the market share in 2017 and is expected to continue its lead in terms of revenue by 2025. In addition, this segment would grow at the highest CAGR of 8.0% from 2018 to 2025. This is due to lower cost and ease in availability in comparison to counter pain relief products. Cream contributed about two-fifths of the total revenue in 2017 and would maintain its dominance through 2025. This is due to its ability to offer long-lasting comfort and fast pain relief along with reduction in side effects and skin irritation. However, the patch segment would register the highest CAGR of 9.0% from 2018 to 2025. E-commerce would grow at the fastest CAGR of 10.0% from 2018 to 2025. This is due to a significant increase in digital literacy among global population. However, pharmacies and drug stores contributed the largest market share in 2017 and is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period. The market in Asia-Pacific is expected to become the fastest growing, registering a CAGR of 8.6% from 2018 to 2025. This is due to the rise in prevalence of chronic diseases including cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and others along with increase in investments by various multinational companies. However, North America held more than one-third of the total market share in 2017. Do Purchase Enquiry at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/4663 The key market players analyzed in the report include Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Novartis AG, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc., Pfizer Inc., Topical BioMedics, Inc., Sanofi S.A., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., AdvaCare Pharma, and Nestle S.A. 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. U.S. Customs and Border Protection/AP Photo/U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents said they arrested 57 undocumented immigrants during a foiled human smuggling attempt near Oilton. The incident occurred Thursday when agents saw four pickup trucks inside a ranch just north of the town. Agents monitored the area before approaching the vehicles and apprehending 40 undocumented immigrants. Using aerial support from Customs and Border Protection, the agents tracked and apprehended 17 more migrants hiding in the brush. Thirty were determined to be from Guatemala, 19 from Mexico, six from Honduras and two from Nicaragua. The pickup trucks used in the foiled human smuggling attempt were seized by Border Patrol. Las Vegas, NV & Hong Kong, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 12 ReTech Corporation (OTC: RETC), announced today that it has filed its annual Form 10-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for the period ended December 31, 2018. These financial results represent the combined operations of 12 Hong Kong, Ltd., 12 Japan, Ltd., 12 Europe AG and Emotion Fashion Group, Inc. (Pre 2019 Acquisitions) during the 12 months ended December 31, 2018 and also include the financial results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2017. The FY2018 financial results do not include the results from Red Wire Group, LLC (RWG) and Rune NYC, LLC (Rune) which were acquired in the First Quarter of FY2019. For the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018, the Company reported gross sales of $92,831 vs $60,787 for the same period in 2017. This represents an increase of $32,044 or 52.7%. These results are consistent with the fact that the Companys subsidiary Emotion Fashion Group (EFG) was acquired in May of 2018 and so far, has not met expectations in sales or operations. Looking forward, the newly acquired RWG and Rune which together generated $1,466,946 in FY2018 revenues will make significant profitable contributions to our USA operations. Angelo Ponzetta, CEO of 12 ReTech commented, RWG and Rune have immediately jump started our consumer brand platform operations. We expect them both to grow substantially in the upcoming year. I would not be surprised to see EFG, RWG and Rune together to be operating at a $2.4 million combined run rate by the end of 2019. The Company currently has one Japan based customer, Itoya, which deployed our technology in a second store, thus proving out the Companys value proposition for retailers Looking forward, we expect Itoya to continue to roll out our technology into additional stores during 2019. The Company has also landed Jelmoli of Switzerland as an important 12Sconti customer and expects to start generating revenues from their operations in short order. As a result, Company management believes that the results for both FY2018 and FY2017 will be judged insignificant in the future, as going forward the Company will begin to realize the results of its business model designed for high growth. For the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018 the Company's GAAP Net Loss was $8,767,164 vs $1,418,755 for the same period in 2017. This represents an increase of $7,348,409 or 517.9% in the GAAP Net Loss in FY2018 when measured against FY2017s results. On a non-GAAP basis, when we exclude the costs of stock-based compensation, financing and non-cash impairments, the Companys non-GAAP net loss in 2018 was $2,500,025 versus a non-GAAP net loss of $844,324 in 2017. This represents an increase of $1,655,701 or 196.1% in non-GAAP net loss in FY2018 when measured against FY2017s results. Management believes the larger loss caused by investing in the building of a manufacturing factory, software development, raising working capital, and being a publicly listed entity is significant but warranted as the Company executes its business plan which, if successful, could rapidly increase shareholder value in the future. Angelo Ponzetta commented, Our business plan for 2019 includes the profitable expansion of our EFG, Rune and RWG operations. In order to break even in 2019, we are expanding our existing operations while working on additional acquisitions. New targeted acquisitions will complement what we are doing today, have a good profitable book of business and offer strategic synergy for our future plans in both consumer-brand platform and retail technology. Look out for both operational expansion and acquisition announcements in the coming months. Gross Profit for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018 was $42,273 compared to $11,201 in the same period in 2017 which is an increase of $31,072 or 277.4%. FY2018 gross margins of 45.5% are consistent with the operation of a technology licensing business combined with a vertically integrated consumer brand operation. As the cost of revenues for licensing fees in our retail technology business are NIL, we expect to see gross margin expansion as we deploy our technology to additional retailers. Total GAAP Operating Expenses for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2018 were $3,297,907 vs $1,370,715 in the same period in 2017, which is an increase of 140.6%. It is worth noticing that of the GAAP Operating Expenses recorded in 2018, $1,727,236 were non-cash expenses yielding cash burn in FY2018 of $1,570,671, still significant but manageable so far. Management expects the cash burn to slow appreciably during 2019 as our operations grow in revenues and profitability. Please note that any references regarding figures or data from the Form 10-K are limited or summaries for discussion purposes. For accurate and complete figures, data, and disclosures, reference is made to the actual Form 10-K on file with the SEC and available to be read at www. sec.gov . Angelo Ponzetta commented, Our dependence upon extremely expensive convertible note financing over the past 18 months has hurt us with large non-cash financial statement expenses driving large GAAP net losses. The good news is, that the Company is showing good progress on reducing its reliance on this type of financing. Our growing and cash flow positive operations are helping us to attract more traditional financing than we have used in the past. We hope to announce some positive milestones in this area in the near future. Angelo Ponzetta continued, The other issue that has hurt us is that our convertible note financings have caused a large amount of dilution in our outstanding stock over the past nine months. While, we still have this issue, the dilutive effects of stock coming to market through this mechanism has slowed. We are working diligently to eliminate this problem. Angelo Ponzetta, stated, "Our May 2018 acquisition of Emotion Fashion Brands, Inc. set the stage for the RWG and Rune acquisitions during the first quarter of FY2019. Looking forward, our successful acquisitions of RWG and Rune have provided us with good momentum as they entice other organizations to join us. Angelo Ponzetta continued, Red Wire Group was acquired because they had a successful operation in apparel cut and sew manufacturing. We have integrated their operation with our EFG factory and are confidant that their management expertise will make the difference for us going forward. In the six weeks that have elapsed since the acquisition, we have grown their customer base and are experiencing profitable revenue growth. Angelo Ponzetta also commented, More recently, Rune has been acquired and we are already experiencing the benefits of their growing apparel brand. We have added new customers and expect to beat Runes prior operational revenue and profitability records. Also, the contacts that Runes management brings us are already providing opportunities for us in the retail technology side of our business as well as in additional acquisition opportunities. Angelo Ponzetta commented, We continue to work hard to execute our business model which has been recording revenues in Asia, adapting our software technology to the European and North American markets, introducing new proprietary software products and applications to merchant clients and executing the acquisitions of microbrands previously announced over the course of last year. Today, we are negotiating with several additional micro-brands to complement our existing offerings and we have some other acquisitions in the pipeline that are very exciting as they could accelerate our march to profitability and shorten the timeline to our major goal of listing on a national exchange. About 12 ReTech Corporation: At our core, we are a software company whose technology allows retailers to combat the dual threats of Walmart and Amazon both online and in physical stores. Our microbrand rollup acquisition strategy allows us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our software, devise and test new products, while providing shareholder value through immediate revenue and earnings growth. The Company operates through our subsidiaries on three continents: 12 Hong Kong, Ltd., 12 Japan, Ltd., 12 Europe A.G., 12 Retail Corporation (and its subsidiaries in North America, including Emotion Fashion Group, Inc., Red Wire Group, LLC and Rune NYC, LLC). For more information please visit our website at www.12ReTech.com . 12 Retech Corporation is publicly listed on the OTC Markets under the symbol RETC. Safe Harbor: This document contains certain 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation, the ability of the Company to successfully implement its turnaround strategy, changes in costs of raw materials, labor, and employee benefits, as well as general market conditions, competition and pricing. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this letter will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved. In assessing forward-looking statements included herein, readers are urged to carefully read those statements. When used in the Annual Report on Form 10-K, the words "estimate," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions are intended to be forward-looking statements. Investor Relations Contacts: Mark Gilbert Magellan FIN, LLC mgilbert@magellanfin.com 317-361-2392 (USA) TORONTO, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE: KGC) (Kinross) today announced changes to its senior leadership structure. The Company is streamlining its senior leadership team, with Lauren Roberts, Senior Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, and Gina Jardine, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, leaving the Company by mutual agreement. Paul Tomory will now be Executive Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer and broaden his portfolio to take on leadership of regional operations. With the goal of increasing efficiency and cost management, we have streamlined our senior leadership team to ensure we are well positioned to continue delivering on our commitments and building value for the future, said J. Paul Rollinson, President and Chief Executive Officer. Paul Tomory, who led the successful completion of the Tasiast Phase One expansion, and development of our project pipeline and strategic business optimization, will assume additional responsibility for regional operations. I am confident Paul will continue to maintain the excellent safety and operational track records that we hold as core Company strengths and deliver on our project development goals. The Senior Vice-Presidents of the Companys three operating regions the Americas, Russia and West Africa will also have increased accountability for the operational success of their respective regions, in particular, safety, cash flow, production and costs. On behalf of the Company, I would like to thank Lauren and Gina for their significant contributions to Kinross, said Mr. Rollinson. During his long and successful career at Kinross, Lauren was a relentless champion of safety and delivered many accomplishments, including achieving our annual production and cost guidance over the past two years. He provided strong operational leadership and was instrumental in the success of our sites across all regions, from permitting, operations and closure. As head of HR, Gina strategically advanced our approach to talent, executive development and succession. She provided strong leadership to our HR functions across Kinross and headed the development of our culture and employee engagement through the launch of our People Commitments. I wish both Lauren and Gina the very best in their next roles. The Kinross senior leadership team now includes: Paul Rollinson, President and CEO; Geoff Gold, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and External Relations, and Chief Legal Officer; Paul Tomory, Executive-Vice President and Chief Technical Officer; and Andrea Freeborough, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Human Resources has been re-structured to align more closely with operations and corporate responsibilities. To support the streamlined senior leadership team, the Company is pleased to announce that it has created a leadership advisory team that will consist of experienced Kinross leaders with diverse perspectives and functional expertise to provide direct input and insight on organizational issues, corporate strategy and key business decisions. The leadership advisory team is indicative of the deep and talented bench strength at Kinross, said Mr. Rollinson. By formalizing this team, we are leveraging our talent and expertise to increase operational effectiveness, transparency, and communication between all aspects of the business so we are better equipped to make and implement decisions quickly and successfully without adding another reporting structure layer. The strategic functions represented in the leadership advisory team includes safety and sustainability, technical services, operations, exploration, finance, legal/compliance, human resources, government relations, investor relations and corporate development. For more information on Kinross senior leadership, click here: kinross.com/about/senior-management . About Kinross Gold Corporation Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile and Ghana. Kinross focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of operational excellence, balance sheet strength, disciplined growth and responsible mining. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol:K) and the New York Stock Exchange (symbol:KGC). Media Contact Louie Diaz Senior Director, Corporate Communications phone: 416-369-6469 louie.diaz@kinross.com Investor Relations Contact Tom Elliott Senior Vice-President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development phone: 416-365-3390 tom.elliott@kinross.com Source: Kinross Gold Corporation ALAMEDA, Calif., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Center for the Collaborative Classroom, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to providing curricula that support the academic, ethical, social, and emotional development of children, and ThinkCERCA, a research-based literacy platform for engaging students in personalized reading, writing, and critical thinking, today announced a partnership that aligns with K-8 TEKS approved English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum. Texas schools can now use Proclamation 2019-allocated funds to adopt the combined curriculum. The announcement comes at an interesting time for the educational system in Texas. On March 8th, 2019 a bill was filed in the Texas Legislature to require the State Board of Education to adopt standards for social and emotional learning. Both Collaborative Classroom and ThinkCERCA provide research-based curriculum that is rooted in social and emotional learning. Weve partnered with ThinkCERCA to help Texas school districts deliver continuous improvement through a unified approach to rigorous K-8 literacy instruction, said Kelly Stuart, Chief Operating Officer, Collaborative Classroom. ThinkCERCAs literacy platform helps educators teach critical thinking skills through close reading and academic writing across subjects. When combined with our Collaborative Literacy curriculum the program gives districts and teachers TEKS approved K-8 curriculum. Collaborative Classroom is an ideal partner and allows us to round out our offering with a focus on literacy education that has strong social and emotional learning integration, said Eileen Murphy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ThinkCERCA. Together, we believe that students and teachers should be engaged in lively, relevant conversations about real-world texts and issues. Both Collaborative Classroom and ThinkCERCA provide teachers with engaging curricular materials and ongoing professional learning to accomplish authentic, visible shifts in instruction and teacher practice. Collaborative Literacy, aligned with TEKS and ELPS, is a rigorous, yearlong curriculum that addresses the core reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills that students need to thrive academically and socially. By integrating literacy instruction with social and emotional learning (SEL), Collaborative Literacy enables students development as readers and writers who think critically, while simultaneously fostering their growth as caring, collaborative, and principled people. Through a rigorous, TEKS- and ELPS-aligned English language arts and reading curriculum, ThinkCERCA helps educators effectively teach 21st-century literacy skills. At the heart of its personalized literacy platform is a research-based framework, CERCA, for teaching students how to read, write, and think critically in ELA and across subjects. CERCA helps students become prepared for the world ahead, by teaching them how to make Claims, support their claims with Evidence, explain their Reasoning clearly, civilly address Counterarguments, and use language appropriate for their Audience. Multiple studies show that as students practice and strengthen these advanced literacy skills, they can achieve two years or more of growth in a single school year. About Center for the Collaborative Classroom Center for the Collaborative Classroom is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to providing curricula that supports the academic, ethical, social, and emotional development of children. The organizations mission is to provide schools and districts with a path to harness research-supported teaching practices that help students grow as readers, writers, and thinkers as they develop the social and emotional skills necessary to thrive. For more information visit collaborativeclassroom.org . BARRINGTON, Ill., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Before he became an entrepreneur and Minuteman Press franchisee , Gary Kreuz was frequently asked to fix things, which is a modest description he gives to helping companies surge in profit. As Vice President and General Manager of a U.S. company owned by a German manufacturer, he was responsible for sales and service of the machines in North America. He also managed several other companies over his career. I started in the office staff in 1976 and went from sales to sales manager and then to branch manager. When I was asked to become president of another company that was in trouble and needed help in 1993, we rebuilt the team and reversed the downward spiral in sales to wind up doing 25 million in sales. Along the way, there were several companies I started up for someone or I would run divisions within these companies. The last company to benefit from his talent was stagnant until he joined them and helped take sales from a million and a half up to seven million. It continued to grow even as his professional trajectory changed when his position was eliminated and he was let go. At that point, he and his wife Nancy took a hard look at their options and were determined to find something that would ensure no one could lay either of them off ever again. I expected to spend 8 more years working at that German company, but when I was terminated at age 62, I realized that even getting an interview much less another job with similar income and responsibilities to what I had previously was impossible. I was doing very well in my career, but suddenly, when I needed a new position, no one would hire me. Essentially, I was forced to be an entrepreneur. I knew I needed to find a way to hire myself." As a Minuteman Press franchise owner, this is my business. Now, no one can terminate my employment. Gary Kreuz, owner, Minuteman Press franchise, Barrington, Illinois Gary and Nancy Kreuz had enough life and business experience to know that this was a decision that required expert advice. Among those advisors, they made a good connection with Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President Doug Harlan, who listened to their story and helped them find the perfect new situation. When I was talking to Doug, he told me he had something a little different for us to consider. He put me in contact with a local, independent print shop owner who was ready to retire and we talked for about 3 or 4 months. At that point, we worked out a deal so she could retire, and we could take on a new business that was not starting at zero. We bought a successful print shop and converted it into a Minuteman Press franchise in Barrington, IL. He adds one last cherry on the sundae of their fresh professional start, Our center is only four miles from our house. Nancy and Gary work together these days, an unplanned pleasantry that they enjoy without regret. Nancy raised our children full-time and made it possible for me to build a career. Now, she is mostly taking care of the bookkeeping and we are learning together how best to take care of our customers and meet our goals. Their grand opening was held in November 2018, and the Minuteman Press brand helps Gary and Nancy by providing a proven system of operations and lifetime support. Like any small business, theyve had their hurdles and are currently jumping them. We live in a small town of about 10,000 and I would say easily ten percent of them are quite affluent. We have a lot of non-profits and everyone is very loyal to Barrington companies. When we converted this independent print shop to a Minuteman Press franchise , some of the people perceived our brand as a big company but the local clientele is learning (and we are demonstrating) that we are different than other franchises and corporations. We are a local company and as they are dedicated to buying locally, we assure them we live nearby and the business is family-owned. Gary further explains the culture he is trying to build on: My philosophy on customer service is (as I taught all of my salespeople over the years in my former career) to find out what the customer needs and then deliver that plus a little more, with a smile. While Minuteman Press in Barrington remains a family-owned and operated small business, Gary and Nancy are able to provide a wide variety of products and services such as printing essentials, promotional items, branded apparel, signs and banners, direct mail marketing campaigns, and custom graphic design. The community of Barrington is smiling brighter as Gary and Nancy join fellow Minuteman Press franchise owners who can say We Are the Modern Printing Industry since they can produce anything you can put a name, image, or logo on. It is a delightful switch from his prior industry to marketing services as Gary gets the pleasure of observing happy customers as he delivers just what they need. It is fun to watch customers open packages and rave about the jobs we do for them. I deliver many completed jobs, calling and offering to visit and most welcome me to come; but they like to come to our center and see us, too. There is reason. The previous owner didnt offer nearly the range that Gary and Nancy have now and they put it all into a beautiful setting for everyone to see as they walk inside. The now retired owner didnt offer promotional products and now that we offer a lot, we updated our lobby for comfort and to display everything, making it more professional. It is a showroom with samples of products and apparel to see, touch and discuss, Gary explains. In addition to providing new products and services, Minuteman Press Barrington recently acquired local print shop Forrest Press. This helped the owners retire and eased the transition for long-time customers. Independent print shop Forrest Press was founded in Lake Barrington in 1947 by Nick and Char Olker, and eventually included their sons Steve and Chuck. We are very proud of the success of our company over two generations of service to our customers, says Chuck Olker. As we retire from the printing business, we are also happy to have worked out an agreement with Minuteman Press of Barrington where our customers will get the same great service from Gary and his team that they have come to count on from us. It is our goal to provide the past clients of Forrest Press a seamless transition of printing services, says Gary. With our experienced staff and the complete art files provided to us by Forrest Press, Minuteman Press Barrington will be able to do just that. Minuteman Press makes a difference for local organizations including Barrington United Way Leslie Luther is the Executive Director for the Barrington United Way and she has high praise for Gary Kreuz and the partnership she maintains with Minuteman Press. We are consistently pleased with the work that is produced by Gary and his team. Minuteman Press in Barrington has quickly become a community partner , sponsoring local community projects with our organization. Leslie is impressed with Garys service and with the transition he made into franchise ownership from what was an independent print shop she used previously. Quick response when we need projects completed in a short period of time is so helpful to fundraising organizations and Gary never disappoints. I also want to add that the transition from the private print shop to a Minuteman Press franchise has been smooth and one that we welcome into our community. We are happy to have a mutually beneficial working relationship with a local business owner like Gary at Minuteman Press who understands the importance of philanthropy. We look forward to the partnership for many years to come. For all of its rewards to lifestyle and freedom from corporate downsizing and layoffs, having a business can be challenging, but Gary is not concerned. My relationship with Minuteman Press International is great. First, I used to have to develop all these systems and relationships on my own whether it was a new division in a different country or a company here in the US. I would have to develop practices by trial and error, but with a franchise like this one, I can trust their experience and they pass it on to us. I am relieved to NOT have the extra work in that area. After all, as the owner of a franchise I know someone has had a great idea for the business and I can use the idea without needing to create a new one. Also, the brand is a help because I get their best practices and value-added relationships (like choice vendors) and all of that helps us become what we really are, a local family-owned business happy to serve our neighbors in marketing, print and design. Gary adds with a smile, Before I was selling machines to large corporations all over the country. Today, we live among our customers. It is a pleasure. Gary and Nancy Kreuz family-owned Minuteman Press franchise is located at 200 James Street, Barrington, IL 60010. For more information, call 847-382-1185 or visit their website: https://barrington-il.minutemanpress.com . About Minuteman Press International Minuteman Press International is the number one rated business marketing and printing franchise that offers world class training and unparalleled ongoing local support. Started in 1973 by Roy Titus and his son Bob, Minuteman Press began franchising in 1975 and has grown to nearly 1,000 business service franchise locations worldwide including the U.S., Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Minuteman Press is ranked #1 in category by Entrepreneur 28 times and 16 years in a row, including 2019. Independent franchisee satisfaction firm Franchise Business Review has also named Minuteman Press International to its 2019 Top Franchises, 2018 Top Franchise Leaders, Top Franchises for Women, and Top Franchises for Veterans lists thanks to positive reviews from our owners . At Minuteman Press, We Are The Modern Printing Industry providing high quality products and services that meet the needs of today's business professionals and go way beyond ink on paper. Today, our centers offer innovative branding solutions and produce custom designs, promotional products, branded apparel, direct mail marketing, large format printing (banners and posters), signs and graphics, and much more. Prior experience is not necessary to own and operate a successful Minuteman Press franchise. To learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and speak with one of our experienced franchise representatives at no obligation, call 1-800-645-3006. Continue your franchise research, watch exclusive owner videos and access Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.com . Contact: Minuteman Press International Franchise Opportunities, 1-800-645-3006 https://minutemanpressfranchise.com or Media Inquiries: cbiscuiti@mpihq.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93a11468-1f34-4f56-bce1-dd5dae7cf2de BERKELEY (BCN) Berkeley is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the death of Alex Goodwin Jr., who was found with gunshot wounds just before midnight on Aug. 16, 2016. Goodwin, 22, was found unresponsive outside his family's home near Mabel and Burnett streets near San Pablo Park and taken to a hospital, where he died a few hours later. It was one of several shootings reported near the park at the time. "Detectives believe there are individuals with information about this case and are asking for the help," the Berkeley Police Department said in an announcement. "Even the smallest detail could be critical in solving this crime." Anyone with more information about the shooting can call the department's homicide unit at (510) 981-5741 or the 24-hour non-emergency line at (510) 981-5900. 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. DALY CITY (BCN) The Board of Directors for the Cow Palace Arena and Event Center in Daly City announced Tuesday they have voted to ban gun shows from taking place at the fairground. In addition to banning gun shows, the board also voted to move forward with a retail and housing project on Cow Palace property. In February, state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Phil Ting, both D-San Francisco, introduced state legislation to end gun shows at the state-owned venue. The legislation also proposed transferring control of the 68-acre property from the California Department of Food and Agriculture to a locally controlled join powers authority. That authority would then be charged with designing a new strategy for the Cow Palace, including the construction of a housing development at the site. "With these two important decisions today, the Cow Palace board has given Senator Wiener what he wanted: an end to the gun shows and the use of the Cow Palace acreage for retail and housing," Kevin Patterson, executive director of the Save the Cow Palace Coalition, said in a statement. "We hope that he will now amend or withdraw his bill and allow a bright future for this viable and historic public event facility," Patterson said. San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said, "This is a battle that's been brewing for over two decades. The communities surrounding the Cow Palace earned a big victory today as its board voted to cease gun shows at the venue. "The state should not profit off the sales of guns and now it no longer will at the Cow Palace," he said. San Mateo County supervisors have been calling for the end of gun shows at the Cow Palace since 2014, Canepa said. State leaders have attempted banning gun sales at the Cow Palace as far back as 2007, when then-Assemblyman Mark Leno first introduced a bill to halt the sales, but failed. Then in 2009, as a state senator, Leno again introduced a similar bill, but it was ultimately vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2018, Wiener and Ting pushed a similar bill, but then-Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed that one as well. 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 JOSE (BCN) A 36-year-old San Jose resident was sentenced Monday to 45 months in prison for possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, United States Attorney David Anderson and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen announced. Pin pleaded guilty on May 10, 2018, they said in a release, admitting to three transactions in 2016 and 2017. On Sept. 30, 2016, he exchanged 543 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine for $3,500 in a parking lot on East Hamilton Avenue in Campbell, On Nov. 15, 2017, he possessed one kilogram of methamphetamine obtained from co-defendant Oscar Andrade, 32, of San Jose, according to the announcement. Pin also acknowledged obtaining two kilograms of the drug on Jan. 19, 2017, from co-defendant Christian Urena. Pin was indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 2, 2017. The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila includes three years of supervised release to begin after his prison term. 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) Following weeks of community meetings and public outcry from residents in San Francisco's South Beach neighborhood over a proposed Navigation Center there, Mayor London Breed has announced a proposal to scale back the number of beds and provide extra security. When Breed initially announced plans to build the city's first SAFE Navigation Center at Seawall Lot 330 in March, the plan included providing up to 225 beds for homeless individuals, as well as 24-hour security at the site. Breed's new proposal, crafted with Supervisor Matt Haney who represents the neighborhood, aims to provide 130 beds upon opening, and then slowly increase the number to 200 over a six-month period. That model mirrors how existing centers operate, Breed's office said. In addition, the new proposal includes a plan to provide more police officers in the surrounding areas, seven days a week, according to Breed's office. The lease for the Navigation Center, located on property owned by the Port of San Francisco, would be up after two years. At that time, the Port Commission would decide whether to renew the lease for an additional two years. "We are focused on addressing our homelessness crisis and helping our unhoused residents get the care and shelter they need while also doing our best to address some of the concerns that we have heard from neighbors," Breed said in a statement. "Over the last month, we had heard ideas and feedback from residents and people who live in this area, whether they support the idea or oppose it, and we have incorporated some of those ideas so we can move forward with this SAFE Navigation Center on the Seawall Lot," she said. Breed and Haney's new proposal, released Monday, comes after the city has held more than a dozen meetings with community groups and residents. "Navigation Centers work because when done right and run well, they result in positive outcomes for both the people they serve and for the neighborhoods where they're located," Haney said. "The Mayor's Office and Department of Homelessness have committed to me and to the community that this center will be well-run and safe, and be a true 'navigation' center, which effectively transitions people from homelessness into services and housing." The Port Commission is scheduled to vote on the new proposal at their next meeting, scheduled for next week on April 23. Since the location was proposed, many South Beach residents have announced their opposition to the center, citing concerns of increased crime and drug use in the area. A GoFundMe account, set up by a group calling itself Safe Embarcadero For All for the purpose of retaining legal counsel to stop the center from being built, has raised surpassed its $100,000 goal, raising $101,205 as of Tuesday. A separate GoFundMe site, set up by proponents of the center calling themselves Safer Embarcadero For All, has also surpassed its goal. As of Tuesday, that account raised $176,015 of its $175,000 goal. According to the account's organizers, the money would be used to support the Coalition on Homelessness and cover any potential legal costs. 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. RICHMOND, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As rising land costs force third-party logistics firms to compete for space against the purchasing power of global Fortune 500 companies, Canadian Alliance has made a decisive financial commitment in a new 250,000 square foot facility. This property is located adjacent to Delta Port in iPort Phase 2 and will provide Canadian Alliances customers with a state-of-the-art building that has the capacity to service existing and new customers in the tightening Metro Vancouver industrial real estate space. As a result of burgeoning growth Canadian Alliance President William McKinnon announced today that in collaboration with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), GWL Realty Advisors and Colliers International, the signing of long-term commitment to a new facility located in Delta, BC on the property of Tsawwassen First Nations. To be occupied in July 2020 this 250,000 square foot facility will boast 42 doors and capacity of over 16,000 storage positions. While most warehousing options in Metro Vancouver are built to a usable height of under 24, the Delta facility will be occupying space to a height of 36' feet, and will be able to handle ocean export & import containerized traffic along with road and intermodal arriving & departing cargo. McKinnon stated: Our commitment to this facility will be a game changer for our operation and permit Canadian Alliance to service both existing and new customers as the scarcity of Metro Vancouver warehousing space becomes more critical. This facility will assist in optimizing systems; stabilizing customer pricing and assisting customer growth. Canadian Alliance will have expanded cross facilities along with increased racked storage capacity to complement the continued growth of both containerized and non-containerized traffic exported and imported through the Port of Vancouver and with transborder intermodal and road services. Darren Cannon Executive Vice President of Colliers International worked with Canadian Alliance to complete the deal: We were very pleased to be a part of this marquee deal. Canadian Alliance Terminals negotiated this lease well ahead of their lease expiry in four different facilities as they recognized the scarcity of Tier 1 options as well as the increased cubic capacity realized in a 36 ft. clear facility. About Canadian Alliance: Canadian Alliance Terminals Inc. is a complete third-party logistics (3pl) and freight forwarding company based in Metro Vancouver. We pride ourselves on being true logistics partners by working closely with our customers to develop unique supply chain management systems using data driven decision making. Established in 1999, Canadian Alliance grew steadily under the stewardship of an expanding team of dedicated warehousing and transportation professionals. This team has always prided themselves on unwavering Excellence in Service and Commitment to Customers. Our goal is to ensure that every employee, supplier and customer who comes in to contact with Canadian Alliance has a positive experience. www.canadianalliance.ca About William McKinnon: A Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), William is a passionate connector with Fortune 500 Thinking Companies in the pursuit of brand growth, leveraged technology and risk mitigation. He has held senior management positions with some of Canadas largest transport companies both courier and larger freight, along with food service distribution & manufacturers, property security, and a start-up IT company. Prior to his current position, William was the General Manager Western Region (Canada) for one the worlds largest Global Freight Forwarders. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db657690-f08d-4fc7-a0a0-d26b0e3cace8 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8460bf02-ca6c-4e2b-a8fa-f770b7282fe8 The Board of Trustees of the Dixie Elementary School District is scheduled to vote Tuesday evening whether to change the name of the district, which many residents consider racist. Trustee Marnie Glickman said the board will vote whether or not to change the name of the district, and if a change is approved, trustees will set a timeline for selecting a new name. The district has rejected 15 potential names so far this year, Glickman said. The name change would take effect on June 30, July 31 or Aug. 22. The total cost of the name change is estimated at nearly $40,000, with $12,000 of it to the Dixie Elementary School alone. The special 6 p.m. meeting is at the district office, 380 Nova Albion Way in San Rafael. A judge on Monday ordered two former Alameda County sheriff's deputies to stand trial on multiple felony charges alleging that they directed inmates at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin to spray feces and urine on other inmates that the deputies didn't like. At the end of a four-day preliminary hearing for Justin Linn, 25, of Tracy, and Erik McDermott, 28, of Concord, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson also ruled that prosecutors produced sufficient evidence to have them stand trial on one felony count of dissuading a witness for allegedly trying to intimidate an inmate who blew the whistle on them. Jacobson said evidence at the hearing indicated Linn and McDermott coerced William Epting, 51, who has two voluntary manslaughter convictions and now faces a murder charge for a fatal shooting in Oakland two years ago, and convicted child molester James Duckett, 35, to gas five inmates the deputies didn't like. Duckett was sentenced to 261 years to life in prison last year for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter when she was only 9 years old, and an adult woman in incidents in San Leandro and Oakland in 2012 and 2013. Martinez city staff will present a report on usage of the temporary dog park at the John Muir Amphitheater during Tuesday night's City Council meeting. An average of 26 users have signed in to the park per day between February 2018 and February 2019. That number is down slightly from the last update provided in August, however. The same data indicates that 90 to 95 percent of the park's users are Martinez residents, with non-residents visiting frequently from Crockett, Pacheco, Pittsburg and Pleasant Hill. During the months analyzed, only two dog fights have been recorded. City staff have described the rate of reports of aggressive dogs as "exceptionally low." City staff say the sign-in sheet they've been using is an imperfect means of tracking data. They have plans to phase it out in the coming months, citing a steady decline in the number of people using it. After that, city staff will drop by to monitor usage in person. The temporary dog park was set up as part of a three-year trial period, which started in July 2017. City staff expects to present another update on the trial period this fall. Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, announced on Monday the he will introduce legislation that would require drivers to reserve a spot in advance and pay a toll before going down San Francisco's most crooked street. Assembly Bill 1605, the "Crooked Street Reservation and Pricing Program," would authorize the city to start implementing the pricing and reservation program at the iconic tourist hot spot Lombard Street, which according to Ting, attracts more than two million visitors annually. A 2017 study conducted by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority found that by managing access to the crooked part of Lombard, located between Leavenworth and Hyde streets, the city could regulate traffic congestion at the entrance and reduce the length of cars in the queue. An East Bay pimp who had his portrait tattooed on the back of a victim pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and related charges Thursday and was sentenced Friday to 16 years in state prison. Corell Hackett, 21, came to the attention of the Richmond Police Department's Bravo Unit in 2017, according to Deputy District Attorney Dana Filkowski. The Bravo Unit identifies trafficking victims to connect them with services and support while also identifying exploiters. They gained access to two cellphones related to the case, and forensic analysis revealed Corell and the victim were involved in a dating relationship. This case also involved violence and threats of violence, but Hackett managed to remain out of custody -- despite racking up additional, unrelated charges associated with an alleged hit-and-run collision and a robbery. The investigation reached a turning point in Oct. 2018, when a good Samaritan observed Hackett beating one of his victims in a Hercules parking lot and notified police, staying behind to give a statement when officers arrived. Oakland police said on Monday that they will work with other law enforcement agencies next weekend to try to prevent a repetition of sideshow activity on Sunday night in which a truck and an AC Transit bus were burned and an officer was seriously injured. Police said they had increased staffing in anticipation of illegal sideshow activity in their city on Sunday night. Despite the bolstered staffing, they said that by the middle of Sunday evening the number of sideshow participants increased to about 1,000 spectators and that vehicles were spread out in various locations of Oakland. "This stretched the department's resources beyond its capacity. Simultaneously, there were multiple Priority 1 emergency calls unrelated to sideshow activity that our officers were committed to," Oakland police said. Police said that around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday members of the sideshow crowd surrounded a commercial transport truck and an AC Transit bus at 42nd Avenue and International Boulevard. They said the driver of the commercial transport truck was removed at gunpoint and the truck was set on fire. The driver was uninjured, they said. Police said the AC Transit bus's windows were broken out before it was also set ablaze. Again, no one was injured. On-ramps on westbound Interstate 580 between Keller Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard are scheduled to close from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. beginning Monday and continuing through April 27. Detour and changeable message signs will be in place to direct motorists, who should allow for possible delays. The closures "are a part of an SB-1 project to replace slabs, smooth surfaces of traffic lanes, resurface all shoulders, median shoulders, and on/off ramps throughout the I-580 corridor," Caltrans said in an announcement. SB-1 is a transportation funding measure approved in 2017. Work on the I-580 corridor project is expected to be completed in late fall of 2020. Tuesday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny and breezy. Highs will be near 60. West winds will be 15 to 20 mph, before becoming 20 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Tuesday night will be mostly clear and breezy. Lows will be around 50. West winds will be 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph after midnight. Wednesday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny. Highs will be in the 60s. Southwest winds will be 5 to 10 mph, before becoming west winds at 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon. 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 Board of Directors for the Cow Palace Arena and Event Center in Daly City announced Tuesday they have voted to ban gun shows from taking place at the fairground. In addition to banning gun shows, the board also voted to move forward with a retail and housing project on Cow Palace property. State leaders have attempted banning gun sales at the Cow Palace as far back as 2007. Following weeks of community meetings and public outcry from residents in San Francisco's South Beach neighborhood over a proposed Navigation Center there, Mayor London Breed has announced a proposal to scale back the number of beds and provide extra security. When Breed initially announced plans to build the city's first SAFE Navigation Center at Seawall Lot 330 in March, the plan included providing up to 225 beds for homeless individuals, as well as 24-hour security at the site. Breed's new proposal, crafted with Supervisor Matt Haney who represents the neighborhood, aims to provide 130 beds upon opening, and then slowly increase the number to 200 over a six-month period. That model mirrors how existing centers operate, Breed's office said. In addition, the new proposal includes a plan to provide more police officers in the surrounding areas, seven days a week, according to Breed's office. The Oakland City Council will decide on Tuesday evening whether to collect taxes on an early childhood education measure backed by Mayor Libby Schaaf that was approved by 62 percent of the voters last November, falling short of a two-thirds majority. Although Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker wrote in the voter pamphlet that Measure AA, known as the Oakland Children's Initiative, needed two-thirds approval to win, the City Council voted 6-1 on Dec. 14 to declare that the measure had won and to have the city begin collecting the tax. The Council majority based its vote on a 2017 California Supreme Court ruling that suggests that local initiatives such as Measure AA that are put on the ballot through a signature-gathering process only require approval by a majority of voters, not by two-thirds. But business and taxpayer groups later filed suit seeking the overturn the Council's action and the litigation process is expected to last several years. The City Council is now reconsidering its position and voted 7-0 in closed session on April 2 not to collect the tax at this time. Vacaville police Tuesday identified a woman who was killed in a domestic violence homicide Saturday as Ronelyn Egipto, 50, of Vacaville. Police found Egipto dead in a residence on Peregrine Way in south Vacaville around 2:30 a.m. when they responded to a domestic dispute call. Egipto and Marcus James Smith, 42, of Vacaville, were in a relationship, police Lt. Mark Donaldson said. Smith and his brother, Kevin Michael Smith, 26, were found at the scene. Police said Marcus Smith was arrested on suspicion of murder and Kevin Smith was arrested for being an accessory after the fact when he went to the residence to help his brother clean the crime scene, Donaldson said. A 59-year-old pedestrian killed on El Camino Real in Mountain View on Saturday night has been identified as Mary Ellen Cabanski Evers, according to the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office. The Mountain View woman was hit by a vehicle on westbound El Camino Real and Palo Alto Avenue at about 8:20 p.m., according to police. She died at the scene. The driver cooperated with police and neither drugs nor alcohol are suspected as factors in the fatal crash. A man found dead in a park in the Bay Point area of Contra Costa County Sunday morning has been identified as Chukwuemeka Onyeagucha, a 35-year-old resident of Pittsburg, according to the county coroner's office. Sheriff's deputies responded to Anuta Park on Willow Pass Road just before 12:30 a.m. and found Onyeagucha unconscious and not breathing. He was pronounced dead despite life-saving efforts. Deputies were investigating Onyeagucha's death as a homicide Monday, although coroner's office personnel say the death is just suspicious and has not yet been classified as a homicide. A jury has convicted a 27-year-old man of involuntary manslaughter and assault on a child resulting in death for his role in the death of his girlfriend's 18-month-old son in 2014, San Mateo County prosecutors said Tuesday. Marco Antonio Alvarado-Cisneros was convicted Monday on the third day of jury deliberations following a trial for the murder of the toddler Dante Nava on Aug. 12, 2014. The jury found him not guilty of murder but convicted him on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. A San Francisco man charged with voluntary manslaughter pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon Tuesday after an autopsy determined the victim died of a methamphetamine overdose. William Armister Amons, 62, was charged with the beating death of Derrick Young, 50, of Santa Rosa, with a fiberglass ax handle during a dispute over a bicycle on Piner Road in north Santa Rosa on Jan. 31. Both men were homeless, Santa Rosa police said. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and other prosecutors announced Tuesday that two rental car companies have settled a suit that alleged that they overcharged customers for repairs to damaged rental cars. O'Malley said E-Z Rent-a-Car and Advantage OpCo LLC, which acquired E-Z in 2015, have agreed to pay $3.3 million in civil penalties, $1 million in restitution and $300,000 for investigative costs to settle the consumer protection lawsuit, which was filed in Alameda County Superior Court. A 43-year-old man with six prior felony convictions was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in state prison for fatally shooting another man in East Oakland in 2017. Orlando Moore originally was charged with murder for the shooting death of 49-year-old Errick Parker in the 1300 block of 90th Avenue at 6:53 p.m. on Nov. 14, 2017. But on Feb. 28, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office agreed to a deal in which Moore pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and admitted that he possessed a firearm at the time of the shooting. A two-alarm fire has been extinguished at a home near Claremont Country Club in North Oakland on Tuesday morning, a fire dispatcher said. The blaze was reported at 9:53 a.m. at 33 Bowling Drive, located off of Country Club Drive near Broadway Terrace. Firefighters responded and had the fire under control as of 10:33 a.m., the dispatcher 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. OAKLAND (BCN) A judge on Monday ordered two former Alameda County sheriff's deputies to stand trial on multiple felony charges alleging that they directed inmates at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin to spray feces and urine on other inmates that the deputies didn't like. At the end of a four-day preliminary hearing for Justin Linn, 25, of Tracy, and Erik McDermott, 28, of Concord, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson also ruled that prosecutors produced sufficient evidence to have them stand trial on one felony count of dissuading a witness for allegedly trying to intimidate an inmate who blew the whistle on them. "There is pervasive evidence that they (Linn and McDermott) worked together for the common purpose of intimidating witnesses by gassing," referring to the practice of spray people with feces and urine, Jacobson said. Jacobson said evidence at the hearing indicated Linn and McDermott coerced William Epting, 51, who has two voluntary manslaughter convictions and now faces a murder charge for a fatal shooting in Oakland two years ago, and convicted child molester James Duckett, 35, to gas five inmates the deputies didn't like. Duckett was sentenced to 261 years to life in prison last year for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter when she was only 9 years old, and an adult woman in incidents in San Leandro and Oakland in 2012 and 2013. The dissuading a witness allegation is based on testimony by current inmate Shane Woodcock, who worked as a cleaner at the jail, that Linn and McDermott asked him to tell inmate Ruben Febo's fellow gang members that Febo was a snitch after Febo sent a letter to authorities about the alleged wrongdoing by the two deputies. One of the alleged victims is former inmate Fernando Soria, 48, who testified last week that McDermott and Linn opened his cell door and allowed Epting to gas him. Woodcock said McDermott and Linn facilitated "numerous" gassing attacks by Epting on Soria and other inmates. Woodcock said McDermott and Linn nicknamed Epting "The Preacher" and described the gassing attacks as "spreading the gospel" and "crappuccinos." He also said McDermott and Linn gave Epting special treatment by frequently allowing him out of his cell, giving him extra food and giving him supplies for gassing, such as plastic gloves, bags and gray bins. Linn and McDermott, who no longer work for the department, are scheduled to return to court on April 29 to have their trial date set. They're both free on $320,000 bail. Co-defendants Sarah Krause, 27, and Stephen Sarcos, 32, also are charged in the case but face less serious allegations. At the end of their preliminary hearing last October Jacobson ordered them to stand trial on a single felony assault charge. 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. RALEIGH, N.C., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MobileSmith Health (OTCBB: MOST), a leader in the digital health and mobile development sector that is reshaping traditional healthcare, today announced the collaboration with Kaweah Delta Medical Center on the release of a surgery app that provides patients and caregivers with timed notifications, digital trackers and interactive resources about what to expect before, during and after surgery. In todays always-connected, technology-driven world, reaching consumers on their mobile device delivers a more engaged patient experience, said Randy Tomlin, MobileSmith Health CEO and chairman of the board. Interactive, targeted apps not only drive greater patient loyalty but better adherence to appointments and treatments as well. The Kaweah Delta Surgery App, developed using MobileSmith Healths signature Blueprints, provides patients with detailed information about what to expect before, during and after surgery. Easy to use Pain Level and Medication trackers are built into the app along with a post-surgery checklist of action items and additional ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) protocols. Tomlin added: Partners like Kaweah Delta Medical Center understand that surgery is a larger patient journey that starts with scheduling and ends several weeks post-op after potential readmission issues are cleared. By providing customers with a surgery app, Kaweah Delta is ensuring they are there for the entire journey guiding them through the surgical process from start to end, making it easy for patients and their families to determine next steps on the way to recovery. Through the use of MobileSmith Health Blueprints, hospitals and other healthcare organizations can customize their apps based on specific feature sets, workflow, branding, protocol, procedure and service line while launching in as little as 90 days. The companys latest Blueprints 3.0 offerings provide expanded mobile capabilities across MobileSmith Healths primary applications: In-Network Apps, Perioperative Apps, and Patient Acquisition apps. Additional Blueprint 3.0 features include key mobile-specific functionality like self-triage, remote check-in, wayfinding and EMR interoperability. About MobileSmith Health MobileSmith Health (OTCBB: MOST) is changing healthcare one app at a time by targeting the glaring inefficiencies in the American healthcare delivery model. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., MobileSmith Health provides turnkey mobile applications that improve health outcomes, patient satisfaction and adherence for the new generation of digital health consumers. More than 60 healthcare systems and organizations are partnering with MobileSmith Health to deliver a new healthcare experience and embrace the impact of technology as a change agent. For more information, visit www.mobilesmith.com and connect with us at @TheMobileSmith , Facebook and LinkedIn . About Kaweah Delta Kaweah Delta is a publicly-owned community healthcare organization that provides comprehensive health services to the greater Visalia region and Tulare County. With over 5,000 dedicated medical professionals and employees, Kaweah Delta is committed to meeting the communitys health needs through state-of-the-art medicine, high-quality preventive services and specialized health centers and clinics. For more information, visit www.kaweahdelta.org . Fort Lauderdale, FL, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Veritas Farms, Inc. (OTCQB: VFRM), a vertically-integrated agribusiness focused on the production of full spectrum hemp extracts with naturally occurring cannabinoids, has entered into an exclusive formulation agreement (the Exclusive Supply Agreement) with Oasis Health, LLC (Oasis Health). Oasis Health is a Florida-based nutritional supplement formulator and physician-only supplier affiliate of Bendcare, LLC (Bendcare). Bendcare is a physician services, technology, and education leader providing disruptive solutions to specialty physicians committed to empowering patients dealing with chronic diseases. Under the Exclusive Supply Agreement, Veritas Farms has custom manufactured the exclusive formulation created by Oasis Health by unveiling their first 2 products from a line of broad spectrum whole-plant hemp. The Oasis Health hemp-based products, Formulated by Rheumatologists, for Patients, are THC-free and naturally grown, processed, and produced at Veritas Farms' facilities in Pueblo, Colorado, and third-party laboratory tested for purity and potency. Oasis Health brand products are currently sold exclusively through licensed physicians and American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates (AARA) members in 22 states to over 20,000 patients across the country. George Munoz, MD, a co-founder of AARA and the inspiration for creating Oasis Health, stated, Adding these two new products meets the demands of our patients to obtain natural products that supplement their goals of healthy living. The products Sunrise and Eclipse manufactured by Veritas Farms meet our high-quality standards verified by third-party laboratories and are consistent with our vision of purity, potency, and affordability. Howard Busch, DO, President & Founder of AARA, said, In an effort to address patient needs and incorporate the emerging science of cannabinoids, we as the American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates have seen the results from our physician formulated products and topicals from Oasis Health, and we have partnered with Veritas Farms to deliver patients valuable products: Sunrise and Eclipse THC-free broad spectrum hemp. Our mission and commitment to bring an emerging dimension to our treatment armamentarium is under the auspices of physicians who provide great oversight in the creation of quality products with no excipients, therapeutic dosing, and convenience to therapeutically support and complement the patient journey. Ryan Deauville, VP of Oasis Health, stated, The quality and attention to growing and harvesting Veritas Farms hemp coupled with their technology and knowledge of extracting pure THC-free broad spectrum hemp oil has proven overnight success with our consumers since our introduction. We continue to offer the highest quality products, and the Sunrise launch has exceeded the demand of patients who recognize the benefits of integrating proprietary hemp extracts into their daily health and wellness regimens. Alexander M. Salgado, CEO and co-founder of Veritas Farms, concluded, Veritas Farms hemp cultivation and manufacturing expertise and capabilities are a perfect match to partner with Oasis Health, Bendcare, and their affiliated nationwide group of physicians to produce these two exciting new products. Their patients now have access to the highest quality hemp-based products made with our THC-free broad spectrum hemp extract directly from licensed physicians. Its a win-win-win scenario that benefits Veritas Farms, Oasis Health, and most importantly, patients in search of natural products. Veritas Farms brand products can be found at several leading online and brick-and-mortar retailers across the United States, including select CVS Pharmacy stores. For additional information regarding Veritas Farms, Inc. and to purchase product online, visit www.theveritasfarms.com. About Bendcare, LLC & Oasis Health, LLC Bendcare, LLC (www.bendcare.com) was created to empower specialty physicians to empower their patients. Bendcare is an innovative services company focused on making Healthcare Healthier. Our educational platform, both digitally and through monthly physician Summits, is redefining how physicians and their care team stay current with state-of-the-art science, best business practices, and changes in regulatory requirements. We provide specialty support care center services to alleviate the tedious and overwhelming tasks of delivering quality care. By centralizing and optimizing services like contracting, credentialing, accounting, and denials and receivables management, resources can be redeployed to enhance service and quality outcomes. Bendcare has also created a proprietary state-of the art repository of Rheumatological clinical, financial, and patient-reported outcomes data called Columbus. As the trailblazer in prospective real-world data, we have created predictive analytics and decision support visualization tools. Our Oasis product portfolio has created proprietary physician formulations designed to ensure potency, purity, and clinical effectiveness. Oasis Health, LLC (www.oasis.care) is a Bendcare owned company and supplier of premium quality, OTC products Formulated by Rheumatologists, for Patients to deliver a natural, preventative approach as part of their overall wellness plan. Oasis products are third-party tested at multiple levels for purity with verified sourcing and domestic manufacturing. Our portfolio of supplements, topicals, and new broad-spectrum hemp formulations help achieve patient goals under the guidance of physicians and provide the right balance needed to support optimal health and well-being. About American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates American Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates (AARA) is the largest supergroup of Rheumatologists in the United States with over 180 providers in 22 states. AARA is reshaping Rheumatology with a focus on improving the patient journey through improved access, advocacy, technology, training, and education. Since its inception in 2015, AARA gives physicians the ability to empower patients with lifelong chronic diseases. With the new infrastructure solutions powered by Bendcare, Rheumatologists can now standardize and simplify their practice, and the care team can focus on quality outcomes, improved patient satisfaction, and optimized practice performance. About Veritas Farms, Inc. Veritas Farms, Inc. (OTCQB: VFRM) is a vertically integrated agribusiness focused on producing superior quality, whole plant, full spectrum hemp oils and extracts containing naturally occurring cannabinoids. The Company currently operates a 140-acre farm and production facilities in Pueblo, Colorado, and is registered with the Colorado Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp. The Company markets and sells products under its Veritas Farms brand and manufactures private label products for a number of leading distributors and retailers. Veritas Farms brand full spectrum hemp extract products include vegan capsules, tinctures, formulations for sublingual applications and infused edibles, lotions, salves, and oral syringes in a variety of size formats and flavors. All Veritas Farms brand products are third-party laboratory tested for strength and purity. The Company files periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be viewed at www.sec.gov. For additional information and online product purchase, visit www.theveritasfarms.com. Veritas Farms, Inc. - Investor Contact Toll-Free: (888) 549-7888 E-mail: ir@theveritasfarms.com Veritas Farms, Inc. - Social Media Instagram: www.instagram.com/veritasfarmsofficial/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/VeritasFarmsOfficial/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/veritasfarms/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/theveritasfarms Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This 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 Companys mission statement and growth strategy, 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 many risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Companys future results to differ materially from those anticipated. Potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; 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 Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update any of the information contained or referenced in this press release. WICKLIFFE, the United States, April 12 (Xinhua) -- An industrial park devoted to Asian carp processing was launched Friday in middle Mississippi River, raising hopes that the population growth of the invasive carp will become more manageable as more fish will be dragged out of water and made into tasty food. The International Fisheries Industrial Park, sitting on 64 acres of wooded land in the quiet Wickliffe City, Ballard County in the southeastern U.S. state of Kentucky, received seven newcomers ranging from fish balls maker to organic fertilizer producer. The Two Rivers Fisheries, whose success is part of the reasons that convinced these new Chinese investors, has been in the industrial park area since 2012. Asian carp were first imported to U.S. farms to control algae and for waste treatment purposes in the 1970s. They made it into the Mississippi River and its surrounding waters, and have over the years multiplied rapidly, crowding out a multitude of local fish species and posing a threat to the 7-billion-U.S.-dollar fish industry of the Great Lakes region if their northward proliferation is not curbed. Because of their complicated bone structure, the fish are not popular among U.S. consumers. Todd Cooper, judge-executive of Ballard County, told Xinhua at the launching ceremony the industrial park will not only help the community fight Asian carp but create jobs and bring population back to the neighborhood. "Our mission is to reduce, reuse and redefine Asian carp," said Angie Yu, president of the Two Rivers Fisheries, who first thanked the industrious local fishermen in her speech at the ceremony. "In the past seven years we've taken 10 million pounds of Asian carp out of the Mississippi River." The company processed 500,000 pounds of Asian carp in its first year of operation. Thanks to Yu's good management, a growing number of dedicated local fishermen have emerged, who can make a decent living out of catching and selling Asian carp to her. The Two Rivers Fisheries now exports carp to 11 countries, making it the No.1 Asian carp exporter in Kentucky. "We processed 2.5 million pounds in 2018. In the first three months of this year, we've already processed 1.5 million pounds. My goal for this year is 5 million pounds," the 62-year-old businesswoman told Xinhua. The company aims to bring the annual production to 20 million pounds by 2024. Though the Chinese American's business keeps growing, her wild caught carp are not selling well in China despite their obvious advantage over farm-raised carp. When her fish entered the China market, they were in the frozen form, unable to impress the Chinese customers who always prefer live fish. With the arrival of plants that focus on deep processing, however, the situation looks set to change. A plant specializes in smoked fish while another plans to produce fish sauce, increasing the chance of Mississippi River carp breaking into the huge Chinese market. "Asian carp in Mississippi are ideal for fish balls," said Jiang Chengguang, a businessman from China's Guangxi. His plant in the industrial park will produce fish balls, also a niche market in Asia. With the consumption of the invasive carp expected to steadily rise, it not only eases an environmental crisis, but also benefits the local economy. Of the 252 counties and parishes (including Ballard) in the eight-state Delta Region, 234 are "economically distressed," according to the Delta Regional Authority. "I thank you for what these new jobs will mean to so many individuals who look forward to new opportunities to work in their home county," said Senator Rand Paul in a congratulatory letter to the industrial park read on his behalf by his field representative. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkWire -- Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN , OTC: WLDFF ) (the Company) has signed an agreement with Two Towers to expand the Wildflower Wellness brands CBD+ line of products into Poland. Two Towers, a major wholesale prescription medical and over the counter wellness distribution company in Poland, is an extension of Omega Rex which is a group of 14 pharmacies around the central capital region of Warsaw. Wildflower has received tariff codes for the importation of its products into Poland. Once its products are well placed for an explosive launch in Poland, this opens the entire European Union market for export. The Brightfield Group recently announced market intelligence stating that the European CBD market will boom with 400 percent growth through 2023. Companies in the EU are readily on the hunt for reputable, high-quality CBD brands that attract eager consumers. With Wildflowers CBD+ plant-based formulations in a line-up of premium wellness products, Wildflower is well placed to explode into Poland with Two Towers expertise navigating the regulatory landscape along with their existing extensive distribution network. William MacLean, CEO of Wildflower Brands, says, The European market is fragmented with no CBD market leaders. Our agreement with Two Towers vastly reduces barriers to moving our products between member states. This will position Wildflower as a market leader as the EU members begin opening their markets to CBD. We are excited to be working with Two Towers; their ability to expedite the regulatory process has been invaluable. ABOUT WILDFLOWER Wildflower Brands is a Vancouver-based company developing and designing brands that focus on plant-based health and wellness products. All of the companys brands work in synergy, toward becoming a global wellness leader. ABOUT TWO TOWERS Two Towers is a large wholesale medicinal distribution company that distributes the products of an extensive list of global leaders in pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods. They specialize in three areas: 1) childrens products including powered food and other baby nutritional products 2) medications, nutritional supplements, medical materials and instruments and 3) fast moving consumer goods (FMCG.) Two Towers operates with relationships from the whole of Europe, both North and South Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. As they continue to expand, their mission is realized through comprehensive business partners, marketing and logistics in the area of FMCG delivered by a professional and committed team. On Behalf of the Board of Directors William MacLean ____________________________________ William MacLean Director and CEO Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Forwardlooking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forwardlooking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the marijuana industry in general such as operational risks in growing; competition; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of various transactions; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and government regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forwardlooking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forwardlooking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forwardlooking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The Canadian Securities Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Corporate Communications: NetworkWire (NW) New York, New York www.NetworkNewsWire.com 212.418.1217 Office Editor@NetworkWire.com LONDON, April 16, 2019 - Stolt-Nielsen Limited (Oslo Brs: SNI) today announced that all agenda items were approved, and all nominated Directors were elected at its Annual General Meeting of shareholders held today at Clarendon House, 2 Church Street, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda. The final dividend for 2018 of $0.25 per Common Share as recommended by the Board of Directors on February 14, 2019 was approved and will be paid on May 9, 2019 to shareholders of record as of April 25, 2019. For additional information please contact: Jens F. Gruner-Hegge Chief Financial Officer UK +44 (0) 20 7611 8985 j.gruner-hegge@stolt.com Ellie Davison Head of Corporate Communications UK +44 (0) 20 7611 8926 e.davison@stolt.com About Stolt-Nielsen Limited Stolt-Nielsen Limited (SNL or the Company) is a leading global provider of integrated transportation solutions for bulk liquid chemicals, edible oils, acids, and other specialty liquids through its three largest business divisions, Stolt Tankers, Stolthaven Terminals and Stolt Tank Containers. Stolt Sea Farm produces and markets high quality turbot, sole, sturgeon, and caviar. Stolt-Nielsen Gas develops opportunities in LPG and LNG shipping and distribution. Stolt-Nielsen Limited is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" based on information available to the Company on the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement. These statements may be identified by the use of words like "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "will," "should," "seek," and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company does not represent or warrant that the Company's actual future results, performance or achievements will be as discussed in the those statements, and assumes no obligation to, and does not intend to, update any of those forward-looking statements other than as may be required by applicable law. This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Attachment English French L'ASSOMPTION, Quebec, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Terranueva Corporation (CSE: TEQ) ("Terranueva" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it is joining the Quebec Cannabis Industry Association (QCIA) as Founding Member. By taking an active role on the QCIA Board of Directors, Terranueva shows it is fully committed to a strong cannabis industry for Quebec. "Our participation in the QCIA as a founding member fits well with our mission to produce cannabis with the highest standards in terms of efficiency, quality and stability. Indeed, one of the objectives of the QCIA is to contribute constructively and responsibly to the development of the industry, particularly by supporting the public health and safety objectives targeted by the legalization of cannabis, namely the reduction of the harms associated with the consumption through the supply of quality products subject to rigorous controls" explains Pierre Ayotte, President and CEO of Terranueva About Terranueva : Terranueva relies on research and development and operational efficiency to become a key player in the emerging cannabis industry. It aims to provide the Canadian and international markets with first-rate medicinal and recreational cannabis. Terranueva Pharma Corporation, its wholly owned subsidiary, holds the necessary licenses from Health Canada to meet its mission. Operating in L'Assomption (Quebec), its mission is to produce cannabis with the highest standards in terms of efficiency, quality and stability. To achieve its goal, Terranueva Pharma is implementing a modular production approach, integrating the latest advances and innovations in process automation. Learn more about Terranueva at www.terranueva.ca CSE nor its services providers (as that terms defined in the policies) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. For further information, please contact: Terranueva Corporation: Pierre Monet, Chief Financial Officer Tel.: (514) 883-8733 pmonet@terranueva.ca MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (http://pyrogenesis.com) (TSX-V: PYR) (OTCQB: PYRNF) (FRA: 8PY), a high-tech company, (the "Company", the Corporation or "PyroGenesis") that designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes plasma atomized metal powder, plasma waste-to-energy systems and plasma torch products, today announced that the Board of Directors is moving forward with the previously announced spin-off of PyroGenesis Additive, a division specializing in developing, commercializing and advancing plasma-atomized metal powder for the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Additionally, the Company is also considering uplisting its stock to a more senior exchange. Mr. P. Peter Pascali, President and CEO of PyroGenesis, provides this update on todays announcements in the following Q&A format. The questions, for the most part, are derived from inquiries received from investors, and analysts: Q. The spin-off of PyroGenesis Additive. It has been a long time in the making. A. Indeed it has, and for some very good reasons. The space has been rocked with change and we had to ensure that our investors received maximum return from the spin-off, and at values management felt were fair. I believe that there has been no better time than now to move forward with the spin-off. These strategic delays have effectively increased shareholders value. Q. Could you explain those reasons to readers who are new to the story? A. Most certainly. Almost three years to the day, in the spring of 2016, we announced our intention to spin-off our additive manufacturing capabilities to maximize shareholder value and increase options to the Company. The original idea was to consider a small concurrent financing to fund the immediate need which was essentially to have a first system in place producing powders. Between the announcement and September 2016, while we were weighing the options and various structures the spin-off could take, GE announced that they had acquired Arcam and Concept Laser (both manufacturers of printers which make metal 3D parts). GEs acquisitions arguably disrupted the supply chain of titanium powders to the industry with the indirect acquisition of a subsidiary of Arcam which had become the dominant supplier of such powder to the space. It was imperative that we understood the impact of these acquisitions on our decision to spin-off before we moved forward. Once we understood the impact of the acquisition on the market, we decided to postpone the spin-off until our first powder production system was assembled which was only a few months away. We then waited until the ramp up was completed. These delays removed any doubts, in the marketplace, that we could produce quality powders, and as such, increased the value of the spin-off to current investors. Given the reception of our powder by the market (in 2018, we were nominated Materials Company of the Year at the 3D Printing Industry Awards, which speaks to how much we had accomplished in such a short time), we felt we were close to a key contract and/or a significant relationship, and decided to wait until one or the other was in hand. In the summer of 2018, discussions took place with Aubert & Duval which lead to the joint press release of January 8, 2019 describing a mutually exclusive relationship with respect to the distribution of PyroGenesis titanium powder to the AM industry in Europe. Given what has taken place, and what we know now, management has made a strategic decision to spin-off PyroGenesis Additive at this time. Q. Why spin-off PyroGenesis Additive in the first place? A. There are a number of reasons, but they all boil down to one goal: simplicity. The reason to spin-off PyroGenesis Additive is primarily to attract an investor base best suited to their unique value proposition, particular business operations, and financial characteristics, thereby maximizing shareholders value and placing it in a better position to generate revenues and develop strategic relationships than had it remained part of the PyroGenesis stable of technologies. The simpler an offering is the easier it is for analysts to understand and value it properly. As it stands now PyroGenesis Additive is part of PyroGenesis Canada Incs offerings which include Drosrite, US Military, and Purevap, just to name a few, and as such makes it complicated to analyze. Add to this that analysts typically specialize in one sector or another, and as such may very well be able to fully value PyroGenesis Additives offering, but would be hard pressed to do equal justice to PyroGenesis other business lines, and you have a significantly undervalued group of assets. Spinning one group off would unlock this value. Simplifying an offering would also make it easier to attract investment. There are large pools of money interested in investing in the AM space, but have no desire to have their funds comingled with unrelated business lines. A spin-off would assure them that such funds would be used for AM alone. Last but not least, a spin-off creates a well understood entity with which interested parties could joint venture or acquire. Bottom line: a spin-off creates simplicity, which in and of itself, increases interest, all to the benefit of shareholders. Q. Any challenges in a spin-off? A. There are many, but the two that I think are key are timing and structure. The timing and structure of a spin-off is critical to its survivability. The spin-off must be done in a context where it can grow and mature, not much different from a young adult leaving home. It is managements firm belief that given recent announcements, and what we anticipate taking place in the near term, spinning-off PyroGenesis Additive is now overdue. Q. Are there any other factors motivating your decision to spin-off PyroGenesis Additive at this particular time? A. Yes. There is a huge interest by our partners to spin-off PyroGenesis Additive for all the reasons given above. This is a major factor in our decision to move forward now. Q. You also announced today that you are considering an uplisting. Could you describe what this means? A. The Companys stock currently trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). Although a good exchange it does have its limitations. It may be a good place for a company to list initially but, in time, a company should consider moving to a bigger and better exchange. By bigger and better I mean one which will attract more interest and as such attract greater investment which by default would translate into a higher stock price. This is a natural progression and the TSX-V boasts of the number of companies that have uplisted from their platform. I think it would be more appropriate to say that we are considering which exchange to uplist on, rather than considering an uplisting. It has already been decided that we have to become listed on a more senior exchange, sooner than later. Q. What would be the timing and what are the next steps? A. Both uplistings and spin-offs require regulatory approval and depending on the type and number of questions from the regulators, will determine the time it takes to complete. Assuming nothing out of the ordinary, either one could take 4-6 months. Next steps would be to engage a Canadian based law firm, which we are in the process of doing, and to engage an investment bank. We are currently receiving proposals from investment bankers on both sides of the border. Q. What could delay the process? A. As I said the process requires regulatory review and approvals. There could be delays associated with this. Other than that, funds. The process requires capital to complete although a large part of it is success based and back-ended. Q. Assuming money is not an object, and that the regulatory approval process is not unduly burdensome, when are you targeting these events to be completed? A. Both in 2019, this year, but failing that, one this year and the other by Q1, 2020. Q. Do you care to add any concluding remarks? A. Yes, I would. There has been a flurry of developments within our PyroGenesis Additive segment. We started the year by announcing a significant agreement with a multi-billion-dollar European Company to market our powders to Europe on a mutually exclusive basis. This was followed by our unveiling of our NexGen Plasma Atomization process with production rates that shattered all published plasma atomization production rates. Next, we announced that we had shipped specialty powders to a government entity which was quickly followed by the announcement that we had successfully produced titanium powders with the NexGen. During this time, we were also nominated for the second year in a row as Materials Company of the Year at the 3D Printing Industry Awards 2019. There is a consensus building that such news belongs on a better platform. Management concurs, and is taking the necessary steps. About PyroGenesis Canada Inc. PyroGenesis Canada Inc., a high-tech company, is the world leader in the design, development, manufacture and commercialization of advanced plasma processes and products. We provide engineering and manufacturing expertise, cutting-edge contract research, as well as turnkey process equipment packages to the defense, metallurgical, mining, advanced materials (including 3D printing), oil & gas, and environmental industries. With a team of experienced engineers, scientists and technicians working out of our Montreal office and our 3,800 m2 manufacturing facility, PyroGenesis maintains its competitive advantage by remaining at the forefront of technology development and commercialization. Our core competencies allow PyroGenesis to lead the way in providing innovative plasma torches, plasma waste processes, high-temperature metallurgical processes, and engineering services to the global marketplace. Our operations are ISO 9001:2015 certified, and have been since 1997. PyroGenesis is a publicly-traded Canadian Corporation on the TSX Venture Exchange (Ticker Symbol: PYR) and on the OTCQB Marketplace. For more information, please visit www.pyrogenesis.com This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward- looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Corporation's current expectation and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Corporation with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Corporation's ongoing filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com , or at www.otcmarkets.com . Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward- looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) nor the OTCQB accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. SOURCE PyroGenesis Canada Inc. For further information please contact: Clemence Bertrand-Bourlaud, Marketing Manager/Investor Relations, Phone: (514) 937-0002, E-mail: ir@pyrogenesis.com RELATED LINKS: http://www.pyrogenesis.com/ VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanatana Resources Inc. (Sanatana or the Company) is pleased to report that, after conducting a recent site visit to the Tirua Project, it has successfully completed all of the material prerequisites that are necessary to commence exploration including meetings with landholders, an environmental baseline study, setting up bank accounts and protocols for operating in the Solomon Islands. Mr. Peter Miles, President and CEO of Sanatana, states, We expect to begin exploration by early May 2019 pending TSX-Venture Exchange approval. Over the past several months, Sanatana has moved the Tirua project from a concept to a fully licensed and permitted project and we look forward to beginning exploration on the property. Sanatana's exploration team, headed by Mr. Buddy Doyle, has been reviewing existing data and making plans for an initial exploration program. Previous work focused on a small area of the Tirua project in particular following up on a drill intersection of 62m of 0.45% Cu (previously disclosed in news release dated October 24, 2018). Looking at the airborne magnetics the drilling mostly skirted the edge of a magnetic intrusion thought to be predominantly diorite. Interpretation of the airborne magnetics suggests that there are several larger igneous complexes and many smaller ones in the caldera that all provide exploration targets for potential porphyry-related mineralization. Only one has been drill tested and only on its northeastern periphery. Review of assay results from 4,988 soil samples previously collected over the northern and eastern portion of the caldera show a zone of anomalous elemental groupings south of the drilling that appears to demonstrate a porphyry centre with an alteration zone funneling out above it. This zone, which is 2.1km in diameter at surface, is depleted in Zn, Mn, Cr, Ni, V, Fe, Sc, and Li, mobile elements or elements associated with mafic minerals which are invariably altered and mobilized in porphyry systems. This same zone is elevated in Cu, Au, Bi, and Te. This zone has been named the Dilma Porphyry target. Although not significantly mineralized, two drill holes intersected the northwest half of this funnel and these are the only drill holes that showed pervasive potassic alteration towards the bottom of the drill holes. The geochemical soil sampling results and airborne magnetics suggest that there is a prominent N-S caldera-crossing structure and an intersecting, WNW-ESE structure that have controlled the mineralization that has been previously intersected. The previous drilling targeted copper soil anomalies along these structures. The structures channeled copper-rich fluids, but were not the source. Mr. Buddy Doyle states, "Previous work on the Tirua project does not seem to have recognized the geochemical signature we are now interpreting as a porphyry-style alteration centre from the existing soil geochemistry. It should also be noted only two of the five larger intrusive complexes in the caldera have soil sampling coverage. Each is an exploration target in its own right." The initial exploration plan is to use the network of relatively new forestry roads and tracks to access and map these exploration targets with the aid of an excavator. The focus will be to map the alteration and further use geochemistry to generate drill targets. Epithermal gold mineralization was also intersected by the previous drilling. On the NE edge of the Dilma porphyry target, the intersection was dominated by an illite and kaolin argillic alteration zone. This zone also demonstrated that the alteration fluids destroyed the magnetite. The zone also had highly elevated arsenic up to 7,000ppm. This gives a strong clue to use the airborne magnetics to focus exploration for epithermal gold in areas that are depleted in magnetite. The airborne data shows that the large ring fractures in the caldera have been the focus of magnetite destroying alteration. Sampling where the roads intersect these zones, especially where there is elevated arsenic in the soils will also be in the Companys exploration plan. The Company expects to post an updated presentation on the Companys website shortly. The transaction is subject to TSX Venture Exchange review and approval. The information in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Buddy Doyle, BAppSc (Geol.), MAusIMM, VP Exploration for Sanatana. Mr. Doyle is a Qualified Person for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Technical Projects and has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release. About the Previous Exploration Results Previous exploration drill and soil assay results referred to in this news release were compiled from publicly available company reports filed with the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Solomon Islands. The Company has verified that samples were collected using accepted industry standard methods and that the samples were submitted to ISO accredited assay labs and analyzed by methods appropriate for the sample medium. For the soil samples in particular, QA/QC data was available and this data was also reviewed and all the sample assay data used in the Companys interpretations was found to be within statistically acceptable limits of precision and accuracy. The Companys interpretations of the sample assay data are based on statistical analysis and spatial association of elements using georeferenced gridded images. About the Company Sanatana Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company with an experienced management team and board of directors. Sanatana is based in Vancouver and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: STA). SANATANA RESOURCES INC. (signed) Peter Miles Peter Miles President and Chief Executive Officer Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Some of the statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects, intends, is expected, potential, suggests or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, should, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond Sanatanas control. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/realtor.com A backcountry estate in Aspen, CO, owned by actress Melanie Griffith has sold for $4 million, according to the Denver Post. Built in 1994, the luxury residence served as a secluded and scenic vacation spot for the star and her former husband, actor Antonio Banderas. The home was purchased for $3.55 million in 2002. Since the couple's divorce in 2015, the family had been using it less, "even though they love Aspen," according to listing agent Carrie Wells. Boulder, Colorado, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Wednesday, April 24th, Naropa University in Boulder will present our fourth annual Earth Justice Day event, with keynote speakers Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel, who will present on The Earth, the City and the Hidden Narrative of Race. Earth Justice Day is an action-based social event where Naropa and the wider Boulder community come together to root into the inextricable connections between critical environmental justice and social justice objectives. Come join us and take action to build a more socially-inclusive and ecologically-aware institution. Carl Anthony is a visionary architect, urban planner and author, and Founder of Breakthrough Communities, a project of Earth House Center to build multiracial leadership for sustainable communities in California and the nation. He has been a Senior Ford Foundation Fellow at U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography working on a book, The Earth, the City and the Hidden Narrative of Race examining the connections between fields of environmental justice, community development, and the changing face of global urbanization. Dr. Margaret Paloma Pavel is President and founder of Earth House, a multicultural media and learning center for environmental and social justice based in Oakland, California. The mission of Earth House is to build healthy and sustainable communities through multi-racial leadership development and community organizing, providing education and media tools. Earth House works internationally, nationally, and regionally providing technical assistance and consulting to individuals, communities, and organizations on large systems change, strategic communications, building multi-cultural organizations, and leadership development. ### Founded in 1974, Naropa University is the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement, and the only school in the United States that grounds the student experience in contemplative education principles. Naropa is also the only university in Colorado to divest from the oil and gas industry. Attachments TEHRAN Irans lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill labeling U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorist, a day after the U.S. terrorism designation for Irans Revolutionary Guard formally took effect, state TV reported. Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami introduced the bill authorizing the government to act firmly in response to terrorist actions by U.S. forces. It demands authorities use legal, political and diplomatic measures to neutralize the American move, without elaborating. The U.S. move aims at thwarting Irans influence, and shows that Americas long-standing sanctions against Iran have become ineffective, Hatami told lawmakers. During the debate, some hard-liner lawmakers had demanded listing the entire U.S. army and security forces as terrorist. The TV report said 204 lawmakers approved the bill, out of 207 present at the session in the 290-seat chamber. Two lawmakers voted against the bill and one abstained. However, it remains unclear how the bills passage in parliament would affect the Guards activities in the Persian Gulf, where the U.S. Navy has in the past accused Iranian patrol boats of harassing American warships. The Revolutionary Guard has forces and wields influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and is in charge of Iranian missiles that have U.S. bases in their range. The Guards designation the first for an entire division of another government adds another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary force and makes it a crime under U.S. jurisdiction to provide it with material support. Daeng Mansur / AFP / Getty Images JAKARTA, Indonesia In the final moves of Indonesias presidential campaign, one candidate dashed to Saudi Arabia to meet its king and perform a minor pilgrimage. The other attended a feline photography exhibition and giggled with delight at a giant photo of his own pet cat. For the worlds most populous Muslim-majority nation, the message intended by President Joko Jokowi Widodos trip to the birthplace of Islam was obvious after a campaign in which conservative opponents tried to discredit him as insufficiently Islamic. 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The clip shows vehicles driving along the 470-metre-long and 4.5-metre-wide tunnel carved through the side of a mountain. Since the villagers wanted to go out of the mountain area, they decided to build a road on the cliff to connect the nearest village in 2000. The local government supported the project with goods, materials and partial funding. The tunnel was carved successfully in 2003 despite one villager dying and over a dozen villagers being injured in the process. The tunnel has since been upgraded to a wider one in 2014, after another two year excavation. This is the bizarre moment hundreds of live frogs were sold from the back of a pick-up truck in rural Thailand. The amphibians were crammed into flat-bed part of the vehicle as it did its rounds in Kalasin, northeastern Thailand, on April 4. Instead of ice cream or groceries - like many other food vendors around the world - this seller had decided on the more unusual snack. And there was no need for him to ring a bell as the sound of the frogs making a ribbit ribbit sound was enough to alert locals. Villagers were filmed converging on the pick-up truck and picking the healthiest looking frogs to eat and stuffing them in plastic bags. Resident Suchet Somwongsa said: I didnt buy any but everybody else was quite excited by the frogs. Its a new type of food delivery in the are. This is the first time I have seen it. Thai residents said it was unusual to see live frogs being delivered to homes. PNing, from the capital Bangkok, said: This is definitely not normal. It would never happen in one of the cities. Ive never even heard of it before in remote villages. We will see if it becomes popular. People do like to eat frogs, especially in the north. 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 English French First operator of the new CRJ Series ATMOSPHERE cabin in Africa MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Commercial Aircraft today celebrated the delivery of the first two of four CRJ900 aircraft ordered by Uganda National Airlines Company in July 2018. The new airline has selected Bombardier and the CRJ900 regional jets fitted with the ATMOSPHERE cabin for its upcoming debut, making it the first operator in Africa with this enhanced cabin experience. The CRJ900 delivery ceremony held today at Bombardiers Mirabel, Quebec facility, was attended by executives of both Uganda Airlines and Bombardier Commercial Aircraft as well as several shop floor employees who build the CRJ900 aircraft. We are thrilled to commence our operations with the worlds leading regional jet, and we look forward to providing the most modern passenger experience in regional aviation to the people of Uganda and across Africa, said Ephraim Bagenda, CEO, Uganda National Airlines. We congratulate Uganda Airlines for taking delivery of their very first CRJ900 jetliner fitted with the ATMOSPHERE cabin in a dual-class configuration with 76 seats, including 12 first class seats. The CRJ Series is recognized for its superior economics and efficiency and I am confident that it will be the stepping stone for the development of Ugandas regional air travel, said Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. About Bombardier With over 68,000 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier . Notes to Editors Images of a CRJ900 aircraft in Uganda Airlines livery and photos from the delivery ceremony are posted with this press release at www.bombardier.com . The CRJ900 aircraft backgrounder is available in the BCA Media Hub Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section of Bombardiers website. Bombardier, CRJ Series, CRJ900 are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. For Information Nathalie Scott Bombardier Commercial Aircraft +1-416-375-3030 nathalie.scott@aero.bombardier.com www.bombardier.com Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ccee815c-676d-4d85-8a4a-3c5188b813ac http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/936aa6e0-2c4a-44e1-90fd-94fe5fe6f3da STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A middle-school teacher in Brooklyn has been arrested amid allegations he fondled a student inside the school and sent inappropriate texts. Daniel Santiago, 29, a teacher at PS 244 in East Flatbush, was reportedly engaged in an ongoing relationship with the student, as rumors began to circulate at the school, according to a New York Daily News report. A witness account of Santiago touching the student led to his arrest and reassignment to a Department of Education building in Brooklyn, as education officials work to remove him from the payroll while the investigation is pending, according to multiple reports. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Those who vacation together, stay together. TMZ caught MTVs Jersey Shore stars Jenni JWoww Farley and Vinny Guadagnino making a trip to Long Branch, N.J., where the wife of Mike The Situation Sorrentino lives. Footage from the visit will reportedly be featured in the third season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Sorrentino, 36, a New Springville native, is currently serving time behind bars for aiding in the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return. Guadagnino, a native of Emerson Hill, and Pauly DJ Pauly D DelVecchio talked to "The Jenny McCarthy Show last week about who The Situation has been hanging out with in prison. He is in there with the guy from the Fyre Festival, Guadagnino said, referring to Billy McFarland. And hes in there with the guy that leaked Jennifer Lawrences nudes, that hacked her phone. They play Scrabble together! DelVecchio added. Sorrentino was initially indicted in 2014 for allegedly filing false tax returns on $8.9 million in income from 2011 to 2012. Sorrentino and his brother, Marc, were both released on $250,000 bond with their lawyers declaring their innocence. The pair was indicted on additional charges, including tax evasion and falsifying records, in April 2017. Sorrentino pleaded guilty in January 2018. To support their MTV co-star, the cast of Jersey Shore waited outside the New Jersey court in Newark to welcome Sorrentino with hugs before the hearing, TMZ reported. DelVecchio, Guadagnino, Farley, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole Snooki Polizzi, Angelina Pivarnick and Deena Nicole Cortese wore all black. After Sorrentino serves his jail time, he will be on two years of supervised release, TMZ reported. The MTV star is set for release in September. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- Students of Staten Island Academy of Performing Arts want their tale as old as time to have a happy ending. Thats why theyre using a school theater performance to raise money for the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral. The high school is set to perform Beauty and the Beast," a Disney classic set in France, and has committed to collecting donations for the Archdiocese of Paris and Friends of Notre Dame. On Monday, a destructive fire took to Notre Dame Cathedral, damaging parts of the structure with history dating back 900 years. Since the show is set in France, this felt like the perfect opportunity for us to raise money for the cause, said Elisa Di Simone, director of the Staten Island Academy production. Im thrilled we can do something immediately to unite ourselves with this and do something to help. IF YOU GO TO THE SHOW... Staten Island Academy of Performing Arts presents Beauty and the Beast on May 17, May 18 and May 19. Here are the times: Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m., Sunday, May 19 at 6 p.m. The show takes place at St. Marys Parish Theatre, located at 347 Davis Avenue on the corner of Castleton and Davis Avenues. A show specifically for those with special needs will take place Saturday, May 18 at 2 p.m. All tickets are $10. The show will be directed by Elise Di Simone, starring Staten Island Academy students of all grades. For more information, call 917-525-7139 or email s.i.academyofperformingarts@gmail.com to secure a seat. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A North Shore substance-abuse halfway house for women will relocate as its current home undergoes renovations, the Advance learned Monday. Amethyst House is expected to relocate from its location on Richmond Terrace in New Brighton to the former Immaculate Conception rectory on Targee Street sometime in June, according to Executive Director Angela DiNapoli-Quinn. Currently operating in the former St. Peters convent with 20 beds, the renovations will improve the aging structure, and expand the program to 30 beds, according to DiNapoli-Quinn. These 10 beds are desperately needed, she said noting the constant outreach Amethyst House gets from people hoping to help their loved ones. While the renovations, which are expected to be completed by 2021, take place, the program will be reduced to 16 beds, she said. The Archdiocese of New York, which Dinapoli-Quinn said is leasing the rectory to Amethyst House, did not return a request for comment by the time of publication. The Amethyst House substance abuse recovery program will relocate to the Immaculate Conception Rectory in Stapleton while its currently location in New Brighton undergoes renovations. (Staten Island Advance/ Paul Liotta) Amethyst House has been in existence since 1981, and offers residents a drug-free house for 6-9 months while they attend outpatient treatment programs in the community, according to the organizations website. Originally located on the grounds of Bayley Seton Hospital in Clifton before moving to Brooklyn for a brief time, and ultimately settling at its new location. The organization was the brainchild of the late Marilyn Cole, a 1989 Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement who died in 2008. In addition to the classic counseling services offered, the program offers structured activity for the women living at the site. Its structure that was missing for many of the women, and the structure helps get them back on track, DiNapoli-Quinn said. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Fallen debris on the eastbound Staten Island Expressway is causing delays Monday evening. The HOV and left lane of the Expressway are currently closed leading up to the Bradley Avenue overpass as the debris is removed from the location. The Bradley Avenue overpass is also closed as repairs are made by the New York City Department of Transportation. Heavy delays are extending back to the West Shore Expressway as a result of the closures, according to Google Maps. In addition, commuters reported that the closures are causing residual traffic on Victory Boulevard, along with other nearby overpasses, including Woolley Avenue. Due to falling debris, expect eastbound traffic delays on the Staten Island Expressway at Bradley Avenue in Staten Island. Consider alternate routes. Multilingual & ASL Link: https://t.co/KVVnlaX9Hj. NYCEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) April 15, 2019 What appeared to be a pile of concrete could be seen below the Bradley Avenue overpass in the HOV lane of the Expressway. In November of last year, a large piece of concrete fell from the same overpass. A DOT spokesman previously told the Advance that there was a thru hole in the overpass, which the agency covered with a plate. Councilman Steve Matteo said that he was told that this latest incident was caused by damage to the other side of the overpass, not from the side where the repairs were first made." Regardless, Matteo continued in a statement, "the structural integrity and the stability of the overpass is paramount, and a thorough inspection must be conducted and necessary repairs made to ensure that it is safe. We just cannot have debris falling off an overpass where tens of thousands of vehicles drive underneath each day. Thank God no one was hurt, Matteo said. I will remain in contact with all relevant agencies regarding immediate and permanent repairs that need to be made, Matteo said. Matteo tweeted a photo of where the debris fell from, and said that the overpass will be closed as the NYCDOT makes a temporary fix before the NYSDOT makes permanent repairs to the overpass. In touch w @nycemergencymgt regarding the fallen debris from the Bradley Ave overpass onto the Staten Island Expressway. The Overpass is closed. City DOT on scene to make repairs then NYS DOT has to make permanent repairs. Should take several hours. pic.twitter.com/Gcs2VgUvjS Steven Matteo (@StevenMatteo) April 15, 2019 The repairs Should take several hours," Matteo said. According to a NYCDOT spokesman, the city DOT responded to the incident and secured the area. The New York State DOT will be addressing the issue further. A spokesperson for the NYSDOT did not immediately respond for comment. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- To continue its mission to reduce single-use plastic bottles, reusable water bottle company Swell debuted a new bottle inspired by the design of a New York City public school student. The bottle, Swell Bright Future, was designed by a 10-year-old named Brandon. His design won as part of Swells 2019 Earth Day Design Challenge, in which New York City public school students in grades 1-12 were given the opportunity to share their vision for a waste-free world through art. Swell strives to create bottles and programs that will tap into the power and optimism of our community, said Sarah Kauss, founder and CEO, Swell. This design challenge harnesses the amazing spirit of our future leaders and the simple actions we can take to be agents of change. One hundred percent of proceeds from the sale of the Bright Future bottle will go to support the Department of Educations sustainability initiatives, according to the company. S'well created a new bottle, called S'well Bright Future, for Earth Day that was inspired by the artwork of a New York City public school student. Pictured here is the original artwork. (Courtesy of S'well) When asked what he hopes his design will inspire in others, Brandon said: To rethink about their actions because our actions and decisions impact everything in the world. Swell launched a second bottle for Earth Day -- the Swell Dream. The Swell Dream will be available for purchase for $40, while Bright Future is available for $19.99. They will be available for a limited time on swellbottle.com. S'well created a new bottle, called S'well Bright Future (right), for Earth Day that was inspired by the artwork of a New York City public school student. (Courtesy of S'well) You can also view student designs online, or at Bloomingdales 59th Street in Manhattan from April 18 to May 2. In September, more than 320,000 high school students in the citys public schools received a free reusable Swell water bottle. The free water bottles were given to students as part of a partnership between Swell and the mayors Office of Sustainability. FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. TORONTO, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Galane Gold Ltd. (Galane Gold or the Company) (TSX-V: GG; OTCQB: GGGOF) is pleased to announce that it has commenced commissioning of its 15,000 tonne per month plant at the Galaxy project (Galaxy) and the production of its first concentrate. Galaxy has commenced operating through the existing refurbished 15,000 tonne per month plant in line with its schedule for the restarting of production. The Company will ramp up production through the remainder of the month, as part of the commissioning process, to the point when the Company expects to use the full capacity of the plant from May onwards. Work is still ongoing on the upgrade of the plant to 30,000 tonnes per month(1) which is currently planned to be completed by September 2019. Galane Gold CEO, Nick Brodie commented: Another important milestone has been reached by the team at Galaxy on our plans to get to a steady state annual production, on average, of 25,000 ounces of gold at an operating cash cost per ounce of less than US$800.(2),(3),(4) About Galane Gold Galane Gold is an un-hedged gold producer and explorer with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana and South Africa. Galane Gold is a public company and its shares are quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GG and the OTCQB under the symbol GGGOF. Galane Golds management team is comprised of senior mining professionals with extensive experience in managing mining and processing operations and large-scale exploration programmes. Galane Gold is committed to operating at world-class standards and is focused on the safety of its employees, respecting the environment, and contributing to the communities in which it operates. Notes: (1) The Company advises that it is not basing its decision to expand the throughput capacity of the Galaxy mines processing plant to 30,000 tpm on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability of production at such levels, and as a result there is increased uncertainty and there are multiple technical and economic risks of failure which are associated with producing at such plants throughput capacity. These risks, among others, include areas that are analyzed in more detail in a feasibility study, such as applying economic analysis to resources and reserves, more detailed metallurgy and a number of specialized studies in areas such as mining and recovery methods, market analysis, and environmental and community impacts. (2) This is forward-looking information and is based on a number of assumptions. Scheduled ounces do not represent an estimate of mineral reserves. See Cautionary Notes. (3) The deposits at the Galaxy mine are supported by a technical report entitled A Technical Report on the Galaxy Gold Mine, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa which was issued January 4, 2016 with an effective date of September 1, 2015 (the Galaxy Technical Report), and was prepared by Minxcon (Pty) Ltd and approved by Daniel van Heerden, B Eng (Min.), MCom (Bus. Admin.), Pr. Eng., FSAIMM, AMMSA, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Galaxy Technical Report satisfies the requirements to be a pre-feasibility study. (4) Operating cash cost is a non-IFRS measure. Refer to Supplemental Information to Managements Discussion and Analysis in the Companys Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 for reconciliation to measures reported in the Companys financial statements. Cautionary Notes Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Companys future financial position and results of operations, strategy, proposed acquisitions, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words believe, expect, aim, intend, plan, continue, will, may, would, anticipate, estimate, forecast, predict, project, seek, should or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Companys expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to: the Companys dependence on two mineral projects; gold price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Companys mining activities in Botswana and South Africa; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to the Companys exploration, development and mining activities being situated in Botswana and South Africa; risks relating to reliance on the Companys management team and outside contractors; risks regarding mineral resources and reserves; the Companys inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks arising from the Companys fair value estimates with respect to the carrying amount of mineral interests; mining tax regimes; risks arising from holding derivative instruments; the Companys need to replace reserves depleted by production; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; lack of infrastructure; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; health risks in Africa; the Companys interactions with surrounding communities and artisanal miners; the Companys ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; risks related to restarting production; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; development of the Companys exploration properties into commercially viable mines; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; risks related to the market perception of junior gold companies; and litigation risk. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. Information of a technical and scientific nature that forms the basis of the disclosure in the press release has been approved by Kevin Crossling Pr. Sci. Nat., MAusIMM. and Business Development Manager for Galane Gold, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Crossling has verified the technical and scientific data disclosed herein and has conducted appropriate verification on the underlying data. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information please contact: Nick Brodie CEO, Galane Gold Ltd. + 44 7905089878 Nick.Brodie@GalaneGold.com www.GalaneGold.com STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. This T-Rex wont be prowling the streets of Staten Island for a while. Tracy (T-Rex) Campbell, who once supplied the gun used in a fatal shooting, was sentenced Monday to 54 months in prison for possessing illegal drugs last year. Campbell, 29, was busted on Jan. 26, 2018, during a raid of his Gordon Street home in Stapleton, said a criminal complaint. Cops found a large twist of crack cocaine along with scales used for weighing drugs, said the complaint. Afterward, Campbell was indicted on felony and misdemeanor drug-possession charges, along with a misdemeanor count of criminally using drug paraphernalia. Three weeks ago, the defendant pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a reduced count of attempted third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance to resolve the case. Besides prison time, he was sentenced to 42 months post-release supervision. Defense lawyer Mario F. Gallucci said the defendant takes responsibility for his actions and asked that Campbell receive substance-abuse treatment while incarcerated. The bearded, bespectacled defendant declined to make a statement to the court. Justice Alexander Jeong told Campbell he needed to decide himself whether to seek treatment in prison and implored the defendant to do so. Assistant District Attorney Jane Grinberg prosecuted the case. Campbell has previously spent time behind bars. In November 2013, he was sentenced to time served after spending 16 months in jail for his role in connection with the fatal shooting of a South Beach man. Prosecutors said Campbell gave a gun to ex-convict Maurice Strother, who later shot and killed Caaff Walker on July 2, 2012. Strother and Walker had fought earlier across from the housing development where the victim lived. The shooting occurred outside 107 Kramer St., a little after 10:30 p.m. Campbell pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a felony charge of attempted second-degree criminal weapon possession to resolve the charges against him. Prosecutors said then the plea agreement was reached after consulting the victim's family. Meanwhile, Strother, now 35, pleaded guilty to a reduced count of attempted murder in July 2013 and is serving a 15-year sentence. He previously served a sentence of one to three years for a 2007 conviction on attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in an unrelated case. 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! ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX/NYSE:FTS) announced today that it has completed the sale of its 51% interest in the Waneta Expansion Hydroelectric Project in British Columbia ("Waneta Expansion") to Columbia Power Corporation ("CPC") and Columbia Basin Trust ("CBT") for a purchase price of approximately $1 billion. Following today's closing, CPC and CBT now own 100% of the Waneta Expansion. FortisBC will continue to operate the Waneta Expansion facility and purchase its surplus capacity. "The sale of our interest in the Waneta Expansion helps finance the substantial growth occurring in our regulated utility businesses across North America," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fortis. The proceeds from this transaction will be used to repay short-term borrowings and repurchase approximately US$400 million of the Corporation's outstanding 3.055% notes due 2026. About Fortis Fortis is a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry with 2018 revenue of C$8.4 billion and total assets of approximately C$53 billion as at December 31, 2018. The Corporation's 8,800 employees serve utility customers in five Canadian provinces, nine U.S. states and three Caribbean countries. Fortis shares are listed on the TSX and NYSE and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com , www.sedar.com , or www.sec.gov . Fortis includes "forward-looking information" in this media release within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively referred to as "forward-looking information). Forward-looking information included in this media release reflects expectations of Fortis management regarding future growth, results of operations performance and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "might", "plans", "projects", "schedule", "should", "target", "will", "would" and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking information, which includes the expected use of the proceeds of the sale of the Corporation's interest in the Waneta Expansion. Forward-looking information is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking information. These factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, including those identified from time to time in the forward-looking information. Fortis cautions readers that a number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking information. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to certain of these risks or factors and risk factors relating to the tender offer, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by Fortis with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking information included in this media release is given as of the date of this media release and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information, as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information please contact: Investor Enquiries: Ms. Stephanie Amaimo Vice President, Investor Relations Fortis Inc. 248.946.3572 investorrelations@fortisinc.com Media Enquiries: Ms. Karen McCarthy Vice President, Communications & Corporate Affairs Fortis Inc. 709.737.5323 media@fortisinc.com A .pdf version of this press release is available at: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/615e4677-19c9-4336-946c-af442932142e China's insatiable demand for spicy hotpot is placing the founders of a restaurant chain atop one of the world's fastest-growing fortunes, allowing them to outpace many of the wealthiest families globally. As of last week, Zhang Yong, chairman of Haidilao International, and his wife Shu Ping, had grown $US5.6 billion ($7.8 billion) richer in 2019, a 74 per cent jump in just over three months. Zhang Yong founded Haidilao in 1994. Credit:Bloomberg That pace is topped only by Australian mining baron Andrew Forrest, who has doubled his fortune this year, Chinese education tycoon Lu Zhongfang's 83 per cent rise, and US used-car billionaire Ernie Garcia's 78 per cent gain, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, a ranking of the world's 500 richest people. Haidilao went public in September, and it's been a lucrative time for China's largest hotpot chain, popular for the spicy broths in which diners cook their meats and vegetables. The company is pushing to make its restaurants more efficient by creating automated kitchens. Perks like the free manicures it offers waiting customers have kept families coming in. And the brand is expanding overseas with new locations planned in New York and London. Rainer Hoffmueller, founder of The Perfect Gift Online. Credit:Amazon One of the greatest benefits of running an e-commerce business is its potential to support a flexible lifestyle, something Rainer Hoffmueller, founder of The Perfect Gift Online well understands. Hoffmuellers business model is centred on a service called Fulfilment by Amazon, or FBA. Using this approach, he sends inventory to Amazon, which then looks after fulfilment, customer service and returns without him needing to be involved. I decided to go down this path because I wanted to be flexible with my time spent on the business, he says. I moved back to Australia from the US in December 2017 to spend time with my parents, who are in their eighties. FBA gives me flexibility. I don't need to work a full day. If I only want to work two hours, I can and if I want to work eight hours, I can. Hoffmueller had previously sold gifts online from the States to overseas customers, in addition to software and point-of-sale equipment. Toys, games, gifts, puzzles and baby products are popular on Amazon and don't have a high price point. So that's how I started developing the business here. I've imported some of the products that I have sold well in the US, leveraging the relationships I made in the US. Major changes to funding including the abolition of a $1.2 billion fund for Catholic and independent schools and introducing strong consequences for universities that don't raise ATAR requirements for teaching degrees are part of new recommendations for the next Commonwealth government. The Grattan Institute, an independent think tank dedicated to public policy, has also backed the implementation of a model that takes parental income into account when calculating needs-based funding in a wide-ranging list of education recommendations released on Tuesday. 'Segregation among schools continues to grow in Australia,' states a new Grattan Institute report. Credit:Michele Mossop Grattan's school education expert Peter Goss said an analysis comparing countries' total funding per student as a percentage of gross domestic product per capita debunks the notion that Australia is spending more than other similar nations on education. "It shows that our total spend per student is lower than comparative countries and shows that we need to take the strategic direction of increasing funding and tilting it strongly towards disadvantaged schools," he said. Morrison, Australias current Prime Minister, has taken to dismissing questions he doesnt want to answer as "questions from the bubble". Its just that their approach to bubbles comes from very different perspectives. Dean Martin, crooner and wisecracker, was known in the 1960s as the King of Cool, a description unlikely ever to attach itself to Scott Morrison, who is more from the sweaty vaudeville school of performance. Want to know, say, whether voters might punish any of his Liberal candidates because they voted for Peter Dutton for prime minister? "That is a bubble question. I will leave that one in the bubble," snapped Morrison this week when asked about the judgment of the member for Deakin, Michael Sukkar, who had indeed thought last year that it was a splendid idea that the not-entirely loved Dutton should lead the nation. He was at it again on Tuesday when a very friendly voter in the Victorian seat of Corangamite lobbed a slow-ball question about last year's Liberal leadership coups. "We read in the newspapers and see on television all the time that Malcolm Turnbull was ousted and the inference seems to be that you ousted him," said the good citizen, adding helpfully: "That is totally at variance with what was reported at the time. We find this very distressing because we want you back as Prime Minister and I wonder if you could comment on what actually happened so people really know and they don't get this story all the time about it." Faith in the NSW planning system has sunk pretty low. The public believes that big developers are allowed to use legal loopholes to ignore conditions on maximum heights and open space which local residents have fought for. The Berejiklian government has been returned to office promising to restore trust. But it does not inspire confidence to learn that when it comes to its own $17 billion Westconnex freeway project it has so far failed to deliver on a key promise. When it was launched in 2012 one of the big selling points to concerned local residents of the inner west was that WestConnex would take cars off Parramatta Road. They were told the notorious traffic sewer would be turned into an attractive boulevard which would be served by quiet buses on separated kerbside lanes. Air quality and commuting times would improve dramatically. Premier Gladys Berejiklian inspects the almost-completed M4 WestConnex tunnels last week. Credit:AAP Installing the bus lanes was a specific condition placed on the project in 2015 by then planning minister Rob Stokes. The environmental impact statement that supported the project promised the bus lanes would be there when WestConnex opened. The promise was made even though removing lanes from general traffic for buses would be highly controversial. ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beecher Carlson Insurance Services, LLC (Beecher Carlson), a specialized large account insurance broker, has announced the creation of its Risk Optimization Group. The Risk Optimization Group has been created to help our clients and prospective clients identify, quantify, and mitigate their risks. The group will be comprised of the alternative risk, captive management, actuarial, analytics, claims, risk control, and ZOOM teams and resources. By combining these services into one practice group, Beecher Carlson will be uniquely positioned to deliver these solutions to our clients due to its single profit center structure and collaborative team culture. Beecher Carlson has always been viewed as a consultative broker focused on client solutions rather than transactional insurance placements, stated Joe Siech, Beecher Carlsons Chief Executive Officer. As our industry continues to progress to a more digital platform, clients will place a greater emphasis on their brokers ability to identify, quantify, mitigate, and creatively finance their ever-changing risk profile. The Risk Optimization Group will be led by Jay Sampson, who has been promoted to Executive Managing Director. Sampson will be responsible for structuring the group to provide the best service and the most innovative solutions for clients. Sampson has more than 25 years of experience in corporate risk management. Prior to the promotion, Sampson was Managing Director for Beecher Carlson and was responsible for managing the teams servicing some of Beecher Carlsons largest clients with the most complex risks. As we began discussing strengthening our integration and collaboration across our consulting practices, it was clear to me that Beecher Carlson had the opportunity to distinguish itself within the industry, comments Sampson. I am honored to lead this important initiative and to drive strategies to reduce our clients exposure and, ultimately, their total cost of risk. The following individuals will now report directly to Sampson. Andrew Golub, Chief Analytics Officer Carol Blaine, Managing Director, ZOOM Operations Leader Operations Leader Erica Carr, Chief Claims Officer Joey Freeman, Managing Director, Risk Control Leader Pete Kranz, Executive Managing Director, Captive Practice Leader Scott Hornyak, Chief Actuary, Senior Managing Director Prior to joining Beecher Carlson, Sampson worked at another large broker for 18 years. Holding several positions during his tenure there, he spent the last several years managing the client executive practice for Atlanta, acting as the Strategic Account Manager for large clients in the southeast and managing the largest clients in the Atlanta office. He has extensive knowledge on primary and excess casualty insurance coverage and structures, property insurance, and captive utilization. Sampson began his career in the risk management department of Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, which gave him an acute understanding of the challenges risk managers face and the need for superior service from their risk advisors. Sampson holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Georgia with a major in Risk Management and Insurance. He also served on the advisory board for Georgia State Universitys Center for Enterprise Risk Management. About Beecher Carlson Beecher Carlson is a large account risk management broker that values depth of industry and product knowledge. Operating as a single profit center organized by specialization allows your service team to be structured based on what is best for customers business rather than geographic convenience. We go beyond one off transactions and utilize advanced analytics on every program. By quantifying the effects each decision will have on a companys risk profile, we take the mystery out of buying insurance. This allows us to manage the largest cost of risk retained losses. Execution on analytical findings is our true differentiator in mitigating losses and affecting process changes. Our collective success is earned by creating the perfect risk management solution for our customers. For more information, go to www.beechercarlson.com . Beecher Carlson Insurance Services, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc. (NYSE:BRO), which, through its subsidiaries, offers a broad range of insurance and reinsurance products and services as well as risk management, third-party administration, and managed health care programs. Providing service to business, public entity, individual, trade, and professional association clients nationwide, Brown & Brown, Inc. is ranked by Business Insurance magazine as the Worlds sixth largest independent insurance intermediary. The Companys web address is www.bbinsurance.com . This press release may contain certain statements relating to future results which are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only Brown & Browns belief regarding future events, many of which by their nature are inherently uncertain and outside of Brown & Browns control. It is possible that the actual results of Beecher Carlson may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further information concerning Brown & Brown and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect Brown & Browns financial results, are contained in Brown & Browns filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware. A doctor has been shot dead by an intruder at his home in Brisbane's south overnight. General practitioner Luping Zeng, 56, was shot in the chest following a confrontation with an intruder in the garage at his Delfin Drive home in MacGregor about 11.40pm on Monday. Detectives assured residents of the MacGregor street they were safe, despite a well-planned burglary three months ago two houses down from the scene of Monday's shooting. Dr Zeng worked at the Waterford Seven Day Medical Centre and Skin Cancer Clinic as a GP with specialised skin cancer training. Briana Christine Ioannides' descent from successful criminal lawyer to drug addicted inmate can be pinpointed to a turning point in her life. She broke up with her long-term partner and met a new man who would become her boyfriend then co-offender. Former Gold Coast lawyer Briana Ioannides. Credit:Facebook Before Ioannides, 30, was jailed for eight years in Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday, she was rising Gold Coast solicitor. But her career collapsed from late 2015 when, over a two-year period, she dealt drugs wholesale and at a street level. Bridie Nolan, a self-described devastatingly experienced barrister with exceptional legal skills, found herself in the news yesterday for taking a swipe at her husbands former partner Zali Steggall, who is now vying for Tony Abbotts blue-ribbon seat of Warringah. It was apparently quite a shock for Nolan to find herself on the front page of The Daily Telegraph in a story she went on to describe as sensationalised nonsense. Bridie Nolan spoke to the Telegraph for a story criticising her husband's former partner Zali Steggall on Monday. The story detailed Nolan's criticisms of Steggall for connecting the Christchurch mosque shootings with Australian politics by bizarrely using the #warringahvotes hashtag in a tweet while she was simultaneously expressing her condolences to the victims. Fair enough. Victorias Andrews government is facing a serious political challenge from the states militant construction union, which is preparing to sue Victoria Police for forcing union officials to leave a worksite. The court action could wedge the Andrews government and force Premier Daniel Andrews to mediate between the CFMEU a powerful financial and political player in the Labor movement and the states police force, or to even pick a side. Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Damian White Relations between the militant union and the Andrews government have become increasingly fractious over the past two months, and came to a head last Wednesday in a meeting between the Premier and some of his ministers and unions. Those in the room included the CFMEU, the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, which met to discuss the governments Fair Jobs Code election promise. That's all from our Melbourne Express blog today. It's been a mostly smooth morning on the transport front, although there's still delays southbond on Eastlink and in the Burnley Tunnel, where a truck broke down. In weather, after Melbourne's third highest April night that sunk to a low of just over 22 degrees, we'll hit a top of 29 degrees today before showers hit this evening. Enjoy it while you can - tomorrow we're dropping to 18 degrees. It's been fun, Melbourne. Have a top day. A "well-organised" baby-milk stealing syndicate targeted warehouses across Melbourne and took pallet-loads of top-shelf formula worth more than half a million dollars which the gang planned to ship to China. Two men, including a drug addict who was in possession of knuckle dusters, heroin and an angle grinder when he was arrested, have admitted being part of the gang while a third is still on the run. The court heard the two men were involved in a gang who stole 'top shelf' baby formula. Credit:Bloomberg Gurwinder Gill and Herdeep Singh were among a handful of men who robbed storage centres that housed baby formula and vitamins, between June 8 and August 30 last year. Pallets of formula tins were loaded onto a truck with a forklift during one burglary in Mount Waverley, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday, while thieves who broke into a Port Melbourne factory were so focused on formula they overlooked cash and electronic devices. Data captured in Perth over the past 20 years has given an extraordinary insight into how methamphetamine use among police detainees has soared over that period, while heroin use has plummeted. The state government claims the data is an indication the former Liberal state government "neglected" WA's meth habit for the eight years it was in power, something the opposition has firmly rejected. Australia's biggest ever meth bust in Geradlton in 2017. Latest data shows 65 per cent of police detainees at the Perth watch-house are on the drug. Since 1999, the Australian Institute of Criminology, in collaboration with WA Police, has funded the DUMA project, a study that measures drug use and drug market trends through interviews with people at police lock-ups nationally. Researchers from Edith Cowan University have gathered data on about 12,000 Perth watch-house detainees in that time. A former member of Pride WA's board of management has been arrested and charged in the US for allegedly attempting to kidnap a young boy last week. Local news outlet SF Gate reported a woman was walking with her two-year-old toddler about midday on the corner of Market and Noe streets when Roscoe Holyoake, also known as DJ Roski, allegedly tried to grab the infant. Roscoe Holyoake. Credit:San Francisco Police In an interview with ABC7 News, witnesses Sabrina and Adam Walker said they saw the boy's mother begin to panic. "Shortly after we walked by her we heard her screaming for police, for help, saying someone had taken her child," Mr Walker said. A Spanish man who tried to bring about 1.5 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside toiletry bottles through Perth Airport to settle a debt with his drug dealers has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. The cocaine had a purity of 65.9 per cent and if it had been sold in 1g units could have fetched more than $900,000. Daniel Calvo Alba, 38, was nabbed in September after travelling to Perth on a flight from Dubai, and officers found the drugs concealed in six bottles for shampoo, hair gel, sunscreen and other lotions. The cocaine had a purity of 65.9 per cent and if it had been sold in 1g units could have fetched more than $900,000, the West Australian District Court heard on Tuesday. Calvo Alba had a drug debt of more than $31,000 which his dealers said would be cleared if he brought a suitcase to Australia. The Liberal Party has had a long, cruel wait for its ship to come into Melbourne Ports. The partys candidates smashed their Labor and Greens opponents on primary votes in the bayside electorate in the 2013 and 2016 elections, only for the seat to slip through their fingers on preferences, with Labor warhorse Michael Danby emerging victorious on both occasions. Josh Burns, Labor candidate for Macnamara at the Port Melbourne football ground Credit:Luis Ascui But it is different this time. The electorate has a new name, Macnamara, new boundaries and Mr Danby is gone, tapped on the shoulder by his partys hardheads who knew the veterans sliding primary support put the seat at risk of falling out of Labor hands for the first time since 1906. BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang has signed a revised regulation on the disclosure of government information to better respond to public concerns. The revision, based on the 2008 version, is aimed at increasing openness of government affairs and resolving prominent problems in government information disclosure. It also represents the headway and achievements made in this field over the past years and clarified the scope of government information disclosure, calling for constantly expanding information disclosure. Stressing the need to improve the legal rights and interests of the applicants and related parties when applying for information disclosure in accordance with procedures, the revision also made necessary stipulations on the improper exercise of application rights by a small number of applicants affecting the normal conduct of government information disclosure. Efforts should be made to improve the effectiveness of government information disclosure by using information technology, to enable government information to play its due role in serving the people, it added. The regulation will go into effect on May 15. NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Mobile TeleSystems Public Joint Stock Company (Mobile TeleSystems or the Company) (NYSE: MBT). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. The investigation concerns whether Mobile TeleSystems and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here to join a class action] On November 20, 2018, Mobile TeleSystems disclosed that it had reserved approximately $840 million to cover potential liability concerning investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) into the Companys former operations in Uzbekistan. On this news, Mobile TeleSystems American depositary receipt (ADR) price fell $0.64 per share, or nearly 8%, to close at $7.45 per share on November 20, 2018. Then, on March 7, 2019, the DOJ announced that Mobile TeleSystems and its subsidiary had entered into an agreement with the DOJ and SEC to pay a combined $850 million in penalties to resolve charges arising from its role in a scheme to pay $420 million in bribes in Uzbekistan. Following this announcement, Mobile TeleSystems ADR price fell $0.24 per share, or 3.08%, to close at $7.54 per share on March 7, 2019, damaging investors. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com Federal MP Bob Katter believes One Nation's recent woes will be a boon for his minor party, with his sights set on four seats at the upcoming federal election. Pauline Hanson's chief of staff James Ashby and One Nation's Queensland leader Steve Dickson were last month caught on video meeting with the National Rifle Association in the US, although they denied they were trying to solicit donations. Katter's Australian Party federal leader Bob Katter speaks to media in Brisbane on Tuesday. Credit:AAP Image/ Glenn Hunt Speaking in Brisbane, Mr Katter said his party's situation was "pretty grim" a few weeks ago. "But the way the election is running now, with Pauline Hanson falling back a little bit, and I don't take any joy out of that, but it's happening, and that strengthens obviously the position of parties like ourselves," he said. Laws to keep people who kill children behind bars for longer have been given the green light to be debated in the Queensland Parliament. But an LNP private member's bill which would also increase penalties for child killers should not be passed, according to a parliamentary committee dominated by government members. LNP deputy leader Tim Mander has accused Labor of "playing politics" over child killer laws. Credit:AAP Image/ Darren England Labor's bill would expand the definition of murder to include cases where the perpetrator showed a reckless indifference to human life, including adult and child victims, with killers to face life in jail. It would also introduce an aggravating factor to manslaughter of a child aged under 12, which would increase the length of sentences. What makes us think some soldier could do what Parke alleges and just get away with it? These allegations are at odds with the way Israel operates. This is the type of stuff you expect to see in propaganda manuals with the aim to make people hate Israel. Sherry Sufi is Chairman of the WA Liberal Party's Policy Committee. Not even the Palestinian Arab members of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) go that far in their anti-Israel rhetoric. Yet there is a broader point to be made here. We always hear about the alleged influence of this so-called Israeli Lobby. Bob Carr has made similar allegations in the past. This point must be confronted head on. Lets start with the basics. There is nothing whatsoever unusual about open and transparent liaison between community groups and political parties. That is part and parcel of our democratic process. The Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian National Imams Council play active roles in providing non-binding feedback to political parties on policies that may affect their communities. The same is true of Jewish groups. Whats unusual are these endless suggestions about the exaggerated scope of Jewish influence. Even when the Jewish community goes out of its way to be nice, that is often met with suspicion. Loading Jewish synagogues in New Zealand were closed for shabbat service for the first time ever to mourn the loss of 49 innocent Muslims gunned down in Christchurch. Jewish groups around the world raised funds for those Muslim victims. Yet a Muslim community leader in New Zealand blamed the massacre on Israels intelligence agency publicly stating I feel Mossad is behind this. An enthusiast in the crowd screamed back: Its the truth. Israel is behind this. Thats right! For centuries, people have blamed the Jews for all sorts of things: killing Jesus, practising usury, drinking the blood of Christian babies, controlling the banks, running the media, and hollywood. This still happens in our times due to the unspoken influence of the early 20th century antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This fabricated document allegedly exposes a secret Jewish plot for global domination. Many misguided individuals believe such unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, while ignoring the bleeding obvious. The Jews have never sought domination. They never colonised lands like Western Christendom and Islamic civilisation did. Loading They never attempted to subjugate and convert others to Judaism. Jewish history has produced no Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan driven by a lust for conquest. Instead, it has produced the likes of Judas Maccabeus and Simon Bar Kokhba. Warriors, trying to liberate Israel from foreign Greek and Roman occupation. Jews are the worlds most non-evangelical and non-imperialistic people. It is against their cultural DNA to seek to influence others. So, are Sue Lines, Melissa Parke and Bob Carr proof that Labor is inherently antisemitic? On balance, no. As a devout Liberal with strong links with the Jewish community in WA and over east, I have participated in countless bi-partisan events alongside past and present Labor stalwarts. This has often involved warm exchanges with the likes of Joe Bullock, Tim Hammond, Ben Wyatt and David Michael. We have attended Yom Haatzmaut functions, spoken at peace rallies and attended United Israel Appeal fundraisers. There are a thousand and one things wrong with Labor. Being under the influence of some Israeli lobby isnt one of them. The Labor people who support Israel do so for a variety of reasons. Loading Some admire it for being a world leader in cutting edge technology. Others for being a democracy in an undemocratic neighbourhood. Yet others, for Biblical reasons. The same is true of Liberals who support Israel. Youll get a similar breakdown. Nobody on either side does it due to any external influence. People make that choice voluntarily. Last year I was on a bi-partisan study tour of Israel organised by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. Again, with some good Labor people. Its worth noting, half that tour was us listening to the Palestinian narrative in their own words, meeting with their officials and visiting refugee camps. So why would Sue Lines say what she did? There is a reason. Her and some of her colleagues are now pushing for a one state solution. They demand that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza be permitted to vote in Israeli elections. Israels current population is 8 million. There are 6 million Jews and 2 million Palestinian Arabs with democratic rights in Israel. Theyre also called Arab Israelis. In accordance with the Oslo Accords signed by both sides in 1993, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under limited autonomy. The West Bank is divided into three zones. The Palestinian Authority controls all of Area A and parts of Area B. Israel controls Area C. Hamas controls Gaza. Putting another 5 million Palestinians on the Israeli electoral roll would mean Israel loses its Jewish demographic majority. Besides, large numbers of people with hostile sentiments towards the State of Israel being absorbed as its citizens would threaten its peace and security on an unthinkable scale. When sensible people across the Labor-Liberal divide realise how this idea of a single bi-national state actually undermines the worlds only Jewish state, we voluntarily choose to dismiss it. Jakarta: More than 190 million Indonesians will be able to vote in the largest single-day election exercise in the world on Wednesday, with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo the raging favourite to beat his opponent, Prabowo Subianto, and claim a second five-year term. In addition to the presidential vote, there are 20,000 local and national seats up for grabs, more than 245,000 candidates running, more than 800,000 polling booths and more than 6 million election workers. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, left, and his challenger in the upcoming election Prabowo Subianto during their campaign rallies in Jakarta, last week. Credit:AP The Electoral Commission will not officially declare the election results, including for the presidency, until May 22 but a so-called "quick count" will be released soon after 7pm, Jakarta time (10pm AEST) on Wednesday. The "quick counts" of ballots are conducted by a number of pollsters and are generally considered to be an accurate guide to the final result. A suspected murder-suicide involving a US sailor and a Japanese woman have inflamed decades-long relations between thousands of US troops and Okinawans, many of whom resent the US presence there. The sailor fatally stabbed an unidentified woman on the island southwest of mainland Japan before turning the knife on himself, Stars and Stripes reported. Their bodies were found by police Saturday. A Marine Corps spokesman identified the sailor as Navy corpsman Gabriel Olivero, 32, who was attached to a Marine unit there. Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, right, hands out a letter of protest to Lieutenant General Eric Smith, US Marines commander in Japan, on Monday. Credit:Kyodo News via AP Olivero's suspected domestic violence with the woman was known to US military and local police officials as early as January, according to Stars and Stripes. The incident is one among a string of high-profile crimes involving US forces in Okinawa that have angered officials and the community for decades. Okinawans have said violent incidents, loud aircraft and pollution while hosting around 25,000 US troops is too great a burden for the island to bear. London: At first light in Paris on Tuesday architects, engineers and firefighters met to inspect the devastation wrought on the citys heart and nations soul, Notre-Dame. Millions of euros have already been pledged, in France and around the world, to rebuild the 850-year-old cathedral which was gutted by fire on Monday night, local time. We will rebuild Notre-Dame together, French President Emmanuel Macron had promised after visiting the scene. Firefighters operate on the Notre-Dame Cathedral after the fire in Paris. Credit:AP "Its our history, our literature, our imagination, the place where we experienced all our greatest moments." An area half a mile wide and a mile long along the city's waterfront is a mass of twisted steel and charred debris. Total damage is so far estimated at more than 125 million dollars (A40 million). The initial explosion was felt over a radius of 300 miles. Survivors of the 18,000 inhabitants have fled from the ruins, and rescue workers have still not been able to reach the scene of the worst explosions. The fires were visible all night from a distance of 70 miles. Thousands of homeless residents have been removed by army trucks, buses, trains, and private cars to distant points. The police are still looking for a bus loaded with children which disappeared after leaving Texas City yesterday. Police Chief Lasish said that only essential personnel would be permitted to remain in the stricken area and no one except those on emergency or official business would be permitted to enter. Oil tanks and chemical stocks have been exploding ever since the fires started. Seven minor explosions have occurred since daybreak on Thursday as oil tanks collapsed. The flames are creeping near eight leaking high-octane petrol tanks which may explode. No efforts are being made to fight the fires until the explosion danger is passed. The danger from chlorine gas is now reported to be slight. DIGGING FOR BODIES Digging for bodies is continuing, and loud-speaker appeals are being made in the city for more men to return to help the search for bodies in the dock area. Scores of bodies are stacked on benches and tables in a brick garage and in the gymnasium of the Texas City High School. Embalmers are at work in the garage and when each body has been identified - and embalmed a numbered ticket is attached to it. It is then wrapped in a blanket and taken to the gymnasium. "An aerial view of burning industrial plants after an explosion aboard a French vessel in the harbor here today. April 1947." Credit:Ap Wirephoto General Jonathan Wainwright, who commanded the American forces on Bataan, has arrived in Texas City to offer Army help. He told reporters he had never seen a greater tragedy in all his experiences. Ben Lapham, second mate of the Highflyer, which early to-day itself blew up, said last night that a fire started in No. 4 hold of the French freighter Grand Camp about 8.30 a.m. yesterday. He was watching it from the Highflyer, which was about two wharves away. No. 4 hold had nitrate fertiliser in it, and there were a lot of rumours that No. 5 hold contained ammunition. BLACKED OUT The fire burned for about half an hour, and a little after 9 a.m. there was a terrible blast. Lapham was blown to the deck, and the sky "blacked out like night" for a minute or two. The blast blew open the hatches of the Highflyer and killed several of the crew. Wreckage rained down for several minutes. Other eye-witnesses said that a pall of greyish-blue smoke soon rose 4,000 feet above the city. "You could see birds falling out of the air into the streets, killed by the concussion," said one man. A large percentage of the 500 Monsanto Chemical employees were killed or injured and more than 100 are still missing. A research specialist of the Monsanto Chemical Company plant, Dr. W. M. Lane, said that a crowd of 500 people lined the waterfront to watch the fire on the Grand Camp. As he was looking out of his window, 500 yards away, there was a frightful explosion and the ship seemed to disintegrate. Everybody in his office was sent sprawling and the wall toppled. "We ran out in a hurry," said Dr. Lane. "There were three or four other explosions, and someone said that at least two other ships had exploded. "I staggered away from the area, passing scores of bodies. The fire spread like wildfire, and it was a horrible sight seeing all those bodies and not being able to help." P. A. Hutchins, a painter, was working 40 feet in the air at the Monsanto plant when the Grand Camp exploded. "Everything went black," he said. "The next thing I knew I was on the ground on my side. I'm lucky. God, I'm lucky." L. C. Williams, a Texas City wharf-labourer, said in hospital that he floated in a sea of oil for an hour with both legs broken before he was rescued. He was on the docks when the freighter blew up. The New York "Daily News" says that the fire in the Grand Camp yesterday started in a cargo of tobacco and binder twine the ship took on at Tampico, Mexico, a week ago. The fire raced through the hold and quickly spread to the 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had just been loaded for shipment to France. THREE EXPLOSIONS ~ Chairman of Supervisory Board of GEBE still to repay Hotel Money~ PHILIPSBURG: --- The Internal Auditor of Government-Owned Utility Company GEBE Sharine Daniel has been sleeping on the job and have been covering up for the Chairman of the Supervisory Board Bienvenido Richardson. SMN News understands that Members of the former Supervisory Board were each given a check of $4,000.00 as they were preparing to go to Bangkok to conduct research on renewable energy. The trip was intended to take place prior to hurricane IRMA where the members of the Supervisory Board and Management team were heading to Bangkok. Each of the persons that were supposed to go on that trip was given $4,000.00 for hotel accommodations but that trip had to be canceled due to the passage of hurricane IRMA. SMN News further learned that when GEBE management asked the members of the Supervisory Board to return the check they were given since the trip was canceled the only board member who had already cashed the check was the chairman Bienvenido Richardson who told several tales about the check, one of those tales was that the check blew away by the strong forces of hurricane IRMA which were in his briefcase. Sources say when GEBE management told Richardson that they would cancel the check only then he changed his story to say that he had already cashed the check and that it was the cash money that blew away. SMN News further learned that Richardson was given several options to repay GEBE one being the payment could be made in installments but since the Internal Auditor Sharine Daniel is very close to Richardson she never made any effort to ensure that the company gets back its money. SMN News further learned that Richardson even got an extra laptop from GEBE since he claimed his laptop was stolen which also turned out to be a lie. Workers at GEBE said that Daniel who is supposed to conduct checks and balances at GEBE but she has become very lackadaisical with her core duties and has been performing all the work for the Supervisory Board members that are deemed unfit for their duties. Can you imagine Richardson would not send out an email or letter if it's not written by Sharine Daniel. Daniel expects that the current Supervisory Board will appoint her as the next Chief Executive Officer since the contract for the three members of the management team will come to an end by October 2019. While Daniel is the Chief Internal Auditor of GEBE where she is a permanent employee, she is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SZV where that entity is in total chaos since Daniel has not been doing her supervisory job there either. Daniel is also a member of USM board. Questions are being asked about Daniels role with the Supervisory Board of GEBE who is also supposed to supervise her performance and her closeness to certain politicians that can grant her favors as she strives to take down other locals for her own self-interest. TUV Rheinland Enjoys Sustainable Growth Posted by Publisher Internet TUV Rheinland continued its ongoing healthy growth in fiscal year 2018. Revenues of the global testing service provider increased by EUR?26.2?million, or 1.3%, to EUR?1.998?billion. Earnings (EBIT) reached EUR?137.5?million (up EUR?6.9?million or 5.3% against 2017). The EBIT margin rose from 6.6% to 6.9%. On average, TUV Rheinland employed 20,450 people around the globe in 2018, exceeding the 20,000 mark for the first time. Investments again topped EUR?90?million. ?Safety remains a basic need of humanity, even in today?s digitalized world. Our employees apply their expertise and specialist knowledge to ensure quality and safety. We are continuing to grow, which shows that our business model is proving successful, especially now that we are experiencing increased political, economic and technology uncertainty around the world,? said Dr. Michael Fubi, CEO of TUV Rheinland AG. ?We expect demand for our independent tests and certifications to continue to pick up in the next few years. In light of increasing digitalization and networking, the question that always emerges is whether technology is safe and therefore trustworthy, no matter whether we are talking about simple household products, autonomous driving or networked industrial systems and infrastructure.? TUV Rheinland is preparing specifically for this digital future. For example, the Group invested around EUR?32?million in the three areas of cyber security, wireless technologies and autonomous vehicles in 2018 alone. In the long-term, TUV Rheinland is also strategically gearing its business towards these upcoming developments. ?Our aim is to support and ensure technical progress in the long run,? said Michael Fubi. Significant Growth for Germany, China and Western Europe Business at TUV Rheinland performed well in 2018, especially in Germany. Revenue in Germany grew by EUR?32?million or 2.9% to currently EUR?1.1?billion, while revenue outside Germany saw a slight 0.6% decline to EUR?889?million, due primarily to exchange rate differences. On a constant currency basis, TUV Rheinland?s revenue would have totaled EUR?2.037?billion in 2018, representing growth of 3.3%. TUV Rheinland generated 44.5% of its revenue outside Germany. Revenue of EUR?533?million was generated by TUV Rheinland in the Asia region in 2018 (includes Greater China, Asia-Pacific and India, Middle East, Africa), followed by the Europe region (excluding Germany) at EUR?205?million and North and South America at EUR?153?million. China and Western Europe boosted their revenue by an eight-digit figure year on year, making a major contribution to the upturn in revenue. Positive Development In Business Streams As previously, TUV Rheinland divided its global testing and certificate business into six business streams. The Industrial Services, Mobility and Product business streams each generate approximately 25% of total revenue, with Product Testing making the largest contribution to revenue in 2018 at EUR?541?million (previous year: EUR?524?million). Continued strong growth in China and the recent return to revenue growth in the solar business field, a sign of the global investment trend towards renewable energy, are both striking here. The second-largest business stream, Mobility, saw its revenue climb considerably, up 4.7% at EUR?532?million (previous year: EUR?508?million). Growth was particularly strong in business with vehicles inspections in Germany and Spain and services relating to vehicle approvals (homologation). The Industrial Services business stream also shored up its revenue again. In this area, TUV Rheinland provides services including global testing of industrial systems, power stations and elevators. All told, Industrial Services improved revenue by 2.1% to EUR?513?million (previous year: EUR?503?million). TUV Rheinland has combined the certification of management systems such as ISO 9001 and the certification in accordance with sector-specific standards in the Systems business stream. This saw revenue strengthen by 4.5% to EUR?212?million (previous year: EUR?203?million). The rise in revenue in the Academy & Life Care business stream was somewhat more restrained than in previous years. In this area, TUV?Rheinland offers services for professional qualifications and corporate health management. Revenue in this business stream picked up slightly, up EUR?0.5?million at EUR?227?million. Seminar business in Germany also performed well. Nonetheless, finding skilled workers such as doctors and social education specialists is increasingly challenging and so the business stream did not grow as much as it would have done if sufficient specialists had been available. TUV Rheinland refocused its product range in the Digital Transformation & Cyber Security business stream (previously ICT & Business Solutions) in 2018. While cyber security business in Germany fared well, revenue in the United States fell. In total, the business stream saw revenue decline as planned to EUR?122?million due to internal restructuring (previous year: EUR?139?million). Global Competition for Best Employees Of a global staff headcount averaging 20,450 in 2018, 8,795 worked in Germany, up almost 300 on the previous year. The number of employees outside Germany rose by 235 to 11,655, representing 57% of all TUV Rheinland staff in 2018. ?We would like to hire even more people. But we can see that competition for the best specialist staff has become tougher, both in Germany and in many other countries,? said Ruth Werhahn, member of the Executive Board and Labor Relations Director of TUV Rheinland AG. TUV Rheinland currently has over 500 vacancies in Germany alone, with another 500 openings worldwide. ?Anyone looking for technically challenging and varied work in international teams and who shares our passion for quality and safety would be a good fit at our company,? added Ruth Werhahn. ?I am confident that we can inspire many more people with this. After all, our vision already reaches over 400,000 followers on social media.? Financial Position Continues to Strengthen TUV Rheinland further bolstered its good financial position in the 2018 fiscal year. Equity increased by EUR?53.3?million to EUR?412.2?million, with the equity ratio rising to 22.8% (previous year: 20.1%). Cash flow from operating activities climbed sharply to EUR?183?million, an upturn of EUR?21.2?million or 13.1%. ?Our financial position remains very solid. This provides us with the means required to invest in our future under our own steam,? said Michael Fubi. Investments and Digitalization TUV Rheinland has invested close to EUR?300?million in the last three years, EUR?91?million of which in 2018 alone. ?Substantial investment helps us get our testing and certification business in shape for the years ahead,? commented Michael Fubi. ?Digitalization is continuing to pick up speed and has made its presence felt at all levels of our business.? This can be seen both externally, in terms of the digitalization of existing services and new services created for the digital world, and internally, in terms of the digitalization of processes. TUV?Rheinland has invested almost EUR?32?million in the three future-oriented digitalization areas of wireless technologies, cyber security and autonomous vehicles. In the Mobility business stream, TUV Rheinland has invested approximately EUR?7.8?million in expanding and improving facilities at the network of vehicle testing stations. Services in a Digital World Starting in 2018, TUV Rheinland shifted its focus to OT Security the reliable and safe operation of plants and systems in industrial production. Operational technology (OT) refers to hardware and software that monitor and manage physical equipment and processes. Industrial companies have been employing operational technology in their production processes for decades. What is new is that entire industrial systems are now connected with each other and with the internet. This could create external access, which hackers could use to interfere in the production process. The most recent example of this is Norwegian aluminum manufacturer Norsk Hydro, which was forced to cut production to emergency operations for days following a massive cyber-attack. ?More and more companies are linking their industrial systems to the global network because there are many advantages to doing so. But are they properly prepared for potential cyber-attacks? Many companies are unable to provide satisfying answers to this question and so companies across the world come to our experts looking for advice,? said Michael Fubi. As well as in Germany, this special aspect of cyber security is also sought after in the US, the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2018, TUV Rheinland opened a competence center for cyber security in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in response to this demand. New Wireless Technologies Labs By investing in its wireless business, TUV Rheinland buoyed its position on the rapidly growing global market for devices on the internet of things (IoT). In 2018, TUV Rheinland opened new labs for testing wireless technologies in Lund (Sweden), Shenzhen (China) and Nuremberg (Germany). TUV Rheinland is a leader in this segment thanks to its global network of laboratories in Asia, Europe and North America, as well as its extensive services along the entire value chain, where experts test technology such as smart phones and smart-home devices on behalf of manufacturers. In 2018 and as part of an objective to make better use of digitalization opportunities, TUV?Rheinland set up an area with experts in data analysis which would provide support to all business streams regarding their data usage. The company also continued to expand IT infrastructure, purchased highly-specialized testing software and technology and launched collaborations, for example with the start-up DeepL, an automated translation provider. Since the beginning of 2019, TUV?Rheinland has also been working with the start-up accelerator ?Plug and Play?, which promotes contact between the world of start-ups and established companies. Strategy: Safety in the Future TUV Rheinland is currently working on its future strategy, which focuses on the dynamic change sparked by digitalization across the entire testing sector and its customers. ?TUV?Rheinland?s ultimate goal is to support and ensure technical progress in the long run,? said Michael Fubi. ?We have built trust in our work and in our brand. Our predecessors began this almost 150 years ago, and we will continue to uphold this undertaking in the long term.? The 2018 TUV Rheinland annual report can be found at www.tuv.com/corporatereport TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent testing services, founded almost 150 years ago. The group employs over 20,000 people around the globe. Annual revenue is EUR 2 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all industrial sectors and areas of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, and oversees projects, processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, the company operates a global network of approved labs and testing and education centers. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. Website: www.tuv.com NEW ORLEANS, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until June 14, 2019 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BV), if they purchased the Companys shares issued in connection with or after its July 2018 initial public offering (IPO). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. What You May Do If you purchased shares of BrightView and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-bv/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by June 14, 2019 . About the Lawsuit BrightView and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information in its IPO Registration Statement and Prospectus, violating federal securities laws. The alleged false and misleading statements and omissions include, but are not limited to, that: (i) a substantial number of customer contracts were underperforming and/or created excessive expense; (ii) the Company was implementing a managed exit strategy to end such contracts; (iii) this strategy would negatively impact future revenue throughout 2018 and into 2019; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, BrightViews Registration Statement and Prospectus were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com . Contact: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com 1-877-515-1850 1100 Poydras St., Suite 3200 New Orleans, LA 70163 2019 Design Challenge Results The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge Weekend had 45 teams, representing 37 collegiate institutions, across the United States and other countries. The event was held on April 1214, 2019, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Read the DOE announcement. Below are the top winners in each Division: Grand Winner Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia) Suburban Single-Family Housing Division First place: United States Military Academy at West Point (West Point, New York) Urban Single-Family Housing Division First place: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement: Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia) Attached Housing Division First place: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia) Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement: Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) Mixed-Use Multifamily Housing Division First place: State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, New York) and Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement: University of Missouri-Columbia (Columbia, Missouri) Elementary School Division First place: Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) Office Building Division First place: Jefferson University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) The winning presentations and project summaries are available, as well as the complete list of collegiate institutions with Finalist Teams. Solar Decathlon Film Fest Teams competing in the 2019 Design Challenge were invited to create a short film documenting their work to develop creative solutions for real-world issues in the building industry. View the films. 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. Budweiser Discovery Reserve bottle caps represent humanity's footsteps on both the moon and the next frontier, Mars. Budweiser has brewed a new limited edition beer in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Discovery Reserve American Red Lager draws its recipe from a Budweiser blend that dates back to the time of the Apollo moon missions . "This Bud's for those who challenged the odds and made the impossible, possible. Budweiser Discovery Reserve is our tribute to this epic moment in history , one that will certainly continue to inspire generations of present and future explorers," said Ricardo Marques, vice president of marketing core and value brands at Anheuser-Busch, in a statement released on Tuesday (April 16). Related: For 'Star Trek' Golden Anniversary, Golden Ales to Quaff Budweisers Discovery Reserve American Red Lager pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. (Image credit: Budweiser) Discovery Reserve is brewed with medium-roast Voyager barley malt and features a "light hoppy aroma, a toasted barley malt taste with a hint of toffee and a sharp finish," says Budweiser. The lager's reddish color is meant to be reminiscent of the next frontier for humans, Mars. The Discovery Reserve bottle and packaging was inspired by both the history and future of space exploration. The 11 stars on the label represent the Apollo 11 mission, which landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. Alternating bottle caps represent the historic boot prints on the moon and the ones that are still to come on the Red Planet. The Anheuser-Busch "A" and Eagle logo has also been updated to reflect Mars with Earth in the background, evoking the design of the Apollo 11 mission patch . And each bottle of Budweiser Discovery Reserve features wings and stars based on vintage Budweiser cans. Discovery Reserve will be available through September, or while supplies last. The company will be promoting the limited edition lager through in-store displays, digital advertising and social marketing programming, as well as a new television commercial that starts airing this week. For every case of Discovery Reserve sold, Budweiser will donate $1 to the Folds of Honor Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides educational scholarships to the families of military men and women who have fallen or been disabled while on active duty in the United States armed forces. The donation, which Budweiser says is a nod to the U.S. Air Force's partnership with the space program, continues the company's support of the foundation for an eighth year. "We are proud to stand with them as they release Discovery Reserve, further illustrating their commitment to our armed forces," said Maj. Dan Rooney, founder and CEO of Folds of Honor. Discovery Reserve is brewed by Karissa Norrington, a Budweiser brewmaster and retired U.S. Air Force Captain. In addition to creating a lager for the Apollo 11 50th anniversary, Budweiser has been working towards the formulation of a beer for the future explorers of Mars . Announced in 2017, the "Bud on Mars" campaign has since sent three payloads to the International Space Station to experiment with germinating and malting in microgravity. Physicists have long sought to uncloak dark matter and get an actual look at the mysterious substance that makes up a quarter of the universe. One idea for what's hiding beneath the cloak of invisibility? Many tiny, fuzzy particles that behave like one gigantic particle. But the most recent hunt for such fuzzy, ultralight particles, published on Feb. 28 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, has come up empty-handed. The results suggest that if dark matter is really made of these miniscule particles, it is as elusive as its name suggests, and barely interacts with ordinary matter. [The 11 Biggest Unanswered Questions About Dark Matter] Heart of darkness Dark matter is one of the universe's best-kept secrets. The stuff does not interact with light, yet exerts a gravitational pull on other matter. Though it makes up around a quarter of the mass and energy in the universe, scientists can't seem to find it, or even figure out what it's made of. Many scientists speculate that dark matter could be comprised of weakly interacting massive particles, WIMPs. But WIMP theories come up short in several ways. For example, these particles should cause small structures in the web of galaxies that astronomers haven't seen. So instead, some scientists are looking in another direction for dark matter to ultralight particles. While there are many ideas of what dark matter might be, none of them have much supporting evidence, said Sergey Troitsky, a co-author of the paper and a researcher at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Russian Academy of Sciences. "So one needs to consider, study, and exclude all possibilities one by one." Some theories of ultralight, also known as fuzzy, dark matter, propose a particle that's around 10^28 times lighter than an electron.This "fuzzy" dark matter is so named because its low mass means it acts more like a smeared particle with blurry boundaries than a wave.The new research tested a way to look for these types of particles in the light from active galaxies. Since dark matter makes up such a large portion of the universe, if it is made of ultralight particles, there must be a lot of them. So many, in fact, that they would exist in a unique state, like a field or a Bose-Einstein condensate a state where particles, often at ultra-cool temperatures, clump together and act cohesively as one. While individual dark matter particles don't interact with light which is why scientists have struggled to find them on large scales, the field would have a noticeable effect on the polarization, or the orientation, of light as it wiggles through space. This would occur as the density of the field regularly oscillates, in effect changing the way the light traveled through the region. The theory suggested that this effect could be seen in a region of dark matter at least 325 light-years across. The oscillation rate of the field depends directly on the mass of the ultralight dark matter particles, so by seeing this effect the scientists hoped they could measure the mass of dark matter. To look for changes in the polarization of light due to fields of ultralight dark matter, the scientists looked at archival data from the Very Long Baseline Array, a radio telescope composed of 10 (82 feet) (25 meter) telescopes operated from Socorro, New Mexico. They focused on light from the hearts of 30 galaxies, which spew out huge quantities of matter in jets that can stretch hundreds of light-years across. The light from these galaxies is highly polarized and has been well-studied, so long-term archival data about them was already available. "We often use astrophysical data from published papers or publicly available databases to constrain properties of elementary particles," Troitsky told Live Science. "But this time we contacted our fellow radio astronomers and they dug in their own data, carefully selecting observational series just for our task." Analyzing two decades of data, the scientists found a lot of oscillations, but not the types they were looking for. Active galactic nuclei often pulse without a regular frequency. But oscillations from ultralight dark matter would all occur with the same length of time between oscillations. Ultimately, the scientists did not see any signs of ultralight dark matter, at least at the types of masses that could explain the lack of small structures found in the web of galaxies. However, that doesn't mean they absolutely don't exist. "There is no guarantee that a dark matter particle has any interaction with the visible world besides gravity," Troitsky said. "It would be very hard to discover such a particle with some mass and no other interaction, though that is indeed one of the simplest options to explain dark matter." While the new research might make conventional ultralight dark matter unlikely, researchers aren't ready to rule it out. "The only thing we know for sure about dark matter is that it lies outside of known particle physics," said Rennan Barkana, an astronomer at Tel Aviv University in Israel, who wasn't involved with the study. "So, until we have convincing observational evidence of the nature of dark matter, we should be careful about guesses and speculations and keep an open mind." Originally published on Live Science. Artist's illustration of HD 21749c, the first Earth-size planet found by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as its sibling, HD 21749b, a warm sub-Neptune-sized world. NASA's newest planet hunter has discovered its first Earth-size alien world. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spotted the planet, as well as a weird "sub-Neptune" world, circling the star HD 21749, which lies about 53 light-years from Earth, a new study reports. "It's so exciting that TESS, which launched just about a year ago, is already a game-changer in the planet-hunting business," study co-author Johanna Teske, of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. Related: NASA's TESS Exoplanet-Hunting Mission in Pictures TESS soared to Earth orbit in April 2018 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to hunt for planets around some of the closest and brightest stars in the sky. This work involves looking for the tiny brightness dips that occur when alien worlds cross their host stars' faces from the spacecraft's perspective. NASA's recently deceased Kepler space telescope also used this "transit method," and to great effect; Kepler has found about 70% of the 4,000 exoplanets discovered to date. But TESS' total tally should end up topping that of Kepler, NASA officials have said. Astronomers hope TESS spots some potentially habitable worlds in systems that are near enough for other instruments such as NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to study in detail. James Webb, which is due to launch in 2021, will probe the atmospheres of such planets, looking for gases that might be signs of life. But the newfound Earth-size world, HD 21749c, doesn't seem to have good life-hosting potential. It circles its host star very tightly, completing one orbit every 7.8 Earth days, and is therefore probably quite hot. (The star HD 21749 is no tiny, dim red dwarf; it's about 80% as massive as the sun.) TESS' data indicate how much of the stellar disk a planet blocks during a transit, which in turn allows researchers to determine a world's size. But figuring out an exoplanet's mass requires data from other instruments specifically, ground-based spectrographs that measure the gravitational tug the world exerts on its host star. (This "radial velocity" method is also used to discover planets.) The study team used data from various spectrographs, including the Planet Finder Spectrograph (PFS) instrument on the Magellan II telescope at Carnegies Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, to nail down the newfound sub-Neptune's mass. This exoplanet , known as HD 21749b, is about 23 times heftier than Earth and 2.7 times wider than our home world. Those numbers suggest HD 21749b is gaseous rather than rocky, but not as puffy as its closest comparisons in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune. HD 21749b has an orbital period of 36 Earth days the longest of any TESS planet to date, study team members said. The exoplanet's surface temperature probably hovers around 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius), the researchers said in January, when they announced the existence of HD 21749b and hints of its smaller neighbor. That newly confirmed neighbor, HD 21749c, appears to be about the same size as Earth, but its mass is tough to nail down at present. "Measuring the exact mass and composition of such a small planet will be challenging, but important for comparing HD 21749c to Earth," study co-author Sharon Wang, also of the DTM, said in the same statement . "Carnegies PFS team is continuing to collect data on this object with this goal in mind." Though HD 21749c does not seem to be suitable for Earth-like life, other TESS finds may well fit that bill, researchers said. For stars that are very close by and very bright, we expected to find up to a couple dozen Earth-sized planets," study lead author Diana Dragomir, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, said in the same statement. HD 21749c "sets the path for finding smaller planets around even smaller stars, and those planets may potentially be habitable," she added. The new study was published online today (April 15) in The Astrophysical Journal Letters . You can read a preprint of it for free at arXiv.org . Artist's concept of 'Oumuamua, an interstellar object that was discovered zooming through our solar system in 2017. A new study determined that a small meteor that hit Earth in 2014 came from interstellar space as well. The first meteor to hit Earth from interstellar space and the second known interstellar visitor overall may have just been discovered, a new study finds. Interstellar meteors may be common, and could potentially help life travel from star to star , researchers added. The first known visitor from interstellar space, a cigar-shaped object named 'Oumuamua , was detected in 2017. Scientists deduced the origins of the 1,300-foot-long (400 meters) object from its speed and trajectory, which suggests it may have come from another star, or perhaps two. Related: 'Oumuamua: Our 1st Known Interstellar Visitor Explained in Photos Avi Loeb, the chair of astronomy at Harvard University, noted that one would expect smaller interstellar visitors would be far more common, with some of them perhaps colliding with Earth often enough to be noticeable. Now Loeb and study lead author Amir Siraj, an undergraduate student at Harvard University, suggested they may have detected one such interstellar meteor, the solar system's second known interstellar visitor The scientists analyzed the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies ' catalog of meteor events detected by U.S. government sensors. They focused on the fastest meteors, because a high speed suggests a meteor is potentially not gravitationally bound to the sun and thus may originate from outside the solar system. The researchers identified a meteor about 3 feet (0.9 meters) wide that was detected on Jan. 8, 2014, at an altitude of 11.6 miles (18.7 kilometers) over a point near Papua New Guinea's Manus Island in the South Pacific. Its high speed of about 134,200 mph (216,000 km/h) and its trajectory suggested it came from outside the solar system, the scientists said. "We can use the atmosphere of the Earth as the detector for these meteors, which are too small to otherwise see," Loeb told Space.com. The meteor's velocity suggested it received a gravitational boost during its journey, perhaps from the deep interior of a planetary system, or a star in the thick disk of the Milky Way. "You can imagine that if these meteors were ejected from the habitable zone of a star, they could help transfer life from one planetary system to another," Loeb said. The scientists analyzed about 30 years of data. In addition to the interstellar meteor they discovered, they also noted two other meteors that traveled at about the same speeds. However, Siraj and Loeb noted the orbit of one of these meteors suggested it was gravitationally bound to the sun, while it was uncertain whether the other was interstellar or not. Assuming Earth sees three meteors with potential interstellar origins every 30 years or so, the researchers estimated there are about a million such objects per cubic astronomical unit in our galaxy. (One astronomical unit, or AU, is the average distance between Earth and the sun about 93 million miles, or 150 million km.) This suggests each nearby star might gravitationally sling about 60 billion trillion such rocks from its system, equal to about 0.2 to 20 times the mass of Earth. Ten billion trillion is "roughly the number of stars in the observable universe," Loeb said. Siraj and Loeb noted that analyzing the gaseous debris of interstellar meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere could shed light on the composition of interstellar objects, about which much remains uncertain. In the future, astronomers may want to set up an alert system that automatically trains telescopes on meteors traveling at high speeds to analyze their gaseous debris, Loeb said. "From that, we could infer the compositions of interstellar meteors," he said. The scientists detailed their findings in a paper that has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters. You can read a preprint of it for free at arXiv.org . Artist's illustration of the three planets and two stars in the Kepler-47 system, which lies 3,340 light-years from Earth. The only known multiplanet "Tatooine" system just got even more interesting. A third world lurks in the two-star Kepler-47 system , and it's bigger than its two previously discovered siblings, a new study reports. "We certainly didn't expect it to be the largest planet in the system," study co-author William Welsh, an astronomer at San Diego State University (SDSU), said in a statement. "This was almost shocking." Related: Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets Kepler-47 is a roughly 3.5-billion-year-old system located 3,340 light-years from Earth. One of its stars is quite sunlike, but the other is considerably smaller, harboring just one-third the mass of our sun. The two stars orbit their common center of mass once every 7.45 Earth days. Artist's illustration of the three known planets of the Kepler-47 system. From left to right: Kepler-47b, the newfound Kepler-47d and Kepler-47c. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle) Back in 2012, Welsh and his colleagues, led by fellow SDSU astronomer Jerome Orosz, announced the discovery of two planets circling the two stars. These worlds, Kepler-47b and Kepler-47c, both have two suns in their skies, just like Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine in the "Star Wars" universe. The researchers made the discovery using the most prolific planet hunter of all time, NASA's Kepler space telescope . Kepler, which was declared dead this past fall, found alien worlds by the "transit method," noting the tiny brightness dips caused when planets cross their host stars' faces. Just before that 2012 paper was published, the team saw a hint of a third transit signal in Kepler's dataset, said Orosz, who also led the new study. Six months later, Kepler witnessed another transit, and the researchers were able to get a preliminary orbit for the candidate exoplanet . "Knowing the preliminary orbit, we went back in time and looked at the existing Kepler data and noticed very weak transit events," Orosz told Space.com. "By themselves, you wouldn't think they were much. But, given that they fit the pattern, it became clear that those were probably from the same planet." That planet is the newly announced Kepler-47d, which is about 7 times bigger than Earth. That's considerably larger than Kepler-47b and c, which are 3.1 and 4.7 times wider than our planet, respectively. Kepler-47b and c complete one lap around the circumbinary system every 49 and 303 Earth days, respectively. Kepler-47d's orbital period is 187 Earth days, which means it's the middle planet. And that came as a surprise; the team thought any additional planets in the system would probably be exterior to Kepler-47c. Orbital diagram of the Kepler-47 system. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle) These three alien worlds are unlike anything in our own backyard, Orosz said: They're much less dense than Saturn, which is the puffiest planet in our solar system. Such extreme puffiness is common for scorching "hot Jupiter" alien worlds, which circle their host stars very tightly, the researchers said. But it's unusual for relatively temperate planets such as the Kepler-47 trio, whose average temperatures are thought to be about minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 32 degrees Celsius; Kepler-47c), 50 F (10 C; Kepler-47d) and 336 F (150 C; Kepler-47b). Two-star systems are often quite dynamic, with the planets' orbital paths shifting over time as they're tugged to and fro by their two host stars. Indeed, the discovery of Kepler-47d was aided by such a shift; the planet's orbital plane became more aligned over time with Kepler's line of sight, increasing the strength of the transit signal. But such dynamism doesn't mean the three Kepler-47 worlds will soon be scattered into the dark depths of interstellar space. They've survived for about 3.5 billion years, after all (assuming all three are native to the system). And, Orosz said, "based on numerical simulations, it seems like it's a pretty robustly stable system." The new study, which was published online today (April 16) in The Astronomical Journal, reinforces two take-home messages from Kepler's pioneering work : that the diversity of exoplanets out there is staggering, and our solar system is far from typical. (Most stars in our Milky Way galaxy are part of binary systems, after all.) The paper also "builds on one of Kepler's most interesting discoveries: that systems of closely packed, low-density planets are extremely common in our galaxy," University of California, Santa Cruz astronomer Jonathan Fortney, who was not part of the research team, said in the same statement. "Kepler-47 shows that whatever process forms these planets an outcome that did not happen in our solar system is common to single-star and circumbinary planetary systems," Fortney added. Editor's note: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Kepler-47d's orbital period is 87 Earth days. It is actually 187 days. Our Climate Catastrophe The Kids Aren't Nearly Angry Enough The school children who have been protesting to stop climate change every Friday have understood a basic truth: They are being betrayed. By politicians. By business leaders. And by an entire generation of denialists. Scotts Valley, CA (95066) Today Showers early, then clearing with ample sunshine by the afternoon. High 56F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Mainly clear skies. Low 39F. Winds light and variable. 6.16 - "Lady Luck" Written by T. Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper Directed by Bill Roe Reviewed by KathM LADY LUCK, NO. 69 Our Blacklister tonight is Lady Luck, a person or persons Red thought might be an urban legend but apparently isnt. Henry, a man who works for Red from time to time didnt show up to take care of an incoming shipment of Reds and later tells Red hes been visited by an angel. This angel will pay off all of Henrys (substantial) gambling debts if hes willing to bet on himself, whatever that means. Red calls Liz and tells her about the legend that isnt, then drops the fact that Henry occasionally works for the Third Estate before jetting off to look some people in the eye. Red loads up Smoky and Dembe and takes the jet to spend time with a couple of his associates. Since Red was in prison a number of them have gone into business for themselves, some co-opting the schemes Red had going himself. Many had profited, so any one of them could have turned him in to the police. If he can look them in the eye, hell know whether or not a given criminal is the culprit. Yeah, hes still on that, and Dembe looks less than thrilled. He knows Liz is the one who turned Red in but continues to keep her secret. The first man Red visits gets off easy; he only has to turn over 15% of his profits. Red looks into his eyes and knows that he did not turn him in. The second guy? Not so much. Sure, he took advantage of a number of Reds associates to expand and rapidly grow his business, but he didnt turn Red in. But in this case, it doesnt matter. The criminal in question has been running meth. He lies about what he was doing initially, but Red knows all and he finds meth an unforgivable product. So, he shoots the guy dead. Back on the plane Red, Smoky, and Dembe continue their journey. Red has a couple of things to say to Smoky, though, and if you didnt see this coming from the beginning of the episode you havent been paying attention. Smoky is an expert at operations; he arranges the schlepping of Reds various goods throughout the country through various mediums. Could Smoky have helped the Meth Man move Reds unacceptable cargo? Why yes, yes he did. But only because he thought Red was dead. Yeah, not a good excuse. Red asks him whether hes ever had a dream about flying, then has Dembe throw him out of the plane. Now that he has that all sorted, Red and Dembe head on to Los Angeles Back in DC, the gang has figured out who Lady Luck is and what shes asking in return for clearing all of a gamblers debts. You just need to kill whoever Lady Luck tells you to. You can do it however you like, but once the death has been confirmed then your debt is erased. Henry killed a woman and botched the job; shes dead, but what was supposed to look like a robberydoesnt. Its easy to trace him, and when Ressler and Liz visit Henry's wife and explain the situation, so when Henry calls her she asks him to meet her at their favorite park, then gives the information to the FBI so they can arrest him. While a debt-free Henry is in the park talking to his wife, however, another man approaches Henry and tries to shoot him. You see, the person that you are being asked to kill is the person who took advantage of Lady Lucks offer before you. So, the man who tries to kill Henry is the one who will in turn be the next victim. And I dont think that Ned, the idiot who just wandered into the park and took a shot at Henry in plain sight, will be clearing any debts anytime soon. Lady Luck turns out to be Agatha, a 60-70ish woman whose husband had a serious gambling problem and who, coincidentally, won $87 million in the lottery. Lou took their son along with him while Agatha was in the hospital giving birth to their daughter and bought a lottery ticket, then ended up in a serious car accident that killed their son and seriously disabled him. Agatha looks upon the money as tainted now, blood money, the result of gambling. So she decided to use it to help families with gamblers like Lou by clearing the debts they have accumulated, which leaves the families a chance to start over, then killing the gambler in question so it wont happen again A visit to Agathas daughter Moira causes confusion: she tells Liz and Ressler her mother gave away all of the money and that her father died in the car crash. But Aram finds that a disability check has been mailed to Lou for years, and the team rushes to the address of the cabin cabin where he and Agatha live. They are luckily just in time to arrest Agatha, who had a couple piles of cash on her and was ready to go into hiding. And what was Lou doing? Why, he was in a gigantic iron lung, the result of his accident. Hes spent years in it, unable to speak or move, listening to Agatha telling him how shes having to save the innocent bystanders, as it were, of losers like him. She then tries to kill Lou by short-circuiting his iron lung by some kind of hookup involving tossing a toaster in to a sink full of water. At the Post Office, Moira is talking to her mother and trying to understand what shes done and why. In the end, though, Agatha will still be going to jail, and Moira joins her father to talk to him about how she will be taking care of him now. Oh, and the millions of dollars that her family won? It goes to her now, and Moira has decided that shes going to pick up where Mommy left off. Cue scary music. A side note this week's tale is Resslers never ending search for Katerina Rostova. A friend from the CIA who Ressler has been nagging the hell out of manages to get him the manifest from the ferry where Kat was last seen. There is only one person who isnt accounted for, but shes 81 years old. Hummmway too old for Katerina, but maybe it could be her mother? Lizzie may have a Gamma!!! And on Friday I hope well find out more. P.S. - Henry is also at the Post Office, his leg untreated (Ned did get one kind of decent shot in at the park). He is beyond thrilled to be alive and will tell anyone anything they want, including whatever he knows about the Third Estate. P.P.S. - I am going to be mourning Agatha for a long time, possibly until the series ends. And maybe beyond. I loved her. Loved her. Red could use her, he really could. She has just enough snark and sass that he could just drop her into his organization and she's fit right in. Oh, can you see her as a nursemaid for Red while he's ill? Break her out of jail, Red!!! Geneva (Switzerland) March 21, 2019 (SPS) the negotiating team of the Frente POLISARIO has met with the UN envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Kohler, to finalize the preparations for the second round table with Morocco in Geneva, Switzerland. The UN envoy brings together the parties to the conflict to break the blockade and give impetus to the peaceful process aimed at holding the referendum on self-determination. The new round of negotiations is "one more step in the political process to reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that allows the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara," says Horst Kohler. Sources close to the negotiating team of the Frente POLISARIO reiterated the full willingness of the Saharawi delegation to work in a constructive atmosphere that could aim to respect the aspirations of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence. The same source added that the delegation regretted the lack of will on the part of the Moroccan regime and the intentions to hinder the work of the UN. The second round table, March 21 and 23, will continue the first meeting held on December 5 and 6, 2018, and responds to resolution 2440 of the UN Security Council, which urges the parties, Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, sit down at the negotiating table. Other issues that will be present, with Mauritania and Algeria as observer countries, are the challenges facing the region and the need to join efforts to end a conflict that prevents the development of North Africa. The UN Security Council meets in April to analyze the progress made and the renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).SPS 125/090/TRA Apr 16th, 2019 The protein snack brand Fulfil Nutrition has unveiled another flavor for its flagship, vitamin and mineral infused protein bar. Fans of the Ireland based brand will know the product already has plenty of tastes to choose from with over ten different flavors including Triple Choc Deluxe and Strawberry & Vanilla. The newest addition to the Fulfil protein bar family is a more traditional taste with Chocolate Peanut Butter featuring a peanut butter center topped with a milk chocolate coating. An entire bar provides the usual 20g of protein with 15g of carbohydrates, less than 2g of sugar, 9.5g of fat, and 212 calories. While Fulfil has announced the new flavor, the Chocolate Peanut Butter protein bar is not yet available for purchase but will be in stores and on shelves soon. The brand is saying it will be in all the usual UK locations one week from now on Tuesday the 23rd of this month. Apr 15th, 2019 Last week Ghost released its long-awaited weight loss supplement, Ghost Burn, in both the US and Europe, in a variety of flavors. The product has actually only been given a limited launch in those parts of the world, with Australia and New Zealand being the only countries getting the supplement permanently. Just as the brand promised, this week Ghost Burn is now available down under with the major Australia retailer Massive Joes being one of the first to stock the fat burner. It is the same version that launched in the US and Europe with all three of its flavors in Mango, Warheads Green Apple, and Warheads Watermelon. Over at Massive Joes, a full 40 serving or 20 maximum serving tub of Ghost Burn will cost you $74.95 (53.78 USD) which isnt too far off the regular price of the weight loss product in the US at $44.99. Measles may be advancing through some Orthodox Jewish communities, but its not the first time Jews have been accused of spreading disease. More than one outbreak over the course of history has, for one reason or another, been blamed on Jews. Global data released by the World Health Organization shows a 300 percent increase in the number of reported measles cases in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. In the Northeast, the focus has largely been on the Orthodox Jewish community. Some sects raise a religious objection to vaccinations, a stance that has caused concern among health officials and politicians. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in some zip codes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn following a measles outbreak affecting the Orthodox Jewish community. As Passover approaches, we need to do all we can to ensure more people get the vaccine, Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said in a release. In Rockland County, New York home to a large Orthodox Jewish community county executive Ed Day attempted to block unvaccinated children from schools, places of worship and other public places, as lohud.com reported. According to Susan L. Einbinder, a professor of Hebrew, Judaic studies and comparative literature at the University of Connecticut, the history of the Jewish diaspora and disease outbreaks raises some questions of cultural sensitivity. Early 20th century history tells us that big mistakes were made in this regard, she said. Presumably we are savvier now, but you never know. The association between Jewish communities and Bubonic plague is well known, though Einbinder said it was unique to the second pandemic between 1347 and 1352. During that period, dozens of Jewish communities in central and northern Europe were attacked by their Christian neighbors, who accused them of deliberately poisoning air or water to unleash disease, Einbinder said. At that time, Jews lived separated from their non-Jewish neighbors. They used different wells, and followed religious practices that encouraged bathing and hand-washing both before meals and after using the bathroom. Those divisions may have fueled local anti-Semitism. but todays measles outbreak has more in common with other epidemics. A better parallel to the measles story is the association of Jews with cholera and typhus in the early 20th century, Einbinder said, when an outbreak in New York targeted immigrants on the Lower East Side and ships waiting to land in New York's harbor. There are a few strands that connect the reaction to disease outbreaks. Foreigners are often blamed, according to Einbinder, as are physicians as in among the anti-vaccination movement health officials, the poor and homeless. Jews resurface as targets of accusations that they cause disease when they fall into one of these other categories, she said. With the cholera and typhus outbreaks of the early 20th century, Russian Jews were accused, though so were Irish immigrants, suggesting more an anti-immigration sentiment than anti-Semitism. The accusations were not so much about Jews as Jews, but Jews as poor and foreign immigrants/refugees crammed into extremely unsanitary living spaces in the slums of the Lower East Side and on board ships, Einbinder said. Though she said today's measles outbreak does and does not have parallels to some of these earlier outbreaks the cause of plague, for example, was not known and there were no vaccines to avoid before the modern era Einbinder said there may be some lessons to be learned I would be interested in knowing, she said, what kinds of discussions are being held among health officials in New York state about the need for cultural sensitivity in negotiating with the local heads of the affected Jewish communities, and how they are enlisting go-betweens, even translators, how they are managing implementation of quarantine and segregation as they try to control further spread of the measles. FAIRFIELD On Palm Sunday, churchgoers celebrated Mass at Notre Dame, the emblematic cathedral in the heart of Paris. At around 6 p.m. the next day, the entire world watched helplessly as the cathedral was ravaged by flames. A group of Fairfield Warde High School students, in France until April 20 with French teachers Rabia Mairech and Steve Farkas as part of an exchange program, had just visited Notre Dame the day before, on April 14. What a tragedy! Mairech wrote via email Monday evening. We were at Notre Dame (Sunday) in the afternoon. It was a beautiful scene, seeing people leaving with palms in their hands after a beautiful Mass with smiles in their face and full of love for the world. Today, it was horror, Mairech said. Its sad. Mairech said the school group was in the southern town of Nimes that evening after flying out from Paris Monday morning. Greenwich students from Stanwich School were also in the area that same Sunday. More News Greenwich students among the last to visit Notre Dame According to reports, the more than 800-year-old Paris cathedral is structurally sound, but with parts of its vaulted ceiling exposed to the elements. Hugues Seguinet, a 24-year-old Parisian law student at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, saw the smoke as he was driving home from school on Saint Germain Boulevard. From his home on street Monsieur-le-Prince, a mere 10-minute walk from the cathedral, Seguinet could see the column of smoke rising through the air. It was kind of spectacular to see all the police cars and firemen trucks driving very fast along the Boulevard Saint Germain, Seguinet said, referring to the fire as one of the most tragic things to happen in France in the last decade. French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild Notre Dame and that an international fundraising campaign would be launched April 16. Back in Fairfield, French natives felt loss, but also hope in their hearts. Sylvie Lobsenz, president of Literakid, LLC, a language instruction company, was at a nail salon when her phone started blowing up with WhatsApp and Facebook messages from friends in Paris. When Lobsenz looked at the television, the images shocked her immediately. It was traumatizing, but its not the first time this has happened in France, Lobsenz said Tuesday. A lot of castles and cathedrals like the one at Rennes were bombed during the world war. They survived and were rebuilt and its going to be the same for Notre Dame, but its going to take a lot of time and money. Lobsenz, a native of Perpignan, a city in southwest France, has lived in the United States for 25 years, most of that time in Connecticut. She visits her home country every summer and every trip includes a visit to Notre Dame. Last time I visited, we went inside the tower and I remember looking from inside at where the bell is. You can see all the wooden structure, Lobsenz said. Investigators in Paris are attempting to determine the cause of the fire. Artworks rescued from the fire will be transferred to the nearby Louvre Museum, reports say. Its traumatizing but its not a definitive loss. I know itll be rebuilt, itll be very beautiful and rebuilt in an identical way, Lobsenz said. I hope I can see it again, its going to take so long. Dorothee Ancel, a Parisian who has lived in Westport for 11 years, was home when she also received news from her friends back in Europe. Its very devastating news, I remember growing up with (Notre Dame), Ancel said. Its something that we will never see rebuilt just as it was in our lifetime. Itll take years and years and years. Ancel, who was in France only last Christmas, recognized she may not live long enough to see Notre Dame rebuilt entirely, but said shes looking forward to keeping a positive attitude. My hope is that they can save what is left and rebuild something that can withstand anything, even a big fire, for the next 100 years, Ancel said. humberto.juarez@hearstmediact.com STAMFORD Two female shoplifting suspects were arrested on robbery charges after they allegedly began fighting with store security officers and police over the weekend. Macys security called police on Friday at about 3:15 p.m. when a girl was reportedly fighting with store security. The 15-year-old was screaming profanity and vulgar language at the top of her lungs, Lt. Nick Montagnese said. Security had seen two girls take items into the fitting room and come out with fewer pieces. The missing items were later discovered to have been stuffed into an oversized, pink bag. When they attempted to walk out without paying for the items, the duo was stopped by security, at which point they became aggressive, combative and confrontational, Montagnese said. The 15-year-old struck the security offer in the right arm and right side of face and pulled his shirt so hard it had a tear in it, Montagnese said. The girl then kicked the responding female officer multiple times in both knees and arms. As a result, she was charged with assault on a police officer, third-degree robbery, possession of burglars tools, larceny and carrying a dangerous weapon. As well as having mace in her purse, the girl also had a pair of wire cutters in her possession. The other girl, a 16-year-old from Bridgeport, was charged with larceny. On Sunday, police were called to Lord & Taylor on a report of a combative shoplifter. Store security said, while watching store security cameras, a middle-aged woman suspected of two earlier shoplifting incidents came into the store and was seen putting a pair of sunglasses into her purse and walking out. When the woman was stopped, she allegedly bit the female security officer on her left hand, Montagnese said, and attempted to push past her in order to escape. The female security officer and a co-worker brought the woman back to the asset protection offices and called police. Linda OConnor, 53, of Commons Park South, Stamford, was charged with third-degree robbery, sixth-degree larceny and criminal trespass. The security officer refused medical treatment. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com T he greatest buildings are not just symbols of their cities, but tell their stories, too. They grow, change, suffer and are reborn: as Notre-Dame will be in Paris, on a morning when France gives thanks for what has been saved from the flames, even as it mourns what has been lost. The hideous sight of a burning, plunging spire seemed for a moment to show all was lost: that the building would be reduced to stone and smoke. The country woke to better news. The fire is out. The structure is safe. Already the rescue effort that stopped the blaze has become another part of its history: the firefighters who prevented the blaze spreading into its ancient bell towers and, it seems, saved some of the greatest treasures, the stained-glass rose windows; the sight of Frances President, Emmanuel Macron, rushing to the scene; the extraordinary images from inside as the inferno destroyed the wooden roof above. All that has gone can be rebuilt, and will be, as donors promise hundreds of millions of euros for the work. The cathedral has experienced catastrophe before, not least during the French Revolution when it became first a temple to the Cult of Reason and then, much damaged, a warehouse. It was restored and, as Simon Jenkins writes for the Evening Standard today, some of what was lost, including the spire, dates from that relatively recent restoration. Now another generation has a chance to leave its mark. But it was through skill, bravery and chance that greater destruction was prevented. And in that lies a warning to our city as well as Paris. Are our monuments safe? Not just Londons cathedrals such as St Pauls, on the site of a Gothic rival to Notre-Dame lost in the Great Fire of 1666 but others, such as the Tower of London and the Palace of Westminster. Parliaments medieval buildings were burnt in a famous fire in 1834, with only Westminster Hall surviving. Now it is in a terrible state, restoration held back by rows over the scale of what is needed and its cost. MPs have had the clearest possible warning that this cant go on. Three years ago a report pointed to the risk of a major conflagration in the tinderbox building. But work is set to drag on into the mid-2020s. Future generations will not forgive our politicians if they ignore the warnings and disaster follows. A political system in flames is bad enough without the building going up too. In Paris today there is shock and relief that the disaster was not greater. It could happen here, too. Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /64 Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Aerial image if Notre-Dame Cathedral fire AP An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A man watches the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral burn AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris AP Seen from across the Seine River, smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with firemen as they fight against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside Reuters People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris AP The Notre Dame cathedral spire collapses EPA Flames as a fire engulfs the world famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames billows into the sky as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke billows into the sky as a fire rips through the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The gothic cathedral attracks millions of tourists every year AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out Reuters Bright orange flames lick the air during a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray and sing while flames engulf Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris AP Smoke billows across Paris following the Notre Dame fire Reuters Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns. AP General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) pay a visit to firemen fighting against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France EPA A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work last week Reuters Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images People stand on the banks of the Seine river as they look at a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The steeple engulfed in flames collapsing as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images US Brexit backstop Aa Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi is one of the most important politicians in the United States. When she says things about our country, shes got the clout to back her words with action. What shes just done is point out that there is a backstop to the backstop. That means that even if a Brexiteer prime minister tried to jeopardise an open border, the US would use its power to stand firm. Three years ago Barack Obama was criticised by Brexit fantasists for saying that Britain would be at the back of the queue for a deal, if it voted for Brexit. He was right then just as Ms Pelosi is today. Battle to save city lives It is a bleak thought, but lessons from the battlefield can save lives in London, as Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson explained this morning when he visited the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. The Ministry of Defence is putting 5 million towards the development of an injector pen which can control bleeding from injuries such as knife wounds. Paramedics and police officers should be able to carry them. O ne of those reliable tropes in the Brexit argument is the notion that it is the fault of a remote Establishment. The charge suits both sides, which should make us suspicious. The nature of elites is shifting faster than our determination to pigeon-hole our foes allows. Yesterday, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid, one of the hats in the ring for the PMs job, laid out his backstory as the son of a hard-working family of Pakistani immigrants. His education via comprehensive school followed by sixth-form college is the norm for the vast majority of families, yet it is deemed at Westminster to be a wondrous asset in connecting the bearer to the rest of Britain. Of course, Javids pitch enhances his appeal on the (sensible) Right of the party and raises his profile against contenders (Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt) with a more privileged background. The Home Secretary has embraced longer-term solutions to the knife crime rise, layered on top of instant fixes. The deeper concession was that poverty and environment shape lives: Its not so difficult to see how instead of being in the Cabinet, I could have actually turned out to have a life of crime. The social media backlash wails that this is out of bounds, because Javid made a small fortune as a banker and was an early-stage Thatcherite at university, therefore part of a hated Tory elite. So is Javid a part of the Establishment or not? As a Cabinet-level politician with a career as a credit trader and banker, he has money, connections and the convening power to bring people together. Anne McElvoy Todays multi-layered Establishments mean that you can be both inside and outside them (Javid once observed that he could not get a job at a British investment bank and headed to Chase Manhattan in New York). I have watched this change in my own lifetime, coming from far outside a Southern beltway. My local MP in North-West Durham would be Laura Pidcock, the energetic Corbynite who is not fond of friendships outside her own political tribe. A sign of alternative Establishments is also a tendency to cliquey-ness. A new Left Establishment, with a tightly knit team of loyal and inward-looking souls, is as much a club as the reviled Blairites were one of lawyers (Lord Irvine, Dame Helena Kennedy, Lord Falconer) and centrist business folk (Lord Browne, Lord Levy we are spotting a trend with the peerages and gongs here). Few of them are at the heart of political life now. That is a sign of how changeable our times are. Looking back at a Tatler piece of potential A-list candidates for the 2010 election, I noticed how the magazine displayed an unerring instinct for finding people, including Brexit warrior-queen, Annunziata Rees-Mogg, who were not about to get into Parliament a sign that glossy elites do not always get their way. This entertaining political sociology takes a more toxic turn when used to score points on how or whether to do Brexit. As Alec Baldwins Blake in David Mamets Glengarry Glen Ross might observe, we are always closing and never quite gone. For Leavers, the notion of the EU as an over-lunched bureaucracy imposing a continental diktat on a proud and independent Britain was a powerful tool. Johnson now reckons the failure to leave the EU is down to a collapse of will by the British Establishment to deliver on the mandate of the people. Lets pass over a former foreign secretary pointing fingers at that Establishment thing; it is just as sloppy as its avatar on the other side of the fence the notion that the best way to win the Remain argument is simply to point out that the Rees-Moggs have money or, in Chuka Umunnas words: Brexit is a project of the elite, for the elite. "Ideas matter. Policies matter. However, where you went to school does not matter" No: Brexit was a project with which the many, not the few, earnestly engaged. So those serious about overturning it, or with a dwindling hope of a softer version, will need a better understanding of what happened and mode of campaigning to stop us getting further into self-hating misery. An even less appealing version of this Brexiteer-bashing wields social background and education as its weapon, Yes, its tempting to spot an irony in the Rees-Mogg family leading a schism in the early Brexit church, with Jacob edging toward the PMs deal, while sister Annunziata goes all in with the Brexit Party. However, the fault is in the politics, rather than a family steeped in anachronistic self-importance. We might be tempted to note that Jeremy Corbyns team is up the workers one minute and posh the next his own grammar education and prosperous upbringing; a Winchester-educated strategist and senior aide who identifies as an actual fighting communist while hailing from a dynastic aristocratic family. Heavens, even Bernie Sanders turns out to be a millionaire. It doesnt really affect your right to have a view or act on it. George Orwell was an Etonian and a socialist. What matters is that Orwells commitment to free societies and opposition to damaging ideology came when others of his ilk were throwing their callous lot in with Stalin. We have come full circle when a Left-wing website dubs Labours earthy Jess Phillips the Establishment candidate because she often dares to disagree with her leader. Ideas matter. Policies matter. Refusals to factor in the damage your beliefs can cause matter. Where you went to school does not: or at least not in the same way. We have had many failures in the past couple of decades, but also some marked successes as a meritocracy that has propelled a greater variety of people to the fore in public life. Many will end up in positions, Left, Right and Centre, dubbed the Establishment. Far simpler to shout about that than listen to what someone you dont agree with might have to say. 1920 Superintendent Sophia Stanley (served 1918-1922, seated), the first Superintendent of Women Police, and three women police officers (left to right: Elinor J Robertson, served 1919-1922, Charlotte Grace Dixon, later Mrs Anderson, served 1920-1924, and Sergeant Violet Butcher), wearing the new Stanley Uniform, introduced in 1919. The tunic was single-breasted with six metal buttons down the front and a snake clasp belt. The skirt was mid-calf length. Black woollen stockings were worn, and boots with a one-inch heel. The helmet was made of cork and hard felt. Although Harrods fitted and made the uniform, the material was coarse and uncomfortable. In 1926 changes were made to make it more comfortable and practical. Metropolitan Police Authority/Mary Evans Picture Library Milan Design Week is the worlds most famous furniture and interior design fair and over the past few days (from April 9-14th) the design cognoscenti and creative enthusiasts from around the world have hit the Italian metropolis for a pre-eminent aesthetic-intrigued adventure. Comprising Salone del Mobile Milano (staged at the exhibition centre of Fiera Milano in Rho-Pero) and Fuorisalone (a collection of off-site events), there was no shortage of design exhibitions and installations to see and experience. After traversing the massively packed Italian city, I managed to consume the most tantalizing offerings for what is certainly the fashion week for furniture. Here's my pick of the top five. Avant Toi Eden Jungle Avant Toi Avant Toi staged an exhibition which deluged onlookers into a multi-textural tropical enclave in the middle of Milan. Curated by co-founders (and siblings) Mirko and Fiorella Ghignone, and realized by art director Yuri Catania, the installation reflected the brands experimental approach in the treatment of cashmere, wool, silk and linen and served as the backdrop against which the Avant Toi collection was presented. Avant Toi Every nook, be it the jungle bathroom or bedroom, featured Avant Toi Home seamlessly. The showcase also featured live dance performances and audio-visual effects all providing artistic liveliness typical of the polychromatic essence which defines Avant Toi. Dimore Gallery Interstellar and Visioni Paola Pansini/Dimore Studio Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, the creative duo behind Dimore Studios, are the cool kids of the design scene in Milan. This was evident by the dizzying lines outside their two exhibitions during Milan Design Week - Visioni and Intestellar. Paola Pansini/Dimore Studio At their studio they presented Visioni, a reproduction of seven pieces from iconic Italian artist-designer Gabriella Crespi, reimagined in brass, bronze and lacquer. Not too far away at the former Cinema Arti they also unveiled their latest furniture collection, Interstellar, a dark contemporary offering. As if that wasn't enough, Dimore also presented collaborations with Dior, French malletier, Au Depart and Soho House. Marni Moon Walk Stefano Candito Marni took us to the moon for Salone del Mobile 2019, paying tribute to the Universe with its presentation Moon Walk. Their Salone locale featured a miscellany of Marni-esque furnishings produced using unexplored materials each crafted by Colombian artisans who have been working with the house for years. Stefano Candito The colourful and quirky pieces included coffee tables, stools in the shape of animals, rocking chairs and varied objects d'art, with some of the profits benefiting the OTB Foundations Future Brain project. All in all, the mood was very modern and very Marni. Fondazione Pini The Accursed Hour Fondazione Pini There were no new furniture or lighting fixtures to be displayed at Fondazione Pini but there was a swarm of 15,000 black butterflies which engulfed the entire space. This visually arresting scene was Carlos Amorales exhibition, The Accursed Hour. Fondazione Pini Curated by Gabi Scardi, the exhibition focuses on the Mexican artists reflection on the theme of human-to-human violence and taps multiple elements from his prior installations, Black Cloud and Life in the Folds. Certainly, it was a must-see for the Design Week set. This exhibition stays open until July 8th. Trussardi A Friend Fondazione Nicola Trussardi Fondazione Nicola Trussardi commissioned Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama to construct a public installation and Mahamas monumental creation mesmerized all of Milan he blanketed the two neoclassical tollgates of Porta Venezia in a gigantic patchwork of used jute cocoa sacks. Fondazione Nicola Trussardi Seen all over social media, Mahamas creation was also one of the most visible in Milan thanks to its location and sheer size. Although this was launched at Milan Art Week, the creation coinciding with Milan Design Week amplified its presence. Versace Versace Home Courtesy Versace In a rare move, Gianni Versaces private home at Via Gesu 12 was opened to the public to present Versaces latest Home Collection. Eccentric and effusive with colour, the exhibition featured collaborations with American interior designer Sasha Bikoff and Canadian artist Andy Dixon. Courtesy Versace T he creator of crime-busting animated hero Rastamouse has run into legal trouble of his own after he was accused of being a benefits cheat. Author Michael De Souza was the brains behind the hit CBeebies show, thrilling children with tales of Rastamouse and his reggae band Da Easy Crew as they went around solving mysteries in the neighbourhood. The Rastafarian rodent, voiced on TV by Reggie Yates, told fans to take it easy as he split his time between playing music and solving crimes for the President of Mouseland. But De Souza, 64, may now be in trouble himself, accused of receiving thousands of pounds in state handouts while hiding his earnings as a self-employed author. He was a swimming teacher to children of A-listers including Stella McCartney and Sir Richard Branson before turning his hand to writing and creating his beloved mouse hero in collaboration with author and illustrator Genevieve Webster. Facing trial: Michael De Souza Books such as Rastamouse And Da Bag-a Bling and Rastamouse And the Crucial Plan were written in Afro-Caribbean patois as the hero set about his mission to make a bad ting good. The character eventually transferred to television in 2011, running for three series and 52 episodes on CBeebies until 2015. De Souza was charged last month with benefit fraud by allegedly failing to declare his earnings as an author to the Department for Work and Pensions. It is said he claimed housing benefit and Jobseekers Allowance throughout most of 2017 while failing to declare you were self-employed as an author and in receipt of earnings. The Trinidad-born writer appeared at Southwark crown court yesterday to deny the charges. Judge Michael Gledhill gave him permission to keep his hat on, in accordance with his Rastafarian religion, for the brief hearing. De Souza created Rastamouse while caring for his young daughter, building on stories and characters he had invented to help his swimming students overcome their fears. He said he hoped the character, who started life as a cash-strapped mouse struggling to make ends meet after losing his council house, would help to bridge the gap between different communities in the UK. Theres a lot of rhetoric about integration, but were not dealing with the rhetoric. Were dealing with the reality of it, he said. De Souza was released on bail by Judge Gledhill on the condition that he continues to live at his home address in Westbourne Green. He is due to stand trial at the same court in the week beginning July 22. Description GIS 16 April, 2019: A 34 year-old Sierra Leonean was arrested on Thursday 11 April 2019 by the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the SSR International Airport with heroin worth around Rs 13.5 million. In fact, the odd demeanour of the Sierra Leonean in the Green Channel of the SSR Airport led officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) to question him on the purpose of his visit to Mauritius. The male passenger declared that he was a journalist employed by a media company in Sierra Leone and that he came to Mauritius to cover the State Visit of the President of the Republic of Kenya. His luggage was scanned and examined and nothing incriminating was found. The Sierra Leonean, to the questions of the CANS officers, said he could not recall the name of the President of Kenya and he was inconsistent in his replies. His travel documents also revealed that he had travelled to Ethiopia and Guinea Conakry before boarding the EK flight from Dubai to Mauritius. Based on the above risk indicators, it was suspected that the passenger had swallowed drugs and he was referred to the ADSU for a medical check. At the hospital, the Sierra Leonean purged 50 pellets suspected to be heroin. A lady, in her seventies, who had come to meet the passenger at the airport was also arrested. T his is the terrifying moment a knifeman attacked four police officers with a nine-inch blade after luring them to a north London home with a hoax call. "Savage" Alex Traykov, 20, stabbed two of the officers in the head in the unprovoked attack, a court heard. He was today found guilty of three counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of attempted grievous bodily harm. After Traykov was convicted at the Old Bailey, each officer spoke out to describe how the attack, which happened in Liverpool Road, Islington, has impacted their lives. A CCTV still of the attack in Liverpool Road, Islington. Traykov is pictured behind the front gate of the property / Met Police Pc Rafal Kedziora, who sustained life-changing injuries after being stabbed in the head, said the mental scars may never heal. Pc Ben Thomson, who was cut across his left arm, asked: Who can say how we have been injured mentally? Traykov, of Redhill, Surrey, made a 999 call under a false name, Soloman, late on October 6 last year. He said there was a fight happening between two men, which was a lie. Pc Istarlin Said Ali rang the front doorbell, with Traykov answering it holding his right hand behind his back. Pc Said Ali warned her colleagues he had something in his hand. Convicted: Alex Traykov / Met Police As soon as she said this, Traykov raised his hand, revealing a large knife. As she tried to protect herself, he stabbed her in the back of the head, the court was told. She fell down the steps and Traykov began slashing at the other officers. He swung the knife at Pc Kedziora and struck him in the face, the blow disorientating him. Traykov moved forward, stabbing the officers multiple times with the knife. Pc Kedziora felt a number of intense blows to the back of his head. At this point, Pc Luna Watkins, who was left with a fractured wrist in the attack, discharged her Taser and the officers were eventually able to restrain the thug. The knife pictured in the street after the attack. It had a 23cm blade / Met Police The blade of the knife he used was nine inches (23cm) long. He was charged with attempted murder but a jury cleared him of this following the trial. Det Cons Ed Sehmer said after Traykov was convicted: This whole attack lasted only about 30 seconds, but was a traumatic and terrifying ordeal for officers, who were only going about their duty. Events such as this highlight the courageous work that police do every day, sometimes having to confront violent and dangerous criminals, who are determined to do them harm. These officers went to help someone they believed was in need of police assistance, not realising they were being lured to a trap and a chilling ambush awaited them. If my colleagues had not reacted so quickly to protect each other, the result of that night could have been deadly. All four officers are back on duty, he added. T he Commons will get a new vote on a customs union in a few weeks in order to try to break the Brexit deadlock, amid warnings that Theresa Mays Conservatives are walking into a wipe-out in the European elections. Veteran MP Frank Field told the Standard that he plans to move a motion with the Father of the House, Kenneth Clarke, to show that a smooth trading bloc is a solution that commands cross-party support. Mr Field said a backbencher-led move would also get Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn off the hook of having to sign a formal compromise deal that could trigger civil war in their parties. I think if it comes from the backbenches, neither of the party leaders can be accused of dividing their parties. I would be confident of getting it through, he said. Veteran MP Frank Field says he plans to move a motion for a second vote on a customs union / PA Mr Fields move came as polls showed Tory support plunging following Mrs Mays decision to allow European elections to go ahead if she fails to get her thrice-rejected withdrawal agreement through the Commons. A YouGov survey found the Tories down to 28 per cent in Westminster elections and 16 per cent in the European contest. The threat to the Conservatives was even cited in the European Parliament this morning as a factor that could save the EU from the poison of the Brexit shambles by forcing Mrs May to rip up her red lines and accept a compromise. TODO: define component type apester Senior MEP Guy Verhofstadt criticised the delay to Brexit, saying: The pressure to come to a cross-party agreement over Brexit is now gone. The proof of this? The first thing the House of Commons did after last weeks extension was to go on holiday. He warned: I fear most of all that it will import the Brexit mess into the European Union. And moreover that it will poison the upcoming European election. Mr Verhofstadt, who has clashed bitterly with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, went on: Never thought I would say this but maybe it will be Farage who can deliver a cross-party agreement as Labour and Conservatives risk to be wiped out during the EU elections. Mr Farage boasted to the European Parliament: The Brexit Party will sweep the board in these elections. He said that if Mrs May and Mr Corbyn reached a deal to cancel the election, his party would instead win the general election because the betrayal will be so complete and utter. In a speech to MEPs, European Council president Donald Tusk said he still believed the dream that Britain might abandon Brexit. G irls in primary schools will receive free sanitary products from early next year, the Government has announced. The move comes after last month's announcement that the products would be made available in secondary schools, which was criticised for not going far enough. But on Tuesday children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the scheme, fully funded by the Department for Education, will be extended to include younger schoolgirls. Amika George, who started the Free Periods campaign, welcomed the news. She said: "Free provision of menstrual products in all schools and colleges is something that Free Periods has been fighting for for over two years. Amika George, 18, the founder of campaign group Free Periods / PA Archive/PA Images "Access to menstrual products for all children in compulsory education will mean that every child can have access to the products they need, and no-one will have to miss school because of period poverty. "Every child should be able to go to school without wondering where their next pad or tampon will come from, and this will mean that no child will be held back from realising their full potential and being their very best." In February research from the Bloody Big Brunch indicated that more than a quarter of girls or women have missed either work or school because of period poverty. While it had been previously thought the problem had affected one in 10 women, the survey suggested that 27% have at times been unable to afford sanitary products. Children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi. / PA Announcing the scheme on Tuesday, Mr Zahawi said: "This Government is determined to ensure that no-one should be held back from reaching their potential - and wants everyone to lead active, healthy, happy lives. "That is why earlier this year we committed to fully-fund access to free sanitary products in all secondary schools and colleges in England. "After speaking to parents, teachers and pupils, we are now extending this to more than 20,000 primary schools so that every young person in all our schools and colleges gets the support that they need." T he Notre-Dame fire is a warning of the urgent need to renovate the crumbling Palace of Westminster and protect Britains historic architectural treasures, MPs said today. Parliaments multi-billion-pound restoration programme is not due to begin until the mid-2020s at the earliest. Fire wardens patrol the grounds 24 hours a day, frequently putting out small fires. The Palace of Westminster caught fire 40 times between 2008 and 2012 alone. Its maze of shafts, ducts and corridors means any fire, if it took hold, could spread rapidly. Meg Hillier, Labour MP and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the devastation in Paris and previous fires at Windsor Castle and York Minster were a tragic reminder of the risks. She added: It is a wake-up call we cannot keep putting this off. It is just not a safe building Every day I go in, I think, Could today be the day? There is only so long you can not fix the roof on your house. We are way beyond the patching up stage. Labour MP Chris Bryant said: Parts of the Palace are as old as Notre-Dame and we must make sure that every fire precaution is taken as the major work goes ahead. Notre Dame Cathedral fire: Before and after - In pictures 1 /18 Notre Dame Cathedral fire: Before and after - In pictures Notre Dame Cathedral seen across the River Seine in Paris PA PA People attending a mass at the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris on 26th June 2018 AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Scaffolding during the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on 27 March 2019 AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A general view of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris from Montparnasse Tower on 15 July 2017 AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A view of the central altar inside of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP The steeple Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on 26 June 2018 AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Worshippers as they arrive to take part in a mass at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris on 26th June 2018 AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images God knows weve had enough warnings. Outgoing Lords chief David Leakey, who stood down as Black Rod last year, said: Notre-Dame puts more pressure on politicians to do what is necessary to save the building. They have had the wake-up call, the question is how regularly the snooze button can be hit. A spokesman for Westminster Abbey said that in a recent exercise two fire engines arrived within five minutes of an alarm, quickly followed by others from all over London. A Sky News anchor is facing a torrent of criticism after she turned an interview about housing into a rant about young tenants. Sky broadcaster Jayne Secker was speaking to Kirsty Archer, a recently evicted tenant, about the high cost of living in London, when she launched an impassioned defence of landlords. Ms Archer had just explained that she and her friends could not afford Londons high rent prices when Ms Secker responded: But that's not the landlord's fault, is it? That's just the housing market. The news anchor then went on to identify as a landlord herself, saying: I suppose some would say, and I am speaking as someone who has rented flats and who also rents flats out, that especially with the younger generation, you very often find that the younger tenants don't really know how to do a great deal in homes. I, for example, have had tenants complaining that lights have popped because they don't know how to change lightbulbs. I've had tenants complain about heating and they haven't turned the boiler on. It's just very obvious things. Do you think you've found amongst your friends, perhaps, that you're aren't equipped with the necessary skills to rent? A bemused Ms Archer responded by describing the presenters comments as a bit patronising really. I mean we wont complain about things like a lightbulb, and if a landlord is p***** off by things like that surely the thing to do is communicate with each other rather than hitting an eject button and turning your lives upside down, she said. The Sky News anchor ended the interview there and apologised for her guests language. Social media users have been voicing their opinions since the broadcast on Monday. What language is she referring to at the end? "P***** off"? The anchor should apologize for her patronising and irrelevant rant, tweeted one user, an American journalist. While another said he hoped Ms Seckers tenants put prawns under the floorboards before they move out. One defender of the presenter wrote: Not sure how this fits with broadcast impartiality, but presenter makes some valid points. Tricky one--by declaring her interest she was arguably being transparent. If she hadn't done so she could have been accused of failing to be so. However, another user replied: I'm pretty sure the number of people living in mould-ridden housing or without functioning heating or a cooker is greater than the number of people who don't know how to change a lightbulb so no, I don't think her points were particularly valid." In the aftermath of the interview, Ms Secker took to Twitter to offer her apologies: "Clearly yesterday I got the tone and content of an interview wrong and it has upset many people. I am sure many of us will have made a mistake at work - unfortunate for me mine is a lot more public than most. O ne of Americas most senior politicians has shattered Brexiteer claims that Britain can stroll into a valuable trade deal with Donald Trump after leaving the European Union. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, said there was no chance whatsoever of a free trade agreement if it risked undermining the Good Friday Agreement. MPs welcomed her warning as slaying a unicorn claim of Brexit backers that international trade deals would make up for lost trade with the EU. Nicky Morgan, chairwoman of the Commons Treasury committee, said: Nancy Pelosis comments make it clear that any Brexiteer whose views and actions put at risk peace in Ireland is unlikely to secure a trade deal between the UK and the US. John Bolton, Donald Trumps national security adviser, has said the UK will be top of the queue for a trade deal with the US. Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a leading Brexiteer, said last July that US-UK trade could rise by 40 billion a year by 2030 after Brexit. Tough talk: Nancy Pelosi made the comments during a discussion at the London School of Economics / EPA But former attorney general Dominic Grieve said: Nancy Pelosi spelled out some home truths that if the UK chooses to ignore its international obligations, other countries will notice. If we are doing trade deals with third countries, that will inevitably have a bearing on the goods flowing to and from Ireland, so these things really do matter. Mrs Pelosi spoke out last night to a packed lecture theatre at the London School of Economics. She warned that the Good Friday Agreement, which underpins peace in Northern Ireland, could not be bargained away in another agreement. She pointed out that any trade bill would require the backing of Congress, and that would not be guaranteed if the House believed it would lead to a renewal of the Troubles. First of all it is very hard to pass a trade bill in the Congress of the United States, so its no given anyway, she said. But if there were any weakening of the Good Friday accords there would be no chance whatsoever, a non-starter, for a US-UK trade agreement. Mrs Pelosi added: The Good Friday accords ended 700 years of conflict. This is not a treaty only its an ideal, its a value, its something thats a model to the world, something that we all take pride in. It was a model and other people have used it as a model and we dont want that model to be something that can be bargained away in another agreement. T he Notre Dame Cathedral, the scene of a devastating fire last night, is of huge historical and cultural significance to France and the world. The 12th century landmark has housed priceless artefacts, paintings and sculptures and some 13 million people now visit the site every year. The last time the cathedral suffered major damage was during the French Revolution, when statues of saints were hacked by anti-clerical hotheads. Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /64 Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Aerial image if Notre-Dame Cathedral fire AP An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A man watches the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral burn AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris AP Seen from across the Seine River, smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with firemen as they fight against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside Reuters People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris AP The Notre Dame cathedral spire collapses EPA Flames as a fire engulfs the world famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames billows into the sky as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke billows into the sky as a fire rips through the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The gothic cathedral attracks millions of tourists every year AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out Reuters Bright orange flames lick the air during a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray and sing while flames engulf Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris AP Smoke billows across Paris following the Notre Dame fire Reuters Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns. AP General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) pay a visit to firemen fighting against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France EPA A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work last week Reuters Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images People stand on the banks of the Seine river as they look at a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The steeple engulfed in flames collapsing as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images Barbara Drake Boehm, senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's medieval Cloisters branch in New York was visibly shell-shocked at the news fire had devastated the Notre Dame. "Civilization is just so fragile," she said. "This great hulking monument of stone has been there since 1163. It's come through so many trials." "It's not one relic, not one piece of glass - it's the totality. Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. / AFP/Getty Images "It's the very soul of Paris, but it's not just for French people. For all humanity, it's one of the great monuments to the best of civilization." The building survived the 1871 Commune uprising, as well as two world wars, largely unscathed. The construction of the building started in 1163, eventually becoming the site of the coronation for the 10-year-old King Henry VI as King of France, two years after his coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1429. It was also the site of the royal weddings of James V of Scotland to Madeleine of Valois in 1537 and Mary, Queen of Scots wed Dauphin Francis in 1558. This 1911, file photo shows the Notre Dame Cathedral, on the island called Ile de la Cite in Paris. / AP Following the French Revolution, the cathedral was the scene of Napoleon I's coronation as emperor, with Pope Pius VII leading the proceedings. Victor Hugo started writing The Hunchback Of Notre Dame in 1829, with the book published in 1831 and going on to become a key text in French literature and subject of film adaptations. Following France's liberation in the Second World War in 1944, a Te Deum service was held at the cathedral to give thanks to God. Video shows the moment spire on Notre Dame collapses A requiem mass for Charles de Gaulle, who led the French resistance during the war and later became president of France, was held in 1970. A similar service for Francois Mitterand would be held following his death in 1996. A week after the terror attacks on Paris in November 2015, crowds gathered at the cathedral to mourn the 132 lives lost in the massacre. In this file photo taken on March 23, 1947 a woman paints Notre-Dame Cathedral on the banks of the Seine river. / AFP/Getty Images As well as being the site for historical events, it also housed priceless artefacts and objects of huge cultural and historical significance. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed several of the most sacred had been saved, while culture minister Franck Riester said others were being held under lock and key at the city hall. The Crown of Thorns, purported to be a relic of the wreath of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion, was stored in the cathedral's treasury. French firemen enter the Notre-Dame Cathedral as flames are burning the roof cathedral. / EPA Ms Hidalgo tweeted it had been saved. She said the Tunic of Saint Louis, said to have been worn by Louis IX as he brought the Crown of Thorns to Paris and was kept at the cathedral, was also saved. One of Notre Dame's most striking features were its stained glass rose windows, which dated back to the 13th century, and adorned the north, south, and west facades, and were treasured artworks in their own right. It is hoped they were saved from the blaze after firefighters stopped its spread. Notre Dame also housed two monumental instruments, the Great Organ and the cathedrals bells. The organ, with nearly 8,000 pipes, dated back to the 1700s and was one of the largest in the world. The North Rose stained glass window at Notre Dame cathedral. / PA The bells, housed in the two western towers, rung out at key moments in Frances history. Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, was the cathedral's bell-ringer. It is believed the fire was prevented from spreading to the bell towers. The spire, which collapsed during the devastating fire, had undergone several changes in the building's history. The 13th-century spire was dismantled during the French Revolution and later rebuilt in the 1860s. A brass plate set in stone outside the building also marks "Point Zero" in Paris, the centre of the city. It is the point in France from where all distances to Paris are measured. A message engraved around the stone reads: "Point zero des routes de France". U S President Donald Trump is facing a challenge from within his own party for the 2020 White House election. William Weld, 73, has announced he will take on Mr Trump for the Republican nomination for president in next years elections. The former Massachusetts governor, who is known as Bill, made the announcement via various appearances on TV news and in magazine interviews published overnight. Im in! he tweeted on Monday, with the hashtag #Weld2020. He said: "It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln equality, dignity and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight. Mr Weld last won an election 25 years ago when he was re-elected governor of Massachusetts in 1994. He has called Mr Trump a schoolyard bully and accused him of leaving the nation in grave peril. In a three-minute campaign video, Mr Weld touts his credentials as governor of Massachusetts, including tax cuts, corruption crack-downs and welfare reforms. The video contrasts this with clips of provocative statements by Mr Trump, including comments about women. It finishes with the slogan: A better America Starts Here. In 2016, Mr Weld was the vice-presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party a US right-wing party that promotes shrinking the size and scope of government and taking a laissez-faire approach to capitalism. The businessman and attorney has had something of a testing relationship with the party he now seeks to lead. In 2008, he famously endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over Republican nominee John McCain, though he later said he regretted it. Having been a counsel along with Hillary Clinton (then Rodman) during the Watergate impeachment hearings, he remains a friend of the Clintons. As a Libertarian, he is expected to target disaffected Republicans and independents who share his view that Mr Trumps priorities are "skewed towards promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country". Mr Trump remains popular with Republican voters, despite generally poor approval ratings throughout much of his presidency. N ewspaper staff in a Maryland town today told of their rollercoaster of emotions after they were awarded a special Pulitzer Prize citation for its coverage and courage in the face of a massacre in its own newsroom. The Capital Gazette in Annapolis received the most prestigious prize in American journalism for publishing on schedule despite the deadliest attack on reporters in US history. Five colleagues died when gunman Jarrod Ramos, 39, who had a longstanding grudge against the newspaper, allegedly burst into the office and opened fire in June 2018. Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings, Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell said. No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends. Editor Rick Hutzell gives a speech to his staff / AP Colleagues hugged each other in stone silent memory of John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen as the citation was announced last night. The Pulitzer board awarded a citation with an extraordinary $100,000 (76,300) grant to further its journalism after putting out a newspaper the day after the massacre, along with sister title The Baltimore Sun, with the headline 5 shot dead at The Capital. Judges praised journalists, staff and the editorial board for an unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief. Mr Hutzell said: Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings. No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends. Its very difficult when you are reporting in some ways on yourself. Thats not what we do. Were behind the camera, not in front of it. Joshua McKerrow, a photographer for the newspaper, said the staff remained stone silent for about a minute after learning about the award. Reporter Chase Cook said: Its definitely bittersweet. Since its so connected to something so tragic, there was no euphoric pop-off of excitement. Ramos pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and his trial is scheduled to start in November. Ramos had a history of harassing the newspapers journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012 alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case. The suit was dismissed as groundless. Meanwhile the South Florida Sun Sentinel received the Pulitzer in public service for its coverage of the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, and for detailing the shortcomings in school discipline and security that contributed to the carnage. D onald Trumps airborne masterplan to extinguish the Notre Dame fire would have potentially destroyed the entire cathedral, French authorities have said. But Frances civil defence agency hit back at the suggestion, saying it could have made the entire building fall apart. Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control, it tweeted. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral. The main structure was ultimately saved by firefighters on the ground. Paris firefighters record devastation of Notre Dame blaze Mr Trump, who faced ridicule all over the world for his comments, later said of the cathedral at a news conference: Its one of the great treasures of the world probably if you think about it, I would say it might be, er, greater than almost any museum in the world. Paris Fire Brigade tackle Notre Dame Cathedral fire - in pictures 1 /41 Paris Fire Brigade tackle Notre Dame Cathedral fire - in pictures Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images firefighters working outside Notre Dame CathedraL AP A Firefighter rushing at the burning Notre Dame Cathedral AP Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet stands in front of Notre-Dame-de Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the Cathedral Reuters Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images Firefighters battle the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral BSPP via Getty Images French firefighters at the scene PA Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters look a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris as they cross the Archeveche Bridge on the Seine river AFP/Getty Images Firefighters gather near a fire truck as they work to contain a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Pari AFP/Getty Images French Firefighters check the hoses as they douse a fire that engulfed the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images French Firefighters try to extinguish a fire as flames are burning the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The Paris Fire Brigade are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters General view of the interior of the Notre-Dame Cathedral as flames are burning the roof cathedral in Paris, France EPA Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images A Firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images A Firefighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral burns AP Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters stand in an aerial lift after a massive fire destroyed the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France EPA Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters leave Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters spray water as they work to extinguish a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images French Firefighters enter the Notre-Dame Cathedral as flames are burning the roof cathedral. EPA "And its burning very badly. He added: At this moment they dont know, but they think it was caused by renovation. I hope that's, er, the reason. Renovation, what's that all about? On Tuesday afternoon, France's culture minister Franck Riester said the "most precious treasures" of Notre Dame have been saved after the devastating fire, including the crown of thorns Catholic relic and the tunic of Saint Louis. Zak Brown says McLaren is deciding whether to enter a full two-car team in the Indycar series in 2020 or 2021. "There is no doubt that the shareholders at McLaren would like to be in Indycar. I think it's more of a when than an if," he said. Brown, who is McLaren's team boss, skipped the Chinese grand prix last weekend and instead attended the Indycar race at Long Beach. Gil de Ferran ran the team on his behalf in Shanghai. "Gil is in China," Brown said, "but as soon as he comes back from China, he'll then start focusing on Indianapolis." Brown is referring to the Indy 500, which Fernando Alonso will tackle for the second time next month. But Brown says the 2019 challenge is different. "2017 was easy because Michael (Andretti) did the majority of the work and has got a lot of experience. This is a totally different experience. This is a full McLaren effort," he said. Indeed, former Force India boss Bob Fernley is running McLaren's Indycar programme, and Brown said a full-time team for the full series is on the cards. "It's a place that McLaren would like to race," he said. "We've been very focused on formula one, and we remain very focused on formula one. If we were to do it (Indycar) for 2020, we'd need to make that decision in the summer. "So it's nothing that we've ruled out for 2020, but if not then, we'll look towards 2021." When asked if Alonso is central to McLaren's Indycar plans, Brown answered: "No." Indeed, the Spaniard is not ruling out a return to F1 for 2020. (GMM) M illions have been donated to rebuild the Notre Dame as a huge blaze destroyed parts of the centuries-old cathedral. A fire chief in Paris confirmed the structure had been saved as a fire engulfed the 12th century landmark, causing its main spire and roof to collapse. It was confirmed the blaze was under control just after 3am local time on Tuesday by up to 400 firefighters. As fire crews were inside with cathedral workers trying to rescue treasures, others fought the inferno from outside. One fireman was seriously hurt, officials confirmed. Crews halt spread of fire after massive blaze engulfs Notre Dame Flames and smoke rise as the spire of Notre Dame cathedral collapses in Paris. / AP President Emmanuel Macron declared a national emergency as he addressed crowds on Monday evening outside Notre Dame. He vowed to rebuild the historic landmark as French billionaires pledged tens of millions of euros to restore the cathedral. Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /64 Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Aerial image if Notre-Dame Cathedral fire AP An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A man watches the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral burn AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris AP Seen from across the Seine River, smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with firemen as they fight against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside Reuters People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris AP The Notre Dame cathedral spire collapses EPA Flames as a fire engulfs the world famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames billows into the sky as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke billows into the sky as a fire rips through the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The gothic cathedral attracks millions of tourists every year AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out Reuters Bright orange flames lick the air during a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray and sing while flames engulf Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris AP Smoke billows across Paris following the Notre Dame fire Reuters Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns. AP General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) pay a visit to firemen fighting against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France EPA A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work last week Reuters Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images People stand on the banks of the Seine river as they look at a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The steeple engulfed in flames collapsing as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images The site is home to numerous paintings, sculptures and statues, a medieval organ and the stained-glass Rose Windows, which date back to the 13th century. The relic of the crown of thorns and a number of priceless artefacts were taken from the cathedral to Paris City Hall for safekeeping, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed on Twitter. "The crown of thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place," she said. Mr Macron said he would be looking "beyond our borders" as a fundraising campaign got under way to restore the building. In an emotional speech on Monday night, he said: "I am solemnly telling you tonight: this cathedral will be rebuilt by all of us together." An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. / AFP/Getty Images Describing Notre Dame as "our history" and "the epicentre of our lives", he added: "It's probably part of France's destiny and it will be our project for the years to come." Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, is quoted in the French media as saying he and his father, Francois, had decided to donate the money to help with the "complete reconstruction" of Notre Dame. The younger Mr Pinault is chief executive of international luxury group Kering, which owns brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and is the president of French holding company Groupe Artemis, which owns the Christie's auction house. Meanwhile, France's Fondation du Patrimoine, a private organisation which works to protect French heritage, said it would be starting an international appeal. It tweeted: "For our Lady to be reborn from her ashes we are launching an international appeal. All donations received will be paid in full to the restoration site." Across the pond, the US-based French Heritage Society said it would be establishing a restoration fund, while several appeals have already been set up on crowdfunding sites such as Go Fund Me and Just Giving. French firemen enter the Notre-Dame Cathedral as flames are burning the roof cathedral. / EPA Concerns over the scale of the damage to Notre Dame came as expressions of grief were sent to Paris from around the world. Prime Minister Theresa May sent her wishes to the French capital from her walking holiday with her husband in Wales, where she is spending the beginning of parliamentary recess. "My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame cathedral," she said. Donald Trump Notre Dame blaze a terrible sight to behold Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump tweeted some advice for the Paris Fire Brigade, suggesting "flying water tankers" to put out the flames. Former US President Barack Obama tweeted: Notre Dame is one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can. The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was praying for "everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps". He tweeted: "Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic NotreDame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ." President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker described the fire as a "horror". In a press release written in French, Mr Juncker said: "I am minute by minute the fire of which Notre-Dame de Paris is the prey. "Our Lady of Paris belongs to the whole of mankind. What a sad spectacle. What a horror. "I share the emotion of the French nation which is also ours." The fire began on Monday evening, with first reports emerging of smoke in the cathedral shortly before 6pm. The last visitors of the day were evacuated and the Paris Fire Brigade began to fight flames which had emerged from the cathedral's roof. Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. / AFP/Getty Images A French official said that while the source of the fire was unknown, it could be linked to renovation works to fix Notre Dame's historic stone walls and buttresses. The fire first brought down the cathedral's 315ft (96m) spire, and has spread to one of its two towers, which form its famed frontage. Loading.... Flames could be seen bursting through the roof as smoke billows over the iconic site which attracts millions of tourists every year. Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. / AFP/Getty Images Notre Dame is one of the city's oldest and most recognisable buildings, and work began on it in 1163. The original structure was completed nearly 200 years later, in 1345, and its name literally translates to "Our Lady of Paris". Some 13 million people now visit the Catholic landmark every year - more than 30,000 every day on average - according to its official website, and it is believed to be the most visited structure in the French capital. M ore than 500 million was today pledged to the restoration of the fire-ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris as France gave thanks for the miracle that spared much of the building and many of its priceless treasures. Two huge donations were made by French billionaires after the devastating blaze ripped through the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece on the Seine, raising fears that it could be completely destroyed. This was followed on Tuesday by a 200 million (170m) donation by L'Oreal and a 100 million (85m) donation by oil and gas company Total. But as a team of 400 firefighters doused the last of the flames that gutted the Parisian landmarks medieval roof and toppled the spire, it became clear that most of the contents had escaped destruction. Andre Finot, official spokesman for Notre-Dame, said the cathedrals trio of vast stained glass rose windows had somehow survived the inferno. The altar inside Notre Dame glints in sunlight inside the charred shell of the cathedral / Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP He told French broadcaster BFM Paris: From what I could see, the stained glass had not been touched, the three beautiful roses that date back to the 12th and 13th centuries were still there ... its a bit of a miracle, we are very relieved. The flames seen from above / AP Mr Finot, who had been able to enter the nave of the cathedral during the early hours this morning, also confirmed that the huge 18th century organ had escaped the flames. He said: The organ has not been burned at all. It has suffered some damage because of the strong pressure of the water. The two bell towers immortalised in Victor Hugos novel The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and the stonework of the 128 metre-long nave were also left relatively intact. An image of the golden cross on the altar illuminated by a shaft of light symbolised Notre-Dames escape from total devastation. The remarkable details came as it emerged that: One of Notre-Dames holiest relics, the crown of thorns claimed to have been placed on Christs head at the crucifixion, was rescued by the chaplain of the Paris fire brigade who went into the burning cathedral to save it along with the Blessed Sacrament. Firefighters formed a human chain to pull some of the landmarks most precious artworks and religious objects to safety during the nine-hour battle to put out the fire. A 100-metre crane was used to take 16 copper statues depicting apostles and evangelists from the roof. All were saved. The Paris fire brigade reported that two police officers and one firefighter have suffered non-life threatening injuries while tackling the blaze. Paris prosecutors launched an inquiry and detectives began interviewing restorers who were carrying out work on the spire that was suspected of being the source of the blaze. President Emmanuel Macron, who has suspended his campaign for the European elections, launched a national fundraising initiative to return the cathedral to its former glory and called on the worlds greatest talents to help. Firefighters work at the cathedral / Reuters French tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, was the first to make a donation, pledging 100 million (86 million) towards the rebuilding. Speaking to BBC Radio 4s Today programme, the businessman said he expects others to follow suit as it has to be a collective endeavour to renovate the Parisian landmark, saying that everyone with means and recourse should participate. A woman prays as the flames took hold / AP Mr Pinault said the money, which comes from his familys personal wealth and not his retail empire Kering, comes with no strings attached or ownership as to how it is used to repair Notre-Dame. He was followed this morning by multi-billionaire Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH luxury goods empire, who said he would give 200 million (172 million). Aftermath of Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /34 Aftermath of Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Firefighters spray water as they work to extinguish a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and French President Emmanuel Macron at Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images View of Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firemen inspect the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters leave Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Pedestrians and cyclists look at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building PA Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Firefighters secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Onlookers stand on the banks of the Seine river in Paris in the aftermath of a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman sits in despair near the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images French police patrol in a boat on the Seine River in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters have a break next to a statue of late Pope Jean-Paul II as they secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Pari AFP/Getty Images Media crews by the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building PA Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images View of the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters firefighters stand in an aerial lift after a massive fire destroyed the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA View of Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters In a statement the company said: The Arnault family and the LVMH group, in solidarity with this national tragedy, are associated with the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, symbol of France, its heritage and its unity. Parisiens look on at the damage the day after the fire / PA In the meantime, the LVMH Group puts at the disposal of the state and the concerned authorities all its teams, creative, architectural, financial, to help the long work of reconstruction on the one hand, and of fundraising on the other hand. Frances Heritage Foundation has launched a national collection on its website. Loading.... Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, said she wanted to organise an international conference of donors to welcome experts who are able to raise funds. European Council president Donald Tusk called on the blocs members to help France rebuild Notre-Dame, saying the site in Paris is a symbol of what binds Europe together. Hundreds of tourists were inside the cathedral when the fire broke out yesterday at 6.30pm, but all were safely evacuated within minutes. The inquiry into the cause of the fire is focused on Le Bras Freres, a company based in Jarny, north-eastern France. It is highly respected, and last year finished a major restoration programme of Reims Cathedral in eastern France. Some of its 200 specialist employees were working on the wooden and lead spire of Notre-Dame. T he altar inside Notre Dame cathedral stands glinting in a beam of sunlight after firefighters doused an inferno which ravaged the world famous landmark. The first pictures from inside the fire-ravaged cathedral emerged this morning as hundreds of firefighters brought the blaze under control. Amid the battle to stop the inferno teams raced to recover what treasures they could from the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece, which housed priceless artefacts and relics of huge religious and international significance. A smouldering pile of what appeared to be the charred remains of the roof and spire lay smoking in front of the altar, while a cross that had escaped destruction glowed from within the gloom. The altar inside Notre Dame was still standing after the fire / Philippe Wojazer/Pool via AP Gilded candlesticks, artworks and furnishings were among the treasures seen being rushed from the cathedral by a "human chain" before being bundled into trucks by police officers. Some of the cathedral's most precious objects, including a priceless replica of the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ on the cross, were rescued. The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside (REUTERS) / Reuters Paris firefighters confirmed this morning that the blaze had been fully extinguished. Franck Riester, the French culture minister, tweeted that "major parts of the treasure are now safe at the Paris City Hall". Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo added: "The crown of thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place." Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /64 Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Aerial image if Notre-Dame Cathedral fire AP An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A man watches the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral burn AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris AP Seen from across the Seine River, smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with firemen as they fight against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside Reuters People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris AP The Notre Dame cathedral spire collapses EPA Flames as a fire engulfs the world famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames billows into the sky as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke billows into the sky as a fire rips through the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The gothic cathedral attracks millions of tourists every year AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out Reuters Bright orange flames lick the air during a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray and sing while flames engulf Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris AP Smoke billows across Paris following the Notre Dame fire Reuters Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns. AP General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) pay a visit to firemen fighting against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France EPA A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work last week Reuters Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images People stand on the banks of the Seine river as they look at a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The steeple engulfed in flames collapsing as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images Despite fire racing through Notre Dame's roof, firefighters were able to prevent the blaze consuming the cathedral's main structure, including its two bell towers. There were hopes that the three famous rose windows, which date back to the 13th century, avoided catastrophic damage despite reports they had exploded in the heat of the inferno, while the bells that have rung out at key moments in France's history were thought to be safe. The catastrophic fire has left France mourning the devastation of its cultural and historic "epicentre" and sent shockwaves around the world. Loading.... The blaze, which broke out as the last crowds of tourists ended visits at around 6pm BST (7pm local time), torched the cathedrals roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of horrified Parisians. It was finally declared to be "completely under control" nearly nine hours later. Video shows the moment spire on Notre Dame collapses However, it is expected to take several days to completely extinguish all remaining pockets of fire, dampen down hotspots and secure the world-famous edifice. Attention is beginning to turn to what may have caused the landmark, part of which was being restored, to fall victim to such a disaster. The Paris prosecutors' office said police will carry out an investigation into "involuntary destruction caused by fire", indicating authorities are treating the blaze as a tragic accident for now. Arson, including possible terror-related motives, was earlier ruled out. Visiting the scene on Monday night, French president Emmanuel Macron said a national subscription would be launched to rebuild the national monument. Emmanuel Macron vows to rebuild Notre Dame It was reported that billionaire French fashion mogul Francois-Henri Pinault had pledged 100 million euros (86 million) towards the effort. "Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where we've lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives," Mr Macron said. "It's the story of our books, our paintings. It's the cathedral for all French people, even if they have never been. But it is burning and I know this sadness will be felt by all of our citizens." Crews halt spread of fire after massive blaze engulfs Notre Dame Concerns over the scale of the damage to Notre Dame came as expressions of grief were sent to Paris from around the world. Prime Minister Theresa May sent her wishes to the French capital from her walking holiday with her husband in Wales, where she is spending the beginning of parliamentary recess. "My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame cathedral," she said. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted: "Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ. Nous sommes avec vous." There were also messages of support from US president Donald Trump, former leaders Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and a stream of world leaders. Notre Dame is one of Paris's oldest and most recognisable buildings, and work began on it in 1163. The original structure was completed nearly 200 years later, in 1345, and its name literally translates to "Our Lady of Paris". Some 13 million people now visit the Catholic landmark every year - more than 30,000 every day on average - according to its official website, and it is believed to be one of the most visited structures in the French capital. W orld leaders have sent messages of goodwill to Paris as the city woke up to the aftermath of the Notre Dame fire. Despite extensive damage, the 850-year-old cathedral remained standing on Tuesday morning, with its two towers saved by firefighters. Hundreds of the citys pompiers tackled the historic blaze through the night, battling to stop it wreaking complete destruction after flames torched the roof, sending its spire crashing to the ground before crowds of horrified Parisians. Prime Minister Theresa May sent her wishes to the French capital from her walking holiday with her husband in Wales, where she is spending the beginning of parliamentary recess. The Gothic cathedral suffered extensive damage in the huge blaze / Reuters She said: My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at Notre Dame cathedral. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted: "Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire - and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ. Nous sommes avec vous." Former US president Barack Obama shared his condolences and a message to rebuild "as strong as we can. He added: "Notre Dame is one of the world's great treasures, and we're thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. The cathedral's spire collapsed after the massive fire erupted / Reuters "It's in our nature to mourn when we see history lost - but it's also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can." Donald Trump said: So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! God bless the people of France! Michelle Obama, who was in Paris on Monday as part of her book tour, said: "My heart aches with the people of France. The majesty of Notre Dame - the history, artistry, and spirituality - took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be. Loading.... European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "I'd like to say words of comfort and solidarity with the French nation, also as citizen of Gdansk, 90 per cent destroyed and burnt, later rebuilt. You will also rebuild your cathedral! From Strasbourg, French capital of the EU, I call on all 28 States to take part in this task. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, also said: "Our Lady of Paris belongs to the whole of mankind. What a sad spectacle. What a horror. I share the emotion of the French nation which is also ours. South Korean president Moon Jae-in said the damage was "a loss for all of us" and called for the world to come together to rebuild the Paris landmark. Mr Moon said the French people's "spirit of liberty, equality and fraternity will never be dashed by flames". Aftermath of Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /34 Aftermath of Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Firefighters spray water as they work to extinguish a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and French President Emmanuel Macron at Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images View of Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firemen inspect the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters leave Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Pedestrians and cyclists look at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building PA Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Firefighters secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Onlookers stand on the banks of the Seine river in Paris in the aftermath of a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman sits in despair near the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France Reuters Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images French police patrol in a boat on the Seine River in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters have a break next to a statue of late Pope Jean-Paul II as they secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Pari AFP/Getty Images Media crews by the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire which destroyed much of the building PA Firefighters continue to secure Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images View of the Notre Dame cathedral after the fire in Paris AP Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters Firefighters work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris Reuters firefighters stand in an aerial lift after a massive fire destroyed the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA View of Notre-Dame Cathedral after a fire devastated large parts of the gothic gem in Paris, France Reuters Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga also expressed his sympathy, saying: "Its damage is a loss to the world and our hearts ache." S taff at a Maryland newspaper experienced some "rollercoaster moments" as it won a special Pulitzer Prize citation for its coverage and courage in the face of a massacre in its own newsroom. "Clearly, there were a lot of mixed feelings," Capital Gazette editor Rick Hutzell told The Associated Press on Monday. "No one wants to win an award for something that kills five of your friends." The Capital Gazette, based in the Maryland capital city of Annapolis, published on schedule the day after the shooting attack that claimed five staffers' lives. It was one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in US history. The man charged in the attack had a longstanding grudge against the paper. Mr Hutzell, as editor of Capital Gazette Communications, said the paper had submitted entries for five categories, including a joint entry with The Baltimore Sun for breaking news. Although the Gazette didn't win in any of those five categories, the Pulitzer board awarded it the special citation and an extraordinary $100,000 bequest to further its journalism. Staff members stayed silent and somberly exchanged hugs when it was announced the newspaper had won the award. The Pulitzer board said the special citation honors the journalists, staff and editorial board of the newspaper "for their courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in US history in their newsroom" and for an "unflagging commitment to covering the news and serving their community at a time of unspeakable grief." Mr Hutzell said the Pulitzer judges handled their decision admirably. "It's very difficult when you are reporting in some ways on yourself," he said. "That's not what we do. We're behind the camera, not in front of it." Five newspaper employees - John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen - were killed in the attack last year. The shooting didn't stop other staffers from covering it and putting out a newspaper the next day, with assistance from colleagues at The Baltimore Sun, which is owned by the same company. Maryland Capital Gazette Newsroom Shooting Victims - In pictures 1 /6 Maryland Capital Gazette Newsroom Shooting Victims - In pictures Gerald Fischman Rebecca Smith John McNamara Wendi Winters Rob Hiaasen Jarrod Ramos, the man charged in the newsroom shooting, had a history of harassing the newspaper's journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The suit was dismissed as groundless. County police arrested Ramos in the newsroom. They said he blocked an exit and then used a shotgun to blast his way through the entrance. Millions pledged as Macron vows to rebuild Notre Dame Millions of euros have already been pledged to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral after last nights catastrophic fire. Much of the 850-year-old landmark has been devastated by the blaze but firefighters say they have managed to save the frame of the building. French president Emmanuel Macron last night vowed to rebuild the iconic UNESCO World Heritage site and the billionaire Pinault family has reportedly pledged more than 100 million euros. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said most artworks and religious relics were removed from Notre Dame as firefighters worked to control the blaze after it broke out at 6am. It has been reported one firefighter was injured in the effort to save the cathedral. Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures 1 /64 Notre Dame Cathedral fire - In pictures Aerial image if Notre-Dame Cathedral fire AP An image taken from a television screen shows an aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. AFP/Getty Images The steeple of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A man watches the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral burn AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Security forces evacuate artifacts from inside the Notre Dame cathedral Franck Riester Notre Dame cathedral burning in Paris AP Seen from across the Seine River, smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) speaks with firemen as they fight against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The cathedral entrance shows smoke rising around the alter in front of the cross inside Reuters People pray as Notre Dame cathedral burns in Paris AP The Notre Dame cathedral spire collapses EPA Flames as a fire engulfs the world famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames billows into the sky as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Flames on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris EPA Smoke billows into the sky as a fire rips through the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The gothic cathedral attracks millions of tourists every year AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out Reuters Bright orange flames lick the air during a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People kneel on the pavement as they pray and sing while flames engulf Notre Dame AFP/Getty Images Smoke billows as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris AP Smoke billows across Paris following the Notre Dame fire Reuters Firefighters tackle the blaze as flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns. AP General view of the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral after a massive fire in Paris EPA French President Emmanuel Macron (C) and his wife Brigitte Macron (R) pay a visit to firemen fighting against a fire burning the roof of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, France EPA A statue of Saint John is removed from the spire of Notre Dame cathedral by a crane before restoration work last week Reuters Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Flames are doused through the scaffolding erected on the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People react as they watch flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A firefighter uses a hose to douse flames and smoke billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris AFP/Getty Images Firefighter douse flames billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images People look at smoke and flames rising during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images Smoke and flames rise during a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images People stand on the banks of the Seine river as they look at a fire at the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images The steeple collapses as smoke and flames engulf the Notre-Dame Cathedral AFP/Getty Images A woman reacts as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images Paris Fire brigade members are seen at an entrance that looks into the Notre Dame Cathedral Reuters Flames and smoke are seen billowing from the roof at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris AFP/Getty Images The steeple engulfed in flames collapsing as the roof of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral burns AFP/Getty Images Fears of Notre Dame-style fire at UK Parliament MPs have warned the Palace of Westminster could face a fire as devastating as the one that has ravaged Notre Dame unless major improvements are made to the crumbling building. Politicians have acknowledged that action is needed to safeguard the Houses of Parliament but have spent years wrangling over the best way to proceed and baulked at the billions of pounds required to restore the building. The restoration and renewal programme is not expected to start in earnest until the mid-2020s and Labour MP Chris Bryant says the Notre Dame fire was a warning every precaution had to be in place to avoid any similar devastating blaze. 52 arrests over climate change protest More than 50 people were arrested as climate change protesters demonstrated in central London, the Metropolitan Police has said. By midnight there had been a total of 52 arrests, the majority for public order offences and obstruction of the highway, according to a police spokesman. Thousands of people had gathered at five central London locations yesterday for the Extinction Rebellion protest. Protesters said they will continue their demonstrations indefinitely until the Government meets their demands on climate change. Free sanitary product expanded to primary schools Girls in primary schools will receive free sanitary products from early next year. The move comes after last month's announcement by the Government that the products would be made available in secondary schools was criticised for not going far enough. But this morning children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed the Department for Education will fund the scheme to be extended to include younger schoolgirls. In February research indicated that more than a quarter of girls or women have missed either work or school because they were unable to afford sanitary products. Road plotted to charge for visit to iconic San Francisco street Thousands of tourists could soon have to pay as much as the equivalent of 7.60 to drive down world-famous Lombard Street in San Francisco. City and state officials have announced a bill that could establish a toll and reservation system for the street that winds down a steep hill, in an effort to reduce crowds and traffic congestion. During the summer it is estimated estimated 6,000 people a day visit the 600ft-long street, which residents complain creates lines of cars that stretching for blocks around the neighbourhood. On this day 1746: The army of Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', was routed by Cumberland at the Battle of Culloden. 1850: Death of Marie Tussaud, Swiss-born modeller who established the world-famous waxworks near Baker Street, London, in 1835. 1889: Charlie Chaplin (later Sir Charles), English comedian, was born in London. 1912: American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. 1953: The royal yacht Britannia was launched by the Queen. 1964: Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced to a total of 307 years in jail. I ts never a good sign in a hospital drama when someone mentions Harold Shipman. But then the bad portents are all around in Dan Seftons post-traumatic stress thriller, which plays around with reality to such an extent that its possible to go for several seconds at a time without remembering that you are watching a contrived situation in which nothing is what it seems. The setting is a spinal hospital in Glasgow, the James Stewart Spinal Unit. Welcome to the Jimmy Stewart, says a glum orderly, just to stress the point. Why so much talk about James Stewart? Well, he was an everyman actor who famously had problems with an imaginary rabbit. There is some playful stuff with perception going on, but so far no outsized leporids. More to the point, Stewart also starred in Rear Window, where a housebound man in a wheelchair started overthinking the activities of his neighbours. And, at the risk of overloading the reference, Stewart was a fighter pilot who struggled with PTSD, though the condition was dismissively known as being flak happy. Vulnerable: Jamie McCain is left paralysed after sustaining injuries during active service / Mark Mainz / BBC/ Red Production Company So this hospital is a spinal unit. Our hero, the patient, Jamie McCain (Alfred Enoch) is paralysed, though his arms work a bit and his brain is addled. He suffers from the particular kind of stressful flashbacks that fictional soldiers get, where the post-traumatic flashes cut out at the point of culpability, leaving the flashers guilt or innocence in some doubt. So hes vulnerable, feeling guilty, and not sleeping well. Now, as luck would have it, Jamie shares a ward with Danny (Elliot Cooper), who is autistic, in the sense that he likes Doctor Who and has the capacity to know everything and yet still not be believed. Danny gets a lot of the Rear Window bits while Jamie catches the flak. What Danny tells Jamie is that the hospital has an unusually high mortality rate. An Angel of Death is at work. Danny has a Venus flytrap, which is more symbolic than effective. So, Harold Shipman, lets have a look at the contestants. Mostly, theres Dr Archie Watson (John Hannah). Dont worry, says Dr Watson. Ive heard all the jokes. As a boss, Dr Watson is from the school of David Brent, acting as if a coat hanger is stuck inside his suit jacket. I think were still deep in a certain Egyptian river, he tells his numb colleagues. Eventually, the reply comes: Denial. Then theres Debbie the cheerful physio (Ashley Jensen). She seems completely nice, which is odd in itself. Debbie does not seem to be a suspect but she is over-friendly with Dr Watson, and this is likely to fall foul of the Dramatic Surprise Female Protagonist Act (2018), in which the apparently blameless woman did it. Hospital drama: Alfred Enoch stars in the new series of Trust Me / BBC/ Red Production Company/Mark Mainz That may also apply to Dr Zoe Wade (Katie Clarkson-Hill), who is both cheery and a bit carefree with the sleeping pills. Dr Watson interrupts a monologue about the more complicated sex Women, eh? The old emotional enigma to alert us to something dubious about Zoe, and how we must be wary of a recurrence. And so it goes. Dr Watson doubles Jamies dose, Zoe gives him a little something, Jamie gifts him the Venus flytrap, and the plot becomes a bed-bound hallucination; a trip; a textbook case of post-dramatic stress. A fter months of anticipation, the Samsung folding phone, the Galaxy Fold, is finally making its way to the UK, and into your pocket. This product has been in the works for years: the company first revealed it was working on foldable screens at CES in 2011, before announcing the Galaxy Fold was on its way back in November 2018. Now, its almost here. The new phone will go on sale in the UK on May 3, with pre-orders opening on April 26. After getting some hands-on time with the device at a Samsung event in London, heres what we thought. Samsung Galaxy Fold: the specs Some pretty impressive tech has gone into making that screen fold. Samsung says it had to create an advanced composite polymer layer for the screen, so it could be flexible and durable enough to be folded. As well, this is the thinnest mobile display it has ever created, 50 per cent thinner than the standard display for a Samsung phone. When shut, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED display on the front of the device, complete with a selfie camera. This is bordered by rather thick bezels considering that when open, the device has a 7-inch immersive display. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a 7-inch screen when open The screen and hinge can take at least 200,000 open and shuts, which means if you only open it 100 times a day, it should last at least five years. But who knows what a folding phone will look like in five years time. It comes in four colours, silver, black, green and blue. The final two colours are exclusive only for Samsung.com customers, and the hinge colour can be customised. Inside the device, it has a 7nm octa core processor, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. There are two batteries, one on either side of the phone, which work together to power the device, with a combined power of 4,380mAH. Theres a total of six cameras: three on the back, like the Samsung Galaxy S10+, two selfie cameras when the phone is open, and one on the front of the phone. Why do you need a folding phone? For one, to watch all the content. Samsung says it has worked with the likes of Instagram and Netflix to optimise their apps for usage on the phone. Therefore, scrolling social media, or watching a film looks pretty great on this screen, as well as gaming. A lot of work has gone into improving the user interface and experience on this phone, so you can work on two, even three, apps at the same time in an easy, seamless way. It's not just about having a bigger screen to do emails or play a game on your commute though. Samsung wants us to move beyond what we can do already and imagine the possibilities. Were not just bringing out a new smartphone, this is a completely new category, a new way of interacting with a smart device, said Mark Notton, portfolio director at Samsung Europe. What does it feel like to use it? This device is heavy, at a whopping 263g, nearly 100g more than the recent Galaxy S10+, so it does have a lot of extra weight. When folded, it feels bulky, and noticeably sticks out in the pocket of your jeans. That chunky bezel on the front looks fairly ugly too, and would take some getting used to. The folding phone looks like an old-school iPhone when folded, thanks to that chunky bezel There are some cool features. If youre making a call with the phone closed, when you open the device it changes the call to via the loudspeaker. Moving between apps is pretty seamless, particularly going from open screen to closed, and back again. In settings, you can ensure that certain apps dont go to the front screen when you shut the device for extra privacy. It seems like it would take a lot of practice to be able to use the Fold one-handed. Trying to take a picture with the open screen was tricky, because it is like taking a picture with a tablet, and we all know how much people love that. Then again, I often struggle to use "normal" plus-size devices one-handed. It usually takes time to get used to the feel and handling of a new device, and that will certainly be true for the Fold. That screen fold can look quite noticeable too, depending on what app youre using. On something like Instagram, you cant really see it but when generally using the device and on the homepage, you can detect that crease. Like with the chunky bezel, and the weight, these are first-generation problems and will likely be straightened out with the subsequent folding phones. It does feel like youre holding something unbelievably exciting and innovative but the use case doesnt seem to have been proven yet beyond what you can do on a normal smartphone. Give it time, the analyst firm Gartner thinks 30 million foldable phones will be sold in 2023, around five per cent of all smartphones. Though niche at the moment, there is potential for devices like this in the future. Samsung Galaxy Fold: UK price and release date The Samsung Galaxy Fold will be available to pre-order from Samsung.com and EE from April 26, with the phone on sale from May 3, for 1,800. That is a substantial amount of money but if you want to be the first in line for a new piece of tech like this, it's justified. W hether its a spot on your chin on the day of a major event or a full-blown breakout, dealing with skin issues can be frustrating at the best of times, and painful at the worst. According to a study by the British Skin Foundation, 95 per cent of acne sufferers say it impacts their daily lives, with 63 per cent reporting lower self-confidence as a result of their skin. Skincare brand La Roche-Posay wants to make it easier for you to manage your skin with its new Effaclar Spotscan app, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide skin diagnoses and recommendations for spot-prone skin. The companys international senior product manager, Martin Foret, said the app is about meeting the needs of those who are prone to acne. Despite 40 per cent of adults and up to 80 per cent of teenagers being affected by acne, currently only 2 per cent of the UK has access to a dermatologist. We built Spotscan to help these men and women with acne-prone skin understand the condition better and identify their recommended skincare routine, explained Foret. So how does the Spotscan app work? The app uses AI built on extensive data sourced by dermatologists, including over 6,000 patient photos from a variety of backgrounds, sourced and graded by acne experts. When you want to check on your skin, the app takes three profile images of the skin, which the AI then scans in order to identify things such as spots, blackheads and marks left by spots on the skin. The app uses AI to analyse how bad your acne breakout is / La Roche-Posay The severity of the skin is then graded from 0 to 4+, using the Dermatologist GEA scale. Using this information, the app will then offer relevant and expert advice, as well as proposing a routine to help manage the skin and minimise breakouts, as well as La Roche-Posay products to try. When appropriate, the app will even direct patients with more serious acne to a specialist. Whats really handy is that you can save all the images as a way to track your skin over time and see how the Spotscan recommendations are having an impact. La Roche-Posay is getting into the beauty tech space in a big way. At CES this year, the company unveiled a new wearable that tracks the pH of skin, as when pH balance is compromised, it can trigger conditions such as eczema and atopic dermatitis. La Roche-Posays parent company, LOreal, has an in-house incubator to develop these kinds of technologies. LOreal isnt the only company making access to specialist skin services like dermatology advice more affordable. Respected British cosmetic doctor, Dr Tijon Esho, recently launched a subscription model for facial treatments, named Esho Skin Lab. The idea is that the service encourages people to craft a good ongoing skincare regime, rather than resorting to quick fixes. Dr Esho said: One off treatments can give skin a temporary boost but we know that to achieve great skin, its a journey, not an overnight cure, so patients needed successive cumulative treatments which the programme focuses on - its like a high-tech gym membership but rather than the result being a great body, the end result is great looking skin. Photo: Melissa Hom Alana Newhouse reached into her freezer and grabbed an icy hunk of frozen chicken fat and skin. She shaved off about two cups, letting it fall into a greased pan. She added a cup of water, set the pan over high heat, and then lowered it so everything could simmer for an hour. Its supposed to cook slow and low for a long time, she explained. We were in Newhouses Brooklyn Heights apartment, watching the flesh and fat slowly so slowly transform into clear, golden schmaltz and gribenes, little crisp bits of leftover skin delicious enough to ruin your life. As Newhouse told me, Theyre basically chicken Fritos. Yes, this is a story about schmaltz, in both senses of the word. It is a story about rendered chicken fat a golden dream, a masterpiece of umami and it is also a story about two Jewish women who were complete strangers, but got together to render said chicken fat, then ended up crying about it. (In a good way.) It is a story about what happens when people hand each other frozen lumps of dismantled skin and fat and say, Hold this while I open the wine. Newhouse is the editor in chief of Tablet magazine and the author of the new book, The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List. She has spent more time than most people thinking about schmaltz, to the point where she once held annual schmaltz-making parties known as schmixers. I, on the other hand, have spent considerably less time appreciating schmaltz. Growing up as a young Jewess in the suburbs of Chicago, I would estimate that I ate chicken, conservatively speaking, 5,000 times per year. It was usually prepared one of two ways: dry and skinless, with a vague smattering of spices; or barbecued, with a light sheen of bottled sauce. Often, my family served the chicken on a holiday, before or after synagogue, and the combination of dry chicken plus two hours of dry Rabbinic wisdom created within me a perfect storm of resentment. I hated chicken so much that hating chicken became a central tenet of my adult personality. Eventually, my friends learned to never serve anything chicken-related when I came over; when I went home to visit my parents, I reminded them, as gently as possible, that if they made chicken, I would light myself on fire. To me, chicken was synonymous with dryness, dullness, and listening to somebody say eloheinu too many times. That changed last fall, when I flew home to Chicago late one night, and scavenged my parents fridge for something to eat. I pulled out some leftover vegetables and devoured them. There was something different about these vegetables something rich, something deep. I asked my parents why the vegetables were so delicious. I roasted them underneath a chicken, my dad said. The drippings from the chicken get all over them and make them much better. The earth shifted beneath me. I hadnt realized that, in my ongoing effort to passionately avoid chicken, I was also avoiding the fat that drips off the chicken, and all of the delicious things you can make with that fat. I hadnt realized that the fat even had a name and a history that was, until recently, ignored by other Ashkenazi Jews, who for decades cooked with other, shittier oils because saturated fats were still considered bad. (Which explains my entire childhood.) When I got back to New York, I asked my boyfriend to make chicken (skin-on, slathered with anchovy-garlic butter, like our ancestors intended) with roasted vegetables. We ate this meal approximately 700 nights in a row, and I Googled schmaltz regularly to learn everything I could about it, so that even when I wasnt eating it, I was still able to think about eating it, which was almost as fulfilling. I was making up for lost Schmaltz Time. On one such occasion, I came across an article in the New York Times from 2014: Schmaltz Finds a Newer, Younger Audience. This was how I first learned about Newhouse, and her schmixers. In a few sentences near the end of the piece, Newhouse explained that every guest at the schmixer took home her or his own jar of schmaltz, and added that the newfound interest in schmaltz may parallel the resurgence of interest in tradition among Jews in their 20s and 30s, who, unlike their immigrant forebears, are not afraid that a display of Jewishness is a threat to their American identity. I mostly forgot about the second part, and fixated on the take-home jar of schmaltz. I knew I had to have my own jar of perfect schmaltz, or I might never again experience true joy. I emailed Alana on a Saturday night, which is the creepiest time to email someone you have never met. I know Im a total and complete stranger, but I beseech you: please invite me to your next schmaltz party, I wrote, among other demented things. I would be forever in your debt, I typed, before realizing that I might have more luck if I also offered something in return: I will bring wine. She wrote back within hours, explaining that she hadnt had a schmixer in years. My suggestion, if youre willing, is for you to join me one night at my house to learn the art. If your ardor still remains unquenched, we can then plan the next schmaltz party but it will have to be in your honor, and with you helping me man the burners. This is how I ended up at Newhouses apartment on a cold Wednesday night, soaked to the bone from icy rain, holding a hunk of frozen chicken skin and fat that Newhouse had gotten from a kosher butcher (Just tell them you want a couple pounds of chicken skin and fat) and learning, immediately, that I had been making my schmaltz all wrong. It should be clear, Newhouse told me. If the oil that comes out is brown, youve burnt it. As it slowly renders, she explained the fat and the skin separate, and youre left with the schmaltz and gribenes. Newhouse decided we should make two separate schmaltzes: one with onions, and another with two ingredients of my choosing. (Id chosen garlic and red chili peppers, because I genuinely love when comfort food also hurts my mouth.) I grew up in an Orthodox home, but my mom was Sephardic, so we didnt make any of this, Newhouse said. We made all my grandmothers Spanish food. When I started covering Jewish life and started Tablet, I got into food as a transmitter of culture. I got super into schmaltz, and when I realized there was a food revolution about healthy fats, I started cooking with it all the time. The schmaltz parties were born from this love of schmaltz, combined with a desire to impart cultural knowledge via food. The schmixers grew bigger and more complex over the years, and eventually, Newhouse stopped throwing them (until an unhinged stranger emailed her on a Saturday night). At this point, I had touched my phone with raw-chicken hands at least 12 times. Newhouse added onions to the schmaltz, which simmered away gorgeously. She asked casually about my own religious background, and I told her I hadnt been to synagogue, aside from weddings and funerals, since I was 15 years old, and that I felt pretty alienated from Judaism as a religion, but more connected to it as a culture that old Jewish Millennial refrain. There was a part of me that felt ashamed to admit to someone like Newhouse that I had more or less swapped Actual Judaism for Extremely Lowkey Judaism, and that it mostly consisted of going to my aunts house for Passover. But Newhouse surprised me. She told me shed been studying modern Judaism for years, and that more than anything else, modern Jews felt alienated from one another, like their particular vision of Judaism was unique to them only, even if their peers felt the same way. There are definitely swaths of Jews for whom their Jewish identity is either complicated or in some ways challenging for a variety of reasons, Newhouse said. For me, putting the book together was an effort to remind people of an inheritance that they have available to them historical and spiritual and culinary inheritance that they might not even realize is there. The onions-only schmaltz smelled so good at this point that I could barely think, but I did manage to ask: How can someone tap into that? I have no idea, Newhouse laughed. But she did have one idea: food. It provides enormous meaning and joy, but its also a reminder of our own history of pain and oppression. Food, for Newhouse, is all of those things at once and it has always been. It struck me then that Newhouse and I were, indeed, two modern Jews bonding over old-timey Jewish food and that I did feel more Jewish than I had in awhile. (Please do not tell my grandma.) A few glasses of wine in, and both of us were getting a little emotional. The schmaltz was nearly done, and things were taking a turn for the philosophical. Food is a flashpoint for marking us as Jewish, which is pride- and fear-inducing, Newhouse continued. They lived inside restrictions for generations, some self-imposed, some by the outside world. The fact that they found all of these different ways to express their connection to themselves and Jewishness, and also to the broader universe I think its inspiring. Weve taken those boundaries and found ways to deepen and explode the possibilities for newness and pleasure and beauty. An hour into the schmalzs cooking cycle, the kitchen smelled like what I imagine heroin feels like. As it bubbled, becoming ever-more translucent, Newhouse explained that part of the reason she stopped the schmixers is that the whole thing was just too labor-intensive; as she learned more about schmaltz-making, she learned she shouldnt be able to prep for a schmixer in 20 minutes. Its true: Jewish law states the only thing that should take 20 minutes is saying goodbye outside of a restaurant after you have already said goodbye inside. When the schmaltz was finally ready, Newhouse handed me a few tiny fried pieces of skin. They were salty, and crunchy, like tiny Jewish French fries dipped in liquid gold. I dipped my finger into the onion schmaltz, which had reduced to a light yellow and was now cooling. Instantly, my brain exploded. It was perfect: hot, oily, rich, dense with deliciousness 10,000 perfect flavors layered on top of each other. Newness, pleasure, and beauty. I could now divide my life into two defined eras: Before Homemade Schmaltz, and After Homemade Schmaltz. Newhouse placed both schmaltzes into tiny Tupperwares for me to take home, writing Classic Schmaltz and Hot Schmaltz on their glittery labels. Our stated objective was now achieved, and it would have made sense for me to leave. Instead, I sat at Newhouses kitchen table, drinking wine and talking, until nearly midnight. Newhouse told me if I ever wanted to go to synagogue again, shed give me some recommendations, but I told her I was only interested in going if Mandy Patinkin would be there. (Mandy: please get in touch.) Id come around on chickens dryness, which felt like major progress; I was still unconvinced about Friday night services. When I finally did head out for the night, Newhouse handed me something else: a gigantic hot-cold Russ and Daughters bag. Inside were two additional frozen chicken lumps, the two Tupperwares of schmaltz, and a Tupperware of extra onions. It was far too generous, and in accepting, I felt the classic ancestral guilt, but Newhouse looked at me with an expression of deep seriousness. This is like me giving you a Birkin, she said. You dont want to know what I had to do to get this bag. I had no choice but to accept. I grabbed the gift with both hands. Ill cherish it forever, I promised. We hugged, I put on my rain boots, and walked into the freezing night, holding my schmaltz bag like a soft, lumpy child. Schmaltz (Adapted from the 100 Most Jewish Foods, by Alana Newhouse) Makes: cup (160 milliliters) 1 pound (455 grams) chicken fat and skin, collected from 3 to 4 pounds (1.4 to 1.8 kilograms) chicken thighs 1 teaspoon kosher salt 3 tablespoons (45 milliliters) cold water 1 large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 2 cups) Wash the chicken fat and skin in cold water, drain well, and blot dry with a paper towel. Cut the fat and skin in -inch (1.5-centimenter) pieces. To make it easier to cut, freeze the chicken fat and skin for at least 2 hours before cutting. Place the chicken fat and skin in a large skillet and season with teaspoon of the salt. Add the water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits, until the water has evaporated, the fat starts to render, and the pieces of fat and skin start to brown, curl up, and shrink to about half their size, about 30 minutes. Add the sliced onion and the remaining teaspoon salt and cook until the onion softens and caramelizes, about 35 minutes. Lower the heat if needed to prevent the onion or chicken skin from overbrowning, which will affect the color of the schmaltz (it should be golden). Strain the schmaltz through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl; set the solids aside (see Note). Use the schmaltz immediately, or let cool to room temperature, then transfer to a jar with a lid and refrigerate. The schmaltz will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. NOTE: The solids in the strainer are the gribenes. Eat them as a snack, add them to chopped liver, or sprinkle them over salad. They will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. 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PSD and ALDE lead Romania in the dark!". There were 95 votes in favour, 155 against and 19 abstentions. The motion was debated in the Monday sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. The National Liberal Party (PNL) voiced in the motion its concern about the situation in this area and says that energy prices have risen, with the country's energy security under threat, mainly due to lack of investment. The PNL argues that the PSD and the ALDE must stop "lying the way they did in the 2018-2020 governing program." The PNL expresses its concern that, five years after the start of the review of Romania's energy strategy, this document is still not finalized, considering this is likely to generate "chaos" in the energy sector, the text of the motion reads. In response, Energy Minister Anton Anton dismissed all the allegations. The Romanian energy market has been linked to Central and Eastern European markets for a few years, and Romania has an energy strategy after many governments have failed to put down any line of strategy, said Anton Anton. AGERPRES . President Klaus Iohannis considers the recent tragedy in Iasi County, where a 3-year-old child lost his life after falling into the septic tank in a school yard to be "painful and revolting", with the head of state underlining that it is imperative that all education units have sanitary permits, operation authorization and be safe, with the Government being obliged to carry out all these as a matter of urgency. "The President of Romania reiterates the message he has been sending for four years: it is imperative for all schools to have sanitary permits, operation authorizations and be safe for those who cross their threshold, and the Government has the obligation that all these are done as a matter of urgency," the Presidential Administration said in a statement released for AGERPRES on Tuesday. The head of state also calls on all political parties to mobilize their local representatives to make every step to solve the serious problems in the education institutions."The responsibility of this plan lies with the local and central authorities equally and it must be assumed as such. The situation which many schools in the country are still in is a national disgrace for the European Union of 2019," reads the release.The Presidential Administration reminds that President Klaus Iohannis demanded, as early as 2015, a three-year plan to authorize all schools. President Klaus Iohannis considers "outrageous" that Health Minister Sorina Pintea "has launched more like an image campaign than an information one through the hospitals in the country." "The public agenda has been taken for over two years by the personal problems of PSD [the Social Democratic party, major at rule, ed.n.] leaders who have legal issues, while citizens increasingly suffer from the incompetence of the government. It is outrageous that the Health minister has launched more like an image campaign than an information one. How can anyone believe any longer that the PSD will actually build new hospitals?" Iohannis said at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Tuesday at the ceremony for decorating some hospitals in the country. AGERPRES . Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and Speaker of the Deputies' Chamber and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea sent on Tweeter messages of solidarity with the French people following the fire that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral. "I am saddened by the terrible news from Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral is a symbol of France and Europe. My thoughts go out to our French friends," PM Dancila wrote. Moreover, Liviu Dragnea conveys in his message that his thoughts "go out to our friends in France and the entire Catholic community, which was greatly hit precisely during the Holy Week."The massive fire which engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral threatened to burn the famous building, after its roof collapsed, according to the French press. President Klaus Iohannis conveyed on Monday night a message in which he shows that Romania stands by France in the context of the fire that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral according to Agerpres. "Heart-breaking news come from Paris. Notre Dame, a historical symbol of the European culture is in flames. Romania stands by France," the head of state wrote on Tweeter. Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris was engulfed by flames, in a strong fire that destroyed the famous Parisian monument, one of the most visited tourist landmarks of France. The fire burned the Cathedral's centuries-old roof. A huge cloud of smoke spread over the skyline of the city and the ash scattered over a large surface. Firefighters evacuated the area around the cathedral, located in the center of the French capital.French President Emmanuel Macron canceled a speech he was due to give the nation on Monday evening and went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The Romanian Christian Orthodox Church (BOR) delivered on Tuesday a message of "profound" solidarity with the French people following a fire that damaged the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, expressing a wish for this place of worship, "a symbol of Christian Europe," to be restored as soon as possible according to Agerpres. "The Romanian Patriarchate has learned with deep sorrow about the fire that, on the evening of April 15, 2019, destroyed the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, a monument of immensurable religious, historical and architectural value, a symbol of European Christianity, known all over the world and visited every year by millions of pilgrims and tourists," reads a message released by Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate. According to the BOR, "the venerable emblem of Europe's cathedrals, a history-filled church (that started in 1163), which has withstood the vicissitudes of ages for over 850 years, is now severely damaged, producing, besides immense material damage, international outrage.""We are standing in solidarity with the French nation, which is so hardly tested these days by severe damage incurred on a national and international spiritual symbol. We also want this cathedral, a symbol of Christian Europe, to be restored as soon as possible, especially with the help of those who love the spiritual values of the world's religious and cultural heritage." The parliamentary committee controlling the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has adopted a report on the cooperation between the SRI-ANI (the National Integrity Agency, ed.n.), which found that the relationship between the two institutions was "illegal" between 2012-2015 said the head of the committee, Social Democratic party (PSD) Senator Claudiu Manda. He stated that SRI had sent to ANI 71 notes aimed at a total of 600 persons, including ministers, MEPs, deputies, senators, mayors, presidents of county councils, prefects, ministry councilors, directors of decentralized departments, City Hall secretaries. "The report is called 'Report on the Use of the Romanian Intelligence Service and the National Integrity Agency by Mr. George Maior for Political Purposes.' It contains some chapters I want to refer to, the first describing the functioning mechanism between SRI and ANI that is, in the opinion of the committee, an illegal one and I will explain briefly. The law establishing the SRI is from 1991, the Law on the establishment of ANI is from 2007. In 2007 it is written that ANI can become aware ex officio or on the basis of a complaint, it is not written anywhere that it should be informed by a secret, internal, foreign, military service, etc. It is certain that this relationship began to function after Mr. Horia Georgescu became president of the ANI. Another surprising fact is that all the documents that left SRI left or went through the Legal Department for a legal visa, all the documents or all the notes that left SRI to ANI, none went through any of the Legal Directorate, although they referred to the articles of law infringed or likely to be violated by those who were the subject of the referrals," Claudiu Manda told a press conference on Tuesday at the end of the sitting of the parliamentary committee controlling the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).The PSD senator added that during the period under review (...) "between 2012 and 2015, 71 notes, secret notes, special notes or simple notes covering a total of 600 people were sent"."And there is a kind of parallel report. The USR [Save Romania Union, ed.n.] deputy has his own report, he notified us to introduce it as an annex to the committee's report, we will present to the Permanent Bureau this parallel report," Manda added. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila congratulated on Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the results obtained in the elections of 9 April, the two of them discussing also about the organisation of a joint government meeting according to Agerpres. "Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila carried out a phone conversation on Tuesday with Prime Minister of the State of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, during which she congratulated her counterpart for the results obtained in the elections of 9 April 2019. The two high officials also discussed about the good relations between the two countries, with an emphasis on the organisation, this year, of the next joint Government meeting (G2G), which will reconfirm the political commitment of the two Executives to develop and diversify cooperation actions, as well as the special nature of the bilateral relation," a Government release sent to AGERPRES informs. According to the quoted source, the inter-governmental consultations will represent a good opportunity to discuss joint projects in areas related to regional cooperation."Furthermore, Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the results obtained so far by Romania's Presidency at the Council of the European Union, but also topical subjects included on the international agenda," reads the release. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila met with Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) on Tuesday, in which context she pointed out that sustainable development is one of Romania's commitments, in the candidacy campaign for the United Nations Security Council included. Olga Algayerova is attending the International Conference "The 2030 Agenda: Partnerships for Sustainable Development" in Bucharest. "The meeting has given rise to an exchange of views on the intensification of Romania's cooperation with UNECE and the development of interconnectivity projects in the field of transport between Western and Eastern Europe, the development and promotion of smart cities, of gender equality, being one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda," the government said in a press release sent to AGERPRES. The premier conveyed that sustainable development is one of Romania's commitments, and for the candidacy to the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 term, our country's motto is: the UN Security Council, a long-term commitment to peace, justice and sustainable development.At the same time, topics of interest for the regional dimension of Romania's co-operation with the UNECE were addressed. In this context, Prime Minister Dancila stressed that Romania, during the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, attaches great importance to the development of regional cooperation in promoting sustainable development.According to the cited source, the Executive Secretary of the UNECE has congratulated Romania for its commitment to promoting the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as the appreciation for the successful organization of the international conference "The 2030 Agenda: Partnerships for Sustainable Development" in the context of its holding the rotating Presidency of the EU Council."Moreover, the UNECE Executive Secretary invited the Romanian side to participate in the activities and initiatives of the Global Road Safety Forum," the press release further shows Romania's joining the euro is a real country project that requires the support of the entire society to be successful, Premier Viorica Dancila said on Tuesday. "I would compare Romania's adopting the European single currency with other projects that have decisively changed the Romanian society for the better - joining the North-Atlantic Alliance and the integration with the European Union. This is why we considered this process must be thoroughly prepared with the involvement of the entire society," Dancila said at the presentation of the Substantiation Report of the National Plan for the Adoption of the Euro, an event hosted by the Romanian Academy. AGERPRES . President Klaus Iohannis received at the Cotroceni presidential Palace the agreed ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Romania, Arthur Mattli, and the accredited ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Romania, Jiang Yu, for the presentation of the copies of the letters of credence, a statement from the Presidential Administration shows. During the meeting with the Swiss ambassador, the special dynamics of the bilateral political dialogue re-launched during last year's official visits in Bucharest of the representatives of the Swiss Confederation was welcomed, an aspect that contributes to the strengthening of the cooperation between the two countries in areas of mutual interest. President Iohannis remembered in this context his "positive" meetings with the former and current President of the Swiss Confederation in November 2018. "President Klaus Iohannis conveyed our country's appreciation for the projects carried out under the Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Program and expressed the hope that the successes registered are a very good prerequisite for its renewal in the shortest time. Ambassador Arthur Mattli pointed out that internal procedures in Switzerland are underway for the pursuit of this program and pointed out that the Swiss side pays special attention to joint projects, for example in the field of health. The Swiss Confederation ambassador also said that the Embassy will stimulate other opportunities for economic cooperation with Romania," the press release said.As for European affairs, the Swiss ambassador expressed interest in successfully finalizing the EU-Switzerland Institutional Framework Agreement. President Iohannis thanked the Swiss ambassador for the way Romanian citizens are treated in Switzerland, and he also appreciated the activity of Swiss citizens in Romania.President Klaus Iohannis and the Chinese ambassador appreciated the positive relationship between the two countries, especially in the context of the special anniversary in which the ambassador assumed office: 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations and 15 years since the launch of the Ample Friendship and Cooperation Partnership between the two countries.Klaus Iohannis welcomed the level of cooperation between the two countries, showing that the People's Republic of China is a very good trading partner of our country in the Asian region. Iohannis encouraged the diversification of bilateral cooperation, bringing to mind in this respect the importance of culture for strengthening the relationship between the two states. The Chinese ambassador also mentioned the positive cultural relationship between Romania and the People's Republic of China, indicating that this is confirmed by events such as the Sibiu Theater Festival where his country is well represented. Both the Chinese ambassador and President Iohannis welcomed the level of administrative cooperation provided by the institutional town-twinning between the cities and counties of Romania and China.The relationship between the EU and the People's Republic of China was also approached, the Chinese ambassador voicing appreciation for Romania's exercising the Presidency of the EU Council. President Klaus Iohannis on Monday welcomed at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in which context he showed this country is one of the traditional economic partners of Romania in South-East Asia and encouraged an increase in trade exchanges between Romania and Vietnam. The two high officials discussed topical issues regarding the current stage and prospects of the traditional cooperation at bilateral and multilateral level within the international organisations, the dialogue between the European Union and the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the UN. Moreover, they approached topical aspects on the international and regional agenda, reads a release of the Presidential Administration. "President Klaus Iohannis voiced his appreciation for the agenda full of political contacts between the two countries, in the past couple of years, and also for the symbolic nature of Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit to Romania, in the context of the 70th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and Vietnam. The head of state highlighted that Vietnam is one of the traditional economic partners of our country in Southeast Asia, and he encouraged capitalization on the economic potential between the two states, through such measures meant to increase trade exchanges volume and the balance of trade. Thus, Klaus Iohannis appreciated the organisation of a business forum in the context of the visit of the high Vietnamese dignitary, with the support of the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, encouraging at the same time capitalization on the existing instruments at governmental level, such as the mixed committee for economic cooperation," showed the release.Moreover, the head of state assured his guest of Romania's commitment, in the context in which Romania is currently holding the presidency of the EU, to contribute to the signing, as soon as possible, of the Free Trade Agreement and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement, instruments that could stimulate including the activation of commercial-economic cooperation between Romania and Vietnam.The two high dignitaries also approached the cooperation opportunities in the context of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), with the Vietnamese side being invite to participate in the meeting of ministers of education of ASEM and in the ASEF Rectors' Conference and Students' Forum, events organised in Romania in May this year.The Vietnamese PM thanked Romania for the support granted to his country, while also voicing his trust in the progress that could be achieved during the Romanian presidency of the Council of EU in what concerns the signing of the Free Trade Agreement and EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement, highlighting that these can contribute including to the development of the Romanian-Vietnamese cooperation.Nguyen Xuan Phuc voiced his appreciation for the bilateral cooperation developed in the commercial-economic, education, culture fields, and also on the labour market, maintaining the binding role of the community of Romanian experts and professionals operating on the Vietnamese labour market, respectively the approximately 5,000 Vietnamese specialists who studied in the Romanian universities.The Vietnamese official is currently paying a visit to Romania. Awards-winning, Netherlands-based, eclectic band Trinity announces the release of its third North American single, "Anthem Of Love," April 19 from The Fuel Music. Available April 19 at iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon.com, Spotify and more digital retail and streaming outlets everywhere through the link https://the-fuel-music.lnk.to/anthemoflove, the unifying single is meant to help "create heavenly parties in and outside the church." Delivering this message to audiences around the world, the band performed for the first time at the 2019 World Youth Day, an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that reportedly drew 600,000 people to Panama City, Panama. While in Panama for this gathering Jan. 22 -27, Trinity recorded its "Anthem Of Love" video premiering exclusively today from Parade.com, the online destination for the most widely read magazine in America. "Want to inject some positive energy into your day? Check out 'Anthem Of Love' by Netherlands-based band, Trinity," encourages Parade contributor Laura B. Whitmore. "This lively song and video span cultures to bring a melding of languages and styles, taking us on a musical journey of love and unity." "I strongly believe that this world needs more people who're willing to be bridges; persons who have learned to let go and embrace something new at the same time," says Trinity's Elbert Smelt (lead vocals, flutes, saxophone) in Parade. Love is the anthem, the song of our hearts The hymn of forgiveness where everything starts From the first breath we take to the last one we breathe Let's sing the anthem of love in between (From the "Anthem Of Love" chorus) "We've danced to this song with people from all over the globe at many festivals. One of the most memorable times is definitely at World Youth Day in Panama," continues Elbert. "Playing for so many believers from all over the world made us realize how we can only experience God's love in unity. Because every person reflects a different aspect of God's love. Just like sunlight is composed of many rays of colors: together all these colors become light." The new single's "vibe, rhythm and Spanish-lyrics" takes the band back to their days growing up in South America. Formed by three Dutch brothers raised as missionary kids in Lima, Peru, Elbert, Johan (acoustic guitars) and Niek Smelt (Drums, percussion), along with Dutch-raised Bert Bos (bass), Trinity is a Worldbeat band that fuses South American and Irish folk with African beats and pop grooves to create a unique, acoustic music experience. Produced by Grammy-nominated, multiple Dove Award-winning Ian Eskelin and Barry Weeks, "Anthem Of Love" is the third single from the band's album, The In Between, slated to release July 12 in North America. The new single follows Trinity's widely acclaimed "Wherever We Go" and "Alive Again" tracks, the latter song being played live by the band in radio studios across America last summer for audiences based in New York City to Washington, DC to Los Angeles. The band's performance at 94 FM The Fish (Nashville) inspired Randy Maricle, Salem Media Group's Director of Digital Sales and Strategy, to laud on Facebook, "Somebody remember this...these guys are here to stay...you're going to love them." Mike Alley, 95.1 SHINE FM (Baltimore), agrees that Trinity is the "Next. Big. Thing. Jump in now so you can say you were on the ground floor!" WAY FM's Network Program Director, Todd Stach, says following the band's acoustic performance at WAY FM, "When for KING & COUNTRY came through before they were big, I said to them, 'This is the best live performance in a radio station I've ever seen.' I think you guys, with your energy, are right there with them." Accustomed to leading in front of large gatherings, Trinity has performed on the main stage of the Netherlands' Xnoizz Flevo Festival (2010, 2012) and EO-Youth Day event (2013, 2016), and has played at Big Church Day Out festival (UK), the Himmelfarht Festival (Germany), the CREA Festival (Switzerland) and Seaside festival (Norway). The band also shared its music live at events in Russia, Kenia, Cambodia, Gambia, Peru, Senegal, France and Ireland. "We're proud to call ourselves craftsmen of heavenly parties, and we're experts at making people's feet move," says Niek. "Not with huge beats and technology, but with a unique acoustic approach that will disarm and free any crowd." For all the latest news about Trinity, including tour dates, music, videos and more, go tohttps://bandtrinity.com/, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Apple Music, YouTube and Spotify. About The Fuel Music: Established in 2008, The Fuel Music & Management, LLC, is a leading artist management and artist solutions company that independently distributes music internationally. Based in Nashville, TN, the Fuel team brings nearly 70 years of combined music industry experience in record label operations, major label distribution and marketing, and artist management for artists ranging from upstart bands to GRAMMY Award-winning, multi-platinum artists. More information on the company can be found at www.thefuelmusic.com. Tags : trinity trinity anthem of love trinity news trinity new album There is indication of realism in Germany, because although Berlin trots out the usual platitudes about supporting NATO, a recent Pew survey notes that 69 percent of Germans want greater cooperation with Russia. As Britain staggers from crisis to crisis, with the Brexit debacle rending the country apart, with its prisons in a disgraceful state, a knife crime epidemic, and the doctors of its Health Service at breaking point it might be imagined that the government would avoid playing futile military games and concentrate on trying to run the country. But national crises dont matter to the would-be big-spenders of the UKs Ministry of Defence whose titular head Gavin Williamson, the paintball strategist, announced on April 3 that Britain would spearhead a Joint Expeditionary Force in a military mission called Baltic Protector. The anti-Russia manoeuvres are to involve 2,000 military personnel from the UK and a further thousand from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. (It is notable that Sweden and Finland are supposed to be neutral nations.) Williamson demonstrates his ineptitude all too frequently, and recently confirmed his confused mental state by stating that As Britain prepares to leave the EU, our unwavering commitment to European security and stability is more important than ever. Deploying our world class sailors and marines to the Baltic Sea, alongside our international allies, firmly underlines Britains leading role in Europe. (It is intriguing that he considers Sweden and Finland to be allies of the UK.) The Baltic Protector Mission is said by Britains defence ministry to underline the importance of protecting Europe at a time of increased threat which, most fortunately for Europe, and especially the UK, does not exist. There is no intention on the part of Russia to engage in military operations against the Baltic states or anyone else in Europe. Consider the military budgets of NATO countries. As stated by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the surge in US spending was the largest increase in the world in 2018 [and] European nations also contributed to the global trend Their total spending would if the aggregate figure of $264 billion were considered on its own amount to the second largest defence budget in the world. It would be equivalent to 1.5 times Chinas official budget ($168 billion), and almost four times Russias estimated total military expenditure ($63 billion). It is difficult to see how anyone could conclude that Russia, with such modest defence expenditure, could even contemplate waging a war in Europe. There appears to be nothing neither common sense, pragmatic examination nor consideration of inevitable consequences that will alter the conviction that instead of strongly desiring trade, mutual prosperity and social improvement, the Kremlin wants its forces to roll across Europe in a latter day Operation Barbarossa. There is indication of realism in Germany, however, because although Berlin trots out the usual platitudes about supporting NATO, a recent Pew survey notes that only 35 percent of Americans want greater cooperation with Russia; in Germany that desire jumps to 69 percent. A survey by YouGov, published on April 3, shows that regarding NATO, While in 2017 almost three quarters of Britons (73%) approved of membership, this has since fallen to 59%. Likewise, in Germany support has fallen from 68% to 54% and in France from 54% to 39%. Not only this, but the German government, led by Angela Merkel, the most effective and honourable leader in Europe, has declined to spend squillions on military equipment and seeks cooperation rather than confrontation with Russia. The analyst Loren Thompson wrote on March 4 that in recent years Germany has spent 1.1% of its GDP on defence compared with over 3% for the US and that although it has agreed to raise this to 1.3 percent in 2019, its nowhere near the minimum of 2 percent that all NATO members are supposed to commit. He concludes that obviously, Berlin isnt expecting a war anytime soon. Of course Germany doesnt imagine for a moment that Russian hordes are going to perform a reverse Barbarossa. On April 3 Germanys foreign minister, Heiko Maas, assured a NATO Engages gathering that We will stand by our commitments which include only a very modest rise in military spending, as Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (refreshingly more gifted than her British counterpart) had said that Germany would aim to reach 1.5% of GDP by 2024. Berlins budget plan for 2020 prompted swift condemnation by the US. The arrogant and unpopular US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, declared that for Berlin to reduce its already unacceptable commitments to military readiness is a worrisome signal to Germanys twenty-eight NATO allies and Trump complained that Germany is not paying their fair share. Speaking at NATO Engages, vice-president Pence said it is simply unacceptable for Europes largest economy to continue to ignore the threat of Russian aggression and neglect its own self-defence and our common defence at such a level. Pence and the rest of the military-industrial fraternity in Washington are determined to foster the US-NATO military grouping because it is a most lucrative market for US arms manufacturers. Last year the Pentagon notified Congress that European countries intend to spend some $37.4 billion on US military equipment, with the biggest customers being Poland which is giving Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman $10,5 billion for a missile defence battle command system, and Belgium which is shelling out $6.53 billion for Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters. It is not surprising that in the past two years their stock prices have risen dramatically, with Raytheon going up from $151 to $184, Lockheed $268 to $309 and Northrop $239 to $283, and that Germany is so unpopular in Washington, because it has decided not to buy the F-35, the highest-priced highest priced weapons system in history. Germany is being practical and level-headed and is not only trying to balance its budget but refuses to indulge in fist-shaking confrontation with Russia, because it knows there is no threat from the East. We can be certain that if Germanys government and people thought for one minute that Russian hordes wanted to roll through Europe, then they would be spending vast sums on all sorts of military machines, driving up the stock prices of US arms manufacturers, and gaining the praise of Washingtons best and brightest. Germany wants trade, cooperation, social progress and a balanced budget. Penurious and fractured Britain wants to continue posturing in such military fandangos as Baltic Protector to try to show it has a leading role in Europe. No prizes for concluding which country will expand its economy and achieve improvement in the quality of life of its citizens. China has become the third nation to reveal it had developed a system to fire missiles from a standard 40 foot shipping container. The Chinese version is apparently designed to handle the YJ-18C missile. This is the latest version of the YJ-18, which is normally used as an anti-ship missile and is very similar to the Russian Klub. The C version is said to have a longer range and meant mainly for land-based targets. The Chinese containerized missile system is very similar to the one a Morinformsystem-Agat JSC, Russian firm began marketing in 2010. That one fired a version of the 3M54 Klub cruise missile. The Morinformsystem-Agat system was called Pandoras Box, and designed so that missiles were carried in and fired from a 40 foot (12.3 meter) shipping container. The launcher and the missile have to slide out of the container before firing, thus limiting where it can be placed on a ship, particularly your typical container ship. Each container contained a small compartment for the two-man firing crew. You could get two or three of these shipping container Klubs on most cargo ships, turning the vessel into a warship. The Klub missile is a key weapon for the Kilo class diesel-electric submarines. Weighing two tons, and fired from a 533mm (21 inch) torpedo tube, the 3M54 has a 200 kg (440 pound) warhead. The anti-ship version has a range of 300 kilometers, and speeds up to 3,000 kilometers an hour during its last minute or so of flight. There is also an air-launched and ship-launched version. A land attack version does away with the high-speed final approach feature and has a 400 kg warhead or a longer range (500 kilometers or so). This is what the YJ-18C sounds like. The basic YJ-18 is used on Chinese destroyers, launched from VLS cells. This is what the U.S. Navy has long been using for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles. In 2012 a new version of Pandoras Box, was announced. This one used a smaller, slower, and presumably cheaper cruise missile. This unidentified weapon is described as weighing 520 kg (half a ton), having a 145 kg (319 pound) warhead, and being 3.8 meters (11.8 feet) long. Max range is 130 kilometers. The version cost about $4 million per container while the original version with Klub cost $6 million. There is not a lot of high-tech involved with systems like Pandoras Box or the Chinese version, but manufacturers believe there is a market for this sort of thing. Meanwhile in mid-2017, Israel conducted a successful test of a new version of its LORA (Long Range Artillery Rocket) system that can be mounted and fired from standard shipping containers. The test involved a truck hauling a shipping container parked on a ship deck. The containerized LORA uses a minimum of two containers; one containing four missiles each in the standard sealed container, and the standard electric (not hydraulic) system to point the missile skyward so it will be fired without the rocket blast damaging the ship. Another container contains the control center and some maintenance and test equipment. In the original ship launched version, the launch center electronics were installed in the ship CIC (Combat Information Center) like other fire control equipment. A ship could carry four or more containers with launchers and the container version could also be used on land with the containers mounted on any heavy truck or tractor-trailer designed to carry those containers. The new container system also makes it easier to add more firepower to existing warships or even unarmed naval support vessels. Israel said it already has an export customer for the container version of LORA, but would not say who it is or whether the containerized LORA was built at the request of an export customer, the Israeli military or both. Since Israel already has nuclear weapons mounted on its longer-range Jericho ballistic missiles, similar warheads are an option for containerized LORA as used by the Israeli military. That is not likely but can be done. Meanwhile, the LORA manufacturer mentioned a ground (and bunker) penetrating conventional warhead for LORA. Israel introduced LORA in 2007 and back then it was noted that the Israeli weapon was similar to the U.S. ATACMS. Each LORA missile weighed up to 1.8 tons depending on which types of warhead carried. These weighed from 400 to 600 kg. Normally range is 300 kilometers but that can be extended 30 percent with a lighter warhead. GPS guidance is standard (with jam proof INS backup) which will land the warhead within 10 meters (30 feet) of the aim point. LORA was an improvement on the American ATACMS (introduced in 1986) which was fired from a MLRS launcher that normally carries six of the standard 228mm MLRS rockets. Both LORA and ATACMs are 610mm rockets that weighed about the same and used GPS/INS guidance system. Both are basically short-range ballistic missiles. Where LORA differed was in that it was carried, four to a sealed launcher, on a heavy truck. Moreover, LORA was designed from the beginning to be operated from ships and to use additional guidance system options. The one that was known about was a two-way video link that enabled an operator to confirm the target, abort if necessary and also adjust aim to make it a bit more accurate. Israel has other guidance system options which are not advertised, like a pattern matching system that will provide even more accuracy and is jam proof (no GPS or radio link). While the continuing religious (Boko Haram) and tribal (herders versus farmers) violence get the most headlines what is even more important to most Nigerians is the economy. The biggest problems there are the oil and natural gas sector. A 2018 World Bank study detailed how Nigerian governments wasted opportunities from 1970 through 2014 to invest a trillion dollars of oil income into development. Instead, most of it was stolen or squandered. During that 44 year period, there were five spikes in oil prices and demand. These oil booms brought in extraordinary amounts of income which made it easy to spend most of it on infrastructure, and other long term investments in the economy. That was rarely done and all the oil income has made a few Nigerians (most of them corrupt politicians) fabulously rich but otherwise has done nothing for Nigeria. Oil has been a curse, not a blessing, for Nigeria and one thing nearly all Nigerians can agree on is reducing corruption and theft of most oil income. Since 1972 the government has earned over a trillion dollars ($1,300 billion) in oil revenue, most of which have been stolen or misused. This corruption is the leading cause of the unrest in the country, especially the oil producing areas. Since 1980, the poverty rate (the percentage of people living on less than $400 a year) has gone from 28 percent to over 60 percent today. For over four decades, the oil money has been going to less than twenty percent of the population, leaving most of the rest worse off today than they were in the early 1960s before the oil exports began. The people in the Niger Delta are up in arms because most of them have not benefited from the oil production, but have suffered from the oil spills and other disruptions that accompany oil drilling and shipping. The four decades of theft have left the national infrastructure (roads, water supplies, power production, and so on) in ruins. In short, oil has not helped Nigeria at all. The largest export remains oil, despite the price falling by more than half after 2012 and never really recovering. Oil still accounts for 87 percent of exports and 80 percent of the federal budget. In the last few years, the government tried to accurately count the losses in the oil industry. The conclusion was that the theft, from pipelines and government bank accounts, amounted to over $10 billion a year in the last decade. The annual GDP of Nigeria is $447 billion, for a population of 199 million ($2,244 per capita). Oil accounts for about 40 percent of GDP (directly or indirectly). The government has made several efforts to diversify the economy. The latest one got started in 2018. At that point the recession, triggered by the collapse of oil prices in 2013-14 was over and the government sought to diversify the economy by investing in agriculture, manufacturing and mining. The main problem remained the corruption and the threats and violence that are often used to carry out extortion and theft. And then there is the prevalence of bribes. Many Nigerians with money to invest prefer to do so overseas where investing is more profitable and less dangerous. It always comes back to the corruption in Nigeria and the difficulty in suppressing or at least diminishing it. At the end of 2018 oil production was officially cut to 1.7 million BPD (barrels per day) to comply with OPEC cuts that are needed to increase the oil price. That did not work because Nigeria needed the money and produced as much oil as it could (about 1.9 million BPD). OPEC production level limits are requests, not demands because OPEC has no enforcement mechanism. If too many OPEC members cheat, the oil price will not increase and all producers will suffer. Until the 2013 crash in oil prices (triggered by the North American fracking boom) major OPEC members could be expected to make additional production cuts to cover the impact of smaller OPEC producers not adhering to their production quotas. No more. The Saudis are hurting from low prices and need all the oil income they can get. Daily production in 2018 was 2.09 million BPD, up from 2.03 million BPD in 2017. Given the investments in oil production (mainly by foreign companies) Nigeria should be producing 4 million BPD but continuing problems with oil theft gangs and repair/maintenance backlogs (especially of the pipelines) in the Niger River Delta (where all the oil is) and decades of government inability to deal with these problems are causing a growing number of foreign oil companies to sell their Nigerian assets and go elsewhere. In effect, it is more profitable to do business in other countries. For example, it currently costs $23 per barrel to produce oil in Nigeria but without all the violence and corruption that could be $15 a barrel or less. The new oil production firms demand better terms from Nigeria meaning less oil income for the government. The effort to explore for oil in the Moslem north is also crippled by the bad reputation Nigeria has with foreign oil companies. Long-delayed maintenance and refurbishment of the oil production facilities in the Niger River Delta remains a problem although some of the foreign companies that control various oil fields and pipeline are more successful at keeping their infrastructure in good shape. At the end of 2018 Nigerian oil production was rising to levels not seen for years. That had been the trend for most of 2017 because the new government negotiated a peace deal with the local rebels (who opposed corruption and bad treatment of locals in general). Production rose and is on the way to the goal of 2.5 million BPD by 2020 but achieving that level of production depends on keeping the peace in the Delta. Continued corruption and rampant oil theft makes it difficult to increase production and sustain those higher production level goals. The oil theft gangs in the Niger River Delta continue to flourish with the help of corrupt government officials (civil and military.) In addition to the damage thieves do to pipelines (punching holes in them and quickly collecting oil before the police show up) the truce with some of the Delta rebels fell apart at the start of 2019 and there have been some attacks but, so far, nothing serious. In 2018 the navy renewed its campaign against oil thieves because a mid-2018 scandal involving three naval officers who were illegally selling seized equipment (from oil theft gangs) back to the gangs made possible a crackdown on corruption in the security forces working the oil production facilities. But the corruption proved to be more persistent than anyone expected and it was possible for the oil theft gangs to survive major navy campaigns to find and shut down them down. The military, especially the navy, has been very successful in finding and shutting down oil theft gangs. Since 2016 this effort has found (via more than 16,000 patrols) and shut down over 1,800 illegal refineries. Much of the refinery equipment was destroyed when found, but the navy has seized over 1,500 weapons, 1,600 boats, 198 barges, 258 outboard engines, 133 tanker trucks, 349 vehicles, 95 generating sets and much more recoverable equipment. The navy was supposed to sell off this stuff with the proceeds going to the government but it was discovered that corruption had quietly crippled the navy operations in the Delta. New commanders were sent to clean up and revive the navy operations. When there is a noticeable reduction in oil theft, that usually means the surviving gangs are building camps further from the areas where oil production takes place. This makes it more difficult for the navy to find them but also makes it more difficult for the gangs to get to pipelines, puncture them and steal oil. The gangs make less money but the incentive to steal the oil remains and without constant and uncorrupted action by the security forces the damage will increase and government oil income will decline or refuse to increase. The threat of corruption returning is, so far, always present and no one has come up with a way to change that. As a result, the Nigerian oil industry is less competitive than it should be and less profitable for the government and Nigeria in general. The impact of the oil industry corruption is made worse by the renewed oil related innovation and production in the United States and Canada. This takes export customers away from Nigeria. The first and largest customer lost was the United States itself, which over the last few years has once more become a major producer and exporter. The U.S. still imports some Nigerian oil but the Americans are now seen more as competitors than customers. You dont hear much about the American oil market in Nigerian media, instead much of the reporting is about tribal and religious violence. In Nigeria, as in the rest of the world, if it bleeds it leads defines local media content. April 15, 2019: In the southwest (Ekiti State), Fulani raiders attacked a Moslem farming family, killing two people, wounding three and looting the farm and fleeing before dawn. In the northeast (Borno State), across the border in Chad Boko Haram attacked a Chad military base near Lake Chad, killing seven soldiers. But the late night attack that continued into the next day, left over fifty of the attackers dead and was a failure. April 14, 2019: Today is the fifth anniversary of the Boko Haram raid on a boarding school for girls near the town of Chibok. The raiders kidnapped 276 people from the school, most of them teenage students and a few faculty. Despite energetic government efforts to find and rescue the Chibok girls 112 remain missing. Boko Haram is still in the area as they demonstrated when they raided a village ten kilometers from Chibok today, The raiders arrived in four trucks and more than a dozen Boko Haram gunmen fired randomly to chase the villagers away. The village was looted and before the loaded trucks drove away the village was burned down. April 13, 2019: In the northeast (Borno State), troops from Nigeria and Chad carried out a joint operation near the Chad border and Lake Chad. The joint force went after known or suspected Boko Haram camps and killed 27 Islamic terrorists while capturing some and wounding many of those who fled. The joint forces suffered no casualties. Vehicles and large quantities of weapons and ammo were seized along with documents and equipment. Just across the border in Cameroon police detained 30 Nigerian civilians who had just come across the border in a bus. The Nigerians were all women and children, had no identification and no permission to enter Cameroon. Moreover, the 30 were coming from a part of Borno where there was known Boko Haram activity and Cameroon police suspected the 30 are wives and children of Boko Haram members who are being sent to Cameroon to keep them safe. Cameroon police contacted their Nigerian counterparts for assistance in identifying the 30. April 11, 2019: In the northwest (Zamfara State), the army completed a ten day operation to find and eliminate camps used by raiders and succeeded in clearing several and killing 35 armed tribesmen and capturing weapons and equipment. April 10, 2019: In the northeast (across the border from Borno state in southeast Niger), Boko Haram gunmen were repulsed when they again attacked near the border town of Diffa, which has been the scene of clashes between the Niger troops and Boko Haram forces for years. This time the suicidal attackers took civilian hostages and fought to the death. In some cases, the hostages were families of local policemen. April 9, 2019: In the northeast (Yobe State), Boko Haram attacked the state capital (Damaturu) for the first time since 2014. The attack failed and the Islamic terrorists suffered heavy casualties, including about twenty dead and the loss of two gun trucks captured along with many other weapons. Elsewhere in the northeast (Katsina state), a clash between tribal militias left 18 dead. A similar clash elsewhere in Katsina state left five dead. Elsewhere in the northeast, across the border in Niger, two Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked a checkpoint leaving a policeman and two defense volunteers dead. April 8, 2019: In the northeast (Borno State), troops ordered 10,000 residents of Jakana (40 kilometers north of Maiduguri, the state capital) to leave the town and move to a refugee camp outside Maiduguri for screening to detect Boko Haram members or supporters. After three days about half the refugees were allowed to return to Jakana. Elsewhere in Borno an airstrike killed at least five Boko Haram and wounded many more. In the northwest (Zamfara State), an airstrike killed about 40 tribal militiamen Elsewhere in the northeast (Kaduna State), Fulani raiders dressed in military uniforms killed 21 civilians. April 7, 2019: In central Nigeria (Kogi State), Fulani gunmen killed a policeman and seven farmers. In the northeast (Katsina state), a clash between tribal militias left 36 dead. April 6, 2019: In the northwest (Zamfara State) ,an airstrike killed 25 tribal militiamen who had been out raiding other tribes. In the southeast (Anambra state) ,herders attacked a village and killed six civilians. In the northeast (Borno State), two Boko Haram suicide bombers killed nine people. April 3, 2019: In the northeast (Borno State), Boko Haram killed five MNJTF (Multi-National Joint Task Force) troops. ISGS, the Mali/Niger ISIL group, released its first video showing an undated attack near the Niger border. Actually, the video was released by ISWAP Islamic State West Africa Province ) , the Boko Haram ISIL faction , which is one of two factions of Boko Haram. ISWAP personnel are mostly in northeastern Nigeria as well as smaller numbers in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon. ISGS and ISWAP do not appear to work together except when it comes to Internet media activities, where ISWAP will mention ISGS accomplishments. ISIL does not have effective central authority at the moment with the senior leadership still dispersed and on the run from recent defeats in eastern Syria. April 2, 2019: In the northwest (Zamfara State), tribal violence left about fifty dead, including some armed CJTF (Civilian Joint Task Force) local defense volunteers. In central Nigeria (Benue State), more violence between Fulani herders and Christian villagers left five Christians dead. In the northeast (Tabara state), tribal violence left a dozen dead. April 1, 2019: In the northeast (Borno State), Boko Haram killed about a dozen soldiers while fighting near Lake Chad and the town of Kukawa. The Islamic terrorists also suffered heavy losses but no numbers were available. In the southern part of Borno State (135 kilometers southeast of the state capital), the air force attacked Boko Haram forces near Gwoza, a town near the Cameroon border that the army has repeatedly chased Boko Haram out of since 2014. March 31, 2019: In the northwest (Zamfara State), tribal violence continued, despite military intervention. At least fifty have died in the last few days. Airstrikes against groups of armed tribal raiders, killing several of them and scattering the group. In the northeast (Adamawa State), troops killed over 40 Boko Haram gunmen. TICKERS: NXS; NXXGF Source: Streetwise Reports (4/16/19) The noted engineer, who has a track record of building companies and increasing their value, is now focusing on Nexus Gold. J. Ian Stalker, who has had a longmore than 45 yearsand storied history in mining exploration, development and operations, including working in West Africa for more than a decade, has become the non-executive chairman of Nexus Gold Corp. (NXS:TXS.V; NXXGF:OTCQB), a gold exploration company with projects in Burkina Faso and Canada. During his career, he has taken more than 10 mining projects through feasibility, development and construction phases, and has raised more than $500 million in capital investment. His high-level positions in gold mining include stints as managing director of Ashanti Goldfields Co. Ltd., which later became AngloGold Ashanti; vice president of Gold Fields Ltd.; and CEO of Brazilian Gold Corp. Companies under Stalker's management have seen significant market cap growth. He was the CEO of UraMin, a uranium company that was acquired by Areva for $2.5 billion in 2007. As president and CEO of LSC Lithium, he guided that company to a recent $111 buy-out, a 30% increase in market price. Alex Klenman, president and CEO of Nexus, told Streetwise Reports, "Ian has been on the Nexus board for almost one year, and is now stepping into a greater role as non-executive chairman. He has M&A success behind him, discovery success and development success." Ian Stalker told Streetwise Reports, "I was part of the team at Ashanti Goldfields when we went from producing 120,000 ounces a gold a year to over 1 million ounces a year by the end of 1998. We began to look at projects outside Ghana, where Ashanti was based, and we looked at Burkina Faso, Mali, a range of countries, so I got very familiar with that part of West Africa." "When the opportunity came up with Nexus, with a prolific exploration area under its control in Burkina Faso, I was very happy to take up the position of non-executive chairman with it," Stalker explained. I was also attracted by the quality of the people; I am working with a really top-class group." "When Ian accepted my invitation to join the board," Klenman explained, "Nexus was in the throes of a Howe Street death grip. We had 147 million shares out and the previous management had depleted the treasury. The share price was under $0.05." "The company has turned around. We have a little bit of money in the bank, we're moving forward, we've had some success on the ground," Klenman stated. Ian Stalker's "experience, knowledge and guidance will be of great benefit to the company, and of even greater importance as the next few years are critical in our growth cycle," stated Klenman. "Having Ian on board in a more prominent and active position with Nexus is something our shareholders can be excited about. His track record in helping to grow company evaluations is impressive." Stalker joins Nexus' chief geologist, VP of exploration Warren Robb, who also has a long history in West Africa. "He was Roxgold's chief geologist in 201112 when the company discovered Yaramoko in Burkina Faso; it is now an extremely high-grade mine," Klenman explained. "That mine essentially made the company." One of Nexus' goals, Klenman stated, "is to become a larger player in West Africa in exploration and development." Jurisdictional risk can be a concern for investors. "On security issues, Burkina Faso has had a couple of incidents, which was never an issue when I traveled there in the 1990s and early 2000s," Stalker stated. "But we have chosen an area where security is very solid; it's been a very strategically controlled area by the government, so security-wise, you can discount a fair bit of the risk." "Additionally, there are a large number of mining companies right around us, so in the area where we are working there are known deposits both of size and economies where companies can mine gold on a regular basis and produce it in an economic fashion. That adds a lot of value to the exploration environment we find ourselves in," Stalker explained. The company's primary and most advanced project is Bouboulou, located in central Burkina Faso; it was once owned by Roxgold, and at the time was known as Bissa West. Roxgold did some work on the property, but after the Yaramoko discovery, the property became available, and Nexus acquired it. According to the company, drilling confirmed five mineralized zones on the 38-sq-km Bouboulou property and three different trends that cross Bouboulou in a southwestern direction. "We felt those trends were going to cross the 250-sq-km Rakounga property, so we acquired it, which gives us a combined contiguous package of about 288 sq km," Klenman explained. "We established three drill tested zones on the western flank for Rakounga. In a subsequent soil program, we were able to connect them at least in terms on anomalous surface; it's about a 16-km trend, with eight known zones. We've put about 5060 holes down between the two concessions and are about a third or halfway to a resource estimate there, depending on how the next bit of work goes. We are hoping we can fill the gaps between the three zones at Rakounga and the five at Bouboulou." Klenman stated. Bouboulou/Rakounga is a typical West African open-pit, low-grade bulk tonnage project. Nexus' other two Burkina Faso properties, Niangouela and Dakouli, have a very different story. "Warren Robb thought that the set-up at Niangouela, which is northeast of Bouboulou, was in his mind very similar to what he saw at Yaramoko, so we did a quick sample program, and came back with 2,950 g/t, 403 g/t samples, absolutely outrageous for West Africa," Klenman stated. Nexus then ran a drill program there, and got a 26 g/t hit over almost 5 meters. "More drilling showed us the nature of the beast, that it's more of a spidery vein with high-grade shoots that requires a lot more money and a lot more drilling to get done, Klenman explained. "We like the grade there and will perhaps joint venture it out." Dakouli is the company's latest addition in Burkina Faso, on which it obtained a nine-year mining lease. The property comprises 98 sq km just south of the Niangouela concession. The company was attracted by the artisanal activity on the property, miners digging down 4050 meters with 400600 meter strikes. At Dakouli, Nexus conducted a very preliminary sample round and came back with "several gorgeous, beautiful visible gold in quartz chunks, very nuggety samples, which you don't often see there," Klenman stated. "They were 2629 g/t, just grab samples, but certainly what you want to see as a phase one or two on the property." Klenman noted that the company just completed another 100 samples at Dakouli and expects the results soon. "We are trying to build our visual databases as to where we think the best drill locations. We are currently doing a soil grid program there; the more data we can build at Dakouli, the better because there really is no history there. We're going to have to make sure we build our data methodically over the next few months before we start a drill program, but we really like the grade at Dakouli and at Niangouela. I think there is a higher grade opportunity there." "From an overview position, there has been a significant amount of work to identify targets on the ground, and these were followed up by preliminary and secondary phase drilling. So we have a pretty good database, one in fact that brought on the streaming company, Sandstorm Gold Royalties, that came to look at our data and gave us money to continue our work a year ago," Stalker stated. With the funding the company has been raising and completing on, "we will run another drill program this year, which will be underway very soon," Stalker noted. We hope that it will add to the growing knowledge of the geology in the area and provide a confirmation of the quality of the targets." "We are optimistic that at the end of this year and into next year, we will have a 43-101 resource available to us," Stalker stated. "All in all, in Burkina Faso we have over 550 sq km of ground, a sizeable package, all in the Boromo-Goren greenstone belts," Klenman stated. "It is a dual narrative. The majors will keep an eye on the low-grade, bulk-tonnage situations at Bouboulou/Rakounga. When we come to market with the size of the compliant resource, that will get some attention," he said. "The retail investor may not be as excited about that, but they would certainly be excited about the high-grade results at Dakouli and perhaps more at Niangouela." Nexus has also been diversifying beyond West Africa. In January, the company completed the acquisition of the New Pilot Gold Project in the Bridge River Mining Camp in British Columbia. A second Canadian project, the McKenzie Gold Project in the Red Lake region of Northwestern Ontario, was acquired in February. The Canadian properties provide year-round activity for Nexus. "We can work on the ground on the Canadian projects in the summer, when it's rainy season in Burkina Faso, and the rest of the year in West Africa," Klenman stated. "The footprint in the Canadian camps, in a very steady, understandable and transparent part of the world, is balanced by the footprint in the Burkina Faso projects, which are hugely exciting from an exploration and potential point of view," Stalker explained. "For investors, that makes for a very interesting investment decision and not just putting all your eggs in one basket." "I think there is the potential to grow Nexus not just into a Burkina Faso company, but to a much larger West African company, that adds a lot of potential value to the company and gives you that size one needs to have in order to get proper attention," Stalker stated. Nexus currently has 42 million shares outstanding, 61 million fully diluted. Sandstorm Gold Royalties is the largest shareholder, having taken a 17% equity stake in the first post-consolidation financing in May 2018, and it holds a 1% NSR on Bouboulou, Rakounga and Niangouela. "Sandstorm will get its revenue when the projects go into production, so given that we are at the exploration and development stage in our lifecycle, that's a tremendous vote of confidence," Klenman explained. Industry analysts have Nexus in their sights. Equity.Guru, in a February 12, 2019 update on the McKenzie project in the Red Lake Mining Camp, noted Nexus "will be active on at least five geologically prospective fronts this year. With 42.29 million shares outstanding and a $0.12 share price, Nexus has a market cap of $5.07M. That strikes me as a rock-bottom valuation for a company stacked with this much potential." Bob Moriarty of 321 Gold wrote on January 11, 2019, in an article titled "Nexus Delivers Gold," the company "got approval for a new concession named Dakouli 2 in early November. The 100% owned Dakouli 2 property is contiguous with their Niangouela project that reported drill results of 26.69 g/t gold over 4.85 meters in March of 2017. If those numbers were for a project in the Golden Triangle, the stock would have tripled after the press release." "Nexus has quality gold projects in one of the most attractive countries in Africa with 3-4 million ounce potential. The company is so far off the radar screens of investors that it hasn't even arrived at the airport. I don't think the company is going up tenfold in the next month but if management can run a tight ship and plank the money into the ground, it has ten-bagger potential over the next year or so," Moriarty added. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Nexus Gold. Please click here for more information. Within the last six months, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has disseminated information about the private placement of the following companies mentioned in this article: Nexus Gold. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Nexus Gold, a company mentioned in this article. Additional disclosures: Bob Moriarty, 321 Gold: Nexus is an advertiser. I have bought a fair number of shares in the open market. I am biased. They have a lot of information on their site and you should look at it. Do your own due diligence. Equity.Guru: Nexus Gold is an Equity Guru client. Disclaimer: ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH and consult with a licensed investment professional before making an investment. This communication should not be used as a basis for making any investment. The Social Democrats is an advocate of high taxes and wont hesitate to ramp up public spending. Finland, however, is faced with great challenges as the working-age population shrinks and costs related to population ageing increase, they commented in a post-election economic review on Monday. THE NEXT GOVERNMENT is unlikely to make any major progress on the structural reforms needed in Finland, estimate Lotta Lahteenmaki and Kristian Nummelin, analysts at Nordea. Lahteenmaki and Nummelin also estimated similarly to many other analysts and political journalists that the next government will most likely consist of the Social Democrats, National Coalition, Green League and Swedish Peoples Party. The most probable government composition will make it difficult to address problems in Finland, particularly as global economic growth is sputtering. A ruling coalition ranging from left to right will probably struggle the most in carrying out the necessary labour market reforms, they predicted. Heidi Schauman, the chief economist at Aktia, told Kauppalehti she agrees with her colleagues in regards to the most likely government composition. She added, however, that she is no longer as concerned about future economic policy as she was before the elections because parties will tone down their pre-election rhetoric and realise they will have to make compromises in the rigorous coalition formation talks. I think in the formation talks parties will manage to return to the economic themes and realities that were pushed aside in the run-up to the elections, she estimated. Pasi Kuoppamaki, the chief economist at Danske Bank, said the National Coalition will likely consider it necessary to defend the labour market reforms carried out by the previous government and draw attention to the need to improve the balance of public finances. The Social Democrats led by Antti Rinne would find it easier to get sympathy from the Left Alliance. But the National Coalition would struggle to align its campaign platform with that of the Left Alliance, he analysed. The Centre may retreat to the opposition to re-construct its platform, but its not impossible it jumps on the governments journey. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi A new piece of machinery has firmly positioned Katikatis Shot Darts as a leader in the international darts industry. The recently purchased titanium plating plant is behind the vibrant colour coatings on the companys darts. It also ensures a durable coating that doesnt chip and helps keep a darts edges and grip intact, supporting the quality and flair the company is well-known for in international darts circles. Managing director Peter McCormick says the purchase speaks to the companys obsession with darts, which goes back almost 50 years to when his father, John McCormick, took over the business. To the best of my knowledge, were the only precision darts manufacturer in the world to manage the entire manufacturing process in-house. From initial concepts, to packing our beautifully finished tungsten darts by hand ready for shipment, we get it all done here at our factory in New Zealand. It gives us complete control, from woah to go. Not just over quality, but also lead times and consistency of supply. Peter says customer expectations for lead times are getting shorter and shorter, and he expects bringing the entire process in-house to shorten turnaround by at least two weeks. It enables us to be more flexible, to respond quicker to customer needs. The company has backed up its investment by hiring a machine operator with a Masters Degree in Chemistry, a role Mr McCormick says is expected to have a strong research and development focus. We want to see what the machine is really capable of. Were excited about continuing to push the envelope. And getting our ideas out there, into the hands of players, faster. Tthe process of getting the machine to Shot Darts Katikati factory and up and running hasnt been without its difficulties, he says. There have been challenges, but nothing insurmountable. Just a few things that have required a bit of Kiwi ingenuity along the way. Peter says the challenges have also showcased some of the other great things about being a Kiwi business. Theres been a lot of help from other New Zealand businesses and business leaders. When theres been a problem, theyve turned up on our doorstep to help us. Im pretty sure that doesnt happen in other countries. Were hugely proud to manufacture our darts in New Zealand. He says the purchase also symbolises Shot Darts dedication to doing things in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way, something that is becoming increasingly important in some of their key markets. Germany is a big market for us and there is a growing demand there, from young people in particular, for products and businesses that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. With the darts previously travelling as far as China at times for plating, the emissions generated by flying them there and back is something the company is happy to see an end to as part of their commitment to doing things more sustainably. Were also looking forward to reducing our carbon footprint through the use of cleaner energy sources in the plating process (renewable energy sources make up more than 80% of New Zealands electricity generation vs. less than 40 per cent in China). Peter says the purchase also speaks to the companys commitment to staff, the community and the darts industry, as it approaches its 50th year in 2020. There is a definite excitement in the team, theyre invested in the outcome. Theres a lot of pride. Its also good for the community to see the future of the business, what were working toward. It demonstrates our commitment to being based in the Katikati community. Darts gets into your blood. Were here for the long haul. The Easter weekend means family, friends and fun, however the SPCA are reminding pet owners to keep an eye on their furry friends around food. The SPCA say many common treats and snacks people enjoy over the holidays can cause serious harm to pets. Cats and dogs digest and metabolise food differently to humans, and if pets eat something dangerous, their owners are advised to call their local vet clinic immediately. SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen says chocolate needs to be kept away from dogs at all times, and people need to carefully monitor where chocolate is hidden when setting up an Easter egg hunt. Most people know that chocolate is dangerous for dogs, but there is actually an array of popular food ingredients that your pets bodies are not simply designed to eat. Chocolate contains chemicals theobromine and caffeine, which are toxic to dogs when ingested in large quantities, and SPCA say a good rule of thumb is the darker the chocolate, the more toxic it will be for a dog. The SPCA also advise keeping pets away from treats wrapped in tin foil, as there is a chance it can cause intestinal obstruction or bleeding. Pets can get into food and as they are inquisitive by nature, they will search out unusual scents, so owners should be extra vigilant this long when at home and when away. If you think your dog has ingested something they shouldnt have, seek immediate veterinary treatment. Tauranga City Council has made "significant" changes to its operations since the failure of the Bella Vista subdivision. A report presented to Council on Tuesday outlined improvements to policies, procedures, training, enforcement and other aspects of its operations such as processes around consenting earthworks. The report also details a nine-month schedule for training and auditing to help ensure that improvements are ongoing, says a statement from the Tauranga City Council. The report was authored by acting general manager: regulatory and compliance Ray Day as a detailed response to issues identified in a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment report into Bella Vista. It said that a clear vetting procedure supported by robust policies had been developed to support staff with building consent applications. "Internal training workshops had been organised, supported by online training, and a full-day workshop had been delivered by an external agency to help improve one aspect of Councils operations. "Policies and procedures were being revised to ensure that external parties supplied certain documents to Council during construction, rather than at the end of a project, and a building consent document was being reviewed," says a council communications spokesperson. "Regular audits were underway to ensure that certain building consent policies and procedures were being adhered to. "Externally, workshops and communications had been planned to make sure key stakeholders in the industry understood the way that Council handled aspects of the consent process. "Multiple inspectors would be assigned to projects, rather than a single point of contact. "The development of a clear process for dealing with enforcement under the Building Act 2004 had been added into the training calendar." Many other improvements are outlined in the report, which will be published on Councils Bella Vista page. Combining the watch and jewellery-making expertise of the Swiss brand, the new watch is dressed in pink gold, sparkling diamonds and deep tones of blue. At the centre of its design is the mother-of-pearl moon phase which is set off against the satin-brushed star chart to create an eye-catching contrast. The floral hour numerals on the blue dial taper and fade into the lower part of the satin-brushed sunray dial, forming an arc of a circle, while also present is the mysterious circling star hand that indicates the time of an upcoming Rendez-Vous. The 36mm case is adorned with 62 brilliant-cut diamonds, each rigorously selected before it can be precisely positioned alongside the other gems in the setting. The model is powered by the watchmakers automatic mechanical movement, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 935, which consists of 265 components and can be viewed through the sapphire crystal case-back. The watch is paired with a blue leather strap to match the dial. The Rendez-Vous Moon Serenity is priced at $35,800. Founded in 1937, Jaeger-LeCoultre has grown to become one of the worlds most renowned makers of luxury watches. Its impossible to define a single issue. Its about the whole, he commented in an interview on IL-TV on Monday. THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY will use its sustainable development agenda as a basis for drawing up questions to other parties in anticipation of the coalition formation talks, tells Antti Rinne, the chairperson of the Social Democrats. The Social Democrats considers it crucial that the care sector is fixed, that we have enough resources to put there and that were able to build the care guarantee. Well ask the same questions from all parties and make our evaluation based on them, said Rinne. The Finns Party, he estimated, may be different enough in terms of its values that the two parties cannot enter into the same ruling coalition. Well have to look at economic policy, social policy. As Ive listened to the comments of the Finns Partys chairperson, Im not completely convinced that we can find an understanding. On the other hand, their position on all of these issues isnt quite clear yet, so Im not sure what their answers will be, he said in a press conference on Monday. Rinne added after the press conference that the economic policy of the populist party is leaning considerably to the right. The Finns Partys economic policy direction, or what we know of it, is very rightist. Values are one key factors, and especially the values of chairperson Jussi Halla-aho are rather different. These are the things that separate us at the moment, he said. Rinne was also asked to estimate which economic policy issues could drive a wedge between the Social Democrats and National Coalition. I cant tell at this moment. Well find out what are the current priorities as we draw up the questions, he replied, adding that the Social Democrats believes tax cuts should be avoided under the current circumstances. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A bill that would make Chilis double homicide defendant William Wood eligible for release in 22 years cleared its first hurdle in the New York State Senate last week. The Elder Parole bill would allow all inmates, including those sentenced to life without parole, to be considered for release after theyve served 15 years in prison and reached age 55. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick used the high-profile sentencing of Wood Monday to rail against the bill, sponsored by State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan). Fitzpatrick said the Elder Parole bills potential enactment meant he could no longer guarantee that Wood, 33, would die in prison for the premeditated murder of his former Chilis restaurant co-workers Stephen Gudknecht and Kristopher Hicks in September. For the last seven months Ive been telling (the victims families) that he would die in prison, Fitzpatrick said during the hearing. In my 40 years of public service I dont think Ive ever seen an organization that cares less about victims that they could even consider such a piece of legislation. The bill was passed in the Senates crime committee April 9 by a vote of 5-2. Its since been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Inmates would still need to be granted release by the state parole board. The bill allows the board to make a public safety assessment to see whether an elderly inmate is safe to be released to parole supervision even if he or she has not completed his or her minimum sentence." Hoylman, reached in a brief phone interview Monday with Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard, said he could not imagine Wood would be granted parole if he comes up for it in 22 years because of the depravity of the crime. But the bill, if it became law, would make Wood eligible for release despite being sentenced to life without parole. As it stands now, I cant imagine that any parole board would let this deplorable human being see the light of day, Hoylman said. There are about 900 inmates in New York state prisons who are over 55 years old and have served at least 15 years in prison and would therefore be eligible for parole, according to the Release Aging People from Prisons group, which supports the bill. A spokesman for that group, Ben George, expressed condolences for the families of the men Wood killed. He declined to comment further. The number of elderly inmates in state prisons is rising even as the total number of inmates is decreasing, Hoylman wrote when he introduced the bill. About 5 percent of the states 54,000 inmates were over the age of 60 in 2016, according to the bill. Elderly inmates who have spent long periods in prison and are granted release commit new crimes at much lower rates as other classes of former criminals, according to Hoylmans bill memo. And, as they age in prison, they cost taxpayers money for health care related to diabetes, dementia, heart disease and other ailments, the memo said.. The bill also would allow inmates who are denied parole to come up again for consideration every two years afterward. Even if the bill becomes law, federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Wood, so he might bypass the state law. A version of the same bill was introduced last legislative session, when Republicans still controlled the Senate, but it failed in committee. The Assembly version of the bill is still in committee there. Syracuse, NY -- Now that William Wood has been sentenced to life in state prison for two cold-blooded murders at the DeWitt Chilis restaurant, he faces a much less certain fate in federal court. Wood, 33, promised Monday to accept whatever punishment he receives for the deaths of Stephen Gudknecht and Kristopher Hicks. But there will undoubtedly be a drawn-out fight if he is, in fact, sentenced to death in federal court. A glimpse of one legal landmine came up during Woods sentencing Monday before County Court Judge Stephen Dougherty. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick asked the judge to send Wood directly to the custody of federal authorities. But defense lawyer Ben Coffin asked the judge to send Wood to state custody. Dougherty ruled that, by law, he was required to send Wood to state custody. And that distinction could become important. First, some background. Its not considered double-jeopardy for federal prosecutors to seek another conviction for murders that Wood has already pleaded guilty to in state court. In legal terms, the state and federal governments are sovereign jurisdictions. But only one can punish Wood at a time. And New York State has already sentenced Wood to life in prison without chance of parole. Typically, that means that the federal government would have to wait until Woods state sentence is over to punish him federally. Its a concept that plays out routinely among defendants sentenced to lesser crimes in both state and federal prisons. For example, a gang member might be sentenced for drugs in state court and racketeering in federal court. That defendant would serve one sentence, then be transferred for the second sentence. But what happens if the state punishment is life in prison without parole? Does that mean that Wood would not face the death penalty until after he dies of natural causes? Fitzpatrick told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that this could be uncharted territory. Ive heard as many arguments as experts Ive spoken to, the DA said. Its amazing how uncharted this territory is in light of the fact the cross-jurisdiction comes up so often. Bottom line is I believe that once the feds get custody of Wood, in light of my waiver of primary jurisdiction, they can successfully prosecute him and possibly get the death penalty. Woods state lawyer, Ben Coffin, declined comment. The federal public defenders office did not respond to a request for comment. But the jurisdiction issue is just one of many that will likely come up on appeal if, in fact, Wood is sentenced to death in federal court. Theres a long road between now and then. First, Wood will have to undergo a federal trial and be convicted again. Then, hell have to get the death-penalty sentence. That could take years. His appeals to that sentence, if imposed, will likely take years -- if not decades -- longer. There are only about 60 prisoners on federal death row. The chances remain slim Wood will end up there. But Fitzpatrick said a successful federal prosecution would, at the minimum, make sure that state lawmakers dont change the rules and allow for early release. At the very least, (Wood) will be sentenced to real life without parole and not subject to release on elder parole," the DA said. New York state is considering a law that would allow older inmates to seek parole even if they had been sentenced to life without parole. Even if Wood were someday paroled from state prison, hed be taken to federal prison if convicted federally. A new radio station has launched in Central New York on a familiar signal with some well-known voices. WMCR 1600AM and 101.1FM in Oneida returned to the airwaves Monday as The Breeze 101.1 FM. The stations are now under the local ownership of Letitia and Robert English, who operate as Towercast Media LLC. of Syracuse. According to a press release, longtime local radio programmer and personality Gary Dunes will serve as morning show host weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. The rest of the lineup includes CNY broadcasters Brian Ocean from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dave Laird from 3 to 7 p.m., and James Gage from 7 p.m. to midnight, with former Syracuse TV meteorologist Rob Gaurino providing weather reports throughout the day. Dunes, formerly of WSEN Radio, says hes looking forward to offering Oneida and the surrounding community something fresh and new to listen to. The Breeze will highlight a mix of pop-rock songs from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s for adult contemporary fans. In addition to being available on the air, The Breeze will also be streaming online at theradiobreeze.com. Want to hear some nice tunes at the office today? A band of Veteran Radio Friends have come together to play some tunes... Posted by Brian Ocean on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 All Access reports Towercast bought the radio station for $40,000 earlier this year. Family Life Ministries, based in Bath, reportedly acquired WSEN and WMCR (106.3 FM, now WCIT-FM) from the Leatherstocking Media Group for $2.5 million in 2015; FLN broadcasts its Christian radio network on multiple signals, include 105.1 FM in Syracuse and 106.3 FM in the Oneida/Rome/Utica area. WSENs format format was adopted by Sunny 102.1, mixing golden oldies and classic rock with classic hits. Jay Arzu is a transportation and equity research fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C. By Jay Arzu | Special to Syracuse.com I have done extensive research on highway removal projects both domestically and internationally. My goal is to find the best practices in removing highway infrastructure and redeveloping adjacent areas. I believe that -- with proper legislative protections for disadvantaged communities, innovative exclusionary zoning practices and a countywide Bus Rapid Transit system -- the Interstate 81 viaduct project and the Blueprint 15 plans could represent an immense opportunity for Syracuse to redevelop in an equitable and sustainable way. As many already know, the historic 15th Ward was a largely African-American ward that was completely demolished for the I-81 viaduct and the civic center. Demolishing inner-city African-American neighborhoods was a very common feature of mid-century interstate highway construction and urban renewal projects across the country. What makes Syracuse unique is that it will be one of the first metropolitan areas in the United States to address the issue of past highway construction environmental injustices if the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) chooses the community grid alternative. The redevelopment of public housing and the I-81 viaduct project could be a make or break opportunity for the local community. The redevelopment of public housing units in the East Adams Street neighborhood should be handled with extra care because of the recent history of low-income African-Americans being displaced by new, mixed-use developments. In the 1990s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began to award cities tens of millions of dollars in federal grants to tear down their public housing units and replace them with developments that mixed public-housing families with higher-income renters and market-rate owners. A majority of the relocated public-housing residents nationwide were given Section 8 vouchers to rent from landlords in the private market. Unfortunately many in the voucher program found that they could not afford to live in the neighborhoods that they once called home and had to move to another disadvantaged community. To protect the residents of Pioneer Homes, as well as McKinney Manor and Central Village, the city of Syracuse should take an innovative step and improve before they move -- meaning that new buildings are built before public housing residents are asked to move out of their older dwellings. This could help with the transition to the new buildings and could better insure that local residents are not displaced by new developments. Better community access could also help the fortunes of Syracuses low-income residents and middle-class residents alike. This starts with redesigning the Centro bus system for future mobility trends. Along the more frequented corridors, Centro should invest in building Bus Rapid Transit. The Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council has studied building a BRT in its 2017 Syracuse Metropolitan Area Regional Transit Study (SMART 1). The study recommended building two initial BRT lines, one from Eastwood to Onondaga Community College and another line from the Regional Transportation Center to Syracuse University. This would better connect low-income residents to higher paying jobs and better hospitals. U.S Transportation Secretary Elaine Chaos Federal Transit Administration has been very supportive of funding bus system upgrades and bus rapid transit systems. Syracuse should take advantage of this opportunity to get these two BRT lines funded. The success of the community grid alternative and bus rapid transit system will profoundly change Syracuse by supporting the revitalization of downtown Syracuse and adjacent neighborhoods by improving connectivity and encouraging mixed-use development. Through my research, I believe that the removal of I-81 from the heart of Syracuse will be so successful that within 10 to 20 years, the region will consider removing Interstate 690 from the heart of Syracuse, as well. To the Editor: Since Attorney General William Barr has authorized the federal attorney to seek the death penalty in the Chilis murder case, the Saint Lucys justice and peace committee wishes to make the following statement and profound rejection of state-sanctioned execution. We join with all in expressing our abhorrence at the violent murders at Chilis and offer our prayer for the consolation to the families of Kristopher Hicks and Stephen Gudknecht in their grieving of their loved ones so brutally taken from them. We also hope that our judicial system will function justly in the case of the confessed killer, William Wood . Yet we also wish to state our firm opposition to any possibility of the death penalty even in such a tragic case. We believe that the United States should not be part of that sad minority of nations that permit the death penalty. Government-sponsored executions have already been rejected by the will and values of voters in New York state. We particularly cite the statements of Pope Francis, who has said, However great the crime that has been committed, the death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the dignity of the person. ... One has to strongly affirm that condemnation of the death penalty as an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity in whatever form it is carried out. There must always be the possibility of a moral and existential redemption that will be to the favor of the community. Our commitment as individuals and as a society to justice cannot be furthered through the state-approved killing of another individual. Corinne Driscoll, chair On behalf of the Justice and Peace Committee Saint Lucys Church Syracuse A government must be formed without delay. Businesses are worrying about the future, and that is gnawing away at investments that are absolutely crucial for employment. Uncertainty about the upcoming operating environment is toxic for business operations, he wrote on Facebook on Monday. JUHO ROMAKKANIEMI , the chief executive of Finland Chamber of Commerce, has added a sense of urgency to the looming coalition formation negotiations. Romakkaniemi also voiced his confidence that the coalition formation talks can be carried out efficiently and quickly under the leadership of Antti Rinne, the chairperson of the Social Democratic Party. The next government, he emphasised, should commit to fostering the key competitiveness factors of Finland: the cost burden of businesses must not increase, the supply of skilled labour must be secured with bold reforms, work on difficult reforms to boost employment must continue, and transport infrastructure must be improved by overhauling transport funding. Thats a to-do list for Antti Rinne, he noted. The efforts to form the next government will formally begin after the opening ceremony of the new parliamentary session on 25 April 2019, according to a press release issued on Monday by the Prime Ministers Office. Aleksi Teivainen HT Source: Uusi Suomi Cleota Reed, of Syracuse, is a historian of the Arts and Crafts Movement. She is the author of many publications including the exhibition catalog Ward Wellington Ward: The Architect and his Craftsmen (1978), as well as A List of Wards Works (3rd ed. 2012). Her books include The Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio (1983), Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (1987) and Irene Sargent: a Legend in Her Own Time (2013). By Cleota Reed | Special to Syracuse.com In 2016, this newspaper featured an article (one of many over the years) praising Ward Wellington Wards historic homes in Syracuse. In 1922, the distinguished attorney Charles S. Estabrook commissioned the architect Ward Wellington Ward to design a home in Manlius near Fayetteville. This became the Estabrook Estate. Thomas Thomas aptly renamed the estate Wellington House when, in 1977, he acquired it to open a restaurant. Estabrook descendants saw no need to preserve their family name on the house. I applaud the opposition of Onondaga County Executive Ryan Mahon and County Legislator Kevin Holmquist to the proposal that the Estabrook site be developed into a large scale shopping complex. This would probably have destroyed Wellington House, its out buildings and landscaped grounds. Our legislators rightly recognized that Wellington House is one of the treasures of the region. The threat must have been of major concern not only to the town of Manlius and its residents, but also to Onondaga County and much of surrounding New York state. Fortunately the zoning application has been denied. Wellington House stands as a major monument to the nationwide reputation of Syracuse/Onondaga County as one of the leading centers of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, in its heyday, the first half of the 19th century. Here in Syracuse and its suburbs were gathered an extraordinary group of creative figures. Besides Ward, they included the Craftsman furniture designer and manufacturer Gustave Stickley, and Irene Sargent and her wide-ranging work as editor of Stickleys popular and influential Craftsman Magazine. Together they did much to enlighten and transform the American publics thinking about what the typical American home could and should be. Henry Kecks Stained Glass Studio designed and made windows to adorn Wellington House throughout. Keck made windows for churches, civil buildings, and fine residences throughout the United States. The Onondaga Historical Association holds the Ward and Keck archives. Ward chose the tiles of Henry Chapman Mercers Moravian Pottery and Tile Works of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to decorate the Wellington house fireplaces and pavements. Mercers tiles are also found the interiors of many other Ward-designed residences. Mercer also created large pictorial tile installations for buildings as different as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Pennsylvania Capitol building, countless schools and domestic homes. The great ceramist Adelaide Alsop Robineau was a colleague in spirit to these designers and makers. She created highly prized porcelain ceramics while editing and publishing the popular magazine Keramic Studio. She even designed patterns for Syracuse China during its early years. What a concentration of widely admired, highly-productive artists thrived in our midst during that important era! In addition to the Estabrook Estate, Ward designed more than 150 homes, and also buildings for the Syracuse area as different as a Masonic Lodge, a large bakery and an automobile assembly plant. In 1978, the Everson Museum of Art mounted an exhibition that introduced Ward to a public that had mostly forgotten him. This show traveled to many New York state museums for the next year and revived his reputation as one of the nations most admired regional architects of domestic buildings during the Arts and Crafts Movement. Like Wellington House, many of his Syracuse works, including the Estabrook Estate, are listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. In time, the Depression of the 1930s, followed by World II, and the arrival of Modernism ended the Art and Crafts Movements great presence as a creative force in Syracuse. If anyone wonders to what good use the Wellington House might be put, I suggest that the property could become the site of a badly needed community park Estabrook Park. The revived Wellington House restaurant could thrive in its midst. We dont need another mall, but we do need an elegant historic house set in a beautiful space in which to celebrate special occasions and family outings. The Charles S. Estabrook Estate stands as a living monument to Wards work. Thankfully, the town of Manlius decided that Wellington House must be preserved. New York voters strongly support the new statewide ban on plastic bags and a permanent cap on property tax increases included in the state budget, according to a Siena College poll of registered voters. But voters oppose the moves by state lawmakers to give Gov. Andrew Cuomo a pay raise, approve public financing of political campaigns, and enact a ban on the public release of police mug shots, the poll found. The mixed reviews of key policy changes included with the $175 billion budget come as New Yorkers continue to disapprove of Cuomos job performance, only three months into his third term as governor. Only 37 percent of voters approved of Cuomos job performance, while 62 percent disapproved. Voters attitude about Cuomo is essentially the same today as it was a month ago, even with the passage of a timely budget for the ninth straight year, and a budget that included many provisions touted by the governor and the Legislature, said Steve Greenberg, speaking for the Siena poll. The survey of 735 registered voters was conducted April 8 through April 11, 2019 through phone calls to landlines and cell phone. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. Voters said the permanent 2 percent cap on property tax increases (64-22 percent), the plastic bag ban (62-33 percent) and the elimination of a requirement for cash bail for those accused of misdemeanors and non-violent felonies (55-38 percent) would be good for New York. The poll found voters from all regions of the state, and across party lines, opposed giving Cuomo a 40 percent pay raise over three years. New Yorks governor will become the highest paid in the nation with a salary that will increase to $250,000 by 2021. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer warned in a visit to Central New York on Tuesday that President Donald Trumps tariffs on aluminum imports pose a competitive threat to Novelis Inc, Oswego Countys largest manufacturer. Schumer, standing with Novelis North America President Marco Palmieri, said the 10 percent tariffs on Canadian aluminum threaten the production capacity at the Scriba plant and ultimately the jobs of its 1,100 employees. The Senate minority leader called on the Trump administration to negotiate an end to the Canadian tariffs. Until then, Schumer said, the federal government should expedite the review of more than 290 separate requests from Novelis to exempt aluminum products from the tariffs. Schumer, D-N.Y., has supported Trumps import tariffs on Chinese-made steel and aluminum. But he said imports from Canada should be treated differently. When it comes to the international aluminum market, China cheats, subsidizes its producers and floods the market, and Canada, which is our steadfast ally, does not, Schumer said. It makes no sense to put these two nations in the same basket and treat them with the same negative tariff weapon. Novelis officials said last year that they oppose the tariffs, but did not expect any immediate impact to earnings because its contracts allowed for higher costs to be passed on to customers. Schumer said the long-term effect is that the tariffs on Canadian aluminum are having a negative impact on Novelis integrated supply chain between its North American plants. The Oswego County plant makes rolled aluminum used for vehicle body panels by automobile makers such as Ford. The plant imports about one-third of its aluminum from Canada. The Novelis plant in Kingston, Ontario, supplies Canadian aluminum to its sister plant in Oswego on the U.S. side of Lake Ontario. And the Oswego plant supplies all of the rolled aluminum used in the Kingston plant. Last year, Novelis asked the U.S. Department of Commerce to grant a series of tariff exemptions for the aluminum products sent from Kingston to Oswego. Novelis asked federal officials to exclude 897 products it imports from Canada. Of those, 563 exclusion requests were approved, 42 were denied, and 292 are still pending, according to Schumers office. Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 Syracuse, N.Y. Democrat Dana Balter today announced shes ready for a rematch with U.S. Rep. John Katko, the Republican who represents much of Central New York in Congress. Pretty amazing what we accomplished in 2018, Balter told a packed crowd of more than 100 supporters and friends. Were going to reignite the movement. Lets finish the job we started." Balter, a political newcomer with little name recognition, came within about 5 percentage points of beating Katko last year. In that race, Balter won Onondaga County and got more Democratic votes than Katko got Republican ones. Conservative Party support put him over the top. It was his biggest challenge since he first won the 24th Congressional District in 2014. Democrat Dana Balter talks with supporters after announcing her plans to try to unseat Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, for a second time. Teri Weaver | tweaver@syracuse.com During tonights announcement, Balter accused Katko of pushing President Donald Trumps agenda in Washington on such issues as health care, taxes, gun laws and energy. She asked the crowd at the PressRoom Pub how many people got smaller tax refunds than expected, or paid more taxes in 2018 than in previous years. Dozens raised their hands. I stand with you, Balter said, and together we will demand a world where everyday Americans get a fair shot. Katko did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. Balters decision puts even more pressure on Katko, 56, of Camillus. On Monday, his campaign filed a federal report disclosing he raised $207,000 in new contributions toward next years race. He spent about $3 million fending off Balters 2018 challenge. Balter has about $17,000 left in her campaign account and hasnt raised any new money since last years race, records show. But she raised about $2.7 million last year before losing to Katko. Balter received more votes on the Democratic line (115,902) than Katko did on the Republican line (113,538) in November, but she lost the election by about 13,000 votes based on Katkos strength on the Conservative line. We came closer to beating John Katko than anybody ever has, she said tonight, noting that supporters from across the district were in the room. We are going to build on that momentum. Before any 2020 rematch, Balter will face at least two other Democrats. Navy veteran Roger Misso, 31, of Syracuse, decided to return to Central New York recently to run for Congress. He is a native of Red Creek in Wayne County. Another Navy veteran, Francis Conole, 40, of Syracuse, filed federal election paperwork on Monday. The Iraq war veteran said he left a job as a senior intelligence officer for the Department of Defense and moved back to Syracuse this month to campaign. In 2018, Balter easily defeated yet another Navy veteran and Democrat, Juanita Perez Williams, in a primary. Balter said she made the early announcement -- the election is 19 months away -- because of what she says are harmful policies from Trump and Republicans in Washington. Were becoming less safe every day, she said. Those things require immediate action. In February, Balter started a Syracuse nonprofit Enter the Public Square that encourages civic engagement in politics and government. Im working right now to find a professional staff to turn that over to, she said. She said tonight she is no longer teaching at Syracuse University. New Yorks 24th Congressional District covers all of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties, and the western half of Oswego County. SYRACUSE, N.Y. The Syracuse City School District is getting a $145,000 state grant to support students who are homeless. The city schools have 1,940 homeless students, according to the districts latest estimate. The number is probably much higher than that because the district relies on families to voluntarily report when they are living in temporary housing, according to Deb Montroy, a district administrator. Most homeless students are not living in shelters or on the street, but with relatives, friends or in other temporary housing situations. Many families are private and wont tell anyone if they are homeless, Montroy said. Families often tell us, Im not homeless. Im living with my mother or brother.' But students are considered homeless under federal law if they share someone elses housing due to loss of housing or economic hardship. School districts are required to immediately enroll homeless students even if they do not have previous school records, proof of residence, immunization records or other documents normally required for enrollment. The state Education Department awarded more than $5 million to districts statewide to support homeless students by providing counseling, tutoring and other services beyond academics. Of the $145,000 awarded to the Syracuse district, $20,000 is earmarked for programs that help homeless students by addressing learning needs caused by stress and trauma. Activities of Greek-letter fraternities and sororities will be suspended at the University at Buffalo at least until the start of the fall semester as the university conducts an internal review following a suspected case of hazing. Recommendations from a yet-to-be-named panel are due by the start of the fall semester, said A. Scott Weber, vice president for student life. The committee, which will be chaired by Graduate School of Education Dean Suzanne Rosenblith, will consist of between 10 and 15 members, including students, faculty and staff, Weber said during a news conference Monday on North Campus. The work to be undertaken by the Greek life review committee will include looking at educational strategies regarding the university's "zero-tolerance policy" on hazing, as well as health and safety programs for fraternities and sororities, including anti-hazing and "Good Samaritan" policies. The committee will also review the culture of Greek life at UB more generally and assess its relationship to "university values," Weber said. Weber called it the "right time" for such a review. "At this time, it was really important to take a timeout," he said. UB suspended all activities for Greek organizations Friday after learning from Buffalo police that an 18-year-old freshman suffered cardiac arrest following an incident at a house associated with the Sigma Pi fraternity on Custer Street early that morning. Sebastian Serafin-Bazan, of Westchester County, remains in critical condition at Buffalo General Medical Center, according to Buffalo police. Preliminary toxicology tests showed no drugs or alcohol in Serafin-Bazan's system, according to two police sources. Fraternity brothers are believed to have ordered Serafin-Bazan to perform exercises inside the house Thursday night and into Friday morning when he began to experience physical distress, the sources said. The 18-year-old also had recently been treated for a respiratory ailment, possibly the flu, they said. A neighbor told The Buffalo News she was told by one of the fraternity brothers that Serafin-Bazan was carried outside to get fresh air after he fell and hit the back of his head on a coffee table. Another neighbor said he saw four or five people carry a person from the house and place him on the front lawn. One of those individuals stayed while the others fled. In a statement Monday, Buffalo police said the department is still investigating whether or not drugs and/or alcohol played a role in what happened. The investigation involves Buffalo homicide detectives, University at Buffalo police and state troopers, Buffalo Police Capt. Jeff Rinaldo said. Police ask anyone who may have information to call or text the department's confidential tip line at 847-2255. The fraternity Sigma Pi, which lists 111 active chapters on its website, on Friday "learned of a reported allegation of health & safety policy violations at Epsilon-Omicron Chapter at the University at Buffalo that led to the injury of a pledge," Executive Director Jonathan M. Frost said in an emailed statement. "We take such allegations very seriously and our prayers go out to him and his family." Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn previously said the fraternity's lawyer asked to review the Buffalo Police homicide squad's files on the investigation. The DA said he would not permit that. Frost took issue with that characterization. "Contrary to prior reporting, our general counsel has not yet initiated our internal investigation due to the ongoing investigation conducted by the Buffalo Police Department," Frost said in the statement. "We are in touch with the department and once it concludes its fact-finding, our general counsel will begin our internal investigation to determine if any policy violations occurred and if corrective action is warranted." By Aaron Besecker, The Buffalo News, N.Y. Update: The driver of the Jeep has died. CICERO, N.Y. - Three people were hospitalized following a head-on crash on Interstate 481 in Cicero this afternoon. Shortly after 3 p.m., a man driving a 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee north on I-481 between exits 9 and 10 crossed over the center median into the southbound lanes and struck a box truck head-on, State Police spokesman Trooper Jack Keller said. Police do not yet know why the driver of the Jeep crossed into oncoming traffic. Both the man driving the truck and the female front seat passenger of the Jeep had to be cut free from their vehicles. All three were transported to Upstate University Hospital, where theyre all listed in serious condition, Keller said. Police have not yet identified those involved. All lanes of I-481 south between exit 10 at Bear Road/Route 11 and exit 9 at the I-81 interchange will remain closed until around 6:30 or 7 p.m. as state police works to reconstruct and investigate the crash. A box truck involved in a crash on I-481 in Cicero on April 15, 2019 that injured three people.New York State Police MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Testimony in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her home has shined a light on officers actions at the scene and raised questions about whether they were trying to protect one of their own. The incident commander turned her body camera off when talking to Mohamed Noor in the moments after the 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, while other officers told him not to say a word, according to prosecutors and court testimony. Many responding officers turned their body cameras on and off at will; one had his camera recording while headed to the scene and shut it off upon arrival. "These are extremely troublesome things," said Phil Turner, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in Chicago who is not connected to the case. "They're law enforcement officers and they are supposed to enforce the law equally, whether someone is a sworn law enforcement officer or not." Noor, 33, is on trial for murder and manslaughter in the death of Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Damonds mother was Australian, and she spent her formative years there, but also spent some of her early childhood in the Buffalo area and frequently returned to New York state, staying in Hamburg, N.Y., as recently as 2016. Damond was shot July 15, 2017, while approaching the squad car that Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, were in. Defense attorney Peter Wold said in his opening statement that Noor heard a loud bang on the squad car and feared an ambush. But prosecutors say there is no evidence of any threat to justify deadly force. Noor and Harrity did not turn on their body cameras until after the shooting. In this May 8, 2018, file photo, Mohamed Noor arrives at the Hennepin County Government Center for a hearing in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)AP The shooting got instant international attention, led to the forced resignation of the city's police chief, and led to changes in the department's policy on body cameras. It also raised questions about a "blue wall of silence" as prosecutors said they had to convene a grand jury to compel officers' testimony because many refused to provide statements. Turner found this allegation troubling, saying officers around the U.S. have been covering for each other for years. He pointed to the aftermath of the 1991 police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. An independent commission found the code of silence among officers to be "perhaps the greatest single barrier to the effective investigation and adjudication of complaints" about police behavior. "It's the same thing, even back then," he said. "It's been going on for a long time." More recently, Chicago was rocked by claims of a cover-up in the 2014 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder at a trial in which several officers reluctantly testified against him. A judge later acquitted three officers of staging a cover-up, dismissing as just one perspective the dashcam video of Van Dyke opening fire as McDonald walked away from police and continuing to fire after the teenager crumpled to the ground. At Noor's trial, some officers have described arriving to a hectic, confusing situation in which they didn't initially know Damond had been shot by an officer. Officer Jesse Lopez told Noor: "Just keep to yourself. Keep your mouth shut until you have to say anything to anybody." Prosecutors have also raised questions about the noise that Harrity later told investigators precipitated the shooting. Harrity initially told the incident commander that the officers got spooked, prosecutor Patrick Lofton told jurors. But the first mention of a possible slap on the squad car came not from Noor or Harrity but rather from others at the scene who made assumptions about what happened, according to Lofton. The first time Harrity mentioned anything about a loud noise on the squad car was days later, when he spoke with state investigators. Prosecutors also have told the court that about 20 police officers refused to talk to investigators and met with union officials to discuss withholding information. Union president Lt. Bob Kroll, who is listed as a possible witness, told The Associated Press he could not comment. But in an interview with the Star Tribune, Kroll dismissed the idea that officers were withholding information. "That's an easy sweeping statement to make and without some concrete hard evidence, which they won't find in this case," Kroll said. A police spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Body cameras have been seen as one way to counter the "blue wall." Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who was the assistant chief at the time, testified that officers should have left theirs on. Arradondo said that under the department's body camera policy at the time, officers were expected to hit record when conducting traffic stops or "any sorts of contact where an officer believes that there may be an adversarial situation that develops." But officers were given wide discretion. The revised policy requires officers to activate the cameras in most public encounters. Still, it gives officers latitude and says they can temporarily deactivate their cameras to discuss an incident with a co-worker. Sgt. Shannon Barnette, the incident commander, was asked Tuesday why she turned her camera on and off. She said the department's policy on cameras "was confusing." In court documents, Judge Kathryn Quaintance cautioned prosecutors against making arguments about a general code of silence among officers based on their behavior at the scene. Prosecutors argued in court documents that statements and behaviors of some officers show bias as to why certain evidence was not gathered or kept. The jury should question the credibility of any officers testimony if he or she demonstrates an unwillingness to give full or truthful testimony because of a bias toward police, prosecutors wrote. Syracuse, N.Y. -- A narrow band of heavy rain is forecast to fall across Upstate New York Friday night, raising flood worries after soil was soaked by rain early this week. Some thunderstorms may produce strong winds and heavy downpours, the National Weather Service said. Locally heavy rainfall could lead to increased stream flow and minor flooding in some areas. Some areas of Upstate New York, mostly in the eastern portion of the state, got more than 2 inches of rain early Monday morning. As a result of that rain and melting snow, the weather service issued flood warnings for Schroon River at Riverbank, just west of Lake George; and the Mettawee River at Granville, at the Vermont border. Another warning might be issued for the West Canada Creek in Herkimer County. A significant storm system may bring widespread heavy rain late this week into the first half of the weekend, the weather service in Albany said. Additional flooding will be possible given antecedent conditions. Exact rainfall and the path of storms is difficult to predict days in advance. Stay tuned to our weather page and well give you the latest forecasts as the week progresses. In brief: Sony is entering another market: taxi-hailing services. The Japanese tech giant has just launched the S.Ride app in Tokyo, which lets users hail regular taxis. The S in S.Ride stands for simple, smart, and speedy, according to a company press release. The app actually comes from Minna no Taxi, which translates as "Everybody's Taxi," a joint venture between Sony Payment Services, Sony Corp., and six taxi companies. The service isnt a ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft; those are banned in Japan, though Uber has partnered with the Fuji Taxi Group to let users hail cabs through its app in Nagoya, writes Bloomberg. S.Ride lets users pay for taxi rides using cash, credit cards, or via a QR code-powered digital wallet. Sony says that its partners make up a combined fleet of over 10,000 vehicles for customers in the countrys capital, and the app will use artificial intelligence to predict where demand will be highest and dispatch cabs accordingly. A Sony spokesperson said there are no plans to launch the S.Ride app outside of Japan. Sony is already a major player in the home electronics, smartphone, and console industries. Last year saw Kazuo Kaz Hirai step down as CEO after six years, with former CFO Kenichiro Yoshida taking his position. Yoshida said he wants Sony to invest in more reliable revenue sources and content, and it appears S.Ride falls under the former category. Image credit: Phattana Stock via Shutterstock Highly anticipated: Details regarding Sony's highly anticipated next generation console have finally emerged as confirmed by lead architect Mark Cerny. While the console is as of yet unnamed, Sony is promising 8K resolution support, ray tracing, backwards compatibility, and SSD storage that is sure to unravel load times. Sony is again working with AMD to power the new console, with the chip maker set to deliver an 8-core chip based on its third generation Ryzen series, boasting the 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. In an exclusive with Wired, Sony's lead system architect Mark Cerny talked shop about the upcoming PlayStation 5 -- although it's been made clear Sony hasn't committed to the name. Sony's next-gen console is already in the hands of developers in the form of development kits, and Sony is rapidly accelerating the deployment of those kits so game studios have ample time to acclimate to its capabilities. Capability is something Cerny framed heavily in his interview, divulging that the PlayStation 4's successor will be powered by a third generation Ryzen processor boasting eight cores and AMD's 7nm Zen 2 architecture. The new console will also leverage a custom Radeon Navi graphics variant, supporting ray tracing and resolutions up to 8K. Cerny, noting that audio capabilities changed little between the PS3 and PS4, states that 3D audio will be a prominent aspect this time around. It's been a little bit of a frustration that audio did not change too much between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. With the next console the dream is to show how dramatically different the audio experience can be when we apply significant amounts of hardware horsepower to it, says Cerny. Super excited to expand our partnership with @Sony on their next-generation @PlayStation console powered by a custom chip with @AMDRyzen Zen2 and @Radeon Navi architecture! https://t.co/EvdIrMNLiV Lisa Su (@LisaSu) April 16, 2019 However, the "key to the next generation" as Cerny puts it, is in the inclusion of super fast storage. According to Cerny, it's no ordinary SSD, claiming it "has a raw bandwidth higher than any SSD available for PCs." Cerny offered a demonstration using a Spider-Man fast travel sequence on the PlayStation 4, where the loading sequence took roughly 15 seconds. Cerny repeated the process on a PlayStation 5 dev kit, and that same process allegedly took less than one second. Sony's next console is, to an extent, based on the PlayStation 4 architecture and will be backwards compatible, something rumors have heavily suggested. The new console will also accept physical media, eschewing any notion that it will be download based only. While Cerny put to rest any hope that the console will release in 2019, he hinted that upcoming games like Death Stranding could span generations. It seems we'll have to wait until 2020 to see the next PlayStation, although there's sure to be news before then. However, don't expect much from Sony at E3 later this summer as the company has opted to skip the show this year. What just happened? Razer on Tuesday welcomed a new member to its external graphics enclosure (eGPU) family. The Razer Core X Chroma is designed to work with a wide variety of Windows laptops and MacBooks, enabling gamers to supplement their mobile rig with a desktop-class graphics card. The new Core X Chroma now includes a 700W internal power supply capable of driving power-hungry cards from Nvidia and AMD. Qualified Nvidia cards include the RTX, GTX and Quadro series; on the AMD side, Radeon and Radeon Pro cards are compatible with the new eGPU. You can squeeze in up to a three-slot wide, full-length PCIe x16 card in the chassis. The enclosure additionally packs four USB 3.1 Type-A ports and Gigabit Ethernet. It measures 6.61 inches x 14.72 inches x 9.06 inches and tips the scales at 15.23 pounds (without a GPU). Note that youll need a Thunderbolt 3 port to use the Razer Core X Chroma. Also worth mentioning is the fact that macOS systems running High Sierra 10.13.4 or later are only compatible with AMD cards. Furthermore, the Razer Synapse 3 software used to control the Razer Chroma RGB lighting zones is not available on macOS. The new Razer Core X Chroma is available from today directly from Razer and select retailers in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and the Nordics (its heading to China, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan soon, were told). Expect to pay $399.99 for the opportunity. What just happened? Apple and Qualcomm have agreed to end all legal battles worldwide. The two companies went back and forth over two years with each winning cases in different countries. However, it seems the two tech giants have worked out their differences, possibly due to mutual interest concerning upcoming 5G capable iPhones. Apple and Qualcomm squared off in a San Deigo courtroom yesterday in what many thought would be a protracted trial. Inexplicably nonetheless they have agreed to settle all of their ongoing litigation worldwide. The battle started two years ago when Apple accused Qualcomm of using their patents for extortion. Qualcomm typically doesn't allow customers to buy their chips unless they license their patent portfolio first. Apple argued that Qualcomm was using its position as market leader in mobile chipsets to charge unreasonably high fees to license those patents. Qualcomm countered Apple, accusing them of patent infringement as well as stealing trade secrets and giving them to Intel. Since then, both companies have engaged in legal battles around the world with Qualcomm winning a few of them in China and Germany, the latter of which resulted in a ban of older iPhones. Apple was able to eke out a win last month, however. The trial in San Diego was supposed to end the dispute once and for all and seems to have succeeded. That said, while Qualcomm's battle with Apple is over, the company still has to tangle with the Federal Trade Commission who filed suit against Qualcomm concerning possible patent abuse. Per the agreement, Apple will pay Qualcomm for a six-year license agreement. In return, Qualcomm will continue to provide Apple with mobile chips. News of the agreement sent Qualcomm's stock up over 20 percent. Digging a little deeper, the results of this litigation could have led to interesting consequences. Jacob Kastrenakes from The Verge comments that had Apple won the battle, it could've secured lower prices for Qualcomm's chips and made it easier for Qualcomm competitors. Conversely, had Qualcomm won, it may have pushed its fees even higher in order to take advantage of its market position. This is especially true of the upcoming 5G deployments. Qualcomm is ostensibly the market leader when it comes to 5G modems. Smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G will make use of Qualcomm's 5G technology while Intel is still playing catch-up. This might also be why Apple wanted to end the litigation with Qualcomm so it could begin testing Qualcomm's modems in upcoming iPhones. Modern humans enjoy free rein of the Earth at present, but a newly discovered human species in the Philippines make it evident that this wasn't the case for ancient hominins. Instead, several human species likely lived alongside each other before the family tree whittled down to just modern humans. In a study published in the journal Nature, scientists share details of their landmark discovery in the Philippines: a new human species called Homo luzonensis, named after the island of Luzon where they were unearthed. A Strange Mix Of Traits Dated to 67,000 years ago, these remains of two adults and one juvenile excavated from Callao Cave in Luzon are the oldest hominin evidence ever found in the Philippine archipelago. More interestingly, the H. luzonensis feature an odd mosaic of ancient and modern traits that set them apart from other human species. The study authors analyzed all the fossils collected, which include foot and hand bones, teeth, and a partial femur. Their presence and their odd mix of traits throw the entire homonin family tree in intriguing disarray. For instance, the various molar and premolar teeth presented similarities to Homo sapiens, Homo erectus in Asia, Homo floresiensis, and even the Paranthropus. The toe bone is curved and monkey-like, much more similar to the Australopithecus afarensis who lived millions of years ago. "This phalanx strongly resembles those of Australopithecus, known only in Africa and at much older periods (about 2 to 3 million years ago)," Florent Detroit, study author and archaeologist from the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, told Science Alert. Several Human Species Roamed The Earth In The Past The age of Philippines' H. luzonensis means that they roamed the Earth at the same time as other hominins such as the H. sapiens, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo floresiensis. For a long time, many experts believed that H. erectus left Africa around 1.5 million to 2 million years ago, according to a report from Nature. Other hominins supposedly stayed put in Africa where these species eventually faced extinction. Some of these species include the Homo habilis, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus. Many discoveries in previous years challenge this early and orderly theory about the origin of human evolution. One such discovery is the H. floresiensis, the "hobbit" species found in the Flores Island of Indonesia in 2004. Finding a new human species in the Philippines that shares traits with long-extinct hominins from millions of years ago further supports the growing conviction that H. erectus isn't the only hominin species that traveled out of Africa. Like the H. floresiensis, the H. luzonensis lived on an island that can only be reached with a sea crossing. It's possible that both species evolved from H. erectus populations who lived and evolved in these isolated islands for a long time. "[A] few thousands of years back in time, H. sapiens was definitely not alone on Earth," Detroit stressed. Rainer Grun, study author and archaeogeochemist from Griffith University, agreed in an interview with Science Alert. "Human evolution is far more complex [than we realised] and it was normal in the past to have several human species living side by side. In contrast to today where we are the only species left," Grun explained. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mercury found buried in ancient rock suggests volcanoes are behind The Great Dying, the biggest mass extinction that ever occurred on Earth. The event killed off over 95 percent of life on the planet. The Great Dying In a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, scientists reported the discovery of a spike in mercury in the geologic record at nearly a dozen sites around the world. They said this provides persuasive evidence that volcanic eruptions caused the extinction event. The Great Dying occurred between the Permian and Triassic periods 252 million years ago. The cataclysm killed off much of terrestrial and marine life that lived before the time of the dinosaurs. The eruptions happened in the volcanic system called the Siberian Traps in what is now the present day central Russia. Many of the eruptions occurred through gaping fissures in the ground, and not in cone-shaped volcanoes. The eruptions occurred frequently and were long-lasting spanning over a period of hundreds of thousands of years. The extended period of eruptions likely prevented the recovery of Earth's food chain. Chemical Signature Of Earth's Biggest Mass Extinction Scientists explained that a lot of mercury is released into the atmosphere when there are large explosive volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions ignited deposits of coal that released mercury vapor into the atmosphere. The element eventually dropped into marine sediments around the world creating a chemical signature of the catastrophe. In their study, researchers dated the rocks where mercury was deposited using the fossilized teeth of conodonts, lamprey-like creatures that were decimated by the catastrophe. "We measure mercury (Hg), assumed to reflect shifts in volcanic activity, across the Permian-Triassic boundary in ten marine sections across the Northern Hemisphere. Hg concentration peaks close to the Permian-Triassic boundary suggest coupling of biotic extinction and increased volcanic activity," study researcher Jun Shen, from China University of Geosciences, and colleagues wrote in their study. Set Off A Deadly Climate Change Researchers said the eruptions spewed so much ash into the air, and these erupted materials, particularly the greenhouse gases, warmed Earth by an average of about 10 degrees centigrade. Researchers said the warmer climate was the nail of the coffin that led to the extinction of many species. "Volcanic activities, including emissions of volcanic gases and combustion of organic matter, released abundant mercury to the surface of the Earth," Shen said. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A 23-year-old paramedic who suffered from stroke after cracking her neck has warned others against the dangers of neck cracking. Natalie Kunicki, who moved from Canberra, Australia, to work for the London Ambulance Service, was watching movies in bed with her friend in March when she stretched her neck and heard a loud crack. Kunicki thought nothing of the sound and went to sleep. She said she is used to cracking her joints. However, after 15 minutes, Kunicki woke up and was unable to move her left leg and fell to the floor when she attempted to walk. The Story Of Natalie Kunicki The following day after the incident, Kunicki was rushed to the University College London Hospital and underwent CT scan. It was confirmed that she had suffered a stroke, which was caused by the rupturing of a major artery in her spine. In fact, as Kunicki's neck cracked, her vertebral artery had burst, which then caused a blood clot to form in her brain and trigger a stroke. The left side of the young paramedic's body was completely paralyzed, and Kunicki admitted that she felt "emotionless" for days. She said that thanks to her friends, she was able to snap out of her "pity party" and focused all her energy into recovery. The doctors then transferred Kunicki to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where she underwent three hours of surgery. This is where the doctors discovered her burst artery. Although the doctors were able to repair Kunicki's artery with a stent, they were unable to clear the blood clot in her brain. However, the doctors believe the blood clot will dissolve in time. Kunicki also admitted that depression struck her while she was going through the treatment. "I think I scared my consultant because after I woke up she came in to ask how I was going but I told her 'you should have killed me'," said Kunicki. Depression is common after a stroke, said Kunicki, because she said being paralyzed made her "lose so much independence and dignity." As of writing, doctors cannot provide an exact timeframe for a full recovery, but Kunicki hopes she can return to work for light duty within six to 12 months. Since her discharge, Kunicki has been living with her parents, Anne and Peter Kunicki, and they will move back to Australia in July. Kunicki's brother has set up a GoFundMe page for people who want to help her recover from her condition. Why Neck Cracking Is Bad For The Health Kunicki said most people who experience stroke are at their 70s or 80s and that young people suffering from it are quite rare. Although what happened to Kunicki had a one in a million possibility, ruptured vertebral artery is still a common cause of strokes in young people. There are more reasons why neck cracking is bad for the health. A study in 2011 revealed that a 42-year-old woman who cracked her neck experienced "the worst headache of her life," and then experienced pain in her left neck. She also reported vomiting, nausea, and blurred vision. Meanwhile, a study in 2003 revealed that neck cracking increased the risk for stroke by 6.62-fold. However, Bustle reported that the rupturing of vertebral artery could also be caused by other things, such as genetic predispositions to artery weakness, hypermobility, neck accidents, and injuries, among other things. It is "tricky" to pin the blame solely on neck cracking. It's also possible that underreporting plays a role in the fact that statistics that correlate neck cracking to stroke are low. Still, it is still worth noting that anyone who cracks their neck must be careful in doing so. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Several publishers are already having issues with Apple News+ even though the service has only been available for less than a month. Among the early problems participating publishers are facing include article formatting, losing digital ad campaigns, and Apple's alleged unfair treatment of smaller companies. Unequal Treatment Of Publishers When Apple first unveiled its new Apple News+ service in March, the tech company told publishers that they will be given article templates and other design resources to help them fine-tune their content. However, Apple's promise is beginning to turn out as "half true." In an article by news website Digiday, some publishers who signed up for the service expressed their disappointment at Apple's supposed premium news service. Sources said participating publishers were encouraged to send in their pitches for content design to Apple. These would then be reviewed by a team of designers handled by ex-Wired editor Jason Tanz. Companies were given an official e-mail address where they could submit their ideas, and they will receive a response from Apple representatives. However, Apple is said to favor a separate, more exclusive group of publishers. Members were given access to a Slack channel, where they could contact Apple representatives directly. Some participating publishers are upset at what they think is unequal treatment from Apple. "They're basically playing favorites," a source said. "It always seems to be good for the big guys, but not for the rest of us." No Article Or Content Templates Apple also reportedly failed to give publishers access to article and content templates. The tech company may have helped participating publishers come up with their unique templates in the past. However, it has since outsourced the article template-making process to third-party vendors. Many of the templates produced so far are not up to snuff for web publishers' liking. Formatting Issues Publishers who signed up to Apple News+ are also having difficulties adapting their content to the service's format. Most of them have to use different software to turn their articles and ads into PDF files first before they could be converted for uploading to Apple News+. Multiple sources said publishers would have to edit their content again individually to make sure that each one gets uploaded to Apple's service correctly. This makes the entire process laborious and problematic for many participants. Smaller publishers are often left at a disadvantage since they do not have the time or resources to create their own template designs. They do not have enough choices to make their content more appealing to readers. Uneven User Experience Participants also have to deal with uneven user experience with Apple News+. Some published would often spend a lot of money on custom designs, while others would have to settle with using only PDF versions of their print editions. Considering Apple's penchant for using unique designs for its products, the news service "doesn't feel like that at all," according to a source. Apple News+ only has a few weeks since the beginning of the operation, so some early issues can be expected as it works toward improving its service. However, some participating publishers are said to be growing fearful of the future of Apple News+ unless Apple does something drastic to address the issues. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A large, highly dangerous, and potentially deadly asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. How will mankind deal with it? By preparing a defense system called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, that's how. NASA recently awarded SpaceX a $69 million government contract to deflect incoming asteroids that are on a collision course with the planet. The DART mission has been in the works for several years at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Now, it has a real launch date with SpaceX, which is under the reins of billionaire philanthropist Elon Musk. According to NASA, a Falcon 9 rocket will head into space in June 2021 to blast incoming asteroids in the future. What's The Objective Of The DART Mission? The main goal of the DART mission is to deflect possible asteroid collisions with Earth by using a kinetic impactor. The DART mission, which will achieve its first-ever test run in 2021, works by hitting the asteroid with something dense and fast. This will nudge the trajectory of the object away from an impact. A year later, in October 2022, the DART mission will then intercept a small moon of the binary asteroid Didymos. The asteroid will be 11 million kilometers away from Earth, NASA said. Moreover, the DART mission aims to learn more about how asteroids are likely to behave when smacked with a kinetic impactor. Self-driving Spacecraft Used To Prevent Asteroid Collisions Aside from the DART mission, scientists are also looking into the possibility of using self-driving spacecraft to prevent asteroid collisions. One such spacecraft is the Hera spacecraft, which is built by the European Space Agency and is part of a larger initiative known as the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission. The DART mission and the AIDA mission are interconnected. AIDA will begin as soon as a spacecraft from DART purposefully crashes into the moon of the asteroid Didymos. After three years, the Hera spacecraft will then arrive on Didymos's moon to analyze it as well as the crater left by the impact. Why Preventing Asteroid Collisions Matters In The Long Run So far, NASA and ESA have not identified any potentially dangerous space rocks that pose a catastrophic threat on Earth in the near future. Sara Mazrouei, a planetary scientist from the University of Toronto, said spotting asteroids on collision with Earth is a "game of probabilities." "These events are still rare and far between that I'm not too worried about it," said Mazrouei. Still, preventing asteroid collisions are important because it not only allows scientists to learn more about cosmic objects, it also ensures the safety of the planet itself. According to NASA, at least 19,000 near-Earth asteroids have been detected at the beginning of 2019. An average of 30 new discoveries is added every week. Furthermore, NASA explained that no asteroid can be shot down in the last few minutes or hours before impact because the velocity of an asteroid is at an average of 12 miles per second. This is why prevention is the best option. Lastly, research has shown that the best technique to divert an asteroid from its impact course largely depends on the scenario. It could depend on the choice of method for impact mitigation, and also on the orbit of the asteroid, its composition, bulk properties, and relative velocity, NASA said. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. More than 10,000 adults went missing in Los Angeles County last year, according to California state records. A substantial number of those people were elderly, with cognitive impairments, including dementia or Alzheimer's, which puts them at a higher risk of getting lost.Now, a program launched by L.A. County is using a radio tracking system to keep an eye on the whereabouts of those most at risk. The LA Found Initiative, launched last October, uses voluntary monitoring devices to find at-risk individuals in the event that they become lost. It is coordinated by the Countys Sheriffs Department and Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services Department.Concern over the issue was partially sparked by the disappearance and death of Nancy Paulikas , a 55-year-old woman with early onset Alzheimer's who wandered away from her family while touring a Los Angeles museum in 2016.Paulikas' disappearance and death was a big catalyst for change, according to Veronica Sigala, program manager for the County's Adult Protective Services department, which oversees the program. It was a tragedy, she said. But what we learned from that is that we needed to do better in L.A. County.Public concern manifested into a task force convened in 2017 by the county's Board of Supervisors. The task force would eventually settle upon a number of suggestions for increasing its efficiency in locating lost people, one of which was partnering with a tracking technology vendor to assist law enforcement in finding lost individuals.The county decided to partner with Project Lifesaver , a public safety nonprofit founded by former law enforcement officials that utilizes arm bands equipped with radio frequency technology police can use to triangulate the approximate location of someone wearing one.If the individual wearing a device goes missing, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department can quickly deploy personnel to help law enforcement agencies locate the individual, said Rebecca Friedman, media services director for IT Services in the countys Internal Services Department. The goal of the program is to create a uniform and coordinated response to missing persons, she said.Cinthie Lopez Paz, a county human services administrator working with LA Found, said the countys program is fairly unique because it uses a more case management style approach, emphasizing mental health, outreach and client care alongside its law enforcement operations.The county's human services and the sheriffs department have worked well together on the project, according to Paz. In my many years with the county, I havent seen a collaborative effort like this, in how well we are able to navigate the entire county system in order to provide assistance to our clients.Families or caregivers may come forward to request that their loved one be fitted with a bracelet designed by Project Lifesaver. The bracelets carry a rechargeable battery and the caregiver is trained how to maintain it.So far, the program has used the bracelets to successfully locate and recover four individuals who had wandered off, said Sigala and Paz.While the program originally only had 30 bracelets, the state soon secured additional funding and was able to purchase more bracelets. The county currently has 235 people enrolled in the Project Lifesaver pilot, said Friedman.While initial funds for the program came from the county, funding has grown through donations from a diversity of state and local organizations. In the future, Sigala said, the program hopes to grow its donor base and be able to expand services significantly with potential investment in a host of other tracking technologies.Techwire Danville, IL (61832) Today Mainly clear skies. Low 26F. WNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.. Tonight Mainly clear skies. Low 26F. WNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph. Donors raised more than $1.6 million in roughly 36 hours to support the three historically black Baptist churches destroyed by arson in St. Landry Parish. A GoFundMe site hosted by the Seventh District Baptist Association, a coalition of Baptist churches that includes the three destroyed churches, hit its $1.8 million goal around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Over 33,000 people have donated to the online campaign. A Twitter fundraising drive led by journalist Yashar Ali Tuesday called attention to the churches need and challenged the public and celebrities to step forward to support the cause. Public figures like actress Kristin Davis, actress and talk show host Busy Philipps, late night host Seth Meyers and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro were among the early donors. 17. @gofundme just emailed me to let me know you all have brought this campaign to the top campaign globally on GoFundMe!! This is so exciting! Can we keep this going? Donate here to help three historically black churches rebuild... https://t.co/gj1BcNsGpu Yashar Ali (@yashar) April 16, 2019 Ali and others referenced the tragic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris when encouraging others to donate, noting reconstruction of the architectural and religious landmark would be well funded while the three St. Landry churches didnt have the benefit of the same resources. Corporations, billionaires and the public have already pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the storied cathedral. Former Democratic presidential nominee and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also drew attention to the cause online, urging followers to send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana even as they keep Paris in their thoughts. As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, lets also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana. Three historically black churches have burned in recent weeks, charring buildings and scattering communities. If you can, contribute to rebuilding funds here: https://t.co/OSteYWzU9v Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 16, 2019 As a result of the publicity, the Seventh Districts GoFundMe was one of the top global fundraising campaigns on the fundraising website by early Tuesday afternoon. According to their website, GoFundMe does not subtract a platform fee from donations, but a transaction fee of 2.9 percent plus an additional $.30 per transaction is taken out by payment processors like PayPal. The Rev. Freddie Jack, president of the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association, said watching the GoFundMe meter increase has been an awesome experience. Like a skyrocket, he said. Jack said watching it intently has been too nerve-racking, and instead hes asked members of his church to check on the meter and give him updates. He said hes grateful for the kindness and generosity the public is showing. Im just thankful for people responding as they are to meet the needs of these three pastors, Jack said. It feels awesome to know that people youve never met, never had a conversation with, are calling you and telling you who they are and offering to help. From the east to the west theyre reaching out and contributing to our needs. One of the first higher profile public pledges of support came from retired Saints tight end Ben Watson, who last week reached out to the pastors of the three churches. "While I reserve judgment on the man arrested for this crime until proven guilty, the fact that black churches were burned to the ground is a reminder of the fear and pain so many communities have repeatedly experienced since emancipation," Watson said. "This trauma resides deep within all of us, black and white, in America." 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 Local businesses and organizations have also stepped up to pledge their support for the three churches. On Tuesday, IberiaBank announced it was making a $6,000 donation to the churches in conjunction with Giles Automotives Giles Gives Back to St. Landry Churches campaign. One of the hallmarks of our company is to support our community in meaningful ways, said Jerry Vascocu, Executive Vice President and Acadiana President for IberiaBank. We are very proud to help restore these historic churches in support the parishioners and commend Bob Giles for setting up this effort to engage the entire Acadiana community to help our friends in St. Landry Parish. Giles Automotive on Friday announced the start of its 30-day Giles Gives Back campaign to help raise money for the three St. Landry Parish churches. During the 30 days, Giles Automotive will match donations up to $50,000. When I heard about what happened to these churches I knew Giles Automotive had to lend a hand," Bob Giles, dealer principal, said. "Our motto is giving back to the community, and I cant think of a more deserving group than these churches that have stood strong in the community for more than 100 years. Authorities have charged Holden Matthews, the 21-year-old son of a St. Landry Sheriff's deputy from Opelousas, with hate crimes and arson related to the three fires. The three churches St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas and Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church in Opelousas burned down between March 26 and April 4. The pastors from all three churches say they have received offers of help from around the state and country, and theyre working to organize formal recovery efforts. The Rev. Harry Richard of Greater Union Baptist Church said the publics outpouring of love has been overwhelming and uplifting. I think that God has allowed this to happen to really bring us closer together, Richard said. God always intervenes with loveIts the kind of love were getting now that will carry us forward. The pastors said theyre currently working through the insurance process and are trying to assess what financial coverage a claim will provide and whats needed to rebuild their congregations worship houses. At a press conference Thursday, Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning said his office is working closely with the pastors to ensure their new building designs meet code requirements and can efficiently pass through the permitting process so rebuilding can begin right away. An earlier version of this story misspelled Busy Philipps' last name. The Advocate regrets the error. A man passes by a money exchange shop near the Bank of England in London, March 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Stephen Chung) WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- At a time when the global economy enters "a delicate moment" featuring "broad-based slowdown," key international financial institutions call for strengthening multilateral cooperation. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wrapped up their spring meetings on Sunday, stressing the urgency to better address unfair trade practices. DELICATE MOMENT The IMF released its new World Economic Outlook report on Tuesday, in which the institution lowered its global growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from its estimation in January. For 2020, it expected global growth to return to 3.6 percent. IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath wrote in a blog post that the projected slowdown in 2019 is "broad-based." "We contend that we are at a delicate moment," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said at the opening press conference of the spring meetings on Thursday. The IMF chief said her institution "would recommend two key principles. One is, do no harm. Second, do the right thing," adding that the key is to avoid the wrong policies, especially on the trade front. "We need to better address dislocations caused by trade and by technological innovation, however intertwined they are. And we need to do more for those who are left behind," Lagarde said. The IMF chief said countries should better address unfair trade practices, including through a World Trade Organization system reform. "And we need to avoid self-inflicted wounds, including tariffs and other barriers," she said. As for "do the right thing," Lagarde said many outstanding reforms should be the focus of policy makers, because they "would help boost potential output to prevent disappointing long-term growth in advanced economies, and would help developing countries catch up with their wealthier peers." Meanwhile, the managing director also called on countries to create more fiscal space in order to "resist the next crisis" when downturn comes up, and suggested policy makers enhance international cooperation on issues such as corporate taxation and corruption. In a statement issued Saturday after the World Bank Development Committee concluded its 99th meeting, World Bank President David Malpass said that the multilateral development institution's mission is "more urgent than ever." "It is critically important that we work tirelessly to foster broad-based growth, raise median incomes, create jobs, and fully incorporate women and young people in economies, to support a stronger, more stable global economy for everyone," said Malpass, who is recently elected to lead the World Bank. Despite the IMF's gloomy economic forecast, finance officials of the world's major economies, according to media reports, were relatively upbeat about managing risks. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that he was hopeful Washington and Beijing are "close to the final round" of trade talks. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the government and main opposition party could strike a Brexit deal within weeks. While admitting that risks had not disappeared, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi touted the eurozone's "remarkable resilience," citing an increase in job creation, a strong service sector and rising incomes and wages. MULTILATERALISM UPHELD The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), IMF's policy-setting body, said in a communique issued Saturday that members of the committee will "continue to take joint action to strengthen international cooperation and frameworks." The IMFC said its members will work together to reduce excessive global imbalances, strive for a globally fair and modern international tax system, and enhance debt transparency and sustainable financing practices. On trade, the IMFC said free, fair, and mutually beneficial goods and services trade and investment are key engines for growth and job creation. "To this end, we recognize the need to resolve trade tensions and support the necessary reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to improve its functioning." Commenting on the current situation of global trade, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told an event at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics on Thursday that "clearly tensions remain high." The director-general said he recognizes "the frustration that many have felt" about trade, as well as the need to speed up reforms. "Multilateralism should not be synonymous with paralysis," he added. In the "Global Policy Agenda 2019" issued by Lagarde, the managing director expressed her concern about the "rising disengagement" in the global economy that has led to many countries not benefiting adequately from international cooperation, economic and financial integration, and technological progress. The challenges facing the world, Lagarde said, "can only be met in a new multilateralism that instills confidence that the costs and rewards of lasting solutions will be shared by all." In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Gopinath said "the retreat from globalization, the rise in protectionism is clearly one of the major trends of our time, which is a reversal from the past," adding that the trend is "a matter of great concern" for this year's spring meetings. Gopinath underscored the need for countries to continue engaging with each other in the pursuit for cooperative solutions "to make this a better multilateralism." "I don't see an alternative to a multilateral work," she said, adding that issues like trade, climate change, cyber security and international taxation all require that countries cooperate and come up with joint solutions. CHINA'S CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE As one of the major shareholders of both the IMF and the World Bank, China has been a major focus throughout the spring meetings. In his statement to the IMFC meeting, Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China -- China's central bank -- stressed the IMF's "central role" in global finance, urging that the IMF continue to support "an open, inclusive, and rules-based multilateral trade system." "With a membership of 189 countries, the IMF enjoys special advantages and trust in strengthening international coordination and cooperation and can play a greater role," Chen said. The deputy central bank chief stressed, in particular, the need to reform the IMF's quota arrangement and governance so that emerging market economies and developing countries can be better represented at the multilateral institution. "China supports a strong, quota-based, and adequately-resourced IMF to preserve its central role in the global financial safety net," Chen said. "The gap between the actual and calculated quotas should be narrowed in a constructive manner and the structural distortion of quotas should be reduced." IMF Deputy Managing Director Zhang Tao said in an interview with Xinhua that the IMF remains "committed to the realignment of quota shares to more accurately reflect members' representation." When meeting with Malpass on the sidelines of the spring meetings, Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun said China is willing to deepen its cooperation with the World Bank on lending programs and knowledge sharing. In addition, China also looks forward to cooperating with the World Bank in such areas as improving the business environment and establishing a high-standard multilateral financing cooperation center, the minister said. Malpass, said the two sides share a great responsibility in combating poverty and spurring global development, and that the World Bank is also willing to work with China on pollution prevention and control, green development, as well as coping with climate change. At Thursday's press conference, Malpass said in response to a question from Xinhua that he looks forward to a constructive relationship between the international lender and China. Over the past three decades, China's relationship with the World Bank has been evolving, in that the country has shifted from being a "major borrower" from the World Bank to "becoming more of a donor" to the institution and its shareholders, said Malpass. "We value that constructive relationship," he said. OPELOUSAS Digital evidence presented Monday places 21-year-old Holden Matthews at the scene of all three fires he is accused of setting, investigators and St. Landry Parish prosecutors said. Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning, testifying at Matthews arraignment and bail hearing in the St. Landry Parish District Courthouse, said photos and videos from the churches were pulled from Matthews cell phone. They were taken at the scenes of the three fires as the fires were starting and before and after emergency responders were on scene. Photos also show Matthews returned to the scenes of the fires days later, when the churches were reduced to rubble, Browning testified. Browning said agents found copies of news reports discussing the fire on Matthews cell phone that he altered to take responsibility for the crimes. He superimposed himself on these news reports claiming responsibility for these fires, he said. He also said investigators found a roughly 10 second video of Matthews discussing church fires in St. Landry Parish with a friend. Matthews said gasoline was the best method to use to burn a church. Time stamps from the video indicated it was taken before the fires were committed, Browning said. Prosecutors upgraded the charges against Matthews to include three Louisiana hate crime counts. Matthews is now being charged with two counts of simple arson of a religious building, one count of aggravated arson of a religious building and three hate crime counts relative to his motive behind the arsons. The hate crime charges specifically referenced the crimes being committed because of the actual or perceived race, age, gender, religion, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, or ancestry of the owner, or owners, or occupant or occupants of that property or because of actual or perceived membership or service in, or employment with an organization. The upgraded aggravated arson charge stemmed from the immediate danger posed to residents who were sleeping in a home 15 feet from the Greater Union Baptist Church as it burned, Browning said. He said the homes siding adjacent to the church caught fire as a result of the blaze, and firefighters had to take extraordinary measures to prevent the home from catching fire. The two residents were evacuated, he said. Matthews appeared in court via video conference at 9 a.m. Monday, where he was formally arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty for all charges. District Judge James Doherty denied him bail, saying the weight of the evidence presented and the seriousness of the charges made Matthews a continued risk. There is a substantial amount of evidence, it appears, Doherty said. Matthews is charged in a string of arsons that destroyed three predominantly black Baptist churches in St. Landry Parish in a 10-day span. The first was St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre on March 26; followed by Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas on April 2; and finally Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas on April 4. +20 After St. Landry church burnings, governor tells congregations they are an 'example of faith' Even after learning more about the person accused of setting fire to their churches, displaced pastors and congregations in St. Landry Parish A trial date has been set for September, with a pre-trial hearing scheduled for July 17. Jury selection will take place Sept. 10 and 17. Browning also elaborated more on the physical evidence previously discussed in the crimes. He said investigators found a black Bic lighter and a pack of red oil rags in Matthews truck, matching the ones agents determined Matthews purchased from a Walmart hours before the first fire. Several of the rags were missing from the package, and remnants of matching rags had been found at the scenes of the fires, Browning said. Agents also confirmed gasoline was the accelerant used in each of the three blazes, he said. Matthews association with black metal music was also a topic of discussion at Mondays hearing. Investigators and officials have frequently cited this association as a point of interest when discussing the case. The Scandinavian subgenre has been linked to church burnings in Norway in the 1990s. One of the genre's most notorious figures, Norwegian bass player Varg Vikernes of the band Mayhem, was arrested and accused of setting the string of church fires, as well as killing one of his bandmates. 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 Browning said Matthews bedroom was littered with posters, signs and devices mimicking elements from the film Lords of Chaos, a semi-fictionalized biopic released this year detailing Mayhems criminal acts during the early 1990s. He also had a replica of the torch the films subjects used to set the church fires in Norway. The fire marshal said Matthews also suggested to FBI investigators the film may have been a reason the churches were burned, though he didnt admit to committing the arsons himself. Browning said the film was not referenced in the interview prior to Matthews own suggestions. Other connections to the film included text messages between Matthews and a friend where the individual asked Matthews, Was that your work? regarding the fires. Browning said the messages mimicked communications in the film. Finally, Matthews made comments on a Facebook post inspired by the film where commenters were asked to select their class from a set of options including wizard, fighter, sniper, assassin, guardian or warrior. Matthews commented, Ill take the arson/assassin/bard. Browning noted arson was not a category listed on the Facebook post. When arguing for Judge Doherty to deny bail, prosecutor Charles Cravins, the chief administrative officer for the DAs office, said the severity of the evidence and the charges make Matthews a flight risk. That risk could increase if federal charges are added, he said. Browning said its possible the Federal Bureau of Investigation will bring federal hate crime charges and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may bring federal arson charges. Im being told that its a big possibility at this time, he said. Browning also said he believes Matthews poses a continued risk to community safety. These three fires were done in a very deliberate and violent manner, Browning said. Browning said he believes Matthews behavior is reminiscent of a pathological arsonist and it would be impossible to ensure he wouldnt set more fires while out on bail. He said in his experience, arsonists dont stop setting fires. They continue to set fires and they become larger in nature, more tragic in nature and can even become deadly, Browning said. Matthews court appointed attorney, Quincy Cawthorne, argued his client didnt have the financial means to flee the parish if released on bail. He also challenged Brownings focus on the film Lords of Chaos, questioning if Browning had personally watched the entire film. He said he had not but coordinated with investigators who had. Matthews parents, Roy and Angela Matthews, were seated front row at the hearing, only a couple seats away from St. Landry Parish District Attorney Earl Taylor. They were visibly distressed and during a recess both broke down in tears and stepped into a personnel anteroom off the main chamber. Angela Matthews stared at the floor for most of the hearing as Roy Matthews wrung his hands. Browning, Taylor and Cravins each stopped for a moment to speak to the couple during the recess. Can't see video below? Click here. A Walmart location at 2171 O'Neal Lane in Baton Rouge is one of the Louisiana stores slated for upgrades (image via Google Maps). A Walker man's conviction and life sentence in the horrific 2015 vigilante-style killing of his girlfriend's convicted molester have been upheld by Louisiana's top court. The state Supreme Court, without issuing written reasons Monday, affirmed Jace Crehan's second-degree murder conviction and life prison term in the stabbing and strangulation of Robert Noce Jr. in Noce's Zachary trailer on July 4, 2015. Noce, who two weeks earlier had been put on probation after pleading "no contest" to molesting Brittany Monk as a child, was stabbed, strangled and stuffed inside a 55-gallon container that Monk said Noce used to make wine. Noce, 47, was a former boyfriend of Monk's mother and raised Monk for about 10 years after her mother abandoned her. He denied abusing Monk. Monk, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Noce slaying and is appealing her 35-year prison sentence. +3 Walker woman pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2015 slaying of her convicted molester A 19-year-old woman admitted Monday that she helped kill her convicted molester two years ago in Zachary, agreeing to plead guilty to manslaug Crehan, 25, claims the state proved he was guilty only of manslaughter, which carries up to 40 years in prison. 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 The state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed Crehan's conviction and sentence, as well as Monk's sentence, last fall. East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors argued Crehan knew of Monk's sexual abuse long before Noce's "no contest" plea to carnal knowledge of a juvenile in June 2015. +4 In slaying of girlfriend's convicted molester, Walker man's conviction, life sentence affirmed A state appeals court has affirmed a Walker man's second-degree murder conviction and life prison term in the 2015 vigilante-style stabbing an "The jury rejected (Crehan's) assertion that essentially he was `forced' to kill Noce because of a `failure of the judicial system,' and that his vigilante justice was somehow justified as a result," the 1st Circuit said in November. Monk was 17 and seven months pregnant with Crehan's child when she and Crehan broke into Noce's trailer the night of July 4, 2015. Crehan admitted to law enforcement that he choked and stabbed Noce after dragging a sleeping Noce from his bed. Crehan said he directed Monk to retrieve a knife from Noce's kitchen that he used to stab Noce. Monk testified at Crehan's trial and denied stabbing Noce, but said she sprayed him in the face with a man's body spray while Crehan wrestled with him. She also admitted punching Noce 10 to 15 times while her boyfriend held him down. Despite fervent pleas from education groups, the House Education Committee on Tuesday turned down Gov. John Bel Edwards' proposed $39 million increase for public schools. The panel voted 9-5 along party lines to return the plan to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and for that panel to remove the school hike, which would be the second of its kind in the past decade. House Education Committee Chairwoman Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, sponsor of the resolution that includes the increase, said the move is needed to ensure the state can afford the governor's plan to boost teacher pay by $1,000 and $500 for support workers. Both of those pay increases, which would cost $101 million, enjoy bipartisan support. Amid controversy, Gov. Edwards urges House panel to back $39M boost for Louisiana public schools Despite signs to the contrary, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday he hopes a key House panel next week approves legislation that would boost "I think we put the pay raise at risk if we don't take care of it now," Landry said of the school funding package. In a statement after the vote, Edwards said he was disappointed in the committee vote and would work to find "common ground" with lawmakers. The $3.85 billion spending proposal was approved by BESE on March 12 after a rare, personal pitch from the governor. The Legislature can either endorse or reject the proposal, but cannot change it. Returning the issue to BESE on the second week of the two-month session is unusual. It also reflects an ongoing dispute between Edwards and House Republican leaders on how much money will be available for state services. Committee member state Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, said Louisiana is already spending near the U.S. average for public school students $12,153. Without returning the issue to BESE, Edmonds said, there will likely be few new dollars for another priority early childhood education. While BESE holds its regular meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Gary Jones, president of the group, indicated there is little chance the board will reconsider the issue then. Jones, who lives near Alexandria, told the committee the board would "reflect" on the issue for at least a week before any action. Moments before, the BESE leader said the funding request to the Legislature followed considerable deliberations and reflects the costs for educating children. 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 Leaders of public school groups including the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, Louisiana Association of Principals, Louisiana School Boards Association, Louisiana Federation of Teachers, the Louisiana Association of Educators and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools objected to the move. They all urged the committee to approve the legislation House Concurrent Resolution 1 with both the $39 million increase for public schools and $1,000 for teacher pay raises. No 'battle' expected for Louisiana teacher pay hikes, but one is brewing over public school aid Gov. John Bel Edwards' bid to boost teacher pay by $1,000 per year is winning wide support both inside and outside the Louisiana Legislature. "I am asking that you please say yes to our kids," said Kelli Joseph, president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents and superintendent of the St. Helena Parish school system. Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, made the same pitch. "We need to invest in education," Carter told the panel. "It is that simple." Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, told the committee, "I respectfully request that each of you do the right thing." Landry said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, has pledged to try to find the $39 million from other sources if BESE returns a new funding request without those dollars. Henry, who attended the meeting, said he would try to ensure funding for the "full life" of a child, including social services and other assistance. State Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, a member of the committee, criticized Landry's move to return the issue to BESE. "This is very premature," Smith said. "It is earlier than we have ever done it before." The committee action came on the same day that Edwards, who is seeking his second term this year, released 15- and 30-second digital ads touting his public school plans. In his statement, the governor said the $39 million increase is needed for teachers "who often spend money out of their own pocket to buy supplies for their classrooms." "This is why we included an increase in the MFP for the school districts above and beyond the pay raise," Edwards said. School aid money is allocated to districts after being sent through a formula called the Minimum Foundation Program. A bid to put a moratorium on new highway billboards, in part because of anger over anti-trucker ads sponsored by trial lawyers, was killed Tuesday in the House Transportation Committee. The vote to shelve the measure passed 14-3 amid heavy opposition from Lamar Advertising Co., an international firm based in Baton Rouge with an annual payroll of $35 million. A similar measure Senate Bill 211 is pending in the state Senate, but Tuesday's lopsided vote may end the debate for 2019. The measure was pushed by the trucking industry, which is represented by the Louisiana Motor Transport Association. Proposals aim to limit 'visual clutter' of attorney billboards on Louisiana highways; here's why Louisiana's trucking industry is pushing for a state moratorium on new highway billboards, in part because truckers are angry about trial atto "I am simply asking you to put a moratorium on billboards," Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, sponsor of the resolution told the committee. "We have 7,000 of them." McFarland said the trucking business employs 90,000 people in Louisiana and "has been hit harder than any other industry by the billboard industry." Opponents called the proposal a misguided attempt to curb anti-trucker ads by trial attorneys and one that would harm restaurants, retail firms, local jewelers, hospitals and churches. "This bill as introduced would have made it virtually impossible for them to use our services as they traditionally have," said Sean Reilly, CEO of Lamar and a former state House member himself. Reilly said attorneys account for 17 percent of Lamar's ads. "We all know what this is about," he said. "We all know this is about the truckers versus the trial attorneys. "I think they have a right to do what they do. "The New Orleans Saints have an official trial attorney of the New Orleans Saints. I don't see these guys going after Drew Brees." The issue sparked a jammed committee room and forced legislative officials to open a second committee room so spectators could watch the hearing remotely. Rep. Terry Landry, D-Lafayette, chairman of the committee, said opponents of the resolution filled out 75 cards and backers filed 45 cards in support, an unusually heavy turnout for any issue. 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 McFarland, without mentioning trial attorneys, said a cap on highway displays is needed because of "repetitive messages" motorists see on highways, which he said damage the state. Josh McAllister, a member of the board of the Louisiana Loggers Association, said insurance rates for truckers have risen 100 percent in the past four years. "We are not against the billboard industry, we are against the message being put out," McAllister said. "They (motorists) are looking at a billboard that says 'Sue this guy' whether you are guilty or not," he said. Mamye Hall, a Realtor from Baton Rouge, said her family has had a contract with Lamar for 30 years to place a McDonald's billboard on her family's property. Hall said revenue from those rights finances her family's property taxes, and she urged the committee to reject McFarland's resolution. Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, a member of the committee, disputed comments by backers of the resolution that billboards represent a major distraction for truckers and other motorists. Marcelle said the key distraction among drivers is cellphones. The lawmaker called Lamar a "homegrown" business that employs about 500 workers in Louisiana. "This is about targeting attorneys," Marcelle said of the resolution. "I think it is the wrong mechanism to get there." Mark Falzone, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Scenic America, noted that four other states ban highway displays. "Billboards are designed to distract drivers," Falzone told the panel. "Otherwise, they are not doing their job." State Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson said while driver distraction is a safety issue, pinpointing exactly what distracts drivers "is when you get into a very gray area." McFarland's legislation is House Concurrent Resolution 4. You Might Also Like Charlotte, North Carolina artist Young Profit releases his brand new single, Energy. Produced by 5ickness of the legendary Def Squad, the 17 year old Young Profit delivers a musical showcase fused with witty lyrics and punchlines that place him beyond his years. On Energy Young Profit melodically raps about being around a someone whose demeanor seems off, and not receiving the pure, loving and supportive energy hes expecting, a message that most can relate to. Profit lets us know that he doesnt have time for that. In addition to his wittiness, Young Profit implements impressive vocabulary in the single, a display of his personal and artistic maturity. Energy is the official follow-up single to his previous well received trendy single, Drip On Me, which earned him over 330k streams and radio play on over 12 different radio stations across the USA. This time around for Energy, hes aiming to show and prove how diversely talented he is! Profit is a young talent that will change the face of the next generation of hip hop. The new single is now available on all streaming platforms! https://open.spotify.com/track/5QgwcK2UlpPYXZTUwdzM2t?si=OWbFhYb0STa6Ffj80a0bKw In an interview with Essence about her recent trip to Cuba, Mayor LaToya Cantrell was blunt about the way she perceives she's been treated in the press: "I have not received the benefit of the doubt from the media since the beginning of my tenure as Mayor," she told Essence. Cantrell was in Cuba earlier this month with 35 others, including District B City Councilman Jay Banks, visiting the cities of Havana and Matanzas and discussing early childhood education, health care and the possibility of becoming a trading partner with Cuba if sanctions are lifted. #Repost @HatzelVelaWPLG #CUBA: #NOLA Mayor @mayorcantrell arrives at Casa de Amistad in one of her many scheduled events during her visit here to #Cuba which lasts until Sunday. Here she greets and meets with VP of #Havana provincial assembly. @wplglocal10 pic.twitter.com/aA2TOa3S6t Mayor LaToya Cantrell (@mayorcantrell) April 4, 2019 The trip, which was not officially announced before it began, caught some by surprise and seemed to put Cantrell on the defensive. In a Facebook post, she wrote, "Its no secret weve been in Cuba breaking down silos and building relationships to help create economic, literacy, health and new opportunities for the people of New Orleans. Just follow me on social." Dan Fagan: With Cantrell's unannounced trip to 'learn' in Cuba, New Orleans might have concerns 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. Many Louisiana politicians have visited Cuba to strengthen relations in recent years, including Mayor Mitch Landrieu in May 2016 and Gov. John Bel Edwards, along with a delegation of state officials, in September 2016. Former Mayor Ray Nagin visited the island nation, as did former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. But this trip coincided with two municipal matters that occupied New Orleanians' attention: an April 5 heavy rain that resulted in some street flooding and four pumps not working, and the ongoing controversy over the city's traffic camera program. Clancy DuBos: Cantrell owed New Orleans advanced notice ahead of Cuba trip, traffic camera changes The sun may have shone down on Mayor LaToya Cantrell during her trade mission to Cuba April 2-7, but the skies opened up literally and figur In a phone interview from Cuba with The New Orleans Advocate, Cantrell defended the trip, especially in light of President Donald Trump's reversal of some Cuban trade policies. Having this delegation come really solidifies and strengthens relationships with them that can live on beyond this current federal administration. For recycling to come back A Huge, Huge Ass Beer New tires for every car A Christmas Eve visit from St. Freedia A day without Jeff Landry Vote View Results NEW ORLEANS (AP) A judge was right when he cleared the way to remove a Confederate monument at a north Louisiana courthouse, a federal appeals court has ruled. A local official applauded the decision but said the case probably isn't over. The case involves a monument erected in 1906 in a parish known as "Bloody Caddo" during the Reconstruction era. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans again rejected claims Monday from the United Daughters of the Confederacy's Shreveport chapter. "We definitely applaud the decision," Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson said in a telephone interview from Shreveport. He was in the majority on the commission's 7-to-5 removal vote in 2017. The commission respects the Daughters of the Confederacy's right to continue in court, he said. The chapter is considering its options and hasn't decided its next step, attorney Dick "Dave" Knadler said in an email. The group could ask the full 5th Circuit for a rehearing. It could also ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. A federal judge in Monroe threw out the lawsuit last year, ruling that the group failed to prove it had any "private property interest" in the spot where the monument stands. Judge Robert James also rejected arguments that the commission had violated the group's rights to equal protection under law and free speech. A 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling states, "placement of a permanent monument in a public park is best viewed as a form of government speech," he noted. 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 A three-judge panel upheld that 20-page opinion, calling it "exhaustive and well-reasoned." On Monday, the judges declined to reconsider. When the commission voted in October, two members cited the parish's post-Civil War reputation as "Bloody Caddo" as a reason to remove the monument from courthouse grounds, The Times reported . The parish was the most violent in a violent state, with less than 3% of Louisiana's population but 16% of all homicides in the state during Reconstruction, university professor Gilles Vandal wrote in a 1991 history article. "It's time for us to remove the curse of Bloody Caddo for blacks who were slaughtered," Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts said before the vote. The monument, erected in 1906, features a statue of a young soldier on a pedestal, surrounded by busts of four Confederate generals on lower pedestals. A life-sized figure of Clio, the muse of history, points to a book of remembrance that bears the words "Love's tribute to our gallant dead." Jackson said the Daughters of the Confederacy seem inclined "to run the course as much as they can. That's the judicial procedure. Sometimes it's long for a reason. We respect that." The commission wants to give the group the choice of moving the monument wherever it chooses, he said. "I don't know that we really have a particular preference where we would like it to be moved. We just feel that it doesn't belong in front of the courthouse," he said. A new Ballarat childcare centre, leased to Beginnings Early Learners, has sold for $4.7 million, seven days after being listed. Savills Australias Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li brokered the off-market deal for 2 Mia Street, following a failed expressions-of-interest campaign with a competitor agency. Mr Stafford said the price represented a 7.46 per cent yield and a rate of $36,154 per place. The transaction follows the sale of a childcare centre at 17 Station Street, Pakenham, which sold with a six-day settlement. A Supa IGA supermarket owned and run by the Corcoris family sold under the hammer for $7.34 million on a yield of 5.4 per cent with multiple bidders at auction. The IGA was offered with a leaseback on a 10 year lease. CBREs Kevin Tong, Joseph Du Rieu and Leon Ma brokered the deal, saying there was a clear demand in the market for good quality income-producing assets. Mulgrave A prime development site surrounded by major corporate occupiers at 15 Anzed Court has sold for $2,725,000 on a land rate of $670 per sq m. Jonathon McCormack and Andrew Prowse of Gorman Commercial in conjunction with Colliers International's Jonathan Mercuri and Andrew Chrapot negotiated the deal to an owner-occupier looking to build their own custom office building on the vacant 4070 sq m block. It sold within two weeks of becoming available. South Yarra A shop leased to the Fresh Flower Man has sold through Gross Waddell for $1.71 million on a yield of 3.92 per cent, and a land rate of $11,800 per sq m. Benjamin Klein, Michael Gross and Tamara Gross handled the sale. The shop at 379 Malvern Road brings in rental of $67,060 per annum net. The auction attracted a crowd of 50 people. Boutique developer CostaFox is doubling down on the growing reputation of Melbournes hippest office market, inner-east Cremorne, having swooped on a site opposite its planned new office development in Gordon Street. Hot on the heels of gaining a planning permit for a seven-level, 5000 square metre office building on its site at 1-11 Gordon Street, CostaFox has purchased the land directly opposite at 22-26 Gordon Street where it hopes to build another 5000 sq m office. Led by Michael Fox, the developer paid $11.5 million for the 974 sq m site at 28 Gordon Street, which was offered by a group of townhouse owners who banded together to put their seven Neometro-built homes on the market. CostaFox's plans for a 5000 square metre office at 1-11 Gordon Street were approved. Credit:Artist's impression The deal values the land at a rate $11,800 per sq m. 153-157 Anzac Parade, Kensington, Sydney, spans two lots. An amalgamated site in Kensington with approval for a mixed-use project is expected to draw interest from student accommodation operators with a view to changing direction in development. Given its proximity to the University of NSW, the site will attract developers for the site at at 153-157 Anzac Parade. The 760-square-metre property spans two lots and comprises a block of six apartments and a five-bedroom house. JLL's Ben Hunter and Harry Sullivan have been appointed on the sale, with a price guide understood to be about $20 million. The B2 local centre land holding at the corner of Addison Street is within an area subject to a proposal to amend planning controls which would change rules around maximum building height and floor-space ratio. Private hospital operator Healthscope has downgraded its earnings guidance for fiscal 2019 as an independent expert found Canadian investment group Brookfield's $4.4 billion takeover offer for the group was "fair and reasonable". Healthscope is now targeting full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the core hospital business of $362 million to $376 million, up 5 to 9 per cent on fiscal 2018. It had previously expected growth of at least 10 per cent on the previous year's $344.7 million EBITDA. Healthscope chief executive Gordon Ballantyne and chairman Paula Dwyer. Credit:Elke Meitzel It said the revised outlook primarily reflected the initial prioritisation of public patient services, relative to private patient services, as its troubled Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney ramped up, and continuing soft private hospital market conditions. Brookfield has proposed a scheme of arrangement that would deliver Healthscope investors $2.50 a share. In the event the scheme is not approved by 75 per cent of votes cast at the upcoming shareholder meeting, Brookfield is proposing a $2.40-a-share off-market cash takeover offer. The cash takeover is conditional on 50.1 per cent acceptance by Healthscope investors. A senior Huawei official has warned that "politicising" cyber security will create problems for global trade relations, days after Chinese officials raised Australia's ban on the company's involvement in its 5G rollout at a World Trade Organisation meeting. Huawei's deputy chairman and rotating chairman, Ken Hu, called on global governments to create independent standards to determine which companies should be trusted. Huawei's Ken Hu says "if cyber security is politicised, then this will be a very big challenge". Credit:Bloomberg Speaking at the Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Global Analyst Summit on Tuesday in Shenzhen, Mr Hu said "if cyber security is politicised, then this will be a very big challenge ... I think such a challenge will not just be one challenge for one vendor, Huawei, it will be a challenge for the wider industry and also for trade relations at a larger scale". The Australian government banned Huawei from participating in its ultra-fast 5G networks in 2018, citing security concerns. Chinese officials raised the ban during a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva last week, describing it as "obviously discriminative". Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia respected WTO processes and was "confident in our compliance". Apple has settled a lawsuit with Qualcomm, allowing the company to scramble to catch up with its competitors in the race to release 5G phones. The agreement ends a multibillion- dollar legal battle over smartphone technology and will allow Apple to use Qualcomm's advanced chipsets in its iPhones. As part of the settlement Apple will also make a payment to Qualcomm and the two have made a six-year licence agreement. The size of the payout has not been disclosed. The two-year legal row meant Apple had ceased to use Qualcomm's hardware in its phones, in favour of rival Intel, whose 5G chipsets are not expected to be available until next year. As a result the company faced being left behind by its competitors, including Huawei and Samsung, both of whom have announced 5G-supporting handsets. Qualcomm's shares rose by more than 20 per cent after the announcement, and Apple's rose by less than 1 per cent. Intel's initially dipped sharply before recovering. Office landlords are taking tower perks to new levels in an expensive effort to keep their corporate clients happy. One of Melbournes top-tier business addresses, 101 Collins Street, will roll out a "full service holistic wellness centre" for its tenants, starting work this month with completion expected in October. Last year, the premium office tower at the top "Paris end" of Collins Street removed a entire floor of ground-level car park and replaced it with a luxury end-of-trip space, known within the building as ONE, that boasts personal grooming stations, fresh towels, lounge seating and parking for 500 bikes. 101 Collins Street will roll out a 'full service holistic wellness centre' for its tenants. Credit:Artist's impression This year, the tower - which counts blue-blood firms like Herbert Smith Freehills, Allens Linklaters, Goldman Sachs and J.P Morgan among its tenants - will construct two wood and glass lined wellness studios alongside its deluxe end-of-trip facility. While many people take a 10-day holiday across Easter and Anzac Day, up to half a million hospitality and retail workers will miss out on $80 million in penalty rates according to an analysis of a reduction in public holiday and Sunday rates. The Fair Work Commission approved a reduction in penalty rates implemented in July 2017 with further reductions to be phased in from July. Public holiday penalties for retail and hospitality workers were reduced from double-time and one-half to double-time and one-quarter. Hospitality worker James. Credit:Eddie Jim James, a 19-year-old hospitality worker and member of United Voice said he received no penalty rates for weekend work and public holidays in the four years he worked for a fast food outlet and a restaurant. Coalition candidates are being urged to endorse a conservative manifesto that includes selling the ABC, slashing the company tax rate and pulling out of the Paris agreement on climate change. The Institute of Public Affairs is also calling on Liberals and Nationals to repeal the ban on offensive speech in the Racial Discrimination Act and scrap the Fair Work Act including its provisions on the minimum wage. The manifesto, sent to MPs in the past four days, has infuriated union critics who say the "disastrous" ideas should be repudiated at the election because of the IPA's influence over the Coalition. The conservative think tank not only wants Parliament to withdraw from the Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions but also abolish the Renewable Energy Target and launch a royal commission into climate change data. Julie Bishops Perth seat of Curtin is a long way from inner-city Melbourne and even further from Gaza. So why did Melissa Parke, Bill Shorten's "star candidate" for the seat, have to quit over remarks about Israel she made last month to a group of pro-Palestine Labor activists meeting at the United Voices headquarters in Perth? Former Fremantle MP Melissa Parke had been seeking another shot at Federal Parliament. And how could they cost Labor a marginal seat in Melbourne? Ms Parke said Israels settlements were akin to Chinas activity in the South China Sea and claimed "a pregnant refugee woman was ordered at a checkpoint in Gaza to drink a bottle of bleach". Young people today stay at home longer, spend more time in education and enter the workforce later. When they do eventually get a job they are often saddled with large university debts, low earnings and a generational change in the workforce due to automation. Millennials live at home longer, spend more time on the eduation curve and move into earnings later, which results in delayed wealth accumulation. Credit:Shutterstock.com While each generation has had its share of issues to deal with, millennials those born between 1981 and 1996 are reportedly the most stressed group in history. According to the American Psychological Association, 12 per cent of millennials have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder almost double the percentage of baby boomers. The man was believed to be heading interstate from Victoria yesterday after setting up dozens of bomb threats in Melbourne, Canberra and the country NSW towns of Yass and Queanbeyan. A letter that is believed to match handwriting of other letters by the bomb hoaxer, was received by The Age yesterday. The letters said the man was thought to be headed toward Melbourne. This letter, and the one threatening to bomb Parliament House, was on paper carrying the Department of Defence letterhead. Police last night said the mans background overseas, particularly in the United States, suggested he presents danger. Police said the man, although an Australian citizen, had spent 31 years in the US. He was intelligent, educated and probably capable of making a live bomb. Police supplied this picture of 'John Charles Dixon', the man they say can help them with their inquiries. Police suspect the hoaxer has spent months planning the bomb scares. Hand writing specialists have linked him with similar incidents in Sydney, notably the car-bomb scare outside the Sydney Hilton. Although the man expressed vehement anti-nuclear ideas in several warning letters, nothing connected him to established anti-nuclear groups, police said. Police said the man was resourceful. He had obtained what appeared to be a genuine Department of Defence letterhead and also used another letterhead, that of the group People for Nuclear Disarmament. A man who police hope will help them in their investigations is Mr. John Charles Dixon, or Dr. John Dixon Jenkins, as he was known to some people in Melbourne. He is known to have been in the US at least as recently as 1979 and to have what police describe as an academic background, although he has previously shied away from questions about his education. Mr. Dixon arrived in Melbourne late last year, having been followed south by Sydney detectives who wanted to question him about a bomb hoax. The acting assistant commissioner for crime, Mr. Phil Bennett, said the Victoria Police had broken the usual practice of not publicising bomb scares because of grave fears for public safety. Mr. Bennett urged the public to watch for the man, who was last known to be driving a brown and white 1963 Holden sedan with Queensland number plates. He is described as being 185 centimetres tall, with sandy hair, a fair-to-ruddy complexion and possibly wearing steel-rimmed glasses. The first of what became a rash of bomb scares occurred on Monday morning when several Melbourne newspapers received letters warning that devices had been set at 15 eastern and southern suburban schools. Constable Phil Case carries out the hoax bomb in a paper bag from Parliament House in Canberra. Credit:SMH Archives The letters, which listed 10 of the schools and clues on how to find the other five, warned that one of the 15 devices was a live bomb. Enclosed was a snapshot of a device resembling a crude gelignite time bomb. Within two hours, television stations received warnings that bombs had been set at Myer, Coles and McDonalds stores in the city. Late on Monday night two prominent anti-nuclear Labor MPs, Federal backbencher Mr. Gerry Hand and State backbencher Mrs. Joan Coxsedge, received death threats, believed to be from the same man. And yesterday police said that further threats had been made to stores, companies and Government department, including the railways. By last night police had been handed 23 threatening letters believed written by the man. Federal police in Canberra took more than 10 hours to begin searching for a bomb at Parliament House after a letter said they would find one behind a big wooden cabinet, across from the mens toilet near Kings Hall, Federal Parliament. That was exactly where police discovered a make-believe bomb: two sticks of dowel wrapped in plastic tape, connected to an ignition device. Officers from the bomb unit checked it. The Prime Minister, Mr. Hawke, was turned away as he tried to enter Parliament House. Hundreds of staff and journalists were evacuated and public entry to the building was barred for three hours. A Federal police spokesman said last night that security had not been tightened after the incident Because the article was found to be a replica. Had it been a proper bomb with detonators and wires, the system would have detected it. John Charles Dickson Jenkins at time of his arrest in 1984. Credit:The Age Archives Explaining why police had not checked Parliament House until yesterday morning, although they had received the letter late the previous night, the spokesman said nine similar warning had to be sifted through. They were doing them one by one. It was a process of elimination, he said. Sergeant Garry Griffiths of the Federal police fraud squad told reporters that the device had been treated as a serious and genuine bomb. Sergeant Griffiths said that he believed the suspect had the skill to build a lethal bomb. He said the letters to some Federal politicians and prominent business executives had contained death threats. Some of the letter has demanded that they renounce the use of nuclear weapons before Easter, but the author had not spelled out what he would do if no one issued a renunciation. Brisbane residents feeling the pain of high fuel prices are facing an Easter weekend of ongoing high prices, according to the state's peak motoring body. Petrol prices across the nation are at the highest point in the price cycle, according to comparethemarket.com.aus latest quarterly market analysis, and the RACQ. Fuel prices across Brisbane may drop closer to Easter. Credit:Louis Douvis Comparethemarket.com.au said Brisbane recorded the second-highest fuel price for capital cities, averaging 135.7 cents per litre a more than 10 decrease from the previous quarter. Spokeswoman for comparethemarket.com.au Jenny Williams said motorists were advised to top up their cars until prices dropped toward the end of the week. Police remain on the hunt for the man who shot and killed a well-respected Brisbane doctor in his home on Monday night. Luping Zeng, 56, was shot in the chest following a confrontation with an intruder in the garage at his Delfin Drive home in MacGregor before midnight on Monday. Dr Zeng, a former plastic surgeon who worked as a GP at Waterford Seven Day Medical Centre and Skin Cancer Clinic, was taken to hospital but died. His wife, also a doctor, and both his daughters, who were medical students, rushed to Dr Zeng's aid after hearing a single gunshot. Paramedics arrived shortly after. Detectives have charged a woman with murder after a man was stabbed on an island in Queensland's Gulf Country. Police will allege a 32-year-old woman, who was known to the victim but not a family member, stabbed the 50-year-old local man with a knife in the upper abdomen on Mornington Island on April 9. Mornington Island is a remote Indigenous community in the Gulf of Carpentaria with more than 1100 residents. Credit:Chris Burns Officers were called to a home in Wurrurku Street on the Gulf of Carpentaria island about 10am. The victim was found on the floor in one of the bedrooms with blood on his face. A man who donated his sperm to a long-term friend and lesbian woman so she could conceive a child, and then helped raise and support the girl, argued in the High Court on Tuesday that if the court dismissed his appeal it would mean the child would be legally without any parent. The test case could, if the man's appeal is dismissed, provide certainty to the thousands of couples or single women who have conceived a child through artificial insemination, though no party in the case is arguing that the mere provision of biological material is sufficient to be considered a parent. The High Court will determine whether a sperm donor can be considered a parent. Credit:Penny Stephens On the other hand, Robert Masson (a court-issued pseudonym for the sperm donor), a man who has been closely involved with the girl since he cut her umbilical cord, fears such a result would legally cut him from the role of parent and the girl's birth certificate, on which he is named as the father. In December 2006, after a friendship of 20 years, Mr Masson and Susan Parsons (another court pseudonym) conducted a "private and informal" artificial insemination procedure during which the girl was conceived. Foot traffic through Melbourne's troubled Federation Square has dropped by around a million visitors in four years, the precinct's chief has revealed, as he called on the state government to fund the public space. Federation Square chief Jonathan Tribe will urge the state Labor government to contribute annual funding for the square, which is currently required to fund itself. Federation Square trader Georgia Reynolds says a drop in the number of events staged there had seen foot traffic slide. Credit:Simon Schulter He said the future financial sustainability of the precinct was reliant on the government committing to ongoing funding. Planning Minister Richard Wynne this week called the precinct "pretty sad while announcing a review of Federation Square's future after plans to demolish a building on the site to make way for an Apple retail store were dropped following Heritage Victoria's rejection of the proposal. You can tell its election time: Melbourne streets are alive with the sound of demonstrations. Looking down from my office window last Wednesday on the river of yellow vests wending their way to join their companions in a union rally, I almost felt as though I were in Paris. Public protest is one of the few things we can do to try to shift the short-sightedness and self-interest of our politicians on both sides of politics. Credit:Justin McManus We are fortunate in that we can take our protests to the streets with less fear of injury and incarceration than in certain other countries. I have exercised the right to march on too many occasions to remember over my lifetime. I wish all the issues I cared about were sorted; I suspect that will never happen. Recently two marches have claimed my allegiance. On Sunday it was the Walk for Justice for Refugees. Having just read Behrouz Boochanis No Friend but the Mountains and having a personal relationship with two refugees, its a cause close to my heart. Neither side of the political divide has exactly covered themselves in glory with this issue. And, humanitarian concerns aside, the various "solutions" they provide make little economic sense. Some of the most widespread misconceptions about Australias gun laws are that this is essentially a gun-free nation, that laws around firearms are faultless, and that police are well on top of whatever illegal firearms are out there. The truth is far more complex, and disturbing. Since 1996, when prime minister John Howard responded swiftly and resolutely to the Port Arthur mass shooting by implementing the National Firearms Agreement and a gun buy-back, there has been something of a surge in the number of firearms imported into Australia. The 1996-97 buy-back retrieved more than 640,000 weapons, many of which were semi-automatics (now restricted) or old, antique and dysfunctional weaponry. But what was deleted then from the domestic firearms market has been more than replaced. Figures released by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission show that in the 20 years to 2016 more than 1.16 million firearms were imported under federally administered laws and regulations. This includes all imports by federal and state police and other authorities upgrading their weaponry. Presumably, the vast majority of those weapons are in safe hands, held under lock and key by experienced and licensed owners, but some have disappeared into the black market. Some have been stolen from licensed owners and gun dealers, and a fraction of all firearms (about 1 per cent) are believed to have slipped into the country undetected by border control and customs. How many of these illicit weapons are stashed away in suburbia is unknown, though the commission conservatively estimates there may be about 260,000 unregistered or prohibited firearms out there, including fully automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles. In 2017, the Home Affairs Department conducted another national gun amnesty, though it did not draw much attention and lasted just three months. Over 57,000 firearms were surrendered or formally registered, of which more than 41,000 (72 per cent) came from NSW and Queensland. They included machineguns, assault rifles, handguns, stolen weapons and war relics. Most of us have no cause to think about the spread of illegal guns, until violence such as occurred in Prahran at the weekend shakes our sense of security. A drive-by shooting outside a busy nightclub claimed the life of a security guard, and five more people were injured. The shooting takes the tally of homicides by firearms to six this year. Victoria Police recognises shootings are on the rise and is concerned about proliferation of illegal firearms in the community. But what is being done to flush out those firearms? The thinking last year was that firearms prohibition order laws would do the trick. These orders allow police to search and seize weapons without a warrant if a person has been deemed a potential danger to the community. At the time, politicians and senior Victorian police claimed FPOs would net weapons from thousands of bikies, thugs, standover merchants and wannabe gangland players. FPOs have not proved to be the end of civil liberty as we know it, as some defence lawyers insinuated, but nor have the orders made overwhelming progress in stripping guns from the community. Far from it. Only 150 FPOs have been issued so far, including to some high-ranking members of bikie gangs. A panel of government-appointed experts has uncovered "integrity issues" with the Coalition's flagship climate change policy, triggering a warning that some of the emission reductions claimed by Australia may not be genuine. The findings relate to the Abbott-era Emissions Reduction Fund, established in 2014 to replace Labor's so-called "carbon tax". The Morrison government extended the fund in February with a $2 billion injection of taxpayer funds, and renamed it the Climate Solutions Fund. An official committee has raised concerns over carbon farming methods under the Emissions Reduction Fund. Credit:Bloomberg The direct action initiative gives financial incentives, in the form of credits, to projects that reduce carbon emissions or draw them from the atmosphere, such as by revegetating land. An official panel of experts has identified "integrity issues" with two revegetation methods under the fund. Among the committee's findings are that some projects may have received credits for carbon sequestration that has not yet occurred and may never occur - for example, because the land is not capable of growing forest cover. Im happy to fight for what I believe in. Thats what democracy is all about open, public debate. Thats why Im really worried by recent reports about activist group GetUp, and its massive pile of cash aimed at terminating the parliamentary careers of conservatives, especially Warringah MP and former prime minister Tony Abbott. They dont just want to win. They want to silence dissenting voices. Former prime minister Tony Abbott. Credit:Jessica Hromas Ive had plenty of disagreements with Tony Abbott. He was wrong on same-sex marriage. He was wrong to knight Prince Philip. His criticisms of Malcolm Turnbulls policies were wrong. And I fundamentally disagree with him on climate change. The NSW government is determined to take decisive and responsible action on climate change. Thats why were bringing the energy and environment portfolios together - to help us tackle the challenges more holistically. Unlike GetUp, we welcome debate. An Australian company behind a GPS tracking smartwatch for children backed to the tune of $1 million by the Queensland government has been found to be vulnerable to a security flaw that computer security researchers say allowed them to track a child, make them appear in another location, call them, and listen to them - without any interaction from the user. It's every parent's worst nightmare: discovering the smartwatch tracking device you bought to protect your child could be used instead by a stranger to stalk them. TicTocTrack founder Karen Cantwell with son Hunter, from an interview with Nine's Today show in 2014. Credit:Nine But that's the reality confronting those who purchased the $210 smartwatch marketed by Australian mother Karen Cantwell, from Brisbane, who is behind the TicTocTrack device. The company sent an email to users about the issue on Monday afternoon explaining why it would temporarily shut down its service after Ken Munro, a computer security researcher from Britain, told it of the flaw over the weekend. Mr Munro also worked with Troy Hunt, another researcher from Brisbane, to uncover the vulnerability and demonstrate how "trivial" it was to exploit. Beijing: One of the world's rarest turtles, a Yangtze giant softshell, has died in a Chinese zoo, leaving only three of the critically endangered species left. The turtle was the last confirmed female in the world when it died during fertility treatment, raising the grim prospect that the Red River giant, native to China and Vietnam, may now be functionally extinct. The female Yangtze giant softshell turtle is lifted out of the water at a zoo in Suzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province in 2016. Credit:AP The female was more than 90 years old when it died on Saturday in the Suzhou zoo in southern China after a round of artificial insemination, the fifth since 2008. It was moved nearly 1000 kilometres on a risky journey to Suzhou from the Changsha Ecological Zoo 11 years ago to be paired with the male turtle there in a last attempt to save the species. Boston: William Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts who two years ago ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket, on Monday became the first Republican to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 primaries. Massachusetts Governor William Weld. Credit:AP Weld, 73, said in announcing his candidacy that "it is time to return to the principles of Lincoln - equality, dignity and opportunity for all." He said, "There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight." Weld has accused Trump of leaving the nation in "grave peril" and has said his "priorities are skewed toward promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country." While Trump's overall approval ratings have been poor for much of his presidency, he remains popular with Republican voters. The Republican National Committee in January issued a non-binding resolution to declare the party's undivided support for Trump. Hunter Laing & Company cut ribbon at Ardnahoe Family-owned Hunter Laing & Company has revealed its new distillery, Ardnahoe, on Scotland's Islay. It's the first new distillery on the island since 2005. The distillery was funded through a 12m investment from Hunter Laing & Company. The distillery has plans to welcome 20,000 visitors each year and was officially opened by Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT GCMG, with an attendance of key members of the island community and wider whisky industry. The distillery is set to create up to 30 new jobs on the island. The fulfillment of a long-held dream by the family business, which includes Stewart Laing and his two sons Andrew and Scott, Ardnahoe is situated on the islands north east coast between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain Distilleries. The site benefits from views over the Sound of Islay and the Paps of Jura to the east and Mull and Colonsay to the north. In keeping with the style of whisky for which Islay has become famed, Ardnahoe is producing a classic peated spirit for maturation in ex-American Bourbon barrels and ex-Spanish sherry casks. The distillery combines state-of-the-art building design and technology with traditional distilling practices that include wooden washbacks, Scottish-made lamp glass stills and worm tub condensers. It is the only one if Islays nine distilleries to have the latter feature. The distillery has also benefitted from the know-how of industry veteran Jim McEwan, master distiller. The company has an experienced distilling team of eight, and automation is kept to a minimum. Up to 30 total people will be employed across retail, dining, tours and event functions throughout the year. Advance interest in the distillery has seen the 400 pre-order casks made available to private enthusiasts and collectors all sold in record time. Commenting on the new distillery, Stewart Laing, managing director, says: Since working as a teenager at Bruichladdich Distillery over 50 years ago, I have had a huge affinity with Islay and its malt whiskies. When we decided to build our own distillery, there was only one possible location. We have built a great team to manage the distillery and run the visitor centre and in a few years time we will be able to drink a great whisky in the classic Islay style, staying true to the islands heritage with a heavily peated malt. Andrew Laing, export director, comments: We wanted the visitor experience to be at the heart of Ardnahoe. Our family business values and our distillery team, most of whom are islanders and steeped in the whisky industry, offer a warm Islay welcome to all who want to be part of the Ardnahoe journey. Ardnahoe is a distillery that we all can be proud of. Highlighting the distillerys role in the business, Scott Laing, business development director, concludes: Ardnahoe is one of a series of new developments that will continue to strengthen Hunter Laing over the coming years. We have a strong development team working on new international brands and we are targeting several important new markets that will fuel our continued growth. Ardnahoe is the catalyst that makes this possible without sacrificing our familys commitment to quality. 12 April 2019 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editor Business Development Manager Michael Coakley presented to both the City Council and PEDA last week. Pittsfield's Business Development Manager Discusses Challenges, Successes PITTSFIELD, Mass. There are three companies that would expand immediately if there was a building with 20,000-square-feet of warehouse space available, according to Business Development Manager Michael Coakley. In less than 24 hours, Coakley presented to two different city boards on his work over the last year or so. The business manager is tasked with helping to bring companies to the city -- with his biggest success being Wayfair -- and helping local ones grow. When asked what the biggest challenges are, he said it is the availability of space. "There are at least three local companies that we have here who, if we had 20,000 square-feet of warehouse type space, they would move into that facility tomorrow," Coakley told the City Council last Tuesday night and the Pittsfield Economic Development Board on Wednesday morning. Coakley is in talks with building owners, brokers, and developers constantly about available space for companies to move or expand into. What he has found is that space is more limited than what many think. "There is really not much room, 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 square-feet, of building space available," Coakley said. The issue of a lack of large spaces for companies has been documented in the past. In 2015, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission did a survey of all industrially-zoned land available for redevelopment. In all of Berkshire County, only 41 properties had more than three acres of undeveloped and buildable land. For available building for redevelopment, 43 of 48 of those have less than three acres of land. It is estimated by BRPC that a company looking for 50,000 square feet, which is what many of the county's established manufacturers would be looking for to expand at this point, would need five acres of land. In the entire county, there were 10 available industrial sites larger than 10 acres, three with more than 30 acres, and no sites 50 acres or larger. Should the county attract a company seeking 200,000 square feet of building, the options are limited. The William Stanley Business Park is one location with a lot of space for companies to build on. But Coakley said the environmental issues there are scaring companies away. "One company, in particular, was talking about building two 50,000 square-foot buildings on Site 9 and I think they were a little bit scared away looking at the website about millions of dollars of costs for stormwater management and environmental issue. Those are things we have to discuss so when we do have a prospect that is ready to build here, looking to come here, how do we get them here without scaring them away?" Coakley told the PEDA Board of Directors. The former General Electric land in the center of the city has been the focus of redevelopment for years with little luck -- only a few of the parcels were developed. Coakley is hoping to sort out a way to alleviate company concerns. "We have companies ready to come here and then all of a sudden they see what needs to be done and they are afraid to dig in. It is an issue," Coakley said. Despite those challenges, Coakley's efforts haven't been for naught. Coakley was the one who had gotten the lead on Wayfair and coordinate with the e-commerce company on multiple occasions about coming to Pittsfield. In the end, the city will see its largest boost in new jobs in a number of years when Wayfair opens a sales and service center. "Our biggest accomplishment so far is Wayfair. Following months of discussions, tours of location options, two red carpet team meetings, proposals, coordination with the secretary of housing and economic development, and competition with other Western Massachusetts communities, Wayfair will expand their operations in Pittsfield by opening a sales and service center in the Clocktower building with over 300 new jobs," Coakley said. Wayfair has actually considered space at the park. PEDA Chairman Mick Callahan said it was in the top two of potential locations in the city. PEDA officials met with company representatives, took them around the site, and put together renderings of what the company could build there. "We were able to work with their site development company and produce two quality renderings in a short period of time," Callahan said. Coakley said Wayfair was shown potential options of five or six different sites and eventually the two locations at the top were building new at the park or leasing in the Clocktower building. Ultimately, the company chose the Clocktower building. "The best news is that they will have a Pittsfield address," Callahan said. Coakley estimates that the company will be putting some $2 million into the building and will have an annual payroll between $13 million and $14.6 million. And there is still in the works. Coakley said there are still multiple companies still in conversation about expanding or moving to the city. "The conversations I have with companies investigating the possibility of moving to or expanding their operations in Pittsfield are highly sensitive. It is imperative that these discussions remain confidential until the businesses are prepared to release their plans to the public. Therefore I am unable to discuss details of the prospects currently engaged in discussions with me," Coakley said, but assured both the council and PEDA that he has more irons in the fire. The effort is something Ward 2 City Councilor Kevin Morandi is particularly happy about, saying for years he felt the city needed somebody to spread the word about Pittsfield's economic development options. "I felt Pittsfield really needed somebody to sell the city and really get it out there," Morandi said. A Common Thread in Events Ahead of Mueller Report News Analysis The weeks leading up to the release of the special counsel report gave us a nearly unprecedented volume of news events connected to the Spygate scandal, Ukraine, and ongoing investigations. From the release of depositions to the latest comments from newly installed Attorney General William Barr, the news flow has been nearly overwhelming. Heres a walk through some of the more significant events of the past few weeks. Barr was confirmed on Feb. 14, despite the objections of Democrats over a 19-page memo that Barr had written to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in June 2018, describing why he believed President Donald Trump hadnt obstructed justice when he fired former FBI Director James Comey. On March 5, Barr further angered the left when he announced that he wouldnt recuse himself from the ongoing Russia investigation being conducted by the special counsel. Barr made his decision after consulting with several senior career ethics officials. Disclosed around this same time was that Barr is a longtime friend of special counsel Robert Muellerof more than 30 years. Mueller had been a guest at the weddings of Barrs daughters, and both mens wives attended the same Bible study. During a June 2017 meeting with Trump at the White House, Barr told the president that Mueller was a straight shooter and should be dealt with as such. Barr had been asked by the president to consider the possibility of working on his personal legal team, but Barr declined and told the president he wasnt interested in the position. During his confirmation, Barr explained his decision, saying, I didnt want to stick my head into that meat grinder. Following Barrs refusal to recuse himself from the special counsel probe, a series of revealing and interconnected events rapidly unfolded. BarrHuber Meeting On March 7, Barr had a meeting with U.S. Attorney John Huber of Utah, who serves as vice chair of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee. The meeting was notable because Huber had been appointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us. Sessions wrote in a March 29, 2018, letter: Mr. Huber is conducting his work from outside the Washington, D.C. area and in cooperation with the Inspector General. The additional matters raised in your March 6, 2018, letter fall within the scope of his existing mandate, and I am confident that Mr. Hubers review will include a full, complete, and objective evaluation of these matters in a manner that is consistent with the law and the facts. Release of Congressional Testimonies A day after Barrs meeting with Huber, on March 8, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) released a transcript of a congressional interview with DOJ official Bruce Ohr. The release would be the first in an ongoing series of interview transcript releases that has included those of Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bill Priestap, James Baker, George Papadopoulos, and Nellie Ohr. The Epoch Times had previously obtained, and reviewed, copies of these transcripts. McCain Aide Deposition Unsealed On March 14, an unsealed deposition of David Kramer, a longtime associate of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), revealed that he had been in contact with at least 14 members of the media regarding the Steele dossier. The Steele dossier was produced by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS, which, in turn, was contracted by Hillary Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through their law firm Perkins Coie. Kramer also provided ongoing updates to Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, Steele, and other members of the media regarding a meeting where McCain provided then-FBI Director Comey with a copy of the dossier obtained by Kramer. Kramer also confirmed that he was BuzzFeed News source for the dossier. BuzzFeed published the dossier online in January 2017, resulting in a defamation lawsuit by Aleksej Gubarev, whose company XBT/Webzilla was mentioned in the document. The Epoch Times covered the Kramer deposition in a previous article. Chair Ceremony for Sessions On March 21, a Cabinet chair ceremony was held for former Attorney General Sessions. In attendance were Rosenstein, Barr, Huber, former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, and Trumps recent pick for associate attorney general, Jessie Liu. (Liu has since withdrawn her name from consideration for that post.) Barr stated that Sessions, who received a standing ovation, set an agenda and priorities that are just what the country needs. Rosenstein stated that Sessions stayed true to his values. Global Money-Laundering Case On the same day, Bloomberg reported that the Swedish bank Swedbank may now be facing substantial fines for money laundering that could put pressure on its capital buffers. The story was notable because it tied into existing investigations in Danske Banks Estonia money-laundering case, which originated with the release of the Panama Papers. The investigation of Swedbank began in 2016, but new allegations were raised that the Swedish bank had withheld information from U.S. investigators. Allegations were recently made by Swedish press that Trumps former campaign chairman received nearly $1 million in black money through Swedbank, from accounts linked to the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. This ongoing investigation, which remains under-reported, is looking into allegations of money laundering across major financial institutions in multiple countries. Its likely that the investigation will only grow larger. McCabePage Text Messages On March 22, Catherine Herridge of Fox News released two pages of texts between former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, some of which related to obtaining the FISA warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Specifically, some of the texts reflect concerns from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over possible bias of the chs, or confidential human source, likely referring to Steele. Page noted, This might take a high-level push. Mueller Concludes Investigation Later that same day, a bigger announcement hit when it was revealed that Mueller had finished his investigation and submitted his report to Rosenstein, who in turn, gave it to Barr. The investigative conclusion also meant that Mueller wouldnt be recommending any further indictments. In other words, the special counsels investigation had finally concluded, without making a single Russia collusion-related indictment. In a letter to Congress, Barr said that he would consult with Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller to determine what other information can be released to Congress and the public consistent with the law. It was at this point that the true fireworks and posturing began. Two days later, on March 24, Barr delivered a principal conclusions letter to Congress. Frequently mischaracterized as a summary of the Mueller report, Barrs letter specifically noted, I am writing today to advise you of the principal conclusions reached by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and to inform you about the status of my initial review of the report he has prepared. According to Barrs letter, Mueller employed 19 lawyers who were assisted by a team of approximately 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff. The Special Counsel issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses. Barr stated that the special counsels report was divided into two parts, with the first focusing on Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, along with the Russian governments efforts to engage in hacking operations to gather and disseminate information. Notably, the special counsel did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The second part of the report addresses a number of actions of the Presidentmost of which have been the subject of public reportingthat the special counsel investigated as potentially raising obstruction-of-justice concerns. Barr noted that the special counsel didnt draw a conclusion on whether the presidents actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction and quoted the special counsel as stating, While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. As Barr wrote, the decision by the special counsel to lay out the facts without reaching a conclusion left it to the attorney general to determine whether there was any crime. Barr said that after he reviewed the special counsels findings on the matter of collusion and consulted with department officials, he and Rosenstein concluded that the evidence was not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. Barr noted that the report identifies no actions that, in our judgment, constitute obstructive conduct. This conclusion can also be arrived at through the application of simple logic. Trump was told three times by Comey that he wasnt under investigation. Therefore, the president couldnt obstruct an investigation of himself, as he didnt know there was one. If the claim was that Trump was obstructing an investigation into others, one would need to rationalize against presidential pardon authority. In other words, the president would have no need to obstruct an investigation into someone from his campaign or administration, as his ability to pardon is unquestionable. Horowitz Probe to Conclude in Months Following the delivery of Barrs letter to Congress, a slew of other news came out. On March 25, Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) went on Fox News and stated that he had talked to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz very recently to get an update in terms of timing, and that Horowitz hoped to be done with his investigation into FISA abuse in May or June. Ratcliffe said that Horowitz also was looking into the origins of collusion and the probable cause used by the FBI to initiate their investigation. Ratcliffe also noted that Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, has been dispatched to look into the criminal aspects that might be associated with Horowitzs work. Calls to Investigate the Investigators Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and personal attorney for Trump, sounded a note of offense, telling Fox and Friends that the Mueller report provided complete vindication. He also called for an investigation into the origins of the collusion claims, saying: This had to come from somewhere. It didnt just come out of thin air. I want to know who did it, who paid for it, who fueled it, because the person who did it, and the group who did it, knows its untrue because they invented it. Treason Comments by the President That same day, while signing a declaration recognizing Golan Heights as the sovereign territory of Israel, the president made a number of remarks in response to questions from reporters. According to Steve Herman, the White House bureau chief for Voice of America News, when the president was asked if he thought the special counsel acted honorably, he responded yes. When asked about the Mueller probe, Trump said, It was 100 percent the way it shouldve been. He continued, There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, very bad things, I would say treasonous things, against our country. The president closed his comments by stating: It was a false narrative, it was a terrible thing. We can never let this happen to another president again. Brennan Changes His Tone John Brennan, the former CIA director and the instigator of the FBIs investigation, went on MSNBCs Morning Joe, where he struck a very different tone than he had previously. When asked if he had received bad information, Brennan responded: Well, I dont know if I received bad information but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was. I am relieved that its been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election. Michael Avenatti Arrested In an unexpected twist to the days events, Michael Avenatti, the former lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Alexandra Chalupa, was arrested and charged with multiple offenses. According to NBC News reporter Tom Winter, Avenatti was charged with attempting to extract more than $20 million in payments from Nike by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial and reputational harm. Avenatti was then charged again for embezzling a clients money in order to pay his own expenses and debts and also defrauded a bank by using phony tax returns to obtain millions of dollars in loans. The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service would later unveil a 36-count grand jury indictment against Avenatti, who could now face a sentence of more than 300 years in federal prison. White House on Offensive Tim Murtaugh, the director of communications for Trumps 2020 campaign, sent out a March 25 memo to all television producers regarding the credibility of certain guests. In particular, the memo cited a list of guests who made outlandish, false claims, without evidence, on your airwaves. Included were Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), DNC Chairman Tom Perez, and former CIA Director Brennan. The memo asked the producers to employ basic journalistic standards when booking such guests. Brennans name would rightly and repeatedly be brought up. On March 27, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called for Brennan to testify before Congress, in a tweet that stated: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP. Additionally, Paul broached the question that many have been asking, What did President Obama know and when? It would seem unlikely that the CIA director would instigate and pursue an investigation into an opposing presidential candidate without some measure of authorization from the president. Calls for Schiff to Resign The following day, on March 28, House Republicans called on Schiff to resign as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in a letter that was signed by every single Republican on the panel. The letter noted that the findings of the Special Counsel conclusively refute your past and present assertions and have exposed you as having abused your position to knowingly promote false information. The letter concluded by stating, We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your Constitutional responsibility and urge your immediate resignation as Chairman of this Committee. Obamas Role Questioned On March 28, Paul redoubled his calls for an investigation into Obamas role in the events, noting that the investigation and the promulgation of the dossier occurred under President Obamas administration. Paul said we need to ask these questions: Was President Obama involved? Was this done for partisan purposes? Was this done to try to elect Hillary Clinton? Was this done with malintent? Media Reporting On the same day, The Epoch Times published its second major investigative piece into the events of the 2016 election, Spygate: The Inside Story Behind the Alleged Plot to Take Down Trump. The comprehensive, 15,000-word guide to two years of reporting on the Spygate scandal by The Epoch Times explains the weaponization of the intelligence community and other government agencies to relentlessly pursue a manufactured collusion narrative against President Trump. Meanwhile, the mainstream media continued in their denial that they had engaged in any wrongdoing, despite two years of spreading unsubstantiated leaks as facts in an effort to promote the Russia-collusion narrative. In a March 31 exchange with acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, CNN reporter Jake Tapper said: Im not sure what youre saying the media got wrong. The media reported the investigation was going on. Other than the people in the media on the left, not on this network, I dont know anybody who got anything wrong. Mulvaneys response to Tapper was perfectly noted: Thats fine, if thats your recollection of history, thats great. Face it, the media got this wrong. Its okay. People get stuff wrong all the time, just not at this level. Bidens Behavior Questioned, Ukraine Allegations Raised On April 1, old allegations involving inappropriate touching against former Vice President Biden began to resurface, stemming from a March 29 article in The Cut written by one of his accusers. The allegations, which quickly grew to include at least seven women, overshadowed a different potential scandal, involving Bidens role in Ukraine. Biden, who played a large role in Americas involvement in Ukrainian politics, claimed to have caused the firing of a Ukraine prosecutor. That same prosecutor was reportedly leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into the natural gas firm Burisma Holdings that employed Bidens younger son, Hunter, as a board member. Expect to hear more on Bidens Ukrainian involvement in the future. DOJ Responds to Media Allegations On April 4, Kerri Kupec, a DOJ spokesperson, released a statement in rebuttal to reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post, noting that every page of the Mueller report was marked with notations that they may contain confidential grand jury informationand therefore could not be publicly released. Kupec said that the DOJ was actively working directly with special counsel Mueller on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public. Nielsen Resigns On April 7, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced her resignation following a request from Trump. The next day, the president asked for the resignation of Secret Service Director Randolph Alles, who reported to Nielsen. The day after that, Nielsen announced the resignation of DHS acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady. Notably, just several days earlier, on April 5, Trump had also pulled the nomination of Ron Vitiello to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The resignations point to a major realignment at the Department of Homeland Security. UkraineDemocrat Ties Also on April 7, The Hill published an article titled Ukrainian to US Prosecutors: Why Dont You Want Our Evidence on Democrats?, which included an interview with Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor Generals International Legal Cooperation Department in Ukraine. The article touched on numerous aspects of UkrainianDemocrat ties in the 2016 presidential election and also highlighted Bidens previously mentioned role. Giuliani Comments on Ukraine, Biden Role The same day as The Hill article, Giuliani appeared on Fox News, where he made some notable comments concerning Bidens role in Ukraine. Giuliani discussed Bidens role in removing the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings and Hunter Biden, who sat on the companys board. Giuliani, who was accused of bringing the issue up because Biden was considering running for president, responded immediately, stating: Im bringing it up now because I want the Ukraine investigated. I dont care about Joe Biden. I want the Ukraine investigated. Because I think, in the Ukraine, were going to find a lot of answers for how the Steele dossier was put together, how the Manafort case was revived. Giuliani, who said the Justice Department should investigate this, raised questions over foreign government involvement in the origination of the Russia collusion allegations. Specifically, Giuliani asked, How many Ukrainians were involved, and was the embassy in the Ukraine involved in helping to develop some of this evidence? Thats all very, very important to pointing out where this started, he said. This was a frame-up. An old-fashioned frame-up. Criminal Referrals There were two other notable interviews that took place on the same day: one with Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Foxs Sunday Morning Futures and the other with Giuliani on CBSs Face the Nation. Nunes told Maria Bartiromo that he was ready to send eight criminal referrals to the attorney general, three of which included allegations of conspiracy to lie to Congress or the FISA court. Giuliani walked through the topic of the Mueller report, noting: Im not worried about the report at all. Theres no way those two good lawyers [Rosenstein and Barr] would have written that kind of letter if theres any issue. The following day, on April 8, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) publicly commented on the Nunes interview, noting that there would be additional criminal referrals to come. Meadows stated: Overwhelming evidence shows multiple FBI and DOJ executives abused their power to undermine a duly elected President Trump. They will be held accountable. Meadows was personally involved in key interviews of many of the FBI and DOJ figures; its likely that hes referring to some of these individuals. Barr Hearing On April 9, Barr attended a hearing in front of a House Appropriations subcommittee. The hearing, which was scheduled to be about the Justice Departments budget, initially focused almost exclusively on the Mueller report and Barrs conclusions letter. A number of interesting details were divulged, including a conformation of a May-June time frame for the inspector general report. Bloomberg reported that Barr had assembled a team that would be looking at the decisions made by FBI and DOJ officials. Although Barr wouldnt confirm this during the hearing, he did say, 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 subcommittee that his March 24 letter was meant to state the bottom-line conclusions of the report, not summarize the report and noted that he attempted to use as much of the special counsels language as he could. Barr concluded by telling the subcommittee that the letter speaks for itself. The same day as the Barr hearing, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Hate Crimes and the Rise of White Nationalism. During the hearing, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) played a shortened and misleading clip from a talk by Candace Owens, who attended the hearing. Owens listened to the clip, visibly angry, but held back any response until it was finished. When her turn to speak came, Owens provided the proper context to her remarks in a strongly worded response that left Lieu appearing visibly uncomfortable and unnerved. The video of Owenss response would go on to be one of the most watched clips in C-SPAN history. Mueller Team Assisting With Redactions On April 10, Meadows noted that the Mueller report would be released shortly, but more importantly, he divulged that Mueller and his team were actively assisting Barr in the preparation of the redactions. Trump: An Attempted Coup The same day, Trump blasted former FBI Director Comey and former FBI Deputy Director McCabe as dirty cops, saying: This was an attempted coup. This was an attempted takedown of a president. And we beat them. Trump continued, saying he was most interested in going back to the origins of exactly where this all started, and noting, What they did was treason. Barr Says Spying Did Occur Also on April 10, Barr appeared again at congressional budget hearings and, as before, much of the hearing centered on the Mueller report. In response to a question, Barr stated that he thought spying did occur on the Trump campaign. He followed up by noting the real question was whether the spying was adequately predicated. Barr also made reference to the existence of multiple, pre-existing investigations into events, noting, One of the things I want to do is pull together all the information from the various investigations that have gone on. The implications behind Barrs comments, particularly as a newly installed attorney general, are notable. It seems unlikely that Barr would have made those comments to Congress if he hadnt already seen tangible, previously amassed evidence to back them up. Julian Assange Arrested On April 11, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and arrested on two warrants from the United States and the UK. An indictment had been filed on Assange back in March 2018. Ecuador had entered into lengthy negotiations with both Britain and the United States, asking for assurances that Assange wouldnt face the death penalty. Notably, the charges unsealed by the United States against Assange dont contain capital charges and carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Former Obama White House Counsel Charged That same day, former White House counsel to the Obama administration Greg Craig was charged by a federal grand jury with making false statements and concealing material information about his activities on behalf of Ukraine. The indictment stated: The purpose of the scheme was for CRAIG to avoid registration as an agent of Ukraine. Registration would require disclosure of the fact that an unnamed Ukrainian had paid CRAIG and the Law Firm more than $4 million. The indictment makes repeated mention of an unnamed American lobbyist, whom Ukraine had employed to improve Ukraines international public image. The lobbyist being referenced is likely Paul Manafort. Craig said in a video statement on April 15 that Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, helped fund the 2012 report. Criminal Referrals Made to DOJ On this same day, Nunes sent his eight criminal referrals to Barr, as he had promised on April 7. In a letter sent to the attorney general, Nunes wrote that given the sensitivities surrounding this matter, I will have my staff contact the Department to arrange for a time for Representative John Ratcliffe and me to brief you directly on the eight criminal referrals. Nunes had previously stated that five of the referrals were for lying to Congress, two more were related to charges for conspiracy to lie to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and the final referral was for a global leak. Neither Nunes nor his referral letter identified the eight individuals or the specific details of the alleged crimes. Giuliani: Assange Could Expose a Plot On April 12, the day following Assanges arrest, Giuliani gave an exclusive interview to the Washington Examiner, in which he stated that Julian Assange could expose a plot involving Ukraine to falsely accuse Trump of colluding with Russia. Giuliani noted that he was referring to Assange exposing the origins of the federal investigation of possible Trump collusion with Russia and was not raising the possibility of Assange disproving that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta. Giuliani told the Examiner to keep your eye on Ukraine. Mueller Report to Be Made Public On April 15, it was reported that the DOJ was planning on making the Mueller report public on the morning of April 18. The report, which is to be delivered to Congress, will contain redactions that have been agreed upon by Barr and Mueller, who was assisting in the process. Animal Rescue Owner Pleads Guilty to Animal Abuse After 64 Dead Cats Found at House A Minnesota woman pled guilty to 13 counts of animal cruelty, including one felony count, after more than 100 animals were found at her home last May. Caycee Bregel, 25, entered her plea on April 12 in response to one felony count of Mistreatment of Animals and twelve misdemeanor counts of Mistreatment of Animals in connection with the death and care of a number of cats. Bregel drew attention last year after authorities responded to reports that a pig was running loose in the area, only to eventually discover over 100 animals, including 64 dead cats, in her home in Farmington, Minnesota. Bregel also ran the nonprofit Minnesota Animal Rescue. Bregel was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, two years of probation, and 90 days of electronic home monitoring, according to Pioneer Press, and she was also ordered to undergo a psychological examination. In addition, Bregel cannot own, possess, or care for any animals. The abuse and mistreatment of animals in the manner that occurred in this instance was unconscionable, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement, according to Pioneer Press. Bregel was initially arrested on May 9, 2018 before being released and then later charged on August 28. This story, the video and photos are hard to hear and see. This is more information about the investiation into a cruelty case involving MN Animal Rescue and Caycee Bregel - https://t.co/pNJm2vIBB4 NMinion (@SecondChanceMN) May 16, 2018 Overpowering Odor of Animal Urine and Feces The investigation began when the Dakota County Sheriffs Office were called to Bregels house in May. The officer noticed an unpleasant overpowering odor and contacted the owner of the property, from whom Bregel was renting. The property owner entered the house and found there was not enough food and water for the animals, and some cats were skin and bone, according to the sheriffs office. I track these types of organizations and I had heard information that she had had more animals than she was able to adequately maintain, said Keith Streff, an investigator with the Animal Humane Society, according to KSTP. She was on the radar, we were working that way when the case all of the sudden broke. According to the criminal complaint, Bregel had previously had an agreement with the Animal Humane Society to foster animals. From July 2o17 to February 2018, Bregel received 144 cats and a dog from the Animal Human Society. Bregel ultimately gave permission for officers to enter her house on May 9, 2018. On that first entry, officers saw 20 to 30 uncaged cats and five to eight dogs running around and animal feces and garbage covering the walls, windows, and floors, the criminal complaint says, and in the backyard there were scattered carcasses and animals buried in shallow graves. The next day, law enforcement and Streff returned to the property to execute a search warrant, which is when they uncovered the extent of the animal abuse. While outside of the residence, the deputy was able to smell an overpowering odor of animal urine and feces coming from inside of the residence, the criminal complaint says. They discovered dead cats in the garage, dead cats in the freezers and refrigerators, feces and garbage on the floors, and numerous live cats and dogs in Bregels house. Overall, the Animal Humane Society found 63 dead cats, 43 living cats, one living guinea pig, and five living dogs on Bregels home property. This home, filled with cats and dogs, was in horrific condition when investigators gained entrance, said Sheriff Tim Leslie in a news release from the time. Finding this many deceased, diseased, and unnourished cats and dogs was extremely disturbing. Authorities also located another nine cats, seven puppies, and one adult dog from another location Bregel used for the animal rescue organization. Of the animals that survived, a few of the cats had to be euthanized, including one cat with eyes matted shut from a thick yellow discharge. According to the criminal complaint, the cats left eye also popped out of its socket, so the eye was removed, and her right eye would likely have been removed as well had she not been put down. Necropsy exams were conducted on three of the cats, but it wasnt possible to determine the cause of death for those three cats. However, the doctor performing the necropsies found that the stomach and small intestine of each cat was completely empty, the criminal complaint says. The doctor estimated that it would take approximately a week for a cats intestinal track to become completely void of food. Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court in London, England, on April 11, 2019. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images) Assange, Manning Had Reason to Believe Leaks Would Damage US, Prosecutors Say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had reason to believe that leaking U.S. military reports would cause injury to the country, federal prosecutors alleged in a newly unsealed court filing on April 15. In the affidavit submitted to federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors said U.S. military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq included information about the identity and significance of local supporters of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. When U.S. forces raided the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding out, for example, they found a letter that showed the al-Qaeda leader was interested in copies of Pentagon documents published on WikiLeaks, the prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, leaked reports on the Afghan war included information on militants improvised explosive device designs and attacks, including details of U.S. and coalition countermeasures against such home-made explosive devices and their limitations. Indictment The prosecutions affidavit is dated Dec. 21, 2017, but was made public on April 15. It follows the unsealing last week of a U.S. indictment charging Assange with conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Manning provided Assange with nearly 750,000 classified or sensitive military and diplomatic documents, which Assange then published on WikiLeaks, the online disclosure platform he founded in 2006. Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Assange in Washington, said: Encouraging sources to provide information, and using methods to protect their identity, are common practices by all journalists. There is no new information in the affidavit that was unavailable to the Department of Justice when it decided in the Obama administration that pursuing criminal charges against Mr. Assange would be contrary to the First Amendment. Arrest British police arrested Assange at Washingtons request after Ecuador revoked his seven-year asylum on April 11. He was carried out of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and is being held in prison while he faces extradition to the United States. The U.S. indictment, originally issued in secret by an Alexandria, Virginia-based grand jury in March 2018, said Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password for a classified U.S. government network. The indictment didnt allege Assange succeeded in cracking the password. In the unsealed affidavit, prosecutors said Manning also had access to other U.S. government databases, including one relating to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a State Department database containing military cables. Manning was sentenced in 2013 to 35 years in military prison for leaking classified data, but had 28 years of his sentence commuted by President Barack Obama. Manning was then arrested in March and remains in custody for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Assange is expected to appear via video link for his next court appearance on May 2. The charge against him carries the maximum sentence of five years. Epoch Times reporters Petr Svab and Janita Kan contributed to this report. Bernie Sanderss Spat With Liberal Think Tank Mars a Big Week Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is raising money faster than his nearly two dozen rivals in the Democratic presidential primary, he leads all of his rivals in the polls, and he is even confident that doing a Fox News town hall this week will gain him votes among disappointed Trump backers. In other words, April 15 is the first day of what ought to be a huge week for the 76-year-old Democratic socialist who gave former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a tough race in 2016 and has all the markings today of a potentially unbeatable 2020 contender. But then theres this ugly little flap developing between the wild-haired Sanders and the former think tank home of two of his top 2020 campaign strategists, the Center for American Progress (CAP). Last week, you published an article on ThinkProgress criticizing me for my appearance and for the income I earned from writing a book, Sanders wrote in a letter dated April 13 to CAPs board of directors. Then, a day later, you published a video that dishonestly attacked me for hypocrisy in my effort to address income inequality in Americaa video that was excitedly discussed on many conservative websites This counterproductive negative campaigning needs to stop, he wrote. The Democratic primary must be a campaign of ideas, not of bad faith smears. Please help play a constructive role in the effort to defeat Donald Trump. Sanders also singled out longtime CAP President Neera Tanden, saying she repeatedly calls for unity while simultaneously maligning my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas. I worry that the corporate money CAP is receiving is inordinately and inappropriately influencing the role it is playing in the progressive movement. Sanders was reacting to a post on CAPs Think Progress blog that criticized him as a millionaire and one-percenter, as well as a CAP-linked video that artfully sequences clips of him blasting millionaires and billionaires, with more recent ones in which he only goes after billionaires. The point of the video is to highlight Sanders supposed socialist hypocrisy after his best-selling book made him, in his own words, a millionaire. Sanders assault on CAP wasnt merely on his own behalf, as he also noted in his letter unfair attacks on Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Its difficult to think of a think tank operation with more widely spread links among Democrats than CAP. Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir and foreign-policy strategist Matt Duss are CAP veterans. And the groups board of directors features virtually a Whos Who of the Democratic Party, including CAP founder and former White House adviser to President Barack Obama and 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, billionaire environmental activists Tom Steyer and Hansjorg Wyss, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and defeated 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams. Tanden sought on April 15 to distance herself and CAP from the Think Progress video, releasing a statement claiming that Think Progress is editorially independent, and noting that we believe the content of the Think Progress video critiquing Sen. Sanders is overly harsh and does not reflect our approach to a constructive debate of the issues. Democratic campaign strategists asked by The Epoch Times on April 15 for comment were loath to do so, but one of them, who insisted on anonymity, argued that there is no grand policy debate here, its not shades of McGovern in 72. Republicans begged to differ, seeing multiple portents in the dustup of Sanders vulnerabilities as the Democrats presidential nominee. I think the Establishment Left versus the Democratic Socialists is the real story of 2020, Americans for Limited Government President Richard Manning told The Epoch Times on April 15. CAP is trying to knock off Bernie to benefit Biden, to do the political hit-job on Bernie that none of his opponents dare, due to the fear of alienating his voters. Texas-based GOP campaign strategist Matt Mackowiak saw it as both a continuation of the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination contest and a harbinger of an unavoidable Sanders problem. Bernie and Hillary have been at war since 2016 and this latest chapter proves this battle wont end any time soon, but Bernie will be on defense about his wealth for the rest of this presidential campaign Theres no question its a larger disagreement. This is much more about ideas and ideology as it is about these two personalities, Mackowiak told The Epoch Times. Similarly, Heritage Action Executive Director Tim Chapman pointed to Sanders fear of criticism and said they are trying to eject Think Progress from their progressive coalition. If he is this thin-skinned as a candidate, imagine how he might behave with significantly more power as a president. China Eyes US Poultry, Pork Imports in Trade Talks NEW YORK/CHICAGOChina would likely lift a ban on U.S. poultry as part of a trade deal and may buy more pork to meet a growing supply deficit, but it is not willing to allow a prohibited growth drug used in roughly half the U.S. hog herd, two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said. The United States and China are trying to hammer out a deal to end a months-long trade war. President Donald Trumps administration is pressing Beijing to address concerns over Chinese practices on intellectual property rights, forced technology transfer and industrial subsidies. Washington is also pushing for greater market access for agricultural products by seeking to reduce tariffs, lift bans and overhaul regulatory processes. The United States has asked Beijing to lift its bans on the drug ractopamine, which some U.S. pork producers use to boost hog growth, and on U.S. poultry, said two sources briefed on the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. Chinas negotiators have resisted lifting the ractopamine restriction even though Beijing may boost imports of U.S. pork as its own hog herd is devastated by disease, the sources said. Huge losses in Chinas hog herd due to African swine fever have left the worlds largest pork market facing a protein deficit, stoking hopes among U.S. pork and poultry producers. I think that China will do anything possible to make it easier for them to import protein, said Bob Brown, an independent U.S. livestock market analyst. This is such a gigantic thing, he said of African swine fever. Up to 200 million pigs could be culled or die from infections as the disease spreads through China, reducing the nations pork output by 30 percent from 2019, according to Rabobank. Iowa State University agricultural economist Dermot Hayes said he expects China will import about 4.4 million to 6.6 million tons of pork in 2020, following losses in Chinese herds. The amount imported from the United States will depend on a trade deal, because Beijing maintains tariffs on shipments of American pork and has alternative suppliers, he said. The Chinese poultry market also has tremendous potential for U.S. producers, said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council in Stone Mountain, Georgia, valuing it at $500 million. With Chinas situation with African swine fever, theyre going to have a real protein shortage in the near future, he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects Chinas total chicken imports will surge 68 percent this year to 633,000 tons, not including popular chicken feet, as African swine fever spurs consumers to turn to proteins other than pork. The disease is fatal to pigs but not harmful to humans. Beijing has banned all U.S. poultry and eggs since January 2015 due to an avian influenza outbreak, which has been over for years. That caused imports to tank after the United States shipped $390 million worth of poultry and products to China in 2014. The following year, shipments were less than a fifth of that, at $74 million. China lifted a similar restriction on poultry from France last month, and last year dropped duties on U.S. white-feathered broiler chickens. A total lifting of the ban would reopen the gates for U.S. poultry to compete in the worlds largest, and best-paying, market for products like chicken feet, and benefit companies such as Sanderson Farms Inc.. While it looks increasingly likely China may lift its ban on U.S. poultry, Beijing is seeking a two-way street and would want to be able to export some poultry products to the United States as well, two sources said. Chinas Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representatives office declined to comment. A U.S. meat exporter said officials from the USTR indicated that China will not drop its ban on ractopamine, though trade talks are still ongoing. Chinese authorities blocked the use of ractopamine in livestock in 2002. They say it can cause health problems in people and is too similar to clenbuterol, an illegal additive in pig feed used to keep meat lean. The European Union also prohibits ractopamine, although the United States and other countries say it is safe. Keeping the ban on ractopamine could benefit companies such as Smithfield Foods, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed WH Group Ltd that already raises most of its hogs without the drug. WH Group declined to comment. Smithfield Foods did not respond to request for comment. Other U.S. pork producers that use the drug could benefit if China dropped its ban. Its unfortunate news, Christine McCracken, senior protein analyst with Rabobank in New York, said of the likely continuance of the ractopamine ban. By Chris Prentice & Tom Polansek U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (4th L), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (3rd L), Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro pose for a photograph with China's Vice Premier Liu He (4th R), Chinese vice ministers, and senior officials before the start of U.S.-China trade talks at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 21, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Chinas Hardball Responses to US Trade Threats Reveal Weakness Commentary China has resorted to hardball tactics in its trade negotiations with the United States. Is that a good thing? On the face of it, perhaps not. But viewed from another angle, it may tell us everything we need to know about Chinas intentions, needs, and weaknesses. Nobody seriously disagrees (other than the Chinese, perhaps) that a trade reset with the United States is way overdue. To put it in context, the U.S. imported around $323 billion in goods from China in 2018 while exporting about $130 billion. Clearly, the trade imbalance is heavily in Chinas favorand that gap continues to grow. U.S. imports from China rose by almost 12 percent last year, while U.S. exports to China grew by less than one percent. But the U.S.China trade relationship is more complicated than simply these very obvious imbalances. For instance, many of the goods China sells to the United States are assembled in China but madeat least partiallywith American parts. Perhaps more importantly, 37 percent of Chinese exports are parts and components that U.S. manufacturers need in order to make their products. That reality makes U.S. manufacturers potentially vulnerable to higher tariffs on Chinese goods, not to mention whatever trade tricks China may have in mind. US Goodwill Rewarded With Malevolence In December 2018, the United States delayed escalating the tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent as a show of goodwill. Still, China continues to play dirty. Over the past year, the Chinese have been cutting new deals with the Europeans and undercutting U.S. deals where they can. For example, China is taking full advantage of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft grounding by posturing as a global authority in aircraft safety, a subject in which its experience is limited at best. China has also appointed itself as the lead in the lawsuits against the U.S. commercial aircraft maker while at the same time steering its business toward Boeings European competitor, Airbus. (Perhaps China might first gain safety expertise in more grounded areas, such as in chemical manufacturing, where its abysmal safety and pollution records remain consistent and lethal.) In 2018, in the wake of U.S. fines against Chinese tech giant ZTE for illegally shipping telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea, China was the sole voice of dissent and prevented American chipmaker Qualcomm from completing its $44 billion acquisition of Dutch chipmaker NXP. Even after the Trump administration agreed to allow ZTE back into the American market, China still killed the Qualcomm-NXP deal. There are scores of such examples of Chinas adversarial and even malevolent trading practices while theyve enjoyed ridiculous trade advantages. Given these facts, a few questions come to mind: 1. Can the U.S. really afford a trade war with China? U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm has certainly been very negatively affected by the trade war, but thats not the whole picture. According to the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an additional 261,000 manufacturing jobs have been added since Trumps tariffs came into effect. Many of those new jobs were in the aviation, defense, and auto industries. Other businesses small and large will both benefit and be harmed by the tariffs, depending on their industry and component sources. Some view it as much-needed leveling of the playing field while others see the tariffs as an additional manufacturing cost they must bear. 2. What do Chinas actions tell us about the current economic conditions there? This gets to the heart of the Chinese economic story. In 2018, World Bank estimates put Chinas GDP at $10.8 trillion and in 2019, other estimates put it around $12 trillion, a difference that puts its annual economic growth at about 10 percent. Thats simply not realistic and neither are the official statistics that the Chinese Communist Party sells its people and the rest of the world. Chinas economic reporting relies upon a heavy dose of fiction and censorship of official economic statistics. A much more conservative and reasonable estimate comes from scholar Luis Martinez in his 2018 study at the University of Chicago, which examines the direct link between the amount of light produced by an economyas captured and measured through nighttime satellite photographsand its GDP. According to that measure, Chinas GDP is inflated by at least 30 percent, at around $7.5 trillion. Whats more damning is that Chinas debt-to-GDP ratio is about 250 percent, or 2.5 times that of the United States. With such a truncated economy and debt that may become a crisis in the midst of the current slowdown, China is actually in a much more desperate situation than they would like the worldor their peopleto realize. These two bits of data put Chinas belligerence in a much different context, dont they? Furthermore, Martinez research is backed up by a 2012 study by Brown University and the National Bureau of Economic Research on how nighttime lighting levels mirror economic activity. And in 2014, economics professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo Harry Wu, estimating Chinas economy in a completely different fashion, determined that its GDP was inflated by 36 percent. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Chinas economic health are greatly exaggerated. 3. If a workable deal is not struckor even if one iswhat should U.S. trade strategy be? Contrary to some claims that the United States is much more vulnerable than China is in this trade war, it appears that China, even with its censorship and totalitarian society, is much less immune to trade tariffs than is believed. Thats why even if a trade agreement is reached, its likely that China will ignore the terms simply because it would have to. It should be no surprise that enforcement mechanisms remain a major obstacle in the talks. Given these factors, the key to winning the trade war with China is Europe. U.S. trade policy should be as much about the United States expanding trade with the UK and the Eurozone as it is about limiting Chinas trade with them. Doing so would help create more demand, deepen our relationships there, and drive China into a deeper economic hole. It may even cause a political crisis at home for the Chinese Communist Party. 4. Trade is about Geopolitics China is in the middle of a grand geopolitical march across the globe with its One Belt, One Road initiative. From Central Asia, Africa, Europe, to South America, China is achieving its ambitious drive to displace U.S. influence around the globe by leveraging trade and foreign investment. Its also intent on kicking the United States and Europe out of whole technology manufacturing sectors with its Made In China 2025 plan. But all of these objectives are supported by massive deficits and heavy civilian crackdowns at home, along with the wholesale theft of intellectual property and technology from the West. For those reasons, American trade policy must treat China as the depraved totalitarian society that it is and pursue aggressive trade agreements with Europe, the UK, and Latin America. The goal ought to be to strangle the Chinese economy and see just how patient the Chinese people will be with the Chinese Communist Party. James Gorrie is a writer based in Texas. He is the author of The China Crisis. A previous version of this article included a typo for the name of the Dutch chipmaker. The Epoch Times regrets the error. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Peter Muchiri points at his neighbor's wall that collapsed following vibrations from blasts at the quarry near Kanairobi village, Kenya, on March 28, 2019. (Dominic Kirui for The Epoch Times) Chinese Company Accused of Environmental Degradation at Quarry in Kenya MAI MAHIU, KenyaWhen Peter Muchiri bought his 5-acre piece of land in 1969 in Kanairobi village in the settlement of Mai Mahiu, Kenya, it was completely forested with a cool climate and frequent rains. Muchiri built a permanent house on his plot, but says it is no longer conducive for him to live in it with his family, who have opted instead to live in Banana Hill in the neighboring Kiambu County. The reason is because of the constant dust, noise, and vibrations caused by China Wu Yi, a Chinese state-owned construction company that is quarrying nearby. The rocks are to be used for ballast in the major expansion of the Waiyaki Way highway from Nairobi. Muchiri says that in addition to the company digging up most parts of the village, leaving open holes in the ground that pose a danger to children and livestock, it also uses excessive explosives that cause ground vibrations that destroy houses and other infrastructure, as well as create a lot of dust. We have witnessed a deterioration of the [environment], thanks to mining companies that have set up base to mine ballast here, the 84-year-old father of eight and former military scientist told The Epoch Times. My plot has literally been surrounded by these companies that have created the dusty and noisy atmosphere in the village. The explosives they use have destroyed our property, Muchiri said, pointing at cracks in the walls of his house. Two mining companies surround Muchiris land, one owned by a local whom the residents refer to as Mwangi and the other by China Wu Yi, with several other sites spreading throughout the village. Mwangi buys land and mines from there, but the Chinese will lease land and have massive machinery, meaning that they are able to mine a large piece of land within a short time, Muchiri said. Ceasing Operations In early March, after complaints from residents, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) suspended the extraction of ballast from the quarries in the area, causing concerns that the expansion of the Waiyaki Way would stall due to a shortage of materials. This was the second attempt by NEMA to close down the quarrying after the Nakuru County government announced a suspension in late February. County Director of Environment Mureithi Kiogora told journalists on Feb. 27, after visiting the quarries and affected homes, that there was evidence the residents complaints were valid, according to local newspaper The Standard. Its true that the blasts from these quarries have affected many homes and we have suspended for one week any operations until we get the way forward, he said. Kiogora accused the two companies involved in quarrying of disregarding the law, thus putting the lives of residents in great danger. Gathariki Kamanu, chairman of the environmental committee of Nakuru County Assembly, told reporters that there was no public consultation before the quarries were opened. He added that authorities would make sure environmental regulations were adhered to before operations at the quarries recommenced. He said they did not want to take chances after the Solai dam in the same county collapsed in May 2018, claiming 48 lives. But visiting the quarry on March 28, operations were ongoing at China Wu Yis site, with dust clouds evident on the drive down the Kamandura escarpment toward Mai Mahiu. My cry to the government is to stop completely the mining taking place in our village. It is no longer safe for kids here since there are open mines that could pose a danger to them. Life is also disturbed, since sometimes I am told to get out of my house in the morning when they want to start using the explosives to blast the rocks, Muchiri said. The efforts of Muchiri and other residents to seek compensation from the Chinese company so far have been futile. On several occasions, I have tried to confront them to compensate me for the loss I have incurred but to no avail, he said. Residents have also accused local leadership of being bribed by China Wu Yi officials to stay quiet while the quarrying takes place. Our leaders no longer care about the well-being of the people, only what gain they get from the kickbacks the company gives them, alleged Anthony Kamau, a farmer and resident of Kanairobi village. China Wu Yi didnt respond to repeated requests for comment. Chinese Influence In 2016, the Kenya National Highways Authority awarded the tender to expand a 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) section of the Waiyaki Way highway to China Wu Yi, which is an international arm of the Fujian Construction Engineering Group Company. According to a July 13, 2016, press release, the project was to be funded by the World Bank and the government of Kenya under the National Urban Transport Improvement Project and was scheduled to be completed in 36 months. Chinese companies have previously been accused of breaking the law and getting away with it during their operations in Africa. However, to complicate matters, Beijing is exerting influence over Kenya and other African countries through loans for major projects, making it difficult for leaders to question the Chinese operations within their countries. Victor Pinchuk, founder of EastOne and of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation talks as former President Bill Clinton (R) listens in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 29, 2009. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images) Clinton Foundation Donor Funded Ukraine Report at Core of Charges Against Former Obama Counsel On April 15, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig revealed the identity of the previously unknown man who funded the Ukraine report which is now at the center of federal charges against Craig. In a video statement, Craig said that Victor Pinchuk helped fund the 2012 report. Pinchuk is a Ukrainian businessman and a major donor to the Clinton Foundation. It was Doug Schoen who brought this project to me, and he told me he was acting on behalf of Mr. Victor Pinchuk, who is a pro-Western Ukranian businessman, who helped fund the project, Craig said. In an indictment filed earlier in April, federal prosecutors alleged that Craig lied about aspects of his work on the Ukraine report, including the nature and extent of his communications with the media, in order to avoid registering as a foreign lobbyist as required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Craig adamantly denied the allegations, explaining that he worked with other attorneys to determine whether he was required to register and concluded that he was not. I never discussed the findings of our report with any U.S. officials. I certainly did not lobby any U.S. officials on behalf of Ukraine, Craig said. I did not help Ukraine promote its spin when it released our report. Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State when Craig began work on the Ukraine report in 2012. Craig has had a long-running close and personal relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton and held a senior position in the Clinton White House before becoming Obamas counsel. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation donated $10 million to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation sometime before 2013, making him the top foreign contributor to the foundation. When The Wall Street Journal asked the Pinchuk Foundation if Pinchuk was lobbying the State Department, Pinchuks foundation said, This cannot be seen as anything but a good thing. The link between Pinchuk, Craig, and Clinton may mean that the Justice Department already has examined or may eventually scrutinize communications between Craig and the Clintons. While Craig said he didnt lobby U.S. officials on behalf of Ukraine, he didnt state whether or not he had lobbied on behalf of Pinchuk, a private businessman who didnt hold a post in the Ukrainian government at the time he funded the report. Craig also didnt mention whether he lobbied a spouse of a U.S. official, namely Bill Clinton. Schoen, the man who brought the project to Craig, was registered as a lobbyist for Pinchuk throughout Clintons tenure at the head of the State Department. It was after being introduced to the Clintons by Schoen in 2006 that Pinchuk began donating to the Clinton Foundation. Schoen told The Wall Street Journal that the donations were not part of his lobbying efforts. Schoen arranged about a dozen meetings between Pinchuk and State Department officials between September 2011 and November 2012, according to The New York Times. The meetings occurred as Pinchuk was donating to the Clinton Foundation and funding Craigs Ukraine report. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van, after he was arrested by British police, in London on April 11, 2019. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters) Did Julian Assange Get Kicked Out From Embassy Because of a Leaked Photo? Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may have been expelled from the Ecuador embassy for allegedly leaking an embarrassing photo of the Ecuadorian President lounging on a bed dining on lobster in a hotel room. The photo, which is one of the more embarrassing snaps, is part of 200 private e-mails, texts, and documents published on an anonymous website inapapers.org. The leak apparently infuriated Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, who accused Assanges Wikileaks of being behind the publication. The leaked files also include photos of Morenos family on lavish holidays in Europe, reported The New York Post. It's part of a trove of damaging documents and photos that the Ecuadorian president accused WikiLeaks of leaking. Posted by New York Post on Sunday, April 14, 2019 Moreno said in a radio interview that, Assange cannot lie or, much less, hack into private accounts or private phones, reported the news website. Assange, 47, was arrested by British police, handcuffed, and carried out of the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11 after his asylum was revoked. His arrest stems from a breach of his bail in 2012 for failing to surrender to a UK Court after a sexual assault investigation in Sweden was dropped. Following his arrests, the United States sought his extradition and unsealed a March 2018 indictment (PDF) that alleged Assange had conspired with former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, to breach the Armys computer system in 2010. Manning provided Assange with nearly 750,000 classified or sensitive military and diplomatic documents, which Assange then published on Wikileaks. Assange was also accused of encouraging Manning to steal more documents and agreeing to help Manning crack a password that would give Manning access to the Army computer system under a different username. Manning was convicted by court-martial in 2013 of espionage and other offenses. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison but her final 28 years was commuted by former President Barack Obama. She was taken into custody on March 8 for refusing to testify to a grand jury that is investigating Wikileaks. ** Chelsea was taken into custody today for resisting a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia Chelsea provided the following statement: pic.twitter.com/tWjEOFyhYn Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) March 8, 2019 Wikileaks has denied in a statement on their website for having a role in the leaks and accused the Ecuadorian government of creating a story as a pretext to end Assanges asylum. WikiLeaks did not publish the INA Papers. WikiLeaks only reported on the INA Papers investigation by Ecuadors National Assembly in a March 25th tweet, the organization said. WikiLeaks learned from two high-level sources within the Ecuadorian state that Julian Assange will be expelled within hours to days using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretextand that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest,' the organization claimed on April 5. Along with the alleged leak, Assanges apparent squalid lifestyle had caused the deterioration of his relationship with Ecuadorian officials, reported the Post. Ecuadors Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo alleged that Assange has been harassing his caretakers, as well as smeared his own excrement on the walls at the embassy, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who is representing Assange, told Sky News that the allegations are pretty outrageous and are used to justify the arrests. Ecuador has claimed Assange had to be reminded to flush the toilet, left dirty underwear in the lavatory, did not clean dishes and left the cooker on Posted by Sky News on Sunday, April 14, 2019 Ecuador has made these allegations to justify the unlawful and extraordinary act of letting police come inside an embassy, Robinson said. Moreover, Moreno said Assange had repeatedly breached an agreement with Ecuador that did not allow him to comment on political situations in other countries, reported the Post. Swedish prosecutors said on April 11 they had received a formal request to reopen the sexual assault investigation from the legal counsel representing the alleged victim. The request was assigned to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson, who said prosecutors would look into the matter and determine how to proceed. Assange is expected to appear in court via video link in his next court appearance on May 2. The Epoch Times Reporter Petr Svab and Reuters contributed to this report. Ryan Benoit of Williamstown received the Student Association Volunteer of the Year at the 2019 Cocurricular Awards Ceremony at Western New England University. Senior Associate Director of Residence Life Beth A. Hill presented the award. Benoit is majoring in business analytics and information management at the Springfield university. College Notes: April & May 2019 Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College Grace Ellrodt working on a window insert. Read the full story here. Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, recently presented the results of her environmental studies capstone project titled "Insulating Window Insert Interventions in Energy Injustice: Incentives, Barriers, & Strategies." Grace Ellrodt of Lenox, a junior atin Lewiston, Maine, recently presented the results of her environmental studies capstone project titled "Insulating Window Insert Interventions in Energy Injustice: Incentives, Barriers, & Strategies." Ellrodt, the daughter of Dr. and Ms. Anthony G. Ellrodt and a 2016 graduate of Lenox Memorial High School, worked with two other students, Newell Woodworth of Lambertville, N.J., and Griff Golden of Riverside, Conn., on the project in collaboration with Window Dressers , a nonprofit working to help insulate homes. As part of their environmental studies major, Ellrodt, completed courses in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in addition to a 200-hour internship and the community-engaged capstone course in which groups of students pair with a community organization to bring scientific and other types of expertise to a specific project that addresses a community-identified need. Bates' environmental studies program is a national model for building civic engagement into academic programs. Three local students at Lasell College participated in a mock trial at the Newton college's Connected Learning Symposium on Dec. 4, 2018, and Housatonic student gave a media ethics presentation. Elizabeth Chapman, a fashion and retail merchandising major, and Hannah King, a history major, both from Pittsfield, participated on the plaintiff's team. Chapman delivered the closing argument and King performed the direct examination of a witness. In preparation, students in the course learned the order in which a trial is conducted, courtroom etiquette, and techniques of cross- and direct-examination. The teams conducted the trial in front of a panel of mock jurors comprised of faculty and staff and a judge, professor Linda Bucci. Brianna VanDeusen, a communications student from Housatonic, presented work on media ethics through research conducted in a course on the same topic. In the course, students explored sound, ethical communication practices in mass media professions and compared those with current trends and historical case studies. VanDeusen presented with this group for the entire college community. The symposiums occur twice a year to showcase student work tied to real-world clients and applications outside of the classroom. The day featured events and presentations including a professional business negotiation for the location of the 2032 Olympics, performance art, sustainable fashion design, media ethics, crime theory, intergenerational genealogy, and more. Maya Finston-Fox spent spring break with Baldwin Wallace classmates in Montgomery, Ala. Baldwin Wallace University students who participated in the Berea, Ohio, college's Alternative Break service program that provides community engagement in projects across the nation. Maya Finston-Fox of Monterey was among 44students who participated in the Berea, Ohio, college's Alternative Break service program that provides community engagement in projects across the nation. Finston-Fox, a graduate of Miss Hall's School majoring in political science, volunteered in Montgomery, Ala., with the theme of "Civil Rights: Then and Now." The students followed in the footsteps of the great men and women who have helped institutionalize nonviolence in the U.S. and learned about the history and future of the Civil Rights Movement. In partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative and Selma Center for Nonviolence, they served alongside people who encourage open dialogue, peaceful mediation and honest community building as a solution to conflict and violence. The trip was led by BW student Katie Rider with support from staff adviser Kristen Catrina. Two local students participated in Lasell College's Lasell Alternative Break program, designed to connect students with social and conservation issues. Codie Treszi of Pittsfield went to Boise, Idaho, to volunteer at Boise Rescue Mission Ministries' River of Life Men's Shelter, the Idaho Foodbank, Idaho Youth Ranch, and Interfaith Sanctuary to better understand issues of homelessness in that community. Allison Wheeler of Adams went to Blairsville, Ga., to assist the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club's conservation efforts at Lance Creek and Cut Locust Gap. London Green of Adams and Patrick Tierney of Pittsfield. Skookum Awards of Excellence will be presented to London Green of Adams, a psychology major, and Patrick Tierney of Pittsfield, a biology major, by the Western New England University Alumni Association. The award was established in 1989 as a way to recognize the outstanding achievements of the university's students. It recognizes their leadership roles on campus, community service/volunteer experiences, and participation in athletics and cocurricular programs. The word Skookum means excellence in the Chinook Indian culture. Green and Tierney were among 15 students named to receive the award at a dinner in the fall. Green and Tierney were also recognized at the College of Arts and Sciences Senior awards ceremony on April 25 in the St. Germain Campus Center. Students receiving Academic Honors Awards are selected based on their academic achievement in the major or based on their overall class standing. The following students were recognized for their outstanding achievement: Green received the Honor Graduate in Psychology Award presented to the graduating senior in psychology who demonstrates the field's highest ideals. Green is graduating with a bachelor of arts in psychology Tierney received the Biology Achievement Award and the Honor Graduate in Neuroscience Award. Presented by Burt Rosenman, associate professor of biology, the Biology Achievement Award is given to the graduating senior who has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement, laboratory skills, and personal qualities in pursuit of scientific knowledge. The Neuroscience Award is given to the graduating senior in neuroscience who demonstrates th field's highest ideals. Tierney is graduating with a bachelor of science in biology Shawndell Cummings of Pittsfield received the Matthew Sullivan Scholarship during the Senior Luncheon and Recognition Celebration put on by Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology's Department of Criminal Justice and Center for Public Safety Initiatives. This award is named for Matthew Sullivan, who passed away in September 2000. He was a 1997 graduate of the criminal justice program and was employed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service agency in Boston. This memorial scholarship was established to keep his memory alive in the RIT community and to help other criminal justice students complete their education. Kirby Bryce of Clarksburg has been named to the dean's list for all four years at Curry College, located in Milton. He was recognized at the annual reception to honor graduating students who have demonstrated academic excellence. Bryce is one of 88 students honored this year. Maya Finston-Fox of Monterey was among the more than 180 students whose exceptional academic work was showcased during the Baldwin Wallace University Ovation Festival's Day of Excellence. Finston-Fox, a graduate of Miss Hall's School majoring in political science, gave an oral presentation titled "Brain Student Fellowship." The BW Ovation Festival at the Berea, Ohio, college recognizes student success in research, scholarship, experiential learning, the arts and more. Participants in the Day of Excellence must complete the submission process and have a faculty mentor who sponsors their work and gives approval to present. Two area sudents were honored at the annual Prize Day celebration Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Sophia Gebara of Williamstown received the William B. Jaffe Art Award for exceptional acheivement by an art major, marked by excellence in the study of art history, independent scholarship, and interest in the work of the department. Nar Lin of Pittsfield received the Robert M. Fuller Senior Prize, given to the senior who demonstrates outstanding work, ability, and promise in chemistry. Honor Societies The following local residents were recently initiated at the colleges they are attending into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Westfield State University Katherine Chapman and Jacob Prudhomme, both of Adams; Shayne Garvey of Clarksburg; Nicole Hebert-Whitman and Alexis Reder, both of Dalton, Michaela Grady of Pittsfield and Hanna Ciepiela of Windsor State University of New York at Potsdam Samantha Twing of New Marlborough University of Massachusetts Debora Coons of Lanesborough and Krystle Gallo of Pittsfield Clarkson University, Beacon, N.Y. Noah Chicoine of North Adams, majoring in mathematics Graduations Samuel Polastri of Becket was presented an associate's degree in construction technology and John Cosmus of East Otis a certificate in computer-aided drafting during graduation exercises in December 2018 at the State University of New York at Delhi. Keegan McCauley of Pittsfield earned a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies and Tristan Reinhard from Williamstown a bachelor of arts in intelligence and national security studies from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C. Their degrees were awarded during commencement exercises on May 11. Liam Tremlett of Pittsfield graduated with a degree with bachelor of arts degree on May 19 from Curry College in Milton during commencement exercises at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield. William Churchill of Great Barrington graduated from Gettysburg (Pa.) College on May 19 with a bachelor of science degree. Samuel Bean of Becket graduated with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and Shamus White of Dalton with a bachelor of science degree in business administration, marketing, the May from the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Adam Jakob Derwitsch of Ashley Falls graduated from Clemson (S.C.) University with a bachelor of science in accounting. Derwitsch was among 3,600 students who received degrees at the May 9-10 ceremonies at Littlejohn Coliseum. Alyssa Rylander of Adams graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing on May 11 from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. Rylander was a member of the Student Nurses Association and will begin her nursing career this summer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Jennifer M. Evans of Pittsfield and Cole W. Hughes of Williamstown were among the 615 graduates St. Lawrence University during commencement ceremonies on May 19, 2019, in Canton, N.Y. Evans, who attended Monument Mountain Regional School, majored in environmental studies, sociology, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree, summa cum laude. Hughes, who attended Mount Greylock Regional School, majored in environmental studies, biology, and graduated with a bachelor of science degree, magna cum laude. Michaela Foote of Pittsfield was one of 635 graduates to receive a degree during Assumption College's 102nd commencement exercises on May 12 at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester. A record number of graduate and undergraduate students at Lasell College in Newton were awarded degrees on Saturday, May 11. Among them were Gillian Campbell of Pittsfield, graduating cum laude with a bachelor of science in event management; Elizabeth Chapman of Pittsfield, with bachelor of science in fashion and retail merchandising, and Kyle Gelinas of Becket, with a bachelor of science in event management. Zachary Greenspan of Becket is one of 511 seniors to earn their degree from Grove City (Pa.) College on May 18. Greenspan earned a bachelor of arts degree in history and biblical and religious studies. Some 3,275 students were awarded degrees during the University of Vermont's 218th commencement ceremonies. Area students graduating from the Burlington university and their degrees are: Cameron Civello of Pittsfield, bachelor of arts degree in environmental studies. Maria Colli of Glendale, bachelor of science degree in food systems Alexander Harrington of Pittsfield, bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering Zachary Harrington of Pittsfield, bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering Trevor McFarland of Great Barrington, bachelor of science degree in athletic training education Hannah Rivard of North Adams, bachelor of science degree in dietetics nutrition and food sciences Thomas Schoorlemmer of Williamstown, bachelor of arts degree in political science Lucas Wartella of Great Barrington, bachelor of science degree in public communication Emma Waryjasz of North Adams, bachelor of science degree in professional nursing American International College in Springfield awarded more than 600 undergraduate and graduate degrees to students representing 22 states and nine countries at the 134th commencement on May 11 including graduate degrees in counseling psychology to Rebecca Gillespie of Great Barrington and Michelle Shepard of Dalton and a bachelor's degree in sociology to Sarah Majdalany of Great Barrington. Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., conferred degrees on May 26 to Isaac Gotterer of Lenox and Constantinos Koufis of Great Barrington. Gotterer earned a bachelor of arts degree in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies, for which he also earned honors, and theater. He previously attended Lenox Memorial High School. Koufis earned a bachelor of arts degree and honors in art studio. He previously attended Great Barrington Waldorf High School. Academic Lists & Awards Devan Galli of North Adams, a graduate of Mount Everett Regional School, earned first honors on the fall dean's list at Clark University in Worcester. Galli, a freshman who is playing softball for the Cougars this semester, earned a 3.9 grade-point average. A 3.8 or higher is required to make first honors. Lucienne Burnett of Great Barrington, a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan Campus in Teaneck, N.J., has been named to the Honors List for the fall 2018 semester. Amaya Smith of Williamstown, a junior at the college preparatory Pomfret (Conn.) School, was named to the high honors list for the winter marking period. Samantha Daniels Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center. Samantha Daniels of North Adams is the recipient of the Faculty Memorial Fund Scholarship atin Randolph Center. The award, and a Faculty Award given to Harrison Heist of Hancock, Vt., were presented by the Vermont Tech Faculty Assembly. Several students were considered for the awards and wrote personal essays that reflected on their education thus far and their future goals. The Faculty Award is given to a student who has made the greatest contribution to student activities. The Memorial Fund Scholarship is given to a student who has already completed their first year and whose outstanding scholarship exemplifies excellence in technology. This scholarship was created as a memorial to past faculty members who have passed away. Daniels is also a residence adviser and is president of the student-led ASHRAE club on the Randolph campus. While Daniels works hard for her high grades she says she is OK with not being a 4.0 student. "I still strive to achieve a 4.0 GPA but I am able to focus more on learning the material rather than just doing well [academically]," she said. "I am able to apply my education to real-world problems and even help other students that are struggling." Stacey Neveu of Williamstown, a student at the State University of New York at Oneonto, has been selected to receive the Haverly and Alice Moyer Scholarship and Hewitt Pantaleoni Memorial Music Fund. More than 700 students were awarded scholarships at the annual scholarship dinner held on April 4. Joseph Mcninch of Lenox has been named to the Emerson College dean's list for the spring 2019 semester for achieving a GPA of 3.7 or higher. Mcninch is majoring in theater and performance at the Boston college. Sara Pontier of North Adams qualified for the spring 2019 dean's list at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., has named Alyssa Rylander of Adams to the dean's list for spring 2019. Rylander is a nursing major and a member of the class of 2019. Aspen Sawyer of New Marlborough has been named to the winter 2019 President's List at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. The winter term runs from January to May. Owen Brandriss and Neel Patel, both of Williamstown, and Frank Piasecki of Great Barrington were named to the dean's list at the University of Vermont in Burlington. David T. Charland, a engineering science major from Pittsfield, and Lydia McBride, a graphic design major from Great Barrington, were named to the dean's list at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C. Assumption College in Worcester has named Lydia Barnaba of Great Barrington and Samantha El Saddik of Pittsfield to the dean's list for the spring semester. Adam Leonard of Pittsfield has been named to the dean's list for the spring semester at Becker College in Worcester. Leonard is pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in interactive media design, with a game production and management concentration. Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., has named the following area students to its academics lists for the spring 2019 semester: Dean's list: Benn Kittler of Adams; Hannah Fuller and Katie Lemanski, both of Cheshire; Olivia Bordeau, Haley Cowlin, Garrett Dempsey, Hannah LaPointe and Trevor Pelkey, all of Pittsfield; and Jacqueline Van Slycke of Williamstown. President's list: Shelby Davis, Shannon Netzer, Gianna Paris and Carli Scolforo, all of Pittsfield, and Brianna Davis of West Stockbridge. Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y., has named Richard Astle of Pittsfield to the spring 2019 president's list and Austin Mendel of Adams to the dean's list. Astle is studying in the heating/air conditioning/refrigeration technical services academic program and Mendel is studying electrical construction and maintenance. Daniel Brainerd, rising senior at the University of Vermont in Burlington, has been named to the dean's list for the spring 2019 semester. The Dalton resident is majoring in philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences. Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., has named to the following students to the dean's list for the spring semester: Sierra Jamros of Adams; Nicole Speranzo of Becket; Corry Psutka and Emma Smith, both of Dalton; Ericca Broderick of Great Barrington; Morgan Pannesco of Lanesborough; Luke Martino of Lenox; and David Majetich and Colby Masse, both of Williamstown. Noah Pott was named to the dean's list at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, for the winter semester ending in April 2019. Pott, the son of David A. Pott and Alix E. von Auenmueller of Great Barrington, is a 2018 graduate of Great Barrington Waldorf High School. He is a first year at Bates. American International College has named Sarah Majdalany of Great Barrington, Gabriella Martinez of North Adams and Louis Martial Anwobor of Pittsfield to the spring 2019 dean's list. Curry College in Milton has named the following students to the dean's list for the spring 2019 semester: Julia O'Connor of Dalton; Kayla Wickham of Lenox; Matthew Stewart of North Adams; Liam Tremlett of Pittsfield and Michael Strizzi of Williamstown. DNA From a Cigarette Butt Leads to Arrest in a 25-Year-Old Murder Case An Idaho man pleaded guilty to a 1992 murder case on April 12 after DNA from a cigarette butt linked him to another unsolved murder case. Lee Miller, 54, was arrested on Jan. 2 based on DNA evidence that linked him to the murder of his 57-year-old friend Marilyn Hickey, said the Boise Police Department in a statement. On Sept. 8, 1992, the bartender at Drift Inn Tavern had seen Hickey with a red-haired man. The duo had left the place after a game of pool at about 2 a.m. Days later paramedics had to breach a window to reach inside Hickeys studio apartment in Bremerton, Washington. #BREAKING Lee Miller officially pleads guilty in the cold case murder of Marilyn Hickey in Bremerton in 1992. Now he heads to Idaho to plead guilty in the 1994 murder of Cheryle Barratt in Boise. 4pm on #komonewd pic.twitter.com/q1MavGykQW Keith Eldridge (@KeithKOMO4) April 12, 2019 They found her half-naked and strangled on her living room floor, reported the Washington Post. For the next 25 years, police were unable to find the red-haired man present with Hickey at the bar. The police didnt realize that all this time they had a clue inside their file. Inside Hickeys purse, police had found a phone number on a scrap of paper that turned out to be the contact of the red-haired mans friend. This man, a McDonalds employee by the name of Mike told police that he had introduced Miller to Hickey. A cigarette butt and an old scrap of paper led to an arrest in a 26-year-old unsolved killing https://t.co/xbOKp7XfFf Jeffrey Levin (@jilevin) January 8, 2019 After this, another tipster told police that at times he saw Miller going home with Hickey. However, according to the Washington Post, the police were not able to connect these pieces of the puzzle early on in their investigation. In 2017, Millers connection with Hickeys murder case became clearer. His name surfaced again in the 1994 fatal stabbing and murder of a 49-year-old woman named Cheryle Barratt in Boise, Idaho. In Barratts case, Millers name surfaced only after a confidential informant told police that Miller had admitted to killing Barratt. The police didnt take it seriously and arrested another man who was released after two months due to a lack of evidence. Boise man charged in 1992 Washington homicide, suspect in 1994 Boise cold case death City of Boise https://t.co/bQyxo1lbXO Baize&Graham (@8DropsOfBlood) January 6, 2019 During this time the detectives in Garland and Boise started to trace Millers movements. Unlike in the 1990s, DNA testing is available these days and the police wanted to collect his DNA. They waited until Feb. 1, 2018, when Miller walked out of his home smoking a cigarette and police picked up the cigarette butt he had tossed. The DNA on the cigarette butt gave police the evidence that linked Miller to Hickeys murder. A motive behind the killing has yet not been discovered and Miller will next move to Idaho to plead guilty in Barratts killing, according to KOMO News. DNA does it again. A man just pleaded guilty to a 1992 cold case murder in Bremerton. Lee Miller is also tied to a cold case killing in Boise.https://t.co/TeM7Y4T6jJ KOMO News (@komonews) April 13, 2019 That investigation is ongoing, said the police. This is a significant achievement for the Boise Police Department and the Bremerton Police Department, as we were able to use advancements in technology and coordinated investigative efforts to make strides in two decadeslong investigations, said Boise Police Sgt. Justin Kendall in the statement. Our detectives have worked for years to make progress on these investigations to help find answers for our community and justice for the victims, he said. Driver Dodged Paying Nearly $5,500 in Tolls With License Plate Flipper, Say Police A driver in Texas reportedly dodged $5,500 in tolls by using an illegal license plate flipper. Preston Talbot was stopped last week for not paying a toll on the Sam Houston Expressway in Houston, Fox4 reported. He was charged with a misdemeanor. Harris County Constable Mark Herman described how he evaded paying tolls. The 27-year-old driver avoided paying nearly $5,500 in tolls on Houston roads with an illegal license plate flipper. Posted by FOX 4 News on Monday, April 15, 2019 He would activate this device, putting a flipper down in front of his license plate, so the cameras at toll plazas couldnt read his plate, he told KHOU on April 12. Talbot, 27, is accused of installing the device in his car. He would activate it with a button, KHOU reported. Its not clear how long he used the device, but Herman said Talbot owes about $5,473 in unpaid tolls. Obviously, this was a stupid mistake, Talbots mother Becki Morgan told the news outlet. I have a Texas tag on my car and do everything legally, Morgan said. Im not interested in shorting the system and wasnt aware that my son was. According to KHOU, the license plate flippers are on sale for $200 to $300, but theyre not legal in Texas. CONSTABLES ARREST DRIVER FOR POSSESSION OF A LICENSE PLATE FLIPPER. On April 11, 2019, deputies with Constable Mark Posted by Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4 on Friday, April 12, 2019 This is a very unique case, the station quoted Herman as saying. You dont see cases like this every day. Talbot may face other charges related to the unpaid toll fees. Patch.com reported that his bond for the misdemeanor was set for $100. Other details about his case are not clear. $448 Ticket? Drivers who dont wash their vehicles properly could be hit with a fine to the tune of hundreds of dollars in Australia. Police in New South Wales warned motorists in March that they could face a nearly $450 charge and three penalty points if their license plates arent displayed in a clean and clear manner. Not washing your car properly- $448 and 3 points. Don't wash your car and neglect your number plate. Remover the cover. Posted by Traffic and Highway Patrol Command NSW Police Force on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 The police force stated on Facebook: Not washing your car properly- $448 and 3 points. Dont wash your car and neglect your number plate. Remover (sic) the cover. The departments post was met with mixed reactions. I get the whole number plate thing but really? A dirty car? This has got to be a joke right? asked one person. Ridiculous, exclaimed another. Added another, People wonder why no one has any respect for the highway patrol. Another Facebook user said it was a joke, adding that theyll do anything for a buck. One woman said that the police departments Facebook post wasnt clearly written. The accompanying photo states its due to an obscured number plate which was always against the law, she wrote. I understand if the plates are covered but if they are giving tickets out for dirty cars with the number plate clearly visible thats wrong, said another person. LOS ANGELESShen Yun Performing Arts had producer Stan Blitss full attention every moment of the performance. The beauty of the bright and colorful production, combined with the eye-opening content was enlightening for Blits. Its not anything I knew about before, Blits said during intermission of a performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on April 13. Its fantastic so far. Its amazing and very interesting, Blits said of a story-dance set in contemporary China. I think its important for a show thats very beautiful and also very poignant. Blits was referring to the fact that Shen Yun, a company whose mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese culture, is not allowed to perform in China today. When the emcees bring up this point, many in the audience even gasp. New York-based Shen Yuns performance of 20 vignettes of classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dances, story-based dances, and musical soloists bring the story from the origins of this divinely inspired culture to the present day. Why Shen Yun is banned in China is soon clear, as a dance set in contemporary China shows the communist regimes continued oppression of freedoms. The Cultural Revolution of the 60s and 70sthe violent upheaval of society and destruction of architecture and artifactsis a distant memory to most. The reality is, the Chinese Communist Partys intention to eradicate the traditional culture and replace it with its own has never gone away. I didnt realize that there was so much persecution going on over there. I suppose that in the back of my mind Ive heard about it somewhere, but I didnt know that it was this bad and that this was still happening, said Blits, a television producer known for co-creating the Price Is Right gameshow series. It makes me very sad and for the people over there also who need to see this, Blits said, before describing the contemporary story-dance that had so moved him. It moved through loss and then hope through faith, and ultimately it was a very beautiful story. I would say that they are conveying a beautiful message and that its done in a beautiful way and that its not too imposing. Just exactly the way its supposed to be, Blits said. Yes the storytelling is beautifully done, Blits said. Its like a very classical form of art. Its just fantastic. I love it. Music always goes to my heart anyways, so whenever I listen to that my heart gets very happy, Blits said. I think its something that definitely everyone should see. With reporting by Michael Ye. The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006. Eric Trump delivers a speech during a ceremony for the official opening of the Trump International Tower and Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 28, 2017. (Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images) Eric Trump Criticizes Democrats Effort to Get Fathers Financials Through Deutsche Bank Subpoena President Donald Trumps son Eric Trump has accused Democrat lawmakers of abusing power after they issued a subpoena to obtain financial records of President Trump and his company from Deutsche Bank, which has reportedly done business with Trump for more than two decades. This subpoena is an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the President and our family for political gain, he said in a statement, also saying the actions set a horrible precedent for all taxpayers. The subpoena was issued by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House intelligence committee, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chair of the House Financial Services committee. It also targeted JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup for alleged money-laundering for Russian and Eastern European persons, unnamed sources told The New York Times. The potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern, Waters said in a statement, adding her committee is exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible pursuant to its oversight authority, and will follow the facts wherever they may lead us. Schiff characterized the Deutsche Bank subpoena as friendly. Alan Garten, the lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company is considering whether to block Deutsche Bank from complying with the subpoena. The bank said through a spokesperson that it is engaged in a productive dialogue with the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees. We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations, the emailed statement said, referring questions concerning the investigative activities of the committees to the committees themselves. Probing Trump After taking control of the House of Representatives in January, Democrats have vowed to use their oversight powers to investigate the president, including the dealings of his sprawling real estate empire. Deutsche Bank has provided some $2 billion in credit to Trump since 1998, The New York Times previously calculated. A 2018 financial disclosure form showed liabilities for Trump of at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank. They are for properties including the Trump International Hotel in a former post office in Washington. Deutsche Bank said in January, shortly after Democrats took control of the House following the November 2018 elections, that it had received an inquiry from the two committees about its ties to the Republican president. Schiff said Deutsche Bank had been cooperative. We look forward to their continued cooperation and compliance, he said. In a separate inquiry, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said on April 12 that he plans to subpoena Trumps accounting firm, Mazars USA, for his financial records. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a ranking member on the committee, criticized the move in an April 12 tweet. This is a disgraceful act of partisanship and a broken promise about fairness at the Committee, he said. This is a disgraceful act of partisanship and a broken promise about fairness at the Committee.@RepCummings will not let the truth get in the way of his obsession with attacking the President and the First Family. (2/2) pic.twitter.com/E7OXLXim4y Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 12, 2019 Eric Trump chimed in with an April 16 tweet. When you cant legislate, harass, he said. This nonsense is the exact reason why the American people have such disdain for politicians and the exact reason that my father was elected President. Congresspeople are sick of your incompetence. When you cant legislate, harass. This nonsense is the exact reason why the American people have such disdain for politicians and the exact reason that my father was elected President. Congress people are sick of your incompetence. #DoYourJob https://t.co/9EU90mwwvP Eric Trump (@EricTrump) April 16, 2019 On April 3, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, requested Trumps tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service. The deadline for that submission passed on April 10 and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Neal in a letter that day that the department hasnt decided whether to comply. On April 13, Neal gave the Treasury until April 23 to comply (pdf). Hes likely to subpoena the records next. Reuters contributed to this report. The flags of the European Union stand among others in the Europa building of the European Council in this file photo. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) EU Asks for Increased Efforts Against Fake News Amid Russia, China Election Interference Concerns BRUSSELSThe European Union has warned social-media companies, including Facebook, that they arent doing enough to stamp out fake news, amid concerns foreign actors such as Russia or China will attempt to manipulate voting in upcoming EU elections. Brussels said the latest monthly reports from the technology giants showed that there are outstanding issues over fake accounts and access for fact-checkers. However, senior officials said they were heartened that digital platforms are making progress on boosting transparency over who pays for, and places political advertising in the digital sphere. The verdict was announced by the blocs security commissioner, Sir Julian King, on April 16 during a debate in the European Parliament over the threat that foreign actors, including Moscow and Beijing, pose to next months EU elections. At first sight, the latest reports do indeed suggest further progress has been made in terms of transparency for political ads, and indeed ads in general, but there are still some outstanding issues, he said. Abraham Lincoln said elections belong to the people, its their decision. We need to make sure that it stays that way. Brussels has implemented a raft of new measures to combat domestic and international cybersecurity threats ahead of the continent-wide election to pick the next EU Parliament, which takes place between May 23-26. These include the launching of a rapid alert system, where national capitals share details of specific threats, the setting up of the blocs first cybersecurity agency, called ENISA, and overhauling internal rules so political parties that misuse personal data during campaigning can be fined. Earlier this month, the EU Parliament, Commission, and the 28 member states, together with ENISA, war-gamed their crisis-response plans to a cybersecurity attack during the elections, with one final exercise scheduled for mid-May. Next month, the European elections will take place in a very different political context than the previous one, said Melania Ciot, representing the Romanian presidency of the EU. If some attacks were to be successful in one member state, it would most likely have a domino effect and affect the democratic processes in the other 27. Thus, it would risk discrediting the EU institutions as a whole. Anna Elzbieta Fotyga, a Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) who is her countrys former foreign affairs minister, accused Moscow of being a major culprit behind such attempts. Technology and influence operations have been used by Russia against the West for quite a long time already, including elections, Fotyga said. What for? To undermine faith and confidence in democracy, to exacerbate existing divisions, to confuse truth, and amplify narratives that are friendly to Russia. Portuguese MEP Jose Inacio Faria added that the risk of manipulation of the upcoming elections through fake news, disinformation, and cyber attacks is high raising concerns about not just Russian but also Chinese interference. European politicians are especially on edge as some parties in EU member states, many of which are sympathetic toward Moscow and Beijing, are expected to perform well at upcoming elections. However, the breadth of the new measures and the pace with which they have been introduced have raised concerns among some MEPs that they could inadvertently affect free speech. Jonathan Arnott, a British libertarian MEP, warned: There is a danger when these tools are applied from the state level that free speech itself could become impaired, particularly online. Those accusations are contested by the Commission, with King insisting that the reforms are about promoting transparency over who controls debate online, not passing judgment on specific views. It is our duty to protect our elections in full respect of fundamental rights. We do not want to be the Ministry of Truth, but we cannot be naive. These elections will not be business as usual, Ciot said. The family of Landen, the 5-year-old boy who was tossed from a Mall of America balcony (GoFundMe) Family Member Reveals Update on Condition of Boy Who Was Thrown From Mall of America The family of Landen, the 5-year-old boy who was tossed from a Mall of America balcony, issued an update on GoFundMe as the crowdfunding page raised $675,000 dollars as of April 16. During my most recent visit with Landen, holding his hand revealed a calm and warm aura in his room, one that likely is contributed from all of the immense outpouring of prayer and support from everyone across the globe, a family member, Noah Hanneman, wrote on the page in the latest update. The condition of Landen, whose last name was not disclosed, showed very little change at this point, but we are hoping to get some good news back from some upcoming tests in the next few days, Hanneman continued. Please continue to keep Landen in your thoughts and prayers, together we can all come together to help heal Landen, he added, saying that the family still wants privacy. Minnesota man, Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, 24, was arrested in the case soon after he threw the child, seriously injuring him. On April 15, Aranda was charged with attempted murder after he reportedly confessed to the crime. Nearly $500,000 was raised in one day. New York Daily News 2019414 Aranda, who was was banned from the mall in the past, was looking for someone to kill on the day he tossed the boy over the balcony, police said, reported CBS News. Hes been convicted in the past for assaults at the mall, including an incident in 2015 where he tossed a glass of water and a glass of tea at a woman who wouldnt purchase something for him. The mother of Landen stated that he came very close to her and her child as they stood outside the Rainforest Cafe, CBS reported. She asked Aranda if they were in his way, and without warning, he grabbed her son and threw him over. "He had been coming to the mall for several years and had made efforts to talk to women in the mall, but had been rejected, and the rejection caused him to lash out." FOX6 News Milwaukee 2019415 Defendant indicated he had been coming to the Mall for several years and had made efforts to talk to women in the Mall, but had been rejected, and the rejection caused him to lash out and be aggressive, a complaint said. Prosecutors have stated that they will seek a sentence that takes into account aggravating factors in the case. Violent Past CBS Chicago reported that Aranda, who hails from Chicago, worked at a Golden Nugget in 2014. Cardinal Emergencies 2019415 He proceeded to get up, take his plate and crack him upside the head with it, busted the plate completely, a server, who worked with him, told the news outlet about the incident. He ended up pulling out a knife. People were putting their children under tables because he was saying he would kill or stab somebody, she added. He wanted to hurt someone that day we were just purely lucky that he didnt, she said. He was later arrested. Investigators say 24-year-old Emmanuel Aranda confessed that he had a plan to kill someone at the mall the day he allegedly threw a 5-year-old boy off a third floor MOA balcony. https://t.co/gXy1yIS0IV pic.twitter.com/IGic1X4m2X KARE 11 (@kare11) April 15, 2019 Regarding the 5-year-olds injuries, It makes me sick really makes me sick, my prayers go out to the family for that poor little boy, she said. The woman chose not to be identified. Finding the True Self, Part 2: Navigating Past Inertia In Part 1 of this series of articles, we introduced the nine types of personality that constitute the Enneagram and invited you to consider what your own number type is. But we also said that the Odyssey, through its narrative, reveals the Enneagram numbers as challenges to Odysseus and that in each case he had to overcome it. How he overcomes each number is indicative of how each of us, perhaps, might also overcome our own besetting deadly sin. Odysseus encounters the sins in reverse order, so starting at type Nine, we travel round with Odysseus until at last we encounter the sin of type One. Thus, in this Part 2, we start at the end and look at type Nine. As a reminder, Nines on the Enneagrams wheel of types see themselves as I am content. They wish to experience wholeness and be peaceful people. At their best, Nines are empathetic, reliable, and harmonious; at their worst, they are apathetic, listless, and stubborn, because their deadly sin is what the ancients called acediathe inability to take effective action. Part of this inactivity is due to their ability to see both sides of a position, and so to fail to choose either. The Nines must overcome the deadly sin of sloth. The Lotus-Eaters Odysseus has spent 10 years fighting in Troy and has at last, through his cunning and stratagem of the Trojan Horse, succeeded in overcoming the walls of Troy. What all the direct aggression of Achilles and the other great Greek fighters failed to do, Odysseus managed, because he, as Homer says, is the man of twists and turns, and of whom Zeus says, Great Odysseus excels all men in wisdom. It is this sense of resourcefulness, wisdom, and resilience that is the key marker in understanding how Odysseus is able to overcome what appear to be overwhelming odds. The Odyssey itself begins in what is called in medias res, or in the thick of things, so that we dont start at the beginning but in the middle. It is only later, in Chapter 9, that we learn that on leaving Troy, one of Odysseuss and his crews earliest encounters is with the Lotus-Eaters. Unlike the traditional enemies that they have met beforetypically, kings and soldiers who wish to kill themthe Lotus-Eaters mean them no harm at all. Rather, they offer them the honey-sweet fruitthe Lotusthat they themselves are eating. This fruit immediately banishes all their worries, concerns, fears, and yes, even their desires. Those of his crew who eat the fruit lose all desire to return to Ithaca, to home. In a way, this temptation is a most brilliant example from the ancient world of what we are almost too familiar with in Western culture: our numbing out. Instead of being truly alive, we prefer our drug and drink options, or our sex and gambling obsessions, or even more low-key still, our addictions to TV and todays net surfing or social-media imbibing (really doing nothing at all), or workaholicism (never stopping the doing of something). In the 1960s, as the West began its long descent into nothingness, Timothy Leary, the American academic, put it this way: Drop Outdetach yourself from the external social drama which is as dehydrated and ersatz as TV. Turn Onfind a sacrament which returns you to the temple of God, your own body. Go out of your mind. Get high. Tune Inbe reborn. Drop back in to express it. Start a new sequence of behavior that reflects your vision. In short, ignore reality and act as if illusion or delusion were where it would be better to be. Apathy rules, and one is resigned to life at a low level of nonachievement. Overcoming Sloth The deadly sin here, which all Nines must confront if they are to escape it, is sloth. How easy it is for Odysseuss men to fall for it and to think they have found paradise! Odysseus immediately grasps the enormity of the danger he and his crew face and swings into action. Indeed, action here is the key. He does not experiment with the lotus himself; he does not reason, Well thats a valid point of view; and he does not entertain the idea that his men have the right to their own opinions and that he should thereby leave them to it. For one thing, he fully gets the implication of their behavior on himself and all their families awaiting them back in Ithaca. And instead, he issues decisive commands to those of his crew still unaffected and forces them all back to the ships. There, he lashes them into their seats and demands that they row like mad to get off the island. The antidote to sloth is willpower: decision-making driving immediate actionjust do it! It is with the clear order to row, even though at this point Odysseus is not even sure to whereonly through this expedientthat they can escape the grip of sloth. What sloth as a deadly sin manifests is the terrible and terrifying idea of a life unlived, a sort of permanent state of being divorced from reality. At perhaps its less extreme level, sloth becomes an acceptance of things as they are: the failure to want to innovate, to improve, whether it be the world or, primarily, oneself. It is a sort of fatalism that saps the will to do, to achieve, and ultimately to succeed in life. And the ultimate success, of course, is to get homefor the mind to find its own true soul and so be enraptured by its own beauty. This is what Odysseus cannot forget: In Ithaca, his wife, his soulmate and also symbolically his literal soul, awaits him. No sacrifice must be spared to get there, as we shall see. Keep in mind that Odysseus sets off with 12 ships and full crew complements, but all of his men and his ships are lost on the voyage; he alone makes it home. That is why, to be a hero or heroine, we must adapt, as Odysseus did (remember the man of twists and turns?) to each of the deadly sins that besets us. In our next episode, we find Odysseus at number Eight, encountering a deadlier and much more ferocious enemy than sloth: the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and the sin of lust. Here, just doing it would be precisely the wrong strategy to overcome the sin. Read Part 3 to find out how Odysseus twists and turns to overcome its irresistible strength. Note that I am strongly indebted for many ideas here to Michael J. Goldbergs wonderful book, Travels with Odysseus, and I strongly recommend it for those seeking more detailed information, although, curiously, Goldberg does not directly draw parallels with the Enneagram and only mentions it in the endnotes of his book. In this multipart series, Finding the True Self, we will discuss nine types of personalities, their flaws, and show how Odysseus, through his adventures, overcame them to find his way back home. James Sale is an English businessman and the creator of Motivational Maps, which operates in 14 countries. He has authored over 40 books from major international publishers, including Macmillan, Pearson, and Routledge, on management, education, and poetry. As a poet, he won first prize in The Society of Classical Poets 2017 competition. President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the White House Rose Garden in Washington on Jan. 25, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Former Arizona Governor Calls Trumps Proposal to Place Illegal Aliens in Sanctuary Cities a Great Plan Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer praised President Donald Trumps proposal to place illegal aliens in sanctuary cities, saying that it was great plan. When I was Governor, illegal aliens cost AZ taxpayers $1.6 billion/yr in education, health care, and incarceration costs. So, why do we continue to bear these costs when sanctuary cities encourage illegal immigration? Great plan by realDonaldTrump to utilize those cities! Brewer tweeted on April 15. When I was Governor, illegal aliens cost AZ taxpayers $1.6 billion/yr in education, health care and incarceration costs. So, why do we continue to bear these costs when sanctuary cities encourage illegal immigration? Great plan by @realDonaldTrump to utilize those cities! Jan Brewer (@GovBrewer) April 16, 2019 Her comments were made in response to the presidents proposal he tweeted on April 12 to relocate immigrants who cross the southern border illegally to sanctuary cities exclusively. Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only, Trump wrote on Twitter. The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policyso this should make them very happy! Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2019 When asked to clarify his plan, Trump confirmed his plans at a press conference on April 1. Well bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it, whether its a state or whatever it might be, Trump said. California certainly is always saying, Oh, we want more people. And they want more people in their sanctuary cities. Well, well give them more people. We can give them a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply, and lets see if theyre so happy. They say we have open arms. Theyre always saying they have open arms. Lets see if they have open arms, he added. President Trump: California certainly is always saying, Oh we want more people, and they want more people in their sanctuary cities. Well, well give them more people. We can give them a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply. pic.twitter.com/NmxncqXmcM The Hill (@thehill) April 14, 2019 Sanctuary cities are locales which have enacted measures to prevent local officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. There are eight states and hundreds of cities across the United States which are officially sanctuaries for illegal aliens. The eight states are California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. Democrats Response In response to Trumps proposed measure to deal with the influx of illegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) office called the idea despicable. Pelosis hometown, San Francisco is a sanctuary city. The extent of this Administrations cynicism and cruelty cannot be overstated, Pelosi spokeswoman Ashley Etienne said in a statement on Friday, April 12. Using human beingsincluding little childrenas pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants is despicable, and in some cases, criminal. The American people have resoundingly rejected this Administrations toxic anti-immigrant policies, and Democrats will continue to advance immigration policies that keep us safe and honor our values, she added. Earlier, Pelosi told reporters on April 12 that she was not aware of Trumps proposal and said, Its just another notion that is unworthy of the presidency of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges that we face, as a country, as a people, to address who we are, a nation of immigrants. Similarly, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) also criticized Trump for his plan, calling it morally repugnant and probably illegal. What the President is talking about here is spending taxpayer dollars to use immigrant familiesmothers, fathers, and young childrenas pawns for political retribution. This is both morally repugnant and probably illegal, Nadler tweeted on April 12. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he plans to sue the Trump administration, calling the plan illegal. Trump replied to the Democrat backlash, asking that if radical left Democrats no longer want illegal migrants in their cities then why should others be expected to take them into their communities? If the Radical Left Democrats all of a sudden dont want the Illegal Migrants in their Sanctuary Cities (no more open arms), why should others be expected to take them into their communities? Go home and come into our Country legally and through a system of Merit, the president tweeted. If the Radical Left Democrats all of a sudden dont want the Illegal Migrants in their Sanctuary Cities (no more open arms), why should others be expected to take them into their communities? Go home and come into our Country legally and through a system of Merit! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2019 The Washington Post first reported the story two days prior to Trumps tweets said the White House had proposed the measure at least twice in the past six months, citing unnamed officials at the Department of Homeland Security and emails that the Post reviewed. Epoch Times Reporter Ivan Penchoukov contributed to this report. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks at a roundtable sponsored by the Committee on the Present Danger: China in Washington on April 9, 2019. (Screenshot/Committee on the Present Danger: China) Former US Congressional Chief Chastises Authoritarianism With Chinese Characteristics WASHINGTONThe former speaker of the House of Representatives joined current members of the Senates Foreign Relations Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a former senior Trump White House official, Chinese dissidents, and U.S. national security experts in condemning the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) ruthless rule and drive to dominate the globe at a recent event in Washington. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich argued that the CCP already had secured three strategic victories: first, in its growing domination of the South China Sea; second, in its One Belt, One Road initiative gobbling up infrastructure into the heart of the West; and third, in its tipping-point technological triumph in the global 5G wireless market. Overall, Gingrich said, the United States is watching a revolution in strategic economic capabilities and a revolution in geographic location of power and all of it is being done while we sleepwalk. This is going to be a long-term struggle between a civilization that believes in liberty and a civilization that believes in authoritarianism with Chinese characteristics, a clear reference to socialism with Chinese characteristics, the slogan used by CCP dictators from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping. Asked by The Epoch Times to address any link between the fight against the CCP and the fight against self-described socialists in Congress such as presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Gingrich said, Ronald Reagan defeated communism in Moscow but lost to it in Stanford [University]. Members of the academic left in the United States and the reporters who grow out of it, Gingrich said, pervade the whole system, leading to three generations now of teaching people lies. The answer, Gingrich said, is youve got to go beat them. Americans have a tendency not to vote for self-immolation. Joining Gingrich at the roundtable hosted by Committee on the Present Danger: China on April 9 at Reserve Officers Association national headquarters across the street from the U.S. Capitol Building was Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Ted Cruz (R-Texas). He echoed Gingrichs concern, saying, China is in my view, and in the view of many, the greatest long-term geopolitical risk that the United States faces. To eliminate that risk, Cruz said the United States needs to do three things: Turn the light of transparency and truth on Chinese totalitarianism; rebuild the United States military capabilities to face the Chinese threat, including with space-based missile defenses; and decrease rampant Chinese spying, manipulation, and theft inside the U.S. homeland. Cruz concluded with the rallying cry, Truth is stronger than lies, and light is stronger than darkness. Likewise, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence member Chris Stewart charged that Chinas intention is to dominate the United States and every other Western democracy. He said the CCP is moving methodically towards that goal, and that from the intelligence perspective, there is nothing that I worry about more. Finally, Steve Bannon, the former strategic adviser to President Donald Trump, said the Trump Revolution began with recognition among Americas working class of threats to the countrys republic, including that of communist China. Bannon said, The Chinese people are among the most noble people that have ever walked the earth, and they have been oppressed and abused for a millennium and are now under a new emperora radical cadre of the CCP. In Bannons view, globalist elites know full well that the current government in Beijing perpetrates human rights abuses at home and economic destruction abroad, yet consistently sell out the American people and the Chinese people. Bannon warned that the United States must defend itself against the threat of both communist China and its globalist enablers. In the end, Bannon argued, it was liberty that would, in fact, make the Middle Kingdom great again. When you have rule of law and freedom of speech and freedom of religion, Bannon said, there is nothing that the Chinese people cannot accomplish. Brian Kennedy, chairman of the Committee for the Present Danger: China, said the Soviet Unions fall was not inevitable or even likely, instead it was well thought out, debated in forums like this and later implemented by men and women in the Reagan Administration who defended Reagans policies. Likewise, he flagged a lack of awareness among Americans about communist Chinas threat, but applauded Trump, who, like Reagan before him, understands this threat and is taking actions to ensure our national survival. Smoke rises around the alter in front of the cross inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral as the fire continues to burn in Paris on April 16, 2019. (Philippe Wojazer/AFP/Getty Images) French Priest Who Ran Into Burning Notre Dame to Save Crown of Thorns Hailed as Hero A French priest who provided comfort to victims during the 2015 Paris terror attack was hailed as a hero after he risked his life by dashing into the Notre Dame cathedral that was engulfed in flames to rescue the Crown of Thornsa wreath of thorns believed to have been placed on Jesus Christs head at his crucifixion. Father Jean-Marc Fournier, the chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, also saved the Blessed Sacrament while he joined rescue workers who entered the iconic cathedral to save priceless relics on April 15. A photo of Fournier also has found its way to Twitter, with many social media users showing appreciation for what he has done. Le pere Fournier, aumonier des @PompiersParis, est alle avec des pompiers dans la cathedrale #NotreDame pour sauver la couronne depines et le Saint-Sacrement pic.twitter.com/4IoLVdoJZW Etienne Loraillere (@Eloraillere) April 15, 2019 Father Fournier is an absolute hero, a member of the emergency services told an Irish radio station NewsTalk.He showed no fear at all as he made straight for the relics inside the cathedral, and made sure they were saved. He deals with life and death every day, and shows no fear. Fournier has displayed this courage in the past. In 2015, he rushed inside the Bataclan music venue to help the wounded after the ISIS terrorist group launched an attack, claiming the lives of 90 people. The priest is also a veteran of the French Armed Forces and survived an ambush while on duty in Afghanistan, which left 10 soldiers dead. The Crown of Thorns, which has been the object of Christian prayer for more than 16 centuries, was brought to Paris by French King Louis IX in 1239. The artifact is contained in an intricate gold case and is placed in the cathedrals treasury, which is only occasionally displayed to the public, according to the radio station. Emergency services formed a human chain to rescue other artifacts and artwork from the burning building, according to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, The Sun reported. Les uvres sauvees de lincendie de #NotreDame par les pompiers, les policiers et les agents municipaux, mises a labri cette nuit a lHotel de Ville, sont a present prises en charge par les services de lEtat. Un tres grand merci a toutes les equipes qui se sont mobilisees. pic.twitter.com/AZId6ad0NV Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 16, 2019 The Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis, and several other major works are now in a safe place, Hidalgo said. Additional rescued artwork will be transferred to the Louvre museum, the French culture ministry said. A massive blaze broke out at the 850-year-old cathedral as it was undergoing renovations, threatening one of the greatest architectural treasures of the Western world. The fire, which engulfed the cathedrals spire, causing it to collapse, then spread to one of its landmark rectangular towers. Fortunately, firefighters managed to stop the fire from spreading to the northern belfry, according to Paris fire chief Jean-Claude Gallet. The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the worlds most famous tourist attractions, immortalized by Victor Hugos 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. World leaders were quick to respond to the fire that devastated the historic building. So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, wrote U.S. President Donald Trump in a tweet, later adding, God bless the people of France. So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019 Two French billionaires have pledged a combined $337 million to help rebuild the cathedral. Frances richest man, business magnate Bernard Arnault, promised 200 million euros ($225 million) on the morning of April 16, while billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault who is married to actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros ($112 million) on April 15. In the wake of this national tragedy, the Arnault family and the LVMH Group pledge their support for #NotreDame. They will donate a total of 200 million euros to the fund for reconstruction of this architectural work, which is an integral part of the history of France. pic.twitter.com/utvJT8xJht LVMH (@LVMH) April 16, 2019 Paris prosecutors said they will investigate the incident as involuntary destruction caused by fire and have ruled out arson and terror-related motives, Fox News reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Trump Defends and Protects Israel Stand for Israel | April 16, 2019 President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk along the Colonnade, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, back to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Shealah D. Craighead) While the world continues to attack Israel, she can count on support from her greatest ally America. JNS Israel Kasnett tells us that the U.S. again shows its solidarity with Israel as it made clear that no international court will threaten American or Israeli military personnel: In what can be seen as an incredible show of support for Israel, the U.S. administration included Israel in its efforts to block the International Criminal Court (ICC) from investigating war-crimes allegations. In a statement attributed to Trump, the White House said, Since the creation of the ICC, the United States has consistently declined to join the court because of its broad, unaccountable prosecutorial powers; the threat it poses to American national sovereignty; and other deficiencies that render it illegitimate. Any attempt to target American, Israeli or allied personnel for prosecution will be met with a swift and vigorous response. While some have decried the administrations response to be an expression of what they perceive as American exceptionalism, U.S. President Donald Trump views it as the oppositeunfair, exceptional focus on democracies. And so does Israel, which is consistently singled out and unfairly held to a higher standard in the international arena. In response to the ICC investigation into alleged war crimes by U.S. forces and allies in Afghanistan, last week the United States revoked ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensoudas entry visa. National Security Advisor John Bolton has now threatened ICC judges with sanctions if they charge any American who served in Afghanistan with war crimes. The United States under Trump has made it clear that no international court, especially those led by human-rights violators, would threaten it or its military personnel. And, thanks to Trump, the United States has also made clear that Israel sits safely under American protection. Professor Eugene Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, testified on the ICC in Congress, and advised senior American and Israeli officials on the court and its jurisdiction. He told JNS, President Trump has taken an extraordinary step in defense of Israel, promising to impose sanctions such as travel bans on ICC officials if they pursue their biased investigation of Israel Smoke billows as flames burn through the roof of the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris, on April 15, 2019. (Fabien Barrau/AFP/Getty Images) ISIS Propaganda Group Celebrates Notre Dame Fire as Retribution An ISIS propaganda group has been celebrating the fire that ripped through the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, calling it retribution and punishment, according to a counterterrorist organization. Al-Muntasir Media appears to be simply using the tragedy to stoke anti-Western and anti-Christian hatred and does not suggest any terrorist activity was behind it. A poster of the burning cathedral was published on April 15, emblazoned with a message in French, which is translated as, Its construction began in the year 1163 and ended in 1345. Its time to say goodbye to your oratory polytheism. The poster, which was obtained by the organization TRAC (Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium), is accompanied by the hashtag Bonne Journee, meaning, Good Day. The Al-Munatsir media organization has shared propaganda reveling in other terror attacks across Europe in the past as well as using other opportunities to stir up hatred against the West. Officials are currently treating the cause of the Paris fire as accidental. The Paris prosecutors office has ruled out arson and possible terror-related motives. In the early evening on April 15, the 12th-century Gothic cathedralone of the most popular tourist destinations in the worldwas engulfed by flames, which brought its spire crashing down and gutted the roof. Tourists who might normally have been gazing up in wonder at the cathedrals stunning ceilings and works of art joined distraught Parisians who had gathered behind police cordons to watch on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the River Seine that marks the very center of Paris. The morning light in Paris revealed that the main bell towers and outer walls had been saved by firefighters who had fought into the early hours to bring the blaze under control and rescue the religious relics and artworks. The worst has been avoided, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters shortly before midnight when the fire had mostly been tamed. France will launch a campaign to rebuild the cathedral, said Macron. The call for funding was quickly answered by two French billionaires. The wife of billionaire Francois-Henri Pineault, Salma Hyek pledged 100 million euros (US$112 million) on April 15. On the morning of April 16, as the city mourned the loss of the eight-century-old Gothic cathedral, billionaire Bernard Arnault promised 200 million euros ($225 million) in a statement. Notre Dame is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages, known for its many gargoyles and its iconic flying buttresses. The fire quickly drew the attention of world leaders. So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, wrote President Trump in a tweet, later adding, God bless the people of France. Judge Sends Canadian to US Prison for Risky Tunnel Scheme DETROITA Canadian cab driver who made extra money by steering desperate illegal immigrants to a railroad tunnel under the Detroit River was sentenced on April 15 to 16 months in a prison in the United States. Juan Garcia-Jimenez, a 53-year-old Canadian citizen who is a native of Guatemala, wept in federal court. Besides a prison sentence, he was fined $8,680the amount paid by six people who were caught last year when they emerged on foot on the Detroit side of the tunnel. The 2.5-kilometre tunnel is used by cargo trains moving between Ontario and the United States. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Fairchild said its risky: A walkway is only 43.1 centimeters wide and in poor condition. They just walked right through the tunnel, which is a very dangerous thing, said Kris Grogan, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There is zero room. If a train would have come through there they would have been killed. Garcia-Jimenez would drop people off at a tunnel entrance in Windsor, Ont., and drive away. Nine people arrested by border officers identified him as the man who helped them leave Canada at different times last year. Due to the clandestine nature of this criminal activity, there is no way to be certain how many times he has smuggled aliens into the United States in the past, Fairchild said in a court filing. Countless aliens could have illegally entered the United States with his assistance. Garcia-Jimenez was arrested last August while trying to enter Detroit to celebrate his wedding anniversary. I am sorry for what I have done, he told U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III. Smoke billows near scaffolding as fire engulfs the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, on April 15, 2019. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters) Macron Wants Fire-Ravaged Notre Dame Rebuilt Within 5 Years PARISThe inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers, and a frantic rescue effort saved the monuments most precious treasures, including the Crown of Thorns purportedly worn by Jesus, officials said Tuesday, April 16. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the beloved Roman Catholic architectural landmark, and wanted to see it completed within five years. We have so much to rebuild, Macron said in a televised address to the nation. We will rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral even more beautifully. We can do it, and once again, we will mobilize (to do so). Authorities consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of restoration work at the global architectural treasure that survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated in the blaze on the second day of Holy Week. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the inquiry into the fire would be long and complex. Fifty investigators were working on it and would interview workers from five companies hired for the renovations to the cathedrals roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m., and the blaze was discovered. Investigators have already questioned nearly 30 people, said a Paris judicial police official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment on an ongoing probe. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning for the symbol of national pride immortalized in Victor Hugos 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works, said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there were still some risks to the structure and that it was under permanent surveillance because it can still budge. A plan to safeguard the masterpieces and relics was quickly put into action after the fire broke out. The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dames most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly transported after the fire broke out, said Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christs head during the crucifixion. Also saved was the tunic of St. Louis, a long, shirt-like garment from the 13th century, said Culture Minister Franck Riester. The cathedrals famous 18th-century organ that boasts more than 8,000 pipes also survived. The works of art, the most precious treasures were secured last night, Riester told reporters, thanking teams from city hall, the culture ministry, firefighters, and the bishopric who worked to save the items. Some of the works were being transferred from City Hall to the Louvre, where they will be dehumidified, protected, and eventually restored. The minister said the cathedrals greatest paintings would be removed starting Friday. We assume they have not been damaged by the fire but there will eventually be damage from the smoke, he added. The 3-meter-tall copper statues that looked over Paris from Notre Dames 96-meter peak already had been removed from the roof days ago and sent to southwestern France as part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation on the spire and its 250 tons of lead. Much was saved in the interior too. The only major work damaged inside was the cathedrals high altar, installed in 1989 under Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. It was hit when the spire collapsed, said Laurent Prades, heritage director for Notre Dame. We have been able to salvage all the rest, said Prades, who watched the recovery overnight. All the 18th century steles, the pietas, frescoes, chapels, and the big organ are fine. The three large stained-glass rose windows, among the most famous parts of the cathedral, were not destroyed, but might have been damaged by the heat and will be assessed by an expert, he added. The task isnow the risk of fire has been put asideabout the building, how the structure will resist, said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said work must begin immediately to protect the remaining structure. The first 24-48 hours were crucial to protecting the stone and wood structure from water damage and assessing the next steps, she told The Associated Press, warning that parts of the cathedral remain extremely fragile, notably hundreds of tons of scaffolding around the spire that collapsed. Notre Dame is part of a UNESCO heritage site and UNESCO has offered its expertise. Pope Francis offered his prayers that Notre Dame, the architectural gem of a collective memory, will once again be a shrine to the Catholic faith, a symbol of the French nation and a spiritual and architectural gift to humanity. In a condolence note to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, Francis said the fire was particularly devastating given that it came during the somber days leading up to Easter during which Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Repairing the cathedral, including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof, presents challenges. The roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was because we dont, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century, said Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technology. Also of concern, Feydeau said, is the organ, a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes. It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored, he told AP. Frances richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction. Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to actress Salma Hayek, said they were giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, the holding company owning auction house Christies and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. French companies Total and LOreal each pledged 100 million euros. Offers of assistance flowed in from around the world to help restore the 12th-century tourist attraction to its former glory. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Greece were among those offering to send experts from their own restoration projects, while major French businesses pledged financial assistance. In his speech, Macron thanked firefighters, police and those who pledged funds, although his goal of rebuilding the cathedral in five years seemed ambitious. Peter Fuessenich, who oversees reconstruction for the Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, said it could take decades to repair Notre Dame. Cologne Cathedral was heavily damaged during World War II and work to repair it is still ongoing more than 70 years later. It will certainly take years, perhaps even decades, until the last damage caused by this terrible fire will be completely repaired, he told broadcaster RTL. When the last stone was set in Notre Dame, the first one was laid here in Cologne, and in this respect it affects us all very much. By Samuel Petrequin and Thomas Adamson A boy holds her mother's hand as they wait to be screened after being evacuated out of the last territory held by ISIS terrorists, near Baghouz, eastern Syria, on Feb. 22, 2019. (Felipe Dana/AP Photo) Morrison Says Considering the Return of ISIS Fighters Orphaned Children to Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he considering allowing the orphaned children of ISIS terrorist Khaled Sharrouf back to Australia, although national security remains the number one priority. Sharroufs three children are at a refugee camp in Syria and have been reunited with their grandmother Karen Nettleton, who has been negotiating with officials to bring the youngsters home. The grandmother of children orphaned after Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf died is liaising with authorities to have them returned to Australia.https://t.co/UbATAjzsly Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) April 16, 2019 Morrison says the government has been working with the Red Cross and is taking each case of surviving children of ISIS fighters on their merits. Australias international security always comes first, but Im very mindful were dealing with children here, he told radio 5AA on April 16. Im not getting drawn into any final decisions here, we take this process one step at a time. The childrenZaynab, 17, Hoda, 16, and Humzeh, 8were taken to Syria by their parents who have since died. Zaynab now has two toddler daughters and is heavily pregnant. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says there is no reason the orphans should not be brought back to Australia and should not be held responsible for being dragged into a war zone. Shorten said the children should not be held responsible for being dragged into a war zone. Their parents took them to a war zone, incredibly irresponsibly, he told reporters in Adelaide. Their parents took them into a regime of terrorism. These children shouldnt be held responsible for what their parents did. Sharrouf was killed in an air strike in September 2017, along with his two older sons, Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11. The childrens mother, Nettletons daughter Tara, died of medical complications in 2015. Nettleton had not seen her grandchildren since 2014 but was reunited with them at the al-Hawl camp in northern Syria where those fleeing ISISs last enclave at Baghouz ended up. Zaynab said she and her siblings had no choice about being taken into the war zone. We werent the ones that chose to come here in the first place, she told the ABCs Four Corners program. I mean, we were brought here by our parents. And now that our parents are gone, we want to live. And for me and my children, I want to live a normal life just like anyone would want to live a normal life. Her sister Hoda, who was 11 when she was taken out of Australia, told Four Corners: I didnt know I was in Syria until after we crossed the borders and I heard people speaking Arabic. I asked my mum where we were. And she told me we were in Syria. I started crying. By Daniel McCulloch Flames and smoke are seen as the interior of the Notre-Dame Cathedral continued to burn on April 15, 2019. (Philippe Wojazer/AFP/Getty Images) Notre Dame Found Structurally Sound After Blaze, Say Officials As the fire that ravaged Notre Dame was extinguished, French officials revealed that the structure of the 850-year-old Parisian cathedral is sound. The fire destroyed the wood-and-lead roof and destroyed a spire, which was captured via numerous social media videos. Following an inspection on April 16, three holes were spotted in the vaulted ceiling, reported the New York Times. Meanwhile, photos shot from inside the center of the cathedral showed that the damage wasnt as severe as previously thought. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated to Le Monde that there was a big hole in the roof. The altar and its cross are preserved. Its not as bad as I feared, she added, as reported by the New York Post. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said that nothing suggests the fire was deliberate, reported the Times, adding that it would be a complex investigation. Nothing at this stage suggests a voluntary act, he continued. Meanwhile, another official, Valerie Pecresse, told ABC News: When you see it from the outside, its still standing, and that is quite a miracle. Pecresse said it is a testament to firefighters battling the blaze throughout the night. Still, watching the blaze tear through the building was like tearing our hearts apart because the cathedral is the heart of Paris, the official told ABC. Its like when your home is burning and the whole people of France was crying and the cries had no color, no name, no race, no parties, but the whole of France was really upset, she continued. The fire broke out at around 6:50 p.m. local time on April 15 and spread along the cathedrals roof. At the time, it was undergoing a $170 million renovation project. Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire noted that officials experienced an enormous relief when the purported Crown of Christ and other religious relics were salvaged, reported The Associated Press. Some were taken to a secret location following the fire. Some statues, which were removed days before, were also spared, he said. Vow to Rebuild President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild Notre-Dame, considered among the finest examples of European Gothic architecture, visited by more than 13 million people a year, Reuters reported. Notre-Dame is owned by the state. It has been at the center of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should finance badly needed restoration work to collapsed balustrades, crumbling gargoyles, and cracked facades. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said the heritage charity Fondation du Patrimoine, but it is likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The rival billionaire owners of Frances two biggest luxury fashion empires, Francois-Henri Pinault of Kering and Bernard Arnault of LVMH, pledged 100 million euros and 200 million euros to the restoration respectively. Oil company Total pledged 100 million. The city of Paris said it would provide 50 million. Reuters contributed to this report. The Supreme Court Building is seen on in Washington on Dec. 24, 2018. (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images) Oil Rig Worker Off California Coast Argues Before Supreme Court for Higher Pay WASHINGTONA lawyer for an offshore oil rig employee who worked on the federally administered Outer Continental Shelf outside the three-mile U.S. jurisdictional limit told a skeptical Supreme Court on April 16 that federal law requires that California employment law be used to resolve the mans pay dispute with management. After Texas and North Dakota, California is the third-largest oil-producing state. Oil is produced on 32 offshore platforms and artificial islands in Southern California, according to The Mercury News of San Jose. A ruling by the Supreme Court for the worker in this case could raise oil production costs. The Trump administration sided in the high court with the employer in the case, Houston-based Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd. The financial claim was brought by Brian Newton, who worked on the companys drilling platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel from 2013 to 2015. Newton worked 14-day segments, with 12 hours on duty and 12 hours off on what his attorneys call controlled standby. A number of employees shared his schedule but others worked the other 12-hour shifts which let the platforms function 24 hours a day. Newton was given his base pay for the first 40 hours each week plus 44 hours at the overtime rate. He also was compensated for travel time to and from the platform, as well as for time spent debriefing alternating crew members. Newton wants to be paid for off-work time spent at the facility, including sleeping. Federal law does not require employers to cover off-work time but California law does. Newton alleges the company violated state minimum wage laws, did not pay double time rates, and failed to offer meal breaks. During oral arguments, Christopher G. Michel from the U.S. solicitor generals office spoke in support of the companys position. He said more than 70 years ago, the Supreme Court clarified the federal governments paramount sovereignty over the continental shelf. Congress reinforced that interest throughout OCSLA [Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act], including its choice of law provision that creates one body of law, a body of federal law, and adopts state law as the law of the United States to the extent it is applicable and not inconsistent with other federal law. Newtons lawyer, David C. Frederick, told the justices that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was correct to rule in his clients favor by determining that the California Labor Code provisions at issue here are both applicable and not inconsistent with federal law. Justice Samuel Alito rejected one of the contentions made by Frederick, telling him it amounted to saying that California extends 200 miles out to sea. And Congress could have just said that and said California extends 200 miles out to sea; however, within this part of California, federal officials will enforce the law, the justice added. Frederick replied, saying California law governs in this situation because our clients shift begins and ends in California onshore in the uplands. The first two to three hours of every one of his shifts is exclusively within California, when he gets briefed for safety, when he gets the bus down to the port to be transported to the platform. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told Frederick a state is not sovereign over the shelf. The lawyer for the company, Paul D. Clement, acknowledged that the federal government can defer to a state applying its law to its own sovereign territory, saying in effect, Well, your state law can apply if its more demanding. But that principle is completely out of place on the Outer Continental Shelf, where all law is federal law, he added. Oral arguments came after Alaska-based U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason dealt a significant blow to the energy sector by blocking the Trump administrations plans for expanding oil drilling on the U.S. coasts. Gleason ruled March 29 that President Donald Trumps Executive Order 13795 removing President Barack Obamas bans on oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic Ocean and on the North Atlantic coast violated OCSLA. The National Ocean Industries Association has urged the administration to appeal the ruling because a court with more experience and knowledge of the full breadth of the executive branch may very well come to a different conclusion. One Simple Note Struck the Right Chord for Arkansas Parents An Arkansas couple, reeling from the loss of their child, got a lift they had been looking for. Dan and Maxi Cortez ate at a Red Lobster in Little Rock, Arkansas, when they noticed that someone had paid for their bill. A note read, Enjoy your babies, they dont stay little long. From the family across from you, God bless you, according to Arkansas Matters. Soldier Dan Cortez stepped out of his uniform for a Father's Day trip to Red Lobster. He was about to pay the bill when he spotted something scribbled on the back of it Sharing is Caring 2019415 The anonymous family paid for the Cortez familys lunch. I got my girls, and Im happy, but if I had all three Id be spectacular, said Daniel Cortez. Cortez said that after his wife, Maxi, gave birth to triplets, one of the babies was diagnosed with meningitis and passed away after seven weeks, according to the report. They had no idea that for the last year weve been struggling. Tip Hero 20161129 From the time, he was born he never closed his eyes. He just wanted to be awake all the time. Its like he knew that he only had a short time, said Maxi. She said that the note left in the Red Lobster was a sign. Our family at one point was complete. We had our whole family at home together only to turn around and have one of the biggest pieces of our heart torn away. Its the hardest thing any person would have to go through, said Maxi. The two noted that they will now watch their surviving children, Harper and Harlow, grow up because they wont stay for long, as the note pointed out. Just to see someone reach out to complete strangers and show a little bit of kindness, said Maxi. In a Facebook post, Maxi thanked the anonymous family. Maxi wrote: The holidays are always the hardest. Without knowing any of this, you paid for our meal. You might never know our story or the impact of something so little could affect our lives. Im writing you to thank you from the bottom of our hearts! according to Newsner. Arkansas Matters reported that the Cortez wanted to meet the anonymous tipper. She continued: I hope this post reaches you, so one day you might know that what might seemed like a small gesture of kindness to you, made celebrating my wonderful husband just a little bit easier this year! Parents Find Girls Tragic Note to Herself A teenage girls letter to herself before she died is a heartbreaking reminder that life, sometimes, is all too short. Tim and Mary Ellen Smiths 12-year-old daughter, Taylor, passed away due to complications from pneumonia. They had to go through her stuff in the familys Johnson City, Tennessee, home, and found a note that she had written to herself that only she was supposed to read in the year 2023. Here is what her letter reads, in part: Dear Taylor, Hows life? Life is pretty simple right now (10 years in your past). I know Im late for you, but as Im writing, this is early, so; congratulations on graduating high school! If you didnt go back and keep trying. Get that degree! Are you (we) in college? If not, I understand. We do have pretty good reasoning, after all. Dont forget, its Allanas 11th birthday today! Sheesh, 11 already? In my time, she just turned 1! I didnt get to go to that party though, because I was in Cranks, Kentucky for my first mission trip. Ive only been back for 6 days! Gordon Isaacs, the first patient treated with the linear accelerator (radiation therapy), for retinoblastoma in 1957. (Public Domain) Oregon Mother Spots Daughters Eye Cancer After Noticing Odd Glimmer in Photo An Oregon mother may have saved her 2-year-old daughters life when she saw a glimmer in her eye when she looked at an old photograph. I knew something was wrong with Gracie because her eye would be glowing, and it looked like she had a lazy eye, Elly Smith, of Oregon, was quoted by Fox News as saying. The concerned mother then made an appointment for her daughter, who is now 5. Girls glowing eye removed day after doctors found 10 tumours https://t.co/wgrXYZr28x pic.twitter.com/7bci1YMBaq Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) April 16, 2019 Her doctor referred us to an eye doctor. I could tell something was wrong there and noticed the doctors chest getting redI was just asking what was wrong, she told Fox. In May 2016, doctors spotted several tumors in the girls eye, diagnosing her with retinoblastoma. The American Cancer Society states that the cancer starts in the retina and is quite rare. Retinoblastoma is a cancer that starts in the retina, the very back part of the eye, the organization says on its website. It is the most common type of eye cancer in children. Rarely, children can have other kinds of eye cancer, such as medulloepithelioma, which is described briefly below, or ocular (eye) melanoma. According to her mother, Gracie was seen by eye specialists in Philadelphia, saying that her eye would have to be completely removed and fitted with a prosthetic one. In June 2016, the girl underwent eye removal surgery and started chemotherapy weeks later. Months later, she got a prosthetic eye. Gracie was fine with it, Fox quoted Smith as saying. She added that Gracie has since made a full recovery. She is so resilient. When they make the eye you get to choose something to put on the top so you know which is the top of the eyeGracie chose a horse, Smith added. Gracies story encourages parents to know the glowshe lost her eye to a rare cancer. https://t.co/S3GBWvtBlp pic.twitter.com/4YIw3GlDwN KXAN News (@KXAN_News) June 22, 2016 Unusual Glow Smith described seeing the unusual glow in her daughters eye in a photo. I knew something was wrong with Gracie because her eye would be glowing, and it looked like she had a lazy eye, she said, according to Survivornet. When she learned it was cancer, I just started crying, she said. Toddler recovering from cancer gets new magic eye https://t.co/H6wj4TqNPK via @koinnews Elly Smith (@ellemay1981) August 19, 2016 When we left I remember walking to the car crying and shaking, and buckling Gracie in the car seat not knowing what I was going to do. I told Gracie no matter what, youre going to be okay,' she was quoted by the website as saying. The girl also had to wait for some time before her prosthetic eye was given to her. It was a hard day for me. Gracie had been wearing an eye patch since the removal and seeing the prosthetic eye just made it all real, Smith told the website. Police Hunt Hitman Who Shot Woman With a Crossbow Police in Canada are searching for a suspected hitman who posed as a delivery man and shot a woman with a crossbow. This was most definitely a targeted type of attack, Peel Police Detective Sgt. Jim Kettles told reporters at a press conference on Monday, April 15. The crossbow was never removed from the box. Police called the incident, which was caught on surveillance camera, a premeditated, targeted, and isolated attack. Footage from the camera shows the attempted killer standing outside the victims door with a cardboard box, inside of which he had hidden a crossbow. Moments later, the 44-year-old victim opens her door and the two of them exchange words before the attacker fires a large arrow into the womans body. Kettles said the victim was hit in the chest and suffered life-threatening injuries but survived. It is clear that this attack was meant to end the victims life, Kettles said. Comments made to the victim (by the suspect) indicate the victim was targeted and that the suspect may have carried out the attack at the request of another individual. The would-be assassin struck on Nov. 7, 2018, but police are only just now releasing the video of the suspect. Police said the woman, a resident of Bayberry Drive in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, was transported to a trauma center after the attack. Kettles said the woman, who has not been identified by name, was still struggling to recover from the trauma. The injuries that she sustained were absolutely devastating, Kettles said, adding that the weapon used by the suspect was a crossbow that could be used to take down big game like moose. It involved damage to a lot of her internal organs, Kettles added. Shell be in recovery phase for the rest of her life Her life will never be the same. While the police have identified potential motives for the attempted murder, these have not been disclosed due to the ongoing investigation. Superintendent Heather Raymore told the press conference that this was not a random act, adding that the police are appealing for the publics help in finding the suspect. We are confident with assistance from the public and with current facial recognition technology we will bring those responsible for the attack to justice, Raymore said. We are open to anything at this point, Kettles said, and we are looking at all possible investigative avenues. Razor Blades Found in Michigan Gas Station Pump, Police Warn Razor blades were recently discovered hidden inside a gas pump at a station in Michigan, and its not the first time. Several weeks ago, razor blades were found hidden inside pumps at several North Carolina gas stations. Before that, they were found in a city in Texas. On April 16, according to the Coloma Township Police Department in Michigan, a gas station reported that a razor blade fell from a gas pump handle when a motorist picked it up. One blade was newer and the other was rusty, according to the report, which said they were found at the Speedway station on Church Street. Coloma Township Police Chief Wes Smigielski said the razors were found in an area where a person could squeeze the pump, suggesting it was a deliberate act. Six more razors were found on the pump itself, he said. Investigators are trying to figure out who placed the razor blades in the pump, MLive reported. This now makes the second time a razor blade was found at a local gas station. FOX8 2018531 So far, he said, hours and hours of footage has been reviewed by officials, but they have not figured it out. Smigielski said there are no other reports of blades being found in gas handles in the surrounding areas. Please be vigilant and inspect handles prior to use, the police department warned on Facebook. MLive noted that anyone who might have seen something amiss should call the police department at 269-468-8291. Meanwhile, in March, police in Archdale, North Carolina, called on drivers to be vigilant of blades in pump handles before they fill up, Fox8 reported. Police are asking residents to be on alert after razor blades were found in a gas pump handle at a Michigan gas station this week. WXYZ-TV Channel 7 2019416 Patricia Breese, the manager of the BP on Main Street in Archdale, told the station that she located a razor blade. It couldve been an attempt to put a razor blade inside of the handle, Breese said. You have to worry about things like infections and contaminations or just getting badly hurt, she added. We should be able to go out and get gas without having to worry about something being on the gas pump, a concerned driver said, reported ABC11. Kids could be pumping gas for their parents, so a kid couldve been the one to grab that, noted Sabrina Kress, another driver. Police in Walburg, North Carolina, said a blade was also found in a handle at a Sheetz. For the third time in less than a month, North Carolina authorities are investigating an incident involving a razor blade. WBTV News 2019310 WBTV reported in March that another blade was found at a Siler City gas station pump. It comes days after an elderly woman was cut when someone taped a razor to her door handle. Bobby Nicholas told the station that a razor blade was hidden in the rubber grip of the pump at a Circle K on Highway 64 in Siler City. He pulled it out before the blade fell. In Victoria, Texas, Victoria Police Department officers responded to a report of a rusty razor blade located in a pump handle in March 2018. A customer saw the blade fall from the handle, a police spokesman told the Victoria Advocate. If you can, visibly inspect gas pump handles prior to lifting them, and if you notice anything suspicious, report it and move to a different pump, Officer David Brogger said. Over the years, there have been reports of people taping razor blades to the bottom of shopping cart handles across the United States. In March 2019, six blades were found taped inside a Walmart in Siler City, North Carolina, according to WKRG. An injured child receives medical treatment at a hospital in Mehtarlam, capital of Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman, April 15, 2019. About seven children were killed and 10 others wounded after a mortar shell exploded on outskirts of Mehtarlam, capital of Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman on Sunday, provincial government spokesman Assadullah Dawlatzai said. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi) MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, April 14 (Xinhua) -- About seven children were killed and 10 others wounded after a mortar shell exploded on outskirts of Mehtarlam, capital of Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman on Sunday, provincial government spokesman Assadullah Dawlatzai said. "The explosive remnants of war (ERW) explosion occurred when the kids were playing in Basram area roughly at 5:00 p.m. local time. The injured children were shifted to a hospital in the city and the wounded remained in stable condition," Dawlatzai said. Provincial governor Asif Nang instructed related departments to provide best medical service for the wounded, he said, noting "an investigation has been undertaken into the incident." Afghan officials use the term ERW to refer to unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO). The next-of-kin of the victims were notified after the incident. We Know What the Iranians Are Capable Of Stand for Israel | April 16, 2019 This week, Americas expert on counterterrorism, Nathan Sales, visited the Holy Land to see just what Israel faces in the way of terrorism. Ynet News Itamar Eichner tells us that Sales not only blamed Iran for the dreadful security situation, but expressed amazement at how Hamas has invested in terror activities: Following President Donald Trumps designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as an international terror organization, they have become radioactive, Sales said. He added, anyone doing business with them will be suspected of funding terror, thereby dealing the organization a massive blow. We know what the Iranians are capable of, Sales said, expressing the hope that countries considering conducting business with the Islamic republic, will decide against it. On a visit to Israels south, Sales was briefed on the current threats Israel is facing from the Gaza Strip. I was amazed at the resources Hamas is investing in terror activity against Israel, Sales said, noting these are at the expense of investments in health, education and housing all needed to improve civilian lives. Israeli officials also briefed the US envoy on the presence of ISIS in the Sinai which is a source of concern for the US as well as Israel. ISIS in the Sinai is a threat to Egypt the region and beyond Sales said and warned of a danger to Israel if violence spills over Republicans Green New Deal-Lite Is Political Suicide When socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) formally introduced a congressional resolution for a Green New Deal, Republicans were handed a powerful, unexpected political gift. Leave it to weak-minded congressional Republicans to find a way to screw it up. The Green New Deal would re-make America via a new national, social, industrial, and economic mobilization on a scale not seen since World War II and the New Deal. Those arent just empty words. The free-market American Action Forum conducted an economic analysis of the Green New Deal and found it would cost as much as $94 trillion, or approximately $780,000 per U.S. household. The green-energy components alone would cost as much as $12.3 trillion. Ocasio-Cortezs asserted justification for the Green New Deal is a mythical American-caused global warming crisis. She and Al Gore tell us the science is settled, yet global temperatures have risen less than half as much as U.N. climate models predicted, and almost exactly by as much as global warming skeptics have long predicted. Moreover, during the past 150 years, as Earth emerged from the Little Ice Age, the warming climate has brought immeasurable benefits that continue today, including record crop yields, a significant increase in global plant life, and a reduction in persistently cool temperatures that kill 20 times more people than higher temperatures. At the same time, extreme weather and climate events have become less frequent and severe in recent decades. Despite all this, a small number of congressional Republicans are vigorously pushing a Green New Deal-Lite. A Green New Deal is a wonderful thing, they say, so long as we just moderate it a little bit. Showing little daylight between themselves and Al Gore on climate alarmism, this cadre of Republican traitors is attempting to sell out President Donald Trump and his conservative voting base on the signature political issue of the day. Just how foolish can these squish Republicans be? Much has been made of the 2018 midterm elections, but the most impactful lesson is that Republicans commit political suicide by embracing climate alarmism. Of the 198 House Republicans who did not belong to the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus, 177 (89 percent) of those seats remained Republican after the election. Of the 43 House Republicans belonging to the Climate Solutions Caucus, just 23 (53 percent) of those seats remained in Republican hands. Republicans who stayed true to their conservative base fared quite well in the midterms, while Republicans who sided with Al Gore on climate alarmism lost support from their political base. Republican congressman Matt Goreer, I mean Matt Gaetz (Fla.)is drafting a Green Real Deal as a 10-percent-less alternative to Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (R-Tenn.) is calling for a Manhattan Project to force Americans to utilize expensive, unreliable energy sources. The biggest difference between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal and Lamar Alexander Ocasio-Cortezs New Manhattan Project for Clean Energy is that Alexandria calls for a moon shot program and Alexander calls for a Manhattan Project. Big deal. When Gaetz and Alexander claim to offer a better version of Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal, the asserted differences are mere window dressing. Gaetz and Alexander emphasize that they would be more willing than Ocasio-Cortez to include nuclear power as part of their proposals. Yet when the American Action Forum determined the Green New Deals energy components would cost Americans $12.3 trillion, AAF was already giving the Green New Deal the economic benefit of having nuclear power as a core component. Gaetz and Alexanders Green New Deal-Lite would still impose new government programs costing at least $8.1 trillion, or $68,000 per American household. By comparison, the entire federal budget in the 201718 fiscal year was merely $4.1 trillion. Ultimately, Matt Gore, Lamar Alexander Ocasio-Cortez, and their small cadre of Republican climate alarmists are seeking to undermine the conservative Republican voter base and Trump on one of his most important policy principles. Their betrayal of Trump and the conservative Republican base will almost certainlyand justlycome back to haunt them. James Taylor (JTaylor@heartland.org) is senior fellow for energy and environment policy at The Heartland Institute. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Dr. Jiang Yanyong, who became a hero after exposing the SARS epidemic, is currently under house arrest and denied medical treatment, after he wrote to the Chinese leader to demand redress for the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. (The Epoch Times) SARS Whistleblower Is Under House Arrest, Denied Medical Treatment The retired Chinese surgeon who risked his life to expose Chinas SARS coverup 16 years ago is under house arrest again, after he wrote a letter to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in early March to demand redress for the Chinese regimes crackdown on the Tiananmen Square student democracy movement in 1989. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese troops opened fire on student protesters who gathered in Beijing to call for government reforms. The sensitive timing has led authorities to amp up its suppression of dissidents. Hong Kong-based Apple Daily reported on April 9 that Jiang Yanyong, a retired military surgeon who formerly worked at the military hospital known as the 301 Hospital, is suffering from neurological deterioration and in need of medical treatment. However, he has been placed under house arrest after publicizing his letter to Xi, written during Beijings Two Sessions, an annual meeting of the Chinese Communist Partys rubber-stamp legislature and political advisory body. Jiang, 87, had made an appointment with four medical experts at the 301 Hospital on the morning of April 8, according to a tweet on April 9 by Beijing-based independent journalist Gao Yu. However, when Jiang and his wifewho live in a residential complex in Beijing for military cadre retireeswalked to the front door of the complex, security guards intercepted him and prevented him from going out. According to Gao, both phone lines of the Jiang family were cut off by Chinese authorities. Apple Daily learned that Jiang was furious about what had happened, telling a friend that, I am no longer a member of this rotten army which knowingly violates the constitution. Why is that I cannot even go to my own hospital to see the doctors? Jiang is a former president of the 301 General Hospital. He was forced to retire in 1993, after voicing his disapproval of the Chinese regimes suppression of the Tiananmen democracy protests in 1989. He became famous among the overseas Chinese community in 2003, after he publicized the seriousness of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, epidemic. However, his role is little known inside China. When the SARS illness began spreading in China in late 2002 and early 2003, Chinese media were ordered by authorities to stop reporting on the epidemic. On April 3, 2003, Chinas Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang held a special press conference to announce that Beijing only had 12 cases of SARS, and that the disease has been brought under effective control. He encouraged foreigners to attend business meetings and expos in Beijing and the southern province of Guangdong, saying that Beijing is a safe place to live and visit and that daily life in Guangdong is normal. The following day, Jiang emailed an 800-word letter to state broadcaster Chinese Central Television and the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV to report information that he collected from hospitals in Beijing. Although neither replied or published his letter, the information was leaked to Western media outlets. A journalist from Time magazine contacted Jiang on April 8 and published his letter that day. I simply couldnt believe what I was seeing, Jiang wrote in his e-mail to Chinese media. All the doctors and nurses who saw yesterdays news were furious. Jiang said he learned from medical staff in two of Beijings hospitals that there were at least seven deaths and 106 cases of the disease. After the letter was made known around the world, Beijings mayor and the Minister of Health were sacked on April 21. Chinese authorities quickly played the role of SARS hero, actively identifying and quarantining SARS patients, while keeping Jiang out of the spotlight. In February 2004, Jiang decided to take advantage of his position to call attention to the Chinese regimes abuses. He wrote an open letter to the Chinese Communist Partys top leadership, pressing them to admit that the Party leadership had made a mistake in its 1989 crackdown of Tiananmen protesters. As then-head of the general surgery department at the 301 Hospital, he personally treated students who were shot by Chinese soldiers on the evening of June 3. Jiang later revealed in a 2009 open letter that after he drafted the letter about the Tiananmen Square massacre, he was kidnapped from his office by authorities and held for seven weeks at an army guest house, where he was forced to undergo so-called study sessions, in actuality brainwashing sessions. Due to pressure from the international community, Jiang was eventually released, but remained under house arrest for several years. Jiang once said in a Chinese media interview: After having experienced various political movements in the past 50 years, I deeply feel that we must speak the truth and speak our true mind. Although it is very, very difficult, I must persist in telling the truth. Sanders Leads Biden in New Poll of Democratic 2020 Contenders Sen. Bernie Sanders topped the list of contenders for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2020 presidential election in a new poll. Sanders (I-Vt.) was the preferred candidate of 29 percent of the registered voters surveyed by Emerson College on April 411. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who had led every one of the 35 early polls to date, fell to second place for the first time, trailing Sanders by five percentage points. Biden still leads the Democratic field by almost 10 points in an average of polling data aggregated by Real Clear Politics. Biden has seen his support drop. In February, he led Sanders 27 percent to 17 percent, and in March, the two were tied at 26 percent. Now, Sanders has a five-point lead, Spencer Kimball, director of Emerson Polling, said in a statement. The Emerson poll showed Biden performing best in a head-to-head contest with President Donald Trump, with 53 percent of the respondents picking Biden and 47 percent favoring Trump. Sanders leads the crowded Democratic field in fundraising. The self-proclaimed socialist raised $18 million in the first quarter of 2019. Biden didnt file a fundraising report since he hasnt officially declared his candidacy for president. Sanders leads Democrats in contributions from small donors, with 84 percent of his haul coming from donations of $200 or less. While Democrats often tout support from small donors, Trump beat the entire Democratic field in the ratio of small-donor contributions, with almost 99 percent of the donations to his campaign coming from supporters who gave $200 or less. Trumps re-election campaign reported raising $30 million in the first quarter of 2019, the same amount as the two top fundraising Democrats combined. The Republican National Committee, which is raising funds for the re-election alongside Trump, raised an additional $45.8 million, the most it ever raised in a nonelection year. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg took the lead among second-tier candidates, at 9 percent in the poll, beating several prominent Democrats, including former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Buttigieg officially declared his candidacy on April 14. Eighteen Democrats are now vying to win the partys nomination to challenge Trump in November 2020. According to the poll, if Biden chooses not to run, Sanders would be the beneficiary, picking up 31 percent of Bidens voters. The surge by Sanders is indicative of a hard-left shift within the Democratic Party. Six years ago, Sanderss socialist Medicare for All bill had no co-sponsors in Congress. The bill is now supported by one-third of Senate Democrats and two-thirds of House Democrats. If implemented, Medicare for All would hand the federal government a monopoly over the health care industry and cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $32 trillion during the first 10 years. In comparison, the total projected spending by the federal government over the next decade is $60 trillion. Cognizant of the shift in the Democratic Party, the Trump campaign has cast the 2020 election as a choice between socialism and freedom. We thought that debate ended in the 1980s. We thought it ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but here we are today, with Democrats wanting to take us the way of Venezuela, Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for the Trump 2020 campaign, told The Epoch Times earlier this month. So were all very keenly focused on socialismevery single one of us in the campaign. Reuters contributed to this report. A worker of online marketplace JD.com pushing a trolley at the company's warehouse in Langfang, Hebei province on November 3, 2015. (WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images) Subsidiary of Chinese E-Commerce Giant JD.com Had $342 Million Loss in 2018 The logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com recorded losses of more than 2.3 billion yuan ($342 million) in 2018, posting its 12th straight year of losses, the companys founder and CEO Richard Liu told staff in an email on April 15. In an internal letter obtained by Chinese state-run media 21st Century Business Herald, Liu said that JD Logistics would be closed within two years if the business didnt change its practices. The core reasons [for these losses] are the lack of orders from external clients, and the high operating costs, Liu wrote. The internal announcement comes just days after JD.com confirmed it would scrap couriers fixed base salaries, so their monthly income would only come from commissions made on their deliveries, as well as reduce contributions to employees housing funds to 7 percent from 12 percent. JD.coms Woes In the letter, Liu said that JD Logistics loss figure would rise to 2.8 billion yuan ($417 million) if orders from JD.coms retail arm were excluded from the calculation. We only have two solutions in front of us: One is to increase external orders that can bring in more revenue; the other is to cut internal costs including by reducing everyones benefits, Liu wrote. While JD Logistics started taking orders from external customers in late 2016, orders from the companys retail platform, JD Mall, still make up most of its business, Chinese business magazine Caixin reported. A few days before the internal communication, a JD.com employee leaked another email from the CEO, in which Liu vowed to sack three types of employees: those who cant work as hard as a fighter, those are arent capable or who have poor performance, and those with a low price-performance ratio. In response to the leak, JD.com said the comments were taken out of context and distorted the meaning of the whole email. On April 11, JD.com confirmed an employee of JD Logistics committed suicide at the companys Beijing dormitory on the evening of April 10. The company said the employee suffered from severe depression. But several Chinese media, citing anonymous JD.com employees, reported that the employee, a young man, committed suicide on the same day that JD Logistics terminated his employment. Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television reported on April 11 that the employee had signed up for an internal program in which the company loaned employees money to buy an apartment. The outlet reported that when the man was laid off, JD.com asked him to repay the entire loan amount, which totaled several million yuan (1 million yuan is about $149,000). According to Phoenix, the employee couldnt find a way to repay the money, and took his own life. In response to that report, JD.com said it needed more time to verify the claims. On April 9, The Information, citing anonymous investors briefed on the matter, reported that JD.com is looking to slash 8 percent of its workforce by the end of April. The report was later denied by JD.com. According to its 2018 annual report, JD.com had more than 178,000 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2018. More than half of them work at JD Logistics, meaning most of JD.coms employees are couriers. Earlier in February, state-run magazine China Entrepreneur reported that JD.com confirmed it would lay off 10 percent of its vice president or higher level managers, a pool of 80 to 100 staffers. Since then, Zhang Chen, JD.coms chief technology officer; Rain Long, chief legal officer; and Lan Ye, chief public affairs officer, have resigned. They all cited personal or family reasons for leaving the company. Slackers On April 12, Liu wrote on WeChat, Chinas Facebook-like social media, that the slackers in JD.com arent his brothers. In the post, Liu said he slept no more than two hours each day when he first founded JD.com, and still works an 8116+8 schedulewhich means 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, 8 hours on Sundaywith two days break a month, and one long vacation each year. Liu said he doesnt force all employees to work a 995 or 996 schedule, which means working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for five or six days per week. But he noted that slackers should be fired. His comments come amid an online campaign launched by Chinese tech workers to protest long working hours and overly competitive company cultures, which experts say have negative health effects. Sudan Protesters Demand Swift Civilian Rule After Revolution KHARTOUMSudans main protest group demanded the immediate handover of power to a civilian transitional government on April 14, saying it would keep up the street demonstrations which ousted former President Omar al-Bashir last week to achieve its aims. Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) called for the establishment of a transitional council which would be protected by the armed forces, adding it would exert all forms of peaceful pressure to achieve the objectives of the revolution. The head of the military council that replaced Bashir, who was ousted on April 11 after three decades in power, has said a civilian government will be formed after talks with the opposition in Sudan. A sit-in in the Sudanese capital, which began on April 6, was the culmination of a protest movement that began nearly four months ago, triggered by a worsening economic crisis. Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdelrahman called a meeting on April 14 which was largely attended by unknown politicians and parliamentarians who are known to be loyal to Bashirs party, a Reuters witness said. It did not include SPA and the other main opposition parties, which together make up a group known as the Forces for Freedom and Change. We were not invited to this meeting we will submit our suggestions for the government to the military council, a spokesman for SPA told Reuters. Lieutenant General Yasser Atta, a member of the military council, said they had hoped the opposition would come together to choose an independent candidate for prime minister, while another member of the council said they would give the opposition one week to submit their suggestions. Defend the Revolution Several thousand protesters continued a sit-in outside the Defence Ministry and for the first time, state television showed footage of people marching and chanting in the streets, while a TV presenter congratulated their revolution. SPA, which had demanded that civilians be included on the transitional military council and for Bashirs close associates to leave, called for the arrest of prominent National Intelligence and Security Service generals, including its former head Salah Gosh, and for the removal of the prosecutor general. It also called for the arrest of Bashir, whom the army has said it has already detained. Up to four thousand people were still camped out on April 14, a Reuters witness said, slightly fewer than on previous days, with some people returning to work for the first time in days. After deadly clashes at the sit-in last week, the atmosphere was relaxed, with soldiers drinking tea and chatting with protesters. We are at our sit-in until we hear the response from the army to the demands. We will defend the revolution from hijacking, Mouawiya Mubarak, a 21-year-old student, said. Our demands are clear and have not yet been achieved, why would we go home? Our sit-in is the most powerful weapon in our hands, the SPA said in a tweet. Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf, who announced Bashirs ouster and arrest, stepped down after just one day as head of the military council on April 12. Burhan, the new head of the council, has said the transition period will last for a maximum of two years. By Khalid Abdelaziz The official welcoming ceremony for Supreme Court of Canada Justice Clement Gascon at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa on October 6, 2014. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Supreme Court of Canadas Clement Gascon Stepping Down for Family Reasons OTTAWASupreme Court Justice Clement Gascon is retiring in September after five years on the high court. Gascon, 58, is stepping down for personal and family reasons, the court announced on April 15. His Sept. 15 departure will create an opening for a judge from Quebec on the nine-member court. Chief Justice Richard Wagner praised Gascons thoughtful, rigorous and collegial approach, saying it helped the court get to the heart of complex issues. He has served Canadians with integrity and wisdom, Wagner said in a news release. All of his colleagues will miss his commitment and friendship. Gascon was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 2002, specializing in commercial law matters such as restructurings and bankruptcies. He joined the Quebec Court of Appeal 10 years later and was named to the Supreme Court by Stephen Harper in June 2014. Prior to his time on the bench, Gascon practised law for more than two decades in Montreal, focusing on civil and commercial litigation and labour law. He also taught at Quebec universities and contributed to a number of books and articles. In the release, Gascon said he was profoundly grateful to those who have put their trust in him. I consider it a privilege to have been able to contribute over the last 17 years as (a) member of the Canadian judiciary, he said. It is an immense honour to have been part of a judiciary that, by its expertise, quality, and independence, is a model in Canada and around the world. Gascons successor will be the third appointee to the Supreme Court by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Wagner said he was confident that the necessary care and consideration will be given to the prompt appointment of a new justice. Trudeau said in a tweet that former prime minister Kim Campbell will again lead the advisory board to examine prospective nominees. Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell will once again lead the Advisory Board to select a new appointee, as part of a non-partisan, transparent, and merit-based process. Thank you @AKimCampbell, for your important work ahead. Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 15, 2019 However, the Conservatives are asking the government to pause the appointment process until the Liberals allow an investigation into leaks of information about a dispute between Trudeau and former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould over who should be chief justice of Canadas top court. The Canadian Press and CTV reported last month that Trudeau and Wilson-Raybould were split over her recommendation that Glenn Joyal, chief justice of Manitobas Court of Queens Bench, be appointed to the high court and become chief justice. Sources said the split was over Joyals conservative view of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt said Monday that highly qualified individuals may avoid applying until they can be assured of confidentiality in the selection process. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks before signing up for Democratic Progressive Party's 2020 presidential candidate nomination in Taipei, Taiwan on March 21, 2019. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) Taiwan President Says Chinese Drills a Threat But Not Intimidated TAIPEITaiwan has not been intimidated by Chinas military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-wen said on April 16, after the latest Chinese maneuvers were denounced by a senior U.S. official as coercion and a threat to regional stability. Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) said its warships, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft had conducted necessary drills around Taiwan on Monday. It described them as routine. Tsai said Taiwan was resolute in its defense. Chinas armed forces yesterday sent a large number of military aircraft and naval vessels into our vicinity. Their actions threaten Taiwan and other-like minded countries in the region, Tsai said. These actions only serve to strengthen our resolve. Our military forces have the capacity, determination, and commitment to defend Taiwan and not allow coercion to dictate our own future, she said. Tsai also said the Trump administration had notified Taipei that its pilots could train at the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. It enhances their abilities to defend our air space. I want to express my appreciation to the U.S. government for the announcement, she said. Tsai was speaking at a forum co-hosted by Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th anniversary of Taiwan-U.S. ties under the Taiwan Relations Act, following Washingtons decision to ditch formal recognition of Taiwan in favor of China in 1979. The event was attended by a delegation led by Paul Ryan, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms. Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces on Monday, the islands defense ministry said, accusing Beijing of trying to change the status quo of the Taiwan Strait. Encirclement Patrols China has repeatedly carried out what it calls island encirclement patrols in the past few years. The Peoples Liberation Army Daily said the goal of the drills was to practice a combined firepower assault that included electronic jamming from aircraft under the protection of fighter jets. The paper cited a Chinese military representative as saying the exercises were held annually. Ryan said the United States considered any military threat to Taiwan a concern and urged China to stop, saying it was counterproductive. I urge Beijing to choose the path of peace, respect, and civility by resuming dialogue with Taiwans democratically elected administration, he said. China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan and suspects Tsai is pushing for the islands formal independence. That is a red line for China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo with China but will defend Taiwans security and democracy. The visit by U.S. officials comes weeks after Tsai said the United States was responding positively to Taipeis requests for new arms sales to bolster its defenses in the face of growing pressure from China. Washington sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the narrow strait separating the island from the mainland last month, part of an increase in the frequency of U.S. movement through the strategic waterway to show support for Taipei. By Yimou Lee Venezuelans living in Colombia hold a demonstration against a massive blackout that has left millions without power in their country, in front of the U.N. headquarters in Bogota, on March 11, 2019. (Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images) The Real Reason China Fears Change in Venezuela News Analysis The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is criticizing the United States for its stance on the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduros regime in Venezuela, and for calling out the CCP for helping destabilize Venezuela. This was in response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeos speech in Chile on April 12, in which he said: China and others are being hypocritical in calling for non-intervention in Venezuelas affairs. Their own financial interventions have helped destroy the country. CCP foreign affairs spokesperson Lu Kang responded to Pompeos speech, stating: The words and deeds are despicable. But lies are lies, even if you say it a thousand times, they are still lies. Yet, as the CCP likely knows, Pompeos words were not lies. And this is likely a key reason why the CCP, despite all its criticism of the United States for considering intervention in Venezuela, has itself been intervening. Venezuela had fallen into one of the CCPs debt traps, and the lies China was feeding Venezuela to prop up the Maduro regimewhen the South American nation would have otherwise been forced to reexamine its policiesmade the inevitable fall all the more painful. I would like to emphasize how both Russia and China, in the pursuit of their commercial and strategic interests in Venezuela, have provided capital, goods, services, and political backing that has indirectly enabled the populist regime to ignore and ultimately destroy the mechanisms of democratic accountability, said Evan Ellis, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, during a 2017 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs. Ellis said that Russian and Chinese financial support for Venezuela have exacerbated the current crisis by prolonging the life of the Venezuelan regime beyond the natural limits created by its poor management and anti-democratic practices. China and Russia didnt keep Venezuela afloat for the sake of Maduro, either. According to Ellis, both countries did this as a way to gain control over key parts of Venezuelas infrastructure. As the situation in Venezuela worsens, Ellis said, China and Russia will exploit the unfolding crisis, including the effect of U.S. sanctions, to deepen their control over Venezuelas resources, and their leverage over the country as an anti-U.S. political and military partner. Despite the CCPs response to U.S. criticism of Chinese actions in Venezuelaand calls for a change of power to interim President Juan Guaidothe Trump administration isnt backing down. On April 15, the State Department released a fact sheet titled Nicolas Maduro: Corruption and Chaos in Venezuela, which detailed Maduros unconstitutional acts, corruption, and human rights violations. The fact sheet included details of how Maduro rigged the 2018 Venezuelan presidential elections, as wells as his acts of money laundering and his sometimes violent suppression of critics and protesters. It included a March 19 quote from Pompeo: Maduro usurped power; hes not the duly elected president. Juan Guaido is the person that the Venezuelan people chose. America and now 54 other nations simply have ratified that, have said, Yep, we recognize thats what Venezuelans want.' During another speech on April 19 in Texas, Pompeo stated that the United States is working to restore human rights and democracy in Venezuela and that I know that we will ultimately be successful and that Mr. Maduro will leave that country. Whats key to understanding the CCPs interests in Venezuela is that this incident is not about Maduro. Rather, its about the CCP maintaining financial control over Venezuelaand maintaining the influence of the China model in Latin America. The deal that the CCP brings to the table with its China model, when dealing with regimes like that of Maduro, is that these regimes can do whatever they want and the CCP will not hold them accountable. The CCP will continue trading with them, despite U.S. sanctions; the CCP will not criticize them for human rights abuses; it also wont question underhanded means of seizing power. If the United States can hold Maduro accountable, however, it will demonstrate that the U.S. model of international relations still holds in the world, regardless of what the CCP has been selling. This is likely the key reason why Russian and Chinese troops have been photographed in Venezuela as both countries try to prop up the corpse of Venezuelan socialism. The CCP is criticizing the United States for talk of intervening in Venezuela, at a time when the CCP is itself heavily intervening in Venezuelan affairs. As usual, the CCPs statements are just surface talking points meant to sway public opinion. Yet its important to understand the CCPs concepts of military operations, as the regime typically doesnt use conventional military force. Adopted into its military strategy is the Three Warfares doctrine, which consists of psychological warfare, legal warfare, and media warfare. Its ideological operations. The CCP likely knows it cant win the fight over Venezuela through diplomacy, and is hoping instead to win through information. The CCP also likely knows that legacy news outlets will support it on any issue, as long as that issue opposes Trump. In Venezuela, the CCP is trying to keep the United States at arms length using its Three Warfares concept of a war of words, legal arguments, and media control. Its goal in this game of fluff is likely to stop the United States from stronger forms of interventionwhich will allow the CCP to continue its established plan to dominate Venezuela. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A view of clouds, part of a weather system seen from near Franklin, Texas, U.S., in this still image from social media video dated April 13, 2019. (Twitter@DOC_SANGER/via Reuters) Thunderstorms Strike US East Coast, Leave Thousands Without Power Severe thunderstorms blasted the U.S. East Coast with gusts of wind up to 50 miles per hour early on April 15, knocking out power in thousands of homes and putting several states on flood watch, the National Weather Service said. More than 54,000 homes and businesses were without power in Pennsylvania, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.US, with 139,000 more outages reported across New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey. The National Weather Service forecast heavy rains and flash flooding would exist for the Northeast later on April 15. This is an ongoing threat, said Brian Hurley, from the center. There are short spin-ups, pockets of heavy rain and damaging winds that can still hit before this pushes offshore. The storm system picked up strength in the U.S. South over the weekend, where it spurred tornadoes that killed at least five people, including three children, officials said. The massive storm system sped from Texas eastward with dozens of twisters reported as touching down across the South from Texas through Georgia into Pennsylvania. The storms cold front brought snow to Chicago on April 14, with 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm) reported in central Illinois. Two children, siblings aged three and eight, were killed on April 13 when a tree fell on the car in which they were sitting in Pollok, Texas, a spokeswoman for the Angelina County Sheriffs Department said. A third child, Sebastian Omar Martinez, 13, drowned late on April 13 when he fell into a drainage ditch filled with flash floodwaters near Monroe, Louisiana, Deputy Glenn Springfield of the Ouachita Parish Sheriffs Office said. In another storm death nearby, an unidentified victims body was trapped in a vehicle submerged in floodwaters in Calhoun, Louisiana, Springfield said. In Mississippi, Governor Phil Bryant said one person was killed and 11 injured over the weekend as tornadoes ripped through 17 counties and left 26,000 homes and businesses without electricity. In addition, three people were killed when a private jet crashed in Mississippi on April 13, although Bryant said it was unclear whether it was caused by the weather. By Rich McKay & Barbara Goldberg Sheinelle Jones, Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb attend Hudson River Park Friends Playground Committee Fourth Annual Luncheon at Current at Chelsea Piers in New York City, on Jan. 25, 2019. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for The Hudson River Park Friends Playground Committee) Today Co-host Hoda Kotb Welcomes Second Daughter Hoda Kotb on April 16 has welcomed a new baby daughter after adopting her. The 54-year-old Today co-host shared the news following a phone call into her show. Later, the show posted a photo of her and the child, named Hope Catherine Kotb. Her other daughter, 2-year-old Haley Joy, was also in the picture. View this post on Instagram A post shared by TODAY (@todayshow) on Apr 16, 2019 at 5:20am PDT Congratulations are in order for @hodakotb, who adopted a second little girl, Hope Catherine, this week, the caption read. A day before that, she shared a photo on her Instagram that hinted at her new daughter. Choose hope, it said amid pictures of clouds. In 2017, she told viewers that she had adopted her first daughter, Hailey Joy. On April 16, she said the girl has a new role. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hoda Kotb (@hodakotb) on Apr 15, 2019 at 2:43am PDT This morning at breakfast [Haley] was trying to feed [the new baby] her raspberries and I was like, Not yet, babe, Kotb said on Today. She was literally marching around saying, Im a big sister. Kotb said she always wanted to adopt a second child. In my heart, I was like, Please God, I hope this is something you anticipate for me, she told the show. To get the call is so mind-blowing, you cant believe someones saying come and get her, shes here. Its amazing. Elaborating further, she said she felt like adoption was meant to be. I feel like if youre meant to have a child in your life, your child is out there, she said, via CBS News. Adoption Facts Meanwhile, actress Sandra Bullock spoke out about adoption last year. [There are] Hundreds of thousands of children that are ready to be your child. Youre a forever parent the minute you accept the love of that child, she said. And its amazing to me how we can take away peoples happiness by telling them that, This is the box you have to stay in. There is no box. According to the Adoption Network, some 428,000 children are in foster care across the United States, and about 135,000 are adopted each year. Meanwhile, about 100 million Americans have adoption in their immediate family, it says. More than 60 percent of children in foster care spend two to five years in the system before being adopted. Almost 20 percent spend five or more years in foster care before being adopted. Some never get adopted, it elaborated. The network added that about 2 percent of Americans adopt, but more than a third have considered it. There are no national statistics on how many people are waiting to adopt, but experts estimate it is somewhere between one and two million couples. Every year there are about 1.3 million abortions. Only 4 percent of women with unwanted pregnancies place their children through adoption, it says. U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shake hands in the Oval Office of the White House on March 25, 2019. (Michael Reynolds - Pool/Getty Images) Trump Warns Netanyahu About Growing China-Israel Ties, Israeli Media Says Concerns about Israels growing ties to China are coming from the highest levels of the U.S. government. During their meeting in Washington in late March, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S.Israeli security relationship could suffer if Israel doesnt curb its bilateral ties with Beijing, according to an April 14 report by Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, citing several unnamed senior Israeli officials involved in the meeting. According to the Israeli officials, Trump didnt threaten the Israeli prime minister with an ultimatum, but instead asked where things stood. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel about the dangers of working with China. In January, John Bolton, national security adviser to Trump, raised concerns to Netanyahu about Israel using Chinese telecoms equipment in sensitive tech sectors. Then, on March 21, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview with Channel 13, brought up the security risks of Chinas continued investments in Israel, which he said could hamper intelligence sharing and other cooperation between Washington and Jerusalem. Trump-Netanyahu Meeting During their March meeting, Trump also expressed concern about Chinese infiltration in Israel, in particular on Chinese infrastructure projects at the Israeli port of Haifa, according to Channel 13. The U.S. side is also concerned about Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE entering tenders to provide Israels 5G network infrastructure. Haifa is a commercial hub that is also home to an Israeli naval base, which regularly hosts joint U.S.-Israeli navy drills. According to a March 15 article by news site Breaking Israel News, Israels Communications Ministry is consulting with the countrys defense establishment before it officially launches the tender. Harel Menashri, head of the cyber department at the Holon Institute of Technology and a former cyber expert at Israeli security agency Shin Bet, said Israel should wait for how the Five Eyes allianceAustralia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the United Statesproceeds before Israel makes a decision on whether to allow Huawei to take part in the countrys 5G tender, according to Breaking Israel News. So far, Australia and New Zealand have blocked Huawei outright from their 5G plans, citing national security risks, because of Huaweis close links to Beijing. Meanwhile, the United States has no formal ban but has sought to persuade European allies to block the Chinese firm from their 5G networks. U.S. officials are still negotiating with Israel about 5G network security. On April 16, Bolton met with members of Israels national security team, which included his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat, in Washington, to discuss U.S.-Israel cooperation on 5G, according to Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post. Bolton wrote a tweet about the meeting: We reaffirmed long-standing shared security priorities & discussed expanding cooperation to secure 5G networks, cyber security, and countering malign actors in the Middle East. The unidentified Israeli officials also revealed that Netanyahu would have no problem preventing Chinese companies from competing in tenders for communication infrastructures in Israel, but the Israeli prime minister would be hard-pressed to stop Chinese construction of a new port at Haifasince work has already begun on the project, according to Channel 13. Additionally, Netanyahu told unnamed U.S. officials in recent months that the Israeli Cabinet is going to approve a new mechanism to monitor Chinese investment, after two Cabinet meetings held on the subject since the beginning of this year. However, rolling out the mechanism has been delayed due to disputes within the Israeli government, according to the news outlet. Chinese investment in Israel increased by 1,700 percent between 2012 and 2017, according to a March 24 report in Foreign Policy magazine, citing data from Israeli intelligence. In total, China has invested $700 billion in Israel, about half in the energy sector, followed by $150 billion in tech research and development. In response to Channel 13s reports of what happened during the Trump-Netanyahu meeting, the White House didnt deny the report, and said: There is no response. Meanwhile, Netanyahus office said: The report is incorrect. Experts have previously brought up the issue of investment screening in Israel. Jacob Nagel, a visiting fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), urged Israel to establish its own investment reviewing committee by learning from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), in an article published on the think tanks website in March. Israel should ensure that the committee has ultimate authority to cancel deals that pose a threat to Israeli security, even if such a decision might have a deleterious financial impact, Nagel wrote. Trump signed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act into law in August 2018, which strengthens CFIUS by bringing new transactions, such as ports and real estate near military installations, under its review authority. It also enables the U.S. committee to review and deny deals involving the transfer of minority interests in companies belonging to the critical infrastructure or technology sectors. Chinese Spying Chinese activities in Israel go far beyond the usual foreign investment. In the March 24 Foreign Policy article, Israeli journalist Yossi Melman outlined how China in recent years, enhanced their espionage efforts in Israel, particularly to obtain access to both state-owned and private-sector Israeli tech companies, and through them to the United States. Three Israeli companies were identified as Beijings targets: state-owned weapons manufacturers Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael; and defense electronics maker Elbit Systems. Other Israeli companies, especially those that collaborate with U.S. defense contractors such as Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin in joint projects, are of particular interest to Chinese hackers, a trend discovered by Israeli counterintelligence agencies. Clearly, China perceives Israel as a back door through which it can access and penetrate secret U.S. programs, Melman wrote. For example, three contractor firms for Israels Iron Dome missile defense systemwhich was designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shellswere hacked by Beijing-linked hackers beginning in 2011 and 2012, a July 2014 report by Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post revealed. The target firms were Elisra Group, IAI, and Rafael Advanced Defense System. More than 700 emails, documents, and manuals about the Iron Dome were stolen by the hackers. A statue outside the Supreme Court of the United States that stands for the contemplation of justice in Washington on Sept. 22, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) Vulgar Words Should Be Protected by Trademark Laws, Supreme Court Hears WASHINGTONA disputed trademark that is pronounced the same way as a vulgar swear word constitutes speech that should be protected by the government on First Amendment grounds, a lawyer for a clothing designer told the Supreme Court. The hour-long oral arguments on April 15 took on a surreal air as justices performed a kind of linguistic ballet, carefully avoiding saying the trademark aloud. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) rejected a trademark application for the word F**T (letters omitted) by clothes-maker and artist Erik Brunetti, who has said F**T stands for Friends U Cant Trust. The designs include shirts, hoodies, and jackets. Among the shirts are one with a decal featuring an enlarged $100 bill featuring a portrait of Osama bin Laden; others appear with the phrases We are f**t and Fight crime; buy a gun. Another features a photo of a 1599 painting by Milanese artist Caravaggio depicting the biblical character, Judith, severing the head of the invading Assyrian general Holofernes. The agency found the trademark contains immoral or scandalous matter prohibited under the Trademark Act of 1946, also known as the Lanham Act. The rejection was upheld by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board but reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled that preventing Brunetti from trademarking the acronym violated his First Amendment rights. The PTO appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which, on Jan. 4, agreed to hear the case. In a Dec. 15, 2017, decision, the circuit court found that the board was correct in determining that the trademark was immoral or scandalous but that the statutes bar on registering immoral or scandalous marks is an unconstitutional restriction of free speech. During oral arguments, several justices suggested that the refusal to register the trademark, a legal protection that would give Brunetti more power to crack down on counterfeiters copying his designs, seemed arbitrary. Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm L. Stewart described the phonetic equivalent of a form of the F-swear word as something that would be perceived by a substantial segment of the public as the equivalent of the profane past participle form of a well-known word of profanity and perhaps the paradigmatic word of profanity in our language. Addressing Stewart, Justice Neil Gorsuch said he could list several trademarks that have been granted that have phonetics along the lines youve described. He asked where the rational line should be drawn. How is a person who wants to get a mark supposed to tell what the PTO is going to do? Gorsuch asked. Is it a flip of the coin? Stewart said that the PTO looks to context. And so, if a phonetic word like the one I described appears in a sentence or in a phrase in which the profane word would commonly appear, the PTO is more likely to conclude that a substantial segment of the public will regard that as the equivalent of the profane mark because it is being used in the way that the profane mark is often used. If the relevant part of the Lanham Act were to be declared unconstitutional, Justice Samuel Alito asked, what is going to happen with whatever list of really dirty words still exist and all of their variations? Theres going to be a mad scramble by people to register these marks. Stewart suggested that would not happen because there are other barriers to trademark registration. Justice Elena Kagan said to Brunettis attorney, John R. Sommer, that our standard for obscenity is so high, I cant believe that many trademarks would really qualify as obscene. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, Some of us would say that a vulgar word with relationship to selling clothes is sort of irrelevant. Well, its not irrelevant because, as Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg pointed out, the audience that Mr. Brunetti is appealing to is young men who want to be rebels. And this is how they do it, Sommer replied. Chief Justice John Roberts interjected, saying, Well, that may be the audience hes targeting, but thats not the only audience he reaches. Sommer replied, Agreed. Roberts continued, saying that gets to the government interest in whether or not it wants to be associated with facilitating this type of vulgarity. I guess you would say the whole point is to reach beyond the targeted audience to offend people. Waitress Gives Birth in Bath Moments After Realizing She Is Pregnant A waitress gave birth on her own in the bath of her London home just moments after realizing she was pregnantand in the final stages of labor. Charlotte Dubard, 24, had no indication that she was pregnant, according to the Daily Mail, and had remained at her usual size eight to ten throughout what she now understands was her pregnancy. On Jan. 29, she experienced abdominal cramping for a few hours before she finally figured out she was in labor and gave birth to a 6 pound 8 ounce healthy baby. After using a pair of nail scissors to cut the umbilical cord, she called her boyfriend, Miguel Angel. When Miguel came home, he screamed Oh my god you found a baby in the street!' said Dubard, according to the Daily Mail. I started bawling and said This is ours. He was in shock. Neither of us could believe it was ours. It was the most mysterious thing. She said that she had started to get cramps the night before, which were milder than her period pains. The next day, as the cramps (contractions) continued she decided to examine herself and found the babys head was already crowningshe was not only pregnant, but in the end stages of giving birth. She said that her periods had remained normal throughout the pregnancy, according to the Mirror, and she had continued to take the contraceptive pill during her pregnancy. I obviously gained a little bit of weight but nowhere near enough to make me think I could be pregnant, she said. 'When my boyfriend came home, he screamed "Oh my god you found a baby in the street!" Daily Mail 2019415 She added: In hindsight, I was craving a lot of sugar, and I did also have a problem with my leg which meant I had to be off work for a week. The doctor said that was probably the pressure from the baby. The couple has called the baby Elias. I call him my miracle baby because he is so healthy after all I put him through, she said. Her boyfriend asked if she'd found a baby in the street after he returned home to find she had given birth. Daily Mirror 2019415 Also, so many things could have gone wrong with me giving birth alone but it all went remarkably smoothly. The midwives even asked me how I knew where to cut the umbilical cord because if I had done it wrong it could have been so dangerous. Woman Wakes Up With a Baby Bump Last year another British woman gave birth less than an hour after also realizing she was pregnant. Nineteen-year-old Emmalouise Leggate told the Scottish Daily Record she had gone to bed with a flat stomach and then woke up with a baby bump. She gave birth just 45 minutes later to her 7 pounds, 12 ounce daughter in a Glasgow hospital car park. The doctors couldnt explain why I didnt have a bump. They just told me that she must have been sitting in my lower back and that it is quite common, she said. Symptomless Pregnancies Although it is unusual, medics confirm that it is possible for a pregnancy to go undetected. There are no accurate figures for the number of pregnancies that fly under the radar in the UK, according to Patrick OBrien, a consultant obstetrician at University College London Hospitals. However, OBrien told the BBC that an obstetrician would see typically such a case about once a year. It can happen. There are women who have infrequent periods anyway and also have no sickness, so these signs can be missed. Also if women are overweight they may not notice the bump getting bigger and they can also miss the baby moving. Sometimes, if all these things coincide, they can be unaware. Every midwife has come across one or two such cases said Sue Jacob, a midwife teacher at the Royal College of Midwives. It depends how aware women are of their body, she told the BBC. Some just dont have an awareness of whats going on. She says the cases cross all social classes and age groups. There are menopausal women, teenagers and very affluent, highly-educated women. No one is immune, she said. Kate McClure, 29, charged with theft by deception in the $400K GoFundMe scam, with her lawyer Jim Gerrow Jr., pleads guilty before State Superior Court Judge Christopher Garrenger in Burlington County Courthouse, Mt. Holly, N.J., on April 15, 2019. (David Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) Woman Pleads Guilty to GoFundMe Scam Involving Homeless Man MOUNT HOLLY, N.J.A New Jersey woman pleaded guilty on April 15 to her role in concocting a feel-good tale about a homeless man rescuing her from the side of a highway in order to scam 14,000 donors out of $400,000 in GoFundMe contributions. Katelyn McClure pleaded guilty in state Superior Court to second-degree theft by deception under a plea agreement that calls for her to serve four years in state prison and help repay the $400,000. She had initially faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted under the charges prosecutors initially brought. McClure, 29, of Bordentown, must also testify against her former boyfriend and co-defendant Mark DAmico, who also faces state charges in the scheme. He has denied wrongdoing. McClures plea comes after Johnny Bobbitt, a homeless military veteran, was sentenced Friday to five years probation for his role in the scheme. Under his plea agreement, he will also help repay the money, according to prosecutors. The trio fabricated the story that Bobbitt rescued McClure from the side of a Philadelphia highway in 2017 to enrich themselves, according to prosecutors. The group solicited donations through GoFundMe, purportedly to help Bobbitt, and garnered significant attention with a media blitz that included posing for photos together, revisiting the spot where they claimed their first encounter happened, appearing on Good Morning America. In all, more than 14,000 people contributed. Authorities said the three split the money and spent lavishlyas they had planned all alongincluding on a BMW, designer bags and trips to Las Vegas and elsewhere. McClure transferred $25,000 from her bank account to Bobbitts in December 2017, federal prosecutors said. He received a total of $75,000 in the campaign, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina. They say the scheme was designed to pull at the heartstrings of caring, trusting individuals. Authorities started an investigation in 2018 last year after Bobbitt sued the couple for allegedly not giving him his share of the money. GoFundMe has said it refunded the donations. McClure faces sentencing on state charges in June. She also pleaded guilty to one federal count of wire fraud conspiracy in the scheme, and Bobbitt also pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering charge last month. No sentencing date has been set for either on those federal charges. McClure could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She will be sentenced on June 19. Bobbitt could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the federal charge after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He will be sentenced at a later date. DAmico doesnt face any federal charges. He and McClure were charged last fall in state court with theft and conspiracy. CNN Wire contributed to this report. File photo of a Shih Tzu, the same breed of dog that was euthanized in Virginia to be buried alongside its deceased owner. (Pixabay) Woman Who Lost Arms and Legs After Dog Bite Raises Awareness of Sepsis A Canadian woman who lost three limbs due to sepsis caused by a dog bite is now sharing her story in hopes of raising awareness of the condition. In 2013, Christine Caron was 49 years old when her little Shih Tzunamed Busteraccidentally gave her a small nip. Not even a full-on bite, Caron told CTV News. But I didnt realize that my immune system was already compromised and I went into septic shock. Caters News Agency reported that after the bite, Caron began to feel ill and vomit. Three days after the dog bite I started to experience a few dizzy spells and became more unwell from there, she said, according to the Daily Mail. A week later, she was in the hospital in a coma. Mom who lost arm, legs after dog bite raises awareness on dangers of sepsis https://t.co/HpS0Zfod2g Eric Vanderburg (@evanderburg) April 16, 2019 Amputated My Arms and Legs The Ottawa mother-of-four woke up from a coma three weeks later to discover she was battling sepsis. The next thing I knew I was in the hospital being awoken from an induced coma on June 13, Caron told Caters News Agency. This is when I was told that I had suffered from sepsis and the only way they would be able to save me was if they amputated my arms and legs. The sepsis initially affected all four of Carons limbs. After regaining circulation in her right arm, however, she was told she would be able to carry on using it. I was initially told that I would have to have all four limbs amputated, but by some miracle the circulation came back in my right arm, she told the Daily Mail, adding, and this provided me the little glimmer of hope I so desperately needed to survive. She told CTV that knowing she needed to be there for her children is what kept her going. I had to make decisions, move forward and change my perspective in life, she told news outlet. Caron has since had several more surgeries and has learned to function with the help of artificial legs. Over the years I have been working on becoming active again after the mental impacts of surgery stopped me, and now I even have a yoga arm nowwhich helps my mental health massively, she told the Caters News Agency. Nothing Out There Caron told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that back in 2013 there was no support to speak of available for victims of sepsis. I left the hospital being told there is no information, you will have to do research when you get out, there is nothing out there, Caron told the CBC. Apparently some patients have put together some support groups, she added. This is what I was told leaving the hospital. Since then, Caron has been working to raise awareness about sepsis and offer support to others who have suffered as she has. Its a comfort to know youre not the only one suffering this type of thing, Caron told the CBC. Caron set up a Facebook page @christinecaronsmiles, where she wrote in 2016, As most of you are aware, in May 2013 I became known as the dog bite lady after I suffered the life altering effects of Sepsis. My focus has been on my recovery, my children, the future and all the magic life has to offer. She continued: I am a Sepsis Survivor and Im taking my life back! If my story helps one person step out of the darkness into the light. If my story brings awareness and helps to save even one person from Sepsis then my journey will have been worth it. She posts on the page regularly, including photographs and updates on her condition. Caron wrote on Feb. 14: Did you know Sepsis is the #1 preventable cause of death in Canada?! I survived Sepsis, but the fight isnt over! Im a Sepsis Survivor. Did you know Sepsis is the #1 preventable cause of death in Canada?! I survived Sepsis, but the Christine Caron 2019213 Caron told CTV she hopes her story can help others persevere in the face of hardship. There is a way. Theres always a light. Youve just got to find it, Caron told the news outlet. What Is Sepsis? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sepsis is the bodys extreme response to an infection. Sepsis comes about when an infection triggers a chain reaction throughout the body, potentially leading to rapid tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Around 1.7 million adults in America develop sepsis each year, according to Sepsis Alliance, resulting in an estimated 270,000 deaths. HARTFORD Two bills that would require every employee in the state to contribute to a paid Family Medical Leave Trust Fund cleared the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee Monday by a vote of 27-21. Freshman Democratic Reps. Jill Barry, D-Glastonbury, and Kerry Wood, D-Rocky Hill, joined Republicans on the committee in voting against the bill. Barry said if the vote Monday was strictly on the policy she would support it, but she is tasked with assessing the fiscal impact of the bills. I am a numbers girl, and at the moment the numbers are not adding up for me, Barry said. Small employers were the main concern for most lawmakers who voted against the bill, and even those who voted in favor. Under the legislation, all employees in Connecticut would contribute 0.5 percent of their weekly paycheck to a state-run trust fund, which would pay them during their approved leave. It would apply to companies with as few as a single employee. The current federal Family and Medical Leave law, which protects employees but doesnt offer them any pay while theyre on leave, only applies to employers with more than 50 employees. Rep. Joe Polletta, R-Watertown, said that 100 percent wage replacement over a 12-week period is not a sustainable program. He pointed out that even Gov. Ned Lamonts bill is not that generous. The governors bill, SB 881, says an employee could earn 90 percent of their typical earnings up to $600 per week for anyone making around $15 an hour and 67 percent up to $900 for workers earning more than that. The other two pieces of legislation passed Monday by the Finance Committee offer a wage replacement level of 100 percent, up to a maximum of $1,000, which is much higher than programs in other states. Polletta said his family runs a small electrical business and if his company has three electricians out on 12 weeks of leave who know the customers, know the job, know the daily routine, then we are in a tough predicament. We either have to hire a temp worker or pick up the work ourselves and for a lot of small businesses thats unsustainable. Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, said the average number of weeks employees currently take is around seven weeks. He said he doesnt believe solvency of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Trust Fund is an issue. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that the legislation will cover an estimated 103,600 employers with approximately 1,456,000 employees. NORWALK The Regina Pacis Academy is the first elementary school in the state named to the Catholic Education Honor Roll by the nonprofit Cardinal Newman Society. The school completed a roughly year-long review and last week became one of more than 300 recognized nationwide. Regina Pacis also became one of the first elementary schools ever recognized by the organization since the program started in 2005. "It is great affirmation for Regina Pacis Academy to be recognized by the Catholic Education Honor Roll and to specifically be recognized for our authentically Catholic, distinctly classical educational philosophy, Regina Pacis Principal Kimberly Quatela said. This distinction confirms our commitment to the mission, and the renewal even, of Catholic education. I applaud the leadership, administration, students, parents, teachers, and staff for their hard work in assuring a strong Catholic identity permeates all that we do in preparing our students to be future leaders in both society and the church. The school was founded in 2005 as a homeschooling co-op and for the last four years has operated out of a building on the property of St. Marys Roman Catholic Church on Leonard Street. The independent Catholic school educates 69 students, grades kindergarten through eighth, mostly from Norwalk and Stamford. Our school is a Catholic school. We have a very strong Catholic identity and Catholic faculty and we live out the faith in a very vibrant way, Quatela said. We are distinct because we have a classical curriculum. We are very focused on literature, math, history, with the Catholic religion weaved through all of that. Its not common core aligned, its more similar to a great books curriculum. They are learning reading classic literature, the basics of mathematics and science, with a strong emphasis on history as well. Regina Pacis earned the Honor Roll distinction after a rigorous application process, including an extensive questionnaire explaining the ways in which the Catholic faith is celebrated at the school through education. The Honor Roll is a helpful tool for families and benefactors in recognizing the quality of a Catholic elementary or high school, said Patrick J. Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, which has at times drawn controversy for its views on abortion, homosexuality and the education of LGBTQ students. It is external validation that a school is both focused and successful in meeting the high calling of Catholic schools to serve the well-being and salvation of students and to serve the common good. Among the pillars of education expressed in the Regina Pacis application letter are the schools dedication to combatting the moral issue of technology, teaching manners and conversational skills and instructing students to interact with their classmates in a positive, respectful and virtuous manner. We are very pleased to have Regina Pacis Academy join in the nationally recognized ranks of excellence; this is a select group, said Denise Donohue, coordinator of the Honor Roll. The school has well demonstrated they are successful in meeting the key principles that guide Catholic education. justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586 Contributed / Contributed Photo WESTPORT A Norwalk woman was recently charged with drving under the influence and failure to drive in proper lane. On Nov. 13, officers were dispatched to Riverside Avenue on report a car struck a utility pole. The driver was identified as Natalie Longo, 21, police said. An alliance of Illinoisans from all walks of life gathered this week to call on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to close loopholes that enable corporations to escape state taxes. The group Fair Economy Illinois demanded action in the state budget to stop corporations from hiding their profits in offshore tax havens. Anna Gaebler, a community organizer for the group, said at a time when Illinois has an $8 billion backlog of financial obligations, corporate tax loopholes are costing the state more than $1 billion in lost revenue each year. In our state, two-thirds of corporations pay no corporate income tax, Gaebler said. And meanwhile, we have a budgetary crisis. Weve seen cuts to funding for public education, social services, mental health clinics across the board. Gaebler said a proposed progressive income tax would help address inequities in the state budget. But, she noted, that revenue wouldnt be available until after 2021, if the measure was approved by voters. Opponents to changing the state income tax argue it could hurt middle-income families, and it wouldnt protect against any future tax increases. Gaebler contended closing corporate tax loopholes in this years budget would help shift the tax burden off of low- to middle-income earners. But, she said, the governors proposal includes raising revenue in other ways: Including taxing marijuana, she said. But it also includes some measures that really target consumers, especially middle-class and lower-income folks for example, a raise on the cigarette tax and a plastic bag tax across our state. The pressure is on state lawmakers, because the budget needs to be approved in the next six weeks. Companion bills filed this session, HB 2085 and SB 115, would help address loopholes in offshore tax havens. Supporters estimate that could bring $318 million into the state. A New Berlin man is now facing federal child pornography charges after originally being arrested in January on Macon County charges. Scott A. Gentry, 57, was arraigned in federal court Friday on charges of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. CENTREVILLE Touchette Regional Hospital (TRH) recently announced its START NOW Program is recruiting individuals to join its team for the Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Greater St. Louis Walk. The event will be held Saturday, June 8 in Downtown St. Louis, with the walk beginning at 9:30 a.m. Our START NOW program staff is incredibly dedicated to providing breast cancer education and patient navigation services to men and women in the Metro East, said Felecia Jackson, community outreach specialist at TRH. The fight against breast cancer is fierce and ongoing but its rewarding when you participate in activities to increase awareness or raise money to help find a cure and that is what were hoping to achieve with our START NOW Team. GODFREY Have you ever wondered what it takes to work for the FBI? If so, and youre an incoming high school junior or senior the 2019 Future Agents in Training (FAIT) Academy, to be held June 18-21 at Lewis and Clark Community College, is for you. The Federal Bureau of Investigation Springfield Division will conduct this free, interactive learning experience for students living in the L&C District. Back for its second year, the academy will take place over four days instead of two. The FAIT Academy is an outstanding opportunity to learn about the FBI and get an inside look at what we do on a daily basis, not to mention being introduced to potential careers, said Special Agent in Charge Sean Cox. We are, for the second year, inviting high school juniors and seniors to apply to participate in this eye-opening experience, which will increase your awareness about the FBI, our priorities, and activities or our Special Agents and professional staff. Participants will learn about career opportunities with the FBI through both classroom and hands-on activities, which will offer insight into many topics and specialties of the bureau, including criminal activity, cyber threats, terrorism and administrative functions, among others. Students will learn from special agents, intelligence analysts and a variety of professional staff about investigative tactics that include gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses and solving cases. After completing the academy, students will be more aware of the challenges their communities face, better understand how the FBI serves their region and be prepared to mentor their peers. Space is limited, so those interested must apply by May 10, 2019. The application process includes an application form, short essay and letter of recommendation to be submitted to fbi@lc.edu by the deadline. All forms and additional information are available online at www.lc.edu/FAITacademy. This is an incredible opportunity for students to gain insight into exciting careers with the FBI, said L&C Criminal Justice Associate Professor Tricia Martin. Anyone with questions can contact FBI Springfield Public Affairs Officer Brad Ware at (217) 757-3542 or wbware@fbi.gov, or Martin at 618-468-4520 or fbi@lc.edu. The Puritans who ruled England and New England in the seventeenth century wanted no part of anything that wasnt specifically sanctioned in the Bible. Englands Puritan-dominated Parliament decreed in 1645 that there were to be no holy days except Sundays. Two tears later, Parliament confirmed the abolition of Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday, which is an English name for Pentecost. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 returned these holy days to the English people, who had sorely missed celebrating them. Puritanisms dourness lingered in New England, however, whose inhabitants generally ignored Easter and Christmas until well into the nineteenth century. Puritans found the very word Easter repugnant. After all, it didnt appear in their Bibles. They wanted nothing to do with the Bible we call the King James Version, which was published in 1611. Puritans regarded the Stuart kings as their enemies, a belief they implemented by executing King Charles I, James son, in 1649. These theocrats preferred the Geneva Bible, which had been published in 1560. The Geneva Bible translated Acts 12:4 as And when he had caught him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaterions of soldiers to be kept, intending after the Passover (Greek word: Pascha) to bring him forth to the people. The King James Bible reads: .intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. The Puritans knew that the New Testament had been written in Greek. They also knew that the Greek language contained no such word as Easter. The King James Bible was contaminated by paganism, they believed. Bede, an English Benedictine monk, wrote in the eighth century that the pagan Anglo-Saxons had in the month of April held feasts to honor a goddess called Eostre or Ostara. Bede asserted that following the Anglo-Saxons conversion to Christianity, this custom had been supplanted by the celebration of Jesus resurrection. While copies of the King James Version published today still contain Easter in Acts 12:4, every other translation of the Bible Ive examined translates Pascha as Passover. Those long-dead Puritans would surely be pleased. The Puritans long-ago war against the celebration of Christmas and Easter ended centuries ago. Happily for all of us, the Puritans lost. Christmas today is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Who doesnt want to participate in a festival that features decorative lights during the cold gloom of December? Easter, on the other hand, really doesnt require any decorating on our part. Nature has taken care of that for us. Our yards are alive with flowering trees. Tulips, daffodils and other perennials have broken through the soil to proclaim the earths rebirth. The apostle Paul believed that there was no Christianity without the risen Jesus. And if Christ be not risen, he wrote, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain (I Corinthians 15:14). While the Christian faith might be contingent upon Easter, the celebration of this spring holy day neednt be limited to Christians. The Easter Flower, a poem by Claude McKay, makes that quite apparent. McKay wrote about finding an Easter lily that had burst the tomb for freedom sweet and brief. For Christians, it symbolized the miracle that defines their religion. And many thought it was a sacred sign, And some called it the resurrection flower; And I, a pagan, worshiped at its shrine, Yielding my heart unto its perfumed power. Although a self-described pagan who had close ties with the Communist party for years, McKay nonetheless found his heart touched by the power of Easter. That simple lily had awakened from its earthen tomb and burst through soil that just a short time earlier had been shrouded beneath snow and ice. McKay described that lily, the traditional plant of this season, as The Easter Flower. Every tree, bush and bulb that blossoms each spring is an Easter flower. And one neednt be a Christian to appreciate this glorious resurrection that is all around us. 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 Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 09:03 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873332497 1 Editorial #Editorial,#2019PresidentialElection,#2019GeneralElections,voting-day,2019-presidential-election,2019-general-election,KPU Free On the bright side, several incidents that marked early voting in a number of polling stations overseas demonstrated the enthusiasm of Indonesians in exercising their right to elect their representatives and leader. The hiccups, however, also teach their compatriots at home a lesson not to take their voting rights for granted. The General Elections Commission (KPU) and its army of 7.2 million volunteers who will man more than 809,000 polling stations across the country and abroad have encouraged and facilitated eligible voters to exercise their right. Over the past seven months, the KPU has intensified measures through various media to educate voters on technicalities, including what they should do if they did not find their names on the voter roll or if they wished to exercise their right away from their place of residence for certain reasons. The KPU is targeting a high turnout despite the complexity of problems it faces in administering the first-ever simultaneous presidential and legislative elections billed as the largest single-day election in the world. Everything looked fine until news broke and video footage circulated online of voters who could not cast their ballots in Sydney and other polling stations overseas on Sunday. Former Jakarta governor Basuki BTP Tjahaja Purnama also reported a problem before he finally could exercise his right in Osaka, Japan. One possible explanation of these glitches may lie with the voters themselves. If it is true that they were not registered and therefore confronted strict rules that denied them access to polling stations, we could ask them where they have been so far. After releasing the provisional voter roll based on Civil Registry and Population Agency (Disdukcapil) data last October, the KPU sent field workers to register them and persistently asked voters to check their status either online or at the subdistrict or village office. And those who wish to change polling stations were asked to apply to the KPU before March 17. The KPU has also received the Constitutional Courts help in its bid to record a high voter turnout. The court issued on March 28 a decision that justifies electronic ID cards and letter of recommendations in place of ID card as valid documents unregistered voters have to show to poll workers before casting their vote. But many plan to ignore the entire KPU regulation on that matter. Those voters can only cast ballots at polling stations within their area of residence one hour before registration closes at 1 p.m. and while ballots last. Enthusiasm should be cherished but its not enough if Indonesia is to elect a leader and representatives who can guide the nation through a turbulent time. The votes cast on Wednesday will determine whether the country will make or break in its ambition to become one of the largest economies in the world. For the last seven months, the KPU has appealed to voters to screen candidates track records, including their checkered past. The remaining 24 hours is the final chance they should not waste. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Didin Nasirudin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 16:03 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87334c1f7 3 Opinion polarization,#2019GeneralElections,#2019PresidentialElection,2019-elections,2019-presidential-election,politics,The-Righteous-Mind,#book,Book Free We are in the cooling-off period ahead of the 2019 elections, during which any political campaign activity is prohibited. However, this period will by no means heal the social wounds and fissures that resulted from Indonesias most divisive competition for power in the countrys history. I witnessed breakups of friendships in various social circles on Facebook and WhatsApp, including in a small WhatsApp group with less than 20 members, all of them were intellectual people who previously belonged to a somewhat serious discussion group at the university. The trigger of the breakups was mostly differences in interpreting religious guidance to decide which candidate to choose in this years presidential election. I am not very sure if the broken-up friendships will recover after the presidential election is over, and we have a re-elected or new president running this country for the next five years. But if what happened in the United States two years after the 2016 elections could be an indication, we should be worried. An NBC/WSJ poll published in October 2018 revealed that 80 percent of registered voters believed the US was divided. Only 18 percent of the voters said the country was united. Democratic voters blamed Donald Trump, the Republican Party and the Media as the causes of the division. In contrast, Republican voters thought Barack Obama, Liberals, Democrats and the Media as its enabler. American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his book The Righteous Mind, Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion said that peoples behaviors in an environmentincluding a political environment that is strongly influenced by religious sentimentswill be determined by a combination of their cognition elements, intuition, and reasoning. Intuition is defined as rapid, effortless moral judgments and decisions that we all make every day. Reasoning is defined as the royal road to moral truth that people believe. People who reason well will more likely act morally. Haidt adopts the human model that calls intuition the main cause of moral judgment and reasoning typically follows that judgment to construct post hoc justifications. In other words, reasoning is the servant of intuition. Why is it intuition first and reasoning later? Haidt argues that intuition involves automatic processes that run the human mindand have been running animal minds for 500 million yearsso that it is more reliable like software that has been improved through thousands of product cycles. On the contrary, reasoning is controlled processes in the human mind that only evolved in the last million years, mostly triggered by intuition. That is why reasoning is imperfect and susceptible to making mistakes. Reasoning serving intuition is best described as someone riding an elephant. The rider represents reasoning and the elephant represents intuition or where the rider (reasoning) works to serve the elephant (intuition). Haidt also believed that the world consists of many moral matrices with each matrix provides a complete, unified, and emotionally compelling worldview, easily justified by observable evidence and nearly impregnable to attack by arguments from outsiders. Moral matrices tend to bind people together and blind them from believing that other matrices exist in this world. Therefore, it is not easy for people to think that there are other forms of moral truth for them to judge other people. I have been experimenting for my whole life to find or even help create political and religious harmony wherever I live. It is not an easy task for me who was born to a homogenous conservative Muslim family. But studying in Yogyakarta, where I mingled with friends of different political and religious backgrounds, gave me the first training ground to become a more pluralist person. My first job, where my boss was a highly tolerant priest, was my next pluralism training field. Changing roles in the communications consulting industrystarting from a consultant in a Muslim- dominated, all-Javanese communication agency to a director in another communications agency where I was the only Muslim, and the other team members were non-Javanese peoplewas my most advanced inclusiveness training camp. Now, I am proud to have succeeded to create a small office organization that consists of people that follow different religions and different political orientationsfrom a Catholic church activist and a Christian theology student to a young ustad and Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) activist. We are also glad to have gone through three presidential elections (2009, 2014 and 2019) and the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017 with no conflict among team members. How were we able to do it? First, as the leader of our organization, I declared my political neutrality and encouraged my team to vote by their political party and presidential preferences. Second, me and all staff agreed to make our office a neutral ground where low-level political and religious debates or activities are not allowed. Third, all teams members are free to participate in political rallies on the weekends or during their leave, but they should keep a low-profile. I agree with Jonathan Haidt that to set free ourselves from being the victims political and religious short-sightedness, we could start by imagining ourselves as being a small rider running a very large elephant or become persons whose actions are driven mostly by our intuition instead of reasoning. Thinking this way will allow us to be more patient with other people who have different views and not to be quickly involved in unnecessary debates just because we feel we have better arguments than theirs. That is what I have done in my organization and been trying hard to make it a common practice here. Getting out of our moral matricese.g., our usual, homogenous social circlesis also an excellent way to make us politically or religiously more tolerant. It can be a simple as trying to talk warmly to neighbors or mingling with other people who adhere to different religions or political orientations. We have done something exciting in the office, too. My IT guy is an Islam-based party activist, who is also a kung fu master as well as Muay Thai trainer. Organizing free Muay Thai sessions in the office is one of the ways we get people of different religions and political orientations to interact more often. I believe there are many other ways for reasonable people in this country to create conducive political atmospheres and prevent divisive politics from dominating future years of politics. Indonesia is the worlds largest presidential democratic country as well as one of the worlds largest economies that has won respect from many other countries. It is highly regrettable if political and religious differences among its people lead to an increasingly divisive political environment and the destruction of the countrys democracy and its promising economic future. We can start by helping realize smooth and peaceful presidential and legislative elections on April 17 and accepting the results of the elections, after proper vote calculation and verification. (kes) *** The writer is the managing director of communications agency Bening Communication. He has a high interest in observing US politics and analyzing its impact on Indonesian politics. 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 Deddy Mulyana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 Ahead of the April 17 election, the televised debates between the two presidential candidates, Joko Jokowi Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, including the fourth debate on March 30 and fifth and last one on Saturday, were fascinating to observe. Using the dramaturgical approach of Erving Goffman ( 1959 ), the presidential debates epitomize a stage where the candidates are actors who play their roles the best they can, according to the script. In a modern political arena, a political leader is judged not only on what he says, but also on how he says it. George Washington, the first president of the United States, was aware of the importance of presenting himself before an audience. 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 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 (Agence France-Presse) Victoria, Seychelles Tue, April 16, 2019 10:05 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87333a2b9 2 Environment Seychelles,environment,ocean,ocean-environment,ocean-pollution,Danny-Faure Free Seychelles President Danny Faure dived deep into the Indian Ocean Sunday to call for protection of "the beating blue heart of our planet". "This issue is bigger than all of us, and we cannot wait for the next generation to solve it. We are running out of excuses to not take action, and running out of time," a statement released by the president's office quoted him as saying. Faure, who has made environmental protection a top priority, was taken down more than 120 meters in the submersible vehicle Ocean Zephyr which is being used for a mission dubbed "Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration" and which is rated for depths of more than 500 meters. "I can see not only the incredible beauty of our ocean, but the care that it urgently needs to stay this way. This is a historical moment for my country," the president said of the 115-island archipelago. The Nekton mission is to spend seven weeks studying underwater life, mapping the sea bed and placing captors at depths of up to 2,000 meters in the nation's waters. Read also: Plastic found in deepest ocean animals From next year, Seychelles plans to designate 30 percent of its marine surface as a protected zone. The nation is particularly vulnerable to the destruction of coral reefs that comprise many of its smallest atolls. "The deep ocean is the beating heart of the planet, yet we have better maps of planet Mars than we do of the ocean floor. This needs to change," Faure noted. Data collected by the Nekton mission, which is based in Oxford, England, is to be used during a summit of Indian Ocean nations in late 2021. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Delphine Matthieussent (Agence France-Presse) Tel Aviv, Israel Wed, April 17, 2019 03:02 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87335ad69 2 Health 3D-printing,heart,human-tissue,Science,Israel Free Scientists in Israel unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels on Monday, calling it a first and a "major medical breakthrough" that advances possibilities for transplants. While it remains a far way off, scientists hope one day to be able to produce hearts suitable for transplant into humans as well as patches to regenerate defective hearts. The heart produced by researchers at Tel Aviv University is about the size of a rabbit's. It marked "the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," said Tal Dvir, who led the project. "People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels," he said. But the scientists said many challenges remain before fully working 3D printed hearts would be available for transplant into patients. Journalists were shown a 3D print of a heart about the size of a cherry, immersed in liquid, at Tel Aviv University on Monday as the researchers announced their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Science. Researchers must now teach the printed hearts "to behave" like real ones. The cells are currently able to contract, but do not yet have the ability to pump. Then they plan to transplant them into animal models, hopefully in about a year, said Dvir. "Maybe, in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely," he said. But he said hospitals would likely start with simpler organs than hearts. Read also: Chinese hospital uses VR in heart surgery training Producing 'ink' In its statement announcing the research, Tel Aviv University called it a "major medical breakthrough". Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization, and transplants are currently the only option available for patients in the worst cases. But the number of donors is limited and many die while waiting. When they do benefit, they can fall victim to their bodies rejecting the transplant -- a problem the researchers are seeking to overcome. Their research involved taking a biopsy of fatty tissue from patients that was used in the development of the "ink" for the 3D print. First, patient-specific cardiac patches were created followed by the entire heart, the statement said. Using the patient's own tissue was important to eliminate the risk of an implant provoking an immune response and being rejected, Dvir said. "The biocompatibility of engineered materials is crucial to eliminating the risk of implant rejection, which jeopardises the success of such treatments," said Dvir. Challenges that remain include how to expand the cells to have enough tissue to recreate a human-sized heart, he said. Current 3D printers are also limited by the size of their resolution and another challenge will be figuring out how to print all small blood vessels. But while the current 3D print was a primitive one and only the size of a rabbit's heart, "larger human hearts require the same technology," said Dvir. 3D printing has opened up possibilities in numerous fields, provoking both promise and controversy. The technology has developed to include 3D prints of everything from homes to guns. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ben Simon (Agence France-Presse) Geneva, Switzerland Tue, April 16, 2019 20:06 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873357af4 2 Health measles,health,disease,WHO,United-Nations Free Measles cases rose 300 percent worldwide through the first three months of 2019 compared to the same period last year, the UN said Monday, as concern grows over the impact of anti-vaccination stigma. Measles, which is highly contagious, can be entirely prevented through a two-dose vaccine, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has in recent months sounded the alarm over slipping vaccination rates. "Preliminary global data shows that reported cases rose by 300 percent in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This follows consecutive increases over the past two years," it said in a statement. "While this data is provisional and not yet complete, it indicates a clear trend. Many countries are in the midst of sizeable measles outbreaks, with all regions of the world experiencing sustained rises in cases," it added. The agency noted that only about one in 10 actual measles cases are reported, meaning the early trends for 2019 likely underestimate the severity of the outbreaks. So far this year, 170 countries have reported 112,163 measles cases to WHO. At this time last year, 163 countries had reported 28,124 cases. Read also: Widening anti-vaccine movement paves way for measles Unvaccinated 'clusters' Measles -- an airborne infection causing fever, coughing and rashes that can be deadly in rare cases -- had been officially eliminated in many countries with advanced healthcare systems. But the so-called anti-vax movement -- driven by fraudulent claims linking the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, and a risk of autism in children -- has gained traction. Repeated studies -- the most recent involving more than 650,000 children monitored for more than a decade -- have shown that there is no such link. But according to WHO, global coverage for the first vaccine dose has been "stalled" at 85 percent, while 67 percent of people have received the second dose. The provisional 2019 data shows that cases have spiked "in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States," WHO warned. "The disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people," it added. New York's mayor declared a public health emergency in parts of Brooklyn last week, after a measles outbreak emerged in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where some had resisted vaccination on religious grounds. Calls have mounted in several countries to make measles vaccinations mandatory, including in Germany. Australia earlier this month launched a major education campaign to encourage residents to get vaccinated. Turning the tide against measles will require "effective public-facing communication and engagement on the critical importance of vaccination, and the dangers of the diseases they prevent," WHO said. Read also: Global surge in measles poses serious threat to children: UNICEF 700-percent increase While WHO has identified the junk science behind anti-vax propaganda as a public health threat, the data highlighted that measles still hits hardest in unstable countries with weak health systems. The most dramatic rise in cases through the early part of the year was reported in Africa, which has weaker vaccination coverage than other regions. Africa saw a 700-percent increase compared to last year. At least 800 children have died from measles since September in Madagascar, where rampant malnutrition and a historically poor vaccine rate are driving the world's worse current outbreak. In conflict-scarred Yemen cases shot up more than 300 percent in 2018 compared to 2017. Venezuela, where the disease was once contained, has also seen tens of thousands of cases as the country's economic and political crises continue to push the healthcare system to the brink of collapse. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rita Widiadana (The Jakarta Post) Kigali, Rwanda Tue, April 16, 2019 The writer was invited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Global Health Strategy, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHCCP) to attend the International Conference on Family Planning in Kigali, Rwanda. Young people have always come up with fresh ideas and creative innovations. 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 (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 08:08 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87332e7d3 1 City idul-fitri-exodus,exodus,Idul-Fitri,jakarta,Transportation Free The Jakarta Transportation Agency is preparing 16,578 free trips using 307 buses for people traveling home on Idul Fitri this year. The Islamic holiday is expected to fall on June 5-6. For the return trip to Jakarta we have set a quota of 7,020 people, because our experiences with return trips is that they do not return to Jakarta at the same time, unlike the homeward journey. Some people stay a bit longer in their hometown, so we wont prepare too many buses that would only be half full, Jakarta Transportation Agency land transportation unit head Masdes Arouffy said on Monday, kompas.com reported. He said the agency would prepare 130 buses for the return trip to Jakarta. The homeward journeys will be on May 30 to 10 cities in West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java. For West Java, the buses will head to Ciamis and Kuningan; for Central Java, to Tegal, Pekalongan, Semarang, Solo and Wonogiri; Yogyakarta; while for East Java, only to Jombang, as it is the first time [to organize journeys to the region] this year. Next year we may add more using the 2020 City Budget, Masdes said. He said the agency would run 15 buses to Ciamis, 14 buses to Kuningan, 31 buses to Tegal, 35 buses to Pekalongan and 30 buses to Semarang. Sixty buses will go to Solo, 20 to Kebumen, 31 to Wonogiri, 51 to Yogyakarta and 20 to Jombang. The registration for the free homecoming trip will open on Friday online at https://mudikgratis.Jakarta.go.id. (ami) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Riska Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 Regardless of who wins this weeks presidential election, the countrys capital market will rally, analysts predict, as such a political event has proven in the past to give the market a boost. Indonesian voters are called to cast their ballots for the president and legislators on Wednesday in the first-ever simultaneous elections. Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) senior researcher Poltak Hotradero said the elections could see the countrys capital market, particularly the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI), rally. 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 The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 The World Bank's private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has been quietly funding some of Indonesias most destructive coal mining companies despite its 2013 virtual ban on coal financing, a report says. The collaborative report by Inclusive Development International, the Bank Information Center Europe and Jakarta-based coal watchdog Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), was released at a policy forum in advance of the World Banks 2019 Spring Meetings in Washington, DC. According to the report, the IFC had indirectly bankrolled six major coal mining companies in Indonesia, which it said had decimated rain forests and biodiversity, threatened the country's food security and displaced thousands of indigenous people from their homes and land. 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 Hepher (Reuters) Paris, France Tue, April 16, 2019 14:02 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873344780 2 Business #aviation,#Boeing,Lion-Air,co-founder,Rusdi-Kirana,Crash Free The co-founder of Indonesia's Lion Air, one of two airlines that lost passengers and crew in recent crashes involving the 737 MAX, has lashed out at Boeing's handling of the accidents as the potential business fallout from the jet's grounding intensifies. Rusdi Kirana said a recent apology by Boeing over the 346 lives lost in the two disasters, firstly at Lion Air in October and then at Ethiopian Airlines last month, stood in contrast to what he viewed as hasty earlier criticism of Lion Air's pilots. In a telephone interview, Kirana also accused Boeing of treating him as a "piggy bank". Lion Air has spent tens of billions of dollars on plane orders with Boeing to become one of Asia's largest budget carriers. The Indonesian entrepreneur is the figurehead for what is now one of the planemaker's largest customers with 187 jets on order and 200 already delivered. Lion Air threatened in December to axe those orders, but has given no further update. Boeing has embarked on a campaign following the two crashes to restore faith in its best-selling jet and pledged to remove any risk that anti-stall software, suspected of pushing the two planes downwards, could be activated by erroneous data. In November, following an interim report on the Lion Air crash, it voiced questions over whether pilots had used correct procedures. Kirana said the contrasting reactions demonstrated that Boeing was taking fast-growing carriers such as his for granted. "They look down on my airline and my country even though relations are always handled in a proper way. They treat us as Third World," Kirana told Reuters. "They also look down on me. They look at me as their piggy bank," he said in his first interview since the Ethiopian crash. Kirana's comments - by far the strongest since the crash off Indonesia on Oct 29 - underscore the depth of a recent rift between Boeing and Lion Air, which has been balking at taking delivery of Boeing jets worth $21 billion at list prices. His voice also carries weight in Indonesia where he serves as the country's ambassador to Malaysia, handling relations between two Muslim-majority states with important ties. In a statement to Reuters regarding the comments, Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said: "We remain heartbroken over the tragic loss of Lion Air Flight 610. We're sorry for the lives lost and deeply regret the devastating impact on the families, friends and colleagues of the passengers and crew." "Rusdi Kirana has been a leader and a pioneer in Asian aviation," he said, adding that Kirana and his team "remain highly valued partners to Boeing". 'INCONSISTENCIES' Although safety experts have raised some questions over crew performance in both crashes, the regulatory fallout has been dominated so far by questions over MCAS anti-stall software, which Boeing has acknowledged provided a common link in the separate chains of events leading to both crashes. Following the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a statement listing three questions relating to pilot and maintenance actions that had not been addressed in a preliminary report. After a similar report on the Ethiopian crash, Boeing issued a sparser statement focusing on its ongoing software review. It has adopted an increasingly contrite tone as pressure grows over design decisions and its relations with U.S. regulators. Kirana said Boeing had shown inconsistencies in its responses to the two disasters. "(They) cast blame for the first one and apologise after the second," he said. Indonesia has 236 Boeing commercial passenger planes on order and operates the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. Flag carrier Garuda joined Lion Air last month in threatening to cancel 49 MAX orders. Analysts have questioned how easily either airline can fund deliveries as competition grows and have cautioned that both face lengthy negotiations. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 08:31 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8733313d3 4 Business BPS,CPO,exports,EU,decline Free Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has recorded that crude palm oil (CPO) exports to Europe saw a significant decrease in March as a result of the negative campaign against the commodity that is linked to deforestation. BPS head Suhariyanto said in Jakarta on Monday that CPO exports to the Netherlands had decreased 39 percent, while exports to the United Kingdom had decreased 22 percent. Exports to Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia had also decreased. The decline was caused by the negative campaign against CPO, Suhariyanto told a press conference. In 2018, the total export of CPO and its derivatives was recorded at 34.6 million tons from 32.1 million tons in 2017. However, in terms of value, the exports declined by 11 percent in 2018 to US$20.54 billion from $22.97 billion in 2017. He added that between January and March, Indonesian exports to Europe were recorded at US$3.6 billion, while imports were at $3.02 billion. Of course bilateral trade figures were different with each country. With Germany and the Netherlands we posted a surplus, with Italy we posted a $9 million deficit, Suhariyanto said. Indonesia and Malaysia, the first and second largest CPO producing countries, have been cooperating in their fight against what they call the EU's discriminatory policy against palm oil, as the EU is to phase out the use of palm oil in biodiesels. The EU argues CPO production causes deforestation. Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution recently returned to Indonesia from Brussels where he held further discussions with the EU on the matter. He said Indonesia would review all economic agreements with EU if it implemented the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II) that stipulates for the phasing out of palm oil in biodiesels. We have conveyed our stance against the policy and we will review economic relations with the EU, Darmin said as quoted by kompas.com. (bbn) Topics : BPS CPO exports EU decline Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 After months of campaigning, presidential and vice-presidential candidates are filling the three-day cooling-off period from Sunday to Tuesday with religious or traditional activities before voting day on Wednesday. Incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo is currently in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for anumrah (minor haj) with his wife Iriana and sons Gibran Rakabuming Raka and Kaesang Pangarep. He flew to Mecca after the final presidential debate on Saturday evening. His running mate, Maruf Amin, is spending the time with his family. 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 Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 Audrey Pratiwi, 25, arrived in Jakarta on Sunday from Amsterdam, where she is studying for a masters degree. She is planning to go to the polls with her family on Wednesday. While not revealing her preference, Audrey said she and her family would make it a joyful experience. Her family, she said, had prepared straws, with the names of the presidential candidate pairs Joko Jokowi Widodo-Maruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno written on them. 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 Asip Hasani (The Jakarta Post) Blitar, East Java Tue, April 16, 2019 18:14 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87335408e 1 Politics 2019GeneralElections,2019-elections,shia,refugees Free At least 240 Shia adherents in Sidoarjo, East Java, will be able to vote in a shelter, an East Java General Elections Commission (KPU East Java) official confirmed on Tuesday. KPU East Java head Choirul Anam said his team had set up a polling station specifically for the Shia community in their shelter to accommodate their right to vote. The initiative follows the Muslim minority's eviction five years ago from Sampang, Madura, East Java, where the majority of the local community demanded that all Shiites be expelled from the area after labeling their belief as heretical. We are giving them facilities at a nearby polling station as it is currently impossible for them to vote in their original electorate, Choirul said. Since the voting will take place in a shelter, Shiites will be able to vote only in the presidential and Regional Legislative Council (DPD) elections, Choirul added. Meanwhile, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the purpose of his visit to Blitar in the same province was to monitor preparations for the election in the area while correcting a misperception about the allotted voting time for local residents. The correct information is that people can still vote after 1 p.m. as long as they are registered at their respective polling stations, said Khofifah. (mai) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) New Delhi Tue, April 16, 2019 18:03 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873352616 2 World India,Islam,mosque,feminism,Women,women-rights,religion Free India's Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to consider a petition from a Muslim couple to allow women into mosques, seeking to overturn a centuries-old practice that largely bars women from the places of worship. Women are not allowed inside most mosques in India although a few have separate entrances for women to go into segregated areas. The petitioners, Yasmeen Peerzade and her husband Zuber Peerzade, said that women were allowed to enter mosques during the time of the Prophet Mohammad. "Like men, women also have the constitutional rights to offer worship according to their belief," they said in their petition. "There should not be any gender discrimination and allow Muslim women to pray in all mosques," they said. The court last year lifted a ban on the entry of women of menstrual age at a Hindu temple in southern India saying it was a violation of their right to worship. The Muslim couple referred to the temple ruling, which angered conservative Hindus, as a precedent to support their call for women to be allowed to pray at mosques. A representative of a prominent organisation of Islamic scholars, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was not immediately available for comment. The petition comes at a sensitive time for relations been minority Muslims and the majority Hindu community. Some members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist ruling party have been accused of stirring communal animosity as the party seeks a second term in a staggered general election now underway. Supreme Court judge S.A. Bobde said the court will examine the couple's request at length. The court in 2017 ruled as unconstitutional a law which allows Muslim men to divorce their wives simply by uttering the word "talaq", which means divorce in Arabic, three times. This year, the government issued an executive order making instant divorce an offense punishable with up to three years in jail. Wikimedia Commons Kolkata, Apr 16 (IBNS): Amid reports that Bangladeshi actor Ferdous campaigned for Mamata Banerjee's ruling Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, the Union Home Ministry has sought a report from Foreigners Regional Registration Office on the issue, media reports said. The fresh development occurred after several TV channels and regional media showed images of Ferdous, who has worked in many Indian Bengali movies in his career, campaigning for the party. Ferdous, who is a popular name in Bangladesh, campaigned for Trinamools Lok Sabha candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. The Tranamool Congress has rejected the claims that the actor has campaigned for the party. "Trinamool did not invite him. He came for another programme in the area and decided to join the campaign. He is very popular in this area," the party was quoted as saying by News 18. According to some media reports,the actor campaign for the party in Raiganj on Monday. The BJP has meanwhile complained to the Election Commission over the issue. Bangladesh High Commissioner has reportedly directed the actor to return to his nation. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Gisela Swaragita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 13:53 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873344194 1 Politics coal-business,coal-fired-power-plant,coal-mining,sexy-killers,WatchDoc,#2019GeneralElections Free Local authorities halted the April 11 screening of Sexy Killers in Mekarsari, Indramayu, saying the coal industry documentary was a form of hate speech that targeted the two presidential candidates, Joko Jokowi Widodo and Prabowo Subianto. Producer Didit Haryo Wicaksono of WatchDoc, which produced Sexy Killers, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the film was stopped partway through the screening in the West Java coal production center that had seen protests against the industry. [Indramayu] was where the local people protested the coal-fired power plant project (PLTU) in Sumur Adem, he said by text message. According to a release provided to the Post on Monday, two police officers were already standing by at the venue when the screening started. At around 9 p.m., an individual claiming to be a member of the local Elections Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) arrived and told the organizers to stop the screening, which led to a debate outside the venue. Not long afterwards, four police officers arrived in a patrol car and entered the venue to stop the screening. The event's organizers said the film had almost finished when the authorities showed up. Didit said the documentary revealed data on coal mining giants in Indonesia that involved several prominent figures that were behind the two presidential campaign teams. Sexy Killers has ignited public controversy, with many accusing WatchDoc and its journalist founder Dandhy Dwi Laksono of being driven by political interests, as the film was released on April 5, less than two weeks before the presidential election. The film was recently uploaded in its entirety on YouTube. Information on the TKN and the BPN is narrated in the film to show their correlation with coal mining companies in Indonesia," said Didit, referring to the respective abbreviations for the Jokowi campaign team and the Prabowo campaign team. "We have made sure that the data shown in the film is valid, public data. All the stories presented [in the film] are the reality found on the field, he said. Didit said the film had been screened at 476 locations in the country, all organized by individual supporters. WatchDoc had also held a nationwide roadshow that will end tomorrow in Probolinggo, East Java, and in Singaraja, Bali. We screened the film in places where communities are directly affected by the industry, such as Serang, Indramayu, Cirebon, Cilacap, Batang, Jepara, Surabaya, Sember, Probolinggo and Singaraja, said Didit. Local resistance against the coal mining industry in Indramayu was one of the fiercest across the country. WatchDoc also said that three local people had been criminalized and arrested in connection with the protests. Didit, who also works on green energy and climate campaigns at environmental NGO Greenpeace, said WatchDoc had faced public backlash, alleging that the film was released intentionally to encourage abstaining, locally known as golput. In Jepara, one of the discussion participants literally said that, Didit said. However, this film makes no statements or calls to [not vote]. The film only seeks to show the realities of the energy industry that the public are not shown. Didit also said that some universities had indirectly refused to screen the film. Sexy Killers is the final film in the documentary series Ekspedisi Indonesia Biru (Blue Indonesia Expedition), which looks at the local impacts of the energy industry and infrastructure development. Dandhy Dwi Laksono and journalist Ucok Suparta filmed the documentary while they traveled through the country in 2015. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 15:01 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873349ce8 1 City KAI,2019GeneralElections,Train,transformation,#IndonesiaVotes,long-weekend,Election-day Free State-owned railway operator PT KAI's operational region (DAOP) 1 Jakarta has added 11 inter-city trips to its schedule to accommodate passengers on Election Day and Easter. The election, which falls on Wednesday, is a national holiday and comes one day before Good Friday. Eva Chairunisa, spokesperson of PT KAI DAOP 1 Jakarta, said the 11 additional trips with 5,512 seats had been operating since Monday and would end on Sunday. Of the 11 routes, eight depart from Gambir Station while three depart from Pasar Senen Station in Central Jakarta. [The trains head from Jakarta] to Bandung and Cirebon in West Java, Kutoarjo and Solo in Central Java and Yogyakarta, she said in a statement on Tuesday. From Gambir and Pasar Senen stations, KAI regularly operates 58 train trips that can seat 34,804 people. Thirty-two trips with 15,286 seats depart from Gambir, while 26 trips with 19,518 seats leave from Pasar Senen. During the election, city-owned bus operator Transjakarta will reduce its operations for efficiency. The company will only deploy 1,300 buses, which is half the total number of buses the company owns. In the previous elections, the number of passengers was between 55 and 60 percent of the number of passengers during work days, Transjakarta operational director Daud Joseph said on Monday as quoted by tempo.co. (das) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 10:10 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87333af5a 1 National #Indonesia,#Conservation,LIPI,silky-shark,research,USAID,extinction Free The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has suggested that the number of silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) caught in Indonesian waters should be restricted to prevent the species from becoming extinct. "Silky sharks can still be caught but the number should be limited," LIPI's oceanography division head, Dirhamsyah, said on Monday at the launch of its Non-Detriment Finding (NDF) research document concerning the sustainable management of silky sharks. Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), he said the NDF recommended that the quota for silky sharks should be 80,000 this year, with a minimum length of 2 meters and a weight of 50 kilograms. The NDF is a science-based risk assessment document in which the vulnerability of a species is considered in relation to how well it is managed. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at least 31 percent of the worlds shark population was threatened with extinction. Meanwhile, based on 2015 data by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest exploitation rates of sharks in the world and accounted for around 13 percent of global shark production. Dirhamsyah said that 60 percent of all shark catches in Indonesia were requiem sharks, with at least 54 percent being silky sharks. He added that the NDF document was a risk analysis of the sustainable management of the shark listed in Apendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) based on biological, fishery and management aspects. CITES has included 12 shark species in Apendix II, which is not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may be threatened with extinction if the species are not put on the protection list. Of the 12 species, nine are in Indonesia. It [the NDF document] also recommends the improvement of the production record and management as well as the habitat conservation and breeding of the silky shark. Moreover, it is also concerned about the practice of shark finning, he said. USAID Indonesias deputy director of the environment office, Jason Seuc, said it was collaborating with the LIPI to complete the recommendation concerning a scientific-based quota in a bid to ensure the sustainability of the wild population of silky sharks. "We hope that NDF policies for sustainable shark production can increase awareness and conservation efforts, curtail illegal trade, and restore the population of this species," he added. (das/jun) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Clare Byrne, Joseph Schmid and Stuart Williams (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France Tue, April 16, 2019 09:39 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87333732f 2 World #France,#fire,Emmanuel-Macron,rebuilding,Cathedral-Church,Notre-Dame Free French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, after a colossal fire tore through the building, sending the spire crashing to the ground and wiping out centuries of heritage. Macron expressed relief that "the worst had been avoided" in a blaze that had at one point threatened the entire edifice, and left France in shock over the damage to a building described as the soul of the nation. The inferno destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark, whose spectacular Gothic spire collapsed as orange flames and clouds of grey smoke billowed into the sky. Around 400 firefighters battled into the night to control the flames, declaring in the early hours of Tuesday that the fire was under control, around nine hours after it broke out. Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said "we can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved" as well as the two towers. 'France is Notre Dame' "Notre-Dame survived all the wars, all the bombardments. We never thought it could burn. I feel incredibly sad and empty," Stephane Seigneurie, a consultant who joined other shocked onlookers in a solemn rendition of "Ave Maria" as they watched the fire from a nearby bridge. Gasps and cries of "Oh my god" erupted around an hour after the fire first broke out when the top portion of the church's spire came crashing down. "We have been dealt a knockout blow," a stricken-looking Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit told reporters. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, but the cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze. French prosecutors said it was being currently being treated as accident. Historians expressed incredulity at the collapse of a building that has been a symbol of France for almost a millennium. "If Paris is the Eiffel Tower then France is Notre Dame. It's the entire culture, entire history of France incarnated in this monument," Bernard Lecomte, a writer and specialist in religious history told BFM TV. Deputy Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told the channel that workers were scrambling "to save all the artworks that can be saved." Officials later said teams had managed to salvage an unknown quantity of the cultural treasures. 'Emotion of a nation' Macron cancelled a planned policy speech and headed to the scene, where he vowed the cathedral would be reborn. "We will rebuild Notre-Dame because it is what the French expect," he said, describing Notre Dame as "the epicentre of our life" and the cathedral of "all the French", whether religious or not. France's billionaire Pinault dynasty immediately pledged 100 million euros for the effort. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Notre-Dame cathedral a "symbol of European culture" as the blaze raged. The Vatican on Monday expressed its "incredulity" and "sadness" over the fire. 'Water bombers not used' One firefighter was seriously injured in the blaze, the fire brigade said. US President Donald Trump in a tweet said it was "horrible" to watch the fire but caused controversy by offering advice on how to put it out. "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" he said. But France's civil security service, which oversees crisis management in the country, tweeted back at Trump that the use of water-bombing aircraft was not being considered. "If used, (this) could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral," it said. 'Will never be the same' The cathedral was located at the centre of the French capital in the Middle Ages and its construction was completed in the mid-12th century after some 200 years of work. During the French Revolution in the 18th century, the cathedral was vandalised in widespread anti-Catholic violence: its spire was dismantled, its treasures plundered and its large statues at the grand entrance doors destroyed. It would go on to feature as a central character in a Victor Hugo novel published in 1831, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" and shortly afterwards a restoration project lasting two decades got under way, led by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The building survived the devastation of two global conflicts in the 20th century and famously rang its bells on August 24, 1944, the day of the Liberation of Paris from German occupation at the end of the World War II. "Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before," said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s. Jacky Lafortune, a 72-year-old artist and self-described atheist stood forlornly on the banks of the River Seine staring at the cathedral. Comparing the mood in the French capital to the aftermath of a terror attack he said: "But this stirs much deeper emotions because Notre-Dame is linked to the very foundations of our culture." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 18:14 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8733537ac 1 Politics quick-count,Constitutional-Court,2019-presidential-election,#2019PresidentialElection,#2019GeneralElections,2019-general-election,pemilu-2019 Free Pollsters are allowed to publish their quick counting results of the 2019 election two hours after polls in western Indonesia close on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court (MK) has declared. In a ruling on Tuesday, the nine-panel bench rejected a judicial review petition filed by the Indonesian Public Opinion Research Association (AROPI) challenging Article 449, paragraph 5, of the 2017 Elections Law. The court said it would uphold the provision to protect the voting rights of all Indonesians. This means that pollsters will only be allowed to reveal quick-count results at 3 p.m. western Indonesia time (WIB) or Jakarta time. Justice Enny Nurbaningsih pointed out that Indonesia had three different time zones, and a two-hour difference between eastern Indonesia and Jakarta meant that voters living in the latter region would be casting their ballots earlier. And if pollsters were to release their data in real time, she added, quick counts would be made public before many voters in western Indonesia even had the chance to arrive at polling stations, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Because of advanced digital technology, it is much easier now to broadcast quick-count results. But this can potentially influence voters [who have yet to cast their ballots], Enny said while reading out the ruling on Tuesday. In the petition, AROPI argued that the provision contradicted the 1945 Constitution because it crippled the right to access and deliver information. However, Enny countered that the provision did not violate peoples rights as it only delayed the release of early vote-counting results by two hours. The delay, she added, aimed at protecting the right to vote and ensuring a free and fair election. The ruling on Tuesday marked the first time since 2009 that the court restricted the release of quick-count results. In 2014 and 2009, the court annulled similar provisions stipulated in the 2012 Elections Law and 2008 Elections Law, respectively. Justice Saldi Isra, however, argued that there was no restriction for the court to change its stance, especially when the reversal was in line with efforts to protect the constitutional rights of voters. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 12:04 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873341d3b 1 Business single-fuel-price-program,progress,pertamina Free State-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina said it has established 124 gas stations in frontier, outermost and least developed (3T) regions as part of its single fuel price program. Pertaminas vice president of corporate communications, Fajriyah Usman, said the company had distributed 88,543 kiloliters of fuel in December last year. Most of the gas stations were located on Papua Island (28), followed by Kalimantan (27), Sumatra (24), Nusa Tenggara (16), Sulawesi (14), Maluku (11) as well as Java and Bali (four each). I am optimistic that we can maintain this program and can achieve the target of 160 gas stations all over Indonesia, Fajriyah said in a statement on Monday. More and more people will benefit from the program. The fuel is sold for Rp 6,450 (46 US cents) per liter for Premium-branded gasoline and Rp 5,150 per l for Solar-branded diesel. Fajriyah gave an example of Mentawai Island in West Sumatra, where Pertamina erected four gas stations and distributed about 50,000 liters of Premium and Solar fuel every month in cooperation with local companies PT. Rimata Saibi Jaya, PT. Ekindo Putra Andalas, PT. Energi Saibi Jaya and PT. Ekindo Putra Andalas. The single fuel price is based on Presidential Regulation No. 43/2018, which is a revision of Presidential Regulation No. 191/2014 on procurement, distribution and fuel retail sales, which among other, ensures that the price of Premium and Solar fuels are the same all over the country. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 11:39 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87334162b 1 City begal,police,street-crime,petty-crime,Tanah-Abang Free Two men were arrested by Tanah Abang Police officers after one of them allegedly held out a machete in a threatening manner in front of a plainclothes officer on Saturday. Tanah Abang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Lukman Cahyono said on Monday that the arrest was made near Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta. When the officer was passing down a road near the market, he saw the two men act suspiciously on a motorcycle. "The officer, who is tasked with patrolling Tanah Abang Market, saw them and became suspicious," Lukman said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com. The officer followed them, prompting them to speed up, and a chase ensued. The officer stopped them at an overpass on Jl. KH Mas Mansyur. One of them allegedly got off the motorcycle, approached the officer and asked for any valuable belongings while holding out a machete. "At that time, he [the cop] immediately told them that he was a police officer," Lukman added. They initially tried to run away, but when the officer reprimanded them, they decided to stay and surrender. The police are still investigating the case and determining whether the two men are begal (violent robbers) or simply juveniles who were ready to brawl. They are currently detained at the Tanah Abang Police office. Along with the arrest, the police officer seized the machete and their motorcycle. (vla) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sri Wahyuni (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Tue, April 16, 2019 20:24 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873357f5b 1 National UGM,kita-AGNI,gender-equality,Times-Higher-Education Free Gadjah Mada University (UGM) has been listed among the worlds top 50 in gender equality according to the recently announced Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2019. The list was announced after UGM made headlines in November last year following an investigation report published by Balairung, its student magazine, based on the testimony of a female student identified as Agni. Agni told the magazine that a fellow student had allegedly raped her during university-sanctioned fieldwork in a Maluku village on June 30, 2017. The case was eventually settled out of court despite calls for the perpetrator to be punished. It surprised me. The Agni case was such a slap in the face for UGM, Muhadjir Darwin, chairperson of the drafting team for the UGM rector regulation on the prevention of and response to sexual violence, told The Jakarta Post recently. Times Higher Education (THE), a London-based weekly magazine reporting on news and issues related to higher education, announced recently the results of its first edition of the university impact rankings. Claimed to be the only global performance table that assesses universities against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), THE University Impact Rankings 2019 included more than 450 universities from 76 countries. UGM was ranked 50 in gender equality and 70 in decent work and economic growth. I believe that if UGM has a high score in gender equality, the score must have come from other indicators, he said, adding he was aware of many positive sides to the universitys track record on gender issues. Providing an example, he said UGM does not discriminate against women when it considers top positions. We once had a female rector, he said. In the faculty, department and study programs, many of the posts are held by women, said Muhadjir, who is also chairman of UGM's postgraduate leadership and policy innovation study program. He also mentioned the high proportion of female students at UGM and the fact that gender issues were also included in the curriculum. I happen to be a lecturer of gender mainstreaming and gender and population courses, he said. UGMs Center for Population and Policy Studies, he added, was also home to numerous experts on gender issues. The center frequently initiated gender-centered studies and conferences. The Agni case is indeed deplorable. Yet, UGM has also carried out corrective measures including the planned issuance of a rector regulation to prevent a similar case from occurring again, he said. On its website, THE said it used carefully calibrated indicators to provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across three broad areas: research, outreach and stewardship. THE also said Japan was the most-represented nation in the table with 41 institutions, followed by the US with 31 and Russia with 30. UGMs quality assurance office head Indra Wijaya Kusuma said for this year, THE used 11 out of 17 aspects of the SDGs. UGM, he said, was one out of 462 universities ranked, six of which were from Indonesia. UGM took part in all the 11 aspects ranked. The gender equality ranking, according to Indra, was based on the proportion of the universitys female academic staff and students compared to their male counterparts, as well as on the number of female students who were first in their families to study at a higher education institution. UGMs policy that gives women the opportunity to access higher education is considered to support the SDGs, Indra said. On the decent work and economic growth aspects, he added, the ranking was based on the number of students as well as academic and nonacademic staff, inclusive policies and a commitment to pay attention to the well-being of staff. For other aspects, such as industrial innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequality, climate action, peace justice and strong institutions, as well as partnership for the goals, Indra said, UGM was ranked 101. UGM will continue to increase its contribution for the SDGs, he added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rachmadea Aisyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 17 2019 Harvest time: A worker gathers oil palm fruit bunches at a plantation in Lampung. Indonesia and Malaysia, the first- and second-largest palm oil producers, have threatened to challenge the European Union via the World Trade Organization if the EU continues to phase out palm oil from transportation fuel. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama) The diplomatic effort to counter the negative campaign against Indonesias palm oil in the European Union is proving to be much harder than expected, said a senior minister who just returned from a diplomatic mission to end misconceptions about the product. The massive campaign against the use of palm oil in Europe has derived from a misunderstanding among Europeans that the commodity damages the environment, thus preventing Indonesia and other palm oil-producing countries from getting a fair hearing, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said. 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 Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 17 2019 About a week ago I whatsapped my masseuse Ibu Wati to ask her to come and give me her two-hour fatigue-banishing massage at home. She normally sees me sans makeup, in a sarong, before I go au naturel for her healing hands. Since I had just been to an event at the Indian Embassy wearing a sari, I sent her a photo of me in an eye-dazzling lime-green sari to show her, hey, this is what I look like when I get dressed up! Instead of saying something about my outfit, she asked me Are you campaigning for Prabowo? 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 Image credit: WIkimedia commons Kolkata, Apr 16 (UNI/IBNS): India has asked Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to leave the country immediately as he was found electioneering for West Bengal-ruling Trinamool Congress. The Union home ministry also asked for a report from the Bureau of Immigration after Ferdous Ahmed's presence at a Trinamool roadshow at Raiganj in north Bengal triggered controversy before the 2nd phase polling for three Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal on April 18. The Bangladeshi actor, who was on a business visa, was also blacklisted by the Indian government and has been asked to immediately leave the country. The Union Home Ministry had earlier sought a report from Foreigners Regional Registration Office on the issue, media reports said. The fresh development occurred after several TV channels and regional media showed images of Ferdous, who has worked in many Indian Bengali movies, campaigning for the party. Ferdous, a popular name in Bangladesh, campaigned for Trinamools Lok Sabha candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district. However, when asked about the Bangladeshi actor, Agarwal said: "I've no idea about the specific rally you are talking about where Ferdous Ahmed or any other actor, actress took part." The Tranamool Congress has rejected the claims that the actor has campaigned for the party. "Trinamool did not invite him. He came for another programme in the area and decided to join the campaign. He is very popular in this area," the party was quoted as saying by News 18. The BJP had complained to the Election Commission over the issue. Bangladesh High Commissioner has reportedly directed the actor to return to his nation. Image credit: WIkimedia commons Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Paris Tue, April 16, 2019 19:04 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa873354984 2 News Disneyland,Disneyland-Paris,travel,destination,plastic-straw,environment Free Disneyland Paris on Monday announced a series of measures to make Europe's biggest private tourist attraction more environmentally friendly, including banning plastic straws. The theme park east of the French capital, which draws 15 million visitors a year, is like a small town in its own right, producing 19 tons of waste last year. It currently recycles paper, glass and 18 other types of materials accounting for around half of all its waste, a level it aims to increase to 60 percent in 2020, said Nicole Ouimet-Herter, the park's environment manager. Starting Thursday it will bin plastic straws, to be replaced with fully biodegradable paper versions that will be distributed only if patrons request them. The announcement follows a vote last month in the European Parliament to ban single-use plastic products such as straws, cutlery and cotton buds from 2021. It comes as pressure mounts on companies and citizens to wean themselves off the plastics blamed for clogging up oceans. Disneyland Paris, owned by The Walt Disney Company, also announced several other initiatives to clean up its act. Read also: Disney raises California park prices 10% to almost $150 per day Next week, shops in the park will stop handing out free plastic bags, offering instead the option of purchasing bags made of 80 percent recycled plastic for 1 or 2 euros ($1.13-$2.26). And starting in June several of the park's hotels will no longer stock bathrooms with small bottles of shower gel or shampoo, replacing them with bigger ones that can be refilled. Euro Disney, the park's operator, said it was also planning to install solar panels on the sprawling 22-square-kilometre site to get more power from renewables. Currently, renewable energy sources account for only 10 percent of the electricity used. "We are undertaking concrete actions to reduce our impact on the environment. But we also have the power to dazzle children and want to have a positive influence on them to encourage them to take care of nature," said Mireille Smeets, Euro Disney's director of corporate social responsibility. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Catherine Triomphe with Lucie Aubourg in Washington (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States Tue, April 16, 2019 15:08 975 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87334a6fd 2 News Notre-Dame,Paris,Notre-Dame-Cathedral,France,destination,travel Free "Very sad," "shocked:" these were the reactions of Americans to the fire at Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, an 850-year-old landmark whose destruction wiped out centuries of heritage. "When I heard the news, it did strike me at a personal level," said Amy Sapenoff, 33, after attending a mass in the capital Washington. The high school history teacher, a Catholic, explained she went on a walking pilgrimage last year from Notre-Dame to the Saint James the Great shrine in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in northwestern Spain. "I'm extremely grateful, because I was able to go, to see it and to go for mass," she added tearfully. IT consultant Nicolas Nader, 48, said he was "heartbroken." "My earliest memory of it is reading Victor Hugo novel about it," he added of the cathedral, which he described as a "Catholic treasure." Outside Washington's National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception -- one of the 10 largest churches in the world -- Simon Ciccarillo, 24, said he could not "understand" the tragedy. "I was very sad, I actually started kind of tear up a little bit," the Colombian-American, who works at the Department of Justice, told AFP. Read also: Macron vows to rebuild Notre-Dame after devastating fire 'A symbol of Paris' In New York, 90-year-old writer Judith Gutman recalled the "horror" of seeing Notre-Dame burning in images online. "I was in Paris many, many times, I have seen Notre-Dame," she said near St Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of Manhattan. "I am not religious, but as an icon, as a building, a structure that is a symbol of Paris, it is shocking." For Matt Shrock, in New York on vacation with his wife and two children, it was "horrible" to see images of the tragedy. "We were shocked, hoping that there was not something terrorist-related... it's unfortunately these days one of the first things that goes to your mind." On social media, some compared the fire to the images of New York's Twin Towers burning after two planes crashed into them in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. But the comparison was short-lived, since there were no victims in the Notre-Dame blaze and no link to terrorism has been established. 'Iconic' For Katie Conper, a student of Scottish history, pictures of Notre-Dame's iconic spire crumbling in the flames drew comparisons to the 1666 Great Fire of London. "As a historian, it makes me very sad," said the 23-year-old, visiting from Toronto. "As somebody who has never visited Paris before, it makes me even more sad, I always heard about Notre-Dame and I always thought about visiting this iconic landmark." From the steps of St Patrick's Cathedral, whose doors opened in 1879, Cardinal Timothy Dolan -- the archbishop of New York -- said he prayed for the French cathedral and expressed the "sorry that we feel over the devastating fire at Notre-Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris." "Indeed, the very heart of Europe and certainly the heart of civilization in so many ways," he added. "I can only imagine... what it would do to us if a fire struck St Patrick's. We would all sense there's a fire in our home. That's what a cathedral really is." 11 hours ago 3 Quality Tech Stocks to Buy on the Dip Time to Buy the Dip in Quality Tech Companies? Investors have been dealing with a volatile stretch in the market during the past few weeks, especially in the tech sector. Many of the big winners from earlier in the year are well off of their 52-week highs and continue to face selling pressure on rallies. Read Article Sell Out: How Corruption, Voter Fraud and a Neoliberal Turn Led Ecuadors Lenin to Give Up Assange Desperate to ingratiate his government with Washington and distract the public from his mounting scandals, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has sacrificed Julian Assange and his countrys independence By Denis Rogatyuk April 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The images of six Metropolitan police officers dragging Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London have provoked rage by citizens around the world. Many have warned that his extradition to the US for trial on conspiracy charges and possibly much more if federal prosecutors have their way will lead to the criminalization of many standard journalistic practices. These scenes were only possible thanks to the transformation of Ecuadors government under the watch of President Lenin Moreno. Since at least December 2018, Moreno has been working towards expelling Assange from the embassy. The Ecuadorian presidents behavior represents a stunning reversal from the policies of his predecessor, Rafael Correa, the defiantly progressive who first authorized Assanges asylum back in 2012, and who now lives in exile. While Ecuadors Foreign Minister, Jose Valencia, blamed his governments expulsion of Assange on the Australian journalists rudeness, the sell out is clearly a byproduct of Morenos right-leaning agenda. Political instability has swept across Ecuador since revelations of widespread corruption in Morenos inner circle emerged. The scandal coincided with Morenos turn towards neoliberal economic reforms, from implementing a massive IMF loan package to the gradual and total embrace and support for the US foreign policy in the region. In his bid to satisfy Washington and deflect from his own problems, Moreno was all too eager to sacrifice Assange. The INA Papers scandal and growing political instability WikiLeakss decision to re-publish the details of Morenos use of off-shore bank accounts in Panama, infamously titled INA Papers after the name of the shell corporation at the centre of the scandal (INA Investment Corporation) appear to be the main cause for the presidents decision to expel Assange from the embassy. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Ecuadorian Communications Minister Andres Michelena event went as far as claiming that the INA Papers were a conspiracy plot between Julian Assange, the former president Rafael Correa and the current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The INA Papers scandal has cast a long shadow on Morenos regime and shattered its pledge to fight against institutional corruption. The scandal reveals that a close associate of Moreno, Xavier Macias, lobbied for the contract of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power plant (valued at $2.8 billion) as well as the ZAMORA 3000 MW plant to be awarded Sinohydro, a Chinese state-owned construction company. The financial trail from the Chinese corporation passed through bank accounts in Panama belonging to INA Investment Corporation a shell company originally founded in Belize, a notable tax haven, by Edwin Moreno Garces, the brother of the current President. The most crucial pieces of evidence indicate that the INA Investment funds were used for the purchase of a 140 m2 apartment in the city of Alicante, Spain, and a number of luxury items for President Moreno and his family in Geneva, Switzerland, during his time as a special envoy on disability rights in the United Nations. As the pressure mounted on Moreno, the Attorney General of Ecuador issued a statement on March 19th, indicating that it had commenced an investigation into the INA Papers scandal involving the president and his family. Next, on March 27th, the National Assembly of Ecuador approved a vote in favor of investigating Morenos alleged off-shore bank dealings in Panama. According to Ecuador Inmediato, 153 public service officials, along with all members of the National Assembly, were also included in the initial public hearing scheduled for April 1st. The corruption scandal came amid a number of other prominent crises disrupting both the Moreno administration and the Ecuadorian economy. The local and regional elections of March 24th, as well as the election to the Council of Citizens Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) on March 24th, have been riddled with a series of controversies and irregularities with regards to vote counts and allegations of fraud, including the attempts to invalidate null votes, disqualify and smear the candidates endorsed by ex-President Rafael Correa. The stunning lack of transparency and legitimacy was highlighted by a report of the mission of electoral observers of the Organisation of American States. In an unusual twist, the US ambassador, Todd Chapman, was spotted visiting the headquarters of Ecuadors National Electoral Council during the March 24th elections and allegedly participated as an official electoral observer in the elections. This display of interference was widely condemned on social media as illegal under the current electoral rules, which forbid foreign powers from playing any active role in the observing or interfering the electoral process. But in Morenos Ecuador, it was a perfect symbol of the new status quo. The IMF Deal and a turn towards the US During the recent meeting of the Executive Board of the IMF, the financial body approved a loan package of $4.2 billion to the government of Lenin Moreno for what it called a more dynamic, sustainable, and inclusive economy for the benefit of all Ecuadorians. The agreement coincided with layoffs of over 10,000 public sector workers, in addition to the ongoing policy of slashing in public and social spending, a decrease in the level of minimum wage and the removal of secure work protections that marked the sharp neoliberal turn of the Ecuadorian government under Moreno. The IMF deal coincided with the intensifying attempts by the Ecuadorian government to proceed with the expulsion of Julian Assange from its London embassy. His arrest therefore stands as a sign that Moreno is willing to give up any part of his countrys sovereignty political, diplomatic, or economic to comply with the demands of international finance. The same pattern has been seen in Morenos increasing level of collaboration with the Trump administration and its foreign policy in Latin America. From holding private meetings with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, to publicly hosting Mike Pence in the Ecuadorian presidential palace, to authorizing the opening of a new Security Cooperation Office in place of the old US military base in Manta, Morenos embrace of Trumps Monroeist policy towards Latin America has become all too apparent. At the same time, Moreno has gone to great lengths to undo the progress of Latin American unity and integration initiated by his predecessor and other progressive leaders in the region. On March 13th, Lenin Moreno announced that Ecuador would leave the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) international agreement originally founded in 2008 by leaders of South Americas so-called pink tide like Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Lula Da Silva of Brazil. The project was inspired by the long-standing vision of Simon Bolivar who envisaged South America as a federation of various republics, and was meant to consolidate the growing economic and political integration among the increasingly progressive governments across the region, ultimately emulating the current structure of the European Union. Moreno complained in his press release that UNASUR has been compromised by the lack of participation of the right-leaning governments in the region, as well as what he called, irresponsible actions of certain leaders that replicated the worst vices of socialism of the 21st Century. In a manner similar to Francisco Santander and the project of Gran Colombia during the 1820s, Moreno has opted for a pro-US foreign policy and commercial relations based on free trade and economic liberalization. He has also followed the path of other right-wing leaders in the region such as Jair Bolsonaro and Mauricio Macri in officially recognizing Juan Guaido as the President of Venezuela. Moreno was even among the attendees of the founding summit of Prosur, a newly convened regional block of US-aligned neoliberal governments. Who will trust in ECUADOR again? Morenos decision to silence Julian Assange and expel him enabled the president to gain the trust of the Trump administration while distracting the Ecuadorian public and international media from his mounting crises at home. From corrupt dealing in off-shore bank accounts, the fraudulent elections of March 24th and his mishandling of the Ecuadorian economy, Moreno is in a world of trouble. This has not escaped the notice of Correa, the former President of Ecuador who first authorized Julian Assanges asylum back in 2012. After having his page blocked on Facebook, Correa stated that In his hatred, because Wikileaks published corruption of INA papers, Moreno wanted to destroy Assanges life. He probably did it, but he has also done a huge damage to the country. Who will trust in ECUADOR again? Overall, Ecuador has come to resemble the neoliberal regimes of the 1990s across the continent, with IMF-sanctioned austerity, increasingly unstable state institutions and an almost complete obedience to the US foreign policy in the region becoming the new policy standard. Handing Assange over for possible extradition to the US was the inevitable result of Morenos turn to the right, but it is hardly the end of his sell out Denis is a Russian-Australian freelance writer, journalist and researcher. His articles, interviews and analysis have been published in a variety of media sources around the world including Jacobin, Le Vent Se Leve, Sputnik, Green Left Weekly, Links International Journal, Alborada and others. This article was originally published by " GrayZone " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Watch: How President Lenin Moreno Sold Out Julian Assange : Former president Rafael Correa US Military Attack on Venezuela Mulled by Top Trump Advisors and Latin American Officials at Private DC Meeting Lawyer alleges Ecuador spread lies about WikiLeaks founder Watch: How President Lenin Moreno Sold Out Julian Assange : Former president Rafael Correa Ecuador releases Photos of Two Dirty Dishes and Spotlessly Clean Bathroom Media Claims Julian Assange Had a Fetid Lair Facebook blocks page of ex-Ecuadorian leader Rafael Correa 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 April 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Heres a statement it might be hard to disagree with: American war is off the charts. Still, Id like to explain -- but Im nervous about doing so. I know perfectly well that the next word I plan to write will send most of you tumbling elsewhere in a universe in which news is the latest grotesque mass shooting; the craziest tweet from you-know-who; celebrities marching into court over college-admissions scandals; or even a boy, missing for years, who suddenly turns up only to morph into a 23-year-old impostor with a criminal record. How can America's wars in distant lands compete with that? Which is why I just cant bring myself to write the next word. So promise me that, after you read it, youll hang in there for just a minute and give me a chance to explain. Okay, here goes: Somalia. A country in the horn of Africa, it once glued American eyeballs, but that was so last century, right? I mean, there was that bestselling book and that hit Hollywood movie directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien!) about the disaster early in Bill Clintons presidency that came to be known as Black Hawk Down (aka the battle of Mogadishu). In the age of Donald Trump, wasnt that a million presidencies ago? Honestly, can you even tell me anymore what in the world it was all about? I couldnt have, not without looking it up again. A warlord, starvation, U.S. intervention, 18 dead American soldiers (and hundreds of dead Somalis, but that hardly mattered) in a country that was shattering. President Clinton did, however, pull out those troops and end the disastrous mission -- and that was that, right? I mean, lessons learned. Somalia? Africa? What in the world did it all have to do with us? So Washington washed its hands of the whole thing. And now, on a planet of outrageous tweets and murderously angry white men, you probably didnt even notice, but more than two years into the era of Donald Trump, a quarter-century after that incident, American air strikes in... yep, Somalia, are precipitously on the rise. Last year's 47 strikes, aimed at the leaders and fighters of al-Shabaab, an Islamist terror outfit, more than tripled the ones carried out by the Obama administration in 2016 (themselves a modest increase from previous years). And in 2019, theyre already on pace to double again, while Somali civilians -- not that anyone (other than Somali civilians) notices or cares -- are dying in significant and rising numbers. And with 500 troops back on the ground there and Pentagon estimates that they will remain for at least another seven years, the U.S. military is increasingly Somalia-bound, Congress hasnt uttered a peep on the subject, and few in this country are paying the slightest attention. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter So consider this a simple fact of the never-ending Global War on Terror (as it was once called): the U.S. military just cant get enough of Somalia. And if that isnt off the charts, what is? Maybe its even worth a future book (with a very small print run) called not Black Hawk Down II but U.S. Down Forever and a Day. And now that Ive started on the subject (if you still happen to be reading), when it comes to the U.S. military, its not faintly just Somalia. Its all of Africa. After all, this countrys military uniquely has a continent-wide Africa Command (aka AFRICOM), founded in 2007. As Nick Turse has often written for TomDispatch, that command now has its troops, thousands of them, its planes, and other equipment spread across the continent, north to south, east to west -- air bases, drone bases, garrisons, outposts, staging areas, you name it. Meanwhile, AFRICOM's outgoing commanding general, Thomas Waldhauser, only recently told Congress why it's bound to be a forever outfit -- because, shades of the Cold War, the Ruskies are coming! (Russia is also a growing challenge and has taken a more militaristic approach in Africa.) And honestly, 600-odd words in, this wasnt meant to be a piece about either Somalia or Africa. It was meant to be about those U.S. wars being off the charts, about how the Pentagon now feeds eternally at the terror trough, al-Shabaab being only a tiny part of the slop it regularly digests. So, for the seven of you still reading, let me change the subject to something a little more appealingly -- to quote a well-known authority -- ridiculous when it comes to American war. A Ridiculous War Maybe you wont be surprised to learn that what I have in mind is the war in Afghanistan, another of Washingtons off-the-charts affairs. It might even qualify as the original one (if you dont count Vietnam, which would take you back to the Neolithic Age of the U.S. militarys infinite wars). Lest you think I only mean the war that began in Afghanistan after the terror attacks of 9/11, think again. Im talking about the American war in that distant land that started in 1979, the decade-long conflict in which the U.S. supported extreme Islamists (including a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden) -- they were our guys, then -- to successfully force the Red Army out of Afghanistan. That was in 1989, 30 years ago, and a triumphant Washington promptly took more than a decade-long holiday, while a brutal set of civil wars continued in already devastated Afghanistan and the Taliban rose to power in most of the country. Then, as in Somalia, having learned their lesson (the wrong one, of course), George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and crew decided after 9/11 to emulate... well, the Red Army (even though the Soviet Union had imploded a decade earlier) and occupy the Afghan capital, Kabul. For the only great power left on the planet, facing a lightly armed extremist group, what could possibly go wrong? Seventeen and a half years later, Congress has rarely focused on the war (not) to end all wars and there are still 14,000 American troops (and the usual set of private contractors) there, along with enough U.S. air power to... well, blow up a lot but not change anything decisively. Of course, the Taliban was long ago sent to hell in a hand basket... ...Whoops! The Taliban in 2019 is stronger and in control of more territory than at any moment since it was driven from power in November 2001. Staggering billions of American taxpayer dollars have gone into the reconstruction of that land to little effect (while the domestic infrastructure of the United States has begun to crumble without significant new federal investment). Meanwhile, the security forces of the American-backed Afghan government have been taking casualties at a reportedly unsustainable rate. After not paying much attention to all of this for something like a decade and a half, the American people did, however inadvertently, vote into the White House a presidential candidate who had long had dissident thoughts about the Afghan War. Typical was this 2012 tweet of his: Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home! And its not a set of thoughts Donald Trump tossed overboard once he entered the Oval Office either. Only the other day, he ludicrously praised the great strides in Afghanistan that the U.S. military and NATO are(nt) making in an awkward meeting with that alliances secretary general (in which he also managed to claim that his father -- distinctly from the Bronx, New York -- had been born and raised in Germany). He then doubled back and termed the Afghan War ridiculous and unfortunate. And last December, soon after he announced that he was pulling all U.S. troops out of Syria (on which more in a moment), he essentially demanded that the U.S. military cut its forces in Afghanistan from 14,000 to 7,000 as part of its route (not rout!) out. That number was assumedly meant to include the 3,000 troops he had been persuaded to add to U.S. forces there in his first year in office. As it happened, however, the Pentagon had its own forward-looking ideas on how to withdraw from Afghanistan. Having already turned that war into the longest in American history, the high command was now evidently vying for another awe-inspiring record: the longest withdrawal of American forces from a war zone ever -- a three-to-five-year span of time with perhaps an initial cut of 7,000 somewhere in the months to come (though I wouldnt hold my breath on the subject). In that way, they were working to produce an American war of at least 21 years (USA! USA!), while perhaps also hoping to outlast this president and get one willing to commit to forever war forever. Admittedly, the Trump administration has also launched peace talks with the Taliban and who knows where they might lead sooner or later. Still, when it comes to the ridiculous war the president continues to belittle, give credit where its due. It remains robustly, even disastrously, ongoing and off the charts. The Trump Surge And none of that compares to Trumps Syrian debacle. In December, the president publicly overruled his advisers and ordered that the 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in that country be withdrawn within 30 days. We have won against ISIS, he declared in a video posted on Twitter. Our boys, our young women, our men -- theyre all coming back, and theyre coming back now. I think of what followed as the Trump surge, the third of the era. The first, of course, was General David Petraeuss 2007 surge into Iraq with more than 20,000 American troops. Its aim: to turn the disastrous occupation of that country that followed George W. Bushs May 2003 mission accomplished moment into a raging success. Petraeus, in fact, made his reputation on that turn-around of a surge... until, of course, it wasnt, and by then he had moved on. The second surge was President Obamas decision to send more than 30,000 new U.S. troops into Afghanistan in 2009 -- and, of course, you know how that turned out. (See above.) Now, appropriately enough, weve had an upside down, inside-out surge in Syria. Honestly, it could have been a Saturday Night Live routine, complete with Alec Baldwin. In response to Trumps withdrawal decision, Secretary of Defense James Mattis promptly resigned and was almost instantly lauded as an all-American hero by a Congress and a media in an uproar over the decision. Were talking, of course, about Mad Dog Mattis, the former Marine general who so classically said of fighting the Taliban, It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling. And then, in February, as the pressure on the president ramped up, there was the first partial retreat. Think of it as the beginning of a withdrawal from the withdrawal. The news leaked out that, in a concession to Pentagon officials, 200 U.S. troops would be left in Syria for a period of time. It only took another day for that number to rise to 400. Then, in mid-March, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in reality, 1,000 troops would be left in that country, a figure promptly and definitively denied (factually incorrect) by no less a personage than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. By months end, however, that factually incorrect figure had been confirmed -- 1,000 U.S. personnel would indeed remain indefinitely, or at least until the fall of 2020. Where the Trump surge will go from here we simply dont know as the subject has largely dropped from the news. The President From Riyadh? Meanwhile, dont forget the war that, unlike Afghanistan and Syria, Donald Trump may not be able to imagine ending, the only one on which, since 2001, Congress has taken a stand. Im thinking, of course, about the grim U.S.-backed Saudi and Emirati war in Yemen. As April began, Congress passed a resolution calling on the president to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting Yemen within 30 days. (Of course, you already know how well such 30-day deadlines work when it comes to Americas wars.) In the single most obvious situation in which a war (or at least American involvement in it) might possibly be ended, in which the president with the help of Congress might actually override the national security states urge to fight on anywhere and everywhere, President Trump may sign the second veto of his term in office and successfully nix the congressional resolution. And if so, who could be surprised. Its obviously the wrong off-the-charts war for the president from Riyadh to end -- or have I, like the president himself, gotten confused about which Trump was born where? Oh yes, and talking about learning ones lessons, as well as truly going off the charts... As the 2020 elections approach, watch out. Theres one possible American war still to come in the Greater Middle East. You know, the one that wont be off the charts, thats bound to turn out well given the deep pool of experience and reflection on American war making that will have preceded it. Im thinking, of course, about a potential war with Iran (the one the Bush administration's top officials wished for before they bogged down so disastrously in Iraq and Afghanistan). President Trumps foreign-policy team -- National Security Advisor John Bolton (a relic of the Bush years) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- are visibly dying (if thats the right word) for just such a war and the president who ripped up the Obama administrations Iran nuclear deal, recently declared Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terror group, and has been threatening Iran ever since, seems all too open to it as well. So, for the last few of us still here thinking about American wars, I would say that when it comes to off the charts, its possible that you aint seen nothin yet. Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He runs TomDispatch.com and is a fellow of the Type Media Center. His sixth and latest book is A Nation Unmade by War (Dispatch Books). Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffers new dystopian novel (the second in the Splinterlands series) Frostlands, Beverly Gologorsky's novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power and John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II. Copyright 2019 Tom Engelhardt Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== US Government Still Fighting to Keep Truth About CIA Torture Secret: The American people remain clueless as to the full extent of the torture, kidnapping, and killing carried out in the name of avenging those killed on September 11, 2001. 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 A historian and professor at Central Michigan University talked with The Morning Sun on the significance of yesterdays fire at Notre Dame. The Notre Dame de Paris was found to be ablaze around 6:30 p.m., Central European Summer Time, Monday night, according to several news outlets. The cathedrals roof and spire were destroyed by the blaze, with the cause currently under investigation. Christi Brookes, Professor of French and World Languages and Cultures at CMU, talked with The Morning Sun to explain how the cathedral is internationally significant and what the future holds for the Parisian landmark. Its a national treasure and a world heritage site, she said. The cathedral wraps into the identity of Paris and France itself. She also compared the buildings significance to the country with the significance of famous American buildings like the Empire State Building and the Pentagon. The key difference between the American buildings and Notre Dame is that the history of France can also be traced with the history of Notre Dame. For those buildings (the American buildings), it would be a tragedy, culturally and architecturally to see them go down like Notre Dame, she said. The key difference between those and Notre Dame is that none of them hold so much density in what has passed through the cathedral. Several moments in Frances history involved the cathedral in some capacity, according to Brookes. Some of those moments include the announcing of the Frenchs liberation from the Germans in World War II and many funerals of French presidents. Distances in France used to be measured from how far they were from Notre Dame, not just Paris, Brookes said. She also said that the cathedral is both a spiritual and cultural landmark. While listening to the news coverage of the fire, there was a chief rabbi in France who said that, while Notre Dame has Catholic roots, the cathedral was a spiritual gathering place for people of all faiths in Paris, she said. Notre Dames importance in the Catholic faith is shown through the number of holy relics are stored at the church. Some of those relics include parts the crown of thorns worn by Jesus during the crucifixion and the tunic of St. Louis, otherwise known as Louis IX of France, a king of France who was the only one to be canonized, according to Brookes. The officials at the cathedrals are still taking inventory of all the holy relics after the fire occurred, Brookes said. Several of Brookes colleagues, as well as current and former students were devastated by the fire, as they know importance of the cathedral to French culture. A lot of the responses that she saw from them came from questions about Notre Dame and Facebook posts about the disaster, she said. For some of these students, their experience of studying abroad in France involves Notre Dame, she said. Its always a big part for them. In the past, the church has gone through issues with the architecture needing to be updated, seeing as it started to be built in the 12th century, Brookes said. The aged architecture was made more vulnerable during the fire. The architecture is constantly eroding, she said. The building is constantly being renovated, which needs to be done carefully. French billionaires have pledges millions of Euros towards the rebuilding of the cathedrals, getting close to what will translate to around $1 billion in U.S. dollars, according to Brookes. President Emmanuel Macron talked about having France contribute to the rebuilding of Notre Dame and will be opening donations from private donors around the world. While the fire did take down the roof and the spire of Notre Dame, Brookes said that there is still hope in the future of Notre Dame. French citizens, from politicians to people, have said that Notre Dame has been broken and in danger before, she said. They emphasized that they have rebuilt before and they will do it again, continuing to make it available for the world. The Lexus LFA has been seen as a one-off demonstration of Toyota's ability to build with the best of them, rather than the first in a new line of L-badged supercars. So far, Lexus has confirmed plans for only 500 cars, including 50 track-prepped Special Edition variants. Despite being less than two years old however, the LFA is quickly becoming yesterday's news. That's how it is in the car industry. Now, reports out of Japan suggest Toyota is planning something more. Details are thin on the ground, but according to Japanese magazine Best Car, the carmaker is working on a so-called 'LFA II'. Whether the secret car is an update of the existing LFA or an all-new successor is unclear. We would think it unlikely that a brand-new model would be on the drawing-board soon after the LFA's debut. With no sources quoted, the report may simply be a fiction of the rumour mill. But now that it has begun, Toyota may find it hard to resist the call of battle. After all, there are ever-newer Lamborghinis, Ferraris and McLarens out there, waiting to be challenged. Can multiple carnivores coexist in cities? As growth makes neighborhoods more crowded for humans, it's also concentrating carnivores like bobcats and coyotes into the remaining green spaces, leading them to interact with each other more frequently than they do in wild areas, according to research in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. The citizen science study looks at how carnivores interact with each other when they're sharing space in small suburban forest patches. With the help of 557 volunteers and 1,260 remote cameras set up in suburban, exurban, rural and wild areas, the researchers documented 6,413 carnivores among nearly 43,000 images of wildlife. Carnivore species included bobcats and coyotes along with smaller gray and red foxes. "We found a lot of animal activity in the suburbs, but it was really concentrated in the remaining green space. We think carnivores are trying to avoid people, so they are moving through the strips of remaining forest, where they are more likely to interact with each other," says lead author Arielle Parsons, researcher with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University. "What we discovered was that preserving green space in our cities is important not only for humans but also for wildlife species. Green space provides cover, it provides food and it's a good way for carnivores to navigate without being in any danger from people." In general, the smaller carnivores steer clear of the larger ones. Some have theorized that smaller carnivores might stay closer to people, using them as "human shields" from larger predators. But that wasn't borne out by the study. "We found, on the contrary, that gray foxes and coyotes especially - our smallest species and our largest species - actually tended to use the same sites," Parsons says. "In other words, they didn't avoid each other, which was pretty surprising." For those who are wary about having carnivores in their midst, Parsons says it's actually a good thing, given the key role they play in the ecosystem. "Our study is showing that carnivores are trying to stay away from people by using forested areas," Parsons says. "If we give them the opportunity to do that through preservation of green space and green space corridors through our urban areas, carnivores are going to continue to live nearby, which is actually a good thing for the ecology of our cities." "Just like roadways and sidewalks focus human movement and increase the potential for interaction, we find the high use of strips of remaining green space by carnivores increases their level of interaction," says study co-author Roland Kays, a zoologist with NC State and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. "This shows how urban planning can affect the ecology of animals that share cities with people." ### The study was supported with funding from the National Science Foundation (grants 1232442 and 1319293). The VWR Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Smithsonian Institution also contributed to the work. Note: An abstract of the paper follows. "Urbanization focuses carnivore activity in remaining natural habitats, increasing species interactions" Authors: Arielle Parsons, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University; Christopher T. Rota, West Virginia University; Tavis Forester, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; Megan C. Baker-Whatton, The Nature Conservancy; William J. McShea, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; Stephanie G. Schuttler, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences; Joshua J. Millspaugh, University of Montana; Roland Kays; N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University Accepted: Journal of Applied Ecology DOI: https:/ / besjournals. onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ 10. 1111/ 1365-2664. 13385 Abstract: 1. Interspecific interactions can provoke temporal and spatial avoidance, ultimately affecting population densities and spatial distribution patterns. The ability (or inability) of species to coexist has consequences for diversity and ultimately ecosystem stability. Urbanization is predicted to change species interactions but its relative impact is not well known. Urbanization gradients offer the opportunity to evaluate the effect of humans on species interactions by comparing community dynamics across levels of disturbance. 2. We used camera traps deployed by citizen scientists to survey mammals along urbanization gradients of two cities (Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC, USA). We used a multispecies occupancy model with four competing predator species to test whether forest fragmentation, interspecific interactions, humans or prey had the greatest influence on carnivore distribution. 3. Our study produced 6,413 carnivore detections from 1,260 sites in two cities, sampling both private and public lands. All species used all levels of the urbanization gradient to a similar extent, but co-occurrence of urban-adapted foxes with less urban-adapted bobcats and coyotes was dependent on the availability of green space, especially as urbanization increased. This suggests green space allows less urban-adapted species to occupy suburban areas, but focuses their movements through remaining forest patches, leading to more species interactions. 4. Synthesis and applications. Species interactions, forest fragmentation and human-related covariates were important determinants of carnivore occupancy across a gradient of urbanization with the relative importance of forest fragmentation being highest. We found evidence of both positive and negative interactions across the gradient with some dependent on available green space, suggesting that fragmentation leads to higher levels of spatial interaction. Where green space is adequate, there appears to be sufficient opportunity for coexistence between carnivore species in an urban landscape. This story has been published on: 2019-04-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. MOSCOW, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Kremlin said Monday that a first-ever summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong Un is being prepared. "I can confirm that the meeting is being prepared. We have been talking about this for a long time," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "As soon as there is complete clarity on the time and venue of this meeting, we will inform you. So far we cannot tell you anything concrete," he said. Earlier on Monday, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kim may meet with Putin at the end of April on the eve of or right after Putin's visit to Beijing. During his trip to the DPRK on May 31 last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov extended Putin's invitation to Kim to visit Russia. Home Search ICH Brzezinski's Warning to America By Mike Whitney April 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The liberal world order, which lasted from the end of World War 2 until today, is rapidly collapsing. The center of gravity is shifting from west to east where China and India are experiencing explosive growth and where a revitalized Russia has restored its former stature as a credible global superpower. These developments, coupled with Americas imperial overreach and chronic economic stagnation, have severely hampered US ability to shape events or to successfully pursue its own strategic objectives. As Washingtons grip on global affairs continues to loosen and more countries reject the western development model, the current order will progressively weaken clearing the way for a multipolar world badly in need of a new security architecture. Western elites, who are unable to accept this new dynamic, continue to issue frenzied statements expressing their fear of a future in which the United States no longer dictates global policy. At the 2019 Munich Security Conference, Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, underscored many of these same themes. Heres an excerpt from his presentation: The whole liberal world order appears to be falling apart nothing is as it once was Not only do war and violence play a more prominent role again: a new great power confrontation looms at the horizon. In contrast to the early 1990s, liberal democracy and the principle of open markets are no longer uncontested. In this international environment, the risk of an inter-state war between great and middle powers has clearly increased.What we had been observing in many places around the world was a dramatic increase in brinkmanship, that is, highly risky actions on the abyss the abyss of war. No matter where you look, there are countless conflicts and crisesthe core pieces of the international order are breaking apart, without it being clear whether anyone can pick them up or even wants to. (Who will pick up the pieces?, Munich Security Conference) Ischinger is not alone in his desperation nor are his feelings limited to elites and intellectuals. By now, most people are familiar with the demonstrations that have rocked Paris, the political cage-match that is tearing apart England (Brexit), the rise of anti-immigrant right-wing groups that have sprung up across Europe, and the surprising rejection of the front-runner candidate in the 2016 presidential elections in the US. Everywhere the establishment and their neoliberal policies are being rejected by the masses of working people who have only recently begun to wreak havoc on a system that has ignored them for more than 30 years. Trumps public approval ratings have improved, not because he has drained the swamp as he promised, but because he is still seen as a Washington outsider despised by the political class, the foreign policy establishment and the media. His credibility rests on the fact that he is hated by the coalition of elites who working people now regard as their sworn enemy. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter The president of the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, summed up his views on the weakening of the liberal world order in an article that appeared on the CFRs website. Heres what he said: Attempts to build global frameworks are failing. Protectionism is on the rise; the latest round of global trade talks never came to fruition. .At the same time, great power rivalry is returning There are several reasons why all this is happening, and why now. The rise of populism is in part a response to stagnating incomes and job loss, owing mostly to new technologies but widely attributed to imports and immigrants. Nationalism is a tool increasingly used by leaders to bolster their authority, especially amid difficult economic and political conditions. But the weakening of the liberal world order is due, more than anything else, to the changed attitude of the U.S. Under President Donald Trump, the US decided against joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership and to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. It has threatened to leave the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal. It has unilaterally introduced steel and aluminum tariffs, relying on a justification (national security) that others could use, in the process placing the world at risk of a trade war.America First and the liberal world order seem incompatible. (Liberal World Order, R.I.P., Richard Haass, CFR) What Haass is saying is that the cure for globalisation is more globalization, that the greatest threat to the liberal world order is preventing the behemoth corporations from getting more of what they want; more self-aggrandizing trade agreements, more offshoring of businesses, more outsourcing of jobs, more labor arbitrage, and more privatization of public assets and critical resources. Trade liberalization is not liberalization, it does not strengthen democracy or create an environment where human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law are respected. Its a policy that focuses almost-exclusively on the free movement of capital in order to enrich wealthy shareholders and fatten the bottom line. The sporadic uprisings around the world Brexit, yellow vests, emergent right wing groups can all trace their roots back to these one-sided, corporate-friendly trade deals that have precipitated the steady slide in living standards, the shrinking of incomes, and the curtailing of crucial benefits for the great mass of working people across the US and Europe. President Trump is not responsible for the outbreak of populism and social unrest, he is merely an expression of the peoples rage. Trumps presidential triumph was a clear rejection of the thoroughly-rigged elitist system that continues to transfer the bulk of the nations wealth to tiniest layer of people at the top. Haasss critique illustrates the level of denial among elites who are now gripped by fear of an uncertain future. As we noted earlier, the center of gravity has shifted from west to east, which is the one incontrovertible fact that cannot be denied. Washingtons brief unipolar moment following the breakup of the Soviet Union in December, 1991 has already passed and new centers of industrial and financial power are gaining pace and gradually overtaking the US in areas that are vital to Americas primacy. This rapidly changing economic environment is accompanied by widespread social discontent, seething class-based resentment, and ever-more radical forms of political expression. The liberal order is collapsing, not because the values espoused in the 60s and 70s have lost their appeal, but because inequality is widening, the political system has become unresponsive to the demands of the people, and because US can no longer arbitrarily impose its will on the world. Globalization has fueled the rise of populism, it has helped to exacerbate ethnic and racial tensions, and it is largely responsible for the hollowing out of Americas industrial core. Haasss antidote would only throw more gas on the fire and hasten the day when liberals and conservatives form into rival camps and join in a bloody battle to the end. Someone has to stop the madness before the country descends into a second Civil War. What Haass fails to discuss, is Washingtons perverse reliance on force to preserve the liberal world order, after all, its not like the US assumed its current dominant role by merely competing more effectively in global markets. Oh, no. Behind the silk glove lies the iron fist, which has been used in over 50 regime change operations since the end of WW2. The US has over 800 military bases scattered across the planet and has laid to waste one country after the other in successive interventions, invasions and occupations for as long as anyone can remember. This penchant for violence has been sharply criticized by other members of the United Nations, but only Russia has had the courage to openly oppose Washington where it really counts, on the battlefield. Russia is presently engaged in military operations that have either prevented Washington from achieving its strategic objectives (like Ukraine) or rolled back Washingtons proxy-war in Syria. Naturally, liberal elites like Haass feel threatened by these developments since they are accustomed to a situation in which the world is their oyster. But, alas, oysters have been removed from the menu, and the United States is going to have to make the adjustment or risk a third world war. What Russian President Vladimir Putin objects to, is Washingtons unilateralism, the cavalier breaking of international law to pursue its own imperial ambitions. Ironically, Putin has become the greatest defender of the international system and, in particular, the United Nations which is a point he drove home in his presentation at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2015, just two days before Russian warplanes began their bombing missions in Syria. Heres part of what he said: The United Nations is unique in terms of legitimacy, representation and universality.We consider any attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the United Nations as extremely dangerous. It may result in the collapse of the entire architecture of international relations, leaving no rules except the rule of force. The world will be dominated by selfishness rather than collective effort, by dictate rather than equality and liberty, and instead of truly sovereign nations we will have colonies controlled from outside.(Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly) Putins speech, followed by the launching of the Russian operation in Syria, was a clear warning to the foreign policy establishment that they would no longer be allowed to topple governments and destroy countries with impunity. Just as Putin was willing to put Russian military personnel at risk in Syria, so too, he will probably put them at risk in Venezuela, Lebanon, Ukraine and other locations where they might be needed. And while Russia does not have anywhere near the raw power of the US military, Putin seems to be saying that he will put his troops in the line of fire to defend international law and the sovereignty of nations. Heres Putin again: We all know that after the end of the Cold War the world was left with one center of dominance, and those who found themselves at the top of the pyramid were tempted to think that, since they are so powerful and exceptional, they know best what needs to be done and thus they dont need to reckon with the UN, which, instead of rubber-stamping the decisions they need, often stands in their way. We should all remember the lessons of the past. For example, we remember examples from our Soviet past, when the Soviet Union exported social experiments, pushing for changes in other countries for ideological reasons, and this often led to tragic consequences and caused degradation instead of progress. It seems, however, that instead of learning from other peoples mistakes, some prefer to repeat them and continue to export revolutions, only now these are democratic revolutions. Just look at the situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa already mentioned by the previous speaker. Instead of bringing about reforms, aggressive intervention indiscriminately destroyed government institutions and the local way of life. Instead of democracy and progress, there is now violence, poverty, social disasters and total disregard for human rights, including even the right to life. Im urged to ask those who created this situation: do you at least realize now what youve done? (Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly) Here Putin openly challenges the concept of a liberal world order which in fact is a sobriquet used to conceal Washingtons relentless plundering of the planet. Theres nothing liberal about toppling regimes and plunging millions of people into anarchy, poverty and desperation. Putin is simply trying to communicate to US leaders that the world is changing, that nations in Asia are gaining strength and momentum, and that Washington will have to abandon the idea that any constraint on its behavior is a threat to its national security interests. Former national security advisor to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, appears to agree on this point and suggests that the US begin to rethink its approach to foreign policy now that the world has fundamentally changed and other countries are demanding a bigger place at the table. What most people dont realize about Brzezinski, is that he dramatically changed his views on global hegemony a few years after he published his 1997 masterpiece The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperative. In his 2012 book, Strategic Vision, Brzezinski recommended a more thoughtful and cooperative approach that would ease Americas unavoidable transition (decline?) without creating a power vacuum that could lead to global chaos. Heres a short excerpt from an article he wrote in 2016 for the American Interest titled Toward a Global Realignment: The fact is that there has never been a truly dominant global power until the emergence of America on the world scene.That era is now ending.As its era of global dominance ends, the United States needs to take the lead in realigning the global power architecture.The United States is still the worlds politically, economically, and militarily most powerful entity but, given complex geopolitical shifts in regional balances, it is no longer the globally imperial power. America can only be effective in dealing with the current Middle Eastern violence if it forges a coalition that involves, in varying degrees, also Russia and China. A constructive U.S. policy must be patiently guided by a long-range vision. It must seek outcomes that promote the gradual realization in Russia that its only place as an influential world power is ultimately within Europe. Chinas increasing role in the Middle East should reflect the reciprocal American and Chinese realization that a growing U.S.-PRC partnership in coping with the Middle Eastern crisis is an historically significant test of their ability to shape and enhance together wider global stability. The alternative to a constructive vision, and especially the quest for a one-sided militarily and ideologically imposed outcome, can only result in prolonged and self-destructive futility. Since the next twenty years may well be the last phase of the more traditional and familiar political alignments with which we have grown comfortable, the response needs to be shaped now. And that accommodation has to be based on a strategic vision that recognizes the urgent need for a new geopolitical framework. (Toward a Global Realignment, Zbigniew Brzezinski, The American Interest) This strikes me as a particularly well-reasoned and insightful article. It shows that Brzezinski understood that the world had changed, that power had shifted eastward, and that the only path forward for America was cooperation, accommodation, integration and partnership. Tragically, there is no base of support for these ideas on Capital Hill, the White House or among the U.S. foreign policy establishment. The entire political class and their allies in the media unanimously support a policy of belligerence, confrontation and war. The United States will not prevail in a confrontation with Russia and China any more than it will be able to turn back the clock to the post war era when America, the Superpower, reigned supreme. Confrontation will only accelerate the pace of US decline and the final collapse of the liberal world order. Mike lives in Washington state. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com. This article was originally published by " Unz Review " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. Must Read April 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The UN Security Council held a meeting in New York yesterday at the initiative of the US to discuss the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. Russias position, whereby this is not the appropriate platform or format for discussing this topic, remains unchanged. We are not turning a blind eye to the challenging social, economic and humanitarian developments in Venezuela. Still, we do not see any threats to regional, let alone international, stability or security. Representatives of Donald Trumps administration are obsessive in hammering home the message that all options are on the table. This is a matter of grave concern. Let me reiterate that the possible military scenario, if this is what representatives of the US establishment have in mind, would lead nowhere. It is dangerous, since it could bring about a civil war. We urge our US colleagues to review these irresponsible plans that are at odds with international law. I would like to draw the attention of our Western colleagues once again to what they have done in a number of countries around the world. Just look at the scenarios you have been trying to follow there, and what came out of it. We will continue to do everything we can to prevent the dangerous scenarios that we witnessed in a number of countries from taking place in Venezuela. We are glad that there is little support for this option within the international community, even though Washington regrettably persists in its efforts. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter It is also unfortunate that the US Security Council was not able to refrain from discussing the humanitarian situation in Venezuela. Vice President Mike Pences remarks went beyond the bounds of decency when he called for recognising Venezuelas new leader, backing up his claims with ultimatums and threats of new sanctions. Representatives of the US administration do not hesitate when it comes to breaking fundamental principles and norms of international and regional law as they seek to unseat the legitimate President of Venezuela. Aggressive rhetoric against official diplomatic representatives of the Venezuelan government, recognising appointees who appeared out of nowhere, illegal takeover of diplomatic property, financial assets and other acts of this kind are all reminiscent of gang warfare rather than what professional politicians and diplomats normally do. It is possible that the US is guided by its own experience when it promotes broad recognition and largely directs the appointment of so-called Venezuelan ambassadors and official representatives around the world. Over the past years, we have seen people without any prior experience in public service being appointed US ambassadors, be it in executive or legislative branches, let alone diplomatic work. These were people that were in good graces of one administration or another or contributed to an election campaign financially. They were rewarded by ambassador posts. This is how it happens in the US. This does not mean, however, that this approach, coupled with violations of international law, should be applied elsewhere. Washington conceals its disdain for the decades-old international legal framework behind the opaque notion of a rules-based world order and imposes it everywhere, including in regional and international affairs. This fully applies to the call by Mike Pence on the UN Security Council to withdraw the mandate from Venezuelas permanent representative, as well as to the prospect of the US putting forward a resolution recognising the legitimacy of this countrys alternative government and its representative. There were new developments lately regarding this situation. In particular, the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States, a prominent structure in the Western hemisphere, decided to accept the appointment of a permanent representative designated by Venezuelas National Assembly. This is nothing short of an attempt to legitimise the dual rule in Venezuela. The fallout from this is not just hypothetical, but real, since it establishes the duality of power in a sovereign country. All the prerequisites are created for a major internal standoff in this country. Instead of promoting a settlement and building bridges between the political sides, they are doing just the opposite. The sides are being separated only to be pitted against one another so as to make it impossible to settle this conflict by political or diplomatic means. In addition to this, having placed on the agenda the question of the status of Venezuelan governments official representatives, the US delegation ignored all legal arguments of other countries that are members of the Organisation of American States. In particular, this related to the fact that the Permanent Council is not entitled to determine the powers of delegations, and questions of this kind cannot be decided by a simple majority. Instead, they must be reviewed by the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States, to say the least. Therefore, the decision taken by the Permanent Council directly contradicts the organisations statutory documents, undermines it and is detrimental to the status of this structure. But who cares when the stakes are so high? We call on our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to think about the fallout from this precedent and how it will affect the future work of the Organisation of American States. I want to ask our foreign partners: What will happen if the US tries to further promote the approach of recognising a representative of an impostor as tested within the Organisation of American States? Who will be targeted after Venezuela? In this connection, I would like to remind you that there is no such notion as collective recognition of governments and their powers in international law. This is a sovereign right of every country. Only the head of state, head of government and foreign minister are entitled to appoint official representatives abroad. We firmly oppose all attempts by a number of countries to question the powers of the Venezuelan delegation within various frameworks, and remain committed to fending off any such attempts moving forward. The ongoing developments are merely an attempt to revert human development to a primitive state. Regarding humanitarian aid to Venezuela, there are no objective reasons for imposing it on Caracas. There are no hostilities taking place in the country, there were no natural disasters or epidemic outbreaks. Once again, let me point out that the best way to help the people of Venezuela is to lift the illegal unilateral sanctions that target primarily the people of Venezuela. This is what Washington is after, going to great lengths in order to make sure that every Venezuelan suffers and shapes his or her political position accordingly. Washington tested these tactics in many regions of the world. For example, efforts to block the access of regional and local authorities to financial resources constitute a serious challenge for the people, while no one is questioning the legitimacy of these resources. Just think about it: the cost of humanitarian aid Washington seeks to impose on Venezuela is in the tens of millions of dollars, while the overall effect of sanctions, according to Venezuela, is estimated at over 110 billion dollars. Just give them their money back, lift the sanctions and the country will be back on track. Even a small portion of this enormous amount would have helped deal with the shortage of medicine and other essential goods in Venezuela, and help launch the needed economic reforms. Let me reiterate what we have been saying all along: if the package of measures that is currently used in Venezuela were applied to any so-called developed Western country, let alone developing ones, the targeted country would collapse. The use by Washington of restrictive measures and threats against countries that work with official Caracas, in particular Cuba, which has been suffering from a US blockade for more than 50 years, is extremely cynical. By the way, by failing to abide by the UN General Assembly resolution urging to end the embargo against Cuba is yet another example of the US showing disdain for UN resolutions. As for Russia, we stand for strict compliance with norms and principles of international law in all aspects related to a settlement in Venezuela, against ratcheting up tension and imposing outside rule on a sovereign country. This article was originally published by " The Saker " - The Essential Saker II: Civilizational Choices and Geopolitics / The Russian challenge to the hegemony of the AngloZionist Empire Order Now 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 American, Thai partner in hiding, fearful of charges for seastead south of Phuket PHUKET: An American man and his Thai partner say they are in hiding from Thai authorities and are fearful for their lives after the Royal Thai Navy filed a police complaint against them over a seastead living platform built in the waters more than 40 kilometres south of Phuket. tourismpropertymarineconstructionmilitary By The Phuket News Tuesday 16 April 2019, 03:49PM The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command has filed a police complaint over the location of the structure. Map: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command has filed a police complaint over the location of the structure. Map: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy inspected the seastead, which they assert is in Thai sovereign waters and have filed criminal charges for. Photo: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy inspected the seastead, which they assert is in Thai sovereign waters and have filed criminal charges for. Photo: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy inspected the seastead, which they assert is in Thai sovereign waters and have filed criminal charges for. Photo: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy inspected the seastead, which they assert is in Thai sovereign waters and have filed criminal charges for. Photo: Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy last Friday (Apr 12) filed a criminal charge with the Wichit Police of the couple breaching Section 119 of Criminal Code, reported the Bangkok Post on Saturday. (See story here.) The section concerns any acts that cause the country or parts of it to fall under the sovereignty of a foreign state or deterioration of the states independence. It is punishable by death or life imprisonment. While the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, see here), which Thailand is a signatory to, stipulates Every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with this Convention, the location of the prototype seastead may well be within Thailand Economic Exclusion zone. The location of the seastead as given by the Navy puts the structure at 7 29.37 N, 98 34.91 E, which is 27.5km (14.8nm) east of Koh Racha Noi and 25.22km (13.61nm ) southwest of Koh Bida Nok, south of Phi Phi Island. Both distances are more than the 12nm allowed by UNCLOS. The American, Chad Elwartowski, told The Phuket News, I consulted with a lawyer there in Phuket as we were hoping to open a Board of Investment company in Thailand. The lawyer told me that because we are in international waters I did not need to register a business. I said that I want to make sure that we are ok with the Thai government. She assured me that Thailand wasnt like that. Our plan was to see if we could even get orders before going to the Ministry of Tourism or as high up as we could go in Bangkok to get permission to move forward with more seasteads. The initial seastead was to be donated to a local university to be used for marine biology or marine engineering as we moved forward with nicer designs, he added. We wanted to make sure that we actually had something to show the Thai government before we went to talk to them about having more seasteads. The seastead was only in the water for about two months so we needed to drum up support and buyers. We followed all regulations for an object in the water. We had a solar beacon on top of the seastead that lit up a very bring blinking anchor light at night. We also had a registered AIS beacon that is used by larger ships for their navigation. The boats out there are mainly fishing boats but we would get waves from the captains as they came by, Mr Elwartowski, a computer systems analyst and a graduate from Florida Institute of Technology, explained. The seastead is the prototype built under the Ocean Builders project, which states that Mr Elwartowski and his Thai partner Supranee Nadia Thepdet were just volunteers who stayed on the platform to document their experience. (See website here.) Mr Elwartowski, a Bitcoin enthusiast, told the Motherboard blog of renowned documentary specialists Vice.com that he had enough in cryptocurrency holdings to retire and Ms Supranee posts online as Bitcoin Girl Thailand. (See report here.) Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute advocacy group, directed a short documentary series about the pair, titled The First Seasteaders, the report noted. (See video here.) Nadia and I did not design, construct or pay to have the seastead constructed. We promoted it and lived on it. We helped out by giving the builder updates and we participated in the launch. We did not decide where to put the seastead. We are enthusiastic supporters of the project who were lucky enough to be the first ones to stay on it, Mr Elwartowski told The Phuket News. We never had any ill intentions and I even state plainly several times that I would not want to be a citizen of any seastead nation that would have me. We were hoping to bring tourism to Phuket with an underwater restaurant, floating hotels and medical research, tech jobs, etc. We had three wealthy entrepreneurs in the past week tell us they were coming to live in Phuket because they were excited about the project. We love Thailand. Nadia is a proud Thai. She is a proud Buddhist who does not support violence. I am a pacifist who would not harm a fly, he added. While the criminal charge against the couple was filed on Friday, Mr Elwartowski says that no officials have contacted either of them. No Thai official has attempted to contact us. When we heard that the seastead was considered a threat to national security we immediately tried contacting media and had a friend in the military try to talk to them on our behalf. He informed us that they were too busy there was no getting through to them, he said. Meanwhile, Mr Elwartowski maintains hope that a sensible dialogue can be opened, and that the project may continue. The finished units were to have rounded off walls with a diametre of nearly seven metres, slightly wider than the prototype, built on a deck six metres wide with a walkway was to be featured around the exterior. The owners suite interiors were to feature a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. Even the spar, three metres wide, supporting the seasteads was usable space. Our short term goal, now that our initial platform is proven to be safe, will be to build 20 more platforms which we will sell to pioneering spirits who wish to be the worlds first seasteaders, Mr Elwartowski said. The April 15 launch for investors by Ocean Builders has now been postponed. We hope this issue can be resolved diplomatically with the Thai government and are ready to talk to anyone in charge at any time. We have tried several times to talk to anyone but were always told that we have nothing to worry about because we are legally in international waters, Mr Elwartowski posted on the Ocean Builders website. The April 15th sale of seasteads is to be postponed until we can get everything straightened out and figure out the best path forward for everyone, he added. Southern Pines, NC (28387) Today A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Areas of patchy fog. Low 53F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Areas of patchy fog. Low 53F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%. April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The U.S. government gets little credit for it, doesnt even like to brag about it, but as of 2017 provided military aid to 73% of the worlds dictatorships. Ocassionally, the U.S. turns against one of its dictators and chooses that moment to tell everyone about him: Hussein, Noriega, Gadaffi, Assad. Sometimes it loses a dictator for other reasons: the Shah of Iran, Hosni Mubarak. Sometimes the U.S. imposes a U.S. dictator on a foreign colony: as historically in the Philippines, or Haiti, Chile, or post-liberation Iraq. More often it selects and trains, imposes and props up a dictator from within the population of natives or savages. And sometimes such a dictator spends many years in the United States preparing and awaiting opportunity. When I heard that Juan Guaido, a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., had proclaimed himself president of Venezuela, I was reminded that his fellow GW (and Harvard and Princeton) graduate Syngman Rhee was flown to South Korea by the United States government and put in charge of the place, and given the power to commit massive atrocities the greatest of which was pushing the Korean peninsula into war. Does George Washington University recruit students with promises of small distant countries in which to have life-and-death power over the primitives? Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Then Khalifa Haftar hit the news again. This guy lived in Falls Church, Virginia, from around 1990 to 2007, and Vienna, Virginia, until 2011. If youre not from Fairfax County, Virginia, you should know that you could practically topple over a pyramid of naked Muslim prisoners on the roof of the CIA in Langley, Virginia, and land some of them in Falls Church or Vienna. Haftar was exported to Libya multiple times during those years in failed attempts to take the place over. His latest attempt has been ongoing since the United States exported him in 2011. Maybe there is an area of U.S. exports other than weaponry that is increasing. Haftar is not unique. The D.C. area harbors a number of dictators in waiting less well known than Mike Pence. Theres Crown Prince Ahmad Shah Khan and various other members of the Afghan royal family. Theres Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last dictator whom the United States imposed on Iran from 1953 to 1979. Pahlavi lives in Potomac, Maryland, (across the river from Langley) and openly advocates for an overthrow of the Iranian government (because 1953 has worked out so well?) or, as the Washington Post puts it, runs an advocacy association that is outspoken about the need for democracy in his home country. Now, call me crazy, but Id like to leave it up to the people of Iran to run their own country, free of sanctions, lies, and threats. But the dictator-export industry does not seem to me to be completely without value. Surely there must be some place to which despite his troubled apprenticeship we can now export Donald Trump. Murder charges filed against Milbank man after bodies found Wednesday Brent Hanson has been charged with first-degree murder of a couple and their unborn child. Clyde and Jessica Hanson were found dead Dec. 15. Brian May says heart medication almost cost him his life It's strange, talking about it now, it seems unreal. It feels like it couldn't possibly have happened, it couldn't possibly have been that bad. WASHINGTONAs American consumers seek quality over quantity in their beer, the worlds two biggest brewers are locked in a legal battle over the quest to serve a fresh-tapped taste in every mug. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA and Heineken NV are fighting over who invented key parts of a new way to deliver draft beer that allows for smaller batches and eliminates the need for traditional steel kegs, which use compressed air and can degrade flavour over time. The companies started the first of two patent-infringement trials on Tuesday over the technology at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. AB InBev says it developed the beer canisters, while Heineken whose case goes first contends it invented the dispenser equipment. Each is trying to keep the other out of the U.S. market to provide draft beer to smaller pubs and homes. The bars used to put in big kegs of Bud Light and Coors Light and they would sell so much of it that freshness was not an issue, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling said. Each individual brand is selling less. Now you need technology to protect the freshness longer even as youre selling less. Analysts say the $120 billion beer industry is getting more fragmented. Americans are drinking less beer, but they are willing to pay for better quality. The big brewers are struggling to maintain their market share as even craft brews are losing ground to wine and other spirits. The overall volume of beer sales has been declining over the past decade, though dollar sales have increased, according to market researcher Euromonitor International. Consumer interest is in the higher end of the product, said Lester Jones, chief economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association. The way to package beer is to make it appear higher end. AB InBev maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois and Dutch brewer Heineken are looking for new markets in smaller bars or restaurants that dont want to install big tap systems or by selling home machines that can serve draft beer. Thats led to the legal fights. The companies had discussed licensing each others patents until AB InBev filed its patent case at the trade agency, Heineken lawyer Paul Brinkman of Kirkland & Ellis told trade Judge MaryJoan McNamara in opening arguments Tuesday. AB InBev lawyer Peter Moll of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft said they were settlement discussions initiated by Heineken. The complaint filed by AB InBev was not well-received by Heineken which pulled a single patent out of its quiver in retaliation, Brinkman told the judge. He spent much of his opening arguments explaining the history of keg dispenser developments and rebutting AB InBevs arguments that the patent is invalid. Moll presented his opening arguments outside of the public record because it involved AB InBevs confidential business information. Beer is usually served in bottles, cans or the large steel kegs that aficionados claim provide the freshest flavour. On the downside, the kegs take up a lot of room and require gas to force the beer out, which can affect the taste over time. The new kegs are slimmer, sealed canisters in which the beer is kept in a bag and air is forced between the outer canister and inner bag, compressing the bag and pushing the beer up from the bottom. Since no air touches the beer, theres no change in the flavour, and theres no leftover beer in the keg. Heineken sells its namesake beer in a stand-alone keg called the Blade while AB InBev sells Stella Artois in its Nova system. Smaller versions of the canisters, holding four pints, are sold for home use. Heineken has a machine it calls Sub thats sold under an agreement with closely held Hopsy LLC. Blade, Nova AB InBev, the worlds largest beer maker, says it owns patents on those canisters, and is seeking to block imports of Heinekens Sub and Blade systems. Brinkman told the judge that Heineken has suspended plans to import the Blade into the U.S. and contended the Subs shouldnt be subject to an import ban, though that case is before a different trade judge. Heineken says it invented the machinery used in the AB InBev Nova system, particularly the dispensing line thats designed to be more sanitary and require less maintenance than those in traditional keg systems. AB InBev promotes Nova as something for more intimate bars and restaurants that wish to serve proper draught beer without investing in full-scale tap systems. Heineken says the Blade system has a small footprint and innovative compression system that allows you to serve premium draught beer from any counter top. Restaurants and bars are the biggest source of beer sales, according to the Beer Institute, so the countertop systems could open new draft markets to the brand companies. The market for the home draft system is still small, and the European counterpart hasnt really taken off, Stirling said. Yuengling, Dos Equis Under the deal with Heineken, Hopsy offers a beer club from which consumers can get Sub minikegs from known brands like Heineken, Yuengling and Dos Equis or small breweries including the Blue Nose Brewery in Hodgkins, Illinois; Epidemic Ales in Concord, California; and Bronx Brewery in New York City. The technology is not being developed by big brewers to strangle craft beer, but if it succeeds it would help them, Stirling said. If you could have draft beer on tap at home, could you potentially increase sales? Post Prohibition In their legal filings, both companies touted their long pedigrees and history of innovation. Heineken, founded in 1864, bragged that it was the first beer imported into the U.S. after Prohibition was lifted. AB InBev, an amalgam of different beer makers, says its dedication to producing and selling quality malt beverage products dates back hundreds of years. The U.S. patent battle is a new wave after a decade-old dispute in Europe. In 2007, Heineken and InBev settled a European patent battle over InBevs PerfectDraft home systems. Meanwhile, Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S unsuccessfully sought to have Heinekens European patent cancelled in 2010. The battle will be decided at the ITC, a quasi-judicial agency set up to protect U.S. markets from unfair trade practices, including the infringement of patents. Heinekens case against AB InBev is being heard first with a trial expected to last through April 23, with AB InBevs complaint heard before a different judge starting May 6. The judges are scheduled to issue their findings in September, with final decisions from the commission in January. WASHINGTON The Trump administration has reached a critical juncture in its efforts to tighten U.S. oil sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. By pressuring China and India to end or sharply reduce oil purchases from Iran and Venezuela, U.S. officials are seeking to cut off a key economic lifeline for what the administration considers to be two rogue nations that threaten the stability of the Middle East and Latin America. But they must do that without roiling global markets, further straining relations with China and India or raising gasoline prices in the United States. The dilemma has led to a fierce debate within the Trump administration, which is set to decide by May 2 whether to extend waivers allowing China, India and three other nations to buy Iranian oil. A halt of oil shipments would constrict global oil supplies and increase costs at a time when much of the world economy is slowing. If you want to keep gasoline prices low, it doesnt seem like the best strategy is to put maximum pressure both on Venezuelan and Iranian exports, said Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets and a former CIA energy analyst. With 2020 elections looming, Trump is keen to tamp down gasoline prices, especially as summer approaches, when energy use surges and Americans take to the road. Since mid-February, retail gas prices have risen, and the global benchmark price for oil has surpassed $70 a barrel, about what it was before Trump withdrew the United States from a nuclear agreement with Iran in May. Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy, Trump tweeted in late February, urging the global oil cartel to ramp up production. World cannot take a price hike fragile! Both Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The Trump administration has been trying to force major political change on Iran, withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal and imposing sanctions as punishment for actions in the Middle East that Washington considers unacceptable. It also is pressuring Venezuela with sanctions as U.S. officials seek the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro from power. But leaders in Iran and Venezuela have proved durable, even as their main source of revenue oil exports was slashed. Now U.S. officials are looking to inflict greater economic pain. The internal debate over how to do so was detailed by a dozen current and former officials and oil industry executives and analysts. China and India have enormous energy needs. Both were granted six-month waivers in November to buy Iranian oil, but neither has met U.S. demands to greatly reduce their purchases. Waivers were also given to Japan, South Korea and Turkey. All three have joined China in exceeding the country limits that the Trump administration had set on Iranian oil imports, according to the International Energy Agency. Its the presidents decision, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday when asked about discussions over extending the waivers. All Ill say is well get to the right answer. Pompeo is leaning toward continuing the waivers, while John Bolton, the national security adviser, is pushing for ending them, according to people briefed on the discussions. Both are Iran hawks. On the aim of going to zero exports, there are many potential downsides, said Wendy R. Sherman, a former top State Department official who helped negotiate the nuclear deal with Iran. You dont want to tank the world economy. You dont want to send the price of oil sky-high. Tensions with China could threaten trade talks and co-operation on North Korea both central pillars of Trumps diplomacy. Turkey, a NATO ally, may become more dependent on Russian energy if it is pushed to buy less Iranian oil. But Saudi Arabia, a chief Trump administration ally, has criticized the waivers. Last fall, anticipating the U.S. sanctions against Iran, the kingdom increased its own oil production and instead was surprised and frustrated by the waivers that drove down prices. Earlier waivers were given to China, India and other purchasers of Iranian oil in 2012 when the Obama administration imposed harsh sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. At the time, the State Department agreed to the waivers as long as the countries showed they were steadily reducing their Iranian imports, said John Hughes, the departments former deputy director of sanctions policy and now a vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group. Those sanctions ended as part of the 2015 deal, brokered by world powers and Tehran, to limit Irans nuclear program. Trump withdrew from that agreement in May, sending Iranian crude exports plummeting more than 25 per cent, or around 600,000 barrels a day, between June and September. In November, the United States reimposed full sanctions but granted six-month oil waivers to China, India, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Greece and Italy. By December, it was clear U.S. sanctions were having a big effect. Taiwan, Greece and Italy never used the waivers and ended their Iranian imports. But now, Iranian exports are recovering. In February and March, Iran exported about 1.3 million barrels a day. That was a notable rise from December, even if it was still half of what was exported in April 2018, the month before Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal. China alone is importing more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day, near its average import level before the November sanctions. India is Irans second-biggest oil customer. It has stuck to a commitment to Washington to import no more than 300,000 barrels a day, but has not steadily decreased the purchases. India is also dependent on oil exports from Venezuela. But Venezuelas largest customer was the United States, and the Trump administration in January imposed sanctions to end those sales and starve Maduros government of revenue. The United States and 53 other nations recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuelas interim president and want to force Maduro from power. The administration had hoped that a new government in Venezuela would increase oil production and exports and, in turn, help Washington squeeze Iran. Instead, India and China have bought much of the Venezuelan oil that otherwise would have gone to the United States. India pays Venezuela for its oil in cash, at a 20 to 30 per cent discount below prevailing world prices, while China agrees to write off Caracas debt. Rosneft, the Russian oil company, has been providing fuel supplies to Venezuela. That has helped Maduro dig in. Elliott Abrams, the Trump administrations special representative on Venezuela, said there was a very considerable amount of co-operation with India over its oil imports. Read more about: DETROITA Canadian cab driver who made extra money by steering desperate immigrants to a railroad tunnel under the Detroit River was sentenced Monday to 16 months in a U.S. prison. Juan Garcia-Jimenez, a 53-year-old Canadian citizen who is a native of Guatemala, wept in federal court. Besides a prison sentence, he was fined $8,680 (U.S.) the amount paid by six people who were caught last year when they emerged on foot on the Detroit side of the tunnel. The 2.5-kilometre tunnel is used by cargo trains moving between Ontario and the United States. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Fairchild said its risky: A walkway is only 43.1 centimetres wide and in poor condition. They just walked right through the tunnel, which is a very dangerous thing, said Kris Grogan, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There is zero room. If a train would have come through there they would have been killed. Garcia-Jimenez would drop people off at a tunnel entrance in Windsor, Ont., and drive away. Nine people arrested by border officers identified him as the man who helped them leave Canada at different times last year. Due to the clandestine nature of this criminal activity, there is no way to be certain how many times he has smuggled aliens into the United States in the past, Fairchild said in a court filing. Countless aliens could have illegally entered the United States with his assistance. Garcia-Jimenez was arrested last August while trying to enter Detroit to celebrate his wedding anniversary. I am sorry for what I have done, he told U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III. Read more about: OTTAWACanadas largest program of Arctic research will receive more than $32 million in funding over the next five years, the federal government announced Tuesday. Louis Fortier, head of ArcticNet, said the money will be used to help understand the challenges faced by a rapidly changing North due to climate change and industrialization. Its really science to inform decisions, to prepare people in the North and also the government in the south, said Fortier. Its really applied research. ArcticNet, founded in 2004, brings 30 Canadian universities and dozens of scientists together with northerners, private industry and foreign research agencies. It funds work in the natural, health and social sciences. We study the marine environment and the terrestrial ecosystems, Fortier said. We look at the health of the people and also their economy and society. You need to align those fields to get answers. He said ArcticNet researchers have worked on problems from changing berry harvests in northern Quebec to the risks of offshore oil drilling in the Beaufort Sea. Fortier counts more than 130 cases where ArcticNet research has influenced policy decisions. Read more: Scientists came to the Canadian Arctic to explore its fabled waters. But their work could also change its future He said the federal money will be at least tripled by resources that other groups bring to Arctic science. The current grant is slightly lower than the previous one. That seven-year grant provided nearly $10 million per year. Fortier said Tuesdays announcement funds the group at about the same level it was when it began. Read more about: VANCOUVERCanadians are becoming increasingly polarized over issues of race and immigration, according to a new survey that suggests the divide could be a major factor in the next federal election. The new EKOS poll is based on a relatively small sample size, but offers a snapshot of a country that is split both socially and politically. Roughly 40 per cent of Canadians think too many immigrants entering the country are not white and that number skyrockets among Conservative Party of Canada supporters, according to the polling. The key forces shifting votes away from the Liberals to Conservatives have been the issue of immigration and too many non-white immigrants, Frank Graves told StarMetro Vancouver. Graves is president of Ottawa-based EKOS Research Associates and has been documenting the rise of what is known as right-wing ordered or authoritarian populism. Its members are largely religious, have reservations about diversity, are deeply pessimistic about their economic future, convinced climate change matters less than their well-being and are disdainful of the corrupt elite, which includes media, government and academics, he says. Sixty-nine per cent of poll respondents answered too many to the question of Forgetting about the overall number of immigrants coming to Canada, of those who come, would you say there are too few, too many or the right amount who are members of visible minorities? Read more: Scheer denounces white supremacy after Conservative senator questions threat Conservative lead widens as Liberals slip in new poll How Canadian populism is playing out in the Burnaby South byelection Regionally, the response of too many was highest in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba, respectively. The two questions on immigration are part of a long-term tracking program EKOS has conducted since 1993. The shift points to a rise of ordered populism, as seen in the U.K. and U.S., Graves says. Notably, opposition to immigration and non-white immigration has not seen a dramatic increase over the past several years. As the poll notes, results should be interpreted with caution, given the sample size of 507, with a margin of error of +/-4.4, 19 times out of 20. What is striking and pronounced is the level of partisan polarization on the issue, Graves said. In 2013 when asked the same question, 47 per cent of Conservatives compared to 34 per cent of Liberal voters answered too many. But this year, theres a yawning divide representing a near 450 per cent jump between the two parties in just six years, Graves said. Now, just 15 per cent of Liberals respond that there are too many non-white immigrants compared to the 69 per cent of Andrew Scheers Conservatives. The challenge for Scheer is how to do the delicate dance and not lose what is over half their base right now, Graves said. He said the Conservative party of today has shifted away from its status-quo conservatism that believes in smaller governments and free markets and instead pivoted to an ordered populist or drawbridge up thinking. Its not that all Conservative supporters have changed their views. Some may have changed their outlook, but this is also new people in the party, Graves said. Status-quo conservatism still exists, but its being dwarfed by this new group of authoritarian populism. Looming beneath the manifestations of these attitudes is economic anxiety and a magnified sense that the external world is newly threatening. While most Western societies saw sharp, steady declines in levels of racial intolerance following the Second World War, Graves said we are now seeing a resurgence. He said that more and more, there is less common ground in what we consider to be Canadian values, which, unlike politics, change at a very slow pace. Graves said there are two incommensurable Canadas, leaving a deep chasm in society split among those in the ordered and those in the open camp, who favour diversity, trade and globalization, climate change policy while being optimistic about the future. Populist anti-refugee and anti-immigrant rhetoric emerged in the recent Burnaby South byelection, where the newly minted Peoples Party of Canada candidate appealed to prevalent anxieties in the riding about public safety as she repeatedly brought up the murder of a 13-year-old girl. A Syrian refugee has been charged. Despite common assumptions that the populist camp is dominated by disaffected white males, the PPC supporters in Burnaby South were composed of a majority of Chinese-Canadians. Scheer last week denounced anyone who promotes white nationalism, promotes any type of extremism. He was responding to a question about Quebec Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, who suggested the day before that white supremacy is not a significant threat to Canadas way of life, communities or democracy. In the past, Scheer has been criticized for his handling of alleged white supremacists, after addressing the United We Roll convoy a Yellow Vest movement that mixed pro-pipeline and anti-immigration stances along with Faith Goldy, a former Rebel television personality with white nationalist ties who has vocally pushed an anti-immigration message on social media. For Graves, the way the debate has evolved in Canada is not leading to constructive resolutions. Despite the malignant expressions of ordered populism, he said, people are drawn to these views for some legitimate reasons, such as economic despair. We end up putting emotional fuel on the fire of those who feel this way and denies the reality of their suffering of identity loss and a much less comfortable or privileged position in society than in the past, he said. With files from Alex Boutilier Read more about: By Ron Paul April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Last weeks arrest of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange by the British government on a US extradition order is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the US Constitution. It is an attack on the free press. It is an attack on free speech. It is an attack on our right to know what our government is doing with our money in our name. Julian Assange is every bit as much a political prisoner as was Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary or Nelson Mandela in South Africa. They, and so many more, were imprisoned because they told the truth about their governments. Repressive governments do not want their citizens to know that they are up to so they insist on controlling the media. We are taught, at the same time, that we have a free press whose job it is to uncover the corruption in our system so that we can demand our political leaders make some changes or face unemployment. That, we are told, is what makes us different from the totalitarian. The arrest of Assange is a canary in a coal mine to warn us that something is very wrong with our system. Whats wrong? The US mainstream media always seems to do the bidding of the US government. That is why they rushed to confirm Washingtons claim that the Assange indictment was not in any way about journalism. It was only about hacking government computers! Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter As the New York Times said in an editorial, sounding like a mouthpiece of the US government, Julian Assange committed an indisputable crime. But was it? As actual journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote last week, what Julian Assange did in 2010, for which he is facing extradition to the US, is no different from what New York Times and other journalists do every day! He attempted to help Chelsea Manning shield his identity as he blew the whistle on US government crimes to a publisher. The information in question included a video showing US military personnel participating in and cheering the murder of Iraqi civilians. Why is it criminal for us to know this? The difference is that what Assange and Manning did embarrassed the US government, which was lying to us that it was liberating Iraq and Afghanistan when it was actually doing the opposite. Mainstream journalists publish leaks that help bolster the neocon or other vested narratives of the different factions of the US government. Thats why the US media wants to see Assange in prison, or worse: he upset their apple cart. The lesson is clear: when you bolster the governments narrative you are a brave journalist. When you expose corruption in government you are a criminal. Do we really want to live in a country where it is illegal to learn that our government is engaged in criminal acts? I thought we had an obligation as an engaged citizenry to hold our government accountable! As long as Julian Assange is in prison, we are all in prison. When the government has the power to tell us what we we allowed to see, hear, and know, we no longer live in a free society. Julian Assange will be extradited to the US and he will have dozens of charges piled on. They want him to disappear so that the next Assange will think twice before informing us of our governments crimes. Are we going to let them steal our freedom? This article was originally published by " Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity . " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here The timing was hardly "coincidental." Not long after a trip by Vice President Pence to "convince" Ecuador to hand over Julian Assange, a $4.2 billion IMF loan appears on the scene. Then Ecuador follows through and delivers the Wikileaks publisher to face the wrath of the US political establishment. The move was directly out of a US government "unconventional warfare' playbook that, ironically, was released in 2008 by...Wikileaks! 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 OTTAWAHousing advocates want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to tweak his governments omnibus budget bill to give greater teeth to the bodies overseeing a new right to housing. Characterizing housing as a human right is meant to provide a legal remedy usually through a tribunal for anyone wrongfully denied a home for reasons including ethnicity, religion, or gender identity. The right the government is proposing to enshrine into law is tucked inside its 392-page budget implementation bill. The bill includes rules for the Liberals 10-year national housing strategy now valued at more than $55 billion in combined federal, provincial and territorial spending and two new oversight bodies. Housing and homeless groups worry that as the bill is currently worded, the proposed new federal housing advocate effectively a watchdog for the housing system and an advisory council wouldnt be able to be true oversight bodies in the same way the parliamentary budget office keeps tabs on federal spending. In an open letter to Trudeau released Tuesday, almost a dozen organizations asked for amendments to give the proposed advocate and advisory council greater powers to investigate and hold hearings on systemic issues in the housing system. They also want make it impossible for ministers to ignore findings of the advocate or council by requiring future governments to respond to any recommendations. Thirdly they ask Trudeau to add a section to ensure individual housing strategies are set into law for Inuit, Metis, First Nations, and urban and rural Indigenous Peoples. The advocates say the changes wont cost any money but rather clarify what is currently unclear. What were trying to do is help the government deliver what it promised, said Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, and one of the signatories. These are, in the grand scheme of things, relatively minor amendments to the National Housing Strategy Act that actually gives Canada an opportunity to not only meet international human rights standards, but ... Canada might even be in a position to show some others how it could be done. Housing groups were uneasy when they first heard the changes would be in the budget bill rather than stand alone legislation, because of fears it would be harder to amend. However with just seven weeks left for Parliament to debate and pass legislation, a time crunch meant passing a separate bill would have been difficult. The Liberals privately appear open to introducing friendly amendments, and New Democrats have voiced support as well. The budget bill also contains the Liberals proposed anti-poverty law, which combined with the housing strategy seeks to cut poverty rates by 50 per cent from 2015 levels and ease a housing crunch for 530,000 households. An analysis of 2016 census data published Monday by Statistics Canada showed almost 85 per cent of regular shelter users enumerated in the population counts had a median after-tax income below a poverty line of $22,133. Almost one-quarter of the 22,190 regular users were counted at shelters for abused women and their children. Overall, shelter users were more likely to be male and single. Read more about: Refugees will no longer be covered by legal aid for appeals and federal court reviews of negative and allegedly wrongful asylum and deportation decisions as of this week. In a letter released late Monday, Legal Aid Ontario CEO David Field said the agency has suspended paying for new legal services for immigration and refugee clients, except for the preparation of asylum claim forms. The move comes after Ontarios Progressive Conservative government announced cuts in Thursdays provincial budget to refugee and immigration cases part of a 30 per cent or $133 million reduction to Legal Aid Ontarios annual budget. Field stressed the importance of the asylum claim forms, which will be covered by federal funding. The Basis of Claim form is the first, and often most important, stage in the refugee process as it sets out a refugee claimants story and their reasons for leaving their country of origin, and sets out the legal case for their refugee claim, Field wrote. Basis of Claim preparation is the highest priority service and provides a strong foundation for clients to be successful in their claims. Legal aid had anticipated handling up to 16,000 asylum claims this year, at a cost of about $22.6 million, including paying legal counsel at refugee hearings. Appeals and other immigration cases such as fighting the revocation of permanent resident status were projected to cost $5.2 million. Field said legal aid may tap into federal funding estimated at between $13 million and $16.5 million for these services in this fiscal year while the province covers the transition costs. In a joint statement released Monday evening, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and Ontario Refugee Lawyers Association said refugees are among the most vulnerable people Legal Aid Ontario serves. They often arrive in Canada with nothing and do not have the ability to represent themselves in Canadas refugee determination system. They often dont speak English and can be traumatized, yet they are immediately faced with a complex legal system, they said in the statement. When refugee claimants do not have adequate legal representation, many face life-threatening consequences, including detention, torture, and possibly even death after deportation to the places from which they fled. The consequences of not having adequate legal representation for immigrants and refugees are irreversible. According to statistics provided by the two associations, 21 per cent of refugee appeals were successful in 2018, while the success rate of immigration appeals was at an incredible 38 per cent. A wrong decision on their case could result in failed refugee claimants choosing to remain in Ontario without legal status due to serious fear of returning to their country. A wrong decision could result in a claimant returning to a country where they are at a severe risk of harm. Refugee claimants will seek alternative ways to pay for counsel and are at risk of exploitation, said the legal associations, which have launched an online petition to ask the province to reverse the cuts. Refugees may have to prioritize legal costs over their own basic needs. This will force already vulnerable claimants to depend more on shelters, food banks, and other services such as emergency shelters, which will increase costs to other government departments. Legal Aid Ontario said it will begin public consultations in the coming days to determine which services to resume should federal government funding increase for refugee legal aid in the province, as well as provide feedback on the interim measures. Attorney General Caroline Mulroney outlined the funding changes in a letter to Field dated Friday. The letter said the province expects the federal government to fully fund immigration and refugee law services for cases before federal tribunals or in federal court. However, my ministry is eager to work with you to modernize the way these services are provided within federal funding levels, and we are amenable to LAO utilizing current provincial resources to transition to a system that is sustainable solely on federal funding, she said. Crossing the Don River, not once but twice. Tunnelling under dense downtown districts. Serving a growing number of transit riders using smaller trains. Those are some of the challenges the provincial government will have to navigate to make its proposed Ontario Line a success. The light metro project is the highlight of the Progressive Conservatives blueprint for a $28.5-billion transit network spanning the GTA that Premier Doug Ford unveiled last week, and would replace the relief line subway proposal city council and the TTC have been pursuing for three years. The provincial government argues the 15-kilometre Ontario Line, which would run between Exhibition Place and the Ontario Science Centre via downtown and Leslieville, would achieve the 7.4-kilometre relief lines goal of diverting passengers from the TTCs overcrowded Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina), but could be built quicker and for less money because it would operate with smaller vehicles and would run above ground for part of the route. The governments preliminary estimates say the line could be constructed for $10.9 billion and be complete as early as 2027. However, the project has yet to undergo the extensive planning and design work required to reach a firm budget and construction schedule, and key decisions about the type of trains and construction methods that would be used have yet to be made. Experts who spoke to the Star said the Ontario Line plan has some advantages over the citys previous relief line plan, but could be more challenging and costly to deliver than the province has claimed. Bridging the Don Experts said one of the biggest advantages of the Ontario Line is that it would go as far north as Eglinton, where it would connect with the Ontario Science Centre station on the Crosstown LRT. By contrast, the $7.2-billion first phase of the council-approved relief line would only go as far north as Pape station on Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth), with a northern extension planned for a subsequent phase. Eric Miller, the director of the University of Torontos Transportation Research Institute, said pushing the route further north is critical to helping divert passengers off of Line 1. If this line, whatever we call it, is to have serious impact on Yonge St., its got to go north of Danforth at least as far as Eglinton, he said. The longer route means the Ontario Line would have to cross the Don River in two places: somewhere north of Pape Ave., and in the vicinity of Eastern Ave. Unlike the previous plan to tunnel about 40 metres under the Don, the Ontario Line could cross over the river, which Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, says would be significantly cheaper. Shoshanna Saxe, an assistant professor in U of Ts civil engineering department, said its reasonable to assume erecting bridges would be less expensive than tunnelling. However, for trains to safely cross, the bridges would have to be built on a shallow slope, which would require long run-ups on either side of the river and disruptive surface construction in areas where the tracks emerge from tunnels. It will have more impact on the local community, but it will probably cost less money overall, Saxe said. She noted while bridges would be cheaper to build, in the long term they would also require more costly maintenance than tunnelled track, which is protected from the elements. Near Eastern Ave., the Don is only about 50 metres wide, but building a bridge there could be complicated by the citys plans to reconstruct the Gardiner Expressway. For the wider crossing in the Ontario Lines northern section, Miller said one option worth investigating would be to run trains across the existing 450-metre bridge at Millwood Rd., which would be easier under the provinces proposal to use lighter vehicles. Tunnelling downtown The Ontario Line would likely have to be underground through much of the dense lower part of its route between the Don River and the north end of Exhibition Place. The Ford government says the smaller trains required would make it easier to build, but experts say digging in the core will be expensive and complicated even if the tunnels are a few feet narrower than conventional subways. Definitively saying its going to be a massive cost saving is overstating the point, Saxe said. Utilities buried beneath the surface would have to be relocated, and the tunnels would have to be deep enough that construction and train operations wouldnt disturb building foundations. The province proposes building downtown stops in the vicinity of King and Bathurst Sts., and along the Queen St. corridor at Spadina Ave., Sherbourne St., and Sumach St., as well as at interchanges at the existing Osgoode and Queen stations on Line 1. Ed Levy, a veteran transit planner, said underground stations at those locations would require at least two surface entrances each, and if the tunnels were built deep enough to avoid existing utilities and other structures, they would require banks and banks of escalators and elevators to carry passengers down to platforms. Its a very dense and very old part of the city, so this will be a very complicated undertaking no matter what kind of technology there is, he said. The province has said it would accelerate construction by using its authority to expedite regulatory approvals and utility relocation, and by procuring the project through a public-private partnership that would transfer schedule risks to the private sector. But given the logistical complexity involved, Levy said he doubted the provinces timelines are achievable. If they think theyre going to get all of this planning and analysis done plus building by 2027, they really must be on cannabis or something. I cant imagine it, he said. GO corridor The Ontario Lines western terminus near the Exhibition GO station would introduce the new challenge of spanning the corridor where GOs Barrie, Kitchener, Milton and UP Express lines converge as they approach Union Station. Building a bridge over the busy corridor would likely require temporary suspensions of GO service, and Saxe said that given the surrounding density it would likely be easiest to tunnel beneath the tracks. Some critics have raised concerns about the line disturbing Fort York, the national historic site about 800 metres east of Exhibition GO. But Saxe said the experience of other cities shows heritage properties can be protected. Theres a subway station right up under Westminster in London. You can build under really sensitive places and take care of them, you just have to be careful, she said. Building capacity Critical to the Ontario Lines success is the idea that while its trains would be smaller, they could provide similar peak capacity to a full-sized subway. Metrolinx says it could achieve this by deploying driverless trains that could run closer together, enabling service of between 36 to 40 trains per hour. On good days, the TTC is currently able to run 28 trains an hour on Line 1 through Bloor-Yonge station. Experts are skeptical about the provinces plan. Saxe pointed out the benefits provided by running automated trains close together could also be realized with full-sized vehicles, which could carry more passengers. Levy argued that more than how fast trains operate or how close they run together, a greater factor determining capacity is how long it takes to load and unload passengers in a station, something smaller trains wouldnt necessarily help with during peak crowding times. He also questioned the wisdom of building a system for smaller trains through the heart of downtown, where transit demand is only expected to grow in coming decades. If anything in their entire map is deserving of something that offers subway-level capacity, its that line, he said. A new yard The TTC intended to use Line 2s existing Greenwood Yard to store the additional trains required to operate the relief line. But because the Ontario Line would use smaller trains that wouldnt fit on the TTCs existing tracks, a new yard would have to be constructed. Metrolinx officials have said they believe there is space for a new yard somewhere in the Thorncliffe Park area. The full cost isnt known but the province says it would be within the $10.9 billion project budget. Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr Read more about: Fearing Canadians will become Googles lab rat this countrys top civil liberties association is seeking a judicial review that would nullify legal agreements behind Sidewalk Labs smart city project in Toronto. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and local Toronto resident Lester Brown filed an application with the Superior Court of Justice seeking to block the agreements between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto. The suit also says if necessary the courts should impose an injunction preventing Waterfront Toronto from approving a final master plan for the tech-driven neighbourhood, a master plan Sidewalk Labs, Googles sister firm, says it will release sometime in the next several weeks. Sidewalk Labs is working on creating a sensor-laden neighbourhood on a 12-acre plot of land on Queens Quay called Quayside. If the beta site project proves out Sidewalk wants other interests developers, governments, etc. to take the lessons from Quayside and expand them into the Port Lands. Sidewalk Labs has called for an independent civic data trust to control any of the data that sensors collect in Quayside, including data gathered from people who live in, work in or visit the neighbourhood. Sidewalk also says it will depersonalize data collected at Quayside, and will not monetize the data. But the plans to collect data have alarmed many critics of the project who fear privacy rights will be violated. The CCLA had threatened to take legal action last month, saying the Quayside project should be halted until all three levels of government have established digital data governance polices for the appropriate collection, ownership, use and storage of personal information that would be obtained in the smart city. Waterfront Toronto, and our federal, provincial and municipal governments sold-out our constitutional rights to freedom from surveillance and sold it to the global behemoth of behavioural data collection Google, CCLA executive director and general counsel Michael Bryant, a former Ontario attorney general and former Liberal MPP, told a press conference at Queens Park Tuesday. Google and their competitors take that stuff about us and they sell it to businesses who make bets on what we will buy, he said. Canadians should not be Googles lab rat. This lab needs to be shut down and reset, Bryant added. The claims have not been tested in court. The CCLA now has 30 days to file a record of its case with the court. Waterfront Toronto is waiting to receive evidence from the CCLA before filing its response, a Waterfront Toronto spokesperson said. Bryant accused Waterfront Toronto of improperly playing privacy czar in what could become Canadas first-ever public petri dish of data. He also took a jab at the federal government. Bryant accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of being seduced by the honeypot of Googles sparkling brand and promises of political and economic glory, and joining with the province and city to ensure Waterfront Toronto signed on to the initial framework agreements. The civil liberties group says the agreements are contrary to administrative and constitutional law, and set a terrible precedent for the rest of this country. The rights and freedoms of Canadians trumps whatever economic opportunity arises from this (project), Bryant told reporters, adding that the legal action calls for a reset of the whole process. Sidewalk Labs fired back Tuesday saying that while it fully supports a robust and healthy discussion regarding privacy, data ownership and governance, the debate must be rooted in fact, not fiction and fear mongering. Its unfortunate that once again the CCLA has chosen to mischaracterize our work and our engagement with the people of Toronto, Sidewalk Labs spokesperson Keerthana Rang said in a statement. Sidewalk Labs is strongly committed to the protection and privacy of urban data. In fact, weve been clear we will not own, sell or store any data, Rang said. Sideawalk later contacted the Star to update the previous statement, saying: In fact, weve been clear in our belief that decisions about the collection and use of urban data should be up to an independent data trust which we are proposing for the Quayside project. Rang went on to say Sidewalk has proposed setting a new global standard for responsible data use by creating an independent data trust. This organization would be run by an independent third party in partnership with the government and ensure urban data is only used in ways that benefit the community, protect privacy, and spur innovation and investment. This independent body would have full oversight over Quayside. Dan Doctoroff, Sidewalk Labs CEO, was asked about the CCLA application while speaking at a luncheon put on by the Canadian Club in Toronto Tuesday where he was talking about the Quayside project. He said he hadnt seen the suit yet, but added we have nothing to do, believe it or not with Google. We dont share any data, he said. There shouldnt be any use of surveillance that is not ultimately approved by levels of government or other authorized entities, he said. In a statement, Waterfront Toronto said it shares the CCLAs interest in ensuring robust protection for privacy at Quayside, but at this point has not received the final plan from Sidewalk Labs. Therefore, none of the claims in the in the CCLA application can be assessed yet, the corporation said. Waterfront Toronto added that in order to develop state-of-the-art privacy and data governance at Quayside, it has engaged with a broad range of stakeholders, experts and the general public, and last month invited CCLA to join in these discussions, but have not yet received a response to the invitation, Meg Davis, chief development officer for Waterfront Toronto, said in a statement. The CCLAs notice of application, filed in the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, names Waterfront Toronto, the city of Toronto, the provincial and federal infrastructure ministries and the attorney general of Canada. The independent, national advocacy group argues in its court filing that an initial framework agreement and subsequent plan development agreement between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs empower Sidewalk Labs and others to effect historically unprecedented, non-consensual, inappropriate mass-capture surveillance and commoditization of personal data of individuals who live in, work in or visit Quayside. The decisions the city of Toronto, the province and Ottawa took in directing, permitting or acquiescing to Waterfront Torontos decisions to enter into the two agreements with Sidewalk Labs the Oct. 16, 2017, framework agreement and July 31, 2018, plan development agreement should also be quashed, the CCLA argues in its court filings. By entering into the framework and plan development agreements Waterfront Toronto has violated Canadians personal and collective privacy rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the CCLA argues. Before developing or implementing the Quayside project, the CCLA says Waterfront Toronto and the various levels of government have the duty to develop a digital data governance policy to address the capture, collection, control, management, ownership, risks, exploitation and residency of the data collected at Quayside. But instead, Waterfront Toronto and the various levels of government abdicated their duty, the CCLA argues. Update - April 18, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version to include Sidewalk Labs update to their previous statement. Read more about: Developer Stephen Diamond is lowering his sights. The head of Diamond Corp., the company that created the 51-storey Selby near Bloor St. E. and the 48 floors at 5 St. Joseph St., wants to focus on the kind of housing that planners and policy-makers have long lamented as too scarce in the city the elusive missing middle. It is the midrise apartments and townhomes that supply the middle ground between downtown towers and long suburban commutes for families that want a patch of grass outside their door. But it is a challenging format for the development industry, Diamond says. If Toronto wants builders to moderate their towering ambitions, he suggests the city raise its own sights higher than six or seven storeys. I think you need a minimum of eight storeys, he said. If the city wants to encourage this form of housing, it has to look at different incentives and financial structures ... in addition to looking at the zoning regulations and speeding up the approval process for these smaller projects, Diamond said. He has partnered with another development powerhouse, Ken Tanenbaum, vice-chair of Kilmer Van Nostrand. He is part of a group that wants to see a convention centre and relocated Ontario Science Centre at Exhibition Place and Ontario Place. The first missing middle project in their joint Diamond-Kilmer Developments portfolio will be an 11-storey condo and five-block townhome development at St. Clair Ave. W. and Old Weston Rd. Reunion Crossing will have the St. Clair streetcar on its doorstep. Its amenities will include a playground and splashpad for kids, and adult conveniences such as work benches. The condos will be priced from about $350,000 and the townhomes will start at around $650,000 when they go on sale in a few weeks. Diamond is convinced there is strong demand for ground-level housing for people who dont have $1 million. But finding sites that work is challenging, he said. Like any other kind of project, missing middle has to deliver a profit to the builder. Its more economical to build 30 storeys. You repeat the same floor plate so your costs go down, you have one elevator bank, he said. Going to a reasonable 11 storeys on the Reunion Crossing condo, helped with the overall viability of the project, Diamond said. Filling the missing-middle hole in Torontos housing market also addresses some of his civic concerns, says the recently named chair of Waterfront Toronto, the agency charged with revitalizing Torontos lakefront. What were really doing, particularly when we look around the core, were creating a city for the wealthy and we have to look at ways to create this differentiation and a more affordable product, Diamond said at a recent building industry event. Meantime, he said, our inner suburbs, particularly in Toronto, are not being redeveloped and that is a particularly serious issue I think we have to uncover in the city. Reunion Crossing sits somewhere between the core and the burbs in the Stockyards District. But Diamond says it is the kind of development that would be ideally suited to places such as Etobicoke and Scarborough and Diamond-Kilmer has some other sites on the horizon. These projects are still expensive to build so you have to be able to find land that is less expensive, which is out of the core, he said. But my view is as well as looking at the zoning regulations, they should prioritize them in terms of the speed of getting them through the system, which adds a lot of cost. The city doesnt monitor the number of midrise buildings that are developed. There is also no strict definition of what comprises a midrise building. But the city has Mid-rise Building Performance standards that guide building features such as step backs, angular planes and height. The general rule is that a building is as tall as the width of the right-of-way. St. Clair Ave. W. has a right-of-way of 30 metres wide. That translates to a nine-storey building of about 30 metres in height. Jacob Totske has to be at least a little quiet when he comes home from his job at a King St. W. bar around 3 a.m. his roommate is asleep in a twin bed just a foot away from his own in the bedroom they share. Another is asleep in the master bedroom down the hall. And yet another dozes in a converted den just off the living room. For these four close friends in their late teens and early 20s, the answer to living downtown while keeping rent affordable is to get squishy. In a two-bedroom-plus-den, two-bathroom apartment at Church and Shuter Sts., Totske, along with his roommates Dana Delaney, Luke Avoledo and Clare Mulvale, have divided an approximately 900-square-foot apartment and its $3,105 a month price tag four ways. We all signed up for lets get squishy, lets get comfortable, Avoledo, 19, says. After graduating from high schools outside of Toronto, the roommates who all work or go to school in the city turned to compact living as an alternative to staying at home with their parents and commuting, an increasingly difficult choice for young people in the city. Read more: Would you pay $2 million to live at the end of someone elses backyard? How six millennials bought a house together in downtown Toronto and built a community Over a third of GTHA residents in one-bedroom apartments live in unsuitable housing: Report A downtown apartment, they say, gives them independence, and rooming together means they can keep rental costs down and invest more money into their lives. In a small bedroom off the front entrance, Delaney, 19, and Totske, 21, have set up two nearly identical twin beds. The room is sparsely decorated with Polaroid photos and a string of fairy lights hung above the beds. Theyve split the closet in half, same with a shelving unit with Delaney occupying the top two shelves and Totske the bottom. A side table is squeezed between the two beds, housing scented candles and a well-used Polaroid camera. They also share a bathroom off the front hall. As weird as it sounds, its worked out, Totske says. I dont think weve really had like any actual living issues. Delaney, who works part-time at a real estate agency while pursuing psychology at Ryerson, says shes not bothered by Totskes late-night entrances, as shes a heavy sleeper, and when Totske, who serves at a downtown pub, isnt working theyre in sync. Share your thoughts: If we have a day off, we kind of do the same thing. Well wake up around the same time, well eat around the same time, she explains. It sounds like were married, Totske says. (Theyre not a couple nor is anyone in the house.) Since neither of the roommates are currently dating, they have managed to skirt awkward conversations around privacy. However, if they need alone time in their shared room, they just ask for it. And when theyre together, they dont feel obligated to entertain each other. Were not always hanging out. Like Id be on my bed and hed be on his bed. Were just kind of zoned out. Avoledo lives in the roughly 45-square-foot den, a room thats likely intended to hold a small office but in which the second-year Ryerson media student has squeezed a twin bed and skinny Ikea bookshelf. He occupies half of the front hall closet; the other half holds the groups jackets and miscellaneous storage. And he shares the en suite bathroom in the master bedroom. I walk around here naked, my room is kind of far from the shower and the closet, Avoledo jokes. But Ive got to do it! No one seems bothered by this. What can you do about that? Delaney says. You just laugh about it ... Its funny. While many of their peers are living at their parents for longer, these four roommates split rents and in one case a room to be close to work, school and invest in their lives. Mulvale, 20, a third-year media student at Guelph-Humber University, takes the master bedroom, a luxury for which she pays $900 a month Delaney, Totske and Avoledo split the remaining rent equally, paying a total of $735 a month for their shares. Their rent is close to average for a two-bedroom rental in downtown Toronto, according to market research firm Urbanation. Rentals out of the core are often cheaper and larger, but a two-bedroom apartment is still on average more than $2,700 monthly. Ultimately, the roommates wanted a space that was central, so they could access their respective schools or jobs easily. It was also a cost-saving measure to have the apartment within walking distance to shopping and groceries. My big thing was I would like to put the $130 that would go into a metro pass into my rent and I can walk everywhere, Avoledo says. Totske, who shared a two-bedroom apartment with a single roommate farther west before moving into the Church St. apartment, agrees, adding the arrangement lets him be closer to work and the places he frequents. The groups lease is necessarily complicated. Due to their ages and lack of credit, a co-signer was needed for each of the roommates, so their parents are also named in the agreement. Mulvale, who has a part-time, minimum wage retail job, says shes lucky to have my parents help me out a little bit. If didnt have them help me out, theres no way I could pay (rent) because I go to school five days a week and then after that, at least three days a week I go to work after (class), she says. In Toronto, nearly 35 per cent of 20- to 34-year-olds live at home, with even more living at home in wealthier neighbourhoods. Avoledo and Delaney moved into the apartment in August 2017. The building manager agreed to allow the group they shared with two other people one lease reassignment if a roommate wanted to move out, a process they went through last summer when Totske and Mulvale moved in, replacing the two previous roommates who the current roommates say moved back in with their parents. If another person would like to leave the living arrangement, the remaining roommates will have to reapply for their apartment at market cost, an increase of roughly $300 a month, according to open listings on their buildings website. The higher cost would potentially drive them out of the space, the roommates agree. My number (for rent) is $750 in stone, Avoledo says. While theyre confident they could find another arrangement in the city, a worst-case scenario would see three of the roommates moving back in with their parents in Markham-Stouffville, and in Totskes case, Waterloo a situation theyd prefer to avoid. Though their living arrangement is very common, says Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario staff lawyer Karen Andrews, a lot of people dont tell their landlords for fear of being evicted for overcrowding. A Toronto bylaw stipulates that a home cannot house more than one person per each nine square metres of floor space. Under the Landlord and Tenant act, a landlord could terminate a lease agreement if the number of people in a home becomes a health and safety hazard, or goes against housing bylaws. The National Occupancy Standard says that no more than two people should occupy a bedroom. Andrews says she has heard from tenants that there is pressure to not broadcast these multi-person arrangements. But the move to sign the four roommates and each of their guarantors to the lease is a security benefit for both the landlord and tenants, Andrews says. Why does the landlord want all the names on the lease? Because if the rent is not paid, the landlord wants to be able to go after everybody or wants to go after the person that has the most money, she says. For the roommates, if just one person is on the lease, that person could evict their roommates by changing locks or putting all their items outside. You would have to go to small claims court for the remedy, Andrews says. Andrews emphasized the prevalence of such housing situations for low-income earners and newly landed immigrants. If youve come to Canada and youve got a low wage job and the apartment is $3,000 a month, people will look for ways to save on costs, she says. And so two families are occupying an apartment that was meant for one family, Andrews says. The Star has previously reported on such living arrangements. Over a third of GTHA residents in one-bedroom apartments live in unsuitable housing. Single family dwellings have become completely unrealistic with the housing pressure in todays market, Andrews says. I think people need a decent amount of space and privacy to live a decent life. And I dont think thats asking a lot. Brampton Mayor and former PC Party leader Patrick Brown took credit for parts of the Ford governments first provincial budget following the documents release last week. The PC government under Premier Doug Ford released its 2019 budget on April 11, prompting Brown to draw comparisons to the Peoples Guarantee the partys previous policy and fiscal plan conceived under his watch. While critical of the budget as mayor of Brampton, he said he was happy to see some of his work in the budget. Brown was elected PC Party leader in May 2015 and remained in that role until January 2018. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, he told the Brampton Guardian. From a personal perspective, some of the policy documents that I actually put hundreds of hours of work into were realized. Many people know I wrote the Peoples Guarantee, which was released in 2017. Brown listed the $100 million low-income dental-care benefit for seniors which he said his sister wrote child-care rebate and investments in mental health ($1.9 billion over five years) as legacies of his plan. Its heartening to see some of the policy initiatives that I had worked on during my time in provincial politics realized in this provincial budget, added Brown. The premiers office disagreed. The 2019 Budget: Protecting What Matters Most was put together by the entire all-star Ontario PC cabinet and caucus, and was based on Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs Plan for the People that was released during the election campaign. We are proud to say promises made, promises kept, read an emailed statement from Fords office in response to Browns claims. Ford replaced Brown as party leader just months before last Junes provincial election, after the latter resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations originally reported by CTV News in January 2018. Brown categorically denied the allegations and is suing CTV News for $8 million over its initial reporting. Theres been an ongoing feud between Brown and the party since. In November 2018, after being elected mayor of Canadas ninth-largest city, he released a tell-all memoir called Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown about his time as leader and eventual split from the party. Ford publicly criticized Brown after the books release. Provincial finance minister Vic Fedeli has since filed an $8 million lawsuit against Brown for past allegations of sexual impropriety against him made in the book He definitely did a disservice to the people of Brampton, said Ford at the time. He really, really went after people. Its disappointing, I have to question his leadership. As Brampton mayor, Brown has been critical of the budget. In terms of the transportation allocation, theres no new funding for Peel Region. So, for everyone in the GTA West, we got shut out on the transit announcement Id also say, theres no reference to health care in Brampton. Thats disappointing because we need a third hospital and new funds for Peel Memorial, he said last week. Graeme Frisque is a reporter with the Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian. Reach him via email: gfrisque@metroland.com Read more about: OCAD University is determined to move forward with a campus expansion project after receiving devastating news that the province is withdrawing millions in funding. The move by the Progressive Conservatives affects the Creative City Campus, a downtown Toronto project thats been in the works for about a decade. It involves adding 50,000 square feet of new space and renovating 95,000 square feet of existing space. It is devastating news for the institution, said Sara Diamond, president of the OCAD University. This really is a significant, very negative decision on the part of government. Were well underway (with the project) and it meets the needs of our university for 21st century high-quality education in design and in digital media and creative industries that the Ontario economy needs, she told the Star on Tuesday. This is really a blow to that capacity in the province and were really surprised that the government decided to, essentially, cancel their contract with us. In 2016, the previous Liberal government committed $27 million towards the project. To date, the province has given the university $7 million. But on Friday afternoon, it withdrew future funding. In a letter, deputy minister George Zegarac, from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, says the province is no longer in a position to fund the project given provincial fiscal restraints. He says that as part of last weeks budget, a thorough review of all government programs was done to ensure investments are sustainable and modernized. Budget 2019 reflected the governments commitment to achieve balance in a responsible manner, and deliver on the promise to restore accountability and trust in Ontarios finances, writes Zegarac in a letter addressed to Diamond. Unfortunately, this requires making difficult decisions concerning future funding to projects. He adds, the government will undertake program evaluations on a permanent and ongoing basis to ensure government services are meeting peoples needs and to identify ways to modernize programs and save money. The Star contacted a ministry spokesperson Tuesday, but did not hear back before deadline. The OCAD U project costs $60 million in total. The university, which has a student population of 4,700, has raised $33 million from private donors, the federal government and institutional funds. We have the other money, said Diamond. And by (the province) removing, essentially, $20 million towards the completion, it creates a significant challenge for the university and for our donors and for our community. Were not going to accept this as a final decision. Were consulting with our stakeholders. Were certainly hoping to continue the conversation with government, she added. What do you think? The project, which is one-third complete, involves the transformation of the main campus, located at 100 McCaul St., and of a building at 115 McCaul St. The final phase involves expanding the main campus with 50,000 square feet of new space that would include modernized classrooms, seminar spaces and expanded studios. The students are so talented As emerging designers and artists, who have a very high success rate in job placement and really are central to the Ontario economy, they deserve to have quality facilities like other post-secondary institutions can provide. Other schools have experienced similar funding woes. Last October, the Progressive Conservatives cancelled funding, totalling around $307 million, for three planned satellite campuses, which are partnerships between universities and colleges. Those funds had also been promised by the previous Liberal government. Affected projects include a Ryerson University/Sheridan College campus in Brampton and a Wilfrid Laurier University/Conestoga College campus in Milton. Also impacted, and much further along in development, is a York University/Seneca College campus in Markham. York University remains steadfast in its commitment to the project and is exploring all possible options, says university spokesperson Barbara Joy. A new campus in Markham is an opportunity for York to accommodate the forecasted steady increase in population growth and the growing demand for post-secondary programs close to home in areas like entrepreneurship, commerce, digital media and medical biotechnology, responsive to the emerging labour market needs of York Region and Ontario. Similarly, Wilfrid Laurier spokesperson Kevin Crowley says Laurier remains committed to developing a campus presence in Milton. As we discuss future possibilities with the province and our partners, we plan to offer some individual courses starting in the near future to be delivered in the Milton Education Village Innovation Centre. Read more about: Toronto police are asking the public to keep an eye out for a 22-year-old man who is wanted in a sexual assault and forcible confinement investigation. Samatar Hassan, a Toronto man, is facing five total charges, including for assault and sexual assault, Toronto police said in a Monday news release. He is also wanted for forcible confinement, overcoming resistance by attempting to choke or strangle an individual and failure to comply with a probation order. Police say Hassan has a dark complexion and is around five-foot-five, with short black hair and a thin build. He frequents the Dixon Rd. and Islington Ave. area, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, or Crime Stoppers. JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesias Election Supervision Agency said Tuesday about 320,000 overseas voters in neighbouring Malaysias biggest city should vote again in presidential and legislative elections after finding evidence that postal ballots had been tampered with. Election officials rushed to Malaysia last week to investigate claims of vote fraud after videos circulated online showed thousands of ballots for Wednesdays elections scattered throughout a shophouse. Opposition party representatives said the ballots for Indonesians living in Kuala Lumpur were marked in favour of President Joko Widodo, who is campaigning for re-election, and a legislative candidate who is the son of Indonesias ambassador to Malaysia. The agency found legal ballot papers that allegedly were marked by non-legitimate voters at two locations in Selangor, Malaysia, said Rahmat Bagja, one of the agencys commissioners. He said that requirements for the elections to be free, fair and honest were violated and recommended that Indonesias Election Commission dismiss two members of the election organizing committee in Kuala Lumpur to avoid conflicts of interest. One of them is Indonesias deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Krishna Hannan. The Election Commission is responsible for organizing elections and the Election Supervision Agency is responsible for overseeing them. About 193 million Indonesians are eligible to vote in the elections for president, the Senate and national, provincial and district legislatures. Opinion polls show Widodo has a large lead over his challenger, former special forces general Prabowo Subianto, whose campaign has repeatedly alleged major irregularities with voter rolls. Bagja said the overseas vote in Sydney should be reopened because many expatriate Indonesians in the Australian city were unable to cast ballots in time. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the organization is the Election Supervision Agency, not Election Commission. By Peter Koenig April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Indignation has no limits! Arresting Julian Assange is murdering the truth, murdering human rights and eliminating freedom of speech, let alone freedom of the media, although the latter has been compromised and became a farce since quite a while. What happened on 11 April and in preparation of 11 April the storming by UK police of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to drag Julian Assange from his room, rather a cell within the Embassy was the pinnacle of abuse and of atrocity on humanity. Julian Assange has been basically for almost 7 years under house arrest in the Ecuadorian Embassy, especially during the last two years, after Lenin Moreno, the new right-wing, Washington shoe-in, became Ecuadors new President, another Latin American neoliberal leader. Morenos predecessor, Rafael Correa, granted Julian Assange not only asylum, but also Ecuadorian citizenship. Correa admired Assanges courage to inform the world of the war crimes and atrocities committed by the United States. Correas successor, Moreno, at the instruction of Washingtons, deprived Julian Assange of any rights as a human being under asylum in a foreign country which the Ecuadorian Embassy represents. He was no longer allowed to receive visits, nor access to internet, and was confined to a small room. Julian lived under de facto house arrest. As a last straw Moreno took Assanges passport away and stripped him of his Ecuadorian citizenship. Similar instructions from Washington were ignored by President Correa. President Correas unsubmissiveness is among the reasons why Washington didnt allow Correa to run for another term, even though a vast majority of the people supported him. Permission by Washington to run for a high public office, like the presidency, is a must, enforced by serious threats. But equally shameful, abjectly shameful, indeed and it is not said enough, is Australias silence. Julian Assange is an Australian citizen. Yet, the Australian government, also a total vassal of the faltering and morally corrupt empire, lets a citizen of hers being exposed to horrendous injustice, pain, most likely being extradited to the US, where he can expect no justice, but may possibly be tortured and killed. Several American lawmakers have already called out for Assanges blood, for his execution, believe it or not, even extra-judiciary execution was called for, if everything else fails. That is totally in the cards. Just think of Obamas and Trumps (vamped up) extra-judiciary drone killings. Nobody says beep; its the new normal. The west looks on and keeps enjoying its comfort zone of no hear, no see, no talk. What a life! Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Citizens of Australia where are you? You have more ethics and moral than your government, than bending to this cowardice of silence and consenting a crime. Stand up! Cry out to free Assange Julians freedom is YOUR Freedom. *** Thats what the west masters best. Entertaining cowards, who know about the truth, who know that Julian Assanges arrest is wrong, is a fraud, is the ultimate farce and assault on TRUTH, on freedom of speech. It is the final abuse of Human Rights. Stand up, People! There is no doubt that Lenin Moreno, the new Washington implant in Ecuador, is not only a coward but a criminal in terms of human rights abuse. He knows that Julian Assange faces extradition to the US, torture and possibly the dead penalty. He knows as he made a deal with Washington to get Assange eventually back to the US to stand trial and very possibly being tortured. Chelsea Manning, an intelligence analyst in Iraq at the time, is said having supplied Wikileaks the bulk of information, the TRUTH about a criminal US regime, about its war crimes, is currently also in jail, certainly not by coincidence. The two will serve the world as examples you better behave, and do not interfere with our attempts whatever illegal form it may take, to take over the world, to reach in the shortest time now, world hegemony. Crimes on humanity, like those committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Pakistan and the list goes on are part of the plan to subdue humanity and eventually Planet Earth to the will and whims of empire, helas, a failing and faltering empire, that thrives for the benefit and greed of a few weapons and financial oligarchs, hence, the speed with which empire now operates. When you eventually succumb to human justice, to natures justice, a justice way above that fake, servile, man-made justice then you know it, and then destroy whatever you can before, so that nobody can survive. Its akin to a wild animal before dying lashing out around itself to bring down whatever it can before biting the dust. *** Our western world is becoming ever more honest showing its true face namely abject inhumanity, the criminality runs down the western face like tears of joy albeit tears of blood. Who even dares still using the terms of freedom, democracy, freedom of speech? Believe me, there are still people in this world of comfort, of no-care-for-the-next that trust life in the west is heaven of justice of democracy. Never mind that justice is trampled with boots and guns and bombs if thats not enough fly in NATO, the all destructive force, run by the Pentagon and subscribed to by 27 European countries out of 29; the others being the United States and Canada. Doesnt that say a lot? Well, its in our hands to change it. As Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministrys spokesperson, so adroitly puts it: The hand of democracy squeezing the throat of freedom. Wikileaks editor, Kristinn Hrafnsson, warns, No journalist will be safe from extradition to the US for doing his job, adding that Julian Assange is facing political persecution for doing his job as a journalist. She vowed to fight his extradition to the US. Bolivian President, Evo Morales says: We strongly condemn the detention of Julian Assange and the violation of freedom of speech. Our solidarity is with this brother who is persecuted by the US government for bringing to light its human rights violations, murders of civilians and diplomatic espionage. Then you have dont laugh, its serious US Vice-president Pence and Foreign Secretary Pompeo, who are saying that Assange and Manning colluded with Russia, Assange is a Putin agent, thats why we ask for extradition to the US. *** Julian Assange is a hero, a hero for the rest of those of us who are not willing to submit and to bend down in front of the powers that cannot stand opposition and cannot tolerate humanitys thrive for individual and societal freedom, cannot stand the sovereignty of nations unless their sovereignty is totally compromised and submissive to the empires fist, boots and bombs. Thats the case of the European Union. The EU, and all associated nations, is run by the Pentagon via NATO. The EU could have said stop to the arrest of Assange on their, EUs territory. The people of the EU should just take this as another example how Brussels is a mere and miserable vassal of Washingtons, unable to defend their sovereignty, the right of their citizens, and the right of those that defend freedom of speech, a nominal, albeit farcical, priority of the EU. Nobody interfered, with this abject and blood thirsty arrest in the morning of 11 April. Brussels was silent. No surprise there, but again, a huge deception by the rulers (sic) of Europe. Is it a coincidence that 11 April was also the day of another Washington initiated murderous act? On 11 April 2002, 17 years ago, Washington conspired and orchestrated directly, live, via video, the attempted coup in Caracas against Venezuelas democratically and overwhelmingly elected President Hugo Chavez. The coup failed, as Chavez then and as President Maduro today had and have the massive support of the people and the military. On 13 April, at the forceful request of the people, the golpistas had to assume their failure and President Chavez returned from his two-day exile on La Orchila island, a military base, where he was flown by helicopter. British police, fully subject to the Masters of Terror, what Europe under the Washington-Pentagon regime has become followed their order to arrest Julian even with some joy when one watches the faces and gesticulations of the vicious arrest of those brutes that dragged Assange out of the Embassy into a waiting police van, to be driven off to a court hearing. But what a court hearing! Resembling a Kangaroo court of any third-rate dictator, the assigned district judge, Michael Snow, proceeded without a jury for about 15 minutes to declare Assange guilty of crimes dictated by Washington. Assange had no chance to protest, other than twice he said not guilty and asked why the accusation was changed in the middle of the proceedings. Assanges crime is having divulged US war crimes, like the indiscriminate shooting of civilians a video that traveled a million times around the world for the people to see what ice cold heartless murderers the US is composed of all tolerated and actually encouraged by the Pentagon, the US Presidency and, naturally, the dark forces that hold the strings that move the puppets. These are crimes that should have been and still should be judged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. But, of course, the ICC wont touch them. They have recently made a lukewarm attempt to accuse some Afghan and US soldiers of war crimes, but stopped when the Trump-Pompeo-Bolton team called out threats to the Court, if they dare touch an American citizen. Thats the way justice goes in our western world. Disrespect for human rights, for human lives for the rights and independence of other people on the globe from Asia, to Africa to Latin America has been and still is a historic truth. Europe turned their colonies into slavery. Why would they behave differently now? Sadly, the human condition of Europeans, of the West after all, North Americans are nothing but transplanted Europeans has not changed. Does it take a total demise for people to come to their senses? In recent years, this impunity has turned into a bold, flagrant openly demonstrated crime for all eyes to see, eyes that still have some iota of conscience left. Havent you noticed, People of the west, of the comfortable west? Its high time to react. If you dont, you may be next, that is as sure as day follows night. The hegemon will not stop to protect you in your comfort zone. Comes the time, you are no longer needed, when all your resources including your drinking water are under full control of a few corporate oligarchs. People, like Julian Assange were and still are offering their life to stop this criminal murderous advancement of the greedy few that aim to control this world, those aiming at Full Spectrum Dominance, so well spelled out in the PNAC Plan for a New American Century. Defending Julian Assange, not letting him be extradited to the paradise of assassins, the United States of America, is an act of self-defense self-defense for the world that still values its freedom, its right to sovereign ruling and liberty of expression. If you let extradition of Julian to the US happen, People of Europe, you will kill the media as you know it, and even if you know only mainstream media they will be gone too, as there comes the moment when they the Anglozion-media corporations, do no longer represent the interests of your comfort zone. -Then it is too late. You, British police, you, people of the UK, people of Europe, people, who are supposed to lead the EU, stand up for Julian Assange. Stand up for justice. Stand up for freedom of speech. Stand up for your own interests, the interests of your countries, the people, the interests and right to a free and sovereign life stand up! Leave your cloths of naked vassalism behind. Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He is the author of Implosion An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! - Essays from the Resistance. The original source of this article is Information Clearing House Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== This video is the most important thing you can watch when it comes to WikiLeaks and Assange: pic.twitter.com/h8liwZsQws Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) April 14, 2019 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 KIEV, Ukraine - A celebrated former Ukrainian military pilot accused of plotting an attack on parliament has been freed from jail. A court in Brovary, outside the Ukrainian capital, refused to extend Nadiya Savchenkos arrest, setting her free Tuesday after a year behind bars. Savchenko was arrested in March 2018 on charges of planning to attack parliament with hand grenades and automatic weapons. She rejected the charges as an attempt by President Petro Poroshenko to get rid of a powerful challenger. Savchenko became a national hero in Ukraine after spending years in a Russian prison. She was freed in 2016 under international pressure, but after returning home to a heros welcome quickly fell out with Poroshenko, accusing his government of corruption and incompetence. Poroshenko is trailing comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy ahead of Sundays runoff. BERLIN - The German parliament has fined the far-right Alternative for Germany party more than 400,000 euros ($452,200) for accepting illegal campaign donations. The Bundestag said in a statement on Tuesday that two senior party members received free advertising from a public relations firm based in Switzerland ahead of regional elections in 2016 and 2017. Officials said Joerg Meuthen and Guido Reil, who are both members of Alternative for Germanys national board and running for the European Unions legislature, shouldnt have accepted the advertising because PR firm Goal AG wasnt known as the donor at the time. Alternative for Germany known by its German acronym AfD, says it plans to challenge the fine in court. The party alleged the Bundestags decision was politically motivated. AfD could receive further fines over donations co-leader Alice Weidel got from Switzerland in 2017. MADRID - A hoax bomb threat called in to the Australian Embassy in Spain prompted the evacuation of a 57-story office tower in Madrids business district on Tuesday, Spanish police said. Staff at the embassy in Madrid received a phone call with the security threat around midday on Tuesday, said a National Police spokeswoman who wasnt authorized to be identified by name in media reports. She said police are investigating the call after deeming it a false alarm. The tower had been evacuated by the time police and emergency services arrived at the scene, she added. The Australian Embassy tweeted that it would be closed for the rest of the day and until further notice. At 235 metres (770 feet), Torre Espacio is one of four skyscrapers dotting the northern part of the Spanish capitals skyline. Apart from the Australian legation, it houses the embassies of the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as offices of several multinational companies. BRUSSELS - Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg says time is running out to halt climate change and shes urging European politicians to panic. Thunberg told EU lawmakers Tuesday: I want you to act as if the house is on fire. She said that if our house was falling apart you wouldnt hold three emergency Brexit summits and no emergency summit regarding the breakdown of the climate and environment. During a speech met with a standing ovation, Thunberg fought back tears as she warned about rapid species extinctions, soil erosion, deforestation and the pollution of oceans. In a reference to the international funding effort launched to rebuild the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, she urged the lawmakers to use cathedral thinking to tackle climate change. NICOSIA, Cyprus - A U.S. senator says the time is right for Cyprus to strengthen its bonds with Washington in light of new natural gas discoveries in waters off the east Mediterranean island nation and its partnerships with neighbouring countries to bolster regional security. Sen. Robert Menendez D-N.J. said after talks with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades Tuesday that Cyprus can find a whole new day in its relationship with the U.S. and the West. Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said ties are enhancing, referring to proposed legislation Menendez introduced with Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fl. aimed at lifting a 32-year-old arms embargo on Cyprus. Prodromou said Cyprus works with countries including Israel and Egypt, serving U.S. interests as ExxonMobil is engaged in a hydrocarbons search of the island. CAIRO - Recent clashes between rival Libyan militias for control of the capital Tripoli have displaced nearly 20,000 people, the U.N. said Tuesday, and prompted the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to warn that she could investigate and possibly prosecute new offences. The self-styled Libyan National Army, aligned with a rival government in the east, launched a major military offensive on April 5 to take Tripoli, igniting clashes with rival militias allied with the U.N.-supported government. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who was already investigating crimes in Libya, said in a statement that she is deeply concerned about the escalation of violence and called on military commanders to prevent war crimes. She said she will not hesitate to expand my investigations and potential prosecutions to cover any new instances of crimes falling within the Courts jurisdiction. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York said Tuesday the number of people displaced due to hostilities in the Tripoli area has increased to near 20,000, including more than 2,500 in the last 24 hours, according to the U.N. migration agency. He said 50 civilian casualties were confirmed so far, including 14 deaths, but these individually verified cases must be considered a minimum, Dujarric said. Dujarric said heavy weapons and shelling have damaged houses, schools and civilian infrastructure. He said the number of people displaced due to hostilities in the Tripoli area has increased to nearly 20,000, including more than 2,500 in the last 24 hours. Dujarric said Monday that around 3,000 migrants remain trapped in detention centres in, and close to, conflict areas. And in some cases guards have abandoned the detention centres leaving detainees to their own devices without basic life-sustaining supplies such as food or water, he said. On the ground Tuesday, Hifters media office said clashes have been ongoing for days in the town of Ain Zara about 15 kilometres (9 miles) east of Tripoli. It said clashes were taking place on the road that links the city to the Tripoli international airport. The LNA said earlier this month that they captured the airport but rival militias said they reclaimed the facility. The airport has not been functional since fighting in 2014 destroyed much of the facility. The battle for Tripoli could ignite civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. That conflict led to Bensoudas ongoing probe after the U.N. Security Council called for an investigation. Since Gahdafis ouster, Libya has been governed by rival authorities in the east and in Tripoli, in the west, each backed by various militias and armed groups fighting over resources and territory. ___ Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska State Troopers say three people have died after their snowmobiles broke through ice in northern Alaska. Troopers say they were notified early Monday morning that several travellers on two snowmobiles had fallen through the ice. One of the travellers made it to Noatak and summoned help from searchers. Troopers say one person was reported dead and two others unaccounted for. Searchers found one of the missing travellers, who later died en route to a hospital in Kotzebue. Troopers say the second missing person was found dead shortly before 4 a.m. Monday. The names of the three deceased travellers were not immediately disclosed. The deaths come weeks after two Akiak men died after their all-terrain vehicles crashed through ice on the Kuskokwim River. GEORGETOWN, Ky. - A substitute teacher in Kentucky has been jailed for allegedly endangering middle school students by teaching while drunk. WKYT-TV reports 32-year-old Brook Ellen West was arrested Monday on charges of public intoxication and endangering the welfare of a minor. Scott County Sheriffs deputies say she told authorities she had four shots of vodka while teaching a class at Royal Springs Middle School in Georgetown. They say she smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet, yelled and cursed at the children, and had a blood alcohol content level of .317. Scott County Schools says the teacher is no longer employed by the district in any capacity. ___ Information from: WKYT-TV, http://www.wkyt.com KALAMA, Wash. - A gunman who authorities say shot and killed a sheriffs deputy in rural Washington state was the half-brother of a man who killed an Oregon police chief eight years ago. Brian Butts, 33, was shot to death Sunday by law enforcement officers as he emerged wet and dirty from woods following a manhunt. Investigators say Butts killed Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier on Saturday night. Butts was the half-brother of Daniel Butts, 29, who pleaded guilty last month to killing Police Chief Ralph Painter in 2011 in Rainier, Oregon, just across the Columbia River from Cowlitz County, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported . Daniel Butts is serving a life sentence with parole possible after 49 years. He grabbed Painters sidearm and shot him in the head during a struggle at a car stereo shop. Daniel Butts father, Mikel Butts, confirmed the relationship, the news outlet said. He said Daniel and Brian had the same mother. Mikel Butts said he hadnt seen Brian Butts in years. DeRosier, 29, had been a Cowlitz County deputy since 2009 and was the married father of a 5-month-old daughter. He responded alone Saturday night to a motorhome blocking a road near the tiny southwestern Washington city of Kalama and reported over police radio that someone was shooting at him. Matthew Veatch, 25, an acquaintance of Brian Butts, was arrested after the shooting for investigation of helping Butts escape. He told investigators he heard a gunshot from his home and that Butts showed up there minutes later, The Daily News of Longview reported , citing a police statement filed in court in support of Veatchs arrest. Butts appeared dirty and stated he needed to get out of there, and he gave Veatch a handgun to get rid of, the statement said. Veatch put the gun in a locked gun cabinet in his room, he told officers, and he led Butts on foot through the dark woods for several hours until they reached an abandoned barn, where they separated. Along the way, Butts told Veatch he shot an officer, the document said. The deputy died during surgery at a hospital in Vancouver, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. Veatch is being held on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned April 30. Brian Butts served five years in prison beginning in September 2012 for drug-related convictions, the Washington State Department of Corrections said. He was then on a year of post-prison supervision, ending in October. Butts also had convictions for assault, burglary and marijuana possession, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. An autopsy for was set for Butts Tuesday night. Investigators said he was armed as he emerged from the woods, but they didnt know yet if he shot at officers during the manhunt. HAMBURG, Iowa - In a story April 16 about Democratic presidential candidates addressing flooding damage in Iowa, The Associated Press erroneously reported the location of Sen. Bernie Sanders rally. The rally was held in Malcom, Iowa, not in Poweshiek. A corrected version of the story is below: Iowa flooding presents campaign challenge for some 2020 Dems Iowa flooding presents campaign challenge for some 2020 Democrats By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press Washington Gov. Jay Inslee recently toured this waterlogged town near the Missouri River, blasting President Donald Trump as complicit in the flooding that has plagued large swaths of western Iowa in recent weeks. We have a president who says that climate change is a hoax, said Inslee, who has centred his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign around the consequences of a warming planet. He has diminished the ability of the federal government to protect its citizens, and thats an outrage. Inslee is virtually alone among his fellow presidential contenders in touring sections of Iowa devastated by flooding. Although there are more than a dozen declared candidates in the race for the White House, only Inslee and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have visited the flooded sections. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will visit the area on Wednesday and participate in a Senate committee field hearing on the issue. Most of the other contenders make passing mention of the flooding at campaign events, expressing their condolences to victims and emphasizing the need to combat climate change or invest in infrastructure. But the relative silence from other candidates highlights the bind many of them are in as local issues and presidential politics collide in the nations leadoff caucus state. Several candidates who are also senators voted against legislation recently that would have directed some disaster relief to Iowa. They have argued the measure didnt provide enough money for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from a massive hurricane. As additional flooding is expected in the coming weeks, Republicans have seized on the Democratic opposition to paint the 2020 contenders as disingenuous. Theres plenty of time for politics when 2020 comes around, Vice-President Mike Pence told an audience in Pacific Junction last week after surveying flood damage there. Right now, Iowa needs disaster assistance. And its time for Congress to act. When they come out here, I dont even see how they can show their face west of Des Moines given the fact they voted no on the bill, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufman said of the senators running for president. Gillibrand along with Sens. Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders all presidential candidates voted against the bill but have noted the flooding at campaign events. The White House hopefuls would much rather talk about another Iowa issue: wind energy. Trumps recent erroneous claim that noise from wind turbines causes cancer amounted to something of a political gift for Democratic candidates. In a state where wind energy made up 37% of the states energy in 2017, there is broad, bipartisan agreement that the presidents comments were misinformed. He received a rebuke from the states two Republican senators, with Sen. Chuck Grassley calling the comments idiotic. For some 2020 candidates, like former Texas Rep. Beto ORourke, whos been criticized for a lack of policy detail, Trump presented an opportunity to showcase their policy bona fides. He frequently touts the 37% figure at campaign events and quipped, I dont think that wind turbines cause cancer ... in fact, I think they cause jobs, at a recent campaign event. At a town hall in Malcom, Iowa, earlier this month, Sanders joked that we were a little bit nervous about coming back to Iowa cause youve got all these wind turbines all over the place! The decision to avoid flood-stricken areas may ultimately come down to politics. Many of the most severely flooded counties, including the two that Klobuchar and Inslee visited, voted Republican in the last presidential election and may not be home to many Democratic caucusgoers compared to more urban regions such as Des Moines and Sioux Falls. In Hamburg, a town of fewer than 1,100 people, some of the residents werent impressed by Inslees visit or his message. Ronald Wayne Perry, the 69-year-old owner of an auto repair shop the governor visited when he toured the town, blames the flooding on the Army Corps of Engineers for not managing the floodwaters properly and so does everybody in this town, he said. Climate change didnt have anything to do with this, he added. It snows here a lot every time. Just basically the same thing that happened here this year happened a few years ago. And nothing Inslee can say or do would win his vote. If hes a Democrat, I dont care who he is, if hes my best friend, I wont vote for him, Perry said. Ten Tips For Arguing Against Assange Smears By Caitlin Johnstone This is an excerpt from the beginning of the upcoming mega-article Debunking All The Assange Smears, which is still under construction. Im putting together a comprehensive list of all the major smears and disinfo thats being circulated about Julian Assange, and refuting those arguments with the help of information brought to me by my readers and social media followers. Keep a lookout for the full article; it should be out in a few days, and its gonna be good. If you have any articles, tweets or short videos youve found which do a good job of refuting any Assange smears, please send them to me at admin@caitlinjohnstone.com, along with any smears youd like to have more help addressing. ==== April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Before we get into refuting the specific points of disinformation, Id like to share a few tips which Ive found useful in my own experience with engaging people online who are circulating smears against Julian Assange. 1 Be clear that your goal is to fight against a disinformation campaign, not to win or to change the mind of the person youre arguing with. If our interest is in advancing the cause of truth, were not trying to get into arguments with people for egoic gratification, nor are we trying to change the mind of the smearer. Our first and foremost goal is to spread the truth to the people who are witnessing the interaction, who are always the target audience for the smear. Doesnt matter if its an argument at the Thanksgiving dinner table or a Twitter thread witnessed by thousands: your goal is to disinfect the smear with truth and solid argumentation so everyone witnessing is inoculated from infection. So perform for that audience like a lawyer for the jury. When the smearer refuses to respond to your challenges, when they share false information, when they use a logical fallacy, when they are intellectually dishonest, call it out and draw attention to what theyre doing. When it comes to other subjects there are a wide range of opinions that may be considered right or wrong depending on how you look at them, but when it comes to the Assange case you can feel confident that youll always have truth on your side. So use facts and good argumentation to make the smearer look worse than theyre trying to make Assange look, thereby letting everyone know that this person isnt an honest and trustworthy source of information. 2 Remember that whoever youre debating probably doesnt really know much about the claim theyre making. Last night I had a guy confidently assuring me that Assange and Chelsea Manning had teamed up to get Donald Trump elected in 2016. Most people just bleat whatever theyve heard people they trust and people around them saying; when they make a claim about Assange, its not usually because theyve done a ton of research on the subject and examined possible counter-arguments, its because its an established doctrine within their echo chamber and it may never have even occurred to them that someone might question it. For a perfect example of this, check out the New York Times Bari Weiss experiencing an existential meltdown on The Joe Rogan Experience when the host simply asked her to substantiate her claim that Tulsi Gabbard is an Assad toadie. Weiss only ever operates within a tight establishment echo chamber, so when challenged on a claim shed clearly only picked up secondhand from other people, she turned into a sputtering mess. Most people youll encounter who smear Assange online are pulling a Bari Weiss to some extent, so point out the obvious gaps in their knowledge for the audience when they make nonsensical claims, and make it clear to everyone that they have no idea what theyre talking about. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter 3 Remember that theyre only ever running from their own cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort we experience when we try to hold two strongly contradictory ideas as true at the same time, like the idea that we live in a free liberal democracy and the idea that a journalist is being imprisoned for publishing facts about the US government right in front of us. Rank-and-file citizens generally help the mass media propagandists smear Assange not to help protect the world from the influence of a dangerous individual, but to protect themselves from cognitive dissonance. People find themselves eager to believe smears about Assange because the raw facts revealed by WikiLeaks publications punch giant holes in the stories about the kind of world, nation and society that most people have been taught to believe they live in since school age. These kinds of beliefs are interwoven with peoples entire egoic structures, with their sense of self and who they are as a person, so narratives which threaten to tear them apart can feel the same as a personal attack. This is why youll hear ordinary citizens talking about Assange with extreme emotion as though hed attacked them personally; all he did was publish facts about the powerful, but since those facts conflict with tightly held identity constructs, the cognitive dissonance that was caused to them can be interpreted as feeling like hed slapped them in the face. Ordinary citizens often find themselves eager to believe the smear campaigns against Assange because its easier than believing that their government would participate in the deliberate silencing and imprisoning of a journalist for publishing facts. The fact that Assanges persecution is now exposing the ugly face of imperial tyranny presents them with even more to defend. It might look like theyre playing offense, but theyre playing defense. Theyre attacking Assange because they feel the need to defend themselves from cognitive dissonance. If people are acting strangely emotional and triggered when it comes to the issue of imprisoning Assange, its got very little to do with facts and everything to do with the dynamics of psychological identity structures. Theres not necessarily any benefit in pointing this out during a debate, but it helps to understand where people are coming from and why theyre acting that way. Keep pointing out that peoples feelings have no bearing on the threats that are posed to all of us by Assanges prosecution. 4 Remember that the burden of proof is on the one making the claim. Prove your claim. Use this phrase early and often. Its amazing how often I see people blurting out assertions about Assange that I know for a fact they have no way of proving; that hes a Russian agent, that hes a rapist, that hes a CIA asset, etc, which ties in with Point B above. The burden of proof is always on the party making the claim, so if they refuse to do this you can publicly dismiss their argument. If someone comes in making a specific claim about Assange, make them present the specific information theyre basing their claim on so that you can refute it. If they refuse, call them out on it publicly. Never let them get away with the fallacious tactic of shifting the burden of proof onto you, and remember that anything which has been asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence. 5 Never let them trick you into expending more energy than theyre expending. This ones important. The internet is full of genuinely trollish individuals who spend their time acting out their inner pain by trying to suck the life out of other people, and political discussion is certainly no exception to this. A common tactic is to use short phrases, half-thoughts, or word salads which dont contain any facts or actual arguments, but contain just enough of a jab to suck you into wasting energy making thorough, well-sourced arguments while they just lean back and continue making weak, low-energy responses to keep you going. This enables them to waste your time and frustrate you while expending little energy themselves, while also not having to reveal the fact that they dont know much about the subject at hand and dont really have an argument. Dont let them lean back. Force them to lean in. If someone makes an unsubstantiated assertion, a brief quip, or a vague insinuation, tell them Make an actual argument using complete thoughts or go away. If they throw an unintelligible word salad at you (a tactic that is also common in abusers with narcissistic personality disorder because it tricks the abusee into falling all over themselves to guess whats being communicated, thereby giving the abuser power), tell them Thats gibberish. Articulate yourself using clear arguments or go away. This often enrages them, partly because theyve generally been getting away with this tactic their entire lives so they feel entitled to demand compliance with it from you, and partly because youre forcing a very unconscious and unattractive part of themselves into attention and consciousness. But if theyre interested in having a real and intellectually honest debate theyll do it; if theyre not they wont. If they refuse to provide you with lucid, complete arguments that meet their burden of proof, make a show of dismissing them for their refusal to do so, and say youre doing it because theyre too dishonest to have a real debate. Never chase them. Make them chase you. Force them to either extend themselves into the light where their arguments can be properly scrutinized, or to disqualify themselves by refusing to. 6 When attacking disinformation on Twitter, use this tactic: If you see a high-profile Twitter account sharing disinformation about Assange, debunk their disinfo as clearly and concisely as possible, then retweet your response to your followers. Your followers will like and retweet your response, sending it further up the thread so that casual viewers of the disinfo tweet will often also see your response debunking it. If your response is text-only, include the URL of the tweet youre responding to before retweeting your response so that your followers can see the awful post youre responding to. It comes out looking like this: There are many cultists on this site, but the Assange cultists are the worst. Assange was the agent of a proto fascist state, Russia, to undermine democracy. That is fascist behavior. Anyone on the left should abhor what he did. Not celebrate it. Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) April 11, 2019 This serves the dual function of offsetting the damage done by their smear and alerting your followers to come and help fight the disinfo. 7 Point out at every opportunity that they are advancing a smear. Never miss an opportunity to point out to everyone witnessing the exchange that the other party is advancing a smear that is being promulgated by the mass media to manufacture consent for the imprisonment of a journalist who exposed US war crimes. Keep the conversation in context for everyone: this isnt just two people having a difference of opinion, this is one person circulating disinformation which facilitates the agendas of the most powerful people in the world (including the Trump administration, which you should always point out repeatedly if you know they hate Trump), and another person trying to stop the flow of disinfo. Every time you expose a hole in one of their arguments, add in the fact that this is a dishonest smear designed to benefit the powerful, and that they are helping to advance it. 8 Make it about Assanges imprisonment and extradition. One of the very few advantages to Assange being behind bars in the UKs version of Guantanamo Bay instead of holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy is that the arguments are so much clearer and more honest now. You can no longer get away with claiming that Assange is just a coward hiding from justice who can leave whenever he wants and present yourself as merely a casual observer who just happens to want to share his opinion that the WikiLeaks founder is a fascist Russian spy rapist who smells bad and mistreats his cat, because you will always be entering a discussion involving the fact that Assange is in prison awaiting extradition to the United States. You are therefore always necessarily either supporting the extradition or distracting from the conversation about it. So make that clear to everyone watching. Make them own it. They either support the imprisonment and extradition of Assange for his role in the Manning leaks, or theyre interrupting grown-ups who are trying to have an adult conversation about it. If they support Assanges imprisonment and extradition to the United States, that clarifies your line of argumentation, and it makes them look like the bootlicking empire sycophants they are. Keep the fact that they support the extradition and imprisonment of a journalist for publishing facts on the front burner of the conversation, and keep making them own it. 9 Familiarize yourself with common logical fallacies. Its fascinating how often people resort to fallacious debate tactics when arguing about Assange. One of the most interesting things to me right now is how the unconscious behaviors of our civilization is mirrored in the unconsciousness of the individuals who support those behaviors. Those who support Assanges persecution are generally very adverse to an intellectually honest relationship with their own position, and with the arguments against their position that they encounter. So get familiar with basic fallacious debate tactics like straw man arguments (claiming that you have a position that is different from the one youve actually put forth and then attacking that fake position they invented), red herrings (bringing up an unrelated point because its easier to debate than the current point of contention), and appeals to emotion (using emotionally charged statements as a substitute for facts and reason). These will give you a conceptual framework for those situations where it feels like the person youre arguing with is being squirmy and disingenuous, but you cant really put your finger on how. 10 Rely as much on fact and as little on opinion as possible. Dont get sucked into emotional exchanges about opinions. Facts are what matter here, and, as you will see throughout the rest of this article, the facts are on your side. Make sure youre familiar with them. To be continued! Keep a lookout for the full mega-article, Debunking All The Assange Smears, which Im working on furiously and which will be out in a few days. Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. https://caitlinjohnstone.com 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 FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentuckys new drivers license system designed to comply with a federal travel law will be tested in a pilot program this spring. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says the pilot will take place in Woodford and Franklin counties. Counties will be added gradually, with licenses expected to be available statewide by the end of summer. The testing dates for Franklin and Woodford counties havent been announced. Vehicle Regulation Commissioner Matt Henderson said in a news release that internal testing shows that most of the new system is operational. Henderson said current licenses are still accepted at airport security checkpoints and for military base entry under a federal extension. The REAL ID enforcement deadline is October 2020, and Henderson said federally compliant credentials will be available well in advance of that date. NEW YORK - Officials trying to contain a measles outbreak in a county north of New York City on Tuesday ordered all unvaccinated people exposed to the disease barred from public gathering places, including houses of worship, for up to three weeks. The order, issued by Rockland County, comes one day after New York City closed a preschool over non-compliance with measles vaccine requirements. Both the county and city are struggling to contain a swelling number of measles cases centred in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods while battling lawsuits over their efforts to require vaccinations. Rockland County issued its order three days ahead of the start of Passover, when many families travel to be together and gather in synagogues. Need we wait for someone to die? Rockland County Executive Ed Day said in announcing the measure. New York Citys Board of Health will vote Wednesday on whether to extend an emergency declaration last week ordering mandatory vaccinations in four Brooklyn ZIP codes. Health officials have confirmed 329 cases of measles in the city and 184 cases in Rockland since the outbreak of the highly contagious disease began in October. After announcing the vaccination order on April 9, the city took the step Monday of closing the preschool portion of a private Jewish school because the school had failed to turn over vaccination and attendance records. This is about protecting kids and its also about protecting some adults, including pregnant women, folks who are going through medical treatment like chemotherapy, some senior with compromised health conditions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a TV interview . Measles is very, very serious. Also on Monday, a group of parents filed a lawsuit against the vaccination order, arguing it was arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law and in violation of petitioners rights under the United States Constitution and New York State law. A judge in Brooklyn state Supreme Court declined to issue an injunction barring the city from enforcing the order, and the parties will appear in court Thursday. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are identified by their initials. Their attorney, Robert Krakow, claimed the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine can cause many vaccine injuries, including encephalitis and death. Medical experts have debunked those claims and proven that the vaccine is safe, but opposition to vaccines persists. In 2017, measles killed 110,000 people worldwide, mostly children under the age of 5, Day said in announcing the new anti-measles rules in Rockland. Under the countys Communicable Disease and Exposure Exclusion Order, anyone either diagnosed with measles or exposed to a person who has been diagnosed with measles must stay away from indoor and outdoor places of assembly for up to 21 days. Violators could be fined $2,000 per day. While no one in the county has died of measles, the disease has caused several hospitalizations and a premature birth. Rockland County announced the new tactics to fight measles after an earlier order banning all unvaccinated children from indoor public places was halted by a judge. The county is appealing that ruling. The measles cases in Rockland and in Brooklyn have been traced to unvaccinated members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community who travelled to Israel, where a measles outbreak is occurring. Orthodox Jewish leaders say a small faction of vaccine opponents in the community has allowed the disease to spread. A Yiddish-language newspaper that serves the ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyns Williamsburg section took the rare step last week of publishing an editorial in English excoriating those who refuse to vaccinate. When its time to decide if to have a serious surgery, you dont turn to a hotlines, but you go to a conventional doctor, the editorial in Der Yid read. When you need a referral to a good doctor for a serious health problem you dont stand at the bus stop to and take a poll of friends for the right address, but you call those devoted rabbis who understand medical matters or the recognized medical referral agencies who are familiar with the best doctors. All of them say that one must vaccinate. CANONSBURG, Pa. - Authorities in Pennsylvania are investigating the police-involved shooting of a former high school wrestling champion following a domestic violence call. Washington County District Attorney Eugene Vittone tells the Tribune Review that state police are investigating the shooting of 19-year-old Logan Macri. Macris condition at a Pittsburgh hospital hasnt been disclosed. State police say Macri was shot multiple times early Sunday following a domestic violence report at a home in North Strabane. Police say officers from North Strabane and Canonsburg found Macri outside the home with a firearm. They say Macri refused to comply with officers commands and officers fired at him. Macri was a 2018 Pennsylvania state high school wrestling champion for Canon-McMillan High School. He was on the roster to wrestle for West Virginia University last fall. An athletic director says Macri left the school in November for unknown reasons. ___ Information from: Tribune-Review, http://triblive.com NEW YORK - Somewhere in the shadows of federal bureaucracy, there was an issue about the drinking habits of Augusto Pinochet. The National Security Archive, an advocate for open government, had for years tried to gain access to intelligence files about the Chilean dictator, his human rights abuses and his ties to the United States. In 2003, the Defence Intelligence Agency declassified documents that included a biographical sketch of Pinochet assembled in 1975, two years after he seized power. Parts of the sketch had been blacked out, redacted, for national security. The archive had no trouble discovering that the missing information included Pinochets liking for scotch and pisco sours. The sketch been published in full by the government in 1999, notes Tom Blanton, director of the archive. But, he says, all it takes to change that is a single objection. The censoring of government reports isnt new, but since Robert Mueller turned in his report last month on alleged ties between Russian officials and Donald Trump presidential campaign, redacted has joined collusion and obstruction as a national buzzword. Attorney General William Barrs announcement that he would release a redacted version of Muellers findings, expected Thursday, will likely set off a long debate over whats behind the darkened blotches. Barrs stated guidelines range from protecting intelligence sources to the privacy of those not under investigation. But over the past few decades, the government has redacted everything from the most sensitive information to the most harmless trivia. We believe there are real secrets, common-sense secrets, like names of people in the field who would be killed or specifications of weapons of systems, Blanton says. But redactions also are overused. David Cole, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says any government official who ever had a security clearance will say the same thing: Whether under Clinton, Bush or Obama, the problem of overclassification is rampant. Its partly the consequence of what is safest for the government to do, Cole says. If you make a mistake and disclose something you shouldnt have, that mistake is public. If you decide to keep something secret that doesnt need to be secret, that mistake is private. The secrecy reflex is as old as the country: The American government itself was created behind closed doors, and windows. Framers of the Constitution gathered at the Pennsylvania State House from May to September in 1787 and, anxious to speak freely, were so resolved to keep the public away they kept windows shut (in pre-air conditioned times) even on the hottest days. No official transcripts were logged, and much of our understanding of the debate has been shaped by James Madisons (revised) notes, which didnt come out until 1836, after Madison and fellow delegates were dead. I think they are pretty reliable, historian Gordon Wood says of Madisons notes. But they may only account for a fraction of what was said at the convention. At the time of the Constitutions drafting, there was no system for classifying government documents and no process for the public to obtain them. Our redaction nation formed over the course of the 20th century as the federal government expanded, the country became an international superpower and means of communication and surveillance grew more sophisticated. By the start of the Cold War, just after World War II ended, new bureaucracies such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council were defined by what they couldnt, or wouldnt, reveal. In 1947, when you have creation of the CIA and the NSC, you have the production of literally billions of papers and billions of secrets contained within them, says Tim Weiner, whose Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA won the National Book Award in 2007. And the machinery of secrecy far outstripped the ability to demand an open government. For years, the general public had few means to request records, and little awareness of how much it wasnt being told. The Freedom of Information Act wasnt enacted until 1966, and broad demands for accountability only began with the jarring revelations of the 1970s: years of official deceit about the Vietnam War as detailed in the Pentagon Papers; the Watergate scandal which forced President Nixon to resign; the Senates Church Committee of 1975-76, which confirmed reports of the governments history of backing the assassination of foreign leaders. Ever since, its been an exhausting process of keeping up. Names and events change, whether the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or the torture of prisoners during the Iraq War, but millions of documents each year continue to be classified. The NSA and others have even compiled lists of some of the more unlikely information to be withheld: Some files from World War I, including a method for opening sealed letters without detection and a formula for German secret ink, were not declassified until 2011. When historical information is no longer sensitive, we take seriously our responsibility to share it with the American people, CIA Director Leon Panetta said at the time. (The release followed years of lawsuits and formal requests). The redaction in 2014 of remarks about the Cuban Missile Crisis made 50 years earlier by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The remarks were made in a public speech. FBI files about Marilyn Monroes alleged Communist sympathies were redacted until 2012, 50 years after her death and more than 20 years after the Cold War ended. Sometimes, history itself is censored. Daniel Ellsberg, the former defence department analyst famous for leaking the Pentagon Papers, remembers the long process to make all of the documents public. The Pentagon Papers were a Defence Department-commissioned study about U.S. policy in Vietnam from 1945-67. It took decades, long after the Vietnam War ended, for the full report to come out. When it did, Ellsberg noticed that one of the sections originally redacted referred to the so-called Haiphong Massacre of 1946. The French attacked Haiphong and killed 6,000 people, Ellsberg says. The entire reference was whited out. The government didnt want people to know that an ally was seeking to conquer and colonize Vietnam. ___ Follow AP National Writer Hillel Italie on Twitter at @hitalie. WICHITA, Kan. - The Latest on a Wichita couple whose 3-year-old son was found dead at their mobile home (all times local): 5 p.m. Prosecutors have filed murder charges against a Wichita couple whose 3-year-old had been dead for days when his body was found in a crib in their mobile home. The parents of Zaiden Javonovich made their first court appearances Tuesday. His 22-year-old mother, Brandi Kai Marchant, and 28-year-old father, Patrick Janovich, both face five charges. The Wichita Eagle reports that the charges include first-degree murder with underlying felonies of neglect and abuse, two counts of abuse of a child and aggravated endangerment of a child. Police last week responding to a domestic disturbance between the parents found the parents walking outside their Wichita home before checking on the children inside where the found the older boys body. A 4-month-old boy who was taken from their home Thursday in critical condition is improving. ___ 7:15 a.m. Police say child welfare authorities had received abuse reports about a Wichita couple whose 3-year-old had been dead for days when his body was found in a crib in their mobile home. Capt. Brent Allred says an autopsy will determine the cause of death for Zaiden Javonovich, whose parents were booked into jail last week on suspicion of murder. Police also say a 4-month-old boy who was taken from their home Thursday in critical condition is improving. Police responding to a domestic disturbance first encountered the parents as they walked back to the home. Police said they hadnt received abuse reports and provided no details on the Kansas Department for Children and Families involvement with the family. The agency told KSNW-TV reports that it wont release details while its investigating. LITTLETON, Colo. - The Latest on lockdowns at Columbine High School and other Denver-area schools (all times local): 10:35 p.m. Investigators say a woman who made undisclosed threats that led to tightened security at Columbine High School bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition shortly after landing in Denver from Miami. Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the FBI in Denver, says a massive manhunt is underway for 18-year-old Sol Pais. She flew into Colorado on Monday night and was last seen in the foothills west of Denver. Phillips says Pais did not specifically threaten Columbine, but investigators were concerned because she has expressed an infatuation with the 1999 shooting. Doors were locked at Columbine and at more than 20 other schools in the Denver area on Tuesday afternoon after the threat. The lockouts come just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at Columbine that killed 12 students and a teacher. ___ 6 p.m. FBI officials in Colorado say the woman who made undisclosed threats against Columbine High School is infatuated with the 1999 school shooting and is considered armed and dangerous. The FBIs Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force issued a notice Tuesday for police to be on the lookout for 18-year-old Sol Pais. It says she tried to buy firearms and that police who come into contact with her should detain her and evaluate her mental health. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and the FBI say Pais travelled to Colorado on Monday night and was last seen in the foothills west of Denver. Its not clear where she came from. The threats led school officials locked the doors of Columbine and about 20 other schools in the Denver area before releasing students for the day. ___ 4:50 p.m. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says the threat that prompted a lockdown at Columbine High School and other Denver-area schools involved someone who was armed and may be interested in harming our schools or our kids. Polis said Tuesday the Colorado Department of Public Safety was working with the FBI to protect public safety. He said he had no other information. The Department of Public Safety urged schools urged schools to tighten security, and more than 20 put lockdowns in place. The lockdowns come just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at Columbine High School that killed 12 students and a teacher. Authorities say they are looking for a woman suspected of making threats. They say she should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. ___ 4:10 p.m. All schools in the Denver area are being urged to tighten security after what appears to be a credible threat caused a lockout at Columbine High School and more than 20 other schools in the area. Patricia Billinger, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety, says the agency made the recommendation because Tuesdays threat was deemed credible and general. At least one school district heeded the advice. Aurora Public Schools tweeted that students were being released in a controlled manner, and additional security was put in place throughout the district as a precaution. The lockouts come just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at Columbine High School that killed 12 students and a teacher. Authorities say they are looking for a woman suspected of making threats. They say she should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. ___ 3:45 p.m. Following a lockdown at Columbine High School and other Denver area schools, authorities say they are looking for a woman suspected of making threats. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and the FBI says 18-year-old Sol Pais travelled to Colorado on Monday night and made threats but they didnt provide any details about the threats. They say she was last seen in the foothills west of Denver, where some of the schools put on lockdown are located. They didnt say where she travelled from. Authorities said Pais is armed and considered extremely dangerous and should not be approached. Doors were locked at Columbine and at least over 20 other schools in the Denver area as the sheriffs office said it was investigating a possible threat against schools that was related to an FBI investigation. Students were dismissed on time but after school activities were cancelled at Columbine. ____ 2:55 p.m. Students are leaving classes after tightened security at Columbine High School and over 20 other Denver-area high schools after a lockdown caused by a possible threat. Students wearing backpacks came out the main door at Columbine on Tuesday afternoon, soon after school officials announced that students in all the schools put on lockdown were safe and would be dismissed at their normal times. The students walked to crosswalks and buses parked near the entrance. Officials said after school activities will be held at all schools except Columbine, but didnt explain why. A spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, Mike Taplin, said the lockdowns involved an FBI investigation but he couldnt provide any details. The sheriffs office previously said the lockdowns were prompted by an investigation into what appeared to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools The lockdowns come just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at the school that killed 12 students and a teacher. ____ 2:30 p.m. Authorities say tightened security at Columbine High School and about a dozen other Denver-area schools is related to an FBI investigation. A spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, Mike Taplin, said Tuesdays school lockdowns involved an FBI investigation but he couldnt provide any details. The sheriffs office previously said the lockdowns were prompted by its investigation into what appears to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools A message left for an FBI spokeswoman wasnt immediately returned. School officials say the doors were locked but classes were continuing at Columbine and two other nearby schools and at other schools farther away in the same district. The lockdowns come just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at the school that killed 12 students and a teacher. There was no immediate indication whether there was any connection to the anniversary. ____ 1:40 p.m. Columbine High School and about a dozen other schools are on lockdown as law enforcement says it is investigating what appears to be a credible threat possibly involving the schools. School officials say the doors were locked but classes were continuing Tuesday at Columbine and two other nearby schools and at other schools farther away in the district. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office said deputies were posted at the schools involved. The lockdown comes just days before the 20th anniversary of a mass shooting at the school that killed 12 students and a teacher. There was no immediate indication whether Tuesdays lockdown has any connection to the anniversary. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will discuss the opioid crisis at an Atlanta summit. The White House announced the April 24 appearance at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit on Twitter Tuesday, saying the Trumps will speak about their fight to end the opioid crisis in America. Trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and is spending billions of dollars to combat it. Opioid abuse claimed nearly 48,000 American lives in 2017. The first lady focuses on opioids in her national campaign to help children be their best. The four-day drug abuse summit attracts a range of interested parties, including medical professionals, public health and elected officials, and others. White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway addressed the gathering in 2018. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Wisconsin on the night of the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner in Washington. Trumps re-election campaign announced Tuesday that the rally will be held April 27 at Green Bays Resch Center. Trump eked out a narrow victory in the state in 2016. The president has bucked tradition and skipped the annual black-tie affair every year since taking office. He recently said hes skipping this years dinner for the third year in a row because its so boring and so negative. He said he would hold a very positive rally instead. Presidents and first ladies have traditionally attended the dinner. Its a fundraiser for college scholarships and an occasion where politicians, journalists and celebrities mingle. Journalism prizes are also awarded. Class sizes could grow to 46, board warns, April 11 Threats by the Halton school board to raise class sizes to 46 students, well above the ministrys recommended class sizes of 26 to 28, demonstrates that teaching students is not their top priority. Has the board asked the classroom teachers if they would prefer the support of an itinerant teacher or to have their class size dropped from 46 to 26? The real issue is the lack of accountability by school boards for spending funding in a responsible way. OTTAWAThe law that enforces a minimum price on carbon emissions across Canada is a massive expansion of federal power over virtually all human activities and should be struck down, a top lawyer for the Ontario government argued on the opening day of a constitutional court challenge. Outlining the provinces case against the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act on Monday, Josh Hunter said the new law disrupts the balance of powers in Canadas constitution, because it gives Ottawa authority over anything that produces emissions that cause climate change including in areas of provincial jurisdiction like local industry and land-use planning. Short of an emergency declaration to give Ottawa temporary authority, the law should not be allowed to stand without a constitutional amendment, he said. Our key point is that the power claimed is just too broad, said Hunter, deputy director of the Ontario governments constitutional law branch. It would unbalance the federation. Enacted last year, the pollution pricing act says all provinces and territories need their own carbon price through an emissions tax or cap-and-trade system that meets the federal minimum of $20 per tonne of emissions in 2019, increasing to $50 per tonne in 2022. The law outlines a federal backstop carbon price that has been imposed in provinces that refused to meet Ottawas minimum standard, including Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. The Progressive Conservative government at Queens Park has railed against the federal standards, with Premier Doug Ford arguing that he can reduce emissions without a job-killing carbon tax. Other provinces are pursuing their own court challenges of the law, and Saskatchewans top court heard arguments in its own case earlier this year. On Monday, Hunter addressed the five justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal. He argued the constitution does not let Ottawa impose its chosen means of combating climate change in areas of provincial jurisdiction, and that the federal government has an obligation instead to collaborate with provinces on reducing emissions. Anticipating arguments from federal lawyers and other participants in the case, Hunter argued intervention in provincial areas isnt justified by Canadas ratification of international agreements like the Paris Agreement a global compact to reduce emissions and that the national concern provision in the constitution should not apply to uphold this law. Provinces, with the co-operation and support of the federal government, should set their own climate change policies, he said. Boiled down, Canadas argument is ... this is so important, it cant be left to the provinces, Hunter said. Ottawa doesnt know best. That is the presumption of our Constitution. Padraic Ryan, another constitutional lawyer with the Ontario government, argued the law is unconstitutional in other ways as well. He pointed to a section of the constitution that says taxes cant be enacted without express authorization, which he questioned in this case because the federal government denies the carbon price is a tax and says instead that it is a regulatory charge to discourage emissions. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told the Star last year that its not a tax because revenues are being returned to the jurisdictions they come from. In Ontarios case, that means the average household of four will get $307 back on its tax returns this year a sum that gives 80 per cent of families more than they pay because of the carbon price, the federal government says. Ryan told the court Monday that, even if you accept that this isnt a tax, the carbon price regime is still invalid because of prior court decisions defining regulatory charges. He argued this shows the government cant distribute revenues for general use, but must instead tie them to measures that reduce emissions. Giving everyone a cheque does not assist with climate change mitigation or adaptation, he said. The case scheduled to resume in court Tuesday morning. Read more about: By IMEMC News & Agencies April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - US President Donald Trump has warned the International Criminal Court (ICC) of swift and vigorous response if the Hague-based tribunal investigates Americans and Israelis for war crimes. Trump issued the warning on Friday, after ICC judges rejected a request by the courts prosecutor to probe atrocities committed by US forces in Afghanistan. Trump hailed the unusual ruling as a major international victory, claiming that the Americans and Israelis should be immune from ICC prosecution. Since the creation of the ICC, the United States has consistently declined to join the court because of its broad, unaccountable prosecutorial powers; the threat it poses to American national sovereignty; and other deficiencies that render it illegitimate, he said. Any attempt to target American, Israeli, or allied personnel for prosecution will be met with a swift and vigorous response, he added. Amnesty International denounced the ICCs decision as a shocking abandonment of victims that would weaken the courts already questionable credibility. Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International, stressed that the ruling would be seen as a craven capitulation to Washingtons bullying. Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US would withdraw or revoke visas for ICC staff who prosecute American troops in Afghanistan, as well as their allied personnel, including Israelis. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter He also warned about potential economic sanctions if the ICC does not change its course. US National Security Adviser John Bolton had also threatened to revoke the visas of ICC personnel if the court pursued charges against members of the US military over crimes in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the US revoked ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensoudas visa as part of a crackdown on the ICC. The ICC has been examining abuses committed by all parties in the Afghan war for more than a decade. In November 2017, Bensouda sought authorization to open an inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including in states where the CIA held prisoners. The ICC is also investigating Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and Gaza, including the demolition of Palestinian property and eviction of the Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Neither the US nor Israel are ICC members. The United States has revoked the entry visa of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, who is looking into the US militarys possible war crimes in Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced, last month, that the United States would withdraw or deny visas for the ICC personnel probing the war crimes allegations against American forces. United Nations human rights experts denounced Washingtons improper interference in the work of the court, which has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The US denial of visa to the ICC prosecutor also drew criticism from within the European Union. We can confirm that the U.S. authorities have revoked the prosecutors visa for entry into the US, Bensoudas office told the Reuters news agency in an e-mail, on Thursday. Last month, the US secretary of state also declared that Washington was ready to take additional steps, including economic sanctions, if the world body failed to change its course. The United States has refused to cooperate with international investigators over their probe into possible war crimes of US military personnel in Afghanistan, claiming they violate US sovereignty. The administration of US President Donald Trump has previously rebuked and questioned the International Criminal Court. One of National Security Adviser John Boltons first speeches was about the ICC, condemning its investigation into US personnel. The US invaded Afghanistan, in October of 2001, and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But, US forces have remained bogged down, there, through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and, now, Donald Trump. Obama announced, in 2013, that he was pulling out all US troops from the Arab country. However, the US troops returned to Iraq a year later, under the pretext of fighting the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist group. Trump had also pledged, during his election campaign, to end the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, he has changed his mind, since entering office, and prolonged the US military presence in both countries. The ICC has repeatedly highlighted alleged abuses of detainees, by American troops between 2003 and 2005, that it believes have not been adequately addressed by the US government. Washington insists that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over American citizens because the US never ratified the Rome Statute that established the court in the first place, PNN reports. This article was originally published by " IMEMC " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here How Human Rights Organizations are part of the problem: The very authority that human rights organizations own, their appearance of principle and neutrality, has become a commodity too valuable for the powerful to pass up Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The Peel school board said Tuesday that teacher layoffs are unavoidable for this fall, given government cuts as well as looming larger class sizes, on the same day that Premier Doug Ford again promised no full-time educator would be out of a job. Some 128 elementary and 193 high school teachers were declared surplus in Peel on Tuesday in addition to another 48 teachers and 30 early childhood educators who previously received such notices and the outlook is bleak for a board that hasnt had to issue such notices in years. I honestly cant see that there wont be layoffs, said Jamie Robertson, superintendent of human resources support services in Peel, as attrition will not cover the losses. I definitely do believe there will be layoffs. Earlier Tuesday, Ford told reporters in Markham that surplus notices are typical at this time of year, and then they all again end up getting hired. School boards, he added, will soon be getting their budgets for the 2019-20 school year, so lets talk after they get the budgets and talk to the school boards. But, well make sure that no front-line teacher, full-time front-line teacher, loses a job. Read more: High school classes of 46? Thats where Halton board warns Ford government changes to education could lead Toronto council makes decisions and Doug Fords government keeps changing them Students at North Yorks Emery C.I. have always felt left behind. Fighting Fords cuts helped them raise their voice He also said that while his government wants to work with teachers unions to avoid labour disruption this fall, the unions declared war on the PCs after his party was elected. Im going to do everything in our power to make sure this doesnt happen, Ford said when asked about the possibility of a teacher strike when contracts expire at the end of August. The 369 notices to Peel teachers that have been sent out are surplus to region, meaning they do not have a placement in a school for this fall. While some will be recalled, on average only about 300 teachers retire in any given year 200 elementary and 100 secondary and for both those groups, we are significantly down this year, Robertson added. Those and other potential job losses are a result of the governments plan to boost class sizes, as well as previous announcements to cut a local priority grant as well as funding for ECEs and not the upcoming announcement on annual grants. The math doesnt add up to that thats math we cant understand, Robertson said, adding the board only sent out surplus notices because we absolutely have to. We dont want to lay off teachers we dont want to give them surplus notices. Peel is the countrys second largest school board. Other boards have warned actual layoffs are possible once retirements are taken into account, but NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Fords classroom cuts have now resulted in Peel Region confirming at least 120 teacher and education worker layoffs at the end of this school year, and rural families are speaking out about how layoffs will result in courses being cancelled. Every day we learn that more and more teachers may not have a job come September, leaving parents worried that their kids will not have access to the courses or resources they need to reach their full potential, said Horwath. Asked about boards warning of actual layoffs, a spokesperson for Education Minister Lisa Thompson said in an email that as we have said from the beginning, not a single teacher will lose their job as a result of the changes in class sizes. Kayla Iafelice also said it is typical for school boards to issue surplus notices while they work through their budget process. We are committed to releasing the (education grants) by the end of the month which will assist boards in their budget preparations. Last month, Thompson announced a slew of changes to the education system and to class sizes. In Grades 4 to 8, classes will grow by an average of one student and in secondary, classes will jump from an average of 22 to 28 students over the next four years. Because they are averages, classes will be much larger the Halton District School Board has said some could grow as large as 46 students under the PC plan. Ford said Tuesday he thinks the world of teachers we have great teachers in this province, but noted theyd gone on strike in recent years under NDP, PC and Liberal governments. There is a pattern, he added. They strike every single government thats in there. Let me tell you, the teachers union, they have to get together with the times here. Ford also said that going forward, teacher contracts will not expire at the end of August, right before the start of school. Later at Queens Park, Thompson contradicted Ford, saying its too soon to talk about that, with the possibility of negotiations starting early at the end of the month and more general consultations continuing until May 31. I respect the premier, but, again, I respect our consultation process and the importance of making sure we have good faith conversations with our labour partners and our education partners, said Thompson, who repeatedly evaded questions about publicly disagreeing with Ford. Ford said Im going to do everything in our power to make sure this doesnt happen, when asked about the possibility of a teacher strike. He said teachers have a pretty good deal ... They get their three months holidays, they have the best benefit package in the entire country, the best pension in the entire country, the health plan they have a great gig ... they do a great job, by the way, and I appreciate all the teachers, but, guys, dont pull the strike nonsense on the parents and on the poor students. If they think they are coming after us, they are hurting parents, they are hurting students. Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, said Ford is talking tough in order to distract from bad policies like removing one in four teachers from high schools, overcrowding classrooms and taking away student course choices. Teachers, he added are going to keep focusing on policy. He wants to focus on conflict we are going to focus on students and would not be drawn into name calling. He said given the number of surplus notices going out in some boards much higher than in recent memory I dont believe that its possible to avoid actual layoffs. Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, said the premier is trying to create separation between teachers and the public, and between teachers and their unions. This is disrespectful and unproductive, and Ontarians see right through it. Read more about: Low volatility sounds like a good thing in markets. And it can be, unless it's masking or ignoring problems. The real trick is preparing for an end that can be quick and unpleasant. "Volatility rarely picks up bit by bit. It tends to spike when the late-cycle bullish narrative goes off the rails," Cantor Fitzgerald's Peter Cecchini wrote in an email. Price swings are exceptionally depressed across assets now, with major central banks displaying relative policy clarity, signs that China's stimulus is working and global economic growth that appears to be easing instead of falling. The MOVE index of Treasury volatility isn't far off its March 20 record low, while the JPMorgan Global FX Volatility Index has fallen to levels not seen since 2014. The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, reached its lowest point since October on Friday. But Morgan Stanley's Andrew Sheets is one of the strategists warning that the calm won't last. "If the Fed stays dovish and the data weaken, volatility will go higher," Sheets said. "If the data pick up and central banks are effectively saying we're not going to tighten in the face of improving data, wouldn't that generate a lot more risk-taking behavior? That would be volatile too." Last February was an example of a move that caught markets by surprise. The VIX stayed unusually low throughout 2017, lulling investors into a false sense of complacency. When volatility did pop during a meltdown -- the VIX skyrocketed to close Feb. 5 at 37.32 -- it left some short-volatility products broken beyond repair. Potential triggers for price swings include factors like a worsening of global trade relations, a return to hikes by the Federal Reserve, an economic downturn or a geopolitical shock. "U.S. employment always looks best right before recession, and the U.S. data has had the benefit of massive fiscal stimulus from deficit spending (not likely to end soon) and from tax cuts (benefits in the rear-view mirror)," Cantor's Cecchini said. Liquidity is also cited as a concern by Sheets, JPMorgan Chase's Marko Kolanovic and Societe Generale strategists led by Vincent Cassot, who maintain that low liquidity will worsen volatility once signs of trouble start to emerge. Then, there's the question of what to do about this all-but-certain jump in volatility. "Relative value volatility trades is the way to go, until one side finally capitulates," the SocGen strategists wrote. They recommend tilting dispersion trades toward technology, consumer discretionary, industrials and utility stocks, as those sectors tend to have outsized increases in volatility during downturns. They also suggest a trade going long British pound/U.S. dollar volatility and short FTSE 100 volatility as the currency is likely to be more affected by the outcome of Brexit. Todd Salamone of Schaeffer's Investment Research points to the net short position on VIX futures, the largest since 2017, as the biggest current risk for equity bulls. "Euphoria needs to be more widespread before this risk comes into play, but history has taught me to be nearly certain that these speculators will be caught wrong-footed when volatility eventually pops," Salamone wrote. He recommends using options to manage the risk. There are still plenty of recommendations to continue taking advantage of the current environment. "As long as central bank policy remains accommodative even as growth improves, economic and market volatility should remain low, supporting multiple expansion and further equity gains," Evercore ISI strategist Dennis Debusschere wrote in a note. Andrew Scott, head of Americas cross-asset strategy at SocGen, agreed. "In the short-run it is going to be very difficult for markets to break out of this low volatility regime," he said in an email. It will take a major factor like a trade war of geopolitical flare-up "or a dramatic re-pricing of rate and/or global growth expectations in either direction for us to achieve any semblance of volatility persistence," according to him. But history hints that hoping things will stay calm forever may be a fool's errand. Morgan Stanley's Sheets views 2007 as a cautionary tale for anyone who sees the world of low price swings as a time for complacency -- that year you also had a very flat yield curve and low implied volatility. "The way the market explained that dynamic was, the Fed has stopped hiking and is now going to keep policy stable and will be for a while, and the economy's a little soft," he said. "That's not how things transpired." - - - Bloomberg's Rita Nazareth contributed. Trump Dances to Israel's Tune More wag-the-dog means war for America By Philip Giraldi April 16, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - So newly reelected Israeli monster-in-chief Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted, with a grin, that Americas President Donald J. Trump followed through on his proposal to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist group. Bibi was smiling because the timing of the move, one day before the Israeli election, strongly suggests it was done to assist him against what had become a very strong opposition challenge. That Trump likely colluded with Netanyahu to blatantly interfere in the election has apparently bothered no one in Israel or in the tame American media. The gift from Washington came on top of recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, threatening members of the International Criminal Court if they try to prosecute Israel for war crimes, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, removing the word occupation from the State Departments assessments of human rights infringements on the West Bank, eliminating relief funding for Palestinian refugees, leaving the U.N. Human Rights Council because it was too critical of Israel, and looking the other way as Israel declared itself a state only for Jews. Washington also ignored the bombing of hospitals, schools and water treatment infrastructure in Gaza while Israeli army snipers were shooting unarmed demonstrators demanding their freedom. The labeling of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group is particularly disturbing as it means that the United States military by virtue of the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) now has a mandate to attack the IRGC wherever it appears, including in Syria or even in the waterway the Straits of Hormuz, where the guard has regular patrols in small boats. It is a de facto declaration of war and it comes on top of a number of deliberate provocations directed against Iran starting with the withdrawal from the nuclear agreement Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) one year ago, which led to the unilateral imposition of harsh sanctions directed against the Iranian economy to bring about a popular uprising as well as regularly repeated false claims that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Next month, the U.S. will begin enforcing a unilaterally declared worldwide sanction on any and all Iranian oil sales. Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter Netanyahu pledged to annex Israeli settlements on the largely Palestinian West Bank if elected, which is undoubtedly a move cleared in advance with the Trump team of foreign policy sociopaths as it de facto puts an end to any delusional speculation over a possible two-state negotiated solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict. It will also lead to a massive upsurge in violence as the Palestinians object, which is neither a concern for the White House or Netanyahu, as they are assuming that it can be suppressed by overwhelming force directed against an almost completely unarmed civilian population. And Trump will no doubt expect Bibi to return the favor when he is running for reelection in 2020 by encouraging American Jews who care about Israel to support the Republicans. Trump is focused on his own electability and is absolutely shameless about his betrayal of actual American interests in the Middle East, possibly because he has no inkling of the actual damage that he is doing. His speech last week before the casino multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson-hosted Jewish Republican Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas was a disgusting pander to a group that includes many key players who have little or no concern for what happens to the United States as long as Israel flourishes. The only good news that came out of the meeting was that Adelson himself appears to be gravely ill. Trump at times appeared to be speaking to what he thought was a group of Israelis, referring to your prime minister when mentioning Benjamin Netanyahu and several times describing Israel as yours, suggesting that deep down he understands that many American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States. At another point, Trump declared that The Democrats have even allowed the terrible scourge of anti-Semitism to take root in their party and their country, apparently part of a White House plan to keep playing that card to turn American Jews and their political donations in a Republican direction before elections in 2020. Trump also told the Republican Coalition audience how he came to a decision on recognizing Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He described how hed been speaking to his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, as well as U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman and his Israel adviser, Jason Greenblatt, over the phone about an unrelated issue when he suddenly brought up the Golan Heights. Trump shared how I said, Fellows, do me a favor. Give me a little history, quick. Want to go fast. I got a lot of things Im working on: China, North Korea. Give me a quickie. After the advisers filled him in, Trump said he asked Friedman: David, what do you think about me recognizing Israel and the Golan Heights? Friedman, apparently surprised by the suggestion, reacted like a wonderful, beautiful baby, Trump said, and asked if he would really do that. Yeah, I think Im doing it right now. Lets write something up, Trump said he responded, prompting applause and cheers from his audience in Las Vegas. We make fast decisions and we make good decisions. Putting the Trump story about the Golan Heights in some kind of context is not really that difficult. He wanted an answer to please Netanyahu and he went to three Orthodox Jews who support the illegal Israeli settlements and have also individually contributed financially to their growth so he was expecting the response that he got. That he was establishing a precedent by his moves on Jerusalem and the Golan apparently did not occur to him as his administration prides itself on having a foreign policy vision that extends no longer than the beginning of next week, which is why he hired Mike Pompeo, John Bolton and Elliott Abrams. And then there is always the doleful Stephen Miller lurking in the background as well as the three musketeers of Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman for really serious questions relating to why acceding to the wishes of parasite state Israel should continue to be the apparent number one priority of the government of the United States. Donald Trump neither poses nor answers the question why he feels compelled to fulfill all of the campaign pledges he made to the Jewish community, which by and large did not vote for him, while failing to carry out the promises made to those who actually did support him. The absurd Jewish Republican Coalition narrative about how Trump gave Israel the Golan Heights should have resulted in a flood of opprobrium in the U.S. media about his profound ignorance and fundamental hypocrisy, but there was largely silence. The nonsense going on in Las Vegas in front of a lot of fat cats who regard the United States as little more than a cash cow that they control as well as in the White House itself unfortunately has real world consequences. America is being led by the nose by a well-entrenched and powerful group of Israeli loyalists and this will not end well. The U.S. doesnt even have a Middle Eastern foreign policy anymore it has a to do list handed by Netanyahu to whomever is president. The fact that the current man in charge in Washington is either so ignorant or so deluded as to allow the process to escalate until the U.S. is drawn into yet more catastrophic wars is beyond regrettable. U.S. foreign policy should not depend on the perceptions of Kushner and company. It should be based on real, tangible American interests, not those of Israel. Someone should explain that to the president. councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org. Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website isaddress is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is WASHINGTON - How are your kids doing? It isn't the question itself that bothers Katie Porter. The freshman Democratic congresswoman from California, a single mom of three children, is perfectly aware that inquiring about another person's family is just polite small talk. But there's something about the way some people ask her, the subtle emphasis on that last word - "how are your kids doing?" - that makes her bristle. "As if they're suffering," Porter said. Her colleagues surrounding her in the stately room at the Library of Congress nodded knowingly. "As if they're not thriving and doing great." The nine women who had gathered for an early breakfast on a recent morning - fellow mothers and members of the House of Representatives, joined by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel - could tell variations of this same story, about the myriad moments when they felt questioned or judged for living publicly as mothers who hold particularly high-profile jobs. For Rosenworcel, who was invited to talk about her experience as a working mom and the only female FCC commissioner, a defining encounter occurred during a business negotiation years ago, when a man said to her: "It must be so hard for you to do this job as a mom." (She was so infuriated, she said, "I got everything I wanted out of that negotiation, and then some.") Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., recalled a male colleague's obvious discomfort when she once nursed her infant daughter in her congressional office: "Because, yeah, she had to eat," she said. The women in the room answered with a chorus of murmured affirmation. In 2019, in the era of #MeToo, when discussions of gender roles and equality are very much in the mainstream, a group of women sitting together and sharing stories about working motherhood probably shouldn't feel so radical. But this is Capitol Hill, where the first lactation room in the House wasn't installed until 2007 (after Nancy Pelosi demanded it), where the first women's restroom off the House floor was only added in 2011, and where until 2017 it was forbidden for women to bare their shoulders in the House Speaker's Lobby. Then came the 2018 election and its historic influx of female lawmakers - led by women who touted their motherhood bona fides with pride - and Wasserman Schultz, who came to Washington in 2005 as the mother of twin 5-year-olds and a 1-year-old, decided the time had come to launch what she calls the "Moms in the House" caucus. She invited the 25 mothers of school-age children in the House (21 Democrats and four Republicans) to join the group, the first of its kind in congressional history.. "We are doing these jobs differently than the majority of Congress," Wasserman Schultz told the group gathered around the breakfast table. "I want this to be a vehicle, not only to be supportive of one another but also to help each other be successful, to use it as a way for us to advance an agenda and collect our power, to move things forward." 3 1 of 3 Photo for The Washington Post by Andre Chung Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Photo for The Washington Post by Andre Chung Show More Show Less 3 of 3 She smiled and added: "And to just maybe have some comfort, where we can come together, because we're living through the same experience." Of course, it isn't exactly the same experience. Among the Moms in the House caucus are mothers of sons, and of daughters, older children, younger children and stepchildren. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., is the first lesbian mom elected to Congress; Reps. Ilhan Omar, D- Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., are the first Muslim moms. Even among the handful of women gathered recently over breakfast, differences were apparent. "I have an incredibly supportive husband, and that's really the only reason I'm able to do this," said Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash. "I have a very, very supportive spouse," Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., echoed. "When women ask for advice about 'how can I do it all,' number one, I say, 'you gotta find a great partner.' " Then it was Porter's turn. "I don't have any spouse," she said, "and I'm happy that way." Even though there are more women and more mothers in Congress than ever before, being a single mom - a circumstance shared by about one in four American mothers - is still rare enough here to feel isolating, Porter said later. "It was a moment of my realizing how different I am," she said. "And until we have a lot more women in Congress, there are still going to be those moments." Although the 2018 midterm elections brought the proportion of women in the legislature to an all-time high, nearly doubling the number of working mothers, the percentage of women in Congress - 24 percent - still falls far short of mirroring the American populace. All of the new additions were in the House, and most were Democrats - though motherhood is a role that has increasingly been emphasized by members of both parties. (Kelly Ayotte, former Republican senator from New Hampshire, often spoke about her children and the challenges of running for office when they were young; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington - who in 2013 became the first woman to give birth to three children while serving in Congress - has frequently discussed her son with Down syndrome and founded a Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus.) So far, only Democrats have attended the monthly Moms in the House events, which began in January, though Wasserman Schultz says Republican members have expressed interest. There is also an active text group, she says, in which members frequently turn to one another for advice: Should the whole family move to Washington? What are the best summer camps in D.C.? What to do with visiting kids when Mom has to be on the House floor to vote? Ultimately, she says she hopes the group will use "the strength in our numbers" to push family-focused issues - affordable child care and stronger parental-leave policies, for instance - to the top of a legislative agenda. But the main purpose is to serve as personal and professional support, she says, to empower members to embrace their dual roles as parents and lawmakers. So when Rosenworcel brought up the issue of net neutrality and the digital divide over breakfast, the congresswomen around the table discussed the challenges facing children who can't complete their homework because they don't have Internet access. And at a House Financial Services Committee hearing last week, during a confrontation with JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, Porter assailed the bank's low wages by describing the impossibility of a single mom with a 6-year-old child trying to survive on an entry-level salary. In an exchange that went viral, Porter concluded that the hypothetical mother in question would run a deficit of nearly $600 per month. "What I'd like you to do," she told Dimon, "is provide a way for families to make ends meet." For many years, mothers in Congress have supported one another behind the scenes, Wasserman Schultz says, but the current moment felt worthy of something more. "It was always really important to me, the bits of advice that I was able to get from more-experienced, veteran moms in Congress, and that was advice I've quoted through the years to women who were thinking about running," she says. "So it's really been a gradual crescendo for me to reach this point." After the caucus was announced, a flurry of questions followed, about what it meant - practically, symbolically - to see these women assemble, to proudly identify themselves as mothers. "When people ask me, 'What is the significance of so many women and mothers being in the U.S. Congress?' you know, it's great for young girls that they see this representation," Craig said. "But maybe it's even more important that my four sons grow up in a world where women are fully representing them. This is the new normal for them, that women are at the policymaking table." But even the new normal is still far from equal, says Jennifer Lawless, a political scientist at the University of Virginia and an expert on women in politics. "The fact that this moms' caucus has to exist continues to demonstrate the incredibly disproportionate share of household labor and child care that women, even in the top tier of professional accomplishment, remain responsible for," Lawless said. "There are a lot of men who have had young kids, and never has there been attention on how to focus those dual roles. So it's in some ways a double-edged sword. It highlights the need to figure out a way to be able to balance your home life and your profession, but the downside is that it's reinforcing this idea that this is a problem only women face." And that problem, she says, isn't likely to be solved in Congress; cultural norms can't be legislated. "That's not to say that if we have more favorable leave policies, that that won't help generate the conversation, and that things can't change," Lawless said. "But it won't be in four or eight years." Wasserman Schultz is aware of this dichotomy. "It's wonderful that we have a critical mass of moms with school-aged children and we can be there for one another, and have a platform to advance an agenda important to women and families," she said, "and at the same time, we shouldn't need that support network because it shouldn't be any different to be a mom in Congress than to be a dad in Congress." She paused. "Only it is, and you have to deal with reality." The ultimate goal of the caucus, then? "I'd like to hope," she says, "that our existence helps us to ultimately not need to exist." EAST ALTON East Alton resident Dennis D. Hunt is a man who lives and breathes his faith, and he doesnt shy away from talking or writing - about it. He reads and refers to a 1901 King James Version Scofield Bible that he got more than 45 years ago, now dog-eared and full of highlighted points that stood out to him. He has studied the Bible nearly every day since he was 30 years old, and believes he has a fairly comprehensive understanding of what it says. He can easily quote scriptures, and he is ardent about living Gods message and passing it on to others. I dont use the Bible as a club. My goal is to encourage people to read it, he said. Hunt believes his recently released third book, The One True Christian Church evolved from the messages of his two previous books, which were released over the last couple of years I didnt realize it at the time, but those first two books were leading me to this one, Hunt said. Using the avitars, Cuz and Cuzette to illustrate his points, Hunt takes readers on a search for the one true church. He doesnt feel there is a need for so many different denominations when Jesus is the shepherd of all of them. Christ said he would build the church not a whole bunch of similar ones, Hunt said in his book. Keep in mind that when we celebrate Christ in our gatherings, we are celebraing what he has done, not what we do. Hunts journey to become an author really started when he first began showing his Christian woodworking art work a few years ago. That led to his first book, Becoming One Flock: My Goal as Just One Christian, which pertains to the idea that all people are of one blood, and therefore, cousins. Then he wanted to help children know more about what comes from being a Christian. His second book, My Ebenezer, was geared toward adults and schools teaching children the meaning of creation, as opposed to evolution, which he vehemently does not believe in. For the third book, he explores his thoughts about all denominations sharing the same beliefs and practices as uniting as one. There is not one thats better than the other, Hunt said. We shouldnt let ourselves be divided. We can realize that any family of Christians may have their own ways or peculiarities, but that doesnt mean we should knock the other one down, Hunt said. He states that how each group celebrates in its worship services shouldnt be an issue. Rather, all Christians should love one another and support each other in how each denomination wants to celebrate Christ. The unsaved needs hope. Let us give them Christ and watch hope blossom, he wrote. Let us make Jesus smile. Let us work with him not against him. He reiterates some of the points he made in his earlier books, and he encourages Christians to be accepting of all the different ways of worshiping as Christians, as well as talking to those who have no church, and effectively, bringing them into the fold. The point of The One True Christian Church is knowing which church to choose if you are just starting, Hunt said. If there are 500 million different denominations that say they are the only way to Jesus, how do the unsaved make a choice? I narrow down the search for the true church by choosing two of the sacraments, baptism and communion, and ask the question: Are you focusing on remembering what Jesus did? Anyone should be able to go into any Christian church and celebrate what Jesus did, he said. The church you choose has the right to be one big family with traditional ways of celebrating the sacraments, but they dont have the right to demand that their way is the only way. I dont see denominations, I see families. He stresses that the two sacrements, baptism and communion, are meant to celebrate Christ and what he accomplished on the cross. They were not meant to divide us into individual churches, he said. I would love to spread that to all of the local churches, and then have a big celebration in the Alton area to acknowledge our brotherhood. I really believe such a thing would make Jesus smile. First our town, second the next town, etc., he concluded. Hunt said he would have all Christians invite those who have not been saved in the Christian faith to any church that teaches the simple truth of Jesus in I Corinthians 15:1-4: Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That is the gospel, untarnished by man, simple to accept, said Hunt, who challenges readers to study the scriptures themselves in order to develop their own interpretation. And Hunt believes just as fervently in everyone being of one blood. We are one race of people with different-colored skins. It is kind of difficult to call someone a racist who is in fact, of your own race, Hunt wrote. No matter what our individual skin color happens to be, Jesus only sees us as olive-skinned. We are all of one race. If you go back to Noah and his three sons which according to the Bible, we are all descended from - then in fact, we are all cousins, he said. I know family members argue, but I think we should love and care about one another. When the woodworking hobbyist and retired structural engineer began his ministry of Biblical plaques and statues, he said that the scripture John 10:16: And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, was put in front of him. Through blood lines, we are brothers; Jesus and God want us to take care of our brothers. We are one flock, he said. But sometimes his beliefs bring about heavy discussions with people who dont always agree with him, and he said thats OK. Whether you agree or disagree with me, discover what it is you truly believe, Hunt said. I have great respect for anyones opinions. And I get excited about people wanting to know more. He continues with his Biblical wood art, and new pieces often coincide with his writings. He has now made several hundred plaques, and gives them to people to brighten their lives. Many have found their way across the country and around the world. He and his wife, Sharon, have held onto about 25 of the pieces that they couldnt bear to part with. Hunt was a Corporal in the United States Army from 1966 to 1968 as part of Korea Defense. He is a certified lay speaker at East Alton First United Methodist Church, and has been a member of the United Methodist Men since 1964. Proceeds from sale of the new book, as well as his two previous titles will be donated to the First United Methodist Church of East Alton, St. Louis Childrens Hospital and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. To contact Hunt, send an email to dennis.hunt1214@gmail.com. All three of his books can be purchased at www.amazon.com. The latest is also available in Kindle format. If you were to design a building that would be particularly vulnerable to a spectacular fire, you would need to look no further than Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The iconic building, initially constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries, was built with heavy stone exterior walls, a wooden roof made of old oak and, below that, a cavernous space, full of oxygen that feeds flames. Notre Dame was intentionally designed this way. The roof was built of wood so that it could burn off if it caught fire, but the walls and other structures made of stone wouldn't burn down. One big advantage of this architectural feature: The fire would be contained by the stone exterior and would not put the rest of the city at risk. That appears to be what happened Monday, the world watching in horror as flames shot through the 800-year-old structure. While seriously damaged - the roof collapsed, its 300-foot spire crumbled and parts of the wooden interior were charred - the fire appears to have done no harm to other buildings in the tightly packed Paris neighborhood. "I think what people should understand is the ingenious approach by medieval builders," said Kevin Murphy, a professor of art history at Vanderbilt University. But some experts say cathedrals and other places of worship built centuries ago are hazardous to themselves, even if they were built with what passed in Medieval times as cutting-edge, fire-containing safety measures. "Obviously, modern code was not written with cathedrals in mind," said James Shepherd, director of preservation and facilities at Washington National Cathedral. A big question will now linger over any plans to rebuild Notre Dame: Should it be rebuilt exactly as before, even if it includes replicating the flammable oak roof? Or will government officials force modern fire regulations onto an iconic building? "The technology of the building is not, of course, technology that we use anymore," Murphy said. "In some cases, the actual technology has been under debate for centuries. Trying to understand how it was built is not straightforward." It'll be a process watched closely around the world. Throughout history, there have been a large number of fires at cathedrals and other buildings, from the Old St. Paul's in London that burned during the Great Fire of 1666, to St. Mel's Cathedral in Longford, Ireland, that was destroyed in a fire on Christmas 2009. Kevin Fay, construction director at Gem Construction, which helped rebuild St. Mel's, said some aspects of that blaze were similar to the Notre Dame fire this week. "The fire got onto the roof space, which was all timber" in St. Mel's, Fay said. The roof subsequently collapsed: "You ended up with a huge inferno inside the cathedral. The fire got to such high temperatures that the actual marble and stone crystallized." Some of the damage at St. Mels' came from the cold water sprayed over the site by fire services to put out the blaze, causing the masonry to rapidly contract. "You could hear the stonework cracking for days afterward," Fay said. Shepherd, of Washington National Cathedral, said that historically, smaller churches had been most prone to fire as they were entirely made of wood. But the case of Notre Dame showed that the heavy wooden roof structures of some larger cathedrals were also a risk. "The attic is out of site, out of mind," Shepherd said. "If something starts there it's harder to detect." Modern tactics for containing fires - compartmentalizing it into a small space where it can be contained - is hard to implement in a cathedral, which is by design an enormous open space. The vast size of Notre Dame, as well as its symbolic value, will put pressure on those seeking to renovate it. The task of restoration is "hugely daunting because it's such a huge building. It can only be daunting," Murphy said. Before restoration begins, there will need to be a survey of the damage. In the case of St. Mels, the damage was so extreme that experts weren't allowed to return to the building for fear of problems with its structural integrity. Instead, they entered the building through the now-removed roof, using mobile platforms and cranes. Speaking on Tuesday after the blaze was extinguished, French Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters that the overall structure of Notre Dame appears to be intact, but there were "some points of vulnerability," including in the vault. Gregory Bryda, a specialist in the architecture of medieval Europe at Barnard College, wrote in an email that the process of restoration will probably take years. "The most significant hurdle going forward will be to shield not only the gaping holes in the cathedral's ceiling but also, frankly, the entire building, from the elements, since the roof functioned to siphon off the rain," Bryda wrote. Once the rebuilding takes place, there will be major decisions to be made about whether the building is remade using traditional techniques or their more modern counterparts. In some cases, the decision may be made easier by the fact that many of the older techniques are difficult to reproduce in the 21st century. The roof of St. Mel's, for example, may look very similar to its original, but hidden within the timber roof structure are modern steel connective joints, according to Fay. Modern timber simply isn't as strong as the slow-grown timber that was used in construction years ago. There will also have to be major decisions about what sort of modern fire systems to install, such as sprinklers that could put out a fire but potentially damage artwork and other valuable objects. The challenge of rebuilding will be "immense," according to Jean Francois Bedard, an associate professor specializing in French architecture at Syracuse University. But in a certain sense, using exactly the same materials and restoring it to what it was before would be less in keeping with the history of the cathedral than innovating. "It's not the first time" Notre Dame has been rebuilt, Bedard said. "Not to say that this is not catastrophic. But it's not the first time these buildings are being rebuilt." The cathedral was restored in the 19th century by two architects - Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The spire that collapsed Monday was designed then. Much of what is known today as Notre Dame was "medieval visions of 19th century architects," Bedard said. One thing isn't up for debate: Any restoration or repair will take money and a lot of time. The restoration of St. Mel's took $33 million and five years. Even with the vast sums of money already raised for Notre Dame, it's a far larger building at the heart of one of Europe's largest and most expensive cities. "Put it this way," said Fay. "If you're walking back into Notre Dame Cathedral in 10 year's time, that's a major achievement." EDWARDSVILLE Seven area churches are coming together to participate in the 6th annual Ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday morning. The service will take place at 6 a.m. at Edwardsvilles City Park, specifically at the bandstand area by the Edwardsville Library. The Easter Sunrise Service is being presented through a partnership between the Faith Coalition-Edwardsville and the Glen/Ed Ministerial Alliance (GEMA), as well as in cooperation with the city of Edwardsville. Pastor Oliver Beans, lead pastor at The Bridge Church as well as current GEMA president, explained that seven churches are participating: Newsong Fellowship Church; St. Johns United Methodist Church; ESIC Baptist Church; The Bridge Church; Wesley Chapel AME; Immanuel United Methodist Church; and, Mt. Joy Missionary Baptist Church. Bean, who has participated in the last three Easter Sunrise Services, will provide the welcome. He pointed out that this years service includes five new ministers and two additional churches that did not participate last year. Pastor Larry Busch of ESIC Baptist Church will be leading this years sermon. I was called to be the pastor at ESIC Baptist Church this past September 2018, he said. I have personally not been to this Sunrise Service, but people from our church have participated before. I am excited to be part of this wonderful celebration of Jesus Christ. I believe it is very important for Christians to come together from time to time to worship our Lord and Savior. Collaboration between churches is a good thing, Busch noted. Paul wrote to the Corinthians [1 Corinthians 1:10] , I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. Churches do have differences, but one thing is clear, we all celebrate Resurrection Sunday because this is the very foundation of our faith. This, in part, is what my message will be about at the Sunrise Service on Easter, Busch added.We worship one God, who appears to us in three forms. The great love and grace of God provides us an open invitation to receive Him. If we do that, we are promised Eternal life thanks to Jesus, who rose from the dead. Praise God! Pastor Grant Armstrong, of St. Johns United Methodist Church, will lead the communion and Pastor Jackie Havis-Shear, of Immanuel United Methodist Church, will provide the invocation and opening prayer. Scripture readings will be led by Newsong Fellowship pastor and GEMA vice president Dave Romoser, St. Johns United Methodist Church pastor Mary McQuilkan and Mt. Joy Missionary Baptist Church pastor Steve Jackson. Pastor Jarian Stith, of Wesley Chapel AME, will lead the collection and Amy Prince of St. Johns United Methodist Church will be singing a traditional Easter hymn. The service will end with Joe Russo, of Faith Coalition, leading the closing prayer. Although currently the weather forecast Sunday calls for sunshine and 50 degrees, last years event was moved indoors due to freezing temperatures. In the case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to ESIC Baptist Church. Inclement weather updates will be posted on Faith Coalitions website and Facebook page. Beans encourages area residents to attend the community event. Its Easter. This is the most important day of the Christian year because this is the day that launched our faith, he said. Coming together with people all across our community makes it even more impactful. Whether youre committed, curious, cynical or somewhere in between its just a fantastic way for anyone to reflect on the significance of the day as the sun rises around us. PARIS - A symbol of Paris, a triumph of Gothic architecture and one of the most visited monuments in the world, the Cathedral of Notre Dame is a beloved icon for millions across the globe. But for many in this largely Catholic country, especially for the most faithful, the medieval masterpiece is a sacred space that serves as the spiritual as well as the cultural heart of France. So as it burned on Monday-during Holy Week, which precedes Easter- Parisians gathered on the other side of the Seine, embers blowing onto their heads, praying and crying as they sought fellowship in their shared disbelief. As night fell, people clutched flickering candles, still praying as ochre-colored plumes of smoke billowed in a dimming sky. The sound of hymns filled the air. The fire is another blow for Catholics in France, where a cardinal was recently convicted of a sex abuse cover-up. And Catholic churches in France have reportedly come under attack in recent months; a cross of human excrement was found at one church and a beheaded statue of Jesus at another. Far more to the French than just a tourist attraction, Notre Dame -"she," as the French refer to "Our Lady"- is very much a working church. Among the roughly 30,000 people who walk through the massive arched entryway every day are devoted Catholics who worship under its wondrous stained-glass windows, attending one of its many masses and vespers. The building belongs to the French State, but the Catholic church holds the rights to its use and the archdiocese is responsible for its administration and operation. At one point referred to as "the eldest daughter of the church," the nearly 800-year-old Notre Dame is the liturgical center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris in a country that has long been identified with Catholicism. "It's something one thought would last forever," said Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who said he's visited the cathedral many times. "This affects all Catholics in France but all people in France. It affects Catholics around the world but all people in the world. It's a central icon of civilization." And yet even amid such a loss, it's important that people remember Notre Dame is still just a building made of stone, said Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesman for the Bishop's Conference of France, on the French television network TF1. As Holy Week begins, Catholics are urged to be the "living stones of the Church" as they celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ, "source of our hope," the Conference said in a statement. Catholicism was the official religion of France until the revolution of 1789, and until that point, French kings enjoyed close relationships with Popes. In 2017, 60% of adults in France identified as Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center. While Catholicism is still the largest religion in France, the church's ranks have steadily dwindled over the past three decades. Still, France remains a stronghold of Catholicism and a destination for many pilgrims, for whom Notre Dame remained an essential holy site. Among the many relics held at the cathedral are a thorn of crowns said to have been placed on the head of Jesus before his crucifixion and a piece of the cross upon which he died. Built between 1160 and 1260, Notre Dame survived riots in the 16th Century, the upheavals of the French Revolution in the 18th, damage from bombing in WWI and from bullets in WWII. When it was built, it was one of the tallest in the western world and is considered a classic piece of Gothic architecture, said Tom Lucas, a Jesuit who is a professor of art history at Seattle University. It took around a hundred years to build before it was largely completed in 1260. Victor Hugo's novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1831 helped to bring popular interest to the cathedral. "It was a remarkable piece of work on every level, a symbol of beauty and serenity as a spiritual center for the French people and an emblem of the city," Lucas said. The cathedral has had its share of challenges over its 700-plus years. During a revolt by the French Huguenots 1540s, several sculptures were damaged by the Protestants who considered them idolatrous. The spire came down in the 1700s after it was damaged by the wind. During the French Revolution, heads were chopped off of statues of biblical characters, and a goddess of liberty replaced the Virgin Mary in some places, Lucas said. Never, though had it suffered damage as severe as that inflicted in Monday's fire. Despite the French emphasis on laicite, which roughly translates to "secularism," many of the nation's milestones were marked in Notre Dame. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was consecrated emperor of France there. In 1944, General Charles De Gaulle and General Philippe Leclerc attended a mass in the church to mark Paris' liberation from the Germans. And in 1966, world leaders flocked to the cathedral to pay their final respects to former French president Francois Mitterrand. "All the big events in our history unfolded in Notre Dame," journalist Stephane Bern said on French television. The masons who worked on the cathedrals like Notre Dame often knew it wouldn't be complete within their lifetime, an expression of one's devotion to God and to the church, said Judith Dupre, a structural historian who wrote on the architecture of churches. Churches like Notre Dame provided art freely in a democratic manner, since people didn't have to pay to see the inside, she said. For the first time, peasants could go in and see people who looked like them depicted in wood, stone and glass. "By extension, you could see yourself as a potential saint," she said. The stained-glass windows were a promise of heaven for many people. Perhaps after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Notre Dame is likely the most famous cathedral in the world, said Krupali Krusche, an expert on historical building preservation at the University of Notre Dame who led the digital preservation of the Taj Mahal and the Vatican's Belvedere Courtyard. "In the late middle ages this showed how far and strong the Catholic institution had gotten," she said. "Some of the best works of art from the time were brought. The stained glass windows are some of the most exquisite pieces. About 700 years of history were just lost in one day." - - - Pulliam Bailey reported from New York City. PARIS (AP) Firefighters declared success Tuesday in a more than 12-hour battle to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof, but spared its bell towers and the purported Crown of Christ. What remained was a blackened shell of the monument immortalized in Victor Hugos 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a building that had survived almost 900 years of tumultuous French history but was devastated amid renovation works at the start of Catholic Easter week. Its iconic twin bell towers remained visibly intact. Paris officials said the world famous 18th century organ that boasts 8,000 pipes also appeared to have survived, along with other treasures inside the cathedral, after a plan to safeguard heritage was quickly put into action. Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire described authorities enormous relief at the salvaging of pieces such as the purported Crown of Christ, which were transported to a secret location after the fire. Statues removed just days ago for restoration work were also spared. At dawn, the twin 69-meter towers swarmed with building specialists and architects. The entire fire is out, declared Paris firefighters spokesman Gabriel Plus, adding that workers were surveying the movement of structures and extinguishing smoldering residues. The task is now the risk of fire has been put aside about the building, how the structure will resist, said Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez in front of the cathedral. One of the citys five senior vicars, Philippe Marsset, told AP: If God intervened (in the blaze) it was in the courage of the firefighters. Notre Dame was destroyed but the soul of France was not, Michel Aupetit, archbishop of Paris, said on RMC radio. Officials consider the fire an accident, possibly as a result of the restoration work at the global architectural treasure. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said the investigation would be long and complex. Fifty investigators were working on the probe, he said, and would be interviewing workers from five companies hired to work on renovations to the cathedrals roof, where the flames first broke out. Heitz said an initial fire alert was sounded at 6:20 p.m. Monday but no fire was found. The second alert was sounded at 6:43 p.m. and a blaze was discovered in the roofing at that point. News that the fire was probably accidental has done nothing to ease the national mourning. Notre Dame has survived the revolutionary history of France, and this happened during building works, said influential former Culture Minister Jack Lang. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the cathedral that he called a part of us and appealed for help to do so. As France woke up in collective sadness, its richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods group LVMH pledged 200 million euros ($226 million) for the reconstruction. A communique said the Arnault family was in solidarity with this national tragedy, and join in the reconstruction of this extraordinary cathedral, a symbol of France, of its heritage and togetherness. Businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Salma Hayek, and his billionaire father Francois Pinault also said they were immediately giving 100 million euros from their company, Artemis, to help finance repairs. Artemis is the holding company owning auction house Christies and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci. A statement from Francois-Henri Pinault said this tragedy impacts all French people and everyone wants to restore life as quickly as possible to this jewel of our heritage. The 12th-century church is home to a 18th-century organ, relics, stained glass and other works of art of incalculable value, and is a leading tourist attraction. The organ is a very fragile instrument, especially its pipes. It has not burnt, but no one can tell whether it has been damaged by water. Nobody knows if it is a functioning state or will need to be restored, Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of preservation group Fondation du Patrimoine, told AP. Repairing the cathedral including the 800-year-old wooden beams that made up its roof presents challenges. The cathedrals roof cannot be rebuilt exactly as it was before the fire because we dont, at the moment, have trees on our territory of the size that were cut in the 13th century, he said, adding the roof restoration work would have to use new technologies. Religious statues removed last week from the cathedral roof as part of a restoration of the monumental Paris churchs towering spire were spared. The 3-meter-tall copper figures, which looked over the city from Notre Dames 96-meter-high peak, were sent to southwestern France for work that is part of a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project on the cathedral spire and its 250 tons of lead. On Thursday, the public got a first ground-level look at the statues, representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, when a huge crane lowered them onto a truck. An outpouring of grief and offers of help have poured in from around the world. Pope Francis prayed for French Catholics and the Parisian population under the shock of the terrible fire. Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said on Twitter the pope is close to France and offering prayers for all those who are trying to cope with this dramatic situation. The Vaticans culture minister, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, described the cathedral as a living creature that has been reborn before and will continue to be the beating heart of France. Ravasi, whose office oversees the patrimony of the Catholic Church worldwide, said he was moved by scenes of faithful and tourists weeping as Notre Dame went up in flames, and suggested art experts at the Vatican Museums could play a role in the rebuilding. Germany and Poland were among countries offering assistance. We are united in sorrow. Notre Dame is part of the cultural heritage of mankind and a symbol for Europe, German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass wrote on Twitter. In Poland, where Warsaw and many other places were rebuilt from rubble after World War II, President Andrzej Duda offered experts in the reconstruction of historic buildings. Egypts top Muslim cleric expressed sadness, describing Notre Dame as a historic architectural masterpiece. Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim worlds seat of learning, wrote on Facebook: Our hearts are with our brothers in France. Egypts Coptic Church expressed profound sadness, with the head of Egypts Copts, Pope Tawadroz II, describing the fire as a huge loss for entire humanity. Illinois manufacturers have seen both benefits and drawbacks from year-old tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Tariffs of 25-percent on steel and 10-percent on aluminum imported into the U.S. were announced in March 2018. Since then, Mark Denzler, president and CEO, of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said the results have been a mixed bag. Were a manufacturing state, so we both produce steel here and import it, Denzler said. This is something seen as a benefit for some of our steel-producing companies and we have other manufactures who see it as an impediment because of higher costs. Denzler says theres a large amount of uncertainty in the markets at the moment, pointing to ongoing Brexit discussions and ongoing trade negotiations as evidence. He says members are looking for more long-term stability. At the end of the day, theyre worried about costs, Denzler said. All manufacturers are looking at the bottom line, whether youre providing steel or using steel in another product. Our hope would be the President gets some of these trade deals done and provides certainty back to the marketplace, because international trade is critically important to the manufacturing sector. Illinois is the second-largest importer of steel among the 50 states, but Denzler says the impact of the tariffs has been lessened due to a carve out for Canada and Mexico. Those two countries account for about one-third of the steel imports into the U.S. We do need to continue addressing some of the trade concerns with China, Denzler said. The dumping of steel and the theft of intellectual property remain significant concerns among the steel industry and those need to be addressed. The National Association of Manufactures conducts a quarterly study of the views of members across the country. Overall, most seem happy with the current policies of the Trump administration. More than 90-percent of manufactures are optimistic about the future, Denzler said. Theyve seen record-high optimism for the past ten quarters, largely due to regulator and tax reform. Their optimism was in the mid-60s during the previous presidential administration. I think generally manufacturers are heartened by what theyre seeing coming out of Washington, D.C. A radio veteran with nearly twenty years of experience, Scot Bertram is the General Manager of Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, the student radio station at Hillsdale College. Bertram is also the co-host of Political Beats for National Review Online. If you had 10 seconds to name a queen of ancient Egypt, who would it be? Probably Cleopatra, who was famous for her alliances with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But who came before her? Nefertari, Isis, Ahmose and Hatshepsut are just a few queens of Egypt whose legacies aren't as widely known. A new exhibit at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., aims to change that. "I only knew there was Cleopatra, I didn't know there were so many other queens," said Roxie Mazelan, a 9-year-old Girl Scout visiting the "Queens of Egypt" exhibit. Roxie and her troop from Alexandria, Virginia, put on their 3-D glasses to explore the exhibit's virtual-reality dome. They traveled back in time and walked through the virtual tomb of Queen Nefertari, principal wife of Ramses II. Addison Hood, 9, thought it was cool to see artifacts virtually and come across them physically throughout the exhibit. Among the popular artifacts are Nefertari's shoes, found in her tomb by an Italian archaeologist in 1904. Jewelry, makeup jars and mirrors that once belonged to Egypt's female rulers are also on display. There are hands-on exhibit features, including jars that contain scents such as henna and lotus. You can pop them open and smell. Archaeologists found jars like these in tombs, and from the residue they could extract the scents Egyptian women once wore. You can also play senet, a board game similar to Chutes and Ladders that pharoahs played around 1550 B.C. Queen Hatshepsut (pronounced hat-SHEP-soot) was the most influential Egyptian queen and known as a great diplomat during her 22-year reign. To gain respect, she dressed as a man, wore a false beard and created statues of herself with a pharaoh's headdress. When her stepson took the throne, he made sure people knew there was a new leader in town. "Out of all the ancient civilizations, Egypt's was the only one that really valued women," says Lexie de los Santos, who helps promote National Geographic exhibits. Egyptian women could own land, choose a husband, get divorced and even govern. "But after their rule, [male leaders] just erase all memory of these women because they don't want them to have all that success," De Los Santos said. Kara Cooney, an Egyptologist who wrote a book for National Geographic about the queens, said these women were often used as protectors. Men would put women in high positions to keep young male leaders safe and give them time to mature. When a man was ready to take over as pharaoh, the woman in charge would step down. Addison noted that even after thousands of years, female leaders haven't gained a lot of ground. "I think it was cool to see women in the place of men," she said. "You don't see that a lot now." --- If You Go What: "Queens of Egypt" exhibit Where: National Geographic Museum, 145 17th St., Washington, D.C. When: Daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sept. 15. How much: Ages 5 to 12, $10; age 13 and older, $15. For more information: A parent can visit nationalgeographic.org. ZAGREB, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli announced on Monday various joint activities to be carried out in both Croatia and China to promote tourism and establish stronger cultural and transport links as part of the celebration of the Year of Culture and Tourism between the two countries. The activities include study trips for Chinese media and tour operators in Croatia, workshops and cultural-tourist events, as well as many presentations at tourist fairs. Some of these activities have been agreed last week during the visit of the Chinese delegation to Croatia when Cappelli and his Chinese counterpart signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of special forms of tourism. The signing of the Memorandum is a sign that both China and Croatia recognize the potential for cooperation, which is the basis for future concrete activities, the Croatian minister said. "The Chinese market is extremely important to us because their tourists are not motivated by a holiday rest, rather with a cultural offer, gastronomy and other special forms of tourism," said Cappelli. According to the minister, a total of 234,100 visitors from China visited Croatia in 2018, with 344,000 overnight stays, an increase of 46 percent compared to 2017. "Positive trends from that market are expected this year too," Cappelli said in his announcement. In January 2019, 33 Chinese citizens got tour guide licenses in Zagreb, in February Chinese artists performed in the city of Varazdin in northern Croatia, while in March there was a conference "The Role of China in Southeast Europe" in Zagreb. Croatian tourist board also organized two workshops in China for around 200 Chinese tour operators in Beijing and Shanghai earlier this year, while the Zagreb tourist board presented its offers in Beijing last month. Its Joe Bidens turn in the #MeToo barrel and, like many Democrats, Im torn about what to think. The allegations by Lucy Flores that in 2014, when she was running for lieutenant governor of Nevada, the vice president touched her shoulders and kissed the back of her head cannot exactly be dismissed as an outlier, given that another allegation of guerrilla nuzzling followed just 72 hours later (this time from 2009) and that multiple photo montages online suggest a similar pattern. And so we have another debate about male decency and respect, trying to weigh creepiness against over-exuberant affection, handsiness against glad-handing, all the while remembering that this is Joe Biden were talking about, a retail-politics guy from another era, known for arm grabs and bear hugs (youd see this all the time on the Senate floor the shoulder squeezing, the close-talking). He is, by nature, a physically expressive fellow. Hugs are not unfamiliar to him, and he seems to sense when people are feeling fragile, as Stephanie Carter, the wife of Ash Carter, a defense secretary under Barack Obama, wrote in an essay for Medium, noting that the creepy Uncle Joe photo featuring her as the recipient of a shoulder rub was quite welcome, thank you very much. These gray-zone allegations are, of course, still worth examining. But because they are salacious because they are embodied, because we actually can see them I wonder if we spend more time discussing them than another gray-zone problem that, in my view, is far more pervasive and often less easily solved with a sharp rebuke or a complaint to human resources: not being taken seriously. Because heres the truth: Some of the women I know have #MeToo stories. But most of the women I know have stories about feeling dismissed, invisible, less-than. What are they talking about? Theyre talking about seeing their ideas gain traction in a meeting only after a man has said them. Or being told after theyve asserted themselves in a meeting that they dominated it or at the least talked too much. Theyre talking about seeing weeks or months of work being casually dismissed by their superior after hes had a 10-minute conversation with a male colleague. Theyre talking about being mansplained. Personally? Ive been mansplained about my own book. And about Congress, which I covered on and off for 20 years. You know what didnt help? Saying Hey, I wrote a book about that! Or Hey, I started my career at The Hill! Theyre talking about contradicting a male colleague and watching him get really mad. Theyre talking about being called boastful when theyre invoking a necessary credential. Theyre talking about having their recollections dismissed until theyre Googled. Theyre talking about being given soft or detail-oriented responsibilities while the fellas are delegated the big think. Theyre talking about chatting with another woman and a male colleague walks by. Planning a rebellion? he asks. (That, admittedly, happened early in the careers of most of the women with whom I have talked. Have men stopped doing that, I wonder? [Maybe. Hopefully? Probably not.]) Many of these problems are happening in organizations with supposed enlightened politics. They still can have feudal habits. Note what Im not mentioning: Ambition = pushiness. Too obvious. Or the motherhood penalty. Or a national policy that guarantees only three months off with a newborn, unpaid, if youre lucky enough to work for an organization to which the Family and Medical Leave Act applies. Or that we have no subsidized child care, and often get looked at as if were nuts if we ask for reimbursement for it when we work extra hours. Younger women sometimes look at women of my generation Im 49 and wonder why we may be a little wearier, a little warier, a little less noisy. But its not, I dont think, a matter of false consciousness, or that we dont know our rights; nor is it that were resentful about having had to swallow our own stories as we were coming of age. (Even ancient infractions of a minor variety are, in this climate, the functional equivalent of a loaded gun.) Its that some of the more ambiguous #MeToo experiences might seem more manageable, or maybe just more ridiculous and certainly less insidious than the subtler biases many of us have faced in how men think. Theyre about an attitude. A mindset, hiding in plain sight. Sometimes the two are connected. It can be a short leap from taking physical liberties with a woman (even if theyre minor, even if theyre done out of sheer obliviousness) to dismissing her ideas. Both involve a certain inability to see. Maybe my younger peers have been fortunate enough to see most of these behaviors melt away. But I suspect they havent, and they, too, deserve our attention, maybe their own hashtag. I dont care what it is, just so long as theyre discussed. Theyre common. Theyre powerful. Theyre corrosive and confidence-pulverizing. Theyre every bit as real. Jennifer Senior is a columnist for The New York Times. If there was any comfort to be taken from the tragic fire to befall one of Europe's great landmarks and Paris's most-visited, it was the speed at which the call for help was answered. With Notre Dame still smoldering, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild the great cathedral and called for donors. Pledges came flooding in. France's luxury industry led the way, with Bernard Arnault, the billionaire founder of the LVMH fashion conglomerate, promising 200 million euros ($226 million) and Francois Pinault of rival fashion group Kering 100 million euros. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo offered money from city coffers and promised to organize an international donor conference. This is a heartening start. But while Macron has rallied the troops, others will be writing the big checks. The French government owns Notre Dame Cathedral, but apart from a small annual maintenance stipend of 2 million euros a year from the ministry of culture, and some limited repair works, it had done little to maintain it. To do so would violate France's laws separating church and state, the government has argued. As my colleague Mohamed El-Erian observed, the blame game around Notre Dame's gaping wound is likely to be ugly. The fire was no natural disaster; it may have been an accident, but it certainly wasn't inevitable. It is legitimate that questions will be asked about how to better ensure other landmarks don't go up in flames. The state of Notre Dame's disrepair had been evident for years to the Archdiocese, the steward of the cathedral. Until a few years ago though, according to 2017 reporting by Vivienne Walt for Time magazine, the government had kept private areas - from which the decrepit upper levels could be accessed - off limits. Here's what Walt found in those upper stories: "Here, the site seemed not spiritually uplifting but distressing. Chunks of limestone lay on the ground, having fallen from the upper part of the chevet, or the eastern end of the Gothic church. One small piece had a clean slice down one side, showing how recently it had fallen. Two sections of a wall were missing, propped up with wood. And the features of Notre Dame's famous gargoyles looked as worn away as the face of Voldemort." A spokesperson from the culture ministry told Walt that Notre Dame's case wasn't the most pressing and the cathedral shouldn't expect much from the government. "France has thousands of monuments." There were debates about whether Notre Dame should charge visitors to fund repairs - as St Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London already do. But some in the French senate argued that this would effectively amount to a tax on a place of worship and would breach equality laws if synagogue, mosques and temples were free for entry. The entrance fees were never levied. The Friends of Notre Dame, a non-profit organized by the archdiocese, launched a campaign to raise more than $100 million for repair work. But this effort ran up against two obstacles. First, while regular churchgoers may contribute small amounts to collections, the French are steeped in state-mandated secularism and so regarded donations to religious institutions suspiciously. Secondly, they are heavily taxed, so they also expect the state to look after major cultural sites. (Americans, the organization found, were more eager to help. After many U.S. visitors inquired about how they might donate, the nonprofit registered as a charity in the U.S.) France isn't the only government that struggles to maintain its heritage as budgets are squeezed. In Italy, the 2010 collapse of the House of Gladiators in Pompeii, which had been steadily damaged by rain, heavy tourist traffic and poor maintenance, was partly blamed on big cuts to arts and heritage funding. Smaller disasters seem almost routine. Few outsiders noticed when in August the wooden roof of a 16th century church collapsed in Rome. When Diego Della Valle, chairman of Italian luxury shoe company Tod's, pledged $33 million in 2014 to save Rome's crumbling Colosseum, he argued that there was a greater need for the Anglo-Saxon model in which private donors and foundations contribute heavily. He has a point. In Notre Dame's case, money, expertise, and time are the only solutions and the right ones for now. Macron, whose administration had already been rocked by the Gilets Jaunes protests, had little choice but to promise to rebuild. The histories of many ancient churches are a cycle of war damage, vandalism, fire and reconstruction. "It is difficult not to sigh, not to be indignant at the degradations, the countless mutilations to which time and man have simultaneously subjected the venerable monument," French novelist Victor Hugo wrote of Notre Dame. It's hard not to be even more indignant at the way such a landmark was allowed to reach this point of disrepair. - - - Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe. Has Yale Law School violated the U.S. Constitution? Has it offended the First Amendment? To respond to those questions, you don't even need to know what Yale is accused of doing. The answers are No and No. Yet, in a highly publicized letter to Dean Heather Gerken, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused the law school of adopting a new policy that discriminates against Christian organizations on the basis of religion - and is therefore unconstitutional. Cruz means business. He announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution, which he chairs, is initiating a formal investigation, and warned that as a result of the inquiry, the case might be referred to the Justice Department. He directed Gerken to preserve and maintain all relevant records, with a view toward the investigation and future litigation. More for you Cruz threatens Yale Law School over discriminatory policy "The First Amendment protects both free speech and the Free Exercise of religion," Cruz wrote, explicitly invoking the nation's founding document. "Yale's new policy does neither. Instead, it appears that the policy rose from unconstitutional animus and a specific discriminatory intent ..." The evident goal of the school's new policy is to ensure that Yale does not fund students working for public-interest organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. In Gerken's words, Yale will not "subsidize employers that discriminate against our own students." Cruz's concern is that some religious organizations discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In his view, it is discriminatory to discriminate against them for that reason. He's certainly entitled to object to the new policy. The problem with his letter is that the Constitution and its Bill of Rights apply only to public officials - not to the private sector, and not to private universities at all. This is an elementary point. Every member of the Supreme Court agrees with it; there is no division here along ideological lines. By all accounts, Cruz is an excellent lawyer, and so his error is a genuine puzzle. To see the point, consider the text of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Because the text is aimed at Congress (and, after the Civil War, applied to state governments as well), it does not constrain private institutions. If the local grocery store doesn't want to hire anyone who voted for Cruz in a presidential primary, it is perfectly entitled to do that, as far as the Constitution is concerned. If a private university decides that it only wants to invite conservative speakers in 2019, to have one-sided discussions about affirmative action, to forbid military recruitment on its campus, or to celebrate Christmas, the Constitution does not stand in its way. For a long time, conservatives have applauded the fact that the Constitution generally applies only to "state action" (as it is called). They have been right to do so. The government is in a unique position to quell political dissent and religious liberty. By contrast, the sheer number of private institutions, and their extraordinary variety, greatly diminishes the threat to freedom. Opening up space for those institutions, allowing them to choose their own paths, is itself a safeguard of freedom. At this point, defenders of Cruz's letter might note that various civil-rights laws reject this conclusion. Such laws forbid private employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Other laws forbid private institutions receiving federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex or national origin. Interestingly, such laws do not forbid private institutions, including private universities, from discriminating on the basis of religion - in part because religious universities discriminate on religious grounds, and many people believe that they are entitled to do exactly that. But there are many civil-rights laws, and some of them contain some ambiguities. If a law school really does discriminate against religious believers, it might be violating one of them. But that's not a point about the Constitution. Even if discrimination against religious institutions by a private university might violate some law enacted by Congress - a tricky legal question - it would not violate the First Amendment, which is Cruz's focus. It is not too much to expect the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution to understand the reach of the Constitution - and to avoid elementary legal mistakes in the context of a threatening letter, written on stationery headed with the still-majestic words, "United States Senate." --- Sunstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of "The Cost-Benefit Revolution" and a co-author of "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness." 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DANTE WILK, Westerly, Boys Basketball, Senior; Wilk, scored 23 points and had eight assists as Westerly opened the season with a victory over longtime rival Chariho. Wilk also contributed five rebounds. Vote View Results Tax deadline day in the US is always greeted by queues outside the offices of H&R Block, the specialists in completing Americas notoriously complex returns. This year there is a new trend. Wealthy New Yorkers are switching tax domicile from the Big Apple to low- or no-state income tax zones such as Florida. In the small print of Donald Trumps epic tax cut package, which became law in 2017, was a provision that local income tax (in New York it can be as high as 12.7 per cent) can only be deducted on federal tax returns up to $10,000. Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell want to raise the top rate of income tax to 50 per cent and impose taxes on the wealthy For Wall Streets high rollers this represents a huge tax rise, which is driving wealth creators to move residence. The relationship between high taxes, investment and output is sensitive. When President Hollande of France raised the top rate of income tax to 80 per cent, there was an immediate exodus of French entrepreneurs and traders to London and other locations. It is worth bearing this in mind as Britain contemplates a Corbyn government with plans to raise the top rate of income tax to 50 per cent, impose taxes on the wealthy and possibly seize up to 10 per cent of the capital of every company with 250 employees. The evidence from New York and France of what happens when governments aim to squeeze the pips of the wealthy is unambiguous. Entrepreneurs are driven out and investment and job creation takes a beating. The Thatcher governments dismantling of a Labour structure that saw the well-off paying more in taxes than they earned, brought businesses, entrepreneurs and the wealthy back from overseas. George Osbornes decision to reduce Labours hike in the top rate of income tax from 50 per cent to 45 per cent saw no loss in revenues as employment in the UK reached record levels along with tax receipts. In 2010, receipts from a 28 per cent corporation tax were 35.5billion. After the cut to 19 per cent, corporation tax income climbed to 58billion in 2018/19. You dont have to be a messianic supply-sider to recognise that the higher the taxes on the well-off and business, the greater the disincentive to invest. Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will kill the golden goose which delivered record employment in Britain if they continue to pursue soak-the-rich tax policies which drive managers and businesses offshore. Poor deal Claims by sprightly Non-Standard Finance (NSF) boss John van Kuffeler that he is a person who investors, regulators and customers can rely upon to clean up Britains sub-prime lending industry by absorbing Provident Financial are threadbare. Van Kuffeler, armed with the support of major investors, claimed victory when the irrevocable support of shareholders tipped over the 50 per cent mark. But with 90 per cent acceptances required (although it could seek a lower threshold), full victory is not assured. Van Kuffelers case has been that NSFs regulatory record is better than that of Provvy, and his superior understanding of the enterprise makes his leadership preferable to that of the other friend of the poor, Malcolm Le May. There could be something to that, given that Le May is occupied finding a chairman for spread-betting group IG. But van Kuffeler does not inspire much confidence either. Regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has already intervened to warn NSF against the danger of lifting controls on lending and putting in place new incentives. After the London Capital & Finance mini-bond scandal blew a hole in the FCAs reputation, it is unimaginable that regulators are going to nod through the NSF deal. That is especially true following the admission that NSF has been in technical breach of the Companies Act by paying dividends out of reserves and through an intra-company transaction in 2016. None of this suggests that van Kuffeler or NSF are fit and proper stewards to be lenders to Britains vulnerable and least credit-worthy borrowers. Before any deal is done, van Kuffeler and Le May must put personal ambition to one side, resign and allow new management teams to settle before proceeding with a potentially disastrous merger for all involved. That includes the embattled FCA. Ginastics Has desperation set in at Waitrose? After providing free coffee and copies of the Daily Mail, it has jumped on the gin bandwagon and is offering designer tastings at home. Next, perhaps, midlife makeovers in the empty aisles. The boss of Centrica is fighting for his job as investors lose faith in his leadership. Iain Conn has been chief executive of the British Gas owner since 2015 picking up 11.1million in pay along the way. But the FTSE 100 group's shares have tumbled 60 per cent on his watch and are at their lowest level since 1999. The father-of-three's position is seen as particularly vulnerable since the arrival of Charles Berry, who succeeded Rick Haythornthwaite as chairman in February. Under fire: Iain Conn has held been chief executive of the FTSE 100 giant since the start of 2015 - picking up 11.2m in pay along the way One major institutional investor said: 'With the new chairman coming in, Iain Conn's days are numbered.' And with Centrica's prized dividend under threat, a City source told the Mail that major shareholders are questioning Conn's future. The source said: 'Shareholders have voiced desires to see a change in management. I think, personally, people have no issues with Iain Conn. But there wouldn't be too many who would be disappointed if he went.' Conn has also attracted the ire of retail investors who have seen the value of their savings plummet from 279p a share when he took over in 2015 to 109.05p at the close of business yesterday. The slump has slashed Centrica's value from 15.9billion to 6.2billion. The backlash among shareholders comes a week after it emerged that Conn, 56, enjoyed a 44 per cent pay rise to 2.4million in 2018. The rise of 740,000 covered a year when British Gas hiked bills for millions of families and saw 742,000 customers leave. The City source said: 'The new chairman only started at the beginning of the year and he's unlikely to change the chief executive immediately. 'But by the time we get to the middle of the year, maybe he's had a bit more time to think about the business, speak to those shareholders and understand the issues. 'Speaking to a number of major shareholders, there are plenty of questions around Conn's strategy. 'The core business is obviously struggling, and Centrica is looking to innovate in other areas to compensate for some of that.' Those areas include connected home devices such as Hive, which allows customers to control their lights, heating and security cameras from their phone over the internet, and energy management for schools and hospitals which need on-site generators or solar panels. While investors may be more convinced by Centrica's moves into the energy management niche, they are raising red flags about the emphasis on connected homes. Some worry Centrica could be outmanoeuvred by tech experts such as Google or Amazon. Conn is also facing a backlash at the annual general meeting on May 13. Trade union Unison, which represents around 5,000 Centrica employees, is rallying staff who hold shares in the firm, as well as institutional investors such as pension funds, to vote against Conn's pay package. Matt Lay, national energy officer at Unison, said: 'Staff feel badly let down by Iain Conn. We don't believe he has demonstrated leadership on this issue. 'This man is being rewarded for performance when the business is shrinking. It is a reward for failure for a boss who doesn't appear to have identified a strategy to right the business. It's incredibly insensitive and destructive, and sets a bad example.' Conn is understood to have support among other shareholders, however. Advisory group Glass Lewis, which speaks for around 30 per cent of Centrica investors, have publicly backed both his pay and his reappointment. Centrica this month announced another 500 jobs are at risk 400 of which are based in Glasgow - as part of the company's plan to cut 2,000 jobs this year. It has axed 7,700 jobs since 2015. Centrica declined to comment last night. Corporate raider Edward Bramson accused Barclays bosses of pursuing a flawed strategy which will only cost investors money The corporate raider demanding a seat on Barclays' board has insisted its investment arm must be hacked back to boost shares. As the war of words escalated, US-based Edward Bramson accused Barclays bosses of pursuing a flawed strategy which will cost investors money. The latest broadside came ahead of the lender's annual meeting next month when Bramson hopes to win a shareholder vote making him a non-executive director. He is thought to favour massive cutbacks to the lender's prized investment banking arm. In the letter to Barclays' backers, Bramson's fund Sherborne Investors stated: 'The stubbornly low valuation that the market accords to the shares of Barclays will continue until the board finally adopts a strategy that is more realistic and shareholder-orientated.' Barclays has urged shareholders to vote against Bramson's appointment to its board. In its own letter last week, the bank claimed Bramson does not understand the industry and would be unable to work with other directors in a fair and open way. But 68-year-old Bramson insisted he could play a useful role on the board by offering an alternative point of view. He said: 'It seems to us that a board comprised of 12 or more senior business people should be able to accommodate and resolve occasional differences of perspective and arrive at better and more sustainable outcomes for shareholders than a board that cannot. 'An alternative voice on the board would seem to be healthy for the company and its shareholders.' It came as shareholder advice group Glass Lewis issued a scathing attack on Bramson, and urged investors to vote against his appointment to Barclays' board. Barclays declined to comment last night. Sainsbury is set for a major shake-up under new chairman Martin Scicluna if its 14billion merger with Asda is blocked, analysts have warned. Research by investment bank Jefferies suggested there is just a 20 per cent chance the Competition And Markets Authority (CMA) will have a change of heart and wave through the supermarkets' tie-up. The report suggested Asda would be snapped up by a private equity buyer if the merger does not go ahead, with its US owner Walmart keen to make a quick exit from the UK. Research by investment bank Jefferies suggested there is just a 20 per cent chance the Competition and Markets Authority will waive through Sainsbury's planned tie-up with Asda And it said Sainsbury would be forced into a major overhaul as it loses further ground to arch rival Tesco. James Grzinic, equity analyst at Jefferies, said: 'In reality, we struggle to assume anything beyond a 20 per cent chance of a drastic rethink by the CMA. It is therefore probable that a definitive CMA block would supply the catalyst for any potential private equity interest for Asda to materialise swiftly.' Speculation is mounting that Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe, 58, could be replaced in the coming months if the deal is blocked. Scicluna, 68, recently succeeded David Tyler, 66, as chairman. Grzinic said that 'Scicluna is likely to preside over wider changes in the group' if the deal with Asda falls apart. 'In particular, the risk of a reinvigorated Tesco continuing to recover customers historically lost to Sainsbury's would need addressing with urgency,' he added. Sainsbury's has also struggled against discounters Aldi and Lidl. Risky lending: Amigo is facing questions over its use of so-called pilot loans The City watchdog is preparing a crackdown on 'guarantor' lenders amid revelations Amigo targeted higher-risk borrowers before its 1.3billion stock market float. Regulators at the Financial Conduct Authority are taking aim at the industry, which allows hard-up consumers to borrow money provided a friend or family member agrees to pay it back if they default. The FCA has said it is concerned about the number of guarantors who are having to step in and repay debts, triggering speculation the watchdog is about to take action. Amigo, the biggest player in the industry, says that fewer than 10 per cent of its loans are repaid by guarantors and this number is static. But it is facing questions over its use of so-called pilot loans, which allow it to target customers whose credit records are so poor they would not ordinarily meet lending criteria. Rapid growth in pilot lending helped boost the size of the firm's loan book in the run-up to its floatation last summer. But it also led to higher defaults as borrowers struggled to pay the money back. It is not known if pilot lending will feature in the FCA's investigation. Amigo took an impairment charge against the risk of loans going bad equal to 21.3 per cent of its revenue for the year to March 2018 up from 6.8 per cent for the previous 12 months. Amigo typically targets customers whose credit history is so poor they cannot borrow from a mainstream bank, and charges them 49.9 per cent interest. But in the pilot schemes, the company relaxes its lending rules still further so that borrowers with even worse records can get cash. According to results released weeks before it floated, Amigo issued 99million of pilot loans in the year to March 2018, equal to 21 per cent of its total book. In the previous year, this higher-risk lending accounted for only 11pc of the total according to analysts at stockbroker Goodbody. Without pilot lending, Amigo's overall loan book would have been smaller, meaning it might have attracted less money from investors when it went public. The Goodbody analysts said: 'A cynic might say Amigo pushed hard to drive substantive growth pre-initial public offering.' The analysts added that Amigo has cut back on pilot lending since its float, with them accounting for just 8 per cent of new lending in the first half of the current financial year. An Amigo spokesman said: 'The pilot lending programme enables research on the benefits of lending to borrowers who have guarantors who fall just outside of the boundaries of our credit scorecards.' Alibaba founder Jack Ma is calling for his countrymen to work 12-hour days, six days a week China's richest man is calling for his countrymen to work 12-hour days, six days a week. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba China's version of eBay described the opportunity to put in more hours as a 'blessing'. Fellow tech entrepreneur Richard Liu, the boss of online shopping giant JD, has echoed Ma's calls, speaking out against a rise in the number of 'slackers' in China. Defending the so-called 996 system working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week Ma, 54, said: 'I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing.' He said he had regularly worked long hours as he built Alibaba in the late 1990s and explained that 'if we find things we like, 996 is not a problem'. The father-of-three added: 'If you don't put out more time and energy than others, how can you achieve the success you want?' He said without the 996 system, China's economy was 'very likely to lose vitality and impetus'. Economic growth has slowed to 6 per cent per year after growth of 10 per cent for more than 25 years. Galliford Try shares have tumbled by nearly 20 per cent after the construction firm issued a profit warning and said it will scale down its business. The FTSE 250 company now expects profits to come in 30 to 40million lower than it previously expected instead of 156million, profits could be as low as 116million amid rising costs. Galliford said the single largest element in the one-off costs related to its Queensferry Crossing joint venture in Scotland, after an estimate for final costs on the project was increased. Higher costs: Galliford said the biggest chunk related to its Queensferry Crossing joint venture It also said it intends to trim the size of its construction unit to focus on its 'key strengths' as part of a 'strategic review'. It will give more information on such plans on May 21, when it will issue a trading update. Galliford has a construction arm, a housebuilding division, through its Linden Homes business, and a 'regeneration' arm. Shares fell 18 per cent, or 129p to 596p on the news. Galliford's profit warning comes as other construction and outsourcing firms like Kier have struggled recently. The company also saw its chief executive, Peter Truscott, being poached by Crest Nicholson just a few weeks ago. He was replaced by former finance boss Graham Prothero. Russ Mould at AJ Bell said: 'Today's big profit warning from Galliford Try just adds to a wider negative trend which has seen one constituent go bust in Carillion and others such as Kier see their share prices collapse and balance sheets come under significant pressure. 'Cut throat competition in the sector resulted in a lack of discipline and low-ball bids for contracts which made turning a profit nearly impossible. 'Galliford appears to be acknowledging the need for a more disciplined approach with its plan to scale back its construction arm which faces spiralling costs on some projects particularly the Queensferry Crossing joint venture. The latest data from Counterpoint Research shows that despite iPhone sales slowing down, Apple continues to dominate the premium smartphone market across the world. More importantly, Apple raked in 73 percent of the entire profit generated by the smartphone industry in 2018. While impressive, the numbers are actually worse when compared to 2017. In 2017, Apple captured 58 percent of the global premium smartphone market. In 2018 though, Apple saw its market share decline to 51 percent thanks to the rise of Chinese OEMs Huawei, Oppo, and OnePlus. While Huawei and Oppo did exceedingly well in China, OnePlus dominated the European and Indian smartphone market. The premium smartphone segment grew by 14 percent YoY which is higher than the growth of the overall smartphone market. With higher profit margins and ASP, major smartphone OEMs are now looking to capture the premium smartphone market. In 2017, Apple captured 75 percent of the total profits generated by the smartphone market. In 2018, this declined to 73 percent. Samsung also saw its profit share decline from 14 percent to 13 percent. Chinese brands made the most of this and saw their total profit margins increasing by 3 percent. The Average Selling Price (ASP) of Chinese smartphone brands also increased by 14 percent which signifies the consumer interest in premium smartphones. This was thanks to Chinese OEMs releasing innovative premium phones with pop-up selfie cameras, in-display fingerprint sensor, and more. The international expansion of many Chinese brands and their ability to better read a market also helped them to better cater to consumer needs on a regional basis. Our Take The steady rise of Chinese OEMs in the smartphone market should definitely worry Apple now. Chinese OEMs have slowly but steadily been eating away into Apples market share and the company needs to do something about this before its too late. [Via Counterpoint Research Rumours are circulating around the City that NCC Group, a British cyber security company, could soon be snapped up by a predator. Its shares have been creeping up over the last few weeks, after warnings of a UK slowdown knocked 31 per cent off its value in January. Over the last month, they are up 19.4 per cent. NCC, which specialises in 'ethical hacking' to help businesses find weaknesses in their systems, was born when the Government's National Computing Centre sold its commercial divisions in 1999. NCC Group's shares have been creeping up over the last few weeks, after warnings of a UK slowdown knocked 31% off its value in January. Over the last month, they are up 19.4% Beady-eyed observers have their money on private equity firms, IT giant IBM and, possibly, computer company Dell as potential bidders. Sources close to the company said it was not in takeover talks, but that hasn't stopped traders speculating that an offer could be on the horizon. The stock was up 2.9 per cent, or 4.8p, at 172.2p. Card Factory was proving that greetings cards aren't dead yet, as it opened an average of almost one store a week last year. Same-store sales at the chain were flat compared to the previous year, although chief executive Karen Hubbard claimed this as a victory in a year when shoppers shunned the High Street. Although profits slipped 8.3 per cent to 66.6million, revenue climbed 3.3 per cent to 436million, helped along by a massive 56.3 per cent rise in sales on its website. Stock Watch - Bould Opportunities Bould Opportunities, formerly known as Photonstar LED Group prior to putting its lighting business into administration, is in trouble itself. It doesn't have enough money for its new plan to buy an as-yet unnamed company which wants to be listed on London's junior market. Investors seemed to have been hoping for a miracle as shares climbed, but Bould said it may have to run to investors to raise more cash. Shares fell 27.4 per cent, or 0.02p, to 0.04p. Hubbard said that, already this year, it had seen record seasonal performances from Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day. After opening 51 stores over the year, bringing its total to 1,200, Card Factory is still planning to expand. It has tested selling products in Aldi in the UK, in an Australian retailer and with a partner in Jersey. Shares climbed 10 per cent, or 17.7p, to 194.8p. Operations haven't run so smoothly for mining giant Rio Tinto so far this year. Tropical cyclones in Australia battered its iron ore business, causing damage and forcing it to lower its guidance for shipments. The miner shipped 69.1m tonnes of iron ore in the first three months of the year, 14 per cent less than a year previously. It now hopes to transport between 333m and 343m tonnes for the whole of 2019, down from 338m to 350m tonnes. Shares slid by 0.6 per cent, or 30p, to 4672.5p. Britain's jobs market isn't coming to the standstill some feared it might in the run-up to Brexit, says white-collar recruiter Hays. In the first three months of 2019, Hays' fee revenue from the UK and Ireland edged up by 3 per cent. But growth in fees slowed in Germany, where the trade spat between the US and China has also weighed on the economy. The total net fee growth for the third quarter of Hays' financial year hit 6pc, missing analysts' expectations of 7 per cent. Shares were down 2.6 per cent, or 4.3p, at 158.8p. In another uneventful day among Britain's biggest listed companies, the FTSE 100 ended a marginal 0.4 per cent, or 33.05 points, up at 7469.92. On the junior market AIM, warnings of tough trading conditions pushed down shares at Tatton Asset Management, even though it grew assets under management from 4.9billion to 6.1billion for the year ending in March. Chief executive Paul Hogarth was 'disappointed' with the lack of growth at Paradigm Consulting, the part of Tatton that helps wealth managers and financial advisers comply with regulation. Shares fell 10.4 per cent, or 24p, to 207p. Emerging markets specialist Ashmore, however, climbed 6.3 per cent or 28.8p to 484.2p as it raked in 3.8billion of new money from clients. Its strong investment performance generated a further 2.8billion, and chief executive Mark Coombs said calmer political relations in the developed world were helping emerging economies. Today is iPad Pro day on Apples official YouTube channel, apparently. Aside from a new short film celebrating whale shark conservation efforts in the Maldives, Apple is publishing a variety of new videos about its newest tablet. First up, a handful of new tutorial videos for the iPad Pro. All of them measure in just over one minute in length (the shortest comes in at 1:11, and the longest clocking in at 1:22). The first video the company uploaded is all about using the iPad Pro to travel, whether its taking notes, 3D flyovers in Apple Maps on the big screen, or watching content on the device while youre on a flight. Heres the description: iPad Pro gives you a new way to travel. Plan your trip with Notes, fly over your destinations in 3D, entertain yourself on the flight, and send your loved ones a handwritten note with Apple Pencil. iPad Pro. Your new favorite travel companion. And the tutorial video: Next up, A new way to make music on the iPad Pro. Apples description: iPad Pro gives you a new way to make music. Record a sound, pitch it, warp it, add FX with a touch, jam with a friend, and drop it directly to your fans. iPad Pro. A recording studio in your hands. And the one minute, 18-second long tutorial video: Third, Apple showcases how easy it can be to create a video with the iPad Pro: iPad Pro gives you a new way to make a video. Shoot in 4K, import from your gear with USB-C, edit videos on the fly, hand-draw animations, and publish straight to YouTube. iPad Pro. Your ultimate mobile studio. This video is one the shorter side of the mix: Want to start a business? Well, the iPad Pro can help you with that, too: iPad Pro gives you a new way to start your business. Write a business plan, design a logo from scratch to place on business cards, launch a website, and make your first sale. iPad Pro. Your new business partner. Lets go to the (digital) tape: And, finally, we have wedding planning on your iPad Pro: iPad Pro gives you a new way to plan your wedding. Get inspired, organize and delegate tasks, design an invitation, and make changes on the fly. iPad Pro. Your new wedding planner. Lets see it: There is only one new actual advertisement for the new iPad Pro included in the mix. This ones entitled Life on iPad, and clocks in at just 38 seconds in length. In this video we get to see how the iPad Pro can be used to create, some magic hands working with the new Smart Keyboard, Face ID, multitasking (and avoiding other pedestrians), Group FaceTime for good measure, and more. Heres the description: With iPad Pro, get the power and portability you need to do it all on the go. And the ad: Quite a bit of video content today! Apple and Qualcomm have been going at one another in the courts for a bit of time, but it looks like that will be coming to an end. Apple today announced that it has chosen to settle with Qualcomm, and that the two companies will stop litigation moving forward. On Tuesday, just one day after Apple and Qualcomms court battle officially started, Apple announced that a settlement between the two companies has been reached. This means that the pair will stop any further litigation (as far as this particular matter is concerned). This particular court battle was over unpaid royalty rebates, and was taking place in court in San Diego, California. Qualcomm and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. Apple initially sued Qualcomm back in 2017, for a total of $1 billion. Apple accused Qualcomm of anticompetitive practices, which stemmed from an FTC complaint against Qualcomm around the same time. The two companies have been going back-and-forth ever since, which even led Qualcomm to search for iPhone import bans in several countries, including Germany where it succeeded (for a time). But, now that the court battle is settled, it stands to reason that the two companies should go back to working with one another again. That could mean that we could see Qualcomm 5G chips in iPhones in the future. Whether or not this means that Apple will hit its 2020 goal of its first 5G iPhone remains to be seen, though. [via Apple NORRISTOWN A woman who was driving drunk when her vehicle crashed into a tree in Whitemarsh Township potentially faces time in jail after she admitted to causing serious injuries to a passenger in the vehicle. Nancy Yorro, 40, of the 2800 block of North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a felony charge of aggravated assault by a vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with the July 2018 crash in Whitemarsh. Judge Risa Vetri Ferman deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Yorro, including drug and alcohol evaluations. Yorro was permitted to remain free on bail pending a sentencing hearing later this year. Yorro faces a possible maximum sentence of 5-to-10-years in prison on the charge. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence. The investigation began about 8 p.m. July 15, 2018, when Whitemarsh police responded to a report of a one-vehicle crash with injuries in the area of Ridge Pike and Spring Mill Road. Arriving officers observed a 2013 Toyota Corolla off the roadway and crashed into a large tree, Whitemarsh Police Officer Richard Stemple alleged in the arrest affidavit. The Toyota was traveling eastbound on Ridge Pike and drifted off the right side of the roadway. The Toyota hit a curb driving up on the sidewalk before traveling about 100 feet striking a tree, Stemple alleged in the criminal complaint. Police said Yorro and a front-seat passenger, a 54-year-old male, had to be extricated from the vehicle and they were flown by medical helicopter to Penn Presbyterian Hospital for treatment. The male passenger, who was bleeding from the nose and complained of pain in his chest and abdomen, suffered a closed abdominal injury and fractured ribs, police alleged. Yorro, who complained of pain in her legs and chest, suffered a broken right clavicle, an ankle fracture and a wound to the abdomen, police said. Rescue personnel said they detected an odor of alcohol on Yorros breath and they said she admitted to drinking alcohol prior to the crash. The male passenger also admitted to drinking alcohol and on his person police found a receipt from a Conshohocken restaurant that showed multiple alcohol purchases made less than two hours prior to the crash, police alleged. Blood tests subsequently determined Yorro had a blood-alcohol content of 0.165 percent, which is two times the legal limit of 0.08 percent, at the time of the crash, according to the arrest affidavit. Investigators also analyzed crash data information from the vehicle and determined that five seconds before the crash, Yorro was on the accelerator 100 percent and that the Toyota was traveling 60.9 mph two seconds before the crash, according to the arrest affidavit. The posted speed limit in the area of the crash is 35 mph, police said. The injuries sustained by (the male passenger) from the crash were severe enough in nature to cause serious bodily injury, which was a direct result of Yorro operating her vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding, Stemple alleged in court papers. There were no weather conditions or visibility conditions at the time that would have contributed to the crash. Yorros reckless driving in combination with alcohol are major contributors to this crash, Stemple alleged. SCHENECTADY "What does a composer look like?" This rhetorical question comes from cellist Val Welbanks. The answer she typically receives is the image of Beethoven old, white and male. The Marsyas Trio is doing something about that with an admirable and almost exclusive dedication to music by women composers. The group offered a fresh and concise program Monday night at Union College's Emerson Auditorium with repertoire by women from the 19th century to the present. The other members of the London-based ensemble are flutist Helen Vidovich and pianist Olga Stezhko. The oldest and rarest piece was a Trio from 1856 by the French composer Louise Farrenc. It's a well crafted and expansive romp in a traditional four-movement form. "The Water Sprites" by Amy Beach was tuneful and charming. It was paired with another short work, Thea Musgrave's "Canta Canta," a pulsing and rather subterranean affair, thanks to the use of alto flute. The bulk of the program was devoted to Hilary Tann, a longtime faculty member at Union. Her "In the Theater of Air" is divided into seven short movements, each devoted to a different kind of bird. The calls of the winged have long given inspiration to composers. Tann took a different approach and focused on their movements. Space and air were the initial effects in the piece. This was due to the open sustaining pedal on the piano plus an admirable restraint to not overload the work with ideas and activity. There were darting and unpredictable lines arriving suddenly and crisscrossing in the open canvas. Efforts to track the succession of programmatic movements quickly became futile. Better to surrender to the expansive freedom in the music. Suddenly, things became alive with action, a sweeping natural order that was wonderful, mysterious and fleeting. This phenomenon was what the ensemble requested from Tann in commissioning the piece -- a musical depiction of the murmuration of starlings. Also on the bill was Tann's "Llef" for flute and cello. Meditation and inner spiritual exploration was an obvious theme. There were broken chords and a seemingly deliberate half voice from the cello. The flute also had an unfamiliar effect, a likely allusion to the shakuhachi, the Japanese flute for which the part was originally written. It's recently been announced that Tann will be retiring at the end of the semester. Though she's proud of her Welsh heritage, she promises to remain in the area. A farewell concert is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday May 18 at the Emerson Auditorium. Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy. *** Concert review Marsyas Trio When: 7:30 p.m. Monday Where: Emerson Auditorium, Union College, Schenectady Length: One hour, 15 minutes; no intermission This week, the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, suffered a major fire that resulted in extensive damage throughout the historic building. Apples chief executive officer, Tim Cook, has pledged the companys assistance in rebuilding efforts. On Tuesday morning, Cook tweeted that Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts in an effort to help restore the legendary cathedral. Cook did not go into any major details, simply saying that the cathedrals precious heritage must be restored for future generations. We are heartbroken for the French people and those around the world for whom Notre Dame is a symbol of hope. Relieved that everyone is safe. Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dames precious heritage for future generations. Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 16, 2019 The cause of the fire remains unknown at the time of publication. However, the leading theory is tied to ongoing renovations that were taking place within Notre Dame. Those were originally planned to be completed either before the end of this year, or in early 2020. At the time of this report, it has been previously revealed that a first responder was injured in the blaze. However, no one has been reported dead in relation to the perceived accident. [via @tim_cook Why haven't more officers been arrested or suspended following the First Street clash between city police and residents? Why didn't any officer report the use of force that early morning March 16? Are there officers who were present that night still working in the West Hill community where the alleged police brutality of three men occurred? These are some of the questions Albany attorney Mark Mishler posed to Common Council Monday night during the council's regular meeting. Mishler is representing Lee Childs, one of the three men allegedly beaten by police during a response to 523 First St. for a loud party. Mishler was one of four people who spoke to council members about the clash, which was recorded on police body cameras. The melee led to the April 2 arrest of Officer Luke Deer on a felony assault charge and a misdemeanor official misconduct charge. Two other officers were suspended. A grand jury is investigating the incident. Mishler sat next to Childs at the meeting while challenging the council to take charge of the situation and get answers. "What you, as the Common Council, do at this moment will be your legacy," he said during the public comment period. "Either you will take bold and decisive action to say that police lawlessness, police brutality, and police racism are unacceptable in the city of Albany, or you will let this event pass without taking a stand, and by doing so, will say to us all that you simply don't care." City resident Debra Johnson said she was outraged and disheartened when she found out about the incident. Her 40-year-old son had called her expressing his fear of public officials following the alleged beating. "It's starting to feel like I'm living in the '60s in Albany," Johnson said. It wasn't the first time police were called to 523 First St. They'd been to the two-family home 15 times in March alone for a range of issues from medical and property checks to fights and loud parties, according to the call history for the property. Councilmember Dorcey Applyrs, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, said members plan to discuss the matter with Chief Eric Hawkins on May 8. Hawkins is expected to provide updates on the ongoing investigation and discuss the Common Council's role in representing the community. The committee will meet April 29 to discuss ways to short-circuit violence and disturbances during warmer months, Applyrs said. Glenwood Street resident Alana Klein took issue with how the Albany Police Officers Union responded to the news that an officer was arrested. In a Facebook post from April 2, the union leadership said they were standing behind each officer involved in the incident. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "These officers were called to the house that night because of the lawlessness that has been allowed to perpetuate over several months," it read. "This house has been allowed to disrupt the normal way of life in the neighborhood for far too long. Each and every officer involved will, through the appropriate process, have the opportunity to vindicate their names." Klein said she hopes that council members or other city officials will reach out to union leadership to address how the matter was handled. "This is not the way to heal the community," she said. Mishler recalled the first lawsuit he handed against the Albany Police Department. A 1982 case that involved police response to a house party attended mostly by African-American and Latino college students. He said police broke up the party, used racial slurs, engaged in brutality and arrested four people. One student asked about his rights and was told by an officer that they had none, Mishler said. Since then, Albany has made strides and won awards for its community policing and instituted a community police relations board and police review board, the latter which reviews complaints of alleged excessive use of force by Albany officers. "Yet, here we are in 2019 and it is as if nothing anyone has done for the past 35 years to improve policing in Albany has had any effect," Mishler said. "What the videos tell us is that in March of 2019 the Albany police still believe that people have no rights, or, at least, that people of color have no rights." When Estelle Kessler Yarinsky happened upon the translucent skin of a garter snake that had molted near her cottage in the retirement community Beverwyck, she was not repulsed. She fetched some gloves, gingerly carried the delicate scaly casing inside and began to closely examine it. Yarinsky set her artist's sensibility to work, contemplating themes of movement, re-invention and life stages. She imagined how she might use this reptilian artifact as inspiration for one of her large-scale fiber constructs. Her exquisitely crafted wall hangings, sometimes described as portrait quilts, have been sold in New York City galleries and exhibited around the Capital Region and beyond all after she was well into her 70s. "I'm a late bloomer," Yarinsky, 87, told me as we spent an unhurried Sunday afternoon in her airy, art-filled home talking about her life and her art, which are hard to separate. She approaches her work with religious devotion, reclaiming lost narrative histories, primarily of women and Jews, by telling their stories with exquisite needle and thread work across pieces of fabric as intricately designed as a stained-glass window. She spends long hours reading biographies and consulting history books, making notes, sketching out ideas and creating drawings of her design. More hours follow selecting fabrics, measuring and cutting, and creating each element like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Hunched over a Bernina 900 sewing machine, Yarinsky writes quotes and highlights of her subject's life in flowing cursive with white thread. Stitch by stitch, she assembles all the pieces into a quilt that can measure up to 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Each day, she will toil on a piece for several hours over the course of three or four months before she is finished. An art critic once called her "a fiber artist who stitches historical narratives." She thinks of her work as "rescuing exceptional people from anonymity." Yarinsky wrote about why she chooses to work in fabric: "It is evocative for people of many cultures, wrapping us at birth, warming, cooling, or adorning us in life, covering us when we leave this physical world." The joy is the journey, not the destination for Yarinsky. "I find it meaningful to discover historical figures I never heard of, particularly women," she said. "I'm proud that I can create a storytelling quilt about a particular life that was in a sense lost." Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) is one of the women she reclaimed in textile. Douglas was a women's suffrage advocate, journalist, conservationist and fierce defender of the Florida Everglades against plans to drain it for development. She wrote a 1947 bestselling book, "The Everglades: River of Grass," which raised a nation's consciousness about Florida's marine ecosystem and shifted public opinion on the vast wetlands from exploitable swamp to environmental treasure worth preserving. Yarinsky finished her quilt in 2004, more than a decade before a high school named in honor of Douglas in Parkland, Fla., was the scene of a deadly mass shooting in 2018. Yarinsky also created a wall hanging for Margaret F. Foley (1827-1877), a self-taught sculptor who grew up on a farm in Vergennes, Vt. She learned to shape forms by whittling and carving as a young girl. She worked as a maid, in a textile mill and as a teacher before making her way to Rome with a group of expatriate women artists. She overcame financial struggles to gain commissions and acclaim but her work is largely forgotten. Yarinsky sewed a Foley quote about the sculptor's quest for "simple absolute truth embodied in marble." Yarinsky said she had a checkered career before she became a textile artist. She grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Her father, a carpenter, emigrated from Ukraine and her mother's family came from Poland in the late-19th century. Her mother, a secretary for a municipal agency, saved a report card from second grade with a teacher's comment written on the back: "Estelle is a good little artist." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. One of her favorite early memories was helping her grandmother knead dough for challah bread on Friday mornings to prepare for the Sabbath. She was happiest drawing pictures. By the time she was a teenager, her art portfolio was good enough to gain admission to the highly selective High School of Music & Art in Manhattan at W. 135th St. in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Harlem. It felt like heaven to Yarinsky. "I went with my best friend and bought jeans and ballet slippers in the theater district to be artsy," she said. She recalled a long subway ride to school each morning "clutching my salami sandwich in a brown paper bag." "I felt like a real artist," she said of her high school years. She enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she earned a bachelor's degree in textile design. She married Allen Yarinsky in 1952 and raised three children. The family settled in Delmar and her husband spent his career as a pharmaceutical researcher at the Sterling-Winthrop Research Institute in Rensselaer. He died in 2013 at 88. In addition to her three grown children, Yarinsky has 10 grandchildren. As a returning student, the mother of three earned a master's degree in art education from The College of Saint Rose and taught art to elementary school students for several years. She also worked for a decade as a manager with the Retail Council of New York State in Albany. Yarinsky will downsize from the cottage into an apartment at the Beverwyck in coming months as she copes with recent health issues. She worries about having enough room for dozens of large wall hangings, a filing cabinet of her creative process and a closet packed with color-coded fabric. And then there is "The Snake," which hangs partially finished on a wall, with a stack of sketches Yarinsky has made and an Emily Dickinson verse that needs to be stitched in a serpentine shape outlined. "I hope I can finish it," she said. "Because it will probably be my last one. I don't have the energy to do the big works anymore." Paul Grondahl is director of the New York State Writers Institute and a former Times Union reporter. He can be reached at grondahlpaul@gmail.com WATERFORD The Halfmoon-Waterford Fire district is going back to the voters for approval of a new multi-million dollar fire station on Middletown Road. The original $12.3 million project, which was rejected in November, will return for a referendum on Tuesday, May 7, at a reduced price tag of $10.7 million. The revised proposal, which requires the fire district to borrow the full amount, is expected to cost the average homeowner between $57 and $99 a year in taxes. The rejected proposal was to cost an average of $75 to $130 a year, based on a home with an assessed value of $150,000. "The updated fire station proposal is based on the public comments that we received over the course of four public information meetings, and from numerous meetings, e-mails, and telephone calls with residents," Fire Commissioner John D'Alessandro said. The fire district has been exploring updating its old station for the past seven years because the current station No. 1 on Middletown Road is "too small, inefficient and does not meet the current building codes, accessibility standards and response requirements." Fire officials said the current bays cannot accommodate modern apparatus and that structure is plagued by termites and mold. There is also asbestos and a crack in the building. Halfmoon-Waterford Fire District vote When: Noon to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 Where: 315 Middletown Road, Waterford See More Collapse D'Alessandro also said the new facility will reduce workplace hazards, because the current station does not meet health and safety standards from the Americans with Disabilities Act, OSHA and FEMA. It also, he said, will ensure the station has adequate decontamination facilities. He said the proposal does not include funding for emergency vehicles, tools or gear. Critics, however, say that the new station is still too costly. They point to the new station in Round Lake that was built for $3.7 million and the new station just approved by voters in Charlton, which will cost $4.2 million. In 2017, Burnt Hills Fire Department approved a $3.2 million station. D'Alessandro disagreed, saying the new plans are suitable for its needs. "The current site was deemed to be the smartest and most economical option that will allow us to continue to provide the residents the fire, rescue, and emergency services they deserve," D'Alessandro said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. More for you Voters approve $4.2 million fire station in Charlton For the revised plan, the district's building committee reduced the size of the new station by 11 percent from 20,500 square-feet to 18,300 square-feet. The committee also eliminated the community room, decreased the size of the kitchen and rotated the orientation of the station so that it would require less site work. The current station, one of two in the fire district, was built in 1961 and expanded in 1988. The second station is situated on Hudson River Road in Halfmoon. The all-volunteer company, its website indicates, responds to about 800 emergency calls a year in a 14-mile radius. Approval of the bond, D'Alessandro said, "will allow our volunteer firefighters to properly meet the growing fire, rescue and emergency service needs of our community." ALBANY Mohammed Alshaneif left Syria because he didn't want to become a child soldier. Now, two years after resettling as a refugee in Albany, he's living his dream to become an actor in his first film, screening this week. The film he wrote and acted in a comedy where he plays four characters auditioning for a movie will premiere in local non-profit organization Youth FX's annual showcase at Landmark's Spectrum 8 Theatres in a sold-out show on Thursday, April 18, and will screen again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23. Alshaneif grew up in Damascus watching Syrian comedians and American movies his favorite is "The Mask" by Jim Carrey and imitating the stars for his friends. His father was the first person who encouraged him to become an actor. Then the war in Syria broke out in 2011, when Alshaneif was 12. His family watched as the fighting forces conscripted teenage boys as young as 16. "They wanted to get me out of Syria because they didn't want me to get involved in war," said the 20-year-old actor in his family's apartment. The family sent Alshaneif with an uncle to Lebanon and then Egypt, where they reunited with him. As the oldest of four children, he worked as a hairstylist to support his family. He went to acting school in Egypt for eight months, but said it was too expensive to continue. After waiting for a year and a half to be resettled as refugees, Alshaneif arrived in Albany with his mom, grandmother and three younger siblings the same day President Donald Trump signed his first executive order banning citizens from seven countries, including Syria, from entering the U.S. Alshaneif's father stayed behind to care for a family member in Jordan, who later died, before making the journey from Turkey to Germany with up to 1 million refugees in 2015. Alshaneif hasn't seen his father, who is working and waiting to get German citizenship, for seven years. After arriving in America, then 17-year-old Alshaneif enrolled in Albany High School with one question: was there a drama class? He joined immediately even though he didn't speak any English. "My teacher was so good to me. I was talking to him by Google translate and I told him I just want to act, I need to learn, I need a chance," he said. "He started to push me so hard to be on the stage." In 2018, Alshaneif starred in a play at the school that he helped write sharing the experiences of himself and three other immigrants. The same teacher connected him with local non-profit organization Youth FX that offers Albany's youth training in film making. Alshaneif took part last year in Youth FX's five-week summer intensive program that takes just 25 students. He acted in four films and also wrote the script for the one premiering Thursday. Courtesy of Mohammed Alshaneif The program is free, but although some students can get paid as part of Albany's summer youth employment, Alshaneif couldn't because he had already graduated. Every day after the program, he worked delivering pizza for 10 hours. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "Mohammed is someone we feel lucky to have met and have opportunity to work with," said Bhawin Suchak, Youth FX's executive director. "He's incredibly talented and has an amazing story. He's very dedicated to putting in the time and the work to make a film, and honing his craft and developing himself as an artist." Suchak founded Youth FX 10 years ago to give Albany's teenagers, including refugees like Alshaneif, a chance in the arts. The organization runs after-school programs, opened up a center last year, and started a video production company. "We are really targeting the young people in communities of Albany who have been ignored as far as having creative arts opportunities," he said. "The idea is that we want to continue to grow and hopefully be able to hire more people and build a full component and production company so they don't have to leave Albany to pursue a career in the arts." Hopefully that will be Alshaneif. He is now taking classes at SUNY Schenectady, although he plans to get certified as a hairstylist in Troy next year. Meanwhile, he keeps scouring for acting opportunities, although he said it's expensive and requires travel for auditions in New York City. "If someone called me for an audition, I would go to the end of the map," he said. "This is the only door open to me right now." His big dream is Hollywood feature films. He said he loves acting because movies spotlight people and their problems and he likes to adapt and help deliver their stories. His advice to others who overcome hardships to pursue their dreams? "I wish that they don't give up to the situation here. There are too many tough situations they will get through," Alshaneif said. "I don't like people who give up." Get your tickets for Tuesday's screening here. ALBANY A longtime bookkeeper for NXIVM invoked her right against self-incrimination dozens of times when she testified before a federal grand jury last year, refusing to answer questions about the secretive organization's leaders, her personal life and numerous alleged criminal acts. The details of the testimony by Kathy L. Russell, 61, who has been associated with NXIVM since coming to the Capital Region from Alaska in 2002, were revealed in a court order unsealed this week in which a federal judge declined to dismiss her criminal case. During her grand jury appearance last summer, Russell was asked by federal prosecutors about the hacking of computers of NXIVM's "perceived enemies," large amounts of cash coming across the U.S. border, alleged tax evasion and immigration fraud, the branding of women in a secret slave-master club, and NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere's alleged sexual abuse of underage girls. Russell was indicted a month after her grand jury appearance in a federal racketeering case that also charged Raniere; NXIVM president and co-founder Nancy Salzman; Salzman's daughter, Lauren; television actress Allison Mack; and Clare Bronfman, the organization's operations director and an heiress of the Seagram's liquor empire. In the past month, Mack and the Salzmans have pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and racketeering charges. Bronfman, Raniere and Russell are scheduled to go on trial May 7. A court order unsealed this week that contains details of Russell's grand jury testimony confirms the breadth of the Justice Department's investigation and the alleged criminal enterprise run by its leaders, who for nearly two decades had avoided meaningful law enforcement scrutiny. The judge analyzed Russell's grand jury testimony after her attorneys argued the case against her should be dismissed because federal prosecutors were aware of her alleged criminal conduct and she was therefore a subject of the investigation but did not tell her that when she testified before the panel. The judge rejected the motion. Her attorneys said evidence used to support search warrants that were executed at various NXIVM-associated properties in March 2018 after Raniere was taken into custody in Mexico indicated the FBI was probing tax evasion and cash smuggling related to Russell's work within the organization. During her grand jury appearance, prosecutors "engaged Russell in an extended conversation about whether she had ever asked Raniere about allegations that he had sexually abused minors or raped a particular woman," the judge wrote. "The government noted that it had evidence that Keith Raniere had had sex with underage girls." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Prosecutors also pressed Russell about the last time she had been to Canada; whether she had manufactured fake identification for someone; "and if she was 'aware of NXIVM ever paying to obtain passwords to somebody's email account' or 'to hack in somebody else's computer.'" Later in the day, after Russell had testified before the grand jury for about two hours, she and her attorney at the time, William Fanciullo of Albany, met with FBI agents and federal prosecutors who offered Russell a plea agreement. Eight days later, Fanciullo rejected the offer. On July 23 about six weeks after she testified in the grand jury Russell was indicted and arrested in Albany. She's charged with two criminal acts of identity theft as part of the alleged racketeering conspiracy. The government has accused Russell of helping smuggle a woman through the Canadian border with fake identification, and helping install a "key-logger" device on the computer of a NXIVM accountant to obtain his email and passwords so that his emails could be secretly monitored. When Russell appeared in U.S. District Court in Albany last July, Fanciullo told the judge his client had very little cash, a car worth about $8,000 and no assets. He said she lived in a Clifton Park apartment. ALBANY The College of Saint Rose graduate who inserted a "USB Killer" device into dozens of school computers in February pleaded guilty Tuesday to causing more than $58,000 in damage to the computers, officials said. Vishwanath Akuthota, 27, admitted that on Feb. 14 he inserted a "USB Killer" device into 66 computers, as well as numerous computer monitors and computer-enhanced podiums owned by the College of St. Rose, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. An FBI agent's affidavit in a federal complaint said that on Feb. 14 an assistant director of security at the college told Albany police that a man, later identified through video surveillance as Akuthota, entered several locations on campus and inserted a device that destroyed each computer's motherboard, rendering them inoperable. Akuthota said that he intentionally destroyed the computers, and recorded himself doing so using his iPhone. During the recording, Akuthota said, "I'm going to kill this guy," before inserting the USB Killer into a computer's USB port, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. "The 'USB Killer' device, when inserted into a computer's USB port, sends a command causing the computer's on-board capacitors to rapidly charge and then discharge repeatedly, thereby overloading and physically destroying the computer's USB port and electrical system," the U.S. Attorney's office said in a press release. The criminal complaint against Akuthota did not mention a motive. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Akuthota has agreed to pay restitution of $58,471 to the college, the U.S Attorney's Office said. Akuthota, who according to school records graduated in December 2017 with a master's degree in business administration, is a citizen of India residing in the United States on a student visa. He has been in custody since he was arrested in North Carolina on Feb. 22. Akuthota faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12. ALBANY Democrats in the state Senate have re-introduced a Republican bill to provide education aid to Gold Star families after Assembly Democrats voted to block similar legislation last week. On Monday, Sen. John E. Brooks, D-Nassau, sponsored a version of the so-called "Gold Star" bill, which provides free tuition for dependents of New York military personnel who have died or have become disabled as a result of their official duties. Democratic Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, an Army veteran, is expected introduce a matching bill in the Assembly. The Assembly's decision to stall the GOP bill last week prompted backlash from Republicans, including a Tweet from President Donald J. Trump. Critics noted Democrats' designation of $27 million in the state budget for the college tuition of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally called the Jose Peralta New York State Dream Act but not for the educations of the families of war heroes. Brooks, who chairs the Senate Veterans, Homeland Security And Military Affairs Committee, said he reached out to the Veterans of Foreign Wars to help clarify language in the bill, which has been introduced by Republicans six times since 2009. The new legislation, which has bipartisan support, more clearly defines the term "official duties" and changes the effective date to April 1, 2020, enabling the state to appropriate necessary funds in the 2021 budget. "Our heroic servicemembers who fall in the line of duty and make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation are owed a debt of gratitude that can never truly be repaid," Brooks said. "That is why I am proud to sponsor legislation that will ensure their children are provided free tuition for all SUNY and CUNY schools." The GOP bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Stephen Hawley and Sen. Robert Ort, would have gone into effect immediately. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. During last week's floor debate, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, D-Manhattan, said the legislation should have been addressed in the budget because it had fiscal implications. "We don't want to make false promises to people," Glick said. Hawley, who first sponsored the bill 11 years ago, told the Times Union that he would support any version of his bill that advances in the Assembly. "Nothing has changed on the bill in 11 years and I just want to make sure we are doing the right thing for our veteran families," he said. ALBANY With New York City's rent regulations set to expire in June, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie last week backed a plan to make rent stabilization available upstate as well. That proposal, however, revived a familiar debate about whether rent restrictions improve conditions for tenants, or just make them worse. Facing pressure from progressives, the Assembly's Democratic majority has sponsored nine of 10 legislative proposals put forward by the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance, a newly formed statewide tenant coalition. The package of measures includes an expansion of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (ETPA), which regulates rents in buildings larger than six units that were constructed before 1974. ETPA is an opt-in program that may be enacted by municipalities that can demonstrate a housing emergency. It requires a formal study to determine if vacancy rates fall below the 5 percent threshold. Members of the chamber's upstate Democratic caucus say they were caught off-guard by Heastie's support for taking ETPA statewide, noting that many upstate towns and cities struggle with conditions that represent the opposite of a housing crisis: outmigration, abandoned properties and difficulty luring developers. "Our initial reaction is thanks but no thanks," said Assemblyman John McDonald, D-Cohoes. "What works for Brooklyn may not work so well in Watervliet." Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, D-Albany, said ETPA is the wrong approach for the Capital Region, and that it will add to the city's housing supply problems. "We don't want a chilling effect on development when we have been desperately trying to get more apartments in Albany," she said. "Of course rents are going to get higher if you are not building more places." Local lawmakers say they have historically sought to ease housing problems with tax incentives for the creation of affordable units and funding for various social programs. Outside New York City, only municipalities in Westchester, Nassau and Rockland counties are currently eligible for ETPA. County regulatory boards determine how much rents can increase each year. Roger Markovics, an activist who founded United Tenants of Albany more than 40 years ago, acknowledged that the bill is "imperfect," impacting few units in the Capital Region. While vacancy rates may fall under the 5 percent in some areas, most buildings built before 1974 are smaller than six units. Markovics said he anticipates that once ETPA is passed, upstate officials will press the Legislature to make the statute more relevant. In the Senate, the bill is sponsored by Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem. A spokesman for the senator noted that the ETPA is opt-in and simply removes arbitrary geographic restrictions. "By at least introducing the bill, it brings to the forefront the idea of expanding rent protections statewide," said Evan Schneider, Breslin's deputy chief of staff. A statewide crisis While many associate high rents with New York City, ETPA could provide relief in cities like Hudson and Rochester, where financially strapped tenants are mobilizing in larger numbers. The issue is exacerbated by predatory corporations that are buying up low-income housing including mobile home parks and doubling rents, said Mike McKee, director of Tenants PAC. "For the first time in 49 years of doing this work, we have people all over the state organizing for rent control and tenant protections," McKee said. A report by the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance found that nearly half of the state's tenants are "rent-burdened," defined as paying 30 percent of their income toward rent, while nearly a quarter are severely rent-burdened, paying nearly 50 percent of their income in rent. The vast majority of low-income tenants are rent-burdened, including 90 percent in Kingston and 78 percent in Syracuse, according to the study. Other regulations proposed by the Upstate Downstate group have passed the overwhelmingly Democratic Assembly before but stalled in the Senate before Democrats reclaimed the house in November 2018. These include closure of loopholes like vacancy decontrol, which enables landlords to raise the rent when a regulated tenant moves out. It would also end rent increases allowed when a landlord makes capital improvements to a building or apartment. The Assembly has not backed a statewide "good-cause eviction" bill, which prohibits eviction except in certain circumstances such as non-payment of rent. It also prohibits landlords from using large rent increases to boot out a tenant a change that to moderates may sound too similar to rent control. That measure would apply to any units not covered by ETPA. Does rent control work? The impact of rent control on housing is a hot-button issue that has been debated for decades. While some economists, including the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, argue that it drives up rents in unregulated units, suppresses development and discourages investment by landlords in regulated apartments, a number of studies indicate the opposite may be true. Tim Collins, New York housing attorney who served on the city's rent control board, said that much of the discussion on rent regulation is driven by ideology rather than data. What economists are often referring to is a hard cap on rent increases rather than moderation in those increases and tenant protection, he said. In a study on the impact of rent stabilization in New York City, Collins notes the city saw its two greatest housing construction booms in the 1920s and the post-war era from 1947 to 1966 both periods when strict rent controls were in effect. "There is no evidence that rent regulations have suppressed housing production here," Collins said. "Every market is unique, one size does not fit all, but ETPA is very well-thought-out and flexible." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz, who chairs the chamber's Housing Committee, says the narrative that rent regulation stifles development and hurts tenants is pushed by real estate interests who have spent millions lobbying against it. "The same scare tactics were used four years ago, and they didn't come to fruition," Cymbrowitz said, referring to the last time the protections were renewed. "Rent regulation has helped hundreds of thousands of people to live in (New York City)." Other criticisms of the city's rent regulation are more nuanced. The fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission determined that rent-regulated tenants in New York City are slightly less likely to be rent-burdened, but that many of the benefits go to high-income earners. It also notes that regulated apartments tend to be in poorer condition than non-regulated units. The CBC argued in a January study that regulations should target apartments housing the most rent-burdened, and that rent stabilization should be eliminated for households earning at least $200,000 per year. Suburban problems An ongoing fight over ETPA in the Westchester County's Village of Ossining offers a preview of how the debate may play out in cities, towns and villages across the state if the expansion becomes law. In September, the Ossining Village Board narrowly voted to regulate a significant portion of its rental units in September, becoming one of few municipalities to opt in to the program since the 1970s. It was Village Mayor Victoria Gearity, who serves on the five-member board that voted on the measure, who first suggested a study on the village's vacancy rates and how New York City-style restrictions would impact Ossining's skyrocketing living costs. The debate boiled over at hearings and board meetings, with landlords and building owners threatening to sell off their stock and activists accusing village officials of shortchanging poor and minority communities. "I wouldn't wish the toxic debate we experienced on any other community," said Gearity, who ultimately voted against the measure. Homeowners feared the new controls would lower property values, which could boost property tax bills to cover the shortfall. The mayor argued that the 1972 legislation was too broad to be applicable to Ossining, where almost a third of rental units would qualify for restrictions. "The law was passed in the 1970s and it was designed to address the housing crisis of the 1970s," Gearity said. "The intention of ETPA to protect tenants is absolutely what state government should be focused on. ETPA falls short of those goals and creates unintended consequences." In February, the Village Board voted to repeal and replace ETPA with a host of new carveouts, such as for medium-sized buildings. But it only prompted more unrest among tenants and advocates. Meanwhile, a group of Ossining landlords has sued the village insisting there was no housing emergency, that the vacancy study commissioned by the village was flawed, and that ETPA is bad policy. Markovics, the Albany activist, said that upstate lawmakers should not be spooked by the fallout in Ossining. "It's going to cause a lot of reaction and friction, but that's part of the social change that goes on," he said. "They'll say, 'Well, before you brought this up everything was fine.' Well, things aren't fine for everyone." Albany Joshua Pearlman was worried. The second-year Albany Law school student wants to work in the intellectual property field, which involves patents and the licensing of new products and inventions. But his undergraduate degree was in political science despite switching from biochemistry. He knew that, without a technical undergraduate degree, it could be tough to break into the competitive field of intellectual property, or IP, law. My two years of biochemistry just didnt seem to cut it, he said. That changed in December when he got an internship with the State University of New York Research Foundation, which handles the numerous patents and licensing agreements that have stemmed from the various campuses over the years. He worked with a researcher at SUNY Polytechnic Institute who devised a novel transistor that could make computers run faster and more efficiently. Under the supervision of SUNY RF lawyers, he drafted the language for a patent application, which even newly minted IP lawyers rarely get to do. Thats the power of practical experience, he said. On Tuesday, Albany Law school, SUNY RF and SUNY Poly formalized an agreement in which interdisciplinary teams of engineering, business and law students will work on commercialization of new inventions and products. The idea is to expose those students to the commercialization of technology research, said Grace Wang, SUNY Polys interim president. This is the future of the education that we want to provide, Wang said during a gathering at SUNY Polys Albany campus to sign the agreement. Theres a demand for lawyers who can bridge the gap between law and technology, added Albany Law School President and Dean Alicia Ouellette. She added that students entering law school dont always realize that there are options other than traditional areas like litigation, or tax law. Its a very different career path, she said. The program, which formalizes internships like Pearlmans, is set to start in the Fall 2019 semester with about 10 students. Technology valuation, intellectual property law and property protection, market analysis, entrepreneurship, startup formation, business planning, seed and venture funding are among the topics the participants will work on. Theyll be in both classrooms and labs. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The program, known as Innovation Intensive is an outgrowth of an existing RF internship, in which 40 students like Pearlman have already participated. Wang noted that SUNY RF holds 1522 patents for inventions that have come from the various SUNY campuses over the years. The patents, she said, represent Real life ideas. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU It has not been that long since Apple officially lifted the curtain on Apple News+, one of the many different subscription services the company announced earlier this year. And while first impressions of the platform from a readers perspective were solid enough, it turns out some publishers arent too pleased. According to a report on Monday from Digiday, some publishers are having early headaches with the Apple News+ experience in general. Apparently theres some confusion about the things Apple promised publishers in an effort to get them on board with the new service, including formatting and templates publishers could use to get their content out there. Some publishers are also keen to point out they think Apple is favoring the bigger publishers over the smaller ones. Five participating publishers Digiday spoke to detailed a series of early headaches, including struggles with Apple News+ article formatting, confusion about user experience and design, worries about jeopardizing big digital ad campaigns, and a gripe that Apple is favoring large publishers at the expense of smaller ones. Early hiccups are to be expected Apple News+ is less than a month old but multiple publishing sources said the products flaws do not bode well for its long-term future unless Apple adapts its approach. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. In a strangely off-hands approach, Apple has reportedly outsourced most of the design efforts to third-party vendors. That has resulted in behind-the-scenes in the development process for those publishers, leading to even more work: Added work tops the list of several publishers complaints. Most of the publishers that want to convert pages from their print issues into a digital format rely on tools which scan PDFs, then converts their contents into individual articles and advertisements. The technology is buggy enough that each issue needs to effectively be copy- and design-edited all over again, to ensure that design, formatting and spacing have come out in one piece, according to multiple sources. And because they are standardized, these tools make it harder to distinguish one publishers content from another, sources said. These publishers see a major issue with all of this, and say that it does not necessarily bode well for the future of the platform as a whole. However, they do suggest that these are all things that Apple can change as long as it takes an actual interest in doing so. If that were to happen, it sounds like the publishers headaches would be relieved in the process. Apple News+ is less than a month old, so there is obviously a lot of room to grow. However, these particular frustrations seem to be things that Apple should certainly have addressed even before launch. Hopefully the company can reduce some of the stress of publishing content on the service for publishers, because otherwise that 50/50 split might not be worth sticking with. [via Digiday April 16, 2019 Making online payments shouldnt be scary at all. The priority of many online businesses is to ensure secure online payments, and in this guide, we are going to discuss safety measures companies must take to protect payment data. The Importance of Ensuring Secure Online Payments Consumer behavior has changed dramatically over the last few years. The increasing popularity of e-commerce and digitalization of payment methods have played a vital role in this change, and the results are quite impressive-e-commerce sales in Q1 2017 reached $105 Billion, to make up for an 8.5 percent of all retail sales and a 14.7 percent increase from 2016. However, as the e-commerce industry continues to grow, so does the gang of cybercriminals. To counter the increasing threat, companies and merchants must take stringent safety measures to ensure customers stay safe when making online payments. Many customers dont know what happens with their payment data after making an online payment, and this is an issue for them. In this guide, we will walk you through the 'behind the scenes' of safety strategies companies must take to ensure secure online payment. However, keep in mind that not all companies follow the best practices when it comes to data protection; therefore, always check the reputation of the company before making an online payment to them. 1. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) With the network security technology WPA2 proving to be vulnerable, allowing attackers to hack into connections between computers and the internet, SSL has remained one the best ways for protecting the transfer of data. It is therefore important to ensure that any website you visit is using it. An SSL is a standard security protocol that provides a secure link between a web browser and web service in online communication. In other words, SSL is used to protect the transmission of data, ensuring that you are connected to the right server. It also checks the integrity of the data to ensure that it has been delivered as it is supposed to. So, how do you know if a website is using the SSL protocol technology? When you visit an Online casino in the Philippines or any website, check to see if there is a padlock icon on its address bar or if its URL has an S in front of the HTTP. 2. Encryption and tokenization When it comes to ensuring safe online transactions, these two technologies play a critical role, but they are different: Encryption involves the conversion of electronic data or information into a code to prevent unauthorized access. Only the sender and the receiver can understand an encrypted message. A third party will need an encryption key to read the message. You can think of encryption as a safe deposit. You cannot open it if you dont have the correct key. Encryption technology plays a vital role in exchanging sensitive information such as credit card details across networks and devices, thus allowing for safe online purchases. Tokenization involves substituting a sensitive element, such as a credit account number, with a non-sensitive equivalent (token) that will have no meaning when exploited. The token only serves as a reference to the sensitive element, but no value can be derived from it. This technology plays a vital role in strengthening the security of online transactions. 3. 3D Secure 3D Secure is a security protocol that adds a layer of protection for businesses to authenticate online credit payments. Customers receive a One Time Pin from the issuing bank for that specific transaction (you cannot use it for any other transaction). The code is sent to the customer via SMS or email, and after entering it as it is, the acquiring bank will either accept or decline depending on whether it is correct or incorrect in that order. 3D stands for 3 Domain Server because it includes the card issuer, acquiring bank and the merchant. 4. PCI (News - Alert)-DSS Compliance Compliance with PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is one of the most important measures a company must take to ensure secure online transactions. Any company that handles, processes, and stores credit information must comply with the PCI-DSS. PCI-DSS are policies and standards put in place to ensure safe handling of credit card information and protection of payment transactions against cyber attacks and security breaches. All hotels, travel agencies, e-commerce websites, airlines and call centers must meet PCI-DSS requirements. In short, PCI is a must-have when it comes to processing payments on websites. When looking for a merchant to shop online, make sure that he complies with the safety standards; otherwise, you will be at risk of becoming a victim of identity theft, fraud or data breaches. To know if the merchant you have chosen is PCI-DSS compliant, try to look out for the PCI-DSS symbol on their website. Some websites might be compliant without the symbol on their website, but dont take any risks. 5. Updating operating systems regularly Failure to update operating systems to the latest versions makes it more vulnerable to external attacks. Businesses that follow the best online safety practices must ensure their systems have the latest security updates. This is important because hackers are working on new ways and methods to break into systems, making older versions of vulnerable to attacks. You need to set up automatic updates for the whole network to keep online transactions safe. Before you make an online payment, make sure you choose the right merchant or payment processor. Keep your eye out for necessary security symbols. Most importantly, dont make a payment if you doubt the merchants credibility. April 16, 2019 Gamification is a key feature in lots of different types of technology that is implemented and used in order to attract customers, players and enthusiasts to a specific product. Even if you have never heard of gamification before, you will certainly have come across it. Gamification is used in fitness apps and video games. It is used by marketing companies, news websites and a whole host of different businesses throughout the world. Gamification is driving lots of industries forward because of the level of interaction and satisfaction that it is giving to customers. It is intended to be fun and rewarding for customers of businesses and players of video games, this is why gamification has already become such an integral cog in the iGaming industry machine. What is gamification? Gamification focuses on making a typically monotonous task more entertaining. This is done through the use of gaming elements and is based on behavioural psychology techniques. Gamification in the hope that it will encourage internet surfers, app visitors and video gamers to enjoy and keep using a product. For example, health and fitness apps use gamification to ensure that workouts become more enjoyable for the user so that they can track their progress and their future aims in a fun and exciting way. In turn, this ensures that the user keeps coming back for more. Gamification is a win-win scenario because the user is satisfied by an entertaining app (or something similar) that is making something tedious more fun and the company behind the app or website is happy because they have a happy and (hopefully) loyal customer. The iGaming industry The iGaming industry is made up of different types of games that primarily revolve around gambling. Online casinos are a huge part of the iGaming industry and as a result of the revolution of the internet, the growth of the iGaming industry in recent years has been rapid. With an internet connection being barely an issue in todays modern age, mobile users are constantly connected to the internet. Because of this, the iGaming industry is shifting its attention towards mobile phone-based platforms and apps in order to appeal to the attention of mobile phone users. The power of social media should not be underestimated though, with iGaming companies diverting their online marketing efforts towards the most widely used social media platforms in order to gain customers. The future of iGaming is certainly reliant on the affects of the mobile-internet era and gamification has become a huge part of this. According to one study, the global iGaming market is expected to be worth over 45.5 billion by 2020. This figure is highly motivating to all iGaming companies within the sector and ensures that the competition within the industry stays at peak levels. High competition is good for consumers that are in and around the iGaming industry gamblers because it ensures that online casinos are battling each other in order to convince players that they should play with them. This means fantastic offers and bonuses are available to players. It also means that iGaming companies are constantly updating their games and technology in order to attract players, this is where gamification comes into the mix. Gamification and iGaming Gamification is a huge factor that iGaming industries have implemented into online casinos. Gamification significantly improves user experience (UX). UX is key to online casinos given the level of competition there is when it comes to attracting players. For example, widely considered one of the best online casinos in the UK, Playfrank is especially successful when it comes to gamification methods. As the project manager of the site discusses, PlayFrank collaborate with game designers and providers in order to create the best possible product for players and gamification is a key aspect to this. We add extra layers to each game, states PlayFrank casinos project manager in an interview with GameIndustry. He goes on to explain that PlayFrank offers their players the option to level up which becomes a game in itself these are called tracks. If you complete one track then this opens a higher level. Players can go on journeys where the tracks become increasingly elaborate and customized the more they play. There are several online casinos operating in the industry which also focus on gamification, MrGreen is one that is highly successful at this, as is LeoVegas. In such a highly competitive and demanding market, the online casinos are looking to find any edge possible over each other, so implementing gamification in order to enhance player experience has quickly become important. But its not just gamification Of course, there are other marketing techniques used by online casinos to market casino games to players. Trustworthiness is vital and transparency is key. With so many online casinos popping up within the industry, players are now more than ever turning to the safe and well-known online casino brands to play with. Online casinos with their own forums where players can chat and discuss with each other are also becoming more and more desirable. As aforementioned, social media is an important aspect that the iGaming industry is using to thrive on. Social media offers a global outreach at an unscalable level, it is not like advertising on a television channel which will always have an estimated audience number, social media allows marketers to reach users all over the world and it does not have to cost a penny, if you are skilled enough in sharing content effectively. Gamification and beyond The iGaming industry and technology in general are advancing at such eye watering levels, thus it is difficult to predict what the future holds for online gaming. But for now it is clear that top class user experience is vital for all online casinos and gamification is a key aspect of user experience. [April 16, 2019] AGCO & Sandhills Global Launch www.AGCOUsed.com, Connecting Used Equipment Available at AGCO Dealerships LINCOLN, Neb., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO), a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and solutions, is launching a used equipment website, www.AGCOUsed.com, specifically devoted to used equipment available from AGCO dealerships. The new website is in partnership with Sandhills Global, the Nebraska-based tech company behind such brands as TractorHouse, Machinery Trader, Truck Paper, RentalYard, AuctionTime.com, and numerous others. Created and hosted by TractorHouse, www.AGCOUsed.com features listings for used tractors, harvesting equipment, hay and forage equipment, application equipment, and seeding and tillage assets from dealerships across North America. For AGCO, the website is a simple solution that connects AGCO buyers and sellers. "'Used' is one of the more commonly searched words on our corporate websites," notes Michael Milstead, senior manager of used equipment at AGCO. "This website provides a secure environment for customers to find genuine, used equipment from genuine AGCO dealers." Listings automatically synchronize across TractorHouse.com, and on dealer websites hosted by Sandhills and its hosted service provider partners. When AGCO dealers list equipment on their website, the equipment automatically cross-posts to TractorHouse.com and AGCOused.com. "The site was designed to be extremely user-friendly and efficient for customers to find their next piece of used AGCO equipment from an AGCO dealership," explains Jared Koch, corporate sales executive at Sandhills Global. AGCO has long leveraged TractorHouse and Sandhills Global to market equipment online, in print, and in-store. Through cloud-based technology available from Sandhills, dealerships across the company's dealer group are able to seamlessly manage, process, and advertise used equipment listings across multiple media. 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: www.Sandhills.com [email protected] (402) 479-2181 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agco--sandhills-global-launch-wwwagcousedcom-connecting-used-equipment-available-at-agco-dealerships-300833347.html SOURCE Sandhills Global [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] AirTouch Brand Returns to Its Telecommunications Roots LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- JMM Lee Properties, LLC announced today that beginning this summer, its AirTouch trademark will appear on a selection of smartphones and mobile app-based communication service designed for global mobile workers. The licensing agreement was executed with California-based OSC Communications, Inc., and grants the company exclusive rights to sell several unique smartphones and US domestic mobile services as an MVNO under the AirTouch trade name. "We're confident that OSC is the right fit for AirTouch," said Michael Lee, JMM Lee's Managing Partner. "They have the products, services and the team to make AirTouch a global brand in the communication space once again." New AirTouch Services The Airtouch mobile app will combine free voice and video calling with instant messaging and file sharing. The new service will also allow subscribers to make and receive calls from a built-in VoIP number or mobile number, send and receive standard and multi-media texts, and offer affordable service plan customization tailored to the needs of the subscriber. In the age of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), where personal smartphones are used for business communication, the App allows the user to dichotomize personal and business communication in the same smartphone. The AirTouch Mobility service wil also offer a data-only SIM for calling and messaging services from the AirTouch app when a subscriber is away from his home or office. A Global SIM offering an AirTouch international data plan will be available for subscribers who travel overseas. In addition, the Airtouch mobile app will provide a built-in mechanism to incentivize rapid subscriber growth of the free service and conversion to paid plans within the app. "We have created an all-in-one smartphone app to deliver mobility service for a global mobile workforce with multiple communication services converged to make daily business communication more efficient and economical for small businesses," said Hide Kanakubo, President of OSC Communications, Inc. About JMM Lee Propertie s JMM Lee Properties is a global brand owner and licensor of a diversified portfolio of fashion, consumer electronic, and home appliance trademarks including flagship brands Minolta, AirTouch, Litton, Chambers and Slates. JMM Lee creates value by licensing its brands to leading manufacturers and retailers worldwide. As one of the nation's leading firms offering brand licensing services, JMM Lee develops and manages numerous licensing programs within a variety of product categories. www.jmmLee.com About OSC Communication, Inc. OSC Communication, Inc. is a California-based telecommunication company focused on providing a global mobile-centric or mobile-only workforce with all communication service they need to make daily business communication an effective tool to serve its business development and growth while saving communication cost for the business. OSC Communication, Inc. can evolve into customizing its system and features to create derivatives to serve various service business application needs. Media Contact: Michael Lee [email protected] 206-850-6596 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/airtouch-brand-returns-to-its-telecommunications-roots-300832510.html SOURCE JMM Lee Properties, LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Qualcomm and Apple had their disagreements, which led to a lengthy legal battle between the two. But, today, it finally culminated in a settlement between the two companies. The dust has barely settled and now theres a report out saying Qualcomm will be Apples go-to choice to supply 5G modems in 2020 iPhones. According to a report from Nikkei out this afternoon, Apple is already planning on calling up Qualcomm to be the key supplier for 5G modems next year. Apple and Qualcomm were reportedly negotiating todays settlement for weeks, and, part of that was tied to 5G modem availability for Apple. Whats more, Apple has already been testing Qualcomms 5G modems, according to the report, and has been asking its suppliers to do the same. There wasnt any expectation that Apple would use a 5G modem in the 2019 iPhone lineup, but this report further confirms that will not be the case. It is too late for Apple to use Qualcomms chips this year, but for 2020 it will purchase modem chips, including 5G modem chips, from the chipmaker for iPhones after finalizing the deal, a source with direct knowledge of the settlement plan told Nikkei. Early reports had been leaning into Intel being Apples primary supplier for 5G modems in 2020 iPhones. However, there were recent reports suggesting that Intel wasnt going to be able to meet Apples demand. If that is indeed the case, it certainly could have helped nudge Apple in the direction of a settlement with Qualcomm, seeing as Apple wasnt likely to rely on Samsung (or Huawei for that matter), for 5G modems next year. Our Take This has always felt a little inevitable, even with Apple and Qualcomm going at it in the courts. Apples goal of launching an iPhone with 5G on board in 2020 had to be pretty important, as it looks like it played a pretty big role in deciding the legal fate between Apple and Qualcomm today. [via Nikkei [April 16, 2019] Checkr Selects Colorado as Second Headquarters Location Checkr, the leading provider of modern and compliant background checks, today announced it will open a second headquarters in Denver. The new location is an important step for the company as it looks to scale the business beyond its current San Francisco location and will support all functions of the business, including engineering, product, operations, sales, marketing, customer success, and candidate experience. "We're opening our doors in Denver because of the considerable potential the city offers," said Checkr Co-founder and CEO Daniel Yanisse. "Denver allows us to tap into a large pool of highly skilled talent who will help further our mission of offering everyone a fair chance at employment. We look forward to becoming part of and growing with the community." Denver's lively culture, dynamic economy, and strong talent pool made the city a compelling choice to accommodate Checkr's rapid growth. In addition, the city's friendly and inclusive nature aligns with Checkr's focus on fair chance hiring for the 70 million Americans with a criminal record who face employment challenges. "Checkr's combination of high-quality jobs and its commitment to thoughtful hiring and growth is a win for all of Colorado," said Governor Jared Polis. "I'm grateful for Daniel's trust in the people of Colorado as well as our state and local economic development offices' collaborative effort to make Checkr's Colorado headquarters a reality." "We're excited to welcome Checkr to Denver because they bring a culture of inclusivity that aligns with the city's focus on creating an economy that extends opportunity to everyone," said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. "This recruitment means more than just new jobs, it's about the community benefit and the opportunity those jobs will mean for the prospective employees looking for a second chance at a productive, positive future." Checkr's landing team will initially be located in the North Capitol Hill area of downtown Denver, opening on July 1, 2019, as the company identifies a permanent office space. By the end of 2019, the company intends to complete its first hiring phase of a long-term scaling plan in line with the company's rapid growth. About Checkr Checkr's mission is to build a fairer future by improving understanding of the past. The platform makes it easy for thousands of customers to hire millions of people every year at the speed of the gig economy. Using Checkr's advanced background check technology, companies of all sizes can better understand the dynamics of the changing workforce, bring transparency and fairness to their hiring, and ultimately build a better future for workers. For more information, please visit: www.checkr.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005330/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] FAUCHON Hospitality Expands Boutique Hotel Collection with Second Property to Open in Kyoto, Japan FAUCHON Hospitality, which debuted its first hotel in Paris in September of 2018, will open a second property in Kyoto, Japan, it was announced today by Jacques-Olivier Chauvin, President and CEO. FAUCHON has been a well-known brand in Japan for the past 47 years, and currently manages 28 shops, two cafes, and two bakeries with cafes throughout the country. The five-star FAUCHON Hotel Kyoto will open in 2020 in the center of Kyoto, in the Shimogyo-ku district, approximately 10 minutes from the most interesting districts (Gion, Higashiyama and Kawaramachi-Shijo). The hotel will feature 70 guest rooms and suites as well as a FAUCHON Bakery on the street level. Check-in/reception will be located on the top floor, which will also be home to The Grand Cafe FAUCHON, with a spectacular view over Kyoto and the surrounding mountains. FAUCHON Hotel Kyoto is part of a services and trademark license agreement between Hotel W Management Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Wealth Management, and FAUCHON Hospitality. According to Mr. Chauvin, "FAUCHON Hospitality is in an ambitious development phase. In addition to the Kyoto property, we are in advanced stages of talks for FAUCHON Hotels located in cosmopolitan cities across Europe, North-America, Middle-East and Asia, in order to keep pace with our strategy of operating 20 hotels by 2028." The 54-room FAUCHON L'Hotel Paris, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, was the first property for the renowned French food purveyor as they, like other luxury brands, entered the hotel industry. At a time when many hotels are dialing back the culinary component of a hotel experience, one of the distinguishing elements of a FAUCHON Hotel is to leverage the brand's 130-year-old legacy as innovators of fine Parisian gastronomy to create a domain of service excellence, decadent gourmet cuisine - including the brand's iconic "Gourmet Bar," luxurious five-star hospitality, and tailor-made local experiences. The FAUCHON Hospitality brand's Unique Selling Proposition is easily defined as "GLAM": GOURMET (the most creative Parisian patisserie adhering to the French culinary tradition); LOCATION (at the heart of the urban life of the city); ARTISTS (artisans and attentions with bespoke artwork and activities curated specifically for the hotel; and MESDAMES (a hotel always in tune with women featuring sophisticated lighting, Dyson hairdryers, properly sized bathrobes, Carita amenities, and more). About FAUCHON The 130-year old FAUCHON brand has been family-owned since 2006, and is a purveyor of luxury contemporary gastronomy in restaurants, catering cafes, and retail boutiques. The company's signature products include haute patisserie, macarons, chocolate, tea, fine foods, and gourmet gifts via 100 franchise shops and 400 points of sale in over 50 countries including France, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Morocco, Hong Kong, Israel, and Qatar. FAUCHON is known for its innovative training of up-and-coming chefs who have gone on to be major names in the patisserie world including Pierre Herme, Christophe Michalak, and Dominique Ansel, the creator of the now infamous "Cronut". For additional information about FAUCHON, visit https://www.fauchon.com/en. About FAUCHON Hospitality FAUCHON Hospitality is the new hotel division of FAUCHON created specifically to ensure a full worldwide development of the FAUCHON L'HOTEL portfolio. The company was founded in 2018. FAUCHON Hospitality's key management include Jacques-Olivier Chauvin as President and CEO; Samy Vischel as Executive Vice President; Emmanuelle Mordacq as Senior Vice President of Marketing Consultant, and Bernard Lambert as Senior Advisor. For additional information about FAUCHON Hospitality, visit FauchonHospitality.com. About WEALTH MANAGEMENT, INC. Wealth Management, Inc. is a Japanese corporation with a mission of "Creation of wealth through professionalism and synergy," and operates with the aim of achieving sustainable growth by offering in-depth specialty services to all clients. Wealth Management, Inc. is listed on the 2nd Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, conducts business management of companies within its group as a holding company, and also makes principal investments in fund structures the group companies originate. Two main subsidiaries are: 1) Richesse Management, Inc., which engages in real estate securitization business, and 2) Hotel W Management, Inc., which operates hotels and leases property. For additional information about Wealth Management, Inc. visit Wealth-Mngt.com/en. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005055/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Flinn Foundation Selects 20 Excelling Arizona High-School Seniors as 2019 Flinn Scholars Twenty of Arizona's highest-achieving high-school seniors have been named Flinn Scholars and will receive scholarships to Arizona's three public research universities valued at more than $120,000. The merit-based award-which recipients accept in many instances over admission to the nation's most prestigious universities-is a full ride that covers the cost of tuition, fees, housing and meals and provides funding for at least two study-abroad experiences plus additional benefits. The Flinn Scholars Program, supported by the Phoenix-based Flinn Foundation in partnership with the universities, selected the Class of 2019 Flinn Scholars from a record-high 894 applications, or an award rate of 2.2 percent. The 34th class of Flinn Scholars features 20 students from the Phoenix metropolitan area, Tucson, Prescott, and Pinal County, representing 19 high schools. "Each Flinn Scholar we meet is unique, but these students have something in common besides the capacity to excel in the classroom," said Tammy McLeod, Flinn Foundation president and CEO. "They have deep dedication to their schools, communities, the future of Arizona, and the world. The Flinn Foundation is excited not only to announce this new class of Flinn Scholars but to see what lies ahead for them and our state." The only school with two Flinn Scholars this year is Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center-Estrella Mountain, a charter school west of Phoenix. Those two students are the first Flinn Scholars from their school. Four other high schools are also celebrating their first Flinn Scholar in 2019: Maricopa High School, Basha High School in Chandler, Gilbert Classical Academy High School, and BASIS Prescott. The 2019 Flinn Scholars named a variety of areas of study in their applications, including Mandarin, biochemistry, psychology, economics, mechanical and environmental engineering, mathematics, nursing, agribusiness, philosophy, biomedical science, and computer science. The Scholars will start undergraduate studies at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona in August. There are now nearly 650 current and alumni Flinn Scholars, with about 80 Scholars studying at the thre universities at any time. "The academic accomplishments, extracurricular involvement, and dedication to service this group has demonstrated are remarkable and we have high hopes for their future contributions," said Anne Lassen, Flinn Scholars Program director. "We also want to commend all of the high-achieving students who applied and made this year's selection so challenging." The Flinn Scholarship benefits, beyond covering eight semesters of tuition, fees, and housing and meals, include: A three-week summer seminar in China for the full class following the freshman year, and at least one additional study-abroad experience; Mentorship from top faculty and exposure to Arizona and global leaders, including leaders from Arizona's business, civic, and academic communities; Membership in a university honors college, with small classes, guest lectures, and research experiences; Intellectual, cultural and social activities developed for Scholars by both the Flinn Foundation and the universities; Fellowship in the Flinn Scholars community. The typical Flinn Scholar achieves at least a 3.5 grade-point average, a top-5 percent class rank, and a score of 1340 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT and demonstrates exceptional leadership in extracurricular activities. The Flinn Scholars Program, established in 1986, is operated by the Flinn Foundation Scholarship Program LLC and supported by the Flinn Foundation, a Phoenix-based private, nonprofit, grantmaking organization. The Foundation, founded in 1965 by the late Dr. Robert and Irene Flinn, also supports the advancement of Arizona's bioscience sector, arts and culture, and the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership and its flagship Flinn-Brown Academy. Meet the 2019 Flinn Scholars flinnscholars.org [Editor's note: Student names and high schools are here. Student photos are available for download at https://app.box.com/s/u68m4hovvl1fzf2m23yotpi700ze7pzj] View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005903/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Independence Bank and Mountain America Credit Union Join ACH Alert at PAYMENTS 2019 to Share Insight on Transaction Security ACH Alert, an award-winning provider of electronic payments fraud prevention technology for financial institutions of all sizes, announced it will lead a panel to discuss cybersecurity and risk at PAYMENTS 2019 in Orlando, Florida on May 8. During ACH Alert's panel, "Going Beyond Visibility and Taking Action on Transactions," panelists will discuss how financial institutions can enhance their fraud prevention strategy by empowering customers to detect and respond to suspicious activity before the funds leave their account. Additionally, session attendees will learn how to leverage digital banking offerings to enable fraud prevention tools. Finally, panelists will discuss how enabling account holders to control fraud prevention improves the customer experience and supports more efficient growth. Panelists include: Kim Dodson , CTP, Vice President of Treasury Management, Independence Bank , CTP, Vice President of Treasury Management, Independence Bank Don Youngberg , AAP, Assistant Vice President of Business Services, Mountain America Credit Union , AAP, Assistant Vice President of Business Services, Mountain America Credit Union Deborah Peace, AAP, Chief Executive Officer, ACH Aler "While online banking systems offer visibility for transactions, they do not allow account holders to take action and protect themselves against suspicious activity," said Peace. "In today's digital-first world, there is a critical need for banks and credit unions to empower their customers and members to respond to potentially fraudulent activity before it happens. This can be achieved through an actionable online banking system that enables account holders to take action either through their online banking platform or phone using voice biometrics. As a result, financial institutions can have a competitive edge while minimizing fraud." About ACH Alert Founded in 2007, ACH Alert provides patented, innovative fraud detection services to financial institutions ranging from community banks to top tier financial institutions. Relying on more than 25 years of industry experience, ACH Alert assists financial institutions in mitigating the risks associated with electronic payments. ACH Alert is the 2012 recipient of the Kevin O'Brien ACH Quality Award, the highest award for quality in the ACH Network industry. For more information, visit www.achalert.com, or follow them on Twitter (News - Alert) @ACHAlert, Facebook, or LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005167/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] International Aerospace Week - Montreal 2019 - Artificial Intelligence: Reinventing the Aerospace Supply Chain MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Aero Montreal, Quebec's aerospace cluster, is today holding the Global Supply Chain Summit as part of International Aerospace Week, which runs from April 15 to 18, 2019, at the Palais des congres de Montreal. Nearly 2,300 Canadian and international aerospace representatives and government officials are participating in this major event. The Global Supply Chain Summit aims to highlight the many innovations and business opportunities created by the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the aerospace supply chain. With this in mind, the event was developed in strategic partnership with SCALE AI, Canada's artificial intelligence (AI) supercluster dedicated to building the next generation of supply chains and to driving industrial performance. "The convergence of AI and aerospace in Qubec is promising and will enable us to bring our industrial capabilities to another level," says the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. "As a result, our aerospace industry will maintain its position as a leader among innovative and export-oriented industries in Canada." "This forum represents a unique opportunity for participants to discuss the issues and business opportunities generated by the rise of AI," says Suzanne M. Benoit, President of Aero Montreal. "OEMs and SMEs are already working to transform their companies to tackle this transformation. Our industry is being called on to evolve across disciplines, working with other clusters, such as the one for artificial intelligence. It is this collaboration between players in sectors related to aerospace that will lead our companies to offer even more innovative solutions." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, kicked off the Summit today. Several conferences are on the program, including a prestigious forum with Alain Bellemare, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier, and Philippe Balducchi, Chief Executive Officer of the C Series Limited Partnership. International Aerospace Week - Montreal 2019 is being organized in collaboration with the National Research Council Canada and Norton Rose Fulbright. Airbus, Bombardier, NSERC, EY and the Fonds de solidarite FTQ are Gold partners of this year's Summit. About Aero Montreal Created in 2006, Aero Montreal is a strategic think tank that groups all major decision makers in Quebec's aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, as well as associations and unions. The activities of Aero Montreal are made possible thanks to the participation of the governments of Quebec and Canada, the Montreal Metropolitan Community, as well as company members of the cluster. SOURCE Aero Montreal [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Intrinsyc Announces Availability of Hardware Development Kit Featuring Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform New Platform to Accelerate Development of Premium, Flagship Mobile Devices, Providing Innovative Architectures for Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Experiences Introducing the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intrinsyc Technologies Corporation (TSX: ITC and OTC: ISYRF) (Intrinsyc), a leading developer of intelligent connected devices, today announced the availability of the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit , a new mobile hardware development kit (HDK) featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform, a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. To support the ecosystem of technology companies and application providers looking to utilize the advanced features of the Snapdragon 855, Intrinsyc Technologies Corporation is introducing the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit . The HDK is an open-frame solution that empowers technology companies to integrate and innovate for devices based on the latest Snapdragon mobile platform, as well as provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), developers and engineers with next generation software technology and tools to accelerate development and testing of devices. It includes all the software tools and accessories required to immediately begin development work. The HDK is a full featured Android development platform that provides an ideal starting point for creating high-performance mobile devices and applications. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform pushes the boundaries of computing and power performance; with innovations in immersive multimedia, artificial intelligence, and security, said Victor Gonzalez, Vice President, Engineering, Intrinsyc. We are very excited to ofer access to a comprehensive development kit allowing technology companies and connected device makers to accelerate their product development using the powerful and innovative Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform. The Snapdragon 855 utilizes Qualcomm Technologies heterogenous compute expertise to offer a platform for immersive multimedia experiences including eXtended reality (XR), on-device artificial intelligence (AI), lightning-fast connectivity, and a secure processing unit (SPU) engineered to support vault-like security for premium, flagship mobile devices. Supporting a robust mobile performance, the Snapdragon 855 includes the following features: Qualcomm Kryo 485 CPU Continuous 4K HDR capture Qualcomm Hexagon 690 DSP featuring 2x Vector eXtensions and a new Tensor accelerator Qualcomm Adreno 640 GPU Qualcomm aptX Adaptive and Qualcomm Aqstic audio technology Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engine Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6-ready The HDK is an ideal platform for development in artificial intelligence, app development, IP cameras and smart phones. Connectors, ports and accessories available with Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit: Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2x2 with MU-MIMO Bluetooth 5.0 GNSS (GPS/GLONASS/COMPASS/GALILEO) I/O Interfaces: 1x USB 3.1 Type C +2x USB 3.0 Type A DisplayPort over USB 3.1 Type-C 1x Micro SD Card 2x MIPI 4-lane DSI + touch panel 4x MIPI 4-lane CSI with support for 3D camera configuration 1x HDMI out Expansion headers for additional features Sensor I/O Headset Audio Input/Output Operating System: Android 9 Optional Accessories: Display + Expansion Board: TFT QHD LCD (2560x1440) with Touch Panel, 5.7 Cameras: 12MP + 5MP Front, DUAL 12MP + 13MP Rear Users of Intrinsyc Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit will receive product documentation and access to complimentary tools and software updates, and additional technical support or product development assistance through Intrinsycs technical support services. Intrinsycs expertise includes device driver development as well as advanced proficiency in camera development and tuning, audio tuning, and artificial intelligence. The Snapdragon 855 Mobile Hardware Development Kit is available to order at https://shop.intrinsyc.com/collections/product-development-kits/products/snapdragon-855-hdk About Intrinsyc Technologies Corporation Intrinsyc provides comprehensive product development services, as well as the industrys highest-performance production-ready computing modules, to enable rapid commercialization of embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) products. Intrinsyc has successfully delivered over 1,300 client projects including sophisticated consumer and industrial IoT products like: robotics, connected cameras, smart displays, augmented reality, smart buildings, wearables, in-vehicle infotainment, and many others. Intrinsycs Open-Q System on Modules incorporate the industrys most advanced Qualcomm Snapdragon processor technology from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and help OEMs to rapidly bring industry leading products, with rich functionality and high performance, to market. Intrinsyc is publicly traded (TSX: ITC and OTCQX: ISYRF) and is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada; with additional product development centers in Taipei, Taiwan, and Bangalore, India. For more information, please contact: Victor Gonzalez Vice President, Engineering Intrinsyc Technologies Corporation Email: [email protected] Phone: +1-604-801-6461 Intrinsyc and Open-Q and their respective logos are trademarks, registered and otherwise, of Intrinsyc Technologies Corporation in Canada, European Union, Taiwan, United States of America and other jurisdictions. Qualcomm, Snapdragon, Kryo, Adreno, and Hexagonare trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Qualcomm Aqstic is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. aptX is a trademark of Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd., registered in the United States and other countries. Qualcomm Snapdragon, Qualcomm Kryo, Qualcomm Adreno, Qualcomm Hexagon, Qualcomm aptX, Qualcomm Aqstic, Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6, and Qualcomm Artificial Intelligence Engine are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Other products or brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5b5bb3f9-be24-4797-821a-8636839e43be [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] KaDa Story shared Insights on the Significance of Picture-Booking Reading during Early English Learning at ASU-GSV 2019 SAN DIEGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "10th annual ASU+GSV Summit", co-sponsored by Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley, was held on April 8 to 10 in San Diego, California, and got off to a great start. This major event gathered luminaries from the political, commercial, scientific, and educational fields of 45 countries and regions worldwide, including Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, and Marc Brackett, Founding Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Being a representative of Chinese children's digital content field, Sally Xie, founder and CEO of KaDa Story, was invited to participate in this world-class EdTech Summit and shared her new concepts on early English language development for Chinese children. The significance of Early English education has been recognized; the key to language Language learning is cultivating the right attitude China has the largest number of English learners in the world. At the session "CHINA POP UP" held on April 9, Sally Xie, along with Lianzhong Zhang, professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Michael Yu, founder and Chairman of New Oriental, Chunna Zhu, Chairman and CEO of Micro-language, and other guests shared their insights on "Decades: a short history of English learning in china across the generations". Sally Xie, a previous full-time English teacher, explained that compared to learners from the past, Chinese children nowadays are more privileged with easy access to various educational tools and materials during the process of learning English. Nevertheless, learning barriers still exist due to the different ways of thinking between Eastern and Western cultures. However, barriers to English study remain, the most significant of which is the differences between the modes of thinking of Western and Eastern people. Consequently, it would be more likely to restrain earners' progress without an adaptability to the thinking method cultivated in an English language environment. Just as Professor Zhang mentioned on the panel, "language learning goes for beyond language itself. It is embedded within the whole process of human development". As the idea of early English education has become more popular in recent years, a clear trend towards Chinese children learning English from a younger age has emerged. A research in 2018 by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that nearly one third of the Chinese generations born after 1980 have bachelor or higher degrees. Among these newly-become parents, 72% of them are in favor of learning English from a younger age and making good use of the critical period of language acquisition, which fosters a positive language learning environment and creates opportunities for language learning institutions. With a full implementation of the Second-Child Policy, the market of English language education that is targeted at younger learners would reach at a billion-dollar level. Visual Aids are Essential in Early Childhood Development, Audio-Visual Books Provide Optimal Learning Tools Though the significance of early English education is widely recognized, most parents remain unclear about which methods to employ to fully unleash the potential of their children to learn effectively during their "Critical Period". Sally Xie believes that since written Chinese uses characters, which were developed from logographic symbols -- meaning that a symbol represents a concept rather than a sound and it demands higher analytical and logical ability. As a result, Chinese language learners tend to be more left-brain dominant. Compared to this, the phonetic system used in English encourages learners' reliance on syllable memorization, which is more dependent on right-brain functions. Thus Chinese children have to switch back and forth between these two "linguistic logics" when learning English. During this process, negative language transfer can easily result. But images serve as excellent conveyors of information, helping avoid problems due to shifting between the separate logics of the two languages.Regardless of the inclination of left or right brain usage, children need to utilize pictures for a better learning outcome at an early stage. Therefore, audio-visual books become one of the most appropriate learning tools. Launched on the platform of WeChat Mini Program and developed by KaDa Story, "KaDa Can" is designed on this very same concept. Language acquisition requires a large degree of contextualization of learning materials, while it is hard for Chinese children to be exposed to a sufficient and authentic language input. As a solution, KaDa Can collaborated with world-class content providers, such as Walt Disney Company, to introduce professional level reading books, like Big Cat and Farfaria. Furthermore, KaDa Can developed a unique level reading measure system to personalize reading experience for Chinese children. At the same time, it can greatly improve children's self-esteem and self-capacity during the AI assisted self-recording process of reading books aloud and eliminate the "silence period". Education should serve for a full range of human development. The reasons of learning English, a universal language, exceed the expectation of mastering a communicative tool into the development of a global perspective and a comprehensive skill set. Sally Xie said, "Through English picture books, we want to empower our children to perceive the beauty of language, to experience different cultures and customs, and to facilitate the development of lifelong learning abilities, such as cross-cultural communication and critical thinking. KaDa Story will be a window for reading across the world. It will also be a starting point of studying and living abroad experience". View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kada-story-shared-insights-on-the-significance-of-picture-booking-reading-during-early-english-learning-at-asu-gsv-2019-300832948.html SOURCE KaDa Story [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Mindset Innovation will be able to market its innovative headphones internationally The Government of Canada awards $150,000 in funding to this startup SME MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) Mindset Innovation Inc. (Mindset) is a startup company that has designed highly innovative headphones that help improve the concentration of employees, especially those working in open spaces. To support its international marketing efforts, Mindset will benefit from a $150,000 repayable contribution from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. The funding will allow the SME to organize various marketing support activities. Rachel Bendayan, Member of Parliament for Outremont, took advantage of her meeting with Jacob Flood, one of the co-founders of Mindset, to announce the funding. Specifically, the Government of Canada assistance will help expedite the commercialization of the headphones developed by Mindset. The company's goal is to offer solutions aimed at increasing office employee productivity. Mindset was founded in 2016 by three young engineering graduates. Besides being in line with the Government of Canada's priorities, notably those relating to the commercialization of innovation, the project will also create 13 quality high-tech jobs and generate a total investment of over $450,000. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting innovative Canadian businesses. A driving force of the economy, innovation is the key to success because it generates growth that benefits both businesses and communities. This is why we are committed to ensuring that businesses are able to rely on adequate resources to create and market innovative products. Quotes "By investing in ths startup SME's project, the Government of Canada is standing by its commitment to help businesses grow, innovate and export their products and services, thus creating quality jobs and ensuring the prosperity of the Canadian economy." Rachel Bendayan, MP for Outremont "With its Innovation and Skills Plan, the Government of Canada has introduced an ambitious approach to supporting innovative Canadian businesses that are coming up with new ways of creating value, and which are looking to capture new markets. This represents a firm commitment to the creation of sustainable jobs and to the prosperity of the community." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister responsible for CED Quick facts Today's announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister responsible for the Innovation, Science and Economic Development portfolio, which is made up of 17 federal departments and agencies, including CED and the other five regional development agencies. The funding was provided under CED's Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program. To find out more about CED and its priorities, see the 20182019 Departmental Plan or visit www.dec-ced.gc.ca. The Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program targets entrepreneurs who leverage innovation to grow their businesses and make them more competitive, and regional economic stakeholders who help create an entrepreneurial environment conducive to innovation and inclusive growth in all regions. For 50 years now, the Government of Canada has been actively involved in regional economic development in Quebec: half a century of concrete action targeting the growth of Quebec's regions and businesses. Stay connected Follow CED on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube Follow Mindset Innovation on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Tridonic Eases a Critical Bottleneck in Luminaire Production DORNBIRN, Austria, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tridonic's companionSUITE is a dynamic set of software tools used for defining LED driver parameters and transferring parameter settings in production. For the first time, you can see all the features and driver parameter settings on screen and define them precisely without having to review cumbersome datasheets. companionSUITE provides process optimization, minimizes production errors and enables simple read back of faulty drivers. The software tools are compatible with common driver interfaces such as DALI, DALI-2, ready2mains and now NFC. Providing a wireless transfer of LED driver settings, up to 20 drivers in a box can be programmed at the same time without a transmission cable when using NFC technology. Tridonic's companionSUITE software tools provide significant time and cost savings in the production of luminaires, because of increased yield in parameterization of LED drivers. companionSUITE consists of three dynamic software tools designed for the effortless creation of parameter profiles for drivers, uploading (transferring) of parameters to the driver as well as exporting data from returned products. deviceGENERATOR provides luminaire manufacturers with an easy way to create individual profiles and save settings for subsequent transmission to drivers. As a web-based tool, there is no need to install software or perform manual updates. deviceCONFIGURATOR simplifies the configuration of the luminaires, providing production staff with an efficient and secure way to transmit the correct driver settings to the devices up to 20 drivers in one box. deviceANALYSER provides support for quality management by performing a comprehensive fault analysis on drivers from returned luminaires. Also, the exported parameters from returned drivers can then be compared with the original configuration. Installation and updates are not needed as the software is accessed on the web. By enabling its software tools and LED drivers with an NFC interface, Tridonic is making it easy to implement this wireless technology. Only one NFC antenna is required in the production area and isavailable as a handheld device and as an NFC interface, which can also be installed directly on workbenches. NFC antennas transmit data via electromagnetic induction to receivers located in the immediate vicinity. For luminaire production, information is transmitted to the LED drivers that are to be programmed with configuration data. "Due to the significant time and cost savings, wireless data transfer using NFC is becoming increasingly more popular in luminaire production. Since a cable no longer has to be connected to the driver, several drivers or even entire packaging units can be programmed at one time. Combined with our companionSUITE of software tools, it provides a solution that alleviates critical bottlenecks in luminaire production. We look forward to enabling our customers' competitive advantages by making this advanced technology available in the U.S.," says Paul A. Montesino LC, Product Director Americas, Tridonic USA. A video illustrating the NFC function in luminaire production is available on the Tridonic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leIMO3pMkbk Tridonic's U.S. portfolio includes dimmable, constant current, indoor, linear LED drivers for area lighting in offices, education, healthcare, and general lighting applications. The excite (EXC) lp and C series LED drivers can be programmed via Tridonic's ready2mains interface. Tridonic's excite2 (EXC2) series of LED drivers are compatible for programming via NFC technology. Attending LIGHTFAIR International 2019? If so, you are invited to attend a live demo at Tridonic's booth #4039 in the IoT Pavilion. The tradeshow and conference is held from May 21-23 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The live demo will show how to program LED drivers via NFC in the production line using Tridonic's companionSUITE software tools. After, you can participate in a challenge where you'll have a chance to do your own programming and match your skills against Tridonic's "Lucy." Stop by to learn more. About Tridonic Tridonic is a world-leading supplier of lighting technology, supporting its customers with intelligent hardware and software and offering the highest level of quality, reliability and energy savings. As a global driver of innovation in the field of lighting-based network technology, Tridonic develops scalable, future-oriented solutions that enable new business models for lighting manufacturers, building managers, systems integrators, planners and many other types of customer. To promote the vision of the "Internet of Light", Tridonic relies on partnerships with other specialists. The goal is the joint development of innovative technological solutions that convert lighting systems into intelligent networks and thereby enable associated services. Its profound, technical industry expertise makes Tridonic an ideal partner for established brands and for newcomers to the market. Tridonic is the technology company of the Zumtobel Group and is headquartered in Dornbirn, Austria. In the 2017/18 tax year, Tridonic generated sales of 352.7 million. 1,690 highly skilled employees and a worldwide sales presence in over 50 countries provide the basis for developing and launching new, smart and connected lighting systems. www.tridonic.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tridonic-eases-a-critical-bottleneck-in-luminaire-production-300832674.html SOURCE Tridonic [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Vapor Group, Inc. Secures $100,000 Purchase Order from White Label Liquid, Inc. Vapor Group, Inc. (OTC Pink: VPOR) ("the Company") continued its successful run this week, securing a purchase order for approximately $100,000 from White Label Liquid, Inc. (OTC Pink: WLAB), an industry leader in the CBD private-label manufacturing business. White Label Liquid has built itself up as the go-to manufacturer for many popular brands in the current CBD marketplace. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005351/en/ Vapor Group Purchase Order Transaction (Photo: Business Wire) The order is the Company's largest for bulk CBD isolate to-date and represents the continued success of its new business model, one which has now brought in over $200,000 in total sales throughout the last few months. Today, Vapor Group is a trusted provider of high-purity, high-potency premium bulk CBD isolate to retailers across the country. The Company's use of cutting-edge manufacturing facilities and processes, including nanotechnology, delivers to customers a competitive advantage in quality and product effectiveness that is unsurpassed in the global market. The CBD industry as a whole is attracting more and more investors who see its significant long term potential, which is projected to explode to as much as $16 billion within the next few years. "White Label Liquid i one of the best at what they do in this industry," said Vapor Group President and CEO David Zinger. "This order attests to the validity of our new business model and the quality of our product. We're confident that we will continue to attract significant orders that over time will bring strong returns for our shareholders." The CBD market continues to expand at a rapid pace, with aspiring entrepreneurs and established large chain retailers embracing the industry at an exponential growth rate. Recent surveys suggest that close to 7 percent of Americans already use the hemp-derived compound. About Vapor Group, Inc. Vapor Group, a publicly-traded OTC company, trading under the symbol VPOR, today is a holding company with its principal operating subsidiary being VPOR, Inc., www.VPOR.com. Vapor Group provides only premium bulk CBD products made from 100 percent industrialized organic hemp that is produced by top growers in the U.S. from states like Kentucky, Colorado, and Oregon. The Company works directly with B2B businesses in the sector to stay up-to-the-minute on the latest consumer trends in the category. Vapor Group also is the owner of Simple Cork, Inc., www.simplecork.com, the developer of a new, multi-nationally patented combination wine bottle cork/opener being prepared for market entry. If you have specific questions about the Company, please email us at [email protected]. About White Label Liquid, Inc.: White Label Liquid is a leading one-stop manufacturing service providing premium custom-blended products containing hemp-derived CBD oil, all of which are sold to a wide variety of companies including major and small brands, chain stores, vape shops, distributors and dealers worldwide. The Company has the capability to produce up to 50,000 units per day in various packaging sizes and shapes using custom labels and customized presentation packaging. It merged last year with the former Simply Innovative Products, Inc. to create a publicly-traded company under the White Label Liquid, Inc. name dedicated to sharing its veteran industry expertise for the benefit of customers and shareholders alike. Safe Harbor: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005351/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] WELLINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand should be more active in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation, otherwise New Zealand may miss one of the largest multilateral economic projects of this century, said an expert on Tuesday. Simon Draper, executive director of Asia New Zealand Foundation, who attended the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, is set to leave for the second version of the event to be held in Beijing later this month, when the country's Minister of Trade and Export Growth David Parker is expected to lead a business delegation to the highly-regarded forum. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Xinhua ahead of the forum, Draper said New Zealand should try to understand BRI better, as a partner of China. "It's clear from my observation and participation two years ago that this is a very big and important project for China and New Zealand is a friend of China. So if it's important for China should be important for New Zealand. Moreover, this is a project which has an enormous scale. It's more than just about infrastructure and economy," he said. "We should participate with its benefit for China and benefit for New Zealand." Aiming to tackle key infrastructure gaps across Asia and beyond thus connecting countries and economies in new ways, the BRI has a great deal of positive potential, said Draper. The BRI, a reference to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was initiated by China in 2013 with the aim of building a trade, investment, and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. "For New Zealanders, the Belt and Road has really only entered our collective consciousness over the past couple of years. New Zealand has a memorandum of arrangement on the Belt and Road signed during Premier Li Keqiang's visit in May 2017. Nearly two years since that visit, New Zealand is still trying to figure out what exactly it means and our role in it," said Draper. According to a recent survey by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, 44 percent of New Zealanders have heard of the BRI and about a quarter of New Zealanders say they know at least a little bit about it. Those figures have grown since the foundation's earlier surveys on the topic. "New Zealanders are aware of the Belt and Road, but they don't really understand it very much. So, there's some work for the Chinese government and for organizations like ours to help explain the Belt and Road," said Draper. "The Belt and Road is most easily understandable as an infrastructure project - but if anyone still thought it could be a quick-fix for Auckland's traffic woes, I'm afraid to say that's not going to happen. It is more likely that New Zealand will be involved in improving systems and processes that connect economies," said Draper. Though far from the historic Silk Road, Draper believes that at its core as a small, export-led economy, New Zealand traditionally prefers to be "in the tent" rather than out when it comes to new international initiatives. "Getting involved early on gives us a chance to help shape new projects and advocate for standards that align with our interests and values - the most recent example being the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank," said Draper. New Zealand was the first developed western nation to join negotiations to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is closely associated with the BRI projects. "In the case of the Belt and Road, New Zealand will be pushing for things like inclusivity, transparency, developments that respect sovereignty," he said. "Being involved doesn't mean that New Zealand will have to roll over and put aside its values and interests. But if we walk away completely, not only will we not be able to influence even in a small way, we may miss out on one of the biggest economic projects of this century." As a developed country, Draper said New Zealand is more likely to be involved in improving the systems and processes to support BRI, playing an important role in software rather such as trade facilitation (biosecurity, customs clearance, for instance) research collaboration and commercialisation; and in the creative sector other than in infrastructure. Meanwhile, Draper said that South American countries are actively participating in the BRI, in which New Zealand can play a pivotal role. "When you see the geographical location between China, New Zealand and Chile, you can find that New Zealand happens to be in the middle of China to South America. New Zealand can play a role as a conduit between China and South America." One has transformed a desert into a fabled land of prosperity, harmony, and innovation. The other is sitting on a mound of natural resources, just started to come on its own, out of the shadow of previous regimes. Relations between the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan would seem to be a match made in heaven, as was demonstrated recently during the visit of President Shavkat Mirzoyoyev of Uzbekistan to the UAE. The chemistry between him and the UAE leaders whom he met Crown Prince Mohamad bin Zayad al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and UAE Vice President and Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was terrific. And it was not without reason. Both the UAE and Uzbekistan stand to greatly benefit from each other and deepening bilateral ties and mutual confidence and faith in each other is only a matter of course. The UAE has much to teach the world about good governance, ease of doing business, tolerance, religious and ethnic diversity, and managing expatriate populations. Dubai, for instance, embodies the latest achievements in science and technology. Uzbekistan on the other hand is a resource rich state, with enormous reserves of natural gas, uranium, and gold, which is eager to engage the outer world. Having cast off the shadow of the gigantic Soviet Union, under the dynamic leadership of its current president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, it is eager to chart out a new course on its historic destiny. It seeks to embrace the world, even while claiming its rightful place in the international community. With centuries old ties binding one to the other, both sides therefore, and rightly, seem eager to consolidate the ties that already exist, while exploring for expanding them in newer areas. The experience of the UAE and other nation states that have made great strides in exploiting technology and harnessing human potential is vital for Uzbekistan. As President Mirziyoyev pointed out the UAE has created a miracle in the desert within a historically short period of time to become one of the global centers of economy, innovation, trade, finance and tourism. In recent years, bilateral relations between the two countries have risen to a qualitatively new level. The UAE with a sovereign wealth fund of USD 800 billion is a valuable economic partner for the cash strapped and doubly landlocked Central Asian country. The UAE has long been looking to diversify its economy, away from oil, and away from the traditional Western markets. Today, 107 enterprises operate in Uzbekistan with participation of investments from the Emirates, while 28 firms and companies from the UAE have representative offices in Uzbekistan. They specialize mainly in the production of textiles, building materials, canned fruit, in the printing business, wholesale trade, services. The trade turnover between the two countries currently is USD 400 million, but the potential was much higher, as President Morziyoyev pointed out. It was to expand these ties and take them to the logical next step that President Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to the UAE from March 24-26, 2019. Agreements worth a whopping USD 10 billion were signed a far cry from 2007 when the late President Islam Karimov had visited the UAE in the quest for USD 3.5 billion worth of deals. Both countries also have immense potential for cooperation in the tourism sector. Last year, the number of tourists from the UAE to Uzbekistan grew 1.5 times. Apart from the many tourist attractions, what also attracts visitors to Uzbekistan from the Middle East is the numerous shrines of significance to Muslim populations the world over. A recently signed decree of the President of Uzbekistan enables citizens of the United Arab Emirates to enter Uzbekistan visa-free. This would contribute not only to the development of tourism, but also to the further intensification of trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation between the two countries. But Uzbekistan also has the potential to be a valuable partner to the UAE in other spheres too. It has a highly trained and skilled human resource pool. Hundreds of Uzbek nationals live and work in the UAE. Both as modern Muslim countries have amply demonstrated religious moderation and tolerance, a respect for diversity, and for ensuring womens rights. They serve as role models for countries like Afghanistan and others in the Muslim world. Uzbekistan has a successful counter terrorism program and its program to counter religious radicalism sets the paradigm for other countries struggling with such threats to follow. It has battled insurgency and extremist movements like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and Hizb-ur-Tehreer. It has had numerous citizens flocking to the Islamic State in Syria and views the threat from it very seriously. Nevertheless, as the center for Muslim learning for centuries, it has adroitly managed to leave healthy space for peoples religious beliefs and traditions, as well as to publicly maintain a healthy space from overt religiosity and harmony and diversity. Hosting the Regional Anti Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Uzbekistan thus makes for an important partner for sharing intelligence, cooperation in counter-terrorism and in regional peace. Similarly, the UAE, as a model state for its citizens and the millions of expatriates working there, is particularly invested in battling the scourge of religious radicalism and violent extremism that it can breed. In particular, religious radicalism and terrorism in the region seeks to overthrow the existing order, and therefore targets the very regimes in place there. Countering extremism is synonymous with regime protection in the region and the countries of the Gulf Coordination Council therefore take this threat extremely seriously. Both countries therefore have a major role to play in combating radical Islam and violent extremism in the region. This was also reflected in the joint statement issued by both sides in which the leaders reiterated their determination in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism, illegal migration, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and other threats and security challenges. This also makes the partnership a valuable factor in the stabilization of Afghanistan another area that both countries are invested in. Both countries want to see a stable and secure Afghanistan in peace with itself and the region. Both the UAE and Uzbekistan have clout in the Muslim world. While UAE was one of the only three countries to have extended legitimacy to the Taliban rule in the 1990s, it more recently hosted the militant group and facilitated talks between it and US officials in December 2018. Its financial and other aid to the country together with the leverage that the UAE has over Pakistan through its financial aid to the latter makes it an indispensable partner for the stabilization of Afghanistan. Moreover, in 2017 UAE officials suffered direct terror attacks in Afghanistan which claimed the life of the UAE ambassador to that country. This makes it even more urgent for them to usher in some kind of stability in the war ravaged country. Further, as a modern prosperous multi-ethnic state, the UAE is wary of regressive regimes like the Taliban and has the leverage to keep it in check, should any future government in Afghanistan include the Taliban. Uzbekistan, as a bordering state with Afghanistan, had directly suffered from the fallout of the Afghan jihad, which has spawned groups like the IMU. Many Uzbek nationals have flocked to join the ISIS and Uzbekistan is wary of ISIS cultivating a base in Afghan, as it is of returning Uzbek recruits to ISIS. In view of all this, Uzbekistan has been playing an extremely positive role in trying to solve the Afghan conundrum. Not only did the country allow its territory to be used as a transit route by US and NATO forces in the immediate aftermath of the war in Afghanistan and overthrow of the Taliban, in recent years it has been facilitating peace talks and mediation between different stakeholders regarding Afghanistan, as was seen in the Tashkent international conference on Afghanistan in March 2018, and in which the UAE had also participated. Finally, both as modern Muslim countries have amply demonstrated religious moderation and tolerance, a respect for diversity, and for ensuring womens rights. They serve as role models for countries like Afghanistan and others in the Muslim world. Which only goes to make the partnership between the UAE and Uzbekistan even more valuable for the region, and beyond. [April 16, 2019] Verusen Selected for Dubai Future Accelerators Program in the United Arab Emirates ATLANTA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Verusen, an innovator in materials inventory and data management technology, announced today that it has joined the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) program in Dubai, UAE. The company was selected as one of seven startups out of 245 global applications and is working with Emirates Airlines, one of the world's leading airlines, to help solve its inventory management challenge. Verusen's cloud platform uses artificial intelligence to harmonize and provide visibility into materials inventory data from ERP and other systems. The technology will help lay the data foundation for materials inventory management and procurement across Emirates Airlines' complex global supply chain. Verusen and the six other companies began the nine-week DFA program on March 2 in Dubai and will address three primary challenge categories with Emirates, one of the government's global companies. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum recently spoke about Dubai's role in the Emirates' Centennial 2071 vision, saying that "Preparing for our future is a necessity, not a luxury. Unprepared governments will suffer from missed opportunities and lost wealth." "We facilitate partnerships between the tartups and the government entities to co-create solutions of tomorrow. Verusen has been selected among more than 245 applications, which shows the expertise and innovation the company can offer Emirates Airlines," said Saeed Al Falasi, Executive Director of the Future Platform, Dubai Future Foundation. The program is designed to continue to showcase and build Dubai as the central hub for technology. "We're both honored and excited to join Dubai Future Accelerators and work with Emirates Airlines, a renowned global airline, to help build the data foundation for the supply chain of the future," said Verusen CEO Paul Noble. "Working so closely in an accelerated program with DFA and other innovative companies such as Emirates is a unique opportunity to build a special partnership." In addition to Noble, other key Verusen team members taking part in the DFA program are CTO JR Lomas and Solutions Architect Daryl Lu. About Verusen Verusen is an innovator in materials inventory and data management technology that uses artificial intelligence to reduce working capital and support more agile supply chains. The company's cloud platform harmonizes disparate materials inventory data from ERP and other systems for more proactive materials management, while also providing predictive capabilities that continually optimize inventory allocation and identify procurement needs. Based in Atlanta, Verusen is a SAP.iO company. Visit verusen.com for more information, or follow us on Twitter at @Verusen_AI and on LinkedIn. Media Contact: Jan Sisko Carabiner Communications 678.461.7438 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verusen-selected-for-dubai-future-accelerators-program-in-the-united-arab-emirates-300832701.html SOURCE Verusen [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] New Boundary Technologies to Host Workshop and Conference Session at IoT Fuse 2019 Attendees can visit New Boundary Technologies at the Mel Foster table to view demos of its RemoteAware IoT application service and Mel Fosters Barn Sentry barn monitoring solution Minneapolis, MN April 15, 2019 New Boundary Technologies, a leading provider of innovative Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications, announced today that CEO Kim Pearson is speaking at IoT Fuse 2019. IoT Fuse is the IoT industrys largest hands-on workshop. IoT Fuse 2019 takes place in Minneapolis, with workshops at the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis Campus April 23 and 24 and the conference taking place at the Minneapolis Convention Center on April 25. New Boundary Technologies will first host a two-hour workshop on April 23 at 1:15 pm titled Building Enterprise & Industrial IoT Web Applications without Coding at the University of St. Thomas. This session will provide attendees with practical tips to speed their connected products from concept to successful full-scale deployment. The session will address IoT security, enterprise application scalability, user experience requirements and preventing technical obsolescence. Integrating with Amazon AWS IoT and Microsoft Azure Iot Hub, data analytics, machine learning and back-office applications will also be covered. Attendees will learn how to build secure and scalable customer-facing applications that support wired and wireless sensors, PLCs and equipment communicating to the Internet using embedded and off the shelf cellular, LPWAN (LoRa, Sigfox), Ethernet and satellite communications hardware. Technical and non-technical leaders of OEMs, distributors, and IoT solution providers will build an end-to-end enterprise-scalable, responsive web IoT application with live sensor data using the RemoteAware IoT Application Service. No hardware or programming experience is required. Each attendee will receive an Amazon AWS IoT Button and a free 30-day RemoteAware demonstration account. On April 25 at 4:15 pm, Mr. Pearson will join Steve Riedel, regional trade manager of the Minnesota Trade Office in presenting a session titled Tools and Expertise for Solving Water Challenges with IoT in the Minneapolis Convention Center Room #201. They will discuss how water challenges such as leak detection, conservation and quality monitoring can be addressed with IoT technology. The duo will touch on how Minnesota is positioned to seize opportunities in international settings and the states plans for a 2019 water tech delegation to Israel, one of the most advanced water tech nations. Attendees can visit New Boundary Technologies at the Mel Foster Table #403 in Zone 3 at the IoT Fuse Conference on April 25 to view demonstrations of its RemoteAware IoT Application Service and Mel Fosters Barn Sentry barn monitoring solution. Barn Sentry uses the RemoteAware IoT Application Service and connects to the John Deere Operation Center through John Deeres API services New Boundary Technologies is thrilled to participate in IoT Fuse again this year, discussing the latest IoT applications for enterprise and industrial use, said New Boundary Technologies CEO Kim Pearson. Were excited to share our expertise and demonstrate our capabilities of RemoteAware and partnering solutions to technical and non-technical attendees alike. See the full IoT Fuse Conference workshop schedule at https://iotfuse.com/. About New Boundary Technologies New Boundary Technologies has been pioneering innovative Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications for more than 30 years. Its RemoteAware IoT application service (www.remoteaware.com) has provided private label branded solutions for Fortune 500 companies, solution providers and system integrators since 2001. RemoteAware applications are provided as a hosted service, so solution providers and customers dont need their own IT resources. A rich set of out-of-the-box capabilities delivers applications quickly requiring little or no software development. About RemoteAware RemoteAware is a hardware and communications independent IoT Application Service that provides real-time monitoring and control of remote sensors and equipment using a single pane-of-glass web dashboard. RemoteAware-powered applications can be private-label branded and integrate Amazon AWS IoT, Microsoft Azure, and third-party analytics and back-office applications. About IoT Fuse IoT Fuse (www.iotfuse.com) unites the brightest executives, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators focused on the Internet of Things space. The IoT Fuse Conference is the nation's most widely recognized, practitioner-run IoT event. ### As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] Aerohive Networks Announces Preliminary First Quarter 2019 Financial Results Aerohive (News - Alert) Networks (NYSE: HIVE), a leader in cloud-managed networking, today announced preliminary results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, based upon preliminary unaudited financial information. Revenue for the first quarter is expected to be approximately $33 million, which is below the Company's previously stated guidance of $36 million to $38 million provided on February 6, 2019. The Company believes approximately half of the revenue shortfall to be primarily due to sales execution issues in the United States, and the other half to be primarily due to two mix shifts in the quarter: An unexpected shift in unit product mix from mid- to lower-priced access points. Revenue on lower-priced access point business is more heavily weighted toward deferred subscription revenue. The Company believes this mix shift was an anomaly in the quarter and not an indication of a future trend, and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) access point business in the quarter increased sequentially from 15% to 20% of total Wi-Fi business. A faster-than-expected transition from licenses to multi-year subscriptions. While demonstrating increasing acceptance of Aerohive's subscription-based cloud offering, it resulted in a greater portion of revenue being deferred. These mix shifts resulted in the Company recognizing a higher portion of shipment value as deferred revenue in the quarter. This generated record deferred revenue balances, but also reduced in-quarter product revenue. On a GAAP basis, the Company expects net loss per share for the first quarter to be in the range of $0.15 to $0.16, compared with previously stated guidance of a net loss of $0.08 to $0.10 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, the Company expects net loss per share to be in the range of $0.09 to $0.10, compared with previously stated guidance of a net loss of $0.01 to $0.03 per share. The difference in the expected GAAP and non-GAAP results is primarily stock-based compensation expense. "While we are disappointed with sales execution in the US and are implementing measures to improve in this region, we see clear signs that the US education market is returning to growth and believe we are well-positioned to benefit. The 2019 E-rate cycle resulted in a 55% year-over-year increase in funding requests for Aerohive products and over 10% market share of all funding requested for 'wireless data distribution,' as reported by E-rate Profit Works. We expect E-rate orders to begin to flow in the second quarter but primarily to contribute to results in the second half of the year," stated David Flynn, president and chief executive officer, Aerohive Networks (News - Alert). "In the second quarter we expect to see continued progress in our migration to a more SaaS-like business model, as market demand is dictating more cloud-based subscription services and this revenue line continues to grow in the high teens year-over-year." During the first quarter of 2019, Aerohive achieved the following milestones: Continued year-over-year revenue growth in EMEA; Subscription and support revenue showed approximately 17% year-over-year growth; Deferred revenue balances grew by approximately 16% year-over-year; The Company was cash generative over the 12-month period ended March 31, 2019. These preliminary, unaudited results are based on management's initial review of operations for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 and remain subject to completion of the Company's customary quarterly closing and review procedures. There will not be a conference call in conjunction with this press release. First Quarter 2019 Conference Call to be held on May 8, 2019 Aerohive Networks will release full results for the first quarter 2019 in its regularly scheduled earnings release and conference call after the U.S. markets close on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. The conference call and live webcast for analysts and investors will take place at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time (5:00 p.m. Eastern time) that day. The call may be accessed by dialing 334-323-0509 and providing the passcode 7886738. A live and archived audio webcast of the conference call will be accessible from the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at https://ir.aerohive.com/. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Aerohive oprating performance and preliminary results for its first quarter of fiscal year 2019; the Company's expectations that it will be able to implement and benefit from improved sales execution measures in its U.S. and other sales regions; the Company's expectation that it will continue to migrate its business and benefit from a SaaS (News - Alert) model; and that the Company will over the course of the current fiscal year benefit from an anticipated increase in education spending under the federal E-rate program. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to completion of the Company's customary year-end and quarterly closing and review procedures. The actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of completion of these procedures. In addition, forward-looking statements in this press release are based on current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult or impossible to predict. The actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of these uncertainties, risk and changes in circumstances, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: the Company's ability to grow its Dell (News - Alert)-related business through OEM partnerships; the Company's ability to successfully sell new products and technologies, including a strengthened solution based on a mature HiveManager NG product and a new full-stack solution that adds SD-WAN to Access Switching and Wi-Fi products and new AP form factor that will simplify enterprise Wi-Fi deployments and topologies; the Company's ability to capitalize on changing industry trends, including capitalizing on the transition to 802.11ax as a frontrunner in delivering new 802.11ax access points; the Company's ability to expand its hospitality presence; the Company's ability to continue to attract, integrate, retain and train skilled personnel, especially skilled R&D and sales personnel, in general and in specific regions; the Company's ability to develop and expand its revenue opportunities and sales capacity and improve the effectiveness of its channel; the Company's ability to improve its operating and sales execution, general demand for wireless networking in the industry verticals the Company targets or demand for Aerohive products in particular; unpredictable and changing market conditions and risks associated with the deployment, performance and adoption of the Company's new products and services; competitive pressures from existing and new companies, including pricing pressures; changes in the mix and selling prices of the Company's products; and general market, political, regulatory, economic and business conditions in the United States and internationally, as well as inherent uncertainties, risk and changes in circumstances. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Aerohive's financial and operating results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in the Company's recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Aerohive's SEC (News - Alert) filings are available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at https://ir.aerohive.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and Aerohive Networks disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Aerohive's preliminary results for its first quarter of fiscal year 2019 reported in this press release include non-GAAP net loss per share as a financial measure. The Company defines non-GAAP net loss per share to exclude share-based compensation, adjustments to internal-use software amortization and certain charges related to litigation. The Company has included certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release because the Company believes they are key measures which can be used to evaluate the business, measure performance, identify trends affecting the business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating these non-GAAP financial measures can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of the Company's core business. Although investors frequently use non-GAAP financial measures in their evaluations of companies, these non-GAAP financial measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with the Company's results of operations, as determined in accordance with GAAP. Some of these limitations are: the non-GAAP measures do not consider the expense related to stock-based compensation, which is an ongoing expense for the Company; although amortization of internal-use software is a non-cash charge, the assets being amortized often will have to be replaced in the future, and the non-GAAP measures do not reflect any future cash requirement for such replacements; excluding certain expenses associated with litigation in the quarter or fiscal year does not reflect the impact on our ongoing operations over these periods of the cash requirement to defend such or other litigation; other companies, including companies in our industry, may not exclude these as non-GAAP financial measures or may include them but calculate them differently, which reduces their usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these and other limitations, you should consider non-GAAP financial measures only together with other financial performance measures, including various cash flow metrics, net loss and other GAAP results. About Aerohive Networks Aerohive uses Cloud Management, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence to radically simplify and secure the Access Network. Our Cloud-Managed Wireless, Switching, Routing, and Security technologies provide unrivalled flexibility in deployment, management, and licensing. Credited with pioneering Controller-less Wi-Fi and Cloud Management, Aerohive delivers continuous innovation at Cloud-speed that constantly challenges the industry norm, allowing customers to rethink what's possible. Our innovations and global cloud footprint radically simplify Access Network operation for 30,000+ customers and 10+ million daily users. See how at http://www.aerohive.com/customers. Aerohive was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA. For more information, please visit www.aerohive.com, call us at 408-510-6100, follow us on Twitter @Aerohive, subscribe to our blog, or become a fan on our Facebook page. "Aerohive" and "Aerohive Networks" are registered trademarks of Aerohive Networks, Inc. All product and company names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005819/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] EOS Celebrates 30 years: Moving Ahead With Passion for Industrial 3D Printing As the world's leading technology and solutions supplier in the field of industrial 3D printing EOS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Founded in 1989 by Dr. Hans J. Langer, the company now shapes the world of manufacturing with its innovative solutions. KRAILLING, Germany, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With an installed base of nearly 3,500 industrial 3D printing systems, the German family-owned enterprise EOS is the world's leading supplier of systems for additive manufacturing (AM) solutions. When founding the company on April 24, 1989, Dr. Hans J. Langer had a clear vision: producing three-dimensional objects directly from CAD data using laser technology, for what was at the time, a new rapid prototyping market. Balancing change and constancy A further success factor was that EOS was able to offer AM systems for processing both polymers and metals from an early stage, as well as the materials, processes, and software tailored to suit these systems for optimal results. In order to support companies even further in the use of AM technology, EOS founded its consulting unit Additive Minds in 2015. With 300+ successful customer projects, the 100+ Additive Minds experts are among the most successful AM consultants globally. Shaping the future of manufacturing The potential applications for 3D printing are unlimited as it is capable of producing flexible, light, and stable parts that only use as much raw material as needed to manufacture the product. EOS' technology and know-how are accordingly used in a variety of industries and areas of life: Whether fuel-saving components in the aviation sector, spare parts on demand for buses and trains, or prostheses individually created to suit each patient. Dr. Adrian Keppler, CEO of EOS shared: "The establishment of complete digital production platforms is a major goal that we are aiming to achieve in the coming years. It's not just about providing the right 3D printing solutions, but about evaluating, planning, setting-up, and optimizing AM production cells to leverage all the advantages and possibilities of digitalization." For full release Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180907/2230134-1LOGO SOURCE EOS [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] FRMO Corp. Announces Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results and Conference Call FRMO Corp. (the "Company" or "FRMO") (OTC Pink: FRMO) today reported its financial results for the 2019 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2019 (May Fiscal Year). Financial Highlights FRMO's book value as of February 28, 2019 was $171.0 million ($3.89 per share on a fully diluted basis), including $46.8 million of non-controlling interests. The figure from the prior fiscal year-end as of May 31, 2018 was $146.9 million ($3.34 per share), including $27.6 million of non-controlling interests. Current assets, comprised primarily of cash and equivalents and equity securities, amounted to $115.8 million as of February 28, 2019, and $93.2 million as of May 31, 2018. Total liabilities were $14.6 million as of February 28, 2019, compared to $13.5 million as of May 31, 2018, the majority of each being deferred taxes. FRMO's net (loss) income attributable to the Company for the three months ended February 28, 2019 was $(686,989) ($(0.02) per share basic and diluted) compared to $13,053,961 ($0.30 per share) for the quarter ended February 28, 2018. For the nine months ended February 28, 2019, net income attributable to the company was $3,108,131 ($0.07 per share basic and diluted) compared to $18,317,781 ($0.42 per share) for the same period in the prior year. For the third quarter of fiscal 2019, comprehensive (loss) income attributable to the Company was $(686,989) compared to $12,743,418 in the prior year. For the nine months ended February 28, 2019, comprehensive income attributable to the Company was $3,108,131 and for the prior year it was $18,220,191. FRMO's net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities net of taxes for the three months ended February 28, 2019 was $587,901 ($0.01 per diluted share) compared to $13,053,961 ($0.30 per share) for the three months ended February 28, 2018. For the nine months ended February 28, 2019, the amount was $5,628,657 ($0.13 per share) compared to $18,317,781 ($0.42 per share) for the same period in the prior year. Net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gains from equity securities net of taxes is a measure not based on GAAP and is defined and reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in "Information Regarding Non-GAAP Measures" at the end of this release. As of February, 28, 2019 and May 31, 2018, investments in limited partnerships and limited liability companies are valued using data inputs from December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2018, respectively, the dates of the most currently available information. Management reviews relevant market and related data to reconcile for the period from January 1 through February 28. Because of its significance, subsequent market volatility has been reflected in these condensed consolidated financial statements. FRMO's Board of Directors approved a 2019 Stock Repurchase Plan whereby the company will buy back up to 360,000 shares of its common stock in the open market, from time to time during 2019, as it sees fit. Further details are available in the Quarterly Report of the Company's Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the quarter ended February 28, 2019. These statements have been filed on the OTC Markets Group Disclosure and News Services, which may be accessed at www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FRMO/filings. These documents are also available on the FRMO website at www.frmocorp.com. Conference Call Murray Stahl, Chairman and CEO, and Steven Bregman, President and CFO, will host a conference call on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 4:15 p.m. ET. Only questions submitted to [email protected] before 1:00 p.m. on the day of the call will be considered. The call can be accessed by dialing 877-260-1479 (domestic toll free) or +1 334-323-0522 (international toll) and entering the following conference ID: 8638052. A replay will be available from 7:15 p.m. on the day of the teleconference until Saturday, May 25, 2019. To listen to the archived call, dial 888-203-1112 (US/Canada) or +1 719-457-0820 (International Toll) and enter conference ID number 8638052. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands) February 28, May 31, 2019 2018 (unaudited) Assets Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 52,823 $ 53,617 Equity securities, at fair value 61,501 38,522 Other current assets 1,506 1,095 Total Current Assets 115,830 93,234 Computer equipment, net of accumulated depreciation 96 76 Investment in limited partnerships and other equity investments, at fair value 44,166 41,407 Investments in stock exchanges 3,647 3,709 Other investments 314 189 Investment in Horizon Kinetics LLC 11,348 11,624 Participation in Horizon Kinetics LLC revenue stream 10,200 10,200 Total Assets $ 185,601 $ 160,439 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current Liabilities: Securities sold, not yet purchased $ 7,000 $ 5,495 Other current liabilities 172 193 Total Current Liabilities 7,172 5,688 Deferred Tax Liability 7,403 7,757 Total Liabilities 14,575 13,445 Stockholders' Equity: Stockholders' Equity Attributable to the Company 124,166 119,411 Noncontrolling interests 46,860 27,583 Total Stockholders' Equity 171,026 146,994 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 185,601 $ 160,439 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (amounts in thousands, except share data) Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended February 28, February 28, February 28, February 28, 2019 2018 2019 2018 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) Revenue: Consultancy and advisory fees $ 462 $ 1,782 $ 1,505 $ 2,746 Equity earnings (losses) from partnerships and limited liability companies (1,463 ) 1,901 200 3,465 Unrealized gains (losses) from investments subject to fair value valuation (2,658 ) 8,923 2,556 14,859 Equity earnings (loss) from investment in The Bermuda Stock Exchange 70 (3 ) 187 14 Other 3,186 175 3,364 363 Total revenue before unrealized gains (losses) from equity securities (403 ) 12,778 7,812 21,447 Unrealized gains (losses) from equity securities (7,228 ) - 10,101 - Total Revenue (7,631 ) 12,778 17,913 21,447 Total Expenses 282 198 987 610 Income (Loss) from Operations (7,913 ) 12,580 16,926 20,837 Provision for (Benefit from) Income Taxes (1,254 ) (465 ) 365 2,554 Net Income (Loss) (6,659 ) 13,045 16,561 18,283 Less net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests (5,972 ) (9 ) 13,453 (35 ) Net Income (Loss) Attributable to FRMO Corporation $ (687 ) $ 13,054 $ 3,108 $ 18,318 Diluted Net Income (Loss) per Common Share $ (0.02 ) $ 0.30 $ 0.07 $ 0.42 Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding Basic 43,975,414 43,956,155 43,974,319 43,954,759 Diluted 43,975,414 44,015,852 43,974,319 44,002,613 About FRMO Corp. FRMO Corp. invests in and receives revenues based upon consulting and advisory fee interests in the asset management sector. FRMO had 43,976,781 shares of common stock outstanding as of February 28, 2019. For more information, visit our website at www.frmocorp.com. Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - With the exception of historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words like "believe," "expect" and "anticipate" mean that these are our best estimates as of this writing, but that there can be no assurances that expected or anticipated results or events will actually take place, so our actual future results could differ significantly from those statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: our ability to maintain our competitive advantages, the general economics of the financial industry, our ability to finance growth, our ability to identify and close acquisitions on terms favorable to the Company, and a sustainable market. Further information on our risk factors is contained in our quarterly and annual reports as filed on our website www.frmocorp.com and on www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FRMO/filings. Information Regarding Non-GAAP Measures Net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities is net income attributable to the Company exclusive of unrealized gains or losses from equity securities, net of tax. Net income attributable to the Company is the GAAP measure most closely comparable to net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities. Management uses net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities, along with other measures, to gauge the Company's performance and evaluate results, which can be skewed when including unrealized gains from equity securities, which may vary significantly between periods. Net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities are provided as supplemental information, and are not a substitute for net income attributable to the Company and do not reflect the Company's overall profitability. The following table reconciles the net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities to net income attributable to the Company for the periods indicated: Three Months Ended Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Nine Months Ended February 28, 2019 February 28, 2018 February 28, 2019 February 28, 2018 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) Amount Diluted earnings per common share Amount Diluted earnings per common share Amount Diluted earnings per common share Amount Diluted earnings per common share (000's except per common share amounts and percentages) Net Income Attributable to the Company Excluding the Effect of Unrealized Gain (Loss) from Equity Securities and Diluted Earnings per Common Share Reconciliation: Net income (loss) attributable to the Company $ (687 ) $ (0.02 ) $ 13,054 $ 0.30 $ 3,108 $ 0.07 $ 18,318 $ 0.42 Unrealized gains (losses) from equity securities (7,228 ) - 10,101 - Unrealized gains (losses) from equity securities attributable to noncontrolling interests (5,969 ) - 13,454 - Unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities attributable to the Company (1,259 ) - (3,353 ) - Tax benefit on unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities attributable to the company (16 ) - 832 - Unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities attributable to the Company, net of taxes (1,275 ) $ (0.03 ) - $ 0.00 (2,521 ) $ (0.06 ) - $ 0.00 Net income attributable to the Company excluding the effect of unrealized gain (loss) from equity securities $ 588 $ 0.01 $ 13,054 $ 0.30 $ 5,629 $ 0.13 $ 18,318 $ 0.42 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 43,975,414 44,015,852 43,974,319 44,002,613 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005914/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 15, 2019] MGID Partners With Jagran New Media, Expanding Its Reach in India NEW DELHI, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MGID, a global native advertising platform, announces its exclusive partnership with Jagran New Media -- India's leading digital media group with a reach of over 40.2 million users. With Jagran onboard, MGID platform now serves over one billion content recommendations daily. This collaboration connects MGID's advertisers with new relevant audiences of Jagran.com , Jagranjosh.com , Onlymyhealth.com , Mid-day.com and other Jagran New Media websites. What is more, it will help advertisers from India bring genuine value to their consumers' digital experience by serving them relevant ads in Hindi, the same language as the content of the website they are on. "We are very pleased to welcome Jagran New Media as our newest premium publishing partner. Jagran has a long earned well-respected position in the media world, and we look forward to a long-lasting working relationship," says Vladyslav Stadnyk, Head of Business Development at MGID. "This partnership is another step for MGID on the way to expanding the company's reach in the Indian market," he adds. "MGID invested time to understand our business goals as a company, and then custom created a tailored solution inline with our brand vision, audience growth strategy, and financial targets. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership," comments Bharat Gupta, CEO Jagran New Media. About MGID MGID is a global innovative pioneer in native advertising that drives revenue growth for all participants of the ecosystem. Its platform, which targets 850 million unique readers with 165 billion recommendations monthly, helps publishers retain audiences and monetize traffic, and drives performance and awareness for brands by connecting them to unique audiences, at the right time, with the right content. MGID offers clients a 360 solution, from planning and strategy to delivery and reporting, and works across more than 60 different languages. Founded in 2008, the company has offices in the US, Ukraine, Vietnam, Russia and India. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/772886/MGID_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Duff & Phelps Releases First Industry Multiples Report in China Eight out of 11 industries saw their median P/E multiples decline more than 30% during 2018 Energy and consumer staples experienced the largest P/E contractions in Q4 2018; only IT and real estate saw increases in the final quarter of last year HONG KONG and BEIJING, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Duff & Phelps, the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients, has published its first edition of Industry Multiples in China. The report, which provides an overview of the trading multiples of companies across 11 key industries within the MSCI China Index as of 31 December 2018, finds that every industry saw median P/E ratios decline during 2018. Commenting on the report, Patrick Wu, Managing Director and Head of Greater China at Duff & Phelps, said, "A deceleration in the Chinese economy and trade tensions between the world's two economic powerhouses weighed heavily on the Chinese equity market during 2018, sending markets and trading multiples of sectors and companies lower." "While the stock markets of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai have seen strong gains in the first quarter of 2019, the business environment remains uncertain. Moderating growth in China's industrial output, slowdowns in the housing and automotive sectors and a yet-to-be-resolved trade impasse between the U.S. and China, could result in a bumpy ride for investors," Wu added. The report provides a detailed overview of the P/B, P/E, EV/EBITDA and EV/Sales multiples for non-financial services industries, and P/E, P/B, Market Cap/Revenue and P/TBV multiples for financial industries. More than 400 companies were observed over a two-year period ending 31 December 2018. The materials and consumer discretionary sectors reported the largest declines in median P/E multiples of 49% and 47% respectively during 2018. The utilities and consumer staples industries were most resilient, with median P/E multiples contracting by 9% and 28% respectively during 2018. As of 31 December 2018 , the communication services industry had the highest median P/E multiple at 19.8x; the real estate sector was rated the lowest at 7.0x. , the communication services industry had the highest median P/E multiple at 19.8x; the real estate sector was rated the lowest at 7.0x. The energy industry saw the greatest median P/E decline in Q4 2018, falling 27% quarter on quarter. Consumer staples saw the second largest fall at 24% in the same period, as a decline in its P/E median multiple accelerated in the second half of 2018 after a robust H1. The information technology (IT) and real estate sectors saw median P/E multiples in Q4 2018 increase quarter on quarter by 7% and 4% respectively. "The picture is very mixed by industry. The IT and real estate sectors saw their P/E multiples increase in the final quarter of 2018, with the former boosted by record investments in 5G networks and the latter benefitting from the easing of property curbs. On a less positive note, the consumer staples industry was adversely affected in the final quarter of last year by weaker consumer confidence as China's economy slowed. China's healthcare multiples, while historically strong, were also impacted by the introduction of a centralized bulk procurement programme, which drove down drug prices," he said. Continuing, Wu said: "Looking beyond trading multiples and at valuations more generally, we believe the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT), consumer staples and healthcare sectors are likely to remain hot this year, buoyed by continued investments from the private equity industry and an unexpected raft of China unicorn and pre-revenue biotech companies." For more information please contact: Brian Shiu, Duff & Phelps Email: [email protected] Tel: +852-2281-0140 James Hill/Amy Shea, MHP Communications Email: [email protected] Tel: +852-3114-6335 About Duff & Phelps Duff & Phelps is the global advisor that protects, restores and maximizes value for clients in the areas of valuation, corporate finance, investigations, disputes, cyber security, compliance and regulatory matters, and other governance-related issues. We work with clients across diverse sectors, mitigating risk to assets, operations and people. With Kroll, a division of Duff & Phelps since 2018, our firm has nearly 3,500 professionals in 28 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.duffandphelps.com Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190416/2435944-1LOGO SOURCE Duff & Phelps [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] ICT Academy Student Innovator Award Hosted at Alliance University - Bengaluru BANGALORE, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- India is marching towards establishing itself as a top global innovator for high technology products and services. Given the benefit of a dynamic young population - with more than half of the country's population under 25 years of age, and the urgent imperative for change coming from almost every segment and region, India is on the path towards an innovation-led, rapid and inclusive growth to achieve social and economic transformation. In such a scenario, ICT Academy, an initiative of Government of India, State Government and Industry came up with 'Student Innovator Award', for the students across the nation to foster innovation midst the younger generation. ICT Academy conducted the regional round for Karnataka and identified 'Alliance University' as the regional host and the state partner on March 22-23, 2019. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871625/Presentation_at_Alliance_University.jpg ) A total of 4131 students from 170 colleges across Karnataka, had rgistered for the event. 1377 projects were submitted in total. Of this, 59 teams with 183 students from 21 colleges participated in the finale hosted at Alliance University. Innovation no more happens on demand. Innovation has become an integral part of business, product, process, service and lifestyle. It is believed that innovation is the change that unlocks new value. Innovation can only be nourished by creating the right environment for ideas to be developed. ICT Academy with this objective, instituted the Student Innovator Award in the year 2012, through which the Academy thrives to enhance student knowledge and benefit society through professional education integrated with research, creativity and innovation. Student Innovator Award presents an opportunity for students to showcase their innovative projects state-wide and provides an environment to nurture their invention by discussing with subject matter experts. ICT Academy invited innovative projects of the students in the branches of: Computer Science & Information Technology Civil & Architecture Mechanical & Automobile and Electrical & Electronics Full time engineering students under UG and PG courses across India mentioned in the streams above applied for this award. The students whose projects got short listed had to make presentation and demo in front of industry experts at Alliance University, Bengaluru. The top 3 honors were given to: Shri Sairam College of Engineering of Engineering Reva University BMS Institute of Technology and Management About Alliance University: Alliance University is a private University established in Karnataka State by Act No.34 of year 2010 and is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi. The University is known for its diverse degree courses, state-of-the-art campus, high quality education and excellent placement record, aspires to be among the best universities in the world by the year 2025. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] BC Platforms Selected to Deliver Enterprise Research Platform for Qatar Biobank The agreement supports a vision of personalized healthcare to Qatar's population and beyond ZURICH and BOSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management and analytics, today announced that it has formed a partnership with Qatar Biobank. BC Platforms will provide a Research Collaboration Management System (RCMS) and Researchers' Portal for Qatar Biobank to support the integration of genomic and phenotypic samples, enable secure and streamlined data access, and optimize resource quality and utilization. Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation (QF) and part of QF Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI), collects data and biological samples from the local population in an effort to develop customized medical solutions to the various diseases and health issues prevalent in the country. Dr. Nahla Afifi, Director of Qatar Biobank, said: "As the Qatar National Research Strategy strives to improve the health and well-being of Qatar's population, scientific research collaborations enabled by Qatar Biobank are the key to impacting the future of personalised healthcare in Qatar and the region." "We are delighted to partner with BC Platforms to access their multi-omics technology capabilities to leverage our data for research and ultimately to bring benefits to patients. Through our efforts, we will enable researchers to discover how the health and genetics of Qatar's population are affected by their lifestyle and environment." BC Platforms has over 20 years of experience in building tertiary analytics tools enabling scalable phenotypic and genetic data exploration, applied by customers in over 25 countries. Recent developments include ontology browsing and data visualization dashboards which provide users with a visual and contextual overview of massive datasets, customiable to researchers' needs. Tero Silvola, CEO of BC Platforms, stated: "One of the big focus areas in technology related development work is associated with available capabilities to analyse all different types of data together. Qatar Biobank is a globally unique resource and is considered to be one of the leading personalised medicine programs globally. We are delighted to support Qatar Biobank in achieving its goals in biomedical research both regionally and globally." Qatar Biobank has incubated Qatar Genome Programme (QGP), another member of QF and part of QF RDI, which is a national initiative aiming to map the genome of the local population. QGP uses a collection of samples and data from Qatar Biobank participants to identify genotype-phenotype associations relevant to the Qatari population. About BC Platforms BC Platforms is a world leader in providing powerful genomic data management and analysis solutions. Our high performing genomic data management platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. The company has launched and opened a global network of biobanks, known as BCRQUEST.COM, to provide genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry by 2020, providing access to diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5 million subjects consolidated from a global network of biobanks. Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, manufacturers and vendors. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and sales and marketing in London, Boston, and Vancouver. For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on Twitter @BCPlatforms. About Qatar Biobank Qatar Biobank, a long-term health initiative, was launched by Qatar to reduce the number of chronic illnesses in the population and improve the health of future generations through medical research on the causes of prevalent illnesses. This is done by gathering biological samples and information on the health and lifestyle of Qatar's people. In the next few years, research based on the samples and information gathered by Qatar Biobank will reveal the effect of lifestyle, environment and genetics on Qatari population. It will also provide insight into the reasons why certain individuals develop specific illnesses. Qatar Biobank is a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and works in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Hamad Medical Corporation. To learn more about Qatar Biobank and how to become a contributor, please visit: www.qatarbiobank.org.qa Contact information: BC Platforms: Tero Silvola BC Platforms AG [email protected] Katja Stout Scius Communications [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Notice About the Share Transfer of OMRON Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd. OMRON Corporation announces that the Omron Corporation Board of Directors meeting held today approved a resolution to transfer all of OMRON's shares in OMRON Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd. ("OAE") to Nidec Corporation ("Nidec") and a definitive agreement. This share transfer (the "Share Transfer") will be executed after obtaining necessary approval and satisfying other conditions. It is projected to occur by the end of October. OAE started its business in 1983 as an automotive electronics components division of OMRON Corporation (which was then OMRON Tateisi Electronics ) and since then it has contributed to the development of the automotive industry by developing the world's first infrared keyless entry system and electric power steering system. In 2010, OAE was split from OMRON and became its wholly-owned subsidiary and today, with four core businesses comprising body control systems, motor control systems, active safety systems and power control systems, OAE serves the needs of consumers and society. Presently, with the technological innovation known as "CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric)" and the evolution of the business model in the background, the automotive and the automotive components industry have commenced a once-in-a-century transformation and the structure of these industries has begun to change incredibly. In order for OAE to take advantage of this transformation and develop with it, OAE not only needs to strengthen its existing business (body electronic components and motor control systems) and expand them globally, but it must also further develop technology and products that can be adapted to the new mobile society anticipated to result from CASE. In particular, in order to remain competitive against other strong suppliers, including mega-suppliers in the CASE market, it is indispensable for OAE to make investments on a much larger scale than before in terms of quality and quantity. In order for OAE to continue to address the social issues in the automobile industry in the future as an independent automotive electronics components manufacturer in such a drastically changing environment, we determined that we must create new and greater value by facilitating the merger of OAE's renowned control technology and products with the synergistic technology and products of another company. Specifically, we concluded that the best option for OAE is to accelerate its business together with other companies that define the automotive components as a field of growth, have the investment appetite and capacity, and have solid technology and products in the CASE field. Nidec is one of the world's leading motor manufacturing companies, places the automotive motor business as one of its strategically material businesses, and has been expanding its business through various investments. Through the Share Transfer, we can expect further growth through substantial synergy effects, such as development of value-added products by combining Nidec's motor and OAE's control technologies, and function enhancement by mutually utilizing both companies' customer bases and global manufacturing capacities. As stated above, we believe that the Share Transfer will deliver greater value to customers, the automotive industry and society as well as to OAE and its employees. OMRON will concentrate its management resources through portfolio management addressed in ROIC management, and achieve development of the control device business and healthcare business that it particularly emphasizes. About OAE Company Name OMRON Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd. Location 6368 Nenjozaka, Okusa, Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture Representative Katsuhiro Wada, President & CEO Description of business Sales, development, and manufacture of a wide variety of automotive electronics. Capital 5 billion JPY Date of Foundation May 6, 2010 Major Shareholders OMRON Corporation (100.0%) Sales 36 billion JPY in fiscal 2017, (March 31, 2018) Number of employees (consolidated) 5,715(as of March 2019) For further information, please see: https://www.automotive.omron.com/oae.php About Nidec Company Name Nidec Corporation Location 338 Kuzetonoshiro-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto 601-8205, JAPAN Representative Shigenobu Nagamori, Founder, Chairman and CEO Description of business Development, manufacturing, and sales of small precision motors, automotive motors, home appliance motors, commercial and industrial motors, motors for machinery, electronic and optical components, and other related products. Capital 88 billion JPY Date of foundation July 23, 1973 For further information please see: https://www.nidec.com/en-NA/corporate/about/outline/ About OMRON Corporation OMRON Corporation is a global leader in the field of automation based on its core technology of "Sensing & Control + Think". OMRON's business fields cover a broad spectrum, ranging from industrial automation and electronic components to automotive electronic components, social infrastructure systems, healthcare, and environmental solutions. Established in 1933, OMRON has over 36,000 employees worldwide, working to provide products and services in 117 countries. For more information, visit OMRON's website at: https://www.omron.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005944/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Tmall Cements Position as "Go-to" Platform for Product Debuts HANGZHOU, China, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Alibaba Group's (NYSE: BABA) Tmall today announced it will launch a dedicated gateway for customers to discover new products through the Taobao mobile app, looking to cement its position as the "go-to" platform for such launches. From Wednesday, customers clicking on the "Tmall" icon in their Taobao app will be directed to the "Tmall New Products" channel, which includes a full array of new features, such as Tmall's "Most Sought-after New Items," "The Next New Things," "Limited Editions" and "New Flagships." Working with brands and key opinion leaders, the channel will provide customers with in-depth information and recommendations on new products. Supported by Alibaba's data technologies, Tmall -- the world's largest B2C online and mobile marketplace for Chinese and international brands -- has long been an effective platform for showcasing new products and a one-stop shop for consumers to find the hottest new items online. It's also a creative, experiential channel to interact with and learn more about new products, with its offerings of precise consumer insights letting brands and merchants develop strategies that target customers during product trials, pre-marketing, launch and after-sales. "Building on our strong track record, we will continue to invest heavily in 2019 to help Tmall brands and mercants attract traffic and infuse innovation into their supply chain management, product development and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Our goal is for Tmall to become the top launchpad for global brands' debuts. We will provide the necessary support to brands to make their product launches more effective, on target and successful," said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao and Tmall. The new channel for product launches is powered by Tmall's already impressive suite of marketing tools, such as "Hey Box" and the Tmall Innovation Center (TMIC). Launched in March 2017, Tmall's "Hey Box" is a designated product-debut tool that offers brands consumer insights and data-driven strategies to increase the success rate of launching new products. And TMIC, established in April 2017, is dedicated to retail innovation, helping brands identify new channels and strategies to tap the Chinese market using precise market analysis, real-time consumer insights and product-concept testing. Underpinning the strategy of creating a specialized channel for new products are the successes already notched by brands on Tmall, especially those using its marketing tools. In the past year, 82% of new products tailored by TMIC became a top-three "hot" item in its category within 30 days of launch. TMIC has also reduced the product development cycle by half, to an average of nine months. Last year, Estee Lauder, the leading global beauty and cosmetics brand, introduced a new serum. Supported by Tmall's Hey Box solution, the brand boosted the product's popularity to become the top-selling high-end serum within 30 days of the product's debut on Tmall. In March 2018, supported by Tmall's consumer profiling and precise trial targeting, Maybeline launched its "FIT me" liquid foundation on Tmall and sold over 100,000 items in one day, setting the daily sales record for liquid foundation on Tmall. And using Tmall's data analytics, Swisse, the Australia-based vitamin, supplement and personal care product company, continued to refine its products in response to the preferences of its younger female customers in China. As a result, it was able to achieve sales growth of more than 50% every year since its cooperation with Tmall in 2016, with seven new products debuting on Tmall in 2018. About Tmall Launched in 2008, Tmall (www.tmall.com) caters to consumers looking for branded products and a premium shopping experience. A large number of international and Chinese brands and retailers have established storefronts on Tmall. According to Analysys, Tmall was China's largest third-party platform for brands and retailers in terms of gross merchandise value in 2017. Tmall is a business of Alibaba Group. Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190416/2437343-1LOGO SOURCE Tmall [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Yealink's global roadshow kicks off successfully at Berlin with the highlight being their VP of Sales, Leo Huang's speech introducing the IP phone market Yealink, the world's No.1-ranking SIP desktop phone producer, shares details of their success story, R&D investments and their contributions to the IP phone market XIAMEN, China, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yealink's Global Roadshow made a grand first stop at Berlin, Germany, on April 9, 2019. It attracted large crowds of potential customers from as far away as Dortmund, Germany. The event shed light on Yealink's past performance and their rapid growth in previous years, following the vast popularity of the T4 business phone series. Yealink also revealed plans of future R&D investments, while emphasizing the distinguishable features of the latest T5 Business phone series. The enthusiastic attendees participated actively throughout the show, especially during the Q&A part. With a double-digit average annual revenue growth in the last 5 years and having sold over 20m IP communication products in 140+ countries, Yealink is certainly on a roll. Approximately 1 out of every 500 people on Earth use a Yealink product. In his speech, Leo Huang, the VP of Sales, said that the secret to their success lies in their motto. "As a company that focuses on products and technologies, 'The Spirit of Craftsmanship' has been our motto ever since the founding of Yealink in 2001. We understand the needs of our partners and are continuously striving to achieve mutul success. Our products and services are specifically designed to suit our partners' needs," he said. An experience of 18 years and a steady backing of soaring revenues reinforce Yealink's commitment to making a consistent investment in research and development of new products. The agenda of the roadshow also focuses on Yealink's recent product upgrades. These upgrades thrive to meet the evolving demands of the IP Phone market while matching varying budget requirements. Attendees of the roadshow will get an up-close, live demonstration of Yealink's brand new T5 Business Phone Series. This is the most advanced IP desktop phone Yealink has ever delivered. With state-of-the-art features, the T5 Series aims to provide a seamlessly personalized collaboration experience to businesses of all sizes and set new standards in the enterprise office environment. During the roadshow, visitors will also get an opportunity to learn about Yealink's various other products and services, including the: Device Management Portal for enterprise administrators DECT IP Phone Series Device-as-a-Service Program (for the US only) Demo Flight case program (for Yealink's partners) Yealink's Technical Manager, Travis Zhang says, "We are delighted to bring our roadshow to Europe, North America and Australia. Our aim is for attendees to walk away from each carefully planned event with a clear understanding of how Yealink's products and solutions can offer comprehensive unified communications to enable easy collaboration and increase productivity." About Yealink Inc. Founded in 2001, Yealink (Stock Code: 300628) is a leading global provider of enterprise communication and collaboration solutions, offering video conferencing service to worldwide enterprises. Focusing on research and development, Yealink also insists on innovation and creation. With the outstanding technical patents of cloud computing, audio, video and image processing technology, Yealink has built up a panoramic collaboration solution of audio and video conferencing by merging its cloud services with a series of endpoints products. As one of the best providers in more than 140 countries and regions including the US, the UK and Australia, Yealink ranks No.1 in the global market share of SIP phone shipments (Global IP Desktop Phone Growth Excellence Leadership Award Report, Frost & Sullivan, 2018). For more information, please visit: www.yealink.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872294/Yealink_Global_Roadshow_2019.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/872295/Yealink_T5_Business_phone_series.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Powerful Brands Back Britain and China's 6.01 Children's Day Event in Cambridge Organised by Avenue51 LONDON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- While millions of parents across Mainland China celebrate Children's Day in June, British thought leaders in the children's products industry will gather to focus on the exploding Chinese market for British-based children's brands. Today, Chinese parents spend in excess of 1bn annually on British-based brands. The half-day event will include thought leaders behind 20 of the UK's most popular British based brands for parents and children. The program for the gathering includes international author Annabel Karmel, who is recognized as the UK's number one author in children's nutrition. Karmel will be joined by major online influencers in Mainland China, including Zhang Peng, the biggest UK-based influencer with over seven million followers. Experts project that the market for British-based children's brands in China will soar by more than 50% over the next five years. hree factors underlie the anticipated increase: Lower import duties in Mainland China for online imported goods Increased demand by Mainland China parents for higher quality goods Adoption of China -focused e-commerce solutions by British consumer brands. Avenue51, the UK's largest online exporter of parenting and children's brands to Mainland China, is organizing the event. Byron Constable, Avenue51 Chief Marketing Officer, is excited about the response to the upcoming event, "We are delighted by the incredible support from both the UK and Mainland China to make this event a huge success." The event is being held at the historic Clare College in Cambridge and will be shared online. Organizers anticipate that more than 10 million parents will view the event, which in turn will contribute to more than 25m in sales for the participating brands. CMO Constable thinks the College will be the ideal showcase for the event. "We are very privileged to be able to use this majestic venue as the backdrop for the event. There will be shoppers from Mainland China encountering some of the featured brands for the first time and we want to make sure they gain the correct impression of these highly accomplished brands." To round out the event, participants will experience a children's tea party and other fun activities. To find our more about the upcoming event, visit 6012019.com or contact the event organizers by email at [email protected] or by phone at +44(0)20-753-84145 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Broadband Forum reveals world-class line up of speakers for 2019 Ultra-fast Broadband Acceleration Seminar (UFBB BASe) DEN HAAG, Netherlands, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerging trends in the broadband market, case studies of success, and strategies for how to innovate to deliver on growing consumer demand, carrier grade Wi-Fi and the Connected Home and cloud-based services will be explored by some of Europe's major operators, vendors, industry analysts and regulatory bodies at the upcoming 2019 Ultra-fast Broadband Acceleration Seminar (UFBB BASe), on 25-27 June in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Building on the success of the former TNO-led Ultra-Fast Broadband Seminar and Broadband Forum's highly regarded BASe series, UFBB BASe is set to be a world-class event. A diverse line-up of global service providers, including A1 Telekom, Deutsche Telekom, Proximus, Swisscom and other innovative operators will share insights into how they are preparing the future of broadband. This includes how they are leveraging advanced copper, fiber, and wireless technologies for next-generation access to meet the demand for increased bandwidth and lower latency. Anchor keynotes from Deutsche Telekom's VP of Convergent Networks Dr. Andreas Gladisch, Nokia xDSL Technology Strategist Paul Spruyt, and Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh will set the tone for each day of the conference, supported by expert market perspectives on the state of the broadband ecosystem and regulatory policies in Europe and beyond from Cartesian, TNO, and a variety of other analyst firms and regulatory bodies. The pioneering technologies and solutions emerging to deliver next-generation broadband access will also be explored by a growing list of industry innovators and event sponsors including Calix, Go!Foton, Nokia, DOMOS, AVM, NetComm, Actelis Networks, InCoax, and MoCA Access (MoCA). "Carrying forward the traditional focus of the Ultra-fast Broadband Seminar, while bringing some new world-class speakers and perspectives to the table, UFBB BASe will be an invaluable opportunity to learn from every player in the value-chain as to where the industry is, how each are finding success, as well as where the market is heading," said Robin Mersh, Chief Executive Officer at Broadband Forum. "This insight is critical as the industry looks to prepare every aspect of the network, from access technologies and Software Defined Access (SDA) to Wi-Fi and the Connected Home, for the future demands of broadband." Exploring Europe's emerging broadband market drivers and the most promising next-generation access technologies and best practices for operator success, UFBB BASe will be built around themes for each of its three days. Day One: A Market and Regulatory Overview of Europe and Beyond and Beyond Day Two: A Deep Dive on Next Generation Access, Open Source, and Connected Home Technologies and Case Studies Day Three: How to Find Success with Advanced Technologies and What to Expect Next Delivered by those at the forefront of developments in the industry, the sessions will focus on the latest breakthroughs in next-generation access technologies (Gfast, G.hn, 10 Gbps PON, SDN/NFV), real-life use cases and best practice for next generation access, the opportunities that the convergence of wireless (5G) and wireline fixed access brings forward, the latest innovations in the Connected Home and advanced Wi-Fi, as well as the best practices in Cloud Central Office (CloudCO), SDN, and enabling last mile connectivity. The three-day event will combine the best elements of TNO's stellar reputation for thought leadership, high quality speakers, technical acumen and a collaborative and energetic vibe, with Broadband Forum's highly successful BASe series to deliver an educational, insightful look into today's broadband networks and where they are heading. Register now for this exciting event here. More information about the event and its speakers can be found here. To find out more about Broadband Forum, please visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/. About Broadband Forum Broadband Forum is the communications industry's leading organization focused on accelerating broadband innovation, standards, and ecosystem development. Our members' passion delivering on the promise of broadband by enabling smarter and faster broadband networks and a thriving broadband ecosystem. A non-profit industry organization composed of the industry's leading broadband operators, vendors, and thought leaders, our work to date has been the foundation for broadband's global proliferation and innovation. For example, the Forum's flagship TR-069 CPE WAN Management Protocol has nearly 1 billion installations worldwide. Broadband Forum working groups collaborate to define best practices for global networks, enable new revenue-generating service and content delivery, establish technology migration strategies, and engineer critical device, service & development management tools in the home and business IP networking infrastructure. We develop multi-service broadband packet networking specifications addressing architecture, device and service management, software data models, interoperability and certification in the broadband market. Our free technical reports and white papers can be found at https://www.broadband-forum.org/. Follow us on Twitter @Broadband_Forum and LinkedIn. For more information about the Broadband Forum, please go to https://www.broadband-forum.org or follow @Broadband_Forum on Twitter. For further information please contact Brian Dolby on +44 (0) 7899 914168 or [email protected] or Jayne Brooks on +44 (0) 1636 704 888 or [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadband-forum-reveals-world-class-line-up-of-speakers-for-2019-ultra-fast-broadband-acceleration-seminar-ufbb-base-300832552.html SOURCE Broadband Forum [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Voip-Pal's Board of Directors Has Rejected a Formal Offer from Dr. Gil Amelio and Associates to Purchase CEO Emil Malak's Shares and Take Over Control of the Company BELLEVUE, Wash., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voip-Pal.com Inc. (Voip-Pal, Company) (OTCQB: VPLM) announced that at a meeting of the Board of Directors on April 15, 2019, the Directors of Voip-Pal unanimously rejected a formal offer from Dr. Gil Amelio and his associates to take over management of the Company. Part of the offer provided options to purchase only the stock owned by Voip-Pals CEO, Emil Malak. Fully exercised, the options would have paid Mr. Malak approximately $150 million for his shares of Voip-Pal stock. Voip-Pals Board of Directors including CEO, Emil Malak, carefully considered the offer but unanimously voted to reject this proposal; however, the Company is open to further discussions with Dr Amelio. Voip-Pal is actively pursuing the sale of all of Voip-Pals shares, on behalf of the more than 4500 shareholders, not just the shares owned by Mr. Malak. Dr. Amelio has held prominent positions with various technology companies, including serving as he CEO and Chairman of Apple Computer, (1996-1997), President, CEO and Chairman of National Semiconductor, and President of Rockwell Communication Systems. He has also served on the board of directors of several companies including Apple, (1994-1996), AT&T, (1995-2013) and Interdigital. He received a Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Ph.D. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Amelio has been awarded 16 patents and a 17th is pending. Renowned patent and IP expert, William Sweet is one of Dr. Amelios associates on this proposal. According to Dr. Gil Amelio, Mr. Sweet and his team have conducted extensive research on Voip-Pals patent portfolio. Emil Malak, Voip-Pal CEO, We have great respect for Dr. Gil Amelio and his team and we are very pleased to know they see such value in our patents or they would not have tendered this offer. We are currently focused on our legal appeal to the recent Alice 101 decision as well as finalizing our strategy to move forward in Europe. In the meantime we are working diligently to add to our patent portfolio with patent continuation applications. Patience is a virtue. About Voip-Pal.com Inc. Voip-Pal.Com, Inc. (Voip-Pal) is a publicly traded corporation (OTCQB:VPLM) headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The Company owns a portfolio of patents relating to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that it is currently looking to monetize. Corporate Website: www.voip-pal.com IR inquiries: [email protected] IR Contact: Rich Inza (954) 495-4600 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Internet Marketing Company fishbat, Explains the Importance of Having a Mobile-Friendly Website for Your Wellness Spa in 2019 NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The need for having a mobile friendly-website can no longer be put on hold. The number of people using mobile phones to surf the internet accounted for over 52% of internet searches in 2017. Internet marketing company fishbat, explains the importance of having a mobile friendly website for your wellness spa in 2019. User Experience . A responsive website makes your page aesthetic pop and creates easier navigation. Being a business that thrives on the clarity of images and videos, prospects want to know what your wellness spa looks like before walking in. Therefore, having a site that displays both text and images in higher resolutions on a mobile device gives your customer a better user experience on your site. . A responsive website makes your page aesthetic pop and creates easier navigation. Being a business that thrives on the clarity of images and videos, prospects want to know what your wellness spa looks like before walking in. Therefore, having a site that displays both text and images in higher resolutions on a mobile device gives your customer a better user experience on your site. Organic Rankings . In 2015, Google announced that mobile-friendly websites would be favored in their rankings. One of the key factors that algorithms look at when crawling a site is its mobile-friendliness. If you want your spa business to be amongst one of the first pages when a customer searches specific keywords, then you should mke your website mobile-friendly. . In 2015, Google announced that mobile-friendly websites would be favored in their rankings. One of the key factors that algorithms look at when crawling a site is its mobile-friendliness. If you want your spa business to be amongst one of the first pages when a customer searches specific keywords, then you should mke your website mobile-friendly. Competitive Advantage . According to studies, only 60% of businesses have mobile-friendly websites. As a spa business, having a mobile-friendly site can boost your business massively and edge out the competition. . According to studies, only 60% of businesses have mobile-friendly websites. As a spa business, having a mobile-friendly site can boost your business massively and edge out the competition. Builds Your Reputation. The visibility you get from being mobile-friendly does not end online. The more you are visible online, the higher the reputation you have offline. Customers want to deal with a spa that already has a name nobody wants to be the experiment. The use of mobile phones in surfing the internet has made mobile purchases easier. With online payment modes, nobody really 'needs to get home to a desktop' to make a purchase. Gaining a grasp of the digital marketing landscape can be a problem if you are not tech-savvy. Sometimes, it helps to delegate your digital marketing routines to a digital marketing solutions provider. fishbat has been helping business with insightful marketing ideas to take their sales to the next level. Contact them today; they have the industry knowledge and tools to thrive your business. About fishbat fishbat digital marketing company is a full-service digital marketing firm that takes a holistic business approach to their clients' digital marketing programs. The fishbat team understands the importance of business principles just as well as the nuances of the latest digital technologies. fishbat offers every digital marketing service available from digital marketing research and planning to brand development to website and asset creation through social media management and search engine optimization programs - all custom calibrated for both B2B and B2C businesses. Press Contact: Scott Darrohn, fishbat Media, 855-347-4228, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/internet-marketing-company-fishbat-explains-the-importance-of-having-a-mobile-friendly-website-for-your-wellness-spa-in-2019-300829789.html SOURCE fishbat [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Amanda Peterson joins ReloQuest as National Account Executive SUNRISE, Fla., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ReloQuest is pleased to announce Amanda Peterson has joined the team as a National Account Executive. Amanda brings ten plus years of success in sales within the hospitality and technology industries. She started her career in recruiting for the technology industry for Brooksource and was promoted in a short period to sales. As an Account Executive, she was awarded "New Comer of the Year," a coveted award for achieving top-level success for her first year in sales. Amanda was the first female in the company to hit "Senior Account Executive," after achieving two consecutive years of top-level revenue generation and performance. After a successful career in the technology sales field, Amanda decided to explore the hospitality industry. She started as a local sales manager in the Chicago area for a global corporate housing provider and earned a promotion to the Global Sales team as a Global Sales Manager. She worked on major accounts with worldwide footprints and often partnered with her EMEA counterparts to achieve cohesiveness. Amanda was chosen to be part of an iportant group known as the Sales Leadership Team, where she consecutively achieved her revenue performance goals. Amanda's passion for learning and staying up to date with industry trends in the relocation world led to obtaining her Real Estate license. She has her status in referral to help guide transferees in need of a Realtor anywhere across the globe. Amanda was promoted to Senior Account Executive at Brooksource where she led the Chicago office by example--commended for her solid work ethic, competitive spirit, and her drive to succeed. Amanda Peterson stated, "Joining a global company known for innovation firsts; such as ReloQuest, during a time of rapid change within the Relocation Industry--is very exciting. It will present numerous opportunities for me to impact and support our clients ongoing success, and partner together to create exceptional relocation experiences for their assignees." An Indiana University graduate, Amanda earned a degree in Communications and Business. She has participated in committees for Chicago BTA, Chicago Relocation Council, and the Columbus & Cincinnati Relocation Councils, OVBTA, and SHRM. Amanda also volunteers her time for the Ronald McDonald House as a Family Ambassador. Jeff Mahoney, ReloQuest COO, stated, "We are delighted to welcome Amanda, who brings many strengths; such as, her ability to deliver the client-centric service ReloQuest is known for. Amanda will share ReloQuest capabilities and maximize benefits for our clients and their assignees'. Her career accomplishments prove her expertise in delivering solutions to best meet complex relocation needs." About ReloQuest ReloQuest is a business solution that allows companies and employees to search, compare, and book corporate apartments and hotels around the world. Multi-award-winning ReloQuest provides forecasting data, measurement criteria, metrics and actionable insight to minimize corporate risk. The technology streamlines the relocation process, and connects clients and employees directly to a global network of Verified Suppliers in over 85 Countries. Media Contact Jeana Giordano [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amanda-peterson-joins-reloquest-as-national-account-executive-300832437.html SOURCE ReloQuest [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] BlackRock Reports First Quarter 2019 Earnings BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) today released its financial results for the first quarter of 2019. The company's earnings release and supplemental materials are available via ir.blackrock.com/QuarterlyResults. Teleconference, Webcast and Presentation Information Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Laurence D. Fink, President, Robert S. Kapito, and Chief Financial Officer, Gary S. Shedlin, will host a teleconference call for investors and analysts on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time). Members of the public who are interested in participating in the teleconference should dial, from the United States, (800) 374-0176, or from outside the United States, (706) 679-8281, shortly before 8:30 a.m. ET and reference the BlackRock Conference Call (ID Number 5798975). A live, listen-only webcast will also be available via the investor relations section of www.blackroc.com. Both the teleconference and webcast will be available for replay by 11:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 and ending at midnight on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. To access the replay of the teleconference, callers from the United States should dial (855) 859-2056 and callers from outside the United States should dial (404) 537-3406 and enter the Conference ID Number 5798975. To access the webcast, please visit the investor relations section of www.blackrock.com. About BlackRock BlackRock helps investors build better financial futures. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. As of March 31, 2019, the firm managed approximately $6.52 trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com | Twitter (News - Alert): @blackrock | Blog: www.blackrockblog.com | LinkedIn (News - Alert): www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005476/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Coty Inc. Issues Statement Regarding the Extension of the Tender Offer by an Affiliate of JAB Holding Company S.a r.l. Coty Inc. (the "Company" or "Coty") (NYSE:COTY) notes the extension of the tender offer (the "Offer") by Cottage Holdco B.V. ("Offeror"), an affiliate of JAB Holding Company S.a r.l. ("JAB"), to purchase up to 150,000,000 shares of the Company's Class A common stock (the "Shares") at a price of $11.65 per share in cash. The Company has been informed by Offeror that the expiration date of the Offer has been further extended by Offeror from 5:00 P.M., New York City Time, on April 15, 2019 to 5:00 P.M., New York City Time, on April 18, 2019, subject to the further extension or earlier termination of the Offer by Offeror. Offeror has also indicated that, as of 5:00 p.m., New York City Time, on April 15, 2019, the last business day prior to the announcement of the extension of the Offer, 207,464,427 Shares had been validly tendered pursuant to the Offer and not properly withdrawn. In addition, as of such time, Notices of Guaranteed Delivery had been delivered for 139,831,809 Shares. The Offer remains subject to various closing conditions stated in Offeror's tender offer materials. Offeror has informed the Company that the Offer is being extended to coordinate with the anticipated timing of the one remaining regulatory approval in Russia. Important Additional Information This communication does not constitute an offer to buy or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. The Company has filed an amendment and restatement of its Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 with the SEC (News - Alert). BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE AMENDED SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT ON SCHEDULE 14D-9 AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR TO BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. These materials are available free of charge by contacting the Company's information agent, Okapi Partners LLC, toll-free at (877) 629-6356 or by contacting the Company's Investor Relations Department at 350 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10118 or calling 212-389-7300. In addition, all of these materials (and all other tender offer documents filed with the SEC) are available free of charge from the SEC through its website at www.sec.gov. About Coty Inc. Coty is one of the world's largest beauty companies with over $9 billion in revenue, an iconic portfolio of brands and a purpose to celebrate and liberate the diversity of consumers' beauty. We believe the beauty of humanity lies in the individuality of its people; beauty is at its best when authentic; and beauty should make you feel happy, never sad. As the global leader in fragrance, a strong number two in professional salon hair color & styling, and number three in color cosmetics, Coty operates three divisions: Consumer Beauty, which is focused on mass color cosmetics, mass retail hair coloring and styling products, body care and mass fragrances with brands such as COVERGIRL, Max Factor, Sally Hansen and Rimmel; Luxury, which is focused on prestige fragrances and skincare with brands such as Calvin Klein, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, Hugo Boss, Gucci and philosophy; and Professional Beauty, which is focused on servicing salon owners and professionals in both hair and nail, with brands such as Wella Professionals, Sebastian Professional, OPI and ghd. Coty has approximately 20,000 colleagues globally and its products are sold in over 150 countries. Coty and its brands are committed to a range of social causes as well as seeking to minimize its impact on the environment. For additional information about Coty Inc., please visit www.coty.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release, including statements relating to the Offer, the number of shares validly tendered pursuant to the Offer, regulatory approvals in connection with the Offer and the closing of the Offer, are forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are generally identified by words or phrases, such as "anticipate", "estimate", "plan", "project", "expect", "believe", "intend", "foresee", "forecast", "will", "may", "should," "outlook," "continue," "intend," "aim" and simlar words or phrases. Reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from the results predicted due to risks and uncertainties including: the Company's ability to develop and achieve its global business strategies and strategic plan and the Company's ability to compete effectively in the beauty industry and achieve the benefits contemplated by its strategic initiatives within the expected time frame or at all; the Company's ability to anticipate, gauge and respond to market trends and consumer preferences, which may change rapidly, and the market acceptance of new products, including any launches or relaunches and their associated costs and discounting, and consumer receptiveness to the Company's marketing and consumer engagement activities (including digital marketing and media); the Company's use of estimates and assumptions in preparing its financial statements and projections and estimates, including with regard to revenue recognition, income taxes, the assessment of goodwill, other intangible assets and long-lived assets for impairment, the market value of inventory, pension expense and the fair value of acquired assets and liabilities associated with acquisitions and the fair value of redeemable noncontrolling interests; the impact of any future impairments; managerial, integration, operational, regulatory, legal and financial risks, including diversion of management attention to and management of cash flows, expenses and costs associated with multiple ongoing and future strategic initiatives and internal reorganizations the continued integration of the P&G Beauty Business and other recent acquisitions with the Company's business, operations, systems, financial data and culture and the ability to realize synergies, avoid future supply chain and other business disruptions, reduce costs (including through the Company's cash efficiency initiatives) and realize other potential efficiencies and benefits (including through the Company's restructuring initiatives) at the levels and at the costs and within the time frames contemplated or at all; increased competition, consolidation among retailers, shifts in consumers' preferred distribution and marketing channels (including to digital and luxury channels), distribution and shelf-space resets or reductions, compression of go-to-market cycles, changes in product and marketing requirements by retailers, reductions in retailer inventory levels and order lead-times or changes in purchasing patterns, and other changes in the retail, e-commerce and wholesale environment in which the Company does business and sell its products and the Company's ability to respond to such changes; the Company's and its business partners' and licensors' abilities to obtain, maintain and protect the intellectual property used in the Company's and their respective businesses, protect the Company's and such business partners' respective reputations, public goodwill, and defend claims by third parties for infringement of intellectual property rights; any change to the Company's capital allocation and/or cash management priorities; any unanticipated problems, liabilities or other challenges associated with an acquired business which could result in increased risk or new, unanticipated or unknown liabilities, including with respect to environmental, competition and other regulatory, compliance or legal matters; the Company's international operations and joint ventures, including enforceability and effectiveness of the Company's joint venture agreements and reputational, compliance, regulatory, economic and foreign political risks, including difficulties and costs associated with maintaining compliance with a broad variety of complex local and international regulations; the Company's dependence on certain licenses and its ability to renew expiring licenses or secure any needed change-in-control consents on favorable terms or at all; the Company's dependence on entities performing outsourced functions, including outsourcing of distribution functions, third-party manufacturers, logistics and supply chain suppliers, and other suppliers, including third-party software providers; administrative, product development and other difficulties in meeting the expected timing of market expansions, product launches and marketing efforts; global political and/or economic uncertainties, disruptions or major regulatory or policy changes, and/or the enforcement thereof that affect the Company's business, financial performance, operations or products, including the impact of Brexit, the current U.S. administration, the results of elections in European countries and in Brazil, changes in the U.S. tax code and recent changes and future changes in tariffs, retaliatory or trade protection measures, trade policies and other international trade regulations in the U.S. and in other regions where the Company operates including the European Union and China; currency exchange rate volatility and currency devaluation; the number, type, outcomes (by judgment, order or settlement) and costs of current or future legal, compliance, tax, regulatory or administrative proceedings, investigations and/or litigation; the Company's ability to manage seasonal factors and other variability and to anticipate future business trends and needs; disruptions in operations and sales, including due to disruptions in supply chain, logistics, restructurings and other business alignment activities, manufacturing or information technology systems, labor disputes, extreme weather and natural disasters, and the impact of such disruptions on the Company's ability to generate profits, stabilize or grow revenues or cash flows, comply with its contractual obligations and accurately forecast demand and supply needs and/or future results, and on the Company's relationships with licensors and retailers and the Company's in-store execution and product launches and promotions; restrictions imposed on the Company through its license agreements, credit facilities and senior unsecured bonds or other material contracts, the Company's ability to generate cash flow to repay, refinance or recapitalize debt and otherwise comply with its debt instruments, and changes in the manner in which the Company finances its debt and future capital needs, including access to capital under current market conditions; increasing dependency on information technology and the Company's ability to protect against service interruptions, data corruption, cyber-based attacks or network security breaches, costs and timing of implementation and effectiveness of any upgrades or other changes to information technology systems, including the Company's digital transformation initiatives, and the cost of compliance or the Company's failure to comply with any privacy or data security laws (including the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR")) or to protect against theft of customer, employee and corporate sensitive information; the Company's ability to attract and retain key personnel and the impact of the recent senior management transitions; the distribution and sale by third parties of counterfeit and/or gray market versions of the Company's products; the results of the Company's ongoing strategic review and the creation and revision of its strategic plan; the receipt of regulatory approvals in connection with the Offer and the fulfillment of other conditions to the Offer; the number of shares validly tendered pursuant to the Offer; business disruptions, litigation, costs and future events related to the Offer; and the impact of the Offer on the Company's relationships with key customers and suppliers and certain material contracts. More information about potential risks and uncertainties that could affect the Company's business and financial results is included under the heading "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and periodic reports the Company has filed and may file with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date of this Statement, and the Company does not undertake any obligation, other than as may be required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking or cautionary statements to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of events, unanticipated or otherwise, or changes in future operating results over time or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005353/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Nimble Signs Reseller Agreement with Gold Microsoft Partner SherWeb to Deliver Simple CRM for Office 365 Nimble - the Simple, Smart CRM for Office 365 - today announced a global reseller agreement with SherWeb, a leading cloud distributor and award-winning Gold Microsoft (News - Alert) partner. SherWeb is enabling its 5,000 reseller partners globally to rapidly build their digital transformation practice and adopt a modern go-to-market strategy using Nimble (News - Alert) CRM as The Simple CRM for Office 365 and gateway to Azure and Dynamics. SherWeb partners can provision Nimble from within SherWeb's online Cloud Marketplace, where the entire Office 365 family, Microsoft Dynamics portfolio, and Azure services are supported for turnkey Cloud Service implementations. (Contact Sherweb to become a partner). The Modern Office 365 Workplace "In a digital workplace, Nimble CRM delivers immediate value to small business teams struggling to manage customer and contact data across email, spreadsheets, social media channels and SaaS (News - Alert) apps," said Jason Brown, Vice President, Product at SherWeb. "Nimble's unified source of enriched contact records ensures our partners' business teams can easily reach, inform, and engage prospects and customers at scale using personalized, customer-centric communications, which is a clear competitive advantage." While Microsoft Dynamics 365 is ideally suited for businesses with 250+ users that want an enterprise-class business management solution, Brown recommends Nimble to partners with small teams of up to 50 people. "First time CRM users readily adopt Nimble because it's so easy to access and easy to use," added Brown. "As their needs evolve, partners can integrate Nimble with Dynamics 365 and any number of SaaS-based marketing automation, customer service, and accounting applications, extending employee access to every contact record, regardless of their source, everywhere they engage." The Modern CRM for Office 365 Nimble enables channel partners and Office 365 users to manage relationships more effectively within a single, enriched system of record. The contact relationship manager builds a team database from contacts in emai, appointments, social media, and SaaS-based connections with social insights and business context. It also delivers contact and business profiles within Office 365, across the web, in popular SaaS-based business applications, and on mobile devices. "We are excited to partner with SherWeb to help SMB channel partners modernize their 2019 go-to-market strategy," said Kevin Turner, Head of Strategic Partner Development at Nimble. "As employees realize Nimble's 'what's in it for me' factor, they readily embrace the digital workplace and, in turn, can help their small business customers do the same." Resources About SherWeb Since 1998, SherWeb has been helping SMBs become a one-stop shop for best-in-class cloud services and products such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure, VoIP, Security & Compliance, and Backup & DR. Today, more than 40,000 businesses through a network of 5,000 partners in over 100 countries are working more productively thanks to the added value we build into our SaaS, IaaS and PaaS solutions. For more information, or to learn how to partner with SherWeb, visit: www.sherweb.com. ABOUT NIMBLE - Nimble is the simple, smart CRM platform that Office 365 and G Suite users trust to find prospects, nurture relationships, and close more deals - all without leaving their inbox. Thousands of people use Nimble to successfully nurture their personal and business relationships across email, social networks, and more than 160 SaaS business applications. Nimble has been named "Market Leading CRM for Customer Satisfaction and Ease of Use" by many experts, including CRM Market Leader by G2 Crowd in Spring 2019 for the seventh consecutive year, CRM Watchlist Winner for three consecutive years, #1 Sales Intelligence Tool for Customer Satisfaction by G2 (News - Alert) Crowd for the eighth consecutive time, and users' choice award winner by Fit Small Business. Nimble combines the strengths of traditional CRM, classic contact management, social media, sales intelligence, and marketing automation into one powerful relationship management platform that delivers valuable relationship insights everywhere you work. Located in Santa Monica, Nimble is in the heart of the Southern California Silicon Beach tech community and was recently voted The Most Loved Santa Monica Tech Startup. For more information, visit http://www.nimble.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005346/en/ [April 16, 2019] Nightstar Therapeutics plc Announcement of Expiry of HSR Waiting Period and Satisfaction of Antitrust Condition NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN, INTO OR FROM ANY RESTRICTED JURISDICTION OR ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION WALTHAM, Mass. and LONDON, April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nightstar Therapeutics plc ("Nightstar") today announced the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, with respect to the recommended acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Nightstar by Tungsten Bidco Limited ("Bidco"), a newly-incorporated company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Biogen Switzerland Holdings GmbH (the "Acquisition"). Nightstar has also received notice from Bidcos representatives that the German Federal Cartel Office will not assert jurisdiction to review the Acquisition. Therefore, Condition C set out in Part III of the scheme document dated 9 April 2019 relating to the Acquisition (the "Scheme Document") has been satisfied. The Scheme remains subject to certain conditions including sanction by the Court at the Court Hearing (expected to take place on 6 June 2019) and the delivery of a copy of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies. Subject to the Scheme receiving the sanction of the Court and the delivery of a copy of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies and the satisfaction or (if capable of waiver) the waiver of the remaining Conditions to the Scheme (as set out in the Scheme Document), the Scheme is expected to become effective on 7 June 2019. Unless otherwise defined herein, capitalised terms and expressions used in this announcement shall have the meanings given to them in the Scheme Document. Enquiries: Nightstar Investor Information [email protected] Media Enquiries [email protected] Information [email protected] Centerview Partners (Financial adviser to Nightstar) Alan Hartman +1 212 380 2665 Andrew Rymer +1 212 429 2349 James Hartop +44 (0)20 7409 9730 Finsbury (PR adviser to Nightstar) Kal Goldberg +1 646 805 2005 Chris Ryall +1 646 306 0747 Nicholas Leasure +1 646 805 2814 Important notices relating to financial advisers Centerview Partners UK LLP ("Centerview Partners"), which is authorised and regulated by the FCA, is acting exclusively for Nightstar and no one else in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement. Centerview Partners is not and will not be responsible to anyone other than Nightstar for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in connection with the contents of this announcement or any matter referred to in this announcement. The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers does not apply to the Acquisition. Further information This announcement is for information purposes only and is not intended to and does not constitute, or form any part of, an offer to sell or an invitation to purchase or subscribe for any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction pursuant to the Acquisition or otherwise. The Acquisition will be made solely in accordance with the Scheme Document, which contains the full terms and conditions of the Acquisition, including details of how to vote in respect of the Scheme. INVESTORS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE SCHEME DOCUMENT, AS I MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME, CAREFULLY AND IN ITS ENTIRETY PRIOR TO MAKING ANY DECISIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE ACQUISITION BECAUSE IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors may obtain a free copy of the Scheme Document at the SECs website at www.sec.gov, or free of charge from Nightstar at https://www.nightstartx.com or by directing a request to Nightstar at [email protected]. Any voting decision or response in relation to the Acquisition should be made solely on the basis of the Scheme Document. This announcement does not constitute a prospectus or a prospectus equivalent document. Biogen Inc.("Biogen") and Nightstar, and their respective directors and executive officers, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the transactions contemplated by the implementation agreement. Information regarding Nightstar's directors and executive officers is contained in Nightstar's Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2017, which is filed with the SEC. Information regarding Biogen's directors and executive officers is contained in Biogen's Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2018 and its proxy statement dated 27 April 2018. Additional information regarding the participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the transactions contemplated by the implementation agreement and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the Scheme Document and other relevant materials filed with the SEC. Overseas shareholders The release, publication or distribution of this announcement in jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom and the United States may be restricted by law and therefore any persons who are subject to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom or the United States (including Restricted Jurisdictions) should inform themselves about, and observe, any applicable legal or regulatory requirements. In particular, the ability of persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States or who are subject to the laws of another jurisdiction to vote their Nightstar Shares in respect of the Scheme at the Court Meeting, or to execute and deliver Forms of Proxy appointing another to vote at the Court Meeting on their behalf, may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions in which they are located or to which they are subject. Any failure to comply with applicable legal or regulatory requirements of any jurisdiction may constitute a violation of securities laws in that jurisdiction. This announcement has been prepared for the purpose of complying with English law and the information disclosed may not be the same as that which would have been disclosed if this announcement had been prepared in accordance with the laws of jurisdictions outside England. Copies of this announcement and any formal documentation relating to the Acquisition are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in or into or from any Restricted Jurisdiction or any jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the laws of such jurisdiction and persons receiving such documents (including custodians, nominees and trustees) must not mail or otherwise forward, distribute or send them in or into or from any Restricted Jurisdiction. Doing so may render invalid any related purported vote in respect of acceptance of the Acquisition. If the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, the Offer may not (unless otherwise permitted by applicable law and regulation) be made, directly or indirectly, in or into or by use of the mails or any other means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, facsimile, e-mail or other electronic transmission, telex or telephone) of interstate or foreign commerce of, or any facility of a national, state or other securities exchange of any Restricted Jurisdiction and the Acquisition will not be capable of acceptance by any such use, means, instrumentality or facilities or from within any Restricted Jurisdiction. Further details in relation to Nightstar Shareholders in overseas jurisdictions are contained in the Scheme Document. Notice to U.S. investors in Nightstar The Acquisition relates to the shares of a U.K. company and is being made by means of a scheme of arrangement provided for under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 and subject to the proxy solicitation rules under the U.S. Exchange Act. The Acquisition, implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement, is not subject to the tender offer rules under the U.S. Exchange Act. If, in the future, Bidder exercises its right to implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer, subject to the terms of the Implementation Agreement, the Acquisition will be made in compliance with applicable U.S. laws and regulations. It may be difficult for U.S. Nightstar Shareholders and Nightstar ADS Holders to enforce their rights and any claim arising out of the U.S. federal securities laws, because Nightstar is located in a non-U.S. country, and some or all of its officers and directors are residents of a non-U.S. country. U.S. Nightstar Shareholders and Nightstar ADS Holders may not be able to sue a non-U.S. company or its officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of the U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel a non-U.S. company and its affiliates to subject themselves to a U.S. court's judgment. U.S. Nightstar Shareholders and Nightstar ADS Holders are urged to consult with legal, tax and financial advisers in connection with making a decision regarding the Acquisition. Warning Concerning Forward-Looking Statements All statements included in this announcement, other than statements or characterisations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 21E of the U.S. Exchange Act, and other securities laws. Whenever Nightstar uses words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "will", "may", "predict", "could", "seek", "forecast" and negatives or derivatives of these or similar expressions, they are making forward-looking statements. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, references to the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition and the expected time of effectiveness of the Acquisition. These forward-looking statements are based upon Nightstar's present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Nightstar Shareholders are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important risk factors that may cause Nightstar's actual results to differ materially from their forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (1) the Acquisition is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions, including the receipt of requisite approvals by Nightstar Shareholders and the sanction of the Scheme by the High Court of Justice in England and Wales, which conditions may not be satisfied or waived; (2) uncertainties as to the timing of the consummation of the Acquisition and the ability of each party to consummate the Acquisition; (3) the risk that the Acquisition disrupts the parties' current operations or affects their ability to retain or recruit key employees; (4) the possible diversion of management time on Acquisition-related issues; (5) litigation relating to the Acquisition; (6) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the Acquisition; and (7) potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the Acquisition. The information contained in Nightstar's filings with SEC, including in Nightstar's Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2018, identifies other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in or implied by the forward-looking statements in this announcement. Nightstar's filings with the SEC are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. You should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Nightstar does not intend to update or change any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Oxygen Forensics Announces New Director of Training Hire ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Oxygen Forensics, a leading global provider of digital forensic investigation software to law enforcement, government and enterprise organizations, announced the hire of digital forensics expert, Keith Lockhart as its Director of Training. Lockhart previously served as Vice President of Strategic Programs for AccessData Group for 15 years, leading digital forensics training solutions for Local, State, Federal and International Law Enforcement agencies as well as worldwide corporate entities and law-firms involved in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of high-technology crime. We are thrilled to welcome Keith, a former law enforcement officer and expert in the digital forensics industry to Oxygen Forensics as our new Director of Training, says Lee Reiber, COO of Oxygen Forensics. Keith is a world-renowned trainer, bringing two decades of experience in digital forensics, e-Discovery, decryption, incident response, mobile device collection, and analysis to the company. His stellar background in training and bold ideas for the future will ensure that Oxygen Forensics clients have the best curriculum and resources in the industry for years to come. Lockhart is a member of the High Technoloy Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA) and has served as the Director of Training and President for the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists (IACIS) from which he obtained Certification as a Forensic Computer Examiner. He has instructed at the FBI National Academy, the United States Secret Service, the Dutch National Police Academy, the National Center for Police Excellence in the United Kingdom, the London Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, the Canadian Police College, Australian Federal Police Headquarters and presents regularly for numerous law enforcement agencies and public / private sector organizations around the world. I am proud to join Oxygen Forensics as it continues keeping the world safe by providing law enforcement, federal and corporate clients with cutting edge solutions to their toughest digital forensics needs, says Keith Lockhart, Oxygen Forensics incoming Director of Training. As a former law enforcement officer, I know first hand the value add that Oxygen Forensics products bring to law enforcement officers across the country. This company is at the forefront of the mobile data forensics industry and it is my honor to join it as we transition to the next phase of mobile and data innovation. As Oxygen Forensics Director of Training, Lockhart will be responsible for building a forward-looking training program for the companys wide array of law enforcement, federal and corporate clients. He will be tasked with ensuring the company's training infrastructure remains ahead of technologies and trends in the market. About Oxygen Forensics, Inc.: Oxygen Forensics, Inc., is a leading global provider of software for digital forensic investigations involving mobile devices, drones, and cloud data. The companys flagship software, Oxygen Forensic Detective, enables law enforcement, defense, and enterprise organizations around the world to extract and examine data from thousands of device types and applications to build thorough digital evidence cases for legal and forensic proceedings. Contact: Ian Martorana [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] 68% of sales executives say meeting scheduling is a major hassle - New Pipedrive Scheduler launched to simplify the process CHICAGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of 266 salespeople* shows that 68 percent responded that the back-and-forth of scheduling meeting times is a hassle and too complicated. As a result, Pipedrive Inc. ( www.pipedrive.com ), the first CRM platform developed from the salesperson's point-of-view, today launched the new Pipedrive Scheduler, to easily automate and simplify meeting scheduling. The survey also indicated the critical importance of scheduling as a sales activity, as 63 percent of respondents schedule meetings on a daily basis. Yet, the back-and-forth can often be the friction that costs a deal. Pipedrive Scheduler is specifically designed to schedule and confirm sales meetings enabling sales people to propose and set a meeting quickly based on general calendar availability or a specific one-time meeting slot. Users can set recurring meeting types, durations, notes, URLs or many extra fields for the recipient to easily fill out. Once meetings are scheduled, confirmation emails are sent to both parties, and calendars are automatically updated. If an opportunity comes up at short notice, the tool is also ideal to find and share available time slots outside of a usual work schedule. Pipedrive Scheduler is now available on Gold and Platinum plans, priced from $24.20/month. More details at: https://www.pipedrive.com/en/blog/scheduling-tool In addition to Pipedrive Scheduler, the company announced virtual assistant functionality with Google Assistant, and invoicing with Xero. The features further reduce administrative burden, and free up sales professionals to focus on closing deals. Pipedrive with Google Assistant Now Available to help Sales People On the Go In addition, for sales professionals on the go, Pipedrive Voice Commands with Google Assistant is now available. Its functionality supports critical administrative tasks for sales people - whether driving, walking or simply tired of typing notes. It ensures no sales action falls through the cracks. Pipedrive can now execute common tasks hands-free, such as checking upcoming activities, scheduling calls, adding notes to activities, and setting follow-up activities to ensure prospects advance through the sales pipeline. The tool is available for use with all Pipedrive packages. Xero Integration Generates to Ensure Invoicing Pipedrive's new Xero integration can generate invoices based on information already held within a Pipedrive account, with invoices fully tracked within Xero's popular management software - allowing a user to oversee their incoming revenue when closing Pipedrive deals. More details at: https://www.pipedrive.com/en/blog/pipedrive-xero-integration After simple activation from the Pipedrive Marketplace, users can create invoices from their Deal Details view in Pipedrive, approve and send those invoices from within Xero, and track the invoice status also in Pipedrive. Vinay Ramani, Pipedrive's Chief Product Officer, commented, "These latest tools were built by our in-house development teams, and are nice examples of how we optimize the sales process in ways that free up valuable time for the salesperson and prospect, plus increase control and accuracy. The application possibilities for AI and sales are huge most notably to qualify stronger leads and build data-driven action plans for Pipedrive users." About Pipedrive Inc. Founded in 2010, Pipedrive is the first CRM platform developed from the salesperson's point-of-view. Today, Pipedrive is used by sales teams at over 85,000 companies worldwide. Honored as a leading innovative technology company, Pipedrive has offices in Tallinn, London, Lisbon, New York, Tartu, and Prague, and has raised $90 million in funding. Learn more at Pipedrive.com. * October 2018 survey of 266 sales professionals. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/68-of-sales-executives-say-meeting-scheduling-is-a-major-hassle---new-pipedrive-scheduler-launched-to-simplify-the-process-300832861.html SOURCE Pipedrive.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] GlobalSign Announces Technology Partnership with Industrial IoT Company Xage Security BOSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GMO GlobalSign ( www.globalsign.com ), a global Certificate Authority (CA) and leading provider of identity and security solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced a technology partnership with Xage Security ( www.xage.com) , an industrial internet-of-things (IIoT) cybersecurity leader. To secure the industrial IoT, Xage employs its unique blockchain-protected Xage Fabric to safeguard every device, application, and human connecting to industrial networks, from edge-to-edge and edge-to-core. With this partnership, Xage will be leveraging GlobalSign's IoT Identity Platform for certificate enrollment, bringing additional enrollment capabilities to Xage's distributed security fabric technology. The strong and unique identities provided by GlobalSign's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based solutions support Xage's device discovery process, as well as device authentication and authorization for the company's zero-touch, in-field device-to-application enrollment. The joint solution offers a converged and scalable method for identity management consistent with multiple standards and protocol guidelines including 802.1AR, Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), and IEC 62443. Together, GlobalSign and Xage address the unique device authentication and encryption challenges on the edge layer of today's industrial operations and provide secure and scalable solutions that meet current and future IIoT security needs. "Automatic certificate-based enrollment and enforcement in the edge is a major enabler for the delivery of next-generation highly automated machine-to-machine industrial operations,'' said Roman Arutyunov, Co-Founder and Vice President of Products, Xage Security. "With billions of devices being deployed, customers need this conveient, secure and multi-party way to deliver distributed management of identity and enrollment at scale." "Xage's mission to secure industrial operations aligns with the GlobalSign IoT philosophy to protect systems and services that operate at the edge," said Nisarg Desai, Director of Product Management, IoT, GlobalSign. "Combining Xage's in-field distributed security fabric with PKI-based certificate provisioning is a remarkable step forward and breaks new ground in IIoT security practices. Working closely with innovators in the space like Xage makes perfect sense." About the GlobalSign's IoT Identity Platform GlobalSign's next-generation IoT Identity Platform is flexible and scalable enough to issue and manage billions of identities for IoT devices of all types. Using PKI as the core identity mechanism, the IoT Identify Platform can serve the varied security use-cases of the IoT across all verticals, including manufacturing, agriculture, smart grid, payments, IoT gateways, healthcare, other industrial ecosystems and more. The Platform supports the full device identity lifecycle, from initial certificate provisioning (both greenfield and brownfield deployments) to lifetime maintenance through to final sunsetting, decommissioning or transfer of ownership. Giving each device or endpoint a unique identity allows them to get authenticated when they come online and then throughout their lifetime, prove their integrity, and securely communicate with other devices, services and users. About Xage Security The Xage Security Security Fabric is the universal security solution for modern industrial operations, creating the essential trusted foundation for every interaction, whether human-to-machine, machine-to-machine, or edge-to-cloud. The fabric protects all equipment, from new IoT devices to vulnerable legacy systems, delivering identity management, single sign-on, and access control with in-field enforcement across the industrial operation. Xage Security is the first and only blockchain-protected security solution providing tamperproof, non-intrusive protection and enabling efficient operations and innovation across all industries. Xage Security customers include leaders in manufacturing, energy, utilities, and transportation. About GMO GlobalSign GlobalSign is the leading provider of trusted identity and security solutions enabling businesses, large enterprises, cloud-based service providers and IoT innovators around the world to conduct secure online communications, manage millions of verified digital identities and automate authentication and encryption. Its high-scale PKI and identity solutions support the billions of services, devices, people and things comprising the Internet of Things (IoT). The company has offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit https://www.globalsign.com About GMO Cloud KK GMO Cloud K.K. (TSE: 3788) is a full-service IT infrastructure provider focused on cloud solutions. Established as a hosting company in 1996, the company has managed servers for more than 130,000 businesses and now has 6,500 sales partners throughout Japan. In February of 2011, the company launched GMO Cloud to enhance its focus on cloud-based solutions. Since 2007, the company has also grown its GlobalSign SSL security brand through offices in Belgium, U.K., U.S., China and Singapore. For more information, visit https://ir.gmocloud.com/english/ About GMO Internet Group GMO Internet Group is an Internet service industry leader, developing and operating Japan's most widely used domain, hosting & cloud, ecommerce, security, and payment solutions. The Group also includes the world's largest online FX trading platform, as well as online advertising, Internet media, and cryptocurrency related services. GMO Internet, Inc. (TSE: 9449) is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. For more information, please visit https://www.gmo.jp/en/ Xage Security Media Contact: LaunchSquad for Xage Phone: 415-625-8555 Email: [email protected] Media Relations Contact: Amy Krigman GlobalSign Public Relations Manager Phone: 603-570-7091 Email: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/globalsign-announces-technology-partnership-with-industrial-iot-company-xage-security-300832235.html SOURCE GlobalSign [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Ellie Mae Founder Sig Anderman Receives Distinguished Career Award From Executive Roundtable for Mortgage Finance Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI), the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, today announced that Sig Anderman was given the Distinguished Career Award by the Executive Roundtable for Mortgage Finance. The award, inscribed with the phrase "get people to share the dream," recognizes leaders who have made significant and lasting contributions to the mortgage finance industry. Previous recipients include FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery, former Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens and former Radian (News - Alert) CEO, S.A. Ibrahim. The Executive Roundtable for Mortgage Finance brings together industry leaders to explore ways to significantly improve the effectiveness of key processes, technology and controls that underpin the origination and servicing of mortgages. The Roundtable includes participants from the Mortgage Bankers Association, HUD, CMG Financial, Wells Fargo (News - Alert), eOriginal, DocuSign, Docutech, Quicken Loans, Tavant, Santander Bank, Orrick, Roostify, First American Title, CoreLogic, SoFi, Ellie Mae and other notable companies and organizations in the industry. "The word legend gets tossed around in our industry from time to time. When it comes to Sig Anderman, he is very deserving of that title," said Christopher George, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association and President, CMG Financial, who presented the award. "Inspired by Sig's vision, Ellie Mae led the charge to automate the mortgage industry. Ellie Mae's Encompass Digital Lending Platform is now used to process and fund 40% of all the mortgage loans originated in America. To achieve the level of impact in our industry that he has, and to do it with the grace and gratitude that Sig has, is nothing short of inspirational." Anderman founded Ellie Mae in 1998 with the mission to automate everything automatable for the residential mortgage industry. "We started the company to provide technology tools for mortgage originators and take the excessive costs, delays and stress ut of the home-buying process for people making a significant and emotional purchase," said Anderman. "We saw there was a lot of data and documents moving around and we realized there had to be a better way to move it with greater efficiency and accuracy, less work and fewer errors. We founded Ellie Mae to change the industry and we did just that. Today, our technology powers the American Dream of homeownership for people across the country." By using Ellie Mae's Encompass digital mortgage solution, lenders can originate more loans, reduce origination costs, and reduce the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Additionally, Ellie Mae has the largest partner network in the industry who are directly integrated into the Encompass Digital Lending Platform - making it a one stop shop for each unique customer. Ellie Mae also enables developers and users of Encompass to utilize APIs and customize solutions to meet their unique business needs. The advanced and customizable technology that Ellie Mae offers has become the standard for mortgage technology and continues to propel the digital mortgage industry forward. Anderman has had a long history of success founding companies to benefit the mortgage and real estate industries. He started his career in 1975 when he co-founded American Home Shield, now the leading home warranty company in the country. After the sale of American Home Shield in 1982, he started CompuFund, designed to help realtors understand and arrange for mortgage financing using computer technology, coining the phrase "Computerized Loan Originations" or "CLOs." In 1992, Anderman founded Inspectech, dedicated to automating and streamlining the home inspection business, which he sold just prior to founding Ellie Mae. Anderman remained CEO of Ellie Mae until 2015 when Jonathan Corr was named president and CEO. Anderman continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Ellie Mae. Upon retirement as CEO of Ellie Mae, Anderman shifted his focus to philanthropy, establishing the Anderman Family Fund, a philanthropic fund dedicated to environmental protection, social and economic justice, the arts and medical research. In 2016, he founded the Springboard Initiative, a nonprofit based in San Francisco providing youth in underserved communities with access to training and the opportunity to acquire skills that will allow them to move into higher paying jobs in the technology sector. The program also supplements the recruitment pipeline of technology start-ups and established brands across the Bay Area. "High tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the country need to adopt new ways to source talent for their organizations," said Anderman. "The Springboard Initiative gives employers a unique opportunity to address their talent needs by introducing them to eager, bright candidates whose training can be tailored to specific job openings. This is a powerful way for companies to help individuals who would otherwise be left out of the job market." About Ellie Mae Ellie Mae (NYSE:ELLI) is the leading cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. Ellie Mae's technology solutions enable lenders to originate more loans, reduce origination costs, and shorten the time to close, all while ensuring the highest levels of compliance, quality and efficiency. Visit EllieMae.com or call 877.355.4362 to learn more. 2019 Ellie Mae, Inc. Ellie Mae, Encompass, AllRegs, Mavent, Velocify, the Ellie Mae logo and other trademarks or service marks of Ellie Mae, Inc. appearing herein are the property of Ellie Mae, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Other company and product names may be trademarks or copyrights of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005211/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] WekaIO and PetaGene to Showcase an End-to-End Optimized Genomics Workflow at Bio-IT World WekaIO, the innovation leader in high-performance, scalable file storage for data-intensive applications, will be demonstrating an optimized genomics data analysis workflow at Bio-IT World in Boston, Mass., this week. Our demonstration features WekaIO Matrix, the world's fastest parallel file system; PetaGene, the maker of award-winning genomics data compression solutions; and incorporates Sentieon's award-winning genomics tools, for accelerated genomic data analysis, and Western Digital's (News - Alert) ActiveScale cloud object storage for long-term storage and archival. The cost of genome sequencing has dropped dramatically, resulting in an explosion of genomic data which if stored on legacy NAS storage systems can be prohibitively expensive. Current analytics platforms struggle to process these massive amounts of data in a timely manner, and storage costs dominate the budgets of large genomics applications. As storage costs escalate and money gets diverted to pay for infrastructure, the pace of discovery slows. Together, WekaIO, Western Digital Corp. (News - Alert), Sentieon and PetaGene offer the genomics industry a scalable, robust and high-performance solution that delivers performance that legacy NAS systems cannot offer as well as a cost savings model that allows for the research to continue rather than investing in more storage infrastructure. WekaIO's Matrix file system reduces time to discovery by providing low latency data access and fast delivery of data to compute servers, eliminating the I/O bottleneck and the CPU starvation problems common to genomic and cancer research workloads. With a single namespace that spans local storage and the cloud, Matrix delivers simplified management and data protection. Its performance is 3x that of local file systems and 10x that of traditional NAS. Together with PetaGene compression and integrated tiering and remote bckup to the cloud with Western Digital ActiveScale object storage, WekaIO provides unprecedented storage performance and capacity scaling for genome sequencing workloads. "We are excited to share our work with PetaGene for the life sciences community at Bio-IT World," said David Hiatt, Director of Business Development at WekaIO. "Genomic workloads are among the most challenging for storage systems with billions of small files and intense metadata operations. Our software delivers extremely high bandwidth and IOPS performance at a fraction of the cost of NAS appliances. Combined with PetaGene's groundbreaking compression technology, an integrated solution reduces total storage costs and dramatically improves data accessibility, helping to accelerate the pace of research and discovery." PetaGene genomic data compression provides up to 90% reduction of BAM and FASTQ.gz file sizes, without any loss of information, resulting in greater than 50% net savings in overall storage costs. In addition, PetaGene compression technology reduces transfer times of genomic data by 60% to 90%. Whether these compressed files are stored locally or in the cloud, PetaGene's PetaLink technology provides transparent and secure access to this genomic data to all applications, tools, and pipelines without modifications to established workflows. "Our work with WekaIO results in a storage solution for genomics and life sciences that is easy to manage and combines industry-leading storage density and performance with breakthrough scale and economics," said Vaughan Wittorff, CCO and Co-founder of PetaGene. "Our ability to provide lossless compression and workflow transparency of genomic data combined with the high performance of both PetaLink and Matrix is an infrastructure improvement that will benefit the entire genomics industry. Furthermore, the Sentieon tools offer speed and accuracy of the analysis of genomic data. PetaGene seeks to work strategically to provide the genomics industry with novel solutions, and we are excited to support WekaIO with this capability demonstration." See this joint solution from WekaIO, Western Digital Corp., PetaGene and Sentieon demonstrated at Bio-IT World in Boston, Mass., on April 16-18, 2019, booth #501. About WekaIO WekaIO helps companies manage, scale and future-proof their data center so they can solve real problems that impact the world. WekaIO Matrix, the world's fastest shared parallel file system and WekaIO's flagship product, leapfrogs legacy storage infrastructures by delivering simplicity, scale, and the best performance density per U, for a fraction of the cost. In the cloud or on-premises, WekaIO's NVMe-native high-performance software-defined storage solution removes the barriers between the data and the compute layer, thus accelerating artificial intelligence, machine learning, genomics, research, and analytics workloads. About PetaGene PetaGene was founded in Cambridge, the birthplace of genomics, to address the rapidly growing data management problems of the genomics industry. PetaGene's software enables compression of huge amounts of genomic data without compromising on access or data quality. The company's products go beyond regular data reduction techniques and have twice been recognized by Bio-IT World's Best of Show Award for their industry-leading performance and usability. For more information, visit www.petagene.com or e-mail [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005217/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Integral Molecular Doubles Antibody Characterization Capacity Within Philadelphia's Science Center PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Integral Molecular, the industry leader in membrane protein solutions, today announced the expansion of its two proprietary antibody characterization platforms, Shotgun Mutagenesis Epitope Mapping and the Membrane Proteome Array (MPA). Integral Molecular recently acquired office and laboratory space, which enabled the company to double its antibody characterization capabilities. "Businesses like Integral Molecular are creating jobs and contributing to the vibrancy of Philadelphia's biosector. We're thrilled that Integral Molecular has chosen to start, grow, and expand right here at uCity Square," says Steve Zarrilli, President & CEO of University City Science Center. "Integral Molecular's trajectory exemplifies the services and support offered by the Science Center and facilities available at uCity Square." The expansin is being driven by recent MPA Target Discovery partnerships and a surge of Shotgun Mutagenesis Epitope Mapping projects, prompting the need for additional space and personnel. "Integral Molecular is in an exciting growth phase where we're expanding our teams, launching new products, and reaching new markets," says Ben Doranz, President and CEO of Integral Molecular. "To achieve these goals, we're dedicating additional resources to antibody characterization, a key component of our suite of membrane protein solutions." About Integral Molecular Integral Molecular (www.integralmolecular.com) is the industry leader in membrane protein solutions, with a pipeline of therapeutic antibodies against GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, and immuno-oncology targets. Built on the company's extensive experience optimizing membrane proteins, Integral Molecular's technology suite enables the isolation, characterization, and engineering of MAbs against otherwise intractable targets. The company currently has therapeutic programs focused on cancer, pain, immunity, and metabolic diseases. Contact: Integral Molecular, Inc. Ben Doranz, PhD, President and CEO 215-966-6061 [email protected] www.integralmolecular.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/integral-molecular-doubles-antibody-characterization-capacity-within-philadelphias-science-center-300832409.html SOURCE Integral Molecular [April 16, 2019] New Gold Provides Notice of Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and Release of First Quarter 2019 Financial Results New Gold Inc. ("New Gold" or the "Company") (TSX and NYSE American: NGD) announces that it will hold its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. New Gold has filed its 2018 audited financial statements, management's discussion and analysis (MD&A), management information circular, and annual information form, and these documents are available under New Gold's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and on New Gold's website at www.newgold.com. Shareholders may request a hard copy of the complete audited financial statements and 2019 meeting materials free of charge by calling toll free 1-888-315-9715, or by emailing your request to [email protected]. Additionally, New Gold will release its first quarter 2019 financial results before market on Thursday, April 25, 2019. A webcast and conference call to discuss these results will follow. Annual General Meeting of Shareholders The Company will hold its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 at 4:00 pm (EDT). The meeting will not include a formal presentation bymanagement. Via Webcast (Audio only): Available on the Company's website at www.newgold.com or from the following link: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1985049/B115055310E131C6F32336714AEE4C08 Via Telephone: Please dial 1-647-427-2311 or toll free 1-866-521-4909 Replay Archive: Please dial 1-416-621-4642 or toll free 1-800-585-8367, access code 6593589 The recorded playback of the conference call will be available until May 24, 2019. An archived webcast will be available until July 24, 2019. First Quarter 2019 Results Webcast and Conference Call The Company will host a webcast and conference call on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 8:30 am (EDT) to discuss the Company's first quarter financial and operating results. Via Webcast: Available on the Company's website at www.newgold.com or from the following link: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1975620/0AAB421FD47B45BB007F5F7D94728049 Via Telephone: Please dial 1-647-427-2311 or toll free 1-866-521-4909 Replay Archive: Please dial 1-416-621-4642 or toll free 1-800-585-8367, access code 3885697 The recorded playback of the conference call will be available until May 25, 2019. An archived webcast will be available until July 25, 2019. About New Gold Inc. New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate gold mining company. The Company has a portfolio of two core producing assets in top-rated jurisdictions, the Rainy River and New Afton Mines in Canada. The Company also operates the Cerro San Pedro Mine in Mexico (which transitioned to residual leaching in 2016). In addition, New Gold owns 100% of the Blackwater project located in Canada. New Gold's objective is to be a leading intermediate gold producer, focused on the environment and social responsibility. For further information on the Company, please visit www.newgold.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005617/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] 24 Hour Home Care and Heal Team Up to Provide On-Demand Doctor House Calls to Seniors in the Los Angeles Area 24 Hour Home Care and Heal, the leader in on-demand doctor house calls, today announce that, together, they will give seniors in the Los Angeles area the quality of health care they need, in the privacy of their own homes. Many 24 Hour Home Care clients do not have smartphones or Internet access, and this partnership enables 24 Hour Home Care to schedule Heal appointments for them via phone, bridging the potential gap of the lack of technology and access to mobile apps. Clients who have access to smartphones can also book appointments within the Heal app or on Heal's website. "Our new relationship with Heal is the perfect solution to enhance the level of care and services we provide for seniors," stated Ryan Iwamoto, Co-Founder of 24 Hour Home Care. "This partnership emphasizes our purpose of impacting people's lives by making a difference every single day. Our caregivers and team members see our clients regularly and believe there's a need for convenient, high-quality doctor house calls. We have no doubts this service will make a positive impact on our clients' lives." For many of the 24 Hour Home Care clients, comfort and time-sensitivity are important and often critical. With Heal, wait times for appointments are already improved, as clients won't have to wait in traffic or in doctor's office lobbies. Heal doctors can be booked on-demand, seven days a week, 365 days per year, within a two-hour window 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. daily. Additionally, the amount of time spent going to and from a doctor's office is saved, reducing stress on clients, thus ultimately improving their lifestyle. Due to the nature of 24 Hour Home Care's primary client base being the senior community, Heal now offers coverage by Medicare and Medicare Advantage PPO Plans, which creates even more synergy for this partnership. "We're thrilled to be partnering with 24 Hour Home Care to provide our exceptional on-demand service to seniors in the Los Angeles area," said Dr. Renee Dua, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Heal. "With Heal, these individuals no longer have to be displaced by going to see their doctor in a medical office, as our highly-skilled doctors will come to them in the comfort of their own home. Unfortunately, we know that for many seniors, before this partnership, the choice wasn't between a house call or an office visit, but rather a house call or not seeing a doctor at all. We're closing the loop between the patient and their family, and the home health worker, hrough world-class care delivered by Heal doctors." Doctors booked through 24 Hour Home Care and Heal offer a wide variety of services such as primary care and non-emergency urgent care visits, flu shots, well visits, and more. About 24 Hour Home Care: 24 Hour Home Care provides high-quality, customized, professional caregiving services to seniors and individuals with developmental disabilities, allowing them to continue full, active and healthy lifestyles. Founded by David Allerby, Tyner Brenneman-Slay, and Ryan Iwamoto in 2008, 24 Hour Home Care has expanded to 16 locations throughout California, Arizona and Dallas, hiring over 10,000 employees. 24 Hour Home Care's owners received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2017) and was named to Inc. Magazine's list of Fastest Growing Private Companies, the Inc. 5000, for the sixth consecutive year. 24 Hour Home Care has received additional accolades including being listed by Forbes Magazine as the #24 Most Promising Company in America and was ranked #4 for At-Home Care on the FORTUNE 2018 Best Workplaces for Aging Services by Great Place to Work. To learn more, visit www.24hrcares.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn. About Heal: Heal is bringing technology innovation to re-humanize the practice of medicine in a way that is fulfilling for doctors and patients alike. We believe in making healthcare a more personal and convenient experience by creating a more efficient doctor's office in your home, that inevitably improves healthcare outcomes. Through the touch of an app or a click on our site, a highly-vetted, qualified medical doctor will arrive at your door, twelve hours a day, 365 days a year. Heal is in-network with all major PPO insurance companies in California, as well as Medicare, and will soon be in-network with insurers across the country. Heal investors include Fidelity ContraFund, Jim Breyer, the Ellison Family, Lionel Richie, and others. For more information, please visit http://www.heal.com/. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005390/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Citadel Defense Wins US Military Counter Drone Contract Valued Over $1M SAN DIEGO, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Citadel Defense Company was awarded a purchase contract valued over $1M by the Defense Logistics Agency in support of USSOCOM requirements. This is the company's sixth government contract for their award-winning mobile system that counters threat drones that have become an increasing problem to U.S. forces around the world. Through autonomy, proprietary machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, Citadel Defense creates a force multiplier for Warfighters that enables them to get more done with the same or fewer resources. With the deployment of Citadel's technology, U.S. Special Operations Forces gain a modernized capability designed and developed to evolve with the pace of the growing threat. To learn more about how Citadel's technology is being used today visit https://dronecitadel.com/impact.php. Christopher Williams, Citadel Defense's Chief Executive Officer, said, "By working alongside the U.S. Government and hundreds of warfighters, we've fielded a capability that works today, at scale, and with minimal field support in the harshest operating envirnments. Through a close partnership with users, Citadel Defense delivers a drone protection solution for customers that is constantly improving, constantly incorporating user feedback, and constantly adapting to meet future threats and outpace our adversaries." Citadel Defense has emerged as an industry leader in developing, deploying, and integrating innovative counter drone solutions with its Titan product, providing fixed site, man-packable, and on-the-move protection that can effectively defeat drones without having collateral effects on warfighter communications or certain proprietary technologies. This provides our nation's Warfighters with advanced situational awareness to empower decision making and Force Protection to help keep Warfighters out of harm's way. When asked about plans for the company's future, Mr. Williams responded, "We look forward to building on the relationship that Citadel has developed with the many government customers we currently support. By providing highly specialized and precise technologies that require no signal expertise or training, we will continue to develop solutions that allow the warfighter or end user to focus on their most important missions without distraction." ABOUT CITADEL DEFENSE: Citadel Defense is a counter-drone (C-UAS) technology company specializing in development and deployment of drone mitigation solutions for military, homeland security and commercial applications. Our patented and proprietary technology has been operationally validated by commercial, Government, and military users including, the US Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security. For media inquiries, contact [email protected] or visit www.dronecitadel.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/citadel-defense-wins-us-military-counter-drone-contract-valued-over-1m-300832225.html SOURCE Citadel Defense [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] ArcticNet funding renewed for 5 years QUEBEC, April 16, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - On Tuesday, funding for ArcticNet was renewed at a level of $32,475,000 over five years. This extension will provide an opportunity for the Network to develop beyond the Networks of Centres of Excellence program and morph into a perennial pan-Canadian research powerhouse that will match the research effort of any other nation in the Arctic. "Starting in 2004, ArcticNet has brought together Canada's best expertise in the natural, social, and health sciences to bring Canada as the leader in Arctic research. With the help of Inuit, private sector and public sector partners, the Network has mobilized scientific and local knowledge to inform adaptation to climate change and modernzation in the North. "From engineering solutions to stabilize the runway of Iqaluit airport to health programs in Nunavik, from assessing the risk of drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea to helping define the border between Canada and Greenland in Nares Strait, we have inventoried no less than 130 instances in which the knowledge created by ArcticNet and its partners has informed decision, action, and policy in the North," said Professor Philippe Archambault, ArcticNet's scientific co-director at Universite Laval. Over the next 5 years, ArcticNet will focus on two major research axes: informing the sustainable development of the Canadian Arctic Blue Economy (shipping, fisheries, tourism, and mining), and building postsecondary research and training capacity through our new North-by-North initiative," said Professor Jackie Dawson, ArcticNet's scientific co-director at the University of Ottawa. Recent scientific research paints a picture of stagnating economic and social development in the Canadian North, and as they move towards self-governance, Northern communities face critical health, education and economic challenges. "This is why ArcticNet must continue to inform the development of Canada's North," said Professor Louis Fortier, ArcticNet's scientific director. "Canada must address many pressing strategic issues related to the greening of its economy, including the sustainable socio-economic development of its northern communities, territories and seas." Hosted by Universite Laval, ArcticNet is the first and only Network of Centres of Excellence funded beyond the former 14-year limit for the duration of NCE support. SOURCE Universite Laval [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] MUFG Innovation Partners Announces Investment In Chainalysis, Leading Provider Of Cryptocurrency Compliance Solutions TOKYO and NEW YORK, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MUFG today announced that MUFG Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. (MUIP), a corporate venture capital fund and wholly owned subsidiary of MUFG, has invested in Chainalysis, Inc., a provider of investigation and compliance solutions to combat against illicit cryptocurrency activities. The Chainalysis investment is MUIP's first investment outside of Japan and second since its January 2019 launch by MUFG. With the investment, Chainalysis plans to expand its business in Asia-Pacific and to open an office in the region. Chainalysis has emerged as a leading provider of cryptocurrency compliance solutions. While the development and adoption of blockchains and corresponding decentralized financial systems have been growing, infrastructure and regulatory compliance frameworks are needed to ensure and build trust amongst all stakeholders. "Chainalysis's compliance technology is important to providing the insight and anti-money laundering controls banks need in order to establish next-generation compliance frameworks," said Nobutake Suzuki, MUFG Innovation Partners' President and CEO. "Today's announcement signals our joint commitment to growing the cryptocurrency industry in Japan and Asia-Pacific ore soundly and broadly. Further, it is our hope that this investment will lead MUFG toward forming a closer strategic relationship with Chainalysis." Based in New York, Chainalysis leverages deep analytics and machine learning while maintaining data privacy to help law enforcement agencies track illicit cryptocurrency transactions. The company also provides financial institutions and cryptocurrency businesses with insights to help assess and enhance their controls as necessary. MUIP's primary focus is to pursue partnerships and business synergies between MUFG group companies and portfolio companies. It plans to continue seeking investment opportunities in the financial technology (fintech) sector. About MUFG Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world's leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with over 1,800 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has over 150,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to "be the world's most trusted financial group" through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG's shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges. For more information, visit https://www.mufg.jp/english. About Chainalysis Chainalysis offers cryptocurrency investigation and compliance solutions to global law enforcement agencies, regulators, and businesses as they work together to fight illicit cryptocurrency activity. Backed by Accel, Benchmark, and other leading names in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mufg-innovation-partners-announces-investment-in-chainalysis-leading-provider-of-cryptocurrency-compliance-solutions-300832945.html SOURCE MUFG [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Fringe Benefit Group Combines with Century Healthcare to Create Leader in Affordable Healthcare Solutions for Hourly Workers Fringe Benefit Group, Inc., an industry leader in the design, implementation and administration of benefits for hourly and part-time workers, and Century Healthcare (CHC), a north Texas-based company specializing in customized benefit plans for employers of all sizes with hourly employees, today announced they have combined - creating one of the nation's largest providers of limited benefit medical plans. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The combination brings together two highly regarded Texas companies specializing in ACA-compliant, turnkey solutions for employers with hourly employees. "The combination of Fringe Benefit Group and CHC is a great fit for our employees, customers and brokers. CHC has an excellent reputation and has been in business for a long time and while we offer similar products, there is very littleoverlap in the customers we serve. Both companies have thrived during a period of great uncertainty in health insurance, which indicates there is a need for our products and I'm very excited about our future," said Travis West, CEO of Fringe Benefit Group. Michael Wilson, who has been CEO of CHC since acquiring the company in 2008, will become a shareholder, join Fringe Benefit Group's board of directors and serve as a consultant to the company. "The CHC team prides ourselves for being flexible and adaptable in our ability to design, implement and administer customized benefit plans for employers of all sizes throughout the U.S. We are very excited about the opportunities ahead as we combine with Fringe Benefit Group. This will allow us to leverage and expand our capabilities and offerings to build a unique best of breed platform." About Fringe Benefit Group Austin, Texas-based Fringe Benefit Group and its affiliate companies have helped employers design and administer fringe benefit programs since 1983. Through its nationwide network of independent brokers and agents, Fringe Benefit Group has established itself as the leader in government contractor health and welfare and retirement plans. Drawing on its expertise in the prevailing wage segment, the company has also emerged as a leader in group benefit plans designed specifically for hourly and part-time workers. For more information, visit www.fbg.com. About Century Healthcare Century Healthcare (CHC) is a full-service, licensed and bonded healthcare marketing and sales organization. The company specializes in the design, administration, and implementation of customized limited benefit medical plans and MEC plans for employer groups throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.centuryhealthcare.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005733/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Dasher Technologies CEO Laurie Dasher Named 2019 Woman of Influence in Silicon Valley CAMPBELL, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dasher Technologies today announced that CEO Laurie Dasher was named a 2019 Woman of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal. The annual list celebrates the contributions of 100 remarkable women leaders and innovators who have made a significant impact on their Silicon Valley industry. As the leader of a locally-owned, privately-held, woman-owned business, Laurie Dasher founded her successful Silicon Valley IT company in an industry where women are vastly underrepresented in the workplace. Dasher Technologies is a leading IT solution and services provider that designs, delivers, and manages comprehensive IT solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, data center, enterprise networking, and hbrid cloud services. For over 20 years Laurie has been the driving force behind the Dasher mission to help public, private, and nonprofit organizations implement innovative technology solutions that digitally transform their businesses. "I am honored to be in the company of so many incredible women and grateful that the Silicon Valley Business Journal celebrates local women who are paving the way for emerging female leaders," said Laurie Dasher. "With only a quarter of U.S. technology jobs currently filled by women, I believe we all have a responsibility to help create a brighter future for women and girls in computing." Under Laurie's leadership, Dasher Technologies has grown into a national organization with over 70 employees, operating with offices in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeast. As CEO, Laurie has not only been responsible for setting the company's strategic goals, she also oversees company-wide processes in funding, employee retention, benefits and internal engagement efforts. "Laurie is a strong advocate and proponent of gender equality. She believes there is a direct correlation between having a diverse workforce and Dasher's success," said Al Chien, president, Dasher Technologies. "She is passionate about her role as mentor to her team, clients, women in technology and other careers." The Silicon Valley Business Journal will honor and celebrate the 100 most influential women in Silicon Valley at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Thursday, May 16. Honorees were selected from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. You can see the full list of winners at: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/04/12/svbj-women-of-influence-award-winners-2019.html About Dasher Technologies Dasher Technologies is a leading national IT solution provider, headquartered in Silicon Valley, that designs, delivers, and manages innovative solutions that digitally transform businesses. Dasher maintains strategic relationships with world-class manufacturers and has industry-recognized expertise in technologies such as cybersecurity, enterprise networking, data center, and hybrid cloud services. Dasher professional services enable clients to navigate the journey from one generation of technology to the next, setting the standard for personal service through its trusted work of expert engineers and account managers. Founded in 1998, Dasher is an award-winning, certified Woman Owned Business with offices in California, the Pacific Northwest, and Southeast. To learn more about Dasher, please visit us at dasher.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dasher-technologies-ceo-laurie-dasher-named-2019-woman-of-influence-in-silicon-valley-300832782.html SOURCE Dasher Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] New Mountain Capital Acquires ACETO Chemicals Business New Mountain Capital, LLC, a leading growth-oriented investment firm with over $20 billion in assets under management, announced today that an affiliate has agreed to acquire the chemicals business ("Aceto" or the "Company") of ACETO Corporation (OTC: ACETQ). Headquartered in Port Washington, NY, Aceto is a leading virtual manufacturer engaged in the development, marketing, sale, and distribution of over 1,100 chemical compounds globally. Aceto has long been recognized as a leading partner to customers in the life sciences and specialty materials sectors. With over 25 years of experience operating globally, Aceto brings unique capabilities in sourcing niche, low-volume, difficult-to-find products and insuring a high level of quality and reliability for its customers. Aceto's local market knowledge, regulatory expertise, and logistical capabilities contribute to a compelling value proposition that generates long-term and collaborative customer relationships. New Mountain, a New York-based investment firm, identified Aceto through its longstanding proactive focus on the life sciences and specialty materials sectors. New Mountain is providing Aceto with significant financial and strategic resources to support future growth initiatives and better serve its customers. "Aceto is a leader in its space, and we look forward to partnering with the team to support the next phase of rowth," said Andre Moura, Managing Director at New Mountain Capital. "We will be working closely with management to help the Company realize its full growth potential by scaling capabilities in key markets and investing in new organic and inorganic initiatives while maintaining the high level of quality and reliability which have always been the hallmarks of Aceto's success." Matt Holt, Managing Director at New Mountain Capital, added, "This partnership is the result of our continued efforts to back leading platforms in the life sciences and specialty materials sectors. We see an opportunity to build Aceto into a leader in its space." Ropes and Gray LLP is acting as legal advisor to New Mountain. CIM Partners LLC is acting as financial advisor to New Mountain. About Aceto Aceto, incorporated in 1947, is focused on the global marketing, sale, and distribution of Pharmaceutical Ingredients (pharmaceutical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients) and Performance Chemicals (specialty chemicals and agricultural protection products). With business operations in nine countries, Aceto distributes over 1,100 chemical compounds used principally as finished products or raw materials in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural, coatings and industrial chemical industries. Aceto's global operations, including a staff of 25 in China and 12 in India, are distinctive in the industry and enable its worldwide sourcing and regulatory capabilities. About New Mountain Capital New Mountain Capital is a New York based investment firm that emphasizes business building and growth, rather than debt, as it pursues long-term capital appreciation. The firm currently manages private equity, public equity, and credit funds with over $20 billion in assets under management. New Mountain seeks out what it believes to be the highest quality growth leaders in carefully selected industry sectors and then works intensively with management to build the value of these companies. For more information on New Mountain Capital, please visit www.newmountaincapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005762/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] HanesBrands Celebrates 10th Consecutive U.S. EPA Energy Star Award for Environmental Stewardship HanesBrands' commitment to be an international leader in energy management and eco-friendly business operations has earned the company its 10th consecutive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Sustained Excellence/Partner of the Year award for continued success in energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction and environmental sustainability. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005773/en/ HanesBrands, the world's largest manufacturer of basic apparel and industry leader in environmental responsibility, has earned it 10th consecutive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Sustained Excellence/Partner of the Year award for continued success in energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction and environmental sustainability. Hanes was recognized by the EPA for its 2018 environmental stewardship performance data, including significant progress against aggressive long-term goals, which has been published on the company's Hanes for Good corporate responsibility website. (Photo: Business Wire) Hanes was recognized by the EPA for its 2018 environmental stewardship performance, which has been published on the company's Hanes for Good corporate social responsibility website. The company achieved significant progress against aggressive 2020 goals, including: Renewable energy sources accounted for 41% of the company's energy usage, surpassing its 2020 goal of 40%. Increased utilization of the company's biomass facilities in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, along with use of hydro and geothermal energy, fueled the 8 percentage point increase in use of renewable energy compared to 2017. A 23% reduction in energy use per pound of production versus its 2007 baseline and a 2% reduction from 2017. The company's 2020 goal is to reduce energy use by 40%. T date, the company's energy reduction efforts have delivered a total cost avoidance of more than $220 million. A 36% decrease in carbon dioxide emissions versus its 2007 baseline, nearly reaching its 2020 goal of 40% reduction. Bolstered by the significant jump in Hanes' use of renewable energy, these emissions were down nearly 11% in 2018 versus the prior year. A 31% cut in water use against the company's 2020 goal of 50% compared to its 2007 baseline. Hanes' water use was down 2% versus 2017. An 86% diversion of supply chain waste, or 107 million pounds, from landfills while working toward a 2020 goal of 100%. "We're celebrating a decade of environmental excellence with the honor of a 2019 Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award because HanesBrands' 68,000 worldwide employees have embraced environmental stewardship and actively led our energy management initiatives," said Mike Faircloth, group president, global supply chain, information technology and e-commerce for HanesBrands. "And we're very proud to remain the only apparel company to earn sustained excellence honors in the EPA Energy Star program's 27-year history. "But we have much work yet to do as we remain intensely focused on achieving our 2020 environmental sustainability goals," he continued. "We believe this effort and our commitment to be an international leader in eco-friendly business operations creates value for our company, our investors, our consumers, our employees and our communities." The Energy Star award follows the February announcement that Hanes earned an A- score and leadership position in the CDP 2018 Climate Change Report. The company scored in the top 6% of nearly 7,000 companies that participated in the most recent report and achieved the highest score in the apparel industry. Energy Star was introduced by the EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased efficiency. The annual Energy Star Partner of the Year award honors organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protect the environment through best practices and organization-wide energy savings. For more information on Hanes' award-winning environmental, social and workplace accomplishments, visit Hanes For Good. For more information about the U.S. EPA Energy Star program, visit energystar.gov. HanesBrands HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI) is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific. The company markets T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and activewear under some of the world's strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Maidenform, DIM, Bali, Playtex, Bonds, JMS/Just My Size, Nur Die/Nur Der, L'eggs, Lovable, Wonderbra, Berlei, Alternative, Gear for Sports, and Bras N Things. More information about the company and its award-winning corporate social responsibility initiatives can be found at www.Hanes.com/corporate. Visit our newsroom at https://newsroom.hanesbrands.com/. Connect with HanesBrands via social media on Twitter (News - Alert) (@HanesBrands), Facebook (News - Alert) (www.facebook.com/hanesbrandsinc), Instagram (@hanesbrands_careers) and LinkedIn (News - Alert) (@Hanesbrandsinc). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005773/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] "Business Applications @ the Speed of Thought with Joget" Hackathon at Carnegie Mellon University Addresses Provider Data Quality Problems in Healthcare Carnegie Mellon undergraduate students at the Tepper School of Business participated in the "Business Applications @ the Speed of Thought with Joget" hackathon held at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA on Friday, 29th March and Saturday, 30th March 2019. The students were challenged to address issues that arise from provider data quality, one of the most debilitating problems in the healthcare industry. Provider data refers to physicians, hospitals, health professionals, and any other practitioners and institutions who deliver coordinated healthcare services. According to the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), healthcare industry stakeholders spend over $2 billion annually maintaining provider databases. A lack of quality and accurate provider database impacts business processes, patient care, and leads to a multitude of critical issues. Based on the business case presented by Mokxa Technologies LLC, a healthcare IT company and a strategic Joget partner, the hackathon challenge was to design a solution and create a web or mobile application that addresses at least one issue related to provider data management involving two or more stakeholders in the healthcare industry. As the hackathon was to be completed within 24 hours, student teams used the Joget no-code/low-code rapid application development platform to develop and demonstrate their solutions. The students came up with some brilliant ideas, channeled their personal experiences and conceptualized integration of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain to create fully functional applications which included back-end processes and front-end user interfaces (UI). "It was refreshing to see how students leveraged new and emerging technologies like Joget, no-code low-code platforms and how these technologies can accelerate application development. I see no-code low-code technologies like Joget as the future of application development," said Param Vir Singh, Carnegie Bosch Chair, Director, PNC (News - Alert) Center for Financial Services Innovation and Associate Professor of Business Technologies at the David A Tepper School of Bsiness, Carnegie Mellon University. On the scene: Students impress judges with their concepts and execution The top prize was awarded to team Tartans. Emma Chai, Roshni Mehta and Steve Wong created a fully functional application that leveraged the power of push notifications to engage both healthcare providers and consumers to persist accurate provider data in directories. Second place went to David Cheung and Jacqueline Zhang from team CMU Tartans. They demonstrated a very thorough concept that leveraged blockchain to tackle the provider data issues. In third and fourth place were teams Teppers (Jihang Hur, Roshini Sriram, and Stephanie Tseng) and Tartan (Rishabh Jain and Xinda Zhou) respectively. While Teppers incorporated provider-consumer chat sessions together with very detailed and complex forms to showcase the concept, Rishabh and Xinda dug deep into some consumer experiences to conceptualize thorough workflow processes. "Thanks to Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business students, faculty members and judges for making this hackathon a huge success. It was an amazing experience to see how business students took on the challenge to demonstrate working applications in less than 24 hours," said Raveesh, CEO of Joget. "This is exactly what the Joget platform is meant to do, to enable users to deliver faster. With a visual and web-based approach, the platform empowers anyone to instantly build and maintain apps anytime, anywhere." About Joget Joget Inc is the developer of the Joget platform. Joget is an open source no-code/low-code application platform for faster, simpler digital transformation. Joget empowers business users, non-coders or coders to create enterprise applications for customer management, operational excellence, business process management and administration. Every organization demands easy to build and adaptable applications, and Joget enables those application delivery goals with a low total cost of ownership. Joget has been a pioneer in low-code platforms and has introduced innovative features such as automatic support for progressive web apps (PWA), integrated application performance management (APM (News - Alert)) and TensorFlow AI integration. To learn more about Joget, visit our website at www.joget.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005800/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Desert Financial Credit Union Wins Five CUNA Diamond Awards for Marketing Desert Financial Credit Union announced today it has received five Diamond Awards from the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council, including Best of Category for Brand Awareness. According to the CUNA, the Diamond Awards represent the pinnacle of credit union marketing and business development. The awards honor credit unions in 36 categories, ranging from direct mail to website marketing, and public relations to social media. Judges evaluate entries based on strategy, design, production, creative concept, copy, communication and results. Competing with credit unions from across the country, Desert Financial won in the following categories: Content Marketing: Key Quest: The Path to Homeownership program Key Quest: The Path to Homeownership program Video (Non-Commercial) Series: Member testimonials (Juan & Leticia, Noble Bread and Brian's Story) Member testimonials (Juan & Leticia, Noble Bread and Brian's Story) Member or Trade Publications/Newsletters: The Share membership newsletter membership newsletter One-Time Event: Road Trip 2018 Road Trip 2018 Brand Awareness (Category Best): Train Wrap "These awards are a testament to the Desert Financial team who works hard each day to reach existing and new members of the credit union," said Cathy Graham, SVP, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Desert Financial Credit Union. "Following our rebrand from Desert Schools, marketing efforts took a new look and feel, and the energy around what was produced can certainly be felt when you look at the sheer number of awards we took home." This year's Diamond Awards competition received 1,093 entries. Six credit unions won Best of Show Awards, 59 won Category's Best Awards and 248 won Diamond Awards. The Council announced the awards at its 26th annual conference, held March 20-23 in Las Vegas. For a complete list of award winners, visit www.cunacouncils.org/awards. About Desert Financial Credit Union Celebrating 80 years in Arizona, Desert Financial is the state's largest credit union with $4.6 billion in assets, more than 330,000 members and 48 locations across the Valley. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Desert Financial prides itself on sharing success with its members, its team and the wider community. In 2018, Desert Financial gave $7M back to the community and its members, including Teacher Appreciation and Random Acts of Kindness programs. Learn more at www.desertfinancial.com. About CUNA Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is the only national association that advocates on behalf of all of America's credit unions, which are owned by 115 million consumer members. CUNA, along with its network of affiliated state credit union leagues, delivers unwavering advocacy, continuous professional growth and operational confidence to protect the best interests of all credit unions. For more information about CUNA, visit cuna.org. To find your nearest credit union, visit YourMoneyFurther.com. About CUNA Councils CUNA Councils is a member-led, collaborative community of credit union leaders providing vibrant peer interaction, new ideas and innovation to foster professional development for our members while advocating for the overall success of the credit union movement. There are seven CUNA Councils with a network of more than 7,000 credit union professionals. For more information, visit cunacouncils.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005171/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Aero Montreal and IVADO Join Forces to Accelerate Aerospace Sector's Transition to Artificial Intelligence Technologies International Aerospace Week - Montreal 2019 MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Aero Montreal, Quebec's aerospace cluster, and the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO), today signed a partnership agreement on artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications for the aerospace sector. This signing was held during the Global Supply Chain Summit taking place today at the Palais des congres de Montreal. "This agreement aims to facilitate and promote the emergence of artificial intelligence projects in aerospace in order to support SMEs in transitioning to Industry 4.0," says Suzanne M. Benoit, President of Aero Montreal. "Many companies in the sector are already working to integrate advanced technologies into their activities to accelerate their growth and maintain their competitiveness." "This partnership strengthens the uebec aerospace industry's position in the world by laying the foundation for the development of innovative collaborative projects in the field," says Gilles Savard, General Director of IVADO. "We are delighted to have Aero Montreal join our data science ecosystem to meet the digital challenges in aerospace." Over the next two years, Aero Montreal and IVADO intend to collaborate on the establishment of an Aerospace AI working committee and organize events to promote the exchange of best practices, as well as highlight the many innovations and opportunities offered by AI. About Aero Montreal Created in 2006, Aero Montreal is a strategic think tank that groups all major decision makers in Quebec's aerospace sector, including companies, educational and research institutions, as well as associations and unions. The activities of Aero Montreal are made possible thanks to the participation of the governments of Quebec and Canada, the Montreal Metropolitan Community, as well as company members of the cluster. About IVADO The Institute for data valorization (IVADO) is a joint initiative of HEC Montreal, Polytechnique Montreal and Universite de Montreal that brings together nearly 100 industrial, academic and government partners. With over 1 200 member researchers, IVADO is a multidisciplinary centre of advanced expertise in statistics, artificial intelligence and operations research. IVADO's mission is to 1) contribute to the development of an economic sector in big data processing for decision making; 2) create privileged partnerships between industry and the administrative, social and academic sectors; 3) contribute to the advancement of knowledge and train new generations of data scientists; and 4) foster exchange and knowledge sharing between experts, partners, researchers and students. IVADO provides a framework for six research centres: Canada Excellence Research Chair in Data Science for Real-Time Decision Making, CIRRELT, CRM, GERAD, MILA and Tech3Lab. SOURCE Aero Montreal [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Peering into the telescope at the NY International Auto Show at the tech that lies beyond BROOKLYN, N.Y., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Amidst vehicles embodying barrier-breaking designs and technology of the future at the New York International Auto Show, two blue ribbon panels will dive into the disruptive forces and technology that are remaking transportation itself. Two separate NYU Tandon-VectoIQ Tech Talks will bring together experts and entrepreneurs for lively give-and-take during the second press and industry day at the auto show. Moderating the panels will be Stephen J. Girsky, former Morgan Stanley automotive analyst, General Motors vice chairman, and current managing partner of the transportation consulting firm VectoIQ; and Professor Joseph Chow, a leading transportation researcher and deputy director of C2SMART, which is headquartered at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering and advances the research of multiple universities as a U.S. Department of Transportation Tier One University Transportation Center. Among other topics, the morning panel on Thursday, April 18, is expected to delve into how electric scooters, bikes, and other emerging personal micro-mobility vehicles will impact cities and citizens. Lyft-owned Motivate, North America's largest bike-share company, will join the discussion. Later that morning, the Girsky-moderated panel will connect leaders in the startup community who are reimagining transportation with one of the nation's leading academic experts in transportation, NYU Tandon Professor Kaan Ozbay, who directs C2SMART and who has been working with the New York CityDepartment of Transportation's Connected Vehicle Project, the largest pilot of its kind in the world. "Disruptive Technologies That Will Transform Mobility" will begin at 10:05 a.m. on Thursday, April 18, in the Crystal Palace area of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, located in the north side of the upper exhibition floor. In addition to NYU Tandon's Chow and Motivate's Head of Bike, Scooter & Pedestrian Policy Caroline Samponaro, Brooklyn social entrepreneur Su Sanni will outline how Dollaride wirelessly connects dollar vans to riders in New York's transit deserts. The panelists will explore how alternative transportation will remake cities, how connected and autonomous vehicles will co-exist, and what a fully autonomous city will look like, among other topics. "Making Cities Smarter: Using Tech to Enhance Urban Mobility" will begin on the same stage at 11:50 a.m. Led by VectoIQ's Girsky, the panel will explore whether technology, big data, and artificial intelligence can alleviate congestion, how connected vehicles transform cities, and how city planners will use technology in their planning. In addition to Professor Ozbay, panelists will include Stephen Smyth, CEO of Coord, which is making cities more accessible to everyone by providing a better understanding of curb space; and Ro Gupta, CEO of CARMERA, which specializes in high-definition mapping for autonomous vehicles. Press credentials are required and can be requested at https://www.autoshowny.com/press/#2018-press-registration. About VectoIQ VectoIQ is an independent investment/advisory firm helping new technology companies in the smart transportation and autonomous vehicle fields. For more information, visit https://www.vectoiq.com. 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 the C2SMART Center C2SMART (Connected Cities for Smart Mobility toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation) Center is a USDOT Tier 1 University Transportation Center taking on some of today's most pressing urban mobility challenges. Using cities as living laboratories, the center examines transportation problems and field tests novel solutions that draw on recent advances in communication and smart technologies. Our consortium includes New York University, Rutgers University, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Washington, and City College of New York. For more information, visit c2smart.engineering.nyu.edu. www.facebook.com/nyutandon @NYUTandon View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/peering-into-the-telescope-at-the-ny-international-auto-show-at-the-tech-that-lies-beyond-300833013.html SOURCE New York University Tandon School of Engineering [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Fund, Inc. Holds Ninth Annual Meeting of Stockholders Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE: STK) today held its Ninth Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Meeting") in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stockholders voted in favor of the recommendations of the Fund's Board of Directors (the "Board") on each of two proposals at the Meeting. Specifically, Stockholders elected three Directors at the Meeting. Ms. Minor M. Shaw and Messrs. Anthony M. Santomero and William F. Truscott were each elected as Director for a term that will expire at the Fund's 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Stockholders also ratified the Board's selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers (News - Alert) LLP as the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm for 2019. The Fund is managed by Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC. This material is distributed by Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc., member FINRA. You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. The Fund's most recent periodic reports andother regulatory filings may be obtained by contacting your financial advisor or American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC at 866-666-1532 or visiting www.columbiathreadneedleus.com. These reports and other filings can also be found on the Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database. You should read these reports and other filings carefully before investing in the Fund. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment goals/objectives will be met or that distributions will be made, and you could lose money. The net asset value of the Fund's shares may not always correspond to their market price. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount from their net asset value. The Fund's share price may be adversely affected if the market value of its portfolio securities falls, fails to rise, or fluctuates due to factors affecting a single issuer, sector of the economy, industry or the market as a whole. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies. Investment products are not federally or FDIC-insured, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value. 2019 Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC. All rights reserved. Adtrax 2500211 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005823/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Memorabilia from Historic New Orleans Landmark Building up for Auction NEW ORLEANS, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past several months, Hancock Whitney Bank's regional New Orleans headquarters has moved from its historic building on St. Charles Avenue to the new Hancock Whitney Center at 701 Poydras Street. The upcoming renovation of the historic facility has made available surplus furniture, equipment and other office items to be sold at online auction. Bidding continues through the auction closings on April 25th and April 30th. Thousands of items are available at the 250,000 sq. ft. complex. The auction is open to the general public. Worley Auctioneers, a Cincinnti-based national auction firm specializing in corporate asset recovery, is conducting the online auction at worleyauctioneers.com. To view the complete catalog, obtain additional information and to bid now online, visit http://www.worleyauctioneers.com Point of Contact : Penny Worley (513) 310-2596 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/memorabilia-from-historic-new-orleans-landmark-building-up-for-auction-300833036.html SOURCE Worley Auctioneers [April 16, 2019] Warp Solutions steps out of the box with a digital platform engineered to make Quality Assurance simple, attractive and profitable for the entire aerospace industry Warp is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with two major OEMs, headquartered in Europe and the USA, along with a reputable MRO based in Montreal, to finalize and test its first module dedicated to non-conformity management MONTREAL, April 16, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Supply chain innovation is a key challenge facing the aerospace industry today. This year, the fifth Global Supply Chain Summit organized by Aero Montreal as part of International Aerospace Week Montreal 2019, is devoted to the subject, entitling it: "Artificial Intelligence: Reinventing the Supply Chain". This event aims to demystify the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) and explore its concrete applications in the factories of the future. At the forefront of aerospace innovation, Montreal-based Warp Solutions has designed a technology in response to this growing issue, which will be showcased during the summit. The team, led by its founders, Patrick St-Louis and Philippe Labrecque, developed a digital platform that will address the eight fundamentals of Quality Assurance in aerospace. With its user-in-mind, clean-sheet design and certified wireless devices, this modern, engineered software offers integration capabilities to MES, ERP, PLM and most wireless devices, along with AI-ready architecture. Like never before, users are empowered to capture, structure and act on quality data, while complying with industry regulations. Tailormade QA Software to Overcome Industry Challenges "Quality Assurance is a key component of any aerospace organization. It is the foundation of the industry, yet it is almost systematically overlooked when it comes to continuous improvement initiatives focused on productivity," states Ptrick St-Louis, Vice-president of Market Strategies and cofounder. "When we embarked on this journey, we were aware of the industry's pain points (high costs, disorganized data, LMS issues, etc.) and we made it our mission to transform how QA is performed and perceived worldwide." he adds. Rollout will take place in three phases, led by non-conformity management that will go to market in Q4-2019. In collaboration with the CNRC, the CTA and the CIMEQ, Warp has completed the technological validations needed to perfect this first module, on time and with outstanding results. "The software is destined to reduce the cycle time by 40% and the effort associated with all steps of non-conformity management by 30%," specifies Patrick. Joint Efforts with Key Players Collaborators have played an essential role in pre-launch efforts. "Developing any software without consulting future users and management is a recipe for failure. Despite our extensive knowledge of the industry, we firmly believe in the importance of involving collaborators with different profiles (OEMs, Tier 1, FMP shops, Engineering Services) to design the user interfaces as well as to establish some baseline parameters for a seamless architectural integration," explains Philippe Labrecque, Vice-president of Product Strategy and cofounder. More than 35 contributors are now committed to Warp's growing success. Recently, the company signed a collaboration agreement with two OEMs head-quartered in Europe and the USA, along with a highly reputable MRO. For more information, visit our website: www.lets-warp.com About Warp Building on extensive industry experience and networking, this Montreal-based technology company specializes in designing, developing, deploying and operating its digital QA management platforms. This innovative software digital company addresses the eight fundamentals of Quality Assurance in aerospace, offering integration capabilities to MES, ERP, PLM and most wireless devices, along with AI-ready architecture. With a 100% aerospace-dedicated model, based on remote execution, users are now empowered to capture, structure and act on quality data, while still complying with industry regulations. About the founders Patrick St-Louis Patrick has 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry, ranging from sheet metal assembler, manufacturing engineer, production supervisor to industrial engineering for major aerospace OEMs and Tier 1. During the last 10 years Patrick has worked on his second startup, MSB Ressources Globales, to provide engineering services to the aerospace industry. MSB-RG has reached an enviable position with over 350 employees in Montreal, Toronto, Wichita, Savannah and Casablanca. Patrick is known for his innovative way of looking at problems and his capacity to empower the people around him. Philippe Labrecque Philippe has passionately invested the last 14 years in the aerospace industry, specifically at Bombardier Aerospace. His desire to build and improve are obvious, when looking at his career path: manufacturing engineer for global programs, continuous improvement project manager for business aircraft, supplier quality development, advanced quality planning and problem solving. His most exciting career memories span over his last four years of service as manager of the core QA team, responsible for maintaining and transforming the Quality Management System for the entire corporation. SOURCE Warp Solutions [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] NuVision Credit Union Sponsors Vietnam Memorial Exhibit NuVision, a trusted credit union with over 80 years of serving the residents of Southern California, was a proud sponsor of The Wall That Heals which was featured in Costa Mesa, Calif., at Balearic/Estancia Park from April 11-14, 2019. The Wall That Heals is a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and it also brings a mobile Education Center to help visitors learn more about this important exhibit. The replica stands 375 feet high and contains more than 58,000 names of soldiers who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) organized the exhibition and the Freedom Committee of Orange (News - Alert) County offered docents to answer questions and talk about this turbulent time in America's history. The Wall That Heals was available for viewing 24 hours a day to all Southern California residents while in Costa Mesa, and included an Honor Ceremony on Saturday, April 13, and a Closing Ceremony on Sunday, April 14. NuVision was leased to be a local sponsor of the event, with funds contributing to the costs of the exhibit including staffing and other necessities such as meals, snacks and beverages for volunteers, rental of chairs, tables, portable heaters, as well as military fly-overs and a bagpiper at the opening and closing ceremonies. "We were so pleased to have been able to contribute to this important and educational exhibit for the community," said NuVision Vice President of Marketing Tom Sweet. "The Wall That Heals is an incredible memorial that honors the memories of our fallen soldiers and contributes to the healing and education around darker times from U.S. history." Featured speakers included Vietnam veterans retired Maj. Gen William J. Mall, USAF, and retired Sgt. Frank Orzio, USMC, Purple Heart recipient. There were approximately 250 visitors throughout the four-day memorial. Digital photos of "Hometown Heroes," service members whose names are on the wall and were from the Orange County area, were a touching tribute to local families who lost loved ones in service. This will be the first time that the wall was hosted by Costa Mesa, and it's been a decade since The Wall That Heals was last in Orange County when it was hosted in Newport Beach, Calif. About NuVision Federal Credit Union: NuVision Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution with 14 branches located in Los Angeles and Orange Counties and Arizona and assets of approximately $1.3 billion. Headquartered in Huntington Beach, Calif., NuVision was founded in 1935 to serve employees of Douglas Aircraft Company. It continues to serve aerospace employees from Boeing, employees of Sempra Energy (News - Alert)/The Gas Company, and employees of Tesoro with a total of more than 87,000 members primarily in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. For more information, visit www.nuvisionfederal.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005868/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Beacon Healthcare Systems Taps Pamela Cleveland as Vice President, Compliance Product Strategy Pamela Cleveland, J.D., has been appointed vice president of compliance product strategy for Beacon Healthcare Systems, effective immediately. Beacon is home to the healthcare industry's leading compliance and risk management technologies. In her new role Cleveland will oversee the next generation of the company's Virtual Compliance Manager (VCM), the only solution in the industry to provide a state-of-the-art compliance, analytics, monitoring, and regulatory guidance-tracking and routing capabilities. With separate modules for guidance, audit workflow and automated monitoring, VCM is the only solution to provide real-time auditing and monitoring of transactional data that allows a health plan the opportunity to correct and address issues immediately. "I have had the pleasure of co-presenting with Pam at multiple conferences through the years and am thrilled to have someone with her experience and outstanding reputation join the Beacon team at this important time in our history," said Beacon Founder and CEO Ken Stockman. "Pam is the ideal person to help us further enhance our industry-leading compliance modules and update our system's metrics as CMS requirements are updated so as to ensure that all of ou health plan clients remain audit ready at all times." Prior to joining Beacon, Cleveland served as the lead for the Medicare Advantage compliance program at Medical Mutual of Ohio. There she was responsible for creating and implementing an effective compliance program for a new Medicare Advantage product and also headed multiple successful challenges to CMS regulations that resulted in more than $16 million in savings to the organization. Cleveland's extensive industry experience also includes implementing a new and effective compliance program at Scott and White Health Plan in Texas and serving as the regional compliance privacy and security officer for the Ohio Region of Kaiser Permanente. Beacon Healthcare Systems Inc. is taking the lead in providing customizable SaaS (News - Alert) (Service as a Software) healthcare solutions, ensuring greater accountability, accuracy and operational efficiency for health plans. The company's core focus is to empower health plans and managed care plans serving Medicare, and related markets, to succeed in operations, risk management and compliance through monitoring and management software technology solutions. In addition to its VCM product, Beacon offers the most efficient and effective appeals and grievances solution (Virtual Appeals Manager) on the market, allowing complete control and transparency of cases from intake to review. Also available through Beacon is its Virtual Incidents Manager, a fully configurable technology that allows for proactively identifying risks and trends, closing operational performance gaps and monitoring all compliance events in real time. Founded in 2011, Beacon is a privately held California-based company with a technology center located in Austin, Texas. beaconhcs.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005872/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Grindr and pop superstar, LGBTQ activist Pabllo Vittar partner to create and offer exclusive content to the Grindr community LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Grindr and Brazilian drag queen, pop superstar and activist Pabllo Vittar announced a partnership to develop and offer exclusive content to the Grindr user community. The partnership will include exclusive Grindr and Pabllo Vittar video content and the release of new music to Grindr users before it's available to the general public. Grindr and Vittar will also work together to identify a project to support the LGBTQ community as part of the campaign. The partnership comes as Grindr celebrates a decade of helping users in virtually every country in the world to connect, thrive, and express their authentic selves. "Arguably the most famous drag queen in the world, Pabllo is an inspiration to millions of people around the world. She stands for authenticity and empowerment through her work and her personal convictions virtues we celebrate here at Grindr every day," said Alex Black, product marketing manager, Grindr. "Ours is a natural partnership as Grindr continues to be on the cutting edge of culture and evolve to provide our users with new and rewarding experiences." The first drag queen to be nominated for a Grammy, Vittar was named one of the faces f a recent Coca-Cola campaign, and has collaborated with a number of high-profile musical acts like Major Lazer, Charli XCX, Sofi Tukker, Anitta, and Diplo. This year she will headline six gay pride events in the U.S. "I'm super excited about this partnership with Grindr. It will help me connect to more people and spread my music and love in a totally different and spectacular way," said Vittar. "Can't wait to show everyone the amazing things Grindr and I have in store!" The collaborative video content will be released in the lead up to Pride Month via the Grindr app and the company's YouTube account, along with an exclusive in-app premiere of new material from Vittar's forthcoming third, full-length album. ABOUT GRINDR With 4 million daily active users in virtually every country in the world, Grindr is the largest LGBTQ mobile social network. Since its launch in 2009, Grindr has grown to become a fundamental part of users' daily lives globally. The company continues to expand their ecosystem to enable all users to connect to the world around them. Through INTO, a digital content channel for and by the LGBTQ community, various events, and experiential opportunities, Grindr is helping users engage across the spectrum. Headquartered in West Hollywood, California, Grindr is powered by a team of over 100 employees. A Certified Transgender-Inclusive Business, Grindr encompasses a diverse and passionate family of makers, innovators, leaders, and most importantly, doers. Grindr employees are fueled by an endless curiosity, an ability to embrace change, a respectful and collaborative work environment, and a knack for crossing every finish line. Grindr is available on the App Store and Google Play. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grindr-and-pop-superstar-lgbtq-activist-pabllo-vittar-partner-to-create-and-offer-exclusive-content-to-the-grindr-community-300833111.html SOURCE Grindr [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Knowi Releases Natural Language BI 2.0 and Brings Augmented Analytics to Anyone OAKLAND, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowi, a leader in Augmented Analytics for modern data, today announced the latest release of Natural Language BI 2.0 to empower anyone with powerful Google search-like self-service analytics on any data. As an augmented analytics platform, Knowi allows anyone from technical users, to Data Scientists, to business users to access the intelligence they need to make decisions. It combines AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to expose previously unseen insights on any data. "With the release of Natural Language BI 2.0, anyone in an organization can use our search bar to ask their question and Knowi will automatically query across multiple datasets and bring back the result," said Jay Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Knowi. "Making the user experience as simple as possible is an incredibly difficult engineering challenge but something we had to solve for our customers to take full advantage of their modern data." According to Garter, by 2021, conversational analytics and natural language processing (NLP) will boost analytics and BI adoption from 32% of employees to over 50% of an organization's employees, to include new classes of users particularly in front offices. Artificial intelligence and NLP combined with increased data complexity are driving a new wave of disruption in the analytics market. With this latest release of the Knowi platform, Knowi dismantles the old way of thinking about analytics architectures. By eliminating ETL, Knowi simplifies complex data pipelines and opens up new approaches enabling employees with data. The Knowi platform delivers this by natively accessing all your data, regardless of structure, location, or source, eliminating the need for ETL. In our data as a service layer, you can dynamically blend data across any number of disparate data sources to create the widest possible datasets. Those datasets are exposed to business users through dashboards where they can use Natural Language BI to ask any question of their data. Knowi is available to try for free at https://www.knowi.com. For more information about the capabilities of natural language BI, please visit https://www.knowi.com/natural-language-bi About Knowi Knowi is an augmented analytics platform that instantly connects to any data, anywhere, exposing previously unseen insights through AI to accelerate your business success. Knowi combines AI & NLP to create the intelligence required for anyone to make data-driven decisions. With customers around the globe and of all sizes from Fortune 50 to startups, Knowi is changing everything about how companies do analytics. Knowi is a global company with customers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia supporting companies of all sizes from startups to large multi-national enterprises. Press Contact Kim Loughead (510) 747-8478 [email protected] https://www.knowi.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/knowi-releases-natural-language-bi-2-0-and-brings-augmented-analytics-to-anyone-300833144.html SOURCE Knowi [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Qualcomm and Apple Agree to Drop All Litigation Qualcomm (News - Alert) and Apple today announced an agreement to dismiss all litigation between the two companies worldwide. The settlement includes a payment from Apple (News - Alert) to Qualcomm. The companies also have reached a six-year license agreement, effective as of April 1, 2019, including a two-year option to extend, and a multiyear chipset supply agreement. Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone (News - Alert), iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple's four software platforms - iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS - provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple's more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it. Qualcomm invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates. When we connected the phone to the Internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our inventions are the foundation for life-changing products, experiences, and industries. As we lead the world to 5G, we envision this next big change in cellular technology spurring a new era of intelligent, connected devices and enabling new oppotunities in connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, and the IoT - including smart cities, smart homes, and wearables. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, all of our engineering, research and development functions, and all of our products and services businesses, including, the QCT semiconductor business. For more information, visit Qualcomm's website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042. 2019 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005931/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Immuta Achieves Advanced Technology Partner Status in the Amazon Web Services Partner Network Immuta, the automated data governance company, today announced it has achieved Advanced Technology Partner status in the Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS) Partner Network (APN). The highest tier for APN Technology Partners, this achievement demonstrates that Immuta's platform is optimized to run on AWS. Today's news also recognizes the tremendous momentum of the recently announced Immuta Cloud Business Unit, which focuses on developing solutions that address the needs of customers who run their data infrastructure on cloud platforms. Rob Lancaster, General Manager of the Immuta Cloud Business Unit "A critical component of working with data in the cloud is to ensure consistent access and compliant control so that organizations can protect sensitive data, regardless of where that data resides. Immuta provides AWS customers with fine-grained data access and control, and that's why we are seeing significant demand from customers across all industries to run Immuta on AWS. Achieving APN Advanced Technology Partner status is testament o our ability to help customers run secure and compliant data science programs." Additional Resources For more information on Immuta's platform, please visit www.immuta.com. Click here to request an Immuta demo. Follow our blog, and join the conversation on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Vimeo. About Immuta Immuta was founded in 2014 based on a mission within the U.S. Intelligence Community to build a platform that accelerates self-service access and control of sensitive data. Immuta's award-winning automated data governance software platform creates trust across security, legal, compliance, and business teams so they can work together to ensure timely access to critical business data with minimal risks. Its automated, scalable, no code approach makes it easy for users to access the data they need, when they need it, while protecting sensitive data and ensuring their customers' privacy. Immuta is headquartered in College Park, Maryland. Learn more at www.immuta.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190416005948/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Clean Air Council to Host 38th Annual Run for Clean Air Presented by Toyota Hybrids on Saturday, April 20 PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Clean Air Council will host the 38th annual Run for Clean Air presented by Toyota Hybrids on Saturday, April 20, 2019. The event will take place from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Paine's Park and Martin Luther King Drive next to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Philadelphia region's largest Earth Day celebration will bring together more than 1,500 runners to compete in several races. The Run for Clean Air is an AFitPlanet certified green run that implements over a dozen sustainability best practices. The popular event will feature four races a 10K Run, 5K Run, 3K Walk, Kids' Fun Run, and a Virtual 5K. "At a time when our environment andhealth are being attacked by elected officials and the government, the Run for Clean Air gives me hope," said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Clean Air Council's Executive Director and Chief Counsel. "Clean Air Council is seeing overwhelming support from the public and companies like Toyota Hybrids. This race confirms how important it is for us to lead the fight against polluters and to protect everyone's right to clean air and a healthy environment." "Toyota and the Tri-State Toyota Dealers are very proud of our six year partnership with the Clean Air Council and to be the Presenting Sponsor for a 5th year, at the 38th annual Run for Clean Air. With Toyota's ongoing commitment to the development of vehicles that help reduce carbon emissions and as a leader in the alternative fuel segment, we are thrilled to once again support the Clean Air Council through this year's Run for Clean Air," said Paul Muller, President of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association. "Toyota is committed to helping play a role in delivering cleaner air and environmental sustainability to our customers. With a portfolio of nine Toyota hybrid models, including the fuel cell vehicle (FCV) Mirai, we are the leader in alternative mobility and have a large selection of both hybrid sedans and SUV models to fit our customers' diversified needs. The newest editions to our hybrid line-up, the Corolla Hybrid and the Prius AWD-e, will be onsite for event goers to check out in this year's Toyota Hybrid display as well as the exciting all-new 2019 RAV4 Hybrid. Also at the Toyota display, the Toyota Mirai, an FCV with a range of over 300 miles per tank and emissions that consist only of water vapor," Muller added. For more information, visit cleanair.org/runforcleanair. Contact: Katie Edwards, (215) 567-4004 ext. 102, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clean-air-council-to-host-38th-annual-run-for-clean-air-presented-by-toyota-hybrids-on-saturday-april-20-300833220.html SOURCE Clean Air Council [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] RightRez Announces Two New Hires BLOOMINGTON, Ind., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RightRez Inc., a leading air travel technology company that provides creative automation and booking solutions, itinerary management tools and custom applications to high-volume travel companies, is pleased to announce the addition of two new hires to its leadership team. Eric Huggins joins the company as its first Director of Infrastructure and Cloud Services and Aaron Hosey has taken on the new role of Director of Product Strategy. Mr. Huggins, who has nearly a decade of experience developing Azure infrastructure and high-level innovative cloud-based technological solutions, is leading the migration of RightRez's applications to Microsoft Azure in support of the company's vision to lead booking and itinerary management solutions for the tour, cruise, and marine travel industry. "Eric's in-depth cloud expertise along with a unique ability for finding creative, data-driven, solutions to business challenges make him an invaluable new part of our RIghtRez team," said Michael Von Foerster, Founder, and CEO of RightRez. "Eric has the necessary strategic expertise to lead our transition to a microservices platform as we enhance the stability and security of our products." Prior to joining RightRez, Eric Huggins spent 9 years at Pinnacle of Indiana where he most recently served as the Cloud Services Practice Manager and Principal Architect. There, he was responsible for providing consulting and direction to Pinnacle and Pinnacle clients, helping each employ high-level innovative cloud-based technology solutions to address their company goals and objectives. Mr. Huggins is a talented IT and business professional who is always versed in business technology insights. Aaron Hoey comes to RightRez with over 18 years of experience in the travel technology industry in network and systems operations, consulting, technology development and management. As RightRez's Director of Product Strategy, Aaron will be responsible for managing RightRez's product portfolio as well as defining and driving long-term strategy for an array of automated travel solutions. "Aaron brings hands-on experience building process driven, cloud-based technology and a proven track record in product planning to the RightRez team," said Maria Von Foerster, Vice President of Business Development. "Aaron will lead RightRez's short and long-term product portfolio strategy to support the continued growth of our automated travel solutions for the tour, cruise, maritime and offshore travel markets." Aaron Hosey has worked in network and systems operations, consulting, technology development and management. Prior to entering the travel industry, he owned and managed his own firm specializing in electronics and network engineering and has an extensive background in business and technology consulting and management. Most notably, Mr. Hosey was the first network architect at another travel technology company. Between 2000 and 2014 he designed, implemented and managed some of the very first cloud-based data. Mr. Hosey attended Indiana University with a focus on business and behavioral psychology. About RightRez: RightRez provides needed automation solutions for the cruise, marine/crew, and tour markets. RightRez offers dynamic booking solutions, itinerary management tools, innovative re-shopping tools, and custom applications streamlining air department processes. RightRez powers many top cruise and tour operators driving down the costs of air travel while delivering consistent and accountable results. For further information please contact Maria Von Foerster, vice president of business development at [email protected]. Further details about RightRez are available on the web at http://www.rightrez.com. Media Contact: Karolyn Raphael Winger Marketing 312-494-0422 [email protected] Related Images image1.png image2.png Related Links RightRez News RightRez LinkedIn View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rightrez-announces-two-new-hires-300833127.html SOURCE RightRez [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] NASA Astronaut, Researchers Visit Austin to Highlight International Space Station HOUSTON, April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Astronaut Stephanie Wilson, along with representatives from NASA and the U.S. International Space Station (ISS) National Lab, will visit Austin from April 23 to 25 as part of NASA's efforts to share research opportunities aboard the station. Destination Station is an effort dedicated to sharing and highlighting opportunities for research aboard the International Space Station. Since 2000, the International Space Station has enabled more than 2,400 researchers to conduct more than 2,000 innovative experiments in the areas of biology and biotechnology, human health, space and physical science and technology. On Tuesday, April 23, Wilson and other representatives from NASA and the ISS National Lab will visit 3M Austin at 6801 River Place Blvd. At 10:30 a.m., Wilson will share insights from living and working in space with the company's employees. Employees and local schoolchildren including home schoolers and those from nearby high school will have an opportunity to tour NASA's Destination Station Driven to Explore mobile exhibit. Media are invited to view the presentation and talk with sttion research experts. On Wednesday, April 24, Wilson and NASA and National Lab representatives will visit Austin Community College Highland Campus at 6101 Highland Campus Drive. Interview opportunities are available at noon. Media interested in the opportunity at 3M or ACC should contact Rachel Kraft at [email protected]. Other interview opportunities are available upon request. A veteran of three space shuttle missions, STS-121 in 2006, STS-120 in 2007, and STS-131 in 2010, Wilson has logged more than 42 days in space, and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Read NASA Astronaut Stephanie Wilson's biography here: https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/stephanie-d-wilson/biography Learn more about the International Space Station and its crews here: http://www.nasa.gov/station NASA Johnson Space Center news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [email protected] In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the email address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-astronaut-researchers-visit-austin-to-highlight-international-space-station-300833342.html SOURCE NASA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] CEEK Masternodes Beta is here. Full support for private servers, Amazon AWS, Digital Ocean, Google Cloud and More! SACRAMENTO, California, April 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past few months we have been working diligently to build the CEEK network of powerful servers independently operated by Ceek enthusiasts that are looking to both enable the network and be rewarded for their efforts. Finally, we are excited to announce that we have come up with a platform that we believe will ensure reliable content delivery that is secure, protected and throttle-proof. CEEK GLOBAL INNOVATIONS (CEEK) is committed to delivering its customers the best quality VR streaming from any event in the world to ny location on the globe. High quality content delivery is resource intensive and requires a distributed set of connected powerful computers to relay near-instant streams to all audiences. Enabled by groundbreaking blockchain technology Ceek is building a decentralized network of masternodes to ensure the best possible VR experience. The rise of blockchain technology enables Ceek to create such a distributed content delivery network that is maintained by people who have a vested interest in its successful operation. The Ceek distributed network will be initially comprised of 1000 nodes. These servers will be used to relay high quality VR content to Ceek audiences throughout the globe. They will require a fast CPU and sufficient memory and bandwidth to process and distribute the data stream as fast and efficient as possible. CEEK uses a custom permission Blockchain with a simplified PoS consensus algorithm and masternodes; enabling control and architectural flexibility to meet developmental requirements. For more information visit https://www.ceek.com/news Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/871793/CEEK_VR_Concerts.jpg SOURCE CEEK VR [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 16, 2019] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of United Microelectronics Corporation Investors (UMC) Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of United Microelectronics Corporation ("UMC" or the "Company") (NYSE: UMC) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. 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 1, 2018, UMC was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and economic espionage. The charges issued were in relation to a conspiracy by UMC to steal trade secrets from its competitor in the electronic industry Micron Technology (News - Alert), Inc. by hiring former employees of Micron who then provided the stolen trade secrets to UMC. The trade secrets were then used in relation to a DRAM project UMC had entered with Fujian Jianhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. in May 2016, in which technology developed by UMC would be owned jointly by both parties. On this news, the Company's share price fell $0.19 per share or over 10% over two days of trading to close at $1.71 on November 5, 2018, thereby injuring investors. If you purchased UMC securities, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the 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/20190416006030/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] And just like that, the patent dispute between Apple and Qualcomm is over. (Image credit: Gerisamov Photo/Shutterstock) CNBC is reporting today (April 16) that the two companies have reached a settlement in their legal battle over royalty payments. The agreement comes just as a major trial was getting underway in U.S. that was set to decide just how much Apple needed to pay Qualcomm for the modem technology in its smartphones. According to CNBC's report, the settlement includes an undisclosed royalty payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The two companies also struck a chipset supply deal which seemingly clears the way for Apple to resume using Qualcomm modems in its iPhones. Both Apple and Qualcomm confirmed the settlement in separate press releases, adding that the the license agreement runs for six years and includes a two-year option to extend. Apple's most recent iPhones, including the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, used modems from Intel as the company fought with Qualcomm over royalty payments. This legal settlement likely means that Apple could once again turn to Qualcomm for components in future phones, though it may be too late for the 2019 models. The bigger implication is for Apple's efforts to build an iPhone that works with newly emerging 5G networks. Qualcomm already has a 5G modem, and it's appearing in phones like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Apple reportedly was going to wait until 2020 to release a 5G-ready iPhone, though recent reports suggested that timetable was in doubt, as Intel might not have been able to supply enough 5G modems for a 2020 release date. "It greatly accelerates Apple's ability to field a 5G iPhone," said Avi Greengart, lead analyst for research firm Techsponential. "That is still not likely until 2020 in the U.S., but it shouldn't slip beyond that. And it may give Apple the opportunity to sell 5G iPhones in China sooner." Reports had started circulating last year that Apple had been looking to build its own modems in-house, with reports as recent as February claiming that the company's hardware technology division was now overseeing the effort. "This could mean that Apple ends its own program to build modems, but given Apple's desire for vertical integration, I doubt it," Greengart said. "More likely, this takes the pressure off and gives that team a longer timeframe." This settlement puts an end to patent disputes that had raged around the globe, with Qualcomm scoring legal victories over Apple last year in China and Germany. Last month, Qualcomm won $31 million in damages when a jury rule that four iPhones released in 2016 and 2017 infringed on Qualcomm patents. Google has unveiled two new phones in its lineup, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, which are designed to deliver a pure Android experience along with Google's class-leading cameras for a lower price. Google says it's goal is "to bring a more helpful smart phone experience to more people," according to Rick Osterloh, Google's hardware chief. Do the latest Pixel phones deliver? Check out our review of the Pixel 3a; we're still testing the Pixel 3a XL, but we have some initial impressions of the phone. Here's what else you need to know about these lower-cost phones from Google. Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a release date and availability The Pixel 3a is available from Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Google Fi. AT&T is not carrying these phones. You can also go to googlestore.com. The Pixel 3a starts at $399, while the Pixel 3a XL starts at $479. Pixel 3a Camera Google has brought its Pixel camera features to the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. This includes Night Sight for better photos in low light. Google showed an example vs the iPhone X in low light to drive home its point. Other welcome camera features include Portrait mode, which uses software, as well as Super Res Zoom. So you don't need a second lens to get great-looking shots. MORE: Why the Pixel 3a Is No Threat to the iPhone Pixel 3a specs Phone Pixel 3a Pixel 3a XL Price $399 $479 Screen (Resolution) 5.6-inch OLED (2220 x 1080) 6-inch OLED (2160 x 1080) CPU Snapdragon 670 Snapdragon 670 RAM 4GB 4GB Storage 64GB 64GB Rear Camera 12MP (f/1.8) 12MP (f/1.8) Front Camera 8MP (f/2.0) 8MP (f/2.0) Battery 3,000 mAh 3,700 mAh Headphone Jack? Yes Yes Size 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inches 6.3 x 3 x 0.3 inches Weight 5.2 ounces 5.8 ounces The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are not the most powerful phones, sporting a Snapdragon 670 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Then again, these are mid-range phones. Fortunately, because these handsets run a clean version of Android, you shouldn't experience lag during everyday tasks. Design The Pixel 3a sports a 5.6-inch screen and the Pixel 3a a 6-inch display, and they're both OLED. Google will be offering three color options: Just Black, Clearly White and Purple-ish. The phones do have decent size bezels, but that's to be expected at this price. On the plus side, many will appreciate the inclusion of a headphone jack. Outlook Smartphone prices are creeping upward. Apple and Samsung have addressed that price creep by coming out with lower-cost versions of their flagship phones that sacrifice a few premium features in the name of a lower price tag. And now Google has followed suit with even more aggressively priced phones. It sounds like youll make trade-offs on performance and design while still maintaining the great photography features that have made Googles handsets stand out. And we bet a lot of people will be willing to make those trade-offs. SOPA Images/Contributor/Getty Images Orville Redenbaucher would be crushed. Just when it seemed like the dispute between Apple and Qualcomm would have us popping corn for years to come, the companies today announced that they've decided to dismiss all litigation against each other, thanks to a new settlement agreement. The back-and-forth between Apple and Qualcomm started in January 2017. (Or at least that's when the companies' disagreements became public.) Things started with Apple filing a $1 billion lawsuit in the U.S. followed by a 1 billion yuan lawsuit in China. It only escalated from there--Apple was accused of telling its suppliers to withhold royalty payments from Qualcomm, which attempted to bar iPhone imports around the world, and so on. Most recently the companies traded blows via the U.S. International Trade Commission. On March 27, ITC Judge MaryJoan McNamara decided to recommend a ban on the import of certain iPhone models because she believed Apple had violated a Qualcomm patent. That same day, the ITC invalidated a Qualcomm patent covering a battery-saving feature. Neither company had scored a definitive victory over the other. The companies might have spent years fighting each other in courts around the world. Apparently they decided they'd rather reach a settlement instead. Details about the settlement are scarce: the companies only said that Apple had agreed to pay Qualcomm as part of the agreement. They also reached a six-year license agreement, with an option to extend for two years, as well as a "multiyear chipset supply agreement." That chipset supply agreement could be the primary motivator behind this ceasefire. Fast Company recently reported that Apple was worried Intel couldn't supply enough modems for the first 5G-capable iPhone. Apple was said to be thinking about developing its own modem--just like it's reportedly working on its own processors--but the company might not be convinced it can do so in the time frame needed to ensure smooth iPhone debuts. Apple needs a bunch of modems for upcoming iPhone models, and Qualcomm needs to sell a bunch of modems to keep its shareholders happy. We suspect that it was easier for the companies to reach this agreement than it would have been for them to explain to investors why they were investing in a global legal battle instead of continuing to collaborate so they could maintain their positions in the smartphone market. That's a bit of a bummer for those of us who enjoyed the prospect of two multi-billion (sometimes trillion-) dollar companies duking it out for the next few years. But finding common ground makes sense from a business perspective, and that's what really matters, especially to those invested in these companies. Poor ol' Orville's just going to have to put some of those kernels back--we aren't going to need as much popcorn as we'd thought. While some citizens try to petition for putting digital smart meters on the ballot, one Independence City Council member tried Monday evening to bypass the wait for that petition.In a packed meeting in which many citizens aired their continued displeasure about the city's pending decision to install advanced metering infrastructure - or AMI, popularly known as smart meters - for city utilities Tom Van Camp moved to have the council decide for itself to put the matter on the Aug. Reports emerged early Monday that Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill would be reporting for phase one of team offseason workouts. It's been exactly one month since reports surfaced that Overland Park police were investigating an alleged incident of battery at his home. The Nissan Sylphy is a car that weve come to know and appreciate in the U.S. since it was introduced in 2013 as the Nissan Sentra. In China, two other generations preceded it while the Sentra name itself is one with a certain history as its been going for some seven generations already. The previous Sentra, known as the B16, which was introduced at the 2006 North American International Auto Show was 2.3 inches shorter and 150 pounds heavier than the current model and was underpinned by Nissans C platform while the current Sylphy/Sentra is based on the Nissan V platform. While well have to wait a little while before the Sylphy changes its badges to Sentra and arrives Stateside, but you can expect it to look largely like the copper-colored car you see here, maybe with a few tweaks around the front end. We saw this coming. Nissan unveiled the fourth-generation Sylphy, a model that will most likely arrive Stateside under the Sentra name, at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show. The new car features a wider look, a more aggressive fascia, a host of Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies but nothing new in the engine department although the existing mills will be bonded to a new Xtronic transmission. The seventh-generation Sentra previewed in Chinese guise Before 2012, the Sylphy and the Sentra lived separate lives. Then, Nissan decided the same V platform-based mid-size sedan should be sold in both China (and Thailand) and U.S. Thats why now when Nissan pulled the wraps off the new 2020 Sylphy we stopped and gaze. Granted, the unveiling comes devoided of surprises since the final design was leaked as far back as January 2019 when we saw clear images of a white example with no camouflage on it. But this isnt something bad because what we saw then and what were finally seeing now officially is a good-looking sedan, certainly better proportioned than the now-outgoing Sentra (Im using the name Sentra referring to the current model). What Nissan did was slightly enlarge the car once more although much of the silhouette is given by the angle of the pillars. It is 183.1 inches long (up by one inch compared to the old model), 71.4 inches wide (up by two inches), and 57 inches high (down by almost two inches, which is what counts). The wheelbase measures 106.7 inches, barely half an inch more than in the case of the old Sentra. The low-slung Sylphy is redesigned although you can trace some DNA from the old one. For instance, the U-shaped frame of the grille is the bridge to the old model but, now, it dives lower down towards the bottom tip of the front bumper. The chromed grille itself is broader on the sides where it meets with the narrow and sharp-looking headlights and very narrow towards the bottom. Some black plastic elements separate the multi-faceted, body-painted outboard areas of the bumper to the grille itself and theres also a secondary grille below with horizontal strakes. The L-shaped trim pieces located in the recessed corners of the front fascia incorporated the rectangular fog lights that on the old models were placed within the fake side air vents. From the side, you notice very well how far back the elongated headlights actually extend. But, for me, the key design element is the black stripe that starts from the frame of the rear quarter window and then wraps around the C-pillars. Its an element that gives the car elegance and, somehow, also makes it seem lower than it actually is. I usually dump any and all stripes on ordinary cars as being a sign of over-doing it but, on the Sylphy, it works. And its not all for style. The Sylphy is really quite an aerodynamic car with a coefficient of just 0.26, the same as the Nissan GT-R R35 - although the decade-old model is no more a standard but I bet some future buyers will brag their sedan is as aerodynamic as a GT-R. In the back, everythings fairly simple: taillights that narrow down towards the inside, a reversed U-shaped grille in the lower part of the bumper that is useless and a couple of vertical creases that make the back end seem sportier and less curvy than it actually is. Overall, the car looks good but Nissan offers plenty of goodies on the inside too. The cabin looks fresh and I am a fan of the three circular air vents on the center console just below the eight-inch rectangular infotainment screen placed on top of the dash. They somehow scream Mercedes-AMG but they dont look out of place thanks to the Sylphys not-so-circular steering wheel and its classy two-tone upholstery that will probably only be available on the more expensive trim levels. The all-new Nissan Sylphy represents the full landing of Nissan Intelligent Mobility in China, said Daniele Schillaci, Executive Vice President of Nissan. Schillaci is talking about the Nissan Intelligent Mobility suite available on the Sylphy that include superior smartphone connectivity and voice command functionalities. What is more, the "Dynamic Control Module uses targeted brake applications after the vehicle encounters a bump or undulation to immediately improve the level of the body, enhancing ride quality." You can also go for the Intelligent Trace Control, Intelligent Ride Control, and the Emergency Brake for Pedal Misapplication systems if you want to ride in near-complete safety. Of course, the by-now-mandatory safety features like forward collision warning, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, and cross traffic alert will be standard when the car arrives in North-America. We dont yet know how much youll have to pay for a Sylphy in China but what we do know is that besides the Xtronic transmission, Nissan has updated the 1.6-liter HR16DE inline-four engine that now has reached the third generation and is touted as being "all new". The engine is said to put out 137 horsepower, 13 more than the current HR16DE can muster and, most likely, a manual will still be available. While theres no official word on it as of yet, we think the Sylphy-based Sentra will debut as early as the upcoming New York Auto Show so keep your eyes peeled for the differences between the Asian version and the U.S. one - if there will be any. Further reading Read our full review on the 2019 Nissan Sentra. Volkswagen has made the trip to China, and it brought with it five SUVs that are on display at Auto Shanghai 2019. One of those SUVs is called the Teramont X, and if you recognize it, then youre not alone. The new five-seater goes by a different name, but we in the U.S. know it as the five-seater version of the Atlas SUV. Itll go by the Teramont X name in China, though, just as it will in other markets like Mexico, Russia, and the Middle East. Regardless of its name, the SUVs arrival in the Chinese market is another clear indication of Volkswagens goal to flood the global car market with as many crossovers and SUVs as it can. The strategy has proven to be successful, so why fix something that isnt broken, right? The Volkswagen Teramont X is the Five-Seater Atlas China Needs If you needed any proof of Volkswagens ambition for the crossover and SUV markets, look no further than the roster of models it brought to China for Auto Shanghai 2019. The German automaker launched the I.D. Roomzz Concept, giving us a sneak peek of what to expect when the I.D. Crozz finally arrives in America at some point in the near future. The VW Coupe Concept SUV also showed up, though we know it mostly as the China-market Tayron crossover. Theres the T-Cross, too, which is already out in the market. The SMV Concept seven-seater is also in attendance and is slated to be VWs new flagship SUV in the Chinese market. Then theres the Teramont X. The Teramont X traces its roots from the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Coupe Concept that VW unveiled at the 2018 New York Auto Show. Its not an identical model, but its close. A number of design elements have been modified to make the SUV more apt as a production model. The headlights, for example, are thinner than the ones on the Atlas Cross Coupe. The LED pipes that crossed the grille in the concept are now gone, too. In their place is a patterned chrome trim that connects the headlights. Even the interlocking chromed design in the lower grille has been taken out in favor of a single piece of ornament. Best I can tell, the VW logo in the middle of the grille doesnt light up anymore, as well. The Teramont X is not as visually appealing to the eyes as the concept from which it came from, but it does keep the SUVs costs down. Something to think about for those who pine for concepts to go directly to the production line. Its the same story in the rear where a new tailgate was designed for the Teramont X. There are more layers in this section of the production model compared to the concept. The thin chrome bar that stretched from rear fender to rear fender on the concept remains, but you can now see the Teramont X name inside it. The taillights look different, with elements of it standing at the edges. The lower part of this section features a toned down exhaust finisher graphic, which actually looks better than the one on the concept. Overall, the Teramont X is smaller compared to the concept version. Its also 7.5 inches shorter than the three-row Atlas SUV. The absence of a standard third row is the biggest reason for that, and while the shorter length does give the Teramont X a more rakish profile at the rear, it does so at the cost of interior space and all-around convenience. The good news is that the Teramont Xs coupe-SUV looks should attract those who are into that SUV sub-segment. Considering how popular coupe-SUVs have become, Volkswagen should have no problems marketing the Teramont X in the markets where its going to be sold. Theres no clear word on what kind of powertrain the Teramont X will feature, but its worth noting that the three-row Atlas comes with a number of engine options, including a 238-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a 280-horsepower 3.6-liter V-6 engine. The four-cylinder engine is the most suited powertrain for the Teramont X, though it probably wont be the only one. A hybrid powertrain could also be available, specifically the unit that Volkswagen used on the Atlas Cross Coupe Concept when it debuted in the Big Apple last year. That powertrain featured the aforementioned 3.6-liter V-6 engine, but it also carried a pair of electric motors that produced 54 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque in the front and 114 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque in the rear. Overall, the hybrid powertrain produced a total output of 355 horsepower, a number thats well suited for the Teramont X. The Volkswagen Teramont X is headed for production. That much is clear. As it is, the current timetable calls for production to start later this year at the automakers production facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The SUV is expected to launch in the U.S. market sometime next year, but it wont carry the Teramont X. Itll be called the five-door Atlas in our shores, leaving the Teramont X name for some of Volkswagens most important global markets, including the country China where Volkswagen is showing it off to the world for the first time in its market-specific name. Either way, we should expect the SUV to be available soon in its current iteration. Itll carry a different name, but its still the same SUV as the one that has taken center stage at Auto Shanghai 2019. Further reading Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. Read our full driven review on the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. Check out more details on the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Coupe Concept 17 Percent Fuel Economy Improvement Over Current Gen Hybrid with Estimated 34 MPG Combined Bold, Chiseled New Design New TNGA-K Platform Enhances Driving Refinement Standard Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, SiriusXM, Waze and Amazon Alexa Compatibility Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 Standard (TSS 2.0) Available with 7- or 8-Passenger Seating Choice of V6 or New-Generation Hybrid Powertrain New Available Dynamic Torque Vectoring All-Wheel Drive with Driveline Disconnect and Multi Terrain Select Largest in segment 12.3 multimedia display April 17, 2019 NEW YORK (April 17, 2019) Toyota is on a major roll with new SUVs, especially the next-generation three-row 2020 Highlander debuting at the New York International Auto Show. Arriving in Toyota dealerships in winter, the Highlander Gas model will arrive in December 2019 and the Highlander Hybrid will make its way to customers in February 2020. Just as the first RAV4 launched the compact crossover SUV segment 22 years ago, the original Highlander redefined the midsize family SUV when it arrived in 2001. At a time when most midsize SUVs were truck-based, the Highlanders unibody structure with four-wheel independent suspension quickly became the template for a new segment of more comfortable and family-friendly SUVs. After adding a third row, the Highlander not only grew in size, but is also now the best-selling retail model in the segment since 2016. Now, the fourth-generation of this benchmark SUV brings a new level of bold, distinctive design to a foundation built on safety, comfort, quality, durability and reliability set by predecessors. The 2020 Highlander amplifies all qualities while taking on a dramatic new design direction that combines a powerful SUV presence with sophisticated detailing. The 2020 Highlanders new sophisticated look, covers a new vehicle platform called Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA-K). This robust new foundation, shared with other Toyota models, enables even greater capability, comfort and safety than before. The fourth-generation Highlander offers the choice between a powerful V6 or new-generation hybrid powertrain, with the gas version offering a manufacturer-estimated 22 MPG combined fuel economy and the Hybrid offering an manufacturer-estimated 34 MPG combined fuel economy. Whether theyre young families or empty nesters exploring a new chapter in life, safety remains the top priority for Highlander customers. Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 comes standard in all models in the 2020 Highlander. This comprehensive active safety system includes: Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection (PCS w/PD) Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist (LDA w/SA) Automatic High Beam (AHB) (New) Lane Tracing Assist (LTA) (New) Road Sign Assist (RSA) Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection offers automatic braking capability under certain circumstances should the driver not react in time in a system-detected emergency situation. Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) with Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Parking Support Braking and Intelligent Clearance Sonar (ICS) are available depending on the model grade. The 2020 Highlander delivers renowned Toyota value in a choice of five grades, starting with a new L grade, then layering amenities and technology in LE, XLE, Limited and the top-of line Platinum. (The Hybrid is offered on all but the L grade.) The 2020 Highlander offers cutting-edge entertainment and connectivity for all ages through its intuitive and versatile multimedia system, including a new 12.3-inch touchscreen display on the Platinum grade and 8-inch on the other models. The available new JBL Premium Sound System delivers a whopping 1,200 watts of power to turn any music source into a mobile concert. The midsize SUV segment has become fiercely competitive, and the 2020 Toyota Highlander is ready to take on all. The Strong, Athletic Type A sculpted new shape with chiseled lines gives the 2020 Highlander a more powerful stance, yet with a modern, sophisticated attitude. The 2020 Highlander remains a family-friendly SUV, now with capability for bigger family adventures. Setting off the new design, the L, LE and XLE grades feature a black front grille with silver trim, while the Limited and Platinum grades are distinguished by a black grille with chrome trim and chrome-plated lower rear fascia, premium projector headlamps and the Highlanders first-ever 20-inch alloy wheels. The Platinum stands apart with silver painted front bumper and rear fascia and a unique 20-inch wheel. Accentuating the 2020 Highlanders bold lines, the exterior color palette carries over three colors from 2019 (Blizzard Pearl ($395 option), Celestial Silver Metallic and Midnight Black Metallic) while adding five new ones: Magnetic Gray Metallic, Moon Dust (a striking blue premium paint), Ruby Flare Pearl (a daring red premium paint), Blueprint and Opulent Amber (a deep, luxurious brown). While Highlanders new design will turn heads everywhere it goes, its also highly functional. Greater aerodynamic efficiency reduces wind noise while enhancing vehicle stability, and even the taillights and side mirror designs lend a hand. The fourth-generation Highlander is 2.36 inches (60mm) longer than before, all in the cargo area to add even greater cargo volume than before. The second row can be slid an extra 1.2-in. further up to increase distance between the second and third rows. The TNGA-K platform, which makes extensive use of high-strength steel, gives the Highlander a stiffer unibody structure than the previous model. Its inherent strength allows tuning for the front strut and rear multi-link suspension that enhances agility and a smaller turning circle while also providing a smoother and quieter ride than before. The presence of takumi is evident whenever the driver experiences the Highlanders premium touch and feel in everyday driving. Throughout vehicle development, these highly trained master craftsmen focused on the finest technical details to ensure a higher level of operating smoothness in all driving conditions - especially at everyday speeds. Take It All with You Looking sporty does not come at the expense of practicality in the 2020 Highlander. The L and LE grades come standard with a second-row bench for seating for eight, while the XLE and Limited grades come standard with a Captains Chair second row with seating for seven and the option of a second-row bench for seating for eight. Finally, the Platinum grade will come standard with a Captains Chair second row with seating for seven. Either way, the large rear doors provide easy access, while versatile seat folding features make it easy to enter the third row. And, passengers in the third row stay comfortable thanks to standard three-zone climate control that ensures ample flow of warmed or cooled air. With all seat rows in use, Highlander offers 16.1 cu. ft. of carrying space behind the third row. Folding the 60/40 split fold-flat third-row seatbacks opens the space to 40.6 cu. ft., and then folding the second row increases that to 73.3 cu. ft. The versatile cargo area makes the most of its additional length with side surfaces and pockets shaped for maximum space usage. Power, Performance and Panache with Efficiency Power and efficiency are a whole lot sexier when wrapped in Highlanders striking design. The 2020 Highlander offers a choice between two advanced powertrains, a gas V6 or a new version of the Toyota Hybrid System. The 295-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 is the epitome of smoothness. Its Toyota-innovated D-4S Injection system combines direct fuel injection with port fuel injectors to optimize efficiency, power and emissions in all conditions. Dual Variable Valve Timing with intelligence (Dual VVT-i) likewise ensures ideal response and efficiency at all engine speeds. That translates into 295 horsepower and 263 lb.-ft. of torque, which further translates into exemplary everyday performance and generous towing capability. The Direct Shift 8-speed automatic transmission maximizes Highlanders acceleration and highway merging capability while operating seamlessly and transparently. On V6 models, the available towing package enables a 5,000-pound towing capacity. The package includes a heavy-duty radiator with engine oil cooler and improved fan performance. Trailer Sway Control (TSC) uses the Vehicle Stability Control to help control unwanted trailer movement. Why use fuel when you dont need to? The Highlanders standard Stop and Start Engine System allows the engine to shut off when the vehicle comes to a complete stop, and then instantly restarts when the drivers foot lifts from the brake pedal. This technology reduces fuel consumption and cuts emissions. Hybrid Aims Even Higher Toyota made hybrid synonymous with high fuel efficiency more than 20 years ago. Later, Toyota introduced the first hybrid SUV in its class, the 2006 Highlander. Leave it to Toyota to again raise the bar for hybrid SUV functionality by making the 2020 model the most fuel-efficient Highlander Hybrid ever. The new-generation Toyota Hybrid System in the 2020 Highlander Hybrid combines a high-efficiency 2.5-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine with two electric motors in a system thats more compact, and more efficient than before. The gas engine employs Variable Valve Timing-intelligent system by Electric motor (VVT-iE) on the intake camshaft, and VVT-i on the exhaust camshaft. A variable cooling system (electric water pump, electric thermostat) and a fully variable oil pump further improve engine efficiency. The bottom line is an eye opener for the efficiency-minded: 240 total system horsepower and an EPA-estimated 34 combined MPG. The latter is a 17-percent improvement over the previous-generation Highlander Hybrids 28 combined MPG. Yet, Highlander Hybrid still delivers the everyday acceleration, power and responsiveness that family buyers expect. In another Highlander first, the hybrid is now available in either 2WD or AWD, further expanding hybrid technology to a new group of buyers. The transaxle mounts the electric motors (MG1 and MG2) coaxially rather than in-line, and the resulting smaller and lighter package reduces frictional losses. The gas engine and MG2 work in concert to deliver dynamic performance, while both MG1 and MG2 charge the hybrid battery. To reduce the transaxles size and weight, the reduction gear is now a parallel shaft gear, rather than a planetary, and a new multi-function gear integrates the power-split planetary ring gear, parking gear, and counter-drive gear. New computer integration and a smaller, lighter power stack installed directly above the transaxle reduce energy transmission losses. The battery pack is small enough to be installed under the rear seats, so it does not take up any cargo or passenger space. Seamless Everyday Performance The Highlander Hybrid delivers its exemplary fuel economy and performance without calling attention to its high-tech powertrain operation. Quite the contrary, like all Toyota Hybrid vehicles, it simply goes about its business in a transparent way. For example, the new system optimizes the level of electric motor assistance and gas engine speed without the engine running at high revs. Engine speed is synchronized with vehicle speed, yielding effortless and quiet acceleration. As on many modern vehicles, the Highlander Hybrid offers selectable NORMAL, ECO and SPORT driving modes that let the driver choose the vehicles performance personality. The bonus is the EV mode, which allows electric-only driving at low speeds for short distances. SPORT mode unlocks boost from the hybrid system for improved acceleration response. ECO mode gets maximum efficiency from the fuel and battery, while NORMAL mode is ideal for everyday driving. Special, easy-to-use hybrid tech adds an element of control and fun. Using a sequential shifting feature, the driver can downshift to increase the regenerative braking in steps, which fosters greater control when driving in hilly areas, for example. The 2020 Highlander Hybrid can also coach the driver to drive as economically as possible. For example, an accelerator guide function suggests an acceleration level to the driver according to the driving conditions, and a scoring function adds a measure of fun to eco driving. Features for More Efficiency Highlander Hybrids Predictive Efficient Drive (PED) analyzes the drivers daily driving habits and upcoming road and traffic conditions to more efficiently charge and discharge the hybrid battery accordingly alongside actual driving. The more the vehicle is driven, the more data is accumulated, contributing to practical fuel efficiency. Many actual roads chosen to represent common usage scenarios, such as in urban congestion or on mountain roads, were driven on and analyzed to create control that feels natural to the driver when operating to enable more efficient driving. All-Wheel Drive Gets Smarter The 2020 Highlander gets a grip on any road with a choice of front-wheel drive or three different available all-wheel drive systems two for the V6 models and a unique AWD system for the Highlander Hybrid. For the Highlander Gas L, LE and XLE models, the optional AWD system can send up to 50 percent of available torque to the rear wheels to counter wheel slip when necessary. Sounding like something from a high-end sports car, Dynamic Torque Vectoring AWD with Drive Mode Select and Driveline Disconnect is available for the Highlander Limited and Platinum for even greater agility and capability. In addition to governing torque distribution between the front and rear wheels, this advanced system uses special couplings to actively manage torque distribution between the left and right rear wheels. Dynamic Torque Vectoring AWD doesnt need wheel slippage before springing into action. Rather, a sophisticated AWD Integrated Management (AIM) manages Electric Power Steering (EPS), throttle control, transmission shift control and drive torque distribution to continually optimize handling. Using the Multi-Terrain Select control dial on the console, the driver can maximize traction when driving through inclement weather or road conditions. Mud & Sand mode works well for beach driving, while Rock & Dirt mode optimizes AWD traction for trails. The driver can monitor, in real time, torque allocation and slip control on the Multi-Information Display (MID). In addition, Highlander models include the following features for optimal on-road and off-road performance and safety: Hill Start Assist Control (HAC) Trailer Sway Control (TSC) Downhill Assist Control (DAC) All-wheel drive is a great traction partner, but its not needed all the time, such as during steady highway cruising. In such situations, Rear Driveline Disconnect automatically disengages drive to the rear wheels and stops the propeller shafts rotation. As one might guess, that reduces the energy needed to propel the vehicle and therefore reduces fuel consumption. When AWD is needed, the system instantly re-engages, without the driver even noticing. Hybrid AWD As with the AWD system in the previous Highlander Hybrid, the 2020 models AWD employs a separate rear-mounted electric motor to power the rear wheels when needed. Like the hybrid powertrain itself, the AWD works seamlessly and transparently. The rear electric motor operates independently, with no mechanical connection between the transmission and the rear wheels. Preemptively distributing more driving force to the rear wheels, such as when accelerating, helps suppress front wheel slip during off-the-line starts. The system also enhances cornering agility by helping to reduce understeer. And, when venturing onto a trail, the increased rear-wheel torque helps move the Highlander Hybrid confidently over rough or slippery surfaces. A New Level of Comfort From the L grade to the top-of-line Platinum, the 2020 Highlander offers its plushest accommodations ever. Designers took inspiration from luxury crafted interiors to create a more premium ambience. Details include softer padded surfaces and a more tailored look with stitching that continues from the door trim to the instrument panel. The dash integrates the multimedia and HVAC controls in an elegant and functional way. The 2020 Highlander cabin offers improved functionality throughout, from a center console that offers available Qi wireless charging to plenty of storage spaces and USB charging ports. On Limited and Platinum grades, new ambient LED lighting sets a relaxing mood. Inset steering wheel controls are a modern luxury touch on all grades. Highlanders have long been renowned for a quiet ride, and with the high-strength TNGA platform, Toyota pushes the bar even higher. Sound-damping and soundproofing materials have been optimized throughout the vehicle, with the takumi approach focusing particularly on minimizing noise in the frequencies that interfere with conversation. The seating color palette enhances the sense of luxury permeating the 2020 Highlander. The L and LE grades offer comfortable woven cloth in Graphite or Black; the XLE offers embossed Softex artificial leather trim in Harvest Beige, Graphite or Black, while the Limited offers those colors in perforated leather trim. The top-of-line Platinum grade, the most luxurious Highlander ever offered, exclusively features embossed, perforated leather trim in those three colors plus Glazed Caramel, a luxuriously delicious new brown. Multitalented Multimedia However passengers listen to music and connect with their worlds, the 2020 Highlander is ready with the latest multimedia systems. All grades come standard with Apple Car Play, Android Auto, Alexa In-Car compatibility, Waze, SiriusXM, and Wi-Fi connectivity through AT&T. All Highlander models come equipped with Toyota Safety Connect with a one-year trial subscription. LE and above grades offer Service and Remote Connectivity. A move up to XLE or Limited grade offers available Dynamic Navigation. A move up to Platinum grade offers standard Dynamic Navigation and the 12.3-inch screen. The JBL Premium Audio System is standard for Limited and Platinum grades and rocks music of all genres with 1,200 watts of power playing through 11 speakers in nine locations. Clari-Fi technology breathes new life into compressed digital music formats, with the result like a mobile concert. The system will not, however, settle arguments over which music to play. Exceptional Toyota Value, Naturally Toyotas typical outstanding value is clearly evident in the Highlander L grade, where the standard equipment list includes features that one might expect in an upgraded model: L: Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 18-in. alloy wheels 3-zone automatic climate control 4.2-in. Multi-information Display (MID) in instrument panel 8-way power drivers seat Auto up/down for all power windows Multimedia with 8-inch touchscreen display Front seat reading lights and cargo area light. LED headlamps and taillamps Privacy glass on rear side, quarter and liftgate windows Smart Key entry on front doors and back door LE adds over L: Power liftgate Blind Spot Monitor Additional multimedia capability LED fog lamps Leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift knob XLE adds over LE: 10-way power drivers seat 2nd-row sun shades 4-way power front passenger seat 7-in. Multi-information display Auto dimming rear-view mirror with garage door opener Auto LED headlamps with Auto High Beam Plated interior door handle Heated front seats LED fog lamps Machined-face alloy wheels Captains Chairs second row (standard) Power tilt and slide moon roof Roof rails SofTex-trimmed seats and door trim Limited adds over XLE: 120V 2nd-row power outlet 20-in. Limited style alloy wheels Ambient interior lighting Cargo area cover Drivers seat memory Hands-free power liftgate Heated and ventilated front seats Highlander puddle lamp Perforated leather trimmed seats in Beige, Gray or Black Metal door scuff plates Projector beam headlamp with chrome bezels and separate, stylized DRLs Wood interior trim JBL Audio System as standard Embedded navigation system Platinum adds over Limited: 12.3-in. Multimedia head unit 20-in Platinum style wheels Adaptive, self-leveling headlamps Additional leather seating color choice: Glazed Caramel Digital display rear view mirror Embossed, perforated leather trimmed seats Head-up display Heated 2nd-row seats Illuminated door scuff plates Panoramic moonroof Rain-sensing windshield wipers Birds eye camera Safety at Its Core The new TNGA-K platform forms the foundation for exemplary collision protection in the 2020 Toyota Highlander, while a suite of standard driver-assist technologies is designed to help prevent collisions, or to mitigate their impacts. The 2020 Highlander is equipped with the second-generation of Toyota Safety Sense (TSS 2.0). Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) with Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) are standard on LE grade and above. Rear Cross Traffic Braking (RCTB) is available with clearance sonar on Limited and above. The standard backup camera features projected path. A Birds Eye View Camera with Perimeter Scan, available on Limited and standard on Platinum, provides a live rotating 360-degree view around the vehicle. The 2020 Highlander is equipped with eight airbags, including side-curtain airbags for all three rows. Toyotas Star Safety System includes Enhanced Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Traction Control (TRAC), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), and Smart Stop Technology (SST). Limited Warranty Toyotas 36-month/36,000 mile basic new-vehicle warranty applies to all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. Additional 60-month warranties cover the powertrain for 60,000 miles and against perforation from corrosion for 60 months with no mileage limitation. Hybrid-related components that require repairs needed to correct defects in materials or workmanship, including the HV battery, battery control module, hybrid control module and inverter with converter, are covered for 8 years/100,000 miles, whichever comes first from original date of first use when sold as new. The 2020 Highlander also comes standard with ToyotaCare, a complimentary plan covering normal factory-scheduled maintenance, for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first, and 2 years of Roadside Assistance, regardless of mileage. Android Auto is a trademark of Google LLC. About Toyota Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold 2.8 million cars and trucks (2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2018 and about 87 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 16 years are still on the road today. Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our societys most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com. Austrian end-to-end intelligent transportation systems (ITS) provider Kapsch TrafficCom has been awarded a contract to provide an urban traffic management system for the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean. Following a public tender, Kapsch and its local partner Evocon were selected to provide the comprehensive urban mobility management system for Santo Domingo, the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. The contract was awarded by the local authority Instituto Nacional de Transito y Transporte Terrestre (INTRANT) and includes a 17-month period for the design, construction and implementation of new transport management infrastructure and equipment, as well as four years of technical operation for the entire system. Total contract value is approximately US$20.3m (18m) and will be shared by consortium partners Kapsch (60%) and Evocon (40%). ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> The first part of the tender covers engineering, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning and the deployment of Kapschs EcoTrafiX urban traffic management software platform and ancillary equipment. This will include 100 new intersection systems, 2,200 new traffic lights, 40 CCTV cameras, 400 CVD-standard vehicle detector video cameras, variable message signs (VMS) and control center equipment. The maintenance contract will cover 260 existing intersections that are already equipped with Kapsch systems, including traffic lights and CCTV, as well as all the newly installed systems and equipment. The EcoTrafiX urban mobility platform helps to reduce travel time and CO2 emissions while improving travelers safety. By gathering all traffic data into a real-time dynamic visualization approach, operators can further optimize vehicle flow, benefiting from excellent decision support for reactive response to incidents and events as well as multi-agency coordination. The EcoTrafiX software suite includes: Command, which controls real-time city signals and devices; Expert, which includes a set of modules to optimize traffic; Mobility, which enables collaboration on events between multiple agencies or between multiple departments within one agency. The EcoTrafix portfolio also includes a high-performance traffic control unit for street-level intersection operations. This new contract strengthens Kapschs position in the Central and South American market, where the companys urban traffic management systems are already being used in many major cities, including Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Quito (Ecuador). In October last year the Vienna-based company expanded its portfolio in the Latin American region with three more major contracts to provide advanced traffic management systems to Buenos Aires (Argentina), Lima (Peru), and Panama City (Panama). All those contracts were covered by the EcoTrafiX urban traffic management platform, albeit with different modules and applications from its software suite. This contract is enhancing our urban mobility management footprint in the Latin-American region, explained Andre F Laux, COO of Kapsch TrafficCom. Santo Domingo is the biggest metropolitan area in the Caribbean, which demands high requirements for mobility in the city. We are proud that our solution was chosen to help the city achieve a more efficient and safer mobility future. Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta, Chairman of the African Caucus, and Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), co-chaired the African Consultative Group meeting on 12 April 2019 at the IMF Headquarters. They issued the following statement after the conclusion of the Groups meeting in Washington, DC: We had very productive discussions on Africas economic developments and prospects. The economic recovery in Africa is expected to continue. However, under current policies and amid increased global uncertainty, medium-term growth for the region is expected to continue to fall well short of what is needed to absorb new entrants to the labor force. The key challenge that Africa faces is to invest in human and physical capital to create jobs while at the same time reducing debt vulnerabilities. Against this backdrop, we agree that countries need to generate fiscal space, enhance resilience including to climate change, and create sustained high and inclusive growth, including by removing obstacles to greater gender equity. This will require, in particular: (i) pursuing growth-friendly fiscal consolidations, where needed, that strike the right balance between development spending, reducing debt vulnerabilities, and meeting essential social needs; (ii) strengthening the effectiveness of monetary policy to enhance the monetary transmission mechanism; (iii) enhancing the flexibility of markets to facilitate adjustment to shocks and preserve competitiveness; (iv) removing trade barriers to boost medium-term growth, including in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement; and (v) addressing illicit financing flows and base erosion to enhance governance and strengthen revenue collection. Ms. Lagarde stated that the IMF will remain closely engaged with its African members. The Fund will continue to support the authorities efforts to address the current macroeconomic and structural challenges and achieve a stronger, durable and inclusive growth to absorb new entrants in the labor force. Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta echoed Ms. Lagarde on the economic prospects of the continent, and the willingness of the sub-region to work closely with the IMF to tackle emerging concerns. He emphasized the need for members to sustain commitment to structural reforms and encouraged the Fund to show patience in its program engagement when there is demonstrated ownership by country authorities for successful outcomes. Transcript of the African Department Press Briefing Washington DC, 12 April 2019 Mr. Abebe Aemro Selassie, Director: African Department: Thank you, Lucie. A very good morning to you all, thank you for joining us this morning. We [have just launched] our Regional Economic Outlook. The Sub-Saharan Africa economy continues to recover in terms of economic growth. This year we are expecting growth to accelerate to 3.5 percent from 3 percent last year. But these regional average numbers mask quite a lot of difference in terms of outcomes across the region. Specifically, some 21 countries are expected to grow at 5 percent or more this year, and so, you know, with per capita income increases that are markedly larger than many countries in the rest of the world. And these economies that are growing fast tend to be the more diversified economies. Still, there are in other set of countries, around 24, mainly resource-dependent economies that are facing sluggish growth in the near term and are seeing slower improvements in standards of livings. This group includes some of the larger economies in the region, the likes of Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, which account for more than 50 percent of the region's output. External and domestic developments are having a betting on the economic outlook. On the external front perhaps the most important factors have been the volatility and global financial conditions, as well as the volatility in commodity prices which are posing a challenge for policymakers. Domestically, one pressure point remains rising public debt vulnerabilities, these are elevated in some countries, and posing a challenge. The reason for the increase in debt levels tends to be very country-specific, for some it is due to addressing the large infrastructure needs. In others it's been the effect of the commodity price shock that hit countries between 2014 and 2016. And yet in others it's been procyclical policies which have led to the marked increase in debt levels. Looking ahead, we see basically two broad implications for policies. First in the fast-growing economies, the likes of Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, there is a need to hand over the reins of growth from the public to the private sector. In many of these countries public investments has helped spur higher growth, while also, of course, translating into an increase in public debt levels, so there is a need to strike a better balance between public debt increase on one hand, and the continued investments that are needed in public investment. In the slower-growing economies, the likes of, as I just mentioned, Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, there is a need to pursue reforms to facilitate economic diversification, and address remaining economic imbalances, many of these cases, private investments remain weak, and a strong focus is needed to address the constraints that are holding such investments back. One development that we are very hopeful will facilitate growth, is increased trade integration in the region. We are very encouraged by the progress that has been made towards the African Continental Free Trade Area. Once completed the trade agreement will establish a market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. The benefits could be substantial, particularly if countries tackle the non-tariff bottlenecks to trade, including by investing in infrastructure, lowering logistical costs and improving trade facilitation. What is interesting, we think, is that intraregional exports in Africa are more diversified and have a higher technology content, than Africa's exports to much the rest of the world. And just to give you a couple of numbers on this, 40 percent of intraregional trade is accounted for by manufactured goods, whereas the region exports to the world 75 percent of such exports tend to be minerals, the likes of crude oil, and other commodities. Still, one thing to note of course, is that, to ensure the benefits of intraregional integration are shared by all, policymakers should be mindful of the adjustment costs that integration could entail and move swiftly to address those. In addition to these more medium-term challenges that I've been noting we see, you know, countries of course have been hit by significant shocks. Two such examples I want to highlight. I think the first is the security challenge. Overall the conflict levels in the region tend to be much lower than in the '90s, and even early 2000s. But countries in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin are facing considerable security threats, and this region (inaudible) economic outlook, we have done some work looking at the recent trends, and the economic impact that conflicts are having. This is an issue of great concern, and we are discussing with country authorities how best we can minimize their diversion of resources away from much needed development spending. Another example of the kind of shocks that policymakers have to contend with of course are weather-related shocks. As you know, Cyclone Idai has a devastating impact in Southeast Africa, leading to the significant loss of life and damage. We are doing everything we can to support the countries that have been affected. Just to give an example, we have moved very rapidly to support Mozambique through a rapid credit facility. We expect the Executive Board to consider this request as soon as next week, within a month of the hurricane hitting the cyclone hitting Mozambique. In Zimbabwe, yesterday we announced a staff-monitored program which will support the government's economic policies, and we are having extensive dialogue with authorities. And then, Malawi, we are in discussions with authorities to provide additional support through the existing ECF arrangement we have with them. Before I end, I would like to stress that Sub-Saharan Africa remains a region of tremendous economic potential, and while the global environment is increasingly uncertain, there is much that the countries are doing and can do to sustain very high rates of growth, which we are certain will translate into continued improvements and development outcomes. Questioner: The Trump administration is one in that the Chinese investment in Africa while is good for infrastructure is also can turn out to become death trap and a (inaudible) takeover. We have cases in Sri Lanka especially because the loans from China end up in the hands of very corrupt government, unaccountable government. How big a threat is the Chinese investment and expansion in Africa. And, finally, yesterday the new (inaudible) president the alarming statistic about Africa. He said by 2030 nine out of ten extremely poor people in the world will be Africans, which is bit surprising seeing all the poor in Asia and in the U.S. and in Europe. Is the IMF seeing the same thing? And, finally, in terms of statistics, we see the IMF has 3.5% projection this year and the World Bank has a different statistics. How does it work? Why do you have different statistics? How do you get to it? Mr. Selassie: Okay. A lot of questions there. First, on the debt issue, as I flagged earlier, you know, in some countries I think its important to know that, you know, with many policy challenges and particularly for the region as diverse as (inaudible) Africa, it is very important to consider them in a country specific context. So, the reason why debt has gone up defers from country to country and the sources of financing also tend to be country specific. Our advice, of course, always is to make sure that countries are (inaudible) a healthy balance between on the one hand continue to address their development objectives and second, avoiding the sustainability concerns. In some cases, of course, these kind of debt problems can arise from borrowing from bilateral creditors, but in other cases it comes from borrowing from commercial banks. Somebody asked me a question about (inaudible) not so long ago. Right. The issue with debt sustainability had arisen on the context of borrowing from commercial banks that are hidden in that case. So, the issue of debt transparency is not unique to China, but also to all borrowing that our countries are undertaking and whats important, again, is making sure that total borrowing levels remain consistent with debt servicing capacity. Failing to do that, of course, is very problematic. On the outlook for the region in terms of addressing poverty rates, you know, of course this is exactly why we have this dialogue at these meetings. With policymakers, you know, the brunt of our work is to make sure that the region continues to grow as robustly as possible to create the millions of jobs that our economies need to avoid, you know, wore outcomes particularly given the demographic challenges that the region faces. So, this is exactly what policymakers, institutions like the IMF, World Bank are all engaged in to make sure that we can facilitate help economies grow as robustly as possible to reduce existing poverty and avoid poverty levels deteriorating any further. Read the full transcript on the IMF website. Army Public School APS Jobs 2019 In Karachi Latest Army Public School APS Posts Karachi 2021 Army Public School APS COD requires the services of experienced and responsible personnel for the posts of Driver, Carpenter, Electrician, Mali, Sweeper, Plumber & Mason in Karachi. How to Apply on Army Public School APS 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. Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : COX & KINGS EXPANDS ITS URBAN FOOTPRINT WITH NEW HOLIDAY CLUB IN DWARKA, NEW DELHI Industry: Travel Agents Keeping with the growing demand for travel and other related services in the capital, Cox & Kings has opened its fifth Holiday Club branch in Dwarka, Delhi. (TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - April 16th, 2019 - Delhi, 5th March 2019: Keeping with the growing demand for travel and other related services in the capital, Cox & Kings has opened its fifth Holiday Club branch in Dwarka, Delhi. Besides unique holiday packages and a string of experiential offerings, the branch will also serve as a comprehensive forex shop. The Holiday Club was inaugurated by Mr Sanjay Gupta, ex-President, The Institute of Cost Accountants of India. India's outbound segment is poised to grow significantly. The UNWTO estimates 50 million tourists to take on a foreign trip until 2020. The figure reflects an impressive doubling of the number of travellers as compared to the current 25 million. In addition, India's outbound travel expenditure has also increased by 7% year-on-year on average from 2006 to 2016. Metro cities being the major drivers of this positive graph, Cox & Kings realizes their growth potential and has hence charted its urban expansion. Dwarka is a populated residential neighbourhood and also home to several corporate offices. The Holiday Club branch will thus have a potential audience to interact with. Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings said," Our Holiday Club concept has received a phenomenal response until now. The Dwarka Holiday Club branch is the seventh in the country. These branches are distinctly unique because of its customer-centric approach where travellers can resolve their travel queries; plan their journeys while taking pleasure in a comfortable setting." Cox & Kings' latest travel innovations including the culinary specialist brand - Tour to Feast, tours for disabled - Enable Travel, the adventure specialist - Trip 360 and several other luxury brands will all be available under one roof for the convenience of the discerning travellers. The address of the new holiday club branch is Shop No. 205, Krishna Mall, Plot 5, Sector 12, Dwarka, New Delhi. ABOUT COX AND KINGS LTD.: (BSE: 533144 | NSE: COX&KINGS) Cox & Kings Ltd. ('C&K') is the oldest travel company in the world and also one of the leading leisure travel groups with operations across continents. It is one of the most experienced travel company in the world, having been in operation since 1758. Headquartered in India, C&K has over the last three decades transformed itself into a diversified, multinational travel conglomerate with a focus on the new-age global consumer. C&K operates in two key verticals; Leisure and Hybrid Hotels. Leisure-India is best known by the ubiquitous Cox & Kings brand in India, where we are an integrated travel enterprise, offering the best and widest range of travel options to individuals, groups and businesses in the fastest growing major economy in the world. www.coxandkings.com Leisure-International operates in multiple countries, mainly under the Cox & Kings brand, with a greater focus on premium-end travel. www.coxandkings.co.uk and www.coxandkingsusa.com Meininger currently operates more than 12,662 beds across 24 hotels in 14 European cities. The unique hybrid concept of Meininger combines the service and comfort of a hotel with the uncomplicated nature of a hostel; top locations, high-quality amenities, flexible room structure and reasonable prices. www.meininger-hotels.com Cox & Kings is one of the founding members of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and also a member of premier industry associations across the world. Over the years the company has won many awards which stand testimony to its excellence in service. Cox & Kings has been the recipient of various accolades both in India and internationally. It has been winning the prestigious World Travel Award in different categories since 2013. The title of Asia's Leading Luxury Tour Operator was retained for the 4th time in 2018. It won the title of India's Leading Tour Operator in the year 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and India's Leading Travel Agency for the 6th Consecutive time. In 2018, Cox & Kings bagged the title of 'Best Outbound Tour Operator at the Zee Business Travel Awards. The India Travel Awards - West and its North edition announced Cox & Kings as a winner in the categories - Best Experiential Tour Operator and Best MICE Operator Domestic in 2018. It also emerged victorious in the Asia Pacific region at the prestigious PATA Gold Awards. Cox & Kings commitment to sustainability was celebrated at the Global Responsible Business Leadership Awards in Malaysia where it bagged the title of 'Sustainable Travel and Tour Operator of 2018. For further media details, contact: Thomas C. Thottathil Cox & Kings Ltd. Head - Corporate Communications T: +91-22-22709100 E: thomasct@coxandking thomasct@coxandkings.com ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release : CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Thomas C. Thottathil Company: Cox & Kings Ltd. Phone: 91-22-22709100 Email: thomasct@coxandkings.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS 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) Ministry of Railways Jobs 2019 For Islamabad Latest Ministry of Railways Legal Posts Islamabad 2021 Ministry of Railways Government of Pakistan Railway Board requires the services of qualified and well educated candidates for the positions of Legal Advisor & Legal Consultant in Islamabad Pakistan 2019. How to Apply on Ministry of Railways 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. Everyone says we should do something, but nobody ever wants to pay the price. According to Wikipedia, Victor Hugo began writing Notre-Dame de Paris in 1829, largely to make his contemporaries more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture, which was neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings or defaced by replacement of parts of buildings in a newer style. For instance, the medieval stained glass panels of Notre-Dame de Paris had been replaced by white glass to let more light into the church. After his book became a hit, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc was hired to restore it, but they did it the quick and dirty way. Not everyone loved it then, nor more recently as Oliver Wainwright reminds us of a more recent critic: The spire that collapsed was added by Viollet-le-Duc in his massive renovation and restoration of starting in 1844, fixing the damage done during the French Revolution, so like so many great buildings it is not an original. Interior of Notre Dame a few years ago/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 Even Victor Hugo wrote: "Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries." It's not surprising that environmentalists also made a natural connection: Bill McKibben and Eric Holthaus exchange thoughts: Construction fires are particularly tragic because they are preventable, but the major reason that these fires of significant buildings keep happening is lack of funding. Brazil's National Museum and its 20 million item collection was a "tragedy that could have been avoided". The museum had been trying to get money to protect its collection for years. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images In Glasgow, the School of Art was destroyed because of poor management of fire risk during the restoration after an earlier fire, which occurred because a sprinkler system was not completed. The late Andrew Tallon was quoted in Time two years ago: The damage can only accelerate, says Andrew Tallon, an associate professor of art at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and an expert on Gothic architecture. Having carefully studied the damage, he says the restoration work is urgent. If the cathedral is left alone, its structural integrity could be at risk. The flying buttresses, if they are not in place, the choir could come down, he says. The more you wait, the more you need to take down and replace. The more you wait, the harder it gets to fix. You can say that about buildings, infrastructure, and, of course, climate. But nobody wants to pay the price. editorial@tribune.com Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 15 The prices of cement has gone up between Rs 60 and Rs 75 per bag after the government hiked customs duty on cement from Pakistan by 200% on February 16, resulting in complete halt of cement arrival at Integrated Check Post (ICP) here. The customs duty was hiked following the terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy at Pulwama in the Kashmir valley in February. A cement bag which was available at nearly Rs 280 in the open market in February is now being sold at Rs 350. Similarly, non-trade cement, which was available between Rs 260 and Rs 270 per bag, is now being sold between Rs 335 and Rs 350 per bag. Gaurav Gupta, a cement importer and Indian cement dealer, said: There has been 25% hike in the cement prices in the past two months, probably the sharpest in the recent history. He said after a prolong winter the construction industry commenced operations with the arrival of summer. However, the steep hike in its prices has played a spoilsport. Punjab roughly generates demand for nearly five lakh tonnes of cement per month. Out of this, around 20% is met by cement imported from Pakistan, which is ordinary portland cement (OPC). With around 250 units of the inter-lock tile industry in the state, this industry is feeling the maximum heat due to increase in cement prices. Sandeep Mittal, an industrialist, said, A majority of the contracts for supplying inter-locking tiles with the government agencies were signed considering the rates prevalent in the market then. However, the steep hike in the price of the major constituent of raw material has upset the applecart. He said the extreme rate hike was beyond adjustment and it was negatively affecting the trade. He said some units might collapse if the situation persisted. Rajesh Singla, another cement trader, apprehended that the domestic cement industries may cut down production, especially of the OPC. The construction cost will swell and it will stretch the prices of end products further, making it unaffordable for people to buy or construct their dream homes, he said. Customers with small budget may be compelled to shelve their plans to build houses. Consumers will have no choice but to procure the Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) at high price. gspannu7@gmail.com Mumbai, April 16 The Mehul Choksi-run Gitanjali Gems, which owes over Rs 12,550 crore to 31 financial creditors and a key player in the Rs 14,000-crore PNB scam, is headed for liquidation as the committee of creditors have voted to end the resolution process citing time over-run. Choksi and his nephew diamantaire Nirav Modi are absconding after the biggest financial fraud came to light in February 2018 and are facing extradition from Antigua and Britain, respectively. Together the uncle-nephew duo have defrauded the state-run Punjab National Bank of Rs 14,000 crore between 2011 and 2017, using fake letters of undertaking through the banks Brady House branch in south Mumbais tony Horniman Circle area, which is a stones throw away from the Reserve Bank headquarters here. The lenders of Gitanjali Gems have rejected a resolution proposal and have voted for liquidation, citing time over-run beyond the 180 days, the company informed the exchanges on Tuesday. The committee of creditors met on March 28, and with a majority of 54.14 per cent, rejected a plea to continue with the resolution process, and instead chose to go in for liquidation, it added. The 180 days since the resolution process began ended on April 6. Since extension is not approved by the lenders, the next logical step is to go for liquidation, the company said in a BSE filing. In an exchange filing, ICICI Bank had earlier claimed dues worth Rs 890.20 crore from Gitanjali Gems, with a 7.09 per cent voting share in the committee of creditors. Overall, as many as 31 financial creditors have claimed dues worth over Rs 12,558 crore from Gitanjali Gems once owned by Choksi. According to media reports, PNB has the largest exposure of Rs 5,518.5 crore and the highest voting share of 43.94 per cent. Corporation Bank (Rs 543.82 crore), and Allahabad Bank Rs 521.81 crore) are among the other major lenders to the jewellery company. The Corporate Affairs Ministry had earlier sought the NCLT intervention to attach the properties owned by Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and uncle Choksi, across the world. Modi and Choksi and their families used to own or control as many as around 114 companies. Sebi is also looking into the matter and the ministry is also seeking the help of the Central Board of Direct Taxes to ascertain the assets of the prime accused and other related parties. PTI A patient suffers from the cholera epidemic and receives medical treatment at a health center in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 15, 2019. So far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported in Yemen, almost three times the same period last year, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said on Monday. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian situation in Yemen is dire and the end is nigh for the Yemenis without more international support, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock told the Security Council on Monday. "The relief operation is running out of money. Barring changes, the end is nigh," Lowcock briefed the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen via video-link from London, picking up the passionate plea of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths for the international community to act now, to save countless Yemeni lives. Lowcock reiterated his earlier call for a nationwide ceasefire, adding that "all the men with guns and bombs need to stop the violence. We again remind the parties that international humanitarian law binds them in all locations and at all times." But "bullets are not the only risk to life and limb," he warned, citing that so far this year, 200,000 suspected cases of deadly cholera had been reported, almost three times the same period last year. "We see the consequences of the destruction of the health system elsewhere too. More than 3,300 cases of diphtheria have been reported since 2018 - the first outbreak in Yemen since 1982. Earlier this year, new measles cases surged to nearly twice the levels reported at the same time in 2018." "Looming over everything, the risk of famine continues," he warned, saying that the World Food Programme was upping the reach of support for the world's largest aid operation. Access to the vulnerable remains a key challenge, he said, making clear that grain that could feed 3.7 million hungry Yemenis in Hodeidah's Red Sea Mills, remained trapped due to conflict. Money was running out to save lives, he said, with only 267 million U.S. dollars received so far, out of 2.6 billion pledged. The World Health Organization, he said, "projects that 60 percent of diarrhea treatment centers could close in the coming weeks, and services at 50 percent of secondary care facilities, could be disrupted." "We remain keenly aware that a sustainable peace would be the most effective remedy for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen," Lowcock concluded. "Without peace, we will simply go on treating the symptoms of this crisis, instead addressing the cause." uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 16 Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will continue to monitor airfare movements on a daily basis and also engage with airline for appropriate action, a senior official said Tuesday amid concerns over rising ticket prices. With crisis-hit Jet Airways drastically curtailing its operations, there has been an adverse impact on the number of flights being operated on various routes. As concerns persist on higher air ticket prices, the DGCA on Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of airlines, the official said. Airlines were advised to continue to monitor at their level and provide information to the DGCA to keep fares low as far as possible, he noted. Airlines representative also intimated DGCA that they have removed the few higher buckets from sale and offering tickets to passengers in lower fare buckets. DGCA will continue to monitor fare movement on daily basis and engage with airline for appropriate action, the official added. According to him, the regulator monitors domestic airfares on a daily basis, particularly on high density routes and routes where alternate mode of transport is not available or is difficult. Based on the monitoring process, the DGCA engages with airlines when the spurt in airfares is observed in any sector for appropriate action, he added. Civil Aviation Ministry secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the ministry has called a meeting with airlines and airports representatives on April 18 to discuss capacity expansion and airfare issues. Earlier in the day, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had called for a review of issues related to struggling Jet Airways, including rising fares and flight cancellations. Directed Secretary @MoCA_GoI to review issues related to Jet Airways, especially increasing fares, flight cancellations etc, Prabhu said in a tweet. Besides asking Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola to take necessary steps to protect passenger rights and safety, Prabhu also called for working with all stakeholders for their well being. PTI Manoj Joshi Manoj Joshi Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi The unprecedented petition to the President by 150 retired armed forces officers, including half a dozen former Chiefs of their respective services, to complain about the politicisation of the armed forces in the context of the Lok Sabha elections, is cause for dismay, if not alarm. There is nothing inherently wrong in the government of the day taking credit for a military action during its watch. But there is a problem when that government uses that action to not just burnish its own nationalist credentials, but to vilify the Opposition and divide the nation. Asking first-time voters, as PM Modi did, to dedicate their votes to soldiers who died in Pulwama and those who conducted the Balakot airstrike is a blatant attempt to link a set of military measures to the electoral future of a political party. Yogi Adityanath, terming the military as a personal force of the PM, has crossed multiple red lines of our constitutional and civil system. Recall, that the BJP used the surgical strikes of 2016 to channel votes in the UP Assembly elections. It is a well-known fact that in democracies, elections divide. Opposing camps pitch their ideas, policies and projects before the electorate. Promises are made, charges hurled, motives questioned, yet when the election is over, everyone more or less reconciles with the result. But in this process, there are some no-go areasthe armed forces, the police, judiciary and the bureaucracy. But this General Election has seen the usual divisive process take on an ugly edge that hits at the stability and integrity of the country and the neutrality of its armed forces. Actually the current governments use of the militarys valour to promote their political josh is sheer hypocrisy. The tenure of the Modi government has seen a serious under-resourcing of the military. As a proportion of GDP, the BJP governments defence budget has fallen from 1.98 per cent in 2015-2016 to 1.48 in 2018-2019, and finally to 1.44 per cent in 2019-2020. This year, for example, the Indian Air Force wanted Rs 75,000 crore for capital acquisitions, but was given Rs 39,347 crore, which is not even sufficient to take care of past commitments that amount to Rs 47,413 crore. This is no aberration; last year, too, all three wings of the military were similarly short-changed. Whatever be the truth about the F-16 shootdown, the lack of adequate equipment seriously hampered our Air Force in the air encounter of February 27. For one, Indian aircraft were clearly out-gunned. Second, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans aircraft lacked a crucial data link through which he could have been alerted to return instead of flying into a Pakistani missile. As for Pulwama, the government has yet to provide a convincing answer as to why its intelligence services failed to prevent the strike. For all his fulminations, Modi has not been particularly attentive to the needs of the armed forces. An example of this is his irregular attendance at the annual Army, Navy and Air Force days. Once a hallowed annual occasion where the PM and his senior ministers mingled with the military brass, ex-servicemen, awardees and guests, they have now become routine events. The BJPs scorched earth campaign will make post-poll reconciliation difficult. Excoriating adversaries is par for the course in electioneering, but declaring that they are agents of Pakistan, or traitors, creates a divide that cannot be easily bridged. The slogan Congress-mukt Bharat indicates that, perhaps, it is not meant to be. In the same way, accusing the two principal political parties in J&K of promoting a separatist agenda is not just irresponsible, but self-destructive. The Union Home Ministers election commitment to further strengthen the colonial-era law on sedition only reveals the mindset of the ruling partyevery opponent is not just an opponent, but a traitor to the nation. But, perhaps, the most serious issue of divisiveness relates to the Indian Muslims. Keeping them out of its own electoral calculations is the BJPs own choice. But the Sangh Parivar tactics of assault and intimidation that have unnerved the Muslims in northern India has opened dangerous social fissures. The strident calls for a National Citizenship Register that will ensure citizenship for the Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs is simply a code for disfranchising the Muslims. Deliberately pushing what could, in another 30 years, be 20 per cent of your population to the brink, can only be termed rank folly. Democracy is not just about rules and regulations, it is also about convention and common-sense. It is about negotiation, compromise and accommodation. In the same way, secularism is not a gift that Indias majority community has conferred on its minorities. It is a pragmatic move that enabled the Republic of India to stand up in the wake of the terrible Partition of 1947. A Hindu hegemony in our body politic will not yield the Akhand Bharat the BJP wants, but a diminished Republic considering that J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland are minority-dominated states. Perhaps this is what the Sangh Parivar wantsto undo the Republic that has endured for 70 years. Or, maybe, all this is merely born of the desperation of the present Modi-Shah leadership to stay in power. Winning the election is all that matters, everything else is expendable the stability and integrity of the country, the political neutrality of its armed forces, and, indeed, its democratic polity. SY Quraishi SY Quraishi Former Chief Election Commissioner of India THE term fake news was named Collins Dictionarys Official Word of the Year for 2017. Even though rumour-mongering is as old as history, fake news has influenced events internationally ever since the explosion of digital technology. Back home, according to the Quint tracker, 92 people have been lynched since 2015 due to fake news, and the count is rising. A November 2018 BBC study titled Duty, Identity, Credibility: Fake News and Ordinary Citizen in India goes into the genesis of fake news. It interviewed 80 people in three countries India, Nigeria and Kenya over a one-week period, analysing media consumption habits and how they used Facebook and WhatsApp on their phones for sharing information. They found that respondents made little effort to figure out the original source of what they shared. Confirmation biases, coupled with trustworthiness of the source (relatives, friends etc.), have served to exacerbate such a disastrous phenomenon. As a respondent said, My friend has sent this to me, why would he send anything fake to me? Analysing Twitter in India, it found that right-leaning fake news spreads faster and wider than left-leaning fake news. This is for obvious reason that the right wing has highly organised WhatsApp groups in thousands with a cumulative reach of millions. Fact-checking is almost impossible. After all, when one is being bombarded with a thousand stories every day, will they care to fact-check them to see how much is true? The attractive narrative of fake messages discourages fact-checking. The report goes on to recommend some measures. It calls for the involvement of all actors platforms, media organisations, the government and civil society to work together. Fake news has always existed, its the pace at which it spreads which has increased manifold due to the communication channels of the 21st century. Most importantly, it suggests that journalists investigate further whether or not there is an organised ecosystem of fake news production and dissemination. This is crucial as there is sufficient proof that a majority of fake news is systematically targeted at voters and sympathisers by the IT wings of political parties. During the biggest electoral show in history, no wonder fake news on social media, coupled with paid news, is having a field day with disastrous consequences. Money power is in full play to bombard voters with fake and paid news. In the aftermath of the Balakot airstrikes, Trushar Barot, who heads Facebook Indias efforts to counter fake news, said on Twitter that he had never seen anything like this before. It is reported that Facebook is removing as many as a million fake Indian accounts per day! To stem the tide, the Election Commission announced a slew of measures during a press conference on March 11. All candidates have to reveal their social media information in their nominations. The silence period of 48 hours before the polls shall come into force on social media as well. The rules of political advertising shall apply to social media the same way as these apply to other news media. Only pre-certified advertisements will be accepted by Google, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and WeChat. The district and state-level Media Certification and Monitoring Committees will have a social media expert to monitor content. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) has formulated a Voluntary Code of Ethics for social media, which came into force on March 20. The code highlights the commitment of social media companies towards ensuring fair elections. In accordance with Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, the social media companies will implement the 48-hour silence period and valid legal orders of the EC by taking down objectionable content within three hours of the notification. A high priority dedicated notification mechanism is being created for the purpose. WhatsApp has already taken various measures in the past such as tagging of forwarded messages to track trouble-makers. A new service called WhatsApp Tipline has given a number which the users can send the information to for news verification. Facebook and Twitter have assured that they will be putting in place an online library of election advertisements for public access. Google announced its plans to launch an Advertising Transparency Report. While these are welcome developments, the code seems to be vague. There is no definition of the term fake news in the code. It highlights the commitment of the social media companies to provide an update on the measures taken by them to prevent abuse of their platforms, but the magnitude of the problem far exceeds the measures they have committed themselves to. Fake news is not only an election- related problem, but also a serious social and security issue in the 21st century. Its a source of extremism and a boon for anti-social elements and militants now being legitimised because they have a platform. It is the most important prerogative of social media companies to ensure that they take steps to counter this burgeoning social menace. Profit must come after people. The stringent application of the Code of Ethics cannot be ignored or taken lightly on the pretext of free speech as reasonable restrictions must protect citizens against hate and bigotry through misinformation. We can't simply ignore this phenomenon just because rules might be tougher to implement for social media. With great power of technology comes great responsibility. The content of messaging must be ethical, factual and legal. It should not violate laws, regulations or codes such as the RPA and the Model Code of Conduct. The messages should not carry hate speech. Personal attacks or appeal on the basis of religion or caste need to be properly defined within the code as well. Citizens, too, must take individual responsibility to fact-check before forwarding material to their kin. All information must be taken with a pinch of salt, keeping in mind the business model of social media. They should remember that if a service is free, you are the product. amansharma@tribunemail.com Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 16 While Quebecs proposed Bill-21 issue has got flared up as it would affect members of minority communities, including, Sikhs based in the Canadian province, Sukhman Singh Shergill, a Montreal-based 15-year-old school boy, has resolved to oppose it. Like thousands of others, the proposed Bill-21 will adversely affect Sukhman Singh Shergill who has been dreaming to become a police officer with the citys police --- the Service de police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM)---and whose all dreams would be shattered if the bill came into force. The issue pertaining to banning of wearing of religious symbols by public servants has been simmering since last year when Sondos Lamrhari, who wears a Hizab shared her plans to become a police officer. Sukhman has the same sort of dreams now for he wanted to be the first Sikh police officer in Montreal and who claims he has been yearning to serve people in his capacity as a police officer. He has not only been fond of watching cop-related films and collecting police memorabilia, but has been telling one and all since his childhood that his only major objective in life was to don the police uniform. Interestingly, it was his cousin Gurvinder Singh, a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, who was the force behind the change of its uniform policy in 2016 whereby, the NYPD had allowed its Sikh officers to wear turbans instead of traditional police cap. Sukhmans mother Manpreet Shergill said her son has always been striving to create history in Montreal by turning the first police officer in the city to wear a turban as he has always been dreaming to do something different from others. But the proposed Quebec governments proposed Bill 21 has threatened to shatter all his dreams for it would ban public workers like lawyers, teachers, bus drivers, police officers from wearing any religious symbols, including turbans and Hizabs. On the other hand, Sukhman said he has resolved to fight it out for the proposed bill would not allow him to be a police officer and that his dream was facing the peril of being destroyed. To start with, Sukhman has already created a Facebook group--- the Quebec Association of Sikhs and has hosted his video wherein he explains how the proposed Bill would pose a threat to him and others like him. He is hoping to garner public support with the help of his Facebook group. He said he wanted the Montreal police to reflect its diversity and to know people about his religion as well. On the other hand, the Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault has said though he would consider compromising with some aspects of the proposed bill but not in case of banning of police officials wearing religious symbols. The Montreal police (SPVM)which has a miniscule 7.5 presence of its members coming from minority communities--- has already clarified that it was following the proposed Bill-21 and has not taken any position in case of religious symbols. At the same time, the Montreal Police Union has said it was in favour of the ban. Interestingly, the Canadian Prime Minister has openly said he was not in favour of the proposed Quebec ban on religious symbols as it compromised with freedom of people. The Montreal City Council has already passed a unanimous declaration against the proposed Bill-21. Who are likely be affected by Bill-21 Public school teachers, school principals, vice principals, police officers, peace officers, the provincial justice minister, the Attorney General, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), crown prosecutors, provincial government lawyers or notaries employed by a ministry or the DPCP or the National Assembly, lawyers, the public prosecutors, members and heads of government commissions, the Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly, Justices of Peace, clerks, sheriffs, commissioners, doctors, nurses, day care officials, bus drivers and bankruptcy registrars. sanjiv@tribunemail.com Doublespeak comes naturally to Pakistan, no matter whether the speaker is a political leader, a bureaucrat or an army officer. Days after Pakistan PM Imran Khan stated that there may be a better chance of peace and settlement of the Kashmir issue if the ruling party (BJP) wins the General Election, outgoing High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood says his country is hoping for a re-engagement with India after the Lok Sabha polls. Unlike the PM, Mahmood has thankfully not specified which party should emerge victorious in the Indian parliamentary elections. Mahmood, who has been appointed the next foreign secretary, says there is need for an objective narrative about Pakistan in India which could facilitate peaceful, cooperative and good neighbourly ties. A bit of introspection would have made it obvious to the High Commissioner that Pakistan itself is responsible for the narrative, especially in the backdrop of the Pulwama and Balakot incidents. Indeed, as he says, diplomacy and dialogue are indispensable to improve ties between the two neighbours. However, Pakistan first needs to take visible and decisive action by dismantling the terror camps still functional on its soil. What started out as a crackdown on militant outfits last month has ended in a wishy-washy probe that has given the clean chit to the suspects, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief (JeM) Masood Azhars son and brother. It was Pakistan-based JeM which had promptly taken responsibility for the Pulwama attack. While Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi admitted that the terror outfits chief was present in that country, military spokesperson Major Gen Asif Ghafoor claimed that the JeM no longer existed in Pakistan. Such conflicting statements have made India and the international community seriously doubt Pakistans intentions. Even on the emotive issue of the Kartarpur corridor, Pakistan has been playing divisive politics by not offering access to Hindus. Extending the olive branch to India must go hand in hand with reining in Khalistan sympathisers and other rabble-rousers. Unless concerted efforts are made to wipe out the factories of terror, Pakistans credibility would remain under a cloud. editorial@tribune.com Parveen Arora Tribune News Service Karnal, April 15 The Haryana ITI Technical Instructors Welfare Association has demanded an investigation either by the CBI or a retired judge to identify police personnel behind lathicharge on students, who allegedly indulged in stone pelting to protest the death of an ITI student after coming under the wheels of a roadways bus. Industrial Training Institute (ITI) employees across the state on Monday wore black badges in protest against the lathicharge. They have decided to wear black badges for the entire week. The association issued a seven-day ultimatum to the authorities for action against an official who ordered lathicharge, and police personnel involved in the lathicharge. The situation could have been brought under control without using force, Parveen Deswal, state president of the association, said. It demanded the transfer of Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh Bhoria, compensation of Rs 25 lakh for the family of Ankit (deceased student) and a government job for a member of his family. Deswal said an FIR should be registered under the section of dacoity against cops who forcibly entered the office of the ITI principal and took away CCTV cameras and the recorder. Roadways bus drivers do not stop buses at designated stops, forcing students to chase buses. The drivers must be sensitised about students concerns. The frequency of buses must be increased during institute opening and closing hours, he added. editorial@tribune.com Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 With parliamentary poll in the state less than a month away, Ajay Chautala, the elder son of INLD patriarch Om Prakash Chautala, today came out on 21-day furlough from Tihar Jail to campaign for his son Dushyant Chautalas Jannayak Janta Party. His release, however, has trigged a fresh round of row in the Chautala clan with his younger brother Abhay Chautala, a former LoP, accusing JJP leaders Dushyant and Digvijay of using their influence with their alliance partner Aam Aadmi Partys government in Delhi to keep Chautala Senior in jail and allow Ajay to come out to campaign for the JJP-AAP alliance. The JJP today officially announced that the partys founder, Ajay Chautala, had come on a 21-day furlough and would be among his family members and supporters till May 6. The JJP also clarified that no conditions had been attached with the furlough granted to him, which means that he would be able to campaign for the party. It shows how biased the AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal is. The day Kejriwal offered support to the JJP in the Jind bypoll on January 21, Chautala was refused furlough and he was put in jail in the middle of the night from a hospital in Delhi where he was recuperating. When he got furlough or parole, it had a condition that he would not address meetings or campaign for his party, but Ajay Chautala had been granted furlough unconditionally in the middle of the parliamentary poll, alleged Abhay Chautala. Only on April 12, the Kejriwal government in Delhi had opposed O P Chautalas plea for parole to attend to his critically ill wife saying that he was seeking parole for political purposes and he should not be granted relief. This also shows the true character of JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, who doesnt have any respect for his grandfather and ailing grandmother, said Abhay Chautala. Both OP Chautala and his elder son Ajay Chautala are serving 10-year imprisonment in JBT recruitment case. editorial@tribune.com Parveen Arora Tribune News Service Karnal, April 15 Local residents and commuters are unhappy with the poor condition of the Panipat-Jalandhar stretch of the National Highway-44 at various places. Illegal entry points from service lanes to the highway, open storm water drains, potholes on the highway as well as on service lanes, missing safety railings and fencing at various places pose a threat to the lives of commuters. They have complained to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) about the pitiable condition of the highway, asking it to cancel the three toll plazas on it. This is despite the fact that M/s Panipat-Jalandhar NH 1 Tollways Pvt Ltd has collected Rs3,589 crore from the three toll plazas on the Panipat-Jalandhar section of the six-lane National Highway-44 from 2009 to March 2019. It has spent Rs6,665 crore on the expansion of the highway to six lanes, maintenance of this stretch and other expenses so far. Besides, it has given Rs1,011 crore as share to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The company is operating the project on the build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for 15 years 2009 onward. The Bastara toll plaza in Karnal has collected Rs1,703 crore, while the Sambhu toll plaza in Ambala has collected Rs660 crore, and the Ladowal toll plaza in Ludhiana has collected Rs1,225 crore. This information was provided by the NHAI Project Director at Ambala in response to an application filed by Amit Rathee, a resident of Panipat, and Rajesh Sharma, a resident of Karnal, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. They had sought information about the toll collections and the expenditure on the maintenance of the NH-44 from Panipat to Jalandhar since 2009. Local residents have sent a complaint to the project in-charge of NHAI Ambala asking him to suspend all three toll plazas. I dont mind paying the toll, but the company should ensure a pothole-free national highway. The company should pay commuters for taking the risk of driving on this pathetic highway, instead of collecting toll from us, says Yashvir Singh, a resident of Model Town. The foot over-bridges are yet to be constructed near Taraori, Kambopura and Sector 7 in Karnal. I have sent a complaint to the NHAI for cancelling the toll plazas on the highway as the company has failed to maintain it properly, he adds. Storm water drains are open at several places, endangering the lives of commuters. Several accidents have taken place on the highway due to uncovered drains and most victims were two-wheeler riders, who fell into them during night and rains, says Bhadur Singh Mehla, a resident of Baldi. editorial@tribune.com Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ambala, April 15 Sitting Rajya Sabha member and four-time Lok Sabha member Kumari Selja on Monday launched her election campaign as the Congress candidate from Ambala. Arriving in Ambala for the first time after getting the Congress ticket, Selja took out a roadshow, which got a rousing reception near Mohra. Dancing to the beats of drums, Seljas supporters garlanded her and raised slogans in support of the candidate and the Congress. Despite the scorching heat, a large number of local residents lined up on both sides of the road to receive the Congress nominee. Overwhelmed at the response, Selja reciprocated with folded hands and promised to fight for interests of Ambala and its people. Lashing out at the BJP, she assured to bring development back on track. She claimed that no new development had taken place in Ambala during the last five years and projects initiated by the previous Congress government had come to a standstill. Addressing party activists, she urged them to work unitedly and take Congress policies and programmes to every household. She said every party activist would get the honour due during Congress regime. Daughter of the late Choudhary Dalbir Singh, four-time Sirsa MP, she had made her electoral debut in 1991 by winning from her fathers traditional seat. Selja won again from Sirsa in 1996, but lost in 1998. She opted out of the 1999 Lok Sabha election. After winning from Ambala in 2004 and 2009, she opted out of the poll battle in 2014. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2014. The reserved seat is set to witness an interesting contest between Selja and Rattan Lal Kataria of the BJP for the third time since 2004. Selja defeated Kataria by 2.34 lakh votes in 2004 and by 1.45 lakh votes in 2009. Kataria defeating Raj Kumar Balmiki of the Congress by 3.4 lakh votes in 2014, setting a new record for Ambala after 1991. editorial@tribune.com ibune News Service Gurugram, April 15 Two persons were killed and five others injured in a fire incident at a firecracker warehouse in the Khandsa industrial area here during early hours on Monday. The fire broke out following an explosion in a vehicle parked there. Two of the three injured have been admitted to the Safdurjung Hospital in New Delhi in a critical condition with 80 per cent burns. According to the police, the incident happened in early hours when a vehicle carrying firecrackers and spray arrived at the warehouse from Delhi. The material was unloaded but it caught fire due to a sudden explosion. While the vehicle driver, identified as Sattar, died on the spot, the injured were taken to hospital where watchman Nepal Mahto died. Another driver Sanju and warehouse employee Shailender Mishra have been admitted to the Safdurjung Hospital while injured Kanhaiya Lal and Lal Bahadur are being treated at the Kamla Hospital. Sources claimed that it was a CNG kit fitted in the vehicle that blasted due to pressure created by high temperature, but the authorities did not confirm anything. A team from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) visited the warehouse and took samples. A team of ballistic experts also inspected the incident site. However, a major tragedy was avoided as the Fire Department sent fire engines within minutes of being informed about the incident. Quintals of fire crackers were stored in the warehouse and firefighters managed to stop the fire from spreading. The vehicle had a large amount of cracker spray, which is highly inflammable. Excessive nitrogen may have caused the explosion. We have registered a case under Sections 304,308 of the IPC and arrested warehouse manager Bharat Bhushan Kataria and his son Amit Kataria, said police spokesperson Subhash Bokan. editorial@tribune.com Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, April 15 A seething Congress is gunning for state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti with the party threatening to file a criminal complaint in the High Court in case he is not removed for allegedly abusing Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The alleged abuse hurled by Satti at a public meeting in Baddi yesterday has enraged the Congress with senior state leadership condemning the remarks and a police complaint being filed in the local sadar police station. The Congress today filed a complaint on the same issue before the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking strong action against Satti. The Congress plans to step up the heat on the BJP on the issue as it has decided to hold statewide protests against the insult of its president tomorrow. In the election season when the two main political parties are slugging it out in the political arena, the remarks by Satti have enraged Congress men. We will wait for two days for his removal failing which we will file a criminal complaint against him in the High Court, said Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Kuldeep Rathore. He said he owes an apology for using such derogatory and objectionable language. Coming to the defence of its chief, state BJP general secretary Randhir Sharma today said it was a doctored video, which the Congress is trying to rake up to mislead voters. It was while citing the example of another person using abusive language on social media that Satti urged his party workers not to use such language at a meeting, he claimed. He said the Congress was trying to distort facts and accuse Satti falsely. We have given two days ultimatum to the BJP, failing which the case will be filed in the court, said Rathore. He said despite use of such language by the party president, no BJP leader, including Chief Minister, minister or anyone else, has condemned Sattiss remarks. He added that though the BJP and the Congress are on the opposite side of the political spectrum but a certain amount of dignity and restraint is expected from everyone. The RSS claims itself to be a socio-cultural organization which believes in respecting traditions but I want to ask them have they given this kind of training to use offensive language against political opponents, asked Kuldeep Rathore. While Congress men from Balh area in Mandi burnt the effigy of Satti at Ner Chowk today, Mahila Congress and Youth Congress has demanded removal of Satti for using such offensive and abusive language. Strong reaction by Congress MLAs, former ministers and office bearers is pouring in from all over the state against Satti. To gherao Satti Solan: In a statement issued jointly by the Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Harshwardhan Chauhan, Sirmaur District Congress Committee president Ajay Solanki and party vice-president GR Musafir, the leaders said if the BJP failed to clarify its stand on the issue, the Congress would launch an agitation and gherao Satti and senior BJP leaders. Will file criminal complaint "We will wait for two days for his removal failing which we will file a criminal complaint against him in the High Court. Satti owes an apology for using such derogatory and objectionable language." Kuldeep Rathore, HPCC President Video doctored, says BJP "It is a doctored video, which the Congress is trying to rake up to mislead voters. It was while citing the example of another person using abusive language on social media that Satti urged his party workers not to use such language at a meeting." Randhir Sharma, BJP General Secretary uttara@tribuneindia.com Ambika Sharma Tribune News Service Solan, April 16 The Election Commission issued a notice against Bharatiya Janata Partys Himachal unit chief on Tuesday for his remarks against Congress president Rahul Gandhi at a recent election rally in Nalagrahs Ramashehar. The police registered an FIR against Satti under section 294 of IPC (obscene acts) under Baddi police limits. Satti is believed to have a used an abusive Hindi slur at Saturdays rally while referring to Rahul Gandhis chowkidar chor hai campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A video of the supposed speech went viral soon after. Satpal Satti has 24 hours to respond to Chief Electoral Officer Devesh Kumars notice, which pertains to a rally on Saturday. The development came after the Congress approached the commission with a complaint over Satti's remarks. This is the first major complaint against any state BJP leader this election season. Congress meanwhile held protests at district headquarters of the state against Sattis language. The party has demanded action from BJP chief Amit Shah. editorial@tribune.com Lalit Mohan Tribune News Service Dharamsala, April 15 The Congress organised a meeting here today to provide impetus to the campaign of the party candidate from Kangra parliamentary constituency Pawan Kajal. However, the Congress focus soon shifted to lambasting BJP state president Satpal Satti for un-parliamentary language used by him against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, defending the outrageous comments posted on social media by former Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Congress leader Neeraj Bharti and factionalism within the party. In a meeting, the Congress leaders passed a unanimous resolution flaying the state BJP president Satpal Satti for using objectionable language against Congress president. All the Congress leaders from the district unanimously endorsed the resolution. HPCC president Kuldeep Rahtore said that party would launch an agitation across the state against the language used by Satti against Rahul Gandhi. He said that since the Chief Minister has also not criticized Satti for the use of offensive language against Rahul Gandhi, it seems that the state government endorsed the use of such language. It was a new low in politics and the Congress would not take it lying down. The Congress workers in the state would go all out and demand an apology from Satti, Rathore said. Satpal Satti in an election meeting held in Nalagarh yesterday had used derogatory language against the Congress president Rahul Gandhi. When encountered by media persons about the abusive language used by former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Neeraj Bharti against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some of his own party leaders in social media posts, Rathore said that Bharti was not even a primary member of the party. The situation turned embarrassing for the Congress leaders when a scribe read a social media post before the Congress leaders. The Congress leaders stopped the scribe from reading the full message and insisted that Bharti was not even a primary member of the party. Interestingly, Bharti is son of former MP and vice president of HPCC Chander Kumar. Though former minister GS Bali was present in the meeting of Congress workers along with his supporters, he skipped the press conference held later. Bali and his supporters remained aloof. Bali gave a short address on the plea that he was not keeping well. Virbhadra Singh, former Chief Minister, officially joined the election campaign and was present in the meeting. The former Chief Minister, while talking to mediapersons, said that BJP had selected Kishan Kapoor as the candidate as many of the leaders wanted to see him out of the Cabinet. Kishan Kapoor was an accidental candidate of the BJP for the parliamentary polls and Pawan Kajal would win the elections, he said. editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Shimla, April 15 Congress leaders should introspect before commenting on the BJP as the party has lost faith in its workers and leaders and has to borrow Sukh Rams grandson to contest on Congress ticket from Mandi. Taking a dig at the Congress leadership, BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti said, There is dearth of leaders in the Congress as they are either on bail or in Putra Moh/Potra Moh. For the past over two decades, Sukh Rams family is playing in-and-out game with the Congress and the people are aware of his corrupt practices in sugar and telecom scams, he said. Senior Congress leaders like former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had been ignored and the party had given ticket to an outsider which itself indicated to the situation prevailing in the party. The Congress had accepted moral defeat because of developmental works carried out by the government, he said. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur accused the party of standing with anti-nationalists, who were dreaming to separate J and K from India and the silence of AICC president Rahul Gandhi on the statement of their alliance partner National Conference (NC) said it all. NC leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah were openly saying that there should be separate prime minister and President for Jammu and Kashmir, he said. He said Rahul Gandhi and Abdullah had earlier raised fingers at the Indian Air Force, seeking evidence of surgical strikes. Thakur reminded the Congress that it was under Nehrus prime ministership that a huge part of Kashmir was occupied by Pakistan. editorial@tribune.com Amit Khajuria Tribune News Service Jammu, April 15 Amid the cross-border firing and shelling in Rajouris Nowshera sector, the administration on Monday decided to allow resumption of the cross-LoC bus service and trade at Chakkan Da Bagh in Poonch after two weeks. On April 1, both the services were suspended due to a continuous violation of the ceasefire agreement by Pakistan. After reviewing the situation on the LoC, the administration decided to resume the bus service from Monday and trade from Tuesday. The bus service has been resumed and the trade items will be exchanged from Tuesday through the Chakkan Da Bagh route, said Rahul Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Poonch. The bus service from Poonch to Rawalkot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) runs on Monday, However the trade vehicles ply from Tuesday to Thursday. The cross-LoC trade is all set to resume from Tuesday as 35 vehicles carrying spices and fresh fruits have been scanned and parked at the trade centre at Chakkan Da Bagh. Meanwhile, Pakistan once again resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing along the LoC in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri. Pakistan initiated unprovoked the ceasefire violation in the Nowshera sector at 8.15 am. The Army retaliated befittingly, said Lt Col Devender Anand, PRO, defence. ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, April 15 With only a day of campaigning left in Kashmir valleys heartland constituency of Srinagar, veteran politician and incumbent Farooq Abdullah faces a competition from novice politicians. The campaigning in Srinagar, which has markedly been shadowed by Abdullahs high-pitch statements against the BJP and his aggressive defence of the states special status, will end on Tuesday and the election will be held on Thursday when the second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha election is scheduled. Srinagar city, a bustling urban heartland of 1.2 million people and one of the two capital cities of the Jammu and Kashmir state, is one of the three districts that make up the constituency along with the adjoining central Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam. The parliamentary constituency of Srinagar is a prized seat where voters have diminished over the past elections and the chances of another low voter-turnout are highly likely. The contest in Srinagar slants in favour of Abdullah, whose family, including his mother Akbar Jehan, his son Omar Abdullah and he himself, has won seven out of 13 parliamentary elections from Srinagar. The track record of the constituency suggests that the National Conference, the oldest political party of the state which was carved out of Muslim Conference in 1939 by Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah, is a front-runner having represented Srinagar in 10 out of last 12 Lok Sabhas. In the previous Lok Sabha election in 2014, Tariq Hameed Karaa of PDP had emerged giant-slayer by routing Abdullah from his bastion. But the years of anti-incumbency against the PDP dented the party as evident from Karras resignation from the Lok Sabha and also from the party that saw Abdullah winning the 2017 by-poll. For the 17th Lok Sabha, the contest will be between Abdullah, a three time Chief Minister and also a three-time Lok Sabha member, and 11 other candidates who are political novices. Aga Syed Mohsin, who had joined the NC in 2014 and later switched to the PDP in 2017, is the candidate of Mehbooba Muftis party which has struggled with defection after its coalition government with the BJP collapsed last year. Irfan Ansari, a candidate of Sajad Lones Peoples Conference, is making a debut in politics. Mohsin and Ansari, both members of influential Shia families, are likely to divide each others vote share as Shia voters in parts of Budgam and Srinagar strictly vote on sectarian lines. Sheikh Khalid Jehangir is the candidate of the BJP, the party which has not little support structure in Kashmir valley. The other uninfluential candidates in the fray are Nazir Ahmad Lone of Rashtriya Jankranti Party, Abdul Rashid Ganie of National Panthers Party, Abdul Khaliq Bhat of Shiv Sena, Nazir Ahmad Sofi of Manavadikar National Party, Showkat Hussain Khan of Janata Dal United and three Independents Abdul Rashid Banday, Bilal Sultan and Sajad Ahmad Dar. Voter turnout biggest challenge The biggest challenge in Srinagar constituency will be the voter turnout as the urban apathy and separatist sentiment has kept most people away from polling booths Srinagar district, which contributes majority of electoral share for the constituency from among the three districts, has been a strong support base for separatism and most elections here have been boycotted, unlike the rural areas which came out to form lengthy queues to vote in several previous elections The bypoll in 2017 had Srinagar parliamentary constituency registering an abysmal turnout of 7 per cent while eight civilians had died in protests. The previous low in Srinagar was the 1999 election when 11.93 per cent turnout was registered Total voters 12,94,560 Male 6,67,252 Female 6,27,282 Transgender 26 Polling stations 1,716 editorial@tribune.com Arteev Sharma Tribune News Service Jammu, April 15 Even as the Governors administration has granted divisional status to the Ladakh region, the demand for a Union Territory (UT) status to the mountainous region with a separate Legislative Assembly has again taken centre stage in the poll campaign launched by two key political players the BJP and Congress. Though its Kargil unit does not endorse the UT demand, the Congress in Leh has jumped into the fray by openly backing the demand and has even endorsed the issue of establishing a separate Assembly for Ladakh. The divisional status for Ladakh was a big leap towards our core demand for a UT status to the region. It is not an election issue for us. It is attached to everyones soul and we will continue our struggle to make it a reality, said Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the powerful Leh council and BJP nominee from the Ladakh seat. Namgyal said, From booth to Parliament, our leaders are committed to fulfil the aspirations of Ladakhi people to have a separate UT for the region. The Congress is trying to deceive the people by making the same demand. On the contrary, the Congress took a dig at the BJP for befooling Ladakhi people in the name of UT status. The divisional status was a damage-control exercise by the BJP leadership as it failed to fulfil its promise of granting a UT status to Ladakh within six months. We dont believe in making false promises. We have been fighting for this issue and will continue to do so to achieve our goal, said Tsering Samphel, veteran Congress leader who unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Ladakh in 2014. Samphel said incumbent BJP MP Thupstan Chhewang resigned from the party and Parliament last year because he was not happy with his partys failure in meeting the expectations of people. Ladakh, with sparsely inhabited population, is geographically countrys largest parliamentary seat having a total area of around 60,000 lakh sq km. The voting on the seat will take place on May 6. There are about 1.72 lakh eligible electors in Ladakh which has always witnessed close contests in the past. Voting on May 6 Ladakh, which is sparsely inhabited, is the countrys largest parliamentary seat geographically. It has a total area of around 60,000 lakh sq km. The voting on the seat will take place on May 6. There are about 1.72 lakh eligible electors in the region, which has always witnessed close contests in the past. shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 16 PM Narendra Modi producer Sandip Ssingh is hopeful the Election Commission gives his film "justice" and he can release it soon. But he says the process has given the team more stress than what the makers of "Padmavati" ("Padmaavat") went through. The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission (EC) to watch PM Narendra Modi, a biopic on the Prime Minister, and submit its report regarding the film's release in a sealed cover to the court by the end of this week. "We are in a lot of stress. The team is losing confidence, but we hope and pray that we get justice and we release our film. For the first time it has happened that a filmmaker has to go through this. There's so much of humiliation and so much stress... Not even 'Padmavati' had gone through so much of stress. At least their release was not cancelled just a night before. "But we have no option. We are waiting for justice," Ssingh told IANS over phone from Mumbai. The brouhaha for the Vivek Anand Oberoi-starrer biopic began as the film's release date was shifted from April 5 to April 11, the first day of polling for the seven phased Lok Sabha elections. But just a day before, the poll panel ruled that any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography serving the purposes of any political or individual entity connected to it should not be displayed in electronic media, including cinematograph, during the operation of the MCC (Model Code of Conduct). After the film's makers approached the Supreme Court, the apex court put the ball in EC's court. "I am no one to decide whether the Supreme Court has given a fair chance or not. I am just a small producer who is begging in every court and to the Election Commission for justice for our film so that we can release it and everyone can watch it. "We are facing all this without anyone having seen the film. First all the parties, DMK, NCP, Congress... whether it was Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, Omar Abdullah, everyone wanted a ban on the film without knowing what the film is all about," Ssingh rued. He wonders why he can't have the freedom to choose the release date he wants for his film. "Everyone saw the trailer and people knew it's an expensive film. We put in crores of money, and a lot of money went into its promotions. We need to recover that. For that, every producer and every star has the right to decide the date on which they want to release the film. "Before the films are even being made, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan announce the release date of their films. Whether it is Eid, Christmas or Diwali. So why can't I have that freedom to release my film at the right time when I can get business out of it?" For now, Ssingh's attention is focussed on only releasing the film. "It is very difficult to sustain the film so long. We have already spent so much money on the promotions... All we want is our film should be released and people should get inspired by watching it." IANS ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 Just 1 per cent conviction rate in cases of illegal mining has virtually placed the police, the prosecuting agency and mining officers in the dock in Haryanas Yamunanagar district. Digging deep into the issue of illegal mining in the district during the past eight years, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has not only described it as distressing, but also called for action against erring officials. The Bench also directed that the matter be brought to the notice of the Secretary, Union Ministry of Mines, Haryana Chief Secretary and the State Director General of Police, for taking a serious view. Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu also set a three-month deadline. The censure and the directions came on a petition filed by Vishal Bansal against the State of Haryana. He was seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered on August 29, 2018, at the Khizrabad police station in Yamunanagar for theft and other offences under provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act, 1957, and Section 379 of the IPC. Justice Sindhu directed Haryana to furnish details of all criminal cases registered under the Mining Act in Yamunanagar district from January 1, 2011, till date. In response, an affidavit was filed by Ashish Chaudhary, DSP, Bilaspur, Yamunanagar. Taking it on record, Justice Sindhu asserted that its perusal revealed that 487 criminal cases were registered for the breach of the Act from March 25, 2011, till March 31, 2019. However, the conviction was recorded only in six cases. It was quite distressing that in 271 cases, the accused had been acquitted and this showed lack of interest by the prosecution agency, Justice Sindhu added. The Bench said cancellation reports were submitted in 22 cases and un-traceable reports were furnished by the police in 33 cases. A copy of this order be brought to the notice of Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana, as well as DGP, Haryana, to take a serious view in the matter regarding illegal mining in Yamunanagar district as well as lack of interest shown by the police as well as by the mining official(s)/officer(s). It will also be brought to the notice of Secretary, Ministry of Mines, New Delhi, for necessary action, the Bench added, while confirming interim bail to the petitioner. Damage to Yamuna embankment In its April 10 report, The Tribune had highlighted how 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 Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) had later decided to close down 14 crushing and screening plants operating close to the RLDSE rchopra@tribunemail.com Sambalpur, April 16 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday insisted that his government had taken measures to weed out middlemen from the system to ensure that the entire funds flowing from the Centre percolate down to the poor. Addressing a rally here in western Odisha, he said, Only 15 paise of a rupee would reach the poor during the UPA rule; the rest was swindled by unscrupulous elements. Hitting out at the Congress, Modi said the grand old party, during its rule, was embroiled in multiple controversies and scams. People have seen a helpless and corrupt government in the past amid rampant corruption charges in the form of sugar scams, ration scams and urea scandal. This chowkidar has taken concrete steps to ensure that the entire fund flowing from the Centre percolates to the people, he said. Slamming the BJD government over mining and chit fund scams, the PM said the Naveen Patnaik-led party is only worried about personal gains. How can they (BJD) think of common people when all they do is protecting those involved in chit fund and mining scams. It is the Modi government that amended decades-old mining law and ensured that a part of the fund from the resources extracted is utilised for the development of local infrastructure, he claimed. The Congress and its mahamilawati friends desperately want to oust this chowkidar because of the BJPs onslaught on corruption, he said. The country was hit by corruption for years since Independence. It is the BJP government that put a brake on these corrupt practices, the PM asserted. Modi said the BJP government, if re-elected, would set up separate fisheries and jal shakti ministries. The jal shakti ministry will end the water crisis in the country by ensuring that water from the rivers and the seas reaches the poor and the needy. We will also launch schemes for the welfare of fishermen, he added. Polling for Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, where the BJP has fielded Nitesh Ganga Deb, is scheduled to be held in the third phase on April 23. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com New Delhi, April 16 French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler on Tuesday said he was "deeply moved" by the emotional outpouring of people of India in the wake of the massive fire at the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The over 800-year-old cathedral, a World Heritage Site, is considered one of the most iconic landmarks globally and is visited by a large number of people from several countries. Deeply moved by the outpouring of messages sent from all over India after the fire at #NotreDame de Paris. It's also in such times that one can gauge the value of friendship. Thank you India!," Ambassador Ziegler tweeted. Soon after the news spread about the devastating blaze at the cathedral, several Indians took to social media to express grief. Many recalled the time they had visited there and others shared pictures from their visit. "No overreading from the incident. We, the people of republic of India, are with you. I know your emotions on this iconic symbol. Rebuild the material structure, because you are known for building equality," wrote a user, Ganesan Ambedkar on Twitter. Others also expressed grief and hoped for its reconstruction. "My thoughts are with the people of France. The 850 years of Notre Dame history teach us to rebuild stronger and we will. - love from India," Gautam Damodaran, another user, tweeted. The fire that broke out at the monumental cathedral in the French capital on Monday has left the world stunned. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Korba, April 16 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed Rahul Gandhi for calling all Modis thieves, adding such a language did not behove the Congress chief. Such type of language did not behove the Congress leader, Modi said, addressing a poll rally here in Chhattisgarh. I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names, whether it be Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We dont know how many more such Modis will come out, Gandhi had said, targeting the PM over alleged corruption. Is this the language to be used? Modi said, targeting Gandhi. Modi also accused the Congress of being hand in glove with not only Naxals but also with those who want to break India. The Congress poll manifesto would give an open licence to those who misguided peaceful tribals in forests, Modi said referring to Naxals. The Congress panja (palm) wanted our armed forces to be stripped of their special powers and weaken them, Modi said. Will you allow the Congress to compromise on national security? Modi asked. The Congresss poll promise to strip the army of special powers had led to celebration among those forces who are engaged in spreading violence, Modi said. Does the Congress hand favour development or destruction? he asked. The PM exuded the confidence that there would be Modi sarkar once again after the poll results. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 16 The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the Election Commissions action banning Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BSP supremo Mayawati, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from campaigning for varying periods. "It seems you've got your powers back," says the CJI, adding, no interim orders needed at this stage. On behalf of Mayawati, senior counsel Dushyant Dave said the ECIs action against her was "extremely drastic" and that the court should take up her plea at 2 pm as her meetings were already scheduled. But the court refused to entertain Mayawati's plea against EC ban and asked her to file a separate petition. Castigating Adityanath and Mayawati for communal remarks made by them during campaign speeches, the Election Commission in separate orders on Monday had barred them from campaigning for 72 hours and 48 hours, respectively. Holding Yogi guilty of breaking the model code of conduct through his speeches, the poll panel said: Being the CM of a state, Yogi Adityanath has an added responsibility to not only uphold the basic tenets of the Constitution, including secularism, but also to display the same in his public appearances/speeches as well. Yogi has been pulled up for calling the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a virus as well as for his April 9 speech in which he had said, If the Congress, SP and BSP have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrangbali (another name for Lord Hanuman). The panel has barred him from holding public meetings, processions, rallies, roadshows and interviews, public utterances in media, etc, for 72 hours from 6 am on April 16. Meanwhile, the EC has censured Mayawati for 48 hours from 6 am on April 16 for her statement asking members of the Muslim community to vote for the SP-BSP coalition at a rally in Deoband on April 7. Mayawati, being a senior leader, should have desisted herself from making statements that have the undertone and propensity to polarise the elections, which is not confined to the constituency where the statement is made, the EC said. The order comes three days before phase-II of polling. Eight constituencies in UP go to the polls on April 18. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Mysore, April 16 Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has alleged that the Election Commission(EC) is under "pressure" from the Modi government to not take action on complaints of political parties over alleged EVM tampering and their demand for re-introduction of ballot paper. He said the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are not tamper-proof and Voter Verified Paper Trail (VVPATs) machines are not without their flaws either, he said adding that the Congress will bring back ballot paper if voted to power. Alleging that EVMs were rigged during the 2014 general elections, Siddaramaiah said it could happen this time but "not all EVMs can be tampered with" and therefore, it would be impossible for the BJP to get a majority at national level in the current elections. His remarks came after the opposition launched a united attack on the EC over the use of EVMs and demanded 50 per cent of the machines be verified against VVPAT slips. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu complained about EVM malfunction during April 11 polling and demanded re-election on 150 assembly seats. "All political parties met the Election Commission several times and raised concern about EVMs but it did not act on the complaints. I think the EC is under pressure from the Modi government," Siddaramaiah told PTI in an exclusive interview. The Supreme Court's order to verify five EVMs with VVPAT slips is nothing but "patch work" and even the demand to match 50 per cent EVMs with VVPATs will not help, he said, and endorsed that the only solution was to go back to the ballot paper system like other countries, he said. Many countries have gone back to ballot papers as they find it to be a more reliable and secure way of conducting elections. Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and Italy have stopped use of EVMs due to security concerns, he added. Asked if the time has come to re-assess the way EC officials are selected for conducting fair elections, Siddaramaiah said, "For this, the Constitution has to be amended. The Constitution emphasises on conducting 'free and fair' elections and the the EC should fair and unbiased." The Congress leader said that he was not "scared" of rigging of EVMs in the state as he doubted the possibility of hacking all machines. "They cannot tamper all EVMs, it is done selectively. I don't think BJP will get the majority," he said, and added, "People will definitely teach them a lesson." Asked if the Congress will re-introduce ballot papers if it comes to power, he said, "Of course, we will do it 100 per cent. EVMs will go, ballot paper will be introduced." Ballot papers need to be re-introduced as there are continuous challenges to the fairness of the election process that would undermine the trust of the general public as well as the candidates in the EC's impartiality. "I feel we should go back to ballot paper system. All this patch-up work will not work. If it is not happening this time, it should happen at least in future," he said. The ruling party should abide by the provisions of the Constitution and Representation of People's Act. "If it is not abiding with the rule of the law, then it does not have business to continue in the power," he added. Karnataka will vote in the 2nd and 3rd phases of polling on April 18 and April 23 respectively. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Mumbai, April 16 Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for strongly rebutting those talking about the separation of Jammu and Kashmir from the country, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said he must commit that the PDP, NC and the NCP won't be part of the NDA after elections even if it is short on numbers. The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, said while it is good that the prime minister has spoken against those attempting to divide the country, he needs to give people two assurances. "Tomorrow, whatever may be the case on the numbers required to form the government, there will be no relationship with those who talk of dividing the nation. And those who have ruined three generations of Kashmiris will not get a place in Modi's cabinet or the NDA," the Sena said. The Sena further said Modi's stand against Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, for "supporting" those who want to "divide" the nation, should remain the same even after polls. "Those dividing the country and those supporting them should not get a place in politics in future. If those supporting anti-nationals today sit with nationalists for political reasons, it will be an insult to our jawans," the Sena said. The Sena said while National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah has spoken about Jammu and Kashmir having a separate PM, it will not be a reality even after 100 generations have passed. The Sena claimed Article 370 gives special privileges to the restive northern state, and the law of the country does not apply there, and therefore, there have been demands from many years to abolish the Constitutional privilege. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party sought to remind the BJP that Abdullah was a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and the NC was a part of the NDA, adding that his party's policy towards Article 370 and 35 (A), both of which give special status to J-K, was age old. "Yet we keep kissing their furry caps to achieve the numbers in Parliament. This is nationalism of convenience," it alleged. The Sena added that People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has a similar stand on the Constitutional provisions for Jammu and Kashmir and she has warned that the state will not remain with India if its special status is revoked. "Until yesterday, the same person was chief minister with support of the BJP. Even her anti-national mindset is old. Yet, the BJP got friendly with them while we kept opposing their alliance," it said. It said both these leaders are today speaking against abolishing of Article 370 and 35 (A) while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting back in his rallies. "Modi has spoken with grit - the way an Indian prime minister should have spoken. He has spoken about how three generations have been destroyed under Abdullah and Mufti's regimes," the party said. "Modi has also spoken about displacement of Kashmiri Pandits. However, their ghar wapsi (return to roots) couldn't happen in the last 5 years," it said. PTI amansharma@tribunemail.com New Delhi, April 16 The Centre on Tuesday issued a Leave India notice to Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed and cancelled the business visa given to him for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate in West Bengal, officials said. Ahmed has also been blacklisted by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopardising the chances of his future travel to India. After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh national, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a Leave India notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders, a home ministry official said. The move comes hours after the central government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor for allegedly campaigning for a Trinamool Congress candidate for the Lok Sabha polls. Ahmed, along with a few Indian actors, allegedly took part in campaigning for TMCs Raiganj candidate Kanhaiyalal Agarwal. The Bangladeshi film star was reportedly seen seeking votes for Agarwal at campaign rallies across Hemtabad and Karandighi near the Indo-Bangladesh border. The FRRO is responsible for providing visa services in the area under its jurisdiction. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Bengaluru, April 16 Income tax officials on Tuesday carried out coordinated raids on premises owned by people allegedly linked to JD(S) in Mandya and Hassan districts, where party supremo HD Deve Gowdas grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna are contesting their maiden Lok Sabha election. Sources in the I-T department said the searches were conducted by four teams, each comprising 15 officials at the offices, residences and factory premises of people allegedly associated with the JD(S) leadership. The officials were accompanied by CRPF personnel. The JD(S) and its ally Congress have been alleging that the BJP-led government at the Centre has been misusing central agencies to pursue its politics of vendetta. On March 28, leaders of both the parties led by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara had staged a demonstration outside the income tax office when the raids began. The Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Karnataka-Goa region) BR Balakrishnan had even written to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka seeking action against those who staged demonstrations, threatened the officials and interrupted them from discharging their duties under various sections of the IPC. Meanwhile, an income tax department release said, Today the Income tax department is carrying out searches in Hassan, Mandya and Bangalore. The searches being conducted today are based on credible intelligence that certain businessmen have earned income not disclosed to tax and are in possession of undisclosed assets. The taxpayers covered in todays search operations are engaged in real estate, quarrying and stone crushing, executing government contracts, operating petrol bunks, saw mill and managing cooperative banks. These are sectors which are prone to generation of black money, it said. The release further said five residences in Hassan, one in Bengaluru and one in Mandya, along with their business premises, were covered as part of the search operations. PTI uttara@tribuneindia.com New Delhi, April 16 Lok Sabha election to the Vellore constituency was cancelled on Tuesday following recovery of huge amount of cash allegedly from a DMK candidate's office a few days ago. President Ram Nath Kovind rescinded (cancelled or withdrew) the notification to hold the election to the seat based on the recommendation made by the poll panel Monday. Polling in Vellore was scheduled on April 18. The election commission took the decision after the district police had filed a complaint against the accused, Kathir Anand, as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. Anand was charged under the Representation of the People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, the police said. The other two, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, were booked under bribery charges. The recommendation was sent to the legislative department of the law ministry on Tuesday that issued the notification. The Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer has now been informed about the decision. He will, in turn, inform the political parties and candidates about the notification, sources in the government said. On March 30, Income Tax officials had conducted searches at the residence of Anand's father Durai Murugan over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering, and seized Rs. 10.50 lakh in alleged "excess" cash. Two days later, they claimed to have seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district. Murugan, however, said that he had not concealed anything. Questioning the timing of the Income Tax department's operation, he had alleged that the raids were a "conspiracy" by certain political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Pathanapuram, April 16 Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he had failed to keep the promises made during the past five years. The promises Modi made to you, he has not kept. But Anil Ambani gets Rs 30,000 crore in the Rafale deal. The Prime Minister speaks of nationalism but he gave the biggest defence deal to a person who has not made a single aircraft, Gandhi claimed. The Congress president was addressing an election rally at the St Stephen College grounds here in Kollam district. He alleged that the country is under attack from the BJP-RSS and an ideological fight is going on between the BJP on the one side and the Congress on the other. No matter how many times you (BJP/RSS) target us, we will use love and non-violence to convince you that you are wrong, he said. In the past five years, our Prime Minister promised several things--two crore jobs, Rs 15 lakh deposit in bank accounts and price support for farmers, he said. Gandhi asked the people how many of them had received the money in their bank account. Gandhi assured the cashew farmers in the state that his party, if voted to power, would take up their cause. We will start a conversation to help make cashew growing a viable alternative, he said, adding that it was an honour for him to contest election from Kerala. Gandhi arrived here on Monday night on a two-day visit. Besides Kollam, he would address rallies in three more districts. Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad district as a second constituency besides the Congress stronghold of Amethi, will address meetings in his constituency on Wednesday. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 15 Taking a serious note of Election Commissions inaction on alleged hate speeches by BSP supremo Mayawati and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during the ongoing poll campaign, the Supreme Court today sought to know from the poll panel what action it had taken. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi also decided to examine the scope of ECs powers to deal with violation of the model code of conduct after its counsel said it was toothless and powerless against hate speeches by candidates and political leaders. It asked a representative of the EC who is well conversant with the issues raised to be present tomorrow at 10.30 am during the hearing. The top courts stern stand almost immediately had the desired result as the EC strongly condemned and censured Mayawati and Adityanath for their communal remarks. EC counsel Amit Sharma told the court that when a violation of the model code of conduct was reported, the EC first issued a notice to the person concerned and if there was no response, the person was issued an advisory. In case of repeated violations, a complaint was filed with the police, he said. We dont have any powers beyond this...we cant disqualify a candidate..., the EC counsel submitted. On Mayawati, the counsel said she was asked to respond to it by April 12, but she did not respond. The Supreme Court had, on April 8, issued a notice to the Election Commission on a PIL filed by Sharjah-based NRI yoga teacher Harpreet Mansukhani, seeking strict action against political parties for religion and caste-based remarks by their spokespersons during the LS poll. On Monday, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing Mansukhani, pointed out that the EC has ample powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to deal with hate speeches. ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 15 In a fresh turn of events around the ever-unfolding saga of Congress and Aam Aadmi Partys Delhi alliance, chiefs of two outfits Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal today publicly sparred over the jinxed deal for Lok Sabha polls and blamed one another for the delay in reaching an understanding. In an unusual move, Gandhi took to Twitter to put the onus of failed talks on Kejriwal and said the Congress was still ready for a Delhi-specific pact. Kejriwal hit back, saying the Congress was sabotaging Opposition unity not just in Delhi but also UP and other states and was blaming others for its deeds. An alliance between the Congress & AAP in Delhi would mean the rout of the BJP. The Congress is willing to give up 4 Delhi seats to the AAP to ensure this. But, Mr Kejriwal has done yet another U-turn! Our doors are still open, but the clock is running out, tweeted Gandhi, taunting AAP, which wanted to ally in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh also. The comment provoked Kejriwal to ask Gandhi: Which U-turn? Talks (on Delhi) were still underway. Your tweet indicates that the alliance, for you, is merely for cosmetic and not genuine ideological purposes. You are indulging in political mudslinging. The country today needs to be saved from Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine but unfortunately you are helping the BJP by dividing anti-BJP votes in UP and other states. The Congress two days ago said it was open to allying with AAP in Delhi but AAP had placed impractical conditions of similar alliances in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Goa and that the circumstances in these states were different from those in Delhi. Congress said AAPs insistence on extending the Delhi pact to other states was compelling it to field all seven Lok Sabha candidates in Delhi. Congress and AAP alliance is ideal only in Delhi, Congress Delhi incharge PC Chacko said, citing the 2017 Delhi municipal election result data as the basis for the partys agreement to part with four Lok Sabha seats for AAP in Delhi. AAP, on the other hand, feels a Delhi-specific alliance is unfair as the Congress neither has any MP nor MLA in Delhi and wants three parliament seats, but does not want to part even with one seat in Punjab, where AAP has four MPs. The saffron ranks, meanwhile, are in no hurry to announce their Delhi LS poll candidates. Currently BJP holds all seven Delhi seats in the Lok Sabha. editorial@tribune.com Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 15 In an embarrassment to Rahul Gandhi, the Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Congress president on a criminal contempt petition by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi accusing him of making wrong statements about a recent verdict on admissibility of certain documents in the Rafale case. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked Rahul Gandhi to file his explanation on or before April 22. While giving liberty to Lekhi to file additional affidavit, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on April 23. We make it clear that this Court had no occasion to record any view or finding or make any observation as allegedly attributed to the Court by the respondent inasmuch as what was decided by this Court was a purely legal question of admissibility of certain documents to which objections were raised by the learned Attorney General, the Bench said. The Bench -- which also included Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, that no views, observations or findings should be attributed to the Court in political address to the media and in public speeches, unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the Court. The notice was issued to Gandhi after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Lekhi, submitted that Gandhi had commented that the Supreme Court has said that chowkidar chor hai in its April 10 verdict on Rafale review petitions. "You were right to the extent we never said what has been brought in the petition. We will seek clarification, the Bench said. BJP MP from New Delhi and advocate Meenakshi Lekhi had on Friday filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against the Congress president for allegedly attributing his remarks on the recent Rafale verdict to the top court. The Congress president had on April 10 claimed that the apex court had made it clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed a theft. He had made the statement while interacting with journalists in Amethi after filing his nomination papers. He is contesting against BJP leader and union minister Smriti Irani. Gandhi had also recalled a recent interview by the Prime Minister, in which Modi had said that 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 had told reporters after filing his nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. He had claimed that the court had accepted that there is some corruption in Rafale. The court, which had earlier cleared the Modi government of accusations of corruption over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, had rejected Governments objections and said it would hear a review petition on the basis of the leaked documents, referred to by the petitioners. Says statement incorrectly attributed "We make it clear that this court had no occasion to record any view or finding or make any observation as allegedly attributed to the court by the respondent." SC Act against cong president, BJP asks EC gspannu7@gmail.com Patna, April 16 Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday threatened to file a defamation case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his comment that all thieves shared the Modi surname. Sushil Modis strong reaction came in the backdrop of Gandhis jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi that all thieves had the same surname. I was deeply hurt by Rahul Gandhis statement wherein he remarked that all those who are chor (thieves) shared the Modi surname. Besides insulting the prime minister, he has hurt me personally as I share the same surname. Hence, I would be suing him for defamation, the senior BJP leader told reporters here. Gandhi, who has rankled the BJP with his chowkidar chor hai jibe over alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal, has also been accusing the prime minister of colluding with Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi both wanted in different corruption cases and currently on the run. In an attempt to pepper his attacks with sarcasm, he has of late been saying why is it that all the thieves have the same surname Modi. Meanwhile, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Bihar, reacted to the deputy chief ministers defamation threat saying I openly say Sushil Kumar Modi is a thief. Let him sue me for defamation as well. I have for long been saying that Sushil Kumar Modi is directly involved in the Srijan scam. If he is so upset over an indirect remark by Rahul Gandhi, let me add upfront Sushil Kumar Modi is a thief. Now let him sue me for defamation, the RJD heir apparent whom the BJP leader has succeeded as deputy CM, said. Currently being investigated by the CBI, the Srijan scam pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of thousands of crores from the treasury and illegal transfer of the money into accounts of an NGO based in Bhagalpur with branches in several other districts. A distant relative of the deputy CM, Rekha Modi, is said to be allegedly involved in the scam though Modi who holds the finance portfolio insists that he maintains no family ties with her. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com United Nations, April 16 The United Nations owes India USD 38 million, the highest it has to pay to any country, for the peacekeeping operations as of March 2019, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said as he voiced concern over the world bodys deteriorating financial health. In his report on improving the financial situation of the world body, he said, as of March 31, 2019, the total amount payable to troop- and police-contributing countries with respect to active peacekeeping missions was USD 265 million. Of this, the UN owed USD 38 million to India, followed by Rwanda (USD 31 million), Pakistan (USD 28 million), Bangladesh (USD 25 million) and Nepal (USD 23 million), Guterres said in his report. He said the arrears to troop- and police-contributing (TCCs/PCCs) countries could increase to USD 588 million by June 2019 in the worst-case scenario. The UN chief said that which troop- and police-contributing countries would or would not be paid depended on the cash position of the individual missions to which they contributed and is not determined by their individual capacity to shoulder that unfair burden. That has created a paradox. The United Nations is now effectively borrowing for prolonged periods from troop- and police-contributing countries. Many of them are low-income countries for which that imposes a significant financial burden. At the same time, the Organisation is asking those same countries to do more to train their personnel and improve the quality of their equipment, all the while operating in increasingly challenging environments. The United Nations, however, is not fulfilling its obligation towards them in a timely manner, he said. Guterres said troop- and police-contributing countries made every effort to provide well-trained and well-equipped personnel to peacekeeping operations, and they continued to improve on that objective. Reimbursement by the UN for their contributions is key to supporting those efforts. The delays in reimbursing the contributing countries expose them to financial challenges in pursuit of their efforts and consequently have an adverse impact on the operations and the delivery of their mandates, he said. Earlier this year, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin had said that the financial situation of the United Nations, particularly the non-payment/delayed payment of arrears to the troop/police contributing countries, is a cause for concern. He had said that the practice of delaying payments to TCCs/PCCs, even as contractual obligations to others are met, could not continue unaddressed. It results in TCCs/PCCs bearing unsustainable burdens. In some cases, TCCs and PCCs are owed 100 to 200 times their cumulative annual financial contributions to the UN, he had said. Guterres said while the UN is working to become more effective, nimble, accountable, transparent and efficient, the success of the organisations efforts depends not only on the internal efforts of the Secretariat, but also on the support of Member States and on the predictability and adequacy of their financial contributions to UN programmes and activities. Expressing concern about the organisations deteriorating financial health, the UN chief said the UN is facing deepening liquidity problems in its regular budget, a trend that must be urgently halted and reversed. Peacekeeping operations also face frequent cash constraints that forced the Organisation to postpone the settlement of its obligations to troop- and police-contributing countries, he said. The UN had a positive cash balance of USD 412 million at the end of 2010 but it finished 2018 with a negative cash balance of USD 323 milliona decrease of USD 735 million in an eight-year period. Guterres said regular budget assessments are issued at the beginning of each year and member states are required to pay their contributions in full within 30 days. In 2017 and 2018, 73 member states had paid their contributions in full by the end of the first quarter, compared with 62 in 2016 and 67 in 2015. So far, 74 member states have paid in full in 2019. Regrettably, some member states pay neither in full nor on time. The level of arrears at the end of 2018 was USD 529 million, equivalent to more than 21 per cent of that years assessments and nearly 150 per cent of the liquidity reserves, he said. PTI rchopra@tribunemail.com Aizawl, April 16 Mizoram Police have seized 447 grams of heroin from a woman in Lunglei town and arrested her for possessing the contraband, police said on Tuesday. The value of the seized heroin, suspected to have been smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar, is Rs 17.5 lakh. Lalawmpuii, who was arrested on Monday night, has a history of being involved in large-scale trafficking of drugs, a police official said. For years, we had been trying to nab the accused for being involved in drug trafficking in south Mizoram, he said. PTI monicakchauhan@gmail.com Lucknow, April 16 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday visited the Hanuman Setu Temple here and offered prayers, a day after the Election Commission imposed a nationwide campaign ban on him for 72 hours for his "provocative" communal remarks. Adityanath took part in 'puja' and after spending about 20 minutes in the temple, he left without taking any question from the media. The Election Commission on Monday imposed a nationwide campaign ban on Adityanath for 72 hours for his speech at a rally in Meerut, where he compared the Lok Sabha elections to a contest between 'Ali', a revered figure in Islam, and 'Bajrang Bali', a name for Hindu god Hanuman. Following the EC orders, the chief minister will also not participate in the road show of Home Minister Rajnath Singh who will file his nomination papers Tuesday. PTI editorial@tribune.com Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 15 Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of discrimination against the Congress government in Punjab in matters of religious importance as part of his partys divisive agenda. Modi had on Sunday targeted him during a speech at Kathua. He questioned why the PM had not pointed fingers at Akali leaders for failing to attend the Union Governments function to commemorate the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Neither Parkash Singh Badal, nor Sukhbir, nor Harsimrat, who happens to be a minister in Modis own Cabinet, deemed it fit to pay homage to martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh, said the CM. Yet Modi, who himself chose to keep away from this occasion of national importance, criticised me even though I was part of a series of events at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial over two days, he said. Why was Modi not present at this major event? Why did the Badals fail to turn up? And why did the PM choose to conveniently ignore their absence? he asked Capt Amarinder said, By holding a parallel event to mark the Jallianwala Bagh centenary instead of supporting the state governments commemorative programmes, the Prime Minister exposed his true intent. editorial@tribune.com Aman Sood Tribune News Service Patiala, April 15 Waiting for over a fortnight after Rs 6.66 crore robbed by a Khanna police team went missing, the Election Commission has finally decided to seek a detailed report from the state police and forward it to Delhi. Meanwhile, legal experts suggest that the whole Khanna police team should face an FIR pertaining to armed robbery as they did not follow any rule and now the cash forcibly collected by them is missing. Following reports on how the police cat-turned-informers were running the Khanna police and intervening in raids that were conducted during the code of conduct, the Election Commission has decided to get a first-hand report even as the police top brass remains silent. The Khanna police had conducted an illegal raid in Jalandhar without informing the local police and under the pretext of Election Commission guidelines. The teams had later shown the money as unaccounted cash, recovered from a naka, sources said. We have decided to get a detailed report from the additional DGP (Election Cell) and will send it to Delhi for necessary directions, said Punjab Chief Electoral Officer, S Karna Raju. Initially we were waiting for the SIT report but it is yet to be completed, so we have decided to act on the whole matter. There are certain lapses as huge cash is missing, he said. Insiders in the Police Department told The Tribune that the Khanna police, armed with weapons and taking along civilians, barged into the priests house in Jalandhar and forcibly robbed him off his cash, later showing the money to have been recovered from Khanna. This is in violation of the model code of conduct and also police rules. The Khanna officers deserve nothing but exemplary punishment as otherwise the men in khaki will trespass anywhere without rules, they said. Legal experts suggest that the case is very serious. Senior advocate Barjinder Singh Sodhi said this was a case wherein the men in uniform flouted all norms and conducted an armed robbery. An FIR should be registered against the entire Khanna police team under Section 392 of the IPC pertaining to punishment for robbery and Section 120Bof the IPC pertaining to conspiracy, he said. A senior IPS officer confirmed that the government should have till now acted against the guilty officers and paid back the missing money to Father Anthony. The Khanna police also tried to hoodwink the Election Commission by holding a press conference claiming to have recovered Rs 9.66 crore from a vehicle at a naka, while it did not account for the missing Rs 6.66 crore, he stated. The role of senior officers, including SSP, Khanna, Dhruv Dahiya is under scanner after the police team, handpicked by him, failed to report back with the cash. Two ASIs missing along with huge cash seized during the raid on the priests house in Jalandhar were specially selected by the SSP. The police have issued a lookout notice against the two ASIs Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh and suspended them, though they are yet to add Sections 392 and 120B to the FIR. Dist police chiefs asked to arrest accused The SIT on Monday issued a notice to all police chiefs of the state to arrest the three accused allegedly missing with Rs 6.66 crore. Pictures of the three accused two ASIs and an informer have been forwarded to the district police chiefs. rchopra@tribunemail.com Lahore, April 16 Pakistan and India on Tuesday held a technical meeting to discuss the modalities for the corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The technical experts and foreign office officials from both the sides participated in the talks held at Zero Point (Kartarpur), according to Geo News. They reportedly discussed installation of a border fence and road design. An official of the Pakistan Rangers told PTI that the meeting of both sides took place at the Kartarpur Zero Point but said any statement would be issued either by Pakistans Foreign Office or the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan military. In a major initiative last November, both India and Pakistan agreed to set up the Kartarpur corridor to link the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib--the final resting place of Guru Nanak--to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistans Narowal district across the Ravi, about 4 kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Earlier, India postponed the Kartarpur Corridor meeting between the two countries at the Wagah border scheduled for April 2. India and Pakistan on March 19 held a meeting of technical experts on the Kartarpur corridor during which its alignment, coordinates and other engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points were discussed. The technical meeting at the level of experts, including engineers and surveyors, was held at proposed zero points in the follow-up to the decision reached on the March 14 meeting. Later, the Pakistani Cabinet constituted a 10-member Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) to facilitate Sikh pilgrims after opening of the Kartarpur corridor. India voiced concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in the committee on the corridor saying it would wait for a response from Islamabad on the issue and would not go ahead with a previously agreed meeting on the corridor on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side. During the previous meeting, both sides jointly surveyed the coordinates of the Zero Point and discussed the technical details, including finished road level, high flood level, etc. Pakistan will build the corridor from the Indian border to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak in Indian Punjabs Gurdaspur district up to the border will be constructed by India. In Pakistan, the groundbreaking ceremony of the corridor was performed on November 28 last year by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Fifty per cent of the 4-kilometre stretch being built by Pakistan has been completed while the stretch between the Zero Line to Guru Nanaks shrine is being built by India. The corridor will be opened in November this year in connection with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. PTI editorial@tribune.com Karam Prakash Tribune News Service Patiala, April 15 Ever since 50 MBBS seats each were increased at Government Medical Colleges (GMC) in Patiala and Amritsar, successive state governments have failed to comply with the guidelines laid down by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to make these permanent. If the colleges want to retain the increased seats, they need to comply with the MCI guidelines. However, despite repeated warnings by the MCI to fill the vacant faculty posts one of the main conditions the state has failed to do so. In fact, the MCI, the apex medical governing body of the country, had increased the student intake from 150 to 200 in each college in 2014. After increasing the seats in any college, the MCI carries out annual inspections for the next five years, till the first batch with increased seats passes out, before making these permanent. In every report, the MCI has been pointing out faculty shortage but this year which is the final year of inspection fulfilling the MCI conditions seems almost impossible. To retain the seats, the government must complete the recruitment process of faculty before the notification of the new session. But sources have informed the Tribune that the MCI had to notify a number of MBBS seats in the month of May before the NEET UG exam but completing the recruitment till then would not be possible since the model code of conduct was in effect until May 23. In the prevailing situation, the ball, it seems, is lying in the court of the MCI. Therefore, the said GMCs are likely to lose 100 MBBS seats permanently. The losing of 100 seats means it will become more difficult for us to get into a medical college, which is unfair, said an MBBS aspirant. Colleges facing staff crunch for years editorial@tribune.com Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 15 Lok chahunde hun ke es seat nu ek tarike naal lareya jaave. Eh manukkhi adhikaran di larai hai. Ehde karke lok ohnan te dabaa bana rahe si (people want that this seat be contested in a planned way. This is a fight for human rights. Hence people were also pressurising them), said Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra, a day after the SAD (Taksali) withdrew the candidature of its Khadoor Sahib nominee, former Army Chief Gen JJ Singh, in her favour. In her first visit to Kapurthala as a part of her campaign, Khalra was unusually calm as her speech was sans any of the characteristic potshots which candidates take against their opponents. While the Akali Dal has pitched Bibi Jagir Kaur against her, Khalras entire focus is on her husbands sacrifice and her 24-year-old fight for justice while addressing villagers. Reacting to the Taksalis withdrawing their candidate, she says: The withdrawal is a positive development. These elections should be fought for the cause of human rights. The Taksalis had projected their own candidate, but public pressure has brought us together in this fight. Accompanied by Punjabi Ekta Party leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, she spoke to PEP workers and local supporters at the Adnawali village, then headed for a rally at Sukhpal Khairas ancestral village Khera Dona, where after a satirical skit on the Centre by a Malwa-based theatre troupe, she began her speech. Dressed in a grey suit, donning an orange siropa she was honoured with, two village kids capture the moment as she addresses a gathering seated in a pink tent pitched in a courtyard of an NRIs house. She said: I shall start by speaking to you about Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra. He is the man who took up the cause of those for whom no one cared about. Even a corpse has a right, the right to burial. But our children didnt even get a decent burial. My husbands life was sacrificed to ensure justice for this cause and it hasnt come yet. Speaking to The Tribune she says: Asin sara kujh bardasht kar lainne aan. Corruption vi. Par jadon guru sahib di beadbi hundi hai odon maaf nahi karde (Sikhs are very tolerant. We tolerate everything, even corrupt politicians. But not the insult to the Guru). One of the prime motives why I agreed to contest is that Punjabs rights wont be safeguarded unless a political system primarily representing the Sikhs comes to the state. We need change. My ultimate aim is to take the issue to Parliament and make them concede to the Sikh genocide of 1984.Central parties have only duped the state. We have waited for the Congress and Akali Dal. The Congress hasnt issued a word of apology for 1984. The Akali Dal stood for the panth and answered the people with desecration. Govt must apologise for 1984 The government seeks an apology from Britain for Jallianwala Bagh. But during Operation Bluestar, tanks were taken within 200 feet of Akal Takht and no one even apologised. We demand the government make a formal apology for the attack on the holy place of Sikhs. Not even an FIR was filed for the attack and the damage to Akal Takht or the Golden Temple premises. There was no account of bodies either, Bibi Paramjit Kaur Khalra said. editorial@tribune.com New Delhi, April 15 The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear in the first week of August the bail application of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was given life term by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The CBI told a bench of Justices SA Bobde and SA Nazeer that the offence for which Sajjan was convicted was of gruesome nature as it was genocide. Sajjan, 73, who is lodged in jail, had resigned from the Congress after he was convicted by the High Court. The case in which he was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonments Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1-2 in 1984 and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. Sajjan has also challenged in the apex court the Delhi High Courts verdict of December 17 that awarded him life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life. During the hearing on Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told the apex court that Sajjan is facing trial in another riots case at the Patiala House district court here. Mehta said the recording of evidence was going on in the case and out of 35 prosecution witnesses, seven had been examined to date. The counsel representing Sajjan said the former Congress leader was granted anticipatory bail by the High Court in the case in which trial was going on and it was affirmed by the apex court also. This will have to be heard fully, the bench said. When Sajjans counsel said the hearing on the bail plea would not take much time, Mehta said, See the gruesome nature of offence. It was a genocide. PTI sanjiv@tribunemail.com LONDON, April 7-In the House of Commons, replying to Mr. Swan, Mr. Fisher said the Secretary of State regretted that the existence of the anarchical revolutionary movement in India necessitated the passing of a new Crimes Act. He said this action had been taken after consideration of the advice of an influential representative Commission, and the Government of India was satisfied that it was essential to peace that the Government should be armed with exceptional powers to be applied in areas where revolutionary crime existed. The Secretary of State was not prepared to disregard the findings of this Commission and the views of the Government of India by advising His Majesty to disallow the Act. Mr Fisher emphasised that this legislation did not reflect on and its necessity was not affected by, the splendid loyalty of Indians generally and would affect only a small portion of the population, to which it applied. monicakchauhan@gmail.com Beijing, April 16 The Chinese Police have ramped up efforts to close down illegal marriage centres and brokers amid complaints of trafficking of Pakistani women to China, who were lured with fake marriages. Local authorities in Heze, East China's Shandong Province, have stepped up efforts to close illegal marriage brokers, which introduce women from Pakistan to Chinese men, state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday. There are many videos of wedding ceremonies of Pakistani women with Chinese men. Many of these videos were claimed to be shot in Shandong, one of China's most populous provinces, the report said. The scandal came to light after a top private Pakistani television station 'ARY news' last week aired images of several Chinese men with six local women in different rooms, including two teenage girls, at an illegal matchmaking centre in the eastern city of Lahore. A Voice of America (VOA) report said the ARY channel crew showed up unannounced at the facility along with local police and interviewed the foreigners, their local facilitators and the alleged Pakistani wives of the Chinese men. The local facilitators told the TV channel they would lure families into an agreement by saying their would-be Chinese son-in-law was seeking Pakistani citizenship so he could invest in the country as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC), the USD 60 billion project connecting both the countries. The report raised concerns of trafficking of Pakistani women to China. Since the CPEC project started in 2013, there are large numbers of Chinese into Pakistan to work on various projects. The scandal came to light at a sensitive time when China is set to organise the 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) from April 25-27 to showcase the development of its mega USD trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CPEC project is officially stated to be BRI's flagship project. The report said since February, civil affairs department, local police and market supervision departments in Heze have worked together to take down illegal matchmaking centres. Two illegal centres in Heze's Caoxian county, which allegedly introduced local males to females from Pakistan for a price of more than 100,000 yuan (US$15,000), were raided on February 21, the report said. Some matchmaking centres in Heze spread information on cross-national marriages among young people during the past Spring Festival and Chinese New Year holidays in February charging large sums of money to effect introductions to women from abroad, it said. China is cooperating with Pakistani law enforcement agencies to crack down on the illegal marriage brokers, rejecting Pakistani media reports of human trafficking and sales of organs, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan said in a press release on Saturday. "We remind both Chinese and Pakistani citizens to remain vigilant and not to be cheated. We hope that the public does not believe in misleading information and works together to safeguard China-Pakistan friendship," the embassy said. A marriage broker surnamed Li, who works for a matchmaker in Chinese city of Dezhou, also in Shandong Province, told the Global Times that Chinese men looked for foreign brides as it is not easy for local men to find a wife, especially as the gender ratio is so unbalanced. The gender ratio in China, which was 113.5 men to every 100 women in 2015, one of the highest in the world. It is forecast to drop below 112 by 2020 and 107 by 2030, according to the National Population Development Outline released by the Chinese central cabinet in January, 2017. Li said that his agency had successfully introduced several couples. He promised that if the marriage does not last two months, the clients have a second chance to go to Pakistan to find another wife, the Global Times report said. "Several matchmaking agencies in China reached by the daily confirmed that they used to introduce Pakistani women to Chinese men, but some had stopped the business because it was too difficult to get visas," the report said. PTI ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Islamabad, April 15 The IMFs bailout package to cash-strapped Pakistan could be delayed as the global lender is pressing it to be transparent on the CPEC project and wants a written guarantee from Islamabad that its assistance will not be used to repay the loans to China, a media report said on Monday. Pakistan is seeking US$ 8 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail itself out from a severe balance-of-payments crisis that threatens to cripple the countrys economy. With the generous Chinese assistance, Pakistan has so far received a total of US$ 9.1 billion in financial aid packages from friendly countries during the current fiscal year. State minister for revenue Muhammad Azhar, however, tweeted Pakistan has reached an agreement in principle with the IMF and expects to formally secure a rescue package later this month. Technical details and formalities will now be finalised during the IMFs staff level visit to Pakistan later this month, Azhar added. Finance Minister Asad Umar said earlier this month that a mission of the IMF would visit Islamabad soon after the spring meetings of the World Bank Group, which includes the IMF, and an agreement should be signed by the end of this month. Pakistani daily Dawn quoting official sources said the visit of the IMF mission to Islamabad for finalising the bailout package may be delayed as both sides are still engaged in an intense discussion on the final details of the deal. So, the IMF mission is now more likely to visit Islamabad in May, not April, the sources told the daily. The finance minister, who led the Pakistani delegation at the meetings, went to New York on Friday but his team, which includes senior officials of his ministry and other government agencies, stayed in Washington for further talks. Umar during a press conference on Thursday said the two sides had more or less, reached an understanding on the bailout package and in a day or two, we hope to reach a full agreement. An official familiar with the Pakistan-IMF talks said, Islamabad still hopes to conclude the agreement before June, as they believe the bailout package will help budget prospects. If concluded, it would be the 14th IMF aid package for Pakistan. The sticking points, however, are the demands for market-determined exchange rates and sharing details of Chinese loans which Pakistan is reluctant to do so. The sources said that IMF officials were also seeking details of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), along with a written guarantee from both Pakistan and China that the IMF assistance will not be used to repay loans to China. The IMF insists on full disclosure of all financial cooperation between Pakistan and China, including assistance related to infrastructure development, nuclear power plants, joint manufacturing of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and procurement of submarines. The IMF is also demanding details of more than US$ 6.5 billion of commercial loans Pakistan has received from China in the past two and a half years. In July, China also deposited US$ 2 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan. The finance minister is likely to visit China on April 25 for talks on the IMF concerns over CPEC and IMF will wait to hear from him before it finalises the bailout package, the daily reported. Some of the other conditions proposed by the IMF include: making the State Bank of Pakistan independent, a market-oriented exchange rate, expanding the tax target by Rs 5,000 billion, ending income tax concessions, more taxes on salaries, narrowing the amount of taxable income from Rs12 lakh a year to Rs 4 lakh, reducing electricity and gas losses, Rs140 billion electricity and gas revenue losses be recovered from consumers. Both sides are engaged in fine-tuning the details of the IMF programme. PTI Both countries fine-tuning package Both sides are engaged in fine-tuning the details of the proposed IMF programme. Pakistan wants the IMF to review some of the restrictive conditions it has attached to the package while the IMF insists that those conditions are absolutely essential for a successful completion of the programme. Money may be used to repay Chinese debt: US Three influential US lawmakers urged the Trump adminstration to oppose the proposed multi-billion bailout package being sought by Pakistan from the IMF arguing it could be used to repay the Chinese debt. IMF seeking details of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Official sources said the visit of the IMF mission to Islamabad for finalising the bailout package may be delayed as both sides are still engaged in an intense discussion on the final details of the deal. The sources said IMF officials were also seeking details of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, along with a written guarantee from both Pakistan and China that the IMF assistance will not be used to repay loans to China. ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Kuala Lumpur, April 15 Malaysia would have faced a US$ 5-billion penalty if a China-backed rail project was axed entirely, the prime minister said on Monday, after a deal was reached to revive the controversial scheme. Last week, Malaysia and China agreed to push ahead with the railway at a 30-per cent lower cost, lifting a suspension slapped on the project when a corruption-plagued regime lost power last year. It was among several Beijing-financed deals in the Southeast Asian country put on hold after the change of government, amid concerns they lacked transparency and were aimed at funnelling cash to the administration of ex-leader Najib Razak. The 640-kilometre east coast rail link will run from northern Malaysia, near the Thai border, to a port outside Kuala Lumpur, and is seen as a key project in Chinas belt and road infrastructure drive. Announcing further details, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the government was faced with the choice to either renegotiate or pay termination costs of about 21.78 billion ringgit ($5.3 billion), with nothing to show for it. As such, we chose to go back to the negotiating table and call for a more equitable deal, whereby the needs of the Malaysian people will be prioritised. He also announced the main Chinese company in the scheme, China Communications Construction Company, had agreed to help with operation and maintenance of the line, which would ease the financial burden on Malaysia. Under the new agreement announced last week, the project cost has been reduced to 44 billion ringgit. Malaysia will still need to take a loan from a Chinese state-owned bank to fund the line but it will be less than under the original deal. Mahathir (93), returned for a second stint as premier in May last year after he led a reformist alliance to a surprise victory at the polls, toppling Najibs coalition which had been in power for over six decades. Najib has since been slapped with dozens of charges over his alleged role in looting state fund 1MDB, and went on trial over the scandal this month. AFP Cost has been reduced in new pact Under the new agreement announced last week, the project cost has been reduced to 44 billion ringgit. ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Amsterdam, April 15 The Dutch government on Monday said it had established a special task force to weigh potential security risks as it prepares to build a 5G telecommunications network. The announcement came after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday said his government was still exploring options for 5G and had not yet formed an opinion on the possible role of Chinese companies. The United States has lobbied Europe to shut out Chinas Huawei from such projects, saying its equipment could be used by the Chinese government for espionage. That view was supported by the Dutch security service, which advised the government this month against using technology from countries with active cyber-hacking campaigns against the Netherlands, including China and Russia. Reuters monicakchauhan@gmail.com New York, April 16 The New York Police Department (NYPD) was trolled mercilessly on Twitter after it posted about "closely monitoring" the fire at the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. "We are closely monitoring the fire at the #NotreDame Cathedral in Paris, France... As our followers know, we tweet immediately about most large scale international events to inform you, as we assess how they may or may not impact NYC," NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau tweeted on Monday. After the tweets, NYPD was mocked by social media users with one asking: "what is the risk of it spreading to the US." "How does Game of Thrones season 8 impact NYC? Thank you in advance, I'll take my answer off the air," tweeted another user. Some of the other interesting responses on the NYPD's tweets were: "I just saw someone throw litter out of their car window here in Canada. Are you on the case?" "I never realized fire is a sentiment and could fly across the Atlantic Ocean." "I knew you guys liked dressing up and playing spies where you have no jurisdiction in violation of the law, but i didn't know you had escalated to playing spooky spies in foreign countries." IANS uttara@tribuneindia.com Moscow, April 16 A Russian court on Tuesday granted parole to a Moscow student who was sent to prison for trying to join the Islamic State group in Syria. The court in Russia's northwest upheld Varvara Karaulova's plea to cut her prison sentence by one year and 10 days. The 23-year old Moscow State University student was sentenced to 4 years in prison in December 2016. She was arrested in Turkey, where she was trying to cross the border into Syria after her father filed a missing person's report. At least 4,000 Russian citizens, mostly from predominantly Muslim regions, have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join Islamic State. Philosophy major Karaulova, from a middle-class, non-Muslim Moscow family, was an odd-one-out among Russian Islamic State recruits who typically hailed from impoverished provincial backgrounds in the North Caucasus. Karaulova, a convert to Islam, insists that she fell in love with a man she met online and wanted to marry him in Syria, but did not share the radical ideology of the Islamic State. Her father had pleaded with the court to acquit Karaulova, saying that he was seeking help from Russian authorities by filing a missing person's report, not vengeance against his own daughter. Karaulova who was expelled from university shortly after her arrest told the court on Tuesday that her trip to Turkey was "the most foolish thing I have ever done in my life and the one I'm still punishing myself for". Her father, Pavel Karaulov, who attended the hearing in Vologda, told the RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday that he was "over the moon" with the ruling and hopes that she can soon return to her studies and "live to the full". Mikhail Fedotov, chairman of the Russian presidential human rights council, who visited Karaulova in custody, welcomed the ruling, saying in remarks carried by Tass on Tuesday that she was a "victim of terrorism". AP Muhammad Khan poses with Kelly Bryan at Toronto General Hospital, on Tuesday April, 16, 2019. Khan received a liver donation from Bryan, who donated 70 per cent of her liver, in what is believed to be North America's first paired living liver donation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM Khartoum, April 15 Sudanese protesters on Sunday demanded the countrys military rulers immediately hand power over to a civilian government that should then bring ousted leader Omar al-Bashir to justice. Thousands remained encamped outside Khartoums army headquarters to keep up pressure on a military council that took power after ousting Bashir on Thursday. The organisation that spearheaded the protests against Bashir, the Sudanese Professionals Association, called on the council to immediately transfer power to a civilian government. The SPA also demanded the next transitional government and the armed forces bring Bashir and all chiefs of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS)... to justice. The Sudanese Professionals Association calls on its supporters to continue with the sit-in until the revolution achieves its demands, it added. AFP Do we really expect anyone to take us seriously when we seek reparations for the atrocities Landlocked countries in Africa and the world at large are countries that have no ocean or sea surrounding them. As such, they have no port and may rely on other countries when they need to transport their good by ship from other nations. Image: facebook.com, @geoffbriitan Source: UGC So, how many landlocked countries does Africa have? This is a common question that many people may ask. Which countries in Africa are landlocked and rely on others for sea transport. The following is a list of such countries in the continent. Landlocked nations in Africa Image: facebook.com, @GCAol Englishberg Source: UGC The entire world has 19 nations that are landlocked. These are sovereign states that are surrounded entirely by land and no external water body or land mass. Most of these nations are found in Africa. They include: 1. Botswana This landlocked nation is found on the Southern Side of Africa. It occupies a space of 224,607 square miles and comes number 48 in size in Africa. It is one of the sparsely populated nations in the world with a population of slightly over 2 million people. While it does not have a large water mass like a sea or ocean, it has the Limpopo river basin on its side. 2. Burkina Faso This West African country is also landlocked. It is locked in by 6 countries including Ghana and Togo. The country is 105,900 square miles wide. Its major water bodies are the Black Volta, Red Volta, and the White Volta. It has access to the sea via its neighbouring countries expect for Niger which is also landlocked. 3. Chad Chad is in Central Africa and is 496,000 square miles. It is surrounded by Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Niger, and Libya. It is the seventh poorest nation in the world due to civil unrest and instability. 4. Burundi Burundi is in East Africa and is surrounded by DRC, Tanzania, and Congo. It covers 10,747 square miles and has 10.5 million. The Agricultural dependent country is one of the poorest in the continent due to its economic state. 5. Central Republic of Africa This country border Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad. It is 240,000 square miles and has 4.6 million people. 6. Ethiopia This country is located at the horn of Africa and is a neighbour to Djibouti, and Somalia. It is the most populous nation in the world boasting of 100 million people. Unlike other landlocked countries, Ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It also has the largest water reserve in the continent. 7. Mali Mali comes at number 8 in African countries sizes with 480,000 square miles. It is connected to the outside world through an elaborate rail system. It is able to maintain a good economic system. 8. Lesotho This is considered an enclaved country since its completely surrounded by South Africa. It is 11,580 square miles, and has a population of 2 million people. The country is almost 100% dependent on South Africa for everything. READ ALSO: Tanzania sends relief food to flood-ravaged African countries as Kenya battles devastating starvation 9. Malawi Formerly known as Nyasaland, it has an approximate size of 45,560 square miles with a population of 18 million people. It is one of the least developed countries with over 80% of the people living in rural areas. The largest water body in the country is Lake Malawi. 10. Niger This is the largest country in the Western side of the continent with a size of 489,000 square miles. 80% of the country is in the Sahara desert. The internal market and export of raw commodities are the main drivers of the economy. 11. South Sudan This is one of the newest nations in the world having gained independence a few years ago, in 2011. It is an East-central African nation that heavily depends on oil for economic progress. 12. Rwanda Rwanda is the 4th smallest nation in Africa. It covers 10,169 square miles and has a population of 11.3 million people. Considering its past history, the country has had its fair share of challenges. However, this has changed over time and the country s doing much better. 13. Swaziland This South African nation is 6,704 square miles large and has a population of 1.3 million people. Its diverse economic activities including Agriculture, and mining account for the country's economic activities. 14. Uganda Uganda is an East African nation that depends on trade partnerships with its neigbouring countries including Kenya and Tanzania. It shares the largest topical water body in the world, Lake Victoria with Kenya and Tanzania. 15. Zimbabwe Zimbabwe is located between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It has an approximate population of 16 million people in a land size of about 150,872 square miles. It is dependent on agriculture, mining, and tourism, and has a huge potential for success economically with better management of resources. Landlocked countries in Africa may not have the major advantage that other open countries have. As such, trading becomes expensive especially when they must go through neighbouring countries to get their products out and into the nation. Even so, there are countries that are doing really well for themselves, with strong economic backgrounds. READ ALSO: What is the longest river in Africa? Top 10 largest lakes in Africa Cyclone Idai: Mozambicans turn to God after cyclone sweeps away people, villages and churches Source: Tuko Ugandan rapper Fresh Kid's parents must be very happy right now after their son landed a full primary school scholarship barely a fortnight after he was threatened with a jail term for not going to school. TUKO.co.ke has learnt Fresh Kid on Friday, April 12, had a meeting with one of Uganda's richest businessmen, Rajiv Ruparelia, who handed him the full scholarship to help in his education. READ ALSO: Ugandan government warns 7-year-old rapper of jail term if he doesn't stop performing READ ALSO: Ugandan minister offers counseling services to 7-year-old rapper risking jail term The meeting, and the good news were first shared by Rajiv through his official Facebook and Twitter accounts. In a long post seen by this writer, the businessman held the scholarship was courtesy of his foundation, Ruparelia Foundation, and is set to take the young rapper through his primary school education at the Kampala Parent's School, which happens to be one of the leading high end Primary Schools in Uganda. "Today I met a young man called Fresh Kid. I was moved by his ambition being only seven-years old. I would love to see him become a guide and inspiration to many young people out there hence, Ruparelia Foundation is presenting this young man with a full scholarship from the Ruparelia Foundation to go to Kampala Parents School,'' he wrote on Facebook. READ ALSO: Uganda's Yoweri Museveni to become first visiting Head of State to ride on SGR READ ALSO: Babake Ivy Wangechi asema mwanawe hakuwa na virusi vya HIV The latest development came just a week after the rapper was embattled in ''heated'' war with Uganda's Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi who barred him from performing. According to the minister, the rapper had ditched school and was busy doing music, a move she termed child labour. Kiyingi ordered that Fresh Kid should go back to school or risk imprisonment should he fail to honour the order. The minister, however, held a meeting with the young rapper and his management and agreed to work together to see he goes to school and does music at the same time. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram:Tuko news The Dyslexic Boy Chased From Parties For Being Too Dirty Source: Tuko - Photos of the nearly complete station were shared by SGR Twitter account - The Mai Mahiu station is one among the nine situated along the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway route - The photos excited thousands of Kenyans who thronged social media platforms to congratulate the government for the project The Kenya Railway Corporation(KRC) has announced to Kenyans that the much-awaited Mai Mahiu railways station is almost complete. The corporation, which is the official contractors of the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway, hinted that the station will soon start its operation as everything is in its completion stages. READ ALSO: Uganda's Yoweri Museveni to become first visiting Head of State to ride on SGR Photos of the nearly complete station were shared by SGR Twitter account. Photo: CCCC SGR/ Twitter Source: Twitter the Mai Mahiu is one of the nine railway stations on the Standard Gauge Railway line. Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Twin boost as double-stacked SGR trains are introduced, bridge over Indian Ocean opened Taking to its official Twitter account on Tuesday, April 16, afternoon, KRC through the SGR official account shared several photos showing parts of the near complete station. Photos from the Mai Mahiu railway station showing its magnificent angles are perfect proof it is one of the cutest in the country. ''The Mai Mahiu Railway station is almost complete. The orange and white colors are meant to represent the color of rocks found along the Rift Valley region and the vertical lines represent the cracks and the fault lines present on the surface of the Rift Valley,'' the tweet read. READ ALSO: Nairobi: KK Security vows to take disciplinary action on guard caught on video beating up woman The Mai Mahiu station is on its completion stages. Photo: CCCC SGR/Twitter Source: Twitter KRC announced the station will be complete soon. Photo: CCCC SGR/Twitter Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Serikali yapiga marufuku wimbo wa Takataka kwa madai ya kuwadhalilisha wanawake The announcement and photos excited thousands of Kenyans who thronged social media platforms to congratulate the government for the project. TUKO.co.ke understands the Mai Mahiu station is one of the nine railway stations on the Standard Gauge Railway line. Others include Mombasa, Miasenyi , Voi, Mtito Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi River. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram:Tuko news The Dyslexic Boy Chased From Parties For Being Too Dirty Source: Tuko - According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) the complainant did not have evidence to prove criminal allegations against the three - Kenya Revenue Authority indicated that it had not established any tax evasion claim as raised by the accuser - The Financial Reporting Centre which trails illegal cash flows indicated that it had not established any irregular money movement within and outside Bluebird Aviation - The DCI said the three were cleared courtesy of findings of probes conducted by the other state organisations thus vindication of the three The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has cleared three aviation shareholders from KSh 100 billion money laundering accusation. READ ALSO: Federation of Kenyan Employers declares illegal Uhuru's move to implement 1.5% housing levy Adan wants the DCI boss George Kinoti to investigate the matter saying his life is in danger. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Kenya Meteorological Department warns of prolonged drought Bluebird Aviation Director Yussuf Abdi Adan had earlier called on DCI to probe the three: Hussein Ahmed Farah the then (Chairman and CEO), Hussein Unshur Mohamed (general manager) and Mohamed Abdikadir Adan (technical director). After a detailed investigation however, DCI working together with other state agencies like Kenya Revenue Authority failed to implicate the three The clearance notice of the three is courtesy of investigation findings by other State agencies. Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and Kenya Airports Authority gave way for the clearance, the DCI indicated. According to the DCI, the Financial Reporting Centre with is majorly mandated to trace illicit money flows also okayed the clearance after being unable to implicate the three based on allegations raised by Yussuf. The DCI quashed the complaint by Yussuf, a part owner of Bluebird Aviation against his fellow shareholders. Yussuf had claimed that the partners had siphoned over KSh 103 billion from the airline and lined other accusations like tax evasion but these could not be established during the probe. Court documents indicate that the three have been vindicated from financial malpractices following the probe that lasted well over nine months. Investigations havent found facts that may warrant the building of a prosecutable criminal case against the three. The complainant never provided grounds his allegations. Claims made were also far-fetched, John Kariuki, director of the Investigations Bureau at the DCI said. He indicated these findings during a clearance notice filed in court on Friday, August 28. READ ALSO: Ivy Wangechis killer used students best friend to track her movements before deadly murder The complainant who claims to own 25% of the airline shares has been in a three-year battle with the three over control of the firm that has been in operation for over 27 years. Bluebird Aviation owns and operates a fleet of at least 21 aircraft. The DCI was categorical that secret movement of cash allegations levelled against the three had no substantial evidence thus paving way for the clearance. The sentiments by DCI were backed by the Financial Reporting Centre which indicated that it had not been able to detect breaches while tracking cash flow within and outside the aviation firm. READ ALSO: Wazazi wakataa kumficha mwanao anayeshukiwa kumuua afisa wa magereza, wamkabidhi polisi According to the Financial Reporting Centre, the firms bankers; Commercial Bank of Africa had never flagged any suspicious transactions involving the company. The DCI indicated that KRA also failed to establish allegations of tax evasion after reviewing the firms financial books. KRA assessment was that the company was tax compliant and that there was clarity and high level of financial documentation, the DCI indicated. Story by Zipporah Weru, TUKO correspondent. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Follow us on Telegram: Tuko news Source: Tuko Newspaper The Supermarket Association says that it will neither be naming supermarkets safe zones nor Amy Vann knows what its like to not have nice things. Growing up in the Ohio River towns of Gallipolis, Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, she felt the teasing and mocking by school kids who had the new shoes and brand name clothes that her parents could not afford to buy for her and her sister. Now a mother herself, Vann founded and operates Give Like a Mother, a non-profit company that collects and distributes clothing and other items for free to underprivileged families. Vann, an adjunct visiting faculty from the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Nursing who teaches students in a clinical setting at UC Medical Center and UC Health West Chester Hospital, got her certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) degree at the UC College of Nursing in December of 2009. After graduation, with a little more time on her hands, she started searching for a service project. Ive always had a strong heart for children, and I always loved serving, says Vann. We have a very service-minded family, and we always love to give back and help others. Vann began by looking for people to give baby clothing or equipment that she no longer had use for, since, after having a boy and a girl, she was done having babies. Using Facebook yard sale sites, she would meet people to sell them items from her family, and saw then how great the need was in the community. Thats when I started looking for people who needed items and I would ask other moms that I knew or people in the community if they had anything to spare, Vann said. It was during what they call a journey at Crossroads Church where they challenged you to be brave in whatever God had planned for you that I started thinking about it and thought, this is what Im supposed to do. When Vann started asking for donations, she got a very strong response, with a lot of people saying they just wanted their items to find a home. At first, she collected items at her home in Batavia, but the amount of donated items grew to the point where she needed larger and larger storage facilities. Ukrainian sugar producers exported 304.6 thousand tonnes of sugar in September 2018-March 2019, the press service of the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine reported. "In September-March of the 2018/2019 marketing season, 304.6 thousand tonnes of sugar were exported, which is 10% less than in the previous season, reads the report. It is noted that Ukrainian sugar producers in Match 2019 exported 30.2 thousand tonnes of sugar, which is 12% less compared with the previous month, Main deliveries were made to Azerbaijan (17%) and Tajikistan (14%). Also, significant volumes were shipped to Uzbekistan (13%), Israel (12%) and Kazakhstan (11%), the head of Ukrtsukor analytical department, Ruslana Butylo, said. Also, the press service of Ukrtsukor reminded that Ukraines sugar production in the 2018-2019 season decreased by 15%, to 1.82 million tonnes. A total of 42 sugar refineries operated in the country. According to the association, as of April 15, 189 thousand hectares were sowed with sugar beet. Ukrtsukor projects that the current acreage under sugar beet will make up 220-230 thousand hectares. iy Ukraine is interested in cooperating with Canadian rolling stock manufacturers so as to repeat the success of work with General Electric, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said. He said this at a meeting with Canadian business representatives on April 15, the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry reported. "We have every opportunity for successful cooperation [with Canadian rolling stock manufacturers]. The market for freight and passenger transportation is growing rapidly every year. We have broken the ice, and now the main thing is not to lose the pace. Despite the election period, we will support the EU integration and pro-Western course in Ukrainian infrastructure," Omelyan said. The minister noted that Ukraine already has positive experience of working with global companies, in particular, with General Electric, and wants to repeat this experience with Canadian rolling stock manufacturers. The meeting participants discussed potential public-private partnership projects in Ukraine. At the same time, Omelyan informed representatives of the Canadian side of two pilot projects in the maritime industry that will be implemented this year. "We are launching two concessions of our seaports Olvia and Kherson. We want to start with these two ports and then spread the experience to other Ukrainian ports. The main thing for us is to be sure that the facilities that we'll transfer to concession will be under the control of a reliable and responsible investor. In addition, together with the International Finance Corporation, we are developing the possibility of a concession for one or two state airports - Boryspil or Lviv, plus two or three regional airports - as one investment package," he said. According to him, the possibility of transferring railway stations and potentially roads concession is also being considered. Omelyan also stressed that the Infrastructure Ministry was preparing all feasibility studies for the projects with the support of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the EBRD and other international partners. Canadian business representative Michael Yurkovich noted that the interest of Canadian investors in Ukraine is extremely high and that infrastructure is a top priority. He also said that three or four projects would be selected in the near future and that investors would like to implement at least one or two of them in 2020-2021. The meeting was attended by Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Raivis Veckagans and Head of the SPILNO Public-Private Partnership Management Office Taras Boichuk. op Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman will pay an official visit to Slovakia on Tuesday, April 16, the Government portal reports. "We are grateful for the ongoing cooperation and for the support. Currently we are on the front line in the fight for democracy. It is important for us to restore control over our borders. And our task is to do everything possible to use the key to return peace to Ukraine, Groysman stated in an interview with Slovak media on the eve of his visit. The prime minister stressed that the main topic of his talks with the Slovak government will be political dialogue, deepening of economic and border cooperation. iy On April 15, 2019, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the State of Kuwait Oleksandr Balanutsa presented credentials to H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait. "During the conversation with the Kuwaiti leader, Ambassador Balanutsa emphasized the great honor given to him by the leadership of Ukraine to represent Ukraine in this friendly Middle East state. The Amir of Kuwait positively assessed the current state of bilateral cooperation and highly estimated the level of healthcare services in our country," the Embassy of Ukraine in Kuwait reported. During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on deepening cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres. ish Ukraine and Turkey have achieved significant success in cooperation in the educational sphere, in particular, the number of Turkish students in Ukraine have grown to 3,254. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Turkey Andrii Sybiha wrote this on Twitter following his meeting with Turkey's Minister of National Education Ziya Selcuk. "We already have certain achievements in the field of education - the Ukrainian language at universities and schools in Turkey, scholarships, and 3,254 Turkish students in Ukraine. We also have equally ambitious goals - renewing the agreement, establishing the interdepartmental commission, the next meeting of rectors," Sybiha wrote. As reported, the number of those willing to learn Ukrainian in Turkey has increased significantly in recent years and is still growing. A week ago, Ukrainian language courses for foreigners were launched in the city of Samsun in north Turkey. iy facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published April 15, 2019 The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Louisiana (IIABL) recently announced a $50,000 donation to ULMs Risk Management and Insurance Program. The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Louisiana is one of the most prominent and influential organizations in Louisiana. For many years, IIABL has been a strong partner to the program. We are extremely honored by this commitment to continue to support and grow the ULM RMI program, said Christine Berry, Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and program director. Our curriculum has a heavy emphasis on the distribution side of the insurance business so the strong ties with one of the most prominent agents associations in Louisiana is very fitting. IIABL staff and members work closely with ULM RMI faculty and staff to assist them in recruiting and preparing exceptional future insurance professionals for Louisiana and beyond," she said. Just since 2016, more than a dozen ULM RMI graduates have gone to work for Louisiana independent agents and brokers, either as producers or account managers. Johnny Beekman III, President of the IIABL Board of Directors, made the donation Monday at ULM. "Education is a personal goal of mine," said Beekman. "Education is the key to the future. We are proud to partner with you and look forward it." Jeff Albright, Chief Executive Officer for the IIABL, said, "I have had the pleasure of meeting with many of the ULM Risk & Insurance Program students over the past several years. They are bright, capable young people with a passion for working in our business. The ULM Risk & Insurance Program is a tremendous resource for the Louisiana insurance industry." Albright has served as a member of the Industry Advisory Council to ULMs program and has spoken at ULM RMI Society meetings and other ULM RMI events numerous times over the years. As a ULM RMI alumni and active member of the IIABL, I couldnt be more excited about this gift. ULMs RMI program gave me a solid foundation to become a highly successful Louisiana independent agent, said Ernest Finch, 2008 ULM RMI graduate and former member of the IIABL Board of Directors. ULMs program was ranked ninth in the nation by Business Insurance in the fall of 2018 and is the largest RMI program in the state of Louisiana. From the IIABL website: The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Louisiana is the go to information resource and primary advocate for independent insurance agents in Louisiana. IIABL is a member-based, professional trade association serving more than 400 independent insurance agents, meeting the education, political and business needs of members to maximize business opportunities. Above photo: The University of Louisiana Monroe Risk Management & Insurance Program received a $50,000 donation from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of Louisiana at a presentation on Monday, April 15, 2019. Pictured from left are, Dr. Christine Berry, Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and program director, Dr. Ron Berry, Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences, Johnny Beekman III of Assured Partners in New Orleans and President of the IIABL Board of Directors and ULM President Dr. Nick J. Bruno. Srdjan Marjanovic/Marketing and Communications | By Laura Lee Paragon Bioservices, Inc., the University of Maryland BioParks largest tenant and one of its fastest-growing biotechnology companies, is celebrating another success with the announcement that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Catalent, Inc., a New Jersey-based contract drug manufacturer, will acquire Paragon for $1.2 billion. BioPark Founded in 1990 by Marco Chacon, PhD, the University of Maryland, Baltimores (UMB) associate vice president, industry alliances, Paragon has been headquartered in the 14-acre UM BioPark in West Baltimore since 2008, during which time it has earned a stellar reputation as a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) for the $40 billion addressable market for gene therapy. The trendsetting company is an industry-leading, private equity-backed CDMO focused on the development and manufacturing of cutting-edge biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. The Catalent announcement, which is subject to customary closing conditions, comes on the heels of the grand opening of Paragons state-of-the-art 200,000-square-foot GMP gene therapy biomanufacturing facility in Anne Arundel County (Md.). Paragon Bioservices is one of over 40 tenants in the UM BioPark, located on UMBs academic campus. The BioParks tenants which represent a variety of innovative life science companies, from research and development to diagnostics and therapeutics contribute more than 1,000 Baltimore-based jobs to the Maryland economy. On behalf of UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, let me start by thanking Under Secretary General Vladimir Voronkov and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism for convening the second meeting of the Global Counter-Terrorism Compact Coordination Committee. UNDP is proud to take part in this collective effort for enhancing internal coordination and coherence to ensure that the United Nations system provides stronger and more efficient capacity-building support to Member States on countering-terrorism and preventing violent extremism (PVE). The establishment of this framework, the largest coordination framework in the UN system, is of fundamental importance, given the challenging and ever more complex and evolving nature of counter-terrorism and violent extremism globally. UNDP believes that the best way forward is by joining forces and working together, guided by the One-UN approach. We need to leverage our comparative advantages, while respecting our mandates. We should strengthen coordination, coherence and better equip ourselves to successfully respond and tackle the numerous and complex challenges that lie ahead. Let me highlight the following points on the revitalization of the Global Compact Committee working groups: o First, we welcome its streamlining from 12 to 8 working groups, the establishment of results-oriented work plans, and their alignment with the four pillars of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. o Second, UNDP advocates for a strong Human Rights lens across all working groups and we are pleased to see this included in the Terms of Reference and work plans. This is imperative to avoid doing harm and/or exacerbating threats, both in development and security interventions. o Third, we support the participation of civil society representatives, academics and the private sector in working groups discussions. o Fourth, we support the convening of joint working groups meetings, particularly when discussing cross-cutting issues, such as a gender-sensitive approach. In this spirit, I would like to propose that the minutes of all working groups are shared. o Fifth, I would like to emphasize the need to strengthen coordinated efforts between Headquarters, regional hubs and the field, in strong collaboration with Resident Coordinators Offices and UN Country Teams. UNDP is committed to act as a convener and bridge-builder in this regard. o And sixth, we fully support the establishment of a new working group on resource mobilization and monitoring and evaluation. Our aim should be to benefit from shared resources for increasing, where possible, evidence-based joint programming. Measuring and assessing the impact of our results is our shared obligation and will help us mobilize much needed additional resources. For example, UNDP has developed a monitoring and evaluation toolkit on PVE programming which we would be happy to share more widely. UNDP is committed to play a key role within the UN system on PVE. Thus, under UNOCTs able chairmanship, we are pleased to continue serving as vice-chair of the PCVE working group together with our excellent partners UNESCO and the UN Alliance of Civilizations. I will not enter into the details of the PCVE working group work plan, which will be covered by our colleague from UNESCO. Instead, I would like to underline UNDPs four main objectives as vice-chair: (1) Further strengthen knowledge sharing, research, policy development, quality assurance and impact assessment among UN entities; (2) Enhance and strengthen the quality of and evidence-base for joint programming; (3) Demonstrate concrete deliverables/results in implementing the joint work plan, including in the design and monitoring phases; and (4) Strengthen our work on communications to feed into and support the Secretary-Generals High Level PVE Action Group and the UN system as a whole. In the current UNDPs Strategic Plan (2018-2021), we have placed stronger emphasis on PVE programming and policy contributions to guide UNDP offices in their assistance to members states. Through this, UNDP aspires to better respond to the Secretary Generals Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism and to advance the Prevention-Sustaining Peace and 2030 agenda, in particular SDG 16. In doing so, UNDP attaches importance to the following 5 aspects: 1. Balance short-term and longer-term responses to address immediate challenges, such as reintegration of former combatants, alongside the longer-term development solutions needed to address grievances, promote peaceful resolution of conflict and prevent radicalisation that can lead to violent extremism. 2. Take a multidimensional approach to addressing both the socio-economic as well as the governance and human rights related drivers of radicalization that can lead to violent extremism. 3. Promote social cohesion and tolerance for diversity as a key building block of our increasingly multi-cultural societies in a gender-responsive manner. 4. Engage local communities, both in terms of early warning approaches and in terms of finding local solutions to address the push and pull factors of radicalization. 5. Harness partnerships and multi-stakeholder engagement in particular working with religious leaders, women and youth organisations to reach the most marginalized and ensure successful interventions. UNDP is respecting our commitment to work in partnerships. In May last year, UNDP Administrator and Under-Secretary Voronkov signed an MOU, which has already yielded some results, such as: o Establishment of a liaison focal point to support joint policy, programming and impact assessments. o Deployment of the first joint scoping missions to Sudan and Kyrgyzstan in October and November 2018 to support the development and implementation of PVE National Action Plans with the participation of UNOCT, UNDP, UNODC, UN Women and UNESCO. o The recently agreed joint EU-UN 4-year project to Strengthening Resilience to Violent Extremism in Asia (STRIVE Asia) that will be jointly implemented by three UN entities (UNOCT, UNODC and UNDP). o Support of UNOCTs recent initiative to develop a global Youth Programme, along with other member entities such as the Office of the Secretary-Generals Envoy on Youth, UNESCO, ILO and the UN Alliance of Civilizations. To conclude, allow me to congratulate USG Voronkov and his office for leading this revitalization and new generation of inter-agency working groups in a highly transparent and inclusive manner, guided by the One-UN approach. UNDP, building on its comparative advantages, is determined to contribute in implementing the Global Counter-Terrorism Compact with sister-UN entities, guided by the principles of collaboration, constructiveness and action. We stand ready to work with all of you as we move forward together. Thank you Gulbahar, a 40-year-old widow and mother of two, learns to embroider at a women's centre in Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. UNHCR/Caroline Gluck A new training project in southeast Bangladesh to promote self-reliance among women in communities hosting refugees as well as among Rohingya refugee women has become operational in Coxs Bazar. The project is potentially a game-changer for women in these communities. It is being supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. UNHCR has teamed up with the Ayesha Abed Foundation (AAF) the humanitarian arm of our NGO partner BRAC to support a programme designed to provide income opportunities by developing skills in craft production. The project formally began in February. It is now being scaled up. At the main, recently opened, training facility centre in Ukhiya, local Bangladeshi women are taught silk screen, block printing and tailoring. Eighteen sub-centres are being opened in other areas of Coxs Bazar as well as in the refugee camps where refugee women will produce different designs of hand embroidery. By the end of the first year, the goal is to train 500 women half of whom are refugees. The ambition is that, if the project is successful, it could expand to train hundreds more. The women receive a small stipend during the six-month training period. UNHCR is funding the programme, but it is hoped the project can break even in the future. The items that will be produced include embroidery pieces hand-sewn by refugees, and childrens, womens and menswear, and household items. The finished products will be sold in one of Bangladeshs best known retail outlets Aarong a social enterprise launched by BRAC more than forty years ago to provide income sources to rural women. In this project Aarong provides the raw materials and designs to the Ayesha Abed Foundation. Half of any profits are transferred to BRAC for its development work, while the remainder is used for investment and employment growth. The pilot is seen as a model of providing skills-training support to these communities. Coxs Bazar is one of the poorest and most undeveloped areas of Bangladesh, with few job opportunities outside the rural sector. Bangladeshi communities in Coxs Bazar have been the first responders to the refugee crisis which began in August 2017 and generous hosts to the hundreds of thousands of Rohignya who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar. Most of the Rohingya refugee women being trained to embroider are widows or single-mother households aged between 18 and 40, with no previous sewing experience. For more information on this topic, please contact: Despite having little interest in politics, Manuel* found himself caught up in the violence and persecution that erupted in Nicaragua a year ago, after the government cracked down on street protests. "We lived with the anxiety of not knowing when they would break into the house to get us, the farmer recalls. We were besieged at night. Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been wracked by a deep sociopolitical crisis, forcing over 60,000 people to flee. As raids in search of dissidents and protesters continue, Costa Rica has been receiving over 2,000 asylum requests per month from people crossing its northern border in search of safety. After several attacks and being tipped off that people wanted him dead or alive, Manuel abandoned the family's banana plantations and fled to Costa Rica with his wife, Andrea, and their two small children. "I'm sure if I go home they will hurt me," he says. To avoid police at the official border crossing, Manuel took a small boat along the Pacific coast to Puerto Soley, entering Costa Rica informally a few days ago. Meanwhile Andrea*, 30, who was three months pregnant, slipped over the border with her two children, using a back route to avoid police. "I'm sure if I go home they will hurt me." "I took a muddy track through the fields, carrying my three-year-old son, she says. It is not easy for anyone to cross, especially a pregnant woman. The pain in my back was unbearable." Costa Rican communities near the border with Nicaragua have few resources, so finding food and shelter is a challenge for asylum seekers. Andrea spent her first days there not knowing where she or her children would sleep or what they would eat. After contacting the Costa Rican authorities, the family was put in touch with CENDEROS, a non-profit organization that partners with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to provide vital help to the most vulnerable Nicaraguan asylum seekers. They found the family a place to stay and food. Andrea, a pregnant asylum-seeker from Nicaragua, used an improvised kitchen after arriving in Costa Rica. UNHCR/Flavia Sanchez Andrea, a pregnant asylum-seeker from Nicaragua, sits with her two children as they play outside their new home in Costa Rica. UNHCR/Flavia Sanchez "At the start we just cooked over an open fire because we did not have anything, but with the help of an official at CENDEROS, we managed to get access to a kitchen," says Andrea. Costa Ricas support for refugees goes back decades. During the turbulent 1970s and 1980s, when civil wars roiled much of the region from El Salvador and Nicaragua to Colombia, Costa Rica remained a haven of peace, keeping its doors open to those at risk. The small Central American country has developed exemplary systems of protection allowing refugees to thrive. It grants asylum seekers the right to work and attend schools while their petitions are processed, and allows them to appeal if the decision doesnt go there way. However, the growing number of asylum seekers in Costa Rica has put its system under heightened strain. "My dad suffered the war in the 80s and he felt that we were already at war again. UNHCR is providing support to migration and refugee authorities to increase their processing capacity and has strengthened its presence in Costa Ricas northern border region by opening a new office in Upala that monitors and registers people entering the country, provides information and guidance on the asylum process and delivers humanitarian assistance. While they are now safe in Costa Rica, Manuel and Andreas children still struggle with distressing memories from their final days in Nicaragua, when the family was hunted by gun-toting men in uniforms. "My youngest son hugs me every time he sees the Costa Rican police because they look like the officials who attacked us. He hugs me and says that he takes care of his daddy," says Manuel as the two play with toy cars given to them by neighbours in this small agricultural community. As Nicaraguans continue to seek asylum, thousands of families who fled to Costa Rica last year also face significant challenges. Henry* escaped with his three daughters, aged eight to 10, and his 85-year-old father, after armed groups killed their neighbour. "My dad suffered the war in the 80s and he felt that we were already at war again, Henry says. We were afraid to end up as victims of violence, (and thought) we had better flee." The family now live in a border community in an unfinished house, without windows. They sleep on improvised beds. Henry knows that the conditions of his home are not ideal, but he prefers to live there in safety rather than risk their lives returning home. "What gives me strength is knowing that my daughters are at least studying," he says as he awaits a resolution of the crisis. "My greatest wish is that one day my three girls can go home knowing how to read," he adds. *Names changed for protection reasons. In a bamboo thatched womens centre in Kutupalong, more than a dozen Rohingya refugees are sitting closely together on mats and concentrating so fiercely on their sewing that barely a sound can be heard. Only the encouraging murmurs of a trainer who checks on their progress break the silence of the focused women. They are mainly widows or other women heading their households alone. Ranging in age from 18 to 40, most had never learned how to sew before. After just a few weeks participating in an innovative training programme, they are now working on delicate embroidery for flower designs, using a mix of different stitches and colourful threads. Twenty-six-year-old Mushida, whose two year-old daughter, Sharmin, curiously watches her at work, has longed for such an opportunity: My husband is not able to find any way to earn money here and we have many problems. Im very happy to be part of this, she adds. I am more confident that we will have a better future. "I can improve my skills, earn and provide a stable income for my family." The skills training programme grew out of a partnership between UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Ayesha Abed Foundation, the humanitarian arm of BRAC, the world's largest non-governmental organization. It supports Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar as well as Bangladeshi women in the rural areas hosting them. The hope is that they can all become more self-reliant through craft production. Also taking part in the project is Gulbahar, a 40-year-old Rohingya widow with two children. Before this project, I planted some vegetables around our shelter, like onions, that helped me feed the family," she says. "Life was a struggle. I didnt have much hope. The skills training helped Gulbahar gain confidence in herself and the future. See also: Rohingya refugee women raise their voices in Bangladesh At small centres in the refugee settlements, Rohingya women embroider pieces by hand, while at the main production centre in Ukhiya Bangladeshi women sew childrens, womens and mens wear, as well as household items. The women receive a small stipend during the six-month training period. Gulbahar, a 40-year-old widow and mother of two, learns to embroider at a women's centre in Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. UNHCR/Caroline Gluck The finished products will be sold in one of Bangladeshs best known retail outlets, Aarong, a social enterprise BRAC launched 40 years ago. Aarong provides a source of income for rural women, with more than 21 retail outlets throughout the country and a successful online retail presence. The project supports both the host community and Rohingya women and links them up to the consumer market, says Subrata Kumar Chakrabarty, a UNHCR livelihood officer based in Cox's Bazar. This is a good example of a win-win situation for the host community and the Rohingya women. At the main centre in Ukhiya, a newly refurbished building, rows of Bangladeshi women are busy at sewing machines, working on womens tunics. In another room, trainees are learning the skills for woodblock printing and silk-screen printing. "This is a good example of a win-win situation for the host community and the Rohingya women." The centre is well-equipped, the atmosphere serious and briskly efficient. Milon Kumar Karmaker, a project manager with the Ayesha Abed Foundation, says the programme aims to support rural women and refugees who are struggling to get by in an area with few other opportunities. This region is one of the poorest in Bangladesh. The income generated by their husbands isnt enough for their families, and there are few employment opportunities for women, he says. For Renumaru Begum, 29, it has been a daily struggle to support her two daughters. She is the family's sole breadwinner, and says the programme is a lifeline. My husband isnt with us, so I have to work and take care of my two children and its very important for me to find an income, she says. There are costs I have to pay in sending them to school. She used to make some money sewing from home, but only managed to get a few orders. Im very happy to find this opportunity, she says. It makes my struggles easier. I can improve my skills, earn and provide a stable income for my family. After completing the six-month training, Ranumaru hopes to get a permanent job that will allow her to properly sustain her family. Eighteen smaller sub-centres are being opened up in other areas of Coxs Bazar as well as in the refugee camps. By the end of the first year, the goal is to train 500 women, half of whom will be refugees. If the project succeeds, the hope is to train hundreds more. UNHCR relocated 150 vulnerable refugees from the Ain Zara detention centre to the Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli, Libya on April 9. UNHCR/Noor Elshin UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today relocated another 150 refugees who were detained in the Abu Selim detention centre in south Tripoli to UNHCRs Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in the centre of Libyas capital, safe from hostilities. The Abu Selim detention centre is one of several in Libya that has been impacted by hostilities since clashes erupted in the capital almost a fortnight ago. Refugees at the centre told UNHCR that they were petrified and traumatised by the fighting, fearing for their lives. UNHCR staff who were present and organizing the relocation today reported that clashes were around 10 kilometres away from the centre and were clearly audible. While UNHCR intended to relocate more refugees, due to a rapid escalation of fighting in the area this was not possible. UNHCR hopes to resume this life-saving effort as soon as conditions on the ground allow. It is a race against time to move people out of harms way. Conflict and deteriorating security conditions hamper how much we can do, said UNHCRs Assistant Chief of Mission in Libya, Lucie Gagne. We urgently need solutions for people trapped in Libya, including humanitarian evacuations to transfer those most vulnerable out of the country. Refugees who were relocated today were among those most vulnerable and in need and included women and children. The relocation was conducted with the support of UNHCRs partner, International Medical Corps and the Libyan Ministry of Interior. This relocation is the second UNHCR-organized transfer since the recent escalation of the conflict in Libya. Last week UNHCR relocated more than 150 refugees from the Ain Zara detention centre also in south Tripoli to the GDF, bringing the total number of refugees currently hosted at the GDF to more than 400. After todays relocation, there remain more than 2,700 refugees and migrants detained and trapped in areas where clashes are ongoing. In addition to those remaining at Abu Selim, other detention centres impacted and in proximity to hostilities include the Qasr Bin Ghasheer, Al Sabaa and Tajoura centres. Current conditions in the country continue to underscore the fact that Libya is a dangerous place for refugees and migrants, and that those rescued and intercepted at sea should not be returned there. UNHCR has repeatedly called for an end to detention for refugees and migrants. For more information: The Piraeus port. (Photo/Xinhua) A Chinese shipping company has revitalized Piraeus, Greeces largest port, under the support of the Belt and Road Initiative. After a decade-long investment from the Chinese shipping company, Piraeus port, regarded as the southern gate of Europe, has become the second largest port in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2008, China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO Group), a Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics services supplier, won the port's privatization bid, and worked with a local company to establish Piraeus Containers Terminal S.A. (PCT S.A.). Then, it obtained a 35-year franchise right for the No.2 and No.3 container terminals of the port in 2010. In 2016, COSCO Group acquired 67 percent of the shares of Piraeus port authority, becoming the official operator of the port. Back in 2005, Piraeus port saw container volumes plunge by 9.5 percent as its major shippers shifted their routes amid a large-scale strike in cash-strapped Greece. Since COSCOs involvement, Piraeus port witnessed its container handling capacity elevate from 880,000 TEUs in 2010 to 4.15 million TEUs in 2017, jumping from 93rd to 36th in the global ranking. Last year, its container volumes reached 4.9 million TEUs. Marina Omar works in the office. (Photo/Xinhua) Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the port has taken on a new look with economic dynamism, and job opportunities had continued to emerge since the Chinese company arrived. The ports business has kept growing over the past nine years. I see a new port every day, said Marina Omar, an officer at the PCT S.A marketing department. EU finally approves amendments to Gas Directive set to complicate Nord Stream 2 The changes were voted on Monday, April 15. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Poroshenko: Extension of farmland sale moratorium directly linked with corruption The moratorium serves those who are trying to exploit an opaque land market, the head of state says. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Ukraine, World Bank discussing new guarantee finance minister According to the finance minister, representatives of the lender noted the effectiveness of joint efforts to accelerate the sample of funds for international lending. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Deficit of Ukraine's foreign trade in goods 4.5% up in Jan-Feb Exports of commodities to Russia shrank by 12.4%, to $475 million. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter Official hryvnia strengthens to UAH 26.72 per U.S. dollar The official forex rate set for April 16 was UAH 26.81 per U.S. dollar. If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter According to preliminary reports, the perpetrators were preparing a hit job on a mob boss. An armed group detained outside Kyiv on Monday was plotting a hit job against a mob boss, according to Larysa Sargan, spokesperson for the prosecutor general, who refuted earlier suggestions that the perpetrators were plotting an assassination of presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky. "In the framework of the pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings under Part 1 Article 14, Part 3 Article 289, Part 1 Article 263, Part 1 Article 348, paragraphs 11, 12 Part 2 Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, on April 15, the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv region, under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor's office, detained members of an armed group who resisted the arrest," she wrote on Facebook. Read alsoPolice detain several armed men with explosives near Zelensky's house outside Kyiv (Video) According to preliminary reports, these three people were plotting a hit job on a mob boss. The statement goes on to explain that due to the fact that the group was detained in the forest near the road leading to the village of Ivankovychi, and given that the family of presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky live in Ivankovychi, some media outlets "misinterpreted the incident as a possible attempt on his [Zelensky's] life." "We officially declare that the group detained has nothing to do with presidential candidate Zelensky, and there is no information available to law enforcement agencies on them plotting a crime against the latter. On the contrary, they were plotting a crime against another person, who, by coincidence, also lives nearby." "All possible information on this matter will be provided later," Sargan added. The case being re-forwarded multiple times was due to the courts satisfying the defense's motions challenging boards of judges. The court released from custody MP Nadiia Savchenko and former hostage swap mediator Volodymyr Ruban as the term of their arrest expired on April 16 without being duly extended on time. "There is no preventive measure, Volodymyr Rybin, father of Ruban's lawyer Valentyn Rybin, wrote on Facebook. As UNIAN reported earlier, MP Savchenko, along with and Ruban who was detained on the line of demarcation with an arsenal of weapons on March 8, 2018, is suspected of plotting terrorist attacks at government headquarters in Kyiv and a coup d'etat. According to the investigation, they planned to shell buildings in the government quarter of Kyiv and assassinate the country's top leaders, as well as seize the Verkhovna Rada building. Also, law enforcers documented the fact of them transporting weapons from the occupied territory to Ukraine-controlled territory in November 2017 set to be used in terror attacks. On March 22, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada agreed to allow bringing MP Savchenko to criminal responsibility, to have her detained and taken into custody. Savchenko and Ruban were arrested. Read alsoSavchenko to Ruban discussing terror plot: "I propose a coup. They need to be removed physically - all at once" In August 2018, the pre-trial investigation of the criminal proceedings against Ruban and Savchenko was completed. The Savchenko and Ruban case was initially forwarded to Slavyansky City District Court of Donetsk Region, then to Chernihiv District Court, Solomensky District Court of Kyiv, Darnitsky District Court of Kyiv. On April 12, Kyiv Court of Appeal forwarded the case to the Brovary City District Court of Kyiv Region. The case being re-forwarded multiple times was due to the courts satisfying the defense's motions challenging boards of judges. UNIAN memo. Nadiia Savchenko is a former Ukrainian pilot who was in 2014 captured in Donbas by pro-Russian militants and handed over to Russian authorities who charged her with complicity in the murder of Russian journalists in the warzone. After she was sentenced to a 22-year prison term in Russia, an enormous joint effort by Ukrainian authorities and international community allowed for her release and return in exchange for two Russian GRU operatives Yevgeny Yerofeev and Alexander Alexandrov who had been detained in Donbas and claimed they were "lost." Her defiance of Russia's sham trial and firm public stance won her praise among Ukrainians. However, Upon her return to Ukraine, the process of her de-heroization hit warp speed and there came major disappointment. "Perhaps, there is a demand for a messiah in the Ukrainian society, some hero who would come and magically save Ukrainians," wrote UNIAN's correspondent in Moscow Roman Tsymbaliuk. Read alsoSavchenko says ready for direct talks with "DPR/LPR" Some 36% of respondents in a poll set up by the 24 TV channel at the time of her triumphant return to Ukraine in May 2015 wanted to see her as their country's president. She received highest state awards and got to parliament as a Batkivshchyna party member (she later abandoned the party). However, after a series of bizarre moves, including meetings with pro-Russian terrorists and calls for direct talks with Russia puppet "authorities" in Donbas, which played along Moscow's line on Ukraine, in August of the same year, her public support ratings fell to just 4%. Zelensky's campaign headquarters notes that any talks about exchanging Crimea for peace in Donbas are off the table, under any circumstances. Crimea, Ukraine's peninsula occupied by Russia in 2014 must return to Ukraine, while Moscow must pay Ukraine compensation for the damage inflicted as a result of the occupation, team of Ukraine's presidential hopeful Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a Facebook posting in response to Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev's appeal to Mr Zelensky to address the Crimea issue by answering five of his questions. Team Zelensky responded that "Crimea, of course, is the occupied territory of Ukraine." As it is known and recognized throughout the civilized world, this occupation was completely illegal and violent. The so-called 'referendum' cannot be considered an act testifying to the free will of the inhabitants of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea because it was held at gunpoint of Russian troops and without the participation of a significant number of Crimean Tatar, Ukrainian, even Russian and other ethnic origins," emphasized he statement. Read alsoTeam Zelensky react to Poroshenko's "campaign rally" at Olimpiyskiy "Taking into account these factors, Crimea was, remains, and will be part of Ukraine, which should return along with compensation from Russia for the damage caused by the occupation, taking into account compensation to the victims and families of the victims of Russian repression. We are not ready to give, present, allow rent or use of the sovereign territory of Ukraine and its citizens this cannot be the subject of negotiations and agreements! The position is unshakable and uncompromising. No agreement on de-escalation in Donbas can be sealed at the cost of Crimea and Ukrainian citizens who are forced to remain in the occupied Crimea," stressed Team Zelensky. In this regard, it is noted that "in general, issues of Ukraines independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity cannot be the subject of any international negotiations or agreements." "That is, under no circumstances can we speak about exchanging Crimea for peace in Donbas. And neither can the separatization of certain areas or regions of Ukraine be a subject of negotiations. Moreover, as we have repeatedly stressed, had Crimea and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained part of a free and independent Ukraine, they would have already had more freedoms and powers than they will ever have under the authority of the Russian Federation," Team Zelensky said. Read alsoZelensky Campaign official voices presidential hopeful's position on Donbas, NATO accession prospects "Of course, a military solution to the conflict with Russia is unacceptable, both from the point of view of the national interests of Ukraine and that of our Western allies. This means that our officials will eventually have to speak with Russian authorities. But this should take place with the participation of Ukraine's Western partners, and under no circumstances must it take place in the occupied territories of our state," said presidential candidate Zelensky's campaign team. "We must maintain contacts with our citizens, who are now suffering under the occupying authorities. But these contacts should be exclusively cultural, informational, and humanitarian. Taking into account what the Russian Federation is doing in Donbas and Crimea, the issue of lifting the economic blockade off the temporarily occupied territories cannot be considered," the statement says. Read alsoRights watchdog debunks Donbas "separatism" myth "We do not separate and will not separate and consider separately the issues of Donbas, Crimea, or the Sea of Azov. But the history and sacrifice of the Crimean Tatar people during Stalins, and now Putins repressions, and their contribution to the formation and development of an independent Ukraine are unconditional reasons to propose to the Crimean Tatars a separate prospect for national development and role after the liberation of Crimea," said the statement. "We believe that this role and perspective should not be based on empty political promises. We are convinced that the Crimean Tatar people should receive a concrete plan of support and guarantees from the state and its western partners. We are confident that Crimean Tatars will have a clear prospect for a free life together with the independent Ukraine," summed up Team Zelensky. NABU detectives arrested the deputy upon his arrival in the Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on Monday, April 15. A suspect in a major embezzlement case charged with inflicting damage to the state budget worth over $346 million, former People's Deputy of Ukraine Dmytro Kriuchkov, has been extradited from Germany. Detectives of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine detained the former MP and former Chairman of the Board of PJSC "Energomerezha" upon his arrival in the airport "Boryspil" on Monday, April 15. "Within 48 hours from the moment of detention, the court should choose a preventive measure," NABU reported. Read alsoBoth suspects in coup, terrorism case released from courtroom as judges fail to extend restrictive measure on time "Detectives, in consultation with the prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office, will insist on remanding the suspect in custody with a bail of UAH 346.22 million," the statement reads. NABU also promised to reveal more details later. As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 29, journalists of the Skhemy journalistic investigation project released a report alleging that Ihor Kononenko, a close ally and business partner of President Petro Poroshenko, in embezzling funds in the energy sector. The journalists received at their disposal from undisclosed sources what they allege is records of phone conversations of a person involved in the case of Dmytro Kriuchkov, investigated by NABU several years ago. Said records allegedly back the claims against Mr Kononenko. In turn, chief of the investigation team Horbatiuk said he had repeatedly stated pressing problems in the case over the past years. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says the reason for the delay in the probe into the killings of protesters at Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square during the Revolution of Dignity is the ineffective work of Chief of the Special Investigations Department at the General Prosecutor's Office (PGO) of Ukraine, Serhiy Horbatiuk. "I'm dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation into the death of the 'Heavenly Hundred' heroes. I am emphasizing this in public. And I know who is investigating [the case]. I am surely disappointed in the quality of the probe. And I emphasize the name of this prosecutor, it's Mr. Horbatiuk," he said on Ukraine's ICTV channel on April 15. In turn, Horbatiuk told the Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske that he had addressed the problems in the investigation of the Maidan cases over the past years. Read alsoUkraine prosecutors complete investigation of Maidan shootings: suspects face life in prison "I have been talking about the problems with the investigation for all these years, including about the responsibility of the head of state. And everyone whom I mentioned had the opportunity to help in this process. But the president voiced the problems and the persons responsible only during the election race. That's the difference who and when is concerned about the Maidan case being investigated," he said. Noteworthy, Horbatiuk on February 19 said that the General Prosecutor's Office had reported suspicion notices to 66 persons accused of complicity in the Maidan killings. Savchenko entered the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Batkivschyna party and later abandoned membership. She is now an independent MP. Non-factional MP Nadiia Savchenko, who has been charged with plotting a terrorist act and a coup and who has been released from custody on Monday, April 15, has plans to return to her work in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. "The event we have been waiting for over a year," her lawyer Oleksandr Shadrin told Hromadske. "Savchenko plans to return to work in the Verkhovna Rada, I hope we will see her at the next meetings," the lawyer added. According to him, Savchenko's release from custody will have a positive impact on the consideration of the case, because now the defense will not have to be distracted by preventive measures and detention, and "we will focus on the consideration of the case on the merits." Savchenko entered the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the Batkivschyna party, now she is an independent deputy. As UNIAN reported earlier, the court released from custody MP Nadiia Savchenko as the term of her arrest expired on April 16 without being duly extended on time. Horbatiuk says the president has signed laws that have been hindering the trial therefore he also bears responsibility for the dragging probe. Chief of the Special Investigations Department at the General Prosecutor's Office (PGO) of Ukraine Serhiy Horbatiuk says Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko "created problems" in investigating the so-called Maidan cases. "How can I respond to such accusations by president?" Horbatiuk reflected in a comment to LB.ua following an earlier statement by President Poroshenko who claimed it was the prosecutor's inefficiency which had been hindering the investigation into the Maidan killings. "In fact, throughout all these years since 2015, while reporting on my progress, I have constantly been talking about problems accompanying the investigation, including the responsibility or rejection of the president. Had there been a will to help, he could have joined [the investigation] throughout this time. Meanwhile, mentioning during the election race those who are allegedly to blame has nothing to do with the will to help. It's just about a will to find some skapegoats without voicing the problems." Read alsoPoroshenko says progress in Maidan killings probe disappointing He also said the president "must realize the problems and obstacles existing in the investigation." "The biggest problem concerns the trial, where we have a huge number of indictments that the courts have been considering for years so they still haven't seen their completion. Here it is precisely the responsibility of the state leadership, since over almost five years of his [Poroshenko's] term in office, almost half of the courts are understaffed or face the term of the judges' cadence not being extended, which accordingly increases the burden on courts and makes it impossible to consider cases in a shorter time," Horbatiuk said. "The second problem is the activity of the High Council of Justice, with which we have repeatedly filed complaints about the delays in consideration of cases and violations of law by judges. But in practice, there wasn't a single reaction on their part. And the Council also has representatives of the president in it. The third problem is the legislative process. This is about the adoption of amendments to the legislation over these five years, which were detrimental to the investigation and which created grounds for the procedural destruction of cases. These are the so-called 'Lozoviy amendment,' and the loss of authority of investigators who are probing Maidan cases. But the president has signed these laws. Thus, the president personally created problems for investigating Maidan cases," he added. At the same time, Horbatiuk assured "our work has never stopped, despite all the problems they had created for us." As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the reason for the delay in the probe into the killings of protesters at Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square during the Revolution of Dignity was the ineffective work of Chief of the Special Investigations Department at the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, Serhiy Horbatiuk. NABU shall open proceedings for misuse of funds and abuse of power. Kyiv's Solomensky District Court has ordered that the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) launch an investigation against Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy. The relevant court order is published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions. NABU shall open proceedings under Article 210 of the Criminal Code (misuse of funds; budget expenditures, provision of loans from the budget without a budget assignment or in excess of such assignment) and Article 364 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power or official position). Read alsoRada speaker says parliament to work until late October According to the court ruling, at the end of February, a statement was sent by mail with a report on criminal offenses allegedly committed by Parubiy, but the Bureau failed to open proceedings. Now the person who sent that report went to court and Kyiv's Solomensky court took the plaintiff's side, obliging NABU to open proceedings. As UNIAN reported earlier, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy filed a tax declaration stating UAH 550,000 (US$20,507) and over US$42,000 in cash for 2018. KIIS Deputy Chief Anton Hrushetskiy voiced the respondents' answers to the question "Which of the following should the next president do in his first 100 days?" The latest poll by a Kyiv-based International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) says about a third of Ukrainians hope the country's next president will reduce tariffs, lift immunity off lawmakers, judges and the president, as well as speed up the probe into high-profile corruption crimes. According to KIIS Deputy Chief Anton Hrushetskiy, to the question "Which of the following should the next president do in his first 100 days?," the respondents' answers were as follows: 39.1% of Ukrainians believe the president should reduce utility rates, 35.5 % say he must submit bills on lifting immunity off lawmakers, judges, president, 32.4% to start or speed up investigation of corruption-related crimes, 23.3% to start negotiations with Russia, 18.4% to reduce the wages of top officials, 16.4% to start negotiations with the European Union and the United States on Donbas and Crimea, 9.4% to speed up the investigation of crimes against Maidan, 8% to initiate a change in the system of parliamentary elections, i.e. the abolition of majority elections and the transition to a proportional system with open lists, 5.5% to put up for sale premises, cars and other assets of the State Affairs Department, which is engaged in providing the president, 5.2% to initiate the restart of anti-corruption bodies (the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office, 4.6% to seize Russian assets in Ukraine, 4.2% to submit a bill on the referendum, and 3.3% to start accession negotiations with the EU, an UNIAN correspondent reports. Read alsoZelensky to secure landslide win in Ukraine election runoff poll The survey was conducted on April 9-14, 2019. The survey involved 2,004 respondents. The margin of error does not exceed 3.3%. The Ukrainian side offered Russia to hold consultations in The Hague on April 23 and is awaiting a response. Ukraine has lodged a request with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), seeking the release of 24 Ukrainian sailors captured by the Russian Federation in the Kerch Strait in November 2018. "Today, Ukraine filed a request in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), seeking provisional relief against the Russian Federation. The request seeks the release of the three Ukrainian naval vessels and twenty-four servicemen unlawfully seized by the Russian Federation in the Black Sea on November 25, 2018," Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), naval vessels and the personnel on board have complete immunity, meaning that foreign nations may not seize them, detain them, or subject them to legal proceedings. "Russia's seizure of Ukraine's vessels in the Black Sea, continued detention of the vessels and the servicemen on board, and attempted criminal prosecution of those servicemen blatantly violates UNCLOS," the ministry said. On April 1, 2019, following months of efforts to secure the release of its naval vessels and servicemen and Russia's continued, unjustified refusal to do so, Ukraine notified Russia that it was commencing mandatory arbitration under UNCLOS. Ukraine also has requested that ITLOS order immediate provisional relief to Ukraine by releasing its naval ships and 24 servicemen, in light of the urgency of the situation. Read alsoRussia extends Ukrainian sailors' trial until late August "Since their capture on November 25, 2018, Russia has continued to detain Ukraine's naval vessels and its servicemen. The servicemen, who are being held in Russian prisons pending trial for alleged criminal violations of Russia's border control laws, have been subjected to interrogation and involuntary psychological evaluations. If ultimately convicted, they may be sentenced to up to six years in Russian labor camps," it said. "Every additional day of detention harms the Ukrainian servicemen and constitutes a further affront to Ukraine's legal rights under UNCLOS and customary international law. Today's request for provisional relief seeks to protect against the serious and irreparable harm that will be caused by the continued detention of Ukraine's naval vessels and the continued detention and prosecution of its servicemen," the ministry said. The next step in the proceedings will be a hearing before ITLOS on Ukraine's request, it said. "Ukraine expects such a hearing to be scheduled within the next several weeks, and that a decision will issue soon thereafter," the ministry added. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal said in a separate comment: "As part of two weeks' hearings and two weeks after the hearings, a decision will be taken in accordance with practice." According to her, Ukraine is counting on a decision to be taken by the International Tribunal on the immediate release and return of the Ukrainian sailors and ships. The Ukrainian side offered Russia to hold consultations in The Hague next week on Tuesday, April 23, and is awaiting a response. Also, the Foreign Ministry expects that the hearings on the suit at the International Tribunal will be scheduled for the end of April or the beginning of May 2019. Putin's press secretary says there is no such meeting on the agenda. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he does not rule out a meeting of the Normandy Four leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be held in June to decide on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine's Donbas. "I don't rule out I'm saying this for the first time that Russian President Putin will be invited to the celebration of D-Day when Allied troops landed on the coast of Normandy [on June 6, 1944]... The four of us will meet together, and we have a detailed roadmap of what to do so that peace could return to the long-suffering land of Ukraine," Poroshenko said on TV Channel 112 Ukraine. Read alsoRussia's MFA says future of Normandy talks depends on Ukraine's presidential runoff Russian media According to Poroshenko, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would address Putin in May and coordinate their steps with U.S. President Donald Trump. "Already in May or early June, Normandy format documents will be signed, which will provide for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, the withdrawal of heavy equipment and artillery, the disarmament of illegal armed groups and a decision regarding the introduction of UN peacekeepers," the Ukrainian president said. Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, in turn, has not confirmed the Russian president's participation in D-Day events in Normandy in June. The visit to Normandy is not on Putin's June agenda, Peskov told a Russian news agency. The Normandy Four leaders the presidents of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia last met in October 2016. The media group says the information spread by Petro Poroshenko on Facebook as well as in a news report based on an interview given by the president to Radio NV misleads Ukrainians, making them think that the TV channel's media activity is biased. LLC TV Broadcasting Company "Studio 1+1" on April 16, 2019, filed a lawsuit with Kyiv's Pechersky District Court against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and LLC Publishing House "Media-DK" to protect its business reputation, demand a retraction and compensation for moral harm. In its lawsuit, the media group asks the court to declare unreliable and damaging business reputation a number of news reports that were spread by Petro Poroshenko on his official Facebook page, and also announced at a meeting of citizens and posted by Media-DK Publishing House LLC on https://nv.ua/, seeking their retraction within seven days from the date the judgment enters into force. Also, 1+1 media is seeking UAH 1 million (an equivalent of US$37,000) in compensation from President Petro Poroshenko for moral harm. The company will transfer these funds to the Back and Alive army support fund. The media group says the information spread by Petro Poroshenko in a Facebook post as well as in a news report based on an interview given by the president to Radio NV misleads Ukrainians, making them think that the TV channel's media activity is negative, prejudiced and biased in nature and is most likely connected with violations of the law, because the media, according to the president, is also influenced by the owner of the TV channel, who "has declared war on the state," that is, does damage to all citizens of Ukraine. This affects the 1+1 media group's business reputation it has been working on for years, this undermines the credibility and confidence in information activities, and discredits the media holding in the eyes of TV viewers and partners, including international ones. The point at issue are the following statements by the President of Ukraine: "Whatever 1+1 employees harassed by [Ihor] Kolomoisky say about me, it has nothing to do with the truth;" "The main tool for spreading lies over the past months, sadly, was 1+1. This channel has turned into an obedient executor of the political orders of its owner;" "And this has become the cause behind the information war, which the owner of 1+1 has unleashed against the state. [They] did not even have any scruples about rebroadcasting Russian channels' fakes in bulk simply by recording and retransmitting them, except the only thing they translate [them] into Ukrainian. And whatever that channel's workers, harassed by Kolomoisky, say about me, you should know that it has nothing to do with the truth and even slightly with honest journalism;" "And now this channel's work has nothing to do with journalism." Thus, the post and both videos feature Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who actually notes that TV Channel 1+1 works in violation of legislation, editorial policy and journalism ethics and standards, spreading false and misleading information, and also claims that journalists and employees of TV Channel 1+1 act under pressure, influence and harassment of the ultimate beneficial owner. We would like to note that the widespread information is not true. The activities of 1+1 media are in line with the legislation of Ukraine, as well as is being guided by the editorial charter of LLC TV Broadcasting Company "Studio 1+1," which provides that its owner has no right to interfere with creative activity, and channel 1+1 has no obligations to political parties and individual politicians. During election campaigns, the channel does not give preference to any political force, following the principle of equal opportunities and parity. Employees of TV Channel 1+1 act independently and are not subject to interference from the ultimate beneficiary, as well as to any influence or intimidation. The 1+1 media group emphasizes that the accusations and false information generated by the president against the media group, its journalists and employees have reached a critical level. Petro Poroshenko has not provided any evidence to confirm his words either during the spread of this information or as of the day when the lawsuit was filed; the journalists have not heard any apologies either. The president has not taken advantage of this opportunity even when, without being invited, using his status as the head of state, he actually "seized" the live broadcast of the "Right to Power" TV talk show to the surprise of the editorial group and hosts. We would like to stress that the journalists and all employees of 1+1 media have their own political preferences, no one forces them, intimidates or imposes any opinions on them they are guided by generally accepted standards in their work. After all, there are the editorial rules of the free world that are understandable to everyone, and now they are rather an exception in the media in Ukraine than the rule, and 1+1 remains the only TV channel that allows itself objective criticism of the president. We hope that the rights of the channel and the honor of the media group will be protected. There were no casualties among Ukrainian troops. Russia-led forces mounted 12 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in the past 24 hours. "No Ukrainian army casualties were reported in the past day. According to intelligence reports, six invaders were killed and another three were wounded in action," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on April 16, 2019. Read alsoUkraine conducts large-scale air defense drills (Video) During the period under review, Russian occupation forces opened fire from 120mm and 82mm mortars, 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 Novoselivka Druha, Lebedynske, Opytne, Vodiane, Nevelske, and Stanytsia Luhanska. "Since Tuesday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the report said. April 16 2019 Clark Contracts have handed over a new build student accommodation block at 22-24 Potterrow, Edinburgh, on behalf of Curlew Property. Situated a short walk from the University of Edinburgh the build stretches to 52 studio apartments in addition to common rooms and amenity spaces over six floors. Designed by Yeoman McAllister the homes were delivered using off-site construction techniques for assembly and connection of self-contained bathroom pods and fully-fitted mini kitchens on site. Michael Scanlan, director, Clark Contracts said, It is fantastic for us to have completed and handed over this new build student accommodation which was completed within an extremely restricted site in Edinburgh city centre. The University of Edinburgh completed a second student build further along Potterrow in 2014. (@FahadShabbir) Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Tuesday established an emergency control room in Balochistan office to inform the media about rehabilitation activities in rain effected areas ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2019 ) :Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Tuesday established an emergency control room in Balochistan office to inform the media about rehabilitation activities in rain effected areas. Director General, Imran Khan Zarkoon, talking to ptv news while giving the details said the control room would be capable of coping with any type of emergency immediately. Zarkoon briefed about the rescue operation in rain-hit areas and provision of medical facilities to the victims and other step taken for people of such areas. He said relief goods have also been dispatched to the affected areas, adding that he was himself monitoring and visiting the rain-hit areas on the special directives of Balochistan Chief Minister. He said , "Heavy machinery are being utilized to restore communication in villages to help in the rehabilitation process." He assured the government of Balochistan was standing with the people and imparting all facilities and assistance. He said in Balochistan mostly mud houses were blown off as heavy winds hit parts of the province, collapsing walls and electricity poles. However, he said 90 per cent rain related incidents were recorded low this year as compared to previous years as PDMA has already issued weather warnings to the people and called upon them to take up measures ahead of flash urban flooding. Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) issued a special directives for the public to adopt precautionary measures to remain safe during the current rain spell season, he added. He said purpose of establishing control room was to provide authentic data/information about the affected people as well as rehabilitation activities etc. The DG further advised fishermen to take precautionary measures and not to venture in deep sea. He also suggested the masses to avoid unnecessary travel during these days. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2019) Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon is due to arrive on a two-day visit to Russia at the official invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The two presidents are expected to discuss key aspects of bilateral relations and measures to further expand mutually beneficial political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation. The presidents will also exchange opinions on topical regional matters. Following Rahmon's visit, a number of joint documents are expected to be signed. (@FahadShabbir) The United Kingdom sent Apache helicopters to Estonia on Monday to join NATO drills and to enhance the UK military presence in the Eastern European nation, the UK government said in a statement MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2019) The United Kingdom sent Apache helicopters to Estonia on Monday to join NATO drills and to enhance the UK military presence in the Eastern European nation, the UK government said in a statement. "3 Regiment Army Air Corps [3 Regt AAC] is deploying to the Baltics for three months, with Apache attack helicopters of 663 Squadron taking off from their base at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk today," the statement stressed. The corps specifically operate the Apache attack helicopters. According to the UK government, the helicopters are expected to "provide valuable training opportunities" during Spring Storm drills that are scheduled to take place in Estonia between April 29 and May 10. Some 10,000 military personnel from NATO member states are expected to take part in the exercise, according to the data from the bloc. The helicopters are also due to assist the UK-led battlegroup deployed on NATO's enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) in the Baltic states, the bloc's military posture in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The UK government added that this deployment would increase the United Kingdom's presence in Estonia - known as Operation CABRIT - to around 1,000 people, and would make London "the largest contributor to eFP. " "The first deployment of Apache helicopters to Estonia underlines our position at the forefront of NATO. This is a world class machine operated by world class Army aviators and this deployment demonstrates our unwavering commitment to NATO's collective defence," UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who watched the aircraft take off from the airfield, said in a statement. Williamson, an avid critic of Russia, has repeatedly stated that the United Kingdom should boost its defenses to combat various Kremlin threats. In February this year he accused Moscow of "trying to goad the West into a new arms race." And roughly a year ago he made headlines after saying that Russia "should go away and shut up," while responding to reports that Moscow was planning to expel UK diplomats. Moscow repeatedly dismissed Williamson's claims, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once even branding the defense secretary as "minister of war." The bishop of Karwar in Southern India highlights the importance given to Holy Week in his Diocese. Bishop Derek Fernandes, of Karwar Diocese in Southern India, says that the sacredness of Holy Week is emphasized in his Diocese. Speaking to Sr. Carmel Ann of Vatican News, Bishop Fernandes says that during the 40 days of Lent the faithful of his diocese are instructed and accompanied towards a meaningful celebration of the Paschal feast . In the Lenten season the priests of each deanery dedicate a day to a particular parish, visit every Catholic house, meet their people and instruct them on the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They then call them to a common place and listen to Confession. This, he says, has enabled some 98 to 99% of the faithful to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent. On Palm Sunday the focus is on the youth of the parish who take charge of the procession through public roads. This year Christus vivit, the post Synodal document of Pope Francis, has made them aware of the expectation of the Mother Church and generated extra enthusiasm calling them to be responsible youth of the parish. Easter Vigil is celebrated even in the smallest of parishes and follows the Neocatechumenal Way liturgy with a lot of singing and constant interaction with the faithful. The bishop also speaks about why certain liturgies are celebrated even before the specified day. He says that the Chrism Mass is held a week ahead in his diocese, since many parishes are far away from the Cathedral and the presence of every priest at the Chrism Mass is mandatory. This also enables representatives from every parish to accompany their shepherd who joins the rest of his brother priests and the bishop to celebrate the liturgy of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. He also adds that his diocese lays importance on family life and he speaks of his wish that every house be blessed in the presence of all members of the household, for he says, it is not just the house that is blessed but the members of the family residing there. Listen to Bishop Derek Fernandes The Diocese of Karwar, which was erected more than 40 years ago, is part of the Archdiocese of Bangalore in South India that counts 67 parishes and many substations. It cares for over 50 thousand Catholics spread across the district of Karwar in Karnataka. Since 2007, Karwar-born Bishop Derek Fernandes is the spiritual head of this diocese. The new Executive Director of Solidarity with South Sudan reflects on Pope Francis powerful appeal to the young nations rival leaders for peace and pleads with men and women across the world not to forget the people as they struggle to build a future. By Linda Bordoni It took the courage of Pope Francis to get down on his knees and kiss the feet of warring political leaders pleading with them to put their differences behind, and resolve their problems for the good of their people. The rival leaders were South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar who were invited, last week, to take part in a Vatican-hosted spiritual retreat led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Their enmity is at the root of South Sudans civil war - a conflict that has raged on for years, killing thousands of people, displacing millions and preventing the newest country in the world from sowing the seeds of a peaceful future. Meanwhile, on the ground in South Sudan, an organization of religious congregations is working hard to train much needed teachers, nurses, midwives, local farmers and community leaders. The organization is called Solidarity with South Sudan and its new Executive Director, Fr Jim Greene, spoke to Vatican News about the work being done, about the effects of Pope Francis powerful gesture and appeal for peace, and about how important it is for the people of the East Central African nation to know they have the support of the international community and of their neighbours. Listen to the interview with Fr Jim Greene Fr Greene speaks about the work, the history and the mission of Solidarity with South Sudan explaining its main office is in the capital Juba, but that it has many placements in different States. It is made up, he says, of mostly religious men and women who are committed to building much needed capacities for the young nation that gained independence in 2011. He points out that the organization actually goes back further than that to 2005 when the Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed and the bishops of Sudan came to Rome and asked religious congregations to help accompany the nation on its journey forward. He says it was decided that what could be done was to provide trainers, who in turn could train much needed teachers, nurses, midwives, farmers etc. Thats how it started. We celebrated our 10th anniversary last year of active presence in South Sudan. We were there for independence and that whole euphoria of independence with the sense of a journey coming to an end; we were there in 2013 when this most terrible civil war broke out he says. And in fact, he continues, we had a newly built teachers college in Malakal that we had to abandon because it was destroyed by gunfire. The suffering has affected us deeply. Fr Greene goes on to reveal that members of the organization have suffered a series of attacks including a violent attack against the personnel in Yambio - but the decision was taken that Solidarity would stay in South Sudan and that it would continue to operate to the best of its ability to serve the Church and prepare nurses and teachers in the best possible way. Fr Greene says he hasnt personally witnessed episodes of violence since he has been in Juba for the past two months, but knows of the violence that takes place in other areas and of the impossibility for priests, for example, to go into volatile rural areas. He also speaks of the suffering of so many displaced people who are still in camps, not only because of political instability and fear of violence, but also because of food insecurity and the need for assistance. Revitalized Peace Accord Regarding the Revitalized Peace Accord signed in September last year by South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, and by the Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition chairman, Riek Machar, and several other armed groups, Fr Greene says it generated a great sense of hope but also revealed the great fragility of the agreement. According to the deal, the armed forces must be unified, and a transitional government should be formed by May 2019. However, at the midway point, the agreement's implementation is facing many challenges including: a general lack of funding needed to carry out reforms; little progress on the reintegration of armed groups; military offenses against non-signatory groups; reports of assaults on peace monitors; and localized violence including accounts of mass rapes in Bentiu. The peace deal is being implemented amid an ongoing economic crisis and widespread food insecurity. As a result, many displaced South Sudanese feel that it is unsafe to return home. Fr Greene points out the pastoral letter written by the bishops of Sudan highlights a feeling of pessimism based on a lack of implementation of the accord. The people are very aware of the forces that can tear the peace asunder but there is that desire to ask people to make that final effort for peace he says, reflecting on the fact that the peace accord was premised on a lot of other things happening before the return of Riek Machar to South Sudan on 12 May, and those things have not happened. Peace is not just a shaking of hands, but the building-up of confidence and of structures that are inclusive and mutually accepted he says. Fr Greene also says the international community and the countries around South Sudan play a vital role in convincing people that peace is important. Peace is important, peace is achievable Speaking of last weeks Spiritual Retreat in the Vatican, led by the Most Reverend Justin Welby and hosted by Pope Francis, Fr Greene says he was very struck by this very unique gesture. I am not a Church historian, but I cannot think of any other occasion where the Pope would have invited those people for an ecumenical retreat in the Vatican and ended up kissing their feet he says. All that, he adds, speaks of a very unique gesture, of trying to break beyond the normal rules of diplomacy and say peace is important and peace is also achievable. He says that if the leaders too are willing to step outside their comfort zones and to reach across to each other in mutual respect and esteem than peace is possible Otherwise we will descend into violence. Praying for peace in South Sudan Fr Greene concludes with an appeal to all men and women of goodwill to continue to think of South Sudan, to read about it, to take an interest in it, to pray for peace there and to support initiatives for peace. Its a young country, he points out, where 41% of the population is under the age of 15. Yes, its a country that needs an awful lot of help, but its a country where the people are full of optimism and there are also people who have been deeply traumatized by the events of a past in marked by decades of violence. But, he insists, there is the desire to come out of that, and I would hope there is a willingness of the international community and the international Church to reach out and say: we are willing to support you on your faltering steps towards peace and development. The Broken Yolk Cafe celebrated the grand opening of its first Las Vegas location today at Town Square by giving fans free pancakes for a year, along with an official pancake flip by The Broken Yolk Cafe CEO John Gelastopoulos, Las Vegas franchise owner Randy Corrigan and partner Barry Tu (Photo credit: Eugene Dela Cruz, one7 communications). Hundreds of breakfast and brunch enthusiasts lined up before the doors opened at 6 a.m. for their chance to receive one of 100 Golden Pancake Cards, good for free pancakes once a week for an entire year. Guests then enjoyed everything from traditional bacon and eggs to Broken Yolk Cafe signature dishes, including Tiki Toast, Golden State Benedict, Fiesta Burrito, Vegas-only specialty cocktails and more. Keeping with the restaurants whimsical personality, Gelastopoulos, Corrigan and Tu officially opened the restaurant by flipping oversized pancakes. The Broken Yolk Cafe is perfect for Las Vegas, said Corrigan. Were excited to be here in Town Square and look forward to bringing our high-quality, homemade food to the community. Start your day with a good meal, refreshing drink and come hang out with us. Clark County also honored the restaurant with an official proclamation on behalf of County Commissioner Michael Naft welcoming the new restaurant to Town Square. The breakfast and brunch spot is located in Town Square at 6805 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Suite #125, Las Vegas NV 89119 and is open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. When Hitler was defeated by the Allies in World War II, he left behind almost no post-war plans. It had been tantamount to treason under the Nazi regime to even mention the possibility of defeat, and by the end, practically every single resource available had been poured into the war effort. What remained after Germany's surrender was a grieving populace mourning the loss of millions of their people and a countryside that had been shelled, bombed, and trampled by tanks and troops for years.Life in post-war Germany was very, very difficult for a very long time, and the country's rise out of that brutal era has its own word in the German language. They call it the "Wirtschaftswunder," which translates to the "Economic Miracle."Their situation after the defeat of the Nazis was so dire that nothing short of a miracle - and the back-breaking efforts of the Allies and the hardy Berliners themselves - could have saved the country. It was also one of the most unprecedented situations in world history; no cities have been through anything quite like Germany after World War II.These amazing photos from apfelauge that show what Berlin, the German capital looked like in 1946, just after WWII. Danang is planning to transform itself into a smart city by 2030 Recently, the Danang People's Committee held a conference to announce the project of building a smart city in Danang in front about 200 experts, equipment suppliers, co-operation partners, and foreign partners. At the seminar, Le Trung Chinh, Deputy Chairman of the Danang City People's Committee, shared about the plans to transform Danang into a smart city, the overall architecture plan of which was issued in January 2018. "In the past 10 years, Danang City has been at the No.1 position in Vietnam ICT Information and Communication Technology Application Index. In particular, Danang achieved the highest score in IT application, he said. The framework of the overall smart city architecture has been approved by the Danang City People's Committee, identifying six pillars on the architecture framework of 17 aspects of ICT application, including: intelligent management; smart economy; smart traffic; intelligent environment; as well as smart life; and smart citizens. The project is an important step towards the implementation of Politburo Resolution No.43-NQ/TW of 2019 on the construction and development of Danang by 2030, with vision to 2045. In particular, by 2030 Danang will have completed the construction of smart urban areas and smart urban networks in the country and the ASEAN region. The Vietnam Association of Information Technology also handed over the certificate to the Danang People's Committee showing that the city lead the Vietnam ICT Index for the past 10 years (2009-2018). Simultaneously, the Danang Department of Information and Communications entered into a co-operation with partners for the construction of the smart city. Three phases of building Danang into a smart city include: Phase 1, from now until 2020, will implement smart infrastructure, platform, and data. The total implementation expense is VND939 billion ($40.8 million), including VND550 billion ($23.9 million) from public-private partnership (PPP) projects and VND46 billion ($2 million) in other means from the private sector. Phase 2, from 2021 to 2025, will smarten up existing applications with a total cost of VND1.191 trillion ($51.8 million). In particular, PPP capital will account for VND700 billion ($30.4 million), ODA loans for VND150 billion ($6.5 million), and enterprises will invest VND36 billion ($1.56 million). Phase 3, from 2026 to 2030, will deploy IT applications on the basis of activities in the previous period. According to Nguyen Thanh Phuc, director of the Department of Computerisation under the Ministry of Information and Communications, If Danang successfully builds a smart city, it will save VND1 trillion ($43.5 million) annually, as well as save 10-20 per cent of the resources it uses. F1 chief executive officer Chase Carey compared the Hanoi track to Britain's Silverstone AFP/Nhac NGUYEN Carey was speaking Monday (Apr 15) after inspecting initial work on the 5.6-km track that will combine existing roads with newly-built routes in the Vietnamese capital, which is hosting its first F1 race from April 2020. "We think this track can really be a special race that provides some uniquely exciting racing and competition," he told reporters. "It's the combination of a city race - we're in the city centre - a street race which always has some special elements to it, and a track that I think we've really had the opportunity to work (on) from day one," said Carey. The course has been designed "in a way that we think can deliver some special racing for fans," he added. The track is around Hanoi's My Dinh stadium, about 13 km from the city centre after it was deemed too expensive to hold the race in the city's famed Old Quarter. Carey compared plans for the Hanoi track to Britain's Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, which he called "historic" sites. The track is around Hanoi's My Dinh stadium, about 13 kilometres from the city centre AFP/Nhac NGUYEN Carey said he was happy with Hanoi's pre-race progress so far but warned organisers to keep at it. "There's a lot to get done, so the right thing is to continue to worry, not to take things for granted." Formula One announced last year it would host its first ever race in Vietnam as it seeks to gain a foothold in Asia, where the franchise has a patchy track record. The Marina Bay Sands street track night race in Singapore remains F1's crown jewel in Asia, with the city state's Grand Prix drawing 263,000 fans last year. But Malaysia, South Korea and India have all pulled the plug on hosting races in recent years after hemorrhaging money. Vietnam - where racing is a marginal sport - is hoping to avoid those pitfalls. It has not said how much it will cost to host the event, but has vowed not to dip into government coffers to fund it. Instead the country's largest privately-owned conglomerate VinGroup is the main financial backer. Carey hopes Vietnam will adopt a winning formula to ensure it doesn't go the way of past flops. "It's got to have all the elements that creates the race at the centre, creates that excitement, and that energy and that breadth of activities that really enables it to be the spectacle we want it to be," he said. Go-Viet is slowing down the competitive push against Grab Entering Vietnam on August 1, 2018 through Ho Chi Minh City, Go-Viet has been competing in the local motorcycle ride-hailing market with the two main strategies of price competition and building an image of a small Vietnamese company challenging Grab in a David and Goliath set up. They "burned" their money through launching a loud promotion campaign offering rides for only VND5,000 ($0.22) for eight kilometres and charging no commission for drivers. At the same time, the firm tried to tie its brand closer to the market by taking on the red of the Vietnamese flag, contrasting with the green of Grab. Thanks to the attractive incentives, Go-Viet quickly captured the hearts of both customers and drivers. Go-Viet's leader stated that they captured 35 per cent of the two-wheeler ride-hailing segment in the city and their app was downloaded more than 1.5 million times in the first month. Despite regularly releasing information about capital injections from investors, Go-Jek still has to balance investment between Vietnam and Indonesia, Go-Jek's hometown, while also developing its market share in other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. In terms of total investment and market capitalisation, it is easy to see that Go-Jek is not on equal footing with Grab. In addition, Grab generates far more revenue than Go-Jek, as the former is about to complete its Southeast Asian ecosystem while Go-Jek is only beginning to expand from its home market. Previously, there was information about Go-Viet's internal problem that CEO Nguyen Vu Duc and deputy general director Nguyen Bao Linh of Go-Viet resigning and requesting a hefty reimbursement from the firm. However, Go-Viet stated that Nguyen Vu Duc and Nguyen Bao Linh have taken on a new advisory role for Go-Viet and Go-Jek. The two of them will focus on strategic advisory to help expand Go-Jek in Southeast Asia. No matter what the truth is, Go-Viet seems to be changing its way of playing. It seems that Go-Viet is also gradually growing exhausted as it stopped its aggressive promotion campaigns. On January 21, 2019, after half a year of operations, Go-Viet also raised its commission to riders to 20 per cent, which is equal to Grab. Go-Viet customers number less than those of Grab, while lower rates result in lower earnings for driver partners, slowing down the growth of the Go-Viet fleet. Fewer riders may make it difficult for customers to place a booking and could affect service quality by lengthened waiting times. In addition, Go-Viet may have run into legal difficulties as the two services Go-Car and Go-Pay they promised to roll out in 2018 are nowhere to be seen. Regarding Go-Car, Go-Viet joined Vietnam at a time when transport infrastructure problems are at a peak, with heavy traffic jams and bad pollution which may be exacerbated by Grabs growing fleet. In any case, Go-Viet was unable to secure a licence for its Go-Car services. Previously, Go-Viet has yet to be approved to launch ride-hailing services by the Ministry of Transport (MoT), however, the company was already operating in Ho Chi Minh City. After that, the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee submitted Dispatch No.449/UBND-DT to the MoT about receiving the pilot scheme to deploy science and technology applications to manage and connect contractual passenger transport activities by Go-Viet. According to the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee, Go-Viet launched its ride-hailing app in Ho Chi Minh City before the official approval was issued by the MoT. Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen also proposed the MoT to ask Go-Viet to only contract with transport enterprises which have been licensed by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport. Another binding condition is that the vehicles must be granted badges by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation before December 1, 2018. Regarding Go-Pay, if the company wants to operate in the payments segment, they must get a licence from the State Bank or shake hands with a licensed enterprise. Grab has spent many years to sign with Moca to provide Grabpay through its Moca service. This requirement may significantly delay Go-Viets plans to launch Go-Pay. Some players advise that animal feed facilities should be upgraded in order to become acceptable in new markets With the diseases threatening the Vietnamese husbandry industry at the moment, the hygiene and nutrition of livestock and poultry have received more attention to minimise the risk of infection. However, local experts and authorities said that animal feed and meat and bone meal ingredients are also reasons behind the spreading of the diseases. Last year, the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City found that Hanoi-based TCDI Co., Ltd.s 19 containers of meat and bone meal weighing a total of 450 tonnes failed to meet requirements on veterinary hygiene. The department issued a fine of VND80 million ($3,480) to the company and asked it to re-export the batch. Meat and bone meal are important raw materials for protein and amino acids in animal feed. Meat and bone meal are produced from recycled animal protein, using by-products like lean meat, inedible parts, and animal carcasses of cows, pigs, and chicken. However, meat and bone meal can also carry E. coli or salmonella bacteria that cause intestinal infections, diarrhoea, and typhoid or germs spreading blue-ear and foot-and-mouth disease, according to healthcare experts. In European countries, bone meal is not allowed to be used as a material to produce animal feed. It is only used to produce feed for pets and fertiliser, in order to prevent spreading among countries across the continent. According to a VIR source, in Vietnam a large amount of animal feed makers use these materials as an additional source of protein. At present, bone meal is not produced in Vietnam, with the main supply coming from the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Europes ban created an abundance in meat and bone meal, reducing the selling price far below products imported from other countries. This price gap is the reason that some importers break the law by importing poor quality bone meal of unknown origin to Vietnam, increasing the risk of diseases. According to statistics published by the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam, the country imports 500,000-600,000 tonnes of meat and bone meal each year to serve the animal feed production sector. However, the local authorities found numerous violations in imported batches. In 2016 the Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City found violations in the declaration of origin as well as the quality of meat and bone meal products arriving to Cat Lai port in Ho Chi Minh City. Despite the abundance of substandard raw materials, several makers, including Mavin Group, are aware of the importance of the use of safe meat and bone meal to avoid diseases. David John Whitehead, chairman of Vietnam-Australia joint ventureanimal feed maker Mavin Group, told VIR that the group imports meat and bone meal from the US, Canada, and a number of European countries. In order to get the best raw materials, Mavin, which has invested about $120 million in Vietnam so far, chooses reputable Vietnamese importers. Imported materials must have microbiological safety certificates and satisfy global agricultural practices. Before importing, raw materials are thoroughly inspected for both quality in protein, calcium, and phosphorus content, and tested for bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, among others. Furthermore, Mavin has an international-standard laboratory with modern equipment and links with large and reputable external testing centres, ensuring accurate test results. A number of enterprises, including Indonesian-invested animal feed producer Japfa Comfeed Vietnam, also said no to the protein resource extracted from meat and bone meal four years ago. Instead, the company takes protein from soybean meal and poultry meal. Along with the risk of disease, Japfa Comfeed Vietnam saw that the protein volume of meat and bone meal is not stable, affecting the quality of feed as well as the nutrition for the animals. Instead, we use meat meal made from the head and viscera of chickens with a high protein volume, said Nguyen Chi Cong, deputy general director of Japfa Comfeed Vietnam. Currently, this compnay is developing a system of five factories and thousands of agents throughout the country. Narrowing market In addition to animal feed ingredients, another headache for animal feed producers is the narrowing market. Cong confirmed to VIR that recently the producers market shares have changed significantly. Due to China banning meat imports from Vietnam, along with the emergence of numerous domestic businesses in the field such as Masan Nutri-Science, Hoa Phat Dong Nai Feeds, and Vingroup (after acquiring a part of Hung Vuong Corporations subsidiary Viet Thang Feeds JSC), foreign-invested companies market share has dropped to 55-60 per cent now. Moreover, domestic companies which purchase materials and ingredients for livestock feed domestically at a cheaper price have the advantage over importers. This is one of the reasons why the market share of foreign-invested companies has shrunk, added Cong. According to Japfa Comfeeds market survey, the livestock feed market share of C.P. Vietnam Corporation is 13 per cent, while Japfa Comfeed, Cargill, Mavin Austfeed, De Heus, and others hold only 5-6 per cent, with the overall capacity of one million tonnes a year each. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) showed that there were around 20 major foreign-invested companies producing livestock feed. However, they made up 70 per cent of the market, while 180 Vietnamese businesses accounted for the remaining 30 per cent. In fact, with a closed production chain, foreign-invested businesses not only dominate the livestock feed market, but also cover almost the entire market of breeding animals and veterinary medicine. Seeking new opportunities In order to overcome difficulties on the domestic market, Mavin is looking for export opportunities to size up production in the near future. We are now developing livestock and aqua feed for Cambodia and Laos. A new 2,000 square metre warehouse is being built in Phnom Penh to support our business in Cambodia. We estimate sales at this market to reach 30,000 tonnes per year. We also plan to provide feed, veterinary, and feed additive services to livestock producers in Cambodia and Laos, Whitehead of Mavin told VIR. We are the first enterprise in Vietnam to overcome the strict technical barriers to export pork meat to Myanmar, and are planning to export the first shipment of fish fillets in late 2019. We also developed duck breeding and farming in late 2018 and are preparing to scale up some factories and export duck meat in the future, he added. However, other firms are still seeing great opportunities in Vietnam. For instance, a few months ago, US-backed Cargill Vietnam opened a new $28 million feed mill, also its 12th in Vietnam, in the southern province of Binh Duong to better serve livestock farmers in southern Vietnam. Meanwhile Thailands C.P. decided to invest in a processing plant in the central province of Binh Dinh and South Koreas CJ Corporation inaugurated its sixth feed mill in Vietnam in Binh Dinh. According to the MARDs Department of Livestock Production, there are around 220 animal nutrition facilities in Vietnam now, with the total annual designed capacity of over 31 million tonnes, much higher than the earlier forecast 25 million tonnes in demand in 2020. That is why in the face of other players expansion plans, Japfa Comfeed is rather modest in its ambitions, the company told VIR that it has no plans to develop a new factory in the next four years, but scaling up their existing facilities. In my opinion, the players who want to survive in this game should look to upgrade machinery and improve the quality of products to pass requirements for new markets, said Cong of Japfa Comfeed Vietnam. The accident occurred at an aromatics production factory run by Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp., a Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) subsidiary, in Taiwan earlier this month, with a large explosion followed by a dense plume of smoke rising into the sky. No one was harmed in the explosion which was the result of a faulty or damaged pipe supplying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the facility. Up to now, the fire damage has not been released, but the incident has been a wake-up call for the groups facilities across the world. In Vietnam, Formosa Group operates a $10.4 billion steel complex in the central province of Ha Tinh, while many subsidiaries of the Formosa family are operating in different production fields in Dong Nai, including Formosa Taffeta Dong Nai, Formosa Taffeta Vietnam (textile & dying), and Formosa Gear (mechanical components). In this April, Vietnam witnessed two factory fires. The first fire broke out at Pan Pacific Logistics JSC in Song Than II Industrial Zone in the southern province of Binh Duong on April 11. Firefighters tried to bring the fire at Pan Pacific Logistics JSC under control Another fire on the very next day (April 12) destroyed a 1,000 square metre manufacturing area in Hanois Nam Tu Liem district, killing at least eight people. A fire destroyed an entire manufacturing area in Hanois South Tu Liem district All four facilities of the manufacturing area were totally destroyed by the fire. The victims were living in a plastic trash bin manufacturing facility at the time of the incident. The rescue team is currently searching for people reported missing, local authorities confirmed to the media. Fires at manufacturing facilities have increased in both number and severity of damage, reported the Police Department of Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue under the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). Due to the huge stockpiles of flammable materials, goods, machines, and gadgets, industrial zones are always under threat of fire. Data collected by the Department for Economic Zones Management under the Ministry of Investment and Planning indicates that Vietnam has had more than 300 industrial zones in operation or under construction, spanning a total area of 96,300ha. The main hosts of those mega manufacturing facilities are the provinces of Bac Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai. According to the MPS, in 2017 alone industrial zones accounted for 43 per cent of fire-related accidents in the country. Police seize 600kg of meth in central Nghe An province The drugs were stuffed in speaker boxes which were placed in a truck. It was going to be transported to another place. Four people were arrested for their involvement in this case. Police said they are investigating the source of the meth and where it was to be shipped to. Hotel de la Coupole has brought back the tantalising mixture of colonial French grandeur and native culture Sapa was adored for A must-see destination Since the turn of the 21st century, the tourism industry in Sapa, Northern Vietnam had been on the ascent. With each passing year, the standard grade of hotels had been climbing slowly. However, at the end of 2018, images of a newly-opened resort in this heavenly mountain retreat went viral across the globe. On seeing the magnificent Hotel de la Coupole MGallery, luxury travellers from all over the world started making arrangements to visit North Vietnam. With the precipitous slopes of the awe-inspiring Hoang Lien Mountains in the background, the hotel is a true spectacle, one that seems to belong to the realm of fantasy. Backed by the projects main investor, Sun Group, architect Bill Bensley described as the king of exotic luxury resorts by Time Magazine pulled out all the stops when conjuring up the design for this outstanding international five-star accommodation, which is already being lauded as an inimitable creation and a masterpiece of architecture. Architect Bill Benseley dreamed Hotel de la Coupole MGallery as the "Versailles in the clouds" Versailles in the clouds A true visionary with an eye for the spectacular, Bensley has turned Sapa into a Versailles in the clouds with Hotel de la Coupole, which is also a homage to the halcyon days of old Indochina, one that will have guests feeling as though they have been spirited away to a bygone era. Stepping into the lobby, guests will soon see how Bensley has infused the interiors of Hotel de la Coupole with lush haute couture textures and the vibrant colours of the ethnic hill tribes that have populated the Hoang Lien Mountains for many centuries. The result is a fabulous blend of styles that will captivate each guest from the moment they check in at the reception. Guests will be treated to the height of luxury in each and every one of the 249 modern and spacious rooms basking in the fabulous attention to detail of the decor throughout the hotel, with gorgeous artwork, tribal patterns, state-of-the-art facilities, lavish furnishings, and vintage collectibles, all artfully and elegantly arranged throughout the accommodations. Sapa market offers a wide range of handicrafts and souvenirs created by local hill tribes Outside each window, they will also find panoramic views of the north-western mountains and when they step out on the balconies, they will be able to drink in the crisp, cool mountain air. Just a short walk from the hotel, guests can easily immerse themselves in the local culture at the bustling Sapa market, where HMong, Thai, Red Dzao, and other hill tribes sell various handicrafts and souvenirs. Superlative, five-star services The indoor, heated swimming pool Le Grand Bassin boasts spectacular arched columns and an elaborate ceiling composed of marble and mosaic. After a day on the slopes, guests will be able to have a refreshing swim beneath the crystal chandeliers before heading to the fitness centre or Nuage the in-house spa which offers various rejuvenating packages that will have guests feeling as though they are walking on air. For large events, the resort offers a 435sq.m ballroom that can host up to 570 guests. Besides the spacious auditorium, there are six fully-equipped meeting rooms and four board rooms for executive meetings. The superlative, five-star, international standard services also extend to the restaurants at Hotel de la Coupole. At Chic guests can expect a dining experience on a par with the Michelin-star restaurants of Paris. The chef and his team have crafted a menu featuring sublime haute cuisine with classical French dishes as well as traditional Sapa staples, all of which are elevated by fresh local ingredients. A range of delectable French and local cuisine as well as special artisanal Marou chocolate stand ready to transport guests into a world of exquisite tastes When sojourning in Sapa at the top of Hotel de la Coupole, guests will adore Absinthe bar the jewel in this five-star accommodations crown. While sipping on a perfect cocktail and sharing delicious plates of tapas, guests can kick back and relax, while admiring stunning views of the mountains in a cosy setting with an open fireplace. Guests can also indulge in all kinds of delectable desserts and pastries at Cacao cafe. The chocolate-based treats are all made with the single origin, artisanal Marou, described as the best chocolate you have never tasted by the New York Times. Whichever decadent treat you choose, it can be complemented with a hot chocolate or a perfect cappuccino made by the baristas at Cacao. The cable car station to the top of Fansipan is right next to Hotel de la Coupole Sapa MGallery Conquer Fansipan in style Naturally, Fansipan also known as the rooftop of Indochina is one of Sapas greatest attractions and it is now more accessible than ever before thanks to Fansipan Cable Car. Also developed by Sun Group, this project took several years of back-breaking work as engineers and labourers achieved what some said was impossible building a three-cable car system that could conquer the peak of Fansipan. Fully operational since February 2016, the cable car offers breath-taking views on the ride to the top. Hotel de la Coupole is conveniently located right next to Fansipan cable car station. Riding in the cabin, passengers can feast their eyes not only on the heavenly mountainous landscapes but also the stunning terraced rice fields voted as one of the seven most beautiful and impressive such sights in Asia and the world by readers of US magazine Travel and Leisure. They will also see rural villages and carpets of wild azalea flowers, and so much more in a part of the world that has truly been blessed with an abundance of natural beauty. Upon reaching the peak of Mount Fansipan, travellers can admire the newly built complex of spiritual architecture, all of which has been developed by Sun Group to honour Vietnams highest peak. A trip to this inspirational destination can now also include a visit to Sun World Fansipan Legend, where visitors can be introduced to some of the traditional dances and musical instruments that are unique to the hill tribes of Vietnams northwest. Hotel de la Coupole Sapa MGallery welcomes visitors looking for a lavish getaway There is no shortage of magical experiences awaiting guests who choose to stay at Hotel de la Coupole Sapa MGallery, and why would you choose to stay anywhere else when in Sapa? If you are going to travel to Heaven on Earth, why settle for anything less than the very best five-star experience? Samsung has done much for localities and people across Vietnam Nguyen Duy Thanh was born and raised in Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province, a peaceful land over 90 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City. Three years ago, he was a quiet young man with a burning passion for IT. Since returning from the WorldSkills Competition 2015 in Brazil where he became the first Vietnamese contestant to win a bronze medal in Information Technology Software Solutions since the country first took part in the competition in 2007, Thanh is now more virile, mature, animated, and is currently one of the outstanding employees of Samsungs Vietnam Mobile Research and Development Centre (SVMC). Following that first bronze medal for Vietnam in 2015, the Vietnamese flag once again flew high two years later at the awards ceremony of the 44th WorldSkills Competition 2017 in Abu Dhabi. There, Nguyen Ba Phuoc also walked away with a bronze medal in Information Technology Software Solutions. Both Thanh and Phuoc were selected, supported, and trained by Samsung for the competition. Following these successes, in May 2018 Samsung signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training to support and train Vietnamese contestants and experts for the 45th WorldSkills Competition 2019 in Kazan, Russia. Throughout this programme, Samsung will provide training in mechatronics, a key field of 4.0 technology that will be of vital use during the competition. The achievements of these two candidates demonstrate the effective support that Samsung offers to Vietnamese talent in the IT arena and serve as an inspiration for the younger generations of Vietnam, while at the same time asserting to the world the intelligence, skilful workmanship, as well as the efforts and determination of Vietnamese people. The inspiring achievements of the Vietnamese contestants at the WorldSkills Competition in particular are just some of the moments of joy and triumph seen during Samsungs 10-year journey to grow along with and elevate the community around it. Samsungs social initiatives started from the inside in 2010 with the companys voluntary blood donation programme Chung dong mau Viet. Since its inception, the programme mobilised more than 100,000 employees to donate a total of 62,000 units of blood so far. In 2018, Samsung also organised the Tiep lua thanh xuan blood donation programme, collecting an astounding 17,774 units of blood from 21,978 employees. Alongside its workforce initiatives, aiming to raise the new generation of Vietnamese engineers and tech experts, Samsung has provided 120 scholarships worth VND50 million ($2,170) each to outstanding senior technology students. Running annually in Vietnam since 2015, the Samsung Collegiate Programming Competition is another activity under the Samsung Talent Programme which creates a useful intellectual playground for Vietnamese IT students. Apart from raising IT and tech talent, Samsungs corporate social responsibility activities take a more holistic approach to promote education among Vietnamese youth by building schools for poor students in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen. The corporation is also planning to build another school in Ho Chi Minh City. Another major community programme is the Hope Village project under which Samsung Vietnam has provided VND22 billion ($956,500) to support hundreds of poor households in Cao Bang and Thai Nguyen to buy buffalos. After two years, the project now includes a training programme to boost farmer productivity and improve living standards in the two localities. Samsung also implements numerous other annual community activities, such as supporting flood victims, providing wheelchairs, and donating water filtration systems to 10 kindergartens in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, as well as improving and installing water filtration systems for 26 primary and secondary schools in Bac Giang province. Over the past 10 years, Samsung has been striving to contribute to the development of this dynamically growing market and its people, wishing to grow along the communities where it operates. Listen to a panel of prominent Washington journalists as they deliberate the week's headline news beginning with the arrest of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. Join moderator Paul Brandus, White House Correspondent for West Wing Reports, Tracy Wilkinson for Los Angeles Times, and Jonathan Broder for Newsweek, as they discuss this and other Issues in the News. Jonathan Evans of VOA's Learning English contributed to this report. International aid agencies and government forces are racing against time to help the hundreds of thousands affected by Cyclone Idai. The storm, which hit on March 14, has killed nearly 1,000 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and many others are still missing. One of the worst affected areas is the port city of Beira, along Mozambique's coast. More than 150,000 displaced persons from three neighboring areas around Beira are being sheltered in the city. The international medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said Monday that thousands of families are still struggling to find food, shelter and health care services, and remain at high risk to contract illnesses such as cholera and malaria. "At first, we were treating up to 200 patients a day in just one cholera treatment unit," said Quezia Monteiro, an MSF infectious diseases specialist. To date, MSF and Ministry of Health teams have treated more than 3,400 cholera patients in the flood-affected region. MSF has provided logistical, technical and planning support to the Ministry of Health for a cholera vaccination campaign in the remote town of Buzi, as well as in Dondo, Mafambisse, Matua and Tica. MSF also helped local health officials distribute mosquito nets, soap and chlorine solution to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. "The importance of health care is undeniable, but dignity is also key," said Joaquim Guinart, MSF's project coordinator in Buzi. "In the days after we distributed soap and chlorine solution ... one woman thanked me, saying she had not been able to wash clothes in the three weeks since the cyclone," he said. Beira mayor Daviz Simango told VOA that everyone there has a role to play in the rebuilding effort. "We are going to rebuild the city. Your hands will also help to rebuild the city. So, I think they will be useful to us." But in nearly a month since Cyclone Idai destroyed their world, survivors see no end in sight to the many problems caused by the storm. The fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday prompted fund-raising appeals in the United States, as people horrified by the blaze began making commitments to restore a global landmark even before the flames were extinguished. The New York-based French Heritage Society and the Go Fund Me crowdsourcing platform were among the first to offer help for a cathedral that is a must-see destination for visitors to Paris from all over the world. French President Emmanuel Macron said an international campaign would be launched to raise funds for the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral. The French Heritage Society, an American non-profit group dedicated to preserving French architectural and cultural treasures, launched a web page on Monday to raise money for the cathedral's restoration. "Notre Dame is obviously an architectural marvel and most certainly a monument that should be restored," Jennifer Herlein, the executive director of the society, said by phone. Herlein could not immediately say how much her organization had raised for Notre Dame on Monday. Eventually, the funds raised will go directly to the cathedral, she said. The organization, which was founded in 1982, gave two grants last year totaling more than $430,000 for restoration projects at France's national library, she said. 50 campaigns At the website GoFundMe, more than 50 campaigns related to the cathedral fire had been launched globally on Monday, John Coventry, a spokesman for Go Fund Me, said by email. "In the coming hours we'll be working with the authorities to find the best way of making sure funds get to the place where they will do the most good," Coventry said. Some of the Go Fund Me campaigns had not listed any money raised by late Monday, and several joke campaigns were created through Go Fund Me to help Quasimodo, the fictional character in Victor Hugo's 19th century novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." "I think the challenge will be whether or not people who give the money agree with those who are doing the rebuilding about how the cathedral should be rebuilt," said Lisa Bitel, a professor of religion and history at the University of Southern California. "This is a national monument in France and they will not spare money to rebuild," Bitel said. "I don't think the Americans will get much of a say in how to do it." Notre Dame Cathedral has looked to international donors for past renovation efforts. In 2017, Michel Picaud, president of Friends of Notre Dame De Paris, told the New York Times his group planned to organize gala dinners, concerts and other events to raise funds in France and the United States for restoration work at the cathedral. The European Union has warned Washington that any move to allow U.S. citizens to sue foreign firms doing business in Cuba could lead to a World Trade Organization challenge and a cycle of counter-claims in European courts. The EU has serious concerns over the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the practice of suspending on a rotating six-month basis a section of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that would allow such suits, principally from Cuban-Americans. The comments came in a letter seen by Reuters from EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and dated April 10. The two EU officials called on Washington to adhere to a 1998 agreement to grant a consistent waiver for EU companies and citizens while the bloc suspends a WTO challenge over the issue. "Failing this, the EU will be obliged to use all means at its disposal, including in cooperation with other international partners, to protect its interests," the letter said. "The EU is considering a possible launch of the WTO case." The letter also said that EU courts were empowered to allow EU companies to recover any losses caused by claims over Cuba. It said that an overwhelming majority of the 50 largest claimants, making up more than 70 percent of the value of claims, had assets in the European Union. "This could trigger a self-defeating cycle of claims that will impair the business climate, without bringing justice to holders of claims, or impacting the situation in Cuba in any positive way," the two EU officials wrote. The Trump administration announced on March 4 it would allow lawsuits by U.S. citizens against dozens of Cuban companies on Washington's blacklist. However, it stopped short of allowing legal action against foreign firms who had used property confiscated by the Cuban government since the 1959 revolution though it left the door open to doing so in the future. Pompeo earlier this month extended to May 1 the waiver for foreign firms. Trump's move marked an intensification of U.S. pressure on Cuba and also appeared aimed at punishing Havana over its support for Venezuela's socialist president, Nicolas Maduro. The European Union said it also wanted to further democracy and human rights in Cuba and to find a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela. Chile will soon start punishing rampant street sexual harassment against women and girls with fines and prison terms but getting victims to speak up will be a significant challenge, experts said Monday. A law passed this month and expected to come into force within weeks aims to curb street harassment ranging from lewd comments, groping and stalking to men masturbating in public. Three out of four women experienced sexual harassment on the street in the previous year, according to a 2015 survey by the Observatory Against Harassment in Chile (OCAC), a nonprofit women's rights group. "We saw a necessity because sexual violence was going on in a systematic way in public spaces," said Maria Jose Guerrero, head of OCAC, which campaigned for the legislation. Under the new law, those convicted face possible fines and up to five years in prison. Chile joins Peru as the second country in Latin America where street sexual harassment has a legal definition making it a specific crime, according to Guerrero. Last year, Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, also passed a law making street sexual harassment a punishable crime. Chile's new law could encourage other governments to recognize pervasive street sexual harassment as a social problem to be addressed by legal measures and education, Guerrero said. 'Macho' culture But in Chile's "macho" culture, which tends to blame women and condone sexual violence, victims often keep silent, she told Reuters. "Women are questioned, they are asked why they dressed in such a way, they are even told that it didn't happen," Guerrero said. Last year, as the #MeToo movement of women speaking out against sexual abuse grew globally, tens of thousands of women protested in Chilean streets against harassment in universities and against gender-based violence. Global problem Around the world, most women have experienced some form of street sexual harassment at least once, according to Holly Kearl, founder of the U.S.-based nonprofit, Stop Street Harassment (SSH). "What happens in public spaces is a manifestation of gender inequality and the broader issues of gender violence," she said. "We are not just talking about whistling or 'hey baby' comments," she said. "We are talking about men who are grabbing women and who are following them, flashing and assaulting them." BTS performs at the NBC Rock Rockefeller Center in New York, last Saturday. The band made their "Saturday Night Live" debut. Courtesy of NBC By Park Jin-hai K-pop sensation BTS is almost certain to top music charts in the United States and U.K with its latest album "Map of the Soul: Persona," making K-pop history. In an article published prior to its next listing, Sunday, Billboard said the new album is heading for the top spot on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. If that is the case, it will be the third time for the seven-member boy band to have accomplished this following "Love Yourself: Tear" last May, and "Love Yourself: Answer" in September. Billboard predicted the album could sell between 200,000 and 225,000 album-equivalent units in the U.S. by April 18. The Billboard 200 ranks the week's 200 most popular albums of all genres. BTS is also set to get first place in the U.K.'s Official Albums Chart as well. Saying that the album has sold over 10,000 copies so far, the music chart added that midweek sales are already more than the first week of sales of their three previous Top 20 albums combined. Dutch police on Tuesday arrested around 20 climate change protesters from the Extinction Rebellion movement after they staged a demonstration at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, officials said. The protest at the tribunal, which is more used to dealing with war crimes and genocide, came a day after the same grassroots environmental group blocked key roads in London. "A number of persons entered the premises of the ICC today, as general visitors to the court. After that, they grouped and started demonstrating outside the ICC building," ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah told AFP. "They were evacuated by the Dutch police in a peaceful way." A picture tweeted by Extinction Rebellion's Dutch branch showed the protesters unveiling banners inside the ICC's premises on a bridge between the security gate and the main court building. The group said that 25 "rebels" were involved and that they wanted to get the ICC's 122 member countries "to recognize ecocide as an international crime." "We can confirm that around 20 demonstrators of this action group have been arrested in the ICC today. They had invaded the building and were arrested on the basis of trespass," a Dutch police spokesman said. The "Extinction Rebellion" group was established last year in Britain by academics to attract attention to the slow response of governments around the world to rising temperatures and sea levels caused by greenhouse gas emissions. On Monday over a thousand protesters blocked central London's Waterloo bridge and choked off key streets. More than 100 were arrested. A federal appeals court has thrown out years of legal proceedings in the already-delayed military commission case against a Saudi charged in the deadly 2000 bombing of a U.S. warship. An appellate panel in Washington said Tuesday that a military judge improperly continued to preside over the case after he sought a job in the Justice Department beginning in 2015. Retired Air Force Col. Vance Spath took a job last year as an immigration judge in the Justice Department. "We cannot permit an appearance of partiality to infect a system of justice that requires the most scrupulous conduct from its adjudicators," Judge David Tatel wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. The military judge who briefly replaced Spath, Col. Shelly Schools, was taken off the case after it was revealed that Schools also was seeking to becoming an immigration judge. Suspect could face death penalty Defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is accused of orchestrating the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors and wounded 37. He could get the death penalty if convicted by the commission of charges that include terrorism and murder for his alleged role in the al-Qaida plot. Al-Nashiri, in U.S. custody since 2002, is being held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck said the ruling probably means additional years of delay "because a lot of these issues are going to have to be re-litigated from scratch." The military commission proceedings have repeatedly stalled since al-Nashiri's arraignment in 2011. Spath himself called a halt last year following the discovery of microphones in a room where al-Nashiri met with his lawyers, and the lawyers' subsequent decision to resign from the case for ethical reasons. Spath touted his role as the presiding judge over al-Nashiri's case in his employment application, including submitting an order he had issued as a writing sample, the appeals court said. But "while Spath made sure to tell the Justice Department about his assignment to Al-Nashiri's commission, he was not so forthcoming with Al-Nashiri. At no point in the two-plus years after submitting his application did Spath disclose his efforts to secure employment" as an immigration judge, Tatel wrote. Court critical of prosecutors The court also was critical of prosecutors, the Justice Department and the Court of Military Commission Review, which had upheld many of Spath's orders. "To me, it's a stunning rebuke of not only Judge Spath, but also the government lawyers and the Court of Military Commission Review for not showing far greater concern for the appearance of impartiality in a capital case, no matter if not especially because of what folks might think of the defendant," Vladeck wrote in an email. Qatar called on Tuesday for a blocking of foreign arms supplies to eastern Libyan forces commander Khalifa Haftar, whose push to seize the capital Tripoli is causing rifts around the Gulf and Europe. Nearly two weeks into its assault, the veteran general's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) is stuck in the city's southern outskirts battling armed groups loyal to the internationally-recognized Tripoli government. Yet Tripoli's roughly 2.5 million people were maintaining a semblance of normality - even as the occasional artillery boom echoed across the city. "We are still carrying on, thank God. What else can we do?" said Mohamed Taha, 23, in a street where students still packed a nearby school. Cafes and shops also remained open and busy. Foreign powers are worried but unable to present a united front over the latest flare-up in the cycle of anarchy and warfare that has gripped Libya since dictator Muammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011. The conflict has brought a growing humanitarian toll - 174 people, 756 injured and 18,250 displaced according to latest United Nations tallies - and sunk for now an international peace plan. It threatens to disrupt oil flows, foment migration across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, and allow jihadists to exploit the chaos. Qatar said an existing U.N. arms embargo on Libya should be strictly enforced, to prevent Haftar, 75, from receiving arms. The Benghazi-based Haftar enjoys the backing of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, who view him as an anchor to restore stability and combat Islamist militants. Those three nations cut ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of support for militants and Iran. Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Italian daily La Repubblica that a postponed U.N. peace conference should be rescheduled and Haftar's troops forced to withdraw. The arms embargo must be implemented "to prevent those countries that have been providing ammunitions and state-of-the-art weapons from continuing to do so," he said. Past U.N. reports say the UAE and Egypt have both supplied Haftar with arms and aircraft, giving him air superiority among Libya's multiple factions. East Libyan authorities say Qatar and Turkey back rival, Islamist-leaning factions in western Libya. UN may demand ceasefire The Gulf diplomatic divisions echo those in Europe, where former colonial ruler Italy and France have sparred over Libya. Paris has given Haftar support in the past, viewing him as the best bet to end the chaos since a NATO-backed rebellion to end Gadhafi's murderous four-decade rule. Italy, with considerable oil interests in the OPEC member, supports the Tripoli government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj and was furious with French reluctance to back a recent European Union resolution urging Haftar to halt his advance. Nevertheless, Serraj has managed to keep the LNA at bay, thanks largely to armed groups who have rushed to aid them from other western Libyan factions. The U.N. Security Council is considering a British-drafted resolution that would demand a ceasefire and urge all nations with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance. The 15-member council has expressed concern but been unable so far to issue a more formal statement, diplomats said, as Russia objected to a reference to the LNA while Washington said it could not agree a text that did not mention Haftar's forces. Though Haftar presents himself as a champion against what he calls terrorism, opponents cast him as a would-be dictator in the mold of Gadhafi. About 70 people protested against him at the central Algiers Square in Tripoli on Tuesday. "We are against Haftar and military rule," said demonstrator Assam Dirbiq. Haftar was among officers who helped Gadhafi 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 Gadhafi. Egypt's parliament on Tuesday passed amendments to the constitution that could see President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi remain in power until 2030. The vote, which sends the amendments to a national referendum, was seen by critics as another step back to authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. The 596-member assembly, packed with el-Sissi's supporters, overwhelmingly gave its initial approval in February, sending it to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee to finalize the wording before Tuesday's final vote. "Today we are concluding what we started in February," speaker Ali Abdel-Al said at the beginning of the session. "In this great day, we offer to the Egyptian people a draft bill of the constitutional amendments." The national referendum will likely take place before early May when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts. Since early April, the Egyptian capital has been awash with large posters and banners encouraging people to vote in favor of the changes. In Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where mass protests became the symbol of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising and of hopes for democratic change in Egypt, the posters urge people to vote in the referendum. "Take part, say ... 'yes' for the constitutional amendments," says one banner near the pro-government Nation's Future Party. Most of the posters were apparently funded by pro-government parties, businessmen and lawmakers. Clause specific to el-Sissi The constitutional changes would only extend a president's term in office from four to six years and allow for a maximum of two terms. But they also include a special article specific to el-Sissi that extends his current second four-year term to six years and allows him to run for another six-year term in 2024 potentially extending his rule until 2030. Justifying this clause, speaker Abdel-Al said it was aimed at "political justice ... and the required stability." The February draft of the special article was different, proposing to allow el-Sissi to run for two more six-year terms after his current term expires in 2022, possibly putting him at the helm of Egypt until 2034. No reason was given for the change, apparently made by the committee that drafted the final version of the text. Sharia law Lawmaker Ahmed Khalil said his Salafi Nour party, which promotes strict adherence to Sharia law, rejected the proposed changes because the constitution states that Egypt is a civilian state, which is understood by some people as a "secular country." Sharia law, or Islamic law, is based on Islamic principles, particularly those found in the Quran and Hadith. Abdel-Al said a civilian state does not mean a secular, religious or military state. "The civilian state is far different from the three," he said. It has been nearly six years since el-Sissi led the military overthrow of the country's first freely elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, after mass protests against his rule. El-Sissi was elected president first in 2014 and re-elected to another four-year term last year after all potentially serious challengers were arrested or pressured to withdraw from the race. Additional changes The amendments also introduce one or more vice presidents, revive the senate and enshrine a 25% quota for women in parliament's lower, legislative chamber. It also includes provisions for what it describes as adequate representation for workers, farmers, youth and people with special needs. The amendments also allow the president to appoint top judges and bypass judiciary oversight in vetting draft legislation. They declare the military the "guardian and protector" of the Egyptian state, democracy and the constitution, while also granting military courts wider jurisdiction in trying civilians. In the last three years, over 15,000 civilians, including children, have been referred to military prosecution in Egypt, according to Human Rights Watch. Automakers are showcasing electric SUVs and sedans with more driving range and luxury features at the Shanghai auto show, trying to appeal to Chinese buyers in their biggest market as Beijing slashes subsidies that have propelled demand. Communist leaders wanting China to lead in electric vehicles have imposed sales targets. That requires brands to pour money into creating models to compete with gasoline-powered vehicles on price, looks and performance at a time when they are struggling with a Chinese sales slump. General Motors, Volkswagen, China's Geely and other brands on Tuesday displayed dozens of models, from luxury SUVs to compacts priced under $10,000, at Auto Shanghai 2019. The show, the global industry's biggest marketing event of the year, opens to the public Saturday following a preview for reporters. On Monday, GM unveiled Buick's first all-electric model for China. GM says the four-door Velite 6 can travel 301 kilometers (185 miles) before the battery needs charging. VW showed off a concept electric SUV, the whimsically named ID. ROOMZZ, designed to travel 450 kilometers (280 miles) on one charge. Features include seats that rotate 25 degrees to create a lounge-like atmosphere. Communist leaders have promoted "new energy vehicles'' for 15 years with subsidies to developers and buyers. That, along with support including orders to state-owned utilities to blanket China with charging stations, is helping to transform the technology into a mainstream product. "People's mindset and governmental policies are more encouraging toward e-cars than in any other country,'' said VW CEO Herbert Diess. Electric vehicles play a key role in the ruling Communist Party's plans for government-led development of Chinese global competitors in technologies from robotics to biotech. Those ambitions set off Beijing's tariff war with President Donald Trump. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain Chinese subsidies to technology developers and pressure on foreign companies to share know-how violate its market-opening commitments. Electric car subsidies end next year, replaced by sales quotas. Automakers that fall short can buy credits from competitors that exceed their targets or face possible fines. "Most of the traditional car makers are under huge pressure to launch NEVs,'' said industry analyst John Zeng of LMC Automotive. Last year's Chinese sales of pure-electric and hybrid sedans and SUVs soared 60% over 2017 to 1.3 million, or half the global total. At the same time, industry revenue was squeezed by a 4.1% fall in total Chinese auto sales to 23.7 million vehicles. That skid that worsened this year. First-quarter sales fell 13.7% from a year ago. Still, China is a top market for global automakers, giving them an incentive to go along with Beijing's electric ambitions. Total annual sales are expected eventually to reach 30 million, nearly double last year's U.S. level of 17 million. Under Beijing's new rules, automakers must earn credits for sales of electrics equal to at least 10% of purchases this year and 12% in 2020. Longer-range vehicles can earn double credits. That means some brands can fill their quota if electrics make up as little as 5% of sales. Also Tuesday, Nissan Motor Co. and its Chinese partner displayed the Sylphy Zero Emission, an all-electric model designed for China. Based on Nissan's Leaf, the lower-priced Sylphy went on sale in August. Mercedes Benz displayed its first all-electric model in China, the EQC 400 SUV. The Germany automaker says it can travel 400 kilometers (280 miles) on one charge and can go from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 5.2 seconds. Mercedes plans to release 10 electrified models worldwide, with most built in China, according to Hubertus Troska, its board member for China. Some Chinese rivals have been selling low-priced electrics for a decade or more. China's BYD Auto, the biggest global electric brand by sales volume, unveiled three new pure-electric models last month. All promise ranges of more than 400 kilometers (280 miles) on one charge. Last week, Geely Auto unveiled a sedan under its new electric brand, Geometry, with an advertised range of up to 500 kilometers (320 miles) on one charge. Geely's parent, Geely Holding, launched a joint venture with Mercedes parent Daimler AG in March to develop electrics under the smart brand. Geely Holding is Daimler's biggest shareholder and also owns Sweden's Volvo Cars. Beijing wants to force automakers to speed up innovation and squeeze out producers that rely too heavily on subsidies. But the technology minister acknowledged in January that China faces a difficult transition as that spending is ending. Keeping development on track "will be a challenge,'' said Miao Wei, according to a transcript on his ministry's website. The shift creates an opportunity for fledgling Chinese automakers that lag global rivals in gasoline technology. They have just 10% of the global market for gasoline-powered vehicles but account for 50% of electric sales. The end of subsidies should lead to dramatic changes, said Zeng of LMC Automotive. He said longer-range, feature-rich models from global majors will replace small producers that cannot survive without subsidies. Electric vehicles "will be much more competitive,'' said Zeng. As the cost of batteries and other components falls, industry analysts say electrics in China could match gasoline vehicles in price and become profitable for manufacturers in less than five years. EVs carry a higher sticker price in China than gasoline models. But industry analysts say owners who drive at least 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) a year save money in the long run, because maintenance and charging cost less. Brandenburg has become the first state in Germany to require all children attending kindergarten to be vaccinated for measles and other infectious diseases as fears spread across Europe about the influence of the anti-vaccination movement and lower immunization rates. A decrease in immunization has led to an increase in measles in Germany, France, Italy and elsewhere. The German government is considering whether to mandate vaccinations across the country. Authorities there say 2019 is likely to be a record year for measles with cases tripling in three states. Other European countries have already introduced laws making vaccinations compulsory, including Italy which two years ago passed a law making 10 vaccines obligatory for children who enrolled in Italian schools, including chickenpox and measles. Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency with 285 cases of measles confirmed since October. City health officials have ordered mandatory vaccinations for anybody whos been in contact with infected people and violators can face fines of up to $1,000. Health officials say a booklet produced by an anti-vaccine group has been widely disseminated through Orthodox Jewish communities, not the first time in the United States an insular community has seen a jump in infection rates as a result of a fall in immunization rates prompted by anti-vaccine campaigners. Under the Brandenburg law children who have not been vaccinated against measles will be excluded from attending kindergartens. Brandenburg lawmakers say they will examine whether to add other vaccinations. In the public interest, individual concerns towards vaccination, which cannot be proven scientifically, must take second place, said Sylvia Lehmann of the Social Democratic Party. State lawmakers from Germany's right-wing populist Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) voted against the legislation, noting a vaccine obligation last existed in east Germany when the communists were in power. The Green Party abstained from the vaccine vote. Brandenburgs health minister Andreas Buttner says the protection of babies and pregnant women should take precedence over the rights of those who refuse to have their children vaccinated. In Brandenburg 73.5% of young children are being vaccinated within the recommended time frame of 23 months. In some Germanys other states, including Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, school principals have been taking action by ordering children who have not been vaccinated to go home. The World Health Organization said more Europeans contracted measles last year 82,600 than at any time in the past decade. German Health Minister Hermann Groehe is proposing a federal law obligating nursery schools in all of the countrys 16 states to report parents to health officials if they cannot prove that they sought vaccination advice for their children. If the law is passed, parents who do not show proof of such medical consultation could be fined up to $2,800. No one can be blase about the fact that people are still dying of measles, Groehe told Germanys Bild newspaper. Therefore we are now toughening the regulations for vaccination protection. But Groehe has so far ruled out making vaccinations compulsory for school children, as Italy recently did. Italys approach has been characterized by U-turns, thanks to the vaccine-sceptic anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), which is in a coalition government with the populist Lega party. M5S had helped to fuel the anti-vaccination campaign and poured scorn on expert opinion that insists vaccines are safe and the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine isnt linked to autism. The party argued requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated was coercive. Last year, the health minister, a member of the Five Star Movement, introduced a temporary measure to allow children to stay in school as long as their parents declared they had been vaccinated without having to provide any documentation. Italian measles rates then skyrocketed and last year the country accounted for nearly a quarter of all new cases in Europe, according to WHO. The organization says 95% of a population needs to be inoculated for the spread of the disease to become unlikely, protecting those who cannot be vaccinated for serious health reasons, including lowered immunity. In March, the Italian government allowed the M5S's temporary measure relaxing vaccination rules to expire, bringing back into play a two-year-old law requiring children to receive mandatory immunizations before attending school. Analysts say there has been a noticeable shift in public opinion favoring vaccinations since an Italian populist politician who has campaigned against compulsory vaccinations was hospitalized last month after contracting chickenpox and was widely mocked on social media. Sweden's teenage activist Greta Thunberg choked backed tears on Tuesday as she warned of climate disaster and urged Europeans to vote in next month's elections to press for decisive action on cutting greenhouse gases. In a speech to a packed committee of the European Parliament, Thunberg, 16, warned time is running out to stop the ravages of global warming. "I want you to panic, I want you to act as if the house was on fire," Thunberg told the environment committee of the assembly in the French city of Strasbourg. Citing scientific reports endorsed by the United Nations and holding back her tears, she warned of accelerating disasters like mass species extinction, erosion of top soil, deforestation, air pollution, loss of insects and the acidification of oceans. She received a warm round of applause before composing herself and continuing her speech. "You need to listen to us, we who cannot vote," Thunberg said, referring to the tens of thousands of students taking to the streets worldwide to fight climate change. "You need to vote for us, for your children and grandchildren," she said. "In this election, you vote for the future living conditions for human kind." Voters in EU countries will elect on May 23-26 a new European Parliament, which will also play a role in chosing the head of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. Hijacked for political ends During a visit to Brussels in February, Thunberg urged the European Union to double its ambition for greenhouse gas cuts, upping its target from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2030. Under the 2015 Paris climate deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the 28-nation EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, compared to 1990. EU officials are now talking of increasing the figure to 45 percent. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has said warming is on track toward an unliveable 3C or 4C rise, and avoiding global chaos will require a major transformation. Thunberg has inspired tens of thousands of children worldwide to boycott classes to draw attention to climate change. Around 100 young people marched Tuesday through the streets of Strasbourg to the parliament building to press for urgent action against climate change. Francoise Grossetete, a French member of the European Parliament, said she would skip the committee hearing because she strongly objected to Thunberg's alarmist stand that in her view is anti-economic growth. Thunberg has become "the symbol of this just environmental cause that is hijacked for political ends" by environmental lobbies, said Grosssete, a member of the center-right European People's Party. The Swede hit global headlines with her speech in December at a UN climate meeting in Poland and has received support from climate activists. Sudan's Omar al-Bashir has been ousted after three decades in power following months of mass protests. The military has announced a transitional period of up to two years followed by elections, but demonstrators are pushing for a quick handover of power to civilians. How did Bashir fall? Bashir, 75, was one of the longest-serving leaders in Africa and the Arab world. He took power in a coup in 1989 and had survived isolation from the West, civil wars, the split between Sudan and South Sudan, indictment by the International Criminal Court, and several previous bouts of protest. But in December, a worsening economic crisis triggered protests that quickly spread across the country of 40 million, calling for Bashir to go. The protests continued for 16 weeks despite a security crackdown in which dozens died and thousands were detained. On April 6, protesters stepped up the pressure with a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. Riot police and intelligence services tried to clear the area, but the army shielded them before announcing Bashir's overthrow on April 11. Despite Bashir's close ties to the military's top leadership, mid- and lower-ranking officers more connected to society sympathised with the protesters' demands, said Hamid Eltigani, a Sudanese professor of public policy at the American University in Cairo. As pressure from the street mounted, factions within the security establishment distanced themselves from Bashir as they sought to protect their positions, he said. One Sudanese military officer said a deal was struck within the military leadership. "The faces had to be changed, and they all decided to change them without any bloodshed." What happened next? The appointment of defense minister and vice-president Awad Ibn Auf as head of the Transitional Military Council fueled widespread anger among protesters because of his close association with Bashir. He survived just 24 hours, stepping down late Friday. Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, better known as Salah Gosh, resigned as the head of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) the following day. Long considered the second most powerful man in the country after Bashir, Salah Gosh was another key target for the protesters. Who is in control now? Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan replaced Ibn Auf as head of the military council. Burhan was the third most senior general in the Sudanese military and is little known publicly. As chief of Sudan's ground forces he oversaw Sudanese troops fighting in the Saudi-led Yemen war and has close ties to senior Gulf military officials. Burhan's deputy is Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known by his nickname Hemedti, who heads Sudan's Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is a paramilitary grouping that grew out of the Janjaweed militias that fought in Darfur and has provided troops to fight in Yemen. Other members of the 10-man military council include a NISS representative and the chief of police. A Sudanese source close to Sudan's military leadership said the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt had a role in planning "the removal of Bashir and General Ibn Auf and Salah Gosh" as part of a strategy of "weakening the power of the Islamists in power in Sudan." Bashir came to power in an Islamist-backed coup. He belonged to the Islamic Movement, Sudan's equivalent of the Muslim Brotherhood, and imposed Sharia law. Who supports the new leadership? The UAE, a leading member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, was quick to welcome Burhan's appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhan's nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan. The UAE and Saudi, which supported the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in Egypt and have worked to counter Islamists linked to the Brotherhood across the region, are following the same goal in Sudan, said the Sudanese source. "They want to use economic aid to encourage some power centers in Sudan to weaken the presence of Islamists and their full control over economic institutions." The influence of their regional rivals Qatar and Turkey, which both had ties to Bashir, will be limited, said the Sudanese military officer. "It was a tug of war, and right now UAE and Saudi won," he said. Hemedti has received of Western diplomatic envoys, several of whom say they have pressed him to ensure a rapid transition to civilian rule. The British ambassador said the meeting was "not to endorse or confer legitimacy." The Dutch envoy said the meeting was held at Hemedti's invitation. How much could the military concede? Burhan has promised a civilian government after consultations with the opposition, and announced an easing of emergency measures and the release of political detainees. But there has been little word from the military on protesters' demands for a civilian presence in the ruling council, and for members of Bashir's entourage some of whom face international sanctions and charges to be held to account. The military may be wary of ceding ground if it faces opposition from other parts of the security apparatus. Bashir had the strongest links across different, overlapping branches of the security forces, which could start competing with each other now he's gone. While the RSF and the NISS are linked to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Islamists within Sudan's Popular Defense Forces have connections to Qatar, said Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University. Military officers "basically wanted a soft landing for Bashir, and the army to be kept intact as an institution, and they have Egyptian backing in that strategy," said de Waal. "The problem is that the demands of the demonstrators are for democracy and they are the only people who want democracy. Nobody else wants democracy." What fate for Bashir? When Ibn Auf announced Bashir's overthrow, he said the former president had been detained. Sources told Reuters he was being held at the time under heavy guard at his residence. The military council has said it will not extradite him, but may try him in Sudan. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Bashir in 2009 and 2010 on suspicion of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his final years as president he defied the court, visiting friendly nations including several ICC member states. Sudan and Bashir denied war crimes were committed, saying casualties in Darfur were exaggerated. Some have speculated that he could follow the example of Tunisia's former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and seek refuge in Saudi Arabia. Officers who ousted President Omar al-Bashir from three decades in power have announced that a military council will run Sudan for a transitional period lasting up to two years, followed by elections. But the man who announced Bashir's ouster stepped down as head of the now-ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) after only a day in the post. The new 10-member ruling council, now headed by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has said the transition can last much less than two years if chaos is avoided, and it is negotiating with the protesters on a transitional cabinet. The TMC is staffed by senior military commanders comprising mainly the heads of the various branches of the armed forces as well as the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary force under the military, the chief of police and a representative of the intelligence service. Several members of the council were promoted to their current positions by Bashir in February as part of a regular reshuffle of the armed forces. Ibn Auf, who Burhan replaced, was promoted by Bashir to vice president in February as protests intensified. He was known for his Islamist links. Below are brief penpix of leading figures in Sudan's security establishment: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the new head of the TMC, was born in 1960 in the state of River Nile. He served as inspector general of the Sudanese armed forces and was its third most senior general, but was virtually unknown in public life. He was the head of Sudan's ground forces, a role in which he oversaw Sudanese troops serving in a Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen. His role in Yemen has given him ties to senior Gulf military officials, including from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. It is not clear if Burhan has Islamist leanings. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known by his nickname Hemedti, is deputy head of the TMC, and the second most powerful man on the council. He was appointed by Burhan and replaced Kamal Abdelmarouf al-Mahi. Born in 1975, he commands the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that grew out of the Janjaweed militia, which operated in Sudan's western Darfur region. The government had denied any wrongdoing by the RSF. Like Burhan, Hemedti had been involved in supervising Sudanese forces fighting in Yemen and thus has strong connections with fellow UAE and Saudi officers. Hemedti was a prominent figure in Bashir's ruling circle, but it is not known whether he has Islamist leanings. Omar Zain al-Abideen Lieutenant General Omar Zain al-Abideen was deputy head of Sudan's military production. He was introduced as head of the political committee of the TMC headed by Ibn Auf in its first press conference after Bashir's ouster. He remains the head of the TMC's political committee under Burhan, and is widely seen as the council's main political strategist. He is widely believed to have Islamist leanings. Jalal al-Deen al-Sheikh Lieutenant General Jalal al-Deen al-Sheikh, who was a military officer, was brought out of retirement by Bashir and promoted to the post of deputy director of the country's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) in February. He was deputy to Salah Abdallah Mohamed Saleh, commonly known as Salah Gosh, who tendered his resignation as head of NISS last Friday. Gosh was once seen as the most powerful person in the country after Bashir and protesters held him responsible for the killing of demonstrators demanding an end to military rule. Sheikh is also widely believed to have Islamist leanings. Sheikh graduated from military college in the same year as Burhan and Abideen, and the three have close relations. Al-Tayeb Babakr Ali Fadeel Born in the village of Shaqlawa, northeast of the capital Khartoum, Lieutenant General Al-Tayeb Babakr Ali Fadeel made his way up the ladder of the country's police force until he was promoted by Bashir to the head of police in February 2018. The Paris Fire Brigade said Tuesday the structure of the famed Notre Dame cathedral has been saved, along with the site's main works of art, after 400 firefighters spent more than nine hours battling a fire that caused massive damage. The building's two iconic towers and stone structure were standing Tuesday, but absent were the 12th-century cathedral's roof and spire, which collapsed in the blaze. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo thanked firefighters and police officers for helping to save holy objects and major works of art from the cathedral. She said Notre Dame is a place where "the soul of Paris resonates." The fire brigade said two policemen and one firefighter were injured during the effort to put out the fire. "The worst has been avoided, even if the battle has not been totally won yet," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters at the cathedral shortly before midnight local time. He said he would launch a national fundraising campaign to rebuild the cathedral, and called on the worlds greatest talents'' to help with the effort. Hours later, French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged $113 million to help the reconstruction effort, followed shortly by another French billionaire Bernard Arnault saying his family and company would contribute $226 million. It is not clear what caused the blaze, although French media reported that fire officials said the blaze could be "potentially linked" to renovation work being done at the building. Several sections of the building had been under scaffolding and officials say bronze statues were removed last week for the renovation. The Paris prosecutor's office said it had launched an inquiry into the fire and said it was treating the blaze as an "involuntary" fire. The Vatican released a statement expressing shock and sadness and called Notre Dame a "symbol of Christianity in France and in the world." The fire came during Catholic Holy Week commemorations, and less than a week before Easter. An Easter Mass had been planned at the cathedral on Sunday. Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers. Firefighters in Paris evacuated buildings nearby Notre Dame and cleared the area around the cathedral as ash fell over the surrounding blocks. Thousands of onlookers lined bridges over the River Seine late into the night to watch the scene and others gathered at the nearby Saint Julien Les Pauvres church to sing hymns and say prayers. The medieval Catholic cathedral is one of the most visited historical monuments in Europe, welcoming millions of people each year. It is famous for featuring in Victor Hugo's classic novel, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame." Situated on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the River Seine, the building is known for its stone gargoyles, stained glass windows and the iconic flying buttresses that hold up its walls. Chinese Ambassador to Chile Xu Bu refuted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeos allegations against China via Chiles mainstream media on April 14, saying that Pompeo has lost his mind and gone too far. (Photo/Chinese embassy in Chile) During his recent visit to Santiago, Pompeo said that China's investment was "corrosive," giving life to corruption, and eroding good governance. He declared that Chinese companies were engaged in espionage and China was not a reliable partner. Such accusations are absurd, Xu noted in an interview with Chile's La Tercera newspaper on April 13. "The economic and trade cooperation between China and Chile has brought tangible benefits to the development of the Chilean economy." Mr. Pompeo is a hypocrite, said Xu, as the U.S. has not made substantial contributions to the economic development of Latin American countries but attacks China's cooperation with and investment in Latin America. Last year, China invested more than $6 billion in Chile, and the China-Chile trade volume exceeded $42.8 billion, far more than the figure between Chile and the US, Xu continued. While speaking of the alleged espionage of Chinese tech giant Huawei, the ambassador said that Pompeo's accusation that Huawei is under the control of the Chinese government is a malicious lie. The accusation is an attempt to suppress the legitimate operations of high-tech Chinese companies under the guise of security. "Actually, it is the US that eavesdrops on other countries using high tech companies," he said. Xu also discussed the situation in Venezuela during the interview, and reaffirmed China's stance not to intervene in other countries domestic affairs, noting that it's the Venezuelan people who should decide their own future. If the United States cares about democracy and human rights in Latin America, it should immediately stop sanctions against other countries and take measures to promote economic development in Latin America, not just deliver empty promises, Xu added. In a signed article in Chile's El Mercurio that was published on April 14, Xu said Pompeo is "completely wrong" in his accusations. "Pompeo's body has entered the 21st century, but his mind is still in the 20th century, fixated on hegemony with a cold war mentality," Xu said. He urged the US Secretary of State to realize that relations between countries will only last if they are based on mutual respect and cooperation. gettyimagesbank By Kim Bo-eun Korean insurers are calling for a one-year delay in the introduction of IFRS 17, a new set of global accounting standards set to be introduced in 2022. The new standards require the firms to boost their cash reserves amid worsening earnings in the saturated domestic insurance market. The introduction of the IFRS 17 was already pushed back by a year, from 2021 to 2022, at an International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) meeting last November. In December, associations representing European insurers requested the implementation to be delayed by an additional year. A Global Federation of Insurance Associations meeting to be held in Romania, May 23 is set to address the matter of further delaying the introduction of the new standard. "Global insurance associations have requested for the matter to be placed on the agenda of the meeting," an official of the Korea Life Insurance Association (KLIA) said. "Insurers need time to prepare for the change they need to increase the amount of capital, as well as the number of competent actuaries and prepare a new accounting system," he said. Large insurers have begun preparing new systems, but smaller firms have yet to even receive consulting on the changes that need to be made, the official said. The new standards require insurers to measure liabilities of their insurance contracts by market value, not book value. The IFRS 4 the current standard measures the liabilities of insurance contracts by book value. In order for the firms to keep their debt ratio from rising, they need to increase their cash reserves. This is a challenge for insurers, for whom earnings are deteriorating as it is difficult to find new subscribers in the saturated domestic market. The IFRS 17 is set to be implemented together with the K-Insurance Capital Standard (K-ICS), a local insurance valuation standard that calculates risk-based capital based on market value, which places a greater burden on insurers. "A cautious stance is necessary in introducing new standards," the KLIA official said, noting it took decades for Europe to implement its current regulations governing insurers, Solvency II. Before Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, engulfed in flames on Monday, several heritage sites around the world have been either completely or partially destroyed by fires. Here are some examples. Brazil's National Museum Overnight Sept. 2-3, 2018, Brazil's National Museum, north of Rio de Janeiro, was ravaged by a massive fire. Latin America's largest natural history and anthropology museum held more than 20 million artifacts and 530,000 titles. The museum was particularly reputed for the richness of its paleontology department with more than 26,000 fossils, including a dinosaur skeleton discovered in Brazil's central Minas Gerais. Several specimen of species that disappeared in the blaze included giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers. Venice opera house In 1996, Venice's celebrated opera house La Fenice was gutted by fire.With its near-perfect acoustics, La Fenice, opened in 1792, was one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world and one of the most famous in the history of opera. Two electricians were sentenced to six and seven years in prison on negligence charges. It reopened in 2004. Barcelona opera house In 1994, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's world-famous opera house was destroyed by fire. One of Spain's cultural jewels, the 150-year-old theater was gutted in a blaze in which only the foyer and the horseshoe arch over the auditorium were left standing. It has since been reconstructed. Windsor Castle A major fire at Windsor Castle, west of London, on Nov. 20, 1992, destroyed the northeastern part of the royal site, the queen's weekend residence. Nine of the rooms were left unrecognizable by the fire, which started in the former Chapel Royal when a lighting projector too close to a curtain started the blaze during routine maintenance work. It took 250 firefighters working 15 hours and pumping more than 6.5 million liters (1.6 million gallons) of water to bring the blaze under control. The Castle reopened to the public in 1997 after five years of restoration. Bosnia's National Library Bosnia's 19th century National Library was destroyed in the war-time siege of the city of Sarajevo, overnight on 25-26 Aug. 1992. It had housed some two million books, old scripts, photographs and transcripts before it was shelled by Serb forces who kept Sarajevo under a three-and-a-half-year long siege. Only some 10% of its resources were saved from the resulting fire. Reconstruction works, part-financed by the European Union, began in 1996 and the new library was inaugurated in 2014. Geneva's Grand Theater In 1951, the Grand Theater of Geneva in Switzerland, built in the 19th century, was devastated in a fire that began during the preparation for a performance of Richard Wagner's "The Valkyrie. It reopened in 1962. Hundreds of indigenous Karen people in Thailand face evictions from a national park that authorities wish to turn into a World Heritage Site, joining millions in a similarly precarious situation as authorities worldwide push tough conservation laws. The Kaeng Krachan is Thailand's biggest national park, sprawled over more than 2,900 square kilometers (1,120 square miles) on the border with neighboring Myanmar. Renowned for its diverse wildlife, it is also home to about 30 communities of ethnic Karen people, who have traditionally lived and farmed there and is on a tentative list of world heritage sites. The United Nations' cultural agency (UNESCO) had referred the submission back to the Thai government in 2016, asking it to address "rights and livelihood concerns" of the Karen communities, and get their support for the nomination. The Thai government plans to respond later this year, according to campaigners. "The communities have not been consulted or reassured on their access to the forest," said Kittisak Rattanakrajangsri of advocacy group Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact. "The communities are not opposed to the heritage status," he told Reuters. "They are just asking that they not be evicted, and that their land rights are secure because if the park gets heritage status without that, there will be a great many more evictions." A spokesman for the forest department did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) in Bangkok said they had recently facilitated a meeting between a rights organization working with the Karen, and Thai officials. Worldwide, more than 250,000 people were evicted from protected areas in 15 countries from 1990 to 2014, according to Washington D.C.-based advocacy group Rights and Resources Initiative. In India, more than 1.9 million indigenous families face evictions after their forest rights claims were rejected. 'No legal rights' Since Kaeng Krachan was declared a national park in 1981, hundreds of Karen a hill tribe people thought to number about 1 million in Thailand have been evicted, according to activists. Last year the country's top court ruled that about 400 who had been evicted in 2011 had no legal right over the land. "The security of indigenous people in Thailand is so tenuous because they have no legal rights, and no recognition of their dependence on forests," said Worawuth Tamee, an indigenous rights lawyer. "The laws have made them encroachers," he said. A 2010 Cabinet resolution had called for recognizing the Karen people's way of life and their right to earn a livelihood the traditional way. But this has not been implemented, said Tamee. After the military government took charge in 2014, it vowed to "take back the forest" and increase forest cover to about 40 percent of the total surface area from about a third. This has resulted in hundreds of reclamations from farmers and forest dwellers, according to research organization Mekong Region Land Governance. "It is the biggest challenge facing indigenous people," said Tamee. "Parks are not just for the enjoyment of city people and tourists. They are also the home of poor, indigenous people who have nowhere else to go." Nigeria's anti-trafficking agency is trying a new approach to preventing women's exploitation abroad by sharing inspirational stories of women who made it at home, it said on Monday. The Not for Sale campaign was rolled out last month with posters, TV and radio adverts in which women talk about how they were tempted by Europe but instead pursued their dreams and found success in Nigeria. They end with the statement "I am not for sale." Thousands of Nigerian women and girls are lured to Europe each year by the promise of work, but end up trapped in debt bondage and forced to sell sex, the United Nations says. Most prevention campaigns in Nigeria have focused on the horror stories and dangers of trafficking, but this has proved ineffective, said Richard Sandall of Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), which is supporting the campaign. "As we were developing this proposal we began to hear stories that actually these negative stories were almost reinforcing the urge to go," said Sandall, who works on anti-slavery activities in Nigeria. Sandall said suffering was seen as a kind of sacrifice or rite of passage. "We wanted to create a different narrative. We don't know if it's going to work," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The campaign includes a website with links to women's empowerment groups, job sites and entrepreneurship programs, and a form where people can submit their own success stories. "When I finished secondary school, things were so tough for my family that when my friend suggested crossing to Europe to make some money, I was tempted," writes a woman named Gladys. "But I'd also heard of what many do to make it... and I didn't want to be treated like a slave," she says in one of the featured stories. She is now a fashion designer. One activist said she feared the campaign could be ineffective. "It's not that people who were trafficked haven't considered opportunities at home," said Anna Sereni of Anti-Slavery International. "Instead, it's the lack of those opportunities and desperation for better lives that pushes people into taking these risky decisions to travel into the unknown," she said. Julie Okah-Donli, head of Nigeria's anti-trafficking agency NAPTIP, said she thought the campaign had great potential. "We hope to achieve empowerment of victims and potential victims of trafficking, which is key, and to also put out information about opportunities in the country to show there are better alternatives," she said. Indonesia has entered the final stage of a three-day cooling down period before Wednesdays national election, with officials removing political billboards across the archipelago amid a ban on election broadcasts after months of rowdy campaigning. The incumbent, Joko Jokowi Widodo, made a brief trip to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, where he performed the umrah, or minor haj, with his wife and two sons, while his rival, Prabowo Subianto, made a pilgrimage to the grave of his father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, a renowned economist. The pair had squared off in five nationally televised debates, with most political pundits judging the contest about even, although Prabowo remains up to 20 percentage points behind in opinion polls. The Prabowo camp has already complained about ghost voters and the potential for rigging. But National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian told The Jakarta Post he had not received reports about incidents impeding the electoral process. Two days to go; we are convinced that we have security measures under control, he said. Kevin ORourke, an analyst with PT Reformasi Info Sastra, said there were still major issues with voter registration, despite this election being the fifth ballot since democratic reforms were instituted, following the downfall of President Suharto in 1998 and the outbreak of deadly protests. Theoretically the system could be susceptible to people voting multiple times, but in practice it really hasnt been a problem in past polls and I really wouldnt expect it to be so this year, he said. ORourke said Prabowo, following his defeat to Jokowi at elections in 2013, had launched a legal campaign challenging the result when he lost by six percent of the overall vote. I think its an attempt by the Prabowo campaign to justify a basis for making an electoral dispute, but I think thats only going to be feasible for them if the margin of victory for Widodo is more narrow than expected, he said. That puts pressure on Jokowi to secure a comfortable victory with a margin of around eight to 10 percent. Of Indonesias 264 million people, about 190 million are expected to vote, with 60 million under the age of 30. Low turnout Surveys indicate a large number will not turn out, known as golput, a term that first emerged in 1971 from protesting students opposed to an election they considered undemocratic. Now the term has been adopted to describe voters who abstain or deliberately spoil their ballots. While Jokowi has delivered on infrastructure growth and national security, he has failed to deliver on promises of finding justice for the victims of Suhartos regime, the mass killings of communists in 1965, guaranteeing freedom of religion and reducing sexual violence against women. According to the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, sexual violence against women rose 76 percent from 2016 to 2017, while, as president, he has not been shy in pushing a more conservative brand of Islam. Nevertheless, he remains the favorite to win a second term. He will have to stand down in 2024 as mandated by the constitution. Analysts expect a more confident and conservative Jokowi during the coming five years. Marcus Mietzner, an Indonesian specialist and senior fellow with Australian National University, said he expected Indonesia to emerge as a more socially conservative and a religiously marked society from Jokowis second term, assuming he wins. The pattern was established by Jokowis predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who Mietzner said had the opportunity to introduce social and political reforms in his second term, but did not, and he expects that pattern to continue. I think he is a very careful politician, a very cautious politician, he will want to continue balancing political forces," he said. "He will continue to integrate retired military officers into his state apparatus as he will integrate more pious Muslim figures like his vice president. Jokowi chose Maruf Amin, a Muslim cleric who is popular among fundamentalists, as his running mate, which some analysts have said was a deliberate move to win support from the conservative Islamic elements in Indonesian society. However, others have said he was pushed into accepting Maruf as part of a broader political play and positioning for the next election in 2024. But on the streets of the capital those arguments remain in the distant future. As the political signs came down, there was no shortage of voters on the streets, who were preparing to vote Wednesday, a national holiday. I like elections. I want Indonesia to be a democracy, a democracy like the United States, like Canada, Australia and in Europe, Masi, a 26-year-old computer programmer said. Indonesia is maturing, he added. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee recently toured this waterlogged town near the Missouri River, blasting President Donald Trump as complicit in the flooding that has plagued large swaths of western Iowa in recent weeks. "We have a president who says that climate change is a hoax," said Inslee, who has centered his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign around the consequences of a warming planet. "He has diminished the ability of the federal government to protect its citizens, and that's an outrage." Inslee is virtually alone among his fellow presidential contenders in touring sections of Iowa devastated by flooding. Although there are more than a dozen declared candidates in the race for the White House, only Inslee and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have visited the flooded sections. Most of the other contenders make passing mention of the flooding at campaign events, expressing their condolences to victims and emphasizing the need to combat climate change or invest in infrastructure. But the relative silence from other candidates highlights the bind many of them are in as local issues and presidential politics collide in the nation's leadoff caucus state. Several candidates who are also senators voted against legislation recently that would have directed some disaster relief to Iowa. They have argued the measure didn't provide enough money for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from a massive hurricane. As additional flooding is expected in the coming weeks, Republicans have seized on the Democratic opposition to paint the 2020 contenders as disingenuous. There's "plenty of time for politics when 2020 comes around," Vice President Mike Pence told an audience in Pacific Junction last week after surveying flood damage there. "Right now, Iowa needs disaster assistance. And it's time for Congress to act." "When they come out here, I don't even see how they can show their face west of Des Moines given the fact they voted no" on the bill, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufman said of the senators running for president. Sens. Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders all presidential candidates voted against the bill but have noted the flooding at campaign events. The White House hopefuls would much rather talk about another Iowa issue: wind energy. Trump's recent erroneous claim that noise from wind turbines causes cancer amounted to something of a political gift for Democratic candidates. In a state where wind energy made up 37% of the state's energy in 2017, there is broad, bipartisan agreement that the president's comments were misinformed. He received a rebuke from the state's two Republican senators, with Sen. Chuck Grassley calling the comments "idiotic." For some 2020 candidates, like former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who's been criticized for a lack of policy detail, Trump presented an opportunity to showcase their policy bona fides. He frequently touts the 37% figure at campaign events and quipped, "I don't think that wind turbines cause cancer ... in fact, I think they cause jobs," at a recent campaign event. At a town hall in Powesheik, Iowa, earlier this month, Sanders joked that "we were a little bit nervous about coming back to Iowa 'cause you've got all these wind turbines all over the place!" The decision to avoid flood-stricken areas may ultimately come down to politics. Many of the most severely flooded counties, including the two that Klobuchar and Inslee visited, voted Republican in the last presidential election and may not be home to many Democratic caucusgoers compared to more urban regions such as Des Moines and Sioux Falls. In Hamburg, a town of fewer than 1,100 people, some of the residents weren't impressed by Inslee's visit or his message. Ronald Wayne Perry, the 69-year-old owner of an auto repair shop the governor visited when he toured the town, blames the flooding on the Army Corps of Engineers for not managing the floodwaters properly "and so does everybody in this town," he said. "Climate change didn't have anything to do with this," he added. "It snows here a lot every time. Just basically the same thing that happened here this year happened a few years ago." And nothing Inslee can say or do would win his vote. "If he's a Democrat, I don't care who he is, if he's my best friend, I won't vote for him," Perry said. U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter and White House advisor, Ivanka, is heading to the Ivory Coast to continue her four-day trip aimed at increasing economic opportunities for women in the West African region. Ivanka Trump, who serves as advisor to her father on economic empowerment, began her trip to the region with a visit to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa Sunday, where she announced a multi-million dollar U.S. government initiative to support women entrepreneurs. The 2X Africa initiative announced Monday by Trump and David Bohigian, the acting head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, aims to mobilize $1 billion and directly invest $350 million in companies and funds "owned by women, led by women," or by "providing a good or service that intentionally empowers women on the continent." Later in the day, Ivanka Trump met with President Sahle-Work Zewde. They discussed a need for reform in Africa that would lead to improved opportunity and inclusivity for women. She also held discussions on women's empowerment with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, commending him for increasing the number of women in leadership positions in his government. WATCH: Ivanka Trump's Africa Trip Signals Support for Women Empowerment On Sunday, Bohigian signed a "letter of interest" with an Ethiopian company called Muya to help support the company through OPIC financing. Muya, owned by fashion designer Sara Abera, produces household products and was the first Ethiopian company to obtain membership in the World Fair Trade Organization. Trump visited Muya on Sunday after she arrived in Addis Ababa for a summit on African women's economic inclusion and empowerment. She was in the East African country to promote a $50 million initiative enacted by her father in February that is aimed at encouraging women's employment in developing countries. "Fundamentally, we believe that investing in women is a smart development policy and it is a smart business," Trump said after sampling coffee at a traditional Ethiopian ceremony. "It's also in our security interest, because women, when we're empowered, foster peace and stability." Trump also laid a wreath at an Ethiopian Orthodox church to honor the victims of last month's Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. It was not immediately clear if the controversy that surrounds the U.S. president will follow his daughter to Africa. The president has not been kind in his remarks about Africa and its migrants. Juhyun Lee contributed to this report. Since emerging from his international isolation just over a year ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been a busy man. Kim has met twice with U.S. President Donald Trump, three times with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, four times with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and once with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong. One name missing from that list: Russian President Vladimir Putin. That could soon change. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that preparations for a long-rumored Kim-Putin summit are underway. The meeting could happen as soon as next week, according to South Koreas semi-official Yonhap news agency. Pyongyang and Moscow have clear motivations for the meeting. Kim, whose government is being squeezed by international sanctions, is likely to push Putin for economic aid that would give him more leverage in nuclear talks with the United States. Putin may use the meeting to boost his influence in North Korea and ensure Moscow is not sidelined in negotiations over North Koreas nuclear weapons program. Putin as spoiler? Maybe not. Under Putin, Russia has attempted to disrupt U.S. interests around the world, in areas as diverse as Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela. But Putin is not likely to play the role of spoiler in the North Korea-U.S. talks, in part because he doesnt have much leverage over Pyongyang, says Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seouls Kookmin University. And in this case, Russias interests are not that different from that of the United States. Both sides want to preserve the status quo and want denuclearization, Lankov says. Russia may also be reluctant to upset South Korea, an important trading partner, whose progressive government is heavily invested in engagement with the North. Russia has carried out a balancing act in its approach toward Korea. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian leaders decided to prioritize relations with South Korea over the North. But since the mid-1990s, Moscows policy has been based on equidistance, or balanced relations toward both Seoul and Pyongyang, says Anthony Rinna, a North Korea-Russia relations specialist at the Sino-NK research group. The Kremlin is trying to reverse the post-Cold War decline of its influence in East Asia, Rinna says. In order to do that, Moscow needs to strengthen its ties with the DPRK. Though Moscow supported intensified U.S.-led international sanctions on North Korea following missile and nuclear tests in 2016 and 2017, it later called for them to be eased. Russian companies have since supplied oil to North Korea, in violation of those sanctions. Another factor: Russia sees North Korea as a buffer against the U.S. military presence in the region, including the 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. But for now, Russias biggest priority may be preventing a return to the provocations of 2017, when Kim and Trump regularly exchanged threats of nuclear war. Preserving the status quo is the major goal, says Leonid Petrov, a Korean studies expert at the Australian National University. That means slow-motion conflict without major shifts or changes. What does North Korea want? Kims goals, too, are diverse. At the top of his list is economic aid to relieve the pressure of sanctions and expand his leverage in stalled talks with Trump. At a February summit in Hanoi, Trump pushed for a big deal in which North Korea commits to completely giving up its nuclear weapons in exchange for the United States lifting sanctions. North Korea countered with a gradual approach, offering to dismantle a key nuclear complex in exchange for partial U.S. sanctions relief. By meeting with Putin, Kim may be trying to show Trump that he has other options for economic help. But its not clear how much Russia can offer, in part because of Russias struggling economy and also because such help could violate sanctions. For example, North Korea has expressed interest in buying new Russian civilian aircraft to replace its aging fleet, according to Russian state media. However, a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibits the sale of transportation vehicles to North Korea. Besides economic aid, Kim could also ask Putin for a commitment to military assistance in the event North Korea is attacked, as well as continued diplomatic support at the United Nations, Petrov says. Its a shopping list, and we dont know whats going to materialize, Petrov says. In any case, Putin will not likely offer enough to fundamentally change North Koreas calculation for the nuclear talks, says Kim Heung-kyu, a political science professor at Seouls Ajou University. Considering its internal circumstances, Russia is not capable of focusing very much on issues in East Asia, Kim says. It's also not willing to have regional conflicts. French President Emmanuel Macron promised Tuesday to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral "within five years" after a fire caused extensive damage to the Parisian landmark. Macron said in a nationwide televised address the 850-year-old structure would be rebuilt "even more beautifully" and called on citizens to "change this disaster into an opportunity to come together." The fire is out and experts are assessing the damage. Paris fire department spokesman Gabriel Plus said building specialists and architects are "surveying the movement of structures and extinguishing smoldering residues." Although the fire caused massive damage to the famed Gothic edifice in central Paris, the city's fire chief, Jean-Claude Gallet, said firefighters saved the building's two iconic towers and stone structure. The flames, which at one point burned 10 meters into the air above the roof, destroyed much of the cathedral's roof and caused its central spire to collapse. Cathedral spokesman Andre Finot said Monday the entire wooden interior of the cathedral was likely to have been destroyed. Paris officials said firefighters worked to save as much art work and holy objects from the 12th-century cathedral as they could. Paris Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said pieces of the purported Crown of Christ was salvaged and transported to "a secret" location. The world-famous 18th century organ also survived, officials said, as did statues removed just days ago for restoration and other treasures inside the cathedral. It is not clear what caused the blaze, although fire officials said the blaze may be linked to renovation work at the building. Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said 50 investigators are involved in the "long and complex" effort to find the cause. Heitz said investigators would interview workers from five companies working on the restoration. A spokesman for one of the companies, Julien le Bras, said "all the security measures were respected" by its 12 workers who he said are "participating in the investigation with no hesitation." A Vatican statement expressing shock and sadness and called Notre Dame a "symbol of Christianity in France and in the world." Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Tuesday on Twitter Pope Francis is praying "for those who are trying to cope with this dramatic situation." The fire occurred during the holiest week of the year for Christians. It occurred less than a week before Easter and during Catholic Holy Week commemorations. An Easter Mass had been planned at the cathedral on Sunday. The medieval Catholic cathedral is one of the most visited historical monuments in Europe, welcoming millions of people each year. It dates to the 12th century and is famous for featuring in Victor Hugo's classic novel, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame." Israel's president said on Tuesday a majority of members of parliament had advised him to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form a government after the April 9 election, effectively ensuring his nomination. In office for the past decade, Netanyahu won a fifth term despite an announcement by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in February that he intends to charge the prime minister in three corruption cases. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing. President Reuven Rivlin chooses a party leader whom he judges has the best prospect of putting together a ruling coalition. He will announce his candidate on Wednesday. In broadcast remarks on Tuesday, the second day of Rivlin's consultations with political parties on their preferences for prime minister, he said Netanyahu "now has a majority of Knesset members" behind him. "Any room I had for maneuver has effectively been removed at this moment," he added. Netanyahu's nomination has been a foregone conclusion since right-wing and religious parties allied with Netanyahu's Likud captured the largest number of seats in the Knesset in last week's ballot and his closest rival, centrist Benny Gantz, conceded defeat. Netanyahu has said he intends to build a coalition with five far-right, right-wing and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that would give the Likud-led government 65 seats, four more than his outgoing administration. Representatives of all of those parties told Rivlin at the meetings, broadcast live on the internet, that they recommended Netanyahu. Gantz, a former military chief of staff whose Blue and White party won 35 parliamentary seats, would likely be next in line to try to assemble a government if Netanyahu fails to do so within 42 days of being chosen by Rivlin. Likud, like Gantz's party, secured 35 Knesset seats, up from 30 it had won in the previous election in 2015. Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign if indicted. He can still argue, at a pre-trial hearing whose date has not been set, against the formal filing of bribery and fraud charges against him. He would become Israel's longest-serving prime minister in July. The fire that tore through Notre Dame cathedral was probably caused by accident, French prosecutors said on Tuesday after firefighters doused the last flames in the ruins overnight and the nation grieved for the destruction of one of its symbols. More than 400 firemen were needed to tame the inferno that consumed the roof and collapsed the spire of the eight-centuries-old cathedral. They worked through the night to extinguish the fire some 14 hours after it began. Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz said there was no obvious indication the fire was arson. Fifty people were working on what would be a long and complex investigation. One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt in the blaze which began after the building was closed to the public for the evening. From the outside, the imposing bell towers and outer walls, with their vast flying buttresses, still stood firm, but the insides and the upper structure were eviscerated by the blaze. Firefighters examined the gothic facade and could be seen walking atop the belfries as police kept the area in lockdown. Investigators will not be able to enter the cathedral's blackened nave until experts are satisfied its stone walls withstood the heat and the building is structurally sound. The fire swiftly ripped through the cathedral's timbered roof supports, where workmen had been carrying out extensive renovations to the spire's wooden frame. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into "involuntary destruction by fire." Police on Tuesday began questioning the workers involved in the restoration, the prosecutor's office said. Hundreds of stunned onlookers had lined the banks of the Seine river late into the night as the fire raged, reciting prayers and singing liturgical music in harmony as they stood in vigil. "Yesterday we thought the whole cathedral would collapse. Yet this morning she is still standing, valiant, despite everything. It is a sign of hope," said Sister Marie Aimee, a nun who had hurried to a nearby church to pray as the fire spread. It was at Notre Dame that Napoleon was made emperor in 1804, Pope Pius X beatified Joan of Arc in 1909 and former presidents Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand were mourned. Messages of condolence flooded in from around the world. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was praying for those affected, the Vatican said, adding: "Notre Dame will always remain - and we have seen this in these hours a place where believers and non-believers can come together in the most dramatic moments of French history." Britain's Queen Elizabeth expressed deep sadness while her son and heir Prince Charles said he was "utterly heartbroken." Vow to rebuild President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild Notre Dame, considered among the finest examples of European Gothic architecture, visited by more than 13 million people a year. Notre Dame is owned by the state. It has been at the center of a years-long row between the nation and the Paris archdiocese over who should finance badly needed restoration work to collapsed balustrades, crumbling gargoyles and cracked facades. It was too early to estimate the cost of the damage, said the heritage charity Fondation du Patrimoine, but it is likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The rival billionaire owners of France's two biggest luxury fashion empires, Francois-Henri Pinault of Kering and Bernard Arnault of LVMH, pledged 100 million euros and 200 million euros to the restoration respectively. Oil company Total pledged 100 million. The city of Paris said it would provide 50 million. Paolo Violini, a restoration specialist for Vatican museums, said the pace at which the fire spread through the cathedral had been stunning. "We are used to thinking about them as eternal simply because they have been there for centuries, or a thousand years, but the reality is they are very fragile," Violini said. Human chain The company carrying out the renovation works when the blaze broke out said it would cooperate fully with the investigation "All I can tell you is that at the moment the fire began none of my employees were on the site. We respected all procedures," Julien Le Bras, a representative of family firm Le Bras Freres. Officials breathed a sigh of relief that many relics and artworks had been saved. At one point, firefighters, policemen and municipal workers formed a human chain to remove the treasures, including a centuries-old crown of thorns made from reeds and gold, and the tunic believed to have been worn by Saint Louis, a 13th century king of France. "Notre Dame was our sister, it is so sad, we are all mourning," said Parisian Olivier Lebib. "I have lived with her for 40 years. Thank God that the stone structure has withstood the fire." Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Young-byoung By Park Hyong-ki The heads of local banking groups are increasingly looking abroad, especially at Silicon Valley in the United States, to find some "clues and hints" to realize and materialize their digital businesses, according to industry sources. Currently, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Young-byoung and KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo are in the U.S. innovation hub, attending a startup forum hosted by the GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo Under the theme, "Next Generation Financial Services," the forum seeks to bridge Asian financial companies with Silicon Valley disruptors and innovators for potential partnerships, the GIC said. This is where Cho and Yoon will meet with GIC executives, startups and venture capitalists to get a "glimpse" into the world of innovation and form a fresh perspective. Given the limits they are facing in the domestic market amid an economic slowdown, tightened loan restrictions and a contracting housing market, local financial companies are left with no other options but to change the nature of their business, according to industry sources. "Groups such as Shinhan and KB have become giants but don't know where to invest using their big pockets. That is why they are launching startup programs and searching Silicon Valley to find a breakthrough," one source said. In the digital space, whether blockchain, cloud computing or artificial intelligence, everyone, including tech companies, can be their main competitors. Therefore, the banking groups can either join them or stand against them in a race that is bound to get more uncertain and competitive. "Local financial companies can either join the tech community or stand against it. But history has always shown that alliances with common goals and a good cause have triumphed over a single entity or a tyrant in battles," another source pointed out. Woori Financial Chairman Sohn Tae-seung The United States will consider new ways to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism if it sees a fundamental change in its government and a commitment not to support terrorism, a State Department official said. The U.S. government added Sudan to its list of terrorism in 1993 over allegations that then-President Omar al-Bashir's government was supporting terrorism. The Islamist Bashir was toppled last week by the military after three decades in power. The designation as a state sponsor of terrorism makes Sudan ineligible for desperately needed debt relief and financing from lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "Sudan remains designated as a state sponsor of terrorism (STT) and a number of foreign assistance and other restrictions remain in place," said the official, responding to questions sent by email. The United States agreed in November to talks with Bashir's government on how to get Sudan removed from the list, but no resolution was reached before his overthrow following weeks of increasing public unrest. "A different statutory path to SST rescission may be available if there is a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government of Sudan," the U.S. official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. Sudan is currently ruled by a Transitional Military Council (TMC) that says it is working with opposition groups to form a civilian government. But protesters say they will not leave the streets until the TMC cedes power to an interim civilian body. The State Department officials said any new government must demonstrate it is not "supporting acts of international terrorism" and provide assurances "it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future." Former Sudanese Defense Minister General Awad Ibn Auf, who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2007, stepped down as TMC chief on Friday, making way for General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a career military officer. Ibn Auf remains on the sanctions list, according to the State Department official. "We are not aware of any person targeted by U.N. or U.S. sanctions in the TMC at present," the official said. "However, the TMC is still being formed. We believe the presence of a designated individual in the TMC would be problematic." Sudan's economy has been laid low by sanctions, corruption and mismanagement. Consumer prices rose by 73 percent in 2018 and long queues at bakeries, petrol stations and cash machines are now common. Government finances were also seriously damaged by the loss of oil revenue when South Sudan, which contained most of the country's oil fields, seceded in 2011, although a near simultaneous increase in gold output helped reduce the blow. In October 2017, the United States lifted separate trade and economic sanctions it had imposed on Sudan in 1997. It kept in place the terrorism designation, which is associated with accusations that Bashir-led Sudan backed anti-Israel Islamist militant groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah. Officials in Pakistan announced Tuesday counterterrorism forces have killed five militants in a 17 hour long gun battle in an upscale locality in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The clashes erupted on Monday evening after security forces, acting on a tip, stormed a suspected militant hideout in the Hayatabad residential area where five terrorists had taken cover along with a huge quantity of weapons and massive explosives, officials said. The militants, officials and residents reported, retaliated with heavy gunfire at the raiding police party, killing one officer and wounding two others. Two civilian women were reportedly also among those injured. Army commandos later joined the civilian security force and the fight continued intermittently into Tuesday afternoon. Police told reporters shortly after the siege ended that about 50 kilograms of explosive material was found installed in a bike and parts of the building. Neighbors told reporters the slain suspects had moved into the house just days ago. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Militants linked to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban outfit and loyalists of Islamic State have claimed responsibility for previous terrorism-related incidents in Peshawar and elsewhere in Pakistan. Last week, a bomb explosion in a market in the southwestern city of Quetta killed at least 20 people and injured more than 50 others. Islamic State claimed it carried out the attack that was primarily aimed at the minority ethnic Hazara Shiite community. VOA's Lisa Bryant in Paris contributed to this report. The world reacted with shock, tears and prayers as it watched images of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral burning in Paris on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation just before midnight. "I tell you solemnly tonight: We will rebuild this cathedral, he vowed. He said he would seek international help, including from the "greatest talents'' in the world for the task. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain was ready to help. He called the fire a "catastrophe for France, for Spain and for Europe.'' On the streets of Paris, hundreds gathered, some wept, as they watched the flames engulf the cathedral's spire. Paris resident Lisa Sussman, originally from Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, said, "Its horrible. It really is the center of Paris. I was at the apartment with my friends. It really hurts everyones heart they really feel that connected to it. I feel it, too. It was really tragic to watch the spire fall." Nearby, another Parisian resident, George Castro, said he was in shock. "Im a Christian, a Catholic. I think its really, really sad to see this happening right now. Right now, we dont have many symbols, and this is a huge symbol for the West. Its very, very sad," he said. Pope Francis issued a statement late Monday expressing the Vaticans shock and sadness at the news of the terrible fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, a symbol of Christianity in France and in the world. Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan prayed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan for intercession. "God preserve this splendid house of prayer, and protect those battling the blaze,'' Dolan said in a statement. The Russian Orthodox Church's secretary for inter-Christian relations Hieromonk Stefan called the fire "a tragedy for the entire Christian world and for all who appreciate the cultural significance of this temple,'' the state news agency RIA-Novosti reported: U.S. President Donald Trump called it a "terrible, terrible fire'' that devastated "one of the great treasures of the world.'' He also had advice for the French on how to fight the fire. "Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!," Trump said on Twitter. France's Civil Security agency said that wasn't possible. "Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral,'' the agency tweeted in English. Former U.S. President Barack Obama, in a tweet, called Notre Dame "one of the worlds great treasures, and were thinking of the people of France in your time of grief. Its in our nature to mourn when we see history lost but its also in our nature to rebuild for tomorrow, as strong as we can." He also posted an old photo of himself, his wife Michelle and their two daughters lighting candles in the cathedral. Celebrities also poured their grief and dismay in tweets. American actress Laura Dern said she was moved to tears. Im weeping. Our gift of light, she wrote. Notre Dame on fire. My heart is breaking. My grandmothers and mothers heart home. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote, Standing here next to you, heartsick for Notre Dame. Poland's foreign ministry says Russia is expelling an employee of Poland's consulate in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Ministry spokeswoman Ewa Suwara told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Russia's declaration of the Pole as "persona non grata" was a move of "reciprocity." She did not elaborate and could not say whether the Pole has left Russia. The neighbors have had strained relations. Russia's business daily Kommersant reported that the expulsion came after Poland recently expelled Russia's deputy consul in Poznan. Last year Poland expelled four Russian diplomats in a gesture of solidarity with Britain, which has charged two Russians with attacking a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter with a nerve agent in Salisbury. Moscow denies involvement. Some kneeled, some folded their hands to make silent entreaties. Others sang with their eyes focused on the sky that had gone from blue to yellow and orange, and filled with acrid smoke. In an impromptu act of togetherness and hope, Parisians and people just visiting France's charismatic capital came together to pray for Notre Dame as a fire quickly advanced through the cathedral. The blaze that engulfed Notre Dame brought memories and sorrow to people around the world who had seen or dreamed of seeing the church known for its sculpted gargoyle guards and place in literary history. But emotions might have run highest in the crowd outside another Gothic church, not far from where Notre Dame burned. In front of the Saint-Julien-des-Pauvres church, a couple hundred people knelt in prayer in the middle of a larger group. More voices joined an unceasing communal hymn sung mostly a cappella, though accompanied at one point by two violins. "The cathedral is more than walls. It's a symbol of Catholic France,'' said Paris resident Gaetane Schlienger, 18, who tried to climb a tree near the vigil. "But I have a lot of friends who are not Catholic, and for them it also has a huge impact.'' Schlienger said she comes to Notre Dame nearly every week because gazing at it "you feel in security, in peace. It's magnificent.'' The cathedral also called to Quentin Salardaine, 25, a doctor from Paris, as flames devoured it and colored the sky. "I think this building just symbolizes Paris, no matter if you're Catholic or not. I'm not,'' Salardaine said. "I'm just here because I couldn't stay at my place just knowing that this thing is happening and there are people gathering, singing this religious anthem.'' Elsewhere in Paris, hundreds, and then thousands of people lined the banks of the Seine River around the small island on which Notre Dame stands, watching in disbelief and horror. The flames spread along the roof at the back of the structure. The spire burned and fell. The fire chief in Paris reported crews were struggled to contain the fire, which progressed into the cathedral's wooden interior and one of the architecturally distinctive towers. Streams of water from fire hoses whipped across the exterior. Even after firefighters started getting a handle on the blaze, bits of flame could be seen from the Left Bank still licking above exposed walls where the roof used to be. Lights moving past the huge stained-glass windows at the front of Notre Dame appeared to be guiding investigators doing inspections. Later, an Associated Press reporter got a glimpse inside the cathedral. The only illumination inside the darkened structure came from a glowing red hole in the soaring ceiling. Hours earlier, the spire had risen from that spot into the Paris skyline. Streams of sparks instead spilled onto the floor where the church choir usually stands. Outside Saint-Julien-des-Pauvres, people kept approaching the spontaneous chorus. Blandine Bouret, 68, said she knew the neighborhood well. Her grandfather had a small store on a street in the shadow of Notre Dame. Her father had an engraving boutique nearby. "It's terrible, it's catastrophic. This is the soul of Paris,'' Bouret said. Americans Lucy Soule and her father Win, of Freeport, Maine, felt lucky to have visited Notre Dame an hour before flames engulfed it. Lucy Soule, 22, said it also felt "weird.'' "Now you can smell it burning,'' she said of the monument she'd stood in so recently. Her father said, "I feel sorry for the people tomorrow. They won't be able to see it.'' A court in the West African state of Guinea has handed down life sentences to 13 people accused of killing a Saudi preacher whose sermon is believed to have angered local villagers. The court in the eastern town Kankan on Monday recommended the defendants serve a minimum of 30 years for the January 2018 shooting. All but one of the 13 were sentenced in absentia 12 are suspected to have fled abroad. "The ringleader, Moussa Kante, was the only one who was in court, pleading not guilty," Judge Kpoulomou Gbamon told AFP. The preacher, Abdul Aziz Tuwaijri, was shot dead in the village of Kantebalandougou, near the border with Mali and Ivory Coast. He was on a mission to build mosques and spread the conservative Wahabi form of Islam in Guinea, a country where Islam, the predominant religion, is traditionally moderate and often incorporates animist beliefs. A security official at the time said that, according to preliminary inquiries, the Saudi had staged a sermon "that went down badly with some of the local people, notably traditional hunters, who staged an ambush" of him. The source was unable to give further details about the sermon. A local person who had been driving the preacher around on his motorbike was seriously hurt in the attack. Several cows and sheep were slaughtered Tuesday as Sudanese protesters celebrated the ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir outside the army complex where they have been camped for days, witnesses said. "We will distribute this meat among protesters. We are celebrating the dictator's ouster," a demonstrator told AFP. Several cows and sheep were herded to a building near the army complex. "A group of men arrived early in the morning and slaughtered the animals, and later they distributed the meat among the demonstrators at the main protest site," a witness said. They cooked the meat as fresh supplies of bread and water were brought in by vans, an AFP photographer reported from the site. Thousands of protesters have camped outside the army complex since April 6. They first demonstrated to demand the resignation of Bashir and are now insisting on a swift transfer of power from a new ruling military council to a civilian government. "People have been continuously protesting. They didn't have time to celebrate after Bashir was toppled," said Ahmed Naji, a regular at the sit-in. "We also have a musical evening planned later for the day where some well-known Sudanese musicians will perform." While some groups prepared food, there were others cleaning the entire area of the protest site. Wearing medical masks and carrying brooms, men and women cleaners worked away under a hot afternoon sun, the photographer said. At the center of the protest site, groups of men and women danced as musicians played African tunes, while others chanted revolutionary slogans. But protest organizers cautioned that the "revolution" had still not achieved its goal. "Yes, we toppled the dictator, but his laws are still there," the Alliance For Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protests said in a statement. "There's no reason for us to celebrate right now because our revolution has still not achieved its goals. We have not achieved our victory." Protest organizers have called on supporters to continue with the sit-in, demanding the military council be dissolved. On Monday, protesters said the army had attempted to disperse the sit-in. On Tuesday, a witness said several vehicles carrying members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force were deployed on a bridge connecting north Khartoum to the protest area. "There could be another attempt by the troops to disperse us, but we will continue," vowed one demonstrator. Material stolen by intruders from the North Korean Embassy in Madrid in February has been returned by Spanish authorities to Pyongyang's mission without a review of the contents, a Spanish judicial source said on Tuesday. Investigators said the intruders, self-professed members of a group seeking the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, removed computers and hard drives from the embassy before fleeing to the United States, where they handed the material to the FBI. The Spanish judicial source said the FBI returned the material two weeks ago to the Spanish court investigating the raid. The court did not review the material before turning it over to the North Korean Embassy, in keeping with standard practice to protect diplomatic information, the source said. Another source, familiar with the U.S. government involvement in the case, confirmed the FBI had returned the material to Spanish authorities. It was not known how the material was handled while in the United States. A group of at least 10 people stormed into the embassy in February, restrained and physically beat some personnel and held them hostage for hours before fleeing, the Spanish court said earlier. The anti-Kim group, which calls itself Cheolima Civil Defense, said the raid was not an attack and that it had been invited into the embassy. Three of the intruders took an embassy official into the basement during the raid and encouraged him to defect from North Korea, according to a detailed document made public on March 26 by the Spanish court. The document included the names of the leaders of the group, some of whom are believed to be in the United States, while others could have left for other countries. The court is seeking their extradition. The judicial source said the investigation into the incident was almost complete, including interviews with all witnesses. North Korea's foreign ministry denounced the incident a "grave terrorist attack" and cited rumors that the FBI was partially behind the raid. The U.S. State Department said Washington had nothing to do with it. In yet more upheaval for Algeria since the ousting of long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the controversial head of the country's constitutional council quit Tuesday bowing to weeks of anger from protesters. Tayeb Belaiz's resignation was announced by state television and comes as the council prepares to oversee a presidential election. The 70-year-old is one of the "3B" top figures targeted by demonstrators in mass rallies which prompted the departure of Bouteflika this month. Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui and Abdelkader Bensalah -- who served as upper house speaker until being appointed interim president after Bouteflika quit -- have also faced calls to step down. "We will continue what we have started," said university student Linda, one of thousands taking part in a protest Tuesday in central Algiers. Police were massively deployed around the capital's post office building, the focal point of anti-government rallies which first erupted in February. "Free Algeria," chanted protests, who rallied outside the iconic building. Appeal for wisdom and patience Also on Tuesday, army chief of staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah vowed the military would not turn its guns on demonstrators, while urging them to remain patient. Soldiers have "clear and unequivocal instructions to protect civilians, especially during the (protest) marches," he said in a speech. The weapons of Algeria's army were "directed against the enemies of the nation and not against its people", the army chief said. Salah called for demonstrators to show "wisdom and patience" and said "all options remain open to overcome the difficulties and find a solution to the crisis as soon as possible". Despite Bensalah calling a presidential election on July 4, demonstrations have continued as Algerians call for a broader overhaul of the political system. The interim president has defended his appointment, but protesters are demanding regime stalwarts be entirely excluded from any political transition. "We will continue to march until a transitional (authority) led by clean politicians is set up," medical student Mira Laifa told AFP. "The people want them all to leave," chanted the crowds, in reference to the interim authorities. Bouteflika adviser Demonstrators fear that the election will not be free and fair if they are held under the same judicial framework and institutions as those of the Bouteflika regime. The interim president said his appointment was in line with constitutional rules, and pledged to hold a transparent vote. The constitutional council which Belaiz resigned from plays a key role in elections, vetting candidates and ensuring the regularity of the polls. The outgoing council chief was close to Bouteflika, who was shown handing his resignation letter to Belaiz in footage broadcast by state media last week. The ailing president had on February 10 appointed his adviser Belaiz -- who has also served as justice minister -- to head the constitutional council for the second time. The same day Bouteflika announced he would seek a fifth term in polls initially scheduled for April, despite rarely being seen in public since a 2013 stroke. His bid to cling to power sparked mass demonstrations which spread nationwide and ultimately prompted the president to resign on April 2 after two decades in power. Despite Bouteflika's resignation, Algerians have kept up their demonstrations to call for a broad overhaul of the political system. This week marks five years since Boko Haram militants kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls from the village of Chibok. The kidnappings spread fear across the border in Cameroon, where hundreds of schools closed. Authorities have since ordered schools to reopen, but many students and teachers refuse to return. In an effort to convince parents that Boko Haram is almost defeated and the schools are safe, Cameroon's Ministry of Basic Education invited families to a government primary school in Achigachia on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria. The ministry's delegation head, Gilbert Wanyou, says security measures have been taken to protect schools. "You do not get into the school without a thorough search," he said. "We must identify you to know who is in the school. Inside the campus, we do not bring the students together as we used to do in the yesteryears for morning assembly and so on and so forth." Boko Haram's abduction five years ago of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria's Chibok, in addition to local attacks and school burnings, caused many parents in Cameroon to pull their children from schools. The Achigachia school had 3,000 children in 2014, but that number dropped to 400. Seventeen-year-old Ali Mamouda says he will never return there to study. Boko Haram kidnapped him from school four years ago. He was held captive for two years before Cameroon's military freed him. Mamouda says he will never go back to the school because he is a living witness of Boko Haram brutality, simply because he defied their demand to stop going to school. He says he is not sure anyone is safe at the border school, and he does not wish his friends to be victims of Boko Haram by attending classes there. Teacher Etienne Mainimo was transferred to a border school, but says he decided to remain in a safer area after Boko Haram fighters killed his peers. He laments that kids are being deprived of an education. "If nothing is done, I want to tell you that the future of the children who are the leaders of tomorrow is in great danger because very few of them [are] going to school," Mainimo said. The government of Cameroon says it needs to construct at least 7,000 classrooms to replace those torched by Boko Haram. The governor of Cameroon's Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari, says hundreds of teachers and staff refuse to return to work. Bakari has documented the names of about 1,000 staff who have been absent for two to three years, but are still receiving salaries, he says, adding that he will forward those names to the ministers of public service and finance for sanctions. Bakari says he is calling on parents to secure their children's future by making sure they go to school. However, parents fear Boko Haram supporters are still operating in the area. Boko Haram extended its attacks from Nigeria to Cameroon in 2013, after Cameroonian troops began assisting the Nigerian military in fighting the extremists. Cameroon estimates more than 1,500 of its citizens have been killed in the fight against Boko Haram, and more than 45,000 students displaced in northern areas. By Kim Bo-eun Shinhan Life Insurance has set up an innovation center to foster an innovative organizational culture, the company said, Tuesday. The new center, to be under the control of CEO Sung Dae-kyu, will serve as a think tank for promoting idea pitches from employees and providing enhanced "insurtech-based" services to customers, it added. It has two arms, one focusing on ideas on innovating the company as a whole, and another which will focus on ideas on providing innovative insurtech-based financial services to customers. The center is located on the same floor of Sung's office, to enable employees to freely communicate and discuss ideas with the CEO. It has 36 members, 11 of whom are based at the center and 25 who contribute while carrying out other roles at the company. "We expect the innovation center to become a stepping stone for Shinhan Life to establish an innovative organizational culture and become a leading insurer in insurteh," Sung said. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has met obstacles at nearly every turn since he declared presidential powers in a bid to end socialist President Nicolas Maduro's rule, and his visit to this once-thriving oil center was no different. He was forced to take a boat to outmaneuver police roadblocks and reach throngs of supporters waiting to hear him speak in the sweltering heat in Maracaibo, a city now infamous for its blackouts. Security forces had blocked the bridge across Lake Maracaibo just as Guaido arrived on Sunday. Undeterred, the 35-year-old opposition leader and his entourage boarded a private boat and sped off across the water. While Guaido has gained backing from the United States and some 50 other nations, Maduro remains firmly entrenched nearly three months into the struggle for control of Venezuela. Guaido has been stripped of his immunity and faces the looming threat of arrest something he warned would be a "big mistake." "It would only deepen the crisis," Guaido told The Associated Press as the boat crossed the choppy waters. "The consequences would only hurt the regime." Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city of 1.5 million where refineries that once hummed with constant activity have fallen into disrepair, is a window into a nation that has plunged into chaos. The power has returned for most of Venezuela after a massive electrical grid failure that blanketed most of the country's 30 million residents for days starting March 7. But Maracaibo hasn't bounced back. The city is a crumbling version of its former self. Gushing oil wells that helped make a nation with the world's largest oil reserves flush with cash have given way to broken-down oil platforms that sit idle as nearby shores are black with oozing crude. Maracaibo has endured rampant blackouts for more than a year, leaving residents of a city where temperatures regularly reach 100 degrees without air conditioning and refrigerators, spoiling food. In the streets, residents spend hours searching for water, and schools barely open. Frustration spilled over for several days in mid-March, with mass looting by mobs that overran shopping centers sacking 523 stores many of which have not reopened their doors. Residents say they live in fear of a serious illness or injury. Doctors in the main emergency hospital tell patients to bring their own water to clean wounds and even the most basic items like aspirin are lacking. Guaido's first visit to Maracaibo since declaring presidential powers on Jan. 23 comes at a time when he seeks to tap into popular frustration and anger to re-energize his campaign. Some fear he's leading yet another fatally stalled opposition movement unable to break free from Maduro. Guaido has failed to win a critical mass of the armed forces away from Maduro or bring in international shipments of humanitarian aid. The masses of supporters who flooded the streets in the capital, Caracas, immediately after Guaido declared presidential powers aimed at toppling Maduro have begun to wane. But in Maracaibo, a historic opposition stronghold, he was met Sunday by thousands who turned out at a series of rallies to hear him speak even as his voice turned hoarse. Several thousand followers waited more than four hours in the middle of one of the city's main avenues. The visit came as pressure on Guaido is only tightening. The National Constituent Assembly, stacked with Maduro loyalists, withdrew Guaido's parliamentary immunity earlier this month, opening the path to prosecute and arrest him for allegedly violating the constitution. Days earlier Guaido's chief of staff was jailed as an accused terrorist. Guaido said he has urged his international backers to adopt a stance of "zero tolerance" toward Venezuela's rampant corruption and the mismanagement of its resources. Maduro boasts support from Russia, China and Turkey, but Guaido dismissed that as "more of a show" than having any substance amid Venezuela's crisis. Guaido refuses to negotiate with Maduro. "There's no possibility of a dialogue with Maduro," Guaido said. "He's the problem.'' Given the fading anti-government protests and the opposition's refusal to open a dialogue with Maduro, the option of some sort of U.S. military deployment starting with efforts to bolster humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela has been gaining strength, especially among some figures in Washington. "It is becoming clear that we will have to consider the use of American military assets to deliver aid," Florida Sen. Rick Scott said last week at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Maduro and his thugs have left us no choice." The Trump administration is determined to see Maduro removed from power, preferably through diplomatic and economic pressure. The White House has slapped dozens of officials in Maduro's government with financial sanctions and targeted Venezuela's oil industry, its most important source of revenue. But while White House officials have repeatedly warned that "all options are on the table," no plan appears to be in place backing up the tough talk. Reaching the other side of Lake Maracaibo, Guaido hit another police roadblock. His entourage abandoned their cars and turned to local residents to help them navigate around backroads. Guaido spoke at several rallies, urging Venezuelans not to give into Venezuela's collapsing public services. Rather, he said, they need to keep the protests alive throughout the country, rejecting Maduro's government. "We're not going to bend our knees if that's what they tell us to do,'' Guaido said, as the mass of people cheered in support. "Yes we can!" they shouted. Attorney General William Barr has provided only a glimpse of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the inquiry into Russia's 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 Mueller's "principal conclusions" including that the 22-month probe did not establish that President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team conspired with Russia. Barr said he found insufficient evidence in Mueller's 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 told Congress he hopes to release the nearly 400-page report this week, with portions 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 counsel's supporting evidence behind Mueller's 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 Barr's 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 Barr's statement in the letter that "most" of Trump's 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. Barr's comment that most of what Mueller probed on obstruction has been publicly reported indicates that events like Trump's 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 Trump's 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 Barr's 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 Trump's 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, Mueller's 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 counsel's 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 Russia's 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 Manafort's 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 counsel's 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, Trump's 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 Mueller's 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 counsel's 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 president's 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. Mueller's 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. The U.S. Justice Department will release on Thursday a redacted version of the nearly 400-page report of special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election aimed at helping Donald Trump win the presidency. In a steady drumbeat against the Mueller investigation, Trump claimed again Tuesday that he has already been exonerated of wrongdoing linked to the election, even as he and the American public await details of the prosecutor's 22-month investigation. "No Collusion - No Obstruction!" Trump said on Twitter. On Monday, the U.S. leader contended that "these crimes were committed" by his 2016 opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and "Dirty Cops," his derogatory term for former top U.S. law enforcement officials, "and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!" Mueller investigated Trump campaign contacts with Russia and whether Trump, as president, obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe. Sparring over the report in advance of its release is rampant. Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary of Mueller's findings three weeks ago, saying the prosecutor had concluded that Trump and his campaign did not collude with Russia to help him win but had reached no conclusion whether Trump obstructed justice. But with Mueller not reaching a decision on the obstruction issue, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided no obstruction charges against Trump were warranted. Trump tweeted that Mueller's report "was written by 18 Angry Democrats who also happen to be Trump Haters (and Clinton Supporters), should have focused on the people who SPIED on my 2016 Campaign, and others who fabricated the whole Russia Hoax ... Since there was no Collusion, why was there an Investigation in the first place! Answer - Dirty Cops, Dems and Crooked Hillary!" Barr, a Trump appointee as the country's top law enforcement official, said last week he believes that top American intelligence agencies spied on the Trump campaign. He later amended his remarks, saying that while he is "not saying that improper surveillance occurred," he is "concerned about it and looking into it." Barr said he would examine the details of how the FBI's counterintelligence investigation began. As for the Mueller report, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told the U.S. cable news program Fox News Sunday, "I don't think it is going to be damaging to the president." Congressman Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that is probing the election, told CNN on Sunday that Barr should release the full report and underlying investigatory evidence to his panel, but Barr has balked. "To deny the Judiciary Committee and the Congress the knowledge of what's in parts of the Mueller report is not proper," Nadler said. No one other than Barr and key officials in the Justice Department, Mueller and his team of prosecutors appear to know what the report says about the extent of Trump campaign links with Russia during his 2016 campaign or whether he took any actions as the U.S. leader aimed at inhibiting the investigation. Nadler said that even though Barr concluded no obstruction charges should be brought against Trump, his decision should not go without review. Nadler noted that Barr, before he became the country's top law enforcement official, wrote that Trump could not obstruct justice because the president "is the boss of the Justice Department and could order it around to institute an investigation, to eliminate an investigation or could not be questioned about that." "In other words, [Barr] thinks as a matter of law a president can't obstruct justice, which is a very wild theory to which most people do not agree," Nadler said. "The fact of the matter is we should see and judge for ourselves and Congress should judge whether the president obstructed justice or not, and the public ultimately." Nadler said it "may be that Mueller decided not to prosecute obstruction of justice for various reasons that there wasn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt on some things. But there still may have been proof of some very bad deeds and very bad motives. And we need to see them and the public needs to see them." Opposition Democrats like Nadler have launched new investigations of Trump, a Republican, but the president is objecting. On Twitter, Trump said last Saturday, "Why should Radical Left Democrats in Congress have a right to retry and examine the $35,000,000 (two years in the making) No Collusion Mueller Report...." Barr has said he will release as much of the Mueller report as possible, while excluding material Mueller included from secret grand jury testimony and confidential U.S. intelligence sources, information about ongoing investigations and material that might prove damaging to peripheral figures in the investigation who have not been charged with criminal offenses. The extent of his redactions is not known. Uganda would consider granting asylum to ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, a state minister said Tuesday. "If Uganda is approached to grant asylum to Bashir it is an issue that can be considered at the highest level of our leadership," state minister for foreign affairs Henry Okello Oryem told AFP. He said that as a result of Bashir's key role in mediating a peace deal in neighbouring South Sudan, "his asylum in Uganda is what the government of Uganda can consider." In the meantime, "Uganda is keenly following the developments in Sudan and we ask the new leadership there to respect the aspirations of the Sudanese people among them peaceful transfer of power to the civilian rule". Bashir's three-decade reign was toppled last week by top commanders after four months of nationwide demonstrations. Protest leaders say Bashir must face justice, however the transitional military council currently leading the country has said it will not extradite the ousted leader. The council says Bashir remains in custody, but has not specified his whereabouts or that of other senior regime leaders. Uganda is one of several African nations which have hosted Bashir in the past without handing him over to the ICC, despite being signatories of the tribunal. Bashir faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the conflict in Darfur. The war in Darfur broke out when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN Security Council asked the ICC in 2005 to investigate the crimes in Darfur, where the UN estimates at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. The U.N. secretary-general has appointed special adviser Nicholas Haysom to support the African Union's mediation efforts in Sudan, where the military ousted longtime President Omar al-Bashir last week. "He is being put at disposal of the African Union, which we understand will be engaged in some mediation capacity between the transitional council in Khartoum and various parts of Sudanese society," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday. "Mr. Haysom will be there to support them in whatever way he can." He said that U.N. chief Antonio Guterres had spoken Monday with Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union Commission, and told him that Haysom would be available. "The secretary-general is very attached to his partnership with the African Union and he will do whatever he can to support their efforts," Dujarric said. Haysom was most recently the U.N.'s top man in Somalia, but was expelled after four months by the Somali federal government, after he tried to intervene on behalf of a former al-Shabab leader who sought to take part in elections but was banned by Somalia's electoral commission. Haysom, a South African lawyer, was previously the U.N. special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and was head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. The African Union Peace and Security Council issued a strong statement Monday condemning the military takeover in Sudan as an unconstitutional change of government, and demanding the military hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority within 15 days. Failure to do so, the AU warned, would result in Sudan's suspension from participation in all African Union activities until constitutional order is restored. Meanwhile, in Khartoum Tuesday, the country's new military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, fired the country's top prosecutor in an apparent concession to demonstrators' demands. Protest leaders have called for the new ruling military council to be dissolved and replaced by a civilian one, in the wake of the military coup that ousted President al-Bashir last week. Mohamed Naji, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) the main group behind months of protests against al-Bashir said the group wants to see a civic council formed that includes representatives from the army. On Sunday, Sudan's military council said it would name a civilian prime minister and cabinet minister to help run the country but would not name a civilian to the office of the president. A military spokesman also said the council would not stop the demonstrations that are continuing. The SPA has called for more demonstrations until its demands are met. The protests began Dec. 19, with demonstrators accusing al-Bashir's government of economic mismanagement that sparked skyrocketing food prices, and fuel and foreign currency shortages. Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in connection with atrocities in the western region of Darfur. However, the military leaders have said he will not be turned over to the ICC, but will instead be tried in Sudan. U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit Moscow this week to discuss Pyongyang's denuclearization, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Tuesday. Biegun will meet with Russian officials in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday "to discuss efforts to advance the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," the department said, but gave no further details. The Trump administration is still seeking to reach a denuclearization deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following two summits between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump that have so far failed to solidify an agreement. Trump administration officials have floated the possibility of a third summit. Meanwhile, RIA news agency last month reported that Kim planned to visit Russia for talks this spring or summer. Earlier on Tuesday, Yonhap news agency reported that plans were underway for a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States in March also imposed a new round of sanctions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, following the collapse of talks between Trump and Kim in February. Two U.S. House of Representatives committees have issued subpoenas to multiple financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank AG, for information on President Donald Trump's finances, the panels' Democratic leaders said Monday. "The potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern. The Financial Services Committee is exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible," the committee's chair, Maxine Waters, said in a statement. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement the subpoenas issued included a "friendly subpoena to Deutsche Bank." A 2018 financial disclosure form showed liabilities for Trump of at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank. They are for properties including the Trump International Hotel in a former post office in Washington. Deutsche Bank said in January, shortly after Democrats took control of the House following the November elections, that it had received an inquiry from the two committees on its ties to the Republican president. Schiff said Deutsche bank had been cooperative. "We look forward to their continued cooperation and compliance," he said. Kerrie McHugh, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman, said the bank was engaged in a "productive dialogue" with the two committees. "We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations," she said in an emailed statement. The New York Times, which first reported the committees' actions Monday, said Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America had also received subpoenas. Trump lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had reason to believe that leaking U.S. military reports "would cause injury" to the country, federal prosecutors alleged in a newly unsealed court filing on Monday. In the affidavit submitted to federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors said U.S. military reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq included information about the "identity and significance of local supporters of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan." When U.S. forces raided the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was hiding out, for example, they found a letter that showed the Al Qaeda leader was interested in copies of Pentagon documents published on WikiLeaks, the prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, leaked reports on the Afghan war included information on militants' improvised explosive device designs and attacks, including details of U.S. and coalition countermeasures against such home-made explosive devices and their limitations. The prosecution's affidavit is dated Dec. 21, 2017, but was made public on Monday. It follows the unsealing last week of a U.S. indictment charging Assange with conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history. Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Assange in Washington, said: "Encouraging sources to provide information, and using methods to protect their identity, are common practices by all journalists. There is no new information in the affidavit that was unavailable to the Department of Justice when it decided in the Obama administration that pursuing criminal charges against Mr. Assange would be contrary to the First Amendment." British police arrested Assange at Washington's request after Ecuador revoked his seven-year asylum on Thursday. He was dragged out of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and is being held in prison while he faces extradition to the United States. The U.S. indictment, originally issued in secret by an Alexandria, Virginia-based grand jury in March 2018, said Assange in March 2010 engaged in a conspiracy to help Manning crack a password for a classified U.S. government network. In the unsealed affidavit, prosecutors said Manning also had access to other U.S. government databases, including one relating to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a State Department database containing military cables. If a basic tenet of communism is equality, including based on gender, then from some points of view the Socialist Republic of Vietnam would seem to be faring well on its founding ideology. Women are visible everywhere across the country of 100 million people, whether they are running iconic companies, government ministries, or single-parent households. Female Vietnamese also show up in jobs stereotypically associated with males, such as construction workers, taxi drivers, and police officers. But when considering all of the data that indicate Vietnam is ahead of most other countries in gender equality - like the percentage of women who are in the labor force or who are chief executive officers - it is easy to overlook the fact that men still have an edge in so many areas. The average income of women in the Southeast Asian country is $224 (5.2 million Vietnam dong) a month, according to figures released in March by Adecco Vietnam, a firm that sells staffing services. That pay level amounts to just 81% of the average income of men. In addition to the wage gap, there is the matter of unpaid labor. Beyond the official work day, Vietnamese women spend another five hours daily on tasks like cleaning the house or looking after a sick relative. Every day has just 24 hours, to be divided among work, family, and oneself, said Nguyen Hong Phuong, the director of finance at Adecco Vietnam. It will not always be divided evenly, but balance and prioritizing will always be the key. While men are starting to pick up the slack, they still enjoy pride of place in the household. For a man, the advantage begins even before birth, when parents prefer to bear a boy rather than a girl, through a childhood without the expectation he will help with domestic chores, until adulthood, when the man switches from having his mother care for him to having his wife take on the burden. The rate of men who have indefinite term work contracts with foreign invested companies is 73.9%, compared with 67.7% for women, according to Adecco Vietnam. It also said that in job interviews, employers tend to ask female candidates not about their work experience or their professional goals, but about their marriage and family plans, as it would cost money for them to hire someone who eventually gets pregnant and goes on leave. In an indication of the responsibility that still falls on women in Vietnam, one of the key priorities for female employees when they are seeking out an employer is that the company has a suitable parental leave policy, according to a study released March 8 by the United States Agency for International Development. That is in contrast to the Philippines, where women who were polled said they want diversity in the workplace, and in contrast to Singapore, where women said they want flexible work arrangements, like working from home. The research was conducted jointly by USAID Green Invest Asia and Moxie Future, which both advocate sustainable development. As in so many countries, women in Vietnam bear the brunt of poverty and the repercussions of natural disasters. That is why there are programs like Technologies for Equality, a competition overseen by the Womens Initiative for Startups and Entrepreneurship. Contestants submit inventions that can improve the lives of women in the countryside for a chance to win up to $7,000. So far there have been innovations like Safe Journey, a mobile app that helps migrant workers find jobs and housing, since many rural women move to urban areas to find employment and send money back to their hometowns. Another is a facility where ethnic minority tea farmers can process their crops for higher value-added products. Ireland and Australia, which are funding the project, will announce the winners later this month. This aims to unearth and support innovative solutions to ensure rural women and girls can fully participate and prosper in the workforce and the economy, Vice Minister Bui The Duy at the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam said at the event launching the competition. There is plenty that is going right in Vietnam. With its 71% female workforce participation, and the 25% of CEOs who are women, Vietnam probably has some insight for the rest of the world on equality. Local women generally have maternity leave, workplace protections relating to pregnancy and childcare, low rates of sex based violence, and overall freedom and respect in society. At the same time, some of Vietnams metrics look good because other countries do not. Even in a socialist society there is still a ways to go for complete gender equality. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - One month after Cyclone Idai tore through southern Africa bringing devastating floods, aid agencies say the situation remains critical with some communities in worst-hit Mozambique only just being reached with aid. The storm made landfall in Mozambique on March 14, flattening the port city of Beira before moving inland to batter Malawi and Zimbabwe. It heaped rain on the regions highlands that then flowed back into Mozambique, leaving an area the size of Luxembourg under water. More than 1,000 people died across the three countries, and the World Bank has estimated more than $2 billion will be needed for them to recover. Over the weekend, aid agencies said thousands of people were still completely cut off and warned of the potential for a catastrophic hunger crisis to take hold, especially as aid appeals went largely underfunded. Dorothy Sang, Oxfams humanitarian advocacy manager, said an aid drop was being planned for an isolated area where just last week 2,000 people were found for the first time since the storm. They had been surviving on coconuts, dates and small fish they could catch. Oxfam estimates there are 4,000 people still cut off. Sang added that while often these werent the worst-hit by the disaster, they were already living in chronic poverty and now face huge challenges to survive. They risk becoming utterly forgotten, she said. On Sunday, Care International said the destruction of crops would compound existing food security problems across the region, and called on donors to find additional funds for the response. Mozambiques $337 million humanitarian response plan, largely made up of an appeal for $281 million after the cyclone hit, remained only 23 percent funded on Monday. The United Nations has also requested $294 million for Zimbabwe, an appeal currently 11 percent funded. The government has separately asked for $613 million to help with the humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, U.N. childrens agency Unicef warned at least 1.6 million children need some kind of urgent assistance, from healthcare to education, across all three countries. Save the Children also said many are traumatised after witnessing the death and destruction wrought by the storm. Machiel Pouw, Save the Childrens response team leader, said children and their families needed long-term help to recover. After a disaster of this scale, the world must not look away. (Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Hugh Lawson) By Jung Min-ho An armed taxi driver threatened a Korean tourist on the Indonesian island of Bali, the Korean Embassy in Jakarta said Monday. According to the embassy, the woman, who took a taxi in Seminyak, the southern part of Bali, around 2 p.m. Sunday (local time), complained to the driver after realizing the taximeter had gone up too quickly. During an argument, the driver threatened to stab her. The embassy later found that the blue taxi did not belong to Blue Bird, the country's largest taxi company that has the best reputation. The woman did not file a complaint with police because of her busy schedule. The embassy said it informed local tourism authorities of the incident and advised Koreans to use taxies from reliable companies. Myongji University in Seoul hosted a foot-washing ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate Easter, a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. Easter falls this weekend. The school has held the ceremony annually for 19 years, holding up its founding spirit: "Believing God, being filial to parents." Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han In this file photo taken on Sept. 24, 2018 U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after signing a trade agreement at a bilateral meeting in New York, a day before the start of the General Debate of the 73rd session of the General Assembly. AFP-Yonhap A North Korean propaganda outlet urged South Korea on Tuesday to reject outside interference with inter-Korean issues, saying that none other than the two Koreas can be the main players in resolving cross-border issues. It was the latest in a series of calls that North Korean media outlets have been making to urge the South to deal with inter-Korean issues independently of the United States, since leader Kim Jong-un said last week that Seoul should play a more active role in moving inter-Korean cooperation by voicing its own opinions. "There is no right or cause for outside forces to intervene in North-South relations. Issues linked to North-South relations should be resolved independently by the owner, our own people," Meari, a North Korean propaganda outlet, said Tuesday. President Moon Jae-in, right, walks toward an airplane to return home after ending his three-day trip to North Korea for a summit with his northern counterpart Kim Jong-un, at Samjiyon Airport on Sept. 20. Joint Press Corps A bereaved family member of a Sewol ferry sinking victim throws a flower into the sea off Jindo, South Jeolla Province, Tuesday, on the fifth anniversary of the disaster. A total of 304 aboard the ferry, mostly Danwon High School students on a school trip to Jeju Island, were killed. /Yonhap South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, and first lady Kim Jung-sook aboard a plane at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, for his first state-visit to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Yonhap President Moon Jae-in embarked on a trip Tuesday to make state visits to three Central Asian nations, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The eight-day trip will also take him to Kazakhstan, according to his office Cheong Wa Dae. The president will arrive in Ashgabat later in the day for a three-day visit that will include a summit with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Turkmenistan, along with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is at the center of South Korea's New Northern Policy that is aimed at greatly enhancing the country's economic and diplomatic cooperation with Central Asian and Eurasian countries, including Russia. "The three Central Asian countries are important cooperation partners under the New Northern Policy our government is pushing for," Kim Hyun-chong, a deputy director of the National Security Office at Cheong Wa Dae, told reporters earlier. "The trip is expected to provide a chance to create the foundation for future-oriented cooperation for joint prosperity ... while strengthening our cooperative relations with the countries that have accumulated over the 27 years since the establishment of our diplomatic ties in 1992," the Cheong Wa Dae official added. It marks Moon's first trip to the region since he took office in May 2017, and it follows his visits to three Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries that are at the heart of his New Southern Policy, the other half of Moon's two-pillared foreign policy initiative. In 2018, South Korea's trade with five Central Asian countries came to US$4.4 billion, while that with the 10 member states of ASEAN stood at $160 billion, according to a Cheong Wa Dae official. "But this means there is greater potential for growth in trade, and the (Central Asian countries') cooperation with our country is in fact growing rapidly," Joo Hyung-chul, an economic adviser to Moon, said also ahead of the trip. The president's trip will partly be aimed at strengthening the country's energy cooperation with the countries, Joo noted. "Turkmenistan is a resource-rich nation that has the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves. Also, it is located at a geopolitically strategic point that connects China and India with Europe," he said. Moon will head to Uzbekistan on Thursday to make a four-day state visit. He will hold a summit with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to discuss ways to improve their countries' relationship and boost their cooperation in various sectors, including ICT, health and medical, public administration and defense technology, Cheong Wa Dae said. Moon will arrive in Astana on Sunday for a summit with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. His visit to Kazakhstan will mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership between the countries. President Moon will return home next Tuesday. (Yonhap) Milan help centres report rising number of calls for help. Some 345 women suffering physical, psychological, economic, sexual or stalking violence turned to the Somaschi Fathers non-profit in Milan in 2018 thats an average of one almost every day. The NGO Fondazione Somaschi, founded in the 16th century to help the fragile, operates three help centres in Milan and the surrounding towns. They report a worrying increase of over 50 per cent in the first months of 2019, especially in the surrounding hinterland. The women turning to them for help are being victimised by their husbands, common-law husbands, partners or former partners, stated the Fathers annual report. The foundation offers a safe home for abused women and victims of violence or of people trafficking, and those who want to escape from exploitation and change their life. The victims are usually referred to the NGO by social services, police or hospitals; after an initial telephone contact they are offered an appointment for a personal interview to determine how best to help them. The foundation provides psychological or legal support, and in severe cases a safe refuge. Consultation can also be anonymous, if the victim wishes. The statistics confirm how widespread domestic violence is, but also how [our] approach to contrasting the violence can succeed, said Chaira Sainaghi, head of the ONGs anti-violence service, presenting the annual report. The foundations strategy of using local institutions as antennas to intercept violence even in its initial stages is paying off, Sainaghi added, and opening the road to cultural change. Along with other voluntary organisations, the foundation forms part of Milan city halls Anti-Violence Network, with an open door centre in Piazza 25 Aprile. It also operated help structures for mistreated minors, single mothers, migrants and former prostitutes in Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria and Sardinia, with a total full-time staff of 220 and an equal number of volunteers in 25 communities. The public service toll-free help number for victims of violence or stalking is 1522, with an English chat line on their website. The Irish founder of St Isidore's College arrived in Rome 400 years ago. Luke Wadding, an Irish Franciscan priest, arrived in Rome on 17 December 1618. He came as theological adviser to a royal delegation sent by Philip III of Spain to convince Pope Paul V of the need to define the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.* Born the southern Irish city of Waterford in 1588, Wadding departed for Lisbon in 1602. After a short spell in Lisbon's Irish College, which had been established in 1590 to train diocesan priests, Wadding joined the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1613. His arrival in Rome five years later must have seemed like the pinnacle of his career to the young friar. However, Waddings career was really only starting. Though the Spanish royal delegation failed in its mission and its members returned to Spain, Wadding was to remain in Rome for the rest of his life, rendering sterling service to his order, country and the universal church. S. Pietro in Montorio Residing in the Spanish Franciscan convent of S. Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum, Wadding was commissioned in 1619 to undertake a history of the Franciscan order, leading to the publication of eight volumes of the Annales Minorum between 1625 and 1654, a work that covered the history of the order from the birth of St Francis in 1182 until 1540. Waddings interest in Franciscan history went back a long way. During his early years in Spain he had been stung by an account of a sermon where the preacher said that he loved learned saints but had no devotion to simpletons like St Francis of Assisi. Even during Wadding's novitiate, a well-meaning friend wrote to him deploring the fact that he was burying his talents in an order that had shown no aptitude for scholarship. These misguided comments provoked a powerful reaction in the young Irishman, and he resolved to spend his life demonstrating both the positive attitude of St Francis to learning and the learned tradition developed by his order. Little wonder then that his first major work was a critical edition of the writings of St Francis, published in Antwerp in 1623. St Isidore's In 1622 a group of Spanish discalced Franciscans founded the convent of S. Isidoro where it still stands, not far from Trinita dei Monti. They encountered a number of difficulties, however, and were soon forced to abandon their uncompleted and debt-ridden home. Wadding stepped into the breach, offering to take over S. Isidoro on condition that he could turn it into a seminary to train young Irish Franciscans for priestly service on the home mission in Ireland. The new community took up residence in 1625. Setting about his new task with energy and enthusiasm, within five years Wadding was able to collect 22,000 scudi from wealthy benefactors, including Pope Urban VIII, the Spanish ambassador and a number of Hispanophile cardinals. This enabled him to pay off the debts accumulated by the previous Spanish incumbents, complete the church and enlarge the original convent from one that housed 12 friars to one that was capable of hosting 60 people. The Pontifical Irish College today Wadding also founded the Pontifical Irish College in Rome in 1628 for the training of Irish diocesan clergy. He followed this up in 1656 with the foundation of an Irish Franciscan novitiate in Capranica, about 70kms north-west of Rome, which remained open until 1983. During his historical research, Wadding managed to build up a library of 5,000 volumes, not to mention a great quantity of precious manuscripts. This library at St Isidore's remains to this day an indispensable tool for researching early Franciscan history. Roman artists With the aid of his Spanish patrons, Wadding hired the best Roman artists of the time to decorate the college church. In 1626 he commissioned Andrea Sacchi to paint the altarpiece for the college church. Giovan Pietro Bellori, the great art theorist of his age, was apostolic syndic (in charge of St Isidore's financial dealings) from 1653 to 1684 and, encouraged by Wadding, he grasped the opportunity to use the church as a laboratory for putting his aesthetic ideas into practice. Yet, despite his patronage of Roman artists, Wadding never forgot his Irish roots. At his insistence, St Patrick was included in the new universal calendar of the Church that was drawn up circa 1630. Henceforth St Patrick was a saint whose feast-day had to be celebrated all over the world. St Patrick's Day Francis Harold, Waddings nephew and biographer, said that St Patricks Day was celebrated with particular solemnity in St Isidores and it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that it was here that St Patricks Day first became Irelands national festival. The distinctive Irish character of St Isidores was proclaimed in the portico of the church. On each side of the main entrance there are life-size murals of Patrick and Bridget, Irelands principal patron saints. St Isidore's College today The presentation of Ireland as a country with its own saints and its own language was a powerful demonstration of national identity, announcing to the citizens of Rome that the Irish had come to town. Wadding always retained an interest in the subject that brought him to Rome in the first place: the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. In 1639 he published the complete works of John Duns Scotus in Lyons in 16 volumes. Scotus was the mediaeval Franciscan who first developed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Under Waddings direction, St Isidores not only became an important location for the training of young Irish Franciscans, but also the leading European centre for Scotistic studies in the 17th century. By the time of Waddings death in 1657, in addition to educating over 200 Irish Franciscans, the college had supplied 70 professors in Scotistic philosophy and theology to universities all over Europe. War in Ireland When war broke out in Ireland in 1641 between the English and the Irish, the supreme council of the Irish Catholic Confederates appointed Wadding as their agent in Rome, supplying arms and ammunition to aid the struggle against the English administration and military. He also prevailed on Pope Innocent X to send GianBattista Rinuccini to Ireland as papal nuncio (ambassador) in 1645. Rinuccini, however, was not astute enough to deal with the complex Irish situation. The nuncios mission was little short of a disaster, with Wadding himself taking some of the blame. Seen by Rinuccinis supporters from Gaelic Ulster as pandering to the interests of anglicised members of the Leinster and Munster elites, Wadding became a source of contention not only in Ireland but also amongst the members of his own Franciscan community in St Isidores. Waddings involvement in the French Jansenist controversy about original sin, grace and predestination was to cause him yet him more grief. Determined as he was to ensure that Jansens views got a fair hearing in Rome before the pope pronounced on their orthodoxy, Wadding nonetheless acquiesced to the papal condemnation in 1653. Just like the Irish situation in the 1640s, Waddings attempts at being even-handed only drew upon himself the wrath of both sides. These two issues, far removed from the world of scholarship where he felt most at home, blighted the years leading up to his death in 1657. Four centuries after his arrival in Rome, Wadding would surely be pleased to know that young Irish Franciscans continue to be trained in St Isidores. He would equally be pleased to know that the college also functions as an international research centre for Franciscan studies. St Isidore's also welcomes Irish couples travelling to Rome to get married and hosts the St Patrick's Day Mass for the city's Irish community. By Micheal MacCraith Fr Micheal MacCraith OFM is the former Guardian of St Isidore's College on Via degli Artisti 18. The church is open for Sunday Mass each week at 10.00. For information see website *The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was only pronounced as infallible papal dogma two and a half centuries later in 1854. It is still celebrated as an official feast day by the Roman Catholic Church on 8 December. This article was published in the December 2018 edition of Wanted in Rome magazine. Cover image: Detail of Luke Wadding portrait by Carlo Maratta Colossal fire at Cathedral of Notre-Dame attracts messages of condolences and solidarity from Rome and around the world as firefighters succeed in saving main structure of Paris landmark. Rome's mayor Virginia Raggi has expressed her condolences on behalf of the capital to Parisians after the 12th-century Notre-Dame Cathedral was gutted by fire on the evening of 15 April. With the words "Roma abbraccia Parigi" (Rome embraces Paris), Raggi said: "The Romans are at the side of the citizens of Paris", adding a message of particular solidarity for the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo "in this terrible moment". A statement from the Vatican expressed "shock and sadness" over the news of the "terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, symbol of Christianity, in France and in the world." In a message sent to French president Emmanuel Macron, Italy's president Sergio Mattarella expressed his "anguish" over the fire at Notre-Dame, "an historical treasure that over the centuries has preserved an exceptional artistic heritage of immense significance for France, for Europe and for the culture of the world." Mattarella said that Italy is "united with sincere friendship and heartfelt solidarity for the French people." Audrey Azoulay, head of UNESCO the Paris-based UN agency for education, science and culture - said that UNESCO is monitoring the situation closely and is ready to safeguard and restore this invaluable heritage", which the organisation elevated to World Heritage status in 1991. The fire, believed to be linked to an ongoing renovation project, engulfed the 850-year-old cathedral, damaging much of the building and leading to the collapse of its roof and spire. However much of the cathedral's revered art work and precious relics were removed safely, and fire fighters succeeded in saving the main structure. The Paris prosecutors office is treating the blaze as an accident and has ruled out arson and possible terrorist motives, according to the Associated Press. President Macron has pledged to rebuild Notre-Dame which was begun in 1160 and was largely complete by 1260, although it was modified frequently in the ensuing centuries. Considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, popular interest in the cathedral blossomed following the 1831 publication of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The cathedral is Europe's most-visited historic monument and attracts between 12 and 14 million visitors each year. Shipments of U.S. soybeans are at the lowest level since before the U.S.-China trade war. Total U.S. soybean exports reached 460,700 metric tons last week, down from 888,700 tons in the previous week and just above 446,500 tons in the same week a year ago, according to weekly inspection data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday. Of the soy shipments last week, 130,200 tons were loaded for China. China cut imports of U.S. soybeans and other goods after imposing tariffs in July. While Chinese buyers resumed some purchases as the two sides sought a resolution, some farm groups now fear the administration would accept Chinese purchase target pledges without a promise to lift retaliatory tariffs. Kiwi Chamber celebrates 10 years The New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Korea is celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a special event this Thursday evening. Founding Kiwi Chamber Chairman Les Edwards will talk about the exciting and challenging formative times of developing the chamber and share his experiences in his current role with the Tasman Rugby Union. The event will be held at the New Zealand ambassador's residence in Dongbinggo-dong, south of Itaewon. Attendance costs 25,000 won for chamber members or 35,000 won for nonmembers. A light buffet plus New Zealand wine and beer are included. Visit fb.com/kiwichamber or kiwichamber.com for more information or to RSVP. Foxman to headline femme-positive techno party New York-based DJ Kim Ann Foxman, who runs the label Firehouse Recordings, returns to Korea to share her upbeat raw house music infused with emotive techno this Saturday at Contra Seoul in Itaewon. "Foxmanhelped reshape the underground music and queer nightlife culture in NYC," organizers said on Facebook. "Come join us in the celebration of all things femme as we welcome Foxman to mesmerize you with her hypnotizing beats. Femme-positive, gender non-specific and all-inclusive." Supporting DJs include YUZO, 7IP703, MUSHXX, Mimi Melanin and Kino Kino. Entry costs 20,000 won and the event starts at 11 p.m. Look up the "FEMME presents Kim Ann Foxman (Firehouse Recordings, NYC)" event page on Facebook for more information. Its nearly impossible to go wrong with a wrap that starts with a thick brush of the house-made sweet bean sauce, which is a bottomless vat of umami. The sauce packs so much flavor that it makes any filling even the grilled sausage, which looks a whole lot like an emulsified hot dog to me assume a loftier status than it normally might. The only potential killjoy is the thickly sliced raw garlic, which you can add to any chun bing. Sometimes when you bite into a particularly fat slice of garlic, the clove immediately hijacks the entire preparation. Over time, I came to skip the garlic option completely, even though I love the stuff. Adding attic insulation is one of the most effective ways to insulate a home, Briley says. Theres more good news: It wont put a huge dent in your wallet. Although estimates vary depending on the type of insulation and where you live, insulating a 500-square-foot attic costs only about $803 to $1,550, according to Homewyse.com; that works out to $1.61 to $3.10 per square foot. When the quartets melodies slanted toward the solemn (during Ofertorio, an ode written for Caetanos mother on her 90th birthday), the Velosos seemed to be mourning a future that may never arrive. When they floated into more high-hearted spaces (during O Leaozinho, one of the greatest lullabies in the family songbook or any songbook), you could see the four of them squinting off into utopia. Listening in both directions was almost enough to take you outside of yourself. But only almost. This was happening. We felt it was important to learn the implications of that, Hecht said. At the beginning of this year, we hired an independent engineering firm to do a thorough assessment of the facility. We received those findings in late March and have been determining the best way to proceed since that time. Our decision to decommission the seats was made late last week. A South Korean 30th Mechanized Infantry Division soldier atop K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer monitors surroundings at a training ground in Yeongbuk village in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, March 24, 2011. Korea Times file Defense technologies of South Korea were assessed to be the world's ninth most advanced as of last year, and about 80 percent of the U.S. levels, a state-run military research agency said Tuesday. According to the triennial report published by the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (DTaQ), the comparative level of South Korea's overall defense technology remained at the world's ninth, tied with Italy, among 16 major countries. The United States topped the list, followed by France, Russia, Germany, and Britain. China was sixth, and Japan and Israel came next. K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers exhibit their firepower at a training ground in Yeongbuk village in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, March 24, 2011. Korea Times file We are prepared to prove in this litigation that multiple adults teachers and parents went to the director of the school, Ms. Jensen, and either warned her specifically about behaviors they saw that were troubling or raised the concern about him taking children into rooms alone, said Michael Dolce, an attorney at the law firm Cohen Milstein, which is representing the eight families who filed the lawsuit. Think before you chew: Gnawing on lines and other equipment might be soothing on your teeth, but poses a significant danger to you. You dont want a power line to be your last meal! Earlier this month, Marylands Department of Health reported a case of measles, saying anyone who might have been at an office building at 4000 Old Court Rd. in Pikesville between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on April 2 may have been exposed. It strikes me that history, and proper methods of teaching it, are even more important at present than endocrinology and nuclear fission, he wrote in a letter to his parents. I believe that the problems that surround us today are not to be blamed on individuals or even groups of individuals, but on the human race as a whole, its collective lack of perspective and knowledge of itself. That is where history comes in. Owen Garriott was born Nov. 22, 1930, in Enid, Okla. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1953, and then served in the Navy. He received masters and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957 and 1960 and taught at Stanford before being selected as an astronaut in 1965. He was among the first six scientist-astronauts picked by NASA. The latest indictment out of Jessup is part of a larger string of corruption cases involving the Maryland corrections system. Federal authorities in 2016 prosecuted about 50 inmates and officers in a bribery and drug conspiracy case out of the states largest prison, the Eastern Correctional Institution on the Eastern Shore. At the Baltimore City Detention Center, also run by the state, more than 40 people were convicted in a similar corruption scheme in 2013. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) later closed the Baltimore jail. After Hassons arrest, federal prosecutors asserted in court documents that he described himself as a long time White Nationalist, studied the work of mass attackers and planned to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country. Prosecutors said Hassons Internet searches and activity on his government computer raised suspicions about an internal threat that prompted the Coast Guard and FBI personnel in Baltimore to investigate. Authorities have said little about the case other than to identify the victim and say that she died as a result of blunt force trauma. Skylar was found unconscious about 9:30 p.m. on March 16 and died three days later at Childrens National Medical Center. Her death was ruled a homicide. Police said the shooting occurred about 8:45 p.m. in the 2400 block of Pomeroy Road SE, near Barry Farm. Hucks had been shot in the body and was pronounced dead at the scene. When police arrived they found White and another person who had been shot inside the home. White was pronounced dead on the scene. The other victim suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. Chinas Belt and Road initiative to embrace a second global gathering after six years of glory Almost six years after China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), thousands of delegates from over 100 countries, including nearly 40 government leaders, are expected to gather in Beijing in late April to discuss on the fruits and prospects of the grand vision. The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is under the theme of Belt and Road Cooperation, Shaping a Brighter Shared Future. The past six years recorded the milestones of the BRI since it was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the fall of 2013, rightly after which multiple countries raised their hands to join the cooperation. The vision and actions on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road was released in March 2015, in which China explained to the world the philosophy and plans of the Belt and Road cooperation. In the following December, a new multilateral financial institution, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, was established under the framework of the BRI, and so far it has reaped better-than-expected consensus and fruits. In May 2017, the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation hosted by Beijing drew a roadmap for future cooperation by yielding a list of deliverables, which includes 76 items comprising 279 concrete results in five key areas, namely policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity. Statistics indicated that nearly all of the 279 concrete outcomes have been completed or turned into regular work. The string of efforts has rewarded the Belt and Road Initiative with more voice and discourse in international community. Many en-route countries have included the vision into their development plans as they perceive it as a cooperation platform fueling their growth. So far, 124 countries and 29 international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with China on the BRI. According to an International Finance Forum (IFF) survey published last year, the 5th anniversary of the Initiative, almost every interviewed organization confirmed the vital role played by the Belt and Road construction in promoting local and regional economic growth. Thanks to the accelerated Belt and Road cooperation, countries along the route are making historical leaps forward. It offered East Africa with its first motorway, provided the Maldives with its first inter-island bridge, enabled Belarus to produce passenger vehicles, and connected landlocked Kazakhstan to the sea. Thanks to the proposal, Southeast Asia is constructing a high-speed railway, and the Eurasian continent is benefiting from the longest-distance freight train service. In the eyes of global enterprises and public, the BRI has brought a huge number of practical cooperation projects and created whole new markets and employment opportunities. A framework consisting of six corridors and six channels serving multiple countries and ports is taking shape, as the railway linking China with Laos and Thailand, the rail line connecting Hungary to Serbia, the high-speed railway between Jakarta and Bandung, the Gwadar port, and a series of other demonstrative projects have made concrete progress. Such visible accomplishments further cemented the confidence in the BRI of each party. Chinas Belt and Road program is showing up in the earning calls of some companies around the world, the CNBC said in its report. The General Electric forecasted that the company would register double-digit growth in revenues in the Belt and Road countries in coming years. In addition, financial giant Citigroup is offering comprehensive services for companies investing in the Belt and Road countries. The 82 economic and trade cooperation zones established by Chinese enterprises in en-route countries have created nearly 300,000 local jobs. Over the past 6 years, the Belt and Road construction has brought dramatic changes to countries along the route. Thanks to the BRI, villagers who once lived in the mountains of Laos for generations can make a living from other occupations besides farming and hunting. The children there, with the electricity generated by BRI projects, have now said goodbye to the old days when they had to read under kerosene lamps. Because of the BRI, Alice became one of the first female train drivers in Kenya and it greatly improved the living condition of her family. Now she has embarked on a new path of life, earning three times more than what she used to earn before. The Germany-based Duisburg port posted a sales revenue of 250 million euros in the 2017 fiscal year, handling 30 percent more of cargos. The old industrial base which used to be headache with the recession of traditional growth momentum is now regaining vitality under the assistance of the BRI. The BRI stands as an innovative creation in the complicated system of global development and governance, as it is a developing country-proposed initiative that upholds the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It also represents a phenomenal practice in the realm of modern global governance. Up to now, the co-construction of the BRI, as well as its core ideas have been included in the outcome documents of important international institutions such as the United Nations (UN). The BRI not only involves economic cooperation, but also aims to improve the development model of the world economy through economic cooperation, make globalization healthier and further promote the development of national and global governance, said Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN. A new railway line for freight trains between Luxembourg and Chinas Chengdu was recently launched, with the first train carrying 41 containers loaded with European mechanical and electrical products, food and medical apparatus to the expanding Chinese market. Many people believe that the expanding China-Europe freight service not only stands for an engine to reshape the current trade and economic landscape, but also signifies that the BRI is providing the world with energy to fight against protectionism and isolationism by connecting countries together. (From top) Army Chief of Staff Gen. Suh Wook, left, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Won In-choul receive an insignia from South Korean President Moon Jae-in during an inauguration ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. Yonhap South Korea's new Army chief pledged Tuesday to ensure a firm readiness posture and support the government's military confidence building efforts with North Korea. "(The Army) will buttress peace on the Korean Peninsula with strong military might," Army Chief of Staff Gen. Suh Wook said during his swearing-in ceremony, vowing to actively push for reform measures to create stronger and smarter forces. Stressing the need to build trust in the military between the two Koreas, Suh said he will carry out related projects, such as demining operations, in a stable manner in accordance with Seoul's peace initiative. His emphasis came as critics have expressed concern that ongoing rapprochement efforts with North Korea could lead to the weakening of troops' combat readiness and discipline. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, center, and newly-appointed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Suh Wook (right to Moon) and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Won In-choul (left to Moon) move to a reception room inside Cheong Wa Dae after an inauguration ceremony, Tuesday. Yonhap No tornadoes were reported in the immediate Washington area during the storms Sunday night and Monday morning, but a relatively powerful twister did touch down about 100 miles from the District, according to authorities. Maryland transit officials have said the pace of the Glenridge facilitys construction on Veterans Parkway (Route 410) is key to the 16-mile Purple Lines overall timeline because it must be completed before trains can be tested between it and the New Carrollton station. It will be the primary storage and maintenance yard for Purple Line trains, as well as the main operations center. The reports cover the first three months of the year, a period that included the 46-day General Assembly session, when state officeholders are prohibited from raising money. Northam, Herring and Fairfax had just about a week to raise money at the start of the year before they had to pause for the session, and they had about a month after the session before the quarter ended March 31. The scandals unfolded in the middle of that. Gimpo International Airport / Courtesy of Korea Airports Corp. By Kim Hyun-bin Controversy is rising over Seoul City's plan to better utilize Gimpo International Airport by increasing the number of flights to overseas destinations. While the Seoul Metropolitan Government says it will provide air travelers with easier access to the capital, residential districts near the airport oppose the scheme mainly over noise issues. The central government is also not welcoming the move, because it would undermine the status of Incheon International Airport which the government hopes to make into an air transport hub for Northeast Asia. Gimpo used to be the main gateway to the capital area before Incheon began operation in 2001. Its operations have since been limited to domestic flights, but the government later allowed operations to nearby international cities within 2,000 kilometers, so flights now operate to Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei. In January, the Seoul Metropolitan Council established an ordinance to allow the city government's financial support for airlines opening new international routes at Gimpo. Following the ordinance, the city government is conducting a study on "Developing and managing Gimpo airport as a foothold for new global growth." "The study is aimed at resettling Gimpo's status as the main gateway to Seoul and vitalizing nearby regions by utilizing unused spaces within the airport compound," a city official said. And it has been widely expected international flights operating there will be expanded to reach the goal, and the city government is likely to request the central government to remove the 2,000-kilometer restriction. Seoul City is apparently benchmarking Haneda Airport, commonly known as Tokyo International Airport, which went through a similar situation as Gimpo. After the establishment of Narita International Airport on the outskirts of Tokyo in 1978, the Japanese government prevented long-haul route operations at Haneda. In 2000, the restrictions were eased and currently most Tokyo residents favor Haneda over Narita due to its accessibility and convenience. Over 142,000 flights operate at Gimpo a year, but they use only 61.2 percent of the airport's capacity as of 2018, so the airport is capable of dealing with more flights and passenger traffic, according to data from the Korea Airports Corp. (KAC). But such a scheme faced opposition from districts near Gimpo which even now suffer noise pollution from aircraft takeoffs and landings. Two districts in Seoul Yangcheon-gu and Guro-gu as well as adjacent Bucheon City sent an official letter to Seoul City and the transport ministry expressing their opposition to the plan. "More international flights will increase aircraft noise, infringing on the right to health of some 38,500 households here," Guro-gu said in its letter. Earlier this year, Yangcheon-gu residents set up a noise pollution countermeasure committee and urged the government to relocate all domestic flight operations to Incheon. Those in favor of the city's plan claim the two districts represent only a small portion of the capital's population. "Out of the 25 districts in Seoul, all were in favor of invigorating Gimpo airport except Guro-gu and Yangcheon-gu," an official from the aviation industry said on condition of anonymity. "The airport is in the capital so it will be more convenient for Seoul residents to travel by air." But if the restrictions are relieved and more international operations are allowed at Gimpo, it will inevitably increase competition with Incheon airport to attract more long-haul travelers. Incheon has racked up numerous prestigious international awards for its state-of-the-art facilities and services. But Gimpo's easy accessibility to major parts of the capital is an appealing point. The central government, which has made efforts to develop Incheon as a hub in Northeast Asia, is negative of Seoul City's plan. "Seoul City has not consulted with us about the matter. The transport ministry grants permission for international flights, and if the noise issue is not resolved, it will be difficult for us to grant new international routes to Gimpo airport," said Hwang Sung-pil, deputy director of the ministry's aviation policy bureau. "Rather, we are planning to increase flight slots at Incheon airport to adapt to rising demand for air travel." For now, Mills doesnt seem particularly worried about the possibility of a future matchup against her old nemesis. Instead, she is optimistic that Maine residents who last ousted an incumbent governor more than 50 years ago will continue to respect that shes trying to move the state to a healthier future. Last month, Burgum signed a bill that requires abortion providers to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions that it is possible they could still have a live birth if they change their mind. Opponents say there is no medically accepted evidence that a drug-induced abortion can be reversed. New Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) CEO Koo Bon-hwan, center, poses with company employees during his inauguration ceremony at the corporation's office, Tuesday. / Courtesy of IIAC By Kang Seung-woo Koo Bon-hwan, a career-long aviation bureaucrat, was inaugurated to head the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), Tuesday. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recommended the 58-year-old and President Moon Jae-in approved him as the IIAC's eighth CEO. The airport operator was established in 1999. "While focusing on setting up infrastructure to service 100 million passengers through its fourth-stage expansion project by 2023, Incheon International Airport will make efforts to stand out in competition with the world's leading players," Koo said in an inauguration ceremony at his company in Incheon. "Currently, the airport industry is undergoing a paradigm shift to establish an economic bloc that will put together aviation, tourism, logistics and smart convergence. Taking the trend into account, the IIAC has set its sights on becoming a vibrant hub of business, high-tech industry and aviation services, tourism and logistics." Koo, a native of Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, also said he will make efforts to create a "One Airport" ecosystem, where the airport and aviation industry players prosper together. Along with the business goals, the new CEO said the IIAC will try to increase job security and improve working conditions for its employees, while creating more employment. His remarks were in line with President Moon's first executive order to remove all irregular employees in the public sector. Out of some 10,000 contract workers, the IIAC has converted more than 3,000 irregular workers to full-time ones so far, with the remaining employees to work in full-time positions by 2020. Koo is recognized for having a wealth of experience and expertise in the airport sector. Serving as a civil servant at the transport ministry for 28 years, Koo held key posts including the head of the International Air Transport Division and the Seoul Regional Office of Aviation. In particular, at the helm of the ministry's Civil Aviation Office, he helped the transport ministry open the second passenger terminal at Incheon airport in January 2018 and work out a master plan for its expansion project. U.S. sailor in Japan accused of stabbing woman, killing self: A U.S. Marine Corps commander in Japan has asked service people in the southwestern region of Okinawa to keep a low profile to show respect after an American sailor allegedly stabbed a Japanese woman and then killed himself, the latest in a series of crimes that have outraged residents. "As a sign of respect to a community that is angry and in shock, we should be unobtrusive," Lt. Gen. Eric Smith said. The U.S. military identified the sailor as Gabriel A. Olivero of North Carolina. Japan's Foreign Ministry said the sailor stabbed the woman and killed himself Saturday. Israeli court orders expulsion of Human Rights Watch official: The Jerusalem District Court has ordered the deportation of Human Rights Watch's local director, requiring him to leave Israel by May 1. It rejected an appeal by Omar Shakir to remain, citing his ongoing support of boycotts of Israel during his time in the country. Israel enacted a law in 2017 barring entry to any foreigner who "knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel." The ruling against Shakir was the first time the law was applied to someone residing in the country. The current law in Hong Kong requires that, if there is no standing extradition agreement with another country, extradition can happen only after the chief executive, who is appointed by Beijing, signs off on a case-by-case basis with review by the legislature. Hong Kong has no agreement with China, and talks have gone on, inconclusively, for about two decades about an agreement. The changes being proposed would open the gates to case-by-case extradition to China, without the legislative review. The fear is that, in practice, the changes would give China free rein to pursue dissidents, journalists and human rights activists in Hong Kong. Mr. Hifter has had backing from these outside powers, as well as from France, for years, even as he consolidated control over eastern Libya and established a rival regime to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. But days before launching his latest offensive, the self-styled general visited Saudi Arabia, where he was promised millions of dollars in aid to pay for the operation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The money, meant to pay off tribal leaders and recruit new fighters, represents another reckless gamble by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has already launched a disastrous intervention in Yemen as well as failed attempts to subjugate the Lebanese and Qatari governments. According to Nature, there are currently about 40 members of the Jasons, stellar academics with top-secret clearances, who spend the summer at La Jolla, Calif., working on 12 to 15 studies a year at a cost of $7 million to $8 million, including for the military, the intelligence agencies and the departments of Energy and Homeland Security. Ann Finkbeiner, author of The Jasons: The Secret History of Sciences Postwar Elite, a book about the group, documented their early work on thorny problems arising from the nuclear weapons age, such as the test ban and questions about defense against ballistic missiles. In later years, the Jasons broadened out; by the end of the 1980s, members included computer scientists, astronomers, geoscientists, mathematicians, materials scientists, engineers and oceanographers. The 1990s brought more attention to biology and cybersecurity. Many of the groups studies are classified, but some are public. Ms. Finkbeiner says the name Jasons was conferred by Mildred Goldberger, wife of founding member Murph Goldberger, after the Greek myth, because she thought of the advisers as golden heroes. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae, third from left, cries while listening to Jang Ae-jin (unseen), a survivor of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, reading a poem for her classmates from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, during the fifth anniversary ceremony of the tragedy at Hwarang recreation area in the city, Tuesday. The ceremony was joined by other lawmakers and government officials, bereft family members and civic activists. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul In 2010, Democrats widely supported President Barack Obamas first plan for net neutrality, which banned blocking and throttling without invoking Title II regulations. Enacting those rules which were written when Democrats controlled the White House, the Federal Communications Commission, the House and the Senate is not caving in. Its an approach that could win enough support from Senate Republicans to pass. The decennial census data is also the baseline against which virtually all other surveys are calibrated. Which means that whatever its motives, the administrations innumeracy is likely to skew all sorts of other critical information that government agencies use to evaluate economic trends and health epidemics; that businesses rely on to decide how much to invest and hire and where; and that workers and families use to determine where to live, what to study, how much to spend on a home. Seattle is a sanctuary city, and Mayor Jenny A. Durkan affirmed in her April 13 op-ed, Here in Seattle, were not afraid of immigrants, that Seattle intends to welcome all immigrants and refugees: So if this president wants to send immigrants and refugees to Seattle and other welcoming cities . . . we will do what we have always done and we will be stronger for it. Many readers might be confused as to why Democrats are outraged with President Trumps proposal to send immigrants to sanctuary cities. According to border officials, there is insufficient housing for immigrants now entering the United States. Doesnt it make sense to transport these immigrants to cities that will welcome them? This is especially true of illegal immigrants whose ability to remain in the United States would be jeopardized unless they settle in a sanctuary city that will protect them from deportation. As far back as the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the love of wealth is at the bottom of all that the Americans do. Since then, our feelings have grown more complicated. Where we might revere people who earn great riches through skill and ingenuity, we are often suspicious along with envious of those who have their fortunes handed to them. Or those who, as Sanders did, cash in on sudden celebrity. Under Sanderss plan, government-backed health care would supplant the current private employer system. Under the CAP proposal, individuals would be able to choose between their current plan and a government-run option. There have been other policy disagreements as well. Tanden personally sided with Clinton over Sanders in a 2016 debate about how quickly to raise the federal minimum wage, calling for a $12 increase, not a $15 increase. CAP, as an organization, did not take a position on that issue at the time. They put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse, Tlaib wrote, retweeting messages claiming Democrats used women of color as props. However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never silence us. Rep. Chung Jin-suk of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party By Park Ji-won An incumbent and a former lawmaker of the largest conservative party, the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), came under fire, Tuesday, for making defamatory remarks against victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster and those who lost loved ones. Political parties, even their own party, condemned the two for disparaging the 304 dead. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) called for the immediate expulsion of incumbent Rep. Chung Jin-suk of the LKP and Cha Myung-jin, a former LKP lawmaker who is currently heading a regional office of the party. "Chung and Cha continued to make defamatory remarks against the victims and bereaved families. It is tragic for the party to make an official comment on these subjects," Rep. Lee Jae-jung, spokeswoman of the DPK, said Tuesday. Citing the remarks of LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn and LKP floor leader Rep. Na Kyung-won, who expressed regrets over Chung and Cha's remarks, Lee added, "If the two were sincere about what they said, the LKP should expel Chung from the National Assembly and Cha from the party." Her remarks came after Chung and Cha made comments to criticizing the surviving victims of the disaster and families of the deceased over their fact-finding activities. The victims and their families announced Monday the list of 18 people who were responsible for what happened and escaped punishment. Former President Park Geun-hye and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn were on the list. Cha posted on Facebook on Monday that the bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster were taking advantage of the people's sympathy over their children's deaths. He added that they are blaming former President Park Geun-hye and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who had nothing to do with the disaster, to offload their own feelings of responsibility and guilt. Cha later deleted his post and apologized for hurting the victims and families. He said he will suspend his broadcasting activities. Rep. Chung Jin-suk posted a message he received on Facebook Tuesday which said "Stop using the Sewol disaster. If the families felt sorry about their children, they shouldn't do this. I am sick of it." He also deleted the post. Other political parties including the progressive Justice Party also lashed out at them, saying their intention is to protect the former president and prime minister. The April 16 Network, an organization calling for continued truth-finding into the Sewol disaster, announced that it is considering filing a complaint against Cha for making defamatory remarks against the victims and the bereaved. Meanwhile, Hwang said Tuesday he is not responsible as the former prime minister for what happened as he was acquitted after being investigated. He later expressed regret over Chung and Cha's remarks on the Sewol disaster, calling the statements "inappropriate" and offering his condolences to the victims and families. Mr. Pocan, let me just say again we had to make some different decisions with this budget, she said. She admitted that she did not know how many children would be affected while praising the Special Olympics as an awesome organization that has ample private support. But the public damage was done as Pocans office posted a clip of the exchange on Twitter that garnered more than 1.1 million views in less than 24 hours. According to Federal Election Commission filings, the donations came from three sources: the campaign of fellow New York Republican Dan Donovan, who lost reelection last year, and two moderate Republican political action committees, the Tuesday Group PAC and the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC. Sanders, who would be the nations first Jewish president, continued, I think that Ilhan has got to do maybe a better job in speaking to the Jewish community. He said that he does not consider Omar to be anti-Semitic and that he respects her. Tuesdays announcement came one day after Trump held an economy-themed event in Minnesota, a state he hopes to pick up in 2020. Trump touted the effects of the 2017 tax cuts he championed, and what he called soaring jobs numbers. He claimed that the U.S. economy is at its best point ever, and ticked through Minnesota-specific statistics claiming tax cuts, income growth and 7,500 brand new mining, logging, and construction jobs in the state. We can see they are still in place, but we dont know in which state they are in, at least in a detailed manner, she said. Even if the fire didnt come all the way down into the cathedral itself, the heat itself was very intense. And the heat will have impacted the glass, as well as the material that keeps the glass panels together. Especially to citizens of the New World, the old one can look as if it was chiseled in stone at the dawn of time. Its cathedrals, castles, palaces and opera houses form a sturdy and permanent-seeming backdrop in a world increasingly dominated by ephemera. The Instagram photo from a blue-sky spring day in Paris might not last beyond the next scroll, but the landscape it captured will endure. But that belied the somber accounting of all that had been lost, and how the religious and architectural landmark at Pariss center had been altered. The churchs trademark steeple, part of the Parisian skyline since the mid-1800s, had been swallowed in the flames. Char and smoke marks licked portions of the walls. And the roof with its centuries-old wood had been destroyed like tinder, leaving gaping holes that let sunlight shine into the cathedral Tuesday. Sissi also would be given new powers to appoint judges as well as the public prosecutor, in effect gaining control over the judiciary. The proposed changes also include amending the constitution to state that the role of the military, which Sissi once led and which remains the force behind his presidency, is to protect the constitution and democracy. By Lee Min-hyung Seen above is the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul. Yonhap The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will create a new bureau that will exclusively deal with China-related affairs under an organizational restructuring plan. It will also set up a new bureau to handle 10 countries from the ASEAN bloc, and a division to handle the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC)sanctions on North Korea. The reorganization plan reflects changing diplomatic needs, the ministry said. The foreign ministry also said it decided to enlarge a team-level unit, handling works on North Korea sanctions, into a division in reflection of its growing workloads. The team has so far been in charge of informing the UNCS of any violation of the sanctions detected here. The foreign authority also plans to increase the workforce to engage in tasks related to North Korea's nuclear affairs and protocol. The Asia-Pacific bureau which will take charge of works on Japan and the Asia-Pacific regions. Affairs on Southeast Asia will be handled by the ASEAN division. "We expect the reorganization to serve as an opportunity for the ministry to enhance diplomatic relations with China, Japan and other countries in Asia-Pacific regions," a ministry official said. The plan is expected to take into effect from early May after being approved by the Cabinet, the official said. Many years ago, when Abd al-Rahim first heard he was being handed over to the Americans, he was actually happy because he thought the United States was a country of laws and rights and that hed at least be treated fairly, said Navy Lt. Alaric Piette, a member of Nashiris defense team. Finally, after 16 years, with this ruling, that has actually happened. Which is to say that this will mean a lot to him. In the weeks leading up to the assault, Melgar brought foreigners to the residence, the other soldier said. He added that Melgar had engaged in frat-like behavior and had acted in ways that got them both uninvited from events at the U.S. Embassy. The Washington Post is not naming several other Americans who have not been charged with a crime at the request of military officials due to security concerns. Trump came to office vowing to reverse the Obama measures and has re-tightened both travel and trade. In recent months, the administration has accused Cuba of being both the brains and the muscle behind the Maduro government in Venezuela. It has charged that tens of thousands of Cuban military and intelligence agents are preventing the Venezuelan military from supporting Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled Legislative Assembly, whom the United States and more than 50 other countries recognize as Venezuelas legitimate interim president. The Mexican government says it does not have statistics on the number of African migrants who have crossed into the country in recent months, and such flows are not new. The country has for years been a transit point for asylum seekers and economic migrants from around the world, and it sees periodic surges in migration from countries in Africa and Asia. By Lee Min-hyung President Moon Jae-in Speculation is growing that North Korea may have refused an offer from President Moon Jae-in to send a special envoy to prepare for a possible summit. This comes after President Moon Jae-in offered Monday to hold an inter-Korean summit without commenting on plans to send a delegation to arrange topics and schedule for what could be Moon's fourth meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This was somewhat different from the summits last year, as Cheong Wa Dae at the time unveiled its plans to dispatch special envoys to the North before announcing that Moon would hold a summit with Kim. The two Koreas held three summits last year, and the first and the third ones took place after the South dispatched special delegations to the North. "It is high time we make preparations and carry out an inter-Korean summit," President Moon said in a meeting with presidential aides, Monday. He did not make any detailed comments on any plans to send a pre-summit delegation. Last year, Moon made public that he would hold a summit with Kim only after the presidential house dispatched a special envoy to Pyongyang and fine-tuned a detailed agenda with the North. The special envoy plays a crucial role in determining the success of the summit, as they hold in-depth discussions to decide timelines and an agenda in detail ahead of the meeting. Possible candidates for the South Korean envoy include National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon and National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, as both figures visited Pyongyang last year. They hold the top authority in handling intelligence work on North Korea. With the presidential house remaining quiet over any schedules to dispatch an envoy, rumors are circulating that North Korea is playing politics by declining to accept one, in a show of discontent over the South's mediating role in dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang. Unlike last year, North Korea has in recent months shown signs of stopping its reconciliatory gestures to the South by stepping up criticism of Seoul for failing to properly mediate the nuclear talks between the U.S. and the North. In a recent speech, the young dictator complained about Moon. "South Korea should stop pretending to be a mediator or facilitator (in nuclear talks between the U.S. and the North) and become a party advocating the interest of the Korean people," Kim said Thursday. The remark came as part of Kim's apparent discontent about the ongoing deadlock in his denuclearization negotiation with U.S. President Donald Trump in the wake of the breakdown of the Hanoi summit in February. With both sides showing little sign of compromising on timeline and methods of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, the North has in recent weeks ramped up pressure on the South to stop walking on eggshells around the U.S. and be more active in improving inter-Korean relations. By Gwynne Dyer With Khalifa Haftar's forces stalled outside the capital, Tripoli, the eight-year shambles in Libya is approaching a climax. It is not clear yet which side is going to win, but at least the dozens of rival militias are now lined up on two recognizable sides. Haftar does have the gift of bringing clarity to a situation. Alas, he achieves this mainly by making so many Libyans hate him. To them, he is Gadhafi 2.0, a would-be military dictator who aspires to be a Libyan counterpart to Egypt's General al-Sisi (and is generously backed by the Egyptian dictator). That is not what they fought the 2011 revolution for. Of course, the militias did not really do the heavy lifting in that revolution. They were colorful extras fighting little local battles, but the real execution was done by French, British and Canadian aircraft operating under NATO command that bombed Gadhafi's troops almost to extinction in a six-month campaign in 2011. The militias' main role was to put a Libyan face on the whole operation, but when NATO walked away after Gadhafi was killed they were left in charge. They split repeatedly as their quarrels over local extortion rights became acute, but they are united in resisting the re-establishment of central control by a national government. It is not in their interest. There is, however, a basic division between eastern Libya (Cyrenaica) and western Libya (Tripolitania) that underlies the manifold rivalries of tribes and clans in both parts of the country. The division goes all the way back to Roman times, when the east spoke Greek (the language of the eastern part of the empire) and the west spoke Latin. It persists today, even though everybody now speaks Arabic. The two parts of Libya live largely separate lives, divided by the central strip of coast where the desert reaches the sea and the west has two-thirds of the country's 6 million people. Haftar controls Cyrenaica and the vast and largely unpopulated desert south of Libya (where most of the oil is), but the west has the advantage of numbers and a profound dislike of being ruled by the east. That is why the western militias are coming together now, and why his offensive against Tripoli is at least temporarily stalled. As for the rights and wrongs of the situation, there is plenty of blame on both sides. Haftar ostensibly represents the parliament elected in 2014, which fled to the east later that year when Islamist militias seized control of Tripoli. It now sits in Tobruk in the east and is entirely under Haftar's thumb. This is Haftar's only plausible claim to legitimacy. Once a colleague of Gadhafi's, he fled the country, ended up in exile in the United States for 15 years, and is an American citizen. He returned to Libya in 2014 and gradually united the militias of the east under his command as the Libyan National Army (LNA). He cleared the Islamist extremists out of Benghazi, the big city in Cyrenaica, in a bloody two-year war, and then set out to take the rest of the country. His troops reached the outskirts of Tripoli early this month. The "internationally recognized," United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) inside the city is equally unconvincing as a national savior. It was not elected, but cobbled together by U.N. mediators in 2015. Its leader, "Prime Minister" Fayez al-Sarraj, did not even arrive in Tripoli from abroad until 2016, and he has struggled to establish his authority over the city, let alone over the militias or the entire country. So now Haftar is making his big bid for power, and Serraj is practically irrelevant. The various militias of Tripolitania that are coming together to resist him undoubtedly outnumber him, but they have no joint command structure and Serraj cannot provide one. The "smart money" says Haftar is bound to lose, but that remains to be seen. He has both Egyptian and Russian support (although it is unlikely that either of them authorized this adventure). And ordinary Libyans face a choice between a new 75-year-old dictator and continuing chaos, poverty and intermittent low-level violence as the militias squabble over the spoils. Not that they will actually be asked about the choice, of course. How much does this matter to other Arab countries? Not a lot. How much does it matter to the rest of the world? Not at all. As Janis Joplin once remarked in a radically different context, freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose." 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)." News Corp's global chief executive, Robert Thomson, has used a speech to intensify his criticism of digital giants while taking aim at "muck-spreading" by media rivals of the Murdoch family. In the annual Keith Murdoch Oration in Melbourne on Tuesday evening, Mr Thomson said leadership in Western societies had been "sanguinely supine" towards big tech companies like Google and Facebook for too long. News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson in Melbourne on Tuesday evening. Credit:AAP "As a result, we have institutionally ingrained some seriously bad behaviour and have dominant digital companies culturally ill-equipped to cope with the contemporary challenges," Mr Thomson says, according to an advance copy of his speech. The New York Times earlier this month published a 20,000 word investigation into the Murdochs, which among other things, outlined a rift between News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch's sons Lachlan and James, and suggested the family was responsible for political upheaval in the US, UK and Australia. Bankers love Saudi Arabia's state oil producer Aramco, and who can blame them. The company received more than $US100 billion ($140 billion) of orders for its debut $US12 billion bond last week, defying lingering concerns over the kingdom's internal stability and the future trajectory of oil prices. Its success is more proof that oil will remain the life blood of the global economy for many decades to come. Aramco's debt has still proved too enticing for Wall Street to ignore. Credit:Bloomberg The world's largest single producer of crude is an enticing morsel for bond investors because of the fundamentals underpinning its core business. Aramco has the capacity to pump up to 12.5m barrels per day of crude if required, accounting for a significant chunk of the daily 100m barrel oil market. Few companies are as vital to the economic prosperity of all humanity, despite the claims of climate change campaigners that the end of the oil age is nigh. In a world where oil investment is becoming socially too toxic for some institutional investors to handle, Aramco's debt has still proved too enticing for Wall Street to ignore. There is no shortage of buyers for Saudi Arabia's crude, and prices pushing above $US70 per barrel make its oil producing giant's debt even more appealing. Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek faces a potential clash with the states over their spending on public schools, putting billions of dollars at stake in funding renegotiations should Labor win government next month. Ms Plibersek has flagged that if elected, Labor would crack down on federal-state funding arrangements that allow states to count costs such as transport, capital depreciation and spending on regulatory bodies towards their education funding contributions. Labor has promised to pump more money into public schools. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The funding clauses agreed to by the federal Coalition government have been criticised by education experts, who say it is not fair for governments to claim it is spending the money on students' needs-based education, as was promised under the Gonski reforms. Promising a stricter approach to states' obligations, Ms Plibersek said Labor was pouring $14 billion more into public schools after "six years of cuts and chaos" under the Coalition government. The vast majority of the tens of billions of dollars the Coalition has vowed to funnel into "congestion busting" road and rail projects will not be spent until after the next federal election, prompting criticism that the Morrison government is claiming credit for infrastructure it may never deliver. A breakdown of $30 billion in new infrastructure spending announced in the budget shows just 30 per cent is earmarked to be handed out over the next four years, with the spending not scheduled to peak until 2024 - well beyond the forward estimates and far past the next federal poll due in 2022. The government has vowed to "bust" congestion but large parts of the package won't be spent for more than four years. Credit:Graham Tidy Handing down his first budget on April 2, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg declared "cranes, hard hats and heavy machinery" would soon be seen across Australia as part of a government-funded building plan designed to boost the economy and ease congestion. "We know you want to be there for the school drop off, to help the kids with their homework and spend more time together at the dinner table," he said. Megan French has seen a fair few politicians in her time. A retired primary school teacher in her 60s, she expects big promises from the major parties at election time. She just doesn't expect they'll be kept. Prime Minister Scott Morrison shows off his barefoot bowls technique in Torquay. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer "I'm sceptical about both parties. All politicians have been known to tell lies," she says while awaiting Scott Morrison's arrival at the Torquay Bowling Club. "I'd rather they talk about the positives of their own party rather than talk about the negatives of the other party." There was no chance of that as Mr Morrison went to war to win over the nation's seniors on Tuesday. Campaigning around the retiree-rich areas of Geelong, Drysdale and Torquay, he hammered Labor's plan to abolish refundable franking credits and called Opposition Leader Bill Shorten a serial liar who planned so many tax increases he had started to forget them. Chaebol owners not free from responsibility for mismanagement Kumho Asiana Group is about to sell off Asiana Airlines, the smaller of Korea's two national flag carriers after Korean Air. The cash-strapped conglomerate said Monday its board of directors held a meeting and decided to put the group's flagship and core asset up for sale. If Kumho's creditors approve the self-rescue plan, the group will likely escape its liquidity crisis for now. If the nation's second-largest airline and its affiliates break away from the group, however, Kumho, which once was the nation's seventh-largest conglomerate, will be reduced to a medium-sized chaebol, left with only express bus, construction and resort units. The decision to sell Asiana Airlines is a desperate attempt by former Chairman Park Sam-koo to save the rest of the group. A week ago, Kumho tried to get an additional funding injection of 500 billion won ($441 million) by ousting Park from management for good and offering the owner family's stake in Kumho Business as collateral, only to be rejected by creditors as "insufficient to regain the market's trust." Kumho's liquidity crisis traces back to its acquisition of Daewoo Engineering and Construction in 2006, which was too big for the airline-petrochemical group to take over. This and other overstretched M&As led to repeated aggravated bottom lines and cash flow problems at the group with its major affiliates undergoing corporate workout procedures. The prolonged financial difficulties finally spilled over to the group's cash cow, Asiana Airlines. The crisis of Kumho-Asiana shows chaebol owners can no longer be free from responsibility for management failure. In the past, the government and state-run banks provided additional funding when large conglomerates fell into a liquidity crisis, giving rise to the expression "too big to fail." The times have changed, however. If the financial authorities and creditors provide taxpayers' money to large shareholders who will not take responsibility for their mismanagement, people will not forgive them. Managers, be they chaebol owners or smaller entrepreneurs, must bear in mind that they can always be kicked out of the market if they fail to prioritize the shareholder and client values, or sharpen their global competitiveness. The texts seemed innocent enough messages to a man named Roger, asking for drinks. Sometimes Roger would initiate the conversation by sending messages like: "Mardi Gras Eve is here... Road Closures on Saturday so get in as early as you can! Be prepared and safe this weekend. Cheers, Roger". Rosa Adilovic and her boyfriend Gabriel Issa have been charged with running a cocaine delivery business. Credit:Facebook But the detectives who tapped "Roger's" phone will allege he didn't exist. Rather, police will argue in court that Roger was an alias for a Campsie couple accused of masterminding a north shore drug syndicate and that "drinks" actually meant bags of cocaine. Police documents seen by the Herald allege that Razija "Rosa" Adilovic and her fiance Gabriel Issa ran a cocaine delivery business in the blue-ribbon suburb of McMahons Point employing at least seven delivery drivers including Gabriel's teenage brother Adam Issa. Police have seized about 900 items of jewellery, suspected of being stolen, after carrying out a search warrant in the heart of the city. Some of the recovered jewellery. Credit:WA Police Perth Detectives executed the warrant at a second-hand jewellery store in an arcade off Hay Street on April 2. They found rings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, earrings, watches and charms together worth more than $200,000. An extendable baton was also found at the arcade shop. The lawyer for Karen Nettleton, the grandmother of the Sharrouf children stuck in a Syrian refugee camp for Islamic State families, has blasted the Morrison government for "dragging the chain" on getting the children home to Australia. But both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten responded cautiously on Tuesday morning to questions on the issue after the ABCs Four Corners program reported on Ms Nettletons efforts to get her three surviving grandchildren out of al-Hawl camp. Mr Morrison said Australia was working "quietly behind the scenes" with the International Committee of the Red Cross but there were "a lot of hurdles to clear". Robert van Aalst, Ms Nettletons lawyer, said Mr Morrison had a responsibility to help Australian children and questioned whether the election campaign was making both major parties reluctant to act quickly. Australian companies are increasingly paying off online hackers, who demand money to unlock computers, as the number of cyber attacks rises. A Telstra survey of IT professionals from more than 300 Australian companies found 48 per cent of those surveyed had experienced a cyber attack in the past 12 months. This is up from 33 per cent in 2018. Of those who suffered an attack, 81 per cent experienced a ransom incident, and 51 per cent of them paid it. A growing number of companies are reporting cyber attacks. Credit:Reuters Common advice from security professionals is not to pay extortionists, because it only encourages further attacks and there's never a guarantee the attackers can restore files or unlock computers. The safer approach is to keep systems patched against new vulnerabilities, and ensure regular offline backups and "versioning" so systems can be restored if locked down. But the respondents to Telstra's survey said they would pay again if they had to, with 77 per cent of those who paid saying they got their data back, and 79 per cent of respondents saying they would pay the money in future if they had no backups. The French agency in charge of emergency management has shot down US President Donald Trump's suggestion that "flying water tankers" could help put out the blaze at Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, noting that water-bombing could cause the entire building to collapse. Trump had proposed the idea in a tweet on Monday afternoon, local time, shortly after TV networks began airing images of the historic cathedral engulfed in flames. "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!" Trump tweeted. He also mentioned the cathedral in remarks at an event in Minnesota, telling the crowd, "They don't know what caused it. They say renovation, and I hope that's the reason. Renovation? What's that all about?" An exhibition of treasures from national museums of 12 countries along the Silk Road was staged at the National Museum of China in Beijing on April 11. Featuring 234 items of relics, the exhibition displays the stories of cultural exchanges along the land and maritime Silk Roads. The exhibition aims to provide an opportunity for people across the world to share the diversity of human civilization, said Wang Chunfa, curator of the National Museum of China. By displaying the fusion of arts and skills of the countries along the Belt and Road, the exhibition promotes Silk Road spirit and reveals the future trend of the world the building of a community of shared future for mankind, Wang remarked. Visitors watch cultural relics from Russia at the exhibition. (Photo/Peoples Daily Online) The exhibition is divided into two sections: the land Silk Road and maritime Silk Road, introducing cultural relics from 13 countries including China, Cambodia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mongolia, Oman, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, and Tajikistan. The relics include both national historic treasures and exotic items that carry the history of trade and cultural exchanges along the ancient Silk Road. According to the exhibition, China started exchanges with the western Eurasia as early as in the prehistoric age. The artifacts of Turbino culture that originated from Russia are reliable evidences. They have been found multiple times in northwest Chinas Gansu and Qianghai provinces as well as central Chinas Henan province. The barbed spear of Turbino culture collected by the National Museum of China and the leaf-like spear sent from Russia resembled with each other. Photo shows a barbed spear, artifact of Turbino culture, collected by the National Museum of China. (Photo from the official website of the National Museum of China) Photo shows a leaf-like spear sent from Russia at the exhibition. (Photo from the official website of the National Museum of China) The eastern section of the Silk Road was unclogged by Emperor Wu of Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-9 AD) in the late 2nd century BC, and the channel was later joined by the Roman Empire from the western end. During a long period of history, the Silk Road served as a relatively safe and effective channel for trade and cultural exchanges between the east and the west. Ever since, the communication and exchanges between the two parts of the world kept on. A Chinese-style porcelain plate made by Iran now collected by the National Museum of Poland is a record of the trade and cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. Such record can also be reflected by a Chinese cup manufactured in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) unearthed in Latvia which, according to experts, may have traveled all the way through Central AsiaBulgaria, and Scandinavia through trade, and ended up onto the shore of the Baltic Sea. Photo shows an Iran-made Chinese-style porcelain plate collected by the National Museum of Poland. It is a record of the trade and cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. (Photo from the official website of the National Museum of China) Photo shows the only Chinese cultural relic unearthed in Latvia a single-handle cup made in Tang Dynasty (681-907) (Photo from the official website of the National Museum of China) In 1913, Edouard Chavannes, a renowned French sinology, proposed the concept of maritime Silk Road for the first time. The maritime trade channel is also called maritime porcelain road and maritime spice road as porcelain and spice were the major goods traded along the route. A plaque carved with the language of Hadhramaut collected by the National Museum of Oman recorded the booming frankincense trade of the kingdom of Hadramawt at that time. Photo shows a plaque carved with the language of Hadhramaut collected by the National Museum of Oman. (Photo from the official website of the National Museum of China) The history of the Silk Road still has a profound influence even today, said the National Museum of Korea in the foreword of the exhibition. All regions covered by the network could eliminate misunderstanding, live in harmony and achieve common prosperity through communication and cooperation, and the Silk Road is a core concept that helps the Republic of Korea, China and Japan, all situating at the eastern end of the Silk Road, understand the cultural traditions of each other, foreword of the exhibition. Photo shows a Tang tri-color glazed pottery collected by the National Museum of Korea. (Photo/chnmuseum.cn) In Nov. 2018, the National Museum of China hosted the First Conference of the International Alliance of Museums of the Silk Road, and signed a cooperation agreement under the proposal of Chinese President Xi Jinping, said Wang. The exhibition, as a concrete step to implement the agreement, will last until July 14, 2019, Wang added. Time to focus on lesson of maritime tragedy It has been five years since the sinking of the ferry Sewol on April 16, 2014, during the previous Park Geun-hye administration. Many Koreans still remember the shock of the nation's worst maritime accident in which more than 304 people died. Many of the victims were students and teachers from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who were headed to Jeju Island on a field trip. Various memorial events took place at Mokpo Port and other venues associated with the ferry and the victims. The events have renewed public attention to the sinking, which has triggered intense social and political conflict that has lingered in Korean society even after so much time has passed. Many Koreans blamed the previous Park administration for not properly dealing with the accident in the initial stages, resulting in the loss of so many lives. Although Park was removed from office amid a huge corruption scandal, she has continued to be blamed heavily for the ferry sinking particularly because of the mystery of her whereabouts during the early hours of the accident. The families of the victims are still seeking the truth behind the maritime disaster. An association representing them and relevant civic groups held a press conference in Gwanghwamun Square Monday and urged the government to carry out a thorough probe and punishment of officials and institutions they deemed responsible. They listed former President Park among other officials who failed to do their jobs during the accident. They pointed out that so far, only one officer from the Korea Coast Guard has been punished. They vowed to organize a nationwide campaign to continue bringing justice to those responsible. This has invited some ugly reactions from conservatives. Cha Myung-jin, a former lawmaker of the Grand National Party, a predecessor of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), put up an extremely hostile message on his social media where he slammed the families of the Sewol victims as greedy and accused them of continuing to take advantage of the tragedy. The LKP has decided to refer him to its ethics committee for disciplinary measures. It is highly regrettable that after five years, fact-finding efforts have not yielded any significant outcome and the causes of the sinking remain unclear. Korean society is still divided on the activities of the Sewol families and relevant civic groups, including their prolonged sit-in at Gwanghwamun Square. They only recently removed the Sewol tents in the heart of the capital after establishing a memorial instead, but this has also brought controversy. President Moon Jae-in took office vowing to build a safe society. But there have been several accidents since he took office in various sectors that could have been avoided. It is important to continue uncovering the truth about the ferry sinking and punish those responsible. But it is now time to end political division over the accident and focus on its lesson, which is to improve public safety. By David Tizzard David Tizzard South Korea has made marvelous strides recently. It has seen the emergence of a political bonhomie between its government and Pyongyang; people celebrated in the street as the courts recently declared abortion unconstitutional; and its pop stars and celebrities adorn the television screens and Twitter feeds of millions around the world. Yet there is a candle that still burns. Unfaltering. Devout and steadfast. It commemorates the memory of the 304 people that lost their lives five years ago as they travelled from Danwon High School in Incheon to Jeju Island aboard the MV Sewol. Perhaps one of the most distressing elements of the fateful incident that held the nation in a state of disbelief was that those who perished so tragically were those who obeyed the orders of the captain and his crew. What unfolded was then seen by many as a tragic manifestation of a society that stood upon hierarchical Confucian values and housed social phenomena such as gapjil the physical or psychological abuse of power by those in elevated positions. The vessel was carrying twice its legal cargo limit and yet because the inspectors contented themselves with monitoring ships from the shore, corruption as well as the flagrant abuse of regulations and rules was rife. The Sewol incident would eventually become synonymous with a social movement directed towards political change. Ex-president Park Geun-hye was impeached amid a series of huge candlelit protests that filled Gwanghwamun every weekend and which were focused on stopping administrative incompetence and nepotism. The country demanded transparency, the adopting of responsibility from those in charge, and ultimately truth. These voices were heard around the world and a country known for its dazzling internet speeds and glittery music became one capable of peaceful revolution. The memorial tents to the Sewol ferry disaster were removed from Gwanghwamun late last month. Now a wooden structure stands there providing people with a visual record of the tragedy as well as others that came before it. And yet there are still many ways in which the memory of the Sewol is being carried forth. There are those still keeping alight the flame of memory in a perpetual vigil for those who so sadly lost their lives on April 16, 2014, and they carry with them a beacon of hope. One of those people is British film-maker Neil George. His first movie on the catastrophe, 2016's "After the Sewol," won the Best Feature Documentary award at the TMC London Film Festival. His second, "Crossroads," is now being made available online to commemorate the anniversary. "As with many tragedies, over time the general public forgets and moves on," George said. "We have even seen this with the Sewol ferry tragedy over the last couple of years. And so I just hope that people won't forget what happened and continue to support the families in their search for the truth." Both feature-length documentaries look at the Sewol tragedy and the political and social aftermath. In doing so, George humanizes the issue by allowing real people to tell their stories, to use their voices, to cry their tears, and ask their questions. LKP members under fire for defamatory remarks against Sewol victims Remembering Sewol [PHOTOS] FC Barcelona commemorates Sewol tragedy Five years on, truth of Sewol disaster still shrouded in mystery A remarkably powerful element of George's work is how it resonates not only with those directly affected by the calamity as well as the nation at large, but also people all around the world. It speaks on a universal level about pain, loss, change and community. Jung Seong-wook and Kwon Oh-hyun both lost family members and they share their story of how it affected them then and now. Surviving students from Danwon High School also reveal how an unmistakable and unnamable feeling accompanies them everywhere. Korean Studies scholar Owen Miller and author and activist George Katsiaficas speak of the broader political, cultural, and philosophical issues that came to the surface and why this was about more than a boat and a school in Incheon. This was about the whole country and the culture sewn into the fabric of its existence. As the title suggests, "Crossroads" offers the view that the Sewol incident serves as a turning point in the country's tumultuous and tempestuous history. In doing so, it speaks of a generational divide that has the possibility of paralyzing the country. There is a very active generation of older people in their 60s and 70s who stood in opposition to the resulting impeachment protests. A product of the temporal and spatial conditions in which they grew up: a society based on self-sacrifice, nation-building, and strong leadership in the face of a very real communist threat. They now feel cut adrift and disenfranchised by the new society. Importantly, "Crossroads" gives these pro-Park protesters a voice, too. It shows the reality of society in an honest and candid way, which is not only admirable but essential considering the message it seeks to convey. And then there is the youth. A generation waking up to the challenges of modernity where contemporary living is not simply a 5G connection and a YouTube playlist of video game tutorials, but instead the necessity to ask questions, challenge authority, and promote social change. They live in a world filled with internet neologisms promoting single lifestyles, the giving up of marriage and dating, and finding happiness in sleep or coffee. However, "Crossroads" reminds us that not only are there people suffering, there is a need for collective spirit and action, for that is what drives a nation towards success rather than division and conflict. While George is a lover of the country and its people, he is still able to turn his camera and his vision on to a subject that no doubt would be no extremely difficult for any with a close association or nationalist fervor unwilling to cover certain essential aspects. His aims are clear with the project: "I once said that in 15-20 years this will be looked at as a hugely defining moment in Korean history across all areas of society. If in 20 years' time we see another tragic event similar to the Sewol ferry, it will only prove that the society learnt nothing and all those children's lives were lost in vain. I for one don't want to see that happen and so will continue to do what I can to raise more awareness and support for the families." He does not work alone and is joined on his projects by producer Kim Han-kyul as well as a broader team of skilled film individuals who vividly capture the people and emotions in a visceral yet intellectually challenging manner. I have seen "Crossroads" a couple of times now and feel it remains one of the most important pieces of film-making on Korea in the last few years. It is easy to forget the suffering and tragedies of other people while gripped by our own existence, yet this film speaks of a community. Moreover, its message is matched by the intensity and honesty of its delivery. It neither preaches nor relies on saccharine moments to affect the viewer, but simply reminds us that we all have those feelings of compassion, empathy and understanding inside us should we only take the time to search for them. Amid your various internet scrolling today, spend a few minutes for all those who lost their loves in this terrible incident, for those that still live with the grief today, and for those working hard to make the society in which we live a better place for all of us. Never forget. To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster, an edited version of "Crossroads" is being made available free on Asian Boss. It can be seen here . Samsung beefing up budget phone lineup while LG trimming down By Baek Byung-yeul Samsung Electronics' Galaxy A80 smartphone / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are implementing different approaches to entry-level budget smartphones. Samsung has been launching more competitive affordable smartphones with new features to stem its falling global market share, while LG is trimming down its lineups, company officials said Monday. Company officials and analysts said Samsung, the world's biggest smartphone maker, has to focus on its budget phones in order to rescue its falling share in the global market while LG is trying to minimize its loss by decreasing the number of entry-level affordable smartphones they produce. Samsung added it was time to focus more on the budget smartphone market as the premium smartphone market has been facing slow growth due to the maturing of the smartphone industry. Budget and mid-range smartphone markets are flooded with many potential due to the rise of Chinese smartphone makers. Samsung said it is trying to apply more premium-like technologies to its budget smartphones. It recently unveiled the 6.7-inch Galaxy A70 and Galaxy A80, budget smartphones targeting consumers in Southeast Asia. Especially, the Galaxy A80 is receiving consumer attention for featuring a slide-up rotating camera. Samsung is also trying to raise its falling market share in China as the firm has struggled with its smartphone business there with more Chinese consumers turning to domestically-produced smartphones. To woo more consumer attention, the firm released a budget smartphone the Galaxy A8 featuring its hole-punch display technology called Infinity O in December 2018. The O-shaped hole on the front for a camera and sensors, the smartphone offers fully bezel-less display. The technology was also applied to the firm's latest premium smartphone the Galaxy S10. The firm also said it recently decided to drop the Galaxy J series, which has been the entry-level smartphone of the firm, and merge it with the A series. "Samsung is merging the J series with the A series because the A series phones have been received well by consumers even though both the J series and the A series are categorized as affordable smartphones and the price differences between the two are very small," a Samsung official said. "The Galaxy A70 and A80 have specialized camera features. With those budget smartphones we are aiming to attract more millennial consumers who enjoy live-streaming via YouTube or Instagram. The official added chances are slim that the firm would face cannibalization between the two products as the Galaxy S series, which is the firm's premium smartphone lineup, has better features compared to the A80. Though the price tag of the phone is not decided yet, Samsung said it will be sold for around $600. LG is trimming down its smartphone lineup. Though the firm has released numerous kinds of budget smartphones it started to reorganize its budget phone array since 2018. "Besides the premium smartphone lineups such as the G and the V series, we have entry-level smartphones such as the Q and the K series. We are trying to reorganize our budget smartphone lineups to meet with consumer needs more effectively," an LG official said. "For consumers who are looking for affordable smartphones, we are trying to apply some of the latest features that our premium smartphones have to the budget smartphones. For instance, some of our budget smartphones have enhanced sound system featured that only premium smartphones had." The official said another strength of LG's budget smartphones is they all have LG Pay mobile payment system. "Consumers who bought the entry-level smartphones can also use the mobile payment system as every LG budget phone has LG Pay feature," the official said. An analyst said both Samsung and LG are trying to concentrating on budget smartphone markets because premium smartphone market is growing slowly while they are losing shares in premium smartphone market. "The smartphone market is similar to auto industry in a way. Phone makers can make more profits with premium smartphones but it is hard for them to raise their market share with those smartphones that are priced over $800. In contrast, concentrating on budget smartphone market helps them to raise their market share," said an IT columnist Ham Young-min. "LG has been struggling to regain its lost brand value in smartphones due to strong dominance of Chinese phone makers such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi in global smartphone market. As it has been a while that LG's smartphone business has been in the red, the firm has to concentrate on minimizing its loss by decreasing the number of smartphones," he said. "For Samsung, the firm is run after Apple and Huawei in terms of global market share. To retain its status as the world's biggest smartphone maker, the firm has to try to meet with different kinds of market demands in emerging markets such as China, India and Southeast Asia. The firm's effort can be seen in the Galaxy A80 that has a slide-up rotating camera, which can be regarded as an attractive feature to many consumers." Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. / Reuters-Yonhap By Kwak Yeon-soo Saudi Aramco is expanding its presence in Korea by acquiring stakes or forging business ties with domestic refiners, according to industry analysts Tuesday. On Monday, Saudi Arabia's state-run crude oil producer became the second-largest shareholder of Hyundai Oilbank, Korea's fourth-largest refiner affiliated with Hyundai Heavy Industries, after taking a 17 percent stake in the company. Hyundai Oilbank has a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. Saudi Aramco also owns a 63.41 percent stake in the country's No.3 refiner S-Oil. The company entered Korea in 1991 by acquiring a 35 percent stake in Ssangyong Refinery, the predecessor of S-Oil. It took over an additional 28.4 percent stake in S-Oil for 2.2 trillion won ($2 billion) from Hanjin Group in 2014. Hyundai Heavy said the firm had agreed to buy the 17 percent stake in Hyundai Oilbank for 1.4 trillion won. Vietjet Air's flight attendant serves drinks and snacks onboard its flight. Courtesy of Vietjet Air By Kim Hyun-bin Vietnam's leading budget carrier Vietjet Air is scheduled to increase flights between Vietnam and Korea starting this summer. From July 16, the budget carrier will operate a new direct route between Busan and Nha Trang, four times a week as it has become a popular holiday destination for Korean travelers in recent years. Nha Trang is the largest city with a beach in Vietnam and in 2003 was voted one of top 30 bays in the world by World Bays, due to its year-round mild weather, clean waters and untainted natural environment. It attracts travelers from around the world, who enjoy various activities, food and attractions. Vietnam has become one of the most popular destinations for Koreans, and competition between airlines has become fierce. Currently, Vietjet provides the largest number of flights among 11 carriers that operate between the two countries, 73 a week to six popular destinations including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. Ahead of the summer holiday season, Vietjet Air offers scores of promotional events with ultra-low ticket prices, available for all the airline's routes including those between Korea and Vietnam. Ticket prices start from 70,000 won ($61), and will be available for purchase on the company's website, www.vietjetair.com , between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. from April 17 to 19 for travel between June 16 and Dec. 31. A growing number of Koreans are using Vietjet, and the airline is striving to provide a more comfortable and enjoyable flight experience for them by having Korean-speaking flight attendants on board. In March, the budget carrier received the Korea Prestige Brand Award 2019 from a local economic daily for its services. Earlier this month, Vietjet inked a deal with Airbus to acquire a state-of-the-art A321-NEO aircraft, the 60th plane that was bought from the manufacturer, out of its fleet of 80. The A321-NEO is a narrow body aircraft suitable for short- and medium-haul flights with 230 seats. The carrier will be able to use it for routes to Japan, Singapore and Korea, and as far as India and parts of Australia. Vietjet Air's Airbus A321-NEO By Kwak Yeon-soo Former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo / Korea Times file A model of an Airbus A380 airliner is displayed at Asiana Airlines headquarters in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Monday, when its parent company Kumho Asiana Group announced it will sell the carrier to cope with a liquidity crisis. Yonhap Hanwha, SK, CJ mentioned as potential buyer of Korea's No. 2 carrier By Nam Hyun-woo Former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo New writing company HighTide will be partnering with Assembly during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to programme a season entitled Disruption. Six new productions will be featured as part of the line-up, which will all run at Assembly Roxy. Kenny Emson's Rust, which will run at the Bush Theatre ahead of the festival, will be the centrepiece. The play follows Nadia and Daniel who have signed for a flat under a pseudonym, and are looking to start again after years of married life. Eleanor Rhode directs, with Max Johns designing and sound designed by David Gregory. Charlotte Josephine (Bitch Boxer) will return to Edinburgh with her first piece solely as a writer. Pops focuses on a father and daughter stuck in a cycle of addiction but who are trying to connect and forgive nonetheless. The piece will be directed by Ali Pidsley of Barrel Organ and has movement from Jennifer Jackson and sound design from Kieran Lucas. Collapsible is Irish writer Margaret Perry's piece which won the VAULT Festival's 2019 Origin Award. The monologue looks at the life of a complex, funny bisexual woman and is directed by Thomas Martin. A double bill of shows by Teddy Lamb and Mia Johnson will be presented in collaboration with The Queer House. Lamb's "Since U Been Gone" an autobiographical account of growing up queer in the East Midlands and Johnson's multi-disciplinary Pink Lemonade which explores masculinity and lesbianism in black womxn will alternate performances every day. Suffering From Scottishness, from spoken word artist Kevin P Gilday, looks at nationhood and patriotism. The immersive theatrical experience confronts Scottish identity, and invites audiences to take part in a focus group. Steve Atkinson, artistic director of HighTide, said: "I am thrilled to be concluding my artistic directorship of HighTide by championing this outstanding group of six bold new artists." Disruption will also feature a programme of events throughout the month which will be programmed at a later date. Rust, Pops, Since U Been Gone, Collapsible and Pink Lemonade will all run at HighTide's Aldeburgh and Walthamstow Festivals in September. Dongwon Group chairman and founder Kim Jae-chul, center in front raw, poses during the group's 50th anniversary event at Dongwon Leaders Academy in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. He announced his retirement. / Courtesy of Dongwon Group By Baek Byung-yeul Dongwon Group chairman and founder Kim Jae-chul Flames and smoke rise as the spire on Notre Dame cathedral collapses in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. AP-Yonhap The world reacted with shock, horror and prayers to the massive fire Monday at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, united in grief and in solidarity with the people of France. As the flames tore through the 12th-century cathedral, Spain's prime minister offered France the help of his country in the recovery. The fire is a "catastrophe for France, for Spain and for Europe," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted, adding that the flames are destroying "850 years of history, architecture, painting and sculpture." French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters near the scene that he will seek international help, including from the "greatest talents" in the world, to rebuild Notre Dame. U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at the start of an appearance in Minnesota, spoke of the "terrible, terrible fire" that devastated "one of the great treasures of the world." A fire fighter uses a hose as Notre Dame cathedral is burning in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. AP-Yonhap "It's a part of our growing up, it's a part of our culture, it's a part of our lives," Trump said of the landmark. The Notre Dame Cathedral, situated on an island in the Seine River in the heart of Paris, is one of the world's most visited tourist destinations, drawing some 13 million people each year. The fire's emotional impact was widely felt. People from all over described in Facebook posts how they cried when they heard about the fire. Former U.S. President Barack Obama posted an old photo of himself, his wife Michelle and their two daughters lighting candles in the cathedral. "Notre Dame is one of the world's great treasures, and we're thinking of the people of France in your time of grief," Obama said on Twitter. Michelle Obama, who was in Paris on Monday on a book tour, said "my heart aches with the people of France." "The majesty of Notre Dame - the history, artistry, and spirituality - took our breath away, lifting us to a higher understanding of who we are and who we can be," she tweeted. She predicted the cathedral would rise again. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron walk by Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. AP-Yonhap The Vatican said Pope Francis "has seen with shock and sadness the news of the terrible fire that has devastated the Cathedral of Notre Dame, symbol of Christianity in France and in the world." Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, prayed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan for intercession. "God preserve this splendid house of prayer, and protect those battling the blaze," Dolan said in a statement. Jeff Ament, bass player for Pearl Jam, remembered spending hours at the cathedral in his first visit, in 1991, with record executive Michael Goldstone. "Thinking about Paris," Ament tweeted, with photos of the cathedral. People watch as fire fighters douse flames of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France April 15, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap By Geoff Syme Fancy owning an original piece of art, from a local reputable artist, at an affordable price? St Andrews Church in Stoke Trister is holding a silent auction of art kindly donated by local artist Diane Coe. Diane, an established artist living in Charlton Musgrove, has donated a number of original works from her private collection to be auctioned for the benefit of the Church. Dianes finest moment came when the Hellenic Centre in Marylebone, London invited her to have a free, month-long, solo exhibition in their large hall. This required a minimum of 80 framed works, which included some of her pyrography and fretwork pieces. Diane has exhibited her work over many years in Sherborne, at the Bath & West Show, with Bruton Art Society, at several local exhibitions and at Yeovil Hospital. Colour has influenced Dianes whole life, having lived her first 21 years in Cyprus. Movement, dance in particular, ruled many of her earlier years. Both colour and movement are excellently portrayed within Dianes private auction. There will be a viewing at Bayford Village Hall on Saturday May 4th, 5pm to 9pm. There will be wine and nibbles available and Diane will be on hand to answer any questions. Silent bidding is now open until 9pm on May 4th. To download a copy of the brochure, with details of how to place a bid, click here. All proceeds raised from the Auction will go to the maintenance of St Andrews Church, Stoke Trister. In naming Corie Barry chief executive officer, Best Buy Co. hands the reins to the architect of its current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the retail industrys most remarkable turnarounds. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In naming Corie Barry chief executive officer, Best Buy Co. hands the reins to the architect of its current growth strategy, widely considered to be one of the retail industrys most remarkable turnarounds. Barry, chief financial and strategic transformation officer, will replace Hubert Joly in June after almost seven years at the helm. In her outgoing role, she oversaw the companys current expansion announced in 2017, a rare consumer success story in the age of Amazon. The plan included finding new revenue streams, including an in-home advisory program she spearheaded, and that went national in September to help customers with any tech-related issue. The Barry-led push into services has helped Best Buy buck the trend of legacy retailers succumbing to the shift online. During the holiday shopping season, the chain again topped expectations when many peers struggled. Selling more services, warranties and accessories around a gadget like smart-home lighting increases margins, which has been key to Best Buys revival, according to Craig Johnson, president of retail researcher firm Customer Growth Partners. "They make as much money around the product as the product itself," Johnson said. But Joly isnt ready to retire yet. He will become executive chairman, helping with external and government relations, leadership development and really anything Barry asks him to do, he said. "Leading this iconic Minnesota company has been the greatest honour and delight of my professional career," said Joly, 59. The Richfield, Minn.-based company already has met financial goals set for fiscal year 2021 and Joly is a new grandfather, which he said made him decide this was the right time to put his succession plan in place. When Best Buy lays out strategic plans for the next phase of the company at an investors day in September, Joly said he wanted Wall Street to see the leaders who will see that plan through. "Nearly seven years ago, the board made a stunningly good decision when they asked a Frenchman with no retail experience to save this company," Barry wrote in a letter being sent to employees Monday morning. "Perhaps without knowing it, Hubert had been preparing for that moment all his life, and he brought to the job his remarkable brain, boundless energy and deep passion," said Barry, 43, who will become the companys first female CEO. "Like all of you, I will forever be grateful to him for leading us during such dark days and then helping us find a path to true transformation and rebirth." Joly, who has several jackets sporting the Best Buy pin on the back of his office door, is known for fist bumps and high-fives when he visits stores and for his enthusiasm during corporate meetings. But his energy should not overtake his abilities, industry watchers have said. "Joly brought financial rigour to the business," Piper Jaffrays Peter Keith said in January. "He brought a great, energetic, hard-working personality for people to get behind." That kind of enthusiasm had to be earned. The retail world was skeptical in 2012 when Best Buy chose Joly, then head of the Carlson hospitality company, as its next CEO. At the time, the last CEO had been ousted for having an inappropriate relationship. Best Buy founder Richard Schulze was trying to buy the company back. And the consumer electronics chain was faltering in the marketplace. Joly was the first outsider to lead the company, just as he had been the first non-family member to lead Carlson. Joly then figured out with his team how Best Buy could reinvent itself during one of the biggest retail disruptions ever. Over the past four years, annual earnings per share have nearly doubled. Same-store sales comparisons have risen for eight consecutive quarters. And he has changed the mindset of the company: Instead of selling electronics, Best Buy will help to fulfil customers needs through technology. He likes to call it the "happiness" business. That means putting more of an emphasis on in-home adviser services, a new health-care monitoring business and the technology and staffing to allow people to shop the way they want, whether it is in a store or online. It also means continuing partnerships with companies from Samsung and Apple to Amazon to provide expertise to customers when they shop. Yet to lead a company is never a nine-to-five or even nine-to-nine job, he said, and he has been doing it in top spots for 20 years now. "To say its a full-time job is misleading," he said in an interview. "These are all-the-time jobs." He would now like to slow down a bit. But he said hes extremely proud of what the company has become. That includes greater training opportunities and benefits for employees at all levels and cutting turnover rate from the mid 50s to the low 30s. Joly said Barry has been instrumental in his decision-making. "This has been the best professional relationship Ive had," he said. "She is a very human, authentic, purposeful leader." 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. And her "wealth of experience at Best Buy is unmatched," he said. Besides two years at Deloitte and Touche just after graduating from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., Barry has worked her entire career at Best Buy. Barry said shes a collaborative leader, ready to take advice from all levels, and grateful that Joly will be down the hall to consult. (They are switching offices and "have already worn a path.") Best Buy already has had one of the most diversified boards genderwise in the Fortune 500. Now, when Barry takes a seat as part of her promotion, the board will become seven-six female. Barry becomes the seventh current female CEO among Fortune 100 companies, according to Best Buy. Minneapolis Star Tribune TORONTO - The Canadian Civil Liberties Association launched a lawsuit Tuesday against all three levels of government involved in a bid to bring a high-tech neighbourhood to Toronto's downtown core. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. This undated photo provided by Sidewalk Toronto shows the eastern waterfront of Toronto. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association launched a lawsuit Tuesday against all three levels of government involved in a bid to bring a high-tech neighbourhood to Toronto's downtown core. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Sidewalk Toronto MANDATORY CREDIT TORONTO - The Canadian Civil Liberties Association launched a lawsuit Tuesday against all three levels of government involved in a bid to bring a high-tech neighbourhood to Toronto's downtown core. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are all named in the notice of application filed by the civil rights and freedoms group, which has been threatening since March to launch legal action over the yet-to-be-approved Quayside project. The suit also names Waterfront Toronto, a local organization that's partnered with Google sibling company Sidewalk Labs to develop five hectares of waterfront land into a "smart city" with high-tech sensors built into nearly every aspect of its infrastructure. A notice of application announcing the suit alleged the project is replete with potential privacy breaches that violate Canadians' constitutional rights. At a news conference announcing the suit, association Executive Director Michael Bryant called for a complete "shutdown and reset" of the partnership with Sidewalk Labs, an independent company that shares the same parent company as Google. "The laboratory of Sidewalk Labs, you see, is your community," Bryant said at the news conference. "Scientists profit from your behavioural data. Canada, Toronto, you are the lab rats." Waterfront Toronto said in a statement that since it has not yet received Sidewalk Labs' master plan for Quayside, it cannot assess the claims in the association's suit. A spokesperson for federal infrastructure minister Francois-Philippe Champagne also emphasized the lack of a concrete proposal, adding the government was committed to seeing the Quayside project unfold in "an ethical and accountable fashion." The Ontario government said it would be inappropriate to comment on the legal action, which also names private citizen Lester Brown as a complainant alongside the association. A spokesman for Toronto Mayor John Tory said Sidewalk's final proposal for Quayside will go through "full public scrutiny" for a variety of issues, including those raised in the lawsuit. Word of the suit comes weeks after the association sent letters to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the Toronto mayor warning it was considering legal action over the Sidewalk collaboration. The Quayside project, which still needs further approvals from all three levels of government, involves bringing affordable housing, heated sidewalks, so-called raincoats for buildings and autonomous vehicle infrastructure to the city's waterfront. It has been mired in controversies over data and privacy concerns due to the vast amounts of information it could collect through phones, sensors and other devices imbedded in the neighbourhood's infrastructure. The suit seeks to nullify Sidewalk Labs' partnership agreement with Waterfront Toronto, alleging the local development organization does not have the authority to create a digital governance policy for the Quayside project. The suit also makes numerous arguments centred on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, alleging that the collection of personal data infringes on a host of civil liberties. "The data capture will be or will likely be carried out without the meaningful informed consent of its target individuals and for inappropriate purposes," the notice reads. It also claims that the "non-consensual surrender by the state to Sidewalk Labs and/or others of private data" will discourage, limit or even make it impossible for individuals to assemble and associate freely and anonymously to pursue legitimate social goals, personal and public activities and civic engagements. "This curtails or negates critical freedoms in a democracy where collective behaviour plays an important political and social role," it reads. Although Sidewalk Labs was not named in the suit, its chief executive officer said the association was being too hasty with its legal action since the project remains in the proposal stage. "I think what surprised me a little bit was that nobody was sort of prepared to give us the benefit of the doubt," Dan Doctoroff said in a speech Tuesday at the Canadian Club in Toronto. Sidewalk later issued a statement critiquing the association's lawsuit and repeating previous promises not to use any data for commercial or advertising purposes. 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. "Sidewalk Labs fully supports a robust and healthy discussion regarding privacy, data ownership and governance. But this debate must be rooted in fact, not fiction and fearmongering," spokeswoman Keerthana Rang said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that once again the CCLA has chosen to mischaracterize our work and our engagement with the people of Toronto." Rang said an unspecified independent third party will be responsible for managing the data collected as part of Quayside. The CCLA is not the first to raise issues with the project. In late February, about 30 concerned citizens, including longtime Quayside critics Bianca Wylie and Saadia Muzaffar, formed an organization called Block Sidewalk, calling for the end of the project. After it was revealed in February that Sidewalk was hoping to collect a cut of the city's property taxes and development fees in exchange for funding a light rail transit line, some city councillors also expressed reservations about the project. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier story said Waterfront Toronto was partnering with Google on the Quayside project. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has too much power and its hurting the company, according to multiple shareholder proposals that will be considered at the companys annual meeting, including one that calls for exploring strategic alternatives such as selling the tech giants other businesses. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has too much power and its hurting the company, according to multiple shareholder proposals that will be considered at the companys annual meeting, including one that calls for exploring strategic alternatives such as selling the tech giants other businesses. Another proposal urges the company to appoint an independent board chairperson. Zuckerberg is both chief executive and chairman. "We believe this lack of independent board chair and oversight has contributed to Facebook missing, or mishandling, a number of severe controversies, increasing risk exposure and costs to shareholders," said the Council for Institutional Investors (CII), which submitted the proposal. Among the examples it lists: Russian meddling in U.S. elections, the sharing of users personal data with Cambridge Analytica, proliferation of fake news, violence in Myanmar and other parts of the world, ad-targeting practices that allowed for excluding minorities, and more. A similar proposal about an independent chairperson was submitted in 2017 and rejected by shareholders, the company said it in its proxy, released Friday. But CII pointed out that "when excluding the shares of 13 executives and board members," 51 per cent of shareholders voted for the proposal that year. Four out of eight shareholder proposals this year are critical of the companys dual-class stock structure, which gives a select group of insiders more power, especially Zuckerberg, who has 57.7 per cent of voting rights. "Facebook operates essentially as a dictatorship," notes one shareholder proposal, which calls for requiring a majority vote for board directors. "Fake news, election interference, threats to our bottom line and our democracy. Shareholders need more than deny, deflect and delay." Facebooks response in its proxy to this and another proposal that the company give each of its shares an equal vote: its "current corporate governance structure is sound and effective." The company is recommending a no vote on all shareholder proposals, which also include a call for a content governance report that shows how Facebook deals with content-related decisions as "abuse and misinformation campaigns continue," plus a request for a report on the companys global median gender pay gap. 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 other two proposals are related to conservatives complaints that tech companies are too liberal. One proposal asks that the company consider board directors ideological perspectives. The proxy didnt identify who submitted the proposal, but the National Center for Public Policy Research confirmed Monday that the proposal was submitted by its Free Enterprise Project, which recently called on Apple to do the same thing. Another proposal asks Facebook to report whether it supports and tries to hire employees who "do not share all or part of Silicon Valleys dominant political ideology." The proposals echo some concerns by lawmakers, activists and others about the controversies surrounding Facebook in the past couple of years. Last year, advocacy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission to separate Facebook from Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, and presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren this year called for breaking up Facebook and other tech giants. As for accusations of liberal bias, executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter were grilled by Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee last week about the issue. In addition, three of the proposals cite declines in Facebooks stock price as reasons for making big changes. The companys shares fell about 28 per cent in 2018. However, they are up nearly 33 per cent so far this year. Facebooks annual meeting will be May 30. In other news about Facebooks board, the company said in its proxy that it will not be renominating Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who served under U.S. president Bill Clinton. Hastings and Bowles have served on the Menlo Park companys board since 2011. The tech giant is nominating PayPal executive Peggy Alford as a director. She would be the second African-American on the board, and the third woman which would comply with Californias new law requiring companies with six or more directors to have at least three women on its board by 2021. Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) SAN FRANCISCO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- High-tech giants on the U.S. West Coast have been eyeing central and eastern states for new headquarters and branches, which experts believe will eventually transform the country's social-economic structure, adding more chances of cooperation with China. EASTWARD EXPANSION "Talent, money and market," Del Christensen, chief of Global Business Development for the Bay Area Council (BAC), told Xinhua while explaining the phenomenon dubbed "eastward expansion" by U.S. media. BAC represents San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley in public affairs and strategy management. Among the first group to move eastward, Seattle-based e-commerce multinational Amazon had sought to split second headquarters between Long Island City in New York City and Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. Silicon Valley giant Google is expanding its NYC office by doubling the number of its staff, while Apple has announced plans to build a second campus in Austin, Texas. With an investment of about 1 billion U.S. dollars, Apple's expansion will hopefully bring the city 15,000 jobs. Its first campus in Austin has already grown almost as big as the 5-billion-dollar Apple Park in Cupertino, California. "I think the biggest one (reason), the most important one, is a quest for human capital," said James DeNicco, director of the Principles of Economics Program at Rice University. Going for talent is the No. 1 consideration for Seattle and Bay Area's high-tech giants. They map out Austin, because top schools like University of Texas can be relied upon for sustainable high-level human resource, DeNicco told Xinhua. Since late 1980s, the concentration of tech companies in Austin has brought the city a new nickname "Silicon Hills." The hilly city, with its growing academic and high-tech sectors, has since lived up to expectations. Other big names in technology industry, including Uber, Facebook and LinkedIn, have also embarked on eastward expansions, driven by a common goal: hunting for talent. They mostly favor New York, Washington D.C., Boston and other already developed eastern cities. On the other hand, Silicon Valley, where Google and Facebook were born and have been growing a lot, can't accommodate all their growth. So they have to find some other places, Jim Wunderman, BAC's president and CEO, told Xinhua. "The Bay Area can only support so many people. The housing is already ridiculously expensive. Silicon Valley in the Bay Area will always have a special place in that world, and that's what makes it so expensive to live here," he said. San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Seattle, bearing the blunt of the impact of those giants' growth, are the four most expensive major cities in America based on home values, according to The New York Times. The Washington Post reported that Amazon's "explosive growth" has made it "Seattle's largest private employer and taxpayer in less than a decade," offering 45,000 jobs in a city of 725,000 people. DeNicco took innovation and business-friendly environment as other factors contributing to the eastward expansion. "Innovation is key for all companies, but especially for those tech companies. They need that innovation to stay on top," he said, adding that hiring younger talents is one way to innovate. Another consideration is political capital, which is conventionally concentrated on the U.S. East Coast, including Washington D.C. and Boston. "They might be able to get the ear of the policy makers. If you get the ear of the policy makers, you can help make it more business friendly for you. They want collaborative relationships with policy makers as well," said DeNicco. "Move to grow" -- this has become the mainstream decision among the large corporations on the West Coast. "If you don't move, if you don't change and adapt, you get left behind. This is why and how it happens," added DeNicco. SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION Outgrowing the booming cities on the U.S. West Coast, the region's high-tech giant corporations have begun to march eastward to seek more opportunities, dealing with challenges old and new. In doing so, they are widely expected to help improve America's high-tech layout as well as offset the urban-rural divide brought by the digitalization of the U.S. economy. In 2018, more than 44 percent of all digital-service jobs in the United States were located in just 10 metro areas, including Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose, as well as New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Boston, the New York Times recently reported citing a research project by Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brooklyn Institute. The industry's geographical concentration or imbalance has made the high-tech juggernauts' eastward expansion a choice of must, but behind the phenomena is a return to its origin. "Just as tech companies have moved to the center of the U.S. and global economy, so have the large West Coast-based tech companies expanded their offices beyond California and Seattle. In some respects, this is going back to where tech started," said Margaret O'Mara, associate professor of History at the University of Washington, Seattle. In mid-20th century, the electronics industry was centered on the East Coast, with market leaders like IBM (International Business Machines) Corporation having headquarters in New York state, and Boston being the original academic center of computer research and companies like minicomputer giant Digital and word processor maker Wang, she said. By entering the industry's historical bastion, the corporations are making a whole new bet. "They're spreading the culture of Silicon Valley to other parts of the United States," said Christensen, "You start to become part of that culture and that economic system, and I think that's good for California-based companies ultimately that they have a closer relationship with the people that are working (for example) in Washington, D.C.," he said. O'Mara stressed through a historical perspective that the expansion helps balance the country's economy and opens up opportunities for all the concerned sides. "There has been very uneven growth of the U.S. economy generally, and tech in particular, with most of GDP coming from very large coastal metropolitan areas on the East and West Coasts, with the smaller cities and the heartland being left behind," she said. The current eastward expansion may address geographical dynamics and help remedy the U.S. tech imbalance, added O'Mara, also author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and Search for the Next Silicon Valley. MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL COOPERATION WITH CHINA As the U.S. high tech map is evolving with some behemoths on the West Coast expanding eastward, top local business representatives think it is a good time for Chinese to come and do business. The time is good for Chinese counterparts to expand cooperation either with the traditional West Coast or the emerging East Coast and some central states, according to Wunderman and Christensen. "We think one of the advantages of the Bay Area of physical location is its proximity to China, even though it's very far away. It's the next place you go to after you cross over the Pacific Ocean. And there's a lot of relationship between here and China," said Wunderman. For example, San Francisco is a longtime sister city of Shanghai -- "a good existing strong relationship" that BAC could build on, and from Beijing, it's a shorter air trip than to New York City, he said. "I would imagine that the California-based CEO would stay more connected to China just because we're closer and there's also the overlap of time. So you can take calls here in the afternoon and talk to your team in China in their morning. That's a significant advantage for the West Coast of the United States as far as doing business with China and communicating" are concerned, Christensen said. Regarding the East Coast, Christensen said, "I know that China does a lot of business in New York." This will help China become part of the ongoing U.S. high-tech "eastward expansion", which also targets other cities like Washington D.C., Boston, Austin and Pittsburgh, he said. While welcoming Chinese counterparts to both coasts to tap new and more potential for doing business, BAC itself keeps reaching out to China to forge closer ties. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of their targets, with a new office mulled to be opened there. BAC currently has four offices in China -- in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing -- to help U.S. tech companies handle public affairs, catch opportunities and expand business. "I think China is a terrific, exciting country for the speed of technological changes and infrastructure. We're pretty amazed by the high-speed rail system, the buildings, architecture and the excitement of people. You can really feel it from the people," said Wunderman. A lot of BAC's member companies are operating in China today. "I think the most important thing is to understand the culture of how you're doing business in another country, and understand how decisions are made," said Christensen. He recalled participation in the first China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November. "California is open for business...This year, we're gonna go again, but much bigger. A much bigger delegation, because we want to sell products. We want to erase the trade deficit by having California sell a lot of products to China," he said. (Special) - With life expectancy increasing, Canadians can well expect to have a retirement that lasts 20 or 30 years. A lot can happen during those two or three decades, which is why retirement planning is so important. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. (Special) - With life expectancy increasing, Canadians can well expect to have a retirement that lasts 20 or 30 years. A lot can happen during those two or three decades, which is why retirement planning is so important. "Pre-retirement planning is all about getting a large picture of what you expect your retirement to look like," Blake Griffith, a certified financial planner with Sun Life Financial, said in an interview. "There are so many variables that each situation is unique. There is no 'one size fits all.' The key is to understand what you want your retirement to be where you want to live and what you want to spend your money on so you can set up a plan to achieve it in the most tax-efficient manner possible." Griffith says spending in retirement tends to follow the shape of the letter U. Spending is highest in the early years when retirees will tend to travel and do things on their bucket list. It diminishes when those things are completed and then probably starts to rise again as health-care costs start to rise. The challenge is to craft a revenue stream that fits that U-shaped pattern tax efficiently. While everyone's goals and situations are different, Griffith believes there are some over-arching principles that people should know about and consider when coming up with their retirement plan. It's important to understand the sources of income you can expect in retirement as well as your annual expenses. Income sources can include Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, Registered Pension Plans, Registered Retirement Savings Plans, non-registered investments, real estate and even inheritances. Estimate your annual expenses during retirement by calculating your current annual living expenses and then identifying what may increase, decrease or stay the same. Divide your retirement expenses into needs and wants. This will help you understand areas where you can possibly reduce expenses. Once you've got a handle on all your income and expenses, decide how you should draw on your income sources and in what order. Some of the considerations include whether you should draw down your RRSP before age 71 or wait until you convert it into a Registered Retirement Income Fund and when to take CPP. Both sources are taxed and, depending on your income level, may result in your OAS being clawed back. There also may be opportunities to split CPP and RRSP income with your spouse which can help you save on taxes by balancing incomes between both spouses. "One of the biggest considerations is the order that you start withdrawing your income," Griffith says. "There is no right order for everything. It should be personalized." As you prepare to enter into retirement it also can be a good idea to review your investments for risk tolerance and tax efficiency to ensure it reflects your comfort level and needs in retirement. 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. A tax efficient portfolio usually would place the highest taxable sources of income such as interest into registered accounts like a TFSA, RRSP, RRIF, Registered Education Savings Plan, Registered Disability Savings Plan, Locked In Retirement Account or Life Income Fund. Investments that produce capital gains and pay dividends would be more suited to non-registered accounts. Riskier investments which may yield capital gains or losses are best suited to non-registered accounts where losses can be used to offset gains and reduce tax. Some distributions from mutual funds are made up of return of capital, a tax term used to describe distributions which are in excess of the fund's earnings. For tax purposes ROC represents a return to the investor of a portion of their original invested capital. Since the investor is receiving a portion of their original invested capital, payments are not taxed as income, thereby increasing tax efficiency. At the end of the day, what really matters is left in your pocket after paying tax. "Tax planning is not a silo and should be part of an overall plan," Griffith says. Talbot Boggs is a Toronto-based business communications professional who has worked with national news organizations, magazines and corporations in the finance, retail, manufacturing and other industrial sectors. Copyright 2019 Talbot Boggs TAIPEI, Taiwan - The head of Foxconn Technology Group is planning to step away from day-to-day operations at the world's largest electronics provider and said Tuesday that he is mulling a run for president of Taiwan. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TAIPEI, Taiwan - The head of Foxconn Technology Group is planning to step away from day-to-day operations at the world's largest electronics provider and said Tuesday that he is mulling a run for president of Taiwan. Terry Gou said he would make a decision "in a day or two" on a possible presidential bid, according to Taiwan's official Central News Agency. He said that if he decided to run, he would take part in the opposition Nationalist Party primary rather than mount an independent bid. FILE - In this Feb. 2, 2019, file photo, Terry Gou , chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., also known as Foxconn, delivers a speech during the company's annual carnival for employees in Taipei, Taiwan. The head of Foxconn Technology Group said Monday, April 15, 2019, he is planning to step away from day-to-day operations at the world's largest electronics provider. Gou said that he wants to work on a book about his management philosophy honed over 45 years and prepare a younger generation to eventually take over operations at the company. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File) The Nationalists favour closer ties with Beijing, a policy that accords with Gou's massive business interests in China. Any candidate is expected to face a crowded field in the 2020 polls, in which President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party says she will seek a second four-year term. Gou told reporters Monday at an event in Taipei that he would step back from daily operations at Foxconn. He said he wants to work on a book about his management philosophy honed over 45 years and prepare a younger generation to eventually take over operations at the company. 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. Foxconn counts Apple, Google and Amazon as customers and has said it will build a manufacturing facility in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. "The major direction of the company will still be guided by me. But I will gradually step back from the front-line operations," the 69-year-old Gou said. "I feel that I should tone down my personal influence ... let young people learn sooner in order to take my position as soon as possible so that I can have more free time to work on long-term planning for the company's future." Foxconn announced in 2017, to much fanfare, that it planned to invest $10 billion in Wisconsin and hire 13,000 people to build an LCD factory that could make screens for televisions and a variety of other devices. The company said last year that it was reducing the scale of what was to be made in Wisconsin, from what is known as a Gen 10 factory to Gen 6. Those plans now appear to be in flux, although the company says its Wisconsin campus will house both an advanced manufacturing facility and a centre of "technology innovation for the region." Foxconn earlier this year cited a changing global market as requiring a move away from making LCD panels in Wisconsin. Apple is Foxconn's main manufacturing customer and it has forecast a drop in revenue from the Chinese market due to decreasing demand for iPhones. SANTA FE, N.M. - Leaders of the Navajo Nation and Pueblo tribes expressed frustration Monday with federal oversight of oil and gas leases on public holdings near ancient Native American cultural sites and endorsed legislation to restrict natural gas development around Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. SANTA FE, N.M. - Leaders of the Navajo Nation and Pueblo tribes expressed frustration Monday with federal oversight of oil and gas leases on public holdings near ancient Native American cultural sites and endorsed legislation to restrict natural gas development around Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Acoma Pueblo tribal Gov. Brian Vallo told members of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources at a hearing in New Mexico that not enough is being done to safeguard sacred sites scattered beyond the national park at Chaco Canyon. FILE - In this Nov. 21, 1996, file photo, tourists cast their shadows on the ancient Anasazi ruins of Chaco Canyon National Historic Park in New Mexico. Advocates for greater restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling near ancient Native American cultural sites in the Southwest are urging Congress to establish new precautions. A congressional subcommittee on energy ventured thousands of miles from Washington to hold a field hearing Monday, April 15, 2019 on the impacts of air pollution on sacred ruins and landmarks. New Mexico's delegation to Washington wants to halt new drilling leases near Chaco Culture National Historic Park. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, File) Many of the sites involve more than just physical features that can be surveyed by archaeologists, he said, referring to the less tangible aspects of Chaco. "Only we can identify these resources," he said. Lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and New Mexico's Debra Haaland and Ben Ray Lujan said they were profoundly moved by a visit Sunday to ancient Chaco dwellings and nearby industrial sites where they used infrared camera technology to view methane escaping into the atmosphere. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham testifies at a field hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources in Santa Fe, N.M., on Monday, April 15, 2019, about the affects of air pollution on sacred Native American cultural sites. Leaders of the Navajo Nation and Pueblo tribes expressed frustration at the hearing with federal oversight of oil and gas leases on public holdings near ancient Native American cultural sites and endorsed legislation to restrict natural gas development around Chaco Culture National Historic Park. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee) "You could see the plumes coming out and moving across the sky," Lujan said. "There's no question that this is occurring." The House committee was exploring the possible impacts of air pollution on sacred sites. They also quizzed New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on her administration's push to contain emissions of methane through stricter local regulation. New Mexico's all-Democratic House delegation is seeking to halt new oil and natural gas lease sales on federal holdings within a 10-mile (16-kilometre) buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Grijalva said Chaco Canyon deserves the same consideration for protections as Yellowstone National Park, which received an ecological buffer under legislation signed this year by President Trump. The Trump administration is seeking to eliminate 2016 Environmental Protection Agency rules requiring energy companies to reduce flaring of methane. In response, New Mexico has initiated a process for developing its own regulations to reduce flaring and leakage, while giving oilfield regulators new authority to issue citations and fines. Panelists on Monday did not include oil producers or Bureau of Land Management officials that oversee federal mineral leasing. Rep. Alan Lowenthal of California said Republican members of the subcommittee declined to attend the field hearing or appoint witnesses. Oil industry representatives say robust protections already are in place within the national park at Chaco Canyon, and beyond the park, federal authorities including the Bureau of Land Management require detailed land surveys prior to drilling. "Those archaeological surveys are baked into the process," said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance that represents more than 300 oil and natural gas companies. "Any development on those leases would have to go through cultural surveys as specified under the Natural Historic Preservation Act and other laws." She doubts the Republican-led U.S. Senate will endorse the buffer. "It's largely a messaging thing at this point," she said of Monday's hearing. 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 proposed buffer zone includes a mix of state, federal and tribal lands as well as parcels owned by individual Navajos. A significant portion of the land would not fall under the legislation, which calls for tribal autonomy. There already are more than 130 active wells within that area, according to the Bureau of Land Management. In recent years, federal land managers repeatedly have deferred any interest by the oil and gas industry in parcels that fall within the proposed buffer. New Mexico has promised to pursue its own moratorium on oil and gas lease sales on state trust land within the buffer zone, at the direction of Democratic State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard. The Bureau of Land Management continues to work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on revamping a resource management plan for broader San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. It's one of the nation's oldest production areas. The partnership between the agencies was meant to ensure tribes would be consulted and that scientific and archaeological analysis would be done to guarantee cultural sensitivity. Elon Musk, already in hot water over his Twitter use, posted another Tesla production forecast reminiscent of the one that landed him before a federal judge earlier this month. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Elon Musk, already in hot water over his Twitter use, posted another Tesla production forecast reminiscent of the one that landed him before a federal judge earlier this month. Musk wrote Sunday that Tesla will make more than 500,000 cars in the next 12 months. A similar tweet sent almost two months ago in which Musk said the company would build half a million vehicles in 2019 led the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to argue he was in contempt of a settlement reached with the regulator last year. The latest forecast, given as a seemingly innocuous aside in a discussion about the future value of Tesla vehicles, nonetheless came as Musks lawyers are negotiating with the SEC over an agreement that put controls on the billionaires tweeting. A U.S. judge gave the two sides until Thursday to meet for at least an hour and resolve their differences. If they cant, shell rule whether Musk is in contempt. 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 legal tussle for Musk, 47, served as a distraction amid a record decline in deliveries for Tesla during the first quarter. Concerns about demand for Teslas vehicles escalated last week after the Nikkei reported the company and its partner Panasonic Corp. were freezing plans to expand capacity at the battery factory they share in Nevada. Musk on Saturday disputed reports that Panasonic had boosted annualized battery cell production capacity at the plant to 35 gigawatt hours, saying the companys lines were only at 24 gigawatt hours and have been constraining output of Teslas Model 3 sedan. Both the Panasonic and the next-12-months production tweets are noteworthy in light of the settlement that sprang from Musk tweeting in August of last year about trying to take Tesla private. The SEC accused the chief executive officer of securities fraud, and Musk settled. He agreed to pay US$20 million, step down as chairman and seek pre-approval from an in-house securities lawyer before tweeting information material to the electric-car maker. Musks legal team has argued that he retained discretion to determine whether he was sending out material information or not, and that his Feb. 19 post about Teslas 2019 production was consistent with comments he made weeks earlier on an earnings call. Judy Burns, an SEC spokeswoman, and a Tesla spokesman declined to comment on Musks latest tweet about the carmakers production. Bloomberg News Manitoba is getting back its trade commission office that was shipped out to Calgary under the previous federal government. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba is getting back its trade commission office that was shipped out to Calgary under the previous federal government. International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr was in Winnipeg to announce the return of the office that helps local companies export into foreign markets. The office will likely to be located in the citys downtown or Exchange District. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr, with Cypher president Todd Burns (far left) and new trade commissioner Ryan Collins, makes announcement Monday. "Winnipeg will become the hub," Carr said. "We will restore Winnipeg, which had lost its status." Ottawa will invest $3 million over the next five years for five trade commissioners to better serve small and medium-sized businesses, Carr said. The office will serve both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. "This is fantastic," said Don Leitch, CEO of Business Council of Manitoba, which has been lobbying for the offices return. The office will give the region "the ability to take full advantage of our capacity for exports," Leitch said. The trade commission is especially vital now that the Pallister government recently closed the provincial trade commission office, despite protests from the business council, Leitch said. "We know our economy is way larger because of exports than it would be otherwise, but we have to take advantage of those trade options," Leitch said. "The piece missing is often the strategic intelligence and advice." Carr made the announcement against a backdrop of giant green vats used to contain products made by Cypher Environmental Ltd. in Winnipeg. Cypher specializes in brand products like Dust Stop to control dust on industrial sites like underground mines and quarries. Cypher president Todd Burns said the company has used the trade commissioner office extensively to penetrate an array of markets, including Chile, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Namibia, Guinea, China, the Philippines, Pakistan and Romania. "We like to almost be ambassadors for the trade commission because we think a lot of companies dont get it or dont understand how to use it correctly," Burns said. Cyphers biggest customer is the mining sector, but it has also done work for construction, oil and gas, forestry and agriculture. "Any company with private road networks are potential users of our technology," Burns said. Having the trade commission office in Winnipeg gives local companies an edge, he said. "Im a big believer in relationships," Burns said. "In Winnipeg, we can get together for lunch, we can go to functions together, the trade office knows our bus better, they know our brand and they know how better to promote us than someone weve only talked to over the phone." The new trade commissioner is Ryan Collins, who returns after moving with the office to Calgary in 2012. "This is a rebuilding of our presence," he said. "I find companies relate better to people in their own province, and I understand the economy here," Collins said. "I can get in my car, drive down to someones manufacturing facility and assist them." 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. Canada has 160 offices with trade experts around the world. Canada has recently signed a trade agreement with Europe, extended the trade agreement with the U.S., and signed the trans-Pacific partnership trade agreement with 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. That gives Canadian companies access to 1.5 billion customers. Having a bigger team of trade commissioners is going to help Canadian companies take advantage of those markets and trade agreements, Carr said. bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca MINNEAPOLIS - A woman who said she was raped by JD.com founder Richard Liu filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the billionaire and his company alleging he and other wealthy Chinese executives coerced her to drink during a dinner in the hours before she was attacked. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. MINNEAPOLIS - A woman who said she was raped by JD.com founder Richard Liu filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the billionaire and his company alleging he and other wealthy Chinese executives coerced her to drink during a dinner in the hours before she was attacked. Jingyao Liu, a student at the University of Minnesota, claims Liu forced himself upon her in his vehicle after the dinner and later raped her at her apartment. The lawsuit seeks damages of more than $50,000. FILE - This 2018 file photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minneapolis shows Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu, the founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, who was arrested Aug. 31, 2018, in Minneapolis on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct. A woman who said she was raped by Liu filed a lawsuit Tuesday, April 16, 2019, against the billionaire and his company alleging he and other wealthy Chinese executives coerced her to drink during a dinner in the hours before she was attacked. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) Richard Liu, founder of the Beijing-based e-commerce site JD.com, was arrested Aug. 31 in Minneapolis on suspicion of felony rape and released within hours. Prosecutors announced in December that he would face no criminal charges because the case had "profound evidentiary problems" and that it was unlikely they could prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Liu's defence attorneys said at the time that his arrest was based on a false claim. Liu released a statement on Chinese social media then saying he broke no law, but that his interactions with the woman hurt his family, especially his wife, and he hoped she would accept his apology. Jill Brisbois, an attorney for Richard Liu, said in a statement that based on the lack of charges and her belief that Liu is innocent "we feel strongly that this suit is without merit and will vigorously defend against it." Peter Walsh, lawyer for JD.com, said: "We are not in position to comment at this time, but we will vigorously defend these meritless claims against the company." The alleged attack happened while Richard Liu was in Minneapolis for a weeklong residency as part of the University of Minnesota's doctor of business administration China program. The four-year program in the university's management school is geared toward high-level executives in China and is a partnership with Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. Jingyao Liu is a Chinese citizen studying at the university on a student visa, and was a volunteer in the doctorate program while Richard Liu was there. The Associated Press does not generally name alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent; her attorney Wil Florin said Jingyao Liu had agreed to be named. The lawsuit said she was 21 at the time of the alleged attack. Florin said Richard Liu and Jingyao Liu are not related. FILE - In this file photo taken May 22, 2014, Liu Qiangdong, also known as Richard Liu, CEO of JD.com, raises his arms to celebrate the IPO for his company at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York. A woman who said she was raped by Liu filed a lawsuit Tuesday, April 16, 2019, against the billionaire and his company alleging he and other wealthy Chinese executives coerced her to drink during a dinner in the hours before she was attacked. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) On the night of the alleged attack, Richard Liu and other executives went to Origami, a Japanese restaurant in Minneapolis. The woman went as a volunteer at the invitation of Charlie Yao, another executive in the program. He pitched it as an event to honour volunteers, but no others were invited and Richard Liu had privately asked Yao to invite the plaintiff, the lawsuit 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. Jingyao Liu felt coerced to drink as the powerful men toasted her, with Richard Liu saying she would dishonour him if she did not join in, according to the lawsuit. Text messages reviewed by The Associated Press and portions of the woman's interviews with police show the woman claims Liu pulled her into a limousine and made advances despite her protests. The woman texted a friend: "I begged him don't. But he didn't listen." The lawsuit said a Liu aide turned the limousine's rearview mirror upward so the chauffeur could not see Liu groping the student in the rear despite her protests. It says Liu forcibly raped her at her apartment, again over her protests and resistance. Liu, known in Chinese as Liu Qiangdong, is a prominent member of the Chinese tech elite, with a fortune of $7.5 billion. He is part of a generation of entrepreneurs who have created China's internet, e-commerce, mobile phone and other technology industries since the late 1990s. The son of peasants, Liu built a Beijing electronics shop into JD.com, China's biggest online direct retailer, selling everything from clothes to toys to fresh vegetables. ___ Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti WINNIPEG - Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government is cutting benefits for some welfare recipients by $25 a month as part of a medium-term overhaul of social assistance. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (976 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, centre, and Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen listen in as Justice Minister Heather Stefanson talks about the Manitoba plan for cannabis retail and distribution at the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg on November 7, 2017. Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government is cutting a fund for welfare recipients who look for work, which will reduce benefits for some people by $25 per month. Families Minister Heather Stefanson says the province is ending the job-seekers fund brought in a decade ago by the former NDP government. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods WINNIPEG - Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government is cutting benefits for some welfare recipients by $25 a month as part of a medium-term overhaul of social assistance. Starting next month, the province is ending a job-seeking allowance for recipients who are not disabled and who do not have children. The allowance was set up a decade ago by the former NDP government and Families Minister Heather Stefanson said it has been given out with no strings attached. "It's more of a handout than a hand up," Stefanson said Monday. "You don't actually have to be actively seeking employment, so we believe that there's a better way ... to provide incentives for people to move them from dependency to independency in the community." Other departments, such as Education and Training, already have specific funding that people can apply for to help cover the cost of job-hunting, she added. A poverty-rights group said the cut will hurt. 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 are travel costs. There is resume-printing. There is having a hair cut. Those are costs that are borne by people on social assistance when they're looking for work," Josh Brandon with the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg said. "To take that ($25) away is really a step backward for poverty reduction in this province." Two years ago the province reduced rental subsidies for low-income earners in both public housing and the private market. The Tory government announced in its throne speech last November that it would move more employable people from welfare into the workforce. It said the array of current programs is inconsistent and non-standardized. "We found various programming over the years incentivizes people to stay on (welfare), and we know that people really want to be active and leading independent lives in the community," Stefanson said Monday. "This is sort of an ongoing thing to the extent that we can find programs like this that aren't really achieving the intended results and look towards other ways to make improvements." Last month, activist Leah Gazan soundly defeated longtime Manitoba MLA and former provincial cabinet minister Andrew Swan to become the NDP candidate in the federal riding of Winnipeg Centre. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Last month, activist Leah Gazan soundly defeated longtime Manitoba MLA and former provincial cabinet minister Andrew Swan to become the NDP candidate in the federal riding of Winnipeg Centre. She did it by signing up a record number of new voters, tripling the ridings NDP membership to more than 900 on nomination day. Richard Lennon, chairman of the NDP riding association for Winnipeg Centre, told the CBC: "We havent seen that amount of members in this riding for as long as I know at least 25 years." Gazans primary competition will be Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, who defeated NDP veteran Pat Martin and ended his near-two-decade hold on the downtown riding in 2015. Canadas federal election will be held Oct. 21, and it will feature a rarity in Canadian politics: two Indigenous candidates going head-to-head in an urban riding. Leah Gazan signed up a record number of new voters, tripling Winnipeg Centre's NDP membership to more than 900 on nomination day. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press files) Gazan is Lakota from Wood Mountain Lakota Nation; Ouellette is Cree from Red Pheasant First Nation. They join what may be a record number of Indigenous candidates. In B.C., longtime Kwakwaka'wakw chief councillor of Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation and vice-president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Bob Chamberlin announced he is seeking the NDP nomination in Nanaimo-Ladysmith. In Saskatchewan, Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band is seeking the Liberal nomination in the northern riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River. If victorious, she will face NDP MP Georgina Jolibois in another choice between Indigenous candidates. In Manitoba, Liberal MLA Judy Klassen (Keewatinook) announced last week she will be seeking the federal Liberal nomination in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski. Down south, Ojibwa and Metis activist and founder of the North End Family Centre Kyle Mason has obtained the NDP nomination in the battle for Winnipeg North. Robert-Falcon Ouellette first ran to become mayor of Winnipeg before moving to federal politics and defeating NDP veteran Pat Martin to become Liberal MP for Winnipeg Centre. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) Its the age of the Indigenous political party candidate. In the 2015 federal election, 54 Indigenous candidates ran for the Conservatives, Green party, Liberals, and NDP an increase from 31 in 2011. This jump parallelled voter turnout: in 2015, 61.5 per cent of eligible Indigenous voters cast a ballot the highest amount in Canadian history. It also resulted in the largest number of Indigenous MPs in Canadian history (eight Liberals, two NDP). Wait till you see what happens this time around. According to a 2018 study done by Policy Options, four Canadian ridings have Indigenous peoples as the majority populations, 12 have an eligible voter population of 20 to 50 per cent Indigenous peoples, and 83 have five to 20 per cent Indigenous voters. Thats 99 ridings where Indigenous voters will have a substantial say in who represents them representing more than a quarter of the 338 seats in Parliament. MP Georgina Jolibois won the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River in 2015 for the NDP. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press files) Everywhere else, the Indigenous population is rising; up 42.5 per cent from 2006-16, according to the census. Historically, "status" Indians had only been given the right to vote since March 31, 1960, and most have seen it as either pointless or a contravention of Indigenous sovereignty. In some cases, this is still true. Whenever Indigenous interests are set against the national agenda especially when it comes to energy or "development" projects Indigenous interests are always a "problem," set aside, or manoeuvred around. Is Canada as interested in Indigenous peoples as much as Indigenous peoples are invested in Canada? As seen with the recent expulsion of Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal party, Indigenous MPs are often only useful if they tow the party line. This hasnt always been the case. In fact, Manitobas first MPs were "revolutionary" Indigenous Conservatives. Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band is throwing her hat into the ring to seek the Liberal nomination in the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River. (Liam Richards / The Canadian Press files) Pierre Delorme and Angus McKay were Metis elected in 1870, and spent their careers battling Sir John A. Macdonald and their own party over Indian policies. (They battled with Indigenous peoples as well Metis leader Louis Riel had McKay arrested in 1870, due to a political disagreement.) Indigenous peoples dont often come without their values, opinions, and cultures. This means as much as parties want an Indigenous face to market, they had better be prepared to incorporate or overhaul agendas on issues such as the environment, ethics, and the laws of the country. In her acceptance speech March 31, Gazan touted her "progressive socialist agenda" and announced to the 1,000 or so NDP members in attendance: "This is what a movement looks like. This is what a movement sounds like." Yes, but old ways die hard. Canadas not used to strong-willed, steadfast, and vocal Indigenous leadership. Is Canada ready for real Indigenous leadership? Real Indigenous debates over the future of this country? Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In history, 39 Indigenous people have been elected members of Parliament. Seventeen have been selected as senators (one of them is my father). Provincially and in the territories, 11 out of 13 legislatures have voted-in Indigenous candidates (Nova Scotia and P.E.I. have yet to). Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said after the federal election in 2015: "If you want to become an MP, you better listen to us. You better focus on our issues, because were voting now." Were also running now. Welcome to the federal election of 2019. niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca A Winnipeg students essay on social activism has taken first prize in a Canada-wide contest by TV network A&E. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Winnipeg students essay on social activism has taken first prize in a Canada-wide contest by TV network A&E. The network announced on Monday that Sunny Enkin Lewis, a Grade 12 student at Grant Park High School, won the grand prize in her age bracket of its annual "Lives That Make a Difference" contest. She will receive $3,000 for her essay on teenage Anishinaabe activist Autumn Peltier. Grant Park will also get $1,000. "I was really happy to win. I think especially writing about someone who Im so inspired by," Enkin Lewis said. Peltier is a water-protection activist from Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario. In March 2018, at age 13, she spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in New York about the human right to clean water. As of April 10, 53 First Nations across Canada are under drinking water advisories, according to the federal government. Peltier was nominated for the International Childrens Peace Prize in 2017. "Thirteen-year-old Autumn Peltier stood out in 2018 for her bravery and determination in drawing attention to the water shortage facing Indigenous communities across Canada," Sara Hinzman, vice-president distribution for A&E Networks, said in a statement. "Sunnys essay captured the essence of Autumn and her work." 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. Enkin Lewis said it moved her to see the young Indigenous woman speak out. "Its really inspiring when young people start to take action and make a tangible change in this world, because I think thats how things are going to change for the better, the fastest," she said. She added Canadians can sometimes see themselves as "pretty perfect," so its important they dont forget those who dont have access to clean drinking water. Enkin Lewis said she aspires to activism. In the last year, shes spearheaded a social justice conference at her Winnipeg school, and co-founded a social justice group. Alongside her parents, she teaches English to Yazidi refugees through Operation Ezra, an initiative by Winnipegs Jewish community to resettle Yazidi newcomers. "I have never had to worry about, you know, my safety or putting food on my table," she said. "I think that because I have the capabilities, I should be helping others." She said she hopes to give some of her prize money to a water-related charity. geralyn.wichers@freepress.mb.ca Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman would like to see the Manitoba ombudsman launch an independent, third-party investigation into allegations of widespread workplace misconduct in the citys planning, property and development department. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman would like to see the Manitoba ombudsman launch an independent, third-party investigation into allegations of widespread workplace misconduct in the citys planning, property and development department. In an exclusive interview with the Free Press, Bowman called on the anonymous citizens group that recently bankrolled a private investigation into city employees work habits to turn over any evidence or documentation it has to the provincial ombudsman, as well as the City of Winnipeg. Surveillance footage of City of Winnipeg Planning, Property and Development Department employee at Value Village. The ombudsmans office would then have the ability to initiate an investigation and follow the evidence wherever it leads, Bowman said Monday even expanding to look at other city departments. "I think the tools are there right now should the (group) want to have the matter investigated by an independent third party that has significant authority. That mechanism is in place right now with the ombudsman," the mayor said. "They have the ability to investigate and expand the investigation if it merits an expansion to other areas of the municipal government." The City of Winnipeg is now included in the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which offers whistleblower protection to individuals who come forward with allegations of wrongdoing in a public body. (The legislation was updated Dec. 1, 2018.) "I understand (the citizens group has) expressed some fear of reprisal. Thats why its actually these kinds of situations that I fought so hard to get the city included under whistleblower protections... Its these kinds of situations that provide individuals with those protections," Bowman said. "When I read the story in the Free Press (first published online April 4), it certainly angered me as a taxpayer. Im a Winnipegger and a taxpayer as well as the mayor... The allegations, if proven true, should result in disciplinary actions. If true, there are a lot of people who shouldnt be working for the city anymore." The surveillance operation (price tag: $18,000) which tracked 17 city inspectors over the course of 28 days reported the planning, property and development department employees appeared to be putting in an average of just three hours of work per day. (Video, photos and notes were shared with the Free Press for review.) The local private investigation firm was hired by a group of more than a dozen Winnipeggers homeowners, business owners and construction contractors whove had negative experiences with the department. The investigators said only one staff member under surveillance appeared to be putting in an honest days work. The City of Winnipeg launched an internal investigation in the wake of the Free Press report. The city is currently interviewing members of the PPD department, and said it should wrap up its probe in the coming weeks. Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Local Employees Local 500, which represents the inspectors implicated in the private investigation, said hed like to see the group which funded the operation come forward publicly. 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. "I think that everyone should have the right to face their accuser. I think we should get the results of the investigation and then determine what the appropriate consequences are, if any," Delbridge said. "We dont condone abuse of time, not in any way shape or form. Were asking our members to be honest, I can tell you that. We hope they are being honest in those interviews." Today, at a meeting of Winnipegs executive policy committee, there will be a vote on a motion spearheaded by Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverly West) seeking to force the public service to make the results of its investigation public within 30 days of its closure. Bowman told the Free Press he plans to support the motion. ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Recently, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including a measles outbreak in British Columbia, have ignited a firestorm of public debate about childhood vaccination and what should be done about current under-vaccination. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 16/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Recently, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including a measles outbreak in British Columbia, have ignited a firestorm of public debate about childhood vaccination and what should be done about current under-vaccination. The overwhelming scientific evidence proves the safety and efficacy of vaccination to control, and even eradicate, certain diseases. Yet Canada is not meeting its childhood-vaccination targets, with almost the lowest coverage of all OECD countries. High vaccination coverage is necessary to protect public health via whats known as herd immunity. And vaccines are regarded as among our most cost-effective public health measures. Some argue that children themselves have a right to be vaccinated to protect against sometimes fatal diseases. Mandatory vaccination of schoolchildren, for which only medical exemptions would be permitted, is gaining traction in Canada as it is elsewhere, with a strong majority of Canadians indicating their approval. Currently, Canada has no such mandates, although the Alberta Party has pledged one if elected on April 16. Ontario and New Brunswick have vaccination reporting laws. Neither makes vaccinations mandatory. British Columbia promises something similar by September. For those rightly concerned about under-vaccination, mandatory vaccination of schoolchildren is appealing. However, it remains controversial, even for some who know the benefit of vaccination. For instance, the Canadian Medical Association passed a resolution calling for removal of non-medical exemptions from vaccination-reporting policies. But it passed with only 58 per cent approval, and after a "heated debate." Parental right to not vaccinate? Some claim that parents have a moral and legal right to choose whether to vaccinate. This right is often said to be safeguarded by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But that is far from certain. Most people agree that parents require discretion to make decisions on their childrens behalf. Most also recognize, however, that state intervention is sometimes necessary to protect childrens interests. It is for this reason that blood transfusions can be required for minor children, even against the Charter rights of parents. The scientific community views vaccination as among our most important health innovations. Schools are principal sites of disease transmission, and under-vaccination is currently listed among the World Health Organizations top 10 global health threats. Indeed, some argue that it is childrens rights that are violated by parental refusal to vaccinate. Given those facts, its uncertain that parents possess either the moral or legal rights claimed. Despite this, there are reasons to question whether mandatory vaccination makes good policy sense. The unintended consequences of such policies suggest we should move cautiously. What consequences? One possible consequence is that some parents might remove children from schools rather than vaccinate, although in what kind of numbers is unknown. Indeed, some argue that mandatory vaccination violates childrens rights to an education for this reason. This argument is unconvincing. Whatever rights children have to access available education are outweighed by others rights not to be exposed to potentially fatal health risks. Nonetheless, the removal of children is a double-edged sword. While remaining children would clearly benefit, those removed would remain unvaccinated which does not serve their interests. These unvaccinated children would also still go to the park, to the shopping centre, to swimming lessons etc. That could result in ever more coercive measures, such as the ban on unvaccinated minors entering public spaces including synagogues, churches, schools, restaurants, stores and public transit that was implemented in New Yorks Rockland County in March 2019. It could include criminal sanctions for failing to follow a recommended vaccination schedule. Another possible consequence is the emboldening of the small but vocal anti-vaccination movement, and greater entrenchment of anti-vaccine views. Entrenchment of anti-vaccine sentiment would make coercive measures both increasingly necessary and more difficult to implement; it is unclear whether the public has the appetite for that. Are there ways to increase vaccination rates that avoid these consequences? Maybe. Non-coercive measures Notably, not all under-vaccination results from so-called anti-vaxxersrigidly opposing vaccination and impervious to scientific evidence usually estimated to be between two and three per cent of the population (although one recent poll puts it as high as five per cent). For example, one third of Canadians express concerns over vaccination, yet many of these vaccinate anyway, if incompletely. Such concerns, combined with complacency and barriers to access, affect vaccination coverage. Some non-coercive measures can address these other causes. For example, targeted information campaigns, early intervention, diversification of vaccine delivery, automatic reminders and targeted follow-up are all positively associated with vaccine uptake. Crucially, to gain the most from these measures, jurisdictions would require better reporting and tracking than currently exists. 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 should not be naive about the health risks posed by undervaccination, or the impossibility of converting hard-core anti-vaxxers with appeals to evidence. In particular, non-coercive measures might prove insufficient to reduce clustering. Some schools, for example, exhibit exceptionally low vaccination coverage. And there is reason to believe that hard-core opponents of vaccination are attracted to such schools. In which case, more coercive measures may become necessary. But when it comes to such measures, we should proceed carefully. Not because of the fiction that such measures violate parents rights or childrens rights to an education. Vaccination is in the public interest, including that of individual children, which the state has a duty to protect. Rather, its because of the potential drawbacks of attempting to force people to vaccinate their children. Mandatory vaccination should not be viewed as off the table, but we might first turn to the aforementioned non-coercive measures that are currently under-utilized. Alison Braley-Rattai is an assistant professor in the department of labour studies at Brock University. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. SHANGHAI - Automakers showcased electric SUVs and sedans with longer range and luxury features Tuesday at the Shanghai auto show, wooing Chinese buyers as Beijing slashes subsidies that helped to launch the industry. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 15/4/2019 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A worker installs lightings before the start of the Auto Shanghai 2019 show in Shanghai on Monday, April 15, 2019. This year's Shanghai auto show which starts Thursday highlights the global industry's race to make electric cars Chinese drivers want to buy as Beijing winds down subsidies that promoted sales. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) SHANGHAI - Automakers showcased electric SUVs and sedans with longer range and luxury features Tuesday at the Shanghai auto show, wooing Chinese buyers as Beijing slashes subsidies that helped to launch the industry. Two of China's biggest state-owned automakers unveiled models they said can travel 600 kilometres (370 miles) on one charge, or nearly double the range of global competitors. If that can be achieved, it would raise the standard for an industry trying to compete with gasoline models by defusing "range anxiety" or fear of being stranded with a dead battery. China's communist leaders have spent heavily seeking to make the country a leader in electrics. They're now shifting the burden to automakers by imposing sales targets. That requires brands to create consumer-friendly models at a time when they are struggling with a sales slump. "Competition will become more fierce," said Ma Fanglie, chairman of BJEV, the electric unit of state-owned BAIC Group. BJEV, one of the biggest electric producers by sales volume, unveiled the EX3 sedan, which it said can travel up to 630 kilometres (390 miles) on one charge. Ma said it is one of five new electric models under a plan to "transform and upgrade" BJEV into a brand that can compete without subsidies. Workers wait to enter the venue for the Auto Shanghai 2019 show in Shanghai on Monday, April 15, 2019. This year's Shanghai auto show which starts Thursday highlights the global industry's race to make electric cars Chinese drivers want to buy as Beijing winds down subsidies that promoted sales. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) General Motors, Nissan, China's Geely Auto and other brands displayed dozens of electric models, from luxury SUVs to compacts priced under $10,000. The auto show, the world's biggest, opens to the public Saturday following a preview for media. China's leaders have been promoting "new energy vehicles" for 15 years with subsidies for developers and buyers. That, along support including orders to state-owned utilities to blanket China with charging stations, is helping make the technology a mainstream product. "After an initial push from the government, now customers are really wanting and demanding EVs," said Nissan's director of electric vehicles, Nic Thomas. Electric vehicles are key for government-led development of Chinese global competitors in technologies from robotics to biotech. Those ambitions set off Beijing's tariff war with President Donald Trump. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain Chinese subsidies to technology developers and pressure on foreign companies to share know-how violate its market-opening commitments. China lags Europe, the United States and Japan in battery and other vehicle technology but is developing fast. It has about half of global production capacity for batteries, an electric car's biggest and most expensive component. The Sylphy Zero Emission, an all-electric model designed for China is displayed at the Nissan booth during the Auto Shanghai 2019 show in Shanghai on Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Automakers are showcasing electric SUVs and sedans with more driving range and luxury features at the Shanghai auto show, trying to appeal to Chinese buyers in their biggest market as Beijing slashes subsidies that have propelled demand. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) Last year's Chinese sales of pure-electric and hybrid sedans and SUVs soared 60% over 2017 to 1.3 million, or half the global total. At the same time, industry revenue was squeezed by a 4.1 per cent fall in total Chinese auto sales to 23.7 million vehicles. That skid that worsened this year as first-quarter sales fell 13.7% from a year ago. Subsidies end next year. Under the new system, automakers must earn credits for sales of electrics equal to at least 10% of purchases this year and 12% in 2020. Longer-range vehicles can earn double credits. That means some brands can fill their quota if electrics make up as little as 5% of sales. Most automakers still lose money on each electric vehicle. But industry analysts say that as the cost of batteries and other components falls, electrics could become cost-competitive with gasoline models and profitable for their producers within five years. In Shanghai, the GAC electric car unit GAC New Energy unveiled the Aion LX SUV, which it said can travel 600 kilometres (370 miles) on one charge. The unit's deputy general manager, Xi Zhongmin, said no price or release date have been decided. Chinese automaker Geely Auto displays a sedan from its new electric brand Geometry during the Auto Shanghai 2019 show in Shanghai Tuesday, April 16, 2019. Automakers are showcasing electric SUVs and sedans with more driving range and luxury features at the Shanghai auto show, trying to appeal to Chinese buyers in their biggest market as Beijing slashes subsidies that have propelled demand. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) Most Chinese brands target the domestic market, but Geely has global ambitions. Its electric brand, Geometry, displayed a sedan with an advertised range of up to 500 kilometres (310 miles) on one charge. Geely says the Geometry A, unveiled last week in Singapore, will be marketed worldwide. Geely's parent, Geely Holding, also has a joint venture with Mercedes parent Daimler AG to develop an electric version of the German automaker's smart brand. "Geely wants to become the choice of customers for electric driving," said Geely Group's CEO, Yang Xueliang. China's BYD Auto, the biggest global electric brand by sales volume, displayed three new pure-electric models that were unveiled last month. All promise more than 400 kilometres (280 miles) on one charge. On Monday, GM unveiled Buick's first all-electric model for China. GM says the four-door Velite 6 can travel 301 kilometres (185 miles) on one charge. VW showed off a concept electric SUV, the whimsically named I.D. ROOMZZ, designed to travel 450 kilometres (280 miles) on one charge. Features include seats that rotate 25 degrees to create a lounge-like atmosphere. China is a top market for global automakers, giving them an incentive to go along with Beijing's electric ambitions. 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. Also Tuesday, Nissan Motor Co. and its Chinese partner displayed the Sylphy Zero Emission, an all-electric model designed for China. Based on Nissan's Leaf, the lower-priced Sylphy went on sale in August. Mercedes Benz displayed its first all-electric model in China, the EQC 400 SUV, with a 400-kilometre (280-mile) range. It is one of 10 electrified models the German automaker says it will release worldwide, with most made in China. Also this week, Mercedes said it will launch a roadside "butler service" in China offering recharging for drivers who run out of power and other services. "We want to take away every reason a customer might say, umm, is it really time go electric?" said Hubertus Troska, a Daimler AG board member. ___ AP researcher Yu Bing contributed. Banco Santander, S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides various retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large companies worldwide. It offers demand and time deposits, and current and savings accounts; mortgages, consumer finance, syndicated corporate loans, structured financing, cash management, export and agency finance, trade and working capital solutions, and corporate finance; and insurance products. The company also provides cash, asset, and wealth management; and private banking services. In addition, it is involved in the corporate banking; treasury, risk hedging, foreign trade, confirming, custody, and investment banking activities. The company operates through a network of 11,236 branches. The company was formerly known as Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A. and changed its name to Banco Santander, S.A. in June 2007. Banco Santander, S.A. was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Read More Destiny Media Technologies Inc., through its subsidiary, Destiny Software Productions Inc., develops technologies that enable the distribution of digital media files in a streaming or digital download format over the internet. It offers Play MPE, a two-sided B2B marketplace that enables music labels and artists to create and distribute promotional content and musical assets, as well as music broadcasting professionals, music curators, and music reviewers to discover, download, broadcast, and review the music. The company also provides Clipstream, an online video platform for encoding, hosting, and reporting on video playback that can be embedded in third party websites or emails; and playback through its JavaScript codec engine. It markets and sells its products in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia. Destiny Media Technologies Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Read More Weatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland. Read More PIMCO Municipal Income Fund II operates as a closed-end investment fund. It intends to seek current income exempt from federal income tax. The firm invests all of its assets in a portfolio of municipal bonds, residual interest municipal bonds and tax-exempt bonds whose interest rates bear an inverse relationship to the interest rate on another security or the value of an index. Its investment portfolio include investments in hospital, water and sewer, tobacco, state and local general obligations, education, lease, tax and power sectors. The company was founded on March 29, 2002 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Read More Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany. Read More Bodycote plc provides heat treatment and thermal processing services worldwide. The company operates through Aerospace, Defence & Energy; and Automotive & General Industrial segments. It offers heat treatment services, including altering the microstructure of metals and alloys, such as steel and aluminum to impart properties comprising surface hardness, temperature resistance, ductility, and strength; metal joining services consisting of electron beam welding, HIP diffusion bonding, hydrogen brazing, induction brazing, and vacuum and honeycomb brazing; and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) services, including isostatic pressing and HIP supporting services, as well as Powdermet technology, a manufacturing process used in the production of complex components using powder metallurgy. The company also provides surface technologies, which are used to prolong the working life of components and protect from environmental factors, such as corrosion and abrasion. Its surface technologies include anodizing, ceramic, flame and combustion spraying, high velocity oxygen fuel, plasma spray, electric arc spraying, aluminide coatings, liquid coatings, and thermo-chemically formed ceramic coatings to enhance wear resistance. The company serves automotive, aerospace and defense, energy, and general industrial markets. Bodycote plc was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Macclesfield, the United Kingdom. Read More Industries Necessary Additives: New Ceresana Report on Plasticizers Market Study Plastic Additives 16.04.2019 11:06:30 - Plasticizers are one of the best-selling chemicals. They are needed to make brittle plastics, rubbers, paints and coatings as well as adhesives more smooth, flexible, and soft. (live-PR.com) - PVC floors, cables, plastic toys or packaging many everyday products contain plasticizers, Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana, explains. Even deodorants and perfumes require these additives. The latest, already fifth plasticizer report by the market research company Ceresana forecasts the demand for this controversial but so far indispensable material to increase to about 10.5 billion tonnes worldwide until 2026. Alternatives to - PVC floors, cables, plastic toys or packaging many everyday products contain plasticizers, Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana, explains. Even deodorants and perfumes require these additives. The latest, already fifth plasticizer report by the market research company Ceresana forecasts the demand for this controversial but so far indispensable material to increase to about 10.5 billion tonnes worldwide until 2026.Alternatives to Phthalates Are in Demand Since phthalates are considered as harmful to health and environment and were already banned from many applications, processors of plasticizers are increasingly looking for phthalate-free alternatives. However, DEHP (bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate) was still the most frequently used plasticizer type in 2018 with 3.24 million tonnes. About one third of the plasticizer market was accounted for by the phthalates DINP (diisononyl phthalate) and DIDP (diisodecyl phthalate). However, phthalates are likely to continue to lose market shares in the years to come. In contrast, analysts at Ceresana expect demand for phthalate-free plasticizers to increase by 3.3% to about 2.3 million tonnes. Plastics Are the Largest Application Area In 2018, about 7.45 million tonnes of plasticizers were utilized for plastic products, especially for PVC. 2.33 million tonnes were used for films alone, followed closely by cables and profiles. Until 2026, Ceresana expects the segment profiles to account for the highest increase in plasticizer demand at rates of 3.0% per year. This development can be explained by, among others, the globally rising energy efficiency awareness: Energy-saving plastic windows are increasingly replacing aluminum or wooden window profiles. Major Consumer is Asia Plasticizer processing in Asia-Pacific accounted for about 60% of global demand in 2018. Due to above-average growth rates, demand in this world region will presumably rise to about 6.5 million tonnes in the next years. Asia is followed by Western Europe with currently 12% and North America with 11% of plasticizer demand. The Study in Brief: Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global plasticizer market, including forecasts up to 2026: demand and revenues are explained for each region of the world. Furthermore, global and regional demand per product type and application area is analyzed. The following plasticizer types are examined in detail: Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP) and Diisodecyl Phthalate (DIDP), other Phthalates and Non-Phthalates. Application areas analyzed in this study are: profiles, films, cables, floorings, other Plastics, elastomers, paints and coatings, adhesives. Chapter 2 provides demand and revenue data for 45 countries in total. Furthermore, the individual countries are analyzed in detail in regard to demand per application area. Chapter 3 provides company profiles of the largest manufacturers of plasticizers clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, and profile summary. In-depth profiles of 65 producers are given, including Arkema S.A., BASF SE, Dow Inc., Eastman Chemical Company, Evonik Industries AG, Kao Corporation, Lanxess AG, LG Chem, Ltd., Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. Further information: About Ceresana As one of the worlds leading market research companies, Ceresana is specialized in the plastics, chemicals, packaging, and industrial goods sectors. For 17 years, companies have benefited from high-quality industry analyses and forecasts. More than 170 market reports provide 10,000 customers with the knowledge base for their sustainable success. Learn more about Ceresana at Phthalates Are in DemandSince phthalates are considered as harmful to health and environment and were already banned from many applications, processors of plasticizers are increasingly looking for phthalate-free alternatives. However, DEHP (bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate) was still the most frequently used plasticizer type in 2018 with 3.24 million tonnes. About one third of the plasticizer market was accounted for by the phthalates DINP (diisononyl phthalate) and DIDP (diisodecyl phthalate). However, phthalates are likely to continue to lose market shares in the years to come. In contrast, analysts at Ceresana expect demand for phthalate-free plasticizers to increase by 3.3% to about 2.3 million tonnes.Plastics Are the Largest Application AreaIn 2018, about 7.45 million tonnes of plasticizers were utilized for plastic products, especially for PVC. 2.33 million tonnes were used for films alone, followed closely by cables and profiles. Until 2026, Ceresana expects the segment profiles to account for the highest increase in plasticizer demand at rates of 3.0% per year. This development can be explained by, among others, the globally rising energy efficiency awareness: Energy-saving plastic windows are increasingly replacing aluminum or wooden window profiles.Major Consumer is AsiaPlasticizer processing in Asia-Pacific accounted for about 60% of global demand in 2018. Due to above-average growth rates, demand in this world region will presumably rise to about 6.5 million tonnes in the next years. Asia is followed by Western Europe with currently 12% and North America with 11% of plasticizer demand.The Study in Brief:Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global plasticizer market, including forecasts up to 2026: demand and revenues are explained for each region of the world. Furthermore, global and regional demand per product type and application area is analyzed. The following plasticizer types are examined in detail: Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP) and Diisodecyl Phthalate (DIDP), other Phthalates and Non-Phthalates. Application areas analyzed in this study are: profiles, films, cables, floorings, other Plastics, elastomers, paints and coatings, adhesives.Chapter 2 provides demand and revenue data for 45 countries in total. Furthermore, the individual countries are analyzed in detail in regard to demand per application area.Chapter 3 provides company profiles of the largest manufacturers of plasticizers clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, and profile summary. In-depth profiles of 65 producers are given, including Arkema S.A., BASF SE, Dow Inc., Eastman Chemical Company, Evonik Industries AG, Kao Corporation, Lanxess AG, LG Chem, Ltd., Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. Further information: www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/chemicals/plasticizers/ About CeresanaAs one of the worlds leading market research companies, Ceresana is specialized in the plastics, chemicals, packaging, and industrial goods sectors. For 17 years, companies have benefited from high-quality industry analyses and forecasts. More than 170 market reports provide 10,000 customers with the knowledge base for their sustainable success.Learn more about Ceresana at www.ceresana.com/en Contact information: Ceresana Mainaustrasse 34 78464 Konstanz Germany Contact Person: Martin Ebner Media contact Phone: +49 7531 94293 10 eMail: eMail Web: http://www.ceresana.com Author: Martin Ebner e-mail Web: http://www.ceresana.com Phone: +49 (0)7531 94293 10 16.04.2019 11:06:30 - Disclaimer: If you have any questions regarding information in this article please contact the author. Please do not contact Live-PR.com. We are not able to assist you. Live-PR.com disclaims content contained in this article. Live-PR.com is not authorized to give any information about content and not responsible for content posted by third party. 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 Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The firm engages in the operation of pipelines and terminals that transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other products and stores petroleum products chemicals and handles bulk materials like ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, CO2, Terminals, Product Pipelines and Kinder Morgan Canada. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment engages in the ownership and operation of major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline and storage systems, natural gas and crude oil gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities. The CO2 segment focuses on the production, transportation and marketing of CO2 to oil fields that use CO2 as a flooding medium for recovering crude oil from mature oil fields to increase production. The Terminals segment consists of the ownership and operation of liquids and bulk terminal facilities located throughout the U.S. and portions of Canada that trans load and store refined petroleum products, crude oil, chemicals, ethanol and bulk products, including coal, petroleum coke, fertilizer, Read More Deutsche BArse AG operates as an exchange organization in Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates through seven segments: Eurex (Financial Derivatives), EEX (Commodities), 360T (Foreign Exchange), Xetra (Cash Equities), Clearstream (Post-Trading), IFS (Investment Fund Services), and Qontigo (index and analytics business). The company engages in the electronic trading of derivatives, electricity and gas products, emission rights, and foreign exchange; operating of Eurex Repo over the counter (OTC) trading platform and electronic clearing architecture; and operating as a central counterparty for on-and-off exchange derivatives, repo transactions, and OTC and exchange-traded derivatives. It also operates in the cash market through Xetra, BArse Frankfurt, and Tradegate trading venues; operates as a central counterparty for equities and bonds; and provides listing services. In addition, the company offers custody and settlement services for securities; investment fund services; global securities financing services; and global securities finance and collateral management, as well as secured money, market transaction, and repos and securities lending transaction services. Further, it develops and markets indices, as well as portfolio management and risk analysis software; markets licenses for trading and market signals; provides technology and reporting solutions for external customers; and offers link-up of trading participants. Deutsche BArse AG was founded in 1585 and is headquartered in Eschborn, Germany. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: Accelerated Production Systems, Acme Elevator, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Advansor Germany GmbH, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International, Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Auto Glanz Solutions LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., Blackmer, BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CDS Visual, CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DESTACO UK Limited, DFH Corporation, DFS Netherlands B.V., DSR BZ Holdings LLC, Datamax International Corp, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Products Segment Inc., Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings, Dover France Participations, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover Imaging & Identification Segment Inc., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Pumps & Process Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dresser Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dresser Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec, Espy, Ettlinger, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems Company, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Innovative Control Systems, Innovative Control Systems Inc., Inpro/Seal LLC, JK Group, JK Group S.P.A., JK Group USA Inc., K S Boca Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Knowles Electronics, LIQAL, Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MAAG, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM-IMAJE Corporation, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions, MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Gala Inc., Maag Italy S.R.L., Maag Pump Systems, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Reduction Inc., Maag Service (Malaysia) Sdn. Bdn., Maag Systems (Thailand) Limited, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje - Unipessoal Lda, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Philippines Corporation, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l., Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Singapore Pte. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International, OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluid Transfer Solutions (Jiang Su) Co. Ltd., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing, PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSD Codax Holdings Limited, PSD Codax Limited, PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG California LLC, PSG Germany GmbH, Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Production Control Services, Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario, Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser, Solaris Laser S.A., Somero Enterprises, Sound Solutions, Space S.R.L., Spirit, Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions, Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., Systech GB Limited, Systech Shanghai Consulting Company Limited, TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Triton Systems, Tulsa Winch Inc., UPCO Inc., US Synthetic, Unattended Payment Solutions LLC, Unified Brands, Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vehicle Service Group UK Limited, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., WSCR Corp., Warn Automotive LLC, Warn Industries, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Corporation, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems, Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., WellMark, XanTec Steuerungs- und EDV-Technik GmbH, and em-tec GmbH. EMIS Group plc, through its subsidiaries, provides connected healthcare software and systems for healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom. It operates in two segments, EMIS Health and EMIS Enterprise. The EMIS Health segment supplies integrated care technology to national health service markets, including primary, community, acute, and social care. The EMIS Enterprise segment focuses on B2B technology sector in the healthcare market, such as management of medicines, partner businesses, life sciences, and patient-facing services. The company offers clinical software to healthcare organizations under the EMIS brand; patient-centric medical and wellbeing information and digital front door services under the Patient brand name; and service management solutions to the community pharmacy market under the Pinnacle brand. It also operates Patient.info, an online health platform that provides personalized online patient-facing services and healthcare content; Patient Access, which enables people to book appointments; and ProScript and ProScript Connect that enable pharmacies to manage the dispensing process and handle tasks, such as labelling and endorsing, patient records, ordering, and stock control. In addition, the company provides non-clinical ICT solutions for healthcare professionals and other public and private sector organizations; and supplies ICT infrastructure and hosting services. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Leeds, the United Kingdom. Read More Evonik Industries AG engages in the specialty chemicals business. It operates through Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care, Smart Materials, Performance Materials, and Services segments. The Specialty Additives segment provides polyurethane additives, organically modified silicones, isophorones, epoxy curing agents, oil additives, fumed silicas, matting agents, TAA and TAA derivatives, and acetylenic diol-based surfactants for consumer goods and specialized industrial applications. The Nutrition & Care segment offers amphoteric surfactants, ceramides, phytosphingosines, oleochemicals, quaternary derivatives, amino acids and amino acid derivatives, synthesis products, pharmaceutical polymers, and DL-methionine for use in consumer goods, animal nutrition, and healthcare products. The Smart Materials segment provides hydrogen peroxide, activated nickel catalysts, precious metal powder catalysts, peracetic acid, oil and fat hydrogenation catalysts, amorphous polyalphaolefins, polybutadienes, polyester resins, thermoplastic and reactive methacrylate resins, PEEK, polyamide 12, organosilanes, chlorosilanes, fumed silicas, fumed metal oxides, and precipitated silicas for the automotive, paints, coatings, adhesives, construction, and various other sectors. The Performance Materials segment produces polymer materials and intermediates, including butene-1, DINP, isononanol, cyanuric chloride, alkoxides, and superabsorbent for rubber, plastics, and automotive industries. The Services segment provides site management, utilities and waste management, technical, process technology, engineering, and logistics services. It operates in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, and North America. The company is headquartered in Essen, Germany. Evonik Industries AG is a subsidiary of RAG-Stiftung. Read More Games Workshop Group PLC, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails miniature figures and games. It operates through Trade, Retail, and Online segments. The company's games include Warhammer: Age of Sigmar; Warhammer 40,000; Horus Heresy, an offshoot of Warhammer 40,000; and Middle-earth strategy battle game. It also publishes various titles, including short stories, audio dramas, and full-length novels under the Black Library name; develops digital content for animation and TV; and offers painting and modelling products, boxed games, and gifts. In addition, the company engages in the newsstand and trustee businesses. It provides its products through its retail stores, social media sites, and warhammer-community.com, as well as through Games Workshop and third party gaming events; and physical bookstores, third party online platforms, and other specialist stores. As of May 31, 2020, the company operated 531 stores in 23 countries; 411 one man stores; and 120 multi-man stores. It serves in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and internationally Games Workshop Group PLC was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Nottingham, the United Kingdom. Read More GlaxoSmithKline Plc is a healthcare company, which engages in the research, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceuticals; Pharmaceuticals R&D; Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare. The Pharmaceuticals segment focuses on developing medicines in respiratory and infectious diseases, oncology, and immuno-inflammation. The Pharmaceuticals R&D segment focuses on science related to the immune system, the use of human genetics and advanced technologies, and is driven by the multiplier effect of Science x Technology x Culture. The Vaccines segment produces pediatric and adult vaccines to prevent a range of infectious diseases including, hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, polio, typhoid, influenza, and bacterial meningitis. The Consumer Healthcare segment develops and markets brands in the oral health, pain relief, respiratory, nutrition and gastro intestinal, and skin health categories. The company was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Middlesex, the United Kingdom. Read More SPDR Gold Shares' stock was trading at $153.93 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, GLD shares have increased by 9.2% and is now trading at $168.10. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. The following companies are subsidiares of Tesco: Adminstore Limited, Adsega Limited, Alfred Preedy & Sons (Trustees) Limited, Alfred Preedy & Sons Limited, Anthony Heagney Limited, Arena (Jersey) Management Limited, Armitage Finance Unlimited, Armitage Luxembourg s.? r.l., BLT Holdings 2010 Limited, Bath Upper Bristol Road Management, Bedminster Estates Limited, Beehythe Estates limited, Berry Lane Management Company Limited, Blinkbox Books Limited, BlinxBox, Booker Group, Brian Fords Discount Store Limited, Broadfields Management Limited, Brookmaker (GP) Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 1 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 2 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 3 Limited, Broughton Retail Park Nominee 4 Limited, Buckingham Road (Bletchley) Management Company Limited, Bugden Ltd, Buttoncable Limited, Buttoncase Limited, Canterbury Road Management Limited, Cardiff Cathays Terrace Management Company Limited, Careneed News Limited, Cheshunt Finance Unlimited, Cheshunt Holdings Guernsey Limited, Cheshunt Hungary Servicing Limited Liability Company, Cheshunt Luxembourg S.? r.l., Cheshunt Overseas LLP, China Property Holdings (HK) Limited, Chirac Limited, Cirrus Finance (2009) Limited, Cirrus Finance Limited, Cirrus Luxembourg s.? r.l., Clarepharm Limited, Clondalkin Properties Limited, Comar Limited, Commercial Investments Limited, Crazy Prices, Crest Ostrava a.s, Cullens Holdings Limited, Cullens Stores Limited, Daily Wrap Produce Limited, Day And Nite Stores Limited, Delamare Cards Holdco Limited, Delamare Cards MTN Issuer plc, Delamare Finance PLC, Delamare Group Holdings Limited, Delamare Holdings BV Netherlands, Delamare Luxembourg s.? r.l. Luxembourg, Delamare One Limited, Dunnhumby Ventures LLC, ELH Insurance Limited, Edinburgh Butterfly Farm Limited, Edson Investments Limited, Edson Properties Limited, Ek-Chai Distribution System Co. Ltd., Euphorium (London) Limited, Euphorium (North London) Limited, Euphorium Group Limited, Euphorium IP Limited, Europa Foods Limited, Faraday Properties Limited, Flitwick Pharmacies Limited, Food & Wine Lovers Limited, Forum Liberec s.r.o, Freds Food Construction Limited, Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, Gain Land Limited, Genesis sp. z o.o., Gibbs News Limited, Gibbs Newsagents Limited, Gida Sanayi A.S., Giraffe, Giraffe Cafe Limited, Giraffe Concepts Limited, Golden Island Management Services Limited, HIT hypermarket Sp. z o. o., Halesworth SPV Limited, Harris and Hoole Holdings Limited, Harris and Hoole Limited, Harris and Hoole Nominees Limited, Homeplus, Hymall Co. Ltd., J E Properties Holdings Limited, Jasper Sp. z o. o. Poland, KSS Retail Limited, Kabaty Investments Tesco (Polska) Sp. z o. o. Sp.k, Kingsway Fresh Foods Ltd, Koxka Hungary Refrigeration LLC, Launchgrain Limited, Launchtable Limited, Laws Stores Limited, Lazada Group S.A., Lee (Southern) Limited, Lek?ren? Tesco Bansk? Bystrica k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Dunajsk? Streda k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Ko?ice k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Lama k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Nitra k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Petr?alka k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Pie?tany k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Pre?ov Vukov k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Senec k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Spi?sk? Nov? Ves k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Trenc??n s.r.o. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Zlat? Piesky k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Lek?ren? Tesco Zvolen k.s. Slovakia Limited Partnership, Linebush III Holdings Limited, Linebush III Limited, Linebush IV Limited, Linebush Limited, Linebush V Limited, London and Home Counties Superstores Limited, Lowfoods Limited, M & W Limited, Merrion Shopping Centre Ltd, Mills (East Midlands) Limited, Mills (West Midlands) Limited, Mills Group Holdings Limited, Mills Group Limited, Mobcast Services, Monread Developments Limited, Morgam Holdings Limited, Morgam News Limited, Motorcause Limited, NPL (Hardgate) Limited, Nabola Development Limited, NutriCentre Limited, OC FORUM Liberec Ltd., Oakwood Distribution Limited, Obchodn? dom Bratislava s.ro, Obchodn? dom Ko?ice s.ro., Obchodn? dom Nitra s.ro., Obchodn? dom Pre?ov s.ro., Old FEHC Inc., Old FEPC LLC, One Stop Community Stores Ltd, One Stop Convenience Stores Limited, One Stop Stores Limited, One Stop Stores Trustee Services Limited, Orpingford, Orpington (Station Road) Limited, Oxford Fox and Hounds Management Company Limited, PEJ Property Developments Limited, Paper Chain (East Anglia) Limited, Pharaway Properties Limited, Power Supermarkets Limited, Premier Garage (Worthing) Limited, Pulford Foods Limited, R.J.D. Holdings, Retail Property Co. Ltd, S Bottomley & Bros Limited, Sanders Supermarkets Limited, Sandtable Limited, Sarcon (No. 239) Limited, Seacroft Green Nominee 1 Limited, Seacroft Green Nominee 2 Limited, Shire Park Limited, Shuke Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Snowman Retail 1 Limited, Snowman Retail 2 Limited, Sociomantic AB, Sociomantic Labs B.V, Sociomantic Labs Inc, Sociomantic Labs Internet Hizmetleri Limited ?ireketi, Sociomantic Labs LLC, Sociomantic Labs Limited, Sociomantic Labs Private Limited, Sociomantic Labs Pte Ltd, Sociomantic Labs S.r.l, Sociomantic Labs SARL, Sociomantic Labs Servicos Web Ltda, Sociomantic Labs Sp.z.o.o., Sociomantic Labs s.r.o., Sociomantic S.L.U., Sociomantic labs GmbH, Spen Hill Developments (Holdings) Ltd, Spen Hill Developments (Portishead) Ltd, Spen Hill Developments (Tonbridge) Limited, Spen Hill Developments Limited, Spen Hill Management Limited, Spen Hill Properties (Holdings) plc, Spen Hill Properties (Southend) Limited, Spen Hill Regeneration Limited, Spen Hill Residential No 1 Limited, Spen Hill Residential No 2 Limited, Station House Welling Management Limited, Statusfloat Limited, Stewarts Supermarkets Limited, Streatham Management Company Limited, T & S Management Services Limited, T & S Properties Limited, T & S Stores Limited, TESCO (POLSKA) sp. z o.o., TESCO Akad?mia K?pz?si ?s Fejleszt?si Kor?tolt Felelss?g T?rsas?g, TESCO MOBILE POLSKA SP. Z O.O., TESCO STORES SR a.s., Tapesilver Limited, Teesport (GP) Limited, Teesport (Nominee) Limited, Telegraph Properties (Kirkby) Limited, Tesco (Foxtrot 1) Limited, Tesco (Foxtrot 2) Limited, Tesco (Fujian) Industry Limited, Tesco (Jersey) Limited, Tesco (Overseas) Ltd, Tesco (Yorkshire) Limited, Tesco Aqua (1LP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (3LP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (FinCo1) Limited, Tesco Aqua (FinCo2) Limited, Tesco Aqua (GP) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Aqua (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Atrato (1LP) Limited, Tesco Atrato (GP) Limited, Tesco Barbers Wood Limited, Tesco Bengaluru Private Limited, Tesco Blue (1LP) Limited, Tesco Blue (FinCo2) Limited, Tesco Blue (GP) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Blue (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Capital No. 1 Limited, Tesco Capital No. 2 Limited, Tesco Card Services Limited, Tesco Card Services Limited, Tesco Card Services Ltd., Tesco Chile Sourcing Limitada, Tesco Coral (GP) Limited, Tesco Corporate Treasury Services PLC, Tesco Depot Propco Limited, Tesco Distribution Holdings Limited, Tesco Distribution Limited, Tesco Dorney (1LP) Limited, Tesco Dorney (GP) Limited, Tesco Dystrybucja Sp. z.o.o., Tesco EU IT Services s.r.o., Tesco Employees Share Scheme Trustees Limited, Tesco Estates Limited, Tesco Europe B.V. Netherlands, Tesco Family Dining Limited, Tesco Food Sourcing Brazil Representa??o De Servi?os Ltda., Tesco Food Sourcing Limited, Tesco Foundation (Nadacia Tesco), Tesco Freetime Limited, Tesco Fuchsia (1LP) Limited, Tesco Fuel Limited, Tesco Global Employment Company Limited, Tesco Guangdong (HK) Co. Limited, Tesco High Beech Limited, Tesco Holdings BV, Tesco Holdings Limited, Tesco Home Shopping Limited, Tesco Hungary (Holdings) Limited, Tesco International Franchising s.r.o., Tesco International Internet Retailing Limited, Tesco International Services Limited, Tesco International Sourcing Limited, Tesco Ireland Holdings Limited, Tesco Ireland Limited, Tesco Ireland Pension Trustees Limited, Tesco Jade (GP) Limited, Tesco Joint Buying Service (Shanghai) Co Limited, Tesco Kipa Kitle Pazarlama Ticaret Lojistik ve, Tesco Kirkby (General Partner) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (LP) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Unitholder 1) Limited, Tesco Kirkby (Unitholder2) Limited, Tesco Lagoon GP Limited, Tesco Licences Limited, Tesco Lotus Retail Growth, Tesco Lotus Retail Growth Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, Tesco Maintenance Limited, Tesco Mauritius Holdings Limited, Tesco Mobile (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Tesco Mobile CR s.r.o., Tesco Mobile Communications Limited, Tesco Mobile Ireland Limited, Tesco Mobile Ireland Limited, Tesco Mobile Limited, Tesco Mobile Services Limited, Tesco Mobile Slovakia s.r.o, Tesco Mobile Slovakia s.r.o., Tesco Mobile CR, Tesco Nanjing Zhongshan, Tesco Nanjing Zhongshan (HK) Co. Limited, Tesco Navona (1LP) Limited, Tesco Navona (GP) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Navona (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Navona PL Propco Limited, Tesco Opticians Limited, Tesco Overseas (Holdings) Limited, Tesco Overseas Investments Limited, Tesco Overseas ULC, Tesco Passaic (1LP) Limited, Tesco Passaic (GP) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee 1) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Passaic (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Passaic PL Propco Limited, Tesco Pension (Jade) Limited, Tesco Pension Investment Limited, Tesco Pension Trustees Limited, Tesco Personal Finance, Tesco Personal Finance Compare Limited, Tesco Personal Finance Group Limited, Tesco Property (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) (No.2) Limited, Tesco Property (Nominees) Limited, Tesco Property A.S., Tesco Property Finance 1 Holdco Limited, Tesco Property Finance 1 PLC, Tesco Property Holdings (No. 2) Limited, Tesco Property Holdings Limited, Tesco Property Limited, Tesco Property Nominees (No.5) Limited, Tesco Property Nominees (No.6) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (GP No.2) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (GP) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (No.1) Limited, Tesco Property Partner (No.2) Limited, Tesco Red (1LP) Limited, Tesco Red (GP) Limited, Tesco Red (Nominee 2) Limited, Tesco Red (Nominee Holdco) Limited, Tesco Sarum (1LP) Limited, Tesco Sarum (GP) Limited, Tesco Seacroft Limited, Tesco Secretaries Limited, Tesco Services Limited, Tesco Sourcing India Private Limited, Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Tesco Stores (Thailand) Ltd, Tesco Stores CR a.s., Tesco Stores Limited, Tesco Technology Services HK Limited, Tesco Treasury Services PLC, Tesco Trustee Company of Ireland Limited, Tesco Underwriting Limited, Tesco Vin Plus SA, Tesco Worldwide Limited, Tesco for Thais Foundation, Tesco-Global Stores Privately Held Co. Ltd, Tesco.Com Limited, The Brookmaker Limited Partnership, The Teesport Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Aqua Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Atrato Limited Partnership, The Tesco Blue Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Coral Limited Partnership, The Tesco Dorney Limited Partnership, The Tesco Kirkby Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Navona Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Passaic Limited Partnership Limited Partnership, The Tesco Property (No.2) Limited Partnership, The Tesco Red Limited Partnership, The Tesco Sarum Limited Partnership, Trent Hypermarket Private Limited, Trigger Retail Ltd, Valiant Insurance Company DAC, Value House Properties Limited, Variable Preference, Ventnor High Street Management Company Limited, Verulam Properties (2001) Limited, Verulam Properties Limited, Victoria BB Sp z.o.o., WE7, WSC Properties Limited, Wanze Properties (Dundalk) Limited, Weymouth Avenue (Dorchester) Limited, Whitecastle Properties Limited, Wm. Low Supermarkets Limited, Woolwich Central Residents Management Company Limited, Worple Road Plc, Xiamen Firste Property Limited, Xiamen Firste Property Limited, aAcklam Management Company Limited, dunnhumby (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, dunnhumby (Thailand) Limited, dunnhumby Canada Limited, dunnhumby Consulting Services India Private Limited, dunnhumby Czech s.r.o., dunnhumby Employment Company Limited, dunnhumby Holding Limited, dunnhumby Hungary Kft, dunnhumby IT Services India Private Limited, dunnhumby Inc, dunnhumby International Limited, dunnhumby Ireland Limited, dunnhumby Italia Srl., dunnhumby Limited, dunnhumby Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., dunnhumby Netherlands B.V., dunnhumby Norge A.S., dunnhumby Overseas Limited, dunnhumby Poland Sp z.o.o, dunnhumby Slovakia s.r.o., dunnhumby South Africa (Pty) Ltd, dunnhumby Trustees Limited, and dunnuhumby. Highland Gold Mining Limited engages in the gold mining operations in Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The company explores for gold, silver, zinc, and lead. The company's Gold Production of Khabarovsk Region segment holds 100% interests in the Mnogovershinnoye mine, which is located in the Nikolaevsk area of the Khabarovsk Territory in the far-east of Russia; and the Belaya Gora, which is located in the Khabarovsk region, Russia. Its Gold Production of Chukotka Region segment holds a 100% interest in the Valunisty mine, the surrounding Kanchalano-Amguemskaya Square license, and the Kayenmivaam exploration license located in the Anadyrsky district of the Russian Far East region of Chukotka. The company's Polymetallic Concentrate Production segment holds a 99% interest in the Novoshirokinskoye deposit that is located in the Zabaikalsky region, Russia. Its Development and Exploration segment holds 100% interests in the Kekura deposit, which is situated in the Chukotka region; the Klen deposit that is located in the southwest of Bilibino, north-eastern Russia; the Taseevskoye deposit, which is located in the Zabaikalsky region, Russia; and the Unkurtash project that is located in Kassan, Kyrgyzstan. This segment also holds interests in the Lubov project. The company also offers project engineering services. Highland Gold Mining Limited was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Saint Helier, Jersey. Read More iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF's stock was trading at $73.54 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, IWS stock has increased by 61.5% and is now trading at $118.80. View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19. 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 The following companies are subsidiares of Dominion Energy: 96WI 8me LLC, Alamo Solar LLC, Align RNG Arizona LLC, Align RNG Arizona-Snowflake LLC, Align RNG California LLC, Align RNG California-Corcoran LLC, Align RNG Grady Road LLC, Align RNG LLC, Align RNG Magnolia LLC, Align RNG North Carolina LLC, Align RNG North Carolina-Bowdens LLC, Align RNG Utah LLC, Align RNG Utah-Milford LLC, Align RNG Virginia LLC, Align RNG Virginia-Waverly LLC, Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Azalea Solar LLC, BOE Holdings Inc., Blackville Solar Farm LLC, Blue Ocean Energy Marine LLC, BrightSuite Home LLC, BrightSuite Inc., BrightSuite Solar CT Inc., BrightSuite Solar SC Inc., BrightSuite Solar VA Inc., Buckingham Solar I LLC, CEA Americus LLC, CEA CO-Fort Morgan LLC, CEA Clovis LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Colorado LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Georgia LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Idaho LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Nevada LLC, CEA Dairy RNG New Mexico LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Texas LLC, CEA Greely LLC, CEA Mason LLC, CEA TX-Dimmitt LLC, CID Solar LLC, CNG Coal Company, CNG Power Services Corporation, Carolina Gas Transmission Corporation, Catalina Solar 2 LLC, Clean Energy Asset USA LLC, Clean Energy Enterprises Inc., Clipperton Holdings LLC, Consolidated Natural Gas Company, Correctional Solar LLC, Cottonwood Solar LLC, Cove Point LNG LP, Cove Point LNG Limited, DE Arlington Solar LLC, DE Fluvanna Solar LLC, DE Hanover Solar LLC, DE Henrico Solar LLC, DE King William Solar LLC, DE Louisa Solar LLC, DE Newport News Solar LLC, DE Powhatan Solar LLC, DE Virginia Beach Solar LLC, DECP Holdings Inc., Dairy RNG Holdings LLC, Dairy RNG NY LLC, Dairy RNG NY-Curtin LLC, Dairy RNG OH LLC, Denmark Solar LLC, Dominion ACP Holding Inc., Dominion Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Dominion Capital Inc., Dominion Cogen WV Inc., Dominion Energy Fuel Services Inc., Dominion Energy Gas Distribution LLC, Dominion Energy Generation Marketing Inc., Dominion Energy Inc., Dominion Energy Kewaunee Inc., Dominion Energy Marketplace LLC, Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut Inc., Dominion Energy Overthrust Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Payroll Company Inc., Dominion Energy Questar Corporation, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline Services Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings II Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Energy Services Inc., Dominion Energy Solar CA LLC, Dominion Energy Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., Dominion Energy Southeast Services Inc., Dominion Energy Technical Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies II Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies Inc., Dominion Energy Terminal Company Inc., Dominion Energy Wexpro Services Company, Dominion Equipment III Inc., Dominion Equipment Inc., Dominion Fairless Hills Inc., Dominion Fowler Ridge Wind LLC, Dominion Gas Projects Company LLC, Dominion Generation Inc., Dominion Greenbrier Inc., Dominion High Voltage Holdings Inc., Dominion High Voltage MidAtlantic Inc., Dominion Investments Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline Holdings Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company III Inc., Dominion Mt. Storm Wind LLC, Dominion Nuclear Projects Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc., Dominion Person Inc., Dominion Privatization Florida LLC, Dominion Privatization Georgia LLC, Dominion Privatization Holdings Inc., Dominion Privatization Kentucky LLC, Dominion Privatization Maryland LLC, Dominion Privatization Pennsylvania LLC, Dominion Privatization South Carolina LLC, Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Dominion Privatization Virginia LLC, Dominion Products and Services Inc., Dominion Projects Services Inc., Dominion Resources Capital Trust III, Dominion Retail Gas Holdings Inc., Dominion Solar Construction and Maintenance LLC, Dominion Solar Gen-Tie LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings I LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings II LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings III LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings IV LLC, Dominion Solar Projects A Inc., Dominion Solar Projects B Inc., Dominion Solar Projects C Inc., Dominion Solar Projects D Inc., Dominion Solar Projects I Inc., Dominion Solar Projects II Inc., Dominion Solar Projects III Inc., Dominion Solar Projects IV Inc., Dominion Solar Projects V Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VI Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VII Inc., Dominion Solar Services Inc., Dominion State Line LLC, Dominion Voltage Inc., Dominion Wholesale Inc., Dominion Wind Development LLC, Dominion Wind Projects Inc., ESCT-SA-Suffield LLC, Eagle Holdco Solar LLC, Eagle Solar LLC, Eastern Shore Solar LLC, Enterprise Solar LLC, Escalante Solar I LLC, Escalante Solar II LLC, Escalante Solar III LLC, Four Brothers Solar LLC, Fremont Farm LLC, Granite Mountain Holdings LLC, Granite Mountain Solar East LLC, Granite Mountain Solar West LLC, Greenbrier Marketing Company LLC, Greenbrier Pipeline Company LLC, Greensville County Solar Project LLC, Hardin Solar Energy LLC, Hecate Energy Cherrydale LLC, Hecate Energy Clarke County LLC, Hope Gas Inc., Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) 2 LLC, Indy Solar Development LLC, Indy Solar I LLC, Indy Solar II LLC, Indy Solar III LLC, Innovative Solar 37 LLC, Iron Springs Holdings LLC, Iron Springs Solar LLC, Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, Maricopa West Solar PV LLC, Moffett Solar 1 LLC, Moorings Farm 2 LLC, Mulberry Farm LLC, Mustang Solar LLC, PSNC Blue Ridge Corporation, PSNC Cardinal Pipeline Company, Pavant Solar LLC, Phone House, Pikeville Farm LLC, Prairie Fork Wind Farm LLC, Public Service Company of North Carolina Incorporated, QPC Holding Company LLC, Questar Corporation, Questar Energy Services Inc., Questar Field Services LLC, Questar Gas Company, Questar InfoComm Inc., Questar Southern Trails Pipeline Company, Questar White River Hub LLC, RE Adams East LLC, RE Camelot LLC, RE Columbia Two LLC, RE Kansas LLC, RE Kent South LLC, RE Old River One LLC, Richland Solar Center LLC, Ridgeland Solar Farm I LLC, SBL Holdco LLC, SCANA, SCANA Communications Holdings Inc., SCANA Corporate Security Services Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing LLC, SCANA Pharmacy LLC, SRFI LLC, Scana Corporation, Scott-II Solar LLC, Seabrook Solar LLC, Selmer Farm LLC, Siler Solar LLC, Sol Madison Solar LLC, Somers Solar Center LLC, South Carolina Fuel Company Inc., South Carolina Generating Company Inc., Southampton Solar LLC, Summit Farms Solar LLC, Sussex Drive Solar Project LLC, TA - Acacia LLC, TWE Myrtle Solar Project LLC, The East Ohio Gas Company, Trask East Solar LLC, Tredegar Solar Fund I LLC, VP Property Inc., Virginia Electric And Power Company, Virginia Power Fuel Corporation, Virginia Power Nuclear Services Company, Virginia Power Services Energy Corp. Inc., Virginia Power Services LLC, Virginia Solar 201 Projects LLC, Wakefield Solar LLC, Wexpro Company, Wexpro Development Company, Wexpro II Company, Wilkinson Solar LLC, Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings LLC, and Yemassee Solar LLC. Mandom Corporation manufactures and sells cosmetics, perfumes, and quasi-drugs in Japan, Indonesia, and internationally. The company offers a range of products, including men's everyday grooming products, as well as general fashion items, such as hair styling, skin care, and body care products; and hair coloring, scalp care, and face care products under the Gatsby and Lucido brands. It also provides a range of women's grooming and fashion items comprising hair styling, body care, and beauty products that include make-up and skin care items, as well as hair coloring and treatment products under the Bifesta, Pixy, Lucido-L, and Pucelle brands. In addition, the company offers professional-use products and technologies to hair salons through distributors. Further, it provides insurance agency, travel, and general services. The company sells its products to drug stores and convenience stores through distributors. The company was formerly known as Tancho Corporation and changed its name to Mandom Corporation in April 1971. Mandom Corporation was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Marsh & McLennan Companies: 8WORKS INC., 8WORKS LTD, A. Constantinidi & CIA. S.C., A.C.N. 000 951 146 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 001 572 961 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 076 935 683 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 102 322 574 Pty Limited, ACE Insurance Agents Limited, ACE Insurance Consultants Limited, ACE Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Limited, AD Corretora de Seguros, AFCO Premium Acceptance Inc., AFCO Premium Credit LLC, Access Equity Enhanced Fund GP LLC, Admiral Holdings Limited, Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd, Aldgate Investments Limited, Aldgate Trustees Ltd, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, Alpha Consultants Limited, Alta SA, Altius Real Assets (GP) LLC, Amal Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, AssetVal Pty Ltd, Assur Conseils Marsh S.A., Assurance Capital Corporation, Assurance Services Corporation, Australian Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Australian World Underwriters Pty Ltd., BBPS Limited, Barney & Barney Orange County LLC, Beaumonts (Leeds) Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Services Limited, Beneficios Integrales Oportunos SA, Benefitfocus Inc., Blue Marble Micro Limited, Blue Marble Microinsurance Inc., Bluefin, Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, Bluefin Insurance Services Limited, Boulder Claims LLC, Bowring (Bermuda) Investments Ltd., Bowring Marine Limited, Bowring Marsh (Bermuda) Ltd., Bowring Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Bowring Marsh Asia Pte. Ltd., Bowring Marsh Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Bowring Marsh Limited, Broderick Piller Pty Ltd, Broker 2 Broker Limited, BuildPay LLC, Burke Ford Trustees (Leicester) Limited, C.T. Bowring Limited, CMC-Belgibo NV, CPRM Limited, CPSG Partners LLC, Carpenter Marsh Fac Chile Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Carpenter Marsh Fac Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Carpenter Marsh Fac Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.C., Carpenter Marsh Fac Re LLC, Carpenter Turner Cyprus Ltd, Carpenter Turner S.A., Cascade International Holdings C.V., Cascade Regional Holdings Limited, Central Insurance Services Limited, Charter Risk Management Services LLC, Chartwell Healthcare Limited, Chronos Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Claims and Recovery Management (Australia) Pty Limited, Clark Thomson Insurance Brokers Limited, Client Provide Limited, Colombian Insurance Broking Wholesale Limited, Consultores 2020 C.A., Cronin & Co Insurance Services Limited, DVA - Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs GmbH, Dawson Insurance, DeLima Marsh S.A. - Los Corredores de Seguros S.A., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Managing General Agency Corporation, Dovetail Technology Service India Private Limited, Draw Connect Limited, Draw Create Limited, Draw Group London Limited, Eagle & Crown Limited, Echelon Australia Pty Limited, Echelon Claims Consultants Sdn Bhd, Echelon New Zealand Limited, EnBW Versicherungs Vermittlung GmbH, Encompass Insurance Agency Pty Ltd., English Pension Trustees Limited, Epsilon (US) Insurance Company, Epsilon Insurance Company Ltd., Eustis Insurance & Benefits, Evolution Management Ltd, Exchange Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Exmoor Management Company Limited, Faulkner & Flynn LLC, Freedom Trust Services Limited, GC Genesis LLC, GCube Insurance Services Inc, GCube Underwriting Limited, Gama Consultores Associados Ltda., Gem Insurance Company Limited, Global Premium Finance Company, GrECo International Holding AG, Gracechurch Trustees Limited, Gresham Pension Trustees Limited, Group Promoters Pty Limited, Guy Carpenter & Cia (Mexico) S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter & Cia. S.A., Guy Carpenter & Co. Labuan Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company AB, Guy Carpenter & Company Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Guy Carpenter & Company Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company GmbH, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd./Guy Carpenter & Compagnie Ltee, Guy Carpenter & Company Participacoes Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company Private Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Proprietary Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Pty. Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A. (Uruguay), Guy Carpenter & Company S.A.S., Guy Carpenter & Company S.r.l., Guy Carpenter (Middle East) Limited, Guy Carpenter Bermuda Ltd., Guy Carpenter Broking Inc., Guy Carpenter Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Guy Carpenter Japan Inc., Guy Carpenter Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, HAPIP GP 2009 LLC, HAPIP GP LLC, HSBC Insurance Brokers International (Abu Dhabi) LLC (in liquidation), Hamilton Bond Limited, Hansen International Limited, Hayward Aviation Limited, INSIA Europe SE, INSIA SK s.r.o., INSIA a.s., INSURANCE BROKERS OF NIGERIA LIMITED, IRC Asia Insurance Brokers Limited, InSolutions Limited, Industrial Risks Protection Consultants, Ingeseg S. A., Ingeseg S.A., Insbrokers Ltda., InsurTech Alliance LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC [BAHRAIN BRANCH], Insure Direct - Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC, International Loss Control Services Limited, International Risk Consultants (Asia) Limited, Invercol Limited, Irish Pensions Trust Limited, Isosceles Insurance (Barbados) Limited, Isosceles Insurance Company Limited, Isosceles Insurance Ltd, Isosceles PCC Limited, J&H Marsh & McLennan Limited, J.W. Terrill Benefit Administrators Inc., JI Holdings Limited, JIB Group Holdings Limited, JIB Group Limited, JIB Holdings (Pacific) Limited, JIB Overseas Holdings Limited, JIB UK Holdings Limited, JL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co. KG, JLM Verwaltungs GmbH, JLT (Insurance Brokers) Limited, JLT Actuaries and Consultants Limited, JLT Advisory Limited, JLT Affinity Colombia Solutions SAS, JLT Agencies Limited, JLT Asesorias Ltda, JLT Asia Holdings BV, JLT Asia Shared Services Sdn Bhd, JLT Belgibo, JLT Benefit Consultants Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Bermuda Ltd, JLT Brasil Holdings Participacoes Ltd, JLT Chile Holdings SpA, JLT Colombia Retail Limited, JLT Colombia Wholesale Limited, JLT Consultants & Actuaries Limited, JLT EB Holdings Limited, JLT EB Services Limited, JLT Employee Benefits Holding Company (PTY) LTD, JLT Employee Benefits SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Financial Planning Limited, JLT France Holdings, JLT Group Services Pty Limited, JLT Holdings (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Holdings (NZ) Limited, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers Private Limited, JLT Insurance Agencies Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited ( Shanghai Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Beijing Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Guangzhou Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers SA, JLT Insurance Group Holdings Ltd, JLT Insurance Management Malta Limited, JLT Intellectual Property Limited, JLT Intellectual Property [UK Branch], JLT Interactive Pte. Ltd., JLT Investment Management Limited, JLT LATAM (Southern Cone) Wholesale Limited, JLT Latin American Holdings Limited, JLT Life Assurance Brokers Limited, JLT Management Services Limited, JLT Marine (Pty) Ltd, JLT Mexico Holdings Limited, JLT Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., JLT Netherlands BV, JLT Norway AS, JLT PLA, JLT Pension Trustees Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Holdings Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Limited, JLT Peru Reinsurance Solutions Limited, JLT Peru Retail Limited, JLT Peru Wholesale Limited, JLT QFM Services Limited, JLT RE Brasil Administracao e Corretagem de Resseguros Ltda, JLT Re (French Branch), JLT Re (Northern Europe) AB, JLT Re Argentina Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.U., JLT Re Labuan Limited, JLT Re Limited, JLT Re Pty Ltd, JLT Reinsurance Brokers GmbH, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited [French Branch], JLT Risk Management Limited, JLT Risk Solutions AB, JLT Risk Solutions AB Branch - Germany, JLT SA IB Holdings Company (Pty) Limited, JLT SCK Affinity Administracao e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., JLT SCK Corretora e Administradora de Seguros, JLT Secretaries Limited, JLT Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerlii A.., JLT Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., JLT Specialty France, JLT Specialty Insurance Broker A/S, JLT Specialty Limited, JLT Specialty Limited [DUBAI BRANCH], JLT Specialty Pte. Ltd., JLT Towner Insurance Management (Anguilla) Limited, JLT Trust Services (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Trustees (Southern) Limited, JLT Trustees Limited, JLT UK Investment Holdings Limited, JLT Vantage Risk and Benefit Consulting Private Limited, JLT Wealth Management Limited, JLT do Brasil Corretagem de Seguros Ltda, JLTPCS Holdings Pte. Ltd., JMIB Holdings BV, JSL Securities Inc., Japan Affinity Marketing Inc., Jardine IBR Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (Proprietary) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Asia Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited (UK Branch Office), Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Consultants Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Inc., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Holdings Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Unlimited Company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Korea Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited [Macao Branch], Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS (Dubai) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS SA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Valencia y Iragorri Corredores de Seguros SA, Jardine Pension Trustees Ireland Limited, Jardine Risk Consulting Co. Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited [Macao Branch], Jardines PF- Consultoria Em Gestao De Risco Limitada, Jelf, Jelf Commercial Finance Limited, Jelf Financial Planning Limited, Jelf Insurance Brokers Limited, Jelf Limited, Jelf Risk Management Limited, Jelf Wellbeing Limited, John Lampier & Son Ltd, Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Limited, Johnson & Higgins Limited, KESSLER & CO AG, Kepler Associates Limited, Kessler & Co Inc., Kessler Consulting Inc., Kessler Prevoyance Inc., Key Underwriting Pty Limited, Kroll, Lambert Brothers Holdings Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Employee Benefits) Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Ltd, Laterlife.com Limited (in liquidation), Lavaretus Underwriting AB, Lavaretus Underwriting AB (BRANCH - Denmark), Libra Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Lloyd & Partners Limited, Local Government Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Lomond Macdonald Limited, Lynch Insurance Brokers Limited, M&M Vehicle L.P., M.P. Bolshaw and Company Limited, MAG JLT SpA, MERCER ALTERNATIVES LIMITED, MM Risk Services Pty Ltd (for dissolution), MMA Mid-Atlantic Employee LLC, MMA Securities LLC, MMB Consultores S.A., MMC (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd., MMC 28 State Street Holdings Inc., MMC Borrower LLC, MMC Brazilian Holdings B.V., MMC Capital Inc., MMC Cascade Regional Holdings LLC, MMC FINANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED, MMC FINANCE HOLDINGS LTD, MMC Finance (Australia) Limited, MMC Finance (Singapore) Limited, MMC France Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., MMC GP III Inc., MMC Group Services sp. z o.o., MMC Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, MMC Holdings (New Zealand) ULC, MMC Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC International Finance (Barbados) SRL, MMC International Holdings LLC, MMC International Limited, MMC International Treasury Centre Limited, MMC Middle East Holdings Limited, MMC Poland Holdings B.V., MMC Realty Inc., MMC Regional Asia Holdings B.V., MMC Regional Caribbean Holdings Ltd., MMC Regional Europe Holdings B.V., MMC Regional LATAM Holdings B.V., MMC Securities (Europe) Limited, MMC Securities LLC, MMC Treasury Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC UK Group Limited, MMC UK Pension Fund Trustee Limited, MMOW Limited, MMRC LLC, MOW Holding LLC, MPIP III GP LLC, MPIP IV GP LLC, MPIP V GP LLC, MPIP VI GP LLC, Mangrove Insurance Europe PCC Limited, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC Limited, Manoel Management Services Ltd, Marchant McKechnie Insurance Brokers Limited, Marine Aviation & General (London) Limited, Marsh & McLennan (PNG) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agencies AS, Marsh & McLennan Agencies Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency A/S, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Marsh & McLennan Agency Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency Pty Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Argentina SA Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh & McLennan Colombia S.A., Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Funding Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Asia Pacific Treasury Center Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies BVBA/SPRL, Marsh & McLennan Companies Finance Center (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies France S.A.S., Marsh & McLennan Companies Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies Regional Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Services B.V., Marsh & McLennan Companies UK Limited, Marsh & McLennan Europe S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan GP I Inc., Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Holding GmbH, Marsh & McLennan Holdings (Canada) ULC, Marsh & McLennan Holdings Inc., Marsh & McLennan Incorporated (for dissolution), Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings II, Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Limited, Marsh & McLennan Insurance Services Limited, Marsh & McLennan Ireland Limited, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Servicios S.A. De C.V., Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Canada Limited, Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Corporation, Marsh (Bahrain) Company SPC, Marsh (Beijing) Risk Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Marsh (China) Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh (Insurance Brokers) LLP, Marsh (Insurance Services) Limited, Marsh (Malawi) Limited, Marsh (Middle East) Limited, Marsh (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh (Pty) Ltd, Marsh (Risk Consulting) LLP, Marsh (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Marsh A/S, Marsh AB, Marsh AG, Marsh AS, Marsh Advantage Insurance Holdings Pty Ltd, Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd., Marsh Africa (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Argentina S.R.L., Marsh Associates (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Austria G.m.b.H., Marsh Aviation Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (for dissolution), Marsh B.V., Marsh Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh Brockman y Schuh Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Marsh Broker Japan Inc., Marsh Broker de Asigurare-Reasigurare S.R.L., Marsh Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited/Marsh Canada Limitee, Marsh Company Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Compensation Technologies Administration (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Isle of Man Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Malta Limited, Marsh Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Marsh EOOD, Marsh Egypt LLC, Marsh Emirates Consultancy LLC, Marsh Emirates Insurance Brokerage LLC, Marsh Employee Benefits Limited, Marsh Employee Benefits Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Marsh Eurofinance B.V., Marsh Europe S.A., Marsh FJC International Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh For Insurance Services S.A.E., Marsh Franco Acra S.A., Marsh GSC Servicos e Administracao de Seguros Ltda., Marsh GmbH, Marsh Holding AB, Marsh Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Private Limited, Marsh Insurance & Investments LLC, Marsh Insurance Brokers, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Macao) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers AO, Marsh Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Insurance Consulting Saudi Arabia (in liquidation), Marsh Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers LLC, Marsh Intermediaries Inc., Marsh International Broking Holdings Limited, Marsh International Holdings II Inc., Marsh International Holdings Inc., Marsh Investment B.V., Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited, Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited (UK Branch), Marsh Ireland Holdings Limited, Marsh Israel (1999) Ltd., Marsh Israel (Holdings) Ltd., Marsh Israel Consultants Ltd., Marsh Israel Insurance Agency Ltd., Marsh Israel International Brokers Ltd. (in liquidation), Marsh JCS Inc., Marsh Japan Inc., Marsh Kft., Marsh Kindlustusmaakler AS, Marsh Korea Inc., Marsh LLC, Marsh LLC Insurance Brokers, Marsh LLC [Ukraine], Marsh Lda., Marsh Limited, Marsh Limited [Fiji], Marsh Limited [New Zealand], Marsh Limited [PNG], Marsh Ltd. [Wisconsin], Marsh Management Services (Bahamas) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Dublin) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Labuan) Limited, Marsh Management Services (MENA) Limited, Marsh Management Services (USVI) Ltd., Marsh Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Management Services Guernsey Limited, Marsh Management Services Inc., Marsh Management Services Isle of Man Limited, Marsh Management Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Marsh Management Services Malta Limited, Marsh Management Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Marsh Management Services Sweden AB, Marsh Marine & Energy AB, Marsh Marine Nederland B.V., Marsh Medical Consulting GmbH, Marsh Mercer Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Marsh Nest Inc., Marsh Oman LLC, Marsh Oy, Marsh PB Co. Ltd., Marsh Philippines Inc., Marsh Privat A.I.E., Marsh Private Client Life Insurance Services, Marsh Pty. Ltd., Marsh Qatar LLC, Marsh RE S.A.C. Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh Rehder Consultoria S.A. (MRC), Marsh Rehder S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Marsh Resolutions Pty Limited, Marsh Risk Consulting B.V., Marsh Risk Consulting Limitada, Marsh Risk Consulting Ltda., Marsh Risk Consulting S.L., Marsh Risk Consulting Services S.r.L., Marsh Risk and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd, Marsh S.A. Corredores De Seguros, Marsh S.A. Mediadores de Seguros, Marsh S.A.S., Marsh S.p.A., Marsh SA [Argentina], Marsh SA [Belgium], Marsh SA [Luxembourg], Marsh SA [Uruguay], Marsh SIA, Marsh Saldana Inc., Marsh Saudi Arabia Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Marsh Secretarial Services Limited, Marsh Semusa S.A., Marsh Services Limited, Marsh Services Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Marsh Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Szolgaltato Kft., Marsh Takaful Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Treasury Services (Dublin) Limited (in liquidation), Marsh Treasury Services Limited, Marsh Tunisia S.a.r.l., Marsh UK Limited, Marsh USA (India) Inc., Marsh USA Borrower LLC, Marsh USA Inc., Marsh Uganda Limited, Marsh Venezuela C.A. Sociedad de Corretaje de Seguros, Marsh Vietnam Insurance Broking Company Ltd, Marsh Zambia Limited, Marsh Zimbabwe Holdings (Private) Limited, Marsh d.o.o. Beograd, Marsh d.o.o. za posredovanje u osiguranju, Marsh for Insurance Services - Jordan, Marsh i-Connect (Pty) Ltd, Marsh s.r.o., Matthiessen Assurans AB, Mercer (Argentina) S.A., Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer (Austria) GmbH, Mercer (Belgium) SA-NV, Mercer (Canada) Limited/Mercer (Canada) Limitee, Mercer (China) Limited, Mercer (Colombia) Ltda., Mercer (Danmark) A/S, Mercer (Finland) OY, Mercer (France) SAS, Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer (Ireland) Limited, Mercer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mercer (N.Z.) Limited, Mercer (Nederland) B.V., Mercer (Norge) AS, Mercer (Polska) Sp.z o.o., Mercer (Portugal) Lda, Mercer (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer (Sweden) AB, Mercer (Taiwan) Ltd., Mercer (Thailand) Ltd., Mercer (US) Inc., Mercer Administration Services (Australia) Pty Limited, Mercer Africa Limited, Mercer Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Mercer Asesores de Seguros S.A., Mercer Asesores es Inversion Independientes S.A. de C.V., Mercer Broking Ltd., Mercer Career Unipessoal Lda, Mercer Consultation (Quebec) Ltee., Mercer Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Mercer Consulting (France) SAS, Mercer Consulting (India) Private Limited, Mercer Consulting B.V., Mercer Consulting Group Inc., Mercer Consulting Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Mercer Consulting Limited, Mercer Consulting Middle East Limited, Mercer Consulting S.L.U., Mercer Consulting Venezuela C.A., Mercer Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Mercer Corretora de Seguros Ltda, Mercer Danismanlik Anonim Sirketi, Mercer Deutschland GmbH, Mercer Employee Benefits - Medicacao de Seguros Unipessoal Lda., Mercer Employee Benefits Limited, Mercer Financial Advice (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Financial Services Limited, Mercer Financial Services Limited liability company, Mercer Financial Services Middle East Limited, Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited, Mercer Global Investments Management Limited, Mercer HR Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer HR Services LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, Mercer Holdings Inc., Mercer Holdings Inc. [Philippines], Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltda, Mercer Human Resource Consulting S.A. de C.V., Mercer ICC Limited, Mercer Investment Consulting Limited, Mercer Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mercer Investment Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Investments (Australia) Limited, Mercer Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer Investments (Japan) Ltd, Mercer Investments (New Zealand) Limited, Mercer Investments LLC, Mercer Ireland Holdings Limited, Mercer Italia Srl Socio Unico, Mercer Japan Ltd., Mercer Korea Co. Ltd., Mercer LLC, Mercer Limited, Mercer MC Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer Master Trustees Limited, Mercer Mauritius Ltd., Mercer Oliver Wyman Holding B.V., Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Outsourcing S.L.U., Mercer Pensionsfonds AG, Mercer Pensionsraadgivning A/S, Mercer Philippines Inc., Mercer Private Investment Partners IV General Partner S.a.r.l., Mercer Private Markets AG, Mercer Private Markets Advisers (US) AG, Mercer Services Poland Sp. z.o.o., Mercer Sigorta Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Mercer South Africa (Pty) Limited, Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited, Mercer Switzerland Inc., Mercer System Services LLC, Mercer Technology Acquisitions Limited, Mercer Treuhand GmbH, Mercer Trust Company LLC, Mercer Trustees Limited, Mercer WorkforcePro LLC, Mercury Insurance Services Pty Ltd, Moola Systems Limited, Mountlodge Limited, Muir Beddal (Zimbabwe) Limited, NERA Australia Pty. Ltd., NERA Economic Consulting GmbH, NERA Economic Consulting Limited, NERA S.R.L., NERA SAS, NERA UK Limited, NERA do Brasil Ltda. (for dissolution), National Economic Research Associates Inc., NetComp Insurance Corp., Neuburger Noble Lowndes GmbH, Normandy Reinsurance Company Limited, Northern Alliance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), OWL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co.KG, OWL Marine Verwaltungs GmbH, Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Limited, Oliver Wyman (Hong Kong) Limited, Oliver Wyman AB, Oliver Wyman AG, Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting Inc., Oliver Wyman B.V., Oliver Wyman Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Oliver Wyman Consultoria em Estrategia de Negocios Ltda., Oliver Wyman Energy Consulting Limited, Oliver Wyman FZ-LLC, Oliver Wyman Group KK, Oliver Wyman Inc., Oliver Wyman LLC, Oliver Wyman Limited, Oliver Wyman Limited Liability Company, Oliver Wyman Limited/Oliver Wyman limitee, Oliver Wyman Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pte. Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pty. Ltd., Oliver Wyman S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman S.A.S., Oliver Wyman S.L., Oliver Wyman S.r.l., Oliver Wyman SNC, Oliver Wyman SPRL/BVBA, Oliver Wyman Sdn. Bhd., Oliver Wyman Services Limited, Oliver Wyman Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman sp. z o.o., Omega Indemnity (Bermuda) Limited, Organizacion Brockman y Schuh S.A. de C.V., Osbornes Insurances Oxford Limited (in liquidation), PFT Limited, PI Indemnity Company Designated Activity Company, PT JLT Reinsurance Brokers, PT Jardine Lloyd Thompson, PT Marsh Indonesia, PT Marsh Reinsurance Brokers Indonesia, PT Mercer Indonesia, PT Nexus Asia Pacific, PT Oliver Wyman Indonesia, PT Quantum Computing Services, PT Quantum Investments, PT Quantum Support Services, Pallas Marsh Servicos Ltda., Pavilion Alternatives Group (Singapore) PTE. Ltd, Pavilion Financial Corporation Holdings UK Limited, Pavilion U.S. Investments Holdco LLC, Pension Trustees Limited, Pensionsservice Benefit Network Sverige AB, Perils AG, Personal Pension Trustees Limited, Pet Animal Welfare Scheme Limited, Portsoken Trustees (No. 2) Limited, Portsoken Trustees Limited, Potomac Insurance Managers Inc., Premier Pension Trustees Limited, Premium Services Australia Pty Limited, Professional Claims Handling Limited (in liquidation), Profund Solutions Limited, Promerit AG, Promerit Hungary Kft, Promerit Schweiz AG, Pymetrics Inc., R G Ford Brokers Limited, R R B Beratungsgesellschaft fuer Altersversorgung mbh, R. Mees & Zoonen Holdings B.V., Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters LLC, Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters Limited, Resource Benefit Associates, Rightpath Reinsurance SPC Ltd., Risk Management Australia Pty Limited, Rivers Group Limited, Rockefeller Risk Advisors Inc., Rutherfoord International Inc., SAFCAR-Marsh, SBJ Holdings Limited, SCIB (Bermuda) Limited, SCM Global Real Estate Select GP LLC, SCM Infrastructure General Partner S.a r.l., SCM International Private Equity Select III GP LLC, SCM LT General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE II GP Ltd., SCM PE II Scotland GP Ltd, SCM Strategic Capital Management (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., SICAR Marsh S.a.r.l., SME Insurance Services Limited, Sail Insurance Company Limited, Scalene Re Ltd, Seabury & Smith Borrower LLC, Seabury & Smith LLC, Secure Limited, Sedgwick (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Consulting Group Limited, Sedgwick Dineen Group Limited, Sedgwick Financial Services Limited, Sedgwick Forbes Middle East Limited, Sedgwick Group, Sedgwick Group (Australia) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Group (Bermuda) Limited, Sedgwick Group (Zimbabwe) Limited, Sedgwick Group Limited, Sedgwick Internationaal B.V., Sedgwick Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (UK) Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Group Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Limited, Sedgwick Overseas Investments Limited, Sedgwick Private Limited, Sedgwick Re Asia Pacific (Consultants) Pte Ltd (for dissolution), Sedgwick Trustees Limited, Sedgwick UK Risk Services Limited, Sedgwick Ulster Pension Trustees Limited, Settlement Trustees Limited, Shanghai Mercer Insurance Brokers Company Ltd., Shorewest Insurance Associates LLC, Sirota Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sirota Consulting UK Limited, Smith Long Term Disability Management Group Inc., Societe d'Assurances et de Participation Guian SA, Software Underwriting Systems Limited (in liquidation), Southern Marine & Aviation Inc., Southern Marine & Aviation Underwriters Inc., Sudzucker Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America Inc., Sylvite Financial Services, TBX Solutions Limited, Talent Tech Labs LLC, The Benefit Express Holdings Limited, The Benefit Express Limited, The Carpenter Management Corporation, The Insurance Partnership Holdings Limited, The Insurance Partnership Services Limited, The Positive Ageing Company Limited, The Purple Partnership Limited, The Recovre Group Pty Ltd, Thomsons Online Benefits (HK) Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits Inc., Thomsons Online Benefits Limited, Thomsons Online Benefits Pte Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits S.R.L, Torrent Government Contracting Services LLC, Torrent Insurance Services LLC, Torrent Technologies, Torrent Technologies Inc., Tower Hill Limited, Tower Place Developments (West) Limited, Tower Place Developments Limited, U.T.E. AMG, U.T.E. Marsh - Caja Castilla La Mancha Junta de Comunidades, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus (in liquidation), U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus 2012, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Vila-Seca 2010, UAD BB Marsh Lietuva, Vezina & Associes Inc., Vezina Assurances Inc., Victor Insurance Europe B.V., Victor Insurance Holdings Inc., Victor Insurance Italia S.r.l., Victor Insurance Managers Inc., Victor Insurance Managers Inc./Gestionnaires d'assurance Victor inc., Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Limited, Victoria Hall Company Limited, Wellnz Limited, William M. Mercer (Canada) Limited/William M. Mercer (Canada) Limitee, William M. Mercer AB, William M. Mercer Comercio Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, everBe SAS, and realright GmbH. The following companies are subsidiares of NOV: AG Holding UK, APL France SAS, APL Management Pte Ltd, APL Norway AS, APL do Brasil Ltda., ASEP Group Holding B.V., ASEP Otomotiv Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Ackerman Holdings C.V., Ackerman Holdings GP LLC, Ackerman International Holland B.V., Advanced Production and Loading, Advanced Wirecloth, Aggregate Plant Products Co., American Pipe and Construction International, Ameron B.V., Ameron Holdings Pte. Ltd., Ameron International, Ameron International Corporation, Ameron Pole Products LLC, Ameron Polyplaster Industria E Comercio de Tubos Ltda., Ameron Singapore Holding, Ameron Singapore Poly Holdings Pte. Ltd., Ameron Trading Holdings Pte. Ltd., Andergauge Limited, Andergauge Redback, Andergauge USA, Arabian Rig Manufacturing Company, Axiom Process Limited, Belco Manufacturing Company, Big Red Tubulars Limited, Bondstrand Ltd., Bowen Downhole Inc., Bowen Downhole LLC, Brandt Interests, Brandt Oilfield Services (M) Sdn. Bhd., C.M.A. Canavera S.R.L., CJSC Fidmash, CJSC Novmash, CSI Inspection, Camco Drilling Group Limited, Chemineer, Coil Services Middle East LLC, Containment Solutions, Containment Solutions Services, Couoperatie Intelliserv Holding U.A., Couoperatie NOV NL U.A., Danco AS, Denali Incorporated, Denali Management, Devin International, Dreco Canada L.P., Dreco DHT, Dreco Eastern Europe ULC, Dreco Energy Services ULC, Dreco International Holdings ULC, Dreco LLC, E.C. Motors, Elmar Far East Pty Ltd, Enerflow Industries, Enerpro de Mexico, Environmental Procedures LLC, Ershigs, Fabricated Plastics Acquisitions Limited, Fabricated Plastics Limited, Fiber Glass Systems, Fiber Glass Systems (Qingdao) Composite Piping Co., Fiber Glass Systems Holdings, Fiber Glass Systems Oman L.L.C., Fiber Glass Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fiberspar, Fiberspar Australia Pty. Ltd., Fiberspar Corporation, Fiberspar Linepipe Canada Ltd., Fibra Ingenieria y Construccion S.A., FidService, Fjords Processing (Shanghai) Co., Fjords Processing 1 AS, Fjords Processing AS, Fjords Processing Australia Pty Ltd, Fjords Processing France SAS, Fjords Processing Korea Co. Ltd., Fjords Processing Limited, Fjords Processing UK Ltd., Fryma S.a.r.l., GOT German Oil Tools GmbH, GP USA Holding LLC, GPEX, German Oil Tools (Middle East) FZE, Grant Prideco (Jiangsu) Drilling Products Co., Grant Prideco (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Grant Prideco AB TCA Holding LLC, Grant Prideco European Holding, Grant Prideco Holding, Grant Prideco III C. V., Grant Prideco Inc., Grant Prideco Jersey Limited, Grant Prideco L.P., Grant Prideco Mauritius Limited, Grant Prideco Netherlands B.V., Grant Prideco PC Composites Holdings, Grant Prideco S. de R.L. de C.V., Grant Prideco USA, Grant Prideco de Venezuela, Greystone Technologies Pty. Ltd., GustoMSC B.V., GustoMSC U.S., Hebei Huayouyiji Tuboscope Coating Co., Hitec AS, Hydralift AmClyde, Hydralift France SAS, Hydralift Holdings UK Limited, Inspecciones y Pruebas No Destructivas, IntelliServ Norway AS, Intelliserv, Intelliserv GP Holdings LLC, Intelliserv International Holding, Intelliserv LLC, Interval LLC, JiangYin Tuboscope Tubular Development Co., Merpro Group Limited, Merpro Products Limited, Merpro Tortek Limited, Midsund Bruk AS, Mono Group Pension Trustees Limited, Mono Pumps New Zealand Company, Monoflo NOV S.A.I.C., Moyno Inc., Moyno de Mexico S.A. de C.V., NKT Flexibles I/S, NOV (Asia), NOV (Barbados) Holding SRL, NOV (Barbados) SRL, NOV (Caymans), NOV (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., NOV - Oil Services Angola LDA., NOV APL Limited, NOV ASEP Elmar Mexico, NOV Africa Pty Ltd, NOV Australia Pty Ltd, NOV Azerbaijan LLC, NOV Brandt Europe France, NOV Brandt Oilfield Services Middle East LLC, NOV CV1 GP LLC, NOV CV2 GP LLC, NOV Completion Tools AS, NOV Completion Tools LLC, NOV Completion and Production Solutions Korea Ltd., NOV DH de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., NOV DHT Canada Holding ULC, NOV Denmark Cooperatief U.A., NOV Downhole Argentina, NOV Downhole Bolivia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Colombia, NOV Downhole Comercializacao de Equipamentos para Petroleo Ltda., NOV Downhole Congo, NOV Downhole Eurasia Limited, NOV Downhole Europe B.V., NOV Downhole Germany GmbH, NOV Downhole Italia S.R.L., NOV Downhole Kazakhstan, NOV Downhole Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Downhole Pty Ltd, NOV Downhole Thailand, NOV Dreco GP LLC, NOV EU Acquisition SNC, NOV Elmar (Middle East) Limited, NOV Elmar NL B.V., NOV Elmar Pte. Ltd., NOV Enerflow ULC, NOV Eurasia Holding LLC, NOV European Holding LLC, NOV Expatriate Services, NOV FGS Malaysia Sdn Bhd, NOV FGS Singapore (Pte.) Ltd, NOV Fiber Glass Systems Fabricacao De Tubos E Conexoes Ltda, NOV Flexibles Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Flexibles Holding ApS, NOV Floating Production AS, NOV Fluid Control B.V., NOV GEO GP LLC, NOV GEO LP1 C.V., NOV GEO LP2 C.V., NOV GP Holding L.P., NOV GP1 Holding LLC, NOV Gabon SARL, NOV Germany Holding GmbH, NOV Ghana Limited, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Equipment Manufacturing LLC, NOV Grant Prideco Drilling Products Middle East FZE, NOV Grant Prideco L.L.C., NOV Holding Danmark ApS, NOV Holding Germany GmbH & Co KG, NOV Holding Germany Management GmbH, NOV Holdings B.V., NOV Hydra Rig Pte. Ltd, NOV India Private Limited, NOV Intelliserv UK Limited, NOV International Holdings C.V., NOV International Holdings GP LLC, NOV Intervention & Stimulation Equipment US LLC, NOV Intervention and Stimulation Equipment Aftermarket Comercio de Equipamentos e Servicos Ltda., NOV Kenya Limited, NOV Kostroma LLC, NOV Kuwait Light & Heavy Equipment Repairing & Maintenance Co., NOV LP (Trading), NOV MSI Pipe Protection Technologies Inc., NOV MSI Pipe Protection Technologies Mexico, NOV Mexico Holding LLC, NOV Middle East FZCO, NOV Mission Products UK Limited, NOV Mozambique Limitada, NOV NL Mexico Holding B.V., NOV Netherlands Finance Holding C.V., NOV Netherlands Finance Holding LLC, NOV North America I/P, NOV Oil & Gas Services Egypt (S.A.E), NOV Oil & Gas Services Uganda Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Ghana Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services Nigeria Limited, NOV Oil and Gas Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Tanzania Limited, NOV Oilfield Services Vostok LLC, NOV Oilfield Solutions Ltd., NOV Park II B.V., NOV Process & Flow Technologies AS, NOV Process & Flow Technologies Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies Pte. Ltd., NOV Process & Flow Technologies UK Limited, NOV Process & Flow Technologies US, NOV Rig Solutions Pte. Ltd., NOV Romania, NOV Saudi Arabia Co. Ltd., NOV Saudi Arabia Trading Co., NOV Services Ltd., NOV Servicios de Personal Mexico, NOV Subsea Products AS, NOV TV2 LLC, NOV TVI LLC, NOV Tanajib Kuwait for Services and Maintenance of Oil Rigs Refineries and Petrochemicals, NOV Tuboscope Italia S.R.L., NOV Tuboscope Middle East LLC, NOV Tuboscope NL B.V., NOV Tubulars and Connectors Ltd., NOV UK (Angola Acquisitions) Limited, NOV UK Finance Limited, NOV UK Holdings Limited, NOV UK Korea LP, NOV Wellbore Technologies Norway LLC, NOV Wellbore Technologies do Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Ltda., NOV Wellsite Services Germany GmbH, NOV Worldwide C.V., NOV-BLM SAS, NOVM Holding LLC, NOW Downhole Tools, NOW International LLC, NOW Nova Scotia Holdings LLC, NOW Oilfield Services, NQL Holland B.V., National Oilwell (U.K.) Limited, National Oilwell Algerie, National Oilwell DHT, National Oilwell Middle East Company, National Oilwell Services de Mexico, National Oilwell Varco (Beijing) Investment Management Co. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco (Thailand) Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Algeria, National Oilwell Varco Almansoori Services, National Oilwell Varco Bahrain WLL, National Oilwell Varco Belgium SA, National Oilwell Varco Denmark I/S, National Oilwell Varco Egypt LLC, National Oilwell Varco Eurasia, National Oilwell Varco Guatemala, National Oilwell Varco Guyana Inc., National Oilwell Varco Hungary Limited Liability Company, National Oilwell Varco Korea Co., National Oilwell Varco MSW S.A., National Oilwell Varco Mexico, National Oilwell Varco Muscat L.L.C., National Oilwell Varco Norway AS, National Oilwell Varco Peru S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Petroleum Equipment (Shanghai) Co., National Oilwell Varco Poland Sp.z.o.o., National Oilwell Varco Pte. Ltd., National Oilwell Varco Rig Equipment Trading (Shanghai) Co., National Oilwell Varco Romania S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco Solutions, National Oilwell Varco UK Limited, National Oilwell Varco Ukraine LLC, National Oilwell Varco de Bolivia S.R.L., National Oilwell Varco de Chile - Servicios Limitada, National Oilwell Varco do Brasil Ltda., National Oilwell de Venezuela, National-Oilwell Pte. Ltd., National-Oilwell Pty. Ltd., PT Fjords Processing Indonesia, PT H-Tech Oilfield Equipment, PT NOV Oilfield Services, PT National Oilwell Varco, PT PROFAB INDONESIA, Pesaka Inspection Services SDN.BHD., Pipex Limited, Pipex PX Limited, Pipex Structural Composites Limited, Pridecomex Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., Pridecomex TA Industries, Procon Engineering Ltd., Profab Engineering Pte. Ltd., Profab Services Pte Ltd, Quality Tubing FSC, R&M C.V., R&M Canada Cooperatief U.A., R&M Energy Systems Australia Pty Ltd., R&M Energy Systems de Argentina S.A., R&M Energy Systems de Venezuela, R&M Environmental Strategies, R&M Singapore Holding LLC, R&M UK Holding LLC, RE.MAC.UT. S.r.l., RHI Holding LLC, ReedHycalog, ReedHycalog International Holding, ReedHycalog LLC, ReedHycalog UK Limited, Robannic Overseas Finance A.V.V., Robbins & Myers, Robbins & Myers (Suzhou) Process Equipment Company Limited, Robbins & Myers B.V., Robbins & Myers Foundation, Robbins & Myers GP LLC, Robbins & Myers Holdings, Robbins & Myers Holdings UK Limited, Robbins & Myers Inc, Robbins & Myers Italia S.R.L., Robbins & Myers N.V., Rodic S.A. de C.V., Romaco S.a.r.l., STAR Sudamtex Tubulares S.A., STBH2O TUNISIE, STSA, Screen Manufacturing Company Unlimited, Seabox AS, Slip Clutch Systems Limited, Smart Drilling GmbH, Soil Recovery A/S, South Seas Inspection, Subseaflex Holding ApS, T-3 Energy Preferred Industries Mexico, T-3 Energy Services, T-3 Energy Services Cayman, T-3 Energy Services Cayman Holdings, T-3 Energy Services India Private Limited, T-3 Energy Services Mexico, T-3 Investment Corporation IV, T-3 Mexican Holdings, TVI Holdings, Telluride Insurance Limited, Tianjin Grant TPCO Drilling Tools Company Limited, Tube-Kote, Tubo-FGS, Tuboscope & Co. LLC, Tuboscope (Holding U.S.) LLC, Tuboscope Brandt de Venezuela, Tuboscope Machining Services AS, Tuboscope Norge AS, Tuboscope Pipeline Services Inc., Tuboscope Services, Tuboscope Vetco (Deutschland) GmbH, Tuboscope Vetco (France) SAS, Tuboscope Vetco (Oesterreich) GmbH, Tuboscope Vetco Canada ULC, Tuboscope Vetco Capital Limited, Tuboscope Vetco Moscow CJSC, Tuboscope Vetco de Argentina S.A., Tubular Coatings Solutions Ltd., Tucom Composites Polyester Sanayi Ticaret Ltd., Varco BJ B.V., Varco CIS, Varco Canada ULC, Varco I/P, Varco International de Venezuela, Varco L.P., Varco US Holdings LLC, Vetco Coating GmbH, Vetco Enterprise GmbH, Vetco Saudi Arabia Ltd., Visible Assets, Wilson International, Woolley, XL Systems, XL Systems Antilles, XL Systems Europe B.V., XL Systems International, voestalpine Middle East Free Zone Establishment, voestalpine Tubulars Corporation, voestalpine Tubulars GmbH, and voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG. Sanctuary cities, counties and states have laws, ordinances or other policies that obstruct federal immigration law enforcement and alien criminal prosecutions. Last December, President Donald Trump said: [S]anctuary cities are grave threats to public safety and national security. Each year, sanctuary cities release thousands of known criminal aliens fromcustodyback into the community. In Mid-February, President Trump proclaimed a border emergency: The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency. The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful migration through the southern border is long-standing, and despite the executive branchs exercise of existing statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years. Congressional Democrats tried to block Trumps fake emergency. Crossings soared: 76,000-plus illegals were apprehended in February, 100,000-plus in March. Its unknown how many entered successfully and disappeared into the American interior. Last week, in a masterstroke, President Trump trolled Democrats, tweeting that, absent congressional action on the border crisis, his administration might bus sanctuary seekers and other illegals to Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities. One DNC house organ, the Washington Post, scolded Trump for targeting political foes: House Speaker Nancy Pelosis district in San Francisco was among those the White House wanted to target The administration also considered releasing detainees in other Democratic strongholds. Mrs. Pelosi reacted by saying that transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities is just another notion that is unworthy of the presidency of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges we face. whatever that means Pelosis hometown newspaper of record for a city that has declared itself a sanctuary, described the plan as an effort to use migrants as pawns to go after political opponents. Pawns? But, whose? Anderson Cooper hosted his CNN colleague Jeffrey Toobin who said Trump is Using humans as pestilence to spread around the country.' Pestilence! That must be true. After all, CNN says theyre The Most Trusted Name in News. The president must have congressional cooperation to solve a genuine border crisis. Democrats know border holding facilities built by the previous administration are overwhelmed, but still advocate catch and release. So, why do Democrats and their media operatives oppose releasing illegals into jurisdictions where Democrats passed local welcoming legislation to provide sanctuary? The same people who claim that illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans wont do, that illegals are a net positive, that diversity is good, and (falsely) that immigrants commit less crime than Americans, are clearly implying that they never actually intended to welcome illegal aliens into sanctuary havens allegedly created for them to live legally among citizens who want them there. But, what if sanctuaries were only created to frustrate the constitutionally-ordained responsibilities of people Democrats dislike even more than illegals President Donald Trump, his administration and law enforcement? Either way, if Immigration Hypocrisy becomes a video game, Democrats proficiency level will be Galaxy Grand Master. Contact columnist Jerry Shenk at jshenk2010@gmail.com 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 Stantec Inc. provides professional consulting services in the area of infrastructure and facilities in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. It also offers water, transportation, and public works; transportation planning and traffic engineering; and resource assessment, mine development, reclamation, hydrology, and geotechnical and infrastructure engineering services, as well as urban planning, traffic assessments and optimization, environmental impact assessments, and public consultation services. In addition, the company provides structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and hydraulics engineering services. It serves urban regeneration, infrastructure, education, public and private sector, tourism and leisure, and waste and water sectors, as well as office and commercial, residential, and retail and town centers. The company was formerly known as Stanley Technology Group Inc. and changed its name to Stantec Inc. in October 1998. Stantec Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada. Read More SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More Vietnams exports to member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are expected to increase strongly through 2030, reaching 25 percent of the nations total exports, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT). Shipments to Japan, the countrys largest export market in the bloc followed by Canada and Mexico, have reached 2.9 billion USD so far this year, up from 2.6 billion USD from the same period last year. As many as 269 certificates of origin have been issued in the CPTPP since the pact took effect in January 2019. These figures were unveiled by Ngo Chung Khanh, deputy director of the MoITs Multilateral Trade Policy Department, in a recent press meeting on industrial manufacturing and trade activities. Up to 219 of the 269 certificates of origin were issued to Canada, demonstrating that Vietnamese exporters were utilizing the CPTPP to penetrate Canada, one of the three countries that Vietnam has not signed free trade agreement with, Khanh said, adding that 14 certificates of origin had been issued to Mexico and eight to Peru. Vietnam has yet to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with three of the 11 CPTPP member countries - Canada, Mexico and Peru. In the medium and long term, Vietnam will benefit more from the CPTPP when more countries join the agreement, Khanh said. The CPTPP is a trading bloc that represents nearly 500 million people with a combined 13.5 percent of the worlds gross domestic product (GDP). The accord is an important milestone in Vietnams global integration as it will promote export turnover, boost institutional reform and improve the business environment. Total import-export turnover between Vietnam and other CPTPP member countries reached nearly 74.5 billion USD in 2018, accounting for 15.5 percent of the countrys total import-export value. Of which, exports reached 36.8 billion USD and imports were 37.7 billion USD, data from Vietnams General Department of Customs showed. Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus with Canada, Chile, Mexico, Australia and Peru, while suffering a trade deficit with Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and Brunei. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has revealed Vietnams exports to the CPTPP countries would grow by 4.04 percent by 2035 and reach 80 billion USD through 2030, making up 25 percent of its total exports. With 75-95 percent of tariff lines being scrapped, export opportunities to the countries Vietnam had yet sign FTAs as well as member it was suffering a trade deficit like Japan and Australia were significant. Khanh said extensive commitments in the trade, service and investment sectors would open more opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to compete in a more transparent and predictable business environment, expand and diversify import and export markets, especially for products and services. In addition, new supply chains would be formed to raise the whole economy, increase labour productivity and enable businesses to participate in higher value-added production chains. He added that the MoIT working with the World Bank and The Australian Embassy in Vietnam to build a web portal for FTAs, with the core being the CPTPP.-VNA Village Farms International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and distributes greenhouse-grown tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers in North America. It operates through three segments: Produce Business, Energy Business, and Cannabis and Hemp Business. The company also owns and operates a 7.0 megawatt power plant that generates and sells electricity to British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority; and produces and supplies cannabis products. It markets and distributes its products under the Village Farms brand name to retail supermarkets and fresh food distribution companies, as well as products produced under exclusive arrangements with other greenhouse producers. The company was formerly known as Village Farms Canada Inc. and changed its name to Village Farms International, Inc. in December 2009. Village Farms International, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Delta, Canada. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited. Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, national, and international news to professionals through desktop terminals, media organizations, and industry events, as well as directly to consumers. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited. Read More Zalando SE operates as an online fashion and lifestyle retailer. It offers a range of products, including shoes, apparel, accessories, and beauty products for women, men, and children, as well as free delivery and returns services. The company also sells its products through its Zalando Lounge; and brick-and-mortar stores in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig, Hamburg, Hanover, MAnster, Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Ulm. It serves in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The company has a strategic partnership with Sephora SAS to create the online prestige beauty destination. Zalando SE was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Read More This Friday at sundown marks the start of Passover and that brings a lot of families together to have their Passover meal. Food plays an integral part during the Passover Seder. The Seder itself is a 15 step family-oriented tradition with a ritual-packed feast of unique Passover foods. The guide for the Cedar meal comes from the Haggadah. These rituals and traditional foods serve a purpose. "The mystics teach the difference between ego and arrogance and humility. So for one week we try to be a little more humble and realize that the blessings in our lives, the freedom is not just our own doing but it's through that unity with other people coming together and reminding ourselves that looking for memories of the bad times so that we can remind ourselves how grateful we should be that we are free," said Rabbi Didy Waks from Chabad of Clinton. Today Rabbi Waks walked us through the process of making Charoset. "The beautiful thing about the Charoset and why we wanted to make that today is because it sort of brings everything together because, on the one hand, the Charoset reminds us of the mortar and the trouble the Jews went through. But It's sweet. It tastes good and people like it and people actually look forward to Charoset. The idea is that even when we are going through the hardest periods of our lives, even when things are really difficult there's always a bit of silver linings. There's always a little sweetness if we look " First, you'll want to finely dice one apple and one pear and put them in a bowl. Then mix in one cup of chopped or ground walnuts. Then put a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg. Following that pour in a half cup of sweet red wine and mix that around. Refrigerate then and add a little more wine right before serving. If you are looking for a Seder you can reach out to Chabad or email passover@chabadclinton.com ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has released his 2018 New York state and federal tax returns. The Cuomo administration allowed reporters to inspect the 61-year-old third-term governor's tax documents at the state Capitol on Monday, the deadline for filing personal federal and state incoming tax returns. Cuomo's adjusted gross income last year was just over $211,000, mostly from his $179,000 salary plus investments. He paid more than $51,000 in federal and state taxes, compared to nearly $55,000 in 2017. His 2018 income was taxed at a federal rate of 18.5%, compared to 19.6% the previous year. Cuomo made the same 2018 charitable donation in the same amount as he did in 2017: $11,000 to HELP USA, a charity he founded years ago to fight homelessness. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. UTICA, N.Y. - George Phillips started his county tour to meet voters in the 22nd congressional district in Utica. Phillips was at the Stanley Theatre Tuesday to talk with voters and outline his priorities for his campaign. He says he started his county tour early to connect voters. "I think every American is tired of all the money in politics, and I think the solution is getting out there, meeting voters and connecting with them and not worrying about all the money and campaign adds," George Phillips, republican candidate for the 22nd congressional district. Phillips ran for congress in 2010 and 2016. This time around he said he is starting early because he has seen other candidates, like Anthony Brindisi, succeed by getting a head start. "I know my opponent started very early and he was successful last time so that's why we're starting, its going to be a top five ran in the nation," Phillips said. Utica is the first stop for Phillips during his eight county tour, and he says Oneida County was the best place to start. "This is the most populated city in the district and the race for New York's 22nd Congressional District comes through here," Phillips said. "Either campaign, to be successful, is going to have to do good here in Utica so we wanted to start off here and Onedia County is important as well." Phillips says his top goals for his campaign is welfare, health care, national debt, and the opioid crisis. "Welfare to work, I think that's absolutely critical here, dynamic market of choice in health care, more choices." Phillips said. "The national debt is going to be incredibly important I think for our country, I'm worried about our future here. Obviously the opium crisis, talk about a national crisis here, but we need to do our part on the federal level and I think we can be doing more." Phillips says he is looking forward to this tour and to having debates with his opponent, Anthony Brindisi. "I know he's new in office right now so I certainly know there will be time for debates, I hope we have a lot of debates." Phillips said. "I'm not happy with the direction of the country for sure with this congress and a lot of thing they're doing." The next stop for Phillips is Binghamton on Wendesday and he will be visiting all the counties in the 22nd Congressional District. Social media is booming right now with tourist pictures from the past of Notre Dame Cathedral. The historic structure marks the center of Paris. And those fortunate enough to go to France typically want that picture standing in front of the cathedral. The fire is being called an accident. Hamilton College professor of French Cheryl Morgan sat down with Kristen Copeland and talks about what the cathedral is famous for. Morgan is a specialist in 19th-century literature with particular interest in French women writers, literary humor and urban literature. She has contributed articles about Delphine Gay de Girardin to Symposium, Romantisme and Modernity and the Mass Press in Nineteenth-Century France. Morgan wrote an article on Stendahl's "Le Rouge et le noir" for the MLA Approaches to Teaching World Literature, among other scholarly work. Morgan is working on a cultural critical biography of Gay de Girardin and editing a collection of articles devoted to French women's humor post-1789. She earned her doctorate from Columbia University. UTICA, N.Y. -- A total of 100 days in office Congressman Anthony Brindisi broke down his first few months in office by the numbers in a NewsTalk with Don Shipman. He says he introduced five bills, co-sponsored 82 bills, had four amendments passed, and solved 83 constituent cases. Bills introduced: Transparency for Cable Consumers Act: In the State Assembly, Congressman Brindisi led the charge against Charter/Spectrum. Now he's taken that fight to Congress. His first bill, the Transparency for Cable Consumers Act, provides better oversight of cable and internet providers and holds companies fined by a state Public Service Commission (PSC) accountable. The Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act: Congressman Brindisi has heard from dairy farmers across Upstate New York that they need more skilled, qualified workers to help run their operations and get products on shelves. The Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow foreign dairy workers to use the H-2A visas program and enter the United States for an initial period of three years with an additional three-year extension period. TRACED Act: Knocking out annoying robocallers is one area Republicans and Democrats can agree. Congressman Brindisi joined Republican Reps. David Kustoff and Lloyd Smucker to introduce the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act to require call identity validation, increase civil penalties for robocallers, and cut down on spoofed calls. Amendements passed: Supporting Rural Veterans: In February, the House passed the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act (H.R. 840), bipartisan legislation to provide free child care at VA medical centers and clinics. Congressman Brindisi successfully included two amendments in the final bill: one ensuring rural veterans who receive care from Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) are able to access VA child care assistance, and one requiring the VA to report to Congress on child care access and eligibility challenges for veterans who reside in rural and highly rural areas. NY-22 has three CBOCs: Bainbridge, Binghamton, and Rome. Expanding Voting Hours in Upstate New York: The House passed the For the People Act of 2019 (H.R. 1) to help fix the broken political system, reduce the role of dark money in politics, and impose new, higher ethics standards for members of Congress. Congressman Brindisi introduced and passed an amendment to expand voting hours in Upstate New York and institute rules to prevent states from reducing polling hours for people based solely on where they live. Improving Rural Broadband: Internet access is essential in today's economy, and we need to do more to connect rural areas to high-speed broadband. That's why Congressman Brindisi included an amendment to the Save the Internet Act of 2019 (H.R. 1644) directing the GAO to issue a report about ways the U.S. government can promote the build-out of high-speed broadband infrastructure, especially in rural and other unserved areas. Other actions: COMBATING THE OPIOID CRISIS: The opioid crisis is tearing apart Upstate New York families, and we must take action to get these drugs out of our communities. In response to an increased number of opioid overdoses in Oneida and Broome counties, Congressman Brindisi joined members on both sides of the aisle in calling on budget negotiators to ensure Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has the tools it needs to keep fentanyl out of the country. IMPROVING RURAL CENSUS COUNT: It is essential for the census to collect accurate data about Upstate New York. Congressman Brindisi led a bipartisan group of Upstate New York Congressional Representatives in a letter calling on the Census Bureau's to do more to ensure a complete count in rural areas, especially in areas without at-home mail delivery. PROTECTING ROME LAB FUNDING: Congressman Brindisi continues to fight for Upstate New York budget priorities including perimeter security at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome. He asked appropriators to protect the $14.2 million appropriated last year for Rome Labs Anti-Terrorism Perimeter Security/Entry Control Point military construction project. The sensitive work done at the lab places it at higher risk, and ensuring these funds are appropriated will help ensure employees' safety against potential terrorist threats. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Wall Street Journal reports Destiny USA, in Syracuse -- can't pay its bills. The article is about malls struggling across the country. Destiny's mortgage was recently taken over by a company that deals with defaults and renegotiations of loans. And between two mortgages, there is $430 million worth of debt. The Wall Street Journal expects "Pyramid Management Group" to default when the mortgage payment is due in June. Pyramid also owns Sangertown Square Mall. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) Passing a civics literacy test isn't going to be a graduation requirement for Purdue University students, at least not yet. The proposal presented to the University Senate on Monday didn't get the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. President Mitch Daniels presented the idea in January. Daniels hoped students would be required to take a five minute test similar to the United States naturalization exam. The group Daniels has leading the proposal wanted to make a special senate committee to move it through quicker. The senate voted that down saying the decision doesn't need to be rushed, and they're not obligated to form special committees. Vice Chair of the Senate Cheryl Cooky is part of the group trying to move the proposal forward. She said this doesn't mean Daniel's proposal is off the table, the process may just be slowed. "I was a bit surprised by the outcome of the discussion, I had not anticipated that. I think there was some misunderstanding regarding parliamentary procedure," said Cooky. Cooky hopes the issue will be re-visited either this summer or next academic year. Professor David Sanders didn't think the process was handled appropriately. "All of a sudden comes a proposal from the steering committee which is not supposed to make these proposals, that just short circuited the process," said Sanders. Daniels originally hoped to speed up the process and have the new requirement in place by fall 2019. DAYTON, Ohio (WLFI) A man considered a person of interest in a homicide and arson is expected to survive, according to Lt. Matt Gard with Lafayette police. News 18 is also learning more about his extensive criminal history. As of Monday afternoon, police said Andrew Alcorns remained hospitalized in Dayton, Ohio after he shot himself in the head to end a 9-hour SWAT standoff Thursday. Alcorns is a person of interest in all parts of the Lafayette homicide, including the arson and stabbing, according to Gard. Alcorns' criminal history in Tippecanoe County dates back to 1996, according to court documents. Gard said he didn't know the exact date off the top of his head but said his criminal history goes back "quite awhile." Gard said Alcorns currently has a warrant out of Tippecanoe County for a drug law violation. Since 1996, Alcorns has had more than 25 felony or misdemeanor charges in Tippecanoe and Clinton Counties, according to court documents. Those include Domestic Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury, Auto Theft and Possession of Marijuana. Alcorns is a person of interest in the April 7 killing of Ronald L. Whiles. Alcorns' status is still "person of interest," Lt. Gard confirmed Monday afternoon. Thomas Day, a man who police said lived with Whiles, called officers and told them he had been stabbed and his S. 31st Street home was on fire on the morning of April 7. Firefighters found Whiles' body burning inside the home when they arrived. Preliminary results of his autopsy revealed Whiles died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to Tippecanoe County Coroner Donna Avolt. Day was initially listed as critical, but his condition has improved, according to Gard. The investigation then led LPD to Dayton, Ohio. CBS affiliate WHIO in Dayton reported that Alcorns was taken to the hospital after he shot himself in the head Thursday. Gard said he doesn't believe detectives have spoken with Alcorns since he was hospitalized. He also was unable to confirm Alcorns' latest residence, although court documents show he has recently lived on North 18th Street in Lafayette and North Kerlin Avenue in Delphi. Photo of Andrew Alcorns from Feb. 18 Tippecanoe County arrest. Saturday marked Opening Day for fishing in Rhode Island, and with it the annual Ernest A. Carignan Jr. Memorial Fishing Derby held at Cass Pond in Woonsocket. Jesse Gill Jr., 13, of Woonsocket casts off. Sierra Leone is situated in West Africa and is bordered by Liberia to the south, Guinea to the east, and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The country is relatively poor with about half of the workforce engaging in subsistence agriculture. The nation possesses substantial fishery, mineral, and agricultural resources and is still recovering from the civil war that destroyed most of the institutions. The economic growth in recent years has been primarily driven by mining. The nations main exports include iron ore, rutile, and diamonds which make the economy vulnerable to international price fluctuations. Before 2014, the country was reliant on external assistance to fund a significant part of its budget but has since become more independent. Major Industries Industry and Manufacturing According to the World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, the country had the second least competitive economy globally with manufacturing and industry accounting for 1.8% of the GDP in 2011. The country is ranked position 140 out of 185 nations on ease of doing business by the World Bank. According to the World Bank in 2011, the manufacturing sector in the country was estimated to be growing at the rate of 15% while in industrial production was experiencing growth at a value-added annual rate of 9.7%. The primary industries in the country cover commercial ship repair and petroleum refining. Mining and Minerals The country has significant reserves of iron ore, diamonds, bauxite, and gold. The country also has one of the largest rutile reserves in the world. A total of 21 mining companies were active in Sierra Leone in 2011 bringing in an estimated $12 million. Bauxite and rutile are among the most significant contributors to tax revenue accounting for 60% of the total revenues. Some of the other minerals present in the country include chromite, platinum, copper, nickel, clay, zinc, lignite and lead. The government estimates that about 14% of the nation's workforce is employed in the sector. The mineral extraction industry is comprised of large scale diamond production, large scale bauxite and rutile production, and small scale and artisanal precious mineral production which primarily focus on diamonds and gold. The mining sector witnessed a decline due to the outbreak of the civil war that started in 1991 with the sector resuming full production in 2007. The alluvial diamond deposits are mainly exploited by artisanal miners which include young men from across the country who set up camps and spend their days digging for the precious mineral. The mining is often conducted in pairs with one of the miners diving to the bottom of the river bed while the other holds a rope to keep the diver from being swept away by the river's current. Before the civil war, the country's formal economy was made up of rutile, diamond, and bauxite exports. According to the World Bank, the sector provided 8% of total government revenues before the war which shrunk to 1% at the end of the conflict. Several mechanized mines have resumed since the end of the conflict including Kimberlite Diamond Mines which was owned by Koidu Holding, Sierra Minerals rutile and bauxite mine, and the Sierra Rutile mine. According to government figures, the country exported about 582,000 carats of diamonds in 2006 with artisanal miners accounting for 84% of the exports. According to a study conducted by the government and the World Bank in 2005, the proper realization of the nation's mining potential would result in eight major mines in a decade. Increased global demand for titanium and aluminum is likely to trigger increased production of bauxite and rutile in the country. The government is looking to attract additional investors to explore mineral deposits in the country to boost revenues. Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries In 2010, the agricultural sector accounted for 49% of the nations GDP making it among the largest sectors in the country. The forestry, fisheries, and agricultural sectors combined accounted for 51% of the nation's GDP in 2008. Agriculture takes up about 47.7% of the land use and employs nearly half of the working population which survives on subsistence agriculture. Some of the agricultural products produced in the country include cocoa, coffee, palm oil, palm kernels, rice, peanuts, poultry, pigs, sheep, and cattle. The mains exports from the sector are coffee and cocoa which are exported mainly to the United States, Belgium, Netherlands, and France. Sierra Leone has a coastline of 347.97 miles, an Exclusive Economic Zone that measures 60,116 square miles, and a sea shelf area of 11,583 square miles with rich fish resources. Fishing employs an estimated 36,000 people, a majority of whom are artisanal fishermen. Five thousand people are employed in Aquaculture, and about 1,000 people are employed as industrial fishermen. In addition to the number employed directly by artisanal fishing, the sector provides an additional 200,000 jobs in the secondary sector through boat building, fish processing, and marketing. Industrial fishing is mainly export oriented and is comprised of demersal fish, shrimp, and finfish trawlers. Inland fishing is mainly subsistence oriented with catfish and tilapia being the main species caught. Fishery exports in 2007 had an estimated value of $11,000,000. Tourism According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the tourism sector accounted for 7.3% of the nation's economy in 2011. The country received about 39,000 visitors in 2010, and the tourism sector provided about 6.3% of the total employment in the country with the percentage expected to rise by 2022. The sector's contribution to the nations GDP is expected to rise at a rate of 5.5% per annum over the decade. Some of the notable tourism and travel organizations include Karl Travel Agency, CAS travel Agency, Lion Travel Agency, Paramount Air Travel Agency, the National Tourist Board of Sierra Leone, Karou Voyage, Global Travel Agency, and Freetown Travel Agency among many others. Electricity and Power The only distributors of electricity in the nation are Bo-Kenema Power Services and the National Power Authority which are both supervised by the Ministry by Energy and Power. The Bumbuna Hydroelectric power project is among the government main development projects. Electricity supply is mainly limited to main cities such as Kenema, Makeni, Bo, and the capital Freetown. The diesel reliant King Tom Power Station is the main power generating station in the western parts of the country. Prospects and Challenges Before the Ebola outbreak in May 2014, the country was aiming at attaining a Middle-Income status by 2035. A drop in international commodity prices coupled with the Ebola outbreak led to the economy contracting in virtually all sectors. Despite the World Health Organization declaring that the country was Ebola-free towards the end of 2015, the country suffered one of the most significant shortfalls in its history due to low commodity prices between 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the country witnessed resumption in economic growth that was supported by higher iron ore exports. The continued economic recovery will depend heavily on the rising international commodity prices and the diversification of the sources of revenue. Sectors outside mining continue facing limitations due to inadequate infrastructure such as roads and power. Undeveloped human capital and pervasive corruption are likely to continue to deter foreign investment. The Polish teachers strike, which started on 8 April, marks a fundamental change in the situation in Poland, once hailed as the success story for the transition to capitalism after the collapse of the Stalinist regime in 1989. The class struggle is back on the agenda. Now the greatest teachers strike in Polish history has entered its second week and is becoming the catalyst for the pent-up anger of youth and workers. Lenin once pointed out, after the Russian Revolution, that there are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen; in the sense that the experience of events concentrated in a brief space of time can determine a sudden leap in the consciousness of the masses. 8 April marked the beginning of what appears to be the greatest teachers strike in Polish history, not just for its scale but also for its social and political implications. According to the Polish Teachers Union (ZNP), around 15,000 schools, nurseries and colleges (just under 80 percent of the total number) are currently on an indefinite strike in the middle of the exam period. The strike has become a serious field of struggle, serving as a point of expression for the pent-up discontent that has been accumulating over the course of years, if not decades. The strike has also become a school of class struggle. The teachers, students around them, and the entire Polish working class are drawing very important lessons from this crucial experience. Strike committees are operating in nearly all Polish cities, towns and villages. In order to operate, they need strikers signatures every morning, but the teachers are standing firm in this regard. Despite the exam pressure, the strike has been strengthened by an enormous show of solidarity from the school students. In those schools where polls have been conducted, the student support for strike fluctuates around 70-to-80 percent. Demonstrations in support of the strike have been erupting in city after city, and town after town, in an almost completely spontaneous fashion. The vast majority of teachers and school students who organise support groups in their schools, collect money for the strike fund or speak on platforms at demonstrations have never been involved in political activities in their lives. The strike fund account, opened by the ZNP on Thursday, has already collected 5 million zlotys, roughly the equivalent of 10,000 weekly workers wages. This shows that the impact of this dispute is not confined to the teachers, but by its very nature it reaches to the very depths of society. Mainly, this is due to the magnitude of the strike and the confidence displayed by the teachers, but also because of the role played by teachers in society: every worker knows someone who is a teacher or has a child whose school is affected by the strike. The strike continues to be a topic of daily discussion on shop floors, in pubs or on social media and this is having an impact on every section of the population. The mood on the ground is overwhelmingly for sharpening and intensifying the strike. Interviewed for Wyborcza.pl, one teacher said that the strike methods of nurses and police officers in the past period show that the road of least resistance leads nowhere. Weve learned from this experience,'' she commented. Another teacher from Warsaw said: I personally think that the strike needs to be sharpened. The government is playing with us and doing whatever it wants, and we are not reacting to it. Many other comments to the same effect confirm that the striking teachers agree that more needs to be done to ensure victory. This explosive mood rightly terrifies the PiS government. It also causes anxiety among the leaders of the teachers trade union, ZNP, who are feeling the heat of the pressure coming from their ranks. The Solidarnosc leadership, whose decision to sign a deal with the government has provoked a crisis in the trade union, is facing open rebellion from their members who have openly defied this decision by solidly joining the strike. The reactionary establishment exposed "I teach science for pennies..." "I teach fairy tales for megabucks!" / Image: public domain The ruling, right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government has taken a hardline stance against the teachers, refusing to concede anything further than the offer that is currently on the table, which proposes more of the same. The OPZZ is demanding an immediate pay rise of 1,000 zlotys, whereas the government is insisting a drawn-out pay rise of 9.6 percent in September, to be followed by a longer plan of minuscule pay rises between 2020-2023. All this at the cost of increased pressure and greater workloads in the classrooms. In the same way as appetite grows with eating, any meaningful concession to the striking teachers would only embolden them further and reveal claims of a lack of money for the lies they are. Furthermore, it would provide an example to other sections of the working class, who are facing the same hardships as the teachers, that the only way to win better working and living conditions is by taking matters into their own hands. The government apparently felt confident enough to enter into an open battle with the teachers, who are feeling emboldened by the scale of the crisis in the education system. However, it is clear now that the Polish ruling class is experiencing serious problems in how to handle such a conflict. They overestimated their strength and underestimated the workers willingness to fight. The PiS gained confidence after defeating the Liberal opposition in the battles over political control of the courts, the media and other sectors of the bourgeois state. However, they approached this dispute as if it was yet another battle of this type. But instead of provoking lukewarm appeals and backdoor committees from the Liberal opposition, here they are in danger of provoking a mighty conflict with an important section of the working class. The government has on multiple occasions attempted to drive a wedge between the teachers and their students, as well as other workers. They are also waiting for the striking teachers to exhaust themselves before forcing their so-called deal upon them. However, none of these manoeuvres appear to be working, as the teachers, students and sympathetic workers realise that this strike has become an open battle against the government and everything it stands for. Upcoming EU elections reveal cracks in the PiS In any case, this aggressive stance by the PiS does not necessarily represent strength on part of the government, but rather a mixture of its degeneration and creeping anxiety in the face of one of the greatest strikes that any government had to deal with since the restoration of capitalism in 1989. For instance, there are the European Parliament elections, which are treated extremely seriously by the PiS, which is being blamed for the EUs withdrawal of investment from Poland. Despite seemingly large support in the polls, the PiS had been forced to resort to a number of dodgy manoeuvres to preserve its main base of support, which is beginning to be shaken, not least by the strike. These have uncovered the real fears of the government. Anna Zalewska, the minister for education, had been promised a place on top of the PiS candidate list in the Dolnoslaskie-Opolskie region, where the PiS emerged strongly from the 2015 parliamentary elections. In exchange, she accepted becoming the face of the PiS education reform. This reform, which is in the process of being rolled out, means complete chaos in the education system. The government is planning to finally abolish all gimnazjum schools (schools for 12-15-year-olds) and merge them with primary schools and liceums. This means that, for instance, the number of first-year liceum students will go up from 358,000 in 2018 to 727,000 in 2019. This is because of the gradual way this phase-out is executed, final year gimnazjum students will be competing for courses in liceum with final year primary school students. This means that first-year liceum students this September will include children born in 2003, 2004, 2005 and even 2006. Not only does this mean a huge increase in the burden of work for an average teacher, but also a more stressful education for school students. In order to prevent open dissent against PiS jedynka (number one candidate) in the region, the government had attempted to push Zalewska into the shadows, instead using the ex-prime minister, Beata Szydo (who herself is standing in the amalgamation of PiS third-and-fifth-strongest regions, Maopolskie-Swietokrzyskie) as the face of the government against the striking teachers. This has, however, solved nothing as Zalewska is still seen by the teachers as one of the main antagonists in the dispute, and although already isolated within her own party, which is distancing itself from her, the risk of being ditched by the PiS in the European elections remains very real for Zalewska. In the wake of these elections, the government has also attempted to rally to the ballot boxes what has traditionally been one of its core bases of support, pensioners, by spending more than 10 billion zlotys on trzynastka, which is a one-time payment of an extra monthly pension. This cynical manoeuver infuriated many teachers, who now have hard evidence that the government does have money when they need it to remain in power. Although the polls suggest that the most loyal PiS supporters remain opposed to the strike, there have been a number of pensioners who have already sent letters to various newspapers and media outlets, stating that they will be transferring all of their trzynastka towards the strike fund. The Machiavellian figure in charge of the PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is probably the most polarising figure in Poland, has not once referred to the strike in his address to the regional PiS conference in Lublin. Kaczynskis hatred of the movement, if translated into words, would serve to infuriate millions against him, including those who voted for the PiS in 2015 but are now either directly or indirectly involved in the strike. The most degenerate and reactionary elements in and around the PiS have not, however, minced their words when exclaiming their opinions about the teachers. On a curious side note, it is ironic to see those who liked to shout the loudest about the tradition and legacy of workers struggles under the PRL regime now spitting the vilest venom against the teachers. This proves that their appropriation of workers struggles under the banner of bourgeois patriotism had nothing to do with their desire for working-class emancipation, and everything to do with promoting their own profiles and careers. The traditions of the Polish workers are more militant and revolutionary than these ladies and gentlemen are ready to admit. In 1970 and 1980, the workers organised themselves in Inter-District Strike Committees (MKS) soviets in everything but name. They organised workers guards to defend these organs of workers power. The main demands of those struggles were aimed against the bureaucracy in control of the state: for representatives to be elected on an average workers wage, for the right of recall of politicians at any time and for the trials of those who were guilty of mismanaging the economy. In the face of extraordinary police violence, the workers often responded with rocks and molotov cocktails. The impact of those revolutionary movements of the Polish working class on the army brought it to the verge of disintegrating, with the rank-and-file fraternising with the working class. These extraordinary, revolutionary events continue to weigh heavily on the memories of Polish workers. The events today, however, are proving what this legacy means in concrete terms. After 1989, the movement of the working class has been thrown back by the restoration of capitalism and the experience of betrayal after betrayal by all those who claimed to be their saviours. In these conditions, all sorts of scum managed to step forward and gain a certain foothold. However, facing only the very first stages of the return of class struggle, the right wing has been experiencing a complete frenzy and meltdown. Wojciech Cejrowski, an extremely reactionary celebrity with his own television programme, has described the ZNP as a powerhouse of Communist clogs. He has also suggested that the striking teachers should be fired en masse. Another right-wing clown, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, who once enjoyed a certain degree of popularity among the youth for his anti-establishment politics (which used to include the establishment of the monarchy), had also shown his absolute contempt towards the striking teachers. In a video-blog, he has suggested once again firing the teachers en-masse, reminding his viewers that Ronald Reagan fired 13,000 airport workers following the 1981 dispute in the USA. Krystyna Pawowicz MP, one of the most inconvenient loose cannons of the PiS, was quick to slander the strike efforts as pro-German and anti-Polish. Fronda.pl, the most popular website of Catholic reactionaries and all sorts of oddballs, published an article with the headline: Teachers strike A Communist mentality comes to the fore, accompanied by a picture of Sawomir Broniarz (ZNP leader), the ZNP flag and a portrait of Vladimir Lenin lined up next to each other The voice of these lunatics, courageous only in the comfort of their unaccountability, reveals to the workers who is with them and who is not. It lays bare the class content of everything before them, as the poisonous fumes of nationalism and patriotism begin to dissipate. Furthermore, these seemingly fringe voices reveal the real worries of those who realise that this strike could easily bring the PiS downfall, meanwhile disrupting any popularity and authority they thought they had. The advancement of the teachers movement correlates directly with the disintegration and isolation of all these so-called true Poles who have made comfortable careers out of their vile, reactionary views. The PiS itself would be in a much weaker position, if in power at all, were the labour leaders willing to take charge and truly represent the mood of the teachers for a root-and-branch transformation of society. The treacherous role of the Solidarnosc leadership The strike is still gaining momentum, but so far it has highlighted some important lessons on the role of the labour leaders. This is already understood by the most advanced of the striking teachers. In the ZNP this is represented, for now, by passive suspicion, whereas the tops of Solidarnosc teachers branch are facing a full revolt of their members. It has been over a week since the agreement between Solidarnosc and the PiS was signed. This was a deliberate attempt to divide the teachers just before the strike was due to start. The PiS used it to denounce the ZNP as an outside force, which incites either gullible, lazy, anti-Polish or Communist teachers to strike action, to much disgust from the students and parents. This is the image painted by the state-owned TVP, which after a thorough reshuffle only employs those who are proven loyalists to the PiS regime. The real situation is, however, different. An agreement was signed between the cowardly and treacherous leaders of Solidarnosc and the government. The leadership of Solidarnosc Teacher's Branch around Ryszard Proksa are completely divorced from the realities of working-class life by handsome privileges, grants and paid expenses. They have every reason to support the PiS propaganda. The recent revelation that Ryszard Proksa earns over 130,000 zlotys per year, more than five times the average teachers wage, only added fuel to the fire. One teacher interviewed by natemat.pl, said He makes a living from our subs. If he gets paid so much, then no wonder he doesnt care about our struggle for decent wages. He cheated us for his own private interest. This is an utter betrayal, he stabbed us in the back! The tops of Solidarnosc are facing a full revolt of their members / Image: Gazela Agency Indeed, the membership of Solidarnosc has a completely different story to tell than its leadership. The Solidarnosc teachers suffer the same hardship, exploitation, overwork and lowliness as their fellow teachers in the ZNP. For this reason, there is no significant gap between those schools organised by the ZNP and those organised under Solidarnosc. The membership in and around Solidarnosc simply ignored all the legalisms and formalities perpetrated from above and moved into action along with the rest of the teachers. We are not interested in what our leadership is saying. We are interested in what the rank and file wants, said a regional Solidarnosc leader in Wrocaw-Krzyki. Multiple regional committees of Solidarnosc have admitted that: in all schools where we have representatives, the teachers went on strike. Ryszard Proksa had already warned about disciplinary consequences for this dissent against his leadership. In disgust at the leadership, which has signed a deal behind the backs of the rank and file and continues to hold it in nothing but contempt, many teachers have left Solidarnosc to join the ZNP. Many branches have either disaffiliated or collapsed as official structures. The Solidarnosc Teacher's Branch in Wielkopolska region has released a statement in which, apart from total condemnation of Proksa, it states: There are many letters of resignation from Solidarnosc. If this keeps up, people like Proksa will remain in charge of our Union. It is him, not you that needs to resign!. This is a correct appeal towards an understandable reaction at the disgusting leadership of Solidarnosc. There are some reports of people actually joining Solidarnosc with the goal of transforming it. It is still uncertain where the civil war raging in Solidarnosc will end up. For now, many teachers are focusing on the strike itself although the image of Proksa and the clique around him was completely shattered by the strike, the question of internal union politics remains unexpressed, firstly due to the urgency of the strike itself, and secondly due to a lack of leadership, be it from within or outside of Solidarnosc. Some important lessons can be drawn from these events. The class struggle reveals the faults and deficiencies of all the current leadership and shakes to the core all organisations that have roots in the working class. The crisis in Solidarnosc shows that the mass awakening of the teachers, combined with the open betrayal of the leadership, showed them the need for accountability of the trade union leaders. As Marxists, we support the decision of the Solidarnosc teachers to join the strike and move towards ousting their leadership, while uniting in the strike movement with the ZNP ranks. We add that the only way the striking teachers can be sure that what they are fighting for is achieved is for the movement to be directed by strike committees under the control of the workers, regardless of their trade union membership. Delegates for strike committees should be elected with the right of recall at any time by teachers in every school. Any deal with the government should be thoroughly discussed by the mass of the striking teachers and their delegates up to a national level. No deal should be signed without the approval of a democratically elected national strike committee. The role of the ZNP leadership should be that of assisting the strike movements development. However, the strike has already exposed some of the weaknesses of the ZNP leaders. The first week of the teachers' strike took place in the middle of exams undertaken by final year primary school students. The ZNP bent to the pressure of bourgeois opinion and decided to allow the teachers to invigilate the exams as individuals. There were many instances where the teachers pleaded their leadership to allow them to occupy the schools and form genuine pickets to stop the scabs from coming in and doing work for them. According to Adam Zygmunt, the leader of West-Pomeranian region of ZNP, there have been requests from a quarter of the total ZNP branches in his region to be allowed to form pickets as part of occupational strikes. This has not been a part of any organised campaign called by any group, but rather a spontaneously-reached conclusion by teachers who want to beat the government. Broniarz (ZNP leader) has categorically refused. He says that the ZNP will not support such form of strike. Broniarz and Zygmunt agreed that this will only cause to increase the friction between the teachers and parents. However, the isolated cases prove that the opposite would be the case. Many school students have organised solidarity demonstrations in their local schools. The true scale of this is hard to follow as the events are unfolding, but the Facebook event for a students strike in solidarity with the teachers gained 140,000 responses in a matter of days. Some of these students strikes have been well publicised on social media. Franek, a member of a school students union in Opole said: Before we organised the demonstrations, we conducted a poll, from which we found out that almost 80 percent of students in our school support the strike. We want to show the teachers that we support them. We believe that they also fight for our cause. We know very well about the problems of education and the whole system because we live in it. This strike is not just about wage increases, its about the whole education system, which needs to be changed. On the basis of explaining who is at fault for the strike, who is really placing education in danger and how teachers united with students can advance and take down the government, the ZNP could win the support of an even wider layer of students and parents, if it only had the confidence to do so. The lack of leadership, however, means that this is not the case. The polls show that more than half of Poles support the strike, but the gap is by no means decisive. An important bulk is still opposed to the strike. Many arguments used against the strike would be solved by a bold appeal for a general strike for higher wages, better conditions and a radical plan to change society. I earn even less than the teachers and Ive never been on strike!, the union leaders are corrupt and they back the Liberals! or What will I do with my children now? are not uncommon arguments by some ordinary people against the strike. The wavering, conciliatory leadership of ZNP around Broniarz has also affected the strike itself. On days when exams were supposed to be taking place, there were many cases where the teachers have either overseen exams themselves or helplessly watched scabs (priests, nuns, prison officers and other unqualified elements lured in by handsome sums of money) enter the exam halls. This was due to an ordinance by the Ministry of Education implemented at the last minute. This trick, however, will not be legally possible during the most important matura exams taken before students graduating liceum. Many teachers have faced genuine dilemmas due to their honest concern for the students. As one teacher explained for wyborcza.pl: The ZNP had allowed individuals to return to work This was an extremely difficult decision for me to take. I know that I have weakened the protest. On the other hand, however, Ive got the students. Ive taken the decision to temporarily return to work for the exams, but as a striker, I dont feel better. I feel a lot worse. Although many schools stood firm, many more have seen exams go ahead. This tragic decision by the ZNP was prepared by their anxiety about any bolder action and the desire to appear reasonable in front of the bourgeois media. However, this has done nothing but concede yet another small victory for the government, who would find an excuse to guilt trip the teachers into returning to work even if they struck in the summer holidays. In the meantime, their uncompromising attacks on working conditions would continue as usual. It is clear that the mood on the ground is crying out for leadership. The teachers have already broken barrier after barrier that was imposed upon them by the state, by bourgeois opinion, and by the trade union bureaucracy. The union leaders have only agreed to lead the strike under pressure from below, and there is little hope in the capability of these ladies and gentlemen to take it further. Pickets and occupations on their own would certainly shake the PiS. An appeal for genuine unity between trade unions not to the Solidarnosc careerists, but its rank and file would further weaken the government and strengthen the strike. But, if joined by the councils of teachers, parents and students, the government could be sent packing A mass campaign for a general strike would certainly bring it down. In this vacuum, the Polish Marxists have intervened, putting forward all these slogans on their leaflets. These were concluded by the call: Forward to a general strike! Long live the revolution! Tomasz from Poznan Marxists attended a local solidarity demonstration, where he reports the mood: Thousands turned up. There were many teachers, but there were also just as many students. Most of the school students were no older than 16, there were actually quite a few children who came out to support their teachers. There was a noticeable absence of all the usual protesters and other assorted sectarians. The Liberals were unfortunately in charge here, and they were in constant control of the microphone. We gave out all our leaflets. The slogan of revolution was met with enthusiasm by most people. At worst it just got a passive reception. Marcelina represented the Marxists in Krakow and, alongside the teachers, has managed to make a speech on the microphone in front of hundreds of people. In her speech, she explained that the real root of this crisis in the education system lies in the capitalist system, which puts profit before our needs. Importantly, she underlined that the Liberals are just as responsible as the PiS for this chaos: Huge movements such as this give us the opportunity to abolish this thievish system. It must go beyond the simple economic demands of one group and involve as many workers as possible in our struggle. It is us, the working people, who create the wealth in this world, and it is us who should own it Today we are also witnessing another round of the youth strike for climate movement... The fight to save the environment cannot be separated from the fight of labour against capital. Forward to the general strike! Long live the revolution! This was followed by a round of applause, not least from some of the embarrassed Liberal activists. She subsequently gave out every single one of her leaflets. What next? The trade union leaders have initiated yet another round of talks commencing this Thursday, the government seems completely unwilling to change its tune. It had a chance to use concessions in order to prevent the strike in multiple talks before 8 April, yet it has refused to do so. Following the successful exams that took place in the preceding week, as well as the full support of Solidarnosc leaders, it feels confident that it can either wait to exhaust the teachers or pressure the anxiety-ridden leadership of ZNP into defeat. However, the strike has already completely transformed the entire situation. Many are comparing the teachers strike to another, indefinite strike of teachers in 1993, which lasted 20 days and ended with a defeat. However, it is important to note that the 1993 strike took place against a background of general atomisation and isolation of the working class, which had suffered several defeats and betrayals. Solidarity demonstration in Wrocaw. Placard says: "PiS, we exchange ideas for Capital!" / Image: public domain The situation today is completely different. A whole new generation of workers and youth, unaffected by the defeats of the past, has entered the scene. More demonstrations in support of the strike are occurring in all the main cities, as well as towns and villages that have not seen any popular movements in decades. It is more likely than not that, in the case the government continues its uncompromising stance, it will sooner or later resort to adding more fuel to the fire. It is often said that the wind shakes the tops of the trees first. Marxists have often said that the splits in ruling class in Poland and further afield are preludes to movements of the working class. The movement of teachers and school students indicate that the temperature among the Polish working class is becoming extremely hot. Had the teachers a bold, socialist leadership that knew a way forward, the strike would not only prove a lot more confident within the schools and colleges, but it would involve the entire Polish working class in a struggle against the PiS and the outdated, degenerate capitalist system it represents. This strike should be a call to arms for any honest revolutionary in Poland who desires to change society. The ad nauseum mantra of impatient, middle-class radicals that Polish workers are too backward to fight is being exposed for the nonsense that it is. The teachers strike is the first sign that the period opening up before us is one of revolutionary upsurge, in the course of which all the best revolutionary traditions of 1905, 1917, 1970 and 1980 will return on a higher level. With correct slogans, tactics and analysis, the Polish Marxists will already find that they reflect the mood of many workers and especially the youth. They must seize the opportunities posed by this radical change in the consciousness of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Polish workers and youth and build stronger roots for Marxism in Poland, to prepare the revolutionary organisation needed for the battles that lie ahead. World War II was just six years long but surprisingly, it had two presidents ruling the United States during its course. The Second World War began in 1939 and lasted through to 1945. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president of the United States for the majority of this time, from 1933 to 1945. He died of a brain hemorrhage on April 12,1945. This happened just months before the war ended, which meant the sitting vice president at the time, Harry Truman, took over as president of the country during the final months of the Second World War. German forces surrendered unconditionally on what we now call V-E Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8, 1945 but it was not until September 2, when Japan also surrendered, that the war officially came to an end. A Distinctive Leader Roosevelt is a unique president in American history not only because he did the very difficult grunt work of helping lead the allies to victory in war, but because he was the longest-serving president the country is likely to ever see. Today, American presidents are restricted to serving just two terms in office, for a total of about eight years as president. Most presidents are elected twice and do serve their two terms. Just ten of all 45 US presidents so far have served only one term at the top because of failing to win re-election. Roosevelt, however, outranks them all. As a welcome powerhouse at the time, he was elected in 1933 and won four terms running as president. Franklin Roosevelt, left, receiving official notification of his Democratic Vice Presidential nomination. July 17, 1920. Image credit: Everett Collection/Shutterstock How did he achieve this? When Franklin D. Roosevelt, a democrat, was elected as president in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression, he won two-thirds of the popular vote. This vast support made it relatively easy for him to be re-elected for a second term in 1937. In 1940, he was elected for a third time as the world led itself into the beginnings of World War II and the country sought stability in its leadership. He was then elected a fourth time in 1944, while the country was in the final throes of the war, but he died before the end of this final term. The New Deal and Other Reforms Roosevelt is widely known for implementing the New Deal, which was formed of key pieces of legislation that helped the country crawl out of the depression. Many of them are still with America today. These included the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Programs that provided economic relief for farmers and unemployed workers were also established, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) along with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). These last two both work to protect the publics money deposited in banks, and at play on the stock exchange. This was to prevent the economic abuses that resulted in the enormous stock market crash of 1929 from happening again. The Social Security Act also came out of the New Deal. In this way, great good came from very hard times. Harry Truman Harry Truman was also a sitting US president during the Second World War, albeit only for a handful of months. He became president in the spring of 1945 and was re-elected in 1948, to serve a second full term in office. Truman is known for making the decision to release the atomic bomb on Japan, which remains controversial. He also helped rebuild postwar Europe through the Marshall Plan, worked against communism, and created the groundwork for the US to be part of the Korean War in 1950. Bronze bust of Harry Tuman. Image credit: Nagel Photography/Shutterstock Truman came from humble beginnings on a farm in Missouri and was known for speaking in simple terms. He graduated high school in 1901 and went on to work as a bank clerk, and held an assortment of other jobs, including acting as a manager of his fathers 600-acre farm. Truman served as part of the National Guard and fought in France during World War I, and became elected as district judge of Jackson County, Missouri in 1922. He then went on to become a US senator in 1934 before becoming vice president. Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman were important presidents in US history who helped the country navigate through war and difficult economic times. Both men established new federal regulations in many sectors that have helped streamline how money is used by the federal government. And both faced formidable challenges while in office and helped the US become the country that it is today. Workers in the United States have reacted with outrage to the jailing of Julian Assange in the United Kingdom and the efforts of the Trump administration to illegally seize the WikiLeaks founder and subject him to detention, possible torture and even death for exposing the war crimes and diplomatic intrigues of the US government. While the news media and politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties have hailed the arrest and support the vendetta against Assange, most workers and youth consider Assange, along with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and former National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, to be heroes because they defied persecution in order to tell the truth to the people of the US and the world. The jailing of Assange is an attack on the entire working class, Angela, a Fiat Chrysler worker in Kokomo, Indiana and member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, told the World Socialist Web Site. If journalists arent safe to tell the truth, then nobody is. The media is smearing Assange as a narcissist. But he is the exact opposite. He is serving us all by telling the truth about what our government is doing. Assange published material about US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and what Snowden revealed about the government spying on the American people. Angela warned workers not to get sucked in by the mainstream media. The corporate-controlled media, she said, tried to dupe us about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that never existed. She continued: The rule of law is used as a weapon to jail a journalist when it is convenient, and then it is disregarded when it isnt. What happened to the right to political asylum? Hes already spent seven years in the embassy, and it looks like theyre trying to pin the label terrorist on him. Thats frightening. These attacks, she said, did not show the power of the ruling class, but its fear. The capitalists and the powers-that-be are desperate. They dont want workers to know the truth. They recognize that the working class is more powerful than we recognize ourselves, and they are afraid of us. Julian Assange exposed the ugly truths. Ignorance is not bliss. It is downright dangerous to keep our heads in the sand. We are supposed to have First Amendment rights to free speech, we are supposed to be able to call it as we see it, and we should. We have to unite around Assange, Chelsea Manning, Snowden and all those telling the truth. That the mainstream media is bashing Assange just shows its disconnect. What the US did to Iraq and Afghanistan were horrific crimes. The US calls it collateral damage, but if it were your son, daughter or loved ones, you would say it was a crime. Assange showed us what the US government is capable of. If our government can do this to people in the Middle East, they can do this to us in America. A Fiat Chrysler warehouse worker in Atlanta, Georgia and another member of the Steering Committee, added, Journalists and whistleblowers are now being jailed for their bravery. It is clear Julian Assange will not receive a fair trial, as it is being debated in the media if he even is a journalist at all. People must stand up against this outrage and stop the oppressive and heinous overreach of a government that is rapidly declining into an openly fascist state. John, a worker at Fiat Chryslers Kokomo Transmission plant in Indiana, said, I think its absolutely critical that this attack on the First Amendment is thwarted. Its an attack on journalism everywhere. Its an attack on everyones right to know the truth. And its all being done under the claim that itll defend national security. Assange did us a great justice, he continued. Hes telling the truth. He brought us information about the many atrocities being done by the American military. If whistleblowers dont have somewhere to go, if they dont have that right, journalisms dead, right? Thats what Assange is. Hes a publisher and journalist, hes not a hacker. Isnt the way they arrested him from the embassy a violation of international law? And the people hes proven to have committed war crimes and crimes against journalists, theyre the ones that are still free! John derided the medias fraudulent Russia-gate scandal, which has been used to paint Assange as an agent of Putin. Its McCarthyism, he said. Ever since the Mueller report came out, instead of letting it die and accepting it, theyve ramped it up. The anti-Russia rhetoric is so stupid. And now the focus is on Venezuela, and theyre being targeted with lies. Referring to the role of the corporate press in facilitating the attacks on Assange and on democratic rights, he said, The fact that the main stream media is not even defending their own jobs I thought, maybe, since its their jobs on the line, theyd do something, but theyre going along with it. Its imperative that we dont lie down on this, that we stand up for whats right and for Julian Assange. Steve, a trucker from New York State and another member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, said that Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and all class-war prisoners should be freed immediately, and the international working class should unite to gain their freedom. He continued: The facts of their cases are clear to workers everywhere who can see the unfairness and persecution that Assange and all the whistleblowers have endured for exposing the crimes of powerful officials. The persecution of these courageous people is an effort to suppress and intimidate those who seek to uncover the serious violations of those in power. The working class, the main defenders of democratic rights, are becoming aware that basic democratic freedoms are under attack. He added that the ruling class lives in fear of a social revolution, as shown by the militarization of the police, Supreme Court rulings defending the death penalty, the frame-ups and jailing for life of the Maruti Suzuki workers in India, and the police suppression of workers struggles in Matamoros, Mexico. Steve concluded: It is now up to the working class to organize rank-and-file committees independent of the trade unions that will link up with workers internationally in order to defend our democratic rights and free class prisoners like Assange and Manning. The wealthy and powerful, represented by the Democrats and Republicans, are tearing up those rights to maintain their grip on power, as dissent to their rule grows due to the vast social inequality produced by capitalism. We urge workers and young people to send statements calling for freedom for Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning and supporting the development of an international working-class campaign in their defense. Please send statements of support here. Somerset Bean, a prominent WikiLeaks supporter and graphic designer, attended an urgent rally held by the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) in Melbourne last Friday, opposing the illegal expulsion of Julian Assange from Ecuador's London embassy and his arrest by the British police the night before. Somerset Bean Bean, who lives in Britain, has been a supporter of WikiLeaks for almost a decade. He has produced hundreds of poster and leaflet designs advertising protests, rallies and vigils in defence of Assange. Bean met with Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy on a number of occasions. Comments he gave following the Melbourne rally, were prominently featured in a report on the protest by the Age, one of the citys most widely-read daily newspapers. Bean spoke to the WSWS over the weekend. Asked about his response to Assanges arrest, Bean stated: With Julian Assanges illegal expulsion from the Ecuadorian embassy and arrest by the UK, a blatant and disturbing escalation of the US governments assault on the right to publish truthful information occurred. The actual scene of the arrest shocked me more than I had anticipated, having followed the case closely for years. It was so blatantly in contravention of the right to asylum, and of many international treaties the UK is signed up to. And yet the governments of Ecuador, the UK and the US conspired to make it happen, brutal and in broad daylight for the world to see. Clearly the powers-that-be want to use the persecution of a successful and effective publisher as a warning to us all not to challenge their power and their crimes. I attended the protest because silence is tantamount to complicity. Ive also been wearing my Free Assange t-shirt around the city and getting some really supportive responses. The [Melbourne] rally was small but spirited. Im sure it would have been larger with more time and resources to publicise it. And also were it not for the relentless character assassination of Assange over nearly a decade which so many involved in left politics in particular have fallen for. There was plenty of righteous anger, and we also need to celebrate our solidarity, our common interests, and our creativity in creating an alternative to the rotten status quo. The role of the British and Australian governments is, not surprisingly, shameful. These are governments who cause misery and suffering on an industrial scale. The former illegally detained Assange for nearly a decade, holding him for the US. The latter encouraged that persecution by feigning consular assistance whilst abandoning an Australian citizen. There is a sliver of hope with Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour supporters, but on the whole they have been silent or hopelessly misinformed at best, and openly hostile to Assange at worst. A strong statement by Corbyn and Diane Abbott has now been diluted by Corbyns spurious claims relating to the completely corrupted allegations of sexual assault. In opposition at least, when pushed, Corbyn acquiesces, a dangerous strategy if he is truly interested in challenging the status quo and the entrenched British establishment. Bean explained that he had begun supporting Assange around 10 years ago, when I first heard Julian giving a presentation about his thinking behind the concept of WikiLeaks. Having been politically inactive for many years, I realised that here was something with powerful potential to be a catalyst for systemic change by exposing the truth of our supposedly free world. I decided to support with the skills I had available. Asked about his encounters with Assange, Bean said, Unfortunately I was unable to visit through most of last year due to the tight restrictions placed upon Assange by the new US-aligned Ecuadorian government. But even before that, when Julian was able to speak to the public, conduct his work from the embassy, and engage with regular visitors, the conditions were virtually intolerable. No sunlight or necessary medical care for nearly seven years in what is basically a small apartment/office. Julian Assange operates from a position of compassion and intelligence, and maintains a sharp sense of humour. He always has some new insight, perspective and/or knowledge to impart. He is also dedicated to the mission of WikiLeaks and obviously has a remarkably resilient character. If theres a battle with Empire to be had, Julian needs no encouragement to step up and make a principled and impactful stand. He lives and breathes it. Bean concluded: We must not keep quiet, for that is the end game of the psychopaths who rise to the top in our societies, where wealth is power. We need to organise and mobilise in our workplaces, our places of study and in our communities both online and offline, bypassing the ever-more powerful censorship algorithms. Everyone has some skill or passion that they can use to contribute to defending Julian Assange and a truly free press, and to promote the work of WikiLeaks. We must speak out about and support the principled dedication of whistleblowers such as Chelsea Manning, as solidarity nurtures courage, and courage is indeed contagious. And we need to continue to disseminate the brutal and deceitful workings of power that WikiLeaks' publications have exposed, to inspire others to act. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is standing Senate groups in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria and running candidates in the House of Representatives electorates of Parramatta in Sydney, Calwell in Melbourne and Oxley in Brisbane. We are calling on all those who want to put an end to the unprecedented levels of social inequality, attacks on democratic rights, the re-emergence of fascism and the danger of war, to support the SEPs campaign and to participate in the fight for its socialist and internationalist program. As the SEPs election statement explains, the descent into ever greater social and economic crises, dictatorship and a third world war can only be prevented through the independent mobilisation of the working class, around the world, to abolish the capitalist profit system and establish workers governments that will implement a socialist program. Senate in NSW Richard Phillips Richard Phillips, 70, will head the partys Senate group in NSW. Phillips is a long-standing SEP national committee member. Having previously worked for ABC television and as a professional photographer in Melbourne and Sydney, he joined the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, in 1975. During his more than four decades in the Trotskyist movement, Phillips stood as the partys candidate for the federal seats of Gellibrand in 1990, Wills 1992 and Blaxland in 2010, and for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Bankstown in 1999 and 2011. He is a regular contributor to the World Socialist Web Site writing extensively on the arts and national affairs. John Davis John Davis, 25, applied to join the Socialist Equality Party in 2013, based on his support of the struggle for socialism and internationalism against the drive to militarism and war. He is president of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) club at the University of Newcastle, where he is currently completing a Masters degree. Davis has played a leading role in the fight to build the IYSSE in Newcastle and on the NSW Central Coast amongst working-class youth and students, who face ongoing cuts to tertiary education and are forced to make the choice between working in low-wage, casual jobs or suffering permanent unemployment. Senate in Victoria Tessa Pietsch In Victoria, the SEPs Senate team is Tessa Pietsch and Jason Wardell. Wardell and Pietsch are students who have played important roles on their campuses this year, building the SEPs defence campaigns for WikiLeaks journalist Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Tessa Pietsch, 22, is secretary of the IYSSE at the University of Melbourne and joined the SEP in 2018. She became interested in socialism when studying history in high school and went on to do a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne, majoring in history and literature. Pietsch is currently undertaking a postgraduate degree focussing on the 1917 Russian Revolution. Jason Wardle Jason Wardle, 27, is president of the IYSSE at Victoria University, where he studies Liberal Arts. Jason, whose father and uncles were merchant seaman, grew up in Perth, and worked there as a casual construction labourer. Wardle became politically active as a result of his opposition to militarism and war, including the US-led interventions in Libya and Syria, and Australia's integration into Washington's confrontation with China in the Asia-Pacific. He turned to the SEP after growing disillusioned with the militarist and pro-business program of the Labor Party. Wardle moved to Melbourne and joined the SEP in 2017. House of Representatives Oscar Grenfell for Parramatta Oscar Grenfell Oscar Grenfell, 27, is the national convenor of the IYSSE, a member of the SEPs national committee and a regular correspondent for the World Socialist Web Site. He has written extensively on key political and industrial issues, including in defence of Assange and Manning, the political and social crisis confronting young people and exposures of the pro-capitalist policies of the Greens and of the pseudo-lefts divisive identity politics. Grenfell was born and raised in Sydneys inner-west and joined the SEP whilst at high school. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney, majoring in English literature. In 2015, he stood as the SEP candidate for Bankstown in the NSW state election, and for Grayndler in the federal election in 2016. In Parramatta, Grenfell will be running against the sitting Labor Party member Julie Owens. The Parramatta electorate is a major western suburbs commercial hub and also home to major factories and worksites, including public sector offices, the large Westmead Hospital-Childrens Hospital complex and a Western Sydney University campus. The culturally diverse electorate includes the suburbs of Oatlands, Dundas, Toongabbie, Wentworthville, and parts of Granville, Blacktown, Parramatta, Dundas, North Rocks and Carlingford. Peter Byrne for Calwell Peter Byrne Peter Byrne is the partys candidate for the northern Melbourne working-class electorate of Calwell. Byrne, 60, is an architect and the son of a car worker. He joined the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, in 1983. For more than three decades, Byrne has played a leading role in the partys work in the Melbourne area, including in campaigns to defend the jobs and basic rights of car workers, building workers, pilots and teachers. He stood for Calwell in 2010 and has also represented the SEP in the state seat of Broadmeadows, in Victorian elections and by-elections. Byrne is running against the candidates of the Greens, Labor and the pseudo-left Victorian Socialists, all of whom are seeking to divert the immense hostility among workers and young people to the official establishment back behind the moribund parliamentary system. Calwell includes the suburbs of Broadmeadows and Coolaroo, which have been hard hit by the liquidation of the car industry and now have official unemployment rates of more than 25 percent. With a large refugee and immigrant populationincluding from Iraq, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countriesthe electorate extends out to Mickleham, encompassing newer housing developments for working families unable to afford the exorbitant housing costs closer to the inner city. Max Boddy for Hunter Max Boddy Max Boddy, 30, is a member of the SEP national committee and secretary of the partys Newcastle Branch. He regularly writes for the WSWS on the issues facing asylum seekers and their inhumane treatment at the hands of Australian governments, whether Coalition or Labor. He has completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Newcastle, majoring in Aboriginal Studies, and now works in the community sector. The working-class Hunter electorate covers more than 10,000 square kilometres and includes a large proportion of the NSW mining and agricultural industry. The area has been devastated by the shutdown of manufacturing in Australia and the slowdown of mining production. While the large-scale industries in the electorate rake in billions in profit, workers and their families are left poverty-stricken, with rising living costs, high rates of unemployment, particularly amongst youth, and their communities suffering some of the countrys worst levels of pollution. Boddy will be standing against Labor incumbent Joel Fitzgibbon, whose family has held the Hunter seat since 1984. The SEP campaign will expose the role that Fitzgibbon and the Labor Party have played in the regions devastation, including the loss of thousands of jobs, historically low wages, and ongoing attacks on working conditions. At the same time, they have collaborated with governments and the media in the stoking of nationalism and xenophobia. Mike Head for Oxley Mike Head Mike Head, 66, is an SEP national committee member, WSWS correspondent and Western Sydney University law lecturer. A member of the party for more than 40 years, he is married with three adult children. Head writes regularly for the WSWS on the bipartisan assault against democratic rights, as well as on other political, economic and social issues. He has represented the party in several elections and stood in 2013 as an SEP candidate for the Senate in Queensland. In recent years, he has conducted political work regularly in the Brisbane area, building the influence of the SEP among workers and young people. The Oxley electorate, which is currently held by Labor, covers 155 square kilometres and lies south west of Brisbane city, covering Inala and surrounding suburbs. The area has official jobless rates of nearly 20 percent, among the highest in the country, and lacks basic services, such as a major public hospital. To become involved in the SEPs election campaign, please email us at sep@sep.org.au today. Authorised by James Cogan for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000. In the wake of Ecuadors surrender of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to a British police snatch squad invited into its London embassy last Thursday to drag him into a waiting van, Ecuadorian authorities have jailed a Swedish software developer for an alleged plot to destabilize the regime of President Lenin Moreno. Ola Bini, Credit: @MsJodiEvans (Twitter) Ola Bini, 36, was grabbed by Ecuadorian police as he was about to board a flight to Japan, where he was going for a vacation. A court ruled on Saturday that he be held in preventive detention, while his bank accounts were blocked. Carlos Solia, the head of a group of Ecuadorian lawyers who have come to Binis defense, said that his client did not understand why he had been arrested and asked where is the evidence proving what Im accused of? The original arrest order against Bini identified him as a Russian, not Swedish citizen. This mistake fits in with a witch-hunting campaign being waged by the Moreno government and its Interior Minister, Maria Paula Romo, claiming that the government has been the victim of a plot involving two unnamed Russian hackers allegedly working together with WikiLeaks, Bini and the countrys former foreign minister, Ricardo Patino. The sole evidence against Bini is that he is a personal friend of Assange who had visited him at the London embassy several times between 2015 and this year. The attorney Solia denied that Bini had any connection whatsoever with WikiLeaks. Solia described the judges decision to jail Bini as incomprehensible and surprising, adding that the court had allowed itself to be influenced by non-judicial factors. They are trying to link him to some sort of possible espionage case without any proof or evidence, he told the Reuters news agency. He is a personal friend of Julian Assange, he is not a member of WikiLeaks, and being friends with somebody is not a crimeneither is having computers in your home. Also coming to Binis defense and visiting him at the jail where he was being held Monday in Quito was David Ochoa, the president of the Asociacion de Software Libre de Ecuador. He insisted that Bini had no involvement in any cyber-attacks and that his arrest without any evidence of a crime represented a serious violation of due process. Ochoa said that during the five years he has lived in Ecuador, Bini has worked in and provided support for internet privacy, security and cryptography. Employed at the Quito-based Center for Digital Autonomy, Bini maintained a blog which included no link or even reference to WikiLeaks. All of us should be afraid that there have been these violations of due process, Ochoa said outside the Quito jail. The Center for Digital Autonomy issued a statement saying: People working for open source and privacy should not be criminalized, and calling Bini a world-renowned figure in the field of free software and defender of digital rights and privacy. The arrest of Bini is part of a wider crackdown by the Moreno government in the wake of the handing over of Assange, who was granted asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 because of the real and present danger to his life posed by Washingtons attempts to punish him for revealing US war crimes and conspiracies by having him extradited to face charges including espionage, which carries the death penalty. Protester in Quito (photo by Patricio Guevara) The government also issued arrest orders for the former foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, whom it accused of traveling with Bini to Peru, Spain and Venezuela and collaborating with the alleged Russian hackers. Patino, who was involved in granting Assange asylum, said he had never met Bini, much less traveled with him. Nor do I know Russian hackers, he added. The only Russians I know are: President Putin, the foreign minister Lavrov and the Russian ambassador. The Ecuadorian authorities have sought the jailing of both Patino and Virgilio Hernandez, a former legislator. Both are involved in the calling of a demonstration today against the Moreno government and in defense of democratic rights and of Julian Assange. They are both leading figures in the opposition Movimiento Revolucion Ciudadana (Revolutionary Citizens Movement), which is associated with ex-president Correa. Correa is a bourgeois nationalist politician associated with the Latin American Pink Tide, which began in 1998 with the election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. While granting asylum to Assange in 2012, he also began the attempt to silence him after WikiLeaks release of the emails and documents exposing the Democratic National Committees rigging of the 2016 primaries in favor of Hillary Clinton, and her own closed-door speeches pledging support for Wall Street. Right-wing Ecuadorian politicians and native capitalist interests had pressed for Assange to be handed over to the British and the US in the hopes that his sacrificial offering would speed up talks for a free trade agreement with Washington. Moreno, the vice president and hand-picked successor of Correa, signaled soon after taking office that he would betray Assange, whom he described as an inherited problem and a stone in our shoe. Within a week of his 2017 inauguration, Moreno met with Paul Manafort, the ex-chief of the Trump campaign, to discuss the possibility of trading the surrender of Assange for US financial aid. On Sunday, just three days after ordering the doors of the Ecuadorian embassy in London thrown open to the British police, Moreno began a five-day visit to Washington, ostensibly for meetings with the World Bankwhich offered a $500 million loanthe Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States. It is doubtless that the trip will also include talks with the Trump administration and the US military and intelligence apparatus, whose representatives have been invited back into Ecuador. In an interview published Sunday by the British daily Guardian, Moreno justified his handing over of Assange with the claim that the Australian-born journalist had turned Ecuadors embassy in London into a center for spying, a nonsensical charge that dovetails neatly with the charge made by US Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo that WikiLeaks represents a hostile non-state intelligence service and making the case that Assange deserves to be tried for espionage, a crime punishable by death in the US. The Moreno government has also signed a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for $4.5 billion in credits in return for structural adjustment measures that have included the gutting of labor laws, the layoffs of over 10,000 public employees and sharp cuts to government services. These measures have led to mass protests, a general strike and the plummeting of Morenos approval rating in recent polls. This crisis has been sharply exacerbated by the anonymous release of documents establishing that Moreno is deeply implicated in a scheme that funneled millions in bribe money from a Chinese construction firm building a hydroelectric dam in Ecuador into an offshore shell company controlled by his family. The government has blamed WikiLeaks for these revelations, on the sole evidence that the groups Twitter account called attention to the story, which was already well known and the subject of investigations in Ecuador. The geyser of mud unleashed by the Ecuadorian government against Assangeincluding a bizarre claim by the countrys ambassador in London that the journalist used his cat to spy on embassy employeesis aimed at both justifying its unlawful and despicable collaboration with US and British authorities in setting up his rendition, and distracting public attention from the clear evidence that the Ecuadorian president is a crook. Moreno, who began his political career as a member of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), a Castroite movement, is representative of the putrefaction of left nationalism throughout Latin America. For millions of Ecuadorian workers, his betrayal of Assange and collaboration with US imperialism will be seen as an extension of domestic policies aimed at placing the full burden of Ecuadors economic crisis on the backs of the working class. These measures are creating the conditions for a revolutionary explosion. On Sunday, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality PartySGP) launched its campaign for the European elections at a meeting in Berlin. The speakers included leading members of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Britain and France in addition to leaders of the SGP. They spoke in defence of Julian Assange, warned against the return of fascism and war, called for workers to prosecute the class struggle across Europe and internationally, and pledged to build the Fourth International as the mass party of world socialist revolution. The second election meeting will take place Tuesday in Frankfurt. A section of the event The fact that we have two leading representatives of the International Committee of the Fourth International from Britain and France participating is very significant and corresponds to our central orientation in the European election campaign, said Johannes Stern, SGP Executive Committee member and writer for the World Socialist Web Site, who chaired the event. At the centre of the campaign, he said, was the establishment of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International throughout Europe and the unification of the European working class on the basis of an international socialist programme. The participation of Chris Marsden, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party of the UK, was of particular importance, Stern said. Marsden was playing a leading role in the ICFIs campaign to defend Julian Assange and had spoken at several rallies in front of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in the weeks leading up to Assanges arrest. Chris Marsden Addressing the audience in Berlin, Marsden said, The International Committee and all its sections are conducting an intense global campaign against the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his extradition to the United States. He faces charges that could see him sentenced to life in prison or even the death penalty. Millions of people regarded Assange as a hero for the essential role he played in exposing imperialist war crimes. Marsden explained that the defence of Assange required the mobilisation of the working class. Pseudo-left tendencies, such as the British Socialist Workers Party, either draped themselves in silence or spread the propaganda lies of the bourgeois press to discredit Assange. Jeremy Corbyn, too, was ready to throw Assange to the wolves. The leader of the British Labour Party knew that his assigned role is to support a collapsing Tory government and prevent the working class from intervening politically in its own defence. Marsden concluded by saying: The fate of Assange and Chelsea Manning, who have done so much to expose imperialist crimes, is now in the hands of the only social force that can end such crimesthe international working class. The ICFI would make his defence a key issue in the election campaign and organise meetings, protests and demonstrations in the coming weeks to demand Assanges immediate release and safe return to Australia. The second speaker was the SGPs lead candidate and deputy party chair, Christoph Vandreier, who spoke via livestream transmission from the US. He is currently speaking at a series of meetings across the United States to present the English edition of his book Why are they back? , which shows how the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was ideologically and politically prepared by the state intelligence agencies, the media, all the parties in the Bundestag (federal parliament) and prominent professors. At the first three meetings in San Francisco, San Diego and Detroit, I was very struck by the great interest among workers and youth in the United States in the rise of the far-right in Germany, said Vandreier. This was not regarded as a remote question, or one that had nothing to do with the situation in the US itself. It was very much seen as an expression of an international development that affects every country in the world. In the United States, he explained, President Donald Trump was relying increasingly on fascist elements to impose his crackdown on immigrants and refugees and advance war preparations against the nuclear powers Russia and China. Now, he has proclaimed the fight against socialism, and thereby made it clear what the mobilisation of the right-wing dregs of society is all about: Suppressing the growing opposition in the working class to war, social inequality and attacks on democratic rights. Alex Lantier, national secretary of the Parti degalite socialiste (Socialist Equality Party), the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, spoke from Paris about the growth of the class struggle in Europe and worldwide. He cited the protests of the yellow vests in France, the mass demonstrations in Algeria, the teachers strike in Poland and the strikes and protests of nurses and care-givers in Portugal. Even Berlin, where the German bourgeoisie dreams of becoming the hegemon of a remilitarised and capitalist Europe without social concessions, is the centre of a political counter-offensive by workers, Lantier said. In order to unite and successfully conduct these struggles, it is necessary to build national sections of the ICFI as the revolutionary vanguard of the working class. Workers have in mind the example of the revolutionary uprising of the Egyptian workers in 2011, where three years of heroic struggle ended in 2013 with a bloody coup by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. This is an unforgettable lesson that has been paid for with thousands of lives: Protests are not enough to defeat the ruling class. Workers need a revolutionary leadership. Ulrich Rippert The chairman of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, Ulrich Rippert, focused his remarks on this central question. He recalled that this year marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was the beginning of German capitalist reunification and, a short time later, the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Only the Trotskyist movement had a correct assessment of this fundamental political upheaval and fought for a progressive perspective, said Rippert. Thats what makes our party so strong. While the German Socialist Unity Party/Party of Democratic Socialismthe predecessor of todays Left Partyand the other Stalinist parties in Eastern Europe restored and defended capitalism, the ICFI alone opposed the official propaganda proclaiming the demise of these regimes as the end of history. The ICFI tirelessly stressed that with the end of the Soviet Union, it was not socialism that had failed, but Stalinism. Now it was clear that the supposed triumph of capitalism did not bring peace, social progress or democracy, but exactly the opposite: massive social inequality, authoritarianism and the return of fascism and war. Rippert stressed that the return of these evils was a result of the historic crisis of capitalism, but at the same time created the conditions to overcome them. He pointed to the explosive development of the class struggle and quoted from the founding programme of the Fourth International, written by Leon Trotsky: The turn is now to the proletariat, i.e., chiefly to its revolutionary vanguard. The historical crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership. Ripperts concluding appeal for all in attendance to become politically active and participate in the construction of the Fourth International as the World Party of Socialist Revolution was well received. Most of the participants who were attending an SGP event for the first time, including two workers from Italy, signed up to get involved. Many expressed gratitude for the partys defence of Julian Assange, saying they wanted to join the campaign for his release and support the SGP campaign. Last Tuesday, members of the Graduate Employees Organization Local 6297 (GEO), the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) graduate student union, voted to ratify a new contract with the University administration. The three-year deal increases the minimum salary for graduate student workers by $2,550 over three years and provides some small reductions in university fees and cost of health care. On the following Wednesday night, UICs faculty union announced a 93 percent yes vote to authorize a strike. The faculty will continue bargaining with the administration, with the first day of a potential strike being April 26. The GEO has proclaimed its agreement to be a massive success and the contract to be the best deal in the organizations history. However, the reality is that grad students at UIC will continue to struggle to meet basic cost-of-living expenses while working for a tier-1 research university. The agreement in no way changes the basic fact of the massive exploitation of graduate students. Whatever the wage increases contained in the deal, they will be eaten up by fees. Pursuing a strategy based on appealing to the UIC administration and ultimately the Democratic Party, which oversees UIC, this sellout deal was the inevitable outcome. Grad students demonstrated great courage in taking up this fight. However, from the outset, the unions sought to isolate and sabotage their struggle and prevent it from linking up with broader struggles of the working class. Significantly, the GEO decided to call off the strike just as other sections of the UIC campus were rallying around the grad students. Undergraduate students at UIC, who overwhelmingly supported the strike, had planned class walkouts for Friday, April 5. Despite this, the GEO shut down the strike the Thursday night before. In addition, there was the UIC faculty union strike authorization vote. These developments were emerging well before the grad student agreement was finalized. There was a potential to unite the entire campus, undergraduates and graduates alike, with a simultaneous strike by the faculty. But instead, the decision was made to wrap up the strike before the situation could develop further. One fact noted by supporters of the GEO in response to the perspective advanced by the World Socialist Web Site is that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)/Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) played no role in the strike and that there was no support from the parent union. Indeed, the AFT/IFT did not provide any strike pay or funding to UIC grad students during their strike. Instead, the GEO had to set up a Go Fund Me to help students who struggled to make rent payments. This poses the question to every UIC grad worker and every other educator currently under the AFT: Why pay union dues ? Historically, one justification for the payment of union dues was to provide a strike fund for workers so they could continue to sustain themselves during a long strike period. Instead, as an affiliate of the AFT, the GEO has given more than a million dollars in membership dues throughout its existence to fund the salary and perks of the likes of AFT President Randi Weingarten, who takes in nearly half a million dollars a year, about the same amount paid to some of UICs top administrators. Under conditions where the AFT withheld strike pay and where the GEO leadership offered concessions to demonstrate their willingness to bargain, it is no wonder that grad students felt they had little choice but to ratify the deal they were presented, inadequate as it was. Just days after the agreement, the administration is already looking for ways to punish students for the strike. Indeed, UICs administration has yet to ratify the contract. Should they hold off on signing the agreement until May 3, the end of the semester, current grad workers will lose their retroactive pay raise. By carefully keeping the strike confined within the union bargaining process, this kind of legal end-run around the agreement could have been expected. The GEO having done its part, grad students are now at the mercy of the administration. It should be stressed that the strike by UIC grad students was part of a broader movement internationally by educators in defense of public education as a whole. The past year has seen a strike wave of teachers in the United States starting in West Virginia in February 2018 and continuing in Oklahoma, Kentucky, California and other areas. Now in Poland, hundreds of thousands of teachers have begun a national strike to protest austerity and social reaction. In all of these struggles, including the UIC strike, the same basic issue is at playpublic services like education are being starved of resources and driven to the brink of collapse while the global capitalist class of billionaires, like Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, hoard the vast majority of societys wealth. Indeed, Pritzker manages the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and has appointed several members of its management board, largely corporate figures and wealthy investors. This situation is the outcome of years of artificial suppression of the class struggle by trade unions such as the AFT, with which the GEO is affiliated through the IFT. In one struggle after another over the past 40 years, the unions have stepped in to either block strike action, or where that is not possible, to ensure that the conflict is isolated and subordinated to the Democratic Party. Further, a host of pseudo-left organizations, such as the Democratic Socialists of America, have intervened to keep the struggles of teachers and other workers subordinated to the unions and the Democratic Party. Based on their nationalist and pro-capitalist program, the unions are hostile to any expression by workers of their independent interest and largely dependent on the patronage of sections of the ruling elite, primarily that faction oriented to the Democratic Party. In return for the right to collect dues from their captive members, the unions serve the corporate bosses as a labor police force in the service of capitalism. The experience of the last four decades by autoworkers, teachers, United Parcel Service workers, airline workers and others demonstrates that any workers struggle that is kept within this framework of the trade unions is doomed to defeat. The only way for graduate teaching assistants and all workers to meet their demands is to understand the enormous power they have and the complete antagonism of interests with the parasitic layer of billionaires and their servants in the union bureaucracy. Only through an independent industrial and political movement of the working class can real gains be made. This requires that workers organize independently of the unions through building rank-and-file committees democratically elected among the workers themselves. Grad students, and now UIC faculty, must conclude that there is no way forward within the framework being imposed by the unions. The fight to defend public education will not be won by appeals to the forces that are seeking to dismantle it. Educators must turn outward to the working class and to the youth to mount an independent fight to secure their basic rights to live, work, and teach. This can only be done by a conscious political movement of the working class to place the worlds productive forces under democratic control to be used to meet the interests of social need, not private profit. With each week, the election campaign in the worlds largest democracy becomes fouler and more toxic, as Indias rival capitalist politicians make communalist taunts and bellicose threats, and seek to hoodwink voters with phony promises. The campaigns tone is being set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With unabashed support from much of the corporate media, the BJP is relentlessly promoting Modi, who first came to national prominence by helping incite the 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom, as a strongman, who personifies a rising, more assertive India. Modi, or so the BJP narrative goes, has delivered world-beating economic growth, while staggering Indias archrival Pakistan with cross-border ground and air strikes. The opposition partiesand this is true of the twin Stalinist parliamentary parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), no less than the Congress Partyhave responded by declaring their undying support for Indias heroic armed forces. Modi and his BJP, they lamely object, are weakening national unity in the fight against Pakistan by politicizing the air strikes India carried out deep inside Pakistan in late February, bringing South Asias rival nuclear-armed powers to the brink of all-out war. While pursuing election strategies based on crass attempts to leverage various caste and regional identities, the BJPs opponents are making calibrated appeals to popular anger over the social crisis that stalks rural and urban India, the BJPs economic-growth boasts notwithstanding. However, their denunciations of agrarian distress and jobless growth have limited currency, for they themselves have all pursued neoliberal, pro-investor policies akin to those implemented by Modi and his BJP whenever and wherever they have held office. First among equals in this regard is the Congress Party, until recently the Indian bourgeoisies principal party of government. The Congress Party initiated and in two terms of government (1991-1996 and 2004-2014) pushed through the key policy changes aimed at making India a cheap-labour hub for global capital. Yet it is once again cynically trying to pose as an advocate for the poor, trumpeting a smoke-and-mirrors electoral promise to provide a guaranteed income to the poorest 20 percent of Indian households. Indias general election is being held in seven regional phases over seven weeks because of the need to deploy large numbers of security forces to ensure the integrity of the vote. The first round of voting was held April 11. A second round will take place this Thursday, with polls held in 97 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, including all 39 constituencies in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and a sprinkling in each of the countrys four most populous states, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Bihar. Voting will conclude on May 19, with the ballots from all stages to be counted on May 23. In 2014, the BJP election manifesto included many longstanding communalist pledges aimed at transforming India into a Hindu Raj (Hindu state), such as the building of a temple to the Hindu god Ram on the site of the razed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. However, the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) placed promises of jobs and development at the centre of their campaign to unseat the decade-old Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. To be sure, this was a hoax. Development was a euphemism for big business policiessocial spending cuts and a new wave of privatizations and other pro-investor reformsthat have served to swell the fortunes of Indias capitalist elite while leaving the vast majority mired in poverty and squalor. That the BJP is so relentlessly striking the keys of militarism and communalism in 2019 is, nonetheless, a measure of its apprehensiveness. Through the politics of Indian/Hindu assertion, Modi and company are desperately seeking to turn attention away from a jobs crisis that is affecting everyone from the rural poor to university graduates, and to divert mounting social frustration and anger behind reaction and war. If anything, these noxious appeals have reached a new intensity with the start of voting. Modi routinely accuses the Congress of being pro-Pakistan, while boasting of the BJPs affinity with, and devotion to, the armed forces. Speaking Sunday in Indian-held Kashmir, the principal flashpoint in the Indo-Pakistani conflict, Modi denounced the Congress for having systematically undermined Indias armed forces. The Congress, claimed Indias prime minister, has always belittled the ability of the army, its strength and accomplishments. Stoking violent hostility to Muslims, BJP President Amit Shah recently described migrants from Bangladesh, which was an integral part of India until the 1947 communal Partition, as termites. Campaigning late last week in West Bengal, Shah declared, Illegal immigrants are like termites. They are eating the grain that should go to the poor, they are taking our jobs. Shah went on to vow that a re-elected BJP government will pick up infiltrators one by one and throw them into the Bay of Bengal. Shah and the BJP are promising to create a National Registry of Citizens, under which Muslims (but not Hindus and Buddhists) who cannot prove Indian citizenship will be summarily expelled. On Monday, Indias Election Commission, which is mandated to administer strict rules banning appeals to communal hatred, slapped a 72-hour ban on Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP star campaigner Yogi Adityanath from speaking at election rallies in response to his crude attacks on Muslims, including describing them as a green virus. The virulence of the BJP campaign is causing unease among some sections of the Indian elite. They fear that the BJPs relentless promotion of communalism and attempts to identify itself with and court military support will undermine the popular legitimacy of the Indian state and destabilize the armed forces and other core state institutions. But most of the BJPs big-business and corporate media critics continue to contrast what they view as the so-called good Modithe advocate of neoliberal reform and an ever-closer military-strategic alliance with Washingtonwith the bad communal firebrand Modi. In reality, the two are inseparable. If Indias rapacious ruling elite has found its political leader in a communalist gangster like Modi, it is because it can find a popular base for carrying through its socially incendiary socioeconomic agenda only within the forces of social reaction. Meanwhile, the Congress Party, the Indian bourgeoisies traditional party of government, connives with, and cowers before, the Hindu right, as it has done for decades. Last year, in preparation for the 2019 general election, the Congress made a pronounced turn toward Hindutva-lite politics. Rahul Gandhi, the latest member of the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty to lead the Congress Party, toured Hindu temples, while the Congress Party championed cow protection and other Hindu communalist causes in various state election campaigns. When the Congress published its election manifesto at the beginning of this month, even the Indian Express noted in an editorial, In comparison to its earlier manifestos in 2009 and 2014, the Congress is less forthcoming on minorities, which have felt besieged in the BJP-led regime. Nevertheless, the Congress and a host of right-wing casteist and regionalist parties, many of which have previously aligned with the BJP, are stumping for votes by casting themselves as the defenders of secularism against the divisive BJP and its fascist ideology. In promoting this canard, the two major groupings of opposition partiesthe Congress-led UPA and an ad hoc, semiformal alliance of regional and caste-based parties sometimes called the Federal Frontare being given critical assistance by the Stalinist Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and their Left Front. Claiming that the fate of democracy and the Indian Republic are in the balance, the Stalinists are calling for an Anybody but BJP vote. They are urging working people to vote for whichever party or alliance of parties is best positioned to defeat the BJP/NDA in a given state, and pledging to strive in the elections aftermath to bring to power and support an alternative secular government, i.e., a right-wing bourgeois government committed to neoliberal reform and the Indo-US military alliance. This is a perpetuation and doubling down of the same ruinous course the Stalinists have pursued for the past three decades. Only today, under conditions of global capitalist breakdown, the Indian working class is mounting increasingly militant struggles as part of a growing international counteroffensive of the working class, and the bourgeoisie is hurtling still further to the right, embracing reaction, authoritarianism and militarism. Since 1991, the CPM has justified its suppression of the class struggle and subordination of the working class to the BJPs big-business political opponents, including proppng up a succession of right-wing governments, most of them Congress-led, on the grounds this was the only way to stop the BJP from coming to power. As a result, the bourgeoisie was able to gorge on the increased exploitation of the working class, and with Indias workers prevented from advancing their own socialist solution to the capitalist crisis, the Hindu right was able to batten off of social despair and grow stronger still. Democratic rights cannot be defended, and communal reaction defeated, by clutching to the right-wing, pro-imperialist parties of the Indian bourgeoisie and the decrepit institutions of the Indian capitalist state. Rather, in India, as around the world, the rise of social reaction underscores the urgency of the working class constituting itself as an independent political force and fighting for workers power. Indonesian elections will be held tomorrow, not only for the presidency, but also, for the first time, simultaneously for the national parliament as well as provincial and local governments. The elections, now held every five years, involve carefully vetted candidates backed by rival factions of the ruling class, none of whom represents the interests of the working class and rural poor. The contest for the presidency epitomises the limited character of the election. Joko Widodo, a former small businessman, won the presidency in 2014 by posturing as a man of the people who would help working people. He was backed by former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). His vice-presidential running mate was Jusef Kalla, a senior figure in Golkar, the political instrument of the Suharto dictatorship. In one of his first actions as president, Widodo abolished fuel price subsidiesa regressive measure that hit the poorest sections of the population the hardest through increased fuel and transport prices. The decision was a clear signal to international finance capital that Widodo would meet its demands for massive infrastructure spending and pro-market reforms. Widodos opponent in tomorrows election is Prabowo Subianto, whom he defeated in 2014. Prabowo is a former son-in-law of the dictator Suharto and a notorious ex-special forces commander. That Prabowo is standing for the presidency and is not in jail for his crimes, underscores the fact that the military and state bureaucracy remain a powerful behind-the-scenes force two decades after Suharto was forced to step down. As he did in 2014, Prabowo is basing his campaign on nationalist demagogy, directed in particular against China, and appeals to Islamist bigotry. The ex-general has attacked Widodo over his deals with China to finance components of his massive infrastructure plans, worth an estimated $340 billion. China has heavily backed the controversial $59 billion high-speed rail link between Jakarta and Bandung that is bogged down in land acquisition and regulatory issues. Anti-Chinese chauvinism directed against the countrys Chinese minority and Chinese-owned businesses has been the stock-in-trade for Indonesian politicians for decades. This now intersects with the escalating US confrontation with China and Washingtons efforts to undermine Beijing politically and diplomatically in Asia. Widodo, like leaders throughout the regime, has sought to balance between the US and China, which has become the leading investor in Indonesia. Prabowo has accused Widodo of being too soft on China and of allowing too many Chinese workers to work on Chinese-funded projects. He has declared he will review all projects if he wins the presidency. While Prabowo has not attracted open support from Washington, his anti-China stance is in tune with the Trump administrations aggressive policies. Prabowo has been backed by hard-line Islamist parties and organizations, such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). The FPI played a prominent role in the persecution and jailing of former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama on bogus charges of blasphemy in 2017. Basuki, a Christian, was a protege and prominent ally of Widodo and the campaign was also aimed at politically weakening the president. In a bid to burnish his religious credentials, Widodo has chosen an Islamic cleric, Maruf Amin, as his running mate for this years election. Just days before the election, the president also made quick visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with the king and other senior Saudi officials on Sunday before making a brief pilgrimage to Mecca. Widodo has attacked Prabowos lack of economic experience, while claiming that his own policies would result in continued economic growth. Prabowos vice-presidential candidate is a wealthy businessman, Sandiaga Uno. Their campaign has made bogus promises to lower food and fuel prices, and to cut food imports so as to assist small farmers. Both Widodo and Prabowo are candidates of the wealthy cliques that dominate Indonesian politics. While Widodo is the favourite of foreign investors and their local partners, Prabowo favours more protectionist policies aimed at assisting less globally competitive sections of the business elite. Neither has the slightest concern for the tens of millions of impoverished workers and peasants in Indonesia. The Indonesian economy has been growing at about 5 percent annually in real terms, boosting Widodos claims to be creating a prosperous country. However, in an article entitled Widodo boasts about economy but Indonesia could do better, the Financial Times noted the countrys large current account deficit and dependence on foreign inflows to finance government debt. It compared Indonesia unfavourably to Vietnam, which has experienced far higher levels of foreign investment. Election polling, which is particularly unreliable in Indonesia, has Widodo in front of his rival by as much as 24 percentage points. But the lack of certainty has led to a slowdown in foreign investment in the lead-up to the election. A senior bank financier told the Nikkei Asian Review last week he had been getting a lot of calls from investors asking if there was any chance or possibility or any surprise that [Prabowo] will win. While Widodo appears likely to be re-elected, he may face greater opposition in Indonesias lower house of parliamentthe Peoples Representative Council (PRC). A coalition led by Megawatis PDI-P, which is again backing Widodo, has dominated the PRC but some commentators are predicting that its majority will narrow substantially. Achmad Sukarsono, an analyst with Control Risks, told CNBC: We expect the next parliament to be more fractured. All this points to a more convoluted and disputed parliamentary process, and consequently a president with a diminished ability to enact his agenda. The poll tomorrow involves some 193 million voters. They will queue up at more than 800,000 polling stations across the archipelago to elect office bearers at five levels of government. The preliminary outcome of the election will likely be known by the end of the day after the collation of quick counts, but the official results will not be known for weeks. WSWS reporters spoke about the arrest and imprisoning of Julian Assange with young people who attended last Fridays rally against climate change in Leeds, England. Martha Martha, a student at Notre Dame College in Leeds said, I have known that Julian Assange had been threatened with arrest for a while. Now it has happened and its terrible. Home Secretary Sajid Javid and the Tory government are afraid of what the US government will do if they dont toe the line. They are not brave enough to stand up to the US. Assange is in the forefront of the fight for freedom of speech against corrupt governments, especially by revealing US state security secrets. I agree that this attack on Assange is an attack on all reporting and all truth telling. I think [Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn is lazy. Only now is he saying what should have happened. The left wing in general needs to be more active in opposing [far right] populism in Europe. I think we should do whatever it takes to secure freedom for Assange and save him from being punished for doing the right thing. Eddie, a Leeds music student said, Assange is guilty of being a hero, guilty of telling the truth, guilty of exposing US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. When he was arrested some people said the police were only doing their job. But does that mean arresting someone who has done nothing wrong and in fact has done the right thing? The attack on Assange is an attack on democracy and on freedom of speech. As for Jeremy Corbyn, its not just yesterday but what has he been doing for the whole four years of his leadership of the Labour Party? Callum Callum, a politics student from Leeds said, In terms of his political work Assange is definitely a hero. He told the truth about the terrible things that the US government have done in Afghanistan and Iraq; war crimes committed in the name of peace. But the whole world knows it was all about oil. I recently saw the video showing British troops shooting at pictures of Jeremy Corbyn. I think its symptomatic of the attitude of the military to politics. I have friends in the army cadets. They have told me that the officers encourage them to be racist and homophobic. Some of them rebel but others are indoctrinated. It makes it difficult to be friends with them. The authorities say that they are doing things peacefully but its never like that. Think about what happened at Charlottesville [a peaceful counter-protest in the United States attacked by far-right forces] as opposed to left-wing rallies. The left-wing get maced, they get rubber bullets constantly. The right-wing get to patrol the streets and attack innocent people. That sort of thing really shows the position of the state. On Monday evening, an intense fire devastated Notre-Dame cathedral, the most frequently visited monument in Paris, with 14 million annual visitors. The fire that broke out at about 6:50 p.m. (local time) in the wooden frame of the roof of the cathedral brought down the spire approximately one hour later, and then totally destroyed the roof. A tall column of thick, yellowish smoke that poured out of the cathedral, consumed by the flames, cast a pall over the city. The cathedral staff rapidly evacuated tourists who were inside, and the security forces evacuated nearby neighborhoods of Cite Island in Paris. When the flames spread inside the cathedral and reached the north tower, at about 9 p.m., Assistant Interior Minister Laurent Nunez issued a communique that it was not guaranteed that the structure of the cathedral would be saved. However, at about 11 p.m., firefighters announced that The structure of Notre-Dame cathedral is saved and preserved overall. As 500 firefighters continued to battle the flames late into the night, one firefighter was injured and the heat inside the cathedral caused by molten lead from the collapsed roof remained intense. At approximately 11 p.m., the Paris prosecutors office opened an investigation of involuntary destruction via fire, seemingly ruling out the possibility that the fire was caused by arson. At the time of the fires outbreak, major work was being done on the roof, where large scaffolding had been set up. The possibility that an accidental fire was triggered by work being done at the site currently has the attention of investigators, given the current state of the investigations, said a judicial source close to the probes. Millions of people in France and internationally are in shock, faced with the devastation of an edifice whose construction began in 1153 and lasted two centuries, and which now is part of the cultural heritage of all of humanity. Thousands of people went to the neighborhoods of Paris near the cathedral on Monday evening. One woman spoke to BFM TV through her tears and said: I am a witness to a disaster. I am not particularly religious, but this is a symbol of our beautiful city, which already is not in a very good state, so this makes me extremely sad. It is really sad, the saddest thing I have ever seen in my life, said Sam Ogden, a British tourist who had come to Paris to visit the cathedral. Countless art works visited and photographed by hundreds of millions of people around the world have suffered damage that is yet to be determined. These include three rose windows made of stained glass dating to the 13th century, and three organs, including the famous great organ, with its five keyboards, 109 registers and nearly 8,000 pipes. It is unclear what impact the intense heat has had on the structural integrity of the stone of which the cathedral is built. The sadness felt at the loss to humanity resulting from the fire inevitably recalls other tragedies, such as the plundering of the Iraqi national museum under the watch of NATO countries occupation troops after the illegal 2003 invasion, or the Brazilian National Museum fire last year. The Brazilian governments austerity measures had deprived the museum in Rio of necessary fire protection. Firefighters arriving to fight the flames found themselves without ladders and with unusable fire hydrants. It is difficult to understand at this point how Notre-Dame cathedral could have found itself defenseless in the face of this type of fire. The vulnerability of French cathedral spires and roofs to fire has been well known for many centuries, with the cathedrals of Reims and Chartres having suffered major fires of this type in 1481 and 1506, respectively. Notre-Dame was spared major fires not only during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but also during the French Revolution and the Paris Commune, when Parisian workers attacked the structure as they rose up against the Church, and also during the two world wars of the 20th century. Despite all the vast technological advances that humanity has made in the 21st century, it is in this century that the famous cathedral was ravaged by fire. Serious questions are posed, with budgets in France and across Europe entirely turned to austerity and tax cuts for the rich, as to whether the allocation of more money on the renovation of Notre-Dame and its fire security could have averted or at least contained a blaze that ended up devastating the entire building. It was left to US President Donald Trump to tweet a suggestion to send flying water tankers used in forest fires to dump water onto the cathedral in a desperate attempt to fight the flames, a comment that quickly drew a retort from Frances General Directorate of Civil Security: The weight of the water and the intensity of the release at low attitude could, in fact, make the structure of Notre-Dame fragile and cause collateral damage to nearby buildings. President Emmanuel Macron visited the Notre-Dame site, accompanied by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Earlier in the evening, Macron had postponed a planned speech in response to the demands of the yellow vest movement, which has carried out five months of protests against Macron and his policies of austerity and widening social inequality. Statements of solidarity came from governments around the world. The German, British, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese governments, as well as the Vatican and the city of London, all made statements indicating their sadness. Macron, for his part, gave a brief and perfunctory speech in front of the cathedral, pledging that it would be rebuilt. It seems likely that the cathedral will now be closed for repairs for a number of years. On April 13-14, the UK-based Historical Materialism journal and the US-based Jacobin magazine held their Socialism in Our Time conference in New York City. The event brought together most of the major pseudo-left organizations in the United States, with the dominant political line provided by the Democratic Socialists of America, with which Jacobin is associated. The conference had, in fact, nothing to do with socialism, either in our time or any other. A more accurate title for the event would have been, Democratic Party Politics in Our Time. The entire event and its 74 panels and workshops was an exercise in political evasion and duplicity, in which every single significant political issue was ignored or covered over in soporific phrases aimed at justifying support for the trade unions and, above all, the Democratic Party campaign of Bernie Sanders, which Jacobin and the DSA are enthusiastically promoting. There was no discussion of the rise of the far-right and fascistic movements internationally, the significance of the growth of the class struggle, or the danger of world war. No one provided any serious assessment of the Trump administration or the role of the Democratic Party in facilitating its right-wing policies. While it was held just two days after the arrest of Julian Assange in London, this also went unmentioned. No one considered that the seizure of the WikiLeaks founder and his threatened rendition to the United States had any relationship to the building of a socialist movement. As for history, an ostensible theme of the conference, the participants studiously avoided any reference to the historical record, which would only expose their own record of betrayal and treachery. In January, the Socialist Equality Party submitted a panel proposal to the conference under the headline The fight against fascism and the lessons of history. The featured speaker was to be Christoph Vandreier, deputy national secretary of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) in Germany and author of Why Are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany. The SEP panel proposal was rejected by the conference organizers. Any expression of genuine socialist politics was to be excluded. Only one panel at the conference was focused on the political situation in Germany, Germanys Hidden Crisis, in which no mention was made of the rise of the fascistic Alternative for Germany (AfD). Instead, it was dominated by a demoralized discussion on how transformations in Germanys economy had supposedly pitted sections of the working class against each other and undermined the basis for left-wing politics. The main conference panel, Why the Socialist Movement Needs Our Own Party, encapsulated the prevailing political perspective. It featured Todd Chretien, a leader of the International Socialist Organization until its dissolution last month; Jacobin editor and DSA member Bhaskar Sunkara; and Jacobin writer and DSA member Meagan Day. Sunkara summed up the unseriousness of everyone involved. I dont have the answers, he declared on three separate occasions in his opening statement, a phrase repeated later by Chretien. This declaration of political irrelevancy is no doubt true with regard to most matters about which Sunkara spoke. However, as for the question of the Democratic Party, his answer was clear. The DSA, he asserted, is seeking to curate the first party of the working class in the shell of the old partythat is, the Democratic Party. He added that in time there may be a struggle for our own ballot line, but he clearly viewed this as something happening in the far distant future. Sunkara was perhaps pleased with himself for having hit on a new way of formulating the tired Democratic Party politics that the DSA has supported since its inception. The DSA is in fact not curating anything within the Democratic Party but its own ambitions for positions. It is now staking everything on the presidential election campaign of the 77-year-old Bernie Sanders, whose victory in 2020 is being presented in Jacobin as the beginning of the end of poverty in America. Sanders is merely the vehicle through which they are justifying support for the Democratic Party. If he were to be nominated, the DSA would defend every betrayal he would inevitably carry out. Aside from the unprincipled character of subordinating their own activities to this right-wing, big-business party, the DSAs whole political strategy revolves around one man, five years older than the current president. What if Sanders is unable to continue? The answer is the same as if he loses the nomination: the DSA will back whatever right-wing candidate the Democratic Party selects. Chretien was one of several of the political refugees hauled ashore from the wreckage of the ISO participating in the conference. Of the dissolution of his former party, which had been in existence for more than four decades and was shut down in a matter of weeks, Chretien had almost nothing to say. While the ISO had been a significant organization on the left which fought against the constraints of the time, he said, we were built for a period of defeats. When confronted with a new period, our own shortcomings short-circuited, doing so in a smooth way. As the WSWS has analyzed, behind the crisis in the ISO, set off by a scandal over allegations of rape, is the sharp shift to the right of the middle-class forces that it has cultivated and recruited on the basis of identity politics. The organization had developed extensive financial relationships with Democratic Party-aligned foundations, which have financed its nonprofit umbrella organization, the Center for Economic Research and Social Change (CERSC), with millions of dollars. Following the short-circuiting, Chretien said, former members are currently engaged in taking a breath as they worked out how they would participate in building a new left. The breath of Chretien and other ISO ex-members, however, is not particularly deep. They have already begun to search for a new place for themselves within the Democratic Party. During his opening remarks, Chretien suggested meekly that we need our own party, citing as possible models Podemos in Spain, the African National Congress in South Africa, AMLO in Mexico, and, particularly, Syriza in Greece. All are bourgeois parties playing a significant role in maintaining capitalist rule. Syriza, the coalition of the radical left, has been in power in Greece for more than four years, during which time it has enforced the austerity measures demanded by the European banks and served as a frontline for the EUs anti-refugee policy. Chretiens statement about needing our own party prompted Sunkara to state that Todd was outnumbered on the panel by DSA members, before correcting himself: Were all one family together. To this, Chretien readily agreed, proclaiming that while he thinks the Bernie Sanders campaign has some weaknesses, it is a starting point that we can build upon and provides a real electoral opening. The DSA is a faction of the Democratic Party, while the ISO has previously served as an auxiliary agency, supporting the Democrats from the outside. Its dissolution is an expression of the fact that, under conditions of growing class struggle, the ISO found it impossible to any longer pretend any independence from bourgeois politics. This determination to uphold the Democratic Party takes place as the Democrats are themselves moving further to the right. For the past two-and-a-half years, the Democrats have centered their opposition to Trump on their anti-Russia campaign, which has been used to justify Internet censorship, attacks on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, and demands for more aggressive war in the Middle East and against Russia. The ISO played a particularly prominent role in supporting the imperialist agenda of the US intelligence agencies for which the Democrats speak. This was expressed at the conference in a number of panels featuring former ISO leader Ashley Smith, which were dedicated to denouncing those who oppose the US war drive in Syria. At one of these panels, Rebuilding principled anti-imperialism, Shireen Akram-Boshar, who had written regularly for the ISOs Socialist Worker website, attacked those who place a hyperfocus on US imperialism, and criticized the US government for not supplying more weapons to the CIA-backed opposition in Syria. It was the DSAs Meagan Day who provided the clearest exposition of the outlook of the event as a whole. Pointing to the role of Social Democratic parties in Europe, she said, We dont have institutions that can stab us in the back yet. My position is that we have to build these institutions. This statement can serve as an adequate summary of the role of the DSA, the ex-ISO, and the other pseudo-left organizations present at the Socialism in Our Time conferencewith the proviso that it is not themselves who will be stabbed in the back, but the working class. As for the upper-middle class layers that these organizations represent, they are hoping to participate in the operation. The working class, however, will have its own say in the matter. The Socialist Equality Party is standing candidates in the 2019 federal election in order to build a political movement of the working class on a socialist program, to oppose the unprecedented levels of social inequality, the danger of world war, the development of authoritarian forms of rule and the re-emergence of fascist forces. For the ruling elites this election is one of unparalleled crisis, marked by deepening hostility to the entire political establishment. The Liberal-National Party government, despised by the working class, is controlled by extreme right-wingers, including Morrison, Dutton and Abbott. They carried out a leadership coup against Turnbull to take the Liberal Party even further to the right, while their policiesabove all, their attacks on refugees and immigrants, together with their promotion of militarism and nationalismare aimed at fostering fascist movements directed against the working class. Lacking any positive popular support, the Labor Party hopes to come to power through duplicity and deceit. Behind closed doors its leader, Shorten, tells the major corporations that Labor will maintain the countrys credit rating and boost profits. At the same time, he makes populist pitches to workers and young people about fairness, including promises to legislate a living wage. These are worthless. As Labor has done for the past three decades, a Shorten government will impose new economic burdens on the working class. To a greater extent than ever before, this election will be characterised by lies and diversions, as the parties of the political establishment, together with the corporate media, work to cover over the real situation facing working people. The SEP is the only party telling the truth: there is no basis for the reform of the capitalist system. Whatever government emerges after the election will intensify the attacks on living standards and social conditions, accelerate the evisceration of democratic rights and collaborate in the drive to war. The vital issue facing the working class is not the futile attempt to change the mindset of the ruling elites through the ballot box, but the development of its own independent political movement for socialism, to abolish the profit system, the source of all the social ills and political dangers it confronts. Fundamental to the fight for socialism is the principle of internationalism: that workers must consciously strive to unify their struggles across national borders to meet the great dangers posed by the crisis of the global profit system. The SEP is utterly opposed to the putrid Australian nationalism and anti-refugee xenophobia that is used to divide workers from their class brothers and sisters around the world. Capitalism threatens a return to the horrors of the 1930s and 1940s. International relations increasingly take the form of gangsterism, as the major powers seek geo-strategic and economic advantage against their rivals and nominal allies alike. The objective contradiction between the global economy and the capitalist nation-state system is once again bursting to the surface, giving rise to innumerable flashpointsin the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific and Europethat can suddenly erupt into a devastating war between nuclear-armed states. In Australia, as in the rest of the world, all the economic and financial institutions are mechanisms for siphoning off the wealth produced by the labour of the working class and pouring it into the pockets of the ultra-rich. At same time, however, the solution is emerging in the form of immense struggles by the working class, the outcome of which will determine the fate of society. The growing international upsurge of the working classfrom the struggles of teachers in the US, auto workers strikes in Mexico, to the yellow vest movement in Franceis characterised by a revolt against the establishment political parties and unions, which have played the key role in suppressing the class struggle and enforcing the austerity dictates of the financial oligarchies on the mass of working people. Deeply fearful of the upsurge of working-class struggles, the ruling classes internationally are responding by promoting fascist groups and parties and instituting authoritarian forms of rule. Their onslaught on democratic rights is epitomised by the arrest and jailing of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange and the continued incarceration of courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning, in an attempt to force her to give false testimony against Assange. Their only crimes have been to expose the criminal wars and interventions of the US and its allies, including Australia, and reveal the truth. Fascism is re-emerging around the world. In the US, President Donald Trump seeks to create a fascist-type movement in a war directed against socialism and the working class, while across Europe, openly fascist parties sit in governments and parliaments. Trump is spearheading the accelerating attack on all forms of democracy, as he scraps the constitutional framework within which the US has been governed for the past two centuries. He is seeking to establish an authoritarian regime to meet the upsurge of the working class. His actions are setting the pace for parallel developments in every country, including Australia. Contrary to the official nationalist myth that Australia is the lucky country, separated from the international class struggle and insulated from the laws of the global capitalist economy, it was profoundly impacted by the financial meltdown of 2008, when the banking system came within days of collapse as the flow of international finance was cut off. Since then the economy has been sustained by a mining boom, which has collapsed, and a housing bubble, which is now in the process of collapse. The slowing of the Australian economy is proceeding at a faster rate than in any other advanced economy, signalling the onset of a deep recession that will spur mass opposition by the working class. Just as in Europe and the US, the ruling class here is nurturing far-right forces. The March 15 massacre in New Zealand was carried out by an Australian fascist. It demonstrates that all the reactionary filth that erupted from the bowels of capitalist society in the 1930s, is spewing forth again, and no country, no matter how isolated or peaceful it may appear, is exempt. Fascism is not yet a mass political movement in any country. But the fascist organisations are supported by the highest levels of the military, police and state apparatus and have been able to exploit the rising levels of frustration, anger and social discontent for their own reactionary ends. To ignore this threat, and fail to act, will court disaster. The bloody historical experiences of the 20th century established an indelible lesson: the fight against fascism and war can only be developed through the independent political mobilisation of the working class on the basis of a socialist program. This perspective forms the foundation of the SEPs election campaign, which we advance as part of the struggle for international socialism waged by our world party, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), and its sections in North America, Europe, and Asia. Our program is based on the following principles: For the international unity of the working class It is impossible to halt the drive to war, climate change and environmental disasters, or the sustained attacks on democratic and social rights, within the borders of a single country. The cutting edge of the fight for socialism is internationalismto unify the working class around the world, end the domination of the global corporate giants and reorganise society to meet the pressing social needs of all humanity. * The SEP opposes all forms of racism and nationalism, which pit worker against worker and scapegoat the most vulnerable layers of the working classparticularly immigrants and refugeesfor the social crisis created by capitalism. We unconditionally defend the basic democratic right of refugees and immigrants to live, study and work in Australia, or anywhere in the world, with full citizenship rights. * The SEP opposes identity politics, including the retrograde #MeToo movement, used by the upper-middle class to enhance their privileged economic and social position. Identity politics is aimed at splitting the working class and obscuring the fact that in capitalist society the fundamental divide is that of classbetween the working class and its exploiters, i.e., those who own the means of production and finance. The democratic and social rights of workers, whatever their gender, sexuality, skin colour or religion can only be defended through a unified movement from below to abolish capitalism. For social equality! A recent Oxfam report found that the worlds richest 26 billionaires owned more wealth than half the worlds populationsome 3.8 billion people. This polarisation is a consequence of decades of conscious economic and social policies, implemented by governments around the world, on behalf of finance capital. In Australia, the top 20 percent of households own 62 percent of all wealth, 100 times more than the poorest 20 percent, which own virtually nothing. At the other pole of society, around three million peopleone in eight adults and one in six childrenlive below the austere official poverty line. Rising unemployment rates, poverty-level welfare entitlements, stagnant real wages, huge housing costs and the prevalence of insecure part-time, casual and contract work all combine to generate immense social stresses, leading to family breakdown, mental health problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and a host of other social problems. * The SEP calls for a vast redistribution of wealth to secure the social rights of all, including the right to a stable and decent-paying job, a living retirement income, free and high-quality public education and health care, affordable housing, and access to culture and the arts. * We call for emergency spending measures to resolve the deepening social and economic crisis that confronts Aboriginal people, as a consequence of Australian capitalisms genocidal destruction of traditional indigenous societies. * These social rights cannot be achieved without ending the domination of a financial and corporate oligarchy over economic life. The major banks, mining transnationals, retail conglomerates, pharmaceutical corporations and communications and energy giants must be expropriated and placed under public ownership and the democratic control of the working class. * A multi-billion-dollar public works program must be initiated to provide full employment, resolve the crises in social services and develop the infrastructure needed to address climate change. Defend democratic rights! Extreme social inequality is incompatible with democratic forms of rule. The determination of the wealthy elite to accumulate ever greater corporate profit and personal wealth, while suppressing any challenge from below, is driving the global embrace of authoritarian and dictatorial forms of rule. Under the fraudulent war on terror, the framework for a police state in Australia has already been erected. Hand-in-hand with the promotion of reactionary Australian nationalism, Labor, Liberal, and the Greens have pushed through further anti-democratic measures. A nationalist witch-hunt in parliament has targeted all those holding, or eligible to hold, dual citizenship. After the High Court interpreted the constitution as requiring unqualified allegiance to Australia, some 50 percent of the population has been stripped of its right to stand in federal electionsmaking this election the most anti-democratic ever held. As well, amid a xenophobic scare campaign against China, draconian foreign interference laws have been enacted, with bipartisan support, that can be used to suppress anti-war opposition, illegalise international political co-operation, and prepare for the mass internment of enemy aliens, as occurred during the two world wars. The entire political and media establishment, in both Australia and New Zealand, bears political responsibility for the Christchurch massacre. The filthy anticommunism and Islamophobia at the centre of Australian fascist Brenton Tarrants manifesto are not far removed from the diatribes emanating from state and national parliaments and the mainstream media. The attack on democratic rights and the associated drive to war finds its most acute expression in the collaboration of Labor and Coalition governments with the vendetta against WikiLeaks founder and editor, Julian Assange. Hostility to Assange from the political establishment, the mass media and the various pseudo-left organisations intensified after 2011, when he was awarded the Walkley award for journalism. It deepened when the Obama administration announced the US pivot to Asia, which was directed against China, and when Washington launched its bloody interventions in Syria and Libya, following the Egyptian revolution. In 2016, the attacks on Assange were stepped up, with denunciations characterising him as a stooge of Putins Russia, following WikiLeaks exposure of Clinton as the direct candidate of Wall Street. This made clear that his ongoing persecution has been bound up with US imperialisms war drive against both Russia and China, and the integration of Australia into it. * The SEP demands that the Australian government protect the rights of Assange, an Australian citizen, and guarantees him safe passage to Australia, without any threat of extradition to the US. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Chelsea Manning, who has been railroaded back to prison for refusing to collaborate with a bogus US grand jury, convened to prosecute Assange. * The SEP will take the fight for Assange and Mannings freedom into the working class, make it a central feature of our election campaign and challenge the political establishments silence on their fate. * The SEP insists that the military-intelligence-police apparatus be dismantled. We demand the abolition of all laws and regulations designed to restrict or outlaw democratic rights, including all anti-strike legislation, section 44 of the constitution, the draconian anti-terror and foreign interference laws and mounting efforts to censor the internet and media. For the political independence of the working class! For a workers government! In every country around the world, the re-emergence of the working class is assuming the form of deepening hostility to the entire social and political order. Desperate to suppress and divert this movement, the trade unions seek to boost false and lingering illusions that Labor represents an alternative to the Liberals, or at least a lesser evil. Conscious of the enormous social anger that has built up, they warn of a tsunami of social unrest. But, as the industrial police force for big business and government, the unions will do everything they possibly can to isolate, demoralise and suppress any independent movement of the working class, as they have done for decades. The lessons of these experiences must be drawn and action upon. The Hawke-Keating Labor government of 198396 smashed every independent organisation of the working class, as it integrated Australia into the free market framework of global finance capital, initiating the greatest redistribution of wealth up the income scale in history. The Rudd-Gillard Labor governments, with the collaboration of the trade unions, enacted the Fair Work legislation, virtually outlawing strikes and other forms of industrial action. The Shorten Labor party leadership has designated the Hawke-Keating government as the model it will follow. Shortens pathetic populism is a desperate attempt to imitate figures like British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Yet what has been the experience of British workers? Despite its left face, the Corbyn leadership has demonstrated that the Labour Party is a pillar of the capitalist establishment. After opposing any struggle against the hated right-wing Blairites within the Labour party, Corbyn has now come to rescue the Tory prime minister, Theresa May, from the Brexit crisis, by agreeing to her appeal for "national unity to deliver the national interest." The Australian Greens rest on a privileged layer of upper-middle class professionals and green business interests. Promoting themselves as the party of parliamentary stability, they work to prop up whichever party forms government, and to defend its anti-working class policies. The various pseudo-left formationsSocialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative, and their parochial Melbourne-based electoral front, the Victorian Socialistsalso represent layers of the affluent middle class. Their chief function is to maintain the threadbare illusion that progressive change can be achieved through Labor and the trade unions. As the political establishment swings ever further to the right, so too have these fake leftsbacking US-led wars in Syria and Libya, and the reactionary, anti-democratic nostrums of identity politics. * The Socialist Equality Party provides the only genuine means for young people and workers to develop the struggle against capitalism. We call on workers to establish factory and workplace rank-and-file committees, democratically elected by the workers, to break the trade union straitjacket that prevents them from fighting for decent wages, conditions, and secure jobs. We advocate the establishment of workers action committees to defend basic social rights, and have already taken the initiative to form the Committee for Public Education. * Genuine socialism is revolutionarywe advocate not paltry reforms, which the ruling class will never accept, but social revolution; that is, the mobilisation of the working class to take political power and establish a workers government, to reorganise economic life on the basis of social need and equality, not private profit. Oppose militarism and war! The danger of war between the US and China is escalating. The Trump administration has junked nuclear weapons treaties, massively increased military expenditures, and issued numerous reports detailing its plans for total war against Russia, China and other potential rivals. In the Asia-Pacific, Washington aims to forcefully maintain the unchallenged hegemony it established in 1945, after defeating Japan in World War II. A minor misunderstanding between American and Chinese forces in the South China or East China Seas could quickly trigger a devastating military escalation. Labor and Coalition governments alike prosecute the predatory interests of Australian imperialism. They have supported every criminal US-led war and military intervention over the past four decades, including the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq, which claimed up to a million lives. As part of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence network, Australian facilities, including Pine Gap, play a key role in supporting the reckless US-led encirclement of China. Successive governments have closely integrated the military into the US army, navy, and air forces in the region. Military expenditure will increase to an extraordinary $38.7 billion in 201920 and is set to reach 2 percent of gross domestic product in 202021, a higher rate than in many countries, including China and Britain. The entire political establishment has placed the Australian population on the front lines of a potential nuclear third world war. Prime Minister Scott Morrison heads a militarist, pro-US government. Labor leader Bill Shorten is no less militarist and is a long-standing US embassy source and advocate for American military operations around the world. The Greens are no alternative. In 2011, the Greens-backed Gillard Labor government signed an agreement with the Obama administration, pledging unconditional backing for a US military build-up throughout the Asia-Pacific. Their limited criticisms of the US military alliance, and their calls for a more independent foreign policy, reflect concerns in ruling circles that the US cannot be relied upon to defend Australian imperialist interests. The Greens, moreover, have been at the forefront of the xenophobic foreign interference campaign, used to foment nationalism and anti-Chinese sentiment as part of the ideological preparation for war. * The SEP, alongside its sister parties internationally in the ICFI, fights to mobilise the working class against the war danger. We demand the repudiation of the US-Australia alliance and all military basing arrangements with the US and other countries. Australian troops, as well as police and intelligence personnel, must be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The military-intelligence apparatus must be disbanded, and the vast resources wasted on war preparations reallocated to socially useful purposes, including building badly-needed social infrastructure throughout Australia and the region. For urgent action on Climate Change! There is no possibility of arresting climate change under the capitalist system and its free market, dominated by the drive for private profit. The growing threat to the future of the planet derives from the operation of this system. Real action to arrest global warming necessitates conscious economic planning, on a national and international scale. The first step, therefore, in halting a climate disaster requires that the major corporations, above all those bearing central responsibility for pollutants, be taken out of private hands, and placed under public ownership and democratic control. Such a program necessitates international collaboration and control. It can only be developed in struggle against all the parties of the political establishmentLabor, Liberal and the Greensthat defend the profit interests of the major corporations, financial institutions and their own national state. Join the fight for a socialist future! Around the world, the manifest crisis and bankruptcy of capitalism has fuelled a resurgence of support for socialism. A survey conducted last year by the right-wing Centre for Independent Studies found that 58 percent of Australians, between 21 and 38 years of age, had a favourable overall view of socialism, with 59 percent agreeing that capitalism has failed. Young people have already begun to express their determination to fight back. Tens of thousands of high school students recently defied threats and intimidation to join strikes and protests to demand action on climate change. As has historically been the case, this movement of student youth is yet another harbinger of the re-entry of the working class into struggle. Without revolutionary leadership, however, socialism is impossible. Youth and workers who want to fight for a socialist future must assimilate the political lessons from the strategic experiences of the 20th century. The Russian Revolution of October 1917 demonstrated, for all time, that the working class, when provided with revolutionary leadership, can carry out the overthrow of capitalism and begin the construction of a new society. The defeats that followed were the outcome of the betrayals of socialism by Stalinism, the counter-revolutionary bureaucracy that arose from the isolation of the first workers state. But the fight for the revolutionary program responsible for the revolutions victory was continued by Leon Trotsky, in his protracted struggle against Stalinism from 1923 onwards. In 1938, Trotsky founded the Fourth International to resolve the crisis of revolutionary leadership in the international working class. The International Committee of the Fourth International, of which the SEP is the Australian section, alone represents the continuity of Trotskys struggle against all forms of national opportunism, which is essential in the fight for world socialism today. We urge you to get involved in our 2019 campaign! Vote for the Socialist Equality Party Senate and House of Representatives candidates! Join and build SEP election committees in our candidates electorates, and around the country. Circulate this statement as widely as possible to your family, friends and workmates, including on social media. Organise meetings in your workplace, university or community group and invite an SEP candidate to speak. Donate as generously as you can to our election fund. Above all, take up the fight for socialism, study the program and history of the ICFI and join the SEP and its youth movement, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE)! Authorised by James Cogan for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000 Dozens of giant US corporations, including 60 of the Fortune 500, used deductions, credits and other tax loopholes to avoid paying any federal income tax for 2018, according to an analysis issued by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The report was published April 11, just in time for the April 15 deadline for most American working people to file their tax returns. The 60 companies in the Fortune 500 who paid no federal income tax had net incomes just from US operations of nearly $80 billion ($79,025,000,000, to be exact). They include such household names as Amazon, Chevron, Deere, Delta Air Lines, General Motors, Goodyear, Halliburton, Honeywell, IBM, Eli Lilly, Netflix, Occidental Petroleum, Prudential Financial and US Steel. Meanwhile, millions of moderate-income families are finding that their income taxes have either increased or their expected tax refunds have evaporated because of restrictions on the itemization of tax deductions, the imposition of a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions and a cut in the mortgage interest deduction. Nearly all of the 60 companies that paid no taxes qualified to receive a refund from the US Treasury, although most will not collect a check, instead using the credit to offset future taxes. But whatever the bookkeeping process, American taxpayers are effectively paying money to them, despite their vast profits. The biggest refunds include those going to Prudential, $346 million (added to its $1.44 billion in profits); Duke Energy, a whopping $647 million (added to $3.02 billion in profits); and Deere, $268 million (added to $2.15 billion in profits). Among the reports most outrageous findings: Amazon more than zeroed-out its tax bill on $10.8 billion in profits, making use of accelerated depreciation deductions on equipment as well as favorable tax treatment of stock-based compensation for executives like CEO Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man in the world. The stock compensation deduction alone was worth $1 billion. Amazon will actually show a credit of $129 million from the US Treasury, not paying one cent in federal income taxes. IBM is another corporate giant that has gamed the tax system by shifting earnings to its foreign operations to escape US taxation. The company reported worldwide profits of $8.7 billion, but only $500 million in the United States. It will reap a $342 million credit from the Treasury. Delta Airlines accumulated $17.1 billion in federal pre-tax net losses as of 2010, partly as a consequence of a protracted crisis of the airline industry, partly as a result of the 2008 Wall Street crash. It has used these losses as well as the accelerated depreciation credit for purchase of new planes to dramatically reduce their tax rates, according to the ITEP report, receiving a credit of $187 million in 2018 despite net profits of more than $5 billion. According to Deltas chief financial officer, the actual tax rate the company expects to pay going forward is between 10 and 13 percent, far below what a typical Delta worker pays on his or her income. EOG Resources, a renamed remnant of Enron, perpetrator of the biggest corporate fraud in American history, can collect $304 million from US taxpayers on top of $4.07 billion in profits. For one company, the federal tax refund would actually exceed net profits. Gannett made a $7 million profit, while showing an additional $11 million credit from the Treasury, giving the newspaper publishing giant an effective tax rate of negative 164 percent. IBMs tax rate was a negative 68 percent, while software maker Activision Blizzard and construction company AECOM Technology both posted effective tax rates of negative 51 percent. Sixteen of the 60 companies made more than a billion dollars in net income on their US operations, to say nothing of foreign subsidiaries. Oil and gas producers and utilities comprised more than one-third of the total, led by Chevron and Occidental among the oil companies, and DTE Energy, American Electric Power, Duke Energy and Dominion Resources among the utilities. The 60 companies profited enormously because the Trump tax cut bill cut the basic rate for corporations from 35 percent to 21 percent, while not eliminating the loopholes they had previously used to keep their taxes low. They had the best of both worlds, paying lower rates while still enjoying loopholes. Overall, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, an arm of Congress, the cut in the corporate tax rate alone will pump $1.35 trillion into the pockets of the corporations over the next 10 years. For this year alone, corporate taxes have been cut by 31 percent. For the 60 companies in the ITEP report, Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes, as the new 21 percent corporate tax rate requires, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion, blowing a $20.7 billion hole in the federal budget last year. This figure by itself is an irrefutable answer to all the bogus claimsmade to workers in every part of the United Statesthat there is no money to pay for needed social programs, for wage and benefit increases, or to hire additional workers to reduce overwork and understaffing. The $20.7 billion would pay for a $7,000 bonus to every public school teacher in America. The bonanza that these 60 corporations are enjoying is three times the amount that Trump proposes to cut from the budget of the Department of Education. It is 10 times the total amount budgeted for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which provides services for more than 2 million Native Americans. It is nearly 20 times the budget of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which conducts workplace safety inspections. The ITEP report, issued by a group with close ties to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal Washington think tank, warns of the explosive political consequences of the corporate plundering of the Treasury. The specter of big corporations avoiding all income taxes on billions in profits sends a strong and corrosive signal to Americans: that the tax system is stacked against them, in favor of corporations and the wealthiest Americans, the report says. At the same time, the tax cuts for big business are fueling the federal deficit, which will be used by both Democratic and Republican politicians to call for further cuts in social spending. The February monthly federal deficit hit an all-time high of $234 billion this year, as a result of a 20 percent drop in corporate tax revenue. The deficit for the first half of 2019 is projected at $961 billion, and the deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30 is expected to reach $1.1 trillion, as bad as the deficits posted in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. The time has come to recognize the outstanding achievements of our countrys youth. On Tuesday 16th April 2019, Junior Chamber International (JCI) Mauritius launched the 33rd Edition of The Outstanding Young Person Award (TOYP) at the Municipality of Beau-Bassin/Rose-Hill, and the search for nominees has been declared open. The Project Director, Marie-Luce Chang-Ko said, By recognizing these young Mauritian talents, by telling their stories of discovery and determination, we hope to inspire other young Mauritians to seek out their dreams and become just as amazing, so they too can make a difference in their communities. Nominations for The Outstanding Young Person Award or Zenn Pli Exceptionel Dan Moris is open and I hope to see participants all over Mauritius to inspire the next generation- It could be you! The JCI The Outstanding Young Person Award is run nationally and internationally. Since 1983, JCI has honored over 200 individuals from 47 nations. Past recipients of national awards include such well-known personalities as John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Jackie Chan and many more, all named before the age of 40 and before they had achieved national prominence. said Mr. Heveen Kejiou, President of JCI Mauritius. He added The programme has been held in Mauritius since 1986 and recipients include our first winner Eddy Young in 1986 and Dr Hemant Mohabeer and Sarvesh Lutchmun in 2018 and 2017 respectively. Dalilah Kalla, Vedant Seeam and Zaheer Allam were awarded internationally as the Ten Outstanding Young Person of the world honourees in 2011, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The competition is now open and we are on the search for the Zenn Pli Exceptionel Dan Moris and we will show the world the great talents of Mauritius Young men and women may be nominated in one of the following ten categories:, (1) Business, economic and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment (2) Political, legal and/or governmental affairs (3) Academic leadership and/or accomplishment (4) Cultural achievement (5) Moral and/or environmental leadership (6) Contribution to children, world peace and/or human rights (7) Humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership (8) Scientific and/or technological development (9) Personal improvement and/or accomplishment (10) Medical innovation. The honourees will then be selected by a panel of distinguished judges who are asked to base their decisions primarily on: How the persons achievement may have benefited his or her community, nation or the world. How the persons achievement or leadership may have inspired others. The honorees will be recognized during an award ceremony which is scheduled for Saturday 1st June 2019. The honorees will also be entered into the JCI TOYP program and if ever, they are among the International honorees, they will receive a free round-trip airline ticket to Tallinn, Estonia to attend the 2019 JCI World Congress in November, where they will be featured at an awards ceremony. Participation is free and any resident of Mauritius aged between 18 and 40 years old can apply. The nomination form for the 2019 JCI Mauritius The Outstanding Young Person can be found online at http://toyp.jcimauritius.org/ and must be completed no later than Monday 6th May 2019. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn